“Eleven o’clock. I have decided, Abbie, to accept the guardianship and the rest of it, for a spell, anyhow. Shall notify the lawyers in the morning. Necessity is one thing, and pleasure is another. I doubt if I find the job pleasant, but I guess it is necessary. Anyhow, it looks that way to me.”
“Eleven o’clock. I have decided, Abbie, to accept the guardianship and the rest of it, for a spell, anyhow. Shall notify the lawyers in the morning. Necessity is one thing, and pleasure is another. I doubt if I find the job pleasant, but I guess it is necessary. Anyhow, it looks that way to me.”
Announcement of Captain Elisha’s decision followed quickly. Sylvester, Kuhn, and Graves received the telephone message stating it, and the senior partner was unqualifiedly delighted. Kuhn accepted his associate’s opinion with some reservation. “It is an odd piece of business, the whole of it,” he declared. “I shall be curious to see how it works out.” As for Mr. Graves, when the information was conveyed to him by messenger, he expressed disgust and dismay. “Ridiculous!” he said. “Doctor, I simply must be up and about within the next few days. It is necessary that a sane, conservative man be at the office. Far be it from me to say a word against Sylvester, as a lawyer, but he is subject to impressions. I imagine this Cape Codder made him laugh, and, therefore, in his opinion, is all right. I’m glad I’m not a joker.”
The captain said that he would be down later on to talk things over. Meanwhile, if the “papers and such” could be gotten together, it would “sort of help along.” Sylvester explained that there were certain legal and formal ceremonies pertaining to the acceptance of the trust to be gone through with, and these must have precedence. “All right,” answered the captain. “Let’s have ’em all out at once and get the ache and agony over. I’ll see you by and by.”
When Mrs. Corcoran Dunn made her daily visit to the Warren apartment that afternoon, she found Carolinealone and almost in tears. Captain Elisha had broken the news at the table during luncheon, after which he went downtown. Stephen, having raved, protested, and made himself generally disagreeable and his sister correspondingly miserable, had departed for the club. It was a time for confidences, and the wily Mrs. Dunn realized that fact. She soothed, comforted, and within half an hour, had learned the whole story. Caroline told her all, the strange will, the disclosure concerning the country uncle, and the inexplicable clauses begging the latter to accept the executorship, the trust, and the charge of her brother and herself. Incidentally she mentioned that a possible five hundred thousand was the extreme limit of the family’s pecuniary resources.
“Now you know everything,” sobbed Caroline. “Oh, Mrs. Dunn,youwon’t desert us, will you?”
The widow’s reply was a triumph, of its kind. In it were expressed sorrow, indignation, pity, and unswerving loyalty. Desert them? Desert the young people, toward whom she had come to feel almost like a mother? Never!
“You may depend on Malcolm and me, my dear,” she declared. “We are not fair-weather friends. And, after all, it is not so very bad. Affairs might be very much worse.”
“Worse! Oh, Mrs. Dunn, how could they be? Think of it! Stephen and I are dependent upon him for everything. We must ask him for every penny. And whatever he says to do wemustdo. We’re obliged to. Just think! if he decides to take us back with him to—South Denboro, or whatever dreadful place he comes from, we shall have to go—and live there.”
“But he won’t, my dear. He won’t. It will take some time to settle your father’s affairs, and the business will have to be transacted here in New York.”
“I know. I suppose that’s true. But that doesn’t make it any easier. If he stops here he will stay with us. And what shall we do? We can’t introduce him to our friends, or, at least, to any except our best, our understanding friends, like you and Malcolm.”
“Why, I’m not sure. He is rather—well—er—countryfied, but I believe he has a good heart. He is not rude or unkind or anything of that sort, is he?”
“No. No-o. He’s not that, at all. In fact, he means to be kind in his way. But it’s such a different way from ours. He is not used to society; he wouldn’t understand that certain things and ways were absolutely essential. I suppose it isn’t his fault exactly, but that doesn’t help. And how can we tell him?”
“I don’t know that you can tell him, but you might hint. Diplomacy, my dear, is one of the necessary elements of life. Whatever else you do remember to be diplomatic. My poor husband used to have a pet proverb—he was interested in politics, my dear, and some of his sayings were a trifle grotesque but very much to the point. He used to say that one could get rid of more flies with molasses than with a club. And I think he was right. Now let me consider. Let’s look the situation right in the face. Of course your guardian, as a companion, as an associate for us, for our kind of people, is, to be quite frank, impossible.”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure he is.”
“Yes. But heisyour guardian. Therefore, we can’t get rid of him with—well, with a club. He must be endured and made as endurable as possible. And it certainly will not do to offend him.”
“Steve says we must do what he calls freezing him out—make him feel that we do not want him here.”
“Hum! Well, Stephen is a nice boy—Malcolm adores him—but he isn’t a diplomat. If we should—what is it?—freeze out your uncle—”
“Please call him something else.”
“Well, we’ll call him the encumbrance on the estate; that’s legal, I believe, and expresses it nicely. If we should freeze out the encumbrance, wemightfreeze him to his village, and hemightinsist on your going with him, which wouldn’t do atall, my dear. For one thing, Malcolm would probably insist on going, also, and I, for one, don’t yearn for rural simplicity. Ha! ha! Oh, you mustn’t mind me. I’m only a doting mamma, dearie, and I have my air castles like everyone else. So, freezing out won’t do. No, you and Steve must be polite to our encumbrance.”
“I shall not get on my knees to him and beg. That I sha’n’t do.”
“No one expects you to. If anyone begs it should be he. Condescend to just a little. Make him feel his place. Correct him when he goes too far wrong, and ignore him when he gets assertive. As for getting rid of him at times when it may be necessary—well, I think you may safely leave that to me.”
“To you? Oh, Mrs. Dunn, we couldn’t think of dragging you into it. It is bad enough that we should be disgraced; but you must not be.”
“My dear child, Ithinkmy position in society is sufficiently established to warrant a risk or two. IfIam seen in company with—with the encumbrance, people will merely say, ‘Oh, it’s another of her eccentricities!’ that’s all. Now, don’t worry, and don’t fret all that pretty color from your cheeks. Always rememberthis: it is but for a year or a trifle over. Then you will be of age and can send your encumbrance to the right-about in a hurry.”
