Mrs. Goudeket snapped angrily, "He's your father, maybe? A whole
hospital they bring in on trucks to take care of him, and you can't
trust the doctors to fix him up? So stay, Mrs. Chesbro! Hang around the
old man some more, make a fool out of yourself. But I have to get to
work!"
She glared furiously at the other woman, trembling with anger. Polly
Chesbro was wiser than she; Polly felt the anger, and knew it was
directed not at herself but at something inside the old lady. Polly
said perceptively, "Don't worry, Mrs. Goudeket. Everything always works
out."
The old lady was crying. Dick McCue stared in wonder as Polly Chesbro
put her arms around the woman and protected her from the harsh
surrounding world.
After a moment Mrs. Goudeket pushed herself away, sniffing. "You have
a Kleenex?" she inquired, embarrassed. "I don't know what got into me,
Polly. Please, you have to excuse--"
"There's nothing to excuse," said Polly Chesbro. "We're all worn out."
"No, not worn out. Tired, yes. Sick, maybe." Mrs. Goudeket wiped her
streaming nose and said dismally, "Ever since Sam died it's slave,
slave, slave. You know what Sam said? Every year. 'Next year we go to
the Holy Land, why not?' And always I found a reason. So we kept on
with the hotel, and it killed him." She patted Polly's arm absently.
"Worn out is from a summer with the guests complaining about the food
and changing their rooms. From something like this flood you only get
tired."
* * * * *
Mrs. Goudeket pulled herself together after a while. Polly left her,
and then came back. "Mr. Starkman's wife is with him," she reported.
"I suppose I might as well go with you, Mrs. Goudeket--if the offer's
still open."
"Open? Of course it's still open. And Mr. Starkman?"
"Much better. They think he'll be all right now." Polly Chesbro's
expression was grave and joyous. They'd pulled the old man through;
and Bess Starkman had been more than grateful for Polly's help to her
husband. Polly said, "Let's get the others."
"Others?" Mrs. Goudeket demanded suspiciously.
"Mr. Groff and Arthur--and Miss Froman."
Mrs. Goudeket looked mutinous. "Mr. Groff is perfectly welcome to come
if he is so inclined," she said. "Likewise Mr. Chesbro. But as for Miss
Froman, believe me, Polly, I know her better than you. She'll get along
wherever she is, trust her, but it isn't going to be at Goudeket's
Green Acres."