An important event was about to take place. At least, it seemed
important to Captain Elisha, although the person most intimately
concerned appeared to have forgotten it entirely. He ventured to remind
her of it.
“Caroline,” he said, “Sunday is your birthday, ain’t it?”
His niece looked at him in surprise. “Yes,” she answered, “it is. How
did you know?”
“Why, I remembered, that’s all. Graves, the lawyer man, told me how
old you and Stevie were, fust time I met him. And his partner, Mr.
Sylvester, gave me the date one day when he was goin’ over your pa’s
will. You’ll be twenty years old Sunday, won’t you?”
“Yes.”
It was late in the afternoon, and she had been out since ten o’clock
shopping with Mrs. Dunn, lunching downtown with the latter and Malcolm,
and motoring for an hour or two. The weather for the season was mild and
sunny, and the crisp air had brightened her cheeks, her eyes sparkled,
her fur coat and cap were very becoming, and Captain Elisha inspected
her admiringly before making another remark.
“My! My!” he exclaimed, after an instant’s pause. “Twenty years old!
Think of it! ‘Bije’s girl’s a young woman now, ain’t she? I cal’late he
was proud of you, too. He ought to have been. I presume likely _he_
didn’t forget your birthday.”
He rose to help her with the heavy coat. As he lifted it from her
shoulders, he bent forward and caught a glimpse of her face.
“There! there!” he said, hastily. “Don’t feel bad, dearie. I didn’t mean
to hurt your feelin’s. Excuse me; I was thinkin’ out loud, sort of.”
She did not answer at once, but turned away to remove her cap. Then she
answered, without looking at him.
“He never forgot them,” she said.
“Course he didn’t. Well, you see I didn’t forget, either.”
It was an unfortunate remark, inasmuch as it drew, in her mind,
a comparison between her handsome, dignified father and his rude,
uncultured brother. The contrast was ever present in her thoughts, and
she did not need to be reminded of it. She made no reply.
“I was thinkin’,” continued the captain, conscious of having made a
mistake, “that maybe we might celebrate somehow, in a quiet way.”
“No. I am not in the mood for--celebrations.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean fireworks and the town band. I just thought--”
“Please don’t. I remember other birthdays too well.” They had been great
occasions, those birthdays of hers, ever since she was a little girl. On
the eighteenth she made her début in society, and the gown she wore on
that memorable evening was laid away upstairs, a cherished memento, to
be kept as long as she lived. Each year Rodgers Warren took infinite
pains to please and surprise his idolized daughter. She could not bear
to think of another birthday, now that he had been taken from her.
Her guardian pulled his beard. “Well,” he observed ruefully, “then my
weak head’s put my foot in it again, as the feller said. If I ain’t
careful I’ll be like poor cracked Philander Baker, who lives with
his sister over at Denboro Centre. The doctor told Philander he was
threatened with softenin’ of the brain, and the sister thanked him for
the compliment. You see, Caroline, I wrote on my own hook and asked
Stevie to come home Saturday and stay till Monday. I kind of thought
you’d like to have him here.”
“Oh, I should like _that_! But will he come? Has he written you?”
“Hey? Yes, I cal’late he’ll be on deck. He’s--er--yes, he’s written me.”
He smiled as he answered. As a matter of fact, the correspondence
between Stephen and himself had been lengthy and voluminous on the part
of the former, and brief and business-like on his own. The boy, on his
return to college, had found “conditions” awaiting him, and the amount
of hard work involved in their clearance was not at all to his taste.
He wrote his guardian before the first week was over, asserting that the
whole business was foolishness and a waste of time. He should come
home at once, he said, and he notified the captain that such was his
intention. Captain Elisha replied with promptness and decision. If he
came home he would be sent back, that was all. “I realize you’ve got a
job ahead of you, Son,” wrote the captain, “but you can do it, if you
will. Fact is, I guess you’ve got to. So sail in and show us what you’re
made of.”
Stephen’s answer was a five page declaration of independence. He refused
to be bullied by any living man. He had made arrangements to come to New
York on the following Monday, and he was coming. As to being sent back,
he wished his uncle to understand that it was one thing to order and
another to enforce obedience. To which he received the following note:
“I can’t stop you from coming, Steve, except by going to New
Haven and holding you by main strength. That I don’t propose
to do, for two reasons: first, that it is too much trouble,
and second that it ain’t necessary. You can come home once in
a while to see your sister, but you mustn’t do it till I say
the word. If you do, I shall take the carfare out of your
allowance, likewise board while you are here, and stop that
allowance for a month as a sort of fine for mutiny. So you
better think it over a spell. And, if I was you, I wouldn’t
write Caroline that I was coming, or thinking of coming, till
I had my mind made up. She believes you are working hard at
your lessons. I shouldn’t disappoint her, especially as it
wouldn’t be any use.
