"He won"t know a thing about the baby, and you can easily keep the idea secret until Thanksgiving, if you can get the right kind of a woman to take daily care of the boy. Of course, you were going to do that, anyway, were you not?"
"I suppose so-we really hadn"t got as far as that in our planning,"
admitted Polly.
"But we will, Mr. Fabian, now that you have mentioned it. How shall we know if we have the right sort of nurse?" added Eleanor.
"I"ll call up Ashby. I was there for dinner to-night, and they told me of a woman they know well, who is compelled to earn her living, because of family reverses. Shall we stop in the hotel across the street and use the booth there?"
"Oh, yes! Let"s, Mr. Fabian!" exclaimed Eleanor.
"No time like the present when you have any important work to do," added Polly.
Mr. Fabian left the door of the telephone booth slightly ajar so the two girls could a.s.sist in the conversation. He soon had Mr. Ashby"s house number and asked if Mr. or Mrs. Ashby were in.
Shortly thereafter a man"s voice was heard talking on the wire. "Is this Fabian-oh, yes. What can I do for you, old man?"
Then Mr. Fabian replied: "Why, I called upon my girls at the Studio this evening, after I left you, and I found the most astonishing addition to their family circle. A little baby boy was left on their door-step, it seems. A fine little fellow, too.
"So far, no one has called to claim him, and should no one come, the two girls have a plan to place him in a good home. They told me all about it, and I rather approve of the idea, too. But what they need, at once, is an experienced, capable woman to take care of the boy, until Thanksgiving Day-perhaps after that, if she is found to be satisfactory.
"I thought, at once, of that woman that Mrs. Ashby and you were speaking of, at table, to-night. Do you suppose she would consider a position as second-mother to a baby?"
The girls strained their ears to hear the reply but Mr. Ashby spoke too low, and they could but judge what he said by Mr. Fabian"s words afterward.
"Fine! If Mrs. Ashby will not consider it too much trouble. And she will bring Martha down to-morrow afternoon when the girls are home from school?"
Polly and Eleanor smiled with relief, and Mr. Fabian said over the "phone, "All right! Thanks, Ashby. And thank your wife for the two girls, too, who are waiting here for the verdict."
As the three left the hotel again, Mr. Fabian said: "Now that much is satisfactorily settled for you, and Billy shall have a good woman to look after him, if he is still unclaimed to-morrow afternoon."
The girls were altogether too inexperienced to realize that it was curious how easily the Ashbys, Mr. Dalken"s most intimate friends, and Mr. Fabian agreed to such a strange plan as trying to saddle a foundling baby on a man who lived a hermit"s life when in his own home.
They never questioned the readiness with which these friends accepted their proposition, but they were delighted at the "lucky chance" that brought a woman to Mrs. Ashby on the very day that they began to think of employing a woman-nurse for the baby.
Mr. Fabian walked back to the Studio door with them, smiling at their dreams of future bliss for Mr. Dalken. In fact, their thoughts traveled so far into the future, that they saw Billy a fine young man and Mr.
Dalken, white-haired and bent, depending on his beloved adopted son for everything.
The four inmates of the Studio were not aware that they had been kept singularly free from constant annoyance from reporters and police. Nor did they realize that the short news article that had appeared in the papers, had been a wonderful story to catch the eyes of curious readers, but _some_one in authority had ordered it "cut" to an inch.
The afternoon following Mr. Fabian"s visit to the girls, they hurried home from school and found Mrs. Ashby"s car in front of the house. They quickly entered the front door and greeted her with a smiling welcome.
"I see you have Billy in hand, already," laughed Polly.
"Yes; isn"t he a friendly little fellow?" replied Mrs. Ashby.
"Wonderful! We never knew babies were so easy to live with," added Eleanor.
"Mrs. Stewart took Martha upstairs to show her how you managed for the baby. He may need extra things, or other conveniences," suggested Mrs.
Ashby.
Even as she spoke, the sound of steps was heard descending the front stairs, and soon after, Mrs. Stewart led Martha in, and introduced her to Polly and Eleanor. The girls liked the refined look and quiet sensible words and manners of the nurse-to-be.
"Isn"t it splendid that Martha should have been relieved, last week, of just such a position as we now need her for? She was in the country taking charge of a baby of about this boy"s age, but some friends came and took him away, so she was free to find another position," explained Mrs. Ashby.
Martha handled Billy as if she was an expert, and the boy crowed and tried to talk to her, as if he had known her all his life.
"I never saw a friendlier baby than this one. He smiles and is contented with anybody, and that will make it fine for Martha," remarked Mrs.
Stewart.
So it was immediately decided to retain Martha during the day, but she would have to find a place to lodge, nearby and leave Billy with the girls during the night. This pleased them well, for they did not wish to relinquish all rights of attendance on their baby to a stranger.
"I may as well remain for the rest of this afternoon, Madam," said Martha, speaking to Mrs. Ashby, "as I have no other place to go."
"How about seeking for a room in the neighborhood and taking it to-day?
You may not have a free half hour, like this, again," suggested Mrs.
Ashby.
Martha silently acquiesced but she cast a troubled gaze at the child; when Eleanor picked him up by the arms, she immediately corrected the mistake, by saying, "Miss, you should always hold a baby at his age, about the waist-a hand on each side of him. _Never_ by the arms!"
Mrs. Ashby offered to drive Martha about to hunt up a furnished room, so the girls said good-by to their callers.
That evening was school-night again, and Mr. Fabian was interested in hearing if Martha had proved satisfactory. Even Ruth Ashby took a personal interest in the baby-boy, now that Martha was to be his nurse.
"Do you know Martha?" asked Polly, surprised.
"Of course. Wasn"t she mother"s nurse, years ago?"
"Oh-I thought she was a lady of means who had just lost everything,"
remarked Eleanor.
"Well, it is this way. When mother was a little mite Martha was a girl of about fourteen. Grandma engaged her to push mother"s carriage out for a walk every day. Then Martha grew up and married and mother never saw her again, for a long time.
"Her husband"s nephew came to live with them, as Martha never had any children, but her nephew grew up and married. Then Martha"s husband died, and she went to live with the nephew and his wife. They were well-to-do young people, and Martha had an easy life there.
"They had a baby, and Martha took care of him, as if she was his own mother. Then the nephew enlisted in the war and was killed "over there."
His wife pined a lot, and during the epidemic of the flu, last Winter, she took it and died, too.
"That left Martha with the baby, but she hadn"t a cent to live on, because there was only the money the baby ought to have had from the Government, because of losing his father in battle. But Martha didn"t understand how to go about getting it, and when a friend of hers offered to find a good home for the baby, the poor great-aunt consented. She had no other choice, as she would have to work herself, and could not be hampered by a little boy.
"Then she came to mother and that is how it all happened."
"I wonder what became of her grand-nephew?" asked Polly.
"Mother begged of me not to mention it, and never to refer to the past, when Martha was about," said Ruth, seriously.
"I suppose the poor thing misses her little nephew so much!" observed Polly, sympathetically.
"Yes, that must be the reason," agreed Ruth.