Partners (5 page)

"Yes, of course," said Reuben. "Too lonely! I couldn't let you stay there alone, of course. I promised her I would take care of you. And besides, we haven't got the key. We couldn't get in, you know."

"Oh yes.
I
have got a key," said the wise youngster. "I always carry my key on a little chain around my neck"--and he began to fumble inside the shabby little gingham collar and brought out a key attached to a small chain.

"Oh!" said Reuben. "Well, now, that's interesting. I wonder what's the idea of you wearing that."

"Why, my Gillian said sometimes that woman brings me home a little too soon, for something might have happened to keep her later than usual. She didn't want me to have to stay outside in the hall. There are sometimes unpleasant people who come up those stairs, and Gillian wanted me to go inside and lock the door." He explained it very earnestly, quite soberly.

Reuben was startled.

"I see!" he said but marveled at the fears and burdens this young girl must have been carrying for this engaging young brother.

"Well, anyway," said Reuben, "I don't think we'd better go there tonight, do you? It would be better for us to be nearer the hospital. Your sister might want to call us up for something, or send some word to us. I think we should be quite nearby."

"Oh!" said the child thoughtfully. "And have you got a home nearby? Could we go there?"

"No, but there is a hotel across the street in this block. I thought we might go there for tonight and then see how things are in the morning."

"Oh! But isn't a hotel very expensive?" He asked the question with a wise, mature manner as if he had come up against that hindrance a number of times.

"Sometimes," said Reuben kindly, "but I don't think that matters when we are doing things for Gillian, does it?"

"But it will worry Gillian when she has to pay it," said the child anxiously. "She hasn't much money! And there'll be all that doctor's bill. They are very expensive. Gillian and I had a hard time getting the doctor paid after our mother died!" And he sighed deeply as if a great burden had suddenly come to rest again upon his small shoulders.

"Oh, but you don't have to pay this, you know. The office pays all your sister's bills. Doctor and hospital and nurse. Mr. Rand told me the company would attend to all the cost."

The wise eyes studied his face a moment, a look of relief in them.

"That was nice!" he said with a sigh of satisfaction. "But then that wouldn't be
me
, you know. I don't belong to the office. I think I'd better go back to my home tonight. I don't mind--not
very
much."

"No," said Reuben, "I couldn't let you go back there alone. Didn't you hear me promise your sister that I would stay with you until she got well? You're my guest, you know. You are visiting me, and guests don't have to pay board."

"Don't they? Only just boarders?"

"That's right. And you are my guest till your sister gets well and able to plan things for you again."

He considered that a moment.

"Do you think Gillian will think that's all right?" he asked seriously.

"I'm sure she will. She would be sure I would do that or she wouldn't have trusted me to take care of you. Now, you put everything like that out of your head and just trust me, and we'll have a nice time visiting together."

But the child's face was still serious.

"You see, Gillian was planning to get me a new suit. She said this one was getting very shabby. Now I suppose we'll have to wait for that a long time!" And he sighed. "But I don't mind," he added with a little crooked smile. "It's only that she's ashamed because I'm her brother and she doesn't want people to think she doesn't take care of me. Maybe she wouldn't think I looked right to go to a hotel." He looked down at his shabby little self anxiously.

"Oh, you are quite all right for tonight, and we'll talk that over a little later and see if we can't work out a way for you to earn a new suit yourself somehow. There might be ways perhaps. Anyway, we'll think about it. And now, the first thing we must do is to go and get some supper. I'm terribly hungry. How about you?"

Noel's eyes shone with eagerness, and he nodded his head vigorously.

"So, what do you want? What do you like best?"

"Soup is the cheapest, isn't it? Or maybe a glass of milk."

"But you are my guest now, and you mustn't think about how much things cost. This is my concern. You are visiting me, and I won't suggest anything I can't pay for!"

"Have you got much money?" asked the child wonderingly.

"I've got all I need."

"My! Isn't that nice!"

"Here we are!" said Reuben, leading the boy into the hotel and stopping at the desk to register and secure a room. "Now, shall we go upstairs and wash our hands and faces before we eat?"

