A CONFERENCE OF FRIENDS
“It sounds just like poor old Job in the Bible,” said Elizabeth Wright.
“Doesn’t it, though?” sighed Irene.
“Yes, and I bet Job didn’t have a thing on our Mary Louise for
patience,” put in Josie, “but, of course, Job had that bunch of hot air
comforters who certainly must have tried his patience. At least, Mary
Louise is spared them.”
“Don’t you think it,” corrected Irene. “There has been a stream of
visitors from morning until night and some of them say the most
terrible things. I don’t see how Mary Louise stands them but she always
says they mean it for the best and she is as polite as can be to them.
I’d send them all packing.”
This made Josie and Elizabeth laugh, as there never was known a more
courteous person than Irene Macfarlane.
“What do you think the Job’s comforters will say when they find out
about Colonel Hathaway’s affairs?” asked Elizabeth. “I haven’t told a
soul, but my family will have to know sooner or later and then I bid to
come stay for a few days down here at the Higgledy Piggledy until they
stop talking it over and pumping me with questions.”
“Uncle says it is the most astounding thing that has ever occurred in
the financial world of Dorfield,” said Irene. “He has not given up
hope yet but is still searching for papers that might indicate in some
way where on earth the money has gone. There is no doubt about it that
Colonel Hathaway was a very rich man as his investments have always
prospered but, now that he is gone, there is absolutely nothing to show
where his money is. The brokers say he has been selling steadily during
the last few months. He seems to have converted a great many of his
securities into cash. Nobody knows why exactly except that he intimated
to several men that he was going to fix his money so Danny could not
get hold of it. Everybody realized the Colonel was not himself and
took what he said about Danny with a grain of salt. Uncle is afraid he
invested a lot of his money in some gold mine schemes that he talked
about several weeks ago. It is supposed to have been a wild-cat mine
with no chance of getting out what money was put in. I don’t see how
Colonel Hathaway could have been bitten even though he was a little out
of his head. Uncle says he was such an astute business man.”
“Can’t Mr. Conant find any money at all?” asked Josie.
“Nothing! Of course, the house is there and all of its furnishings. It
is on a huge lot which may be valuable in time, but, just now, that
part of Dorfield is not so fashionable as it used to be and Uncle Peter
thinks it would be a pity to sell it, as there is a chance of its being
in demand a little later for office buildings. Business is slowly
creeping that way. He is going to hold on to his property until he can
get his price.”
“In the meantime, what will Mary Louise live on?” asked Elizabeth.
“Live on the wits that God gave her!” cried Josie. “I am truly glad for
this part of poor Job’s troubles. It will be everything to dear little
Mary Louise that she must actually begin to think about where her next
meal is coming from.”
“Josie! How can you say such a thing?” demanded Elizabeth, shocked
wonderment in her voice and countenance.
“Easy!” laughed Josie. “Aren’t you a million times happier since you
are taking care of yourself? Why shouldn’t it make Mary Louise happier,
especially now that she has so much sorrow to overcome? I am as glad as
glad can be, and, while I am going to put my wits to work as a friend
first and as a detective second, I am hoping I will take a long time to
find the lost treasure.”
“Well I never!” declared Irene in quite the tone Aunt Hannah might have
used. “I am no worshiper of money, but I must say one can do so much
with money that the having of it must be very pleasant. I shall never
forget the wonderful things Colonel Hathaway and Mary Louise have done
for me and it was because they had money that they could do them. The
things gave them as intense joy as they did me, too, and that is where
the pleasure of having money comes in for persons like the Colonel and
Mary Louise. There is my victrola and all the magnificent records,
representing the very best in music! Here’s my rolling chair, such a
wonder of balance and ease that it moves at the slightest touch and
seems almost a part of me! There’s my lovely long fur coat that makes
it possible for me to go out in winter. Before I got it, I used simply
to freeze because I couldn’t take enough exercise to get up a good
winter circulation. I would stay in the house like some old hibernating
bear and I dreaded winter, but now I love to see the first snow flakes.
