The Challengers (28 page)

On either side of the hall were two wide oak-beamed, paneled rooms, reaching comfortably the depth of the house, and arched windows with deep window seats that suggested cushions and a book. The room to the left had an immense fireplace and bookcases from floor to ceiling with glass doors across the whole outside wall, except for the windows. The room to the right had two great windows with another fireplace between, and at its end a wide arch gave a view of a dining room with its built-in china closets and bay window.

Phyllis lifted her eyes to a noble oak staircase sweeping up a wide curve.

"This is perfect!" she breathed. "But--it looks as if somebody was just moving in."

"That's it," said the boy gloomily. "They were when they went away. All these are their things."

"I know," said Phyllis softly. "It seems too bad."

She walked quietly up the stairs, touching the dusty handrail and marveling at its beauty of line.

There were six bedrooms on the second floor, besides a room that the boy designated as the servant's room, though it looked palatial to Phyllis. They all had views that were breathtaking in their loveliness. Phyllis looked and at last covered her face with her hands and rubbed her eyes.

"I just can't think it's real!" she said, her eyes shining. The boy beamed also.

"Say, it's great having you like it that way. My, I'm glad I met you on the road. I wouldn't have missed this for anything. Say, how about coming over to my house and having a bite to eat? We always have plenty of cake on tap."

"Oh, no, thank you," said Phyllis in alarm. "I must go right home now. It's time to get dinner, and my sisters will wonder where I am."

"Have you sisters? Are they like you?"

"I have two, but they're not like me. They're both pretty and have golden hair, especially Rosalie, the youngest. I'm the dark one."

"Pretty! Oh!" he said in a tone that made Phyllis's cheeks glow at his admiration. Then he asked, "Is your name Forsythe?"

"Oh, no, my name is Challenger, Phyllis Challenger."

"That's a storybook name. I like it. I never knew a girl named Phyllis. Well, my name's Garrison, Graham Garrison. Say, come on over and see my house."

"Oh, I really couldn't this time," said Phyllis. "I'd love to, but I know Mother wouldn't think I should. Perhaps, if we come out here to live, sometime when Mother gets here I could come. But now I must hurry right back to Melissa."

"Who is Melissa? Your sister? And Rosalie you said your little sister was. Well, why don't you bring the whole bunch out, then?"

"I'm not sure," said Phyllis. "We may have to wait till Mother gets back. She went to see my brother who is in college. He got hurt in an accident--has a broken leg--and she went last night. I don't suppose we can do anything till she gets here."

"Say, I hope she comes back soon. How about letting me take you back to the city?"

"I mustn't," said Phyllis, shaking her head. "I've got to be square with what Mother would like. If she were here, it would be different. She might say yes, but as it is, I can't."

"Well, I'm taking you down to the trolley anyway. I'm sure she wouldn't want you to walk alone." He grinned, and Phyllis said: "Well, perhaps."

When Phyllis was back on the trolley speeding toward the city, she began to wonder at the ease with which she had conversed with the attractive young stranger. Wasn't that just what Melissa had done and got into trouble? Yet he seemed only a nice boy. Well, anyway, he hadn't done or said a thing out of the way except to try and tell her she was pretty, and that of course was only kidding. She put any uneasiness she had felt out of her mind and began to work out a plan of action.

Melissa had not come back yet when she reached home, and it was not quite time for the children to come from school. She got herself a bit of lunch and sat down to write to her mother:

 

Dear Mother,

I went to see Father yesterday, and he was delighted to see me. I was surprised how well he looks. Isn't it going to be wonderful to have him home again?

When I got home, Melissa and Rosalie had the dishes all washed--we had slept late, so dinner was late--and Mr. Jenifer was there with his car. He has a nice car. And he stayed to supper with us and took us all to his church. We liked the minister very much. Bob liked him, too.

This morning I went out to see your "inheritance" house. I think it would do very nicely for us for a while. It has a fireplace and bedrooms enough so we could all get along, and there is a nice room for Father to rest. There would be room enough for a garden, too.

