Ruth Kenway reached the rear porch of the house just as the two queer
men—ragged and dirty they were, too—were starting down the outside
cellar steps. Ruth had noticed that Tess, Dot and Sammy had departed,
probably having gone over to Sammy’s house, so there was no fear that
the children would be frightened by the tramps. And tramps they seemed
to be.
They were really evil-looking men, and for a moment Ruth hesitated. But
she had not acted as mother to her younger sisters all these years for
nothing. Besides, was not the stout Linda within call and was not Neale
in the garage, working over the car? He could be called in a moment.
Therefore it was with a very cool, calm and collected voice that she
asked:
“What do you want?”
“Oh—er—you see, lady——”
The two men looked up quickly, having been stopped by Ruth’s voice on
the topmost cellar step. The two looked up, but the evidently older, and
certainly the uglier, of the pair, did the talking.
[Illustration: The two men looked up quickly, having been stopped by
Ruth’s voice.]
“There’s been—there’s been a leak in the street water main, lady, and
we’ve been sent to look over your pipes,” he mumbled. “We’re from the
water department,” he added. “We just want to make sure your pipes are
all right.”
He mumbled his words and seemed ill at ease, still Ruth, after hearing
that the men were from the water department, did not pay much attention.
Once before there had been a break in their street, and the water had to
be shut off for a whole day. Ruth remembered this and so said:
“I hope you don’t have to turn the water off. If you do, wait until I
have the maid draw some.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’ll have to shut it off, lady,” said the uglier
man, his companion having already disappeared into the black depths of
the cellar. “If we do I’ll let you know.”
“All right,” Ruth assented as she turned away. It was not uncommon for
the gas man, the one who read the electric meter, and the one who kept
tally of the water meter, to enter the cellar by this rear door
unannounced during the summer when the door was kept open. “The water
turns off up in front,” added the girl, thinking the men might not know
where to find the stop. “But don’t shut it off without letting me know.”
“No’m,” muttered the spokesman, as he followed his companion.
Ruth walked through the kitchen, which now, under the powerful
ministrations of Linda, was resuming its wonted neat appearance.
“What was it, Ruthie?” asked Agnes, coming down with Mrs. MacCall.
“Just some men from the water department to see about a leak.”
“They must na shoot it off until I gang away an’ draw some,” protested
the housekeeper. “Linda, lass——”
“No, they won’t turn it off without telling us,” Ruth assured her. “Now
about the paper—did you settle on a pattern? I want to get the room in
shape for Nally.”
“I think this is the prettiest,” suggested Agnes, holding out a sample,
one of several the decorator had left.
“Yes, that will do nicely,” agreed Ruth. “And now—Oh, what about eggs?”
she asked quickly. “I suppose those poor Robbie brought were all
smashed.”
“A regular omelet!” laughed Agnes.
“I must telephone Mrs. Kranz for more,” said Ruth.
“The boy, he have gone after some,” announced Linda. “But he say he hope
he no have to pay for them what is braked, ’cause he——”
“Of course we wouldn’t think of letting poor Robbie pay for them,”
declared Ruth. “It wasn’t his fault. It was Sammy’s—with the girls’ goat
and his alligator.”
“As much the fault of Dot and Tess as Sammy,” declared Agnes. “They
shouldn’t have let him turn the kitchen table into a circus ring.”
“Oh, well,” and Ruth smiled, “I’ll just telephone Mrs. Kranz to put the
second dozen on our bill and not to scold Robbie,” and as she went into
the other room to the telephone, Mrs. MacCall softly observed:
“Your sister, she thinks of everything, Aggie, my dear! She wauld nae
hae Rabbie scoldit the day.”
“And quite proper, too. But you are right, Mrs. Mac. Ruth is an angel!”
When Ruth, unaware of the kind words spoken in her absence, had finished
straightening out the egg matter, Agnes telephoned for the paper hanger
to come and see about redecorating the room Miss Hastings was to occupy
during her stay. There were to be other guests at the house party, which
was to last at least a week, but the Boston girl was the one over whom
the most “fuss” was made.
“We want to give her a good impression of us,” said Agnes.
“Oh, it isn’t exactly that,” declared Ruth. “She isn’t a bit haughty and
stand-offish, as we at first supposed.”
“And since she has her new teeth and talks like a human being I adore
her!” declared Agnes. “But that room needed papering anyhow. Now let’s
talk about our dresses. I wish we could get some one besides Ann Titus
to make them.”
“But she’s the best one in Milton, and she needs the money,” said Ruth,
gently.
“I know, but she does talk so! If she’s working here and we happen to
have corned beef and cabbage for dinner—as we do sometimes—it’s known
all over Milton next day.”
“Yes, she does talk a lot. But—well, we’ll see about it. Have you
invited Cecile, Agnes?”
“Of course. Think I’d forget her? I put her invitation in with Luke’s.”
“Oh—” Ruth blushed a little.
“Didn’t you expect to have him come?” demanded the “beauty sister.”