Wonderingly the child followed him into the elevator.

"I've been in an elevator before," he said softly. "Out in Chicago, before we came here."

"Well, when we get time, you'll have to tell me all about it," said Reuben.

Five minutes later they went down to the dining room and Reuben ordered vegetable soup as the first course, with stewed chicken, little round biscuits, a glass of milk, and ice cream to follow. The child looked at each new dish with large eyes of wonder, tested each delicately, and ate slowly to make the most of it lest he might never get such a meal again. After his first ravenous hunger had been appeased, he looked up and smiled gratefully. Finally, as he put down the glass of milk after a long, delicious drink of its richness, he looked up at Reuben and smiled again.

"I wish--my Gillian--could--have some----of these!" he said wistfully. "Couldn't I please take some over to her? I've had plenty now, and I'd like to give her some."

"Oh, they will be giving her plenty over at the hospital. Didn't you see the nurse bring in a tray just as we were coming out? I think that was a bowl of soup for Gillian."

The child's face lit up with joy.

"Just like mine?" he asked joyously.

"Why, yes, I think it was something like yours."

Then the little boy laughed out softly, and after that he went to work and carefully ate every crumb of every portion that was given to him.

When they had finished, Reuben led the boy into a men's clothing shop that occupied one of the big windows in the front of the hotel.

"We've got to get some pajamas, you know," he explained to the boy. "We came away without our suitcases."

"Oh," said the boy, "I have pajamas. Gillian made me a pair out of an old dress of hers with blue stripes in it."

"Well, we'll save those for another time. Here are some. Which do you like best? The ones with the red binding or the green?"

"Red," said Noel as if it were a most momentous decision.

While the man was wrapping the pajamas, Reuben was looking around.

"There!" he said. "There is a little suit I believe would about fit you, and we might need it before we have time to get to yours. These are cheap. We'd better get a couple."

"Oh, but--" said the boy with new trouble in his eyes again.

"You're my guest, you know," reassured Reuben. "In Eastern lands I believe it's sometimes the fashion for a man to furnish garments for his guests."

The worry suddenly bloomed into a smile on the boy's face.

"Why, that's like the Bible!" he said.

"How is that?" asked Reuben in astonishment.

"Why, don't you know, there was a man that came to the party without the wedding garment on? Gillian often reads me that story. Don't you remember it?"

Reuben puckered his brows.

"Why, yes, I think I must have heard it," he said. "Let's see, what happened? I don't remember it all. What did he do? Didn't he know it was a wedding he was coming to?"

"Oh, I guess he did, but it was just like you said. The man that gave the party furnished the garment, only this man hadn't put it on. He just came in with his own clothes on and went around, and the man that gave the party had to have his servants put him out because he wouldn't put on the beautiful garment that was furnished. That's the way it is in heaven, you know. We can't go there without the white linen robe of Christ's righteousness about us to cover all our sins. We haven't got any goodness of our own, just sins. So we have to have Christ's righteousness."

"Oh! Yes, I see!" said Reuben, greatly astounded. Where had this child learned his wisdom? He somehow felt rebuked, but he didn't exactly know why. This was something he would have to think about. Did that girl teach her brother all of this, or had he learned it at a Sunday school? It was most remarkable.

The man came with the package then. Reuben added a few toiletries, and then they went up to their room.

"Now, how about a bath?"

"That would be good."

Reuben threw open the door of the well-appointed bathroom, and the child surveyed it with satisfaction.

"A tub and a shower,
both
!" he remarked. "We had a shower once when I was a little boy, before my mother died. I sort of remember it."

So Reuben inducted him into the mysteries of the bathroom, and Noel spattered and splashed around to his heart's content and seemed greatly delighted with it. Then after a good rubdown of the slender little body, Noel put on the new pajamas and came to stand by one of the two single beds.

"Two beds!" said the child gleefully. "That is yours, and this is mine!"

"Yes," said Reuben, "jump in and see how yours fits."

Noel giggled.

"How it
fits
!" he laughed. "That's funny! How a bed fits! Oh, I must tell my Gillian that!"

