by Nell Speed
CHAPTER X.--AUNT CLAY MAKES A MISTAKE.
"Sister Ann, do you see any dust arising?" called Molly to Judy, who hadactually climbed up on the gate post, hoping to see a little farther upthe road, expecting the automobile from Louisville with her beloveds init.
"I see a little cloud and I hear a little buzzing. Oh, Molly, I believeit's them."
"Is it, oh, Wellington graduate? Get your cases straight before theycome or your father will think that diploma is a fake."
"Grammar go hang," said Judy, performing a dangerous pas seul on thegate post and then jumping lightly down and racing up the avenue to meetthe incoming automobile. Molly followed more slowly, never having beenthe sprinter that Judy was. Mr. Kean sprang from the car and lifted Judyoff her feet in a regular bear hug.
"Save a little for me, Bobby," piped the little lady mother. "Judy,Judy, it is too good to be true that we have got you at last, and I meanto keep you forever now, you slippery thing." And then they all of themgot into the car and had a three-cornered hug. Molly came up with onlyenough breath to give them a cordial greeting, welcoming them toChatsworth.
"That is a very fine young man, your brother, who met us at the station,Miss Molly. Kent is his name? He recognized us by my likeness to you,Judy, so make your best bow and look pleased." In looking pleased, Judydid a great deal of unnecessary blushing which her mother noticed, but,mothers being different from fathers, said nothing about it.
Mrs. Brown came hurrying down the walk to meet her guests. She wasamused to see how much Judy resembled both her parents, although Mrs.Kean was so small and Mr. Kean so large. Mother and daughter were alikein their quick, extravagant speech, and a certain bird-like poise of thehead, but father and daughter had eyes that might have been cut out ofthe same piece of gray and by the same pattern.
"Where is your baggage? Surely Kent gave you my message and you aregoing to visit us?"
"You have been so kind to my girl that I see no way but to let you bekind to us, too, and if we will not inconvenience you we will acceptyour invitation," said Mr. Kean. "As for baggage: Mrs. Kean is a dressysoul, but she only carries a doll trunk which holds all of her littlefrocks and fixings and even leaves a tiny tray for my belongings."
He assisted his smiling wife to alight and then from the bottom of thecar produced a wicker trunk that was really no bigger than a largesuitcase, but much more dignified looking.
"She says a trunk gives her a little more permanent feeling than a bagand makes a hotel room seem more homelike," went on Mr. Kean. Mrs. Brownthought that she had never heard such a pleasant voice and jolly laugh.
"Judy, show your mother and father their room. I know they are tired andwill want to rest before dinner."
"Tired! Bless your soul, what have we done to be tired? We have been ona Pullman four nights, and that is when we get in rest enough for monthsto come. I know Julia will want to get at her doll trunk and change hertraveling dress, but, if you will permit me, I shall stay down here withyou. What a beautiful farm you have! How many acres in it?"
"I have three hundred acres in all; two hundred under cultivation and ingrass, fifty in woodland, and fifty that are not worth anything. It is astrange barren strip of land that my father had to take as a bad debtand I inherited from him. We graze some forlorn sheep on it, but theywon't drink the water, and it is almost more trouble than they are worthto drive them to water on another part of the place."
Mr. Kean listened intently. "I should like to see your farm, Mrs. Brown.Did you ever have the water on the barren strip analyzed?"
"No, Mr. Brown thought of looking into it but never did, and I have hadso many problems to solve and expenses to meet with my large and growingfamily that I have never thought of it any more."
Mrs. Kean and Judy came down to join the others in a very short time,considering that Mrs. Kean had unpacked her tiny trunk and shaken outher little frocks and changed into a dainty pink gingham that looked asthough it had just come from the laundry, showing no signs of havingbeen packed for weeks.
"What have you done to my Judy, Mrs. Brown? I have never seen herlooking so well."
"Fried chicken and candied sweet potatoes are the chief of my diet, andwho would have the ingratitude not to show such keep?" laughed thedaughter, pulling the little mother down on her lap and holding her astenderly as though their relationship were reversed. "Robert and Julia,are you aware of the fact that your lady daughter has been a perfectlady since she came to these parts, and has got herself into no badscrapes, and has not been saucy but once, and that was necessary? Wasn'tit, Mrs. Brown?"
