THE LUCKLESS STOCKING
Two hours after Robin's lonely vigil at the window ended, fire destroyed
the empty cottage "up the river" into which the Rileys had been ordered
to move.
"I wish it had burned in the daytime when we could have watched it,"
Beryl had declared, almost resentfully. But Robin's concern had been for
old Granny Castle and little Susy.
Harkness, who had brought them the news, reassured her. "Too bad they
couldn't all a' burned but no such luck--only th' one. It's said that
there are some as _knows_ how a' empty house without so much as a crumb
to draw a rat could a' gone up like that did. And Williams says as how
there was men stood around and wouldn't lift a hand to help put out the
blaze though they took care it didn't spread."
"What do you mean, Mr. Harkness?" broke in Robin.
"Why, just this, Missy, Williams says that there's a lot of bad feeling
stirrin' and bad feelings lead to hasty things like revenge."
"You mean some one of the Mill people set it on fire?" asked Beryl
slowly, with wide eyes.
"And who else'd have bad feelings?"
Robin recalled, with alarm, what Dale had said at the House of
Laughter. Could Dale have done this thing--or helped? Or stood around
and watched it burn? Oh, no, no--not Dale.
Harkness, seeing her concern, dexterously broke a soft-boiled egg into a
silver egg-cup and said in a carefully casual voice, intended to put the
fire quite out of their minds: "Well, the constable'll find the man what
did it, so don't you worry your head, Missy."
Robin, her heart heavy with all she wanted to do and couldn't find a way
to do, swallowed a scream at his "Don't you worry your head." Why _did_
everyone say that to her--just because she was little on the outside? If
_she_ didn't worry her head--who was there to worry?
It was with a heavy spirit she dressed herself--girded herself, she
called it--for her call upon Mr. Norris at the Mills. The long hours of
Sunday, through which she had to wait, had filled her with misgiving.
Now she looked so absurdly small in the mirror, her tousled hair so
childish, no matter how much she tried to tuck it out of sight under the
little dark blue toque, why would anyone, especially a manager of a
Mill, listen to her?
Beryl, stirred to sympathy by Robin's daring to face the lion in his
den, told her for the hundredth time just how she had suffered before
that momentous visit to Martini, the orchestra leader, in New York.
"Why, my hands were clammy and my teeth rattled and everything whirled
in front of me and my knees just knocked together, but, say, I gulped
and I said terribly hard to myself, 'You want this thing and you can't
get it if you're all soft inside and a coward', and, Robin, in a
twinkling, something began to grow inside of me and get big and big
until I had courage to do anything! Of course it was different with me
but you'll probably feel just the way I did, all strong inside, when you
face him and get stirred up. Only--I hate to tell you, but I saw you put
your stocking on wrong side out and then change it and _that's_ bad
luck!"
Robin looked down at the luckless stocking. It looked too absurdly a
trifle to have weight with anything as important as righting the wrongs
of the Rileys.
Afterward, however, Robin vowed she'd always take great care in her
dressing!
Frank Norris had been superintendent of the Forsyth Mills for
twenty-five years. Since the death of old Christopher Forsyth he had run
them pretty much as he pleased, for, inasmuch as his accounting was
accurate to the smallest fraction and his profits unfailingly
forthcoming, neither Madame Forsyth nor her financial or legal advisers,
saw fit to interfere with him. For that reason the old man felt
annoyance as well as surprise when Robin broke into the usual routine of
his Monday morning, already disturbed by the mystery of Saturday night's
fire.
He had duly paid his respects to the little Forsyth heir with a Sunday
afternoon call and had afterward reported to Mrs. Norris that she "was a
little thing, all red hair and eyes." But now, as she stood at one end
of his desk, something in the resolute set of her chin arrested and held
his attention; there _was_ something more--he could not at the moment
say what--to the "little thing" than eyes and red hair.
Robin swallowed (as Beryl had instructed) and plunged straight into her
errand. Wouldn't he please let the Rileys stay in their cottage for a
little while--until something could be done?
At the mention of the Rileys the smile he had mustered vanished, and his
bushy eyebrows drew sharply down over his narrow eyes from which angry
little gleams flashed.
"Who asked you to come to me, Miss Forsyth?"
