I ain't had a doctor for more'n a year. And then I only had him for the heaves--for the horse--a horse doctor, I mean. What are you talkin' about! Sick nothin'! If that swab of an Isaiah has--"
"Stop, Uncle Shad! I told you to listen. And you needn't try to change the subject or to pretend I don't know what I am talking about. I do know. And as for pretending--well, there has been pretending enough. What do you mean--you and Uncle Zoeth--by sending me off to school and to Europe and declaring up and down that you didn't need me here at home?"
"We didn't need you, Mary-'Gusta," vowed Zoeth eagerly. "We got along fust-rate without you. And we wanted you to go to school and to Europe. You see, it makes us feel proud to know our girl is gettin' a fine education and seein' the world. It ain't any more than she deserves, but it makes us feel awful pleased to know she's gettin' it."
"And as for the store," broke in the Captain, "I cal'late you've been pawin' over them books and they've kind of--kind of gone to your head. I don't wonder at it, this time of night! Hamilton and Company's all right. We may be a little mite behind in some of our bills, but--er--but. . . . DON'T look at me like that, Mary-'Gusta!
What do you do it for? Stop it, won't you?"
Mary shook her head.
"No, Uncle Shad," she said, "I shan't stop it. I know all about Hamilton and Company's condition; perhaps I know it better than you do. This is the fifth night that I have been working over those books and I should know, at least."
"The FIFTH night! Do you mean to say--"
"I mean that I knew you wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know; I had to see these books for myself and at night was the only time I could do it. But never mind that now," she added. "We'll talk of that later. Other things come first. Uncle Shad and Uncle Zoeth, I know not only about the affairs of Hamilton and Company, but about my own as well."
Zoeth leaned forward and stared at her. He seemed to catch the significance of the remark, for he looked frightened, whereas Shadrach was only puzzled.
"You--you know what, Mary-'Gusta?" faltered Zoeth. "You mean--"
"I mean," went on Mary, "that I know where the money came from which has paid my school bills and for my clothes and my traveling things and all the rest. I know whose money has paid all my bills ever since I was seven years old."
Shadrach rose from his chair. He was as frightened as his partner now.
"What are you talkin' about, Mary-'Gusta Lathrop?" he shouted. "You know! You don't know nothin'! You stop sayin' such things! Why don't you stop her, Zoeth Hamilton?"
Zoeth was speechless. Mary went on as if there had been no interruption.
"I know," she said, "that I haven't a penny of my own and never did have and that you two have done it all. I know all about it--at last."
If these two men had been caught stealing they could not have looked more guilty. If, instead of being reminded that their niece had spent their money, they had been accused of misappropriating hers they could not have been more shaken or dumbfounded. Captain Shadrach stood before her, his face a fiery red and his mouth opening and shutting in vain attempts at articulation. Zoeth, his thin fingers extended in appeal, was the first to speak.
"Mary-'Gusta," he stammered, "don't talk so! PLEASE don't!"
