happie could not help feeling a little bit important and very much grown up as she brushed her gleaming hair before the mirror in her shady patty-pan chamber, preparing to go to business to take her brother's place.
the next room was bob's, and, in spite of the portière over the connecting door, it was easy to hear mrs. scollard's voice as she anxiously consulted the man of the house and he replied.
"do you think it is necessary, bob? can she really be useful? i so strongly dislike her going," mrs. scollard was saying.
"well, i'll tell you, mother," bob began. "would you just hand my old coat out of the wardrobe, like the angel mother you are? there's no use lolling about in my business suit. thanks. i'll tell you: it isn't precisely necessary, but i think—i know—it will please mr. felton to have happie down. you see it shows a desire on our part to serve him, and he has been mighty nice to me. all the other three fellows there think he's inclined to favor me. and of course she can be useful, even if she can't go ahead as i could."
"she's so young, bob,—only fifteen! and she's such a frank, friendly creature that she's sure to expect to find friends in an office as she finds them everywhere. and i a[131]m troubled lest she encounter something unpleasant." mrs. scollard's soft voice was not enough stifled by the door and portière to disguise its anxiety.
"not down there, motherums. those are three nice young chaps in the office; they'll be all right to happie. one might be fresh—dan lipton—but i guess he'll be civil. it isn't like going to business, to go down to felton's in my place. i know just what she'll be up against, you know, or i wouldn't let her do it. maybe the little experience will be good for her; you can see she's delighted to try to help me out." bob dropped his voice, but still happie heard him, with a sensation of having been reduced in age some five years by the conversation.
how manly bob was, and how businesslike in tone without trying to be so! happie felt like a little girl who had suddenly discovered that the grown people did not enjoy playing house with her just as she enjoyed having them. but how fortunate she was in her brother who would not let her face anything untried except he first knew what she "would be up against!"
she came out to the savory breakfast which margery and gretta had prepared, somewhat subdued, but still ready to do her best to be useful in mr. felton's office, if not to be a thoroughly competent substitute for bob.
for the next two days everything went smoothly and happie secretly cherished the conviction that she was attainin[132]g her ambition and was really useful. the three young men, or "the two young men and that boy," as happie mentally classified mr. felton's clerks, for she cordially disliked pert dan lipton, were most polite, ready to serve her, plainly desirous of being friendly, but treating "scollard's nice little sister," as they called her among themselves, with a respect that convinced happie of her success in playing her rôle with dignity.
the fourth day of her business career was friday. it was also to be her last day, for bob thought he should be able to resume his desk on saturday, if one of the girls came with him to the door to give him a supporting shoulder in case of need.
happie announced the joyful tidings on her arrival, and somehow it seemed to change the atmosphere around her. the two elder clerks became assiduous in their desire to serve her, and openly expressed their regret at the prospect of losing what one of them, inclined to sentiment and poetry, styled "the daily inspiration of her sunny face." but dan lipton was affected differently. apparently he felt that there was no time to be lost if he wished to try his hand at teasing the vanishing little substitute, and he revealed, not only that teasing was his preferred amusement, but that his idea of teasing was that of the practical joker.
the livelong morning he made himself a nuisance to happie, who bore good-naturedly jarrings of her stool which cost her blots; the loss of pen, paper, pencils, blotters; a [133]low whistling close by her side that made addition next to impossible, and the copying of letters very difficult.
at noon there came into the office a man who went up to the eldest clerk's table and asked if he had on his list any desirable apartment for a young man—himself, he added—who had just arrived in new york and hoped to stay for many weeks. "i want good rooms with bath, in a thoroughly well-kept house," he said. "i don't care to turn in anywhere; i want the place recommended. a friend of mine told me i could rely on the house to which i might be sent by mr. felton's office."
happie looked up, her attention attracted by the beautiful voice in which the stranger made known his wants, the pleasant accent, with the r's elided or softened, and the slight drawl, which, without being lazy, was most attractive in its leisurely effect. she saw a man much younger than she had looked for. she had been conscious of his unusual height as he entered, and expected to see him burdened with years proportioned to his inches. instead she saw a man under thirty, lightly but strongly built, the grace of repose in his motions, which were, at the same time, lithe and alert. his face was handsome, rather from its expression and refinement than from regular beauty. his eyes, hair and mustache were uniformly brown, and the eyes were so filled with spirit and intelligence that they would have redeemed a face lacking the many charms possessed[134] by this one.