"It certainly was. My old mammy used to tell me, 'Don' sass ole folks'til they fust sass you'; and Saint Paul says, 'Live peaceably with allmen, as much as lieth in you.' When Judy felt called upon to speak outto Miss Hunt she had the gratitude of almost every one present."
Professor Green joined them and, having made the Keans' acquaintance atWellington, introductions were not necessary. That young man was in avery happy frame of mind as his hated rival that he had to like in spiteof himself had taken an early train to Lexington; and there had been adejected look to his back as he got into the buggy that Edwin Greendecided could not belong to an accepted lover. Molly had a soft, sadlook about her blue eyes, but certainly none of the elation of the newlyengaged. He had held a cryptic conversation with Mrs. Brown that morningon the porch, in which he had gathered that the dear lady consideredMolly singularly undeveloped for a girl her age; that any thought of herbecoming engaged for at least a year was very distasteful to her mother;that her mind should be left free for the postgraduate course she was sosoon to enter upon. But she very delicately gave him to understand thatshe liked him and that Molly also liked him more than any friend shehad. The conversation left him slightly dazed, but also very calm andhappy, liking Mrs. Brown even better than before and admiring her forher delicate tact and frankness that does not often combine with suchdiplomacy. His mail had come and he had no excuse for further delay, andhad determined to go home on the following day.
"Professor Green, I have been so long on the train that I feel the needof stretching my legs. Could you tear yourself away from these ladieslong enough to show me around the farm?"
"Indeed, I could; but maybe the ladies would like to come."
"No, indeed," answered Mrs. Kean. "I know Bobbie's leg-stretching walkstoo well to have any desire to try to keep up with him. It is sopleasant and restful here, and Mrs. Brown, Molly, Judy and I can have anice talk."
The two gentlemen started off at a good pace.
"Professor, I should like to see this barren strip of land Mrs. Browntells me of. It sounds rather interesting to me. You know where it is,do you not?"
"Yes; and, do you know, I was going to ask you to look at it and giveyour opinion about it. It has the look to me of possible oil fields. Ihaven't said anything to any of the family about it, as they are such asanguine lot I was afraid of raising their hopes when nothing might comeof it, but I had determined to have a talk with Kent before I left. Heis the most level-headed member of the family, and would not fly offhalf-cocked. Miss Molly tells me they are contemplating selling thiswonderful bit of beech woods. They have a good offer for it, but it islike selling members of the family to part with these trees."
The two men walked on, discovering many things to talk about and findingeach other vastly agreeable. Their walk led them through the beechwoods, then through a growth of scrub pines and stunted oaks andblackberry bushes, until they gradually emerged into a hard stony valleysparsely covered with grass and broomsedge.
"About as forlorn a spot as you can find in the whole of Kentucky, Ifancy," said the younger man. "Its contrast with the beech woods we havejust passed is about as great as that between Mrs. Brown and her sister,Mrs. Clay, who, with all due respect, is as rocky as this strip ofbarren land and as unattractive. She is the only person of whom I haveever heard Miss Molly and her brother Kent say anything unkind, and theycannot conceal their feeling against her. It seems that M
rs. Clay hadthe settling of her father's estate, and arranged matters so well forherself that Mrs. Brown's share turned out to be this stony strip. Mrs.Brown accepted it and refused to make a row, declaring that she wouldnever have a disagreement with any member of her family about 'things.'She is a wonderful woman," added the professor, thinking of his talk ofthe morning.
Mr. Kean stopped at the banks of a lonesome tarn, filled with blackwater with a greasy looking slime over it.
"Look at those bubbles over there! Could they be caused by turtles? No,turtles could not live in this Dead Sea. Look, look! More and more ofthem. Watch that big one break! See the greasy ring he made!"
He was so excited that Edwin Green smiled to see how alike father anddaughter were, and was amused at himself for speaking of the Browns asbeing people who went off half-cocked to this man who was a hair triggerif ever there was one.
