Meanwhile our hero, as Vivian de Vere de Softley, the author of one
thousand love stories, would say, was pensively leaning out of one of
the office windows and thoughtfully taking pot shots at passers-by with
a pea-shooter. Preferably he selected as his marks gentlemen who
carried weight, and considered his best shot that which stung the ear
of an elderly banker who wore a silk hat, and was detested by all who
listened to his exhaustive speeches at banquets given by associations
that could not afford to leave him off their programmes. The banker
was exceedingly wrath, but as William was an expert in concealment, his
victim was foiled in his attempts to discover the cause of the sudden
stoppage of his flow of thought on his next great speech.
The banker finally passed on, and William was aiming for his next shot
when something struck him on the shoulder. He turned smartly to
encounter the stern gaze of a lady, an elderly lady. Her parasol was
descending for another blow, but William adroitly dodged it. Nothing
daunted, she raised it again, and this time succeeded in rapping "our
hero" smartly across the arm.
William dropped to the floor, crawled under the table, rose again and
waited. The lady walked gravely toward him, whereupon William again
followed the under-the-table route, and finally flopped into a chair by
his own desk. The lady regarded these manoeuvres with a gleam of anger
in her fine dark eyes.
The boy had swiftly "taken her in," to use his own expressive phrase,
and afterwards was able to say that she wore a bonnet, not a hat, that
long ringlets of grey hair hung down each side of her face, that her
dress was of silk and black, and that she held in her hand a slender
chain, to which was attached a dog of the most melancholy countenance,
and a shape that made William grin.
"What are you laughing at?" demanded the lady.
"The dog; if it is a dog."
"And a very good dog it is too."
"Well, I've seen pictures of 'em," said William politely, "but I ain't
never believed it till now."
"Believed what?"
"The face and the shape----"
"There's nothing the matter with the shape," was the tart response;
"Dick's a Daschund."
"A what! Oh! Gee! Say, my tongue always rolls around like it had no
roots when I strike a word like that."
"No wonder; a boy of your age should be at school."
"School! not for mine, lady. I've gotter make a livin'."
"A living--you! What are you doing here?"
"I'm the office boy."
"Office boy! Whose office boy?"
"Mister Whimple's."
"You're a liar," the words were snapped out with a force and directness
that William afterwards declared put him "on the blinks" for a few
seconds.
The only retort that he would have made to one of his own sex rose
swiftly to the boyish lips, and stayed there. He rose--who shall say
what freak of imagination swayed him then--and took a step toward the
lady. His hand went to his cap--in the encounter he had forgotten it
until then--and off it came with a sweeping bow. He was no longer
William, or Willie, or Bill; he was no longer an office boy; this was
not Toronto. Here was the lady of the castle, proud, imperious,
haughty; he was one who served under the banner of her lord. Beyond,
was the great old house, surrounded with stately trees and fine
driveways, and Sir William Adolphus Turnpike, in a voice he did not
know, was saying, "Fair lady, I am thine to command. If I have
offended I prithee forgive; 'twas not my intent, I do assure thee."
And the lady--what half-forgotten dreams came surging to her mind.
Long ago, so long ago, there had been a boy with a heart of gold that
had lost none of its admiration for her when the boy gave place to the
man. But on a far-off border line of the empire he had given his life
for the flag, and out of her life there had gone the dreams of a future
with him. All through the years since then she had held her heart
against those who would have stormed it, and now--and now--she tried to
speak, but her lips were tremulous and her eyes tear-dimmed. She
courtesied low and with grace, and William, who was standing with the
ink-stained fingers of one hand clutching his cap and the other held
where he thought his heart might be, felt a thrill of sympathy.
"Lady," he said softly, "I await your command."
And still she did not speak. Then William, true knight, threw down his
cap, placed a chair for her, carefully laid her parasol on his desk,
and waited.
Presently, "Boy," she said gently, "where did you learn that?"
"I read it somewhere," he said, "some of it, and I guess I just made up
the rest. I can't help it, lady. I often have them kinder spells."
She was looking at him thoughtfully, and William blushed under her
scrutiny.
"Don't be ashamed, boy," she said. "'Them kinder spells'"--and she
mimicked him so well that William laughed outright, "will carry you a
long way some day. You may sit down."
William sat, and thereupon Dick, his mistress having loosened her hold
upon the chain, ambled over and placed his solemn-faced visage as close
to the boy's knees as he could get it. William lifted the dog which
snuggled close to his breast.
"If Dick likes you there must be some good in you," said the lady: and
her voice was again sharp and firm. "Where's Whimple?"
"He'll be here soon, I expect."
"Umph! Poking around the law courts I suppose. He's never been here
when I want him."
"Mister Whimple is a busy man," said William loyally.
"Don't lie to me," was the sharp rejoinder, "I'm a Whimple. Miss
Elizabeth Whimple, if you want to know, and I'm his aunt. He would be
a fool and enter law against my advice, and I hope he'll starve for it."
William's eyes narrowed. "Did you ever try starving, Miss Whimple?" he
demanded.
"Heavens, no!--what would I want to try that for?"
"Well, I'm glad if you never have to," was the answer. "My Dad came
near to it sometimes before he got onter his feet, and I ain't very old
myself, but I've seen the day I'd walked a long way to get my teeth
into a piece of beef-steak."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, of course, you don't have to," said William calmly. "That's a
funny thing about grown-ups. They'll believe any old lie if it's in
print, but the minute anybody tells 'em the truth straight outen his
heart, they don't----"
"Boy," she interrupted sharply, "don't preach to me!"
"Preach! me preach!"
"Yes; you may not call it that, but it's preaching just the same. Now,
where's Whimple?"
"Honest, lady, I don't know. He----"
And here Whimple entered by the back door. For collectors were
beginning at this time to come in with requests for payments of the
monthly bills incidental to the upkeep of an office, and it was the
part of wisdom to ascertain before entering the office whether any such
were "at anchor."
His aunt greeted him with a fair amount of cheerfulness, and at once
informed him that she had come to ask that he look after the interests
of her estate.
"I've been acting as my own rent collector for years," she said, "and
I'm getting tired of it. I want you to look after that and after any
legal business arising therefrom, but mind you I'll pay you only the
legal rate, no more, relative or no relative."
They passed into Whimple's room, whence the lady emerged some time
later. William opened the office door for her, and as she passed out
she admonished him to make good use of his time, and "never, never
enter law."
"I'm about as near to it as I'll ever get," answered William politely.