"how nice he is!" thought happie, surveying the newcomer from the vantage ground of his oblivion to her. "he looks as though he had been made just to illustrate the word gentleman. even his clothes," this sharp-eyed young critic added in her thoughts.
"we don't carry men's apartments on our books," the clerk was saying, in the meantime. "but i can give you the addresses of two or three,—more if you like,—first-class places, where you will find what you want, if you find a vacancy at all."
"thank you very much. i should like it exceedingly, if it isn't too much trouble," said the stranger. "it hardly seems fair to let you bother with it if the houses are not in your hands."
"it isn't very much trouble to jot down a few addresses," returned the clerk with a smile. "dan, suppose you do it. copy the numbers and names marked on this list." he tossed a paper over on dan's desk as he spoke, then pushed a chair forward for the tall young man, with a gesture inviting him to take it, and returned to his own work.
dan lipton was sharpening a pencil. he shifted the knife into his left hand holding the pencil, and with his right reached across and laid the list of bachelor apartments on happie's desk. "here, junior clerk," he said. "that's about your size job. you do it."
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happie flushed. she was entirely ready to do anything any one asked of her, but she did not like the manner of the asking, and the fact that neither of mr. felton's older assistants had heard the saucy transfer, while the stranger had and was regarding her with surprise, and for the first time, made it particularly trying.
"if you don't care to do what you are told, dan lipton, you must speak to me properly if you hope to get me to help you," she said softly.
the boy laughed insolently. "come, puss, don't get your back up," he said, leaning so far over the desk at which happie sat that she almost fell off the other side of her stool, retreating from him. "you know you'll do anything i ask you. don't pretend you're mad, just to get me to notice you. you're a nice little puss, if you're not stroked the wrong way."
happie flushed scarlet. "get off this desk," she said. "and if you dare to speak one more impertinent word i'll box your ears, and tell mr. felton why i did it."
she looked perfectly capable of carrying out her threat, but her anger delighted dan's impish mood. he lolled forward a little further instead of obeying happie's order to get back from her desk. he was evidently rolling up some sweet morsel of impertinence under his tongue, and there is no telling what form it might have taken but that a strong, nervous hand took him by the shoulder, while another stole up and seized him somewhere under his coat with a refreshing twist. mast[136]er dan was straightened up vigorously, lifted from his stool, set down on it again with emphasis, and a sound cuff was administered first to his right and then to his left ear by the hand that relinquished his waistband.
"now, then, sir," said the stranger in his delicious english, all labials, aspirates and vowels, apparently, "now, then, sir, you're only a cub but you need licking into shape, and i should be delighted to help in the task if i ever heard you speaking again to a young girl as i just heard you speak to this one." he turned to the amazed other two who had seen or heard nothing that preceded dan's elevation and punishment, and smiled as he settled his cuffs. "i beg your pardon, i'm sure, if i've interfered in the discipline of this office, but this little girl was being annoyed by that stupid boy of yours, and i took it on myself to cuff him. i hope you don't mind."
the two clerks glanced at each other, at happie, crimson, half laughing, half crying, at dan, furious, but cowed, and they beamed appreciatively. "not a bit!" they cried together.
"this young lady has been good enough to help us out here for the past four days, because her brother was laid up and she took his place. dan has not been disagreeable till now. if we had caught him making a nuisance of himself—to her especially—we should have pounded him to pulp," said the elder.
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"certainly," agreed the visitor. "fun is all right, but a boy must never forget what is due a lady. the trouble with you, master cub, is a wrong sense of humor. you'll have to learn that rudeness is never funny, much less clever. if you've copied the list i'll take it now, please."
"copy your own lists," growled dan. "i'll never touch a pen for you."
