CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS
"Here's the tack-hammer, Hippy, and don't fall off the ladder, please,"
cautioned Grace, as she assisted Hippy Wingate to tack up an evergreen
garland in Mrs. Gray's drawing room.
Not in twenty years had the old house taken on such holiday attire.
Great bunches of holly and cedar filled the vases and bowls and
decorated the chandeliers. Fires blazed on every hearth and the warm
glow from many candles and shaded lamps brightened the fine old rooms.
"My dear young people," exclaimed Mrs. Gray, coming in just then, "how
happy you make me feel! I do wish you were all really my children and
could forever stay just the ages you are now."
"This house would be like the palace of everlasting youth, then,
wouldn't it, Mrs. Gray?" suggested Anne.
"Until some meddlesome little Pandora came along, opened the box and let
all the troubles out," interposed David, who was still feeling very
bitter toward his sister Miriam, and glad to leave home for a time until
his anger had cooled.
"Ah, well, we have no Pandoras here," answered Mrs. Gray, smiling on the
young guests. "You are all girls and boys after my own heart, and I
trust we shall have a beautiful time together. But here comes that
nephew of mine, Tom Gray. I wonder if he's grown out of all
recollection."
While she was speaking one of the town hacks had driven up to the steps,
and there was a violent ring at the bell.
"Mr. Thomas Gray," announced the old butler at the door and Tom Gray,
who had been the subject of endless speculation and conjecture, entered
the room.
"If he turns out to be disagreeable or stupid or anything," the girls
had been whispering, "it would be such a pity because everybody else is
so nice."
Neither had the boys felt inclined to be prepossessed in Tom Gray's
favor. He was a stranger, from New York, older than themselves and in
college.
"I wish he wasn't going to butt in with his city manners," Reddy Brooks
was thinking regretfully. "He is sure to have a swelled head and try to
boss the crowd."
They had pictured him as a sort of dandy, with needle-toed patent
leather shoes and a coat cut in at the waist and padded over the
shoulders.
Even David had voiced a few thoughts on the subject of Tom Gray.
"I'll bet he's an English dude," he said. For Mrs. Gray's nephew had
spent most of his life in England. "He'll probably carry a cane and wear
a monocle."
They were not surprised, therefore, when a young man entered the room
who bore out somewhat the picture they had conjured. He was tall and
slender, very dapper and rather ladylike in his bearing. His alert, dark
eyes were set too close together, and his face had a narrow, sinister
look that made them all feel uncomfortable. He spoke with a decided
English accent, in a light, flippant voice which sent a quiver of
dislike up and down David's spine, and made Reddy Brooks give his right
arm a vigorous twirl as if he would have liked to pitch something at the
young man's head.
Mrs. Gray was the most surprised person in the room. It must be
remembered that she had not seen her nephew since he was a child, and
she had hoped for better things than this. However, always the most
courteous and loyal of souls, she now made the best of the situation and
greeted the newcomer cordially, though she did not bestow upon him the
motherly kiss she had been saving.
Tom Gray bowed low over his aunt's hand.
"You are so much changed, Tom; I should hardly have known you,"
exclaimed the old lady, trying to conceal her disappointment and dismay.
"England has weaned you away from your own country. You look as if you
had just stepped out of Piccadilly."
"And so I have, aunt," replied the young man, using a very broad "a." "I
have been in this country only a few months. England is the only place
in the world for me, you know. I can't bear America."
Hippy Wingate gave himself an angry shake, which made all the ornaments
on the mantelpiece rattle ominously.
"You must let me introduce you to my young friends, Tom," said Mrs.
Gray, changing the subject quickly.
The introductions having been accomplished, she took his arm and led the
way back to dinner.
"Do you think we can stand him for a week?" whispered David to Grace, as
they followed down the hall.
"We'll have to," replied Grace, "or hurt Mrs. Gray's feelings. But isn't
he the limit?"
"Asinine dandy!" hissed Hippy.
"I knew he'd be a Miss Nancy," exclaimed Reddy.
The girls did not express their disappointment, but as the meal
progressed the conversation was strained and stupid.
"How did you leave your cousins in England, Tom?" asked Mrs. Gray,
trying to keep the ball rolling and inwardly wishing she had never asked
her nephew down.
"Quite well, thank you, aunt," replied Thomas Gray. "I expect to leave
this beastly country and join them very soon."
"Indeed?" answered Mrs. Gray, flushing and with difficulty keeping back
the tears of disappointment. To think a nephew of hers could have turned
out like this!
"Do you play football?" demanded Hippy abruptly.
"Really, I don't care for the game," answered Thomas. "It's awfully
rough, don't you know."
"Perhaps you prefer baseball?" suggested Grace.
"No," continued the young man, "I can't say I do. The truth is, I don't
like outdoor games at all."
"What do you like, then?" demanded Nora, giving him a glance of
ineffable scorn.
"I like afternoon tea," he answered, "and bridge."
Reddy almost groaned aloud, but he remembered his manners and choked his
outburst of disgust.
"It is a pity," said Tom's aunt, turning her nearsighted blue eyes on
him in amazement and displeasure. "Our Oakdale boys are all athletes.
Even David here, the scholar and inventor, I'll venture to say, knows
football and baseball as well as his friends."