Caroline, under the spell of this convincing eloquence, began to cheer up. She even smiled.
“Well,” she said, “I will try to be diplomatic. I really will. But Stephen—I’m not sure what dreadful thinghewill do.”
“He will return to college soon. I will take upon myself the convincing of the encumbrance to that effect. And while he is at home, Malcolm will take charge of him. He will be delighted to do it.”
“Mrs. Dunn, how can we ever thank you sufficiently? What should we do without you and Malcolm?”
“Ihope, my dear, that you will never have to do without me; not for many years, at any rate. Of course, there is always my poor heart, but—we won’t worry, will we?”
So, with a kiss and an embrace, this affecting interview ended.
There was another that evening between Mrs. Dunn and her son, which was not devoid of interest. Malcolm listened to the information which his mother gave him, and commented upon it in characteristic fashion.
“Humph!” he observed, “two hundred and fifty thousand, instead of the two million you figured on, Mater! Two hundred and fifty thousand isn’t so much, in these days.”
“No,” replied his parent, sharply, “it isn’t so much, but it isn’t so little, either.”
“I suppose one can get along on it.”
“Yes, one can. In fact, I know of two who are managing with a good deal less. Don’t be any more of a fool than you can help, Malcolm. The sum itself isn’tsmall, and, besides, the Warrens are a family of standing. To be connected with them is worth a good deal. There are infinite possibilities in it. Oh, if only I might live to see the day when tradespeople meant something other than nuisances to be dodged, IthinkI could die contented.”
“Caro’s a decent sort of a girl,” commented Malcolm, reflectively.
“She’s a bright girl and an attractive one. Just now she is in a mood to turn to us, to you. But, for Heaven’s sake, be careful! She is delicate and sensitive and requires managing. She likes you. If only you weren’t such a blunderer!”
“Much obliged, Mater. You’re free with your compliments this evening. What’s the trouble? Another ‘heart’?””
“No. My heart I can trust, up to certain limits. But I’m afraid of your head, just as I always was of your father’s. And here’s one more bit of advice: Be careful how you treat that country uncle.”
“The Admiral! Ho! ho! He’s a card.”
“He may be the trump that will lose us the trick. Treat him civilly; yes, even cordially, if you can. Anddon’tinsult him as you did the first time you and he met.”
The young man crossed his legs, and grunted in resignation.
“Well,” he said, “it’s going to be a confounded bore, but, at the very longest, it’ll last but a year. Then Caro will be her own mistress.”
“Yes. But there are three hundred and sixty-five days in a year; remember that.”
“All right, Mater. You can bet on me. The old hayseed and I will be bosom pals. Wait and see.”
The formalities at the lawyers’ took some time. Captain Elisha was absent from the apartment the better part of the following two days. The evenings, however, he spent with his niece and nephew, and, if at all sensitive to sudden changes of the temperature, he must have noticed that the atmosphere of the library was less frigid. Caroline was not communicative, did not make conversation, nor was she in the least familiar; but she answered his questions, did not leave the room when he entered, and seemed inclined to accept his society with resignation, if not with enthusiasm. Even Stephen was less sarcastic and bitter. At times, when his new guardian did or said something which offended his highly cultivated sense of the proprieties, he seemed inclined to burst out with a sneer; but a quick “ahem!” or a warning glance from his sister caused him to remain silent and vent his indignation by kicking a footstool or barking a violent order at the unresisting Edwards. Caroline and her brother had had a heart to heart talk, and, as a result, the all-wise young gentleman promised to make no more trouble than he could help.
“Though, by gad, Caro,” he declared, “it’s only for you I do it! If I had my way the old butt-in should understand exactly what I think of him.”
On Thursday, after luncheon, as Captain Elisha sat in his own room, reading a book he had taken from the library, there came a knock at the door.
“Come ahead in!” ordered the captain. Caroline entered. Her uncle rose and put down the book.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, “is it you? Excuse me. I thought ’twas the Commodore—Edwards, I mean. If I’d known you was comin’ callin’, Caroline, I shouldn’t have been quite so bossy. Guess I’d have opened the door for you, instead of lettin’ you do it yourself.”
“Thank you,” answered his niece. “I came to see you on—I suppose you might call it business. At any rate, it is a financial matter. I sha’n’t detain you long.”
Captain Elisha was a trifle disappointed.
“Oh,” he said, “on business, was it? I hoped—I didn’t know but you’d come just out of sociability. However, I’m mighty glad to see you, Caroline, no matter what it’s for. That’s a real becomin’ dress you’ve got on,” he added, inspecting her admiringly. “I declare, you look prettier every time I see you. You favor your pa consider’ble; I can see it more and more. ’Bije had about all the good looks there was in our family,” with a chuckle. “Set down, do.”
The girl seated herself in a rocker, and looked at him for a moment without speaking. She seemed to have something on her mind, and not to know exactly how to express it.
“Captain Warren,” she began, “I—I came to ask a favor. I am obliged to ask it, because you are our—” she almost choked over the hated word—“our guardian, and I can no longer act on my own responsibility. I wish to ask you for some money.”
Captain Elisha nodded gravely.
“I see,” he said. “Well, Caroline, I don’t believe you’ll find me very close-fisted. I think I told you and Steve that you was to do just as you’d been in the habit of doin’. Of course Iamyour guardian now, and I shall be held responsible for whatever expense comes to the estate. It is quite a responsibility, and I so understand it. As I said to you when I told you I’d decided to take the job on trial,whileI have it it’ll be my pride to see that you or your brother don’t lose anything. I intend, if the Almighty spares me so long and I keep on with the trust, to turn over, when my term’s out, at leastas much to you and Steve as your father left. That’s all. Excuse me for mentioning it again. Now, how much do you want? Is your reg’lar allowance too small? Remember, I don’t know much about such things here in New York, and you must be frank and aboveboard and tell me if you have any complaints.”
“I have no complaints. My allowance is sufficient. It is the same that father used to give me, and it is all I need. But this is a matter outside my personal needs.”
“Um-hm. Somethin’ to do with the household expenses, hey?”
“No. It is—is a matter of—well, of charity. It may amount to several hundred dollars.”
“Yes, yes. I see. Charity, hey? Church?”
