"This news is awful," said the president. "I am very sorry for
Mrs. Grogan and her children--she was a fine woman. It is a
serious matter, too, for the village. The highway work ought to
commence at once; the roads need it. We may now have to advertise
again. That would delay everything for a month."
"Well, there's other bids," said another trustee,--one of the
gentlemen of leisure,--ignoring the president's sympathy, and
hopeful now of a possible slice on his own account. "What's the
matter with McGaw's proposal? There's not much difference in the
price. Perhaps he would come down to the Grogan figure. Is Mr.
McGaw here, or anybody who can speak for him?"
Justice Rowan sat against the wall. The overzealous trustee had
exactly expressed his own wishes and anxieties. He wanted McGaw's
chances settled at once. If they failed, there was Rowan's own
brother who might come in for the work, the justice sharing of
course in the profits.
"In the absence of me client," said Rowan, looking about the room,
and drawing in his breath with an important air, "I suppose I can
ripresint him. I think, however, that if your honorable boord
will go on with the other business before you, Mr. McGaw will be
on hand in half an hour himself. In the meantime I will hunt him
up.
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