Partners (17 page)

"You really are quite insolent, you know," said Webster, "but I must own it's becoming to you. I never saw you look prettier, and if it's sentiment that you want me to be sentimental, too, but I thought you were too sensible for that sort of thing. I thought you were a practical type. But you certainly knew that I was exceedingly fond of you even before you went away from the old home. Call it love if you prefer. I felt that fondness was a little more refined way of putting it, but I'm willing to say I love you if you prefer that word. And I'm sure I shall be deeply devoted to you all my life! Now, sit down, please, for I really have an important point to put before you that I have not mentioned yet."

"I prefer to stand. I really must go in just a minute." And her eyes were on her watch.

The man frowned. He was not used to being hurried.

"It's very annoying to have to say these things in a rush," he protested. "Things that have to do with our plans for a lifetime--"

"Excuse me, Mr. Webster," said Dale. "You and I have no possible plans that could have to do with a lifetime. Please get that definitely."

"My dear, you would not say that if you knew all that I intend to do for you! I--"

"Please don't keep calling me 'my dear'!" she protested. "I'm not your dear, now nor ever, and no amount of things you intend to do for me would change my feeling about that."

"Look here, Dale, don't be foolish. I came down here to arrange to take you back to look over the house I have just bought. I want to see if this suits you in every way. It is not too late yet to make some changes, and I want you to come with me no later than tomorrow to select wallpapers and carpets, or rugs, and a number of things. Even if you do not feel that you can terminate your employment at a day's notice like this, you can surely get a day or two off, and I certainly feel that it is my due, after all I have offered you, that you should be open-minded enough to come and look things over before you give me such a final refusal. Now, will you grant me this request? Will you go with me tomorrow back to the old hometown and look over what I have been planning for you?"

Dale took a deep breath and tried to put aside her annoyance. Tried to answer in a calm, quiet voice.

"That would be quite impossible, Mr. Webster. I am in the midst of work that I could not possibly leave for some time, even for a day, not even if I wanted to, which I don't. Now, I'm afraid you will have to excuse me for I must go at once!"

Dale hurried away to the elevator, and the dignified caller, much bewildered at his sudden setback, started after her but found when he got to the elevator that its door had already been closed and it was moving up out of sight. Dale's last glimpse of him showed an angry and determined face gazing up after her, and she gave a little shudder as the elevator slid smoothly up away from him, for it came to her what an awful thing it would be if she had to live her life out under the domination of such a man as that!

Then she began to reflect on possibilities. From what she knew of Arliss Webster he was not a man to accept a rebuff easily. And if he should find out that she was taking care of a little stray foundling baby, for a young man whom she had known only a short time, he would certainly raise an unpleasant disturbance about it and bring all her mother's old friends down upon her annoyingly. They would think they had to do something about rescuing her, of course, for her mother's sake. She must certainly prevent such a thing. She felt sure that Arliss Webster would not drop the matter yet, but would pursue her. He was so inordinately fond of himself and his own plans, that he simply could not accept defeat. She should not have lost her temper. She should have been merely dignified. She must find some way to get rid of him definitely.

The baby was stirring uneasily and giving little unhappy cries now and then when she got back. The nurse said he had been more or less restless ever since early that morning. She hadn't spoken of it before because she wanted to be sure, but she thought perhaps it would be as well to call up the doctor. The little fellow was running a tiny mite of temperature, and the doctor always wanted to know when that happened.

So she called the doctor, and he promised to run in as soon as he was free.

Then Dale, with all her anxieties back upon her, sat and worked with her soft wools, knitting tiny socks and thinking about the baby. And when after an hour Arliss Webster called up and desired her to come down for a brief talk, she told him that the patient was not so well, perhaps not even then. Thereafter she sat and tried to work out a plan by which she could escape any further contact with Arliss Webster.

The afternoon mail brought two letters, one a note from Arliss Webster, begging Dale to say when he might see her for half an hour, as something very important had come up that he felt sure she would wish to talk over with him. The other was a brief communication from Dinsmore Ramsay.

It seemed so strange to her that just in these short few days she should hear so definitely and insistently from all three of her rejected suitors, when they hadn't even been on her mind for over a year, and never had been in her heart.

The letter from Dinsmore Ramsay brought a smile to her lips, it was so characteristic of him in every way, simply overflowing with his usual self-importance. In some ways he reminded her of Arliss Webster, although she knew Webster would be horrified to know that anyone could possibly liken him to a young insignificant underling in somebody's office.

 

Dear Dale,

A matter has just come to my knowledge that makes me think that you need my advice, and I of course stand ready to help you any way possible.

