CHAPTER XXV
AN ALLY CROSSES A SWORD
OFFICER CLANCY did not wait even to knock once upon the Barber door, butpushed it open sharply--discovering Big Tom and Cis, face to face on thefar side of the kitchen table, the latter with wet cheeks, while hershrinking, wilted young figure was swayed backward out of reach of thehuge finger which the longshoreman was shaking before her eyes. Besideher, crouched down in his chair, was old Grandpa, peering out betweenthe folds of his blanket like a frightened kitten.
The interruption halted Big Tom halfway of a stormy sentence, and heturned upon the entering officer a countenance dark and working. (AsFather Pat said afterward, "Shure, and 'twas as black as anny coloredbabe's in Cherry Street!") However, that newly shaved visage lightenedinstantly, paling at sight of the police-blue and the shield.
The officer spoke first. "This kid belong here?" he asked.
"Lives here," admitted Barber, swallowing.
"I take it ye're not a florist," went on Clancy.
"I ain't."
"Ah! In that case,"--firmly--"ye'll not be sendin' anny boy out on tothe street t' sell roses: leastways, not without the proper license,which ye can ask for up at City Hall." Next, the patrolman gave Johnniea friendly shove toward the middle of the room. "Hand the posies t' yersister, young man," he commanded.
Johnnie darted to obey, and Cis made a joyous start toward him. Theirhands touched, and the roses changed keeper.
Meanwhile Barber had gained back a little of his usual self-confidence."Oh, all right," he remarked. "But we need money a lot more'n flowers."
"That's as it may be," conceded Clancy, dryly. "But--the law's the law,and I'll just tell ye this much":--he emphasized his statement bypointing the stick--"ye're lucky t' 'scape a fine! Seein' ye're so shorto' cash!"
Most men, as Barber liked to boast, did not dare to give thelongshoreman any of their "lip." But now he was careful to accept theultimatum of the officer without a show of temper. "Guess I am," heassented.
Clancy nodded. "And I'll see ye later, Father Pat?" he inquired, givingthe priest a meaning glance.
"Please God," replied the Father, settling himself in the morris chair.(He knew when young eyes implored.)
"I'll say good-day t' ye all," went on the policeman. He gave Johnnie awink and Cis a smile as he went out.
Father Pat now took off his hat. In such cases it was well to "set by"till the storm blew over. "I'm thinkin' I met ye on the docks one day,"he observed cordially enough to Big Tom. "'Twas the time there wastrouble over the loadin' of the _Mary Jane_."
Barber was chewing. "Y' had that honor," he returned, a triflesarcastic.
"Ha-ha!" laughed the Father. But there was a flash of something not toofriendly in his look. "Honor, was it? I'm glad ye told me! For meself,shure, I can't always be certain whether 'tis that--or maybe just theopp'site!"
"_I_ can be sure," went on the longshoreman. He sucked his teethbelligerently. "I know when I'm honored, and also when I'm not."
"Is it like that?" retorted Father Pat smoothly. "Then I'll say ye'resmarter than I judged ye was from seein' ye put a lad on to the streett' sell flowers of a Sunday mornin'."
To Cis this passage between the men was all pure agony. She dropped downbeside Grandpa's chair, and stayed there, half hidden. But it was notmisery for Johnnie. He had rightly guessed what the "rakin'" would be,and for whom. And now it was going forward, and he welcomed it.
It was then that it came over him how different was this newest friendfrom his other two! One-Eye always left Johnnie puzzled as to his realopinion of the longshoreman, this through saying just the opposite ofwhat he meant. Mr. Perkins, on the other hand, did not express himselfat all; in fact, almost ignored Barber's existence. But Father Pat! Noteven old Grandpa could be in doubt as to how the priest felt toward thelongshoreman.
"Oh, don't you worry about this kid," advised Big Tom. "I git mightylittle out o' _him_."
Father Pat stared. Then, bluntly, "Shure, now, don't tell me that! Yeknow, I can see his big hands."
Johnnie's hands, at that moment, were hanging in front of him, thefingers knotted. He glanced down at them. He had never thought of themas being large, but now he realized that they were. What was worse, theyseemed to be getting bigger and bigger all of a sudden! The way theywere swelling made him part them and slip them behind his back.
