"You probably know my errand."
"Mr. Strangways--"
"Yes, I told him to sound you."
"But I"m afraid I wouldn"t do."
"Why do you think so?"
"Because I don"t know anything about the work."
"There"s no work to know anything about. All you"d have to do would be to sit still. You"d never have more than two or three visitors in a day--and most days none at all."
"But what should I do when visitors came?"
"Show them what they asked to see. You"d find that in the catalogue.
You"d soon get the hang of the place. It"s small. There"s not much in it when you come to sum it up. Miss Davis will show you the ropes before she leaves on the first of October. I"ll give you the same salary I"ve been paying her."
He named a sum the munificence of which almost took my breath away.
"Oh, but I shouldn"t be worth that."
"It"s the salary," he said, briefly, as he rose. "You can arrange with my secretary, Strangways, when you would like to begin. The sooner the better, as I understand that Miss Davis would like to get off."
He was on his way to the door when, thinking of the tomb-like aspect of the place, I asked, desperately:
"Should I be all alone?"
He turned.
"There"s a man and his wife in the house. One of them would be always within call. The woman will bring you tea at half past four."
I could hardly believe my ears. I had never heard of such solicitude.
"But I shouldn"t need tea!" I began to a.s.sure him.
He paused for a moment, looking at me searchingly.
"You"ll have callers--"
"Oh no, I sha"n"t."
"You"ll have callers," he repeated, as if I hadn"t spoken, "and there"ll be tea every day at four-thirty."
He was gone before I could protest further, or ask any more questions.
Hugh"s explanation, when I laid the matter before him, was that Mr.
Grainger was trying to play into the hands of that fellow, Strangways.
"But why?" I demanded.
"He thinks there"s something between him and you."
"But there isn"t."
"I should hope not; but, evidently, Strangways has made him think--"
"Oh no, he hasn"t, Hugh. Mr. Strangways is not that kind of man. Mr.
Grainger has some other reason for wanting me there, but I can"t think what it is."
"Then I shouldn"t go till I knew," Hugh counseled, moodily.
But I did. I went the next week. Larry Strangways made the arrangements, and, after a fortnight under Miss Davis"s instructions, I found myself alone.
It was not so trying as I feared, though it was monotonous. It was monotonous because there was so little to do. I was there each morning at half past nine. From one to two I had an hour for lunch. At six I came away. On Sat.u.r.days I had the afternoon. It was a little like being a prisoner, but a prisoner in a palace, a prisoner who is well paid.
The place consisted of one big, handsome room, some sixty feet by thirty, resembling the libraries of great houses I had seen abroad. That in this case it was detached from the dwelling was, I suppose, a matter of architectural convenience. Book-shelves lined the walls right up to the cornice. The dull reds and browns and blues and greens of the bindings carried out the mellow effects of the Oriental rugs on the floor. Under the shelves there were cupboards, some of them empty, others stocked with portfolios of prints, European and j.a.panese. There were no pictures, but a few large pieces of old porcelain and faence, Persian, Spanish, and Chinese, stood on the mantelpiece and tables. For the rest, the furnishings consisted of a bust or two, a desk or two, and some decorative tables and chairs.
My chief objection to the life was its seeming pointlessness. I was hard at work doing nothing. The number of visitors was negligible. Once during the autumn an old gentleman brought some engravings to compare with similar examples in Mr. Grainger"s collection; once a lady student of Shakespeare came to examine his early editions; perhaps as often as twice a week some wandering tourist in New York would enter and stare vacantly, and go as he arrived. To while away the time I read and wrote and did knitting and fancy-work, and at half past four every day, as regularly as the hands of the clock came round, I solemnly had my tea.
It was very good tea, with cake and bread and b.u.t.ter in the orthodox style, and was brought by Mrs. Daly, the motherly old Irish caretaker of the house, who stumped in and stumped out, giving me, while she stayed, a good deal of detail as to her "sky-attic" nerves and swollen "varikiss" veins.
I am bound to admit that the tea ceremony oppressed me--not that I didn"t enjoy it in its way but because its generosity seemed overdone.
It was not in the necessities of the case; it was, above all, not American. On both the occasions when Mr. Grainger honored the library with a call I tried to screw up my courage to ask him to let me off this hospitality, but I couldn"t reach the point. I was not so much afraid of him as I was overawed. He was perfectly civil; he never treated me as the dust beneath his feet, like Howard Brokenshire; but any one could see that he was immensely and perhaps tragically preoccupied.
I was having tea all alone on a cold afternoon in November, when the sound of the opening of the outer door attracted my attention. At first one came into a vestibule from which there was no entrance, till on my side I touched the spring of a closed wrought-iron grille. I had gone forward to see who was there and, if necessary, give the further admission, when to my astonishment I saw Mrs. Brokenshire.
She was in a walking-dress with furs. The color in her cheeks might have been due to the cold wind, but the light in her eyes was that of excitement.
"I heard you were here," she whispered, as she fluttered in, "and I"ve come to see you."
My sense of the imprudence of this step was such that I could hardly welcome her. That feeling of protection which I had once before on her behalf came back to me.
"Who told you?" I asked, as soon as she was seated and I was pouring her out a cup of tea. For the first time since taking the position I was glad the ceremony had not been suppressed.
She answered, while glancing into the shadows about her.
"Mildred told me. Hugh wrote it to her. He does write to her, you know.
She"s the only one with whom he is still in communication. She seems to think the poor boy is in trouble. I came to--to see if there was anything I could do."
I told her I was living at the Hotel Mary Chilton and that, if necessary at any time, she could see me there.
She repeated the address, but I knew it took no hold on her memory.
"Ah yes; the Hotel Mary Chilton. I think I"ve heard of it. But I haven"t many minutes, and you must tell me all you can about dear Hugh."
As my anxiety on Hugh"s account was deepening, I was the more eager to do as I was bid. I said he had found no employment as yet, and that in my opinion employment would be hard to secure. If he was willing to work for a year or two for next to nothing, as he would consider the salary, he might eventually learn the financial trade; but to expect that his name would be a key to open the door of any bank at which he might present himself was preposterous. I hadn"t been able to convince him of that, however, and he was still hoping. But he was hoping with a sad, worried face that almost broke my heart.
"And how is he off for money?"