Something had collapsed in her. She was gazing at the ruins, a little
bewildered.
Herman Medfield watched her and smiled. "You hadn't thought of that!" he
said quietly.
"Well--" she made the slide gracefully and recovered herself. "No, I
hadn't thought of just--that!"
She looked at him over her glasses. "It's a good thing!" she announced.
He nodded. "But it's a secret!" he cautioned. "Nobody knows--except you
and me." He looked at her happily and shared his secret with her.
Aunt Jane's face grew inscrutable. She gave a little sigh. "When did it
happen?" she asked.
"It hasn't happened!" returned Medfield. "But it's going to----"
"Well!" Aunt Jane got her breath. "It makes me feel as if I was a kind
of blind--Blind as a bat!" she said vigorously. "Not to see.... I guess
maybe I don't see anything!" she added with quiet scorn.
He laughed out. "You see more than I wish you did!... You were the only
one I couldn't fool. You suspected something right away."
"Yes, I suspected _something_--" said Aunt Jane. She let it go at that.
She beamed on him. "I don't know _when_ I've been so pleased about
anything!" she declared. "He's a nice boy!"
"One of the best!" said Medfield. "All he needs is backbone--and a
little more steadying."
"She'll help," commented Aunt Jane.
"Yes, she will help." Medfield was thoughtful. "But he needs some one
in the business--I'm going to put him right into the business and the
older men will overrun him--if I don't look out. He's clever. But he's
too eager to agree. He takes the first thing at hand. He doesn't look
ahead."
Aunt Jane's glance followed it. "He _is_ pretty agreeable," she said
slowly. "He needs somebody kind of contrary, I guess----"
"Why!" Her face lighted. "I know a man! Mr. Dalton would be a good man
for him!" she exclaimed. "He'd be good for anybody!"
"You speak as if he were a pill!" said Medfield dryly. He had faith in
Aunt Jane; and the more he studied the face under its muslin cap, the
more faith he had--and something that was not faith, perhaps.... But as
a man of business----
"He's just the one you want," said Aunt Jane with decision.
"Well--?" He resigned himself.
"He's obstinate-- Of course, any man is obstinate," she interpolated
kindly. "But he's more set than anybody I've ever seen! Seems as if it
was part of his make-up, somehow.... I was talking with him the other
day and he was telling me about how he'd never succeeded yet----"
There was a little amused and courteous smile on the millionaire's face.
He had seen men before who had not succeeded--yet.
Aunt Jane nodded to it. "He said he couldn't stop to pick up the
twopenny bits they wanted him to--because he saw something ahead--and
all round him, kind of--that was worth more. So he was always having to
move on." She rocked a little.
Medfield sat up. His hand reached out to the pile of papers and found a
pencil.
"What did you say his name was?"
There was a keen little edge of interest to the words.
"His name is Dalton," said Aunt Jane. "His wife's been here a month and
over, now. She goes home to-morrow. She's a nice woman!"
"And what is the address?" His pencil was making little marks on the
pad.
"I'll get it for you in the office," said Aunt Jane. She got up. "He had
to write it down for me when she came--the same as you all do."
"Of course he may have 'moved on'--by this time." She smiled back to him
whimsically from the door.
"If he has moved on, we will move--after him," said Medfield. "I suspect
he's the man I have been looking for--a good while!"
Aunt Jane closed the door softly and left him to his happiness. At the
far end of the corridor, as she looked down, she caught a glimpse of a
dark, stubby figure pursuing its way. It disappeared in Room 16.... Dr.
Carmon had a difficult case on this morning. He had told her there was
little chance for the man in Number 16. She felt the concentration in
the broad back as it disappeared from sight; and her thought left the
millionaire in his suite and followed the shabby, grim figure into a
darkened room.