LUKE HAS A COOL RECEPTION IN PRAIRIE AVENUE
Tom Brooks had reason to feel alarmed for his Chinese pursuer fully
intended to strike Tom with the flatiron. Though this was utterly
wrong, some excuse must be made for Ah King, who had frequently been
annoyed by Tom.
It was at this critical juncture that Luke Walton appeared on the
scene.
He had no reason to like Tom, but he instantly prepared to rescue him.
Fortunately, he knew Ah King, whom he had more than once protected
from the annoyance of the hoodlums of the neighborhood.
Luke ran up and seized the Chinaman by the arm.
"What are you going to do?" he demanded, sternly.
"Fool boy bleak my window," said Ah King. "I bleak his head."
"No, you mustn't do that. The police will arrest you."
"Go way! Me killee white boy," cried Ah King, impatiently trying to
shake off Luke's grasp. "He bleak window--cost me a dollee."
"I'll see that he pays it, or is arrested," said Luke.
Unwillingly Ah King suffered himself to be persuaded, more readily,
perhaps, that Tom was now at a safe distance.
"You plomise me?" said Ah King.
"Yes; if he don't pay, I will. Go and get the window mended."
Luke easily overtook Tom, who was looking round the corner to see how
matters were going.
"Has he gone back?" asked Tom, rather anxiously.
"Yes, but if I hadn't come along, he would, perhaps, have killed
you."
"You only say that to scare me," said Tom, uneasily.
"No, I don't; I mean it. Do you know how I got you off?"
"How?"
"I told Ah King you would pay for the broken window. It will cost a
dollar."
"I didn't promise," said Tom, significantly.
"No," said Luke, sternly, "but if you don't do it, I will myself have
you arrested. I saw you throw the stone at the window."
"What concern is it of yours?" asked Tom, angrily. "Why do you meddle
with my business?"
"If I hadn't meddled with your business, you might have a fractured
skull by this time. It is a contemptibly mean thing to annoy a poor
Chinaman."
"He's only a heathen."
"A well-behaved heathen is better than a Christian such as you are."
"I don't want any lectures," said Tom in a sulky tone.
"I presume not. I have nothing more to say except that I expect you to
hand me that dollar to-night."
"I haven't got a dollar."
"Then you had better get one. I don't believe you got a dollar's worth
of sport in breaking the window, and I advise you hereafter to spend
your money better."
"I don't believe I will pay it," said Tom, eying Luke closely, to see
if he were in earnest.
"Then I will report your case to the police."
"You're a mean fellow," said Tom, angrily.
"I begin to be sorry I interfered to save you. How ever, take your
choice. If necessary, I will pay the dollar myself, for I have
promised Ah King; but I shall keep my word about having you
arrested."
It was a bitter pill for Tom to swallow, but he managed to raise the
money, and handed it to Luke that evening. Instead of being grateful
to the one who had possibly saved his life, he was only the more
incensed against him, and longed for an opportunity to do him an
injury.
"I hate that Luke Walton," he said to one of his intimate friends. "He
wants to boss me, and all of us, but he can't do it. He's only fit to
keep company with a heathen Chinee."
Luke spent a couple of hours in selling papers. He had not forgotten
his engagement with Mrs. Merton, and punctually at ten o'clock he
pulled the bell of the house in Prairie Avenue.
Just at that moment the door was opened, and he faced a boy of his own
age, a thin, dark-complexioned youth, of haughty bearing. This, no
doubt, he concluded, was Harold Tracy.
"What do you want?" he asked, superciliously.
"I should like to see Mrs. Merton."
"Humph! What business have you with Mrs. Merton?"
Luke was not favorably impressed with Harold's manner, and did not
propose to treat him with the consideration which he evidently thought
his due.
"I come here at Mrs. Merton's request," he said, briefly. "As to what
business we have together, I refer you to her."
"It strikes me that you are impudent," retorted Harold, angrily.
"Your opinion of me is of no importance to me. If you don't care to
let Mrs. Merton know I am here, I will ring again and ask the servant
to do so."
Here a lady, bearing a strong personal resemblance to Harold, made her
appearance, entering the hall from the breakfast room in the rear.
"What is it, Harold?" she asked, in a tone of authority.
"Here is a boy who says he wants to see Aunt Eliza."
"What can he want with her?"
"I asked him, but he won't tell."
"I must trouble him to tell me," said Mrs. Tracy, closing her thin
mouth with a snap.
"Like mother--like son," thought Luke.
"Do you hear?" demanded Mrs. Tracy, unpleasantly.
"I am here by Mrs. Merton's appointment, Mrs. Tracy," said Luke,
firmly. "I shall be glad to have her informed that I have arrived."
"And who are you, may I ask?"
"Perhaps you've got your card about you?" sneered Harold.
"I have," answered Luke, quietly.
With a comical twinkle in his eye, he offered one to Harold.
"Luke Walton," repeated Harold.
"Yes, that is my name."
"I don't think my aunt will care to see you," said Mrs. Tracy, who was
becoming more and more provoked with the "upstart boy," as she
mentally termed him.
"Perhaps it would be better to let her know I am here."
"It is quite unnecessary. I will take the responsibility."
Luke was quite in doubt as to what he ought to do. He could not very
well prevent Harold's closing the door, in obedience to his mother's
directions, but fortunately the matter was taken out of his hands by
the old lady herself, who, unobserved by Harold and his mother, had
been listening to the conversation from the upper landing. When she
saw her visitor about to be turned out of the house, she thought it
quite time to interfere.
"Louisa," she called, in a tone of displeasure, "you will oblige me by
not meddling with my visitors. Luke, come upstairs."
Luke could not forbear a smile of triumph as he passed Harold and Mrs.
Tracy, and noticed the look of discomfiture on their faces.
"I didn't know he was your visitor, Aunt Eliza," said Mrs. Tracy,
trembling with the anger she did not venture to display before her
wealthy relative.
"Didn't he say so?" asked Mrs. Merton, sharply.
"Yes, but I was not sure that he was not an impostor."
"You had only to refer the matter to me, and I could have settled the
question. Luke is in my employ----"
"In your employ?" repeated Mrs. Tracy, in surprise.
"Yes; he will do errands for me, and sometimes accompany me to the
city."
"Why didn't you call on Harold? He would be very glad to be of service
to you."
"Harold had other things to occupy him. I prefer the other
arrangement. Luke, come into my room and I will give you directions."
Mrs. Tracy and Harold looked at each other as the old lady and Luke
disappeared.
"This is a new freak of Aunt Eliza's," said Mrs. Tracy. "Why does she
pass over you, and give the preference to this upstart boy?"
"I don't mind that, mother," replied Harold. "I don't want to be
dancing attendance on an old woman."
"But she may take a fancy to this boy--she seems to have done so
already--and give him part of the money that ought to be yours."
"If we find there is any danger of that, I guess we are smart enough
to set her against him. Let her have the boy for a servant if she
wishes."
"I don't know but you are right, Harold. We must be very discreet, for
Aunt Eliza is worth half a million."
"And how old is she, mother?"
"Seventy-one."
"That's pretty old. She can't live many years."
"I hope she will live to a good old age," said Mrs. Tracy,
hypocritically, "but when she dies, it is only fair that we should
have her money."