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diff --git a/old/60983-0.txt b/old/60983-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c31c36d..0000000 --- a/old/60983-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8542 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Queen of Farrandale, by Clara Louise -Burnham - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Queen of Farrandale - A Novel - - -Author: Clara Louise Burnham - - - -Release Date: December 20, 2019 [eBook #60983] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN OF FARRANDALE*** - - -E-text prepared by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -(http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by -Internet Archive (https://archive.org) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/queenoffarrandal00burn - - - - - -THE QUEEN OF FARRANDALE - -A Novel - -by - -CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM - - -[Illustration] - - - - - - -Boston and New York -Houghton Mifflin Company -The Riverside Press Cambridge -1923 - -Copyright, 1923, by Clara Louise Burnham - -All Rights Reserved - -The Riverside Press -Cambridge · Massachusetts -Printed in the U.S.A. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - I. THE NE’ER-DO-WELL 3 - - II. FOR CAROL 10 - - III. AN INTRODUCTION 26 - - IV. A BOBBED HEAD 39 - - V. MRS. LUMBARD 53 - - VI. VISITING THE SICK 68 - - VII. AT ROSS GRAHAM’S 77 - - VIII. A TELEGRAM 92 - - IX. THE NEW READER 103 - - X. JOHN OGDEN ARRIVES 114 - - XI. A MUTINOUS ACTOR 125 - - XII. THE CONSOLE 135 - - XIII. MILLICENT DUANE 150 - - XIV. ALICE 161 - - XV. APPLE BLOSSOMS 174 - - XVI. MISS FRINK MAKES A CALL 187 - - XVII. ADÈLE 197 - - XVIII. THE RECITAL 210 - - XIX. JOHN OGDEN 223 - - XX. A PARTING INTERVIEW 233 - - XXI. PAVING THE WAY 244 - - XXII. ADJUSTMENTS 258 - - XXIII. MILLICENT 273 - - XXIV. A SHOCK 287 - - XXV. JOURNEY’S END 300 - - - - -THE QUEEN OF FARRANDALE - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE NE’ER-DO-WELL - - -“I’ve never had any luck,” said Hugh Sinclair, lifting a stein of beer -and emptying it in one steady draught. - -The fashionably dressed man, with graying hair on his temples who sat -opposite him at the table, left his own foaming mug untouched as he -watched the handsome, rough-looking boy of twenty-four with a half smile. - -“Nor my father before me,” added Hugh, as he set down the empty stein. -“No silver spoons in the mouths of our family when they are born.” - -“Your father was a pretty fine man,” remarked the other. - -“Oh, yes, I suppose so,” said the boy carelessly. “I remember, Mr. Ogden, -that you and he were a sort of pals. I suppose it was on his account that -you looked me up to-day. I’m sorry I haven’t any better hospitality to -show you than a near-beer joint. These hot dogs aren’t so bad, though. -Try ’em.” - -The young fellow drove his fork into the food on his plate and his -companion followed his example, while a brazen automatic piano in the -corner crashed out “The Virginia Blues.” - -John Ogden began to eat. “I love that clever human who cursed the man -that put the din into dinner, and took the rest out of restaurant,” he -said. - -“M’h’m,” agreed Hugh with his mouth full. - -“Who are left in your family?” asked Ogden. “The last time I saw you was -twelve years ago, and do you know why I remember the date?” - -Hugh looked up. “Can’t imagine. Something about father, I suppose.” - -“No, about your sister Carol.” - -“Good old Carol?” said the boy with surprise. - -“Yes. How much more time have you before you must go back to the store?” - -Hugh looked at his wrist watch. Its dilapidated leather bracelet matched -the carelessness of its owner’s general appearance. “Half an hour.” - -“Then let us eat quickly and get to some quiet spot.” - -They found it in a hotel lobby on the way to Hugh’s place of business, -and in transit John Ogden took further mental note of his companion’s -shabbiness. Not only were his clothes in need of brushing, but he had -not shaved to-day; his shoes were dusty and by industry the boy finished -several cigarettes before, in the hotel lobby, they found a couple of -neighboring chairs, and he lighted another. - -“Hard luck to tote you around this way, Mr. Ogden, but all I’ve got is a -hall bedroom in a hash house.” - -“You talk a lot about luck, don’t you?” remarked the older man. “You -don’t look as if you had ever gone after it very hard.” - -“Oh, yes,” responded Hugh; “I’ve batted around considerable after jobs.” - -“You don’t keep them very long, eh?” - -“No, and the devil can take them for all me. I’ve never had anything -worth keeping since I got back from France. I care for nobody and nobody -cares for me. That’s about the size of it, and most of the other fellows -are the same way. My friends are all Bolshevists.” - -“Oh, come now,” said the older man, regarding the frank young -ne’er-do-well with some disgust, “that isn’t worthy of your father’s son.” - -“Perhaps not; but what do you care?” turning upon his well-dressed, -well-groomed companion; nettled by the shade of contempt in his tone. “My -father’s dead and that’s the end of him.” - -“I was going to tell you why I care,” said Ogden, meeting the inimical -look in the exceedingly handsome blue eyes bent upon him. He paused a -minute, then added, “I am glad I stopped over and hunted you up. You -remind me of her.” - -“Oh, yes,” said Hugh listlessly, “Carol. You said something about Carol.” - -“I did,” returned the other quietly. “Twelve years ago to-day I asked her -to be my wife.” - -“_You_—Carol?” The boy’s voice was so incredulous that Ogden smiled. - -“Yes; I wasn’t always forty-two, you know. I was thirty then, and she was -eighteen.” - -“That was the reason you hung around father, then?” - -“One of the reasons, yes,” said Ogden slowly. “She was a sober little -head for eighteen, and it was largely because for years she had had to be -a mother to her little brother.” - -The tone and manner in which this was said caused Hugh to remove his -cigarette for a thoughtful moment. “Good old Carol,” he said; then, -restoring the cigarette, he added, “I wish to thunder she had married -you. That guy Morrison carried her off to Colorado. She hated to leave me -like the devil. She wrote me every day while I was over there.” - -“Don’t light another cigarette, Hugh,” exclaimed the other in -irrepressible impatience. “Don’t you know you never will hold a position -if you’re one of these coffin-tack slaves?” - -Hugh flared up. The flare showed in his beautiful eyes and darkened -them to violet. Who was this glass of fashion to dictate to a decent -Bolshevist like himself! - -“And don’t I tell you I don’t give a damn how many dinky positions I -lose?” he retorted. - -Ogden put a soothing hand on the boy’s big arm and was nervously shaken -off. “I’m sorry, old man. Don’t take it that way. Of course you’re free, -white, and twenty-one; but I can’t help taking an interest in you.” - -“Better cut it. I thank you, of course, for looking me up”—Hugh rose—“but -I’ve got to trot along now. Good luck to you.” - -John Ogden rose, too. “It won’t be good luck for me unless I see you -again. I’m staying at this hotel. Come to dinner with me to-night.” - -“Oh, no. Thank you just the same, but I’ve no togs decent to dine in -a place like this.” The boy was somewhat touched by the older man’s -invitation and manner, and he smiled grudgingly, revealing perfect teeth -and more than ever causing Ogden a twinge of memory. “I can dress for a -dinner of Reds in some cellar. That’s my size.” - -“Wait a minute, Hugh. Listen. This is my anniversary. I never could love -another girl after Carol. I’ve gone lonely for twelve years for her sake. -If she could have felt differently I should have been your big brother -all this time. Won’t you dine with me to-night? This is always a hard day -for me.” - -Hugh looked down on his immaculate companion curiously. How could a man, -with hair graying around the temples and growing thin on the crown, -nurse memories of love? It seemed absurd. But the face regarding him so -steadily was a strong one. An idea suddenly occurred to the boy. - -“Were you in the big shindy?” - -“Yes.” - -“What were you?” - -“Major of infantry.” - -“Get any bumps?” - -“Yes, I achieved a little limp. Didn’t you notice it?” - -“I hated the officers,” remarked Hugh. - -“Will you come to-night?” - -There was only a trifle more of hesitation before the boy answered: -“Well—I’ll come.” - -Ogden slapped him on the back and he moved off with long, deliberate -strides. The older man looked after him. The boy’s splendid build and the -grace with which his head was set on those firm shoulders attracted many -a glance wherever he appeared. - -The man sighed. He was familiar with the type of disillusioned -returned members of the A.E.F., who went out surrounded by the incense -of hero-worship, and came back to the shock of finding themselves -negligible. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -FOR CAROL - - -At the appointed hour Hugh came. He had made the concession of blacking -his shoes, and shaving, and the unkempt hair of the noon hour, though -obviously still in need of the barber, had been brushed until its dark -auburn waves lay thickly in place. - -John Ogden had secured a table for two in a retired corner and ordered a -dinner, the first couple of courses of which seemed to cheer the gloom of -his guest. - -“I suppose I ought to call you Major,” said the boy. - -“Not if it does violence to your feelings. I am plain John Ogden again, -you know. I would like to forget the war.” - -“Same here,” returned Hugh, swallowing a mighty mouthful of red snapper. - -When the meat course was well under way, Ogden began his investigation -again. - -“You haven’t told me much about yourself,” he said. “It seems as -if you must have relatives in town. Why should you be living in a -boarding-house? It’s too bad. I thought I remembered connections of your -father’s.” - -“There were some odd cousins of his about when I was a kid,” said Hugh, -“but they have disappeared. I wouldn’t live with ’em on a bet, anyway.” - -“Then there was some one else,” persisted the host. “Your father had a -very wealthy aunt, I remember.” - -The filet was so extremely good that under its influence Hugh smiled at -this reminiscence. “Oh, that old dame,” he remarked. “Yes, she’s still in -the ring. You couldn’t kill her with an axe. She must be a hundred and -fifty by this time; but she doesn’t live here, you know.” - -“I thought she did.” - -“No, old Sukey lives in Farrandale”—naming a rural city some hundred -miles distant from the metropolis. - -John Ogden admired beauty in man, woman, or child, and the light of -contemptuous amusement which now played over the face of his guest so -relieved its habitual sullenness that the host allowed himself the -pleasure of staring for a silent space. He was very conscious of the -glances bent upon Hugh from other tables, but the boy himself was -entirely engrossed in the best dinner he had enjoyed for many a moon. - -“There was some quarrel, I remember,” said Ogden; “some trouble between -her and your father.” - -“Well, slightly,” returned Hugh. “She didn’t have any children, so my -father, being her nephew, she set out to run him. Dad had a pretty stiff -upper lip, and she claimed he ruined her life by disobeying her in his -marriage, and in his business, and in the place he chose to live, and so -on _ad infinitum_.” - -“So she let him die without forgiving him.” - -“Let him die! She’d have made him die if she could.” - -“And she ignores the existence of you and Carol.” - -“Well, rather.” - -“It is all very vague in my remembrance because I didn’t notice anything -much but Carol in those days. So”—the speaker paused again—“you are very -much alone in the world, Hugh.” - -“Yes,” said the boy carelessly. “What’s the difference? I don’t want any -relatives bothering.” - -When the meat course was finished, he took out a package of cigarettes. -“Have a tack on me?” he said, and his host accepted one, but offered his -guest a cigar which the boy refused with a curt shake of the head. - -“Of course, if I could have Carol, I’d like it,” he went on. “Carol’s -never a nuisance. It would be good for me, too. I know that. If the -Volstead Act hadn’t been sneaked in on us, I know perfectly well I -wouldn’t last long. I haven’t any way of making hootch and no money to -buy it, so I still cumber the ground.” - -“I don’t like to hear a young fellow talk like that,” said John Ogden, -and he was not so unconscious of the servant class as to feel easy under -the waiter’s entertainment. - -“A young fellow doesn’t like to talk that way either,” retorted Hugh, -“but what is there in it? What’s the use of anything? Of course, I’ve -thought of the movies.” - -“What?” - -“Thought of going into the movies.” Hugh did not lower his voice, and the -waiter was indefatigable in his attentions. - -“I’m a looker,” went on the boy impersonally, as he attacked the salad. -“Wallie Reid and Valentino—any of those guys wouldn’t have anything on me -if I chose to go in for it.” - -“Why don’t you, then?” John Ogden thought he might as well share the -waiter’s entertainment. - -“Oh, it’s too much bother, and the director yells at you, and they put -that yellow stuff all over you when you know you’re yellow enough -already.” - -The boy laughed, and sending out a cloud of smoke from his Grecian nose -again attacked his crab-meat. - -After they had finished the ices and while they were drinking their -coffee, Ogden succeeded in driving off the reluctant waiter. - -“I’m interested in that inexorable grand-aunt of yours,” he said. “What -is her name?” - -“Susanna Frink,” returned Hugh, “affectionately known in the bosom of the -family as ‘Old Sukey the Freak.’” - -His host sat up and leaned forward. “Not possible! Susanna Frink your -aunt?” - -“’Tisn’t my fault,” said Hugh, raising the smooth dark eyebrows his host -had been admiring. - -“But I know her,” said Ogden. “There’s a masterful old lady for you!” - -“You bet your life,” agreed Hugh. “I’ve always believed she must be a -descendant of that old galoot—I mean Canute, that commanded the proud -wave—thus far and no farther!” - -“Well, I never knew that Susanna Frink was Mr. Sinclair’s aunt. He never -said much about her to me, but Carol used to laugh about a family -fortune that was so near and yet so far. Miss Frink is a personage, Hugh. -I’ve had business dealings with her, and she prides herself on being a -lady of the old school. She told me so herself. All alone in the world, -and feels it, I know, for all her proud front.” - -“False front probably,” put in Hugh. - -“Perhaps.” Ogden smiled. “Anyway, it is dark—” - -“What did I tell you!” - -“And faultlessly waved, and she is straight as an arrow and slender, and -she drives about in her victoria with the bay horses in the fashion of -fifty years ago, scorning automobiles with her whole soul. Her bonnet -ties under her chin, and her eyeglasses are attached to a black ribbon. -She has personality plus. You ought to meet her.” - -“Meet her!” Hugh leaned forward with a scowl of incredulous disgust. -“Wrinkled old harridan in a black wig! What should I want to meet her -for?” - -Ogden studied him thoughtfully—“You don’t resemble your father. Neither -did Carol. You must have had a beautiful mother.” - -“We did.” Hugh felt in an inside pocket and took out a small rubbed -morocco photograph case. Opening it, he handed it to his friend. - -Color came into the latter’s face as he looked at it. “Carol!” he -exclaimed. - -“No. Mother. What do you think of old Sukey for trying to lay father off -that peach?” - -“I’d give a thousand dollars for this picture,” said Ogden, upon which -Hugh took it from him without ceremony and returned it to his inside -pocket. - -“It was Carol’s,” he said. “She gave it to me to take over there. I guess -it was a mascot, for I pulled through some tight places.” - -John Ogden continued to gaze at him for sheer pleasure in the way his -lips curved over the faultless teeth in an occasional smile, bringing -back his romance with the gentle girl, who liked him, but not well enough— - -“Well,” said Hugh, rising, “I mustn’t take any more of your time, Mr. -Ogden. I had forgotten there were dinners like that in the world, and I -thank you, I’m sure, for bothering yourself.” He held out his hand, but -his host took him by the sleeve. - -“Don’t be in a hurry, old man,” he said. “The party isn’t over yet. Have -you any best girl you want to go to see?” - -“Divil a girl. I called up one that I’d met one evening, and asked if I -could drop in, and she said, ‘Certainly,’ and went on to ask what we -were going to do—what were we going to see? ‘Good-night,’ said I, and -hung up with a click. My first and last offense.” - -John Ogden laughed. “Sit down, then, if there is no meeting of the Reds -to-night.” - -Hugh laughed and dropped back into his chair. - -“I’ve had an idea,” said his friend. “You liked the dinner. How would you -like to have one like that every night?” - -“Foolish question number 13,” responded Hugh. - -“I know a way you can get it.” - -“Well”—the boy regarded his dignified companion curiously—“so do I; but -Bolshevism and safe-cracking aren’t the same thing.” - -“A sufficient number of good dinners cure Bolshevism, I’ve noticed,” said -Ogden. “I have hopes of you if you will do what I say.” - -“Shoot,” remarked Hugh, still gazing at him imperturbably. - -“You have had some thought of being an actor. I’m offering you a part.” - -“I didn’t know what business you were in, Mr. Ogden. Are you a producer?” - -“No; I’m in the wool business, and I’ll give you some to pull over your -Aunt Susanna’s eyes.” - -He smiled, and Hugh shook his head. - -“I suppose you know what you are talking about.” - -“The question is how much stamina have you, Hugh? Could you, for -instance, stop your cigarettes? I believe that is the eighth you’re on -now.” - -“I can do anything I want to, of course,” said the young fellow coolly, -“but I don’t believe you can make me want to do that.” - -“Are you so in love with your present way of living?” asked Ogden dryly. -“Your hall bedroom wouldn’t seem to indicate a very valuable business -position.” - -“I haven’t any position. I’ve got a job, packing boxes in the basement of -a department store.” - -“She owns the biggest department store in Farrandale.” - -“Who?” - -“Your Aunt Susanna.” - -“What in thunder do I care what she owns?” - -“Because, if you have any sporting blood, you can own it some day.” - -Hugh leaned back in his chair. “Well, you know how to get around Volstead -all right. I’d like a shot myself.” - -“I won’t hint any longer. I’m willing to bet a thousand dollars that you -can make Susanna Frink change her will in your favor.” - -Hugh gave a bored smile and did not change his easy position. “Sorry -circumstances prevent my taking you up.” - -“You can pay me when you get the money.” Ogden was leaning forward in his -chair and smiling, and Hugh turned his head to face him. - -“Well, I’ll say Carol made an escape,” he remarked with such unction that -his companion’s smile became a laugh. - -“Here’s the idea,” he said. “Your six feet of good looks nearly sent you -into the movies. Now there’s a stage in Farrandale where you can vault -right into a star part without having to go through the drudgery of -atmosphere work.” - -He paused and Hugh stared at him, no enthusiasm in his pensive eyes. - -“You get yourself some good clothes—Miss Frink’s leery of the needy; -she’s had a diet of them for fifty years—” - -“I haven’t any money,” growled Hugh. - -“I have. Don’t interrupt me. You must be very scrupulous about your -personal appearance. You shave every day. Your shoes are always blacked.” -Hugh looked down. “You go every Sunday to the same church Miss Frink -does, and you apply for a position in the Ross Graham department store. -Miss Frink is Ross; likewise she is Graham. I supply them with blankets -and I am on sufficiently good terms with the old lady.” - -“Supposing I don’t get the position—and then again supposing I do,” -contemptuously. “What of it?” - -“Here, here, boy, brace up. Did you leave all your fighting blood in -France? You will get the position, for I shall make it plain that be it -ever so humble, there’s no job so good for your purposes as one in Ross -Graham’s.” - -“_You’ll_ make it plain. Say, do you think you’re writing a play?” - -“Why, my dear boy, you’re going to carry a letter of introduction from -me that will explain to Miss Frink that you are a young man whose -connections have large dry-goods interests, and, as you wish to learn the -workings of an up-to-date, perfectly equipped department store, I have -advised you to examine the Ross Graham establishment as an example of -thoroughly good management and success. Your desire is to begin at the -bottom and learn the business from A to Z.” - -“Oh, still pack boxes in a basement,” remarked Hugh, but a light of -curiosity began to shine in his eyes. - -“I know Miss Frink; I know what she likes. She hates dawdlers; she hates -failures. She herself is an example of a successful business woman. She -didn’t inherit money. I have heard that a tea-room and a peculiarly -delicious candy started her fortune fifty years ago. She is in the early -seventies now, not a hundred and fifty as you estimated;—and what are the -seventies in these days? Just the youth of old age.” - -“Are you kidding?” returned Hugh. - -“I never was more in earnest.” - -The boy grunted. “Why, the very name of Sinclair would give Sukey -hydrophobia.” - -“That is why you can’t use it,” returned his mentor promptly. “What was -your mother’s maiden name?” - -“Draper, and I suppose that would be anathema, too.” - -“Perhaps. She has a wonderful memory.” - -“My middle name is Stanwood.” - -“That would do. Then the initial on your clothing would be all right.” - -Hugh’s attention was caught. John Ogden noted that his guest was letting -his cigarette go out. - -He waited a moment to allow cerebration to go on. - -The boy finally met his eyes again. “You seem to mean all this business,” -he said. - -“Money talks,” returned Ogden sententiously. - -“You really want to put up money on this fool idea?” - -“It will only be a fool idea if you’re a fool.” - -“Well, probably I am.” The boy’s broad shoulders relapsed against the -back of his chair. - -His companion frowned and sat forward more tensely in his own. - -“You are Miss Frink’s legitimate heir,” he said, in a low voice, “but, -believe me, there is no hope of her dying intestate. Are you going to -continue tamely taking one cheap job after another, being a disgrace to -the finest sister a boy ever had, listening to the disgruntled talk of a -lot of grouchy fellows until you become as spineless as they are”— - -“Say, now,” Hugh sat up, crimsoning. - -“Keep still. Are you going on living in a cloud of cheap tobacco smoke, -in a hall bedroom on a back street, with no ambition for anything better—” - -“Look here—” - -“No one stands still,” declared John Ogden curtly. “You’re going down -if you’re not going up. You, with your splendid physique, allowing your -backbone to slump like boiled macaroni. Aren’t you man enough to take a -brace and go to Farrandale and shove that pussy-footing secretary of your -aunt’s out of the place that should be yours?” - -Hugh regarded the suddenly fiery speaker with open lips. - -“He expects to be her heir; everybody knows he does. He has Miss -Frink under his influence so that the whole household are afraid -of him. There she lives in this great house, with her servants and -this secretary—Grimshaw, his name is. He has wormed himself into her -confidence until she scarcely makes a move without him, though she -doesn’t realize it herself. Will you stay here and let him have it all -his own way?” - -The speaker scowled into the dark eyes with the deep, pensive corners -that were giving him their full attention. - -“As soon as you told me you were Miss Frink’s nephew, I saw what you -could do; and for the very same reason that you felt you could succeed in -the movies. Isn’t it Shakespeare who said: ‘She is a woman, and therefore -to be won’? They’re not a bit different at seventy from what they are at -seventeen when they get hold of a man like you.” - -Hugh still gaped, and was silent. - -“Of course, there must be something inside your head as well as out. -You’ll have to make self-denials and sacrifices; but who doesn’t who gets -anywhere?” - -“You want me to go to Farrandale under an assumed name,” said Hugh -slowly. “I know what Carol would say. She would say I was living a lie.” - -“Then I should remind your sweet sister that Stanwood is your own name, -and that you are going on an honorable mission—a rescue party of one: -rescuing yourself from hookworm, and your aunt from the influence of a -smooth-tongued hypocrite.” - -“Hookworm, is it?” said Hugh, frowning, those curving lips taking a set -line. - -“Describes it to a T,” returned Ogden promptly. “Now to-morrow morning, -give up your job. I’ll stay over another day, and we’ll fit you out and -plan details.” - -Hugh put out his hand impulsively, and the older man grasped it. - -“Mr. Ogden, why do you take all this trouble?” - -John Ogden smiled. “I’m a sport,” he returned. “I’m enough of a gambler -for this.” - -“I do thank you,” said the boy. “I’ve never made good in my life—” - -His companion could see that the strong teeth set together to hold the -lips firm. - -“Let’s do this, then,” Ogden returned in a low voice. “Let’s do it—for -Carol.” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -AN INTRODUCTION - - -The town of Farrandale was _en gala_. It was the annual day of rejoicing -in its own success and prosperity. Everybody was happy except Miss -Frink’s horses. The new coachman had drawn the check reins too tight. -They didn’t like the streamers of bunting; they had objected to the -band; and just as Miss Frink, always the queen of the occasion, rose in -her carriage to say a few words to her fellow townsmen, a corner of a -temporary platform near them gave way, and the celebrated bays, Rex and -Regina, did what for some minutes they had been nervously contemplating: -they bolted. The coachman’s efforts irritated them still more. Miss Frink -was thrown violently against the side of her chariot, and in the mad, -crashing gallop that ensued she saw her end in the sharp curve of the -railroad they were heading for, and the advance of an oncoming express -train. Some one else saw it, too, and, springing from the side of the -road, caught the bridle and was dragged until one of the horses fell down -entangled in the reins the coachman had dropped when he jumped. The -shouting crowd leaping after the runaway found a very much-shaken queen -of the fête, and an unconscious man lying in the road with a gash in his -head, his hair matted with blood. The express train crashed by. It was -a flyer that ignored even the thriving little city of Farrandale. Never -was Miss Frink’s indomitable spirit more regnant than in the present -catastrophe. Somebody picked up the dazed coachman, who proved to be -intact and able to help disentangle the fallen Rex and get him to his -feet; while others lifted the unconscious hero. Motors came flying to the -scene. In one was Miss Frink’s secretary, Leonard Grimshaw, and a pretty -young woman with pure white hair. The latter fell upon Miss Frink with -horrified exclamations; while the secretary also rushed to the victoria -and stood beside it. - -“Oh, had you only allowed me to drive with you, dear lady!” he mourned. - -“Yes, probably the horses wouldn’t have run away,” returned Miss Frink -irritably. She readjusted her fallen eyeglasses. “Adèle, kindly leave my -bonnet alone.” - -“But it is on the side, dear Aunt Susanna.” - -Miss Frink looked past them to the unconscious burden being lifted from -the ground. - -“Has any one sent for the ambulance?” exclaimed the secretary nervously. -“Oh, how shocking, dear Miss Frink! What might have happened! It makes my -blood run cold.” - -“It must run cold if you think I’m going to send that man off in an -ambulance,” announced Miss Frink. “Here, lift him into your car, Grim, -and Adèle, you go for Dr. Morton and bring him to the house.” - -“The house, Miss Frink?” asked the secretary. “Don’t you mean the -hospital, dear lady?” - -“No, I do not,” snapped the “dear lady.” - -One of the gathering crowd came up with a dusty suitcase. “This must be -his,” he said, and the secretary accepted it, gloomily. - -Adèle Lumbard gave one look at the unconscious face of the rescuer as he -was lifted into the waiting car and Miss Frink took the place beside him, -then she jumped into an eagerly offered motor and sped away. - -Miss Frink leaned out and addressed the shaken coachman. - -“Get the horses home somehow, Foley.” Then to the increasing crowd: “It -is my wish that you go on with the programme. I am not hurt in the least, -and later Mr. Grimshaw or Mrs. Lumbard will represent me.” - -She steadied the form of the injured man beside her while her secretary -drove toward the house on the outskirts of the town. His brow was -exceedingly dark. He was afraid the cut on the stranger’s head would -stain the upholstery of the car. Once he turned toward his employer and -made a last effort. - -“You know they give them the very best care at the hospital,” he -suggested. - -“Leonard Grimshaw, I am a lady of the old school,” returned Miss Frink. -“Everybody was not rushed off to a hospital in my young days. I probably -wouldn’t be here if it was not for this young man, and I am going to -supervise personally every bone in his body. Drive carefully. We’ll get -there as soon as Dr. Morton does.” - -Her secretary resigned himself, and gave his attention to avoiding the -bumps as a matter of self-preservation. - -Miss Frink was attired in her best in honor of the state occasion. Her -bonnet of black maline was decorated with white roses, and the maline -lace-edged strings were tied under her chin. Her handsome dress and wrap -were of black satin. Her hair, though streaked with silver, still gave -the impression of being dark, and it was crimped in the even waves which -had framed her face for forty years. The face itself, though lined, was -still firm in texture, and her dark, alert eyes were bright. If she ever -wore spectacles, it must have been in the privacy of her own room. The -eyeglasses on their slender black ribbon were as inseparable from her -appearance as a feature of her face. - -She looked through them now at the unconscious form beside her, and her -spontaneous thought was: “He is too handsome! I hope I haven’t killed -him!” - -The stranger’s long legs were stretched out in the spacious car, and, -as his shoulders slid, Miss Frink put her arm around them the better to -steady him, and looked anxiously at the matted hair, relieved to see that -it seemed to have stanched the wound. - -“Grim,” she called, “it seems to have stopped bleeding.” - -“I hope so,” was the reply, fears for that upholstery soothed. He turned -about enough to behold the amazing sight of his employer holding in her -embrace the stalwart and fallen figure. - -“Did you ever see such a beauty, Grim?” Miss Frink’s eyes were fixed on -the face on her breast. “What a mercy he wasn’t disfigured!” - -The secretary’s nostrils dilated. “It won’t matter much, if it’s -concussion of the brain,” he remarked curtly. - -“Grim! Don’t!” exclaimed the lady; and at the same moment the stranger’s -eyelids flickered and the lashes she had been admiring lifted. The hero -blinked and looked up, dazed, into the face bending over him. About her -lips flickered a small smile of intense relief. - -In a weak voice Hugh spoke: “Have you got a cigarette?” - -“Grim, he wants a cigarette,” said Miss Frink, her voice wavering. “Have -you got one?” - -“Miss Frink,” exclaimed the secretary, justly shocked. “You ought to -know—” - -“Yes, I suppose so, but you see when the cat’s away, how do I know what -you play? It would be convenient if you happened to—” - -“Oh, the devil,” said Hugh, as he tried to move. - -“What is it? What hurts?” asked Miss Frink anxiously. - -“I don’t know, my shoulder, I guess. What’s doing, anyway?” inquired the -sufferer feebly, beginning to realize his satin environment. - -“You caught the horses and were dragged. Don’t you remember? You saved my -life.” - -Slowly Hugh cerebrated while his pensive eyes gazed up into the dark ones. - -“And I’m so thankful to hear you speak, I could weep if I ever did, but I -don’t indulge.” - -John Ogden came floating back into the dazed, aching head, and all that -had preceded his coming here. - -“What did he call you just now?” asked Hugh with feeble incredulity. - -“Miss Frink. I’m Miss Frink,”—with energy, “and I don’t want to die, and -you saved my life.” - -At this Hugh moved his head a little in the encircling satin, and he made -an inarticulate sound. It was feeble, but it was trying to be a laugh, -and Miss Frink appreciated the beauty of it. - -“Yes, it is sort of funny saving an old woman, isn’t it, instead of a -lovely young girl as it would be in the story-books?” - -“I was thinking—” said Hugh. “Are you—Susanna?” - -“Why, yes. How did you know it?” - -“Because I have a letter of introduction to you—that’s why I laughed.” - -“I should think you might,” dryly. “You are certainly introduced.—Grim,” -sharply, “what are you doing!” The secretary’s feelings were such that -he had increased his speed and jounced over a rough spot that made Hugh -wince. - -“Better not talk,” said Miss Frink. “We’re nearly there.” - -Dr. Morton was waiting for them. Adèle Lumbard had told him that Aunt -Susanna had a young Greek god in captivity, but that he needed some -restoring. - -It proved that the cut in Hugh’s head required a few stitches, and -that his left arm was broken. Miss Frink still insisting that her home -should be Hugh’s only hospital, he found himself finally installed in a -handsome, spacious room with a competent and peremptory nurse. - -On Miss Frink’s first visit to his bedside, where he lay with but one of -the blue eyes peering out from his bandages, and his swathed arm resting -on a pillow, he protested. - -“Miss Frink, it’s all absurd,” he said. “I don’t need a nurse any more -than a toad needs a tail. I can take care of myself perfectly. I have my -right hand. If you’ll just send up some chow once in a while—” - -“Chow,” interrupted Miss Frink thoughtfully. “You were in the war, of -course.” - -“Of course,” said Hugh, smiling at her tone, but with teeth set owing to -an assortment of twinges. - -“You must have been wonderful!” - -“Oh, I was. Ask Pershing. Say, Miss Frink, I don’t like to be all this -unnecessary expense to you.” - -Miss Frink continued to look down at him reflectively. As John Ogden had -said, she liked prosperous folk and had little patience with derelicts. -Had she seen Hugh a few days ago shuffling along on his way to his job, -unshaven, shabby, and careless, she certainly would not have looked at -him twice, or if she had done so would have dilated disgusted nostrils at -the odor of his cigarette; but John Ogden had sent his protégé forth from -the hands of a good tailor and barber; and, had he known the disaster -which befell that fine new suit, would have rubbed his hands in triumph. - -“Don’t fret about expense,” said Miss Frink. “If it were not for you, I -shouldn’t sign any more checks; and, speaking of checks, where is yours -for your trunk? We must send for it.” - -“It’s there in my pocketbook with my letter of introduction.” - -Miss Frink, taking this as permission, found the pocketbook. She looked -at the marking thereon. “Hugh Stanwood,” she read aloud. “That is odd,” -she said. “Stanwood is one of our family names.” She looked toward the -bed with a little twitch of her lips. “Perhaps we are related.” - -“Who knows?” returned Hugh, who was longing for a cigarette. - -“May I read this letter of introduction?” - -“It is yours,” he answered. - -Miss Frink read it attentively. “John Ogden,” she said aloud as she -reached the signature. “I congratulate you on your friend. I respect John -Ogden very much.” - -“So he does you,” returned Hugh feebly, turning his bandaged head with a -weary movement that his hostess was quick to notice. - -He was wishing he had never seen John Ogden, and that he was back, a -free Bolshevist without the headache, packing boxes with both hands in a -basement, to pay for his hall bedroom and hot dogs. - -Miss Frink, who had sent the nurse out of the room when she entered, -went back to the bedside, and opened a package she had brought in with -her. Hugh’s one violet eye rolled toward her listlessly. It suddenly -brightened. Miss Frink had never looked so shame-faced in her life. - -“You see, I went out and bought them myself, and not having the least -idea what you liked I told the man to give me a variety.” The handsome -box she opened held a number of packages of cigarettes, all of a -different brand, and the lover-like smile Hugh gave her as his eager -right hand shot out made color come up in the guilty face. - -“Perhaps the nurse won’t let you, I don’t know,” she said -hurriedly—“here, let me strike the match for you, it is awful to have -only one hand!” - -The cigarette was lighted, Miss Frink called the nurse, and fled to the -study where her secretary was busily sorting papers at his desk. He was -a smooth-shaven man in his late thirties, immaculate in appearance, his -retreating hair giving him a very high forehead, and his small mouth with -its full lips seeming an appropriate gateway for his voice and speech -which were unfortunately effeminate. - -“Grim,” said Miss Frink upon her sudden entrance, “Mr. Stanwood has been -put in the White Room and the nurse is with him—Hello, Adèle, I didn’t -see you.” - -Mrs. Lumbard rose from the floor where she had been sitting Turkish -fashion near the book-shelves. - -“I was looking for that ‘Life of Mozart,’ Aunt Susanna. I thought the -‘Lives of the Musicians’ were on this lowest shelf.” - -“No, upper. Take the ladder. Grim, I want you to go up to Mr. Stanwood’s -room and get his suit of clothes, and pack them in a box and send them to -his tailor with an order to duplicate the suit at once. Explain that he -has been in an accident, and that the clothes and bill are to be sent to -me. Here’s his trunk check. Get that, too. Adèle, why are you here? You -know I wanted you to go back to the festivities.” - -“I did, Aunt Susanna,” said the young woman with conscious rectitude. “I -listened to the speeches and applauded, and answered a thousand questions -about you. Why, you’re perfectly wonderful, Aunt Susanna. Any other woman -would be lying in bed in a darkened room with a bandage around her head.” - -“One bandage in the family is sufficient,” said Miss Frink, with a little -excited laugh. “That poor boy upstairs looks as if he had been through -the wars. And he did”—she turned acutely toward her secretary—“he did go -through the war.” - -Grimshaw lifted his high forehead in an injured manner. “If that is aimed -at me, Miss Frink, I will remind you once again of my helpless mother and -sister.” - -“Oh, yes, yes,” said Miss Frink impatiently, “I know. Scuttle along, -Grim, and do the errand. I believe I’ll jump into your car and just show -myself at the supper at the City Hall.” - -“Oh, you’re wonderful, Aunt Susanna!” exclaimed Mrs. Lumbard, clasping -her pretty hands. “If you want me to, I’ll—” - -“I don’t. I know how it would bore you. I’ll see that coachman first. I -must get rid of him. I knew the checks weren’t right.” - -She swept out of the room as suddenly as she had entered it, and the two -left standing there looked at each other, their expressions changing from -the solicitude they had worn to gravity. - -“If the gods hadn’t intervened,” said Adèle softly, “to-night we should -have been—” - -“Sh!” warned the secretary. - -“Of course, there would be some charities,” she went on, her brown eyes -shining, “but you and I, you and I—” - -“Hush!” warned the secretary again. “We can’t be thankful enough that -dear Miss Frink’s life was saved.” - -Mrs. Lumbard laughed low. “You’ve said it, Leonard. I don’t think we can.” - -“Adèle!” - -“Yes, I know.” She still laughed softly. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -A BOBBED HEAD - - -As Leonard Grimshaw’s hair gradually deserted him, he brushed it up in a -more and more aggressive tuft; and as he entered the White Room now he -reminded Hugh of a cockatoo, with his crest and his slender, sharp nose -and shell-rimmed spectacles. - -“Excuse the intrusion,” he said in his most dignified and ladylike -manner, and, as he gazed at the one-eyed warrior, his nostrils dilated. -Cigarette smoke was curling above the immaculateness of the bed. “I come -at Miss Frink’s behest to get your suit of clothes,” he added coldly. - -Hugh removed his cigarette. “What you going to do with it?” he asked in a -rather hollow voice. “Any needy scarecrows in Farrandale?” - -The secretary did not like the stranger’s nonchalant manner and he -declined to smile. - -“I am to send it to your tailor to be duplicated. Miss Frink proposes to -pay for it.” - -“She’ll have to if anybody does,” remarked Hugh feebly. “I’m broke. -Awfully good of you, Mr.—Mr.