"When I was a shaver, I didn't have no time t' be a dude!" asserted BigTom. "And this kid ain't no better'n me!"
"As a man," answered the Father, "shure, and I hope he'll be betterthan the two o' us put t'gether! Because if the boys and girls don'timprove upon the older folks, how is this world t' git better, t'advance?" As he spoke, his look went swiftly round the room.
Barber laughed. "Well, I can tell y' one thing about him," he said. "Hewon't never make a longshoreman--the little runt!"
At that, Father Pat fairly shot to his feet, and taking a forward step,hung over Big Tom, his green eyes black, his freckled face as crimson ashis hair. "Runt is it!" he cried. "Runt! And I'll ask ye why, Mr. TomBarber? Because ye've kept him shut up in this black place! Becauseye've cheated him out o' decent food, and fresh air, and the flirtin' upo' his boy's heels! Does he find time t' play? Has he got friends? Notif ye can help it! Oh, I can read all the little story o' him--the sad,starved, pitiful, lonely, story o' him!"
Barber got up slowly, laying down his pipe. "I guess I know a few thingsI've done for him," he answered angrily. "And I don't want abuse forthem, neither! He's got a lot t' be thankful for!"
"Thankful, yer Grandmother!" raged the Father, but somewhatbreathlessly. "I don't want t' hear yer excuses, nor what ye've done! Ican see through ye just as if ye was a pane o' glass! It's the carin'for the old man without a penny o' cost that ye've thought about! It'sthe makin' o' a few flowers for a few cents!"--he pointed to thetable--"when the lad ought t' be at his books! Greed's at the bottom o'what ye do--not only workin' the lad too hard for his strength, butcheatin' him out o' his school!"
"I guess that's all," said Barber, quietly. "I'll ask y' t' cut it."
"I'll cut nothin'!" cried the priest. "These five years ye've beenwaitin' for a man t' come and tell ye the truth. Well, I'm only what'sleft o' a man, but the truth is on me tongue! And it's comin' off, TomBarber,--it's comin' off! Shut up another lad like ye've shut him,thrash him, and half starve him in his mind and his body, and see whatye'd get! Ye'd get an idiot, that's what ye'd get! The average ladcouldn't stand it! Not the way this boy has! Because why? I'll tell ye:ye've made his home a prison, and ye've dressed him like a beggar, butye've never been able t' keep his brain and his soul from growin'! Ye'venever been able t' lock _them_ up! Nor dress them badly! And God bethanked for it!"
"A-a-a-w!" snarled Barber. "I wish all _I_ had t' do was t' go from flatt' flat and talk sermons!"
"Ye wish that, do ye?" cried the Father, rumpling his red hair from theback of his neck upward. "Well, shure, ye don't know what ye're talkin'about! For there isn't annything harder than talkin' t' folks thathaven't the sense or the decency t' do what's right. And also--no rascalpines t' be watched!"
Barber stared. "What's y're grudge?" he demanded.
"A grudge is what I've got!" replied Father Pat. "It's the kind I holdagainst anny man who mistreats children! And while I live and drawbreath, which won't be long, I'll fight that kind o' a man whenever Imeet him! And I'll charge him with his sin, so help me God, before thevery bar o' Heaven!"
Big Tom shrugged. "Y' ain't a well man," he said; "and then again, y'happen t' be a priest. For both which reasons I don't want no troublewith y'. So I'll be obliged if y'll hire a hall, or find somebody elset' scold, and let up on me for a change. This is Sunday, and I'd like alittle rest."
Father Pat went a foot nearer to the longshoreman. "Because I'm apriest," he answered, "I'll not be neglectin' me duty. Ye can drive awayscoutmasters, and others that don't feel they've got a right t' tell yethe truth in yer own house, but"--he tapped his chest--"here's one manye _won't_ dr
ive away!"
Big Tom reached for his pipe and his hat. "Well, stay then!" hereturned.
"Stay? That I will!" cried the Father. "The lad and the girl, they'vegot a friend that's goin' t' stick as long as his lungs'll let him."
"Good!" mocked the longshoreman. "Fine!" He pushed his hat down over thestubble of his hair, and went out, slamming the door.