CHAPTER XXXI. FOUR ROMANCES
Time--Two weeks later.
Place--Kitchen of the Pensinger mansion.
Characters--Gloria, Gwendolyn, Roberta, Lena May and little Tony.
"Haven't things been happening with a whirl of late?" Bobs exclaimed asshe passed a plate of hot muffins. "I feel dizzy, honestly I do! I'm soproud of Dick," she added as she sank into her own place at the table.
"All of his own accord he told me that he's going back for one more yearat law school and then he and Ralph are going to hang out a shingle forthemselves. They're going to start a new firm and be partners. JudgeCaldwaller-Cory thinks that his son must be crazy, when he is already ajunior member of an old and well established firm. They got the idea fromArden Wentworth, I suppose. He has made good by himself, and the planrather appeals to Dick and Ralph."
"They're great pals, aren't they, these two? Brothers couldn't care morefor each other, I do believe," Lena May said, as she buttered a muffinfor her little charge.
"And to think that they are to marry sisters in the dim and distantfuture. That ought to cement the brotherly ties even closer than ever,"Gloria remarked, as she smiled at Gwendolyn, who, wind-browned andsun-rosy, looked as though she had never been ill.
"Gwen, you and Ralph fell in love rather suddenly, didn't you?" Lena Mayinquired.
"Maybe so," her sister replied. "Ralph says that he has always felt surethat he would know the girl who was meant for him the very moment that hesaw her, and he insists that he loved me the minute he met me at OrangeHills Inn."
Roberta leaned over and placed her hand on that of her sister. "I'm soglad," she said, "for I do believe that Ralph is almost as fine a chap asmy Dick, and that is saying a great deal; and to think that if it hadn'tbeen for the Pensinger mystery, we might never have met him."
"By the way," Gloria remarked, "what has become of the Pensingermystery?"
Roberta laughed as she arose to replenish the muffin plate from the oven."I'm afraid it is destined to always remain a mystery. Ralph and Ifollowed every clue we could possibly think of. It's a shame, isn't it,not to have this old place owned by someone, to say nothing of themoney."
After a moment's silence, Gloria asked: "Lena May, was there any news ofgeneral interest in Dean's letter this morning?"
Their youngest sister smiled brightly. "Oh, yes, indeed. He was so gladto get back to that New England farm where he can breathe. He said thatthere are wonderful possibilities in the old house and that he is goingto begin work on it at once. He hopes that by the time I am eighteen, itwill look like a real home; but there was another item in the letter thatI am sure you will all be glad to hear. His group of nature poems hasbeen accepted by a magazine called _The New England Homestead_, and thecheck they sent seems like a real fortune to Dean. The best of it is,they have asked for more."
"Great! I for one shall be most proud to have a poet for abrother-in-law." Then to Lena May: "Maybe you thought you were keeping ita secret from us, little one, but you weren't, and we're glad, just asglad as we can be."
Their youngest, shining-eyed, looked up at the oldest sister, who sat atthe head of the table, then she said: "Of course I had told Glow, becauseshe is Mother to us, but after that letter from Dean this morning, I wantto tell you all."
Then merrily Bobs exclaimed: "Now, Gloria, we've all 'fessed up but you.Aren't you and Mr. Hardinian going to be married some day and livehappily ever after?"
"I never knew two people who seemed better suited for each other,"Gwendolyn commented.
Gloria smiled. "And what would you have us live on, dear? You know thatit takes Mr. Hardinian's entire income to pay the expenses of his Boys'Club. Of course the little chaps pay five cents a night for a bunk whenthey have work, but he has to loan money to others who are out of work,who might take to stealing if they had no other way to procure food.However, they have never failed to pay him back when they did get work."Their oldest sister's enthusiastic praise of the welfare worker told howgreat was her admiration for that truly noble young man, if nothing more.
"Crickets, what was that?" Bobs suddenly exclaimed.
"Only the telephone, my dear," Lena May remarked. "Bobsy, will you answerit?"
Three minutes later that girl fairly plunged back into the kitchen, hershining eyes assuring them that she had heard something of an astonishingnature.
"It was Ralph," she exclaimed, as she sank down into the nearest chair."The mystery is solved!"
"Solved?" her sisters repeated inquiringly and all at once. "How? When?Who is the heir?"
Roberta laughed. "Well, here's where I resign as a detective," shedeclared. "I've had three cases and although each one has beensuccessfully solved in spite of me, it has not been because of anycleverness on my part."
"But, Bobs, do tell us what Ralph said. We're bursting with curiosity."
"My partner-detective feels as chagrined about it as I do, for thesolution of the mystery just turned up; we neither of us ferreted it outas we had hoped that we would."
