CHAPTER IV
If Willie's little brother hadn't had a pain in his tummy this storymight have gone by other and devious ways to a different conclusion. Butfortunately he did have, so it happened that at precisely 8.47 o'clockof a warm evening Willie was racing madly along a side street ofWatertown, drug-store-bound, when he came face to face with a Girl--apretty Girl--a very pretty Girl. She was carrying a bag that clanked alittle at each step.
"Oh, little boy!" she called.
"Hunh?" and Willie stopped so suddenly that he endangered hisequilibrium, although that isn't how he would have said it.
"Nice little boy," said the Girl soothingly, and she patted his tousledhead while he gnawed a thumb in pained embarrassment. "I'm very tired. Ihave been walking a great distance. Could you tell me, please, where alady, unattended, might get a night's lodging somewhere near here?"
"Hunh?" gurgled Willie through the thumb.
Wearily the Girl repeated it all and at its end Willie giggled. It wasthe most exasperating incident of a long series of exasperatingincidents, and the Girl's grip on the bag tightened a little. Willienever knew how nearly he came to being hammered to death with fourteenpounds of solid gold.
"Well?" inquired the Girl at last.
"Dunno," said Willie. "Jimmy's got the stomach-ache," he addedirrelevantly.
"Can't you think of a hotel or boarding-house near by?" the Girlinsisted.
"Dunno," replied Willie. "I'm going to the drug store for a pair o'gorrick."
The Girl bit her lip, and that act probably saved Willie from the direconsequences of his unconscious levity, for after a moment the Girllaughed aloud.
"Where is the drug store?" she asked.
"'Round the corner. I'm going."
"I'll go along, too, if you don't mind," the Girl said, and she turnedand walked beside him. Perhaps the drug clerk would be able toilluminate the situation.
"I swallyed a penny oncst," Willie confided suddenly.
"Too bad!" commented the Girl.
"Unh unnh," Willie denied emphatically. "'Cause when I cried, Paw gimmea quarter." He was silent a moment, then: "If I'd 'a' swallyed that, Ireckin he'd gimme a dollar. Gee!"
This is the optimism that makes the world go round. The philosophy tookpossession of the Girl and cheered her. When she entered the drug storeshe walked with a lighter step and there was a trace of a smile abouther pretty mouth. A clerk, the only attendant, came forward.
"I want a pair o' gorrick," Willie announced.
The Girl smiled, and the clerk, paying no attention to the boy, wenttoward her.
"Better attend to him first," she suggested. "It seems urgent."
The clerk turned to Willie.
"Paregoric?" he inquired. "How much?"
"About a quart, I reckin," replied the boy. "Is that enough?"
"Quite enough," commented the clerk. He disappeared behind theprescription screen and returned after a moment with a small phial. Theboy took it, handed over a coin, and went out, whistling. The Girllooked after him with a little longing in her eyes.
"Now, madam?" inquired the clerk suavely.
"I only want some information," she replied. "I was out on mybicycle"--she gulped a little--"when it broke down, and I'll have toremain here in town over night, I'm afraid. Can you direct me to a quiethotel or boarding-house where I might stay?"
"Certainly," replied the clerk briskly. "The Stratford, just a block upthis street. Explain the circumstances, and it will be all right, I'msure."
The Girl smiled at him again and cheerfully went her way. That small boyhad been a leaven to her drooping spirits. She found the Stratfordwithout difficulty and told the usual bicycle lie, with a natural growthof detail and a burning sense of shame. She registered as ElizabethCarlton and was shown to a modest little room.
Her first act was to hide the gold plate in the closet; her second wasto take it out and hide it under the bed. Then she sat down on a couchto think. For an hour or more she considered the situation in all itshideous details, planning her desolate future--women like to plandesolate futures--then her eye chanced to fall upon an afternoon paper,which, with glaring headlines, announced the theft of the Randolph goldplate. She read it. It told, with startling detail, things that had andhad not happened in connection therewith.
This comprehended in all its horror, she promptly arose and hid the bagbetween the mattress and the springs. Soon after she extinguished thelight and retired with little shivers running up and down all over her.She snuggled her head down under the cover. She didn't sleep much--shewas still thinking--but when she arose next morning her mind was madeup.
First she placed the eleven gold plates in a heavy card-board box, thenshe bound it securely with brown paper and twine and addressed it:"Stuyvesant Randolph, Seven Oaks, via Merton." She had sent expresspackages before and knew how to proceed, therefore when the necessity ofwriting a name in the upper left-hand corner appeared--the sender--shewrote in a bold, desperate hand: "John Smith, Watertown."
When this was all done to her satisfaction, she tucked the package underone arm, tried to look as if it weren't heavy, and sauntered downstairswith outward self-possession and inward apprehension. She faced theclerk cordially, while a singularly distracting smile curled her lips.
"My bill, please?" she asked.
"Two dollars, madam," he responded gallantly.
"I don't happen to have any money with me," she explained charmingly."Of course, I had expected to go back on my wheel, but, since it isbroken, perhaps you would be willing to take this until I return to thecity and can mail a check?"
She drew a diamond ring from an aristocratic finger and offered it tothe clerk. He blushed furiously, and she reproved him for it with a coldstare.
"It's quite irregular," he explained, "but, of course, in thecircumstances, it will be all right. It is not necessary for us to keepthe ring at all, if you will give us your city address."
"I prefer that you keep it," she insisted firmly, "for, besides, I shallhave to ask you to let me have fare back to the city--a couple ofdollars? Of course it will be all right?"
It was half an hour before the clerk fully awoke. He had given the Girltwo real dollars and held her ring clasped firmly in one hand. She wasgone. She might just as well have taken the hotel along with her so faras any objection from that clerk would have been concerned.
Once out of the hotel the Girl hurried on.
"Thank goodness, that's over," she exclaimed.
For several blocks she walked on. Finally her eye was attracted by a "ToLet" sign on a small house--it was No. 410 State Street. She walked inthrough a gate cut in the solid wall of stone and strolled up to thehouse. Here she wandered about for a time, incidentally tearing off the"To Let" sign. Then she came down the path toward the street again. Justinside the stone fence she left her express package, after scribblingthe name of the street on it with a pencil. A dollar bill lay on top.She hurried out and along a block or more to a small grocery.
"Will you please 'phone to the express company and have them send awagon to No. 410 State Street for a package?" she asked sweetly of aheavy-voiced grocer.
"Certainly, ma'am," he responded with alacrity.
She paused until he had done as she requested, then dropped into arestaurant for a cup of coffee. She lingered there for a long time, andthen went out to spend a greater part of the day wandering up and downState Street. At last an express wagon drove up, the driver went in andreturned after a little while with the package.
"And, thank goodness, that's off my hands!" sighed the Girl. "Now I'mgoing home."
* * * * *
Late that evening, Saturday, Miss Dollie Meredith returned to the homeof the Greytons and was clasped to the motherly bosom of Mrs. Greyton,where she wept unreservedly.
"A dollar bill lay on top"]