"Tin nonsense!" retorted Cyril. "Don"t be silly, Bertram. That letter wasn"t written by a baby. He"d be much more likely to make himself at home with your paint box, or with some of William"s junk."
"Oh, I say," expostulated William, "we"ll HAVE to keep him out of those things, you know."
Cyril pushed back his chair from the table.
""We"ll have to keep him out"! William, you can"t be in earnest! You aren"t going to let that boy come here," he cried.
"But what can I do?" faltered the man.
"Do? Say "no," of course. As if we wanted a boy to bring up!"
"But I must do something. I--I"m all he"s got. He says so."
"Good heavens! Well, send him to boarding-school, then, or to the penitentiary; anywhere but here!"
"Shucks! Let the kid come," laughed Bertram. "Poor little homesick devil! What"s the use? I"ll take him in. How old is he, anyhow?"
William frowned, and mused aloud slowly.
"Why, I don"t know. He must be--er--why, boys, he"s no child," broke off the man suddenly. "Walter himself died seventeen or eighteen years ago, not more than a year or two after he was married. That child must be somewhere around eighteen years old!"
"And only think how Cyril WAS worrying about those tin carts," laughed Bertram. "Never mind--eight or eighteen--let him come. If he"s that age, he won"t bother much."
"And this--er--"s.p.u.n.k"; do you take him, too? But probably he doesn"t bother, either," murmured Cyril, with smooth sarcasm.
"Gorry! I forgot s.p.u.n.k," acknowledged Bertram. "Say, what in time is s.p.u.n.k, do you suppose?"
"Dog, maybe," suggested William.
"Well, whatever he is, you will kindly keep s.p.u.n.k down-stairs," said Cyril with decision. "The boy, I suppose I shall have to endure; but the dog--!"
"Hm-m; well, judging by his name," murmured Bertram, apologetically, "it may be just possible that s.p.u.n.k won"t be easily controlled. But maybe he isn"t a dog, anyhow. He--er--sounds something like a parrot to me."
Cyril rose to his feet abruptly. He had eaten almost no dinner.
"Very well," he said coldly. "But please remember that I hold you responsible, Bertram. Whether it"s a dog, or a parrot, or--or a monkey, I shall expect you to keep s.p.u.n.k down-stairs. This adopting into the family an unknown boy seems to me very absurd from beginning to end.
But if you and William will have it so, of course I"ve nothing to say.
Fortunately my rooms are at the TOP of the house," he finished, as he turned and left the dining-room.
For a moment there was silence. The brows of the younger man were uplifted quizzically.
"I"m afraid Cyril is bothered," murmured William then, in a troubled voice.
Bertram"s face changed. Stern lines came to his boyish mouth.
"He is always bothered--with anything, lately."
The elder man sighed.
"I know, but with his talent--"
""Talent"! Great Scott!" cut in Bertram. "Half the world has talent of one sort or another; but that doesn"t necessarily make them unable to live with any one else! Really, Will, it"s becoming serious--about Cyril. He"s getting to be, for all the world, like those finicky old maids that that young namesake of yours wrote about. He"ll make us whisper and walk on tiptoe yet!"
The other smiled.
"Don"t you worry. You aren"t in any danger of being kept too quiet, young man."
"No thanks to Cyril, then," retorted Bertram. "Anyhow, that"s one reason why I was for taking the kid--to mellow up Cyril. He needs it all right."
"But I had to take him, Bert," argued the elder brother, his face growing anxious again. "But Heaven only knows what I"m going to do with him when I get him. What shall I say to him, anyway? How shall I write?
I don"t know how to get up a letter of that sort!"
"Why not take him at his word and telegraph? I fancy you won"t have to say "come" but once before you see him. He doesn"t seem to be a bashful youth."
"Hm-m; I might do that," acquiesced William, slowly. "But wasn"t there somebody--a lawyer--going to write to me?" he finished, consulting the letter by his plate. "Yes," he added, after a moment, "a Mr. Harding.
Wonder if he"s any relation to Ned Harding. I used to know Ned at Harvard, and seems as if he came from Hampden Falls. We"ll soon see, at all events. Maybe I"ll hear to-morrow."
"I shouldn"t wonder," nodded Bertram, as he rose from the table.
"Anyhow, I wouldn"t do anything till I did hear."
CHAPTER IV
BILLY SENDS A TELEGRAM
James Harding"s letter very promptly followed Billy"s, though it was not like Billy"s at all. It told something of Billy"s property, and mentioned that, according to Mrs. Neilson"s will, Billy would not come into control of her fortune until the age of twenty-one years was reached. It dwelt at some length upon the fact of Billy"s loneliness in the world, and expressed the hope that her father"s friend could find it in his heart to welcome the orphan into his home. It mentioned Ned, and the old college friendship, and it closed by saying that the writer, James Harding, was glad to renew his acquaintance with the good old Henshaw family that he had known long years ago; and that he hoped soon to hear from William Henshaw himself.
It was a good letter--but it was not well written. James Harding"s handwriting was not distinguished for its legibility, and his correspondents rejoiced that the most of his letters were dictated to his stenographer. In this case, however, he had elected to use the more personal pen; and it was because of this that William Henshaw, even after reading the letter, was still unaware of his mistake in supposing his namesake, Billy, to be a boy.
In the main the lawyer had referred to Billy by name, or as "the orphan," or as that "poor, lonely child." And whenever the more distinctive feminine "her" or "herself" had occurred, the carelessly formed letters had made them so much like "his" and "himself" that they carried no hint of the truth to a man who had not the slightest reason for thinking himself in the wrong. It was therefore still for the "boy,"
Billy, that William Henshaw at once set about making a place in the home.
First he telegraphed the single word "Come" to Billy.
"I"ll set the poor lad"s heart at rest," he said to Bertram. "I shall answer Harding"s letter more at length, of course. Naturally he wants to know something about me now before he sends Billy along; but there is no need for the boy to wait before he knows that I"ll take him. Of course he won"t come yet, till Harding hears from me."
It was just here, however, that William Henshaw met with a surprise, for within twenty-four hours came Billy"s answer, and by telegraph.
"I"m coming to-morrow. Train due at five P. M.
"BILLY."
William Henshaw did not know that in Hampden Falls Billy"s trunk had been packed for days. Billy was desperate. The house, even with the maid, and with the obliging neighbor and his wife who stayed there nights, was to Billy nothing but a dismal tomb. Lawyer Harding had fallen suddenly ill; she could not even tell him that the blessed telegram "Come" had arrived. Hence Billy, lonely, impulsive, and always used to pleasing herself, had taken matters in hand with a confident grasp, and had determined to wait no longer.