Partners (19 page)

"But you haven't seen them yet Gillian. Take them out and look at them, sister. They are just
splendicious
!"

Then amid the laughter that his newly coined word brought, she reached for the box and took out the garments, one by one, and admired them even enough to satisfy Noel, and certainly enough to more than warm the heart of the happy giver, who had really been having the time of his life selecting them.

The nurse, meantime, had discreetly taken herself out of the room, after staying long enough to find out what was going on. Being in deep sympathy with them all she kept her distance, now and again returning at brief intervals to be sure she got all the facts and be perfectly certain there was nothing more she ought to do to be ready for the next day.

"And now," said Reuben at last, "I telephoned Aunt Ettie just before I came. She has arrived safely and moved in. At least, she said the beds are up and made. The electricity is on, the gas stove is in working order, and she'll be ready for her guests anytime tomorrow. How soon would it be convenient for you to start? Nurse, you ought to be able to answer that question."

The nurse stepped up importantly.

"The doctor ought to be here around half past ten. I should think she ought to be able to leave soon after that. He knows she is expecting to go, and he will want to see if she is all right before she starts."

"Very well," said Reuben. "We'll start around eleven, then, unless the doctor has other plans. And oh, by the way, Miss Guthrie, I met Mr. Rand about an hour ago and he gave me this to give to you. He said it was from your fellow workers in the office. They sent you their best regards and hoped you would have a lovely vacation."

With trembling, astonished hands Gillian took the envelope he handed out and opened it, and out fell a check for fifty dollars and a little card with good wishes signed by all the people in the office.

"Well, now, isn't that just perfectly lovely?" said the nurse, wiping pleased tears from her eyes with her apron as she took the card Gillian held out for her to see.

"I don't think I shall be able to sleep at all tonight," said Gillian.

"Oh, yes, my dear, you'll sleep like a log," said the nurse.

Then Noel went close and said in a small jubilant voice: "Oh, isn't everything just wonderful, Gillian? Isn't it just like our God to make all things so nice for us?" And Gillian pressed a warm kiss on the small happy lips.

Then Reuben led the boy away, with a "good night" and a promise to be there in the morning for her, and Gillian and the nurse were left alone.

The nurse had the patient all quietly prepared for the night and was about to turn out the light, when Gillian spoke:

"I wonder, Nurse, if you would mind if I changed my mind about those dresses you brought home. Would it really be all right if I took one or two of them? Now that I've got all this wonderful money, I think I ought to get enough things to look all right. Mr. Remington says that there's a possibility some of the girls may run down for a day to see me while I'm at the shore, and I don't want to look too shabby, you know."

"Of course not," said the nurse briskly, with a kind of satisfaction in her voice. "I was really hoping you'd take some of them."

"And you are sure your niece won't be disappointed?"

"Oh, no, how can she be disappointed about something she's never seen? Besides, I've been thinking. There's a yellow one I'm most sure she would rather have. And there's plenty of those sprigged ones. I can get more like them. So it will be all right. I'll go right down tomorrow after you leave and get them."

So with her heart at rest about her scarcity of suitable garments, Gillian fell into a deep, refreshing sleep.

 

 

 

Before Reuben left the hotel the next morning, he had a lengthy and disturbing talk with the New York detective and then with the lawyer into whose hands he had placed the matter for the Guthries. It was definite that the uncle was determined to find his niece and nephew.

The lawyer had been in consultation with the trust company, who had verified the facts that had been reported to them concerning Mrs. Guthrie's death two years before. They were ready to cooperate in finding the man and bringing him to justice. They had a warrant for his arrest ready if it should be needed. But it was all too evident that the old reprobate was in this immediate neighborhood somewhere, and there was no telling how he got his information of Gillian's whereabouts, or where he would turn up next.

Reuben was much distressed about it all. He felt that he should get the girl out of the city as soon as possible. It would be a shock to her if the man came to the hospital before she got away. Though how he would find out she was there was a puzzle; but sometimes crooked people had crooked ways of finding out things, and Reuben was taking no chances for his wards. He would get them away as soon as possible.

