CHAPTER XXIX
REVOLT
"'TAKE two cupfuls of milk,'" read Johnnie, who was bent over his newestpossession, a paper-covered cookbook presented him only that morning byhis good friend overhead; "'three tablespoonfuls of sugar, one-halfsaltspoonful of salt' (only, not havin' a saltspoon, I'll just put in apinch), 'one-half teaspoonful of vanilla' (and I wonder what vanilla is,and maybe I better ask Mrs. Kukor, but if she hasn't got any, can Ileave vanilla out?), 'the yolks of three eggs'--" Here he stopped. "ButI haven't got any eggs!" he sighed. And once more began turning thepages devoted to desserts.
This sudden interest in new dishes had nothing whatever to do with theMerit Badge for Cooking. The fact was, he was about to make a pudding;and the pudding was to be made solely for the purpose of pleasing thepalate of Mr. Tom Barber.
Johnnie had on his scout uniform. And it was remarkable what thatuniform always did for him in the matter of changing his feelings towardthe longshoreman. The big, old, ragged clothes on, the boy might be gladto see Barber go for the day, and even harbor a little of his formerhate for him; but the scout clothes once donned, their very snugnessseemed to straighten out his thoughts as well as his spine, the formerbeing uplifted, so to speak, along with Johnnie's chin! Yes, even thebuttons of the khaki coat, each embossed with the design of the scoutbadge, helped him to that state of mind which Cis described as "goodturny." Now as he scanned the pages of the cookbook, those two upperbellows pockets of his beloved coat (his father's medal was in the leftone) heaved up and down proudfully at the mere thought of to-day's gooddeed.
He began to chant another recipe: "'One pint of milk, threetablespoonfuls of sugar, two heapin' tablespoonfuls of cornstarch'----"
Another halt. The cupboard boasted no cornstarch. Nor was there gelatinein stock, with which to make a gay-colored, wobbly jelly. As for prunesouffle, he could make that easily enough. But--the longshoreman did notwant to lay eyes on another prune souffle before Washington's Birthday,at least, and the natal anniversary of the Father of His Country wasstill a long way off.
Apple fritters, then? But they took apples. And brown betty had theboldness to demand molasses on top of apples!
He turned more pages.
Then he found his recipe. He knew that the moment his eye caught thename--"poor man's pudding." He bustled about, washing some rice, thenmaking the fire. All the while he hummed softly. He was especially happythese days, for only the week before he had been visited by his UncleAlbert, looking a trifle changed after these five years, but still thekindly, cheerful Uncle Albert of the old days in the rich man's garage.
He fell to talking aloud. "I got milk," he said, "and I got salt, andsugar, and the rinds o' some oranges. They're dry, but if I scrape 'eminto the puddin', Mrs. Kukor says they'll make it taste fine! I'll giveMister Barber a bowl t' eat it out of. My! how he'll smack!"
At this point, the wide, old boards of the floor gave a telltale snap.It was behind him, and so loud that it shattered his vision of Big Tomand the pudding bowl. Some one was in the room! Father Pat? Mrs. Kukor?One-Eye?
He turned a smiling face.
What he saw made him even forget that he had on the beloved scout suit.In the first shock, he wondered how they could have come up and inwithout his hearing them; and, second, if he was just thinking one ofhis thinks, and had himself lured these two familiar shapes into thekitchen. For there, in arm's length of him, standing face to face,were--Big Tom and Cis.
They were real. In the next breath, Johnnie knew it. No think of hiswould show them to him looking as they now looked. For Barber's heavy,dark countenance was working as he chewed on nothing ferociously; whileCis--in all the past five years Johnnie had never before seen her faceas it was now. It was set and drawn, and a raging white, so that theblue veins stood out in a clear pattern on her temples. Her hat hungdown grotesquely at one side of her head. Her hair was in wild disarray.And her eyes! They were a blazing black!
What had happened?
"Let go of me!" Cis demanded, in a voice that was not hers at all.Barber had hold of her arm. With a sudden twist she freed herself.
"Here!" Her stepfather seized her again, and jerked her to a placebeside him. "And none o' y'r loud talk, d' y' understand?"
"Yes, I understand!" she answered defiantly, yet without lowering hervoice. "But I don't care what you want! I'll speak the way I want to!I'll yell--Ee-e-e----"
But even as she began the shriek, one of his great hands grasped thewhole lower half of her face, covering it, and stopping the cry.
The next moment she was gasping and struggling as she fought his hold.She tried to pull backward. She dragged at his hand as she circled him.
It was a strange contest, so quiet, yet so fierce. It was not likesomething that Johnnie was really seeing: it was like one of thosethinks of his--a terrible one. Bewildered, fascinated, paralyzed, hewatched, and the matches dropped, scattering, from his hands.
The contest was pitifully unequal. All at once the girl's strength gaveout. Her knees bent under her. She swayed toward Big Tom, and would havefallen if he had not held her up--by that hand over her mouth as well asby the grasp he had kept on her elbow. Now those huge, tonglike arms ofhis caught her clear of the floor and half threw, half dropped, her uponthe kitchen chair.
