Partners (13 page)

"But I
can't
; I simply can't be under obligation this way!" protested Gillian with tears swimming into her eyes and a determined look about her chin and mouth.

"Now, look here, little lady," said the doctor, "haven't you any sense at all? Don't you know you can repay people if they have to be repaid, a great deal quicker when you have your whole strength at its normal height? Your pulse is galloping as if it were running away, and you are as jumpy as can be. You can't properly take care of that child until you are well. I've done my best for you in the short time you've been here, but I can't work miracles. How many weeks or months have you been going on short rations, and bearing all sorts of worries into the bargain? And yet you expect me to put you in running order in a day and send you on your way, and it
can't be done
! You simply
must
have a rest, good-nourishing food, and country or seashore air for at least three or four weeks, and even then I'm not sure you should go back to work if you are going to keep up this burden bearing, and going around with the cares of the nation on your shoulders. It can't be done! I won't stand for it, I say!"

Suddenly Noel walked up to the doctor with the air of an older man and spoke in a clear little voice: "Don't you scold my Gillian,
you doctor
! Can't you see you make her
cry
? I
won't let
you scold my Gillian!"

The room was very still for an instant as everybody looked at the darling little boy and then quickly turned all eyes toward Gillian and saw the tears on her face, the tears her younger brother had noticed first of them all. Suddenly a change came over the doctor's face and a kind of shamed look. Then he melted down into a real merry laugh.

"Well, you, young man, I guess you're right, and I stand corrected. I shouldn't have spoken in a tone like that. Forgive me, Miss Guthrie. I was only speaking for your good, my child!"

"I know it," said Gillian, suddenly breaking down and sobbing softly into her outspread hands. "I know you're right; but, Doctor, I just
can't do it
!"

Then Reuben stepped up to the bedside.

"Wait a minute, Miss Guthrie. Don't get all upset that way. I've got something good to tell you that I feel sure will solve some of the problems. Suppose you quiet down and let the nurse wash your face with some nice cool water and give you a swallow or two of water or orange juice, or whatever is right; and then when you are a bit rested, we'll tell you all about it. You know, Miss Guthrie, you believe in God, and you've taught your little brother to believe in Him and to pray to Him. So couldn't you try trusting in Him for a little and see what comes?"

It was a very strange thing for Reuben to say. He had never gone around preaching in his life, not even plain philosophical platitudes, and he didn't know where he got the words, nor how he got the nerve, there before the doctor and the nurse! But it was very still in the room after that. The frail young shoulders stopped quivering with sobs, and presently the girl lifted her tearstained face and almost smiled at him.

"Thank you," she said. "I deserved that! I'll try to trust. I truly will. And I do want to do the right thing."

"Very well," said the doctor, "then we'll all try to be more reasonable and make it as easy as we can for you. Now, Nurse, where is that tonic? And just punch up those pillows a little and let her lie more comfortably. And, boy"--turning toward Noel--"you sit down and take it easy, man! They needn't call you a
child
anymore. You know how to take care of a sick sister already, don't you?"

The doctor spoke very tenderly, his voice almost hoarse with feeling.

"Now, Mr. Remington, if you'll step outside with me, I'll tell you just how things are, and then we'll try to plan to get this little girl well in the shortest time possible."

So Reuben talked a few minutes with the doctor, told him the possibilities at the shore, and the doctor nodded in great relief.

"That's just what she needs, and if you can work it without a scene, you're a better man than I am."