—” - -“Grimshaw. I am Miss Frink’s private secretary and man of affairs.” - -“Pompous little birdie,” thought Hugh, and he regarded his visitor -closely with his one eye, remembering John Ogden’s reference to the -pussy-footing secretary who was to be Miss Frink’s heir. - -The nurse brought the suit to the bedside for Hugh to empty the -pockets. There was the photograph in its worn leather case, a card, -a handkerchief, some keys, a knife, but the suit being new had not -accumulated the usual papers and old letters. There was a spotless -pocketbook or billfold, and Hugh smiled ruefully at sight of it. He knew -its contents. - -“All right,” he said, and left the lot in the nurse’s hands. - -The secretary continued to stare disapprovingly at the smoke-wreathed -bed. As he accepted the dilapidated suit from the nurse, he spoke again: - -“I feel I should tell you, Mr. Stanwood, that tobacco is very offensive -to Miss Frink, especially in the form of cigarettes. Of course, you have -put us under great obligation” (Hugh noted the “us”), “but I must warn -you that we cannot allow the atmosphere of the house to be vitiated and -made disagreeable for Miss Frink.” - -Hugh smiled faintly toward the speaker. “Fine of you to look out for -her,” he said. “Might shut the transom, nurse.” - -The secretary’s full lips drew together and he glared at this -self-possession. Insolence, he called it. Of course, the man was injured, -but, in consideration of such hospitality as was being shown him, he -might at least act promptly upon such information. - -Leonard returned to Mrs. Lumbard flushed, and with the little crack in -his voice that came with excitement. - -“Lying there, smoking like a young nabob,” he reported. “I told him Miss -Frink’s horror of tobacco, and he merely asked the nurse to close the -transom. Such nerve!” - -“Yes,” returned Adèle, interested, “we surely knew already that he had -nerve: and isn’t he a beauty?” - -“Oh, certainly,” returned the other, throwing down the clothes on a table -with a vigor that suggested a wish that the owner was occupying them. -“Head all bandaged but one eye, arm bundled up, a general wreck.” - -“Let him smoke, then, poor thing, while Aunt Susanna is off showing -Farrandale what she’s made of. It will be his last for one while.” - -It was, indeed, Hugh’s last indulgence because a high fever took -possession of the young adventurer that night, and for a few days Miss -Frink’s physician was a busy man. She paid scant attention to her other -interests until the boy was sane again; and, although she kept to the -usual hours in her study, the nurse was instructed to report to her at -short intervals. - -“It does seem, Miss Frink, as if we ought to send for his Aunt Sukey,” -said this attractive young woman on one occasion. “He calls for her -incessantly.” - -Miss Frink drew her features together in the sudden grimace which sent -her eyeglasses off her nose. - -“How are we going to do that? You looked through that little trunk of -his, I suppose, as I told you?” - -“Yes. There wasn’t a scrap of paper in there, and this is all that was in -his pockets.” - -The nurse produced the photograph case and a business card. - -Miss Frink examined them. “Yes, there’s John Ogden’s card. I could send -for him, but I don’t care to have him see just what I managed to do to -his protégé in a few hours. Unless the boy’s in danger, I won’t send, as -yet.” Miss Frink looked long at the photograph. - -“Might be his sister,” she said. “There’s a resemblance. I hope it isn’t -a best girl. He’s too young to be hampered.” - -Leonard Grimshaw looked over her shoulder at the picture. His employer -glanced at him with a humorous twist of her thin lips. - -“You’ve kept free, eh, Grim?” - -“I had interests which came first,” responded the secretary, with the -reproving tone which he reserved for implications that he had time for -any thought separate from Miss Frink’s affairs. - -That lady returned the old morocco case and the card to the nurse. - -“Keep careful watch,” she said, “and ask Dr. Morton to report to me at -his next visit. I wish to send for Mr. Ogden if there is occasion for -anxiety.” - -The nurse left the room, and the secretary turned adoring eyes upon his -employer. - -“If you ever thought of yourself, Miss Frink, you would see Dr. Morton on -your own account. After the shock you have endured, and the heroism with -which you returned to the excitement of the banquet, it stands to reason -that your nerves should have a tonic.” - -“Fiddlesticks, Grim. I’m all right. All the tonic I need is to know that -I haven’t killed that boy upstairs.” - -“Don’t worry about him,” said the secretary, looking severely through -his dark-rimmed spectacles. “Other husky men have survived a broken arm -and a bumped head, and I dare say he will. I feel that I ought to warn -you that he is a person of no delicacy.” - -Miss Frink regarded the speaker with narrowed eyes. - -“I rather suspected that,” she said slowly, “by the way he grabbed my -horses’ heads.” - -The secretary flushed, but continued indomitably: “Physical bravery -is often allied with a thick-skinned mentality. I think for your own -protection you should know what I found when I went to the White Room to -get his suit.” He paused dramatically. - -Miss Frink winked off her glasses again and returned the spectacled gaze -with deep interest. “He was kissing the nurse, perhaps,” she said. “She -is a sweet thing.” - -“Miss Frink!” The exclamation was scandalized as her secretary regarded -his lady of the old school with real amazement. “No. He was not kissing -the nurse, but he was doing what would affect your comfort far more. He -was smoking cigarettes.” - -Miss Frink surprised her companion still further by laughing. - -“Didn’t you hear him ask me for one in the motor? Now, I say he was -clever, with only one arm and one eye, and laid low in bed, to manage to -get cigarettes.” - -Grimshaw stared. “It must have been Dr. Morton,” he said after a pause; -“but the point is that, when I told him you detested them, he didn’t -stop.” - -“He smiled, perhaps?” Miss Frink did, herself. - -“I don’t remember; but I wasn’t going to stand for that, you may be sure, -and I told him we couldn’t have the atmosphere of this house—your house, -vitiated.” - -“Vitiated,” repeated Miss Frink musingly, “Fine word, Vitiated.” - -“Growing childish, upon my soul,” thought the secretary. “The first -break!” - -“The point is,” he declared with dignity, “the significant point is, that -he did not stop smoking. He asked the nurse to close the transom.” - -“Poor boy, he needn’t have done that,” said Miss Frink; “and, by the way, -Dr. Morton didn’t give him the cigarettes.” - -“I suppose he got around the nurse, then.” - -“No. She isn’t guilty either; and, Grim”—Miss Frink paused and put back -her eyeglasses through which she regarded the faithful one steadily—“I -am entirely prepared to go around wearing a gas-mask if necessary. I -might be needing one now for brimstone if it wasn’t for that boy, and he -is going to have any plaything it occurs to him to want. Now, let’s get -at these letters.” - -Her secretary blinked, and put one hand to his temporarily whirling head, -while with the other he automatically gathered up the mail. - - * * * * * - -When, toward the close of that eventful gala day at Farrandale, Miss -Frink had courageously returned to the scene of the festivities, two -girls witnessed the burst of applause which greeted her as she stepped -from her secretary’s motor. - -One of them, a typical flapper, her hair and her skirt equally bobbed, -gazed balefully at the apparition of the lady of the old school as she -bowed in response to the plaudits of her townspeople. The other, a -gentle-looking, blonde girl, smiled unconsciously at the black satin -figure, as she joined in the applause. - -The eyes of the flapper snapped. “You shan’t do it, Millicent,” she said, -pulling her friend’s clapping hands apart. - -“I must,” laughed Millicent. “I’m a loyal Ross-Grahamite.” - -They were sitting in that part of the grandstand which had not -embarrassed Rex and Regina by falling. - -“You can’t be loyal to her and to me, too. She fired me yesterday.” - -“Oh, Damaris,” said the blonde girl sympathetically. “What happened?” - -“This,” said Damaris indicating her dark short locks. - -“Just because you had your hair bobbed? But you ought to have known. She -won’t allow any clerk in the store with bobbed hair.” - -“It’s a wonder she doesn’t insist that all the men let theirs grow in a -braid,” said Damaris scornfully. “Powdered hair and a queue would just -suit her, I’ll bet.” - -“I’m very sorry you lost the position,” said Millicent. “You really liked -reading to her.” - -“Well, yes, in a way. I liked the salary; but it cramped my style awfully -to go near the woman. I was always deadly afraid I’d say something that -wasn’t in the book, and I used to repeat ‘prunes and prisms’ all the way -from my house to her gate to get ready. I’ll never look at a prune again, -nor go near a prism.” - -“Wasn’t she agreeable to work for? I never spoke to her, but she comes -through the store quite often to look things over, and I think she’s -wonderful. You can feel her power—something like Queen Elizabeth. Just -think of her grit coming back here this afternoon. Everybody says she had -a miraculous escape. It must have been an awful shock.” - -“I take a little comfort out of that,” remarked Damaris coolly. “You may -be sure it was the man that was nearly killed. She’s indestructible, all -right.” - -The girls glanced down at the seat of honor where Miss Frink was -enthroned during the last speech of the afternoon, preluding adjournment -of the leading citizens to the banquet. - -“How did you get the position, Damaris?” - -“Through my unbearable cousin, Leonard Grimshaw. He’s her secretary.” - -“Well, you’re an ungrateful rascal!” laughed Millicent. “I’ve seen Mr. -Grimshaw often in the store”—the speaker caught her breath and turned -grave. “He calls for grandpa’s rent, too.” - -“That nose of his,” said Damaris, “got its shape entirely from poking -into other people’s affairs.” - -“Who is the pretty lady with white hair who is with him so often?” - -“Adèle Lumbard, a _divorcée_; no relation of Miss Frink’s, but calls -her ‘Aunt.’ Think of the lady of the old school having to house a -_divorcée_! It seems that Mrs. Lumbard’s grandmother was Miss Frink’s -best friend, the only person, I guess, she ever loved in her life. So, -when this girl’s marriage turned out unhappily, I rather think Miss Frink -guessed the fault wasn’t all on one side, and I’m just sure Miss Frink -took Mrs. Lumbard in as an offering to her friend who died long ago. I’m -just sure of it because it’s so plain the old woman doesn’t love her any -more than she does anybody else; only I think she wants to know where -Adèle is, evenings.” - -“Why, Damaris! How imaginative you are. Why doesn’t Mrs. Lumbard read to -her, then?” - -“Yes, why doesn’t she? Just because Adèle’s reading is one of the 157 -varieties of things Miss Frink doesn’t like.” - -“And she liked yours,” said Millicent, her gentle voice sympathetic again. - -“Yes; Leonard got her to try me, and though she didn’t throw me any -bouquets she engaged me; but she informed me yesterday when we went to -the mat, that my skirts had always distressed her by being so short, -and now my hair settled it.” The speaker shook her fluffy mane. “I met -Leonard when I went into the house, and he looked me over with his -owl-eyes, and said: ‘You little fool, you’ve done for yourself now.’ And -I had, you see.” - -“Is he always so affectionate?” - -“Yes, as affectionate as a snapping turtle; but Mother looks up to him as -a great man because he’s closest to Miss Frink of anybody, and everybody -believes he’ll be her heir.” - -“Will he help you again?” - -Damaris shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose not. Why don’t you and I open -a Beauty Parlor?” - -“One reason is that we haven’t any money.” - -“Would you if we had?” - -Millicent shook her head. “I can’t take any chances, Damaris, you know -that. My best plan is not to bob my hair and stick close to Ross-Graham. -Grandfather’s pension is so small, and our house is old and we have to -keep it in repair, and that costs. Mr. Grimshaw says our rent is so small -he can’t do anything; but not a day passes that we don’t remember to be -thankful for the ground being big enough for Grandpa’s garden. We’re very -happy.” - -Damaris looked curiously into the hazel eyes regarding her, so full of -the warmth of sincerity. - -“You’d be a wonderful partner, Millicent. Even at school I used to feel -there was a sort of—well, a sort of perfume around where you were.” - -Millicent laughed. “Damaris, is that a compliment?” - -“Well, sweetness, anyway. You’d get around the customers every time. -You’d really like them. I would, too, if I could make ’em look pretty. -I’d like to have Miss Frink come in! Wouldn’t I do her up! Gosh, what -she’d look like when she got out of the chair. Leonard, too. Wouldn’t -I like to give Leonard scalp massage!” The speaker made a threatening -gesture. - -“Damaris!” - -“Don’t swear, dear. Say, you haven’t told me how snappy I look. ‘Chick’s’ -the word, isn’t it?” - -Millicent looked at the dark, sparkling face. “Yes, but I wish you hadn’t -done it, dear.” - -“Well,” Damaris sighed. “I can’t put it back. Mother wept, but I bet I’ll -get something just as good. Mother felt it was so refined to go to that -grand house every day and get Miss Frink to sleep.” - -“To sleep?” - -“Yes, I read to her after lunch every day, and I always left her asleep. -That was my job.” - -Applause for the speech sounded, and Miss Frink rose. - -“There she goes,” said Millicent as they watched the tall black satin -figure rise and take the arm of the Mayor. “Wonderful! She’s wonderful!” - -“Yes,” said Damaris. “They say the man that stopped the runaway was -awfully hurt. He may be dead by this time, but what cares she? She’s back -on her job, Queen of Farrandale.” - -“But she took him to her own home,” said Millicent. - -“Yes,” Damaris smiled. “In Leonard’s car, they say. I’ll bet he writhed. -Good enough for him. I hope—” - -“No, you don’t. Now, stop, Damaris. Let us get your mother, and both of -you come home with me to supper.” - -“Well, that would be awfully nice, Millicent,” returned the girl more -gently. “You smell sweeter than usual.” The bobbed head was somewhat -lowered. “You can comfort Mother if anybody can.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -MRS. LUMBARD - - -Susanna Frink’s life had included little of the softer emotions. Of -course, acquaintances and strangers had been voluble behind her back with -suggestions as to what she ought to do. A woman, especially a rich woman, -should have ties. Even the dignified, handsome, old-fashioned house -she lived in had not been her family homestead, and it was declared an -absurd purchase for a single woman when she moved into it nearly twenty -years ago. The grounds, with their fine old trees, pleased her. The high -iron fence, with the elaborate gates opening upon the driveway, pleased -her. In the days of her restaurant—tea-house they would call it now—and -candy-making, she had looked upon this house as fulfilling every idea -she had ever had of elegance, and, when it fell to the possession of a -globe-trotting bachelor who had no use for it, she bought it at a bargain -as was her successful habit. - -Those early business days had been shared by another girl, gay Alice -Ray, and to this partner of her joys and sorrows Susanna gave her heart. -It almost broke when Allen Morehouse married Alice and carried her -off to the Far West. The two corresponded for years, but gradually the -epistolary bond dissolved. Miss Frink grew more and more absorbed in -business, and the courageous, cheery chum of her girlhood came seldom -to her mind until one day she received a letter signed “Adèle Lumbard.” -It enclosed a picture of Alice Ray similar to one in Miss Frink’s -possession, and the writer claimed to be Alice’s granddaughter. She -stated that she was alone in the world having been divorced after an -unhappy marriage, and, not knowing which way to turn, had thought of the -friend her grandmother had loved so devotedly, and wondered if for the -sake of auld lang syne Miss Frink would be willing to see her and give -her advice as to what to do. - -Divorced! Susanna Frink’s eyebrows drew together. The lady of the -old school had no patience with divorce. But here was Alice Ray’s -granddaughter. Susanna looked at the picture, a smiling picture that -through all the ups and downs of her life had stood on her dresser: an -enlargement of it hung on her wall. There was no other picture in the -room. Memories stirred. She had no sense of outgoing warmth toward the -writer of the letter; but a divorce was a scandalous thing. What had the -girl done? Worse still, what was she likely to do if left to herself? - -Miss Frink had no private charities. She gave through her secretary -to the worthy organizations whose business it was to look after such -matters, and troubled herself no further about them. Her secretary took -care that the frequent letters of appeal should never reach her, but when -he read Mrs. Lumbard’s, and saw the photograph, he knew that this did not -come under the usual head; and so Miss Frink was now looking into Alice -Ray’s sweet eyes, and the smile which seemed to express confidence that -her good pal Susanna would not fail her. - -Miss Frink sent for Adèle Lumbard, and that young woman’s heart bounded -with relief and hope. She knew all about Miss Frink—indeed, so closely -had she kept apprised of her reputation for cold shrewdness that she had -grave doubts as to the reception of her letter, and the curt lines of -invitation rejoiced her. The old photograph was returned to her without -comment. - -When she reached the big house, it was no surprise to have a maid show -her to her room and tell her that Miss Frink would see her in the -drawing-room in an hour. - -A sensitive soul would have been chilled by such a reception. Adèle -Lumbard’s soul was not sensitive, but her body was, and she wholly -approved of the linen in her bathroom and on her bed, fine in texture and -all monogrammed. She liked the _chaise longue_ and the luxurious chairs. -Her windows looked out on heavy-leafed maples and graceful birches rising -from a perfectly kept lawn. A pergola and a fountain were charmingly -placed. - -“If she’ll only take a fancy to me!” thought Adèle. - -Those piercing eyes of Miss Frink’s studied the pretty woman who entered -the room at the appointed time. Perhaps there had been stirrings of hope -that the newcomer might bring reminders of the one being she had loved -with all her heart. If so, the hope died. Adèle’s dark eyes and ivory -skin surmounted by the fluffy, snowy hair were striking, but as unlike -the cheery brown and rose of sweet Alice Ray as it was possible to -imagine. - -Miss Frink’s cold dry hand gave the plump smooth one a brief shake. - -“Be seated, Mrs. Lumbard!” - -“Oh, must you say that!” was the impulsive response. “Do call me Adèle -for Grandmother’s sake.” - -“I am sorry you got a divorce. I am a woman of the old school,” was the -uncompromising reply. - -“You wouldn’t wish me to live with a bad man?” The dark eyes opened with -childlike appeal. - -“No; but you needn’t have divorced him.” - -“If I didn’t, he would always be pestering me.” - -“You talk like a Southerner.” - -“Yes. Didn’t Grandmother tell you her son went South and married there?” - -“Perhaps. I don’t remember. How old are you?” - -“Twenty-eight. You’re looking at my hair. In a single night, Aunt -Susanna—Oh, excuse me,” with apparently sudden shyness, “Grandmother -always spoke of you to us all as our Aunt Susanna. We were taught to love -your picture.” - -Miss Frink felt slightly pitiful toward that “single night” statement and -she kept the thought of her Alice in mind. - -“I don’t like harrowing details,” she said curtly, “so I won’t ask for -them.” - -“Thank you so much”—with a pretty gesture of outgoing hands—“I do so -loathe going over it.” - -“No wonder. I’m glad to see you don’t paint your face or dye your hair.” - -The dark eyebrows lifted in surprise. “That’s the way I was raised, Aunt -Susanna,” was the meek reply. - -“Well, you’d better stay on here a while,” said Miss Frink at last, “and -we’ll think what it will be best for you to do. Let us see. How long ago -did Alice—did your grandmother die?” - -The dark eyes looked off in thought. “I was a little girl. It must be -about fifteen years now.” - -Miss Frink nodded. - -“What an old Tartar!” thought Adèle that night as she went to bed; but -she had landed, as she expressed it to herself, and possession was nine -points of the law. She hugged herself for her cleverness in eschewing -rosy cheeks and having nothing on her hands but the slender wedding ring. - -In the careful study she had made of Miss Frink and her surroundings -before coming here, she had learned about Leonard Grimshaw. The rumor was -that, although Miss Frink had not really adopted him, he was the closest -factor in her life; and when Adèle met him at dinner that first evening, -and found that he was not a guest, but living in the house, she realized -still further his importance. Realized also that he might resent her -claims, and so she set herself to win his regard; while he, hearing her -call Miss Frink “Aunt Susanna” unrebuked, understood that she was to be -accepted. - -They quickly formed a tacit alliance. Adèle’s efforts to get on intimate -terms with the Queen of Farrandale were steadily repulsed, but her pride -was not hurt as she observed that Miss Frink treated everybody with the -same brusqueness. She discerned that the one sentiment of her hostess’s -life was still a living memory. The two pictures Miss Susanna kept near -her proved it, and one day, a week after Adèle’s arrival, when the lawyer -came and was closeted alone with Miss Frink for an hour, Mrs. Lumbard -felt jubilantly certain that the visit was for the purpose of inserting -her own name in the old lady’s will. - -Adèle longed to become necessary in some way to her hostess. It was -absurd for Leonard’s young cousin to be coming every day to read to -her. She made an excuse to read something aloud one day, but Miss Frink -interrupted her. - -“I am blunt, Adèle. I don’t have time for beating about the bush, and -your reading makes me nervous. It’s all vowels.” - -“I’m sorry, Aunt Susanna,” returned the young woman meekly. “I do so wish -I could do something for you—the little while I’m here.” The guest was -always referring to the brevity of her visit, but weeks were slipping by. -“Do you care for music?” - -“Yes, moderately,” said Miss Frink carelessly. “There’s a Steinway grand -down in the drawing-room. I don’t know when it has been touched.” - -“I noticed that and was so tempted, but I didn’t want to play without -your permission.” - -“Oh, go ahead any evening. I don’t want a racket in the daytime.” - -So that very evening Adèle, in the simple black georgette gown which made -her white throat and arms dazzling, sat down at the piano in the empty -drawing-room and had the triumph of seeing Miss Frink come through the -portières in evident surprise, and sit down with folded hands to listen -to the finished runs that were purling across the neglected keys. - -It was two weeks after Adèle’s arrival that Rex and Regina ran away; -and, in the excitement of Hugh’s illness, Mrs. Lumbard had sufficient -adroitness not to risk irritating Miss Frink’s rasped nerves. The piano -was closed and she effaced herself as much as possible. - -The secretary’s exasperation at the intrusion of the young hero beneath -their roof amused her. He confided to her the paralyzing proof of Miss -Frink’s indulgence in the matter of the cigarettes. - -“Oh, if she would only go around the family!” sighed Adèle. - -Grimshaw gave her one look of surprise, then shrugged his shoulders. - -“That would certainly be the shortest way out of the house for you,” he -said dryly. - -Adèle colored. “You know very well you’d like it, too.” - -“If I did, that would be a very different matter. I’m disgusted with the -women of to-day.” - -The secretary was sitting at his desk, and Mrs. Lumbard was in the usual -pose of hunting for a book which she always adopted in her visits to -the study lest the lady of the old school should come in upon their -interview. Grimshaw had a sort of fascination for her inasmuch as his -position was certainly the one nearest the throne, and he had a large and -undisputed authority in Miss Frink’s affairs. Adèle’s closest watch had -never been able to discern any evidence of personal attachment in Miss -Frink for her secretary, and he certainly had no cause of jealousy for -Adèle on that score. This fact, more than her physical attractiveness, -caused him to accept her friendly overtures and even to relieve himself -occasionally in an exasperated burst of confidence. - -For the first five years of his employment by Miss Frink he had been -youthfully docile, attentive, and devoted to learning her business -affairs. At the end of that period she invited him for convenience to -reside in her house, and from that time on he had been playing for the -large stake which everybody believed he would win. - -He learned her likes and dislikes, never allowed his devotion to lapse -into servility, and, with apparent unconsciousness of catering to her, -kept early hours, read a great deal, and played with her endless games of -double solitaire. - -She sometimes suggested that he seek a wider social life, but to such -hints he always replied, with a demure dignity in amusing contrast to -her brusque strength, that his manner of life suited him excellently, -but that if she wished to entertain he was at her service. Miss Frink at -times thought remotely that she should like to entertain. She had taken -much interest in perfecting the details of her home, inside and out; -but, when she came up against the question of setting a definite date and -issuing invitations, she was stirred with the same apprehensions a fish -might be supposed to undergo if asked to take a stroll around the garden. -She spoke of the matter sometimes, and her secretary bowed gravely and -assured her that he was quite ready to take her orders; but the fish -always turned away from such considerations and dived a little deeper -into the congenial discussion of her business matters. - -Leonard Grimshaw thought very highly of himself in the present, and had -many secret plans for an important and powerful future. - -He looked now scornfully at Adèle standing by the bookcase with her -self-convicted blush. - -“I am disgusted with the women of to-day,” he said. - -“Why shouldn’t we smoke as well as you?” asked Adèle. - -“I don’t,” he returned finally, his eyes fixed on the papers on his desk. -“You try it once here, and you’ll find it will be a few degrees worse -than Damaris bobbing her hair.” - -“Poor youngster,” said Adèle. “I must say, Aunt Susanna—” - -“Well, what?” said Miss Frink, suddenly coming into the room, “Aunt -Susanna what?”—she went to the desk and threw down some papers. “File -those, Grim. Speak, and let the worst be known, Adèle.” - -The secretary certainly admired his colleague as he rose to his feet. -Without altering her pose, Adèle’s voice melted into the meek and -childlike tone of her habit. - -“I was speaking of what a marvel it is that you have had no reaction -from the excitement of that dreadful day. That is what it is to be a -thoroughbred, Aunt Susanna.” - -“Thorough-nothing,” snorted the lady. “What was the use of my lying down -and rolling over because I wasn’t hurt?” - -“And Rex is all right again, isn’t he?” said Adèle. - -“Yes, he’s got over his scratch, and the new coachman does you credit, -Grim. He has decent ideas about a check rein. Order the horses for me at -three. Dr. Morton says it will not hurt Mr. Stanwood to go for a short -drive.” - -Miss Frink hurried out of the room, and the two she left in it stared -at each other. Adèle smothered a laugh behind a pretty hand, but the -secretary had forgotten her smooth diplomacy in his annoyance. - -“I wonder if she is going with him. The nurse is quite enough,” he said, -as if to himself. - -“I wish she’d ask me to go,” said Adèle. “I haven’t had a glimpse of him -since I saw him lifted out of the road.” - -“Nor she, much,” said Grimshaw. “She has had the nurse make frequent -reports, but she hasn’t been in the sick-room at all. Why should she be -bothered?” - -“No reason, of course. She is not exactly a mush of love and sympathy. -What I was really going to say, Leonard, was that I don’t see how a young -attractive man like you entombs himself away from his kind the way you -do, and must have done for years.” - -Grimshaw raised his eyebrows as one accepting his due, and brushed back -his thin crest of hair, with a careless hand. - -“I work pretty hard,” he said. - -Adèle looked apprehensively toward the door, then back at him. - -“Is it always like this?” she breathed in a hushed voice. - -“Like what?” - -“Days all alike. Evenings all alike.” Adèle clenched her hands. “Nobody -coming, nobody going. Why haven’t you dried up and blown away!” - -Grimshaw regarded her. She had undoubtedly become somewhat of a -safety-valve for his feelings, since the day when Miss Frink brought a -foreign body into the ordered régime of the big silent house, but he -could do without her. He would rather do without everybody. His eyes -behind the owl spectacles had a slight inimical gleam. - -“Why do you stay if you don’t like it?” he returned. - -The young woman straightened up resentfully. - -“For the same reason you do,” she retorted. - -“That is a very silly remark,” he said coldly. “A business man stays by -his business interests.” - -She regarded him in silence, and her stiff posture relaxed. He was -powerful and she was powerless. She had put herself in his power many -times. He could undo her with Miss Frink any hour. - -“I’m alone in the world, Leonard,” she said, suddenly becoming -self-pitying. “I’m so glad to have found a friend in you. Don’t desert -me. I’d love Aunt Susanna if she would let me.” - -“Better not try it on,” returned the secretary dryly, and again seated -himself at his desk. - -“But I’m human!” she exclaimed, suddenly appealing, “and I’m young. Can’t -we ever have any fun? Aren’t there any trusties in this prison?” - -“Adèle!” He looked up suddenly and his voice cracked. “Keep these ideas -to yourself, if you please. This is no prison. You can go free any day.” - -She caught her breath. She longed to tell him he was a cautious prig; -but for the first time she felt afraid of him. He had confided in her -somewhat in his irritation at the stranger upstairs, but that idea was no -longer a novelty, and now she felt that he was safely withdrawing into -his shell. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -VISITING THE SICK - - -As her secretary had said, it was Miss Frink’s policy to keep away from -the White Room. Experts, the doctor and the nurse, had charge of it. -Why should she hover about like a fussy old hen, getting in the way and -causing confusion? She had her business to attend to, and there was no -reason why her life should not go on as systematically as before. - -So she argued. Nevertheless, this was more easily said than done. She -had been shocked out of her rut, and so long as that stalwart figure in -bed in the White Room remained recumbent, she knew she could not really -settle into her usual state of mind. - -Miss Damon, the nurse, came to her three times a day with reports, and -they were the interesting moments of the day to her. This noon she -awaited the visit with unusual eagerness; and she hailed the young woman -with a cheerful greeting. - -“Dr. Morton says Mr. Stanwood may go for a drive this afternoon,” she -said. - -“Yes; he is sitting up by the window now, Miss Frink. I thought perhaps -you would like to come in and visit him. He is rather low-spirited, you -see.” - -“Is he? Is he?” responded Miss Frink tensely. “What do you think he -wants?” - -“Oh, just to get well, I suppose. Convalescence is the hardest part after -such a fever as he has had.” - -“Well, I’ll come,” said Miss Frink, straightening herself valiantly, and -she followed to the White Room, where in an armchair by the window sat -a young man with long, pensive eyes. He was wearing, besides a gloomy -expression, a small mustache and short beard carefully trimmed. A soft -blanket was folded about his shoulders and another spread over the feet -that rested on a cushioned stool. - -Miss Frink’s startled eyes drew from the nurse the explanation that Dr. -Morton had not wished the patient to be shaved as yet, and there was no -change of expression in the pale, handsome face as Hugh looked up at her -approach. - -“Are you willing to shake hands with the old thing that got you into this -mess?” inquired the visitor, and Hugh took her offered hand. - -“I see they let you look out of both eyes now.” She seated herself near -him. - -“Yes, that scratch is all right,” he responded. - -“Miss Damon thought I would be a cheerful visitor; but I suppose I’ll -never look cheerful to you. Now I just want to know if there is anything -more we can do for you than is being done.” Miss Frink’s emphatic tone -had its usual businesslike ring. “Don’t you want to smoke?” - -At this Hugh’s mustache did curve upward a little, showing a line of -gleaming teeth. - -“You don’t like it,” he returned. - -“Who said so? Anyway, you’ll teach me.” - -Hugh’s smile widened. “She is a good old sport,” he reflected. - -“I don’t want that now,” he said, grave again. - -“Well, is there anything on your mind?” pursued Miss Frink. The nurse had -left the room. Her taciturn patient had never said an unnecessary word to -her. Perhaps his hostess would have more success. - -“Now, your Aunt Sukey,” went on Miss Frink in a gentler tone than could -have been expected from her. “Don’t be surprised that we know about your -Aunt Sukey; for you called for her incessantly in your delirium, and I -assure you if you would like to see her it will give me all the pleasure -in the world to send for her and have her stay as long as you like.” - -The effect of this offer astonished the speaker. Color slowly flowed up -all over the pale face, and Hugh grinned. - -“Did I really call for her? Priceless! No, no, Miss Frink. You’re a -trump, but I don’t want her sent for.” - -“Not on good terms, then, I judge from the way you take it.” - -“No, we’re not. You’ve hit the nail on the head. I imagine that’s your -way.” Still coloring, he met the solicitous eyes bent upon him as Miss -Frink grimaced her glasses off. - -“Perhaps she is opposing a love affair. Don’t mind an old woman’s plain -speaking; but, of course, we saw the sweet face in your photograph, and -it doesn’t seem as if there could be anything wrong with that girl. I -like the quaint way she does her hair. I’m a lady of the old school, and -it’s refreshing to see a coiffure like that in this day of bobbed idiots. -Did Aunt Sukey oppose her?” - -“With tooth and nail,” replied Hugh. “You are a mind reader.” - -“Well—dear boy”—Miss Frink hesitated—“I want to do anything in this world -I can for you. Are you sure I can’t do anything in this matter?” - -“It’s a little late,” said Hugh. - -“Never too late to mend,” returned Miss Frink stoutly and hopefully. She -regarded the beauty of her companion, considering him in the rôle of a -lover. “You look just as if you were ready to sing ‘Faust,’” she said. “I -shall call her Marguerite until you tell me all about it.” - -Miss Frink little suspected that she had set fire to a train of thought -which hardened her companion against her, and accented the repugnance to -the part he was playing; a repugnance which had dominated him ever since -the breaking of his fever. - -Many times he had definitely made up his mind that, the minute sufficient -strength returned, he would disappear from Farrandale and repay John -Ogden every cent of his investment if it took years to accomplish it. -Two things deterred him: one, his last interview with Ogden in which the -latter reminded him of his lack of initiative and self-control—in other -words, his spinelessness. That stung his pride. “Remember,” said John -Ogden, “of the unspoken word you are master. The spoken word is master of -you.” The other incentive to continuing the rôle in which he had made -such a triumphant début was Miss Frink’s secretary. Hugh was a youth of -intense likes and dislikes very quickly formed. In spite of himself he -liked his brusque, angular hostess. To be sure, saving any one’s life -creates an interest in the rescued, but it was not only that. Hugh liked -the sporting quality of his great-aunt. He liked the way she had done her -duty by him and not fussed around the sick-room. She was a good fellow, -and he didn’t like her to be under the influence, perhaps domination, of -the spectacled cockatoo who was also, in his own estimation, cock of the -walk. If Miss Frink had kept away from the White Room, Leonard Grimshaw -had not done so. He came in frequently with a masterful air and the -seriousness with which he took himself, and his patronizing manner to -patient and nurse grated on the convalescent. - -“I’ll be darned if I’ll leave Aunt Sukey to him,” was the conclusion Hugh -invariably reached after one of his visits. - -“There is something on my mind, Miss Frink,” said Hugh, now, “and that is -Mr. Ogden. I’m sure he is wondering why he doesn’t hear from me.” - -“I’ll write him at once,” said Miss Frink. “It shall go out this -afternoon. We’ll mail it together.” - -The patient’s long eyes rolled toward her listlessly. - -“Yes. You’re going for a drive with me. Dr. Morton says you may.” - -“H’m,” returned Hugh. “Not until I get a little more starch in my legs, I -guess. I can barely get to this chair from the bed.” - -“Oh, of course the butler and the coachman will carry you over the -stairs.” - -“Thanks, no. I prefer not to be handled like a rag doll.” - -“What have you got that blanket on for?” demanded Miss Frink, suddenly -becoming conscious of the patient’s garb. - -“Why—” John Ogden in his preparations for his protégé had not had the -foresight to prepare for inaction on his part. “I—I haven’t any bathrobe -with me.” - -Here the door opened and Leonard Grimshaw walked in. It entertained Hugh -to note the abasement of the uplifted crest as the secretary saw his -employer. - -“I beg pardon. I didn’t know you were here, Miss Frink.” - -“Whether you knew it or not, you might have knocked,” she retorted. “Look -here, Grim, Mr. Stanwood doesn’t wish to drive to-day, so I am going now -instead of later.” - -“Now, Miss Frink?” deferentially. “Luncheon will be served in fifteen -minutes.” - -“Now,” repeated Miss Frink. “There is an errand I wish to do. Order the -horses at once, please.” - -The secretary bowed in silence and withdrew. - -“Bully for you, old girl. You know your own mind,” thought Hugh, and at -that moment the nurse appeared with a tempting tray. The patient regarded -it with a little less apathy than usual. The last few minutes had been an -appetizer. - -Miss Frink rose. “Eat all you can, my boy. I shall let you see my letter -to Mr. Ogden before I mail it.” - -“Do you know his address?” - -“Certainly; Ross Graham buys of him. To tell the truth, I should have -written him long before this if it hadn’t been I was ashamed to have him -know the reception I gave his friend.” - -Hugh smiled faintly. Age must have ripened Aunt Sukey. She was certainly -a good sort. Grimshaw couldn’t put it over her whatever Mr. Ogden might -think. Hugh still smiled as he thought of the depressed crest, and the -deference of that voice so full of unction. - -The secretary shook his head as he departed on his errand. To postpone -luncheon—why, it was nearly as unheard of as to connive at cigarettes! - -“She’s breaking—breaking,” he reflected. “It’s the beginning of the end.” - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -AT ROSS GRAHAM’S - - -The horses were at the door, likewise the secretary. He had encountered -Mrs. Lumbard in the hall, and informed her that the luncheon gong would -not sound at present. - -She lifted her shoulders. “Curfew shall not ring to-night! Why the -_bouleversement_?” - -“Miss Frink wishes to do an errand.” - -“It must be a marvelous one that won’t wait.” - -The crest was lifted high. “She behaves very strangely,” was the -dignified reply. “She is”—Grimshaw tapped his temple—“somewhat changed -since her shock. It betrays itself in many ways. My deeply beloved and -respected Miss Frink!” He shook his head. - -Adèle gazed at him curiously, with little whimsical twitches at the -corners of her lips. “We can’t expect anything else at her age,” she -replied, in the low tone that he had used. - -The subject of their remarks now appeared at the head of the stairs, -dressed for her drive. She looked a little annoyed to see the couple -waiting below together. - -“Well, well,” she said testily. “I am not going on a journey. You look as -if you were waiting to bid me a long farewell.” - -“Would you like me to go with you?” asked Mrs. Lumbard. “I can get my hat -very quickly.” - -As Miss Frink reached the foot of the stairs, she returned the young -woman’s eager gaze coolly. “I am not in the least shy of asking your -company when I want you, Adèle,” she returned, pulling on her gloves. -“Any last wishes, Grim?” - -“I am simply waiting to put you in your carriage, dear lady,” he -returned, injured dignity again to the fore. - -“All right,” brusquely. “Order lunch to be served in three quarters of -an hour; and, Adèle, Mr. Stanwood doesn’t feel ready to come downstairs -yet, but he’s sitting up, and you might open the piano again. There is no -objection to your playing if you feel like it. He might like it—in the -distance.” - -Mrs. Lumbard lingered until the secretary had his employer safely -ensconced and the glistening horses had driven away. She watched him -come up the path, and then went out on the wide veranda behind the white -columns to meet him. - -“Grim by name and grim by nature,” she said, laughing. “You look -funereal.” - -“Don’t make silly jokes,” he snapped. “I should think you had had a snub -to last you for one while.” - -“Wasn’t it right between the eyes?” she returned cheerfully. - -“Everything that dear Miss Frink says is straight from the shoulder -always,” said her secretary. - -“I thought you were going to say straight from the heart. No wonder you -call her ‘dear.’ So ingratiating, so affectionate.” - -“That is enough of that,” said Leonard curtly. “I am here to protect Miss -Frink—even from her poor relations.” - -Mrs. Lumbard crimsoned to the roots of her white hair. “That is a nasty, -insulting thing to say.” The brown eyes scintillated. “The sacred lunch -hour is postponed. I may play in the daytime. If you are here to protect -Miss Frink, you would better let her relatives take care of themselves, -and turn your attention to the crippled Greek god she has been visiting -the last hour. Don’t you know, as well as I do, that she has gone on -some errand for him? Perhaps not cigarettes this time, but for something -he wants, and wouldn’t you be glad if I could have gone with her and -found out what it was? You won’t get anywhere by insulting me, Leonard -Grimshaw.” - -“There, there, Adèle.” The secretary was coloring, too. He disliked -hearing put into words the thoughts that had been grumbling in the back -of his head; but Mrs. Lumbard flashed past him and into the house, -and, hurrying to open the piano, in a minute the crashing chords of a -Rachmaninoff Prelude were sounding through the house. Every time those -strong white hands came down, it was with a force which might have been -shaking the cockatoo crest. - -In the White Room the convalescent’s pensive eyes widened. “Who can that -be?” he asked the nurse. - -“I’m sure I’ve no idea, Mr. Stanwood. It sounds like a man. Perhaps it is -Mr. Grimshaw.” - -“Say, if it is, he’s some good, after all. Only that’s a punk thing he’s -playing. That stuff’ll do when you’re dead. Would you mind going down and -asking him if he knows anything from ‘The Syncopated Playfellows’?” - -“I shall be glad to, Mr. Stanwood.” And Miss Damon went downstairs and -stood outside the entrance to the drawing-room until the last dignified -chord was dying away, then she entered. - -“Why, Mrs. Lumbard!” she exclaimed in surprise; “we thought it was a man.” - -“I wish I was,” said Adèle vindictively, “and that I was just going to -fight a duel, and had the choice of weapons. I’d choose horsewhips and I -guarantee I’d get there first.” - -Miss Damon’s demure little mouth smiled leniently. “Mr. Stanwood sent -me down. He was very pleased to hear music, and we thought it might be -Mr. Grimshaw; and Mr. Stanwood wanted me to ask him if he could play -something from ‘The Syncopated Playfellows.’” - -Adèle’s eyes grew their widest. “Goodness, he’s human then if he did come -from Olympus!” The eyes brightened. “To think of having a live one in the -house! It’s the jazziest kind of jazz, Miss Damon. I might just as well -meet Miss Frink at the door with a string of profanity. Will you stand at -the window and watch for the carriage while I loosen up?” - -She plunged at once into the audacious rhythm and jerking melody -requested, and it was not long before Leonard Grimshaw’s pointed nose -and amazed spectacles appeared between the heavy satin portières. -Adèle flashed defiance at him and pounded on her complicated way. The -secretary felt beating symptoms in his feet, but he still glared. - -The barbaric strains came to a close. - -“I’m surprised,” he said. - -“You look it,” retorted the musician. - -Miss Damon glided from the room and upstairs. She found enthusiasm in the -pale face of her patient. - -“Thank you. Grimshaw isn’t so dusty, after all. Why, he’s a wizard.” - -“It wasn’t Mr. Grimshaw. It was a Mrs. Lumbard, a niece of Miss Frink’s, -who lives here.” - -“Lives here? I wonder why she hasn’t played before.” - -“Oh, Miss Fink wouldn’t allow the piano opened while you were ill, Mr. -Stanwood.” - -“Say”—Hugh looked out the window thoughtfully—“she’s been awfully white -to me. Miss or Mrs. Lumbard did you say?” looking back at the nurse. - -“Mrs. She’s a widow with white hair. Quite pretty.” - -“H’m! She’d better have her hair dyed if she’s going to play like that. -It’s a wonder it doesn’t turn red and curl of its own accord.” - -Meanwhile Miss Frink had directed her liveried coachman to drive to Ross -Graham Company’s. Rex and Regina would probably have gone there if left -to themselves, so often did they traverse the road. Holding their heads -high, their silver harness jingling, they, like their mistress, seemed to -be scorning the parvenu motors among which they threaded their way. - -Arrived at the store, Miss Frink told the new coachman where to wait—it -was a nuisance to have to break in new servants, to have to initiate a -novice into her established customs. She supposed the man who had held -that position for so many years could not help dying; nevertheless, if -he had not done so Rex and Regina would never have run away with her; -and, as she left the victoria with this reflection, another consideration -followed close on its heels. She would never have known Hugh Stanwood. A -softened expression grew around her thin lips. - -Yes, she would probably have received him into the store to please John -Ogden, but she would never have taken any notice of him. The clerks in -the big establishment held just the same place in her consideration as -the lights, or the modern fixtures for carrying cash. - -She entered the store and was met by a deferential floorwalker. - -“How do, Mr. Ramsay. Where are the men’s dressing-gowns or bathrobes or -smoking-jackets, or whatever you call ’em?” - -“Why, that’s quite flattering, Miss Frink. I didn’t know that you trusted -the manager to plan a department out of your knowledge.” - -“That is because you don’t know me, then. I make certain that a person is -competent, and after that I don’t tie any strings to him; but this is the -first time in my life I ever bought anything for a man. I hope you’ve got -something decent.” - -“Now, look here, Miss Frink”—they were walking toward the back of the -store, and every unoccupied clerk was casting furtive glances at the -eagle-eyed proprietor—“that’s heresy, you know. New York might come over -here and take a few lessons from our stock.” - -Miss Frink’s lips twitched. It was her usual manner of smiling. - -“Glad to hear it. Now, prove it.” - -They reached the section desired, and Mr. Ramsay nodded to a blonde girl -busy with her cash book. - -“Dressing-gowns, Miss Duane”—then he bowed and moved away. - -Miss Frink’s bright gaze fixed on the clerk. “Haven’t I seen you -somewhere else?” she demanded. - -“Yes, Madam,” returned the girl. “I am in the glove section, but Miss -Aubrey has gone out to lunch, so I’m over here.” - -“Do you know anything about the stock?” - -Millicent colored under this abruptness, but she smiled. - -“Not very much, but I can show you what we have.” - -Miss Frink liked her tone and manner. - -“Human intelligence, eh?—Do you know who I am?” with sudden consideration -that perhaps this sweetness was for the occasion. - -“Yes, indeed, Miss Frink. We all know you. I have fitted you to gloves.” - -The lady of the old school still regarded the blonde head with its simple -twist of hair carried back from a low broad forehead. “I was sure I had -seen you. Are you always patient with people that snap you up?” - -“Oh, yes. I might lose my job if I wasn’t.” The girl laughed a little. - -The wholesomeness of her, with her color coming and going, pleased her -customer, but above all the charm of her low-pitched voice attracted Miss -Frink. - -“Well, let’s get at it, then,” she said. “I want a dressing-gown for a -man who is recovering from a severe accident and beginning to sit up.” - -Millicent approached a series of hangers, Miss Frink close on her heels. - -“What size does he wear?” - -“Heaven knows, but he’s built on the quantity plan.” - -“Takes a large size, then.” - -“That’s the idea.” - -“How about this?” Millicent drew out a garment covered with Persian -figures. - -“Take it away, child. I don’t want a Sheik pattern.” - -The girl tried next a soft blue wool wrapper with cord and tassels. - -“Nor a baby bunting,” snapped Miss Frink. “I tell you he’s a he-man.” - -Millicent could feel the tears of amusement pressing to her eyes, but she -was quite frightened at the same time. The customer towered so above her -and now began pulling over the gowns with her own hands. - -“Look here, haven’t you got something handsome?” demanded Miss Frink at -last. - -“Oh, I’m sure we have what any one has,” stammered Millicent. “I thought -if it was for a sick person, something soft—” - -“Well, he isn’t going to be sick all his life, I hope.” - -Millicent hurried to some drawers at one side, and opening one drew -forth a dressing-gown of heavy black satin on which were printed small -wine-colored flowers. Each one burst into brightness with one crimson -petal, giving an effect of jewels. The rich cord and tassels showed -threads of crimson. - -Miss Frink’s expression was one she had probably not worn since she -was confronted by her first wax doll with real hair. She grimaced her -eyeglasses off. - -“Well, I think better of Ross Graham,” she said, after an eager pause. - -“It is very rich,” remarked the saleslady, demurely. - -“Not too rich for his blood, I guess,” said Miss Frink, handling the -lustrous fabric and putting back her eyeglasses. - -“Do you suppose it’s big enough?” - -“It is a large size.” - -“Do you think he’d feel like a Christmas tree in it?” - -“Is he a young man?” asked Millicent. - -“Oh, yes. He’s got a mustache and beard now,” said Miss Frink, appearing -to think aloud as she caressed the satin musingly. “Of course that makes -him look older, and his beard is quite red. Much redder than his hair -and, of course, _crimson_—but that will be off in a few days—” She -paused, continuing to consider, and Millicent’s soothing voice fell upon -her perturbed thought. - -“You see the lining is very nice. They have taken that dark tint in the -flowers and matched it, so there is nothing too gay about it, I should -think.” - -Her hazel eyes met Miss Frink’s and her smile was winning. “Of course, -you know best, but it seems to me this is a dressing-gown for Prince -Charming.” - -Miss Frink grimaced her eyeglasses off. - -“For whom did you say?” quickly. - -Millicent blushed. Miss Frink liked to see her do it. - -“Oh, that’s just nonsense, but you know, the hero of all the fairy tales?” - -“Don’t know one of them.” - -“Well, Prince Charming is always the hero,” laughed Millicent. Miss Frink -in her present torn mental condition was not frightening. “I think this -dressing-gown looks good enough for him.” - -“Very well.” Miss Frink took a long breath and replaced her glasses. -“I’ll take it.” - -“Do you wish it sent?” Millicent was again the demure saleslady. - -“No. Just wrap it up.” - -“There are mules that go with it,” suggested the girl. She turned back to -the drawer and brought out the glinting satin slippers. - -The corners of Miss Frink’s lips drew down. “What fool things for a man!” -she remarked. - -“I don’t see why,” said Millicent, perceiving that the customer wished -urging. “They’re very comfortable, and when he wears the gown he must -have some sort of slippers.” - -Miss Frink started. “I don’t believe he has any,” she mused. “Put them -in,” she added, and sighed again. - -“You’re a very good saleswoman,” she said at last. “Probably hungry this -minute. I am.” - -“Oh, that’s no matter for me. Did—” the girl paused, the box in her hand. -“Did you want the price marks taken off?” - -“Well, well! You have got more than human intelligence. Of course I do. -How much are they, by the way?” - -Millicent said nothing, for her customer seized the articles and examined -the marks. - -“Well”—straightening up—“Prince Charming thinks pretty well of himself, -doesn’t he? All right, let the hide go with the hoofs, put the mules in.” - -While the box was being wrapped, Miss Frink looked so closely at -Millicent that her ready color came again. - -“What did Ramsay say your name was?” - -“Duane. Millicent Duane.” - -“I never have time to beat about the bush. How would you like to come and -read to me an hour every day? I’ve lost my reader and I like your voice.” - -“Oh, Miss Frink”—the girl’s hands clasped together unconsciously. “I know -Damaris. She was so sorry to have offended you. Her hair will grow again -very soon—” - -“Well, her common sense won’t,” returned Miss Frink impatiently. “When a -thing is past with me it’s past. I have no post mortems. Think it over, -Miss Duane.” - -“But I can’t afford to lose my job, Miss Frink,” said the girl with -soft eagerness. “They would never let me go for an hour a day, and my -grandfather has just a small pension; we have to be very careful.” - -That voice. That wholesome face. That delicately clean shining hair. Miss -Frink smiled a little at the ingenuous lack of consciousness of the power -of money. - -“That would be my care,” she said. “Think it over.” - -“Oh, of course, I should like it,” said Millicent, still with eagerness, -“if it was right for me. It would give me so much more time with Grandpa. -But there is Damaris! I can’t bear to think of hurting her feelings.” - -“Stuff and nonsense,” said Miss Frink. “Business is business. You’ll hear -from me again.” - -A boy was called to carry the box and the purchaser departed leaving -Millicent flushed, and happy, and apprehensive. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -A TELEGRAM - - -As Miss Frink was leaving the store the floorwalker intercepted her. He -had in his hands a letter. - -“I wonder if you can throw any light on this, Miss Frink. A letter that -came several days ago to Mr. Hugh Stanwood in care of the store. We have -no employee of that—” - -“No, but you will have,” interrupted Miss Frink, almost snatching the -letter. “Hugh Stanwood is the man who hindered the rendezvous my horses -were trying to keep with that express train a few weeks ago.” - -“You don’t say so. The young hero who put us all under such obligation?” - -“Me, anyway. I’m in no hurry to play the harp. Yes, he was on his way to -Ross Graham’s when he stubbed his toe, poor boy.” - -Mr. Ramsay bowed. “I’ve heard that you are caring for him royally. I’m -sure we shall be very glad to welcome him into our ranks if it is your -wish.” - -“Well, we’ll let him catch his breath first, anyway. He’s doing well and, -believe me, I couldn’t sleep nights if he wasn’t. I’ve just been getting -him a dressing-gown; you don’t sell dressing-gowns for your health here, -do you?” - -The floorwalker smiled deferentially. “Do you find us exorbitant?” - -“Do I! I’ll have to pay for this on the installment plan.” - -“Ha, ha! Very good. Very good, indeed. Glad we had something that pleased -you. Good-afternoon, Miss Frink.” - -On the way home the lady gazed at the letter she was carrying. - -“John Ogden has beat me to it,” she reflected. At certain moments the -lady of the old school found a relief to her feelings in slang. “Saber -cuts of Saxon speech,” Mark Twain called it, and Miss Frink liked saber -cuts. She hadn’t time to beat about the bush. - -Leaving her box below stairs where her secretary and Mrs. Lumbard could -if they wished whet their curiosity on its shape and the Ross-Graham -label, she went in to lunch with her bonnet on. - -The others of her family dutifully took their places. Adèle’s ivory tints -were somewhat flushed. She knew from Miss Damon that she had scored a -triumph with her invisible audience, and it was a certainty that that -meant credit with Miss Frink. She cast an occasional unforgiving glance -at the secretary who kept to his usual safe programme of speaking when he -was spoken to. - -Miss Frink addressed him now. “Here is a letter from John Ogden to our -patient,” she said. - -Adèle’s brown eyes suddenly glanced up, startled. Still, there were -probably hundreds of John Ogdens in the world. - -“Yes. I do feel mortified not to have written him as soon as I received -his letter of introduction. He will think I’m a savage when he learns why -he hasn’t heard from his young friend.” The speaker regarded the letter -beside her plate. “He addressed it in care of the store. Mr. Stanwood was -headed for Ross Graham’s, you know; and they had no more idea _there_ who -Hugh Stanwood was than the man in the moon.” - -“That is a little embarrassing,” returned Grimshaw circumspectly. “Is -there anything I can do about it?” - -“No,” returned Miss Frink good-naturedly, “since you didn’t stand over me -and make me answer that letter.” - -“You never showed me the letter of introduction,” said the secretary, “or -I might have ventured—” - -“Oh, you would have ventured,” returned Miss Frink, “though I don’t -think, Grim, that your slogan is ‘Nothing venture, nothing have.’” - -“My duty is to protect you, dear lady,” declared Leonard, unsmiling. - -“Oh, I know that, and you’re a good boy,” said Miss Frink carelessly. She -set down her tea-cup. “Well, I’ll go upstairs and take my medicine. I -hope both the boy and Mr. Ogden will forgive me. Will you both excuse me, -please?” - -She left the room. Adèle longed to comment on the interesting-looking box -she had passed in the hall, but she was still too angry with Grimshaw to -address him. - -“Miss Frink is in remarkably good spirits,” he observed; and because -Adèle knew she could irritate him, she responded: - -“Yes. She must have succeeded in finding something very fine for her -protégé.” - -“It is going rather far to call that young person her protégé,” said the -secretary stiffly. - -Adèle shrugged her shoulders. “Personally I think it is a mild name for -him.” - -“She will give him the employment he seeks, doubtless, when he is about -again,” remarked Leonard. - -“Unless she just passes over half her kingdom to him,” said Adèle. “You -have been seeing him. Is he really such a beauty as he seemed that first -day?” - -“Remarkable,” answered the secretary dryly, “with a flaming red beard and -mustache.” - -“Horrors!” ejaculated Adèle. Then: “Poor thing, I suppose he couldn’t be -shaved.” - -The secretary pushed his chair back from the table. “Only a most common -person could have demanded the music you played for him.” - -Adèle grimaced. “Go on. I know what you want to say—And only the -commonest sort of person could have played it. Go on. Have courage, the -courage of your convictions.” - -“I think Miss Frink will be the best person to comment on your actions, -in this as in all other matters while you are a guest in her house.” - -The two exchanged a dueling glance. Again Adèle experienced that fear of -her antagonist which she sometimes experienced. She didn’t dare to allow -him to dislike her. - -“Oh, what’s the use, Leonard,” she said with a sudden change of tone and -manner, and she held out her hand. - -He drew back. “Persons shake hands when they are about to fight,” he -said. “I hope there is nothing of that sort in the air.” - -Adèle dropped her hand. “I should hope not,” she returned, trying to hold -him with her soft brown glance; but he was impervious and left the room. - -Miss Frink, armed with her box, went to the White Room and knocked on the -door. As the nurse opened it, her grave little mouth was smiling. - -“We’ve nearly cured Mr. Stanwood while you have been gone,” she said -cheerfully. “I’ve heard that music was being used a good deal now to heal -the sick; and here we have an example.” - -Hugh was smiling, too, above his blanket wrappings. “Some pianist you -have here,” he said. - -“Oh, did you like that?” asked Miss Frink. “Mrs. Lumbard played, then.” - -“By George, it was all I could do to stay in the chair,” said Hugh. - -“Well, now I’m glad to hear that,” said Miss Frink. “Music is one thing -we can give you. I’m glad you’re in a good mood, too, for I’m just a -little bit more ashamed than I ever thought I should be again.” She -dropped her box on a chair, and, advancing, held out the letter. “From -Mr. Ogden,” she continued, “and I don’t know how old it is, and I’m real -sorry I’m too old to blush.” She noted that the invalid’s hands were -enveloped in the blanket. “Would you like me to read it to you?” - -“No, oh, no,” returned Hugh hastily, thrusting out a hand for the letter. -“I can read it all right.” - -The caller crossed to a window and sat down; and as Hugh opened his -letter Miss Frink noticed that he was not too old to blush. - - DEAR HUGH (he read) - - I am nonplussed at not hearing from you. A little more and I - will have to institute a search; for as you know I left orders - for your mail to be forwarded to me, and a letter has come from - your sister. I am being heroic not to open it, and I don’t dare - forward it until I know surely where you are. The earth seems - to have opened and swallowed you up. Please send me a wire as - soon as you get this. - - Yours sincerely - - JOHN OGDEN - -“Say, Miss Frink”—Hugh’s brow was troubled as he folded the letter. “I -ought to send a wire to Ogden. He has been the best sort of a friend to -me and—and sending me with that letter of—of introduction to you—he can’t -understand not hearing from me—whether I got the job or—or anything -you—you understand.” - -Long before the stammering speech was over, Miss Frink was beside Hugh’s -chair. “Don’t you worry another minute,” she said. “I’ll send a wire at -once explaining everything, and Mr. Ogden will know I am the only villain -in the plot.” - -“Plot,” thought Hugh, his heart beating with repugnance to the situation. - -There was a knock on the door. It was a maid announcing the barber. “Oh, -yes, Miss Frink,” said Miss Damon. “While you were gone Dr. Morton called -up and said he was sending the barber.” - -“Let him come up,” said Miss Frink, “and don’t let him cut your head off, -boy, because I want you to hear the telegram I’ll be sending John Ogden.” - -She proceeded downstairs to her study and dashed in with the novel -excitability she had displayed ever since the runaway. The shell-rimmed -spectacles glanced up and the secretary rose. His dignity of manner was -exceptional to-day. - -“Grim, I wish to send a wire. I don’t want to send it over the phone nor -by a servant. I want you please to take it down for me.” - -The secretary inclined his head in silence. - -An hour later John Ogden in his office read the following: - - Have been very remiss not to tell you that your friend Mr. - Stanwood on day of arrival stopped my runaway, saved my life, - broke his arm and head, very ill for a time at my house. Doing - well now. If you wish to come to see him happy to entertain you - long as you can stay. He called constantly in delirium for Aunt - Sukey, but will not let me send for her. Advise me and forgive - my carelessness. - - SUSANNA FRINK - -John Ogden stared at this communication for a full minute with an -incredulous gaze before he emitted a peal of laughter that brought tears -to his eyes, and an office boy from the next room. - -He sent a prompt reply: - - Thank you. Will be with you next Thursday. - -When Miss Frink returned to the White Room, she found the invalid -transformed from the rôle of Faust, to that of some famous movie hero of -the present day. He was in bed again too tired and worried to smile at -her. - -“I guess a nap will be the next thing, Miss Frink, and then perhaps Mrs. -Lumbard will give us some more music,” said Miss Damon. - -“Very well,” returned the lady briskly. “Here’s what I sent to Ogden.” -She stood by the bedside and read the telegram. At the mention of Aunt -Sukey, Hugh started to laugh. He was afraid to let himself go. He felt -capable of a fit of schoolgirl hysterics. - -“Yes, sir,” said Miss Frink stoutly; “it shall be just as Mr. Ogden -says, not as you say, about sending for her. I know you, and your -modesty about making trouble. Next time he gets up, Miss Damon, put this -on your patient.” Miss Frink opened the waiting box and took out her -gorgeous gift. She unfolded it before Hugh’s dazzled eyes, and Miss Damon -exclaimed her admiration. - -“You see Ross Graham isn’t such a country store, Mr. Stanwood,” declared -Miss Frink. - -Hugh whistled. “You called me modest,” he said. “Is it your idea that I -shall ever wear that?” - -“The clerk called it a dressing-gown for Prince Charming,” said Miss -Frink triumphantly, “and here are the slippers, Mr. Stanwood. Of course, -they’ll fit you because they haven’t any heels. I think the girl said -they were called donkeys.” - -“Queer,” remarked Hugh, “when donkey’s heels are their long suit.” But -because his hostess was holding the satin near his hand and evidently -wished it, he felt the rich fabric admiringly, again wishing himself back -in that familiar basement, packing boxes, honestly. - -“So music means a great deal to you, Mr. Stanwood,” said Miss Frink, -regarding the patient thoughtfully. - -“I don’t like that Mr. Stanwood from you,” he returned restlessly. “Hugh -is my name, and I’d like you to use it.” - -“Of course I shall, then, boy,” returned his hostess promptly. “You like -music, Hugh?” - -“Well,” put in the nurse with a little laugh, “if you had seen his eyes -when Mrs. Lumbard was playing!” - -“H’m,” grunted Miss Frink. “Well, that’s easy. Now go to sleep, Prince -Charming, and later this afternoon you shall have another concert.” - -Hugh stifled a groan and held out his pale right hand. “You know I thank -you, Miss Frink, for all your kindness.” - -“Ho,” returned that lady, taking the hand in her dry grasp, and quickly -dropping it. “If I should begin thanking _you_, when do you suppose I -should stop talking?” - -She swept out of the room and Hugh closed his eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE NEW READER - - -The Queen of Farrandale had long passed the time for waiting patiently -for anything she wished for, so it was the very next day that Millicent -Duane came to the big house for a trial reading. - -She gave such perfect satisfaction that it was scarcely five minutes -after she began that a delicate snore began to proceed from Miss -Frink’s slender nose. Millicent regarded the recumbent figure in some -embarrassment, and stopped reading. - -Miss Frink’s eyes opened at once. “Well, well, child, what are you -waiting for?” she asked testily. “Got a big word?” - -Millicent, crimsoning to the tips of her ears, began again to read. She -was afraid to stop, although the snoring began again almost immediately, -and read on and on in the novel of the day. Although Miss Frink was a -lady of the old school, she proposed to know what was going on in the -world at the present time, and she always bought the book which received -the best reviews, though Millicent came to wonder how she made anything -of it in the hashed condition in which it penetrated her consciousness. - -At last, when the lady was positively fast asleep, Millicent closed the -book, took her hat and wrap in her hand, and went noiselessly out into -the hall and down the stairs. - -Mrs. Lumbard met her at the foot, and the young girl accosted her. - -“This is Mrs. Lumbard, isn’t it?” she said shyly. “I am Millicent Duane. -Miss Frink didn’t tell me what to do if she went to sleep.” - -“You guessed right,” returned the other. “There is nothing to do but -leave her until she has her nap out. You have evidently qualified.” Mrs. -Lumbard laughed; it was not a pleasant laugh Millicent thought. “I tried -to read to her, but she wouldn’t have me. Won’t you sit down a minute, or -are you too busy?” - -Millicent hesitated, but seated herself near the other in the spacious -hall with its broad fireplace. “I am not busy at all,” she said, “and it -seems so strange after being a whole year in the store.” - -“I suppose you mean the Ross-Graham establishment. That is _the_ store in -Farrandale, is it not?” - -“Yes, indeed, and I suppose it is the finest one anywhere,” returned -Millicent seriously. - -Adèle gazed upon her earnest face with its youthful color and nimbus of -blonde hair. - -“Have you known Miss Frink long?” - -“Oh, we all know her by sight, but I never spoke to her until yesterday -when she came in to buy a dressing-gown, and I happened that day to have -been put on the dressing-gowns. Wasn’t I lucky?—for this came of it.” - -Millicent’s happy smile revealed a dimple. Mrs. Lumbard’s eyes -scrutinized her. - -“I’ll warrant she bought a handsome one,” she said. - -“Oh, gorgeous. The handsomest one we had. I told her it was fit for -Prince Charming.” The young girl gave a little laugh. - -“Well, one would do that for the man who had saved one’s life,” remarked -Adèle. - -The guest’s lips formed a round O. “Does he still live here?” she asked, -“and is he getting well?” - -Mrs. Lumbard shrugged her shoulders. “I hear so, but I’ve never seen him.” - -Millicent looked about her in some awe. “I suppose in such a great place -as this, people might not meet for days. Grandfather and I live in a -little cubby-house”—the admiring eyes came back to Mrs. Lumbard’s brown, -curious stare—“but it has a big yard and we love it.” - -The older woman leaned back and shrugged her shoulders again. At this -juncture Miss Frink appeared on the stairs. - -Millicent saw her, and, springing up, met her where the brass jardinières -filled with ferns grew at the foot of the wide descent. - -“I didn’t know what to do about leaving, Miss Frink. I saw you were -resting so well.” - -The hostess, with a sharp glance at Adèle’s luxurious posture, laid a -kind hand on the girl’s shoulder as she returned the sweet, eager look. - -“You did quite right,” she replied. “Leave me when you see I am dead to -the world, and then—you may go right home.” - -“Right home,” repeated the girl, a little falteringly. - -“Yes,” said Miss Frink pleasantly. “When you leave me, go right home. You -read well.” - -“Thank you,” said Millicent. “I hadn’t thought to ask you. -Good-afternoon, Miss Frink. Good-afternoon, Mrs. Lumbard.” - -Her cheeks were hot as she hurried into her hat and jacket and out the -door. When she reached home, her heart was still quickening with a vague -sense of having done wrong. The pretty white-haired lady’s eyes and -laugh were curious and cold. Miss Frink had been displeased that she had -stayed and talked with her. Perhaps she ought not to have told about the -dressing-gown. - -Old Colonel Duane was bending his white head and smooth-shaven face over -the little green sprouts in a garden plot when his granddaughter flung -open the gate and rushed to him. - -He raised himself slowly and looked around at her flushed cheeks. She -pushed her hand through his arm and clutched it. - -“Well, how did you get along, Milly? Does it beat fitting on gloves?” - -“I’m so mortified, Grandpa,” was the rather breathless reply. “I had to -be sent home.” - -“Oh, come, now! You can stay home if that’s the case. Is Miss Frink an -old pepper-pot as folks say?” - -“No, no; she was kind to me, and I read her to sleep, which is what she -wants; but I wasn’t sure what to do then, so when I met Mrs. Lumbard in -the reception hall downstairs she asked me to sit down and I did. You -remember my telling you about the white-haired lady who looks like a -beauty of the French Court with big brown eyes? Well—there’s something -queer—I don’t like her—and you know the Prince Charming dressing-gown I -told you Miss Frink bought of me? Well, I told Mrs. Lumbard about it and -she hadn’t known it.” Big tears began to form and run down the girl’s -cheeks. “You know how we tell each other everything and show each other -everything? Well, _they_ don’t, for she didn’t know it, and she said it -was for that man who stopped the runaway, and he’s still there and she -has never seen him, and—and Miss Frink suddenly came downstairs, and said -hereafter I was to go right home when I left her. Oh”—Millicent raised -her handkerchief to her burning cheek—“very pleasantly she said it, but -what will she think when she hears that I told about the dressing-gown? -She’ll think I’m a common gossipy girl.” The tears flowed fast. “It’s -worse than Damaris bobbing her hair. Perhaps I’ll get word to-morrow -morning not to come, and I’ve given up Ross Graham’s—” The speaker’s -voice encountered a large obstruction in her throat and stopped suddenly, -while she mopped her eyes. - -Her grandfather patted the hand clutching his arm and gave a comforting -little laugh. - -“Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill, child. I judge Miss Frink -doesn’t care much for the French beauty. She didn’t like finding you -together.” - -“Do you think it might be that? Why, she is her niece.” - -“Yes, but I’ve heard of such phenomena as lack of devotion between aunt -and—grand-niece, isn’t it?” - -“Yes—I believe so, but how funny that you know, Grandpa!” Millicent -sniffed and mopped. - -“What I don’t know about what goes on in Farrandale has never been known -by anybody. I’m an easy mark for every one who has anything to tell. -Always doddering around the house or the estate,” waving his hand about -the fifty feet of yard, “if people can’t find anybody else to unburden -themselves to, there is always old Silas Duane.” - -“You’re so charming, Grandpa,” exclaimed the girl, clasping his arm -tighter than before and trying to check her tears, “that’s why they come; -and if you told _me_ everything you hear, I shouldn’t be such a greenie -and lose my job.” - -“You won’t lose your job. You succeeded, and that’s what Miss Frink -wants. No failures need apply.” - -“But, Grandpa”—Millicent swallowed a sob—“did you know that the man, the -hero, was still at Miss Frink’s?” - -“Surely I did. Leonard Grimshaw was here day before yesterday. He has -troubles of his own.” Colonel Duane laughed. - -“Does Mr. Grimshaw confide in you?” Millicent asked it with some awe. -“Now I know that you don’t tell me _anything_.” - -“Yes, so long as I always have the rent ready, Grimshaw is quite -talkative. This Mr. Stanwood is somewhat of a thorn in his flesh -evidently. He says it is because a sick person in the house upsets -everything, and it is a nervous strain on Miss Frink; but I imagine her -personal interest in the young man is a little disturbing.” - -“Is he a young man?” - -“Yes; according to Grimshaw a young nobody from nowhere, who was on his -way to look for a job at Ross Graham’s.” - -Millicent’s pretty eyes, apparently none the worse for their salt bath, -looked reflective. “He may have _been_ a nobody, but any one who Miss -Frink believes saved her life becomes somebody right away.” The girl -paused. “I see now why she seemed pleased to have me say it was fit for -Prince Charming. Oh, that hateful old dressing-gown! If only Mrs. Lumbard -didn’t say anything to Miss Frink about it after I came away! Grandpa, I -can’t bear to do that the first thing.” - -The girl buried her eyes against the arm she was holding. “Miss Frink -doesn’t know that I didn’t know she had a young man in her house, and I -calling him Prince Charming. Mrs. Lumbard has never seen him. Miss Frink -doesn’t know that I have a grandfather who never tells me anything when I -tell him every thing.” - -Colonel Duane smiled and patted her. “Just go on telling me everything, -and don’t tell it to anybody else. You laugh at me when you catch me -talking to myself; but I’m like that man who had the same habit, and said -he did it because he liked to talk to a sensible man, and liked to hear a -sensible man talk.” - -Then, as Millicent did not lift her head, he went on. “I’ll give you -another quotation: a comforting one. It was our own Mr. Emerson who said: -‘Don’t talk. What you are thunders so loud above what you say, that I -can’t hear you.’ Now, Miss Frink is, I suppose, as shrewd a woman as ever -lived; and something that you _are_ has thundered so loud above all that -dressing-gown business that you needn’t lose any sleep to-night or quake -in your little shoes to-morrow when you go back to her.” - -Millicent breathed a long sigh and straightened up. - -“Then I think I’ll go in and make a salad for supper,” she replied. “It’s -such fun to have time—and it—it seems so ungrateful—” - -“Tut-tut,” warned her grandfather; and just then Damaris came in at the -gate. - -“I heard you began reading to her to-day,” she said eagerly and without -preface. “You look sort of pale. Did she scare you to death?” - -“No. She went right to sleep. How could you hear about it, Damaris? I was -coming to tell you.” - -“Dr. Morton had to come to see Mother, and he told us. He told us all -about that Mr. Stanwood, too. He’s nearly well. Dr. Morton says he’s so -handsome all the girls in town will mob him; and there you will be right -on the inside. Some people’s luck!” - -“Oh, don’t—I don’t want to see him,” said Millicent, so genuinely aghast -that the girl with the bobbed hair laughed. - -“Why, perhaps you’ll see that dressing-gown. He must have been the one -she was buying it for.” - -“Damaris, did I tell you about that dressing-gown?” The girl’s tone was -tragic. - -“Why, of course—you were telling me only last night the way you met Miss -Frink.” - -Millicent caught her breath. “Never speak of it again, Damaris.” - -“How exciting!” The flapper’s eyes sparkled. “What’s up?” - -“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Millicent’s usual serenity had entirely -vanished. “It’s dangerous to have to do with powerful people, that’s all. -I was so safe in the glove section and my customers liked me”—another sob -caught in the speaker’s throat. “Everything is your fault, Grandpa, if -your eyes hadn’t been injured in the Cuban War I shouldn’t have begun to -read aloud when I was knee-high to a grasshopper and I shouldn’t read so -well—and you never tell me anything, and—Damaris, I lay awake last night -thinking that if I did leave the gloves, you ought to have my place. What -could we do with your hair!” - -Damaris shook it ruefully. - -“Let’s go in the house and see what we can do with ribbons and an -invisible net—and I’ll ask Miss Frink—if I ever see her again.” - - - - -CHAPTER X - -JOHN OGDEN ARRIVES - - -As the heavy door closed behind Millicent, Mrs. Lumbard straightened -up. How could Miss Frink reasonably criticize her for civility to the -young girl, although the mandate just expressed revealed an objection? -“Disagreeable old thing!” reflected Adèle, while her face expressed only -deferential attention. - -She expected to see her hostess disappear as usual in the direction -of the study; but instead, Miss Frink, eyeing her steadily, came and -took the chair Millicent had vacated, and began at once to speak: “The -presence of a sick person in the house throws out the general routine,” -she said. “I have really been very anxious until now about Mr. Stanwood; -but he is coming out all right and now I can give my mind to your -affairs. You said your idea in coming here was to get me to help you -decide what to do. I presume you have been studying on your problem. Have -you come to any conclusion?” - -Mrs. Lumbard blinked under the unexpected attack, and for a minute -could not find the right words to reply to the entirely impersonal and -businesslike regard bent upon her. - -“You are young,” went on Miss Frink. “You are an expert musician. My -house is a very dull place for you to live.” Adèle wondered if Leonard -had quoted her. “You must have been revolving some plans in your mind. I -can give my full attention to you now. Speak on.” - -Oh, how hard it was to speak under that cool gaze; since she could not -say, “Yes, this house is a regular morgue, but my luxurious bed and your -perfect cook reconcile me to staying here.” There was nothing in Miss -Frink’s manner to suggest that she had any idea that this guest might -make an indefinite stay. - -Mrs. Lumbard’s face maintained its deferential look and her voice took -the childlike tone she could use at will. “A spineless tone,” Miss Frink -dubbed it mentally. She rebuked herself for not liking Adèle, but the -latter’s love of idle luxury “thundered above” her inefficient meekness, -and not all of Susanna’s still green memory of her Alice could antidote -her distaste for the young woman’s lack of energy. - -“To tell the truth,” said Adèle slowly, “it has been so wonderful to be -in a safe, quiet harbor that I have given up to the refreshment of it -for this little while, and just enjoyed your sweet hospitality. I think -I have been unconsciously waiting for just such a moment as this, when -your experience and wise thought could direct me—” - -“No, no, child, don’t talk that way. A woman of your age shouldn’t need -directing—” - -Miss Frink paused, for a servant entered the hall, and went past them to -the door. - -As he opened it John Ogden entered, a suitcase in his hand. At sight of -his hostess he paused in announcing himself. - -“Well, Miss Frink,” he exclaimed, as the servant took the suitcase, “I -counted on your not minding a surprise party, for I found it was possible -to come at once.” - -The two women rose, and Adèle saw that the mistress of the house could be -cordial if she wished to. - -Scarcely had Ogden dropped Miss Frink’s hand when he realized her -companion. “Why, Mrs. Reece,” he said, in a changed tone, “what a -surprise to find you here—away from your sunny South,” he added hastily, -fearing his amazement betrayed more than he wished. - -Adèle, coloring to the tips of her ears, shook hands with him and -murmured something which Miss Frink’s brusque tone interrupted. - -“Stebbins,” she said to the servant, “Mr. Ogden will have the green room. -Show him to it, and when he is ready take him to Mr. Stanwood at once. -Mr. Ogden, you are more than welcome, and I know you will do Mr. Stanwood -a world of good. I will see you a little later.” - -When the guest had vanished up the stairs, Miss Frink resumed her seat -and her companion sank into hers, as pale as she had been scarlet. - -“I suppose you can explain,” said Miss Frink. - -“Mr.