Rose O'Paradise Part 59

"I do," defied Maudlin, swaggering.

"Is that what you come to say to me?"

"Yep."

"Well, now you're done with your braggin', get out, an' get out quick."

But Maudlin didn't move.

"I said to scoot," said Lafe presently, in suppressed tones. He was magnificent in his ferocity.

"I heard you!" observed Maudlin, still sitting, though a little cowed in his former egotistical spirit.

Lafe picked up the hammer and pounded frantically on the sole of a shoe.

"I'm goin' to have money," muttered Maudlin when the cobbler paused for a few nails.

As Lafe proceeded with his work silently, Maudlin said:

"I'll marry Jinnie and take the empty shack next to pa's. I got money, I said."

Lafe's lips were moving rapidly, but the other could not hear what he was saying. The fact was, the cobbler was asking for strength and self-control.

"Where's Jinnie?" demanded Maudlin again.

"She ain't here," said Lafe, "an' I want you to get out before she comes."

He said this more gently, because his muttered prayers had somewhat a.s.suaged his rage.

Just then a motor car dashed into the little lane at the side of the house, and Maudlin knew that Morse had arrived.

"I'll go when I see Jinnie," he insisted, sinking deeper into his chair, "I want to tell 'er somethin' about a party."

"Ain't no show o' your seein' 'er to-day," replied Lafe. "I bargained with your pa about you lettin' my girl alone, and that's all there is to it."

"Pa's cobblin' ain't nothin' to do with me," observed Maudlin darkly.

"I'll wait for 'er!"

At that minute Theodore King's car drew up in front of the shop, and he stepped out. Maudlin caught a glimpse of him and set his teeth sharply. He'd have it out with this man, too. They might as well all understand what his intentions were. He wondered if Morse, from his point of vantage, had seen Mr. King arrive.

When Theodore swung into the shop, he paused at the sight of Bates and frowned. He brought to mind the chastening he had given the fellow, and how Jinnie had suffered through his brutality.

Lafe smiled cordially at the young man and asked him to be seated.

"Jinnie's out," stated the cobbler.

"I know it!" responded Theodore, taking a chair. "I've come to have a talk with you." Then looking from Mr. Grandoken to Maudlin, he queried, "Will you soon be disengaged?"

Lafe nodded.

"I hope so," he said disinterestedly.

Lafe always disciplined himself after a siege with his temper.

"He won't be alone till I get through with 'im," grunted Maudlin, with an ugly expression. "I been tellin' 'im I'm goin' to marry Jinnie."

Lafe straightened with a throat sound that boded no good for the speaker, and Theodore got swiftly to his feet.

"Don't repeat what you've just said," the latter gritted between his teeth, whirling on Maudlin.

Bates shot out of his chair at this command.

"My tongue's my own," he roared, "and Jinnie'll be glad to marry me before----"

Theodore's big fist swept out, striking the man full in the face, and Maudlin dropped like an ox hit with an axe, but he was on his feet in another minute. His rapidly swelling face was blanched with rage.

"d.a.m.n you, twicet and three times d.a.m.n you----"

Lafe made an e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.n, and neither one of the three men noticed that the door to the little hall at the back had opened a trifle.

Jordan Morse was peering in upon the enraged trio. He saw the man he'd hired to help him take the first knock down and get up swiftly. He saw Theodore King make another dive at the wood gatherer. The cobbler was in direct range of Jordan's vision, and he slipped his hand into his pocket, from which he took a revolver. Two quick, short cracks, and the pistol came flying through the room and landed near the cobbler's bench. Then the kitchen door slammed suddenly. Theodore staggered forward and sank slowly to the floor, while Maudlin fell headlong without a cry.

As in a maze Lafe heard a motor leap away like a mad thing. Through the window he could see Theodore's car where the young man had left it. He made a desperate effort to rise, but sank back with a shuddering groan. He forced his eyes to Bates, who was close to the shop door, then dragged them backward to Mr. King, whose head was almost under his bench. Each had received a bullet, and both lay breathing unconsciously. The cobbler stooped over and placed his hand under Theodore's head to straighten it a little. For a full minute nothing was heard but the loud rattling in Maudlin's throat and the steady, laborious breath of the man at his feet.

Sudden tears diffused the cobbler's eyes, and he leaned over and tenderly touched the damp forehead of Jinnie's friend.

"He's given His angels charge over thee, boy," he murmured, just as Jinnie, leading Bobbie by the hand, walked in.

The girl took one impetuous step forward and noted Lafe's white, agonized face. Then she caught a glimpse of the stricken men on the floor. Her tongue refused its office, and dropping the blind child's fingers, she came quickly forward.

"Call help! Hurry! Get a doctor!" gasped Lafe, and Jinnie, without saying a word, rushed out.

Afterward she could not measure with accuracy the events of that afternoon. Peggy came home and put the terrified Bobbie in bed, telling him curtly to stay there until she allowed him to get up.

Several doctors rushed in and examined both Theodore and Maudlin. Not one word had escaped Jinnie's pale lips until the wounded men were removed from the shop. Then she sank at the cobbler's feet.

"Will he die?" she whispered, in awe-stricken tones.

"Maudlin's dyin'," replied the cobbler, with bowed head, "an' Mr.

King's awful bad off, the doctor says."

Jinnie went to Lafe's side and put her arm about his neck, and as if it had never been, their joy was blotted out by the hand of a b.l.o.o.d.y tragedy.

CHAPTER x.x.xIV

THE COBBLER'S ARREST