"What is a--a mortgage?" he asked. "Is it anything like a porte-cochere? I KNOW what that is, "cause my Lady of the Roses has one; but we haven"t got that--down here."
Perry Larson sighed in exasperation.
"Gosh, if that ain"t "bout what I expected of ye! No, it ain"t even second cousin to a--a-that thing you"re a-talkin" of. In plain wordin", it"s jest this: Mr. Holly, he says ter Streeter: "You give me a thousand dollars and I"ll pay ye back on a sartin day; if I don"t pay, you can sell my farm fur what it"ll bring, an" TAKE yer pay. Well, now here "t is. Mr. Holly can"t pay, an" so Streeter will put up the farm fur sale."
"What, with Mr. and Mrs. Holly LIVING here?"
"Sure! Only they"ll have ter git out, ye know."
"Where"ll they go?"
"The Lord knows; I don"t."
"And is THAT what they"re crying for--in there?--because they"ve got to go?"
"Sure!"
"But isn"t there anything, anywhere, that can be done to--stop it?"
"I don"t see how, kid,--not unless some one ponies up with the money "fore next Sat"day,--an" a thousand o" them things don"t grow on ev"ry bush," he finished, gently patting the coin in his hand.
At the words a swift change came to David"s face. His cheeks paled and his eyes dilated in terror. It was as if ahead of him he saw a yawning abyss, eager to engulf him.
"And you say--MONEY would--fix it?" he asked thickly.
"Ex-ACT-ly!--a thousand o" them, though, "t would take."
A dawning relief came into David"s eyes--it was as if he saw a bridge across the abyss.
"You mean--that there wouldn"t ANYTHING do, only silver pieces--like those?" he questioned hopefully.
"Sugar, kid, "course there would! Gosh, but you BE a checkerboard o"
sense an" nonsense, an" no mistake! Any money would do the job--any money! Don"t ye see? Anything that"s money."
"Would g-gold do it?" David"s voice was very faint now.
"Sure!--gold, or silver, or greenbacks, or--or a check, if it had the dough behind it."
David did not appear to hear the last. With an oddly strained look he had hung upon the man"s first words; but at the end of the sentence he only murmured, "Oh, thank you," and turned away. He was walking slowly now toward the house. His head was bowed. His step lagged.
"Now, ain"t that jest like that chap," muttered the man, "ter slink off like that as if he was a whipped cur. I"ll bet two cents an" a doughnut, too, that in five minutes he"ll be what he calls "playin" it"
on that "ere fiddle o" his. An" I"ll be derned, too, if I ain"t curious ter see what he WILL make of it. It strikes me this ought ter fetch somethin" first cousin to a dirge!"
On the porch steps David paused a breathless instant. From the kitchen came the sound of Mrs. Holly"s sobs and of a stern voice praying. With a shudder and a little choking cry the boy turned then and crept softly upstairs to his room.
He played, too, as Perry Larson had wagered. But it was not the tragedy of the closed bank, nor the honor of the threatened farm-selling that fell from his violin. It was, instead, the swan song of a little pile of gold--gold which lay now in a chimney cupboard, but which was soon to be placed at the feet of the mourning man and woman downstairs. And in the song was the sob of a boy who sees his house of dreams burn to ashes; who sees his wonderful life and work out in the wide world turn to endless days of weed-pulling and dirt-digging in a narrow valley.
There was in the song, too, something of the struggle, the fierce yea and nay of the conflict. But, at the end, there was the wild burst of exaltation of renunciation, so that the man in the barn door below fairly sprang to his feet with an angry:--
"Gosh! if he hain"t turned the thing into a jig--durn him! Don"t he know more"n that at such a time as this?"
Later, a very little later, the shadowy figure of the boy stood before him.
"I"ve been thinking," stammered David, "that maybe I--could help, about that money, you know."
"Now, look a-here, boy," exploded Perry, in open exasperation, "as I said in the first place, this ain"t in your cla.s.s. "T ain"t no pink cloud sailin" in the sky, nor a bluebird singin" in a blackb"rry bush.
An" you might "play it"--as you call it--till doomsday, an" "t wouldn"t do no good--though I"m free ter confess that your playin" of them "ere other things sounds real pert an" chirky at times; but "t won"t do no good here."
David stepped forward, bringing his small, anxious face full into the moonlight.
"But "t was the money, Perry; I meant about, the money," he explained.
"They were good to me and wanted me when there wasn"t any one else that did; and now I"d like to do something for them. There aren"t so MANY pieces, and they aren"t silver. There"s only one hundred and six of them; I counted. But maybe they "d help some. It--it would be a--start." His voice broke over the once beloved word, then went on with renewed strength. "There, see! Would these do?" And with both hands he held up to view his cap sagging under its weight of gold.
Perry Larson"s jaw fell open. His eyes bulged. Dazedly he reached out and touched with trembling fingers the heap of shining disks that seemed in the mellow light like little earth-born children of the moon itself. The next instant he recoiled sharply.
"Great snakes, boy, where"d you git that money?" he demanded.
"Of father. He went to the far country, you know."
Perry Larson snorted angrily.
"See here, boy, for once, if ye can, talk horse-sense! Surely, even YOU don"t expect me ter believe that he"s sent you that money from--from where he"s gone to!"
"Oh, no. He left it."
"Left it! Why, boy, you know better! There wa"n"t a cent--hardly--found on him."
"He gave it to me before--by the roadside."
"Gave it to you! Where in the name of goodness has it been since?"
"In the little cupboard in my room, behind the books."
"Great snakes!" muttered Perry Larson, reaching out his hand and gingerly picking up one of the gold-pieces.
David eyed him anxiously.
"Won"t they--do?" he faltered. "There aren"t a thousand; there"s only a hundred and six; but--"
"Do!" cut in the man, excitedly. He had been examining the gold-piece at close range. "Do! Well, I reckon they"ll do. By Jiminy!--and ter think you"ve had this up yer sleeve all this time! Well, I"ll believe anythin" of yer now--anythin"! You can"t stump me with nuthin"! Come on." And he hurriedly led the way toward the house.
"But they weren"t up my sleeve," corrected David, as he tried to keep up with the long strides of the man. "I SAID they were in the cupboard in my room."
There was no answer. Larson had reached the porch steps, and had paused there hesitatingly. From the kitchen still came the sound of sobs.
Aside from that there was silence. The boy, however, did not hesitate.
He went straight up the steps and through the open kitchen door. At the table sat the man and the woman, their eyes covered with their hands.
With a swift overturning of his cap, David dumped his burden onto the table, and stepped back respectfully.
"If you please, sir, would this--help any?" he asked.