“Your affectionate uncle,
“ELISHA WARREN.”
The result of all this was that Stephen, whose finances were already in
a precarious condition, did think it over and decided not to take the
risk. Also, conscious that his sister sided with their guardian to the
extent of believing the university the best place for him at present, he
tore up the long letter of grievance which he had written her, and, in
that which took its place, mentioned merely that he was “grinding like
blazes,” and the only satisfaction he got from it was his removal from
the society of the “old tyrant from Cape Cod.”
He accepted the tyrant’s invitation to return for the week-end and
his sister’s birthday with no hesitation whatever; and his letter of
acceptance was so politic as to be almost humble.
He arrived on an early train Saturday morning. Caroline met him at the
station, and the Dunns’ car conveyed them to the latter’s residence,
where they were to spend the day. The Dunns and Caroline had been
together almost constantly since the evening when Malcolm and his mother
interrupted the reading of the novel. The former, while professing to be
harassed by business cares, sacrificed them to the extent of devoting at
least a part of each twenty-four hours to the young lady’s society.
She was rarely allowed to be alone with her uncle, a circumstance which
troubled her much less than it did him. He missed the evenings which he
had enjoyed so much, and the next consultation over the adventures
of Pearson’s “Uncle Jim” and his “Mary” seemed flat and uninteresting
without criticism and advice.
The author himself noticed the difference.
“Rot!” he exclaimed, throwing the manuscript aside in disgust. “It’s
rot, isn’t it! If I can’t turn out better stuff than that, I’d better
quit. And I thought it was pretty decent, too, until to-night.”
Captain Elisha shook his head. “It don’t seem quite so shipshape,
somehow,” he admitted, “but I guess likely it’s ‘cause my head’s full
of other things just now. I’m puzzled ‘most to death to know what to get
for Caroline’s birthday. I want to get her somethin’ she’ll like, and
she’s got pretty nigh everything under the sun. Say, Jim, you’ve been
workin’ too hard, yourself. Why don’t you take to-morrow off and cruise
around the stores helpin’ me pick out a present. Come ahead--do!”
They spent the next afternoon in that “cruise,” visiting department
stores, jewelers, and art shops innumerable. Captain Elisha was hard to
please, and his comments characteristic.
“I guess you’re right, Jim,” he said, “there’s no use lookin’ at
pictures. Let alone that the walls are so covered with ‘em now a fly
can’t scarcely light without steppin’ on some kind of scenery--let
alone that, my judgment on pictures ain’t any good. I cal’late that’s
considered pretty fine, ain’t it?” pointing to a painting in the gallery
where they then were.
“Yes,” replied the dealer, much amused. “That is a good specimen of the
modern impressionist school.”
“Humph! Cookin’ school, I shouldn’t wonder. I’d call it a portrait of a
plate of scrambled eggs, if ‘twa’n’t for that green thing that’s either
a cow or a church in the offin’. Out of soundin’s again, I am! But I
knew she liked pictures, and so.... However, let’s set sail for a
jewelry store.”
The sixth shop of this variety which they visited happened to be one of
the largest and most fashionable in the city. Here the captain’s fancy
was taken by a gold chain for the neck, set with tiny emeralds.
“That’s pretty--sort of--ain’t it, Jim?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied his companion, with emphasis, “it is. And I think you’ll
find it is expensive, also.”
“That so? How much?” turning to the salesman.
The latter gave the price of the chain. Captain Elisha whistled.
“Whew! Jerushy!” he exclaimed. “And it wouldn’t much more than go around
my wrist, at that. All the same size, are they?”
“No. Some are longer. The longer ones are higher priced, of course.”
“Sartin! They’re for fleshy folks, I s’pose. Mrs. Thoph Kenney down
home, she’d have to splice three of ‘em together to make the round trip.
Thoph’s always scared he won’t get his money’s wuth in a trade, but he
couldn’t kick when he got her. To give the minister a dollar and walk
off with two hundred and eighty pounds of wife is showin’ some business
sagacity, hey? To do him justice, I will say that _he_ seems to be
satisfied; she’s the one that does the complainin’. I guess this is the
most expensive counter in the store, ain’t it, Mister?”
