"I'm afraid you'll have to excuse me, Mr. Beamish. I can't form an opinion; I haven't heard the other side yet."
"Do you want to hear them? Do you like that kind of talk?"
George smiled, though he was not favorably impressed by the man. His tone was too dictatorial; George expected civility when asked a favor.
"After all," he said, "it would only be fair."
"Then you won't sign?"
"No."
Beamish sat silent a moment or two, regarding George steadily.
"One name more or less doesn't matter much, but I'll own that the opinion of you farmers who use my hotel as a stopping-place counts with the authorities," he told him. "I've got quite a few signatures. You want to remember that it won't pay you to go against the general wish."
There was a threat in his manner, and George's face hardened.
"That consideration hasn't much weight with me," he said.