"Every one was talking about it," continued Miss Mix; "but I never dreamed of interfering until Thanksgiving, when the Temples planned a week"s house-party in Santa Cruz, and asked Tony to go. That would have settled it; so I managed to see Tony, and from that day on I may say I never let go of him. I took him about, I accompanied him when he sang--just big-sistered him generally! I"m thirty-two, you know, and I never dreamed he would--but he DID. New Year"s night, Mr. Fox. Well, then I either had to say no, and let him go again, or say yes, and hold him. So I said yes. I couldn"t stop him from planning, and I never dreamed he"d write you! Now, do you begin to see?"
"I see," said Anthony, huskily.
He cleared his throat.
"Meanwhile," pursued Miss Mix, glowing delightedly in the sympathy of her listener, "I introduced him to the Rogerses and the Peppers, and lots of jolly people, who are doing him a world of good. He goes about--he"s developing. And now, just as I began to hope that the time had come when we could quietly break off our engagement, here YOU are, to make him feel in honor bound to stick to it!"
"Well, I am--" Anthony left it unfinished. "What can I do?" he asked meekly.
"We"ll find a plan somehow," said Miss Mix, approvingly. "But you must be got out first!"
"And meanwhile," said Anthony, awkwardly, "I don"t really know how to thank you--"
"Oh, nonsense!" she said lightly. "You forget how fond I am of him!
Now, I"ll go up to the house, and--" Her confident voice faltered, and Anthony was astonished to see a look of dismay cross her face. "Oh, my goodness gracious heavenly day!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed softly. "Whatever shall we do now? Now we never can get you out!"
"Then I"ll stay in," laughed Anthony, philosophically.
Miss Mix echoed his laugh nervously. She glanced across the yard.
"It"s that disgusting newspaper contest!" she said.
"That WHAT?"
"Please don"t shout!" she begged, sitting down on her box again, "I"ll explain. You see, the San Francisco CALL, one of the big city dailies, has offered the job of being its local press representative to the college man who brings in the best newspaper story between now and the first of May--that"s less than ten days. Of course, all the boys have gone crazy over it. It"s a job that a boy could easily hold down with his regular cla.s.s work, and it might lead to a permanent position on the paper"s staff after graduation. About ten boys are working furiously for it, and all their friends are working for them. Tony"s helping Jerry Billings, and Jerry has already taken in a couple of good stories, and has a good chance. This, of course, would land it!"
"What would?"
"Why, THIS!" She was laughing again. "Can"t you see? Think of the head-lines! Even your New York papers would play it up. Think of the chance to get funny! "Old Fox in a Trap!" "Goes to Bed with the Chickens!" "Iron King Plays Chanticleer!""
"Thunder!" said Anthony, uncomfortably.
"There"d be no end of it, for you or me," said Miss Mix. "I know this town."
"Yes, you"re right!" agreed Anthony. "The idea is for me to sit here until after the first of May, eh?" he continued uncertainly.
Her eyes danced.
"Oh, we MAY think of some other way!"
"Tony"s not to be trusted, you think?"
"No-o! I wouldn"t dare. He"s simply mad to have Jerry win. He"d let it out involuntarily."
"The maid can go for a plumber?"
"Statia? She"s working for Joe Bates. And both the boys in the plumber"s shop are in college, anyway."
"You might telephone for a plumber from San Francisco?" suggested Anthony, afterthought.
"Yes, I could do that." Miss Mix brightened. "No, I can"t, either," she lamented. "Elsie White, the long-distance operator, is working for Joe Bates, too." She meditated again for a s.p.a.ce, then raised her head, listening. "They"re calling me!" she whispered.
With a gesture for silence, she sprang to the door. Outside, some one shouted:
"O Sally!"
"h.e.l.lo, Tony!" she called hardily, in answer. "Lunch, is it? No, don"t come down! I"m just coming up!"
With a warning glance over her shoulder for Anthony, she closed the door and was gone.
III
A long hour followed, the silence broken only by occasional low comments from the chickens, and by voices and footsteps coming and going on the side of the chicken house where the street lay. Anthony, his back against the rough wall, his hands in his pockets, had fallen into a smiling revery when Miss Mix suddenly returned. She carried a plate of luncheon, and two files.
"We are safe!" she rea.s.sured him. "The boys think I am playing bridge, and I"ve locked the gate on the inside. Now, files on parade!"
She tucked the filmy skirts of her white frock about her, sat down on a box, and began to grate away his bonds without an instant"s delay. Her warm, smooth hands he found very charming to watch. Loose strands of hair fell across her flushed, smooth cheek. Anthony attacked his lunch with sudden gayety.
"How much we have to talk about!" he said, observing contentedly that five minutes" filing made almost no impression upon his chains. She colored suddenly, but met his eyes with charming gravity.
"Haven"t we?" she a.s.sented simply.
"Why, no, it won"t break his heart, Mr. Fox. I think he"ll even be a little relieved to be able to go on serenely with the Peppers and the Rogerses. He"s having lovely times there!"
"Oh, if his mother had lived, of course I should have written to her; but I knew you were a very busy man, Mr. Fox. Tony hardly ever speaks of his Aunt f.a.n.n.y. She"s a great club woman, I know. So I had to do the best I could."
"Why, I didn"t think much about it, I suppose. But I certainly should have said that Tony"s father was more than forty-five!"
"Ye-es, I suppose it might. But--but what a very funny subject for us to get on! I suppose--look at that white hen coming in, Mr. Fox! She"s my prize winner. Isn"t she a beauty?"
"Yes, indeed, he"s all of that, dear old Tony! And then, as I say, he reminded me of--of that other, you know, years ago. I was only nineteen, hardly more than a child, but the memory is very sweet, and it made me want to be a good friend to Tony!"
"There"s the six o"clock bell, and you"re all but free! Now, I"ll let you out by this door, on the street side, and you can find your hotel?
Then, when you call this evening, we needn"t say anything of this. It hasn"t been such a long afternoon, has it?"
Just after dinner, as Miss Mix and her youthful fiance were sitting on the porch in the spring twilight, a visitor entered the garden from the street. At sight of him, the boy sprang to his feet with a cry of "Dad!"
Miss Mix was introduced, and to young Tony"s delight, she and his father chatted as comfortably as old friends. Presently, when Jerry Billings appeared with an invitation for the lady to accompany him to the post office for possible mail, father and son were left alone together.
Young Anthony beamed at his father"s praise of his choice, but his comments seemed to come more easily on other matters. He told his father of the Rogers boys, of the Pepper girls, and of tennis and theatricals, and spoke hopefully of a possible camping trip with these friends.
"When did you think of announcing your engagement, Bud?"
The boy shifted in his chair, and laughed uneasily.
"Sally doesn"t want to," he temporized, adding shyly, after a minute"s silence, "and I didn"t think you"d be in any hurry, dad!"