my second cousin, keepin' house for me--said if gettin' down on my knees has that effect on me she'd never ask me to go to prayer-meetin' again. Ho! ho!"
He chuckled. Mrs. Dunn elevated her nose and looked out of the window. Then she led another small trump.
"You say that Miss Caroline and her brother expect you," she said. "You surprise me. Are you sure?"
"Oh, yes, ma'am. I'm sure. When Mr. Graves came down to see me, last week 'twas, I told him to say I'd be up pretty soon to look the ground over. This is a pretty fine place the young folks have got here," he added, gazing admiringly at the paintings and bookcases.
"Yes," assented the lady, condescendingly. "For an apartment it is really quite livable."
"Livable!" Captain Elisha's astonishment got the better of his politeness for the moment. "Um! Yes, I should say a body _might_ manage to worry along in it. Was the place where they used to live any finer than this?"
"Certainly!"
"You don't tell me! No wonder they talked about economi--Humph!"
"What were you about to say, Mr. Warren?"
"Oh, nothin', nothin'! Talkin' to myself is a habit I've got. Abbie--my second cousin; I guess I told you about her--says it's a sure sign that a person's rich or out of his head, one or t'other. I ain't rich, so--" He chuckled once more.
"Mr. Graves came to see you at your home, did he?"
"Yes, ma'am. At South Denboro. And he certainly did have a rough passage. Ho! ho! Probably you heard about it, bein' so friendly with the family."
"Ahem! Doubtless he would have mentioned it, but he has been ill."
"Sho! I'm sorry to hear that. I was afraid he'd catch cold."
"Yes. I hope Mr. Graves's errand was successful?"
"Well, sort of so-so."
"Yes. He came to see you in connection with your brother's estate--some legacy, perhaps?"
She did not look at the captain when she asked this question. Therefore, she did not notice the glance which he gave her. When he answered, it was in the same deliberate, provokingly deliberate, manner.
"Um-hm. Somethin' of that kind, Mrs. Dunn. I can't help thinkin'," he went on, "how nice it is that Caroline and Steve have such a good friend as you to help 'em. Your husband and 'Bije was chums, I s'pose?"
"No, not exactly. The friendship was on my side of the family."
"So? Want to know! Your husband dead, ma'am?"
Mrs. Dunn changed the subject. Her husband, Mr. Corcoran Dunn--once Mike Dunn, contractor and Tammany politician--was buried in Calvary Cemetery. She mourned him, after a fashion, but she preferred not to talk about him.
"Yes," she answered shortly. "It--it looks as if it might snow, doesn't it?"
"I shouldn't wonder. Have you any children, ma'am?"
"One--a son." The widow's tone was frigid.
"So? He must be a comfort to you. I s'pose likely he's a friend of my nephew and niece, too."
"Certainly."
"That's good. Young folks ought to have young friends. You live in this neighborhood, ma'am?"
The lady did not answer. She gazed haughtily at the trees in the Park. Captain Elisha rubbed a smile from his lips with his hand and remained silent. The tall clock ticked loud.
There came the sound of laughter from the passage outside. The hall door opened. A moment later, Caroline, followed by her brother and young Dunn, entered the library.
The girl's cheeks were rosy from the cold wind. Her hair, beneath the fur auto cap, had blown in brown, rippled disorder across her forehead. She was smiling.
"Oh, Mrs. Dunn!" she cried. "I'm so glad I accepted your--Malcolm's--invitation. We had a glorious ride! I--"
She stopped short. Captain Warren had risen from his chair and was facing her. Mrs. Dunn also rose.
"Caroline," she said, nervously, "this"--pausing on the word--"gentleman is here to see you. He says he is--"
The captain interrupted her. Stepping forward he seized his niece's hands in his. "Well, well!" he exclaimed admiringly. "'Bije's girl, that I ain't seen since you was a little mite of a baby! Caroline, I'm your Uncle Elisha."
"Good _Lord_!" groaned Stephen Warren.
CHAPTER IV
If the captain heard Stephen's fervent ejaculation, he paid no attention to it. Dropping his niece's hand, he extended his own toward his nephew.
"And this is Stephen?" he said. "Well, Steve, you and me have never met afore, I b'lieve. But that's our misfortune, not our fault, hey? How are you? Pretty smart?"
The boy's face was flaming. He mumbled something to the effect that he was all right enough, and turned away without accepting the proffered hand. Captain Elisha glanced quickly at him, then at his sister.
"Well, Caroline," he said, pleasantly, "I s'pose you've been expectin' me. Mr. Graves told you I was comin', didn't he?"
Miss Warren, also, was flushed with embarrassment and mortified surprise.
"No," she stammered. "He has been ill."
"Sho! you don't say! Mrs. Dunn--your friend here--said he was laid up with a cold, but I didn't realize 'twas as bad as that. So you didn't know I was comin' at all."
"No. We--we have not heard from you since he returned."
"That's too bad. I hope I sha'n't put you out any, droppin' in on you this way. You mustn't treat me as comp'ny, you know. If 'tain't convenient, if your spare room ain't ready so soon after movin', or anything of that kind, I can go to a hotel somewheres for a day or so. Hadn't I better, don't you think?"
Caroline hesitated. If only they might have been spared this public humiliation. If the Dunns had not been there. It was bad enough to have this dreadful country uncle come at all; but to have him come now, before they were prepared, before any explanations had been made! What should she do?
Her brother, fidgeting at her elbow, not daring to look at Malcolm Dunn, who, he knew, was thoroughly enjoying the scene, could stand it no longer.
"Caro," he snapped, "what are you waiting for? Don't you _know_ that the rooms are not ready? Of course they're not! We're sorry, and all that, but Graves didn't tell us and we weren't prepared. Certainly he'll have to go to the hotel, for--for the present."
He ventured to raise his eyes and glare indignantly at the captain. Finding the latter looking intently at him, he dropped them again and jammed his clenched fists into his pockets.
Captain Elisha pulled thoughtfully at his beard.
"Humph!" he grunted. "Humph! then I cal'late maybe--" He took a step toward the door, stopped, turned back, and said, with calm decision, "I guess I'd better stay. You won't mind me, Caroline--you and Stephen. You _mustn't_. As I said, I ain't comp'ny. I'm one of the family, your pa's brother, and I've come some consider'ble ways to see you two young folks and talk with you. I've come because your pa asked me to. I'm used to roughin' it, been to sea a good many v'yages, and if a feather bed ain't handy I can get my forty winks on the floor. So that's settled, and you mustn't have me on your conscience. That's sense, ain't it, Mrs. Dunn?"
Mrs. Corcoran Dunn did not deign a reply. Caroline answered for her.
"Very well," she said, coldly. Stepping to the desk she rang a bell. The butler appeared in the