And yet, insensibly, he was doing Mona Hutton the greatest wrong in his power--almost.
Some realizing sense of this came to him after that evening beside the old tide mill, when his words had caused a single tear to fall upon the hand that helped her to arise, and yet he could not tell what he had said that hurt her so.
There is, perhaps, nothing so fascinating in this wide world to a young man as the first signs of a sweet maid's budding love for him, and it must be stated, nothing is harder to turn away from, and Winn was no exception to young men in general. And now that he was conscious of it, that fact, coupled with the business dilemma confronting him, created a double burden. He saw whither he was drifting with her and seeing, had not the heart to turn away. On the other hand, the Rockhaven Granite Company began to seem a quagmire of fraud in which he and all who had trusted in him might any day become entangled, their investments swept away, the men he had hired left without pay, and he stranded on this island. It may seem that Winn was borrowing needless worriment, and yet once the canker spot of suspicion fastens itself upon a man's mind, it grows until it turns all things green.
One thing he tried to do--avoid Mona. And yet he could not to any extent, for since she dwelt next door he must needs meet her and speak almost daily. And strange to say, now that it was in his heart to act indifferent, her appealing eyes and winsome face began to seem a reproach, and his conscience troubled him. For a week he passed each evening alone in his room trying to read one of the books he had brought with him, or else in Jess Hutton's store, listening to the gossip of the men who gathered there, interspersed with an occasional bit of quaint philosophy from the lips of Jess himself, and then a bombshell in the way of a letter to him reached the island. It was as follows:--
"Have been back to the city now for two weeks and watching the trend of the market. I was satisfied, as I wrote you, that Weston & Hill were preparing to launch a skyrocket--now I know it. What with printer's ink and that walking tombstone, Simmons, they have managed to get Rockhaven among the unlisted but active stocks, and by some chicanery, worked the price up to six dollars. Page, my broker, says it's a wildcat of the most pronounced stripe. A good many are short of it at below its present price and yet it holds firm. I've unloaded half I bought, so I am on Easy Street, and am watching out. It may go up with a whoop or down with a thud. One guess is as good as another, but what you best do is send me your stock and let Page sell it. Also if you have sold any to your friends, give them the tip. I know you believe in Weston and think, as you have said, that I am a perpetual scoffer. They may be all right, but I don't believe it, and now as you have a chance to unload and make a good thing, better do it.