The Devils Garden | Page 3

took her hand, squeezed it, and then, with an affectation of
carelessness, laughed jovially. "They've appointed a deputy to take
charge here during my absence."
"Oh, Will!" Mrs. Dale's dark eyebrows rose, and her brown eyes grew
round and big; in a moment all the faint glow of color had left her pale
cheeks, and her intonation expressed alarm and regret.
"It riled me a bit at first," said Dale firmly. "However, it's no
consequence--really."
"But, Will, that means--" She hesitated, and her lips trembled before
she uttered the dreadful word--"That means--suspended!"

"Yes--pro tem. Don't fret yourself, Mav. I tell you it's all right."
"But, Will, this does change the look of things. This is serious--now."
And once more she hesitated. "Will, let me write again to Mr.
Barradine."
"No," said Dale, with great determination.
"May I get Auntie to write to him? She said she knows for sure he'd
help us."
"Well, he said so himself, didn't he?"
"Yes. Anything in his power!"
Dale reflected for a moment, and when he spoke again his tone was less
firm.
"In his power! Of course Mr. Barradine is a powerful gentleman. That
stands to reason; but all the same--Let's have a look at his letter."
"I haven't got his letter, Will."
"Haven't got his letter? What did you do with it?
"I tore it up."
"Tore it up!" Dale stared at his wife in surprise, and spoke rather
irritably. "What did you do that for?"
"You seemed angry at my taking on myself to write to him without
permission--so I didn't wish the letter lying about to remind you of
what I'd done."
"You acted foolish in destroying document'ry evidence," said Dale,
sternly and warmly. But then immediately he stifled his irritation.
"Don't you see, lassie, I'd 'a' liked to know the precise way he worded it.
I'm practised to all the turns of the best sort o' correspondence, and I'd
'a' known in a twinkling whether he meant anything or nothing."
"He said he'd be glad to do what was in his power. Really he said no
more."
"Very good. We'll leave it at that. He has done more than enough for us
already, and I don't hold with bothering gentlemen in and out of season.
Besides, this is a bit in which I don't want his help, nor nobody else's.
This is between me and them."
He pushed away his uneaten food, stood up, and squared his big
shoulders.
"Yes, but, Will dear--you, you won't be hasty when you get before
them."
Dale frowned, then laughed. "Mav, trust your old boy, and don't fret."

He came round the table, and laid his hand on his wife's shoulder. "My
sweetheart, I'm sorry, for your sake, that this little upset should have
occurred. But don't you fret. I'm coming out on top. Maybe, this is like
touch-and-go. I don't say it isn't. But I know my vaarlue--and I mean to
let them know it, if they don't know it already. Look at my record!
Who's goin' to pick a hole in it?"
"No, but--"
"There's times when a man's got to show pluck--to stan' to's guns, and
assert hisself for what he's worth. And that's what I'm going to do in the
General Post Office of all England." As he said this the blood showed
redly, and every line of his face deepened and hardened. "You keep a
stout heart. This isn't going to shake William Dale off of his perch."
"No?" And she looked up at him with widely-opened eyes.
"No." He gave her shoulder a final pat, and laughed noisily. "No, it'll
set me firmer on the road to promotion than what I've ever been. When
I get back here again, I shall be like the monkey--best part up the
palm-tree, and nothing dangerous between him and the nuts."
All that day Dale was busy installing the deputy.
"You find us fairly in order," he said, with a pride that did not pretend
to conceal itself. "Nothing you wouldn't call shipshape?"
"Apple-pie order," said Mr. Ridgett. "Absolutely O.K."
Mr. Ridgett was a small sandy man of fifty, who obviously wished to
make himself as agreeable as might be possible in rather difficult
circumstances. During the afternoon he listened with an air of
interested attention while Dale told him at considerable length the
series of events that had led up to this crisis.
"For your proper understanding," said the postmaster, "I'll ask you once
more to cast your eye over the position of the instruments;" and he
marched Mr. Ridgett from the sorting-room to the public office, and
showed him the gross error that had been committed in placing the
whole telegraphic apparatus right at the front, close to the window,
merely screened from the public eye and the public ear by