Mary Louise is so accustomed to doing lovely things for people that I
don’t see how she is going to get used to not doing them.”
“She is not going to stop,” declared Josie, earnestly. “What she will
do, perhaps will not be so costly from a financial standpoint, but it
will mean sacrifices which will be more costly in other ways. If I
know our Mary Louise, and I think I do, she will rise superior to this
disaster and come out stronger and finer than ever.”
“Maybe you are right, Josie,” sighed Elizabeth, “but all the same,
money is money and there is no substitute for it.”
“That’s just it, money is money and nothing but money. I have been
saying that all along. Money is all right in its place, but it is a
better thing to work for than to have and I, for one, am glad Mary
Louise is going to have to work for it for a while. It will do her
good, poor dear child! I know how good it was for me, after my father
died, to open up this shop and get busy. It didn’t lessen my loss any,
but it gave me strength to bear it.”
Elizabeth and Irene were silent. They agreed with Josie that it might
be good for their friend to have something to take her mind off her
terrible sorrow, but they did not feel that losing all her worldly
goods was necessary. She might have adopted some orphans or endowed a
hospital. There were plenty of occupations in which her money could
have helped that would have done just as well in alleviating sorrow as
this loss of fortune.
“Has Mrs. Burton sent a check yet for that order we filled for candle
shades?” asked Josie as she looked over the firm’s books.
“No!” answered Elizabeth. “She has not. She has been owing us for three
months now.”
“Send another bill and stamp the cheerful little ‘Please remit’ in red
ink,” suggested Josie, sternly. “She must think we are in business for
our health.”
“To hear you run down money one might think we are,” teased Elizabeth.
“Not at all! I don’t run down money at all. I run down money that is
too easy--money one doesn’t have to work for. I have some myself that
my father left me and I don’t think near as much of it as I do of my
share on the commission the Higgledy Piggledy gets for that order for
candle shades Mrs. Burton keeps forgetting to pay. I appreciate my
father’s working as he did to leave me some money, but I appreciate a
lot more his trying to teach me a trade.”
“But Josie, while you have been philosophizing about the most
satisfactory methods of obtaining happiness through lack of wealth,
have you thought of anything Mary Louise can do to earn her living?”
asked Irene. “Uncle Peter and Aunt Hannah want her to come live with
us and Uncle Peter says what he has is as much hers as his. He had a
mighty strong feeling for the Colonel and Aunt Hannah simply adores
Mary Louise--she always has. Of course, it goes without saying what I
think of her.”
“What does Mary Louise say?” asked Josie.
“She doesn’t say anything but just shakes her head and asks to be
allowed to wait. In the meantime, we hate to think of her all alone
in that great old house. Aunt Sally and Uncle Eben go off and shut
themselves up in their room over the kitchen and are dead to the world
when their duties are over for the day. I begged her to let me stay
with her, but she seems to prefer to be alone.”
“I can readily see that she might want solitude in which to adjust
herself to new conditions,” said Josie, thoughtfully, “but it isn’t
quite right. I thought, of course, you were there.”
“I was at first but I had a feeling she didn’t want anybody and, when
I asked her, she very gently told me that perhaps she was better off
alone. I thought at first she was grieving over the loss of the money,
but I believe now it has made no impression whatever on her. In fact,
I don’t believe she realizes she is almost a poor girl. Of course, the
big house and lot are worth a good deal but, in the meantime she has
no cash to go upon. Uncle wanted to put some to her credit and do it
secretly so she might never know, but she was too foxy for him and went
over her grandfather’s bank books and saw his last entry before Uncle
Peter could attend to it.”
“I think I’ll call it a day and lay off,” said Josie, “and go see Mary
Louise. Will you agree to anything I let the Higgledy Piggledies in on,
Elizabeth?”
“Of course! You can do a lot of talking about the uselessness of money,
but I trust you not to lose any in the business. You are entirely too
astute.”