"And if she turned us down we"d have to look disappointed and that might make her feel bad."
"I hadn"t considered that, Torchy," says Vee. "How thoughtful of you!"
"Oh, not at all," says I, wavin" my hand careless. "I simply want to do what is best for Auntie. Besides, you know how sort of uneasy she is in the country, with so little going on. And later, if we can persuade her to make us a little visit, for over night maybe, why----" I shrugs my shoulders enthusiastic. Anyway, that"s what I tried to register.
It went with Vee, all right. One of the last things she does is to get suspicious of my moves. And that"s a great help. So we agrees to let Auntie enjoy her four rooms and bath on East Sixty-umpt Street without tryin" to drag her out on Long Island where she might be annoyed by the robins singin" too early in the mornin" or havin" the scent of lilacs driftin" too heavy into the windows.
"Besides," I adds, just to clinch the case, "if she stays in town she won"t be bothered by Buddy barkin" around, and she won"t have to worry about how we"re bringin" up "Ikky boy. Yep. It"s the best thing for her."
If Auntie had been in on the argument I expect she"d differed with me.
She generally does. It"s almost a habit with her. But not being present maybe she had a hunch herself that she"d like the city better. Anyway, that"s where she camps down, only runnin" out once or twice for luncheon, while I"m at the office, and havin" nice little chatty visits with Vee over the long distance.
Honest, I can enjoy an Auntie who does her droppin" in by "phone. I almost got so fond of her that I was on the point of suggestin" to Vee that she tell Auntie to reverse the charges. No, I didn"t quite go that far. I"d hate to have her think I was gettin" slushy or sentimental. But it sure was comfortin", when I came home after a busy day at the Corrugated Trust, to reflect that Auntie was settled nice and cozy on the ninth floor about twenty-five miles due west from us.
I should have knocked on wood, though. Uh-huh. Or kept my fingers crossed, or something. For here the other night, as I strolls up from the station I spots an express truck movin" on ahead in the general direction of our house. I felt kind of a sinkin" sensation the minute I saw that truck. I can"t say why. Psychic, I expect. You know. Ouija stuff.
And sure enough, the blamed truck turns into our driveway. By the time I arrives the man has just unloaded two wardrobe trunks and a hat box.
And in the livin" room I finds Auntie.
"Eh?" says I, starin". "Why, I--I thought you was----"
"How cordial!" says Auntie.
"Yes," says I, catchin" my breath quick. "Isn"t it perfectly bully that you could come? We was afraid you"d be havin" such a good time in town that we couldn"t----"
"And so I was, until last night," says Auntie. "Verona, will tell you all about it, I"ve no doubt."
Oh yes, Vee does. She unloads it durin" a little stroll we took out towards the garden. New York hadn"t been behavin" well towards Auntie.
Not at all well. Just got on one of its cantankerous streaks. First off there was a waiters" strike on the roof-garden restaurant where most of the tenants took their dinners. It happened between soup and fish. In fact, the fish never got there at all. Nor the roast, nor the rest of the meal. And the head waiter and the house manager had a rough-and-tumble sc.r.a.p right in plain sight of everybody and some perfectly awful language was used. Also the striking waiters marched out in a body and shouted things at the manager as they went. So Auntie had to put on her things and call a taxi and drive eight blocks before she could finish her dinner.
Then about 9 o"clock, as she was settling down for a quiet evening in her rooms, New York pulled another playful little stunt on her. Nothing unusual. A leaky gas main and a poorly insulated electric light cable made connection with the well-known results. For half a mile up and down the avenue that Auntie"s apartment faced on the manhole covers were blown off. They go off with a roar and a bang, you know. One of "em sailed neatly up within ten feet of Auntie"s back hair, crashed through the window of the apartment just above her and landed on the floor so impetuous that about a yard of plaster came rattlin" down on Auntie"s head. Some fell in her lap and some went down the back of her neck.
All of which was more or less disturbin" to an old girl who was tryin"
to read Amy Lowell"s poems and had had her nerves jarred only a couple of hours before. However, she came out of it n.o.ble, with the aid of her smellin" salts and the a.s.surance of the manager that it wouldn"t happen again. Not that same evenin", anyway. He was almost positive it wouldn"t. At least, it seldom did.
But being in on a strike, and a free-for-all fight, and a conduit explosion hadn"t prepared Auntie to hit the feathers early. So at 1:30 A. M. she was still wide awake and wanderin" around in her nightie with the shades up and the lights out. That"s how she happened to be stretchin" her neck out of the window when this offensive broke loose on the roof of the buildin" across the way.
