Partners (9 page)

"I will," said the boy eagerly. "C–c––can I ask her if she had nice oatmeal and soup and things?"

"Oh, yes, I don't think that will do any harm. But, you know, the doctor may have ordered some different things for her from what you have. He may think she needs them."

He looked grave at that and presently said, "I see!"

Then the door opened and the doctor summoned him.

It was a beautiful sight to see the boy as he entered the sickroom, stepping softly lest he make a noise, his cheeks bright with a lovely pink flush and his eyes like two stars, his hands outspread to balance himself. Reuben found himself watching him as if he were his own, and being proud of him. Such a little, wise, loving, manly baby!

In the middle of the room he stood poised looking radiantly at his sister.

"Hi, Gillian!" he said sweetly. "Are you awright?" And Gillian's eyes were filled with quick tears of joy, her lips in loving smiles.

"Hi, Noel!" she answered feebly. The doctor and Reuben gave each other a quick look and stepped out into the hall together.

"Great kid, isn't he?" the doctor said and then drew Reuben back into the reception room. "Well, Mr. Remington, did you find out anything?"

"Yes," said Reuben. "We had a fairly plain talk. I discovered a miserable old reprobate of a stepuncle who turned up just before the girl's mother died, bullied her into letting him handle her money for her after she was too sick to go to the bank for her own check, and then after the mother died has been tormenting the girl out of her senses, threatening to send Noel to an orphanage. The girl was in such terror of him that she took the boy and ran away in the night and has been living in fear ever since she came here lest something would happen to the boy. The uncle told her that the money their father left in trust for them was all gone, the investments had failed, and the fifty dollars he gave her was all she would ever get. I don't imagine there was much perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if the old bum made away with it himself. The girl was too frightened ever to go back or even write to the trust company and investigate. She lives in stark terror that the old sinner may turn up on any corner and snatch her brother from her."

"Poor child!" said the doctor. "I don't wonder! Were you able to calm her?"

"Oh, I hope so. I told her she had a lot of friends here who would protect her. Of course, I mean to investigate more fully and see what can be done to frighten the old reprobate, or put him somewhere that he can't harass her. If he's meddled with their money, even though it may be but a small amount, we'll have some ground for having him arrested. But meantime, what do you think of her? When can she go back to work? She is wild to go. Insists that she must, and is hard to help because she is exceedingly proud."

"I see! Of course! They evidently come from fine stock. Well, thanks, Mr. Remington, you've cleared the atmosphere a little, and perhaps there will be more to discover. If you find it convenient, drop in again toward night and maintain your friendliness. Perhaps she'll give us more light and you can give her further assurance of her security. Now about her stay here. I think she should remain at least a week where I can see her every day and she can have proper care and rest and the right food. Then if she could go to the country or the shore somewhere with maybe a nurse along, that would be the thing for her. That'll run into money, of course. You'd better find out what the company will do for her. Or there might be a quiet place where she could board. And where the boy could be nearby and see her every day. But that, too, might involve too much anxiety for her. I don't suppose you are at liberty more than briefly, of course. We'll have to think it over and talk it over. Meantime, can you carry on, or make some arrangement for the boy for a few days? I suppose you have to be going back to your office soon."

"This is my vacation," said Reuben quietly. "I have a month, and I'll stick around for as long as I'm needed."

The doctor eyed him with admiration.

"But that's no vacation, Mr. Remington. You've been great to look after them. You deserve a good time and a swell rest."

Reuben grinned.

"What is a vacation?" he said. "Doing what you please and getting all worn out trying to have a good time, or forgetting yourself and trying to rest somebody else? I'm not sure. Maybe I'll try it out and see what comes of it. However that is, I'm sticking while I'm needed."

The doctor reached out his hand and grasped Reuben's, his eyes alight.

"Congratulations!" he said heartily. "You seem to be a true person. I haven't met so many."

"Thanks!" said Reuben. "And now, when do you want us to appear again? Sometime this afternoon? Or have we done enough damage to the patient for one day?"