I was thinking, Father says he will soon be allowed to come home, perhaps sooner than you expected. Would you like it if Melissa and I were to go out and clean the house and get things in some shape so we could go there in a hurry in case Father is ready to come home sooner, or in case Steve has to come home? We could do that, and then if you didn't like it, we could look around for something else later. There seems to be beds and things enough for us to get along awhile without getting the storage ones. Let me know at once if you would like us to dust it up a little in case of an emergency.

We all miss you very much, but we hope you are having as happy a time as you could under the circumstances, and we send Steve our love and hope he is much better. Father says don't mind him, he is almost well, and he's glad for Steve to have you for a while. He says to tell Steve it's tough luck, but it will all come out right pretty soon he hopes.

Lots of love. I must put the potatoes on for hash now.

Lovingly,

Phyllis

 

P.S. Rosalie has just come in from school. She got a hundred in her spelling. She sends you a hug.

 

Melissa and Bob came in soon, and as they were all hungry they decided to have dinner as soon as they could get it on the table; but they had scarcely got seated before Jenifer arrived.

"I'm going to try not to be a pest," he said, "but I had to go out to one of the suburbs to leave some blueprints for a man and I thought perhaps you folks would like to go along, seeing you are all alone. I haven't anything else to do this evening, and we can stay out till you get sleepy, ride as far as you please. Perhaps you'd like to stop at a roadhouse somewhere and get a drink?" He looked at Melissa and grinned mischievously.

They all laughed and accepted the invitation with delight.

It was Phyllis who proposed that they leave the dishes and go at once while it was still daylight.

"Yes, it will be dark soon tonight. March is almost over, you know. It is spring," said Jenifer. "It couldn't be better weather for a ride. But get your coats. It may be cool before we get back. There's going to be a wonderful moon. Is there any place you'd like especially to go? I don't have to be five minutes in Glen Park, and then we can tour anywhere."

"Oh, anywhere will be lovely, it doesn't matter," said Melissa happily.

"But, yes, there is," said Phyllis. "There's a place I very much want to go. I was wondering how I was going to get you all there. It's a house I heard of."

"Oh, Phyllis," said Melissa, "don't let's go house hunting the only chance we have to take a ride!"

"That's all right; we'll get the ride in, too," said Jenifer, smiling assurance at Phyllis.

"That's all right," said Phyllis with a toss of her head and a grin. "It's a pretty ride all right. I've been there! No, I'm not going to tell you where it is. I'll tell Mr. Jenifer alone, and he can be the judge whether we shall go or not."

They hurried upstairs for their coats, and Phyllis had a moment's conference with Jenifer. Then they all piled out into the car joyously, just as if there never had been a time a few short days ago when they were almost starving and some of them were sick and all of them were sad.

Jenifer had Melissa beside him; Phyllis and Bob with Rosalie between them were in the backseat, and Phyllis was dimpling and smiling to herself as they skimmed along the road out of the city and into a beautiful countryside. Occasionally she slipped her hand into her bag to make sure a couple of keys were quite safe, but she said nothing more about house hunting.

"Isn't it wonderful here!" exclaimed Melissa as they drove along into the finer suburbs and delved down into a road that went straight through the woods. "Oh, I love it here!"

Phyllis was watching the way happily, but she only gave a smiling assent to Melissa's eagerness.

And then came the great hedges and the hidden palaces in the distance, and they all exclaimed over those. Finally they climbed the hill, and there on the left was the big stone mansion with its towers and turrets and the lovely pool at the foot of the lawn.

"That certainly is a wonderful house. Fancy living in a place like that! Fancy living where you could look at houses and lawns and drives like that! And, oh, that beautiful pool!"

Melissa was most enthusiastic. And then she discovered the other wide-spreading house off to her right.

"That's prettier yet," she said. "That's my idea of a house. If I ever get very, very rich, I'll build one like that. I like the tough stone better than the face stone. I like the casement windows and the arches. Look at those vines! How I'd like to see what it's like inside!"

Jenifer had turned his head to the backseat and raised his eyebrows, and receiving a mysterious signal from Phyllis, he said quite casually: "Well, why not? Suppose we do!" And he drove his car around the curve straight into the driveway.

"Oh, do you know them?" asked Melissa in awe.

"Yes, a little," he said with a covert grin. "Well enough to ask them to let us look through their house."

