CHAPTER XV
Gus Briskow was waiting at the cashier's desk for his bill when thebustle of incoming guests told him that the morning train had arrived.Probably it had brought that "gentleman of importance" to whom themanager had referred. "To hell with people like that manager!" theTexan muttered. He would take his family back home and chance no morehumiliations like this. And to think that he had allowed that dancingmonkey to escape when he could have shot him as well as not!
Briskow's chain of thought was broken by a slap on the back that nearlydrove him through the cashier's window; then by a loud, cheerygreeting. The next moment he found himself actually embraced by--Guscould not believe his eyes--by Calvin Gray!
The latter's affectionate greeting, his frank delight at seeing theTexan, caused people in the lobby to center amused attention upon them,and induced those behind the desk to regard Briskow with new respect.
"Gus! You precious pirate! My, but I'm glad to see you! Ma and Allieare well, I know; they couldn't be otherwise here. Great place, isn'tit? Nothing in this country or Europe that compares with it, and I'vesent dozens of my friends here. I came north on business and couldn'tbear to go back without seeing you. Come! Give me a welcome, for I'vetraveled across three states to get here."
The two stood hand in hand. Gray beamed approvingly. Gus, too, wassmiling, but earnestly he said, "I'm right glad to see you, Mr. Gray,for we're in trouble."
"Trouble? What sort? Not illness?"
"No. We're leavin'--been throwed out."
The younger man's face sobered. "Don't joke!" he cried, sharply.
"I ain't joking. Feller insulted Allie and she throwed him out of awindow--"
"Exactly! It's in the morning paper."
"They don't seem to think it was reefined, so they--throwed _us_ out."
"Nonsense! Why, it is a corking story, and Allie was splendid--she gavethe championship to Herring, who deserved it, thereby delighting everygolfer on this side of the Atlantic. Jove! that girl is developing andI'm going to hug her--if there's no window handy! Throw you out? Why,there's some mistake, surely!"
Briskow shook his head; in greater detail he made known the facts. Whenhe had finished his halting recital Calvin Gray's face was flushed withanger, there was a dark frown between his eyes.
"We'll see!" he muttered. "Wait here--or go back and tell Ma tocommence unpacking." Then he was gone.
For perhaps ten minutes Gus waited nervously; he was amazed finally tosee Gray approaching arm in arm with the manager; both were laughing,the hotel man's face was radiant with good humor. To the departingguest he said, genially:
"You are not going to leave us, after all, Mr. Briskow. On thecontrary, we are going to keep you at the Notch as long as you'll stay.Stupid misunderstanding on my part, and I apologize. I'm going to askyou to move, but into a better suite--the very best one we have. Andthe rate will be the same. Come! What do you say?" When he was met by astammered protest, he insisted forcefully: "I sha'n't take 'no' for ananswer, my dear sir; we simply refuse to let you leave. The best wehave is yours, and I guarantee that you will be made comfortable."
"He offered to extend you the courtesies of the house--make you guestsof the hotel," Gray added, "but I knew you wouldn't accept."
"Dunno's I want to stay at all," Gus murmured, angrily. "We ain't nobetter'n we was a half hour ago."
"To be sure, but I've made you better known. You are too shy; youdidn't afford my friend here the pleasure of making your acquaintance,and I had to tell him the sort of person you really are. Serves youright, Gus, for being so exclusive. Gad! I think I'll give you a fewlessons in democracy. Now then, come along! I'm dying to see Ma."
As the father trotted down the hall beside his swiftly stridingdeliverer, he gasped, "How'd you do it?"
"Nothing simpler. I merely showed Mr. What's-his-name that he wasmaking an ass of himself. I've spent a fortune here; know the owners,too. Nice chap, that manager, but he has no business running a hotel,and I so informed him. He'll probably annoy you to death with hisattentions. He'll let you play 'shinny' in the halls if you want to.Now--wait!" The speaker laid a finger upon his lips; his eyes weredancing. He knocked sharply at the Briskow door and cried, "Baggageready, ma'am?"
There was a stir from within, the door was slowly opened by a bent,pathetic figure of grief.
"Ma!" Gray cried, and he held out his arms.
Perhaps it was his virile personality radiating confidence, security,or perhaps it was Gus Briskow's shining face that told the story;whatever the fact, Ma Briskow uttered a thin, broken wail, then walkedinto those open arms and laid her head upon Gray's breast. She clung tohim eagerly and the tears she had been blinking so hard to restrainflowed silently.