Auntie was just wondering why those two men were skylarking around on the roof so late at night when two more popped out of skylights and began to bang away at them with revolvers. Then the first two started to shoot back, and the first thing Auntie knew there was a crash right over her head where a stray bullet had wandered through the upper pane. Upon which Auntie screamed and fainted. Of course, she had read about loft robbers, but she hadn"t seen "em in action. And she didn"t want to see "em at such close range any more. Not her. She"d had enough, thank you.
So when she came to from her faintin" spell she begun packin" her trunks. After breakfast she"d called Vee on the "phone, sketched out some of her troubles, and been invited to come straight to Harbor Hills.
"It was the only thing to be done," says Vee.
"Well, maybe," says I. "Course, she might have tried another apartment hotel. They don"t all have strikes and explosions and burglar hunts goin" on. Not every night. She might have taken a chance or one or two more."
"But with her nerves all upset like that," protests Vee, "I don"t see why she should, when here we are with----"
"Yes, I expect there was no dodgin" it," I agrees.
At dinner Auntie is still sort of jumpy but she says it"s a great satisfaction to know that she is out here in the calm, peaceful country.
"It"s dull, of course," she goes on, "but at the same time it is all so restful and soothing. One knows that nothing whatever is going to happen."
"Ye-e-es," says I, draggy. "And yet, you can"t always tell."
"Can"t always tell what?" demands Auntie.
"About things not happenin" out here," says I.
"But, Torchy," says Vee, "what could possibly happen here; that is, like those things in town?"
I shrugs my shoulders and shakes my head.
"How absurd!" says Vee.
Auntie gives me one of them cold storage looks of hers. "I have usually noticed," says she, "that things do not happen of themselves. Usually some one is responsible for their happening."
What she meant by that I couldn"t quite make out. Oh yes, takin" a little rap at me, no doubt. But just how or what for I pa.s.sed up. I might have forgotten it altogether if she hadn"t reminded me now and then by favorin" me with a suspicious glare, the kind one of Mr.
Palmer"s agents might give to a party in a checked suit steppin" off the train from Montreal with something bulgin" on the hip.
So it was kind of unfortunate that when Vee suddenly remembers the Airedale pup and asks where he is that I should say just what I did.
"Buddy?" says I. "Oh, he"s all right. I shut him up myself."
It was a fact. I had. And I"d meant well by it. For that"s one of the things we have to look out for when Auntie"s visitin" us, to keep Buddy away from her. Not that there"s anything vicious about Buddy. Not at all. But being only a year old and full of pep and affection, and not at all discriminatin", he"s apt to be a bit boisterous in welcomin"
visitors; and while some folks don"t mind havin" fifty pounds of dog bounce at "em sudden, or bein" clawed, or havin" their faces licked by a moist pink tongue, Auntie ain"t one of that kind. She gets petrified and squeals for help and insists that the brute is trying to eat her up.
So as soon as I"d come home and had my usual rough-house session with Buddy, I leads him upstairs and carefully parks him in the south bedroom over the kitchen wing. Being thoughtful and considerate, I call that.
Not to Buddy maybe, who"s used to spendin" the dinner hour with his nose just inside the dinin" room door; but to Auntie, anyway.
Which is why I"m so surprised, along about 9 o"clock when Auntie has made an early start for a good night"s rest, to hear these loud hostile woofs comin" from him and then these blood curdlin" screams.
"For the love of Mike!" I gasps. "Where did you put Auntie?"
"Why, in the south bedroom this time," says Vee.
"Hal-lup!" says I. "That"s where I put Buddy."
It was a race then up the stairs, with me tryin" to protest on the jump that I didn"t know Vee had decided to shift Auntie from the reg"lar guest room to this one.
"Surely you didn"t," admits Vee. "But I thought the south room would be so much sunnier and more cheerful. I--I"ll explain to Auntie."
"It can"t be done," says I. "Stop it, Buddy! All right, boy. It"s perfectly all right."
Buddy don"t believe it, though, until I"ve opened the door and switched on the light. Young as he is he"s right up on the watch-dog act and when strangers come prowlin" around in the dark that"s his cue for goin" into action. He has cornered Auntie scientific and while turnin" in a general alarm he has improved the time by tearin" mouthfuls out of her dress. At that, too, it"s lucky he hadn"t begun to take mouthfuls out of Auntie.
As for the old girl, she"s so scared she can"t talk and so mad she can hardly see. She stands there limp in a tattered skirt with some of her gray store hair that has slipped its moorin"s restin" jaunty over one ear and her eyes blazin" hostile.
"Oh, Auntie!" begins Vee. "It was all my----"
"Not a word, Verona," snaps Auntie. "I know perfectly well who is responsible for this--this outrage." With that she glares at me.