_One for you, and one for you, but never, never one for me?_
I must have hummed the words aloud, for her voice answered me, at the door.
"Never"s a long word, isn"t it?"
I looked up.
A neat little figure stood on the threshold between the two rooms, the same neat little figure I had seen constantly during the past eight weeks. But it was not the same face. She had said, lightly, that she was going to "make herself pretty," and she had. She had performed a miracle. Or else I was asleep and dreaming.
The gray hair, folded in wings, was gone; the blue gla.s.ses were gone; the big bow under the chin was gone. A pretty young woman was smiling at me with the pretty little mouth I knew; but I did not know the bright auburn hair, or the beautiful brown eyes that threw me an amazing challenge.
"Good heavens!" I exclaimed.
"You told me you didn"t want your aunt any more," said she.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Don"t you remember? I"m Mary Milton. If you"d lived in your own country, instead of gadding about in foreign ones, you"d know who Mary Milton is without asking--at least, you would if you ever read _The New York Meteor_."
"I suppose this is a dream, and that I shall wake up," said I. "I slept very badly last night."
"Don"t call for help under the impression that it"s a nightmare," said my late aunt, twinkling.
"I have the impression that it"s a vision," I answered. "But if you don"t explain yourself instantly, I shall die in the dream--of heart failure."
"There"s no great mystery," said Miss Milton. "I didn"t particularly want to disguise myself, but you advertised for an aunt, and as it"s difficult for a girl to make herself look middle-aged, I had to look _old_. That"s all, except that your advertis.e.m.e.nt came in very handy, because--as you"d know if you were a patriotic American--Mary Milton"s an enterprising and rather celebrated young journalist making it her business to go round the world for her paper without spending a penny of her own. That was the understanding on which _The Meteor_ started and "boomed" me; for it was my own idea. I wanted to see things, and I hadn"t money enough--so I went to call on the editor, and--I talked to him, till he was quite fired with the project. _The Meteor_ has given me a good send-off, and I"ve given it good copy. My adventures--as they look in print--have been sensational, and, I believe, popular. I"ve been at it for two years, and all America has read me, if you haven"t. I"ve done all the countries of Europe, now. Holland was the last, and I seemed stuck on the threshold till I saw your advertis.e.m.e.nt. It couldn"t have suited better--except for the blue gla.s.ses and the wig. But one can"t have everything as one likes it. I"ve enjoyed the tour immensely, thanks to you; and so have the readers of _The Meteor_. I"m afraid I"ve teased you a good deal, and spent a lot of your pennies; but it _was_ fun! And you shall have your presents all back--every one of them.
Heaps of money will be waiting for me from my paper when I get home to New York. They"re delighted with my work; and then I intend to send you a check for all that you"ve paid me to be your aunt. I would rather, _really_; and only keep one little thing to remember you by, perhaps--and our days together."
"Did you always send back the money spent by persons you hypnotized to conduct you through the different countries?"
"No. That was different. I--don"t exactly know why, but it was. And you needn"t look at me so queerly. I"ve never done anything to be ashamed of."
"I"d knock the person down who suggested that you had," said I. "I was looking at you because I was thinking you more marvelous than ever. You hypnotize _me_. You hypnotize everybody. I suppose you hypnotized the editor into giving you your job?"
"Perhaps I did," she laughed. "Often I can get people to do things for me--big things--if I want them to very much."
"You could get me to do anything!" I exclaimed. "You"re a witch, and what"s more, I believe you"re a beauty. Great Scott! How you grow on one! Can this be why--because you are You--that in my heart of hearts I don"t care a rap if Nell and Phyllis are engaged to others? I wonder if my instinct saw under the gray hair and blue gla.s.ses? Look here, are you Miss or Mrs. Mary Milton? and if you"re Mrs., are you a widow, gra.s.s, or otherwise?"
She laughed. "Why, how old do you take me to be? As an aunt, my official age was over forty. But Miss Mary Milton isn"t much more than half Lady MacNairne"s age. It"s as good to throw off the years as the wig and the spectacles. I"m only twenty-three. I haven"t had _time_ to marry yet, thank goodness!"
"Thank goodness!" I echoed. "And thank goodness for You as you are. You seem to me perfect."
"But I should never have done like this, for an aunt."
"Certainly not. But to think I should have been wasting you all this time as a mere aunt!"
"I wasn"t wasted. I saved you lots of things--if I didn"t save you money. Really, I _did_ earn my salary--though you often thought me officious."
"Never!"
"Not when I kept you from proposing to Nell Van Buren?"
"That was a blessing in disguise."
"Like myself. But truly, I only did it to spare you humiliation in the end. I knew all along that she was in love with Rudolph Brederode--though perhaps _she_ wouldn"t have found it out so soon if it hadn"t been for me."
"You"ve been our good genius all round," said I. "And I owe you----"
"Now, don"t offer me more rewards! It was fun wheedling things from you at first; but bribes have been getting on my nerves lately. The play was played out."
"Let"s pretend it was only a curtain-raiser," I suggested. "I"d like you to be "on" in the next piece, in the leading part. Mary Milton! What a delicious name! And _you"re_ delicious! It"s a great comfort to understand why I was never really in love with either of those Angels.
You are not an angel--but I"m going to be madly in love with you. I feel it coming on. I shall adore you."
"Nonsense! A man mustn"t be in love with his aunt."
"I strip you of your aunthood. But I can"t give you up to _The Meteor_.
If you go to America, you must personally conduct Ronald Lester Starr.
You oughtn"t to mind. You"re used to looking after him."
I took a step toward her; but she stooped down and framed the ugly pansy of Tibe"s face between her little hands.
"Tibe, what do you say to him?" she asked.
Tibe wagged his tail.
While he was wagging, the others came in. Their looks of radiant new happiness changed to surprise at sight of my companion. In spite of the dress n.o.body recognized the pretty girl with the wonderful eyes and crisp ma.s.ses of sparkling auburn hair.
Yesterday I would have sacrificed anything, up to Tibe himself, to avoid explanations, but now I enjoyed them.
Everybody laughed and exclaimed (except Robert), and Brederode helped me out so n.o.bly that I would have given him Nell with my own hand if she had not already made him that present.
"It"s like one of Nell"s stories," cried Phyllis. "Only she used to love to make hers end sadly."
"I should have died if this had ended sadly," Nell said frankly, holding out both hands to Brederode, with a lovely look in her eyes.
"So should I, I"m sure," said Phyllis. "Oh, isn"t it glorious that we all adore each other so!"
"Do we?" I asked the _Meteor_ lady.
She smiled. "I suppose it would be a pity to make a jarring note in the chorus."
While she was in that mood I took out the ruby ring which she had said ought to be an engagement ring.
"With this ring I thee----"
"No!"
"Engage thee as my perpetual chaperon."