"Oh-n-h! We ain't goin'away!" she said. "We ain't--goin' away!"
"Of course not. Gus misunderstood. The manager merely wanted you tomove--into a larger, finer suite, and he is positively distressed atthe thought of your leaving. The poor man is dashing about collectingan armful of roses for you and Allie. He wants to come in person andapologize."
There was another sound and Gray looked up to see Allie standing in thedoorway to her bedroom; with one hand she clutched the jamb, the otherwas pressed to her bosom; she was staring at him as at an apparition.The girl was quite colorless, there was a look almost of fright in hereyes, and when he came toward her she swayed weakly. Her hands, when hetook them, were icy; it shocked him to see how worn, how weary she hadgrown.
It was several hours later. In the parlor of the new suite, a spacious,sunny room, fragrant with flowers and cheerful with brilliantcretonnes, Gray and Briskow were talking. Allie and her mother could beseen in their bedrooms putting away the last of their belongings.Gray's eyes had been drawn, at frequent intervals, to the youngerwoman, for the change in her became the more amazing the more heobserved her, and he was still striving to reconcile this creature tothe picture he had held in his mind. In a few months Allie had becomealmost a stranger to him. It was a marked and yet a subtle change thathad come over her; she was anything but a polished young woman, ofcourse; nevertheless she had been modified, toned down, vastlyimproved, and not until her first queer emotion at seeing him haddisappeared was the full extent of that improvement manifest to thenewcomer. He wondered why she had acted so oddly at first; surely shedid not fear him. No, Allie's face at this moment was alight withsupreme joy and satisfaction; she appeared to be quite as happily ather ease as Ma, who was singing steadily in a thin, rusty voice.
Gray sent the father away on some pretext, finally; then he called toAllie: "Come in here and talk to me. I am a guest and I demandentertainment." He observed with silent approval her carriage as sheentered the room and accepted the chair he offered her. Faint trace ofthe nester's daughter here. "I want a good chance to look at you."
Allie colored faintly. "I guess I'm not much to look at."
"Hm-m! You don't in the least resemble that girl I found hoeing in thegarden. You are terribly thin."
"Spinach!" said Allie.
"Dieting, eh?"
"Yes. Spinach and water and a rubber suit. Sometimes I have a party andeat a whole soda cracker."
"It isn't too high a price to pay for beauty--beauty, 'the fadingrainbow's pride.' We men should thank Heaven for women's courage inpursuing it. It is all that makes this world an attractive dwellingplace for nice people."
"Sometimes I think it's kind of wicked to spend so much time and moneythat way, but--I guess it's all right. I want to look as good as otherpeople."
"I'm in a mood for quotations. 'Is beauty vain because it will fade?Then are earth's green robe and heaven's light vain.' Pride, evenvanity, is less of a vice than slovenliness, my dear. Now then, do youlike Mrs. Ring?"
Allie nodded. "I like her, but--I hate her. She makes me feel awful madbecause she can't understand that I ain't--I am not mad at her, but atmyself. I don't hardly know how to explain it. If I was her I'd hateme, like I do."
"Would you like to have her remain?"
"Oh, I would! She knows everything, and she makes me learn. But shewon't stay. I just found out that she's been quitting every few weeks,and Pa's been raising her wages. No, the disgrace, and our being thrownout--"
"My dear girl, let me assure you, once for all, there is no suggestionof disgrace about this affair. You behaved with spirit, and those whohave heard about it admire you. I have talked with a number of them,and I know. I had a talk with Mrs. Ring also, and she will remain ifyou wish her to do so."
"You're a--a good man, ain't--"
"Aren't!"
"--aren't you, Mr. Gray? You fix everything."
"Not a good, but a convenient man. My specialty is making things easierfor my friends."
"Are these other folks, these rich ones around the hotel, like you?"
"Oh, much nicer than I!" Gray laughed. "You must meet some of them."
Allie's face whitened at this suggestion. "Please, sir--I'm scared!"
"Very well. As you wish. Tell me, what are you going to do with me thisafternoon?"
"I dunno!" Allie looked blank. "I don't do anything but study. I s'poseI got to study."
"Nothing of the sort. You have circles under your eyes now fromoverwork, and this is your vacation. I am a visitor, a restlessvisitor; I abhor being asked to make myself at home, and I never do. Idemand amusement. Do you know what I'd like to do best of all?" Alliedid not know. "I'd like to sit here and smoke while you show me allyour pretty dresses. Ah! Those dark eyes brighten. You're dying to showthem to me, aren't you?"
