CHAPTER XV
SADIE GORONOFSKY'S BANK
When Ruth Kenway had an idea--a real _good_ idea--it usually bore fruit.She had evolved one of her very best that snowy night while she andAgnes and Neale O'Neil were drinking hot chocolate in Mrs. Kranz'sparlor.
It was impossible for Ruth to get downtown on Saturday. One reason was,they all got up late, having crept into bed at half-past four. Then,there were the usual household tasks, for all four of the Corner Housegirls had their established duties on Saturday.
The streets were so full of snow that it would have been almostimpossible for Ruth to have gotten to Mr. Howbridge's office then; butshe went there Monday afternoon.
Mr. Howbridge had been Uncle Peter Stower's lawyer, and it was he whohad brought the news to the four Kenway girls when they lived inBloomingsburg, that they were actually rich.
He was a tall, gray gentleman, with sharp eyes and a beaklike nose, andhe looked wonderfully stern and implacable unless he smiled. But healways had a smile for Ruth Kenway.
The lawyer had acquired a very deep respect for Ruth's good sense andfor her character in general. As he said, there were so many narrow,stingy souls in the world, it was refreshing to meet a generous naturelike that of the oldest Corner House girl.
"And what is it now, Miss Ruth?" asked the gentleman when she enteredhis private office, and shaking hands with her. "Have you come toconsult me professionally, or am I honored by a social call?"
"You are almost the best man who ever lived, Mr. Howbridge," laughedRuth. "I _know_ you are the best guardian, for you let me do mostly justas I please. So I am confident you are going to grant _this_request----"
Mr. Howbridge groaned. "You are beginning in your usual way, I see," hesaid. "You want something of me--but it is for somebody else you wantit, I'll be bound."
"Oh, no, sir! it is really for me," declared Ruth. "I'd like quite somemoney."
"What for, may I ask?"
"Of course, sir. I've come to consult you about it. You see, it's thetenants."
"Those Meadow Street people!" exclaimed the lawyer. "Your Uncle Petermade money out of them; and his father did before him. But my books willshow little profit from those houses at the end of this year--of that Iam sure."
"But, if we have made so much out of the houses in the past, shouldn'twe spend some of the profit on the tenants _now_?" asked Ruth earnestly.
"You are the most practical _im_practical person I ever met," declaredMr. Howbridge, laughing rather ruefully.
Ruth did not just understand that; but she was much in earnest and sheput before the lawyer the circumstances of some of the tenants of theold houses on Meadow Street, as she had heard them from Mrs. Kranz andMaria Maroni.
She did not forget the Goronofskys, despite Tess' story of Sadie's bankin which she was saving her Christmas money; but she did not mentionthis last to the lawyer.
Ruth wanted of the lawyer details of all the families on the estate'sbooks. She wished to know the earning capacity of each family, how theylived, the number of children in each, and their ages and sex.
"You see, Mr. Howbridge, a part of our living--and it is a goodliving--comes from these people. We girls should know more about them.And I am anxious to do something for them this Christmas--especially forthe little children."
"Well, I suppose I shall give in to you; but my better judgment criesout against it, Miss Ruth," declared the lawyer. "You see Perkins--myclerk. He collects the rents and knows all the tenants. I believe heknows when each man gets paid, how much he gets, and all about it. And,of course, as you say, you'll want some money."
"Yes, sir. This is for all of us--all four of us Corner House girls.Agnes, and Tess, and Dot, are just as anxious to help these people as Iam. I am sure, Mr. Howbridge, whatever else you may do with money of theestate, _this_ expense will never be questioned by any of us."
From Mrs. Kranz and Perkins, Ruth obtained the information that shewished. The Corner House girls knew they could do no great thing; butfor the purchase of small presents that children would appreciate, thetwenty-five dollars Ruth got from Mr. Perkins, would go a long way.
And what fun the Corner House girls had doing that shopping! Tess andDot did their part, and that the entire five and ten cent store was notbought out was not _their_ fault.
"You can get such a lot for your money in that store," Dot gravelyannounced, "that a dollar seems twice as big as it does anywhere else."
"But I don't want the other girls to think we are just 'ten-centers,'"Agnes said. "Trix Severn says she wouldn't be seen going into such acheap place."
"What do you care what people call you?" asked Ruth. "If you had beenborn in Indiana they'd have called you a 'Hoosier'; and if in NorthCarolina, they'd call you a 'Tar Heel.'"
"Or, if you were from Michigan, they'd say you were a 'Michigander,'"chuckled Neale, who was with them. "In _your_ case, Aggie, it would be'Michigoose.'"
"Is that so?" demanded Agnes, to whom Neale had once confessed that hewas born in the state of Maine. "Then I suppose we ought to call _you_ a'Maniac,' eh?"
"Hit! a palpable hit!" agreed Neale, good-naturedly. "Come on! let'shave some of your bundles. For goodness' sake! why didn't you girlsbring a bushel basket--or engage a pack-mule?"
"We seem to have secured a very good substitute for the latter," saidRuth, demurely.
All this shopping was done early in Christmas week, for the Corner Housegirls determined to allow nothing to break into their own home ChristmasEve celebration. The tree in Tess' room at school was going to belighted up on Thursday afternoon; but Wednesday the Kenway girls wereall excused from school early and Neale drove them over to Meadow Streetin a hired sleigh.
They stopped before the doors of the respective shops of Mrs. Kranz andJoe Maroni. Joe's stand was strung with gay paper flowers and greens. Hehad a small forest of Christmas trees he was selling, just at thecorner.
"Good-a day! good-a day, leetla padrona!" was his welcome for Ruth, andhe bowed very low before the oldest Kenway girl, whom he insisted uponconsidering the real mistress of the house in which he and his familylived.
The little remembrances the girls had brought for Joe's family--down toa rattle for the baby--delighted the Italian. Tess had hung a specialpresent for Maria on the school tree; but that was a secret as yet.
They carried all the presents into Mrs. Kranz's parlor and then Nealedrove away, leaving the four Corner House girls to play their parts of_Lady Bountiful_ without his aid.
They had just sallied forth for their first visit when, out of theStower tenement in which the Goronofskys lived, boiled a crowd ofshrieking, excited children. Sadie Goronofsky was at their head and aman in a blue suit and the lettered cap of a gas collector seemed therallying point of the entire savage little gang.
"Oh! what is the matter, Sadie?" cried Tess, running to the littleJewish girl's side.
"He's a thief! he's a gonnif! he's a thief!" shrieked Sadie, dragging atthe man's coat. "He stole mine money. He's busted open mine bank andstoled all mine money!"
"That red bank in the kitchen?" asked Tess, wonderingly. "That one yourmother put the quarter in every week for you?"
"Sure!" replied the excited Sadie. "My mother's out. I'm alone with thekids. In this man comes and robs mine bank----"
"What _is_ the trouble?" asked Ruth of the man.
"Why, bless you, somebody's been fooling the kid," he said, with somecompassion. "And it was a mean trick. They told her the quarter-meterwas a bank and that all the money that was put in it should be hers.
"She's a good little kid, too. I've often seen her taking care of herbrothers and sisters and doing the work. The meter had to be openedto-day and the money taken out--and she caught me at it."
Afterward Agnes said to Ruth: "I could have _hugged_ that man,Ruthie--for he didn't laugh!"