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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/330-h.zip b/330-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..96464b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/330-h.zip diff --git a/330-h/330-h.htm b/330-h/330-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6ef4424 --- /dev/null +++ b/330-h/330-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10575 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Where There's a Will, by Mary Roberts Rinehart + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Where There's A Will, by Mary Roberts Rinehart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Where There's A Will + +Author: Mary Roberts Rinehart + +Release Date: March 14, 2006 [EBook #330] +Last Updated: January 20, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE THERE'S A WILL *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + WHERE THERE'S A WILL + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Mary Roberts Rinehart + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>WHERE THERE'S A WILL</b></big> + </a><br /> <br /> <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> + CHAPTER III </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> + CHAPTER VI </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> + CHAPTER IX </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> + CHAPTER XII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> + CHAPTER XV </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0018"> + CHAPTER XVIII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX </a><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0021"> + CHAPTER XXI </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0024"> + CHAPTER XXIV </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV </a><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0027"> + CHAPTER XXVII </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII </a> <br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX </a><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0030"> + CHAPTER XXX </a><br /> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + WHERE THERE'S A WILL + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I + </h2> + <h3> + I HAVE A WARNING + </h3> + <p> + When it was all over Mr. Sam came out to the spring-house to say good-by + to me before he and Mrs. Sam left. I hated to see him go, after all we had + been through together, and I suppose he saw it in my face, for he came + over close and stood looking down at me, and smiling. "You saved us, + Minnie," he said, "and I needn't tell you we're grateful; but do you know + what I think?" he asked, pointing his long forefinger at me. "I think + you've enjoyed it even when you were suffering most. Red-haired women are + born to intrigue, as the sparks fly upward." + </p> + <p> + "Enjoyed it!" I snapped. "I'm an old woman before my time, Mr. Sam. What + with trailing back and forward through the snow to the shelter-house, and + not getting to bed at all some nights, and my heart going by fits and + starts, as you may say, and half the time my spinal marrow fairly chilled—not + to mention putting on my overshoes every morning from force of habit and + having to take them off again, I'm about all in." + </p> + <p> + "It's been the making of you, Minnie," he said, eying me, with his hands + in his pockets. "Look at your cheeks! Look at your disposition! I don't + believe you'd stab anybody in the back now!" + </p> + <p> + (Which was a joke, of course; I never stabbed anybody in the back.) + </p> + <p> + He sauntered over and dropped a quarter into the slot-machine by the door, + but the thing was frozen up and refused to work. I've seen the time when + Mr. Sam would have kicked it, but he merely looked at it and then at me. + </p> + <p> + "Turned virtuous, like everything else around the place. Not that I don't + approve of virtue, Minnie, but I haven't got used to putting my foot on + the brass rail of the bar and ordering a nut sundae. Hook the money out + with a hairpin, Minnie, and buy some shredded wheat in remembrance of me." + </p> + <p> + He opened the door and a blast of February wind rattled the window-frames. + Mr. Sam threw out his chest under his sweater and waved me another + good-by. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'm off, Minnie," he said. "Take care of yourself and don't sit too + tight on the job; learn to rise a bit in the saddle." + </p> + <p> + "Good-by, Mr. Sam!" I called, putting down Miss Patty's doily and + following him to the door; "good-by; better have something before you + start to keep you warm." + </p> + <p> + He turned at the corner of the path and grinned back at me. + </p> + <p> + "All right," he called. "I'll go down to the bar and get a lettuce + sandwich!" + </p> + <p> + Then he was gone, and happy as I was, I knew I would miss him terribly. I + got a wire hairpin and went over to the slot-machine, but when I had + finally dug out the money I could hardly see it for tears. + </p> + <p> + It began when the old doctor died. I suppose you have heard of Hope + Sanatorium and the mineral spring that made it famous. Perhaps you have + seen the blotter we got out, with a flash-light interior of the + spring-house on it, and me handing the old doctor a glass of mineral + water, and wearing the embroidered linen waist that Miss Patty Jennings + gave me that winter. The blotters were a great success. Below the picture + it said, "Yours for health," and in the body of the blotter, in red + lettering, "Your system absorbs the health-giving drugs in Hope Springs + water as this blotter soaks up ink." + </p> + <p> + The "Yours for health" was my idea. + </p> + <p> + I have been spring-house girl at Hope Springs Sanatorium for fourteen + years. My father had the position before me, but he took rheumatism, and + as the old doctor said, it was bad business policy to spend thousands of + dollars in advertising that Hope Springs water cured rheumatism, and then + have father creaking like a rusty hinge every time he bent over to fill a + glass with it. + </p> + <p> + Father gave me one piece of advice the day he turned the spring-house over + to me. + </p> + <p> + "It's a difficult situation, my girl," he said. "Lots of people think it's + simply a matter of filling a glass with water and handing it over the + railing. Why, I tell you a barkeeper's a high-priced man mostly, and his + job's a snap to this. I'd like to know how a barkeeper would make out if + his customers came back only once a year and he had to remember whether + they wanted their drinks cold or hot or 'chill off'. And another thing: if + a chap comes in with a tale of woe, does the barkeeper have to ask him + what he's doing for it, and listen while he tells how much weight he lost + in a blanket sweat? No, sir; he pushes him a bottle and lets it go at + that." + </p> + <p> + Father passed away the following winter. He'd been a little bit delirious, + and his last words were: "Yes, sir; hot, with a pinch of salt, sir?" Poor + father! The spring had been his career, you may say, and I like to think + that perhaps even now he is sitting by some everlasting spring measuring + out water with a golden goblet instead of the old tin dipper. I said that + to Mr. Sam once, and he said he felt quite sure that I was right, and that + where father was the water would be appreciated. He had heard of father. + </p> + <p> + Well, for the first year or so I nearly went crazy. Then I found things + were coming my way. I've got the kind of mind that never forgets a name or + face and can combine them properly, which isn't common. And when folks + came back I could call them at once. It would do your heart good to see + some politician, coming up to rest his stomach from the free bar in the + state house at the capital, enter the spring-house where everybody is + playing cards and drinking water and not caring a rap whether he's the man + that cleans the windows or the secretary of the navy. If he's been there + before, in sixty seconds I have his name on my tongue and a glass of water + in his hand, and have asked him about the rheumatism in his right knee and + how the children are. And in ten minutes he's sitting in a bridge game and + trotting to the spring to have his glass refilled during his dummy hand, + as if he'd grown up in the place. The old doctor used to say my memory was + an asset to the sanatorium. + </p> + <p> + He depended on me a good bit—the old doctor did—and that + winter he was pretty feeble. (He was only seventy, but he'd got in the + habit of making it eighty to show that the mineral water kept him young. + Finally he got to BEING eighty, from thinking it, and he died of senility + in the end.) + </p> + <p> + He was in the habit of coming to the spring-house every day to get his + morning glass of water and read the papers. For a good many years it had + been his custom to sit there, in the winter by the wood fire and in the + summer just inside the open door, and to read off the headings aloud while + I cleaned around the spring and polished glasses. + </p> + <p> + "I see the president is going fishing, Minnie," he'd say, or "Airbrake is + up to 133; I wish I'd bought it that time I dreamed about it. It was you + who persuaded me not to, Minnie." + </p> + <p> + And all that winter, with the papers full of rumors that Miss Patty + Jennings was going to marry a prince, we'd followed it by the spring-house + fire, the old doctor and I, getting angry at the Austrian emperor for + opposing it when we knew how much too good Miss Patty was for any + foreigner, and then getting nervous and fussed when we read that the + prince's mother was in favor of the match and it might go through. Miss + Patty and her father came every winter to Hope Springs and I couldn't have + been more anxious about it if she had been my own sister. + </p> + <p> + Well, as I say, it all began the very day the old doctor died. He stamped + out to the spring-house with the morning paper about nine o'clock, and the + wedding seemed to be all off. The paper said the emperor had definitely + refused his consent and had sent the prince, who was his cousin, for a + Japanese cruise, while the Jennings family was going to Mexico in their + private car. The old doctor was indignant, and I remember how he tramped + up and down the spring-house, muttering that the girl had had a lucky + escape, and what did the emperor expect if beauty and youth and wealth + weren't enough. But he calmed down, and soon he was reading that the + papers were predicting an early spring, and he said we'd better begin to + increase our sulphur percentage in the water. + </p> + <p> + I hadn't noticed anything strange in his manner, although we'd all noticed + how feeble he was growing, but when he got up to go back to the sanatorium + and I reached him his cane, it seemed to me he avoided looking at me. He + went to the door and then turned and spoke to me over his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "By the way," he remarked, "Mr. Richard will be along in a day or so, + Minnie. You'd better break it to Mrs. Wiggins." + </p> + <p> + Since the summer before we'd had to break Mr. Dick's coming to Mrs. + Wiggins the housekeeper, owing to his finding her false front where it had + blown out of a window, having been hung up to dry, and his wearing it to + luncheon as whiskers. Mr. Dick was the old doctor's grandson. + </p> + <p> + "Humph!" I said, and he turned around and looked square at me. + </p> + <p> + "He's a good boy at heart, Minnie," he said. "We've had our troubles with + him, you and I, but everything has been quiet lately." + </p> + <p> + When I didn't say anything he looked discouraged, but he had a fine way of + keeping on until he gained his point, had the old doctor. + </p> + <p> + "It HAS been quiet, hasn't it?" he demanded. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know," I said; "I have been deaf since the last explosion!" And I + went down the steps to the spring. I heard the tap of his cane as he came + across the floor, and I knew he was angry. + </p> + <p> + "Confound you, Minnie," he exclaimed, "if I could get along without you + I'd discharge you this minute." + </p> + <p> + "And if I paid any attention to your discharging me I'd have been gone a + dozen times in the last year," I retorted. "I'm not objecting to Mr. Dick + coming here, am I? Only don't expect me to burst into song about it. Shut + the door behind you when you go out." + </p> + <p> + But he didn't go at once. He stood watching me polish glasses and get the + card-tables ready, and I knew he still had something on his mind. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie," he said at last, "you're a shrewd young woman—maybe more + head than heart, but that's well enough. And with your temper under + control, you're a CAPABLE young woman." + </p> + <p> + "What has Mr. Dick been up to now?" I asked, growing suspicious. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing. But I'm an old man, Minnie, a very old man." + </p> + <p> + "Stuff and nonsense," I exclaimed, alarmed. "You're only seventy. That's + what comes of saying in the advertising that you are eighty—to show + what the springs have done for you. It's enough to make a man die of + senility to have ten years tacked to his age." + </p> + <p> + "And if," he went on, "if anything happens to me, Minnie, I'm counting on + you to do what you can for the old place. You've been here a good many + years, Minnie." + </p> + <p> + "Fourteen years I have been ladling out water at this spring," I said, + trying to keep my lips from trembling. "I wouldn't be at home any place + else, unless it would be in an aquarium. But don't ask me to stay here and + help Mr. Dick sell the old place for a summer hotel. For that's what he'll + do." + </p> + <p> + "He won't sell it," declared the old doctor grimly. "All I want is for you + to promise to stay." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I'll stay," I said. "I won't promise to be agreeable, but I'll stay. + Somebody'll have to look after the spring; I reckon Mr. Dick thinks it + comes out of the earth just as we sell it, with the whole pharmacopoeia in + it." + </p> + <p> + Well, it made the old doctor happier, and I'm not sorry I promised, but + I've got a joint on my right foot that throbs when it is going to rain or + I am going to have bad luck, and it gave a jump then. I might have known + there was trouble ahead. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II + </h2> + <h3> + MISS PATTY ARRIVES + </h3> + <p> + It was pretty quiet in the spring-house that day after the old doctor + left. It had started to snow and only the regulars came out. What with the + old doctor talking about dying, and Miss Patty Jennings gone to Mexico, + when I'd been looking forward to her and her cantankerous old father + coming to Hope Springs for February, as they mostly did, I was depressed + all day. I got to the point where Mr. Moody feeding nickels into the + slot-machine with one hand and eating zwieback with the other made me + nervous. After a while he went to sleep over it, and when he had slipped a + nickel in his mouth and tried to put the zwieback in the machine he + muttered something and went up to the house. + </p> + <p> + I was glad to be alone. I drew a chair in front of the fire and wondered + what I would do if the old doctor died, and what a fool I'd been not to be + a school-teacher, which is what I studied for. + </p> + <p> + I was thinking to myself bitterly that all that my experience in the + spring fitted me for was to be a mermaid, when I heard something running + down the path, and it turned out to be Tillie, the diet cook. + </p> + <p> + She slammed the door behind her and threw the Finleyville evening paper at + me. + </p> + <p> + "There!" she said, "I've won a cake of toilet soap from Bath-house Mike. + The emperor's consented." + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense!" I snapped, and snatched the paper. Tillie was right; the + emperor HAD! I sat down and read it through, and there was Miss Patty's + picture in an oval and the prince's in another, with a turned-up mustache + and his hand on the handle of his sword, and between them both was the + Austrian emperor. Tillie came and looked over my shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not keen on the mustache," she said, "but the sword's beautiful—and, + oh, Minnie, isn't he aristocratic? Look at his nose!" + </p> + <p> + But I'm not one to make up my mind in a hurry, and I'd heard enough talk + about foreign marriages in the years I'd been dipping out mineral water to + make me a skeptic, so to speak. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not so sure," I said slowly. "You can't tell anything by that kind of + a picture. If he was even standing beside a chair I could get a line on + him. He may be only four feet high." + </p> + <p> + "Then Miss Jennings wouldn't love him," declared Tillie. "How do you + reckon he makes his mustache point up like that?" + </p> + <p> + "What's love got to do with it?" I demanded. "Don't be a fool, Tillie. It + takes more than two people's pictures in a newspaper with a red heart + around them and an overweight cupid above to make a love-match. Love's a + word that's used to cover a good many sins and to excuse them all." + </p> + <p> + "She isn't that kind," said Tillie. "She's—she's as sweet as she's + beautiful, and you're as excited as I am, Minnie Waters, and if you're + not, what have you got the drinking glass she used last winter put on the + top shelf out of reach for?" She went to the door and slammed it open. + "Thank heaven I'm not a dried-up old maid," she called back over her + shoulder, "and when you're through hugging that paper you can send it up + to the house." + </p> + <p> + Well, I sat there and thought it over, Miss Patty, or Miss Patricia, + being, so to speak, a friend of mine. They'd come to the Springs every + winter for years. Many a time she'd slipped away from her governess and + come down to the spring-house for a chat with me, and we'd make pop-corn + together by my open fire, and talk about love and clothes, and even the + tariff, Miss Patty being for protection, which was natural, seeing that + was the way her father made his money, and I for free trade, especially in + the winter when my tips fall off considerable. + </p> + <p> + And when she was younger she would sit back from the fire, with the + corn-popper on her lap and her cheeks as red as cranberries, and say: "I + DON'T know why I tell you all these things, Minnie, but Aunt Honoria's + funny, and I can't talk to Dorothy; she's too young, you know. Well, HE + said—" only every winter it was a different "he." + </p> + <p> + In my wash-stand drawer I'd kept all the clippings about her coming out + and the winter she spent in Washington and was supposed to be engaged to + the president's son, and the magazine article that told how Mr. Jennings + had got his money by robbing widows and orphans, and showed the little + frame house where Miss Patty was born—as if she's had anything to do + with it. And so now I was cutting out the picture of her and the prince + and the article underneath which told how many castles she'd have, and I + don't mind saying I was sniffling a little bit, for I couldn't get used to + the idea. And suddenly the door closed softly and there was a rustle + behind me. When I turned it was Miss Patty herself. She saw the clipping + immediately, and stopped just inside the door. + </p> + <p> + "YOU, TOO," she said. "And we've come all this distance to get away from + just that." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I shan't talk about it," I replied, not holding out my hand, for + with her, so to speak, next door to being a princess—but she leaned + right over and kissed me. I could hardly believe it. + </p> + <p> + "Why won't you talk about it?" she insisted, catching me by the shoulders + and holding me off. "Minnie, your eyes are as red as your hair!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't approve of it," I said. "You might as well know it now as later, + Miss Patty. I don't believe in mixed marriages. I had a cousin that + married a Jew, and what with him making the children promise to be good on + the Talmud and her trying to raise them with the Bible, the poor things is + that mixed up that it's pitiful." + </p> + <p> + She got a little red at that, but she sat down and took up the clipping. + </p> + <p> + "He's much better looking than that, Minnie," she said soberly, "and he's + a good Catholic. But if that's the way you feel we'll not talk about it. + I've had enough trouble at home as it is." + </p> + <p> + "I guess from that your father isn't crazy about it," I remarked, getting + her a glass of spring water. The papers had been full of how Mr. Jennings + had forbidden the prince the house when he had been in America the summer + before. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly he's crazy about it—almost insane!" she said, and smiled + at me in her old way over the top of the glass. Then she put down the + glass and came over to me. "Minnie, Minnie," she said, "if you only knew + how I've wanted to get away from the newspapers and the gossips and come + to this smelly little spring-house and talk things over with a red-haired, + sharp-tongued, mean-dispositioned spring-house girl—!" + </p> + <p> + And with that I began to blubber, and she came into my arms like a baby. + </p> + <p> + "You're all I've got," I declared, over and over, "and you're going to + live in a country where they harness women with dogs, and you'll never + hear an English word from morning to night." + </p> + <p> + "Stuff!" She gave me a little shake. "He speaks as good English as I do. + And now we're going to stop talking about him—you're worse than the + newspapers." She took off her things and going into my closet began to + rummage for the pop-corn. "Oh, how glad I am to get away," she sang out to + me. "We're supposed to have gone to Mexico; even Dorothy doesn't know. + Where's the pop-corner or the corn-popper or whatever you call it?" + </p> + <p> + She was as happy to have escaped the reporters and the people she knew as + a child, and she sat down on the floor in front of the fire and began to + shell the corn into the popper, as if she'd done it only the day before. + </p> + <p> + "I guess you're safe enough here," I said. "It's always slack in January—only + a few chronics and the Saturday-to-Monday husbands, except a drummer now + and then who drives up from Finleyville. It's too early for drooping + society buds, and the chronic livers don't get around until late March, + after the banquet season closes. It will be pretty quiet for a while." + </p> + <p> + And at that minute the door was flung open, and Bath-house Mike staggered + in. + </p> + <p> + "The old doctor!" he gasped. "He's dead, Miss Minnie—died just now + in the hot room in the bathhouse! One minute he was givin' me the divil + for something or other, and the next—I thought he was asleep." + </p> + <p> + Something that had been heavy in my breast all afternoon suddenly seemed + to burst and made me feel faint all over. But I didn't lose my head. + </p> + <p> + "Does anybody know yet?" I asked quickly. He shook his head. + </p> + <p> + "Then he didn't die in the bath-house, Mike," I said firmly. "He died in + his bed, and you know it. If it gets out that he died in the hot room I'll + have the coroner on you." + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty was standing by the railing of the spring. I got my shawl and + started out after Mike, and she followed. + </p> + <p> + "If the guests ever get hold of this they'll stampede. Start any + excitement in a sanatorium," I said, "and one and all they'll dip their + thermometers in hot water and swear they've got fever!" + </p> + <p> + And we hurried to the house together. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III + </h2> + <h3> + A WILL + </h3> + <p> + Well, we got the poor old doctor moved back to his room, and had one of + the chambermaids find him there, and I wired to Mrs. Van Alstyne, who was + Mr. Dicky Carter's sister, and who was on her honeymoon in South Carolina. + The Van Alstynes came back at once, in very bad tempers, and we had the + funeral from the preacher's house in Finleyville so as not to harrow up + the sanatorium people any more than necessary. Even as it was a few left, + but about twenty of the chronics stayed, and it looked as if we might be + able to keep going. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty sent to town for a black veil for me, and even went to the + funeral. It helped to take my mind off my troubles to think who it was + that was holding my hand and comforting me, and when, toward the end of + the service, she got out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes I was almost + overcome, she being, so to speak, in the very shadow of a throne. + </p> + <p> + After it was all over the relatives gathered in the sun parlor of the + sanatorium to hear the will—Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife and about + twenty more who had come up from the city for the funeral and stayed over—on + the house. + </p> + <p> + Well, the old doctor left me the buttons for his full dress waistcoat and + his favorite copy of Gray's Anatomy. I couldn't exactly set up + housekeeping with my share of the estate, but when the lawyer read that + part of the will aloud and a grin went around the room I flounced out of + my chair. + </p> + <p> + "Maybe you think I'm disappointed," I said, looking hard at the family, + who weren't making any particular pretense at grief, and at the house + people standing around the door. "Maybe you think it's funny to see an + unmarried woman get a set of waistcoat buttons and a medical book. Well, + that set of buttons was the set he bought in London on his wedding trip, + and the book's the one he read himself to sleep with every night for + twenty years. I'm proud to get them." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Van Alstyne touched me on the arm. + </p> + <p> + "Everybody knows how loyal you've been, Minnie," he assured me. "Now sit + down like a good girl and listen to the rest of the will." + </p> + <p> + "While I'm up I might as well get something else off my mind," I said. "I + know what's in that will, but I hadn't anything to do with it, Mr. Van + Alstyne. He took advantage of my being laid up with influenza last + spring." + </p> + <p> + They thought that was funny, but a few minutes later they weren't so + cheerful. You see the sanatorium was a mighty fine piece of property, with + a deer park and golf links. We'd had plenty of offers to sell it for a + summer hotel, but we'd both been dead against it. That was one of the + reasons for the will. + </p> + <p> + The whole estate was left to Dicky Carter, who hadn't been able to come, + owing to his being laid up with an attack of mumps. The family sat up and + nodded at one another, or held up its hands, but when they heard there was + a condition they breathed easier. + </p> + <p> + Beginning with one week after the reading of the will—and not a day + later—Mr. Dick was to take charge of the sanatorium and to stay + there for two months without a day off. If at the end of that time the + place was being successfully conducted and could show that it hadn't lost + money, the entire property became his for keeps. If he failed it was to be + sold and the money given to charity. + </p> + <p> + You would have to know Richard Carter to understand the excitement the + will caused. Most of us, I reckon, like the sort of person we've never + dared to be ourselves. The old doctor had gone to bed at ten o'clock all + his life and got up at seven, and so he had a sneaking fondness for the + one particular grandson who often didn't go to bed at all. Twice to my + knowledge when he was in his teens did Dicky Carter run away from school, + and twice his grandfather kept him for a week hidden in the shelter-house + on the golf links. Naturally when Mr. Van Alstyne and I had to hide him + again, which is further on in the story, he went to the old shelter-house + like a dog to its kennel, only this time—but that's ahead, too. + </p> + <p> + Well, the family went back to town in a buzz of indignation, and I carried + my waistcoat buttons and my Anatomy out to the spring-house and had a good + cry. There was a man named Thoburn who was crazy for the property as a + summer hotel, and every time I shut my eyes I could see "Thoburn House" + over the veranda and children sailing paper boats in the mineral spring. + </p> + <p> + Sure enough, the next afternoon Mr. Thoburn drove out from Finleyville + with a suit case, and before he'd taken off his overcoat he came out to + the spring-house. + </p> + <p> + "Hello, Minnie," he exclaimed. "Does the old man's ghost come back to dope + the spring, or do you do it?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Thoburn," I retorted + sharply. "If you don't know that this spring has its origin in—" + </p> + <p> + "In Schmidt's drug store down in Finleyville!" he finished for me. "Oh, I + know all about that spring, Minnie! Don't forget that my father's cows + used to drink that water and liked it. I leave it to you," he said, + sniffing, "if a self-respecting cow wouldn't die of thirst before she + drank that stuff as it is now." + </p> + <p> + I'd been filling him a glass—it being a matter of habit with me—and + he took it to the window and held it to the light. + </p> + <p> + "You're getting careless, Minnie," he said, squinting at it. "Some of + those drugs ought to be dissolved first in hot water. There's a lump of + lithia there that has Schmidt's pharmacy label on it." + </p> + <p> + "Where?" I demanded, and started for it. He laughed at that, and putting + the glass down, he came over and stood smiling at me. + </p> + <p> + "As ingenuous as a child," he said in his mocking way, "a nice, little + red-haired child! Minnie, how old is this young Carter?" + </p> + <p> + "Twenty-three." + </p> + <p> + "An—er—earnest youth? Willing to buckle down to work and make + the old place go? Ready to pat the old ladies on the shoulder and squeeze + the young ones' hands?" + </p> + <p> + "He's young," I said, "but if you're counting on his being a fool—" + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," he broke in hastily. "If he hasn't too much character he'll + probably succeed. I hope he isn't a fool. If he isn't, oh, friend Minnie, + he'll stand the atmosphere of this Garden of Souls for about a week, and + then he'll kill some of them and escape. Where is he now?" + </p> + <p> + "He's been sick," I said. "Mumps!" + </p> + <p> + "Mumps! Oh, my aunt!" he exclaimed, and fell to laughing. He was still + laughing when he got to the door. + </p> + <p> + "Mumps!" he repeated, with his hand on the knob. "Minnie, the old place + will be under the hammer in three weeks, and if you know what's good for + you, you'll sign in under the new management while there's a vacancy. + You've been the whole show here for so long that it will be hard for you + to line up in the back row of the chorus." + </p> + <p> + "If I were you," I said, looking him straight in the eye, "I wouldn't pick + out any new carpets yet, Mr. Thoburn. I promised the old doctor I'd help + Mr. Dick, and I will." + </p> + <p> + "So you're actually going to fight it out," he said, grinning. "Well, the + odds are in your favor. You are two to my one." + </p> + <p> + "I think it's pretty even," I retorted. "We will be hindered, so to speak, + by having certain principles of honor and honesty. You have no handicap." + </p> + <p> + He tried to think of a retort, and not finding one he slammed out of the + spring-house in a rage. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife came in that same day, just before dinner, + and we played three-handed bridge for half an hour. As I've said, they'd + been on their honeymoon, and they were both sulky at having to stay at the + Springs. It was particularly hard on Mrs. Van Alstyne, because, with seven + trunks of trousseau with her, she had to put on black. But she used to + shut herself up in her room in the evenings and deck out for Mr. Sam in + her best things. We found it out one evening when Mrs. Biggs set fire to + her bureau cover with her alcohol curling-iron heater, and Mrs. Sam, who + had been going around in a black crepe dress all day, rushed out in pink + satin with crystal trimming, and slippers with cut-glass heels. + </p> + <p> + After the first rubber Mrs. Van Alstyne threw her cards on the floor and + said another day like this would finish her. + </p> + <p> + "Surely Dick is able to come now," she said, like a peevish child. "Didn't + he say the swelling was all gone?" + </p> + <p> + "Do you expect me to pick up those cards?" Mr. Sam asked angrily, looking + at her. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Sam yawned and looked up at him. + </p> + <p> + "Of course I do," she answered. "If it wasn't for you I'd not have stayed + a moment after the funeral. Isn't it bad enough to have seven trunks full + of clothes I've never worn, and to have to put on poky old black, without + keeping me here in this old ladies' home?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam looked at the cards and then at her. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not going to pick them up," he declared. "And as to our staying here, + don't you realize that if we don't your precious brother will never show + up here at all, or stay if he does come? And don't you also realize that + this is probably the only chance he'll ever have in the world to become + financially independent of us?" + </p> + <p> + "You needn't be brutal," she said sharply. "And it isn't so bad for you + here as it is for me. You spend every waking minute admiring Miss + Jennings, while I—there isn't a man in the place who'll talk + anything but his joints or his stomach." + </p> + <p> + She got up and went to the window, and Mr. Sam followed her. Nobody pays + any attention to me in the spring-house; I'm a part of it, like the brass + rail around the spring, or the clock. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not admiring Miss Jennings," he corrected, "I'm sympathizing, dear. + She looks too nice a girl to have been stung by the title bee, that's + all." + </p> + <p> + She turned her back to him, but he pretended to tuck the hair at the back + of her neck up under her comb, and she let him do it. As I stooped to + gather up the cards he kissed the tip of her ear. + </p> + <p> + "Listen," he said, "there's a scream of a play down at Finleyville + to-night called Sweet Peas. Senator Biggs and the bishop went down last + night, and they say it's the worst in twenty years. Put on a black veil + and let's slip away and see it." + </p> + <p> + I think she agreed to do it, but that night after dinner, Amanda King, who + has charge of the news stand, told me the sheriff had closed the + opera-house and that the leading woman was sick at the hotel. + </p> + <p> + "They say she looked funny last night," Amanda finished, "and I guess + she's got the mumps." + </p> + <p> + Mumps! + </p> + <p> + My joint gave a throb at that minute. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV + </h2> + <h3> + AND A WAY + </h3> + <p> + Mr. Sam wasn't taking any chances, for the next day he went to the city + himself to bring Mr. Dick up. Everything was quiet that day and the day + after, except that on the second day I had a difference of opinion with + the house doctor and he left. + </p> + <p> + The story of the will had got out, of course, and the guests were waiting + to see Mr. Dick come and take charge. I got a good bit of gossip from Miss + Cobb, who had had her hair cut short after a fever and used to come out + early in the morning and curl it all over her head, heating the curler on + the fire log. I never smell burnt hair that I don't think of Miss Cobb + trying to do the back of her neck. She was one of our regulars, and every + winter for ten years she'd read me the letters she had got from an + insurance agent who'd run away with a married woman the day before the + wedding. She kept them in a bundle, tied with lavender ribbon. + </p> + <p> + It was on the third day, I think, that Miss Cobb told me that Miss Patty + and her father had had a quarrel the day before. She got it from one of + the chambermaids. Mr. Jennings was a liver case and not pleasant at any + time, but he had been worse than usual. Annie, the chambermaid, told Miss + Cobb that the trouble was about settlements, and that the more Miss Patty + tried to tell him it was the European custom the worse he got. Miss Patty + hadn't come down to breakfast that day, and Mr. Moody and Senator Biggs + made a wager in the Turkish bath—according to Miss Cobb—Mr. + Moody betting the wedding wouldn't come off at all. + </p> + <p> + "Of course," Miss Cobb said, wetting her finger and trying the iron to see + if it was hot, "of course, Minnie, they're not married yet, and if Father + Jennings gets ugly and makes any sort of scandal it's all off. A scandal + just now would be fatal. These royalties are very touchy about other + people's reputations." + </p> + <p> + Well, I heard that often enough in the next few days. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam hadn't come back by the morning of the sixth day, but he wired his + wife the day before that Mr. Dick was on the way. But we met every train + with a sleigh, and he didn't come. I was uneasy, knowing Mr. Dick, and + Mrs. Sam was worried, too. + </p> + <p> + By that time everybody was waiting and watching, and on the early train on + the sixth day came the lawyer, a Mr. Stitt. Mr. Thoburn was going around + with a sort of greasy smile, and if I could have poisoned him safely I'd + have done it. + </p> + <p> + It had been snowing hard for a day or so, and at eleven o'clock that day I + saw Miss Cobb and Mrs. Biggs coming down the path to the spring-house, + Mrs. Biggs with her crocheting-bag hanging to the handle of her umbrella. + I opened the door, but they wouldn't come in. + </p> + <p> + "We won't track up your clean floor, Minnie," Mrs. Biggs said—she + was a little woman, almost fifty, who'd gone through life convinced she'd + only lived so long by the care she took of herself—"but I thought + I'd better come and speak to you. Please don't irritate Mr. Biggs to-day. + He's been reading that article of Upton Sinclair's about fasting, and + hasn't had a bite to eat since noon yesterday." + </p> + <p> + I noticed then that she looked pale. She was a nervous creature, although + she could drink more spring water than any human being I ever saw, except + one man, and he was a German. + </p> + <p> + Well, I promised to be careful. I've seen them fast before, and when a fat + man starts to live on his own fat, like a bear, he gets about the same + disposition. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Biggs started back, but Miss Cobb waited a moment at the foot of the + steps. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Van Alstyne is back," she said, "but he came alone." + </p> + <p> + "Alone!" I repeated, staring at her in a sort of daze. + </p> + <p> + "Alone," she said solemnly, "and I heard him ask for Mr. Carter. It seems + he started for here yesterday." + </p> + <p> + But I'd had time to get myself in hand, and if I had a chill up my spine + she never knew it. As she started after Mrs. Biggs I saw Mr. Sam hurrying + down the path toward the spring-house, and I knew my joint hadn't throbbed + for nothing. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam came in and slammed the door behind him. + </p> + <p> + "What's this about Mr. Dick not being here?" he shouted. + </p> + <p> + "Well, he isn't. That's all there is to it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I said + calmly. I am always calm when other people get excited. For that reason + some people think my red hair is a false alarm, but they soon find out. + </p> + <p> + "But he MUST be here," said Mr. Van Alstyne. "I put him on the train + myself yesterday, and waited until it started to be sure he was off." + </p> + <p> + "The only way to get Mr. Richard anywhere you want him to go," I said + dryly, "is to have him nailed in a crate and labeled." + </p> + <p> + "Damned young scamp!" said Mr. Van Alstyne, although I have a sign in the + spring-house, "Profanity not allowed." + </p> + <p> + "EXACTLY what was he doing when you last laid eyes on him?" I asked. + </p> + <p> + "He was on the train—" + </p> + <p> + "Was he alone?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "Sitting?" + </p> + <p> + "No, standing. What the deuce, Minnie—" + </p> + <p> + "Waving out the window to you?" + </p> + <p> + "Of course not!" exclaimed Mr. Van Alstyne testily. "He was raising the + window for a girl in the next seat." + </p> + <p> + "Precisely!" I said. "Would you know the girl well enough to trace her?" + </p> + <p> + "That's ridiculous, you know," he said trying to be polite. "Out of a + thousand and one things that may have detained him—" + </p> + <p> + "Only one thing ever detains Mr. Dick, and that always detains him," I + said solemnly. "That's a girl. You're a newcomer in the family, Mr. Van + Alstyne; you don't remember the time he went down here to the station to + see his Aunt Agnes off to the city, and we found him three weeks later in + Oklahoma trying to marry a widow with five children." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Van Alstyne dropped into a chair, and through force of habit I gave + him a glass of spring water. + </p> + <p> + "This was a pretty girl, too," he said dismally. + </p> + <p> + I sat down on the other side of the fireplace, and it seemed to me that + father's crayon enlargement over the mantel shook its head at me. + </p> + <p> + After a minute Mr. Van Alstyne drank the water and got up. + </p> + <p> + "I'll have to tell my wife," he said. "Who's running the place, anyhow? + You?" + </p> + <p> + "Not—exactly," I explained, "but, of course, when anything comes up + they consult me. The housekeeper is a fool, and now that the house + doctor's gone—" + </p> + <p> + "Gone! Who's looking after the patients?" + </p> + <p> + "Well, most of them have been here before," I explained, "and I know their + treatment—the kind of baths and all that." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, YOU know the treatment!" he said, eying me. "And why did the house + doctor go?" + </p> + <p> + "He ordered Mr. Moody to take his spring water hot. Mr. Moody's spring + water has been ordered cold for eleven years, and I refused to change. It + was between the doctor and me, Mr. Van Alstyne." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, of course," he said, "if it was a matter of principle—" He + stopped, and then something seemed to strike him. "I say," he said; "about + the doctor—that's all right, you know; lots of doctors and all that. + But for heaven's sake, Minnie, don't discharge the cook." + </p> + <p> + Now that was queer, for it had been running in my head all morning that in + the slack season it would be cheaper to get a good woman instead of the + chef and let Tillie, the diet cook, make the pastry. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam picked up his hat and looked at his watch. + </p> + <p> + "Eleven thirty," he said, "and no sign of that puppy yet. I guess it's up + to the police." + </p> + <p> + "If there was only something to do," I said, with a lump in my throat, + "but to have to sit and do nothing while the old place dies it's—it's + awful, Mr. Van Alstyne." + </p> + <p> + "We're not dead yet," he replied from the door, "and maybe we'll need you + before the day's over. If anybody can sail the old bark to shore, you can + do it, Minnie. You've been steering it for years. The old doctor was no + navigator, and you and I know it." + </p> + <p> + It was blowing a blizzard by that time, and Miss Patty was the only one + who came out to the spring-house until after three o'clock. She shook the + snow off her furs and stood by the fire, looking at me and not saying + anything for fully a minute. + </p> + <p> + "Well," she said finally, "aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + </p> + <p> + "Why?" I asked, and swallowed hard. + </p> + <p> + "To be in all this trouble and not let me know. I've just this minute + heard about it. Can't we get the police?" + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Van Alstyne is trying," I said, "but I don't hope much. Like as not + Mr. Dick will turn up tomorrow and say his calendar was a day slow." + </p> + <p> + I gave her a glass of water, and I noticed when she took it how pale she + was. But she held it up and smiled over it at me. + </p> + <p> + "Here's to everything turning out better than we expect!" she said, and + made a face as she drank the water. I thought that she was thinking of her + own troubles as well as mine, for she put down the glass and stood looking + at her engagement ring, a square red ruby in an old-fashioned setting. It + was a very large ruby, but I've seen showier rings. + </p> + <p> + "There isn't anything wrong, Miss Patty, is there?" I asked, and she + dropped her hand and looked at me. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," she said. "That is, nothing much, Minnie. Father is—I + think he's rather ridiculous about some things, but I dare say he'll come + around. I don't mind his fussing with me, but—if it should get in + the papers, Minnie! A breath of unpleasant notoriety now would be fatal!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't see why," I said sharply. "The royal families of Europe have a + good bit of unpleasant notoriety themselves occasionally. I should think + they'd fall over themselves to get some good red American blood. Blue + blood's bad blood; you can ask any doctor." + </p> + <p> + But she only smiled. + </p> + <p> + "You're like father, Minnie," she said. "You'll never understand." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not sure I want to," I snapped, and fell to polishing glasses. + </p> + <p> + The storm stopped a little at three and most of the guests waded down + through the snow for bridge and spring water. By that time the afternoon + train was in, and no Mr. Dick. Mr. Sam was keeping the lawyer, Mr. Stitt, + in the billiard room, and by four o'clock they'd had everything that was + in the bar and were inventing new combinations of their own. And Mrs. Sam + had gone to bed with a nervous headache. + </p> + <p> + Senator Biggs brought the mail down to the spring-house at four, but there + was nothing for me except a note from Mr. Sam, rather shaky, which said + he'd no word yet and that Mr. Stitt had mixed all the cordials in the bar + in a beer glass and had had to go to bed. + </p> + <p> + At half past four Mr. Thoburn came out for a minute. He said there was + only one other train from town that night and the chances were it would be + snowed up at the junction. + </p> + <p> + "Better get on the band wagon before the parade's gone past," he said in + an undertone. But I went into my pantry and shut the door with a slam, and + when I came out he was gone. + </p> + <p> + I nearly went crazy that afternoon. I put salt in Miss Cobb's glass when + she always drank the water plain. Once I put the broom in the fire and + started to sweep the porch with a fire log Luckily they were busy with + their letters and it went unnoticed, the smell of burning straw not + rising, so to speak, above the sulphur in the spring. + </p> + <p> + Senator Biggs went from one table to another telling how well he felt + since he stopped eating, and trying to coax the other men to starve with + him. + </p> + <p> + It's funny how a man with a theory about his stomach isn't happy until he + has made some other fellow swallow it. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, standing in front of the fire with a glass of water in + his hand, "it's worth while to feel like this. My head's as clear as a + bell. I don't care to eat; I don't want to eat. The 'fast' is the + solution." + </p> + <p> + "Two stages to that solution, Senator," said the bishop; "first, + resolution; last, dissolution." + </p> + <p> + Then they all began at once. If you have ever heard twenty people airing + their theories on diet you know all about it. One shouts for Horace + Fletcher, and another one swears by the scraped-beef treatment, and + somebody else never touches a thing but raw eggs and milk, and pretty soon + there is a riot of calories and carbohydrates. It always ends the same + way: the man with the loudest voice wins, and the defeated ones limp over + to the spring and tell their theories to me. They know I'm being paid to + listen. + </p> + <p> + On this particular afternoon the bishop stopped the riot by rising and + holding up his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "let us not be + rancorous. If each of us has a theory, and that theory works out to his + satisfaction, then—why are we all here?" + </p> + <p> + "Merely to tell one another the good news!" Mr. Jennings said sourly from + his corner. + </p> + <p> + Honest, it was funny. If some folks were healthy they'd be lonesome. + </p> + <p> + But when things had got quiet—except Mr. Moody dropping nickels into + the slot-machine—I happened to look over at Miss Patty, and I saw + there was something wrong. She had a letter open in her lap not one of the + blue ones with the black and gold seal that every one in the house knew + came from the prince but a white one, and she was staring at it as if + she'd seen a ghost. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V + </h2> + <h3> + WANTED—AN OWNER + </h3> + <p> + I have never reproached Miss Patty, but if she had only given me the + letter to read or had told me the whole truth instead of a part of it, I + would have understood, and things would all have been different. It is all + very well for her to say that I looked worried enough already, and that + anyhow it was a family affair. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD. + </p> + <p> + All she did was to come up to me as I stood in the spring, with her face + perfectly white, and ask me if my Dicky Carter was the Richard Carter who + stayed at the Grosvenor in town. + </p> + <p> + "He doesn't stay anywhere," I said, with my feet getting cold, "but that's + where he has apartments. What has he been doing now?" + </p> + <p> + "You're expecting him on the evening train, aren't you?" she asked. "Don't + stare like that: my father's watching." + </p> + <p> + "He ought to be on the evening train," I said. I wasn't going to say I + expected him. I didn't. + </p> + <p> + "Listen, Minnie," she said, "you'll have to send him away again the moment + he comes. He must not go into the house." + </p> + <p> + I stood looking at her, with my mouth open. + </p> + <p> + "Not go into the house," I repeated, "with everybody waiting for him for + the last six days, and Mr. Stitt here to turn things over to him!" + </p> + <p> + She stood tapping her foot, with her pretty brows knitted. + </p> + <p> + "The wretch!" she cried, "the hateful creature as if things weren't bad + enough! I suppose he'll have to come, Minnie, but I must see him before he + sees any one else." + </p> + <p> + Just then the bishop brought his glass over to the spring. + </p> + <p> + "Hot this time, Minnie," he said. "Do you know, I'm getting the + mineral-water habit, Patty! I'm afraid plain water will have no attraction + for me after this." + </p> + <p> + He put his hand over hers on the rail. They were old friends, the bishop + and the Jenningses. + </p> + <p> + "Well, how goes it to-day with the father?" he said in a low tone, and + smiling. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders. "Worse, if possible." + </p> + <p> + "I thought so," he said cheerfully. "If state of mind is any criterion I + should think he has had a relapse. A little salt, Minnie." Miss Patty + stood watching him while he tasted it. + </p> + <p> + "Bishop," she said suddenly, "will you do something for me?" + </p> + <p> + "I always have, Patty." He was very fond of Miss Patty, was the bishop. + </p> + <p> + "Then—to-night, not later than eight o'clock, get father to play + cribbage, will you? And keep him in the card-room until nine." + </p> + <p> + "Another escapade!" he said, pretending to be very serious. "Patty, Patty, + you'll be the death of me yet. Is thy servant a dog, that he should do + this thing?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly NOT," said Miss Patty. "Just a dear, slightly bald, but still + very distinguished slave!" + </p> + <p> + The bishop picked up her left hand and looked at the ring and from that to + her face. + </p> + <p> + "There will be plenty of slaves to kiss this little hand, where you are + going, my child," he said. "Sometimes I wish that some nice red-blooded + boy here at home—but I dare say it will turn out surprisingly well + as it is." + </p> + <p> + "Bishop, Bishop!" Mrs. Moody called. "How naughty of you, and with your + bridge hand waiting to be held!" + </p> + <p> + He carried his glass back to the table, stopping for a moment beside Mr. + Jennings. + </p> + <p> + "If Patty becomes any more beautiful," he said, "I shall be in favor of + having her wear a mask. How are we young men to protect ourselves?" + </p> + <p> + "Pretty is as pretty does!" declared Mr. Jennings from behind his + newspaper, and Miss Patty went out with her chin up. + </p> + <p> + Well, I knew Mr. Dick had been up to some mischief; I had suspected it all + along. But Miss Patty went to bed, and old Mrs. Hutchins, who's a sort of + lady's-maid-companion of hers, said she mustn't be disturbed. I was pretty + nearly sick myself. And when Mr. Sam came out at five o'clock and said + he'd been in the long-distance telephone booth for an hour and had called + everybody who had ever known Mr. Dick, and that he had dropped right off + the earth, I just about gave up. He had got some detectives, he said, and + there was some sort of a story about his having kept right on the train to + Salem, Ohio, but if he had they'd lost the trail there, and anyhow, with + the railroad service tied up by the storm there wasn't much chance of his + getting to Finleyville in time. + </p> + <p> + Luckily Mr. Stitt was in bed with a mustard leaf over his stomach and ice + on his head, and didn't know whether it was night or morning. But Thoburn + was going around with a watch in his hand, and Mr. Sam was for killing him + and burying the body in the snow. + </p> + <p> + At half past five I just about gave up. I was sitting in front of the fire + wondering why I'd taken influenza the spring before from getting my feet + wet in a shower, when I had been standing in a mineral spring for so many + years that it's a wonder I'm not web-footed. It was when I had influenza + that the old doctor made the will, you remember. Maybe I was crying, I + don't recall. + </p> + <p> + It was dark outside, and nothing inside but firelight. Suddenly I seemed + to feel somebody looking at the back of my neck and I turned around. There + was a man standing outside one of the windows, staring in. + </p> + <p> + My first thought, of course, was that it was Mr. Dick, but just as the + face vanished I saw that it wasn't. It was older by three or four years + than Mr. Dick's and a bit fuller. + </p> + <p> + I'm not nervous. I've had to hold my own against chronic grouches too long + to have nerves, so I went to the door and looked out. The man came around + the corner just then and I could see him plainly in the firelight. He was + covered with snow, and he wore a sweater and no overcoat, but he looked + like a gentleman. + </p> + <p> + "I beg your pardon for spying," he said, "but the fire looked so snug! + I've been trying to get to the hotel over there, but in the dark I've lost + the path." + </p> + <p> + "That's not a hotel," I snapped, for that touched me on the raw. "That's + Hope Springs Sanatorium, and this is one of the Springs." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Hope Springs, internal instead of eternal!" he said. "That's awfully + bad, isn't it? To tell you the truth, I think I'd better come in and get + some; I'm short on hope just now." + </p> + <p> + I thought that was likely enough, for although his voice was cheerful and + his eyes smiled, there was a drawn look around his mouth, and he hadn't + shaved that day. I wish I had had as much experience in learning what's + right with folks as I have had in learning what's wrong with them. + </p> + <p> + "You'd better come in and get warm, anyhow," I told him, "only don't + spring any more gags. I've been 'Hebe' for fourteen years and I've served + all the fancy drinks you can name over the brass railing of that spring. + Nowadays, when a fellow gets smart and asks for a Mamie Taylor, I charge + him a Mamie Taylor price." + </p> + <p> + He shut the door behind him and came over to the fire. + </p> + <p> + "I'm pretty well frozen," he said. "Don't be astonished if I melt before + your eyes; I've been walking for hours." + </p> + <p> + Now that I had a better chance to see him I'd sized up that drawn look + around his mouth. + </p> + <p> + "Missed your luncheon, I suppose," I said, poking the fire log. He grinned + rather sheepishly. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I haven't had any, and I've certainly missed it," he said. + </p> + <p> + "Fasting's healthy, you know." + </p> + <p> + I thought of Senator Biggs, who carried enough fat to nourish him for + months, and then I looked at my visitor, who hadn't an ounce of extra + flesh on him. + </p> + <p> + "Nothing's healthy that isn't natural," I declared. "If you'd care for a + dish of buttered and salted pop-corn, there's some on the mantel. It's + pretty salty; the idea is to make folks thirsty so they'll enjoy the + mineral water." + </p> + <p> + "Think of raising a real thirst only to drown it with spring water!" he + said. But he got the pop corn and he ate it all. If he hadn't had any + luncheon he hadn't had much breakfast. The queer part was—he was a + gentleman; his clothes were the right sort, but he had on patent leather + shoes in all that snow and an automobile cap. + </p> + <p> + I put away the glasses while he ate. Pretty soon he looked up and the + drawn lines were gone. He wasn't like Mr. Dick, but he was the same type, + only taller and heavier built. + </p> + <p> + "And so it isn't a hotel," he remarked. "Well, I'm sorry. The caravansary + in the village is not to my liking, and I had thought of engaging a suite + up here. My secretary usually attends to these things, but—don't + take away all the glasses, Heb—I beg your pardon—but the + thirst is coming." + </p> + <p> + He filled the glass himself and then he came up and stood in front of me, + with the glass held up in the air. + </p> + <p> + "To the best woman I have met in many days," he said, not mocking but + serious. "I was about to lie down and let the little birds cover me with + leaves." Then he glanced at the empty dish and smiled. "To buttered + pop-corn! Long may it wave!" he said, and emptied the glass. + </p> + <p> + Well, I found a couple of apples in my pantry and brought them out, and + after he ate them he told me what had happened to him. He had been a + little of everything since he left college he was about twenty-five had + crossed the Atlantic in a catboat and gone with somebody or other into + some part of Africa—they got lost and had to eat each other or + lizards, or something like that—and then he went to the Philippines, + and got stuck there and had to sell books to get home. He had a little + money, "enough for a grub-stake," he said, and all his folks were dead. + Then a college friend of his wrote a rural play called Sweet Peas—"Great + title, don't you think?" he asked—and he put up all the money. It + would have been a hit, he said, but the kid in the play—the one that + unites its parents in the last act just before he dies of tuberculosis—the + kid took the mumps and looked as if, instead of fading away, he was going + to blow up. Everybody was so afraid of him that they let him die alone for + three nights in the middle of the stage. Then the leading woman took the + mumps, and the sheriff took everything else. + </p> + <p> + "You city folks seem to know so much," I said, "and yet you bring a + country play to the country! Why don't you bring out a play with women in + low-necked gowns, and champagne suppers, and a scandal or two? They packed + Pike's Opera-House three years ago with a play called Why Women Sin." + </p> + <p> + Well, of course, the thing failed, and he lost every dollar he'd put into + it, which was all he had, including what he had in his pockets. + </p> + <p> + "They seized my trunks," he explained, "and I sold my fur-lined overcoat + for eight dollars, which took one of the girls back home. It's hard for + the women. A fellow can always get some sort of a job—I was coming + up here to see if they needed an extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, or + anything that meant a roof and something to eat—but I suppose they + don't need a jack-of-all-trades." + </p> + <p> + "No," I answered, "but I'll tell you what I think they're going to need. + And that's an owner!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI + </h2> + <h3> + THE CONSPIRACY + </h3> + <p> + I'm not making any excuses. I did it for the best. In any sort of crisis + there are always folks who stand around and wring their hands and say, + "What shall we do?" And then if it's a fire and somebody has had enough + sense to send for the engines, they say: "Just look at what the water + did!" Although as far as I can see I'm the only one that suffered any + damage. + </p> + <p> + If Mr. Thoburn had not been there, sitting by to see the old sanatorium + die so it could sprout wings and fly as a summer hotel, I'd never have + thought of it. But I was in despair. + </p> + <p> + I got up and opened the door, but the Snow came in in a cloud, and the + path was half a foot deep again. It shows on what little threads big + things hang, for when I saw the storm I gave up the idea of bringing Mr. + Sam down to see the young man, and the breath of fresh air in my face + brought me to my senses. + </p> + <p> + But the angel of providence appeared in the shape of Mike, the bath man, + coming down through the snow in a tearing rage. The instant I saw Mike I + knew it was settled. + </p> + <p> + "Am I or am I not to give Mr. Moody a needle shower?" he shouted, almost + beside himself. And I saw he had his overcoat over his bath costume, which + is a Turkish towel. + </p> + <p> + "A needle shower followed by a salt rub," said I. "He's been having them + for eleven years. What's the matter?" + </p> + <p> + "That fool of a young doctor," shouted Mike, "he told him before he left + that if he'd been taking them for eleven years and wasn't any better it + was time to stop. Ain't business bad enough—only four people in the + house takin' baths regular—without his buttin' in!" + </p> + <p> + "Where's Mr. Moody?" + </p> + <p> + "In the bath. I've locked up his clothes." + </p> + <p> + "You give him a needle shower and a salt rub," I ordered, "and if he makes + a fuss just send for me. And, Mike," I said, as he started out, "ask Mr. + Van Alstyne to come out here immediately." + </p> + <p> + That's the way it was all the time. Everybody brought their troubles to + me, and I guess I thought I was a little tin god on wheels and the place + couldn't get along without me. But it did; it does. We all think we'll + leave a big hole behind us when we go, but it's just like taking your + thumb out of a bowl of soup. There isn't even a dent. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Van Alstyne came out on the run, and when he saw Mr. Pierce by the + fire—that was his name, Alan Pierce—he stopped and stared. + Then he said: + </p> + <p> + "You infernal young scamp!" And with that Mr. Pierce jumped up, surprised + and pretty mad, and Mr. Van Alstyne saw his mistake. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sure I beg your pardon!" he said. "The fact is, I was expecting + somebody else, and in the firelight—" + </p> + <p> + "You surprised me, that's all," said Mr. Pierce. "Under the circumstances, + I'm glad I'm not the other chap." + </p> + <p> + "You may be," assured Mr. Sam grimly. "You're not unlike him, by the way. + A little taller and heavier, but—" + </p> + <p> + Now it's all very well for Mr. Sam to say I originated the idea and all + that, but as truly as I am writing this, as I watched his face I saw the + same thought come into it. He looked Mr. Pierce up and down, and then he + stared into the fire and puckered his mouth to whistle, but he didn't. And + finally he glanced at me, but I was looking into the fire, too. + </p> + <p> + "Just come, haven't you?" he asked. "How did you get up the hill?" + </p> + <p> + "Walked," said Mr. Pierce, smiling. "It took some digging, too. But I + didn't come for my health, unless you think three meals a day are + necessary for health." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam turned and stared at him. "By Jove! you don't mean it!" + </p> + <p> + "I wish I didn't," Mr. Pierce replied. "One of the hardest things I've had + to remember for the last ten hours was that for two years I voluntarily + ate only two meals a day. A man's a fool to do a thing like that! It's + reckless." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam got up and began to walk the floor, his hands in his pockets. He + tried to get my eye, but still I looked in the fire. + </p> + <p> + "All traffic's held up, Minnie," he said. "The eight o'clock train is + stalled beyond the junction, in a drift. I've wired the conductor, and + Carter isn't on it." + </p> + <p> + "Well?" said I. + </p> + <p> + "If we could only get past to-day," Mr. Sam went on; "if Thoburn would + only choke to death, or—if there was somebody around who looked like + Dick. I dare say, by to-morrow—" He looked at Mr. Pierce, who smiled + and looked at him. + </p> + <p> + "And I resemble Dick!" said Mr. Pierce. "Well, if he's a moral and upright + young man—" + </p> + <p> + "He isn't!" Mr. Sam broke in savagely. And then and there he sat down and + told Mr. Pierce the trouble we were in, and what sort of cheerful idiot + Dicky Carter was, and how everybody liked him, but wished he would grow up + before the family good name was gone, and that now he had a chance to make + good and be self-supporting, and he wasn't around, and if Mr. Sam ever got + his hands on him he'd choke a little sense down his throat. + </p> + <p> + And then Mr. Pierce told about the play and the mumps, and how he was + stranded. When Mr. Sam asked him outright if he'd take Mr. Dick's place + overnight he agreed at once. + </p> + <p> + "I haven't anything to lose," he said, "and anyhow I've been on a diet of + Sweet Peas so long that a sanatorium is about what I need." + </p> + <p> + "It's like this," explained Mr. Sam, "Old Stitt is pretty thoroughly + jingled—excuse me, Minnie, but it's the fact. I'll take you to his + room, with the lights low, and all you'll need to do is to shake hands + with him. He's going on the early train to-morrow. Then you needn't mix + around much with the guests until to-morrow, and by that time I hope to + have Dick within thrashing distance." + </p> + <p> + Just as they'd got it arranged that Mr. Pierce was to put on Mr. Sam's + overcoat and walk down to the village so that he could come up in a + sleigh, as if he had driven over from Yorkton—he was only to walk + across the hall in front of the office, with his collar up, just enough to + show himself and then go to his room with a chill—just as it was all + arranged, Mr. Sam thought of something. + </p> + <p> + "The house people are waiting for Dick," he said to me, "and about forty + women are crocheting in the lobby, so they'll be sure to see him. Won't + some of them know it isn't Dick?" + </p> + <p> + I thought pretty fast. + </p> + <p> + "He hasn't been around much lately," I said. "Nobody would know except + Mrs. Wiggins. She'll never forget him; the last time he was here he put on + her false front like a beard and wore it down to dinner." + </p> + <p> + "Then it's all off," he groaned. "She's got as many eyes as a potato." + </p> + <p> + "And about as much sense," said I. "Fiddlesticks! She's not so good we + can't replace her, and what's the use of swallowing a camel and then + sticking at a housekeeper?" + </p> + <p> + "You can't get her out of the house in an hour," he objected, but in a + weak voice. + </p> + <p> + "I can!" I said firmly. + </p> + <p> + (I did. Inside of an hour she went to the clerk, Mr. Slocum, and handed in + her resignation. She was a touchy person, but I did NOT say all that was + quoted. I did NOT say the kitchen was filthy; I only said it took away my + appetite to look in at the door. But she left, which is the point.) + </p> + <p> + Well, I stood in the doorway and watched them disappear in the darkness, + and I felt better than I had all day. It's great to be able to DO + something, even if that something is wrong. But as I put on my shawl and + turned out the lights, I suddenly remembered. Miss Patty would be waiting + in the lobby for Mr. Dick, and she would not be crocheting! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. + </h2> + <h3> + MR. PIERCE ACQUIRES A WIFE + </h3> + <p> + Whoever has charge of the spring-house at Hope Springs takes the news + stand in the evening. That's an old rule. The news stand includes tobacco + and a circulating library, and is close to the office, and if I missed any + human nature at the spring I got it there. If you can't tell all about a + man by the way he asks for mineral water and drinks it, by the time you've + supplied his literature and his tobacco and heard him grumbling over his + bill at the office, you've got a line on him and a hook in it. + </p> + <p> + After I ate my supper I relieved Amanda King, who runs the news stand in + the daytime, when she isn't laid off with the toothache. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam was right. All the women had on their puffs, and they were sitting + in a half-circle on each side of the door. Mrs. Sam was there, looking + frightened and anxious, and standing near the card-room door was Miss + Patty. She was all in white, with two red spots on her cheeks, and I + thought if her prince could have seen her then he would pretty nearly have + eaten her up. Mr. Thoburn was there, of course, pretending to read the + paper, but every now and then he looked at his watch, and once he got up + and paced off the lobby, putting down the length in his note-book. I + didn't need a mind-reader to tell me he was figuring the cost of a new + hardwood floor and four new rugs. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam came to the news stand, and he was so nervous he could hardly + light a cigarette. + </p> + <p> + "I've had a message from one of the detectives," he said. "They've traced + him to Salem, Ohio, but they lost him there. If we can only hold on this + evening—! Look at that first-night audience!" + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Pierce is due in three minutes," I told him. "I hope you told him to + kiss his sister." + </p> + <p> + "Nothing of the sort," he objected. "Why should he kiss her? Mrs. Van + Alstyne is afraid of the whole thing: she won't stand for that." + </p> + <p> + "I guess she could endure it," I remarked dryly. + </p> + <p> + "It's astonishing how much of that sort of thing a woman can bear." + </p> + <p> + He looked at me and grinned. + </p> + <p> + "By gad," he said, "I wouldn't be as sophisticated as you are for a good + deal. Isn't that the sleigh?" + </p> + <p> + Everybody had heard it. The women sat up and craned forward to look at the + door: Mrs. Sam was sitting forward clutching the arms of her chair. She + was in white, having laid off her black for that evening, with a red rose + pinned on her so Mr. Pierce would know her. Miss Patty heard the + sleigh-bells also, and she turned and came toward the door. Her mouth was + set hard, and she was twisting the ruby ring as she always did when she + was nervous. And at the same moment Mr. Sam and I both saw it; she was in + white, too, and she had a red rose tucked in her belt! + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam muttered something and rushed at her, but he was too late. Just as + he got to her the door opened and in came Mr. Pierce, with Mr. Sam's fur + coat turned up around his ears and Mr. Sam's fur cap drawn well down on + his head. He stood for an instant blinking in the light, and Mrs. Van + Alstyne got up nervously. He never even saw her. His eyes lighted on Miss + Patty's face and stayed there. Mr. Sam was there, but what could he do? + Mr. Pierce walked over to Miss Patty, took her hand, said, "Hello there!" + and KISSED HER. It was awful. + </p> + <p> + Most women will do anything to save a scene, and that helped us, for she + never turned a hair. But when Mr. Sam got him by the arm and led him + toward the stairs, she turned so that the old cats sitting around could + not see her and her face was scarlet. She went over to the wood fire—our + lobby is a sort of big room with chairs and tables and palms, and an open + fire in winter—and sat down. I don't think she knew herself whether + she was most astonished or angry. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Biggs gave a nasty little laugh. + </p> + <p> + "Your brother didn't see you," she said to Mrs. Van Alstyne. "I dare say a + sister doesn't count much when a future princess is around!" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Van Alstyne was still staring up the staircase, but she came to + herself at that. She had some grit in her, if she did look like a French + doll. + </p> + <p> + "My brother and Miss Jennings are very old friends," she remarked quietly. + I believe that was what she thought, too. I don't think she had seen the + other red rose, and what was she to think but that Mr. Pierce had known + Miss Jennings somewhere? She was dazed, Mrs. Sam was. But she carried off + the situation anyhow, and gave us time to breathe. We needed it. + </p> + <p> + "If I were his highness," said Miss Cobb, spreading the Irish lace collar + she was making over her knee and squinting at it, "I should wish my + fiancee to be more er—dignified. Those old Austrian families are + very haughty. They would not understand our American habit of osculation." + </p> + <p> + I was pretty mad at that, for anybody could have seen Miss Patty didn't + kiss him. + </p> + <p> + "If by osculation you mean kissing, Miss Cobb," I said, going over to her, + "I guess you don't remember the Austrian count who was a head waiter here. + If there was anything in the way of osculation that that member of an old + Austrian family didn't know, I've got to find it out. He could kiss all + around any American I ever saw!" + </p> + <p> + I went back to my news stand. I was shaking so my knees would hardly hold + me. All I could think of was that they had swallowed Mr. Pierce, bait and + hook, and that for a time we were saved, although in the electric light + Mr. Pierce was a good bit less like Dicky Carter than he had seemed to be + in the spring-house by the fire. + </p> + <p> + Well, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." + </p> + <p> + Everybody went to bed early. Mr. Thoburn came over and bought a cigar on + his way up-stairs, and he was as gloomy as he had been cheerful before. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "I guess you won't put a dancing floor in the dining-room + just yet, Mr. Thoburn." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not in a hurry," he snapped. "It's only January, and I don't want the + place until May. I'll get it when I'm ready for it. I had a good look at + young Carter, and he's got too square a jaw to run a successful + neurasthenics' home." + </p> + <p> + I went to the pantry myself at ten o'clock and fixed a tray of supper for + Mr. Pierce. He would need all his strength the next day, and a man can't + travel far on buttered pop-corn. I found some chicken and got a bottle of + the old doctor's wine—I had kept the key of his wine-cellar since he + died—and carried the tray up to Mr. Pierce's sitting-room. He had + the old doctor's suite. + </p> + <p> + The door was open an inch or so, and as I was about to knock I heard a + girl's voice. It was Miss Patty! + </p> + <p> + "How can you deny it?" she was saying angrily. "I dare say you will even + deny that you ever saw this letter before!" + </p> + <p> + There was a minute's pause while I suppose he looked at the letter. + </p> + <p> + "I never did!" he said solemnly. + </p> + <p> + There had been a queer sound all along, but now I made it out. Some one + else was in the room, sniveling and crying. + </p> + <p> + "My poor lamb!" it whimpered. And I knew it was Mrs. Hutchins, Miss + Patty's old nurse. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," said Miss Patty, "you also deny that you were in Ohio the day + before yesterday." + </p> + <p> + "I was in Ohio, but I positively assert—" + </p> + <p> + "I'll send for the police, that's what I'll do!" Mrs. Hutchins said, with + a burst of rage, and her chair creaked. "How can I ever tell your father?" + </p> + <p> + "You'll do nothing of the sort," said Miss Patty. "Do you want the whole + story in the papers? Isn't it awful enough as it is? Mr. Carter, I have + asked my question twice now and I am waiting for an answer." + </p> + <p> + "But I don't know the answer!" he said miserably. "I—I assure you, + I'm absolutely in the dark. I don't know what's in the letter. I—I + haven't always done what I should, I dare say, but my conduct in the state + of Ohio during the last few weeks has been without stain—unless I've + forgotten—but if it had been anything very heinous, I'd remember, + don't you think?" + </p> + <p> + Somebody crossed the room, and a paper rustled. + </p> + <p> + "Read that!" said Miss Patty's voice. And then silence for a minute. + </p> + <p> + "Good lord!" exclaimed Mr. Pierce. + </p> + <p> + "Do you deny that?" + </p> + <p> + "Absolutely!" he said firmly. "I—I have never even heard of the + Reverend Dwight Johnstone—" + </p> + <p> + There was a scream from Mrs. Hutchins, and a creak as she fell into her + chair again. + </p> + <p> + "Your father!" she said, over and over. "What can we say to your father?" + </p> + <p> + "And that is all you will say?" demanded Miss Patty scornfully. "'You + don't know;' 'there's a mistake;' 'you never saw the letter before!' Oh, + if I were only a man!" + </p> + <p> + "I'll tell you what we'll do," Mr. Pierce said, with something like hope + in his voice. "We'll send for Mr. Van Alstyne! That's the thing, of + course. I'll send for—er—Jim." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Van Alstyne's name is Sam, but nobody noticed. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Van Alstyne!" repeated Miss Patty in a dazed way. + </p> + <p> + I guessed it was about time to make a diversion, so I knocked and walked + in with the tray, and they all glared at me. Mrs. Hutchins was collapsed + in a chair, holding a wet handkerchief to her eyes, and one side of her + cap was loose and hanging down. Miss Patty was standing by a table, white + and angry, and Mr. Pierce was about a yard from her, with the letter in + his hands. But he was looking at her. + </p> + <p> + "I've brought your supper, Mr. Carter," I began. Then I stopped and stared + at Miss Patty and Mrs. Hutchins. "Oh," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Thank you," said Mr. Pierce, very uncomfortable. "Just put it down + anywhere." + </p> + <p> + I stalked across the room and put it on the table. Then I turned and + looked at Mrs. Hutchins. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry," I said, "but it's one of the rules of this house that guests + don't come to these rooms. They're strictly private. It isn't MY rule, + ladies, but if you will step down to the parlor—" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Hutchins' face turned purple. She got up in a hurry. + </p> + <p> + "I'm here with Miss Jennings on a purely personal matter," she said + furiously. "How dare you turn us out?" + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense, Minnie!" said Miss Patty. "I'll go when I'm ready." + </p> + <p> + "Rule of the house," I remarked, and going over to the door I stood + holding it open. There wasn't any such rule, but I had to get them out; + they had Mr. Pierce driven into a corner and yelling for help. + </p> + <p> + "There is no such rule and you know it, Minnie!" Miss Patty said angrily. + "Come, Nana! We're not learning anything, and there's nothing to be done + until morning, anyhow. My head's whirling." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Hutchins went out first. + </p> + <p> + "The first thing I'D do if I owned this place, I'd get rid of that + red-haired girl," she snapped to Mr. Pierce. "If you want to know why + there are fewer guests here every year, I'll tell you. SHE'S the reason!" + Then she flounced out with her head up. + </p> + <p> + (That was pure piffle. The real reason, as every thinking person knows, is + Christian Science. It's cheaper and more handy. And now that it isn't + heresy to say it, the spring being floored over, I reckon that most + mineral springs cure by suggestion. Also, of course, if a man's drinking + four gallons of lithia water a day, he's so saturated that if he does + throw in anything alcoholic or indigestible, it's too busy swimming for + its life to do any harm.) + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce took a quick step toward Miss Patty and looked down at her. + </p> + <p> + "About—what happened down-stairs to-night," he stammered, with the + unhappiest face I ever saw on a man, "I—I've been ready to knock my + fool head off ever since. It was a mistake—a—" + </p> + <p> + "My letter, please," said Miss Patty coolly, looking back at him without a + blink. + </p> + <p> + "Please don't look like that!" he begged. "I came in suddenly out of the + darkness, and you—" + </p> + <p> + "My letter, please!" she said again, raising her eyebrows. + </p> + <p> + He gave up trying then. He held out the letter and she took it and went + out with her head up and scorn in the very way she trailed her skirt over + the door-sill. But I'm no fool; it didn't need the way he touched the + door-knob where she had been holding it, when he closed the door after + her, to tell me what ailed him. + </p> + <p> + He was crazy about her from the minute he saw her, and he hadn't a change + of linen or a cent to his name. And she, as you might say, on the ragged + edge of royalty, with queens and princes sending her stomachers and tiaras + until she'd hardly need clothes! Well, a cat may look at a king. + </p> + <p> + He went over to the fireplace, where I was putting his coffee to keep it + hot, and looked down at me. + </p> + <p> + "I've a suspicion, Minnie," he said, "that, to use a vulgar expression, + I've bitten off more than I can chew in this little undertaking, and that + I'm in imminent danger of choking to death. Do you know anybody, a friend + of Miss er—Jennings, named Dorothy?" + </p> + <p> + "She's got a younger sister of that name," I said, with a sort of chill + going over me. "She's in boarding-school now." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no, she's not!" he remarked, picking up the coffee-pot. "It seems + that I met her on the train somewhere or other the day before yesterday, + and ran off with her and married her!" + </p> + <p> + I sat back on the rug speechless. + </p> + <p> + "You should have warned me, Minnie," he went on, growing more cheerful + over his chicken and coffee. "I came up here to-night, the proud possessor + of a bunch of keys, a patent folding cork-screw and a pocket, automobile + road map. Inside two hours I have a sanatorium and a wife. At this rate, + Minnie, before morning I may reasonably hope to have a family." + </p> + <p> + I sat where I was on the floor and stared into the fire. Don't tell me the + way of the wicked is hard; the wicked get all the fun there is out of + life, and as far as I can see, it's the respectable "in at ten o'clock and + up at seven" part of the wicked's family that has all the trouble and does + the worrying. + </p> + <p> + "If we could only keep it hidden for a few days!" I said. "But, of course, + the papers will get it, and just now, with columns every day about Miss + Patty's clothes—" + </p> + <p> + "Her what?" + </p> + <p> + "And all the princes of the blood sending presents, and the king not + favoring it very much—" + </p> + <p> + "What are you talking about?" + </p> + <p> + "About Miss Jennings' wedding. Don't you read the newspaper?" + </p> + <p> + He hadn't really known who she was up to that minute. He put down the tray + and got up. + </p> + <p> + "I—I hadn't connected her with the—the newspaper Miss + Jennings," he said, and lighted a cigarette over the lamp. Something in + his face startled me, I must say. + </p> + <p> + "You're not going to give up now?" I asked. I got up and put my hand on + his arm, and I think he was shaking. "If you do, I'll—I'll go out + and drown myself, head down, in the spring." + </p> + <p> + He had been going to run away—I saw it then—but he put a hand + over mine. Then he looked at the door where Miss Patty had gone out and + gave himself a shake. + </p> + <p> + "I'll stay," he said. "We'll fight it out on this line if it takes all + summer, Minnie." He stood looking into the fire, and although I'm not fond + of men, knowing, as I have explained, a great deal about their stomachs + and livers and very little about their hearts, there was something about + Mr. Pierce that made me want to go up and pat him on the head like a + little boy. "After all," he said, "what's blue blood to good red blood?" + </p> + <p> + Which was almost what the bishop had said! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII + </h2> + <h3> + AND MR. MOODY INDIGESTION + </h3> + <p> + Mr. Moody took indigestion that night—not but that he always had it, + but this was worse—and Mrs. Moody came to my room about two o'clock + and knocked at the door. + </p> + <p> + "You'd better come," she said. "There's no doctor, and he's awful bad. + Blames you, too; he says you made him take a salt rub." + </p> + <p> + "My land," I snapped, trying to find my bedroom slippers, "I didn't make + him take clam chowder for supper, and that's what's the matter with him. + He's going on a strained rice diet, that's what he's going to do. I've got + to have my sleep." + </p> + <p> + She was waiting in the hall in her kimono, and holding a candle. Anybody + could see she'd been crying. As she often said to me, of course she was + grateful that Mr. Moody didn't drink—no one knew his virtues better + than she did. But her sister married a man who went on a terrible bat + twice a year, and all the rest of the time he was humble and affable + trying to make up for it. And sometimes she thought if Mr. Moody would + only take a little whisky when he had these attacks—! I'd rather be + the wife of a cheerful drunkard any time than have to live with a + cantankerous saint. Miss Cobb and I had had many a fight over it, but at + that time there wasn't much likelihood of either of us being called on to + choose. + </p> + <p> + Well, we went down to Mr. Moody's room, and he was sitting up in bed with + his knees drawn up to his chin and a hot-water bottle held to him. + </p> + <p> + "Look at your work, woman," he said to me when I opened the door. + </p> + <p> + "I'm dying!" + </p> + <p> + "You look sick," I said, going over to the bed. It never does to cross + them when they get to the water-bottle stage. "The pharmacy clerk's gone + to a dance over at Trimble's, but I guess I can find you some whisky." + </p> + <p> + "Do have some whisky, George," begged Mrs. Moody, remembering her + brother-in-law. + </p> + <p> + "I never touch the stuff and you both know it," he snarled. He had a fresh + pain just then and stopped, clutching up the bottle. "Besides," he + finished, when it was over, "I haven't got any whisky." + </p> + <p> + Well, to make a long story short, we got him to agree to some whisky from + the pharmacy, with a drop of peppermint in it, if he could wash it down + with spring water so it wouldn't do him any harm. + </p> + <p> + "There isn't any spring water in the house," I said, losing my temper a + little, "and I'm not going out there in my bedroom slippers, Mr. Moody. I + don't see why your eating what you shouldn't needs to give me pneumonia." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Moody was standing beside the bed, and I saw her double chin begin to + work. If you have ever seen a fat woman, in a short red kimono holding a + candle by, a bed, and crying, you know how helpless she looks. + </p> + <p> + "Don't go, Minnie," she sniffled. "It would be too awful. If you are + afraid you could take the poker." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not going!" I declared firmly. "It's—it's dratted idiocy, + that's all. Plain water would do well enough. There's a lot of people + think whisky is poison with water, anyhow. Where's the pitcher?" + </p> + <p> + Oh, yes, I went. I put on some stockings of Mrs. Moody's and a petticoat + and a shawl and started. It was when I was in the pharmacy looking for the + peppermint that I first noticed my joint again. A joint like that's a + blessing or a curse, the way you look at it. + </p> + <p> + I found the peppermint and some whisky and put them on the stairs. Then I + took my pitcher and lantern and started for the spring-house. It was still + snowing, and part of the time Mrs. Moody's stockings were up to their + knees. The wind was blowing hard, and when I rounded the corner of the + house my lantern went out. I stood there in the storm, with the shawl + flapping, thanking heaven I was a single woman, and about ready to go back + and tell Mr. Moody what I thought of him when I looked toward the + spring-house. + </p> + <p> + At first I thought it was afire, then I saw that the light was coming from + the windows. Somebody was inside, with a big fire and all the lights + going. + </p> + <p> + I'd had tramps sleep all night in the spring-house before, and once they + left a card by the spring: "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to + drink!" So I started out through the snow on a half run. By the bridge + over Hope Springs Creek I slipped and fell, and I heard the pitcher smash + to bits on the ice below. But as soon as I could move I went on again. + That spring-house had been my home for a good many years, and the tramp + didn't live who could spend the night there if I knew it. + </p> + <p> + I realized then that I should have taken the poker. I went over cautiously + to one of the windows, wading in deep snow to get there—and if you + have ever done that in a pair of bedroom slippers you can realize the + state of my mind—and looked in. + </p> + <p> + There were three chairs drawn up in a row in front of the fire, with my + bearskin hearth-rug on them to make a couch, and my shepherd's plaid shawl + folded at one end for a pillow. And stretched on that with her long + sealskin coat laid over her was Dorothy Jennings, Miss Patty's younger + sister! She was alone, as far as I could see, and she was leaning on her + elbow with her cheek in her hand, staring at the fire. Just then the door + into the pantry opened and out came Mr. Dick himself. + </p> + <p> + "Were you calling, honey?" he said, coming over and looking down at her. + </p> + <p> + "You were such a long time!" says she, glancing up under her lashes at + him. "I—I was lonely!" + </p> + <p> + "Bless you," says Mr. Dick, stooping over her. "What did I ever do without + you?" + </p> + <p> + I could have told her a few things he did, but by that time it was coming + over me pretty strong that here was the real Dicky Carter and that I had + an extra one on my hands. The minute I looked at this one I knew that + nobody but a blind man would mistake one for the other, and Mr. Thoburn + wasn't blind. I tell you I stood out in that snow-bank and perspired! + </p> + <p> + When I looked again Mr. Dick was on his knees by the row of chairs, and + Miss Dorothy—Mrs. Dicky, of course—was running her fingers + through his hair. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie used to keep apples and things in the pantry," he said, "but she + must be growing stingy in her old age; there's not a bite there." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not so very hungry when I have you!" cooed Mrs. Dicky. + </p> + <p> + "But you can't eat me." He brought her hand down from his hair—I may + be stingy in my old age, but I've learned a few things, and one is that a + man feels like a fool with his hair rumpled, and I can tell the degree of + a woman's experience by the way she lets his top hair alone—and + pretended to bite it, her hand, of course. "Although I could eat you," he + said. "I'd like to take a bite out of your throat right there." + </p> + <p> + Well, it was no place for me unless they knew I was around. I waded around + to the door and walked in, and there was a grand upsetting of the sealskin + coat and my shepherd's plaid shawl. Mr. Dick jumped to his feet and Mrs. + Dick sat bolt upright and stared at me over the backs of the chairs. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie!" cried Mr. Dick. "As I'm a married man, it's Minnie herself; + Minnie, the guardian angel! The spirit of the place! Dorothy, don't you + remember Minnie?" + </p> + <p> + She came toward me with her hand out. She was a pretty little thing, not + so beautiful as Miss Patty, but with a nice way about her. + </p> + <p> + "I'm awfully glad to see you again," she said. "Of course I remember—why + you are hardly dressed at all! You must be frozen!" + </p> + <p> + I went over to the fire and emptied my bedroom slippers of snow. Then I + sat down and looked at them both. + </p> + <p> + "Frozen!" repeated I; "I'm in a hot sweat. If you two children meant to + come, why in creation didn't you come in time?" + </p> + <p> + "We did," replied Mr. Dick, promptly. "We crawled under the wire fence + into the deer park at five minutes to twelve. The will said 'Be on the + ground,' and I was—flat on the ground!" + </p> + <p> + "We've had the police," I said, drearily enough. "I wouldn't live through + another day like yesterday for a hundred dollars." + </p> + <p> + "We were held up by the snow," he explained. "We got a sleigh to come over + in, but we walked up the hill and came here. I don't mind saying that my + wife's people don't know about this yet, and we're going to lay low until + we've cooked up some sort of a scheme to tell them." Then he came over and + put his hand on my shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Poor old Minnie!" he said; "honest, I'm sorry. I've been a hard child to + raise, haven't I? But that's all over, Minnie. I've got an incentive now, + and it's 'steady, old boy,' for me from now. You and I will run the place + and run it right." + </p> + <p> + "I don't want to!" I retorted, holding my bedroom slippers to steam before + the fire. "I'm going to buy out Timmon's candy store and live a quiet + life, Mr. Dick. This place is making me old." + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense! We're going to work together, and we'll make this the busiest + spot in seven counties. Dorothy and I have got it all planned out and + we've got some corking good ideas." He put his hands in his pockets and + strutted up and down. "It's the day of advertising, you know, Minnie," he + said. "You've got to have the goods, and then you've got to let people + know you've got the goods. What would you say to a shooting-gallery in the + basement, under the reading-room?" + </p> + <p> + "Fine!" I said, with sarcasm, turning my slippers. "If things got too + quiet that would wake them up a bit, and we could have a balloon ascension + on Saturdays!" + </p> + <p> + "Not an ascension," said he, with my bitterness going right over his head. + "Nothing sensational, Minnie. That's the way with women; they're always + theatrical. But what's the matter with a captive balloon, and letting + fresh-air cranks sleep in a big basket bed—say, at five hundred + feet? Or a thousand—a thousand would be better. The air's purer." + </p> + <p> + "With a net below," says I, "in case they should turn over and fall out of + bed! It's funny nobody ever thought of it before!" + </p> + <p> + "Isn't it?" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "And we've all sorts of ideas. Dick—Mr. + Carter has learned of a brand new cocktail for the men—" + </p> + <p> + "A lulu!" he broke in. + </p> + <p> + "And I'm going around to read to the old ladies and hold their hands—" + </p> + <p> + "You'll have to chloroform them first," I put in. "Perhaps it would be + better to give the women the cocktail and hold the men's hands." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, if you're going to be funny!" Mr. Dick said savagely, "we'll not tell + you any more. I've been counting on you, Minnie. You've been here so long. + You know," he said to his wife, "when I was a little shaver I thought + Minnie had webbed-feet—she was always on the bank, like a duck. You + ARE a duck, Minnie," he says to me; "a nice red-headed duck! Now don't be + quirky and spoil everything." + </p> + <p> + I couldn't be light-hearted to save my life. + </p> + <p> + "Your sister's been wild all day," I told Mrs. Dick. "She got your letter + to-day—yesterday—but I don't think she's told your father + yet." + </p> + <p> + "What!" she screeched, and caught at the mantelpiece to hold herself. "Not + Pat!" she said, horrified, "and father! Here!" + </p> + <p> + Well, I listened while they told me. They hadn't had the faintest idea + that Mr. Jennings and Miss Patty were there at the sanatorium. The girl + had been making a round of visits in the Christmas holidays, and instead + of going back to school she'd sent a forged excuse and got a month off—she + hadn't had any letters, of course. The plan had been not to tell anybody + but her sister until Mr. Dick had made good at the sanatorium. + </p> + <p> + "The idea was this, Minnie," said Mr. Dick. "Old—I mean Mr. Jennings + is—is not well; he has a chronic indisposition—" + </p> + <p> + "Disposition, I call it," put in Mr. Jennings' daughter. + </p> + <p> + "And he's apt to regard my running away with Dorothy when I haven't a + penny as more of an embezzlement than an elopement." + </p> + <p> + "Fiddle!" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "I asked you to marry me, and now they're + here and have to spoil it all." + </p> + <p> + The thought of her father and his disposition suddenly overpowered her and + she put her yellow head on the back of a chair and began to cry. + </p> + <p> + "I—I can't tell him!" she sobbed. "I wrote to Pat,—why doesn't + Pat tell him? I'm going back to school." + </p> + <p> + "You'll do nothing of the sort. You're a married woman now, and where I go + you go. My country is your country, and my sanatorium is your sanatorium." + He was in a great rage. + </p> + <p> + But she got up and began trying to pull on her fur coat, and her jaw was + set. She looked like her father for a minute. + </p> + <p> + "Where are you going?" he asked, looking scared. + </p> + <p> + "Anywhere. I'll go down to the station and take the first train, it + doesn't matter where to." She picked up her muff, but he went over and + stood against the door. + </p> + <p> + "Not a step without me!" he declared. "I'll go with you, of course; you + know that. I'm not afraid of your father: I'd as soon as not go in and + wake him now and tell him the whole thing—that you've married a chap + who isn't worth the butter on his bread, who can't buy you kid gloves—" + </p> + <p> + "But you will, as soon as the sanatorium succeeds!" she put in bravely. + She put down her muff. "Don't tell him to-night, anyhow. Maybe Pat will + think of some way to break it to him. She can do a lot with father." + </p> + <p> + "I hope she can think of some way to break another Richard Carter to the + people in the house," I said tartly. + </p> + <p> + "Another Richard Carter!" they said together, and then I told them about + how we had waited and got desperate, and how we'd brought in Mr. Pierce at + the last minute and that he was asleep now at the house. They roared. To + save my life I couldn't see that it was funny. But when I came to the part + about Thoburn being there, and his having had a good look at Mr. Pierce, + and that he was waiting around with his jaws open to snap up the place + when it fell under the hammer, Mr. Dick stopped laughing and looked + serious. + </p> + <p> + "Lord deliver us from our friends!" he said. "Between you and Sam, you've + got things in a lovely mess, Minnie. What are you going to do about it + now?" + </p> + <p> + "It's possible we can get by Thoburn," I said. "You can slip in to-night, + we can get Mr. Pierce out—Lord knows he'll be glad to go—and + Miss Dorothy can go back to school. Then, later, when you've got things + running and are making good—" + </p> + <p> + "I'm not going back to school," she declared, "but I'll go away; I'll not + stand in your way, Dicky." She took two steps toward the door and waited + for him to stop her. + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense, Minnie," he exclaimed angrily and put his arm around her, "I + won't be separated from my wife. You got me into this scrape, and—" + </p> + <p> + "I didn't marry you!" I retorted. "And I'm not responsible for your + father-in-law's disposition." + </p> + <p> + "You'll have to help us out," he finished. + </p> + <p> + "What shall I do? Murder Mr. Jennings?" I asked bitterly. "If you expect + me to suggest that you both go to the house, and your wife can hide in + your rooms—" + </p> + <p> + "Why not?" asked Mr. Dick. + </p> + <p> + Well, I sat down again and explained patiently that it would get out among + the servants and cause a scandal, and that even if it didn't I wasn't + going to have any more deception: I had enough already. And after a while + they saw it as I did, and agreed to wait and see Miss Patty before they + decided. They wanted to have her wakened at once, but I refused, although + I agreed to bring her out first thing in the morning. + </p> + <p> + "But you can't stay here," I said. "There'll be Miss Cobb at nine o'clock, + and the man comes to light the fire at eight." + </p> + <p> + "We could go to the old shelter-house on the golf links," suggested Mr. + Dick, looking me square in the eye. (I took the hint, and Mrs. Dicky never + knew he had been hidden there before.) + </p> + <p> + "Nobody ever goes near it in winter." So I put on my slippers again and we + started through the snow across the golf links, Mr. Dick carrying a bundle + of firewood, and I leading the way with my lantern. Twice I went into a + drift to my waist, and once a rabbit bunted into me head on, and would + have scared me into a chill if I hadn't been shaking already. The two + behind me were cheerful enough. Mr. Dick pointed out the general direction + of the deer park which hides the shelter-house from the sanatorium, and if + you'll believe it, with snow so thick I had to scrape it off the lantern + every minute or so, those children planned to give something called A + Midsummer Night's Dream in the deer park among the trees in the spring, to + entertain the patients. + </p> + <p> + "I wish to heaven I'd wake up and find all THIS a dream," I called back + over my shoulder. But they were busy with costumes and getting some folks + they knew from town to take the different parts and they never even heard + me. The last few yards they snowballed each other and me. I tell you I + felt a hundred years old. + </p> + <p> + We got into the shelter-house by my crawling through a window, and when we + had lighted the fire and hung up the lantern, it didn't seem so bad. The + place had been closed since summer, and it seemed colder than outside, but + those two did the barn dance then and there. There were two rooms, and Mr. + Dick had always used the back one to hide in. It's a good thing Mrs. Dick + was not a suspicious person. Many a woman would have wondered when she saw + him lift a board in the floor and take out a rusty tin basin, a cake of + soap, a moldy towel, a can of sardines, a tooth-brush and a rubber + carriage robe to lay over the rafters under the hole in the roof. But it's + been my experience that the first few days of married life women are blind + because they want to be and after that because they have to be. + </p> + <p> + It was about four when I left them, sitting on a soap box in front of the + fire toasting sardines on the end of Mr. Dick's walking-stick. Mrs. Dick + made me put on her sealskin coat, and I took the lantern, leaving them in + the firelight. They'd gone back to the captive balloon idea and were + wondering if they couldn't get it copyrighted! + </p> + <p> + I took a short cut home, crawling through the barbed-wire fence and going + through the deer park. I was too tired and cold to think. I stumbled down + the hill to the house, and just before I got to the corner I heard voices, + and the shuffling of feet through the snow. The next instant a lantern + came around the corner of the house. Mr. Thoburn was carrying it, and + behind him were the bishop, Mike the bath man, and Mr. Pierce. + </p> + <p> + "It's like that man Moody," the bishop was saying angrily, "to send the + girl—" + </p> + <p> + "Piffle!" snarled Mr. Thoburn. "If ever a woman was able to take care of + herself—" And then they saw me, and they all stopped and stared. + </p> + <p> + "Good gracious, girl!" said the bishop, with his dressing-gown blowing out + straight behind him in the wind. "We thought you'd been buried in a + drift!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't see why!" I retorted defiantly. "Can't I go out to my own + spring-house without having a posse after me to bring me back?" + </p> + <p> + "Ordinarily," said Mr. Thoburn, with his snaky eyes on me, "I think I may + say that you might go almost anywhere without my turning out to recover + you. But Mrs. Moody is having hysterics." + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Moody! I'd forgotten the Moodys! + </p> + <p> + "She is convinced that you have drowned yourself, head down, in the + spring," Mr. Pierce said in his pleasant way. "You've been gone two hours, + you know." + </p> + <p> + He took my arm and turned me toward the house. I was dazed. + </p> + <p> + "In answer to your urgent inquiry," Mr. Thoburn called after me, + disagreeably, "Mr. Moody has not died. He is asleep. But, by the way, + where's the spring water?" + </p> + <p> + I didn't answer him; I couldn't. We went into the house; Mrs. Moody and + Miss Cobb were sitting on the stairs. Mrs. Moody had been crying, and Miss + Cobb was feeding her the whisky I had left, with a teaspoon. She had had a + half tumblerful already and was quite maudlin. She ran to me and put her + arms around me. + </p> + <p> + "I thought I was a murderess!" she cried. "Oh, the thought! Blood on my + soul! Why, Minnie Waters, wherever did you get that sealskin coat!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX + </h2> + <h3> + DOLLY, HOW COULD YOU? + </h3> + <p> + I lay down across my bed at six o'clock that morning, but I was too tired + and worried to sleep, so at seven I got up and dressed. + </p> + <p> + I was frightened when I saw myself in the glass. My eyes looked like burnt + holes in a blanket. I put on two pairs of stockings and heavy shoes, for I + knew I was going to do the Eskimo act again that day and goodness knows + how many days more, and then I went down and knocked at the door of Miss + Patty's room. She hadn't been sleeping either. She called to me in an + undertone to come in, and she was lying propped up with pillows, with + something pink around her shoulders and the night lamp burning beside the + bed. She had a book in her hand, but all over the covers and on the table + at her elbow were letters in the blue foreign envelopes with the red and + black and gold seal. + </p> + <p> + I walked over to the foot of the bed. + </p> + <p> + "They're here," I said. + </p> + <p> + She sat up, and some letters slid to the floor. + </p> + <p> + "THEY'RE here!" she repeated. "Do you mean Dorothy?" + </p> + <p> + "She and her husband. They came last night at five minutes to twelve. + Their train was held up by the blizzard and they won't come in until they + see you. They're hiding in the shelter-house on the golf links." + </p> + <p> + I think she thought I was crazy: I looked it. She hopped out of bed and + closed the door into her sitting-room—Mrs. Hutchins' room opened off + it—and then she came over and put her hand on my arm. + </p> + <p> + "Will you sit down and try to tell me just what you mean?" she said. "How + can my sister and her—her wretch of a husband have come last night + at midnight when I saw Mr. Carter myself not later than ten o'clock?" + </p> + <p> + Well, I had to tell her then about who Mr. Pierce was and why I had to get + him, and she understood almost at once. She was the most understanding + girl I ever met. She saw at once what Mr. Sam wouldn't have known in a + thousand years—that I wanted to save the old place not to keep my + position—but because I'd been there so long, and my father before + me, and had helped to make it what it was and all that. And she stood + there in her nightgown—she who was almost a princess—and + listened to me, and patted me on the shoulder when I broke down, telling + her about Thoburn and the summer hotel. + </p> + <p> + "But here I am," I finished, "telling you about my troubles and forgetting + what I came for. You'll have to go out to the shelter-house, Miss Patty. + And I guess you're expected to fix it up with your father." + </p> + <p> + She stopped unfastening her long braids of hair. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly I'll go to the shelter-house," she said, "and I'll shake a + little sense into Dorothy Jennings—the abominable little idiot! But + they needn't think I'm going to help them with father; I wouldn't if I + could, and I can't. He won't speak to me. I'm in disgrace, Minnie." She + gave her hair a shake, twisted it into a rope and then a knot, and stuck a + pin in it. It was lovely: I wish Miss Cobb could have seen her. "You've + known father for years, Minnie: have you ever known him to be so—so—" + </p> + <p> + "Devilish" was the word she meant, but I finished for her. + </p> + <p> + "Unreasonable?" I said. "Well, once before when you were a little girl, he + put his cane through a window in the spring-house, because he thought it + needed air. The spring-house, of course, not the cane." + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," she said, looking around the room, "and now he's putting a cane + through every plan I have made. Do you see my heavy boots?" + </p> + <p> + "It's like this," I remarked, bringing the boots from outside the door, + "if he's swallowed the prince and is choking on the settlement question he + might as well get over it. All those foreigners expect pay for taking a + wife. Didn't the chef here want to marry Tillie, the diet cook, and didn't + he want her to turn over the three hundred dollars she had in the bank, + and her real estate, which was a sixth interest in a cemetery lot? But + Tillie stuck it out and he wouldn't take her without." + </p> + <p> + "It isn't quite the same, Minnie," she said, sitting down on the floor to + put on her stockings. + </p> + <p> + "The principle's the same," I retorted, "and if you ask me—" + </p> + <p> + "I haven't," she said disagreeably, "and when you begin to argue, Minnie, + you make my head ache." + </p> + <p> + "I have had a heartache for a week," I snapped, "let alone heartburn, and + I'll be glad when the Jennings family is safely married and I can sleep at + night." + </p> + <p> + I was hurt. I went out and shut the door behind me, but I stopped in the + hall and went back. + </p> + <p> + "I forgot to say," I began, and stopped. She was still sitting on the + floor, trying to put her heavy boots on, and crying all over them. + </p> + <p> + "Stop that instantly," I said, and jerked her shoes from her. "Get into a + chair and let me put them on. And if you will wait a jiffy I'll bring you + a cup of coffee. I'm not even a Christian in the morning until I've had my + coffee." + </p> + <p> + "You haven't had it yet, have you?" she asked, and we laughed together, + rather shaky. But as I buttoned her shoes I saw her eyes going toward the + blue letters on the bed. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Minnie," she said, "if you only knew how peculiar they are in Europe! + They'll never allow a sanatorium in the family!" + </p> + <p> + "I guess a good many would be the better for having one close," I said. + </p> + <p> + Well, I left her to get dressed and went to the kitchens. Tillie was there + getting the beef tea ready for the day, but none of the rest was around. + They knew the housekeeper was gone, but I guess they'd forgotten that I + was still on hand. I put a kettle against the electric bell that rings in + the chef's room so it would keep on ringing and went on into the diet + kitchen. + </p> + <p> + "Tillie," I said, "can you trust me?" + </p> + <p> + She looked up from her beef. + </p> + <p> + "Whether I can or not, I always have," she answered. + </p> + <p> + "Well, can I trust you? That's more to the point." + </p> + <p> + She put down her knife and came over to me, with her hands on her hips. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what you're up to, Minnie," she said, "and I don't know that + I care. But if you've forgotten the time I went to the city and brought + you sulphur and the Lord only knows what for your old spring when you'd + run short and were laid up with influenza—" + </p> + <p> + "Hush!" I exclaimed. "You needn't shout it. Tillie, I don't want you to + ask me any questions, but I want four raw eggs in a basket, a pot of + coffee and cream, some fruit if you can get it when the chef unlocks the + refrigerator room, and bread and butter. They can make their own toast." + </p> + <p> + "They?" she said, with her mouth open. + </p> + <p> + But I didn't explain any more. I had found Tillie about a year before, + frying sausages at the railroad station, and made her diet cook at the + sanatorium. Mrs. Wiggins hadn't wanted her, but, as I told the old doctor + at the time, we needed somebody in the kitchen to keep an eye on things + for us. It was through Tillie that we discovered that the help were having + egg-nog twice a day, with eggs as scarce as hens' teeth, and the pharmacy + clerk putting in a requisition for more whisky every week. + </p> + <p> + Well, I scribbled a note to Mr. Van Alstyne, telling what had happened, + and put it under his door, and then I met Miss Patty in the hall by the + billiard room and I gave her some coffee from the basket, in the sun + parlor. It was still dark, although it was nearly eight o'clock, and + nobody saw us go out together. Just as we left I heard the chef in the + kitchen bawling out that he'd murder whoever put the kettle against the + bell, and Tillie saying it must have dropped off the hook and landed + there. + </p> + <p> + We went to the spring-house first, to avoid suspicion, and then across + back of the deer park to the shelter-house. It was still snowing, but not + so much, and the tracks we had made early in the morning were still there, + mine off to one side alone, and the others close together and side by + side. There was a whole history in those snow tracks, mine alone and kind + of offish, and the others cuddling together. It made me lonely to look at + them. + </p> + <p> + I remember wishing I'd taught school, as I was educated to; woman wasn't + made to live alone, and most school-teachers get married. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty did not say much. She was holding her chin high and looking + rather angry and determined. At the spring-house I gave her the basket and + took an armful of fire-wood myself. I knew Mr. Dick would never think of + it until the fire was out. + </p> + <p> + They were both asleep in the shelter-house. He was propped up against the + wall on a box, with the rubber carriage robe around him, and she was lying + by the fire, with Mrs. Moody's shawl over her and her muff under her head. + Miss Patty stood in the doorway for an instant. Then she walked over and, + leaning down, shook her sister by the arm. + </p> + <p> + "Dorothy!" she said. "Wake up, you wretched child!" And shook her again. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dicky groaned and yawned, and opened her eyes one at a time. + </p> + <p> + But when she saw it was Miss Patty she sat up at once, looking dazed and + frightened. + </p> + <p> + "You needn't pinch me, Pat!" she said, and at that Mr. Dick wakened and + jumped up, with the carriage robe still around him. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Dolly, Dolly!" said Miss Patty suddenly, dropping on her knees beside + Mrs. Dicky, "what a bad little girl you are! What a thing for you to do! + Think of father and Aunt Honoria!" + </p> + <p> + "I shan't," retorted Mrs. Dicky decidedly. "I'm not going to spoil my + honeymoon like that. For heaven's sake, Pat, don't cry. I'm not dead. + Dick, this is my sister, Patricia." + </p> + <p> + Miss Pat looked at him, but she didn't bow. She gave him one look, from + his head to his heels. + </p> + <p> + "Dolly, how COULD you!" she said, and got up. + </p> + <p> + It wasn't very comfortable for Mr. Dick, but he took it much better than I + expected. He went over and gave his wife a hand to help her up, and still + holding hers, he turned to Miss Patty. + </p> + <p> + "You are perfectly right," he said, "I don't see how she could myself. The + more you know of me the more you'll wonder. But she did; we're up against + that." + </p> + <p> + He grinned at Miss Patty, and after a minute Miss Patty smiled back. But + it wasn't much of a smile. I was unpacking the breakfast, putting the + coffee-pot on the fire and getting ready to cook the eggs and make toast. + But I was watching, too. Suddenly Mrs. Dick made a dive for Miss Patty and + threw her arms around her. + </p> + <p> + "You darling!" she cried. "I'm so glad to see you again—Pat, you'll + tell father, won't you? He'll take it from you. If I tell him he'll have + apoplexy or something." + </p> + <p> + But Miss Patty set her pretty mouth—both those girls have their + father's mouth—and held her sister out at arm's length and looked at + her. + </p> + <p> + "Listen," she said. "Do you know what you have done to me? Do you know + that when father knows this he's going to annul the marriage or have Mr. + Carter arrested for kidnaping or abduction?—whatever it is." Mrs. + Dick puckered her face to cry, and Mr. Dick took a step forward, but Miss + Patty waved him off. "You know father as well as I do, Dolly. You know + what he is, and lately he's been awful. He's not well—it's his liver + again—and he won't listen to anything. Why, the Austrian ambassador + came up here, all this distance, to talk about the etiquette of the—of + my wedding, something about precedence, and he wouldn't even see him." + </p> + <p> + "He can't annul it," said Mr. Dick angrily. "I'm of age. And I can support + my wife, too, or will be able—soon." + </p> + <p> + "Dolly's not of age," said Miss Patty wearily. "I've sat up all night + figuring it out. He's going to annul the marriage, or he'll make a scandal + anyhow, and that's just as bad. Dolly,"—she turned to her sister + imploringly—"Dolly, I can't have a scandal now. You know how Oskar's + people have taken this, anyhow; they've given in, because he insisted, but + they don't want me, and if there's a lot of notoriety now the emperor will + send him to Africa or some place, and—" + </p> + <p> + "I wish they would!" Mrs. Carter burst out suddenly. "I hate the whole + thing. They only tolerate you—us—for our money. You needn't + look at me like that; Oskar may be all right, but his mother and sisters + are hateful—simply hateful!" + </p> + <p> + "I'll not be with them." + </p> + <p> + "No, but they'll be with you." Mrs. Dicky walked over to the window and + looked out, dabbing her eyes. "You've been everything to me, Pat, and I'm + so happy now—I'd rather be here on a soap box with Dick than on a + throne or a dais or whatever you'll have to sit on over there, with Oskar. + I want to be happy—and you won't. Look at Alice Thorne and her + duke!" + </p> + <p> + "If you really want me to be happy," Miss Patty said, going over to her, + "you'll go back to school until the wedding is over." + </p> + <p> + "I won't leave Dicky." She swung around and gave Mr. Dick an adoring + glance, and Miss Patty looked discouraged. + </p> + <p> + "Take him with you," she said. "Isn't there some place near where he could + stay, and telephone you now and then?" + </p> + <p> + "Telephone!" said Mrs. Dick scornfully. + </p> + <p> + "Can't leave," Mr. Dick objected. "Got to be on the property." + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders and turned to go. "You're both perfectly + hopeless," she said. "I'll go and tell father, Dorothy, but you know what + will happen. You'll be back in school at Greenwich by to-night, and your—husband + will probably be under arrest." She opened the door, but I dropped the + toast I was making and ran after her. + </p> + <p> + "If he is arrested," I said, "they'll have to keep him on the place. He + can't leave." + </p> + <p> + She didn't say anything; she lifted her hand and looked at the ruby ring, + and then she glanced back into the room where Mr. Dick and his wife were + whispering together, and turned up her coat collar. + </p> + <p> + "I'm going," she said, and stepped into the snow. But they called her back + in a hurry. + </p> + <p> + "Look here, Miss—Miss Patricia," Mr. Dick said, "why can't we stay + here, where we are? It's very comfortable—that is, it's livable. + There's plenty of fresh air, anyhow, and everybody's shouting for fresh + air nowadays. They've got somebody to take my place in the house." + </p> + <p> + "And father needn't know a thing—you can fix that," broke in Mrs. + Dick. "And after your wedding he will be in a better humor; he'll know + it's over and not up to him any more." + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty came back to the shelter-house again and sat down on the soap + box. + </p> + <p> + "We MIGHT carry it off," she said. "If I could only go back to town! But + father is in one of his tantrums, and he won't go, or let me go. The idea!—with + Aunt Honoria on the long-distance wire every day, having hysterics, and my + clothes waiting to be tried on and everything. I'm desperate." + </p> + <p> + "And all sorts of things being arranged for you!" put in Mrs. Dick + enviously. "And the family jewels being reset in Vienna for you and all + that! It would be great—if you only didn't have to take Oskar with + the jewels!" + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty frowned. + </p> + <p> + "You are not going to marry him," she said, with a glance at Mr. Dick, + who, with his coat off, was lying flat on the floor, one arm down in the + hole where the things had been hidden, trying to hook up a can of baked + beans. "If it doesn't turn out well, you and father have certainly done + your part in the way of warning. It's just as Aunt Honoria said; the + family will make a tremendous row beforehand, but afterward, when it all + turns out well, they'll take the credit." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick was busy with the beans and I was turning the eggs. Mrs. Dick + went over to her sister and put her arm around her. + </p> + <p> + "That's right, Patty," she said, "you're more like mother than I am. I'm a + Jennings all over—except that, heavens be praised, I've got the + Sherwood liver. I guess I'm common plebeian, like dad, too. I'm plebeian + enough, anyhow, to think there's been a lot too much about marriage + settlements and the consent of the emperor in all this, and not enough + about love." + </p> + <p> + I could have patted Mrs. Dicky on the back for that, and I almost upset + the eggs into the fire. I'm an advocate of marrying for love every time, + although a title and a bunch of family jewels thrown in wouldn't worry me. + </p> + <p> + "Do you want me to protest that the man who has asked me to marry him + cares about me?" Miss Patty replied in an angry undertone. "Couldn't he + have married a thousand other girls! Hadn't a marriage been arranged + between him and the cousin—" + </p> + <p> + "I know all that," Mrs. Dicky said, and her voice sounded older than Miss + Patty's, and motherly. "But—are you in love with him, Pat?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly," Miss Patty said indignantly. "Don't be silly, Dolly." + </p> + <p> + At that instant Mr. Dick found the beans, and got up shouting that we'd + have a meal fit for a prince—if princes ate anything so every day as + baked beans. I put the eggs on a platter and poured the coffee, and we all + sat around the soap box and ate. I wished that Miss Cobb could have seen + me there—how they insisted on my having a second egg, and was my + coffee cold, and wasn't I too close to the fire? It was Minnie here and + Minnie there, and me next to Miss Patty on the floor, and she, as you may + say, right next to royalty. I wished it could have been in the + spring-house, with father's crayon enlargement looking down on us. + </p> + <p> + Everybody felt better for the meal, and we were sitting there laughing and + talking and very cheerful when Mr. Van Alstyne opened the door and looked + in. His face was stern, but when he saw us, with Miss Patty on her knees + toasting a piece of bread and Mr. Dicky passing the tin basin as a + finger-bowl, he stopped scowling and looked amused. + </p> + <p> + "They're here, Sallie," he called to his wife, and they both came in, + covered with snow, and we had coffee and eggs all over again. + </p> + <p> + Well, they stayed for an hour, and Mr. Sam talked himself black in the + face and couldn't get anywhere. For the Dickys refused to be separated, + and Mrs. Dick wouldn't tell her father, and Miss Patty wouldn't do it for + her, and the minute Mr. Sam made a suggestion that sounded rational Mrs. + Dick would cry and say she didn't care to live, anyhow, and she wished she + had died of ptomaine poisoning the time she ate the bad oysters at school. + </p> + <p> + So finally Mr. Sam gave up and said he washed his hands of the whole + affair, and that he was going to make another start on his wedding + journey, and if they wanted to be a pair of fools it wasn't up to him—only + for heaven's sake not to cry about it. And then he wiped Mrs. Dicky's eyes + and kissed her, she being, as he explained, his sister-in-law now and much + too pretty for him to scold. + </p> + <p> + And when the Dickys found they were not going to be separated we had more + coffee all around and everybody grew more cheerful. + </p> + <p> + Oh, we were very cheerful! I look back now and think how cheerful we were, + and I shudder. It was strange that we hadn't been warned by Mr. Pierce's + square jaw, but we were not. We sat around the fire and ate and laughed, + and Mr. Dick arranged that Mr. Pierce should come out to him every evening + for orders about the place if he accepted, and everybody felt he would—and + I was to come at the same time and bring a basket of provisions for the + next day. Of course, the instant Mr. Jennings left the young couple could + go into the sanatorium as guests under another name and be comfortable. + And as soon as the time limit was up, and the place was still running + smoothly, they could declare the truth, claim the sanatorium, having + fulfilled the conditions of the will, and confess to Mr. Jennings—over + the long-distance wire. + </p> + <p> + Well, it promised well, I must say. Mr. Stitt left on the ten train that + morning, looking lemon-colored and mottled. He insisted that he wasn't + able to go, but Mr. Sam gave him a headache powder and put him on the + train, anyhow. + </p> + <p> + Yes, as I say, it promised well. But we made two mistakes: we didn't count + on Mr. Thoburn, and we didn't know Mr. Pierce. And who could have imagined + that Mike the bath man would do as he did? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X + </h2> + <h3> + ANOTHER COMPLICATION + </h3> + <p> + After luncheon, when everybody at Hope Springs takes a nap, we had another + meeting at the shelter-house, this time with Mr. Pierce. He had spent the + morning tramping over the hills with a gun and keeping out of the way of + people, and what with three square meals, a good night's sleep and the + exercise, he was looking a lot better. Seen in daylight, he had very dark + hair and blue-gray eyes and a very square chin, although it had a sort of + dimple in it. I used to wonder which won out, the dimple or the chin, but + I wasn't long in finding out. + </p> + <p> + Well, he looked dazed when I took him to the shelter-house and he saw Mr. + Dick and Mrs. Dick and the Mr. Sams and Miss Patty. They gave him a + lawn-mower to sit on, and Mr. Sam explained the situation. + </p> + <p> + "I know it's asking a good bit, Mr. Pierce," he said, "and personally I + can see only one way out of all this. Carter ought to go in and take + charge, and his—er—wife ought to go back to school. But they + won't have it, and—er—there are other reasons." He glanced at + Miss Patty. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce also glanced at Miss Patty. He'd been glancing at her at + intervals of two seconds ever since she came in, and being a woman and + having a point to gain, Miss Patty seemed to have forgotten the night + before, and was very nice to him. Once she smiled directly at him, and + whatever he was saying died in his throat of the shock. When she turned + her head away he stared at the back of her neck, and when she looked at + the fire he gazed at her profile, and always with that puzzled look, as if + he hadn't yet come to believe that she was the newspaper Miss Jennings. + </p> + <p> + After everything had been explained to him, including Mr. Jennings' liver + and disposition, she turned to him and said: + </p> + <p> + "We are in your hands, you see, Mr. Pierce. Are you going to help us?" And + when she asked him that, it was plain to me that he was only sorry he + couldn't die helping. + </p> + <p> + "If everybody agrees to it," he said, looking at her, "and you all think + it's feasible and I can carry it off, I'm perfectly willing to try." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, it's feasible," Mr. Dick said in a relieved voice, getting up and + beginning to strut up and down the room. "It isn't as though I'm beyond + call. You can come out here and consult me if you get stuck. And then + there's Minnie; she knows a good bit about the old place." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam looked at me and winked. + </p> + <p> + "Of course," said Mr. Dick, "I expect to retain control, you understand + that, I suppose, Pierce? You can come out every day for instructions. I + dare say sanatoriums are hardly your line." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce was looking at Miss Patty and she knew it. When a woman looks + as unconscious as she did it isn't natural. + </p> + <p> + "Eh—oh, well no, hardly," he said, coming to himself; "I've tried + everything else, I believe. It can't be worse than carrying a bunch of + sweet peas from garden to garden." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick stopped walking and turned suddenly to stare at Mr. Pierce. + </p> + <p> + "Sweet—what?" he said. + </p> + <p> + Everybody else was talking, and I was the only one who saw him change + color. + </p> + <p> + "Sweet peas," said Mr. Pierce. "And that reminds me—I'd like to make + one condition, Mr. Carter. I feel in a measure responsible for the + company; most of them have gone back to New York, but the leading woman is + sick at the hotel in Finleyville. I'd like to bring her here for two weeks + to recuperate. I assure you, I have no interest in her, but I'm sorry for + her; she's had the mumps." + </p> + <p> + "Mumps!" everybody said together, and Mr. Sam looked at his + brother-in-law. + </p> + <p> + "Kid in the play got 'em, and they spread around," Mr. Pierce explained. + "Nasty disease." + </p> + <p> + "Why, you've just had them, too, Dicky!" said his wife. They all turned to + look at him, and I must say his expression was curious. + </p> + <p> + Luckily, I had the wit to knock over the breakfast basket, which was still + there, and when we'd gathered up the broken china, Mr. Dick had got + himself in hand. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry, old man," he said to Mr. Pierce, "but I'm not in favor of + bringing Miss—the person you speak of—up to the sanatorium + just now. Mumps, you know—very contagious, and all that." + </p> + <p> + "She's over that part," Mr. Pierce said; "she only needs to rest." + </p> + <p> + "Certainly—let her come," said Mrs. Dicky. "If they're as contagious + as all that, you haven't been afraid of MY getting them." + </p> + <p> + "I—I'm not in favor of it," Mr. Dick insisted, looking obstinate. + "The minute you bring an actress here you've got the whole place by the + ears." + </p> + <p> + "Fiddlesticks!" said his sister. "Because any actress could set YOU by the + ears—" + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dick sat up suddenly. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly, if she isn't well bring her up," said Miss Patty. "Only—won't + she know your name is not Carter?" + </p> + <p> + "She's discretion itself," Mr. Pierce said. "Her salary hasn't been paid + for a month, and as I'm responsible, I'd be glad to see her looked after." + </p> + <p> + "I don't want her here. I'll—I'll pay her board at the hotel," Mr. + Dick began, "only for heaven's sake, don't—" + </p> + <p> + He stopped, for every one was staring. + </p> + <p> + "Why in the world would you do that?" Miss Patty asked. "Don't be + ridiculous. That's the only condition Mr. Pierce has made." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick stalked to the window and looked out, his hands in his pockets. I + couldn't help being reminded of the time he had run away from school, when + his grandfather found him in the shelter-house and gave him his choice of + going back at once or reading medicine with him. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, bring her up! Bring her up!" he said without looking around. "If + Pierce won't stay unless he can play the friend in need, all right. But + don't come after me if the whole blamed sanatorium swells up with mumps + and faints at the sight of a pickle." + </p> + <p> + That was Wednesday. + </p> + <p> + Things at the sanatorium were about the same on the surface. The women + crocheted and wondered what the next house doctor would be like, and the + men gambled at the slot-machines and played billiards and grumbled at the + food and the management, and when they weren't drinking spring water they + were in the bar washing away the taste of it. They took twenty minutes on + the verandas every day for exercise and kept the house temperature at + eighty. Senator Biggs was still fasting and Mrs. Biggs took to spending + all day in the spring-house and turning pale every time she heard his + voice. It was that day, I think, that I found the magazine with Upton + Sinclair's article on fasting stuck fast in a snow-drift, as if it had + been thrown violently. + </p> + <p> + Wednesday afternoon Miss Julia Summers came with three lap robes, a white + lace veil and a French poodle in a sleigh and went to bed in one of the + best rooms, and that night we started to move out furniture to the + shelter-house. + </p> + <p> + By working almost all night we got the shelter-house fairly furnished, + although we made a trail through the snow that looked like a fever chart. + Toward daylight Mr. Sam dropped a wash-bowl on my toe and I went to bed + with an arnica compress. + </p> + <p> + I limped out in time to be on hand before Miss Cobb got there, but what + with a chilblain on my heel and hardly any sleep for two nights—not + to mention my toe—I wasn't any too pleasant. + </p> + <p> + "It's my opinion you're overeating, Minnie," Miss Cobb said. "You're + skin's a sight!" + </p> + <p> + "You needn't look at it," I retorted. + </p> + <p> + She burned the back of her neck just then and it was three minutes before + she could speak. When she could she was considerably milder. + </p> + <p> + "Just give it a twist or two, Minnie, won't you?" she said, holding out + the curler. "I haven't been able to sleep on the back of my head for three + weeks." + </p> + <p> + Well, I curled her hair for her and she told me about Miss Summers being + still shut in her room, and how she'd offered Mike an extra dollar to give + the white poodle a Turkish bath—it being under the weather as to + health—and how Mike had soaked the little beast for an hour in a tub + of water, forgetting the sulphur, and it had come out a sort of mustard + color, and how Miss Summers had had hysterics when she saw it. + </p> + <p> + "Mike dipped him in bluing to bleach him again, or rather 'her'—it's + name is Arabella—" Miss Cobb said, "but all it did was to make it + mottled like an Easter egg. Everybody is charmed. There were no dogs + allowed while the old doctor lived. Things were different." