Partners (11 page)

The boy was jubilant when they got back to the hospital and Gillian saw that he hadn't forgotten anything. She seemed quite content to see the two lovely miniatures on the little stand by her bed, the pretty blue robe hanging on the wall ready for when she might sit up, the clean clothes, the little tin box, and the pearl pin. It all seemed to make her getting up more certain and more near.

But the sister looked sadly at the little pile of faded socks and underwear the child had brought for himself. There had been so little else for him.

"I was saving to buy him some new things," she said.

"Oh, he's all right," said Reuben. "We'll find plenty for his needs. And now I want to ask you a question. Would you mind very much if I took Noel with me tomorrow down to the shore for the day? We'd be back in time to come here in the evening and have a little chat with you before you go to sleep. You see, I have an elderly friend, a sweet little old lady, who used to look after me when I was a kid sometimes, and she's thinking of going to the shore for a while. I promised I would look up a place for her, and I thought I could do that tomorrow if it wouldn't worry you. I thought perhaps it might be a good thing for Noel, too, to get a sniff of salt air. Has he ever been to the shore?"

"No," said Gillian. "Oh, that would be wonderful for him, only I'm afraid he'll be a nuisance to you. I wonder if they wouldn't let him stay here while you are gone. He wouldn't be any trouble to anyone."

"No," said the nurse decidedly, "they don't allow children in the hospital. It's a special request of your doctor that he is allowed in a few minutes to see you. He wouldn't be allowed here without an older person to look after him."

"And I would be very much disappointed not to have him with me," said Reuben. "I have grown quite attached to him, and I'm anxious to see what he thinks of the ocean. Would it worry you to have him gone? I would take very special care of him and not let him out of my sight. But if it would make you nervous, we'll put off the trip till you are stronger."

"Oh, no! I wouldn't worry!" said Gillian. "I only felt it would be a nuisance to you. I don't know how we ever are to repay you for all you've done for us already."

"Please don't talk of repaying. You don't know what a pleasure it has been for me to have Noel all to myself. You know I haven't any family of my own, and I didn't know what I was missing till he came. But I'd be so glad if you don't mind his going. We could go down quite early in the morning and return by the four o'clock train. Then we could come in just after you've finished your evening meal and say good night to you. And the next day we'll tell you all about the ocean. Will that be all right?"

"Oh, that will be wonderful for Noel, and of course I shan't worry. I'll just lie and rest and get ready to be up when you come back."

"Well, we'll see what the doctor has to say to that. Now, Noel, suppose you kiss your sister good night and we'll go over to the hotel and get to bed early. Because we have to get up early in the morning, you know."

Noel, with bright face, went briskly over to kiss his sister and whispered in her ear: "Don't you think my Reuben is awfully,
awfully
nice, Gillian?"

"Yes, dear," she said softly and kissed his cheek. "Good night, dear, and be a good boy!"

"I will!" said Noel.

And they hurried away while the nurse bustled around getting her patient ready for her supper and sleep.

Reuben got his charge through a simple supper and into bed, where in spite of his excitement he was soon asleep.

Then, shielding the light from his roommate, he went quietly at some important telephoning. But he saved Aunt Ettie until he should get to the shore the next morning and have something interesting to tell her about a cottage.

 

The day was perfect. Dazzling blue sky, with little rosy, scurrying clouds on the horizon. Even the city looked attractive in its early morning lighting, sun bright even on cheap window glass and shining sharply from church spires and weather vanes. The air was deep and tangy, newly washed by a storm in the night, not yet too warm for comfort. There seemed to be spice in every breath one took.

Noel's cheeks were almost rosy with excitement. He watched the way as if they were going through a world newborn just for him. All through the intricacies of the ferry trip and the transfer to the train he seemed to have the details of the whole trip in charge, watching to be sure nothing went wrong. Reuben was much amused studying him.

When they reached the shore resort that Reuben had selected as a promising place to search for Aunt Ettie's cottage, Noel stared about him in a friendly way, as if all the buildings and streets must be expecting him and welcoming him. He greeted the taxi driver, who was to drive them, with a smile as if it were to be a personally conducted tour.