Also it would be most unpleasant for Gillian at the office if that old uncle turned up there and told any lies about her. She wouldn't feel like she could go back to the only job she was sure of. And he must take great care that Gillian did not find out any of this before their journey. She must be as calm and rested as possible. But about all of this, Noel of course knew nothing, and he was engrossed in a couple of tricky puzzles Reuben had gotten for him, waiting patiently in a new little brown linen suit for the ride on which he and Reuben were going to take Gillian. It was a great day, and he was very happy.

Reuben felt a tug of joy at his heart as he came after Noel and found him curled in the big chair by the window, working away at the two keys that somehow would not come apart.

"I've got all the pigs in the clover pen," cried the boy, holding up a little metal box, "but I can't get the keys apart. Show me again, Reuben."

Reuben took the keys, gave a twist and a turn to them, and held them up one in each hand.

"Now," cried Noel, "I'll try again!"

"Not now," said Reuben. "We're going after your sister now and take the nice long ride to the shore. Put the puzzle in your pocket for another time when you have nothing to do!"

So joyously Noel obeyed and they went together down to the car, to find the porter had already stowed away their bags.

Gillian had just finished a bowl of soup when they got to the hospital and was all dressed up in the new dark blue dress, her eyes like two stars. Reuben stopped a moment to stare at her. Could this be the colorless little girl who had slumped before him that day in the office? Did she really look like this? The soft flush on her cheeks was not from makeup. The light in her eyes was genuine and from within. And how different she seemed now, dressed and sitting up.

"Oh, Gillian! You've got a new dress!" said the little boy, jumping up and down excitedly. "A new dress, Reuben; doesn't she look pretty in it?"

Gillian's cheeks suddenly grew pinker, and she said: "Noel! Hush! What an idea! It's just a dress, a simple little linen dress, and cost almost nothing. You make me feel embarrassed, darling!"

"Oh!" said Noel, somewhat abashed. "But she does look pretty in it, doesn't she, Reuben?"

Reuben grinned.

"Why, certainly, of course; doesn't she always look pretty?"

"Y-e-s," said Noel thoughtfully, "but sometimes she looks prettier than other times. Isn't that right, Reuben?"

"Why, yes, I suppose it must be, since you say so," said Reuben gravely, and then with a twinkle he turned to Gillian.

"The chariot awaits, milady. Has the doctor been here?"

"He's just coming," said the nurse from the doorway. And then they could hear his footsteps coming down the hall.

"All set?" said the doctor's cheery voice. "Now, young lady, are you going to be a good little girl so you can keep away from the hospital and not come back to see me anymore?"

A bit of laughter and banter, and then they were on their way to the elevator, Gillian in a wheelchair, although she insisted she was able to walk.

"Not till you have to, little girl!" said the doctor. "And now here are a few rules I'm giving you to keep well by. Look out for them every day, and someday perhaps you will thank me."

"I'll thank you now, Doctor," said Gillian with a shy smile. "You've been wonderful to me."

A few minutes more and they were in the car, with good-byes to nurse and doctor and the kind intern who had brought her to the hospital, and they started off.

Reuben threaded his way into the street and through the city traffic, out into a broad highway, rolling smoothly along in the bright day.

"Well, are you comfortable?" he said, looking over at the girl as she sat in the backseat against the soft cushions.

"I should say!" She smiled. "This is a wonderful car."

"You like it? I hoped you would. Are you sorry to leave the hospital?"

"Oh, no! I'm glad, so glad! Although they were very nice and kind to me, and I did get a good rest, of course. I guess I was rather tired, although I didn't realize it until the last few days."

"Yes?" said Reuben. "Well, I'm glad you realize it now, and I hope it will be a good lesson to you to always eat plenty and sleep plenty and rest a lot. Now, are you sitting comfortably? Would you rather have Noel back there beside you? I thought perhaps this way you could put your feet up after a little and sort of lie down."

