THE HUNCH-BACK AGAIN
"But this isn't where our cabin is!" Nan exclaimed the next morning as
Bess and Rhoda, one on each side of her, walked her slowly from the
hospital back to the stateroom.
"Yes, it is, Nan," Rhoda maintained.
"But ours was number 648. It was an outside cabin." Nan continued to
protest. "Or have I gone completely batty?"
"I wouldn't say that," Rhoda teased, "though you do do some pretty
strange things sometimes. However, this is your cabin now and it's not
an outside one. There just wasn't another outside one free."
"But why did I need another? What was wrong with the one I had? What
happened? Please tell me," she pleaded. The questions tumbled one after
another out of Nan's mouth, for she was impatient, still somewhat shaken
after her frightening experience during the storm.
"Oh, Nan, it's nothing at all," Bess comforted. "That is, I hope it
isn't, because it's all my fault," she added very contritely. "It was so
warm here the night of the storm that I opened the porthole when I came
down to leave my heavy coat. Amelia called me and told me to hurry and,
rattle-brained as I am, I ran after her completely forgetting about the
storm and the porthole. You can guess what happened. One of those big
waves that nearly did away with you plopped in and made a miniature
lake."
"Was anything ruined?" Nan asked.
"Nothing, except my own silk dress. Remember, I threw it down in disgust
that afternoon because the snaps had been pulled off the sleeves. Well,
you should see it now. It's a complete wreck. Serves me right to have to
get along without it. I only hope you don't feel too disappointed in the
new cabin." Bess looked genuinely troubled.
"Don't worry," Nan reassured her friend. "I don't care what kind of a
cabin I have," she said lightly, for such things really didn't matter to
her.
But the words were hardly out of her mouth when Bess pushed the door
open and revealed to Nan a big stateroom with twin beds, a chaise
longue, two big easy chairs, dainty dressing tables, a large wardrobe,
and a little private sitting room!
Nan gasped. "This isn't ours," she exclaimed incredulously.
Rhoda and Bess looked from Nan to the stateroom and back again to Nan.
"It is," they cried. "It's yours."
Nan stepped into the room and looked around. The sitting room had big
windows overlooking the deck and the sea. There were books and
magazines, a victrola, comfortable chairs and a rug. Over it all the
morning sun was streaming.
"But why?" Nan's eyes were wide open in amazement.
"Captain's orders," Rhoda answered.
"Why?" Nan persisted.
"I told you why," Bess smiled. "It's because our cabin was inundated by
the recent flood."
"I still don't believe that's the truth," Nan asserted. "But I love this
place just the same."
"Do we walk right in?" It was Laura at the door. "Or do we have to send
cards first?"
"Oh, Laura!" Nan exclaimed. "Come here. Have you seen this?" She moved
the dial of a small radio.
"Have I seen that? Why, darling, I moved your things in," Laura laughed.
"And what's more, I was here when the Captain came."
"The Captain!" They all exclaimed at once.
"Yes, he came down in all his glory. He has a stern looking face
complete with a Vandyke beard, and he wore a uniform with epaulettes and
much fancy braid. He carried a cap in his hand. He came 'to see if Miss
Sherwood's stateroom was satisfactory.'" Laura tried to clip the
sentence off as the Captain had.
"You should hear his accent!" she exclaimed. "It's Oxford or Cambridge
or something equally as exclusive, I'm sure. I'm quite in love with the
man! He's perfectly darling!" she finished.
"I beg your pardon." The girls jumped and looked up, startled, for it
was a man's voice. They recognized at once the uniform, the cap, and the
Vandyke beard. It was the Captain! He must have heard them!
He looked sternly down on their confusion. "Miss Sherwood?"
"Yes, Captain." Nan answered meekly and started to get up.
"No, no," he motioned her to remain seated.
Nan sat down again. The voice was one that was accustomed to being
obeyed.
"I merely wanted to make certain that everything was satisfactory." He
looked critically about the room.
"Oh, it is! It is!" Nan exclaimed. "It's just perfect!" Not even her
confusion could keep the note of sincerity out of her voice.
The Captain seemed preoccupied with his inspection of the stateroom.
"Your baggage has been moved." It was more a statement than a question.
"You are feeling--well."
"Yes, thank you, sir," Nan hastened to reply. Had she felt otherwise she
wouldn't have dared to admit it in the face of his assurance.
"You want for nothing?"
"No--no, sir. Nothing at all." Nan was annoyed at her own inability to
be at ease. If only he had come at another time!
Then his glance seemed to take in Laura for the first time.
"And Miss Polk, I trust that you are comfortable too." Again, it was a
statement and Laura gulped, not knowing whether she was supposed to
answer or not.
"I thank you, ladies." With this he turned and went out.
Even before his measured tread was entirely out of earshot, Laura was
lamenting. "If only I had kept my mouth shut!" she exclaimed. "'Oxford
or Cambridge accent.'" She sounded completely disgusted. "'I'm in love
with the man! He's perfectly darling.' And then he walks in on me! What
can I do? You can't walk up to a man and apologize for anything like
that." She looked hopelessly at her friends.