"Come around five a few minutes and give her a comfortable feeling for the night. I don't think she had much real sleep last night. It looked to me as if she had been doing a lot of worrying. Get her mind off her troubles if you can."

"I'll try," said Reuben thoughtfully, and then he went back to the patient's room, with orders not to stay much longer this time.

There was an almost happy look on Gillian's lips as she lay there listening to her small brother. As Reuben opened the door, he heard the young voice chirping gently and clearly.

"No, Gillian, I didn't forget to pray. We prayed together, just like you and I always do. Reuben
prays
very nicely."

Reuben paused with the door barely unlatched to get the reaction of the sister, wondering if he ought to wait just a little before he entered.

"Noel, my dear, do you mean that Mr. Remington prayed with you? You shouldn't call him Reuben. That's not respectful. You should call him Mr. Remington."

"But he
said
I was to call him Reuben," answered the boy firmly. "He said I was used to being a brother to somebody. And we would feel more at home with each other if I had somebody to be a brother to, so he told me to call him Reuben!"

Then Reuben swung into the room.

"That's right, Miss Guthrie. Have you any objection to that? I thought we'd get along easier that way." Reuben was grinning in a pleasant, friendly way, and Gillian's white cheeks flushed a little.

"Why, no," she said, "if you think it is all right. I just thought it didn't sound very respectful."

"Well, I don't think there is much danger of this boy ever being disrespectful. We are too good pals now for that. If he ever gets disrespectful, we'll go back to 'mister.' How's that, kid?"

Noel grinned.

"Okay!" he said.

"So, that's settled," said Reuben. "And now, I think there are a few questions I ought to ask. The first is, would you like us to go to your room and get anything for you? You had to come here rather in haste. I thought you might enjoy having your own hairbrush or something."

"Oh, thank you, that's very kind. I would like-- But no, that's foolish. I can get along until the doctor lets me get up. I had a little comb in my handbag. I'm sure he'll let me go home this evening, and then I thought by tomorrow, or the next day at most, I could go back to my work."

"Sorry," said Reuben, "but that's not on the cards for you yet, my friend. We're following the doctor, not your own eagerness to get back to work. So, if you don't mind my entering your room with your brother, we can easily bring anything you want. And by the way, here's the next question. For how long did you take that room? Was it a monthly contract and do you have to pay from month to month, or did you pay ahead?"

Her cheeks flushed and then paled again.

"Oh, that's one of the things I was worrying about," she said in a low voice. "I pay by the week, and there's a payment due today, and that's a reason why I
must
go home tonight."

"I thought so," said Reuben. "Well, now just put that out of your head. I'll look after that till you are able to look after things for yourself. I have an idea we can find a better place for you."

"No," said Gillian, "you can't, not that I can afford. I've looked everywhere."

"Well, don't worry about that. I'll see that the rent is paid this morning for another week at least. And now, what was that you were wishing you could have? Could Noel find it for you? I can recognize you wouldn't want a strange man racketing around in your room." He smiled genially, and Gillian thanked him with her eyes for understanding.

"And would there perhaps be some message about your work in the office you might want to send to somebody who knew about it?"

"Yes," said Gillian with a sudden look of utter weariness around her mouth. "The letter I was writing was a very important one. I had promised that it should be taken to Mr. Moore in time for him to sign it and get it off in the morning mail. I should have attended to it last night. I could have asked the nurse to telephone. But I didn't remember it till just a few minutes ago, and I hoped the doctor was going to let me get up and go. I wanted to get it off myself because Mr. Moore was very particular about some of the phraseology, and maybe not all of them could read my notes. They were taken in a great hurry."

"I imagine that's already been taken care of," said Reuben. "Mr. Moore isn't one to let things go, and he would of course have heard of your illness. But just in case, I'll telephone at once and make sure. Anything else?"

"No, I think not. It was the last letter on my notebook. Evelyn Howe could finish it. She's used to my shorthand."

