CHAPTER XXII.
LOOKING AHEAD.
"We have made up our minds," said Uncle Chipperton, that afternoon, "togo home and settle down, and let Corny go to school. I hate to send heraway from us, but it will be for her good. But that wont be until nextfall. We'll keep her until then. And now, I'll tell you what I thinkwe'd all better do. It's too soon to go North yet. No one should go fromthe soft climate of the semi-tropics to the Northern or Middle Statesuntil mild weather has fairly set in there. And that will not happen fora month yet.
"Now, this is my plan. Let us all take a leisurely trip homeward by theway of Mobile, and New Orleans and the Mississippi River. This will bejust the season, and we shall be just the party. What do you say?"
Everybody, but me, said it would be splendid. I had exactly the sameidea about it, but I didn't say so, for there was no use in it. Icouldn't go on a trip like that. I had been counting up my money thatmorning, and found I would have to shave pretty closely to get home byrail,--and I wanted, very much, to go that way--although it would becheaper to return by sea,--for I had a great desire to go through Northand South Carolina and Virginia, and see Washington. It would haveseemed like a shame to go back by sea, and miss all this. But, as Isaid, I had barely enough money for this trip, and to make it I muststart the next day. And there was no use writing home for money. I knewthere was none there to spare, and I wouldn't have asked for it if therehad been. If there was any travelling money, some of the others ought tohave it. I had had my share.
It was very different with Rectus and the Chippertons. They could affordto take this trip, and there was no reason why they shouldn't take it.
When I told them this, Uncle Chipperton flashed up in a minute, and saidthat that was all stuff and nonsense,--the trip shouldn't cost me acent. What was the sense, he said, of thinking of a few dollars whensuch pleasure was in view? He would see that I had no money-troubles,and if that was all, I could go just as well as not. Didn't he owe methousands of dollars?
All this was very kind, but it didn't suit me. I knew that he did notowe me a cent, for if I had done anything for him, I made no charge forit. And even if I had been willing to let him pay my expenses,--which Iwasn't,--my father would never have listened to it.
So I thanked him, but told him the thing couldn't be worked in thatway, and I said it over and over again, until, at last, he believed it.Then he offered to lend me the money necessary, but this offer I had todecline, too. As I had no way of paying it back, I might as well havetaken it as a gift. There wasn't anything he could offer, after this,except to get me a free pass; and as he had no way of doing that, hegave up the job, and we all went down to supper. That evening, as I wasputting a few things into a small valise which I had bought,--as ourtrunks were lost on the "Tigris," I had very little trouble in packingup,--I said to Rectus that by the time he started off he could lay in anew stock of clothes. I had made out our accounts, and had his moneyready to hand over to him, but I knew that his father had arranged forhim to draw on a Savannah bank, both for the tug-boat money and formoney for himself. I think that Mr. Colbert would have authorized me todo this drawing, if Rectus had not taken the matter into his own handswhen he telegraphed. But it didn't matter, and there wasn't any tug-boatmoney to pay, any way, for Uncle Chipperton paid that. He said it hadall been done for his daughter, and he put his foot down hard, andwouldn't let Rectus hand over a cent.
"I wont have any more time than you will have," replied Rectus, "for I'mgoing to-morrow."
"I didn't suppose they'd start so soon," I said "I'm sure there's noneed of any hurry."
"I'm not going with them," said Rectus, putting a lonely shirt into atrunk that he had bought. "I'm going home with you."
I was so surprised at this that I just stared at him.
"What do you mean?" said I.
"Mean?" said he. "Why, just what I say. Do you suppose I'd go off withthem, and let you straggle up home by yourself? Not any for me, thankyou. And besides, I thought you were to take charge of me. How would youlook going back and saying you'd turned me over to another party?"
"YOU'RE A REGULAR YOUNG TRUMP."]
"You thought I was to take charge of you, did you?" I cried. "Well,you're a long time saying so. You never admitted that before."
"I had better sense than that," said Rectus, with a grin. "But I don'tmind saying so now, as we're pretty near through with our travels. Butfather told me expressly that I was to consider myself in your charge."
