A HILARIOUS WELCOME
Although naturally burdened by the recent run of events, mystified
as they were concerning the motives of McCarney and Hupft and of
the lob-eared man whom Jim had seen hurrying from the half-finished
structure the day the building material had been pushed from the
scaffold, the chums stuck to their decisions to keep worry and
conjecture as far as possible from their minds. Their job was to play
ball, and to play ball with the best that was in them was what they
intended to do.
And on one particular bright morning it was easier than usual to banish
dull care. Only the day before Joe and Jim had received word that Mabel
and Clara and Mabel’s brother, Reggie, would arrive in New York by noon
of the following day. To say that the boys were joyful would be to
describe too tamely their emotions. They acted like a couple of wild
Indians, brandishing the letters aloft and executing a war dance about
the room. Even now, as they jumped into the car, preparatory to making
a mad dash for the station to meet the twelve o’clock train, they had
not recovered their sanity.
To Joe it seemed as though he had been separated from his young
wife for years instead of weeks, and he drove the machine through
the traffic with a speed and recklessness that caused many a burly
policeman to frown disapprovingly.
“It’s them young speeders that makes all the trouble,” muttered one of
them as Joe, barely waiting for the wave of his hand, rushed by with
a warning roar of the exhaust. “It’s long been a mystery to me why
they must always be in such a terrible hurry.” How could he know, poor
man, that Joe was on his way to meet the most adorable girl in all the
world? Who wouldn’t break all the speed laws, and then some, for a girl
like Mabel?
It had been the purpose of the young folks to settle down in a little
home of their own after the honeymoon, but as Mrs. Matson, who had
never been very strong, missed Mabel and declared she needed her,
the young bride had decided to make her home temporarily with Joe’s
mother――at least until such time as she should be in better health.
Clara, Joe’s pretty sister and Jim’s fiancée, had also delayed her
wedding with Jim because of her mother’s ill-health. Jim did not favor
this arrangement very highly, but he was willing to agree to almost
anything that would make Clara happy.
“It won’t be so very long now,” she had said the last time Jim had seen
her. “I really think mother is getting stronger, and pretty soon――we’ll
be together always,” she had added shyly.
So now, not having seen either Mabel or Clara for what seemed to them a
never-ending period of time, it was no wonder the boys were willing to
break all the traffic laws that had ever been made.
“Do you know,” said Joe, with a chuckle, as he slowed down at the curb
opposite the station, “I’ve scarcely given dear old Reggie a thought? I
wonder how the old duffer is, anyway.”
“Probably identically the same old chappie,” laughed Jim. “Monocle,
cane, spats, and all complete. I’d give a lot to know how he makes that
knife-sharp crease in his trousers always stay put.”
“It is a mystery,” agreed Joe, as they made their way through the
crowds that thronged the great station. “I’d like to try him out on the
diamond some time. I’ve a notion that after a slide or two to the home
plate the crease would be no longer there.”
“Might spoil some of his immaculateness,” laughed Jim.
Despite all this joking at his expense, the boys entertained, not only
a warm affection, but a very real respect for Mabel’s brother, Reggie.
Although, as the chums had already laughingly mentioned, Reggie never
appeared anywhere without his monocle, his cane, his spats, and his
English air and accent, he was at heart a fine fellow, always ready
to help where help was needed, truthful and honorable, and an ardent
baseball fan. These qualities helped the boys overlook his many foibles
and affectations. As a matter of fact, once one got used to them, one
rather liked them, as being a part of Reggie’s lovable personality.
The guard at the head of the stairs that led to the station platform
seemed at first inclined to deny the boys admittance. But a neighboring
guard, having recognized Joe and Jim, whispered in his friend’s ear,
with the result that the latter looked away, having first favored the
boys with a wink.
The next moment they had clattered down the stairs and had reached the
station platform, just as the train pulled in.
Eagerly they watched the crowd of passengers pour forth, scanning each
face for those they sought. No sight of Mabel, no Clara, no immaculate
and be-spatted Reggie!
At first they feared that the girls had missed their train and their
faces grew long and anxious. Then, just when they were beginning to
lose hope, Joe saw them.
With a whoop of joy and a rush that nearly bowled over an indignant and
grip-laden porter, he was speeding down the platform with Jim hard at
his heels.
The next moment Mabel found herself in the grip of two bearlike arms,
her smart little hat was pushed far over one ear, while into the other
a voice was saying, over and over again:
“Say, girl, you look good to me――you look good to me.”
“Joe, dear, you’re mussing my hair, and my hat――――”
“Hats!” cried Joe, exuberantly. “What do we care about hats! I’ll buy
you another one, honey, a dozen, if you want them.”
“Be careful, Joe,” Clara broke in, looking flushed and delightfully
pretty herself. “She may take you up. Think of it――a dozen new hats!
Such joy!”
“Speakin’ of hats, don’t you know,” broke in a well-known voice, “I
jolly well need a new one myself. The bally old thing did a double flip
out of the hat rack on our trip up heah in the train. Turned an entire
circle, don’t you know――――”
“Tell them where it landed, Reggie,” chuckled Mabel, flashing a
mischievous glance at Clara. “Be sure you don’t forget any of the
details.”
“By Jove! Do you know,” said Reggie, ruefully, “you would never guess
the truth, not in a thousand years, unless I were to tell it to you
myself! For this mistaken headpiece, don’t you know, instead of falling
to the floor, where at the most it would have gathered a little dust,
must choose a seat whereon a burly gentleman was just in the act of
seating himself. A perfectly harmless and natural thing, don’t you
know, on the part of the old gentleman――――”
“But hard on the hat,” finished Joe, with a grin, adding as he slipped
his arm through Mabel’s and drew her toward the stairs: “Never mind,
old man, there are a dozen places in town where they have hats that
will satisfy even you. Say,” he added happily, looking down into the
smiling eyes of his young wife, “this is my lucky day.”
“You’re not the only one, old son,” said Jim, adding, as he proudly
piloted Clara through the throng: “I tell you, we’ve picked a couple of
girls that will make these bored Manhattanites turn round and stare,
all right.”
“Bah Jove,” sighed Reggie, replacing the tiresome monocle that never
would stay put, “you chappies are enough to make a poor old bachelor
like me homesick, you are, truly. I feel quite out of it, don’t you
know, _de trop_, a gooseberry, as you might say. An Antony without his
Cleopatra, a Romeo without his Juliet. I say, it’s downright pathetic.”
“Poor old Reggie,” chuckled Mabel, snuggling her free hand within his
arm. “It is a sad, sad story, isn’t it? But then, it’s really your own
fault. There are lots of girls in the world, you know.”
“But no more Mabels,” said Joe.
“And no more Claras,” added Jim.
“There you go again,” said poor Reggie, swinging his cane
disconsolately. “Bah Jove, this is no place for a bachelor. It isn’t,
truly!”