The clerk laughed. “No, indeed,” he said. “These are all moderate priced
goods. I wonder,” turning to Pearson, “if your friend wouldn’t like to
see some of our choice pieces. It is a quiet day here, and I shall be
glad to show them.”
He led the way to a set of show cases near the door on the Fifth Avenue
side. There before Captain Elisha’s dazzled eyes were displayed diamond
necklaces and aigrettes, tiaras and brooches, the figures on their price
tags running high into the thousands. Pearson and the good-natured clerk
enjoyed themselves hugely.
“Jim,” said the captain after a little of this, “is there a police
officer lookin’ this way?”
Pearson laughed. “I guess not,” he answered. “Why? The temptation isn’t
getting too much for your honesty, is it?”
“No,” with a sigh, “but I’m carryin’ a forty dollar watch and wearin’ a
ring that cost fifteen. I thought they was some punkins till I begun
to look at this stuff. Now they make me feel so mean and poverty-struck
that I expect to be took up for a tramp any minute. Mister,” to the
clerk, “you run right along and wrap up that chain I was lookin’ at.
Hurry! or I’ll be ashamed to carry anything so cheap.”
“Think she’ll like it, do you, Jim?” he asked, when they were once more
out of doors with the purchase in his inside pocket.
“She ought, certainly,” replied Pearson. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
“Yes. Well, you see,” apologetically, “I wanted to give her somethin’
pretty good. ‘Bije always did, and I didn’t want to fall too fur behind.
But,” with a chuckle, “you needn’t mention the price to anybody. If
Abbie--my second cousin keepin’ house for me, she is--if Abbie heard
of it she’d be for puttin’ me in an asylum. Abbie’s got a hair
breastpin and a tortoise shell comb, but she only wears ‘em to the
Congregationalist meetin’-house, where she’s reasonably sure there ain’t
likely to be any sneak-thieves. She went to a Unitarian sociable once,
but she carried ‘em in a bag inside her dress.”
Captain Elisha planned to surprise his niece with the gift at breakfast
on the morning of her birthday, but, after reflection, decided to
postpone the presentation until dinner time. The inevitable Dunns had
taken upon themselves the duty of caring for the girl and her brother
during the major part of the day. The yellow car appeared at the door
at ten o’clock and bore the two away. Caroline assured her guardian,
however, that they would return in season for the evening meal.
The captain spent lonely but busy hours until dinner time came. He had
done some scheming on his own hook and, after a long argument with
the cook, reënforced by a small sum in cash, had prevailed upon that
haughty domestic to fashion a birthday cake of imposing exterior and
indigestible make-up. Superintending the icing of this masterpiece
occupied some time. He then worried Edwards into a respectful but
stubborn fury by suggesting novelties in the way of table arrangement.
Another bestowal of small change quelled the disturbance. Then came,
by messenger, a dozen American Beauty roses with Mr. Pearson’s card
attached. These the captain decided should be placed in the center of
the festive board. As a center piece had been previously provided, there
was more argument. The cook took the butler’s side in the debate, and
the pair yielded only when Captain Elisha again dived into his pocket.
“But I warn you, all hands,” he observed, “that this is the last time.
My right fist’s got a cramp in it this minute, and you couldn’t open it
again with a cold chisel.”
At last, however, everything was as it should be, and he sat down in the
library to await the coming of the young people. The gold chain in its
handsome leather case, the latter enclosed in the jeweler’s box, was
carefully laid beside Caroline’s place at the table. The dinner was
ready, the cake, candles and all--the captain had insisted upon twenty
candles--was ready, also. There was nothing to do but wait--and he
waited.
Six-thirty was the usual dinner hour. It passed. Seven o’clock struck,
then eight, and still Captain Elisha sat alone in the library. The cook
sent word that the dinner was ruined. Edwards respectfully asked, “What
shall I do, sir?” twice, the second time being sent flying with an order
to “Go for’ard and keep your hatches closed!” The nautical phraseology
was lost upon the butler, but the tone and manner of delivery were quite
understandable.
Several times the captain rose from his chair to telephone the Dunn
house and ask the reason for delay. Each time he decided not to do so.
No doubt there were good reasons; Caroline and her brother had been
detained; perhaps the automobile had broken down--the things were always
breaking down just at the most inconvenient times; perhaps.... Well, at
any rate, he would not ‘phone just yet; he would wait a little longer.
