He would help her when the time came. Meanwhile, he had rented her a nice tin box (that pulled out like a drawer) in the safety-deposit vault under the bank, where she could keep her bonds and all the other papers--such a lot of them!--that Mr. Chalmers told her she must keep very carefully.
But it was all so new and complicated, and everybody was always talking at once, so!
No wonder, indeed, that Miss Flora was quite breathless with it all.
By the time the Blaisdells found themselves able to pay attention to Hillerton, or to anything outside their own astounding personal affairs, they became suddenly aware of the attention Hillerton was paying to THEM.
The whole town was agog. The grocery store, the residence of Frank Blaisdell, and Miss Flora"s humble cottage might be found at nearly any daylight hour with from one to a dozen curious-eyed gazers on the sidewalk before them. The town paper had contained an elaborate account of the bequest and the remarkable circ.u.mstances attending it; and Hillerton became the Mecca of wandering automobiles for miles around.
Big metropolitan dailies got wind of the affair, recognized the magic name of Stanley G. Fulton, and sent reporters post-haste to Hillerton.
Speculation as to whether the multi-millionaire was really dead was prevalent everywhere, and a search for some clue to his reported South American exploring expedition was undertaken in several quarters.
Various rumors concerning the expedition appeared immediately, but none of them seemed to have any really solid foundation. Interviews with the great law firm having the handling of Mr. Fulton"s affairs were printed, but even here little could be learned save the mere fact of the letter of instructions, upon which they had acted according to directions, and the other fact that there still remained one more packet--understood to be the last will and testament--to be opened in two years" time if Mr. Fulton remained unheard from. The lawyers were bland and courteous, but they really had nothing to say, they declared, beyond the already published facts.
In Hillerton the Blaisdells accepted this notoriety with characteristic variation. Miss Flora, after cordially welcoming one "nice young man,"
and telling him all about how strange and wonderful it was, and how frightened she felt, was so shocked and distressed to find all that she said (and a great deal that she did not say!) staring at her from the first page of a big newspaper, that she forthwith barred her doors, and refused to open them till she satisfied herself, by surrept.i.tious peeps through the blinds, that it was only a neighbor who was knocking for admittance. An offer of marriage from a Western ranchman and another from a Vermont farmer (both entire strangers) did not tend to lessen her perturbation of mind.
Frank, at the grocery store, rather welcomed questioners--so long as there was a hope of turning them into customers; but his wife and Mellicent showed almost as much terror of them as did Miss Flora herself.
James Blaisdell and Fred stoically endured such as refused to be silenced by their brusque non-committalism. Benny, at first welcoming everything with the enthusiasm he would accord to a circus, soon sniffed his disdain, as at a show that had gone stale.
Of them all, perhaps Mrs. Hattie was the only one that found in it any real joy and comfort. Even Bessie, excited and interested as she was, failed to respond with quite the enthusiasm that her mother showed.
Mrs. Hattie saw every reporter, talked freely of "dear Cousin Stanley"
and his wonderful generosity, and explained that she would go into mourning, of course, if she knew he was really dead. She sat for two new portraits for newspaper use, besides graciously posing for staff photographers whenever requested to do so; and she treasured carefully every sc.r.a.p of the printed interviews or references to the affair that she could find. She talked with the townspeople, also, and told Al Smith how fine it was that he could have something really worth while for his book.
Mr. Smith, these days, was keeping rather closely to his work, especially when reporters were in evidence. He had been heard to remark, indeed, that he had no use for reporters. Certainly he fought shy of those investigating the Fulton-Blaisdell legacy. He read the newspaper accounts, though, most attentively, particularly the ones from Chicago that Mr. Norton kindly sent him sometimes. It was in one of these papers that he found this paragraph:--
There seems to be really nothing more that can be learned about the extraordinary Stanley G. Fulton-Blaisdell affair. The bequests have been paid, the Blaisdells are reveling in their new wealth, and Mr.
Fulton is still unheard from. There is nothing now to do but to await the opening of the second mysterious packet two years hence. This, it is understood, is the final disposition of his estate; and if he is really dead, such will doubtless prove to be the case. There are those, however, who, remembering the multi-millionaire"s well-known eccentricities, are suspecting him of living in quiet retirement somewhere, laughing in his sleeve at the tempest in the teapot that he has created; and that long before the two years are up, he will be back on Chicago"s streets, debonair and smiling as ever. The fact that so little can be found in regard to the South American exploring expedition might give color to this suspicion; but where on this terrestrial ball could Mr. Stanley G. Fulton find a place to live in UNREPORTED retirement?
Mr. Smith did not show this paragraph to the Blaisdells. He destroyed the paper containing it, indeed, promptly and effectually--with a furtive glance over his shoulder as he did so. It was at about this time, too, that Mr. Smith began to complain of his eyes and to wear smoked gla.s.ses. He said he found the new snow glaring.
"But you look so funny, Mr. Smith," said Benny, the first time he saw him. "Why, I didn"t hardly know you!"
