Zane's estate, it will devolve upon me to examine the
whole subject. I am a stranger in the East. As Mr. Van de Lear may have
told you, I don't hear anything. Will I be welcome as a boarder under
your roof as long as I am looking into my old friend's books and
papers?"
"Not only welcome, but a protection to us, sir," answered Agnes.
He took a set of ivory tablets from his pocket, with a pencil, and
handing it to her politely, said:
"Please write your answer."
She wrote "Yes."
The deaf lodger gave as little trouble as could have been expected. He
had a bedroom, and moved a large secretary desk into it, and sat there
all day looking at figures. If he ever wanted to make an inquiry, he
wrote it on the tablets, and in the evening had it read and answered.
Agnes was a good deal of the time preoccupied, and Podge Byerly, who
wrote as neatly as copper-plate, answered these inquiries, and conducted
a little conversation of her own. Podge was a slender blonde, with fine
blue eyes and a mischievous, sylph-like way of coming and going. Her
freedom of motion and address seemed to concern the stranger. One day
she wrote, after putting down the answer to a business inquiry:
"Are you married?"
He hesitated some time and wrote back, "I hope not.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179