Halfway down the broad avenue that led to the ocean, which lay like a blue line of mystery at the end of vision, he looked up to Reuben and remarked: "The seashore is kind of a
white
place, isn't it? There is so much more light here than there is in the city. We will have to be very careful not to get it dirty."

Reuben smiled at the original ideas produced, meditating on the unusual type of the child's mind.

"Things don't seem to soil so easily at the shore," explained Reuben.

The child thought about that awhile, and then he asked: "Is that because there's so much water in the ocean that they get washed clean all the time?"

"No, I think it is because there are not so many things around here to soil. Things like factories with big chimneys pouring out dirty smoke all the time."

"Oh! Don't they have factories and big dirty chimneys at the shore?"

"Not usually."

The child pondered that.

"I didn't know," he said with a wise little pucker of his brows. "I'll have to think about that. That's what my Gillian always tells me I'll have to do about anything I don't understand. 'Think about it.' "

They drove to the beach first, and Reuben asked the driver to stop and let them look at the ocean for a moment. Noel was overwhelmed with the sight. Finally he drew a long breath and said wonderingly: "And
God made it all!
" Then as they turned and drove along the shore road, he said, his eyes still turned toward the ocean: "There's so much of it! He must have got very, very tired making it all! And that's why He made the Sabbath, isn't it?"

Reuben looked puzzled.

"God got tired, and He wanted to rest," explained the boy.

"I don't believe God gets tired," said Reuben, cautiously, because he felt he was getting almost beyond his own depth with this wise child. "He isn't like us, with a body that tires out, you know. He wouldn't exactly be a God if He got tired, would He?"

"Oh, that's so," said the child with a puzzled air. Then with a sudden, bright smile: "But it feels good to rest sometimes, even when you're not tired. I guess God wanted to look over what He'd made and enjoy it awhile and see that it was good. But what's that over there on the water? Oh, is that a
ship
? A
real
ship? I've seen pictures of ships. There is a nice one in that picture book you got me."

"Yes, that's a ship. I think they call that a three-masted schooner. We'll probably see some more before the day is done. And now we are turning up this road away from the sea a little while, going to find a real estate man and see if he has any cottages to rent Aunt Ettie."

"Oh, yes! That will be fun! There's a nice big one, but that looks like a hospital or a hotel, it's so big!"

"Yes, that is a hotel. Don't you see the name up there in big letters? What's that first letter? Can you read it?"

"That's
A
," said Noel promptly. "And the next one's
R
. What does it spell? It's a long word."

"Why, that says Arlington House. That's a nice-looking hotel. And now we come to private cottages. The big one on the right-hand side is a fine one. I expect some rich man owns it. See, it's built of stone, and has big porches with comfortable chairs to sit on, and awnings over the windows, and flowers and evergreen trees outside."

"That's a nice one," said Noel, "but it's kind of too big. It doesn't look very at-homey, do you think it does? Is your aunt Ettie a rich lady? Would she want a cottage as big as that?"

"No, she's not a rich lady. She's very plain and sweet and nice. She isn't really my aunt at all, you know. She used to be my nurse when I was a little boy, smaller than you are, but I liked her a lot and we all called her Aunt Ettie. No, I don't think she'd care for a big place like that. Just a neat little place would please her better. We'll find some 'at-homey' ones pretty soon."

So they drove about through many pretty streets, some of them shaded with beautiful trees, and back to the shore again for a block or two then down other streets. Once they passed a white marble palace set in a lovely green yard by the sea, with no boardwalk in front of it, and just a far stretch of smooth, hard beach. Noel looked long at it.

"That must be like one of the heavenly mansions," he said slowly as he studied it. "When I get up to heaven, I think I would like to live in one as big as that if Jesus was there, too, but it looks lonesome down here. It looks as if it might get blown into the sea sometime, and then where would you be? Is that where some very rich man lives?"

