About the Phipps' home hung now the atmosphere of expectancy. It had so
hung for several weeks, ever since the first letter to Cousin Gussie had
been posted, but now there was in it a different quality, a quality
of brightness, of cheer. Martha seemed more like herself, the capable,
adequate self which Galusha had met when he staggered into that house
out of the rain and wind of his first October night on Cape Cod. She was
more talkative, laughed more frequently, and bustled about her work with
much, if not all, of her former energy. She, herself, was quite aware
of the change and commented upon it rather apologetically in one of her
talks with her lodger.
“It's ridiculous,” she said, “and I know it, but I can't help it. I'm
as excited as a child and almost as sure everything is goin' to come out
right as--well, as Primmie is. I wasn't so at all in the beginnin'; when
we first sent that letter to your cousin I didn't think there was much
more than one chance in a thousand that he would take any interest in
Wellmouth Development stock. But since you got back from your Boston
cruise, Mr. Bangs, I've felt altogether different. What the Cabot,
Bancroft and Cabot folks said wasn't any too definite; when I sit right
down and think about it I realize it wasn't. But it was encouraging,
real encouraging. And that bit of real encouragement has made me over,
like an old dress. Which reminds me that I've got to be makin' over some
of MY old dresses pretty soon, or summer'll be here and I won't have
a thing fit to wear. I declare,” she added, with a laugh, “this is the
first time I've even thought about clothes since last fall. And when a
woman forgets to be interested in dressmakin' she's pretty far gone....
Why, what makes you look so sorrowful? Is anything wrong?”
Galusha replied that nothing whatever was wrong; there was, he said, no
reason in the world why he should appear sorrowful. Yet, this answer
was not the exact truth; there were reasons, and speeches such as Miss
Martha's reminded him of them. They awoke his uneasy conscience to the
fear that the encouragement she found in his report from Cabot, Bancroft
and Cabot was almost entirely due to his interpretation of that report
and not to the facts behind it. However, as she must on no account
guess this to be the case, he smiled and assumed an air more than ever
carefree.
One afternoon, when, on his way home after an unusually lengthy walk, he
stopped at the post office, he found that the Phipps' mail had already
been delivered.
“Zach Bloomer stopped along in and took it,” explained Miss Tamson
Black, the postmaster's sister-in-law. “I told him I presumed likely
you'd be here after it yourself pretty soon, but it didn't make no
difference. He said--but maybe I better not tell you.”
“Oh, yes--no doubt,” observed Galusha, who was, as usual, paying little
attention.
Tamson, plainly disappointed at his lack of curiosity, elevated her thin
nose.
“Well,” she observed, “what he SAID was that, fur's things bein' here
was concerned, Christmas would be here, give it time enough. Pretty
sassy kind of talk, _I_ call it, but maybe you ain't so partic'lar, Mr.
Bangs.”
“Dear me! Of course. Well, well!... Oh, were there any letters
for--ah--for me, may I ask?”
“Why, yes, there was, two of 'em. That's what made me cal'late you
might like to get 'em first yourself. I knew you didn't get letters
very often, Mr. Bangs; that is, I've noticed you ain't since I've been
helpin' in this office. Anyhow, 'most anybody would rather get their own
mail private than have Zach Bloomer cartin' it from land-knows-where to
never-and-gone, smellin' it all up with old tobacco pipes and fish or
whatever else he carries 'round in his pockets. Course I don't mean he
lugs fish around in his pocket, 'tain't likely--He, he, he--but that old
coat of his always smells like a--like a porgie boat. And I don't know's
I mean that those letters of yours were any more 'special private than
common; anyhow, both envelopes was in MALE handwritin'--He, he, he! But
I noticed one was stamped from way out in--in Nevada, seems if 'twas,
so--”
“Eh?” Galusha came to life with astonishing quickness. “From--from
Nevada, did you say?”
