week will do wonderfully, if I can be sure of that first amount. I've written the names of the places where I want to put the money after each item; you have them, you see."
"They mean nothing whatever to me; your father refrained from taking me into his affairs."
She knew that this latter statement was true; but the other was not. She recently had learned that her grandfather had informed himself fully about her father's business; nevertheless she recognized that, for purposes of his own, he meant to force her to explain as if he were completely ignorant.
"Those are the names of irrigation and development companies and water-power plants in Montana and Wyoming, mostly, with one in Idaho. Their names show their location, grandfather; the first five are almost ready for operation; the others are not. I want the money marked 'immediate' to complete the first five and get them running. If I do not do that, the leases—or the purchase contracts—will lapse."
"That's too bad. Who made the leases and contracts?"
"My father."
"When?"
"Some of them many years ago; others more recently. The dates of the leases are here." She furnished him with another sheet of figures.
He only grunted as he glanced over it and stopped chewing his cigar. He found a match in his vest pocket and, scratching it under his desk, he lighted his cigar now and, leaned back, puffing, as he laid down the papers. "All right; what happens if they lapse?"
"Father's interest—my interest now," Ethel said