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, things were different," I assented, limping over to heat the curler. + "How—how does Mr. Carter get along?" + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb put down her hand-mirror and sniffed. + </p> + <p> + "Well," she said, "goodness knows I'm no trouble maker, but somebody ought + to tell that young man a few things. He's forever looking at the + thermometer and opening windows. I declare, if I hadn't brought my woolen + tights along I'd have frozen to death at breakfast. Everybody's + complaining." + </p> + <p> + I put that away in my mind to speak about. It was only by nailing the + windows shut and putting strips of cotton batting around the cracks that + we'd ever been able to keep people there in the winter. I had my first + misgiving then. Heaven knows I didn't realize what it was going to be. + </p> + <p> + Well, by the evening of that day things were going fairly well. Tillie + brought out a basket every morning to me at the spring-house, fairly + bursting with curiosity, and Mr. Sam got some canned stuff in Finleyville + and took it after dark to the shelter-house. But after the second day Mrs. + Dicky got tired holding a frying-pan over the fire and I had to carry out + at least one hot meal a day. + </p> + <p> + They got their own breakfast in a chafing-dish, or rather he got it and + carried it to her. And she'd sit on the edge of her cot, with her feet on + the soap box—the floor was drafty—wrapped in a pink satin + negligee with bands of brown fur on it, looking sweet and perfectly happy, + and let him feed her boiled egg with a spoon. I took them some books—my + Gray's Anatomy, and Jane Eyre and Molly Bawn, by The Duchess, and the + newspapers, of course. They were full of talk about the wedding, and the + suite the prince was bringing over with him, and every now and then a + notice would say that Miss Dorothy Jennings, the bride's young sister, who + was still in school and was not coming out until next year, would be her + sister's maid of honor. And when they came to that, they would hug each + other—or me, if I happened to be close—and act like a pair of + children, which they were. Generally it would end up by his asking her if + she wasn't sorry she wasn't back at Greenwich studying French conjugations + and having a dance without any men on Friday nights, and she would say + "Wretch!" and kiss him, and I'd go out and slam the door. + </p> + <p> + But there was something on Mr. Dick's mind. I hadn't known him for + fourteen years for nothing. And the night Mr. Sam and I carried out the + canned salmon and corn and tomatoes he walked back with me to the edge of + the deer park, Mr. Sam having gone ahead. + </p> + <p> + "Now," I said, when we were out of ear-shot, "spit it out. I've been + expecting it." + </p> + <p> + "Listen, Minnie," he answered, "is Ju—is Miss Summers still confined + to her room?" + </p> + <p> + "No," I replied coldly. "Ju—Miss Summers was down to-night to + dinner." + </p> + <p> + "Then she's seen Pierce," he said, "and he's told her the whole story and + by to-morrow—" + </p> + <p> + "What?" I demanded, clutching his arm. "You wretched boy, don't tell me + after all I've done." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "it's as much your fault as mine. + Couldn't you have found somebody else, instead of getting, of all things + on earth, somebody from the Sweet Peas Company?" + </p> + <p> + "I see," I said slowly. "Then it WASN'T coincidence about the mumps!" + </p> + <p> + "Confounded kid had them," he said with bitterness. "Minnie, something's + got to be done, and done soon. If you want the plain truth, Miss—er—Summers + and I used to be friends—and—well, she's suing me for breach + of promise. Now for heaven's sake, Minnie, don't make a fuss—" + </p> + <p> + But my knees wouldn't hold me. I dropped down in a snow-drift and covered + my face. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI + </h2> + <h3> + MISS PATTY'S PRINCE + </h3> + <p> + I dragged myself back to the spring-house and dropped in front of the + fire. What with worry and no sleep and now this new complication I was + dead as yesterday's newspaper. I sat there on the floor with my hands + around my knees, thinking what to do next, and as I sat there, the crayon + enlargement of father on the spring-house wall began to shake its head + from side to side, and then I saw it hold out its hand and point a finger + at me. + </p> + <p> + "Cut and run, Minnie," it said. "Get out from under! Go and buy Timmon's + candy store before the smash—the smash—!" + </p> + <p> + When I opened my eyes Mr. Pierce was sitting on the other side of the + chimney and staring at the fire. He had a pipe between his teeth, but he + wasn't smoking, and he had something of the same look about his mouth he'd + had the first day I saw him. + </p> + <p> + "Well?" he said, when he saw I was awake. + </p> + <p> + "I guess I was sleeping." I sat up and pushed in my hairpins and yawned. I + was tireder than ever. "I'm clean worn out." + </p> + <p> + "Of course you're tired," he declared angrily. "You're not a horse, and + you haven't been to bed for two nights." + </p> + <p> + "Care killed the cat," I said. "I don't mind losing sleep, but it's like + walking in a swamp, Mr. Pierce. First I put a toe in—that was when I + asked you to stay over night. Then I went a step farther, lured on, as you + may say, by Miss Patty waving a crown or whatever it is she wants, just + beyond my nose. And to-night I've got a—well, to-night I'm in to the + neck and yelling for a quick death." + </p> + <p> + He leaned over to where I sat before the fire and twisted my head toward + him. + </p> + <p> + "To-night—what?" he demanded. + </p> + <p> + But that minute I made up my mind not to tell him. He might think the + situation was too much for him and leave, or he might decide he ought to + tell Miss Summers where Dick was. There was no love lost between him and + Mr. Carter. + </p> + <p> + "To-night—I'm just tired and cranky," I said, "so—is Miss + Summers settled yet?" + </p> + <p> + He nodded, as if he wasn't thinking of Miss Summers. + </p> + <p> + "What did you tell her?" + </p> + <p> + "Haven't seen her," he said. "Sent her a note that I was understudying a + man named Carter and to mind to pick up her cues." + </p> + <p> + "It's a common enough name," I said, but he had lighted his pipe again and + had dropped forward, one elbow on his knee, his hand holding the bowl of + his pipe, and staring into the fire. He looked up when I closed and locked + the pantry door. + </p> + <p> + "I've just been thinking," he remarked, "here we are—a group of + people—all struggling like mad for one thing, but with different + motives. Mine are plain enough and mercenary enough, although a certain + red-haired girl with a fine loyalty to an old doctor and a sanatorium is + carrying me along with her enthusiasm. And Van Alstyne's motives are clear + enough—and selfish. Carter is merely trying to save his own skin—but + a girl like Miss Pat—Miss Jennings!" + </p> + <p> + "There's nothing uncertain about what she wants, or wrong either," I + retorted. "She's right enough. The family can't stand a scandal just now + with her wedding so close." + </p> + <p> + He smiled and got up, emptying his pipe. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless, oh, Minnie, of the glowing hair and heart," he said, "Miss + Jennings has disappointed me. You see, I believe in marrying for love." + </p> + <p> + "Love!" I was disgusted. "Don't talk to me about love! Love is the sort of + thing that makes two silly idiots run away and get married and live in a + shelter-house, upsetting everybody's plans, while their betters have to + worry themselves sick and carry them victuals." + </p> + <p> + He got up and began to walk up and down the spring-house, scowling at the + floor. + </p> + <p> + "Of course," he agreed, "he may be a decent sort, and she may really want + him." + </p> + <p> + "Of course she does!" I said. He stopped short. "I've been wanting a set + of red puffs for three years, and I can hardly walk past Mrs. Yost's + window down in the village. They've got some that match my hair and I + fairly yearn for them. But if I got 'em I dare say I'd put them in a box + and go after wanting something else. It's the same way with Miss Patty. + She'll get her prince, and because it isn't real love, but only the same + as me with the puffs, she'll go after wanting something else. Only she + can't put him away in a box. She'll have to put him on and wear him for + better, for worse." + </p> + <p> + "Lord help her!" he said solemnly, and went over to the window and stood + there looking out. + </p> + <p> + I went over beside him. From the window we could see the three rows of + yellow lights that marked the house, and somebody with a lantern was going + down the path toward the stables. Mr. Pierce leaned forward, his hands at + the top of the window-sash, and put his forehead against the glass. + </p> + <p> + "Why is it that a lighted window in a snow-storm always makes a fellow + homesick?" he said in his half-mocking way. "If he hasn't got a home it + makes him want one." + </p> + <p> + "Well, why don't you get one?" I asked. + </p> + <p> + "On nothing a year?" he said. "Not even prospects! And set up housekeeping + in the shelter-house with my good friend Minnie carrying us food and + wearing herself to a shadow, not to mention bringing trashy books to my + bride." + </p> + <p> + "She isn't that kind," I broke in, and got red. I'd been thinking of Miss + Patty. But he went over to the table and picked up his glass of spring + water, only to set it down untasted. + </p> + <p> + "No, she's not that kind!" he agreed, and never noticed the slip. + </p> + <p> + "You know, Minnie, women aren't all alike, but they're not all different. + An English writer has them classified to a T—there's the mother + woman—that's you. You're always mothering somebody with that + maternal spirit of yours. It's a pity it's vicarious." + </p> + <p> + I didn't say anything, not knowing just what he meant. But I've looked it + up since and I guess he was about right. + </p> + <p> + "And there's the mistress woman—Mrs. Dicky, for example, or—" + he saw Miss Cobb's curler on the mantel and picked it up—"or even + Miss Cobb," he said. "Coquetry and selfishness without maternal instinct. + How much of Miss Cobb's virtue is training and environment, Minnie, not to + mention lack of temptation, and how much was born in her?" + </p> + <p> + "She's a preacher's daughter," I remarked. I could understand about Mrs. + Dicky, but I thought he was wrong about Miss Cobb. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," he said. "And the third kind of woman is the mistress-mother + kind, and they're the salt of the earth, Minnie." He began to walk up and + down by the spring with his hands in his pockets and a far-away look in + his eyes. "The man who marries that kind of woman is headed straight for + paradise." + </p> + <p> + "That's the way!" I snapped. "You men have women divided into classes and + catalogued like horses on sale." + </p> + <p> + "Aren't they on sale?" he demanded, stopping. "Isn't it money, or liberty, + or—or a title, usually?" I knew he was thinking of Miss Patty again. + </p> + <p> + "As for the men," I continued, "I guess you can class the married ones in + two classes, providers and non-providers. They're all selfish and they + haven't enough virtue to make a fuss about." + </p> + <p> + "I'd be a shining light in the non-provider class," he said, and picking + up his old cap he opened the door. Miss Patty herself was coming up the + path. + </p> + <p> + She was flushed from the cold air and from hurrying, and I don't know that + I ever saw her look prettier. When she came into the light we could both + see that she was dressed for dinner. Her fur coat was open at the neck, + and she had only a lace scarf over her head. (She was a disbeliever in + colds, anyhow, and all winter long she slept with the windows open and the + steam-heat off!) + </p> + <p> + "I'm so glad you're still here, Minnie!" she exclaimed, breathing fast. + "You haven't taken the dinner out to the shelter-house yet, have you?" + </p> + <p> + "Not yet," I replied. "Tillie hasn't brought the basket. The chef's been + fussing about the stuff we're using in the diet kitchen the last few days, + and I wouldn't be surprised if he's shut off all extras." + </p> + <p> + But I guess her sister and Mr. Dick could have starved to death just then + without her noticing. She was all excitement, for all she's mostly so + cool. + </p> + <p> + "I have a note here for my sister," she said, getting it out of her + pocket. "I know we all impose on you, Minnie, but—will you take it + for me? I'd go, but I'm in slippers, and, anyhow, I'd need a lantern, and + that would be reckless, wouldn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "In slippers!" Mr. Pierce interrupted. "It's only five degrees above zero! + Of all the foolhardy—!" + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty did not seem to hear him. She gave the letter to me and + followed me out on the step. + </p> + <p> + "You're a saint, Minnie," she said, leaning over and squeezing my arm, + "and because you're going back and forth in the cold so much, I want you + to have this—to keep." + </p> + <p> + She stooped and picked up from the snow beside the steps something soft + and furry and threw it around my neck, and the next instant I knew she was + giving me her chinchilla set, muff and all. I was so pleased I cried, and + all the way over to the shelter-house I sniveled and danced with joy at + the same time. There's nothing like chinchilla to tone down red hair. + </p> + <p> + Well, I took the note out to the shelter-house, and rapped. Mr. Dick let + me in, and it struck me he wasn't as cheerful as usual. He reached out and + took the muff. + </p> + <p> + "Oh," he said, "I thought that was the supper." + </p> + <p> + "It's coming," I said, looking past him for Mrs. Dicky. Usually when I + went there she was drawing Mr. Dick's profile on a bit of paper or + teaching him how to manicure his nails, but that night she was lying on + the cot and she didn't look up. + </p> + <p> + "Sleeping?" I asked in a whisper. + </p> + <p> + "Grumping!" Mr. Dick answered. He went over and stood looking down at her + with his hands in his pockets and his hair ruffled as if he'd been running + his fingers through it. She never moved a shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Dorothy," he said. "Here's Minnie." + </p> + <p> + She pretended not to hear. + </p> + <p> + "Dorothy!" he repeated. "I wish you wouldn't be such a g—Confound + it, Dolly, be reasonable. Do you want to make me look like a fool?" + </p> + <p> + She turned her face enough to uncover one eye. + </p> + <p> + "It wouldn't be difficult," she answered, staring at him with the one eye. + It was red from crying. + </p> + <p> + "Now listen, Dolly." He got down on one knee beside the cot and tried to + take her hand, but she jerked it away. "I've tried wearing my hair that + way, and it—it isn't becoming, to say the least. I don't mind having + it wet and brushed back in a pompadour, if you insist, but I certainly do + balk at the ribbon." + </p> + <p> + "You've only got to wear the ribbon an hour or so, until it dries." She + brought her hand forward an inch or so and he took it and kissed it. It + should have been slapped. + </p> + <p> + "I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "You can fix it any way you please, + when it's too late for old Sam or Pierce to drop in, and I'll wear the + confounded ribbon all night. Won't that do?" + </p> + <p> + But she had seen the note and sat up and held out her hand for it. She was + wearing one of Miss Patty's dresses and it hung on her—not that Miss + Patty was large, but she had a beautiful figure, and Mrs. Dicky, of + course, was still growing and not properly filled out. + </p> + <p> + "Dick!" she said suddenly, "what do you think? Oskar is here! Pat's in the + wildest excitement. He's in town, and Aunt Honoria has telephoned to know + what to do! Listen: he is incog., of course, and registered as Oskar von + Inwald. He did an awfully clever thing—came in through Canada while + the papers thought he was in St. Moritz." + </p> + <p> + "For heaven's sake," replied Mr. Dick, "tell her not to ask him here. I + shouldn't know how to talk to him." + </p> + <p> + "He speaks lovely English," declared Mrs. Dick, still reading. + </p> + <p> + "I know all that," he said, walking around nervously, "but if he's going + to be my brother-in-law, I suppose I don't get down on my knees and knock + my head on the floor. What do I say to him? Your Highness? Oh, I've known + a lord or two, but that's different. You call them anything you like and + lend them money." + </p> + <p> + "I dare say you can with Oskar, too." Mrs. Dicky put the note down and + sighed. "Well, he's coming. Pat says dad won't go back to town until he's + had twenty-one baths, and he's only had eleven and she's got to stay with + him. And you needn't worry about what to call Oskar. He's not to know + we're here." + </p> + <p> + I was worried on my way back to the spring-house—not that the prince + would make much difference, as far as I could see things being about as + bad as they could be. But some of the people were talking of leaving, and + since we had to have a prince it seemed a pity he wasn't coming with all + his retinue and titles. It would have been a good ten thousand dollars' + worth of advertising for the place, and goodness knows we needed it. + </p> + <p> + When I got back to the spring-house Miss Patty and Mr. Pierce were still + there. He was in front of the fire, with his back to it, and she was near + the door. + </p> + <p> + "Of course it isn't my affair," he was saying. "You are perfectly—" + Then I opened the door and he stopped. I went on into the pantry to take + off my overshoes, and as I closed the door he continued. "I didn't mean to + say what I have. I meant to explain about the other night—I had a + right to do that. But you forced the issue." + </p> + <p> + "I was compelled to tell you he was coming," she said angrily. "I felt I + should. You have been good enough to take Mr. Carter's place here and save + me from an embarrassing situation—" + </p> + <p> + "I had no philanthropic motives," he insisted stubbornly. "I did it, as + you must know, for three meals a day and a roof over my head. If you wish + me to be entirely frank, I disapprove of the whole thing." + </p> + <p> + I heard the swish of her dress as she left the door and went toward him. + </p> + <p> + "What would you have had me do?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "Take those two children to your father. What if there was a row? Why + should there be such a lot made of it, anyhow? They're young, but they'll + get older. It isn't a crime for two people to—er—love each + other, is it? And if you think a scandal or two in your family—granting + your father would make a scandal—is going to put another patch on + the ragged reputations of the royal family of—" + </p> + <p> + "How dare you!" she cried furiously. "How DARE you!" + </p> + <p> + I heard her cross the room and fling the door open and a second later it + slammed. When I came out of the pantry Mr. Pierce was sitting in his old + position, elbow on knee, holding his pipe and staring at the bowl. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII + </h2> + <h3> + WE GET A DOCTOR + </h3> + <p> + I had my hands full the next day. We'd had another snow-storm during the + night and the trains were blocked again. About ten o'clock we got a + telegram from the new doctor we'd been expecting, that he'd fallen on the + ice on his way to the train and broken his arm, and at eleven a delegation + from the guests waited on Mr. Pierce and told him they'd have to have a + house physician at once. + </p> + <p> + Senator Biggs was the spokesman. He said that, personally, he couldn't + remain another day without one; that he should be under a physician's care + every moment of his fast, and that if no doctor came that day he'd be in + favor of all the guests showing their displeasure by leaving together. + </p> + <p> + "Either that," Thoburn said from the edge of the crowd, "or call it a + hotel at once and be done with it. A sanatorium without a doctor is like + an omelet without eggs!" + </p> + <p> + "Hamlet without ham," somebody said. + </p> + <p> + "We're doing the best we can," Mr. Pierce explained. "We—we expect a + doctor to-day." + </p> + <p> + "When?" from Mr. Jennings, who had come on a cane and was watching Mr. + Pierce like a hawk. + </p> + <p> + "This afternoon, probably. As there is no one here very ill—" + </p> + <p> + But at that they almost fell on him and tore him to pieces. I had to step + in front of him myself and say we'd have somebody there by two o'clock if + we had to rob a hospital to get him. And Mr. Sam cried, "Three cheers for + Minnie, the beautiful spring-house girl!" and led off. + </p> + <p> + There's no doubt about it—a man ought to be born to the sanatorium + business. A real strong and healthy man has no business trying to run a + health resort, and I saw Mr. Pierce wasn't making the hit that I'd + expected him to. + </p> + <p> + He was too healthy. You only needed to look at him to know that he took a + cold plunge every morning, and liked to walk ten miles a day, and could + digest anything and go to sleep the minute his head touched the pillow. + And he had no tact. When Mrs. Biggs went to him and explained that the + vacuum cleaner must not be used in her room—that it exhausted the + air or something, and she could hardly breathe after it—he only + looked bewildered and then drew a diagram to show her it was impossible + that it could exhaust the air. The old doctor knew how: he'd have ordered + an oxygen tank opened in the room after the cleaner was used and she'd + have gone away happy. + </p> + <p> + Of course Mr. Pierce was most polite. He'd listen to their complaints—and + they were always complaining, that's part of the regime—with a + puzzled face, trying to understand, but he couldn't. He hadn't a nerve in + his body. Once, when one of the dining-room girls dropped a tray of dishes + and half the women went to bed with headache from the nervous shock, he + never even looked up, but went on with his dinner, and the only comment he + made afterward was to tell the head waitress to see that Annie didn't have + to pay breakage—that the trays were too heavy for a woman, anyhow. + As Miss Cobb said, he was impossible. + </p> + <p> + Well, as if I didn't have my hands full with getting meals to the + shelter-house, and trying to find a house doctor, and wondering how long + it would be before "Julia" came face to face with Dick Carter somewhere or + other, and trying to keep one eye on Thoburn while I kept Mr. Pierce + straight with the other—that day, during luncheon, Mike the bath man + came out to the spring-house and made a howl about his wages. He'd been + looking surly for two days. + </p> + <p> + "What about your wages?" I snapped. "Aren't you getting what you've always + had?" + </p> + <p> + "No tips!" he said sulkily. "Only a few taking baths—only one daily, + and that's that man Jennings. There's no use talking, Miss Minnie, I've + got to have a double percentage on that man or you'll have to muzzle him. + He—he's dangerous." + </p> + <p> + "If I give you the double percentage, will you stay?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know but that I'd rather have the muzzle, Miss Minnie," he + answered slowly, "but—I'll stay. It won't be for long." + </p> + <p> + Which left me thinking. I'd seen Thoburn talking to Mike more than once + lately, and he'd been going around with an air of assurance that didn't + make me any too cheerful. Evenings, when I'd relieved Amanda King at the + news stand, I'd seen Thoburn examining the woodwork of the windows, and + only the night before, happening on the veranda unexpectedly, I found Mike + and him measuring it with a tape line. As I say, Mike's visit left me + thinking. + </p> + <p> + The usual crowd came out that afternoon and drank water and sat around the + fire and complained—all except Senator Biggs, who happened in just + as I was pouring melted butter over a dish of hot salted pop-corn. He + stood just inside the door, sniffling, with his eyes fixed on the butter, + and then groaned and went out. + </p> + <p> + He looked terrible—his clothes hung on him like bags; as the bishop + said, it was ghastly to see a convexity change to such a concavity in + three days. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Moody won three dollars that day from the slot-machine and was almost + civil to his wife, but old Jennings sat with his foot on a stool and + yelled if anybody slammed the door. Mrs. Hutchins brought him out with her + eyes red and asked me if she could leave him there. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry if I was rude to you the other night, Minnie," she said, "but I + was upset. I'm so worn-out that I'll have to lie down for an hour, and if + he doesn't get better soon, I—I shall have to have help. My nerves + are gone." + </p> + <p> + At four o'clock Mr. Sam came in, and he had Mr. Thoburn tight by the arm. + </p> + <p> + "My dear old chap," he was saying, "it would be as much as your life's + worth. That ground is full of holes and just now covered with snow—!" + </p> + <p> + He caught my eye, and wiped his forehead. + </p> + <p> + "Heaven help us!" he said, coming over to the spring, "I found him making + for the shelter-house, armed with a foot rule! Somebody's got to take him + in hand—I tell you, the man's a menace!" + </p> + <p> + "What about the doctor?" I asked, reaching up his glass. + </p> + <p> + "Be here to-night," he answered, "on the—" + </p> + <p> + But at that minute a boy brought a telegram down and handed it to him. The + new doctor was laid up with influenza! + </p> + <p> + We sat there after the others had gone, and Mr. Sam said he was for giving + up the fight, only to come out now with the truth would mean such a lot of + explaining and a good many people would likely find it funny. Mr. Pierce + came in later and we gave him the telegram to read. + </p> + <p> + "I don't see why on earth they need a doctor, anyhow," he said, "they're + not sick. If they'd take a little exercise and get some air in their lungs—" + </p> + <p> + "My dear fellow," Mr. Sam cried in despair, "some people are born in + sanatoriums, some acquire them, and others have them thrust upon them—I've + had this place thrust upon me. I don't know why they want a doctor, but + they do. They balked at Rodgers from the village. They want somebody here + at night. Mr. Jennings has the gout and there's the deuce to pay. Some of + them talk of leaving." + </p> + <p> + "Let 'em leave," said Mr. Pierce. "If they'd go home and drink three + gallons of any kind of pure water a day—" + </p> + <p> + "Sh! That's heresy here! My dear fellow, we've got to keep them." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce glanced at the telegram and handed it back. + </p> + <p> + "Lot's of starving M. D.'s would jump at the chance," he said, "but if + it's as urgent as all this we can't wait to hunt. I'll tell you, Van + Alstyne, there's a chap down in the village he was the character man with + the Sweet Peas Company—and he's stranded there. I saw him this + morning. He's washing dishes in the depot restaurant for his meals. We + used to call him Doc, and I've a hazy idea that he's a graduate M. D.—name's + Barnes." + </p> + <p> + "Great!" cried Mr. Van Alstyne. "Let's have Barnes. You get him, will you, + Pierce?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce promised and they started out together. At the door Mr. Sam + turned. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, by the way, Minnie," he called, "better gild one of your chairs and + put a red cushion on it. The prince has arrived." + </p> + <p> + Well, I thought it all out that afternoon as I washed the glasses, and it + was terrible. I had two people in the shelter-house to feed and look after + like babies, with Tillie getting more curious every day about the basket + she brought, and not to be held much longer; and I had a man running the + sanatorium and running it to the devil as fast as it could go. Not that he + wasn't a nice young man, big, strong-jawed and all that, but you can't + make a diplomat out of an ordinary man in three days, and it takes more + diplomacy to run a sanatorium a week than it does to be secretary of state + for four years. Then I had a prince incognito, and Thoburn stirring up + mischief, and the servants threatening to strike, and no house doctor— + </p> + <p> + Just as I got to that somebody opened the door behind me and looked in. I + glanced around, and it was a man with the reddest hair I ever saw. Mine + was pale by comparison. He was rather short and heavy-set, and he had a + pleasant face, although not handsome, his nose being slightly bent to the + left. But at first all I could see was his hair. + </p> + <p> + "Good evening," he said, edging himself in. "Are you Miss Waters?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes," I said, rising and getting a glass ready, "although I'm not called + that often, except by people who want to pun on my name and my business." + I looked at him sharply, but he hadn't intended any pun. + </p> + <p> + He took off his hat and came over to the spring where I was filling his + glass. + </p> + <p> + "If that's for me, you needn't bother," he said. "If it tastes as it + smells, I'm not thirsty. My name's Barnes, and I was to wait here for Mr. + Van Alstyne." + </p> + <p> + "Barnes!" I repeated. "Then you're the doctor." + </p> + <p> + He grinned, and stood turning his hat around in his hands. + </p> + <p> + "Not exactly," he said. "I graduated in medicine a good many years ago, + but after a year of it, wearing out more seats of trousers waiting for + patients than I earned enough to pay for, and having to have new trousers, + I took to other things." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes," I said. "You're an actor now." + </p> + <p> + He looked thoughtful. + </p> + <p> + "Some people think I'm not," he answered, "but I'm on the stage. Graduated + there from prize-fighting. Prize-fighting, the stage, and then writing for + magazines—that's the usual progression. Sometimes, as a sort of + denouement before the final curtain, we have dinner at the White House." + </p> + <p> + I took a liking to the man at once. It was a relief to have somebody who + was willing to tell all about himself and wasn't incognito, or in hiding, + or under somebody else's name. I put a fresh log on the fire, and as it + blazed up I saw him looking at me. + </p> + <p> + "Ye gods and little fishes!" he said. "Another redhead! Why, we're as + alike as two carrots off the same bunch!" + </p> + <p> + In five minutes I knew how old he was, and where he was raised, and that + what he wanted more than anything on earth was a little farmhouse with + chickens and a cow. + </p> + <p> + "Where you can have air, you know," he said, waving his hands, which were + covered with reddish hair. "Lord, in the city I starve for air! And where, + when you're getting soft you can go out and tackle the wood-pile. That's + living!" + </p> + <p> + And then he wanted to know what he was to do at the sanatorium and I told + him as well as I could. I didn't tell him everything, but I explained why + Mr. Pierce was calling himself Carter, and about the two in the + shelter-house. I had to. He knew as well as I did that three days before + Mr. Pierce had had nothing to his name but a folding automobile road map + or whatever it was. + </p> + <p> + "Good for old Pierce!" he said when I finished. "He's a prince, Miss + Waters. If you'd seen him sending those girls back to town—well, + I'll do all I can to help him. But I'm not much of a doctor. It's safe to + acknowledge it; you'll find it out soon enough." + </p> + <p> + Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne came in just then, and Mr. Sam told him what he + was expected to do. It wasn't much: he was to tell them at what + temperatures to take their baths, "and Minnie will help you out with + that," he added, and what they were to eat and were not to eat. "Minnie + will tell you that, too," he finished, and Mr. Barnes, DOCTOR Barnes, came + over and shook my hand. + </p> + <p> + "I'm perfectly willing to be first assistant," he declared. "We'll put our + heads together and the result will be—" + </p> + <p> + "Combustion!" said Mr. Sam, and we all laughed. + </p> + <p> + "Remember," Mr. Sam instructed him, as Doctor Barnes started out, "when + you don't know what to prescribe, order a Turkish bath. The baths are to a + sanatorium what the bar is to a club—they pay the bills." + </p> + <p> + Well, we got it all fixed and Doctor Barnes started out, but at the door + he stopped. + </p> + <p> + "I say," he asked in an undertone, "the stork doesn't light around here, + does he?" + </p> + <p> + "Not if they see him first!" I replied grimly, and he went out. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII + </h2> + <h3> + THE PRINCE—PRINCIPALLY + </h3> + <p> + It was all well enough for me to say—as I had to to Tillie many a + time—that it was ridiculous to make a fuss over a person for what, + after all, was an accident of birth. It was well enough for me to say that + it was only by chance that I wasn't strutting about with a crown on my + head and a man blowing a trumpet to let folks know I was coming, and by + the same token and the same chance Prince Oskar might have been a + red-haired spring-house girl, breaking the steels in her figure stooping + over to ladle mineral water out of a hole in the earth. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, at five o'clock, after every one had gone, when I saw Miss + Patty, muffled in furs, tripping out through the snow, with a tall thin + man beside her, walking very straight and taking one step to her four, I + felt as though somebody had hit me at the end of my breast-bone. + </p> + <p> + They stopped a minute outside before they came in, and I had to take + myself in hand. + </p> + <p> + "Now look here, Minnie, you idiot," I said to myself, "this is America; + you're as good as he is; not a bend of the knee or a stoop of the neck. + And if he calls you 'my good girl' hit him." + </p> + <p> + They came in together, laughing and talking, and, to be honest, if I + hadn't caught the back of a chair, I'd have had one foot back of the other + and been making a courtesy in spite of myself. + </p> + <p> + "We're late, Minnie!" Miss Patty said. "Oskar, this is one of my best + friends, and you are to be very nice to her." + </p> + <p> + He had one of those single glass things in his eye and he gave me a good + stare through it. Seen close he was handsomer than Mr. Pierce, but he + looked older than his picture. + </p> + <p> + "Ask her if she won't be nice to me," he said in as good English as mine, + and held out his hand. + </p> + <p> + "Any of Miss Patty's friends—" I began, with a lump in my throat, + and gave his hand a good squeeze. I thought he looked startled, and + suddenly I had a sort of chill. + </p> + <p> + "Good gracious!" I exclaimed, "should I have kissed it?" + </p> + <p> + They roared at that, and Miss Patty had to sit down in a chair. + </p> + <p> + "You see, she knows, Oskar," she said. "The rest are thinking and perhaps + guessing, but Minnie is the only one that knows, and she never talks. + Everybody who comes here tells Minnie his troubles." + </p> + <p> + "But—am I a trouble?" he asked in a low tone. I was down in the + spring, but I heard it. + </p> + <p> + "So far you have hardly been an unalloyed joy," she replied, and from the + spring I echoed "Amen." + </p> + <p> + "Yes—I'm so hung with family skeletons that I clatter when I walk," + I explained, pretending I hadn't heard, and brought them both glasses of + water. "It's got to be a habit with some people to save their sciatica and + their husband's dispositions and their torpid livers and their unpaid + bills and bring 'em here to me." + </p> + <p> + He sniffed at the glass and put it down. + </p> + <p> + "Herr Gott!" he said, "what a water! It is—the whole thing is + extraordinary! I can understand the reason for Carlsbad or Wiesbaden—it + is gay. One sees one's friends; it is—social. But here—!" + </p> + <p> + He got up and, lifting a window curtain, peered out into the snow. + </p> + <p> + "Here," he repeated, "shut in by forests and hills, a thousand miles from + life—" He shrugged his shoulders and came back to the table. "It is + well enough for the father," he went on to Miss Patty, "but for you! Why—it + is depressing, gray. The only bit of color in it all is—here, in + what you call the spring-house." I thought he meant Miss Patty's cheeks or + her lovely violet eyes, but he was looking at my hair. I had caught his + eye on it before, but this time he made no secret about it, and he sighed, + for all the world as if it reminded him of something. He went over to the + slot-machine and stood in front of it, humming and trying the different + combinations. I must say he had a nice back. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty came over and slipped her hand in mine. + </p> + <p> + "Well?" she whispered, looking at me with her pretty eyebrows raised. + </p> + <p> + "He looks all right," I had to confess. "Perhaps you can coax him to + shave." + </p> + <p> + She laughed. + </p> + <p> + "Oskar!" she called, "you have passed, but you are conditioned. Minnie + objects to the mustache." + </p> + <p> + He turned and looked at me gravely. + </p> + <p> + "It is my—greatest attraction," he declared, "but it is also a great + care. If Miss Minnie demands it, I shall give it to her in a—in a + little box." He sauntered over and looked at me in his audacious way. "But + you must promise to care for it. Many women have loved it." + </p> + <p> + "I believe that!" I answered, and stared back at him without blinking. "I + guess I wouldn't want the responsibility." + </p> + <p> + But I had an idea that he meant what he said about the many women, and + that Miss Patty knew it as well as I did. She flushed a little, and they + went very soon after that. I stood and watched them until they disappeared + in the snow, and I felt lonelier than ever, and sad, although certainly he + was better than I had expected to find him. He was a man, and not a little + cub with a body hardly big enough to carry his forefathers' weaknesses. + But he had a cold eye and a warm mouth, and that sort of man is generally + a social success and a matrimonial failure. + </p> + <p> + It wasn't until toward night that I remembered I'd been talking to a real + prince and I hadn't once said "your Highness" or "your Excellency" or + whatever I should have said. I had said "You!" + </p> + <p> + I had hardly closed the door after them when it opened again and Mr. + Pierce came in. He shut the door and, going over to one of the tables, put + a package down on it. + </p> + <p> + "Here's the stuff you wanted for the spring, Minnie," he announced. "I + suppose I can't do anything more than register a protest against it?" + </p> + <p> + "You needn't bother doing that," I answered, "unless it makes you feel + better. Your authority ends at that door. Inside the spring-house I'm in + control." + </p> + <p> + (It's hard to believe, with things as they are, that I once really + believed that. But I did. It was three full days later that I learned that + I'd been mistaken!) + </p> + <p> + Well, he sat there and looked at nothing while I heated water in my brass + kettle over the fire and dissolved the things against Thoburn's quick eye + the next day, and he didn't say anything. He had a gift for keeping quiet, + Mr. Pierce had. It got on my nerves after a while. + </p> + <p> + "Things are doing better," I remarked, stirring up my mixture. + </p> + <p> + "Yes," he said, without moving. + </p> + <p> + "I suppose they're happier now they have a doctor?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes—no—I don't know. He's not much of a doctor, you know—and + there don't seem to be any medical books around." + </p> + <p> + "There's one on the care and feeding of infants in the circulating + library," I said, "and he can have my Anatomy." + </p> + <p> + "You're generous!" he remarked, with one of his quick smiles. + </p> + <p> + "It's a book," I snapped, and fell to stirring again. But he was moping + once more, with his feet out and his hands behind his head, staring at the + ceiling. + </p> + <p> + "I say, Minnie—" + </p> + <p> + "Yes?" + </p> + <p> + "Miss—Miss Jennings and the von Inwald were here just now, weren't + they? I passed them on the bridge." + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "What—how do you like him?" + </p> + <p> + "Better than I expected and not so well as I might," I said. "If you are + going to the house soon you might take Miss Patty her handkerchief. It's + there under that table." + </p> + <p> + I took my mixture into the pantry and left it to cool. But as I started + back I stopped. He had got the handkerchief and was standing in front of + the fire, holding it in the palm of his hand and looking at it. And all in + a minute he crushed it to his face with both hands and against the + firelight I could see him quivering. + </p> + <p> + I stepped back into the pantry and came out again noisily. He was standing + very calm and quiet where he had been before, and no handkerchief in + sight. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "did you get it?" + </p> + <p> + "Get what?" + </p> + <p> + "Miss Patty's handkerchief?" + </p> + <p> + "Oh—that! Yes. Here it is." He pulled it out of his pocket and held + it up by the corner. + </p> + <p> + "Ridiculous size, isn't it, and—" he held it up to his nose—"I + dare say one could almost tell it was hers by the scent. It's—it's + like her." + </p> + <p> + "Humph!" I said, suddenly suspicious, and looked at it. "Well," I said, + "it may remind you of Miss Patty, and the scent may be like Miss Patty, + but she doesn't use perfume on her handkerchief. This has an E. C. on it, + which means Eliza Cobb." + </p> + <p> + He left soon after, rather crestfallen, but to save my life I couldn't + forget what I'd seen—him with that scrap of linen that he thought + was hers crushed to his face, and his shoulders heaving. I had an idea + that he hadn't cared much for women before, and that, this being a first + attack, he hadn't established what the old doctor used to call an + immunity. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV + </h2> + <h3> + PIERCE DISAPPROVES + </h3> + <p> + Mrs. Hutchins came out to the spring-house the next morning. She was + dressed in a black silk with real lace collar and cuffs, and she was so + puffed up with pride that she forgot to be nasty to me. + </p> + <p> + "I thought I'd better come to you, Minnie," she said. "There seems to be + nobody in authority here any more. Mr. Carter has put the—has put + Mr. von Inwald in the north wing. I can not imagine why he should have + given him the coldest and most disagreeable part of the house." + </p> + <p> + I said I'd speak to Mr. Carter and try to have him moved, and she rustled + over to where I was brushing the hearth and stooped down. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. von Inwald is incognito, of course," she said, "but he belongs to a + very old family in his own country—a noble family. He ought to have + the best there is in the house." + </p> + <p> + I promised that, too, and she went away, but I made up my mind to talk to + Mr. Pierce. The sanatorium business isn't one where you can put your own + likes and dislikes against the comfort of the guests. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb came out a few minutes after; she had on her new green silk with + the white lace trimming. She saw me staring as she threw off her cape and + put her curler on the log. + </p> + <p> + "It's a little dressy for so early, of course, Minnie," she said, "but I + wish you'd see some of the other women! Breakfast looked like an afternoon + reception. What would you think of pinning this black velvet ribbon around + my head?" + </p> + <p> + "It might have done twenty years ago, Miss Cobb," I answered, "but I + wouldn't advise it now." I was working at the slot-machine, and I heard + her sniff behind me as she hung up her mirror on the window-frame. + </p> + <p> + She tried the curler on the curtain, which she knows I object to, but she + was too full of her subject to be sulky for long. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you could see Blanche Moody!" she began again, standing holding + the curler, with a thin wreath of smoke making a halo over her head. + "Drawn in—my dear, I don't see how she can breathe! I guess there's + no doubt about Mr. von Inwald." + </p> + <p> + "I'd like to know who put this beer check in the slot-machine yesterday," + I said as indifferently as I could. "What about Mr. von Inwald?" + </p> + <p> + She tiptoed over to me, the halo trailing after her. + </p> + <p> + "About his being a messenger from the prince to Miss Jennings!" she + answered in a whisper. "He spent last night closeted with papa, and the + chambermaid on that floor told Lily Biggs that there was almost a + quarrel." + </p> + <p> + "That doesn't mean anything," I objected. "If the Angel Gabriel was shut + in with Mr. Jennings for ten minutes he'd be blowing his trumpet for + help." + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb shrugged her shoulders and took hold of a fresh wisp of hair + with the curler. + </p> + <p> + "I dare say," she assented, "but the Angel Gabriel wouldn't have waited to + breakfast with Miss Jennings, and have kissed her hand before everybody at + the foot of the stairs!" + </p> + <p> + "Is he handsome?" I asked, curious to know how he would impress other + women. But Miss Cobb had never seen a man she would call ugly. + </p> + <p> + "Handsome!" she said. "My dear, he's beautiful! He has a duel scar on his + left cheek—all the nobility have them over there. I've a cousin + living in Berlin—she's the wittiest person—and she says the + German child of the future will be born with a scarred left cheek!" + </p> + <p> + Well, I was sick enough of hearing of Mr. von Inwald before the day was + over. All morning in the spring-house they talked Mr. von Inwald. They + pretended to play cards, but they were really playing European royalty. + Every time somebody laid down a queen, he'd say, "Is the queen still + living, or didn't she die a few years ago?" And when they played the + knave, they'd start off about the prince again. They'd all decided that + Mr. von Inwald was noble—somebody said that the "von" was a sort of + title. The women were planning to make the evenings more cheerful, too. + They couldn't have a dance with the men using canes or forbidden to + exercise, but Miss Cobb had a lot of what she called "parlor games" that + she wanted to try out. "Introducing the Jones family" was one of them. + </p> + <p> + In the afternoon Mr. von Inwald came out to the spring-house and sat + around, very affable and friendly, drinking the water. He and the bishop + grew quite chummy. Miss Patty was not there, but about four o'clock Mr. + Pierce came out. He did not sit down, but wandered around the room, not + talking to anybody, but staring, whenever he could, at the prince. Once I + caught Mr. von Inwald's eyes fixed on him, as if he might have seen him + before. After a while Mr. Pierce sat down in a corner like a sulky child + and filled his pipe, and as nobody noticed him except to complain about + the pipe, which he didn't even hear, he sat there for a half-hour, bent + forward, with his pipe clenched in his teeth, and never took his eyes off + Mr. von Inwald's face. + </p> + <p> + Senator Biggs was the one who really caused the trouble. He spent a good + deal of time in the spring-house trying to fool his stomach by keeping it + filled up all the time with water. He had got past the cranky stage, being + too weak for it; his face was folded up in wrinkles like an accordion and + his double chin was so flabby you could have tucked it away inside his + collar. + </p> + <p> + "What do you think of American women, Mr. von Inwald?" he asked, and + everybody stopped playing cards and listened for the answer. As Mr. von + Inwald represented the prince, wouldn't he be likely to voice the prince's + opinion of American women? + </p> + <p> + It's my belief Mr. von Inwald was going to say something nice. He smiled + as if he meant to, but just then he saw Mr. Pierce in his corner sneering + behind his pipe. They looked at each other steadily, and nobody could + mistake the hate in Mr. Pierce's face or his sneer. After a minute the + prince looked away and shrugged his shoulders, but he didn't make his + pretty speech. + </p> + <p> + "American women!" he said, turning his glass of spring water around on the + table before him, "they are very lovely, of course." He looked around and + there were Mrs. Moody and Mrs. Biggs and Miss Cobb, and he even glanced at + me in the spring. Then he looked again at Mr. Pierce and kept his eyes + there. "But they are spoiled, fearfully spoiled. They rule their parents + and they expect to rule their husbands. In Europe we do things better; we + are not—what is the English?—hag-ridden?" + </p> + <p> + There was a sort of murmur among the men, but the women all nodded as if + they thought Europe was entirely right. They'd have agreed with him if + he'd advocated sixteen wives sitting cross-legged on a mat, like the + Turks. Mr. Pierce was still staring at the prince. + </p> + <p> + "What I don't quite understand, Mr. von Inwald," the bishop put in in his + nice way, "is your custom of expecting a girl to bring her husband a + certain definite sum of money and to place it under the husband's control. + Our wealthy American girls control their own money," He was thinking of + Miss Patty, and everybody knew it. + </p> + <p> + The prince turned red and glared at the bishop. Then I think he remembered + that they didn't know who he was, and he smiled and started to turning the + glass again. + </p> + <p> + "Pardon!" he said. "Is it not better? What do women know of money? They + throw it away on trifles, dress, jewels—American women are + extravagant. It is one result of their—of their spoiling." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce got up and emptied his pipe into the fire. Then he turned. + </p> + <p> + "I'm afraid you have not known the best type of American women," he said, + looking hard at the prince. "Our representative women are our middle-class + women. They do not contract European alliances, not having sufficient + money to attract the attention of the nobility, or enough to buy titles, + as they do pearls, for the purpose of adornment." + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald got up, and his face was red. Mr. Pierce was white and + sneering. + </p> + <p> + "Also," he went on, "when they marry they wish to control their own money, + and not see it spent in—ways with which you are doubtless familiar." + </p> + <p> + We were all paralyzed. Nobody moved. Mr. Pierce put his pipe in his pocket + and stalked out, slamming the door. Then Mr. von Inwald shrugged his + shoulders and laughed. + </p> + <p> + "I see I shall have to talk to our young friend," he said and picked up + his glass. "I'm afraid I've given a wrong impression. I like the American + women very much; too well," he went on with a flash of his teeth, looking + around the room, and brought the glass to the spring for me to fill. But + as I've said before, I can tell a good bit about a man from the way he + gives me his glass, and he was in a perfect frenzy of rage. When I reached + it back to him he gripped it until his nails were white. + </p> + <p> + My joint ached all the rest of the afternoon. About five o'clock Mr. + Thoburn stopped in long enough to say: "What's this I hear about Carter + making an ass of himself to-day?" + </p> + <p> + "I haven't heard it," I answered. "What is it?" + </p> + <p> + But he only laughed and turned up his collar to go. + </p> + <p> + "Jove, Minnie," he said, "why do women of your spirit always champion the + losing side? Be a good girl; give me a hand now and then with this thing, + and I'll see you don't lose by it." + </p> + <p> + "We're not going to lose," I retorted angrily. "Nobody has left yet. We + are still ahead on the books." + </p> + <p> + He came over and shook a finger in my face. + </p> + <p> + "Nobody has left—and why? Because they're all taking a series of + baths. Wait until they've had their fifteen, or twenty-one, or whatever + the cure is, and then see them run!" + </p> + <p> + It was true enough; I knew it. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV + </h2> + <h3> + THE PRINCE, WITH APOLOGIES + </h3> + <p> + Tillie brought the supper basket for the shelter-house about six o'clock + and sat down for a minute by the fire. She said Mr. Pierce (Carter to her) + had started out with a gun about five o'clock. It was foolish, but it made + me uneasy. + </p> + <p> + "They've gone plumb crazy over that Mr. von Inwald," she declared. "It + makes me tired. How do they know he's anything but what he says he is? He + may be a messenger from the emperor of Austria, and he may be selling + flannel chest protectors. Miss Cobb's all set up; she's talking about + getting up an entertainment and asking that Miss Summers to recite." + </p> + <p> + She got up, leaving the basket on the hearth. + </p> + <p> + "And say," she said, "you ought to see that dog now. It's been soakin' in + peroxide all day!" + </p> + <p> + She went out with the peroxide, but a moment later she opened the door and + stuck her head in, nodding toward the basket. + </p> + <p> + "Say," she said, "the chef's getting fussy about the stuff I'm using in + the diet kitchen. You've got to cut it out soon, Minnie. If I was you I'd + let him starve." + </p> + <p> + "What!" I screeched, and grasped the rail of the spring. + </p> + <p> + "Let him starve!" she repeated. + </p> + <p> + "Wha—what are you talking about?" I demanded when I got my voice. + </p> + <p> + She winked at me from the doorway. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I'm on all right, Minnie!" she assured me, "although heaven only + knows where he puts it all! He's sagged in like a chair with broken + springs." + </p> + <p> + I saw then that she thought I was feeding Senator Biggs on the sly, and I + breathed again. But my nerves were nearly gone, and when just then I heard + a shot from the direction of the deer park, even Tillie noticed how pale I + got. + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what's come over you, Minnie," she said. "That's only Mr. + Carter shooting rabbits. I saw him go out as I started down the path." + </p> + <p> + I was still nervous when I put on my shawl and picked up the basket. But + there was a puddle on the floor and the soup had spilled. There was + nothing for it but to go back for more soup, and I got it from the kitchen + without the chef seeing me. When I opened the spring-house door again Mr. + Pierce was by the fire, and in front of him, where I'd left the basket, + lay a dead rabbit. He was sitting there with his chin in his hands looking + at the poor thing, and there was no basket in sight. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I asked, "did you change my basket into a dead rabbit?" + </p> + <p> + "Basket!" he said, looking up. "What basket?" + </p> + <p> + I looked everywhere, but the basket was gone, and after a while I decided + that Mr. Dick had had an attack of thoughtfulness (or hunger) and had + carried it out himself. + </p> + <p> + And all the time I looked for the basket Mr. Pierce sat with the gun + across his knees and stared at the rabbit. + </p> + <p> + "I'd thank you to take that messy thing out of here," I told him. + </p> + <p> + "Poor little chap!" he exclaimed. "He was playing in the snow, and I + killed him—not because I wanted food or sport, Minnie, but—well, + because I had to kill something." + </p> + <p> + "I hope you don't have those attacks often," I said. He looked at the + rabbit and sighed. + </p> + <p> + "Never in my life!" he answered. "For food or sport, that's different, but—blood-lust!" + He got up and put the gun in the corner, and I saw he looked white and + miserable. + </p> + <p> + "I don't like myself to-night, Minnie," he said, trying to smile, "and + nobody likes me. I'm going into the garden to eat worms!" + </p> + <p> + I didn't like to scold him when he was feeling bad anyhow, but business is + business. So I asked him how long he thought people would stay if he acted + as he had that day. I said that a sanatorium was a place where the man who + runs it can't afford to have likes and dislikes; that for my part I'd a + good deal rather he'd get rid of his excitement by shooting off a gun, + provided he pointed it away from the house, than to sit around and let his + mind explode and kill all our prospects. I told him, too, to remember that + he wasn't responsible for the morals or actions of his guests, only for + their health. + </p> + <p> + "Health!" he echoed, and kicked a chair. "Health! Why, if I wanted to keep + a good dog in condition, Minnie, I wouldn't bring him here." + </p> + <p> + "No," I retorted, "you'd shut him in an old out oven, and give him a shoe + to chew, and he'd come out in three days frisking and happy. But you can't + do that with people." + </p> + <p> + "Why not?" he asked. "Although, of course, the supply of out ovens and old + shoes is limited here." + </p> + <p> + "As far as Mr. von Inwald goes," I went on, "that's not your affair or + mine. If Miss Patty's own father can't prevent it, why should you worry + about it?" + </p> + <p> + "Precisely," he agreed. "Why should I? But I do, Minnie—that's the + devil of it." + </p> + <p> + "There are plenty of nice girls," I suggested, feeling rather sorry for + him. + </p> + <p> + "Are there? Oh, I dare say." He stooped and picked up his rabbit. + "Straight through the head; not so bad for twilight. Poor little chap!" + </p> + <p> + He said good night and went out, taking the gun and the rabbit with him, + and I went into the pantry to finish straightening things for the night. + In a few minutes I heard voices in the other room, one Mr. Pierce's, and + one with a strong German accent. + </p> + <p> + "When was that?" Mr. von Inwald's voice. + </p> + <p> + "A year ago, in Vienna." + </p> + <p> + "Where?" + </p> + <p> + "At the Bal Tabarin. You were in a loge. The man I was with told me who + the woman was. It was she, I think, who suggested that you lean over the + rail—" + </p> + <p> + "Ah, so!" said Mr. von Inwald as if he just remembered. "Ah, yes, I recall—I + was with—the lady was red-haired, is it not? And it was she who + desired me—" + </p> + <p> + "You leaned over the rail and poured a glass of wine on my head. It was + very funny. The lady was charmed." + </p> + <p> + "I recall it perfectly. I remember that I did it under protest—it + was a very fine wine, and expensive." + </p> + <p> + "Then you also recall," said Mr. Pierce, very quietly, "that because you + were with a—well, because you were with a woman, I could not return + your compliment. But I demanded the privilege at some future date when you + were alone." + </p> + <p> + "It is a pity," replied Mr. von Inwald, "that now, when I am alone, there + is no wine!" + </p> + <p> + "No, there is no wine," Mr. Pierce agreed slowly, "but there is—" + </p> + <p> + I opened the door at that, and both of them started. Mr. von Inwald was + standing with his arms folded, and Mr. Pierce had one arm raised holding + up a glass of spring water. In another second it would have been in the + other man's face. + </p> + <p> + I walked over to Mr. Pierce and took the glass out of his hand, and his + expression was funny to see. + </p> + <p> + "I've been looking everywhere for that glass," I said. "It's got to be + washed." + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald laughed and picked up his soft hat from the table. + </p> + <p> + He turned around at the door and looked back at Mr. Pierce, still + laughing. + </p> + <p> + "Accept my apologies!" he said. "It was such a fine wine, and so + expensive." + </p> + <p> + Then he went out. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI + </h2> + <h3> + STOP, THIEF! + </h3> + <p> + I was pretty nervous when I took charge of the news stand that evening. + Amanda King had an appointment with the dentist and had left everything + topsyturvey. I was still straightening up when people began to come down + to dinner. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb walked over to the news stand, and she'd cut the white yoke out + of her purple silk. She looked very dressy, although somewhat thin. + </p> + <p> + "Everybody has dressed for dinner to-night, Minnie," she informed me. "We + didn't want Mr. von Inwald to have a wrong idea of American society, + especially after Mr. Carter's ridiculous conduct this afternoon, and I + wonder if you'll be sweet enough to start the phonograph in the orchestra + gallery as we go in—something with dignity, you know—the + wedding march, or the overture from Aida." + </p> + <p> + "Aida's cracked," I said shortly, "and as far as I'm concerned, Mr. von + Inwald can walk in to his meals without music, or starve to death waiting + for the band." + </p> + <p> + But she got the phonograph, anyhow, and put the elevator boy in the + gallery with it. She picked out some things by Caruso and Tetrazzini and + piled them on a chair, but James had things to himself up there, and + played The Spring Chicken through three times during dinner, with Miss + Cobb glaring at the gallery until the back of her neck ached, and the + dining-room girls waltzing in with the dishes and polka-ing out. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Moody came out when dinner was over in a fearful rage and made for the + news stand. + </p> + <p> + "One of your ideas, I suppose," he asserted. "What sort of a night am I + going to have after chewing my food to rag-time, with my jaws doing a + skirt-dance? Why in heaven's name couldn't you have had something slow, + like Handel's Largo, if you've got to have music?" + </p> + <p> + But dinner was over fifteen minutes sooner than usual. James cake-walked + everybody out to My Ann Elizer, and Miss Cobb was mortified to death. + </p> + <p> + Two or three things happened that night. For one, I got a good look at + Miss Julia Summers. She was light-haired and well-fleshed, with an ugly + face but a pleasant smile. She wore a low-necked dress that made Miss + Cobb's with the yoke out look like a storm collar, and if she had a broken + heart she didn't show it. + </p> + <p> + "Hello," she cried, looking at my hair, "are you selling tobacco here or + are you the cigar-lighter?" + </p> + <p> + "Neither," I answered, looking over her head. "I am employed as the + extinguisher of gay guests." + </p> + <p> + "Good," she said, smiling. "I'm something fine at that myself. Suppose I + stay here and help. If I watch that line of knitting women I'll be + crotcheting Arabella's wool in my sleep to-night." + </p> + <p> + Well, she was too cheerful to be angry with. So she stayed around for a + while, and it was amazing how much tobacco I sold that evening. Men who + usually bought tobies bought the best cigars, and when Mr. Jennings came + up, scowling, and I handed him the brand he'd smoked for years, she took + one, clipped the end of it as neat as a finger nail and gave it to him, + holding up the lighter. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not going to smoke yet, young woman," he said, glaring at her. But + she only smiled. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry," she said. "I've been waiting hungrily until some + discriminating smoker would buy one of those and light it. I love the + aroma." + </p> + <p> + And he stood there for thirty minutes, standing mostly on one foot on + account of the gouty one, puffing like a locomotive, with her sniffing at + the aroma and telling him how lonely she felt with no friends around and + just recovering from a severe illness. + </p> + <p> + At eight o'clock he had Mrs. Hutchins bring him his fur-lined coat and he + and Miss Julia took Arabella, the dog, for a walk on the veranda! + </p> + <p> + The rest of the evening was quiet, and I needed it. Miss Patty and Mr. von + Inwald talked by the fire and I think he told her something—not all—of + the scene in the spring-house. For she passed Mr. Pierce at the foot of + the stairs on her way up for the night and she pretended not to see him. + He stood there looking up after her with his mouth set, and at the turn + she glanced down and caught his eye. I thought she flushed, but I wasn't + sure, and at that minute Senator Biggs bought three twenty-five-cent + cigars and told me to keep the change from a dollar. I was so surprised at + the alteration in him that I forgot Miss Patty entirely. + </p> + <p> + About twelve o'clock, just after I went to my room, somebody knocked at + the door. When I opened, the new doctor was standing in the hall. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but nobody seems to know where the + pharmacy clerk is and I'll have to get some medicine." + </p> + <p> + "If I'd had my way, we'd have had a bell on that pharmacy clerk long ago," + I snapped, getting my keys. "Who's sick?" + </p> + <p> + "The big man," he replied. "Biggs is his name, I think, a senator or + something." + </p> + <p> + I was leading the way to the stairs, but I stopped. "I might have known + it," I said. "He hasn't been natural all evening. What's the matter with + him? Too much fast?" + </p> + <p> + "Fast!" He laughed. "Too much feast! He's got as pretty a case of + indigestion as I've seen for some time. He's giving a demonstration that's + almost theatrical." + </p> + <p> + Well, he insisted it was indigestion, although I argued that it wasn't + possible, and he wanted ipecac. + </p> + <p> + "I haven't seen a pharmacopoeia for so long that I wouldn't know one if I + met it," he declared, "but I've got a system of mnemonics that never + fails. Ipecac and colic both end with 'c'—I'll never forget that + conjunction. It was pounded in and poured in in my early youth." + </p> + <p> + Well, the pharmacy was locked, and we couldn't find a key to fit it. And + when I suggested mustard and warm water he jumped at the idea. + </p> + <p> + "Fine!" he said. "Better let me dish out the spring-water and you take my + job! Lead on, MacDuff, to the kitchen." + </p> + <p> + Although it was only midnight there was not a soul about. A hall leads + back of the office to the kitchen and pantries, and there was a low light + there, but the rest was dark. We bumped through the diet kitchen and into + the scullery, when we found we had no matches. I went back for some, and + when I got as far as the diet kitchen again Doctor Barnes was there, just + inside the door. + </p> + <p> + "Sh!" he whispered. "Come into the scullery. The kitchen is dark, but + there is somebody in there, fumbling around, striking matches. I suppose + you don't have such things as burglars in this neck of the woods?" + </p> + <p> + Well, somebody had broken into Timmons' candy store a week before and + stolen a box of chewing-gum and a hundred post-cards, and I told him so in + a whisper. + </p> + <p> + "Anyhow, it isn't the chef," I said. "He's had a row with the bath man and + is in bed with a cut hand and a black eye, and nobody else has any + business here." + </p> + <p> + We tiptoed into the scullery in the dark: just then somebody knocked a + kettle down in the kitchen and it hit the stove below with a crash. + Whoever was there swore, and it was not Francois, who expresses his + feelings mostly in French. This was English. + </p> + <p> + There's a little window from the kitchen into the scullery as well as a + door. The window had a wooden slide and it was open an inch or so. We + couldn't see anything, but we could hear a man moving around. Once he + struck a match, but it went out and he said "Damn!" again, and began to + feel his way toward the scullery. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes happened to touch my hand and he patted it as if to tell me + not to be frightened. Then he crept toward the scullery door and waited + there. + </p> + <p> + It swung open slowly, but he waited until it closed again and the man was + in the room. Then he yelled and jumped and there was the sound of a fall. + I could hardly strike the match—I was trembling so—but when I + did there was Mr. Dick lying flat on the floor and the doctor sitting on + him. + </p> + <p> + "Mister Dick!" I gasped, and dropped the match. + </p> + <p> + "Something hit me!" Mr. Dick said feebly, and when I had got a candle + lighted and had explained to Doctor Barnes that it was a mistake, he got + off him and let him up. He was as bewildered as Mr. Dick and pretty nearly + as mad. + </p> + <p> + We put him—Mr. Dick—in a chair and gave him a glass of water, + and after he had got his breath—the doctor being a heavy man—he + said he was trying to find something to eat. + </p> + <p> + "Confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "we're starving! It seems to me there + are enough of you here at least to see that we are fed. Not a bite since + lunch!" + </p> + <p> + "But I thought you had the basket," I explained. "I left it at the + spring-house, and when I went back it was gone." + </p> + <p> + "So that was it!" he answered. And then he explained that just about the + time they expected their supper they saw a man carry a basket stealthily + through the snow to the deer park. It was twilight, but they watched him + from the window, and he put the basket through the barbed-wire fence and + then crawled after it. Just inside he sat down on a log and, opening the + basket, began to eat. He was still there when it got too dark to see him. + </p> + <p> + "If that was our dinner," he finished savagely, "I hope he choked to death + over it." + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes chuckled. "He didn't," he said, "but he's got the worst case + of indigestion in seven counties." + </p> + <p> + Well, I got the mustard and water ready with Mr. Dick standing by hoping + Mr. Biggs would die before he got it, and then I filled a basket for the + shelter-house. I put out the light and he took the basket and started out, + but he came back in a hurry. + </p> + <p> + "There's somebody outside talking," he said. I went to the door with him + and listened. + </p> + <p> + "The sooner the better," Mike was saying. "I'm no good while I've got it + on my mind." + </p> + <p> + And Mr. Thoburn: "To-morrow is too soon: they're not in the mood yet. + Perhaps the day after. I'll let you know." + </p> + <p> + I didn't get to sleep until almost morning, and then it was to dream that + Mr. Pierce was shouting "Hypocrites" to all the people in the sanatorium + and threatening to throw glasses of mustard and warm water at them. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII + </h2> + <h3> + A BUNCH OF LETTERS + </h3> + <p> + When people went down to breakfast the next morning they found a card + hanging on the office door with a half dozen new rules on it, and when I + went out to the spring-house the guests were having an indignation meeting + in the sun parlor, with the bishop in the chair, and Senator Biggs, so + wobbly he could hardly stand, making a speech. + </p> + <p> + I tried to see Mr. Pierce, but early as it was he had gone for a walk, + taking Arabella with him. So I called a conference at the shelter-house—Miss + Patty, Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne, Mr. and Mrs. Dick, and myself. Mrs. Dick + wasn't dressed, but she sat up on the edge of her cot in her + dressing-gown, with her feet on the soap box, and yawned. As we didn't + have enough chairs, Miss Patty jerked the soap box away and made me sit + down. Mr. Dick was getting breakfast. + </p> + <p> + We were in a tight place and we knew it. + </p> + <p> + "He is making it as hard for us as he can," Mrs. Sam declared. "The idea + of having the card-room lights put out at midnight, and the breakfast room + closed at ten! Nobody gets up at that hour." + </p> + <p> + "He was to come here every evening for orders," said Mr. Dick, measuring + ground coffee with a tablespoon, as I had showed him. "He came just once, + and as for orders—well, he gave 'em to me!" + </p> + <p> + But Miss Patty was always fair. + </p> + <p> + "I loathe him," she asserted. "I want to quarrel with him the minute I see + him. He—he is presumptuous to the point of impertinence—but + he's honest: he thinks we're all hypocrites—those that are well and + those that are sick or think they are—and he hates hypocrisy." + </p> + <p> + Everybody talked at once, then, and she listened. + </p> + <p> + "Very well," she said. "I'll amend it. We're not all hypocrites. My + motives in all this are perfectly clear—and selfish." + </p> + <p> + "You and old Pierce would make a fine team, Pat," Mrs. Dick remarked with + a yawn. "I like hypocrites myself. They're so comfy. But if you're not + above advice, Pat, you'll have Aunt Honoria break her neck or something—anything + to get father back to town. Something is going to explode, and Oskar + doesn't like to be agitated." + </p> + <p> + She curled up on the cot with that and went sound asleep. The rest of us + had coffee and talked, but there wasn't anything to do. As Mr. Sam said, + Mr. Pierce didn't want to stay, anyhow, and as likely as not if we went to + him in a body and told him he must come to the shelter-house for + instructions, and be suave and gentle when he was called down by the + guests about the steam-pipes making a racket, he'd probably prefer to go + down to the village and take Doctor Barnes' place washing dishes at the + station. That wouldn't call for any particular mildness. + </p> + <p> + But he settled it by appearing himself. He came across the snow from the + direction of Mount Hope, and he had a pair of skees over his shoulder. (At + that time I didn't even know the name of the things, but I learned enough + about them later.) I must say he looked very well beside Mr. Dick, who + wasn't very large, anyhow, and who hadn't had time to put on his collar, + and Mr. Sam, who's always thin and sallow and never takes a step he + doesn't have to. + </p> + <p> + I let him in, and when he saw us all there he started and hesitated. + </p> + <p> + "Come in, Pierce," Mr. Sam said. "We've just been talking about you." + </p> + <p> + He came in, but he didn't look very comfortable. + </p> + <p> + "What have you decided to do with me?" he asked. "Put me under restraint?" + </p> + <p> + He was unbuttoning his sweater, and now he took out two of the smallest + rabbits I ever saw and held them up by the ears. Miss Patty gave a little + cry and took them, cuddling them in her lap. + </p> + <p> + "They're starving and almost frozen, poor little devils," he said. "I + found them near where I shot the mother last night, Minnie, and by way of + atonement I'm going to adopt them." + </p> + <p> + Well, although the minute before they'd all been wishing they'd never seen + him, they pretty nearly ate him up. Miss Patty held the rabbits, so we all + had turns at feeding them warm milk with a teaspoon and patting their pink + noses. When it came Mr. Pierce's turn they were about full up, so he + curled his big body on the floor at Miss Patty's feet and talked to the + rabbits and looked at her. He had one of those faces that's got every + emotion marked on it as clear as a barometer—when he was mad his + face was mad all over, and when he was pleased he glowed to the tips of + his ears. And he was pleased that morning. + </p> + <p> + But, of course, he had to be set right about the sanatorium, and Mr. Sam + began it. Mr. Pierce listened, sitting on the floor and looking puzzled + and more and more unhappy. Finally he got up and drew a long breath. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," he agreed. "I know you are all right and I'm wrong—according + to your way of thinking. But if these people want to be well, why should I + encourage them to do the wrong thing? They eat too much, they don't + exercise"—he turned to Mr. Van Alstyne. + </p> + <p> + "Why, do you know, I asked a half dozen of the men—one after the + other—to go skeeing with me this morning and not one of them + accepted!" + </p> + <p> + "Really!" Mr. Sam exclaimed mockingly. + </p> + <p> + "What can you do with people like that?" Mr. Pierce went on. "They don't + want to be well; they're all hypocrites. Look at that man Biggs! I'll lay + you ten to one that after fasting five days and then stealing a whole + chicken, a dozen oysters and Lord knows what else, now that he's sick, + he'll hold it against me." + </p> + <p> + "He's not holding anything," I objected. + </p> + <p> + "Because HE is a hypocrite—" Mr. Sam began. + </p> + <p> + "That's not the point, Pierce," Mr. Dick broke in importantly. "You were + to come here for orders and you haven't done it. You're running this place + for me, not for yourself." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce looked at Mr. Dick and from there to Mr. Sam and smiled. + </p> + <p> + "I did come," he explained. "I came twice, and each time we played + roulette. I lost all the money I'd had in advance. Honestly," he + confessed, "I felt I couldn't afford to come every day." + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty got up and put the baby rabbits into her sister's big fur muff. + </p> + <p> + "We are all talking around the question," she said. "Mr. Pierce undertook + to manage the sanatorium, and to try to manage it successfully. He can not + do that without making some attempt at conciliating the people. It's—it's + absurd to antagonize them." + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," he said coldly. "I was to manage it, and to try to do it + successfully. I'm sorry my methods don't meet with the approval of this—er—executive + committee. But it might as well be clear that I intend to use my own + methods—or none." + </p> + <p> + Well, what could we do? Miss Patty went out with her head up, and the rest + of us stayed and ate humble pie, and after a while he agreed to stay if he + wasn't interfered with. He said he and Doctor Barnes had a plan that he + thought was a winner—that it would either make or break the place, + and he thought it would make it. And by that time we were so meek that we + didn't even ask what it was. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes and Miss Summers were the first to come to the mineral + spring that morning. She stopped just inside the door and sniffed. + </p> + <p> + "Something's dead under the floor," she said. + </p> + <p> + "If there's anything dead," Doctor Barnes replied, "it's in the center of + the earth. That's the sulphur water." + </p> + <p> + She came in at that, but unwillingly, and sat down with her handkerchief + to her nose. Then she saw me. + </p> + <p> + "Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "What have you done that they put you + here?" + </p> + <p> + "If you mean the bouquet from the spring, you get to like it after a + while," I said grimly. "Ordinary air hasn't got any snap for me now." + </p> + <p> + "Humph!" She looked at me suspiciously, but I was busy wiping off the + tables. "Well," she said, holding up the glass Doctor Barnes had brought + her, "it doesn't cost me anything, so here goes. But think of paying money + for it!" + </p> + <p> + She drank it down in a gulp and settled herself in her chair. + </p> + <p> + "What'll it do to me?" she asked. "Mixed drinks always play the deuce with + me, Barnes, and you know it." + </p> + <p> + "If you'll cut down your diet and take some exercise it will make you + thin," I began. "'The process is painless and certain: kindly nature in + her benevolent plan—'" + </p> + <p> + "Give me another!" she interrupted, and Doctor Barnes filled her glass + again. "Some women spell fate f-a-t-e," she said, looking at the water, + "but I spell it without the e." + </p> + <p> + She took half of it and then put down the glass. "Honestly," she declared, + "I'd rather be fat." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce met them there a few minutes later and they had a + three-cornered chat. But Miss Summers evidently didn't know just how much + I knew and was careful of what she said. Once, however, when I was in the + pantry she thought I was beyond ear-shot. + </p> + <p> + "Good heavens, Pierce," she said, "if they could put THAT in a play!" + </p> + <p> + "Cut it out, Julia," Doctor Barnes snapped, and it wasn't until they had + gone that I knew she'd meant me. I looked through the crack of the door + and she was leaning over taking a puff at Doctor Barnes' cigarette. + </p> + <p> + "Curious old world, isn't it?" she said between puffs. "Here we are the + three of us—snug and nice, having seven kinds of hell-fire water and + not having to pay for it; three meals a day and afternoon tea ditto, good + beds and steam-heat ditto—and four days ago where were we? Pierce, + you were hocking your clothes! Doc, you—" + </p> + <p> + "Washing dishes!" he said. "I never knew before how extravagant it is to + have a saucer under a cup!" + </p> + <p> + "And I!" she went on, "I, Julia Summers, was staring at a ceiling in the + Finleyville hotel, with a face that looked like a toy balloon." + </p> + <p> + "And now," said Doctor Barnes, "you are more beautiful than ever. I am a + successful physician—oh, lord, Julia, if you'd hear me faking lines + in my part! And my young friend here—Pierce—Julia, Pierce has + now become a young reprobate named Dicky Carter, and may the Lord have + mercy on his soul!" + </p> + <p> + I tried to get out in time, but I was too late. I saw her rise, saw the + glass of water at her elbow roll over and smash on the floor, and saw her + clutch wildly at Mr. Pierce's shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Not—not DICKY Carter!" she cried. + </p> + <p> + "Richard—they call him Dick," Mr. Pierce said uneasily, and loosened + her fingers from his coat. + </p> + <p> + Oh, well, everybody knows it now—how she called Mr. Dick everything + in the calendar, and then began to cry and said nobody would ever know + what she'd been through with, and the very dress she had on was a part of + the trousseau she'd had made, and what with the dressmaker's bills— + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she stopped crying. + </p> + <p> + "Where is he, anyhow?" she demanded. + </p> + <p> + "All we are sure of," Mr. Pierce replied quietly, "is that he is not in + the sanatorium." + </p> + <p> + She looked at us all closely, but she got nothing from my face. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, very well," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I'll wait until he + shows up. It doesn't cost anything." + </p> + <p> + Then, with one of her easy changes, she laughed and picked up her muff to + go. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie and I," she said, "will tend bar here, and in our leisure moments + we will pour sulphur water on a bunch of Dicky's letters that I have, to + cool 'em." She walked to the door and turned around, smiling. + </p> + <p> + "Carry fire insurance on 'em all the time," she finished and went out, + leaving us staring at one another! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII + </h2> + <h3> + MISS COBB'S BURGLAR + </h3> + <p> + I went to bed early that night. What with worrying and being alternately + chilled by tramping through the snow and roasted as if I was sitting on a + volcano with an eruption due, I was about all in. We'd been obliged to + tell Mrs. Sam about the Summers woman, and I had to put hot flannels on + her from nine to ten. She was quieter when I left her, but, as I told Mr. + Sam, it was the stillness of despair, not resignation. + </p> + <p> + I guess it was about four o'clock in the morning when a hand slid over my + face, and I sat up and yelled. The hand covered my mouth at that, and + something long and white and very thin beside the bed said: "Sh! For + heaven's sake, Minnie!" + </p> + <p> + It was Miss Cobb! It was lucky I came to my senses when I did, for her + knees gave way under her just then and she doubled up on the floor beside + the bed with her face in my comfort. + </p> + <p> + I lighted a candle and set it on a chair beside the bed and took a good + look at her. She was shaking all over, which wasn't strange, for I sleep + with my window open, and she had a key in her hand. + </p> + <p> + "Here," she gasped, holding out the key, "here, Minnie, wake the house and + get him, but, oh, Minnie, for heaven's sake, save my reputation!" + </p> + <p> + "Get who?" I demanded, for I saw it was her room key. + </p> + <p> + "I have been coming here for ten years," she groaned, out of the comfort, + "and now, to be bandied about by the cold breath of scandal!" + </p> + <p> + I shook her by the shoulder + </p> + <p> + "The cold breath you are raving about is four degrees below zero. If you + can't tell me what's the matter I'm going back to bed and cover my feet." + </p> + <p> + She got up at that and stood swaying, with her nightgown flapping around + her like a tent. + </p> + <p> + "I have locked a man in my room!" she declared in a terrible voice, and + collapsed into the middle of the bed. + </p> + <p> + Well, I leaned over and tried to tell her she'd made a mistake. The more I + looked at her, with her hair standing straight out over her head, and her + cambric nightgown with a high collar and long sleeves, and the hump on her + nose where her brother Willie had hit her in childhood with a baseball + bat, the surer I was that somebody had made a mistake—likely the + man. + </p> + <p> + Now there's two ways to handle a situation like that: one of them is to + rouse the house—and many a good sanatorium has been hurt by a + scandal and killed by a divorce; the other way is to take one strong man + who can hold his tongue, find the guilty person, and send him a fake + telegram the next morning that his mother is sick. I've done that more + than once. + </p> + <p> + I sat down on the side of the bed and put on my slippers. + </p> + <p> + "What did he look like?" I asked. "Could you see him?" + </p> + <p> + She uncovered one eye. + </p> + <p> + "Not—not distinctly," she said. "I—think he was large, and—and + rather handsome. That beast of a dog must have got in my room and was + asleep under the bed, for it wakened me by snarling." + </p> + <p> + There was nothing in that to make me nervous, but it did. As I put on my + kimono I was thinking pretty hard. + </p> + <p> + I could not waken Mr. Pierce by knocking, so I went in and shook him. He + was sound asleep, with his arms over his head, and when I caught his + shoulder he just took my hand and, turning over, tucked it under his cheek + and went asleep again. + </p> + <p> + "Mr. Pierce! Mr. Pierce!" He wakened a little at that, but not enough to + open his eyes. He seemed to know that the hand wasn't his, however, for he + kissed it. And with that I slapped him and he wakened. He lay there + blinking at my candle and then he yawned. + </p> + <p> + "Musht have been ashleep!" he said, and turned over on his other side and + shut his eyes. + </p> + <p> + It was two or three minutes at least before I had him sitting on the side + of the bed, with a blanket spread over his knees, and was telling him + about Miss Cobb. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Cobb!" he said. "Oh, heavens, Minnie, tell her to go back to bed!" + He yawned. "If there's anybody there it's a mistake. I'm sleepy. What time + is it?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm not going out of this room until you get up!" I declared grimly. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, very well!" he said, and put his feet back into bed. "If you think + I'm going to get up while you're here—" + </p> + <p> + After he seemed pretty well wakened I went out. I waited in the + sitting-room and I heard him growling as he put on his clothes. When he + came out, however, he was more cheerful, and he stopped in the hall to + fish a case out of Mr. Sam's dressing-gown pocket and light a cigarette. + </p> + <p> + "Now!" he said, taking my arm. "Forward, the light-ly clad brigade! But—" + he stopped—"Minnie, we are unarmed! Shall I get the patent folding + corkscrew?" + </p> + <p> + He had to be quiet when we got to the bedroom floors, however, and when we + stopped outside Miss Cobb's door he was as sober as any one could wish + him. + </p> + <p> + "You needn't come in," he whispered. "Ten to one she dreamed it, but if + she didn't you're better outside. And whatever you hear, don't yell." + </p> + <p> + I gave him the key and he fitted it quietly in the lock. Arabella, just + inside, must have heard, for she snarled. But the snarl turned into a + yelp, as if she'd been suddenly kicked. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce, with his hand on the knob, turned and looked at me in the + candle-light. Then he opened the door. + </p> + <p> + Arabella gave another yelp and rushed out; she went between my feet like a + shot and almost overthrew me, and when I'd got my balance again I looked + into the room. Mr. Pierce was at the window, staring out, and the room was + empty. + </p> + <p> + "The idiot!" Mr. Pierce said. "If it hadn't been for that snowbank! Here, + give me that candle!" + </p> + <p> + He stood there waving it in circles, but there was neither sight nor sound + from below. After a minute Mr. Pierce put the window down and we stared at + the room. All the bureau drawers were out on the floor, and the lid of + poor Miss Cobb's trunk was open and the tray upset. But her silver-backed + brush was still on the bureau and the ring the insurance agent had given + her lay beside it. + </p> + <p> + We brought her back to her room, and she didn't know whether to be happy + that she was vindicated or mad at the state her things were in. I tucked + her up in bed after she'd gone over her belongings and Mr. Pierce had + double-locked the window and gone out. She drew my head down to her and + her eyes were fairly popping out of her head. + </p> + <p> + "I feel as though I'm going crazy, Minnie!" she whispered, "but the only + things that are gone are my letters from Mr. Jones, and—my black + woolen tights!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX + </h2> + <h3> + NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN + </h3> + <p> + I slept late the next morning, and when I'd had breakfast and waded to the + spring-house it was nearly nine. It was still snowing, and no papers or + mail had got through, although the wires were still in fair working order. + </p> + <p> + As I floundered out I thought I saw somebody slink around the corner of + the spring-house, but when I got there nobody was in sight. I was on my + knees in front of the fireplace, raking out the fire, when I heard the + door close behind me, and when I turned, there stood Mr. Dick, muffled to + the neck, with his hat almost over his face. + </p> + <p> + "What the deuce kept you so late this morning?" he demanded, in a sulky + voice, and limping over to a table he drew a package out of his pocket and + slammed it on the table. + </p> + <p> + "I was up half the night, as usual," I said, rising. "You oughtn't to be + here, Mr. Dick!" + </p> + <p> + He caught hold of the rail around the spring, and hobbling about, dropped + into a chair with a groan. + </p> + <p> + "For two cents," he declared, "I'd chop a hole in the ice pond and drown + myself. There's no marriage in Heaven." + </p> + <p> + "That's no argument for the other place," I answered, and stopped, + staring. He was pulling something out of his overcoat pocket, an inch at a + time. + </p> + <p> + "For God's sake, Minnie," he exclaimed, "return this—this garment to—whomever + it belongs to!" + </p> + <p> + He handed it to me, and it was Miss Cobb's black tights! I stood and + stared. + </p> + <p> + "And then," he went on, reaching for the package on the table, "when + you've done that, return to 'Binkie' these letters from her Jonesie." + </p> + <p> + He took the newspaper off the bundle then, and I saw it was wrapped with a + lavender ribbon. I sat down and gazed at him, fascinated. He was the + saddest-eyed piece of remorse I'd seen for a long time. + </p> + <p> + "And when you've got your breath back, Minnie," he said feebly, "and your + strength, would you mind taking the floor mop and hitting me a few cracks? + Only not on the right leg, Minnie—not on the right leg. I landed on + it last night; it's twisted like a pretzel." + </p> + <p> + "Don't stand and stare," he continued irritably, when I didn't make a + move, "at least get that—that infernal black garment out of sight. + Cover it with the newspaper. And if you don't believe that a sweet-faced + young girl like my wife has a positive talent for wickedness and + suspicion, go out to the shelter-house this morning." + </p> + <p> + "So it was you!" I gasped, putting the newspaper over the tights. + </p> + <p> + "Why in the name of peace did you jump out the window, and what did you + want with—with these things?" + </p> + <p> + He twisted around in his chair to stare at me, and then stooped and + clutched frantically at his leg, as if for inspiration. + </p> + <p> + "Want with those things!" he snarled. "I suppose you can't understand that + a man might wake up in the middle of the night with a mad craving for a + pair of black woolen tights, and—" + </p> + <p> + "You needn't be sarcastic with me," I broke in. "You can save that for + your wife. I suppose you also had a wild longing for the love-letters of + an insurance agent—" + </p> + <p> + And then it dawned on me, and I sat down and laughed until I cried. + </p> + <p> + "And you thought you were stealing your own letters!" I cried. "The ones + she carries fire insurance on! Oh, Mr. Dick, Mr. Dick!" + </p> + <p> + "How was I to know it wasn't Ju—Miss Summers' room?" he demanded + angrily. "Didn't I follow the dratted dog? And wouldn't you have thought + the wretched beast would have known me instead of sitting on its tail + under the bed and yelling for mother? I gave her the dog myself. Oh, I + tell you, Minnie, if I ever get away from this place—" + </p> + <p> + "You've got to get away this minute," I broke in, remembering. "They'll be + coming any instant now." + </p> + <p> + He got up and looked around him helplessly. + </p> + <p> + "Where'll I go?" he asked. "I can't go back to the shelter-house." + </p> + <p> + I looked at him and he tried to grin. + </p> + <p> + "Fact," he said, "hard to believe, but—fact, Minnie. She's got the + door locked. Didn't I tell you she is of a suspicious nature? She was + asleep when I left, and mostly she sleeps all night. And just because she + wakes when I'm out, and lets me come in thinking she's asleep, when she + has one eye open all the time, and she sees what I'd never even seen + myself—that the string of that damned garment, whatever it is, is + fastened to the hook of my shoe, me thinking all the time that the weight + was because I'd broken my leg jumping—doesn't she suddenly sit up + and ask me where I've been? And I—I'm unsuspicious, Minnie, by + nature, and I said I'd been asleep. Then she jumped up and showed me that—that + thing—those things, hanging to my shoe, and she hasn't spoken to me + since. I wish I was dead." + </p> + <p> + And just then a dog barked outside and somebody on the step stamped the + snow off his feet. We were both paralyzed for a moment. + </p> + <p> + "Julia!" Mr. Dick cried, and went white. + </p> + <p> + I made a leap for the door, just as the handle turned, and put my back + against it. + </p> + <p> + "Just a minute," I called. "The carpet is caught under it!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick had lost his head and was making for the spring, as if he thought + hiding his feet would conceal him. I made frantic gestures to him to go + into my pantry, and he went at last, leaving his hat on the table, I left + the door and flung it after him—the hat, of course, not the door—and + when Miss Summers sauntered in just after, I was on my knees brushing the + hearth, with my heart going three-four time and skipping every sixth beat. + </p> + <p> + "Hello!" she said. "Lovely weather—for polar bears. If the natives + wade through this all winter it's no wonder they walk as if they are + ham-strung. Don't bother getting me a glass. I'll get my own." + </p> + <p> + She was making for the pantry when I caught her, and I guess I looked + pretty wild. + </p> + <p> + "I'll get it," I said. "I—that's one of the rules." + </p> + <p> + She put her hands in the pockets of her white sweater and smiled at me. + </p> + <p> + "Do you know," she declared, "the old ladies' knitting society isn't so + far wrong about you! About your making rules—whatever you want, + WHENEVER you want 'em." + </p> + <p> + She put her head on one side. + </p> + <p> + "Now," she went on, "suppose I break that rule and get my own glass? What + happens to me? I don't think I'll be put out!" + </p> + <p> + I threw up my hands in despair, for I was about at the end of my string. + </p> + <p> + "Get it then!" I exclaimed, and sat down, waiting for the volcano to + erupt. But she only laughed and sat down on a table, swinging her feet. + </p> + <p> + "When you know me better, Minnie," she said, "you'll know I don't spoil + sport. I happen to know you have somebody in the pantry—moreover, I + know it's a man. There are tracks on the little porch, my dear girl, not + made by your galoshes. Also, my dearest girl, there's a gentleman's glove + by your chair there!" I put my foot on it. "And just to show you what a + good fellow I am—" + </p> + <p> + She got off the table, still smiling, and sauntered to the pantry door, + watching me over her shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Don't be alarmed!" she called through the door, "I'm not coming in! I + shall take my little drink of nature's benevolent remedy out of the tin + ladle, and then—I shall take my departure!" + </p> + <p> + My heart was skipping every second beat by that time, and Miss Julia stood + by the pantry door, her head back and her eyes almost closed, enjoying + every minute of it. If Arabella hadn't made a diversion just then I think + I'd have fainted. + </p> + <p> + She'd pulled the newspaper and the tights off the table and was running + around the room with them, one leg in her mouth. + </p> + <p> + "Stop it, Arabella!" said Miss Julia, and took the tights from her. + "Yours?" she asked, with her eyebrows raised. + </p> + <p> + "No—yes," I answered. + </p> + <p> + "I'd never have suspected you of them!" she remarked. "Hardly sheer enough + to pull through a finger ring, are they?" She held them up and gazed at + them meditatively. "That's one thing I draw the line at. On the boards, + you know—never have worn 'em and never will. They're not modest, to + my mind,—and, anyhow, I'm too fat!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam and his wife came in at that moment, Mr. Sam carrying a bottle of + wine for the shelter-house, wrapped in a paper, and two cans of something + or other. He was too busy trying to make the bottle look like something + else—which a good many people have tried and failed at—to + notice what Miss Summers was doing, and she had Miss Cobb's protectors + stuffed in her muff and was standing very dignified in front of the fire + by the time they'd shaken off the snow. + </p> + <p> + "Good morning!" she said. + </p> + <p> + "Morning!" said Mr. Sam, hanging up his overcoat with one hand, and trying + to put the bottle in one of the pockets with the other. Mrs. Sam didn't + look at her. + </p> + <p> + "Good morning, Mrs. Van Alstyne!" Miss Summers almost threw it at her. "I + spoke to you before; I guess you didn't hear me." + </p> + <p> + "Oh, yes, I heard you," answered Mrs. Sam, and turned her back on her. + Give me a little light-haired woman for sheer devilishness! + </p> + <p> + I'd expected to see Miss Summers fly to pieces with rage, but she stared + at Mrs. Sam's back, and after a minute she laughed. + </p> + <p> + "I see!" she remarked slowly. "You're the sister, aren't you?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam had given up trying to hide the bottle and now he set it on the + floor with a thump and came over to the fire. + </p> + <p> + "It's—you see, the situation is embarrassing," he began. "If we had + had any idea—" + </p> + <p> + "I might have been still in the Finleyville hotel!" she finished for him. + "Awful thought, isn't it?" + </p> + <p> + "Under the circumstances," went on Mr. Sam, nervously, "don't you think it + would be—er—better form if er—under the circumstances—" + </p> + <p> + "I'm thinking of my circumstances," she put in, good-naturedly. "If you + imagine that six weeks of one-night stands has left me anything but a + rural wardrobe and a box of dog biscuit for Arabella, you're pretty well + mistaken. I haven't even a decent costume. All we had left after the + sheriff got through was some grass mats, a checked sunbonnet and a pump." + </p> + <p> + "Minnie," Mrs. Sam said coldly, "that little beast of a dog is trying to + drink out of the spring!" + </p> + <p> + I caught her in time and gave her a good slapping. When I looked up Miss + Summers was glaring down at me over the rail. + </p> + <p> + "Just what do you mean by hitting my dog?" she demanded. It was the first + time I'd seen her angry. + </p> + <p> + "Just what I appeared to mean," I answered. "If you want to take it as a + love pat, you may." And I stalked to the door and threw the creature out + into the snow. It was the first false step that day; if I'd known what + putting that dog out meant—! "I don't allow dogs here," I said, and + shut the door. + </p> + <p> + Miss Summers was furious; she turned and stared at Mrs. Sam, who was + smiling at the fire. + </p> + <p> + "Let Arabella in," she said to me in an undertone, "or I'll open the + pantry door!" + </p> + <p> + "Open the door!" I retorted. I was half hysterical, but it was no time to + weaken. She looked me straight in the eye for fully ten seconds; then, to + my surprise, she winked at me. But when she turned on Mr. Sam she was cold + rage again and nothing else. + </p> + <p> + "I am not going to leave, if that is what you are about to suggest," she + said. "I've been trying to see Dicky Carter the last ten days, and I'll + stay here until I see him." + </p> + <p> + "It's a delicate situation—" + </p> + <p> + "Delicate!" she snapped. "It's indelicate it's indecent, that's what it + is. Didn't I get my clothes, and weren't we to have been married by the + Reverend Dwight Johnstone, out in Salem, Ohio? And didn't he go out there + and have old Johnstone marry him to somebody else? The wretch! If I ever + see him—" + </p> + <p> + A glass dropped in the pantry and smashed, but nobody paid any attention. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, I'm not going until he comes!" she continued. "I'll stay right here, + and I'll have what's coming to me or I'll know the reason why. Don't + forget for a minute that I know why Mr. Pierce is here, and that I can + spoil the little game by calling the extra ace, if I want to." + </p> + <p> + "You're forgetting one thing," Mrs. Sam said, facing her for the first + time, "if you call the game, my brother is worth exactly what clothes he + happens to be wearing at the moment and nothing else. He hasn't a penny of + his own." + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe it," she sniffed. "Look at the things he gave me!" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. I've already had the bills," said Mr. Sam. + </p> + <p> + She whirled and looked at him, and then she threw back her head and + laughed. + </p> + <p> + "You!" she said. "Why, bless my soul! All the expense of a double life and + none of its advantages!" + </p> + <p> + She went out on that, still laughing, leaving Mrs. Sam scarlet with rage, + and when she was safely gone I brought Mr. Dick out to the fire. He was so + limp he could hardly walk, and it took three glasses of the wine and all + Mr. Sam could do to start him back to the shelter-house. His sister would + not speak to him. + </p> + <p> + Mike went to Mr. Pierce that day and asked for a raise of salary. + </p> + <p> + He did not get it. Perhaps, as things have turned out, it was for the + best, but it is strange to think how different things would have been if + he'd been given it. He was sent up later, of course, for six months for + malicious mischief, but by that time the damage was done. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX + </h2> + <h3> + EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY + </h3> + <p> + That was on a Saturday morning. During the golf season Saturday is always + a busy day with us, with the husbands coming up for over Sunday, and + trying to get in all the golf, baths and spring water they can in + forty-eight hours. But in the winter Saturday is the same as any, other + day. + </p> + <p> + It had stopped snowing and the sun was shining, although it was so cold + that the snow blew like powder. By eleven o'clock every one who could walk + had come to the spring-house. Even Mr. Jennings came down in a wheeled + chair, and Senator Biggs, still looking a sort of grass-green and keeping + his eyes off me, came and sat in a corner, with a book called Fast versus + Feast held so that every one could see. + </p> + <p> + There were bridge tables going, and five hundred, and a group around the + slot-machine, while the crocheters formed a crowd by themselves, + exchanging gossip and new stitches. + </p> + <p> + About twelve o'clock Mr. Thoburn came in, and as he opened the door, in + leaped Arabella. The women made a fuss over the creature and cuddled her, + and when I tried to put her out everybody objected. So she stayed, and + Miss Summers put her through a lot of tricks, while the men crowded + around. As I said before, Miss Summers was a first favorite with the men. + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald and Miss Patty came in just then and stood watching. + </p> + <p> + "And now," said Mr. von Inwald, "I propose, as a reward to Miss Arabella, + a glass of this wonderful water. Minnie, a glass of water for Arabella!" + </p> + <p> + "She doesn't drink out of one of my glasses," I declared angrily. + </p> + <p> + "It's one of my rules that dogs—" + </p> + <p> + "Tut!" said Mr. Thoburn. "What's good for man is good for beast. Besides, + the little beggar's thirsty." + </p> + <p> + Well, they made a great fuss about the creature's being thirsty, and so + finally I got a panful of spring water and it drank until I thought it + would burst. I'm not vicious, as I say, but I wish it had. + </p> + <p> + Well, the dog finished and lay down by the fire, and everything seemed to + go on as before. Mr. Thoburn was in a good humor, and he came over to the + spring and brought a trayful of glasses. + </p> + <p> + "To save you steps, Minnie!" he explained. "You have no idea how it pains + me to see you working. Gentlemen, name your poison!" + </p> + <p> + "A frappe with blotting-paper on the side," Mr. Moody snarled from the + slot-machine. "If I drink much more, I'll have to be hooped up like a + barrel." + </p> + <p> + "Just what is the record here?" the bishop asked. "I'm ordered eight + glasses, but I find it more than a sufficiency." + </p> + <p> + "We had one man here once who could drink twenty-five at a time," I said, + "but he was a German." + </p> + <p> + "He was a tank," Mr. Sam corrected grumpily. He was watching something on + the floor—I couldn't see what. "All I need is to swallow a few + goldfish and I'd be a first-class aquarium." + </p> + <p> + "What I think we should do," Miss Cobb said, "is to try to find out just + what suits us, and stick to that. I'm always trying." + </p> + <p> + "Damned trying!" Mr. Jennings snarled, and limped over for more water. + "I'd like to know where to go for rheumatism." + </p> + <p> + "I got mine here," said Mr. Thoburn cheerfully. "It's my opinion this + place is rheumatic as well as malarious. And as for this water, with all + due respect to the spirit in the spring"—he bowed to me—"I + think it's an insult to ask people to drink it. It isn't half so strong as + it was two years ago. Taste it; smell it! I ask the old friends of the + sanatorium, is that water what it used to be?" + </p> + <p> + "Don't tell me it was ever any worse than this!" Miss Summers exclaimed. + But Thoburn went on. The card-players stopped to listen, but Mr. Sam was + still staring at something on the floor. + </p> + <p> + "I tell you, the spring is losing its virtue, and, like a woman, without + virtue, it is worthless." + </p> + <p> + "But interesting!" Mr. Sam said, and stooped down. + </p> + <p> + "Consider," went on Mr. Thoburn, standing and holding his glass to the + light, "how we are at the mercy of this little spring! A convulsion in the + bowels of the earth, and its health-giving properties may be changed to + the direst poison. How do we know, you and I, some such change has not + occurred overnight? Unlikely as it is, it's a possibility that, sitting + here calmly, we may be sipping our death potion." + </p> + <p> + Some of the people actually put down their glasses and everybody began to + look uneasy except Mr. Sam, who was still watching something I could not + see. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Thoburn looked around and saw he'd made an impression. "We may," he + continued, "although my personal opinion of this water is that it's + growing too weak to be wicked. I prove my faith in Mother Nature; if it is + poisoned, I am gone. I drink!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam suddenly straightened up and glanced at Miss Summers. "Perhaps I'm + mistaken," he said, "but I think there is something the matter with + Arabella." + </p> + <p> + Everybody looked: Arabella was lying on her back, jerking and twitching + and foaming at the mouth. + </p> + <p> + "She's been poisoned!" Miss Summers screeched, and fell on her knees + beside her. "It's that wretched water!" + </p> + <p> + There was pretty nearly a riot in a minute. Everybody jumped up and stared + at the dog, and everybody remembered the water he or she had just had, and + coming on top of Mr. Thoburn's speech, it made them babbling lunatics. As + I look back, I have a sort of picture of Miss Summers on the floor with + Arabella in her lap, and the rest telling how much of the water they had + had and crowding around Mr. Thoburn. + </p> + <p> + "It seems hardly likely it was the water," he said, "although from what I + recall of my chemistry it is distinctly possible. Springs have been known + to change their character, and the coincidence—the dog and the water—is + certainly startling. Still, as nobody feels ill—" + </p> + <p> + But they weren't sure they didn't. The bishop said he felt perfectly well, + but he had a strange inclination to yawn all the time, and Mrs. Biggs' + left arm had gone to sleep. And then, with the excitement and all, Miss + Cobb took a violent pain in the back of her neck and didn't know whether + to cry or to laugh. + </p> + <p> + Well, I did what I could. The worst of it was, I wasn't sure it wasn't the + water. I thought possibly Mr. Pierce had made a mistake in what he had + bought at the drug store, and although I don't as a rule drink it myself, + I began to feel queer in the pit of my stomach. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Thoburn came over to the spring, and filling a glass, took it to the + light, with every one watching anxiously. When he brought it back he + stooped over the railing and whispered to me. + </p> + <p> + "When did you fix it?" he asked sternly. + </p> + <p> + "Last night," I answered. It was no time to beat about the bush. + </p> + <p> + "It's yellower than usual," he said. "I'm inclined to think something has + gone wrong at the drug store, Minnie." + </p> + <p> + I could hardly breathe. I had the most terrible vision of all the guests + lying around like Arabella, twitching and foaming, and me going to prison + as a wholesale murderess. Any hair but mine would have turned gray in that + minute. + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald was watching like the others, and now he came over and + caught Mr. Thoburn by the arm. + </p> + <p> + "What do you think—" he asked nervously. "I—I have had three + glasses of it!" + </p> + <p> + "Three!" shouted Senator Biggs, coming forward. "I've had eleven! I tell + you, I've been feeling queer for twenty-four hours! I'm poisoned! That's + what I am." + </p> + <p> + He staggered out, with Mrs. Biggs just behind him, and from that moment + they were all demoralized. I stood by the spring and sipped at the water + to show I wasn't afraid of it, with my knees shaking under me and Arabella + lying stock-still, as if she had died, under my very nose. One by one they + left to look for Doctor Barnes, or to get the white of egg, which somebody + had suggested as an antidote. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb was one of the last to go. She turned in the doorway and looked + back at me, with tears in her eyes. + </p> + <p> + "It isn't your fault, Minnie," she said, "and forgive me if I have ever + said anything unkind to you." Then she went, and I was alone, looking down + at Arabella. + </p> + <p> + Or rather, I thought I was alone, for there was a movement by one of the + windows and Miss Patty came forward and knelt by the dog. + </p> + <p> + "Of all the absurdities!" she said. "Poor little thing! Minnie, I believe + she's breathing!" + </p> + <p> + She put the dog's head in her lap, and the little beast opened its eyes + and tried to wag its blue tail. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, Miss Patty, Miss Patty!" I exclaimed, and I got down beside her and + cried on her shoulder, with her stroking my hand and calling me dearest! + Me! + </p> + <p> + I was wiping my eyes when the door was thrown open and Mr. Pierce ran in. + He had no hat on and his hair was powdered with snow. He stopped just + inside the door and looked at Miss Patty. + </p> + <p> + "You—" he said "you are all right? You are not—" he came + forward and stood over her, with his heart in his eyes. She MUST have + known from that minute. + </p> + <p> + "My God!" he exclaimed, "I thought you were poisoned!" + </p> + <p> + She looked up, without smiling, and then I thought she half shut her eyes, + as if what she saw in his face hurt her. + </p> + <p> + "I am all right," she assured him, "and little Arabella will be all right, + too. She's had a convulsion, that's all—probably from overeating. As + for the others—!" + </p> + <p> + "Where is the—where is von Inwald?" + </p> + <p> + "He has gone to take the white of an egg," she replied rather haughtily. + She was too honest to evade anything, but she flushed. Of course, I knew + what he didn't—that the prince had been among the first to scurry to + the house, and that he hadn't even waited for her. + </p> + <p> + He walked to the window, as if he didn't want her to see what he thought + of that, and I saw him looking hard at something outside in the snow. When + he walked back to the fire he was smiling, and he stooped over and poked + Arabella with his finger. + </p> + <p> + "So that was it!" he said. "Full to the scuppers, poor little wretch! + Minnie, I am hoist with my own petard, which in this case was a + boomerang." + </p> + <p> + "Which is in English—" I asked. + </p> + <p> + "With the instinct of her sex, Arabella has unearthed what was meant to be + buried forever. She had gorged herself into a convulsion on that rabbit I + shot last night!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI + </h2> + <h3> + THE MUTINY + </h3> + <p> + They went to the house together, he carrying Arabella like a sick baby and + Miss Patty beside him. As far as I could see they didn't speak a word to + each other, but once or twice I saw her turn and look up at him as if she + was puzzled. + </p> + <p> + I closed the door and stood just inside, looking at father's picture over + the mantel. As sure as I stood there, the eyes were fixed on the spring, + and I sensed, as you may say, what they meant. I went over and looked down + into the spring, and it seemed to me it was darker than usual. It may have + smelled stronger, but the edge had been taken off my nose, so to speak, by + being there so long. + </p> + <p> + From the spring I looked again at father, and his eyes were on me mournful + and sad. I felt as though, if he'd been there, father would have turned + the whole affair to the advantage of the house, and it was almost more + than I could bear. I was only glad the old doctor's enlargement had not + come yet. I couldn't have endured having it see what had occurred. + </p> + <p> + The only thing I could think of was to empty the spring and let the water + come in plain. I could put a little sulphur in to give it color and + flavor, and if it turned out that Mr. Pierce was right and that Arabella + was only a glutton, I could put in the other things later. + </p> + <p> + I was carrying out my first pailful when Doctor Barnes came down the path + and took the pail out of my hand. + </p> + <p> + "What are you doing?" he asked. "Making a slide?" + </p> + <p> + "No," I said bitterly, "I am watering the flowers." + </p> + <p> + "Good!" He was not a bit put out. "Let me help you." He took the pail + across the path and poured a little into the snow at the base of a + half-dozen fence posts. "There!" he said, coming back triumphant. "The + roses are done. Now let's have a go at the pansies and the lady's-slippers + and the—the begonias. I say"—he stopped suddenly on his way in—"sulphur + water on a begonia—what would it make? Skunk cabbage?" + </p> + <p> + Inside, however, he put down the pail, and pulling me in, closed the door. + </p> + <p> + "Now forget it!" he commanded. "Just because a lot of damn fools see a dog + in a fit and have one, too, is that any reason for your being scared + wall-eyed and knock-kneed?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm not!" I snapped. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you're wall-eyed with fright," he insisted. "Of course, you're the + best judge of your own knees, but after last night—Had any lunch?" + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," he said. "You make me think of the little boy who dug + post-holes in the daytime and took in washings at night to support the + family. Sit down." + </p> + <p> + I sat. + </p> + <p> + "Inhale and exhale slowly four times, and then swallow the lump in your + throat.... Gone?" + </p> + <p> + "Yes." + </p> + <p> + "Good." He was fumbling in his pocket and he brought out a napkin. When he + opened it there was a sandwich, a piece of cheese and a banana. + </p> + <p> + "What do you think of that?" he asked, watching me anxiously. "Looks + pretty good?" + </p> + <p> + "Fine," I said, hating to disappoint him, although I never eat sardines, + and bananas give me indigestion, "I'm hungry enough to eat a raw Italian." + </p> + <p> + "Then fall to," he directed, and with a flourish he drew a bottle of + ginger ale from his pocket. + </p> + <p> + "How's this?" he demanded, holding it up. "Cheers but doesn't inebriate; + not a headache in a barrel; ginger ale to the gingery! 'A quart of ale is + a dish for a king,'" he said, holding up a glass. "That's Shakespeare, + Miss Minnie." + </p> + <p> + I was a good bit more cheerful when I'd choked down the sandwich, + especially when he assured me the water was all right—"a little + high, as you might say, but not poisonous. Lord, I wish you could have + seen them staggering into my office!" + </p> + <p> + "I saw enough," I said with a shiver. + </p> + <p> + "That German, von Inwald," he went on, "he's the limit. He accused us of + poisoning him for reasons of state!" + </p> + <p> + "Where are they now?" + </p> + <p> + "My dear girl," he answered, putting down his glass, "what has been + pounded into me ever since I struck the place? The baths! I prescribe 'em + all day and dream 'em all night. Where are the poisonees now? They are + steaming, stewing, exuding in the hot rooms of the bath department—all + of them, every one of them! In the hold and the hatches down!" + </p> + <p> + He picked up the pail and went down the steps to the spring. + </p> + <p> + "After all," he said, "it won't hurt to take out a little of this and pour + it on the ground. It ought to be good fertilizer." He stooped. "'Come, + gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come,'" he quoted, and dipped in the + pail. + </p> + <p> + Just then somebody fell against the door and stumbled into the room. It + was Tillie, as white as milk, and breathing in gasps. + </p> + <p> + "Quick!" she screeched, "Minnie, quick!" + </p> + <p> + "What is it?" I asked, jumping up. She'd fallen back against the + door-frame and stood with her hand clutching her heart. + </p> + <p> + "That dev—devil—Mike!" she panted. "He has turned on the steam + in the men's baths and gone—gone away!" + </p> + <p> + "With people in the bath?" Doctor Barnes asked, slamming down the pail. + </p> + <p> + Tillie nodded. + </p> + <p> + "Then why in creation don't they get out of the baths until we can shut + off the steam?" I demanded, grabbing up my shawl. But Tillie shook her + head in despair. + </p> + <p> + "They can't," she answered, "he's hid their clothes!" + </p> + <p> + The next thing I recall is running like mad up the walk with Doctor Barnes + beside me, steadying me by the arm. I only spoke once that I remember and + that was just as we got to the house, + </p> + <p> + "This settles it!" I panted, desperately. "It's all over." + </p> + <p> + "Not a bit of it!" he said, shoving me up the steps and into the hall. + "The old teakettle is just getting 'het up' a bit. By the gods and little + fishes, just listen to it singing down there!" + </p> + <p> + The help was gathered in a crowd at the head of the bath-house staircase, + where a cloud of steam was coming up, and down below we could hear furious + talking, and somebody shouting, "Mike! Mike!" in a voice that was choked + with rage and steam. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes elbowed his way through the crowd to the top of the stairs + and I followed. + </p> + <p> + "There's Minnie!" Amanda King yelled. "She knows all about the place. + Minnie, you can shut it off, can't you?" + </p> + <p> + "I'll try," I said, and was starting down, when Doctor Barnes jerked me + back. + </p> + <p> + "You stay here," he said. "Where's Mr. Pier—where's Carter?" + </p> + <p> + "Down with the engineer," somebody replied out of the steam cloud. + </p> + <p> + "Hello there!" he called down the staircase. "How's the air?" + </p> + <p> + "Clothes! Send us some clothes!" + </p> + <p> + It was Mr. Sam calling. The rest was swallowed up in a fresh roaring, as + if a steam-pipe had given away. That settled the people below. With a + burst of fury they swarmed up the stairs in their bath sheets, the bishop + leading, and just behind him, talking as no gentleman should talk under + any circumstances, Senator Biggs. The rest followed, their red faces + shining through the steam—all of them murderous, holding their + sheets around them with one hand, and waving the other in a frenzy. It was + awful. + </p> + <p> + The help scattered and ran, but I stood my ground. The sight of a man in a + sheet didn't scare me and it was no time for weakness. + </p> + <p> + The steam was thicker than ever, and the hall was misty. A moment later + the engineer came up and after him Mr. Pierce, with a towel over his mouth + and a screw-driver in his hand. He was white with rage. He brushed past + the sheets without paying the slightest attention to them, and tore the + towel off his mouth. + </p> + <p> + "Who saw Mike last?" he shouted across to where the pharmacy clerk, the + elevator boy and some of the bell-boys had retreated to the office and + were peeping out through the door. + </p> + <p> + Here Mr. Moody, who's small at any time, and who without the padding on + his shoulders and wrapped in a sheet with his red face above, looked like + a lighted cigarette, darted out of the crowd and caught him by the sleeve. + </p> + <p> + "Here!" he cried, "we've got a few things to say to you, you young—" + </p> + <p> + "Take your hand off my arm!" thundered Mr. Pierce. + </p> + <p> + The storm broke with that. They crowded around Mr. Pierce, yelling like + maniacs, and he stood there, white-faced, and let them wear themselves + out. The courage of a man in a den of lions was nothing to it. Doctor + Barnes forced his way through the crowd and stood there beside him. + </p> + <p> + It wasn't only the steam and their clothes being hidden; it had started + with the scare at the spring in the morning, and when they had told him + what they thought about that, they went back still further and bellowed + about the mismanagement of the place ever since he had taken charge, and + the food, and the steam-heat, and the new rules—oh, they hated him + all right, and they told him so, purple-faced with rage and heat, dancing + around him and shaking one fist in his face, as I say, while they held + their sheets fast with the other. + </p> + <p> + And I stood there and watched, my mind awhirl, expecting every minute to + hear that they were all leaving, or to have some one forget and shake both + fists at once. + </p> + <p> + And that's how it ended finally—I mean, of course, that they said + they would all leave immediately, and that he ought to be glad to have + them go quietly, and not have him jailed for malicious mischief or + compounding a felony. The whole thing was an outrage, and the three train + would leave the house as empty as a squeezed lemon. + </p> + <p> + I wanted to go forward and drop on my knees and implore them to remember + the old doctor, and the baths they'd had when nothing went wrong, and the + days when they'd sworn that the spring kept them young and well, but there + was something in Mr. Pierce's face that kept me back. + </p> + <p> + "At three o'clock, then," he said. "Very well." + </p> + <p> + "Don't be a fool!" I heard Mr. Sam from the crowd. + </p> + <p> + "Is that all you have to say?" roared Mr. von Inwald. I hadn't noticed him + before. He had his sheet on in Grecian style and it looked quite + ornamental although a little short. "Haven't you any apology to make, + sir?" + </p> + <p> + "Neither apology nor explanation to you," Mr. Pierce retorted. And to the + other: "It is an unfortunate accident—incident, if you prefer." He + looked at Thoburn, who was the only one in a bath robe, and who was the + only cheerful one in the lot. "I had refused a request of the bath man's + and he has taken this form of revenge. If this gives me the responsibility + I am willing to take it. If you expect me to ask you to stay I'll not do + it. I don't mind saying that I am as tired of all this as you are." + </p> + <p> + "As tired of what?" demanded Mr. Moody, pushing forward out of the crowd. + Mr. Sam was making frantic gestures to catch Mr. Pierce's eye, but he + would not look at him. + </p> + <p> + "Of all this," he said. "Of charging people sanatorium prices under a + pretense of making them well. Does anybody here imagine he's going to find + health by sitting around in an overstuffed leather chair, with the + temperature at eighty, eating five meals a day, and walking as far as the + mineral spring for exercise?" + </p> + <p> + There was a sort of angry snarl in the air, and Mr. Sam threw up his one + free hand in despair. + </p> + <p> + "In fact," Mr. Pierce went on, "I'd about decided on a new order of things + for this place anyhow. It's going to be a real health resort, run for + people who want to get well or keep well. People who wish to be overfed, + overheated and coddled need not come—or stay." + </p> + <p> + The bishop spoke over the heads of the others, who looked dazed. + </p> + <p> + "Does that mean," he inquired mildly, "that—guests must either obey + this new order of things or go away?" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce looked at the bishop and smiled. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but as every one is leaving, anyhow—" + </p> + <p> + They fairly jumped at him then. They surrounded him in a howling mob and + demanded how he dared to turn them out, and what did he mean by saying + they were overfed, and they would leave when they were good and ready and + not before, and he could go to blazes. It was the most scandalous thing + I've ever known of at Hope Springs, and in the midst of it Mr. Pierce + stood cool and quiet, waiting for a chance to speak. And when the time + came he jumped in and told them the truth about themselves, and most of it + hurt. + </p> + <p> + He was good and mad, and he stood there and picked out the flabby ones and + the fat ones, the whisky livers and the tobacco hearts and the banquet + stomachs, and called them out by name. + </p> + <p> + When he got through they were standing in front of him, ashamed to look at + one another, and not knowing whether to fall on him and tear him to + pieces, or go and weep in a corner because they'd played such havoc with + the bodies the Lord gave them. If he'd weakened for a minute they'd have + jumped on him. But he didn't. He got through and stood looking at them in + their sheets, and then he said coolly: + </p> + <p> + "The bus will be ready at two-thirty, gentlemen," and turning on his + heels, went into the office and closed the door. + </p> + <p> + They scattered to their rooms in every stage of rage and excitement, and + at last only Mr. Sam and I were left staring at each other. "Damned young + idiot!" he said. "I wish to heavens you'd never suggested bringing him + here, Minnie!" + </p> + <p> + And leaving me speechless with indignation, he trailed himself and his + sheet up the stairs. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII + </h2> + <h3> + HOME TO ROOST + </h3> + <p> + I couldn't stand any more. It was all over! I rushed to my room and threw + myself on the bed. At two-thirty I heard the bus come to the porte-cochere + under my window and then drive away; that was the last straw. I put a + pillow over my head so nobody could hear me, and then and there I had + hysterics. I knew I was having them, and I wasn't ashamed. I'd have + exploded if I hadn't. And then somebody jerked the pillow away and I + looked up, with my eyes swollen almost shut, and it was Doctor Barnes. He + had a glass of water in his hand and he held it right above me. + </p> + <p> + "One more yell," he said, "and it goes over you!" + </p> + <p> + I lay there staring up at him, and then I knew what a fright I looked, and + although I couldn't speak yet, I reached up and felt for my hairpins. + </p> + <p> + "That's better," he said, putting down the glass. "Another ten minutes of + that and you'd have burst a blood vessel. Don't worry. I know I have no + business here, but I anticipated something of this kind, and it may + interest you to know that I've been outside in the hall since the first + whoop. It's been a good safety-valve." + </p> + <p> + I sat up and stared at him. I could hardly see out of my eyes. He had his + back to the light, but I could tell that he had a cross of adhesive + plaster on his cheek and that one eye was almost shut. He smiled when he + saw my expression. + </p> + <p> + "It's the temperament," he said. "It goes with the hair. I've got it too, + only I'm apt to go out and pick a fight at such times, and a woman hasn't + got that outlet. As you see, I found Mike, and my disfigurement is to + Mike's as starlight to the noonday glare. Come and take a walk." + </p> + <p> + I shook my head, but he took my arm and pulled me off the bed. + </p> + <p> + "You come for a walk!" he said. "I'll wait in the hall until you powder + your nose. You look like a fire that's been put out by a rain-storm." + </p> + <p> + I didn't want to go, but anything was better than sitting in the room + moping. I put on my jacket and Miss Patty's chinchillas, which cheered me + a little, but as we went downstairs the quiet of the place sat on my chest + like a weight. + </p> + <p> + The lower hall was empty. A new card headed "Rules" hung on the door into + the private office, but I did not read it. What was the use of rules + without people to disobey them? Mrs. Moody had forgotten her crocheting + bag and it hung on the back of a chair. I had to bite my lip to keep it + from trembling again. + </p> + <p> + "The Jenningses are still here," said the doctor. "The old man is madder + than any hornet ever dared be, and they go in the morning. But the + situation was too much for our German friend. He left with the others." + </p> + <p> + Well, we went out and I took the path I knew best, which was out toward + the spring-house. There wasn't a soul in sight. The place looked lonely, + with the trees hung with snow, and arching over the board walk. At the + little bridge over the creek Doctor Barnes stopped, and leaning over the + rail, took a good look at me. + </p> + <p> + "When you self-contained women go to pieces," he said, "you pretty near + smash, don't you? You look as if you'd had a death in your family." + </p> + <p> + "This WAS my family," I half sniveled. + </p> + <p> + "But," he said, "you'll be getting married and having a home of your own + and forgetting all about this." + </p> + <p> + He looked at me with his sharp eyes. "There's probably some nice chap in + the village, eh?" + </p> + <p> + I shook my head. I had just caught sight of the broken pieces of the Moody + water-pitcher on the ice below. + </p> + <p> + "No nice young man!" he remarked. "Not the telegraph operator, or the + fellow who runs the livery-stable—I've forgotten his name." + </p> + <p> + "Look here," I turned on him, "if you're talking all this nonsense to keep + my mind off things, you needn't." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not," he said. "I'm asking for the sake of my own mind, but we'll not + bother about that now. We'd better start back." + </p> + <p> + It was still snowing, although not so hard. The air had done me some good, + but the lump in my throat seemed to have gone to my chest. The doctor + helped me along, for the snow was drifting, and when he saw I was past the + crying stage he went back to what we were both thinking about. + </p> + <p> + "Old Pierce is right," he said. "Remember, Miss Minnie, I've nothing + against you or your mineral spring; in fact, I'm strong for you both. But + while I'm out of the ring now for good—I don't mind saying to you + what I said to Pierce, that the only thing that gets into training here, + as far as I can see, is a fellow's pocketbook." + </p> + <p> + We went back to the house and I straightened the news stand, Amanda King + having taken a violent toothache as a result of the excitement. The + Jenningses were packing to go, and Miss Summers had got a bottle of + peroxide and shut herself in her room. At six o'clock Tillie beckoned to + me from the door of the officers' dining-room and said she'd put the + basket in the snow by the grape arbor. I got ready, with a heavy heart, to + take it out. I had forgotten all about their dinner, for one thing, and I + had to carry bad news. + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Pierce had been there before me. I saw tracks in the fresh snow, + for, praise heaven! it had snowed all that week and our prints were filled + up almost as fast as we made them. When I got to the shelter-house it was + in a wild state of excitement. Mrs. Dick, with her cheeks flushed, had + gathered all her things on the cot and was rolling them up in sheets and + newspapers. But Mr. Dick was sitting on the box in front of the fire with + his curly hair standing every way. He had been roasting potatoes, and as I + opened the door, he picked one up and poked at it to see if it was done. + </p> + <p> + "Damn!" he said, and dropped it. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dick sat on the cot rolling up a pink ribbon and looked at him. + </p> + <p> + "If you want to know exactly my reason for insisting on moving to-night, + I'll tell you," she said, paying no attention to me. "It is your + disposition." + </p> + <p> + He didn't say anything, but he put his foot on the potato and smashed it. + </p> + <p> + "If I had to be shut in here with you one more day," she went on, "I'd + hate you." + </p> + <p> + "Why the one more day?" he asked, without looking up. + </p> + <p> + But she didn't answer him. She was in the worst kind of a temper; she + threw the ribbon down, and coming over, lifted the lid of my basket and + looked in. + </p> + <p> + "Ham again!" she exclaimed ungratefully. "Thanks so much for remembering + us, Minnie. I dare say our dinner to-day slipped your mind!" + </p> + <p> + "I wonder if it strikes you, Minnie," Mr. Dick said, noticing me for the + first time, "that if you and Sam hadn't been so confounded meddling, that + fellow Pierce would be washing buggies in the village livery-stable where + he belongs, and I'd be in one piece of property that's as good as gone + this minute." + </p> + <p> + "Egg salad and cheese!" said Mrs. Dick. "I'm sick of cheese. If that's the + kind of supper you've been serving—" + </p> + <p> + But I was in a bad humor, anyhow, and I'd had enough. I stood just inside + the door and I told them I'd done the best I could, not for them, but + because I'd promised the old doctor, and if I'd made mistakes I'd answer + for them to him if I ever met him in the next world. And in the meantime I + washed my hands of the whole thing, and they might make out as best they + could. I was going. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dick heard me through. Then she came over and put her hand on mine + where it lay on the table. + </p> + <p> + "You're perfectly right," she said. "I know how you have tried, and that + the fault is all that wretched Pierce's. You mustn't mind Mr. Carter, + Minnie. He's been in that sort of humor all day." + </p> + <p> + He looked at her with the most miserable face I ever saw, but he didn't + say anything. She sighed, the little wretch. + </p> + <p> + "We've all made mistakes," she said, "and not the least was my thinking + that I—well, never mind. I dare say we will manage somehow." + </p> + <p> + He got up then, his face twisted with misery. + </p> + <p> + "Say it," he said. "You hate me; you shiver if I touch your hand—oh, + I'm not very keen, but I saw that." + </p> + <p> + "The remedy for that is very, simple," she replied coolly. "You needn't + touch my hand." + </p> + <p> + "Stop!" I snapped. "Just stop before you say something you'll be sorry + for. Of course, you hate each other. It beats me, anyhow, why two people + who get married always want to get away by themselves until they're so + sick of each other that they don't get over it the rest of their lives. + The only sensible honeymoon I ever heard of was when one of the + chambermaids here married a farmer in the neighborhood. It was harvest and + he couldn't leave, so she went ALONE to see her folks and she said it beat + having him along all hollow." + </p> + <p> + She was setting out the supper, putting things down with a bang. He didn't + move, although he must have been starving. + </p> + <p> + "Another thing I'd advise," I said. "Eat first and talk after. You'll see + things different after you've got something in your stomach." + </p> + <p> + "I wish you wouldn't meddle, Minnie!" she snapped, and having put down her + own plate and knife and fork, not laying a place for him, she went over + and tried to get one of the potatoes from the fire. + </p> + <p> + Well, she burnt her finger, or pretended to, and I guess her solution was + as good as mine, for she began to cry, and when I left he was tying it up + with a bit of his handkerchief; if she shivered when he kissed it I didn't + notice it. They were to come up to the house after her father left in the + morning, and I was to dismiss all the old help and get new ones so he + could take charge and let Mr. Pierce go. + </p> + <p> + I plodded back with my empty basket. I had only one clear thought,—that + I wouldn't have any more tramping across the golf links in the snow. I was + too tired really to care that with the regular winter boarders gone and + eight weeks still until Lent, we'd hardly be able to keep going another + fortnight. I wanted to get back to my room and go to bed and forget. + </p> + <p> + But as I came near the house I saw Mr. Pierce come out on the front piazza + and switch on the lights. He stood there looking out into the snow, and + the next minute I saw why. Coming up the hill and across the lawn was a + shadowy line of people, black against the white. They were not speaking, + and they moved without noise over the snow. I thought for a minute that my + brain had gone wrong; then the first figure came into the light, and it + was the bishop. He stood at the front of the steps and looked up at Mr. + Pierce. + </p> + <p> + "I dare say," he said, trying to look easy, "that this is sooner than you + expected us!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce looked down at the crowd. Then he smiled, a growing smile that + ended in a grin. + </p> + <p> + "On the contrary," he said, "I've been expecting you for an hour or more." + </p> + <p> + The procession began to move gloomily up the steps. All of them carried + hand luggage, and they looked tired and sheepish Miss Cobb stopped in + front of Mr. Pierce. + </p> + <p> + "Do you mean to say," she demanded furiously, "that you knew the railroad + was blocked with snow, and yet you let us go!" + </p> + <p> + "On the contrary, Miss Cobb," he said politely, "I remember distinctly + regretting that you insisted on going. Besides, there was the Sherman + House." + </p> + <p> + Senator Briggs {sic} stopped in front of him. "Probably you also knew that + THAT was full, including the stables, with people from the stalled + trains," he asserted furiously. + </p> + <p> + Two by two they went in and through the hall, stamping the snow off, and + up to their old rooms again, leaving Slocum, the clerk, staring at them as + if he couldn't believe his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce and I watched from the piazza, through the glass. + </p> + <p> + We saw Doctor Barnes stop and look, and then go and hang over the news + stand and laugh himself almost purple, and we saw Mr. Thoburn bringing up + the tail of the procession and trying to look unconcerned. I am not a + revengeful woman, but that was one of the happiest moments of my life. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes turned suddenly, and catching me by the arm, whirled me + around and around, singing wildly something about Noah and "the animals + went in two by, two, the elephant and the kangaroo." + </p> + <p> + He stopped as suddenly as he began and walked me to the door again. + </p> + <p> + "We've got 'em in the ark," he said, "but I'm thinking this forty days of + snow is nearly over, Minnie. I don't think much of the dove and the + olive-branch, but WE'VE GOT TO KEEP THEM." + </p> + <p> + "It's against the law," I quavered. + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense!" he said. "We've got to make 'em WANT to stay!" + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII + </h2> + <h3> + BACK TO NATURE + </h3> + <p> + We gave them a good supper and Mr. Pierce ordered claret served without + extra charge. By eight o'clock they were all in better humor, and when + they'd gathered in the lobby Miss Summers gave an imitation of Marie + Dressler doing the Salome dance. Every now and then somebody would look + out and say it was still snowing, and with the memory of the drifts and + the cold stove in the railroad station behind them, they'd gather closer + around the fire and insist that they would go as soon as the road was + cleared. + </p> + <p> + But with the exception of Mr. von Inwald, not one of them really wanted to + go. As Doctor Barnes said over the news stand, each side was bluffing and + wouldn't call the other, and the fellow with the most nerve would win. + </p> + <p> + "And, oh, my aunt!" he said, "what a sweet disposition the von Inwald has! + Watch him going up and banging his head against the wall!" + </p> + <p> + Everybody was charmed with the Salome dance, especially when Miss Summers + drew the cover off a meat platter she'd been dancing around, and there was + Arabella sitting on her hind legs, with a card tied to her neck, and the + card said that at eleven there would be a clambake in the kitchen for all + the guests. + </p> + <p> + (The clambake was my idea, but the dog, of course, was Miss Julia's. I + never saw a woman so full of ideas, although it seems that what should + have been on the platter was the head of somebody or other.) + </p> + <p> + Just after the dance I saw Mr. von Inwald talking to Miss Patty. He had + been ugly all evening, and now he looked like a devil. She stood facing + him with her head thrown back and her fingers twisting her ruby ring. I + guessed that she was about as much surprised as anything else, people + having a habit of being pleasant to her most of the time. He left her in a + rage, and as he went he collided with Arabella and kicked her. Miss Patty + went white but Miss Summers was not a bit put out. She simply picked up + the howling dog and confronted Mr. von Inwald. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps you didn't notice," she said sweetly, "but you kicked my dog." + </p> + <p> + "Why don't you keep her out of the way?" he snarled, and they stood + glaring at each other. + </p> + <p> + "Under the circumstances, Arabella," Miss Julia said—and everybody + was listening—"we can only withdraw Mr. von Inwald's invitation to + the kitchen." + </p> + <p> + "Thank you, I had not intended to go," he said furiously, and went out + into the veranda, slamming the door behind him. Mr. Jennings looked up + from where he was playing chess by the fire and nodded at Miss Summers. + </p> + <p> + "Serves him right for his temper!" he said. + </p> + <p> + "Checkmate!" said the bishop. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Jennings turned and glared at the board. Then with one sweep he threw + all the chessmen on the floor. As Tillie said later, it would be a pity to + spoil two houses with Mr. von Inwald and Mr. Jennings If they were in the + same family, they could work it off on each other. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty came down to the news stand and pretended to hunt for a + magazine. I reached over and stroked her hand. "Don't take it too hard, + dearie," I said. "He's put out to-night, and maybe he isn't well. Men are + like babies. If their stomachs are all right and have plenty in them, + they're pleasant enough. It's been my experience that your cranky man's a + sick man." + </p> + <p> + "I don't think he is sick, Minnie," she said, with a catch in her voice. + "I—I think he is just dev—devilish!" + </p> + <p> + Well, I thought that too, so I just stroked her hand, and after a minute + she got her color again. "It is hard for him," she said. "He thinks this + is all vulgar and American, and—oh, Minnie, I want to get away, and + yet what shall I do without you to keep me sensible." + </p> + <p> + "You'll be a long ways off soon," I said, touching the ring under my hand. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you could come with me," she said, but I shook my head. + </p> + <p> + "Here is one dog that isn't going to sit under any rich man's table and + howl for crumbs," I answered. "If he kicked ME, I'd bite him." + </p> + <p> + At eleven o'clock we had the clambake with beer in the kitchen, and Mr. + von Inwald came, after all. They were really very cheerful, all of them. + Doctor Barnes insisted that Senator Biggs must not fast any longer, and he + ate by my count three dozen clams. At the end, when everybody was happy + and everything forgiven, Mr. Pierce got up and made a speech. + </p> + <p> + He said he was sorry for what had happened that day, but that much he had + said he still maintained: that to pretend to make people well in the way + most sanatoriums did it was sheer folly, and he felt his responsibility + too keenly to countenance a system that was clearly wrong and that the + best modern thought considered obsolete. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb sat up at that; she is always talking about the best modern + thought. + </p> + <p> + He said that perfect health, clear skins, bright eyes—he looked at + the women, and except for Miss Patty, there wasn't an honest complexion or + a bright eye in the lot—keen appetites and joy of living all + depended on rational and simple living. + </p> + <p> + "Hear, hear!" said the men. + </p> + <p> + "The nearer we live to nature, the better," said Senator Biggs oracularly. + </p> + <p> + "Back to nature," shouted Mr. Moody through a clam. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," Mr. Pierce said, smiling. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Moody looked alarmed. "You don't mean doing without clothes—and + all that!" she protested. + </p> + <p> + "Surely!" Miss Summers said, holding up her beer glass. "A toast, + everybody! Back to nature, sans rats, sans rouge, sans stays, sans + everything. I'll need to wear a tag with my name on it. Nobody will + recognize me!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce got up again at the head of the long kitchen table and said he + merely meant rational living—more air, more exercise, simpler food + and better hours. It was being done now in a thousand fresh-air farms, and + succeeding. Men went back to their business clearer-headed and women grew + more beautiful. + </p> + <p> + At that, what with the reaction from sitting in the cold station, and the + beer and everything, they all grew enthusiastic. Doctor Barnes made a + speech, telling that he used to be puny and weak, and how he went into + training and became a pugilist, and how he'd fought the Tennessee + something or other—the men nodded as if they knew—and licked + him in forty seconds or forty rounds, I'm not sure which. The men were + standing on their chairs cheering for him, and even Mr. Jennings, who'd + been sitting and not saying much, said he thought probably there was + something in it. + </p> + <p> + They ended by agreeing to try it out for a week, beginning with the + morning, when everybody was to be down for breakfast by seven-thirty. Mr. + Thoburn got up and made a speech, protesting that they didn't know what + they were letting themselves in for, and ended up by demanding to know if + he was expected to breakfast at seven-thirty. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, or earlier," Mr. Pierce said pleasantly. "I suppose you could have + something at seven." + </p> + <p> + "And suppose I refuse?" he retorted disagreeably. + </p> + <p> + But everybody turned on him, and said if they could do it, he could, and + he sat down again. Then somebody suggested that if they were to get up + they'd have to go to bed, and the party broke up. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes helped me gather up the clam shells and the plates. + </p> + <p> + "It's a risky business," he said. "To-night doesn't mean anything; they're + carried away by the reaction and the desire for something new. The next + week will tell the tale." + </p> + <p> + "If we could only get rid of Mr. Thoburn!" I exclaimed. Doctor Barnes + chuckled. + </p> + <p> + "We may not get rid of him," he said, "but I can promise him the most + interesting week of his life. He'll be too busy for mischief. I'm going to + take six inches off his waist line." + </p> + <p> + Well, in a half-hour or so I had cleared away, and I went out to the lobby + to lock up the news stand. Just as I opened the door from the back hall, + however, I heard two people talking. + </p> + <p> + It was Miss Pat and Mr. Pierce. She was on the stairs and he in the hall + below, looking up. + </p> + <p> + "I don't WANT to stay!" she was saying. + </p> + <p> + "But don't you see?" he argued. "If you go, the others will. Can't you try + it for a week?" + </p> + <p> + "I quite understand your motive," she said, looking down at him more + pleasantly than she'd ever done, "and it's very good of you and all that. + But if you'd only left things as they were, and let us all go, and other + people come—" + </p> + <p> + "That's just it," he said. "I'm told it's the bad season and nobody else + would come until Lent. And, anyhow, it's not business to let a lot of + people go away mad. It gives the place a black eye." + </p> + <p> + "Dear me," she said, "how businesslike you are growing!" + </p> + <p> + He went over close to the stairs and dropped his voice. + </p> + <p> + "If you want the bitter truth," he went on, trying to smile, "I've put + myself on trial and been convicted of being a fool and a failure. I've + failed regularly and with precision at everything I have tried. I've been + going around so long trying to find a place that I fit into, that I'm + scarred as with many battles. And now I'm on probation—for the last + time. If this doesn't go, I—I—" + </p> + <p> + "What?" she asked, leaning down to him. "You'll not—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, no," he said, "nothing dramatic, of course. I could go around the + country in a buggy selling lightning-rods—" + </p> + <p> + She drew herself back as if she resented his refusal of her sympathy. + </p> + <p> + "Or open a saloon in the Philippines!" he finished mockingly. "There's a + living in that." + </p> + <p> + "You are impossible," she said, and turned away. + </p> + <p> + Oh, I haven't any excuse to make for him! I think he was just hungry for + her sympathy and her respect, knowing nothing else was coming to him. But + the minute they grew a bit friendly he seemed to remember the prince, and + that, according to his idea of it, she was selling herself, and he would + draw off and look at her in a mocking unhappy way that made me want to + slap him. + </p> + <p> + He watched her up the stairs and then turned and walked to the fire, with + his hands in his pockets and his head down. + </p> + <p> + I closed the news stand and he came over just as I was hanging up the + cigar-case key for Amanda King in the morning. He reached up and took the + key off its nail. + </p> + <p> + "I'll keep that," he said. "It's no tobacco after this, Minnie." + </p> + <p> + "You can't keep them here, then," I retorted. "They've got to smoke; it's + the only work they do." + </p> + <p> + "We'll see," he said quietly. "And—oh, yes, Minnie, now that we + shall not be using the mineral spring—" + </p> + <p> + "Not use the mineral spring!" I repeated, stupefied. + </p> + <p> + "Certainly NOT!" he said. "This is a drugless sanatorium, Minnie, from now + on. That's part of the theory—no drugs." + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'll tell you one thing," I snapped, "theory or no theory, you've + got to have drugs. No theory that I ever heard of is going to cure Mr. + Moody's indigestion and Miss Cobb's neuralgia." + </p> + <p> + "They won't have indigestion and neuralgia." + </p> + <p> + "Or Amanda King's toothache." + </p> + <p> + "We won't have Amanda King." + </p> + <p> + He put his elbow on the stand and smiled at me. + </p> + <p> + "Listen, Minnie," he said. "If you hadn't been wasting your abilities in + the mineral spring, I'd be sorry to close it. But there will be plenty for + you to do. Don't you know that the day of the medicine-closet in the + bath-room and the department-store patent-remedy counter is over? We've + got sanatoriums now instead of family doctors. In other words, we put in + good sanitation systems and don't need the plumber and his repair kit." + </p> + <p> + "The pharmacy?" I said between my teeth. + </p> + <p> + "Closed also. No medicine, Minnie. That's our slogan. This is the day of + prophylaxis. The doctors have taken a step in the right direction and are + giving fewer drugs. Christian Science has abolished drugs and established + the healer. We simply abolish the healer." + </p> + <p> + "If we're not going to use the spring-house, we might have saved the + expense of the new roof in the fall," I said bitterly. + </p> + <p> + "Not at all. For two hours or so a day the spring-house will be a + rest-house—windows wide open and God's good air penetrating to + fastnesses it never knew before." + </p> + <p> + "The spring will freeze!" + </p> + <p> + "Exactly. My only regret is that it is too small to skate on. But they'll + have the ice pond." + </p> + <p> + "When I see Mr. Moody skating on the ice pond," I said sarcastically, + "I'll see Mrs. Moody dead with the shock on the bank." + </p> + <p> + "Not at all," he replied calmly. "You'll see her skating, too." And with + that he went to bed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIV + </h2> + <h3> + LIKE DUCKS TO WATER + </h3> + <p> + They took to it like ducks take to water. Not, of course, that they didn't + kick about making their own beds and having military discipline generally. + They complained a lot, but when after three days went by with the railroad + running as much on schedule as it ever does, they were all still there, + and Mr. Jennings had limped out and spent a half-hour at the wood-pile + with his gouty foot on a cushion, I saw it was a success. + </p> + <p> + I ought to have been glad. I was, although when Mrs. Dicky found they were + all staying, and that she might have to live in the shelter-house the rest + of the winter, there was an awful scene. I was glad, too, every time I + could see Mr. Thoburn's gloomy face, or hear the things he said when his + name went up for the military walk. + </p> + <p> + (Oh yes, we had a blackboard in the hall, and every morning each guest + looked to see if it was wood-pile day or military-walk day. At first, + instead of wood-pile, it was walk-clearing day, but they soon had the snow + off all the paths.) + </p> + <p> + As I say, I was glad. It looked as if the new idea was a success, although + as Doctor Barnes said, nobody could really tell until new people began to + come. That was the real test. They had turned the baths into a gymnasium + and they had beginners' classes and advanced classes, and a prize offered + on the blackboard of a cigar for the man who made the most muscular + improvement in a week. The bishop won it the first week, being the only + one who could lie on his back and raise himself to a sitting position + without helping himself with his hands. As Mrs. Moody said, it would be + easy enough if somebody only sat on one's feet to hold them down. + </p> + <p> + But I must say I never got over the shock of seeing the spring-house + drifted with snow, all the windows wide open, the spring frozen hard, and + people sitting there during the rest hour, in furs and steamer rugs, + trying to play cards with mittens on—their hands, not the cards, of + course—and not wrangling. I was lonesome for it! + </p> + <p> + I hadn't much to do, except from two to four to be at the spring-house, + and to count for the deep-breathing exercise. Oh, yes, we had that, too! I + rang a bell every half-hour and everybody got up, and I counted slowly + "one" and they breathed in through their noses, and "two" and they exhaled + quickly through their mouths. I guess most of them used more of their + lungs than they ever knew they had. + </p> + <p> + Well, everybody looked better and felt better, although they wouldn't all + acknowledge it. Miss Cobb suffered most, not having the fire log to curl + her hair with. But as she said herself, between gymnasium and military + walks, and the silence hour, and eating, which took a long time, everybody + being hungry—and going to bed at nine, she didn't see how she could + have worried with it, anyhow. The fat ones, of course, objected to an + apple and a cup of hot water for breakfast, but except Mr. Thoburn, they + all realized it was for the best. He wasn't there for his health, he said, + having never had a sick day in his life, but when he saw it was apple and + hot water or leave, he did like Adam—he took the apple. + </p> + <p> + The strange thing of all was the way they began to look up to Mr. Pierce. + He was very strict; if he made a rule, it was obey or leave. (As they knew + after Mr. Moody refused to take the military walk, and was presented with + his bill and a railroad schedule within an hour. He had to take the + military walk with Doctor Barnes that afternoon alone.) They had to + respect a man who could do all the things in the gymnasium that they + couldn't, and come in from a ten or fifteen-mile tramp through the snow + and take a cold plunge and a swim to rest himself. + </p> + <p> + It was on Monday that we really got things started, and on Monday + afternoon Miss Summers came out to the shelter-house in a towering rage. + </p> + <p> + "Where's Mr. Pierce?" she demanded. + </p> + <p> + "I guess you can see he isn't here," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Just wait until I see him!" she announced. "Do you know that I am down on + the blackboard for the military walk to-day? + </p> + <p> + "Why not?" + </p> + <p> + She turned and glared at me. "Why not?" she repeated. "Why, the audacity + of the wretch! He brings me out into the country in winter to play in his + atrocious play, strands me, and then tells me to walk twenty miles a day + and smile over it!" She came over to me and shook my arm. "Not only that," + she said, "but he has cut out my cigarettes and put Arabella on dog + biscuit—Arabella, who can hardly eat a chicken wing." + </p> + <p> + "Well, there's something to be thankful for," I said. "He didn't put you + on dog biscuit." + </p> + <p> + She laughed then, with one of her quick changes of humor. + </p> + <p> + "The worst of it is," she said, in a confidential whisper, "I'll do it. I + feel it. I guess if the truth were known I'm some older than he is, but—I'm + afraid of him, Minnie. Little Judy is ready to crawl around and speak for + a cracker or a kind word. Oh, I'm not in love with him, but he's got the + courage to say what he means and do what he says." + </p> + <p> + She went to the door and looked back smiling. + </p> + <p> + "I'm off for the wood-pile," she called back. "And I've promised to chop + two inches off my heels." + </p> + <p> + As I say, they took to it like ducks to water—except two of them, + von Inwald and Thoburn. Mr. von Inwald stayed on, I hardly know why, but I + guess it was because Mr. Jennings still hadn't done anything final about + settlements, and with the newspapers marrying him every day it wasn't very + comfortable. Next to him, Mr. Thoburn was the unhappiest mortal I have + ever seen. He wouldn't leave, and with Doctor Barnes carrying out his + threat to take six inches off his waist, he stopped measuring + window-frames with a tape line and took to measuring himself. + </p> + <p> + I came across him on Wednesday—the third day—straggling home + from the military walk. He and Mr. von Inwald limped across the + tennis-court and collapsed on the steps of the spring-house while the + others went on to the sanatorium. I had been brushing the porch, and I + leaned on my broom and looked at them. + </p> + <p> + "You're both looking a lot better," I said. "Not so—well, not so + beer-y. How do you like it by this time?" + </p> + <p> + "Fine!" answered Mr. Thoburn. "Wouldn't stay if I didn't like it." + </p> + <p> + "Wouldn't you?" + </p> + <p> + "But I'll tell you this, Minnie," he said, changing his position with a + groan to look up at me, "somebody ought to warn that young man. Human + nature can stand a lot but it can't stand everything. He's overdoing it!" + </p> + <p> + "They like it," I said. + </p> + <p> + "They think they do," he retorted. "Mark my words, Minnie, if he adds + another mile to the walk to-morrow there will be a mutiny. Kingdoms may be + lost by an extra blister on a heel." + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald had been sitting with his feet straight out, scowling, but + now he turned and looked at me coolly. + </p> + <p> + "All that keeps me here," he said, "is Minnie's lovely hair. It takes me + mentally back home, Minnie, to a lovely lady—may I have a bit of it + to keep by me?" + </p> + <p> + "You may not," I retorted angrily. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! The lovely lady—but never mind that. For the sake of my love + for you, Minnie, find me a cigarette, like a good girl! I am desolate." + </p> + <p> + "There's no tobacco on the place," I said firmly, and went on with my + sweeping. + </p> + <p> + "When I was a boy," Mr. Thoburn remarked, looking out thoughtfully over + the snow, "we made a sort of cigarette out of corn-silk. You don't happen + to have any corn-silk about, do you, Minnie?" + </p> + <p> + "No," I said shortly. "If you take my advice, Mr. Thoburn, you'll go back + to town. You can get all the tobacco you want there—and you're + wasting your time here." I leaned on my broom and looked down at him, but + he was stretching out his foot and painfully working his ankle up and + down. + </p> + <p> + "Am I?" he asked, looking at his foot. "Well, don't count on it too much, + Minnie. You always inspire me, and sitting here I've just thought of + something." + </p> + <p> + He got up and hobbled off the porch, followed by Mr. von Inwald. I saw him + say something to Mr. von Inwald, who threw back his head and laughed. Then + I saw them stop and shake hands and go on again in deep conversation. I + felt uneasy. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes came out that afternoon and watched me while I closed the + windows. He had a package in his hand. He sat on the railing of the spring + and looked at me. + </p> + <p> + "You're not warmly enough dressed for this kind of thing," he remarked. + "Where's that gray rabbits' fur, or whatever it is?" + </p> + <p> + "If you mean my chinchillas," I said, "they're in their box. Chinchillas + are as delicate as babies and not near so plentiful. I'm warm enough." + </p> + <p> + "You look it." He reached over and caught one of my hands. "Look at that! + Blue nails! It's about four degrees above zero here, and while the rest + are wrapped in furs and steamer rugs, with hotwater bottles at their feet, + you've got on a shawl. I'll bet you two dollars you haven't got on any—er—winter + flannels." + </p> + <p> + "I never bet," I retorted, and went on folding up the steamer rugs. + </p> + <p> + "I'd like to help," he said, "but you're so darned capable, Miss Minnie—" + </p> + <p> + "You might see if you can get the slot-machine empty," I said. "It's full + of water. It wouldn't work and Mr. Moody thought it was frozen. He's been + carrying out boiling water all afternoon. If it stays in there and freezes + the thing will explode." + </p> + <p> + He wasn't listening. He'd been fussing with his package and now he opened + it and handed it to me, in the paper. + </p> + <p> + "It's a sweater," he said, not looking at me. "I bought it for myself and + it was too small— Confound it, Minnie, I wish I could lie! I bought + them for you! There's the whole business—sweater, cap, leggings and + mittens. Go on! Throw them at me!" + </p> + <p> + But I didn't. I looked at them, all white and soft, and it came over me + suddenly how kind people had been lately, and how much I'd been getting—the + old doctor's waistcoat buttons and Miss Pat's furs, and now this! I just + buried my face in them and cried. + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes stood by and said nothing. Some men wouldn't have + understood, but he did. After a minute or so he came over and pulled the + sweater out from the bundle. + </p> + <p> + "I'm glad you like 'em," he said, "but as I bought them at Hubbard's, in + Finleyville, and as the old liar guaranteed they wouldn't shrink, we'd + better not cry on 'em." + </p> + <p> + Well, I put them on and I was warmer and happier than I had been for some + time. But that night when I went out to the shelter-house with the supper + basket I found both the honeymooners in a wild state of excitement. They + said that about five o'clock Thoburn had gone out to the shelter-house and + walked all around it. Finally he had stopped at one of the windows of the + other room, had worked at it with his penknife and got it open, and + crawled through. They sat paralyzed with fright, and heard him moving + around the other room, and he even tried their door. But it had been + locked. They hadn't the slightest idea what he was doing, but after + perhaps ten minutes he went away, going out the door this time and taking + the key with him. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick had gone in when he was safely gone, but he could see nothing + unusual, except that the door of the cupboard in the corner was standing + open and there was a brand-new, folding, foot rule in it. + </p> + <p> + That day the bar was closed for good, and there was a good bit of fussing. + To add to the trouble, that evening at dinner the pastries were cut off, + and at eight o'clock a delegation headed by Senator Biggs visited Mr. + Pierce in the office and demanded pastry put back on the menu and the + stewed fruit taken off. But Mr. Pierce was firm and they came out pretty + well subdued. It was that night, I think, that candles were put in the + bedrooms, and all the electric lights were turned off at nine-thirty. + </p> + <p> + At ten o'clock I took my candle and went to Mr. Pierce's sitting-room + door. I didn't think they'd stand much more and I wanted to tell him so. + Nobody answered and I opened the door. He was asleep, face down on the + hearth-rug in front of the fire. His candle was lighted on the floor + beside him and near it lay a newspaper cutting crumpled in a ball. I + picked it up. It was a list of the bridal party for Miss Patty's wedding. + </p> + <p> + I dropped it where I found it and went out and knocked again loudly. He + wakened after a minute and came to the door with the candle in his hand. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, it's you, Minnie. Come in!" + </p> + <p> + I went in and put my candle on the table. + </p> + <p> + "I've got to talk to you," I said. "I don't mind admitting things have + been going pretty well, but—they won't stand for the candles. You + mark my words." + </p> + <p> + "If they'll stand for the bar being closed, why not the candles?" he + demanded. + </p> + <p> + "Well," I said, "they can't have electric light sent up in boxes and + labeled 'books,' but they can get liquor that way." + </p> + <p> + He whistled, and then he laughed. + </p> + <p> + "Then we'll not have any books," he said. "I guess they can manage. 'My + only books were woman's looks—'" and then he saw the ball of paper + on the floor and his expression changed. He walked over and picked it up, + smoothing it out on the palm of his hand. + </p> + <p> + After a minute he looked up at me. + </p> + <p> + "I haven't been to the shelter-house to-day. They are all right?" + </p> + <p> + "They're nervous. With everybody walking these days they daren't venture a + nose out of doors." + </p> + <p> + He was still holding the clipping. + </p> + <p> + "And—Miss Jennings!" he said. "She—I think she looks better." + </p> + <p> + "Her father's in a better humor for one thing—says Abraham Lincoln + split logs, and that it beats massage." + </p> + <p> + I had been standing in the doorway, but he took me by the arm and drew me + into the room. + </p> + <p> + "I wish you'd sit down for about ten minutes, Minnie," he said. "I guess + every fellow has a time when he's got to tell his troubles to some good + woman—not but that you know mine already. You're as shrewd as you + are kind." + </p> + <p> + I sat down on the edge of a chair. For all I had had so much to do with + the sanatorium, I never forgot that I was only the spring-house girl. He + threw himself back in his easy chair, with the candle behind him on the + table and his arms above his head. + </p> + <p> + "It's like this, Minnie," he said. "Mr. Jennings likes the new order of + things and—he's going to stay." + </p> + <p> + I nodded. + </p> + <p> + "And I like it here. I want to stay. It's the one thing I've found that I + think I can do. It isn't what I've dreamed of, but it's worth while. To + anchor the derelicts of humanity in a sort of repair dock here, and scrape + the barnacles off their dispositions, and send them out shipshape again, + surely that's something. And I can do it." + </p> + <p> + I nodded again. + </p> + <p> + "But if the Jenningses stay—" he looked at me. "Minnie, in heaven's + name, what am I going to do if SHE stays?" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know, Mr. Pierce," I said. "I couldn't sleep last night for + thinking about it." + </p> + <p> + He smoothed out the paper and looked at it again, but I think he scarcely + saw it. + </p> + <p> + "The situation is humorous," he said, "only my sense of humor seems to + have died. She doesn't know I exist, except to invent new and troublesome + regulations for her annoyance. She is very sweet when she meets me, but + only because I am helping her to have her own way. And I—my God, + Minnie, I sit in the office and listen for her step outside!" + </p> + <p> + He moved a little and held out the paper in the candle-light. + </p> + <p> + "'It will please Americans to know,'" he read, "'that with the exception + of the Venetian lace robe sent by the bridegroom's mother, all of Miss + Patricia Jennings' elaborate trousseau is being made in America. + </p> + <p> + "'Prince Oskar and his suite, according to present arrangements, will sail + from Naples early in March, and the wedding date, although not yet + definitely fixed, will probably be the first week in April. The wedding + party will include—'" + </p> + <p> + He stopped there, and looked at me, trying to smile. + </p> + <p> + "I knew it all before," he said, "but there's something inevitable about + print. I guess I hadn't realized it." + </p> + <p> + He had the same look of wretchedness he'd had the first night I saw him—a + hungry look—and I couldn't help it; I went over to him and patted + him on the head like a little boy. I was only the spring-house girl, but I + was older than he was, and he needed somebody to comfort him. + </p> + <p> + "I can't think of anything to say that will help any," I said, "unless + it's what you wrote yourself on the blackboard down in the hall, 'Keep + busy and you'll keep happy.'" + </p> + <p> + He reached up for my hand, and rough and red as it was—having been + in the spring for so many years—he kissed it. + </p> + <p> + "Good for you, Minnie!" he said. "You're rational, and for a day or so I + haven't been. That's right, KEEP BUSY. I'll do it." He got up and put his + hands on my shoulders. "Good old pal, when you see me going around as if + all the devils of hell were tormenting me, just come up and say that to + me, will you?" + </p> + <p> + I promised, and he opened the door, candle in hand, and smiling. + </p> + <p> + "I'm a thousand per cent. better already," he said. "I just needed to tell + somebody, I think. I dare say I've made a lot more fuss than it really + deserves." + </p> + <p> + At the far end of the hall, a girl came out of one room, and carrying a + candle, went across to another. It was Miss Patty, going to bid her father + good night. When I left, he was still staring down the hall after her, his + candle dripping wax on the floor, and his face white. I guess he hadn't + overstated his case. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXV + </h2> + <h3> + THE FIRST FRUITS + </h3> + <p> + By Friday of that week you would hardly have known any of them. The fat + ones were thinner and the thin ones fatter, and Miss Julia Summers could + put her whole hand inside her belt. + </p> + <p> + And they were pleasant. They'd sit down to a supper of ham and eggs and + apple sauce, and yell for more apple sauce, and every evening in the + billiard room they got up two weighing pools, one for the ones who wanted + to reduce, and one for the people who wanted to gain. Everybody put in a + dollar, and at gymnasium hour the next morning the ones who'd gained or + lost the most won the pool. Mr. Thoburn won the losing pool on Thursday + and Friday—he didn't want to lose weight, but he was compelled to + under the circumstances. And I think worry helped him to it. + </p> + <p> + They fussed some still about sleeping with the windows open, especially + the bald-headed men. However, the bishop, who had been bald for thirty + years, was getting a fine down all over the top of his head, and this + encouraged the rest. The bishop says it is nature's instinct to protect + itself from cold—all animals have fur, and heavier fur in winter—and + he believed that it was the ultimate cure for baldness. Men lose their + hair on top, he said, because they wear hats, and so don't need it. But + let the top of the head need protection, and lo, hair comes there. + Although, as Mr. Thoburn said, his nose was always cold in winter, and + nature never did anything for IT. + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald was still there, and not troubling himself to be agreeable + to any but the Jennings family. He and Mr. Pierce carefully avoided each + other, but I knew well enough that only policy kept them apart. Both of + them, you see, were working for something. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb came to the spring-house early Friday morning, and from the way + she came in and shut the door I knew she had something on her mind. She + walked over to where I was polishing the brass railing around the spring—it + had been the habit of years, and not easy to break—and stood looking + at me and breathing hard. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie," she exclaimed, "I have found the thief!" + </p> + <p> + "Lord have mercy!" I said, and dropped the brass polish. + </p> + <p> + "I have found the thief!" she repeated firmly. "Minnie, our sins always + find us out." + </p> + <p> + "I guess they do," I said shakily, and sat down on the steps to the + spring. "Oh, Miss Cobb, if only he would use a little bit of sense!" + </p> + <p> + "He?" she said. "HE nothing! It's that Summers woman I'm talking about, + Minnie. I knew that woman wasn't what she ought to be the minute I set + eyes on her." + </p> + <p> + "The Summers woman!" I repeated. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb leaned over the railing and shook a finger in my face. + </p> + <p> + "The Summers woman," she said. "One of the chambermaids found my—my + PROTECTORS hanging in the creature's closet!" + </p> + <p> + I couldn't speak. There had been so much happening that I'd clean + forgotten Miss Cobb and her woolen tights. And now to have them come back + like this and hang themselves around my neck, so to speak—it was too + much. + </p> + <p> + "Per—perhaps they're hers," I said weakly after a minute. + </p> + <p> + "Stuff and nonsense!" declared Miss Cobb. "Don't you think I know my own, + with L. C. in white cotton on the band, and my own darning in the knee + where I slipped on the ice? And more than that, Minnie, where those tights + are, my letters are!" + </p> + <p> + I glanced at the pantry, where her letters were hidden on the upper shelf. + The door was closed. + </p> + <p> + "But—but what would she want with the letters?" I asked, with my + teeth fairly hitting together. Miss Cobb pushed her forefinger into my + shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "To blackmail me," she said, in a tragic voice, "or perhaps to publish. + I've often thought of that myself—they're so beautiful. Letters from + a life insurance agent to his lady-love—interesting, you know, and + alliterative. As for that woman—!" + </p> + <p> + "What woman!" said Miss Summers' voice from behind us. We jumped and + turned. "I always save myself trouble, so if by any chance you are + discussing me—" + </p> + <p> + "As it happens," Miss Cobb said, glaring at her, "I WAS discussing you." + </p> + <p> + "Fine!" said Miss Julia. "I love to talk about myself." + </p> + <p> + "I doubt if it's an edifying subject," Miss Cobb snapped. + </p> + <p> + Miss Julia looked at her and smiled. + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps not," she said, "but interesting. Don't put yourself out to be + friendly to me, Miss Cobb, if you don't feel like it." + </p> + <p> + "Are you going to return my letters?" Miss Cobb demanded. + </p> + <p> + "Your letters?" + </p> + <p> + "My letters—that you took out of my room!" + </p> + <p> + "Look here," Miss Julia said, still in a good humor, "don't you suppose + I've got letters of my own, without bothering with another woman's?" + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps," Miss Cobb replied in triumph, "perhaps you will say that you + don't know anything of my—of my black woolen protectors?" + </p> + <p> + "Never heard of them!" said Miss Summers. "What are they?" And then she + caught my eye, and I guess I looked stricken. "Oh!" she said. + </p> + <p> + "Miss Cobb was robbed the other night," I explained, as quietly as I + could. "Somebody went into her room and took a bundle of letters." + </p> + <p> + "Letters!" Miss Summers straightened and looked at me. + </p> + <p> + "And my woolen tights," said Miss Cobb indignantly, "with all this cold + weather and military walks, and having to sit two hours a day by an open + window! And I'll tell you this, Miss Summers, your dog got in my room that + night, and while I have no suspicions, the chambermaid found my—er—missing + garment this morning in your closet!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't believe," Miss Julia said, looking hard at me, "that Arabella + would steal anything so—er—grotesque! Do you mean to say," she + added slowly, "that nothing was taken from that room but the—lingerie + and a bundle of letters?" + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," said Miss Cobb, "and I'd thank you for the letters." + </p> + <p> + "The letters!" Miss Julia retorted. "I've never been in your room. I + haven't got the letters. I've never seen them." Then a light dawned in her + face. "I—oh, it's the funniest ever!" + </p> + <p> + And with that she threw her head back and laughed until the tears rolled + down her cheeks and she held her side. + </p> + <p> + "Screaming!" she gasped. "It's screaming! But, oh, Minnie, to have seen + your face!" + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb swept to the door and turned in a fury. + </p> + <p> + "I do not think it is funny," she stormed, "and I shall report to Mr. + Carter at once what I have discovered." + </p> + <p> + She banged out, and Miss Julia put her head on a card-table and writhed + with joy. "To have seen your face, Minnie!" she panted, wiping her eyes. + "To have thought you had Dick Carter's letters, that I keep rolled in + asbestos, and then to have opened them and found they were to Miss Cobb!" + </p> + <p> + "Be as happy as you like," I snapped, "but you are barking up the wrong + tree. I don't know anything about any letters and as far as that goes, do + you think I've lived here fourteen years to get into the wrong room at + night? If I'd wanted to get into your room, I'd have found your room, not + Miss Cobb's." + </p> + <p> + She sat up and pulled her hat straight, looking me right in the eye. + </p> + <p> + "If you'll recall," she said, "I came into the spring-house, and Arabella + pulled that—garment of Miss Cobb's off a table. It was early—nobody + was out yet. You were alone, Minnie, or no," she said suddenly, "you were + not alone. Minnie, WHO was in the pantry?" + </p> + <p> + "What has that to do with it?" I managed, with my feet as cold as stone. + </p> + <p> + She got up and buttoned her sweater. + </p> + <p> + "Don't trouble to lie," she said. "I can see through a stone wall as well + as most people. Whoever got those letters thought they were stealing mine, + and there are only two people who would try to steal my letters; one is + Dick Carter, and the other is his brother-in-law. It wasn't Sam in the + pantry—he came in just after with his little snip of a wife." + </p> + <p> + "Well?" I managed. + </p> + <p> + But she was smiling again, not so pleasantly. + </p> + <p> + "I might have known it!" she said. "What a fool I've been, Minnie, and how + clever you are under that red thatch of yours! Dicky can not appear as + long as I am here, and Pierce takes his place, and I help to keep the + secret and to play the game! Well, I can appreciate a joke on myself as + well as most people, but—Minnie, Minnie, think of that guilty wretch + of a Dicky Carter shaking in the pantry!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't know what you are talking about," I said, but she only winked and + went to the door. + </p> + <p> + "Don't take it too much to heart," she advised. "Too much loyalty is a + vice, not a virtue. And another piece of advice, Minnie—when I find + Dicky Carter, stand from under; something will fall." + </p> + <p> + They had charades during the rest hour that afternoon, the overweights + headed by the bishop, against the underweights headed by Mr. Moody. They + selected their words from one of Horace Fletcher's books, and as Mr. + Pierce wasn't either over or underweight, they asked him to be referee. + </p> + <p> + Oh, they were crazy about him by that time. It was "Mr. Carter" here and + "dear Mr. Carter" there, with the women knitting him neckties and the men + coming up to be bullied and asking for more. + </p> + <p> + And he kept the upper hand, too, once he got it. It was that day, I think, + that he sent Senator Biggs up to make his bed again, and nobody in the + place will ever forget how he made old Mr. Jennings hang his gymnasium + suit up three times before it was done properly. The old man was mad + enough at the time, but inside of twenty minutes he was offering Mr. + Pierce the cigar he'd won in the wood-chopping contest. + </p> + <p> + But if Mr. Pierce was making a hit with the guests, he wasn't so popular + with the Van Alstynes or the Carters. The night the cigar stand was closed + Mr. Sam came to me and leaned over the counter. + </p> + <p> + "Put the key in a drawer," he said. "I can slip down here after the lights + are out and get a smoke." + </p> + <p> + "Can't do it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I said. "Got positive orders." + </p> + <p> + "That doesn't include me." He was still perfectly good-humored. + </p> + <p> + "Sorry," I said. "Have to have a written order from Mr. Pierce." + </p> + <p> + He put a silver dollar on the desk between us and looked at me over it. + </p> + <p> + "Will that open the case?" he asked. But I shook my head. + </p> + <p> + "Well, I'll be hanged! What the devil sort of order did he give you?" + </p> + <p> + "He said," I repeated, "that I'd be coaxed and probably bribed to open the + cigar case, and that you'd probably be the first one to do it, but I was + to stick firm; you've been smoking too much, and your nerves are going." + </p> + <p> + "Insolent young puppy!" he exclaimed angrily, and stamped away. + </p> + <p> + So that I was not surprised when on that night, Friday, I was told to be + at the shelter-house at ten o'clock for a protest meeting. Mrs. Sam told + me. + </p> + <p> + "Something has to be done," she said. "I don't intend to stand much more. + Nobody has the right to say when I shall eat or what. If I want to eat + fried shoe leather, that's my affair." + </p> + <p> + We met at ten o'clock at the shelter-house, everybody having gone to bed—Miss + Patty, the Van Alstynes and myself. The Dickys were on good terms again, + for a wonder, and when we went in they were in front of the fire, she on a + box and he at her feet, with his head buried in her lap. He didn't even + look up when we entered. + </p> + <p> + "They're here, Dicky," she said. + </p> + <p> + "All right!" he answered in a smothered voice. "How many of 'em?" + </p> + <p> + "Four," she said, and kissed the tip of his ear. + </p> + <p> + "For goodness sake, Dick!" Mrs. Sam snapped in a disgusted tone, "stop + that spooning and get us something to sit on." + </p> + <p> + "Help yourself," he replied, still from his wife's lap, "and don't be + jealous, sis. If the sight of married happiness upsets you, go away. Go + away, anyhow." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam came over and jerked him into a sitting position. "Either you'll + sit up and take part in this discussion," he said angrily, "or you'll go + out in the snow until it's over." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick leaned over and kissed his wife's hand. + </p> + <p> + "A cruel fate is separating us," he explained, "but try to endure it until + I return. I'll be on the other side of the fireplace." + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty came to the fire and stood warming her hands. I saw her sister + watching her. + </p> + <p> + "What's wrong with you, Pat?" she asked. "Oskar not behaving?" + </p> + <p> + "Don't be silly," Miss Patty said. "I'm all right." + </p> + <p> + "She's worked to death," Mrs. Sam put in. "Look at all of us. I'll tell + you I'm so tired these nights that by nine o'clock I'm asleep on my feet." + </p> + <p> + "I'm tired to death, but I don't sleep," Miss Patty said. "I—I don't + know why." + </p> + <p> + "I do," her sister said. "If you weren't so haughty, Pat, and would just + own up that you're sick of your bargain—" + </p> + <p> + "Dolly!" Miss Patty got red and then white. + </p> + <p> + "Oh, all right," Mrs. Dicky said, and shrugged her shoulders. "Only, I + hate to see you make an idiot of yourself, when I'm so happy." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick made a move at that to go across the fireplace to her, but Mr. + Sam pushed him back where he was. + </p> + <p> + "You stay right there," he said. "Here's Pierce now." + </p> + <p> + He came in smiling, and as he stood inside the door, brushing the snow + off, it was queer to see how his eyes went around the circle until he'd + found Miss Patty and stopped at her. + </p> + <p> + Nobody answered his smile, and he came over to the fire beside Miss Patty. + </p> + <p> + "Great night!" he said, looking down at her. "There's something + invigorating in just breathing that wind." + </p> + <p> + "Do you think so?" Mrs. Sam said disagreeably. "Of course, we haven't all + got your shoulders." + </p> + <p> + "That's so," he answered, turning to her. "I said you women should not + come so far. We could have met in my sitting-room." + </p> + <p> + "You forget one thing," Mr. Dick put in disagreeably, "and that is that + this meeting concerns me, and I can not very well go to YOUR + sitting-room." + </p> + <p> + "Fact," said Mr. Pierce, "I'd forgotten about you for the moment." + </p> + <p> + "You generally do," Mr. Dick retorted. "If you want the truth, Pierce, I'm + about tired of your high-handed methods." + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce set his jaw and looked down at him. + </p> + <p> + "Why? I've saved the place, haven't I? Why, look here," he said, and + pulled out a couple of letters, "these are the first fruits of those that + weep—in other words, per aspera ad astra! Two new guests coming the + last of the week—want to be put in training!" + </p> + <p> + Well, that was an argument nobody could find fault with, but their + grievance was about themselves and they couldn't forgive him. They turned + on him in the most heartless way—even Miss Patty—and demanded + that he give them special privileges—breakfast when they wanted it, + and Mr. Sam the key to the bar. And he stood firm, as he had that day in + the lobby, and let the storm beat around him, looking mostly at Miss + Patty. It was more than I could bear. + </p> + <p> + "Shame on all of you!" I said. "He's done what he promised he'd do, and + more. If he did what he ought, he'd leave this minute, and let you find + out for yourself what it is to drive thirty-odd different stomachs and the + same number of bad dispositions in one direction." + </p> + <p> + "You are perfectly right, Minnie," Miss Patty said. "We're beastly, all of + us, and I'm sorry." She went over and held out her hand to him. "You've + done the impossible," she told him. He beamed. + </p> + <p> + "Your approval means more than anything," he said, holding her hand. Mrs. + Dick sat up and opened her eyes wide. + </p> + <p> + "Speaking of Oskar," she began, and then stopped, staring past her sister, + toward the door. + </p> + <p> + We all turned, and there, blinking in the light, was Miss Summers. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVI + </h2> + <h3> + OVER THE FENCE IS OUT + </h3> + <p> + "WELL!" she said, and stood staring. Then she smiled—I guess our + faces were funny. + </p> + <p> + "May I come in?" she asked, and without waiting she came in and closed the + door. "You DO look cozy!" she said, and shook herself free of snow. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Dick had turned white. He got up with his eyes on her, and twice he + opened his mouth and couldn't speak. He backed, still watching her, to his + wife, and stood in front of her, as if to protect her. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Sam got his voice first. + </p> + <p> + "B—bad night for a walk," he said. + </p> + <p> + "Frightful!" she said. "I've been buried to my knees. May I sit down?" To + those of us who knew, her easy manner had something horrible in it. + </p> + <p> + "Sorry there are no chairs, Julia," Mr. Pierce said. "Sit on the cot, + won't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Who IS it?" Mrs. Dick asked from, as you may say, her eclipse. She and + Miss Summers were the only calm ones in the room. + </p> + <p> + "I—I don't know," Mr. Dick stammered, but the next moment Miss + Julia, from the cot, looked across at him and grinned. + </p> + <p> + "Well, Dicky!" she said. "Who'd have thought it!" + </p> + <p> + "You said you didn't know her!" his wife said from behind him. + </p> + <p> + "Who'd have thought wha—what?" he asked with bravado. + </p> + <p> + "All this!" Miss Julia waved her hand around the room, with its bare + walls, and blankets over the windows to keep the light in and the cold + out, and the circle of us sitting around on sand boxes from the links and + lawn rollers. "To find you here, all snug in your own home, with your + household gods and a wife." Nobody could think of anything to say. "That + is," she went on, "I believe there is a wife. Good heavens, Dicky, it + isn't Minnie?" + </p> + <p> + He stepped aside at that, disclosing Mrs. Dick on her box, with her + childish eyes wide open. + </p> + <p> + "There—there IS a wife, Julia," he said. "This is her—she." + </p> + <p> + Well, she'd come out to make mischief—it was written all over her + when she came in the door, but when Mr. Dick presented his wife, + frightened as he was and still proud of her, and Mrs. Dick smiled in her + pretty way, Miss Summers just walked across and looked down at her with a + queer look on her face. I shut my eyes and waited for the crash, but + nothing came, and when I opened them again there were the two women + holding hands and Miss Summers smiling a sort of crooked grin at Mr. Dick. + </p> + <p> + "I ought to be very angry with your husband," she said. "I—well, I + never expected him to marry without my being among those present. But + since he has done it—! Dick, you wretched boy, you took advantage of + my being laid up with the mumps!" + </p> + <p> + "Mumps!" Mrs. Dick said. "Why, he has just had them himself!" She looked + around the circle suspiciously, and every one of us looked as guilty as if + he had been caught with the mumps concealed around him somewhere. + </p> + <p> + "I didn't have real mumps," Mr. Dick explained. "It was only—er—a + swelling." + </p> + <p> + "You SAID it was mumps, and even now you hate pickles!" + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce had edged over to Miss Summers and patted her shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Be a good sport, Julia," he whispered. + </p> + <p> + She threw off his hand. + </p> + <p> + "I'm being an idiot!" she said angrily. "Dick's an ass, and he's treated + me like a villain, but look at that baby! It will be twenty years before + she has to worry about her weight." + </p> + <p> + "I never cared for pickles," Mr. Dick was saying with dignity. "The doctor + said—" + </p> + <p> + "I think we'd better be going." Miss Patty got up and gathered up her + cloak. But if she meant to break up the party Miss Summers was not ready. + </p> + <p> + "If you don't mind," she said, "I'll stay. I'm frozen, and I've got to go + home and sleep with my window up. You're lucky," she went on to the + Dickys. "I dare say the air in here would scare us under a microscope, but + at least it is warm." + </p> + <p> + The Van Alstynes made a move to go, but Mr. Dicky frantically gestured to + them not to leave him alone, and Mrs. Sam sat down again sulkily. Mr. + Pierce picked up his cap. + </p> + <p> + "I'll take you back," he said to Miss Patty, and his face was fairly + glowing. But Miss Patty slipped her arm through mine. + </p> + <p> + "Come, Minnie, Mr. Pierce is going to take us," she said. + </p> + <p> + "I'd—I'd rather go alone," I said. + </p> + <p> + "Nonsense." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not ready. I've got to gather up these dishes," I objected. + </p> + <p> + Out of the corner of my eye I could see the glow dying out of Mr. Pierce's + face. But Miss Patty took my arm and led me to the door. + </p> + <p> + "Let them gather up their own dishes," she said. "Dolly, you ought to be + ashamed to let Minnie slave for you the way she does. Good night, + everybody." + </p> + <p> + I did my best to leave them alone on the way back, but Miss Patty stuck + close to my heels. It was snowing, and the going was slow. + </p> + <p> + For the first five minutes she only spoke once. + </p> + <p> + "And so Miss Summers and Dicky Carter are old friends!" + </p> + <p> + "It appears so," Mr. Pierce said. + </p> + <p> + "She's rather magnanimous, under the circumstances," Miss Patty remarked + demurely. + </p> + <p> + "Under what circumstances?" + </p> + <p> + I heard her laugh a little, behind me. + </p> + <p> + "Never mind," she said. "You needn't tell me anything you don't care to. + But what a stew you must all have been in!" + </p> + <p> + There was a minute's silence behind me, and then Mr. Pierce laughed too. + </p> + <p> + "Stew!" he said. "For the last few days I've been either paralyzed with + fright or electrified into wild bursts of mendacity. And I'm not naturally + a liar." + </p> + <p> + "Really!" she retorted. "What an actor you are!" + </p> + <p> + They laughed together at that, and I gained a little on them. At the + corner where the path skirted the deer park and turned toward the house I + lost them altogether and I floundered on alone. But I had not gone twenty + feet when I stopped suddenly. About fifty yards ahead a lantern was coming + toward me through the snow, and I could hear a man's voice, breathless and + gasping. + </p> + <p> + "Set it down," it said. "The damned thing must be filled with lead." It + sounded like Thoburn. + </p> + <p> + "It's the snow," another voice replied, Mr. von Inwald's. "I told you it + would take two trips." + </p> + <p> + "Yes," Thoburn retorted, breathing in groans. "Stay up all night to get + the blamed stuff here, and then get up at dawn for a cold bath and a + twenty-mile walk and an apple for breakfast. Ugh, my shoulder is + dislocated." + </p> + <p> + I turned and flew back to Miss Patty and Pierce. They had stopped in the + shelter of the fence corner and Mr. Pierce was on his knees in front of + her! I was so astounded that I forgot for the moment what had brought me. + </p> + <p> + "Just a second," he was saying. "It's ice on the heel." + </p> + <p> + "Please get up off your knees, you'll take cold." + </p> + <p> + "Never had a cold. I'll scrape it off with my knife. Why don't you wear + overshoes?" + </p> + <p> + "I never have a cold!" she retorted. "Why, Minnie, is that you?" + </p> + <p> + "Quick," I panted. "Thoburn and Mr. von Inwald coming—basket—lantern—warn + the shelter-house!" + </p> + <p> + "Great Scott!" Mr. Pierce said. "Here, you girls crawl over the fence: + you'll be hidden there. I'll run back and warn them." + </p> + <p> + The lantern was swinging again. Mr. Thoburn's grumbling came to us through + the snow, monotonous and steady. + </p> + <p> + "I can't climb the fence!" Miss Patty said pitifully. But Mr. Pierce had + gone. + </p> + <p> + I reached my basket through the bars and climbed the fence in a hurry. + Miss Patty had got almost to the top and was standing there on one + snow-covered rail, staring across at me through the darkness. + </p> + <p> + "I can't, Minnie," she whispered hopelessly. "I never could climb a fence, + and in this skirt—!" + </p> + <p> + "Quick!" I said in a low tone. The lantern was very close. "Put your leg + over." + </p> + <p> + She did, and sat there looking down at me like a scared baby. + </p> + <p> + "Now the other." + </p> + <p> + "I—I can't!" she whispered. "If I put them both over I'll fall." + </p> + <p> + "Hurry!" + </p> + <p> + With a little grunt she put the other foot over, sat a minute with agony + in her face and her arms out, then she slid off with a squeal and brought + up in a sitting position inside the fence corner. I dropped beside her. + </p> + <p> + "What was that noise?" said Mr. Thoburn, almost upon us. "Something's + moving inside that fence corner." + </p> + <p> + "It's them deers," Mike's voice this time. We could make out the three + figures. "Darned nuisance, them deers is. They'd have been shot long ago + if the spring-house girl hadn't objected. She thinks she's the whole + cheese around here." + </p> + <p> + "Set it down again," Mr. von Inwald panted. We heard the rattle of bottles + as they put down the basket, and the next instant Thoburn's fat hand was + resting on the rail of the fence over our heads. I could feel Miss Patty + trembling beside me. + </p> + <p> + But he didn't look over. He stood there resting, breathing hard, and + swearing at the weather, while Mike waited, in surly silence, and the von + Inwald cursed in German. + </p> + <p> + After my heart had been beating in my ears for about three years the fat + hand moved, and I heard the rattle of glass again and Thoburn's groan as + he bent over his half of the load. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "'Come on, my partners in distress, + My comrades through this wilderness,'" +</pre> + <p> + he said, and the others grunted and started on. + </p> + <p> + When they had disappeared in the snow we got out of our cramped position + and prepared to scurry home. I climbed the fence and looked after them. + "Humph!" I said, "I guess that basket isn't for the hungry poor. I'd give + a good bit to know—" Then I turned and looked for Miss Patty. She + was flat on the snow, crawling between the two lower rails of the fence. + </p> + <p> + "Have you no shame?" I demanded. + </p> + <p> + She looked up at me with her head and half her long sealskin coat through + the fence. + </p> + <p> + "None," she said pitifully. "Minnie, I'm stuck perfectly tight!" + </p> + <p> + "You ought to be left as you are," I said, jerking at her, "for people to + come"—jerk—"to-morrow to look at"—jerk. She came through + at that, and we lay together in the snow and like to burst a rib laughing. + </p> + <p> + "You'll never be a princess, Miss Patty," I declared. "You're too lowly + minded." + </p> + <p> + She sat up suddenly and straightened her sealskin cap on her head. + </p> + <p> + "I wish," she said unpleasantly, "I wish you wouldn't always drag in + disagreeable things, Minnie!" + </p> + <p> + And she was sulky all the way to the house. + </p> + <p> + Miss Summers came to my room that night as I was putting my hot-water + bottle to bed, in a baby-blue silk wrapper with a band of fur around the + low neck—Miss Summers, of course, not the hot-water bottle. + </p> + <p> + "Well!" she said, sitting down on the foot of the bed and staring at me. + "Well, young woman, for a person who has never been farther away than + Finleyville you do pretty well!" + </p> + <p> + "Do what?" I asked, with the covers up to my chin. + </p> + <p> + "Do what, Miss Innocence!" she said mockingly. "You're the only red-haired + woman I ever saw who didn't look as sophisticated as the devil. I'll tell + you one thing, though." She reached down into the pocket of her + dressing-gown and brought up a cigarette and a match. "You never had me + fooled for a minute!" She looked at me over the match. + </p> + <p> + I lay and stared back. + </p> + <p> + "And another thing," she said. "I never had any real intention of marrying + Dicky Carter and raising a baby sanatorium. I wouldn't have the face to + ask Arabella to live here." + </p> + <p> + "I'm glad you feel that way, Miss Summers," I said. "I've gone through a + lot; I'm an old woman in the last two weeks. My hair's falling from its + having to stand up on end half the time." + </p> + <p> + She leaned over and put her cigarette on the back of my celluloid mirror, + and then suddenly she threw back her head and laughed. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie!" she said, between fits, "Minnie! As long as I live I'll never + forget that wretched boy's face! And the sand boxes! And the blankets over + the windows! And the tarpaulin over the rafters! And Mr. Van Alstyne + sitting on the lawnmower! I'd rather have had my minute in that doorway + than fifty thousand dollars!" + </p> + <p> + "If you had had to carry out all those things—" I began, but she + checked me. + </p> + <p> + "Listen!" she said. "Somebody with brains has got to take you young people + in hand. You're not able to look after yourselves. I'm fond of Alan + Pierce, for one thing, and I don't care to see a sanatorium that might + have been the child of my solicitude kidnaped and reared as a summer hotel + by Papa Thoburn. A good fat man is very, very good, Minnie, but when he is + bad he is horrid." + </p> + <p> + "It's too late," I objected feebly. "He can't get it now." + </p> + <p> + "Can't he!" She got up and yawned, stretching. "Well, I'll lay you ten to + one that if we don't get busy he'll have the house empty in thirty-six + hours, and a bill of sale on it in as many days." + </p> + <p> + The celluloid mirror blazed up at that minute, and she poured the contents + of my water-pitcher over the dresser. For the next hour, while I was + emptying water out of the bureau drawers and hanging up my clothes to dry, + she told me what she knew of Thoburn's scheme, and it turned me cold. + </p> + <p> + But I went to bed finally. Just as I was dozing off, somebody opened my + door, and I heard a curious scraping along the floor. I turned on the + light, and there was Arabella, half-dragging and half-carrying a solid + silver hand-mirror with a card on it: "To Minnie, to replace the one that + blew up. J. S." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVII + </h2> + <h3> + A CUPBOARD FULL OF RYE + </h3> + <p> + Doctor Barnes came to me at the news stand the next morning before + gymnasium. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, "you look as busy as a dog with fleas. Have you heard the + glad tidings?" + </p> + <p> + "What?" I asked without much spirit. "I've heard considerable tidings + lately, and not much of it has cheered me up any." + </p> + <p> + He leaned over and ran his fingers up through his hair. + </p> + <p> + "You know, Miss Minnie," he said, "somebody ought kindly to kill our + friend Thoburn, or he'll come to a bad end." + </p> + <p> + "Shall I do it, or will you?" I said, filling up the chewing-gum jar. (Mr. + Pierce had taken away the candy case.) + </p> + <p> + Doctor Barnes glanced around to see if there was any one near, and leaned + farther over. + </p> + <p> + "The cupboard isn't empty now!" he said. "Not for nothing did I spend part + of the night in the Dicky-bird's nest! By the way, did you ever hear that + touching story about little Sally walking up and laying an egg?—I + see you have. What do you think is in the cupboard?" + </p> + <p> + "I know about it," I said shortly. "Liquor—in a case labeled 'Books—breakable.'" + </p> + <p> + "'Sing a song of sixpence, a cupboard full of rye!'" he said. "Almost a + goal! But not ONLY liquors, my little friend. Champagne—cases of it—caviar, + canned grouse with truffles, lobster, cheeses, fine cigars, everything you + could think of, erotic, exotic and narcotic. An orgy in cans and bottles, + a bacchanalian revel: a cupboard full of indigestion, joy, forgetfulness + and katzenjammer. Oh, my suffering palate, to have to leave it all without + one sniff, one sip, one nibble!" + </p> + <p> + "He's wasting his money," I said. "They're all crazy about the simple + life." + </p> + <p> + He looked around and, seeing no one in the lobby, reached over and took + one of my hands. + </p> + <p> + "Strange," he said, looking at it. "No webs, and yet it's been an + amphibious little creature most of its life. My dear girl, our friend + Thoburn is a rascal, but he is also a student of mankind and a + philosopher. Gee," he said, "think of a woman fighting her way alone + through the world with a bit of a fist like that!" + </p> + <p> + I jerked my hand away. + </p> + <p> + "It's like this, my dear," he said. "Human nature's a curious thing. It's + human nature, for instance, for me to be crazy about you, when you're as + hands-offish as a curly porcupine. And it is human nature, by the same + token, to like to be bullied, especially about health, and to respect and + admire the fellow who does the bullying. That's why we were crazy about + Roosevelt, and that's why Pierce is trailing his kingly robes over them + while they lie on their faces and eat dirt—and stewed fruit." + </p> + <p> + He reached for my hand again, but I put it behind me. + </p> + <p> + "But alas," he said, "there is another side to human nature, and our + friend Thoburn has not kept a summer hotel for nothing. It is notoriously + weak, especially as to stomach. You may feed 'em prunes and whole-wheat + bread and apple sauce, and after a while they'll forget the fat days, and + remember only the lean and hungry ones. But let some student of human + nature at the proper moment introduce just one fat day, one feast, one + revel—" + </p> + <p> + "Talk English," I said sharply. + </p> + <p> + "Don't break in on my flights of fancy," he objected. "If you want the + truth, Thoburn is going to have a party—a forbidden feast. He's + going to rouse again the sleeping dogs of appetite, and send them ravening + back to the Plaza, to Sherry's and Del's and the little Italian + restaurants on Sixth Avenue. He's going to take them up on a high mountain + and show them the wines and delicatessen of the earth, and then ask them + if they're going to be bullied into eating boiled beef and cabbage." + </p> + <p> + "Then I don't care how soon he does it," I said despondently. "I'd rather + die quickly than by inches." + </p> + <p> + "Die!" he said. "Not a bit of it. Remember, our friend Pierce is also a + student of human nature. He's thinking it out now in the cold plunge, and + I miss my guess if Thoburn's sky-rocket hasn't got a stick that'll come + back and hit him on the head." + </p> + <p> + He had been playing with one of the chewing-gum jars, and when he had gone + I shoved it back into its place. It was by the merest chance that I + glanced at it, and I saw that he had slipped a small white box inside. I + knew I was being a silly old fool, but my heart beat fast when I took it + out and looked at it. On the lid was written "For a good girl," and inside + lay the red puffs from Mrs. Yost's window down in Finleyville. Just under + them was an envelope. I could scarcely see to open it. + </p> + <p> + "Dearest Minnie," the note inside said, "I had them matched to my own + thatch, and I think they'll match yours. And since, in the words of the + great Herbert Spencer, things that match the same thing match each other—! + What do you say?—Barnes." + </p> + <p> + "P. S.—I love you. I feel like a damn fool saying it, but heaven + knows it's true." + </p> + <p> + "P. P. S.—Still love you. It's easier the second time." + </p> + <p> + "N. B.—I love you—got the habit now and can't stop writing it.—B." + </p> + <p> + Well, I had to keep calm and attend to business, but I was seething inside + like a Seidlitz powder. Every few minutes I'd reread the letter under the + edge of the stand, and the more I read it the more excited I got. When a + woman's gone past thirty before she gets her first love-letter, she isn't + sure whether to thank providence or the man, but she's pretty sure to make + a fool of herself. + </p> + <p> + Thoburn came to the news stand on his way out with the ice-cutting gang to + the pond. + </p> + <p> + "Last call to the dining-car, Minnie," he said. "'Will you—won't you—will + you—won't you—will you join the dance?'" + </p> + <p> + "I haven't any reason for changing my plans," I retorted. "I promised the + old doctor to stick by the place, and I'm sticking." + </p> + <p> + "As the man said when he sat down on the flypaper. You're going by your + heart, Minnie, and not by your head, and in this toss, heads win." + </p> + <p> + But with my new puffs on the back of my head, and my letter in my pocket, + I wasn't easy to discourage. Thoburn shouldered his pick and, headed by + Doctor Barnes, the ice-cutters started out in single file. As they passed + the news stand Doctor Barnes glanced at me, and my heart almost stopped. + </p> + <p> + "Do they—is it a match?" he asked, with his eyes on mine. + </p> + <p> + I couldn't speak, but I nodded "yes," and all that afternoon I could see + the wonderful smile that lit up his face as he went out. It made him + almost good-looking. Oh, there's nothing like love, especially if you've + waited long enough to be hungry for it, and not spoiled your taste for it + by a bite here and a piece of a heart there, beforehand, so to speak. + </p> + <p> + Miss Cobb stopped at the news stand on her way to the gymnasium. She was a + homely woman at any time, and in her bloomers she looked like a soup-bone. + Under ordinary circumstances she'd have seen the puffs from the staircase + and have asked what they cost and told me they didn't match, in one + breath. But she had something else on her mind. She padded over to the + counter in her gym shoes, and for once she'd forgotten her legs. + </p> + <p> + "May I speak to you, Minnie?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "You mostly do," I said. "There isn't a new rule about speaking, is + there?" + </p> + <p> + "This is important, Minnie," she said, rolling her eyes around as she + always did when she was excited. "I'm in such a state of ex—I see + you bought the puffs! Perhaps you will lend them to me if we arrange for a + country dance." + </p> + <p> + "They don't match," I objected. "They—they wouldn't look natural, + Miss Cobb." + </p> + <p> + "They don't look natural on you, either. Do you suppose anybody believes + that the Lord sent you hair in seventeen rows of pipes, so that, red as it + is, it looks like an instantaneous water-heater?" + </p> + <p> + "I'm not lending them," I said firmly. It would have been like lending an + engagement ring, to my mind. Miss Cobb was not offended. She went at once + to what had brought her, and bent over the counter. + </p> + <p> + "Where's the Summers woman?" she asked. + </p> + <p> + "In the gym. She's made herself a new gym suit out of her polka dotted + silk, and she looks lovely." + </p> + <p> + "Humph!" retorted Miss Cobb. "Minnie, you love Miss Jennings almost like a + daughter, don't you?" + </p> + <p> + "Like a sister, Miss Cobb," I said. "I'm not feeble yet." + </p> + <p> + "Well, you wouldn't want to see her deceived." + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't have it," I answered. + </p> + <p> + "Then what do you call this?" She put a small package on the counter, and + stared at me over it. "There's treachery here, black treachery." She + pointed one long thin forefinger at the bundle. + </p> + <p> + "What is it? A bomb?" I asked, stepping back. More than once it had + occurred to me that having royalty around sometimes meant dynamite. Miss + Cobb showed her teeth. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, a bomb," she said. "Minnie, since that creature took my letters and + my er—protectors, I have suspected her. Now listen. Yesterday I went + over the letters and I missed one that beautiful one in verse, beginning, + 'Oh, creature of the slender form and face!' Minnie, it had disappeared—melted + away." + </p> + <p> + "I'm not surprised," I said. + </p> + <p> + "And so, last night, when the Summers woman was out, goodness knows where, + Blanche Moody and I went through her room. We did not find my precious + missive from Mr. Jones, but we did find these, Minnie, tied around with a + pink silk stocking." + </p> + <p> + "Heavens!" I said, mockingly. "Not a pink silk!" + </p> + <p> + "Pink," she repeated solemnly. "Minnie, I have felt it all along. Mr. + Oskar von Inwald is the prince himself." + </p> + <p> + "No!" + </p> + <p> + "Yes. And more than that, he is making desperate love to Miss Summers. + Three of those letters were written in one day! Why, even Mr. Jones—" + </p> + <p> + "The wretch!" I cried. I was suddenly savage. I wanted to take Mr. von + Inwald by the throat and choke him until his lying tongue was black, to + put the letters where Miss Patty could never see them. I wanted—I + had to stop to sell Senator Biggs some chewing-gum, and when he had gone, + Miss Cobb was reaching out for the bundle. I snatched it from her. + </p> + <p> + "Give me those letters instantly," she cried shrilly. But I marched from + behind the counter and over to the fireplace. + </p> + <p> + "Never," I said, and put the package on the log. When they were safely + blazing, I turned and looked at Miss Cobb. + </p> + <p> + "I'd put my hand right beside those letters to save Miss Patty a + heartache," I said, "and you know it." + </p> + <p> + "You're a fool." She was raging. "You'll let her marry him and have the + heartaches afterward." + </p> + <p> + "She won't marry him," I snapped, and walked away with my chin up, leaving + her staring. + </p> + <p> + But I wasn't so sure as I pretended to be. Mr. von Inwald and Mr. Jennings + had been closeted together most of the morning, and Mr. von Inwald was + whistling as he started out for the military walk. It seemed as if the + very thing that had given Mr. Pierce his chance to make good had improved + Mr. Jennings' disposition enough to remove the last barrier to Miss + Jennings' wedding with somebody else. + </p> + <p> + Well, what's one man's meat is another man's poison. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXVIII + </h2> + <h3> + LOVE, LOVE, LOVE + </h3> + <p> + Even if we hadn't known, we'd have guessed there was something in the air. + There was an air of subdued excitement during the rest hour in the + spring-house, and a good bit of whispering and laughing, in groups which + would break up with faces as long as the moral law the moment they saw my + eye on them. + </p> + <p> + They were planning a mutiny, as you may say, and I guess no sailors on a + pirate ship were more afraid of the captain's fist than they were of Mr. + Pierce's disapproval. He'd been smart enough to see that most of them, + having bullied other people all their lives, liked the novelty of being + bullied themselves. And now they were getting a new thrill by having a + revolt. They were terribly worked up. + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty stayed after the others had gone, sitting in front of the empty + fireplace in the same chair Mr. Pierce usually took, and keeping her back + to me. When I'd finished folding the steamer rugs and putting them away, I + went around and stood in front of her. + </p> + <p> + "Your eyes are red," I remarked. + </p> + <p> + "I've got a cold." She was very haughty. + </p> + <p> + "Your nose isn't red," I insisted. "And, anyhow, you say you never have a + cold." + </p> + <p> + "I wish you would let me alone, Minnie." She turned her back to me. "I + dare say I may have a cold if I wish." + </p> + <p> + "Do you know what they are saying here?" I demanded. "Do you know that + Miss Cobb has found out in some way or other who Mr. von Inwald is? And + that the four o'clock gossip edition says your father has given his + consent and that you can go and buy a diadem or whatever you are going to + wear, right off?" + </p> + <p> + "Well," she said, in a choked voice, with her back to me, "what of it? + Didn't you and Mr. Pierce both do your best to bring it about?" + </p> + <p> + "Our what?" I couldn't believe my ears. + </p> + <p> + "You made father well. He's so p—pleasant he'll do anything except + leave this awful place!" + </p> + <p> + "Well, of all the ungrateful people—" I began, and then Mr. Pierce + came in. He had a curious way of stopping when he saw her, as if she just + took the wind out of his sails, so to speak, and then of whipping off his + hat, if anything with sails can wear a hat, and going up to her with his + heart in his eyes. He always went straight to her and stopped suddenly + about two feet away, trying to think of something ordinary to say. Because + the extraordinary thing he wanted to say was always on the end of his + tongue. + </p> + <p> + But this day he didn't light up when he saw her. He went through all the + other motions, but his mouth was set in a straight line, and when he came + close to her and looked down his eyes were hard. + </p> + <p> + It's been my experience of men that the younger they are the harder they + take things and the more uncompromising they are. It takes a good many + years and some pretty hard knocks to make people tolerant. + </p> + <p> + "I was looking for you," he said to her. "The bishop has just told me. + There are no obstacles now." + </p> + <p> + "None," she said, looking up at him with wretchedness in her eyes, if he + had only seen. "I am very happy." + </p> + <p> + "She was just saying," I said bitterly, "how grateful she was to both of + us." + </p> + <p> + "I don't understand." + </p> + <p> + "It is not hard to understand," she said, smiling. I wanted to slap her. + "Father was unreasonable because he was ill. You have made him well. I can + never thank you enough." + </p> + <p> + But she rather overdid the joy part of it, and he leaned over and looked + in her face. + </p> + <p> + "I think I'm stupid," he said. "I know I'm unhappy. But isn't that what I + was to do—to make them well if I could?" + </p> + <p> + "How could anybody know—" she began angrily, and then stopped. "You + have done even more," she said sweetly. "You've turned them into cherubims + and seraphims. Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Ugh! How I hate + amiability raised to the NTH power!" + </p> + <p> + He smiled. I think it was getting through his thick man's skull that she + wasn't so happy as she should have been, and he was thrilled through and + through. + </p> + <p> + "My amiability must be the reason you dislike me!" he suggested. They had + both forgotten me. + </p> + <p> + "Do I dislike you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I never really + thought about it, but I'm sure I don't." She didn't look at him, she + looked at me. She knew I knew she lied. + </p> + <p> + His smile faded. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, "speaking of disliking amiability, you don't hate + yourself, I'm sure." + </p> + <p> + "You are wrong," she retorted, "I loathe myself." And she walked to the + window. He took a step or two after her. + </p> + <p> + "Why do it at all?" he asked in a low tone. "You don't love him—you + can't. And if it isn't love—" He remembered me suddenly and stopped. + </p> + <p> + "Please go on," she said sweetly from the window. "Do not mind Minnie. She + is my conscience, anyhow. She is always scolding me; you might both scold + in chorus." + </p> + <p> + "I wouldn't presume to scold." + </p> + <p> + "Then give me a little advice and look superior and righteous. I'm + accustomed to that also." + </p> + <p> + "As long as you are in this mood, I can't give you anything but a very + good day," he said angrily, and went toward the door. But when he had + almost reached it he turned. + </p> + <p> + "I will say this," he said, "you have known for three days that Mr. + Thoburn was going to have a supper to-night, and you didn't let us know. + You must have known his purpose." + </p> + <p> + I guess I was as surprised as she was. I'd never suspected she knew. + </p> + <p> + She looked at him over her shoulder. + </p> + <p> + "Why shouldn't he have a supper?" she demanded angrily. "I'm starving—we're + all starving for decent food. I'm kept here against my will. Why shouldn't + I have one respectable meal? You with your wretched stewed fruits and + whole-wheat breads! Ugh!" + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry. Thoburn's idea, of course, is to make the guests discontented, + so they will leave." + </p> + <p> + "Oh!" she said. She hadn't thought of that, and she flushed. "At least," + she said, "you must give me credit for not trying to spoil Dick and + Dolly's chance here." + </p> + <p> + "We are going to allow the party to go on," he said, still stiff and + uncompromising. It would have been better if he'd accepted her bit of + apology. + </p> + <p> + "How kind of you! I dare say he would have it, anyhow." She was sarcastic + again. + </p> + <p> + "Probably. And you—will go?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly." + </p> + <p> + "Even when the result—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, don't preach!" she said, putting her hands to her ears. "If you and + Minnie want to preach, why don't you preach at each other? Minnie talks + 'love, love, love.' And you preach health and morality. You drive me crazy + between you." + </p> + <p> + "Suppose," he said with a gleam in his eyes, "suppose I preach 'love, + love, love!'" + </p> + <p> + She put her fingers in her ears again. "Say it to Minnie," she cried, and + turned her back to him. + </p> + <p> + "Very well," he said. "Minnie, Miss Jennings refuses to listen, and there + are some things I must say. Once again I am going to register a protest + against her throwing herself away in a loveless marriage. I—I feel + strongly on the subject, Minnie." + </p> + <p> + She half turned, as if to interrupt. Then she thought better of it and + kept her fingers in her ears, her face flushed. But he had learned what he + hoped—that she could hear him. + </p> + <p> + "You ask me why I feel so strongly, Minnie, and you are right to ask. + Under ordinary circumstances, Minnie, any remark of mine on the subject + would be ridiculous impertinence." + </p> + <p> + He stopped and eyed her back, but she did not move. + </p> + <p> + "It is impertinence under any circumstances, but consider the provocation. + I see a young, beautiful and sensitive girl, marrying, frankly without + love, a man whom I know to be unworthy, and you ask me to stand aside and + allow it to happen!" + </p> + <p> + "Are you still preaching?" she asked coldly over her shoulder. "It must be + a long sermon." + </p> + <p> + And then, knowing he had only a moment more, his voice changed and became + deep and earnest. His hands, that were clutching a chair-back, took a + stronger hold, so that the ends of the nails were white. + </p> + <p> + "You see, Minnie," he said, turning a little pale, "I—I love Miss + Jennings myself. You have known it a long time, for you love her, too. It + has come to the point that I measure the day by the hours when I can see + her. She doesn't care for me; sometimes I think she hates me." He paused + here, but Miss Patty didn't move. "I haven't anything to offer a woman + except a clean life and the kind of love that a woman could be proud of. I + have no title—" + </p> + <p> + Miss Patty suddenly took her fingers out of her ears and turned around. + She was flushed and shaken, but she looked past him without blinking an + eyelash to me. + </p> + <p> + "Dear me," she said, "the sermon must have been exciting, Minnie! You are + quite trembly!" + </p> + <p> + And with that she picked up her muff and went out, with not a glance at + him. + </p> + <p> + He looked at me. + </p> + <p> + "Well," he said, "THAT'S over. She's angry, Minnie, and she'll never + forgive me." + </p> + <p> + "Stuff!" I snapped, "I notice she waited to hear it all, and no real woman + ever hated a man for saying he loved her." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIX + </h2> + <h3> + A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT + </h3> + <p> + I carried out the supper to the shelter-house as usual that night, but I + might have saved myself the trouble. Mrs. Dicky was sitting on a box, with + her hair in puffs and the folding card-table before her, and Mr. Dick was + uncorking a bottle of champagne with a nail. There were two or three + queer-smelling cans open on the table. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Dick looked at my basket and turned up her nose. + </p> + <p> + "Put it anywhere, Minnie," she said loftily, "I dare say it doesn't + contain anything reckless." + </p> + <p> + "Cold ham and egg salad," I said, setting it down with a slam. "Stewed + prunes and boiled rice for dessert. If those cans taste as they smell, + you'd better keep the basket to fall back on. Where'd you get THAT?" Mr. + Dick looked at me over the bottle and winked. "In the next room," he said, + "iced to the proper temperature, paid for by somebody else, and coming + after a two-weeks' drought! Minnie, there isn't a shadow on my joy!" + </p> + <p> + "He'll miss it," I said. But Mr. Dick was pouring out three large + tumblersful of the stuff, and he held one out to me. + </p> + <p> + "Miss it!" he exclaimed. "Hasn't he been out three times to-day, tapping + his little CACHE? And didn't he bring out Moody and the senator and von + Inwald this afternoon, and didn't they sit in the next room there from two + to four, roaring songs and cracking bottles and jokes." + </p> + <p> + "Beasts!" Mrs. Dicky said savagely. "Two hours, and we daren't move!" + </p> + <p> + "Drink, pretty creature!" Mr. Dick said, motioning to my glass. "Don't be + afraid of it, Minnie; it's food and drink." + </p> + <p> + "I don't like it," I said, sipping at it. "I'd rather have the spring + water." + </p> + <p> + "You'll have to cultivate a taste for it," he explained. "You'll like the + second half better." + </p> + <p> + I got it down somehow and started for the door. Mr. Dick came after me + with something that smelled fishy on the end of a fork. + </p> + <p> + "Better eat something," he suggested. "That was considerable champagne, + Minnie." + </p> + <p> + "Stuff and nonsense," I said. "I was tired and it has rested me. That's + all, Mr. Dick." + </p> + <p> + "Sure?" + </p> + <p> + "Certainly," I said with dignity, "I'm really rested, Mr. Dick. And happy—I'm + very happy, Mr. Dick." + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps I'd better close the door," he said. "The light may be seen—" + </p> + <p> + "You needn't close it until I've finished talking," I said. "I've done my + best for you and yours, Mr. Dick. I hope you appreciate it. Night after + night I've tramped out here through the snow, and lost sleep, and lied + myself black in the face—you've no idea how I've had to lie, Mr. + Dick." + </p> + <p> + "Come in and shut the door, Dick," Mrs. Dick called, "I'm freezing." + </p> + <p> + That made me mad. + </p> + <p> + "Exactly," I said, glaring at her through the doorway. "Exactly—I + can wade through the snow, bringing you meals that you scorn—oh, + yes, you scorn them. What did you do to the basket tonight? Look at it, + lying there, neglected in a corner, with p—perfectly good ham and + stewed fruit in it." + </p> + <p> + All of a sudden I felt terrible about the way they had treated the basket, + and I sat down on the steps and began to cry. I remember that, and Mr. + Dick sitting down beside me and putting his arm around me and calling me + "good old Minnie," and for heaven's sake not to cry so loud. But I was + past caring. I had a sort of recollection of his getting me to stand up, + and our walking through about twenty-one miles of snow to the + spring-house. When we got there he stood off in the twilight and looked at + me. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry, Minnie," he said, "I never dreamed it would do that." + </p> + <p> + "Do what?" + </p> + <p> + "Nothing. You're sure you won't forget?" + </p> + <p> + "I never forget," I said. I had got up the steps by this time and was + trying to figure why the spring-house door had two knobs. + </p> + <p> + I hadn't any idea what he meant. + </p> + <p> + "Remember," he said, very slowly, "Thoburn is going to have his party + to-night instead of to-morrow. Tell Pierce that. To-night, not to-morrow." + I was pretty well ashamed when I got in the spring-house and sat down in + the dark. I kept saying over and over to myself, so I'd not forget, + "tonight, not to-morrow," but I couldn't remember WHAT was to be to-night. + I was sleepy, too, and my legs were cold and numb. I remember going into + the pantry for a steamer rug, and sitting down there for a minute, with + the rug around my knees before I started to the house. And that is all I + DO remember. + </p> + <p> + I was wakened by a terrible hammering in the top of my head. I reached out + for the glass of water that I always put beside my bed at night and I + touched a door-knob instead. Then I realized that the knocking wasn't all + in my head. There was a sort of steady movement of feet on the other side + of the door, with people talking and laughing. And above it all rose the + steady knock—knock of somebody beating on tin. + </p> + <p> + "Can't do it." It was the bishop's voice. "I am convinced that nothing but + dynamite will open this tin of lobster." + </p> + <p> + "Just a moment, Bishop," Mr. Thoburn's voice and the clink of bottles, "I + have a can opener somewhere. You'll find the sauce a la Newburg—" + </p> + <p> + "Here, somebody, a glass, quick! A bottle's broken!" + </p> + <p> + "Did anybody remember to bring salt and pepper?" + </p> + <p> + "DEAR Mr. Thoburn!" It sounded like Miss Cobb. "Think of thinking of all + this!" + </p> + <p> + "The credit is not mine, dear lady," Mr. Thoburn said. "Where the deuce is + that corkscrew? No, dear lady, man makes his own destiny, but his birth + date remains beyond his control." + </p> + <p> + "Ladies and gentlemen," somebody said, "to Mr. Thoburn's birthday being + beyond his control!" + </p> + <p> + There was the clink of glasses, but I had remembered what it had been that + I was to remember. And now it was too late. I was trapped in the pantry of + my spring-house and Mr. Pierce was probably asleep. I clutched my aching + head and tried to think. I was roused by hearing somebody say that Miss + Jennings had no glass, and by steps nearing the pantry. I had just time to + slip the bolt. + </p> + <p> + "Pantry's locked!" said a voice. + </p> + <p> + "Drat that Minnie!" somebody else said. "The girl's a nuisance." + </p> + <p> + "Hush!" Miss Summers said. "She's probably in there now—taking down + what we say and what we eat. Convicting us out of our own mouths." + </p> + <p> + I held my breath and the knob rattled. Then they found a glass for Miss + Patty and forgot the pantry. + </p> + <p> + Under cover of the next burst of noises I tried the pantry window, but it + was frozen shut. Nothing but a hammer would have loosened it. I began to + dig at it with a wire hairpin, but I hadn't much hope. + </p> + <p> + The fun in the spring-house was getting fast and furious. Miss Summers was + leaning against the pantry door and I judged that most of the men in the + room were around her, as usual. I put my ear to the panel of the door, and + I could pretty nearly see what was going on. They were toasting Mr. + Thoburn, and getting hungrier every minute as the supper was put out on + the card-tables. + </p> + <p> + "To the bottle!" somebody said. "In infancy, the milk bottle; in our + prime, the wine bottle; in our dotage, the pill bottle." + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald came over and stood beside Miss Summers, and I could hear + every whisper. + </p> + <p> + "I have good news for you," she said in an undertone. + </p> + <p> + "Oh! And what?" + </p> + <p> + "Sh! You may recall," she said, "the series of notes, letters, epistles, + with which you have been honoring me lately?" + </p> + <p> + "How could I forget? They were written in my heart's blood!" + </p> + <p> + "Indeed!" Her voice lifted its eyebrows, so to speak. "Well, somebody got + in my room last night and stole I dare say a pint of your heart's blood. + They're gone." + </p> + <p> + He was pretty well upset, as he might be, and she stood by and listened to + the things he said, which, if they were as bad in English as they sounded + in German, I wouldn't like to write down. + </p> + <p> + And when he cooled down and condensed, as you may say, into English, he + said Miss Jennings must have seen the letters, for she would hardly speak + to him. And Miss Summers said she hoped Miss Jennings had—she was + too nice a girl to treat shamefully. + </p> + <p> + And after he had left her there alone, I heard a sort of scratching on the + door behind Miss Summers' back, and then something being shoved under the + door. I stooped down and picked it up. It was a key! + </p> + <p> + I struck a match, and I saw by the tag that it was the one to the old + doctor's rooms. I knew right off what it meant. Mr. Pierce had gone to + bed, or pretended to throw them off the track and Thoburn had locked him + in! Thoburn hadn't taken any chances. He knew the influence Mr. Pierce had + over them all, and he and his champagne and tin cans had to get in their + work before Mr. Pierce had another chance at them. + </p> + <p> + I had no time to wonder how Miss Summers knew I was in the pantry. I tried + the window again, but it wouldn't work. Somebody in the spring-house was + shouting, "'Hot butter blue beans, please come to supper!'" and I could + hear them crowding around the tables. I worked frantically with the + hairpin, and just then two shadowy figures outside slipped around the + corner of the building. It was Mr. Pierce and Doctor Barnes! + </p> + <p> + I darted back and put my ear to the door, but they did not come in at + once. Mr. Thoburn made a speech, saying how happy he was that they were + all well and able to go back to civilization again, where the broiled + lobster flourished like a green bay tree and the prune and the cabbage + were unknown. + </p> + <p> + There was loud applause, and then Senator Biggs cleared his throat. + </p> + <p> + "Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished fellow guests," he began, "I suggest + a toast to the autocrat of Hope Springs. It is the only blot on the + evening, that, owing to the exigencies of the occasion, he can not be with + us. Securely fastened in his room, he is now sleeping the sleep that + follows a stomach attuned to prunes, a mind attuned to rule." + </p> + <p> + "Eat, drink and be merry!" somebody said, "for to-morrow you diet!" + </p> + <p> + There was a swish and rustle, as if a woman got up in a hurry. + </p> + <p> + "Do you mean," said Miss Patty's clear voice, "that you have dared to lock + Mr. Pier—Mr. Carter in his room?" + </p> + <p> + "My dear young lady," several of them began, but she didn't give them + time. + </p> + <p> + "It is outrageous, infamous!" she stormed. I didn't need to see her to + know how she looked. + </p> + <p> + "How DARE you! Suppose the building should catch fire!" + </p> + <p> + "Fire!" somebody said in a bewildered voice. "My dear young lady—" + </p> + <p> + "Don't 'my dear young lady' me," she said angrily. "Father, Bishop, will + you stand for this? Why, he may jump out the window and hurt himself! Give + me the key!" + </p> + <p> + Miss Julia's fingers were beating a tatoo behind her, as if she was afraid + I might miss it. + </p> + <p> + "If he jumps out he probably will hurt himself. It is impossible to + release him now, Miss Jennings, but if you insist we can have a mattress + placed under the window." + </p> + <p> + "Thanks, Thoburn. It won't be necessary." The voice came from the door, + and a hush fell on the party. I slipped my bolt and peeped out. Framed in + the doorway was Mr. Pierce, with Doctor Barnes looking over his shoulder. + </p> + <p> + The people in the spring-house were abject. That's the only word for it. + Craven, somebody suggested later, and they were that, too. They smiled + sickly grins and tried to be defiant, and most of them tried to put down + whatever they held in their hands and to look innocent. If you ever saw a + boy when his school-teacher asks him what he has in his mouth, and + multiply the boy thirty times in number and four times in size, you'll + know how they looked. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce never smiled. He wouldn't let them speak a word in defense or + explanation. He simply lined them up as he did at gym, and sent them, one + by one, to the corner with whatever they had in their hands. He made Mr. + Jennings give up a bottle of anchovies that he'd stuffed in his pocket, + and the bishop had to come over with a cheese. + </p> + <p> + And when it was all over, he held the door open and they went back to the + house. They fairly ducked past him in the doorway, although he hadn't said + a dozen words. It was a rout. The backbone of the rebellion was broken. I + knew that never again would the military discipline of Hope Springs be + threatened. Thoburn might as well pack and go. It was Mr. Pierce's day. + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald was almost the last. He stood by, sneering, with an open + bottle of olives in his hand, watching the others go out. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce held the door open and eyed him. + </p> + <p> + "I'll trouble you to put that bottle with the others, in the corner," Mr. + Pierce said sternly. + </p> + <p> + They stood glaring at each other angrily. + </p> + <p> + "And if I refuse?" + </p> + <p> + "You know the rules here. If you refuse, there is a hotel at Finleyville." + </p> + <p> + Mr. von Inwald glanced past Mr. Pierce to where Doctor Barnes stood behind + him, with his cauliflower ear and his pugilist's shoulders. Then he looked + at the bottle in his hand, and from it to Miss Patty, standing haughtily + by. + </p> + <p> + "I have borne much for you, Patricia," he said, "but I refuse to be + bullied any longer. I shall go to the hotel at Finleyville, and I shall + take the little olives with me." He smiled unpleasantly at Mr. Pierce, + whose face did not relax. + </p> + <p> + He walked jauntily to the door and turned, flourishing the bottle. "The + land of the free and the home of the brave!" he sneered, raising the + bottle in the air. Standing jeering in the doorway, he bowed to Miss Patty + and Mr. Pierce, and put an olive into his mouth. + </p> + <p> + But instantly he made a terrible face, and clapped a hand just in front of + his left ear. He stood there a moment, his face distorted—then he + darted into the night, and I never saw him again. + </p> + <p> + "Mumps!" Doctor Barnes ejaculated, and stood staring after him from the + steps. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXX + </h2> + <h3> + LET GOOD DIGESTION + </h3> + <p> + There was no one left but Miss Patty. As she started out past him with a + crimson spot in each cheek Mr. Pierce put his hand on her arm. She + hesitated, and he closed the door on Doctor Barnes and put his back + against it. I had just time to slip back into the pantry and shut myself + in. + </p> + <p> + For a minute there wasn't a sound. Then— + </p> + <p> + "I told you I should come," Miss Patty said, in her haughtiest manner. + "You need not trouble to be disagreeable." + </p> + <p> + "Disagreeable!" he repeated. "I am abject!" + </p> + <p> + "I don't understand," she said. "But you needn't explain. It really does + not matter." + </p> + <p> + "It matters to me. I had to do this to-night. I promised you I would make + good, and if I had let this pass—Don't you see, I couldn't let it + go." + </p> + <p> + "You can let me go, now." + </p> + <p> + "Not until I have justified myself to you." + </p> + <p> + "I am not interested." + </p> + <p> + I heard him take a step or two toward her. + </p> + <p> + "I don't quite believe that," he said in a low tone. "You were interested + in what I said here this afternoon." + </p> + <p> + "I didn't hear it." + </p> + <p> + "None of it?" + </p> + <p> + "Not—not all." + </p> + <p> + "I spoke, you remember, about your sister, and about Dick—" he + paused. I could imagine her staring at him in her wide-eyed way. + </p> + <p> + "You never mentioned them!" she said scornfully and stopped. He laughed, a + low laugh, boyish and full of triumph. + </p> + <p> + "Ah!" he said. "So you DID hear! I'm going to say it again, anyhow. I love + you, Patty. I'm—I'm mad for you. I've loved you hopelessly for so + long that to-night, when there's a ray of hope, I'm—I'm hardly sane. + I—" + </p> + <p> + "Please!" she said. + </p> + <p> + "I love you so much that I waken at night just to say your name, over and + over, and when dawn comes through the windows—" + </p> + <p> + "You don't know what you are saying!" she said wildly. "I am—still—" + </p> + <p> + "I welcome the daylight," he went on, talking very fast, "because it means + another day when I can see you. If it sounds foolish, it's—it's + really lots worse than it sounds, Patty." + </p> + <p> + The door opened just then, and Doctor Barnes' voice spoke from the step. + </p> + <p> + "I say," he complained, "you needn't—" + </p> + <p> + "Get out!" Mr. Pierce said angrily, and the door slammed. The second's + interruption gave him time, I think, to see how far he'd gone, and his + voice, when he spoke again, was not so hopeful. + </p> + <p> + "I'm not pleading my cause," he said humbly, "I know I haven't any cause. + I have nothing to offer you." + </p> + <p> + "You said this afternoon," Miss Patty said softly, "that you could offer + me the—the kind of love that a woman could be proud of." + </p> + <p> + She finished off with a sort of gasp, as if she was shocked at herself. I + was so excited that my heart beat a tatoo against my ribs, and without my + being conscious of it, as you may say, the pantry door opened about an + inch and I found myself with an eye to the crack. + </p> + <p> + They were standing facing each other, he all flushed and eager and my dear + Miss Patty pale and trembly. But she wasn't shy. She was looking straight + into his eyes and her blessed lips were quivering. + </p> + <p> + "How can you care?" she asked, when he only stood and looked at her. "I've + been such a—such a selfish beast!" + </p> + <p> + "Hush!" He leaned toward her, and I held my breath. "You are everything + that is best in the world, and I—what can I offer you? I have + nothing, not even this sanatorium! No money, no title—" + </p> + <p> + "Oh, THAT!" she interrupted, and stood waiting. "Well, you—you could + at least offer yourself!" + </p> + <p> + "Patty!" + </p> + <p> + She went right over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. + </p> + <p> + "And if you won't," she said, "I'll offer myself instead!" + </p> + <p> + His arms went around her like a flash at that, and he kissed her. I've + seen a good many kisses in my day, the spring-house walk being a sort of + lover's lane, but they were generally of the quick-get-away variety. This + was different. He just gathered her up to him and held her close, and if + she was one-tenth as much thrilled as I was in the pantry she'd be ready + to die kissing. + </p> + <p> + Then, without releasing her, he raised his head, with such a look of + victory in his face that I still see it sometimes in my sleep, and his eye + caught mine through the crack. + </p> + <p> + But if I'd looked to see him drop her I was mistaken. He drew her up and + kissed her again, but this time on the forehead. And when he'd let her go + and she had dropped into a chair and hid her shining face against the + back, as if she was ashamed, which she might well be, he stood laughing + over her bent head at me. + </p> + <p> + "Come out, Minnie!" he called. "Come out and hear the good news!" + </p> + <p> + "Hear!" I said, "I've seen all the news I want." + </p> + <p> + "Gracious!" Miss Patty said, and buried her head again. But he had reached + the shameless stage; a man who is really in love always seems to get to + that point sooner or later. He stooped and kissed the back of her neck, + and if his hand shook when he pushed in one of her shell hairpins it was + excitement and not fright. + </p> + <p> + "I hardly realize it, Minnie," he said. "I don't deserve her for a + minute." + </p> + <p> + "Certainly not," I said. + </p> + <p> + "He does." Miss Patty's voice smothered. Then she got up and came over to + me. + </p> + <p> + "There is going to be an awful fuss, Minnie," she said. "Think of Aunt + Honoria—and Oskar!" + </p> + <p> + "Let them fuss!" I said grandly. "If the worst comes, you can spend your + honeymoon in the shelter-house. I'm so used to carrying meals there now + that it's second nature." + </p> + <p> + And at that they both made for me, and as Mr. Pierce kissed me Doctor + Barnes opened the door. He stood for a moment, looking queer and wild, and + then he slammed the door and we heard him stamping down the steps. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Pierce had to bring him back. + </p> + <p> + Well, that's all there is to it. The place filled up and stayed filled, + but not under Mr. Pierce. Mr. Jennings said ability of his kind was wasted + there, once the place was running, and set him to building a railroad + somewhere or other, with him and Miss Patty living in a private car, and + he carrying a portable telephone with him so he can talk to her every hour + or so. Mr. Dick and his wife are running the sanatorium, or think they + are. Doctor Barnes is the whole place, really. Mr. Jennings was so glad to + have Miss Patty give up the prince and send him back home, after he'd been + a week in the hotel at Finleyville looking as if his face would collapse + if you stuck a pin in it—Mr. Jennings was so happy, not to mention + having worked off his gout at the wood-pile, that he forgave the Dickys + without any trouble, and even went out and had a meal with them in the + shelter-house before they moved in, with Mr. Dick making the coffee. + </p> + <p> + I miss the spring, as I said at the beginning. It is hard to teach an old + dog new tricks, but with Miss Patty happy, and with Doctor Barnes around— + </p> + <p> + Thoburn came out the afternoon before he left, just after the rest hour, + and showed me how much too loose his waistcoat had become. + </p> + <p> + "I've lost, Minnie," he confessed. "Lost fifteen pounds and the dream of + my life. But I've found something, too." + </p> + <p> + "What?" + </p> + <p> + "My waist line!" he said, and threw his chest out. + </p> + <p> + "You look fifteen years younger," I said, and at that he came over to me + and took my hand. + </p> + <p> + "Minnie," he said, "maybe you and I haven't always agreed, but I've always + liked you, Minnie—always." + </p> + <p> + "Thanks," I said, taking my hand away. + </p> + <p> + "You've got all kinds of spirit," he said. "You've saved the place, all + right. And if you—if you tire of this, and want another home, I've + got one, twelve rooms, center hall, tiled baths, cabinet mantels—I'd + be good to you, Minnie. The right woman could do anything with me." + </p> + <p> + When I grasped what he meant, I was staggered. + </p> + <p> + "I'm sorry," I explained, as gently as I could. "I'm—I'm going to + marry Doctor Barnes one of these days." + </p> + <p> + He stared at me. Then he laughed a little and went toward the door. + </p> + <p> + "Barnes!" he said, turning. "Another redhead, by gad! Well, I'll tell you + this, young woman, you're red, but he's redder. Your days for running + things to suit yourself are over." + </p> + <p> + "I'm glad of it," I retorted. "I want to be managed myself for a change. + Somebody," I said, "who won't be always thinking how he feels, unless it's + how he feels toward me." + </p> + <p> + "Bah! He'll bully you." + </p> + <p> + "'It's human nature to like to be bullied,'" I quoted. "And I guess I'm + not afraid. He's healthy and a healthy man's never a crank." + </p> + <p> + "A case of yours for health, eh?" he said, and held out his hand. + </p> + <p> + THE END + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Where There's A Will, by Mary Roberts Rinehart + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE THERE'S A WILL *** + +***** This file should be named 330-h.htm or 330-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/330/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Where There's A Will + +Author: Mary Roberts Rinehart + +Release Date: March 14, 2006 [EBook #330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE THERE'S A WILL *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +WHERE THERE'S A WILL + +By Mary Roberts Rinehart + + + + CONTENTS + + I I HAVE A WARNING + II MISS PATTY ARRIVES + III A WILL + IV AND A WAY + V WANTED--AN OWNER + VI THE CONSPIRACY + VII MR. PIERCE ACQUIRES A WIFE + VII AND MR. MOODY INDIGESTION + IX DOLLY, HOW COULD YOU + X ANOTHER COMPLICATION + XI MISS PATTY'S PRINCE + XII WE GET A DOCTOR + XIII THE PRINCE--PRINCIPALLY + XIV PIERCE DISAPPROVES + XV THE PRINCE, WITH APOLOGIES + XVI STOP, THIEF! + XVII A BUNCH OF LETTERS + XVIII MISS COBB'S BURGLAR + XIX NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN + XX EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY + XXI THE MUTINY + XXII HOME TO ROOST + XXIII BACK TO NATURE + XIV LIKE DUCKS TO WATER + XXV THE FIRST FRUITS + XXVI OVER THE FENCE IS OUT + XXVII A CUPBOARD FULL OF RYE + XXVIII LOVE, LOVE, LOVE + XXIX A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT + XXX LET GOOD DIGESTION + + + + +WHERE THERE'S A WILL + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +I HAVE A WARNING + +When it was all over Mr. Sam came out to the spring-house to say good-by +to me before he and Mrs. Sam left. I hated to see him go, after all we +had been through together, and I suppose he saw it in my face, for he +came over close and stood looking down at me, and smiling. "You saved +us, Minnie," he said, "and I needn't tell you we're grateful; but do +you know what I think?" he asked, pointing his long forefinger at me. +"I think you've enjoyed it even when you were suffering most. Red-haired +women are born to intrigue, as the sparks fly upward." + +"Enjoyed it!" I snapped. "I'm an old woman before my time, Mr. Sam. What +with trailing back and forward through the snow to the shelter-house, +and not getting to bed at all some nights, and my heart going by fits +and starts, as you may say, and half the time my spinal marrow fairly +chilled--not to mention putting on my overshoes every morning from force +of habit and having to take them off again, I'm about all in." + +"It's been the making of you, Minnie," he said, eying me, with his hands +in his pockets. "Look at your cheeks! Look at your disposition! I don't +believe you'd stab anybody in the back now!" + +(Which was a joke, of course; I never stabbed anybody in the back.) + +He sauntered over and dropped a quarter into the slot-machine by the +door, but the thing was frozen up and refused to work. I've seen the +time when Mr. Sam would have kicked it, but he merely looked at it and +then at me. + +"Turned virtuous, like everything else around the place. Not that I +don't approve of virtue, Minnie, but I haven't got used to putting my +foot on the brass rail of the bar and ordering a nut sundae. Hook +the money out with a hairpin, Minnie, and buy some shredded wheat in +remembrance of me." + +He opened the door and a blast of February wind rattled the +window-frames. Mr. Sam threw out his chest under his sweater and waved +me another good-by. + +"Well, I'm off, Minnie," he said. "Take care of yourself and don't sit +too tight on the job; learn to rise a bit in the saddle." + +"Good-by, Mr. Sam!" I called, putting down Miss Patty's doily and +following him to the door; "good-by; better have something before you +start to keep you warm." + +He turned at the corner of the path and grinned back at me. + +"All right," he called. "I'll go down to the bar and get a lettuce +sandwich!" + +Then he was gone, and happy as I was, I knew I would miss him terribly. +I got a wire hairpin and went over to the slot-machine, but when I had +finally dug out the money I could hardly see it for tears. + +It began when the old doctor died. I suppose you have heard of Hope +Sanatorium and the mineral spring that made it famous. Perhaps you +have seen the blotter we got out, with a flash-light interior of the +spring-house on it, and me handing the old doctor a glass of mineral +water, and wearing the embroidered linen waist that Miss Patty Jennings +gave me that winter. The blotters were a great success. Below the +picture it said, "Yours for health," and in the body of the blotter, +in red lettering, "Your system absorbs the health-giving drugs in Hope +Springs water as this blotter soaks up ink." + +The "Yours for health" was my idea. + +I have been spring-house girl at Hope Springs Sanatorium for fourteen +years. My father had the position before me, but he took rheumatism, and +as the old doctor said, it was bad business policy to spend thousands +of dollars in advertising that Hope Springs water cured rheumatism, and +then have father creaking like a rusty hinge every time he bent over to +fill a glass with it. + +Father gave me one piece of advice the day he turned the spring-house +over to me. + +"It's a difficult situation, my girl," he said. "Lots of people think +it's simply a matter of filling a glass with water and handing it over +the railing. Why, I tell you a barkeeper's a high-priced man mostly, and +his job's a snap to this. I'd like to know how a barkeeper would make +out if his customers came back only once a year and he had to remember +whether they wanted their drinks cold or hot or 'chill off'. And another +thing: if a chap comes in with a tale of woe, does the barkeeper have +to ask him what he's doing for it, and listen while he tells how much +weight he lost in a blanket sweat? No, sir; he pushes him a bottle and +lets it go at that." + +Father passed away the following winter. He'd been a little bit +delirious, and his last words were: "Yes, sir; hot, with a pinch of +salt, sir?" Poor father! The spring had been his career, you may +say, and I like to think that perhaps even now he is sitting by some +everlasting spring measuring out water with a golden goblet instead of +the old tin dipper. I said that to Mr. Sam once, and he said he felt +quite sure that I was right, and that where father was the water would +be appreciated. He had heard of father. + +Well, for the first year or so I nearly went crazy. Then I found things +were coming my way. I've got the kind of mind that never forgets a name +or face and can combine them properly, which isn't common. And when +folks came back I could call them at once. It would do your heart good +to see some politician, coming up to rest his stomach from the free +bar in the state house at the capital, enter the spring-house where +everybody is playing cards and drinking water and not caring a rap +whether he's the man that cleans the windows or the secretary of the +navy. If he's been there before, in sixty seconds I have his name on my +tongue and a glass of water in his hand, and have asked him about +the rheumatism in his right knee and how the children are. And in ten +minutes he's sitting in a bridge game and trotting to the spring to have +his glass refilled during his dummy hand, as if he'd grown up in +the place. The old doctor used to say my memory was an asset to the +sanatorium. + +He depended on me a good bit--the old doctor did--and that winter he was +pretty feeble. (He was only seventy, but he'd got in the habit of making +it eighty to show that the mineral water kept him young. Finally he got +to BEING eighty, from thinking it, and he died of senility in the end.) + +He was in the habit of coming to the spring-house every day to get his +morning glass of water and read the papers. For a good many years it had +been his custom to sit there, in the winter by the wood fire and in the +summer just inside the open door, and to read off the headings aloud +while I cleaned around the spring and polished glasses. + +"I see the president is going fishing, Minnie," he'd say, or "Airbrake +is up to 133; I wish I'd bought it that time I dreamed about it. It was +you who persuaded me not to, Minnie." + +And all that winter, with the papers full of rumors that Miss +Patty Jennings was going to marry a prince, we'd followed it by the +spring-house fire, the old doctor and I, getting angry at the Austrian +emperor for opposing it when we knew how much too good Miss Patty was +for any foreigner, and then getting nervous and fussed when we read that +the prince's mother was in favor of the match and it might go through. +Miss Patty and her father came every winter to Hope Springs and I +couldn't have been more anxious about it if she had been my own sister. + +Well, as I say, it all began the very day the old doctor died. He +stamped out to the spring-house with the morning paper about nine +o'clock, and the wedding seemed to be all off. The paper said the +emperor had definitely refused his consent and had sent the prince, who +was his cousin, for a Japanese cruise, while the Jennings family was +going to Mexico in their private car. The old doctor was indignant, and +I remember how he tramped up and down the spring-house, muttering that +the girl had had a lucky escape, and what did the emperor expect if +beauty and youth and wealth weren't enough. But he calmed down, and soon +he was reading that the papers were predicting an early spring, and he +said we'd better begin to increase our sulphur percentage in the water. + +I hadn't noticed anything strange in his manner, although we'd all +noticed how feeble he was growing, but when he got up to go back to +the sanatorium and I reached him his cane, it seemed to me he avoided +looking at me. He went to the door and then turned and spoke to me over +his shoulder. + +"By the way," he remarked, "Mr. Richard will be along in a day or so, +Minnie. You'd better break it to Mrs. Wiggins." + +Since the summer before we'd had to break Mr. Dick's coming to Mrs. +Wiggins the housekeeper, owing to his finding her false front where it +had blown out of a window, having been hung up to dry, and his wearing +it to luncheon as whiskers. Mr. Dick was the old doctor's grandson. + +"Humph!" I said, and he turned around and looked square at me. + +"He's a good boy at heart, Minnie," he said. "We've had our troubles +with him, you and I, but everything has been quiet lately." + +When I didn't say anything he looked discouraged, but he had a fine way +of keeping on until he gained his point, had the old doctor. + +"It HAS been quiet, hasn't it?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," I said; "I have been deaf since the last explosion!" And +I went down the steps to the spring. I heard the tap of his cane as he +came across the floor, and I knew he was angry. + +"Confound you, Minnie," he exclaimed, "if I could get along without you +I'd discharge you this minute." + +"And if I paid any attention to your discharging me I'd have been gone +a dozen times in the last year," I retorted. "I'm not objecting to Mr. +Dick coming here, am I? Only don't expect me to burst into song about +it. Shut the door behind you when you go out." + +But he didn't go at once. He stood watching me polish glasses and get +the card-tables ready, and I knew he still had something on his mind. + +"Minnie," he said at last, "you're a shrewd young woman--maybe more head +than heart, but that's well enough. And with your temper under control, +you're a CAPABLE young woman." + +"What has Mr. Dick been up to now?" I asked, growing suspicious. + +"Nothing. But I'm an old man, Minnie, a very old man." + +"Stuff and nonsense," I exclaimed, alarmed. "You're only seventy. That's +what comes of saying in the advertising that you are eighty--to show +what the springs have done for you. It's enough to make a man die of +senility to have ten years tacked to his age." + +"And if," he went on, "if anything happens to me, Minnie, I'm counting +on you to do what you can for the old place. You've been here a good +many years, Minnie." + +"Fourteen years I have been ladling out water at this spring," I said, +trying to keep my lips from trembling. "I wouldn't be at home any place +else, unless it would be in an aquarium. But don't ask me to stay here +and help Mr. Dick sell the old place for a summer hotel. For that's what +he'll do." + +"He won't sell it," declared the old doctor grimly. "All I want is for +you to promise to stay." + +"Oh, I'll stay," I said. "I won't promise to be agreeable, but I'll +stay. Somebody'll have to look after the spring; I reckon Mr. Dick +thinks it comes out of the earth just as we sell it, with the whole +pharmacopoeia in it." + +Well, it made the old doctor happier, and I'm not sorry I promised, but +I've got a joint on my right foot that throbs when it is going to rain +or I am going to have bad luck, and it gave a jump then. I might have +known there was trouble ahead. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MISS PATTY ARRIVES + +It was pretty quiet in the spring-house that day after the old doctor +left. It had started to snow and only the regulars came out. What with +the old doctor talking about dying, and Miss Patty Jennings gone to +Mexico, when I'd been looking forward to her and her cantankerous old +father coming to Hope Springs for February, as they mostly did, I was +depressed all day. I got to the point where Mr. Moody feeding nickels +into the slot-machine with one hand and eating zwieback with the other +made me nervous. After a while he went to sleep over it, and when he +had slipped a nickel in his mouth and tried to put the zwieback in the +machine he muttered something and went up to the house. + +I was glad to be alone. I drew a chair in front of the fire and wondered +what I would do if the old doctor died, and what a fool I'd been not to +be a school-teacher, which is what I studied for. + +I was thinking to myself bitterly that all that my experience in the +spring fitted me for was to be a mermaid, when I heard something running +down the path, and it turned out to be Tillie, the diet cook. + +She slammed the door behind her and threw the Finleyville evening paper +at me. + +"There!" she said, "I've won a cake of toilet soap from Bath-house Mike. +The emperor's consented." + +"Nonsense!" I snapped, and snatched the paper. Tillie was right; the +emperor HAD! I sat down and read it through, and there was Miss Patty's +picture in an oval and the prince's in another, with a turned-up +mustache and his hand on the handle of his sword, and between them both +was the Austrian emperor. Tillie came and looked over my shoulder. + +"I'm not keen on the mustache," she said, "but the sword's +beautiful--and, oh, Minnie, isn't he aristocratic? Look at his nose!" + +But I'm not one to make up my mind in a hurry, and I'd heard enough talk +about foreign marriages in the years I'd been dipping out mineral water +to make me a skeptic, so to speak. + +"I'm not so sure," I said slowly. "You can't tell anything by that kind +of a picture. If he was even standing beside a chair I could get a line +on him. He may be only four feet high." + +"Then Miss Jennings wouldn't love him," declared Tillie. "How do you +reckon he makes his mustache point up like that?" + +"What's love got to do with it?" I demanded. "Don't be a fool, Tillie. +It takes more than two people's pictures in a newspaper with a red heart +around them and an overweight cupid above to make a love-match. Love's a +word that's used to cover a good many sins and to excuse them all." + +"She isn't that kind," said Tillie. "She's--she's as sweet as she's +beautiful, and you're as excited as I am, Minnie Waters, and if you're +not, what have you got the drinking glass she used last winter put on +the top shelf out of reach for?" She went to the door and slammed it +open. "Thank heaven I'm not a dried-up old maid," she called back over +her shoulder, "and when you're through hugging that paper you can send +it up to the house." + +Well, I sat there and thought it over, Miss Patty, or Miss Patricia, +being, so to speak, a friend of mine. They'd come to the Springs every +winter for years. Many a time she'd slipped away from her governess and +come down to the spring-house for a chat with me, and we'd make pop-corn +together by my open fire, and talk about love and clothes, and even the +tariff, Miss Patty being for protection, which was natural, seeing that +was the way her father made his money, and I for free trade, especially +in the winter when my tips fall off considerable. + +And when she was younger she would sit back from the fire, with the +corn-popper on her lap and her cheeks as red as cranberries, and say: "I +DON'T know why I tell you all these things, Minnie, but Aunt Honoria's +funny, and I can't talk to Dorothy; she's too young, you know. Well, HE +said--" only every winter it was a different "he." + +In my wash-stand drawer I'd kept all the clippings about her coming out +and the winter she spent in Washington and was supposed to be engaged to +the president's son, and the magazine article that told how Mr. Jennings +had got his money by robbing widows and orphans, and showed the little +frame house where Miss Patty was born--as if she's had anything to do +with it. And so now I was cutting out the picture of her and the prince +and the article underneath which told how many castles she'd have, and I +don't mind saying I was sniffling a little bit, for I couldn't get used +to the idea. And suddenly the door closed softly and there was a rustle +behind me. When I turned it was Miss Patty herself. She saw the clipping +immediately, and stopped just inside the door. + +"YOU, TOO," she said. "And we've come all this distance to get away from +just that." + +"Well, I shan't talk about it," I replied, not holding out my hand, for +with her, so to speak, next door to being a princess--but she leaned +right over and kissed me. I could hardly believe it. + +"Why won't you talk about it?" she insisted, catching me by the +shoulders and holding me off. "Minnie, your eyes are as red as your +hair!" + +"I don't approve of it," I said. "You might as well know it now as +later, Miss Patty. I don't believe in mixed marriages. I had a cousin +that married a Jew, and what with him making the children promise to be +good on the Talmud and her trying to raise them with the Bible, the poor +things is that mixed up that it's pitiful." + +She got a little red at that, but she sat down and took up the clipping. + +"He's much better looking than that, Minnie," she said soberly, "and +he's a good Catholic. But if that's the way you feel we'll not talk +about it. I've had enough trouble at home as it is." + +"I guess from that your father isn't crazy about it," I remarked, +getting her a glass of spring water. The papers had been full of how Mr. +Jennings had forbidden the prince the house when he had been in America +the summer before. + +"Certainly he's crazy about it--almost insane!" she said, and smiled at +me in her old way over the top of the glass. Then she put down the glass +and came over to me. "Minnie, Minnie," she said, "if you only knew how +I've wanted to get away from the newspapers and the gossips and come to +this smelly little spring-house and talk things over with a red-haired, +sharp-tongued, mean-dispositioned spring-house girl--!" + +And with that I began to blubber, and she came into my arms like a baby. + +"You're all I've got," I declared, over and over, "and you're going to +live in a country where they harness women with dogs, and you'll never +hear an English word from morning to night." + +"Stuff!" She gave me a little shake. "He speaks as good English as I +do. And now we're going to stop talking about him--you're worse than the +newspapers." She took off her things and going into my closet began to +rummage for the pop-corn. "Oh, how glad I am to get away," she sang +out to me. "We're supposed to have gone to Mexico; even Dorothy doesn't +know. Where's the pop-corner or the corn-popper or whatever you call +it?" + +She was as happy to have escaped the reporters and the people she knew +as a child, and she sat down on the floor in front of the fire and began +to shell the corn into the popper, as if she'd done it only the day +before. + +"I guess you're safe enough here," I said. "It's always slack in +January--only a few chronics and the Saturday-to-Monday husbands, except +a drummer now and then who drives up from Finleyville. It's too early +for drooping society buds, and the chronic livers don't get around until +late March, after the banquet season closes. It will be pretty quiet for +a while." + +And at that minute the door was flung open, and Bath-house Mike +staggered in. + +"The old doctor!" he gasped. "He's dead, Miss Minnie--died just now in +the hot room in the bathhouse! One minute he was givin' me the divil for +something or other, and the next--I thought he was asleep." + +Something that had been heavy in my breast all afternoon suddenly seemed +to burst and made me feel faint all over. But I didn't lose my head. + +"Does anybody know yet?" I asked quickly. He shook his head. + +"Then he didn't die in the bath-house, Mike," I said firmly. "He died +in his bed, and you know it. If it gets out that he died in the hot room +I'll have the coroner on you." + +Miss Patty was standing by the railing of the spring. I got my shawl and +started out after Mike, and she followed. + +"If the guests ever get hold of this they'll stampede. Start any +excitement in a sanatorium," I said, "and one and all they'll dip their +thermometers in hot water and swear they've got fever!" + +And we hurried to the house together. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A WILL + +Well, we got the poor old doctor moved back to his room, and had one of +the chambermaids find him there, and I wired to Mrs. Van Alstyne, who +was Mr. Dicky Carter's sister, and who was on her honeymoon in South +Carolina. The Van Alstynes came back at once, in very bad tempers, and +we had the funeral from the preacher's house in Finleyville so as not to +harrow up the sanatorium people any more than necessary. Even as it was +a few left, but about twenty of the chronics stayed, and it looked as if +we might be able to keep going. + +Miss Patty sent to town for a black veil for me, and even went to the +funeral. It helped to take my mind off my troubles to think who it was +that was holding my hand and comforting me, and when, toward the end +of the service, she got out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes I was +almost overcome, she being, so to speak, in the very shadow of a throne. + +After it was all over the relatives gathered in the sun parlor of the +sanatorium to hear the will--Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife and about +twenty more who had come up from the city for the funeral and stayed +over--on the house. + +Well, the old doctor left me the buttons for his full dress waistcoat +and his favorite copy of Gray's Anatomy. I couldn't exactly set up +housekeeping with my share of the estate, but when the lawyer read that +part of the will aloud and a grin went around the room I flounced out of +my chair. + +"Maybe you think I'm disappointed," I said, looking hard at the family, +who weren't making any particular pretense at grief, and at the house +people standing around the door. "Maybe you think it's funny to see an +unmarried woman get a set of waistcoat buttons and a medical book. Well, +that set of buttons was the set he bought in London on his wedding trip, +and the book's the one he read himself to sleep with every night for +twenty years. I'm proud to get them." + +Mr. Van Alstyne touched me on the arm. + +"Everybody knows how loyal you've been, Minnie," he assured me. "Now sit +down like a good girl and listen to the rest of the will." + +"While I'm up I might as well get something else off my mind," I said. +"I know what's in that will, but I hadn't anything to do with it, Mr. +Van Alstyne. He took advantage of my being laid up with influenza last +spring." + +They thought that was funny, but a few minutes later they weren't so +cheerful. You see the sanatorium was a mighty fine piece of property, +with a deer park and golf links. We'd had plenty of offers to sell it +for a summer hotel, but we'd both been dead against it. That was one of +the reasons for the will. + +The whole estate was left to Dicky Carter, who hadn't been able to come, +owing to his being laid up with an attack of mumps. The family sat up +and nodded at one another, or held up its hands, but when they heard +there was a condition they breathed easier. + +Beginning with one week after the reading of the will--and not a day +later--Mr. Dick was to take charge of the sanatorium and to stay there +for two months without a day off. If at the end of that time the place +was being successfully conducted and could show that it hadn't lost +money, the entire property became his for keeps. If he failed it was to +be sold and the money given to charity. + +You would have to know Richard Carter to understand the excitement the +will caused. Most of us, I reckon, like the sort of person we've never +dared to be ourselves. The old doctor had gone to bed at ten o'clock all +his life and got up at seven, and so he had a sneaking fondness for the +one particular grandson who often didn't go to bed at all. Twice to +my knowledge when he was in his teens did Dicky Carter run away from +school, and twice his grandfather kept him for a week hidden in the +shelter-house on the golf links. Naturally when Mr. Van Alstyne and I +had to hide him again, which is further on in the story, he went to the +old shelter-house like a dog to its kennel, only this time--but that's +ahead, too. + +Well, the family went back to town in a buzz of indignation, and I +carried my waistcoat buttons and my Anatomy out to the spring-house +and had a good cry. There was a man named Thoburn who was crazy for the +property as a summer hotel, and every time I shut my eyes I could see +"Thoburn House" over the veranda and children sailing paper boats in the +mineral spring. + +Sure enough, the next afternoon Mr. Thoburn drove out from Finleyville +with a suit case, and before he'd taken off his overcoat he came out to +the spring-house. + +"Hello, Minnie," he exclaimed. "Does the old man's ghost come back to +dope the spring, or do you do it?" + +"I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Thoburn," I retorted +sharply. "If you don't know that this spring has its origin in--" + +"In Schmidt's drug store down in Finleyville!" he finished for me. "Oh, +I know all about that spring, Minnie! Don't forget that my father's +cows used to drink that water and liked it. I leave it to you," he said, +sniffing, "if a self-respecting cow wouldn't die of thirst before she +drank that stuff as it is now." + +I'd been filling him a glass--it being a matter of habit with me--and he +took it to the window and held it to the light. + +"You're getting careless, Minnie," he said, squinting at it. "Some of +those drugs ought to be dissolved first in hot water. There's a lump of +lithia there that has Schmidt's pharmacy label on it." + +"Where?" I demanded, and started for it. He laughed at that, and putting +the glass down, he came over and stood smiling at me. + +"As ingenuous as a child," he said in his mocking way, "a nice, little +red-haired child! Minnie, how old is this young Carter?" + +"Twenty-three." + +"An--er--earnest youth? Willing to buckle down to work and make the old +place go? Ready to pat the old ladies on the shoulder and squeeze the +young ones' hands?" + +"He's young," I said, "but if you're counting on his being a fool--" + +"Not at all," he broke in hastily. "If he hasn't too much character +he'll probably succeed. I hope he isn't a fool. If he isn't, oh, friend +Minnie, he'll stand the atmosphere of this Garden of Souls for about a +week, and then he'll kill some of them and escape. Where is he now?" + +"He's been sick," I said. "Mumps!" + +"Mumps! Oh, my aunt!" he exclaimed, and fell to laughing. He was still +laughing when he got to the door. + +"Mumps!" he repeated, with his hand on the knob. "Minnie, the old place +will be under the hammer in three weeks, and if you know what's good for +you, you'll sign in under the new management while there's a vacancy. +You've been the whole show here for so long that it will be hard for you +to line up in the back row of the chorus." + +"If I were you," I said, looking him straight in the eye, "I wouldn't +pick out any new carpets yet, Mr. Thoburn. I promised the old doctor I'd +help Mr. Dick, and I will." + +"So you're actually going to fight it out," he said, grinning. "Well, +the odds are in your favor. You are two to my one." + +"I think it's pretty even," I retorted. "We will be hindered, so to +speak, by having certain principles of honor and honesty. You have no +handicap." + +He tried to think of a retort, and not finding one he slammed out of the +spring-house in a rage. + +Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife came in that same day, just before dinner, +and we played three-handed bridge for half an hour. As I've said, they'd +been on their honeymoon, and they were both sulky at having to stay at +the Springs. It was particularly hard on Mrs. Van Alstyne, because, with +seven trunks of trousseau with her, she had to put on black. But she +used to shut herself up in her room in the evenings and deck out for Mr. +Sam in her best things. We found it out one evening when Mrs. Biggs set +fire to her bureau cover with her alcohol curling-iron heater, and Mrs. +Sam, who had been going around in a black crepe dress all day, rushed +out in pink satin with crystal trimming, and slippers with cut-glass +heels. + +After the first rubber Mrs. Van Alstyne threw her cards on the floor and +said another day like this would finish her. + +"Surely Dick is able to come now," she said, like a peevish child. +"Didn't he say the swelling was all gone?" + +"Do you expect me to pick up those cards?" Mr. Sam asked angrily, +looking at her. + +Mrs. Sam yawned and looked up at him. + +"Of course I do," she answered. "If it wasn't for you I'd not have +stayed a moment after the funeral. Isn't it bad enough to have seven +trunks full of clothes I've never worn, and to have to put on poky old +black, without keeping me here in this old ladies' home?" + +Mr. Sam looked at the cards and then at her. + +"I'm not going to pick them up," he declared. "And as to our staying +here, don't you realize that if we don't your precious brother will +never show up here at all, or stay if he does come? And don't you also +realize that this is probably the only chance he'll ever have in the +world to become financially independent of us?" + +"You needn't be brutal," she said sharply. "And it isn't so bad for +you here as it is for me. You spend every waking minute admiring Miss +Jennings, while I--there isn't a man in the place who'll talk anything +but his joints or his stomach." + +She got up and went to the window, and Mr. Sam followed her. Nobody +pays any attention to me in the spring-house; I'm a part of it, like the +brass rail around the spring, or the clock. + +"I'm not admiring Miss Jennings," he corrected, "I'm sympathizing, dear. +She looks too nice a girl to have been stung by the title bee, that's +all." + +She turned her back to him, but he pretended to tuck the hair at the +back of her neck up under her comb, and she let him do it. As I stooped +to gather up the cards he kissed the tip of her ear. + +"Listen," he said, "there's a scream of a play down at Finleyville +to-night called Sweet Peas. Senator Biggs and the bishop went down last +night, and they say it's the worst in twenty years. Put on a black veil +and let's slip away and see it." + +I think she agreed to do it, but that night after dinner, Amanda King, +who has charge of the news stand, told me the sheriff had closed the +opera-house and that the leading woman was sick at the hotel. + +"They say she looked funny last night," Amanda finished, "and I guess +she's got the mumps." + +Mumps! + +My joint gave a throb at that minute. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AND A WAY + +Mr. Sam wasn't taking any chances, for the next day he went to the city +himself to bring Mr. Dick up. Everything was quiet that day and the day +after, except that on the second day I had a difference of opinion with +the house doctor and he left. + +The story of the will had got out, of course, and the guests were +waiting to see Mr. Dick come and take charge. I got a good bit of gossip +from Miss Cobb, who had had her hair cut short after a fever and used to +come out early in the morning and curl it all over her head, heating the +curler on the fire log. I never smell burnt hair that I don't think +of Miss Cobb trying to do the back of her neck. She was one of our +regulars, and every winter for ten years she'd read me the letters she +had got from an insurance agent who'd run away with a married woman the +day before the wedding. She kept them in a bundle, tied with lavender +ribbon. + +It was on the third day, I think, that Miss Cobb told me that Miss Patty +and her father had had a quarrel the day before. She got it from one of +the chambermaids. Mr. Jennings was a liver case and not pleasant at any +time, but he had been worse than usual. Annie, the chambermaid, told +Miss Cobb that the trouble was about settlements, and that the more Miss +Patty tried to tell him it was the European custom the worse he got. +Miss Patty hadn't come down to breakfast that day, and Mr. Moody and +Senator Biggs made a wager in the Turkish bath--according to Miss +Cobb--Mr. Moody betting the wedding wouldn't come off at all. + +"Of course," Miss Cobb said, wetting her finger and trying the iron to +see if it was hot, "of course, Minnie, they're not married yet, and if +Father Jennings gets ugly and makes any sort of scandal it's all off. A +scandal just now would be fatal. These royalties are very touchy about +other people's reputations." + +Well, I heard that often enough in the next few days. + +Mr. Sam hadn't come back by the morning of the sixth day, but he wired +his wife the day before that Mr. Dick was on the way. But we met every +train with a sleigh, and he didn't come. I was uneasy, knowing Mr. Dick, +and Mrs. Sam was worried, too. + +By that time everybody was waiting and watching, and on the early train +on the sixth day came the lawyer, a Mr. Stitt. Mr. Thoburn was going +around with a sort of greasy smile, and if I could have poisoned him +safely I'd have done it. + +It had been snowing hard for a day or so, and at eleven o'clock that day +I saw Miss Cobb and Mrs. Biggs coming down the path to the spring-house, +Mrs. Biggs with her crocheting-bag hanging to the handle of her +umbrella. I opened the door, but they wouldn't come in. + +"We won't track up your clean floor, Minnie," Mrs. Biggs said--she was a +little woman, almost fifty, who'd gone through life convinced she'd only +lived so long by the care she took of herself--"but I thought I'd better +come and speak to you. Please don't irritate Mr. Biggs to-day. He's been +reading that article of Upton Sinclair's about fasting, and hasn't had a +bite to eat since noon yesterday." + +I noticed then that she looked pale. She was a nervous creature, +although she could drink more spring water than any human being I ever +saw, except one man, and he was a German. + +Well, I promised to be careful. I've seen them fast before, and when a +fat man starts to live on his own fat, like a bear, he gets about the +same disposition. + +Mrs. Biggs started back, but Miss Cobb waited a moment at the foot of +the steps. + +"Mr. Van Alstyne is back," she said, "but he came alone." + +"Alone!" I repeated, staring at her in a sort of daze. + +"Alone," she said solemnly, "and I heard him ask for Mr. Carter. It +seems he started for here yesterday." + +But I'd had time to get myself in hand, and if I had a chill up my +spine she never knew it. As she started after Mrs. Biggs I saw Mr. Sam +hurrying down the path toward the spring-house, and I knew my joint +hadn't throbbed for nothing. + +Mr. Sam came in and slammed the door behind him. + +"What's this about Mr. Dick not being here?" he shouted. + +"Well, he isn't. That's all there is to it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I said +calmly. I am always calm when other people get excited. For that reason +some people think my red hair is a false alarm, but they soon find out. + +"But he MUST be here," said Mr. Van Alstyne. "I put him on the train +myself yesterday, and waited until it started to be sure he was off." + +"The only way to get Mr. Richard anywhere you want him to go," I said +dryly, "is to have him nailed in a crate and labeled." + +"Damned young scamp!" said Mr. Van Alstyne, although I have a sign in +the spring-house, "Profanity not allowed." + +"EXACTLY what was he doing when you last laid eyes on him?" I asked. + +"He was on the train--" + +"Was he alone?" + +"Yes." + +"Sitting?" + +"No, standing. What the deuce, Minnie--" + +"Waving out the window to you?" + +"Of course not!" exclaimed Mr. Van Alstyne testily. "He was raising the +window for a girl in the next seat." + +"Precisely!" I said. "Would you know the girl well enough to trace her?" + +"That's ridiculous, you know," he said trying to be polite. "Out of a +thousand and one things that may have detained him--" + +"Only one thing ever detains Mr. Dick, and that always detains him," I +said solemnly. "That's a girl. You're a newcomer in the family, Mr. Van +Alstyne; you don't remember the time he went down here to the station to +see his Aunt Agnes off to the city, and we found him three weeks later +in Oklahoma trying to marry a widow with five children." + +Mr. Van Alstyne dropped into a chair, and through force of habit I gave +him a glass of spring water. + +"This was a pretty girl, too," he said dismally. + +I sat down on the other side of the fireplace, and it seemed to me that +father's crayon enlargement over the mantel shook its head at me. + +After a minute Mr. Van Alstyne drank the water and got up. + +"I'll have to tell my wife," he said. "Who's running the place, anyhow? +You?" + +"Not--exactly," I explained, "but, of course, when anything comes up +they consult me. The housekeeper is a fool, and now that the house +doctor's gone--" + +"Gone! Who's looking after the patients?" + +"Well, most of them have been here before," I explained, "and I know +their treatment--the kind of baths and all that." + +"Oh, YOU know the treatment!" he said, eying me. "And why did the house +doctor go?" + +"He ordered Mr. Moody to take his spring water hot. Mr. Moody's spring +water has been ordered cold for eleven years, and I refused to change. +It was between the doctor and me, Mr. Van Alstyne." + +"Oh, of course," he said, "if it was a matter of principle--" He +stopped, and then something seemed to strike him. "I say," he said; +"about the doctor--that's all right, you know; lots of doctors and all +that. But for heaven's sake, Minnie, don't discharge the cook." + +Now that was queer, for it had been running in my head all morning that +in the slack season it would be cheaper to get a good woman instead of +the chef and let Tillie, the diet cook, make the pastry. + +Mr. Sam picked up his hat and looked at his watch. + +"Eleven thirty," he said, "and no sign of that puppy yet. I guess it's +up to the police." + +"If there was only something to do," I said, with a lump in my throat, +"but to have to sit and do nothing while the old place dies it's--it's +awful, Mr. Van Alstyne." + +"We're not dead yet," he replied from the door, "and maybe we'll need +you before the day's over. If anybody can sail the old bark to shore, +you can do it, Minnie. You've been steering it for years. The old doctor +was no navigator, and you and I know it." + +It was blowing a blizzard by that time, and Miss Patty was the only one +who came out to the spring-house until after three o'clock. She shook +the snow off her furs and stood by the fire, looking at me and not +saying anything for fully a minute. + +"Well," she said finally, "aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + +"Why?" I asked, and swallowed hard. + +"To be in all this trouble and not let me know. I've just this minute +heard about it. Can't we get the police?" + +"Mr. Van Alstyne is trying," I said, "but I don't hope much. Like as not +Mr. Dick will turn up tomorrow and say his calendar was a day slow." + +I gave her a glass of water, and I noticed when she took it how pale she +was. But she held it up and smiled over it at me. + +"Here's to everything turning out better than we expect!" she said, and +made a face as she drank the water. I thought that she was thinking of +her own troubles as well as mine, for she put down the glass and stood +looking at her engagement ring, a square red ruby in an old-fashioned +setting. It was a very large ruby, but I've seen showier rings. + +"There isn't anything wrong, Miss Patty, is there?" I asked, and she +dropped her hand and looked at me. + +"Oh, no," she said. "That is, nothing much, Minnie. Father is--I think +he's rather ridiculous about some things, but I dare say he'll come +around. I don't mind his fussing with me, but--if it should get in the +papers, Minnie! A breath of unpleasant notoriety now would be fatal!" + +"I don't see why," I said sharply. "The royal families of Europe have a +good bit of unpleasant notoriety themselves occasionally. I should think +they'd fall over themselves to get some good red American blood. Blue +blood's bad blood; you can ask any doctor." + +But she only smiled. + +"You're like father, Minnie," she said. "You'll never understand." + +"I'm not sure I want to," I snapped, and fell to polishing glasses. + +The storm stopped a little at three and most of the guests waded down +through the snow for bridge and spring water. By that time the afternoon +train was in, and no Mr. Dick. Mr. Sam was keeping the lawyer, Mr. +Stitt, in the billiard room, and by four o'clock they'd had everything +that was in the bar and were inventing new combinations of their own. +And Mrs. Sam had gone to bed with a nervous headache. + +Senator Biggs brought the mail down to the spring-house at four, but +there was nothing for me except a note from Mr. Sam, rather shaky, which +said he'd no word yet and that Mr. Stitt had mixed all the cordials in +the bar in a beer glass and had had to go to bed. + +At half past four Mr. Thoburn came out for a minute. He said there was +only one other train from town that night and the chances were it would +be snowed up at the junction. + +"Better get on the band wagon before the parade's gone past," he said in +an undertone. But I went into my pantry and shut the door with a slam, +and when I came out he was gone. + +I nearly went crazy that afternoon. I put salt in Miss Cobb's glass when +she always drank the water plain. Once I put the broom in the fire and +started to sweep the porch with a fire log Luckily they were busy with +their letters and it went unnoticed, the smell of burning straw not +rising, so to speak, above the sulphur in the spring. + +Senator Biggs went from one table to another telling how well he felt +since he stopped eating, and trying to coax the other men to starve with +him. + +It's funny how a man with a theory about his stomach isn't happy until +he has made some other fellow swallow it. + +"Well," he said, standing in front of the fire with a glass of water in +his hand, "it's worth while to feel like this. My head's as clear as +a bell. I don't care to eat; I don't want to eat. The 'fast' is the +solution." + +"Two stages to that solution, Senator," said the bishop; "first, +resolution; last, dissolution." + +Then they all began at once. If you have ever heard twenty people airing +their theories on diet you know all about it. One shouts for Horace +Fletcher, and another one swears by the scraped-beef treatment, and +somebody else never touches a thing but raw eggs and milk, and pretty +soon there is a riot of calories and carbohydrates. It always ends the +same way: the man with the loudest voice wins, and the defeated ones +limp over to the spring and tell their theories to me. They know I'm +being paid to listen. + +On this particular afternoon the bishop stopped the riot by rising and +holding up his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "let us not be +rancorous. If each of us has a theory, and that theory works out to his +satisfaction, then--why are we all here?" + +"Merely to tell one another the good news!" Mr. Jennings said sourly +from his corner. + +Honest, it was funny. If some folks were healthy they'd be lonesome. + +But when things had got quiet--except Mr. Moody dropping nickels into +the slot-machine--I happened to look over at Miss Patty, and I saw there +was something wrong. She had a letter open in her lap not one of the +blue ones with the black and gold seal that every one in the house knew +came from the prince but a white one, and she was staring at it as if +she'd seen a ghost. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WANTED--AN OWNER + +I have never reproached Miss Patty, but if she had only given me the +letter to read or had told me the whole truth instead of a part of it, +I would have understood, and things would all have been different. It is +all very well for her to say that I looked worried enough already, and +that anyhow it was a family affair. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD. + +All she did was to come up to me as I stood in the spring, with her face +perfectly white, and ask me if my Dicky Carter was the Richard Carter +who stayed at the Grosvenor in town. + +"He doesn't stay anywhere," I said, with my feet getting cold, "but +that's where he has apartments. What has he been doing now?" + +"You're expecting him on the evening train, aren't you?" she asked. +"Don't stare like that: my father's watching." + +"He ought to be on the evening train," I said. I wasn't going to say I +expected him. I didn't. + +"Listen, Minnie," she said, "you'll have to send him away again the +moment he comes. He must not go into the house." + +I stood looking at her, with my mouth open. + +"Not go into the house," I repeated, "with everybody waiting for him for +the last six days, and Mr. Stitt here to turn things over to him!" + +She stood tapping her foot, with her pretty brows knitted. + +"The wretch!" she cried, "the hateful creature as if things weren't bad +enough! I suppose he'll have to come, Minnie, but I must see him before +he sees any one else." + +Just then the bishop brought his glass over to the spring. + +"Hot this time, Minnie," he said. "Do you know, I'm getting the +mineral-water habit, Patty! I'm afraid plain water will have no +attraction for me after this." + +He put his hand over hers on the rail. They were old friends, the bishop +and the Jenningses. + +"Well, how goes it to-day with the father?" he said in a low tone, and +smiling. + +Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders. "Worse, if possible." + +"I thought so," he said cheerfully. "If state of mind is any criterion +I should think he has had a relapse. A little salt, Minnie." Miss Patty +stood watching him while he tasted it. + +"Bishop," she said suddenly, "will you do something for me?" + +"I always have, Patty." He was very fond of Miss Patty, was the bishop. + +"Then--to-night, not later than eight o'clock, get father to play +cribbage, will you? And keep him in the card-room until nine." + +"Another escapade!" he said, pretending to be very serious. "Patty, +Patty, you'll be the death of me yet. Is thy servant a dog, that he +should do this thing?" + +"Certainly NOT," said Miss Patty. "Just a dear, slightly bald, but still +very distinguished slave!" + +The bishop picked up her left hand and looked at the ring and from that +to her face. + +"There will be plenty of slaves to kiss this little hand, where you are +going, my child," he said. "Sometimes I wish that some nice red-blooded +boy here at home--but I dare say it will turn out surprisingly well as +it is." + +"Bishop, Bishop!" Mrs. Moody called. "How naughty of you, and with your +bridge hand waiting to be held!" + +He carried his glass back to the table, stopping for a moment beside Mr. +Jennings. + +"If Patty becomes any more beautiful," he said, "I shall be in favor of +having her wear a mask. How are we young men to protect ourselves?" + +"Pretty is as pretty does!" declared Mr. Jennings from behind his +newspaper, and Miss Patty went out with her chin up. + +Well, I knew Mr. Dick had been up to some mischief; I had suspected it +all along. But Miss Patty went to bed, and old Mrs. Hutchins, who's a +sort of lady's-maid-companion of hers, said she mustn't be disturbed. I +was pretty nearly sick myself. And when Mr. Sam came out at five o'clock +and said he'd been in the long-distance telephone booth for an hour +and had called everybody who had ever known Mr. Dick, and that he had +dropped right off the earth, I just about gave up. He had got some +detectives, he said, and there was some sort of a story about his having +kept right on the train to Salem, Ohio, but if he had they'd lost the +trail there, and anyhow, with the railroad service tied up by the storm +there wasn't much chance of his getting to Finleyville in time. + +Luckily Mr. Stitt was in bed with a mustard leaf over his stomach and +ice on his head, and didn't know whether it was night or morning. But +Thoburn was going around with a watch in his hand, and Mr. Sam was for +killing him and burying the body in the snow. + +At half past five I just about gave up. I was sitting in front of the +fire wondering why I'd taken influenza the spring before from getting my +feet wet in a shower, when I had been standing in a mineral spring for +so many years that it's a wonder I'm not web-footed. It was when I had +influenza that the old doctor made the will, you remember. Maybe I was +crying, I don't recall. + +It was dark outside, and nothing inside but firelight. Suddenly I seemed +to feel somebody looking at the back of my neck and I turned around. +There was a man standing outside one of the windows, staring in. + +My first thought, of course, was that it was Mr. Dick, but just as the +face vanished I saw that it wasn't. It was older by three or four years +than Mr. Dick's and a bit fuller. + +I'm not nervous. I've had to hold my own against chronic grouches too +long to have nerves, so I went to the door and looked out. The man +came around the corner just then and I could see him plainly in the +firelight. He was covered with snow, and he wore a sweater and no +overcoat, but he looked like a gentleman. + +"I beg your pardon for spying," he said, "but the fire looked so snug! +I've been trying to get to the hotel over there, but in the dark I've +lost the path." + +"That's not a hotel," I snapped, for that touched me on the raw. "That's +Hope Springs Sanatorium, and this is one of the Springs." + +"Oh, Hope Springs, internal instead of eternal!" he said. "That's +awfully bad, isn't it? To tell you the truth, I think I'd better come in +and get some; I'm short on hope just now." + +I thought that was likely enough, for although his voice was cheerful +and his eyes smiled, there was a drawn look around his mouth, and he +hadn't shaved that day. I wish I had had as much experience in learning +what's right with folks as I have had in learning what's wrong with +them. + +"You'd better come in and get warm, anyhow," I told him, "only don't +spring any more gags. I've been 'Hebe' for fourteen years and I've +served all the fancy drinks you can name over the brass railing of that +spring. Nowadays, when a fellow gets smart and asks for a Mamie Taylor, +I charge him a Mamie Taylor price." + +He shut the door behind him and came over to the fire. + +"I'm pretty well frozen," he said. "Don't be astonished if I melt before +your eyes; I've been walking for hours." + +Now that I had a better chance to see him I'd sized up that drawn look +around his mouth. + +"Missed your luncheon, I suppose," I said, poking the fire log. He +grinned rather sheepishly. + +"Well, I haven't had any, and I've certainly missed it," he said. + +"Fasting's healthy, you know." + +I thought of Senator Biggs, who carried enough fat to nourish him for +months, and then I looked at my visitor, who hadn't an ounce of extra +flesh on him. + +"Nothing's healthy that isn't natural," I declared. "If you'd care for +a dish of buttered and salted pop-corn, there's some on the mantel. It's +pretty salty; the idea is to make folks thirsty so they'll enjoy the +mineral water." + +"Think of raising a real thirst only to drown it with spring water!" he +said. But he got the pop corn and he ate it all. If he hadn't had any +luncheon he hadn't had much breakfast. The queer part was--he was a +gentleman; his clothes were the right sort, but he had on patent leather +shoes in all that snow and an automobile cap. + +I put away the glasses while he ate. Pretty soon he looked up and the +drawn lines were gone. He wasn't like Mr. Dick, but he was the same +type, only taller and heavier built. + +"And so it isn't a hotel," he remarked. "Well, I'm sorry. The +caravansary in the village is not to my liking, and I had thought of +engaging a suite up here. My secretary usually attends to these things, +but--don't take away all the glasses, Heb--I beg your pardon--but the +thirst is coming." + +He filled the glass himself and then he came up and stood in front of +me, with the glass held up in the air. + +"To the best woman I have met in many days," he said, not mocking but +serious. "I was about to lie down and let the little birds cover me +with leaves." Then he glanced at the empty dish and smiled. "To buttered +pop-corn! Long may it wave!" he said, and emptied the glass. + +Well, I found a couple of apples in my pantry and brought them out, and +after he ate them he told me what had happened to him. He had been a +little of everything since he left college he was about twenty-five had +crossed the Atlantic in a catboat and gone with somebody or other into +some part of Africa--they got lost and had to eat each other or lizards, +or something like that--and then he went to the Philippines, and got +stuck there and had to sell books to get home. He had a little money, +"enough for a grub-stake," he said, and all his folks were dead. Then +a college friend of his wrote a rural play called Sweet Peas--"Great +title, don't you think?" he asked--and he put up all the money. It would +have been a hit, he said, but the kid in the play--the one that unites +its parents in the last act just before he dies of tuberculosis--the kid +took the mumps and looked as if, instead of fading away, he was going to +blow up. Everybody was so afraid of him that they let him die alone for +three nights in the middle of the stage. Then the leading woman took the +mumps, and the sheriff took everything else. + +"You city folks seem to know so much," I said, "and yet you bring a +country play to the country! Why don't you bring out a play with women +in low-necked gowns, and champagne suppers, and a scandal or two? They +packed Pike's Opera-House three years ago with a play called Why Women +Sin." + +Well, of course, the thing failed, and he lost every dollar he'd put +into it, which was all he had, including what he had in his pockets. + +"They seized my trunks," he explained, "and I sold my fur-lined overcoat +for eight dollars, which took one of the girls back home. It's hard for +the women. A fellow can always get some sort of a job--I was coming up +here to see if they needed an extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, +or anything that meant a roof and something to eat--but I suppose they +don't need a jack-of-all-trades." + +"No," I answered, "but I'll tell you what I think they're going to need. +And that's an owner!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CONSPIRACY + +I'm not making any excuses. I did it for the best. In any sort of crisis +there are always folks who stand around and wring their hands and say, +"What shall we do?" And then if it's a fire and somebody has had enough +sense to send for the engines, they say: "Just look at what the water +did!" Although as far as I can see I'm the only one that suffered any +damage. + +If Mr. Thoburn had not been there, sitting by to see the old sanatorium +die so it could sprout wings and fly as a summer hotel, I'd never have +thought of it. But I was in despair. + +I got up and opened the door, but the Snow came in in a cloud, and the +path was half a foot deep again. It shows on what little threads big +things hang, for when I saw the storm I gave up the idea of bringing Mr. +Sam down to see the young man, and the breath of fresh air in my face +brought me to my senses. + +But the angel of providence appeared in the shape of Mike, the bath man, +coming down through the snow in a tearing rage. The instant I saw Mike I +knew it was settled. + +"Am I or am I not to give Mr. Moody a needle shower?" he shouted, almost +beside himself. And I saw he had his overcoat over his bath costume, +which is a Turkish towel. + +"A needle shower followed by a salt rub," said I. "He's been having them +for eleven years. What's the matter?" + +"That fool of a young doctor," shouted Mike, "he told him before he left +that if he'd been taking them for eleven years and wasn't any better +it was time to stop. Ain't business bad enough--only four people in the +house takin' baths regular--without his buttin' in!" + +"Where's Mr. Moody?" + +"In the bath. I've locked up his clothes." + +"You give him a needle shower and a salt rub," I ordered, "and if he +makes a fuss just send for me. And, Mike," I said, as he started out, +"ask Mr. Van Alstyne to come out here immediately." + +That's the way it was all the time. Everybody brought their troubles to +me, and I guess I thought I was a little tin god on wheels and the place +couldn't get along without me. But it did; it does. We all think we'll +leave a big hole behind us when we go, but it's just like taking your +thumb out of a bowl of soup. There isn't even a dent. + +Mr. Van Alstyne came out on the run, and when he saw Mr. Pierce by the +fire--that was his name, Alan Pierce--he stopped and stared. Then he +said: + +"You infernal young scamp!" And with that Mr. Pierce jumped up, +surprised and pretty mad, and Mr. Van Alstyne saw his mistake. + +"I'm sure I beg your pardon!" he said. "The fact is, I was expecting +somebody else, and in the firelight--" + +"You surprised me, that's all," said Mr. Pierce. "Under the +circumstances, I'm glad I'm not the other chap." + +"You may be," assured Mr. Sam grimly. "You're not unlike him, by the +way. A little taller and heavier, but--" + +Now it's all very well for Mr. Sam to say I originated the idea and all +that, but as truly as I am writing this, as I watched his face I saw the +same thought come into it. He looked Mr. Pierce up and down, and then he +stared into the fire and puckered his mouth to whistle, but he didn't. +And finally he glanced at me, but I was looking into the fire, too. + +"Just come, haven't you?" he asked. "How did you get up the hill?" + +"Walked," said Mr. Pierce, smiling. "It took some digging, too. But +I didn't come for my health, unless you think three meals a day are +necessary for health." + +Mr. Sam turned and stared at him. "By Jove! you don't mean it!" + +"I wish I didn't," Mr. Pierce replied. "One of the hardest things +I've had to remember for the last ten hours was that for two years I +voluntarily ate only two meals a day. A man's a fool to do a thing like +that! It's reckless." + +Mr. Sam got up and began to walk the floor, his hands in his pockets. He +tried to get my eye, but still I looked in the fire. + +"All traffic's held up, Minnie," he said. "The eight o'clock train is +stalled beyond the junction, in a drift. I've wired the conductor, and +Carter isn't on it." + +"Well?" said I. + +"If we could only get past to-day," Mr. Sam went on; "if Thoburn would +only choke to death, or--if there was somebody around who looked like +Dick. I dare say, by to-morrow--" He looked at Mr. Pierce, who smiled +and looked at him. + +"And I resemble Dick!" said Mr. Pierce. "Well, if he's a moral and +upright young man--" + +"He isn't!" Mr. Sam broke in savagely. And then and there he sat down +and told Mr. Pierce the trouble we were in, and what sort of cheerful +idiot Dicky Carter was, and how everybody liked him, but wished he would +grow up before the family good name was gone, and that now he had a +chance to make good and be self-supporting, and he wasn't around, and +if Mr. Sam ever got his hands on him he'd choke a little sense down his +throat. + +And then Mr. Pierce told about the play and the mumps, and how he was +stranded. When Mr. Sam asked him outright if he'd take Mr. Dick's place +overnight he agreed at once. + +"I haven't anything to lose," he said, "and anyhow I've been on a diet +of Sweet Peas so long that a sanatorium is about what I need." + +"It's like this," explained Mr. Sam, "Old Stitt is pretty thoroughly +jingled--excuse me, Minnie, but it's the fact. I'll take you to his +room, with the lights low, and all you'll need to do is to shake hands +with him. He's going on the early train to-morrow. Then you needn't mix +around much with the guests until to-morrow, and by that time I hope to +have Dick within thrashing distance." + +Just as they'd got it arranged that Mr. Pierce was to put on Mr. Sam's +overcoat and walk down to the village so that he could come up in a +sleigh, as if he had driven over from Yorkton--he was only to walk +across the hall in front of the office, with his collar up, just enough +to show himself and then go to his room with a chill--just as it was all +arranged, Mr. Sam thought of something. + +"The house people are waiting for Dick," he said to me, "and about forty +women are crocheting in the lobby, so they'll be sure to see him. Won't +some of them know it isn't Dick?" + +I thought pretty fast. + +"He hasn't been around much lately," I said. "Nobody would know except +Mrs. Wiggins. She'll never forget him; the last time he was here he put +on her false front like a beard and wore it down to dinner." + +"Then it's all off," he groaned. "She's got as many eyes as a potato." + +"And about as much sense," said I. "Fiddlesticks! She's not so good we +can't replace her, and what's the use of swallowing a camel and then +sticking at a housekeeper?" + +"You can't get her out of the house in an hour," he objected, but in a +weak voice. + +"I can!" I said firmly. + +(I did. Inside of an hour she went to the clerk, Mr. Slocum, and handed +in her resignation. She was a touchy person, but I did NOT say all that +was quoted. I did NOT say the kitchen was filthy; I only said it took +away my appetite to look in at the door. But she left, which is the +point.) + +Well, I stood in the doorway and watched them disappear in the darkness, +and I felt better than I had all day. It's great to be able to DO +something, even if that something is wrong. But as I put on my shawl +and turned out the lights, I suddenly remembered. Miss Patty would be +waiting in the lobby for Mr. Dick, and she would not be crocheting! + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MR. PIERCE ACQUIRES A WIFE + +Whoever has charge of the spring-house at Hope Springs takes the news +stand in the evening. That's an old rule. The news stand includes +tobacco and a circulating library, and is close to the office, and if I +missed any human nature at the spring I got it there. If you can't tell +all about a man by the way he asks for mineral water and drinks it, by +the time you've supplied his literature and his tobacco and heard him +grumbling over his bill at the office, you've got a line on him and a +hook in it. + +After I ate my supper I relieved Amanda King, who runs the news stand in +the daytime, when she isn't laid off with the toothache. + +Mr. Sam was right. All the women had on their puffs, and they were +sitting in a half-circle on each side of the door. Mrs. Sam was there, +looking frightened and anxious, and standing near the card-room door was +Miss Patty. She was all in white, with two red spots on her cheeks, and +I thought if her prince could have seen her then he would pretty nearly +have eaten her up. Mr. Thoburn was there, of course, pretending to read +the paper, but every now and then he looked at his watch, and once +he got up and paced off the lobby, putting down the length in his +note-book. I didn't need a mind-reader to tell me he was figuring the +cost of a new hardwood floor and four new rugs. + +Mr. Sam came to the news stand, and he was so nervous he could hardly +light a cigarette. + +"I've had a message from one of the detectives," he said. "They've +traced him to Salem, Ohio, but they lost him there. If we can only hold +on this evening--! Look at that first-night audience!" + +"Mr. Pierce is due in three minutes," I told him. "I hope you told him +to kiss his sister." + +"Nothing of the sort," he objected. "Why should he kiss her? Mrs. Van +Alstyne is afraid of the whole thing: she won't stand for that." + +"I guess she could endure it," I remarked dryly. + +"It's astonishing how much of that sort of thing a woman can bear." + +He looked at me and grinned. + +"By gad," he said, "I wouldn't be as sophisticated as you are for a good +deal. Isn't that the sleigh?" + +Everybody had heard it. The women sat up and craned forward to look at +the door: Mrs. Sam was sitting forward clutching the arms of her chair. +She was in white, having laid off her black for that evening, with a red +rose pinned on her so Mr. Pierce would know her. Miss Patty heard the +sleigh-bells also, and she turned and came toward the door. Her mouth +was set hard, and she was twisting the ruby ring as she always did when +she was nervous. And at the same moment Mr. Sam and I both saw it; she +was in white, too, and she had a red rose tucked in her belt! + +Mr. Sam muttered something and rushed at her, but he was too late. Just +as he got to her the door opened and in came Mr. Pierce, with Mr. Sam's +fur coat turned up around his ears and Mr. Sam's fur cap drawn well down +on his head. He stood for an instant blinking in the light, and Mrs. +Van Alstyne got up nervously. He never even saw her. His eyes lighted on +Miss Patty's face and stayed there. Mr. Sam was there, but what could +he do? Mr. Pierce walked over to Miss Patty, took her hand, said, "Hello +there!" and KISSED HER. It was awful. + +Most women will do anything to save a scene, and that helped us, for +she never turned a hair. But when Mr. Sam got him by the arm and led him +toward the stairs, she turned so that the old cats sitting around +could not see her and her face was scarlet. She went over to the wood +fire--our lobby is a sort of big room with chairs and tables and palms, +and an open fire in winter--and sat down. I don't think she knew herself +whether she was most astonished or angry. + +Mrs. Biggs gave a nasty little laugh. + +"Your brother didn't see you," she said to Mrs. Van Alstyne. "I dare say +a sister doesn't count much when a future princess is around!" + +Mrs. Van Alstyne was still staring up the staircase, but she came to +herself at that. She had some grit in her, if she did look like a French +doll. + +"My brother and Miss Jennings are very old friends," she remarked +quietly. I believe that was what she thought, too. I don't think she had +seen the other red rose, and what was she to think but that Mr. Pierce +had known Miss Jennings somewhere? She was dazed, Mrs. Sam was. But she +carried off the situation anyhow, and gave us time to breathe. We needed +it. + +"If I were his highness," said Miss Cobb, spreading the Irish lace +collar she was making over her knee and squinting at it, "I should wish +my fiancee to be more er--dignified. Those old Austrian families +are very haughty. They would not understand our American habit of +osculation." + +I was pretty mad at that, for anybody could have seen Miss Patty didn't +kiss him. + +"If by osculation you mean kissing, Miss Cobb," I said, going over +to her, "I guess you don't remember the Austrian count who was a head +waiter here. If there was anything in the way of osculation that that +member of an old Austrian family didn't know, I've got to find it out. +He could kiss all around any American I ever saw!" + +I went back to my news stand. I was shaking so my knees would hardly +hold me. All I could think of was that they had swallowed Mr. Pierce, +bait and hook, and that for a time we were saved, although in the +electric light Mr. Pierce was a good bit less like Dicky Carter than he +had seemed to be in the spring-house by the fire. + +Well, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." + +Everybody went to bed early. Mr. Thoburn came over and bought a cigar on +his way up-stairs, and he was as gloomy as he had been cheerful before. + +"Well," I said, "I guess you won't put a dancing floor in the +dining-room just yet, Mr. Thoburn." + +"I'm not in a hurry," he snapped. "It's only January, and I don't want +the place until May. I'll get it when I'm ready for it. I had a good +look at young Carter, and he's got too square a jaw to run a successful +neurasthenics' home." + +I went to the pantry myself at ten o'clock and fixed a tray of supper +for Mr. Pierce. He would need all his strength the next day, and a man +can't travel far on buttered pop-corn. I found some chicken and got a +bottle of the old doctor's wine--I had kept the key of his wine-cellar +since he died--and carried the tray up to Mr. Pierce's sitting-room. He +had the old doctor's suite. + +The door was open an inch or so, and as I was about to knock I heard a +girl's voice. It was Miss Patty! + +"How can you deny it?" she was saying angrily. "I dare say you will even +deny that you ever saw this letter before!" + +There was a minute's pause while I suppose he looked at the letter. + +"I never did!" he said solemnly. + +There had been a queer sound all along, but now I made it out. Some one +else was in the room, sniveling and crying. + +"My poor lamb!" it whimpered. And I knew it was Mrs. Hutchins, Miss +Patty's old nurse. + +"Perhaps," said Miss Patty, "you also deny that you were in Ohio the day +before yesterday." + +"I was in Ohio, but I positively assert--" + +"I'll send for the police, that's what I'll do!" Mrs. Hutchins said, +with a burst of rage, and her chair creaked. "How can I ever tell your +father?" + +"You'll do nothing of the sort," said Miss Patty. "Do you want the whole +story in the papers? Isn't it awful enough as it is? Mr. Carter, I have +asked my question twice now and I am waiting for an answer." + +"But I don't know the answer!" he said miserably. "I--I assure you, I'm +absolutely in the dark. I don't know what's in the letter. I--I haven't +always done what I should, I dare say, but my conduct in the state +of Ohio during the last few weeks has been without stain--unless I've +forgotten--but if it had been anything very heinous, I'd remember, don't +you think?" + +Somebody crossed the room, and a paper rustled. + +"Read that!" said Miss Patty's voice. And then silence for a minute. + +"Good lord!" exclaimed Mr. Pierce. + +"Do you deny that?" + +"Absolutely!" he said firmly. "I--I have never even heard of the +Reverend Dwight Johnstone--" + +There was a scream from Mrs. Hutchins, and a creak as she fell into her +chair again. + +"Your father!" she said, over and over. "What can we say to your +father?" + +"And that is all you will say?" demanded Miss Patty scornfully. "'You +don't know;' 'there's a mistake;' 'you never saw the letter before!' Oh, +if I were only a man!" + +"I'll tell you what we'll do," Mr. Pierce said, with something like +hope in his voice. "We'll send for Mr. Van Alstyne! That's the thing, of +course. I'll send for--er--Jim." + +Mr. Van Alstyne's name is Sam, but nobody noticed. + +"Mr. Van Alstyne!" repeated Miss Patty in a dazed way. + +I guessed it was about time to make a diversion, so I knocked and walked +in with the tray, and they all glared at me. Mrs. Hutchins was collapsed +in a chair, holding a wet handkerchief to her eyes, and one side of +her cap was loose and hanging down. Miss Patty was standing by a table, +white and angry, and Mr. Pierce was about a yard from her, with the +letter in his hands. But he was looking at her. + +"I've brought your supper, Mr. Carter," I began. Then I stopped and +stared at Miss Patty and Mrs. Hutchins. "Oh," I said. + +"Thank you," said Mr. Pierce, very uncomfortable. "Just put it down +anywhere." + +I stalked across the room and put it on the table. Then I turned and +looked at Mrs. Hutchins. + +"I'm sorry," I said, "but it's one of the rules of this house that +guests don't come to these rooms. They're strictly private. It isn't MY +rule, ladies, but if you will step down to the parlor--" + +Mrs. Hutchins' face turned purple. She got up in a hurry. + +"I'm here with Miss Jennings on a purely personal matter," she said +furiously. "How dare you turn us out?" + +"Nonsense, Minnie!" said Miss Patty. "I'll go when I'm ready." + +"Rule of the house," I remarked, and going over to the door I stood +holding it open. There wasn't any such rule, but I had to get them out; +they had Mr. Pierce driven into a corner and yelling for help. + +"There is no such rule and you know it, Minnie!" Miss Patty said +angrily. "Come, Nana! We're not learning anything, and there's nothing +to be done until morning, anyhow. My head's whirling." + +Mrs. Hutchins went out first. + +"The first thing I'D do if I owned this place, I'd get rid of that +red-haired girl," she snapped to Mr. Pierce. "If you want to know +why there are fewer guests here every year, I'll tell you. SHE'S the +reason!" Then she flounced out with her head up. + +(That was pure piffle. The real reason, as every thinking person knows, +is Christian Science. It's cheaper and more handy. And now that it isn't +heresy to say it, the spring being floored over, I reckon that most +mineral springs cure by suggestion. Also, of course, if a man's drinking +four gallons of lithia water a day, he's so saturated that if he does +throw in anything alcoholic or indigestible, it's too busy swimming for +its life to do any harm.) + +Mr. Pierce took a quick step toward Miss Patty and looked down at her. + +"About--what happened down-stairs to-night," he stammered, with the +unhappiest face I ever saw on a man, "I--I've been ready to knock my +fool head off ever since. It was a mistake--a--" + +"My letter, please," said Miss Patty coolly, looking back at him without +a blink. + +"Please don't look like that!" he begged. "I came in suddenly out of the +darkness, and you--" + +"My letter, please!" she said again, raising her eyebrows. + +He gave up trying then. He held out the letter and she took it and went +out with her head up and scorn in the very way she trailed her skirt +over the door-sill. But I'm no fool; it didn't need the way he touched +the door-knob where she had been holding it, when he closed the door +after her, to tell me what ailed him. + +He was crazy about her from the minute he saw her, and he hadn't a +change of linen or a cent to his name. And she, as you might say, on the +ragged edge of royalty, with queens and princes sending her stomachers +and tiaras until she'd hardly need clothes! Well, a cat may look at a +king. + +He went over to the fireplace, where I was putting his coffee to keep it +hot, and looked down at me. + +"I've a suspicion, Minnie," he said, "that, to use a vulgar expression, +I've bitten off more than I can chew in this little undertaking, and +that I'm in imminent danger of choking to death. Do you know anybody, a +friend of Miss er--Jennings, named Dorothy?" + +"She's got a younger sister of that name," I said, with a sort of chill +going over me. "She's in boarding-school now." + +"Oh, no, she's not!" he remarked, picking up the coffee-pot. "It seems +that I met her on the train somewhere or other the day before yesterday, +and ran off with her and married her!" + +I sat back on the rug speechless. + +"You should have warned me, Minnie," he went on, growing more cheerful +over his chicken and coffee. "I came up here to-night, the proud +possessor of a bunch of keys, a patent folding cork-screw and a pocket, +automobile road map. Inside two hours I have a sanatorium and a wife. +At this rate, Minnie, before morning I may reasonably hope to have a +family." + +I sat where I was on the floor and stared into the fire. Don't tell me +the way of the wicked is hard; the wicked get all the fun there is +out of life, and as far as I can see, it's the respectable "in at ten +o'clock and up at seven" part of the wicked's family that has all the +trouble and does the worrying. + +"If we could only keep it hidden for a few days!" I said. "But, of +course, the papers will get it, and just now, with columns every day +about Miss Patty's clothes--" + +"Her what?" + +"And all the princes of the blood sending presents, and the king not +favoring it very much--" + +"What are you talking about?" + +"About Miss Jennings' wedding. Don't you read the newspaper?" + +He hadn't really known who she was up to that minute. He put down the +tray and got up. + +"I--I hadn't connected her with the--the newspaper Miss Jennings," +he said, and lighted a cigarette over the lamp. Something in his face +startled me, I must say. + +"You're not going to give up now?" I asked. I got up and put my hand on +his arm, and I think he was shaking. "If you do, I'll--I'll go out and +drown myself, head down, in the spring." + +He had been going to run away--I saw it then--but he put a hand over +mine. Then he looked at the door where Miss Patty had gone out and gave +himself a shake. + +"I'll stay," he said. "We'll fight it out on this line if it takes all +summer, Minnie." He stood looking into the fire, and although I'm not +fond of men, knowing, as I have explained, a great deal about their +stomachs and livers and very little about their hearts, there was +something about Mr. Pierce that made me want to go up and pat him on the +head like a little boy. "After all," he said, "what's blue blood to good +red blood?" + +Which was almost what the bishop had said! + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AND MR. MOODY INDIGESTION + +Mr. Moody took indigestion that night--not but that he always had it, +but this was worse--and Mrs. Moody came to my room about two o'clock and +knocked at the door. + +"You'd better come," she said. "There's no doctor, and he's awful bad. +Blames you, too; he says you made him take a salt rub." + +"My land," I snapped, trying to find my bedroom slippers, "I didn't make +him take clam chowder for supper, and that's what's the matter with him. +He's going on a strained rice diet, that's what he's going to do. I've +got to have my sleep." + +She was waiting in the hall in her kimono, and holding a candle. Anybody +could see she'd been crying. As she often said to me, of course she was +grateful that Mr. Moody didn't drink--no one knew his virtues better +than she did. But her sister married a man who went on a terrible bat +twice a year, and all the rest of the time he was humble and affable +trying to make up for it. And sometimes she thought if Mr. Moody would +only take a little whisky when he had these attacks--! I'd rather be +the wife of a cheerful drunkard any time than have to live with a +cantankerous saint. Miss Cobb and I had had many a fight over it, but at +that time there wasn't much likelihood of either of us being called on +to choose. + +Well, we went down to Mr. Moody's room, and he was sitting up in bed +with his knees drawn up to his chin and a hot-water bottle held to him. + +"Look at your work, woman," he said to me when I opened the door. + +"I'm dying!" + +"You look sick," I said, going over to the bed. It never does to cross +them when they get to the water-bottle stage. "The pharmacy clerk's gone +to a dance over at Trimble's, but I guess I can find you some whisky." + +"Do have some whisky, George," begged Mrs. Moody, remembering her +brother-in-law. + +"I never touch the stuff and you both know it," he snarled. He had a +fresh pain just then and stopped, clutching up the bottle. "Besides," he +finished, when it was over, "I haven't got any whisky." + +Well, to make a long story short, we got him to agree to some whisky +from the pharmacy, with a drop of peppermint in it, if he could wash it +down with spring water so it wouldn't do him any harm. + +"There isn't any spring water in the house," I said, losing my temper a +little, "and I'm not going out there in my bedroom slippers, Mr. +Moody. I don't see why your eating what you shouldn't needs to give me +pneumonia." + +Mrs. Moody was standing beside the bed, and I saw her double chin +begin to work. If you have ever seen a fat woman, in a short red kimono +holding a candle by, a bed, and crying, you know how helpless she looks. + +"Don't go, Minnie," she sniffled. "It would be too awful. If you are +afraid you could take the poker." + +"I'm not going!" I declared firmly. "It's--it's dratted idiocy, that's +all. Plain water would do well enough. There's a lot of people think +whisky is poison with water, anyhow. Where's the pitcher?" + +Oh, yes, I went. I put on some stockings of Mrs. Moody's and a petticoat +and a shawl and started. It was when I was in the pharmacy looking for +the peppermint that I first noticed my joint again. A joint like that's +a blessing or a curse, the way you look at it. + +I found the peppermint and some whisky and put them on the stairs. Then +I took my pitcher and lantern and started for the spring-house. It was +still snowing, and part of the time Mrs. Moody's stockings were up to +their knees. The wind was blowing hard, and when I rounded the corner +of the house my lantern went out. I stood there in the storm, with the +shawl flapping, thanking heaven I was a single woman, and about ready +to go back and tell Mr. Moody what I thought of him when I looked toward +the spring-house. + +At first I thought it was afire, then I saw that the light was coming +from the windows. Somebody was inside, with a big fire and all the +lights going. + +I'd had tramps sleep all night in the spring-house before, and once they +left a card by the spring: "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to +drink!" So I started out through the snow on a half run. By the bridge +over Hope Springs Creek I slipped and fell, and I heard the pitcher +smash to bits on the ice below. But as soon as I could move I went on +again. That spring-house had been my home for a good many years, and the +tramp didn't live who could spend the night there if I knew it. + +I realized then that I should have taken the poker. I went over +cautiously to one of the windows, wading in deep snow to get there--and +if you have ever done that in a pair of bedroom slippers you can realize +the state of my mind--and looked in. + +There were three chairs drawn up in a row in front of the fire, with +my bearskin hearth-rug on them to make a couch, and my shepherd's plaid +shawl folded at one end for a pillow. And stretched on that with her +long sealskin coat laid over her was Dorothy Jennings, Miss Patty's +younger sister! She was alone, as far as I could see, and she was +leaning on her elbow with her cheek in her hand, staring at the fire. +Just then the door into the pantry opened and out came Mr. Dick himself. + +"Were you calling, honey?" he said, coming over and looking down at her. + +"You were such a long time!" says she, glancing up under her lashes at +him. "I--I was lonely!" + +"Bless you," says Mr. Dick, stooping over her. "What did I ever do +without you?" + +I could have told her a few things he did, but by that time it was +coming over me pretty strong that here was the real Dicky Carter and +that I had an extra one on my hands. The minute I looked at this one I +knew that nobody but a blind man would mistake one for the other, and +Mr. Thoburn wasn't blind. I tell you I stood out in that snow-bank and +perspired! + +When I looked again Mr. Dick was on his knees by the row of chairs, and +Miss Dorothy--Mrs. Dicky, of course--was running her fingers through his +hair. + +"Minnie used to keep apples and things in the pantry," he said, "but she +must be growing stingy in her old age; there's not a bite there." + +"I'm not so very hungry when I have you!" cooed Mrs. Dicky. + +"But you can't eat me." He brought her hand down from his hair--I may be +stingy in my old age, but I've learned a few things, and one is that a +man feels like a fool with his hair rumpled, and I can tell the degree +of a woman's experience by the way she lets his top hair alone--and +pretended to bite it, her hand, of course. "Although I could eat you," +he said. "I'd like to take a bite out of your throat right there." + +Well, it was no place for me unless they knew I was around. I waded +around to the door and walked in, and there was a grand upsetting of the +sealskin coat and my shepherd's plaid shawl. Mr. Dick jumped to his feet +and Mrs. Dick sat bolt upright and stared at me over the backs of the +chairs. + +"Minnie!" cried Mr. Dick. "As I'm a married man, it's Minnie herself; +Minnie, the guardian angel! The spirit of the place! Dorothy, don't you +remember Minnie?" + +She came toward me with her hand out. She was a pretty little thing, not +so beautiful as Miss Patty, but with a nice way about her. + +"I'm awfully glad to see you again," she said. "Of course I +remember--why you are hardly dressed at all! You must be frozen!" + +I went over to the fire and emptied my bedroom slippers of snow. Then I +sat down and looked at them both. + +"Frozen!" repeated I; "I'm in a hot sweat. If you two children meant to +come, why in creation didn't you come in time?" + +"We did," replied Mr. Dick, promptly. "We crawled under the wire fence +into the deer park at five minutes to twelve. The will said 'Be on the +ground,' and I was--flat on the ground!" + +"We've had the police," I said, drearily enough. "I wouldn't live +through another day like yesterday for a hundred dollars." + +"We were held up by the snow," he explained. "We got a sleigh to come +over in, but we walked up the hill and came here. I don't mind saying +that my wife's people don't know about this yet, and we're going to lay +low until we've cooked up some sort of a scheme to tell them." Then he +came over and put his hand on my shoulder. + +"Poor old Minnie!" he said; "honest, I'm sorry. I've been a hard child +to raise, haven't I? But that's all over, Minnie. I've got an incentive +now, and it's 'steady, old boy,' for me from now. You and I will run the +place and run it right." + +"I don't want to!" I retorted, holding my bedroom slippers to steam +before the fire. "I'm going to buy out Timmon's candy store and live a +quiet life, Mr. Dick. This place is making me old." + +"Nonsense! We're going to work together, and we'll make this the busiest +spot in seven counties. Dorothy and I have got it all planned out and +we've got some corking good ideas." He put his hands in his pockets and +strutted up and down. "It's the day of advertising, you know, Minnie," +he said. "You've got to have the goods, and then you've got to +let people know you've got the goods. What would you say to a +shooting-gallery in the basement, under the reading-room?" + +"Fine!" I said, with sarcasm, turning my slippers. "If things got +too quiet that would wake them up a bit, and we could have a balloon +ascension on Saturdays!" + +"Not an ascension," said he, with my bitterness going right over his +head. "Nothing sensational, Minnie. That's the way with women; they're +always theatrical. But what's the matter with a captive balloon, and +letting fresh-air cranks sleep in a big basket bed--say, at five hundred +feet? Or a thousand--a thousand would be better. The air's purer." + +"With a net below," says I, "in case they should turn over and fall out +of bed! It's funny nobody ever thought of it before!" + +"Isn't it?" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "And we've all sorts of ideas. +Dick--Mr. Carter has learned of a brand new cocktail for the men--" + +"A lulu!" he broke in. + +"And I'm going around to read to the old ladies and hold their hands--" + +"You'll have to chloroform them first," I put in. "Perhaps it would be +better to give the women the cocktail and hold the men's hands." + +"Oh, if you're going to be funny!" Mr. Dick said savagely, "we'll not +tell you any more. I've been counting on you, Minnie. You've been here +so long. You know," he said to his wife, "when I was a little shaver I +thought Minnie had webbed-feet--she was always on the bank, like a duck. +You ARE a duck, Minnie," he says to me; "a nice red-headed duck! Now +don't be quirky and spoil everything." + +I couldn't be light-hearted to save my life. + +"Your sister's been wild all day," I told Mrs. Dick. "She got your +letter to-day--yesterday--but I don't think she's told your father yet." + +"What!" she screeched, and caught at the mantelpiece to hold herself. +"Not Pat!" she said, horrified, "and father! Here!" + +Well, I listened while they told me. They hadn't had the faintest idea +that Mr. Jennings and Miss Patty were there at the sanatorium. The girl +had been making a round of visits in the Christmas holidays, and instead +of going back to school she'd sent a forged excuse and got a month +off--she hadn't had any letters, of course. The plan had been not +to tell anybody but her sister until Mr. Dick had made good at the +sanatorium. + +"The idea was this, Minnie," said Mr. Dick. "Old--I mean Mr. Jennings +is--is not well; he has a chronic indisposition--" + +"Disposition, I call it," put in Mr. Jennings' daughter. + +"And he's apt to regard my running away with Dorothy when I haven't a +penny as more of an embezzlement than an elopement." + +"Fiddle!" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "I asked you to marry me, and now they're +here and have to spoil it all." + +The thought of her father and his disposition suddenly overpowered her +and she put her yellow head on the back of a chair and began to cry. + +"I--I can't tell him!" she sobbed. "I wrote to Pat,--why doesn't Pat +tell him? I'm going back to school." + +"You'll do nothing of the sort. You're a married woman now, and where +I go you go. My country is your country, and my sanatorium is your +sanatorium." He was in a great rage. + +But she got up and began trying to pull on her fur coat, and her jaw was +set. She looked like her father for a minute. + +"Where are you going?" he asked, looking scared. + +"Anywhere. I'll go down to the station and take the first train, it +doesn't matter where to." She picked up her muff, but he went over and +stood against the door. + +"Not a step without me!" he declared. "I'll go with you, of course; you +know that. I'm not afraid of your father: I'd as soon as not go in and +wake him now and tell him the whole thing--that you've married a chap +who isn't worth the butter on his bread, who can't buy you kid gloves--" + +"But you will, as soon as the sanatorium succeeds!" she put in bravely. +She put down her muff. "Don't tell him to-night, anyhow. Maybe Pat will +think of some way to break it to him. She can do a lot with father." + +"I hope she can think of some way to break another Richard Carter to the +people in the house," I said tartly. + +"Another Richard Carter!" they said together, and then I told them about +how we had waited and got desperate, and how we'd brought in Mr. Pierce +at the last minute and that he was asleep now at the house. They roared. +To save my life I couldn't see that it was funny. But when I came to the +part about Thoburn being there, and his having had a good look at Mr. +Pierce, and that he was waiting around with his jaws open to snap up +the place when it fell under the hammer, Mr. Dick stopped laughing and +looked serious. + +"Lord deliver us from our friends!" he said. "Between you and Sam, +you've got things in a lovely mess, Minnie. What are you going to do +about it now?" + +"It's possible we can get by Thoburn," I said. "You can slip in +to-night, we can get Mr. Pierce out--Lord knows he'll be glad to go--and +Miss Dorothy can go back to school. Then, later, when you've got things +running and are making good--" + +"I'm not going back to school," she declared, "but I'll go away; I'll +not stand in your way, Dicky." She took two steps toward the door and +waited for him to stop her. + +"Nonsense, Minnie," he exclaimed angrily and put his arm around her, "I +won't be separated from my wife. You got me into this scrape, and--" + +"I didn't marry you!" I retorted. "And I'm not responsible for your +father-in-law's disposition." + +"You'll have to help us out," he finished. + +"What shall I do? Murder Mr. Jennings?" I asked bitterly. "If you expect +me to suggest that you both go to the house, and your wife can hide in +your rooms--" + +"Why not?" asked Mr. Dick. + +Well, I sat down again and explained patiently that it would get out +among the servants and cause a scandal, and that even if it didn't I +wasn't going to have any more deception: I had enough already. And after +a while they saw it as I did, and agreed to wait and see Miss Patty +before they decided. They wanted to have her wakened at once, but I +refused, although I agreed to bring her out first thing in the morning. + +"But you can't stay here," I said. "There'll be Miss Cobb at nine +o'clock, and the man comes to light the fire at eight." + +"We could go to the old shelter-house on the golf links," suggested Mr. +Dick, looking me square in the eye. (I took the hint, and Mrs. Dicky +never knew he had been hidden there before.) + +"Nobody ever goes near it in winter." So I put on my slippers again and +we started through the snow across the golf links, Mr. Dick carrying a +bundle of firewood, and I leading the way with my lantern. Twice I went +into a drift to my waist, and once a rabbit bunted into me head on, and +would have scared me into a chill if I hadn't been shaking already. The +two behind me were cheerful enough. Mr. Dick pointed out the general +direction of the deer park which hides the shelter-house from the +sanatorium, and if you'll believe it, with snow so thick I had to scrape +it off the lantern every minute or so, those children planned to give +something called A Midsummer Night's Dream in the deer park among the +trees in the spring, to entertain the patients. + +"I wish to heaven I'd wake up and find all THIS a dream," I called back +over my shoulder. But they were busy with costumes and getting some +folks they knew from town to take the different parts and they never +even heard me. The last few yards they snowballed each other and me. I +tell you I felt a hundred years old. + +We got into the shelter-house by my crawling through a window, and when +we had lighted the fire and hung up the lantern, it didn't seem so +bad. The place had been closed since summer, and it seemed colder than +outside, but those two did the barn dance then and there. There were two +rooms, and Mr. Dick had always used the back one to hide in. It's a good +thing Mrs. Dick was not a suspicious person. Many a woman would have +wondered when she saw him lift a board in the floor and take out a +rusty tin basin, a cake of soap, a moldy towel, a can of sardines, a +tooth-brush and a rubber carriage robe to lay over the rafters under the +hole in the roof. But it's been my experience that the first few days +of married life women are blind because they want to be and after that +because they have to be. + +It was about four when I left them, sitting on a soap box in front of +the fire toasting sardines on the end of Mr. Dick's walking-stick. Mrs. +Dick made me put on her sealskin coat, and I took the lantern, leaving +them in the firelight. They'd gone back to the captive balloon idea and +were wondering if they couldn't get it copyrighted! + +I took a short cut home, crawling through the barbed-wire fence and +going through the deer park. I was too tired and cold to think. I +stumbled down the hill to the house, and just before I got to the corner +I heard voices, and the shuffling of feet through the snow. The next +instant a lantern came around the corner of the house. Mr. Thoburn was +carrying it, and behind him were the bishop, Mike the bath man, and Mr. +Pierce. + +"It's like that man Moody," the bishop was saying angrily, "to send the +girl--" + +"Piffle!" snarled Mr. Thoburn. "If ever a woman was able to take care +of herself--" And then they saw me, and they all stopped and stared. + +"Good gracious, girl!" said the bishop, with his dressing-gown blowing +out straight behind him in the wind. "We thought you'd been buried in a +drift!" + +"I don't see why!" I retorted defiantly. "Can't I go out to my own +spring-house without having a posse after me to bring me back?" + +"Ordinarily," said Mr. Thoburn, with his snaky eyes on me, "I think +I may say that you might go almost anywhere without my turning out to +recover you. But Mrs. Moody is having hysterics." + +Mrs. Moody! I'd forgotten the Moodys! + +"She is convinced that you have drowned yourself, head down, in the +spring," Mr. Pierce said in his pleasant way. "You've been gone two +hours, you know." + +He took my arm and turned me toward the house. I was dazed. + +"In answer to your urgent inquiry," Mr. Thoburn called after me, +disagreeably, "Mr. Moody has not died. He is asleep. But, by the way, +where's the spring water?" + +I didn't answer him; I couldn't. We went into the house; Mrs. Moody and +Miss Cobb were sitting on the stairs. Mrs. Moody had been crying, and +Miss Cobb was feeding her the whisky I had left, with a teaspoon. She +had had a half tumblerful already and was quite maudlin. She ran to me +and put her arms around me. + +"I thought I was a murderess!" she cried. "Oh, the thought! Blood on my +soul! Why, Minnie Waters, wherever did you get that sealskin coat!" + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DOLLY, HOW COULD YOU? + +I lay down across my bed at six o'clock that morning, but I was too +tired and worried to sleep, so at seven I got up and dressed. + +I was frightened when I saw myself in the glass. My eyes looked like +burnt holes in a blanket. I put on two pairs of stockings and heavy +shoes, for I knew I was going to do the Eskimo act again that day and +goodness knows how many days more, and then I went down and knocked +at the door of Miss Patty's room. She hadn't been sleeping either. She +called to me in an undertone to come in, and she was lying propped up +with pillows, with something pink around her shoulders and the night +lamp burning beside the bed. She had a book in her hand, but all over +the covers and on the table at her elbow were letters in the blue +foreign envelopes with the red and black and gold seal. + +I walked over to the foot of the bed. + +"They're here," I said. + +She sat up, and some letters slid to the floor. + +"THEY'RE here!" she repeated. "Do you mean Dorothy?" + +"She and her husband. They came last night at five minutes to twelve. +Their train was held up by the blizzard and they won't come in until +they see you. They're hiding in the shelter-house on the golf links." + +I think she thought I was crazy: I looked it. She hopped out of bed and +closed the door into her sitting-room--Mrs. Hutchins' room opened off +it--and then she came over and put her hand on my arm. + +"Will you sit down and try to tell me just what you mean?" she said. +"How can my sister and her--her wretch of a husband have come last night +at midnight when I saw Mr. Carter myself not later than ten o'clock?" + +Well, I had to tell her then about who Mr. Pierce was and why I had +to get him, and she understood almost at once. She was the most +understanding girl I ever met. She saw at once what Mr. Sam wouldn't +have known in a thousand years--that I wanted to save the old place not +to keep my position--but because I'd been there so long, and my father +before me, and had helped to make it what it was and all that. And +she stood there in her nightgown--she who was almost a princess--and +listened to me, and patted me on the shoulder when I broke down, telling +her about Thoburn and the summer hotel. + +"But here I am," I finished, "telling you about my troubles and +forgetting what I came for. You'll have to go out to the shelter-house, +Miss Patty. And I guess you're expected to fix it up with your father." + +She stopped unfastening her long braids of hair. + +"Certainly I'll go to the shelter-house," she said, "and I'll shake a +little sense into Dorothy Jennings--the abominable little idiot! But +they needn't think I'm going to help them with father; I wouldn't if I +could, and I can't. He won't speak to me. I'm in disgrace, Minnie." She +gave her hair a shake, twisted it into a rope and then a knot, and +stuck a pin in it. It was lovely: I wish Miss Cobb could have seen her. +"You've known father for years, Minnie: have you ever known him to be +so--so--" + +"Devilish" was the word she meant, but I finished for her. + +"Unreasonable?" I said. "Well, once before when you were a little girl, +he put his cane through a window in the spring-house, because he thought +it needed air. The spring-house, of course, not the cane." + +"Exactly," she said, looking around the room, "and now he's putting a +cane through every plan I have made. Do you see my heavy boots?" + +"It's like this," I remarked, bringing the boots from outside the door, +"if he's swallowed the prince and is choking on the settlement question +he might as well get over it. All those foreigners expect pay for taking +a wife. Didn't the chef here want to marry Tillie, the diet cook, and +didn't he want her to turn over the three hundred dollars she had in the +bank, and her real estate, which was a sixth interest in a cemetery lot? +But Tillie stuck it out and he wouldn't take her without." + +"It isn't quite the same, Minnie," she said, sitting down on the floor +to put on her stockings. + +"The principle's the same," I retorted, "and if you ask me--" + +"I haven't," she said disagreeably, "and when you begin to argue, +Minnie, you make my head ache." + +"I have had a heartache for a week," I snapped, "let alone heartburn, +and I'll be glad when the Jennings family is safely married and I can +sleep at night." + +I was hurt. I went out and shut the door behind me, but I stopped in the +hall and went back. + +"I forgot to say," I began, and stopped. She was still sitting on the +floor, trying to put her heavy boots on, and crying all over them. + +"Stop that instantly," I said, and jerked her shoes from her. "Get into +a chair and let me put them on. And if you will wait a jiffy I'll bring +you a cup of coffee. I'm not even a Christian in the morning until I've +had my coffee." + +"You haven't had it yet, have you?" she asked, and we laughed together, +rather shaky. But as I buttoned her shoes I saw her eyes going toward +the blue letters on the bed. + +"Oh, Minnie," she said, "if you only knew how peculiar they are in +Europe! They'll never allow a sanatorium in the family!" + +"I guess a good many would be the better for having one close," I said. + +Well, I left her to get dressed and went to the kitchens. Tillie was +there getting the beef tea ready for the day, but none of the rest was +around. They knew the housekeeper was gone, but I guess they'd forgotten +that I was still on hand. I put a kettle against the electric bell that +rings in the chef's room so it would keep on ringing and went on into +the diet kitchen. + +"Tillie," I said, "can you trust me?" + +She looked up from her beef. + +"Whether I can or not, I always have," she answered. + +"Well, can I trust you? That's more to the point." + +She put down her knife and came over to me, with her hands on her hips. + +"I don't know what you're up to, Minnie," she said, "and I don't know +that I care. But if you've forgotten the time I went to the city and +brought you sulphur and the Lord only knows what for your old spring +when you'd run short and were laid up with influenza--" + +"Hush!" I exclaimed. "You needn't shout it. Tillie, I don't want you +to ask me any questions, but I want four raw eggs in a basket, a pot of +coffee and cream, some fruit if you can get it when the chef unlocks the +refrigerator room, and bread and butter. They can make their own toast." + +"They?" she said, with her mouth open. + +But I didn't explain any more. I had found Tillie about a year before, +frying sausages at the railroad station, and made her diet cook at +the sanatorium. Mrs. Wiggins hadn't wanted her, but, as I told the old +doctor at the time, we needed somebody in the kitchen to keep an eye on +things for us. It was through Tillie that we discovered that the help +were having egg-nog twice a day, with eggs as scarce as hens' teeth, and +the pharmacy clerk putting in a requisition for more whisky every week. + +Well, I scribbled a note to Mr. Van Alstyne, telling what had happened, +and put it under his door, and then I met Miss Patty in the hall by the +billiard room and I gave her some coffee from the basket, in the sun +parlor. It was still dark, although it was nearly eight o'clock, and +nobody saw us go out together. Just as we left I heard the chef in the +kitchen bawling out that he'd murder whoever put the kettle against the +bell, and Tillie saying it must have dropped off the hook and landed +there. + +We went to the spring-house first, to avoid suspicion, and then across +back of the deer park to the shelter-house. It was still snowing, but +not so much, and the tracks we had made early in the morning were still +there, mine off to one side alone, and the others close together and +side by side. There was a whole history in those snow tracks, mine alone +and kind of offish, and the others cuddling together. It made me lonely +to look at them. + +I remember wishing I'd taught school, as I was educated to; woman wasn't +made to live alone, and most school-teachers get married. + +Miss Patty did not say much. She was holding her chin high and looking +rather angry and determined. At the spring-house I gave her the basket +and took an armful of fire-wood myself. I knew Mr. Dick would never +think of it until the fire was out. + +They were both asleep in the shelter-house. He was propped up against +the wall on a box, with the rubber carriage robe around him, and she was +lying by the fire, with Mrs. Moody's shawl over her and her muff under +her head. Miss Patty stood in the doorway for an instant. Then she +walked over and, leaning down, shook her sister by the arm. + +"Dorothy!" she said. "Wake up, you wretched child!" And shook her again. + +Mrs. Dicky groaned and yawned, and opened her eyes one at a time. + +But when she saw it was Miss Patty she sat up at once, looking dazed and +frightened. + +"You needn't pinch me, Pat!" she said, and at that Mr. Dick wakened and +jumped up, with the carriage robe still around him. + +"Oh, Dolly, Dolly!" said Miss Patty suddenly, dropping on her knees +beside Mrs. Dicky, "what a bad little girl you are! What a thing for you +to do! Think of father and Aunt Honoria!" + +"I shan't," retorted Mrs. Dicky decidedly. "I'm not going to spoil my +honeymoon like that. For heaven's sake, Pat, don't cry. I'm not dead. +Dick, this is my sister, Patricia." + +Miss Pat looked at him, but she didn't bow. She gave him one look, from +his head to his heels. + +"Dolly, how COULD you!" she said, and got up. + +It wasn't very comfortable for Mr. Dick, but he took it much better than +I expected. He went over and gave his wife a hand to help her up, and +still holding hers, he turned to Miss Patty. + +"You are perfectly right," he said, "I don't see how she could myself. +The more you know of me the more you'll wonder. But she did; we're up +against that." + +He grinned at Miss Patty, and after a minute Miss Patty smiled back. But +it wasn't much of a smile. I was unpacking the breakfast, putting the +coffee-pot on the fire and getting ready to cook the eggs and make +toast. But I was watching, too. Suddenly Mrs. Dick made a dive for Miss +Patty and threw her arms around her. + +"You darling!" she cried. "I'm so glad to see you again--Pat, you'll +tell father, won't you? He'll take it from you. If I tell him he'll have +apoplexy or something." + +But Miss Patty set her pretty mouth--both those girls have their +father's mouth--and held her sister out at arm's length and looked at +her. + +"Listen," she said. "Do you know what you have done to me? Do you know +that when father knows this he's going to annul the marriage or have Mr. +Carter arrested for kidnaping or abduction?--whatever it is." Mrs. Dick +puckered her face to cry, and Mr. Dick took a step forward, but Miss +Patty waved him off. "You know father as well as I do, Dolly. You know +what he is, and lately he's been awful. He's not well--it's his liver +again--and he won't listen to anything. Why, the Austrian ambassador +came up here, all this distance, to talk about the etiquette of the--of +my wedding, something about precedence, and he wouldn't even see him." + +"He can't annul it," said Mr. Dick angrily. "I'm of age. And I can +support my wife, too, or will be able--soon." + +"Dolly's not of age," said Miss Patty wearily. "I've sat up all night +figuring it out. He's going to annul the marriage, or he'll make a +scandal anyhow, and that's just as bad. Dolly,"--she turned to her +sister imploringly--"Dolly, I can't have a scandal now. You know how +Oskar's people have taken this, anyhow; they've given in, because he +insisted, but they don't want me, and if there's a lot of notoriety now +the emperor will send him to Africa or some place, and--" + +"I wish they would!" Mrs. Carter burst out suddenly. "I hate the whole +thing. They only tolerate you--us--for our money. You needn't look at +me like that; Oskar may be all right, but his mother and sisters are +hateful--simply hateful!" + +"I'll not be with them." + +"No, but they'll be with you." Mrs. Dicky walked over to the window and +looked out, dabbing her eyes. "You've been everything to me, Pat, and +I'm so happy now--I'd rather be here on a soap box with Dick than on +a throne or a dais or whatever you'll have to sit on over there, with +Oskar. I want to be happy--and you won't. Look at Alice Thorne and her +duke!" + +"If you really want me to be happy," Miss Patty said, going over to her, +"you'll go back to school until the wedding is over." + +"I won't leave Dicky." She swung around and gave Mr. Dick an adoring +glance, and Miss Patty looked discouraged. + +"Take him with you," she said. "Isn't there some place near where he +could stay, and telephone you now and then?" + +"Telephone!" said Mrs. Dick scornfully. + +"Can't leave," Mr. Dick objected. "Got to be on the property." + +Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders and turned to go. "You're both +perfectly hopeless," she said. "I'll go and tell father, Dorothy, but +you know what will happen. You'll be back in school at Greenwich by +to-night, and your--husband will probably be under arrest." She opened +the door, but I dropped the toast I was making and ran after her. + +"If he is arrested," I said, "they'll have to keep him on the place. He +can't leave." + +She didn't say anything; she lifted her hand and looked at the ruby +ring, and then she glanced back into the room where Mr. Dick and his +wife were whispering together, and turned up her coat collar. + +"I'm going," she said, and stepped into the snow. But they called her +back in a hurry. + +"Look here, Miss--Miss Patricia," Mr. Dick said, "why can't we stay +here, where we are? It's very comfortable--that is, it's livable. +There's plenty of fresh air, anyhow, and everybody's shouting for fresh +air nowadays. They've got somebody to take my place in the house." + +"And father needn't know a thing--you can fix that," broke in Mrs. Dick. +"And after your wedding he will be in a better humor; he'll know it's +over and not up to him any more." + +Miss Patty came back to the shelter-house again and sat down on the soap +box. + +"We MIGHT carry it off," she said. "If I could only go back to town! +But father is in one of his tantrums, and he won't go, or let me go. +The idea!--with Aunt Honoria on the long-distance wire every day, having +hysterics, and my clothes waiting to be tried on and everything. I'm +desperate." + +"And all sorts of things being arranged for you!" put in Mrs. Dick +enviously. "And the family jewels being reset in Vienna for you and all +that! It would be great--if you only didn't have to take Oskar with the +jewels!" + +Miss Patty frowned. + +"You are not going to marry him," she said, with a glance at Mr. Dick, +who, with his coat off, was lying flat on the floor, one arm down in the +hole where the things had been hidden, trying to hook up a can of baked +beans. "If it doesn't turn out well, you and father have certainly done +your part in the way of warning. It's just as Aunt Honoria said; the +family will make a tremendous row beforehand, but afterward, when it all +turns out well, they'll take the credit." + +Mr. Dick was busy with the beans and I was turning the eggs. Mrs. Dick +went over to her sister and put her arm around her. + +"That's right, Patty," she said, "you're more like mother than I am. +I'm a Jennings all over--except that, heavens be praised, I've got the +Sherwood liver. I guess I'm common plebeian, like dad, too. I'm plebeian +enough, anyhow, to think there's been a lot too much about marriage +settlements and the consent of the emperor in all this, and not enough +about love." + +I could have patted Mrs. Dicky on the back for that, and I almost upset +the eggs into the fire. I'm an advocate of marrying for love every time, +although a title and a bunch of family jewels thrown in wouldn't worry +me. + +"Do you want me to protest that the man who has asked me to marry him +cares about me?" Miss Patty replied in an angry undertone. "Couldn't +he have married a thousand other girls! Hadn't a marriage been arranged +between him and the cousin--" + +"I know all that," Mrs. Dicky said, and her voice sounded older than +Miss Patty's, and motherly. "But--are you in love with him, Pat?" + +"Certainly," Miss Patty said indignantly. "Don't be silly, Dolly." + +At that instant Mr. Dick found the beans, and got up shouting that we'd +have a meal fit for a prince--if princes ate anything so every day as +baked beans. I put the eggs on a platter and poured the coffee, and we +all sat around the soap box and ate. I wished that Miss Cobb could have +seen me there--how they insisted on my having a second egg, and was my +coffee cold, and wasn't I too close to the fire? It was Minnie here and +Minnie there, and me next to Miss Patty on the floor, and she, as you +may say, right next to royalty. I wished it could have been in the +spring-house, with father's crayon enlargement looking down on us. + +Everybody felt better for the meal, and we were sitting there laughing +and talking and very cheerful when Mr. Van Alstyne opened the door and +looked in. His face was stern, but when he saw us, with Miss Patty on +her knees toasting a piece of bread and Mr. Dicky passing the tin basin +as a finger-bowl, he stopped scowling and looked amused. + +"They're here, Sallie," he called to his wife, and they both came in, +covered with snow, and we had coffee and eggs all over again. + +Well, they stayed for an hour, and Mr. Sam talked himself black in the +face and couldn't get anywhere. For the Dickys refused to be separated, +and Mrs. Dick wouldn't tell her father, and Miss Patty wouldn't do it +for her, and the minute Mr. Sam made a suggestion that sounded rational +Mrs. Dick would cry and say she didn't care to live, anyhow, and she +wished she had died of ptomaine poisoning the time she ate the bad +oysters at school. + +So finally Mr. Sam gave up and said he washed his hands of the whole +affair, and that he was going to make another start on his wedding +journey, and if they wanted to be a pair of fools it wasn't up to +him--only for heaven's sake not to cry about it. And then he wiped +Mrs. Dicky's eyes and kissed her, she being, as he explained, his +sister-in-law now and much too pretty for him to scold. + +And when the Dickys found they were not going to be separated we had +more coffee all around and everybody grew more cheerful. + +Oh, we were very cheerful! I look back now and think how cheerful we +were, and I shudder. It was strange that we hadn't been warned by Mr. +Pierce's square jaw, but we were not. We sat around the fire and ate and +laughed, and Mr. Dick arranged that Mr. Pierce should come out to him +every evening for orders about the place if he accepted, and everybody +felt he would--and I was to come at the same time and bring a basket of +provisions for the next day. Of course, the instant Mr. Jennings left +the young couple could go into the sanatorium as guests under another +name and be comfortable. And as soon as the time limit was up, and the +place was still running smoothly, they could declare the truth, claim +the sanatorium, having fulfilled the conditions of the will, and confess +to Mr. Jennings--over the long-distance wire. + +Well, it promised well, I must say. Mr. Stitt left on the ten train that +morning, looking lemon-colored and mottled. He insisted that he wasn't +able to go, but Mr. Sam gave him a headache powder and put him on the +train, anyhow. + +Yes, as I say, it promised well. But we made two mistakes: we didn't +count on Mr. Thoburn, and we didn't know Mr. Pierce. And who could have +imagined that Mike the bath man would do as he did? + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ANOTHER COMPLICATION + +After luncheon, when everybody at Hope Springs takes a nap, we had +another meeting at the shelter-house, this time with Mr. Pierce. He had +spent the morning tramping over the hills with a gun and keeping out +of the way of people, and what with three square meals, a good night's +sleep and the exercise, he was looking a lot better. Seen in daylight, +he had very dark hair and blue-gray eyes and a very square chin, +although it had a sort of dimple in it. I used to wonder which won out, +the dimple or the chin, but I wasn't long in finding out. + +Well, he looked dazed when I took him to the shelter-house and he saw +Mr. Dick and Mrs. Dick and the Mr. Sams and Miss Patty. They gave him a +lawn-mower to sit on, and Mr. Sam explained the situation. + +"I know it's asking a good bit, Mr. Pierce," he said, "and personally +I can see only one way out of all this. Carter ought to go in and take +charge, and his--er--wife ought to go back to school. But they won't +have it, and--er--there are other reasons." He glanced at Miss Patty. + +Mr. Pierce also glanced at Miss Patty. He'd been glancing at her at +intervals of two seconds ever since she came in, and being a woman and +having a point to gain, Miss Patty seemed to have forgotten the night +before, and was very nice to him. Once she smiled directly at him, and +whatever he was saying died in his throat of the shock. When she turned +her head away he stared at the back of her neck, and when she looked at +the fire he gazed at her profile, and always with that puzzled look, +as if he hadn't yet come to believe that she was the newspaper Miss +Jennings. + +After everything had been explained to him, including Mr. Jennings' +liver and disposition, she turned to him and said: + +"We are in your hands, you see, Mr. Pierce. Are you going to help us?" +And when she asked him that, it was plain to me that he was only sorry +he couldn't die helping. + +"If everybody agrees to it," he said, looking at her, "and you all think +it's feasible and I can carry it off, I'm perfectly willing to try." + +"Oh, it's feasible," Mr. Dick said in a relieved voice, getting up and +beginning to strut up and down the room. "It isn't as though I'm beyond +call. You can come out here and consult me if you get stuck. And then +there's Minnie; she knows a good bit about the old place." + +Mr. Sam looked at me and winked. + +"Of course," said Mr. Dick, "I expect to retain control, you understand +that, I suppose, Pierce? You can come out every day for instructions. I +dare say sanatoriums are hardly your line." + +Mr. Pierce was looking at Miss Patty and she knew it. When a woman looks +as unconscious as she did it isn't natural. + +"Eh--oh, well no, hardly," he said, coming to himself; "I've tried +everything else, I believe. It can't be worse than carrying a bunch of +sweet peas from garden to garden." + +Mr. Dick stopped walking and turned suddenly to stare at Mr. Pierce. + +"Sweet--what?" he said. + +Everybody else was talking, and I was the only one who saw him change +color. + +"Sweet peas," said Mr. Pierce. "And that reminds me--I'd like to make +one condition, Mr. Carter. I feel in a measure responsible for the +company; most of them have gone back to New York, but the leading woman +is sick at the hotel in Finleyville. I'd like to bring her here for two +weeks to recuperate. I assure you, I have no interest in her, but I'm +sorry for her; she's had the mumps." + +"Mumps!" everybody said together, and Mr. Sam looked at his +brother-in-law. + +"Kid in the play got 'em, and they spread around," Mr. Pierce explained. +"Nasty disease." + +"Why, you've just had them, too, Dicky!" said his wife. They all turned +to look at him, and I must say his expression was curious. + +Luckily, I had the wit to knock over the breakfast basket, which was +still there, and when we'd gathered up the broken china, Mr. Dick had +got himself in hand. + +"I'm sorry, old man," he said to Mr. Pierce, "but I'm not in favor of +bringing Miss--the person you speak of--up to the sanatorium just now. +Mumps, you know--very contagious, and all that." + +"She's over that part," Mr. Pierce said; "she only needs to rest." + +"Certainly--let her come," said Mrs. Dicky. "If they're as contagious as +all that, you haven't been afraid of MY getting them." + +"I--I'm not in favor of it," Mr. Dick insisted, looking obstinate. +"The minute you bring an actress here you've got the whole place by the +ears." + +"Fiddlesticks!" said his sister. "Because any actress could set YOU by +the ears--" + +Mrs. Dick sat up suddenly. + +"Certainly, if she isn't well bring her up," said Miss Patty. +"Only--won't she know your name is not Carter?" + +"She's discretion itself," Mr. Pierce said. "Her salary hasn't been +paid for a month, and as I'm responsible, I'd be glad to see her looked +after." + +"I don't want her here. I'll--I'll pay her board at the hotel," Mr. Dick +began, "only for heaven's sake, don't--" + +He stopped, for every one was staring. + +"Why in the world would you do that?" Miss Patty asked. "Don't be +ridiculous. That's the only condition Mr. Pierce has made." + +Mr. Dick stalked to the window and looked out, his hands in his pockets. +I couldn't help being reminded of the time he had run away from school, +when his grandfather found him in the shelter-house and gave him his +choice of going back at once or reading medicine with him. + +"Oh, bring her up! Bring her up!" he said without looking around. "If +Pierce won't stay unless he can play the friend in need, all right. But +don't come after me if the whole blamed sanatorium swells up with mumps +and faints at the sight of a pickle." + +That was Wednesday. + +Things at the sanatorium were about the same on the surface. The women +crocheted and wondered what the next house doctor would be like, and the +men gambled at the slot-machines and played billiards and grumbled at +the food and the management, and when they weren't drinking spring water +they were in the bar washing away the taste of it. They took twenty +minutes on the verandas every day for exercise and kept the house +temperature at eighty. Senator Biggs was still fasting and Mrs. Biggs +took to spending all day in the spring-house and turning pale every time +she heard his voice. It was that day, I think, that I found the magazine +with Upton Sinclair's article on fasting stuck fast in a snow-drift, as +if it had been thrown violently. + +Wednesday afternoon Miss Julia Summers came with three lap robes, a +white lace veil and a French poodle in a sleigh and went to bed in one +of the best rooms, and that night we started to move out furniture to +the shelter-house. + +By working almost all night we got the shelter-house fairly furnished, +although we made a trail through the snow that looked like a fever +chart. Toward daylight Mr. Sam dropped a wash-bowl on my toe and I went +to bed with an arnica compress. + +I limped out in time to be on hand before Miss Cobb got there, but what +with a chilblain on my heel and hardly any sleep for two nights--not to +mention my toe--I wasn't any too pleasant. + +"It's my opinion you're overeating, Minnie," Miss Cobb said. "You're +skin's a sight!" + +"You needn't look at it," I retorted. + +She burned the back of her neck just then and it was three minutes +before she could speak. When she could she was considerably milder. + +"Just give it a twist or two, Minnie, won't you?" she said, holding out +the curler. "I haven't been able to sleep on the back of my head for +three weeks." + +Well, I curled her hair for her and she told me about Miss Summers being +still shut in her room, and how she'd offered Mike an extra dollar to +give the white poodle a Turkish bath--it being under the weather as to +health--and how Mike had soaked the little beast for an hour in a tub +of water, forgetting the sulphur, and it had come out a sort of mustard +color, and how Miss Summers had had hysterics when she saw it. + +"Mike dipped him in bluing to bleach him again, or rather 'her'--it's +name is Arabella--" Miss Cobb said, "but all it did was to make it +mottled like an Easter egg. Everybody is charmed. There were no dogs +allowed while the old doctor lived. Things were different." + +"Yes, things were different," I assented, limping over to heat the +curler. "How--how does Mr. Carter get along?" + +Miss Cobb put down her hand-mirror and sniffed. + +"Well," she said, "goodness knows I'm no trouble maker, but somebody +ought to tell that young man a few things. He's forever looking at +the thermometer and opening windows. I declare, if I hadn't brought my +woolen tights along I'd have frozen to death at breakfast. Everybody's +complaining." + +I put that away in my mind to speak about. It was only by nailing the +windows shut and putting strips of cotton batting around the cracks that +we'd ever been able to keep people there in the winter. I had my first +misgiving then. Heaven knows I didn't realize what it was going to be. + +Well, by the evening of that day things were going fairly well. Tillie +brought out a basket every morning to me at the spring-house, +fairly bursting with curiosity, and Mr. Sam got some canned stuff in +Finleyville and took it after dark to the shelter-house. But after the +second day Mrs. Dicky got tired holding a frying-pan over the fire and I +had to carry out at least one hot meal a day. + +They got their own breakfast in a chafing-dish, or rather he got it and +carried it to her. And she'd sit on the edge of her cot, with her feet +on the soap box--the floor was drafty--wrapped in a pink satin negligee +with bands of brown fur on it, looking sweet and perfectly happy, and +let him feed her boiled egg with a spoon. I took them some books--my +Gray's Anatomy, and Jane Eyre and Molly Bawn, by The Duchess, and the +newspapers, of course. They were full of talk about the wedding, and the +suite the prince was bringing over with him, and every now and then a +notice would say that Miss Dorothy Jennings, the bride's young sister, +who was still in school and was not coming out until next year, would be +her sister's maid of honor. And when they came to that, they would hug +each other--or me, if I happened to be close--and act like a pair of +children, which they were. Generally it would end up by his asking +her if she wasn't sorry she wasn't back at Greenwich studying French +conjugations and having a dance without any men on Friday nights, and +she would say "Wretch!" and kiss him, and I'd go out and slam the door. + +But there was something on Mr. Dick's mind. I hadn't known him for +fourteen years for nothing. And the night Mr. Sam and I carried out the +canned salmon and corn and tomatoes he walked back with me to the edge +of the deer park, Mr. Sam having gone ahead. + +"Now," I said, when we were out of ear-shot, "spit it out. I've been +expecting it." + +"Listen, Minnie," he answered, "is Ju--is Miss Summers still confined to +her room?" + +"No," I replied coldly. "Ju--Miss Summers was down to-night to dinner." + +"Then she's seen Pierce," he said, "and he's told her the whole story +and by to-morrow--" + +"What?" I demanded, clutching his arm. "You wretched boy, don't tell me +after all I've done." + +"Oh, confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "it's as much your fault as +mine. Couldn't you have found somebody else, instead of getting, of all +things on earth, somebody from the Sweet Peas Company?" + +"I see," I said slowly. "Then it WASN'T coincidence about the mumps!" + +"Confounded kid had them," he said with bitterness. "Minnie, +something's got to be done, and done soon. If you want the plain truth, +Miss--er--Summers and I used to be friends--and--well, she's suing +me for breach of promise. Now for heaven's sake, Minnie, don't make a +fuss--" + +But my knees wouldn't hold me. I dropped down in a snow-drift and +covered my face. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MISS PATTY'S PRINCE + +I dragged myself back to the spring-house and dropped in front of the +fire. What with worry and no sleep and now this new complication I was +dead as yesterday's newspaper. I sat there on the floor with my hands +around my knees, thinking what to do next, and as I sat there, the +crayon enlargement of father on the spring-house wall began to shake its +head from side to side, and then I saw it hold out its hand and point a +finger at me. + +"Cut and run, Minnie," it said. "Get out from under! Go and buy Timmon's +candy store before the smash--the smash--!" + +When I opened my eyes Mr. Pierce was sitting on the other side of the +chimney and staring at the fire. He had a pipe between his teeth, but +he wasn't smoking, and he had something of the same look about his mouth +he'd had the first day I saw him. + +"Well?" he said, when he saw I was awake. + +"I guess I was sleeping." I sat up and pushed in my hairpins and yawned. +I was tireder than ever. "I'm clean worn out." + +"Of course you're tired," he declared angrily. "You're not a horse, and +you haven't been to bed for two nights." + +"Care killed the cat," I said. "I don't mind losing sleep, but it's like +walking in a swamp, Mr. Pierce. First I put a toe in--that was when I +asked you to stay over night. Then I went a step farther, lured on, as +you may say, by Miss Patty waving a crown or whatever it is she wants, +just beyond my nose. And to-night I've got a--well, to-night I'm in to +the neck and yelling for a quick death." + +He leaned over to where I sat before the fire and twisted my head toward +him. + +"To-night--what?" he demanded. + +But that minute I made up my mind not to tell him. He might think the +situation was too much for him and leave, or he might decide he ought to +tell Miss Summers where Dick was. There was no love lost between him and +Mr. Carter. + +"To-night--I'm just tired and cranky," I said, "so--is Miss Summers +settled yet?" + +He nodded, as if he wasn't thinking of Miss Summers. + +"What did you tell her?" + +"Haven't seen her," he said. "Sent her a note that I was understudying a +man named Carter and to mind to pick up her cues." + +"It's a common enough name," I said, but he had lighted his pipe again +and had dropped forward, one elbow on his knee, his hand holding the +bowl of his pipe, and staring into the fire. He looked up when I closed +and locked the pantry door. + +"I've just been thinking," he remarked, "here we are--a group of +people--all struggling like mad for one thing, but with different +motives. Mine are plain enough and mercenary enough, although a certain +red-haired girl with a fine loyalty to an old doctor and a sanatorium +is carrying me along with her enthusiasm. And Van Alstyne's motives +are clear enough--and selfish. Carter is merely trying to save his own +skin--but a girl like Miss Pat--Miss Jennings!" + +"There's nothing uncertain about what she wants, or wrong either," I +retorted. "She's right enough. The family can't stand a scandal just now +with her wedding so close." + +He smiled and got up, emptying his pipe. + +"Nevertheless, oh, Minnie, of the glowing hair and heart," he said, +"Miss Jennings has disappointed me. You see, I believe in marrying for +love." + +"Love!" I was disgusted. "Don't talk to me about love! Love is the sort +of thing that makes two silly idiots run away and get married and live +in a shelter-house, upsetting everybody's plans, while their betters +have to worry themselves sick and carry them victuals." + +He got up and began to walk up and down the spring-house, scowling at +the floor. + +"Of course," he agreed, "he may be a decent sort, and she may really +want him." + +"Of course she does!" I said. He stopped short. "I've been wanting a +set of red puffs for three years, and I can hardly walk past Mrs. Yost's +window down in the village. They've got some that match my hair and I +fairly yearn for them. But if I got 'em I dare say I'd put them in a box +and go after wanting something else. It's the same way with Miss Patty. +She'll get her prince, and because it isn't real love, but only the same +as me with the puffs, she'll go after wanting something else. Only she +can't put him away in a box. She'll have to put him on and wear him for +better, for worse." + +"Lord help her!" he said solemnly, and went over to the window and stood +there looking out. + +I went over beside him. From the window we could see the three rows of +yellow lights that marked the house, and somebody with a lantern was +going down the path toward the stables. Mr. Pierce leaned forward, his +hands at the top of the window-sash, and put his forehead against the +glass. + +"Why is it that a lighted window in a snow-storm always makes a fellow +homesick?" he said in his half-mocking way. "If he hasn't got a home it +makes him want one." + +"Well, why don't you get one?" I asked. + +"On nothing a year?" he said. "Not even prospects! And set up +housekeeping in the shelter-house with my good friend Minnie carrying +us food and wearing herself to a shadow, not to mention bringing trashy +books to my bride." + +"She isn't that kind," I broke in, and got red. I'd been thinking of +Miss Patty. But he went over to the table and picked up his glass of +spring water, only to set it down untasted. + +"No, she's not that kind!" he agreed, and never noticed the slip. + +"You know, Minnie, women aren't all alike, but they're not all +different. An English writer has them classified to a T--there's the +mother woman--that's you. You're always mothering somebody with that +maternal spirit of yours. It's a pity it's vicarious." + +I didn't say anything, not knowing just what he meant. But I've looked +it up since and I guess he was about right. + +"And there's the mistress woman--Mrs. Dicky, for example, or--" he saw +Miss Cobb's curler on the mantel and picked it up--"or even Miss Cobb," +he said. "Coquetry and selfishness without maternal instinct. How +much of Miss Cobb's virtue is training and environment, Minnie, not to +mention lack of temptation, and how much was born in her?" + +"She's a preacher's daughter," I remarked. I could understand about Mrs. +Dicky, but I thought he was wrong about Miss Cobb. + +"Exactly," he said. "And the third kind of woman is the mistress-mother +kind, and they're the salt of the earth, Minnie." He began to walk up +and down by the spring with his hands in his pockets and a far-away look +in his eyes. "The man who marries that kind of woman is headed straight +for paradise." + +"That's the way!" I snapped. "You men have women divided into classes +and catalogued like horses on sale." + +"Aren't they on sale?" he demanded, stopping. "Isn't it money, or +liberty, or--or a title, usually?" I knew he was thinking of Miss Patty +again. + +"As for the men," I continued, "I guess you can class the married ones +in two classes, providers and non-providers. They're all selfish and +they haven't enough virtue to make a fuss about." + +"I'd be a shining light in the non-provider class," he said, and picking +up his old cap he opened the door. Miss Patty herself was coming up the +path. + +She was flushed from the cold air and from hurrying, and I don't know +that I ever saw her look prettier. When she came into the light we could +both see that she was dressed for dinner. Her fur coat was open at +the neck, and she had only a lace scarf over her head. (She was +a disbeliever in colds, anyhow, and all winter long she slept with the +windows open and the steam-heat off!) + +"I'm so glad you're still here, Minnie!" she exclaimed, breathing fast. +"You haven't taken the dinner out to the shelter-house yet, have you?" + +"Not yet," I replied. "Tillie hasn't brought the basket. The chef's been +fussing about the stuff we're using in the diet kitchen the last few +days, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's shut off all extras." + +But I guess her sister and Mr. Dick could have starved to death just +then without her noticing. She was all excitement, for all she's mostly +so cool. + +"I have a note here for my sister," she said, getting it out of her +pocket. "I know we all impose on you, Minnie, but--will you take it for +me? I'd go, but I'm in slippers, and, anyhow, I'd need a lantern, and +that would be reckless, wouldn't it?" + +"In slippers!" Mr. Pierce interrupted. "It's only five degrees above +zero! Of all the foolhardy--!" + +Miss Patty did not seem to hear him. She gave the letter to me and +followed me out on the step. + +"You're a saint, Minnie," she said, leaning over and squeezing my arm, +"and because you're going back and forth in the cold so much, I want you +to have this--to keep." + +She stooped and picked up from the snow beside the steps something soft +and furry and threw it around my neck, and the next instant I knew +she was giving me her chinchilla set, muff and all. I was so pleased I +cried, and all the way over to the shelter-house I sniveled and danced +with joy at the same time. There's nothing like chinchilla to tone down +red hair. + +Well, I took the note out to the shelter-house, and rapped. Mr. Dick let +me in, and it struck me he wasn't as cheerful as usual. He reached out +and took the muff. + +"Oh," he said, "I thought that was the supper." + +"It's coming," I said, looking past him for Mrs. Dicky. Usually when +I went there she was drawing Mr. Dick's profile on a bit of paper or +teaching him how to manicure his nails, but that night she was lying on +the cot and she didn't look up. + +"Sleeping?" I asked in a whisper. + +"Grumping!" Mr. Dick answered. He went over and stood looking down at +her with his hands in his pockets and his hair ruffled as if he'd been +running his fingers through it. She never moved a shoulder. + +"Dorothy," he said. "Here's Minnie." + +She pretended not to hear. + +"Dorothy!" he repeated. "I wish you wouldn't be such a g--Confound it, +Dolly, be reasonable. Do you want to make me look like a fool?" + +She turned her face enough to uncover one eye. + +"It wouldn't be difficult," she answered, staring at him with the one +eye. It was red from crying. + +"Now listen, Dolly." He got down on one knee beside the cot and tried to +take her hand, but she jerked it away. "I've tried wearing my hair that +way, and it--it isn't becoming, to say the least. I don't mind having it +wet and brushed back in a pompadour, if you insist, but I certainly do +balk at the ribbon." + +"You've only got to wear the ribbon an hour or so, until it dries." She +brought her hand forward an inch or so and he took it and kissed it. It +should have been slapped. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "You can fix it any way you +please, when it's too late for old Sam or Pierce to drop in, and I'll +wear the confounded ribbon all night. Won't that do?" + +But she had seen the note and sat up and held out her hand for it. She +was wearing one of Miss Patty's dresses and it hung on her--not that +Miss Patty was large, but she had a beautiful figure, and Mrs. Dicky, of +course, was still growing and not properly filled out. + +"Dick!" she said suddenly, "what do you think? Oskar is here! Pat's in +the wildest excitement. He's in town, and Aunt Honoria has telephoned +to know what to do! Listen: he is incog., of course, and registered as +Oskar von Inwald. He did an awfully clever thing--came in through Canada +while the papers thought he was in St. Moritz." + +"For heaven's sake," replied Mr. Dick, "tell her not to ask him here. I +shouldn't know how to talk to him." + +"He speaks lovely English," declared Mrs. Dick, still reading. + +"I know all that," he said, walking around nervously, "but if he's going +to be my brother-in-law, I suppose I don't get down on my knees and +knock my head on the floor. What do I say to him? Your Highness? Oh, +I've known a lord or two, but that's different. You call them anything +you like and lend them money." + +"I dare say you can with Oskar, too." Mrs. Dicky put the note down and +sighed. "Well, he's coming. Pat says dad won't go back to town until +he's had twenty-one baths, and he's only had eleven and she's got to +stay with him. And you needn't worry about what to call Oskar. He's not +to know we're here." + +I was worried on my way back to the spring-house--not that the prince +would make much difference, as far as I could see things being about as +bad as they could be. But some of the people were talking of leaving, +and since we had to have a prince it seemed a pity he wasn't coming +with all his retinue and titles. It would have been a good ten thousand +dollars' worth of advertising for the place, and goodness knows we +needed it. + +When I got back to the spring-house Miss Patty and Mr. Pierce were still +there. He was in front of the fire, with his back to it, and she was +near the door. + +"Of course it isn't my affair," he was saying. "You are perfectly--" +Then I opened the door and he stopped. I went on into the pantry to take +off my overshoes, and as I closed the door he continued. "I didn't mean +to say what I have. I meant to explain about the other night--I had a +right to do that. But you forced the issue." + +"I was compelled to tell you he was coming," she said angrily. "I felt +I should. You have been good enough to take Mr. Carter's place here and +save me from an embarrassing situation--" + +"I had no philanthropic motives," he insisted stubbornly. "I did it, +as you must know, for three meals a day and a roof over my head. If you +wish me to be entirely frank, I disapprove of the whole thing." + +I heard the swish of her dress as she left the door and went toward him. + +"What would you have had me do?" she asked. + +"Take those two children to your father. What if there was a row? +Why should there be such a lot made of it, anyhow? They're young, but +they'll get older. It isn't a crime for two people to--er--love each +other, is it? And if you think a scandal or two in your family--granting +your father would make a scandal--is going to put another patch on the +ragged reputations of the royal family of--" + +"How dare you!" she cried furiously. "How DARE you!" + +I heard her cross the room and fling the door open and a second later it +slammed. When I came out of the pantry Mr. Pierce was sitting in his old +position, elbow on knee, holding his pipe and staring at the bowl. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WE GET A DOCTOR + +I had my hands full the next day. We'd had another snow-storm during +the night and the trains were blocked again. About ten o'clock we got +a telegram from the new doctor we'd been expecting, that he'd fallen +on the ice on his way to the train and broken his arm, and at eleven a +delegation from the guests waited on Mr. Pierce and told him they'd have +to have a house physician at once. + +Senator Biggs was the spokesman. He said that, personally, he couldn't +remain another day without one; that he should be under a physician's +care every moment of his fast, and that if no doctor came that day +he'd be in favor of all the guests showing their displeasure by leaving +together. + +"Either that," Thoburn said from the edge of the crowd, "or call it a +hotel at once and be done with it. A sanatorium without a doctor is like +an omelet without eggs!" + +"Hamlet without ham," somebody said. + +"We're doing the best we can," Mr. Pierce explained. "We--we expect a +doctor to-day." + +"When?" from Mr. Jennings, who had come on a cane and was watching Mr. +Pierce like a hawk. + +"This afternoon, probably. As there is no one here very ill--" + +But at that they almost fell on him and tore him to pieces. I had to +step in front of him myself and say we'd have somebody there by two +o'clock if we had to rob a hospital to get him. And Mr. Sam cried, +"Three cheers for Minnie, the beautiful spring-house girl!" and led off. + +There's no doubt about it--a man ought to be born to the sanatorium +business. A real strong and healthy man has no business trying to run +a health resort, and I saw Mr. Pierce wasn't making the hit that I'd +expected him to. + +He was too healthy. You only needed to look at him to know that he took +a cold plunge every morning, and liked to walk ten miles a day, and +could digest anything and go to sleep the minute his head touched the +pillow. And he had no tact. When Mrs. Biggs went to him and explained +that the vacuum cleaner must not be used in her room--that it exhausted +the air or something, and she could hardly breathe after it--he only +looked bewildered and then drew a diagram to show her it was impossible +that it could exhaust the air. The old doctor knew how: he'd have +ordered an oxygen tank opened in the room after the cleaner was used and +she'd have gone away happy. + +Of course Mr. Pierce was most polite. He'd listen to their +complaints--and they were always complaining, that's part of the +regime--with a puzzled face, trying to understand, but he couldn't. +He hadn't a nerve in his body. Once, when one of the dining-room girls +dropped a tray of dishes and half the women went to bed with headache +from the nervous shock, he never even looked up, but went on with his +dinner, and the only comment he made afterward was to tell the head +waitress to see that Annie didn't have to pay breakage--that the +trays were too heavy for a woman, anyhow. As Miss Cobb said, he was +impossible. + +Well, as if I didn't have my hands full with getting meals to the +shelter-house, and trying to find a house doctor, and wondering how long +it would be before "Julia" came face to face with Dick Carter somewhere +or other, and trying to keep one eye on Thoburn while I kept Mr. Pierce +straight with the other--that day, during luncheon, Mike the bath man +came out to the spring-house and made a howl about his wages. He'd been +looking surly for two days. + +"What about your wages?" I snapped. "Aren't you getting what you've +always had?" + +"No tips!" he said sulkily. "Only a few taking baths--only one daily, +and that's that man Jennings. There's no use talking, Miss Minnie, I've +got to have a double percentage on that man or you'll have to muzzle +him. He--he's dangerous." + +"If I give you the double percentage, will you stay?" + +"I don't know but that I'd rather have the muzzle, Miss Minnie," he +answered slowly, "but--I'll stay. It won't be for long." + +Which left me thinking. I'd seen Thoburn talking to Mike more than once +lately, and he'd been going around with an air of assurance that didn't +make me any too cheerful. Evenings, when I'd relieved Amanda King at the +news stand, I'd seen Thoburn examining the woodwork of the windows, and +only the night before, happening on the veranda unexpectedly, I found +Mike and him measuring it with a tape line. As I say, Mike's visit left +me thinking. + +The usual crowd came out that afternoon and drank water and sat around +the fire and complained--all except Senator Biggs, who happened in just +as I was pouring melted butter over a dish of hot salted pop-corn. +He stood just inside the door, sniffling, with his eyes fixed on the +butter, and then groaned and went out. + +He looked terrible--his clothes hung on him like bags; as the bishop +said, it was ghastly to see a convexity change to such a concavity in +three days. + +Mr. Moody won three dollars that day from the slot-machine and was +almost civil to his wife, but old Jennings sat with his foot on a stool +and yelled if anybody slammed the door. Mrs. Hutchins brought him out +with her eyes red and asked me if she could leave him there. + +"I'm sorry if I was rude to you the other night, Minnie," she said, "but +I was upset. I'm so worn-out that I'll have to lie down for an hour, and +if he doesn't get better soon, I--I shall have to have help. My nerves +are gone." + +At four o'clock Mr. Sam came in, and he had Mr. Thoburn tight by the +arm. + +"My dear old chap," he was saying, "it would be as much as your life's +worth. That ground is full of holes and just now covered with snow--!" + +He caught my eye, and wiped his forehead. + +"Heaven help us!" he said, coming over to the spring, "I found him +making for the shelter-house, armed with a foot rule! Somebody's got to +take him in hand--I tell you, the man's a menace!" + +"What about the doctor?" I asked, reaching up his glass. + +"Be here to-night," he answered, "on the--" + +But at that minute a boy brought a telegram down and handed it to him. +The new doctor was laid up with influenza! + +We sat there after the others had gone, and Mr. Sam said he was for +giving up the fight, only to come out now with the truth would mean such +a lot of explaining and a good many people would likely find it funny. +Mr. Pierce came in later and we gave him the telegram to read. + +"I don't see why on earth they need a doctor, anyhow," he said, "they're +not sick. If they'd take a little exercise and get some air in their +lungs--" + +"My dear fellow," Mr. Sam cried in despair, "some people are born +in sanatoriums, some acquire them, and others have them thrust upon +them--I've had this place thrust upon me. I don't know why they want a +doctor, but they do. They balked at Rodgers from the village. They want +somebody here at night. Mr. Jennings has the gout and there's the deuce +to pay. Some of them talk of leaving." + +"Let 'em leave," said Mr. Pierce. "If they'd go home and drink three +gallons of any kind of pure water a day--" + +"Sh! That's heresy here! My dear fellow, we've got to keep them." + +Mr. Pierce glanced at the telegram and handed it back. + +"Lot's of starving M. D.'s would jump at the chance," he said, "but if +it's as urgent as all this we can't wait to hunt. I'll tell you, Van +Alstyne, there's a chap down in the village he was the character man +with the Sweet Peas Company--and he's stranded there. I saw him this +morning. He's washing dishes in the depot restaurant for his meals. +We used to call him Doc, and I've a hazy idea that he's a graduate M. +D.--name's Barnes." + +"Great!" cried Mr. Van Alstyne. "Let's have Barnes. You get him, will +you, Pierce?" + +Mr. Pierce promised and they started out together. At the door Mr. Sam +turned. + +"Oh, by the way, Minnie," he called, "better gild one of your chairs and +put a red cushion on it. The prince has arrived." + +Well, I thought it all out that afternoon as I washed the glasses, and +it was terrible. I had two people in the shelter-house to feed and look +after like babies, with Tillie getting more curious every day about +the basket she brought, and not to be held much longer; and I had a man +running the sanatorium and running it to the devil as fast as it could +go. Not that he wasn't a nice young man, big, strong-jawed and all that, +but you can't make a diplomat out of an ordinary man in three days, and +it takes more diplomacy to run a sanatorium a week than it does to be +secretary of state for four years. Then I had a prince incognito, and +Thoburn stirring up mischief, and the servants threatening to strike, +and no house doctor-- + +Just as I got to that somebody opened the door behind me and looked in. +I glanced around, and it was a man with the reddest hair I ever saw. +Mine was pale by comparison. He was rather short and heavy-set, and he +had a pleasant face, although not handsome, his nose being slightly bent +to the left. But at first all I could see was his hair. + +"Good evening," he said, edging himself in. "Are you Miss Waters?" + +"Yes," I said, rising and getting a glass ready, "although I'm not +called that often, except by people who want to pun on my name and my +business." I looked at him sharply, but he hadn't intended any pun. + +He took off his hat and came over to the spring where I was filling his +glass. + +"If that's for me, you needn't bother," he said. "If it tastes as it +smells, I'm not thirsty. My name's Barnes, and I was to wait here for +Mr. Van Alstyne." + +"Barnes!" I repeated. "Then you're the doctor." + +He grinned, and stood turning his hat around in his hands. + +"Not exactly," he said. "I graduated in medicine a good many years ago, +but after a year of it, wearing out more seats of trousers waiting +for patients than I earned enough to pay for, and having to have new +trousers, I took to other things." + +"Oh, yes," I said. "You're an actor now." + +He looked thoughtful. + +"Some people think I'm not," he answered, "but I'm on the stage. +Graduated there from prize-fighting. Prize-fighting, the stage, and then +writing for magazines--that's the usual progression. Sometimes, as a +sort of denouement before the final curtain, we have dinner at the White +House." + +I took a liking to the man at once. It was a relief to have somebody +who was willing to tell all about himself and wasn't incognito, or in +hiding, or under somebody else's name. I put a fresh log on the fire, +and as it blazed up I saw him looking at me. + +"Ye gods and little fishes!" he said. "Another redhead! Why, we're as +alike as two carrots off the same bunch!" + +In five minutes I knew how old he was, and where he was raised, and that +what he wanted more than anything on earth was a little farmhouse with +chickens and a cow. + +"Where you can have air, you know," he said, waving his hands, which +were covered with reddish hair. "Lord, in the city I starve for air! And +where, when you're getting soft you can go out and tackle the wood-pile. +That's living!" + +And then he wanted to know what he was to do at the sanatorium and +I told him as well as I could. I didn't tell him everything, but I +explained why Mr. Pierce was calling himself Carter, and about the two +in the shelter-house. I had to. He knew as well as I did that three days +before Mr. Pierce had had nothing to his name but a folding automobile +road map or whatever it was. + +"Good for old Pierce!" he said when I finished. "He's a prince, Miss +Waters. If you'd seen him sending those girls back to town--well, I'll +do all I can to help him. But I'm not much of a doctor. It's safe to +acknowledge it; you'll find it out soon enough." + +Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne came in just then, and Mr. Sam told him what +he was expected to do. It wasn't much: he was to tell them at what +temperatures to take their baths, "and Minnie will help you out with +that," he added, and what they were to eat and were not to eat. "Minnie +will tell you that, too," he finished, and Mr. Barnes, DOCTOR Barnes, +came over and shook my hand. + +"I'm perfectly willing to be first assistant," he declared. "We'll put +our heads together and the result will be--" + +"Combustion!" said Mr. Sam, and we all laughed. + +"Remember," Mr. Sam instructed him, as Doctor Barnes started out, "when +you don't know what to prescribe, order a Turkish bath. The baths are to +a sanatorium what the bar is to a club--they pay the bills." + +Well, we got it all fixed and Doctor Barnes started out, but at the door +he stopped. + +"I say," he asked in an undertone, "the stork doesn't light around here, +does he?" + +"Not if they see him first!" I replied grimly, and he went out. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PRINCE--PRINCIPALLY + +It was all well enough for me to say--as I had to to Tillie many a +time--that it was ridiculous to make a fuss over a person for what, +after all, was an accident of birth. It was well enough for me to say +that it was only by chance that I wasn't strutting about with a crown on +my head and a man blowing a trumpet to let folks know I was coming, and +by the same token and the same chance Prince Oskar might have been a +red-haired spring-house girl, breaking the steels in her figure stooping +over to ladle mineral water out of a hole in the earth. + +Nevertheless, at five o'clock, after every one had gone, when I saw Miss +Patty, muffled in furs, tripping out through the snow, with a tall thin +man beside her, walking very straight and taking one step to her four, I +felt as though somebody had hit me at the end of my breast-bone. + +They stopped a minute outside before they came in, and I had to take +myself in hand. + +"Now look here, Minnie, you idiot," I said to myself, "this is America; +you're as good as he is; not a bend of the knee or a stoop of the neck. +And if he calls you 'my good girl' hit him." + +They came in together, laughing and talking, and, to be honest, if I +hadn't caught the back of a chair, I'd have had one foot back of the +other and been making a courtesy in spite of myself. + +"We're late, Minnie!" Miss Patty said. "Oskar, this is one of my best +friends, and you are to be very nice to her." + +He had one of those single glass things in his eye and he gave me a good +stare through it. Seen close he was handsomer than Mr. Pierce, but he +looked older than his picture. + +"Ask her if she won't be nice to me," he said in as good English as +mine, and held out his hand. + +"Any of Miss Patty's friends--" I began, with a lump in my throat, and +gave his hand a good squeeze. I thought he looked startled, and suddenly +I had a sort of chill. + +"Good gracious!" I exclaimed, "should I have kissed it?" + +They roared at that, and Miss Patty had to sit down in a chair. + +"You see, she knows, Oskar," she said. "The rest are thinking and +perhaps guessing, but Minnie is the only one that knows, and she never +talks. Everybody who comes here tells Minnie his troubles." + +"But--am I a trouble?" he asked in a low tone. I was down in the spring, +but I heard it. + +"So far you have hardly been an unalloyed joy," she replied, and from +the spring I echoed "Amen." + +"Yes--I'm so hung with family skeletons that I clatter when I walk," I +explained, pretending I hadn't heard, and brought them both glasses of +water. "It's got to be a habit with some people to save their sciatica +and their husband's dispositions and their torpid livers and their +unpaid bills and bring 'em here to me." + +He sniffed at the glass and put it down. + +"Herr Gott!" he said, "what a water! It is--the whole thing is +extraordinary! I can understand the reason for Carlsbad or Wiesbaden--it +is gay. One sees one's friends; it is--social. But here--!" + +He got up and, lifting a window curtain, peered out into the snow. + +"Here," he repeated, "shut in by forests and hills, a thousand miles +from life--" He shrugged his shoulders and came back to the table. "It +is well enough for the father," he went on to Miss Patty, "but for you! +Why--it is depressing, gray. The only bit of color in it all is--here, +in what you call the spring-house." I thought he meant Miss Patty's +cheeks or her lovely violet eyes, but he was looking at my hair. I had +caught his eye on it before, but this time he made no secret about it, +and he sighed, for all the world as if it reminded him of something. +He went over to the slot-machine and stood in front of it, humming and +trying the different combinations. I must say he had a nice back. + +Miss Patty came over and slipped her hand in mine. + +"Well?" she whispered, looking at me with her pretty eyebrows raised. + +"He looks all right," I had to confess. "Perhaps you can coax him to +shave." + +She laughed. + +"Oskar!" she called, "you have passed, but you are conditioned. Minnie +objects to the mustache." + +He turned and looked at me gravely. + +"It is my--greatest attraction," he declared, "but it is also a great +care. If Miss Minnie demands it, I shall give it to her in a--in a +little box." He sauntered over and looked at me in his audacious way. +"But you must promise to care for it. Many women have loved it." + +"I believe that!" I answered, and stared back at him without blinking. +"I guess I wouldn't want the responsibility." + +But I had an idea that he meant what he said about the many women, and +that Miss Patty knew it as well as I did. She flushed a little, and +they went very soon after that. I stood and watched them until they +disappeared in the snow, and I felt lonelier than ever, and sad, +although certainly he was better than I had expected to find him. He was +a man, and not a little cub with a body hardly big enough to carry his +forefathers' weaknesses. But he had a cold eye and a warm mouth, +and that sort of man is generally a social success and a matrimonial +failure. + +It wasn't until toward night that I remembered I'd been talking to a +real prince and I hadn't once said "your Highness" or "your Excellency" +or whatever I should have said. I had said "You!" + +I had hardly closed the door after them when it opened again and Mr. +Pierce came in. He shut the door and, going over to one of the tables, +put a package down on it. + +"Here's the stuff you wanted for the spring, Minnie," he announced. "I +suppose I can't do anything more than register a protest against it?" + +"You needn't bother doing that," I answered, "unless it makes you feel +better. Your authority ends at that door. Inside the spring-house I'm in +control." + +(It's hard to believe, with things as they are, that I once really +believed that. But I did. It was three full days later that I learned +that I'd been mistaken!) + +Well, he sat there and looked at nothing while I heated water in my +brass kettle over the fire and dissolved the things against Thoburn's +quick eye the next day, and he didn't say anything. He had a gift for +keeping quiet, Mr. Pierce had. It got on my nerves after a while. + +"Things are doing better," I remarked, stirring up my mixture. + +"Yes," he said, without moving. + +"I suppose they're happier now they have a doctor?" + +"Yes--no--I don't know. He's not much of a doctor, you know--and there +don't seem to be any medical books around." + +"There's one on the care and feeding of infants in the circulating +library," I said, "and he can have my Anatomy." + +"You're generous!" he remarked, with one of his quick smiles. + +"It's a book," I snapped, and fell to stirring again. But he was moping +once more, with his feet out and his hands behind his head, staring at +the ceiling. + +"I say, Minnie--" + +"Yes?" + +"Miss--Miss Jennings and the von Inwald were here just now, weren't +they? I passed them on the bridge." + +"Yes." + +"What--how do you like him?" + +"Better than I expected and not so well as I might," I said. "If you are +going to the house soon you might take Miss Patty her handkerchief. It's +there under that table." + +I took my mixture into the pantry and left it to cool. But as I started +back I stopped. He had got the handkerchief and was standing in front of +the fire, holding it in the palm of his hand and looking at it. And all +in a minute he crushed it to his face with both hands and against the +firelight I could see him quivering. + +I stepped back into the pantry and came out again noisily. He +was standing very calm and quiet where he had been before, and no +handkerchief in sight. + +"Well," I said, "did you get it?" + +"Get what?" + +"Miss Patty's handkerchief?" + +"Oh--that! Yes. Here it is." He pulled it out of his pocket and held it +up by the corner. + +"Ridiculous size, isn't it, and--" he held it up to his nose--"I dare +say one could almost tell it was hers by the scent. It's--it's like +her." + +"Humph!" I said, suddenly suspicious, and looked at it. "Well," I said, +"it may remind you of Miss Patty, and the scent may be like Miss Patty, +but she doesn't use perfume on her handkerchief. This has an E. C. on +it, which means Eliza Cobb." + +He left soon after, rather crestfallen, but to save my life I couldn't +forget what I'd seen--him with that scrap of linen that he thought was +hers crushed to his face, and his shoulders heaving. I had an idea that +he hadn't cared much for women before, and that, this being a first +attack, he hadn't established what the old doctor used to call an +immunity. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PIERCE DISAPPROVES + +Mrs. Hutchins came out to the spring-house the next morning. She was +dressed in a black silk with real lace collar and cuffs, and she was so +puffed up with pride that she forgot to be nasty to me. + +"I thought I'd better come to you, Minnie," she said. "There seems to be +nobody in authority here any more. Mr. Carter has put the--has put Mr. +von Inwald in the north wing. I can not imagine why he should have given +him the coldest and most disagreeable part of the house." + +I said I'd speak to Mr. Carter and try to have him moved, and she +rustled over to where I was brushing the hearth and stooped down. + +"Mr. von Inwald is incognito, of course," she said, "but he belongs to a +very old family in his own country--a noble family. He ought to have the +best there is in the house." + +I promised that, too, and she went away, but I made up my mind to talk +to Mr. Pierce. The sanatorium business isn't one where you can put your +own likes and dislikes against the comfort of the guests. + +Miss Cobb came out a few minutes after; she had on her new green silk +with the white lace trimming. She saw me staring as she threw off her +cape and put her curler on the log. + +"It's a little dressy for so early, of course, Minnie," she said, "but +I wish you'd see some of the other women! Breakfast looked like an +afternoon reception. What would you think of pinning this black velvet +ribbon around my head?" + +"It might have done twenty years ago, Miss Cobb," I answered, "but I +wouldn't advise it now." I was working at the slot-machine, and I heard +her sniff behind me as she hung up her mirror on the window-frame. + +She tried the curler on the curtain, which she knows I object to, but +she was too full of her subject to be sulky for long. + +"I wish you could see Blanche Moody!" she began again, standing holding +the curler, with a thin wreath of smoke making a halo over her head. +"Drawn in--my dear, I don't see how she can breathe! I guess there's no +doubt about Mr. von Inwald." + +"I'd like to know who put this beer check in the slot-machine +yesterday," I said as indifferently as I could. "What about Mr. von +Inwald?" + +She tiptoed over to me, the halo trailing after her. + +"About his being a messenger from the prince to Miss Jennings!" she +answered in a whisper. "He spent last night closeted with papa, and +the chambermaid on that floor told Lily Biggs that there was almost a +quarrel." + +"That doesn't mean anything," I objected. "If the Angel Gabriel was shut +in with Mr. Jennings for ten minutes he'd be blowing his trumpet for +help." + +Miss Cobb shrugged her shoulders and took hold of a fresh wisp of hair +with the curler. + +"I dare say," she assented, "but the Angel Gabriel wouldn't have +waited to breakfast with Miss Jennings, and have kissed her hand before +everybody at the foot of the stairs!" + +"Is he handsome?" I asked, curious to know how he would impress other +women. But Miss Cobb had never seen a man she would call ugly. + +"Handsome!" she said. "My dear, he's beautiful! He has a duel scar on +his left cheek--all the nobility have them over there. I've a cousin +living in Berlin--she's the wittiest person--and she says the German +child of the future will be born with a scarred left cheek!" + +Well, I was sick enough of hearing of Mr. von Inwald before the day was +over. All morning in the spring-house they talked Mr. von Inwald. They +pretended to play cards, but they were really playing European royalty. +Every time somebody laid down a queen, he'd say, "Is the queen still +living, or didn't she die a few years ago?" And when they played the +knave, they'd start off about the prince again. They'd all decided that +Mr. von Inwald was noble--somebody said that the "von" was a sort of +title. The women were planning to make the evenings more cheerful, too. +They couldn't have a dance with the men using canes or forbidden to +exercise, but Miss Cobb had a lot of what she called "parlor games" that +she wanted to try out. "Introducing the Jones family" was one of them. + +In the afternoon Mr. von Inwald came out to the spring-house and sat +around, very affable and friendly, drinking the water. He and the bishop +grew quite chummy. Miss Patty was not there, but about four o'clock Mr. +Pierce came out. He did not sit down, but wandered around the room, not +talking to anybody, but staring, whenever he could, at the prince. Once +I caught Mr. von Inwald's eyes fixed on him, as if he might have seen +him before. After a while Mr. Pierce sat down in a corner like a sulky +child and filled his pipe, and as nobody noticed him except to complain +about the pipe, which he didn't even hear, he sat there for a half-hour, +bent forward, with his pipe clenched in his teeth, and never took his +eyes off Mr. von Inwald's face. + +Senator Biggs was the one who really caused the trouble. He spent a good +deal of time in the spring-house trying to fool his stomach by keeping +it filled up all the time with water. He had got past the cranky stage, +being too weak for it; his face was folded up in wrinkles like an +accordion and his double chin was so flabby you could have tucked it +away inside his collar. + +"What do you think of American women, Mr. von Inwald?" he asked, and +everybody stopped playing cards and listened for the answer. As Mr. +von Inwald represented the prince, wouldn't he be likely to voice the +prince's opinion of American women? + +It's my belief Mr. von Inwald was going to say something nice. He +smiled as if he meant to, but just then he saw Mr. Pierce in his corner +sneering behind his pipe. They looked at each other steadily, and nobody +could mistake the hate in Mr. Pierce's face or his sneer. After a minute +the prince looked away and shrugged his shoulders, but he didn't make +his pretty speech. + +"American women!" he said, turning his glass of spring water around +on the table before him, "they are very lovely, of course." He looked +around and there were Mrs. Moody and Mrs. Biggs and Miss Cobb, and he +even glanced at me in the spring. Then he looked again at Mr. Pierce and +kept his eyes there. "But they are spoiled, fearfully spoiled. They rule +their parents and they expect to rule their husbands. In Europe we do +things better; we are not--what is the English?--hag-ridden?" + +There was a sort of murmur among the men, but the women all nodded as if +they thought Europe was entirely right. They'd have agreed with him if +he'd advocated sixteen wives sitting cross-legged on a mat, like the +Turks. Mr. Pierce was still staring at the prince. + +"What I don't quite understand, Mr. von Inwald," the bishop put in in +his nice way, "is your custom of expecting a girl to bring her husband +a certain definite sum of money and to place it under the husband's +control. Our wealthy American girls control their own money," He was +thinking of Miss Patty, and everybody knew it. + +The prince turned red and glared at the bishop. Then I think he +remembered that they didn't know who he was, and he smiled and started +to turning the glass again. + +"Pardon!" he said. "Is it not better? What do women know of money? They +throw it away on trifles, dress, jewels--American women are extravagant. +It is one result of their--of their spoiling." + +Mr. Pierce got up and emptied his pipe into the fire. Then he turned. + +"I'm afraid you have not known the best type of American women," he +said, looking hard at the prince. "Our representative women are our +middle-class women. They do not contract European alliances, not having +sufficient money to attract the attention of the nobility, or enough to +buy titles, as they do pearls, for the purpose of adornment." + +Mr. von Inwald got up, and his face was red. Mr. Pierce was white and +sneering. + +"Also," he went on, "when they marry they wish to control their own +money, and not see it spent in--ways with which you are doubtless +familiar." + +We were all paralyzed. Nobody moved. Mr. Pierce put his pipe in his +pocket and stalked out, slamming the door. Then Mr. von Inwald shrugged +his shoulders and laughed. + +"I see I shall have to talk to our young friend," he said and picked +up his glass. "I'm afraid I've given a wrong impression. I like the +American women very much; too well," he went on with a flash of his +teeth, looking around the room, and brought the glass to the spring for +me to fill. But as I've said before, I can tell a good bit about a man +from the way he gives me his glass, and he was in a perfect frenzy of +rage. When I reached it back to him he gripped it until his nails were +white. + +My joint ached all the rest of the afternoon. About five o'clock Mr. +Thoburn stopped in long enough to say: "What's this I hear about Carter +making an ass of himself to-day?" + +"I haven't heard it," I answered. "What is it?" + +But he only laughed and turned up his collar to go. + +"Jove, Minnie," he said, "why do women of your spirit always champion +the losing side? Be a good girl; give me a hand now and then with this +thing, and I'll see you don't lose by it." + +"We're not going to lose," I retorted angrily. "Nobody has left yet. We +are still ahead on the books." + +He came over and shook a finger in my face. + +"Nobody has left--and why? Because they're all taking a series of baths. +Wait until they've had their fifteen, or twenty-one, or whatever the +cure is, and then see them run!" + +It was true enough; I knew it. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PRINCE, WITH APOLOGIES + +Tillie brought the supper basket for the shelter-house about six o'clock +and sat down for a minute by the fire. She said Mr. Pierce (Carter to +her) had started out with a gun about five o'clock. It was foolish, but +it made me uneasy. + +"They've gone plumb crazy over that Mr. von Inwald," she declared. "It +makes me tired. How do they know he's anything but what he says he is? +He may be a messenger from the emperor of Austria, and he may be selling +flannel chest protectors. Miss Cobb's all set up; she's talking about +getting up an entertainment and asking that Miss Summers to recite." + +She got up, leaving the basket on the hearth. + +"And say," she said, "you ought to see that dog now. It's been soakin' +in peroxide all day!" + +She went out with the peroxide, but a moment later she opened the door +and stuck her head in, nodding toward the basket. + +"Say," she said, "the chef's getting fussy about the stuff I'm using in +the diet kitchen. You've got to cut it out soon, Minnie. If I was you +I'd let him starve." + +"What!" I screeched, and grasped the rail of the spring. + +"Let him starve!" she repeated. + +"Wha--what are you talking about?" I demanded when I got my voice. + +She winked at me from the doorway. + +"Oh, I'm on all right, Minnie!" she assured me, "although heaven only +knows where he puts it all! He's sagged in like a chair with broken +springs." + +I saw then that she thought I was feeding Senator Biggs on the sly, and +I breathed again. But my nerves were nearly gone, and when just then I +heard a shot from the direction of the deer park, even Tillie noticed +how pale I got. + +"I don't know what's come over you, Minnie," she said. "That's only Mr. +Carter shooting rabbits. I saw him go out as I started down the path." + +I was still nervous when I put on my shawl and picked up the basket. +But there was a puddle on the floor and the soup had spilled. There +was nothing for it but to go back for more soup, and I got it from the +kitchen without the chef seeing me. When I opened the spring-house door +again Mr. Pierce was by the fire, and in front of him, where I'd left +the basket, lay a dead rabbit. He was sitting there with his chin in his +hands looking at the poor thing, and there was no basket in sight. + +"Well," I asked, "did you change my basket into a dead rabbit?" + +"Basket!" he said, looking up. "What basket?" + +I looked everywhere, but the basket was gone, and after a while I +decided that Mr. Dick had had an attack of thoughtfulness (or hunger) +and had carried it out himself. + +And all the time I looked for the basket Mr. Pierce sat with the gun +across his knees and stared at the rabbit. + +"I'd thank you to take that messy thing out of here," I told him. + +"Poor little chap!" he exclaimed. "He was playing in the snow, and +I killed him--not because I wanted food or sport, Minnie, but--well, +because I had to kill something." + +"I hope you don't have those attacks often," I said. He looked at the +rabbit and sighed. + +"Never in my life!" he answered. "For food or sport, that's different, +but--blood-lust!" He got up and put the gun in the corner, and I saw he +looked white and miserable. + +"I don't like myself to-night, Minnie," he said, trying to smile, "and +nobody likes me. I'm going into the garden to eat worms!" + +I didn't like to scold him when he was feeling bad anyhow, but business +is business. So I asked him how long he thought people would stay if he +acted as he had that day. I said that a sanatorium was a place where +the man who runs it can't afford to have likes and dislikes; that for my +part I'd a good deal rather he'd get rid of his excitement by shooting +off a gun, provided he pointed it away from the house, than to sit +around and let his mind explode and kill all our prospects. I told him, +too, to remember that he wasn't responsible for the morals or actions of +his guests, only for their health. + +"Health!" he echoed, and kicked a chair. "Health! Why, if I wanted to +keep a good dog in condition, Minnie, I wouldn't bring him here." + +"No," I retorted, "you'd shut him in an old out oven, and give him a +shoe to chew, and he'd come out in three days frisking and happy. But +you can't do that with people." + +"Why not?" he asked. "Although, of course, the supply of out ovens and +old shoes is limited here." + +"As far as Mr. von Inwald goes," I went on, "that's not your affair or +mine. If Miss Patty's own father can't prevent it, why should you worry +about it?" + +"Precisely," he agreed. "Why should I? But I do, Minnie--that's the +devil of it." + +"There are plenty of nice girls," I suggested, feeling rather sorry for +him. + +"Are there? Oh, I dare say." He stooped and picked up his rabbit. +"Straight through the head; not so bad for twilight. Poor little chap!" + +He said good night and went out, taking the gun and the rabbit with him, +and I went into the pantry to finish straightening things for the night. +In a few minutes I heard voices in the other room, one Mr. Pierce's, and +one with a strong German accent. + +"When was that?" Mr. von Inwald's voice. + +"A year ago, in Vienna." + +"Where?" + +"At the Bal Tabarin. You were in a loge. The man I was with told me who +the woman was. It was she, I think, who suggested that you lean over the +rail--" + +"Ah, so!" said Mr. von Inwald as if he just remembered. "Ah, yes, I +recall--I was with--the lady was red-haired, is it not? And it was she +who desired me--" + +"You leaned over the rail and poured a glass of wine on my head. It was +very funny. The lady was charmed." + +"I recall it perfectly. I remember that I did it under protest--it was a +very fine wine, and expensive." + +"Then you also recall," said Mr. Pierce, very quietly, "that because +you were with a--well, because you were with a woman, I could not return +your compliment. But I demanded the privilege at some future date when +you were alone." + +"It is a pity," replied Mr. von Inwald, "that now, when I am alone, +there is no wine!" + +"No, there is no wine," Mr. Pierce agreed slowly, "but there is--" + +I opened the door at that, and both of them started. Mr. von Inwald was +standing with his arms folded, and Mr. Pierce had one arm raised holding +up a glass of spring water. In another second it would have been in the +other man's face. + +I walked over to Mr. Pierce and took the glass out of his hand, and his +expression was funny to see. + +"I've been looking everywhere for that glass," I said. "It's got to be +washed." + +Mr. von Inwald laughed and picked up his soft hat from the table. + +He turned around at the door and looked back at Mr. Pierce, still +laughing. + +"Accept my apologies!" he said. "It was such a fine wine, and so +expensive." + +Then he went out. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +STOP, THIEF! + +I was pretty nervous when I took charge of the news stand that evening. +Amanda King had an appointment with the dentist and had left everything +topsyturvey. I was still straightening up when people began to come down +to dinner. + +Miss Cobb walked over to the news stand, and she'd cut the white yoke +out of her purple silk. She looked very dressy, although somewhat thin. + +"Everybody has dressed for dinner to-night, Minnie," she informed me. +"We didn't want Mr. von Inwald to have a wrong idea of American society, +especially after Mr. Carter's ridiculous conduct this afternoon, and +I wonder if you'll be sweet enough to start the phonograph in the +orchestra gallery as we go in--something with dignity, you know--the +wedding march, or the overture from Aida." + +"Aida's cracked," I said shortly, "and as far as I'm concerned, Mr. +von Inwald can walk in to his meals without music, or starve to death +waiting for the band." + +But she got the phonograph, anyhow, and put the elevator boy in the +gallery with it. She picked out some things by Caruso and Tetrazzini +and piled them on a chair, but James had things to himself up there, and +played The Spring Chicken through three times during dinner, with Miss +Cobb glaring at the gallery until the back of her neck ached, and the +dining-room girls waltzing in with the dishes and polka-ing out. + +Mr. Moody came out when dinner was over in a fearful rage and made for +the news stand. + +"One of your ideas, I suppose," he asserted. "What sort of a night am +I going to have after chewing my food to rag-time, with my jaws doing a +skirt-dance? Why in heaven's name couldn't you have had something slow, +like Handel's Largo, if you've got to have music?" + +But dinner was over fifteen minutes sooner than usual. James cake-walked +everybody out to My Ann Elizer, and Miss Cobb was mortified to death. + +Two or three things happened that night. For one, I got a good look at +Miss Julia Summers. She was light-haired and well-fleshed, with an ugly +face but a pleasant smile. She wore a low-necked dress that made Miss +Cobb's with the yoke out look like a storm collar, and if she had a +broken heart she didn't show it. + +"Hello," she cried, looking at my hair, "are you selling tobacco here or +are you the cigar-lighter?" + +"Neither," I answered, looking over her head. "I am employed as the +extinguisher of gay guests." + +"Good," she said, smiling. "I'm something fine at that myself. Suppose +I stay here and help. If I watch that line of knitting women I'll be +crotcheting Arabella's wool in my sleep to-night." + +Well, she was too cheerful to be angry with. So she stayed around for a +while, and it was amazing how much tobacco I sold that evening. Men who +usually bought tobies bought the best cigars, and when Mr. Jennings came +up, scowling, and I handed him the brand he'd smoked for years, she took +one, clipped the end of it as neat as a finger nail and gave it to him, +holding up the lighter. + +"I'm not going to smoke yet, young woman," he said, glaring at her. But +she only smiled. + +"I'm sorry," she said. "I've been waiting hungrily until some +discriminating smoker would buy one of those and light it. I love the +aroma." + +And he stood there for thirty minutes, standing mostly on one foot on +account of the gouty one, puffing like a locomotive, with her sniffing +at the aroma and telling him how lonely she felt with no friends around +and just recovering from a severe illness. + +At eight o'clock he had Mrs. Hutchins bring him his fur-lined coat and +he and Miss Julia took Arabella, the dog, for a walk on the veranda! + +The rest of the evening was quiet, and I needed it. Miss Patty and Mr. +von Inwald talked by the fire and I think he told her something--not +all--of the scene in the spring-house. For she passed Mr. Pierce at the +foot of the stairs on her way up for the night and she pretended not to +see him. He stood there looking up after her with his mouth set, and at +the turn she glanced down and caught his eye. I thought she flushed, +but I wasn't sure, and at that minute Senator Biggs bought three +twenty-five-cent cigars and told me to keep the change from a dollar. +I was so surprised at the alteration in him that I forgot Miss Patty +entirely. + +About twelve o'clock, just after I went to my room, somebody knocked at +the door. When I opened, the new doctor was standing in the hall. + +"I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but nobody seems to know where the +pharmacy clerk is and I'll have to get some medicine." + +"If I'd had my way, we'd have had a bell on that pharmacy clerk long +ago," I snapped, getting my keys. "Who's sick?" + +"The big man," he replied. "Biggs is his name, I think, a senator or +something." + +I was leading the way to the stairs, but I stopped. "I might have known +it," I said. "He hasn't been natural all evening. What's the matter with +him? Too much fast?" + +"Fast!" He laughed. "Too much feast! He's got as pretty a case of +indigestion as I've seen for some time. He's giving a demonstration +that's almost theatrical." + +Well, he insisted it was indigestion, although I argued that it wasn't +possible, and he wanted ipecac. + +"I haven't seen a pharmacopoeia for so long that I wouldn't know one if +I met it," he declared, "but I've got a system of mnemonics that never +fails. Ipecac and colic both end with 'c'--I'll never forget that +conjunction. It was pounded in and poured in in my early youth." + +Well, the pharmacy was locked, and we couldn't find a key to fit it. And +when I suggested mustard and warm water he jumped at the idea. + +"Fine!" he said. "Better let me dish out the spring-water and you take +my job! Lead on, MacDuff, to the kitchen." + +Although it was only midnight there was not a soul about. A hall leads +back of the office to the kitchen and pantries, and there was a low +light there, but the rest was dark. We bumped through the diet kitchen +and into the scullery, when we found we had no matches. I went back for +some, and when I got as far as the diet kitchen again Doctor Barnes was +there, just inside the door. + +"Sh!" he whispered. "Come into the scullery. The kitchen is dark, but +there is somebody in there, fumbling around, striking matches. I suppose +you don't have such things as burglars in this neck of the woods?" + +Well, somebody had broken into Timmons' candy store a week before and +stolen a box of chewing-gum and a hundred post-cards, and I told him so +in a whisper. + +"Anyhow, it isn't the chef," I said. "He's had a row with the bath man +and is in bed with a cut hand and a black eye, and nobody else has any +business here." + +We tiptoed into the scullery in the dark: just then somebody knocked +a kettle down in the kitchen and it hit the stove below with a crash. +Whoever was there swore, and it was not Francois, who expresses his +feelings mostly in French. This was English. + +There's a little window from the kitchen into the scullery as well as +a door. The window had a wooden slide and it was open an inch or so. We +couldn't see anything, but we could hear a man moving around. Once he +struck a match, but it went out and he said "Damn!" again, and began to +feel his way toward the scullery. + +Doctor Barnes happened to touch my hand and he patted it as if to tell +me not to be frightened. Then he crept toward the scullery door and +waited there. + +It swung open slowly, but he waited until it closed again and the man +was in the room. Then he yelled and jumped and there was the sound of +a fall. I could hardly strike the match--I was trembling so--but when I +did there was Mr. Dick lying flat on the floor and the doctor sitting on +him. + +"Mister Dick!" I gasped, and dropped the match. + +"Something hit me!" Mr. Dick said feebly, and when I had got a candle +lighted and had explained to Doctor Barnes that it was a mistake, he +got off him and let him up. He was as bewildered as Mr. Dick and pretty +nearly as mad. + +We put him--Mr. Dick--in a chair and gave him a glass of water, and +after he had got his breath--the doctor being a heavy man--he said he +was trying to find something to eat. + +"Confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "we're starving! It seems to me +there are enough of you here at least to see that we are fed. Not a bite +since lunch!" + +"But I thought you had the basket," I explained. "I left it at the +spring-house, and when I went back it was gone." + +"So that was it!" he answered. And then he explained that just about the +time they expected their supper they saw a man carry a basket stealthily +through the snow to the deer park. It was twilight, but they watched him +from the window, and he put the basket through the barbed-wire fence and +then crawled after it. Just inside he sat down on a log and, opening +the basket, began to eat. He was still there when it got too dark to see +him. + +"If that was our dinner," he finished savagely, "I hope he choked to +death over it." + +Doctor Barnes chuckled. "He didn't," he said, "but he's got the worst +case of indigestion in seven counties." + +Well, I got the mustard and water ready with Mr. Dick standing by hoping +Mr. Biggs would die before he got it, and then I filled a basket for the +shelter-house. I put out the light and he took the basket and started +out, but he came back in a hurry. + +"There's somebody outside talking," he said. I went to the door with him +and listened. + +"The sooner the better," Mike was saying. "I'm no good while I've got it +on my mind." + +And Mr. Thoburn: "To-morrow is too soon: they're not in the mood yet. +Perhaps the day after. I'll let you know." + +I didn't get to sleep until almost morning, and then it was to dream +that Mr. Pierce was shouting "Hypocrites" to all the people in the +sanatorium and threatening to throw glasses of mustard and warm water at +them. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A BUNCH OF LETTERS + +When people went down to breakfast the next morning they found a card +hanging on the office door with a half dozen new rules on it, and when +I went out to the spring-house the guests were having an indignation +meeting in the sun parlor, with the bishop in the chair, and Senator +Biggs, so wobbly he could hardly stand, making a speech. + +I tried to see Mr. Pierce, but early as it was he had gone for a +walk, taking Arabella with him. So I called a conference at the +shelter-house--Miss Patty, Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne, Mr. and Mrs. Dick, +and myself. Mrs. Dick wasn't dressed, but she sat up on the edge of her +cot in her dressing-gown, with her feet on the soap box, and yawned. As +we didn't have enough chairs, Miss Patty jerked the soap box away and +made me sit down. Mr. Dick was getting breakfast. + +We were in a tight place and we knew it. + +"He is making it as hard for us as he can," Mrs. Sam declared. "The idea +of having the card-room lights put out at midnight, and the breakfast +room closed at ten! Nobody gets up at that hour." + +"He was to come here every evening for orders," said Mr. Dick, measuring +ground coffee with a tablespoon, as I had showed him. "He came just +once, and as for orders--well, he gave 'em to me!" + +But Miss Patty was always fair. + +"I loathe him," she asserted. "I want to quarrel with him the minute I +see him. He--he is presumptuous to the point of impertinence--but he's +honest: he thinks we're all hypocrites--those that are well and those +that are sick or think they are--and he hates hypocrisy." + +Everybody talked at once, then, and she listened. + +"Very well," she said. "I'll amend it. We're not all hypocrites. My +motives in all this are perfectly clear--and selfish." + +"You and old Pierce would make a fine team, Pat," Mrs. Dick remarked +with a yawn. "I like hypocrites myself. They're so comfy. But if you're +not above advice, Pat, you'll have Aunt Honoria break her neck or +something--anything to get father back to town. Something is going to +explode, and Oskar doesn't like to be agitated." + +She curled up on the cot with that and went sound asleep. The rest of us +had coffee and talked, but there wasn't anything to do. As Mr. Sam said, +Mr. Pierce didn't want to stay, anyhow, and as likely as not if we went +to him in a body and told him he must come to the shelter-house for +instructions, and be suave and gentle when he was called down by the +guests about the steam-pipes making a racket, he'd probably prefer to go +down to the village and take Doctor Barnes' place washing dishes at the +station. That wouldn't call for any particular mildness. + +But he settled it by appearing himself. He came across the snow from the +direction of Mount Hope, and he had a pair of skees over his shoulder. +(At that time I didn't even know the name of the things, but I learned +enough about them later.) I must say he looked very well beside Mr. +Dick, who wasn't very large, anyhow, and who hadn't had time to put on +his collar, and Mr. Sam, who's always thin and sallow and never takes a +step he doesn't have to. + +I let him in, and when he saw us all there he started and hesitated. + +"Come in, Pierce," Mr. Sam said. "We've just been talking about you." + +He came in, but he didn't look very comfortable. + +"What have you decided to do with me?" he asked. "Put me under +restraint?" + +He was unbuttoning his sweater, and now he took out two of the smallest +rabbits I ever saw and held them up by the ears. Miss Patty gave a +little cry and took them, cuddling them in her lap. + +"They're starving and almost frozen, poor little devils," he said. "I +found them near where I shot the mother last night, Minnie, and by way +of atonement I'm going to adopt them." + +Well, although the minute before they'd all been wishing they'd never +seen him, they pretty nearly ate him up. Miss Patty held the rabbits, so +we all had turns at feeding them warm milk with a teaspoon and patting +their pink noses. When it came Mr. Pierce's turn they were about full +up, so he curled his big body on the floor at Miss Patty's feet and +talked to the rabbits and looked at her. He had one of those faces +that's got every emotion marked on it as clear as a barometer--when he +was mad his face was mad all over, and when he was pleased he glowed to +the tips of his ears. And he was pleased that morning. + +But, of course, he had to be set right about the sanatorium, and Mr. Sam +began it. Mr. Pierce listened, sitting on the floor and looking puzzled +and more and more unhappy. Finally he got up and drew a long breath. + +"Exactly," he agreed. "I know you are all right and I'm wrong--according +to your way of thinking. But if these people want to be well, why should +I encourage them to do the wrong thing? They eat too much, they don't +exercise"--he turned to Mr. Van Alstyne. + +"Why, do you know, I asked a half dozen of the men--one after the +other--to go skeeing with me this morning and not one of them accepted!" + +"Really!" Mr. Sam exclaimed mockingly. + +"What can you do with people like that?" Mr. Pierce went on. "They don't +want to be well; they're all hypocrites. Look at that man Biggs! I'll +lay you ten to one that after fasting five days and then stealing a +whole chicken, a dozen oysters and Lord knows what else, now that he's +sick, he'll hold it against me." + +"He's not holding anything," I objected. + +"Because HE is a hypocrite--" Mr. Sam began. + +"That's not the point, Pierce," Mr. Dick broke in importantly. "You were +to come here for orders and you haven't done it. You're running this +place for me, not for yourself." + +Mr. Pierce looked at Mr. Dick and from there to Mr. Sam and smiled. + +"I did come," he explained. "I came twice, and each time we played +roulette. I lost all the money I'd had in advance. Honestly," he +confessed, "I felt I couldn't afford to come every day." + +Miss Patty got up and put the baby rabbits into her sister's big fur +muff. + +"We are all talking around the question," she said. "Mr. Pierce +undertook to manage the sanatorium, and to try to manage it +successfully. He can not do that without making some attempt at +conciliating the people. It's--it's absurd to antagonize them." + +"Exactly," he said coldly. "I was to manage it, and to try to do it +successfully. I'm sorry my methods don't meet with the approval of +this--er--executive committee. But it might as well be clear that I +intend to use my own methods--or none." + +Well, what could we do? Miss Patty went out with her head up, and the +rest of us stayed and ate humble pie, and after a while he agreed to +stay if he wasn't interfered with. He said he and Doctor Barnes had a +plan that he thought was a winner--that it would either make or break +the place, and he thought it would make it. And by that time we were so +meek that we didn't even ask what it was. + +Doctor Barnes and Miss Summers were the first to come to the mineral +spring that morning. She stopped just inside the door and sniffed. + +"Something's dead under the floor," she said. + +"If there's anything dead," Doctor Barnes replied, "it's in the center +of the earth. That's the sulphur water." + +She came in at that, but unwillingly, and sat down with her handkerchief +to her nose. Then she saw me. + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "What have you done that they put you +here?" + +"If you mean the bouquet from the spring, you get to like it after a +while," I said grimly. "Ordinary air hasn't got any snap for me now." + +"Humph!" She looked at me suspiciously, but I was busy wiping off the +tables. "Well," she said, holding up the glass Doctor Barnes had brought +her, "it doesn't cost me anything, so here goes. But think of paying +money for it!" + +She drank it down in a gulp and settled herself in her chair. + +"What'll it do to me?" she asked. "Mixed drinks always play the deuce +with me, Barnes, and you know it." + +"If you'll cut down your diet and take some exercise it will make you +thin," I began. "'The process is painless and certain: kindly nature in +her benevolent plan--'" + +"Give me another!" she interrupted, and Doctor Barnes filled her glass +again. "Some women spell fate f-a-t-e," she said, looking at the water, +"but I spell it without the e." + +She took half of it and then put down the glass. "Honestly," she +declared, "I'd rather be fat." + +Mr. Pierce met them there a few minutes later and they had a +three-cornered chat. But Miss Summers evidently didn't know just how +much I knew and was careful of what she said. Once, however, when I was +in the pantry she thought I was beyond ear-shot. + +"Good heavens, Pierce," she said, "if they could put THAT in a play!" + +"Cut it out, Julia," Doctor Barnes snapped, and it wasn't until they had +gone that I knew she'd meant me. I looked through the crack of the door +and she was leaning over taking a puff at Doctor Barnes' cigarette. + +"Curious old world, isn't it?" she said between puffs. "Here we are the +three of us--snug and nice, having seven kinds of hell-fire water and +not having to pay for it; three meals a day and afternoon tea ditto, +good beds and steam-heat ditto--and four days ago where were we? Pierce, +you were hocking your clothes! Doc, you--" + +"Washing dishes!" he said. "I never knew before how extravagant it is to +have a saucer under a cup!" + +"And I!" she went on, "I, Julia Summers, was staring at a ceiling in the +Finleyville hotel, with a face that looked like a toy balloon." + +"And now," said Doctor Barnes, "you are more beautiful than ever. I am a +successful physician--oh, lord, Julia, if you'd hear me faking lines in +my part! And my young friend here--Pierce--Julia, Pierce has now become +a young reprobate named Dicky Carter, and may the Lord have mercy on his +soul!" + +I tried to get out in time, but I was too late. I saw her rise, saw the +glass of water at her elbow roll over and smash on the floor, and saw +her clutch wildly at Mr. Pierce's shoulder. + +"Not--not DICKY Carter!" she cried. + +"Richard--they call him Dick," Mr. Pierce said uneasily, and loosened +her fingers from his coat. + +Oh, well, everybody knows it now--how she called Mr. Dick everything in +the calendar, and then began to cry and said nobody would ever know what +she'd been through with, and the very dress she had on was a part of +the trousseau she'd had made, and what with the dressmaker's bills-- + +Suddenly she stopped crying. + +"Where is he, anyhow?" she demanded. + +"All we are sure of," Mr. Pierce replied quietly, "is that he is not in +the sanatorium." + +She looked at us all closely, but she got nothing from my face. + +"Oh, very well," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I'll wait until he +shows up. It doesn't cost anything." + +Then, with one of her easy changes, she laughed and picked up her muff +to go. + +"Minnie and I," she said, "will tend bar here, and in our leisure +moments we will pour sulphur water on a bunch of Dicky's letters that I +have, to cool 'em." She walked to the door and turned around, smiling. + +"Carry fire insurance on 'em all the time," she finished and went out, +leaving us staring at one another! + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MISS COBB'S BURGLAR + +I went to bed early that night. What with worrying and being alternately +chilled by tramping through the snow and roasted as if I was sitting on +a volcano with an eruption due, I was about all in. We'd been obliged to +tell Mrs. Sam about the Summers woman, and I had to put hot flannels on +her from nine to ten. She was quieter when I left her, but, as I told +Mr. Sam, it was the stillness of despair, not resignation. + +I guess it was about four o'clock in the morning when a hand slid over +my face, and I sat up and yelled. The hand covered my mouth at that, +and something long and white and very thin beside the bed said: "Sh! For +heaven's sake, Minnie!" + +It was Miss Cobb! It was lucky I came to my senses when I did, for +her knees gave way under her just then and she doubled up on the floor +beside the bed with her face in my comfort. + +I lighted a candle and set it on a chair beside the bed and took a good +look at her. She was shaking all over, which wasn't strange, for I sleep +with my window open, and she had a key in her hand. + +"Here," she gasped, holding out the key, "here, Minnie, wake the house +and get him, but, oh, Minnie, for heaven's sake, save my reputation!" + +"Get who?" I demanded, for I saw it was her room key. + +"I have been coming here for ten years," she groaned, out of the +comfort, "and now, to be bandied about by the cold breath of scandal!" + +I shook her by the shoulder + +"The cold breath you are raving about is four degrees below zero. If you +can't tell me what's the matter I'm going back to bed and cover my +feet." + +She got up at that and stood swaying, with her nightgown flapping around +her like a tent. + +"I have locked a man in my room!" she declared in a terrible voice, and +collapsed into the middle of the bed. + +Well, I leaned over and tried to tell her she'd made a mistake. The more +I looked at her, with her hair standing straight out over her head, and +her cambric nightgown with a high collar and long sleeves, and the hump +on her nose where her brother Willie had hit her in childhood with a +baseball bat, the surer I was that somebody had made a mistake--likely +the man. + +Now there's two ways to handle a situation like that: one of them is to +rouse the house--and many a good sanatorium has been hurt by a scandal +and killed by a divorce; the other way is to take one strong man who can +hold his tongue, find the guilty person, and send him a fake telegram +the next morning that his mother is sick. I've done that more than once. + +I sat down on the side of the bed and put on my slippers. + +"What did he look like?" I asked. "Could you see him?" + +She uncovered one eye. + +"Not--not distinctly," she said. "I--think he was large, and--and rather +handsome. That beast of a dog must have got in my room and was asleep +under the bed, for it wakened me by snarling." + +There was nothing in that to make me nervous, but it did. As I put on my +kimono I was thinking pretty hard. + +I could not waken Mr. Pierce by knocking, so I went in and shook him. +He was sound asleep, with his arms over his head, and when I caught his +shoulder he just took my hand and, turning over, tucked it under his +cheek and went asleep again. + +"Mr. Pierce! Mr. Pierce!" He wakened a little at that, but not enough +to open his eyes. He seemed to know that the hand wasn't his, however, +for he kissed it. And with that I slapped him and he wakened. He lay +there blinking at my candle and then he yawned. + +"Musht have been ashleep!" he said, and turned over on his other side +and shut his eyes. + +It was two or three minutes at least before I had him sitting on the +side of the bed, with a blanket spread over his knees, and was telling +him about Miss Cobb. + +"Miss Cobb!" he said. "Oh, heavens, Minnie, tell her to go back to bed!" +He yawned. "If there's anybody there it's a mistake. I'm sleepy. What +time is it?" + +"I'm not going out of this room until you get up!" I declared grimly. + +"Oh, very well!" he said, and put his feet back into bed. "If you think +I'm going to get up while you're here--" + +After he seemed pretty well wakened I went out. I waited in the +sitting-room and I heard him growling as he put on his clothes. When he +came out, however, he was more cheerful, and he stopped in the hall to +fish a case out of Mr. Sam's dressing-gown pocket and light a cigarette. + +"Now!" he said, taking my arm. "Forward, the light-ly clad brigade! +But--" he stopped--"Minnie, we are unarmed! Shall I get the patent +folding corkscrew?" + +He had to be quiet when we got to the bedroom floors, however, and when +we stopped outside Miss Cobb's door he was as sober as any one could +wish him. + +"You needn't come in," he whispered. "Ten to one she dreamed it, but if +she didn't you're better outside. And whatever you hear, don't yell." + +I gave him the key and he fitted it quietly in the lock. Arabella, just +inside, must have heard, for she snarled. But the snarl turned into a +yelp, as if she'd been suddenly kicked. + +Mr. Pierce, with his hand on the knob, turned and looked at me in the +candle-light. Then he opened the door. + +Arabella gave another yelp and rushed out; she went between my feet +like a shot and almost overthrew me, and when I'd got my balance again I +looked into the room. Mr. Pierce was at the window, staring out, and the +room was empty. + +"The idiot!" Mr. Pierce said. "If it hadn't been for that snowbank! +Here, give me that candle!" + +He stood there waving it in circles, but there was neither sight nor +sound from below. After a minute Mr. Pierce put the window down and we +stared at the room. All the bureau drawers were out on the floor, and +the lid of poor Miss Cobb's trunk was open and the tray upset. But her +silver-backed brush was still on the bureau and the ring the insurance +agent had given her lay beside it. + +We brought her back to her room, and she didn't know whether to be happy +that she was vindicated or mad at the state her things were in. I tucked +her up in bed after she'd gone over her belongings and Mr. Pierce had +double-locked the window and gone out. She drew my head down to her and +her eyes were fairly popping out of her head. + +"I feel as though I'm going crazy, Minnie!" she whispered, "but the only +things that are gone are my letters from Mr. Jones, and--my black woolen +tights!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN + +I slept late the next morning, and when I'd had breakfast and waded to +the spring-house it was nearly nine. It was still snowing, and no papers +or mail had got through, although the wires were still in fair working +order. + +As I floundered out I thought I saw somebody slink around the corner of +the spring-house, but when I got there nobody was in sight. I was on my +knees in front of the fireplace, raking out the fire, when I heard the +door close behind me, and when I turned, there stood Mr. Dick, muffled +to the neck, with his hat almost over his face. + +"What the deuce kept you so late this morning?" he demanded, in a sulky +voice, and limping over to a table he drew a package out of his pocket +and slammed it on the table. + +"I was up half the night, as usual," I said, rising. "You oughtn't to be +here, Mr. Dick!" + +He caught hold of the rail around the spring, and hobbling about, +dropped into a chair with a groan. + +"For two cents," he declared, "I'd chop a hole in the ice pond and drown +myself. There's no marriage in Heaven." + +"That's no argument for the other place," I answered, and stopped, +staring. He was pulling something out of his overcoat pocket, an inch at +a time. + +"For God's sake, Minnie," he exclaimed, "return this--this garment +to--whomever it belongs to!" + +He handed it to me, and it was Miss Cobb's black tights! I stood and +stared. + +"And then," he went on, reaching for the package on the table, "when +you've done that, return to 'Binkie' these letters from her Jonesie." + +He took the newspaper off the bundle then, and I saw it was wrapped with +a lavender ribbon. I sat down and gazed at him, fascinated. He was the +saddest-eyed piece of remorse I'd seen for a long time. + +"And when you've got your breath back, Minnie," he said feebly, "and +your strength, would you mind taking the floor mop and hitting me a +few cracks? Only not on the right leg, Minnie--not on the right leg. I +landed on it last night; it's twisted like a pretzel." + +"Don't stand and stare," he continued irritably, when I didn't make +a move, "at least get that--that infernal black garment out of sight. +Cover it with the newspaper. And if you don't believe that a sweet-faced +young girl like my wife has a positive talent for wickedness and +suspicion, go out to the shelter-house this morning." + +"So it was you!" I gasped, putting the newspaper over the tights. + +"Why in the name of peace did you jump out the window, and what did you +want with--with these things?" + +He twisted around in his chair to stare at me, and then stooped and +clutched frantically at his leg, as if for inspiration. + +"Want with those things!" he snarled. "I suppose you can't understand +that a man might wake up in the middle of the night with a mad craving +for a pair of black woolen tights, and--" + +"You needn't be sarcastic with me," I broke in. "You can save that for +your wife. I suppose you also had a wild longing for the love-letters of +an insurance agent--" + +And then it dawned on me, and I sat down and laughed until I cried. + +"And you thought you were stealing your own letters!" I cried. "The ones +she carries fire insurance on! Oh, Mr. Dick, Mr. Dick!" + +"How was I to know it wasn't Ju--Miss Summers' room?" he demanded +angrily. "Didn't I follow the dratted dog? And wouldn't you have thought +the wretched beast would have known me instead of sitting on its tail +under the bed and yelling for mother? I gave her the dog myself. Oh, I +tell you, Minnie, if I ever get away from this place--" + +"You've got to get away this minute," I broke in, remembering. "They'll +be coming any instant now." + +He got up and looked around him helplessly. + +"Where'll I go?" he asked. "I can't go back to the shelter-house." + +I looked at him and he tried to grin. + +"Fact," he said, "hard to believe, but--fact, Minnie. She's got the door +locked. Didn't I tell you she is of a suspicious nature? She was asleep +when I left, and mostly she sleeps all night. And just because she wakes +when I'm out, and lets me come in thinking she's asleep, when she +has one eye open all the time, and she sees what I'd never even seen +myself--that the string of that damned garment, whatever it is, is +fastened to the hook of my shoe, me thinking all the time that the +weight was because I'd broken my leg jumping--doesn't she suddenly +sit up and ask me where I've been? And I--I'm unsuspicious, Minnie, by +nature, and I said I'd been asleep. Then she jumped up and showed me +that--that thing--those things, hanging to my shoe, and she hasn't +spoken to me since. I wish I was dead." + +And just then a dog barked outside and somebody on the step stamped the +snow off his feet. We were both paralyzed for a moment. + +"Julia!" Mr. Dick cried, and went white. + +I made a leap for the door, just as the handle turned, and put my back +against it. + +"Just a minute," I called. "The carpet is caught under it!" + +Mr. Dick had lost his head and was making for the spring, as if he +thought hiding his feet would conceal him. I made frantic gestures to +him to go into my pantry, and he went at last, leaving his hat on the +table, I left the door and flung it after him--the hat, of course, not +the door--and when Miss Summers sauntered in just after, I was on my +knees brushing the hearth, with my heart going three-four time and +skipping every sixth beat. + +"Hello!" she said. "Lovely weather--for polar bears. If the natives +wade through this all winter it's no wonder they walk as if they are +ham-strung. Don't bother getting me a glass. I'll get my own." + +She was making for the pantry when I caught her, and I guess I looked +pretty wild. + +"I'll get it," I said. "I--that's one of the rules." + +She put her hands in the pockets of her white sweater and smiled at me. + +"Do you know," she declared, "the old ladies' knitting society isn't +so far wrong about you! About your making rules--whatever you want, +WHENEVER you want 'em." + +She put her head on one side. + +"Now," she went on, "suppose I break that rule and get my own glass? +What happens to me? I don't think I'll be put out!" + +I threw up my hands in despair, for I was about at the end of my string. + +"Get it then!" I exclaimed, and sat down, waiting for the volcano to +erupt. But she only laughed and sat down on a table, swinging her feet. + +"When you know me better, Minnie," she said, "you'll know I don't spoil +sport. I happen to know you have somebody in the pantry--moreover, I +know it's a man. There are tracks on the little porch, my dear girl, +not made by your galoshes. Also, my dearest girl, there's a gentleman's +glove by your chair there!" I put my foot on it. "And just to show you +what a good fellow I am--" + +She got off the table, still smiling, and sauntered to the pantry door, +watching me over her shoulder. + +"Don't be alarmed!" she called through the door, "I'm not coming in! I +shall take my little drink of nature's benevolent remedy out of the tin +ladle, and then--I shall take my departure!" + +My heart was skipping every second beat by that time, and Miss Julia +stood by the pantry door, her head back and her eyes almost closed, +enjoying every minute of it. If Arabella hadn't made a diversion just +then I think I'd have fainted. + +She'd pulled the newspaper and the tights off the table and was running +around the room with them, one leg in her mouth. + +"Stop it, Arabella!" said Miss Julia, and took the tights from her. +"Yours?" she asked, with her eyebrows raised. + +"No--yes," I answered. + +"I'd never have suspected you of them!" she remarked. "Hardly sheer +enough to pull through a finger ring, are they?" She held them up and +gazed at them meditatively. "That's one thing I draw the line at. On +the boards, you know--never have worn 'em and never will. They're not +modest, to my mind,--and, anyhow, I'm too fat!" + +Mr. Sam and his wife came in at that moment, Mr. Sam carrying a bottle +of wine for the shelter-house, wrapped in a paper, and two cans of +something or other. He was too busy trying to make the bottle look like +something else--which a good many people have tried and failed at--to +notice what Miss Summers was doing, and she had Miss Cobb's protectors +stuffed in her muff and was standing very dignified in front of the fire +by the time they'd shaken off the snow. + +"Good morning!" she said. + +"Morning!" said Mr. Sam, hanging up his overcoat with one hand, and +trying to put the bottle in one of the pockets with the other. Mrs. Sam +didn't look at her. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Van Alstyne!" Miss Summers almost threw it at her. +"I spoke to you before; I guess you didn't hear me." + +"Oh, yes, I heard you," answered Mrs. Sam, and turned her back on her. +Give me a little light-haired woman for sheer devilishness! + +I'd expected to see Miss Summers fly to pieces with rage, but she stared +at Mrs. Sam's back, and after a minute she laughed. + +"I see!" she remarked slowly. "You're the sister, aren't you?" + +Mr. Sam had given up trying to hide the bottle and now he set it on the +floor with a thump and came over to the fire. + +"It's--you see, the situation is embarrassing," he began. "If we had had +any idea--" + +"I might have been still in the Finleyville hotel!" she finished for +him. "Awful thought, isn't it?" + +"Under the circumstances," went on Mr. Sam, nervously, "don't you think +it would be--er--better form if er--under the circumstances--" + +"I'm thinking of my circumstances," she put in, good-naturedly. "If you +imagine that six weeks of one-night stands has left me anything but a +rural wardrobe and a box of dog biscuit for Arabella, you're pretty well +mistaken. I haven't even a decent costume. All we had left after the +sheriff got through was some grass mats, a checked sunbonnet and a +pump." + +"Minnie," Mrs. Sam said coldly, "that little beast of a dog is trying to +drink out of the spring!" + +I caught her in time and gave her a good slapping. When I looked up Miss +Summers was glaring down at me over the rail. + +"Just what do you mean by hitting my dog?" she demanded. It was the +first time I'd seen her angry. + +"Just what I appeared to mean," I answered. "If you want to take it as a +love pat, you may." And I stalked to the door and threw the creature out +into the snow. It was the first false step that day; if I'd known what +putting that dog out meant--! "I don't allow dogs here," I said, and +shut the door. + +Miss Summers was furious; she turned and stared at Mrs. Sam, who was +smiling at the fire. + +"Let Arabella in," she said to me in an undertone, "or I'll open the +pantry door!" + +"Open the door!" I retorted. I was half hysterical, but it was no time +to weaken. She looked me straight in the eye for fully ten seconds; +then, to my surprise, she winked at me. But when she turned on Mr. Sam +she was cold rage again and nothing else. + +"I am not going to leave, if that is what you are about to suggest," she +said. "I've been trying to see Dicky Carter the last ten days, and I'll +stay here until I see him." + +"It's a delicate situation--" + +"Delicate!" she snapped. "It's indelicate it's indecent, that's what it +is. Didn't I get my clothes, and weren't we to have been married by +the Reverend Dwight Johnstone, out in Salem, Ohio? And didn't he go out +there and have old Johnstone marry him to somebody else? The wretch! If +I ever see him--" + +A glass dropped in the pantry and smashed, but nobody paid any +attention. + +"Oh, I'm not going until he comes!" she continued. "I'll stay right +here, and I'll have what's coming to me or I'll know the reason why. +Don't forget for a minute that I know why Mr. Pierce is here, and that I +can spoil the little game by calling the extra ace, if I want to." + +"You're forgetting one thing," Mrs. Sam said, facing her for the first +time, "if you call the game, my brother is worth exactly what clothes he +happens to be wearing at the moment and nothing else. He hasn't a penny +of his own." + +"I don't believe it," she sniffed. "Look at the things he gave me!" + +"Yes. I've already had the bills," said Mr. Sam. + +She whirled and looked at him, and then she threw back her head and +laughed. + +"You!" she said. "Why, bless my soul! All the expense of a double life +and none of its advantages!" + +She went out on that, still laughing, leaving Mrs. Sam scarlet with +rage, and when she was safely gone I brought Mr. Dick out to the fire. +He was so limp he could hardly walk, and it took three glasses of the +wine and all Mr. Sam could do to start him back to the shelter-house. +His sister would not speak to him. + +Mike went to Mr. Pierce that day and asked for a raise of salary. + +He did not get it. Perhaps, as things have turned out, it was for the +best, but it is strange to think how different things would have been if +he'd been given it. He was sent up later, of course, for six months for +malicious mischief, but by that time the damage was done. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY + +That was on a Saturday morning. During the golf season Saturday is +always a busy day with us, with the husbands coming up for over Sunday, +and trying to get in all the golf, baths and spring water they can in +forty-eight hours. But in the winter Saturday is the same as any, other +day. + +It had stopped snowing and the sun was shining, although it was so cold +that the snow blew like powder. By eleven o'clock every one who could +walk had come to the spring-house. Even Mr. Jennings came down in a +wheeled chair, and Senator Biggs, still looking a sort of grass-green +and keeping his eyes off me, came and sat in a corner, with a book +called Fast versus Feast held so that every one could see. + +There were bridge tables going, and five hundred, and a group around +the slot-machine, while the crocheters formed a crowd by themselves, +exchanging gossip and new stitches. + +About twelve o'clock Mr. Thoburn came in, and as he opened the door, +in leaped Arabella. The women made a fuss over the creature and cuddled +her, and when I tried to put her out everybody objected. So she stayed, +and Miss Summers put her through a lot of tricks, while the men crowded +around. As I said before, Miss Summers was a first favorite with the +men. + +Mr. von Inwald and Miss Patty came in just then and stood watching. + +"And now," said Mr. von Inwald, "I propose, as a reward to Miss +Arabella, a glass of this wonderful water. Minnie, a glass of water for +Arabella!" + +"She doesn't drink out of one of my glasses," I declared angrily. + +"It's one of my rules that dogs--" + +"Tut!" said Mr. Thoburn. "What's good for man is good for beast. +Besides, the little beggar's thirsty." + +Well, they made a great fuss about the creature's being thirsty, and so +finally I got a panful of spring water and it drank until I thought it +would burst. I'm not vicious, as I say, but I wish it had. + +Well, the dog finished and lay down by the fire, and everything seemed +to go on as before. Mr. Thoburn was in a good humor, and he came over to +the spring and brought a trayful of glasses. + +"To save you steps, Minnie!" he explained. "You have no idea how it +pains me to see you working. Gentlemen, name your poison!" + +"A frappe with blotting-paper on the side," Mr. Moody snarled from the +slot-machine. "If I drink much more, I'll have to be hooped up like a +barrel." + +"Just what is the record here?" the bishop asked. "I'm ordered eight +glasses, but I find it more than a sufficiency." + +"We had one man here once who could drink twenty-five at a time," I +said, "but he was a German." + +"He was a tank," Mr. Sam corrected grumpily. He was watching something +on the floor--I couldn't see what. "All I need is to swallow a few +goldfish and I'd be a first-class aquarium." + +"What I think we should do," Miss Cobb said, "is to try to find out just +what suits us, and stick to that. I'm always trying." + +"Damned trying!" Mr. Jennings snarled, and limped over for more water. +"I'd like to know where to go for rheumatism." + +"I got mine here," said Mr. Thoburn cheerfully. "It's my opinion this +place is rheumatic as well as malarious. And as for this water, with all +due respect to the spirit in the spring"--he bowed to me--"I think it's +an insult to ask people to drink it. It isn't half so strong as it +was two years ago. Taste it; smell it! I ask the old friends of the +sanatorium, is that water what it used to be?" + +"Don't tell me it was ever any worse than this!" Miss Summers exclaimed. +But Thoburn went on. The card-players stopped to listen, but Mr. Sam was +still staring at something on the floor. + +"I tell you, the spring is losing its virtue, and, like a woman, without +virtue, it is worthless." + +"But interesting!" Mr. Sam said, and stooped down. + +"Consider," went on Mr. Thoburn, standing and holding his glass to the +light, "how we are at the mercy of this little spring! A convulsion in +the bowels of the earth, and its health-giving properties may be changed +to the direst poison. How do we know, you and I, some such change has +not occurred overnight? Unlikely as it is, it's a possibility that, +sitting here calmly, we may be sipping our death potion." + +Some of the people actually put down their glasses and everybody began +to look uneasy except Mr. Sam, who was still watching something I could +not see. + +Mr. Thoburn looked around and saw he'd made an impression. "We may," +he continued, "although my personal opinion of this water is that it's +growing too weak to be wicked. I prove my faith in Mother Nature; if it +is poisoned, I am gone. I drink!" + +Mr. Sam suddenly straightened up and glanced at Miss Summers. "Perhaps +I'm mistaken," he said, "but I think there is something the matter with +Arabella." + +Everybody looked: Arabella was lying on her back, jerking and twitching +and foaming at the mouth. + +"She's been poisoned!" Miss Summers screeched, and fell on her knees +beside her. "It's that wretched water!" + +There was pretty nearly a riot in a minute. Everybody jumped up and +stared at the dog, and everybody remembered the water he or she had just +had, and coming on top of Mr. Thoburn's speech, it made them babbling +lunatics. As I look back, I have a sort of picture of Miss Summers on +the floor with Arabella in her lap, and the rest telling how much of the +water they had had and crowding around Mr. Thoburn. + +"It seems hardly likely it was the water," he said, "although from what +I recall of my chemistry it is distinctly possible. Springs have been +known to change their character, and the coincidence--the dog and the +water--is certainly startling. Still, as nobody feels ill--" + +But they weren't sure they didn't. The bishop said he felt perfectly +well, but he had a strange inclination to yawn all the time, and Mrs. +Biggs' left arm had gone to sleep. And then, with the excitement and +all, Miss Cobb took a violent pain in the back of her neck and didn't +know whether to cry or to laugh. + +Well, I did what I could. The worst of it was, I wasn't sure it wasn't +the water. I thought possibly Mr. Pierce had made a mistake in what he +had bought at the drug store, and although I don't as a rule drink it +myself, I began to feel queer in the pit of my stomach. + +Mr. Thoburn came over to the spring, and filling a glass, took it to +the light, with every one watching anxiously. When he brought it back he +stooped over the railing and whispered to me. + +"When did you fix it?" he asked sternly. + +"Last night," I answered. It was no time to beat about the bush. + +"It's yellower than usual," he said. "I'm inclined to think something +has gone wrong at the drug store, Minnie." + +I could hardly breathe. I had the most terrible vision of all the guests +lying around like Arabella, twitching and foaming, and me going to +prison as a wholesale murderess. Any hair but mine would have turned +gray in that minute. + +Mr. von Inwald was watching like the others, and now he came over and +caught Mr. Thoburn by the arm. + +"What do you think--" he asked nervously. "I--I have had three glasses +of it!" + +"Three!" shouted Senator Biggs, coming forward. "I've had eleven! I tell +you, I've been feeling queer for twenty-four hours! I'm poisoned! That's +what I am." + +He staggered out, with Mrs. Biggs just behind him, and from that moment +they were all demoralized. I stood by the spring and sipped at the +water to show I wasn't afraid of it, with my knees shaking under me and +Arabella lying stock-still, as if she had died, under my very nose. One +by one they left to look for Doctor Barnes, or to get the white of egg, +which somebody had suggested as an antidote. + +Miss Cobb was one of the last to go. She turned in the doorway and +looked back at me, with tears in her eyes. + +"It isn't your fault, Minnie," she said, "and forgive me if I have ever +said anything unkind to you." Then she went, and I was alone, looking +down at Arabella. + +Or rather, I thought I was alone, for there was a movement by one of the +windows and Miss Patty came forward and knelt by the dog. + +"Of all the absurdities!" she said. "Poor little thing! Minnie, I +believe she's breathing!" + +She put the dog's head in her lap, and the little beast opened its eyes +and tried to wag its blue tail. + +"Oh, Miss Patty, Miss Patty!" I exclaimed, and I got down beside her and +cried on her shoulder, with her stroking my hand and calling me dearest! +Me! + +I was wiping my eyes when the door was thrown open and Mr. Pierce ran +in. He had no hat on and his hair was powdered with snow. He stopped +just inside the door and looked at Miss Patty. + +"You--" he said "you are all right? You are not--" he came forward and +stood over her, with his heart in his eyes. She MUST have known from +that minute. + +"My God!" he exclaimed, "I thought you were poisoned!" + +She looked up, without smiling, and then I thought she half shut her +eyes, as if what she saw in his face hurt her. + +"I am all right," she assured him, "and little Arabella will be +all right, too. She's had a convulsion, that's all--probably from +overeating. As for the others--!" + +"Where is the--where is von Inwald?" + +"He has gone to take the white of an egg," she replied rather haughtily. +She was too honest to evade anything, but she flushed. Of course, I knew +what he didn't--that the prince had been among the first to scurry to +the house, and that he hadn't even waited for her. + +He walked to the window, as if he didn't want her to see what he thought +of that, and I saw him looking hard at something outside in the snow. +When he walked back to the fire he was smiling, and he stooped over and +poked Arabella with his finger. + +"So that was it!" he said. "Full to the scuppers, poor little wretch! +Minnie, I am hoist with my own petard, which in this case was a +boomerang." + +"Which is in English--" I asked. + +"With the instinct of her sex, Arabella has unearthed what was meant +to be buried forever. She had gorged herself into a convulsion on that +rabbit I shot last night!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE MUTINY + +They went to the house together, he carrying Arabella like a sick baby +and Miss Patty beside him. As far as I could see they didn't speak a +word to each other, but once or twice I saw her turn and look up at him +as if she was puzzled. + +I closed the door and stood just inside, looking at father's picture +over the mantel. As sure as I stood there, the eyes were fixed on the +spring, and I sensed, as you may say, what they meant. I went over and +looked down into the spring, and it seemed to me it was darker than +usual. It may have smelled stronger, but the edge had been taken off my +nose, so to speak, by being there so long. + +From the spring I looked again at father, and his eyes were on me +mournful and sad. I felt as though, if he'd been there, father would +have turned the whole affair to the advantage of the house, and it +was almost more than I could bear. I was only glad the old doctor's +enlargement had not come yet. I couldn't have endured having it see what +had occurred. + +The only thing I could think of was to empty the spring and let the +water come in plain. I could put a little sulphur in to give it color +and flavor, and if it turned out that Mr. Pierce was right and that +Arabella was only a glutton, I could put in the other things later. + +I was carrying out my first pailful when Doctor Barnes came down the +path and took the pail out of my hand. + +"What are you doing?" he asked. "Making a slide?" + +"No," I said bitterly, "I am watering the flowers." + +"Good!" He was not a bit put out. "Let me help you." He took the pail +across the path and poured a little into the snow at the base of a +half-dozen fence posts. "There!" he said, coming back triumphant. +"The roses are done. Now let's have a go at the pansies and the +lady's-slippers and the--the begonias. I say"--he stopped suddenly +on his way in--"sulphur water on a begonia--what would it make? Skunk +cabbage?" + +Inside, however, he put down the pail, and pulling me in, closed the +door. + +"Now forget it!" he commanded. "Just because a lot of damn fools see a +dog in a fit and have one, too, is that any reason for your being scared +wall-eyed and knock-kneed?" + +"I'm not!" I snapped. + +"Well, you're wall-eyed with fright," he insisted. "Of course, you're +the best judge of your own knees, but after last night--Had any lunch?" + +I shook my head. + +"Exactly," he said. "You make me think of the little boy who dug +post-holes in the daytime and took in washings at night to support the +family. Sit down." + +I sat. + +"Inhale and exhale slowly four times, and then swallow the lump in your +throat.... Gone?" + +"Yes." + +"Good." He was fumbling in his pocket and he brought out a napkin. When +he opened it there was a sandwich, a piece of cheese and a banana. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, watching me anxiously. "Looks +pretty good?" + +"Fine," I said, hating to disappoint him, although I never eat sardines, +and bananas give me indigestion, "I'm hungry enough to eat a raw +Italian." + +"Then fall to," he directed, and with a flourish he drew a bottle of +ginger ale from his pocket. + +"How's this?" he demanded, holding it up. "Cheers but doesn't inebriate; +not a headache in a barrel; ginger ale to the gingery! 'A quart of ale +is a dish for a king,'" he said, holding up a glass. "That's +Shakespeare, Miss Minnie." + +I was a good bit more cheerful when I'd choked down the sandwich, +especially when he assured me the water was all right--"a little high, +as you might say, but not poisonous. Lord, I wish you could have seen +them staggering into my office!" + +"I saw enough," I said with a shiver. + +"That German, von Inwald," he went on, "he's the limit. He accused us of +poisoning him for reasons of state!" + +"Where are they now?" + +"My dear girl," he answered, putting down his glass, "what has been +pounded into me ever since I struck the place? The baths! I prescribe +'em all day and dream 'em all night. Where are the poisonees now? +They are steaming, stewing, exuding in the hot rooms of the bath +department--all of them, every one of them! In the hold and the hatches +down!" + +He picked up the pail and went down the steps to the spring. + +"After all," he said, "it won't hurt to take out a little of this and +pour it on the ground. It ought to be good fertilizer." He stooped. +"'Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come,'" he quoted, and dipped +in the pail. + +Just then somebody fell against the door and stumbled into the room. It +was Tillie, as white as milk, and breathing in gasps. + +"Quick!" she screeched, "Minnie, quick!" + +"What is it?" I asked, jumping up. She'd fallen back against the +door-frame and stood with her hand clutching her heart. + +"That dev--devil--Mike!" she panted. "He has turned on the steam in the +men's baths and gone--gone away!" + +"With people in the bath?" Doctor Barnes asked, slamming down the pail. + +Tillie nodded. + +"Then why in creation don't they get out of the baths until we can shut +off the steam?" I demanded, grabbing up my shawl. But Tillie shook her +head in despair. + +"They can't," she answered, "he's hid their clothes!" + +The next thing I recall is running like mad up the walk with Doctor +Barnes beside me, steadying me by the arm. I only spoke once that I +remember and that was just as we got to the house, + +"This settles it!" I panted, desperately. "It's all over." + +"Not a bit of it!" he said, shoving me up the steps and into the hall. +"The old teakettle is just getting 'het up' a bit. By the gods and +little fishes, just listen to it singing down there!" + + +The help was gathered in a crowd at the head of the bath-house +staircase, where a cloud of steam was coming up, and down below we could +hear furious talking, and somebody shouting, "Mike! Mike!" in a voice +that was choked with rage and steam. + +Doctor Barnes elbowed his way through the crowd to the top of the stairs +and I followed. + +"There's Minnie!" Amanda King yelled. "She knows all about the place. +Minnie, you can shut it off, can't you?" + +"I'll try," I said, and was starting down, when Doctor Barnes jerked me +back. + +"You stay here," he said. "Where's Mr. Pier--where's Carter?" + +"Down with the engineer," somebody replied out of the steam cloud. + +"Hello there!" he called down the staircase. "How's the air?" + +"Clothes! Send us some clothes!" + +It was Mr. Sam calling. The rest was swallowed up in a fresh roaring, +as if a steam-pipe had given away. That settled the people below. With +a burst of fury they swarmed up the stairs in their bath sheets, the +bishop leading, and just behind him, talking as no gentleman should talk +under any circumstances, Senator Biggs. The rest followed, their red +faces shining through the steam--all of them murderous, holding their +sheets around them with one hand, and waving the other in a frenzy. It +was awful. + +The help scattered and ran, but I stood my ground. The sight of a man in +a sheet didn't scare me and it was no time for weakness. + +The steam was thicker than ever, and the hall was misty. A moment later +the engineer came up and after him Mr. Pierce, with a towel over his +mouth and a screw-driver in his hand. He was white with rage. He brushed +past the sheets without paying the slightest attention to them, and tore +the towel off his mouth. + +"Who saw Mike last?" he shouted across to where the pharmacy clerk, the +elevator boy and some of the bell-boys had retreated to the office and +were peeping out through the door. + +Here Mr. Moody, who's small at any time, and who without the padding +on his shoulders and wrapped in a sheet with his red face above, looked +like a lighted cigarette, darted out of the crowd and caught him by the +sleeve. + +"Here!" he cried, "we've got a few things to say to you, you young--" + +"Take your hand off my arm!" thundered Mr. Pierce. + +The storm broke with that. They crowded around Mr. Pierce, yelling like +maniacs, and he stood there, white-faced, and let them wear themselves +out. The courage of a man in a den of lions was nothing to it. Doctor +Barnes forced his way through the crowd and stood there beside him. + +It wasn't only the steam and their clothes being hidden; it had started +with the scare at the spring in the morning, and when they had told him +what they thought about that, they went back still further and bellowed +about the mismanagement of the place ever since he had taken charge, and +the food, and the steam-heat, and the new rules--oh, they hated him all +right, and they told him so, purple-faced with rage and heat, dancing +around him and shaking one fist in his face, as I say, while they held +their sheets fast with the other. + +And I stood there and watched, my mind awhirl, expecting every minute +to hear that they were all leaving, or to have some one forget and shake +both fists at once. + +And that's how it ended finally--I mean, of course, that they said they +would all leave immediately, and that he ought to be glad to have +them go quietly, and not have him jailed for malicious mischief or +compounding a felony. The whole thing was an outrage, and the three +train would leave the house as empty as a squeezed lemon. + +I wanted to go forward and drop on my knees and implore them to remember +the old doctor, and the baths they'd had when nothing went wrong, and +the days when they'd sworn that the spring kept them young and well, but +there was something in Mr. Pierce's face that kept me back. + +"At three o'clock, then," he said. "Very well." + +"Don't be a fool!" I heard Mr. Sam from the crowd. + +"Is that all you have to say?" roared Mr. von Inwald. I hadn't noticed +him before. He had his sheet on in Grecian style and it looked quite +ornamental although a little short. "Haven't you any apology to make, +sir?" + +"Neither apology nor explanation to you," Mr. Pierce retorted. And to +the other: "It is an unfortunate accident--incident, if you prefer." He +looked at Thoburn, who was the only one in a bath robe, and who was the +only cheerful one in the lot. "I had refused a request of the bath +man's and he has taken this form of revenge. If this gives me the +responsibility I am willing to take it. If you expect me to ask you to +stay I'll not do it. I don't mind saying that I am as tired of all this +as you are." + +"As tired of what?" demanded Mr. Moody, pushing forward out of the +crowd. Mr. Sam was making frantic gestures to catch Mr. Pierce's eye, +but he would not look at him. + +"Of all this," he said. "Of charging people sanatorium prices under a +pretense of making them well. Does anybody here imagine he's going to +find health by sitting around in an overstuffed leather chair, with the +temperature at eighty, eating five meals a day, and walking as far as +the mineral spring for exercise?" + +There was a sort of angry snarl in the air, and Mr. Sam threw up his one +free hand in despair. + +"In fact," Mr. Pierce went on, "I'd about decided on a new order of +things for this place anyhow. It's going to be a real health resort, +run for people who want to get well or keep well. People who wish to be +overfed, overheated and coddled need not come--or stay." + +The bishop spoke over the heads of the others, who looked dazed. + +"Does that mean," he inquired mildly, "that--guests must either obey +this new order of things or go away?" + +Mr. Pierce looked at the bishop and smiled. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but as every one is leaving, anyhow--" + +They fairly jumped at him then. They surrounded him in a howling mob and +demanded how he dared to turn them out, and what did he mean by saying +they were overfed, and they would leave when they were good and ready +and not before, and he could go to blazes. It was the most scandalous +thing I've ever known of at Hope Springs, and in the midst of it Mr. +Pierce stood cool and quiet, waiting for a chance to speak. And when +the time came he jumped in and told them the truth about themselves, and +most of it hurt. + +He was good and mad, and he stood there and picked out the flabby ones +and the fat ones, the whisky livers and the tobacco hearts and the +banquet stomachs, and called them out by name. + +When he got through they were standing in front of him, ashamed to look +at one another, and not knowing whether to fall on him and tear him to +pieces, or go and weep in a corner because they'd played such havoc with +the bodies the Lord gave them. If he'd weakened for a minute they'd have +jumped on him. But he didn't. He got through and stood looking at them +in their sheets, and then he said coolly: + +"The bus will be ready at two-thirty, gentlemen," and turning on his +heels, went into the office and closed the door. + +They scattered to their rooms in every stage of rage and excitement, +and at last only Mr. Sam and I were left staring at each other. "Damned +young idiot!" he said. "I wish to heavens you'd never suggested bringing +him here, Minnie!" + +And leaving me speechless with indignation, he trailed himself and his +sheet up the stairs. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOME TO ROOST + +I couldn't stand any more. It was all over! I rushed to my room and +threw myself on the bed. At two-thirty I heard the bus come to the +porte-cochere under my window and then drive away; that was the last +straw. I put a pillow over my head so nobody could hear me, and then and +there I had hysterics. I knew I was having them, and I wasn't ashamed. +I'd have exploded if I hadn't. And then somebody jerked the pillow away +and I looked up, with my eyes swollen almost shut, and it was Doctor +Barnes. He had a glass of water in his hand and he held it right above +me. + +"One more yell," he said, "and it goes over you!" + +I lay there staring up at him, and then I knew what a fright I looked, +and although I couldn't speak yet, I reached up and felt for my +hairpins. + +"That's better," he said, putting down the glass. "Another ten minutes +of that and you'd have burst a blood vessel. Don't worry. I know I have +no business here, but I anticipated something of this kind, and it may +interest you to know that I've been outside in the hall since the first +whoop. It's been a good safety-valve." + +I sat up and stared at him. I could hardly see out of my eyes. He had +his back to the light, but I could tell that he had a cross of adhesive +plaster on his cheek and that one eye was almost shut. He smiled when he +saw my expression. + +"It's the temperament," he said. "It goes with the hair. I've got it +too, only I'm apt to go out and pick a fight at such times, and a woman +hasn't got that outlet. As you see, I found Mike, and my disfigurement +is to Mike's as starlight to the noonday glare. Come and take a walk." + +I shook my head, but he took my arm and pulled me off the bed. + +"You come for a walk!" he said. "I'll wait in the hall until you powder +your nose. You look like a fire that's been put out by a rain-storm." + + +I didn't want to go, but anything was better than sitting in the room +moping. I put on my jacket and Miss Patty's chinchillas, which cheered +me a little, but as we went downstairs the quiet of the place sat on my +chest like a weight. + +The lower hall was empty. A new card headed "Rules" hung on the door +into the private office, but I did not read it. What was the use of +rules without people to disobey them? Mrs. Moody had forgotten her +crocheting bag and it hung on the back of a chair. I had to bite my lip +to keep it from trembling again. + +"The Jenningses are still here," said the doctor. "The old man is madder +than any hornet ever dared be, and they go in the morning. But the +situation was too much for our German friend. He left with the others." + +Well, we went out and I took the path I knew best, which was out toward +the spring-house. There wasn't a soul in sight. The place looked lonely, +with the trees hung with snow, and arching over the board walk. At the +little bridge over the creek Doctor Barnes stopped, and leaning over the +rail, took a good look at me. + +"When you self-contained women go to pieces," he said, "you pretty near +smash, don't you? You look as if you'd had a death in your family." + +"This WAS my family," I half sniveled. + +"But," he said, "you'll be getting married and having a home of your own +and forgetting all about this." + +He looked at me with his sharp eyes. "There's probably some nice chap in +the village, eh?" + +I shook my head. I had just caught sight of the broken pieces of the +Moody water-pitcher on the ice below. + +"No nice young man!" he remarked. "Not the telegraph operator, or the +fellow who runs the livery-stable--I've forgotten his name." + +"Look here," I turned on him, "if you're talking all this nonsense to +keep my mind off things, you needn't." + +"I'm not," he said. "I'm asking for the sake of my own mind, but we'll +not bother about that now. We'd better start back." + +It was still snowing, although not so hard. The air had done me some +good, but the lump in my throat seemed to have gone to my chest. The +doctor helped me along, for the snow was drifting, and when he saw I was +past the crying stage he went back to what we were both thinking about. + +"Old Pierce is right," he said. "Remember, Miss Minnie, I've nothing +against you or your mineral spring; in fact, I'm strong for you both. +But while I'm out of the ring now for good--I don't mind saying to you +what I said to Pierce, that the only thing that gets into training here, +as far as I can see, is a fellow's pocketbook." + +We went back to the house and I straightened the news stand, Amanda +King having taken a violent toothache as a result of the excitement. +The Jenningses were packing to go, and Miss Summers had got a bottle of +peroxide and shut herself in her room. At six o'clock Tillie beckoned +to me from the door of the officers' dining-room and said she'd put the +basket in the snow by the grape arbor. I got ready, with a heavy heart, +to take it out. I had forgotten all about their dinner, for one thing, +and I had to carry bad news. + +But Mr. Pierce had been there before me. I saw tracks in the fresh snow, +for, praise heaven! it had snowed all that week and our prints +were filled up almost as fast as we made them. When I got to the +shelter-house it was in a wild state of excitement. Mrs. Dick, with her +cheeks flushed, had gathered all her things on the cot and was rolling +them up in sheets and newspapers. But Mr. Dick was sitting on the box +in front of the fire with his curly hair standing every way. He had been +roasting potatoes, and as I opened the door, he picked one up and poked +at it to see if it was done. + +"Damn!" he said, and dropped it. + +Mrs. Dick sat on the cot rolling up a pink ribbon and looked at him. + +"If you want to know exactly my reason for insisting on moving to-night, +I'll tell you," she said, paying no attention to me. "It is your +disposition." + +He didn't say anything, but he put his foot on the potato and smashed +it. + +"If I had to be shut in here with you one more day," she went on, "I'd +hate you." + +"Why the one more day?" he asked, without looking up. + +But she didn't answer him. She was in the worst kind of a temper; she +threw the ribbon down, and coming over, lifted the lid of my basket and +looked in. + +"Ham again!" she exclaimed ungratefully. "Thanks so much for remembering +us, Minnie. I dare say our dinner to-day slipped your mind!" + +"I wonder if it strikes you, Minnie," Mr. Dick said, noticing me for +the first time, "that if you and Sam hadn't been so confounded meddling, +that fellow Pierce would be washing buggies in the village livery-stable +where he belongs, and I'd be in one piece of property that's as good as +gone this minute." + +"Egg salad and cheese!" said Mrs. Dick. "I'm sick of cheese. If that's +the kind of supper you've been serving--" + +But I was in a bad humor, anyhow, and I'd had enough. I stood just +inside the door and I told them I'd done the best I could, not for them, +but because I'd promised the old doctor, and if I'd made mistakes I'd +answer for them to him if I ever met him in the next world. And in the +meantime I washed my hands of the whole thing, and they might make out +as best they could. I was going. + +Mrs. Dick heard me through. Then she came over and put her hand on mine +where it lay on the table. + +"You're perfectly right," she said. "I know how you have tried, and that +the fault is all that wretched Pierce's. You mustn't mind Mr. Carter, +Minnie. He's been in that sort of humor all day." + +He looked at her with the most miserable face I ever saw, but he didn't +say anything. She sighed, the little wretch. + +"We've all made mistakes," she said, "and not the least was my thinking +that I--well, never mind. I dare say we will manage somehow." + +He got up then, his face twisted with misery. + +"Say it," he said. "You hate me; you shiver if I touch your hand--oh, +I'm not very keen, but I saw that." + +"The remedy for that is very, simple," she replied coolly. "You needn't +touch my hand." + +"Stop!" I snapped. "Just stop before you say something you'll be sorry +for. Of course, you hate each other. It beats me, anyhow, why two people +who get married always want to get away by themselves until they're so +sick of each other that they don't get over it the rest of their +lives. The only sensible honeymoon I ever heard of was when one of the +chambermaids here married a farmer in the neighborhood. It was harvest +and he couldn't leave, so she went ALONE to see her folks and she said +it beat having him along all hollow." + +She was setting out the supper, putting things down with a bang. He +didn't move, although he must have been starving. + +"Another thing I'd advise," I said. "Eat first and talk after. You'll +see things different after you've got something in your stomach." + +"I wish you wouldn't meddle, Minnie!" she snapped, and having put down +her own plate and knife and fork, not laying a place for him, she went +over and tried to get one of the potatoes from the fire. + +Well, she burnt her finger, or pretended to, and I guess her solution +was as good as mine, for she began to cry, and when I left he was tying +it up with a bit of his handkerchief; if she shivered when he kissed it +I didn't notice it. They were to come up to the house after her father +left in the morning, and I was to dismiss all the old help and get new +ones so he could take charge and let Mr. Pierce go. + +I plodded back with my empty basket. I had only one clear thought,--that +I wouldn't have any more tramping across the golf links in the snow. I +was too tired really to care that with the regular winter boarders gone +and eight weeks still until Lent, we'd hardly be able to keep going +another fortnight. I wanted to get back to my room and go to bed and +forget. + +But as I came near the house I saw Mr. Pierce come out on the front +piazza and switch on the lights. He stood there looking out into the +snow, and the next minute I saw why. Coming up the hill and across the +lawn was a shadowy line of people, black against the white. They were +not speaking, and they moved without noise over the snow. I thought for +a minute that my brain had gone wrong; then the first figure came into +the light, and it was the bishop. He stood at the front of the steps and +looked up at Mr. Pierce. + +"I dare say," he said, trying to look easy, "that this is sooner than +you expected us!" + +Mr. Pierce looked down at the crowd. Then he smiled, a growing smile +that ended in a grin. + +"On the contrary," he said, "I've been expecting you for an hour or +more." + +The procession began to move gloomily up the steps. All of them carried +hand luggage, and they looked tired and sheepish Miss Cobb stopped in +front of Mr. Pierce. + +"Do you mean to say," she demanded furiously, "that you knew the +railroad was blocked with snow, and yet you let us go!" + +"On the contrary, Miss Cobb," he said politely, "I remember distinctly +regretting that you insisted on going. Besides, there was the Sherman +House." + +Senator Briggs {sic} stopped in front of him. "Probably you also knew +that THAT was full, including the stables, with people from the stalled +trains," he asserted furiously. + +Two by two they went in and through the hall, stamping the snow off, and +up to their old rooms again, leaving Slocum, the clerk, staring at them +as if he couldn't believe his eyes. + +Mr. Pierce and I watched from the piazza, through the glass. + +We saw Doctor Barnes stop and look, and then go and hang over the news +stand and laugh himself almost purple, and we saw Mr. Thoburn bringing +up the tail of the procession and trying to look unconcerned. I am not a +revengeful woman, but that was one of the happiest moments of my life. + +Doctor Barnes turned suddenly, and catching me by the arm, whirled me +around and around, singing wildly something about Noah and "the animals +went in two by, two, the elephant and the kangaroo." + +He stopped as suddenly as he began and walked me to the door again. + +"We've got 'em in the ark," he said, "but I'm thinking this forty days +of snow is nearly over, Minnie. I don't think much of the dove and the +olive-branch, but WE'VE GOT TO KEEP THEM." + +"It's against the law," I quavered. + +"Nonsense!" he said. "We've got to make 'em WANT to stay!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BACK TO NATURE + +We gave them a good supper and Mr. Pierce ordered claret served without +extra charge. By eight o'clock they were all in better humor, and when +they'd gathered in the lobby Miss Summers gave an imitation of Marie +Dressler doing the Salome dance. Every now and then somebody would look +out and say it was still snowing, and with the memory of the drifts and +the cold stove in the railroad station behind them, they'd gather closer +around the fire and insist that they would go as soon as the road was +cleared. + +But with the exception of Mr. von Inwald, not one of them really wanted +to go. As Doctor Barnes said over the news stand, each side was bluffing +and wouldn't call the other, and the fellow with the most nerve would +win. + +"And, oh, my aunt!" he said, "what a sweet disposition the von Inwald +has! Watch him going up and banging his head against the wall!" + +Everybody was charmed with the Salome dance, especially when Miss +Summers drew the cover off a meat platter she'd been dancing around, +and there was Arabella sitting on her hind legs, with a card tied to her +neck, and the card said that at eleven there would be a clambake in the +kitchen for all the guests. + +(The clambake was my idea, but the dog, of course, was Miss Julia's. I +never saw a woman so full of ideas, although it seems that what should +have been on the platter was the head of somebody or other.) + +Just after the dance I saw Mr. von Inwald talking to Miss Patty. He had +been ugly all evening, and now he looked like a devil. She stood facing +him with her head thrown back and her fingers twisting her ruby ring. +I guessed that she was about as much surprised as anything else, people +having a habit of being pleasant to her most of the time. He left her +in a rage, and as he went he collided with Arabella and kicked her. +Miss Patty went white but Miss Summers was not a bit put out. She simply +picked up the howling dog and confronted Mr. von Inwald. + +"Perhaps you didn't notice," she said sweetly, "but you kicked my dog." + +"Why don't you keep her out of the way?" he snarled, and they stood +glaring at each other. + +"Under the circumstances, Arabella," Miss Julia said--and everybody +was listening--"we can only withdraw Mr. von Inwald's invitation to the +kitchen." + +"Thank you, I had not intended to go," he said furiously, and went out +into the veranda, slamming the door behind him. Mr. Jennings looked up +from where he was playing chess by the fire and nodded at Miss Summers. + +"Serves him right for his temper!" he said. + +"Checkmate!" said the bishop. + +Mr. Jennings turned and glared at the board. Then with one sweep he +threw all the chessmen on the floor. As Tillie said later, it would be +a pity to spoil two houses with Mr. von Inwald and Mr. Jennings If they +were in the same family, they could work it off on each other. + +Miss Patty came down to the news stand and pretended to hunt for a +magazine. I reached over and stroked her hand. "Don't take it too hard, +dearie," I said. "He's put out to-night, and maybe he isn't well. Men +are like babies. If their stomachs are all right and have plenty in +them, they're pleasant enough. It's been my experience that your cranky +man's a sick man." + +"I don't think he is sick, Minnie," she said, with a catch in her voice. +"I--I think he is just dev--devilish!" + +Well, I thought that too, so I just stroked her hand, and after a minute +she got her color again. "It is hard for him," she said. "He thinks this +is all vulgar and American, and--oh, Minnie, I want to get away, and yet +what shall I do without you to keep me sensible." + +"You'll be a long ways off soon," I said, touching the ring under my +hand. + +"I wish you could come with me," she said, but I shook my head. + +"Here is one dog that isn't going to sit under any rich man's table and +howl for crumbs," I answered. "If he kicked ME, I'd bite him." + +At eleven o'clock we had the clambake with beer in the kitchen, and Mr. +von Inwald came, after all. They were really very cheerful, all of them. +Doctor Barnes insisted that Senator Biggs must not fast any longer, and +he ate by my count three dozen clams. At the end, when everybody was +happy and everything forgiven, Mr. Pierce got up and made a speech. + +He said he was sorry for what had happened that day, but that much he +had said he still maintained: that to pretend to make people well in +the way most sanatoriums did it was sheer folly, and he felt his +responsibility too keenly to countenance a system that was clearly wrong +and that the best modern thought considered obsolete. + +Miss Cobb sat up at that; she is always talking about the best modern +thought. + +He said that perfect health, clear skins, bright eyes--he looked at the +women, and except for Miss Patty, there wasn't an honest complexion or a +bright eye in the lot--keen appetites and joy of living all depended on +rational and simple living. + +"Hear, hear!" said the men. + +"The nearer we live to nature, the better," said Senator Biggs +oracularly. + +"Back to nature," shouted Mr. Moody through a clam. + +"Exactly," Mr. Pierce said, smiling. + +Mrs. Moody looked alarmed. "You don't mean doing without clothes--and +all that!" she protested. + +"Surely!" Miss Summers said, holding up her beer glass. "A toast, +everybody! Back to nature, sans rats, sans rouge, sans stays, sans +everything. I'll need to wear a tag with my name on it. Nobody will +recognize me!" + +Mr. Pierce got up again at the head of the long kitchen table and said +he merely meant rational living--more air, more exercise, simpler food +and better hours. It was being done now in a thousand fresh-air farms, +and succeeding. Men went back to their business clearer-headed and women +grew more beautiful. + +At that, what with the reaction from sitting in the cold station, and +the beer and everything, they all grew enthusiastic. Doctor Barnes made +a speech, telling that he used to be puny and weak, and how he went +into training and became a pugilist, and how he'd fought the Tennessee +something or other--the men nodded as if they knew--and licked him in +forty seconds or forty rounds, I'm not sure which. The men were standing +on their chairs cheering for him, and even Mr. Jennings, who'd been +sitting and not saying much, said he thought probably there was +something in it. + +They ended by agreeing to try it out for a week, beginning with the +morning, when everybody was to be down for breakfast by seven-thirty. +Mr. Thoburn got up and made a speech, protesting that they didn't know +what they were letting themselves in for, and ended up by demanding to +know if he was expected to breakfast at seven-thirty. + +"Yes, or earlier," Mr. Pierce said pleasantly. "I suppose you could have +something at seven." + +"And suppose I refuse?" he retorted disagreeably. + +But everybody turned on him, and said if they could do it, he could, and +he sat down again. Then somebody suggested that if they were to get up +they'd have to go to bed, and the party broke up. + +Doctor Barnes helped me gather up the clam shells and the plates. + +"It's a risky business," he said. "To-night doesn't mean anything; +they're carried away by the reaction and the desire for something new. +The next week will tell the tale." + +"If we could only get rid of Mr. Thoburn!" I exclaimed. Doctor Barnes +chuckled. + +"We may not get rid of him," he said, "but I can promise him the most +interesting week of his life. He'll be too busy for mischief. I'm going +to take six inches off his waist line." + +Well, in a half-hour or so I had cleared away, and I went out to the +lobby to lock up the news stand. Just as I opened the door from the back +hall, however, I heard two people talking. + +It was Miss Pat and Mr. Pierce. She was on the stairs and he in the hall +below, looking up. + +"I don't WANT to stay!" she was saying. + +"But don't you see?" he argued. "If you go, the others will. Can't you +try it for a week?" + +"I quite understand your motive," she said, looking down at him more +pleasantly than she'd ever done, "and it's very good of you and all +that. But if you'd only left things as they were, and let us all go, and +other people come--" + +"That's just it," he said. "I'm told it's the bad season and nobody else +would come until Lent. And, anyhow, it's not business to let a lot of +people go away mad. It gives the place a black eye." + +"Dear me," she said, "how businesslike you are growing!" + +He went over close to the stairs and dropped his voice. + +"If you want the bitter truth," he went on, trying to smile, "I've put +myself on trial and been convicted of being a fool and a failure. I've +failed regularly and with precision at everything I have tried. I've +been going around so long trying to find a place that I fit into, that +I'm scarred as with many battles. And now I'm on probation--for the last +time. If this doesn't go, I--I--" + +"What?" she asked, leaning down to him. "You'll not--" + +"Oh, no," he said, "nothing dramatic, of course. I could go around the +country in a buggy selling lightning-rods--" + +She drew herself back as if she resented his refusal of her sympathy. + +"Or open a saloon in the Philippines!" he finished mockingly. "There's a +living in that." + +"You are impossible," she said, and turned away. + +Oh, I haven't any excuse to make for him! I think he was just hungry for +her sympathy and her respect, knowing nothing else was coming to him. +But the minute they grew a bit friendly he seemed to remember the +prince, and that, according to his idea of it, she was selling herself, +and he would draw off and look at her in a mocking unhappy way that made +me want to slap him. + +He watched her up the stairs and then turned and walked to the fire, +with his hands in his pockets and his head down. + +I closed the news stand and he came over just as I was hanging up the +cigar-case key for Amanda King in the morning. He reached up and took +the key off its nail. + +"I'll keep that," he said. "It's no tobacco after this, Minnie." + +"You can't keep them here, then," I retorted. "They've got to smoke; +it's the only work they do." + +"We'll see," he said quietly. "And--oh, yes, Minnie, now that we shall +not be using the mineral spring--" + +"Not use the mineral spring!" I repeated, stupefied. + +"Certainly NOT!" he said. "This is a drugless sanatorium, Minnie, from +now on. That's part of the theory--no drugs." + +"Well, I'll tell you one thing," I snapped, "theory or no theory, you've +got to have drugs. No theory that I ever heard of is going to cure Mr. +Moody's indigestion and Miss Cobb's neuralgia." + +"They won't have indigestion and neuralgia." + +"Or Amanda King's toothache." + +"We won't have Amanda King." + +He put his elbow on the stand and smiled at me. + +"Listen, Minnie," he said. "If you hadn't been wasting your abilities in +the mineral spring, I'd be sorry to close it. But there will be plenty +for you to do. Don't you know that the day of the medicine-closet in the +bath-room and the department-store patent-remedy counter is over? We've +got sanatoriums now instead of family doctors. In other words, we put in +good sanitation systems and don't need the plumber and his repair kit." + +"The pharmacy?" I said between my teeth. + +"Closed also. No medicine, Minnie. That's our slogan. This is the day +of prophylaxis. The doctors have taken a step in the right direction +and are giving fewer drugs. Christian Science has abolished drugs and +established the healer. We simply abolish the healer." + +"If we're not going to use the spring-house, we might have saved the +expense of the new roof in the fall," I said bitterly. + +"Not at all. For two hours or so a day the spring-house will be +a rest-house--windows wide open and God's good air penetrating to +fastnesses it never knew before." + +"The spring will freeze!" + +"Exactly. My only regret is that it is too small to skate on. But +they'll have the ice pond." + +"When I see Mr. Moody skating on the ice pond," I said sarcastically, +"I'll see Mrs. Moody dead with the shock on the bank." + +"Not at all," he replied calmly. "You'll see her skating, too." And with +that he went to bed. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LIKE DUCKS TO WATER + +They took to it like ducks take to water. Not, of course, that they +didn't kick about making their own beds and having military discipline +generally. They complained a lot, but when after three days went by with +the railroad running as much on schedule as it ever does, they were all +still there, and Mr. Jennings had limped out and spent a half-hour at +the wood-pile with his gouty foot on a cushion, I saw it was a success. + +I ought to have been glad. I was, although when Mrs. Dicky found they +were all staying, and that she might have to live in the shelter-house +the rest of the winter, there was an awful scene. I was glad, too, every +time I could see Mr. Thoburn's gloomy face, or hear the things he said +when his name went up for the military walk. + +(Oh yes, we had a blackboard in the hall, and every morning each guest +looked to see if it was wood-pile day or military-walk day. At first, +instead of wood-pile, it was walk-clearing day, but they soon had the +snow off all the paths.) + +As I say, I was glad. It looked as if the new idea was a success, +although as Doctor Barnes said, nobody could really tell until new +people began to come. That was the real test. They had turned the baths +into a gymnasium and they had beginners' classes and advanced classes, +and a prize offered on the blackboard of a cigar for the man who made +the most muscular improvement in a week. The bishop won it the first +week, being the only one who could lie on his back and raise himself to +a sitting position without helping himself with his hands. As Mrs. Moody +said, it would be easy enough if somebody only sat on one's feet to hold +them down. + +But I must say I never got over the shock of seeing the spring-house +drifted with snow, all the windows wide open, the spring frozen hard, +and people sitting there during the rest hour, in furs and steamer rugs, +trying to play cards with mittens on--their hands, not the cards, of +course--and not wrangling. I was lonesome for it! + +I hadn't much to do, except from two to four to be at the spring-house, +and to count for the deep-breathing exercise. Oh, yes, we had that, too! +I rang a bell every half-hour and everybody got up, and I counted slowly +"one" and they breathed in through their noses, and "two" and they +exhaled quickly through their mouths. I guess most of them used more of +their lungs than they ever knew they had. + +Well, everybody looked better and felt better, although they wouldn't +all acknowledge it. Miss Cobb suffered most, not having the fire log +to curl her hair with. But as she said herself, between gymnasium and +military walks, and the silence hour, and eating, which took a long +time, everybody being hungry--and going to bed at nine, she didn't see +how she could have worried with it, anyhow. The fat ones, of course, +objected to an apple and a cup of hot water for breakfast, but except +Mr. Thoburn, they all realized it was for the best. He wasn't there for +his health, he said, having never had a sick day in his life, but when +he saw it was apple and hot water or leave, he did like Adam--he took +the apple. + +The strange thing of all was the way they began to look up to Mr. +Pierce. He was very strict; if he made a rule, it was obey or leave. +(As they knew after Mr. Moody refused to take the military walk, and was +presented with his bill and a railroad schedule within an hour. He had +to take the military walk with Doctor Barnes that afternoon alone.) They +had to respect a man who could do all the things in the gymnasium that +they couldn't, and come in from a ten or fifteen-mile tramp through the +snow and take a cold plunge and a swim to rest himself. + +It was on Monday that we really got things started, and on Monday +afternoon Miss Summers came out to the shelter-house in a towering rage. + +"Where's Mr. Pierce?" she demanded. + +"I guess you can see he isn't here," I said. + +"Just wait until I see him!" she announced. "Do you know that I am down +on the blackboard for the military walk to-day? + +"Why not?" + +She turned and glared at me. "Why not?" she repeated. "Why, the audacity +of the wretch! He brings me out into the country in winter to play in +his atrocious play, strands me, and then tells me to walk twenty miles a +day and smile over it!" She came over to me and shook my arm. "Not only +that," she said, "but he has cut out my cigarettes and put Arabella on +dog biscuit--Arabella, who can hardly eat a chicken wing." + +"Well, there's something to be thankful for," I said. "He didn't put you +on dog biscuit." + +She laughed then, with one of her quick changes of humor. + +"The worst of it is," she said, in a confidential whisper, "I'll do it. +I feel it. I guess if the truth were known I'm some older than he is, +but--I'm afraid of him, Minnie. Little Judy is ready to crawl around and +speak for a cracker or a kind word. Oh, I'm not in love with him, but +he's got the courage to say what he means and do what he says." + +She went to the door and looked back smiling. + +"I'm off for the wood-pile," she called back. "And I've promised to chop +two inches off my heels." + +As I say, they took to it like ducks to water--except two of them, von +Inwald and Thoburn. Mr. von Inwald stayed on, I hardly know why, but I +guess it was because Mr. Jennings still hadn't done anything final about +settlements, and with the newspapers marrying him every day it wasn't +very comfortable. Next to him, Mr. Thoburn was the unhappiest mortal I +have ever seen. He wouldn't leave, and with Doctor Barnes carrying +out his threat to take six inches off his waist, he stopped measuring +window-frames with a tape line and took to measuring himself. + +I came across him on Wednesday--the third day--straggling home from the +military walk. He and Mr. von Inwald limped across the tennis-court and +collapsed on the steps of the spring-house while the others went on to +the sanatorium. I had been brushing the porch, and I leaned on my broom +and looked at them. + +"You're both looking a lot better," I said. "Not so--well, not so +beer-y. How do you like it by this time?" + +"Fine!" answered Mr. Thoburn. "Wouldn't stay if I didn't like it." + +"Wouldn't you?" + +"But I'll tell you this, Minnie," he said, changing his position with +a groan to look up at me, "somebody ought to warn that young man. Human +nature can stand a lot but it can't stand everything. He's overdoing +it!" + +"They like it," I said. + +"They think they do," he retorted. "Mark my words, Minnie, if he adds +another mile to the walk to-morrow there will be a mutiny. Kingdoms may +be lost by an extra blister on a heel." + +Mr. von Inwald had been sitting with his feet straight out, scowling, +but now he turned and looked at me coolly. + +"All that keeps me here," he said, "is Minnie's lovely hair. It takes me +mentally back home, Minnie, to a lovely lady--may I have a bit of it to +keep by me?" + +"You may not," I retorted angrily. + +"Oh! The lovely lady--but never mind that. For the sake of my love for +you, Minnie, find me a cigarette, like a good girl! I am desolate." + +"There's no tobacco on the place," I said firmly, and went on with my +sweeping. + +"When I was a boy," Mr. Thoburn remarked, looking out thoughtfully +over the snow, "we made a sort of cigarette out of corn-silk. You don't +happen to have any corn-silk about, do you, Minnie?" + +"No," I said shortly. "If you take my advice, Mr. Thoburn, you'll go +back to town. You can get all the tobacco you want there--and you're +wasting your time here." I leaned on my broom and looked down at him, +but he was stretching out his foot and painfully working his ankle up +and down. + +"Am I?" he asked, looking at his foot. "Well, don't count on it too +much, Minnie. You always inspire me, and sitting here I've just thought +of something." + +He got up and hobbled off the porch, followed by Mr. von Inwald. I +saw him say something to Mr. von Inwald, who threw back his head and +laughed. Then I saw them stop and shake hands and go on again in deep +conversation. I felt uneasy. + + +Doctor Barnes came out that afternoon and watched me while I closed +the windows. He had a package in his hand. He sat on the railing of the +spring and looked at me. + +"You're not warmly enough dressed for this kind of thing," he remarked. +"Where's that gray rabbits' fur, or whatever it is?" + +"If you mean my chinchillas," I said, "they're in their box. Chinchillas +are as delicate as babies and not near so plentiful. I'm warm enough." + +"You look it." He reached over and caught one of my hands. "Look at +that! Blue nails! It's about four degrees above zero here, and while +the rest are wrapped in furs and steamer rugs, with hotwater bottles at +their feet, you've got on a shawl. I'll bet you two dollars you haven't +got on any--er--winter flannels." + +"I never bet," I retorted, and went on folding up the steamer rugs. + +"I'd like to help," he said, "but you're so darned capable, Miss +Minnie--" + +"You might see if you can get the slot-machine empty," I said. "It's +full of water. It wouldn't work and Mr. Moody thought it was frozen. +He's been carrying out boiling water all afternoon. If it stays in there +and freezes the thing will explode." + +He wasn't listening. He'd been fussing with his package and now he +opened it and handed it to me, in the paper. + +"It's a sweater," he said, not looking at me. "I bought it for myself +and it was too small-- Confound it, Minnie, I wish I could lie! I bought +them for you! There's the whole business--sweater, cap, leggings and +mittens. Go on! Throw them at me!" + +But I didn't. I looked at them, all white and soft, and it came over +me suddenly how kind people had been lately, and how much I'd been +getting--the old doctor's waistcoat buttons and Miss Pat's furs, and now +this! I just buried my face in them and cried. + +Doctor Barnes stood by and said nothing. Some men wouldn't have +understood, but he did. After a minute or so he came over and pulled the +sweater out from the bundle. + +"I'm glad you like 'em," he said, "but as I bought them at Hubbard's, in +Finleyville, and as the old liar guaranteed they wouldn't shrink, we'd +better not cry on 'em." + +Well, I put them on and I was warmer and happier than I had been for +some time. But that night when I went out to the shelter-house with +the supper basket I found both the honeymooners in a wild state of +excitement. They said that about five o'clock Thoburn had gone out to +the shelter-house and walked all around it. Finally he had stopped at +one of the windows of the other room, had worked at it with his penknife +and got it open, and crawled through. They sat paralyzed with fright, +and heard him moving around the other room, and he even tried their +door. But it had been locked. They hadn't the slightest idea what he was +doing, but after perhaps ten minutes he went away, going out the door +this time and taking the key with him. + +Mr. Dick had gone in when he was safely gone, but he could see nothing +unusual, except that the door of the cupboard in the corner was standing +open and there was a brand-new, folding, foot rule in it. + +That day the bar was closed for good, and there was a good bit of +fussing. To add to the trouble, that evening at dinner the pastries +were cut off, and at eight o'clock a delegation headed by Senator Biggs +visited Mr. Pierce in the office and demanded pastry put back on the +menu and the stewed fruit taken off. But Mr. Pierce was firm and they +came out pretty well subdued. It was that night, I think, that candles +were put in the bedrooms, and all the electric lights were turned off at +nine-thirty. + +At ten o'clock I took my candle and went to Mr. Pierce's sitting-room +door. I didn't think they'd stand much more and I wanted to tell him so. +Nobody answered and I opened the door. He was asleep, face down on the +hearth-rug in front of the fire. His candle was lighted on the floor +beside him and near it lay a newspaper cutting crumpled in a ball. +I picked it up. It was a list of the bridal party for Miss Patty's +wedding. + +I dropped it where I found it and went out and knocked again loudly. He +wakened after a minute and came to the door with the candle in his hand. + +"Oh, it's you, Minnie. Come in!" + +I went in and put my candle on the table. + +"I've got to talk to you," I said. "I don't mind admitting things have +been going pretty well, but--they won't stand for the candles. You mark +my words." + +"If they'll stand for the bar being closed, why not the candles?" he +demanded. + +"Well," I said, "they can't have electric light sent up in boxes and +labeled 'books,' but they can get liquor that way." + +He whistled, and then he laughed. + +"Then we'll not have any books," he said. "I guess they can manage. 'My +only books were woman's looks--'" and then he saw the ball of paper on +the floor and his expression changed. He walked over and picked it up, +smoothing it out on the palm of his hand. + +After a minute he looked up at me. + +"I haven't been to the shelter-house to-day. They are all right?" + +"They're nervous. With everybody walking these days they daren't venture +a nose out of doors." + +He was still holding the clipping. + +"And--Miss Jennings!" he said. "She--I think she looks better." + +"Her father's in a better humor for one thing--says Abraham Lincoln +split logs, and that it beats massage." + +I had been standing in the doorway, but he took me by the arm and drew +me into the room. + +"I wish you'd sit down for about ten minutes, Minnie," he said. "I guess +every fellow has a time when he's got to tell his troubles to some good +woman--not but that you know mine already. You're as shrewd as you are +kind." + +I sat down on the edge of a chair. For all I had had so much to do with +the sanatorium, I never forgot that I was only the spring-house girl. He +threw himself back in his easy chair, with the candle behind him on the +table and his arms above his head. + +"It's like this, Minnie," he said. "Mr. Jennings likes the new order of +things and--he's going to stay." + +I nodded. + +"And I like it here. I want to stay. It's the one thing I've found that +I think I can do. It isn't what I've dreamed of, but it's worth while. +To anchor the derelicts of humanity in a sort of repair dock here, and +scrape the barnacles off their dispositions, and send them out shipshape +again, surely that's something. And I can do it." + +I nodded again. + +"But if the Jenningses stay--" he looked at me. "Minnie, in heaven's +name, what am I going to do if SHE stays?" + +"I don't know, Mr. Pierce," I said. "I couldn't sleep last night for +thinking about it." + +He smoothed out the paper and looked at it again, but I think he +scarcely saw it. + +"The situation is humorous," he said, "only my sense of humor seems +to have died. She doesn't know I exist, except to invent new and +troublesome regulations for her annoyance. She is very sweet when she +meets me, but only because I am helping her to have her own way. And +I--my God, Minnie, I sit in the office and listen for her step outside!" + +He moved a little and held out the paper in the candle-light. + +"'It will please Americans to know,'" he read, "'that with the exception +of the Venetian lace robe sent by the bridegroom's mother, all of Miss +Patricia Jennings' elaborate trousseau is being made in America. + +"'Prince Oskar and his suite, according to present arrangements, will +sail from Naples early in March, and the wedding date, although not yet +definitely fixed, will probably be the first week in April. The wedding +party will include--'" + +He stopped there, and looked at me, trying to smile. + +"I knew it all before," he said, "but there's something inevitable about +print. I guess I hadn't realized it." + +He had the same look of wretchedness he'd had the first night I saw +him--a hungry look--and I couldn't help it; I went over to him and +patted him on the head like a little boy. I was only the spring-house +girl, but I was older than he was, and he needed somebody to comfort +him. + +"I can't think of anything to say that will help any," I said, "unless +it's what you wrote yourself on the blackboard down in the hall, 'Keep +busy and you'll keep happy.'" + +He reached up for my hand, and rough and red as it was--having been in +the spring for so many years--he kissed it. + +"Good for you, Minnie!" he said. "You're rational, and for a day or so +I haven't been. That's right, KEEP BUSY. I'll do it." He got up and put +his hands on my shoulders. "Good old pal, when you see me going around +as if all the devils of hell were tormenting me, just come up and say +that to me, will you?" + +I promised, and he opened the door, candle in hand, and smiling. + +"I'm a thousand per cent. better already," he said. "I just needed to +tell somebody, I think. I dare say I've made a lot more fuss than it +really deserves." + +At the far end of the hall, a girl came out of one room, and carrying +a candle, went across to another. It was Miss Patty, going to bid her +father good night. When I left, he was still staring down the hall after +her, his candle dripping wax on the floor, and his face white. I guess +he hadn't overstated his case. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FIRST FRUITS + +By Friday of that week you would hardly have known any of them. The fat +ones were thinner and the thin ones fatter, and Miss Julia Summers could +put her whole hand inside her belt. + +And they were pleasant. They'd sit down to a supper of ham and eggs and +apple sauce, and yell for more apple sauce, and every evening in the +billiard room they got up two weighing pools, one for the ones who +wanted to reduce, and one for the people who wanted to gain. Everybody +put in a dollar, and at gymnasium hour the next morning the ones who'd +gained or lost the most won the pool. Mr. Thoburn won the losing pool on +Thursday and Friday--he didn't want to lose weight, but he was compelled +to under the circumstances. And I think worry helped him to it. + +They fussed some still about sleeping with the windows open, especially +the bald-headed men. However, the bishop, who had been bald for thirty +years, was getting a fine down all over the top of his head, and this +encouraged the rest. The bishop says it is nature's instinct to protect +itself from cold--all animals have fur, and heavier fur in winter--and +he believed that it was the ultimate cure for baldness. Men lose their +hair on top, he said, because they wear hats, and so don't need it. +But let the top of the head need protection, and lo, hair comes there. +Although, as Mr. Thoburn said, his nose was always cold in winter, and +nature never did anything for IT. + +Mr. von Inwald was still there, and not troubling himself to be +agreeable to any but the Jennings family. He and Mr. Pierce carefully +avoided each other, but I knew well enough that only policy kept them +apart. Both of them, you see, were working for something. + +Miss Cobb came to the spring-house early Friday morning, and from the +way she came in and shut the door I knew she had something on her mind. +She walked over to where I was polishing the brass railing around the +spring--it had been the habit of years, and not easy to break--and stood +looking at me and breathing hard. + +"Minnie," she exclaimed, "I have found the thief!" + +"Lord have mercy!" I said, and dropped the brass polish. + +"I have found the thief!" she repeated firmly. "Minnie, our sins always +find us out." + +"I guess they do," I said shakily, and sat down on the steps to the +spring. "Oh, Miss Cobb, if only he would use a little bit of sense!" + +"He?" she said. "HE nothing! It's that Summers woman I'm talking about, +Minnie. I knew that woman wasn't what she ought to be the minute I set +eyes on her." + +"The Summers woman!" I repeated. + +Miss Cobb leaned over the railing and shook a finger in my face. + +"The Summers woman," she said. "One of the chambermaids found my--my +PROTECTORS hanging in the creature's closet!" + +I couldn't speak. There had been so much happening that I'd clean +forgotten Miss Cobb and her woolen tights. And now to have them come +back like this and hang themselves around my neck, so to speak--it was +too much. + +"Per--perhaps they're hers," I said weakly after a minute. + +"Stuff and nonsense!" declared Miss Cobb. "Don't you think I know my +own, with L. C. in white cotton on the band, and my own darning in the +knee where I slipped on the ice? And more than that, Minnie, where those +tights are, my letters are!" + +I glanced at the pantry, where her letters were hidden on the upper +shelf. The door was closed. + +"But--but what would she want with the letters?" I asked, with my +teeth fairly hitting together. Miss Cobb pushed her forefinger into my +shoulder. + +"To blackmail me," she said, in a tragic voice, "or perhaps to publish. +I've often thought of that myself--they're so beautiful. Letters from +a life insurance agent to his lady-love--interesting, you know, and +alliterative. As for that woman--!" + +"What woman!" said Miss Summers' voice from behind us. We jumped and +turned. "I always save myself trouble, so if by any chance you are +discussing me--" + +"As it happens," Miss Cobb said, glaring at her, "I WAS discussing you." + +"Fine!" said Miss Julia. "I love to talk about myself." + +"I doubt if it's an edifying subject," Miss Cobb snapped. + +Miss Julia looked at her and smiled. + +"Perhaps not," she said, "but interesting. Don't put yourself out to be +friendly to me, Miss Cobb, if you don't feel like it." + +"Are you going to return my letters?" Miss Cobb demanded. + +"Your letters?" + +"My letters--that you took out of my room!" + +"Look here," Miss Julia said, still in a good humor, "don't you suppose +I've got letters of my own, without bothering with another woman's?" + +"Perhaps," Miss Cobb replied in triumph, "perhaps you will say that you +don't know anything of my--of my black woolen protectors?" + +"Never heard of them!" said Miss Summers. "What are they?" And then she +caught my eye, and I guess I looked stricken. "Oh!" she said. + +"Miss Cobb was robbed the other night," I explained, as quietly as I +could. "Somebody went into her room and took a bundle of letters." + +"Letters!" Miss Summers straightened and looked at me. + +"And my woolen tights," said Miss Cobb indignantly, "with all this cold +weather and military walks, and having to sit two hours a day by an open +window! And I'll tell you this, Miss Summers, your dog got in my room +that night, and while I have no suspicions, the chambermaid found +my--er--missing garment this morning in your closet!" + +"I don't believe," Miss Julia said, looking hard at me, "that Arabella +would steal anything so--er--grotesque! Do you mean to say," she added +slowly, "that nothing was taken from that room but the--lingerie and a +bundle of letters?" + +"Exactly," said Miss Cobb, "and I'd thank you for the letters." + +"The letters!" Miss Julia retorted. "I've never been in your room. I +haven't got the letters. I've never seen them." Then a light dawned in +her face. "I--oh, it's the funniest ever!" + +And with that she threw her head back and laughed until the tears rolled +down her cheeks and she held her side. + +"Screaming!" she gasped. "It's screaming! But, oh, Minnie, to have seen +your face!" + +Miss Cobb swept to the door and turned in a fury. + +"I do not think it is funny," she stormed, "and I shall report to Mr. +Carter at once what I have discovered." + +She banged out, and Miss Julia put her head on a card-table and writhed +with joy. "To have seen your face, Minnie!" she panted, wiping her eyes. +"To have thought you had Dick Carter's letters, that I keep rolled +in asbestos, and then to have opened them and found they were to Miss +Cobb!" + +"Be as happy as you like," I snapped, "but you are barking up the wrong +tree. I don't know anything about any letters and as far as that goes, +do you think I've lived here fourteen years to get into the wrong room +at night? If I'd wanted to get into your room, I'd have found your room, +not Miss Cobb's." + +She sat up and pulled her hat straight, looking me right in the eye. + +"If you'll recall," she said, "I came into the spring-house, and +Arabella pulled that--garment of Miss Cobb's off a table. It was +early--nobody was out yet. You were alone, Minnie, or no," she said +suddenly, "you were not alone. Minnie, WHO was in the pantry?" + +"What has that to do with it?" I managed, with my feet as cold as stone. + +She got up and buttoned her sweater. + +"Don't trouble to lie," she said. "I can see through a stone wall +as well as most people. Whoever got those letters thought they were +stealing mine, and there are only two people who would try to steal my +letters; one is Dick Carter, and the other is his brother-in-law. It +wasn't Sam in the pantry--he came in just after with his little snip of +a wife." + +"Well?" I managed. + +But she was smiling again, not so pleasantly. + +"I might have known it!" she said. "What a fool I've been, Minnie, and +how clever you are under that red thatch of yours! Dicky can not appear +as long as I am here, and Pierce takes his place, and I help to keep the +secret and to play the game! Well, I can appreciate a joke on myself as +well as most people, but--Minnie, Minnie, think of that guilty wretch of +a Dicky Carter shaking in the pantry!" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," I said, but she only winked +and went to the door. + +"Don't take it too much to heart," she advised. "Too much loyalty is +a vice, not a virtue. And another piece of advice, Minnie--when I find +Dicky Carter, stand from under; something will fall." + +They had charades during the rest hour that afternoon, the overweights +headed by the bishop, against the underweights headed by Mr. Moody. They +selected their words from one of Horace Fletcher's books, and as Mr. +Pierce wasn't either over or underweight, they asked him to be referee. + +Oh, they were crazy about him by that time. It was "Mr. Carter" here and +"dear Mr. Carter" there, with the women knitting him neckties and the +men coming up to be bullied and asking for more. + +And he kept the upper hand, too, once he got it. It was that day, I +think, that he sent Senator Biggs up to make his bed again, and nobody +in the place will ever forget how he made old Mr. Jennings hang his +gymnasium suit up three times before it was done properly. The old man +was mad enough at the time, but inside of twenty minutes he was offering +Mr. Pierce the cigar he'd won in the wood-chopping contest. + +But if Mr. Pierce was making a hit with the guests, he wasn't so popular +with the Van Alstynes or the Carters. The night the cigar stand was +closed Mr. Sam came to me and leaned over the counter. + +"Put the key in a drawer," he said. "I can slip down here after the +lights are out and get a smoke." + +"Can't do it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I said. "Got positive orders." + +"That doesn't include me." He was still perfectly good-humored. + +"Sorry," I said. "Have to have a written order from Mr. Pierce." + +He put a silver dollar on the desk between us and looked at me over it. + +"Will that open the case?" he asked. But I shook my head. + +"Well, I'll be hanged! What the devil sort of order did he give you?" + +"He said," I repeated, "that I'd be coaxed and probably bribed to open +the cigar case, and that you'd probably be the first one to do it, but +I was to stick firm; you've been smoking too much, and your nerves are +going." + +"Insolent young puppy!" he exclaimed angrily, and stamped away. + +So that I was not surprised when on that night, Friday, I was told to be +at the shelter-house at ten o'clock for a protest meeting. Mrs. Sam told +me. + +"Something has to be done," she said. "I don't intend to stand much +more. Nobody has the right to say when I shall eat or what. If I want to +eat fried shoe leather, that's my affair." + +We met at ten o'clock at the shelter-house, everybody having gone to +bed--Miss Patty, the Van Alstynes and myself. The Dickys were on good +terms again, for a wonder, and when we went in they were in front of the +fire, she on a box and he at her feet, with his head buried in her lap. +He didn't even look up when we entered. + +"They're here, Dicky," she said. + +"All right!" he answered in a smothered voice. "How many of 'em?" + +"Four," she said, and kissed the tip of his ear. + +"For goodness sake, Dick!" Mrs. Sam snapped in a disgusted tone, "stop +that spooning and get us something to sit on." + +"Help yourself," he replied, still from his wife's lap, "and don't be +jealous, sis. If the sight of married happiness upsets you, go away. Go +away, anyhow." + +Mr. Sam came over and jerked him into a sitting position. "Either you'll +sit up and take part in this discussion," he said angrily, "or you'll go +out in the snow until it's over." + +Mr. Dick leaned over and kissed his wife's hand. + +"A cruel fate is separating us," he explained, "but try to endure it +until I return. I'll be on the other side of the fireplace." + +Miss Patty came to the fire and stood warming her hands. I saw her +sister watching her. + +"What's wrong with you, Pat?" she asked. "Oskar not behaving?" + +"Don't be silly," Miss Patty said. "I'm all right." + +"She's worked to death," Mrs. Sam put in. "Look at all of us. I'll tell +you I'm so tired these nights that by nine o'clock I'm asleep on my +feet." + +"I'm tired to death, but I don't sleep," Miss Patty said. "I--I don't +know why." + +"I do," her sister said. "If you weren't so haughty, Pat, and would just +own up that you're sick of your bargain--" + +"Dolly!" Miss Patty got red and then white. + +"Oh, all right," Mrs. Dicky said, and shrugged her shoulders. "Only, I +hate to see you make an idiot of yourself, when I'm so happy." + +Mr. Dick made a move at that to go across the fireplace to her, but Mr. +Sam pushed him back where he was. + +"You stay right there," he said. "Here's Pierce now." + +He came in smiling, and as he stood inside the door, brushing the snow +off, it was queer to see how his eyes went around the circle until he'd +found Miss Patty and stopped at her. + +Nobody answered his smile, and he came over to the fire beside Miss +Patty. + +"Great night!" he said, looking down at her. "There's something +invigorating in just breathing that wind." + +"Do you think so?" Mrs. Sam said disagreeably. "Of course, we haven't +all got your shoulders." + +"That's so," he answered, turning to her. "I said you women should not +come so far. We could have met in my sitting-room." + +"You forget one thing," Mr. Dick put in disagreeably, "and that is +that this meeting concerns me, and I can not very well go to YOUR +sitting-room." + +"Fact," said Mr. Pierce, "I'd forgotten about you for the moment." + +"You generally do," Mr. Dick retorted. "If you want the truth, Pierce, +I'm about tired of your high-handed methods." + +Mr. Pierce set his jaw and looked down at him. + +"Why? I've saved the place, haven't I? Why, look here," he said, and +pulled out a couple of letters, "these are the first fruits of those +that weep--in other words, per aspera ad astra! Two new guests coming +the last of the week--want to be put in training!" + +Well, that was an argument nobody could find fault with, but their +grievance was about themselves and they couldn't forgive him. They +turned on him in the most heartless way--even Miss Patty--and demanded +that he give them special privileges--breakfast when they wanted it, and +Mr. Sam the key to the bar. And he stood firm, as he had that day in the +lobby, and let the storm beat around him, looking mostly at Miss Patty. +It was more than I could bear. + +"Shame on all of you!" I said. "He's done what he promised he'd do, and +more. If he did what he ought, he'd leave this minute, and let you find +out for yourself what it is to drive thirty-odd different stomachs and +the same number of bad dispositions in one direction." + +"You are perfectly right, Minnie," Miss Patty said. "We're beastly, +all of us, and I'm sorry." She went over and held out her hand to him. +"You've done the impossible," she told him. He beamed. + +"Your approval means more than anything," he said, holding her hand. +Mrs. Dick sat up and opened her eyes wide. + +"Speaking of Oskar," she began, and then stopped, staring past her +sister, toward the door. + +We all turned, and there, blinking in the light, was Miss Summers. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +OVER THE FENCE IS OUT + +"WELL!" she said, and stood staring. Then she smiled--I guess our faces +were funny. + +"May I come in?" she asked, and without waiting she came in and closed +the door. "You DO look cozy!" she said, and shook herself free of snow. + +Mr. Dick had turned white. He got up with his eyes on her, and twice he +opened his mouth and couldn't speak. He backed, still watching her, to +his wife, and stood in front of her, as if to protect her. + +Mr. Sam got his voice first. + +"B--bad night for a walk," he said. + +"Frightful!" she said. "I've been buried to my knees. May I sit down?" +To those of us who knew, her easy manner had something horrible in it. + +"Sorry there are no chairs, Julia," Mr. Pierce said. "Sit on the cot, +won't you?" + +"Who IS it?" Mrs. Dick asked from, as you may say, her eclipse. She and +Miss Summers were the only calm ones in the room. + +"I--I don't know," Mr. Dick stammered, but the next moment Miss Julia, +from the cot, looked across at him and grinned. + +"Well, Dicky!" she said. "Who'd have thought it!" + +"You said you didn't know her!" his wife said from behind him. + +"Who'd have thought wha--what?" he asked with bravado. + +"All this!" Miss Julia waved her hand around the room, with its bare +walls, and blankets over the windows to keep the light in and the cold +out, and the circle of us sitting around on sand boxes from the links +and lawn rollers. "To find you here, all snug in your own home, with +your household gods and a wife." Nobody could think of anything to say. +"That is," she went on, "I believe there is a wife. Good heavens, Dicky, +it isn't Minnie?" + +He stepped aside at that, disclosing Mrs. Dick on her box, with her +childish eyes wide open. + +"There--there IS a wife, Julia," he said. "This is her--she." + +Well, she'd come out to make mischief--it was written all over her when +she came in the door, but when Mr. Dick presented his wife, frightened +as he was and still proud of her, and Mrs. Dick smiled in her pretty +way, Miss Summers just walked across and looked down at her with a queer +look on her face. I shut my eyes and waited for the crash, but nothing +came, and when I opened them again there were the two women holding +hands and Miss Summers smiling a sort of crooked grin at Mr. Dick. + +"I ought to be very angry with your husband," she said. "I--well, I +never expected him to marry without my being among those present. But +since he has done it--! Dick, you wretched boy, you took advantage of my +being laid up with the mumps!" + +"Mumps!" Mrs. Dick said. "Why, he has just had them himself!" She looked +around the circle suspiciously, and every one of us looked as guilty as +if he had been caught with the mumps concealed around him somewhere. + +"I didn't have real mumps," Mr. Dick explained. "It was only--er--a +swelling." + +"You SAID it was mumps, and even now you hate pickles!" + +Mr. Pierce had edged over to Miss Summers and patted her shoulder. + +"Be a good sport, Julia," he whispered. + +She threw off his hand. + +"I'm being an idiot!" she said angrily. "Dick's an ass, and he's treated +me like a villain, but look at that baby! It will be twenty years before +she has to worry about her weight." + +"I never cared for pickles," Mr. Dick was saying with dignity. "The +doctor said--" + +"I think we'd better be going." Miss Patty got up and gathered up her +cloak. But if she meant to break up the party Miss Summers was not +ready. + +"If you don't mind," she said, "I'll stay. I'm frozen, and I've got to +go home and sleep with my window up. You're lucky," she went on to the +Dickys. "I dare say the air in here would scare us under a microscope, +but at least it is warm." + +The Van Alstynes made a move to go, but Mr. Dicky frantically gestured +to them not to leave him alone, and Mrs. Sam sat down again sulkily. Mr. +Pierce picked up his cap. + +"I'll take you back," he said to Miss Patty, and his face was fairly +glowing. But Miss Patty slipped her arm through mine. + +"Come, Minnie, Mr. Pierce is going to take us," she said. + +"I'd--I'd rather go alone," I said. + +"Nonsense." + +"I'm not ready. I've got to gather up these dishes," I objected. + +Out of the corner of my eye I could see the glow dying out of Mr. +Pierce's face. But Miss Patty took my arm and led me to the door. + +"Let them gather up their own dishes," she said. "Dolly, you ought to be +ashamed to let Minnie slave for you the way she does. Good night, +everybody." + +I did my best to leave them alone on the way back, but Miss Patty stuck +close to my heels. It was snowing, and the going was slow. + +For the first five minutes she only spoke once. + +"And so Miss Summers and Dicky Carter are old friends!" + +"It appears so," Mr. Pierce said. + +"She's rather magnanimous, under the circumstances," Miss Patty remarked +demurely. + +"Under what circumstances?" + +I heard her laugh a little, behind me. + +"Never mind," she said. "You needn't tell me anything you don't care to. +But what a stew you must all have been in!" + +There was a minute's silence behind me, and then Mr. Pierce laughed too. + +"Stew!" he said. "For the last few days I've been either paralyzed +with fright or electrified into wild bursts of mendacity. And I'm not +naturally a liar." + +"Really!" she retorted. "What an actor you are!" + +They laughed together at that, and I gained a little on them. At the +corner where the path skirted the deer park and turned toward the house +I lost them altogether and I floundered on alone. But I had not gone +twenty feet when I stopped suddenly. About fifty yards ahead a lantern +was coming toward me through the snow, and I could hear a man's voice, +breathless and gasping. + +"Set it down," it said. "The damned thing must be filled with lead." It +sounded like Thoburn. + +"It's the snow," another voice replied, Mr. von Inwald's. "I told you it +would take two trips." + +"Yes," Thoburn retorted, breathing in groans. "Stay up all night to get +the blamed stuff here, and then get up at dawn for a cold bath and +a twenty-mile walk and an apple for breakfast. Ugh, my shoulder is +dislocated." + +I turned and flew back to Miss Patty and Pierce. They had stopped in the +shelter of the fence corner and Mr. Pierce was on his knees in front of +her! I was so astounded that I forgot for the moment what had brought +me. + +"Just a second," he was saying. "It's ice on the heel." + +"Please get up off your knees, you'll take cold." + +"Never had a cold. I'll scrape it off with my knife. Why don't you wear +overshoes?" + +"I never have a cold!" she retorted. "Why, Minnie, is that you?" + +"Quick," I panted. "Thoburn and Mr. von Inwald +coming--basket--lantern--warn the shelter-house!" + +"Great Scott!" Mr. Pierce said. "Here, you girls crawl over the fence: +you'll be hidden there. I'll run back and warn them." + +The lantern was swinging again. Mr. Thoburn's grumbling came to us +through the snow, monotonous and steady. + +"I can't climb the fence!" Miss Patty said pitifully. But Mr. Pierce had +gone. + +I reached my basket through the bars and climbed the fence in a hurry. +Miss Patty had got almost to the top and was standing there on one +snow-covered rail, staring across at me through the darkness. + +"I can't, Minnie," she whispered hopelessly. "I never could climb a +fence, and in this skirt--!" + +"Quick!" I said in a low tone. The lantern was very close. "Put your leg +over." + +She did, and sat there looking down at me like a scared baby. + +"Now the other." + +"I--I can't!" she whispered. "If I put them both over I'll fall." + +"Hurry!" + +With a little grunt she put the other foot over, sat a minute with +agony in her face and her arms out, then she slid off with a squeal +and brought up in a sitting position inside the fence corner. I dropped +beside her. + +"What was that noise?" said Mr. Thoburn, almost upon us. "Something's +moving inside that fence corner." + +"It's them deers," Mike's voice this time. We could make out the three +figures. "Darned nuisance, them deers is. They'd have been shot long +ago if the spring-house girl hadn't objected. She thinks she's the whole +cheese around here." + +"Set it down again," Mr. von Inwald panted. We heard the rattle of +bottles as they put down the basket, and the next instant Thoburn's fat +hand was resting on the rail of the fence over our heads. I could feel +Miss Patty trembling beside me. + +But he didn't look over. He stood there resting, breathing hard, and +swearing at the weather, while Mike waited, in surly silence, and the +von Inwald cursed in German. + +After my heart had been beating in my ears for about three years the fat +hand moved, and I heard the rattle of glass again and Thoburn's groan as +he bent over his half of the load. + + "'Come on, my partners in distress, + My comrades through this wilderness,'" + +he said, and the others grunted and started on. + +When they had disappeared in the snow we got out of our cramped position +and prepared to scurry home. I climbed the fence and looked after them. +"Humph!" I said, "I guess that basket isn't for the hungry poor. I'd +give a good bit to know--" Then I turned and looked for Miss Patty. She +was flat on the snow, crawling between the two lower rails of the fence. + +"Have you no shame?" I demanded. + +She looked up at me with her head and half her long sealskin coat +through the fence. + +"None," she said pitifully. "Minnie, I'm stuck perfectly tight!" + +"You ought to be left as you are," I said, jerking at her, "for people +to come"--jerk--"to-morrow to look at"--jerk. She came through at that, +and we lay together in the snow and like to burst a rib laughing. + +"You'll never be a princess, Miss Patty," I declared. "You're too lowly +minded." + +She sat up suddenly and straightened her sealskin cap on her head. + +"I wish," she said unpleasantly, "I wish you wouldn't always drag in +disagreeable things, Minnie!" + +And she was sulky all the way to the house. + +Miss Summers came to my room that night as I was putting my hot-water +bottle to bed, in a baby-blue silk wrapper with a band of fur around the +low neck--Miss Summers, of course, not the hot-water bottle. + +"Well!" she said, sitting down on the foot of the bed and staring at me. +"Well, young woman, for a person who has never been farther away than +Finleyville you do pretty well!" + +"Do what?" I asked, with the covers up to my chin. + +"Do what, Miss Innocence!" she said mockingly. "You're the only +red-haired woman I ever saw who didn't look as sophisticated as the +devil. I'll tell you one thing, though." She reached down into the +pocket of her dressing-gown and brought up a cigarette and a match. "You +never had me fooled for a minute!" She looked at me over the match. + +I lay and stared back. + +"And another thing," she said. "I never had any real intention of +marrying Dicky Carter and raising a baby sanatorium. I wouldn't have the +face to ask Arabella to live here." + +"I'm glad you feel that way, Miss Summers," I said. "I've gone through a +lot; I'm an old woman in the last two weeks. My hair's falling from its +having to stand up on end half the time." + +She leaned over and put her cigarette on the back of my celluloid +mirror, and then suddenly she threw back her head and laughed. + +"Minnie!" she said, between fits, "Minnie! As long as I live I'll never +forget that wretched boy's face! And the sand boxes! And the blankets +over the windows! And the tarpaulin over the rafters! And Mr. Van +Alstyne sitting on the lawnmower! I'd rather have had my minute in that +doorway than fifty thousand dollars!" + +"If you had had to carry out all those things--" I began, but she +checked me. + +"Listen!" she said. "Somebody with brains has got to take you young +people in hand. You're not able to look after yourselves. I'm fond of +Alan Pierce, for one thing, and I don't care to see a sanatorium that +might have been the child of my solicitude kidnaped and reared as a +summer hotel by Papa Thoburn. A good fat man is very, very good, Minnie, +but when he is bad he is horrid." + +"It's too late," I objected feebly. "He can't get it now." + +"Can't he!" She got up and yawned, stretching. "Well, I'll lay you +ten to one that if we don't get busy he'll have the house empty in +thirty-six hours, and a bill of sale on it in as many days." + +The celluloid mirror blazed up at that minute, and she poured the +contents of my water-pitcher over the dresser. For the next hour, while +I was emptying water out of the bureau drawers and hanging up my clothes +to dry, she told me what she knew of Thoburn's scheme, and it turned me +cold. + +But I went to bed finally. Just as I was dozing off, somebody opened my +door, and I heard a curious scraping along the floor. I turned on the +light, and there was Arabella, half-dragging and half-carrying a solid +silver hand-mirror with a card on it: "To Minnie, to replace the one +that blew up. J. S." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A CUPBOARD FULL OF RYE + +Doctor Barnes came to me at the news stand the next morning before +gymnasium. + +"Well," he said, "you look as busy as a dog with fleas. Have you heard +the glad tidings?" + +"What?" I asked without much spirit. "I've heard considerable tidings +lately, and not much of it has cheered me up any." + +He leaned over and ran his fingers up through his hair. + +"You know, Miss Minnie," he said, "somebody ought kindly to kill our +friend Thoburn, or he'll come to a bad end." + +"Shall I do it, or will you?" I said, filling up the chewing-gum jar. +(Mr. Pierce had taken away the candy case.) + +Doctor Barnes glanced around to see if there was any one near, and +leaned farther over. + +"The cupboard isn't empty now!" he said. "Not for nothing did I spend +part of the night in the Dicky-bird's nest! By the way, did you ever +hear that touching story about little Sally walking up and laying an +egg?--I see you have. What do you think is in the cupboard?" + +"I know about it," I said shortly. "Liquor--in a case labeled +'Books--breakable.'" + +"'Sing a song of sixpence, a cupboard full of rye!'" he said. "Almost +a goal! But not ONLY liquors, my little friend. Champagne--cases of +it--caviar, canned grouse with truffles, lobster, cheeses, fine cigars, +everything you could think of, erotic, exotic and narcotic. An orgy in +cans and bottles, a bacchanalian revel: a cupboard full of indigestion, +joy, forgetfulness and katzenjammer. Oh, my suffering palate, to have to +leave it all without one sniff, one sip, one nibble!" + +"He's wasting his money," I said. "They're all crazy about the simple +life." + +He looked around and, seeing no one in the lobby, reached over and took +one of my hands. + +"Strange," he said, looking at it. "No webs, and yet it's been an +amphibious little creature most of its life. My dear girl, our +friend Thoburn is a rascal, but he is also a student of mankind and a +philosopher. Gee," he said, "think of a woman fighting her way alone +through the world with a bit of a fist like that!" + +I jerked my hand away. + +"It's like this, my dear," he said. "Human nature's a curious thing. +It's human nature, for instance, for me to be crazy about you, when +you're as hands-offish as a curly porcupine. And it is human nature, by +the same token, to like to be bullied, especially about health, and to +respect and admire the fellow who does the bullying. That's why we were +crazy about Roosevelt, and that's why Pierce is trailing his kingly +robes over them while they lie on their faces and eat dirt--and stewed +fruit." + +He reached for my hand again, but I put it behind me. + +"But alas," he said, "there is another side to human nature, and +our friend Thoburn has not kept a summer hotel for nothing. It is +notoriously weak, especially as to stomach. You may feed 'em prunes and +whole-wheat bread and apple sauce, and after a while they'll forget +the fat days, and remember only the lean and hungry ones. But let some +student of human nature at the proper moment introduce just one fat day, +one feast, one revel--" + +"Talk English," I said sharply. + +"Don't break in on my flights of fancy," he objected. "If you want the +truth, Thoburn is going to have a party--a forbidden feast. He's going +to rouse again the sleeping dogs of appetite, and send them ravening +back to the Plaza, to Sherry's and Del's and the little Italian +restaurants on Sixth Avenue. He's going to take them up on a high +mountain and show them the wines and delicatessen of the earth, and +then ask them if they're going to be bullied into eating boiled beef and +cabbage." + +"Then I don't care how soon he does it," I said despondently. "I'd +rather die quickly than by inches." + +"Die!" he said. "Not a bit of it. Remember, our friend Pierce is also +a student of human nature. He's thinking it out now in the cold plunge, +and I miss my guess if Thoburn's sky-rocket hasn't got a stick that'll +come back and hit him on the head." + +He had been playing with one of the chewing-gum jars, and when he had +gone I shoved it back into its place. It was by the merest chance that I +glanced at it, and I saw that he had slipped a small white box inside. I +knew I was being a silly old fool, but my heart beat fast when I took +it out and looked at it. On the lid was written "For a good girl," and +inside lay the red puffs from Mrs. Yost's window down in Finleyville. +Just under them was an envelope. I could scarcely see to open it. + + +"Dearest Minnie," the note inside said, "I had them matched to my own +thatch, and I think they'll match yours. And since, in the words of +the great Herbert Spencer, things that match the same thing match each +other--! What do you say?--Barnes." + +"P. S.--I love you. I feel like a damn fool saying it, but heaven knows +it's true." + +"P. P. S.--Still love you. It's easier the second time." + +"N. B.--I love you--got the habit now and can't stop writing it.--B." + + +Well, I had to keep calm and attend to business, but I was seething +inside like a Seidlitz powder. Every few minutes I'd reread the letter +under the edge of the stand, and the more I read it the more excited +I got. When a woman's gone past thirty before she gets her first +love-letter, she isn't sure whether to thank providence or the man, but +she's pretty sure to make a fool of herself. + +Thoburn came to the news stand on his way out with the ice-cutting gang +to the pond. + +"Last call to the dining-car, Minnie," he said. "'Will you--won't +you--will you--won't you--will you join the dance?'" + +"I haven't any reason for changing my plans," I retorted. "I promised +the old doctor to stick by the place, and I'm sticking." + +"As the man said when he sat down on the flypaper. You're going by your +heart, Minnie, and not by your head, and in this toss, heads win." + +But with my new puffs on the back of my head, and my letter in my +pocket, I wasn't easy to discourage. Thoburn shouldered his pick and, +headed by Doctor Barnes, the ice-cutters started out in single file. +As they passed the news stand Doctor Barnes glanced at me, and my heart +almost stopped. + +"Do they--is it a match?" he asked, with his eyes on mine. + +I couldn't speak, but I nodded "yes," and all that afternoon I could +see the wonderful smile that lit up his face as he went out. It made him +almost good-looking. Oh, there's nothing like love, especially if you've +waited long enough to be hungry for it, and not spoiled your taste for +it by a bite here and a piece of a heart there, beforehand, so to speak. + +Miss Cobb stopped at the news stand on her way to the gymnasium. She +was a homely woman at any time, and in her bloomers she looked like a +soup-bone. Under ordinary circumstances she'd have seen the puffs from +the staircase and have asked what they cost and told me they didn't +match, in one breath. But she had something else on her mind. She padded +over to the counter in her gym shoes, and for once she'd forgotten her +legs. + +"May I speak to you, Minnie?" she asked. + +"You mostly do," I said. "There isn't a new rule about speaking, is +there?" + +"This is important, Minnie," she said, rolling her eyes around as she +always did when she was excited. "I'm in such a state of ex--I see you +bought the puffs! Perhaps you will lend them to me if we arrange for a +country dance." + +"They don't match," I objected. "They--they wouldn't look natural, Miss +Cobb." + +"They don't look natural on you, either. Do you suppose anybody believes +that the Lord sent you hair in seventeen rows of pipes, so that, red as +it is, it looks like an instantaneous water-heater?" + +"I'm not lending them," I said firmly. It would have been like lending +an engagement ring, to my mind. Miss Cobb was not offended. She went at +once to what had brought her, and bent over the counter. + +"Where's the Summers woman?" she asked. + +"In the gym. She's made herself a new gym suit out of her polka dotted +silk, and she looks lovely." + +"Humph!" retorted Miss Cobb. "Minnie, you love Miss Jennings almost like +a daughter, don't you?" + +"Like a sister, Miss Cobb," I said. "I'm not feeble yet." + +"Well, you wouldn't want to see her deceived." + +"I wouldn't have it," I answered. + +"Then what do you call this?" She put a small package on the counter, +and stared at me over it. "There's treachery here, black treachery." She +pointed one long thin forefinger at the bundle. + +"What is it? A bomb?" I asked, stepping back. More than once it had +occurred to me that having royalty around sometimes meant dynamite. Miss +Cobb showed her teeth. + +"Yes, a bomb," she said. "Minnie, since that creature took my letters +and my er--protectors, I have suspected her. Now listen. Yesterday I +went over the letters and I missed one that beautiful one in verse, +beginning, 'Oh, creature of the slender form and face!' Minnie, it had +disappeared--melted away." + +"I'm not surprised," I said. + +"And so, last night, when the Summers woman was out, goodness knows +where, Blanche Moody and I went through her room. We did not find my +precious missive from Mr. Jones, but we did find these, Minnie, tied +around with a pink silk stocking." + +"Heavens!" I said, mockingly. "Not a pink silk!" + +"Pink," she repeated solemnly. "Minnie, I have felt it all along. Mr. +Oskar von Inwald is the prince himself." + +"No!" + +"Yes. And more than that, he is making desperate love to Miss Summers. +Three of those letters were written in one day! Why, even Mr. Jones--" + +"The wretch!" I cried. I was suddenly savage. I wanted to take Mr. von +Inwald by the throat and choke him until his lying tongue was black, to +put the letters where Miss Patty could never see them. I wanted--I had +to stop to sell Senator Biggs some chewing-gum, and when he had gone, +Miss Cobb was reaching out for the bundle. I snatched it from her. + +"Give me those letters instantly," she cried shrilly. But I marched from +behind the counter and over to the fireplace. + +"Never," I said, and put the package on the log. When they were safely +blazing, I turned and looked at Miss Cobb. + +"I'd put my hand right beside those letters to save Miss Patty a +heartache," I said, "and you know it." + +"You're a fool." She was raging. "You'll let her marry him and have the +heartaches afterward." + +"She won't marry him," I snapped, and walked away with my chin up, +leaving her staring. + +But I wasn't so sure as I pretended to be. Mr. von Inwald and Mr. +Jennings had been closeted together most of the morning, and Mr. von +Inwald was whistling as he started out for the military walk. It seemed +as if the very thing that had given Mr. Pierce his chance to make good +had improved Mr. Jennings' disposition enough to remove the last barrier +to Miss Jennings' wedding with somebody else. + +Well, what's one man's meat is another man's poison. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +LOVE, LOVE, LOVE + +Even if we hadn't known, we'd have guessed there was something in the +air. There was an air of subdued excitement during the rest hour in the +spring-house, and a good bit of whispering and laughing, in groups which +would break up with faces as long as the moral law the moment they saw +my eye on them. + +They were planning a mutiny, as you may say, and I guess no sailors on a +pirate ship were more afraid of the captain's fist than they were of Mr. +Pierce's disapproval. He'd been smart enough to see that most of them, +having bullied other people all their lives, liked the novelty of being +bullied themselves. And now they were getting a new thrill by having a +revolt. They were terribly worked up. + +Miss Patty stayed after the others had gone, sitting in front of the +empty fireplace in the same chair Mr. Pierce usually took, and keeping +her back to me. When I'd finished folding the steamer rugs and putting +them away, I went around and stood in front of her. + +"Your eyes are red," I remarked. + +"I've got a cold." She was very haughty. + +"Your nose isn't red," I insisted. "And, anyhow, you say you never have +a cold." + +"I wish you would let me alone, Minnie." She turned her back to me. "I +dare say I may have a cold if I wish." + +"Do you know what they are saying here?" I demanded. "Do you know that +Miss Cobb has found out in some way or other who Mr. von Inwald is? +And that the four o'clock gossip edition says your father has given his +consent and that you can go and buy a diadem or whatever you are going +to wear, right off?" + +"Well," she said, in a choked voice, with her back to me, "what of it? +Didn't you and Mr. Pierce both do your best to bring it about?" + +"Our what?" I couldn't believe my ears. + +"You made father well. He's so p--pleasant he'll do anything except +leave this awful place!" + +"Well, of all the ungrateful people--" I began, and then Mr. Pierce came +in. He had a curious way of stopping when he saw her, as if she just +took the wind out of his sails, so to speak, and then of whipping off +his hat, if anything with sails can wear a hat, and going up to her +with his heart in his eyes. He always went straight to her and stopped +suddenly about two feet away, trying to think of something ordinary to +say. Because the extraordinary thing he wanted to say was always on the +end of his tongue. + +But this day he didn't light up when he saw her. He went through all +the other motions, but his mouth was set in a straight line, and when he +came close to her and looked down his eyes were hard. + +It's been my experience of men that the younger they are the harder they +take things and the more uncompromising they are. It takes a good many +years and some pretty hard knocks to make people tolerant. + +"I was looking for you," he said to her. "The bishop has just told me. +There are no obstacles now." + +"None," she said, looking up at him with wretchedness in her eyes, if he +had only seen. "I am very happy." + +"She was just saying," I said bitterly, "how grateful she was to both of +us." + +"I don't understand." + +"It is not hard to understand," she said, smiling. I wanted to slap her. +"Father was unreasonable because he was ill. You have made him well. I +can never thank you enough." + +But she rather overdid the joy part of it, and he leaned over and looked +in her face. + +"I think I'm stupid," he said. "I know I'm unhappy. But isn't that what +I was to do--to make them well if I could?" + +"How could anybody know--" she began angrily, and then stopped. "You +have done even more," she said sweetly. "You've turned them into +cherubims and seraphims. Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. Ugh! How +I hate amiability raised to the NTH power!" + +He smiled. I think it was getting through his thick man's skull that she +wasn't so happy as she should have been, and he was thrilled through and +through. + +"My amiability must be the reason you dislike me!" he suggested. They +had both forgotten me. + +"Do I dislike you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I never really +thought about it, but I'm sure I don't." She didn't look at him, she +looked at me. She knew I knew she lied. + +His smile faded. + +"Well," he said, "speaking of disliking amiability, you don't hate +yourself, I'm sure." + +"You are wrong," she retorted, "I loathe myself." And she walked to the +window. He took a step or two after her. + +"Why do it at all?" he asked in a low tone. "You don't love him--you +can't. And if it isn't love--" He remembered me suddenly and stopped. + +"Please go on," she said sweetly from the window. "Do not mind Minnie. +She is my conscience, anyhow. She is always scolding me; you might both +scold in chorus." + +"I wouldn't presume to scold." + +"Then give me a little advice and look superior and righteous. I'm +accustomed to that also." + +"As long as you are in this mood, I can't give you anything but a very +good day," he said angrily, and went toward the door. But when he had +almost reached it he turned. + +"I will say this," he said, "you have known for three days that Mr. +Thoburn was going to have a supper to-night, and you didn't let us know. +You must have known his purpose." + +I guess I was as surprised as she was. I'd never suspected she knew. + +She looked at him over her shoulder. + +"Why shouldn't he have a supper?" she demanded angrily. "I'm +starving--we're all starving for decent food. I'm kept here against my +will. Why shouldn't I have one respectable meal? You with your wretched +stewed fruits and whole-wheat breads! Ugh!" + +"I'm sorry. Thoburn's idea, of course, is to make the guests +discontented, so they will leave." + +"Oh!" she said. She hadn't thought of that, and she flushed. "At least," +she said, "you must give me credit for not trying to spoil Dick and +Dolly's chance here." + +"We are going to allow the party to go on," he said, still stiff and +uncompromising. It would have been better if he'd accepted her bit of +apology. + +"How kind of you! I dare say he would have it, anyhow." She was +sarcastic again. + +"Probably. And you--will go?" + +"Certainly." + +"Even when the result--" + +"Oh, don't preach!" she said, putting her hands to her ears. "If you and +Minnie want to preach, why don't you preach at each other? Minnie talks +'love, love, love.' And you preach health and morality. You drive me +crazy between you." + +"Suppose," he said with a gleam in his eyes, "suppose I preach 'love, +love, love!'" + +She put her fingers in her ears again. "Say it to Minnie," she cried, +and turned her back to him. + +"Very well," he said. "Minnie, Miss Jennings refuses to listen, and +there are some things I must say. Once again I am going to register a +protest against her throwing herself away in a loveless marriage. I--I +feel strongly on the subject, Minnie." + +She half turned, as if to interrupt. Then she thought better of it and +kept her fingers in her ears, her face flushed. But he had learned what +he hoped--that she could hear him. + +"You ask me why I feel so strongly, Minnie, and you are right to ask. +Under ordinary circumstances, Minnie, any remark of mine on the subject +would be ridiculous impertinence." + +He stopped and eyed her back, but she did not move. + +"It is impertinence under any circumstances, but consider the +provocation. I see a young, beautiful and sensitive girl, marrying, +frankly without love, a man whom I know to be unworthy, and you ask me +to stand aside and allow it to happen!" + +"Are you still preaching?" she asked coldly over her shoulder. "It must +be a long sermon." + +And then, knowing he had only a moment more, his voice changed and +became deep and earnest. His hands, that were clutching a chair-back, +took a stronger hold, so that the ends of the nails were white. + +"You see, Minnie," he said, turning a little pale, "I--I love Miss +Jennings myself. You have known it a long time, for you love her, too. +It has come to the point that I measure the day by the hours when I can +see her. She doesn't care for me; sometimes I think she hates me." He +paused here, but Miss Patty didn't move. "I haven't anything to offer +a woman except a clean life and the kind of love that a woman could be +proud of. I have no title--" + +Miss Patty suddenly took her fingers out of her ears and turned around. +She was flushed and shaken, but she looked past him without blinking an +eyelash to me. + +"Dear me," she said, "the sermon must have been exciting, Minnie! You +are quite trembly!" + +And with that she picked up her muff and went out, with not a glance at +him. + +He looked at me. + +"Well," he said, "THAT'S over. She's angry, Minnie, and she'll never +forgive me." + +"Stuff!" I snapped, "I notice she waited to hear it all, and no real +woman ever hated a man for saying he loved her." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT + +I carried out the supper to the shelter-house as usual that night, but +I might have saved myself the trouble. Mrs. Dicky was sitting on a box, +with her hair in puffs and the folding card-table before her, and Mr. +Dick was uncorking a bottle of champagne with a nail. There were two or +three queer-smelling cans open on the table. + +Mrs. Dick looked at my basket and turned up her nose. + +"Put it anywhere, Minnie," she said loftily, "I dare say it doesn't +contain anything reckless." + +"Cold ham and egg salad," I said, setting it down with a slam. "Stewed +prunes and boiled rice for dessert. If those cans taste as they smell, +you'd better keep the basket to fall back on. Where'd you get THAT?" +Mr. Dick looked at me over the bottle and winked. "In the next room," +he said, "iced to the proper temperature, paid for by somebody else, and +coming after a two-weeks' drought! Minnie, there isn't a shadow on my +joy!" + +"He'll miss it," I said. But Mr. Dick was pouring out three large +tumblersful of the stuff, and he held one out to me. + +"Miss it!" he exclaimed. "Hasn't he been out three times to-day, tapping +his little CACHE? And didn't he bring out Moody and the senator and von +Inwald this afternoon, and didn't they sit in the next room there from +two to four, roaring songs and cracking bottles and jokes." + +"Beasts!" Mrs. Dicky said savagely. "Two hours, and we daren't move!" + +"Drink, pretty creature!" Mr. Dick said, motioning to my glass. "Don't +be afraid of it, Minnie; it's food and drink." + +"I don't like it," I said, sipping at it. "I'd rather have the spring +water." + +"You'll have to cultivate a taste for it," he explained. "You'll like +the second half better." + +I got it down somehow and started for the door. Mr. Dick came after me +with something that smelled fishy on the end of a fork. + +"Better eat something," he suggested. "That was considerable champagne, +Minnie." + +"Stuff and nonsense," I said. "I was tired and it has rested me. That's +all, Mr. Dick." + +"Sure?" + +"Certainly," I said with dignity, "I'm really rested, Mr. Dick. And +happy--I'm very happy, Mr. Dick." + +"Perhaps I'd better close the door," he said. "The light may be seen--" + +"You needn't close it until I've finished talking," I said. "I've done +my best for you and yours, Mr. Dick. I hope you appreciate it. Night +after night I've tramped out here through the snow, and lost sleep, and +lied myself black in the face--you've no idea how I've had to lie, Mr. +Dick." + +"Come in and shut the door, Dick," Mrs. Dick called, "I'm freezing." + +That made me mad. + +"Exactly," I said, glaring at her through the doorway. "Exactly--I can +wade through the snow, bringing you meals that you scorn--oh, yes, you +scorn them. What did you do to the basket tonight? Look at it, lying +there, neglected in a corner, with p--perfectly good ham and stewed +fruit in it." + +All of a sudden I felt terrible about the way they had treated the +basket, and I sat down on the steps and began to cry. I remember that, +and Mr. Dick sitting down beside me and putting his arm around me and +calling me "good old Minnie," and for heaven's sake not to cry so loud. +But I was past caring. I had a sort of recollection of his getting me to +stand up, and our walking through about twenty-one miles of snow to the +spring-house. When we got there he stood off in the twilight and looked +at me. + +"I'm sorry, Minnie," he said, "I never dreamed it would do that." + +"Do what?" + +"Nothing. You're sure you won't forget?" + +"I never forget," I said. I had got up the steps by this time and was +trying to figure why the spring-house door had two knobs. + +I hadn't any idea what he meant. + +"Remember," he said, very slowly, "Thoburn is going to have his +party to-night instead of to-morrow. Tell Pierce that. To-night, not +to-morrow." I was pretty well ashamed when I got in the spring-house and +sat down in the dark. I kept saying over and over to myself, so I'd not +forget, "tonight, not to-morrow," but I couldn't remember WHAT was to be +to-night. I was sleepy, too, and my legs were cold and numb. I remember +going into the pantry for a steamer rug, and sitting down there for a +minute, with the rug around my knees before I started to the house. And +that is all I DO remember. + + +I was wakened by a terrible hammering in the top of my head. I reached +out for the glass of water that I always put beside my bed at night and +I touched a door-knob instead. Then I realized that the knocking wasn't +all in my head. There was a sort of steady movement of feet on the other +side of the door, with people talking and laughing. And above it all +rose the steady knock--knock of somebody beating on tin. + +"Can't do it." It was the bishop's voice. "I am convinced that nothing +but dynamite will open this tin of lobster." + +"Just a moment, Bishop," Mr. Thoburn's voice and the clink of bottles, +"I have a can opener somewhere. You'll find the sauce a la Newburg--" + +"Here, somebody, a glass, quick! A bottle's broken!" + +"Did anybody remember to bring salt and pepper?" + +"DEAR Mr. Thoburn!" It sounded like Miss Cobb. "Think of thinking of all +this!" + +"The credit is not mine, dear lady," Mr. Thoburn said. "Where the deuce +is that corkscrew? No, dear lady, man makes his own destiny, but his +birth date remains beyond his control." + +"Ladies and gentlemen," somebody said, "to Mr. Thoburn's birthday being +beyond his control!" + +There was the clink of glasses, but I had remembered what it had been +that I was to remember. And now it was too late. I was trapped in the +pantry of my spring-house and Mr. Pierce was probably asleep. I clutched +my aching head and tried to think. I was roused by hearing somebody say +that Miss Jennings had no glass, and by steps nearing the pantry. I had +just time to slip the bolt. + +"Pantry's locked!" said a voice. + +"Drat that Minnie!" somebody else said. "The girl's a nuisance." + +"Hush!" Miss Summers said. "She's probably in there now--taking down +what we say and what we eat. Convicting us out of our own mouths." + +I held my breath and the knob rattled. Then they found a glass for Miss +Patty and forgot the pantry. + +Under cover of the next burst of noises I tried the pantry window, but +it was frozen shut. Nothing but a hammer would have loosened it. I began +to dig at it with a wire hairpin, but I hadn't much hope. + +The fun in the spring-house was getting fast and furious. Miss Summers +was leaning against the pantry door and I judged that most of the men +in the room were around her, as usual. I put my ear to the panel of +the door, and I could pretty nearly see what was going on. They were +toasting Mr. Thoburn, and getting hungrier every minute as the supper +was put out on the card-tables. + +"To the bottle!" somebody said. "In infancy, the milk bottle; in our +prime, the wine bottle; in our dotage, the pill bottle." + +Mr. von Inwald came over and stood beside Miss Summers, and I could hear +every whisper. + +"I have good news for you," she said in an undertone. + +"Oh! And what?" + +"Sh! You may recall," she said, "the series of notes, letters, epistles, +with which you have been honoring me lately?" + +"How could I forget? They were written in my heart's blood!" + +"Indeed!" Her voice lifted its eyebrows, so to speak. "Well, somebody +got in my room last night and stole I dare say a pint of your heart's +blood. They're gone." + +He was pretty well upset, as he might be, and she stood by and listened +to the things he said, which, if they were as bad in English as they +sounded in German, I wouldn't like to write down. + +And when he cooled down and condensed, as you may say, into English, +he said Miss Jennings must have seen the letters, for she would hardly +speak to him. And Miss Summers said she hoped Miss Jennings had--she was +too nice a girl to treat shamefully. + +And after he had left her there alone, I heard a sort of scratching +on the door behind Miss Summers' back, and then something being shoved +under the door. I stooped down and picked it up. It was a key! + +I struck a match, and I saw by the tag that it was the one to the old +doctor's rooms. I knew right off what it meant. Mr. Pierce had gone to +bed, or pretended to throw them off the track and Thoburn had locked him +in! Thoburn hadn't taken any chances. He knew the influence Mr. Pierce +had over them all, and he and his champagne and tin cans had to get in +their work before Mr. Pierce had another chance at them. + +I had no time to wonder how Miss Summers knew I was in the pantry. +I tried the window again, but it wouldn't work. Somebody in the +spring-house was shouting, "'Hot butter blue beans, please come to +supper!'" and I could hear them crowding around the tables. I worked +frantically with the hairpin, and just then two shadowy figures outside +slipped around the corner of the building. It was Mr. Pierce and Doctor +Barnes! + +I darted back and put my ear to the door, but they did not come in at +once. Mr. Thoburn made a speech, saying how happy he was that they were +all well and able to go back to civilization again, where the broiled +lobster flourished like a green bay tree and the prune and the cabbage +were unknown. + +There was loud applause, and then Senator Biggs cleared his throat. + +"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished fellow guests," he began, "I +suggest a toast to the autocrat of Hope Springs. It is the only blot on +the evening, that, owing to the exigencies of the occasion, he can not +be with us. Securely fastened in his room, he is now sleeping the sleep +that follows a stomach attuned to prunes, a mind attuned to rule." + +"Eat, drink and be merry!" somebody said, "for to-morrow you diet!" + +There was a swish and rustle, as if a woman got up in a hurry. + +"Do you mean," said Miss Patty's clear voice, "that you have dared to +lock Mr. Pier--Mr. Carter in his room?" + +"My dear young lady," several of them began, but she didn't give them +time. + +"It is outrageous, infamous!" she stormed. I didn't need to see her to +know how she looked. + +"How DARE you! Suppose the building should catch fire!" + +"Fire!" somebody said in a bewildered voice. "My dear young lady--" + +"Don't 'my dear young lady' me," she said angrily. "Father, Bishop, will +you stand for this? Why, he may jump out the window and hurt himself! +Give me the key!" + +Miss Julia's fingers were beating a tatoo behind her, as if she was +afraid I might miss it. + +"If he jumps out he probably will hurt himself. It is impossible to +release him now, Miss Jennings, but if you insist we can have a mattress +placed under the window." + +"Thanks, Thoburn. It won't be necessary." The voice came from the door, +and a hush fell on the party. I slipped my bolt and peeped out. Framed +in the doorway was Mr. Pierce, with Doctor Barnes looking over his +shoulder. + +The people in the spring-house were abject. That's the only word for it. +Craven, somebody suggested later, and they were that, too. They smiled +sickly grins and tried to be defiant, and most of them tried to put down +whatever they held in their hands and to look innocent. If you ever saw +a boy when his school-teacher asks him what he has in his mouth, and +multiply the boy thirty times in number and four times in size, you'll +know how they looked. + +Mr. Pierce never smiled. He wouldn't let them speak a word in defense +or explanation. He simply lined them up as he did at gym, and sent them, +one by one, to the corner with whatever they had in their hands. He +made Mr. Jennings give up a bottle of anchovies that he'd stuffed in his +pocket, and the bishop had to come over with a cheese. + +And when it was all over, he held the door open and they went back +to the house. They fairly ducked past him in the doorway, although he +hadn't said a dozen words. It was a rout. The backbone of the rebellion +was broken. I knew that never again would the military discipline of +Hope Springs be threatened. Thoburn might as well pack and go. It was +Mr. Pierce's day. + +Mr. von Inwald was almost the last. He stood by, sneering, with an open +bottle of olives in his hand, watching the others go out. + +Mr. Pierce held the door open and eyed him. + +"I'll trouble you to put that bottle with the others, in the corner," +Mr. Pierce said sternly. + +They stood glaring at each other angrily. + +"And if I refuse?" + +"You know the rules here. If you refuse, there is a hotel at +Finleyville." + +Mr. von Inwald glanced past Mr. Pierce to where Doctor Barnes stood +behind him, with his cauliflower ear and his pugilist's shoulders. Then +he looked at the bottle in his hand, and from it to Miss Patty, standing +haughtily by. + +"I have borne much for you, Patricia," he said, "but I refuse to be +bullied any longer. I shall go to the hotel at Finleyville, and I shall +take the little olives with me." He smiled unpleasantly at Mr. Pierce, +whose face did not relax. + +He walked jauntily to the door and turned, flourishing the bottle. "The +land of the free and the home of the brave!" he sneered, raising the +bottle in the air. Standing jeering in the doorway, he bowed to Miss +Patty and Mr. Pierce, and put an olive into his mouth. + +But instantly he made a terrible face, and clapped a hand just in front +of his left ear. He stood there a moment, his face distorted--then he +darted into the night, and I never saw him again. + +"Mumps!" Doctor Barnes ejaculated, and stood staring after him from the +steps. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +LET GOOD DIGESTION + +There was no one left but Miss Patty. As she started out past him with +a crimson spot in each cheek Mr. Pierce put his hand on her arm. She +hesitated, and he closed the door on Doctor Barnes and put his back +against it. I had just time to slip back into the pantry and shut myself +in. + +For a minute there wasn't a sound. Then-- + +"I told you I should come," Miss Patty said, in her haughtiest manner. +"You need not trouble to be disagreeable." + +"Disagreeable!" he repeated. "I am abject!" + +"I don't understand," she said. "But you needn't explain. It really does +not matter." + +"It matters to me. I had to do this to-night. I promised you I would +make good, and if I had let this pass--Don't you see, I couldn't let it +go." + +"You can let me go, now." + +"Not until I have justified myself to you." + +"I am not interested." + +I heard him take a step or two toward her. + +"I don't quite believe that," he said in a low tone. "You were +interested in what I said here this afternoon." + +"I didn't hear it." + +"None of it?" + +"Not--not all." + +"I spoke, you remember, about your sister, and about Dick--" he paused. +I could imagine her staring at him in her wide-eyed way. + +"You never mentioned them!" she said scornfully and stopped. He laughed, +a low laugh, boyish and full of triumph. + +"Ah!" he said. "So you DID hear! I'm going to say it again, anyhow. I +love you, Patty. I'm--I'm mad for you. I've loved you hopelessly for so +long that to-night, when there's a ray of hope, I'm--I'm hardly sane. +I--" + +"Please!" she said. + +"I love you so much that I waken at night just to say your name, over +and over, and when dawn comes through the windows--" + +"You don't know what you are saying!" she said wildly. "I am--still--" + +"I welcome the daylight," he went on, talking very fast, "because it +means another day when I can see you. If it sounds foolish, it's--it's +really lots worse than it sounds, Patty." + +The door opened just then, and Doctor Barnes' voice spoke from the step. + +"I say," he complained, "you needn't--" + +"Get out!" Mr. Pierce said angrily, and the door slammed. The second's +interruption gave him time, I think, to see how far he'd gone, and his +voice, when he spoke again, was not so hopeful. + +"I'm not pleading my cause," he said humbly, "I know I haven't any +cause. I have nothing to offer you." + +"You said this afternoon," Miss Patty said softly, "that you could offer +me the--the kind of love that a woman could be proud of." + +She finished off with a sort of gasp, as if she was shocked at herself. +I was so excited that my heart beat a tatoo against my ribs, and without +my being conscious of it, as you may say, the pantry door opened about +an inch and I found myself with an eye to the crack. + +They were standing facing each other, he all flushed and eager and my +dear Miss Patty pale and trembly. But she wasn't shy. She was looking +straight into his eyes and her blessed lips were quivering. + +"How can you care?" she asked, when he only stood and looked at her. +"I've been such a--such a selfish beast!" + +"Hush!" He leaned toward her, and I held my breath. "You are everything +that is best in the world, and I--what can I offer you? I have nothing, +not even this sanatorium! No money, no title--" + +"Oh, THAT!" she interrupted, and stood waiting. "Well, you--you could at +least offer yourself!" + +"Patty!" + +She went right over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. + +"And if you won't," she said, "I'll offer myself instead!" + +His arms went around her like a flash at that, and he kissed her. I've +seen a good many kisses in my day, the spring-house walk being a sort +of lover's lane, but they were generally of the quick-get-away variety. +This was different. He just gathered her up to him and held her close, +and if she was one-tenth as much thrilled as I was in the pantry she'd +be ready to die kissing. + +Then, without releasing her, he raised his head, with such a look of +victory in his face that I still see it sometimes in my sleep, and his +eye caught mine through the crack. + +But if I'd looked to see him drop her I was mistaken. He drew her up and +kissed her again, but this time on the forehead. And when he'd let her +go and she had dropped into a chair and hid her shining face against the +back, as if she was ashamed, which she might well be, he stood laughing +over her bent head at me. + +"Come out, Minnie!" he called. "Come out and hear the good news!" + +"Hear!" I said, "I've seen all the news I want." + +"Gracious!" Miss Patty said, and buried her head again. But he had +reached the shameless stage; a man who is really in love always seems to +get to that point sooner or later. He stooped and kissed the back of her +neck, and if his hand shook when he pushed in one of her shell hairpins +it was excitement and not fright. + +"I hardly realize it, Minnie," he said. "I don't deserve her for a +minute." + +"Certainly not," I said. + +"He does." Miss Patty's voice smothered. Then she got up and came over +to me. + +"There is going to be an awful fuss, Minnie," she said. "Think of Aunt +Honoria--and Oskar!" + +"Let them fuss!" I said grandly. "If the worst comes, you can spend your +honeymoon in the shelter-house. I'm so used to carrying meals there now +that it's second nature." + +And at that they both made for me, and as Mr. Pierce kissed me Doctor +Barnes opened the door. He stood for a moment, looking queer and wild, +and then he slammed the door and we heard him stamping down the steps. + +Mr. Pierce had to bring him back. + +Well, that's all there is to it. The place filled up and stayed filled, +but not under Mr. Pierce. Mr. Jennings said ability of his kind was +wasted there, once the place was running, and set him to building a +railroad somewhere or other, with him and Miss Patty living in a private +car, and he carrying a portable telephone with him so he can talk to her +every hour or so. Mr. Dick and his wife are running the sanatorium, or +think they are. Doctor Barnes is the whole place, really. Mr. Jennings +was so glad to have Miss Patty give up the prince and send him back +home, after he'd been a week in the hotel at Finleyville looking as if +his face would collapse if you stuck a pin in it--Mr. Jennings was so +happy, not to mention having worked off his gout at the wood-pile, that +he forgave the Dickys without any trouble, and even went out and had a +meal with them in the shelter-house before they moved in, with Mr. Dick +making the coffee. + +I miss the spring, as I said at the beginning. It is hard to teach an +old dog new tricks, but with Miss Patty happy, and with Doctor Barnes +around-- + +Thoburn came out the afternoon before he left, just after the rest hour, +and showed me how much too loose his waistcoat had become. + +"I've lost, Minnie," he confessed. "Lost fifteen pounds and the dream of +my life. But I've found something, too." + +"What?" + +"My waist line!" he said, and threw his chest out. + +"You look fifteen years younger," I said, and at that he came over to me +and took my hand. + +"Minnie," he said, "maybe you and I haven't always agreed, but I've +always liked you, Minnie--always." + +"Thanks," I said, taking my hand away. + +"You've got all kinds of spirit," he said. "You've saved the place, all +right. And if you--if you tire of this, and want another home, I've got +one, twelve rooms, center hall, tiled baths, cabinet mantels--I'd be +good to you, Minnie. The right woman could do anything with me." + +When I grasped what he meant, I was staggered. + +"I'm sorry," I explained, as gently as I could. "I'm--I'm going to marry +Doctor Barnes one of these days." + +He stared at me. Then he laughed a little and went toward the door. + +"Barnes!" he said, turning. "Another redhead, by gad! Well, I'll tell +you this, young woman, you're red, but he's redder. Your days for +running things to suit yourself are over." + +"I'm glad of it," I retorted. "I want to be managed myself for a change. +Somebody," I said, "who won't be always thinking how he feels, unless +it's how he feels toward me." + +"Bah! He'll bully you." + +"'It's human nature to like to be bullied,'" I quoted. "And I guess I'm +not afraid. He's healthy and a healthy man's never a crank." + +"A case of yours for health, eh?" he said, and held out his hand. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Where There's A Will, by Mary Roberts Rinehart + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHERE THERE'S A WILL *** + +***** This file should be named 330.txt or 330.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/330/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned with OmniPage Professional OCR software +donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + +WHERE THERE'S A WILL + +By + +MARY ROBERTS RINEHART + + + +CONTENTS +CHAPTER +I I HAVE A WARNING +II MISS PATTY ARRIVES +III A WILL +IV AND A WAY +V WANTED--AN OWNER +VI THE CONSPIRACY +VII MR. PIERCE ACQUIRES A WIFE +VII AND MR. MOODY INDIGESTION +IX DOLLY, HOW COULD YOU +X ANOTHER COMPLICATION +XI MISS PATTY'S PRINCE +XII WE GET A DOCTOR +XIII THE PRINCE--PRINCIPALLY +XIV PIERCE DISAPPROVES +XV THE PRINCE, WITH APOLOGIES +XVI STOP, THIEF! +XVII A BUNCH OF LETTERS +XVIII MISS COBB'S BURGLAR +XIX NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN +XX EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY +XXI THE MUTINY +XXII HOME TO ROOST +XXIII BACK TO NATURE +XIV LIKE DUCKS TO WATER +XXV THE FIRST FRUITS +XXVI OVER THE FENCE IS OUT +XXVII A CUPBOARD FULL OF RYE +XXVIII LOVE, LOVE, LOVE +XXIX A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT +XXX LET GOOD DIGESTION + + + +WHERE THERE'S A WILL + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +I HAVE A WARNING + +When it was all over Mr. Sam came out to the spring-house to say +good-by to me before he and Mrs. Sam left. I hated to see him +go, after all we had been through together, and I suppose he saw +it in my face, for he came over close and stood looking down at +me, and smiling. "You saved us, Minnie," he said, "and I needn't +tell you we're grateful; but do you know what I think?" he asked, +pointing his long forefinger at me. "I think you've enjoyed it +even when you were suffering most. Red-haired women are born to +intrigue, as the sparks fly upward." + +"Enjoyed it!" I snapped. "I'm an old woman before my time, Mr. +Sam. What with trailing back and forward through the snow +to the shelter-house, and not getting to bed at all some nights, +and my heart going by fits and starts, as you may say, and half +the time my spinal marrow fairly chilled--not to mention putting +on my overshoes every morning from force of habit and having to +take them off again, I'm about all in." + +"It's been the making of you, Minnie," he said, eying me, with +his hands in his pockets. "Look at your cheeks! Look at your +disposition! I don't believe you'd stab anybody in the back +now!" + +(Which was a joke, of course; I never stabbed anybody in the +back.) + +He sauntered over and dropped a quarter into the slot-machine by +the door, but the thing was frozen up and refused to work. I've +seen the time when Mr. Sam would have kicked it, but he merely +looked at it and then at me. + +"Turned virtuous, like everything else around the place. Not +that I don't approve of virtue, Minnie, but I haven't got used to +putting my foot on the brass rail of the bar and ordering a nut +sundae. Hook the money out with a hairpin, Minnie, and buy some +shredded wheat in remembrance of me." + +He opened the door and a blast of February wind rattled the +window-frames. Mr. Sam threw out his chest under his sweater and +waved me another good-by. + +"Well, I'm off, Minnie," he said. "Take care of yourself and +don't sit too tight on the job; learn to rise a bit in the +saddle." + +"Good-by, Mr. Sam!" I called, putting down Miss Patty's doily and +following him to the door; "good-by; better have something before +you start to keep you warm." + +He turned at the corner of the path and grinned back at me. + +"All right," he called. "I'll go down to the bar and get a +lettuce sandwich!" + +Then he was gone, and happy as I was, I knew I would miss him +terribly. I got a wire hairpin and went over to the slot- +machine, but when I had finally dug out the money I could hardly +see it for tears. + + + + +It began when the old doctor died. I suppose you have heard of +Hope Sanatorium and the mineral spring that made it famous. +Perhaps you have seen the blotter we got out, with a flash-light +interior of the spring-house on it, and me handing the old +doctor a glass of mineral water, and wearing the embroidered +linen waist that Miss Patty Jennings gave me that winter. The +blotters were a great success. Below the picture it said, "Yours +for health," and in the body of the blotter, in red lettering, +"Your system absorbs the health-giving drugs in Hope Springs +water as this blotter soaks up ink." + +The "Yours for health" was my idea. + +I have been spring-house girl at Hope Springs Sanatorium for +fourteen years. My father had the position before me, but he +took rheumatism, and as the old doctor said, it was bad business +policy to spend thousands of dollars in advertising that Hope +Springs water cured rheumatism, and then have father creaking +like a rusty hinge every time he bent over to fill a glass with +it. + +Father gave me one piece of advice the day he turned the spring- +house over to me. + +"It's a difficult situation, my girl," he said. "Lots of people +think it's simply a matter of filling a glass with water and +handing it over the railing. Why, I tell you a barkeeper's a +high-priced man mostly, and his job's a snap to this. I'd like +to know how a barkeeper would make out if his customers came +back only once a year and he had to remember whether they wanted +their drinks cold or hot or `chill off'. And another thing: if a +chap comes in with a tale of woe, does the barkeeper have to ask +him what he's doing for it, and listen while he tells how much +weight he lost in a blanket sweat? No, sir; he pushes him a +bottle and lets it go at that." + +Father passed away the following winter. He'd been a little bit +delirious, and his last words were: "Yes, sir; hot, with a pinch +of salt, sir?" Poor father! The spring had been his career, you +may say, and I like to think that perhaps even now he is sitting +by some everlasting spring measuring out water with a golden +goblet instead of the old tin dipper. I said that to Mr. Sam +once, and he said he felt quite sure that I was right, and that +where father was the water would be appreciated. He had heard of +father. + +Well, for the first year or so I nearly went crazy. Then I found +things were coming my way. I've got the kind of mind that never +forgets a name or face and can combine them properly, which isn't +common. And when folks came back I could call them at once. It +would do your heart good to see some politician, coming up to +rest his stomach from the free bar in the state house at the +capital, enter the spring-house where everybody is playing cards +and drinking water and not caring a rap whether he's the man that +cleans the windows or the secretary of the navy. If he's been +there before, in sixty seconds I have his name on my tongue and a +glass of water in his hand, and have asked him about the +rheumatism in his right knee and how the children are. And in +ten minutes he's sitting in a bridge game and trotting to the +spring to have his glass refilled during his dummy hand, as if +he'd grown up in the place. The old doctor used to say my memory +was an asset to the sanatorium. + +He depended on me a good bit--the old doctor did--and that winter +he was pretty feeble. (He was only seventy, but he'd got in the +habit of making it eighty to show that the mineral water kept him +young. Finally he got to BEING eighty, from thinking it, and +he died of senility in the end.) + +He was in the habit of coming to the spring-house every day to +get his morning glass of water and read the papers. For a good +many years it had been his custom to sit there, in the winter by +the wood fire and in the summer just inside the open door, and +to read off the headings aloud while I cleaned around the spring +and polished glasses. + +"I see the president is going fishing, Minnie," he'd say, or +"Airbrake is up to 133; I wish I'd bought it that time I dreamed +about it. It was you who persuaded me not to, Minnie." + +And all that winter, with the papers full of rumors that Miss +Patty Jennings was going to marry a prince, we'd followed it by +the spring-house fire, the old doctor and I, getting angry at the +Austrian emperor for opposing it when we knew how much too good +Miss Patty was for any foreigner, and then getting nervous and +fussed when we read that the prince's mother was in favor of the +match and it might go through. Miss Patty and her father came +every winter to Hope Springs and I couldn't have been more +anxious about it if she had been my own sister. + +Well, as I say, it all began the very day the old doctor died. +He stamped out to the spring-house with the morning paper about +nine o'clock, and the wedding seemed to be all off. The paper +said the emperor had definitely refused his consent and had +sent the prince, who was his cousin, for a Japanese cruise, +while the Jennings family was going to Mexico in their private +car. The old doctor was indignant, and I remember how he tramped +up and down the spring-house, muttering that the girl had had a +lucky escape, and what did the emperor expect if beauty and youth +and wealth weren't enough. But he calmed down, and soon he was +reading that the papers were predicting an early spring, and he +said we'd better begin to increase our sulphur percentage in the +water. + +I hadn't noticed anything strange in his manner, although we'd +all noticed how feeble he was growing, but when he got up to go +back to the sanatorium and I reached him his cane, it seemed to +me he avoided looking at me. He went to the door and then turned +and spoke to me over his shoulder. + +"By the way," he remarked, "Mr. Richard will be along in a day or +so, Minnie. You'd better break it to Mrs. Wiggins." + +Since the summer before we'd had to break Mr. Dick's coming to +Mrs. Wiggins the housekeeper, owing to his finding her false +front where it had blown out of a window, having been hung up to +dry, and his wearing it to luncheon as whiskers. Mr. Dick was +the old doctor's grandson. + +"Humph!" I said, and he turned around and looked square at me. + +"He's a good boy at heart, Minnie," he said. "We've had our +troubles with him, you and I, but everything has been quiet +lately." + +When I didn't say anything he looked discouraged, but he had a +fine way of keeping on until he gained his point, had the old +doctor. + +"It HAS been quiet, hasn't it?" he demanded. + +"I don't know," I said; "I have been deaf since the last +explosion!" And I went down the steps to the spring. I heard +the tap of his cane as he came across the floor, and I knew he +was angry. + +"Confound you, Minnie," he exclaimed, "if I could get along +without you I'd discharge you this minute." + +"And if I paid any attention to your discharging me I'd have been +gone a dozen times in the last year," I retorted. "I'm not +objecting to Mr. Dick coming here, am I? Only don't expect me to +burst into song about it. Shut the door behind you when you go +out." + +But he didn't go at once. He stood watching me polish glasses +and get the card-tables ready, and I knew he still had something +on his mind. + +"Minnie," he said at last, "you're a shrewd young woman--maybe +more head than heart, but that's well enough. And with your +temper under control, you're a CAPABLE young woman." + +"What has Mr. Dick been up to now?" I asked, growing suspicious. + +"Nothing. But I'm an old man, Minnie, a very old man." + +"Stuff and nonsense," I exclaimed, alarmed. "You're only +seventy. That's what comes of saying in the advertising that you +are eighty--to show what the springs have done for you. It's +enough to make a man die of senility to have ten years tacked to +his age." + +"And if," he went on, "if anything happens to me, Minnie, I'm +counting on you to do what you can for the old place. You've +been here a good many years, Minnie." + +"Fourteen years I have been ladling out water at this spring," I +said, trying to keep my lips from trembling. "I wouldn't be at +home any place else, unless it would be in an aquarium. But +don't ask me to stay here and help Mr. Dick sell the old place +for a summer hotel. For that's what he'll do." + +"He won't sell it," declared the old doctor grimly. "All I want +is for you to promise to stay." + +"Oh, I'll stay," I said. "I won't promise to be agreeable, but +I'll stay. Somebody'll have to look after the spring; I reckon +Mr. Dick thinks it comes out of the earth just as we sell it, +with the whole pharmacopoeia in it." + +Well, it made the old doctor happier, and I'm not sorry I +promised, but I've got a joint on my right foot that throbs when +it is going to rain or I am going to have bad luck, and it gave a +jump then. I might have known there was trouble ahead. + + + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MISS PATTY ARRIVES + +It was pretty quiet in the spring-house that day after the old +doctor left. It had started to snow and only the regulars came +out. What with the old doctor talking about dying, and Miss +Patty Jennings gone to Mexico, when I'd been looking forward to +her and her cantankerous old father coming to Hope Springs for +February, as they mostly did, I was depressed all day. I got to +the point where Mr. Moody feeding nickels into the slot-machine +with one hand and eating zwieback with the other made me +nervous. After a while he went to sleep over it, and when he had +slipped a nickel in his mouth and tried to put the zwieback in +the machine he muttered something and went up to the house. + +I was glad to be alone. I drew a chair in front of the fire and +wondered what I would do if the old doctor died, and what a fool +I'd been not to be a school-teacher, which is what I studied for. + +I was thinking to myself bitterly that all that my +experience in the spring fitted me for was to be a mermaid, when +I heard something running down the path, and it turned out to be +Tillie, the diet cook. + +She slammed the door behind her and threw the Finleyville evening +paper at me. + +"There!" she said, "I've won a cake of toilet soap from Bath- +house Mike. The emperor's consented." + +"Nonsense!" I snapped, and snatched the paper. Tillie was right; +the emperor HAD! I sat down and read it through, and there +was Miss Patty's picture in an oval and the prince's in another, +with a turned-up mustache and his hand on the handle of his +sword, and between them both was the Austrian emperor. Tillie +came and looked over my shoulder. + +"I'm not keen on the mustache," she said, "but the sword's +beautiful--and, oh, Minnie, isn't he aristocratic? Look at his +nose!" + +But I'm not one to make up my mind in a hurry, and I'd heard +enough talk about foreign marriages in the years I'd been dipping +out mineral water to make me a skeptic, so to speak. + +"I'm not so sure," I said slowly. "You can't tell anything by +that kind of a picture. If he was even standing beside a +chair I could get a line on him. He may be only four feet high." + +"Then Miss Jennings wouldn't love him," declared Tillie. "How do +you reckon he makes his mustache point up like that?" + +"What's love got to do with it?" I demanded. "Don't be a fool, +Tillie. It takes more than two people's pictures in a newspaper +with a red heart around them and an overweight cupid above to +make a love-match. Love's a word that's used to cover a good +many sins and to excuse them all." + +"She isn't that kind," said Tillie. "She's--she's as sweet as +she's beautiful, and you're as excited as I am, Minnie Waters, +and if you're not, what have you got the drinking glass she used +last winter put on the top shelf out of reach for?" She went to +the door and slammed it open. "Thank heaven I'm not a dried-up +old maid," she called back over her shoulder, "and when you're +through hugging that paper you can send it up to the house." + +Well, I sat there and thought it over, Miss Patty, or Miss +Patricia, being, so to speak, a friend of mine. They'd come to +the Springs every winter for years. Many a time she'd slipped +away from her governess and come down to the spring-house for +a chat with me, and we'd make pop-corn together by my open fire, +and talk about love and clothes, and even the tariff, Miss Patty +being for protection, which was natural, seeing that was the way +her father made his money, and I for free trade, especially in +the winter when my tips fall off considerable. + +And when she was younger she would sit back from the fire, with +the corn-popper on her lap and her cheeks as red as cranberries, +and say: "I DON'T know why I tell you all these things, +Minnie, but Aunt Honoria's funny, and I can't talk to Dorothy; +she's too young, you know. Well, HE said--" only every winter +it was a different "he." + +In my wash-stand drawer I'd kept all the clippings about her +coming out and the winter she spent in Washington and was +supposed to be engaged to the president's son, and the magazine +article that told how Mr. Jennings had got his money by robbing +widows and orphans, and showed the little frame house where Miss +Patty was born--as if she's had anything to do with it. And so +now I was cutting out the picture of her and the prince and the +article underneath which told how many castles she'd have, +and I don't mind saying I was sniffling a little bit, for I +couldn't get used to the idea. And suddenly the door closed +softly and there was a rustle behind me. When I turned it was +Miss Patty herself. She saw the clipping immediately, and +stopped just inside the door. + +"YOU, TOO," she said. "And we've come all this distance to +get away from just that." + +"Well, I shan't talk about it," I replied, not holding out my +hand, for with her, so to speak, next door to being a princess-- +but she leaned right over and kissed me. I could hardly believe +it. + +"Why won't you talk about it?" she insisted, catching me by the +shoulders and holding me off. "Minnie, your eyes are as red as +your hair!" + +"I don't approve of it," I said. "You might as well know it now +as later, Miss Patty. I don't believe in mixed marriages. I had +a cousin that married a Jew, and what with him making the +children promise to be good on the Talmud and her trying to raise +them with the Bible, the poor things is that mixed up that it's +pitiful." + +She got a little red at that, but she sat down and took up the +clipping. + +"He's much better looking than that, Minnie," she said soberly, +"and he's a good Catholic. But if that's the way you feel we'll +not talk about it. I've had enough trouble at home as it is." + +"I guess from that your father isn't crazy about it," I remarked, +getting her a glass of spring water. The papers had been full of +how Mr. Jennings had forbidden the prince the house when he had +been in America the summer before. + +"Certainly he's crazy about it--almost insane!" she said, and +smiled at me in her old way over the top of the glass. Then she +put down the glass and came over to me. "Minnie, Minnie," she +said, "if you only knew how I've wanted to get away from the +newspapers and the gossips and come to this smelly little spring- +house and talk things over with a red-haired, sharp-tongued, +mean-dispositioned spring-house girl--!" + +And with that I began to blubber, and she came into my arms like +a baby. + +"You're all I've got," I declared, over and over, "and you're +going to live in a country where they harness women with dogs, +and you'll never hear an English word from morning to night." + +"Stuff!" She gave me a little shake. "He speaks as good English +as I do. And now we're going to stop talking about him--you're +worse than the newspapers." She took off her things and going +into my closet began to rummage for the pop-corn. "Oh, how glad +I am to get away," she sang out to me. "We're supposed to have +gone to Mexico; even Dorothy doesn't know. Where's the pop- +corner or the corn-popper or whatever you call it?" + +She was as happy to have escaped the reporters and the people she +knew as a child, and she sat down on the floor in front of the +fire and began to shell the corn into the popper, as if she'd +done it only the day before. + +"I guess you're safe enough here," I said. "It's always slack in +January--only a few chronics and the Saturday-to-Monday husbands, +except a drummer now and then who drives up from Finleyville. +It's too early for drooping society buds, and the chronic livers +don't get around until late March, after the banquet season +closes. It will be pretty quiet for a while." + +And at that minute the door was flung open, and Bath-house Mike +staggered in. + +"The old doctor!" he gasped. "He's dead, Miss Minnie--died just +now in the hot room in the bathhouse! One minute he was givin' +me the divil for something or other, and the next-- I thought he +was asleep." + +Something that had been heavy in my breast all afternoon suddenly +seemed to burst and made me feel faint all over. But I didn't +lose my head. + +"Does anybody know yet?" I asked quickly. He shook his head. + +"Then he didn't die in the bath-house, Mike," I said firmly. "He +died in his bed, and you know it. If it gets out that he died in +the hot room I'll have the coroner on you." + +Miss Patty was standing by the railing of the spring. I got my +shawl and started out after Mike, and she followed. + +"If the guests ever get hold of this they'll stampede. Start any +excitement in a sanatorium," I said, "and one and all they'll dip +their thermometers in hot water and swear they've got fever!" + +And we hurried to the house together. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A WILL + +Well, we got the poor old doctor moved back to his room, and had +one of the chambermaids find him there, and I wired to Mrs. Van +Alstyne, who was Mr. Dicky Carter's sister, and who was on her +honeymoon in South Carolina. The Van Alstynes came back at once, +in very bad tempers, and we had the funeral from the preacher's +house in Finleyville so as not to harrow up the sanatorium people +any more than necessary. Even as it was a few left, but about +twenty of the chronics stayed, and it looked as if we might be +able to keep going. + +Miss Patty sent to town for a black veil for me, and even went to +the funeral. It helped to take my mind off my troubles to think +who it was that was holding my hand and comforting me, and when, +toward the end of the service, she got out her handkerchief and +wiped her eyes I was almost overcome, she being, so to +speak, in the very shadow of a throne. + +After it was all over the relatives gathered in the sun parlor of +the sanatorium to hear the will--Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife and +about twenty more who had come up from the city for the funeral +and stayed over--on the house. + +Well, the old doctor left me the buttons for his full dress +waistcoat and his favorite copy of Gray's Anatomy. I couldn't +exactly set up housekeeping with my share of the estate, but when +the lawyer read that part of the will aloud and a grin went +around the room I flounced out of my chair. + +"Maybe you think I'm disappointed," I said, looking hard at the +family, who weren't making any particular pretense at grief, and +at the house people standing around the door. "Maybe you think +it's funny to see an unmarried woman get a set of waistcoat +buttons and a medical book. Well, that set of buttons was the +set he bought in London on his wedding trip, and the book's the +one he read himself to sleep with every night for twenty years. +I'm proud to get them." + +Mr. Van Alstyne touched me on the arm. + +"Everybody knows how loyal you've been, Minnie," he assured me. +"Now sit down like a good girl and listen to the rest of the +will." + +"While I'm up I might as well get something else off my mind," I +said. "I know what's in that will, but I hadn't anything to do +with it, Mr. Van Alstyne. He took advantage of my being laid up +with influenza last spring." + +They thought that was funny, but a few minutes later they weren't +so cheerful. You see the sanatorium was a mighty fine piece of +property, with a deer park and golf links. We'd had plenty of +offers to sell it for a summer hotel, but we'd both been dead +against it. That was one of the reasons for the will. + +The whole estate was left to Dicky Carter, who hadn't been able +to come, owing to his being laid up with an attack of mumps. The +family sat up and nodded at one another, or held up its hands, +but when they heard there was a condition they breathed +easier. + +Beginning with one week after the reading of the will--and not a +day later--Mr. Dick was to take charge of the sanatorium and to +stay there for two months without a day off. If at the end +of that time the place was being successfully conducted and could +show that it hadn't lost money, the entire property became his +for keeps. If he failed it was to be sold and the money given to +charity. + +You would have to know Richard Carter to understand the +excitement the will caused. Most of us, I reckon, like the sort +of person we've never dared to be ourselves. The old doctor had +gone to bed at ten o'clock all his life and got up at seven, and +so he had a sneaking fondness for the one particular grandson who +often didn't go to bed at all. Twice to my knowledge when he was +in his teens did Dicky Carter run away from school, and twice his +grandfather kept him for a week hidden in the shelter-house on +the golf links. Naturally when Mr. Van Alstyne and I had to hide +him again, which is further on in the story, he went to the old +shelter-house like a dog to its kennel, only this time--but +that's ahead, too. + +Well, the family went back to town in a buzz of indignation, and +I carried my waistcoat buttons and my Anatomy out to the +spring-house and had a good cry. There was a man named Thoburn +who was crazy for the property as a summer hotel, and every +time I shut my eyes I could see "Thoburn House" over the veranda +and children sailing paper boats in the mineral spring. + +Sure enough, the next afternoon Mr. Thoburn drove out from +Finleyville with a suit case, and before he'd taken off his +overcoat he came out to the spring-house. + +"Hello, Minnie," he exclaimed. "Does the old man's ghost come +back to dope the spring, or do you do it?" + +"I don't know what you are talking about, Mr. Thoburn," I +retorted sharply. "If you don't know that this spring has its +origin in--" + +"In Schmidt's drug store down in Finleyville!" he finished for +me. "Oh, I know all about that spring, Minnie! Don't forget +that my father's cows used to drink that water and liked it. I +leave it to you," he said, sniffing, "if a self-respecting cow +wouldn't die of thirst before she drank that stuff as it is now." + +I'd been filling him a glass--it being a matter of habit with +me--and he took it to the window and held it to the light. + +"You're getting careless, Minnie," he said, squinting at it. +"Some of those drugs ought to be dissolved first in hot water. +There's a lump of lithia there that has Schmidt's pharmacy label +on it." + +"Where?" I demanded, and started for it. He laughed at that, and +putting the glass down, he came over and stood smiling at me. + +"As ingenuous as a child," he said in his mocking way, "a nice, +little red-haired child! Minnie, how old is this young Carter?" + +"Twenty-three." + +"An--er--earnest youth? Willing to buckle down to work and make +the old place go? Ready to pat the old ladies on the shoulder +and squeeze the young ones' hands?" + +"He's young," I said, "but if you're counting on his being a +fool--" + +"Not at all," he broke in hastily. "If he hasn't too much +character he'll probably succeed. I hope he isn't a fool. If he +isn't, oh, friend Minnie, he'll stand the atmosphere of this +Garden of Souls for about a week, and then he'll kill some of +them and escape. Where is he now?" + +"He's been sick," I said. "Mumps!" + +"Mumps! Oh, my aunt!" he exclaimed, and fell to laughing. He +was still laughing when he got to the door. + +"Mumps!" he repeated, with his hand on the knob. "Minnie, the +old place will be under the hammer in three weeks, and if you +know what's good for you, you'll sign in under the new management +while there's a vacancy. You've been the whole show here for so +long that it will be hard for you to line up in the back row of +the chorus." + +"If I were you," I said, looking him straight in the eye, "I +wouldn't pick out any new carpets yet, Mr. Thoburn. I promised +the old doctor I'd help Mr. Dick, and I will." + +"So you're actually going to fight it out," he said, grinning. +"Well, the odds are in your favor. You are two to my one." + +"I think it's pretty even," I retorted. "We will be hindered, so +to speak, by having certain principles of honor and honesty. You +have no handicap." + +He tried to think of a retort, and not finding one he slammed out +of the spring-house in a rage. + +Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife came in that same day, just before +dinner, and we played three-handed bridge for half an hour. +As I've said, they'd been on their honeymoon, and they were both +sulky at having to stay at the Springs. It was particularly hard +on Mrs. Van Alstyne, because, with seven trunks of trousseau with +her, she had to put on black. But she used to shut herself up in +her room in the evenings and deck out for Mr. Sam in her best +things. We found it out one evening when Mrs. Biggs set fire to +her bureau cover with her alcohol curling-iron heater, and Mrs. +Sam, who had been going around in a black crepe dress all day, +rushed out in pink satin with crystal trimming, and slippers with +cut-glass heels. + +After the first rubber Mrs. Van Alstyne threw her cards on the +floor and said another day like this would finish her. + +"Surely Dick is able to come now," she said, like a peevish +child. "Didn't he say the swelling was all gone?" + +"Do you expect me to pick up those cards?" Mr. Sam asked angrily, +looking at her. + +Mrs. Sam yawned and looked up at him. + +"Of course I do," she answered. "If it wasn't for you I'd not +have stayed a moment after the funeral. Isn't it bad enough +to have seven trunks full of clothes I've never worn, and to have +to put on poky old black, without keeping me here in this old +ladies' home?" + +Mr. Sam looked at the cards and then at her. + +"I'm not going to pick them up," he declared. "And as to our +staying here, don't you realize that if we don't your precious +brother will never show up here at all, or stay if he does come? +And don't you also realize that this is probably the only chance +he'll ever have in the world to become financially independent of +us?" + +"You needn't be brutal," she said sharply. "And it isn't so bad +for you here as it is for me. You spend every waking minute +admiring Miss Jennings, while I--there isn't a man in the place +who'll talk anything but his joints or his stomach." + +She got up and went to the window, and Mr. Sam followed her. +Nobody pays any attention to me in the spring-house; I'm a part +of it, like the brass rail around the spring, or the clock. + +"I'm not admiring Miss Jennings," he corrected, "I'm +sympathizing, dear. She looks too nice a girl to have been stung +by the title bee, that's all." + +She turned her back to him, but he pretended to tuck the hair at +the back of her neck up under her comb, and she let him do it. +As I stooped to gather up the cards he kissed the tip of her ear. + +"Listen," he said, "there's a scream of a play down at +Finleyville to-night called Sweet Peas. Senator Biggs and the +bishop went down last night, and they say it's the worst in +twenty years. Put on a black veil and let's slip away and see +it." + +I think she agreed to do it, but that night after dinner, Amanda +King, who has charge of the news stand, told me the sheriff had +closed the opera-house and that the leading woman was sick at the +hotel. + +"They say she looked funny last night," Amanda finished, "and I +guess she's got the mumps." + +Mumps! + +My joint gave a throb at that minute. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +AND A WAY + +Mr. Sam wasn't taking any chances, for the next day he went to +the city himself to bring Mr. Dick up. Everything was quiet that +day and the day after, except that on the second day I had a +difference of opinion with the house doctor and he left. + +The story of the will had got out, of course, and the guests were +waiting to see Mr. Dick come and take charge. I got a good bit +of gossip from Miss Cobb, who had had her hair cut short after a +fever and used to come out early in the morning and curl it all +over her head, heating the curler on the fire log. I never smell +burnt hair that I don't think of Miss Cobb trying to do the back +of her neck. She was one of our regulars, and every winter for +ten years she'd read me the letters she had got from an insurance +agent who'd run away with a married woman the day before +the wedding. She kept them in a bundle, tied with lavender +ribbon. + +It was on the third day, I think, that Miss Cobb told me that +Miss Patty and her father had had a quarrel the day before. She +got it from one of the chambermaids. Mr. Jennings was a liver +case and not pleasant at any time, but he had been worse than +usual. Annie, the chambermaid, told Miss Cobb that the trouble +was about settlements, and that the more Miss Patty tried to tell +him it was the European custom the worse he got. Miss Patty +hadn't come down to breakfast that day, and Mr. Moody and Senator +Biggs made a wager in the Turkish bath--according to Miss Cobb-- +Mr. Moody betting the wedding wouldn't come off at all. + +"Of course," Miss Cobb said, wetting her finger and trying the +iron to see if it was hot, "of course, Minnie, they're not +married yet, and if Father Jennings gets ugly and makes any sort +of scandal it's all off. A scandal just now would be fatal. +These royalties are very touchy about other people's +reputations." + +Well, I heard that often enough in the next few days. + +Mr. Sam hadn't come back by the morning of the sixth day, but he +wired his wife the day before that Mr. Dick was on the way. But +we met every train with a sleigh, and he didn't come. I was +uneasy, knowing Mr. Dick, and Mrs. Sam was worried, too. + +By that time everybody was waiting and watching, and on the early +train on the sixth day came the lawyer, a Mr. Stitt. Mr. Thoburn +was going around with a sort of greasy smile, and if I could have +poisoned him safely I'd have done it. + +It had been snowing hard for a day or so, and at eleven o'clock +that day I saw Miss Cobb and Mrs. Biggs coming down the path to +the spring-house, Mrs. Biggs with her crocheting-bag hanging to +the handle of her umbrella. I opened the door, but they wouldn't +come in. + +"We won't track up your clean floor, Minnie," Mrs. Biggs said-- +she was a little woman, almost fifty, who'd gone through life +convinced she'd only lived so long by the care she took of +herself--"but I thought I'd better come and speak to you. Please +don't irritate Mr. Biggs to-day. He's been reading that article +of Upton Sinclair's about fasting, and hasn't had a bite to eat +since noon yesterday." + +I noticed then that she looked pale. She was a nervous creature, +although she could drink more spring water than any human being I +ever saw, except one man, and he was a German. + +Well, I promised to be careful. I've seen them fast before, and +when a fat man starts to live on his own fat, like a bear, he +gets about the same disposition. + +Mrs. Biggs started back, but Miss Cobb waited a moment at the +foot of the steps. + +"Mr. Van Alstyne is back," she said, "but he came alone." + +"Alone!" I repeated, staring at her in a sort of daze. + +"Alone," she said solemnly, "and I heard him ask for Mr. Carter. +It seems he started for here yesterday." + +But I'd had time to get myself in hand, and if I had a chill up +my spine she never knew it. As she started after Mrs. Biggs I +saw Mr. Sam hurrying down the path toward the spring-house, and I +knew my joint hadn't throbbed for nothing. + +Mr. Sam came in and slammed the door behind him. + +"What's this about Mr. Dick not being here?" he shouted. + +"Well, he isn't. That's all there is to it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I +said calmly. I am always calm when other people get excited. +For that reason some people think my red hair is a false alarm, +but they soon find out. + +"But he MUST be here," said Mr. Van Alstyne. "I put him on +the train myself yesterday, and waited until it started to be +sure he was off." + +"The only way to get Mr. Richard anywhere you want him to go," I +said dryly, "is to have him nailed in a crate and labeled." + +"Damned young scamp!" said Mr. Van Alstyne, although I have a +sign in the spring-house, "Profanity not allowed." + +"EXACTLY what was he doing when you last laid eyes on him?" I +asked. + +"He was on the train--" + +"Was he alone?" + +"Yes." + +"Sitting?" + +"No, standing. What the deuce, Minnie--" + +"Waving out the window to you?" + +"Of course not!" exclaimed Mr. Van Alstyne testily. "He was +raising the window for a girl in the next seat." + +"Precisely!" I said. "Would you know the girl well enough to +trace her?" + +"That's ridiculous, you know," he said trying to be polite. "Out +of a thousand and one things that may have detained him--" + +"Only one thing ever detains Mr. Dick, and that always detains +him," I said solemnly. "That's a girl. You're a newcomer in the +family, Mr. Van Alstyne; you don't remember the time he went down +here to the station to see his Aunt Agnes off to the city, and we +found him three weeks later in Oklahoma trying to marry a widow +with five children." + +Mr. Van Alstyne dropped into a chair, and through force of habit +I gave him a glass of spring water. + +"This was a pretty girl, too," he said dismally. + +I sat down on the other side of the fireplace, and it seemed to +me that father's crayon enlargement over the mantel shook its +head at me. + +After a minute Mr. Van Alstyne drank the water and got up. + +"I'll have to tell my wife," he said. "Who's running the place, +anyhow? You?" + +"Not--exactly," I explained, "but, of course, when anything comes +up they consult me. The housekeeper is a fool, and now that the +house doctor's gone--" + +"Gone! Who's looking after the patients?" + +"Well, most of them have been here before," I explained, "and I +know their treatment--the kind of baths and all that." + +"Oh, YOU know the treatment!" he said, eying me. "And why did +the house doctor go?" + +"He ordered Mr. Moody to take his spring water hot. Mr. Moody's +spring water has been ordered cold for eleven years, and I +refused to change. It was between the doctor and me, Mr. Van +Alstyne." + +"Oh, of course," he said, "if it was a matter of principle--" He +stopped, and then something seemed to strike him. "I say," he +said; "about the doctor--that's all right, you know; lots of +doctors and all that. But for heaven's sake, Minnie, don't +discharge the cook." + +Now that was queer, for it had been running in my head all +morning that in the slack season it would be cheaper to get a +good woman instead of the chef and let Tillie, the diet cook, +make the pastry + +Mr. Sam picked up his hat and looked at his watch. + +"Eleven thirty," he said, "and no sign of that puppy yet. I +guess it's up to the police." + +"If there was only something to do," I said, with a lump in my +throat, "but to have to sit and do nothing while the old place +dies it's--it's awful, Mr. Van Alstyne." + +"We're not dead yet," he replied from the door, "and maybe we'll +need you before the day's over. If anybody can sail the old bark +to shore, you can do it, Minnie. You've been steering it for +years. The old doctor was no navigator, and you and I know it." + +It was blowing a blizzard by that time, and Miss Patty was the +only one who came out to the spring-house until after three +o'clock. She shook the snow off her furs and stood by the fire, +looking at me and not saying anything for fully a minute. + +"Well," she said finally, "aren't you ashamed of yourself?" + +"Why?" I asked, and swallowed hard. + +"To be in all this trouble and not let me know. I've just this +minute heard about it. Can't we get the police?" + +"Mr. Van Alstyne is trying," I said, "but I don't hope much. +Like as not Mr. Dick will turn up tomorrow and say his calendar +was a day slow." + +I gave her a glass of water, and I noticed when she took it how +pale she was. But she held it up and smiled over it at me. + +"Here's to everything turning out better than we expect!" she +said, and made a face as she drank the water. I thought that she +was thinking of her own troubles as well as mine, for she put +down the glass and stood looking at her engagement ring, a square +red ruby in an old-fashioned setting. It was a very large ruby, +but I've seen showier rings. + +"There isn't anything wrong, Miss Patty, is there?" I asked, and +she dropped her hand and looked at me. + +"Oh, no," she said. "That is, nothing much, Minnie. Father is-- +I think he's rather ridiculous about some things, but I dare say +he'll come around. I don't mind his fussing with me, but--if it +should get in the papers, Minnie! A breath of unpleasant +notoriety now would be fatal!" + +"I don't see why," I said sharply. "The royal families of Europe +have a good bit of unpleasant notoriety themselves occasionally. +I should think they'd fall over themselves to get some good red +American blood. Blue blood's bad blood; you can ask any doctor." + +But she only smiled. + +"You're like father, Minnie," she said. "You'll never +understand." + +"I'm not sure I want to," I snapped, and fell to polishing +glasses. + +The storm stopped a little at three and most of the guests waded +down through the snow for bridge and spring water. By that time +the afternoon train was in, and no Mr. Dick. Mr. Sam was keeping +the lawyer, Mr. Stitt, in the billiard room, and by four o'clock +they'd had everything that was in the bar and were inventing new +combinations of their own. And Mrs. Sam had gone to bed with a +nervous headache. + +Senator Biggs brought the mail down to the spring-house at four, +but there was nothing for me except a note from Mr. Sam, rather +shaky, which said he'd no word yet and that Mr. Stitt had +mixed all the cordials in the bar in a beer glass and had had to +go to bed. + +At half past four Mr. Thoburn came out for a minute. He said +there was only one other train from town that night and the +chances were it would be snowed up at the junction. + +"Better get on the band wagon before the parade's gone past," he +said in an undertone. But I went into my pantry and shut the +door with a slam, and when I came out he was gone. + +I nearly went crazy that afternoon. I put salt in Miss Cobb's +glass when she always drank the water plain. Once I put the +broom in the fire and started to sweep the porch with a fire log +Luckily they were busy with their letters and it went unnoticed, +the smell of burning straw not rising, so to speak, above the +sulphur in the spring. + +Senator Biggs went from one table to another telling how well he +felt since he stopped eating, and trying to coax the other men to +starve with him. + +It's funny how a man with a theory about his stomach isn't happy +until he has made some other fellow swallow it. + +"Well," he said, standing in front of the fire with a glass of +water in his hand, "it's worth while to feel like this. My +head's as clear as a bell. I don't care to eat; I don't want to +eat. The `fast' is the solution." + +"Two stages to that solution, Senator," said the bishop; "first, +resolution; last, dissolution." + +Then they all began at once. If you have ever heard twenty +people airing their theories on diet you know all about it. One +shouts for Horace Fletcher, and another one swears by the +scraped-beef treatment, and somebody else never touches a thing +but raw eggs and milk, and pretty soon there is a riot of +calories and carbohydrates. It always ends the same way: the man +with the loudest voice wins, and the defeated ones limp over to +the spring and tell their theories to me. They know I'm being +paid to listen. + +On this particular afternoon the bishop stopped the riot by +rising and holding up his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, +"let us not be rancorous. If each of us has a theory, and that +theory works out to his satisfaction, then--why are we all here?" + +"Merely to tell one another the good news!" Mr. Jennings said +sourly from his corner. + +Honest, it was funny. If some folks were healthy they'd be +lonesome. + +But when things had got quiet--except Mr. Moody dropping nickels +into the slot-machine--I happened to look over at Miss Patty, and +I saw there was something wrong. She had a letter open in her +lap not one of the blue ones with the black and gold seal that +every one in the house knew came from the prince but a white one, +and she was staring at it as if she'd seen a ghost. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WANTED--AN OWNER + +I have never reproached Miss Patty, but if she had only given me +the letter to read or had told me the whole truth instead of a +part of it, I would have understood, and things would all have +been different. It is all very well for her to say that I looked +worried enough already, and that anyhow it was a family affair. +I SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD. + +All she did was to come up to me as I stood in the spring, with +her face perfectly white, and ask me if my Dicky Carter was the +Richard Carter who stayed at the Grosvenor in town. + +"He doesn't stay anywhere," I said, with my feet getting cold, +"but that's where he has apartments. What has he been doing +now?" + +"You're expecting him on the evening train, aren't you?" she +asked. "Don't stare like that: my father's watching." + +"He ought to be on the evening train," I said. I wasn't going to +say I expected him. I didn't. + +"Listen, Minnie," she said, "you'll have to send him away again +the moment he comes. He must not go into the house." + +I stood looking at her, with my mouth open. + +"Not go into the house," I repeated, "with everybody waiting for +him for the last six days, and Mr. Stitt here to turn things over +to him!" + +She stood tapping her foot, with her pretty brows knitted. + +"The wretch!" she cried, "the hateful creature as if things +weren't bad enough! I suppose he'll have to come, Minnie, but I +must see him before he sees any one else." + +Just then the bishop brought his glass over to the spring. + +"Hot this time, Minnie," he said. "Do you know, I'm getting the +mineral-water habit, Patty! I'm afraid plain water will have no +attraction for me after this." + +He put his hand over hers on the rail. They were old friends, +the bishop and the Jenningses. + +"Well, how goes it to-day with the father?" he said in a low +tone, and smiling. + +Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders. "Worse, if possible." + +"I thought so," he said cheerfully. "If state of mind is any +criterion I should think he has had a relapse. A little salt, +Minnie." Miss Patty stood watching him while he tasted it. + +"Bishop," she said suddenly, "will you do something for me?" + +"I always have, Patty." He was very fond of Miss Patty, was the +bishop. + +"Then--to-night, not later than eight o'clock, get father to play +cribbage, will you? And keep him in the card-room until nine." + +"Another escapade!" he said, pretending to be very serious. +"Patty, Patty, you'll be the death of me yet. Is thy servant a +dog, that he should do this thing?" + +"Certainly NOT," said Miss Patty. "Just a dear, slightly +bald, but still very distinguished slave!" + +The bishop picked up her left hand and looked at the ring and +from that to her face. + +"There will be plenty of slaves to kiss this little hand, where +you are going, my child," he said. "Sometimes I wish that some +nice red-blooded boy here at home--but I dare say it will turn +out surprisingly well as it is." + +"Bishop, Bishop!" Mrs. Moody called. "How naughty of you, and +with your bridge hand waiting to be held!" + +He carried his glass back to the table, stopping for a moment +beside Mr. Jennings. + +"If Patty becomes any more beautiful," he said, "I shall be in +favor of having her wear a mask. How are we young men to protect +ourselves?" + +"Pretty is as pretty does!" declared Mr. Jennings from behind his +newspaper, and Miss Patty went out with her chin up. + +Well, I knew Mr. Dick had been up to some mischief; I had +suspected it all along. But Miss Patty went to bed, and old Mrs. +Hutchins, who's a sort of lady's-maid-companion of hers, said she +mustn't be disturbed. I was pretty nearly sick myself. And when +Mr. Sam came out at five o'clock and said he'd been in the long- +distance telephone booth for an hour and had called everybody who +had ever known Mr. Dick, and that he had dropped right off +the earth, I just about gave up. He had got some detectives, he +said, and there was some sort of a story about his having kept +right on the train to Salem, Ohio, but if he had they'd lost the +trail there, and anyhow, with the railroad service tied up by the +storm there wasn't much chance of his getting to Finleyville in +time. + +Luckily Mr. Stitt was in bed with a mustard leaf over his stomach +and ice on his head, and didn't know whether it was night or +morning. But Thoburn was going around with a watch in his hand, +and Mr. Sam was for killing him and burying the body in the snow. + +At half past five I just about gave up. I was sitting in front +of the fire wondering why I'd taken influenza the spring before +from getting my feet wet in a shower, when I had been standing in +a mineral spring for so many years that it's a wonder I'm not +web-footed. It was when I had influenza that the old doctor made +the will, you remember. Maybe I was crying, I don't recall. + +It was dark outside, and nothing inside but firelight. Suddenly +I seemed to feel somebody looking at the back of my neck and +I turned around. There was a man standing outside one of the +windows, staring in. + +My first thought, of course, was that it was Mr. Dick, but just +as the face vanished I saw that it wasn't. It was older by three +or four years than Mr. Dick's and a bit fuller. + +I'm not nervous. I've had to hold my own against chronic +grouches too long to have nerves, so I went to the door and +looked out. The man came around the corner just then and I could +see him plainly in the firelight. He was covered with snow, and +he wore a sweater and no overcoat, but he looked like a +gentleman. + +"I beg your pardon for spying," he said, "but the fire looked so +snug! I've been trying to get to the hotel over there, but in +the dark I've lost the path." + +"That's not a hotel," I snapped, for that touched me on the raw. +"That's Hope Springs Sanatorium, and this is one of the Springs." + +"Oh, Hope Springs, internal instead of eternal!" he said. +"That's awfully bad, isn't it? To tell you the truth, I think +I'd better come in and get some; I'm short on hope just now." + +I thought that was likely enough, for although his voice was +cheerful and his eyes smiled, there was a drawn look around his +mouth, and he hadn't shaved that day. I wish I had had as much +experience in learning what's right with folks as I have had in +learning what's wrong with them. + +"You'd better come in and get warm, anyhow," I told him, "only +don't spring any more gags. I've been `Hebe' for fourteen years +and I've served all the fancy drinks you can name over the brass +railing of that spring. Nowadays, when a fellow gets smart and +asks for a Mamie Taylor, I charge him a Mamie Taylor price." + +He shut the door behind him and came over to the fire. + +"I'm pretty well frozen," he said. "Don't be astonished if I +melt before your eyes; I've been walking for hours." + +Now that I had a better chance to see him I'd sized up that drawn +look around his mouth. + +"Missed your luncheon, I suppose," I said, poking the fire log. +He grinned rather sheepishly. + +"Well, I haven't had any, and I've certainly missed it," he said. + +"Fasting's healthy, you know." + +I thought of Senator Biggs, who carried enough fat to nourish him +for months, and then I looked at my visitor, who hadn't an ounce +of extra flesh on him. + +"Nothing's healthy that isn't natural," I declared. "If you'd +care for a dish of buttered and salted pop-corn, there's some on +the mantel. It's pretty salty; the idea is to make folks thirsty +so they'll enjoy the mineral water." + +"Think of raising a real thirst only to drown it with spring +water!" he said. But he got the pop corn and he ate it all. If +he hadn't had any luncheon he hadn't had much breakfast. The +queer part was--he was a gentleman; his clothes were the right +sort, but he had on patent leather shoes in all that snow and an +automobile cap. + +I put away the glasses while he ate. Pretty soon he looked up +and the drawn lines were gone. He wasn't like Mr. Dick, but he +was the same type, only taller and heavier built. + +"And so it isn't a hotel," he remarked. "Well, I'm sorry. The +caravansary in the village is not to my liking, and I had thought +of engaging a suite up here. My secretary usually attends to +these things, but--don't take away all the glasses, Heb--I beg +your +pardon--but the thirst is coming." + +He filled the glass himself and then he came up and stood in +front of me, with the glass held up in the air. + +"To the best woman I have met in many days," he said, not mocking +but serious. "I was about to lie down and let the little birds +cover me with leaves." Then he glanced at the empty dish and +smiled. "To buttered pop-corn! Long may it wave!" he said, and +emptied the glass. + +Well, I found a couple of apples in my pantry and brought them +out, and after he ate them he told me what had happened to him. +He had been a little of everything since he left college he was +about twenty-five had crossed the Atlantic in a catboat and gone +with somebody or other into some part of Africa--they got lost +and had to eat each other or lizards, or something like that--and +then he went to the Philippines, and got stuck there and had to +sell books to get home. He had a little money, "enough for a +grub-stake," he said, and all his folks were dead. Then a +college friend of his wrote a rural play called Sweet Peas-- +"Great title, don't you think?" he asked--and he put up all +the money. It would have been a hit, he said, but the kid in the +play--the one that unites its parents in the last act just before +he dies of tuberculosis--the kid took the mumps and looked as if, +instead of fading away, he was going to blow up. Everybody was +so afraid of him that they let him die alone for three nights in +the middle of the stage. Then the leading woman took the mumps, +and the sheriff took everything else. + +"You city folks seem to know so much," I said, "and yet you bring +a country play to the country! Why don't you bring out a play +with women in low-necked gowns, and champagne suppers, and a +scandal or two? They packed Pike's Opera-House three years ago +with a play called Why Women Sin." + +Well, of course, the thing failed, and he lost every dollar he'd +put into it, which was all he had, including what he had in his +pockets. + +"They seized my trunks," he explained, "and I sold my fur-lined +overcoat for eight dollars, which took one of the girls back +home. It's hard for the women. A fellow can always get some +sort of a job--I was coming up here to see if they needed an +extra clerk or a waiter, or chauffeur, or anything that meant +a roof and something to eat--but I suppose they don't need a +jack-of-all-trades." + +"No," I answered, "but I'll tell you what I think they're going +to need. And that's an owner!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE CONSPIRACY + +I'm not making any excuses. I did it for the best. In any sort +of crisis there are always folks who stand around and wring their +hands and say, "What shall we do?" And then if it's a fire and +somebody has had enough sense to send for the engines, they say: +"Just look at what the water did!" Although as far as I can see +I'm the only one that suffered any damage. + +If Mr. Thoburn had not been there, sitting by to see the old +sanatorium die so it could sprout wings and fly as a summer +hotel, I'd never have thought of it. But I was in despair. + +I got up and opened the door, but the Snow came in in a cloud, +and the path was half a foot deep again. It shows on what little +threads big things hang, for when I saw the storm I gave up the +idea of bringing Mr. Sam down to see the young man, and +the breath of fresh air in my face brought me to my senses. + +But the angel of providence appeared in the shape of Mike, the +bath man, coming down through the snow in a tearing rage. The +instant I saw Mike I knew it was settled. + +"Am I or am I not to give Mr. Moody a needle shower?" he shouted, +almost beside himself. And I saw he had his overcoat over his +bath costume, which is a Turkish towel. + +"A needle shower followed by a salt rub," said I. "He's been +having them for eleven years. What's the matter?" + +"That fool of a young doctor," shouted Mike, "he told him before +he left that if he'd been taking them for eleven years and wasn't +any better it was time to stop. Ain't business bad enough--only +four people in the house takin' baths regular--without his +buttin' in!" + +"Where's Mr. Moody?" + +"In the bath. I've locked up his clothes." + +"You give him a needle shower and a salt rub," I ordered, "and if +he makes a fuss just send for me. And, Mike," I said, as he +started out, "ask Mr. Van Alstyne to come out here immediately." + +That's the way it was all the time. Everybody brought their +troubles to me, and I guess I thought I was a little tin god on +wheels and the place couldn't get along without me. But it did; +it does. We all think we'll leave a big hole behind us when we +go, but it's just like taking your thumb out of a bowl of soup. +There isn't even a dent. + +Mr. Van Alstyne came out on the run, and when he saw Mr. Pierce +by the fire--that was his name, Alan Pierce--he stopped and +stared. Then he said: + +"You infernal young scamp!" And with that Mr. Pierce jumped up, +surprised and pretty mad, and Mr. Van Alstyne saw his mistake. + +"I'm sure I beg your pardon!" he said. "The fact is, I was +expecting somebody else, and in the firelight--" + +"You surprised me, that's all," said Mr. Pierce. "Under the +circumstances, I'm glad I'm not the other chap." + +"You may be," assured Mr. Sam grimly. "You're not unlike him, by +the way. A little taller and heavier, but--" + +Now it's all very well for Mr. Sam to say I originated the idea +and all that, but as truly as I am writing this, as I watched his +face I saw the same thought come into it. He looked Mr. Pierce +up and down, and then he stared into the fire and puckered his +mouth to whistle, but he didn't. And finally he glanced at me, +but I was looking into the fire, too. + +"Just come, haven't you?" he asked. "How did you get up the +hill?" + +"Walked," said Mr. Pierce, smiling. "It took some digging, too. +But I didn't come for my health, unless you think three meals a +day are necessary for health." + +Mr. Sam turned and stared at him. "By Jove! you don't mean it!" + +"I wish I didn't," Mr. Pierce replied. "One of the hardest +things I've had to remember for the last ten hours was that for +two years I voluntarily ate only two meals a day. A man's a fool +to do a thing like that! It's reckless." + +Mr. Sam got up and began to walk the floor, his hands in his +pockets. He tried to get my eye, but still I looked in the fire. + +"All traffic's held up, Minnie," he said. "The eight o'clock +train is stalled beyond the junction, in a drift. I've wired the +conductor, and Carter isn't on it." + +"Well?" said I. + +"If we could only get past to-day," Mr. Sam went on; "if Thoburn +would only choke to death, or--if there was somebody around who +looked like Dick. I dare say, by to-morrow--" He looked at Mr. +Pierce, who smiled and looked at him. + +"And I resemble Dick!" said Mr. Pierce. "Well, if he's a moral +and upright young man--" + +"He isn't!" Mr. Sam broke in savagely. And then and there he sat +down and told Mr. Pierce the trouble we were in, and what sort of +cheerful idiot Dicky Carter was, and how everybody liked him, but +wished he would grow up before the family good name was gone, and +that now he had a chance to make good and be self-supporting, and +he wasn't around, and if Mr. Sam ever got his hands on him he'd +choke a little sense down his throat. + +And then Mr. Pierce told about the play and the mumps, and how he +was stranded. When Mr. Sam asked him outright if he'd take Mr. +Dick's place overnight he agreed at once. + +"I haven't anything to lose," he said, "and anyhow I've been on a +diet of Sweet Peas so long that a sanatorium is about what I +need." + +"It's like this," explained Mr. Sam, "Old Stitt is pretty +thoroughly jingled--excuse me, Minnie, but it's the fact. I'll +take you to his room, with the lights low, and all you'll need to +do is to shake hands with him. He's going on the early train to- +morrow. Then you needn't mix around much with the guests until +to-morrow, and by that time I hope to have Dick within thrashing +distance." + +Just as they'd got it arranged that Mr. Pierce was to put on Mr. +Sam's overcoat and walk down to the village so that he could come +up in a sleigh, as if he had driven over from Yorkton--he was +only to walk across the hall in front of the office, with his +collar up, just enough to show himself and then go to his room +with a chill--just as it was all arranged, Mr. Sam thought of +something. + +"The house people are waiting for Dick," he said to me, "and +about forty women are crocheting in the lobby, so they'll be sure +to see him. Won't some of them know it isn't Dick?" + +I thought pretty fast. + +"He hasn't been around much lately," I said. "Nobody would know +except Mrs. Wiggins. She'll never forget him; the last time he +was here he put on her false front like a beard and wore it down +to dinner." + +"Then it's all off," he groaned. "She's got as many eyes as a +potato." + +"And about as much sense," said I. "Fiddlesticks! She's not so +good we can't replace her, and what's the use of swallowing a +camel and then sticking at a housekeeper?" + +"You can't get her out of the house in an hour," he objected, but +in a weak voice. + +"I can!" I said firmly. + +(I did. Inside of an hour she went to the clerk, Mr. Slocum, and +handed in her resignation. She was a touchy person, but I did +NOT say all that was quoted. I did NOT say the kitchen was +filthy; I only said it took away my appetite to look in at the +door. But she left, which is the point.) + +Well, I stood in the doorway and watched them disappear in the +darkness, and I felt better than I had all day. It's great to be +able to DO something, even if that something is wrong. But as +I put on my shawl and turned out the lights, I suddenly +remembered. Miss Patty would be waiting in the lobby for Mr. +Dick, and she would not be crocheting! + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MR. PIERCE ACQUIRES A WIFE + +Whoever has charge of the spring-house at Hope Springs takes the +news stand in the evening. That's an old rule. The news stand +includes tobacco and a circulating library, and is close to the +office, and if I missed any human nature at the spring I got it +there. If you can't tell all about a man by the way he asks for +mineral water and drinks it, by the time you've supplied his +literature and his tobacco and heard him grumbling over his bill +at the office, you've got a line on him and a hook in it. + +After I ate my supper I relieved Amanda King, who runs the news +stand in the daytime, when she isn't laid off with the toothache. + +Mr. Sam was right. All the women had on their puffs, and they +were sitting in a half-circle on each side of the door. +Mrs. Sam was there, looking frightened and anxious, and standing +near the card-room door was Miss Patty. She was all in white, +with two red spots on her cheeks, and I thought if her prince +could have seen her then he would pretty nearly have eaten her +up. Mr. Thoburn was there, of course, pretending to read the +paper, but every now and then he looked at his watch, and once he +got up and paced off the lobby, putting down the length in his +note-book. I didn't need a mind-reader to tell me he was +figuring the cost of a new hardwood floor and four new rugs. + +Mr. Sam came to the news stand, and he was so nervous he could +hardly light a cigarette. + +"I've had a message from one of the detectives," he said. +"They've traced him to Salem, Ohio, but they lost him there. If +we can only hold on this evening--! Look at that first-night +audience!" + +"Mr. Pierce is due in three minutes," I told him. "I hope you +told him to kiss his sister." + +"Nothing of the sort," he objected. "Why should he kiss her? +Mrs. Van Alstyne is afraid of the whole thing: she won't stand +for that." + +"I guess she could endure it," I remarked dryly. + +"It's astonishing how much of that sort of thing a woman can +bear." + +He looked at me and grinned. + +"By gad," he said, "I wouldn't be as sophisticated as you are for +a good deal. Isn't that the sleigh?" + +Everybody had heard it. The women sat up and craned forward to +look at the door: Mrs. Sam was sitting forward clutching the arms +of her chair. She was in white, having laid off her black for +that evening, with a red rose pinned on her so Mr. Pierce would +know her. Miss Patty heard the sleigh-bells also, and she turned +and came toward the door. Her mouth was set hard, and she was +twisting the ruby ring as she always did when she was nervous. +And at the same moment Mr. Sam and I both saw it; she was in +white, too, and she had a red rose tucked in her belt! + +Mr. Sam muttered something and rushed at her, but he was too +late. Just as he got to her the door opened and in came Mr. +Pierce, with Mr. Sam's fur coat turned up around his ears and Mr. +Sam's fur cap drawn well down on his head. He stood for an +instant blinking in the light, and Mrs. Van Alstyne got up +nervously. He never even saw her. His eyes lighted on Miss +Patty's face and stayed there. Mr. Sam was there, but what could +he do? Mr. Pierce walked over to Miss Patty, took her hand, +said, "Hello there!" and KISSED HER. It was awful. + +Most women will do anything to save a scene, and that helped us, +for she never turned a hair. But when Mr. Sam got him by the arm +and led him toward the stairs, she turned so that the old cats +sitting around could not see her and her face was scarlet. She +went over to the wood fire--our lobby is a sort of big room with +chairs and tables and palms, and an open fire in winter--and sat +down. I don't think she knew herself whether she was most +astonished or angry. + +Mrs. Biggs gave a nasty little laugh. + +"Your brother didn't see you," she said to Mrs. Van Alstyne. "I +dare say a sister doesn't count much when a future princess is +around!" + +Mrs. Van Alstyne was still staring up the staircase, but she came +to herself at that. She had some grit in her, if she did look +like a French doll. + +"My brother and Miss Jennings are very old friends," she remarked +quietly. I believe that was what she thought, too. I don't +think she had seen the other red rose, and what was she to think +but that Mr. Pierce had known Miss Jennings somewhere? She was +dazed, Mrs. Sam was. But she carried off the situation anyhow, +and gave us time to breathe. We needed it. + +"If I were his highness," said Miss Cobb, spreading the Irish +lace collar she was making over her knee and squinting at it, "I +should wish my fiancee to be more er--dignified. Those old +Austrian families are very haughty. They would not understand +our American habit of osculation." + +I was pretty mad at that, for anybody could have seen Miss Patty +didn't kiss him. + +"If by osculation you mean kissing, Miss Cobb," I said, going +over to her, "I guess you don't remember the Austrian count who +was a head waiter here. If there was anything in the way of +osculation that that member of an old Austrian family didn't +know, I've got to find it out. He could kiss all around any +American I ever saw!" + +I went back to my news stand. I was shaking so my knees would +hardly hold me. All I could think of was that they had swallowed +Mr. Pierce, bait and hook, and that for a time we were saved, +although in the electric light Mr. Pierce was a good bit less +like Dicky Carter than he had seemed to be in the spring-house by +the fire. + +Well, "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." + +Everybody went to bed early. Mr. Thoburn came over and bought a +cigar on his way up-stairs, and he was as gloomy as he had been +cheerful before. + +"Well," I said, "I guess you won't put a dancing floor in the +dining-room just yet, Mr. Thoburn." + +"I'm not in a hurry," he snapped. "It's only January, and I +don't want the place until May. I'll get it when I'm ready for +it. I had a good look at young Carter, and he's got too square a +jaw to run a successful neurasthenics' home." + +I went to the pantry myself at ten o'clock and fixed a tray of +supper for Mr. Pierce. He would need all his strength the next +day, and a man can't travel far on buttered pop-corn. I found +some chicken and got a bottle of the old doctor's wine--I had +kept the key of his wine-cellar since he died --and carried +the tray up to Mr. Pierce's sitting-room. He had the old +doctor's suite. + +The door was open an inch or so, and as I was about to knock I +heard a girl's voice. It was Miss Patty! + +"How can you deny it?" she was saying angrily. "I dare say you +will even deny that you ever saw this letter before!" + +There was a minute's pause while I suppose he looked at the +letter. + +"I never did!" he said solemnly. + +There had been a queer sound all along, but now I made it out. +Some one else was in the room, sniveling and crying. + +"My poor lamb!" it whimpered. And I knew it was Mrs. Hutchins, +Miss Patty's old nurse. + +"Perhaps," said Miss Patty, "you also deny that you were in Ohio +the day before yesterday." + +"I was in Ohio, but I positively assert--" + +"I'll send for the police, that's what I'll do!" Mrs. Hutchins +said, with a burst of rage, and her chair creaked. "How can I +ever tell your father?" + +"You'll do nothing of the sort," said Miss Patty. "Do you want +the whole story in the papers? Isn't it awful enough as it +is? Mr. Carter, I have asked my question twice now and I am +waiting for an answer." + +"But I don't know the answer!" he said miserably. "I--I assure +you, I'm absolutely in the dark. I don't know what's in the +letter. I--I haven't always done what I should, I dare say, but +my conduct in the state of Ohio during the last few weeks has +been without stain--unless I've forgotten--but if it had been +anything very heinous, I'd remember, don't you think?" + +Somebody crossed the room, and a paper rustled. + +"Read that!" said Miss Patty's voice. And then silence for a +minute. + +"Good lord!" exclaimed Mr. Pierce. + +"Do you deny that?" + +"Absolutely!" he said firmly. "I--I have never even heard of the +Reverend Dwight Johnstone--" + +There was a scream from Mrs. Hutchins, and a creak as she fell +into her chair again. + +"Your father!" she said, over and over. "What can we say to your +father?" + +"And that is all you will say?" demanded Miss Patty scornfully. +"`You don't know;' `there's a mistake;' `you never saw the +letter before!' Oh, if I were only a man!" + +"I'll tell you what we'll do," Mr. Pierce said, with something +like hope in his voice. "We'll send for Mr. Van Alstyne! That's +the thing, of course. I'll send for--er--Jim." + +Mr. Van Alstyne's name is Sam, but nobody noticed. + +"Mr. Van Alstyne!" repeated Miss Patty in a dazed way. + +I guessed it was about time to make a diversion, so I knocked and +walked in with the tray, and they all glared at me. Mrs. +Hutchins was collapsed in a chair, holding a wet handkerchief to +her eyes, and one side of her cap was loose and hanging down. +Miss Patty was standing by a table, white and angry, and Mr. +Pierce was about a yard from her, with the letter in his hands. +But he was looking at her. + +"I've brought your supper, Mr. Carter," I began. Then I stopped +and stared at Miss Patty and Mrs. Hutchins. "Oh," I said. + +"Thank you," said Mr. Pierce, very uncomfortable. "Just put it +down anywhere." + +I stalked across the room and put it on the table. Then I turned +and looked at Mrs. Hutchins. + +"I'm sorry," I said, "but it's one of the rules of this house +that guests don't come to these rooms. They're strictly +private. It isn't MY rule, ladies, but if you will step down +to the parlor--" + +Mrs. Hutchins' face turned purple. She got up in a hurry. + +"I'm here with Miss Jennings on a purely personal matter," she +said furiously. "How dare you turn us out?" + +"Nonsense, Minnie!" said Miss Patty. "I'll go when I'm ready." + +"Rule of the house," I remarked, and going over to the door I +stood holding it open. There wasn't any such rule, but I had to +get them out; they had Mr. Pierce driven into a corner and +yelling for help. + +"There is no such rule and you know it, Minnie!" Miss Patty said +angrily. "Come, Nana! We're not learning anything, and there's +nothing to be done until morning, anyhow. My head's whirling." + +Mrs. Hutchins went out first. + +"The first thing I'D do if I owned this place, I'd get rid +of that red-haired girl," she snapped to Mr. Pierce. "If you +want to know why there are fewer guests here every year, I'll +tell you. SHE'S the reason!" Then she flounced out with her +head up. + +(That was pure piffle. The real reason, as every thinking person +knows, is Christian Science. It's cheaper and more handy. And +now that it isn't heresy to say it, the spring being floored +over, I reckon that most mineral springs cure by suggestion. +Also, of course, if a man's drinking four gallons of lithia water +a day, he's so saturated that if he does throw in anything +alcoholic or indigestible, it's too busy swimming for its life to +do any harm.) + +Mr. Pierce took a quick step toward Miss Patty and looked down at +her. + +"About--what happened down-stairs to-night," he stammered, with +the unhappiest face I ever saw on a man, "I--I've been ready to +knock my fool head off ever since. It was a mistake--a--" + +"My letter, please," said Miss Patty coolly, looking back at him +without a blink. + +"Please don't look like that!" he begged. "I came in suddenly +out of the darkness, and you--" + +"My letter, please!" she said again, raising her eyebrows. + +He gave up trying then. He held out the letter and she took it +and went out with her head up and scorn in the very way she +trailed her skirt over the door-sill. But I'm no fool; it didn't +need the way he touched the door-knob where she had been holding +it, when he closed the door after her, to tell me what ailed him. + +He was crazy about her from the minute he saw her, and he hadn't +a change of linen or a cent to his name. And she, as you might +say, on the ragged edge of royalty, with queens and princes +sending her stomachers and tiaras until she'd hardly need +clothes! Well, a cat may look at a king. + +He went over to the fireplace, where I was putting his coffee to +keep it hot, and looked down at me. + +"I've a suspicion, Minnie," he said, "that, to use a vulgar +expression, I've bitten off more than I can chew in this little +undertaking, and that I'm in imminent danger of choking to death. + +Do you know anybody, a friend of Miss er--Jennings, named +Dorothy?" + +"She's got a younger sister of that name," I said, with a sort of +chill going over me. "She's in boarding-school now." + +"Oh, no, she's not!" he remarked, picking up the coffee-pot. "It +seems that I met her on the train somewhere or other the day +before yesterday, and ran off with her and married her!" + +I sat back on the rug speechless. + +"You should have warned me, Minnie," he went on, growing more +cheerful over his chicken and coffee. "I came up here to-night, +the proud possessor of a bunch of keys, a patent folding cork- +screw and a pocket, automobile road map. Inside two hours I have +a sanatorium and a wife. At this rate, Minnie, before morning I +may reasonably hope to have a family." + +I sat where I was on the floor and stared into the fire. Don't +tell me the way of the wicked is hard; the wicked get all the fun +there is out of life, and as far as I can see, it's the +respectable "in at ten o'clock and up at seven" part of the +wicked's family that has all the trouble and does the worrying. + +"If we could only keep it hidden for a few days!" I said. +"But, of course, the papers will get it, and just now, with +columns every day about Miss Patty's clothes--" + +"Her what?" + +"And all the princes of the blood sending presents, and the king +not favoring it very much--" + +"What are you talking about?" + +"About Miss Jennings' wedding. Don't you read the newspaper?" + +He hadn't really known who she was up to that minute. He put +down the tray and got up. + +"I--I hadn't connected her with the--the newspaper Miss +Jennings," he said, and lighted a cigarette over the lamp. +Something in his face startled me, I must say. + +"You're not going to give up now?" I asked. I got up and put my +hand on his arm, and I think he was shaking. "If you do, I'll-- +I'll go out and drown myself, head down, in the spring." + +He had been going to run away--I saw it then--but he put a hand +over mine. Then he looked at the door where Miss Patty had gone +out and gave himself a shake. + +"I'll stay," he said. "We'll fight it out on this line if it +takes all summer, Minnie." He stood looking into the fire, and +although I'm not fond of men, knowing, as I have explained, a +great deal about their stomachs and livers and very little about +their hearts, there was something about Mr. Pierce that made me +want to go up and pat him on the head like a little boy. "After +all," he said, "what's blue blood to good red blood?" + +Which was almost what the bishop had said! + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +AND MR. MOODY INDIGESTION + +Mr. Moody took indigestion that night--not but that he always had +it, but this was worse--and Mrs. Moody came to my room about two +o'clock and knocked at the door. + +"You'd better come," she said. "There's no doctor, and he's +awful bad. Blames you, too; he says you made him take a salt +rub." + +"My land," I snapped, trying to find my bedroom slippers, "I +didn't make him take clam chowder for supper, and that's what's +the matter with him. He's going on a strained rice diet, that's +what he's going to do. I've got to have my sleep." + +She was waiting in the hall in her kimono, and holding a candle. +Anybody could see she'd been crying. As she often said to me, of +course she was grateful that Mr. Moody didn't drink--no one knew +his virtues better than she did. But her sister married +a man who went on a terrible bat twice a year, and all the rest +of the time he was humble and affable trying to make up for it. +And sometimes she thought if Mr. Moody would only take a little +whisky when he had these attacks--! I'd rather be the wife of a +cheerful drunkard any time than have to live with a cantankerous +saint. Miss Cobb and I had had many a fight over it, but at that +time there wasn't much likelihood of either of us being called on +to choose. + +Well, we went down to Mr. Moody's room, and he was sitting up in +bed with his knees drawn up to his chin and a hot-water bottle +held to him. + +"Look at your work, woman," he said to me when I opened the door. + +"I'm dying!" + +"You look sick," I said, going over to the bed. It never does to +cross them when they get to the water-bottle stage. "The +pharmacy clerk's gone to a dance over at Trimble's, but I guess I +can find you some whisky." + +"Do have some whisky, George," begged Mrs. Moody, remembering her +brother-in-law. + +"I never touch the stuff and you both know it," he snarled. He +had a fresh pain just then and stopped, clutching up the +bottle. "Besides," he finished, when it was over, "I haven't got +any whisky." + +Well, to make a long story short, we got him to agree to some +whisky from the pharmacy, with a drop of peppermint in it, if he +could wash it down with spring water so it wouldn't do him any +harm. + +"There isn't any spring water in the house," I said, losing my +temper a little, "and I'm not going out there in my bedroom +slippers, Mr. Moody. I don't see why your eating what you +shouldn't needs to give me pneumonia." + +Mrs. Moody was standing beside the bed, and I saw her double chin +begin to work. If you have ever seen a fat woman, in a short red +kimono holding a candle by, a bed, and crying, you know how +helpless she looks. + +"Don't go, Minnie," she sniffled. "It would be too awful. If +you are afraid you could take the poker." + +"I'm not going!" I declared firmly. "It's--it's dratted idiocy, +that's all. Plain water would do well enough. There's a lot of +people think whisky is poison with water, anyhow. Where's the +pitcher?" + +Oh, yes, I went. I put on some stockings of Mrs. Moody's and +a petticoat and a shawl and started. It was when I was in the +pharmacy looking for the peppermint that I first noticed my joint +again. A joint like that's a blessing or a curse, the way you +look at it. + +I found the peppermint and some whisky and put them on the +stairs. Then I took my pitcher and lantern and started for the +spring-house. It was still snowing, and part of the time Mrs. +Moody's stockings were up to their knees. The wind was blowing +hard, and when I rounded the corner of the house my lantern went +out. I stood there in the storm, with the shawl flapping, +thanking heaven I was a single woman, and about ready to go back +and tell Mr. Moody what I thought of him when I looked toward the +spring-house. + +At first I thought it was afire, then I saw that the light was +coming from the windows. Somebody was inside, with a big fire +and all the lights going. + +I'd had tramps sleep all night in the spring-house before, and +once they left a card by the spring: "Water, water everywhere +and not a drop to drink!" So I started out through the snow on a +half run. By the bridge over Hope Springs Creek I slipped +and fell, and I heard the pitcher smash to bits on the ice +below. But as soon as I could move I went on again. That +spring-house had been my home for a good many years, and the +tramp didn't live who could spend the night there if I knew it. + +I realized then that I should have taken the poker. I went over +cautiously to one of the windows, wading in deep snow to get +there--and if you have ever done that in a pair of bedroom +slippers you can realize the state of my mind--and looked in. + +There were three chairs drawn up in a row in front of the fire, +with my bearskin hearth-rug on them to make a couch, and my +shepherd's plaid shawl folded at one end for a pillow. And +stretched on that with her long sealskin coat laid over her was +Dorothy Jennings, Miss Patty's younger sister! She was alone, as +far as I could see, and she was leaning on her elbow with her +cheek in her hand, staring at the fire. Just then the door into +the pantry opened and out came Mr. Dick himself. + +"Were you calling, honey?" he said, coming over and looking down +at her. + +"You were such a long time!" says she, glancing up under her +lashes at him. "I--I was lonely!" + +"Bless you," says Mr. Dick, stooping over her. "What did I ever +do without you?" + +I could have told her a few things he did, but by that time it +was coming over me pretty strong that here was the real Dicky +Carter and that I had an extra one on my hands. The minute I +looked at this one I knew that nobody but a blind man would +mistake one for the other, and Mr. Thoburn wasn't blind. I tell +you I stood out in that snow-bank and perspired! + +When I looked again Mr. Dick was on his knees by the row of +chairs, and Miss Dorothy--Mrs. Dicky, of course--was running her +fingers through his hair. + +"Minnie used to keep apples and things in the pantry," he said, +"but she must be growing stingy in her old age; there's not a +bite there." + +"I'm not so very hungry when I have you!" cooed Mrs. Dicky. + +"But you can't eat me." He brought her hand down from his hair-- +I may be stingy in my old age, but I've learned a few things, and +one is that a man feels like a fool with his hair rumpled, and I +can tell the degree of a woman's experience by the way she +lets his top hair alone--and pretended to bite it, her hand, of +course. "Although I could eat you," he said. "I'd like to take +a bite out of your throat right there." + +Well, it was no place for me unless they knew I was around. I +waded around to the door and walked in, and there was a grand +upsetting of the sealskin coat and my shepherd's plaid shawl. +Mr. Dick jumped to his feet and Mrs. Dick sat bolt upright and +stared at me over the backs of the chairs. + +"Minnie!" cried Mr. Dick. "As I'm a married man, it's Minnie +herself; Minnie, the guardian angel! The spirit of the place! +Dorothy, don't you remember Minnie?" + +She came toward me with her hand out. She was a pretty little +thing, not so beautiful as Miss Patty, but with a nice way about +her. + +"I'm awfully glad to see you again," she said. "Of course I +remember--why you are hardly dressed at all! You must be +frozen!" + +I went over to the fire and emptied my bedroom slippers of snow. +Then I sat down and looked at them both. + +"Frozen!" repeated I; "I'm in a hot sweat. If you two +children meant to come, why in creation didn't you come in time?" + +"We did," replied Mr. Dick, promptly. "We crawled under the wire +fence into the deer park at five minutes to twelve. The will +said `Be on the ground,' and I was--flat on the ground!" + +"We've had the police," I said, drearily enough. "I wouldn't +live through another day like yesterday for a hundred dollars." + +"We were held up by the snow," he explained. "We got a sleigh to +come over in, but we walked up the hill and came here. I don't +mind saying that my wife's people don't know about this yet, and +we're going to lay low until we've cooked up some sort of a +scheme to tell them." Then he came over and put his hand on my +shoulder. + +"Poor old Minnie!" he said; "honest, I'm sorry. I've been a hard +child to raise, haven't I? But that's all over, Minnie. I've +got an incentive now, and it's `steady, old boy,' for me from +now. You and I will run the place and run it right." + +"I don't want to!" I retorted, holding my bedroom slippers to +steam before the fire. "I'm going to buy out Timmon's candy +store and live a quiet life, Mr. Dick. This place is making me +old." + +"Nonsense! We're going to work together, and we'll make this the +busiest spot in seven counties. Dorothy and I have got it all +planned out and we've got some corking good ideas." He put his +hands in his pockets and strutted up and down. "It's the day of +advertising, you know, Minnie," he said. "You've got to have the +goods, and then you've got to let people know you've got the +goods. What would you say to a shooting-gallery in the basement, +under the reading-room?" + +"Fine!" I said, with sarcasm, turning my slippers. "If things +got too quiet that would wake them up a bit, and we could have a +balloon ascension on Saturdays!" + +"Not an ascension," said he, with my bitterness going right over +his head. "Nothing sensational, Minnie. That's the way with +women; they're always theatrical. But what's the matter with a +captive balloon, and letting fresh-air cranks sleep in a big +basket bed--say, at five hundred feet? Or a thousand--a thousand +would be better. The air's purer." + +"With a net below," says I, "in case they should turn over and +fall out of bed! It's funny nobody ever thought of it before!" + +"Isn't it?" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "And we've all sorts of ideas. +Dick--Mr. Carter has learned of a brand new cocktail for the +men--" + +"A lulu!" he broke in. + +"And I'm going around to read to the old ladies and hold their +hands--" + +"You'll have to chloroform them first," I put in. "Perhaps it +would be better to give the women the cocktail and hold the men's +hands." + +"Oh, if you're going to be funny!" Mr. Dick said savagely, "we'll +not tell you any more. I've been counting on you, Minnie. +You've been here so long. You know," he said to his wife, "when +I was a little shaver I thought Minnie had webbed-feet--she was +always on the bank, like a duck. You ARE a duck, Minnie," he +says to me; "a nice red-headed duck! Now don't be quirky and +spoil everything." + +I couldn't be light-hearted to save my life. + +"Your sister's been wild all day," I told Mrs. Dick. "She got +your letter to-day--yesterday--but I don't think she's told your +father yet." + +"What!" she screeched, and caught at the mantelpiece to hold +herself. "Not Pat!" she said, horrified, "and father! Here!" + +Well, I listened while they told me. They hadn't had the +faintest idea that Mr. Jennings and Miss Patty were there at the +sanatorium. The girl had been making a round of visits in the +Christmas holidays, and instead of going back to school she'd +sent a forged excuse and got a month off--she hadn't had any +letters, of course. The plan had been not to tell anybody but +her sister until Mr. Dick had made good at the sanatorium. + +"The idea was this, Minnie," said Mr. Dick. "Old--I mean Mr. +Jennings is--is not well; he has a chronic indisposition--" + +"Disposition, I call it," put in Mr. Jennings' daughter. + +"And he's apt to regard my running away with Dorothy when I +haven't a penny as more of an embezzlement than an elopement." + +"Fiddle!" exclaimed Mrs. Dick. "I asked you to marry me, and now +they're here and have to spoil it all." + +The thought of her father and his disposition suddenly +overpowered her and she put her yellow head on the back of a +chair and began to cry. + +"I--I can't tell him!" she sobbed. "I wrote to Pat,--why doesn't +Pat tell him? I'm going back to school." + +"You'll do nothing of the sort. You're a married woman now, and +where I go you go. My country is your country, and my sanatorium +is your sanatorium." He was in a great rage. + +But she got up and began trying to pull on her fur coat, and her +jaw was set. She looked like her father for a minute. + +"Where are you going?" he asked, looking scared. + +"Anywhere. I'll go down to the station and take the first train, +it doesn't matter where to." She picked up her muff, but he went +over and stood against the door. + +"Not a step without me!" he declared. "I'll go with you, of +course; you know that. I'm not afraid of your father: I'd as +soon as not go in and wake him now and tell him the whole thing-- +that you've married a chap who isn't worth the butter on his +bread, who can't buy you kid gloves--" + +"But you will, as soon as the sanatorium succeeds!" she put +in bravely. She put down her muff. "Don't tell him to-night, +anyhow. Maybe Pat will think of some way to break it to him. +She can do a lot with father." + +"I hope she can think of some way to break another Richard Carter +to the people in the house," I said tartly. + +"Another Richard Carter!" they said together, and then I told +them about how we had waited and got desperate, and how we'd +brought in Mr. Pierce at the last minute and that he was asleep +now at the house. They roared. To save my life I couldn't see +that it was funny. But when I came to the part about Thoburn +being there, and his having had a good look at Mr. Pierce, and +that he was waiting around with his jaws open to snap up the +place when it fell under the hammer, Mr. Dick stopped laughing +and looked serious. + +"Lord deliver us from our friends!" he said. "Between you and +Sam, you've got things in a lovely mess, Minnie. What are you +going to do about it now?" + +"It's possible we can get by Thoburn," I said. "You can slip in +to-night, we can get Mr. Pierce out--Lord knows he'll be glad +to go--and Miss Dorothy can go back to school. Then, later, when +you've got things running and are making good--" + +"I'm not going back to school," she declared, "but I'll go away; +I'll not stand in your way, Dicky." She took two steps toward +the door and waited for him to stop her. + +"Nonsense, Minnie," he exclaimed angrily and put his arm around +her, "I won't be separated from my wife. You got me into this +scrape, and--" + +"I didn't marry you!" I retorted. "And I'm not responsible for +your father-in-law's disposition." + +"You'll have to help us out," he finished. + +"What shall I do? Murder Mr. Jennings?" I asked bitterly. "If +you expect me to suggest that you both go to the house, and your +wife can hide in your rooms--" + +"Why not?" asked Mr. Dick. + +Well, I sat down again and explained patiently that it would get +out among the servants and cause a scandal, and that even if it +didn't I wasn't going to have any more deception: I had enough +already. And after a while they saw it as I did, and agreed to +wait and see Miss Patty before they decided. They wanted to +have her wakened at once, but I refused, although I agreed to +bring her out first thing in the morning. + +"But you can't stay here," I said. "There'll be Miss Cobb at +nine o'clock, and the man comes to light the fire at eight." + +"We could go to the old shelter-house on the golf links," +suggested Mr. Dick, looking me square in the eye. (I took the +hint, and Mrs. Dicky never knew he had been hidden there before.) + +"Nobody ever goes near it in winter." So I put on my slippers +again and we started through the snow across the golf links, Mr. +Dick carrying a bundle of firewood, and I leading the way with my +lantern. Twice I went into a drift to my waist, and once a +rabbit bunted into me head on, and would have scared me into a +chill if I hadn't been shaking already. The two behind me were +cheerful enough. Mr. Dick pointed out the general direction of +the deer park which hides the shelter-house from the sanatorium, +and if you'll believe it, with snow so thick I had to scrape it +off the lantern every minute or so, those children planned to +give something called A Midsummer Night's Dream in the deer +park among the trees in the spring, to entertain the +patients. + +"I wish to heaven I'd wake up and find all THIS a dream," I +called back over my shoulder. But they were busy with costumes +and getting some folks they knew from town to take the different +parts and they never even heard me. The last few yards they +snowballed each other and me. I tell you I felt a hundred years +old. + +We got into the shelter-house by my crawling through a window, +and when we had lighted the fire and hung up the lantern, it +didn't seem so bad. The place had been closed since summer, and +it seemed colder than outside, but those two did the barn dance +then and there. There were two rooms, and Mr. Dick had always +used the back one to hide in. It's a good thing Mrs. Dick was +not a suspicious person. Many a woman would have wondered when +she saw him lift a board in the floor and take out a rusty tin +basin, a cake of soap, a moldy towel, a can of sardines, a tooth- +brush and a rubber carriage robe to lay over the rafters under +the hole in the roof. But it's been my experience that the first +few days of married life women are blind because they want to +be and after that because they have to be. + +It was about four when I left them, sitting on a soap box in +front of the fire toasting sardines on the end of Mr. Dick's +walking-stick. Mrs. Dick made me put on her sealskin coat, and I +took the lantern, leaving them in the firelight. They'd gone +back to the captive balloon idea and were wondering if they +couldn't get it copyrighted! + +I took a short cut home, crawling through the barbed-wire fence +and going through the deer park. I was too tired and cold to +think. I stumbled down the hill to the house, and just before I +got to the corner I heard voices, and the shuffling of feet +through the snow. The next instant a lantern came around the +corner of the house. Mr. Thoburn was carrying it, and behind him +were the bishop, Mike the bath man, and Mr. Pierce. + +"It's like that man Moody," the bishop was saying angrily, "to +send the girl--" + +"Piffle !" snarled Mr. Thoburn. "If ever a woman was able to +take care of herself--" And then they saw me, and they all +stopped and stared. + +"Good gracious, girl!" said the bishop, with his dressing- +gown blowing out straight behind him in the wind. "We thought +you'd been buried in a drift!" + +"I don't see why!" I retorted defiantly. "Can't I go out to my +own spring-house without having a posse after me to bring me +back?" + +"Ordinarily," said Mr. Thoburn, with his snaky eyes on me, "I +think I may say that you might go almost anywhere without my +turning out to recover you. But Mrs. Moody is having hysterics." + +Mrs. Moody! I'd forgotten the Moodys! + +"She is convinced that you have drowned yourself, head down, in +the spring," Mr. Pierce said in his pleasant way. "You've been +gone two hours, you know." + +He took my arm and turned me toward the house. I was dazed. + +"In answer to your urgent inquiry," Mr. Thoburn called after me, +disagreeably, "Mr. Moody has not died. He is asleep. But, by +the way, where's the spring water?" + +I didn't answer him; I couldn't. We went into the house; Mrs. +Moody and Miss Cobb were sitting on the stairs. Mrs. Moody had +been crying, and Miss Cobb was feeding her the whisky I had +left, with a teaspoon. She had had a half tumblerful already and +was quite maudlin. She ran to me and put her arms around me. + +"I thought I was a murderess!" she cried. "Oh, the thought! +Blood on my soul! Why, Minnie Waters, wherever did you get that +sealskin coat!" + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +DOLLY, HOW COULD YOU? + +I lay down across my bed at six o'clock that morning, but I was +too tired and worried to sleep, so at seven I got up and dressed. + +I was frightened when I saw myself in the glass. My eyes looked +like burnt holes in a blanket. I put on two pairs of stockings +and heavy shoes, for I knew I was going to do the Eskimo act +again that day and goodness knows how many days more, and then I +went down and knocked at the door of Miss Patty's room. She +hadn't been sleeping either. She called to me in an undertone to +come in, and she was lying propped up with pillows, with +something pink around her shoulders and the night lamp burning +beside the bed. She had a book in her hand, but all over the +covers and on the table at her elbow were letters in the blue +foreign envelopes with the red and black and gold seal. + +I walked over to the foot of the bed. + +"They're here," I said. + +She sat up, and some letters slid to the floor. + +"THEY'RE here!" she repeated. "Do you mean Dorothy?" + +"She and her husband. They came last night at five minutes to +twelve. Their train was held up by the blizzard and they won't +come in until they see you. They're hiding in the shelter-house +on the golf links." + +I think she thought I was crazy: I looked it. She hopped out of +bed and closed the door into her sitting-room--Mrs. Hutchins' +room opened off it--and then she came over and put her hand on my +arm. + +"Will you sit down and try to tell me just what you mean?" she +said. "How can my sister and her--her wretch of a husband have +come last night at midnight when I saw Mr. Carter myself not +later than ten o'clock?" + +Well, I had to tell her then about who Mr. Pierce was and why I +had to get him, and she understood almost at once. She was the +most understanding girl I ever met. She saw at once what Mr. Sam +wouldn't have known in a thousand years--that I wanted to +save the old place not to keep my position--but because I'd been +there so long, and my father before me, and had helped to make it +what it was and all that. And she stood there in her nightgown-- +she who was almost a princess--and listened to me, and patted me +on the shoulder when I broke down, telling her about Thoburn and +the summer hotel. + +"But here I am," I finished, "telling you about my troubles and +forgetting what I came for. You'll have to go out to the +shelter-house, Miss Patty. And I guess you're expected to fix it +up with your father." + +She stopped unfastening her long braids of hair. + +"Certainly I'll go to the shelter-house," she said, "and I'll +shake a little sense into Dorothy Jennings--the abominable little +idiot! But they needn't think I'm going to help them with +father; I wouldn't if I could, and I can't. He won't speak to +me. I'm in disgrace, Minnie." She gave her hair a shake, +twisted it into a rope and then a knot, and stuck a pin in it. +It was lovely: I wish Miss Cobb could have seen her. "You've +known father for years, Minnie: have you ever known him to be +so--so--" + +"Devilish" was the word she meant, but I finished for her. + +"Unreasonable?" I said. "Well, once before when you were a +little girl, he put his cane through a window in the spring- +house, because he thought it needed air. The spring-house, of +course, not the cane." + +"Exactly," she said, looking around the room, "and now he's +putting a cane through every plan I have made. Do you see my +heavy boots?" + +"It's like this," I remarked, bringing the boots from outside the +door, "if he's swallowed the prince and is choking on the +settlement question he might as well get over it. All those +foreigners expect pay for taking a wife. Didn't the chef here +want to marry Tillie, the diet cook, and didn't he want her to +turn over the three hundred dollars she had in the bank, and her +real estate, which was a sixth interest in a cemetery lot? But +Tillie stuck it out and he wouldn't take her without." + +"It isn't quite the same, Minnie," she said, sitting down on the +floor to put on her stockings. + +"The principle's the same," I retorted, "and if you ask me--" + +"I haven't," she said disagreeably, "and when you begin to argue, +Minnie, you make my head ache." + +"I have had a heartache for a week," I snapped, "let alone +heartburn, and I'll be glad when the Jennings family is safely +married and I can sleep at night." + +I was hurt. I went out and shut the door behind me, but I +stopped in the hall and went back. + +"I forgot to say," I began, and stopped. She was still sitting +on the floor, trying to put her heavy boots on, and crying all +over them. + +"Stop that instantly," I said, and jerked her shoes from her. +"Get into a chair and let me put them on. And if you will wait a +jiffy I'll bring you a cup of coffee. I'm not even a Christian +in the morning until I've had my coffee." + +"You haven't had it yet, have you?" she asked, and we laughed +together, rather shaky. But as I buttoned her shoes I saw her +eyes going toward the blue letters on the bed. + +"Oh, Minnie," she said, "if you only knew how peculiar they are +in Europe! They'll never allow a sanatorium in the family!" + +"I guess a good many would be the better for having one close," I +said. + +Well, I left her to get dressed and went to the kitchens. Tillie +was there getting the beef tea ready for the day, but none of the +rest was around. They knew the housekeeper was gone, but I guess +they'd forgotten that I was still on hand. I put a kettle +against the electric bell that rings in the chef's room so it +would keep on ringing and went on into the diet kitchen. + +"Tillie," I said, "can you trust me?" + +She looked up from her beef. + +"Whether I can or not, I always have," she answered. + +"Well, can I trust you? That's more to the point." + +She put down her knife and came over to me, with her hands on her +hips. + +"I don't know what you're up to, Minnie," she said, "and I don't +know that I care. But if you've forgotten the time I went to the +city and brought you sulphur and the Lord only knows what for +your old spring when you'd run short and were laid up with +influenza--" + +"Hush!" I exclaimed. "You needn't shout it. Tillie, I +don't want you to ask me any questions, but I want four raw eggs +in a basket, a pot of coffee and cream, some fruit if you can get +it when the chef unlocks the refrigerator room, and bread and +butter. They can make their own toast." + +"They?" she said, with her mouth open. + +But I didn't explain any more. I had found Tillie about a year +before, frying sausages at the railroad station, and made her +diet cook at the sanatorium. Mrs. Wiggins hadn't wanted her, +but, as I told the old doctor at the time, we needed somebody in +the kitchen to keep an eye on things for us. It was through +Tillie that we discovered that the help were having egg-nog twice +a day, with eggs as scarce as hens' teeth, and the pharmacy clerk +putting in a requisition for more whisky every week. + +Well, I scribbled a note to Mr. Van Alstyne, telling what had +happened, and put it under his door, and then I met Miss Patty in +the hall by the billiard room and I gave her some coffee from the +basket, in the sun parlor. It was still dark, although it was +nearly eight o'clock, and nobody saw us go out together. Just as +we left I heard the chef in the kitchen bawling out that he'd +murder whoever put the kettle against the bell, and Tillie +saying it must have dropped off the hook and landed there. + +We went to the spring-house first, to avoid suspicion, and then +across back of the deer park to the shelter-house. It was still +snowing, but not so much, and the tracks we had made early in the +morning were still there, mine off to one side alone, and the +others close together and side by side. There was a whole +history in those snow tracks, mine alone and kind of offish, and +the others cuddling together. It made me lonely to look at them. + +I remember wishing I'd taught school, as I was educated to; woman +wasn't made to live alone, and most school-teachers get married. + +Miss Patty did not say much. She was holding her chin high and +looking rather angry and determined. At the spring-house I gave +her the basket and took an armful of fire-wood myself. I knew +Mr. Dick would never think of it until the fire was out. + +They were both asleep in the shelter-house. He was propped up +against the wall on a box, with the rubber carriage robe around +him, and she was lying by the fire, with Mrs. Moody's shawl over +her and her muff under her head. Miss Patty stood in the +doorway for an instant. Then she walked over and, leaning down, +shook her sister by the arm. + +"Dorothy!" she said. "Wake up, you wretched child!" And shook +her again. + +Mrs. Dicky groaned and yawned, and opened her eyes one at a time. + +But when she saw it was Miss Patty she sat up at once, looking +dazed and frightened. + +"You needn't pinch me, Pat!" she said, and at that Mr. Dick +wakened and jumped up, with the carriage robe still around him. + +"Oh, Dolly, Dolly!" said Miss Patty suddenly, dropping on her +knees beside Mrs. Dicky, "what a bad little girl you are! What a +thing for you to do! Think of father and Aunt Honoria!" + +"I shan't," retorted Mrs. Dicky decidedly. "I'm not going to +spoil my honeymoon like that. For heaven's sake, Pat, don't cry. + +I'm not dead. Dick, this is my sister, Patricia." + +Miss Pat looked at him, but she didn't bow. She gave him one +look, from his head to his heels. + +"Dolly, how COULD you!" she said, and got up. + +It wasn't very comfortable for Mr. Dick, but he took it much +better than I expected. He went over and gave his wife a hand to +help her up, and still holding hers, he turned to Miss Patty. + +"You are perfectly right," he said, "I don't see how she could +myself. The more you know of me the more you'll wonder. But she +did; we're up against that." + +He grinned at Miss Patty, and after a minute Miss Patty smiled +back. But it wasn't much of a smile. I was unpacking the +breakfast, putting the coffee-pot on the fire and getting ready +to cook the eggs and make toast. But I was watching, too. +Suddenly Mrs. Dick made a dive for Miss Patty and threw her arms +around her. + +"You darling!" she cried. "I'm so glad to see you again--Pat, +you'll tell father, won't you? He'll take it from you. If I +tell him he'll have apoplexy or something." + +But Miss Patty set her pretty mouth--both those girls have their +father's mouth--and held her sister out at arm's length and +looked at her. + +"Listen," she said. "Do you know what you have done to me? Do +you know that when father knows this he's going to annul the +marriage or have Mr. Carter arrested for kidnaping or +abduction?--whatever it is." Mrs. Dick puckered her face to cry, +and Mr. Dick took a step forward, but Miss Patty waved him off. +"You know father as well as I do, Dolly. You know what he is, +and lately he's been awful. He's not well--it's his liver +again--and he won't listen to anything. Why, the Austrian +ambassador came up here, all this distance, to talk about the +etiquette of the--of my wedding, something about precedence, and +he wouldn't even see him." + +"He can't annul it," said Mr. Dick angrily. "I'm of age. And I +can support my wife, too, or will be able--soon." + +"Dolly's not of age," said Miss Patty wearily. "I've sat up all +night figuring it out. He's going to annul the marriage, or +he'll make a scandal anyhow, and that's just as bad. Dolly,"-- +she turned to her sister imploringly--"Dolly, I can't have a +scandal now. You know how Oskar's people have taken this, +anyhow; they've given in, because he insisted, but they don't +want me, and if there's a lot of notoriety now the emperor will +send him to Africa or some place, and--" + +"I wish they would!" Mrs. Carter burst out suddenly. "I hate the +whole thing. They only tolerate you--us--for our money. You +needn't look at me like that; Oskar may be all right, but his +mother and sisters are hateful--simply hateful!" + +"I'll not be with them." + +"No, but they'll be with you." Mrs. Dicky walked over to the +window and looked out, dabbing her eyes. "You've been everything +to me, Pat, and I'm so happy now--I'd rather be here on a soap +box with Dick than on a throne or a dais or whatever you'll have +to sit on over there, with Oskar. I want to be happy--and you +won't. Look at Alice Thorne and her duke!" + +"If you really want me to be happy," Miss Patty said, going over +to her, "you'll go back to school until the wedding is over." + +"I won't leave Dicky." She swung around and gave Mr. Dick an +adoring glance, and Miss Patty looked discouraged. + +"Take him with you," she said. "Isn't there some place near +where he could stay, and telephone you now and then?" + +"Telephone!" said Mrs. Dick scornfully. + +"Can't leave," Mr. Dick objected. "Got to be on the property." + +Miss Patty shrugged her shoulders and turned to go. "You're both +perfectly hopeless," she said. "I'll go and tell father, +Dorothy, but you know what will happen. You'll be back in school +at Greenwich by to-night, and your--husband will probably be +under arrest." She opened the door, but I dropped the toast I +was making and ran after her. + +"If he is arrested," I said, "they'll have to keep him on the +place. He can't leave." + +She didn't say anything; she lifted her hand and looked at the +ruby ring, and then she glanced back into the room where Mr. Dick +and his wife were whispering together, and turned up her coat +collar. + +"I'm going," she said, and stepped into the snow. But they +called her back in a hurry. + +"Look here, Miss--Miss Patricia," Mr. Dick said, "why can't we +stay here, where we are? It's very comfortable--that is, it's +livable. There's plenty of fresh air, anyhow, and everybody's +shouting for fresh air nowadays. They've got somebody to take my +place in the house." + +"And father needn't know a thing--you can fix that," broke +in Mrs. Dick. "And after your wedding he will be in a better +humor; he'll know it's over and not up to him any more." + +Miss Patty came back to the shelter-house again and sat down on +the soap box. + +"We MIGHT carry it off," she said. "If I could only go back +to town! But father is in one of his tantrums, and he won't go, +or let me go. The idea!--with Aunt Honoria on the long-distance +wire every day, having hysterics, and my clothes waiting to be +tried on and everything. I'm desperate." + +"And all sorts of things being arranged for you!" put in Mrs. +Dick enviously. "And the family jewels being reset in Vienna for +you and all that! It would be great--if you only didn't have to +take Oskar with the jewels!" + +Miss Patty frowned. + +"You are not going to marry him," she said, with a glance at Mr. +Dick, who, with his coat off, was lying flat on the floor, one +arm down in the hole where the things had been hidden, trying to +hook up a can of baked beans. "If it doesn't turn out well, you +and father have certainly done your part in the way of warning. +It's just as Aunt Honoria said; the family will make a +tremendous row beforehand, but afterward, when it all turns out +well, they'll take the credit." + +Mr. Dick was busy with the beans and I was turning the eggs. +Mrs. Dick went over to her sister and put her arm around her. + +"That's right, Patty," she said, "you're more like mother than I +am. I'm a Jennings all over--except that, heavens be praised, +I've got the Sherwood liver. I guess I'm common plebeian, like +dad, too. I'm plebeian enough, anyhow, to think there's been a +lot too much about marriage settlements and the consent of the +emperor in all this, and not enough about love." + +I could have patted Mrs. Dicky on the back for that, and I almost +upset the eggs into the fire. I'm an advocate of marrying for +love every time, although a title and a bunch of family jewels +thrown in wouldn't worry me. + +"Do you want me to protest that the man who has asked me to marry +him cares about me?" Miss Patty replied in an angry undertone. +"Couldn't he have married a thousand other girls! Hadn't a +marriage been arranged between him and the cousin--" + +"I know all that," Mrs. Dicky said, and her voice sounded older +than Miss Patty's, and motherly. "But--are you in love with him, +Pat?" + +"Certainly," Miss Patty said indignantly. "Don't be silly, +Dolly." + +At that instant Mr. Dick found the beans, and got up shouting +that we'd have a meal fit for a prince--if princes ate anything +so every day as baked beans. I put the eggs on a platter and +poured the coffee, and we all sat around the soap box and ate. I +wished that Miss Cobb could have seen me there--how they insisted +on my having a second egg, and was my coffee cold, and wasn't I +too close to the fire? It was Minnie here and Minnie there, and +me next to Miss Patty on the floor, and she, as you may say, +right next to royalty. I wished it could have been in the +spring-house, with father's crayon enlargement looking down on +us. + +Everybody felt better for the meal, and we were sitting there +laughing and talking and very cheerful when Mr. Van Alstyne +opened the door and looked in. His face was stern, but when +he saw us, with Miss Patty on her knees toasting a piece of bread +and Mr. Dicky passing the tin basin as a finger-bowl, he stopped +scowling and looked amused. + +"They're here, Sallie," he called to his wife, and they both came +in, covered with snow, and we had coffee and eggs all over again. + +Well, they stayed for an hour, and Mr. Sam talked himself black +in the face and couldn't get anywhere. For the Dickys refused to +be separated, and Mrs. Dick wouldn't tell her father, and Miss +Patty wouldn't do it for her, and the minute Mr. Sam made a +suggestion that sounded rational Mrs. Dick would cry and say she +didn't care to live, anyhow, and she wished she had died of +ptomaine poisoning the time she ate the bad oysters at school. + +So finally Mr. Sam gave up and said he washed his hands of the +whole affair, and that he was going to make another start on his +wedding journey, and if they wanted to be a pair of fools it +wasn't up to him--only for heaven's sake not to cry about it. +And then he wiped Mrs. Dicky's eyes and kissed her, she being, as +he explained, his sister-in-law now and much too pretty for him +to scold. + +And when the Dickys found they were not going to be separated we +had more coffee all around and everybody grew more cheerful. + +Oh, we were very cheerful! I look back now and think how +cheerful we were, and I shudder. It was strange that we hadn't +been warned by Mr. Pierce's square jaw, but we were not. We sat +around the fire and ate and laughed, and Mr. Dick arranged that +Mr. Pierce should come out to him every evening for orders about +the place if he accepted, and everybody felt he would--and I was +to come at the same time and bring a basket of provisions for the +next day. Of course, the instant Mr. Jennings left the young +couple could go into the sanatorium as guests under another name +and be comfortable. And as soon as the time limit was up, and +the place was still running smoothly, they could declare the +truth, claim the sanatorium, having fulfilled the conditions of +the will, and confess to Mr. Jennings--over the long-distance +wire. + +Well, it promised well, I must say. Mr. Stitt left on the ten +train that morning, looking lemon-colored and mottled. He +insisted that he wasn't able to go, but Mr. Sam gave him a +headache powder and put him on the train, anyhow. + +Yes, as I say, it promised well. But we made two mistakes: we +didn't count on Mr. Thoburn, and we didn't know Mr. Pierce. And +who could have imagined that Mike the bath man would do as he +did? + + + + + +CHAPTER X + +ANOTHER COMPLICATION + +After luncheon, when everybody at Hope Springs takes a nap, we +had another meeting at the shelter-house, this time with Mr. +Pierce. He had spent the morning tramping over the hills with a +gun and keeping out of the way of people, and what with three +square meals, a good night's sleep and the exercise, he was +looking a lot better. Seen in daylight, he had very dark hair +and blue-gray eyes and a very square chin, although it had a sort +of dimple in it. I used to wonder which won out, the dimple or +the chin, but I wasn't long in finding out. + +Well, he looked dazed when I took him to the shelter-house and he +saw Mr. Dick and Mrs. Dick and the Mr. Sams and Miss Patty. They +gave him a lawn-mower to sit on, and Mr. Sam explained the +situation. + +"I know it's asking a good bit, Mr. Pierce," he said, +"and personally I can see only one way out of all this. Carter +ought to go in and take charge, and his--er--wife ought to go +back to school. But they won't have it, and--er--there are other +reasons." He glanced at Miss Patty. + +Mr. Pierce also glanced at Miss Patty. He'd been glancing at her +at intervals of two seconds ever since she came in, and being a +woman and having a point to gain, Miss Patty seemed to have +forgotten the night before, and was very nice to him. Once she +smiled directly at him, and whatever he was saying died in his +throat of the shock. When she turned her head away he stared at +the back of her neck, and when she looked at the fire he gazed at +her profile, and always with that puzzled look, as if he hadn't +yet come to believe that she was the newspaper Miss Jennings. + +After everything had been explained to him, including Mr. +Jennings' liver and disposition, she turned to him and said: + +"We are in your hands, you see, Mr. Pierce. Are you going to +help us?" And when she asked him that, it was plain to me that +he was only sorry he couldn't die helping. + +"If everybody agrees to it," he said, looking at her, "and you +all think it's feasible and I can carry it off, I'm perfectly +willing to try." + +"Oh, it's feasible," Mr. Dick said in a relieved voice, getting +up and beginning to strut up and down the room. "It isn't as +though I'm beyond call. You can come out here and consult me if +you get stuck. And then there's Minnie; she knows a good bit +about the old place." + +Mr. Sam looked at me and winked. + +"Of course," said Mr. Dick, "I expect to retain control, you +understand that, I suppose, Pierce? You can come out every day +for instructions. I dare say sanatoriums are hardly your line." + +Mr. Pierce was looking at Miss Patty and she knew it. When a +woman looks as unconscious as she did it isn't natural. + +"Eh--oh, well no, hardly," he said, coming to himself; "I've +tried everything else, I believe. It can't be worse than +carrying a bunch of sweet peas from garden to garden." + +Mr. Dick stopped walking and turned suddenly to stare at Mr. +Pierce. + +"Sweet--what?" he said. + +Everybody else was talking, and I was the only one who saw him +change color. + +"Sweet peas," said Mr. Pierce. "And that reminds me--I'd like to +make one condition, Mr. Carter. I feel in a measure responsible +for the company; most of them have gone back to New York, but the +leading woman is sick at the hotel in Finleyville. I'd like to +bring her here for two weeks to recuperate. I assure you, I have +no interest in her, but I'm sorry for her; she's had the mumps." + +"Mumps!" everybody said together, and Mr. Sam looked at his +brother-in-law. + +"Kid in the play got 'em, and they spread around," Mr. Pierce +explained. "Nasty disease." + +"Why, you've just had them, too, Dicky!" said his wife. They all +turned to look at him, and I must say his expression was curious. + +Luckily, I had the wit to knock over the breakfast basket, which +was still there, and when we'd gathered up the broken china, Mr. +Dick had got himself in hand. + +"I'm sorry, old man," he said to Mr. Pierce, "but I'm not in +favor of bringing Miss--the person you speak of--up to the +sanatorium just now. Mumps, you know--very contagious, and all +that." + +"She's over that part," Mr. Pierce said; "she only needs to +rest." + +"Certainly--let her come," said Mrs. Dicky. "If they're as +contagious as all that, you haven't been afraid of MY getting +them." + +"I--I'm not in favor of it," Mr. Dick insisted, looking +obstinate. "The minute you bring an actress here you've got the +whole place by the ears." + +"Fiddlesticks!" said his sister. "Because any actress could set +YOU by the ears--" + +Mrs. Dick sat up suddenly. + +"Certainly, if she isn't well bring her up," said Miss Patty. +"Only--won't she know your name is not Carter?" + +"She's discretion itself," Mr. Pierce said. "Her salary hasn't +been paid for a month, and as I'm responsible, I'd be glad to see +her looked after." + +"I don't want her here. I'll--I'll pay her board at the hotel," +Mr. Dick began, "only for heaven's sake, don't--" + +He stopped, for every one was staring. + +"Why in the world would you do that?" Miss Patty asked. "Don't +be ridiculous. That's the only condition Mr. Pierce has made." + +Mr. Dick stalked to the window and looked out, his hands in his +pockets. I couldn't help being reminded of the time he had run +away from school, when his grandfather found him in the shelter- +house and gave him his choice of going back at once or reading +medicine with him. + +"Oh, bring her up! Bring her up!" he said without looking +around. "If Pierce won't stay unless he can play the friend in +need, all right. But don't come after me if the whole blamed +sanatorium swells up with mumps and faints at the sight of a +pickle." + +That was Wednesday. + +Things at the sanatorium were about the same on the surface. The +women crocheted and wondered what the next house doctor would be +like, and the men gambled at the slot-machines and played +billiards and grumbled at the food and the management, and when +they weren't drinking spring water they were in the bar washing +away the taste of it. They took twenty minutes on the verandas +every day for exercise and kept the house temperature at eighty. +Senator Biggs was still fasting and Mrs. Biggs took to spending +all day in the spring-house and turning pale every time she heard +his voice. It was that day, I think, that I found the +magazine with Upton Sinclair's article on fasting stuck fast in a +snow-drift, as if it had been thrown violently. + +Wednesday afternoon Miss Julia Summers came with three lap robes, +a white lace veil and a French poodle in a sleigh and went to bed +in one of the best rooms, and that night we started to move out +furniture to the shelter-house. + +By working almost all night we got the shelter-house fairly +furnished, although we made a trail through the snow that looked +like a fever chart. Toward daylight Mr. Sam dropped a wash-bowl +on my toe and I went to bed with an arnica compress. + +I limped out in time to be on hand before Miss Cobb got there, +but what with a chilblain on my heel and hardly any sleep for two +nights--not to mention my toe--I wasn't any too pleasant. + +"It's my opinion you're overeating, Minnie," Miss Cobb said. +"You're skin's a sight!" + +"You needn't look at it," I retorted. + +She burned the back of her neck just then and it was three +minutes before she could speak. When she could she was +considerably milder. + +"Just give it a twist or two, Minnie, won't you?" she said, +holding out the curler. "I haven't been able to sleep on the +back of my head for three weeks." + +Well, I curled her hair for her and she told me about Miss +Summers being still shut in her room, and how she'd offered Mike +an extra dollar to give the white poodle a Turkish bath--it being +under the weather as to health--and how Mike had soaked the +little beast for an hour in a tub of water, forgetting the +sulphur, and it had come out a sort of mustard color, and how +Miss Summers had had hysterics when she saw it. + +"Mike dipped him in bluing to bleach him again, or rather `her'-- +it's name is Arabella--" Miss Cobb said, "but all it did was to +make it mottled like an Easter egg. Everybody is charmed. There +were no dogs allowed while the old doctor lived. Things were +different." + +"Yes, things were different," I assented, limping over to heat +the curler. "How--how does Mr. Carter get along?" + +Miss Cobb put down her hand-mirror and sniffed. + +"Well," she said, "goodness knows I'm no trouble maker, but +somebody ought to tell that young man a few things. He's +forever looking at the thermometer and opening windows. I +declare, if I hadn't brought my woolen tights along I'd have +frozen to death at breakfast. Everybody's complaining." + +I put that away in my mind to speak about. It was only by +nailing the windows shut and putting strips of cotton batting +around the cracks that we'd ever been able to keep people there +in the winter. I had my first misgiving then. Heaven knows I +didn't realize what it was going to be. + +Well, by the evening of that day things were going fairly well. +Tillie brought out a basket every morning to me at the spring- +house, fairly bursting with curiosity, and Mr. Sam got some +canned stuff in Finleyville and took it after dark to the +shelter-house. But after the second day Mrs. Dicky got tired +holding a frying-pan over the fire and I had to carry out at +least one hot meal a day. + +They got their own breakfast in a chafing-dish, or rather he got +it and carried it to her. And she'd sit on the edge of her cot, +with her feet on the soap box--the floor was drafty--wrapped in a +pink satin negligee with bands of brown fur on it, looking +sweet and perfectly happy, and let him feed her boiled egg with a +spoon. I took them some books--my Gray's Anatomy, and Jane +Eyre and Molly Bawn, by The Duchess, and the newspapers, of +course. They were full of talk about the wedding, and the suite +the prince was bringing over with him, and every now and then a +notice would say that Miss Dorothy Jennings, the bride's young +sister, who was still in school and was not coming out until next +year, would be her sister's maid of honor. And when they came to +that, they would hug each other--or me, if I happened to be +close--and act like a pair of children, which they were. +Generally it would end up by his asking her if she wasn't sorry +she wasn't back at Greenwich studying French conjugations and +having a dance without any men on Friday nights, and she would +say "Wretch!" and kiss him, and I'd go out and slam the door. + +But there was something on Mr. Dick's mind. I hadn't known him +for fourteen years for nothing. And the night Mr. Sam and I +carried out the canned salmon and corn and tomatoes he walked +back with me to the edge of the deer park, Mr. Sam having gone +ahead. + +"Now," I said, when we were out of ear-shot, "spit it out. I've +been expecting it." + +"Listen, Minnie," he answered, "is Ju--is Miss Summers still +confined to her room?" + +"No," I replied coldly. "Ju--Miss Summers was down to-night to +dinner." + +"Then she's seen Pierce," he said, "and he's told her the whole +story and by to-morrow--" + +"What?" I demanded, clutching his arm. "You wretched boy, don't +tell me after all I've done" + +"Oh, confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "it's as much your fault +as mine. Couldn't you have found somebody else, instead of +getting, of all things on earth, somebody from the Sweet Peas +Company?" + +"I see," I said slowly. "Then it WASN'T coincidence about the +mumps!" + +"Confounded kid had them," he said with bitterness. "Minnie, +something's got to be done, and done soon. If you want the plain +truth, Miss--er--Summers and I used to be friends--and--well, +she's suing me for breach of promise. Now for heaven's sake, +Minnie, don't make a fuss--" + +But my knees wouldn't hold me. I dropped down in a snow-drift +and covered my face. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +MISS PATTY'S PRINCE + +I dragged myself back to the spring-house and dropped in front of +the fire. What with worry and no sleep and now this new +complication I was dead as yesterday's newspaper. I sat there on +the floor with my hands around my knees, thinking what to do +next, and as I sat there, the crayon enlargement of father on the +spring-house wall began to shake its head from side to side, and +then I saw it hold out its hand and point a finger at me. + +"Cut and run, Minnie," it said. "Get out from under! Go and buy +Timmon's candy store before the smash--the smash--!" + +When I opened my eyes Mr. Pierce was sitting on the other side of +the chimney and staring at the fire. He had a pipe between his +teeth, but he wasn't smoking, and he had something of the same +look about his mouth he'd had the first day I saw him. + +"Well?" he said, when he saw I was awake. + +"I guess I was sleeping." I sat up and pushed in my hairpins and +yawned. I was tireder than ever. "I'm clean worn out." + +"Of course you're tired," he declared angrily. "You're not a +horse, and you haven't been to bed for two nights." + +"Care killed the cat," I said. "I don't mind losing sleep, but +it's like walking in a swamp, Mr. Pierce. First I put a toe in-- +that was when I asked you to stay over night. Then I went a step +farther, lured on, as you may say, by Miss Patty waving a crown +or whatever it is she wants, just beyond my nose. And to-night +I've got a--well, to-night I'm in to the neck and yelling for a +quick death." + +He leaned over to where I sat before the fire and twisted my head +toward him. + +"To-night--what?" he demanded. + +But that minute I made up my mind not to tell him. He might +think the situation was too much for him and leave, or he might +decide he ought to tell Miss Summers where Dick was. There was +no love lost between him and Mr. Carter. + +"To-night--I'm just tired and cranky," I said, "so--is Miss +Summers settled yet?" + +He nodded, as if he wasn't thinking of Miss Summers. + +"What did you tell her?" + +"Haven't seen her," he said. "Sent her a note that I was +understudying a man named Carter and to mind to pick up her +cues." + +"It's a common enough name," I said, but he had lighted his pipe +again and had dropped forward, one elbow on his knee, his hand +holding the bowl of his pipe, and staring into the fire. He +looked up when I closed and locked the pantry door. + +"I've just been thinking," he remarked, "here we are--a group of +people--all struggling like mad for one thing, but with different +motives. Mine are plain enough and mercenary enough, although a +certain red-haired girl with a fine loyalty to an old doctor and +a sanatorium is carrying me along with her enthusiasm. And Van +Alstyne's motives are clear enough--and selfish. Carter is +merely trying to save his own skin--but a girl like Miss Pat-- +Miss Jennings!" + +"There's nothing uncertain about what she wants, or wrong +either," I retorted. "She's right enough. The family can't +stand a scandal just now with her wedding so close." + +He smiled and got up, emptying his pipe. + +"Nevertheless, oh, Minnie, of the glowing hair and heart," he +said, "Miss Jennings has disappointed me. You see, I believe in +marrying for love." + +"Love!" I was disgusted. "Don't talk to me about love! Love is +the sort of thing that makes two silly idiots run away and get +married and live in a shelter-house, upsetting everybody's plans, +while their betters have to worry themselves sick and carry them +victuals." + +He got up and began to walk up and down the spring-house, +scowling at the floor. + +"Of course," he agreed, "he may be a decent sort, and she may +really want him." + +"Of course she does!" I said. He stopped short. "I've been +wanting a set of red puffs for three years, and I can hardly walk +past Mrs. Yost's window down in the village. They've got some +that match my hair and I fairly yearn for them. But if I got 'em +I dare say I'd put them in a box and go after wanting something +else. It's the same way with Miss Patty. She'll get her +prince, and because it isn't real love, but only the same as me +with the puffs, she'll go after wanting something else. Only she +can't put him away in a box. She'll have to put him on and wear +him for better, for worse." + +"Lord help her!" he said solemnly, and went over to the window +and stood there looking out. + +I went over beside him. From the window we could see the three +rows of yellow lights that marked the house, and somebody with a +lantern was going down the path toward the stables. Mr. Pierce +leaned forward, his hands at the top of the window-sash, and put +his forehead against the glass. + +"Why is it that a lighted window in a snow-storm always makes a +fellow homesick?" he said in his half-mocking way. "If he hasn't +got a home it makes him want one." + +"Well, why don't you get one?" I asked. + +"On nothing a year?" he said. "Not even prospects! And set up +housekeeping in the shelter-house with my good friend Minnie +carrying us food and wearing herself to a shadow, not to mention +bringing trashy books to my bride" + +"She isn't that kind," I broke in, and got red. I'd been +thinking of Miss Patty. But he went over to the table and picked +up his glass of spring water, only to set it down untasted. + +"No, she's not that kind!" he agreed, and never noticed the slip. + +"You know, Minnie, women aren't all alike, but they're not all +different. An English writer has them classified to a T--there's +the mother woman--that's you. You're always mothering somebody +with that maternal spirit of yours. It's a pity it's vicarious." + +I didn't say anything, not knowing just what he meant. But I've +looked it up since and I guess he was about right. + +"And there's the mistress woman--Mrs. Dicky, for example, or--" +he saw Miss Cobb's curler on the mantel and picked it up--"or +even Miss Cobb," he said. "Coquetry and selfishness without +maternal instinct. How much of Miss Cobb's virtue is training +and environment, Minnie, not to mention lack of temptation, and +how much was born in her?" + +"She's a preacher's daughter," I remarked. I could understand +about Mrs. Dicky, but I thought he was wrong about Miss Cobb. + +"Exactly," he said. "And the third kind of woman is the +mistress-mother kind, and they're the salt of the earth, Minnie." +He began to walk up and down by the spring with his hands in his +pockets and a far-away look in his eyes. "The man who marries +that kind of woman is headed straight for paradise." + +"That's the way!" I snapped. "You men have women divided into +classes and catalogued like horses on sale." + +"Aren't they on sale?" he demanded, stopping. "Isn't it money, +or liberty, or--or a title, usually?" I knew he was thinking of +Miss Patty again. + +"As for the men," I continued, "I guess you can class the married +ones in two classes, providers and non-providers. They're all +selfish and they haven't enough virtue to make a fuss about." + +"I'd be a shining light in the non-provider class," he said, and +picking up his old cap he opened the door. Miss Patty herself +was coming up the path. + +She was flushed from the cold air and from hurrying, and I don't +know that I ever saw her look prettier. When she came into the +light we could both see that she was dressed for dinner. Her fur +coat was open at the neck, and she had only a lace <133>scarf +over her head. (She was a disbeliever in colds, anyhow, and all +winter long she slept with the windows open and the steam-heat +off!) + +"I'm so glad you're still here, Minnie!" she exclaimed, breathing +fast. "You haven't taken the dinner out to the shelter-house +yet, have you?" + +"Not yet," I replied. "Tillie hasn't brought the basket. The +chef's been fussing about the stuff we're using in the diet +kitchen the last few days, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's +shut off all extras." + +But I guess her sister and Mr. Dick could have starved to death +just then without her noticing. She was all excitement, for all +she's mostly so cool. + +"I have a note here for my sister," she said, getting it out of +her pocket. "I know we all impose on you, Minnie, but--will you +take it for me? I'd go, but I'm in slippers, and, anyhow, I'd +need a lantern, and that would be reckless, wouldn't it?" + +"In slippers!" Mr. Pierce interrupted. "It's only five degrees +above zero! Of all the foolhardy--!" + +Miss Patty did not seem to hear him. She gave the letter to me +and followed me out on the step. + +"You're a saint, Minnie," she said, leaning over and +squeezing my arm, "and because you're going back and forth in the +cold so much, I want you to have this--to keep." + +She stooped and picked up from the snow beside the steps +something soft and furry and threw it around my neck, and the +next instant I knew she was giving me her chinchilla set, muff +and all. I was so pleased I cried, and all the way over to the +shelter-house I sniveled and danced with joy at the same time. +There's nothing like chinchilla to tone down red hair. + +Well, I took the note out to the shelter-house, and rapped. Mr. +Dick let me in, and it struck me he wasn't as cheerful as usual. +He reached out and took the muff. + +"Oh," he said, "I thought that was the supper." + +"It's coming," I said, looking past him for Mrs. Dicky. Usually +when I went there she was drawing Mr. Dick's profile on a bit of +paper or teaching him how to manicure his nails, but that night +she was lying on the cot and she didn't look up. + +"Sleeping?" I asked in a whisper. + +"Grumping!" Mr. Dick answered. He went over and stood looking +down at her with his hands in his pockets and his hair +ruffled as if he'd been running his fingers through it. She +never moved a shoulder. + +"Dorothy," he said. "Here's Minnie." + +She pretended not to hear. + +"Dorothy!" he repeated. "I wish you wouldn't be such a g-- +Confound it, Dolly, be reasonable. Do you want to make me look +like a fool?" + +She turned her face enough to uncover one eye. + +"It wouldn't be difficult," she answered, staring at him with the +one eye. It was red from crying. + +"Now listen, Dolly." He got down on one knee beside the cot and +tried to take her hand, but she jerked it away. "I've tried +wearing my hair that way, and it--it isn't becoming, to say the +least. I don't mind having it wet and brushed back in a +pompadour, if you insist, but I certainly do balk at the ribbon." + +"You've only got to wear the ribbon an hour or so, until it +dries." She brought her hand forward an inch or so and he took +it and kissed it. It should have been slapped. + +"I'll tell you what I'll do," he said. "You can fix it any way +you please, when it's too late for old Sam or Pierce to drop +in, and I'll wear the confounded ribbon all night. Won't that +do?" + +But she had seen the note and sat up and held out her hand for +it. She was wearing one of Miss Patty's dresses and it hung on +her--not that Miss Patty was large, but she had a beautiful +figure, and Mrs. Dicky, of course, was still growing and not +properly filled out. + +"Dick!" she said suddenly, "what do you think? Oskar is here! +Pat's in the wildest excitement. He's in town, and Aunt Honoria +has telephoned to know what to do! Listen: he is incog., of +course, and registered as Oskar von Inwald. He did an awfully +clever thing--came in through Canada while the papers thought he +was in St. Moritz." + +"For heaven's sake," replied Mr. Dick, "tell her not to ask him +here. I shouldn't know how to talk to him." + +"He speaks lovely English," declared Mrs. Dick, still reading. + +"I know all that," he said, walking around nervously, "but if +he's going to be my brother-in-law, I suppose I don't get down on +my knees and knock my head on the floor. What do I say to him? +Four Highness? Oh, I've known a lord or two, but that's +different. You call them anything you like and lend them money." + +"I dare say you can with Oskar, too." Mrs. Dicky put the note +down and sighed. "Well, he's coming. Pat says dad won't go back +to town until he's had twenty-one baths, and he's only had eleven +and she's got to stay with him. And you needn't worry about what +to call Oskar. He's not to know we're here." + +I was worried on my way back to the spring-house--not that the +prince would make much difference, as far as I could see things +being about as bad as they could be. But some of the people were +talking of leaving, and since we had to have a prince it seemed a +pity he wasn't coming with all his retinue and titles. It would +have been a good ten thousand dollars' worth of advertising for +the place, and goodness knows we needed it. + +When I got back to the spring-house Miss Patty and Mr. Pierce +were still there. He was in front of the fire, with his back to +it, and she was near the door. + +"Of course it isn't my affair," he was saying. "You are +perfectly--" Then I opened the door and he stopped. I went +on into the pantry to take off my overshoes, and as I closed the +door he continued. "I didn't mean to say what I have. I meant +to explain about the other night--I had a right to do that. But +you forced the issue." + +"I was compelled to tell you he was coming," she said angrily. +"I felt I should. You have been good enough to take Mr. Carter's +place here and save me from an embarrassing situation--" + +"I had no philanthropic motives," he insisted stubbornly. "I did +it, as you must know, for three meals a day and a roof over my +head. If you wish me to be entirely frank, I disapprove of the +whole thing." + +I heard the swish of her dress as she left the door and went +toward him. + +"What would you have had me do?" she asked. + +"Take those two children to your father. What if there was a +row? Why should there be such a lot made of it, anyhow? They're +young, but they'll get older. It isn't a crime for two people +to--er--love each other, is it? And if you think a scandal or +two in your family--granting your father would make a +scandal--is going to put another patch on the ragged reputations +of the royal family of--" + +"How dare you!" she cried furiously. "How DARE you!" + +I heard her cross the room and fling the door open and a second +later it slammed. When I came out of the pantry Mr. Pierce was +sitting in his old position, elbow on knee, holding his pipe and +staring at the bowl. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +WE GET A DOCTOR + +I had my hands full the next day. We'd had another snow-storm +during the night and the trains were blocked again. About ten +o'clock we got a telegram from the new doctor we'd been +expecting, that he'd fallen on the ice on his way to the train +and broken his arm, and at eleven a delegation from the guests +waited on Mr. Pierce and told him they'd have to have a house +physician at once. + +Senator Biggs was the spokesman. He said that, personally, he +couldn't remain another day without one; that he should be under +a physician's care every moment of his fast, and that if no +doctor came that day he'd be in favor of all the guests showing +their displeasure by leaving together. + +"Either that," Thoburn said from the edge of the crowd, "or call +it a hotel at once and be done with it. A sanatorium +without a doctor is like an omelet without eggs!" + +"Hamlet without ham," somebody said. + +"We're doing the best we can," Mr. Pierce explained. "We--we +expect a doctor to-day." + +"When?" from Mr. Jennings, who had come on a cane and was +watching Mr. Pierce like a hawk. + +"This afternoon, probably. As there is no one here very ill--" + +But at that they almost fell on him and tore him to pieces. I +had to step in front of him myself and say we'd have somebody +there by two o'clock if we had to rob a hospital to get him. And +Mr. Sam cried, "Three cheers for Minnie, the beautiful spring- +house girl!" and led off. + +There's no doubt about it--a man ought to be born to the +sanatorium business. A real strong and healthy man has no +business trying to run a health resort, and I saw Mr. Pierce +wasn't making the hit that I'd expected him to. + +He was too healthy. You only needed to look at him to know that +he took a cold plunge every morning, and liked to walk ten miles +a day, and could digest anything and go to sleep the minute his +head touched the pillow. And he had no tact. When Mrs. +Biggs went to him and explained that the vacuum cleaner must not +be used in her room--that it exhausted the air or something, and +she could hardly breathe after it--he only looked bewildered and +then drew a diagram to show her it was impossible that it could +exhaust the air. The old doctor knew how: he'd have ordered an +oxygen tank opened in the room after the cleaner was used and +she'd have gone away happy. + +Of course Mr. Pierce was most polite. He'd listen to their +complaints--and they were always complaining, that's part of the +regime--with a puzzled face, trying to understand, but he +couldn't. He hadn't a nerve in his body. Once, when one of the +dining-room girls dropped a tray of dishes and half the women +went to bed with headache from the nervous shock, he never even +looked up, but went on with his dinner, and the only comment he +made afterward was to tell the head waitress to see that Annie +didn't have to pay breakage--that the trays were too heavy for a +woman, anyhow. As Miss Cobb said, he was impossible. + +Well, as if I didn't have my hands full with getting meals +to the shelter-house, and trying to find a house doctor, and +wondering how long it would be before "Julia" came face to face +with Dick Carter somewhere or other, and trying to keep one eye +on Thoburn while I kept Mr. Pierce straight with the other--that +day, during luncheon, Mike the bath man came out to the spring- +house and made a howl about his wages. He'd been looking surly +for two days. + +"What about your wages?" I snapped. "Aren't you getting what +you've always had?" + +"No tips!" he said sulkily. "Only a few taking baths--only one +daily, and that's that man Jennings. There's no use talking, +Miss Minnie, I've got to have a double percentage on that man or +you'll have to muzzle him. He--he's dangerous." + +"If I give you the double percentage, will you stay?" + +"I don't know but that I'd rather have the muzzle, Miss Minnie," +he answered slowly, "but--I'll stay. It won't be for long." + +Which left me thinking. I'd seen Thoburn talking to Mike more +than once lately, and he'd been going around with an air of +assurance that didn't make me any too cheerful. Evenings, +when I'd relieved Amanda King at the news stand, I'd seen Thoburn +examining the woodwork of the windows, and only the night before, +happening on the veranda unexpectedly, I found Mike and him +measuring it with a tape line. As I say, Mike's visit left me +thinking. + +The usual crowd came out that afternoon and drank water and sat +around the fire and complained--all except Senator Biggs, who +happened in just as I was pouring melted butter over a dish of +hot salted pop-corn. He stood just inside the door, sniffling, +with his eyes fixed on the butter, and then groaned and went out. + +He looked terrible--his clothes hung on him like bags; as the +bishop said, it was ghastly to see a convexity change to such a +concavity in three days. + +Mr. Moody won three dollars that day from the slot-machine and +was almost civil to his wife, but old Jennings sat with his foot +on a stool and yelled if anybody slammed the door. Mrs. Hutchins +brought him out with her eyes red and asked me if she could leave +him there. + +"I'm sorry if I was rude to you the other night, Minnie," +she said, "but I was upset. I'm so worn-out that I'll have to +lie down for an hour, and if he doesn't get better soon, I--I +shall have to have help. My nerves are gone." + +At four o'clock Mr. Sam came in, and he had Mr. Thoburn tight by +the arm. + +"My dear old chap," he was saying, "it would be as much as your +life's worth. That ground is full of holes and just now covered +with snow--!" + +He caught my eye, and wiped his forehead. + +"Heaven help us!" he said, coming over to the spring, "I found +him making for the shelter-house, armed with a foot rule! +Somebody's got to take him in hand--I tell you, the man's a +menace!" + +"What about the doctor?" I asked, reaching up his glass. + +"Be here to-night," he answered, "on the--" + +But at that minute a boy brought a telegram down and handed it to +him. The new doctor was laid up with influenza! + +We sat there after the others had gone, and Mr. Sam said he was +for giving up the fight, only to come out now with the truth +would mean such a lot of explaining and a good many people would +likely find it funny. Mr. Pierce came in later and we gave +him the telegram to read. + +"I don't see why on earth they need a doctor, anyhow," he said, +"they're not sick. If they'd take a little exercise and get some +air in their lungs--" + +"My dear fellow," Mr. Sam cried in despair, "some people are born +in sanatoriums, some acquire them, and others have them thrust +upon them--I've had this place thrust upon me. I don't know why +they want a doctor, but they do. They balked at Rodgers from the +village. They want somebody here at night. Mr. Jennings has the +gout and there's the deuce to pay. Some of them talk of +leaving." + +"Let 'em leave," said Mr. Pierce. "If they'd go home and drink +three gallons of any kind of pure water a day--" + +"Sh! That's heresy here! My dear fellow, we've got to keep +them." + +Mr. Pierce glanced at the telegram and handed it back. + +"Lot's of starving M. D.'s would jump at the chance," he said, +"but if it's as urgent as all this we can't wait to hunt. I'll +tell you, Van Alstyne, there's a chap down in the village he was +the character man with the Sweet Peas Company--and he's +stranded there. I saw him this morning. He's washing dishes in +the depot restaurant for his meals. We used to call him Doc, and +I've a hazy idea that he's a graduate M. D.--name's Barnes." + +"Great!" cried Mr. Van Alstyne. "Let's have Barnes. You get +him, will you, Pierce?" + +Mr. Pierce promised and they started out together. At the door +Mr. Sam turned. + +"Oh, by the way, Minnie," he called, "better gild one of your +chairs and put a red cushion on it. The prince has arrived." + +Well, I thought it all out that afternoon as I washed the +glasses, and it was terrible. I had two people in the shelter- +house to feed and look after like babies, with Tillie getting +more curious every day about the basket she brought, and not to +be held much longer; and I had a man running the sanatorium and +running it to the devil as fast as it could go. Not that he +wasn't a nice young man, big, strong-jawed and all that, but you +can't make a diplomat out of an ordinary man in three days, and +it takes more diplomacy to run a sanatorium a week than it does +to be secretary of state for four years. Then I had a +prince incognito, and Thoburn stirring up mischief, and the +servants threatening to strike, and no house doctor-- + +Just as I got to that somebody opened the door behind me and +looked in. I glanced around, and it was a man with the reddest +hair I ever saw. Mine was pale by comparison. He was rather +short and heavy-set, and he had a pleasant face, although not +handsome, his nose being slightly bent to the left. But at first +all I could see was his hair. + +"Good evening," he said, edging himself in. "Are you Miss +Waters?" + +"Yes," I said, rising and getting a glass ready, "although I'm +not called that often, except by people who want to pun on my +name and my business." I looked at him sharply, but he hadn't +intended any pun. + +He took off his hat and came over to the spring where I was +filling his glass. + +"If that's for me, you needn't bother," he said. "If it tastes +as it smells, I'm not thirsty. My name's Barnes, and I was to +wait here for Mr. Van Alstyne." + +"Barnes!" I repeated. "Then you're the doctor." + +He grinned, and stood turning his hat around in his hands. + +"Not exactly," he said. "I graduated in medicine a good many +years ago, but after a year of it, wearing out more seats of +trousers waiting for patients than I earned enough to pay for, +and having to have new trousers, I took to other things." + +"Oh, yes," I said. "You're an actor now." + +He looked thoughtful. + +"Some people think I'm not," he answered, "but I'm on the stage. +Graduated there from prize-fighting. Prize-fighting, the stage, +and then writing for magazines--that's the usual progression. +Sometimes, as a sort of denouement before the final curtain, we +have dinner at the White House." + +I took a liking to the man at once. It was a relief to have +somebody who was willing to tell all about himself and wasn't +incognito, or in hiding, or under somebody else's name. I put a +fresh log on the fire, and as it blazed up I saw him looking at +me. + +"Ye gods and little fishes!" he said. "Another redhead! Why, +we're as alike as two carrots off the same bunch!" + +In five minutes I knew how old he was, and where he was +raised, and that what he wanted more than anything on earth was a +little farmhouse with chickens and a cow. + +"Where you can have air, you know," he said, waving his hands, +which were covered with reddish hair. "Lord, in the city I +starve for air! And where, when you're getting soft you can go +out and tackle the wood-pile. That's living!" + +And then he wanted to know what he was to do at the sanatorium +and I told him as well as I could. I didn't tell him everything, +but I explained why Mr. Pierce was calling himself Carter, and +about the two in the shelter-house. I had to. He knew as well +as I did that three days before Mr. Pierce had had nothing to his +name but a folding automobile road map or whatever it was. + +"Good for old Pierce!" he said when I finished. "He's a prince, +Miss Waters. If you'd seen him sending those girls back to +town--well, I'll do all I can to help him. But I'm not much of a +doctor. It's safe to acknowledge it; you'll find it out soon +enough." + +Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne came in just then, and Mr. Sam told him +what he was expected to do. It wasn't much: he was to tell +them at what temperatures to take their baths, "and Minnie will +help you out with that," he added, and what they were to eat and +were not to eat. "Minnie will tell you that, too," he finished, +and Mr. Barnes, DOCTOR Barnes, came over and shook my hand. + +"I'm perfectly willing to be first assistant," he declared. +"We'll put our heads together and the result will be--" + +"Combustion!" said Mr. Sam, and we all laughed. + +"Remember," Mr. Sam instructed him, as Doctor Barnes started out, +"when you don't know what to prescribe, order a Turkish bath. +The baths are to a sanatorium what the bar is to a club--they pay +the bills." + +Well, we got it all fixed and Doctor Barnes started out, but at +the door he stopped. + +"I say," he asked in an undertone, "the stork doesn't light +around here, does he?" + +"Not if they see him first!" I replied grimly, and he went out. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +THE PRINCE--PRINCIPALLY + +It was all well enough for me to say--as I had to to Tillie many +a time--that it was ridiculous to make a fuss over a person for +what, after all, was an accident of birth. It was well enough +for me to say that it was only by chance that I wasn't strutting +about with a crown on my head and a man blowing a trumpet to let +folks know I was coming, and by the same token and the same +chance Prince Oskar might have been a red-haired spring-house +girl, breaking the steels in her figure stooping over to ladle +mineral water out of a hole in the earth. + +Nevertheless, at five o'clock, after every one had gone, when I +saw Miss Patty, muffled in furs, tripping out through the snow, +with a tall thin man beside her, walking very straight and taking +one step to her four, I felt as though somebody had hit me at the +end of my breast-bone. + +They stopped a minute outside before they came in, and I had to +take myself in hand. + +"Now look here, Minnie, you idiot," I said to myself, "this is +America; you're as good as he is; not a bend of the knee or a +stoop of the neck. And if he calls you `my good girl' hit him." + +They came in together, laughing and talking, and, to be honest, +if I hadn't caught the back of a chair, I'd have had one foot +back of the other and been making a courtesy in spite of myself. + +"We're late, Minnie!" Miss Patty said. "Oskar, this is one of my +best friends, and you are to be very nice to her." + +He had one of those single glass things in his eye and he gave me +a good stare through it. Seen close he was handsomer than Mr. +Pierce, but he looked older than his picture. + +"Ask her if she won't be nice to me," he said in as good English +as mine, and held out his hand. + +"Any of Miss Patty's friends--" I began, with a lump in my +throat, and gave his hand a good squeeze. I thought he looked +startled, and suddenly I had a sort of chill. + +"Good gracious!" I exclaimed, "should I have kissed it?" + +They roared at that, and Miss Patty had to sit down in a chair. + +"You see, she knows, Oskar," she said. "The rest are thinking +and perhaps guessing, but Minnie is the only one that knows, and +she never talks. Everybody who comes here tells Minnie his +troubles." + +"But--am I a trouble?" he asked in a low tone. I was down in the +spring, but I heard it. + +"So far you have hardly been an unalloyed joy," she replied, and +from the spring I echoed "Amen." + +"Yes--I'm so hung with family skeletons that I clatter when I +walk," I explained, pretending I hadn't heard, and brought them +both glasses of water. "It's got to be a habit with some people +to save their sciatica and their husband's dispositions and their +torpid livers and their unpaid bills and bring 'em here to me." + +He sniffed at the glass and put it down. + +"Herr Gott!" he said, "what a water! It is--the whole thing is +extraordinary! I can understand the reason for Carlsbad or +Wiesbaden--it is gay. One sees one's friends; it is--social. +But here--!" + +He got up and, lifting a window curtain, peered out into the +snow. + +"Here," he repeated, "shut in by forests and hills, a thousand +miles from life--" He shrugged his shoulders and came back to +the table. "It is well enough for the father," he went on to +Miss Patty, "but for you! Why--it is depressing, gray. The only +bit of color in it all is--here, in what you call the spring- +house." I thought he meant Miss Patty's cheeks or her lovely +violet eyes, but he was looking at my hair. I had caught his eye +on it before, but this time he made no secret about it, and he +sighed, for all the world as if it reminded him of something. He +went over to the slot-machine and stood in front of it, humming +and trying the different combinations. I must say he had a nice +back. + +Miss Patty came over and slipped her hand in mine. + +"Well?" she whispered, looking at me with her pretty eyebrows +raised. + +"He looks all right," I had to confess. "Perhaps you can coax +him to shave." + +She laughed. + +"Oskar!" she called, "you have passed, but you are conditioned. +Minnie objects to the mustache." + +He turned and looked at me gravely. + +"It is my--greatest attraction," he declared, "but it is also a +great care. If Miss Minnie demands it, I shall give it to her in +a--in a little box." He sauntered over and looked at me in his +audacious way. "But you must promise to care for it. Many women +have loved it." + +"I believe that!" I answered, and stared back at him without +blinking. "I guess I wouldn't want the responsibility." + +But I had an idea that he meant what he said about the many +women, and that Miss Patty knew it as well as I did. She flushed +a little, and they went very soon after that. I stood and +watched them until they disappeared in the snow, and I felt +lonelier than ever, and sad, although certainly he was better +than I had expected to find him. He was a man, and not a little +cub with a body hardly big enough to carry his forefathers' +weaknesses. But he had a cold eye and a warm mouth, and that +sort of man is generally a social success and a matrimonial +failure. + +It wasn't until toward night that I remembered I'd been talking +to a real prince and I hadn't once said "your Highness" or "your +Excellency" or whatever I should have said. I had said "You!" + +I had hardly closed the door after them when it opened again and +Mr. Pierce came in. He shut the door and, going over to one of +the tables, put a package down on it. + +"Here's the stuff you wanted for the spring, Minnie," he +announced. "I suppose I can't do anything more than register a +protest against it?" + +"You needn't bother doing that," I answered, "unless it makes you +feel better. Your authority ends at that door. Inside the +spring-house I'm in control." + +(It's hard to believe, with things as they are, that I once +really believed that. But I did. It was three full days later +that I learned that I'd been mistaken!) + +Well, he sat there and looked at nothing while I heated water in +my brass kettle over the fire and dissolved the things +against Thoburn's quick eye the next day, and he didn't say +anything. He had a gift for keeping quiet, Mr. Pierce had. It +got on my nerves after a while. + +"Things are doing better," I remarked, stirring up my mixture. + +"Yes," he said, without moving. + +"I suppose they're happier now they have a doctor?" + +"Yes--no--I don't know. He's not much of a doctor, you know--and +there don't seem to be any medical books around." + +"There's one on the care and feeding of infants in the +circulating library," I said, "and he can have my Anatomy." + +"You're generous!" he remarked, with one of his quick smiles. + +"It's a book," I snapped, and fell to stirring again. But he was +moping once more, with his feet out and his hands behind his +head, staring at the ceiling. + +"I say, Minnie--" + +"Yes?" + +"Miss--Miss Jennings and the von Inwald were here just now, +weren't they? I passed them on the bridge." + +"Yes." + +"What--how do you like him?" + +"Better than I expected and not so well as I might," I said. "If +you are going to the house soon you might take Miss Patty her +handkerchief. It's there under that table." + +I took my mixture into the pantry and left it to cool. But as I +started back I stopped. He had got the handkerchief and was +standing in front of the fire, holding it in the palm of his hand +and looking at it. And all in a minute he crushed it to his face +with both hands and against the firelight I could see him +quivering. + +I stepped back into the pantry and came out again noisily. He +was standing very calm and quiet where he had been before, and no +handkerchief in sight. + +"Well," I said, "did you get it?" + +"Get what?" + +"Miss Patty's handkerchief?" + +"Oh--that! Yes. Here it is." He pulled it out of his pocket +and held it up by the corner. + +"Ridiculous size, isn't it, and--" he held it up to his nose--"I +dare say one could almost tell it was hers by the scent. It's-- +it's like her." + +"Humph!" I said, suddenly suspicious, and looked at it. "Well," +I said, "it may remind you of Miss Patty, and the scent may be +like Miss Patty, but she doesn't use perfume on her handkerchief. + +This has an E. C. on it, which means Eliza Cobb." + +He left soon after, rather crestfallen, but to save my life I +couldn't forget what I'd seen--him with that scrap of linen that +he thought was hers crushed to his face, and his shoulders +heaving. I had an idea that he hadn't cared much for women +before, and that, this being a first attack, he hadn't +established what the old doctor used to call an immunity. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PIERCE DISAPPROVES + +Mrs. Hutchins came out to the spring-house the next morning. She +was dressed in a black silk with real lace collar and cuffs, and +she was so puffed up with pride that she forgot to be nasty to +me. + +"I thought I'd better come to you, Minnie," she said. "There +seems to be nobody in authority here any more. Mr. Carter has +put the--has put Mr. von Inwald in the north wing. I can not +imagine why he should have given him the coldest and most +disagreeable part of the house." + +I said I'd speak to Mr. Carter and try to have him moved, and she +rustled over to where I was brushing the hearth and stooped down. + +"Mr. von Inwald is incognito, of course," she said, "but he +belongs to a very old family in his own country--a +noble family. He ought to have the best there is in the house." + +I promised that, too, and she went away, but I made up my mind to +talk to Mr. Pierce. The sanatorium business isn't one where you +can put your own likes and dislikes against the comfort of the +guests. + +Miss Cobb came out a few minutes after; she had on her new green +silk with the white lace trimming. She saw me staring as she +threw off her cape and put her curler on the log. + +"It's a little dressy for so early, of course, Minnie," she said, +"but I wish you'd see some of the other women! Breakfast looked +like an afternoon reception. What would you think of pinning +this black velvet ribbon around my head?" + +"It might have done twenty years ago, Miss Cobb," I answered, +"but I wouldn't advise it now." I was working at the slot- +machine, and I heard her sniff behind me as she hung up her +mirror on the window-frame. + +She tried the curler on the curtain, which she knows I object to, +but she was too full of her subject to be sulky for long. + +"I wish you could see Blanche Moody!" she began again, standing +holding the curler, with a thin wreath of smoke making a halo +over her head. "Drawn in--my dear, I don't see how she can +breathe! I guess there's no doubt about Mr. von Inwald." + +"I'd like to know who put this beer check in the slot-machine +yesterday," I said as indifferently as I could. "What about Mr. +von Inwald?" + +She tiptoed over to me, the halo trailing after her. + +"About his being a messenger from the prince to Miss Jennings!" +she answered in a whisper. "He spent last night closeted with +papa, and the chambermaid on that floor told Lily Biggs that +there was almost a quarrel." + +"That doesn't mean anything," I objected. "If the Angel Gabriel +was shut in with Mr. Jennings for ten minutes he'd be blowing his +trumpet for help." + +Miss Cobb shrugged her shoulders and took hold of a fresh wisp of +hair with the curler. + +"I dare say," she assented, "but the Angel Gabriel wouldn't have +waited to breakfast with Miss Jennings, and have kissed her hand +before everybody at the foot of the stairs!" + +"Is he handsome?" I asked, curious to know how he would impress +other women. But Miss Cobb had never seen a man she would call +ugly. + +"Handsome!" she said. "My dear, he's beautiful! He has a duel +scar on his left cheek--all the nobility have them over there. +I've a cousin living in Berlin--she's the wittiest person--and +she says the German child of the future will be born with a +scarred left cheek!" + +Well, I was sick enough of hearing of Mr. von Inwald before the +day was over. All morning in the spring-house they talked Mr. +von Inwald. They pretended to play cards, but they were really +playing European royalty. Every time somebody laid down a queen, +he'd say, "Is the queen still living, or didn't she die a few +years ago?" And when they played the knave, they'd start off +about the prince again. They'd all decided that Mr. von Inwald +was noble--somebody said that the "von" was a sort of title. The +women were planning to make the evenings more cheerful, too. +They couldn't have a dance with the men using canes or forbidden +to exercise, but Miss Cobb had a lot of what she called "parlor +games" that she wanted to try out. "Introducing the Jones +family" was one of them. + +In the afternoon Mr. von Inwald came out to the spring-house and +sat around, very affable and friendly, drinking the water. He +and the bishop grew quite chummy. Miss Patty was not there, but +about four o'clock Mr. Pierce came out. He did not sit down, but +wandered around the room, not talking to anybody, but staring, +whenever he could, at the prince. Once I caught Mr. von Inwald's +eyes fixed on him, as if he might have seen him before. After a +while Mr. Pierce sat down in a corner like a sulky child and +filled his pipe, and as nobody noticed him except to complain +about the pipe, which he didn't even hear, he sat there for a +half-hour, bent forward, with his pipe clenched in his teeth, and +never took his eyes off Mr. von Inwald's face. + +Senator Biggs was the one who really caused the trouble. He +spent a good deal of time in the spring-house trying to fool his +stomach by keeping it filled up all the time with water. He had +got past the cranky stage, being too weak for it; his face was +folded up in wrinkles like an accordion and his double chin +was so flabby you could have tucked it away inside his collar. + +"What do you think of American women, Mr. von Inwald?" he asked, +and everybody stopped playing cards and listened for the answer. +As Mr. von Inwald represented the prince, wouldn't he be likely +to voice the prince's opinion of American women? + +It's my belief Mr. von Inwald was going to say something nice. +He smiled as if he meant to, but just then he saw Mr. Pierce in +his corner sneering behind his pipe. They looked at each other +steadily, and nobody could mistake the hate in Mr. Pierce's face +or his sneer. After a minute the prince looked away and shrugged +his shoulders, but he didn't make his pretty speech. + +"American women!" he said, turning his glass of spring water +around on the table before him, "they are very lovely, of +course." He looked around and there were Mrs. Moody and Mrs. +Biggs and Miss Cobb, and he even glanced at me in the spring. +Then he looked again at Mr. Pierce and kept his eyes there. "But +they are spoiled, fearfully spoiled. They rule their parents and +they expect to rule their husbands. In Europe we do things +better; we are not--what is the English?--hag-ridden?" + +There was a sort of murmur among the men, but the women all +nodded as if they thought Europe was entirely right. They'd have +agreed with him if he'd advocated sixteen wives sitting cross- +legged on a mat, like the Turks. Mr. Pierce was still staring at +the prince. + +"What I don't quite understand, Mr. von Inwald," the bishop put +in in his nice way, "is your custom of expecting a girl to bring +her husband a certain definite sum of money and to place it under +the husband's control. Our wealthy American girls control their +own money," He was thinking of Miss Patty, and everybody knew it. + +The prince turned red and glared at the bishop. Then I think he +remembered that they didn't know who he was, and he smiled and +started to turning the glass again. + +"Pardon!" he said. "Is it not better? What do women know of +money? They throw it away on trifles, dress, jewels--American +women are extravagant. It is one result of their--of their +spoiling." + +Mr. Pierce got up and emptied his pipe into the fire. Then he +turned. + +"I'm afraid you have not known the best type of American women," +he said, looking hard at the prince. "Our representative women +are our middle-class women. They do not contract European +alliances, not having sufficient money to attract the attention +of the nobility, or enough to buy titles, as they do pearls, for +the purpose of adornment." + +Mr. von Inwald got up, and his face was red. Mr. Pierce was +white and sneering. + +"Also," he went on, "when they marry they wish to control their +own money, and not see it spent in--ways with which you are +doubtless familiar." + +We were all paralyzed. Nobody moved. Mr. Pierce put his pipe in +his pocket and stalked out, slamming the door. Then Mr. von +Inwald shrugged his shoulders and laughed. + +"I see I shall have to talk to our young friend," he said and +picked up his glass. "I'm afraid I've given a wrong impression. +I like the American women very much; too well," he went on with a +flash of his teeth, looking around the room, and brought the +glass to the spring for me to fill. But as I've said +before, I can tell a good bit about a man from the way he gives +me his glass, and he was in a perfect frenzy of rage. When I +reached it back to him he gripped it until his nails were white. + +My joint ached all the rest of the afternoon. About five o'clock +Mr. Thoburn stopped in long enough to say: "What's this I hear +about Carter making an ass of himself to-day?" + +"I haven't heard it," I answered. "What is it?" + +But he only laughed and turned up his collar to go. + +"Jove, Minnie," he said, "why do women of your spirit always +champion the losing side? Be a good girl; give me a hand now and +then with this thing, and I'll see you don't lose by it." + +"We're not going to lose," I retorted angrily. "Nobody has left +yet. We are still ahead on the books." + +He came over and shook a finger in my face. + +"Nobody has left--and why? Because they're all taking a series +of baths. Wait until they've had their fifteen, or twenty-one, +or whatever the cure is, and then see them run!" + +It was true enough; I knew it. + + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PRINCE, WITH APOLOGIES + +Tillie brought the supper basket for the shelter-house about six +o'clock and sat down for a minute by the fire. She said Mr. +Pierce (Carter to her) had started out with a gun about five +o'clock. It was foolish, but it made me uneasy. + +"They've gone plumb crazy over that Mr. von Inwald," she +declared. "It makes me tired. How do they know he's anything +but what he says he is? He may be a messenger from the emperor +of Austria, and he may be selling flannel chest protectors. Miss +Cobb's all set up; she's talking about getting up an +entertainment and asking that Miss Summers to recite." + +She got up, leaving the basket on the hearth. + +"And say," she said, "you ought to see that dog now. It's been +soakin' in peroxide all day!" + +She went out with the peroxide, but a moment later she +opened the door and stuck her head in, nodding toward the basket. + +"Say," she said, "the chef's getting fussy about the stuff I'm +using in the diet kitchen. You've got to cut it out soon, +Minnie. If I was you I'd let him starve." + +"What!" I screeched, and grasped the rail of the spring. + +"Let him starve!" she repeated. + +"Wha--what are you talking about?" I demanded when I got my +voice. + +She winked at me from the doorway. + +"Oh, I'm on all right, Minnie!" she assured me, "although heaven +only knows where he puts it all! He's sagged in like a chair +with broken springs." + +I saw then that she thought I was feeding Senator Biggs on the +sly, and I breathed again. But my nerves were nearly gone, and +when just then I heard a shot from the direction of the deer +park, even Tillie noticed how pale I got. + +"I don't know what's come over you, Minnie," she said. "That's +only Mr. Carter shooting rabbits. I saw him go out as I started +down the path." + +I was still nervous when I put on my shawl and picked up the +basket. But there was a puddle on the floor and the soup +had spilled. There was nothing for it but to go back for more +soup, and I got it from the kitchen without the chef seeing me. +When I opened the spring-house door again Mr. Pierce was by the +fire, and in front of him, where I'd left the basket, lay a dead +rabbit. He was sitting there with his chin in his hands looking +at the poor thing, and there was no basket in sight. + +"Well," I asked, "did you change my basket into a dead rabbit?" + +"Basket!" he said, looking up. "What basket?" + +I looked everywhere, but the basket was gone, and after a while I +decided that Mr. Dick had had an attack of thoughtfulness (or +hunger) and had carried it out himself. + +And all the time I looked for the basket Mr. Pierce sat with the +gun across his knees and stared at the rabbit. + +"I'd thank you to take that messy thing out of here," I told him. + +"Poor little chap!" he exclaimed. "He was playing in the snow, +and I killed him--not because I wanted food or sport, Minnie, +but--well, because I had to kill something." + +"I hope you don't have those attacks often," I said. He looked +at the rabbit and sighed. + +"Never in my life!" he answered. "For food or sport, that's +different, but--blood-lust!" He got up and put the gun in the +corner, and I saw he looked white and miserable. + +"I don't like myself to-night, Minnie," he said, trying to smile, +"and nobody likes me. I'm going into the garden to eat worms!" + +I didn't like to scold him when he was feeling bad anyhow, but +business is business. So I asked him how long he thought people +would stay if he acted as he had that day. I said that a +sanatorium was a place where the man who runs it can't afford to +have likes and dislikes; that for my part I'd a good deal rather +he'd get rid of his excitement by shooting off a gun, provided he +pointed it away from the house, than to sit around and let his +mind explode and kill all our prospects. I told him, too, to +remember that he wasn't responsible for the morals or actions of +his guests, only for their health. + +"Health!" he echoed, and kicked a chair. "Health! Why, if I +wanted to keep a good dog in condition, Minnie, I wouldn't bring +him here." + +"No," I retorted, "you'd shut him in an old out oven, and give +him a shoe to chew, and he'd come out in three days frisking and +happy. But you can't do that with people." + +"Why not?" he asked. "Although, of course, the supply of out +ovens and old shoes is limited here." + +"As far as Mr. von Inwald goes," I went on, "that's not your +affair or mine. If Miss Patty's own father can't prevent it, why +should you worry about it?" + +"Precisely," he agreed. "Why should I? But I do, Minnie--that's +the devil of it." + +"There are plenty of nice girls," I suggested, feeling rather +sorry for him. + +"Are there? Oh, I dare say." He stooped and picked up his +rabbit. "Straight through the head; not so bad for twilight. +Poor little chap!" + +He said good night and went out, taking the gun and the rabbit +with him, and I went into the pantry to finish straightening +things for the night. In a few minutes I heard voices in the +other room, one Mr. Pierce's, and one with a strong German +accent. + +"When was that?" Mr. von Inwald's voice. + +"A year ago, in Vienna." + +"Where?" + +"At the Bal Tabarin. You were in a loge. The man I was with +told me who the woman was. It was she, I think, who suggested +that you lean over the rail--" + +"Ah, so!" said Mr. von Inwald as if he just remembered. "Ah, +yes, I recall--I was with--the lady was red-haired, is it not? +And it was she who desired me--" + +"You leaned over the rail and poured a glass of wine on my head. +It was very funny. The lady was charmed." + +"I recall it perfectly. I remember that I did it under protest-- +it was a very fine wine, and expensive." + +"Then you also recall," said Mr. Pierce, very quietly, "that +because you were with a--well, because you were with a woman, I +could not return your compliment. But I demanded the privilege +at some future date when you were alone." + +"It is a pity," replied Mr. von Inwald, "that now, when I am +alone, there is no wine!" + +"No, there is no wine," Mr. Pierce agreed slowly, "but there is-- +" + +I opened the door at that, and both of them started. Mr. von +Inwald was standing with his arms folded, and Mr. Pierce had one +arm raised holding up a glass of spring water. In another second +it would have been in the other man's face. + +I walked over to Mr. Pierce and took the glass out of his hand, +and his expression was funny to see. + +"I've been looking everywhere for that glass," I said. "It's got +to be washed." + +Mr. von Inwald laughed and picked up his soft hat from the table. + +He turned around at the door and looked back at Mr. Pierce, still +laughing. + +"Accept my apologies!" he said. "It was such a fine wine, and so +expensive." + +Then he went out. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +STOP, THIEF! + +I was pretty nervous when I took charge of the news stand that +evening. Amanda King had an appointment with the dentist and had +left everything topsyturvey. I was still straightening up when +people began to come down to dinner. + +Miss Cobb walked over to the news stand, and she'd cut the white +yoke out of her purple silk. She looked very dressy, although +somewhat thin. + +"Everybody has dressed for dinner to-night, Minnie," she informed +me. "We didn't want Mr. von Inwald to have a wrong idea of +American society, especially after Mr. Carter's ridiculous +conduct this afternoon, and I wonder if you'll be sweet enough to +start the phonograph in the orchestra gallery as we go in-- +something with dignity, you know--the wedding march, or the +overture from Aida." + +"Aida's cracked," I said shortly, "and as far as I'm +concerned, Mr. von Inwald can walk in to his meals without music, +or starve to death waiting for the band." + +But she got the phonograph, anyhow, and put the elevator boy in +the gallery with it. She picked out some things by Caruso and +Tetrazzini and piled them on a chair, but James had things to +himself up there, and played The Spring Chicken through three +times during dinner, with Miss Cobb glaring at the gallery until +the back of her neck ached, and the dining-room girls waltzing in +with the dishes and polka-ing out. + +Mr. Moody came out when dinner was over in a fearful rage and +made for the news stand. + +"One of your ideas, I suppose," he asserted. "What sort of a +night am I going to have after chewing my food to rag-time, with +my jaws doing a skirt-dance? Why in heaven's name couldn't you +have had something slow, like Handel's Largo, if you've got to +have music?" + +But dinner was over fifteen minutes sooner than usual. James +cake-walked everybody out to My Ann Elizer, and Miss Cobb was +mortified to death. + +Two or three things happened that night. For one, I got a +good look at Miss Julia Summers. She was light-haired and well- +fleshed, with an ugly face but a pleasant smile. She wore a low- +necked dress that made Miss Cobb's with the yoke out look like a +storm collar, and if she had a broken heart she didn't show it. + +"Hello," she cried, looking at my hair, "are you selling tobacco +here or are you the cigar-lighter?" + +"Neither," I answered, looking over her head. "I am employed as +the extinguisher of gay guests." + +"Good," she said, smiling. "I'm something fine at that myself. +Suppose I stay here and help. If I watch that line of knitting +women I'll be crotcheting Arabella's wool in my sleep to-night." + +Well, she was too cheerful to be angry with. So she stayed +around for a while, and it was amazing how much tobacco I sold +that evening. Men who usually bought tobies bought the best +cigars, and when Mr. Jennings came up, scowling, and I handed him +the brand he'd smoked for years, she took one, clipped the end of +it as neat as a finger nail and gave it to him, holding up the +lighter. + +"I'm not going to smoke yet, young woman," he said, glaring at +her. But she only smiled. + +"I'm sorry," she said. "I've been waiting hungrily until some +discriminating smoker would buy one of those and light it. I +love the aroma." + +And he stood there for thirty minutes, standing mostly on one +foot on account of the gouty one, puffing like a locomotive, with +her sniffing at the aroma and telling him how lonely she felt +with no friends around and just recovering from a severe illness. + +At eight o'clock he had Mrs. Hutchins bring him his fur-lined +coat and he and Miss Julia took Arabella, the dog, for a walk on +the veranda! + +The rest of the evening was quiet, and I needed it. Miss Patty +and Mr. von Inwald talked by the fire and I think he told her +something--not all--of the scene in the spring-house. For she +passed Mr. Pierce at the foot of the stairs on her way up for the +night and she pretended not to see him. He stood there looking +up after her with his mouth set, and at the turn she glanced down +and caught his eye. I thought she flushed, but I wasn't sure, +and at that minute Senator Biggs bought three twenty-five-cent +cigars and told me to keep the change from a dollar. I was so +surprised at the alteration in him that I forgot Miss Patty +entirely. + +About twelve o'clock, just after I went to my room, somebody +knocked at the door. When I opened, the new doctor was standing +in the hall. + +"I'm sorry to disturb you," he said, "but nobody seems to know +where the pharmacy clerk is and I'll have to get some medicine." + +"If I'd had my way, we'd have had a bell on that pharmacy clerk +long ago," I snapped, getting my keys. "Who's sick?" + +"The big man," he replied. "Biggs is his name, I think, a +senator or something." + +I was leading the way to the stairs, but I stopped. "I might +have known it," I said. "He hasn't been natural all evening. +What's the matter with him? Too much fast?" + +"Fast!" He laughed. "Too much feast! He's got as pretty a case +of indigestion as I've seen for some time. He's giving a +demonstration that's almost theatrical." + +Well, he insisted it was indigestion, although I argued that it +wasn't possible, and he wanted ipecac. + +"I haven't seen a pharmacopoeia for so long that I wouldn't know +one if I met it," he declared, "but I've got a system of +mnemonics that never fails. Ipecac and colic both end with +`c'--I'll never forget that conjunction. It was pounded in and +poured in in my early youth." + +Well, the pharmacy was locked, and we couldn't find a key to fit +it. And when I suggested mustard and warm water he jumped at the +idea. + +"Fine!" he said. "Better let me dish out the spring-water and +you take my job! Lead on, MacDuff, to the kitchen." + +Although it was only midnight there was not a soul about. A hall +leads back of the office to the kitchen and pantries, and there +was a low light there, but the rest was dark. We bumped through +the diet kitchen and into the scullery, when we found we had no +matches. I went back for some, and when I got as far as the diet +kitchen again Doctor Barnes was there, just inside the door. + +"Sh!" he whispered. "Come into the scullery. The kitchen is +dark, but there is somebody in there, fumbling around, striking +matches. I suppose you don't have such things as burglars in +this neck of the woods?" + +Well, somebody had broken into Timmons' candy store a week before +and stolen a box of chewing-gum and a hundred post-cards, +and I told him so in a whisper. + +"Anyhow, it isn't the chef," I said. "He's had a row with the +bath man and is in bed with a cut hand and a black eye, and +nobody else has any business here." + +We tiptoed into the scullery in the dark: just then somebody +knocked a kettle down in the kitchen and it hit the stove below +with a crash. Whoever was there swore, and it was not Francois, +who expresses his feelings mostly in French. This was English. + +There's a little window from the kitchen into the scullery as +well as a door. The window had a wooden slide and it was open an +inch or so. We couldn't see anything, but we could hear a man +moving around. Once he struck a match, but it went out and he +said "Damn!" again, and began to feel his way toward the +scullery. + +Doctor Barnes happened to touch my hand and he patted it as if to +tell me not to be frightened. Then he crept toward the scullery +door and waited there. + +It swung open slowly, but he waited until it closed again +and the man was in the room. Then he yelled and jumped and there +was the sound of a fall. I could hardly strike the match--I was +trembling so--but when I did there was Mr. Dick lying flat on the +floor and the doctor sitting on him. + +"Mister Dick!" I gasped, and dropped the match. + +"Something hit me!" Mr. Dick said feebly, and when I had got a +candle lighted and had explained to Doctor Barnes that it was a +mistake, he got off him and let him up. He was as bewildered as +Mr. Dick and pretty nearly as mad. + +We put him--Mr. Dick--in a chair and gave him a glass of water, +and after he had got his breath--the doctor being a heavy man--he +said he was trying to find something to eat. + +"Confound it, Minnie," he exclaimed, "we're starving! It seems +to me there are enough of you here at least to see that we are +fed. Not a bite since lunch!" + +"But I thought you had the basket," I explained. "I left it at +the spring-house, and when I went back it was gone." + +"So that was it!" he answered. And then he explained that just +about the time they expected their supper they saw a man +carry a basket stealthily through the snow to the deer park. It +was twilight, but they watched him from the window, and he put +the basket through the barbed-wire fence and then crawled after +it. Just inside he sat down on a log and, opening the basket, +began to eat. He was still there when it got too dark to see +him. + +"If that was our dinner," he finished savagely, "I hope he choked +to death over it." + +Doctor Barnes chuckled. "He didn't," he said, "but he's got the +worst case of indigestion in seven counties." + +Well, I got the mustard and water ready with Mr. Dick standing by +hoping Mr. Biggs would die before he got it, and then I filled a +basket for the shelter-house. I put out the light and he took +the basket and started out, but he came back in a hurry. + +"There's somebody outside talking," he said. I went to the door +with him and listened. + +"The sooner the better," Mike was saying. "I'm no good while +I've got it on my mind." + +And Mr. Thoburn: "To-morrow is too soon: they're not in the mood +yet. Perhaps the day after. I'll let you know." + +I didn't get to sleep until almost morning, and then it was to +dream that Mr. Pierce was shouting "Hypocrites" to all the people +in the sanatorium and threatening to throw glasses of mustard and +warm water at them. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +A BUNCH OF LETTERS + +When people went down to breakfast the next morning they found a +card hanging on the office door with a half dozen new rules on +it, and when I went out to the spring-house the guests were +having an indignation meeting in the sun parlor, with the bishop +in the chair, and Senator Biggs, so wobbly he could hardly stand, +making a speech. + +I tried to see Mr. Pierce, but early as it was he had gone for a +walk, taking Arabella with him. So I called a conference at the +shelter-house--Miss Patty, Mr. and Mrs. Van Alstyne, Mr. and Mrs. +Dick, and myself. Mrs. Dick wasn't dressed, but she sat up on +the edge of her cot in her dressing-gown, with her feet on the +soap box, and yawned. As we didn't have enough chairs, Miss +Patty jerked the soap box away and made me sit down. Mr. Dick +was getting breakfast. + +We were in a tight place and we knew it. + +"He is making it as hard for us as he can," Mrs. Sam declared. +"The idea of having the card-room lights put out at midnight, and +the breakfast room closed at ten! Nobody gets up at that hour." + +"He was to come here every evening for orders," said Mr. Dick, +measuring ground coffee with a tablespoon, as I had showed him. +"He came just once, and as for orders--well, he gave 'em to me!" + +But Miss Patty was always fair. + +"I loathe him," she asserted. "I want to quarrel with him the +minute I see him. He--he is presumptuous to the point of +impertinence--but he's honest: he thinks we're all hypocrites-- +those that are well and those that are sick or think they are-- +and he hates hypocrisy." + +Everybody talked at once, then, and she listened. + +"Very well," she said. "I'll amend it. We're not all +hypocrites. My motives in all this are perfectly clear--and +selfish." + +"You and old Pierce would make a fine team, Pat," Mrs. Dick +remarked with a yawn. "I like hypocrites myself. They're so +comfy. But if you're not above advice, Pat, you'll have Aunt +Honoria break her neck or something--anything to get father +back to town. Something is going to explode, and Oskar doesn't +like to be agitated." + +She curled up on the cot with that and went sound asleep. The +rest of us had coffee and talked, but there wasn't anything to +do. As Mr. Sam said, Mr. Pierce didn't want to stay, anyhow, and +as likely as not if we went to him in a body and told him he must +come to the shelter-house for instructions, and be suave and +gentle when he was called down by the guests about the steam- +pipes making a racket, he'd probably prefer to go down to the +village and take Doctor Barnes' place washing dishes at the +station. That wouldn't call for any particular mildness. + +But he settled it by appearing himself. He came across the snow +from the direction of Mount Hope, and he had a pair of skees over +his shoulder. (At that time I didn't even know the name of the +things, but I learned enough about them later.) I must say he +looked very well beside Mr. Dick, who wasn't very large, anyhow, +and who hadn't had time to put on his collar, and Mr. Sam, who's +always thin and sallow and never takes a step he doesn't have to. + +I let him in, and when he saw us all there he started and +hesitated. + +"Come in, Pierce," Mr. Sam said. "We've just been talking about +you." + +He came in, but he didn't look very comfortable. + +"What have you decided to do with me?" he asked. "Put me under +restraint?" + +He was unbuttoning his sweater, and now he took out two of the +smallest rabbits I ever saw and held them up by the ears. Miss +Patty gave a little cry and took them, cuddling them in her lap. + +"They're starving and almost frozen, poor little devils," he +said. "I found them near where I shot the mother last night, +Minnie, and by way of atonement I'm going to adopt them." + +Well, although the minute before they'd all been wishing they'd +never seen him, they pretty nearly ate him up. Miss Patty held +the rabbits, so we all had turns at feeding them warm milk with a +teaspoon and patting their pink noses. When it came Mr. Pierce's +turn they were about full up, so he curled his big body on the +floor at Miss Patty's feet and talked to the rabbits and looked +at her. He had one of those faces that's got every emotion +marked on it as clear as a barometer--when he was mad his face +was mad all over, and when he was pleased he glowed to the +tips of his ears. And he was pleased that morning. + +But, of course, he had to be set right about the sanatorium, and +Mr. Sam began it. Mr. Pierce listened, sitting on the floor and +looking puzzled and more and more unhappy. Finally he got up and +drew a long breath. + +"Exactly," he agreed. "I know you are all right and I'm wrong-- +according to your way of thinking. But if these people want to +be well, why should I encourage them to do the wrong thing? They +eat too much, they don't exercise"--he turned to Mr. Van Alstyne. + +"Why, do you know, I asked a half dozen of the men--one after the +other--to go skeeing with me this morning and not one of them +accepted!" + +"Really!" Mr. Sam exclaimed mockingly. + +"What can you do with people like that?" Mr. Pierce went on. +"They don't want to be well; they're all hypocrites. Look at +that man Biggs! I'll lay you ten to one that after fasting five +days and then stealing a whole chicken, a dozen oysters and Lord +knows what else, now that he's sick, he'll hold it against me." + +"He's not holding anything," I objected. + +"Because HE is a hypocrite--" Mr. Sam began. + +"That's not the point, Pierce," Mr. Dick broke in importantly. +"You were to come here for orders and you haven't done it. +You're running this place for me, not for yourself." + +Mr. Pierce looked at Mr. Dick and from there to Mr. Sam and +smiled. + +"I did come," he explained. "I came twice, and each time we +played roulette. I lost all the money I'd had in advance. +Honestly," he confessed, "I felt I couldn't afford to come every +day." + +Miss Patty got up and put the baby rabbits into her sister's big +fur muff. + +"We are all talking around the question," she said. "Mr. Pierce +undertook to manage the sanatorium, and to try to manage it +successfully. He can not do that without making some attempt at +conciliating the people. It's--it's absurd to antagonize them." + +"Exactly," he said coldly. "I was to manage it, and to try to do +it successfully. I'm sorry my methods don't meet with the +approval of this--er--executive committee. But it might as +well be clear that I intend to use my own methods--or none." + +Well, what could we do? Miss Patty went out with her head up, +and the rest of us stayed and ate humble pie, and after a while +he agreed to stay if he wasn't interfered with. He said he and +Doctor Barnes had a plan that he thought was a winner--that it +would either make or break the place, and he thought it would +make it. And by that time we were so meek that we didn't even +ask what it was. + +Doctor Barnes and Miss Summers were the first to come to the +mineral spring that morning. She stopped just inside the door +and sniffed. + +"Something's dead under the floor," she said. + +"If there's anything dead," Doctor Barnes replied, "it's in the +center of the earth. That's the sulphur water." + +She came in at that, but unwillingly, and sat down with her +handkerchief to her nose. Then she saw me + +"Good gracious!" she exclaimed. "What have you done that they +put you here?" + +"If you mean the bouquet from the spring, you get to like it +after a while," I said grimly. "Ordinary air hasn't got any snap +for me now." + +"Humph!" She looked at me suspiciously, but I was busy wiping +off the tables. "Well," she said, holding up the glass Doctor +Barnes had brought her, "it doesn't cost me anything, so here +goes. But think of paying money for it!" + +She drank it down in a gulp and settled herself in her chair. + +"What'll it do to me?" she asked. "Mixed drinks always play the +deuce with me, Barnes, and you know it." + +"If you'll cut down your diet and take some exercise it will make +you thin," I began. "`The process is painless and certain: +kindly nature in her benevolent plan--'" + +"Give me another!" she interrupted, and Doctor Barnes filled her +glass again. "Some women spell fate f-a-t-e," she said, looking +at the water, "but I spell it without the e." + +She took half of it and then put down the glass. "Honestly," she +declared, "I'd rather be fat." + +Mr. Pierce met them there a few minutes later and they had a +three-cornered chat. But Miss Summers evidently didn't know +just how much I knew and was careful of what she said. Once, +however, when I was in the pantry she thought I was beyond ear- +shot. + +"Good heavens, Pierce," she said, "if they could put THAT in a +play!" + +"Cut it out, Julia," Doctor Barnes snapped, and it wasn't until +they had gone that I knew she'd meant me. I looked through the +crack of the door and she was leaning over taking a puff at +Doctor Barnes' cigarette. + +"Curious old world, isn't it?" she said between puffs. "Here we +are the three of us--snug and nice, having seven kinds of hell- +fire water and not having to pay for it; three meals a day and +afternoon tea ditto, good beds and steam-heat ditto--and four +days ago where were we? Pierce, you were hocking your clothes! +Doc, you--" + +"Washing dishes!" he said. "I never knew before how extravagant +it is to have a saucer under a cup!" + +"And I!" she went on, "I, Julia Summers, was staring at a ceiling +in the Finleyville hotel, with a face that looked like a toy +balloon." + +"And now," said Doctor Barnes, "you are more beautiful than ever. + +I am a successful physician--oh, lord, Julia, if you'd hear me +faking lines in my part! And my young friend here--Pierce-- +Julia, Pierce has now become a young reprobate named Dicky +Carter, and may the Lord have mercy on his soul!" + +I tried to get out in time, but I was too late. I saw her rise, +saw the glass of water at her elbow roll over and smash on the +floor, and saw her clutch wildly at Mr. Pierce's shoulder. + +"Not--not DICKY Carter!" she cried. + +"Richard--they call him Dick," Mr. Pierce said uneasily, and +loosened her fingers from his coat. + +Oh, well, everybody knows it now--how she called Mr. Dick +everything in the calendar, and then began to cry and said nobody +would ever know what she'd been through with, and the very dress +she had on was a part of the trousseau she'd had made, and what +with the dressmaker's bills-- Suddenly she stopped crying. + +"Where is he, anyhow?" she demanded. + +"All we are sure of," Mr. Pierce replied quietly, "is that he is +not in the sanatorium." + +She looked at us all closely, but she got nothing from my face. + +"Oh, very well," she said, shrugging her shoulders, "I'll wait +until he shows up. It doesn't cost anything." + +Then, with one of her easy changes, she laughed and picked up her +muff to go. + +"Minnie and I," she said, "will tend bar here, and in our leisure +moments we will pour sulphur water on a bunch of Dicky's letters +that I have, to cool 'em." She walked to the door and turned +around, smiling. + +"Carry fire insurance on 'em all the time," she finished and went +out, leaving us staring at one another! + + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MISS COBB'S BURGLAR + +I went to bed early that night. What with worrying and being +alternately chilled by tramping through the snow and roasted as +if I was sitting on a volcano with an eruption due, I was about +all in. We'd been obliged to tell Mrs. Sam about the Summers +woman, and I had to put hot flannels on her from nine to ten. +She was quieter when I left her, but, as I told Mr. Sam, it was +the stillness of despair, not resignation. + +I guess it was about four o'clock in the morning when a hand slid +over my face, and I sat up and yelled. The hand covered my mouth +at that, and something long and white and very thin beside the +bed said: "Sh! For heaven's sake, Minnie!" + +It was Miss Cobb! It was lucky I came to my senses when I did, +for her knees gave way under her just then and she doubled +up on the floor beside the bed with her face in my comfort. + +I lighted a candle and set it on a chair beside the bed and took +a good look at her. She was shaking all over, which wasn't +strange, for I sleep with my window open, and she had a key in +her hand. + +"Here," she gasped, holding out the key, "here, Minnie, wake the +house and get him, but, oh, Minnie, for heaven's sake, save my +reputation!" + +"Get who?" I demanded, for I saw it was her room key. + +"I have been coming here for ten years," she groaned, out of the +comfort, "and now, to be bandied about by the cold breath of +scandal!" + +I shook her by the shoulder + +"The cold breath you are raving about is four degrees below zero. + +If you can't tell me what's the matter I'm going back to bed and +cover my feet." + +She got up at that and stood swaying, with her nightgown flapping +around her like a tent. + +"I have locked a man in my room !" she declared in a terrible +voice, and collapsed into the middle of the bed. + +Well, I leaned over and tried to tell her she'd made a +mistake. The more I looked at her, with her hair standing +straight out over her head, and her cambric nightgown with a high +collar and long sleeves, and the hump on her nose where her +brother Willie had hit her in childhood with a baseball bat, the +surer I was that somebody had made a mistake--likely the man. + +Now there's two ways to handle a situation like that: one of them +is to rouse the house--and many a good sanatorium has been hurt +by a scandal and killed by a divorce; the other way is to take +one strong man who can hold his tongue, find the guilty person, +and send him a fake telegram the next morning that his mother is +sick. I've done that more than once. + +I sat down on the side of the bed and put on my slippers. + +"What did he look like?" I asked. "Could you see him?" + +She uncovered one eye. + +"Not--not distinctly," she said. "I--think he was large, and-- +and rather handsome. That beast of a dog must have got in my +room and was asleep under the bed, for it wakened me by +snarling." + +There was nothing in that to make me nervous, but it did. As I +put on my kimono I was thinking pretty hard. + +I could not waken Mr. Pierce by knocking, so I went in and shook +him. He was sound asleep, with his arms over his head, and when +I caught his shoulder he just took my hand and, turning over, +tucked it under his cheek and went asleep again. + +"Mr. Pierce! Mr. Pierce !" He wakened a little at that, but not +enough to open his eyes. He seemed to know that the hand wasn't +his, however, for he kissed it. And with that I slapped him and +he wakened. He lay there blinking at my candle and then he +yawned. + +"Musht have been ashleep!" he said, and turned over on his other +side and shut his eyes. + +It was two or three minutes at least before I had him sitting on +the side of the bed, with a blanket spread over his knees, and +was telling him about Miss Cobb. + +"Miss Cobb!" he said. "Oh, heavens, Minnie, tell her to go back +to bed!" He yawned. "If there's anybody there it's a miskake. +I'm sleepy. What time is it?" + +"I'm not going out of this room until you get up!" I declared +grimly. + +"Oh, very well!" he said, and put his feet back into bed. "If +you think I'm going to get up while you're here--" + +After he seemed pretty well wakened I went out. I waited in the +sitting-room and I heard him growling as he put on his clothes. +When he came out, however, he was more cheerful, and he stopped +in the hall to fish a case out of Mr. Sam's dressing-gown pocket +and light a cigarette. + +"Now!" he said, taking my arm. "Forward, the light-ly clad +brigade! But--" he stopped--"Minnie, we are unarmed! Shall I +get the patent folding corkscrew?" + +He had to be quiet when we got to the bedroom floors, however, +and when we stopped outside Miss Cobb's door he was as sober as +any one could wish him. + +"You needn't come in," he whispered. "Ten to one she dreamed it, +but if she didn't you're better outside. And whatever you hear, +don't yell." + +I gave him the key and he fitted it quietly in the lock. +Arabella, just inside, must have heard, for she snarled. +But the snarl turned into a yelp, as if she'd been suddenly +kicked. + +Mr. Pierce, with his hand on the knob, turned and looked at me in +the candle-light. Then he opened the door. + +Arabella gave another yelp and rushed out; she went between my +feet like a shot and almost overthrew me, and when I'd got my +balance again I looked into the room. Mr. Pierce was at the +window, staring out, and the room was empty. + +"The idiot!" Mr. Pierce said. "If it hadn't been for that snow- +bank! Here, give me that candle!" + +He stood there waving it in circles, but there was neither sight +nor sound from below. After a minute Mr. Pierce put the window +down and we stared at the room. All the bureau drawers were out +on the floor, and the lid of poor Miss Cobb's trunk was open and +the tray upset. But her silver-backed brush was still on the +bureau and the ring the insurance agent had given her lay beside +it. + +We brought her back to her room, and she didn't know whether to +be happy that she was vindicated or mad at the state her things +were in. I tucked her up in bed after she'd gone over her +belongings and Mr. Pierce had double-locked the window and +gone out. She drew my head down to her and her eyes were fairly +popping out of her head. + +"I feel as though I'm going crazy, Minnie!" she whispered, "but +the only things that are gone are my letters from Mr. Jones, +and--my black woolen tights!