“Um-hm. I remember it real plain now. You see, it kind of caught my eye
as I was sortin.' We don't never get much mail from Nevada--not in this
office we don't never hardly. So when I see... Well, my good land!”
The exclamation was caused by the unceremonious suddenness of Mr. Bangs'
exit. He was well across the road by the time Miss Black reached the
window.
“My good land!” exclaimed Tamson again. Later she told her
brother-in-law that she cal'lated that Nevada letter was maybe more
private than she cal'lated first, and that she bet you she was goin' to
look pretty hard at the handwritin' on the NEXT one that come.
Primmie, apparently, had been watching through the kitchen window for
Galusha to appear. At any rate, she opened the door for him. Her
mouth opened also, but he, for perhaps the first time in their
acquaintanceship, spoke first.
“I know--I know, Primmie,” he said, hastily; “or if I don't know you can
tell me later on. Ah--please don't delay me now.”
Primmie was struggling between surprise and disappointment.
“Well,” she observed, as the little man hurriedly shed his hat and coat;
“well, all right, Mr. Bangs. Only Zach, he told me to be sure and tell
you, and tell you how sorry he was that it happened, and that he can't
exactly figger out just how it did come to happen, neither.”
“Eh?” Galusha paused, with one arm still in the sleeve of his overcoat.
“Happen? What has happened to--ah--Mr. Bloomer?”
“Ain't nothin' happened to him. 'Twas him that made it happen to your
letter. And THAT letter of all letters! You see, Zach he don't exactly
remember when 'twas he got it from the post office, but it must have
been much as a week ago, sartin sure. Anyhow, when he took out the
lighthouse mail he left this letter in the pocket, and to-day, just now,
when he got them other letters of yours and put 'em in the same pocket,
he found the first one. And when I see that 'Cabot, What-d'ye-call-it
and Cabot' name printed out right on the envelope and it come over me
that 'twas THAT letter he'd forgot and had been totin' 'round with him,
'WELL,' says I. 'My Lord of Isrul!' I says--”
“Primmie! Primmie, stop! Stop--please! And tell me: Where are those
letters?”
“Hey? I was goin' to tell you. _I_ put 'em right here on the dinin' room
table, but Miss Martha she carted 'em off upstairs to your bedroom. Said
she presumed likely you'd want to open 'em by yourself. _I_ don't see
why--”
“Hush! Hush! Where is--ah--Miss Phipps?”
“She's in the settin' room. Told me not to disturb her, she wanted to be
alone. I--”
Galusha hastened away, leaving the excited Miss Cash still talking. From
the foot of the stairs he caught a glimpse of Martha in the chair by the
front window of the sitting room, looking out. She must have heard him,
but she did not turn her head. Nor did he speak to her. Time enough for
that when he had read what was in those letters.
There they were, three of them, upon his bureau. He picked up the one
on top. It bore upon the envelope the words “National Institute,
Washington, D. C.,” and was, he knew, merely a monthly report. Usually
such reports were of great interest to him; this one was not. He had
really important matters to claim his attention.
The second letter was, obviously, that which the forgetful Zacheus had
carried about with him for a week. In the corner was the Cabot, Bancroft
and Cabot name. He tore it open. An oblong slip of paper fell to the
floor. He did not even stoop to pick this up, for there was a letter,
too. It began:
“Prof. Galusha Bangs, East Wellmouth, Mass.
“DEAR SIR:
“Pursuant to your instructions in our conversation of recent date I am
enclosing check representing your share of the new Tinplate re-issue,
sale of rights, transfer of old stock, bonus, etc. The transfer has
been, as I told you I felt sure it would be, very advantageous and
profitable to stockholders like yourself. The amount due you, as shown
in statement attached, is--”
Galusha read no further. What did he care for Tinplate, profits,
business, or anything like that! There was not a word in the letter
concerning Wellmouth Development. It was a bitter disappointment.