“Oh, yes, he might drop in——”
_“Drop_ in, my dear! He’ll _fly_ in at the least opportunity. It’s my
firm belief that he has Linda subsidized!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean he bribes her to keep him posted about goings on here, and
whenever we have the least bit of festivity Luke arranges his college
schedule so he can get time off—make cuts, you know—so as to be here. Of
course he only comes to see Neale,” and Agnes tilted her pretty nose
into the air.
Ruth laughed, evidently not ill pleased with her sister’s declaration.
“As for Neale,” went on Agnes, “I’m afraid we’ll keep him pretty busy
acting as chauffeur. Nally is sure to want to drive around a lot, and
there are many pretty places here that we can motor to.”
“Neale likes to be busy,” said Ruth. “After all, he’s a nice boy,
rather.”
“I rather like him,” coolly admitted Agnes. “But there’s one thing—he’s
never silly. He never tries to hold your hand——”
“When you don’t want him to!” finished the other sister, with a laugh.
“Well, all foolishness aside, we must begin to make our plans for the
house party. I do hope everything will go off nicely.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will,” declared Agnes. “And when——”
She was interrupted by a crash down in the cellar.
“That sounds as if something went off the swinging shelf!” she
exclaimed. “Some of Mrs. Mace’s preserves——”
“Those men!” cried Ruth.
“What men?”
“The water men who went down some time ago. I forgot all about them.
Maybe they stumbled over something in the dark. I’ll send Uncle Rufus
down to see about it.”
Uncle Rufus was summoned from the garage where he had gone to do some
polishing on the car which Neale had left temporarily, to go down town
for some part that needed replacing.
“Yes’m, Missie Ruth, what is it, please?” asked the faithful old colored
man as he bowed his way in.
“Uncle Rufus, two men from the water department went down into the
cellar about an hour ago to see about a leak,” explained Ruth. “They
must be there yet, for Agnes and I just heard a noise. I wish you’d see
if they’re all right and haven’t broken anything.”
“All right, yes’m, missie, I’ll look after ’em.”
Rufus shuffled away, and the sisters, resuming their talk about the
coming party, soon heard him returning, muttering to himself the while.
In a moment he appeared before the two girls.
“Did they go, Uncle Rufus?” asked Ruth.
“Yes’m, they done went all right.”
“Just now?”
“No’m, they was leavin’ when I went down.”
“Did they find the leak?”
“’Deed an’ I doan know ’bout dat, Miss Ruth. Dey went out in such a
hurry when I walked in dat dey didn’t say what dey done found.”
“Did they break anything, Uncle Rufus?” demanded Agnes.
“No’m, Ah couldn’t see dat dey did. De swing shelf—whut yo’ spoke
’bout—dat was all right, an’ de preserves. I couldn’t see whut dey done.
But dey sho’ was a queer couple!”
“What do you mean—queer couple?” asked Ruth quickly.
“Well, I means dat dey went off in such a hasty way, an’ dey didn’t say
if dey saw any leak or nuffin’.”
“I guess they didn’t, or they would have told us to shut off the water,”
commented Ruth. “As for being queer—certainly they looked like tramps,
but I don’t suppose men who have to burrow in trenches and sewers all
day long can be spick and span. I’m glad there’s no leak, however. That
will be all, Uncle Rufus.”
“Thank-ee, Miss Ruth. I wants to git de automobubble shined up ’fo
Mistah Neale gits back,” and out he shuffled.
“I hope nothing goes wrong with the water pipes when we have company,”
remarked Agnes. “It would be very inconvenient.”
“Yes, it would. We’ll have the plumber come over to make sure there
isn’t a leak. Those men didn’t look any too intelligent. I wonder how
they ever got their job.”
It was later in the afternoon, when Neale O’Neil came to the house to
announce that the car was now in running order again, that Agnes called
to him:
“Neale, did you hear anything about a break in the street water main
while you were down town?”
“No, I didn’t,” he answered. “What is it, a joke? If it is I’ll bite. Go
on, what’s the answer?”
“It isn’t a joke,” said Ruth, and she detailed the visit of the two
strange men.
“Hum,” mused Neale. “That’s rather odd. There hasn’t been any leak up
this way or the street gang would have been out. I’ll take a look down
cellar myself.”
He did, with the result that he came up shaking his head.
“What’s the matter?” inquired Ruth.
“There isn’t a sign of a leak or a break down there,” the boy replied.
“Those men must have gotten in the wrong house. But I know one of the
water commissioners and I’ll ask him about it this afternoon. I have to
go to the town hall to see about something else.”
That evening, when Neale dropped in, as he often did, and Luke had
telephoned to say that he and his sister were in town and were going to
call, Ruth remembered to ask him about the two strange men.
“Were they from the water department, Neale?” she wanted to know.
“Who, those fakers?” asked the youth.
“Fakers?” repeated Agnes. “Were they——”
“They weren’t from the water commissioner’s office at all,” declared
Neale. “He hasn’t had any men out for a week looking for leaks, for
there haven’t been any. They were just plain tramps, in my opinion.”
“Tramps!” gasped Ruth. “Why should tramps spend so much time in our
cellar? Oh, Neale——”
“Maybe they’re planning to rob the house!” came in strident tones from
Sammy Pinkney, who was sitting in a corner with Dot and Tess. “Maybe
they’re burglars!”