CHAPTER XXVI
THE END OF A LONG DAY
A LONG moment of breathless silence--while four pairs of eyes fixedthemselves upon the hall door, and as many pairs of ears strained tofollow the creak and clump of Big Tom's departure. The sound of hissteps died away. Another, and a longer, wait, and the door moved andrattled, that signal which marked the opening and shutting of the areadoor three flights below. The longshoreman was really gone. Cis laid herforehead against an arm of the wheel chair, and burst into tears,clinging to old Grandpa, and trembling, and frightening him intoweeping; whereupon Johnnie hurried to them, and alternately patted themcomfortingly, and Father Pat came to stand over the three.
"Dear! dear! dear!" exclaimed the priest. "But ain't I glad that I came,though! Shure, the big baboon was ugly! Ha-ha-a-a! And when he's likethat, faith, and how he throws the coconuts!"
That fetched the smiles, even from Cis. And, "Oh-ho! Here comes thesun!" cried the Father, beaming joyously at them all. "Shure, we've hadthe thunderstorm, and the air's clear, and so all the kittens dear cancome out o' their corners, and frisk a bit! Faith, I wasn't half as madas I sounded. No, I wasn't, old gentleman! (And what's that he's holdin'on to? Bless me soul, is it a doll?)" Then having taken up Letitia, andturned her about, and chuckled over her, and given her into Grandpa'soutstretched hands again, "It's only that our rampin' Mr. Barber," heexplained, "wouldn't understand me if I didn't give him a bit o' therough edge o' me tongue--no, nor respect me, neither! So I laid it on amite thick!--Oh, that man! Say, he'd sell the tears right out o' yereye! Yes, he would! He'd sell yer eyelashes t' make a broom for a fly!"
"Big Tom, he makes me awful 'fraid sometimes," confessed Johnnie. "Buthe makes Cis lots 'fraider, 'cause she's only a girl."
"A girl!" cried the Father. "And ye think bein' a girl is anny goodreason for bein' afraid? Faith, little friend, have ye not got hold o' awrong notion entirely about girls?" Then seeing that here was anopportunity to take the thoughts of these two harried ones away fromthemselves, "Children dear," he went on, "all this about girls who areafraid reminds me o' a certain story. 'Twas in Belgium it happened, afew years back, and in the city o' Brussels, which is the capital. Oh,'tis a grand and a sorrowful story! So! Come now!" He wheeled Grandpa toa place beside the morris chair, signed Cis to take the kitchen chair,helped Johnnie to a perch on the table, and sat again, the others drawnabout his red head like so many moths around a cheerful lamp.
It was just as the tale of Edith Cavell ended that, most opportunely,who should come stealing in but Mrs. Kukor, pushing the door open with aslippered foot, for each hand held a dish. The exciting events which hadtranspired in the Barber flat being common property up and down the areabuilding, naturally she knew them; also, leaned out of her own window,she had heard more than enough. The paleness of her round face told howanxious she was.
The priest stood up. "I'm Father Patrick Mungovan, at yer service,ma'am," he said, bowing gravely.
Mrs. Kukor first wiped both plump hands upon a black sateen apron. Thenshe extended one of them to the priest. "Glat to meet!" she declaredheartily. "Und glat you wass come!"
The Father shook hands warmly. "Shure, ma'am," he declared, "our twoyoung folks is likely not t' suffer for lookin' after from now on, I'mthinkin', what with our little League o' Nations."
Tears welled into Mrs. Kukor's black eyes. "Over Chonnie und Cis," shedeclared, "all times I wass full of love. _Only_"--she lifted a short,fat finger--"nefer I haf talk my Hebrew religions mit!"
Father Pat gave her another bow, and a gallant one. "Faith, Mrs. Kukor,"said he, "the good Lord I worship was a Hebrew lad from the hills o'Judea."
Next, Mrs. Kukor had a look at the roses, whose fragrance she inhaledwith many excited exclamations of delight. After that, there was icecream and raisin cake, enough for all. Every one served, the priest andMrs. Kukor were soon chatting away in the friendliest fashion.
