""Rented 800 Stout," he roared. "Why, I rented it myself,--a three years" lease at eighteen a month,--move in next Monday."
""Mercy," says I. "My family paid a month in advance."
""So did mine."
""My family is already in," says I. That was a clincher.
"He raved and he roared, and said I got them in and I could get them out. But when he grew rational and raised my bonus to ten dollars, I said I would do my best. He agreed to refund the month"s rent, to pay the moving expenses both in and out, to take over their five dollar deposit for electric lights, and to pay the electric and gas bill outstanding, which wouldn"t be much for two or three days.
"So off marches the business baby to the conflict.
"They didn"t like it a bit, and talked very crossly indeed, and said perfectly horrible, but quite true, things about Messrs. Nesbitt and Orchard. But finally they said they would move out, only they must have until Friday to find a new house. They would move out on Sat.u.r.day, and leave the keys at the office.
"Mr. Nesbitt was much pleased, and said I had done nicely, gave me the ten dollars and a box of chocolates and we were as happy as cooing doves the rest of the day.
"But my family must have been more indignant than I realized. On Sat.u.r.day, at one o"clock, Mr. Nesbitt told me to go around by the house on my way home to make sure the front door was locked. It was locked all right, but I noticed that the electric lights were burning. Mr.
Nesbitt had not sent the key with me, as it was an automatic lock, and it really was none of my business if folks moved out and left the lights on. Still it seemed irregular, and when I got home I tried to get Mr. Nesbitt on the phone. But he and Mr. Orchard had left the office and gone out into the country for the afternoon.
Business,--they never go to the country for pleasure. So I comfortably forgot all about the electric lights.
"But Monday afternoon, Mr. Nesbitt happened to remark that his family would not move in until Wednesday. Then I remembered.
"I said, "What is the idea in having the electric lights burning down there?"
""What?" he shouted. He always shouts unless he has a particular reason for whispering.
""Why, the electric lights were burning in the house when I went by Sat.u.r.day."
""All of them?"
""Looked it from the outside."
""Did you turn them off?"
""I should say not. I hadn"t the key. Besides I didn"t turn them on.
I didn"t know who did, nor why. I just left them alone."
"That meant a neat little electric bill of about six dollars, and Mr.
Nesbitt talked to me in a very un-neutral way, and I got my hat and walked off home. He called me up after a while and tried to make peace, but I said I was ill from the nervous shock and couldn"t work any more that day. So he sent me a box of candy to restore my shattered nerves, and the next day they were all right.
"One day I got rather belligerent myself. It was just a week after I came. One of his new tenants phoned in that Nesbitt must get the rubbish out of the alley back of his house or he would move out. Mr.
Nesbitt tried to evade a promise, but the man was curt. "You get that rubbish out to-day, or I get out to-morrow."
"Mr. Nesbitt was just going to court, so he told me to call up a garbage man and get the rubbish removed.
"I didn"t know the garbage men from the ministers, and they weren"t cla.s.sified in the directory. So I went to Mr. Orchard, a youngish sort of man, very pleasant, but slicker than Nesbitt himself.
"I said, not too amiably, "Who are the garbage haulers in this town?"
"He said: "Search me," and went on writing.
"I dropped the directory on his desk, and said, ""Well, if Mr. Nesbitt loses a good tenant, I should worry."
"Then he looked up and said: "Oh, let"s see. There"s Jim Green, and Softy Meadows, and--and--Tully Scott--and--that"s enough."
"So I called them up. Jim Green was in jail for petty larceny. Softy Meadows was in bed with a broken leg. Tully Scott would do it for three fifty. So I gave him the number and told him to do it that afternoon without fail.
"Pretty soon Mr. Nesbitt came home. "How about that rubbish?"
""I got Tully Scott to do it for three fifty."
"He fairly tore his hair. "Three fifty! Tully Scott is the biggest highway robber in town, and everybody knows it! Why didn"t you get the mayor and be done with it? Three fifty! Great Scott! Three fifty!
You call his lordship Tully Scott up and ask him if he"ll haul that rubbish for a dollar and a half, and if he won"t you can call off the deal."
"I called him up, quietly, but inwardly raging.