"I'm not very dressed up," said Melissa, beginning to straighten her hat and push back her hair. "My shoes are rather shabby."

"They won't mind," said Jenifer with assurance, and he swept up under the porte cochere and brought the car to a standstill.

"They aren't home!" announced Bob. "There isn't a curtain at any window."

"I see a light in that window," said Rosalie eagerly.

"Aw, that's only the sunset reflecting in the glass, silly!" said Bob.

"Let's find out," said Jenifer, getting out. "Phyllis, have you those keys?"

"Phyllis Challenger, you haven't been foolish enough to look at a palace like this, have you? You couldn't touch it unless you were a millionaire," said Melissa crossly.

"Are you going to get out, Miss Challenger?" asked Jenifer. "Or do we wait outside?"

Melissa, smiling, allowed him to help her out.

"You see, your sister got a chance to look at this house, and she thought we all would enjoy it. It certainly has nice lines, doesn't it? Look at those arches. They couldn't be better!"

He unlocked the door, and they all stepped inside and gasped their appreciation.

Bob looked around for a minute and then glimpsed something through a window.

"Gee! There's a garage, too! And a dog kennel! I'm going out ta look."

He came back pretty soon and announced in a loud tone that there was a car in the garage. "It's a big shiny one," he said. "Looks swell. It's up on jacks. Whaddaya s'pose that's for?"

"Are you sure we aren't intruding?" asked Melissa, looking around uncomfortably. "It seems rather impudent, looking around on people's possessions. Just look at that desk! Isn't it lovely? My, wouldn't it be fun to live in a house like this!"

Phyllis said not a word, just walked around enjoying herself. She let them go all through the house and exclaim over every delightful feature and comment on the views from the windows, especially the one through an arched window where the sun was setting behind a distant hill, and sit down before the fireplace enjoying an imaginary fire; and then finally, just as they reluctantly got up to go, and even Bob and Rosalie had simmered down in their enthusiasm a little, she turned about and said:

"Well, Challengers, friends, what do you think of it?"

"Think of it!" said Melissa. "Do you have to ask?"

"Do you think this would do for us to live in for a while?"

"Do!" laughed Melissa. "Well, rather!"

"Well, we can," she stated quietly.

"Can what?" asked Bob sharply.

"Live in it."

"You're crazy!"

"No, I'm not crazy," said Phyllis. "I mean it. I know the owner, and we can come here and live if we want to."

"Who is the owner, sister?" asked Rosalie, her eyes wide with wonder.

They were all very still, looking toward Phyllis, expecting some joke, except Jenifer, who stood in the background and watched Melissa's lovely face with the sunset glow shining on it, touching up the rings of gold hair that escaped about her forehead and cheeks from the trim little hat.

"Who is it, Phyllis?" coaxed Melissa. "Don't tease us. Who owns it?"

"Our mother!" said Phyllis quietly, in a voice that carried sudden conviction to the entire group. For even Jenifer hadn't known the whole secret.

"What?" said Melissa, jumping up and gazing around to see if it wasn't all a dream. "Our mother owns this? Phyllis, there's some terrible mistake. Somebody is playing a joke on you."

Phyllis laughed.

"I thought so myself at first, but it's no mistake. It's all true. This is the property the lawyer made her sign for just before she left. He gave her the keys then. But she doesn't know herself how wonderful it is. She thinks it's a little cottage somewhere."

Then into the midst of the excitement of the moment there sounded a quick knock on the open door, and a fresh young voice called:

"Is there any admittance? Are these the Challengers? Because if they are, I'm coming in. I want to meet them. Phyllis Challenger, aren't you going to introduce me?"

Then Phyllis with very red cheeks stepped forward and said, "Oh, good evening! Melissa, this is Graham Garrison. He lives across the road and he'll be our neighbor. And this is Mr. Jenifer our friend, Graham; and these are Rosalie and Bob, my sister and brother."

"Well, I'm certainly glad to meet you all. How soon are you moving in? Because I'm keen on having some neighbors right away. How about dropping in on me for a few minutes since the light is fading and the electric light isn't turned on here yet. I tried to get Phyllis to come over this morning, but she seemed to think she hadn't time."