—Mr. Ogden never met me after my second marriage,” said Adèle faintly. - -“The first one died, I hope.” - -“I suppose you know why you are so rough, Aunt Susanna.” Adèle was -evidently controlling tears. - -“Well, you know how I feel. I like the sod kind better than grass. Never -mind my bluntness, child. That’s neither here nor there. Mr. Reece left -you something?” - -“His life insurance, yes.” - -“Then it was all gone, I suppose, when you decided to try again, and drew -a blank in the matrimonial market.” - -“Yes—almost,” faltered Adèle. - -“Then, did the unpleasant ceremony you were forced to go through -afterward result in your getting any alimony?” - -“A—a very little.” - -Miss Frink’s lips twitched in her peculiar smile. “And you still had some -life insurance from number one. You’re a fast worker, Adèle.” - -At this the tears came. - -“Now, don’t cry,” said Miss Frink impatiently. “You can do that later. I -was wondering if you would care for a position in Ross Graham’s. I took -Miss Duane away from the gloves, and I told them not to fill the place at -once.” - -The young widow’s angry breath caught in her throat, but she stammered -meekly: - -“And go on—living here?” - -“Oh, you wouldn’t be willing to do that, would you?” said Miss Frink -reasonably. - -“Would you want Miss Frink’s niece to be selling gloves in her store?” - -“Ho!” exclaimed the other with a short laugh. “Miss Frink herself sold -candy and cake and waited on table and was glad when she got a tip, and -everybody in town knows it.” - -Adèle’s cheeks burned again. “It would be foolish not to utilize my -music,” she said. “Since you have no pride in the matter, no doubt there -are movie theaters in Farrandale, and I can perhaps play in one.” - -The young woman got the reaction she was trying for. - -“No, you can’t,” returned Miss Frink promptly. “That’s where I draw the -line. Let the men do that.” - -Mrs. Lumbard rose. “Please excuse me,” she said faintly. It was the -psychological moment. She had put Miss Frink in the wrong. Let her -reflect a little. She knew the conscientious fairness under that rough -husk. “I feel ill, Aunt Susanna,” she faltered. “I should like to lie -down for a while.” - -Her handkerchief to her eyes she passed up the broad staircase, Miss -Frink looking after her, and feeling baffled. - -“Yes, you’d like to lie down the rest of your life,” she declared -mentally. It was too bad that Alice Ray could not have given the legacy -of her splendid backbone to her descendants. “It’s tiresome, too,” added -Miss Frink to herself. “I meant her to play to the boy about now; but I -suppose she’s got to snivel just so long.” - -There being no tears behind Mrs. Lumbard’s handkerchief, she was herself -when in the dim large hall above she met Mr. Ogden and the butler coming -out of the green room. - -“You can go,” she said hurriedly to the latter. “Mr. Ogden and I are old -friends, Stebbins. I will show him Mr. Stanwood’s room.” - -The man bowed and departed. - -“Mr. Ogden, I’m not Mrs. Reece—that is, you know, not any more.” She gave -a nervous little laugh. “I’m—I’m Mrs. Lumbard now.” - -Ogden bowed. “I’ll remember. Such matters are very quickly arranged, -these days. I’m sorry not to have been up-to-date.” - -She forced another little laugh at this. - -“You know Aunt Susanna is a lady of the old school and she -detests—er—second marriages, and things like that—divorces and -everything. You understand.” - -“Your aunt!” exclaimed Ogden in amazement. “Well, I am indeed ’way, ’way -behind the times. I had no idea Miss Frink had a niece and, and—” - -“Least of all, me, I suppose,” put in Adèle, laughing again. - -“Your little girl, is she here?” - -“Oh, never mind about the baby either, Mr. Ogden, please. You see, Aunt -Susanna is so peculiar, and we’ve always been strangers. I haven’t even -told her about the baby. I didn’t want to annoy her by bringing a child -here. Just don’t know anything, please, except that I’m Mrs. Lumbard now, -and you met me in Atlanta, and never say a word about what I was doing, -because she would faint away at a mention of the stage, and I don’t want -to offend her.” - -“I understand perfectly.” Ogden bowed gravely. He thought he did. - -At this moment Leonard Grimshaw, always silent-footed as a cat, appeared -in the dimness of the hall, coming from his room. Adèle had no means of -knowing whether he had heard any of their talk, but was alertly conscious -that he must notice the intimacy of their position as they stood -conversing in hushed tones like a pair of conspirators. - -“Oh, it’s Mr. Grimshaw,” she said lightly. “Perhaps you know—” - -“Indeed, I do,” said Ogden, and the two men approached and shook hands. - -“We expected you Thursday,” said the secretary, with a formal bow. - -“And I hope Miss Frink will forgive my impatience. She says she will.” - -“Mr. Ogden and I were so surprised to see each other,” said Adèle. “We -met in Atlanta through our interest in music. You came in the nick -of time, Leonard. Stebbins was just going to take Mr. Ogden to Mr. -Stanwood’s room and I intercepted him. Now you will do it.” - -The secretary bowed again. “If that is Miss Frink’s wish.” - -“Both Miss Frink’s and mine,” said Ogden pleasantly. “I understand the -boy has provided a good deal of excitement in this corner of the world.” - -“One can’t help being ill,” said Grimshaw stiffly, “but it is astonishing -how that sort of thing permeates a house and changes its routine.” - -Ogden’s fist doubled as he followed his guide, but he made no reply. The -secretary as usual forgot to knock at the door of the White Room, and -throwing open the door ushered in the guest. - -Miss Damon had gone downstairs, and there sat the convalescent in the big -chair by the window. Ogden gasped. The secretary stared. - -Freshly shaved, the rich folds of the dressing-gown about him, his feet -in the glinting mules on the footrest, his handsome head leaning against -the white upholstery of the armchair, he formed a picture which filled -one of his guests with enthusiasm, and the other with fury. - -“Is this the Rajah of Nankagorah!” cried Ogden. - -Hugh’s heart leaped with a combination of joy and rage. It was ages since -he had seen a soul who knew him, and here was the reason. He wanted to -hug him. He wanted to choke him. - -He kicked away the stool, pulled himself to his feet and showed his teeth -in a snarling sort of smile. “Damn you, Ogden!” he said. - -John Ogden laughed and, striding forward, threw an arm around the -satin-clad shoulders. - -“Which is the safe hand? Which arm was it?” he asked. - -“They’re both safe to do for you one of these days,” returned Hugh, -clutching his friend. - -The secretary waited for no more. The apparition of Miss Frink’s -extravagance and its stunning effect roused a fever of resentment in him. -He went out and closed the door. He continued to stand outside it for a -minute, but the old house was well built and the voices within were low. -He moved away and downstairs, and was just in time to see Miss Frink -going out the front door, attired in wrap and hat. - -“Dear lady, aren’t you coming into the study?” - -“Some time,” she replied lightly. “I made a purchase by ’phone this -morning and I want to look at it before it is sent up. Have you seen Mr. -Ogden?” - -“Yes, I’ve just taken him to Mr. Stanwood’s room.” - -“I suppose the boy was delighted to see him.” - -“I don’t know. He swore like a trooper,” replied the secretary with a -righteous, long-suffering lift of his crest. - -The lady of the old school looked pensive, and smiled. - -“Can the boy swear? What a naughty boy!” she said. “I imagine he looks -handsomer than ever when he is excited.” - -Grimshaw’s full lips tightened as he escorted her out to the carriage. - -“Breaking. Breaking fast,” he thought, and he made up his mind to be on -the lookout for the bill for that dressing-gown. As a matter of fact, he -never did see it. In some way Miss Frink managed to extract that from the -usual routine. - -“What is she up to now?” he muttered, watching the spirited bays jingling -up the street at the pace they took when their owner was in a hurry. An -awful certainty possessed him that the occupant of the White Room—the -resplendent young Rajah who looked handsome when he swore—had something -to do with their celerity. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -A MUTINOUS ACTOR - - -John Ogden waited long enough to shake his fist toward the closed door -before he turned back to regard Hugh, who, with features refined by -illness, perfectly groomed, and grandly arrayed, seemed to him a new -person. The gloomy expression in the eyes, however, warned him. - -“Sit down again, Hugh,” he forced the tall fellow back into the white -easy-chair, “and let me speak first.” - -Hugh sat down perforce, but with a belligerent expression. “No, sir. I’m -going to do all the speaking,” he said. “You got me into this and you’ve -got to get me out.” - -“Now, now, boy”—Ogden drew the nearest chair forward and dropped into it. -“I expected I might find you a bit morbid—” - -“Morbid!” explosively. “Me with a nurse! Me being stuffed four times a -day with the delicacies of the season! Me dressed up like a Christmas -doll! I don’t need anything but a wrap of tissue paper and a sprig of -holly to be ready for delivery; and me a liar all the time—” - -“Look here, Hugh”—John Ogden faced the indignation in the dark eyes. -“Did you notice my escort as I came in? And is he on such intimate terms -with you that he bolts into your room without ceremony?” - -“We’re on no terms at all. I despise the little cockatoo and he hates me—” - -“He has reason,” put in Ogden with a nod. - -“I’d like to know why. I haven’t done anything to him.” - -“Oh, yes, you have.” John Ogden spoke slowly. - -“What, I’d like to know?” - -“You’ve delayed the settling of the estate—unwarrantably, -and—indefinitely.” - -Hugh stared, and then broke forth hotly. “Oh, look here, that’s a darned -mean thing to say!” - -“I think he’s a darned mean little man,” returned Ogden calmly. “Now -we’ve got to look this ground all over, if I’m to get you out of here. -How comes on Sukey the Freak?” - -Hugh’s face flushed. “She’s a wonder, and a sport,” he answered. “If she -wasn’t so infernally grateful to me for breaking my arm, she’d be all -right.” - -“Well, I think the Queen of Farrandale likes her job pretty well. You -probably did help her to keep it, you know.” - -“Oh, well, I’m sick of hearing about it,” said Hugh restlessly, “and -if she knew who I am I could stand all this pampering better; but -it’s degrading to be waited on, and stuffed, and having to accept -presents when—when I’m deceiving her; and I warn you”—he began speaking -faster—“I’m not going to stand it, and I just waited to see you. Miss -Damon, the nurse, is a good scout, but I hate the sight of her. I want to -be let alone. My arm is all right”—he moved it about—“a little weak, but -here’s my right all the time.” - -“But you went off your head, my dear boy, and shouted for Aunt Sukey till -you brought tears from a bronze image.” Ogden didn’t dare to laugh. “It -rests with me to bring her here right now.” - -“Yes, and you think that’s very funny, I suppose.” - -“I think that such a début as you made in the rôle I planned for you -was little short of miraculous; and to give it up and leave it would be -flying in the face of Providence.” - -“I don’t care whose face I fly in. I’m strong enough to move out of here, -and I’m going.” - -Ogden regarded him thoughtfully from the thatch of auburn waves down to -his jeweled satin feet. - -“If a film-producer should come in here now, you would never be allowed -to learn the department-store business,” he said. “I’ll wager that Miss -Frink is having a romance—rather late in life, I admit, but it goes all -the deeper.” - -Hugh shook his head gravely. “Don’t make any fun of her. Whatever she did -to my father, she has been wonderful to me. I’ll be ashamed to face her -when the truth comes out.” - -“By that time you won’t, boy. Grimshaw is so jealous of you that it shows -your work is well begun.” - -“Ugh! The meanness of it,” said Hugh repugnantly. “She is so frank and -honest that it’s disgusting to be plotting against her. Grimshaw has got -it all over me. He’s in his own cockatoo colors when all’s said and done; -but I”—the speaker lifted a fold of his rich robe and dropped it with a -groan. - -“I’m pleased that you like Miss Frink so much,” said Ogden, ignoring -this. “Everything will come out all right. Everybody confined to a -sick-room gets morbid.” The speaker looked about the spacious apartment, -and through a door ajar had a glimpse of the silver and tile of the -bathroom. “Isn’t the house charming?” - -“I don’t know,” replied Hugh curtly. “I know when I once get out of it -I’ll never see it again.” - -Ogden smiled. “My actor is more temperamental than an opera star,” he -mused aloud. “Promise me one thing, boy; I think you owe me that much. -Promise me you won’t take any step without forewarning me.” - -“Of course I owe it to you,” said Hugh bitterly. “I owe everybody. I’ve -been the most appalling expense both to you and Miss Frink, it makes me -sick to think of it when I don’t know how I can ever get even.” - -“You’ll get even with me by just doing what I say,” returned the other -forcefully. “Of course, I haven’t seen you and Miss Frink together yet, -but I’m certain you have been and are being a wonderful event in her -life. She has been the loneliest woman I ever knew except on her business -side. Look at this perfectly appointed house. I never heard of any -entertaining here, nor even a passing guest. It took somebody with the -nerve to come in and go right to bed and stay.” - -Hugh drew a long breath, and felt that he should never like John Ogden -again. He might be a ne’er-do-well himself, but at least he had a sense -of honor. - -“But, by the way, I found the record broken to-day,” went on Ogden. -“I was much surprised to find Miss Frink had a niece, and that she is -staying here: a Mrs. Reece—or I think she said it was Lumbard or some -such name, now.” - -“Yes, I shall have to divide the fortune with one person.” - -John Ogden laughed cheerfully. The statement came so tragically from -between clenched teeth. “Have you met her?” he continued. - -“No; but I heard her play yesterday. She’s a wizard, even if she has got -white hair as the nurse told me.” - -Ogden gave his head a quick shake. “Don’t be misled by that white hair. -I’ve met her several times in the South; and she is just about the last -person on earth that I should expect to turn out to be Miss Frink’s -niece. In fact”—the speaker paused reflectively—“I must say I can’t help -doubting the fact.” - -“Oh, yes. I suppose you think she’s an impostor like me.” - -“Not like you, at any rate.” - -“Any one as strictly honorable as Miss Frink makes an easy prey,” -declared Hugh severely, “but it would be a little hard to get away with -the false declaration by a woman that she is her niece.” - -“A niece more incredible than a nephew, you think?” said Ogden cheerfully. - -This persistent light-heartedness was met with a scowl. - -“You and I can’t hope to look at this matter alike, Mr. Ogden. You see -something amusing in hoodwinking one of the finest, most straightforward -women who ever lived in the world—” - -“Bully! Bully! Bully!” ejaculated the other. “Better than I could have -hoped. Now, hold your horses, boy, you’ve proved you know how, and you’re -going to be smiling at me instead of scowling a little later.” - -“She’s killing me with kindness,” burst forth the convalescent -obstreperously. “She means well; but, thunder, how bored I am!” - -“This is the end of it,” replied Ogden. “We’ll get rid of the nurse. I -can stay a few days and give you what assistance you need, and in a very -short time you will be an independent citizen and have the run of the -house.” - -“The run of the house”—scornfully. “Like a tame cat. I suppose you think -I’ll be shut in, nights.” - -A knock on the door was followed by the entrance of the nurse with a tray -whose contents made John Ogden hungry. Hugh regarded it gloomily. The -ignominious fact was that his appetite waxed daily. - -“Miss Damon, this is my friend, Mr. Ogden, come on from New York to get -me out of here.” - -The nurse smiled and went on deftly arranging the tray. “He will do that -very easily now, Mr. Stanwood. In fact, I don’t think I’m needed any -longer, and I’ve had a summons to-day to a very sick woman, and I am -hoping Miss Frink will let me go at once. She seemed so unwilling for me -to leave.” - -“Yes, indeed. Yes, yes,” exclaimed her patient eagerly. “There’s nothing -for you to stay for. It’s utter nonsense. Of course, you shall leave. -I’ll insist upon it.” - -“And I can stay a little while,” said Ogden, “and give Mr. Si—Stanwood -any assistance he needs.” - -“Miss Frink is out just now, but I think I’ll be packing up my things and -be all ready when she comes.” - -“By all means,” said Hugh, and Miss Damon vanished into a dressing-room. - -“You said you had a letter from Carol.” - -“Yes.” Ogden took it from his pocket. “Don’t let your broth get cold. The -letter has waited this long. A few minutes more won’t mean anything.” - -“Oh, hers are always short. Let me have it.” - -Hugh opened the letter and glanced over it frowningly. “Poor little -Carol!” he exclaimed; then he read aloud to an absorbed listener: - - DEAR HUGH, - - The end has come for Alfred. I am sure you will not be - surprised to hear it. I have known for months it must come - and have braced myself to bear it. I am glad he always let me - know the inside of his affairs, and, from the time his illness - started, I set myself to learn the business so I could take his - place. Alfred’s partner, Mr. Ferry, I never wholly liked and - trusted. I do not feel sure of his loyalty, and for the sake of - my children I feel I must guard every step of my business way. - I do not say this to trouble you, or make you feel you must - come to me. You could not help me by coming, and it is a long, - expensive journey. I promise to tell you if I see any definite - cause for anxiety. Don’t worry about me, dear. I am well and so - are both the children; but let me hear from you soon. - - Your loving sister - - CAROL - -Hugh looked up. John Ogden’s eyes were shining. - -“There’s only one Carol,” he said. - -“I’m a nice support for a sister to lean on,” said Hugh bitterly. “And -this letter is two weeks old.” - -“I will attend to that with a wire,” said Ogden. - -“You’ll tell her not to write to me, I suppose,” said Hugh with a sneer. - -“No, I’ll tell her to write in my care, as you are recovering from a -slight illness.” - -“I told you, in the first place, what Carol would think of this whole -performance.” - -“I shall convert her,” declared Ogden. “I shall write to her to-night. -Eat your luncheon, Hugh, and go on trusting in me.” - -“Ho! Trusting!” muttered Hugh. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE CONSOLE - - -John Ogden continued to reassure his protégé, telling him that he would -be right behind him if there was anything he could do at any time for -Carol, and Hugh was fast clearing the dainty tray when, replying to a -knock at his door, Miss Frink walked in. - -Hugh noticed at once that she was wearing that triumphant expression -which portended some contribution to his well-being; and, indeed, she was -at once followed by the bearer of a handsome piece of furniture which -proved to be the latest artistic shape, and most expensive wood, that can -encase a musical machine. - -“Music is good for him, Mr. Ogden,” she explained when the polished -beauty was set against the wall and the man had left. “Hugh is very fond -of music, and I wanted him to be able to have it whenever he wished, and -choose his own pieces.” - -“Oh, Miss Frink!” exclaimed Hugh, not joyfully, rather with an accent of -despair. - -“Yes, I know,” she responded, opening the door of the record depository. -“He doesn’t want me to get him anything; but for my own sake I ought to -have one of these in the house.” - -“That is a corker, Miss Frink,” said Ogden, coming forward to make an -admiring examination of the Console. - -“You pick out something for him,” said Miss Frink. “Where’s Miss Damon?” - -“I’m here.” The nurse appeared from the dressing-room and removed Hugh’s -tray while Ogden put an opera selection on the machine and started it to -playing. - -They all listened in silence to the Pilgrims’ Chorus, and Miss Frink -watched Hugh’s face, noting that none of that stimulation which the nurse -had described as the effect of music appeared upon it. - -“Turn it off,” she said brusquely. “He doesn’t like that piece. We’ll try -another.” - -“Why, yes, I do,” said Hugh when quiet again reigned. “You make me feel -deucedly ungrateful.” - -“Don’t bother to be grateful, boy,” said Miss Frink imperturbably. “I -want you to have what you like. I let the clerk pick out these records -and they’re here on trial. Back goes Wagner. Perhaps you’re like the man -who heard ‘Tannhäuser’ and said he thought Wagner had better have stuck -to his sleeping-cars.” - -“I’ll tell you, Miss Frink,” said Miss Damon in her demure voice. “You -have the catalogue there, and I think, if you would let Mrs. Lumbard come -up and make some selections—she seems to understand Mr. Stanwood’s taste—” - -“Bright thought!” exclaimed Miss Frink. “Miss Damon, go over to her room -and get her, will you?” - -No sooner said than done; and, as soon as the nurse had disappeared, Hugh -spoke: “Miss Damon has to leave this afternoon, Miss Frink.” - -That lady faced him with a slight frown. “I don’t know about her having -to,” she returned. - -“Yes, a very sick woman has sent for her,” said Hugh. His voice suddenly -burst from his control, “And I can’t stand it any longer!” - -“I didn’t know you didn’t like her.” - -“You know I do like her,” returned Hugh roughly, “but you know I’ve been -trying to get you to let her go for a week.” - -“And if you will allow me,” said Ogden, with his most charming and cheery -manner, “I will stay a few days and chaperon Hugh over the stairs a few -times, enough to give you confidence—he seems to have it plus—” - -Miss Frink gave her rare laugh. “That boy is a joke, Mr. Ogden. He spends -his days counting my pennies, I do believe. He sees me bankrupt. All -right, you stay and Miss Damon shall go.” And here the nurse and Adèle -came into the room. - -The latter stared greedily at the object of her curiosity. Flushed with -his recent resentment, and robed in the small crimson jewels glinting -against their lustrous black background, he sat there, and she devoured -him with her eyes. - -“Mr. Stanwood, this is—” began Miss Frink, when Hugh, pushing on the arms -of his throne, sprang to his feet with a smile of amazement. - -“Ally!” he exclaimed. - -Miss Frink stared. Another strange name for her incubus. She was no more -surprised than the object of Hugh’s laughing recognition. Mrs. Lumbard -gazed at him for a delighted, puzzled space. - -“I do believe you don’t know me. Why should you?” he cried. “This”—he -grasped his robe—“is a little different from the canteen.” - -“Hughie!” exclaimed Adèle, and hurried forward to take both his hands. - -“She made music for us over there, Miss Frink. I ought to have known it -when I heard her yesterday. Nobody can hit the box quite like Ally.” - -“Why do you call her Ally?” Miss Frink found voice to ask. - -“Short for Albino,” laughed Hugh. “Of course, Ally.” - -Miss Frink’s heart quickened. “In a single night.” The sad statement -recurred to her at once; but it was characteristic that she postponed -this consideration. - -“Here is another chance for you to be useful, Adèle,” she said. “Take -this catalogue over to Mr. Stanwood and between you make out a list of -his preferences. Give me three numbers right away.—No, don’t either of -you say, ‘Do you remember,’ until I’ve got those numbers. I suppose you -can find some of the tunes you had over in France.” - -“I don’t want one of them,” said Hugh emphatically. “Not much. That thing -you played yesterday, Ally.” - -“Oh, yes, that will be here, and other selections from the same opera.” - -Meanwhile Miss Frink was exchanging words with Miss Damon, and, as the -nurse left to get into her street dress, Miss Frink went to the phone and -called a number. - -“Is this you, Millicent? This is Miss Frink. Hold the wire. Now, then, -Adèle?” - -Mrs. Lumbard came near with the catalogue and gave three numbers in -turn. These Miss Frink repeated over the wire. “Have you a pencil there? -All right. You’ve written them? All right. Now take a cab, please, and -get these records. If you can’t find them one place, go to another. Have -them charged to me, and drive out here and ask to be shown up to the -White Room.” - -She hung up. “You can go on making a longer list now. Perhaps Mr. Ogden -will help you. Excuse me while I see Miss Damon.” - -Miss Frink left the room, and Adèle and Hugh immediately fell into -reminiscence, John Ogden looking on with an expression not wholly in -keeping with the mirthful chuckles that accompanied their resurrected -jokes. - -“And what’s doing now, Ally? Are you a lady of leisure?” asked Hugh at -last. - -“Yes; I am visiting Aunt Susanna for a little while, but I’ve got to go -at something to earn my living. Do you know Farrandale well, Mr. Ogden?” - -“Why—a—pretty well,” returned that gentleman who had suddenly been -galvanized by seeing that the young woman had unconsciously picked up a -letter lying near her, and was twisting it nervously in her hands. It was -Hugh’s letter from Carol. - -“Do you think I would have a chance of getting enough music pupils here -to make my bread and butter, with occasionally a little jam?” Mrs. -Lumbard’s eyes sparkled at the welcome bit of life that had come her way, -and she felt jubilant that the drudgery of first moves in an acquaintance -had been done away with in the case of herself and “Hughie.” So his name -was Stanwood. He was one of the crowd of “Buddies” who doubtless would -all remember her, though her stay at their canteen had not been long, and -only Hugh’s exceptional looks had marked him out for her remembrance. She -hoped his pleasure at seeing her and his enjoyment of her music would -weigh in her favor with the difficult relative she had stormed but not -conquered. That awful break about her hair! How would she get over that? - -“Why, yes, it is a flourishing little town,” returned Ogden, coming -nearer, with hungry eyes on the letter. “If there was some way to give -them a chance to hear you play.” - -Here Miss Frink returned, and Hugh accosted her. - -“Ally says she wants to teach music, Miss Frink. You’re always doing nice -things for people. Why not let her give a recital here in the house and -show the Farrandale folks what she’s made of?” - -Miss Frink drew near to his chair, attracted by the interested expression -of his face, a vital look she had not before seen. - -“You would like that, eh?” she returned indulgently. “You want to give a -party? I’ve never given a party,” she added thoughtfully. “I’ve never had -the courage.” - -“Mr. Ogden and I will back you up.” - -“Yes, indeed,” said Ogden, edging nearer the tortured letter, but even -then unable to get as close to it as Miss Frink was. - -“Mr. Hugh Stanwood Sinclair,” stood out clearly on the envelope, and -Ogden could see that its owner was miles away from the consciousness of -it. - -He slid around Miss Frink’s back. “Excuse me, Mrs. Re—Lumbard, my letter, -please.” - -Adèle flattened the bent thing quickly. “Oh, pardon me,” she said, and -put it in the outstretched hand. Mechanically, and from the force of -fixed habit to see everything, especially those things which it was -desired she should not see, she glanced at the letter in passing it; -but her attention was quickly absorbed in Hugh’s further suggestions -regarding publicity for her, and she was divided between hope and fear -as to the effect on Miss Frink of his interest. - -Miss Frink continued to stand there, looking down absorbedly into the -boy’s gay face, and listening quietly. Hugh laughed and joked with Ogden, -planning how they would be ushers on the great occasion, and she stood -still, watching him. - -Adèle started to rise. With a motion of her hand Miss Frink prevented -her. “Sit still, Adèle.” - -Downstairs a little later Leonard Grimshaw left the study intending to go -up to his room. - -Stebbins was just opening the front door as he came through the hall. -Millicent Duane entered. She bowed to the secretary, but addressed -herself to the servant. - -“Will you please show me to the White Room?” she said. - -Grimshaw, after a patronizing return of her greeting, was moving toward -the stairway, but now he paused. “What did you wish, Miss Millicent?” - -“Miss Frink sent me for some records and asked me to bring them here to -the White Room.” - -“Records?” Grimshaw looked dazed. “I thought I heard a band in the street -a few minutes ago. I wonder if Miss Frink—” He paused and fixed his -round spectacles on Millicent as if he suspected her of being in some -plot. - -The girl turned again toward Stebbins. - -“You don’t need to go up. I’ll take them,” the secretary came forward and -held out his hand for the parcel. - -“Thank you, but I want to do just what Miss Frink asked me to.” The girl -clasped her package closer. - -Grimshaw smiled disagreeably. “The White Room is a very attractive place, -eh?” - -“I don’t know anything about it,” returned the girl, her cheeks reddening -at his manner. “I only know that I feel I would rather do exactly what -Miss Frink asked. She may have a further errand for me.” - -The secretary motioned to Stebbins to go. - -“I will take you, then,” he said shortly. - -He preceded her up the stairs in silence, thinking his own disturbed -thoughts about that band in the street, and poor broken Miss Frink’s -obsession. - -Arrived at the door of the White Room, they could hear a buzz of voices -within, and a man’s laugh. The secretary knocked punctiliously, and Miss -Frink herself opened the door. - -“That’s a good child,” she said to Millicent. “You made good time. I -think you must have read ‘A Message to Garcia.’ Come in and meet Prince -Charming.” - -Millicent, her cheeks stinging in the sudden understanding of the -secretary’s gibe, yielded up her package, and with wide eyes beheld -the smiling face above the dressing-gown. She impulsively took a step -backward and Adèle’s lip curled at her expression. - -“No, no,” said Miss Frink, “come right in. That’s what she called you, -Hugh, before she even knew of your existence. Prince Charming. Now see if -you can live up to it.” - -Hugh rose, and, though his mind was still echoing with their jokes -about the recital, this surprising statement fixed his attention on the -blushing, unsmiling girl with the startled eyes, whom Miss Frink was -drawing forward. “Miss Duane, Prince Charming,” she said. - -The two young things gazed at each other. Poor little intense, conscious -Millicent could only nod, her eyes frightened and fascinated. - -Hugh nodded, too, smiling. “A case of mistaken identity, Miss Duane,” he -said, and dropped back into his chair. - -Millicent noted the proximity to it of Mrs. Lumbard’s, as she gave a -little nod toward Adèle and breathed her name. - -“Mr. Ogden,” said Miss Frink, without releasing the girl’s hand, “this -is my friend Miss Duane; no, don’t go, Millicent. I want you to stay and -hear these things you’ve brought. Perhaps we shall want to send them -back.” - -Leonard Grimshaw had remained in the room, and stood sphinx-like, his -eyes first on the new piece of furniture and then on Adèle, who appeared -to be chatting with Hugh in the manner of an old friend. - -Mrs. Lumbard noted his surprise. - -“I don’t believe I told you I worked in France, Leonard,” she said. -“Imagine my amazement to find that Mr. Stanwood is one of my old Buddies.” - -The secretary received this information with a stiff bow. - -“Sit down, Grim. Never mind me,” said Miss Frink. “Mr. Ogden is teaching -me how to run this new plaything. Here”—she carried the unwrapped records -to Hugh—“choose your opening number.” - -Adèle, with her head close to his, pointed out the desired ragtime. Miss -Frink took it back to the machine. - -Hugh looked at Millicent. Her fair hair was shining palely under her blue -hat. Her cheeks were glowing. Her eyes were fixed on the music-machine. -How could Miss Frink have been so cruel! She could feel the secretary’s -scornful spectacles, and Mrs. Lumbard’s cold glance. This fashionable Mr. -Ogden. Probably he was contemptuous, too, of the countrified errand-girl -so ready to admire Prince Charming. - -The music started. As it went on, Miss Frink, staring at her new -purchase, began to frown in a puzzled way as if it had maliciously -betrayed her, and was chuckling. She finally turned toward Hugh. His -face was beaming. He had risen and was sitting on the arm of his chair -swinging one of his big satin-shod feet, while he softly beat his knee -with one hand. - -He looked so handsome and happy she glanced at Adèle. “Wicked and -happy!” was her quick mental exclamation. On, to Millicent, her gaze -roved. Plenty of color was there, but no expression. There was no face -more naturally expressive. Miss Frink began to suspect that she had -embarrassed the girl. - -The strains ceased, and “silence like a poultice” fell. - -“Bully!” cried Hugh, gayly snapping his fingers. “That’s the stuff.” - -“You liked that?” exclaimed Miss Frink. “You like to be cross-eyed and -pigeon-toed?” - -John Ogden laughed. “He’ll never let you send that one back, Miss Frink. -The youth of to-day have reverted to savagery.” - -“My vote is that it should go back,” declared Leonard Grimshaw. The -sphinx had spoken, and in a voice that cracked. - -“Oh, we’re in the minority, Grim,” sighed Miss Frink. - -“I don’t believe so,” he said, making one last stand for the -circumspection and decency of the house. “Mr. Stanwood and Mrs. Lumbard -find it to their taste evidently, but Mr. Ogden I’m sure does not. I -think it is simply disgusting, and if Millicent Duane is honest she will -say the same.” - -His heat amused Hugh, who caught the glance which the young girl, -appealed to, turned to him, involuntarily. He leaned forward and held her -there. She could not free herself quickly from that laughing, questioning -gaze. - -Starting up from her chair she said: “I—I don’t believe I heard it—much.” - -“Didn’t hear it!” exclaimed Miss Frink, putting her hands over her own -suffering ears. - -“I—Grandpa is waiting for me, Miss Frink. If you don’t need me any more—” - -“No, child. I don’t need you. Thank you, and run along.” - -Millicent swept the room with a vague, inclusive nod, and, going out into -the hall, hurried to the stairs, and ran down. Her breath came fast, her -eyes were dim and she stumbled. Some one behind her, unheard on the thick -covering, caught her. She started and flung a hand across her eyes. - -“Did you have your cab wait, Miss Duane?” asked John Ogden. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -MILLICENT DUANE - - -She glanced at him through the moisture. His face was seriously -questioning. “No—I sent it away,” she replied indistinctly. - -“If you don’t mind I’ll walk on with you a bit, then.” He took his hat -and opened the door for her. “My favorite part of the day,” he added. - -In silence they crossed the wide veranda, and when they were descending -the steps Millicent spoke again: “It sounded very foolish, for me to say -I didn’t hear that record.” - -“Perhaps you are one of the fortunate people who can close their ears -to what they don’t wish to hear.” They passed through the iron gates. -“Or perhaps you didn’t want to take sides. I saw Mr. Stanwood trying to -hypnotize you.” - -Millicent met her companion’s kind smile. “Why did Miss Frink want to -make me feel so foolish?” she burst out impetuously. - -“I’m sure she didn’t wish to or mean to. You shouldn’t grudge her a -little fun. I’m certain she doesn’t have much. What she said shouldn’t -have been embarrassing. It was extremely mysterious, however.” - -Millicent regarded her companion again, suspiciously; but his was a most -reassuring face, and, besides, he had a number of gray hairs. - -“She said,” he went on, “that you called Mr. Stanwood Prince Charming -before you knew of his existence. Nothing in that to offend you, but a -riddle of riddles all the same, to me.” - -Ogden’s pleasant voice soothing her vanity made swallowing a much easier -matter. “You see,” she hesitated, “I used to be in Ross Graham’s.” - -“Long ago?” He glanced at her childlike profile. - -“Yes.—About three days. Miss Frink bought something of me—and I said—it -was fit for Prince Charming—and Miss Frink didn’t know about fairy tales.” - -“I dare say not,” remarked Ogden. - -“So I told her, and we—we got acquainted that way.” - -“Not that gorgeous robe!” said Ogden, suddenly enlightened. - -“Yes, that horrid dressing-gown!” - -“Horrid? It’s a dream!” - -“Yes, a nightmare.” - -“What’s all this? What’s all this?” - -“I didn’t know he was there—in Miss Frink’s house.” - -“She said you didn’t.” - -“I didn’t know it was for him.” - -“She said so.” - -Millicent of the glowing cheeks turned quickly on her companion; and he -smiled into her disturbed eyes. - -“There is only one explanation of Miss Frink’s remark causing you -embarrassment,” he said. - -“Oh, of course I know I ought to have said something bright, and funny, -and careless, but I never am bright, and funny, and careless. What do you -mean by explanation?” - -“Oh, just that the—the disturbing fact was that you found you had hit the -nail on the head: that he _was_ Prince Charming, you know.” - -If Millicent’s cheeks could have gained a deeper hue it would have been -there. Her temples grew rosy, and her lips parted. A little frown met her -companion. - -“Now, if it had been I that sat there sporting all those crimson jewels, -I, with my high forehead, and silver threads among the gold, you would -just have given a little sympathetic grin at Papa, and curtsied, and let -it go at that.” - -“Mr. Ogden,” with displeasure, “I am not so—” - -“Just let me tell you, Miss Duane, so you’ll think better of him, that -Prince Charming isn’t working at it as a profession at all. I never saw -anybody whose good looks disturbed him less.” - -“Mr. Ogden, do you suppose—” - -“So I don’t want you to let it set you against him, or feel the way you -did when you ran downstairs just now. By the way, Miss Duane, do you -happen to be related to the Colonel Duane who has a war record? Very -distinguished man. I’ve heard he lives in Farrandale.” - -The speaker had the pleasure of watching the transformation in the -transparent face, from bewildered resentment to eagerness. - -“There!” he said suddenly, “I suspected you had a dimple. If I had been -wearing that dressing-gown, I should have seen it sooner.” - -“Why, it’s Grandpa. Colonel Duane is my grandfather.—Perhaps you knew it -all the time, and that is the reason you’ve been so—so disrespectful in -your talk.” - -Ogden laughed. “Indeed, the fact should have made me far more respectful. -I didn’t know it, but your pretty name brought up the association. I -certainly should like to meet Colonel Duane.” - -“Well, you’re going to,” said Millicent eagerly. “We live together and we -have a garden. We live in one of Miss Frink’s houses, and when I used to -be in Ross Graham’s—” - -“Three days ago,” put in Ogden. - -“Well, it seems three months. Then I had so little time with him; but now -that I only have to get Miss Frink to sleep—” - -“To sleep!” - -“Not at night, you know. Just in the daytime. She has some one come and -read to her, and now it’s me. It used to be another girl, but she bobbed -her hair and lost the place. Poor Damaris! I do so wish I could get Miss -Frink to let her have my position in the gloves, Miss Frink hates bobbed -hair so. Do you think you might help, Mr. Ogden?” - -“Anything I can do. Buy her some hair tonic, perhaps?” - -Millicent laughed. “I may ask you to help,” she said earnestly. “We’re -nearly there, Mr. Ogden, and I want to tell you before we meet Grandpa -that I appreciate your kindness in seeing that I was unhappy and running -after me. Mrs. Lumbard—do you know Mrs. Lumbard?” - -“Yes, I do.” - -“Well, she—even in that short time she made me feel I was in the -way—and—and everything was wrong. I don’t want you to think I’m too -stupid.” - -Ogden met her appealing look. “I understand you very well,” he said. - - * * * * * - -They approached the little old house built before Farrandale had grown up. - -“I’m so pleased that you appreciate Grandpa,” the girl went on. “You see -Grandpa was a celebrated lawyer when he laid down his profession to go -into that war. He is Somebody!” - -Ogden perceived the white-haired figure in the garden. The old man had -the hose in his hand and was sprinkling plants, shrubs and lawn. - - * * * * * - -When Ogden returned to the White Room, he found Hugh alone and rather -impatient. - -“Where did you disappear to?” inquired the boy. - -“I eloped with that record-bearing peach.” - -“What did you do that for?” - -“Why, didn’t you see she was much disturbed in her mind?” - -“She didn’t have pep enough to stand up against the cockatoo.” - -“She had one object in life just then, and that was to get out of here.” - -“We’re kindred spirits, then, even if she doesn’t care for jazz. Say, I’m -going down to dinner, Ogden,” added the boy eagerly. “I’m going to get -out of these infernal swaddling clothes—” - -Ogden laughed. “There you are kindred spirits, too,” he said. “The peach -has it in for that dressing-gown.” - -Hugh glanced down over it. “That’s queer. You’d think a girl would just -revel in it.” - -“Probably she would if you hadn’t been wearing it.” - -Hugh looked inquiring. - -“Miss Frink ‘fussed’ her with all that Prince Charming stuff.” - -The boy shook his head. “What was Miss Frink up to, anyway?” - -“Why, Miss Duane used to be in Ross Graham’s—three days ago; and she sold -your benefactress the royal robe, and told her it was fit for Prince -Charming, not knowing whom it was for.” - -“And that ‘fussed’ her?” asked Hugh incredulously. “Aren’t girls the -limit? What did she care who it was for, so she made the sale?” - -Ogden looked at his protégé quizzically. “Oh, she’s been to the movies.” - -Hugh stared and scowled deeper. “Now, don’t you get bats in the belfry, -too,” he said. - -“Miss Duane has retired from business and is now reader-in-chief to Miss -Frink.” - -“So Ally told me. She tried for the job herself and was turned down, she -says.” - -“Really? You didn’t seem to realize that your friend was playing with -that letter of Carol’s some time before I rescued it.” - -“Well, why shouldn’t she?” - -Ogden raised his eyebrows and smiled. - -“Oh, shoot!” ejaculated Hugh gloomily, suddenly understanding. “Say, I -ought to be writing to Carol.” - -Ogden nodded. “I have just been sending her a full day-letter in your -name, and you promised to write at once, and also asked her to write you -in my care, as your plans are unsettled just now.” - -“I’ll say they are!” said Hugh emphatically. He was thoughtful for a -space. “Carol all alone,” he said presently. “I tell you, Mr. Ogden, it -makes me feel like taking a brace and amounting to something. I read -law the last year before the war. I’d like to go on with it. If Carol’s -partner in the business is unreliable, I’d like to be able to attend to -him.” - -“I’ve been talking to an ex-lawyer to-day, one who has made his mark. -Little Miss Duane’s grandfather. He is a veteran of the Cuban War. -Colonel Duane. Perhaps he has his law library still.” - -“He could steer me, anyway,” replied Hugh, looking interested—“if I -should stay on in the town,” he added, looking away. After another pause -he went on: “It was good fun to see Ally again and made everything seem -more familiar.” - -“How much do you know about Mrs. Reece-Lumbard?” asked Ogden. - -Hugh laughed reminiscently. “Nothing except those twinkly fingers of -hers. She tried some highbrow stuff on us at first—uplift, artistic, that -kind; but when she found we walked out on her she changed. Great Scott, -she could whoop it up, and we sang till the roof nearly lifted. I may -have heard her name in those days, but if I did I’d forgotten it.” - -“Well, she married Tom Reece,” said Ogden. “He was in the Medical Corps -over there, and when they came home they had a baby with them, and Mrs. -Reece, being a very gay lady, they had lots of trouble. She was shining -in cabaret performances when I knew her, and last winter I learned that -there was a divorce. To-day I asked her, when we were alone in the hall, -about her baby girl, and she said she hadn’t brought her, fearing a child -in the house might annoy her Aunt Susanna.” - -“Well, that was considerate, wasn’t it?” returned Hugh, in defense -against Ogden’s manner. “A woman never gets any sympathy.” - -“The courts didn’t give Mrs. Reece any,” said Ogden dryly. “I knew that -Dr. Reece was given the custody of the little girl. I just wanted to see -what she would say about it.” - -Hugh’s brow clouded. “I’m sorry to hear of that mess,” he replied. “Is -that why you think she is deceiving Miss Frink about herself? People that -live in glass houses, you know.” - -Ogden smiled. “Yes, I’m not going into the stone business at present.” - -The dinner that night was what Adèle called a really human meal. Miss -Frink sat at the head of the table and her secretary at the foot. He did -the honors in a highly superior manner. Adèle sat at his right and the -two men guests were placed, one each side the hostess. - -Miss Frink looked thoughtfully at Hugh, dressed in the new suit she had -paid for. He was happy in his promotion from the invalid chair, and -responded to Mr. Ogden’s amusing stories, while Adèle put aside dull care -and told canteen reminiscences of her own, some of them sufficiently -daring to draw upon her the gaze of the neighboring spectacles. - -After dinner they all adjourned to the drawing-room, and Miss Frink, -for the first time in all the years, saw its dignified furnishings as -background to a social gathering. Adèle played, and Hugh sauntered up -and down the room, singing when the familiar melodies tempted him. Miss -Frink’s eyes followed him with a strange, unconscious hunger. - -When at last Mrs. Lumbard sought her pillow, she was too excited for -sleep, and the little spurt of jollity faded into the dull consideration -of her situation. Why had handsome Hughie made that break about her hair! -She reviewed all that had been said in his first recognition of her. She -saw herself again, sitting and nervously twisting that letter. She felt -something inimical in Ogden. He had known Dr. Reece. He wanted to get his -letter away from her. There, in the darkness of her unquiet pillow, she -saw the twisted envelope again. It was not his letter at all. She had -flattened it out and seen that it was Hughie’s. - -Mr. Hugh Stanwood Sinclair. She saw the address again. Sinclair. Why? -when Hughie’s name was Stanwood? Why was the address Sinclair? Her head -lay quieter as she meditated. Mr. Ogden had been anxious to get that -letter! He had made her feel rebuked for twisting it. She lay a long time -awake. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -ALICE - - -When Miss Frink went to her room that night, two red spots burned in her -cheeks. She was a creature of habit and proud of it. Her maid had the -bed turned down and prepared for the night as usual. A silk negligée -hung over the back of a chair. The silver carafe of ice water with its -cut-glass tumbler stood by the side of the bed. Her programme would be -to slip off the black satin gown, don the negligée, go to the lighted -bathroom and wind the waves of her front hair back on their crimping -pins, and so proceed to the point of extinguishing the lights, getting -into bed, and going at once to sleep. - -The mental picture behind those red spots was of the same envelope which -was absorbing Adèle’s meditations. It had lain directly in the line of -Miss Frink’s bi-focals when Mrs. Lumbard gave it its final flattening. -Miss Frink crossed the room to where the enlarged portrait of her -girlhood’s chum hung on the wall. - -“Come on, Alice, let’s talk it over as we used to,” she said, and with a -quick movement unhooking the picture, she sat down in the nearest chair -with it in her lap, and gazed into the eyes. “I want to look at a friend. -I’m seventy-odd, Alice, and you’re still my only one: the only being who -has ever loved me.” She paused in her soliloquy to swallow something. -“I’m not going to make a tragedy of it. I could have adopted a child -after Philip disappointed me. I could have had some one to love me, but -I liked business better than domesticity, so I made my own bed and I’m -not going to complain of it. You told me I was all wrong about Philip, -wrong in not giving him his freedom, wrong to quarrel with him, wrong to -cut myself off from him, I remember now everything you said, though I -haven’t thought of it for years. The book was closed. Nothing could have -surprised me more than to have it opened again. But, Alice”—Miss Frink’s -hand pressed the sides of the picture frame until it hurt—“it is only -my money. That is the humiliation. I couldn’t believe that I would feel -it so.” The soliloquizing lips quivered. “Your Adèle—if she is yours, -something in me cries out all the time that she is not—what interest -would she have had in an Aunt Susanna who was old and poor? She fawns -on me with meek, loving expressions as if I could be fooled. Forgive -me, dear, but you wouldn’t like her, either. There’s Grim, of course; -it’s a religion with him to look after me, but he hasn’t any natural, -spontaneous interest in his fellow-beings. The calf of gold rules his -consciousness. He’s narrow, narrow as I am myself. Oh, Alice, if I had -you here! If I could only do it over again and do it better.” For the -first time in years tears stood in Miss Frink’s eyes. She winked them -away quietly, and fell into meditation. Presently, her thoughts seething -through the past and present, her lips moved again: - -“John Ogden is a finished rascal; polished, suave, a real society man. -Full of charm he is, and I wonder how he ran into the boy, and persuaded -him. I’m hurt, Alice. Hugh’s old Aunt Sukey is hurt;—but it’s better to -be hurt than dead, and he didn’t know who he was saving, I have that -comfort. That was no part of John Ogden’s plan; and it makes the boy -more mine than Ogden’s. He hasn’t been happy a minute since he came, and -the why is plain. He hates the double-dealing, while Ogden thinks it is -the best joke going. I hate lies, Alice”—with sudden heat. “You know I -always did; and the humiliation—why does it cut me so that the boy, my -own flesh and blood that I’m mightily near to loving, has cold-bloodedly -entered into some plan that has only my money for its object? I’ve been -a dupe; and, of course, any young person would chuckle over my sympathy -for his delirious longing for Aunt Sukey. Alice!”—suddenly Miss Frink -clutched the picture frame again—“that girl—that photograph—is his -mother. He said Aunt Sukey opposed her tooth and nail, and I asked him if -I could do anything. He said it was too late.” - -Miss Frink let the picture slide down into her lap while she followed -this train of thought and looked into space. Presently she propped the -frame up again between her hands. - -“Of course, Alice, that single night in which your much-married -granddaughter’s hair turned white might have come before she went over -to France. I’m about as mean to the girl in my thoughts as anybody could -be, and she has made the boy look really happy for the first time in all -these weeks. I ought to give her some credit for that. It was pleasant -down in the drawing-room to-night through her means; but the iron had -entered into my soul, and I felt inside the way Grim looked outside. Poor -Grim, he is not a society man. He doesn’t want our habits changed. Now, -I’m up against another fight, Alice, girl. It’s a long time since I’ve -had to fight. It’s a temptation to say to them all—Ogden, the boy, and -Adèle—‘I know you through and through. I’m not the dupe you think me. -Get away all of you and never let me see you again.’ But, Alice, what’s -the use of living seventy years unless you’ve learned to do nothing -impulsively? I look right back to my treatment of Philip Sinclair and -recall the things you said to me then. I shall let you help me, Alice. I -will take the advice that I scorned thirty years ago. Good-night, Alice, -girl.” - -Miss Frink didn’t sleep much that night, and the next morning, the -weather having made a sudden start summerward, she felt a new chapter of -her life beginning. - -Hugh came down to breakfast with John Ogden, and Adèle was ready with new -ideas for her recital. Miss Frink allowed herself to be carried along on -the tide of their talk until breakfast was over. - -“What a lovely morning. Your grounds are charming,” said Ogden. - -“Everything is blooming,” returned the hostess. “Let us make a little -tour of inspection.” - -She led the way through the small conservatory attached to the -dining-room, and out upon the lawn. - -“How beautifully this place is kept,” said Ogden. - -“Yes. I have so few amusements,” assented his companion. - -“Thoroughness is your watchword, I’m sure.” - -“I believe it is,” she agreed. “Whether I was doing right or wrong, I -always seem to have made a clean sweep of it.” - -Ogden regarded her in genuine admiration. “All your thoughts must be of -satisfaction, I should think.” - -Miss Frink tossed her head with a dissenting gesture. “You’d think wrong -then, man. Let us sit down here awhile.” - -She led the way to a rustic seat under an elm tree. “Shan’t I go in and -get a wrap for you?” asked Ogden. The prospect of a tête-à-tête with his -hostess was not without its qualms. - -“No, no. This sun is hot.” - -“So is this one,” thought Ogden, but he smiled with his usual air of -finding the present situation inspiring. - -“I’d like to know how you came to take such an interest in Hugh,” began -his companion without prelude. - -“Through liking his father, and loving his sister,” replied Ogden glibly. - -“Eh? His sister?” - -“Yes, his sister Carol. She couldn’t see me,” continued Ogden cheerfully. -“She married a man named Morrison and went to Colorado. Hugh received -word yesterday that her husband has died. She is left with two little -children” (Miss Frink began to stiffen mechanically, and Ogden saw it), -“but she is a young woman after your own heart. Her husband’s illness was -a long one, and she learned his business in order to carry it on, and she -won’t allow Hugh to come out there or worry himself about her.” - -Miss Frink gazed at him with unconscious fixedness. “Yes. His mother’s -name was Carol,” was the thought behind her stiff lips. - -“Hugh couldn’t seem to find himself when he came back from France, and -was rather down in the mouth when I got hold of him, so I thought. He is -so young, it would be better for him to learn a business from the bottom -up, and I thought of Ross Graham’s.” - -“Oh, you thought of Ross Graham’s.” Miss Frink nodded slowly and -continued to meet her companion’s debonair look. “I wonder why you -thought of Ross Graham’s.” - -“I told you in my letter of introduction,” responded Ogden, without -hesitation. “It is just one of the compact pieces of perfection that you -have been bringing about all your life.” - -Miss Frink nodded acceptance of the compliment and of his self-possession. - -“I should say his nerve was one piece of perfection,” she reflected; and -then her habit of honest thought questioned how she would have received -the frank proposition. If John Ogden had come to her with the information -that she had a robust, handsome, grand-nephew, Philip Sinclair’s son, who -needed a boost toward finding his right place in the world, would she -have listened to him? Would she have received the boy? She would not, and -she knew it. - -Ogden was speaking on: “How little I dreamed that I was doing as much for -you as for Hugh when I saw him off on that train.” - -“Oh, perhaps some other bystander would have saved the old lady,” she -replied, with sudden rebellion against Ogden’s making a virtue of his -duplicity. - -“Really?” he returned suavely. “I have understood that Hugh had the -street all to himself just at that time.” - -“Well, I think he did,” said Miss Frink brusquely, looking away. - -Ogden’s gray eyes were rather large and prominent, and just now their -gaze irritated her. - -“You know it is very interesting to me,” he went on, “that the mere fact -of my choosing Ross Graham’s for Hugh rather than some other concern, -should have saved your valuable life. I believe in Providence, Miss -Frink. Don’t you?” - -“I believe that Heaven helps those who help themselves,” she retorted; -“and that’s you, I’m sure, Mr. Ogden.” - -“But we’re not talking about me,” he responded with a gay air of surprise. - -“Well, we’re going to,” responded Miss Frink. “I want you to tell me -everything you know about Mrs. Lumbard.” - -“Why—” he returned, clearing his throat to gain time, “it’s on the -surface. She is a very pretty woman who is a fine musician. You can tell -by Hugh’s attitude what she meant to the boys over there, and she has a -reputation all through the South.” - -“Did you know her before her marriage when she was Miss Morehouse?” - -“Yes.” - -“What was her father like?” - -“Why—” Ogden hesitated. “I understood they were your relatives.” - -“No. They’re not. Is her father living?” - -“I—I really don’t know; but Mr. Morehouse died only last year.” - -“Well, he was her father, wasn’t he?” - -“No; he married her mother when the daughter was a child prodigy at the -piano.” - -Such a strange change passed over Miss Frink that Ogden was startled. She -gazed at him out of a face as stiff as parchment. - -“Mr. Ogden, I am uncanny. My feelings are uncanny,” she said at last. -“You might as well be sitting under an X-ray as by me. I know the whole -truth about you. I know all your double-dealings—” - -“Oh, Miss Frink, why should you give me heart failure? I don’t know why -you should be so excited. I hope I haven’t told any tales.” Ogden flushed -to the ears. - -“Yes, a great big one, but, oh, the relief it is to me. She has nothing -to do with my Alice. Be careful not to let her know that you’ve told me -this. Once I had a friend, Mr. Ogden, a real friend. She never tried to -get the better of me. She never deceived me. She loved me as herself.” - -John Ogden thought he had never looked into such bright eyes, and -their strenuous gaze seeming, as she had claimed, to see absolutely -through him, sent a prickling sensation down his spine. She seemed to -be contrasting him with that single-minded friend, frightfully to his -disadvantage. - -“She has died,” went on the low voice, “and I never found another. Now -Mrs. Lumbard has claimed me through her; claimed to be her granddaughter. -I never could believe it, and it seems I was right.” - -Ogden frowned and shook his head. “If you’re glad, I suppose I shouldn’t -regret my break; but I wouldn’t for anything have thrown a monkey-wrench -into Mrs. Re—Lumbard’s machinery if I had known.”—“Supposing Miss Frink -knew all!” was his reflection. - -His companion nodded slowly. “Let me have the truth once in a while, once -in a while. Don’t grudge it to me. You’ve only clinched my feeling that -she is a liar.” - -Ogden looked up toward the porch where Adèle and Hugh were laughing. - -“There is one thing I wanted to speak of to you. You take such a kindly -interest in Hugh—” - -“That is barely decent,” responded Miss Frink with sudden sharpness. -“What is it you want? When a poor young man saves the life of a rich old -woman, it is to be expected that she gives him a good plump check as -reward, isn’t it?” - -Ogden regarded her in surprise. “What the love of money does to people!” -was his reflection. “I shan’t tell Hugh you said that,” he replied -quietly. “He has had enough to bear. You know whether his attitude toward -you is mercenary.” - -Miss Frink’s old cheeks flushed in their turn. “Well, I know it isn’t,” -she said bluntly; “but you are his manager, aren’t you?” - -“My dear lady! Please don’t spoil this beautiful morning.” - -“I’m excited, Ogden. I know it,” she said nervously. She was glad he had -trapped her, but how had he dared to do it, and how could she forgive him! - -“This is what I was going to say,” he went on. “The last year before Hugh -went to France he read law. Since hearing that his sister is alone, he -feels that he would like to go on with it. He might be able to help her -some day. Yesterday I met Colonel Duane. He is a lawyer and still has a -good library. What would you think of Hugh’s working at that, evenings?” - -“Why evenings?” - -“Because I judge you intend to give him a job in the store that will at -least partly pay his board.” - -Miss Frink looked off at the fountain where two marble babies were having -an unending water duel, and apparently from their expressions having -great fun over it. - -“That is a very good idea,” she said, “to read law with Colonel Duane.” - -Ogden accepted her ignoring of the “job.” There was a change in her since -yesterday. She seemed to be smothering and controlling some spite against -himself. If she suspected anything, he must prepare Hugh. The sudden -meeting with Ally and the plan to help her with the recital had changed -the boy’s gloomy, rebellious mood; and certainly nothing had occurred -since last evening, when Miss Frink had been a sufficiently complacent -though passive hostess. - -“I will attend to the matter,” she said after a pause, and rose. “I must -go in. Grim will wonder if I am forgetting the mail.” - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -APPLE BLOSSOMS - - -Adèle was in a porch swing, her pretty slippers and ankles very much -in evidence when Miss Frink and Ogden came up on the veranda. She was -singing “Madelon,” and Hugh was trying to stop her, amid much laughter -and threatening. - -The lady of the old school crossed to her and pulled down the skirt -of the young woman’s pink dimity morning dress. It would have kept -Miss Frink busy if she had performed that office for all the girls in -Farrandale who needed it that morning, and all the mornings; although -Farrandale was no more lax than any other town. - -Adèle rose quickly from the swinging seat, and Miss Frink turned to Hugh. -“Well, what’s this I hear about our young lawyer?” - -“Oh, has Mr. Ogden told you of my wish to read with Colonel Duane? I’m -keen for it, Miss Frink.” - -That lady looked up into his eager face with a lingering regard. What -would he say if she told him here and now that she knew him to be hers; -her own flesh and blood; she who but a few weeks ago had believed herself -alone in the world? This splendid specimen of young manhood was hers, -hers to assist or to renounce. Her habitual shrewdness and forethought -warned her that she did not know him: that he must show the stuff he -was made of before she could discover whether she cared to own him. -He was deceiving her, at the present moment. He was only watching for -opportunities to use her. No wonder his conscience had revolted at the -succession of favors pressed upon him by the woman he was hoodwinking. -Miss Frink’s X-ray mentality told her that here was an honest thought -manipulated by the man of the world with whom she had just been -tête-à-tête. Nevertheless, Hugh was at fault. He should have spurned such -a plan—“And let you lie under the simple granite monument provided for in -your will?” added some small inner voice. - -Probably that suggestion was what made her smile at him now, so -reflectively. - -“That is, if Colonel Duane is willing to be bothered with me,” went on -the boy, still eagerly. “I can’t trust you, Miss Frink. I won’t have the -old gentleman bound hand and foot and thrown down at my feet.” - -This egregious remark touched Miss Frink’s sense of humor. She laughed -spontaneously. The implication of her power pleased her no less than that -of her devotion to this dastardly, double-faced youth. - -“You just mind your own business, Hugh,” she returned. “You shall see the -Colonel to-day.” - -“I should love to walk over there with him,” said Adèle. - -“I believe you,” replied Miss Frink, “but do you know Colonel Duane?” - -“Why, no, but—” - -“I think another arrangement would be better,” said Miss Frink, and, -turning, went into the house. - -Adèle pretended to shiver. “Oh, she does sit on me so hard!” she cried, -then she dropped back into the porch seat and continued her gay badinage -with Hugh, the undercurrent of her thought triumphing over her difficult -hostess, inasmuch as she knew her to be a dupe and could reveal it, at -any time. - -John Ogden watched the young woman uneasily. It was evident that she was -doing her best to attract Hugh. - -“Say, boy, I’d look out for Ally if I were you,” said Ogden when again -they were alone. - -“Oh, she’s lots of fun.” - -“Yes, she means to be; but she’s in wrong with Miss Frink. It seems she -is here, entirely under false pretenses.” - -Hugh turned and stared down at his mentor. - -“Indeed!” he replied. “How shocking!” - -“Miss Frink has found it out,” said Ogden, flushing, “and through me. -That’s the worst of it.” - -“A little stone-throwing in your glass house, eh?” - -“Totally unintentional.” And Ogden repeated what had taken place. - -Hugh stared into space. He hated to have people get in wrong. It -disturbed him all the time that Ally should have been such a fool as to -deserve to get in wrong with the courts. - -“Of course Miss Frink doesn’t dream of the court disgrace,” added Ogden. - -“Women always get the worst of it,” said Hugh moodily. - -“Well, I’ve no doubt she will at least keep her word about the recital,” -remarked Ogden. - -“We must take it for granted,” said Hugh energetically. “We must help the -poor girl, and have some pep about it.” - -Ogden laughed. “You can be trusted for pep,” he returned. “That was a -good line about Colonel Duane. I should have expected Miss Frink to have -Grimshaw escort your conceited self to the gate.” - -At that moment the Colonel was watching a pair of birds feeding their -young. Millicent came to the door and called him in to the ’phone. - -“It is Miss Frink,” she said with bated breath. “I do hope it is nothing -about me.” - -The old gentleman patted her hand as he took the receiver, and the girl -stood with parted lips, listening. - -“Good-morning, Miss Frink.” - -“Why, yes, if an old fogy like myself can be of any use to him, -certainly.” - -“Oh, yes, plenty of time. I’m a very small farmer, you know.” - -“Yes, I have the foundational books.” - -“No doubt you would, Miss Frink.” - -“To-day? Yes, I shall be very glad to see him.” - -“Very well, I shall be here.” - -Colonel Duane hung up the receiver and smiled at the girl with the rapt -eyes. - -“No, you’re not discharged, my dear. She has another errand for you to -do.” - -“What is it, Grandpa?” - -“Don’t lose those eyes out, my dear. You’re sure to need them again some -time. The young man there, Mr. Stanwood, wants to come over here to see -my law books.” - -“Are you sure it isn’t Mr. Ogden?” asked Millicent earnestly. “He was so -interested in everything yesterday.” - -“No, it is Mr. Stanwood. It seems he started to read law, and then they -needed him in France.” - -“Oh, I told Mr. Ogden that you were a celebrated lawyer.” - -“You little girl! Blowing the old man’s horn.” He put his arm around her. - -“What is the errand, Grandpa?” - -“To bring Mr. Stanwood over here.” - -“Oh!” - -“When you get through the reading, he will be waiting for you on the -veranda.” - -“I don’t see why Mr. Ogden doesn’t bring him.” - -“Why should he, when you are coming right home, anyway? Possibly Mr. -Ogden doesn’t care to call on us every day.” - -What could be simpler than picking Mr. Stanwood up on the veranda, and -showing him the way to her grandfather? Millicent was vexed with herself -for feeling as if she were setting out on an adventure when she went -to her reading that day. She could see Hugh as he sat on the arm of -his easy-chair, bejeweled with crimson petals, swinging his gay foot, -and snapping his fingers in time to the jazz. At least he would not -have on that cursed dressing-gown to-day, and she would show him by her -businesslike manner that she was simply doing an errand for Miss Frink in -being his escort. - -When that lady lost consciousness to-day, and began gently to blow the -silk handkerchief thrown over her face, Millicent despised the sensation -of her heart beginning to beat a little faster as she tripped down -the wide staircase to the ponderous front door. As she came out upon -the veranda, she saw him. He was sitting in the porch swing with Mrs. -Lumbard, and Mrs. Lumbard looked unusually pretty in a pink dimity gown, -and was exhibiting lengths of crossed silk stockings as she impelled the -swing with the tip of one slipper. - -Hugh at once jumped up, and Adèle nodded. “You made a short job of it -to-day,” she remarked, and Millicent hated her. - -“Perhaps you are not quite ready, Mr. Stanwood,” she said, with what was -Farrandale’s most formal and forbidding manner. - -“Indeed, I am,” he replied, picking up his hat. - -“Don’t you think you’d better take an overcoat, Hughie?” asked Adèle -affectionately. - -“No, indeed, it’s warm. Well, good-bye, Ally, I won’t ask you to be -good—just to be as good as you can.” - -She laughed and threw him a kiss. Millicent stood, stiff as a ramrod, -hating them both. - -Hugh smiled at her disarmingly as they went down the steps together. “You -know I am as pleased as a boy with a pair of red boots to think Colonel -Duane will take me,” he said. - -“He seemed very willing,” returned the girl, without looking at him. - -Had Damaris been the escort of the most talked-about young man in -Farrandale, she would have paraded him: taken him by the most populous -ways. Millicent had mapped out a semi-rural route, longer to be sure, but -one in which few people would see them and say that Millicent Duane was -out walking with Miss Frink’s young man. - -“Mrs. Lumbard worked among us doughboys in France,” said Hugh, sensing an -iciness in the atmosphere. - -“I heard her say so yesterday,” returned Millicent, eyes ahead. - -“She plays like a house afire,” said Hugh, “and she has to earn her -living. Do you believe she could make a go of it teaching piano here?” - -“I don’t know why not?” returned the girl civilly. - -“Anyway, Miss Frink is going to let her give a recital in her house and -let the people hear her. Will you help boom it?” - -“I’m afraid I’m a person of no influence, Mr. Stanwood.” - -Hugh regarded the persistent profile, a very grave profile with a -slightly tilted nose. - -“Mr. Ogden says you had a grouch yesterday,” he said good-humoredly. “Is -this a hang-over?” - -At this she turned and gave him a look which came out somewhere beyond -him. “I don’t know what you mean.” - -“Why, you don’t seem to realize that this is a great day. Spring is here, -and the birds are busy—this is a mighty pretty street, by the way, like -the country, and I’m out of that infernal room walking on my own legs. -I feel we should be taking hold of hands and skipping—Merry, Merry May, -fol-de-rol, tiddle-de-winks, and all that, you know.” - -She met his laughing eyes and relaxed slightly. “It is a celebration for -you, isn’t it?” she said. - -“Yes. Ogden said Miss Frink teased you yesterday.” - -“Oh, how silly to speak of it!” exclaimed Millicent, reverting to the -profile and coloring beautifully. He thought she looked very pretty, and -he laughed gayly at her sudden temper. - -“Well, I just want you to remember that I wasn’t the guilty party. An -innocent bystander shouldn’t be crushed, yet how often they are!” - -In the rural road, Hugh was effervescing with the joy of living, and his -prim escort was gradually unbending. When an apple tree in full bloom -came in view, it helped wonderfully. - -“Grandpa has a little orchard. It looks marvelous. You will see—we’re -almost there.” - -“Wait a minute, Miss Duane”—Hugh put out a hand gropingly—“just a minute. -I feel queer—” - -Millicent looked around at him. He was very pale. - -“Can you beat it?” he demanded feebly. “That apple tree—it’s whirling. I -think I’m—going to—” - -“Oh, don’t, Mr. Stanwood.” His groping hand grasped her arm, and she held -him with the other while he sank on the bank under the apple blossoms, -his weight pulling her down beside him. - -“Oh, shoot!” he gasped. - -“Please don’t faint,” she said. “We’re so nearly there. Just lie still; -I’ll go get Grandpa to help.” - -She fled away, and he closed his eyes and called himself names. - -Back they came, Millicent white and flushed by turns, and the old -gentleman coming along with his hale and hearty tread. - -“Not such a bad couch,” he said cheerily, bending over Hugh while -Millicent stood with clasped hands, suffering all the throes of guilt. -The regular road would have been little more than half as long, and she -could hear Mrs. Lumbard’s comments on choosing the romantic path. - -“Lie there a bit while Milly brings you some hot milk, then you’ll get to -the house easily enough between us two sturdy ones. Tried to do a little -too much, I guess.” - -Millicent went back with winged feet and soon returned with the hot -milk. He drank the milk, supported by Colonel Duane’s arm, and soon his -dizziness ceased. Leaning on the two friends he walked slowly, and soon -entered the back gate of their cottage. The little orchard made the place -look in festive array. - -“All dressed up for you, you see,” said the Colonel. - -“Heavenly!” said Hugh. - -Millicent was valiantly supporting one of his arms, and his other was -around the Colonel’s neck. - -“I’ll say it’s pretty here,” said Hugh. “Sorry I was a fool.” - -“Going to put you in the hammock,” said Colonel Duane, “and let you look -the apple blossoms out of countenance awhile.” - -This he did, arranging the pillows deftly under Hugh’s head. He went into -the house for another, and Millicent stood there looking down at the -patient. - -Hugh smiled up at her; and there was that dreadful smile again, that -Prince Charming smile that made so much defense necessary, and she hadn’t -any more. Remorse had drowned it. - -“He’s all right now, childie,” said her grandfather comfortingly. “I’ll -bet you’re blaming yourself for taking that road. How did you happen to?” - -“It’s lots—lots prettier,” said Millicent with a gulp. She sank into a -receptive rocking-chair. - -“And the joke is,” said the Colonel, “that Miss Frink didn’t think he was -up to the short road, even. She was expecting you to drive, and somehow -or other Grimshaw was tardy with the team and you had gone. So he hopped -in and came the whole way, beating up the sidewalks for you.” Colonel -Duane laughed. “I told him to go over to Damaris and see if you were -there.” - -“Oh, Grandpa!” groaned the girl. - -“So he went, and he said if he didn’t find you he would go back and tell -Miss Frink that you preferred to walk.” The old gentleman laughed again. -“Grimshaw believes in self-preservation. That is what we are all to say. -You preferred to walk.” He rose. “I promised to call up as soon as you -arrived. I’ll tell them you enjoyed the trip. Eh?” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -MISS FRINK MAKES A CALL - - -At the tears on Millicent’s face now, Hugh laughed aloud. She was looking -aghast. - -“To-morrow everybody will know it!” she ejaculated. - -“Know what?” - -“That Mr. Grimshaw couldn’t find us.” And crystal drops began again to -race down her cheeks. - -“You cry-baby!” said Hugh, regarding her curiously. “Here, I have more of -a handkerchief than that. Come here and I’ll bail while you pour.” - -“Oh, am I crying?” she returned, distractedly mopping her cheeks. “I must -speak to Damaris as soon as Grandpa gets through. You don’t know what it -is to live in a little town.” - -“Oh, is that it?” returned Hugh, regarding her flushed, troubled face, -and thinking it was as sweet as a dew-washed flower. “They’ll say we -eloped, eh? I’ll tell the world I thank ’em for the compliment.” - -Colonel Duane here reappeared and Millicent dashed by him into the house. -He seemed to be serenely unaware of his grandchild’s excitement, and, -telling Hugh not to talk, but to rest, he seated himself a little way -off, and Hugh had the full benefit of the one-sided conversation within. - -It was a particularly cheerful and care-free voice speaking, with little -gulps in the throat that caught it at unexpected moments. - -“Oh, yes, Damaris, it’s Millicent. I was sorry Mr. Grimshaw had to -trouble you.” - -“Oh, yes, I’m home. It was such a beautiful day, you know, we walked -over.” - -“Yes, Mr. Stanwood had business with Grandpa, and—and he didn’t -understand that Mr. Grimshaw—What? Yes, didn’t know that he was expected -to wait for the carriage. What? Yes, it was queer Mr. Grimshaw didn’t see -us. We were just—walking along, you know, just walking along. What? Yes, -he’s here. He and Grandpa are together. Did you say Mr. Grimshaw looked -scared? Why, what for? Yes, of course, Mr. Stanwood isn’t entirely strong -yet. Oh, that’s all right. I just wanted you to know that nobody is lost, -strayed, or stolen.” Suddenly, with great dignity, the voice changed. -“No, no, indeed. Good-bye.” - -When Millicent went back to the piazza after washing her face and -applying powder where it would be most effective, she found her -grandfather seated by his recumbent guest and asking him about his -previous studies. - -“You might bring Mr. Stanwood a cup of bouillon, Milly,” said the -Colonel, and the girl went back into the house. - -When she reappeared, her own fresh, fair, and demure self, bearing her -offering, Hugh looked at her approvingly. - -“My life is just one tray after another,” he said. - -The patient had just taken his last swallow when a sound of wheels was -heard. Miss Frink’s victoria stopped before the gate, and that lady -herself dismounted and came up the path. Colonel Duane hastened to meet -her. Millicent stood up, holding the tray undecidedly, with an expression -of face which seemed to be bracing for a _coup de grace_, and Hugh flung -a long leg out of the hammock. - -“Lie still, Hugh,” ordered the visitor, waving her parasol -authoritatively. - -Hugh withdrew the leg. Miss Frink had never walked up on that piazza -before, although it was her own property. She looked around approvingly. - -“You’ve made this place lovely, Colonel Duane.” - -“Well, we think it is a good deal of a paradise this time of year.” - -“So you overdid yourself,” said Miss Frink, seating herself in the -offered chair by the hammock. - -Colonel Duane lifted Millicent’s tray and carried it into the house, and -the girl took a chair near the visitor. - -“What makes you think so?” inquired Hugh blandly. - -“You didn’t come by the road. There was only one other way you could -come.” - -No one in the world ever looked guiltier than Millicent at this moment. -Her awe of Miss Frink kept her eyes dry and very large, but she saw her -job disappearing, and herself stingingly rebuked. - -Miss Frink’s gaze turned upon her. - -“What was your idea?” she asked bluntly, but she was conscious of the -picture made by the blue-gowned girl against the background of apple -blossoms. - -Millicent’s lips opened and closed several times without a sound emerging. - -Miss Frink laughed, and exchanged a look with Hugh. - -“You took him down Lover’s Lane. That’s what you did,” said Miss Frink, -regarding the girl accusingly. “Of course, it’s ever so much more -romantic than the highroad; but we’ve got to build Prince Charming up -before you can cut up any such didos as that.” - -“Oh, Miss Frink!” It was a gasp, not only of extreme embarrassment, but -also of relief that the matter might be treated jocosely. - -“You’re barking up the wrong tree,” said Hugh, grinning. “I’ve found out -what she did it for. She was hiding me.” Miss Frink grimaced her glasses -off. “Yes, madam, she lives in a small town and she was hiding me.” - -“And set every dog and goose to barking and cackling,” declared Miss -Frink. - -“But I revenged myself on her. I waited till we came to a mossy couch -under an apple tree, and then I keeled over.—Look out”—a warning hand -toward Millicent—“don’t you cry now. She was the best little sport you -ever heard of. I nearly crushed her poor little wing while she and -Colonel Duane were getting me up here, and they have filled me with the -milk of human kindness and beef tea ever since.” - -“It was all Grimshaw’s stupidity,” said Miss Frink. “I put it in his -hands and he didn’t order the carriage in time.” Her lips twitched -amusedly. “He tried to shift the responsibility, and make out that you -preferred to walk; but I X-rayed him. He hadn’t a chance. Did I ever tell -you, Hugh, to beware of my X-ray mind?” She regarded him quizzically, -admiring his beauty as she always did. “Double-dealing hasn’t a chance -with me. I always see directly through it.” - -Hugh rearranged his pillows. “Quite a business asset, I should judge,” -he returned, and for a minute his complexion matched the hectic hue of -Millicent. Why should Miss Frink be boring into him, as it were, with her -dark, bright eyes? - -“So when Grim got through the account of his pilgrimage, I knew you must -have come by Lover’s Lane.” The speaker suddenly turned again upon the -young girl with a smiling frown. - -“Oh, Miss Frink, I can’t tell you how sorry I am!” Millicent’s hands were -clasped. - -“Now, be careful,” broke in Hugh. “Remember the size of your -handkerchief.” - -“I’ll try not to cry,” she responded, her voice teetering, as it were, -like a person trying to keep his balance on a tight rope. “I’m so -thankful if you’re not vexed with me. I do think now it was awfully -stupid; but you know what Farrandale is.” - -“Bless me!” said Miss Frink. “Then the child really was trying to hide -you!” - -“Yes,” said Millicent frankly; “and then Mr. Grimshaw went right over to -the Coopers’, hunting!” - -Miss Frink gave her rare laugh. Millicent was so pretty against the apple -blossoms, and so genuinely disturbed, and Hugh so handsome and amused, -she thoroughly enjoyed the situation. - -“Didn’t I say you set all the geese to cackling? I will call a town -meeting and announce that there is nothing in it. How will that do?” - -Millicent struggled not to feel embarrassed. “With your X-ray mind you’ll -know there isn’t,” she returned, with more spirit than Hugh had given her -credit for. - -Colonel Duane reappeared with another tray. It bore tea and little cakes -this time. Miss Frink liked the way his granddaughter sprang to his -assistance and arranged everything on the porch table. Colonel Duane was -a gentleman of the old school and his breeding showed in Millicent. She -liked their simplicity and fineness. The girl’s job was never safer. - -When tea was served, Millicent opened a subject near her heart. - -“Miss Frink,” she said, “will you let me beg a favor of you?” - -“Certainly. Speak right up.” - -“It is about Damaris. I have experimented, and I can fix her hair so you -would never know it was bobbed.” - -The caller eyed her sharply. “Are you tired of reading to me?” - -“No, indeed!” The ejaculation was earnest. “But couldn’t she have my -place in the gloves, if—if I show you the way I can fix her hair? And she -is so attractive, and bright, and pretty, and people would love to have -her fit them, and she knows so many people—” The girl stopped, it was so -extraordinary to be talking courageously to Miss Frink. - -That lady turned toward Colonel Duane. “Your granddaughter would make a -good press-agent, wouldn’t she?” - -“Yes, Milly would,” he returned, composedly sipping his tea. - -“Then if people didn’t believe her she would cry,” remarked Hugh. - -“What’s all this about your crying, Millicent?” asked Miss Frink. - -“When I’ve done wrong, like making Mr. Stanwood too tired and—and having -everybody talk about it, I cry; that’s natural, isn’t it? But never mind -his teasing. I wish I could get the place for Damaris.” - -“This generation is so full of silly girls,” said Miss Frink. “Hugh, have -you your mother’s picture in your pocket?” - -He blinked, and colored again. Throwing his long legs out of the hammock, -he sat up against the netting. “I didn’t tell you it was Mother,” he -blurted out. - -“No,” said Miss Frink quietly. “There are a number of things you didn’t -tell me.” - -Hugh felt in his pocket and produced the case. - -“You don’t have to tell her things,” said Millicent—“with an X-ray mind, -you know.” - -Silently Miss Frink accepted the offered morocco case, and opened it -under Millicent’s eyes. - -“Isn’t she lovely!” exclaimed the girl. - -“Yes. Look at that hair and compare Damaris’s with it. Does your sister -resemble your mother?” Miss Frink suddenly addressed Hugh. - -His tea-cup jingled in his hand. - -“I didn’t—I—yes, she does. You _have_ been X-raying, Miss Frink. I didn’t -tell you about my sister.” - -“No, but Mr. Ogden did. She must be a very fine woman.” - -Hugh regarded the speaker with parted lips. Was she about to release the -sword of Damocles before these witnesses; or was this all she knew? - -“But it will be growing all the time, you see,” said Millicent; and Miss -Frink passed the photograph to the Colonel. “I wish you’d let me show -you, Miss Frink.” - -That lady’s lips twitched and the bright eyes were very kind as she -looked at this girl who didn’t sprawl, or loll in her chair, and who was -fresh as Aurora. - -“Very well, I suppose I must listen to such a special pleader. I offered -the position to Mrs. Lumbard, but she seemed to think that teaching music -would be more in her line.” - -“I can’t see her there,” said Millicent, shaking her blonde head -seriously, “nearly so well as I can Damaris.” - -“To tell the truth, neither can I,” returned Miss Frink. - -“Then—then may I tell her there is hope?” asked Millicent eagerly. - -“Yes. You might use it as a bribe to get her not to tell everybody of Mr. -Grimshaw’s coming around with a search-warrant. Eh?” The speaker returned -the photograph case to its owner. “It’s time I took this boy home. Have -we some big books to carry, Colonel Duane?” - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -ADÈLE - - -As they entered the carriage, and on the way home, Hugh waited for some -further personal remarks from his companion, but none came regarding -themselves. Miss Frink declared herself in favor of pushing through the -plans for Mrs. Lumbard’s recital. - -“I should like to get it over with for many reasons. One is that I feel -like a bull in a china shop when it comes to entertaining. I know no more -about it, nor half so much as my cook. I rely on you to be host, Hugh.” - -“I’ll do the best a clumsy doughboy can; but there is Mr. Ogden. He knows -the ropes about everything.” - -“Yes, he does. I admit that.” Miss Frink nodded in a way which again made -Hugh feel that the day of reckoning was upon him. “He’s a smooth rascal!” - -Hugh felt profoundly uncomfortable. He yearned to loose that Damocles -weapon himself. He couldn’t break his promise to Ogden, but he could -relieve himself in an honest remark, something that would lend some -respectability to the situation. - -“Are you going to let me have that job in the store that I came for, Miss -Frink?” he asked. - -She smiled vaguely at the roadside. “Of course. Let us see. You want -to begin at the sub-basement, and learn how department stores are -constructed.” - -Hugh blushed furiously. “Don’t make fun of me, please. I was packing -boxes in a basement when Mr. Ogden looked me up, for my family’s sake.” - -“Yes. He says he used to be in love with your sister,” returned Miss -Frink composedly; “but he says so many things besides his prayers.” - -“I guess there’s no doubt about that,” returned the boy, miserably -embarrassed. “It took some pretty strong impulse to make anybody take any -interest in such a shuffling proposition as I was.