Of course, they had to know all about the holdup, and his manner of telling the story made them feel that they had played an important part in it. Arrived at the hotel, he swept them along with him so swiftly that they had no time in which to become dismayed or self-conscious, and finally he deposited them in their rooms quite out of breath and quite delighted. He left them palpitating with excitement at the wonders he proposed unfolding for them on the morrow.
Allie answered his phone call about eight o"clock the next morning.
"Ready for breakfast?" he inquired.
"Why, we et at daylight," she told him, in some astonishment. "I been ridin" since then."
"Indeed! Putting roses in your cheeks, eh? With whom did you go?"
"Oh, one of the elevator men."
"B--but--" Gray sputtered, deeply shocked. "Why, Miss Briskow, they"re _negroes!_ Riding with a n.i.g.g.e.r! My heavens! Where did you go?"
"Nowhere. Just up and down."
It was a moment before the man could speak, then he said, in a queerly repressed voice: "That--is quite different. I"ll run down and get a bite and join you in no time."
"Seems awful funny not to have any housework to do in the morning," Ma Briskow confessed, as they left the Ajax. "A hotel would spoil me in no time."
"I couldn"t keep her from makin" up the beds," Allie announced.
Gray took the elder woman"s hand in his and scolded her gently.
Smilingly, he lectured her on the art of doing nothing, and voiced some elemental truths about living.
"Mr. Briskow has but one idea, and that is to surround you two, and Buddy, with the advantages and luxuries you have been denied," he reminded her. "You owe it to him to get the most out of your money, and you mustn"t begin by making hotel beds and robbing some poor woman of her livelihood. Not one person in ten really knows how to live, for it isn"t an easy task, and the saddest thing about the newly rich is that they won"t learn. They refuse to enjoy their wealth. I propose to help you good people get started, if you"ll permit me. It is not with contrition, but with pride, that I recommend myself to you as one of the greatest living authorities upon extravagance, idleness, and the minor vices of the prosperous."
The mother nodded, a bit vaguely. "That"s kind of like Pa talks. He sent you this, and says to tell you it"s our first spendin" spree and act accordin"." From her pocket she drew a folded check, made out in blank to Calvin Gray and signed by Gus Briskow.
"So! I a.s.sume that I"m to pay the bills. Very well. The sky is the limit, eh?"
"That"s it. Of course, I don"t need anything for myself--this dress and bunnit are good enough--but Allie"s got to have new fixin"s, from the inside out. I s"pose her things"ll eat up the best part of a hundred dollars, won"t they?" The speaker"s look of worried inquiry bespoke a lifetime of habitual economy.
"We"re not going to buy what you _need_, but what you want. You"re going to have just as many pretty things as Allie."
Ma was panic-stricken at this suggestion. When Gray insisted she demurred; when he told her that one nice dress would cost at least a hundred dollars, she confessed:
"Why, I don"t s"pose all the clo"s I"ve had since I was married cost much more "n that."
"I"ll spend at least a thousand on you before noon," he laughed.
Mrs. Briskow gasped, she rolled her eyes and fanned herself; she appealed to Allegheny, but it was evident that the latter had kept her eyes open and had done some thinking, for she broke out, pa.s.sionately: "You make me sick, Ma! It"ll take all Pa can afford, and then some, to make us look like other people. I never knew how plumb ridic"lous we are till--"
"Not that," Gray protested.
"You _know_ we"re ridic"lous," she cried, fiercely. "We"re a couple of sow"s ears and all Pa"s royalties can"t make us into silk purses.
But--mebbe we can manage to look like silk, if we spend enough."
Gray determined that the girl should not be disappointed if he could help it, so he went directly to the head saleswoman of the first store, and asked her to a.s.sume the role of counselor where circ.u.mstance compelled him to relinquish it, explaining that in addition to hats, gowns, shoes, and the like, both Ma and Allie needed a variety of confidential apparel with which he had only the vaguest acquaintance.
Although the woman agreed to his request, he found before long that his trust in her had been misplaced. Not only did she threaten to take advantage of her customers" ignorance, but also, to Gray"s anger, she displayed a poorly veiled contempt for and amus.e.m.e.nt at his charges.
Allegheny was not long in feeling this. She had entered the establishment aquiver with hope and antic.i.p.ation. This was her great adventure. She was like a timid child, enraptured at sight of its first tinseled Christmas tree; to have that ecstacy spoiled, to see the girl"s tenderest sensibilities wounded by a haughty clerk, enraged the man who played Santa Claus. Abruptly he resumed charge of the Briskow purchases, and it gave him a pang to note how Allegheny ran to him with her hurt, as it were.
