"We HAVE lived there. How long we shall--But there, never mind. Just remember as well as you can and get ready now for dinner."
Her husband muttered that he didn"t see where the "getting ready" came in; he had on the best he"d got. But he washed his hands and brushed his hair and they descended to the dining-room, where they ate a "table d"hote" meal, beginning with lukewarm soup and ending with salty ice cream.
They had left Trumet the previous evening, spending the night at Centreboro and taking the early morning train for Scarford. Two weeks had pa.s.sed since the fateful visit of young Mr. Farwell, and, though the wondrous good fortune which had befallen the Dott family was still wonderful, they were beginning to accept it as a real and established fact. All sorts of things had happened during those two weeks. They had gone to Boston, where they spent the better part of two days with the lawyers, going over the lists of securities, signing papers, and arranging all sorts of business matters. Serena and the attorneys did the most of the arranging. Captain Dan looked on, understanding very little, saying "Yes" or "No" as commanded by his wife, and signing his name whenever and wherever requested.
After another day, spent in the Boston shops, where the new clothes were purchased or ordered, a process which Serena enjoyed hugely and her husband endured with a martyr"s patience, they had paid a flying visit to the college town and Gertrude. They found the young lady greatly excited and very happy, but her happiness was princ.i.p.ally on their account.
"I"m so glad for you both, Daddy," she told her father. "When I got Mother"s letter with the news the very first thing I thought was: "There! now Father won"t have to worry any more about the old store or anything else. He can be comfortable and carefree and happy, as he deserves to be." And you won"t worry, will you, Dad?"
The captain seemed oddly doubtful.
"I shan"t if I can help it," he said. "But I"m the most foolish chap that ever lived, in some ways, seems so. When the business was so I had to worry about it all the time I used to set up nights wishin" I didn"t own it. Now that we"re fixed so it don"t make much difference whether I get a profit or not, I find myself frettin" and wonderin" how Nathaniel and Sam are gettin" along. I wake up guessin" how much they"ve sold since I"ve been away, and whether we"re stuck on those canvas hats and those middy blouses and one thing or "nother, same as I was afraid we"d be. I"ve only been away three days altogether, but it seems about a year."
Gertrude smiled and shook her head.
"Why don"t you sell out?" she asked. "Or would no one buy? I presume that"s it."
"No-o, that ain"t it. I don"t wonder you think so, but it ain"t.
Cohen--the fellow that owns the Emporium--was in only the day afore we left, hintin" around about my retirin" and so on. He didn"t make any real bid for the business, but he as much as said he"d consider buyin"
me out if I"d sell. Your mother, she"d give me fits if she knew it. She wants me to sell; but--but somehow I can"t make up my mind to. I"ve been so used to goin" out to that store every mornin" and--and havin" it on my mind that somehow I hate to give it up. Seems like cuttin" my anchor rope, as you might say."
"I understand. I shall feel much the same, I know, when I graduate and my college work is over. I shall be lost for a time without it; or I should be if it were not for John and--and my other plans. But, whether you keep the store or not, you mustn"t worry any more, Daddy dear.
Nathaniel is a clever, able fellow; every one says so. You were fortunate to get him. Why don"t you engage him permanently? With his experience, he might make a real success of the business. Who knows?"
He could not possibly make less of a success than the captain had made, that was fairly certain, although she did not say so. Nathaniel Bangs was a Trumet young man who had been getting on well with a little business of his own in Brockton, but who, owing to ill health, had been obliged to return to the Cape the year before. Then, health much improved, he was very glad of the opportunity to take charge of the Metropolitan Store during its owners" short absence. Serena had thought of him, and Serena had hired him.
Captain Dan"s real reason for not selling out to the astute Mr. Cohen he had kept to himself. His wife"s hints concerning Scarford and her discontent in Trumet were his reasons. These were what troubled him most. He liked Trumet; he liked its quiet, easy-going atmosphere; he liked the Trumet people, and they liked him. He had never been in Scarford, but he was certain he should not like the life there, the kind of life lived by the B. Phelps Blacks, at any rate. The Metropolitan Store was, he felt, an anchor holding him fast to the Cape Cod village.
If he cut the anchor rope, goodness knows where he might drift.
On the very day of their return from the Boston trip Serena had begun to discuss the visit to Scarford, the visit of inspection to Aunt Lavinia"s "estate." They must go, she said; of course they must go. It was their duty to do that, at least. How could they know what to do with the property until they saw it? To all Daniel"s feeble objections and excuses she was deaf. Of course they could leave the house. Azuba would take care of that, just as she always did when they were away. As for the store, Nathaniel would be glad to remain as manager indefinitely if they wanted him. Surely he had done splendidly with it while they were in Boston.
He had. During the four days" absence of its proprietor the Metropolitan Store had actually sold more goods for cash than it had sold during any previous week that summer. Bangs was optimistic concerning its prospects. He was loaded with schemes and ideas.
"All you need is a little push and up-to-date methods, Cap"n," he said.
"You must advertise a little, and let people know what you"ve got to sell. That"s how I got rid of all that stale candy you had in the boxes behind the showcase. I knew the Methodist folks had a Sunday school picnic on the slate for Tuesday. Kids like candy, but candy costs money.