Robin's heart went down into her boots. "No one," she answered in a
faint voice. Then, quite suddenly, something in the hard, angry face
opposite her fired that spark within her that Beryl had assured her she
would feel. She felt the "big thing" grow and grow until she stood
straight, quite unafraid, and could go on calmly. "Only I don't
think--and I don't believe my aunt would think--it is quite fair to put
them out of their house when they've had so much trouble. Hasn't Mr.
Riley always been a very good workman? There are lots of things here I
don't think quite right, and when my aunt comes back I'm going to ask
her to change--"
"May I interrupt you, Miss Forsyth, to inquire upon what experience you
base your knowledge? For I assume, of course, you would not want to
radically change things here without knowing what you were offering in
their place. I was under the impression that you were quite a youngster
and had lived with your father in a somewhat Bohemian fashion--"
A deep rose stained Robin's face. She caught the hint of a slur.
"My father taught me what is honest and fair and kind and cruel and--"
She had to stop to control the trembling in her voice. The man took
advantage of it by breaking in, his voice measured and conciliatory. He
suddenly realized the ridiculousness--and the danger--in quarreling with
even a fifteen-year-old Forsyth.
"My dear child, I can readily understand in what light certain
conditions appear to one of your tender years. When you are older you
will understand that an industry such as I am in charge of here, and
conducting, I believe, quite satisfactorily for the Forsyths, has to be
run by the head and not the heart. I dislike immensely having to do such
things as forcing the Rileys to move but you must see it is my duty. If
I make an exception in their case--there will be hundreds like them. As
it happens--" he let a rasp of anger break into his voice--"the cottage
into which they were to move was burned down Saturday night. However
that will only delay the enforcing of my order and when the man or men
who set fire to it are caught they will be dealt with--severely. Your
Rileys will enjoy a few days of grace until we can put another into
shape."
"If they burned it it's because they had to show--us--how they
felt--that the place wasn't fit to live in! Mr. Norris, the Mill people
_are_ nice people; I heard--I heard someone say that this was the only
Mill in all New England where real white folks worked--but they think
we--I mean--the Forsyths--don't care--"
Norris stood up abruptly. Somehow or another he must end this absurd
interview while he could yet hang on to his temper. Some one of these
miserable agitators--he suspected who it might be--had influenced the
girl, was using her for a tool. He had heard, of course, of the intimacy
between Miss Gordon and the Lynchs.
"My dear girl--you have no idea how much I would like to go into all
this with you and straighten out the muddle in your head--but, really, I
am a very busy man. Tell me, didn't young Dale Lynch persuade you to
come to me?"
Robin's lips parted impulsively to deny it--then closed. Dale _had_
suggested her coming to Norris. Before she could explain, the man went
on, a ring of triumph sharpening his voice.
"Ah, I thought so! Now let me tell you why he is disgruntled. I would
not look at some contrivance he brought to me which he claims will, when
it is perfected, increase the efficiency of our looms fifty per cent.
He's a bright young fellow but he doesn't know his place, and he's too
chummy with a certain man in these Mills to be healthy for him. However,
I'm looking to our friend the town constable to straighten all that out.
Now, Miss Gordon," with a hand on her shoulder he gently and in a
fatherly manner led her toward the door. "I would suggest, that, without
the advice of your aunt--or your guardian--you do not worry your pretty
little red head over this!" And he bowed her with pleasant courtesy out
of the door.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" _Another_ one telling her not to worry! She clenched her
teeth that no one in the outer office might see how near she was to
tears. Outside, in a stifled voice, she directed Williams to drive her
back to the Manor, then sat very straight in the car as though those
hateful eyes could pierce the thick walls and gloat over her defeat.
Halfway to the Manor she remembered suddenly that she had quite ignored
the study hours and that doubtless poor Percival Tubbs was pulling his
Van Dyke to pieces in his rage. Then in turn she forgot the tutor in a
flash of concern for Dale. That beast of a Norris had said something
about Dale being too chummy with a certain man--and the constable! Did
they suspect Adam Kraus and Dale of setting fire to the cottage? Oh,
why had she let him think Dale had suggested her interfering for the
Rileys--how stupid she had been! If they arrested Dale and accused him
it would be her own fault. A fine way for her to repay dear, dear Mother
Lynch. What _could_ she do?
Beryl met her with the warning that Mr. Tubbs was "simply furious"--and
had said something about "standing this vagary about as long as he
could," which did not mean much to Robin, not half so much as Beryl's
own ill-temper, for the tutor had taken the annoyance of Robin's
high-handed absentedness out on the remaining pupil. With Beryl cross
she could not tell her that she had gotten Dale into trouble. She must
meet the situation alone.