“No. One of the maids, Annie, has trouble at home, and I wanted to help her.”
The captain nodded once more.
“Annie,” he repeated, “that’s the rosy-faced one? The Irish one?”
“Yes. Her father was seriously injured the other day and cannot work. His hip is broken, and the doctor’s bill will be large. They are very poor, and I thought perhaps—” She hesitated, faltered, and then said haughtily: “Father was very sympathetic and liked to have me do such things.”
“Sho! sho! Sartin! Course he did. I like it, too. I’m glad you came to me just as you did, Caroline. How much do you want to start with?”
“I don’t know, exactly. I thought I might ask our own doctor to attend to the case, and might send them some delicacies and food.”
“Good idea! Go right ahead, Caroline.”
“Thank you. I have been over to see them, and they need help—they really do.”
“I presume likely. How’d the accident happen? Anybody’s fault, was it?”
Caroline’s eyes snapped. “Indeed it was!” she said, indignantly. “It was a wet morning, after a rain, and the pavement was slippery. Mr. Moriarty, Annie’s father, was not working that day—they were making some repairs at the factory where he is employed, I believe—and he had gone out to do the family marketing. He was crossing the street when an automobile, recklessly driven, so everyone says, drove directly down on him. He tried to jump out of the way and succeeded—otherwise he might have been killed; but he fell and broke his hip. He is an old man, and the case is serious.”
“Dear! dear! you don’t tell me! Poor old chap! The auto feller—did he help? Seems to me he ought to be the one to be spendin’ the money. ’Twas his fault.”
“Help! Indeed he didn’t! He and the man with him merely laughed, as if it was a good joke, put on speed, and disappeared as quickly as possible.”
“Why, the mean swab! Did this Mr. Moriarty or the folks around get the license number of the auto?”
“No. All they know is that it was a big yellow car with two men in it.”
“Hey? A yellow car?”
“Yes. Somewhat similar to the one Malcolm—Mr. Dunn drives.”
“So, so! Hum! Where did it happen?”
“On Saint Nicholas Avenue, near One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Street.”
“Eh? Saint Nicholas Avenue, you say?”
“Yes.” Caroline rose and turned to go. “Thank you, Captain Warren,” she said. “I will tell Doctor Henry to take the case at once.”
The captain did not answer immediately. With his chin in his hand he was gazing at the floor.
“Good afternoon,” said Caroline.
Her uncle looked up.
“Er—Wait just a minute, Caroline,” he said. “I guess maybe, if you don’t mind, I’d like to think this over a little afore you go too far. You have your doctor go right ahead and see to the old man, and you order the things to eat and whatever’s necessary. But afore you give Annie or her father any money, I’d kind of like to figger a little mite.”
His niece stopped short, turned and stared at him.
“Oh!” she said, slowly and icily, “I see. Please don’t trouble yourself. I should have known. However, my allowance is my own, and I presume I am permitted to do what I please with that.”
“Caroline, don’t be hasty. I ain’t sayin’ no about the money. Far from it. I only—”
“I understand—thoroughly. Don’t trouble to ‘figure,’ as you call it. Oh!whydid I humiliate myself? I should have known!”
“Caroline, please—”
But the girl had gone, closing the door after her. Captain Elisha shook his head, heaved a deep sigh, and then, sinking back into his chair, relapsed into meditation. Soon afterward he put on his hat and coat and went out.
Half an hour later he entered the office of a firm of commission brokers on lower Broad Street, and inquired if a gentleman by the name of Mr. Malcolm Dunn was connected with that establishment. On being answered in the affirmative, he asked if Mr. Dunn were in. Yes, he was.
“Well,” said Captain Elisha, “I’d like to speak tohim a minute or so. Just tell him my name’s Warren, if you don’t mind, young feller.”
The clerk objected to being addressed as “young feller,” and showed his disapproval by the haughty and indifferent manner in which he departed on the errand. However, he did so depart, and returned followed by Malcolm himself. The latter, who had been misled by the name into supposing his caller to be Stephen Warren, was much astonished when he saw the captain seated outside the railing.
“Good afternoon,” said Captain Elisha, rising and extending his hand: “How are you to-day, sir? Pretty smart?”
The young man answered briefly that he was all right. He added he was glad to see his visitor, a statement more polite than truthful.
“Well, what’s up?” he inquired, condescendingly. “Nothing wrong with Caro or Steve, I hope.”
“No, they’re fust-rate, thank you.”
“What’s doing, then? Is it pleasure or business?”
“Well, a little of both, maybe. It’s always a pleasure to see you, of course; and I have got a little mite of business on hand.”
Malcolm smiled, in his languid fashion. If he suspected sarcasm in the first part of the captain’s reply, it did not trouble him. His self-sufficiency was proof against anything of that sort.
“Business,” he repeated. “Well, that’s what I’m here for. Thinking of cornering the—er—potato market, were you?”
“No-o. Cranberries would be more in my line, and I cal’late you fellers don’t deal in that kind of sass. I had a private matter I wanted to talk over with you, Mr. Dunn; that is, if you ain’t too busy.”
Malcolm looked at him with an amused curiosity. As he had expressed it in the conversation with his mother, this old fellow certainly was a “card.” He seated himself on the arm of the oak settle from which the captain had risen and, lazily swinging a polished shoe, admitted that he was always busy but never too busy to oblige.
“What’s on your mind, Captain?” he drawled.
Captain Elisha glanced about him somewhat uneasily.
“I—I don’t know as I made it quite clear,” he said, “that it was sort of private; somethin’ just between us, you understand.”
Malcolm hesitated. Sliding from the settle, and impatiently commanding the clerk to open the gate in the railing, he led his caller through the main office and into a small room beyond. On the glass pane of the door was lettered, “Mr. Dunn—Private.” A roll-top desk in the corner and three chairs were the furniture. Malcolm, after closing the door, sprawled in the swing chair before the desk, threw one leg over a drawer, which he pulled out for that purpose, and motioned his companion to occupy one of the other chairs.
Captain Elisha took the offered chair and dropped his hat on the floor beside it. Then he inspected the room and its furnishings with interest. Dunn drew out a pocket case, extracted a cigarette, lit it, and waited for him to speak.
“Well,” observed the young man, after a moment, “what’s the trouble, Admiral? Better get it off your chest, hadn’t you? We’re private enough here.”
