I hope so. I don't want the job. But once he has
picked out his queen, you can't change him by making marriage a
financial impossibility."
"Well, I'm certainly not protesting against your raising his salary,"
said I.
"You needn't. To tell the truth, it's too late. I wrote to the office
about that yesterday."
It was of no use to thank Weston for anything. I tried to, but he
brushed it aside airily and told me to attend to my own affairs and
light one of his cigars. When we were smoking together, his mood
became more serious, and as he spoke of Tim and Tim's ambition, and of
his interest in the boy, he was carried back to his own earlier life.
So for the first time I came to understand his prolonged stay in the
valley.
Like Elmer Spiker, in my heart Weston's conduct puzzled me. When he
told me that he had come here simply because he liked the country I
believed him that far, but I suspected some deeper reason to keep a man
of his stamp dawdling in a remote valley. Now it was so simple. The
foundation of Weston's fortunes had been laid in one small saloon; its
bulk had been built on a chain stretching from end to end of the city.
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