For an instant the two men in the corner stared at her in sheer amazement, and then both burst into a great roar of laughter, which brought the whole office force to their feet. "Say, Swift, come meet this young mortgage raiser," called the nervous partner. "If you ever get conceited, just interview a child."
The bald-headed man rose ponderously and joined the group, studying every feature of the children, as he demanded, in his most business-like tone, "What is your name?"
"Peace Greenfield."
"Where do you live?"
"Almost at Parker."
"Almost?"
"Well, we have a farm and Parker isn"t big enough to hold farms. It"s a nice place, though."
"How did you get here?"
"Mrs. Grinnell brought us in her wagon."
"Who is she?"
"The lady what lives on the farm right back of ours."
"Did she tell you to come and see us?"
"Oh, no! She said not to, but she doesn"t know anything about our _mordige_, so while she was in the store we hustled over after the money."
"Who did send you?"
"Why, n.o.body. We came all by ourselves."
"Hm, I thought so. Is this _mordige_ money to buy candy and dolls with?"
"No, it ain"t!" snapped Peace, thinking he was trying to tease her.
"It"s to keep old Skinflint from taking our farm away, so that we will have to live around at different places."
"Where are your father and mother?"
"The angels have got "em."
"Oh! Then you are orphans. Who takes care of you?"
"We all of us take care of ourselves, but Gail is the play mother."
"How many are there in your family?"
"Seven with Towzer. He"s a dog."
They questioned her until the whole pitiful story was told, and then stood silently lost in thought, while Peace fidgeted impatiently, watching Old Gray across the street, expecting any minute to see Mrs.
Grinnell put in appearance.
Finally Mr. Swift said, jestingly, "What security have you to offer?"
"Sickerity?" repeated Peace, wonderingly.
"Yes, when we loan money we have to have some security from the party.
They must own some property or something of value to give us so if the money isn"t paid back we won"t lose anything."
Peace pondered deeply, then drew off a small, worn, gold ring which had lost its "set," and laid it in the man"s hand, saying, "That"s all the prop"ty I"ve got except eight hens which I gave Gail for those I poisoned. It had a ruby in it once, but the old rooster picked it out and et it. I used to have two bunnies, too, but last Christmas the German kids ate Wink.u.m and Blink.u.m all up."
Mr. Swift smiled, but shook his head gravely, as he returned the ring.
"I am afraid that won"t be enough, Miss Greenfield," he began, when Mr.
Smart cut him short, "What is the use of fooling any longer, Swift? She probably knows as much about such matters as your grandbaby. A kid her age knows a lot about business. Give her a nickel and send her packing."
The genial Mr. Swift led the disappointed duet to the door and dismissed them with the words, "I am sorry, but we deal only with grown-up men and women. Call again when you are twenty-one."
As the door closed behind them, however, the other tall, gray man, who had been a silent spectator of the scene, spoke reprovingly, "I think she has told you the truth, Smart. She is one of the youngsters I was just telling you about. I was afraid she would recognize me, but evidently she did not. I certainly shall investigate, for I am much interested. They have my wife and me by the heartstrings already and some of these days you may hear that a whole family has been adopted by the erratic Campbells. They are the children of that Pendennis minister who fought such a splendid fight in the Marble Avenue Church some years back, until he was forced to retire on account of his health. Well, I must be going. Good-day!" He stepped outside the office, and looked up and down the street for a glimpse of the children, but they were nowhere in sight; so he hailed a pa.s.sing car, and was whirled rapidly away through the busy city.
In the meantime, poor, disappointed Peace had jerked Allee back across the street, helped her into the buggy and had just got nicely settled when Mrs. Grinnell bustled out of Darnell"s Department Store, ready for the homeward journey. She eyed the sober faces keenly for an instant, undecided whether the frowns were due to impatience at her long absence, or because of some childish quarrel, but soon forgot all about the matter in planning how she should make up her new print dress, so the return trip was made in absolute silence.
But Peace had by no means given up hope in the matter of the mortgage and, feeling better after the warm dinner had been eaten, she wandered away to the barn to hatch some other impossible plan. Finding Hope in the loft sorting out rubbish to be burned, she threw herself on an old bench behind the building, where the bright sunlight shone invitingly, and here she was soon so completely wrapped up in her own thoughts that she did not hear the sound of approaching steps, and was startled when a firm hand caught her by the shoulder and a merry voice demanded, "Why so pensive, little maid? That face would scare the tramps away."
"Oh, Mr. Strong," she cried, catching his hand and pulling him down beside her, "we are in the worst fix you ever heard. I knocked old Skinflint"s bull"s horn off pawing red rags in the raspberry patch so Faith could have some sour jelly for her jelly rolls, and to pay me for that he won"t give us back our _mordige_. Gail cried and Faith cried and we all cried. In a month we must break up this house and go to live with different people unless we can get some money somewhere. I tried this morning to borrow some in Martindale, but they wouldn"t believe we needed it. I know we do, "cause Gail said so the night I hid in the closet when she didn"t know I was there."
She paused for breath, and Mr. Strong said cheerily, "Yes, dear, I know all about it. Gail told me, but I think maybe everything is coming out all right in the end. Don"t you fret! But if I were you, I wouldn"t try any more to borrow the money--"
"How are we to get it, then? Gail doesn"t know of anybody."
"Gail was meant for a little mother instead of a business woman. Now that she has asked some of us older folks for advice, I think we can manage matters beautifully. Gail is just a girl herself, you know. She understands the situation a little better now, but the burden is too heavy for her young shoulders. We must make it lighter, lots lighter.
She wants to go to college, and Faith wants music lessons, and Hope ought to study drawing, and what would you like to study?"
"Pigs! I want a pig farm," was the unexpected answer. "Ain"t baby pigs the dearest things you ever saw?"
His shout of derision stopped her, and she sat twisting her brown hands in hurt and embarra.s.sed silence.
Her mournful att.i.tude brought the young preacher to his senses, and he pinched her cheek playfully, saying, "Oh, what a doleful face! See if we can"t make it smile a little. No? Why, Peace, this is the way it looks.
Supposing it should freeze that way." He drew his face down into a comically mournful grimace, and Peace laughed outright. "I heard that you won the prize at Annette"s party for making the worst looking face,"
he continued, "but I didn"t suppose it was as bad as that."
"That isn"t half bad," cried Peace scornfully. "Why, I can make the ugliest faces you ever saw."
"Bet you can"t!"
"Bet I can!"
"Try it!"
Peace promptly bulged out her eyes, turned up her nose, and drew down her mouth in a hideous grimace, following it up with other horrible distortions; and then exclaimed, "How do you like that?"
"I can do as well myself," said the preacher.