But there was the third letter, the letter from Nevada. He opened that.
The first page which he looked at was that bearing the signature. Yes,
the letter was from George L. Thomas, and George L. Thomas was Cousin
Gussie's private secretary. At last!
The letter shook in Galusha's fingers as he began to read. Mr. Thomas
was glad to hear from him, glad to learn that he was in better health,
etc.... All right enough, this beginning, but not at all important.
Thomas also felt sure that he, Professor Bangs, would be grateful to
know that Mr. Cabot's condition was, so his physician seemed to think,
steadily improving. The improvement was slow, of course, which was to
be expected, but... a long paragraph here which Galusha skipped. He was
highly pleased to know that Cousin Gussie was better, but at present
that was sufficient; he could not waste time in reading details of the
convalescence. WHY didn't the man get down to business?
Ah, here it was! Mr. Thomas wrote:
“In your letter to Mr. Cabot I note your inquiry concerning the stock
of the Wellmouth Development Company, its desirability as an investment,
the likelihood of present sale, and so on. I know nothing of the matter
personally, and am not in a position to ascertain at the present time.
Speaking in a general way, however, and with my only knowledge of the
facts in the case that supplied by your letter, I should suggest that
your friend keep his stock and await developments. I am quite sure that
a forced sale--if such a sale could now be made at any price, which I
doubt--would involve the sacrifice of almost the entire amount invested.
I should suggest holding on and waiting.”
Galusha passed his shaking hand across his perspiring forehead.
“Oh, dear me!” he said aloud.
“This would be my advice,” went on the letter, “but if you wish a more
positive answer I suggest your writing Mr. Minor at our Boston office.
He will be very glad to look into the matter for you, I am sure,
although I am practically certain his views will agree with mine. Of
course, as you will understand, it is quite impossible to mention your
inquiry to Mr. Cabot. He is here to regain his health, which is still
very far from normal, his doctor is with him, and the one word which is
positively forbidden is 'Business.' Mr. Cabot is supposed to forget that
there is such a thing. By the way he spoke of you only the other day,
and jokingly said he wondered how mummies and quahaugs were mixing.
The fact that he is beginning to joke once more we all consider most
encouraging....”
A paragraph or two more of this sort of thing and then Mr. Thomas'
signature. Galusha stared at the letter dully. This--this was what
he and Martha Phipps had awaited so long! This was the outcome of his
brilliant idea which was to save the Phipps' home... and its owner's
peace of mind... and Primmie... and ....
Oh, dear me! dear me!
Galusha walked slowly across the room to the chair by the window, and,
sitting down, continued to stare hopelessly at the letter in his hand.
He read it for the second time, but this rereading brought no comfort
whatever. Rather, it served to bring home to him the hard realities
of the whole wretched affair. Cousin Gussie's interest was what he had
banked on, and that interest was absolutely unapproachable. To write
Minor at the Boston office was a possibility, of course, but, in his
present frame of mind Galusha felt no hope that such a proceeding would
help. Thomas had written what amounted to that very thing; Thomas was
“practically certain” that Minor's views would agree with his. And,
besides, to write Minor meant another long wait, and Martha Phipps must
be very close to her limit of waiting. How could he summon the courage
to descend to the sitting room and tell her that she must prepare for
another period of waiting, with almost certain disappointment at the
end?
A temperament like Galusha Bangs' is capable of soaring to the heights
and descending to the depths. Just now the elevator was going down,
and down it continued to go to the very subcellar. It was dark in that
subcellar, not a ray of light anywhere. Galusha realized now, or thought
he did, that all his great scheme for helping Martha to dispose of her
Development shares had been based upon nothing substantial, nothing but
rainbow-tinted hopes which, in turn, were based upon nothing but wishes.
Omitting the hopes and wishes, what was there left? Just what the
president of the Trumet Trust Company had told Martha and what Raish
Pulcifer, when angered into truthtelling, had told him. That is, that
the shares of the Wellmouth Development Company might be worth something
some day, but that now they were worth nothing, because no one would buy
them.
