it wus most all cash--very little
booked."

"Wash?"

"Yes, sir."

"How much did I agree to pay you by the month?"

"Thirty dollars." Washburn glanced at the open ledger. "Have I made
any mistake?"

"No, but--but I've been making you do all the work. It isn't fair.
Credit yourself with forty dollars a month from the start and keep it
up."

Washburn flushed. "I'm mighty much obliged, Mr. Westerfelt. I wusn't
complainin' as it wus."

"I know it, but you are a good fellow; I'm going to trust the whole
business to you. Your judgment's as good as mine; do the best you can.
I'm going down to Atlanta for a few days--I don't know for how long,
but I will write you from there."

"I'll do the best I can, Mr. Westerfelt, you kin be shore of that."

Chapter XXIV

After breakfast, at Bradley's, Westerfelt went into his room and
hastily packed his valise and told Alf to take it to the stable and put
it into the hack going that morning to the station. Mrs. Bradley came
to him in the entry.

"John Westerfelt, what's got into you?" she asked, looking at him with
concern. "Shorely you are not goin' off."

"To Atlanta for a few days on business, that's all," he said; "I'll
write back from there."

She looked at him curiously, as if not quite satisfied with his
explanation. "Well, hurry back," she said. "Me 'n' Luke'll miss you
mightily."

"Tell Luke good-bye for me," he called back from the gate, and she
nodded to him from the hall, but he could not hear what she said. As
he approached the stable, he saw the hack waiting for him at the door.
Budd Ridly sat on the driver's seat.

"Time we wus off," he remarked to Westerfelt. "It takes peert drivin'
to catch the two-forty, south-bound."

"That's a fact," said Washburn, coming from the stable, "but I'll bet
you'll have to wait a few minutes, anyway." He was looking back in the
direction from whence Westerfelt had come. "I saw Miss Harriet come
out o' the hotel jest after you passed; it looks to me like she's
trying to overtake you."

Westerfelt turned and saw Harriet about a hundred yards away. "Maybe
she is," he said. "I'll go meet her."

She paused when she saw him approaching, and he noticed that she looked
greatly troubled and was quite pale.

"I must see you, Mr. Westerfelt," she said, a catch in her voice. "I
came right at once so you wouldn't get left. Oh, Mr. Westerfelt,
mother has just told me what she said to you last night. I don