"Oh, yes," says he.
"Here you are, then, Eggy," says I, reachin" into a pigeonhole and producin" it. "What"s your instrument of torture, the xylophone?"
"I--I beg pardon?" says he.
"Come now," says I, "don"t tell me you"re a trombone fiend!"
"Oh, I see," says he. "No, no, I--I"m not a musician."
"Shake, Eggy!" says I, reachin" out my hand impulsive. "And I don"t care how many cubist pictures you paint up there so long as you ain"t noisy about it."
He fingers his soft hat nervous, smiles sort of embarra.s.sed, and remarks, "But--but I"m not an artist either, you know."
"Well, well!" says I. "Two misses, and still in the air. Is it anything you can speak of in public?"
"Why," says he, "I--I"ve said very little about it, as a matter of fact, but--but I am doing a little research work in--in anthropology."
"Good night!" says I. "Mixin" things up that"s liable to blow the roof off, ain"t it?"
"Why, no," says he, starin" at me puzzled. "It"s merely studying racial characteristics, making comparisons, and so on. Incidentally, I--I"m writing a book, I suppose."
"Oh!" says I. "Authoring? Well, there"s no law against it, and ink is cheap. Go to it, Eggy! Top floor, first door to your left."
And that seems to be the finish of the Ham incident. All was peaceful in the light shaft,--no squeaky high C"s, no tump-tump-tump on the piano: just the faint tinkle of a typewriter bell now and then to remind us that Eggy was still there. Once in awhile I"d pa.s.s him on the stairs, and he"d nod bashful but friendly and then scuttle by like a rabbit.
"Must be a hot book he"s writin"!" thinks I, and forgets his existence until the next time.
The summer moseys along, me bein" busy with this and that, goin" and comin" back, until here the other day when things is dullest Pinckney calls up from the club and announces that he"s got a new customer for me, someone very special.
"Visitin" royalty, or what?" says I.
"Winthrop Hubbard," says he impressive.
"The guy that invented squash pie?" says I.
"No, no!" peeves Pinckney. "The son of Joshua Q. Hubbard, you know."
"I get you," says I. "The Boston cotton mill plute that come so near bitin" a chunk out of the new tariff bill. But I thought he was entertainin" the French Amba.s.sador or someone at his Newport place?"
Well, he was; but this is only a flyin" trip. Seems Son Winthrop had fin"ly been persuaded to begin his business career by bein" made first vice president of the General Sales Company, that handled the export end of the trust"s affairs. So, right in the height of his season, he"s had to scratch his Horse Show entries, drop polo practice, and move into a measly six-room suite in one of them new Fifth-ave. hotels, with three hours of soul-wearin" officework ahead of him five days out of seven.
He"d been at the grind a month now, and Mother had worried so about his health that Joshua Q. himself had come down to observe the awful results. Meanwhile Josh had been listenin" to Pinckney boostin" the Physical Culture Studio as the great restorer, and he"d been about persuaded that Son ought to take on something of the kind.
"But he wants to see you first," says Pinckney. "You understand. They"re rather particular persons, the Hubbards,--fine old Plymouth stock, and all that."
"Me too," says I. "I"m just as fussy as the next--old Ellis Island stock, remember."
"Oh, bother!" says Pinckney. "Will you come up and meet him, or won"t you?"
It wa"n"t reg"lar; but as long as he"s a friend of Pinckney"s I said I would.
And, say, Joshua Q. looks the part, all right. One of these imposin", dignified, well kept old sports, with pink cheeks, a long, straight nose, and close-set, gray-blue eyes. They"re the real crusty stuff, after all, them Back Bay plutes. For one thing, most of "em have been at it longer. Take J. Q. Hubbard. Why, I expect he begun havin" his nails manicured before he was ten, and has had his own man to lay out his dinner clothes ever since he got into long pants.
Nothin" provincial about him, either. Takes his trip across every winter reg"lar, and I suppose he"s as much at home on Unter den Linden, or the Place de Concord or Neva Prospect as he is on Tremont-st. And, sittin"
there sippin" his hock and seltzer, gazin" languid out on Fifth-ave., he gives kind of a cla.s.sy tone to one of the swellest clubs in New York.
There ain"t any sn.o.bbish frills to him, though. He gets right down to bra.s.s tacks.
"McCabe," says he, "what cla.s.s of persons do you have as patrons."
"Why," says I, "mostly Wall Street men, with a sprinklin" of afternoon tea Johnnies, such as Pinckney here."
"No objectionable persons, I trust?" says he.
"Any roughneck gets the quick dump," says I.
"Ah, I think I catch your meaning," says he, "and I"ve no doubt your establishment can supply precisely what my son needs in the way of exercise. I suppose, however, I"d best see for myself. May we go now?"
"Sure," says I. "No special visitin" days."
"Then I"ll "phone Winthrop to meet us there," says he.
Seems he couldn"t get Son direct; but he leaves word at his office, and then off we goes in Pinckney"s limousine de luxe. It ain"t often I worry any about the outside looks of things at the joint; but somehow, with this elegant old party comin" to inspect, I was kind of hopin" the stairs had been swept and that Swifty Joe wouldn"t have any of his Red Hook friends callin" on him.
So I most gasps when we piles out in front of the studio and finds a mob that extends from the curb to the front door. Not only that, but the lower hall is crowded, and they line the stairs halfway up. And such a bunch! Waps, Dagoes, Matzers, Syrians, all varieties.
"By Jove, though!" says Pinckney. "What"s all this?"
"Looks like someone was openin" a sweatshop in the buildin", don"t it!"
says I. "If that"s so, here"s where I break my lease."
"Really," says Mr. Hubbard, eyin" the crowd doubtful, "I hardly believe I care to----"
"Ah, I"ll clear "em out in two shakes," says I. "Just follow after me.
Hey, you! _Heim gagen_. Mushong! Gangway, gangway!" and I motions threatenin". "Ah, beat it, you garlic destroyers!" I sings out. "Back up there, and take your feet with you! Back, you fatheads!" and I sends one caromin" to the right and another spinnin" to the left.
The best I could do, though, was to open a three-foot lane through "em, and there they stuck, lined up on either side like they was waitin" for a parade. It was something like that too,--me leadin" the way, Pinckney steerin" J. Q. by the arm. We"d got inside the doorway without a word bein" said, when a bright-eyed Dago girl with a rainbow-tinted handkerchief about her neck breaks the spell.
"Picture, Meester--take-a da picture?" says she pleadin". With that the others breaks loose. "Picture, Meester! Please-a, Meester? Picture, picture!" They says it in all sorts of dialects, with all sorts of variations, all beggin" for the same thing. "Picture, picture!" They reaches out, grabbin" at our coat sleeves. Three of "em had hold of J.
Q. at once when I whirls on "em.
"Ah, ditch the chorus!" I yells at "em. "What do you think this is, anyway, a movie outfit? Get back there! Hands off, or I call the cops!"
It"s strenuous work; but I manages to quiet "em long enough for Pinckney and Mr. Hubbard to get through and slip up to the studio. Then I tries to shoo the bunch into the street; but they don"t shoo for a cent. They still demands to have their pictures taken.
"Say, you Carlotta, there!" says I, singlin" out the Dago girl. "Who gave you this nutty picture hunch?"
"Why, Meester Hama," says she. "Nice-a man, Meester Hama."
"Is he?" says I. "Well, you wait here until I see him about this.