CHAPTER VI.
"THE EVENING GLOBE."
WHILE Mark was passing through these exciting scenes Mrs. Mason wentabout her daily duties at home, anxiously considering how the rent wasto be paid on the following day. Mark had not told her of his gift fromMaud Gilbert, intending it as a surprise.
As she was washing the breakfast dishes, there was a little tap at thedoor. To her surprise, the visitor turned out to be Mrs. Mack, of thefloor above, to whom Mark had applied for a loan without success. AsMrs. Mack seldom left her room, Mrs. Mason regarded her with surprise.
"Come in and sit down, Mrs. Mack," she said kindly.
She had no regard for the old woman, but felt that she deserved someconsideration on account of her great age.
Mrs. Mack hobbled in and seated herself in a rocking-chair.
"I hope you are well," said Mrs. Mason.
"Tollable, tollable," answered the old woman, glancing curiously aboutthe room, as if making an inventory of what it contained.
"Can't I give you a cup of tea? At your age it will be strengthening."
"I'm not so very old," said the old woman querulously. "I'm onlyseventy-seven, and my mother lived to be eighty-seven."
"I hope you will live as long as you wish to. But, Mrs. Mack, you mustmake yourself comfortable. Old people live longer if they live incomfort. Will you have the tea?"
"I don't mind," answered Mrs. Mack, brightening up at the prospect ofthis unwonted luxury.
She did not allow herself tea every day, on account of its cost. Thereare many foolish people in the world, but among the most foolish arethose who deny themselves ordinary comforts in order to save money fortheir heirs.
The tea was prepared, and the old woman drank it with evident enjoyment.
"Your boy came up yesterday to borrow three dollars," she began then,coming to business.
"Yes, he told me so."
"He said he'd pay me Saturday night."
"Yes, he gets two weeks' pay then."
"I--I was afraid he might not pay me back, and I can't afford to lose somuch money. I'm a poor old woman."
"Mark would have paid you back. He always pays his debts."
"Yes; I think he is a good boy. If I thought he would pay me back, I--Ithink I would lend him the money. He offered to pay me interest."
"Yes; he would pay you for the favor."
"If--if he will pay me four dollars on Saturday night I will lend himwhat he wants."
"What!" ejaculated Mrs. Mason. "Do you propose to ask him a dollar forthe use of three dollars for two or three days?"
"It's--it's a great risk!" mumbled Mrs. Mack.
"There is no risk at all. To ask such interest as that would be sheerrobbery. We are poor and we can't afford to pay it."
"I am a poor old woman."
"You are not poor at all. You are worth thousands of dollars."
"Who said so?" demanded Mrs. Mack in alarm.
"Everybody knows it."
"It's--it's a mistake, a great mistake. I--I can't earn anything. I'mtoo old to work. I don't want to die in a poorhouse."
"You would live a great deal better in a poorhouse than you live byyourself. I decline your offer, Mrs. Mack. I would rather pawn mywedding ring, as I proposed to Mark. That would only cost me nine centsin place of the dollar that you demand."
The old woman looked disappointed. She had thought of the matter allnight with an avaricious longing for the interest that she expected toget out of Mark, and she had no thought that her offer would bedeclined.
"Never mind about business, Mrs. Mack!" said Mrs. Mason more kindly, asshe reflected that the old woman could not change her nature. "Won't youhave another cup of tea, and I can give you some toast, too, if youthink you would like it."
An expression of pleasure appeared on the old woman's face.
"If--it's handy," she said. "I don't always make tea, for it is too muchtrouble."
It is safe to say that Mrs. Mack thoroughly enjoyed her call, though shedid not effect the loan she desired to make. When she rose to go, Mrs.Mason invited her to call again.
"I always have tea, or I can make it in five minutes," she said.
"Thank you kindly, ma'am; I will come," she said, "if it isn't puttingyou to too much trouble."
"Mother," said Edith, after the visitor had hobbled up-stairs, "Iwouldn't give tea to that stingy old woman."
"My dear child, she is old, and though she is not poor, she thinks sheis, which is almost as bad. If I can brighten her cheerless life in anyway, I am glad to do so."
About one o'clock a knock was heard at the door. Mrs. Mason answered itin person, and to her surprise found in the caller a brisk-looking youngman, with an intelligent face. He had a note-book in his hand.
"Is this Mrs. Mason?" he inquired.
"Yes, sir."
"Your son is a telegraph boy?"
"Yes."
"No. 79?"
"Yes, sir. Has anything happened to him?" she asked in quick alarm.
"I bring no bad news," answered the young man with a smile. "Have you aphotograph or even a tintype of your son, recently taken?"
"I have a tintype taken last summer at Coney Island."
"That will do. Will you lend it to me till to-morrow?"
"But what can you possibly want with Mark's picture?" asked the mother,feeling quite bewildered.
"I represent the _Daily Globe_, Mrs. Mason. His picture is to appear inthe evening edition."
"But why should you publish Mark's picture?"
"Because he has distinguished himself by a heroic action. I can't stopto give you particulars, for I ought to be at the office now, but I willrefer you to the paper."
With the tintype in his hand the reporter hurried to the office of thejournal he represented, leaving Mrs. Mason in a state of wonderingperplexity.
Within an incredibly short time hundreds of newsboys were runningthrough the streets crying "Extry! Extra! A dynamite crank at the officeof Luther Rockwell, the great banker!"
Mark Mason was returning from a trip to Brooklyn, when a newsboy thrustthe paper in his face.
"Here, Johnny, give me that paper!" he said.
The boy peered curiously at him.
"Ain't you Mark Mason?" he asked.
"Yes; how did you know me?"
"Your picture is in the paper."
Mark opened the paper in natural excitement, and being a modest boy,blushed as he saw his picture staring at him from the front page,labeled underneath "The Heroic Telegraph Boy." He read the account,which was quite correctly written, with a mixture of emotions, amongwhich gratification predominated.
"But where did they get my picture?" he asked himself.
There was also a picture of the dynamite crank, which was also tolerablyaccurate.
"I must take this home to mother," said Mark, folding up the paper."Won't she be surprised!"
About the same time Solon Talbot and Edgar were in the Grand CentralDepot on Forty-Second Street. Their visit was over, and Mr. Talbot hadpurchased the return tickets.
"You may buy a couple of evening papers, Edgar," said his father.
One of them selected was the _Evening Globe_.
Edgar uttered an exclamation as he opened it.
"What's the matter, Edgar?" asked his father.
"Just look at this! Here's Mark Mason's picture in the paper!"
"What nonsense you talk!" said Solon Talbot.
"No, I don't. Here is the picture, and here is his name!" said Edgartriumphantly.
Solon Talbot read the account in silence.
"I see," said another Syracuse man coming up, "you are reading theaccount of the daring attempt to blow up banker Rockwell's office!"
"Yes," answered Solon.
"That was a brave telegraph boy who seized the bag of dynamite."
"Very true!" said Solon, unable to resist the temptation to shine by thehelp of the nephew whom he had hitherto despised. "That boy is my ownnephew!"
"You don't say
so!"
"Yes; his mother is the sister of my wife."
"But how does he happen to be a telegraph boy?"
"A whim of his. He is a very independent boy, and he insisted onentering the messenger service."
"Be that as it may, you have reason to be proud of him."
Edgar said nothing, but he wished that just for this once he couldchange places with his poor cousin.
"I'd have done the same if I'd had the chance," he said to himself.