CHAPTER III
REGGIE TURNS UP
If Joe had counted upon producing a surprise, his success surpassed hiswildest expectations.
At first there was a second of paralyzed silence. Then there was a wildhubbub of delighted cries, as four figures started up from the tableand launched themselves upon the stalwart figure that stood framed inthe doorway.
"Joe!" "Mabel!" "Clara!" "Momsey!" "Dad!" "Jim!" The names were repeatedin quick succession and were punctuated with hugs and kisses.
In a moment Joe had his right arm around Mabel, his left about hismother, while Clara had thrown her arms about his neck and his fatherwas attempting to get hold of one of his hands. There was no doubt ofthe warmth of that welcome.
THERE WAS NO DOUBT OF THE WARMTH OF THAT WELCOME.]
Nor was Jim left out in the cold. Joe naturally had the center of thestage, but after the first rapturous greeting had passed, they all madeJim feel how delighted they were that he had come along with Joe. InClara's eyes especially there was a look that Jim hoped he read aright.Her flushed and sparkling face was alive with happiness that might notbe due altogether to the return of her brother, dearly as she loved him.
For a few minutes questions and answers followed close on each other'sheels, and it was Mrs. Matson at last who suggested that probably theboys were hungry. They agreed with her emphatically that they were. Thegirls flew about, and in a short time fresh coffee and hot biscuits andbacon and eggs were set before them in tempting profusion. Then whilethey ate like famished wolves, the others, who had been just finishingbreakfast when they burst in upon them, sat about the table and talkedand laughed and beamed to their hearts' content. Perhaps in all thebroad land there was no happier group than was gathered about thattable in the little town of Riverside.
"You ought to have telegraphed that you were coming, Joe," said Mrs.Matson. "Then we could have had a good breakfast ready for you."
"What do you call this?" laughed Joe, as he helped himself to anotherbiscuit, watching at the same time the bewitching way in which Mabelwas pouring him another cup of coffee. "There couldn't be anythingbetter than this this side of kingdom come."
"You're right there, old man," observed Jim, his own appetite keepingpace with that of his chum.
"Seems to me, Joe, that your clothes look a little seedy this morning,"Clara remarked, with a sister's frankness, during a moment's pausein the conversation. "The last time you came home you looked like afashion plate. But now your shirt front is wrinkled, your collar iswilted, and the colors in your necktie have run together. Looks asthough you'd got wet through and hadn't dried out yet."
"Perhaps they've been in the river," laughed Mabel gaily, littlethinking how near she came to hitting the nail on the head.
Mrs. Matson's motherly heart was quick to take alarm.
"What's that?" she asked. "Nothing really has happened to you, has it,Joe?" she inquired, looking anxiously at her son, who after one glareat the sister who had precipitated the topic, was trying to assume anair of nonchalance.
But this direct inquiry from his mother left him no recourse except totell her a part of the truth, though not necessarily the whole truth.
"We did have a little spill this morning," he returned indifferently."I turned the car a little too much to the right and we went througha fence and into a little stream at the side of the road. Jim and Igot wet, but after we got over being mad we had a good laugh over it.Neither one of us was a bit hurt, and it's only our clothes that gotthe worst of it."
"Oh, but you might have been killed!" exclaimed Mrs. Matson, claspingher hands together nervously. "You must be more careful, Joe. It wouldbreak my heart if anything happened to you."
"Don't worry a bit, Momsey," replied Joe, placing his hand affectionatelyover hers. "Only the good die young, you know, and that makes me safe."
They all pressed him for the details of the accident, and he and Jimboth made light of it, making a joke out of their plight and theirvisit to the tailor, so that apprehension vanished, and after a whilethe matter was dropped.
Joe was eager for a chance to get alone with Mabel, and Jim was quiteas keen for a tete-a-tete with Clara. The girls were quite as eager,but as there was no servant in the simple little household the girlsflew around to clear the table, while Joe had a chance for a quiet talkwith his mother, and Jim beguiled his impatience by going out on theporch with Mr. Matson for a smoke before the latter had to go downtownto business.
"How have you been feeling, Momsey?" Joe asked when they had settleddown in a cosy corner of the living room. "It seems to me that you'rea little thinner than you were."
"I'm not feeling any too well," replied Mrs. Matson. "I have troublewith my breathing whenever I go up or down stairs. But I'll be allright pretty soon," she added, with an attempt at brightness.
"I'm afraid you've been working too hard, Momsey," replied Joe, pattingher hand. "Why don't you let me get you a maid to help out with thework? The money doesn't matter, and you know how glad I'd be to bearthe expense."
"I don't want any regular servant, Joe," replied Mrs. Matson. "Ihaven't been used to one, and she'd be more bother than help. We have awash woman. There isn't much to be done in this little house, and Clarais the dearest girl. If I did what she wanted, I'd just fold my handsand sit around in the living room. And Mabel, too, has spoiled me sinceshe's been here. She's already like a second daughter to me."
"She'll be really your daughter before long, if I have anything to sayabout it," replied Joe. "I'm going to put it right up to her to marryme while I'm here this time."
