CHAPTER XIII
IN THE LIBRARY
As Mr. Evringham turned from the closed door he met his daughter-in-lawcoming out into the hall.
"I've been watching for Dr. Ballard," she said with annoyance. "I don'tsee why I didn't hear him come down." At this juncture she paused,surprised to observe that her father-in-law was laughing. She attributedthis unusual ebullition to ridicule of herself.
"I only wanted to ask if Julia's illness is infectious," she went onwith dignity. "Eloise and I are naturally very anxious. We should liketo do anything for her we can, if it is quite safe."
"Madam, don't, I pray, for all our sakes, run any risk," returned Mr.Evringham, his lips still twitching as he bowed mockingly.
"It would be very foolish," answered Mrs. Evringham, unabashed. "Youwouldn't care to have more invalids on your hands. It has been all Icould do to keep Eloise away from the sick room to-day."
"Is it possible!" commented Mr. Evringham, smoothing his mustache.
"Not only possible but true, and I wished to go to headquarters and findout the exact state of the case."
Again the broker's shoulders began to shake.
"Ballard isn't headquarters," he replied.
Mrs. Evringham regarded him, startled. She wondered if affairs wereperhaps very serious, and her father-in-law's nerves overstrained.She knew that he had dispensed with the afternoon ride which was soimportant to him.
She grew a shade paler. "I wish you would tell me, father, just what thedoctor said," she begged.
Mr. Evringham raised a protesting hand. "I couldn't think of it," helaughed. "It would give me apoplexy."
His daughter-in-law began to retreat, and the broker passed her and wentinto his study, still laughing.
Mrs. Evringham stood with lips parted, looking after him. Her heart beatfast. The doctor had called twice. He had come down the stairs in deadsilence just now. She knew it, for she had been listening and waitingto intercept him. She had meant to say a number of pretty things to himconcerning Eloise's anxiety about her little cousin. Her own anxietyredoubled, and she hurried to her daughter's room and narrated herexperience.
"I really think we may have to go, Eloise," she finished nervously."Even if it isn't infectious, it is so dreadfully dispiriting to be in ahouse where there is a dangerous illness, and possibly worse. I've beenthinking perhaps we might go in town and take lodgings for a while. Noone need know it. We could even stay there through the summer. None ofour friends would be in town; then in autumn we could come back here."
Eloise's lip curled. "I doubt that," she returned. "Grandfather willbe forearmed. I prophesy, mother, that you will never get our trunks uphere again after you once take them out."
"Really, Eloise, you do put things most repulsively," returned Mrs.Evringham with vexation. "Besides, how do we know what the future isgoing to bring forth? Father behaves to me as if he might be on theverge of brain fever himself."
"Poor little Jewel!" exclaimed the girl. "I hope she will pull through,but if she is the cause of our leaving here, I shall always love hermemory."
"I don't know whether father will even come to dinner," said Mrs.Evringham, pursuing her own thoughts, "but I suppose we shall see Mrs.Forbes. I do hope she has some sense about using disinfectants. It'soutrageous for her to come near the dining-room when she is taking careof that child. Of course they'll have a nurse at once. Forbes doesn'tlike going out of her beaten track."
"I can't forget that poor little voice rambling on so monotonously thisafternoon," said Eloise. "I strained my ears to listen, but I couldmake out only that she said something about 'love' and then about'righteousness.' What a word for that little mouth."
"I've seen smaller," remarked Mrs. Evringham.
When finally they entered the dining-room punctually at the appointedhour,--even Mrs. Evringham dared take no liberties with that,--the hostwas there and greeted them as usual. Mrs. Forbes came in and took herposition near him. Her employer gave her a side glance. His fears forJewel allayed, his regard for his housekeeper's opinions had returned infull force.
He wished to ask for the little girl, to ask what she was doing now, andwhat she would like sent up for dinner, but he had not the courage. Theaghast countenance which Mrs. Forbes had exhibited at the moment whenthe enormity of Jewel's conduct transpired remained in his memory. Thehousekeeper's appearance at present was noncommittal. Mrs. Evringhamsent her piercing and questioning glances in vain.
The silence in the usually silent room had not had time to becomenoticeable when the portiere was pushed aside and Jewel, arrayed inthe dotted dress and carefully bearing the tall vase of nodding roses,entered the room.
Mrs. Evringham uttered a little cry and dropped her spoon. Eloise staredwild-eyed. The housekeeper flushed.
"Good evening," said the child, glancing about as she approached, andsighing with relief as she set the heavy vase on the edge of the table."I had to come down so carefully not to spill, grandpa, that it mademe a little late. Mrs. Forbes said you brought me the roses underfalse--false pretends, so I thought perhaps you would like them on thetable."
The housekeeper, hurrying forward, seized the vase from its precariousposition and placed it in the centre of the board. "I didn't tell youyou might come downstairs," she said, as she buttoned the middle buttonof Jewel's dress.
