Partners (15 page)

Reuben took the papers and went rapidly through them, hurrying that he might have more time to talk about the business before the nurse returned with Noel. When he had examined them all, he looked up.

"Would you trust me with these papers for a day or two next week, Miss Guthrie? I would like my man to see them before he goes ahead. He will certainly be able to tell us whether there is still anything remaining from what your father had put in trust for you, and even if it was very little, that is worth trying for."

"Yes, of course," said Gillian rather drearily. "But truly, I have so little confidence in that uncle of mine that I feel sure if there was a possible way, and a cent for him to gain, he has by now got possession of it."

"Well," said Reuben ruefully, "I'm afraid he has been cashing in on what is left every quarter. My detective gained the general idea that this man he has been studying has drawn out dividends right along since the first time he went with an order from your mother. By the way, is this uncle a good writer? Do you think by any chance he could forge your mother's name? The young man, a friend of our detective, who works in that bank, seemed to have the impression that 'the old gentleman,' as he called him, had brought a written order from your mother every time he drew out money and that the checks were always countersigned by her. He seemed to feel that the bank did not know that she was not living. Your uncle had told them she was bedridden."

"Oh!" said Gillian, and a frightened look passed over her delicate features. "How dreadful! I ought to have done something about this before. But I was afraid for what he might do to Noel. He was capable of going before the court and claiming him as his own or something and then disposing of him. I think it was his idea that I should work and he would handle my money. He wanted me to get in the movies, or learn to dance in a show, hoping I could make a good deal of money! Oh, what could I do?"

Her head was down and her hands up to her face, and when she raised her eyes to ask him that question, there were tears in them.

"Nothing," said Reuben, "but what you did! I guess that was the sensible thing then, and you wonderfully cared for that dear brother of yours. You're not to worry, because now we are going to look into this thing carefully and bring that man to justice if he has been stealing the money you had a right to have."

"Oh, but I'm afraid--afraid! You don't know my uncle. I----think--I've no proof, of course--but I
think
he served a term in prison once when he was quite young, and I don't think he would stop at
any
thing. I'm afraid to have you find out anything more about this. If he ever found out about it, he wouldn't stop at anything. He would have revenge on us. He is very vengeful!"

"Now, you mustn't get excited about this, my dear," said Reuben earnestly, putting a kindly hand on hers. "This man will have no idea where either you or Noel are. I'll look after that, and if our suspicions are true, when we get ready to act I'll have one of the best lawyers in the country act from the standpoint of the bank, not as if
you
had anything at all to do with it; and we'll act so promptly that there will be no chance for him to hang around and look you up further, even if he were free, which I hope he won't be after we get through with him, for I feel that a criminal of that sort is not safe to have around anywhere. But, my friend, you simply must control your anxieties or the doctor will put a stop to all our plans and order you to stay in this hospital indefinitely, and you don't want that, do you?"

"Oh, no!" said Gillian, looking up and trying to smile through her tears. "You have been very good to me, and I do appreciate what you have done." She gave a warm little pressure to his hand that was folded comfortably around hers. And just then they heard the door across the hall opening and Noel's clear little voice saying politely:

"Thank you! I've been very glad to come. And I hope you'll get a letter from your grandson very soon."

Reuben shoved his chair back a little and took away his hand that held the girl's, and Gillian like a flash gave a quick mop across her eyes with her handkerchief and put on a pleasant smile.

"And now," said Reuben, just as the doorknob turned to let in the other two, "have you thought about that other matter? And how soon can you be ready to go, always providing the doctor will let you?"

"Yes," said Gillian with downcast eyes and cheeks that glowed delicately with excitement, "yes, I've thought a great deal about it, and I think it will be wonderful of course, if you are perfectly sure it is the right thing for me to do."

"Yes," said Reuben gravely, "I do indeed. What do you think, Nurse? Wouldn't it be a good thing for this young lady to spend two or three weeks visiting with a nice old lady in a pretty little cottage down at the seashore with her little brother, before she attempts to go back to the office to work?"