"Bobita, you're just trying to tantalize us," Gwen declared. "Do tell usfrom the beginning."
"Very well then, I will. Ralph said that his dad happened to recallrecently something which his father had once told him. You know it wasRalph's grandfather who was the intimate friend and legal advisor of Mr.Pensinger.
"It seems that a week before his death, Mr. Pensinger had sent someimportant papers and a letter to the office of Mr. Caldwaller-Cory, thegrandfather, you understand. Just as he was about to examine them, he wascalled away on urgent business and he left the papers on his desk,expecting to return soon. The Cory building was even then in the processof construction, but Ralph's grandfather had moved in before it was quitecompleted.
"That day the floor was being put down in the room adjoining the smalloffice. Later, when Mr. Caldwaller-Cory returned, his mind was so filledwith the intricacies of the new case which had just been given to him,that he did not even notice that the brown packet containing thePensinger papers was gone; in fact, he had forgotten that it everexisted; but a week later, when he received word that his friend, Mr.Pensinger, had died suddenly, he recalled the papers and began to searchfor them, but they were never found."
"Oh, I know where they were," Lena May said brightly, "under the floor."
Bobs nodded, her eyes glowing. "That's just it!" she affirmed. "RecentlyJudge Caldwaller-Cory said to Ralph, 'Either we will have to tear downthis old building of ours or we will have to renovate it and bring it upto date.'
"Ralph is romantic enough to want to retain the atmosphere of the days ofhis grandfather, and so he favored the latter plan. Soon carpenters weretearing up the office floors to replace them with hard wood and thepacket was found."
"And in those papers, had Mr. Pensinger made some different dispositionof his property?" Gloria inquired.
Bobs nodded. "Yes," she said. "It seems that Mr. Pensinger, after hiswife's death, visited Hungary, found his daughter Marilyn, who lived buta short time, and so, as he was without an heir, he had written Mr.Caldwaller-Cory, requesting him to use the Pensinger fortune wherever hethought it would be most needed."
"What will become of this house?" Lena May inquired.
"Ralph didn't say. He wants to tell that himself. In fact, he said thathe was coming right up in The Whizz and that he wasn't coming alone,either."
"I suppose that Dick De Laney will be with him," Gloria remarked as shecleared the table.
"We aren't going to be kept long in suspense," Gwendolyn said, "for TheWhizz just passed the window and there's the knocker. Shall I go to thedoor?"
Before her sisters could reply, that maiden was half-way down the longhall, and a second later she reappeared with Ralph at her side. Two otheryoung men followed closely. One indeed was Dick De Laney and the otherwas Mr. Hardinian. His dark, expressive eyes showed that he was muchmystified by all that was happening.
"Shall we go into the salon?" Gloria inquir
ed when greetings were over.
"No indeed. This dining-room corner with its cheerful grate fire is thepleasantest part of the old house," Ralph declared. "Dick, help me bringin another chair or two."
"Now sit down, everybody, and I'll tell you the results of my conferencewith my father." Ralph was plainly elated about something, which, as yet,he had revealed to no one.
When they were seated, he turned at once to the tall, dark Hungarian."Mr. Hardinian, you were telling me last week that your temporary woodenbuilding for the Boys' Club is to be torn down next month that a tobaccofactory may be erected, were you not?"
"Yes," was the reply of the still puzzled young man. "I can't imaginewhere I am to take my boys. I don't like to have them bunkless even forone night."
"Of course not, nor shall they be," Ralph continued. Then he looked atthe girls beamingly. "Not if these young ladies will consent to having amodel clubhouse erected in the old garden back of their mansion."
"Ralph, how wonderful that would be!" Gloria exclaimed. "But what do youmean?"
"Just what I say," the lad replied. "The former owner of this placewanted his fortune used for some good cause, and Dad and I thought thatit would be great to help Mr. Hardinian carry on his fine work right hereon this very spot as a sort of memorial, and couldn't it be called ThePensinger Boys' Club, or something like that?"
"Indeed it could," Mr. Hardinian's dark eyes expressed his appreciationmore than words could have done. Then to the tall girl at his side hesaid: "Now, many of our dream-plans for the boys can be made a reality."
Turning to the others, he continued: "I am sure that Gloria is nowwilling that I should tell you that she had consented to some day motherall of our boys, and because of this splendid new plan, I hope that thesome-day may be very soon."
And it was. Indeed, before another year had passed, each of the girls wasin a home of her own.
* * * * * *
Transcriber's note:
--Obvious typographical errors were corrected without comment. Inconsistent proper names were made consistent.
--Non-standard spellings and dialect were left unchanged.
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