"_Would_ you? Honest?"
"Cross my heart. But remember, I have a color sense and I'm not easilypleased. I'll probably condemn some of them."
Allie breathed deeply. "Oh, Gee!" she said.
"Run along and try them on, then I'll borrow a pair of puttees andwe'll go for a ride."
For the next two hours Allegheny Briskow was in heaven. Never had shedreamed of anything like this. To have Calvin Gray alone, all toherself--Ma, as usual, had disappeared--and to discuss with himexciting questions of dress and good taste that she could not discusswith her own people; to meet his occasional hearty approval--well, itwas enough to make a girl drunk with happiness. Gowns that he likedbecame precious; she hated those that he condemned. Her fingers grewclumsy with haste, her cheeks burned. He said she wore her clotheswell, that she carried herself well. He approved of her--liked her! Godabove! And to think that she had contemplated suicide! Of course shewas pitifully ignorant as yet, and she had not even learned to talk ashe talked, but there were books. She would study. Oh, the fury withwhich she would apply herself after this! She would beat the contentsof those books into her head with her fists, if necessary; she wouldshow him how fast she could learn; she would astonish him. Her heartsang at the thought that she was rich--richer than he. That wouldcount, too, for men liked money.
"Where is Ma?" Gray inquired, when the last gown had been paraded andwhen Allie appeared in her riding suit.
"Out with the fairies, I suppose. She won't tell Pa or me where shegoes or what she does--says it's all foolishness."
"Perhaps she will tell me, for I believe in fairies," Gray said,seriously.
Allie smiled at him. "I reckon she will. Folks tell you 'most anythingyou want them to, I reckon."
This was the busiest hour of the afternoon. Gray had purposely orderedthe horses sent around at a time when he knew that the veranda, thewalks, and the tennis courts would be filled, for ever since hisinterview with the hotel manager a plan had been shaping in his mindand already he had dropped a few words, a hint or two here and there,that were calculated to stimulate interest in Allie Briskow.
It gratified his craving for the theatric now to lead the girl outbefore so many curious eyes. For himself, he knew that he commandedattention, and as he noted the lines of this young Juno he could findnothing in her that needed betterment. Allie's suit was the latest,smartest thing in riding habits, and it set off her magnificent figureas nothing else could. Systematic exercise and hard work, like thefinal touch of a skilled sculptor, had given it beauty and refinement;harmony and proportion had destroyed the impression of unusual size.How deep was her bosom, how smooth and flowing were her curves, howsuperbly tall she was! As a thing of flesh and blood, she made theseother women look like females of an insignificant race.
It thrilled him pleasantly to observe the confidence with which sheswung herself into the saddle and the instant mastery she exercisedover her restless mount. No timidity there, no need of assistance; noabsurd, hampering skirts and artificial posture, either, but a seatastride as befits anyone who chooses to honor the king of four-footedcreatures.
Under cover, Gray noted Allie's effect upon her attentive audience, andhe smiled. If only he could spend a few days here he would make her awoman to be sought after by some of the best people. She refused tomeet them, eh? Well, that would be as it was to be.
"We've been having supper in our rooms lately," she told him, when theyreturned at dark. "You're going to eat with us, ain--aren't you?"
"I am, to be sure. But not in your rooms," he declared.
"I'd rather--"
"You'd rather do exactly what would please me, now wouldn't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then run along and put on that dinner dress that I liked best. Andtell Ma to look her prettiest, too. We'll not spoil this day."
It was seven-thirty when Gray, in evening clothes, appeared at theBriskow suite. Allie told herself there had never been a man sohandsome, so distinguished, so Godlike as he. God, she now felt sure,must wear full dress.
Gus Briskow beamed as the visitor smiled approvingly at his daughter."She is purty, ain't she? Don't look much like the girl I sent toDallas for fixin's."