The little girl looked up in innocent surprise. "You said I might dressme, so why should anybody have to bring up my dinner?" she asked.
Mrs. Forbes's countenance looked so lowering that Mr. Evringham hastenedto speak in his brusque and final fashion. "She is here now. Might aswell let her stay."
Jewel jumped into her chair and turned toward him with an apologeticsmile. "I couldn't make my hair look very nice," she said, with thelift of her shoulders which he had come to connect with her confidentialmoments. Remembering the feverish child of the morning, he looked at herin silent wonder. The appearance of her flaxen head he could see wasin contrast to the trim and well-cared-for look it had worn when shearrived.
"Poor little thing!" he thought. "She looks motherless--motherless."Involuntarily he cast a glance of impatience at his other guests. Theexpression of blank amazement on their faces stirred him to amusement.
"If you are afraid of infection, Madge, don't hesitate to retire to yourroom," he said. "Your dinner will be sent to you."
"What does this mean!" ejaculated Mrs. Evringham. "Why is Dr. Ballardcoming twice a day to see that child?"
"To cure her, of course," returned the broker, his lips breaking intosmiles. "Why do doctors generally visit patients?"
"Then when he came the second time he found her well?"
"Ha, ha," laughed Mr. Evringham, "yes, that's it. He found her well."
Eloise and her mother gazed at him in astonishment. Mrs. Forbes'sface was immovable. A sense of humor was not included in her mentalequipment, and she considered the whole affair lamentable and unseemlyin the extreme.
"Grandpa," said Jewel, looking at him with gentle reproach, "you're notlaughing at Dr. Ballard, are you? He's the _kindest_ man. I love him,next to you, best of anybody in Bel-Air"--then thinking this declarationmight hurt her aunt and cousin, she added, "because I know him the best,you know. He tried to deceive me about the medicine, but it was onlybecause he didn't know that there isn't any righteous deceiving. Hemeant to do me good."
Mrs. Evringham looked curiously from the child to her father-in-law. Asshe herself said later, she had never felt so "out of it" in her life.As the subject concerned Dr. Ballard, she wished to understand clearlywhat circumstance could possibly have induced Mr. Evringham to laughrepeatedly.
"I was passing your door this afternoon," said Eloise, addressing Jewel,"and I heard you talking. I knew there was no one with you, and I fearedyou were very ill."
The little girl was always pleased when her beautiful cousin looked ather.
"I guess I was reading. Of course I was in a hurry to get well, so assoon as the fever was gone and I felt comfortable, I beg
an to readout loud from 'Science and Health' to Anna Belle. She's a ChristianScientist, too."
The faces of Mrs. Evringham and Eloise were studies as they gazed at thespeaker.
Mr. Evringham glanced at them maliciously under his heavy brows as Sarahbrought in the second course.
"Is Anna Belle your doll?" asked Eloise, for the moment sufficientlyinterested almost to lose her self-consciousness.
"Yes," eagerly. "Would you like to see her?" Jewel gave a fleetingglance at Mrs. Forbes. "She always comes to the table with me at home,"she added.
"Sit still," murmured Mrs. Forbes in low, sepulchral warning.
"Now then, Jewel," said Mr. Evringham as he began to serve the filet,"you didn't take the doctor's medicine. What do you think made that highfever go away?"
The little girl looked up brightly. "Oh, I telegraphed to Mrs. Lewis,one of mother's friends in Chicago, to treat me."
"The dev--What do you mean, child?"
Mr. Evringham gazed at her, and his tone was so fierce, although he wasonly very much amazed, that Jewel's smile faded. The corners of herlips drew down pitifully, and suddenly she slipped from her chair, andrunning to him threw her arms around his neck and buried her avertedface, revealing two forlorn little flaxen pigtails devoid of ribbons.
"What's this, Jewel?" he said quickly, fearfully embarrassed before hiswondering audience. "This is very irregular, very irregular." He droppedhis fork perforce, and his hand closed over the little arm across hiscravat.
Jewel was trying to control a sob that struggled to escape, and sayingover and over, as nearly as he could understand, something about Godbeing Love.
"Go right back to your chair now, like a good girl."
"Do you--love me?" whispered Jewel.
"Yes--yes, I do."
"You spoke like"--a sob--"like hating."
"Not at all, not at all," rejoined Mr. Evringham quickly, "but I wasvery much surprised, very."
"Shall I take her upstairs, sir?" asked Mrs. Forbes, nearly burstingwith the outrage of such an interruption to her employer's sacreddinner.
"No, she's going to sit right down in her chair and not make anytrouble. Don't you like those roses I brought you, Jewel?" he addedawkwardly, hoping to make a diversion. He was successful. She loweredher face, a fleeting April smile flitting over it.
"Did grandfather bring you those lovely roses?" asked Eloise.
Mr. Evringham flashed her his first glance of approval for so quicklytaking the cue.
"Yes," replied the child, her breath catching as she went back to herchair. "I seemed so sick when he went away this morning was the reason;so now I'm well again--they belong to everybody, don't they, grandpa?"
