The rain had ceased, and from the outside jungle came innumerable calls of birds, and fresh and woodsy odors; but the whole aspect of the place was grim and forbidding. At the back, where there wasn"t such an overgrowth, the lane had been closed, barricaded with barbed-wire entanglements, and fairly bristled with thistles and "No Trespa.s.sing" signs.
"All this house needs is a mortuary tablet set up over the front door."
But Alicia demurred.
"I"m not a bit disheartened," she declared stoutly. "There"s just one thing to be done to this house--first make it beautiful, and then make it pay. It can be done. It"s going to be done. It"s _got_ to be done. And when it"s done--we"ll have a home. Vision it as it"s going to be, Sophy--rosewood and mahogany and walnut, old bra.s.s and china and prints and portraits, the sort of things we"ve only been able to dream of up to now. Why, this house has been waiting for us!
We were born to come here and make it over: it"s _our_ house!"
Alicia, has the gay courage of the Irish.
The heavy iron knocker on the front door resounded clamorously.
"Uncle Adam thinks we"ve been ha"nted out of existence, and he"s hammering to wake the dead," said I.
But it wasn"t Uncle Adam to whom we opened the door. An enormous, square-shouldered man stood there, looking from me to Alicia with bright, keen blue eyes behind gla.s.ses. He was so big, so magnificently proportioned, that he held one"s attention, at first, by mere size. Then one had time to observe that although he hadn"t the sleek and careful grooming of successful New Yorkers, he wore his clothes as, say, Coeur de Lion must have worn mail. He hadn"t the brisk business manner, either; but there radiated from him an a.s.sured authority, as of one used to having his orders obeyed without question. No one could pa.s.s him over with a casual eye. I have known people who hated him frankly and heartily; I have known people who adored him. I have never known any one who was lukewarm where he was concerned.
"Which of you is Miss Smith?" he asked, in a very pleasant voice.
"Miss Smith, I"m your next-door neighbor, house to the right: Doctor Richard Geddes, at your service."
We gave him to understand, with the usual polite commonplaces, that we were pleased to make his acquaintance, and ushered him into the dilapidated drawing-room.
"I"d have come over yesterday, when I learned you"d arrived, except that my cook was suddenly seized with the notion she"d been conjured, and I had to--er--stand by and persuade her she wasn"t.
Swore she had my lunch ready, as usual; swore she"d placed it on a tray, left it on the kitchen table for a few minutes, and when she came back from the pantry, not ten feet away, the tray was gone.
Vanished. Disappeared. Nowhere to be found. She flopped on the floor and howled. She weighs two hundred and forty pounds and I hadn"t a derrick handy. I had to roll her up on bed-slats. You"ve never had a conjured two-hundred-and-forty-pounder on your hands, have you? No?
Well, then, don"t. _But_ if you ever do, try a bed-slat. This morning she discovered the tray in its usual place, dishes and silver intact, nothing missing. She"s looking for the end of the world."
"O-o-h!" quavered Alicia, while I could feel my knees knocking together. "O-o-o-h! How very, very singular! And--and was that all?"
"All! Wasn"t that enough? I"ve had burned biscuit and muddy coffee, because my cook"s got liver and nerves, and insists it"s her soul,"
said the doctor, grimly. "I"ve given her to understand that if she hasn"t got her soul saved before to-night, I"ll physic it out of her and hang her hide on the bushes, inside out, _salted_." He added, hastily: "In the meantime, I hope you haven"t fared too badly in this mildewed jail?"
"Thank you, no," Alicia said demurely. "We have fared very well."
"Glad to hear it." The big man looked at her with the frank pleasure all masculinity evinces at sight of Alicia. And then he asked, abruptly:
"Has Jelnik called yet?--gray house on the other side of you.--No? I dare say he"s off on one of his prowls then. A bit of a lunatic, but a very charming fellow, Jelnik, though your amiable predecessor, Miss Smith, chose to consider him a sort of outlawed tom-cat, and warned him off with a shot-gun." The doctor paused, stroked his beard, and regarded me earnestly.
"Having heired the old girl"s domain, I hope you won"t consider it necessary to heir her--er--prejudices," he remarked hopefully. "Bad lot, Sophronisba. Very bad!"
"Mrs. Scarlett," I reminded him gently, "was my relative only by marriage."
"Cousin of mine; mother"s relative. Not on speaking-, only on fighting-terms," he interjected.
I remembered what Uncle Adam had told us; and I"m afraid I eyed him a bit harder than politeness warranted.