It was then that a regrettable accident occurred. In spite of the factthat the ice cream was in a melting condition, and the cake deliciouslysoft and crumbling, one of those several dental bridges of the Father'ssuddenly became detached, as it were, from its moorings, and had to berolled up in one corner of a handkerchief and consigned to a pocket.Amid general condolences then, the priest explained that the happeningwas not wholly unexpected, since, in choosing a dentist, he had let hisheart, rather than his head, guide his selection, and had given the workto an old and struggling man whose methods were undoubtedly obsolete."But ye see," he concluded, "I knew at the time that the work would faroutlast the necessity for it, since I'll not be needin' anny teeth verylong"--a statement the full meaning of which fortunately escaped thecomprehension of his two young hearers. "But ye might say," he went on,"that neither the cake nor the cream have put a strain on that bridge,so I'll not be blamin' the dentist. For ye see, it's like this: whenI've somethin' betwixt me teeth that's substantial, the danger to thebridges is far less. It's when I've nothin' that I do them the mostdamage, havin' so much grip t' me jaws, and not annything t' work it outon."
Mrs. Kukor now rose to take her leave, explaining how it happened thatshe did not want to have Mr. Barber discover her there, since, if thelongshoreman were to decide that she was interfering in any way--toomuch--he might, she feared, remove his household to some other, anddistant, flat, where she could not be near the children--oy! oy! oy!
Father Pat gave her his address. "Some day," he declared, "ye might bewantin' t' send me a picture post card, in which case ye'd need t' knowwhere I live"--a remark which made Johnnie believe that the Father mustbe particularly fond of picture post cards! "But now and again, I'lldrop in t' see ye," promised the priest, "and t' have a cup o' koshertea! Shure, ma'am, in anny troublesome matter, two heads is better thanone, even if one has been gassed!"
Mrs. Kukor gone, Father Pat began to take thought of his own leaving.But first he set about cheering up his new, young friends, who weresubdued, to say the least, this in spite of the refreshments. "Now,shure, and there's things about this place which could be far, farworse," he asserted. "In this shady bit o' flat, ye're shut up, I grantit. But consider what ye're shut away from--ugly things, like fightin'and callin' names"--his argument being intended chiefly for Johnnie.
"And I don't mind about my old clothes," declared the latter stoutly."Anyhow, I don't mind 'cause they're raggy. All I'm sorry for is that myrags don't _fit_."
Afterward he concluded that there must have been something rathersensible about this remark of his--something calculated to win approval.For the Father suddenly reached out and took Johnnie into his arms, andgave him a bearish hug, and laughed, and wiped the green eyes (whichwere brimming), and laughed again, finally falling into a coughing fitthat sent Johnnie pell-mell for a cup of water and made Cis wait inconcern beside the morris chair.
The cough quieted soon, and again Father Pat was able to talk. "Did yeever hear another lad like him?" he inquired of no one in particular."Ah, God love him! He doesn't mind his rags, only he wishes that theyfit! Dear, dear, rich, little, poor boy!"
After he was gone, Johnnie and Cis sat in silence for a good while,their young hearts being too full, and their brains too busy, forspeech. But at last, "Oh, why didn't we ever know him before!" mournedCis. "He lives close by, and he's not afraid of _anything_!"
"He's my friend for life!" vowed Johnnie. "And, oh, Cis, this is who'slike Galahad!--not Mister Perkins at _all_! Mister Perkins is like--likeSir Percival, that's who _he's_ like. But Father Pat (don't y' _love_the name!) he could sit on the Per'lous Seat, y' betcher life!--Oh, if_only_ his hair wasn't red!"
When she had assured him that red was a most desirable color for hair,since it meant a splendid fighting spirit, he had to know all she couldtell him about priests, which was a good deal. "They can marry you, andthey can bury you," she began. "And they preach, and pray about ahundred times as much as anybody else, and that's one reason why he's sogood. If you've done anything wicked, though, you've got to tell apriest about it, and----"
"I'll tell him about the toothbrush," promised Johnnie. "I won't mindtellin' him, some way or other, anyhow, and it's bothered me, Cis, quitea lot--oh, yes, it has!"
