The little girl drew in her chin as she looked up at him.
"Oh, father, you"re such a joker!"
CHAPTER VI
THE DIE IS CAST
"Oh, grandpa, we"ve had the most, _fun_!" cried Jewel that afternoon as she ran down the veranda steps to meet the broker, getting out of the brougham.
Harry and Julia were standing near the wicker chairs watching the welcome.
They saw Mr. Evringham stoop to receive the child"s embrace, and noted the attention he paid to her chatter as, after lifting his hat to them, he slowly advanced.
"Father and I played in the ravine the longest while. Wasn"t it a nice time, father?"
"It certainly was a nice, wet time. I am one pair of shoes short, and shall have to travel to Chicago in patent leathers."
As Julia rose she regarded her father-in-law with new eyes. All sense of responsibility had vanished, and her present pa.s.sive role seemed delightful.
"I know more about this beautiful place than when you went away," she said.
"I feel as if I were at some picturesque resort. It doesn"t seem at all as if work-a-day people might live here all the time."
"I"m glad you like it," returned the broker, and his quick, curt manner of speech no longer startled her. "Have you been driving?"
"No, we preferred to have Jewel plan our campaign, and she seemed to think that the driving part had better wait for you."
The broker turned and looked down at the smooth head with billowy ribbon bows behind the ears. Noting his expression, or lack of it, Julia wondered, momentarily, if she might have dreamed the episode of kissing into the telephone.
"What is your plan, Jewel?" he asked.
She balanced herself springily on her toes. "I thought two of us in the phaeton and two on horseback," she replied, with relish.
"H"m. You in the phaeton and I on Star, perhaps."
"Oh, grandpa, and your feet dragging in the road!" The child"s laugh was a gush of merriment.
The broker looked back at his daughter-in-law and handed her the large white package he was carrying. "With my compliments, madam."
Julia flushed prettily as she unwrapped the box. "Oh, Huyler"s!" she exclaimed. "How delicious. Thank you so much, father."
Jewel"s eyes were big with admiration. "That"s just the kind Dr. Ballard used to give cousin Eloise," she said, sighing. "Sometime I"ll be grown up!"
Mr. Evringham lifted her into his arms with a quick movement. "That"s a far day, thank G.o.d," he murmured, his mustache against her hair; then lowering her until he could look into her face: "How have you arranged us, Jewel?
Who drives and who rides?"
"Perhaps father would like to drive mother in the phaeton," said the child, again on her feet.
Harry smiled. "Your last plan, I thought, was that I should ride the mare."
"Yes," returned Jewel, with some embarra.s.sment. "You won"t look so nice as grandpa does on Ess.e.x Maid," she added, very gently, "but if it would be a _pleasure_ to you, father"--
Her companions laughed so heartily that the child bored the toe of one shoe into the piazza, and well they knew the sign.
"Here," said her father hastily, "which of these delicious candies do you want, Jewel? Oh, how good they look! I tell you you"ll have to be quick if you want any. I have only till to-morrow to eat them."
"Really to-morrow, father!" returned the child, pausing aghast.
"To-morrow!"
"Yes, indeed."
"To Chicago, do you mean?"
"To Chicago." He nodded emphatically.
Jewel turned appealing eyes on her mother. "Can"t we help it?" she asked in a voice that broke.
"I think not, dearie. Business must come before pleasure, you know."
Her three companions looking at the child saw her swallow with an effort.
She dropped the chocolate she had taken back into the box.
A heroic smile came to her trembling lips as she lifted her eyes to the impa.s.sive face of the tall, handsome man beside her. "It"s to-morrow, grandpa," she said softly, with a look that begged him to remember.
He stooped until his gaze was on a level with hers. She did not touch him.
All her forces were bent on self-control.
"I have been asking your mother," said Mr. Evringham, "to stay here a while and take a vacation. Hasn"t she told you?"
Jewel shook her head mutely.
"I think she will do it if you add your persuasion," continued the broker quietly. "She ought to have rest,--and of course you would stay too, to take care of her."
A flash like sunlight illumined the child"s tears. Mr. Evringham expected to feel her arms thrown around his neck. Instead, she turned suddenly, and running to her father, jumped into his lap.
"Father, father," she said, "don"t you want us to go with you?"
Harry cleared his throat. The little scene had moistened his eyes as well.
"Am I of any consequence?" he asked, with an effort at jocoseness.
Jewel clasped him close. "Oh, father," earnestly, "you know you are; and the only reason I said you wouldn"t look so nice on Ess.e.x Maid is that grandpa has beautiful riding clothes, and when he rides off he looks like a king in a procession. You couldn"t look like a king in a procession in the clothes you wear to the store, could you, father?"
"Impossible, dearie."
"But I want you to ride her if you"d like to, and I want mother and me to go to Chicago with you if you"re going to feel sorry."