He came falteringly toward them, and stood
for a moment uncertain. Then--for the scope of his cultivation did not
include the civility of lifting his hat--he said, "Which of ye two wimin
hev los' a child?" His voice was quavering, even sympathetic, and very
gentle as he looked at them.
"I have lost my little son!" cried Lillian in a keen, strained tone,
agonized anew by the mere mention of the catastrophe. "Have you any
information about him? I am ready to pay for it." She had been warned a
hundred times that eagerness in proffering money, in making the reward so
obviously sure, was not conducive to accelerating the disclosure,
bringing into play the innate perversity of human nature, and a desire to
trade on the situation and increase the gains; yet try as she might, she
could not refrain from invoking always the cogent aid of gold.
"I ain't so particular 'bout the money, lady. I got su'thin' on my mind.
I be bent on makin' it square with the law. An' then, too, that leetle
Archie air a mighty gamesome leetle trick.
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