"a pencil would do as well," returned the stranger unperturbed, while happie cried, "let me copy the addresses, please. i am ever and ever so much obliged to you."
the tall young man laid the papers from dan's desk on hers, bowing and laughing. "it wasn't the copying you minded then? and you're entirely welcome. we do enjoy a little muscle play once in a while, don't we?"
"sometimes we do, when they're needed, and our own aren't strong enough," returned happie, copying away for dear life, with her flushed cheek bent low over her paper. she finished the few lines of addresses quickly, and handed them to her defender with a grateful smile, slipping from her stool as she did so.
the young man took them, thanking her, and noting how youthful she was with her reddish brown hair standing out around her dimpled cheeks, and her skirt at ankle length. then he took his departure, with renewed thanks to the senior clerk and a nod to dan, who glared at him with a soul far from forgivingly at peace.
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he left the office to a perturbed atmosphere. happie was glad that this was her last day, though when it ended the two elder clerks bade her good-bye with unmistakable regret, and mr. felton thanked her solemnly for her great kindness in filling her brother's place and for her fidelity and cleverness in his interests.
at the tea room, when happie arrived to go home with margery and laura, they were half shocked, half amused, and wholly impressed by her adventure of that day. happie described her rescuer in enthusiastic terms and margery was greatly interested.
"i should really think, from what you say, that it was some one i know!" she cried, as they started homeward and happie paused for breath.
happie caught the note in her voice as she made the discovery, and tossed her head. "no, indeed, margery!" she declared positively. "this man was not a bit like any one you ever described. he is simple, has lovely manners, is not the least speck solemn nor affected. and handsome, and as manly!"
"yes," said margery quietly. "all that is precisely like some one i know, but of course i don't know your knight. how funny the boy must have looked, getting set down and his ears boxed! and how thoroughly he deserved it! but it was rather horrid, happie dear. i'm glad that to-morrow bob can resume his desk[139]."
in the morning there was a little stir of excitement in the patty-pans, for bob was going out, and it takes no more than that to agitate a family wrapped up in one another, as was this family of boy and girls, "and one dear mother," polly added.
gretta was to go with bob to the office door, her strong shoulder, strengthened by hay-making and gardening, was the most reliable in case bob's foot proved weak and played him false. the girls all hovered around seeing them start, till bob laughed at their anxious faces. "you'd think i was valuable bric-à-brac!" he cried, bursting in on margery's grandmotherly injunctions to watch for stray bits of ice on the sidewalk, and to be sure the car was stopped before he left it.
"the man of the house is more than bric-à-brac," said happie.
"man! he isn't seventeen!" cried laura.
"just as much a man as this is a house," retorted happie. and they all laughed, for the beloved little patty-pans flat was small, and nobody could deny it was crowded.
happie was glad to get back to the tea room. it was a busy day, but she flew to and fro enjoying the rush. she was tempted to sing as she poured tea like a rosy american goddess of plenty. mrs. jones-dexter came in and vouchsafed a smile of cordial welcome to happie, though margery had been her favorite since her i[140]ncreased acquaintance with the girls. hans lieder came too, and happie was surprised to find herself rather glad to see the mysterious man who had once made her pity him.
"we missed you, little miss sonnenschein," he said. "you are such different young sisters that each leaves her own place vacant when she goes. you are the one to do and to be, the warmth and dependence; the oldest one is the sweetness, the soul of you, and the third, ah, she is gifted; she is little clara schumann! i wish that i could spirit her to germany, there to be made what she was meant to be."
happy felt alarmed. there was something about the great cloak and drooping hat of this mysterious herr lieder which gave her the feeling that he might bewitch laura into germany, and she more than half disliked his interest in their sentimental girl.
"oh, that is kind, of course," she said hastily. "but laura could never go away from mother; she needs mother most of all of us."
"natürlich, being the genius," said hans lieder, with a laugh. "how funny it is to see your dislike to her genius! my good little sonnenschein, your sister is not made for the safe homelife, and whether it is better or worse for her you cannot help it. she will find her way to her place in the world, mark me."
"well," sighed happie with a resigned philosophy, "if it is her place truly, it must be the best place for her."
