"Yes. But--that isn"t--er--" Mr. Smith hesitated doubtfully, and Mrs.
Blaisdell jumped into the pause.
"And, really, for that matter, she knows about us NOW, too, better than "most anybody else. Hattie"s always sending for her, and Flora, too, if they"re sick, or anything. Poor Maggie! Sometimes I think they actually impose upon her. And she"s such a good soul, too! I declare, I never see her but I wish I could do something for her. But, of course, with my means--But, there! Here I am, running on as usual. Frank says I never do know when to stop, when I get started on something; and of course you didn"t come here to talk about poor Maggie. Now I"ll go back to business. When is it you want to start in--to board, I mean?"
"To-morrow, if I may." With some alacrity Mr. Smith got to his feet.
"And now we must be going--Benny and I. I"m at the Holland House. With your permission, then, Mrs. Blaisdell, I"ll send up my trunks to-morrow morning. And now good-night--and thank you."
"Why--but, Mr. Smith!" The woman, too, came to her feet, but her face was surprised. "Why, you haven"t even seen your room yet! How do you know you"ll like it?"
"Eh? What? Oh!" Mr. Smith laughed. There was a quizzical lift to his eyebrows. "So I haven"t, have I? And people usually do, don"t they?
Well--er--perhaps I will just take a look at--the room, though I"m not worrying any, I a.s.sure you. I"ve no doubt it will be quite right, quite right," he finished, as he followed Mrs. Blaisdell to a door halfway down the narrow hall.
Five minutes later, once more on the street, he was walking home with Benny. It was Benny who broke the long silence that had immediately fallen between them.
"Say, Mr. Smith, I"ll bet ye YOU"ll never be rich!"
Mr. Smith turned with a visible start.
"Eh? What? I"ll never be--What do you mean, boy?"
Benny giggled cheerfully.
""Cause you paid Aunt Jane what she asked the very first time. Why, Aunt Jane never expects ter get what she asks, pa says. She sells him groceries in the store, sometimes, when Uncle Frank"s away, ye know. Pa says what she asks first is for practice--just ter get her hand in; an"
she expects ter get beat down. But you paid it, right off the bat.
Didn"t ye see how tickled Aunt Jane was, after she"d got over bein"
surprised?"
"Why--er--really, Benny," murmured Mr. Smith.
But Benny had yet more to say.
"Oh, yes, sir, you could have saved a lot every week, if ye hadn"t bit so quick. An" that"s why I say you won"t ever get rich. Savin" "s what does it, ye know--gets folks rich. Aunt Jane says so. She says a penny saved "s good as two earned, an" better than four spent."
"Well, really, indeed!" Mr. Smith laughed lightly. "That does look as if there wasn"t much chance for me, doesn"t it?"
"Yes, sir." Benny spoke soberly, and with evident sympathy. He spoke again, after a moment, but Mr. Smith did not seem to hear at once. Mr.
Smith was, indeed, not a little abstracted all the way to Benny"s home, though his good-night was very cheerful at parting. Benny would have been surprised, indeed, had he known that Mr. Smith was thinking, not about his foolishly extravagant agreement for board, but about a pair of starry eyes with wistful lights in them, and a blue dress, plainly made.
In the hotel that night, Mr. John Smith wrote the following letter to Edward D. Norton, Esq., Chicago:
MY DEAR NED,--Well, I"m here. I"ve been here exactly six hours, and already I"m in possession of not a little Blaisdell data for my--er--book. I"ve seen Mr. and Mrs. James, their daughter, Bessie, and their son, Benny. Benny, by the way, is a gushing geyser of current Blaisdell data which, I foresee, I shall find interesting, but embarra.s.sing, perhaps, at times. I"ve also seen Miss Flora, and Mrs.
Jane Blaisdell and her daughter, Mellicent.
There"s a "Poor Maggie" whom I haven"t seen. But she isn"t a Blaisdell.
She"s a Duff, daughter of the man who married Rufus Blaisdell"s widow, some thirty years or more ago. As I said, I haven"t seen her yet, but she, too, according to Mrs. Frank Blaisdell, must be a gushing geyser of Blaisdell data, so I probably soon shall see her. Why she"s "poor" I don"t know.
As for the Blaisdell data already in my possession--I"ve no comment to make. Really, Ned, to tell the truth, I"m not sure I"m going to relish this job, after all. In spite of a perfectly clear conscience, and the virtuous realization that I"m here to bring nothing worse than a hundred thousand dollars apiece with the possible addition of a few millions on their devoted heads--in spite of all this, I yet have an uncomfortable feeling that I"m a small boy listening at the keyhole.