She must warn Dale, first of all. And to do that she must resort to the
distasteful expedient of hanging about in the groceries-and-notions
store until Dale passed by after work or stopped for mail as he might
possibly do.
She found no difficulty in getting away alone, for Beryl, in the sulks,
had buried herself in the deep window-seat of the library. Down in the
store she startled the old storekeeper by an almost wholesale order of
candies and cookies and topped it off by a demand for a pink knitting
wool, which, Robin hoped mightily, might be found only on the topmost
shelf. Then, while he was rummaging and grumbling under his breath, she
hurriedly told him she _didn't_ want it and dropped a crisp five dollar
bill on the counter, for the men were pouring down the street and any
moment Dale might come.
No coquetting miss, contriving to meet the lad of her fancy, could have
planned things to more of a nicety; Robin, her arms full of her absurd
purchases, came out of the store just as Dale and Adam Kraus walked
along. It was not so much the unusualness of the girl's being there--and
alone, that brought Dale to a quick stop; it was the imploring look in
her wide and serious eyes.
"Where's Beryl--or that chauffeur?" He took her packages from her.
"I want to talk to you. I _have_ to. Will you walk just a little way
home with me?"
"Why, what's up? Of course I will. Come, let's cut through here." For
Dale realized that many curious eyes were staring at them, and not too
kindly. Someone laughed. He would be accused of "truckling" to a
Forsyth, which, just then, was likely to bring contempt upon him.
Neither he nor Robin saw the incongruous picture they made; she in her
warm suit of softest duvetyn and rich with fur, he in his working
clothes, swinging a dinner pail in one hand and in the other balancing
her knobby packages. All she thought of was that this was Dale, the
Prince who had once befriended her, whose make-believe presence had
often gladdened her lonely childhood hours, and who was in danger now;
and he looked down into the little face under its fringe of flame-red
hair and wondered what in the world made it so tragic and why it
strangely haunted him as belonging to some far-off picture in the past.
Vehemently, because it had been bottled up so long, Robin told him how
afraid she was for him--that Norris had as much as said he suspected him
and Adam Kraus, and that the constable might arrest them any moment and
wouldn't he please--go away--or--or something?
"He says you're disgruntled 'cause he wouldn't look at your 'toy.' He's
terribly mad about everything--I could see it in his horrid eyes. Oh, I
_hate_ him!" she finished.
They had left the village and were close to the bend in the road where
stood the House of Laughter. Dale stopped short and threw his head back
with a loud laugh. Robin had wondered in her heart with what courage her
Prince would take the news of his danger but she had not expected this!
However, his laugh softened the lines of his face until it looked boyish
and oh, so much like it had that night long ago when she had been lost.
"Well, here I am laughing away and forgetting to thank you for wanting
to help me. But you needn't be afraid for me, Miss Robin. There is still
a little justice in the world, in spite of men like Norris, and I can
prove to anyone that I was snug in my bed until my mother dragged me
out to go off up to the old village. I can't say I helped fight the
fire--what was the use? Nothing could have saved the old place. And I'd
rather like to shake hands with the man who set it on fire, though it
was sort of a low-down trick. Norris won't house anyone in that
rat-hole."
An immense relief shone in Robin's face. She knew Dale had not done the
"low-down trick." She wished she had made Norris believe it!
"About the toy--" Dale went on, soberly. "Maybe in the end it'll be a
good thing for me that Norris turned it down. Adam Kraus has taken it
and he's going to have some little metal contrivances made that it had
to have and then he'll take it to Grangers' and he feels pretty sure
that Granger will buy it. Only I had a sort of feeling that I wanted it
used here--you see these mills gave definite shape to this thing that
has been growing in my head for a long time, just like verses in a
poet's. I went to a technical night school for years, you know, and I
couldn't get enough of the machine shop. One of the teachers in the
school got this job for me here. I'd never been outside of New York
before and I thought this was Heaven, honest."
"Mr. Norris said you claimed it would--oh, something about efficiency,"
Robin floundered.
Dale nodded. "I not only claim, I know. That little thing of mine
attached to the looms here would revolutionize the whole industry for
the Forsyths. You see these Mills are way behind times in their
equipment; with improved looms they could turn out more work, pay better
wages, and give the men better living and working conditions. And
men--the sort they have here--will work better with up-to-date things
around them; gives them an up-to-the-minute respect for their job."