I got out all that stale stuff, put it up in bags at five cents apiece, and sent the bags and Sam here to the picnic. About every kid had ten cents or so to spend, and it didn"t make any difference to him or her whether the candy was fresh or not, so there was enough of it. If a chocolate cream is harder than the rock of Gibraltar it lasts longer when you"re eating it, and that"s a big advantage to the average young one. Sam came back, sold out, and we"ve got four dollars and eighty cents right out of the junk pile, as you might call it. The kids are happy and so are we. There"s a half-dozen dried-up oilskin coats in the attic that I"ve got my eye on. The Manonquit House crowd are going off on a final codfishing cruise to-morrow and I"ll be on the dock with those coats at a dollar apiece when they sail."
"But--but those coats are old as Methuselah," faltered the captain.
"They"ll leak, won"t they?"
"Not if it"s fair weather, they won"t. And, if it"s rough, they"re better than nothing. You can"t expect a mackintosh for a dollar."
Daniel"s method would have been to refuse selling the coats because they "wouldn"t be much good in a no"theaster." When the codfishers returned, enthusiastic because, although it had "drizzled" for fifteen minutes, they had not gotten wet, he scratched his head and regarded his new a.s.sistant with awe. Mr. Bangs" services were retained, "for a spell, anyhow," and the captain"s princ.i.p.al excuse for not visiting Scarford was knocked in the head. To Scarford they went, and at the Palatine Hotel in Scarford they now were.
The "table d"hote" meal eaten, the next feature of Mrs. Dott"s program was the visit to the Aunt Lavinia homestead. There was a caretaker in charge, so the Boston lawyers told them, and Serena had written him announcing the coming of the new owners. In spite of her husband"s protestations, another carriage was hired for the journey. Daniel was strongly in favor of walking or going by trolley.
"Walkin"ll be cheaper, Serena," he declared, "and pretty nigh as fast, to say nothin" of bein" more cheerful. A hack always makes me think of funerals and graveyards, and that skeleton of a horse looked like somethin" that had been buried and dug up. Let"s walk, will you?"
But Serena would not walk.
"We must get used to carriages," she said. "We may ride in them a great deal from now on. And, besides, we needn"t take a horse carriage.
We shouldn"t have taken one before. Get one of those new kind, the automobile ones. What is it they call them? Oh, yes--taxis."
The taxi gave no opportunity for complaint as far as slowness was concerned. After the first quarter of a mile dodge up the crowded street Captain Dan shouted through the window.
"Hi!" he hailed, addressing the driver. "Hi, you! You"ve made a mistake, ain"t you? You thought we wanted to fly. We don"t. Just hit the ground once in a while, so we"ll know it"s there."
After this the cab moved at a more reasonable speed and its occupants had an opportunity to observe the streets through which they were pa.s.sing. The business district was being left behind and they were entering the residential section.
Mrs. Dott seized her husband"s arm.
"Look!" she cried. "Look, Daniel, quick! Do you see that? That building there!"
"I see it. Some kind of a hall or somethin", ain"t it?"
"Yes. And I"m quite sure, from what Mrs. Black said, that it is the hall where the Scarford Guild meets. Yes, it"s just as she said it was. I"m SURE that"s it. Oh, I"m glad I"ve seen it! Yes, and Mrs. Black said they lived not very far from the hall. Daniel! Daniel! ask the man if he knows where the Blacks live and if he can show us their house."
Captain Dan obediently made the inquiry.
"Who?" grunted the driver. "Which Black? Black and Cobb, the Wee Waist Corset feller? Sure! I know where he lives. I"ll show you."
A few moments later the cab slackened its speed.
"There you are!" said the driver, pointing. "That"s Black"s house. Built two years ago, "twas."
Serena and Daniel looked. The house was new and commodious, a trifle ornate in decoration, perhaps, and a bit mixed in architecture, owing to Mrs. Black"s insisting upon the embodiment of various features which she had seen in magazines; but on the whole a rather fine house. To the Dotts, of course, it was a mansion.
"My!" said Serena, "to think of our knowing, really knowing, people who live in a house like that! Oh, dear!" with a sigh, "I almost wish I hadn"t seen it until after we"d seen our own. We must try not to be disappointed, mustn"t we?"
Captain Dan was surprised. "Disappointed?" he said. "Why, what do you mean? As I recollect Aunt Laviny"s place, "twas just as good as that, if not better. You said so yourself. You used to call it a regular palace."
"I know, but don"t you think that was because we hadn"t seen many fine houses then? I"m afraid that was it. You know Mrs. Black said it was old-fashioned."
"Humph! Barney--What"s his name? Phelps, I mean--he said he wished his was as good. Don"t you remember he did?"
"Probably he didn"t mean it. I"m not going to expect too much, anyway.
I"m going to try and think of it as just a nice old place, and then I shan"t feel bad when I see it. I"m not going to get my expectations up or be a bit excited."
In proof of the sincerity of this determination, she sat bolt upright on the seat and looked straight before her. Her husband, however, was staring out of the window with all his might.
"Say!" he exclaimed, "this is a mighty nice street, anyhow."
"Is it? Is it really?" For a person not excited, Mrs. Dott"s breathing was short and her fingers, tightly clasped in her lap, were trembling.
"You bet it is! Hey! Why, we"re slowin" up! We"re stoppin"."
The cab drew up at the curb and came to a standstill.
"Here you are," said the driver. "This is Number 180."