""Will you haul that rubbish for a dollar and a half?"
""No," he drawled through his nose, "I won"t haul no rubbish for no dollar and a half, and you can tell old Skinflint I said so."
"He hung up. So did I.
""What did he say?"
"I thought the nasal inflection made it more forceful, so I said, "No, I won"t haul no rubbish for no dollar and a half, and you can tell old Skinflint I said so."
"Mr. Orchard laughed, and Mr. Nesbitt got red.
""Call up Ben Moore and see if he can do it."
"I looked him straight in the eye. "Nothing doing," I said, with dignity. "If you want any more garbage haulers, you can get them."
"I sat down to the typewriter. Mr. Orchard nearly shut himself up in a big law book in his effort to keep from meeting anybody"s eye. But Nesbitt went to the phone and called Ben Moore. Ben Moore had a four days" job on his hands. Then he called Jim Green, and Softy Meadows, and finally in despair called the only one left. John Knox,--nice orthodox name, my dear. John Knox would do it for the modest sum of five dollars, and not a--well, I"ll spare you the details, but he wouldn"t do it for a cent less. Nesbitt raved, and Nesbitt swore, but John Knox, while he may not be a pillar in the church, certainly stood like a rock. Nesbitt could pay it or lose his tenant. He paid.
"Mr. Orchard got up and put on his hat. "Miss Connie wants some flowers and some candy and an ice-cream soda, my boy, and I want some cigars, and a coca cola. It"s on you. Will you come along and pay the bill, or will you give us the money?"
""I guess it will be cheaper to come along," said Nesbitt, looking bashfully at me, for I was very haughty. But I put on my hat, and it cost him just one dollar and ninety cents to square himself.
"But they both like me. In fact, Mr. Orchard suggested that I marry him so old Nesbitt would have to stop roaring at me, but I tell him honestly that of the two evils I prefer the roaring.
"No, Carol, I am not counting on marriage in my scheme of life. Not yet. Sometimes I think perhaps I do not believe in it. It doesn"t work out right. There is always something wrong somewhere. Look at Prudence and Jerry,--devoted to each other as ever, but Jerry"s business takes him out among men and women, into the life of the city.
And Prudence"s business keeps her at home with the children. He"s out, and she"s in, and the only time they have to love each other is in the evening,--and then Jerry has clubs and meetings, and Prudence is always sleepy. Look at Fairy and Gene. He is always at the drug store, and Fairy has nothing but parties and clubs and silly things like that to think about,--a big, grand girl like Fairy. And she is always looking covetously at other women"s babies and visiting orphans" homes to see if she can find one she wants to adopt, because she hasn"t one of her own. Always that sorrow behind the twinkle in her eyes! If she hadn"t married, she wouldn"t want a baby. Take Larkie and Jim. Always Larkie was healthy at home, strong, and full of life. But since little Violet came, Lark is pale and weak, and has no strength at all. Aunt Grace is staying with her now. Why, I can"t look at dear old Larkie without half crying.
"Take even you, my precious Carol, perfectly happy, oh, of course, but all your originality, your uniqueness, the very you-ness of you, will be absorbed in a round of missionary meetings, and prayer-meetings, and choir practises, and Sunday-school cla.s.ses. The hard routine, my dear, will take the sparkle from you, and give you a sweet, but un-Carol-like precision and method. Oh, yes, you are happy, but thank you, dear, I think I"ll keep my Self and do my work, and--be an old maid.
"Mr. Orchard offers himself as an alternative to the roars every now and then, and I expound this philosophy of mine in answer. He shouts with laughter at it. He says it is so, so like a baby in business. He reminds me of the time when gray hairs and crow"s-feet will mar my serenity, and when solitary old age will take the lightness from my step. But I"ve never noticed that husbands have a way of banishing gray hairs and crow"s-feet and feeble knees, have you? Babies are nice, of course, but I think I"ll baby myself a little.
"I do get so homesick for the good old parsonage days, and all the bunch, and-- Still, it is nice to be a baby in business, and think how wonderful it will be when I graduate from my baby-hood, and have brains enough to write books, big books, good books, for all the world to read.
"Lovingly as always,