"That"s all right," said Fico, who didn"t know what else to say.
"Sure," nodded Pinac, who felt he had to add his share to the conversation; then they picked up their music and started to leave the room, but Miss Husted held up her hand and signified that she wanted them to remain. When they came back to her she looked around the room pathetically once more, and began plaintively:
"I said to myself, "These foreign gentlemen will miss your cheery word in the hall and on the stairs.""
The men began to feel very uncomfortable, for they had missed nothing.
Pinac thought she referred in some way to Poons, and tried to catch his eye and motion to him to get out of the room, but that lovelorn youth was mooning out of the window, so Pinac nodded sympathetically at Miss Husted and said, "Oui, oui. Yes, oh, yes!"
Fico looked very grave and muttered: "Too bad; too bad!"
Again Miss Husted looked around the room very mysteriously and motioned to the men to come closer. They obeyed, somewhat apprehensively this time.
"What did it all mean?" they thought. "Why this mystery?"
"I"ve something to tell you in confidence," she said finally. She tried to open her reticule and finding Skippy in the way, she handed the little animal to Fico, saying:
"Will one of you gentlemen please hold Skippy while I find those tickets? He just had a bath and if he rolls over he"ll get soiled."
Fico took the dog, which promptly yelped, so he hurriedly handed it to Pinac. Pinac, who was afraid of dogs, transferred the animal to Poons.
Poons, anxious to be of some service to Miss Husted, tried to pet the dog, but looking at Miss Husted for approval instead of watching the beast, he held it so awkwardly that its head hung down and its tail stuck up in the air. Miss Husted, in the act of pulling p.a.w.n tickets out of her reticule, caught sight of the unfortunate animal suspended in mid air, and jumped up quickly.
"Look at him! Look how the stupid, stupid fellow is holding Skippy!
All the blood will rush into his poor little head. The dog, the dog; you foolish fellow; the d-o-g, dog! I can"t make him understand.
Please tell him, Mr. Pinac."
"Hund--hund!" shouted Fico to Poons.
"Le chien--Le chien! Idiot, stupid!" said Pinac.
Poons was so startled by hearing them all shout at him at once that he dropped the dog into Von Barwig"s coal scuttle, whence it finally issued covered with coal dust and ran yelping into Miss Husted"s arms.
That lady petted the frightened animal while Pinac pushed the unfortunate Poons out of the room.
When Miss Husted had completely recovered herself, she held up the p.a.w.n tickets.
"I found them," she said dolefully, "under that pile of music."
"Gritt Scott!" said Pinac. He knew at a glance what they were; experience had taught him.
"Are they of Von Barwig?" he inquired.
Fico took three or four of the tickets. "From Anton; yes," and then he sighed and shook his head.
The men knew Von Barwig was poor, but they had no idea to what extent his poverty had reached.
"His cuckoo clock: nine dollars!" read Fico.
"That was the first thing I missed--that cuckoo, evenings," sighed Miss Husted.
"Mozart, gone!" almost shouted Pinac, pointing to the spot on the wall where that musician"s portrait had once reposed. "And Beethoven! And where is Gluck?" Then looking around: "Nom de Dieu! even his metronome have gone--his metronome! Dieu, Dieu!"
"I should say it was dear, dear!" said Miss Husted, who slightly misunderstood Pinac.
And so the truth dawned upon them. For months, for years he had deceived them with his smile, his optimism, his gay manner and cheery word, and above all by the open-hearted manner in which he gave away to all who came to him.
"All these years has Professor Von Barwig been in my house and he has paid me like a gentleman. He pays me now, how does he do it? Oh, dear!" Miss Husted tried hard not to cry, but the tears would come.
The men looked on sadly; they had always accepted his bounty, and now they were reproaching themselves.
Miss Husted"s feelings made her reminiscent, and when she was reminiscent she invariably exaggerated--in retrospect she saw everything as she would have liked it to have been. "When he first came here what a man he was! And this, what a neighbourhood then, an elegant residential district. I had a position then, I could recommend him; everybody knew Miss Houston of Houston Street." In spite of her sorrow she felt proud of the past.
The men looked at each other. They had heard this for the past fifteen years. It meant a long session and they wanted to practise their music; so Pinac merely nodded, and Fico shook his head gravely.
"Why, I was pointed out by everybody as Miss Houston of Houston Street.
I was a landmark; a sight."
"Yes," said Pinac unconsciously. "You were; and you are still."
Miss Husted looked at him sharply. "Was he venturing to laugh at her?"
she thought. But his sad face belied any such intention.
"How things have changed?" went on Miss Husted tremulously. "There"s not a child in this neighbourhood that can afford to pay for his lesson! And when they can"t afford it, he won"t take the money! He gives away the very bread out of his mouth."
Pinac and Fico shifted uncomfortably.
"Everything he had of value has gone long ago. Do you remember that beautiful violin?"
"Ah, yes! his Amati. Yes, yes! He bought instead a cheap one. I wondered why, but did not ask him."
"And still he pays me. Where does he get it?" asked Miss Husted tearfully. "What is he doing out every night, nearly all night?"
The men looked at each other; this was another revelation. They were out at night themselves and so did not know of his absence.
"There"s something done up to go to p.a.w.n now," said Miss Husted, pointing to a box wrapped up in a paper on the piano. It was Von Barwig"s case of pistols. Pinac and Fico looked at each other in astonishment.
"Pistols for duel!" said Pinac at once. He had seen them in the theatre, long, thin, single barrel pistols.
"Sometimes I feel that he came to this country purposely to take vengeance on some one," said Miss Husted mysteriously. The men were much impressed, but neither of them spoke.
"I don"t believe the poor man has his meals half the time," went on Miss Husted, somewhat irrelevantly. "I am almost sure he doesn"t."
"We ask him to dine the evening," said Fico, with a look of triumph, feeling that he had not only discovered the problem but had also solved it.
"Yes," a.s.sented Pinac, "we ask him."
At this moment Poons came back into the room, having forgotten his music.
Miss Husted was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she had no time to frown at him.
A door bang was heard, and her sharp ears detected the sound. "There he is now," she said. "Please don"t tell him that I spoke of his affairs. You know how sensitive he is."