About three o"clock Schofield and Williams were gloomily discussing various unpromising devices for startling the public into a renewal of interest, when another patron unexpectedly appeared and paid a cent for his admission. News of the Big Show and Museum of Curiosities had at last penetrated the far, cold s.p.a.ces of interstellar niceness, for this new patron consisted of no less than Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior, escaped in a white "sailor suit" from the Manor during a period of severe maternal and tutorial preoccupation.
He seated himself without parley, and the pufformance was offered for his entertainment with admirable conscientiousness. True to the Lady Clara caste and training, Roderick"s pale, fat face expressed nothing except an impervious superiority and, as he sat, cold and unimpressed upon the front bench, like a large, white lump, it must be said that he made a discouraging audience "to play to." He was not, however, unresponsive--far from it. He offered comment very chilling to the warm grandiloquence of the orator.
"That"s my uncle Ethelbert"s dachshund," he remarked, at the beginning of the lecture. "You better take him back if you don"t want to get arrested." And when Penrod, rather uneasily ignoring the interruption, proceeded to the exploitation of the genuine, full-blooded Indian dog, Duke, "Why don"t you try to give that old dog away?" asked Roderick.
"You couldn"t sell him."
"My papa would buy me a lots better "c.o.o.n than that," was the information volunteered a little later, "only I wouldn"t want the nasty old thing."
Herman of the missing finger obtained no greater indulgence. "Pooh!"
said Roderick. "We have two fox-terriers in our stables that took prizes at the kennel show, and their tails were BIT off. There"s a man that always bites fox-terriers" tails off."
"Oh, my gosh, what a lie!" exclaimed Sam Williams ignorantly.
"Go on with the show whether he likes it or not, Penrod. He"s paid his money."
Verman, confident in his own singular powers, chuckled openly at the failure of the other attractions to charm the frosty visitor, and, when his turn came, poured forth a torrent of conversation which was straightway d.a.m.ned.
"Rotten," said Mr. Bitts languidly. "Anybody could talk like that. _I_ could do it if I wanted to."
Verman paused suddenly.
"YES, you could!" exclaimed Penrod, stung. "Let"s hear you do it, then."
"Yessir!" the other partner shouted. "Let"s just hear you DO it!"
"I said I could if I wanted to," responded Roderick. "I didn"t say I WOULD."
"Yay! Knows he can"t!" sneered Sam.
"I can, too, if I try."
"Well, let"s hear you try!"
So challenged, the visitor did try, but, in the absence of an impartial jury, his effort was considered so p.r.o.nounced a failure that he was howled down, derided, and mocked with great clamours.
"Anyway," said Roderick, when things had quieted down, "if I couldn"t get up a better show than this I"d sell out and leave town."
Not having enough presence of mind to inquire what he would sell out, his adversaries replied with mere formless yells of scorn.
"I could get up a better show than this with my left hand," Roderick a.s.serted.
"Well, what would you have in your ole show?" asked Penrod, condescending to language.
"That"s all right, what I"d HAVE. I"d have enough!"
"You couldn"t get Herman and Verman in your ole show."
"No, and I wouldn"t want "em, either!"
"Well, what WOULD you have?" insisted Penrod derisively. "You"d have to have SUMPTHING--you couldn"t be a show yourself!"
"How do YOU know?" This was but meandering while waiting for ideas, and evoked another yell.
"You think you could be a show all by yourself?" demanded Penrod.
"How do YOU know I couldn"t?"
Two white boys and two black boys shrieked their scorn of the boaster.
"I could, too!" Roderick raised his voice to a sudden howl, obtaining a hearing.
"Well, why don"t you tell us how?"
"Well, _I_ know HOW, all right," said Roderick. "If anybody asks you, you can just tell him I know HOW, all right."
"Why, you can"t DO anything," Sam began argumentatively. "You talk about being a show all by yourself; what could you try to do? Show us sumpthing you can do."
"I didn"t say I was going to DO anything," returned the badgered one, still evading.
"Well, then, how"d you BE a show?" Penrod demanded. "WE got a show here, even if Herman didn"t point or Verman didn"t talk. Their father stabbed a man with a pitchfork, I guess, didn"t he?"
"How do _I_ know?"
"Well, I guess he"s in jail, ain"t he?"
"Well, what if their father is in jail? I didn"t say he wasn"t, did I?"
"Well, YOUR father ain"t in jail, is he?"
"Well, I never said he was, did I?"
"Well, then," continued Penrod, "how could you be a----" He stopped abruptly, staring at Roderick, the birth of an idea plainly visible in his altered expression. He had suddenly remembered his intention to ask Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior, about Rena Magsworth, and this recollection collided in his mind with the irritation produced by Roderick"s claiming some mysterious attainment which would warrant his setting up as a show in his single person. Penrod"s whole manner changed instantly.
"Roddy," he asked, almost overwhelmed by a prescience of something vast and magnificent, "Roddy, are you any relation of Rena Magsworth?"
Roderick had never heard of Rena Magsworth, although a concentration of the sentence yesterday p.r.o.nounced upon her had burned, black and horrific, upon the face of every newspaper in the country. He was not allowed to read the journals of the day and his family"s indignation over the sacrilegious coincidence of the name had not been expressed in his presence. But he saw that it was an awesome name to Penrod Schofield and Samuel Williams. Even Herman and Verman, though lacking many educational advantages on account of a long residence in the country, were informed on the subject of Rena Magsworth through hearsay, and they joined in the portentous silence.
"Roddy," repeated Penrod, "honest, is Rena Magsworth some relation of yours?"
There is no obsession more dangerous to its victims than a conviction especially an inherited one--of superiority: this world is so full of Missourians. And from his earliest years Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior, had been trained to believe in the importance of the Magsworth family. At every meal he absorbed a sense of Magsworth greatness, and yet, in his infrequent meetings with persons of his own age and s.e.x, he was treated as negligible. Now, dimly, he perceived that there was a Magsworth claim of some sort which was impressive, even to boys.
Magsworth blood was the essential of all true distinction in the world, he knew. Consequently, having been driven into a cul-de-sac, as a result of flagrant and unfounded boasting, he was ready to take advantage of what appeared to be a triumphal way out.
"Roddy," said Penrod again, with solemnity, "is Rena Magsworth some relation of yours?"
"IS she, Roddy?" asked Sam, almost hoa.r.s.ely.
"She"s my aunt!" shouted Roddy.
Silence followed. Sam and Penrod, spellbound, gazed upon Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior. So did Herman and Verman. Roddy"s staggering lie had changed the face of things utterly. No one questioned it; no one realized that it was much too good to be true.