The captain answered the last question. “Yes,” he said, “this is nice and private. Got a stateroom all to yourself; name on the door, and everything complete. You must be one of the officers of the craft.”
“Yes.”
“Um-hm. I sort of expected to find your name on the door outside, but there ’twas, ‘Smith, Haynes & Co.’ I presume likely you’re the ‘Co.’”
“I‘presume likely,’” with mocking impatience. “What about that private matter?”
Captain Elisha did not appear to hear him. His eyes were fixed on several photographs stuck in the rail of Mr. Dunn’s desk. The photos were those of young ladies.
“Friends of yours?” inquired the captain, nodding toward the photographs.
“No.” Dunn took the photos from the rack and threw them into a pigeon hole. “Look here,” he said, pointedly, “I wouldn’t hurry you for the world, but—”
He paused. Captain Elisha did not take the hint. His mind was evidently still busy with the vanished photographs.
“Just fancy pictures, I s’pose, hey?” he commented.
“Doubtless. Any other little points I can give you?”
“I guess not. I thought they was fancy; looked so to me. Well, about that private matter. Mr. Dunn, I come to see you about an automobile.”
“An automobile!” The young man was so astonished that he actually removed his feet from the desk. Then he burst into a laugh. “An automobile?” he repeated. “Captain, has the influence of the metropolis made you a sport already? Do you want to buy a car?”
“Buy one?” It was Captain Elisha’s turn to show irritation. “Buy one of them things? Me? I wouldn’t buy one of ’em, or run one of ’em, for somethin’,Itell you! No, I don’t want to buy one.”
“Why not? Sell you mine for a price.”
“Not if I see you fust, thank you. No, Mr. Dunn, ’tain’t that. But one of the hired help up to our place—Caroline’splace, I mean—is in trouble on account of one of the dratted machines. They’re poor folks, of course, and they need money to help ’em through the doctorin’ and nursin’ and while the old man’s out of work. Caroline was for givin’ it to ’em right off, she’s a good-hearted girl; but I said—that is, I kind of coaxed her out of it. I thought I’d ask some questions first.”
“So you came to me to ask them?” Malcolm smiled contentedly. Evidently the cares and complications of guardianship were already proving too intricate for the unsophisticated countryman. He wished advice, and had come to him for it, possibly at Caroline’s suggestion. Affairs were shaping themselves well. Here was an opportunity to act the disinterested friend, as per maternal instructions.
“So you wanted to ask questions, did you, Captain?” he repeated. “Well, fire away. Anything I can do to help you or Caroline will be a pleasure, of course. Smoke?”
He offered the cigarette case. The captain eyed it dubiously and shook his head.
“No,” he said; “no, thank you, I commenced smokin’ at the butt end, I guess. Begun with a pipe, and them things would seem sort of kindergarten, I’m afraid. No offense meant, you understand. It’s all accordin’ to what you’ve been used to. Well, about the questions. Here’s the first one: Don’t it seem to you that the right one to pay for the doctorin’ and nursin’ and such of Mr. Moriarty—that’s Annie’s pa—ought to be the feller who hurt him? That feller, instead of Caroline?”
“Sure thing! If you know who did it, he’s your mark.”
“He could be held responsible, couldn’t he?”
“Certainly.”
“Um-hm. So I thought. And if he was a right-minded chap, he’d be glad to help the poor critter, providin’ he knew what damage he’d done; wouldn’t you think so?”
Malcolm nodded sagely, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. A sudden recollection came to him, an alarming recollection. He turned in his chair and looked at his visitor. Captain Elisha met his gaze frankly.
“Where did this accident happen?” asked Mr. Dunn, his condescending smile absent.
“At the corner of Saint Nicholas Avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Street. It happened last Friday mornin’, a week ago. And the car that hit him was a yellow one.”
Malcolm did not answer. His pale face grew paler, and then flushed a brilliant red. The captain seemed to feel sorry for him.
“Naturally,” he went on, “when I heard about it, I remembered what you told Mr. Sylvester and me at the club that afternoon. I understand how ’twas, of course. You never thought you’d done any real harm and just went on, thinkin’ ’twas a good joke, much as anything. If you’d known you’d really hurt the poor old man, you’d have stopped to see him. I understand that. But—”
“Look here!” interrupted Dunn, sharply, “did Caroline send you to me?”
“Caroline? No, no! She don’t know ’twas your automobile at all. I never said a word to her, ’tain’t likely. But afore she spent any of her money, I thought you’d ought to know, because I was sure you wouldn’tlet her. That’s the way I’d feel, and I felt ’twas no more’n honest to give you the chance. I come on my own hook; she didn’t know anything about it.”
Malcolm drummed on the desk with nervous fingers. The flush remained on his face, his cigarette had gone out, and he threw the stump savagely into the wastepaper basket. Captain Elisha remained silent. At length the young man spoke.
“Well,” he growled, pettishly, “how much will it take to square things with the gang? How much damages do they want?”
“Damages? Oh, there won’t be any claim for damages, I guess. That is, no lawsuit, or anything of that kind. The Moriartys don’t know you did it, and there’s no reason why they should. I thought maybe I’d see to ’em and do whatever was necessary; then you could settle with me, and the whole business would be just between us two. Outside the doctor’s bills and food and nursin’ and such, all the extry will be just the old man’s wages for the time he’s away from the factory. ’Twon’t be very heavy.”
More reflection and finger tattoo by his companion. Then:
“All right! I’m in it, I can see that; and it’s up to me to get out as easy as I can. I don’t want any newspaper publicity. Go ahead! I’ll pay the freight.”
Captain Elisha arose and picked up his hat.
“That’s fust-rate,” he said, with emphasis. “I felt sure you’d see it just as I did. There’s one thing I would like to say,” he added: “that is, that you mustn’t think I was stingy about helpin’ ’em myself. But it wa’n’t really my affair; and when Caroline spoke of spendin’ her money and Steve’s, I didn’t feel I’d ought to let her. You see, I don’t know as you know it yet,Mr. Dunn, but my brother ’Bije left me in charge of his whole estate, and, now that I’ve decided to take the responsibility, I’ve got a sort of pride in not wastin’ any of his children’s inheritance. Good day, Mr. Dunn. I’m much obliged to you.”