Mrs. Matson was both delighted and flustered at the boldness of thisannouncement.
"You take my breath away, talking like that," she replied. "But I'mafraid Mabel won't let herself be carried off her feet in that way. Agirl wants to get her trousseau ready. And then, too, she'll want to bemarried in her father's house. You're a dear boy, Joe, but you've got alot to learn about women."
"Mabel will agree all right," replied Joe confidently, though hismasculine assurance had been slightly dashed by his mother's prediction.
The opportunity to make sure about that important matter came a fewminutes later, when Mabel came into the room looking more lovely, Joethought, than he had ever seen her before. Mrs. Matson lingered only amoment longer, and then made an excuse to leave the room. The door hadhardly closed behind her before Mabel was in Joe's arms.
It was a long time before they were able to talk coherently, and whenat last Mabel told Joe that he was too greedy and laughingly bade himbe sensible, she was more rosy and beautiful than ever, and Joe wasdeeper in love than before, if that could be possible.
Joe was not long in putting his mother's prediction to the test.
"Do you remember what Jim said when we said good-by to McRae after theWorld Tour was over?" he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.
The flush in Mabel's cheeks deepened.
"Jim talks so much nonsense," she countered.
"Think a minute." Joe was jogging her memory. "Wasn't it somethingabout bells?"
"How should I remember?" asked Mabel, though she did remember perfectly.
"Well, I remember," said Joe. "He said I'd soon be hearing weddingbells. Now do you remember?"
"Y-yes," admitted Mabel at last, hiding her face on Joe's shoulder,which was very close to her.
"I want to hear those wedding bells, very soon, dearest," said Joetenderly. "Next week--this week--to-morrow----"
Mabel sat up with a little scream.
"Next week--this week--to-morrow!" she repeated. "Why, Joe dear, wecan't!"
"Why can't we?" asked Joe with masculine directness.
"Why--why--we just can't," replied Mabel. "I haven't got my weddingclothes ready. And I'll have to be married in my own home. What wouldmy family think? What would my friends think? It would look like arunaway affair. People would talk. Oh, Joe dear, I'd love to, but Ijust can't. Don't you see I can't?"
Joe did not see at all, and he renewed
his importunities with all hispowers of persuasion. But Mabel, though she softened her refusal withlover-like endearments, was set in her convictions, and Joe at lastwas forced to confess in his heart with a groan that his mother wasright, and that he had a lot to learn about women.
He suggested in desperation that they go on at once to her home inGoldsboro and be married there, but although that would have taken awayone of her arguments, the others still continued in full force, and sheadded another for good measure.
"You see, Joe, dear, your mother isn't well enough just now to travelso far, and it would break her heart if she weren't present at ourmarriage. By fall she may be better."
"By fall!" echoed Joe in dismay. "Have I got to wait that long?"
"I think it would be better, dear," said Mabel gently. "You see if wegot married any time after the baseball season had commenced, you wouldfind it hard to get away from your club. In any case, our honeymoontrip would have to be very short. Then, too, if I traveled about thecircuit with you, you'd have me on your mind, and it might affect yourplaying. But I promise you that we shall get married in the fall, justas soon as the baseball season is over."
And as she sealed this promise in the way that Joe liked best, he wasforced to be content.
The days passed by, as though on wings, with Joe grudging every minuteas it passed that brought him nearer to the day when he would have torejoin his team. The hours were precious and he spent every one of themthat he could with Mabel.
Jim, too, was finding his vacation delightful. He was getting onfamously with Clara, and the latter's heart was learning to beat veryfast when she heard the step and saw the face of the handsome youngathlete. The prospects were very good that two weddings would becelebrated in the fall, and that Baseball Joe would gain not only awife but a brother-in-law.
During that week the moon was at its full, and almost every nightsaw the two couples out for a stroll. They would start out from thehouse together and walk down the village street, with only a few yardsseparating them. However, they usually lost sight of each other beforethey had gone far.
Joe was happy, supremely happy. Mabel had never been so dear, soaffectionate. He knew that he possessed her heart utterly. Yet therewas a faint something, a mysterious impression to which he couldscarcely give a name, that at times marred his happiness and caused himto feel depressed. He chased the feeling away, and yet it returned.
There were moments when Mabel grew quiet and seemed as though broodingover something. Her face would become sad, and only brighten with agayety that seemed a little forced, when she saw that he was studyingher and seeking to learn what troubled her. At times she would cling tohim as though she feared he was to be taken from her. Once or twice hequestioned her, but she laughed his fears away and declared that therewas nothing the matter. Despite her denials, he remained vaguely uneasy.
The day before his brief vacation came to an end there was a ring atthe bell of the Matson home. Mabel, who happened to be in the hall atthe time, opened the door. There was an exclamation of surprise anddelight as the newcomer threw his arms about her.
"Reggie!"
"Mabel!"
There was a fond embrace, and then Mabel came into the living roomwhere the family were assembled, while close behind her came ReggieVarley, her brother, the same old Reggie, monocle, cane, lisp, Englishclothes, English accent, fancy waistcoat, fitted in topcoat, spats andall--a vision of sartorial splendor!