No,
sir; I'm not here in a professional way at all, and I don't want to be
molested. I've connected myself with an oil company, and I'm down here to
look over the ground. It beats poker and fan-tan hollow, though there
ain't as many chances in favor of the dealer, and in oil it's the farmer
that gets the rake-off. I've come back, but in an enterprising spirit this
time, to open up a new field and shed light and money in Carlow. They told
me never to show my face here again, but if you say I stay, I guess I
stay. I always was sure there was oil in the county, and I want to prove
it for everybody's benefit. Is it all right?"
"My dear fellow," laughed the young man, shaking the gambler's hand again,
"it is all right. I have always been sorry I had to act against you.
Everything is all right! Stay and bore to Corea if you like. Did ever you
see such glorious weather?"
"I'll let you in on some shares," Watts called after him as he turned
away. He nodded in reply and was leaving the room when Cynthia detained
him by a flourish of the fly-brush. "Say," she said,--she always called
him "Say"--"You've forgot your flower."
He came back, and thanked her. "Will you pin it on for me, Charmion?"
"I don't know what call you got to speak to me out of my name," she
responded, looking at the floor moodily.
"Why?" he asked, surprised.
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