Yes... yes, that was the truth.... But how could he go down to the
sitting room and tell Martha Phipps that truth, having already told her
so much that was quite different?
If she would only let him lend her the five thousand dollars, or
whatever it was. He did not know how much Cousin Gussie was taking care
of for him at present, but there had been a large sum at the time
of Aunt Clarissa's death. He remembered that the figures had quite
frightened him then. He had not thought much about them since, because
they did not interest him. He always had enough for his needs and more
than enough, and dividends, and interests, and investments and all such
things bored him and made him nervous. But, now that he WAS interested
in an investment--Martha Phipps' investment--it brought home to him the
undisputable fact that he, Galusha Bangs, had plenty of money to lend,
if he wished to lend it.
And if Cousin Gussie, or Cousin Gussie's representatives, would let him
have it for such a purpose! Cousin Gussie always made such an unpleasant
disturbance when he expressed a desire for any of his money, asked so
many embarrassing questions as to what was to be done with it, and the
like. If he should go now and ask for five thousand dollars to lend
Martha Phipps, what...
But Martha Phipps would not accept a loan, anyway. She had told him that
very thing, and he knew her well enough by this time to know she meant
what she said.
Yet there remained the imminent and dreadful question: How, how, HOW
could he go down to where she was sitting waiting and tell her that her
hopes, hopes which he had raised, were based solely upon the vaporings
of an optimistic donkey?
In his wrathful disgust with that donkey he shifted angrily in his chair
and his foot struck a bit of paper upon the floor. It rustled and the
rustle attracted his attention. Absently he stepped and picked up the
paper. It was the slip which had fallen from the Cabot, Bancroft and
Cabot letter and was a check drawn to his order for fourteen thousand,
three hundred and ten dollars and thirty-eight cents, his share of the
Tinplate “melon.”
Fifteen more minutes passed before Mr. Bangs came down to the sitting
room, but when he did he came in a great hurry. He dashed into the
apartment and announced his intention of starting for Boston at once.
“And--and if you will be so kind as to let me have those--ah--shares of
yours, Miss Martha,” he said.
Martha looked at him. She had been rather pale when he entered, but now
the color rushed to her face.
“Shares?” she repeated. “Do you mean--”
“Those--ah--Development shares of yours--yes. If you will be good enough
to let me take them with me--”
“Take them with you?... Oh, Mr. Bangs, you don't mean you have heard
from your cousin and that he is goin' to--”
“Yes--ah--yes,” broke in Galusha, hastily. “I have heard. I am to--that
is, I must take the shares with me and go to Boston at once. If you will
be willing to entrust them to me, Miss Martha.”
“I'll get 'em this minute.” She started toward the stairs, but paused
and turned.
“Is it really settled, Mr. Bangs?” she asked, as if scarcely daring to
believe in the possibility. “Are they really goin' to buy that Wellmouth
stock of mine?”
“Why--why--” Galusha was yawing badly, but he clutched the helm and kept
on the course; “I--ah--hope so, Miss Martha, I hope so.”
“And pay me--pay me MONEY for it?”
“I presume so. I hope so. If you will--”
“I declare, it doesn't seem possible! Who, for mercy sakes, is goin' to
buy it? Mr. Cabot, himself?”
He had been expecting this and was prepared for it. He had rehearsed
his answer many times before coming downstairs. He held up a protesting
hand.
“I am very sorry,” he said, “but--but, you see, that is a--ah--secret,
I understand. Of course, they did not write me who was to buy the stock
and so--and so--”
“And so you don't know. Well, it doesn't make a bit of difference,
really. The Lord knows I shouldn't care so long as I sell it honestly
and don't cheat anybody. And a big house like Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot
ought to know what they're doin' when they buy, or let any of their
customers buy. I'll get the certificate this very minute, Mr. Bangs.”