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +NO MARRIAGE IN HEAVEN + +I slept late the next morning, and when I'd had breakfast and +waded to the spring-house it was nearly nine. It was still +snowing, and no papers or mail had got through, although the +wires were still in fair working order. + +As I floundered out I thought I saw somebody slink around the +corner of the spring-house, but when I got there nobody was in +sight. I was on my knees in front of the fireplace, raking out +the fire, when I heard the door close behind me, and when I +turned, there stood Mr. Dick, muffled to the neck, with his hat +almost over his face. + +"What the deuce kept you so late this morning?" he demanded, in a +sulky voice, and limping over to a table he drew a package out of +his pocket and slammed it on the table. + +"I was up half the night, as usual," I said, rising. "You +oughtn't to be here, Mr. Dick!" + +He caught hold of the rail around the spring, and hobbling about, +dropped into a chair with a groan. + +"For two cents," he declared, "I'd chop a hole in the ice pond +and drown myself. There's no marriage in Heaven." + +"That's no argument for the other place," I answered, and +stopped, staring. He was pulling something out of his overcoat +pocket, an inch at a time. + +"For God's sake, Minnie," he exclaimed, "return this--this +garment to--whomever it belongs to!" + +He handed it to me, and it was Miss Cobb's black tights! I stood +and stared. + +"And then," he went on, reaching for the package on the table, +"when you've done that, return to `Binkie' these letters from her +Jonesie." + +He took the newspaper off the bundle then, and I saw it was +wrapped with a lavender ribbon. I sat down and gazed at him, +fascinated. He was the saddest-eyed piece of remorse I'd seen +for a long time. + +"And when you've got your breath back, Minnie," he said feebly, +"and your strength, would you mind taking the floor mop and +hitting me a few cracks? Only not on the right leg, Minnie--not +on the right leg. I landed on it last night; it's twisted +like a pretzel." + +"Don't stand and stare," he continued irritably, when I didn't +make a move, "at least get that--that infernal black garment out +of sight. Cover it with the newspaper. And if you don't believe +that a sweet-faced young girl like my wife has a positive talent +for wickedness and suspicion, go out to the shelter-house this +morning." + +"So it was you!" I gasped, putting the newspaper over the tights. + +"Why in the name of peace did you jump out the window, and what +did you want with--with these things?" + +He twisted around in his chair to stare at me, and then stooped +and clutched frantically at his leg, as if for inspiration. + +"Want with those things!" he snarled. "I suppose you can't +understand that a man might wake up in the middle of the night +with a mad craving for a pair of black woolen tights, and--" + +"You needn't be sarcastic with me," I broke in. "You can save +that for your wife. I suppose you also had a wild longing for +the love-letters of an insurance agent--" + +And then it dawned on me, and I sat down and laughed until I +cried. + +"And you thought you were stealing your own letters!" I cried. +"The ones she carries fire insurance on! Oh, Mr. Dick, Mr. +Dick!" + +"How was I to know it wasn't Ju--Miss Summers' room?" he demanded +angrily. "Didn't I follow the dratted dog? And wouldn't you +have thought the wretched beast would have known me instead of +sitting on its tail under the bed and yelling for mother? I gave +her the dog myself. Oh, I tell you, Minnie, if I ever get away +from this place--" + +"You've got to get away this minute," I broke in, remembering. +"They'll be coming any instant now." + +He got up and looked around him helplessly. + +"Where'll I go?" he asked. "I can't go back to the shelter- +house." + +I looked at him and he tried to grin. + +"Fact," he said, "hard to believe, but--fact, Minnie. She's got +the door locked. Didn't I tell you she is of a suspicious +nature? She was asleep when I left, and mostly she sleeps all +night. And just because she wakes when I'm out, and lets me come +in thinking she's asleep, when she has one eye open all the +time, and she sees what I'd never even seen myself--that the +string of that damned garment, whatever it is, is fastened to the +hook of my shoe, me thinking all the time that the weight was +because I'd broken my leg jumping--doesn't she suddenly sit up +and ask me where I've been? And I--I'm unsuspicious, Minnie, by +nature, and I said I'd been asleep. Then she jumped up and +showed me that--that thing--those things, hanging to my shoe, and +she hasn't spoken to me since. I wish I was dead." + +And just then a dog barked outside and somebody on the step +stamped the snow off his feet. We were both paralyzed for a +moment. + +"Julia!" Mr. Dick cried, and went white. + +I made a leap for the door, just as the handle turned, and put my +back against it. + +"Just a minute," I called. "The carpet is caught under it!" + +Mr. Dick had lost his head and was making for the spring, as if +he thought hiding his feet would conceal him. I made frantic +gestures to him to go into my pantry, and he went at last, +leaving his hat on the table, I left the door and flung it after +him--the hat, of course, not the door--and when Miss Summers +sauntered in just after, I was on my knees brushing the hearth, +with my heart going three-four time and skipping every sixth +beat. + +"Hello!" she said. "Lovely weather--for polar bears. If the +natives wade through this all winter it's no wonder they walk as +if they are ham-strung. Don't bother getting me a glass. I'll +get my own." + +She was making for the pantry when I caught her, and I guess I +looked pretty wild. + +"I'll get it," I said. "I--that's one of the rules." + +She put her hands in the pockets of her white sweater and smiled +at me. + +"Do you know," she declared, "the old ladies' knitting society +isn't so far wrong about you! About your making rules-- +whatever you want, WHENEVER you want 'em." + +She put her head on one side. + +"Now," she went on, "suppose I break that rule and get my own +glass? What happens to me? I don't think I'll be put out!" + +I threw up my hands in despair, for I was about at the end of my +string. + +"Get it then!" I exclaimed, and sat down, waiting for the +volcano to erupt. But she only laughed and sat down on a table, +swinging her feet. + +"When you know me better, Minnie," she said, "you'll know I don't +spoil sport. I happen to know you have somebody in the pantry-- +moreover, I know it's a man. There are tracks on the little +porch, my dear girl, not made by your galoshes. Also, my dearest +girl, there's a gentleman's glove by your chair there!" I put my +foot on it. "And just to show you what a good fellow I am--" + +She got off the table, still smiling, and sauntered to the pantry +door, watching me over her shoulder. + +"Don't be alarmed!" she called through the door, "I'm not coming +in! I shall take my little drink of nature's benevolent remedy +out of the tin ladle, and then--I shall take my departure!" + +My heart was skipping every second beat by that time, and Miss +Julia stood by the pantry door, her head back and her eyes almost +closed, enjoying every minute of it. If Arabella hadn't made a +diversion just then I think I'd have fainted. + +She'd pulled the newspaper and the tights off the table and was +running around the room with them, one leg in her mouth. + +"Stop it, Arabella!" said Miss Julia, and took the tights from +her. "Yours?" she asked, with her eyebrows raised. + +"No--yes," I answered. + +"I'd never have suspected you of them!" she remarked. "Hardly +sheer enough to pull through a finger ring, are they?" She held +them up and gazed at them meditatively. "That's one thing I draw +the line at. On the boards, you know--never have worn 'em and +never will. They're not modest, to my mind,--and, anyhow, I'm +too fat!" + +Mr. Sam and his wife came in at that moment, Mr. Sam carrying a +bottle of wine for the shelter-house, wrapped in a paper, and two +cans of something or other. He was too busy trying to make the +bottle look like something else--which a good many people have +tried and failed at--to notice what Miss Summers was doing, and +she had Miss Cobb's protectors stuffed in her muff and was +standing very dignified in front of the fire by the time they'd +shaken off the snow. + +"Good morning!" she said. + +"Morning!" said Mr. Sam, hanging up his overcoat with one hand, +and trying to put the bottle in one of the pockets with the +other. Mrs. Sam didn't look at her. + +"Good morning, Mrs. Van Alstyne!" Miss Summers almost threw it +at her. "I spoke to you before; I guess you didn't hear me." + +"Oh, yes, I heard you," answered Mrs. Sam, and turned her back on +her. Give me a little light-haired woman for sheer devilishness! + +I'd expected to see Miss Summers fly to pieces with rage, but she +stared at Mrs. Sam's back, and after a minute she laughed. + +"I see!" she remarked slowly. "You're the sister, aren't you?" + +Mr. Sam had given up trying to hide the bottle and now he set it +on the floor with a thump and came over to the fire. + +"It's--you see, the situation is embarrassing," he began. "If we +had had any idea--" + +"I might have been still in the Finleyville hotel!" she finished +for him. "Awful thought, isn't it?" + +"Under the circumstances," went on Mr. Sam, nervously, "don't you +think it would be--er--better form if er--under the +circumstances--" + +"I'm thinking of my circumstances," she put in, good- +naturedly. "If you imagine that six weeks of one-night stands +has left me anything but a rural wardrobe and a box of dog +biscuit for Arabella, you're pretty well mistaken. I haven't +even a decent costume. All we had left after the sheriff got +through was some grass mats, a checked sunbonnet and a pump." + +"Minnie," Mrs. Sam said coldly, "that little beast of a dog is +trying to drink out of the spring!" + +I caught her in time and gave her a good slapping. When I looked +up Miss Summers was glaring down at me over the rail. + +"Just what do you mean by hitting my dog?" she demanded. It was +the first time I'd seen her angry. + +"Just what I appeared to mean," I answered. "If you want to take +it as a love pat, you may." And I stalked to the door and threw +the creature out into the snow. It was the first false step that +day; if I'd known what putting that dog out meant--! "I don't +allow dogs here," I said, and shut the door. + +Miss Summers was furious; she turned and stared at Mrs. Sam, who +was smiling at the fire. + +"Let Arabella in," she said to me in an undertone, "or I'll open +the pantry door!" + +"Open the door!" I retorted. I was half hysterical, but it was +no time to weaken. She looked me straight in the eye for fully +ten seconds; then, to my surprise, she winked at me. But when +she turned on Mr. Sam she was cold rage again and nothing else. + +"I am not going to leave, if that is what you are about to +suggest," she said. "I've been trying to see Dicky Carter the +last ten days, and I'll stay here until I see him." + +"It's a delicate situation--" + +"Delicate!" she snapped. "It's indelicate it's indecent, that's +what it is. Didn't I get my clothes, and weren't we to have been +married by the Reverend Dwight Johnstone, out in Salem, Ohio? +And didn't he go out there and have old Johnstone marry him to +somebody else? The wretch! If I ever see him--" + +A glass dropped in the pantry and smashed, but nobody paid any +attention. + +"Oh, I'm not going until he comes!" she continued. "I'll stay +right here, and I'll have what's coming to me or I'll know the +reason why. Don't forget for a minute that I know why Mr. Pierce +is here, and that I can spoil the little game by calling the +extra ace, if I want to." + +"You're forgetting one thing," Mrs. Sam said, facing her for the +first time, "if you call the game, my brother is worth exactly +what clothes he happens to be wearing at the moment and nothing +else. He hasn't a penny of his own." + +"I don't believe it," she sniffed. "Look at the things he gave +me!" + +"Yes. I've already had the bills," said Mr. Sam. + +She whirled and looked at him, and then she threw back her head +and laughed. + +"You!" she said. "Why, bless my soul! All the expense of a +double life and none of its advantages!" + +She went out on that, still laughing, leaving Mrs. Sam scarlet +with rage, and when she was safely gone I brought Mr. Dick out to +the fire. He was so limp he could hardly walk, and it took three +glasses of the wine and all Mr. Sam could do to start him back to +the shelter-house. His sister would not speak to him. + +Mike went to Mr. Pierce that day and asked for a raise of salary. + +He did not get it. Perhaps, as things have turned out, it +was for the best, but it is strange to think how different things +would have been if he'd been given it. He was sent up later, of +course, for six months for malicious mischief, but by that time +the damage was done. + + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY + +That was on a Saturday morning. During the golf season Saturday +is always a busy day with us, with the husbands coming up for +over Sunday, and trying to get in all the golf, baths and spring +water they can in forty-eight hours. But in the winter Saturday +is the same as any, other day. + +It had stopped snowing and the sun was shining, although it was +so cold that the snow blew like powder. By eleven o'clock every +one who could walk had come to the spring-house. Even Mr. +Jennings came down in a wheeled chair, and Senator Biggs, still +looking a sort of grass-green and keeping his eyes off me, came +and sat in a corner, with a book called Fast versus Feast held +so that every one could see. + +There were bridge tables going, and five hundred, and a group +around the slot-machine, while the crocheters formed a +crowd by themselves, exchanging gossip and new stitches. + +About twelve o'clock Mr. Thoburn came in, and as he opened the +door, in leaped Arabella. The women made a fuss over the +creature and cuddled her, and when I tried to put her out +everybody objected. So she stayed, and Miss Summers put her +through a lot of tricks, while the men crowded around. As I said +before, Miss Summers was a first favorite with the men. + +Mr. von Inwald and Miss Patty came in just then and stood +watching. + +"And now," said Mr. von Inwald, "I propose, as a reward to Miss +Arabella, a glass of this wonderful water. Minnie, a glass of +water for Arabella!" + +"She doesn't drink out of one of my glasses," I declared angrily. + +"It's one of my rules that dogs--" + +"Tut!" said Mr. Thoburn. "What's good for man is good for beast. + +Besides, the little beggar's thirsty." + +Well, they made a great fuss about the creature's being thirsty, +and so finally I got a panful of spring water and it drank until +I thought it would burst. I'm not vicious, as I say, but I wish +it had. + +Well, the dog finished and lay down by the fire, and everything +seemed to go on as before. Mr. Thoburn was in a good humor, and +he came over to the spring and brought a trayful of glasses. + +"To save you steps, Minnie!" he explained. "You have no idea how +it pains me to see you working. Gentlemen, name your poison!" + +"A frappe with blotting-paper on the side," Mr. Moody snarled +from the slot-machine. "If I drink much more, I'll have to be +hooped up like a barrel." + +"Just what is the record here?" the bishop asked. "I'm ordered +eight glasses, but I find it more than a sufficiency." + +"We had one man here once who could drink twenty-five at a time," +I said, "but he was a German." + +"He was a tank," Mr. Sam corrected grumpily. He was watching +something on the floor--I couldn't see what. "All I need is to +swallow a few goldfish and I'd be a first-class aquarium." + +"What I think we should do," Miss Cobb said, "is to try to find +out just what suits us, and stick to that. I'm always trying." + +"Damned trying!" Mr. Jennings snarled, and limped over for +more water. "I'd like to know where to go for rheumatism." + +"I got mine here," said Mr. Thoburn cheerfully. "It's my opinion +this place is rheumatic as well as malarious. And as for this +water, with all due respect to the spirit in the spring"--he +bowed to me--"I think it's an insult to ask people to drink it. +It isn't half so strong as it was two years ago. Taste it; smell +it! I ask the old friends of the sanatorium, is that water what +it used to be?" + +"Don't tell me it was ever any worse than this!" Miss Summers +exclaimed. But Thoburn went on. The card-players stopped to +listen, but Mr. Sam was still staring at something on the floor. + +"I tell you, the spring is losing its virtue, and, like a woman, +without virtue, it is worthless." + +"But interesting!" Mr. Sam said, and stooped down. + +"Consider," went on Mr. Thoburn, standing and holding his glass +to the light, "how we are at the mercy of this little spring! A +convulsion in the bowels of the earth, and its health-giving +properties may be changed to the direst poison. How do we know, +you and I, some such change has not occurred overnight? +Unlikely as it is, it's a possibility that, sitting here calmly, +we may be sipping our death potion." + +Some of the people actually put down their glasses and everybody +began to look uneasy except Mr. Sam, who was still watching +something I could not see. + +Mr. Thoburn looked around and saw he'd made an impression. "We +may," he continued, "although my personal opinion of this water +is that it's growing too weak to be wicked. I prove my faith in +Mother Nature; if it is poisoned, I am gone. I drink!" + +Mr. Sam suddenly straightened up and glanced at Miss Summers. +"Perhaps I'm mistaken," he said, "but I think there is something +the matter with Arabella." + +Everybody looked: Arabella was lying on her back, jerking and +twitching and foaming at the mouth. + +"She's been poisoned!" Miss Summers screeched, and fell on her +knees beside her. "It's that wretched water!" + +There was pretty nearly a riot in a minute. Everybody +jumped up and stared at the dog, and everybody remembered the +water he or she had just had, and coming on top of Mr. Thoburn's +speech, it made them babbling lunatics. As I look back, I have a +sort of picture of Miss Summers on the floor with Arabella in her +lap, and the rest telling how much of the water they had had and +crowding around Mr. Thoburn. + +"It seems hardly likely it was the water," he said, "although +from what I recall of my chemistry it is distinctly possible. +Springs have been known to change their character, and the +coincidence--the dog and the water--is certainly startling. +Still, as nobody feels ill--" + +But they weren't sure they didn't. The bishop said he felt +perfectly well, but he had a strange inclination to yawn all the +time, and Mrs. Biggs' left arm had gone to sleep. And then, with +the excitement and all, Miss Cobb took a violent pain in the back +of her neck and didn't know whether to cry or to laugh. + +Well, I did what I could. The worst of it was, I wasn't sure it +wasn't the water. I thought possibly Mr. Pierce had made a +mistake in what he had bought at the drug store, and +although I don't as a rule drink it myself, I began to feel queer +in the pit of my stomach. + +Mr. Thoburn came over to the spring, and filling a glass, took it +to the light, with every one watching anxiously. When he brought +it back he stooped over the railing and whispered to me. + +"When did you fix it?" he asked sternly. + +"Last night," I answered. It was no time to beat about the bush. + +"It's yellower than usual," he said. "I'm inclined to think +something has gone wrong at the drug store, Minnie." + +I could hardly breathe. I had the most terrible vision of all +the guests lying around like Arabella, twitching and foaming, and +me going to prison as a wholesale murderess. Any hair but mine +would have turned gray in that minute. + +Mr. von Inwald was watching like the others, and now he came over +and caught Mr. Thoburn by the arm. + +"What do you think--" he asked nervously. "I--I have had three +glasses of it!" + +"Three!" shouted Senator Biggs, coming forward. "I've had +eleven! I tell you, I've been feeling queer for twenty-four +hours! I'm poisoned! That's what I am." + +He staggered out, with Mrs. Biggs just behind him, and from that +moment they were all demoralized. I stood by the spring and +sipped at the water to show I wasn't afraid of it, with my knees +shaking under me and Arabella lying stock-still, as if she had +died, under my very nose. One by one they left to look for +Doctor Barnes, or to get the white of egg, which somebody had +suggested as an antidote. + +Miss Cobb was one of the last to go. She turned in the doorway +and looked back at me, with tears in her eyes. + +"It isn't your fault, Minnie," she said, "and forgive me if I +have ever said anything unkind to you." Then she went, and I was +alone, looking down at Arabella. + +Or rather, I thought I was alone, for there was a movement by one +of the windows and Miss Patty came forward and knelt by the dog. + +"Of all the absurdities!" she said. "Poor little thing! Minnie, +I believe she's breathing!" + +She put the dog's head in her lap, and the little beast opened +its eyes and tried to wag its blue tail. + +"Oh, Miss Patty, Miss Patty!" I exclaimed, and I got down beside +her and cried on her shoulder, with her stroking my hand and +calling me dearest! Me! + +I was wiping my eyes when the door was thrown open and Mr. Pierce +ran in. He had no hat on and his hair was powdered with snow. +He stopped just inside the door and looked at Miss Patty. + +"You--" he said "you are all right? You are not--" he came +forward and stood over her, with his heart in his eyes. She +MUST have known from that minute. + +"My God!" he exclaimed, "I thought you were poisoned!" + +She looked up, without smiling, and then I thought she half shut +her eyes, as if what she saw in his face hurt her. + +"I am all right," she assured him, "and little Arabella will be +all right, too. She's had a convulsion, that's all--probably +from overeating. As for the others--!" + +"Where is the--where is von Inwald?" + +"He has gone to take the white of an egg," she replied rather +haughtily. She was too honest to evade anything, but she +flushed. Of course, I knew what he didn't--that the prince had +been among the first to scurry to the house, and that he hadn't +even waited for her. + +He walked to the window, as if he didn't want her to see what he +thought of that, and I saw him looking hard at something outside +in the snow. When he walked back to the fire he was smiling, and +he stooped over and poked Arabella with his finger. + +"So that was it!" he said. "Full to the scuppers, poor little +wretch! Minnie, I am hoist with my own petard, which in this +case was a boomerang." + +"Which is in English--" I asked. + +"With the instinct of her sex, Arabella has unearthed what was +meant to be buried forever. She had gorged herself into a +convulsion on that rabbit I shot last night!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE MUTINY + +They went to the house together, he carrying Arabella like a sick +baby and Miss Patty beside him. As far as I could see they +didn't speak a word to each other, but once or twice I saw her +turn and look up at him as if she was puzzled. + +I closed the door and stood just inside, looking at father's +picture over the mantel. As sure as I stood there, the eyes were +fixed on the spring, and I sensed, as you may say, what they +meant. I went over and looked down into the spring, and it +seemed to me it was darker than usual. It may have smelled +stronger, but the edge had been taken off my nose, so to speak, +by being there so long. + +From the spring I looked again at father, and his eyes were on me +mournful and sad. I felt as though, if he'd been there, father +would have turned the whole affair to the advantage of the +house, and it was almost more than I could bear. I was only +glad the old doctor's enlargement had not come yet. I couldn't +have endured having it see what had occurred. + +The only thing I could think of was to empty the spring and let +the water come in plain. I could put a little sulphur in to give +it color and flavor, and if it turned out that Mr. Pierce was +right and that Arabella was only a glutton, I could put in the +other things later. + +I was carrying out my first pailful when Doctor Barnes came down +the path and took the pail out of my hand. + +"What are you doing?" he asked. "Making a slide?" + +"No," I said bitterly, "I am watering the flowers." + +"Good!" He was not a bit put out. "Let me help you." He took +the pail across the path and poured a little into the snow at the +base of a half-dozen fence posts. "There!" he said, coming back +triumphant. "The roses are done. Now let's have a go at the +pansies and the lady's-slippers and the--the begonias. I say"-- +he stopped suddenly on his way in--"sulphur water on a +begonia--what would it make? Skunk cabbage?" + +Inside, however, he put down the pail, and pulling me in, closed +the door. + +"Now forget it!" he commanded. "Just because a lot of damn fools +see a dog in a fit and have one, too, is that any reason for your +being scared wall-eyed and knock-kneed?" + +"I'm not!" I snapped. + +"Well, you're wall-eyed with fright," he insisted. "Of course, +you're the best judge of your own knees, but after last night-- +Had any lunch?" + +I shook my head. + +"Exactly," he said. "You make me think of the little boy who dug +post-holes in the daytime and took in washings at night to +support the family. Sit down." + +I sat. + +"Inhale and exhale slowly four times, and then swallow the lump +in your throat. . . . Gone?" + +"Yes." + +"Good." He was fumbling in his pocket and he brought out a +napkin. When he opened it there was a sandwich, a piece of +cheese and a banana. + +"What do you think of that?" he asked, watching me anxiously. +"Looks pretty good?" + +"Fine," I said, hating to disappoint him, although I never eat +sardines, and bananas give me indigestion, "I'm hungry enough to +eat a raw Italian." + +"Then fall to," he directed, and with a flourish he drew a bottle +of ginger ale from his pocket. + +"How's this?" he demanded, holding it up. "Cheers but doesn't +inebriate; not a headache in a barrel; ginger ale to the gingery! + +`A quart of ale is a dish for a king,'" he said, holding up a +glass. "That's Shakespeare, Miss Minnie." + +I was a good bit more cheerful when I'd choked down the sandwich, +especially when he assured me the water was all right--"a little +high, as you might say, but not poisonous. Lord, I wish you +could have seen them staggering into my office!" + +"I saw enough," I said with a shiver. + +"That German, von Inwald," he went on, "he's the limit. He +accused us of poisoning him for reasons of state!" + +"Where are they now?" + +"My dear girl," he answered, putting down his glass, "what +has been pounded into me ever since I struck the place? The +baths! I prescribe 'em all day and dream 'em all night. Where +are the poisonees now? They are steaming, stewing, exuding in +the hot rooms of the bath department--all of them, every one of +them! In the hold and the hatches down!" + +He picked up the pail and went down the steps to the spring. + +"After all," he said, "it won't hurt to take out a little of this +and pour it on the ground. It ought to be good fertilizer." He +stooped. "`Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come,'" he +quoted, and dipped in the pail. + +Just then somebody fell against the door and stumbled into the +room. It was Tillie, as white as milk, and breathing in gasps. + +"Quick!" she screeched, "Minnie, quick!" + +"What is it?" I asked, jumping up. She'd fallen back against the +door-frame and stood with her hand clutching her heart. + +"That dev--devil--Mike!" she panted. "He has turned on the steam +in the men's baths and gone--gone away!" + +"With people in the bath?" Doctor Barnes asked, slamming down the +pail. + +Tillie nodded. + +"Then why in creation don't they get out of the baths until we +can shut off the steam?" I demanded, grabbing up my shawl. But +Tillie shook her head in despair. + +"They can't," she answered, "he's hid their clothes!" + +The next thing I recall is running like mad up the walk with +Doctor Barnes beside me, steadying me by the arm. I only spoke +once that I remember and that was just as we got to the house, + +"This settles it!" I panted, desperately. "It's all over." + +"Not a bit of it!" he said, shoving me up the steps and into the +hall. "The old teakettle is just getting `het up' a bit. By the +gods and little fishes, just listen to it singing down there!" + + +The help was gathered in a crowd at the head of the bath-house +staircase, where a cloud of steam was coming up, and down below +we could hear furious talking, and somebody shouting, "Mike! +Mike!" in a voice that was choked with rage and steam. + +Doctor Barnes elbowed his way through the crowd to the top of the +stairs and I followed. + +"There's Minnie!" Amanda King yelled. "She knows all about the +place. Minnie, you can shut it off, can't you?" + +"I'll try," I said, and was starting down, when Doctor Barnes +jerked me back. + +"You stay here," he said. "Where's Mr. Pier--where's Carter?" + +"Down with the engineer," somebody replied out of the steam +cloud. + +"Hello there!" he called down the staircase. "How's the air?" + +"Clothes! Send us some clothes!" + +It was Mr. Sam calling. The rest was swallowed up in a fresh +roaring, as if a steam-pipe had given away. That settled the +people below. With a burst of fury they swarmed up the stairs in +their bath sheets, the bishop leading, and just behind him, +talking as no gentleman should talk under any circumstances, +Senator Biggs. The rest followed, their red faces shining +through the steam--all of them murderous, holding their sheets +around them with one hand, and waving the other in a frenzy. It +was awful. + +The help scattered and ran, but I stood my ground. The sight of +a man in a sheet didn't scare me and it was no time for weakness. + +The steam was thicker than ever, and the hall was misty. A +moment later the engineer came up and after him Mr. Pierce, with +a towel over his mouth and a screw-driver in his hand. He was +white with rage. He brushed past the sheets without paying the +slightest attention to them, and tore the towel off his mouth. + +"Who saw Mike last?" he shouted across to where the pharmacy +clerk, the elevator boy and some of the bell-boys had retreated +to the office and were peeping out through the door. + +Here Mr. Moody, who's small at any time, and who without the +padding on his shoulders and wrapped in a sheet with his red face +above, looked like a lighted cigarette, darted out of the crowd +and caught him by the sleeve. + +"Here!" he cried, "we've got a few things to say to you, you +young--" + +"Take your hand off my arm!" thundered Mr. Pierce. + +The storm broke with that. They crowded around Mr. Pierce, +yelling like maniacs, and he stood there, white-faced, and let +them wear themselves out. The courage of a man in a den of lions +was nothing to it. Doctor Barnes forced his way through the +crowd and stood there beside him. + +It wasn't only the steam and their clothes being hidden; it had +started with the scare at the spring in the morning, and when +they had told him what they thought about that, they went back +still further and bellowed about the mismanagement of the place +ever since he had taken charge, and the food, and the steam-heat, +and the new rules--oh, they hated him all right, and they told +him so, purple-faced with rage and heat, dancing around him and +shaking one fist in his face, as I say, while they held their +sheets fast with the other. + +And I stood there and watched, my mind awhirl, expecting every +minute to hear that they were all leaving, or to have some one +forget and shake both fists at once. + +And that's how it ended finally--I mean, of course, that +they said they would all leave immediately, and that he ought to +be glad to have them go quietly, and not have him jailed for +malicious mischief or compounding a felony. The whole thing was +an outrage, and the three train would leave the house as empty as +a squeezed lemon. + +I wanted to go forward and drop on my knees and implore them to +remember the old doctor, and the baths they'd had when nothing +went wrong, and the days when they'd sworn that the spring kept +them young and well, but there was something in Mr. Pierce's face +that kept me back. + +"At three o'clock, then," he said. "Very well." + +"Don't be a fool!" I heard Mr. Sam from the crowd. + +"Is that all you have to say?" roared Mr. von Inwald. I hadn't +noticed him before. He had his sheet on in Grecian style and it +looked quite ornamental although a little short. "Haven't you +any apology to make, sir?" + +"Neither apology nor explanation to you," Mr. Pierce retorted. +And to the other: "It is an unfortunate accident--incident, if +you prefer." He looked at Thoburn, who was the only one in a +bath robe, and who was the only cheerful one in the lot. "I +had refused a request of the bath man's and he has taken this +form of revenge. If this gives me the responsibility I am +willing to take it. If you expect me to ask you to stay I'll not +do it. I don't mind saying that I am as tired of all this as you +are." + +"As tired of what?" demanded Mr. Moody, pushing forward out of +the crowd. Mr. Sam was making frantic gestures to catch Mr. +Pierce's eye, but he would not look at him. + +"Of all this," he said. "Of charging people sanatorium prices +under a pretense of making them well. Does anybody here imagine +he's going to find health by sitting around in an overstuffed +leather chair, with the temperature at eighty, eating five meals +a day, and walking as far as the mineral spring for exercise?" + +There was a sort of angry snarl in the air, and Mr. Sam threw up +his one free hand in despair. + +"In fact," Mr. Pierce went on, "I'd about decided on a new order +of things for this place anyhow. It's going to be a real health +resort, run for people who want to get well or keep well. +People who wish to be overfed, overheated and coddled need not +come--or stay." + +The bishop spoke over the heads of the others, who looked dazed. + +"Does that mean," he inquired mildly, "that--guests must either +obey this new order of things or go away?" + +Mr. Pierce looked at the bishop and smiled. + +"I'm sorry, sir," he said, "but as every one is leaving, anyhow-- +" + +They fairly jumped at him then. They surrounded him in a howling +mob and demanded how he dared to turn them out, and what did he +mean by saying they were overfed, and they would leave when they +were good and ready and not before, and he could go to blazes. +It was the most scandalous thing I've ever known of at Hope +Springs, and in the midst of it Mr. Pierce stood cool and quiet, +waiting for a chance to speak. And when the time came he jumped +in and told them the truth about themselves, and most of it hurt. + +He was good and mad, and he stood there and picked out the +flabby ones and the fat ones, the whisky livers and the +tobacco hearts and the banquet stomachs, and called them out by +name. + +When he got through they were standing in front of him, ashamed +to look at one another, and not knowing whether to fall on him +and tear him to pieces, or go and weep in a corner because they'd +played such havoc with the bodies the Lord gave them. If he'd +weakened for a minute they'd have jumped on him. But he didn't. +He got through and stood looking at them in their sheets, and +then he said coolly: + +"The bus will be ready at two-thirty, gentlemen," and turning on +his heels, went into the office and closed the door. + +They scattered to their rooms in every stage of rage and +excitement, and at last only Mr. Sam and I were left staring at +each other. "Damned young idiot!" he said. "I wish to heavens +you'd never suggested bringing him here, Minnie!" + +And leaving me speechless with indignation, he trailed himself +and his sheet up the stairs. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +HOME TO ROOST + +I couldn't stand any more. It was all over! I rushed to my room +and threw myself on the bed. At two-thirty I heard the bus come +to the porte-cochere under my window and then drive away; that +was the last straw. I put a pillow over my head so nobody could +hear me, and then and there I had hysterics. I knew I was having +them, and I wasn't ashamed. I'd have exploded if I hadn't. + And then somebody jerked the pillow away and I looked up, +with my eyes swollen almost shut, and it was Doctor Barnes. He +had a glass of water in his hand and he held it right above me. + +"One more yell," he said, "and it goes over you!" + +I lay there staring up at him, and then I knew what a fright I +looked, and although I couldn't speak yet, I reached up and felt +for my hairpins. + +"That's better," he said, putting down the glass. "Another ten +minutes of that and you'd have burst a blood vessel. Don't +worry. I know I have no business here, but I anticipated +something of this kind, and it may interest you to know that I've +been outside in the hall since the first whoop. It's been a good +safety-valve." + +I sat up and stared at him. I could hardly see out of my eyes. +He had his back to the light, but I could tell that he had a +cross of adhesive plaster on his cheek and that one eye was +almost shut. He smiled when he saw my expression. + +"It's the temperament," he said. "It goes with the hair. I've +got it too, only I'm apt to go out and pick a fight at such +times, and a woman hasn't got that outlet. As you see, I found +Mike, and my disfigurement is to Mike's as starlight to the +noonday glare. Come and take a walk." + +I shook my head, but he took my arm and pulled me off the bed. + +"You come for a walk!" he said. "I'll wait in the hall until you +powder your nose. You look like a fire that's been put out by a +rain-storm." + + +I didn't want to go, but anything was better than sitting in +the room moping. I put on my jacket and Miss Patty's +chinchillas, which cheered me a little, but as we went down- +stairs the quiet of the place sat on my chest like a weight. + +The lower hall was empty. A new card headed "Rules" hung on the +door into the private office, but I did not read it. What was +the use of rules without people to disobey them? Mrs. Moody had +forgotten her crocheting bag and it hung on the back of a chair. +I had to bite my lip to keep it from trembling again. + +"The Jenningses are still here," said the doctor. "The old man +is madder than any hornet ever dared be, and they go in the +morning. But the situation was too much for our German friend. +He left with the others." + +Well, we went out and I took the path I knew best, which was out +toward the spring-house. There wasn't a soul in sight. The +place looked lonely, with the trees hung with snow, and arching +over the board walk. At the little bridge over the creek Doctor +Barnes stopped, and leaning over the rail, took a good look at +me. + +"When you self-contained women go to pieces," he said, "you +pretty near smash, don't you? You look as if you'd had a death +in your family." + +"This WAS my family," I half sniveled. + +"But," he said, "you'll be getting married and having a home of +your own and forgetting all about this." + +He looked at me with his sharp eyes. "There's probably some nice +chap in the village, eh?" + +I shook my head. I had just caught sight of the broken pieces of +the Moody water-pitcher on the ice below + +"No nice young man!" he remarked. "Not the telegraph operator, +or the fellow who runs the livery-stable--I've forgotten his +name." + +"Look here," I turned on him, "if you're talking all this +nonsense to keep my mind off things, you needn't." + +"I'm not," he said. "I'm asking for the sake of my own mind, but +we'll not bother about that now. We'd better start back." + +It was still snowing, although not so hard. The air had done me +some good, but the lump in my throat seemed to have gone to my +chest. The doctor helped me along, for the snow was drifting, +and when he saw I was past the crying stage he went back to +what we were both thinking about. + +"Old Pierce is right," he said. "Remember, Miss Minnie, I've +nothing against you or your mineral spring; in fact, I'm strong +for you both. But while I'm out of the ring now for good--I +don't mind saying to you what I said to Pierce, that the only +thing that gets into training here, as far as I can see, is a +fellow's pocketbook." + +We went back to the house and I straightened the news stand, +Amanda King having taken a violent toothache as a result of the +excitement. The Jenningses were packing to go, and Miss Summers +had got a bottle of peroxide and shut herself in her room. At +six o'clock Tillie beckoned to me from the door of the officers' +dining-room and said she'd put the basket in the snow by the +grape arbor. I got ready, with a heavy heart, to take it out. I +had forgotten all about their dinner, for one thing, and I had to +carry bad news. + +But Mr. Pierce had been there before me. I saw tracks in the +fresh snow, for, praise heaven! it had snowed all that week and +our prints were filled up almost as fast as we made them. When I +got to the shelter-house it was in a wild state of +excitement. Mrs. Dick, with her cheeks flushed, had gathered all +her things on the cot and was rolling them up in sheets and +newspapers. But Mr. Dick was sitting on the box in front of the +fire with his curly hair standing every way. He had been +roasting potatoes, and as I opened the door, he picked one up and +poked at it to see if it was done. + +"Damn!" he said, and dropped it. + +Mrs. Dick sat on the cot rolling up a pink ribbon and looked at +him. + +"If you want to know exactly my reason for insisting on moving +to-night, I'll tell you," she said, paying no attention to me. +"It is your disposition." + +He didn't say anything, but he put his foot on the potato and +smashed it. + +"If I had to be shut in here with you one more day," she went on, +"I'd hate you." + +"Why the one more day?" he asked, without looking up. + +But she didn't answer him. She was in the worst kind of a +temper; she threw the ribbon down, and coming over, lifted the +lid of my basket and looked in. + +"Ham again!" she exclaimed ungratefully. "Thanks so much for +remembering us, Minnie. I dare say our dinner to-day slipped +your mind!" + +"I wonder if it strikes you, Minnie," Mr. Dick said, noticing me +for the first time, "that if you and Sam hadn't been so +confounded meddling, that fellow Pierce would be washing buggies +in the village livery-stable where he belongs, and I'd be in one +piece of property that's as good as gone this minute." + +"Egg salad and cheese!" said Mrs. Dick. "I'm sick of cheese. If +that's the kind of supper you've been serving--" + +But I was in a bad humor, anyhow, and I'd had enough. I stood +just inside the door and I told them I'd done the best I could, +not for them, but because I'd promised the old doctor, and if I'd +made mistakes I'd answer for them to him if I ever met him in the +next world. And in the meantime I washed my hands of the whole +thing, and they might make out as best they could. I was +going. + +Mrs. Dick heard me through. Then she came over and put her hand +on mine where it lay on the table. + +"You're perfectly right," she said. "I know how you have tried, +and that the fault is all that wretched Pierce's. You mustn't +mind Mr. Carter, Minnie. He's been in that sort of humor all +day." + +He looked at her with the most miserable face I ever saw, but he +didn't say anything. She sighed, the little wretch. + +"We've all made mistakes," she said, "and not the least was my +thinking that I--well, never mind. I dare say we will manage +somehow." + +He got up then, his face twisted with misery. + +"Say it," he said. "You hate me; you shiver if I touch your +hand--oh, I'm not very keen, but I saw that." + +"The remedy for that is very, simple," she replied coolly. "You +needn't touch my hand." + +"Stop!" I snapped. "Just stop before you say something you'll be +sorry for. Of course, you hate each other. It beats me, anyhow, +why two people who get married always want to get away by +themselves until they're so sick of each other that they don't +get over it the rest of their lives. The only sensible honeymoon +I ever heard of was when one of the chambermaids here married a +farmer in the neighborhood. It was harvest and he couldn't +leave, so she went ALONE to see her folks and she said it beat +having him along all hollow." + +She was setting out the supper, putting things down with a bang. +He didn't move, although he must have been starving. + +"Another thing I'd advise," I said. "Eat first and talk after. +You'll see things different after you've got something in your +stomach." + +"I wish you wouldn't meddle, Minnie!" she snapped, and having put +down her own plate and knife and fork, not laying a place for +him, she went over and tried to get one of the potatoes from the +fire. + +Well, she burnt her finger, or pretended to, and I guess her +solution was as good as mine, for she began to cry, and when I +left he was tying it up with a bit of his handkerchief; if she +shivered when he kissed it I didn't notice it. They were to come +up to the house after her father left in the morning, and I was +to dismiss all the old help and get new ones so he could take +charge and let Mr. Pierce go. + +I plodded back with my empty basket. I had only one clear +thought,--that I wouldn't have any more tramping across the golf +links in the snow. I was too tired really to care that with the +regular winter boarders gone and eight weeks still until Lent, +we'd hardly be able to keep going another fortnight. I wanted to +get back to my room and go to bed and forget. + +But as I came near the house I saw Mr. Pierce come out on the +front piazza and switch on the lights. He stood there looking +out into the snow, and the next minute I saw why. Coming up the +hill and across the lawn was a shadowy line of people, black +against the white. They were not speaking, and they moved +without noise over the snow. I thought for a minute that my +brain had gone wrong; then the first figure came into the light, +and it was the bishop. He stood at the front of the steps and +looked up at Mr. Pierce. + +"I dare say," he said, trying to look easy, "that this is sooner +than you expected us!" + +Mr. Pierce looked down at the crowd. Then he smiled, a growing +smile that ended in a grin. + +"On the contrary," he said, "I've been expecting you for an hour +or more." + +The procession began to move gloomily up the steps. All of them +carried hand luggage, and they looked tired and sheepish Miss +Cobb stopped in front of Mr. Pierce. + +"Do you mean to say," she demanded furiously, "that you knew the +railroad was blocked with snow, and yet you let us go!" + +"On the contrary, Miss Cobb," he said politely, "I remember +distinctly regretting that you insisted on going. Besides, there +was the Sherman House." + +Senator Briggs{sic} stopped in front of him. "Probably you also +knew that THAT was full, including the stables, with people +from the stalled trains," he asserted furiously. + +Two by two they went in and through the hall, stamping the snow +off, and up to their old rooms again, leaving Slocum, the clerk, +staring at them as if he couldn't believe his eyes. + +Mr. Pierce and I watched from the piazza, through the glass. + +We saw Doctor Barnes stop and look, and then go and hang over the +news stand and laugh himself almost purple, and we saw Mr. +Thoburn bringing up the tail of the procession and trying to look +unconcerned. I am not a revengeful woman, but that was one +of the happiest moments of my life. + +Doctor Barnes turned suddenly, and catching me by the arm, +whirled me around and around, singing wildly something about Noah +and "the animals went in two by, two, the elephant and the +kangaroo." + +He stopped as suddenly as he began and walked me to the door +again. + +"We've got 'em in the ark," he said, "but I'm thinking this forty +days of snow is nearly over, Minnie. I don't think much of the +dove and the olive-branch, but WE'VE GOT TO KEEP THEM." + +"It's against the law," I quavered. + +"Nonsense!" he said. "We've got to make 'em WANT to stay!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +BACK TO NATURE + +We gave them a good supper and Mr. Pierce ordered claret served +without extra charge. By eight o'clock they were all in better +humor, and when they'd gathered in the lobby Miss Summers gave an +imitation of Marie Dressler doing the Salome dance. Every now +and then somebody would look out and say it was still snowing, +and with the memory of the drifts and the cold stove in the +railroad station behind them, they'd gather closer around the +fire and insist that they would go as soon as the road was +cleared. + +But with the exception of Mr. von Inwald, not one of them really +wanted to go. As Doctor Barnes said over the news stand, each +side was bluffing and wouldn't call the other, and the fellow +with the most nerve would win. + +"And, oh, my aunt!" he said, "what a sweet disposition +the von Inwald has! Watch him going up and banging his head +against the wall!" + +Everybody was charmed with the Salome dance, especially when Miss +Summers drew the cover off a meat platter she'd been dancing +around, and there was Arabella sitting on her hind legs, with a +card tied to her neck, and the card said that at eleven there +would be a clambake in the kitchen for all the guests. + +(The clambake was my idea, but the dog, of course, was Miss +Julia's. I never saw a woman so full of ideas, although it seems +that what should have been on the platter was the head of +somebody or other.) + +Just after the dance I saw Mr. von Inwald talking to Miss Patty. +He had been ugly all evening, and now he looked like a devil. +She stood facing him with her head thrown back and her fingers +twisting her ruby ring. I guessed that she was about as much +surprised as anything else, people having a habit of being +pleasant to her most of the time. He left her in a rage, and as +he went he collided with Arabella and kicked her. Miss Patty +went white but Miss Summers was not a bit put out. She +simply picked up the howling dog and confronted Mr. von Inwald. + +"Perhaps you didn't notice," she said sweetly, "but you kicked my +dog." + +"Why don't you keep her out of the way?" he snarled, and they +stood glaring at each other. + +"Under the circumstances, Arabella," Miss Julia said--and +everybody was listening--"we can only withdraw Mr. von Inwald's +invitation to the kitchen." + +"Thank you, I had not intended to go," he said furiously, and +went out into the veranda, slamming the door behind him. Mr. +Jennings looked up from where he was playing chess by the fire +and nodded at Miss Summers. + +"Serves him right for his temper!" he said. + +"Checkmate!" said the bishop. + +Mr. Jennings turned and glared at the board. Then with one sweep +he threw all the chessmen on the floor. As Tillie said later, it +would be a pity to spoil two houses with Mr. von Inwald and Mr. +Jennings If they were in the same family, they could work it off +on each other. + +Miss Patty came down to the news stand and pretended to hunt +for a magazine. I reached over and stroked her hand. "Don't +take it too hard, dearie," I said. "He's put out to-night, and +maybe he isn't well. Men are like babies. If their stomachs are +all right and have plenty in them, they're pleasant enough. It's +been my experience that your cranky man's a sick man." + +"I don't think he is sick, Minnie," she said, with a catch in her +voice. "I--I think he is just dev--devilish!" + +Well, I thought that too, so I just stroked her hand, and after a +minute she got her color again. "It is hard for him," she said. +"He thinks this is all vulgar and American, and--oh, Minnie, I +want to get away, and yet what shall I do without you to keep me +sensible." + +"You'll be a long ways off soon," I said, touching the ring under +my hand. + +"I wish you could come with me," she said, but I shook my head. + +"Here is one dog that isn't going to sit under any rich man's +table and howl for crumbs," I answered. "If he kicked ME, I'd +bite him." + +At eleven o'clock we had the clambake with beer in the +kitchen, and Mr. von Inwald came, after all. They were really +very cheerful, all of them. Doctor Barnes insisted that Senator +Biggs must not fast any longer, and he ate by my count three +dozen clams. At the end, when everybody was happy and everything +forgiven, Mr. Pierce got up and made a speech. + +He said he was sorry for what had happened that day, but that +much he had said he still maintained: that to pretend to make +people well in the way most sanatoriums did it was sheer folly, +and he felt his responsibility too keenly to countenance a system +that was clearly wrong and that the best modern thought +considered obsolete. + +Miss Cobb sat up at that; she is always talking about the best +modern thought. + +He said that perfect health, clear skins, bright eyes--he looked +at the women, and except for Miss Patty, there wasn't an honest +complexion or a bright eye in the lot--keen appetites and joy of +living all depended on rational and simple living. + +"Hear, hear!" said the men. + +"The nearer we live to nature, the better," said Senator Biggs +oracularly. + +"Back to nature," shouted Mr. Moody through a clam. + +"Exactly," Mr. Pierce said, smiling. + +Mrs. Moody looked alarmed. "You don't mean doing without +clothes--and all that!" she protested. + +"Surely!" Miss Summers said, holding up her beer glass. "A +toast, everybody! Back to nature, sans rats, sans rouge, sans +stays, sans everything. I'll need to wear a tag with my name on +it. Nobody will recognize me!" + +Mr. Pierce got up again at the head of the long kitchen table and +said he merely meant rational living--more air, more exercise, +simpler food and better hours. It was being done now in a +thousand fresh-air farms, and succeeding. Men went back to their +business clearer-headed and women grew more beautiful. + +At that, what with the reaction from sitting in the cold station, +and the beer and everything, they all grew enthusiastic. Doctor +Barnes made a speech, telling that he used to be puny and weak, +and how he went into training and became a pugilist, and how he'd +fought the Tennessee something or other--the men nodded as if +they knew--and licked him in forty seconds or forty rounds, +I'm not sure which. The men were standing on their chairs +cheering for him, and even Mr. Jennings, who'd been sitting and +not saying much, said he thought probably there was something in +it. + +They ended by agreeing to try it out for a week, beginning with +the morning, when everybody was to be down for breakfast by +seven-thirty. Mr. Thoburn got up and made a speech, protesting +that they didn't know what they were letting themselves in for, +and ended up by demanding to know if he was expected to breakfast +at seven-thirty. + +"Yes, or earlier," Mr. Pierce said pleasantly. "I suppose you +could have something at seven." + +"And suppose I refuse?" he retorted disagreeably. + +But everybody turned on him, and said if they could do it, he +could, and he sat down again. Then somebody suggested that if +they were to get up they'd have to go to bed, and the party broke +up. + +Doctor Barnes helped me gather up the clam shells and the plates. + +"It's a risky business," he said. "To-night doesn't mean +anything; they're carried away by the reaction and the +desire for something new. The next week will tell the tale." + +"If we could only get rid of Mr. Thoburn!" I exclaimed. +Doctor Barnes chuckled. + +"We may not get rid of him," he said, "but I can promise him the +most interesting week of his life. He'll be too busy for +mischief. I'm going to take six inches off his waist line." + +Well, in a half-hour or so I had cleared away, and I went out to +the lobby to lock up the news stand. Just as I opened the door +from the back hall, however, I heard two people talking. + +It was Miss Pat and Mr. Pierce. She was on the stairs and he in +the hall below, looking up. + +"I don't WANT to stay!" she was saying. + +"But don't you see?" he argued. "If you go, the others will. +Can't you try it for a week?" + +"I quite understand your motive," she said, looking down at him +more pleasantly than she'd ever done, "and it's very good of you +and all that. But if you'd only left things as they were, and +let us all go, and other people come--" + +"That's just it," he said. "I'm told it's the bad season +and nobody else would come until Lent. And, anyhow, it's not +business to let a lot of people go away mad. It gives the place +a black eye." + +"Dear me," she said, "how businesslike you are growing!" + +He went over close to the stairs and dropped his voice. + +"If you want the bitter truth," he went on, trying to smile, +"I've put myself on trial and been convicted of being a fool and +a failure. I've failed regularly and with precision at +everything I have tried. I've been going around so long trying +to find a place that I fit into, that I'm scarred as with many +battles. And now I'm on probation--for the last time. If this +doesn't go, I--I--" + +"What?" she asked, leaning down to him. "You'll not--" + +"Oh, no," he said, "nothing dramatic, of course. I could go +around the country in a buggy selling lightning-rods--" + +She drew herself back as if she resented his refusal of her +sympathy. + +"Or open a saloon in the Philippines!" he finished mockingly. +"There's a living in that." + +"You are impossible," she said, and turned away. + +Oh, I haven't any excuse to make for him! I think he was just +hungry for her sympathy and her respect, knowing nothing else was +coming to him. But the minute they grew a bit friendly he seemed +to remember the prince, and that, according to his idea of it, +she was selling herself, and he would draw off and look at her in +a mocking unhappy way that made me want to slap him. + +He watched her up the stairs and then turned and walked to the +fire, with his hands in his pockets and his head down. + +I closed the news stand and he came over just as I was hanging up +the cigar-case key for Amanda King in the morning. He reached up +and took the key off its nail. + +"I'll keep that," he said. "It's no tobacco after this, Minnie." + +"You can't keep them here, then," I retorted. "They've got to +smoke; it's the only work they do." + +"We'll see," he said quietly. "And--oh, yes, Minnie, now that we +shall not be using the mineral spring--" + +"Not use the mineral spring!" I repeated, stupefied. + +"Certainly NOT!" he said. "This is a drugless sanatorium, +Minnie, from now on. That's part of the theory--no drugs." + +"Well, I'll tell you one thing," I snapped, "theory or no theory, +you've got to have drugs. No theory that I ever heard of is +going to cure Mr. Moody's indigestion and Miss Cobb's neuralgia." + +"They won't have indigestion and neuralgia." + +"Or Amanda King's toothache." + +"We won't have Amanda King." + +He put his elbow on the stand and smiled at me. + +"Listen, Minnie," he said. "If you hadn't been wasting your +abilities in the mineral spring, I'd be sorry to close it. But +there will be plenty for you to do. Don't you know that the day +of the medicine-closet in the bath-room and the department-store +patent-remedy counter is over? We've got sanatoriums now instead +of family doctors. In other words, we put in good sanitation +systems and don't need the plumber and his repair kit." + +"The pharmacy?" I said between my teeth. + +"Closed also. No medicine, Minnie. That's our slogan. This is +the day of prophylaxis. The doctors have taken a step in the +right direction and are giving fewer drugs. Christian Science +has abolished drugs and established the healer. We simply +abolish the healer." + +"If we're not going to use the spring-house, we might have saved +the expense of the new roof in the fall," I said bitterly. + +"Not at all. For two hours or so a day the spring-house will be +a rest-house--windows wide open and God's good air penetrating to +fastnesses it never knew before." + +"The spring will freeze!" + +"Exactly. My only regret is that it is too small to skate on. +But they'll have the ice pond." + +"When I see Mr. Moody skating on the ice pond," I said +sarcastically, "I'll see Mrs. Moody dead with the shock on the +bank." + +"Not at all," he replied calmly. "You'll see her skating, too." +And with that he went to bed. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +LIKE DUCKS TO WATER + +They took to it like ducks take to water. Not, of course, that +they didn't kick about making their own beds and having military +discipline generally. They complained a lot, but when after +three days went by with the railroad running as much on schedule +as it ever does, they were all still there, and Mr. Jennings had +limped out and spent a half-hour at the wood-pile with his gouty +foot on a cushion, I saw it was a success. + +I ought to have been glad. I was, although when Mrs. Dicky found +they were all staying, and that she might have to live in the +shelter-house the rest of the winter, there was an awful scene. +I was glad, too, every time I could see Mr. Thoburn's gloomy +face, or hear the things he said when his name went up for the +military walk. + +(Oh yes, we had a blackboard in the hall, and every morning each +guest looked to see if it was wood-pile day or +military-walk day. At first, instead of wood-pile, it was walk- +clearing day, but they soon had the snow off all the paths.) + +As I say, I was glad. It looked as if the new idea was a +success, although as Doctor Barnes said, nobody could really tell +until new people began to come. That was the real test. They +had turned the baths into a gymnasium and they had beginners' +classes and advanced classes, and a prize offered on the +blackboard of a cigar for the man who made the most muscular +improvement in a week. The bishop won it the first week, being +the only one who could lie on his back and raise himself to a +sitting position without helping himself with his hands. As Mrs. +Moody said, it would be easy enough if somebody only sat on one's +feet to hold them down. + +But I must say I never got over the shock of seeing the spring- +house drifted with snow, all the windows wide open, the spring +frozen hard, and people sitting there during the rest hour, in +furs and steamer rugs, trying to play cards with mittens on-- +their hands, not the cards, of course--and not wrangling. I was +lonesome for it! + +I hadn't much to do, except from two to four to be at the +spring-house, and to count for the deep-breathing exercise. Oh, +yes, we had that, too! I rang a bell every half-hour and +everybody got up, and I counted slowly "one" and they breathed in +through their noses, and "two" and they exhaled quickly through +their mouths. I guess most of them used more of their lungs than +they ever knew they had. + +Well, everybody looked better and felt better, although they +wouldn't all acknowledge it. Miss Cobb suffered most, not having +the fire log to curl her hair with. But as she said herself, +between gymnasium and military walks, and the silence hour, and +eating, which took a long time, everybody being hungry--and going +to bed at nine, she didn't see how she could have worried with +it, anyhow. The fat ones, of course, objected to an apple and a +cup of hot water for breakfast, but except Mr. Thoburn, they all +realized it was for the best. He wasn't there for his health, he +said, having never had a sick day in his life, but when he saw it +was apple and hot water or leave, he did like Adam--he took the +apple. + +The strange thing of all was the way they began to look up +to Mr. Pierce. He was very strict; if he made a rule, it was +obey or leave. (As they knew after Mr. Moody refused to take the +military walk, and was presented with his bill and a railroad +schedule within an hour. He had to take the military walk with +Doctor Barnes that afternoon alone.) They had to respect a man +who could do all the things in the gymnasium that they couldn't, +and come in from a ten or fifteen-mile tramp through the snow and +take a cold plunge and a swim to rest himself. + +It was on Monday that we really got things started, and on Monday +afternoon Miss Summers came out to the shelter-house in a +towering rage. + +"Where's Mr. Pierce?" she demanded. + +"I guess you can see he isn't here," I said. + +"Just wait until I see him!" she announced. "Do you know that I +am down on the blackboard for the military walk to-day? + +"Why not?" + +She turned and glared at me. "Why not?" she repeated. "Why, the +audacity of the wretch! He brings me out into the country in +winter to play in his atrocious play, strands me, and then tells +me to walk twenty miles a day and smile over it!" She came +over to me and shook my arm. "Not only that," she said, "but he +has cut out my cigarettes and put Arabella on dog biscuit-- +Arabella, who can hardly eat a chicken wing." + +"Well, there's something to be thankful for," I said. "He didn't +put you on dog biscuit." + +She laughed then, with one of her quick changes of humor. + +"The worst of it is," she said, in a confidential whisper, "I'll +do it. I feel it. I guess if the truth were known I'm some +older than he is, but--I'm afraid of him, Minnie. Little Judy is +ready to crawl around and speak for a cracker or a kind word. +Oh, I'm not in love with him, but he's got the courage to say +what he means and do what he says." + +She went to the door and looked back smiling. + +"I'm off for the wood-pile," she called back. "And I've promised +to chop two inches off my heels." + +As I say, they took to it like ducks to water--except two of +them, von Inwald and Thoburn. Mr. von Inwald stayed on, I hardly +know why, but I guess it was because Mr. Jennings still +hadn't done anything final about settlements, and with the +newspapers marrying him every day it wasn't very comfortable. +Next to him, Mr. Thoburn was the unhappiest mortal I have ever +seen. He wouldn't leave, and with Doctor Barnes carrying out his +threat to take six inches off his waist, he stopped measuring +window-frames with a tape line and took to measuring himself. + +I came across him on Wednesday--the third day--straggling home +from the military walk. He and Mr. von Inwald limped across the +tennis-court and collapsed on the steps of the spring-house while +the others went on to the sanatorium. I had been brushing the +porch, and I leaned on my broom and looked at them. + +"You're both looking a lot better," I said. "Not so--well, not +so beer-y. How do you like it by this time?" + +"Fine!" answered Mr. Thoburn. "Wouldn't stay if I didn't like +it." + +"Wouldn't you?" + +"But I'll tell you this, Minnie," he said, changing his position +with a groan to look up at me, "somebody ought to warn that +young man. Human nature can stand a lot but it can't stand +everything. He's overdoing it!" + +"They like it," I said. + +"They think they do," he retorted. "Mark my words, Minnie, if he +adds another mile to the walk to-morrow there will be a mutiny. +Kingdoms may be lost by an extra blister on a heel." + +Mr. von Inwald had been sitting with his feet straight out, +scowling, but now he turned and looked at me coolly. + +"All that keeps me here," he said, "is Minnie's lovely hair. It +takes me mentally back home, Minnie, to a lovely lady--may I have +a bit of it to keep by me?" + +"You may not," I retorted angrily. + +"Oh! The lovely lady--but never mind that. For the sake of my +love for you, Minnie, find me a cigarette, like a good girl! I +am desolate." + +"There's no tobacco on the place," I said firmly, and went on +with my sweeping. + +"When I was a boy," Mr. Thoburn remarked, looking out +thoughtfully over the snow, "we made a sort of cigarette out of +corn-silk. You don't happen to have any corn-silk about, do +you, Minnie?" + +"No," I said shortly. "If you take my advice, Mr. Thoburn, +you'll go back to town. You can get all the tobacco you want +there--and you're wasting your time here." I leaned on my broom +and looked down at him, but he was stretching out his foot and +painfully working his ankle up and down. + +"Am I?" he asked, looking at his foot. "Well, don't count on it +too much, Minnie. You always inspire me, and sitting here I've +just thought of something." + +He got up and hobbled off the porch, followed by Mr. von Inwald. +I saw him say something to Mr. von Inwald, who threw back his +head and laughed. Then I saw them stop and shake hands and go on +again in deep conversation. I felt uneasy. + + +Doctor Barnes came out that afternoon and watched me while I +closed the windows. He had a package in his hand. He sat on the +railing of the spring and looked at me. + +"You're not warmly enough dressed for this kind of thing," +he remarked. "Where's that gray rabbits' fur, or whatever it +is?" + +"If you mean my chinchillas," I said, "they're in their box. +Chinchillas are as delicate as babies and not near so plentiful. +I'm warm enough." + +"You look it." He reached over and caught one of my hands. "Look +at that! Blue nails! It's about four degrees above zero here, +and while the rest are wrapped in furs and steamer rugs, with +hotwater bottles at their feet, you've got on a shawl. I'll bet +you two dollars you haven't got on any--er--winter flannels." + +"I never bet," I retorted, and went on folding up the steamer +rugs. + +"I'd like to help," he said, "but you're so darned capable, Miss +Minnie--" + +"You might see if you can get the slot-machine empty," I said. +"It's full of water. It wouldn't work and Mr. Moody thought it +was frozen. He's been carrying out boiling water all afternoon. +If it stays in there and freezes the thing will explode." + +He wasn't listening. He'd been fussing with his package and now +he opened it and handed it to me, in the paper. + +"It's a sweater," he said, not looking at me. "I bought it for +myself and it was too small-- Confound it, Minnie, I wish I +could lie! I bought them for you! There's the whole business-- +sweater, cap, leggings and mittens. Go on! Throw them at me!" + +But I didn't. I looked at them, all white and soft, and it came +over me suddenly how kind people had been lately, and how much +I'd been getting--the old doctor's waistcoat buttons and Miss +Pat's furs, and now this! I just buried my face in them and +cried. + +Doctor Barnes stood by and said nothing. Some men wouldn't have +understood, but he did. After a minute or so he came over and +pulled the sweater out from the bundle. + +"I'm glad you like 'em," he said, "but as I bought them at +Hubbard's, in Finleyville, and as the old liar guaranteed they +wouldn't shrink, we'd better not cry on 'em." + +Well, I put them on and I was warmer and happier than I had been +for some time. But that night when I went out to the shelter- +house with the supper basket I found both the honeymooners in a +wild state of excitement. They said that about five o'clock +Thoburn had gone out to the shelter-house and walked all around +it. Finally he had stopped at one of the windows of the other +room, had worked at it with his penknife and got it open, and +crawled through. They sat paralyzed with fright, and heard him +moving around the other room, and he even tried their door. But +it had been locked. They hadn't the slightest idea what he was +doing, but after perhaps ten minutes he went away, going out the +door this time and taking the key with him. + +Mr. Dick had gone in when he was safely gone, but he could see +nothing unusual, except that the door of the cupboard in the +corner was standing open and there was a brand-new, folding, foot +rule in it. + +That day the bar was closed for good, and there was a good bit of +fussing. To add to the trouble, that evening at dinner the +pastries were cut off, and at eight o'clock a delegation headed +by Senator Biggs visited Mr. Pierce in the office and demanded +pastry put back on the menu and the stewed fruit taken off. But +Mr. Pierce was firm and they came out pretty well subdued. +It was that night, I think, that candles were put in the +bedrooms, and all the electric lights were turned off at nine- +thirty. + +At ten o'clock I took my candle and went to Mr. Pierce's sitting- +room door. I didn't think they'd stand much more and I wanted to +tell him so. Nobody answered and I opened the door. He was +asleep, face down on the hearth-rug in front of the fire. His +candle was lighted on the floor beside him and near it lay a +newspaper cutting crumpled in a ball. I picked it up. It was a +list of the bridal party for Miss Patty's wedding. + +I dropped it where I found it and went out and knocked again +loudly. He wakened after a minute and came to the door with the +candle in his hand. + +"Oh, it's you, Minnie. Come in!" + +I went in and put my candle on the table. + +"I've got to talk to you," I said. "I don't mind admitting +things have been going pretty well, but--they won't stand for the +candles. You mark my words." + +"If they'll stand for the bar being closed, why not the candles?" +he demanded. + +"Well," I said, "they can't have electric light sent up in +boxes and labeled `books,' but they can get liquor that way." + +He whistled, and then he laughed. + +"Then we'll not have any books," he said. "I guess they can +manage. `My only books were woman's looks--'" and then he saw +the ball of paper on the floor and his expression changed. He +walked over and picked it up, smoothing it out on the palm of his +hand. + +After a minute he looked up at me. + +"I haven't been to the shelter-house to-day. They are all +right?" + +"They're nervous. With everybody walking these days they daren't +venture a nose out of doors." + +He was still holding the clipping. + +"And--Miss Jennings!" he said. "She--I think she looks better." + +"Her father's in a better humor for one thing--says Abraham +Lincoln split logs, and that it beats massage." + +I had been standing in the doorway, but he took me by the arm and +drew me into the room. + +"I wish you'd sit down for about ten minutes, Minnie," he +said. "I guess every fellow has a time when he's got to tell his +troubles to some good woman--not but that you know mine already. +You're as shrewd as you are kind." + +I sat down on the edge of a chair. For all I had had so much to +do with the sanatorium, I never forgot that I was only the +spring-house girl. He threw himself back in his easy chair, with +the candle behind him on the table and his arms above his head. + +"It's like this, Minnie," he said. "Mr. Jennings likes the new +order of things and--he's going to stay." + +I nodded. + +"And I like it here. I want to stay. It's the one thing I've +found that I think I can do. It isn't what I've dreamed of, but +it's worth while. To anchor the derelicts of humanity in a sort +of repair dock here, and scrape the barnacles off their +dispositions, and send them out shipshape again, surely that's +something. And I can do it." + +I nodded again. + +"But if the Jenningses stay--" he looked at me. "Minnie, in +heaven's name, what am I going to do if SHE stays?" + +"I don't know, Mr. Pierce," I said. "I couldn't sleep last night +for thinking about it." + +He smoothed out the paper and looked at it again, but I think he +scarcely saw it. + +"The situation is humorous," he said, "only my sense of humor +seems to have died. She doesn't know I exist, except to invent +new and troublesome regulations for her annoyance. She is very +sweet when she meets me, but only because I am helping her to +have her own way. And I--my God, Minnie, I sit in the office and +listen for her step outside!" + +He moved a little and held out the paper in the candle-light. + +"`It will please Americans to know,'" he read, "`that with the +exception of the Venetian lace robe sent by the bridegroom's +mother, all of Miss Patricia Jennings' elaborate trousseau is +being made in America. + +"`Prince Oskar and his suite, according to present arrangements, +will sail from Naples early in March, and the wedding date, +although not yet definitely fixed, will probably be the first +week in April. The wedding party will include--'" + +He stopped there, and looked at me, trying to smile. + +"I knew it all before," he said, "but there's something +inevitable about print. I guess I hadn't realized it." + +He had the same look of wretchedness he'd had the first night I +saw him--a hungry look--and I couldn't help it; I went over to +him and patted him on the head like a little boy. I was only the +spring-house girl, but I was older than he was, and he needed +somebody to comfort him. + +"I can't think of anything to say that will help any," I said, +"unless it's what you wrote yourself on the blackboard down in +the hall, `Keep busy and you'll keep happy.'" + +He reached up for my hand, and rough and red as it was--having +been in the spring for so many years--he kissed it. + +"Good for you, Minnie!" he said. "You're rational, and for a day +or so I haven't been. That's right, KEEP BUSY. I'll do it." +He got up and put his hands on my shoulders. "Good old pal, when +you see me going around as if all the devils of hell were +tormenting me, just come up and say that to me, will you?" + +I promised, and he opened the door, candle in hand, and smiling. + +"I'm a thousand per cent. better already," he said. "I just +needed to tell somebody, I think. I dare say I've made a lot +more fuss than it really deserves." + +At the far end of the hall, a girl came out of one room, and +carrying a candle, went across to another. It was Miss Patty, +going to bid her father good night. When I left, he was still +staring down the hall after her, his candle dripping wax on the +floor, and his face white. I guess he hadn't overstated his +case. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE FIRST FRUITS + +By Friday of that week you would hardly have known any of them. +The fat ones were thinner and the thin ones fatter, and Miss +Julia Summers could put her whole hand inside her belt. + +And they were pleasant. They'd sit down to a supper of ham and +eggs and apple sauce, and yell for more apple sauce, and every +evening in the billiard room they got up two weighing pools, one +for the ones who wanted to reduce, and one for the people who +wanted to gain. Everybody put in a dollar, and at gymnasium hour +the next morning the ones who'd gained or lost the most won the +pool. Mr. Thoburn won the losing pool on Thursday and Friday--he +didn't want to lose weight, but he was compelled to under the +circumstances. And I think worry helped him to it. + +They fussed some still about sleeping with the windows +open, especially the bald-headed men. However, the bishop, who +had been bald for thirty years, was getting a fine down all over +the top of his head, and this encouraged the rest. The bishop +says it is nature's instinct to protect itself from cold--all +animals have fur, and heavier fur in winter--and he believed that +it was the ultimate cure for baldness. Men lose their hair on +top, he said, because they wear hats, and so don't need it. But +let the top of the head need protection, and lo, hair comes +there. Although, as Mr. Thoburn said, his nose was always cold +in winter, and nature never did anything for IT. + +Mr. von Inwald was still there, and not troubling himself to be +agreeable to any but the Jennings family. He and Mr. Pierce +carefully avoided each other, but I knew well enough that only +policy kept them apart. Both of them, you see, were working for +something. + +Miss Cobb came to the spring-house early Friday morning, and from +the way she came in and shut the door I knew she had something on +her mind. She walked over to where I was polishing the brass +railing around the spring--it had been the habit of years, +and not easy to break--and stood looking at me and breathing +hard. + +"Minnie," she exclaimed, "I have found the thief!" + +"Lord have mercy!" I said, and dropped the brass polish. + +"I have found the thief!" she repeated firmly. "Minnie, our sins +always find us out." + +"I guess they do," I said shakily, and sat down on the steps to +the spring. "Oh, Miss Cobb, if only he would use a little bit of +sense!" + +"He?" she said. "HE nothing! It's that Summers woman I'm +talking about, Minnie. I knew that woman wasn't what she ought +to be the minute I set eyes on her." + +"The Summers woman!" I repeated. + +Miss Cobb leaned over the railing and shook a finger in my face. + +"The Summers woman," she said. "One of the chambermaids found +my--my PROTECTORS hanging in the creature's closet!" + +I couldn't speak. There had been so much happening that I'd +clean forgotten Miss Cobb and her woolen tights. And now to have +them come back like this and hang themselves around my neck, +so to speak--it was too much. + +"Per--perhaps they're hers," I said weakly after a minute. + +"Stuff and nonsense!" declared Miss Cobb. "Don't you think I +know my own, with L. C. in white cotton on the band, and my own +darning in the knee where I slipped on the ice? And more than +that, Minnie, where those tights are, my letters are!" + +I glanced at the pantry, where her letters were hidden on the +upper shelf. The door was closed. + +"But--but what would she want with the letters?" I asked, with my +teeth fairly hitting together. Miss Cobb pushed her forefinger +into my shoulder. + +"To blackmail me," she said, in a tragic voice, "or perhaps to +publish. I've often thought of that myself--they're so +beautiful. Letters from a life insurance agent to his lady- +love--interesting, you know, and alliterative. As for that +woman--!" + +"What woman!" said Miss Summers' voice from behind us. We jumped +and turned. "I always save myself trouble, so if by any chance +you are discussing me--" + +"As it happens," Miss Cobb said, glaring at her, "I WAS +discussing you." + +"Fine!" said Miss Julia. "I love to talk about myself." + +"I doubt if it's an edifying subject," Miss Cobb snapped. + +Miss Julia looked at her and smiled. + +"Perhaps not," she said, "but interesting. Don't put yourself +out to be friendly to me, Miss Cobb, if you don't feel like it." + +"Are you going to return my letters?" Miss Cobb demanded. + +"Your letters?" + +"My letters--that you took out of my room!" + +"Look here," Miss Julia said, still in a good humor, "don't you +suppose I've got letters of my own, without bothering with +another woman's?" + +"Perhaps," Miss Cobb replied in triumph, "perhaps you will say +that you don't know anything of my--of my black woolen +protectors?" + +"Never heard of them!" said Miss Summers. "What are they?" And +then she caught my eye, and I guess I looked stricken. "Oh!" she +said. + +"Miss Cobb was robbed the other night," I explained, as quietly +as I could. "Somebody went into her room and took a bundle of +letters." + +"Letters!" Miss Summers straightened and looked at me. + +"And my woolen tights," said Miss Cobb indignantly, "with all +this cold weather and military walks, and having to sit two hours +a day by an open window! And I'll tell you this, Miss Summers, +your dog got in my room that night, and while I have no +suspicions, the chambermaid found my--er--missing garment this +morning in your closet!" + +"I don't believe," Miss Julia said, looking hard at me, "that +Arabella would steal anything so--er--grotesque! Do you mean to +say," she added slowly, "that nothing was taken from that room +but the--lingerie and a bundle of letters?" + +"Exactly," said Miss Cobb, "and I'd thank you for the letters." + +"The letters!" Miss Julia retorted. "I've never been in your +room. I haven't got the letters. I've never seen them." Then a +light dawned in her face. "I--oh, it's the funniest ever!" + +And with that she threw her head back and laughed until the tears +rolled down her cheeks and she held her side. + +"Screaming!" she gasped. "It's screaming! But, oh, Minnie, to +have seen your face!" + +Miss Cobb swept to the door and turned in a fury. + +"I do not think it is funny," she stormed, "and I shall report to +Mr. Carter at once what I have discovered." + +She banged out, and Miss Julia put her head on a card-table and +writhed with joy. "To have seen your face, Minnie!" she panted, +wiping her eyes. "To have thought you had Dick Carter's letters, +that I keep rolled in asbestos, and then to have opened them and +found they were to Miss Cobb!" + +"Be as happy as you like," I snapped, "but you are barking up the +wrong tree. I don't know anything about any letters and as far +as that goes, do you think I've lived here fourteen years to get +into the wrong room at night? If I'd wanted to get into your +room, I'd have found your room, not Miss Cobb's." + +She sat up and pulled her hat straight, looking me right in the +eye. + +"If you'll recall," she said, "I came into the spring-house, and +Arabella pulled that--garment of Miss Cobb's off a table. It was +early--nobody was out yet. You were alone, Minnie, or no," she +said suddenly, "you were not alone. Minnie, WHO was in the +pantry?" + +"What has that to do with it?" I managed, with my feet as cold as +stone. + +She got up and buttoned her sweater. + +"Don't trouble to lie," she said. "I can see through a stone +wall as well as most people. Whoever got those letters thought +they were stealing mine, and there are only two people who would +try to steal my letters; one is Dick Carter, and the other is his +brother-in-law. It wasn't Sam in the pantry--he came in just +after with his little snip of a wife." + +"Well?" I managed. + +But she was smiling again, not so pleasantly. + +"I might have known it!" she said. "What a fool I've been, +Minnie, and how clever you are under that red thatch of yours! +Dicky can not appear as long as I am here, and Pierce takes his +place, and I help to keep the secret and to play the game! Well, +I can appreciate a joke on myself as well as most people, +but--Minnie, Minnie, think of that guilty wretch of a Dicky +Carter shaking in the pantry!" + +"I don't know what you are talking about," I said, but she only +winked and went to the door. + +"Don't take it too much to heart," she advised. "Too much +loyalty is a vice, not a virtue. And another piece of advice, +Minnie--when I find Dicky Carter, stand from under; something +will fall." + +They had charades during the rest hour that afternoon, the +overweights headed by the bishop, against the underweights headed +by Mr. Moody. They selected their words from one of Horace +Fletcher's books, and as Mr. Pierce wasn't either over or +underweight, they asked him to be referee. + +Oh, they were crazy about him by that time. It was "Mr. Carter" +here and "dear Mr. Carter" there, with the women knitting him +neckties and the men coming up to be bullied and asking for more. + +And he kept the upper hand, too, once he got it. It was that +day, I think, that he sent Senator Biggs up to make his bed +again, and nobody in the place will ever forget how he made old +Mr. Jennings hang his gymnasium suit up three times before it was +done properly. The old man was mad enough at the time, but +inside of twenty minutes he was offering Mr. Pierce the cigar +he'd won in the wood-chopping contest. + +But if Mr. Pierce was making a hit with the guests, he wasn't so +popular with the Van Alstynes or the Carters. The night the +cigar stand was closed Mr. Sam came to me and leaned over the +counter. + +"Put the key in a drawer," he said. "I can slip down here after +the lights are out and get a smoke." + +"Can't do it, Mr. Van Alstyne," I said. "Got positive orders." + +"That doesn't include me." He was still perfectly good-humored. + +"Sorry," I said. "Have to have a written order from Mr. Pierce." + +He put a silver dollar on the desk between us and looked at me +over it. + +"Will that open the case?" he asked. But I shook my head. + +"Well, I'll be hanged! What the devil sort of order did he give +you?" + +"He said," I repeated, "that I'd be coaxed and probably bribed to +open the cigar case, and that you'd probably be the first +one to do it, but I was to stick firm; you've been smoking too +much, and your nerves are going." + +"Insolent young puppy!" he exclaimed angrily, and stamped away. + +So that I was not surprised when on that night, Friday, I was +told to be at the shelter-house at ten o'clock for a protest +meeting. Mrs. Sam told me. + +"Something has to be done," she said. "I don't intend to stand +much more. Nobody has the right to say when I shall eat or what. + +If I want to eat fried shoe leather, that's my affair." + +We met at ten o'clock at the shelter-house, everybody having gone +to bed--Miss Patty, the Van Alstynes and myself. The Dickys were +on good terms again, for a wonder, and when we went in they were +in front of the fire, she on a box and he at her feet, with his +head buried in her lap. He didn't even look up when we entered. + +"They're here, Dicky," she said. + +"All right!" he answered in a smothered voice. "How many of +'em?" + +"Four," she said, and kissed the tip of his ear. + +"For goodness sake, Dick!" Mrs. Sam snapped in a disgusted +tone, "stop that spooning and get us something to sit on." + +"Help yourself," he replied, still from his wife's lap, "and +don't be jealous, sis. If the sight of married happiness upsets +you, go away. Go away, anyhow." + +Mr. Sam came over and jerked him into a sitting position. +"Either you'll sit up and take part in this discussion," he said +angrily, "or you'll go out in the snow until it's over." + +Mr. Dick leaned over and kissed his wife's hand. + +"A cruel fate is separating us," he explained, "but try to endure +it until I return. I'll be on the other side of the fireplace." + +Miss Patty came to the fire and stood warming her hands. I saw +her sister watching her. + +"What's wrong with you, Pat?" she asked. "Oskar not behaving?" + +"Don't be silly," Miss Patty said. "I'm all right." + +"She's worked to death," Mrs. Sam put in. "Look at all of us. +I'll tell you I'm so tired these nights that by nine o'clock I'm +asleep on my feet." + +"I'm tired to death, but I don't sleep," Miss Patty said. "I--I +don't know why." + +"I do," her sister said. "If you weren't so haughty, Pat, and +would just own up that you're sick of your bargain--" + +"Dolly!" Miss Patty got red and then white. + +"Oh, all right," Mrs. Dicky said, and shrugged her shoulders. +"Only, I hate to see you make an idiot of yourself, when I'm so +happy." + +Mr. Dick made a move at that to go across the fireplace to her, +but Mr. Sam pushed him back where he was. + +"You stay right there," he said. "Here's Pierce now." + +He came in smiling, and as he stood inside the door, brushing the +snow off, it was queer to see how his eyes went around the circle +until he'd found Miss Patty and stopped at her. + +Nobody answered his smile, and he came over to the fire beside +Miss Patty. + +"Great night!" he said, looking down at her. "There's something +invigorating in just breathing that wind." + +"Do you think so?" Mrs. Sam said disagreeably. "Of course, we +haven't all got your shoulders." + +"That's so," he answered, turning to her. "I said you women +should not come so far. We could have met in my sitting-room." + +"You forget one thing," Mr. Dick put in disagreeably, "and that +is that this meeting concerns me, and I can not very well go to +YOUR sitting-room." + +"Fact," said Mr. Pierce, "I'd forgotten about you for the +moment." + +"You generally do," Mr. Dick retorted. "If you want the truth, +Pierce, I'm about tired of your high-handed methods." + +Mr. Pierce set his jaw and looked down at him. + +"Why? I've saved the place, haven't I? Why, look here," he +said, and pulled out a couple of letters, "these are the first +fruits of those that weep--in other words, per aspera ad astra! + +Two new guests coming the last of the week--want to be put in +training!" + +Well, that was an argument nobody could find fault with, but +their grievance was about themselves and they couldn't forgive +him. They turned on him in the most heartless way--even Miss +Patty--and demanded that he give them special privileges-- +breakfast when they wanted it, and Mr. Sam the key to the +bar. And he stood firm, as he had that day in the lobby, and let +the storm beat around him, looking mostly at Miss Patty. It was +more than I could bear. + +"Shame on all of you!" I said. "He's done what he promised he'd +do, and more. If he did what he ought, he'd leave this minute, +and let you find out for yourself what it is to drive thirty-odd +different stomachs and the same number of bad dispositions in one +direction." + +"You are perfectly right, Minnie," Miss Patty said. "We're +beastly, all of us, and I'm sorry." She went over and held out +her hand to him. "You've done the impossible," she told him. He +beamed. + +"Your approval means more than anything," he said, holding her +hand. Mrs. Dick sat up and opened her eyes wide. + +"Speaking of Oskar," she began, and then stopped, staring past +her sister, toward the door. + +We all turned, and there, blinking in the light, was Miss +Summers. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +OVER THE FENCE IS OUT + +"WELL!" she said, and stood staring. Then she smiled--I guess +our faces were funny. + +"May I come in?" she asked, and without waiting she came in and +closed the door. "You DO look cozy!" she said, and shook +herself free of snow. + +Mr. Dick had turned white. He got up with his eyes on her, and +twice he opened his mouth and couldn't speak. He backed, still +watching her, to his wife, and stood in front of her, as if to +protect her. + +Mr. Sam got his voice first. + +"B--bad night for a walk," he said. + +"Frightful!" she said. "I've been buried to my knees. May I sit +down?" To those of us who knew, her easy manner had something +horrible in it. + +"Sorry there are no chairs, Julia," Mr. Pierce said. "Sit on the +cot, won't you?" + +"Who IS it?" Mrs. Dick asked from, as you may say, her +eclipse. She and Miss Summers were the only calm ones in the +room. + +"I--I don't know," Mr. Dick stammered, but the next moment Miss +Julia, from the cot, looked across at him and grinned. + +"Well, Dicky!" she said. "Who'd have thought it!" + +"You said you didn't know her!" his wife said from behind him. + +"Who'd have thought wha--what?" he asked with bravado. + +"All this!" Miss Julia waved her hand around the room, with its +bare walls, and blankets over the windows to keep the light in +and the cold out, and the circle of us sitting around on sand +boxes from the links and lawn rollers. "To find you here, all +snug in your own home, with your household gods and a wife." +Nobody could think of anything to say. "That is," she went on, +"I believe there is a wife. Good heavens, Dicky, it isn't +Minnie?" + +He stepped aside at that, disclosing Mrs. Dick on her box, with +her childish eyes wide open. + +"There--there IS a wife, Julia," he said. "This is her--she." + +Well, she'd come out to make mischief--it was written all over +her when she came in the door, but when Mr. Dick presented his +wife, frightened as he was and still proud of her, and Mrs. Dick +smiled in her pretty way, Miss Summers just walked across and +looked down at her with a queer look on her face. I shut my eyes +and waited for the crash, but nothing came, and when I opened +them again there were the two women holding hands and Miss +Summers smiling a sort of crooked grin at Mr. Dick. + +"I ought to be very angry with your husband," she said. "I-- +well, I never expected him to marry without my being among those +present. But since he has done it--! Dick, you wretched boy, +you took advantage of my being laid up with the mumps!" + +"Mumps!" Mrs. Dick said. "Why, he has just had them himself!" +She looked around the circle suspiciously, and every one of us +looked as guilty as if he had been caught with the mumps +concealed around him somewhere. + +"I didn't have real mumps," Mr. Dick explained. "It was only-- +er--a swelling." + +"You SAID it was mumps, and even now you hate pickles!" + +Mr. Pierce had edged over to Miss Summers and patted her +shoulder. + +"Be a good sport, Julia," he whispered. + +She threw off his hand. + +"I'm being an idiot!" she said angrily. "Dick's an ass, and he's +treated me like a villain, but look at that baby! It will be +twenty years before she has to worry about her weight." + +"I never cared for pickles," Mr. Dick was saying with dignity. +"The doctor said--" + +"I think we'd better be going." Miss Patty got up and gathered +up her cloak. But if she meant to break up the party Miss +Summers was not ready. + +"If you don't mind," she said, "I'll stay. I'm frozen, and I've +got to go home and sleep with my window up. You're lucky," she +went on to the Dickys. "I dare say the air in here would scare +us under a microscope, but at least it is warm." + +The Van Alstynes made a move to go, but Mr. Dicky +frantically gestured to them not to leave him alone, and Mrs. Sam +sat down again sulkily. Mr. Pierce picked up his cap. + +"I'll take you back," he said to Miss Patty, and his face was +fairly glowing. But Miss Patty slipped her arm through mine. + +"Come, Minnie, Mr. Pierce is going to take us," she said. + +"I'd--I'd rather go alone," I said. + +"Nonsense." + +"I'm not ready. I've got to gather up these dishes," I objected. + +Out of the corner of my eye I could see the glow dying out of Mr. +Pierce's face. But Miss Patty took my arm and led me to the +door. + +"Let them gather up their own dishes," she said. "Dolly, you +ought to be ashamed to let Minnie slave for you the way she does. + +Good night, everybody." + +I did my best to leave them alone on the way back, but Miss Patty +stuck close to my heels. It was snowing, and the going was slow. + +For the first five minutes she only spoke once. + +"And so Miss Summers and Dicky Carter are old friends!" + +"It appears so," Mr. Pierce said. + +"She's rather magnanimous, under the circumstances," Miss Patty +remarked demurely. + +"Under what circumstances?" + +I heard her laugh a little, behind me. + +"Never mind," she said. "You needn't tell me anything you don't +care to. But what a stew you must all have been in!" + +There was a minute's silence behind me, and then Mr. Pierce +laughed too. + +"Stew!" he said. "For the last few days I've been either +paralyzed with fright or electrified into wild bursts of +mendacity. And I'm not naturally a liar." + +"Really!" she retorted. "What an actor you are!" + +They laughed together at that, and I gained a little on them. At +the corner where the path skirted the deer park and turned toward +the house I lost them altogether and I floundered on alone. But +I had not gone twenty feet when I stopped suddenly. About fifty +yards ahead a lantern was coming toward me through the snow, and +I could hear a man's voice, breathless and gasping. + +"Set it down," it said. "The damned thing must be filled with +lead." It sounded like Thoburn. + +"It's the snow," another voice replied, Mr. von Inwald's. "I +told you it would take two trips." + +"Yes," Thoburn retorted, breathing in groans. "Stay up all night +to get the blamed stuff here, and then get up at dawn for a cold +bath and a twenty-mile walk and an apple for breakfast. Ugh, my +shoulder is dislocated." + +I turned and flew back to Miss Patty and Pierce. They had +stopped in the shelter of the fence corner and Mr. Pierce was on +his knees in front of her! I was so astounded that I forgot for +the moment what had brought me. + +"Just a second," he was saying. "It's ice on the heel." + +"Please get up off your knees, you'll take cold." + +"Never had a cold. I'll scrape it off with my knife. Why don't +you wear overshoes?" + +"I never have a cold!" she retorted. "Why, Minnie, is that you?" + +"Quick," I panted. "Thoburn and Mr. von Inwald coming--basket-- +lantern--warn the shelter-house!" + +"Great Scott I" Mr. Pierce said. "Here, you girls crawl over the +fence: you'll be hidden there. I'll run back and warn them." + +The lantern was swinging again. Mr. Thoburn's grumbling came to +us through the snow, monotonous and steady. + +"I can't climb the fence!" Miss Patty said pitifully. But Mr. +Pierce had gone. + +I reached my basket through the bars and climbed the fence in a +hurry. Miss Patty had got almost to the top and was standing +there on one snow-covered rail, staring across at me through the +darkness. + +"I can't, Minnie," she whispered hopelessly. "I never could +climb a fence, and in this skirt--!" + +"Quick!" I said in a low tone. The lantern was very close. "Put +your leg over." + +She did, and sat there looking down at me like a scared baby. + +"Now the other." + +"I--I can't!" she whispered. "If I put them both over I'll +fall." + +"Hurry!" + +With a little grunt she put the other foot over, sat a minute +with agony in her face and her arms out, then she slid off +with a squeal and brought up in a sitting position inside the +fence corner. I dropped beside her. + +"What was that noise?" said Mr. Thoburn, almost upon us. +"Something's moving inside that fence corner." + +"It's them deers," Mike's voice this time. We could make out the +three figures. "Darned nuisance, them deers is. They'd have +been shot long ago if the spring-house girl hadn't objected. She +thinks she's the whole cheese around here." + +"Set it down again," Mr. von Inwald panted. We heard the rattle +of bottles as they put down the basket, and the next instant +Thoburn's fat hand was resting on the rail of the fence over our +heads. I could feel Miss Patty trembling beside me. + +But he didn't look over. He stood there resting, breathing hard, +and swearing at the weather, while Mike waited, in surly silence, +and the von Inwald cursed in German. + +After my heart had been beating in my ears for about three years +the fat hand moved, and I heard the rattle of glass again and +Thoburn's groan as he bent over his half of the load. + + "`Come on, my partners in distress, + My comrades through this wilderness,'" + +he said, and the others grunted and started on. + +When they had disappeared in the snow we got out of our cramped +position and prepared to scurry home. I climbed the fence and +looked after them. "Humph!" I said, "I guess that basket isn't +for the hungry poor. I'd give a good bit to know--" Then I +turned and looked for Miss Patty. She was flat on the snow, +crawling between the two lower rails of the fence. + +"Have you no shame?" I demanded. + +She looked up at me with her head and half her long sealskin coat +through the fence. + +"None," she said pitifully. "Minnie, I'm stuck perfectly tight!" + +"You ought to be left as you are," I said, jerking at her, "for +people to come"--jerk--"to-morrow to look at"--jerk. She came +through at that, and we lay together in the snow and like to +burst a rib laughing. + +"You'll never be a princess, Miss Patty," I declared. "You're +too lowly minded." + +She sat up suddenly and straightened her sealskin cap on her +head. + +"I wish," she said unpleasantly, "I wish you wouldn't always drag +in disagreeable things, Minnie!" + +And she was sulky all the way to the house. + +Miss Summers came to my room that night as I was putting my hot- +water bottle to bed, in a baby-blue silk wrapper with a band of +fur around the low neck--Miss Summers, of course, not the hot- +water bottle. + +"Well!" she said, sitting down on the foot of the bed and staring +at me. "Well, young woman, for a person who has never been +farther away than Finleyville you do pretty well!" + +"Do what?" I asked, with the covers up to my chin. + +"Do what, Miss Innocence!" she said mockingly. "You're the only +red-haired woman I ever saw who didn't look as sophisticated as +the devil. I'll tell you one thing, though." She reached down +into the pocket of her dressing-gown and brought up a cigarette +and a match. "You never had me fooled for a minute!" She looked +at me over the match. + +I lay and stared back. + +"And another thing," she said. "I never had any real intention +of marrying Dicky Carter and raising a baby sanatorium. I +wouldn't have the face to ask Arabella to live here." + +"I'm glad you feel that way, Miss Summers," I said. "I've gone +through a lot; I'm an old woman in the last two weeks. My hair's +falling from its having to stand up on end half the time." + +She leaned over and put her cigarette on the back of my celluloid +mirror, and then suddenly she threw back her head and laughed. + +"Minnie!" she said, between fits, "Minnie! As long as I live +I'll never forget that wretched boy's face! And the sand boxes! +And the blankets over the windows! And the tarpaulin over the +rafters! And Mr. Van Alstyne sitting on the lawnmower! I'd +rather have had my minute in that doorway than fifty thousand +dollars!" + +"If you had had to carry out all those things--" I began, but she +checked me. + +"Listen!" she said. "Somebody with brains has got to take you +young people in hand. You're not able to look after yourselves. +I'm fond of Alan Pierce, for one thing, and I don't care to +see a sanatorium that might have been the child of my solicitude +kidnaped and reared as a summer hotel by Papa Thoburn. A good +fat man is very, very good, Minnie, but when he is bad he is +horrid." + +"It's too late," I objected feebly. "He can't get it now." + +"Can't he!" She got up and yawned, stretching. "Well, I'll lay +you ten to one that if we don't get busy he'll have the house +empty in thirty-six hours, and a bill of sale on it in as many +days." + +The celluloid mirror blazed up at that minute, and she poured the +contents of my water-pitcher over the dresser. For the next +hour, while I was emptying water out of the bureau drawers and +hanging up my clothes to dry, she told me what she knew of +Thoburn's scheme, and it turned me cold. + +But I went to bed finally. Just as I was dozing off, somebody +opened my door, and I heard a curious scraping along the floor. +I turned on the light, and there was Arabella, half-dragging and +half-carrying a solid silver hand-mirror with a card on it: "To +Minnie, to replace the one that blew up. J. S." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A CUPBOARD FULL OF RYE + +Doctor Barnes came to me at the news stand the next morning +before gymnasium. + +"Well," he said, "you look as busy as a dog with fleas. Have you +heard the glad tidings?" + +"What?" I asked without much spirit. "I've heard considerable +tidings lately, and not much of it has cheered me up any." + +He leaned over and ran his fingers up through his hair. + +"You know, Miss Minnie," he said, "somebody ought kindly to kill +our friend Thoburn, or he'll come to a bad end." + +"Shall I do it, or will you?" I said, filling up the chewing-gum +jar. (Mr. Pierce had taken away the candy case.) + +Doctor Barnes glanced around to see if there was any one near, +and leaned farther over. + +"The cupboard isn't empty now!" he said. "Not for nothing did I +spend part of the night in the Dicky-bird's nest! By the way, +did you ever hear that touching story about little Sally walking +up and laying an egg?--I see you have. What do you think is in +the cupboard?" + +"I know about it," I said shortly. "Liquor--in a case labeled +`Books--breakable.'" + +"`Sing a song of sixpence, a cupboard full of rye!'" he said. +"Almost a goal! But not ONLY liquors, my little friend. +Champagne--cases of it--caviar, canned grouse with truffles, +lobster, cheeses, fine cigars, everything you could think of, +erotic, exotic and narcotic. An orgy in cans and bottles, a +bacchanalian revel: a cupboard full of indigestion, joy, +forgetfulness and katzenjammer. Oh, my suffering palate, to +have to leave it all without one sniff, one sip, one nibble!" + +"He's wasting his money," I said. "They're all crazy about the +simple life." + +He looked around and, seeing no one in the lobby, reached over +and took one of my hands. + +"Strange," he said, looking at it. "No webs, and yet it's been +an amphibious little creature most of its life. My dear +girl, our friend Thoburn is a rascal, but he is also a student of +mankind and a philosopher. Gee," he said, "think of a woman +fighting her way alone through the world with a bit of a fist +like that!" + +I jerked my hand away. + +"It's like this, my dear," he said. "Human nature's a curious +thing. It's human nature, for instance, for me to be crazy about +you, when you're as hands-offish as a curly porcupine. And it is +human nature, by the same token, to like to be bullied, +especially about health, and to respect and admire the fellow who +does the bullying. That's why we were crazy about Roosevelt, and +that's why Pierce is trailing his kingly robes over them while +they lie on their faces and eat dirt--and stewed fruit." + +He reached for my hand again, but I put it behind me. + +"But alas," he said, "there is another side to human nature, and +our friend Thoburn has not kept a summer hotel for nothing. It +is notoriously weak, especially as to stomach. You may feed 'em +prunes and whole-wheat bread and apple sauce, and after a while +they'll forget the fat days, and remember only the lean and +hungry ones. But let some student of human nature at the proper +moment introduce just one fat day, one feast, one revel--" + +"Talk English," I said sharply. + +"Don't break in on my flights of fancy," he objected. "If you +want the truth, Thoburn is going to have a party--a forbidden +feast. He's going to rouse again the sleeping dogs of appetite, +and send them ravening back to the Plaza, to Sherry's and Del's +and the little Italian restaurants on Sixth Avenue. He's going +to take them up on a high mountain and show them the wines and +delicatessen of the earth, and then ask them if they're going to +be bullied into eating boiled beef and cabbage." + +"Then I don't care how soon he does it," I said despondently. +"I'd rather die quickly than by inches." + +"Die!" he said. "Not a bit of it. Remember, our friend Pierce +is also a student of human nature. He's thinking it out now in +the cold plunge, and I miss my guess if Thoburn's sky-rocket +hasn't got a stick that'll come back and hit him on the head." + +He had been playing with one of the chewing-gum jars, and when he +had gone I shoved it back into its place. It was by the +merest chance that I glanced at it, and I saw that he had slipped +a small white box inside. I knew I was being a silly old fool, +but my heart beat fast when I took it out and looked at it. On +the lid was written "For a good girl," and inside lay the red +puffs from Mrs. Yost's window down in Finleyville. Just under +them was an envelope. I could scarcely see to open it. + + +"Dearest Minnie," the note inside said, "I had them matched to my +own thatch, and I think they'll match yours. And since, in the +words of the great Herbert Spencer, things that match the same +thing match each other--! What do you say?--Barnes." + +"P. S.--I love you. I feel like a damn fool saying it, but +heaven knows it's true." + +"P. P. S.--Still love you. It's easier the second time." + +"N. B.--I love you--got the habit now and can't stop writing +it.--B." + + +Well, I had to keep calm and attend to business, but I was +seething inside like a Seidlitz powder. Every few minutes I'd +reread the letter under the edge of the stand, and the more I +read it the more excited I got. When a woman's gone past thirty +before she gets her first love-letter, she isn't sure +whether to thank providence or the man, but she's pretty +sure to make a fool of herself. + +Thoburn came to the news stand on his way out with the ice- +cutting gang to the pond. + +"Last call to the dining-car, Minnie," he said. "`Will you-- +won't you--will you--won't you--will you join the dance?'" + +"I haven't any reason for changing my plans," I retorted. "I +promised the old doctor to stick by the place, and I'm sticking." + +"As the man said when he sat down on the flypaper. You're going +by your heart, Minnie, and not by your head, and in this toss, +heads win." + +But with my new puffs on the back of my head, and my letter in my +pocket, I wasn't easy to discourage. Thoburn shouldered his pick +and, headed by Doctor Barnes, the ice-cutters started out in +single file. As they passed the news stand Doctor Barnes glanced +at me, and my heart almost stopped. + +"Do they--is it a match?" he asked, with his eyes on mine. + +I couldn't speak, but I nodded "yes," and all that afternoon I +could see the wonderful smile that lit up his face as he +went out. It made him almost good-looking. Oh, there's nothing +like love, especially if you've waited long enough to be hungry +for it, and not spoiled your taste for it by a bite here and a +piece of a heart there, beforehand, so to speak. + +Miss Cobb stopped at the news stand on her way to the gymnasium. +She was a homely woman at any time, and in her bloomers she +looked like a soup-bone. Under ordinary circumstances she'd have +seen the puffs from the staircase and have asked what they cost +and told me they didn't match, in one breath. But she had +something else on her mind. She padded over to the counter in +her gym shoes, and for once she'd forgotten her legs. + +"May I speak to you, Minnie?" she asked. + +"You mostly do," I said. "There isn't a new rule about speaking, +is there?" + +"This is important, Minnie," she said, rolling her eyes around as +she always did when she was excited. "I'm in such a state of +ex--I see you bought the puffs! Perhaps you will lend them to me +if we arrange for a country dance." + +"They don't match," I objected. "They--they wouldn't look +natural, Miss Cobb." + +"They don't look natural on you, either. Do you suppose anybody +believes that the Lord sent you hair in seventeen rows of pipes, +so that, red as it is, it looks like an instantaneous water- +heater?" + +"I'm not lending them," I said firmly. It would have been like +lending an engagement ring, to my mind. Miss Cobb was not +offended. She went at once to what had brought her, and bent +over the counter. + +"Where's the Summers woman?" she asked. + +"In the gym. She's made herself a new gym suit out of her polka +dotted silk, and she looks lovely." + +"Humph!" retorted Miss Cobb. "Minnie, you love Miss Jennings +almost like a daughter, don't you?" + +"Like a sister, Miss Cobb," I said. "I'm not feeble yet." + +"Well, you wouldn't want to see her deceived." + +"I wouldn't have it," I answered. + +"Then what do you call this?" She put a small package on the +counter, and stared at me over it. "There's treachery here, +black treachery." She pointed one long thin forefinger at the +bundle. + +"What is it? A bomb?" I asked, stepping back. More than +once it had occurred to me that having royalty around sometimes +meant dynamite. Miss Cobb showed her teeth. + +"Yes, a bomb," she said. "Minnie, since that creature took my +letters and my er--protectors, I have suspected her. Now listen. + +Yesterday I went over the letters and I missed one that beautiful +one in verse, beginning, `Oh, creature of the slender form and +face!' Minnie, it had disappeared--melted away." + +"I'm not surprised," I said. + +"And so, last night, when the Summers woman was out, goodness +knows where, Blanche Moody and I went through her room. We did +not find my precious missive from Mr. Jones, but we did find +these, Minnie, tied around with a pink silk stocking." + +"Heavens!" I said, mockingly. "Not a pink silk!" + +"Pink," she repeated solemnly. "Minnie, I have felt it all +along. Mr. Oskar von Inwald is the prince himself." + +"No!" + +"Yes. And more than that, he is making desperate love to +Miss Summers. Three of those letters were written in one day! +Why, even Mr. Jones--" + +"The wretch!" I cried. I was suddenly savage. I wanted to take +Mr. von Inwald by the throat and choke him until his lying tongue +was black, to put the letters where Miss Patty could never see +them. I wanted--I had to stop to sell Senator Biggs some +chewing-gum, and when he had gone, Miss Cobb was reaching out for +the bundle. I snatched it from her. + +"Give me those letters instantly," she cried shrilly. But I +marched from behind the counter and over to the fireplace. + +"Never," I said, and put the package on the log. When they were +safely blazing, I turned and looked at Miss Cobb. + +"I'd put my hand right beside those letters to save Miss Patty a +heartache," I said, "and you know it." + +"You're a fool." She was raging. "You'll let her marry him and +have the heartaches afterward." + +"She won't marry him," I snapped, and walked away with my chin +up, leaving her staring. + +But I wasn't so sure as I pretended to be. Mr. von Inwald and +Mr. Jennings had been closeted together most of the morning, and +Mr. von Inwald was whistling as he started out for the military +walk. It seemed as if the very thing that had given Mr. Pierce +his chance to make good had improved Mr. Jennings' disposition +enough to remove the last barrier to Miss Jennings' wedding with +somebody else. + +Well, what's one man's meat is another man's poison. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +LOVE, LOVE, LOVE + +Even if we hadn't known, we'd have guessed there was something in +the air. There was an air of subdued excitement during the rest +hour in the spring-house, and a good bit of whispering and +laughing, in groups which would break up with faces as long as +the moral law the moment they saw my eye on them. + +They were planning a mutiny, as you may say, and I guess no +sailors on a pirate ship were more afraid of the captain's fist +than they were of Mr. Pierce's disapproval. He'd been smart +enough to see that most of them, having bullied other people all +their lives, liked the novelty of being bullied themselves. And +now they were getting a new thrill by having a revolt. They were +terribly worked up. + +Miss Patty stayed after the others had gone, sitting in front of +the empty fireplace in the same chair Mr. Pierce +usually took, and keeping her back to me. When I'd finished +folding the steamer rugs and putting them away, I went around and +stood in front of her. + +"Your eyes are red," I remarked. + +"I've got a cold." She was very haughty. + +"Your nose isn't red," I insisted. "And, anyhow, you say you +never have a cold." + +"I wish you would let me alone, Minnie." She turned her back to +me. "I dare say I may have a cold if I wish." + +"Do you know what they are saying here?" I demanded. "Do you +know that Miss Cobb has found out in some way or other who Mr. +von Inwald is? And that the four o'clock gossip edition says +your father has given his consent and that you can go and buy a +diadem or whatever you are going to wear, right off?" + +"Well," she said, in a choked voice, with her back to me, "what +of it? Didn't you and Mr. Pierce both do your best to bring it +about?" + +"Our what?" I couldn't believe my ears. + +"You made father well. He's so p--pleasant he'll do anything +except leave this awful place!" + +"Well, of all the ungrateful people--" I began, and then Mr. +Pierce came in. He had a curious way of stopping when he saw +her, as if she just took the wind out of his sails, so to speak, +and then of whipping off his hat, if anything with sails can wear +a hat, and going up to her with his heart in his eyes. He always +went straight to her and stopped suddenly about two feet away, +trying to think of something ordinary to say. Because the +extraordinary thing he wanted to say was always on the end of his +tongue. + +But this day he didn't light up when he saw her. He went through +all the other motions, but his mouth was set in a straight line, +and when he came close to her and looked down his eyes were hard. + +It's been my experience of men that the younger they are the +harder they take things and the more uncompromising they are. It +takes a good many years and some pretty hard knocks to make +people tolerant. + +"I was looking for you," he said to her. "The bishop has just +told me. There are no obstacles now." + +"None," she said, looking up at him with wretchedness in her +eyes, if he had only seen. "I am very happy." + +"She was just saying," I said bitterly, "how grateful she was to +both of us." + +"I don't understand." + +"It is not hard to understand," she said, smiling. I wanted to +slap her. "Father was unreasonable because he was ill. You have +made him well. I can never thank you enough." + +But she rather overdid the joy part of it, and he leaned over and +looked in her face. + +"I think I'm stupid," he said. "I know I'm unhappy. But isn't +that what I was to do--to make them well if I could?" + +"How could anybody know--" she began angrily, and then stopped. +"You have done even more," she said sweetly. "You've turned them +into cherubims and seraphims. Butter wouldn't melt in their +mouths. Ugh! How I hate amiability raised to the NTH power!" + +He smiled. I think it was getting through his thick man's skull +that she wasn't so happy as she should have been, and he was +thrilled through and through. + +"My amiability must be the reason you dislike me!" he suggested. +They had both forgotten me. + +"Do I dislike you?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I never +really thought about it, but I'm sure I don't." She didn't look +at him, she looked at me. She knew I knew she lied. + +His smile faded. + +"Well," he said, "speaking of disliking amiability, you don't +hate yourself, I'm sure." + +"You are wrong," she retorted, "I loathe myself." And she walked +to the window. He took a step or two after her. + +"Why do it at all?" he asked in a low tone. "You don't love +him--you can't. And if it isn't love--" He remembered me +suddenly and stopped. + +"Please go on," she said sweetly from the window. "Do not mind +Minnie. She is my conscience, anyhow. She is always scolding +me; you might both scold in chorus." + +"I wouldn't presume to scold." + +"Then give me a little advice and look superior and righteous. +I'm accustomed to that also." + +"As long as you are in this mood, I can't give you anything but a +very good day," he said angrily, and went toward the door. +But when he had almost reached it he turned. + +"I will say this," he said, "you have known for three days that +Mr. Thoburn was going to have a supper to-night, and you didn't +let us know. You must have known his purpose." + +I guess I was as surprised as she was. I'd never suspected she +knew. + +She looked at him over her shoulder. + +"Why shouldn't he have a supper?" she demanded angrily. "I'm +starving--we're all starving for decent food. I'm kept here +against my will. Why shouldn't I have one respectable meal? You +with your wretched stewed fruits and whole-wheat breads! Ugh!" + +"I'm sorry. Thoburn's idea, of course, is to make the guests +discontented, so they will leave." + +"Oh!" she said. She hadn't thought of that, and she flushed. +"At least," she said, "you must give me credit for not trying to +spoil Dick and Dolly's chance here." + +"We are going to allow the party to go on," he said, still stiff +and uncompromising. It would have been better if he'd accepted +her bit of apology. + +"How kind of you! I dare say he would have it, anyhow." She was +sarcastic again. + +"Probably. And you--will go?" + +"Certainly." + +"Even when the result--" + +"Oh, don't preach!" she said, putting her hands to her ears. "If +you and Minnie want to preach, why don't you preach at each +other? Minnie talks `love, love, love.' And you preach health +and morality. You drive me crazy between you." + +"Suppose," he said with a gleam in his eyes, "suppose I preach +`love, love, love!'" + +She put her fingers in her ears again. "Say it to Minnie," she +cried, and turned her back to him. + +"Very well," he said. "Minnie, Miss Jennings refuses to listen, +and there are some things I must say. Once again I am going to +register a protest against her throwing herself away in a +loveless marriage. I--I feel strongly on the subject, Minnie." + +She half turned, as if to interrupt. Then she thought better of +it and kept her fingers in her ears, her face flushed. But he +had learned what he hoped--that she could hear him. + +"You ask me why I feel so strongly, Minnie, and you are +right to ask. Under ordinary circumstances, Minnie, any remark +of mine on the subject would be ridiculous impertinence." + +He stopped and eyed her back, but she did not move. + +"It is impertinence under any circumstances, but consider the +provocation. I see a young, beautiful and sensitive girl, +marrying, frankly without love, a man whom I know to be unworthy, +and you ask me to stand aside and allow it to happen!" + +"Are you still preaching?" she asked coldly over her shoulder. +"It must be a long sermon." + +And then, knowing he had only a moment more, his voice changed +and became deep and earnest. His hands, that were clutching a +chair-back, took a stronger hold, so that the ends of the nails +were white. + +"You see, Minnie," he said, turning a little pale, "I--I love +Miss Jennings myself. You have known it a long time, for you +love her, too. It has come to the point that I measure the day +by the hours when I can see her. She doesn't care for me; +sometimes I think she hates me." He paused here, but Miss Patty +didn't move. "I haven't anything to offer a woman except a +clean life and the kind of love that a woman could be proud of. +I have no title--" + +Miss Patty suddenly took her fingers out of her ears and turned +around. She was flushed and shaken, but she looked past him +without blinking an eyelash to me. + +"Dear me," she said, "the sermon must have been exciting, Minnie! + +You are quite trembly!" + +And with that she picked up her muff and went out, with not a +glance at him. + +He looked at me. + +"Well," he said, "THAT'S over. She's angry, Minnie, and +she'll never forgive me." + +"Stuff!" I snapped, "I notice she waited to hear it all, and no +real woman ever hated a man for saying he loved her," + + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +A BIG NIGHT TO-NIGHT + +I carried out the supper to the shelter-house as usual that +night, but I might have saved myself the trouble. Mrs. Dicky was +sitting on a box, with her hair in puffs and the folding card- +table before her, and Mr. Dick was uncorking a bottle of +champagne with a nail. There were two or three queer-smelling +cans open on the table. + +Mrs. Dick looked at my basket and turned up her nose. + +"Put it anywhere, Minnie," she said loftily, "I dare say it +doesn't contain anything reckless." + +"Cold ham and egg salad," I said, setting it down with a slam. +"Stewed prunes and boiled rice for dessert. If those cans taste +as they smell, you'd better keep the basket to fall back on. +Where'd you get THAT?" Mr. Dick looked at me over +the bottle and winked. "In the next room," he said, "iced to the +proper temperature, paid for by somebody else, and coming after a +two-weeks' drought! Minnie, there isn't a shadow on my joy!" + +"He'll miss it," I said. But Mr. Dick was pouring out three +large tumblersful of the stuff, and he held one out to me. + +"Miss it!" he exclaimed. "Hasn't he been out three times to-day, +tapping his little CACHE? And didn't he bring out Moody and +the senator and von Inwald this afternoon, and didn't they sit in +the next room there from two to four, roaring songs and cracking +bottles and jokes." + +"Beasts!" Mrs. Dicky said savagely. "Two hours, and we daren't +move!" + +"Drink, pretty creature!" Mr. Dick said, motioning to my glass. +"Don't be afraid of it, Minnie; it's food and drink." + +"I don't like it," I said, sipping at it. "I'd rather have the +spring water." + +"You'll have to cultivate a taste for it," he explained. "You'll +like the second half better." + +I got it down somehow and started for the door. Mr. Dick +came after me with something that smelled fishy on the end of a +fork. + +"Better eat something," he suggested. "That was considerable +champagne, Minnie." + +"Stuff and nonsense," I said. "I was tired and it has rested me. + +That's all, Mr. Dick." + +"Sure?" + +"Certainly," I said with dignity, "I'm really rested, Mr. Dick. +And happy--I'm very happy, Mr. Dick." + +"Perhaps I'd better close the door," he said. "The light may be +seen--" + +"You needn't close it until I've finished talking," I said. +"I've done my best for you and yours, Mr. Dick. I hope you +appreciate it. Night after night I've tramped out here through +the snow, and lost sleep, and lied myself black in the face-- +you've no idea how I've had to lie, Mr. Dick." + +"Come in and shut the door, Dick," Mrs. Dick called, "I'm +freezing." + +That made me mad. + +"Exactly," I said, glaring at her through the doorway. +"Exactly--I can wade through the snow, bringing you meals that +you scorn--oh, yes, you scorn them. What did you do to the +basket tonight? Look at it, lying there, neglected in a corner, +with p--perfectly good ham and stewed fruit in it." + +All of a sudden I felt terrible about the way they had treated +the basket, and I sat down on the steps and began to cry. I +remember that, and Mr. Dick sitting down beside me and putting +his arm around me and calling me "good old Minnie," and for +heaven's sake not to cry so loud. But I was past caring. I had +a sort of recollection of his getting me to stand up, and our +walking through about twenty-one miles of snow to the spring- +house. When we got there he stood off in the twilight and looked +at me. + +"I'm sorry, Minnie," he said, "I never dreamed it would do that." + +"Do what?" + +"Nothing. You're sure you won't forget?" + +"I never forget," I said. I had got up the steps by this time +and was trying to figure why the spring-house door had two knobs. + +I hadn't any idea what he meant. + +"Remember," he said, very slowly, "Thoburn is going to have his +party to-night instead of to-morrow. Tell Pierce that. To- +night, not to-morrow." I was pretty well ashamed when I got in +the spring-house and sat down in the dark. I kept saying over +and over to myself, so I'd not forget, "tonight, not to-morrow," +but I couldn't remember WHAT was to be to-night. I was +sleepy, too, and my legs were cold and numb. I remember going +into the pantry for a steamer rug, and sitting down there for a +minute, with the rug around my knees before I started to the +house. And that is all I DO remember. + + +I was wakened by a terrible hammering in the top of my head. I +reached out for the glass of water that I always put beside my +bed at night and I touched a door-knob instead. Then I realized +that the knocking wasn't all in my head. There was a sort of +steady movement of feet on the other side of the door, with +people talking and laughing. And above it all rose the steady +knock--knock of somebody beating on tin. + +"Can't do it." It was the bishop's voice. "I am convinced that +nothing but dynamite will open this tin of lobster." + +"Just a moment, Bishop," Mr. Thoburn's voice and the clink of +bottles, "I have a can opener somewhere. You'll find the sauce a +la Newburg--" + +"Here, somebody, a glass, quick! A bottle's broken!" + +"Did anybody remember to bring salt and pepper?" + +"DEAR Mr. Thoburn!" It sounded like Miss Cobb. "Think of +thinking of all this!" + +"The credit is not mine, dear lady," Mr. Thoburn said. "Where +the deuce is that corkscrew? No, dear lady, man makes his own +destiny, but his birth date remains beyond his control." + +"Ladies and gentlemen," somebody said, "to Mr. Thoburn's birthday +being beyond his control!" + +There was the clink of glasses, but I had remembered what it had +been that I was to remember. And now it was too late. I was +trapped in the pantry of my spring-house and Mr. Pierce was +probably asleep. I clutched my aching head and tried to think. +I was roused by hearing somebody say that Miss Jennings had no +glass, and by steps nearing the pantry. I had just time to slip +the bolt. + +"Pantry's locked !" said a voice. + +"Drat that Minnie!" somebody else said. "The girl's a nuisance." + +"Hush!" Miss Summers said. "She's probably in there now--taking +down what we say and what we eat. Convicting us out of our own +mouths." + +I held my breath and the knob rattled. Then they found a glass +for Miss Patty and forgot the pantry. + +Under cover of the next burst of noises I tried the pantry +window, but it was frozen shut. Nothing but a hammer would have +loosened it. I began to dig at it with a wire hairpin, but I +hadn't much hope. + +The fun in the spring-house was getting fast and furious. Miss +Summers was leaning against the pantry door and I judged that +most of the men in the room were around her, as usual. I put my +ear to the panel of the door, and I could pretty nearly see what +was going on. They were toasting Mr. Thoburn, and getting +hungrier every minute as the supper was put out on the card- +tables. + +"To the bottle!" somebody said. "In infancy, the milk bottle; in +our prime, the wine bottle; in our dotage, the pill bottle." + +Mr. von Inwald came over and stood beside Miss Summers, and I +could hear every whisper. + +"I have good news for you," she said in an undertone. + +"Oh! And what?" + +"Sh! You may recall," she said, "the series of notes, letters, +epistles, with which you have been honoring me lately?" + +"How could I forget? They were written in my heart's blood!" + +"Indeed!" Her voice lifted its eyebrows, so to speak. "Well, +somebody got in my room last night and stole I dare say a pint of +your heart's blood. They're gone." + +He was pretty well upset, as he might be, and she stood by and +listened to the things he said, which, if they were as bad in +English as they sounded in German, I wouldn't like to write down. + +And when he cooled down and condensed, as you may say, into +English, he said Miss Jennings must have seen the letters, for +she would hardly speak to him. And Miss Summers said she hoped +Miss Jennings had--she was too nice a girl to treat shamefully. + +And after he had left her there alone, I heard a sort of +scratching on the door behind Miss Summers' back, and then +something being shoved under the door. I stooped down and picked +it up. It was a key! + +I struck a match, and I saw by the tag that it was the one to the +old doctor's rooms. I knew right off what it meant. Mr. Pierce +had gone to bed, or pretended to throw them off the track and +Thoburn had locked him in! Thoburn hadn't taken any chances. He +knew the influence Mr. Pierce had over them all, and he and his +champagne and tin cans had to get in their work before Mr. Pierce +had another chance at them. + +I had no time to wonder how Miss Summers knew I was in the +pantry. I tried the window again, but it wouldn't work. +Somebody in the spring-house was shouting, "`Hot butter blue +beans, please come to supper!'" and I could hear them crowding +around the tables. I worked frantically with the hairpin, and +just then two shadowy figures outside slipped around the corner +of the building. It was Mr. Pierce and Doctor Barnes! + +I darted back and put my ear to the door, but they did not come +in at once. Mr, Thoburn made a speech, saying how happy he +was that they were all well and able to go back to civilization +again, where the broiled lobster flourished like a green bay tree +and the prune and the cabbage were unknown. + +There was loud applause, and then Senator Biggs cleared his +throat. + +"Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished fellow guests," he began, "I +suggest a toast to the autocrat of Hope Springs. It is the only +blot on the evening, that, owing to the exigencies of the +occasion, he can not be with us. Securely fastened in his room, +he is now sleeping the sleep that follows a stomach attuned to +prunes, a mind attuned to rule." + +"Eat, drink and be merry!" somebody said, "for to-morrow you +diet!" + +There was a swish and rustle, as if a woman got up in a hurry. + +"Do you mean," said Miss Patty's clear voice, "that you have +dared to lock Mr. Pier--Mr. Carter in his room?" + +"My dear young lady," several of them began, but she didn't give +them time. + +"It is outrageous, infamous!" she stormed. I didn't need to see +her to know how she looked. + +"How DARE you! Suppose the building should catch fire!" + +"Fire!" somebody said in a bewildered voice. "My dear young +lady--" + +"Don't `my dear young lady' me," she said angrily. "Father, +Bishop, will you stand for this? Why, he may jump out the window +and hurt himself! Give me the key!" + +Miss Julia's fingers were beating a tatoo behind her, as if she +was afraid I might miss it. + +"If he jumps out he probably will hurt himself. It is impossible +to release him now, Miss Jennings, but if you insist we can have +a mattress placed under the window." + +"Thanks, Thoburn. It won't be necessary." The voice came from +the door, and a hush fell on the party. I slipped my bolt and +peeped out. Framed in the doorway was Mr. Pierce, with Doctor +Barnes looking over his shoulder. + +The people in the spring-house were abject. That's the only word +for it. Craven, somebody suggested later, and they were that, +too. They smiled sickly grins and tried to be defiant, and most +of them tried to put down whatever they held in their hands +and to look innocent. If you ever saw a boy when his school- +teacher asks him what he has in his mouth, and multiply the boy +thirty times in number and four times in size, you'll know how +they looked. + +Mr. Pierce never smiled. He wouldn't let them speak a word in +defense or explanation. He simply lined them up as he did at +gym, and sent them, one by one, to the corner with whatever they +had in their hands. He made Mr. Jennings give up a bottle of +anchovies that he'd stuffed in his pocket, and the bishop had to +come over with a cheese. + +And when it was all over, he held the door open and they went +back to the house. They fairly ducked past him in the doorway, +although he hadn't said a dozen words. It was a rout. The +backbone of the rebellion was broken. I knew that never again +would the military discipline of Hope Springs be threatened. +Thoburn might as well pack and go. It was Mr. Pierce's day. + +Mr. von Inwald was almost the last. He stood by, sneering, with +an open bottle of olives in his hand, watching the others go out. + +Mr. Pierce held the door open and eyed him. + +"I'll trouble you to put that bottle with the others, in the +corner," Mr. Pierce said sternly. + +They stood glaring at each other angrily. + +"And if I refuse?" + +"You know the rules here. If you refuse, there is a hotel at +Finleyville." + +Mr. von Inwald glanced past Mr. Pierce to where Doctor Barnes +stood behind him, with his cauliflower ear and his pugilist's +shoulders. Then he looked at the bottle in his hand, and from it +to Miss Patty, standing haughtily by. + +"I have borne much for you, Patricia," he said, "but I refuse to +be bullied any longer. I shall go to the hotel at Finleyville, +and I shall take the little olives with me." He smiled +unpleasantly at Mr. Pierce, whose face did not relax. + +He walked jauntily to the door and turned, flourishing the +bottle. "The land of the free and the home of the brave!" he +sneered, raising the bottle in the air. Standing jeering in the +doorway, he bowed to Miss Patty and Mr. Pierce, and put an olive +into his mouth. + +But instantly he made a terrible face, and clapped a hand +just in front of his left ear. He stood there a moment, his face +distorted--then he darted into +the night, and I never saw him again. + +"Mumps!" Doctor Barnes ejaculated, and stood staring after him +from the steps. + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +LET GOOD DIGESTION + +There was no one left but Miss Patty. As she started out past +him with a crimson spot in each cheek Mr. Pierce put his hand on +her arm. She hesitated, and he closed the door on Doctor Barnes +and put his back against it. I had just time to slip back into +the pantry and shut myself in. + +For a minute there wasn't a sound. Then-- + +"I told you I should come," Miss Patty said, in her haughtiest +manner. "You need not trouble to be disagreeable." + +"Disagreeable!" he repeated. "I am abject!" + +"I don't understand," she said. "But you needn't explain. It +really does not matter." + +"It matters to me. I had to do this to-night. I promised you I +would make good, and if I had let this pass--Don't you see, I +couldn't let it go." + +"You can let me go, now." + +"Not until I have justified myself to you." + +"I am not interested." + +I heard him take a step or two toward her. + +"I don't quite believe that," he said in a low tone. "You were +interested in what I said here this afternoon." + +"I didn't hear it." + +"None of it?" + +"Not--not all." + +"I spoke, you remember, about your sister, and about Dick--" he +paused. I could imagine her staring at him in her wide-eyed way. + +"You never mentioned them!" she said scornfully and stopped. He +laughed, a low laugh, boyish and full of triumph. + +"Ah!" he said. "So you DID hear! I'm going to say it again, +anyhow. I love you, Patty. I'm--I'm mad for you. I've loved +you hopelessly for so long that to-night, when there's a ray of +hope, I'm--I'm hardly sane. I--" + +"Please!" she said. + +"I love you so much that I waken at night just to say your +name, over and over, and when dawn comes through the windows--" + +"You don't know what you are saying!" she said wildly. "I am-- +still--" + +"I welcome the daylight," he went on, talking very fast, "because +it means another day when I can see you. If it sounds foolish, +it's--it's really lots worse than it sounds, Patty." + +The door opened just then, and Doctor Barnes' voice spoke from +the step. + +"I say," he complained, "you needn't--" + +"Get out!" Mr. Pierce said angrily, and the door slammed. The +second's interruption gave him time, I think, to see how far he'd +gone, and his voice, when he spoke again, was not so hopeful. + +"I'm not pleading my cause," he said humbly, "I know I haven't +any cause. I have nothing to offer you." + +"You said this afternoon," Miss Patty said softly, "that you +could offer me the--the kind of love that a woman could be proud +of." + +She finished off with a sort of gasp, as if she was shocked at +herself. I was so excited that my heart beat a tatoo against my +ribs, and without my being conscious of it, as you may say, +the pantry door opened about an inch and I found myself with an +eye to the crack. + +They were standing facing each other, he all flushed and eager +and my dear Miss Patty pale and trembly. But she wasn't shy. +She was looking straight into his eyes and her blessed lips were +quivering. + +"How can you care?" she asked, when he only stood and looked at +her. "I've been such a--such a selfish beast!" + +"Hush!" He leaned toward her, and I held my breath. "You are +everything that is best in the world, and I--what can I offer +you? I have nothing, not even this sanatorium! No money, no +title--" + +"Oh, THAT!" she interrupted, and stood waiting. "Well, you-- +you could at least offer yourself!" + +"Patty!" + +She went right over to him and put her hands on his shoulders. + +"And if you won't," she said, "I'll offer myself instead!" + +His arms went around her like a flash at that, and he kissed +her. I've seen a good many kisses in my day, the spring-house +walk being a sort of lover's lane, but they were generally of the +quick-get-away variety. This was different. He just gathered +her up to him and held her close, and if she was one-tenth as +much thrilled as I was in the pantry she'd be ready to die +kissing. + +Then, without releasing her, he raised his head, with such a look +of victory in his face that I still see it sometimes in my sleep, +and his eye caught mine through the crack. + +But if I'd looked to see him drop her I was mistaken. He drew +her up and kissed her again, but this time on the forehead. And +when he'd let her go and she had dropped into a chair and hid her +shining face against the back, as if she was ashamed, which she +might well be, he stood laughing over her bent head at me. + +"Come out, Minnie!" he called. "Come out and hear the good +news!" + +"Hear!" I said, "I've seen all the news I want." + +"Gracious!" Miss Patty said, and buried her head again. But he +had reached the shameless stage; a man who is really in love +always seems to get to that point sooner or later. He stooped +and +kissed the back of her neck, and if his hand shook when he pushed +in one of her shell hairpins it was excitement and not fright. + +"I hardly realize it, Minnie," he said. "I don't deserve her for +a minute." + +"Certainly not," I said. + +"He does." Miss Patty's voice smothered. Then she got up and +came over to me. + +"There is going to be an awful fuss, Minnie," she said. "Think +of Aunt Honoria--and Oskar!" + +"Let them fuss!" I said grandly. "If the worst comes, you can +spend your honeymoon in the shelter-house. I'm so used to +carrying meals there now that it's second nature." + +And at that they both made for me, and as Mr. Pierce kissed me +Doctor Barnes opened the door. He stood for a moment, looking +queer and wild, and then he slammed the door and we heard him +stamping down the steps. + +Mr. Pierce had to bring him back. + + +Well, that's all there is to it. The place filled up and stayed +filled, but not under Mr. Pierce. Mr. Jennings said ability +of his kind was wasted there, once the place was running, and set +him to building a railroad somewhere or other, with him and Miss +Patty living in a private car, and he carrying a portable +telephone with him so he can talk to her every hour or so. Mr. +Dick and his wife are running the sanatorium, or think they are. +Doctor Barnes is the whole place, really. Mr. Jennings was so +glad to have Miss Patty give up the prince and send him back +home, after he'd been a week in the hotel at Finleyville looking +as if his face would collapse if you stuck a pin in it--Mr. +Jennings was so happy, not to mention having worked off his gout +at the wood-pile, that he forgave the Dickys without any trouble, +and even went out and had a meal with them in the shelter-house +before they moved in, with Mr. Dick making the coffee. + +I miss the spring, as I said at the beginning. It is hard to +teach an old dog new tricks, but with Miss Patty happy, and with +Doctor Barnes around-- + +Thoburn came out the afternoon before he left, just after the +rest hour, and showed me how much too loose his waistcoat had +become. + +"I've lost, Minnie," he confessed. "Lost fifteen pounds and +the dream of my life. But I've found something, too." + +"What?" + +"My waist line!" he said, and threw his chest out. + +"You look fifteen years younger," I said, and at that he came +over to me and took my hand. + +"Minnie," he said, "maybe you and I haven't always agreed, but +I've always liked you, Minnie--always." + +"Thanks," I said, taking my hand away. + +"You've got all kinds of spirit," he said. "You've saved the +place, all right. And if you--if you tire of this, and want +another home, I've got one, twelve rooms, center hall, tiled +baths, cabinet mantels--I'd be good to you, Minnie. The right +woman could do anything with me." + +When I grasped what he meant, I was staggered. + +"I'm sorry," I explained, as gently as I could. "I'm--I'm going +to marry Doctor Barnes one of these days." + +He stared at me. Then he laughed a little and went toward the +door. + +"Barnes!" he said, turning. "Another redhead, by gad! Well, +I'll tell you this, young woman, you're red, but he's +redder. Your days for running things to suit yourself are over." + +"I'm glad of it," I retorted. "I want to be managed myself for a +change. Somebody," I said, "who won't be always thinking how he +feels, unless it's how he feels toward me." + +"Bah! He'll bully you." + +"`It's human nature to like to be bullied,'" I quoted. "And I +guess I'm not afraid. He's healthy and a healthy man's never a +crank." + +"A case of yours for health, eh?" he said, and held out his hand. + + +THE END + diff --git a/old/awill10.zip b/old/awill10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..90e04d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/awill10.zip |