CHAPTER VII
BAD NEWS FOR JIM
"My word, I do believe they have forgotten us completely," said Reggie,plaintively, as he placed his monocle in his eye and stared at theabsorbed young couple. "Perhaps we had better be making ourselvesscarce, Jim, old chap."
"Nothing doing," retorted Jim, moving a chair up toward Joe and Mabeland placing himself in it as though he intended remaining thereindefinitely. "I don't stir a step from this place until Mabel tells meall the news from home."
"He means all the news about Clara," laughed Joe, as Mabel obedientlysat down beside him and turned her attention to Jim.
"Oh, Clara is all right," said Mabel, but in spite of her cheerfulwords, the others saw that a cloud had darkened her face. "It is MotherMatson I am worrying about," she added slowly.
Mrs. Matson, Joe's mother, had lately been in poor health. Because ofthis fact, Mabel had stayed with her mother-in-law for a time afterher marriage to Joe. But recently she had yielded to the urging ofher own family to visit them in Goldsboro, North Carolina, her oldhome. Although Mabel had been busy renewing old friendships there, shehad kept in almost daily touch with Mrs. Matson and Clara through themails. As a matter of fact, Jim had more than once complained thatMabel heard a great deal more from his fiancee than he did himself.Owing to the constantly changing address of the team, Jim's mail, aswell as Joe's, was often delayed.
Because of Mrs. Matson's illness, Clara had postponed her marriage withJim, hoping for her mother's restoration to health. Until that happytime came, nothing remained to Jim but to possess his soul in patience,which was often very hard to do.
Now, at Mabel's mention of his mother, Joe started forward, fixing hisanxious gaze upon his wife.
"What has happened to mother?" he demanded. "Is she--nothing serious,is it?"
"Oh, no, no!" said Mabel, patting his hand soothingly. "There isnothing fatally wrong. She is--oh, I might as well tell you at once,Joe dear, for you would only worry the more if I tried to keep thingsfrom you. It is feared that Mother Matson must undergo an operation, arather serious operation, I am afraid."
"What for?" asked Joe, quietly, although his face had become suddenlywhite.
"Clara didn't say in her letter," returned Mabel, soberly. "Yourfamily doctor, Doctor Reeves, is calling a consultation. Clara willundoubtedly write more fully after that is over."
"A consultation!" cried Joe, leaping to his feet, only to slump downagain in his chair at the pain in his injured leg. "Why, this ishorrible, girl! Do you know when they expect to--do it?"
"They certainly won't operate right away, Clara says," Mabel returned."They think her heart is too weak to stand the ordeal just now. Dr.Reeves is going to put her through a special course of treatment, andhe thinks that in a month or two she will be ready."
"My poor mother!" groaned Joe. "How can I go on playing ball with thatthing in prospect? I got a letter from mother a day or two ago," headded, feeling in the pocket of his coat for the note from home. "Shedidn't say anything about any trouble then."
"Of course she wouldn't, you old silly," said Mabel, gently. "Don't youknow that mothers always worry about everybody else but themselves?Mother Matson never would take her illness seriously, you know, and ifshe had she would have been the very last one to worry you with it. Itwas Clara, not your mother, who decided you ought to be told now andasked me to do it."
"That sure is tough luck, Joe," said Jim, gravely. "I had no idea yourmother was as sick as that."
"But, I say, don't pull such a long face over it, old chap," urgedReggie, trying to strike a cheerful note in the general gloom of theplace. "People are operated on, you know, some of them again and again,and come up smilin' in the end. It's a bally shame and all that, butno need giving up hope altogether, you know. Hope on, hope ever, asthe poet sings. Now, I knew of a person once who had a complication ofdiseases--most distressin'--and the doctors insisted that there must bean operation. But when the day came for the operation, old chap, theyfound----"
"Spare me the details, will you, Reggie?" urged Joe. "I can't go themjust now."
"Certainly, old chap, certainly," agreed Reggie, with swift compunction."I might have known the subject would be, well, distasteful to you. Tochange the topic of conversation, just cast your eye for a moment in thedirection of our old friend, Jim. He is dyin' to learn more about Clara,you know, and can't for the life of him decide how to tell you aboutit. How about it, old chap? Am I right?" Saying this, he tapped Jimplayfully with his monocle, and the latter reluctantly smiled.
"You sure are a mind reader, old boy," he said. "I must confess that alittle first-hand news of Clara would be welcome, and Mabel's seen hersince I have."
Joe, looking at Mabel at that moment, was again surprised to find hereyes shadowed and anxious. The expression passed in a moment, however,and she smiled upon Jim reassuringly.
"Clara was dreadfully disappointed at not being able to be here withReggie and me, and of course she is worried to death about MotherMatson, but aside from that she's all right."
