Vandemark's Folly by Herbert Quick
page 112 of 416 (26%)
page 112 of 416 (26%)
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"I'll have to tell the ferryman," I said.
"Will you?" he asked. "Why?" "I'd be cheating him if I didn't," I answered. "All right," he said, as if provoked at me, "but don't tell any one else." "I ain't very good at lying," I replied. He said for me to do the best I could for the lady, and hurried off. In the meantime, the lady had crept back on my straw-bed, and pulled the quilts completely over her. She piled pillows on one side of her, and stirred the straw up on the other, so that when she lay down the bed was as smooth as if nobody was in it. It looked as it might if a heedless boy had crawled out of it after a night's sleep, and carelessly thrown the coverlet back over it. I could hardly believe I had a passenger. When I was asked for the ferriage, I paid for two, and the ferryman asked where the other was. "Back in the bed," I said. He looked back, and said, "Well, I owe you something for your honesty. I never'd have seen him. Sick?" "Not very," said I. "Don't like the water." "Some are that way," he returned, and went on collecting fares. |
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