He opened the office door. Malcolm, frowning heavily, suddenly asked a final question.
“Say!” he demanded, “you’ll not tell Caroline or Steve a word of this, mind!”
The captain seemed surprised.
“I guess you didn’t catch what I said, Mr. Dunn,” he observed, mildly. “I told you this whole business would be just between you and me.”
Captain Elisha was very far from considering himself a Solomon. As he would have said he had lived long enough with himself to know what a lot he didn’t know. Nevertheless, deep down in his inner consciousness, he cherished a belief in his judgment of human nature. This judgment was not of the snap variety; he took his time in forming it. People and their habits, their opinions and characters, were to him interesting problems. He liked to study them and to reach conclusions founded upon reason, observation, and common sense. Having reached such a conclusion, it disturbed him when the subjects of the problem suddenly upset the whole process of reasoning and apparently proved him wrong by behavior exactly contrary to that which he had expected.
He had been pretty well satisfied with the result of his visit to young Dunn at the latter’s office. Malcolm had surrendered, perhaps not gracefully or unconditionally, but he had surrendered, and the condition—secrecy—was one which the captain himself had suggested. Captain Elisha’s mental attitude toward the son of the late Tammany leader had been a sort of good-natured but alert tolerance. He judged the young man to be a product of rearing and environment. He had known spoiled youths at the Cape and, in their surroundings, they behaved much as Malcolm did in his. The same disrespect to their elders, the same cock-sureness, and the same careless indifference concerning the effectwhich their actions might have upon other people—these were natural and nothing but years and the hard knocks of experience could bring about a change. Elkanah Chase, country swell and pampered heir to the cranberry grower’s few thousands, and Malcolm Dunn, idol of his set at the Metropolitan Club, were not so very different, except in externals. The similarity confirmed his opinion that New York was merely South Denboro many thousand times magnified.
He knew how young Chase had behaved after an interview not unlike that just described. In Elkanah’s case several broken windows and property destroyed on a revel the night before the Fourth had caused the trouble. In Malcolm’s it was an automobile. Both had listened to reason and had knuckled under rather than face possible lawsuits and certain publicity. Chase, however, had sulkily refused to speak to him for a month, and regained affability merely because he wished to borrow money. According to the captain’s deduction, Dunn should have acted in similar fashion. But he didn’t; that was the odd part of it.
For Malcolm, when he next called, in company with his mother, at the Warren apartment, was not in the least sulky. Neither was he over effusive, which would have argued fear and a desire to conciliate. Possibly there was a bit more respect in his greeting of the new guardian and a trifle less condescension, but not much. He still hailed Captain Elisha as “Admiral,” and was as mockingly careless as ever in his remarks concerning the latter’s newness in the big city. In fact, he was so little changed that the captain was perplexed. A chap who could take a licking when he deserved it, and not hold malice, must have good in him, unless, of course, he was hiding the malice for a purpose. And if thatpurpose was the wish to appear friendly, then the manner of hiding it proved Malcolm Dunn to possess more brains than Captain Elisha had given him credit for.
One thing seemed sure, the Dunns were not openly hostile. And Caroline was. Since the interview in the library, when the girl had, as she considered it, humiliated herself by asking her guardian for money to help the Moriartys, she had scarcely spoken to him. Stephen, taking his cue from his sister, was morose and silent, also. Captain Elisha found it hard to forgive his dead brother for bringing all this trouble upon him.
His lawyers, so Sylvester informed him, were setting about getting Rodgers Warren’s tangible assets together. The task was likely to be a long one. The late broker’s affairs were in a muddled state, the books were anything but clear, some of the investments were foreign, and, at the very earliest, months must elapse before the executor and trustee could know, for certain, just how large a property he was in charge of.
He found some solace and forgetfulness of the unpleasant life he was leading in helping the stricken Moriarty family. Annie, the maid at the apartment, he swore to secrecy. She must not tell Miss Caroline of his visits to her parents’ home. Doctor Henry, also, though he could not understand why, promised silence. Caroline herself had engaged his services in the case, and he was faithful. But the patient was more seriously hurt than at first appeared, and consultations with a specialist were necessary.
“Goin’ to be a pretty expensive job, ain’t it, Doctor?” asked the captain of the physician.
“Rather, I’m afraid.”
“All right. If expense is necessary, don’t be afraidof it. You do just what you’d ought to, and send the bill to me.”
“But Miss Warren insisted upon my sending it to her. She said it was a private matter, and one with which you, as her guardian, had nothing to do.”
“I know. Caroline intends to use her own allowance, I s’pose. Well, let her think she will, if ’twill please her. But when it comes to the settlement, call on me. Give her any reason you want to; say a—er—wealthy friend of the family come to life all at once and couldn’t sleep nights unless he paid the costs.”
“But there isn’t any such friend, is there, Captain Warren? Other than yourself, I mean?”
Captain Elisha grinned in appreciation of a private joke. “There is somebody else,” he admitted, “who’ll pay a share, anyhow. I don’t know’s he’s what you call a bosom friend, and, as for his sleepin’ nights—well, I never heard he couldn’t do that, after he went to bed. But, anyhow, you saw wood, or bones, or whatever you have to do, and leave the rest to me. And don’t tell Caroline or anybody else a word.”
The Moriartys lived in a four-room flat on the East Side, uptown, and his visits there gave the captain a glimpse of another sort of New York life, as different from that of Central Park West as could well be imagined. The old man, Patrick, his wife, Margaret, the unmarried son, Dennis, who worked in the gas house, and five other children of various ages were hived somehow in those four small rooms and Captain Elisha marveled greatly thereat.
“For the land sakes, ma’am,” he asked of the nurse, “how do they do it? Where do they put ’em nights? That—that closet in there’s the pantry and woodshed and kitchen and dinin’ room; and that one’s the settin’room and parlor; and them two dry-goods boxes with doors to ’em are bedrooms. There’s eight livin’ critters to stow away when it’s time to turn in, and one whole bed’s took up by the patient.Wheredo they put the rest? Hang ’em up on nails?”
The nurse laughed. “Goodness knows!” she said. “He should have been taken to the hospital. In fact, the doctor and I at first insisted upon his removal there. He would have been much better off. But neither he nor his wife would hear of it. She said he would die sure without his home comforts.”