Mr. Evringham paused to consider a reply. He desired to be careful inpublic not to draw upon himself that small catapult.
"They belong to you still, Jewel. I never take back my presents," hereturned at last.
"And I think Mrs. Forbes was mistaken about the false pretends," saidthe child, swallowing and looking apologetically at the housekeeper,"because who would pretend such error as sickness, and of course you'dknow I didn't pretend."
"Certainly not," said Mr. Evringham. "Mrs. Forbes didn't mean that. Thewhole thing seems like a dream now," he added.
"What else could it seem like?" returned Jewel, smiling faintly towardher grandfather with an air of having caught him napping.
"Like reality," he returned dryly.
She gazed at him, her smile fading.
He looked up apprehensively and cringed a little, not at all sure thatthe next instant would not find the rose-leaf cheek next his, and aclose whisper driving cold chills down his back; but the child onlypaused a moment.
"Reality is so much different from sin, disease, and death," she said atlast, in a matter-of-fact manner. It was too much for Mrs. Evringham'srisibles. She laughed in spite of her daughter's reproachful glance.
"How wonderful if true!" she exclaimed.
"It is true," returned Jewel soberly. "Even Anna Belle knows that; butI'm sure that you haven't learned anything about Christian Science, auntMadge," she added politely.
"What makes you so sure?" returned Mrs. Evringham banteringly.
Jewel flushed with embarrassment and glanced at her grandfatherinvoluntarily, but he was busy eating and evidently would not help her.
"I'd rather not say," replied the child at last, and her rejoinderincited her aunt to further merriment.
"Aunt Madge doesn't laugh in a nice way," thought Jewel. "It's evenpleasanter when she looks sorry."
"What is real then, Jewel?" asked Eloise gravely.
The child flashed upon her a sweet look.
"Everything good and glad," she answered.
Something rose in the girl's throat, and she pressed her lips togetherfor an instant.
"You are happy to believe that," she returned.
"Oh, I don't believe it," replied Jewel. "It's one of the things I_know_. Mother says we only believe things when we aren't sure aboutthem. Mother knows such a lot of beautiful truth."
The child looked at her cousin wistfully as she spoke. Eloise couldscarcely retain her proud and nonchalant bearing beneath the blue eyes.They seemed to see through to her wretchedness.
She did not look at Jewel again during dinner. At the close Mr.Evringham pushed his chair back.
"I should like you to come with me into my study, Jewel, for a fewminutes."
The child's face brightened, and she left the table with alacrity. Mr.Evringham stood back to allow his guests to pass out. They went on tothe drawing-room, where Mrs. Evringham's self-restraint was loosed.
"The plot thickens, Eloise!" she said.
"And we are not going away," returned the girl.
"Decidedly not," declared her mother with emphasis.
"There is no hope of our catching anything that Jewel has now," went onEloise.
Her mother glanced at her suspiciously. "What, for instance?"
"Oh," returned the girl, shrugging her shoulder, "faith, hope, andcharity."
Mrs. Evringham laughed. "Indeed! Is the wind in that quarter? Then withthe Christian Science microbe in the house, there's no telling what mayhappen to you. Something more serious than a fever, perhaps." She noddedknowingly. "This sudden recovery looks very queer to me. I'd keep thechild in bed if I were in authority. Some diseases are so treacherous.There's walking typhoid fever, for instance. She may have it for all weknow. I shall have a very serious talk with Dr. Ballard when he comes."
An ironical smile flitted over the girl's lips as she drifted toward thepiano. "I judge from the remarks at the table, that the less you say toDr. Ballard on the subject of to-day's experiences the better."
"I know it," indignantly. "I'm sure that child must have played somepractical joke on him. I want to get to the bottom of it. What a strangelittle monkey she is! How long will father stand it? What did you think,Eloise, when she swooped upon him so suddenly?"
"I thought of just one sentence," returned the girl. "'Perfect lovecasteth out fear.'"
"Why in the world should she love him?" protested Mrs. Evringham.
"She would love us all if we would let her," returned Eloise, thephrases of "Vogel als Prophete" beginning to ripple softly from beneathher fingers. "I saw it from the first. I felt it that first evening,when we behaved toward her like a couple of boors. Any one can see shehas never been snubbed, never neglected. She got out of the lap of loveto come to this icebox. No wonder the change of temperature made herill!"
"Why, Eloise, what has come over you? You never used to be disagreeable.It's a good thing the child is amiable. It's the only thing left for aplain girl to be."
"No one will ever remember that she is plain," remarked Eloise.
Her mother raised her eyebrows doubtingly. "Perhaps your perceptions areso keen that you can explain how Jewel managed to telegraph to Chicagoto-day," she said. "It reminded me of Dooley's comments on ChristianScience. Do you remember what he said about 'rejucin' a swellin' over a
long distance tillyphone'?"
"I can't imagine how she managed it," admitted Eloise.