She hastened up the stairs. Galusha wiped his forehead and breathed
heavily. There was a knock on the door leading to the dining room; it
opened and Primmie's head appeared.
“I heard her go upstairs,” she whispered, hoarsely. “Is it all right,
Mr. Bangs? Was there good news in that What-you-call-it-Bancroft letter,
Mr. Bangs? Was there?”
“Go away, Primmie! Go AWAY!”
“I'm a-goin'. But was there?”
“Yes--ah--no--I--I guess so.”
“Lord everlastin' of Isrul! My savin' soul!”
Martha's footsteps on the stairs caused the head to disappear and the
door to close. Miss Phipps appeared, her hand clasping a highly ornate
document.
“Here's the certificate,” she said, breathlessly. “I'm so upset and
excited I don't know hardly whether I'm in the channel or hard aground,
as father used to say, but I've signed my name on the back. Once when I
sold two shares of railroad stock he left me I had to sign on the back
there. I HOPE I've done it in the right place.”
Galusha declared the signature to be quite right, yes. As a matter of
fact, he could not have told for certain that there was a signature
there. He crammed the certificate into his pocket.
“Oh, my sakes!” protested Martha, “you aren't goin' to just put it loose
into that pocket, are you? Don't you think it ought to go in your--your
wallet, or somewhere?”
“Eh? Why--why, I presume it had.... Dear me, yes.... It would be a--a
joke if I lost it, wouldn't it?”
“A JOKE! Well, it wouldn't be my notion of a joke, exactly.”
“Oh, dear, dear! Did I say 'joke'? I didn't mean that it would actually
be--ah--humorous, of course. I meant... I meant.... Really, I don't
think I know what I meant.”
“I don't believe you do. Mr. Bangs, I truly think you are more excited
about all this than I am, and all on my account. What can I ever say--or
do--to--”
“Please, please, Miss Martha! Dear me, dear me, DON'T speak in that
way. It's so--ah--nonsensical, you know. Now if--if I may have my coat
and--ah--cap--”
“Cap! Goodness gracious, you weren't plannin' to wear that old cap,
earlaps and all, to Boston, were you? And--mercy me! I didn't think of
it until this minute--the train doesn't go for 'most two hours.”
She burst out laughing and, because she was overwrought and a trifle
hysterical, she laughed a good deal. Galusha laughed even longer than
she did, not because he was hysterical, but because laughing was very
much easier and safer than answering embarrassing questions.
When it really was time to leave for the railroad station and Galusha,
NOT wearing the earlapped cap, but hatted and garbed as became his rank
and dignity, was standing on the stone step by the outside door, she
said:
“Now do be careful, Mr. Bangs.”
“Yes--yes, I will, I promise you. I shall keep one hand in my pocket,
holding the pocketbook with the certificate in it, until I get to the
office. I shall think of nothing else.”
“Mercy me, think of SOMETHIN' else, please! Think of yourself when
you're goin' across those Boston streets or you'll be run over. I
declare, I don't know as I ought to let you go.”
“Oh, I shall be quite safe, quite. But, really,” he added, with a
puzzled smile, “I can't tell you how odd this seems. When I was a boy my
Aunt Clarissa, I remember, used to caution me about--about crossing the
streets, and so on. It makes me feel quite young again to have you do
it, Miss Martha. I assure you it does.”
Martha regarded him gravely.
“Hasn't anybody since ever told you to be careful?” she asked; “anybody
since your aunt died, I mean?”
“Why, no, I think not. I presume,” he added, with the air of one
suggesting a happy explanation, “I presume no one has--ah--been
sufficiently interested. It would have been peculiar if they had been,
of course.”
“Hum!... Well, I hope you won't think I am impudent for remindin' you to
look out.”
“Oh, no, indeed. It is very nice of you to take the trouble. I like it,
really I do.”