“Humph! I should think more likely he’d die with ’em, or under ’em. I watch that fleshy wife of his with fear and tremblin’. Every time she goes nigh the bed I expect her to trip over a young one and fall. And if she fell on that poor rack-o’-bones,” with a wave of the hand toward the invalid, “’twould be the final smash—like a brick chimney fallin’ on a lath hencoop.”
At that moment the “brick chimney” herself entered the rooms and the nurse accosted her.
“Captain Warren here,” she said, “was asking where you all found sleeping quarters.”
Mrs. Moriarty smiled broadly. “Sure, ’tis aisy,” she explained. “When the ould man is laid up we’re all happy to be a bit uncomfortable. Not that we are, neither. You see, sor, me and Nora and Rosy sleep in the other bed; and Dinnie has a bit of a shakedown in the parlor; and Honora is in the kitchen; and—”
“There! there!” Captain Elisha interrupted hastily, “don’t tell me any more. I’d ratherguessthat the baby bunks in the cookstove oven than know it for sartin. How did the grapes I sent you go?” turning to the sick man.
“Aw, sor! they were foine. God bless you, sor!Mary be kind to you, sor! Sure the angels’ll watch over you every day you live and breathe!”
Captain Elisha bolted for the parlor, the sufferer firing a gatling fusillade of blessings after him. Mrs. Moriarty continued the bombardment, as she escorted him to the door of the flat.
“There! there!” protested the captain. “Just belay! cut it short, there’s a good woman! I’ll admit I’m a saint and would wear a halo instead of a hat if ’twa’n’t so unfashionable. Good day. If you need anything you ain’t got, tell the nurse.”
The grateful Irish woman did not intend to let him escape so easily.
“Aw, sor,” she went on, “it’s all right for you to make fun. I’m the jokin’ kind, sor, meself. Whin the flats where we used to be got afire and Pat had to lug me down the fire escape in his arms, they tell me I was laughin’ fit to kill; that is, when I wasn’t screechin’ for fear he’d drop me. And him, poor soul, never seein’ the joke, but puffin’ and groanin’ that his back was in two pieces. Ha, ha! Oh, dear! And him in two pieces now for sure and all! Aw, sor, it’s all right for you to laugh it off, but what would we do without you? You and Miss Caroline, God bless her!”
“Caroline? She doesn’t come here, does she?”
“Indade she does. Sure, she’s the perfect little lady! Hardly a day passes—or a week, anyhow—that she doesn’t drop in to see how the ould man’s gettin’ on.”
“Humph! Well, see that you don’t tell her about me.”
Mrs. Moriarty held up both hands in righteous protestation.Shetell? Might the tongue of her wither between her teeth before it let slip a word, and so on. Captain Elisha waved her to silence.
“All right! all right!” he exclaimed. “So long! Take good care of your husband, and, and—for Heaven’s sake, walk careful and don’t step on any of the children.”
Mrs. Moriarty’s tongue did not wither; at all events, it was lively enough when he next met her. The captain’s secret was not divulged, and he continued his visits to the flat, taking care, however, to ascertain his niece’s whereabouts beforehand. It was not altogether a desire to avoid making his charitable deeds public which influenced him. He had a habit of not letting his right hand know what his left was about in such cases, and he detested a Pharisaical philanthropist. But there was another reason why Caroline must not learn of his interest in the Moriartys. If she did learn it, she would believe him to be helping them on his own responsibility; or, if not, that he was using money belonging to the estate. Of course he would, and honestly must, deny the latter charge, and, therefore, the first would, to her mind, be proven. He intended that Malcolm Dunn should pay the larger share of the bills, as was right and proper. But he could not tell Caroline that, because she must not know of the young man’s responsibility for the accident. He could not give Malcolm the credit, and he felt that he ought not to take it himself. It was a delicate situation.
He was lonely, and the days seemed long. Reading the paper, walking in the park, occasionally dropping in at the lawyers’ offices, or visiting the shops and other places of interest about town made up the monotonous routine. He breakfasted early, waited upon by Edwards, got lunch at the restaurant nearest to wherever he happened to be at noon, and returned to the apartment for dinner. His niece and nephew dined with him, butwhen he attempted conversation they answered in monosyllables or not at all. Every evening he wrote a letter to Abbie, and the mail each morning brought him one from her. The Dunns came frequently and seemed disposed to be friendly, but he kept out of their way as much as possible.
Pearson he had not seen since the latter’s call. This was a disappointment, for he fancied the young fellow and believed he should like him even better on closer acquaintance. He would have returned the visit, but somehow or other the card with the boarding-house street and number had been lost or mislaid, and the long list of “James Pearsons” in the directory discouraged him. He speculated much concerning the mystery at which the would-be novelist hinted as preventing his accepting Caroline’s invitation. Evidently Pearson had once known Rodgers Warren well, and had been esteemed and respected by the latter. Caroline, too, had known him, and was frankly pleased to meet him again. Whatever the trouble might be, she, evidently, was ignorant of it. The captain wondered and pondered, but reached no satisfactory conclusion. It seemed the irony of fate that the one congenial person—Sylvester excepted—whom he had met during his stay in the big city should be scratched from his small list of acquaintances.
With Sylvester he held many familiar and enjoyable chats. The good-natured, democratic senior member of the law firm liked to have Captain Elisha drop in for advice or to spin yarns. Graves, who was well again, regarded the new guardian with respect of a kind, but with distinct disapproval. The captain was, in his opinion, altogether too flippant and jolly. There was nothing humorous in the situation, as Graves saw it, and to laugh when one’s brother’s estate is in a tangle, indicated unfitness,if nothing worse. Kuhn was a sharp, quick-moving man, who had no time for frivolity if it delayed business.
It was after a long interview with Sylvester that Captain Elisha decided to send Stephen back to college. When he broke the news there was rebellion, brief but lively. Stephen had no desire to continue his studies; he wished to become a stock broker at once, and, as soon as he was of age, take his father’s seat on the Exchange.
“Stevie,” said Captain Elisha, “one of these days, when you get to be as old as I am or before, you’ll realize that an education is worth somethin’.”
“Ugh!” grunted the boy, in supreme disgust. “What do you know about that?”