At last the bell rang. Captain Elisha sprang up, smiling, his impatience
and worry forgotten, and, pushing the butler aside, hurried to open
the door himself. He did so and faced, not his niece and nephew, but
Pearson.
“Good evening, Captain,” hailed the young man, cheerily. “Didn’t expect
me, did you? I dropped in for a moment to shake hands with you and to
offer congratulations to Miss Warren.” Then, noticing the expression on
his friend’s face, he added, “What’s the matter? Anything wrong? Am I
intruding?”
“No, no! Course not. You’re as welcome as another egg in a poor man’s
hen-house. Come right in and take off your things. I’m glad to see you.
Only--well, the fact is I thought ‘twas Caroline comin’ home. She and
Stevie was to be here over two hours ago, and I can’t imagine what’s
keepin’ ‘em.”
He insisted upon his visitor’s remaining, although the latter, when he
understood the situation, was reluctant to do so.
“Caroline’ll be real glad to see you, Jim, I know,” the captain said.
“And I want you to stay for my sake. Between pacifyin’ the Commodore
and frettin’ over what couldn’t possibly happen, I was half dead of the
fidgets. Stay and cheer me up, there’s a good feller. I’d just about
reached the stage where I had the girl and boy stove to flinders under
that pesky auto. I’d even begun to figger on notifyin’ the undertaker.
Tell me I’m an old fool and then talk about somethin’ else. They’ll be
here any minute.”
But a good many minutes passed, and still they did not come. Pearson,
aware of his companion’s growing anxiety, chatted of the novel, of the
people at the boarding house, of anything and everything he could think
of likely to divert attention from the one important topic. The answers
he received were more and more brief and absent. At last, when Edwards
again appeared, appealingly mute, at the entrance to the dining room,
Captain Elisha, with a sigh which was almost a groan, surrendered.
“I guess,” he said, reluctantly, “I guess, Jim, there ain’t any use
waitin’ any longer. Somethin’s kept ‘em, and they won’t be here for
dinner. You and I’ll set down and eat--though I ain’t got the appetite I
cal’lated to have.”
Pearson had dined hours before, but he followed his friend, resolved to
please the latter by going through the form of pretending to eat.
They sat down together. Captain Elisha, with a rueful smile, pointed to
the floral centerpiece.
“There’s your posies, Jim,” he observed. “Look pretty, don’t they. She
ain’t seen ‘em yet, but she’ll like ‘em when she does. And that over
there, is her present from me. Stevie gave her a box of gloves, and I
expect, from what Mrs. Dunn hinted, that she and that son of hers gave
her somethin’ fine. She’ll show us when she gets here. What’s this,
Commodore? Oysters, hey? Well, they ought to taste like home. They’re
‘Cape Cods’; I wouldn’t have anything else.”
“We won’t touch the birthday cake, Jim,” he added, a little later.
“She’s got to cut that herself.”
The soup was only lukewarm, but neither of them commented on the fact.
The captain had scarcely tasted of his, when he paused, his spoon in
air.
“Hey?” he exclaimed. “Listen! What’s that? By the everlastin’, it _is_.
Here they are, at _last_!”
He sprang up with such enthusiasm that his chair tipped backwards
against the butler’s devoted shins. Pearson, almost as much pleased,
also rose.
Captain Elisha paid scant attention to the chair incident.
“What are you waitin’ for?” he demanded, whirling on Edwards, who was
righting the chair with one hand and rubbing his knee with the other.
“Don’t you hear ‘em at the door? Let ‘em in!”
He reached the library first, his friend following more leisurely.
Caroline and Stephen had just entered.
“Well!” he cried, in his quarter-deck voice, his face beaming with
relief and delight, “you _are_ here, ain’t you! I begun to think....
Why, what’s the matter?”
The question was addressed to Stephen, who stood nearest to him. The boy
did not deign to reply. With a contemptuous grunt, he turned scornfully
away from his guardian.
“What is it, Caroline?” demanded Captain Elisha. “_Has_ anything
happened?”
The girl looked coldly at him. A new brooch--Mrs. Corcoran Dunn’s
birthday gift--sparkled at her throat.
“No accident has happened, if that is what you mean,” she said.
“But--why, yes, that was what I meant. You was so awful late, and you
know you said you’d be home for dinner, so--”
“I changed my mind. Come, Steve.”