The office of Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot was closed when his train
reached Boston, so he went to a hotel and remained there over-night.
But he was on hand at the banking office early the next morning. In the
interval he had time for more reflection and, as a result, he determined
not to go to Mr. Barbour with his business. The fear that knowledge of
what he was about to do would reach Cousin Gussie's ears was strong upon
him. Doubtless it was a fact that he had a right to do what he pleased
with his own money, but it was also a fact that Cousin Gussie seemed
to think he had no such right. Barbour was the Cabot secretary, or
assistant secretary, so decidedly it was best not to go to Barbour.
It was Minor whom he saw as he entered the banking house and to Minor he
divulged his business. Taking from his pocketbook the Tinplate check, he
asked if he might have it--ah--broken up, so to speak.
“You see,” he explained, “I want to get--ah--five thousand dollars.”
Minor appeared rather puzzled at first, and Mr. Bangs' tangled and
nervous explanations did not seem to enlighten him greatly. At last,
however, he caught the idea.
“I see,” he said. “You don't want to deposit and draw against it; you
want two checks instead of one. One check for five thousand and the
other for the balance.”
“Yes, yes, yes,” assented Galusha, much relieved. “That is it, exactly.
I am very much obliged to you--indeed I am--yes.”
Minor took him to one of the windows and introduced him to the clerk at
the desk behind it.
“Give Mr. Bangs whatever he wants,” he said.
Galusha explained. The clerk asked how he would have the
five-thousand-dollar check made out.
“In your own name?” he asked.
Mr. Bangs reflected. “Why--ah--” he stammered, “I should prefer it
in--ah--some other name, if possible. I should prefer that my name was
not connected with it, if you don't mind.”
“In the name of the person you intend paying it to?” inquired the clerk.
Galusha reflected again. If Martha Phipps' name were written on that
check it would be possible that, some day or other, Cousin Gussie
might see it. And if he saw it, questions would be asked, embarrassing
questions.
“No-o,” he said, hesitatingly; “no, I think I should not care to have
her--that is, to have that person's name appear, either. Isn't
there some way by which the sum could be paid without any one's name
appearing? A check to--to--oh, dear me! why CAN'T I think of it?”
“To bearer, you mean?”
“That's it, that's it. A check to bearer would be very satisfactory,
very satisfactory, indeed. Thank you very much.”
The clerk, who was a painstaking young man, destined to rise in his
profession, inspected the odd individual outside the railing.
“A check to bearer is almost the same as cash,” he said. “If you should
lose it, it would be negotiable--practically the money itself, or pretty
near it.”
Galusha started. He looked radiantly happy.
“That's it!” he exclaimed. “That's it, of course. Thank you for
the suggestion. The money will be the very thing. It will be such a
delightful surprise. And there will be no one's name upon it at all. I
will take the money, of course.”
It took some time to convince the astonished clerk that Mr. Bangs
actually wished five thousand dollars in currency, but he finally was
convinced.
“How will you have it?” he asked. “Small bills or large?”
Galusha apparently did not care. Any denominations would be quite
satisfactory, he affirmed. So, when the transaction was finished, and he
left the Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot office, it was with a new check for
nine thousand, three hundred and ten dollars and thirty-eight cents in
his pocketbook and in his trousers' pocket a roll of bills as thick as
his wrist. By way of modification to this statement, it may be well to
explain that Galusha Bangs' wrists, considered AS wrists, were by no
means thick.
The clerk stared after him as he departed and a fellow clerk paused to
ask questions.
“Who was the old guy?” he inquired.
“Name's Bangs.”
“What is he?”
“A nut,” was the reply, given with the assurance of absolute conviction.
The “nut” traveled back to East Wellmouth upon the afternoon train
and, back once more in the Phipps' sitting room, “shelled out” upon the
center table. Martha stared at the heap of bills and caught her breath
with a gasp.
