Geraldine, one arm imprisoning Nada"s waist, walked coolly in between them:
"Don"t let"s fight any more. The thing to do is to get Mrs. Bramton to give you enough for four to eat and bring it back here. Scott, please shake hands with Duane."
"I wasn"t licked," muttered Scott.
"Neither was I," said Duane.
"n.o.body was licked by anybody," announced Geraldine. "Do get something to eat, Scott; Nada and I are starving!"
After some hesitation the boys touched gloves respectfully, and Scott shook off his mitts, and started for the kitchen.
And there, to his horror and surprise, he was confronted by Mrs. Severn, black hat, c.r.a.pe veil, and gloves still on, evidently that instant arrived from those occult and, as the children supposed, distant bournes of Staten Island, where the supreme mystery of all had been at work.
"Oh, Scott!" she exclaimed tremulously, "what on earth has happened?
What is all this that Mrs. Farren and Howker have been telling me?"
The boy stood petrified. Then there surged over him the memory of his brief happiness in these new companions--a happiness now to be s.n.a.t.c.hed away ere scarcely tasted. Into the child"s dirty, disfigured face came a hunted expression; he looked about for an avenue of escape, and Kathleen Severn caught him at the same instant and drew him to her.
"What is it, Scott? Tell me, darling!"
"Nothing.... Yes, there is something. I opened the front door and let a strange boy and girl in to play with us, and I"ve just been fighting with him, and we were having such good times--I--" his voice broke--"I can"t bear to have them go--so soon----"
Kathleen looked at him for a moment, speechless with consternation.
Then:
"Where are they, Scott?"
"In the--the hedge."
"Out _there_?"
"Yes."
"_Who_ are they?"
"Their names are Duane Mallett and Nada Mallett. We got them to run away from their nurse. Duane"s such a bully fellow." A sob choked him.
"Come with me at once," said Kathleen.
Behind the rhododendrons smiling peace was extending its pinions; Duane had produced a pocketful of jack-stones, and the three children were now seated on the gra.s.s, Nada manipulating the jacks with soiled but deft fingers.
Duane was saying to Geraldine:
"It"s funny that you didn"t know you were rich. Everybody says so, and all the nurses in the Park talk about it every time you and Scott walk past."
"If I"m rich," said Geraldine, "why don"t I have more money?"
"Don"t they let you have as much as you want?"
"No--only twenty-five cents every month.... It"s my turn, Nada! Oh, bother! I missed. Go on, Duane----"
And, glancing up, her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth as Kathleen Severn, in her mourning veil and gown, came straight up to where they sat.
"Geraldine, dear, the gra.s.s is too damp to sit on," said Mrs. Severn quietly. She turned to the youthful guests, who had hastily risen.
"You are Nada Mallett, it seems; and you are Duane? Please come in now and wash and dress properly, because I am going to telephone to your mother and ask her if you may remain to luncheon and play in the nursery afterward."
Dazed, the children silently followed her; one of her arms lay loosely about the shoulders of her own charges; one encircled Nada"s neck.
Duane walked cautiously beside his sister.
In the house the nurses took charge; Geraldine, turning on the stairs, looked back at Kathleen Severn.
"Are you really going to let them stay?"
"Yes, I am, darling."
"And--and may we play together all alone in the nursery?"
"I think so.... I think so, dear."
She ran back down the stairs and impetuously flung herself into Kathleen"s arms; then danced away to join the others in the blessed regions above.
Mrs. Severn moved slowly to the telephone, and first called up and rea.s.sured Mrs. Mallett, who, however, knew nothing about the affair, as the nurse was still scouring the Park for her charges.
Then Mrs. Severn called up the Half Moon Trust Company and presently was put into communication with Colonel Mallett, the president. To him she told the entire story, and added:
"It was inevitable that the gossip of servants should enlighten the children sooner or later. The irony of it all is that this gossip filtered in here through your son, Duane. That is how the case stands, Colonel Mallett; and I have used my judgment and permitted the children this large liberty which they have long needed, believe me, long, long needed. I hope that your trust officer, Mr. Tappan, will approve."
"Good Lord!" said Colonel Mallett over the wire. "Tappan won"t stand for it! You know that he won"t, Mrs. Severn. I suppose, if he consults us, we can call a directors" meeting and consider this new phase of the case."
"You ought to; the time is already here when the children should no longer suffer such utter isolation. They _must_ make acquaintances, they must have friends, they should go to parties like other children--they ought to be given outside schooling sooner or later. All of which questions must be taken up by your directors as soon as possible, because my children are fast getting out of hand--fast getting away from me; and before I know it I shall have a young man and a young girl to account for--and to account to, colonel----"
"I"ll sift out the whole matter with Mr. Tappan; I"ll speak to Mr.
Grandcourt and Mr. Beekman to-night. Until you hear from us, no more visitors for the children. By the way, is that matter--the one we talked over last month--definitely settled?"
"Yes. I can"t help being worried by the inclination she displays. It frightens me in such a child."
"Scott doesn"t show it?"
"No. He hates anything like that."
"Do the servants thoroughly understand your orders?"
"I"m a little troubled. I have given orders that no more brandied peaches are to be made or kept in the house. The child was perfectly truthful about it. She admitted filling her cologne bottle with the syrup and sipping it after she was supposed to be asleep."
"Have you found out about the sherry she stole from the kitchen?"
"Yes. She told me that for weeks she had kept it hidden and soaked a lump of sugar in it every night.... She is absolutely truthful, colonel.
I"ve tried to make her understand the danger."