She turned to leave the room. Pearson, at that moment, entered it.
Stephen saw him first.
“_What_?” he cried. “Well, of all the nerve! Look, Caro!”
“Jim--Mr. Pearson, I mean--ran in a few minutes ago,” explained Captain
Elisha, bewildered and stammering. “He thought of course we’d had dinner
and--and--he just wanted to wish you many happy returns, Caroline.”
Pearson had extended his hand and a “Good evening” was on his lips.
Stephen’s strange behavior and language caused him to halt. He flushed,
awkward, surprised, and indignant.
Caroline turned and saw him. She started, and her cheeks also grew
crimson. Then, recovering, she looked him full in the face, and
deliberately and disdainfully turned her back.
“Come, Steve!” she said again, and walked from the room.
Her brother hesitated, glared at Pearson, and then stalked haughtily
after her.
Captain Elisha’s bewilderment was supreme. He stared, open-mouthed,
after his nephew and niece, and then turned slowly to his friend.
“What on earth, Jim,” he stammered. “What’s it _mean_?”
Pearson shrugged his shoulders. “I think I know what it means,” he said.
“I presume that Miss Warren and her brother have learned of my trouble
with their father.”
“Hey? No! you don’t think _that’s_ it.”
“I think there’s no doubt of it.”
“But how?”
“I don’t know how. What I do know is that I should not have come here. I
felt it and, if you will remember, I said so. I was a fool. Good night,
Captain.”
Hot and furiously angry at his own indecision which had placed him in
this humiliating situation, he was striding towards the hall. Captain
Elisha seized his arm.
“Stay where you are, Jim!” he commanded. “If the trouble’s what you
think it is, I’m more to blame than anybody else, and you sha’n’t leave
this house till I’ve done my best to square you.”
“Thank you; but I don’t wish to be ‘squared.’ I’ve done nothing to be
ashamed of, and I have borne as many insults as I can stand. I’m going.”
“No, you ain’t. Not yet. I want you to stay.”
At that moment Stephen’s voice reached them from the adjoining room.
“I tell you I shall, Caro!” it proclaimed, fiercely. “Do you suppose
I’m going to permit that fellow to come here again--or to go until he is
made to understand what we think of him and why? No, by gad! I’m the man
of this family, and I’ll tell him a few things.”
Pearson’s jaw set grimly.
“You may let go of my wrist, Captain Warren,” he said; “I’ll stay.”
Possibly Stephen’s intense desire to prove his manliness made him
self-conscious. At any rate, he never appeared more ridiculously boyish
than when, an instant later, he marched into the library and confronted
his uncle and Pearson.
“I--I want to say--” he began, majestically; “I want to say--”
He paused, choking, and brandished his fist.
“I want to say--” he began again.
“All right, Stevie,” interrupted the captain, dryly, “then I’d say it if
I was you. I guess it’s time you did.”
“I want to--to tell that fellow _there_,” with a vicious stab of his
forefinger in the direction of Pearson, “that I consider him an--an
ingrate--and a scoundrel--and a miserable--”
“Steady!” Captain Elisha’s interruption was sharp this time. “Steady
now! Leave out the pet names. What is it you’ve got to tell?”
“I--my sister and I have found out what a scoundrel he is, that’s what!
We’ve learned of the lies he wrote about father. We know that he was
responsible for all that cowardly, lying stuff in the _Planet_--all that
about the Trolley Combine. And we don’t intend that he shall sneak into
this house again. If he was the least part of a man, he would never have
come.”
“Mr. Warren--” began Pearson, stepping forward. The captain interrupted.
“Hold on, Jim!” he said. “Just a minute now. You’ve learned somethin’,
you say, Stevie. The Dunns told you, I s’pose.”
“Never mind who told me!”
“I don’t--much. But I guess we’d better have a clear understandin’, all
of us. Caroline, will you come in here, please?”
He stepped toward the door. Stephen sprang in front of him.
“My sister doesn’t intend to cheapen herself by entering that man’s
presence,” he declared, hotly. “I’ll deal with him, myself!”
“All right. But I guess she’d better be here, just the same. Caroline, I
want you.”
“She sha’n’t come!”
“Yes, she shall. Caroline!”
The boy would have detained him, but he pushed him firmly aside and
walked toward the door. Before he reached it, however, his niece
appeared.
“Well?” she said, coldly. “What is it you want of me?”