Mr. Kean stooped over and scooped up some of the water in his hand. "'Ifmy old nose don't tell no lies, seems like I smell custard pies.' Why,Green, smell this! It's simply reeking of petroleum! I bet that old Mrs.Clay will come to wish she had made a different division of her father'sestate. Come on, let's go break the news to the Browns."
"But are you certain enough? They may be disappointed," said the morecautious Edwin.
"I am sure enough to want to send to Louisville immediately for a drillto test it. I have had a lot of experience with oil in various placesand I am a regular oil wizard. You have heard of a water witch? Myfriends say that my nose has never played me false, and I can smell outoil lands that they would buy on the say-so of my scent as quickly aswith the proof of a drill and pump. My, I'm glad for this good luck tocome to these people who have been so good to my little girl."
The two men were very much excited as they made their way back to thehouse.
"It is funny the way oil crops up in unexpected places," said Mr. Kean."There is very little of it in this belt, and for that reason Mrs. Brownshould get a very good price for her land. I think it best for her tosell to the Trust as soon as possible. There is no use in fighting them.They are obliged to win out. They will be pretty square with her if shedoes not try to fight them. What a fine young fellow that Kent is! Andas for Miss Molly, she is a corker! She has got my poor little wildIndian of a Judy out of dozens of scrapes at college. Judy always endsby telling us all about the terrible things that almost happened to her.She seems to me to be a little tamer, but maybe it is a strangeness fromnot seeing us for so long."
Edwin Green had his own opinion about the reason for that seemingtameness, but he held his peace. He could not help seeing Kent'spartiality for Miss Julia Kean, and had no reason to believe otherwisethan that the young lady reciprocated. Love, or the possibility ofloving, might be a great tamer for Judy. He was really not far from themark. Judy was interested in Kent, very much so, but it was ambitionthat was steadying her and a determination to do something with theartistic talent that she was almost sure she possessed. Paris was herMecca, and she was preparing herself to talk it out with her parents.They, poor grown-up children that they were, had no plans for theirdaughter's future. College had solved the problem for four years, but,now that that was over, what to do with her next? They loved to have herwith them and had looked forward eagerly to the time when she could bewith them, but after all was a railway camp the best place for a girl ofJudy's stamp?
"Mrs. Brown, what will you take for that barren strip of land overthere?" said Mr. Kean, sinking into a chair on the porch where theladies were still having their quiet talk.
"Well, Mr. Kean, since it is not worth anything, and I have to pay taxeson it, I think I would give it away to any one who would promise to keepup the fences."
"Can you get right-of-way through the adjoining place to the road behindyou, where I see that a narrow-gauge railroad runs?"
Mrs. Brown flushed and hesitated. "There is a lane connecting these twoturnpikes older than the turnpikes themselves. My place does not gothrough to this narrow-gauge railroad that you saw this morning, but myfather's old place, the Carmichael farm, now owned by my sister, Mrs.Clay, borders on both roads. This lane divides the two places as far asmine goes and then cuts through her place to the road behind. She haslately closed that lane, fenced it off and put it in corn."
"Rather high-handed proceedings," growled Mr. Kean. "Did you protest?"
"The boys went to see her about it, as it blocks their short cut to theOhio River, where they go swimming, but she was so insulted at what shecalled their interference that I insisted upon their letting the matterdrop. Paul, who always has insisted on his rights, went so far as to seea lawyer about it. His opinion was that Sister Sarah had no more rightto fence off that lane than she would have to build a house in themiddle of Main Street. But, if you knew my Sister Sarah, you wouldunderstand that if she decided to build a house in the middle of MainStreet she would do it."
"Perhaps she would if the Law were as ladylike as you are, Mrs. Brown,"laughed Mr. Kean, "but the Law happens to be not even much of agentleman. What I wanted to get at was whether or not you hadright-of-way, not way. You have the right if not the way. Now I am goingto come to business with you. Did you know, my dear lady, that thatdespised strip of land is worth more than all of your fruitful acres puttogether, beech woods and apple orchard thrown in?" He jumped up fromhis chair, able to contain himself no longer, and in clarion tonesliterally shouted, "Lady, lady, you've struck oil, you've struck oil!"
BOOK II.
