r your interest in Jerrie,' Harold replied.

Then the two separated, Tom going his way and Harold his, until it was
time for the afternoon train which was to take them home.

The suit had gone against Peterkin, and it was in a towering rage that
he stood in the long depot, denouncing everybody, and swearing he would
sell out Lubbertoo and every dumbed thing he owned in Shannondale and
take his money away, 'and then see how they'd git along without his
capital to boost 'em.' At Harold he would not even look, for his
testimony had been the most damaging of all, and he frowned savagely
when on entering the car he saw his son in the same seat with him,
talking in low, earnest tones, while Harold was evidently listening to
him with interest. Small as he was and mean in personal appearance,
there was more of true manhood in Billy's finger than in his father's
whole body. The suit had been a pain and trouble to Billy, from
beginning to end, for he knew his father was in the wrong, and he bore
no malice toward Harold for his part in it, and when the diamonds came
up, and his father was clamoring for a writ, he was the first to declare
Harold's innocence and to say he would go his bail. Now, there was in
his mind another plan by which to benefit his friend, and rival,
too--for Billy knew he was that; and the heart of the little man ached
with a bitter pain and sense of loss whenever he thought of Jerrie, and
lived over again the scene under the butternut tree by the river, when
her blue eyes had smiled so kindly upon him and her hands had touched
his, even while she was breaking his heart. When Billy reached his
majority his father had given him $100,000, and thus he had business of
his own to transact, and a part of this was just now centered in
Washington Territory, where, in Tacoma, on Puget Sound, he owned real
estate and had dealings with several parties. To attend to this an agent
was needed for a while, and he said to himself;

'I'll offer it to Hal, with such a salary that he cannot refuse it; that
will get him out of the way until this thing blows over.'

Billy knew perfectly well that although everybody said Harold was
innocent and that nine-tenths believed it, there would still be a few in
Shannondale--the scum whose opinions his father's money controlled--who,
without exactly saying they doubted him, would make it unpleasant for
him in many ways; and from this he would save him by sending him to
Tacoma at once, an