However, I"m committed to the thing now, so I"ll stuff it out, I suppose,--though I"m not sure, after all, that I wouldn"t chuck the whole thing if it wasn"t that I wanted to see how Mellicent will enjoy her pink dresses. How many pink dresses will a hundred thousand dollars buy, anyway,--I mean PRETTY pink dresses, all fixed up with frills and furbelows?
As ever yours,
STAN--er--JOHN SMITH.
CHAPTER IV
IN SEARCH OF SOME DATES
Very promptly the next morning Mr. John Smith and his two trunks appeared at the door of his new boarding-place. Mrs. Jane Blaisdell welcomed him cordially. She wore a high-necked, long-sleeved gingham ap.r.o.n this time, which she neither removed nor apologized for--unless her cheerful "You see, mornings you"ll find me in working trim, Mr.
Smith," might be taken as an apology.
Mellicent, her slender young self enveloped in a similar ap.r.o.n, was dusting his room as he entered it. She nodded absently, with a casual "Good-morning, Mr. Smith," as she continued at her work. Even the placing of the two big trunks, which the shuffling men brought in, won from her only a listless glance or two. Then, without speaking again, she left the room, as her mother entered it.
"There!" Mrs. Blaisdell looked about her complacently. "With this couch-bed with its red cover and cushions, and all the dressing things moved to the little room in there, it looks like a real sitting-room in here, doesn"t it?"
"It certainly does, Mrs. Blaisdell."
"And you had "em take the trunks in there, too. That"s good," she nodded, crossing to the door of the small dressing-room beyond. "I thought you would. Well, I hope you"ll be real happy with us, Mr.
Smith, and I guess you will. And you needn"t be a mite afraid of hurting anything. I"ve covered everything with mats and tidies and spreads."
"Yes, I see." A keen listener would have noticed an odd something in Mr. Smith"s voice; but Mrs. Blaisdell apparently noticed nothing.
"Yes, I always do--to save wearing and soiling, you know. Of course, if we had money to buy new all the time, it would be different. But we haven"t. And that"s what I tell Mellicent when she complains of so many things to dust and brush. Now make yourself right at home, Mr. Smith.
Dinner"s at twelve o"clock, and supper is at six--except in the winter.
We have it earlier then, so"s we can go to bed earlier. Saves gas, you know. But it"s at six now. I do like the long days, don"t you? Well, I"ll be off now, and let you unpack. As I said before, make yourself perfectly at home, perfectly at home."
Left alone, Mr. Smith drew a long breath and looked about him. It was a pleasant room, in spite of its cluttered appearance. There was an old-fashioned desk for his papers, and the chairs looked roomy and comfortable. The little dressing-room carried many conveniences, and the windows of both rooms looked out upon the green of the common.
"Oh, well, I don"t know. This might be lots worse--in spite of the tidies!" chuckled Mr. John Smith, as he singled out the keys of his trunks.
At the noon dinner-table Mr. Smith met Mr. Frank Blaisdell. He was a portly man with rather thick gray hair and "mutton-chop" gray whiskers.
He ate very fast, and a great deal, yet he still found time to talk interestedly with his new boarder.
He was plainly a man of decided opinions--opinions which he did not hesitate to express, and which he emphasized with resounding thumps of his fists on the table. The first time he did this, Mr. Smith, taken utterly by surprise, was guilty of a visible start. After that he learned to accept them with the serenity evinced by the rest of the family.
When the dinner was over, Mr. Smith knew (if he could remember them) the current market prices of beans, corn, potatoes, sugar, and flour; and he knew (again if he could remember) why some of these commodities were higher, and some lower, than they had been the week before. In a way, Mr. John Smith was interested. That stocks and bonds fluctuated, he was well aware. That "wheat" could be cornered, he realized. But of the ups and downs of corn and beans as seen by the retail grocer he knew very little. That is, he had known very little until after that dinner with Mr. Frank Blaisdell.
It was that afternoon that Mr. Smith began systematically to gather material for his Blaisdell book. He would first visit by turns all the Hillerton Blaisdells, he decided; then, when he had exhausted their resources, he would, of course, turn to the town records and cemeteries of Hillerton and the neighboring villages.
Armed with a pencil and a very businesslike looking notebook, therefore, he started at two o"clock for the home of James Blaisdell.
Remembering Mr. Blaisdell"s kind permission to come and ask all the questions he liked, he deemed it fitting to begin there.
He had no trouble in finding the house, but there was no one in sight this time, as he ascended the steps. The house, indeed, seemed strangely quiet. He was just about to ring the bell when around the corner of the veranda came a hurried step and a warning voice.
"Oh, please, don"t ring the bell! What is it? Isn"t it something that I can do for you?"