"What"s the matter, Loosh?" he demanded. "Great Scott, old man, I expected to surprise you, but I didn"t expect to give you a paralytic stroke. How are you?"
He walked over and held out his hand. Galusha took it, but he looked as if he was quite unaware of doing so. "Cousin Gussie!" he repeated, faintly. Then he added his favorite exclamation. "Dear me!"
Even Martha, who by this time was used to his eccentricities, thought his conduct strange.
"Why, Mr. Bangs," she cried, "are you sick? What is it?"
Galusha blinked, put a hand to his forehead, knocked off his spectacles, picked them up again and, in doing so, appeared to pick up a little of his normal self.
"Why, Cousin Gussie," he observed, for the third time; adding, "I--I am surprised."
His cousin"s laugh made the little room echo.
"Good, Loosh!" he exclaimed. "I guessed as much; you looked it. Well, it is all right; I"m here in the flesh. Aren"t you glad to see me?"
Galusha stammered that he was very glad to see him--yes, indeed--ah--quite so--very, of course.
"Ah--ah--won"t you sit down?" he asked.
Martha could stand it no longer. "Why, mercy"s sakes, Mr. Bangs," she exclaimed, "of course he"ll sit down! And he"d probably take off his coat, if you asked him."
This pointed hint had an immediate effect. Her lodger sprang forward.
"Oh, dear me!" he cried. "I"m so sorry. Of course, of course. I BEG your pardon, Cousin Gussie."
He hindered a little more than he helped with the removal of the coat and then stood, with the garment in his arms, peering over the heap of fur like a spectacled prairie-dog peeping out of a hole.
"Ah--sit down, sit down, please," he begged. "I--ah--please do."
Again Martha interrupted. "Here, let me take that coat, Mr. Bangs,"
she said, and took it forthwith. Galusha, coming to himself still more, remembered the conventionalities.
"Oh, Miss Phipps," he cried, "may I introduce my--ah--cousin, Mr. Cabot.
Mr. Cabot, this is the lady who has taken charge of me, so to speak."
Both Martha and Cabot burst out laughing.
"That sounds as if I had arrested him, doesn"t it?" observed the former.
"But it is all right, Mr. Cabot; I"ve only taken him to board."
"I understand. Well, unless he has changed a lot since I used to know him, he needs some one to take charge of him. And it agrees with him, too. Why, Loosh, I thought you were an invalid; you look like a football player. Oh, pardon me, Miss Phipps, but don"t trouble to take that coat away. I can stay only a little while. My chauffeur is waiting outside and I must get on to the hotel or I"ll be late for dinner."
Martha, who was on her way to the hall and the coat rack, turned.
"Hotel?" she repeated. "What hotel, Mr. Cabot?"
"Why, the Something-or-other House over in the next town. The Robbins House, is it? Something like that."
"Robbins House? There isn"t any. Oh, do you mean Roger"s Hotel at the Centre?"
"Why, yes, that is it. I was told there was a hotel here, but they forgot to tell me it was open only in the summer. What sort of place is this Roger"s Hotel?"
Martha looked at him and then at Galusha.
"Altogether too bad for any relation of Mr. Bangs"s to go to," she declared. "At least, to eat supper. You and Mr. Bangs will excuse me, won"t you? I"ll be right back."
She hung the fur coat upon the rack and hastened back through the dining room and out into the kitchen. Cabot took a chair and turned toward Galusha.
"She is a capable woman," he observed, with a jerk of his head toward the kitchen door. "She has certainly taken good care of you. You look better than when I saw you last and that was--Good Lord, how long ago was it?"
Galusha replied that it was a good many years ago and then switched the subject to that which was causing painful agitation in his bosom at the moment, namely, the reason for his cousin"s appearance in East Wellmouth.
Cousin Gussie laughed. "I came to see you, Loosh," he declared. "Family ties, and all that. I thought I would run down and get you to picnic on the beach with me. How is the bathing just now?"
The chill October wind rattled the sash and furnished answer sufficient.
Galusha smiled a sad sort of acknowledgment of the joke. He did not feel like smiling. The sensation of sitting on a powder barrel had returned to him, except that now there was no head to the barrel and the air was full of sparks.
"I--I did not expect you," he faltered, for the sake of saying something. Cabot laughed again.
"Of course you didn"t," he said. "Well, to tell you the truth, I didn"t come purposely to see you, old man. There has been a little business matter down here which hasn"t gone as I wanted it to, and I decided, pretty much on the spur of the moment, to motor down and see what was the matter. The friend for whom I was trying to handle the thing--it is only a little matter--was coming with me, but this morning I got a wire that he was detained and couldn"t make it. So, as it was a glorious day and my doctor keeps telling me to forget business occasionally, I started alone. I didn"t leave town until nearly eleven, had some motor trouble, and didn"t reach here until almost five. Then I found the fellow I came to see had gone somewhere, n.o.body knew where, and the hotel was closed for the season. I inquired about you, was given your address at the post office, and hunted you up. That"s the story."
Galusha"s smile was less forced this time. He nodded reflectively.
"That explains it," he said, slowly. "Yes, quite so. Of course, that explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Why--ah--it explains why you came here, you know."
"Well, I hope it does. That was the idea. If it doesn"t I don"t know what will."
Miss Phipps entered briskly from the kitchen. She proceeded to set another place at the supper table.
"Mr. Bangs," she said, "hadn"t you better take Mr. Cabot up to your room? Probably he"d like to clean up after ridin" so far. Better go right away, because supper is nearly ready. Mr. Cabot, it is Sat.u.r.day night and you"ll get a Sat.u.r.day night supper, beans and brown bread. I hope you won"t mind."
Galusha"s relative was somewhat taken aback.
"Why, Miss Phipps," he protested, "of course I can"t think of dining here. It is extremely kind of you, but really I--"
Martha calmly interrupted. "It isn"t kind at all," she said. "And it isn"t dinner, it is supper. If you don"t stay I shall think it is because you don"t like baked beans. I may as well tell you," she added, "that you will get beans and nothin" else over at Elmer Roger"s. They won"t be as good as these, that"s all. That isn"t pride," she continued, with a twinkle in her eye. "Anybody"s beans are better than Elmer"s, they couldn"t help bein"."
The visitor still hesitated. "Well, really, Miss Phipps," he said, "I--Well, I should like to stay. I should, indeed. But, you see, my chauffeur is outside waiting to take me over to the Roger"s House."
Martha smiled. "Oh, no, he isn"t," she said. "He is havin" his supper in the kitchen now. Run along, Mr. Bangs, and you and your cousin hurry down as soon as you can."
On the way upstairs Cabot asked a question.
"She is a "reg"lar" woman, as the boys say," he observed. "I like her.
Does she always, so to speak, boss people like that?"