"Oh, yes," he said; "I remember about the option. I had forgotten it, for a fact; but Pepper was in here yesterday talking about it. He had been to your house.""Then, sir, to the best of your remembrance, the option is all right?" "Oh, certainly!Pollock witnessed it, and I put my seal on it. Yes, sir;Pepper can make the old lady sell. It's too bad, if she wants to remain there; but the price he is to pay isn't so bad---""You have no reason to doubt the validity of the option?" cried Hiram, in desperation.
"Assuredly not."
"Then why didn't Uncle Jeptha speak of it to somebody before he died, if the option had not run out at that time?""Humph!"
"You grant the old man was of sound mind?""Sound as a pine knot," agreed the storekeeper, still reflective.
"Then how is it he did not speak to his lawyer about the option when he saw Mr. Strickland within an hour of his death?""That does seem peculiar," admitted the storekeeper, slowly.
"And Mr. Pollock says he thinks there is something wrong about the option," went on Hiram, eagerly.
"Oh, Pollock!Pah!" returned Schell. "I don't suppose he even readit."
"But you did?"
"Assuredly. I always read every paper.If they don't want me to knowwhat the agreement is, they can take it to some other Notary," declared the storekeeper with a jolly laugh.
"And you are sure that the option was to run a year?""Of course the option's all right--Hold on! A year, did you say? Why-- seems to me--let's look this thing up," concluded Caleb Schell, suddenly.
He dived into his little office and produced a ledger from the safe. This he slapped down on the counter between them.
"I'm a careful man, I am," he told Hiram. "And I flatter myself I've got a good memory, too. Pepper was in here yesterday sputtering about the option and I remember now that he spoke of its running a year.
"But it seems to me," said Schell, pawing over the leaves of his ledger, "that the talk between him and old Uncle Jeptha was for a short time. The old man was mighty cautious--mighty cautious.""That's what Mr. Pollock says," cried Hiram, eagerly. "But you've seen the option?
"Yes."
"And it reads a year? "Oh, yes."
"Then how you going to get around that?" demanded Schell, with conviction.
"But perhaps Uncle Jeptha signed the option thinking it was for a shorter time.""That wouldn't help you none. The paper was signed. And why should Pepper have buncoed him--at that time?""Why should he be so eager to get the farm now?" asked Hiram. "Well, I'll tell you. It ain't out yet.But two or three days ago therailroad board abandoned the route through Ayertown and it is agreed that the new bridge will be built along there by your farm somewhere.
"The river is as narrow there as it is anywhere for miles up and down, and they will stretch a bridge from the high bank on your side, across the meadows, to the high bank on the other side. It will cut out grades, you see. That's what has started Pepper up to grab off the farm while the option is valid.""But, Mr. Schell, is the option valid?" cried Hiram, anxiously.
"I don't see how you're going to get around it. Ah! here's the place. When I have sealed a paper I make a note of it--what the matter was about and who the contracting parties were. I've done that for years. Let--me-- see."He adjusted his spectacles. He squinted at the page, covered closely with writing. Hiram saw him whispering the words he read to himself. Suddenly the blood flooded into the old man's face, and he looked up with a start at his interrogator.
"Do you mean to say that option's for a year? he demanded.
"That is the way it reads--now," whispered Hiram, watching himclosely.
The old man turned the book around slowly on the counter. His stubbed finger pointed to the two or three scrawled lines written in a certain place.
Hiram read them slowly, with beating heart.
