One of the last courses consisted of iced watermelon, and when it
appeared the three girls eyed one another guiltily and then made frantic
attempts to suppress their laughter, which was unseemly because no one
but themselves understood the joke. But all else was speedily forgotten
in the interest of the coming ceremony, which Mr. Merrick had carefully
planned and prepared.
The company was invited to assemble in the room comprising the spacious
right wing, and when all were seated the little gentleman coughed to
clear his throat and straightway began his preamble.
He recited the manner in which Captain Wegg and Will Thompson, having
money to invest, were led into an enterprise which Bob West had
proposed, but finally preferred another venture and so withdrew their
money altogether from the Almaquo tract.
This statement caused both Joe and Ethel to stare hard, but they said
nothing.
"Your grandfather, Ethel," continued the narrator, "was much impressed
by the value of another timber tract, although where he got his
information concerning it I have been unable to discover. This piece of
property, called the Bogue tract, was purchased by Wegg and Thompson
with the money they withdrew from Almaquo, and still stands in
their name."
Then he recounted, quite frankly, his unjust suspicions of the hardware
dealer, and told of the interview in which the full details of this
transaction were disclosed by West, as well as the truth relating to the
death of Captain Wegg and the sudden insanity and paralysis of old
Will Thompson.
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