Horace Cooperates
Judy really meant to call Peter again. But when his sister Honey
telephoned and suggested a late movie she couldn’t resist the
temptation to go with her. The picture was all about a man with a
criminal record. It made Judy think of Dick Hartwell. Honey said she
had liked him, too.
“My trouble is, I like everybody,” she confessed. “Besides, I have a
little theory of my own that people have to make mistakes in order to
do better. I know I did.”
“I believe in that, too,” declared Judy, “and so does Peter. He doesn’t
think a single conviction should brand a man as a criminal. I certainly
had a better opinion of Dick Hartwell than I do of Roger Banning. He
and that Cubby, as he calls him, are up to no good. As for that other
man, there was something evil about him. Lois and Lorraine weren’t the
only ones who were frightened. I do mean to go back there and
investigate in spite of his warning. Horace will dig up something. I
wish you could go with us tomorrow, Honey. You couldn’t ask for the day
off, could you?”
“I’m afraid I couldn’t,” Peter’s sister replied. “Mr. Dean has just
bought a new air-brush machine, and tomorrow is the day I learn how to
use it. I wouldn’t miss that even for a wish in your enchanted
fountain, Judy. The art work I’m doing is the fulfillment of my dearest
wish, anyway. But have fun!”
“I will,” Judy promised, wondering if she would.
The next morning when Judy told Horace what Honey had said about the
new air-brush machine, he was not pleased at all. Muttering that young
Forrest Dean was more interested in the artists his father employed
than in the work he was supposed to be doing, Horace made an attack on
his breakfast that sent a fried egg skimming through the air like a
flying saucer.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” screeched his parrot from his cage near the kitchen
window.
Fortunately for the doctor’s peace of mind, the parrot went to sleep
early, but he also awoke at the crack of dawn. This morning he was
especially noisy.
“At least,” Judy laughed, as Horace mopped up the egg, “he isn’t
calling names the way he usually does.”
“No?” asked Horace.
The egg incident had started the parrot off. Now he was sidling from
one end of his perch to the other and screeching, “Cheat! Cheat! Cheat!”
This was by no means the only word in the parrot’s vocabulary, but it
was the one he most frequently used. It made Judy think of Lorraine’s
wish.
“She wished she could trust Arthur, and then she asked me if I could
trust Peter if I believed he was a cheat. What do you think she meant
by that?”
“Cheat! Cheat!” shrieked the parrot.
“There! You’ve started him off again. Quiet, Plato!” commanded Horace.
To Judy’s amazement, the bird kept still.
“So you’ve finally decided on a name for him?” she asked her brother.
“But why Plato?”
“Why not?” Horace asked. “Most of his chattering is Greek to me. Honey
suggested the name. You know how I feel about her, Judy. But if she’s
in love with her art work, where do I fit in?”
“I’m afraid, Horace, that she thinks of you as a brother,” Judy told
him. “After all, she is my sister. I wished for her in the fountain,
and my wish came true.”
“Actually,” Horace pointed out, “she is your sister-in-law, but it
doesn’t matter. I’ll be a great big cooperative brother to both of you
if that’s the way she wants it. Art before love, as the saying goes. By
the way,” he asked more curiously, “how does Honey operate this
air-brush machine?”
“She doesn’t know,” Judy replied. “That’s why she’s so eager to learn.
She told me the kind of picture it paints. It gives a nice spattered
effect like—like the spray from a fountain.”
Everything reminded her of fountains. Later, as they drove through
Farringdon and on toward the Brandt estate, they talked of little else.
“We’ll see what haunts your fountain, and then I’ll take you on home.
This may not be much of a story, sis. I hope you won’t be disappointed.”
“I won’t be. I’m more interested in what’s bothering Lorraine.
Something has made her really unhappy,” Judy declared. “You and I both
know Arthur wouldn’t do anything dishonest. Why should Lorraine, who’s
supposed to be in love with him, even suggest that he might be a cheat?”
“Did she?” Horace looked almost too interested.
“I started to tell you at breakfast, but your parrot wouldn’t let me.
Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it. Lorraine acts as if the whole
thing ought to be kept secret, and I’m sure she has a reason. Horace—”
“Don’t worry,” he assured Judy. “I won’t let the cat out of the bag.”
Again Judy thought of Blackberry shut in the attic.
“Maybe we should drive over to my house—”
“Later,” Horace promised, turning in at the private road to the Brandt
estate. “Newspapermen never pay any attention to NO TRESPASSING signs,”
he told Judy as they drove past the notice and straight up to the door
of the house Judy was now seeing for the first time.
The top of the hill had looked like the end of the world. They had come
down upon the house immediately afterwards. It was nestled in the
hollow beyond the hilltop and rambled off in all directions, an
attractive combination of brick and native stone. There were three or
four tall chimneys. Judy didn’t count them because, just as she and
Horace climbed out of the car, a black cat darted in front of them and
through the open door. A grim, elderly man, who did not look at all
pleased to see them, was holding it open. He had not waited for Horace
to ring the bell.
“_Herald_ reporter. May I have an interview?” Judy’s brother asked
promptly.
“With whom, may I ask?”
The man’s tone was icy, but Horace replied in his usual bland manner,
“I was told by my editor to get a good story from someone of
importance. I leave it to you, sir. Who is the most important person
here?”
The man, who was tall, white-haired, and rather an important-looking
person himself, was about to reply when a woman’s voice from somewhere
within the house called, “Who is it, Stanley?”
“Reporters, madam,” replied Stanley, raising his voice as much as
dignity would permit. “They want to interview a person of importance.
Will you see them?”
“I will not.” The reply was short and to the point. “I told those two
gentlemen who were here last night that we have nothing to hide. I will
not be bothered by any more people.”
Horace, who always had a quotation at the tip of his tongue, turned to
Judy and said, “‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks.’”
“I beg your pardon?” Stanley said politely.
It came to Judy that he must be the butler. Had the Brandts left him
there to take care of things while they were away, or had these new
people, whoever they were, hired him? Even the Farringdon-Petts didn’t
employ a butler.
“This is the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Banning, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Brandt,” Stanley corrected her. “I’m afraid you have made a mistake—”
“I’m afraid _you_ have made a mistake,” Horace said, and his tone was
not so bland as before. “The Brandts are in Florida. We were told they
had leased the estate to the Bannings. Is Mr. George Banning here?”
“He is not, sir!”
“What about his son, Roger?”
“He isn’t here, either. Stanley, tell them to go away!” the voice from
upstairs called more shrilly. “Roger is out. He won’t be back until
afternoon.”
“We’ll wait, if you don’t mind. We’re in no hurry.”
Pushing himself past the startled Stanley, Horace pulled Judy along
with him. “There’s news here,” he whispered, “and I don’t mean small
stuff. Unless my eyes deceive me, that’s a police car driving up the
road. We can watch from this window!”
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