CHAPTER XIX An Interview with a Client
As the boys had calculated, they reached Cloverfield well after dark. Indiscussing it at noontime, they agreed not to pause for an evening meal,but to push on and get home as soon as possible. Accordingly, they keptup a fast pace, and had it not been for frequent detours aroundsnow-covered places and logs, they would have made it by early darkness.But as it was, they did well and saw the lights of their home citybefore them at 7:30 o'clock. By eight they had reached their homes, andBarry went in after a few final words with Kent. The light and warmthstruck him pleasantly as he stepped in the door.
His mother and sister were in the kitchen washing and drying dishes, andhis father was just coming up from the cellar, where he had been puttingmore coal on the furnace. They heard his footsteps along the hall andgreeted him eagerly.
"We didn't know whether you would get in tonight or tomorrow," hismother said, as she kissed him.
"Did you have your supper?" Pearl asked. "I'll get you some if youdidn't."
"I haven't had any, Pearl, and I'll tell Mac what a nice girl you are ifyou'll get me some," Barry answered, with a grin.
"Oh, get out!" Pearl retorted, her cheeks flushing. "If you keep ontalking that way, I won't do anything for you!"
"I got your letter, son," Mr. Garrison told him. "So you moved into thelodge when you found that someone had been upstairs in the place. Haveany luck? Did you see anything?"
"The only luck we had was bad luck," Barry replied, as he took off hiscoat and hat and hung his skates in the cellar-way. "We saw the spookand thought we had him bottled up, but he got away."
"What!" cried his father, in genuine astonishment. His mother looked onin surprise, and Pearl turned from the ice box to glance at him.
"Oh, Barry! What did he look like?"
"He looked just like a man, but we didn't see his face," her brotherinformed her, as he washed his hands. "I'll tell you all about it whileI eat."
They were all so eager to hear his story that all three of them fell towaiting on him, and while he ate he told them the complete story of theblack shadow who had made the thumps and knocks. His father listenedwith puckered brow and leaned forward on the kitchen table in hiseagerness.
"I'm glad you and Kent weren't lost in that storm," his mother said,looking fondly at her clean-cut, vigorous son.
"My goodness, I would have been scared to death if I had seen thatfigure run along the side of the lodge!" Pearl declared.
"Barry, I think Mrs. Morganson ought to hear that story," Mr. Garrisonremarked. "Feel like going over to her house tonight?"
"Of course, Dad, if you give me time to clean up a bit. I'm stilldressed as a camper, you know."
"That won't bother Mrs. Morganson, but I agree that you ought at leastto change your shirt. You do that as soon as you have finished, and I'lltelephone her and ask if we may come over."
Barry nodded his agreement, and his father was soon talking to hisclient over the wire. In a few moments he came back, putting on hisovercoat as he came.
"She says she'll be glad to see us," he said. "I'll get the car out, andwe'll go over as soon as you are ready."
Barry rose from the table. "I'll be with you in a couple of shakes,Dad." He raced up the front stairs and before long was running down themagain, with a clean shirt and his hair neatly combed. "Did Dad come in?"he asked his mother.
"No, he's out front, sitting in the car and waiting for you," she said."He had faith in you when you said you'd only be a couple of shakes. Heseemed to know what a shake is."
"Just two shakes of a lamb's tail, Mother. Is that all the time I took?"
"Yes, if the lambs shook them pretty slowly," Mrs. Garrison smiled.
Barry trotted down the walk and got into the car. "All right, Dad, hereI am."
Mrs. Morganson lived on the other side of Cloverfield, and after drivingseveral blocks Mr. Garrison brought the car to a stop in front of a fineold white house that stood back among some magnificent trees. As theyopened the door to get out of the car, the front door of the big houseopened, and a man came down the steps and approached them. As thelamplight revealed him, Mr. Garrison murmured his name.
"Brand Curry! I wonder.... Good-evening, Mr. Curry."
The rather chunky individual merely grunted and gave a short nod. Heseemed out of humor and would have passed on, but Barry's father hailedhim.
"Just a moment, Mr. Curry. Have you been in to see Mrs. Morganson aboutthe Bluff Lodge proposition again?"
Curry swung around and faced him abruptly. "It is none of your businesswhat I went to see Mrs. Morganson about, Mr. Garrison."
"I'm glad to hear that," the lawyer returned evenly. "If it was aboutthat hunting lodge, it is my business. But if you weren't talking aboutthat, it wasn't."
"I did go see Mrs. Morganson," the man admitted defiantly.
"Well, that's just what I thought, Mr. Curry. Why don't you come to me?I am her representative, and she is not to be bothered with the details.Why is it that you don't come to me?"
"Mr. Garrison, this is a free country, and I go where I like. I preferto deal directly with Mrs. Morganson, that is all."
"Is it because you have no confidence in me, Mr. Curry?" Barry's fatherasked.
"I have my reasons, Mr. Garrison, and I will keep them to myself. Goodnight!"
Mr. Curry walked away with dignity, and Mr. Garrison shook his head inperplexity. "He's a hard man to deal with, and he never has been willingto talk over this particular deal with me. He didn't act very happy, didhe?"
"No," Barry chuckled. "Maybe Mrs. Morganson told him to go and see you."
"We'll soon know," said Mr. Garrison, leading the way into the house. Athis knock a servant let them in and showed them to a small privatelibrary where Mrs. Morganson was reading. She welcomed them withkindness, and they sat close to a grate fire as they talked.
"As I told you over the phone, Mrs. Morganson, my son has something ofimportance to tell you concerning Bluff Lodge," Mr. Garrison began. "Heand three of his friends have been camping up on Arrowtip, and helearned some interesting things. The last two days that they were at thelake, they camped in the lodge itself."
Mrs. Morganson looked with interest at Barry, and her words were adistinct surprise. "I know that he and his friends have been camping inthe lodge," she said. "Mr. Brand Curry has just been here to protestabout it!"