The Gold of Chickaree — Part 90

'Miss Kennedy, do you know my daughters?'

'Well sir,' said Hazel weighing her words, wondering to herself whether diplomats get along without telling fibs; and if they do, _how_ they do,—'it would be quite a novelty of a bonbon to invest this money in some splendid way, all by myself. Not the whole of it, you know, sir,—only a few thousands.' She was so eager! and so terribly afraid of shewing her eagerness.

'That is a sort of bonbon that is very tempting to old fellows like me; but, pardon me, I should think it was more in Mr. Falkirk's way than in yours?'

'Mr. Falkirk may admire it afterwards, if he chooses, but _I_ want to make the investment. And I learned from somebody,' said Hazel, careful of her words, "that the best thing I could do, was to buy that bit of land of yours, Gov. Powder, lying just at the head of the Hollow. It is not worth more than twenty thousand, is it?' she went on, suggestively. 'And I was told, sir, that you were ready to dispose of it.'

'Somebody spoke too fast,' said the governor, looking unmistakably surprised this time. 'Really, I am in no hurry to dispose of that piece of land. Its value is in its water power. You don't want to build mills, do you?'

'No, sir,—the whole of my legacy would not cover _that_. And I would rather not invest more than twenty thousand at first.'

'Twenty thousand' has a pleasant sound to a man with 'mad' daughters, and other expenses! Nevertheless the governor looked steadily into the face of facts.

'My dear Miss Kennedy, I must remark to you, that if you do not want to put mills on that ground, it would be a very poor investment for your twenty thousand. The water power is all the value there. And Paul Charteris has been trying to get it of me for his own purposes. Now I know what _he_ wants; but I do not see what you want with land in Mill Hollow.'

'Why Governor Powder,' said Hazel, 'Mr. Falkirk would go to sleep in luxury, if he could only see _why_ I want things! One might as well be a man—or Mr. Paul Charteris—at once!'

'Isn't Paul Charteris a man?' inquired Gov. Powder laughing. Hazel laughed too, but returned to the charge.

'I shall not invest in him,' she said, 'even so much as an opinion. What I want is the land, and the water power, and the fun.'