"You young rascal!" said I. "And he thought that you understood it sowell that there was no need of saying much to me about it. All that hesaid expressly to me was about taking care of your money. But I tell youwhat it is, Rectus, you're a regular young trump to give up that trip,and go along with me."
And I gave him a good slap on the back.
He winced at this, and let drive a pillow at me, so hard that it nearlyknocked me over a chair.
The next morning, after an early breakfast, we went to bid theChippertons good-bye. We intended to walk to the depot, and so wanted tostart early. I was now cutting down all extra expenses.
"Ready so soon!" cried Uncle Chipperton, appearing at the door of hisroom. "Why, we haven't had our breakfast yet."
"We have to make an early start, if we go by the morning train," said I,"and we wanted to see you all before we started."
"Glad to see you at any hour of the night or day,--always very glad tosee you; but I think we had better be getting our breakfast, if thetrain goes so early."
"Are you going to start to-day?" I asked, in surprise.
"Certainly," said he. "Why shouldn't we? I bought a new suit of clothesyesterday, and my wife and Corny look well enough for travellingpurposes. We can start as well as not, and I'd go in my green trousersif I hadn't any others. My dear," he said, looking into the room, "youand Corny must come right down to breakfast."
"But perhaps you need not hurry," I said. "I don't know when the trainfor Mobile starts."
"Mobile!" he cried. "Who's going to Mobile? Do you suppose that _we_are? Not a bit of it. When I proposed that trip, I didn't propose it forMrs. Chipperton, or Corny, or myself, or you, or Rectus, or Tom, orDick, or Harry. I proposed it for all of us. If all of us cannot go,none of us can. If you must go north this morning, so must we. We'venothing to pack, and that's a comfort. Nine o'clock, did you say? Youmay go on to the depot, if you like, and we'll eat our breakfasts, takea carriage, and be there in time."
They were there in time, and we all went north together.
We had a jolly trip. We saw Charleston, and Richmond, and Washington,and Baltimore, and Philadelphia; and at last we saw Jersey City, and ourfolks waiting for us in the great depot of the Pennsylvania railroad.
When I saw my father and mother and my sister Helen standing there onthe stone foot-walk, as the cars rolled in, I was amazed. I hadn'texpected them. It was all right enough for Rectus to expect his fatherand mother, for they lived in New York, but I had supposed that I shouldmeet my folks at the station in Willisville. But it was a capital ideain them to come to New York. They said they couldn't wait at home, andbesides, they wanted to see and know the Chippertons, for we all seemedso bound together, now.
Well, it wasn't hard to know the Chippertons. Before we reached thehotel where my folks were staying, and where we all went to takeluncheon together, any one would have thought that Uncle Chipperton wasreally a born brother to father and old Mr. Colbert. How he did talk!How everybody talked! Except Helen. She just sat and listened and lookedat Corny--a girl who had been shipwrecked, and had been on a little raftin the midst of the stormy billows. My mother and the two other ladiescried a good deal, but it was a sunshiny sort of crying, and wouldn'thave happened so often, I think, if Mrs. Chipperton had not been soready to lead off.
After luncheon we sat for two or three hours in one of the parlors, andtalked, and talked, and talked. It was a sort of family congress.Everybody told everybody else what he or she was going to do, and tookinformation of the sam
e kind in trade. I was to go to college in thefall, but as that had been pretty much settled long ago, it couldn't beconsidered as news. I looked well enough, my father said, to do all thehard studying that was needed; and the professor was anxiously waitingto put me through a course of training for the happy lot of Freshman.
"But he's not going to begin his studies as soon as he gets home," saidmy mother. "We're going to have him to ourselves for a while." And I didnot doubt that. I hadn't been gone very long, to be sure, but then aship had been burned from under me, and that counted for about a year'sabsence.
