"We aren"t going to say "but" and hang back. We"re going to _do_!"
"But, Helen, how? What?" demanded the man, stirred into a show of interest at last. "How can we?"
"I don"t know, but we"re going to do it."
"There won"t be--hardly any money."
"I"ll get along--somehow."
"And we"ll have to live in a cheap little hole somewhere--we can"t have one of the Reddingtons."
"I don"t want it--now."
"And you"ll have to--to work."
"Yes, I know." Her chin was still bravely lifted.
"There can"t be any--maid now."
"Then you"ll have to eat--what I cook!" She drew in her breath with a hysterical little laugh that was half a sob.
"You darling! I shall love it!" He caught her to himself in a revulsion of feeling that was as ardent as it was sudden. "Only I"ll so hate to have you do it, sweetheart--it"s so messy and doughy!"
"Nonsense!"
"You told me it was."
"But I didn"t know then--what they were saying about me. Burke, they just shan"t say I"m dragging you down."
"Indeed they shan"t, darling."
"Then you will make good?" she regarded him with tearful, luminous eyes.
"Of course I will--with _you_ to help me."
Her face flamed into radiant joy.
"Yes, _with me to help_! That"s it, that"s it--I"m going to _help_ you,"
she breathed fervently, flinging her arms about his neck.
And to each, from the dear stronghold of the other"s arms, at the moment, the world looked, indeed, to be a puny thing, scarcely worth the conquering.
CHAPTER IV
NEST-BUILDING
It is so much easier to say than to do. But nothing in the experience of either Burke Denby or of Helen, his wife, had demonstrated this fact for them. Quite unprepared, therefore, and with confident courage, they proceeded to pa.s.s from the saying to the doing.
True, in the uncompromising sunlight of the next morning, the world did look a bit larger, a shade less easily conquerable; and a distinctly unpleasant feeling of helplessness a.s.sailed both husband and wife. Yet with a gay "Now we"ll go house-hunting right away so as to save paying here!" from Helen, and an adoring "You darling--but it"s a burning shame!" from Burke, the two sallied forth, after the late hotel breakfast.
The matter of selecting the new home was not a difficult one--at first.
They decided at once that, if they could not have an apartment in the Reddington Chambers, they would prefer a house. "For," Burke said, "as for being packed away like sardines in one of those abominable little cheap flat-houses, I won"t!" So a house they looked for at the start.
And very soon they found what Helen said was a "love of a place"--a pretty little cottage with a tiny lawn and a flower-bed.
"And it"s so lucky it"s for rent," she exulted. "For it"s just what we want, isn"t it, dearie?"
"Y-yes; but--"
"Why, Burke, don"t you like it? _I_ think it"s a dear! Of course it isn"t like your father"s house. But we can"t expect that."
"Expect that! Great Scott, Helen,--we can"t expect this!" cried the man.
"Why, Burke, what do you mean?"
"It"ll cost too much, dear,--in this neighborhood. We can"t afford it."
"Oh, that"ll be all right. I"ll economize somewhere else. Come; it says the key is next door."
"Yes, but, Helen, dearest, I know we can"t--" But "Helen, dearest," was already halfway up the adjoining walk; and Burke, with a despairing glance at her radiant, eager face, followed her. There was, indeed, no other course open to him, as he knew, unless he chose to make a scene on the public thorough-fare--and Burke Denby did not like scenes.
The house was found to be as attractive inside as it was out; and Helen"s progress from room to room was a series of delighted exclamations. She was just turning to go upstairs when her husband"s third desperate expostulation brought her feet and her tongue to a pause.
"Helen, darling, I tell you we can"t!" he was exclaiming. "It"s out of the question."
"Burke!" Her lips began to quiver. "And when you know how much I want it!"
"Sweetheart, don"t, please, make it any harder for me," he begged. "I"d give you a dozen houses like this if I could--and you know it. But we can"t afford even this one. The rent is forty dollars. I heard her tell you when she gave you the key."
"Never mind. We can economize other ways."
"But, Helen, I only get sixty all told. We can"t pay forty for rent."
"Oh, but, Burke, that leaves twenty, and we can do a lot on twenty. Just as if what we ate would cost us that! I don"t care for meat, anyhow, much. We"ll cut that out. And I hate grapefruit and olives. They cost a lot. Mrs. Allen was always having them, and--"
The distraught husband interrupted with an impatient gesture.
"Grapefruit and olives, indeed! And as if food were all of it! Where are our clothes and coal and--and doctor"s bills, and I don"t-know-what-all coming from? Why, great Scott, Helen, I smoke half that in a week, sometimes,--not that I shall now, of course," he added hastily. "But, honestly, dearie, we simply can"t do it. Now, come, be a good girl, and let"s go on. We"re simply wasting time here."
Helen, convinced at last, tossed him the key, with a teary "All right--take it back then. I shan"t! I know I should c-cry right before her!" The next minute, at sight of the abject woe and dismay on her husband"s face, she flung herself upon him with a burst of sobs.
"There, there, Burke, here I am, so soon, making a fuss because we can"t afford things! But I won"t any more--truly I won"t! I was a mean, horrid old thing! Yes, I was," she reiterated in answer to his indignant denial. "Come, let"s go quick!" she exclaimed, pulling herself away, and lifting her head superbly. "I don"t want the old place, anyhow. Truly, I don"t!" And, with a dazzling smile, she reached out her hand and tripped enticingly ahead of him toward the door; while the man, bewildered, but enthralled by this extraordinary leap from fretful stubbornness to gay docility, hurried after her with an incoherent jumble of rapturous adjectives.
Such was Mr. and Mrs. Burke Denby"s first experience of home-hunting.
The second, though different in detail, was similar in disappointment.