"And you can"t leave Dunbury?" she asked soberly.
Just at that moment Stuart Lambert approached, a tall fine looking man, with the same blue eyes and fresh coloring as his son and brown hair only slightly graying around the temples. He had an air of vigor and ageless youth. Indeed a stranger might easily have taken the two men for brothers instead of father and son.
"h.e.l.lo, Tony, my dear," he greeted cordially. "It is good to see you round again. We have missed you. This boy of mine getting you what you want?"
"He is trying," smiled Tony. "A woman doesn"t always know what she wants, Mr. Lambert. The store is wonderful since it was enlarged and I see lots of other improvements too." Her eyes swept her surroundings with sincere appreciation.
"Make your bow to Phil for all that. It is good to get fresh brains into a business. We old fogies need jerking out of our ruts."
The older man"s eyes fell upon Phil"s bowed head and Tony realized how much it meant to him to have his son with him at last, pulling shoulder to shoulder.
"New brains nothing!" protested Phil. "Dad"s got me skinned going and coming for progressiveness. As for old fogies he"s the youngest man I know. Make all your bows to him, Tony. It is where they belong." And Phil got to his feet and himself made a solemn obeisance in Stuart Lambert"s direction.
Mr. Lambert chuckled.
"Phil was always a blarney," he said. "Don"t know where he got it.
Don"t you believe a word he says, my dear." But Tony saw he was immensely pleased with Phil"s tribute for all that. "How do you like the sign?" he asked.
"Fine. Looks good to me and I know it does to you, Mr. Lambert."
"Well, rather." The speaker rested his hand on Phil"s shoulder a moment.
"I tell you it _is_ good, young lady, to have the son part added, worth waiting for. I"m mighty proud of that sign. Between you and me, Miss Tony, I"m proud of my son too."
"Who is blarneying now?" laughed Phil. "Go on with you, Dad. You are spoiling my sale."
The father chuckled again and moved away. Phil looked down at the girl.
"I think your question is answered. I can"t leave Dunbury," he said.
"Then Carlotta ought to come to you."
"There are no oughts in Carlotta"s bright lexicon. I don"t blame her, Tony. Dunbury is a dead hole from most points of view. I am afraid she wouldn"t be happy here. You wouldn"t be yourself forever. Bet you are planning to get away right now."
Tony nodded ruefully.
"I suppose I am, Phil. The modern young woman isn"t much to pin one"s faith to I am afraid. Do I get another slipper? Or is one enough?"
Phil came back from his mental aberration with a start and a grin at his own expense.
"I am afraid I am not a very good salesman today," he apologized.
"Honestly I do better usually but you hit me in a vulnerable spot."
"You do care for Carlotta then?" probed Tony.
"Care! I"m crazy over her. I"d go on my hands and knees to Crest House if I thought I could get her to marry me by doing it."
"You would much better go by train--the next one. That"s my advice. Are you coming to Sue Emerson"s dance? That is why I am buying slippers. You can dance with "em if you"ll come."
"Sorry. I don"t go to dances any more."
"That is nonsense, Phil. It is the worst thing in the world for you to make a hermit of yourself. No girl"s worth it. Besides there are other girls besides Carlotta."
Phil shook his head as he finished replacing Tony"s trim brown oxfords.
"Unfortunately that isn"t true for me," he said rising. "At present my world consists of myself bounded, north, south, east and west by Carlotta."
And Tony pa.s.sing out under the sign of STUART LAMBERT AND SON a few minutes later sighed a little. Here was Carlotta with a real man for the taking and too stubborn and foolish to put out her hand and here was herself, Tony Holiday, tying herself all up in a strange snarl for the sake of somebody who wasn"t a man at all as Holiday Hill standards ran.
What queer creatures women were!
Other people besides Tony were inclined to score Phil"s folly in making a hermit of himself. His sisters attacked him that very night on the subject of Sue Emerson"s dance and accused him of being a "Grumpy Grandpa" and a grouch and various other uncomplimentary things when he announced that he wasn"t going to attend the function.
"I"m the authentic T.B.M.," he parried from his perch on the porch railing. "I"ve cut out dancing."
"More idiot you!" retorted Charley promptly. "Mums, do tell Phil it is all nonsense making such an oyster in a sh.e.l.l of himself."
Mrs. Lambert smiled and looked up at her tall young son, looked rather hard for a moment.
"I think the twins are right, Phil," she said. "You are working too hard.
You don"t allow yourself any relaxation."
"Oh, yes I do. Only my idea of relaxation doesn"t happen to coincide with the twins. Dancing in this sort of weather with your collar slumping and the perspiration rolling in tidal waves down your manly brow doesn"t strike me as being a particularly desirable diversion."
"H-mp!" sniffed Charley. "You didn"t object to dancing last summer when it was twice as hot. You went to a dance almost every night when Carlotta was visiting Tony. You know you did."
"I wasn"t a member of the esteemed firm of Stuart Lambert and Son last summer. A lily of the field can afford to dance all night. I"m a working man I"d have you know."
"Well, I think you might come just this once to please us," joined in Clare, the other twin. "You are a gorgeous dancer, Phil. I"d rather have a one step with you than any man I know." Clare always beguiled where Charley bullied, a method much more successful in the long run as Charley sometimes grudgingly admitted after the fact.
Phil smiled now at pretty Clare and promised to think about it and the twins flew off across the street to visit with Tony and Ruth whom the whole Hill adored.
"Phil dear, aren"t you happy?" asked Mrs. Lambert. "Have we asked too much of you expecting you to settle down at home with us?"
"Why yes, Mums. I"m all right." Phil left his post on the rail and dropped into a chair beside his mother. Perhaps he did it purposely lest she see too much. "Don"t get notions in your head. I like living in Dunbury. I wouldn"t live in a city for anything and I like being with Dad not to mention the rest of you."
Mrs. Lambert shifted her position also. She wanted to see her son"s face; just as much as he didn"t want her to see it.
"Possibly that is all so but you aren"t happy for all that. You can"t fool mother eyes, my dear."
Phil looked straight at her then with a little rueful smile.
"I reckon I can"t," he admitted. "Very well then. I am not entirely happy but it is n.o.body"s fault and nothing anybody can help."
"Philip, is it a girl?"
How they dread the _girl_ in their sons" lives--these mothers! The very possibility of her in the abstract brings a shadow across the path.
"Yes, Mums, it is a girl."