"Yes, it looks that way," Reuben said, smiling. "Now, here, see where we are turning? Here are some smaller cottages. Aren't they pretty, with flowers in their window boxes?"

"Yes, those look nice. When I get to be a man, I'll buy my Gillian one like those. Won't that be nice?"

"Why, yes, I should think she would like that!" said Reuben heartily.

They came at last to a little white cottage among a small grove of maples, not far from the shore. A very plain little house painted white, with green shutters and a porch overlooking the sea. There was moreover a lighthouse not far away, which gave an added charm to the little house, in Noel's eyes at least.

It was just finished, with shining newness about it. There was no furniture in it, but Noel looked around, his face smiling.

"We could
make
some furniture for it!" he declared eagerly. "We could get some boxes at the grocery store and some calico for closets to hang the clothes behind. My sister knows how to make a home out of a very bare room. We can ask her."

Reuben looked tenderly at the child.

"Yes," he said interestedly, "that would be nice if we had time. But if Aunt Ettie wants it, she will want to use it right away, and so I think we'd have to buy furniture, unless the owner has other plans for it. This looks pretty nice. But let us go inside and see how many rooms it has. Aunt Ettie might want to have some company occasionally, so we'll have to have enough rooms. But someday I'd like to go to the shore or somewhere with you and furnish a little place just as you suggest. I'm sure it could be done."

"Sure it can!" said Noel. "Gillian and I did it. Don't you remember our washstand and our 'rangements for the kitchen stove and the clothes closet?"

"Oh, yes, I noticed those," said Reuben. "We'll have to remember all those things and use them sometime, if we have a chance to work it out together."

They got out and went in, up the little stone path to the porch. The front door was open, and a workman was fitting the windows with shining copper screens.

There was a big living room all across the front of the house, with a fireplace at one side. There were three bedrooms, a bathroom, and the cutest little kitchenette.

"Isn't it
grand
!" said Noel. "I shall certainly buy this for my Gillian when I grow old."

Reuben smiled.

"Yes, I think Aunt Ettie would enjoy this. Now suppose we go and see the agent and find out whether it is for rent and what the terms are."

So they went to see the agent, who told them he had two other houses built practically on the same plan that were furnished. They finally decided on one of those, though their thoughts turned wistfully toward the first one they had seen. Aunt Ettie might be in a hurry to come right away and not want to bother waiting for her furniture.

That settled, they went to the beach, and Noel, in a scrap of a bathing suit that Reuben found at a store near the agent's office, advanced tremulously toward the great ocean, touching his bare feet timorously on the cool, velvety wet sand, wondering at his first introduction to the seaside. It was all quite thrilling to the boy who had never since his memory had opportunity to go barefoot out-of-doors.

Reuben found a place along the boardwalk where they had tin pails and shovels for sale and promptly provided him with all the paraphernalia of a summer child.

Reuben had rented a bathing suit, and after a little he coaxed Noel to venture in the water. A few minutes more and he was splashing and shouting with glee.

They did not stay in too long for a first dip, and as they came out Noel said: "I wish my Gillian could go in here. I think she would love it. I shall take her sometime when I get grown up."

"Why, of course you will," said Reuben and wondered if the child would stay so dear and unspoiled when he grew up.

They had a delightful shore dinner, and Noel enjoyed every bite, and then they went back to the beach to build sand cities.

After he had inducted Noel into the ways of tunnels and sand mountains, Reuben lay back against a sand pillow and thought out his intricate plans for the days ahead, wondering how it was all going to work out. He decided he wouldn't call Aunt Ettie till he got back to the city. That would give her more time to decide, and to get her a little excited about whether he had really meant his proposition after all. But he was sure she would love any one of those little cottages they had seen.

At the last, Noel had fairly to be dragged away from the sand, and he looked wistfully toward the ocean with its long, smooth beach dotted here and there with dainty shells and seaweed. He pointed out a little group of sandpipers stepping daintily over the wet sand with their pink feet and snapping up the tiny crabs. It was all most alluring, and Noel could not bear to leave it.