—It seems a year ago, -that day he found me. My hand against every man, and every man’s hand -against me.” - -“And he dressed you up in nice clean clothes, and laid out your -programme, and sent you on your way.” - -“Why—he did—but did he tell you so this morning when you were hobnobbing -so long?” - -Had Ogden laid down the cards without telling him? - -“No,” replied Miss Frink equably. “I just X-rayed him a little. He was -taking all the credit of your saving my life. I believe he allowed -Providence a small part.” - -“Oh, do let us forget that, Miss Frink!” ejaculated the boy. “I’m a chap -that’s come to you for a job, and you are kind enough to give it to me. I -do want to learn the business.” - -“And perhaps you will,” was the quiet reply; “but we’ll wait a bit yet -till you can walk a mile or so and stand up under it. I do like those -Duanes. That little Millicent—I can’t help calling her little, though -she’s as tall as I am. What a refreshment it is in these days to find a -girl a lady.” - -“I’m sorry you don’t like Ally,” said Hugh. - -“I don’t like liars,” returned Miss Frink calmly. - -The boy’s ears grew crimson. - -“I suppose I ought to have been a man,” she added. “I seem to be out -of sympathy with most things feminine. Mr. Ogden gave me information -concerning Mrs. Lumbard this morning which lifted a big irritation. It -makes whatever I do for her now a favor instead of a duty. Once, Hugh, -I had an honest friend—just one. There never has been another. We loved -each other. Mrs. Lumbard came here representing herself as this woman’s -granddaughter, and she called me Aunt Susanna on the strength of it. Mr. -Ogden unconsciously spoiled her game this morning. I never had trusted -her, and had rebuked myself for it; but I’m usually right—that X-ray, you -know.” - -Hugh, rolling along beside her in the charming little carriage, wondered -wretchedly if she trusted him, or if the X-ray was working. - -“I’m sorry for Ally,” he said gravely. - -“So am I,” responded Miss Frink promptly. “I hope she will develop some -day into a worthy woman. I regret that it has to be in Farrandale, but we -can’t have all things to please us.” - -“Some day,” thought Hugh, “she will want me to be a worthy man, anywhere -but in Farrandale.” - -He was in his room dressing for dinner when Ogden came in. - -“Well, admitted to the bar yet?” demanded the latter gayly. - -“Look here, Ogden”—Hugh advanced and seized his friend. “When you were -spilling Ally’s beans this morning, did you spill mine, too, and never -told me?” - -“Not so, dear one. Will you kindly not pull the button off my coat?” - -“She acts as if she knew. We were all on the Duanes’ porch and she asked -me to show my mother’s picture to Miss Duane. How did she suddenly know -it was my mother?” - -“Whew!” Whistled Ogden, surprised. “Search me. I never gave her a clue; -but she seemed to have it in for me for some reason this morning. Oh,” -after a thoughtful moment, “she doesn’t know! She’s the yea-yea, and -nay-nay, kind. If she knew you were Hugh Sinclair, she would either say, -‘bless you, my child,’ or tell you to get off the earth. I know her.” - -“I’m growing to know her,” said Hugh, going on with his toilet, “and I’ll -say she’s a trump. I don’t like to look forward to being despised by her.” - -“Hugh, my son, don’t make me laugh. You’ve got the woman. I don’t know -whether it’s the shape of your nose or your general air of having the -world by the tail, but the deed’s done.” - -Hugh regarded him gloomily. “All to be knocked over by a simple twist of -the wrist when she learns that I’m the thing she despises most—a liar. -She says she has had only one honest friend. I’d tell her the truth -to-night if it weren’t for Ally’s recital. I don’t want anything to -disturb that, poor girl.” - -Under Ogden’s guidance, the invitations to Mrs. Lumbard’s recital were -sent out promptly, and Farrandale society rose to its first opportunity -to be entertained in the Frink mansion. Not a regret was received by Miss -Frink’s social secretary _pro tem_. Adèle, as the star of the occasion, -took an oddly small part in the preparations. She did some practicing on -her programme, apologizing to Hugh for its more weighty numbers. - -Leonard Grimshaw observed her infatuation for the young man, and it added -to the score against him which began on the day Hugh was carried into the -house. Was he in love with Adèle himself? He sometimes asked himself the -question. She had sparkled into such life and vivacity in these last days -that any man would have felt her attraction. - -One day he found himself alone with her on the veranda. “Do you realize -all Miss Frink is doing for you in giving this affair?” he asked. - -“No. Is it such a great indulgence?” she returned lightly. - -“Positively. It is breaking her habits of years, and it will be a great -expense. She is making lavish preparations,” declared Grimshaw severely. - -“Well, don’t blame me for it, Leonard,” said the young woman, reverting -to the appealing manner. “It was Hughie’s idea.” - -“For pity’s sake don’t call him ‘Hughie’!” exclaimed the other irritably. -“It makes me sick. You’re so crazy about him, anyway.” - -Adèle smiled up at her companion. “How delightful! I do believe you’re -jealous, Leonard. I’m complimented to death.” - -“_You_ have far more reason to be jealous,” he retorted. “Anybody with -half an eye can see that Stanwood is fascinated with Millicent’s demure -ways. ‘In the spring a young man’s fancy,’ etc., you know, and these -walks with her every day—” - -“He has to go to her grandfather,” broke in Adèle, a frown gathering -and quenching the light in her eyes. “He cares nothing for that stupid -creature except to tease her.” - -“And you should care nothing for him, Adèle,” said Grimshaw quickly. “He -is a crude boy without a cent, just beginning life. Why waste your time? -You are meat for his masters.” - -She lifted her head coquettishly, the frown disappearing. “Are you his -master?” - -“Perhaps,” said Grimshaw. - -His regard for Adèle had been deepened by the fact that Miss Frink was -giving this affair for her. It seemed to prove that she was more and more -a person to be reckoned with, and likely to share with himself in all his -employer’s favors. Moreover, the young woman’s attraction to and for Hugh -Stanwood had seemed to create a new eagerness for her in himself which at -moments threatened to overcome his caution. If Adèle were really to be -one of Miss Frink’s heirs, there was no need for caution. What worried -him was that he feared that some time he might commit himself on an -uncertainty. Adèle in her present mood was a menace to clear thinking. - -The day of the recital arrived. John Ogden was here, there, and -everywhere. The piano was freshly tuned. He supervised the removal of -the drawing-room furniture and the placing of the crowd of camp-chairs. -Miss Frink, feeling invertebrate for the first time in her life, forgot -that he was a smooth rascal, and followed his suggestions implicitly as -to dressing-rooms and the servants’ duties. Leonard Grimshaw’s nostrils -dilated when his employer informed him that Mr. Ogden had given -instructions to the caterer and that he, Grim, need feel no care. - -“I think you would find, Miss Frink, that we could manage this affair if -Mr. Ogden were still in New York,” he said. - -“Thank Heaven he isn’t,” returned that lady devoutly. - -Millicent found it not such an easy matter to put her employer to sleep -to-day. She was reading the book of an Arctic explorer; and Miss Frink -was learning more about the astonishing flora of those regions than -she had ever expected to know as the pleasant voice read on, with an -intelligence born of long assistance to her grandfather’s failing eyes. - -At last Miss Frink flung off the white silk handkerchief. “It’s no use, -Millicent,” she said. “You know how it is when a young débutante is -taking her first plunge into society. It’s exciting. I never gave a party -before.” - -“I’m sure it is going to be a wonderful one,” replied the girl, closing -the book on her finger. “Every one is so pleased to be coming.” - -She spoke perfunctorily. Adèle had been steadying a ladder for Hugh as -she crossed the veranda coming in, and the look on the former’s face as -she gazed up, and he laughed down, had infuriated her by the sudden heat -it brought on at the back of her own neck. - -“How-do, Millicent,” Hugh had cried; “you’ll have to go home alone -to-day. Don’t you cry!” - -She had bowed to Adèle, ignoring his chaff, and said something pleasant -about anticipating the evening. - -“You would think,” she said now, “that Mrs. Lumbard would be the excited -one. How coolly she takes it.” - -Miss Frink shook her pillowed head. “I think it is nothing in her life to -play to a lot of rubes,” she remarked. - -“They won’t care to be taught by her if she feels that way,” said -Millicent stiffly. - -Miss Frink laughed. She had learned to laugh in the last month. “I -shouldn’t have said that. Don’t repeat it and ruin business. I’m just -guessing; but I don’t believe any kind of an audience would disconcert -her. Have you heard her play?” - -“No.” - -“Well, you have a treat in store. As Hugh says, nobody can hit the box -like Ally.” - -“Why does he call her Ally?” - -“Because of her white hair. When she was working among the doughboys -they called her an albino.” - -“Is she one?” Millicent looked preternaturally serious. - -“Search me,” returned the débutante carelessly. “Now, look here, Milly, I -have another job for you. I want you to receive with me to-night.” - -“What, Miss Frink?” - -“Mr. Ogden says I’ve got to stand up there by the portières like a black -satin post, and receive the guests as they come in. I thought I should -like to have you and Hugh stand by me in the ordeal.” - -It entertained Miss Frink to see Millicent blush, and she watched the -color come now, and the startled look in the girl’s eyes, like that of a -bird ready to fly. - -“You see,” went on Miss Frink, “somebody will have to nudge me when I -say, ‘Good-evening, Mr. Griscom; I see you put that deal over for the -Woman’s Club Building!’ ‘Good-evening, Mr. Bacon; so that rise in real -estate across the river is upon us. Congratulations!’ etc., etc.” - -“But I wouldn’t be any good, Miss Frink, and I—and I couldn’t—it -would—for you to honor Hugh and me together like that—” - -Miss Frink sighed. “I suppose I should have to call another town meeting -to tell them again that there was nothing in it. I was saying what I -would _like_ to have; but, as a matter of fact, Mr. Grimshaw would be -very justly hurt if I planned on Hugh’s supporting me.” - -Millicent looked relieved. “Mr. Grimshaw is just the right one,” she said. - -“And you would have no objection to standing up with him?” Miss Frink’s -quizzical smile was playing about her lips. - -The young girl shook her head. - -“Then you put on your prettiest frock and come and stand beside the old -lady, and burst out with something about the weather if you hear me -mention stocks, bonds, or real estate.” - -Millicent went home and told her grandfather of the high honor thrust -upon her. The responsibility, with that of netting Damaris’s hair into a -demure coiffure for the occasion, made her all aquiver with excitement. - -As soon as she had left Miss Frink that day, Adèle knocked on her -hostess’s door. - -“I heard you and Miss Duane talking, so I knew you were not asleep, -Aunt Susanna,” she said. “I wanted you to see if I look all right for -to-night.” - -Miss Frink drew herself up to a sitting posture and regarded her -visitor. Adèle looked like a French marquise, with her snowy hair, -excited color, and eyes sparkling like brown diamonds. Her white crêpe -gown clung to her. - -Miss Frink adjusted her glasses and nodded. “Very picturesque,” she said. -“Sit down a minute, Adèle.” - -The latter’s eyes scintillated with swift apprehension. There was no -warmth in her hostess’s approval. - -“What do you wish to say, Aunt Susanna? Is it about my hair? I’ll tell -you.” - -“No, no,” said Miss Frink. “We are way past that.” - -Adèle liked the atmosphere less and less. - -“Please wait, then,” she said impulsively. “I don’t want to be thrown off -my balance for to-night.” - -Miss Frink shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know much about temperamental -people,” she said. “Go on, then. You look very handsome, Adèle.” - -The young woman vanished quickly. Even Miss Frink said she looked very -handsome. She exulted as she thought of Hugh. His image constantly filled -her thought, and a thousand imaginings of the future went careering -through her brain. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE RECITAL - - -Of course, Adèle played wonderfully that night. No anxious to-morrow with -Miss Frink ventured into the rose-color of her dreams. She was playing to -Hugh; and occasionally she caught his spellbound and admiring eyes. Even -the drop of gall occasioned by the fact that, Millicent’s duties with the -hostess over, Hugh seated himself beside her to listen, was drowned in -the sweetness of his frank admiration. - -The great room was crowded. Miss Frink, unsmiling and reflective, -regarded Adèle with a calculating eye and ear, absolving herself from any -anxious care for the financial future of such a one. - -To many of the audience this private view, as it were, of Miss Frink and -her home was of as much or more interest than the programme. John Ogden, -as master of ceremonies, conducted the affair with grace, and his easy -cordiality among a crowd almost entirely strange to him was a marvel -to Miss Frink, and all her mental reservations were for the time being -submerged in gratitude. - -But, in spite of the interest in the Queen of Farrandale as a private -individual, Hugh Stanwood was really Exhibit A of the evening: the man -who had saved Miss Frink’s life and lived in her house ever since. Was -Leonard Grimshaw’s star descending? Was the handsome youth going to be -adopted by his hostess? Why was Millicent Duane receiving with Miss -Frink? Was Mr. Stanwood really reading law with her grandfather? - -Tongues would wag to-morrow. To-night they were silenced, first, by the -music of—according to the programme—“Mrs. Adèle Lumbard, famous pianist -of Atlanta, Georgia,” and later, by a very delicious supper. - -A procession of enthusiasts approached Adèle where she stood in a bay -window at the close of the programme. Leonard Grimshaw was stationed -beside her. - -“You are a queen, Adèle,” he murmured worshipfully, and she let her brown -eyes speak her thanks. - -Colonel Duane approached her. “Please accept my compliments,” he said, -bending over her hand. “You will have all us oldsters practicing -five-finger exercises to-morrow. Here is Hugh; he is almost bursting with -pride that he knows you.” - -“For a fact, Ally, you outdid yourself,” said Hugh, taking her hand. -“Here is Millicent fairly afraid to approach such a star.” - -“It was perfectly beautiful,” said the young girl, gazing at her -fervently. - -“Thanks,” returned Adèle perfunctorily, looking by her and wondering if -she should have patience to receive the oncoming stream of people whom -Grimshaw formally introduced one by one ere they dispersed about the -house and out into the grounds. - -“I think one party will go a long way with me, Ogden,” said Miss Frink -late in the evening, hiding a yawn behind her hand. - -John Ogden stood beside her as she sped the parting guests. - -When nearly all had gone, Adèle had opportunity to speak to Hugh: “Take -me outdoors. Let us lose ourselves so I won’t have to say any more -good-nights.” - -They slipped away and strolled far out underneath the great trees. - -“A perfect success,” said Hugh. - -“Was it?” Adèle leaned wearily on his arm. - -“You will have all Farrandale for pupils if you want them,” he went on; -“but honestly, Adèle”—he looked down into her upturned face—“it’s like -hitching a blooded horse to a coal-wagon to make you teach.” - -“You see it, do you?” she returned. “Oh, how I hate drudgery, Hughie.” - -“You must have gone through a lot of it, to play the way you do.” - -“I didn’t realize it. It didn’t seem so. I liked it.” - -Back and forth they strolled in the shadow of the old elms, Adèle’s -cigarette adding its spark to his among the magic lanterns of fireflies. - -“The house looks quiet,” she said at last. “Let us go in and see if we -can find something to eat. I am nearly starved.” - -They crossed the lawn and went up the veranda steps. In the hall they met -the butler, hanging about aimlessly. - -“Mrs. Lumbard has been neglected, Stebbins,” said Hugh. “She hadn’t a -chance to eat much of anything. See if you can’t get some sandwiches and -grapejuice for us. Has everybody gone to bed?” - -“Yes, sir.” - -“Well, when you’ve set out the stuff you go, too. You can lock up and -I’ll see to putting out the lights.” - -The two entered the big dim dining-room and sat down side by side at the -table. For all Adèle’s protestations of hunger, she only played with a -sandwich and sipped the grapejuice. So far everything had gone exactly -to suit her. Miss Frink, Leonard Grimshaw, and Mr. Ogden had all effaced -themselves. - -She had Hugh to herself in the high-ceiled old room, and her heart was -still exulting in the incense that had been burned before her all the -evening, incense that was valuable because Hugh had seen it burning. - -Time was flying. This was her great opportunity. - -“What are you planning to do with your life, Hugh?” she asked suddenly. - -“I mean to keep on with the law work on the side while I go into Miss -Frink’s store. Don’t you think you ought to go to bed, Ally? I know you -must be very tired.” - -She tossed aside the trivial suggestion with an impatient motion of her -head. “I never sleep after playing a programme,” she said. Then she added -in a low, appealing voice, her eyes fixed on his: “I want you to give up -that idea, Hughie. Do you know what wonderful playmates we are—simply -made for each other?” - -Hugh began to feel uncomfortable under the clinging look. “Yes, but life -isn’t play,” he returned. - -“It would be for us—together. Come to me, Hughie. You would shrivel up, -here. Let us go away. I will make you happier than you ever dreamed of -being. I love you every second of every minute, and every minute of every -hour. I—” - -“Ally, Ally,” interrupted Hugh gently, “you’re mistaken. Love begets -love, and if you loved me I should love you. I don’t, and—” - -“Stop”—she seized his hand—“I’ll show you what love is. I will show you -what happiness is. I will take care of the practical side. I have some -money that no one knows of: enough to start you in business. We will work -together, play together—I can’t live without you, Hughie, I can’t—” - -“Adèle!” It was Miss Frink’s voice. In the silk negligée she was standing -behind them inside the door. - -Adèle sprang to her feet, the brown eyes flashing their fire directly -into Hugh’s as he rose. - -“Speak, Hugh,” she said, excitedly, “before she has a chance to talk. You -know what I have said, and I mean every word.” - -“No, you don’t. Now, let us forget it, Ally.” - -“No, never; and whatever Miss Frink has heard she is welcome to remember. -Speak, Hugh.” There was hysterical appeal in the last words. - -“Then I can only repeat, Ally. Oh, don’t spoil our friendship!” - -“This is enough,” said Miss Frink, coming forward, and looking Adèle -straight in the eyes. “Why must an artist be a fool?” - -“Sometimes others are fools,” cried Adèle, carried away by her thwarted -passion. “The great Miss Frink is a dupe herself. Hugh has fooled you as -he has fooled me.” - -Miss Frink lifted her head. “Do you refer to the fact that Hugh Stanwood -is Hugh Sinclair, my nephew? That is ancient history.” A moment of tense -stillness while the women’s gaze still struck a mutual fire. “Will you -kindly leave us, Adèle?” - -With a murderous parting look the young woman obeyed. With only a -moment’s hesitation, and without a glance at Hugh, she dashed from the -room, knocking over a chair in her flight. Hugh’s gaze was fixed on Miss -Frink. She turned deliberately and faced him. The look in her eyes, the -softness of her lips, were unmistakable even if she had not extended a -hand; but Hugh had no use for the hand. With one stride, he reached her, -flung his arms around her and she was held fast in his big embrace. Some -sealed door within her, whose firm fastening had already been weakened, -opened gently. A flood of amazing happiness flowed through, and softly -inundated her whole being. - -From the hall came the chime of the Westminster clock. The four quarters -rang; then through the stillness of the quiet house sounded the deep, -deliberate strokes of the midnight hour. - -Through it all they stood there. Miss Frink could feel the sobbing catch -in the broad chest to which she was strained. - -“I don’t deserve it,” she thought humbly. “The cross-grained, dominating, -selfish, obstinate woman I have been, to be given this child of my old -age!” - -When the last tone died away and intense stillness reigned again, she -spoke: - -“Twelve o’clock, and all is well, Hugh. This is the first time I have -been hugged in fifty years.” - -Gently she pushed him from her with hands that still clung to him. He -dropped his arms and stood looking down at her. She was touched to see -the moisture in the eyes that met hers. - -“It is good of you to let me hug you,” he replied in a low, thick voice. - -“I suppose you think you have a lot of explanations to make,” she said, -her kind tone wavering a little in the intense feeling of the moment, -“but you haven’t. It was all so obvious after I gained the first clue, -that it scarcely needed your Aunt Sukey’s X-ray mind to see the whole -thing clear as A B C.” - -“Don’t use that name!” exclaimed Hugh, as if it hurt. - -“What? Aunt Sukey? Oh, I’ve X-rayed that, too. I can fully understand the -idea of your great-aunt that you grew up with. I”—a catch in Miss Frink’s -throat stopped her speech for a second—“I was very unkind to Philip—to -your father. Mr. Ogden knew me, knew that the only way you could reach my -heart was to smuggle you in; but you got there, Hugh, my own dear boy, -you got there.” - -Hugh caught her slender, dry hand in his big one. - -“If I was Aunt Sukey to your father, I am Aunt Susanna to you, and it was -a gift of God that it was you, yourself, who saved my life that I might -not die before I knew what it is not to be all alone in the world: what -it is to have my own flesh and blood to love, and perhaps to love me a -little.” - -“Aunt Susanna, I don’t feel worthy of your love,” exclaimed the boy -hotly, but softly as if the dark wainscoted walls might have ears. “I -hated it all the time.” - -“I know that, too,” returned Miss Frink quietly. - -“What you don’t know,” he continued, “is how I admire you. You’re the -finest woman I’ve ever known, and the finer you were, and the more frank, -and the more generous, the more miserable I was. Oh”—shaking his broad -shoulders restlessly—“I’m so glad it’s over. I want to go away.” - -“You want to leave me, Hugh?” - -“To pick up my own self-respect somewhere. I feel as if you couldn’t -really trust me!” - -“My child”—Miss Frink spoke tenderly—“what is my boasted X-ray for if I -don’t know, positively, that I _can_ trust you? To lose you, to have you -go away, would leave my life the same dry husk it was before you came.” - -A line grew in Hugh’s forehead, his eyes dimmed as the two stood looking -at each other. Then he put his arms around her again, and this time he -kissed her. - -“Thank you, Prince Charming. How little I ever expected to have a child -to kiss me. Starving, famished, I was when you came, Hugh, and didn’t -know it.” She pushed him away again with gentle, firm hands. “Now I want -to do a little explaining, myself. To-night I heard Stebbins stumbling -up the servants’ stairs after everything was quiet, and I felt something -was wrong. I came into the hall and saw that the lights below were still -on. I came down, heard voices in here, and the rest followed. You mustn’t -feel too unhappy about what happened to-night. Believe in my X-ray enough -to know that her life has been made up of similar incidents; not just the -same, of course, but the pursuit of excitement of some sort. I have a -problem now unless she elects to leave Farrandale.” - -“Be kind to her, Aunt Susanna!” - -“I will, you soft-hearted boy. I imagine a man finds it the hardest of -tasks to turn down a woman.” - -“She said I had fooled her. I don’t know what she meant.” - -“She doesn’t either. At that moment it was a necessity with her to sting, -and she stung, that’s all.” - -“How did she know—know about me?” asked Hugh, frowning. - -“The same way I did: by the letter she held in your room addressed to -your full name. She held it for a second under both our eyes. She thought -she had a weapon; but the name did not tell her what it told me. She -didn’t know until to-night that you belonged to me.” - -“I wish she would leave Farrandale,” said Hugh restlessly. - -“Most women would, under the circumstances. She belongs to a genus I -don’t know much about. It isn’t safe for me to predict.” - -“I’m glad you’re so wonderful,” returned Hugh, “so big that you will be -good to her.” - -“I will be if you won’t be,” said Miss Frink, with her little twitching -smile. “You might as safely try to show affection to a rattlesnake as to -a woman without principle. You can’t know how or when she’ll strike.” - -Hugh walked up and down the room. “Ally’s such a good fellow. I don’t -like—” - -“Yes, I know you don’t; and you may have to get your wisdom by -experience; but she’s a hard teacher, Experience, Hugh, and she has given -you one big lesson to-night.” - -“I’m blessed if I know how I deserved it. I deserve to be kicked out of -the house by you, but ‘not guilty’ when it comes to Ally.” - -Miss Frink’s eyes followed him adoringly. It was of no use to try to make -him understand. - -“I guess I’m pretty tired,” she said at last, with a sigh. - -“And I keeping you up!” returned Hugh, suddenly penitent and stopping in -his promenade. - -“Débutantes find it rather difficult to go to sleep when they are tired. -This is the first party I ever gave in my life, Hugh.” - -“Never too late to mend,” he returned. - -“But sometimes too late to go to bed,” she answered. “We must look out -for that.” - -“You go upstairs,” said Hugh. “I told Stebbins I’d see to the lights. -Ally was hungry. I’ll fix everything.” - -“Yes, she was,” thought Miss Frink, “and thirsty, too.” But she kept the -reflection to herself. She turned toward the door. “Good-night,” she said. - -Hugh took a long step after her. “Let me tell you before you go how I -thank you: how happy you have made me!” - -She looked up at him sideways. She even had inspiration to perform -a novel act. She threw the big, earnest, troubled boy a kiss as she -vanished into the hall. - -For the first time in her life Miss Frink felt rich—and satisfied with -her wealth. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -JOHN OGDEN - - -John Ogden’s eagle eye had been on Adèle and Hugh when they slipped -out of the house this evening, and he was well aware that they had not -come in when he persuaded Miss Frink to seek her couch and leave the -disposition of affairs below-stairs to him. At last, when Stebbins -alone was prowling sleepily about, Ogden decided that Hugh might become -unmanageable if he found his guardian up and waiting for him and his -lady, as if with rebuke; so he decided to go to his room. It was scarcely -past eleven o’clock, but, in this household of early hours, it was late. - -Arrived in his room, Ogden opened a window, turned on the reading-lamp, -and taking a book set himself to listen for his mutinous young friend. It -was not long before he heard the murmur of voices beneath his window and -then the muffled closing of the house door. He set his own ajar in order -to hear the pair come upstairs. They did not come. He scowled at his book -and said something between his teeth which was an aspiration concerning -Adèle Reece. Long minutes passed. He fumed. The clock on the stairs -chimed the half-hour. - -By the time the solemn midnight bell fell upon the quiet house, -Ogden had made up his mind to have nothing more to do with his -protégé. He would leave for New York the next day, after making a few -straight-from-the-shoulder remarks to Hugh, releasing him from their -partnership. Scowling at his book, he heard the clock chime another -quarter, and, starting up, went to the door and pulled it open. The -lights were still on. He set his teeth. He felt his ears burn. It was -indecent. He was humiliated before the chaste image of Miss Frink. He -would wait until the clock chimed again and then he would go downstairs, -no matter what he came upon. He was determined to quarrel with Hugh, -anyway. It might as well be to-night as in the morning. - -He went back to his book. At the first stroke of the half-hour, he -bounded to the door and opened it once more. All was dark below. Hugh’s -room was near his. He went to it. The brilliantly lighted transom was -open. He knocked softly on the door and opened it. Hugh, turning about, -faced a gentleman in his shirt-sleeves with a scarlet face, rumpled hair, -and a generally wild and angry appearance. - -“Anything wrong, Mr. Ogden?” he asked. - -“Anything wrong!” John Ogden was speechless. He had never seen Hugh look -like this. The boy’s face was alive with—was it hope? It was certainly -gladness, satisfaction. - -“I’ve been frank with you, Hugh,” he said in a lowered voice; then to be -more certain that there was no eavesdropping, Ogden turned and closed -the transom. “I told you she was a person of no principle, knowing no -law but her own will, and, to say nothing of the bad taste and danger of -playing with such a woman, you risk outraging Miss Frink’s strict ideas -of decorum by staying down there alone all this time. I’m thoroughly -disgusted. I must be honest. Right at the time when you are wanting to -disclose yourself, to have you play the fool like this, it’s painfully -disappointing. That’s what it is, painfully disappointing. I shall -leave for New York to-morrow, and you can conduct your affairs to suit -yourself.” - -The effect of this intense speech on his listener surprised Ogden even -while he was delivering it. Was Hugh so fatuous, so impervious? - -The boy, smiling and looking exasperatingly handsome and happy, seized -the smaller man and pulled him down beside him on the couch at the foot -of the bed. - -“It is true,” he said. “I’ve been party of the second part in a -love-scene downstairs, and I owe it all to you, Ogden.” Hugh threw an arm -around his companion’s shoulders. “I’ll never, never forget it.” - -Ogden with open mouth stared into the violet eyes. - -“It’s Aunt Susanna. I’ve been hugging Aunt Susanna.” - -Ogden went limp. He still stared. He brushed his hand across his eyes. - -Hugh laughed low. “Yes; she’s known it ever since Ally held that letter -of Carol’s in her lap; and she forgives us, and she understands.” - -“What—where—when did you exchange Ally for Miss Frink?” - -“Aunt Susanna couldn’t understand the lights, and she came downstairs.” - -“Where—where is Ally?” asked Ogden, still stunned. - -“Asleep, I suppose,” Hugh sobered. - -“Intact, then?” Ogden looked questioning. - -“Of course. She shared in the big surprise. Aunt Susanna told her I was -her nephew—Ally had seen Carol’s letter, too.” - -Ogden’s alert brain grasped the possible scene. “Ah! Perhaps she had -thought that she was the one to provide the surprise.” - -“Perhaps,” said Hugh vaguely; then impulsively, “Don’t go home, Ogden. -Stay and be happy with us awhile. I told Aunt Susanna I wanted to go -away, but the idea seemed to hurt her.” - -John Ogden began to nurse his knee, and rock back and forth reflectively, -keeping up occasional bursts of low, nervous laughter. - -“It won’t hurt her to have _me_ go away,” he said. “That explains all -those side-winders and innuendoes. Ha, ha, it is a good joke on the -lady. It gives her the nettle-rash that I got away with it, at the same -time that she’s glad of it.” Ogden’s eyes were bright as he continued -to consider. “And Grimshaw! Oh, Grimshaw! Draw a veil.” At this, his -laughter threatened to grow violent. He buried his face in the satin -cushions. - -The secretary awoke the morning after the recital with a confused but -happy sense that the world was a pleasant place to live in. He had not -sounded many of its pleasures, and it was time he began. What a wonderful -companion in all that was gay, in all of life that he had avoided, was -the niece of his employer, the talented young creature about whom all -Farrandale would be talking to-day! - -How quietly and demurely Adèle had taken the adulation of last -evening: creeping off modestly to her room at the last, without even -a good-night. Where had Stanwood been at the time? Grimshaw frowned -a little in his effort to remember where Stanwood had been while the -guests were departing. John Ogden had stood beside Miss Frink while the -good-byes were being said. He, himself, had had too much to attend to in -supervising the departure of the caterer’s retinue, and other household -movements. He gave it up finally. Probably Hugh had been with the Duanes. -Grimshaw had never liked Millicent since her mild defiance of him in the -matter of taking the records to the White Room. A suggestion from any one -that he was not in full authority in Miss Frink’s house put the culprit -in his black books. - -Getting out of bed, he now crossed the room and observed a white folded -paper pushed beneath his door. He picked it up, opened it, and read as -follows: - - DEAR LEONARD: A strange thing came to my knowledge last night, - and, fearing that it may be a shock to you to learn it, I - thought I would prepare you and I hope you will not consider it - presumptuous on my part. If it does seem so, pardon me, because - it is only my solicitude for you. It seems that Hugh Stanwood’s - real name is Sinclair, and that he is a nephew of Miss Frink. - She will doubtless tell you immediately her discovery of - his identity; and we shall see if she resents his obtaining - entrance to her under a false name. - - Yours ever - - ADÈLE - -The secretary’s face became scarlet as he read. The shock was all his -friend could have anticipated, and he felt grateful to her for the -preparation. This interloper and liar to have had the damned luck to save -Miss Frink’s life; to command her gratitude and regard! There was the -chance now that his duplicity might antidote that gratitude. Grimshaw’s -face became more hopeful as the thought grew. He saw Miss Frink, in her -intolerance of falsity, sending the fellow about his business. Happy -dénouement to the past afflicting weeks. Adèle was a sweet girl. Her -thought was all of him, and for his protection. - -At the same moment in another room another gentleman was finding a folded -paper on the polished wood of his threshold. Opening it he read: - - I am not responsible after playing. I am intoxicated, and a - woman is as liable to tell the truth in her cups as a man. Can - you forgive and forget, Hugh? You can imagine how deeply I - regret that hysterical outburst. Be generous to me. - - ADÈLE - - -Hugh frowned as he read. Poor Adèle! What lay before her now? He dreaded -to meet her at breakfast, and hoped that she would decide to leave -Farrandale. Ogden had assured him, before they parted last night, that -she had no more idea of teaching in this town than she had of flying to -the moon. - -Adèle did not come to breakfast, and, as for Ogden, it took some -hardihood for him to present himself to his hostess that morning. His -gay, debonair look was the same as usual when she greeted him. She was -already seated behind the coffee percolator when he came in, and, instead -of going to his place, he came to her and held out his hand, with an odd -chuckle. - -“I’m as nervous as a cat this morning,” he said, meeting her bright eyes. - -After a little hesitation she gave him her hand for a quick shake. “What -is it: your conscience or your digestion?” she inquired. - -Leonard Grimshaw was in his place watching their every move as a cat -watches a mouse; and here Hugh came into the room. He, too, approached -Miss Frink’s chair, and she held his hand while she addressed her -secretary. - -“Leonard,” she began—and it was only in her most serious moments that she -thus addressed him—“I have a great surprise for you. This young man who -put me under such obligation and to whom we are so much attached, is my -grand-nephew, Hugh Sinclair. I have known it only a short time.” - -Grimshaw felt that but for Adèle’s warning he should have collapsed. As -it was, he turned pale under the discovery of his employer’s attitude -toward the culprit. - -“I suppose _he_ knew it,” he returned, with a carefully respectful manner. - -“Yes, he knew it,” returned Miss Frink, smiling up at Hugh and still -retaining the hand that clasped hers closely. - -“Why didn’t he tell us sooner?” asked Grimshaw politely. - -“Pretty good aim,” reflected Ogden. - -“Because he thought of me as an old dragon,” returned Miss Frink. “We -don’t beat about the bush in this matter any more than in any other. Go -and sit down, Hugh, and I’ll give you a really good cup of coffee.” - -The boy obeyed, scarlet humiliation upon him again. He knew the -secretary’s thoughts. He knew what would leak out all through Farrandale, -and that no one would ever realize how he had hated it. He gave a -glowering look at Ogden. - -That gentleman spoke up cheerfully. “That was my doing, Mr. Grimshaw, -that feature of the matter, not telling Miss Frink at first. Mr. Sinclair -would have infinitely preferred telling her at once, and I think the full -explanation of my not being crippled for life lies in the fact that he -has been bedridden and weak; but my motto is always, ‘All’s well that -ends well.’ Isn’t it yours, too, Mr. Grimshaw?” - -“Has it ended?” returned the secretary, as lightly as he was able. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -A PARTING INTERVIEW - - -Although Miss Frink had presented herself so promptly at breakfast that -morning, she had been as sleepless as Adèle. Waves of wonder and joy -had passed over her in the consideration of her happiness, and kept her -awake. That honest boy—honest in spite of the part he had been induced to -play—admired her, loved her. He had said so, and she believed him. She -had not thought her life empty before, but now she felt compassion for -her past. Her brain seethed with plans and possibilities, and certain -charitable institutions lost a great deal of money that night. - -As she thought thus, the remembrance of Adèle clouded the radiance of -her reflections. She had yet this problem to meet. If the young woman -would solve it by leaving town, what a mercy it would be! Of course, -she had fallen in love with Hugh, head over heels. So, thought Miss -Frink, sighing, would probably every girl who met him; but Adèle had -hazarded all, tried to rush the boy off his feet, and, if she had known -that he was related to Miss Frink, it would not have deterred her. Her -sort fears neither God nor man. Miss Frink shrank into her pillow and -closed her sleepless eyes as she recalled Adèle’s bitter attitude toward -herself, and the young woman’s triumphant hope of wounding her. - -Miss Frink was a strong woman; but her excitement as she dressed that -morning was not sufficient to lift her above her sense of weariness. -Explaining the situation to Leonard Grimshaw was before her. It rankled -that he would believe her splendid boy to be blameworthy. Then there was -John Ogden to be met, and, looming dark above all these, was Adèle to -be dealt with. She had been intending to have a final talk with Adèle -this morning in any case; so, when the waitress at last went up to Mrs. -Lumbard’s room with her breakfast, she carried a message that Miss Frink -would come in to see her at ten o’clock. - -“Pleasant prospect!” thought Adèle as she sat up in bed to receive the -tray. “Thank you, Janet,” she said sweetly to the maid. - -“You look awful tired, Mrs. Lumbard,” said the girl, “and so does Miss -Frink. There’s all sorts of doings down in the breakfast room.” Janet’s -eyes were big. “What do you think! Mr. Stanwood’s name is something else -and he’s some sort of relation to Miss Frink all this time, and nobody -knew it!” - -“Are you sure, Janet?” Adèle put the cream in her coffee. - -“Yes, ma’am,” returned the excited girl. “Stebbins heard Miss Frink say -so herself to Mr. Grimshaw.” - -“Did Miss Frink seem pleased?” Adèle broke off a piece of toast, speaking -languidly. - -“Oh, yes, indeed, and holding his hand.” - -“Mr. Grimshaw’s?” Adèle smiled wanly. - -“No, Mr. Stanwood’s; and she seemed so happy over it.” - -“Who wouldn’t be happy holding Mr. Stanwood’s hand?” - -Janet giggled. “Yes, ain’t he awful handsome?