"No one has even remotely suggested that I shouldn't have my share
of that estate," said Kate.
While he was gone, Kate thought intently as she went about her
work. She saw exactly what her position was, and what she had to
do. Their talk would be disagreeable, but the matter had to gone
into and gotten over. She let George talk as he would while she
finished supper and they ate. When he went for his evening work,
she helped the children scale their fish for breakfast and as they
worked she talked to them, sanely, sensibly, explaining what she
could, avoiding what she could not. She put them to bed, her
heart almost sickened at what they had been taught and told. Kate
was in no very propitious mood for her interview with George. As
she sat on the front porch waiting for him, she was wishing with
all her heart that she was back home with the children, to remain
forever. That, of course, was out of the question, but she wished
it. She had been so glad to be with her mother again, to be of
service, to hear a word of approval now and then. She must be
worthy of her mother's opinion, she thought, just as George
stepped on the porch, sat on the top step, leaned against a
pillar, and said: "Now go on, tell me all about it."
Kate thought intently a second. Instead of beginning with leaving
Friday morning: "I was at the Court House in Hartley this
morning," she said.
"You needn't have done that," he scoffed. "I spent most of the
day there Monday. You bet folks shelled out the books when I told
them who I was, and what I was after. I must say you folks have
some little reason to be high and mighty. You sure have got the
dough. No wonder the old man hung on to his deeds himself. He
wasn't so FAR from a King, all right, all right."
"You mean you left your work Monday, and went to the Court House
in Hartley and told who you were, and spent the day nosing into my
father's affairs, before his SONS had done anything, or you had
any idea WHAT was to be done?" she demanded.
"Oh, you needn't get so high and mighty," he said. "I propose to
know just where I am, about this. I propose to have just what is
coming to me -- to you, to the last penny, and no Bates man will
manage the affair, either."
Suddenly Kate leaned forward.
"I foresee that you've fixed yourself up for a big
disappointment," she said. "My mother and her eldest son will
settle my father's estate; and when it is settled I shall have
exactly what the other girls have. Then if I still think it is
wise, I shall at once go to work building the mill. Everything
must be shaved to the last cent, must be done with the closest
economy, I MUST come out of this with enough left to provide us a
comfortable home."