第33章

While Emil and Carl were amusing them-

selves at the fair, Alexandra was at home, busy with her account-books, which had been ne-glected of late. She was almost through with her figures when she heard a cart drive up to the gate, and looking out of the window she saw her two older brothers. They had seemed to avoid her ever since Carl Linstrum's arrival, four weeks ago that day, and she hurried to the door to welcome them. She saw at once that they had come with some very definite purpose.

They followed her stiffly into the sitting-room.

Oscar sat down, but Lou walked over to the window and remained standing, his hands be-hind him.

"You are by yourself?" he asked, looking toward the doorway into the parlor.

"Yes. Carl and Emil went up to the Catho-lic fair."

For a few moments neither of the men spoke.

Then Lou came out sharply. "How soon does he intend to go away from here?""I don't know, Lou. Not for some time, Ihope." Alexandra spoke in an even, quiet tone that often exasperated her brothers. They felt that she was trying to be superior with them.

Oscar spoke up grimly. "We thought we ought to tell you that people have begun to talk," he said meaningly.

Alexandra looked at him. "What about?"

Oscar met her eyes blankly. "About you, keeping him here so long. It looks bad for him to be hanging on to a woman this way. People think you're getting taken in."Alexandra shut her account-book firmly.

"Boys," she said seriously, "don't let's go on with this. We won't come out anywhere. Ican't take advice on such a matter. I know you mean well, but you must not feel responsible for me in things of this sort. If we go on with this talk it will only make hard feeling."Lou whipped about from the window. "You ought to think a little about your family.

You're making us all ridiculous."

"How am I?"

"People are beginning to say you want to marry the fellow.""Well, and what is ridiculous about that?"Lou and Oscar exchanged outraged looks.

"Alexandra! Can't you see he's just a tramp and he's after your money? He wants to be taken care of, he does!""Well, suppose I want to take care of him?

Whose business is it but my own?"

"Don't you know he'd get hold of your property?""He'd get hold of what I wished to give him, certainly."Oscar sat up suddenly and Lou clutched at his bristly hair.

"Give him?" Lou shouted. "Our property, our homestead?""I don't know about the homestead," said Alexandra quietly. "I know you and Oscar have always expected that it would be left to your children, and I'm not sure but what you're right. But I'll do exactly as I please with the rest of my land, boys.""The rest of your land!" cried Lou, growing more excited every minute. "Didn't all the land come out of the homestead? It was bought with money borrowed on the homestead, and Oscar and me worked ourselves to the bone paying interest on it.""Yes, you paid the interest. But when you married we made a division of the land, and you were satisfied. I've made more on my farms since I've been alone than when we all worked together.""Everything you've made has come out of the original land that us boys worked for, hasn't it? The farms and all that comes out of them belongs to us as a family."Alexandra waved her hand impatiently.

"Come now, Lou. Stick to the facts. You are talking nonsense. Go to the county clerk and ask him who owns my land, and whether my titles are good."Lou turned to his brother. "This is what comes of letting a woman meddle in business,"he said bitterly. "We ought to have taken things in our own hands years ago. But she liked to run things, and we humored her. We thought you had good sense, Alexandra. We never thought you'd do anything foolish."Alexandra rapped impatiently on her desk with her knuckles. "Listen, Lou. Don't talk wild. You say you ought to have taken things into your own hands years ago. I suppose you mean before you left home. But how could you take hold of what wasn't there? I've got most of what I have now since we divided the prop-erty; I've built it up myself, and it has nothing to do with you."Oscar spoke up solemnly. "The property of a family really belongs to the men of the family, no matter about the title. If anything goes wrong, it's the men that are held responsible.""Yes, of course," Lou broke in. "Everybody knows that. Oscar and me have always been easy-going and we've never made any fuss.