"Allie is more then pretty, she's regal. 'Such another peerless queenonly could her mirror show.' But--her head is turned already, Gus.Don't spoil her." The speaker stood with arms folded and head loweredwhile he studied the girl impersonally. Allie wore an expensive blacklace dress, sleeveless and sufficiently low of neck to display hercharms. "Plain! A little too somber," Gray declared. "She can affordcolors, ornaments. Jove! I'd like some time to see her in somethingOriental, something barbaric. The next time I'm in New York I'll selecta gown--"
Ma Briskow entered at the moment, greatly flustered and extremelyself-conscious, and here, certainly, was no lack of ornamentation or ofcolor. Ma wore all her jewelry, and her dress was an elaborate creationof brilliant jade green, from one shoulder of which depended a filmystreamer of green chiffon. In her desire to gild the lily she hadknotted a Roman scarf about her waist--a scarf of many colors, of red,of yellow, of purple, of blue, of orange--a very spectrum of vividstripes, and it utterly ruined her. It lent her an air of extremesuperfluity; it was as if she had put on everything except thebedspread.
"You said to look my nicest," she bubbled, "so I done the best I could."
"You _are_ lovely, both of you, but--this is my party, isn't it? I cando anything I please?" Gray looked from one to the other in eagerinquiry. "Then let me fix you my way. Ma Briskow, your face is toosweet, too gentle, to be spoiled. Your charm is in your simplicity.Here, I have it!"
With swift impetuosity he untied the scarf and whipped it from Ma'swaist. "Watch me now and you'll see I'm right." With his penknife hecut the threads that held the chiffon streamer in place and removed it."_Voila_! Even so little, and we see an adorable motherly person,richly but unostentatiously gowned. Don't you agree with me?"
Without pausing for an answer, he wheeled upon the daughter and drewher into the range of a pier glass. "Now close your eyes and keep themclosed." Around Allie's hips he flung the scarf, drew it snug andsmooth, then knotted it. Next he snatched the length of chiffon andbound it about her head. His touch was deft and certain; a moment andit had been fashioned to suit him. Then he stood back and eyed the_tout ensemble._
"Gorgeous!" he cried, genuinely enthusiastic. "That was the touch. Idefy any costumer to better it. Open your eyes, oh, gypsy princess! Andwhat do you see
?"
"It--it sort of makes a difference, doesn't it?" Allie said. "'A_difference'!_" Gray flung aloft his hands in exaggerated despair."Heaven help me! I am inspired; I have a flash of genius, a divineimpulse, and with a magic pass I work a miracle. I transform you fromsomething somber, dark, morose, into a creature of life, of passion, ofallurement." He groaned. "And you stand there like a stalagmite. Why,girl, _look_ at yourself!"
"Darned if she don't look like a pitcher I seen som'er's--on analmanac," Gus declared.
"Aha! A man with a soul! A human being who sees beauty where I see it.An artist with my fire!" Gray burst into infectious laughter, and theothers joined him.
This proved to be an evening when people really did turn their heads asthe Briskows were shown to their table, but for once Allie suffered noembarrassment, for she felt sure they were looking at Calvin Gray, andin the shining glory of his presence she knew that she and her parentswere invisible.
It was the sort of situation in which Gray appeared to best advantage,so he talked incessantly during the meal, and in a key that kept hiscompanions unconscious of their surroundings. On their way out theypassed the entrance to the ballroom and paused to look in. The beat ofthe music swayed Allie unconsciously; then, before she knew it, Gray'sarm was around her waist and he was guiding her out upon the floor.
"Oh, n-no!" she gasped. She stumbled, but he drew her closer, saying:
"I'm proud of you, and I want you to show these people that you danceeven better than you ride."
Allie rose to the challenge.
About midnight Calvin Gray strolled outdoors for a breath of fresh airbefore retiring. He glowed with the consciousness of a worthy deed welldone. He had come to the Notch expecting to spend one night, but eventsof the last few hours had induced him to change his plans, and he nowmade up his mind to stay several days. He was burning to be back in theoil fields, to be sure; every hour away from them was an hour wasted,and although he told himself it was his feud that drew him, he knewbetter. As a matter of fact, when he thought of Texas it was of WichitaFalls, and when he visualized the latter place it was to picture acottage with the paint off or a small office with the sign, "Tom andBob Parker, Real Estate and Insurance."
He had been eagerly, selfishly, counting the hours until his return,but here, it seemed, was work to be done, a task that he alone couldaccomplish, and his decision to remain had been made final when AllieBriskow told him with tremulous earnestness that he had saved herlife--when she confessed that she had intended to kill herself, and why.
Naturally Gray had put no faith in that wild declaration, neverthelessit was plain that the girl--that all three Briskows--needed a friend toguide them. He sighed with resignation, but reflected that, inasmuch ashe had put his hand to the plow, he must turn the furrow. After all, hecould well afford to spare a week to put that girl on the road tohappiness.