But matters did not progress as well as he had expected. Allie"s disappointment at the death of her dream she hid under an a.s.sumption of indifference; she merely pawed over the pretty things shown her and pretended to ignore the ridicule she and her mother excited. But her face was stony, her eyes were hopeless, miserable.
For once in his life Calvin Gray was at a loss, and knowledge of that fact caused him to chew savagely at his cigar. To his bewildered companions he remained enthusiastic, effervescent, but behind their backs he glowered at the well-groomed customers and cursed the snickering models who paraded their wares. Engaged thus, he became aware of a stranger who looked on at the pitiful little comedy without amus.e.m.e.nt. She was a pretty thing. Gray stared at her openly and his scowl vanished. When she moved away, he made a sudden decision, excused himself, and followed her.
He was gratified at the manner in which she accepted his breathless apology for speaking to her, at the poise with which she listened while he made himself and his companions known to her and explained the plight in which he found himself.
"You can save the reason of a distracted man and add to the happiness of two poor, bewildered women, if you will," he concluded, earnestly.
"It isn"t a funny situation; it"s tragic."
"What do you wish me to do?" the girl inquired.
"It"s a lot to ask, I know, but won"t you help them buy the things they need and save them from further humiliation at the hands of these highbrow clerks and lowbrow customers? I--I want to punch somebody in the nose."
"I was sure you did. That is what attracted my attention."
"You are a person of taste, if you will pardon a perfectly obvious compliment from a total stranger, and they need such a woman"s guidance. But they need, even more, a little bit of feminine tact and sympathy. Look!" He showed Gus Briskow"s blank check. "The whole store is theirs, if they wish it. Think what that ought to mean to two poor starved creatures who have never owned enough clothing to wad a shotgun."
"The girl is stunning. All she needs is the right sort of things--"
Impulsively Gray seized the speaker"s hand. "I _knew_ it!" he cried. "I can choose gowns for her, but how can I tell her the sort of--well, corsets she ought to wear? How can I select for her things a bachelor is presumed to know nothing about? Haven"t you an hour or two in which to play Fairy G.o.dmother?"
"I have all day," the young woman confessed. "I merely came in to yearn over the pretty things."
"O messenger from Heaven!" he cried, more hopefully. "Would it appear presumptuous if I asked you, in return for this favor, to select the very prettiest gown in this shop for your very own?"
The offer was refused pleasantly, but firmly. "I"d be paid ten times over by the fun of spending oodles of money even if it were not my own.
But would they consent to have a stranger--?"
"If you will permit a tiny deceit, I"m sure they will. I shall burden my conscience with a white lie and pretend that you are a friend to whose judgment I have appealed. My poor conscience is scandalously overburdened, but--that girl is suffering!"
"I thought they must have struck oil. I"ve seen others like them."
Without further ado, Gray hurried his new acquaintance back to the dress department, then, in his easiest manner, introduced her to the Briskows. She flashed him a look of amus.e.m.e.nt as he glibly made her known as "Miss Good." He had invited Miss Good to join their picnic immediately upon hearing that Ma and Allie were coming to Dallas, and she had been overjoyed. Miss Good, as they could see, possessed unerring good taste, but what was more, she had a real genius for finding bargains. As a bargain hunter Miss Good was positively unique.
Ma Briskow p.r.i.c.ked up her ears at this, soon she and the newcomer had their heads together, and within a few minutes Gray realized that his experiment was a success. The stranger possessed enthusiasm, but it was coupled with common sense, and before her sunshiny smile even Allegheny"s sullen distrust slowly began to thaw. She drew Gray aside finally, and said: "It"s all right. They"re perfect dears, and, now, the best thing you can do is to take yourself off."
He agreed promptly, but cautioned her against economy. "That bargain-hunting remark was only a bait. Remember, Gus Briskow wants them to have everything, and be everything they should be, regardless of expense. Why, both he and I would like nothing better than to have Allegheny look like you, if that were possible."
Miss Good eyed the speaker curiously. "Who are you?" she inquired.
"What are these nesters to you?"
"I am n.o.body. They were kind to me and I"m interested in their future."
"Are you a fortune hunter, Mr. Gray?"
"I am." Gray"s face instantly lighted. "I am the most conscienceless fortune hunter you ever met, but--I am hunting my own fortune, not Allie Briskow"s."