"I discern by your eye, Miss Smith," said the doctor, "that you think a blood relation is more likely to walk in that old demon"s footsteps than an outsider is. My dear lady, under ordinary circ.u.mstances and with _human_ neighbors, I"m as meek as Moses; I am a lamb, a veritable lamb! As for your aunt, she was a man-eating, saber-toothed tigress!"
"Not my aunt, Doctor Geddes; your cousin."
"Your aunt-by-marriage. It"s just as bad. Anyhow, she preferred you to any of us, didn"t she?"
"Perhaps because she didn"t know _me_."
"Have it so. _But_ she did whatever she did because she was an old devil of a woman, and an old devil of a woman can give points to Satan. If," cried the doctor, vehemently, "there is one great reason why a man should be glad he"s a man, it is because he will never live to be an old woman!"
"That depends upon one"s point of view," I told him firmly. "Now, I"m glad I"m a woman because I shall never live to be an old man.
Old ladies are far, far nicer. Have you ever known an old lady who thought herself captivating? Have you ever known any old man who didn"t think he could be if he wished?"
"Yes," shouted the doctor, "and no!--in both cases! There is no s.e.x in fools. There is no age limit, either."
"The Talmud says: "An old woman in the house is a blessing; but an old man is a nuisance.""
"I don"t give a bobtailed scat what the Talmud says. I know what I know.--Miss Gaines, I leave it to you."
"Why, I like them both, when they"re nice; and I"m sorry for them both when they"re not." And she added, with a nave air of confidence: "But I think I like young men better than either, as a rule."
The doctor removed his hat again, and sat down. His eyebrows went up, his eyes crinkled.
"Miss Alicia Gaines," he said genially, "I perceive you are a girl-child of fine promise.--As for us, Miss Smith, what have we to do with age and foolishness, who, as yet, have neither? Let"s get down to business. What are you going to do about the lane behind Hynds House? We had the use of that lane this hundred years and more, until the devil got too strong in Sophronisba and she shut it up. Now, shall you keep the lane closed, or shall you dismiss the injunctions?"
"I shall have to consult Judge Gatch.e.l.l."
"Gatch.e.l.l"s a fossilized remains. He"s got no more blood in his liver than a flea. Gatch.e.l.l would hang his grandmother on a point of law. Why should you, or any other ordinarily intelligent person, be guided by Gatch.e.l.l?"
"By whom, then, shall I be guided? You?" I wondered.
"That"s not in my line," replied the doctor, shortly, and thrust his hands into his gloves. "In the meantime, ladies, I"m your next-door neighbor; I have no wife to gossip about you, no children to annoy you; I"m far enough away to keep you from smelling my pipe; and I shall quarrel with you only when I can"t help it. In return, I have but one favor to beg of you: don"t use a shot-gun on my prize chickens! Get a dog and train him to chase them home, if they get into your yard. Or catch them and throw them over the hedge. I"ll pay any damages within reason. And please send for your cat."
"We have a cat?"
"You have. After Sophronisba"s death, Mandy took her in; or rather, Mandy was afraid to turn her out, for it"s bad luck to cross a witch"s cat. In return for this charity the hussy immediately foisted upon us two wholly unnecessary kittens. Mandy wouldn"t allow them to be decently drowned, for it"s worse luck yet to tamper with a witch"s cat"s kittens, particularly when they"re as black as the hinges of Gehenna. Mandy thinks their mother had them black as a delicate mark of respect for the late crone."
"Send them over, please. Black cats will just go with this house. It was very thoughtful of that cat to have two black kittens ready for us, and very kind of you to let them stay with you until we came."
"I? I abhor the whole tribe of cats!" cried the doctor. "Don"t thank my kindness: thank Mandy"s idiocy, of which she has more than her just share. To my mind, the best place for cats is under the grape arbor."
"Let us strike a bargain. You keep your chickens in your own yard, and we"ll keep our cats in our own house."
"Compromise: you get a dog," suggested the doctor.
"Perhaps I may. I"ve always wanted a poodle."
"I said a _dog_!" said the doctor, lifting his lip. "A poodle! In Hynds House! The lamented Sophronisba had a bloodhound."
"The lamented Sophronisba could have what she chose. This Sophronisba prefers a poodle."
"_Sophronisba?_ What! Another one? Good G.o.d!" cried the doctor. "All right! Get a poodle. Keep the cats. Get a parrot--and an orphan with the itch--and a hyena--and a blunderbuss! _Her name is Sophronisba_!--I--oh, Lord, where"s Jelnik? I have got to go and warn Jelnik!" And he made for the door.
At that Alicia laughed. Peal upon peal, like silver bells, irrepressibly, infectiously, irresistibly, Alicia laughed. She cries with her eyes open and her mouth shut, and she laughs with her eyes shut and her mouth open. The effect is beyond all words enchanting.