—and now he’ll be the -biggest catch in Farrandale; but I guess there won’t any o’ the girls -have a chance when you’re around, Mrs. Lumbard.” - -Janet’s head fell to one side in sentimental admiration as she regarded -Adèle. - -The latter smiled and nodded at her: “You’d better run along, Janet.” - -The maid disappeared, and Adèle again clamped down the lid on the -humiliating memories of last evening. She must not be humiliated when -Miss Frink came in. She remembered the violence of her own attack upon -that lady and regretted it as most unwise; nevertheless, her head might -be “bloody,” but it should be “unbowed.” It had been quite evident for -some time that Miss Frink’s hospitality was being strained; Adèle could -not in any case have hoped to remain here much longer. Why should she be -ashamed of loving Hugh? Why should she be ashamed of trying to get him? -She was not. It was all in the game. She had lost for the present, but -who could tell? - -By the time Miss Frink’s knock sounded on the door, the young woman was -dressed and ready to open it with an attempt at a smile. - -“Good-morning, Aunt Susanna.” - -“Good-morning, Adèle.” Miss Frink regarded the calm face and unfallen -eyes uncomfortably; and felt her own self-possession strengthened by such -control. - -“Well,” she began, as they sat down in neighboring chairs, “we have come -to the parting of the ways, Adèle.” - -“Have we? Where are you going?” was the astonishing reply. - -Miss Frink grimaced her glasses off the eyes beneath which were dark -shadows, and at once replaced them. - -“You certainly help me not to beat about the bush,” she said. “I thought -perhaps last night’s experience would make you feel you did not care to -stay in Farrandale.” - -“After your giving such an expensive advertisement for me?” Adèle smiled. - -Miss Frink’s own deep happiness embarrassed her. Hugh’s earnest “Be kind -to Ally,” rang in her ears. This adventuress, pale and defiant, seemed to -her so pitiful that, in spite of the other’s audacity, she had to summon -her customary directness with an effort. - -“That wouldn’t be good economy, would it?” added Adèle. - -There was a pause; then Miss Frink spoke again: “I must tell you that I -have discovered, quite by accident, that you are not the granddaughter -of my dear friend. Her son married a lady with a little girl, a little -pianist.” - -Color stole over Adèle’s pallor. - -“Ah, Mr. Ogden is a regular god in the machine, isn’t he?” she said -lightly. “Delightful man!” - -“My informant was unaware that he was telling me any news,” went on Miss -Frink; “but, this being the case, I feel that it would be rather foolish -for us to keep up the pose of aunt and niece.” - -“Especially,” returned Adèle “since you have found some one with the -right of blood to call you ‘Aunt Susanna.’” - -Miss Frink regarded her composed companion in silence. Not with her could -she exchange words concerning her heart-warming miracle. - -“A few days ago,” she said, “I obtained the refusal for you of a room at -the Coopers’: cousins of Leonard’s. If you decide to stay in Farrandale, -he will take you over there to-day and introduce you. Mrs. Cooper is -ready for you to take possession at any minute. They have a very good -piano.” - -“I thought,” said Adèle, with unabashed eyes, “that I should like to go -to the Duanes’. I hear they have such a pleasant garden, and I believe -they are poor and might like a paying guest.” - -Miss Frink regarded her incredulously. Was there, then, no limit to her -audacity? - -“Colonel Duane was very nice to me last evening,” added Adèle. “Such a -courtly old gentleman.” - -“They keep no maid and would not take any one,” said Miss Frink briefly. - -“I shouldn’t be any trouble, for I would help Miss Duane like one of the -family.” - -Miss Frink felt a sort of horror of the smooth, fair speaker. She had -been prepared to be very kind to the poor woman who had blundered -so pitifully, but her own assurances to Hugh came back to her: the -occurrence was no tragedy to Mrs. Lumbard, evidently to her while there -was life, there was hope. To suggest going to the Duanes’! The image of -Millicent rose before Miss Frink as the antithesis of all that Adèle -represented. - -The latter smiled now, wan, but still unembarrassed. - -“If you are thinking that it will be awkward for me to meet Hugh, you are -mistaken. He hasn’t lived all his life in a small town. He knows his way -about. No man ever thought less of a woman for caring a lot for him, and -Hugh and I will always be pals. I don’t think any the less of him for -coming into your house under false colors. He carried his point.” - -Miss Frink’s cheeks flushed. “Why, indeed, should you criticize him? You -did the same.” - -“Only I didn’t carry my point. You never liked me.” - -“Nor were you really my niece,” said Miss Frink briefly. “Adèle,” she -added—and there was appeal in her voice—“in this nine days’ wonder that -is coming upon Farrandale I wish that, for the sake of such hospitality -as I have shown you, you would help to give the true explanation of -Hugh’s manner of introducing himself here. It was Mr. Ogden’s idea -entirely, inasmuch as I had not been friendly to Hugh’s family. The -sequel you know.” - -Adèle’s stolid expression did not change, and she did not speak. - -Miss Frink sat, looking at her and waiting. - -“The truth generally comes out about everything,” said the young woman at -last. - -“Adèle, Adèle,” said Miss Frink solemnly. “Why won’t you try to make your -life measure up to the beauty of your art? What I heard last evening will -be buried forever, as you know, unless you yourself force a remembrance -of it.” She looked at her watch. “Leonard will take you over to Mrs. -Cooper’s as soon as you are ready.” - -Miss Frink went out and closed the door. For the first time in her life -she quivered with feeling. Her cheeks were flushed. - -At the foot of the stairway she met John Ogden. - -“Just the lady I want to see!” he cried cheerfully. - -“Very well—my benefactor,” she said slowly. - -“Do my ears deceive me? How good that sounds!” He seized both her hands -for a quick moment. Her flushed face and subdued tone impressed him. - -“I’m afraid you’re very tired, Miss Frink. Too much excitement, perhaps.” - -“Yes; in this world we must accept the bitter with the sweet, but—nothing -is any matter. What did you want of me?” - -“Why, I’m leaving for New York to-night, and I wish to ask a privilege -before I go. I’ve no doubt there are numbers of gentle-folk in -Farrandale, but I happen to have made the acquaintance of only two: -Colonel Duane and his granddaughter. Tongues are going to buzz for a -while now, and I would like to beat the gossips to it with those fine -people. I should like to tell them my own part in what has taken place.” - -“Very well; I have no objection. Open confession is good for the soul.” -Miss Frink smiled wearily. - -“Now you go to bed, Miss Frink. Please do. Let Grimshaw run the city of -Farrandale to-day.” - -“He is very soon going to escort Mrs. Lumbard to her new abiding-place at -Mrs. Cooper’s.” - -“That will rest you, eh?” asked Ogden appreciatively. “She really intends -to stay here and teach the young idea?” - -“I don’t know. Perhaps I ought not to let her,” returned Miss Frink, -and her companion saw her hold her lip under her teeth to still its -quivering. “I seem to be sponsoring her, you see.” - -“My dear Miss Frink, don’t you worry,” returned Ogden, speaking low but -emphatically, for they were still standing at the foot of the stairs. -“Don’t worry a minute. She won’t stick to that teaching a month.” - -Miss Frink gave him a rather tremulous smile of gratitude; and, before -Ogden took his hat to run out on his errand, he went up to Hugh’s room -where the latter was busy with his books. - -“Say, boy,” he said, “I’ve just come from Miss Frink, and she had just -come from a talk with your friend Ally; and I tell you she was all in.” - -Hugh wheeled around in his chair and fixed a troubled look on his friend. - -“Yes, Miss Frink looked old and tired. Her pep was gone. Mrs. Re—Lumbard -is leaving to-day, it seems.” - -“Leaving Farrandale?” asked Hugh, with an eagerness which his friend -misunderstood. - -“No; don’t be afraid. I think Miss Frink is worrying about her being -turned loose among the Farrandale lambs; and I just want to say, Hugh, -that if you continue to pal with Mrs. Lumbard you’ll make a great mistake -from every point of view. You owe it to Miss Frink to ease off and not -encourage her. Miss Frink doesn’t want her coming here.” - -Hugh continued his troubled stare. “I hope you didn’t tell her the -damaging thing you told me—about the courts.” - -“Of course not,” said Ogden impatiently; “but Miss Frink has the woman’s -number all right. I don’t know what their good-bye talk was like, but -this fine aunt of yours came out of it wounded. I tell you she was -wounded; and you want to think of her and protect her, boy.” - -“I’m going to, Ogden. Thank you,” replied Hugh, with a submissiveness -that surprised his friend. - -John Ogden stared at him for a silent moment. “Well, then,” he said, -vaguely, and left the room. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -PAVING THE WAY - - -Ogden went on thinking about the unusual docility with which Hugh had -received his exhortation. Also there was the devotion to his studies at a -moment when Ally was about to depart from the house. How about that? - -As he swung along he began to smile, his retrospective reflection -visualizing that slipping away into the moonlight which he had witnessed -and worried over last evening. After a minute in a rush of thought his -smile broadened. It seemed probable that the siren, in the excited -reaction from her performance, might have thrown a scare into the heir -apparent. At what juncture had she slipped away from Hugh’s arm and Miss -Frink slipped into it? Something had gone on, to flush Miss Frink’s -cheeks and weary her eyes this morning. All the time that he himself was -reading and fretting in his room last evening, things had been happening -downstairs. Anyway, the net result had been a joyous one, as transpired -unmistakably, later. - -As Ogden tramped along, he was roused from his reverie to realize -that many persons he met greeted him. Realizing that they remembered -him as the busy master of ceremonies on the night before, he responded -cordially, and at last a short man in a checked suit forced him to a -standstill by his effusive manner. - -“Goldstein, Mr. Ogden. I. K. Goldstein. We had but a minute’s talk last -night—” - -“Ah, good-morning, Mr. Goldstein.” Ogden endeavored to edge away from the -plump hand with the diamond ring, after yielding to its determined grasp. - -“I cannot let you go without speaking again of that won-derful evening. -Such an artist you have there, that Mrs. Lumbard; she is amazing. In a -town the size of Farrandale we are all one family. You put us all under -obligation bringing such an artist here!” - -“Oh, not I at all; Miss Frink—” - -“Miss Frink! Oh, she is the genius of our city!” Mr. Goldstein made -known by gestures and upturned eyes that Miss Frink’s glories were -indescribable. “You come any time to see me, Mr. Ogden, and I wish you -would bring Miss Frink, and I show you both all over the Koh-i-noor, our -theater—” - -“Thank you, Mr. Goldstein, but I am leaving town to-night—” - -“But can’t you spare a little time, a half an hour this afternoon?—it is -a palace equal to any in the country. An organ—oh, such an organ I have -installed!—we open in less than a month; you would be happy to see those -velvet furniture in the lobby.” - -“No doubt I should; but I have—” - -“That young man at your house, the one who saved our wonderful Miss -Frink’s life, he should be in the pictures, you must see that. There’s -the story right there, too. I give him introductions; you send him to me.” - -John Ogden disengaged the clinging hand from his lapel as best he could, -and, mindfully thanking the manager of the Koh-i-noor, contrived to -escape with an apology for his pressing business. - -Mr. Goldstein called after him cordially as long as he could hear. - -Millicent Duane, enveloped in an apron, had brought out some vegetables -to prepare for the noon dinner and was sitting on the porch with a large -tin pan in her lap. - -Her grandfather, who had been as usual working about the garden, finally -came slowly up the steps and sank restfully into his favorite chair with -the calico cushion. - -“I can’t get that last piece she played out of my head,” he said. “Mrs. -Lumbard said it was a _Marche Militaire_. I should say so.” The speaker -drummed the rhythm on the arms of his chair. - -“It was splendid,” agreed Millicent. She had been hearing all the morning -about the recital, and the English “fed up” but faintly described her -satiation. - -The morning was so beautiful, the birds so tuneful, everything that had -not unfolded was so busy unfolding, and the air so full of sweetness, -Millicent could not understand why she felt at odds with a world that was -so amiably putting its best foot forward. She forced herself to respond -with ardor to her grandfather’s comments. She was glad he had had such an -unusual treat. He had seen nothing but charm in Mrs. Lumbard’s manner; -while Millicent still felt the perfunctoriness of the star’s response -to her own effort to express her appreciation. Hugh had been beside -her at the time, and as usual Mrs. Lumbard had implied, or at least -Millicent felt the implication, that she was negligible, and the sooner -she effaced herself the sooner could life really go on. And it had gone -on. The stinging remembrance was that, before the Duanes left, Millicent -had seen Hugh and the star disappear together. The girl’s annoyance, -and resentment that she could feel it, made her an extra lively and -agreeable companion to her grandfather on the way home. He remarked -affectionately on the good the evening had done her, and how she needed -such outings; and she laughed and hugged him, then went to bed, strains -of music flowing through her hot head, while her wet eyes buried in the -pillow still saw the moonlight sifting through the great trees with their -black shadows, shadows through which _they_ were walking. She wanted—she -knew now how desperately she wanted—to walk in the moonlight with Hugh -herself, and her feeling that it was a contemptible wish did not help the -situation in the least. - -Now, this morning, she sat there, enveloped in her pink checked apron, -the bright tin pan in her lap and her hands busy, while her grandfather -watched her fleeting smiles. - -“Seems to me you look sort of pale this morning, honey,” he said. - -“Dissipation,” she returned. “You know I’m a country girl.” - -“It wasn’t late,” he returned reminiscently, still evidently enjoying his -memories. “How she did play the ‘Spring Song’! Simplest things are the -best, aren’t they, Milly? I think you look sweeter in that pink apron -than in your party dress,” he added. - -“Didn’t I look nice last night?” asked the girl with unexpected gravity. - -“I should say so. Quite the up-to-date girl, standing there with Miss -Frink in her august dignity.” - -“Grandpa, here comes Mr. Ogden.” - -Colonel Duane rose as the caller opened the gate, and came to the head of -the steps to meet him. - -“Don’t you move now, Miss Millicent,” said Ogden as the girl started to -put aside the big pan. “You make the most charming domestic picture.” - -“I can’t shake hands,” she returned, as he approached, and her cheeks -matched the gay hue of her apron while her eyes welcomed him. - -“This is my P.P.C.” he remarked, taking the chair Colonel Duane offered. - -“Oh, are you leaving us?” asked the old gentleman, returning to his -calico cushion. “I don’t know what they’ll do without you at Miss -Frink’s. That was a great treat she gave us last night. We haven’t talked -about anything else this morning; and your announcements, and the general -pleasant informality with which you managed the occasion, gave it the -last touch of charm. How is that delightful, bright particular star, this -morning?” - -“Mrs. Lumbard? I haven’t seen her. She didn’t come down to breakfast.” - -“Well, she certainly earned that luxury,” responded the Colonel, while -Millicent’s gaze fell demurely to her busy hands. “I’d like to have Milly -take some lessons of her,” he added. - -The girl flashed a quick glance up at the caller. “But I’m not going to,” -she said. “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” - -The men laughed. - -“What makes you go away, Mr. Ogden?” she added. - -“Oh, life can’t be all Farrandale, you know. There’s business waiting for -me over there in the suburb of New York. I only came to see Hugh because -he was ill.” - -“Hugh seemed quite proud of his brilliant friend last night,” remarked -the Colonel. - -“Oh!” thought Millicent, “will he ever get through talking about her!” - -“I shouldn’t blame him if he lost his heart—so handsome and so talented -she is.” - -Down went the young girl’s gaze again to the contents of her pan. - -John Ogden saw the compression of her soft lips. - -“Mrs. Lumbard is leaving Miss Frink to-day also,” he said. - -Millicent looked up quickly again. - -“Why is that? Not leaving Farrandale, I hope,” said the Colonel. - -“No. I heard some one say something about the Coopers’. Of course, Mrs. -Lumbard has only been visiting Miss Frink.” - -“The Coopers’!” echoed Millicent. “Is Mrs. Lumbard going to live at the -Coopers’?” - -Ogden shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t quote me. I may be all off, but I -understood that.” - -“Of course, they are Mr. Grimshaw’s cousins,” said the girl reflectively. - -“Another one of her satellites,” remarked the old gentleman, smiling. “It -was easy to see last evening that Grimshaw’s steady head was all off its -balance. I don’t believe you attractive bachelors are going to let that -charmer teach very long. One of you will snatch her up.” - -“I had to leave her to my rivals last night,” said Ogden. “I probably -lost out for good.” - -Millicent’s grave large gaze was upon him, trying to discover whether -he was serious. She liked Mr. Ogden, but she would have been perfectly -willing he should snatch up Mrs. Lumbard. - -“You’re quite a matchmaker, Colonel,” he went on. “I don’t know how that -rosebud over there behind the tin pan escapes your machinations.” - -Millicent threw a glance over her shoulder in evident search for the -rosebud, and Ogden laughed. - -“Oh, she,” returned the old man regarding the girl with eyes of placid -love; “she has a heart like a flint. We have a lot of the nicest boys -you’d ever care to know, in Farrandale. She used to like them, Milly did. -When she was in the store, I used to have to complain of the way she let -them bother around and keep her up late; but now she has left the store, -and could sleep in the morning if she wanted to, she won’t have a thing -to do with them. They can’t do anything right. One laughs too loud, one -brings his mandolin and she hates it, one parts his hair in the middle, -and they all varnish their locks—” - -“Grandpa!” Millicent interrupted him with rather unnecessary severity, -Ogden thought. “I don’t like to be discussed.” - -Her grandfather laughed toward her affectionately, and raised his -eyebrows. “Gracious!” he exclaimed. “What a grown-up baby I have.” - -“Well, I must get at my business,” said the visitor. “I came this -morning, not only to say good-bye, but to let you nice people be the -first to know something concerning our friend Hugh.” - -Millicent’s collection of knives hit the tin pan and clattered to the -floor. The pan so nearly fell after it that Ogden, springing forward, -caught it just in time. The girl’s hands trembled as she grasped it, and -murmured some inarticulate thanks. - -“Ah, many a true word spoken in jest,” said the Colonel. “That is why -the lovely pianist is leaving Miss Frink’s; but conventionality can be -carried too far, I think.” - -John Ogden was busy restoring Millicent’s goods, wares, and chattels to -her lap, and he camouflaged her tremor by laughing allusion to Uncle -Remus, and Brer Rabbit’s clatter with his seben tin plates, and seben tin -cups. - -“No, nothing of that kind, Colonel Duane,” he said as he took his chair -again. “This is a story that I will make brief. Long ago there was a feud -in Miss Frink’s small family.” - -Millicent tried to moisten her dry lips, and ceased attempting to use the -knife which seemed determined to beat a rat-a-plan against the side of -the pan. - -“She had a nephew, Philip Sinclair, whom she loved; but his opposition to -her plans for him angered her to such a degree that it made a complete -break. She never met his wife or children, and refused to know them. I -was a friend of that family, and Hugh was one of the children. When he -returned from the war, I hunted him up.” - -Ogden glanced at Millicent. She was leaning back in her chair, her lips -parted, her face very pale, and her eyes full upon him. He looked back at -once to Colonel Duane, who was giving him similar fixed attention. - -“When I met Hugh, whom I had last seen as a child, you can understand -what an impression he made on me, and how I thought of his lonely -great-aunt whom I had come to know well in the way of business. Hugh was -alone, and drifting, like so many of the returned boys, and a scheme -came into my head which I suggested to him. It was to come here with a -letter of introduction from me, and, using only his first two names, -Hugh Stanwood, apply to Miss Frink for a job in Ross Graham Company. -I knew there was no hope of her receiving him if she knew he was the -son of the man who had so bitterly disappointed and offended her, and -I trusted to his winning her esteem before the truth came out. I had -a lot of difficulty in getting Hugh’s consent to this, but at last I -succeeded. I fitted him out for the experiment, which, of course, put -him under some obligation to me: an obligation which was my weapon to -hold him to our compact. He has had times of hating me, because Hugh is -essentially honest; and the remarkable coincidence which threw him into -his aunt’s house as a guest, instead of allowing him to be an employe in -her store, gave him many a weary hour of thought which he used mostly -for condemnation of me and himself. I came on as soon as I learned of -his illness, and found that Miss Frink had become very fond of the boy. -When she at last experienced the shock of discovering who he was, she -suspected me at once as being the instigator of the plan, and for a -time she was torn: undecided as to whether I should be cannonaded or -canonized. I judge she has decided on the latter course, for this morning -she called me her benefactor.” - -Ogden paused. - -“Extraordinary!” said Colonel Duane. “I’ll warrant the old lady is happy.” - -Millicent said nothing; just gazed. - -“My reason for coming to tell you this”—Ogden addressed Millicent -now—“is that, as the affair is known and discussed, Hugh is going to be -misunderstood and condemned. Thoroughly disagreeable things are going to -be said about him. He is going to be called a fortune-hunter.” - -“He was, wasn’t he?” broke in Millicent suddenly. - -“I was. It was I. Please remember that. I exacted from him at the time a -promise that he would not reveal their relationship to Miss Frink until I -gave him permission; so, chafe as he might and did, he kept that promise. -He’s a fine youngster; and to my relief and pleasure his aunt realizes -it, and they understand each other.” - -Colonel Duane nodded and smiled. “A story that ends well. Eh, Milly?” - -She assented with another of the fleeting smiles. This change in Hugh’s -fortunes put him still farther away. No one could tell to what lengths -Miss Frink’s pride and joy would go, and what advantages now awaited him. - -“What did you say Hugh’s name is?” asked the Colonel. - -“Sinclair. Hugh Stanwood Sinclair, and one of the finest,” returned -Ogden. “I hope I have set him right in your eyes and that you will defend -him as occasion arises.” - -“We’re fond of Hugh,” returned the old gentleman quietly, “and I don’t -think you need dread unkind comments on him. You know the way of the -world, and Miss Frink’s handsome heir is going to be _persona grata_ to -everybody, except, perhaps”—Colonel Duane laughed—“Leonard Grimshaw.” - -Ogden smiled. “The nephew was introduced to him this morning at -breakfast; and, except for a look which endangered the sweetness of the -cream, he took it very calmly.” - -After the caller had departed, Colonel Duane came back to his chair. - -“Well, well,” he said. “So the hero wasn’t called Prince Charming for -nothing, was he? A story that ends well. Eh, Milly? He’ll grace the -position, eh? I like the idea. Indeed, I do. Isn’t it fine?” - -And Millicent said it was, and gathered up her paraphernalia and went -into the house. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -ADJUSTMENTS - - -As soon as she had parted from John Ogden, Miss Frink went to her study. -Her secretary was in his place. Could this possibly be the world of the -barren yesterdays? The same world in which she and Leonard Grimshaw had -sat at their adjoining desks in this room and opened mail, dictated -letters, and considered investments, for so many years? Her welling sense -of gratitude gave her a novel attitude of sympathetic comprehension. If -her secretary, so long the sole partner and confidant of her days, were -suffering now from being to a degree usurped, it would not be surprising. -She felt a sort of yearning toward him. - -He rose at her entrance, grave and businesslike as usual. She took her -customary place beside him, and he seated himself, drawing toward him the -morning’s mail. - -“Never mind that now, Grim. We will attend to it this afternoon, if I can -keep awake.” She gave a little laugh. - -He glanced around at her. Miss Frink, flushed and laughing, unmindful of -the mail! From bad to worse! - -“The gayety of last evening too much for you?” he responded, with a -gravity so portentous as to be a rebuke. - -“I suppose so. Say, Grim, how did Goldstein get in here?” - -“I asked him. I knew your desire not to have anybody overlooked.” - -“But we have never had any contact with him.” - -Grimshaw cleared his throat, and drew forward a bunch of pencils and put -them back again. - -“He is one of our stirring citizens,” he said. - -“I know he stirs me,” remarked Miss Frink. - -“He enjoyed the evening greatly,” declared Grimshaw. - -“All right; but, if he ever comes to make his party call, remember he is -your guest.” - -“Very well, Miss Frink.” - -“Now, my dear boy,” she went on, and she laid a hand on her secretary’s -arm. He regarded it under dropped lids. “I feel I want to say a few -things to you in this great change that has come into my life.” - -“I have anticipated it,” he returned. “You wish to dispense with my -services?” - -Miss Frink withdrew her hand. “What could put such a wild idea into your -head, Grim? So far from dispensing with you, I feel it an occasion to -speak of my appreciation of your faithful service. In the great joy that -has come to me I long to give happiness. If it pleases you to know that -your efficient work is not taken for granted, but that it is given its -full value, I want you to realize that I thank you.” She paused and the -secretary bowed silently. - -“In the changes that will result from the discovery of my nephew, I want -you to know also that none will affect you. You are mentioned in my will, -and nothing regarding you in that will be changed.” - -Grimshaw did not alter his position, but some pulse leaped to his throat. -It was not a leap of gladness. If that were the case, then his employer’s -plans for him had fallen below expectations. - -“In short,” said Miss Frink, “since this great blessing that has come to -me should make me a better woman, I hope to be a better friend to you and -to all.” As her companion did not break the pause that followed this, she -added: “I hope you don’t begrudge it to me, Grim?” - -“By no means, Miss Frink,” he responded, without looking up. “Pardon me -for a moment, I am much moved.” - -Miss Frink was touched. “The good boy!” she thought. “Probably constant -contact with me has made it impossible for him to express any feeling -that does not regard dollars and cents.” - -“My narrow life could not fail to narrow you,” she said humbly. “I hope -we may both expand after this.” - -Neither spoke for a minute. Grimshaw continued to look down, one hand -toying with a paper-cutter. - -At last she spoke: “I told Adèle you would take her over to Mrs. Cooper’s -as soon as she was ready.” - -“I shall be glad to,” he returned. “Adèle made a great impression last -night.” - -“Indeed, she did. There is no doubt that she can teach here if she wishes -to. I have just been saying to her that I hope, when the subject comes -up, she will aid in letting it be known what a passive part Hugh played -in the camouflaged way he came to Farrandale. Mr. Ogden was the motive -power of it all, and you must help, too, Grim, in giving the right -impression.” - -The secretary turned to her with a strange smile. “Do you think that your -nephew and heir will need any apologies?” he asked slowly. Miss Frink -felt uncomfortably the inimical attitude back of the words. “If he does, -he will never know it, and you will never know it. That is the advantage -of being the Queen of Farrandale.” - -“The boy is jealous!” she thought. - -“I hope,” he continued, “that your absorption is not so great that you -cannot use your influence to help Adèle, even though she is leaving your -house.” - -Miss Frink felt the criticism in this. She was silent for a space. - -“Adèle came here camouflaged also, Grim,” she said quietly. “She will -tell you about it.” - -The secretary flashed a quick look around at her. “Perfectly innocent in -one case, I suppose,” he said, “and unpardonable in the other.” - -Miss Frink was too deeply troubled about Adèle’s future in Farrandale to -be ruffled by this. “It was her own idea,” she said. “That makes some -difference. I am glad she has a friend in a truly upright man like you, -Grim. Help her to be a good woman.” - -The secretary frowned in surprise at the earnestness of this appeal; -but, before he could speak, Adèle entered the room dressed for driving, -smiling, and with head held high. - -Her departure with Grimshaw a few minutes later was decorous. Miss Frink -was at the door. - -“Hugh will want to say good-bye to you,” she said. “Won’t you call him, -Grim?” - -“Oh, no,” interrupted Adèle. “He is at his studies. Don’t disturb him. We -shall always be meeting.” - -Miss Frink stood on the veranda and watched the motor drive away. She -drew a long breath of the sweet air. Whatever should come now, Adèle was -gone from the house. The relief of it! - -In the motor, the two, sitting side by side, exchanged a mutual regard. - -“It was very, very sweet of you to write me that note,” said Grimshaw. - -“I thought it would help.” - -“There has been some trouble between you and Miss Frink,” he pursued. - -Adèle lifted her eyebrows and gave a little laugh. “Yes. Mr. Ogden kindly -tipped her off that I was merely the step-grandchild of her beloved chum.” - -“Step-grandchild?” repeated Grimshaw. - -“Yes. Complicated, isn’t it?—and not worth while trying to understand. It -served her as well as anything else as an excuse to get rid of me.” - -Grimshaw frowned. He was angry with his employer for sending this lovely -creature away from the luxurious home, the Steinway grand, and himself; -but Miss Frink’s novel gentleness in their interview chained his always -cautious tongue; then, if Adèle had really deliberately misrepresented -facts, he knew how that must have offended Miss Frink’s rigorous -principles. - -“You will find the change to the simplicity of the Cooper home rather -hard, Adèle.” - -“No harder than your discovery that henceforward you are second-best in -your home,” she returned; but her voice was sympathetic, even tender. -“Perhaps you will have to go away.” - -“No; she doesn’t want me to leave,” he answered dispiritedly. He turned -again suddenly to his companion: “You must tell me, Adèle, how I can help -you. How about this teaching business?” - -She smiled at him, her sweetest. “Leonard, can you see me trudging around -in all weathers and teaching youngsters how to play scales?” - -He shook his head. - -“Hu—somebody said it was like harnessing a blooded horse to a coal wagon -to make me teach.” - -Color rushed to Grimshaw’s face. “Adèle, it can’t be! You know I—” - -She interrupted him with a laugh. “Look out! You nearly ran into that -Mr. and Mrs. Rube in their light wagon. Now, I’ll talk to the motor man -if he doesn’t look at me.” Grimshaw kept eyes ahead, and she continued. -“I never had the dimmest idea of teaching. I knew something would turn -up, and it has. Did you notice Mr. Goldstein draw me aside for a few -minutes last night?” - -“Yes; confound his impudence, keeping everybody else waiting.” - -“Not at all. Mr. Goldstein is a highly important friend. He wants me to -take charge of the music at the Koh-i-noor. He’s mad about the new organ, -and he says I’m just the person they have been looking for.” - -“Can you play the organ?” - -“Oh, yes, I’ve played one; and I have three weeks before they open. He -wants to add an orchestra later, and he wants me to take full charge of -the musical end of the theater.” - -“Pretty fine—but Miss Frink—” - -“Who is Miss Frink?” asked Adèle saucily. “Leonard”—she leaned toward -him, and her pressure thrilled him—“you and I have our own lives to live.” - -“That arrangement would make you very independent, Adèle.” - -“I can never be independent of the people I’m fond of,” she answered -softly, and withdrew from him. - -“Strange that Goldstein should be the one to approach you just now. I -have had some business dealings with him, and he is all right; he has -big, generous ideas. There is nothing small about Goldstein. He is after -me now to put through a deal for him, but I don’t know. He makes it very -tempting for me, but I’m afraid Miss Frink—” - -“Oh, don’t be tied to her apron-string. What is the deal?” - -“Well, then, mum’s the word,” said Grimshaw, smiling. - -“Oh, yes, mum as an oyster,” she returned. - -“He wants to buy that place where the Duanes live.” - -Adèle’s heart leaped. “What does he want of that little shanty?” - -“He wants to tear it down and put up a flat building to cover the whole -lot.” - -“Splendid idea,” responded Adèle. “It’s high time Farrandale had -something handsome in the way of an apartment building, and Mr. Goldstein -would do something with class.” - -“But Colonel Duane’s garden. He is wrapped up in the place, and they -haven’t any money for another. It just happened that the cottage fitted -their needs and was cheap.” - -Color brightened Adèle’s pale face. Lady Luck was coming her way. To get -rid of Millicent Duane was a rosier prospect than even the music at the -Koh-i-noor. - -“They could find a place in the country,” she said. “It would be -something new if Miss Frink wanted to throw over such a chance to turn a -few honest thousands. You ought not to let her. You ought to look after -her better than that.” - -“I told Goldstein that there was a probability that sentiment might enter -into this matter; and he has offered to make it very much worth my while -to put the sale through. It is the biggest temptation I ever received.” -The speaker’s eyes shone. - -“I’ll give you another,” said Adèle, leaning toward him again. “If you -will put through the sale of the Duane place, I will—forget that there is -another man in the world but you.” - -Grimshaw flushed, and the road being clear just then, he met her soft -gaze. - -“Is that a promise, Adèle?” he asked. - -“A solemn promise,” she answered. - - * * * * * - -John Ogden returned to his hostess in time for luncheon. Leonard -Grimshaw had remained for lunch at his cousin’s, for Adèle wanted him to -go with her afterward to see Mr. Goldstein and talk over her contract. So -it was that the three who felt very close to one another to-day sat at -the table alone. Stebbins was dismissed, to his regret, for he had found -breakfast very interesting and he wished to continue gathering data. - -Ogden noted that the flush on Miss Frink’s cheeks, and Hugh’s subdued -manner, persisted. - -“I had a delightful call this morning,” he said in his usual cheerful -tone. “I dropped my little bomb on the Duanes’ piazza with great effect.” - -Hugh glanced up at him sharply. - -“I do like those people. They have a distinctly pleasant atmosphere. -Colonel Duane, always looking like somebody in particular, and so -hospitable, and Miss Millicent more like a rosebud than ever this morning -in a pink apron, delving in a big tin pan.” - -“He went to tell them what a happy woman I am,” explained Miss Frink, -looking across at Hugh. He met her eyes, and smiled acknowledgment, the -more gently for the mutiny within. At last he was honest, but he was more -than ever conspicuous and discussed. He hated it. His ears burned now. - -“I suppose they nearly fainted,” he remarked. “I’m sure you told them -that I was a puppet and you pulled the wires.” - -“Don’t put it that way, Hugh,” pleaded Miss Frink. - -“I can’t help it, Aunt Susanna! It’s a mess!” - -“Don’t say so, dear boy.” Hugh met her bright, speaking eyes. “I have -always been a successful woman, that’s what the world calls it; but I -never was a happy one until last night.” - -“I’m not much to make you happy,” said the boy restively. “Just a pawn in -a game, not a penny in the world of my own, in debt to Ogden, and a sneak -in the eyes of your town—” - -“Oh, my boy! Oh, Hugh!” There was such pain and longing in Miss Frink’s -tone that it checked him. Beside all that he expressed was the constant -irritation and humiliation that remained from the scene with Adèle. - -“Hugh, you told me last night that you—” Miss Frink stopped because -something rose in her throat. No one broke the silence. “I know how your -young pride is hurt,” she went on at last, “but it will be restored.” - -“Colonel Duane said,” put in Ogden, “that there would be very little -talk: that wherever you went, Miss Frink’s nephew would be always -welcome.” - -“That is true,” she agreed; “and, Hugh, if you can be so unselfish, don’t -spoil this great joy of mine—a child belonging to me; but take it as if -we had known all along that you were mine. In perfect frankness let me do -for you what it is my right to do. In the presence of Mr. Ogden, who has -accomplished such wonders for us, let me say that he and I shall together -settle such of our obligation to him as can be paid, and then you, Hugh, -until you are admitted to the bar, will accept from me your education, -and your allowance, without a thought of dependence—” - -Hugh regarded the earnest speaker with a mixture of resistance and -appreciation. - -“Ross Graham Company—” he began— - -“Can take care of itself,” said Miss Frink with a return of her brisk, -curt manner. “You can always get competent managers.” John Ogden’s mind -took a leap back to the day when he told Hugh that the department store -might belong to him. “Now I know,” went on Miss Frink, “that you’re a -bit afraid of your old aunt, a little afraid that in my pride I may want -to put you into a velvet suit and lace collar à la Fauntleroy, or its -equivalent; but you needn’t be afraid. I haven’t lived seventy-two years -for nothing, and I didn’t make a mess of my treatment of your father for -nothing. Neither am I in my second childhood. I have all my faculties, -and, with so much now to live for, I expect to keep them until I’m one -hundred. I don’t want to make an idol of you. I want you to be a man -among men, and stand on your own feet; but it’s my right to give you a -start, and I like to believe that you have enough common sense to accept -it in the spirit in which it is offered, without any fuss or foolish -hair-splitting.” - -Hugh looked around at Ogden, who nodded at him. - -“Put that in your pipe and smoke it,” remarked Ogden. - -Hugh, pushing back his chair, rose and came around to Miss Frink. - -“There’s only one answer a fellow can make to all that, Aunt Susanna,” he -said, and, stooping, he kissed her. - -“Now, then,” she, too, rose, “please go on the veranda and watch for -Millicent. I want to see Mr. Ogden a few minutes in the study, and I’ll -let her know when I’m ready for her.” - -Hugh wandered through the hall, pausing between the portières of the -drawing-room and looking at the piano. Was it only last evening that Ally -had done her brilliant work? He shook his head, went out to the piazza, -and started to take the swinging seat, but changed his mind, and, -throwing himself on a wicker divan, lighted a cigarette. He was conscious -of a deep soreness in the thought of Adèle. What a series of foolish -moves her life had been! He shrank in distaste from it all. - -What a different specimen of girlhood was Millicent Duane! Of course, -she was nothing but a child, with her ready tears and blushes; still, -it was better to be crude, and sweet, and pure, than sophisticated and -audacious. He wished he could have seen her face when Ogden told them his -news. A certain looking up to himself which the girl had evinced in their -daily meetings, he suddenly found was valuable to him. Colonel Duane -had said Miss Frink’s nephew was always sure of a welcome. He knew what -that meant, and the implication again stirred his rebellion. He would -know when he saw Millicent to-day if he had much to live down in her -transparent soul. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -MILLICENT - - -Very soon Millicent’s familiar figure appeared at the iron gate. Before -she started from home she had talked with her grandfather. - -“You’re sending a message to Hugh by me that it will be more convenient -for you to see him in the morning after this,” she said. - -“But it wouldn’t.” Colonel Duane looked surprised. - -“Yes, it will be,” returned Millicent firmly. - -The old gentleman blinked. “What’s this? Tired of the walks over here -together?” - -“Never mind details, dear.” - -“You’re a funny child, Milly. Hugh will feel something unfriendly in the -change, just at the present time.” - -Millicent seized her grandfather’s arm. “Dearest, everything wonderful is -going to come to Hugh, now,” she said earnestly, “and I would like to be -out of it. I don’t want to hear him talk about it. Hugh Sinclair isn’t -Hugh Stanwood. He won’t be anything to us; not even a friend except at -long intervals and—can’t you understand? I’d rather be the one to do the -dropping.” - -She released him suddenly and ran out of the house. Her grandfather stood -in the same spot for some minutes, considering. - -“It’s the most natural thing in the world,” he said to himself at last. -“I don’t see how she could help it; but Milly has plenty of spirit, and -I’ll take the hint till he goes away. Of course, he’ll be going away to -law school.” - -Now, as Millicent entered Miss Frink’s grounds and discerned Hugh on the -porch, she saw him rise and throw away his cigarette. He came down the -steps to meet her, looking unusually grave. His eyes studied her as if he -must know her attitude before she spoke. She put her hand in the one he -offered. - -“How now that the cat is out of the bag?” he asked. - -“What difference can it make to me?” she returned with a coolness that -did not satisfy him. - -“I’m glad if it doesn’t make any. I thought perhaps there wouldn’t be any -route sufficiently roundabout for you to take me home this afternoon.” - -His gaze continued to study her as they ascended the steps. - -“Oh, I was to tell you that Grandpa can’t have you to-day. He will be -glad to see you to-morrow morning if you can come—and always in the -morning hereafter.” - -Hugh nodded. Millicent started to go into the house. - -“Sit down a few minutes,” he said. “Aunt Susanna and Mr. Ogden are busy -in the study. He is leaving to-night. She said she would call you as soon -as she was ready.” - -Millicent seated herself in the swinging couch and Hugh promptly took the -place beside her. - -“So our walks are over, are they?” he asked, still grave. - -“Yes. Life is just like chapters in a story, isn’t it?” she replied -hurriedly. “One closes and another begins. This swing makes me think of -Mrs. Lumbard. Grandpa is perfectly wild about her ever since last night. -Mr. Ogden said she was going to live at the Coopers’, and on my way -over here I met a friend who said he had heard that the manager of the -Koh-i-noor is going to try to get her to provide their music.” - -Hugh nodded. “That would solve a problem for her,” he said. - -There was nothing natural about Millicent to-day, and he had seen her -shrink when he took the place beside her in the swing. - -She went on: “Something big like that would seem more fitted to Mrs. -Lumbard than teaching. I wonder if she will take the position. You’ll -miss her here, won’t you?” - -“Yes, another of those chapters that close while another begins. If only -the story grows more interesting as life goes on.” - -“I’m sure it will for you.” That was too personal. She hurried headlong. -“And I think it does for all of us. You talked to that cute girl Damaris -Cooper last night. She will be delirious with Mrs. Lumbard living there, -and playing at the Koh-i-noor. Who said Farrandale was dull!” Millicent -laughed. - -Hugh had not smiled since she came, and she was so uncomfortable under -his questioning eyes that she welcomed the opening of the door and the -appearance of John Ogden who took in the deceptively intimate appearance -of the swing. - -“Your sleepy lady awaits you, Miss Duane,” he announced, “and you -certainly will do a missionary act to make her rest. She needs it.” -Millicent sprang up. “So I’ll say good-bye once more.” He held out his -hand, and the girl gave him hers. - -“Farrandale will be very glad to see you back some day, Mr. Ogden.” She -vanished into the house. - -“It’s just as I expected,” said Hugh gloomily. “Millicent is entirely -changed, and Colonel Duane can see me only in the mornings after this. -It’s significant of the whole spirit that I shall have to meet.” - -John Ogden viewed the downcast gaze. - -“You crazy—” he began—“I’ll say I hate to leave you. You’ll be deserting -Miss Frink between two days, as likely as not.” - -“No, I won’t,” returned Hugh decidedly. “I’ve made up my mind to stay -with her.” - -“Well, I’m glad to hear that.” - -“But it makes me—if Millicent had cried or done anything natural, I could -stand it; or if she would say right out that she is disgusted, I could -stand it; but to have her feel that it is too bad to talk about; that -gets me because what she feels is what everybody worth caring about will -feel.” - -John Ogden regarded the boy as he sat there in the swing, dejected, and -his own lips twitched. - -Hugh looked up suddenly. “Don’t you think she’s a fine girl, Ogden?” - -“I do. Pure as a drop of dew; fine as a rose-leaf, softly iridescent as a -bird’s wing, transparent as crystal—” - -Hugh frowned in displeased surprise. - -“I wish you could do anything but chaff,” he said. - -“I’m not chaffing,” replied Ogden; “but I must modify that a little, I -should have said, _sometimes_ as transparent as crystal.” - -“Are you in love with her?” blurted out Hugh. - -“Perhaps I should be if I hadn’t known Carol. The man that she loves will -be in luck, for though tender as a flower she’s as stanch as an oak tree.” - -“You should write poetry,” said Hugh dryly. “After all that, you can’t -blame me for preferring that that sort of person should approve of me.” - -Ogden, sitting in a hammock and swinging his foot, regarded the other -quizzically for a silent moment. - -“Your lions in the way are going to turn into kittens, boy,” he said at -last. “And if they didn’t, isn’t it worth something to have transformed -the life of another human as you have Miss Frink’s? Isn’t it worth -meeting with some annoyance?” - -Hugh shrugged his shoulders in silence. - -When Millicent entered her employer’s room, the lady was not lying down -as usual. She met the girl with a sort of smiling exaltation. - -“Do I look any different to-day?” she asked. - -“You do look different. You have such pink cheeks. I suppose you are -still excited from last night.” - -“Perhaps so.” As she spoke, Miss Frink drew the girl down beside her on -the divan and looked blissfully into her face. “What a comment it is on -me, Millicent, that you are the only woman friend I have to pour out to -at a time like this—and you not a woman yet, just a little girl who can’t -appreciate happiness, because you’ve never had anything else.” - -“Oh, I have, Miss Frink, I’ve been terribly unhappy—is it because you’re -happy that you look so rosy?” Millicent’s heart beat under the full, -bright gaze bent upon her. - -“Yes, all at once. The last time you saw me I was nobody. I was grubbing -along the way I have all my life, nobody caring about me except to get -the better of me in a business deal, and now to-day—do you wonder my -cheeks are pink? I’m a grandmother, Millicent.” - -“You are!” The girl’s lips were parted. - -“You know it’s even nicer than being a mother. Everybody knows that -grandmothers have the best of it. Mr. Ogden has told you that Hugh -belongs to me, and at midnight last night we, Hugh and I, were alone -together, and—and we talked of it. He seemed to be glad. He kissed me -like a real grandchild. Millicent, it seemed too wonderful for words that -I should be really happy! Those young arms around me made me feel richer -than—doubling my money on a corner lot.” - -Millicent began to swallow fast. - -“I’m so—so gl-glad,” she said. “I’ll try—not to cry.” - -“You’re very sweet to care, child. You and Hugh are so well acquainted I -feel you will always take an interest.” - -“It was wonderful!” said Millicent. The eagerness in the bright eyes -impelled her on. “Hugh is—my grandfather thinks he is an unusual fellow. -He has always seemed so frank, and kind, and simple. He takes an interest -in Grandpa’s garden and is so nice about it. He often says he wishes he -owned a little place just like ours.” - -“Oh, he does, does he?” returned Miss Frink dryly. “Well, you’re ahead of -me. I have never heard him express a wish for anything.” - -“Now, Miss Frink, you must lie down,” said the girl. “Mr. Ogden told -me to be sure to make you rest.” She arranged the pillows just as her -employer liked them, persuaded her to change her dress for a negligée, -and soon the happy woman was settled on the couch. - -“You’ll guarantee I won’t wake up and find it all a dream?” - -“I promise it,” she said. - -Hugh was still on the piazza and alone when she went out. He rose at -sight of her. She had never seen him look so serious. He did not advance, -just looked at her in silence. She went to him, her hands outstretched. - -“I’ve been talking with her,” she said. Her own repressed feelings, the -remembrance of Miss Frink’s exaltation, and the wonder of Hugh, himself, -overcame her. She could not speak; but her smile and her suddenly flooded -eyes made his gravity break into sunshine. - -“It’s all right, then, is it, Millicent?” he asked eagerly. - -She tried to pull a hand away to get her handkerchief, but he held it -fast and, seeing the corner of linen protruding from the low neck of her -dress, he took it out and dried her eyes himself. - -“I’m not going to cry—much,” she said, smiling, “but she is so happy.” - -“I’m a lucky dog, Millicent—if you think I am,” he answered. “It hasn’t -been easy.” His eyes clouded. - -“I know it, Hugh. I can see it all, now.” - -“And I mustn’t walk home with you?” - -She hesitated. “I suppose you shouldn’t leave Mr. Ogden alone. He goes -so soon and Miss Frink is asleep.” - -Hugh smiled down at her. She wished he wouldn’t. She could hardly bear -it. “A good excuse for you not to have to try to hide me,” he returned. - -“No; I shall never wish to hide you again,” she said. - -“You think I’m all right, then, eh, Millicent?” - -“I know you are,” she answered, and, releasing herself and giving him an -April smile, she ran down the steps. - - * * * * * - -It was no small undertaking for Miss Frink, in the days that followed, -to keep her word about not idolizing her grand-nephew. What she did for -him she tried to clothe in such a matter-of-fact manner as to disarm him. -Almost at once invitations began to come to Hugh from the young people -of Farrandale for tennis parties, dances, picnics, and so on. Miss Frink -saw that he was declining them all. She went to his room one morning with -another envelope in her hand. - -“This has just come from the Tarrants,” she said, “and I suppose it is -another invitation. I hope you will accept, Hugh, for they are among our -best people.” - -“I don’t know much about society, Aunt Susanna. I’d rather keep off the -grass if you don’t mind.” - -“Yes, I do mind,” she answered pleasantly. “People will misunderstand if -you refuse to mix. They will think that either you don’t know how, or -else that you feel superior.” - -“Both of them correct,” replied Hugh, laughing. - -“Neither of them correct,” returned Miss Frink. “The first thing for -you to do is to get suitable clothes for the different sorts of things. -Sports clothes, evening duds, and so on.” - -“Remember, Aunt Susanna. It was agreed. No Lord Fauntleroy.” - -“Exactly,” she returned briskly. “Don’t get a velvet suit. I forbid it; -but please order the other things at once. Then, if you want to decline -an invitation, it won’t be because you haven’t the proper things to wear.” - -“I didn’t know you were so vain.” - -“I am, very. Now here is your bank book.” She laid the little leather -book on the table. “And here is your check book.” Hugh stepped toward -her. “Now, not a word,” she warned. “You know that was agreed upon. The -first of every month I shall deposit your allowance to your account.” - -Hugh had reached her now. He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. - -“And this afternoon I want you to go on an errand with me. I’ve waked up -lately to what a hidebound person I’ve always been: unwilling to move -with the world. I’ve decided that I want an automobile.” - -Hugh raised his eyebrows. “Well, I can’t see Rex and Regina thrown into -the discard.” - -“No, neither can I; but there are times when the convenience of a motor -cannot be gainsaid. I borrow Leonard’s occasionally, and it is absurd, -when you come to think of it, to let a foolish prejudice deprive one of a -convenience. A motor is a great convenience.” - -“It can’t be denied,” said Hugh, restraining himself from claiming to -smell a large and obvious mouse. She was having such a good time. - -He hugged her once more, and she left the room as one whom business is -driving. He looked at the record in his bank book and gave a low whistle. - -When the rumor of Adèle’s new position reached Miss Frink, she did not -have to assume approval in speaking to her secretary about it. The fact -that the young woman was going to play to the young people of Farrandale -from a distance, instead of standing toward them in the intimate -relation of a teacher, was a distinct relief. She still felt that new -kindness toward Grimshaw which came from the belief that he felt usurped, -and, perceiving in him a champion of Adèle, she took pains to express -herself pleasantly, as they sat together at their desks. - -“I suppose the Koh-i-noor engagement will be a good arrangement for -Adèle,” she said. “It comes as a surprise.” - -“Yes. I don’t think she is fitted for the drudgery of teaching,” he -returned. - -“No one is who considers it drudgery,” declared Miss Frink. “When is the -theater to open?” - -“A week from to-night.” - -“Well, they have secured a real musician.” - -“Adèle will be glad to hear that she has your approval,” said Grimshaw. -He took from his pocket an envelope. “Mr. Goldstein asked me to give you -these tickets for the opening. He hopes you will honor him with your -presence.” - -Miss Frink took the offered envelope. Across it was written: “For the -Queen of Farrandale.” - -“You know I don’t go to the movies, Grim. Why didn’t you tell him so?” - -“Because this is different. He intends to give only artistic -entertainment. Everybody will go.” - -“I—I don’t expect to be in town a week from to-night.” - -“Ah? I didn’t know you were planning to leave. Is Mr. Sinclair -accompanying you?” - -The secretary always clung to the formal title. - -“No, he isn’t. You and he can divide these tickets and take your best -girls. Perhaps he will have one by that time.” - -She put the envelope back on Grimshaw’s desk. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -A SHOCK - - -Miss Frink had instinctively felt that during the first weeks of his new -status in the town Hugh would not wish to be seen driving with her in her -well-known equipage, and she had desisted from asking him; but to-day he -was beside her as the handsome bays jingled toward that large salesroom -where reposed their hitherto unsuccessful rivals. - -“Now I have picked out a car,” said Miss Frink as they neared their goal, -“but I didn’t want to buy it without your approval because, of course, I -hope you would like to drive me a good deal.” - -“I understand,” replied Hugh. “I certainly should like to.” - -As they entered the salesroom, a man came forward to welcome them eagerly. - -“Mr. Godfrey, this is my nephew, Mr. Sinclair, and I want him to see that -roadster I was looking at.” - -“Yes, Miss Frink, I’ve been watching for you.” - -He led the way to where a low, rakish, canary-colored machine shone -gayly. - -Hugh stared at it. - -“Is this the one, Aunt Susanna?” - -“Yes,” she replied, rather defiantly. “You know I don’t do things by -halves. If I’m going to have a motor, I want to go the whole figure. I -told Mr. Godfrey I wanted a snappy, classy car: even if it was extreme: -even if it was to cars what jazz is to music.” - -Hugh looked at the salesman, but no sense of humor could be discerned in -his earnest countenance. Hugh struggled with his own risibles and also -with a desire to hug his aunt in public. It seemed the only way to deal -with her. - -“How were you going to get into it, Aunt Susanna?” he asked. - -She gazed at the machine, observing for the first time that it had no -doors. - -“I—why—” she began. - -“You wouldn’t want to turn a somersault every time you went for an -outing, would you?” - -She looked at him helplessly. “Don’t you like it, Hugh?” she asked -faintly. - -He looked again at the salesman to see if he was human. Apparently the -depth of Miss Frink’s pocketbook was the only feature of the transaction -which he was taking in. - -“Let’s find something a little less sporty,” he continued. “You’ve a fine -assortment here.” - -“That’s right, Hugh, you choose,” said Miss Frink, her spirits rising, -“and don’t think too much about me. One that you would like to drive is -what I want.” - -They chose one at last. It was very dark blue, and very shiny, and low -hung, and very expensive, and it had embryo doors, and could be delivered -promptly, and Hugh’s eyes shone at the prospect of being its chauffeur. -Miss Frink was tremulous with happiness at seeing his pleasure, and they -returned home to dinner, her hand in his. - -“I don’t know what to do with you, Aunt Susanna,” he said. - -“Now, Hugh, you’re doing me injustice,” she returned firmly. “I do want -to drive in an auto. I want to progress, and not be a clam. Besides, I’m -going away, and I thought you could learn all about the machine while I -am gone.” - -“Where are you going?” - -“To Waveland Beach. It is only a few hours from here. I guess I’m tired. -At any rate, I’m not sleeping very well, and I’ll get down there and not -hear a word about business for a few weeks.” - -“I’m sorry you’re not feeling all right. Can’t I do something? Don’t you -want me to go with you?” - -Of course, she did, but she denied it. “No, you stay here and go on with -Colonel Duane. Shan’t you choose Columbia in the fall? I’ve been writing -to Carol and telling her we are going to have a full-fledged lawyer of -our own pretty soon.” - -So a few days later Miss Frink departed to her resort, and it fitted in -so well with Leonard Grimshaw’s plans that she should go away, that he -was quite affable about the new automobile, and in his first tête-à-tête -dinner with Hugh was less taciturn than usual. - -He talked of the cleverness with which Adèle handled the Koh-i-noor -organ. He gave him the tickets for the opening of the Cinema Palace, and -Hugh took Millicent and her grandfather and Damaris Cooper, and they had -a delightful party. They talked with Adèle afterward. She was in the -highest spirits, and Leonard Grimshaw stood beside her with an air of -proprietorship which Hugh discerned with satisfaction. - -The secretary had not yet qualified for that reward of hers, promised -when he should have evicted the Duanes; and seeing Millicent with Hugh -to-night created in Adèle a tigerish eagerness for its fulfillment. - -“Have patience,” Leonard told her when the others had gone. “Everything -is working toward the desired end; but why are you so interested?” he -added. - -“Can you ask?” she returned with one of the looks he dreamed about. “Is -it nothing to—to us that Goldstein wishes to be so generous?” - -Grimshaw smiled. “We may be living in that apartment house ourselves, -Adèle. Who knows?” - -One afternoon there appeared in Colonel Duane’s garden an alien growth -in the shape of the manager of the Koh-i-noor. The owner saw him walking -along the garden paths and in surprise went out to meet him. - -Mr. Goldstein held out his hand. “It looks like intrusion, I’m sure, -Colonel Duane, but you excuse me if I look this ground over; I have a -strong personal interest.” - -Colonel Duane mechanically shook hands. - -“Yes; I am about to buy this property.” The visitor smiled into the old -gentleman’s startled face. - -“I’ve heard nothing of this,” said the Colonel, and his voice was not -steady. “Miss Frink is away.” - -“Ah, who so progressive as Miss Frink!” said Goldstein devoutly. “This -property is too valuable for its present use. I will put an apartment -building here that you will be proud to live in—proud, Colonel Duane.” - -“I—I can’t realize that what you say is true.” - -“Oh, there is nothing to worry you,” said Goldstein soothingly. “You will -not be required to leave before the autumn. I’m sure we would not do -anything to disturb or annoy so respected a citizen.” The speaker’s eyes -wandered afield. “I wanted to see what the chances would be of retaining -that old elm in the corner there. You know, Colonel Duane, to me a fine -tree is an asset. There is something money cannot buy. It is worth a -sacrifice to retain it. It is a thing that the years only can produce. It -is—” He turned to face his companion, but the old gentleman had gone. - -Colonel Duane entered the room where his granddaughter was, and Millicent -started up in alarm. - -“What is it Grandpa? Are you ill?” - -“I’ve had a shock, Milly. Miss Frink is going to sell our place.” - -“Oh, I can’t believe it! Not without any warning.” - -“Mr. Goldstein, of the Koh-i-noor, is going to buy it. He is out there -now, looking the ground over.” - -Millicent ran to the window. She could see the purchaser, his hands -folded behind him looking up at the fine old tree. She turned back to her -grandfather with eyes that flashed. Her soft lips set in a hard line. - -“How can she do it with all her money! How can she take your garden away, -Grandpa?” - -“He is going to put up a flat building.” Colonel Duane sank into a chair. -“We can’t expect the world to stand still for us, Milly. Business is -business. Mr. Goldstein says this land is too valuable to be left for an -old man to go puttering about in.” He smiled pitifully. - -“That is why she has gone away,” said Millicent acutely. “She was ashamed -to do this to you, Grandpa.” - -“Being ashamed is not in Miss Frink’s line,” he answered, and his pale, -still face gave the girl the heartache. “It is the habit of her life to -take advantage of business opportunities. Here came along a man with the -money, and the plan. I suppose it was the natural move for her to make.” - -“But she knows you, Grandpa. She knows what it will mean to you. I tell -you she went away because she was ashamed to own it. There he goes, the -mean thing.” Millicent watched the future owner’s departure up the -street, and at once from the other direction appeared Hugh Sinclair -driving the very new, very blue, very shiny roadster. - -“Oh, there is Hugh!” she exclaimed, her hands clasping together. “He has -come to take me driving, Grandpa. Your news put it out of my head.” - -The horn of the motor sounded, and the girl waved her hand toward Hugh’s -blowing hair. - -“Now be very careful, Milly,” said Colonel Duane. “You’re excited, and -you’re liable to say the wrong thing to Hugh. This property is Miss -Frink’s, and she has a right to do just what she pleases with it. Don’t -make Hugh unhappy over a matter he can’t do anything about.” - -The girl caught the speaker in her strong young arms and kissed him. - -“Promise me, Milly.” - -“Yes, dear, yes,” she said breathlessly, and ran out to the waiting motor. - -“My word, you’re all lit up, Millicent,” laughed Hugh at sight of her -sparkling eyes. “You must like this little gas buggy as much as I do.” - -They were off before she answered. “Yes, I love it; but I wanted, I -needed, so much to see you, Hugh.” - -“I like that all right. What do you want of little Johnny-on-the-spot?” - -“Just to talk to you. Of course I know you can’t do anything, and Grandpa -told me to be very careful and not make you unhappy—” - -“It can’t be done, Millicent. An afternoon like this, and the car, and -you. What’s going to make me unhappy?” - -“Perhaps it won’t, but—we’re going to lose our home, and Grandpa’s -garden.” - -Hugh met her bright, dry eyes. Tears wouldn’t do this subject justice. - -“How are you going to lose it?” - -“Miss Frink is selling it to Mr. Goldstein. He has just been in the -garden looking it over. He told Grandpa, and when Grandpa came in to me -he looked old. I never saw Grandpa look old before.” - -“There must be some mistake.” - -“No. Mr. Goldstein is going to put up a flat building.” - -Hugh’s brow was puckered in a puzzled frown. “Aunt Susanna would have -spoken of it to me.” - -“Oh, think what a wonderful business woman she is. She wouldn’t talk of -her business deals to any one, would she?” - -“Perhaps not,” returned Hugh. - -“But Miss Frink likes Grandpa. I believe she would be sorry for us, and -I think, Hugh, it really makes me more sure that she is selling us out, -that she has gone away.” - -“Oh, pshaw, Millicent. Aunt Susanna isn’t any coward.” - -“No,” agreed the girl ruefully, “the Queen of Farrandale doesn’t have to -be; but she seemed to like us, and I feel she would be sorry and perhaps -would rather be away.” - -“My opinion is that Goldstein was talking through his hat. He probably -wants the place—but so do I.” Hugh turned with the Prince Charming smile -to his companion. “Not for his purpose, though. I want it always to stay -full of apple blossoms and nice girls in blue gowns.” - -“Oh, Hugh, it’s like a bad dream.” - -“Let us pretend it is a nightmare until I see Grimshaw at dinner. He will -know the inside facts, and I will run over this evening and tell you all -about it.” - -There had been a humorous side, to Hugh, to the tête-à-tête meals he and -the secretary had been obliged to take in Miss Frink’s absence. They -seldom met at breakfast or luncheon, but at the formally correct dinners -Hugh comported himself with care not to be irritating. - -To-night he approached the subject on his mind with circumspection. - -“I heard to-day that Mr. Goldstein wants to purchase the Duane place,” he -said. - -Grimshaw nodded. “Yes; it will be a very advantageous move for Miss -Frink. The ground is too central to be used any longer in the present -fashion.” - -“You have charge of the transaction?” ventured Hugh. - -Grimshaw did not lift his eyes from his plate. “Naturally. I have charge -of all Miss Frink’s business moves. I am always watching her interests.” - -“That sale would work something of a hardship,” remarked Hugh. - -“Yes,” agreed Grimshaw, with a nonchalant rising inflection; “but there -would be nothing sudden or violent about it. There are plenty of places -farther out where the Duanes can go, and it is my duty to think only of -Miss Frink.” - -“You have her full authority?” - -“Certainly. I have her full authority.” - -“It is a little strange,” said Hugh, “that she never mentioned the -proposition of this sale to me.” - -“You think it strange?” returned Grimshaw, and there was a scarcely -veiled sneer in the retort. “I believe Miss Frink has not considered you -on the business side as yet.” - -Hugh said no more; but less than an hour later he ran up on the Duanes’ -piazza. The evening was warm, and they were sitting out. - -Millicent jumped up eagerly at sight of him and he grasped her -outstretched hand and held it. - -“I am not satisfied, Colonel Duane, with my talk with Grimshaw,” he said. - -The old gentleman looked up, patiently. - -“Shall you wire Miss Frink?” asked Millicent eagerly. - -“Of course not,” said Colonel Duane. “Hugh shouldn’t interfere.” - -“Yes, I shall, to the extent of finding out what’s what.” - -Millicent released her hand and sat down. - -“The thing to do is for Millicent and me to motor down to Waveland -to-morrow. I learn that we can do it in four hours. We’ll talk with Aunt -Susanna, and, if we find that she is content to let Grimshaw do his -darndest, we’ll motor back again; but if it turns out that she is from -Missouri, we three will come back on the train.” - -“That’s fair enough, Grandpa?” asked Millicent anxiously. - -“I don’t know that it is. Miss Frink has gone away to rest and probably -left instructions with her secretary, and for you to go, Milly, and throw -yourself on her sympathy—” - -“She shan’t throw herself on anything, Colonel Duane. I promise it; but -it will be so much more satisfactory for Millicent to see Aunt Susanna -face to face, and hear just what she says—” - -Colonel Duane was thoughtful. “If Miss Frink does not return with you, I -don’t like the idea of your motoring back here late in the evening. It -would be midnight, probably.” - -“I’ll see to that,” returned Hugh. “If Aunt Susanna doesn’t return with -us, she has two rooms down there, and Millicent will spend the night with -her; and I’ll wire you. We’ll motor back the next morning.” - -“You wish to do it, Milly?” asked Colonel Duane. - -“It seems as if I should fly out of my skin if I couldn’t.” - -“If we come back on the train with Aunt Susanna, it will be late, and -Millicent will spend the night at our house.” - -“No!” exclaimed the old man. “Bring her home, whatever hour it is.” - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -JOURNEY’S END - - -Miss Frink was sitting on the porch of the Sea View Hotel, rocking as all -good Americans do, and thinking, as usual, of Hugh. - -The expanse of ocean lay before her, and, as she watched the sailboats -careening, she wondered if her nephew cared for sailing and if he was a -good swimmer. She thought of the desirable girls in Farrandale. Some of -them had had European educations. She hoped Hugh would accept the Tarrant -invitation. As Miss Frink passed in review the young people she had seen -grow up without noticing them, Inez Tarrant stood out in her mind as the -most attractive. She shook her head as a memory of Hugh’s father struck -athwart her thought. - -“I won’t,” she reflected. “I won’t interfere this time, whatever the boy -does. He shall never think of his old aunt as a wet blanket. Never!” - -She was in a blissful dream when suddenly a car drew up before the hotel -porch directly in front of her rocking-chair. She didn’t recognize it -at first. All its shiny blueness was dust-laden. So were its occupants. -One of them saw her instantly, and waved his cap. Millicent was out as -quickly as Hugh, pulling off her veil and looking up with a beating heart -at Miss Frink, who started to her feet. - -“We’ve come to lunch with you, Aunt Susanna.” Hugh embraced her, and she -took Millicent’s timid hand. - -“Well, if this isn’t fine of you children! What sights you are! Take the -car to the garage, Hugh, while I help Millicent to brush up. You must -have started very early,” she added to the girl when they had reached her -room. - -“We did, and it has been such a beautiful morning. The car runs like -velvet.” - -“You look tired, child. Are those shadows under your eyes, or is it -all dust? Now I’ll leave you here. Make yourself at home. Don’t hurry. -There’s plenty of time. Come down to the porch when you’re ready.” - -Miss Frink returned to her rocking-chair, and soon Hugh joined her, -washed and brushed to her heart’s desire. - -“I’m your letter to-day, Aunt Susanna,” he said, pulling up a chair -beside her. - -“Well, I’ll take you”—she regarded the vital light in his eyes—“and read -you, too.” - -“The X-ray still working?” he laughed. - -“Certainly. Here is a very happy boy.” - -“With everything to make him happy,” he returned. - -“The car pleases you?” - -“Perfect. The company, too.” - -“Me or Millicent?” Miss Frink’s lips twitched. “My! That girl’s hair was -pretty when it tumbled down just now, upstairs.” - -“Both of you,” replied Hugh. - -“Have you accepted Miss Tarrant’s invitation?” - -“No—yes—Oh, yes, I remember now, I did, to please you.” - -“It will be to please yourself, later.” - -Hugh gave her a brilliant smile in which eyes and lips coöperated with -great effect. - -“It won’t matter much, Aunt Susanna. There is only one perfect girl in -Farrandale, and I’ve found her.” - -Miss Frink grasped the arms of her chair. - -“Hugh Sinclair!” she gasped. “Why, I never even thought of Millicent -Duane!” - -He leaned toward her and spoke low. The smile vanished under his aunt’s -aghast eyeglasses. - -“Set your X-ray going, Aunt Susanna. See the modesty, the honesty, the -purity, the frankness, the unselfishness, the charm of total goodness—” - -“Did you come down here to tell me this?” - -“No. I never said a word to her until this morning on the way; and she -refused me. She’s afraid of you. She believes herself too humble and -obscure to suit you, and she says she’d rather die than marry me if it -didn’t please you. She loves you, too, Aunt Susanna. She appreciates you.” - -Miss Frink’s firm resolution of an hour ago recurred to her. Her surprise -was so absolute that she leaned back in her chair, speechless. - -“We just made up our minds suddenly last night to come, and it has been a -most lovely drive.” - -“H’m. Millicent looks as if she had been through the war.” - -“She has. We’ll tell you about it, later.” - -Millicent appeared from the doorway, and Miss Frink noted the expression -in Hugh’s face as he started up to meet her. - -“I know you are both famished,” she said. “Let us go right in to lunch.” - -Poor Millicent, with her double burden of apprehension and embarrassment, -made a valiant attempt to eat, and Hugh saved her from the necessity of -talking by keeping up a busy conversation with his aunt. As for Miss -Frink, she was constantly fighting a sense of resentment. - -“Just like me,” she thought. “Just because I didn’t plan it, I suppose I -can’t approve it. Just because I can’t have him all to myself, I suppose -I wouldn’t like it, whoever it was. Just like you, Susanna Frink. Just -like you!” - -When they rose from the table, Hugh spoke. - -“We did come down here on an errand, Aunt Susanna. Is there some place -where we can be entirely by ourselves?” - -“We will go up to my room,” she returned. What could their errand be if -it was not on that rending subject? - -“She didn’t eat anything,” reflected Miss Frink as they went up in the -elevator. “I suppose they don’t when they’re in love.” - -Her heart pleaded a little for Millicent, just then. Even if it were -presumptuous for the girl to fall in love with Hugh, was it within -youthful feminine human nature to help it when they had been thrown -together daily for so long? What had been nearly superhuman was to refuse -him, shut in with him in that very new, very blue, shiny roadster with -all the early summer surroundings of romance. The girl had some strength, -anyway. And how sweetly she had sympathized with herself at the exciting -time of the discovery! - -She sat down now, however, with an entirely non-committal expression, -and Millicent took a place facing her. Apparently she was the one with -the message. Hugh wandered to a window overlooking the sea. - -How pale the girl was! The shadows under her hazel eyes had not been -dust. Those eyes had apparently started out to be brown, but thought -better of it. They were surpassingly clear, and they looked now directly -into Miss Frink’s. - -“I don’t know even yet if it was right for me to come,” she began. -“Grandpa thought it wasn’t, for we haven’t the least right to trouble -you in your affairs; but it means so much to Grandpa I couldn’t content -myself without knowing from your own lips if you are selling our home.” - -Miss Frink’s face continued set. A little frown came in her forehead. - -“Not that we wouldn’t get used to the thought, but—just at first, it—he -made Grandpa look so old—” - -“Who did?” - -“Mr. Goldstein. He wants to put up an apartment house and he was looking -the ground over to see if he could save the elm.” - -“Oh, yes. Mr. Goldstein. He is Adèle’s—Mrs. Lumbard’s employer, I -believe.” - -“Yes, Miss Frink”—the hazel eyes searched the bright eyeglasses—“did Mrs. -Lumbard ask you to sell the place?” - -“Certainly not. Why do you ask such a question?” - -“Because—I’m ashamed to say so, but I’ve thought so much about it. Mrs. -Lumbard hates me. I can’t imagine why. I’ve met her on the street. Nobody -ever looked at me the way she does.” - -Miss Frink threw a quick glance over her shoulder at Hugh, who came back -from the window, and stood near Millicent. - -“This only came to light yesterday,” he said. “Of course, if you are -selling the place, it is all right; but I talked with Grimshaw last night -at dinner, and I was not satisfied with his replies, although he claimed -to have your authority. If there was anything for you to look into, I -thought it best for us to come in person; but, if everything is being -done by your order, there is nothing for us to do but kiss you and leave -you.” - -“I suppose,” Millicent’s voice wavered, “I suppose it would be dreadful -to ask you to change your mind, but Grandpa—I don’t know what he will do. -He loves every little sprout, and—and there isn’t any other place—” - -“Your grandfather seems to be your whole thought,” said Miss Frink. She -was definitely frowning now, and her expression was severe. - -“He is. I’d do anything—I’m doing something almost disgraceful now in -begging you—” The voice stopped, and color came up in the pale cheeks. - -Hugh watched his aunt, but there was no change in her expression. - -“We thought if there was any question in your mind,” he said, “that we -would leave the car here, and you would return with us on the train.” - -Miss Frink looked at her watch. “The train went while we were eating,” -she said. “There isn’t another until evening, but I think I will go back -with you. Meanwhile”—her set face lightened—“I suggest that this girl lie -down and rest while you take me for a drive.” - -“That’ll be bully!” agreed Hugh. - -Millicent tried to control her trembling lips as she followed Miss -Frink’s movement and rose. The latter went into the next room to put on -her hat. - -Hugh took the young girl’s hands, and she drew them away gently. “Don’t -you see,” he said softly, “that that is hopeful?” - -“I don’t know. Oh, she looked so hard. I’m afraid of her when she is the -Queen of Farrandale.” - -“But she wouldn’t go with us if it were settled. You see that?” - -“Then, why couldn’t she say one encouraging word?” - -“Because she doesn’t know how far Grimshaw has gone. He said he had full -authority. Perhaps now she wishes she hadn’t given it to him.” - -Miss Frink came back. “Think how many times you’ve put me to sleep, -Millicent. Now you let the ocean do the same for you. Go right into that -room and make yourself comfortable. Lie down on my bed and don’t think -about anything but the waves.” - -They left her, and Miss Frink looked at the car admiringly as Hugh drove -it around to the hotel steps. It had been cleaned into new blueness -again, and she sank into the low seat and breathed a sigh of satisfaction -as it rolled smoothly away. - -“Poor Millicent,” said Hugh. He meant it as a gentle hint that now they -were alone his aunt might confide in him on the affair that had brought -them. Evidently nothing was further from her intention. - -“Yes, I hope she gets to sleep,” she returned. “Could anything run -smoother than this, Hugh?” - -The brisk ocean breeze swept past them. Hugh accepted the dismissal of -his little love. He glanced around at his companion’s strong features, -set now in perfect contentment. - -“I’m the lover she never had,” he reflected, “and the husband she never -had, and the son she never had, and the grandson she thought she had, but -he comes right away and tells her he loves somebody else. Tough, I’ll -say.” - -They were speeding along the road near the sea, and passing summer homes -set far apart. - -“You will like to have the car in New York this fall, Hugh.” - -“It sure would be a big luxury.” - -“You and Mr. Ogden would enjoy it—when I wasn’t there.” - -Miss Frink looked around at her chauffeur and smiled, and he smiled back, -valiantly, though he was thinking that Millicent was probably not asleep, -but staring at the sea with dry, troubled eyes. - -“You will come, of course, Aunt Susanna, if I go to law school there?” - -“Yes, I think I should cultivate quite an intimacy with New York under -those circumstances. I’d bring her with me sometimes, too.” Again she met -Hugh’s eyes, and the sudden light in them rewarded her. - -There was no other reference to Millicent during the long drive, and they -returned to find the girl sitting on the porch. Her white face pulled on -Hugh’s heartstrings. - -Miss Frink asked her if she had slept, and she replied that she had had a -fine rest; and she asked interested questions about the drive until Miss -Frink went into the house to pack her bag. - -“Did she say anything more?” asked the girl eagerly. - -“Nothing—except that when I am in New York at the law school she will -bring you to see me.” - -Millicent’s questioning expression faded. “I shan’t be there to bring,” -she said quietly; “we shall have to move away into the country somewhere.” - -“But that showed that she likes you, Millicent—that all those absurd -ideas about your not satisfying her don’t amount to anything. I told her. -She knows what I want.” - -“I understand better than you do.” Millicent smiled faintly. “She knows -you haven’t met girls of your own kind yet, and what changes a year may -bring; but she wants to keep you happy.” - -They were able to get a chair car on the train that night. Miss Frink -and Hugh sat in adjoining seats, and Millicent in the third leaned back -with closed eyes and thought of her grandfather, and tried to make plans -for their future. She worked to exclude the radiant possibility which had -dawned on her in the wonderful ride of the morning. Every joy she had -ever dreamed of was embraced in the thought of a life with Hugh; but it -was too sudden, he was too young to know what he wanted, and she was sure -that Miss Frink’s plans and ambitions for him made the idea of little -Milly Duane an absurdity. The Queen of Farrandale should see that her -attitude was completely shared by Millicent herself. - -The train was late in starting, and, by reason of detention along the -way, it was after eleven o’clock when it pulled into Farrandale. They -took a station taxicab and drove to Miss Frink’s house, intending that, -after the lady had entered, Hugh, mindful of Colonel Duane’s exhortation, -would take Millicent home; but as they approached, they were surprised -to see the lower floor of the house brightly lighted, and an automobile -parked before it. - -“Come in with us, Millicent,” said Miss Frink. “We may as well see what -this illumination means before you go home.” - -Hugh let them into the hall with his latch-key, and laughter from the -end of the corridor showed that the study was occupied. Miss Frink led -the way and was first to enter the room. She stood for a moment while -the gay laughter died on the lips of her secretary and Adèle Lumbard as -they stared at the apparition. Mr. Goldstein was standing by Miss Frink’s -flat-topped desk, and apparently had just laid upon it a handful of gold -pieces. Millicent would have shrunk back, but Hugh held her firmly by the -arm and they followed Miss Frink as she moved into the room. - -Besides herself, Mr. Goldstein was the only unembarrassed member of the -company. - -“In the nick of time, Miss Frink,” he said, advancing with an air of -cordial welcome. He made a move toward shaking hands, but the expression -on the face of the Queen of Farrandale discouraged him. - -There succeeded a silent space while she walked to the desk and picked up -a paper bearing her signature. - -Her dark, bright gaze jumped to Grimshaw. - -“I just wondered,” she said. The secretary had grown very pale, and it -was difficult to face her; but he did so. Adèle stepped nearer to him. -“So you did use your power of attorney,” she added. - -“Certainly,” replied Grimshaw, with all the dignity he could command. “As -you know, I am always looking out for advantageous business moves for -you. Here was one that was extraordinary. The sale of that corner where -the Duanes have been living, to be used for an apartment house, could -only be made to a man of Mr. Goldstein’s means—” - -“And generosity.” Miss Frink’s interruption was curt to fierceness. She -grasped the gold coins and let them jingle back on the desk. - -The purchaser spoke cheerfully. “Oh, it was all the same to me,” he said. -“Mrs. Lumbard, she is the lady that loves the gold.” He laughed toward -Adèle and wagged his head. “She likes her salary in those good little -solid pieces. Isn’t it so, lovely lady?” - -Miss Frink’s glance flashed at Adèle. “But this is not her salary, I -judge.” - -Mr. Goldstein shrugged deprecatingly. “Oh, no, Mr. Grimshaw has been very -obliging.” - -“Leonard, I feel that you had help in all this.” The speaker regarded her -secretary with deep feeling. “You would not have done it, alone.” - -Grimshaw could not speak; and Adèle saw it. She cast a defiant, angry -glance at Hugh and Millicent, silent spectators of the scene. The girl’s -hands were unconsciously on her heart as hope sprang in it for her -grandfather’s deliverance. - -“Miss Frink,” cried Adèle, “you have no right to be speaking to Leonard -as though he were a criminal when he never thinks of anything but your -good. You were not here, and he acted for you.” - -“Yes, madam,” said Mr. Goldstein, grave now that he saw the transaction -was displeasing, “I certainly understood that everything was correct. I -have acted in good faith.” - -“I have no doubt of it,” returned Miss Frink. “Gather up that gold, if -you please. My employes do not receive bribes.” - -Mr. Goldstein mechanically obeyed, and his troubled gaze rested on her. - -“But I have paid good money down to clinch this bargain,” he said. - -Miss Frink’s genuine distress at her secretary’s sordid action lightened -at some thought. - -She smiled at her young people, and Grimshaw cast a baleful look at Hugh -who had precipitated this scene. Anxiety again clutched at Millicent’s -heart. Miss Frink had not been mercenary. She had not ignored the love of -Colonel Duane for his simple, happy life, and she was powerful. The girl -studied her face now for encouragement that, no matter how far matters -had gone, she could save them. - -“You should not withdraw from this, Miss Frink,” said Grimshaw, inspired -by a fiery look from Adèle. “Indeed, it is not at all certain that you -can do so, legally.” - -The lady’s smile faded. “You didn’t delve into this matter quite far -enough, Grim. Had you happened to examine my deposit box, you and I would -both have been spared something. Mr. Goldstein”—the speaker turned to -the would-be purchaser—“your money will be returned to you. Mr. Grimshaw -was unaware that the Duane homestead does not belong to me any longer. I -learned rather recently that some one dear to me had expressed admiration -for it, and the last thing I did before leaving town was to transfer that -property. I did not speak of the transaction to any one: not even to the -new owner.” - -The secretary’s spectacles regarded her, shining in a very white face. - -Mr. Goldstein returned to the charge. “Then the property might still be -for sale,” he said argumentatively. - -“I think not,” returned Miss Frink. “I have reason to believe that it -will be held for—well, it will not be regarded commercially. I am sorry -for your disappointment, Mr. Goldstein, and I will bid you good-night.” - -“Good-night, then, madam, and I shall hope for a more fruitful meeting -some day,” he returned. - -Hugh and Millicent were blind to the exit of the three, who moved quickly -out of the room. - -In that minute Hugh’s heart leaped, for the Queen of Farrandale, who -never did anything by halves, drew Millicent away from him and, passing -an arm around her, held her close. The girl flushed with pleasure in the -loving caress, for the bright old eyes that met hers were blurred. - -“Come here, Hugh.” Her free hand drew him. “He is your landlord now, -Millicent. I hope he will be a good one.” - -The boy threw his arms around the pair, and held them. “I don’t know what -to do with you, Aunt Susanna,” he said unsteadily. - -“Why, of course, I had to give you an engagement present,” she returned. - -The surprise and relief of the moment seemed to center in the radiant -young creature whose rosy cheek Miss Frink’s lips were pressing. - -“Millicent!” cried the lover softly, and there was a wealth of joy -present, and joy to come, in the exclamation. “Millicent!” - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUEEN OF FARRANDALE*** - - -******* This file should be named 60983-0.txt or 60983-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/0/9/8/60983 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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