Nan was laughing so hard she was holding both her sides and so was
Bess. Rhoda was stuffing a handkerchief into her mouth. "Oh, I never saw
anything so funny in my life," she said.
"Funny!" Laura was indignant. "I'd like to know what was funny about
that! Funny!" she muttered.
"Oh, Laura," Nan was wiping the tears out of her eyes. "If you could
have seen the expression on your face when he asked whether you were
comfortable, you would laugh too."
Laura grinned with them at this. "The old meany," she said. "He heard
every word of what I said, and he was just rubbing it in. And I thought
he was a chivalrous old duck! I wish he would come back now. I'd tell
him what was what."
"Don't, don't say that." Rhoda raised a protesting hand. "You'll meet
him soon enough as it is."
"Oh, no, I won't," Laura denied. "I'm not going to stir out of my cabin
from now until the time the boat docks. I just couldn't face that man
again." She turned as though to leave, but stopped as Grace came into
the room.
"What man?" Grace asked. "Did you see him too?" Her face was pale and
scared looking.
"What are you talking about?" Rhoda rushed over and closed the door
behind Grace.
"That man, that red-headed hunchback. Oh, the one that went through
Nan's bags. Surely, you haven't forgotten him. Did you see him, too?"
She directed the question at Laura again.
"Why, Gracie, no, I haven't seen him." Laura was very serious now. "Have
you?"
"Oh, yes." Grace was pale and frightened. "He's out there. I think he
followed me down the hall." She was almost hysterical.
Laura moved toward the door and reached out as if to open it.
"Don't do that!" Grace's voice was a command. "He followed me. I tell
you he followed me!" She almost shrieked the last.
Nan got up, went over to the girl, and put a reassuring arm around her.
"Grace, please," she begged. "Get hold of yourself. You'll be making us
all panicky. There, now, calm down." She wiped the girl's eyes.
"Oh, you're treating me like a baby!" Grace shook herself out of Nan's
arms. "I tell you--" She paused and, for a second, the room was in
complete silence.
Through it came the sound of a knock at the door. The girls looked
questioningly at one another, but no one moved. Then, they heard it
again, faintly.
Laura stirred. "I'm going to open it," she whispered. Nan nodded her
head. But before Laura could, they heard Amelia's voice. Everyone
breathed a sigh of relief.
Nan herself walked to the door and threw it wide open. "Come in,
Amelia," she said, and then closed the door after her friend.
"What's up?" Amelia sensed the tenseness in the room right away.
"Did you see anyone at all in the corridor?"
Nan answered the question with another.
"Why, no." Amelia looked puzzled. "No one, that is, except the
stewardess. She's sitting out there on a stool, knitting."
"You didn't see the red-headed hunchback?" Grace couldn't believe it.
"You didn't see him standing right out there watching this room?"
"Are you sure, Amelia," Nan asked the question, "that you didn't see
anyone besides the stewardess?"
"Positive," she answered. "I know, because as I came down the corridor I
looked for people."
"Why?" Nan questioned her again.
"Say, what is this?" Amelia asked. "The third degree or something? I
looked simply because I've been wondering what kind of people lived down
in this end of heaven. Evidently they are all queer." She looked
significantly at the people around her.
"Well, you'd be queer, too," Grace asserted, "if you'd seen and heard
what I did. I was coming down the corridor alone thinking of Nan and the
new cabin when I heard someone say in a mean rasping voice, 'Well, you
find out the answer pretty soon, or you'll never live to see Scotland
again.'
"I was scared and would have run, but the cabin door opened. As it did,
I ducked into another and waited. Oh, it seemed as though I was there
for hours in some strange person's cabin, afraid to stay and afraid to
go. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer, so I opened the door
quietly and looked out. There was no one in sight. I tiptoed down the
corridor, and was just about to come in here, when I saw that awful
looking hunchback standing out there.
"I'm sure he was watching this cabin. I would have turned and run or
gone right past him, but I saw his eyes." Grace shuddered.
"They're terrible eyes. I couldn't go on. I had to come in here." Grace
looked up at Nan as though asking for approval for what she had done.
"Of course you did, Grace," Nan said quietly and soothingly. "Of course,
you had to come in. But tell me," she questioned further. "Why did you
say he followed you?"
"Did I say that?" Grace looked puzzled.
They all nodded.
"Oh, I don't know," Grace shook herself as though she had difficulty in
remembering clearly. "I guess I was just afraid he was, and I knew that
his eyes were on me. Why should he watch this cabin?" She looked up at
Nan. The others followed her glance. They too felt, somehow, that Nan
knew the answer.
Nan sat silently considering.
Should she tell them what she knew or shouldn't she? Could she trust
them? She looked around at their faces, at Rhoda's and Amelia's, and was
tempted to tell. Both of these girls seemed to be calm in all the
excitement. "They might be able to offer some help if needed," Nan
thought. Then she heard Grace stifle a sob and saw again how frightened
and worried the girl looked. She hesitated. She looked up at Bess, her
closest friend, and was tempted again.
There was a noise outside. Bess jumped nervously. She was scared, too.
Then Laura spoke, and Nan gave up all thought of revealing, at the
present at least, what little she knew about the things that were
happening.