"Well, jump in! You must be sleepy. This has been a long day."

"But we haven't prayed," said Noel with a bright look.

"Haven't
what
?" asked Reuben, perplexed.

"We haven't said our prayers," explained Noel. "Don't you say your prayers?"

"
Oh!
Why, yes, of course!" he answered quickly in a half-embarrassed tone. It had been some years since Reuben had remembered prayers. "Let's see, what do we say? 'Now I lay me'?"

"Oh, no," said Noel, shaking his head solemnly, "you're too old for that, and I'm too old, too. That's only for babies! I haven't said that in a long time. I really
pray
. Ask God for things, and tell Him things. Now, I'll kneel down here and you kneel beside me; that's the way Gillian and I do. Now, you take hold of my hand. It's easier that way. It doesn't seem so lonesome. Now, I'll pray first, and then you pray and put in all the things I forgot. That's the way Gillian does."

The curly head went down on the bedside, and the small hand nestled in the young man's unaccustomed grasp, and then the boy began.

"Dear heavenly Father, I didn't know what You were going to do today when they came after me at the nursery, and I was feeling so bad and sick because of that old greasy cabbage. And I was so frightened at that ambulance, because so many people die when they take them in those. But I thank You, dear heavenly Father, that You sent a nice man after me, and he has taken care of me, and we had a nice dinner. I am glad You are taking care of my dear Gillian and giving her something to eat, too, and won't You please make her well quick! Help me to be good and brave, and not to be scared. And take care of this nice man, and don't let us spend too much money, so Gillian will have to work overtime and get sick again. I thank You for the pajamas and the new suits, and the toothbrush, 'cause my other one has the bristles out and hurts. And please bless dear Gillian, and bless my new friend, and give him a nice wedding garment, and show him how to put it on. And make me a good boy. For Jesus' sake, amen."

There was a great silence then, and Reuben felt he had to pray, but it seemed to him the hardest thing he had ever tried to do. He grasped the little hand, clutched it firmly, and cleared his throat.

"Dear heavenly Father--" He wondered if he had a right to call God that? But he mustn't let the boy know there was any doubt. He had been very much touched about the child praying for a wedding garment for him. He felt he ought to do something about it, but he didn't know what.

"We thank Thee that we--that even a child may come to Thee with everything--all his troubles and all his joys. We ask Thee to bless the dear sick sister, and help her get well quickly. We ask Thee to take care of Noel and help him to be happy while he is with me. We--I don't feel as if I know how to pray aright, but I'm asking You to teach me and help me to be a fit guide for this boy, and let me have a wedding garment, too. And now will You be with the doctor and teach him how to cure the sick sister and show the nurse what to do for her? For Christ's sake, amen."

There was a great embarrassment upon Reuben as he got up from his knees, but the little boy was scrambling into the soft bed and snuggling down happily, a smile on his lips.

"Shall we telephone over to the hospital and see how Gillian is?" asked Reuben, to cover his embarrassment.

The child's eyes shone.

So Reuben got the nurse on the phone and asked her a few questions.

Then he turned to Noel.

"She says your sister is sleeping and is as well as they could expect. Her pulse is steadier. She ate her soup and had a cup of tea before she went to sleep. The doctor was in to see her just now and said he would come in again after midnight. So now, Noel, we'd better get to sleep."

"Yes," said Noel sweetly. "We'll leave her with God to watch over her, and maybe in the morning she'll be weller."

So Reuben turned out the light and got into his bed, marveling at the things that had happened to make up his strange day.

And now indeed he had time to consider Anise Glinden and the play he was supposed to have been in this evening. Perhaps even now it was about to start, and he hadn't so much as had time to telephone her. What would she think of him? Well, he would have to call her up in the morning and explain. Would she consider his reasons for not coming to Glindenwold sufficient? Well, and suppose she didn't? The time had gone by, anyway, and what could he do about it? Was his job on such a very slender footing that the indignation of a silly girl with very red lips and long curly eyelashes could endanger it? Perhaps it would be as well to find out.