"Do you know who did it?" asked Hester, with the momentary thought that Halbert himself might have been tempted by his hatred into the commission of the outrage.
"No, I don't. It was only accidentally I saw it."
"Then I am sure some enemy has done it. I am sure it is no fault of his."
"If your brother had let me have the boat, it wouldn't have happened. I offered him a fair price for its use."
"He won't be sorry he refused, whatever has happened. But I must bid you good-morning, Mr. Davis," and the young lady, who was now at her own gate, opened it, and entered.
"She might have been polite enough to invite me in," said Halbert, with chagrin. "I don't see how she can be so taken up with that low fellow."
He waited till Hester had entered the house, and then bent his steps to Mr. Paine's office, which was a small one-story building in one corner of the yard.
The lawyer was sitting at a table covered with papers, from which he looked up as Halbert entered the office.
"Sit down, Halbert," he said. "Any message from your father?"
"No legal business of your own?" he inquired, with a smile.
"Well, if you have any business, you may state it at once, as I am quite busy."
"It is about the boat which your son lent to Robert Rushton."
"I shall not interfere with that arrangement," said the lawyer, misunderstanding his object. "I told your father that this morning," and he resumed his writing.
"I did not come to say anything about that. The boat wouldn't be of any use to me now."
"Why not?" asked the lawyer, detecting something significant in the boy's tone.
"Because," said Halbert, in a tone which he could not divest of the satisfaction he felt at his rival's misfortune, "the boat's completely ruined."
Mr. Paine laid down his pen in genuine surprise.
So Halbert told the story once more, taking good care to make the damage quite as great as it was.
"That is very strange," said the lawyer, thoughtfully. "I can't conceive how such damage could have happened to the boat."
"Robert Rushton don't know how to manage a boat."
"You are mistaken. He understands it very well. I am sure the injury you speak of could not have happened when he was in charge. You say there was not only a hole in the bottom, but it was otherwise defaced and injured?"