It looks as if 'twas."
She made a move to rise, but he leaned forward and detained her.
"There! there!" he said. "Set still, set still. So you're Abner Barnes'
niece?"
"My soul! I've told you so three times."
"Abner's niece! I want to know!"
"Well, I should think you might know by this time. Now about that
mortgage."
"Hey? Oh, yes--yes! You want a mortgage on Abner's place over to East
Wellmouth. Um! Well, I know the property and about what it's wuth--which
ain't much. What are you cal'latin' to do--live there?"
"Yes, if I can carry out the plan I've got in my head. I'm thinkin' of
fixin' up that old place and livin' in it. I'm figgerin' to run it as
a boardin'-house. It'll cost money to put it in shape and a mortgage is
the simplest way of raisin' that money, I suppose. That's the long and
short of it."
The dealer in mortgages appeared to hear and there was no reason why
he should not have understood. But he seemed still unsatisfied, even
suspicious. The whiskers received another series of pulls and he
regarded Thankful with the same questioning stare.
"And you say," he drawled, "that you come to me just because--"
"Mercy on us! If you don't know why I come by this time, then--"
"All right, all right. I--I'm talkin' to myself, I guess. Course you
told me why you come. So you're cal'latin' to start a boardin'-house,
eh? Risky things, boardin'-houses are. There's a couple of hundred
launched every year and not more'n ten ever make a payin' v'yage.
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