Galusha deposited the last bank note upon the table. “There!” he
exclaimed, with satisfaction; “that is all, I believe. And I have
actually gotten it here--all of it. I am quite sure I haven't lost a--a
penny. Dear me, that is a very remarkable thing to do--for me to do, I
mean.”
Miss Phipps did not answer and, turning, he saw that she was sitting in
the rocking-chair, her hand to her forehead. Her face was white.
“Dear me!” he exclaimed, in alarm. “Miss Martha, are you ill?”
Still she did not answer and, very much frightened, he hastened to the
door, opened it, and shouted for Primmie. The summons for her handmaiden
acted as a complete restorative. Martha came to life at once.
“WHAT in the world are you callin' Primmie for?” she demanded. “I don't
want her. I wouldn't have her see all that.... Oh, good heavens and
earth!”
Primmie was already in the room. She, as Mr. Bangs would have described
it, bounced in.
“Yes'm--I mean yes, sir,” was her salutation. “Here I be.... Oh, my
savin' soul of Isrul!”
She had seen the mound of money upon the table. Two minutes later Martha
and her lodger were again alone in the sitting room. Primmie had been,
gently but firmly, escorted to outer darkness and the door closed behind
her. She was still asking questions and calling for her ransomed spirit
and the ruler of Israel; they could hear her do so even through the
door. The exclamations died away in the direction of the kitchen. Miss
Phipps, who had done escort duty, turned toward Galusha and ruefully
shook her head.
“I GUESS there isn't anybody I'd rather should not have been here just
now than Primmie Cash,” she observed. “If there is I can't think of
their names. Mr. Bangs, I know you meant well, because you couldn't mean
any other way, but would you mind tellin' me WHY you called for her?”
Galusha blinked in bewildered fashion behind his spectacles.
“Why--why,” he stammered, “you--you see--why, I spoke to you several
times and you did not answer--and you were so pale, I thought--I
thought--”
“You thought I was sick and so you sung out for Primmie. Humph! that's a
good deal like jumpin' into the well to get out of the rain. But there,
never mind. So I looked pale and didn't answer when you spoke? Do
you wonder? Mr. Bangs,” she moved to the table and laid a hand, which
trembled a good deal, upon the pile of bills, “is this money really
mine?”
“Yes--oh, yes, indeed. It is yours, of course.”
“All of it? It doesn't seem possible. How much is there here?”
He told her. She lifted the topmost bills from the heap and reverently
laid them down again.
“Five thousand dollars!” she repeated. “It's like--it's like somethin'
in a dream, or a book, isn't it? I can hardly believe I am Martha
Phipps. So they did think Wellmouth Development was worth somethin',
after all. And they paid--why, Mr. Bangs, they paid the full price,
didn't they! Twenty dollars a share; as much as father paid in the first
place.”
“Yes--ah--yes, of course. Yes, indeed. Are you sure you feel quite well
again, Miss Martha?”
“I'm sure. But what did they say when they bought it, Mr. Bangs?”
“Say? Ah, say?... Why, they said--ah--um--they said there was the money
and--and I counted it, you know, and--”
“Yes, yes. But didn't they say anything about the stock; about why they
bought it, and like that?”
“Why, no... no, I think nothing was--ah--so to speak--ah--said.
They--ah--Won't you sit down again, Miss Martha? I think you had
better.”
“Sit down! Mr. Bangs, I'm too excited to sit down. I could fly, I think,
a good deal easier than I could sit; at least, I feel as if I could.
And so they just bought that stock and said nothing more than that? Just
bought it?”
“Yes--ah--yes, that's it. They--ah--bought it, you know.”
“It seems strange. What did your cousin say?”
“Ah--my cousin? Cousin Gussie, you mean. Yes, yes, of course. Oh, he
said--ah--all sorts of things.”
“Did he? About the stock?”
“Oh, no, not about the stock so much. No, not so much about that,
about... a sort of general conversation it was, about--about the
weather, and--and the like.”
