You took a steamer up the Lakes. You have been
dressing fine ever since the money came in; and you're keeping a woman."
He made no reply, except to say that I did not understand, but would
when he showed me where every cent of the estate money had gone which
he had spent, and just how much was left. As for his daughter--he
supposed I knew--but he never finished this speech. I rose to my feet;
and he left hurriedly, saying that he would show me a statement in the
morning. "I expect to pay your board here," said he, "for a few days,
you know--until you decide to move on--or move back."
For a week or so I refused to talk with Rucker or Jackway; but sat
around and tried to make up my mind what to do. To hire Jackway would
take all my savings; and the schedules which Rucker brought me on
legal-cap paper I refused even to touch with my hands. I am sure, now,
that Rucker had sent Jackway to me in the first place, never suspecting
that the matter of the estate had been so far from my mind; and thereby,
by too much craft, he lost the opportunity of stealing it all. Jackway
kept telling me of Rucker's rascalities, so as to get into my good
graces and confidence, in which he succeeded better than he knew; and
urging me to pay him a few dollars--just a few dollars--"to begin
proceedings to stay waste and sequestration"; but I did not give him
anything because it seemed a first step into something I had not
understood.
4
I began calling on land agents, thinking I might use what little money I
had left to make a first payment on a farm; but the land around Madison
was too high in price for me.
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