“I want you to hear Mr. Pearson’s side of this business--and
mine--before you do anything you’ll be sorry for.”
“I think I’ve heard quite enough of Mr. Pearson already. Nothing he can
say or do will make me more sorry than I am, or humiliate me more than
the fact that I have treated him as a friend.”
The icy contempt in her tone was cutting. Pearson’s face was white, but
he spoke clearly and with deliberation.
“Miss Warren,” he said, “I must insist that you listen for another
moment. I owe you an apology for--”
“Apology!” broke in Stephen, with a scornful laugh. “Apology! Well, by
gad! Just hear that, Caro!”
The girl’s lip curled. “I do not wish to hear your apology,” she said.
“But I wish you to hear it. Not for my attitude in the Trolley
matter, nor for what I published in the _Planet_. Nor for my part in
the disagreement with your father. I wrote the truth and nothing more. I
considered it right then--I told your father so--and I have not changed
my mind. I should act exactly the same under similar circumstances.”
“You blackguard!” shouted Stephen. Pearson ignored him utterly.
“I do owe you an apology,” he continued, “for coming here, as I have
done, knowing that you were ignorant of the affair. I believe now that
you are misinformed as to the facts, but that is immaterial. You should
have been told of my trouble with Mr. Warren. I should have insisted
upon it. That I did not do so is my fault and I apologize; but for that
only. Good evening.”
He shook himself free from the captain’s grasp, bowed to the trio, and
left the room. An instant later the outer door closed behind him.
Caroline turned to her brother. “Come, Steve,” she said.
“Stay right where you are!” Captain Elisha did not request now, he
commanded. “Stevie, stand still. Caroline, I want to talk to you.”
The girl hesitated. She had never been spoken to in that tone before.
Her pride had been already deeply wounded by what she had learned that
afternoon; she was fiercely resentful, angry, and rebellious. She was
sure she never hated anyone as she did this man who ordered her to stay
and listen to him. But--she stayed.
“Caroline,” said Captain Elisha, after a moment of silence, “I presume
likely--of course I don’t know for sartin, but I presume likely it’s
Mrs. Dunn and that son of hers who’ve told you what you think you know.”
“It doesn’t concern you who told us!” blustered Stephen, pushing
forward. He might have been a fly buzzing on the wall for all the
attention his uncle paid him.
“I presume likely the Dunns told you, Caroline,” he repeated, calmly.
His niece met his gaze stubbornly.
“Well,” she answered, “and if they did? Wasn’t it necessary we should
know it? Oh!” with a shudder of disgust, “I wish I could make you
understand how ashamed I feel--how _wicked_ and ashamed I feel that
I--_I_ should have disgraced father’s memory by.... Oh, but there! I
can’t! Yes; Mrs. Dunn and Malcolm did tell us--many things. Thank God
that we _have_ friends to tell us the truth!”
“Amen!” quietly. “I’ll say amen to that, Caroline, any time. Only I want
you to be sure those you call friends are real ones and that the truths
they tell ain’t like the bait on a fishhook, put on _for_ bait and just
thick enough to cover the barb.”
“Do you mean to insinuate--” screamed the irrepressible nephew, wild
at being so completely ignored. His uncle again paid not the slightest
attention.
“But that ain’t neither here nor there now,” he went on. “Caroline, Mr.
Pearson just told you that his coming to this house without tellin’ you
fust of his quarrel with ‘Bije was his fault. That ain’t so. The fault
was mine altogether. He told me the whole story; told me that he hadn’t
called since it happened, on that very account. And I took the whole
responsibility and _asked_ him to come. I did! Do you know why?”
If he expected an answer none was given. Caroline’s lids drooped
disdainfully. “Steve,” she said, “let us go.”
“Stop! You’ll stay here until I finish. I want to say that I didn’t tell
you about the Trolley fuss because I wanted you to learn some things for
yourself. I wanted you to know Mr. Pearson--to find out what sort of man
he was afore you judged him. Then, when you had known him long enough
to understand he wasn’t a liar and a blackguard, and all that Steve has
called him, I was goin’ to tell you the whole truth, not a part of it.
And, after that, I was goin’ to let you decide for yourself what to do.
I’m a lot older than you are; I’ve mixed with all sorts of folks; I’m
past the stage where I can be fooled by--by false hair or soft soap. You
can’t pour sweet oil over a herrin’ and make me believe it’s a sardine.