"Well, I should say that would be wonderful! Why, of course that would be the best thing she could do. I suggested something like that yesterday to her, but she seemed to think she couldn't afford it, and I know, of course, it wouldn't be good for her to get in debt and go to worrying again. But
visiting
! That's different. Why, that's like being handed the earth on a gold platter! Of course you'll go! And think what a few days at the shore would do for that child! You wouldn't know him after a few days at the shore!"

And then, just at the crucial moment, the doctor walked in, and looking at his flushed patient with her dewy eyes and at the wondering, excited little boy with stars in his eyes and at the smiling nurse, he said, frowning at Reuben: "What's all this about? What right has all this mob coming into this room, giving the jitters to my star patient and upsetting all my plans? Don't you know I'm trying my best to keep this girl here in this bed for, say, six months at the least? And here you are making her look like a person who never dreamed of being sick. What have you been doing, young man, answer me that?"

Reuben grinned.

"Why, I was just suggesting that I have a nice old lady friend who has taken a cottage down at the shore, and she's looking around for a young woman who would be company for her, with a small boy thrown in. I just sort of thought these two friends of mine might be interested in such a proposition, but Miss Gillian here is trying to tell me that she is going to get up and go back to the office to work tomorrow; and as for the boy, she thinks he's got to stay in the hot city all summer!"

Reuben was grinning, but Noel stood there with his eyes as big as saucers, staring in troubled uncertainty first at Gillian and then at Reuben, as if his heaven was suddenly crumbling to dust and ashes.

The doctor frowned and then winked at Reuben.

"Well, in that case, perhaps I would change my verdict. How soon will that old lady be ready for the angry mob?"

"About Tuesday or Wednesday, if all goes well!"

"Very well, then I'll allow Miss Guthrie to get out of bed and sit up for fifteen minutes tomorrow, just to celebrate Sunday, and see how that goes. If her temperature stays right and her pulse doesn't cut up any capers, she may stay up a half hour the next day, Monday. And then if she is still all right, why, she can go as soon as they are ready. How is she going? By automobile?"

"Yes," said Reuben quickly, although he had as yet no automobile, but he resolved to purchase one at once. For a long time he had meant to get one.

"You going to drive her down?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," said Reuben with great satisfaction and a smile of triumph on his face.

"Very well, if she behaves well from now on, she may go as soon as the old lady has her bed ready for her, and a good meal in the getting."

Then the doctor went into his professional manner, and Reuben took Noel and departed.

"Reuben," said Noel as they went down in the elevator, "what will I do while you take my Gillian to the seashore?"

"Do?" said Reuben. "Why, you will go along with us."

"
Will
I? In a real automobile that isn't a taxi?"

"Yes," said Reuben. "Will you like that?"

"Oh, I will like that!" said the child. "And where are we going now, Reuben?"

"To find the automobile," said Reuben, and he almost looked like an excited child himself.

 

 

 

 

It wasn't the first car that Reuben had owned, but since he had come to the East to live, a car had not seemed a necessity. He had been working early and late and had not many friends in this part of the country yet. He had been concentrating on getting a hold in the business world and saving his money for a time when he should know just what he wanted to do most. He had reasoned that if he were going west for his vacation, he certainly wouldn't want a car during his absence, as his plan had been to go by train; but now all was changed, and as he looked at the cars he wondered how he had got along so long without one.

They went out to try the car, and Noel was greatly intrigued to see him driving. When they got back to the hotel, Noel sighed deeply that they were getting out.

"Won't the man let us have the car?" he asked anxiously.

"Oh, yes, he's going to bring it over Monday morning. There are one or two little things I wanted him to change, but he's bringing it in plenty of time for us to take your sister down to the shore. And you mustn't let Gillian think I bought the car just for this, you know. I have been meaning to get a new one soon, only I didn't have any time to see about it. So you'd better not tell her anything about it just now. It seems to make her worry if she thinks anybody takes any trouble for her, and we don't want her to get any such idea, you know."