"I'm not much of an inventor, Mrs. Gray," protested David. "You know my
airship tumbled down before it got half way across the gym. But I shall
never lose hope."
"Ah, airships?" exclaimed Thomas Gray, and deliberately taking a monocle
from his pocket, he stuck it in his eye and stared at David, who choked
and sputtered in his glass of water, while Hippy dropped a fork that
fell on his plate with a great clatter.
Mrs. Gray raised her lorgnette and looked at her nephew.
"Thomas," she said sternly, "don't wear that thing here. It's not the
custom in this town or in this country, for that matter. If you are
nearsighted, buy yourself a pair of spectacles."
"Certainly, aunt, certainly; it shall be as you wish," replied Thomas,
without a tinge of embarrassment. "I am so unused to America, you know."
Then Nora relieved the painful situation by laughing. She was taken with
the giggles and she laughed till the tears rolled down her cheeks. The
others laughed, too, even Mrs. Gray, who felt that she might give way to
hysterics at any moment.
After dinner Thomas Gray detained his aunt in another room, while the
girls and boys returned to the parlor. The two were closeted together
for some time, and when they finally appeared, Mrs. Gray looked
strangely flushed and nervous. But there was a smile on her nephew's
thin lips and a dangerous flicker in his crafty eyes.
"I'll stake my last cent he's been getting money out of his poor little
aunty," said David to Grace. "He's just the kind to do it."
"Poor Mrs. Gray!" exclaimed Grace. "I am so sorry for her. You can't
think how she's been planning this party for months. Why did she ever
ask down that wretch of a nephew? David, do try and make friends with
him. Maybe there's something good in him after all, and it will help
things along if Mrs. Gray feels that we want to like him."
"All right," promised David. "It goes against my grain to talk with a
Miss Nancy dandy like that. It gives me a feeling in my chest like
indigestion and bronchitis combined--but I'll make the effort."
So he went over and joined the Anglo-American, and began to talk with
him in an easy, friendly sort of way.
"Won't you come over by the fire," he said. "I think we are going to
play some games the girls have planned."
"Thanks, no," said the other, stifling a yawn. "I think I'll retire.
I've had a long journey and I'm awfully knocked out. By the way, old
chap," he continued, coming closer to David and whispering in his ear,
which made that sensitive young man draw back with a quiver of dislike,
"you couldn't favor me with a few dollars, could you? I left my check
book in my portmanteau, which is still on the way and I find I haven't a
cent. I'll return it to-morrow."
David regarded him with amazement. Here was a man whom he had met only
an hour before, already trying to borrow money from him. Schoolboys are
not likely to have money about them, but David did happen to have five
dollars in his pocket.
"Certainly," was all he said, as he handed over the money.
The transaction had only taken a moment and when David drew out the five
dollar bill, he was careful not to let anyone see him do it. However,
Mrs. Gray, who had been out of the room, returned at the very moment the
money was changing hands. In a flash she saw what her nephew had done.
Without stopping to think she made straight for the two young men.
"Tom Gray," she said, speaking too low for anyone except her nephew and
David to hear, "how dare you ask me for money and then borrow from one
of my guests? You are a disgrace to your father, and to the name of
Gray! I am ashamed of you and I command you to give that money back to
David instantly."
Tom Gray was as angry as his aunt. His face went from red to white, and
he looked as if he would like to break a vase or tear something to
pieces.
"'Eavens, awnt, don't make a scene. I wouldn't a' awsked 'im, h'if I
'adn't needed more money. I'll pay him to-morrow."
Mrs. Gray and David were too surprised to speak. It was plain that, when
Tom Gray was angry, he dropped his h's.
David looked at him curiously, then he drew the old lady's arm through
his.
"Don't bother, Mrs. Gray," he said. "It was only a small loan, and I was
glad to be of service. I believe Mr. Gray wants to go to bed now. He
just said he was very tired. Shall I take him up?"
"If you will," replied Mrs. Gray, quieting down. "His room is next
yours, David. Will you show him the way?"
"Young people," she said, going across to the boys and girls, who had
gathered around the fire and were laughing and talking in low voices,
"would you mind if we all went up early to-night? I feel a little out of
sorts--bewildered--I don't know what. Children change so as they grow
up," she added, sighing.
The poor old lady's eyes filled with tears. She slipped her arm around
Anne's waist.
"You will never change, my dear boys and girls. You will all grow into
fine men and women, I feel certain, and be devoted citizens of this
splendid country of ours, which has always been good enough for our
mothers and fathers, and ought to be quite good enough for us."
"Three cheers for America!" cried Hippy Wingate, giving his plump figure
a twist like a whirling dervish.
Mrs. Gray laughed.
"Yes, indeed, my dears, America is a splendid country and every American
should be proud to say so."
"And Oakdale is one of the nicest places in America," piped up Anne.
"Hurrah for Oakdale!" cried Hippy again.
"And Oakdale High School!" added Anne.
"And hurrah for the sponsor of the freshman class!" exclaimed Grace.
Whereupon they formed a circle, with Mrs. Gray in the middle, and danced
about her laughing and singing:
"Hurrah for Mrs. Gray!"
The pretty, little old lady beamed happily upon her adopted family, as
she called them.
"My darling children!" she cried. "Kiss me good night, every one of you,
and we'll all go up to our beds."