So after a little while, Reuben went back and found Noel telling his sister all about how the ocean looked and how the sand was smooth and soft like velvet, and wet and cool; and he told her all that they had done that wonderful day at the shore. Told some of the incidents over twice. Then he told about the houses they saw for Aunt Ettie, and finally Reuben took up the story:

"That little cottage Noel is telling you about now, the white one with the green shutters and the ocean just in sight from the porch, is the one I have taken for Aunt Ettie, my old nurse. I called her up this morning and told her about it, and she's just delighted with it. She's coming down early next week with a vanload of furniture of her own, to fix it up for the summer. But there's one thing she wants, and that's some nice person to be with her, at least until she gets used to being in a strange place. And I thought of you. I don't know whether you'll think I was presuming or not, but the doctor had told me he wanted you to be in a place where you could rest for a little while before you went back to work, and I just dared to tell Aunt Ettie about you. Of course, I told her you didn't know anything about it yet and I wasn't sure you would like the idea, but I promised her I would try you out and let her know as soon as possible."

"That would be very nice, of course," said Gillian, with a gentle dignity, "and it was kind of you to think of me, but you know, Mr. Remington, I can't afford to pay what such board should cost, and I can't be dependent upon you or the firm, either. You see, I must save every cent to look after Noel. I don't think he should stay at that day nursery again."

"No, indeed!" said Reuben. "I was going to speak about that, but we'll put that off a little till we have other things settled. You see, this would be ideal for Noel, to have a few weeks by the sea. He needs to get some color in his cheeks. If you could have seen his delight yesterday, I'm sure you would have felt it would be good for him. And Aunt Ettie was just delighted at the idea of a little boy around again. But you misunderstood me. There wouldn't be anything to pay. Aunt Ettie wants a companion. Just like a friend visiting her. As you get stronger you could help her a little about the house, dusting and getting the meals, you know, and there wouldn't be any obligation for even that until you really felt like it. So don't mention money again in connection with the arrangement. You'll simply be visitors and be paying for your board just by being there and keeping Aunt Ettie from being lonesome."

"Oh, Mr. Remington, that sounds too good to be true!"

"It's perfectly true. Why don't you stop to reason it out that your heavenly Father saw you needed some rest and good air, and He saw Aunt Ettie needed someone to keep her company, so He got you together? Don't you think God still does things like that?"

Gillian was still for a minute.

"Perhaps He does," she said, "but if He did, He certainly used you to bring it about. You see, Mr. Remington, I've got so used to expecting hard things to come to us that I almost forgot God sometimes looks after people who need Him. Thank you for reminding me. And thank you, too, about this. I'll think it over, and I'll pray about it, and if it seems right, I'll be thankful to do it. Will it be soon enough if I tell you tomorrow morning? I can sometimes think things out better in the night."

"Yes, that will be soon enough. Saturday morning. Aunt Ettie expects to come down with her furniture early next week, probably by Tuesday, and I think she would be ready for you in a day or two. The mover will set up the beds for her, and there won't be much else that has to be done for the first night or two. You and Noel can help her get settled little by little and lie down between times whenever you get tired. You'll find she'll mother you a lot. She used to mother me. So I'm sure she'll be ready for you as soon as the doctor wants you to get up."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!"

"Well, I'm sure it's the right thing for now, so why not put it out of your mind till you get ready to decide it definitely. And now, Noel, I want to talk to your sister a moment about some business I'm looking after for her, and I know it wouldn't interest you. How about it if you were to run out to the reception room a few minutes? I brought a little book along in my pocket that I'm sure you'll enjoy. There are a lot of pictures in it, and some picture words I think you can read if you tried hard. See what you can do with it, and when we get back to the hotel, you can read it to me perhaps."

"Okay!" said Noel reluctantly but taking the little package and looking at it interestedly. He would have liked to stay with his two idols, but he was ever ready to obey.

"I'm going out, too, Noel," said the nurse, "just for a few minutes. I think they're going to let me have a cot over on the other side of the room so I can drop down now and again, and I was thinking you might like to take a nap on it sometimes when Mr. Remington wants to leave you here a few minutes. How about it, Noel?"

"Okay!" said Noel politely. He had no special interest in naps, but he reflected it might make it possible for him to stay near Gillian more. So they left Reuben and Gillian alone briefly.

"Now," said Reuben, "we'll talk fast while they are gone. I don't suppose you want the nurse to know all your affairs, so I'll be careful to stop when she comes back."