"Didn"t you, Benny?" asked Mr. Smith, with suddenly a beaming countenance. "Oh, well, that doesn"t matter, does it?" And Mr. Smith gave an odd little chuckle as he turned away.
CHAPTER XII
THE TOYS RATTLE OUT
Early in December Mrs. Hattie, after an extended search, found a satisfactory home. It was a somewhat pretentious house, not far from the g.a.y.l.o.r.d place. Mrs. Hattie had it repapered and repainted throughout and two new bathrooms put in. (She said that everybody who was anybody always had lots of bathrooms.) Then she set herself to furnishing it. She said that, of course, very little of their old furniture would do at all. She was talking to Maggie Duff about it one day when Mr. Smith chanced to come in. She was radiant that afternoon in a handsome silk dress and a new fur coat.
"You"re looking very well--and happy, Mrs. Blaisdell," smiled Mr. Smith as he greeted her.
"I am well, and I"m perfectly happy, Mr. Smith," she beamed. "How could I help it? You know about the new home, of course. Well, it"s all ready, and I"m ordering the furnishings. Oh, you don"t know what it means to me to be able at last to surround myself with all the beautiful things I"ve so longed for all my life!"
"I"m very glad, I"m sure." Mr. Smith said the words as if he meant them.
"Yes, of course; and poor Maggie here, she says she"s glad, too,--though I don"t see how she can be, when she never got a cent, do you, Mr.
Smith? But, poor Maggie, she"s got so used to being left out--"
"Hush, hush!" begged Miss Maggie.
"You"ll find money isn"t everything in this world, Hattie Blaisdell,"
growled Mr. Duff, who, to-day, for some unknown reason, had deserted the kitchen cookstove for the living-room base-burner. "And when I see what a little money does for some folks I"m glad I"m poor. I wouldn"t be rich if I could. Furthermore, I"ll thank you to keep your sympathy at home. It ain"t needed nor wanted--here."
"Why, Father Duff," bridled Mrs. Hattie indignantly, "you know how poor Maggie has had to--"
"Er--but tell us about the new home," interrupted Mr. Smith quickly, "and the fine new furnishings."
"Why, there isn"t much to tell yet--about the furnishings, I mean. I haven"t got them yet. But I can tell you what I"m GOING to have." Mrs.
Hattie settled herself more comfortably, and began to look happy again.
"As I was saying to Maggie, when you came in, I shall get almost everything new--for the rooms that show, I mean,--for, of course, my old things won"t do at all. And I"m thinking of the pictures. I want oil paintings, of course, in gilt frames." She glanced a little disdainfully at the oak-framed prints on Miss Maggie"s walls.
"Going in for old masters, maybe," suggested Mr. Duff, with a sarcasm that fell pointless at Mrs. Hattie"s feet.
"Old masters?"
"Yes--oil paintings."
"Certainly not." Her chin came up a little. "I"m going to have anything old in my house--where it can be seen--For once I"m going to have NEW things--all new things. You have to make a show or you won"t be recognized by the best people."
"But, Hattie, my dear," began Miss Maggie, flushing a little, and carefully avoiding Mr. Smith"s eyes, "old masters are--are very valuable, and--"
"I don"t care if they are," retorted Mrs. Hattie, with decision. "If they"re old, I don"t want them, and that settles it. I"m going to have velvet carpets and the handsomest lace curtains that I can find; and I"m going to have some of those gold chairs, like the Pennocks have, only nicer. Theirs are awfully dull, some of them. And I"m going to buy--"
"Humph! Pity you can"t buy a little common sense--somewhere!" snarled old man Duff, getting stiffly to his feet. "You"ll need it, to swing all that style."
"Oh, father!" murmured Miss Maggie.
"Oh, I don"t mind what Father Duff says," laughed Mrs. Hattie. But there was a haughty tilt to her chin and an angry sparkle in her eyes as she, too, arose. "I"m just going, anyway, so you don"t need to disturb yourself, Father Duff."
But Father Duff, with another "Humph!" and a muttered something about having all he wanted already of "silly chatter," stamped out into the kitchen, with the usual emphasis of his cane at every other step.
It was just as well, perhaps, that he went, for Mrs. Hattie Blaisdell had been gone barely five minutes when her sister-in-law, Mrs. Jane, came in.
"I"ve come to see you about a very important matter, Maggie," she announced, as she threw off her furs--not new ones--and unb.u.t.toned her coat--which also was not new.
"Then certainly I will take myself out of the way," said Mr. Smith, with a smile, making a move to go.
"No, please don"t." Mrs. Jane held up a detaining hand. "Part of it concerns you, and I"m glad you"re here, anyway. I should like your advice."
"Concerns me?" puzzled the man.
"Yes. I"m afraid I shall have to give up boarding you, and one thing I came to-day for was to ask Maggie if she"d take you. I wanted to give poor Maggie the first chance at you, of course."