I know the Pearson stock. I’ve sailed over a heap of salt water with
one of the family. And I’ve kept my eyes open since I’ve run acrost this
particular member. And I knew your father, too, Caroline Warren. And
I say to you now that, knowin’ Jim Pearson and ‘Bije Warren--yes, and
knowin’ the rights and wrongs of that Trolley business quite as well as
Malcolm Dunn or anybody else--I say to you that, although ‘Bije was my
brother, I’d bet my life that Jim had all the right on his side. There!
that’s the truth, and no hook underneath it. And some day you’ll realize
it, too.”
He had spoken with great vehemence. Now he took a handkerchief from his
pocket and wiped his forehead. When he again looked at his niece, he
found her staring intently at him; and her eyes blazed.
“Have you quite finished--now?” she demanded. “Steve, be quiet!”
“Why, yes, I guess so, pretty nigh. I s’pose there ain’t much use to say
more. If I was to tell you that I’ve tried to do for you and Steve in
this--same as in everything else since I took this job--as if you
were my own children, you wouldn’t believe it. If I was to tell you,
Caroline, that I’d come to think an awful lot of you, you wouldn’t
believe that, either. I did hope that since our other misunderstandin’
was cleared up, and you found I wa’n’t what you thought I was, you’d
come to me and ask questions afore passin’ judgment; but perhaps--”
And now she interrupted, bursting out at him in a blast of scorn which
took his breath away.
“Oh, stop! stop!” she cried. “Don’t say any more. You have insulted
father’s memory, and defended the man who slandered him. Isn’t that
enough? Why must you go on to prove yourself a greater hypocrite? We
learned, my brother and I, to-day more than the truth concerning your
_friend_. We learned that you have lied--yes, lied--and--”
“Steady, Caroline! be careful. I wouldn’t say what I might be sorry for
later.”
“Sorry! Captain Warren, you spoke of my misjudging you. I thought I had,
and I was sorry. To-day I learned that your attitude in that affair was
a lie like the rest. _You_ did not pay for Mr. Moriarty’s accident. Mr.
Dunn’s money paid those bills. And you allowed the family--and me--to
thank _you_ for your generosity. Oh, I’m ashamed to be near you!”
“There! There! Caroline, be still. I--”
“I shall not be still. I have been still altogether too long. You are
our guardian. We can’t help that, I suppose. Father asked you to be
that, for some reason; but did he ask you to _live_ here where you are
not wanted? To shame us before our friends, ladies and gentlemen so far
above you in every way? And to try to poison our minds against them and
sneer at them when they are kind to us and even try to be kind to
you? No, he did not! Oh, I’m sick of it all! your deceit and your
hypocritical speeches and your pretended love for us. _Love_! Oh, if I
could say something that would make you understand how thoroughly we
despise you, and how your presence, ever since you forced it upon Steve
and me, has disgraced us! If I only could! I--I--”
She had been near to tears ever since Mrs. Corcoran Dunn, in the
kindness of her heart, told her the “truth” that afternoon. But pride
and indignation had prevented her giving way. Now, however, she broke
down.
“Oh--oh, Steve!” she cried, and, turning to her brother, sobbed
hysterically on his shoulder. “Oh, Steve, what shall we do?”
Stephen put his arm about her waist. “It’s all right, Sis,” he said
soothingly. “Don’t cry before _him_! I guess,” with a glance at his
uncle, “you’ve said enough to make even him understand--at last.”
Captain Elisha looked gravely at the pair. “I guess you have,” he said
slowly. “I guess you have, Caroline. Anyhow, I can’t think offhand of
anything you’ve left out. I could explain some things, but what’s the
use? And,” with a sigh, “you may be right in a way. Perhaps I shouldn’t
have come here to live. If you’d only told me plain afore just how you
felt, I’d--maybe I’d--but there! I didn’t know--I didn’t know. You see,
I thought.... However, I guess that part of your troubles is over. But,”
he added, firmly, “wherever I am, or wherever I go, you must understand
that I’m your guardian, just the same. I considered a long spell afore I
took the place, and I never abandoned a ship yet, once I took command of
her. And I’ll stick to this one! Yes, sir! I’ll stick to it in spite of
the devil--or the Dunns, either. Till you and your brother are of age
I’m goin’ to look out for you and your interests and your money; and
nothin’ nor nobody shall stop me. As for forcin’ my company on you,
though, that well, that’s different. I cal’late you won’t have to worry
any more. Good night.”
He thrust his hands into his pockets and walked slowly from the library.