“Why, not much, maybe, but enough.”
“Yes?” sarcastically. “What college did you attend?”
“Me? Why, none, more’s the pity. What learnin’ there was in our family your dad had. Maybe that’s why he was what he was, so fur as money and position and society and so on went, and I’m whatIam.”
“Oh, rubbish! What difference does it make to Malcolm Dunn—now—his going through college?”
“Well, he went, didn’t he?”
Stephen grinned. Malcolm had told him some particulars concerning his university career and its termination.
“He went—part way,” he answered.
“Ya-as. Well, you’ve gone part way, so fur. And now you’ll go the rest.”
“I’d like to know why.”
“For one reason, because I’m your guardian and I say so.”
Stephen was furiously angry. His father’s indulgence and his sister’s tolerance had, in most cases, made his will law in the household. To be ordered about in this way by an ignorant interloper, as he considered his uncle, was too much.
“By gad,” he shouted, “we’ll see!”
“No, we’ve seen. You run along now and pack your trunk. And take my advice and study hard. You’ll be behindhand in your work, so Mr. Sylvester tells me, but you’re smart, and you can catch up. Make us proud of you; that’s what you can do.”
His nephew glanced at him. Captain Elisha was smiling kindly, but there was no sign of change of purpose in his look.
Stephen ground his teeth.
“Oh,” he snarled, “if it wasn’t for the disgrace! If things weren’t as they are, I’d—”
“S-s-s-h! I know; but they are. Maybe I wish they wa’n’t ’most as much as you do, but they are. I don’t blame you for feelin’ mad now; but I’m right and I know it. And some day you’ll know it, and thank me.”
“When I do, I’ll be insane.”
“No, you’ll be older, that’s all. Now pack your trunk—or get the Commodore to pack it for you.”
News from the Moriarty sick room continued favorable for a time. Then, with alarming suddenness, a change came. The broken hip was mending slowly, but poor Pat’s age was against him, and the shock and long illness were too much for his system to fight. Dr. Henry shook his head dubiously when the captain asked questions. And, one morning at breakfast, Edwards informed him that the old man was dead. Annie hadbeen summoned by telephone at midnight and had gone home.
Captain Elisha, though not greatly surprised, was shocked and grieved. It seemed such a needless tragedy, almost like murder, although there was no malice in it. And the thought of the fatherless children and the poverty of the stricken family made him shudder. Death at any time, amid any surroundings, is terrible; when the dead hands have earned the bread for many mouths it is appalling.
The captain dreaded visiting the flat, but because he felt it to be a duty he went immediately. And the misery and wailing and dismay he found there were worse than his anticipations. He did his best to comfort and cheer. Mrs. Moriarty alternately called upon the saints to bless him and begged to know what she would do now that they were all sure to starve. Luckily, the family priest, a kind-hearted, quiet man who faced similar scenes almost every day of his life, was there, and Captain Elisha had a long talk with him. With Dennis, the oldest son, and Annie, the maid at the Warrens’, he also consulted. Money for their immediate needs, he told them, he would provide. And the funeral expenses must not worry them. Afterward—well, plans for the future could be discussed at another time. But upon Dennis and Annie he tried to impress a sense of their responsibility.
“It’s up to you, Boy,” he said to the former. “Annie’s job’s sure, I guess, as long as she wants it, and she can give her mother somethin’ every month. But you’re the man of the house now, and you’ve got to steer the ship and keep it afloat. That means work, and hard work, lots of it, too. You can do it, if you’ve got the grit. If I can find a better place and more pay for you,I will, but you mustn’t depend on that. It’s up to you, I tell you, and you’ve got to show what’s in you. If you get stuck and need advice, come to me.”
He handed the priest a sum of money to cover immediate contingencies, and departed. His letter to Abbie that afternoon was so blue that the housekeeper felt sure he was “coming down” with some disease or other. He had been riding in that awful subway, where the air—so the papers said—was not fit to breathe, and just as like as not he’d caught consumption. His great-uncle on his mother’s side died of it, so it “run in the family.” Either he must come home or she should come to him, one or the other.
But before evening his blueness had disappeared. He had just returned to his room, after stepping into the hall to drop his letter in the mail chute, when his niece knocked at the door. He was surprised to see her, for she had not spoken to him, except in brief reply to questions, since their misunderstanding in that very room. He looked at her wonderingly, not knowing what to say or what to expect; but she spoke first.
“Captain Warren,” she began, hurriedly, “the last time I came to you—the last time I came here, I came to ask a favor, and you—I thought you—”
She was evidently embarrassed and confused. Her guardian was embarrassed, also, but he tried to be hospitable.
“Yes, Caroline,” he said, gravely, “I know what you mean. Won’t you—won’t you sit down?”
To his surprise, she accepted the invitation, taking the same chair she had taken on the occasion of their former interview. But there was a look in her eyes he had never seen there before; at least, not when she was addressing him.
She went on, speaking hastily, as though determined to head off any questioning on his part.
“Captain Warren,” she began once more, “the time I came to you in this room you were, so I thought, unreasonable and unkind. I asked you for money to help a poor family in trouble, and you refused to give it to me.”
“No, Caroline,” he interrupted, “I didn’t refuse, you only thought I did.”
She held up her hand. “Please let me go on,” she begged. “I thought you refused, and I couldn’t understand why. I was hurt and angry. I knew that father never would have refused me under such circumstances, and you were his brother. But since then, only to-day, I have learned that I was wrong. I have learned—”
She paused. The captain was silent. He was beginning to hope, to believe once more in his judgment of character; and yet, with his hope and growing joy, there was a trifle of anxiety.
“I have learned,” went on his niece, “that I was mistaken. I can’t understand yet why you wished to wait before saying yes, but I do know that it must have been neither because you were unkind nor ungenerous. I have just come from those poor people, and they have told me everything.”
Captain Elisha started. “What did they tell you?” he asked, quickly. “Who told you?”
“Annie and her mother. They told me what you had done and were doing for them. How kind you had been all through the illness and to-day. Oh, I know you made them promise not to tell me; and you made the doctor and nurse promise, too. But I knewsomeonehad helped, and Annie dropped a hint. Then I suspected, and now I know. Those poor people!”