"All right. I'll straighten that out at once. I'll go down to the phone booth. I have some calls of my own to put in, too. It may take me ten or fifteen minutes, and in the meantime, fella, I'll park you here. Can you be depended on not to talk too much nor get your sister excited?"

"Sure!" said Noel with an important light in his face. So Reuben went down to the public telephone, and the sister and brother looked at each other with a sweet radiance in their faces.

 

Reuben called up the office first and found as he expected that Gillian's letters had all been carefully attended to. Then he got long distance and called a firm of detectives in New York with whom he had had some contacts before in looking up matters for the company.

"That you, Ted? Good morning. This is Reuben Remington. I'm calling you to see if you can get a line on a man named Mason Albee, who used to live out West and two years ago came to stay--" There followed all the details of address and movements he had been able to get in his brief talk with Gillian. "This is strictly confidential, of course. I want to know where the man is now and what have been his movements in the past two years, especially under what conditions he is now living. If you can find out where he gets his money, that is important. I'll be calling you later, perhaps late this evening. Yes, and at what hour? Or tomorrow midmorning? What will be most convenient? I would appreciate haste, even if the details have to be filled in later. Whereabouts and financial state matter most now. All right, Ted, I'll be calling you, and I will send you a check as soon as you send me the memoranda. All right, Ted. Nice to hear your voice again."

After he had hung up, he sat in the booth for a minute or two thinking. Should he or should he not follow up a thought that had just come to him? Well, it wouldn't do any harm to find out if it was possible, in case it should be advisable. Why shouldn't he give Aunt Ettie a call? He hadn't written to the poor old soul in almost a year, and it would please her tremendously to have a few minutes' talk. She was getting old, of course. Why, she might not even be alive yet. She had sent her usual birthday card last November, and a Christmas card at the holidays, but he hadn't heard from her since. It certainly would be a good idea to telephone her, even if it had nothing to do with the present problem. She had been a good, faithful nurse, a sort of mother-servant in the old home when he was a boy. She deserved a little attention from him. Now that his mother was gone, there was likely no one to think of her. She lived with her old sister, but the sister was grumpy. He could remember hearing about that.

With sudden impulse he took up the receiver again and called the number. He couldn't forget that. He had known it ever since he was a child. Poor old Aunt Ettie! How she used to enjoy the thought that her family had a telephone and could call her anytime they wanted to. Not that they seemed to want to very often, but it was nice to know that it was there. He smiled at the memory of her kindly face while he waited for the answer to his ring.

He had about decided that she wasn't at home and his impulse had been ill advised when he heard the receiver taken down and a brisk voice answered, "Hello!" It was Aunt Ettie! There was no mistake, and she didn't seem to have changed a mite! Her voice was just as young as ever.

"Is that you, Aunt Ettie?" he shouted joyously, just as he used to when he came home from school years ago.

"Well! My word! Ef that isn't Reuben! Where are you, Reubie? My! It's good to hear your voice again. I thought you'd entirely forgot me! How are you, boy?"

"Forgotten you, Aunt Ettie? Why, how could I do that? I've been a busy man since I saw you last, but I was just thinking about you, and I took it into my head to call you up and see if you were all right. How I wish I could have run in to see you instead of just talking to you across distance. I'd just love to run in and say, 'How about a little snack, Aunt Ettie? What have you got?' the way I used to do. And you always had a big plate full of crullers, or a huge pan of cinnamon buns or a great dish of baked beans. My, how good they used to taste. I could appreciate them now after these years of boardinghouses and restaurants. What have you got in the house this morning, Aunt Ettie?"

"Oh, gingerbread with whipped cream, baked apples and fresh brown bread, and the first green-apple pie of the season."

"Hurrah! Aunt Ettie, I'm almost persuaded to rent me a plane and fly up to Maine and have me some. Wish I could. I can't, of course, just now. But sometime maybe!"

"Well--I wisht you could," said the old lady sadly. "But I know that's all wishes. You won't come!"