"Oh, by the trolley, of course," said Shirley. How strange it must be to have other ways of travelling at one"s command!
"I did think," she added, half thinking aloud, "that perhaps I would stop at the schoolhouse and get my sister. I don"t know but it would be better to get her judgment about things. She is rather a wise little girl."
She looked up suddenly, and seeing the young man"s eyes upon her, grew ashamed that she had brought her private affairs to his notice; yet it had seemed necessary to say something to fill in this embarra.s.sing pause. But Sidney Graham did not let her continue to be embarra.s.sed.
He entered into her plans just as if they concerned himself also.
"Why, I think that would be a very good plan," he said. "It will be a great deal better to have a real family council before you decide about moving. Now I"ve thought of something. Why couldn"t you all go out in the car with me and my kid sister? I"ve been promising to take her a spin in the country, and my chauffeur is to drive her down this afternoon for me. It"s almost time for her to be here now. Your brother will be here by the time she comes. Why couldn"t we just go around by the schoolhouse and pick up your sister, and all go out together? I want to go out myself, you know, and look things over, and it seems to me that would save time all around. Then, if there should be anything you want done, you know----"
"Oh, there is nothing I want done," gasped Shirley. "You have been most kind. I couldn"t think of asking for anything at the price we shall be paying. And we mustn"t impose upon you. We can go out in the trolley perfectly well, and not trouble you."
"Indeed, it is no trouble whatever when I am going anyway." Then to the telephone: "h.e.l.lo! He"s coming, you say? He"s on his way? Good.
Thank you very much, Harry. Good-by!"
"That"s all right!" he said, turning to her, smiling. "Your brother is on his way, and now excuse me just a moment while I phone to my sister."
Shirley sat with glowing cheeks and apprehensive mind while the young man called up a girl whom he addressed as "Kid" and told her to hurry the car right down, that he wanted to start very soon, and to bring some extra wraps along for some friends he was going to take with him.
He left Shirley no opportunity to express her overwhelming thanks, but gave her some magazines, and hurried from the room to attend to some matters of business before he left.
CHAPTER VI
Shirley sat with shining eyes and glowing cheeks, turning over the leaves of the magazines with trembling fingers, but unable to read anything, for the joy of what was before her. A real automobile ride!
The first she had ever had! And it was to include George and Carol!
How wonderful! And how kind in him, how thoughtful, to take his own sister, and hers, and so make the trip perfectly conventional and proper! What a nice face he had! What fine eyes! He didn"t seem in the least like the young society man she knew he must be from the frequent mention she had noticed of his name in the papers. He was a real gentleman, a real n.o.bleman! There were such. It was nice to know of them now and then, even though they did move in a different orbit from the one where she had been set. It gave her a happier feeling about the universe just to have seen how nice a man could be to a poor little n.o.body when he didn"t have to. For of course it couldn"t be anything to him to rent that barn--at ten dollars a month! That was ridiculous! Could it be that he was thinking her an object of charity?
That he felt sorry for her and made the price merely nominal? She couldn"t have that. It wasn"t right nor honest, and--it wasn"t respectable! That was the way unprincipled men did when they wanted to humor foolish little dolls of girls. Could it be that he thought of her in any such way?
Her cheeks flamed hotly and her eyes flashed. She sat up very straight indeed, and began to tremble. How was it she had not thought of such a thing before? Her mother had warned her to be careful about having anything to do with strange men, except in the most distant business way; and here had she been telling him frankly all the private affairs of the family and letting him make plans for her. How had it happened?
What must he think of her? This came of trying to keep a secret from mother. She might have known it was wrong, and yet the case was so desperate and mother so likely to worry about any new and unconventional suggestion. It had seemed right. But of course it wasn"t right for her to fall in that way and allow him to take them all in his car. She must put a stop to it somehow. She must go in the trolley if she went at all. She wasn"t sure but she had better call the whole thing off and tell him they couldn"t live in a barn, that she had changed her mind. It would be so dreadful if he had taken her for one of those girls who wanted to attract the attention of a young man!
In the midst of her perturbed thoughts the door opened and Sidney Graham walked in again. His fine, clean-cut face and clear eyes instantly dispelled her fears again. His bearing was dignified and respectful, and there was something in the very tone of his voice as he spoke to her that restored her confidence in him and in his impression of her. Her half-formed intention of rising and declining to take the ride with him fled, and she sat quietly looking at the pictures in the magazine with unseeing eyes.
"I hope you will find something to interest you for a few minutes,"
young Graham said pleasantly. "It won"t be long, but there are one or two matters I promised father I would attend to before I left this afternoon. There is an article in that other magazine under your hand there about beautifying country homes, bungalows, and the like. It may give you some ideas about the old barn. I shouldn"t wonder if a few flowers and vines might do a whole lot."
He found the place in the magazine, and left her again; and strangely enough she became absorbed in the article because her imagination immediately set to work thinking how glorious it would be to have a few flowers growing where Doris could go out and water them and pick them.
She grew so interested in the remarks about what flowers would grow best in the open and which were easiest to care for that she got out her little pencil and notebook that were in her coat-pocket, and began to copy some of the lists. Then suddenly the door opened again, and Graham returned with George.
