"Well," Jewel sighed, "I hope grandpa likes my nose. I don"t."
Zeke laughed. "He seems able to put up with it. I expect there"s going to be ructions around here the next week."
"What"s ructions?"
"Well, some folks might call it error. I don"t know. Mr. Evringham"s going to be pretty busy with his own nose. It"s going to be put out of joint to-night. The green-eyed monster"s going to get on the rampage, or I miss my guess."
Jewel looked up doubtfully. Zeke was a joker, of course, being a man, but what was he driving at now?
"What green-eyed monster?" she asked.
"Oh, the one that lives in folks" hearts and lays low part of the time,"
replied Zeke.
"Do you mean jealousy; envy, hatred, or malice?" asked Jewel so glibly that her companion stared.
"Great Scott! What do you know about that outfit?" he asked.
The child nodded wisely. "I know people believe in them sometimes; but you needn"t think grandpa does, because he doesn"t."
"Mr. Evringham"s all right," agreed Zeke, "but he isn"t going to be the only pebble any longer. Your father and mother will be the whole thing now."
The child was thoughtful a moment, then she began earnestly: "Oh, I"m sure grandpa knows how it is about loving. The more people you love, the more you can love. I can love father and mother more because I"ve learned to love grandpa, and he can love them more too, because he has learned to love me."
"Humph! We"ll see," remarked the other, smiling.
"Is error talking to you, Zeke? Are you laying laws on grandpa?"
"Well, if I am, I"ll stop it mighty quick. You don"t catch me taking any such liberties. Whoa!" drawing on imaginary reins as the engine slackened at a station.
Jewel laughed, and from that time until they reached New York they chatted about her pony Star, and other less important horses, and of the child"s antic.i.p.ation of showing her mother the joys of Bel-Air Park.
Chapter II
THE BROKER"S OFFICE
It was the first time Jewel had visited her grandfather"s office and she was impressed anew with his importance as she entered the stone building and ascended in the elevator to mysterious heights.
Arrived in an electric-lighted anteroom, Zeke"s request to see Mr.
Evringham was met by a sharp-eyed young man who denied it with a cold, inquiring stare. Then the glance of this factotum fell to Jewel"s uplifted, rose-tinted face and her trustful gaze fixed on his own.
Zeke twirled his hat slowly between his hands.
"You just step into Mr. Evringham"s office," he said quietly, "and tell him the young lady he invited has arrived."
Jewel wondered how this person, who had the privilege of being near her grandfather all day, could look so forbidding; but in her happy excitement she could not refrain from smiling at him under the nodding hat brim.
"I"m going to dinner with him," she said softly, "and I _think_ we"re going to have Nesselrode pudding."
The young man"s eyes stared and then began to twinkle. "Oh," he returned, "in that case"--then he turned and left the visitors.
When he entered the sanctum of his employer he was smiling. Mr. Evringham did not look up at once. When he did, it was with a brief, "Well?"
"A young lady insists upon seeing you, sir."
"Kindly stop grinning, Masterson, and tell her she must state her business."
"She has done so, sir," but Masterson did not stop grinning. "She looks like a summer girl, and I guess she is one."
Mr. Evringham frowned at this unprecedented levity. "What is her business, briefly?" he asked curtly.
"To eat Nesselrode pudding, sir."
The broker started. "Ah!" he exclaimed, and though he still frowned, he reflected his junior"s smile. "Is there some one with her?"
"A young man."
"Send them in, please."
Masterson obeyed and managed to linger until his curiosity was both appeased and heightened by seeing Jewel run across the Turkish rug and completely submerge the stately gray head beneath the brim of her hat.
"Well, I"ll--be--everlastingly"--thought Masterson, as he softly pa.s.sed out and closed the door behind him. "Even Achilles could get it in the heel, but I"ll swear I didn"t believe the old man had a joint in his armor."
Zeke stood twisting his hat, and when his employer was allowed to come to the surface, he spoke respectfully:--
"Mother said I was to bring word if you would like a late supper, sir."
"Tell Mrs. Forbes that it will be only something light, if anything. She need not prepare."
Jewel danced to the door with her escort as he went. "Good-by, Zeke," she said gayly. "Thank you for bringing me."
"Good-by, Jewel," he returned in subdued accents, and stumbling on the threshold, pa.s.sed out with a furtive wave of his hat.
The child returned and jumped into a chair by the desk, reserved for the selected visitors who succeeded in invading this precinct. "I suppose you aren"t quite through," she said, fixing her host with a blissful gaze as he worked among a scattered pile of papers.
"Very nearly," he returned. He saw that she was near to bubbling over with ideas ready to pour out to him. He knew, too, that she would wait his time.
It entertained him to watch her furtively as she gave herself to inspecting the furnishings of the room and the pictures on the wall, then looked down at the patent leather tips of her best shoes as they swung to and fro. At last she began to look at him more and more wistfully, and to view the furnishings of the large desk. It had a broad shelf at the top.
Suddenly Jewel caught sight of a picture standing there in a square frame, and an irrepressible "Oh!" escaped from her lips.
She pressed her hands together and Mr. Evringham saw a deeper rose in her cheeks. He followed her eyes, and silently taking the picture from the desk placed it in her lap. She clasped it eagerly. It was a fine photograph of Ess.e.x Maid, her grandfather"s mare.
In a minute he spoke:--
"Now I think I"m about through, Jewel," he said, leaning back in his chair.