Cis did not mind the Father's knowing about their bargain; provided,however, that she herself be allowed to tell Mr. Perkins. She feltbetter already in her conscience, she declared, and even sang as she setabout rearranging her roses. Each one of these she named with a girl'sname, Johnnie assisting; and the two were able, by the curl of a petal,or the number of leaves on a stem, or some other tiny sign, to tell Corafrom Alice, and Elaine from Blanchefleur, and the Princess Mary fromBuddir al Buddoor, as well as to recognize Rebecca, and Julia, andAnastasia, and Gertie, and June--and so on through a list that madelittle godmothers to the rosebuds out of Cis's favorite acquaintances atthe paper-box factory.
Big Tom had little to say when he returned, but that little was pleasantenough. When he went to bed, he left his door wide. Grandpa had beenallowed to stay beside the kitchen window, and there Cis brought a quiltand pillow, her own room being unbearably close and hot. As for Johnnie,quite openly and boldly he shouldered his roll of bedding and took it tothe roof! (For after what Father Pat had told them that day, could he,being a boy, fail to do the daring thing? Also, were they not now underthe protecting care of a red-headed fighter?)
Arrived on the roof, he did not lie down, but walked to and fro. Afar-off band was playing in the summer night, at some pier or in an openspace, and its music could be faintly heard. Children were shouting asthey returned from the Battery. The grind of street cars came in lowwaves, not unlike the rhythmic beat of the seas which he had never seen.He shut his ears to every sound. Eastward loomed up the iron network ofthe bridges, delicate and beautiful against the starlit sky. South, andnear by, clustered the masts of scores of ships. North and West werethe sky-piercing tops of the city's highest buildings. Sights as well assounds were softened and glorified by the night, and by distance. But hesaw--as he heard--nothing of what was around him. He felt himself liftedhigh above it all--away from it.
That was because his spirit was uplifted. Just as Big Tom, with hisharsh methods, his ignorance, his lack of sympathy and his surly tongue,could bring out any trait that was bad in him, and at the same timeplant a few that did not exist, just so could Father Pat, kindly, wise,gentle, gracious and manly, bring out every trait that was good. And fora while at least, the priest had downed and driven out every vestige ofhatred and bitterness and revenge from the boy's heart.
Johnnie did not even think of Barber, or what the longshoreman had donethat day. In his brain was a picture which thrilled and held him, if atthe same time it tortured him--a picture that he saw too keenly, andthat would not go away. It was of that brave Englishwoman, face to facewith her executioners.
What a story!
He shook his head over it, comparing it with _Treasure Island_ and allthe others, and wishing he had it written down, and marveling again overthe rare courage of its heroine. To be scolded and whipped was onething; it was quite another to be stood up against a wall in front of aline of guns. And he remembered that he--a boy--had not been able, thisvery day, to take even a strapping! What if he had been asked to acceptdeath?
How far away--yes, as if it were days and days ago!--seemed that orderof Big Tom's to go out and sell Cis's flowers! That was because thiswonderful, heart-moving tragedy of Edith Cavell's had happened inbetween! As the sky slowly became overcast, and the darkness deepened,he set himself to think the nurse there on the roof beside him--awhiteclad, slender figure.
He had done her a wrong in questioning the bravery of girls, and she haddied with her hands tied! "Oh, my!" he breathed apologetically to thepicture which his imagination made of her, "if I was only _half_ asbrave as you!"
He could keep her there before him not longer than a moment. Then shewavered and went, and he found himself standing beside his blanket roll.Though he covered his eyes to make his pretend more vivid, she would notreturn.
However, she was to come again one day--to come and sustain him in anhour of dreadful trial that was ahead, though now, mercifully, he didnot know it. And there was to be another story, just as thrilling, ifnot more so, which also would help him in that hour; and, later on,would carry him through darker ones.
With new visions in his brain, and new resolutions in his boy's heart,he took up the bedding bundle and went back to the flat. There he fellasleep in a room where seventeen pink rosebuds spread their perfume.