Corny's fate had been settled, too, in a general way, but the discussionthat went on about a good boarding-school for her showed that aparticular settlement might take some time. Uncle Chipperton wanted herto go to some school near his place on the Hudson River, so that hecould drive over and see her every day or two, and Mrs. Colbert said shethought that that wouldn't do, because no girl could study as she oughtto, if her father was coming to see her all the time, and UncleChipperton wanted to know what possible injury she thought he would dohis daughter by going to see her; and Mrs. Colbert said, none at all, ofcourse she didn't mean that, and Mrs. Chipperton said that Corny and herfather ought really to go to the same school, and then we all laughed,and my father put in quickly, and asked about Rectus. It was easy to seethat it would take all summer to get a school for Corny.
"Well," said Mr. Colbert, "I've got a place for Sammy. Right in myoffice. He's to be a man of business, you know. He never took much toschooling. I sent him travelling so that he could see the world, and gethimself in trim for dealing with it. And that's what we have to do inour business. Deal with the world."
I didn't like this, and I don't think Rectus did, either. He walked overto one of the windows, and looked out into the street.
"I'll tell you what I think, sir," said I. "Rectus--I mean your sonSamuel, only I shall never call him so--has seen enough of the world tomake him so wide awake that he sees more in schooling than he used to.That's my opinion!"
I knew that Rectus rather envied my going to college, for he had said asmuch on the trip home; and I knew that he had hoped his father would lethim make a fresh start with the professor at our old school.
"Sammy," cried out Mrs. Colbert,--"Sammy, my son, do you want to go toschool, and finish up your education, or go into your father's office,and learn to be a merchant?"
Rectus turned around from the window.
"There's no hurry about the merchant," he said. "I want to go to schooland college, first."
"And that's just where you're going," said his mother, with her facereddening up a little more than common.
Mr. Colbert grinned a little, but said nothing. I suppose he thought itwould be of no use, and I had an idea, too, that he was very glad tohave Rectus determine on a college career. I know the rest of us were.And we didn't hold back from saying so, either.
Uncle Chipperton now began to praise Rectus, and he told whatobligations the boy had put him under in Nassau, when he wrote to hisfather, and had that suit about the property stopped, and so relievedhim--Uncle Chipperton--from cutting short his semi-tropical trip, andhurrying home to New York in the middle of winter.
"But the suit isn't stopped," said Mr. Colbert. "You don't suppose Iwould pay any attention to a note like the one Sammy sent me, do you? Ijust let the suit go on, of course. It has not been decided yet, but Iexpect to gain it."
At this, Uncle Chipperton grew very angry indeed. It was astonishing tosee how quickly he blazed up. He had supposed the whole thing settled,and now to find that the terrible injustice--as he considered it--wasstill going on, was too much for him.
"Do you sit there and tell me that, sir?" he exclaimed, jumping up andskipping over to Mr. Colbert. "Do you call yourself----"
"Father!" cried Corny. "Keep perfectly cool! Remain just where you are!"
Uncle Chipperton stopped as if he had run against a fence. His favoriteadvice went straight home to him.
"Very good, my child," said he, turning to Corny. "That's just what I'lldo."
And he said no more about it.
Now, everybody began to talk about all sorts of things, so as to seem asif they hadn't noticed this little rumpus, and we agreed that we mustall see each other again the next day. Father said he should remain inthe city for a few days, now that we were all here, and Uncle Chippertondid not intend to go to his country-place until the weather was warmer.We were speaking of several things that would be pleasant to dotogether, when Uncle Chipperton broke in with a proposition:
"I'll tell you what I am going to do. I am going to give a dinner tothis party. I can't invite you to my house, but I shall engage a parlorin a restaurant, where I have given dinners before (we always come toNew York when I want to give dinners--it's so much easier for us to cometo the city than for a lot of people to come out to our place), andthere I shall give you a dinner, to-morrow evening. Nobody need sayanything against this. I've settled it, and I can't be moved."
As he couldn't be moved, no one tried to move him.
"I tell you what it is," said Rectus privately to me. "If UncleChipperton is going to give a dinner, according to his own ideas ofthings in general, it will be a curious kind of a meal."
It often happened that Rectus was as nearly right as most people.