"Oh, I'm very comfortable. Let Noel stay in the front seat if he doesn't bother you. I know it's just the delight of his heart to be sitting in front with you."

Reuben glanced down at the happy child knowingly.

"We're pals, aren't we, kid?" he said with a grin.

Noel sat there seraphically happy, watching everything on the way, and Gillian lay back quietly with peace in her eyes and on her brow.

And about that time, back in the city, an elderly man with sly eyes and a debonair air walked pompously up the steps of the hospital and demanded at the desk to know where he could find Miss Gillian Guthrie's room.

The girl at the desk was a substitute for the regular nurse and didn't know. She looked in the regular list but couldn't find the name, and then she called to another nurse who was passing through the hall.

"Who? Guthrie? Oh, that's the girl who was on the second floor, private. Why, she was discharged! Yes, they went this morning. A swell car came for her. No, I don't know where she went. You'd have to ask her nurse, Miss Hepburn. But she's off for the day. No, I don't know where you'd find her. Seems ta me I heard her say she was going on an outside case. She's special, you know." Then the elevator came down with a clang and the nurse went on her way upstairs, and though the persistent gentleman kept on trying, for he was not one to give up easily, he finally had to go away with the assurance that the regular office girl would be back tomorrow and she would likely know all about the patient he was searching for.

But out in the beautiful day, secure in Reuben's handsome new car, Gillian was rolling away into a sunlit world, with her beloved little brother within reach and nothing to do but rest and be thankful. For the morning at least there was nothing to worry about.

She glanced down at the neat lines of her pretty blue dress and marveled that it was herself so arrayed, marveled that there had been a way for her to get such a nice-looking dress so very cheap. That was such a nice, kind nurse. Sometime she must write her a letter and thank her for all her kindness. But just now she didn't even have to think about it, just be still and enjoy everything.

They were going over the big bridge across the river now, and Noel was asking a lot of questions. She was sitting so she could see the eager light in the boy's eyes, and she wondered if he was annoying the driver. Somehow this morning, being dressed herself like a human being again and not just a robed patient, she began to see this young man, who had been such a strong helper in her time of need, as a man of the business world again, a younger but still an important member of the staff of heads who constituted the firm for which she worked. A sudden shyness had come upon her. While she was lying there in bed, helpless, and he the only contact in a world in which she had been sadly inadequate, he seemed more like an old friend; but now as she looked at his fine profile, noted the kindliness about the firm lips, the genuine interest in his pleasant eyes as they looked at Noel, she felt a startled wonder that such a man had taken time and trouble to help her and Noel in their time of distress. Of course, it was likely just the firm doing it for the sake of the old man, her father's friend, who had written them a letter before he went from the world forever. But they had known the kind young man into whose hands they had put her case and had known he would do all in his power to make things right for her. She must certainly write the firm a letter, too, when she felt stronger and knew just what to say.

And now this blessed rest by the sea that was before her! How wonderful it was going to be! Of course, it might not turn out to be so perfect as it was in anticipation, but at least she knew she would believe in it until it proved itself otherwise. That was the only way she could possibly hope to get well and carry on for Noel--just take things as they came and believe in them as long as she could, and not carry that awful burden of fearfulness that she had been carrying for the last two years. It was wonderful to relax and just be happy for even a little while.

Then she began to watch the young man again, covertly, because she wouldn't presume to be staring at him. He represented to her the firm for whom he worked, and she must give him all quiet respect and not for an instant presume upon his kindness to her in her stress.

Then suddenly as she thought about what pleasant lines there were in his face, he turned and flashed a smile at her, as if she were an old friend he had known all his life.

And perhaps he caught the wistfulness in her eyes, for he turned again and smiled, that smile of genuine interest and concern about her welfare.

"Feeling perfectly comfortable?" he said. "Not too much air from this window? Of course, it's a warm day, but you mustn't get chilled, and you know how easy it is to get chilled when one has been in bed for several days. I don't want this experiment to end in your having to go back to the hospital again."