"Of course not," said the wise child with a twinkly little confidential smile that showed he understood.

They played several games that evening after supper, and when Noel finally got to bed, he lay there thinking.

"My Gillian said this was Saturday night," he remarked thoughtfully. "Where do we go to church tomorrow? Is there a church over here somewhere?"

"Church?" said Reuben. "Oh, yes,
church
! Why, of course! There are churches all over. Would you like to go to church?"

"Yes, I like to go to church, don't you? But I don't want to go if it isn't convenient for you. Do you have to do some work on Sunday?"

"Why, no, of course not," said Reuben, rising quickly to what was expected of him. "Certainly we'll go to church. Is there some special church you know about that you would like to go to?"

"No," said Noel with a sigh. "We don't have any regular church yet. Gillian and I tried a lot of them, but they all seemed kind of lonesome churches. Gillian said it was the same God-our-Father in them all, only some of the people don't act as if they loved Him much. Once a nice man gave us a hymnbook to sing out of and smiled at me."

"Yes, I see," said Reuben, thinking back over the churches he knew. For Reuben had been brought up to go to church, too, though he had rather got out of the habit since his mother died. It seemed that it always brought back thoughts of her and how she used to be sitting there beside him in the old days at home. But he was instantly conscious that this child must go to church since it seemed to mean so much to him.

He tried to think over the churches he knew in the city, wondering where there would be one that wouldn't seem lonesome to the boy, and found he really knew so little about churches here that it would have to be an experiment, wherever they went. But they would go somewhere. He didn't want this child or his sister to think him a heathen. In fact, he had always meant to begin to go again somewhere when he got time and a few contacts that would make church a congenial place.

"That will be nice," said Noel. "Of course, it really isn't lonesome where God is even if we don't know the people. That's what Gillian says."

"No, of course not," affirmed Reuben heartily, feeling the inner rebuke. Here he had just been thinking about congenial contacts to make a church less lonely, and now as often since he had known this child he felt rebuked. The little boy had made Reuben feel that God wasn't really Reuben's friend, hard as his mother had prayed for him and tried to teach him how to know God. He knew at once that here was something about himself that ought to be readjusted. It suddenly came to him like a vivid picture, those last hours by his mother's bedside, when she had made him promise to live a Christian life and be ready to meet her in heaven. She evidently believed firmly that he was "saved" as she used to call it. And he had promised eagerly and earnestly, fully intending to keep that promise, only life and its readjustments had come in and taken all his time and thoughts. Yes, here was something he must look after right away. It was curious how many things seemed to be brought to his attention since he had picked up this girl and her little brother!

"I like Sunday," mused the little boy. "Gillian doesn't have to go to the office, and I don't have to go to the day nursery, and we go out in the morning to church, and then in the afternoon we have Sunday school. After that, if it's not too stormy, we take a walk. Sometimes we take it anyway, with a raincoat and wellies. I have a raincoat, you know. Only my raincoat sort of leaks, and my boots are getting too tight. But they'll still go on. And perhaps by and by we can get some more. But I like Sunday. It's the best day there is."

He gave a bit of a sigh, and then he asked: "Do you know how to make a Sunday school?"

"Why, I used to go to Sunday school when I was a little boy like you. I guess I could manage one if you would tell me when I make mistakes."

"That's nice!" said Noel with another little sigh of relief. "I was afraid you might not know, and I like Sunday school. Do you know any Bible verses?"

"Oh, I think so. I used to know a lot of them."

The boy's eyes shone happily.

"You know about almost everything, don't you? Prayers and automobiles, and Bible verses, and the ocean. I guess you know a lot more than most men."

"Well, I don't know about that," said Reuben with a grin. "Now, how about your going to sleep? I've got to do some telephoning and letter writing."