“The weather? Did he write about the weather in his letter?”
He had for the moment forgotten that his relative was an invalid in the
Far West and that Miss Phipps knew it. He turned red, coughed, stammered
and then broke out in a series of fragmentary and involved explanations
to the effect that Cousin Gussie was--ah--naturally much interested in
the weather because of his state of health and--and--She paid little
heed, for in the midst of his explaining she interrupted.
“Oh, never mind, never mind,” she said. “It doesn't make one bit of
difference and why I asked about it I don't know. You see, Mr. Bangs,
I'm not back on earth yet, as you might say, and I don't suppose I shall
be for a little while, so you'll have to be patient with me. All I can
think of is that now I can live here in this house, for a while longer
anyhow, and perhaps always. And I sha'n't have to turn Primmie away.
And--and maybe I won't have to lie awake night after night, plannin' how
I can do this and do without that--and--and--”
She stopped, her sentence unfinished. Galusha said nothing. A moment
later she turned to him.
“Should I write your cousin a letter and thank him, do you think?” she
asked.
Galusha's reply was hurriedly given and most emphatic. “Oh, no, no,” he
protested. “It will be quite unnecessary, quite. Indeed, no. He--ah--he
would not expect it.”
“No, I presume likely he wouldn't. And, after all, it was just a matter
of business with his firm. But it wasn't a matter of business with you,
Mr. Bangs. And if it hadn't been for you, I--I--Well, I mustn't say any
more or--or... Oh, you understand what I want to say, don't you?”
“Now--now, Miss Martha, please. I have done nothing, really, nothing but
what any friend would have done.”
“Any friend like you, you mean. I don't know where there are any more
such friends, Mr. Bangs.”
“Now, PLEASE. Miss Martha, I--I HOPE you won't mention this again. It
will oblige me greatly if you will not. Really, I--I mean it.”
She nodded, slowly. “Yes,” she said, “bein' you, I think you do mean it.
So I won't say any more; but I shall think a great deal, Mr. Bangs, and
I never shall stop thinkin'.... There! And now what shall I do with all
this money? Of course, I'll put it in the bank to-morrow, but what will
I do with it to-night? By the way,” she added, “it seems queer they
should have paid you in cash instead of a check. Why did they, I
wonder?”
Here was a demand for more explaining. Galusha plunged headlong,
foundered, and then emerged, like a dog, with an explanation, such as it
was, between his teeth.
“They--ah--they thought the money would be safer,” he said.
Martha laughed aloud. “Safer?” she repeated. “Why, that's funny. Perhaps
they're right, but I know the only way I shall feel safe between now
and bankin' time tomorrow is to stay awake and watch every minute. Oh,
I sha'n't do that exactly, of course, but I'm beginnin' to realize the
responsibility of havin' riches. Ah hum! I laugh, Mr. Bangs, but you
mustn't think it's because I don't realize what you--I mean... well, I
guess I laugh because I'm kind of hysterical and--happy. I haven't been
so happy for a long, long time. I won't say it again because you don't
want me to, but for this once more, thank you, Mr. Bangs.”
As Galusha left her to go to his room, she said: “Now I must go out and
get after Primmie again. I'm scared to death that she'll tell everybody
from here to Provincetown about my bein' worth a million dollars. She
won't make it any LESS than a million, and the chances are it will be
consider'ble more.”
“But, Miss Martha, you have already told her not to tell about the
money. I heard you tell her just now when you sent her out of the room.”
Martha shrugged her shoulders.
“When you pour water into a sieve,” she said, “it doesn't do much good
to tell the sieve not to leak. Father used to say that some folks' heads
were built so that whatever was poured into their ears ran right out of
their mouths. Primmie's is made that way, I'm afraid. She'll swear she
won't tell, and she won't mean to tell, but... Well, good-night, Mr.
Bangs.”