The boy stopped short on the threshold, startled, a white wave of apprehension pa.s.sing over his face. He did not speak. The boy-habit of silence and self-control in a crisis was upon him. He looked with apprehension from one to the other.
Shirley jumped to her feet.
"Oh, George, I"m so glad you could come! This is Mr. Graham. He has been kind enough to offer to take us in his car to see a place we can rent for the summer, and it was through his suggestion that Mr. Farwell let you off for the afternoon."
There was a sudden relaxing of the tenseness in the young face and a sigh of relief in the tone as the boy answered:
"Aw, gee! That"s great! Thanks awfully for the holiday. They don"t come my way often. It"ll be great to have a ride in a car, too. Some lark, eh, Shirley?"
The boy warmed to the subject with the friendly grasp the young man gave him, and Shirley could see her brother had made a good impression; for young Graham was smiling appreciatively, showing all his even white teeth just as if he enjoyed the boy"s offhand way of talking.
"I"m going to leave you here for ten minutes more until I talk with a man out here in the office. Then we will go," said young Graham, and hurried away again.
"Gee, Shirley!" said the boy, flinging himself down luxuriously in a big leather chair. "Gee! You certainly did give me some start! I thought mother was worse, or you"d got arrested, or lost your job, or something, finding you here in a strange office. Some cla.s.s to this, isn"t there? Look at the thickness of that rug!" and he kicked the thick Turkish carpet happily. "Say, he must have some coin! Who is the guy, anyway? How"d ya get onto the tip? You don"t think he"s handing out Vanderbilt residences at fifteen a month, do you?"
"Listen, George. I must talk fast because he may come back any minute.
Yesterday I got a half-holiday, and instead of going home I thought I"d go out and hunt a house. I took the Glenside trolley; and, when we got out past the city, I heard two men talking about a place we were pa.s.sing. It was a great big, beautiful stone barn. They told who owned it, and said a lot about its having such a splendid spring of water beside it. It was a beautiful place, George; and I couldn"t help thinking what a thing it would be for mother to be out in the country this summer, and what a wonderful house that would make----"
"We couldn"t live in a barn, Shirl!" said the boy, aghast.
"Wait, George. Listen. Just you don"t say that till you see it. It"s the biggest barn you ever saw, and I guess it hasn"t been used for a barn in a long time. I got out of the trolley on the way back, and went in. It is just enormous, and we could screen off rooms and live like princes. It has a great big front door, and we could have a hammock under the tree; and there"s a brook to fish in, and a big third story with hay in it. I guess it"s what they call in books a hay-loft.
It"s great."
"Gee!" was all the electrified George could utter. "Oh, gee!"
"It is on a little hill with the loveliest tree in front of it, and right on the trolley line. We"d have to start a little earlier in the morning; but I wouldn"t mind, would you?"
"Naw!" said George, "but could we walk that far?"
"No, we"d have to ride, but the rent is so much lower it would pay our carfare."
"Gee!" said George again, "isn"t that great? And is this the guy that owns it?"
"Yes, or at least he and his father do. He"s been very kind. He"s taking all this trouble to take us out in his car to-day to make sure if there is anything that needs to be done for our comfort there. He certainly is an unusual man for a landlord."
"He sure is, Shirley. I guess mebbe he has a case on you the way he looks at you."
"George!" said Shirley severely, the red staining her cheeks and her eyes flashing angrily. "George! That was a _dreadful_ thing for you to say. If you ever even think a thing like that again, I won"t have anything to do with him or the place. We"ll just stay in the city all summer. I suppose perhaps that would be better, anyway."
Shirley got up and began to b.u.t.ton her coat haughtily, as if she were going out that minute.
"Aw, gee, Shirley! I was just kidding. Can"t you take a joke? This thing must be getting on your nerves. I never saw you so touchy."
"It certainly is getting on my nerves to have you say a thing like that, George."
Shirley"s tone was still severe.
"Aw, cut the grouch, Shirley. I tell you I was just kidding. "Course he"s a good guy. He probably thinks you"re cross-eyed, knock-kneed----"
"George!" Shirley started for the door; but the irrepressible George saw it was time to stop, and he put out an arm with muscles that were iron-like from many wrestlings and ball-games with his fellow laborers at the store.
"Now, Shirley, cut the comedy. That guy"ll be coming back next, and you don"t want to have him ask what"s the matter, do you? He certainly is some fine guy. I wouldn"t like to embarra.s.s him, would you? He"s a peach of a looker. Say, Shirley, what do you figure mother"s going to say about this?"
Shirley turned, half mollified.
"That"s just what I want to ask you, George. I don"t want to tell mother until it"s all fixed up and we can show if to her. You know it will sound a great deal worse to talk about living in a barn than it will to go in and see it all fixed up with rugs and curtains and screens and the piano and a couch, and the supper-table set, and the sun setting outside the open door, and a bird singing in the tree."
"Gee! Shirley, wouldn"t that be some cla.s.s? Say, Shirley, don"t let"s tell her! Let"s just make her say she"ll trust the moving to us to surprise her. Can"t you kid her along and make her willing for that?"