"Thank you," said Gillian.

"Well, I have a friend who is a detective. I don't know whether I told you that or not. He lives in New York, so this will give no clue to anybody for trying to find you. I telephoned him and gave that uncle's name, and asked him to see what he could find out, and to make it absolutely confidential. I know I can trust him because our firm often employs him when they want to look up somebody and see what kind of credit they have. This morning he telegraphed me that he had a line on my case and I was to call him up at two o'clock this afternoon, that he wanted to ask me some questions. I hadn't given him the hotel address, only told him that I would call him again when he wanted me. He sent that telegram to my old rooming house. You see, we're being very discreet so that nothing can be traced. But I thought I had better come over and ask you a few more questions that he might want to know, so I won't hold up the investigation any longer than necessary. I think it would be very good for you and all concerned if you know just how things stand before you leave here, don't you?"

"Oh, yes, if that could be possible."

"Well, I think it can. That is, I hope it can. Now, I must have all possible names and addresses and approximate dates of when he was with you, how often, how continuously. Also dates, if you know any, when you are sure he withdrew money for your mother. In fact, anything you think would be of interest in trying to find him, or to find out just what your trust company said to him, and so on. Of course the trust company cannot be approached yet, not till we know whether he has been trying to work something through them. It is just possible, you know, that that may all have been a lie about the money being gone. If that's so, there may be a chance there is some left for you. If it was to have been paid in installments, he would have not been able to get it all at once. Do you have any idea how much there was?"

"No," said Gillian. "Mother always spoke of it as 'our money,' and I never thought much about it while she was living. I don't suppose it was a lot. We always had things rather nice, but Mother was always careful not to spend on unnecessary things. I really don't think there's anything left. The trust company would have let me know, wouldn't they, if there was any?"

"Not if he was managing so that you couldn't get letters from the bank. And of course, after you went away, they wouldn't know where to find you. Did he stay in your house?"

"Why, yes, some of the time. Most all the time after Mother was so sick. He could have easily looked over the mail before we saw it. I was too worried about Mother to pay attention to anything else at the time."

"Yes," said Reuben. "Well, we'll have to look into all those things. If there is any of your money left, even if it is very little,
you
should have it, and not a lazy, bad old man! Now, if you'll give me those dates and names."

So Gillian's thoughts were turned entirely away from the seashore idea for a time while she remembered dates and addresses and told as much as she knew.

"I think there are some papers in that tin box you brought yesterday," she said.

"Well, perhaps you've done enough for the present," said Reuben as he heard the nurse coming back. "Suppose this afternoon you look at those papers if the nurse can hand the box to you, and see if there is any evidence that would help us now. And now, I'll call Noel back, and we should be getting out for some lunch, for I'm sure it's almost time for yours, and you must get some rest."

So Noel came back with his face radiant about the new book. He showed it to his sister and read a whole line about a little white dog that had a bone and a saucer of milk, for all the big words were in pictures, and he was greatly intrigued that he could read the story of
Where Was the Little White Dog?

So they said good-bye and went away to their lunch.

 

"Now," said Reuben when they got back to their hotel room, "we'll get lunch, and after that I think it would be a good idea for you to lie down on your bed and take a nice long nap while I write some letters and do some important telephoning. Do you think you can do that?"

"Oh, yes, I think I can," said the boy thoughtfully. "I'll just be remembering the pretty little walkings of those sandpipers on the edge of the ocean, with their cunning pink feet and their sharp little bills picking up crabs. And I'll be remembering the soft song of the waves as they came lapping in against the sand. And I'll be seeing the pretty ships gliding along. Oh, yes, I think that will put me to sleep."

"Very well," said Reuben, trying to conceal his astonishment and admiration over the little mind that could make real poetry out of a nap and a few memories. "If you'll do that, when you wake up I'll show you how to play a game I bought yesterday. Okay?"