Robin stamped her foot in one of her impetuous bursts of anger.
"He ought to be _made_ to buy it!" she cried.
Dale turned to her and stared at her intently.
"You're a funny little thing. Why do you care so much?"
Robin had a wild longing to bring back to his mind that November night,
long ago, when he had found her clinging abjectly to the palings of the
park fence and had taken her home, that she had declared then that he
was her play-prince and that she would hunt for him until she found him!
And, quite by coincidence, she _had_ found him and now she wanted to do
this thing for him and not entirely to help the Forsyth Mills! But if
she told him--and he laughed--her pretty pretend would be all over and,
because it belonged to that happy childhood in the bird-cage with
Jimmie, it was precious and she did not want to lose it--yet.
So she flushed and answered shyly: "I--don't--know."
"I'm ever so much obliged, Miss Robin, for your interest and your
worry--over me. It gives a fellow a jolly feeling of importance to know
that a little girl is bothering her head over his luck. And Miss Robin,
you've made things tremendously bright for my mother this winter--and
for my father, too. I didn't know whether mother'd be happy here in
Wassumsic after being so busy in New York but it was the only way I
could stop her from working her head off and I'd decided _my_ shoulders
were broad enough to support my family. And you've done a lot for Beryl,
too. I can see it."
"Oh, _don't_!" cried Robin. As if she could let him thank her for Mother
Lynch--as if the debt were not on her side. They had reached the Manor
gate now and Dale handed her the packages.
"Everything will come out all right, Miss Robin, so don't you be
worrying your little head," he admonished and strangely enough Robin
answered him with a smile. _He_ was different.
But Robin's "bad" day had not ended yet. Beryl's "sulk" had grown, like
the gathering clouds of an impending storm, into a big gloom that did
not lighten even when, after dinner, the girls were left alone in the
library with their beloved "one thousand and seventy-four" books. From
over the edge of "Vanity Fair" Robin watched anxiously the preoccupation
and shadow on Beryl's face.
(Oh, why _had_ she changed that inside-out stocking!)
"Beryl, what is the matter?"
"Nothing."
"There _is_. You won't read or talk or--anything."
"Well, I don't feel like it."
"What _do_ you feel like--inside?" persisted Robin.
"Like--nothing. _Just_ like it."
"Beryl, are you discouraged about--your music?"
Robin put her finger so accurately upon the sore spot that Beryl winced.
Robin added: "You ought not to be--you're wonderful!"
"I'm _not_. You think so 'cause you don't know! I can't get something I
used to have. I had it when I played on Christmas night and oh, I felt
as though I'd always have it--it just tingled in my fingers and made my
heart almost burst and then--it went away. I can't rouse it now. I don't
even know--what made it come--inside me. But I do know that I'm as far
away from--what I want, really working and getting ahead--as I ever was.
_Further_, way off here. At least when I was in New York I had dear old
Jacques Henri to help me!"
Robin's book tumbled to the floor. She had an odd feeling as though
Beryl--the first girl friend she had ever had--might be slipping away
from her. "You want to go back to New York?" she asked stupidly.
"Of course, silly. There isn't anything, here."
"Then you ought to go. Beryl, you _must_ go. I'm going to give you the
rest of the money--what I saved from the Queen's Christmas gift
and--and--my allowance. Oh, please, Beryl, _don't_ look like that!"
"Thanks!" Beryl's voice rang cold. "But I'm not reduced to charity, yet.
Of course I've been kidding myself that I earn all the money you pay me
for living here--with a few clothes thrown in. Don't think I don't know
what those horrid creatures at the Mills say about me being proud and
too stuck-up to work like Dale and the others. They even taunt Dale. I
hate myself when I think of it. And all I'm earning wouldn't keep me
very long--if I ever did go to study. Oh, I just hate--_hate_--_hate_
being poor!" Her voice broke in a great sob.
Robin wanted to throw her arms about her and comfort her but she was
afraid for Beryl looked like a different being. And, while she
hesitated, Beryl flung herself out of the room.
Robin stared into the fire, little lines of worry and perplexity
wrinkling her face. Everything was so stupidly hard; no matter what she
tried or wanted to do--she ran up against a wall of pride. Her poor
little treasured money that she had kept in the heart-shaped box! If she
had had it in her hands then she would have thrown it into the fire.
Oh, for a chance to do something, give something that could not be
counted--and spurned--in dollars and cents!