"You set there!" commanded Barber.
Too spent for speech, but still determined not to obey him, Cis tried toleave the chair, and drew herself partly up by grasping the table. Butshe could not stand, and sank back. At one corner of her mouth showed atrickle of blood, like a scarlet thread.
The sight of it brought Johnnie to her in an agony of concern. "Oh,Cis!" he implored.
With one flail-like swing of a great arm, Barber swept the boy aside."Stay where y' are!" he said to Cis (he did not even look at Johnnie).Then he crossed to the hall door, which was shut, and deliberatelybolted it. The clash between him and Cis had been so quiet that Grandpahad not even been wakened. Now Barber went to the wheel chair, andgently, slowly, began to trundle it toward the bedroom. "Time t' go t's'eep, Pa," he said coaxingly. "Yes, time for old man t' gos'eepy-s'eepy." When the chair was across the sill, he closed the doorupon it.
Meanwhile, Johnnie had again moved nearer to Cis. Now was his chance toget away in his uniform and change into his old clothes; to gather uphis old, big shirt and trousers from where they lay on the morrischair, unbolt the door, and make for that flight of stairs leading up tothe roof. But--he did not even think of going, of leaving her when sheneeded him so. He wanted to help her, to comfort. "Oh, Cis!" hewhispered again.
She seemed not to hear him, and she did not turn her burning eyes hisway. Breathing hard, and sobbing with anger under her breath, she staredat Barber. Her lip was swelling. Her face was crimson from her fight.Drops of perspiration glistened on her forehead.
Barber's underlip was thrust out as he came back to her. "Y' ain't gotthe decency t' be quiet!" he charged, "in front o' that poor old man!"
Now she had breath to answer. She straightened in her chair, and met himwith a boldness odd when coming from her. "Grandpa isn't the only personin this flat to be considered," she returned.
"Jus' the same"--Big Tom shook a finger in her face--"he's the _first_one that's goin' t' be considered!"
"Johnnie and I have _our_ rights!" she cried.
As she spoke his name, Johnnie's heart leaped so that it chokedhim--with gratitude, and love, and admiration.
"Never mind y'r rights!" the longshoreman counseled. "I begin t' seethrough you! Y're a little sneak, that's what y' are! Look at the crazyway y're actin', and I thought y' was a quiet girl! Y' been pretty cuteabout hidin' what y're up to!"
"Hiding!" she answered, resentful. "What do I have to hide from _you_?What I do is none of _your_ business! I'm not a relation of yours! andI'm seventeen! And from now on----"
"Oh, drop that!" interrupted Barber. "Y' waste y'r breath!" Then withanother shake of the finger, "What I want t' know--and the truth, mindy'!--is how long has this been goin' o
n?" He leaned on the table topeer into her eyes.
Going on? Johnnie's look darted from one to the other. Had Cis beenstaying away from the factory? Had she been taking some of her earningsto see a moving-picture? or----
"I don't have to tell you!" Cis declared.
"I'm the man that feeds y'!" Barber reminded. "Jus' remember _that_!"
"You've taken my earnings," she returned. "You've taken every cent I'veever got for my work! And don't you forget _that_!"
"Ev'ry girl brings home her wages," answered the longshoreman. "Anddon't y' forgit that I fed y' many a year before y' was _able_ t'work----"
"While my mother was living, she earned my food!" Cis cried. "And _I've_worked, just as Johnnie has, ever since I was a baby!"
"Have y'? Bosh! Y' been a big expense t' me, that's what y' been, forall these past ten years! And now, jus' when y're old enough t' beginpayin' me back a little, here y' go t' actin' up! Well, you was left inmy hands. I'm only stepfather to y'. All right. But I'm goin' t' seethat y' behave y'rself."
"You've got nothing to say about me!" she persisted.
"No? I'll show y'! But what I want t' know now is, how many times haveyou met this dude at the noon hour?"
Then Johnnie understood what had happened.
"Ha-a-a-a!" Cis threw back her head with a taunting laugh. "Dude! Sohe's a dude, is he? But I notice, _big_ as you are, that you didn't letMr. Perkins know you'd been watching us! You didn't come up to the benchand speak to _him_! No! You waited till he was gone! You were only braveenough to do your talking in front of a lot of girls! Ha-a-a-a!" Thenher anger mounting, "_You_ talk about sneaking! That's because _you've_sneaked and followed us!"
"Y're too young t' have any whipper-snapper trailin' 'round withy'--noons, 'r any other time," declared Barber.
"My mother married when she was seventeen!" retorted Cis.
"It'll be time enough for y' t' be thinkin' o' beaus when y're twenty,"went on Big Tom, quietly.
She stood up. "You hate to see anybody happy, don't you?" she askedscornfully. "You're afraid maybe Mr. Perkins will like me, and want meto marry him, and give me a good home!"
"You can put that Perkins out o' y'r head," commanded the longshoreman."When y're old enough, o' course, y're goin' t' marry; but I plan t'have y' marry a _man_."
"Mr. Perkins is a man," she answered, not cowed or frightened in theleast.