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gretta came in at that moment; she had left bob undamaged at mr. felton's door, had done a few errands, and came in bright and shining from the cold wind, and with pride in her new ability to thread the bewildering streets and shops of new york alone. margery was staying at home until afternoon, when she would bring polly and penny to mrs. stewart.
"a little music, clara schumann?" hinted herr lieder to laura, passing him. laura shook her head.
"not mine," she said. "i've got to help the girls. if you would——" she stopped, hesitating to ask for his wonderful playing during the hour when his audience would surely be large.
but to-day the mood for music was upon this strange man, and he nodded to laura and went to the piano. mrs. jones-dexter, who had lingered, forgot her original objection to music with her tea, and sat listening with tears streaming down her face, a face lined by her seventy years of hard battling with everything and everybody in her world; which came to mean, after all, but one thing: perpetual strife with herself.
gradually the tea room filled. those who came did not go away, and more and more kept coming, and still herr lieder played, forgetful of time, place, human beings, everything but his music. it seemed to happie that he had not played before, when they had thought he played perfectly, as he played this day. laura was en[142]tirely useless; the music made her hopeless as an assistant, and happie and gretta were at their wits' ends. there was an hour lacking to the time when margery was due, the room was crowded, and they were hardly better fitted than laura to look after their guests, with herr lieder playing as orpheus must have played to call back the soul of eurydice.
happie looked about her wildly, and there in the doorway stood the tall young man, the hero of her adventure in mr. felton's office the day before.
he bowed and smiled as they recognized each other, looking much less surprised than she as he made his way forward and said: "very glad to see you again. you seem to be an all around genius. are you one of the six maidens of the card in the window?"
"yes, i am the second of the six, i suppose," said happie. "i hope you are well?"
the young man laughed. plainly she had not meant to say that, and was quite demoralized by her responsibilities.
"perfectly well, thank you, miss happie scollard," he said, and happy was too confused to wonder at his knowledge of her name. "you have marvelous music for your tea room."
"it doesn't belong to it," said happie. "that is a mysterious german gentleman who comes here a great deal and has played for us once before. i never heard such playing. but i don't know what to do. nobody goes, la[143]ura—my sister—is delirious from it, and can't help us, and people keep on coming——" happie broke off with a gesture that came near ignoring the little tray with its burden of teacups which she held.
the tall young man took it from her. "allow me," he said as coolly as if they had been at a party and he was offering to bring her cream. "now if you will tell me where you want these i will get them there. and you may as well let me help you. i am sure i can serve tea quite as well as you girls do. i have often served harder things than tea—tennis balls, for instance."
his brown eyes laughed into happie's lighter brown ones so merrily and with such friendly confidence that she would accept his offer, that she yielded up her tray involuntarily with but a feeble protest.
"oh, how can i? i don't even——"
"know me," the stranger finished for her. "let me help you, nevertheless. i assure you, upon my word and honor, that it is all right. if you will let me help you, before the afternoon is over you will know me well, and i hope you will know me all your life."
"that sounds more mysterious than herr lieder," said happie with a frank laugh. there was something about this young man that carried conviction with whatever he said or did. he was so unmistakably well-bred, so simple, frank and honest that no one could do[144]ubt him.
laura aroused herself from her musical delirium to stare open-eyed and open-mouthed at the spectacle, which at the same time nearly cost a pale woman a bath of hot tea at the hands of gretta, who also saw it suddenly to her total undoing. it was that of a tall and very elegant young man gravely making his way through the crowded room, bearing tea, in happie's wake, to the various little tables, while happie supplemented him with more tea and little cakes, looking immensely relieved and quite as though there were nothing unusual in the situation.
"my goodness! who is he? what can it mean?" whispered laura to gretta, who shook her head so hard that the end of her braid of hair slipped out of its confining bow, as she offered to an indignant customer a slice of lemon that had already been used. margery came in at the door and stopped short, amazed to find the room so full. as she stood there, flushed and lovely, polly and penny in either hand, her eyes fell on happie's assistant, and the color rushed up to her hair, while eyes and lips smiled radiantly. "why, mr. gaston, what are you doing, and how did you find us?" she said, to happie's consternation, as the tall young man dashed towards her.
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