A VISIT FROM ERASTUS BEAN
It was yet early the next evening, soon after Dr. Dudley had gone for
his usual round at the hospital, that Polly answered the doorbell to
return with Erastus Bean.
Delight laughed from the little man's weathered face.
"There 'tis, my dear! there 'tis!" he chuckled, carefully drawing a
folded paper from an inner pocket. He put it in Polly's hand with an
impressive bow. "I hope it will make yer a millionaire," he wished,
"yis, I do!"
Polly thanked him, fingering the letter in a somewhat awed way, but
not at all as if she were in a hurry to discover her chances towards
millionairedom. Meantime Mrs. Dudley was seating the little man in the
easiest chair.
Settling himself comfortably, with a profusion of acknowledgments, he
rubbed his lean hands together with a reminiscent smile.
"I took Jane ridin' in a autymobile this afternoon!" he announced.
"You did?" Polly burst out.
"Sure thing!" he beamed. "Jane she's been a-wishin' an' a-wishin' she
could go skylarkin' off like other folks, an' when that autymobile
driv' up this afternoon, you'd oughter seen her eyes! It was a stylish
one, I tell yer! An' we went bouncin' up an' down like the best of
'em! Jane she says it was full as good's a weddin' trip!"
He was silent a moment, smiling at the remembrance.
"I'm so glad you had such a nice ride," purred Polly.
"It was proper nice," he agreed. "Yer see," falling into a
confidential tone, "I couldn't make out no surer way to git hold o'
that letter. Jane she's kind o' cranky sometimes, but she's got her
good streaks, and you can coax her into 'most anything. Now when we
was whirlin' along there through Cat-hole Pass, on that slick road, I
just broached the subjec'. Couldn't 'a' picked out a better minute
nohow! She chimed right in, and said 'twas time yer had it, if yer was
ever goin' to--an' there it is!" He chuckled like a boy over his bit
of stratagem.
"Hadn't yer better look at it, my dear," he proposed, "just to make
certain it's all right?" Eager that his service should bring her joy,
he was anxious to see its consummation.
Polly, still dimpling with amusement over Mr. Bean's management of
Aunt Jane, unfolded the sheet. One glance at the closely-written first
page, the smiles vanished, her cheeks went white, and, drooping her
head, she wailed out:--
"Mamma! mamma! Oh, mamma, I want you!"
Mrs. Dudley sprang to comfort her, but the little man was there first.
Gathering Polly tenderly in his arms, he crooned over her like a
mother.
"There! there! my dear! There, dearie! I know! I know! It's hard! I
felt just that way when Susie went. There! cry right on my
shoulder--it'll do you good. There, dearie! Pretty soon I'll tell you
something. There! there!"
The tones were soft and soothing. Mrs. Dudley could barely make out
the words. Soon the sobbing ceased.
"I didn't know the letter was from her," Polly broke out plaintively.
"That's what she used to call me--'Polly Precious'--oh, de-e-ar!"
"There! there! I know! I know! It's hard, awful hard! I know!"
She lay back on his shoulder again, and presently was more calm.
"Now I'm goin' to tell you something," the little man resumed. "After
Susie went, I just couldn't stand it without her--she was all I had.
Her mother'd gone two years before. An' I got to thinkin' 'bout Susie,
an' how she'd always tag me round, from cellar to attic, goin' with me
fur's I'd let her when I went to work, and runnin' to meet me when I
come home. And thinks I, 'S'pose Susie's goin' to stay up in Heaven
away from me? No, sir! She's taggin' me round just the same as ever! I
can't see her, but she's right here!' An' she has been! I couldn't 'a'
stood it no other way! An' Susie couldn't! The good God knows how
much we c'n stand, and he eases things up for us.
"Now, my dear, it's just so with your mother. She loves you more--yis,
more--than you do her, an' do you think she stays away from you? Why,
no, dearie, she's right here, takin' care o' you all the time!"
"Oh! do you really s'pose that?" cried Polly joyously.
"My dear, my dear!" the little man's voice was tense with feeling, "I
don't s'pose--I _know_! Ther' 's nothin' in all God's universe so
strong as love, and so what is there to keep love away from us? For,
of course, our folks don't stop lovin' us. They're just the same, here
or there.
"I don't very often tell people how I feel, for once I got caught. A
woman thought sure I was a spiritu'list, and wanted to bring me a
message from Susie. But I told her, 'Now, Susie and I git on all right
together without talkin', and if she's got anything to say to me that
I can understand she'll say it right to me, and not to somebody she's
never seen or heard of. No, ma'am,' I says, 'I know Susie better 'n
you do!' So since then I've kep' pretty whist about Susie; but she's a
mighty comfort to me every day o' my life."
Polly sat quite still in the little man's arms, her head leaning
confidingly against the shiny, well-brushed coat. Her eyes were
lustrous with the new, beautiful thought. Could it be really true? She
was going to believe so! Presently she was smiling again, and she read
that portion of her letter which gave the addresses of her father's
relatives. She told Mr. Bean all about the wonderful discovery of
Floyd Westwood through a birthday rose, and found that an address in
the letter was identical with one which her cousin had given her. She
began to feel the pleasant reality of kinsfolk, and when the little
man went home she waved him a happy good-night from the piazza, quite
as if there were no such things as tears.