"Not _my_ notion o' a man," said Big Tom.
"I like him all the better for that!" she returned--an answer whichstung and angered him anew, for he caught her roughly once more andhurled her back into her chair.
She stayed there for a moment, panting. Then, "I'm going to marry Mr.Perkins," she told him. "To-morrow--_if I live_!"
"T'morrow!" He shouted the word. "What're y' _talkin'_ about? I'll_kill_ y' first! I'll----"
"Oh, don't!" As Barber reached to seize Cis again, Johnnie dragged athis sleeve.
But the longshoreman did not notice him. It was Cis who cried out toJohnnie, still defying Big Tom. "Oh, let him do what he wants!" shesaid. "Because he won't have a chance even to speak to me after to-day!Let him! Let him!"
Barber shook her, and stepped back. "After t'-day," he told her, "y'llwork right here at home!"
"Home! _Home!_" She laughed wildly. "Do you call _this_ a home?"
"I'll see that y' behave y'rself!" he vowed.
"You'd better see that you behave _yourself_!" she retorted. "BecauseJohnnie doesn't belong to you--you haven't any rights over him! And he'sgone once, and he'll go again--after I go! And I'm going the minute Ican stand on my feet! I've stayed here long enough! Then you can try italone for a change!"
"Oh, _can_ I?"
"I'll never do another thing for you!" she went on; "--in this flat orout! No, not in all the rest of my life! Oh, I'm not like Johnnie! Ican't pretend it's beautiful when it's awful! and imagine good clothes,and decent food, and have my friends driven away, and insulted! I won'tstand it! I know what's wrong! I see things the way they are! And I'mnot going to put up with them! No girl could bear what you ask me tobear! This flat! My room! The way I have to work--at the factory, andthen here, too! And no butter! No fruit! And the mean snarling,snarling, snarling! And never a cent for myself!"
It had all come pouring out, her voice high, almost hysterical. And ifit surprised Johnnie, who had never before seen Cis other than quiet andgentle and sweet, modest, wistful and shrinking, it appalled Barber.Those eyes of his bulged still more. His great mouth stood wide open.
Presently, he straightened and looked up and around. "Well, I guess Isee what's got t' be done," he remarked casually.
The strap--it was Johnnie's first thought; Barber was getting ready towhip Cis! Never before had the boy seen her threatened, and the mereidea was beyond his enduring. "Oh, Mister Barber!" he protested. "Oh,what y' goin' t' do?"
For an answer, the longshoreman swung a big arm over his own head andgave such a mighty pull at the clothesline that it came loose from itsfastening at either end.
"Cis! He'll kill y'!" cried the boy, suddenly terror-stricken.
Girls could be brave! Father Pat had said it, and Edith Cavell hadproved it. Cis was proving it, too! For now she rose once more, andthough she was trembling, it was only with anger, not with fear. "He cankill me if he wants to!" she cried defiantly. "But he can't make me mindhim, and he can't make me stay in this flat!"
Then Johnnie knew what he must do: bear himself like the scout he was sosoon to be. Also, was he not the son of his father? And his father hadbeen braver than any scout. So he himself must be extra brave. He flunghimself against Barber, and clung to him, his arms wound round onemassive leg. "Oh, Mister Barber!" he entreated. "Don't hurt Cis! Lickme! Lick me!"
But Barber could not be easily diverted from his plan. "You git out o'my way!" he ordered fiercely. A heave of one big leg, and he slung theboy to one side--without even turning to look at him as he fell. Thenagain he turned to Cis.
"You keep your hands off of me!" she warned. "If you touch me, you'll besorry!--Oh, I hate you! I hate you! _I hate you!_"
Barber laughed. "So y' hate me, do y'?" he demanded. "And y' ain't goin't' stay one more night! Well, maybe y'll change y'r mind! Ha! ha! ha!ha! ha!" Then suddenly his look hardened. With a grunt of rage, rope inhand, he swooped down upon her.
"You brute! You brute!"
It was not till then that Johnnie understood what Big Tom meant to do.Crying out to him, "Oh, y' mustn't! Y' mustn't!" he rushed across tocatch at the rope, and clung to it with all his might.
Barber caught him up, and once more he threw him--so that Johnnie strucka wall, and lay for a moment, half stunned. Meanwhile, with his otherhand, the longshoreman thrust Cis down into her chair. Then growling ashe worked, he wound her in the rope as in the coils of a serpent, andbound her, body, ankles, and arms, to the kitchen table.
Johnnie came crawling back, bruised, but scarcely knowing it; thinkingonly of Cis, of saving her from pain and indignity. "No, Mister Barber!"he pleaded. "Not Cis, Mister Barber! Please! It's all my fault! Ifetched Mister Perkins here! I did! So blame me!"
Barber straightened. He was breathing hard, but there was a satisfiedshine in his bloodshot eyes. "All right, Mister Johnnie," he answered.His voice was almost playful, but still he did not look at the boy."It's y'r fault, is it? Well, I guess maybe it jus' about is! So y'needn't t' worry! I'll attend t' y'--_no mistake_!"