The captain, who had been looking at the floor, and frowning a bit, suddenly glanced up to find his niece’s eyes fixed upon him, and they were filled with tears.
“Will you forgive me?” she asked, rising from her chair, and coming impulsively toward him. “I’m sorry I misjudged you and treated you so. You must be a very good man. Please forgive me.”
He took her hand, which was swallowed up in his big one. His eyes were moist, also.
“Lord love you, dearie,” he said, “there’s nothin’ to forgive. I realized that I must have seemed like a mean, stingy old scamp. Yet I didn’t mean to be. I only wanted to look into this thing just a little. Just as a matter of business, you know. And I.... Caroline, did that doctor tell you anything more?”
“Any more?” she repeated in bewilderment. “He told me that you were the kindest man he had ever seen.”
“Yes, yes. Well, maybe his eyesight’s poor. What I mean is did he tell you anything about anybody else bein’ in this with me?”
“Anybody else? What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothin’, nothin’. I joked with him a spell ago about a wealthy relation of the Moriarty tribe turnin’ up. ’Twas only a joke, of course. And yet, Caroline, I—I think I’d ought to say—”
He hesitated. What could he say? Even a hint might lead to embarrassing questions and he had promised Dunn.
“What ought you to say?” asked his niece.
“Why, nothin’, I guess. I’m glad you understand matters a little better and I don’t intend for the estate nor you to pay these Moriarty bills. Just get ’em off your mind. Forget ’em. I’ll see that everything’s attendedto. And, later on, if you and me can, by puttin’ our heads together, help those folks to earnin’ a better livin’, why, we will, hey?”
The girl smiled up at him. “I think,” she said, “that you must be one who likes to hide his light under a bushel.”
“I guess likely a two-quart measure’d be plenty big enough to hide mine. There! there! We won’t have any more misunderstandin’s, will we? I’m a pretty green vegetable and about as out of place here as a lobster in a balloon, but, as I said to you and Steve once before, if you’ll just remember Iamgreen and sort of rough, and maybe make allowances accordin’, this cruise of ours may not be so unpleasant. Now you run along and get ready for dinner, or the Commodore’ll petrify from standin’ so long behind your chair.”
She laughed, as she turned to go. “I should hate to have him do that,” she said. “He would make a depressing statue. I shall see you again in a few minutes, at dinner. Thank you—Uncle.”
She left Captain Elisha in a curious state of mind. Against his will he had been forced to accept thanks and credit which, he believed, did not rightfully belong to him. It was the only thing to do, and yet it seemed almost like disloyalty to Malcolm Dunn. This troubled him, but the trouble was, just then, a mere pinhead of blackness against the radiance of his spirit.
His brother’s daughter had, for the first time, called him uncle.
“
Captain Warren,” asked Caroline, as they were seated at the breakfast table next morning, “what are your plans for to-day?”
Captain Elisha put down his coffee cup and pulled his beard reflectively. Contrary to his usual desire since he came to the apartment to live, he was in no hurry to finish the meal. This breakfast and the dinner of the previous evening had been really pleasant. He had enjoyed them. His niece had not called him uncle again, it is true, and perhaps that was too much to be expected as yet, but she was cheerful and even familiar. They talked as they ate, and he had not been made to feel that he was the death’s head at the feast. The change was marked and very welcome. The bright winter sunshine streaming through the window indicated that the conditions outside were also just what they should be.
“Well,” he replied, with a smile, “I don’t know, Caroline, as I’ve made any definite plans. Let’s see, to-day’s Sunday, ain’t it? Last letter I got from Abbie she sailed into me because, as she said, I seemed to have been ’most everywheres except to meetin’. She figgers New York’s a heathen place, anyhow, and she cal’lates I’m gettin’ to be a backslider like the rest. I didn’t know but I might go to church.”
Caroline nodded. “I wondered if you wouldn’t like to go,” she said. “I am going, and I thought perhaps you would go with me.”
Her uncle had again raised his cup to his lips. Nowhe set it down with a suddenness which caused the statuesque Edwards to bend forward in anticipation of a smash. The captain started to speak, thought better of it, and stared at his niece so intently that she colored and dropped her eyes.
“I know,” she faltered, “that I haven’t asked you before, but—but—” then, with the impulsiveness which was one of her characteristics, and to her guardian her great charm, she looked him full in the face and added, “but I hoped you would understand that—thatIunderstood a little better. I should like to have your company very much.”
Captain Elisha drew a long breath.
“Thank you, Caroline,” he answered. “I appreciate your askin’ me, I sartinly do. And I’d rather go with you than anybody else on earth. But I was cal’latin’ to hunt up some little round-the-corner chapel, or Bethel, where I’d feel a little bit at home. I guess likely your church is a pretty big one, ain’t it?”
“We attend Saint Denis. Itisa large church, but we have always been connected with it. Stephen and I were christened there. But, of course, if you had rather go somewhere else—”
“No, no! I hadn’t anywhere in particular to go. I’m a Congregationalist to home, but Abbie says I’ve spread my creed so wide that it ain’t more’n an inch deep anywhere, and she shouldn’t think ’twould keep me afloat. I tell her I’d rather navigate a broad and shallow channel, where everybody stands by to keep his neighbor off the shoals, than I would a narrow and crooked one with self-righteousness off both beams and perdition underneath.
“You see,” he added, reflectively, “the way I look at it, it’s a pretty uncertain cruise at the best. Coursethere’s all sorts of charts, and every fleet is sartin it’s got the only right one. But I don’t know. We’re afloat—that much we are sure of—but the port we left and the harbor we’re bound for, they’re always out of sight in the fog astern and ahead. I know lots of folks who claim to see the harbor, and see it plain; but they don’t exactly agree as to what they see. As for me, I’ve come to the conclusion that we must steer as straight a course as we can, and when we meet a craft in distress, why, do our best to help her. The rest of it I guess we must leave to the Owner, to the One that launched us. I.... Good land!” he exclaimed, coming out of his meditation with a start, “I’m preachin’ a sermon ahead of time. And the Commodore’s goin’ to sleep over it, I do believe.”
The butler, who had been staring vacantly out of the window during the captain’s soliloquy, straightened at the sound of his nickname, and asked hastily, “Yes, sir? What will you have, sir?” Captain Elisha laughed in huge enjoyment, and his niece joined him.