"No news of any kind?" urged Jim, regarding Mabel closely. It seemed toJoe that Jim also had noticed the faint hesitation that had crept intoMabel's manner at mention of Clara's name. "Even the smallest scrap ofnews, first hand, would be mighty welcome, you know."
Mabel seemed to hesitate, then got to her feet and walked over to thewindow. The boys watched her uneasily, but when she turned back to themher face was bright and untroubled.
"I wish I had some news, Jim," she said, in her normal tone. "But youmust remember that I have been in Goldsboro for some time, and theonly news I get of Clara is through the mails. But now I think I'vebeen answering questions enough," she added lightly, a hand on Joe'sshoulder. "I think I will start asking a few in my turn. First of all,I want to know just how you happened to get hurt, Joe."
Despite the fact that, just then, he wished to talk about nothing solittle as about himself, Joe recounted as quickly as he could thedetails of his accident. From that the conversation turned to thecondition of the team and the discouraging slump it had taken.
"We sure seem to be headed straight for the bottom," remarked Jim,adding, as he looked ruefully at Joe: "And now with our championtwirler laid up for an indefinite period, things look pretty tough forthe Giants. If only Jackwell and Bowen would quit looking over theirshoulders and watch the ball, we might have a chance to rattle the jinxthat's after us."
Both Mabel and Reggie--the latter was an ardent baseball fan and fairly"ate up" anything that concerned the game--demanded to know more aboutJackwell and Bowen, and there ensued an animated discussion as to themeaning of the peculiar actions of the two men.
It was Reggie who finally repeated his suggestion that he and Jim"toddle on" in order to leave Joe and Mabel a few minutes of privateconversation before joining them again for dinner.
Joe did not protest very hard, for he was aching to have Mabel tohimself. He was very anxious about his mother, and more than a littlecurious to know what, if anything, was amiss with Clara.
Mabel came to him herself as soon as the door was closed behind Jim andReggie. She held out her hands to him and Joe took them gently.
"What is it, little girl?" he asked. "You were holding back somethingabout mother and Clara. Now suppose you tell me."
"Oh, Joe, I am so worried. I've told you everything about poor mother.But Clara--well, I think she ought to be soundly scolded!"
For the first time since he had heard of his mother's illness, Joe'sgrave face relaxed in a smile.
"Who's going to do it--you?" he chaffed. "You never scolded me butonce, and then I liked it."
"But you don't take me seriously, and this really is serious, Joe,"said Mabel, her pretty forehead marred by an anxious frown. "Ifyou could see this fellow with his handsome eyes and his beautifulclothes----"
"What fellow?" interrupted Joe, becoming suddenly interested. "Youdon't mean----"
"Yes I do, just that!" returned Mabel, shaking her head solemnly. "
ThisAdonis I'm talking about is pestering Clara with his attentions."
"Give me his name," cried Joe. "I'll soon show this little cupid wherehe gets off----"
"He isn't little, Joe. He's broad-shouldered and six feet tall and hehas a million dollars--maybe ten million for all I know----"
"What's his name?" roared Joe again, with undiminished ire. "What do Icare if he's twenty feet tall and has a billion dollars? Hang around mysister, will he?"
"Oh, hush, Joe, hush!" cautioned Mabel, putting a finger to his lipsand looking apprehensively toward the door. "Some one will be coming into see where the fire is."
Joe took her hand gently away and looked at her intently.
"What is there behind all this?" he asked quietly. "Clara doesn'tencourage this fellow, does she? She wouldn't do that?"
Mabel looked troubled.
"I hope not, Joe. Oh, I hope not!" she said, and for a moment there wassilence while the two studied the pattern of the rug upon the floor,busy with troubled thoughts. It was Joe who again broke the silence.
"You haven't told me his name yet," he reminded Mabel, quietly.
"His name is Tom Pepperil. He used to live near Riverside, but he wentaway for a long time and made a fortune. Now he has come back, and,according to Clara's letters, is making desperate love to her."
"But she has no right to listen to him! She's Jim's!"
Mabel glanced up at him swiftly and then down at the pattern of the rugagain.
"No," she said. Then, after a long minute, she came close to Joe andput her hand over his again.
"Wouldn't it be dreadful," she said, "if the worst we fear shouldhappen, and she should give up good old Jim for that fellow, whosechief recommendation is his money?"
"I couldn't bear to think of it," groaned Joe. "I'd rather lose everycent I have in the world than have it happen. Tell me that you don'tthink it will ever come to that!"
"I don't know, Joe," said Mabel, sadly. "She's so tantalizingly vague.Perhaps it's the strain she's under on account of mother that makes herso different from her usual self. I can't understand Clara any more."
There was a long silence, and then Joe roused himself to ask dully:
"Do you think we ought to tell Jim?"