I understand that you have inherited a tidy little fortune, and I am, of course, glad to know it. There is no one I would be so glad to see proper as you. But at once I can see where you will be in great danger from sharpers who always stand ready, as soon as they hear of an inheritance, to bleed the poor inheritor to the death. So I am writing you at once to beg that you will make no investments at all until you see me. I am in a position to know what is wise and what is unwise, and I would hate to see you get caught by any of the modern fakes that are lying innocently about to snare ready investors.

For your father's sake, to whom I was deeply attached during our close association, I, of course, should want you to make no mistakes.

So I am taking the liberty of running down toward the end of this week to have a little talk with you and advise you about some fine investments that I am now in a position to handle for you personally, and see that you are not cheated.

I also want you to remember that I am still of the same mind regarding you, and would like nothing better than to be in a permanent position to look after you and carry all your burdens, and help you to decide all perplexing questions. In short, my offer of marriage still stands, and I assure you I still care as much as ever for you.

Yours with all my heart's love,

Dinsmore Ramsay

 

When Dale finished reading this letter she put her head back and laughed aloud, and the nurse looked up in astonishment, but all the explanation Dale made was to say, "Aren't some people too funny for anything?"

And the nurse, after puzzling over this for a full minute said, "Well, I guess maybe they are." But she went on wondering whether that letter could have been from Rand, or did Miss Dale have another friend that was writing to her? And who was this person who kept calling up from down in the office to know if he could see Miss Hathaway?

Dale made short work of answering that letter. She wrote it at once.

 

Dear Dinsmore,

It was nice to get your letter, and of course I appreciate your kind offer to help, for any time I might be in need of advice or assistance in the way you mention.

But I can't think where you could have heard such an unlikely rumor, that I have inherited a small fortune. Dinny, that's ridiculous! There is no one belonging to me who would ever leave me a fortune either large or small, so you see your kind offer is superfluous. There was a kind old half uncle once who put something in the bank for me to have when I come of age, but I'm sure it was only a trifling amount, and I can't see how that could possibly have been the foundation for such a tale as you seem to have heard, and as I have never told any of my friends about it, I can't see how you could have heard any such tale.

I am sorry to spoil your plans, but I'm glad to be able to save you the trouble and expense that you would incur by coming to see me, which, although very pleasant socially of course, would be utterly useless, for just now I am engaged in helping to care for a sick person and could not be spared to come away and talk with you.

Regarding your other suggestion, the question of marriage, I think I made you understand fully before I left home, that I could not marry you, and I have not changed my mind.

With all best wishes,

Sincerely,

Dale

 

Dale dispatched the letter by airmail, hoping to reach the young man before he should start on his way. And then she sat quietly by the window and watched the evening shadows come down and the brilliant lights of the city come up and drown out the darkness of the sky, till even the faraway stars looked dim in their glare. Red and green, blue and yellow, weird fantastic shapes and colors, jiggling and winking and blaring in and out, each one trying to offer a mightier attraction to the eye than the other. Christmas signs. What a travesty on Christmas! The birth of the Savior of the world mixed up with advertisements of beer and toys! Christmas commercialized! She sighed over the way the world was going.

Yet Christmas had always been to her the crowning joy of the year. The time when human love and beauty reached up and touched heaven, and earthly hates and passions were forgotten for a little while because of the long-ago birth of the Christ child.

The baby on the other side of the room fretted and turned restlessly again, and she turned anxiously toward him.

"I think he's all right," said the nurse reassuringly.

"Isn't he getting hoarse again?" asked Dale with a note of anxiety in her voice.

"Oh, no, I don't think so. They have their ups and downs, you know, little things who have been sick as he was. Anyway, the doctor ought to be here pretty soon."

But the doctor didn't come, and the child continued to be restless, and Dale, sitting in the twilight, tried to forget about her worry. Tried to think ahead. What kind of Christmases would this little child have as he grew older? Oh, if she had the chance, how she would love to make Christmas a joyous time for him! But probably she wouldn't have the chance.

It wasn't thinkable that Rand would let him be put into an orphanage now, and yet, how did she know? He had been away from him these few days, and perhaps when he came back he would have thought it over and decided that it would be much better to put the baby in some permanent home rather than to keep him until he was fond of them and then tear him loose and put him into some other surroundings.

Oh, but she mustn't think these things. Rand wasn't like that. She hadn't known him long of course, but she was sure he wasn't like that! He was loving and kind, and even if he should happen to be engaged to marry someone either now or later, it seemed as if he would be one who would want this little child.

However, what an unprofitable line of meditation! This baby was God's child. God had sent it, and God would somehow care for it if it was to live and grow.

It was just the return of all these old acquaintances suddenly in this short time that made her downhearted. And then it was so annoying to have Dinsmore Ramsay offer to assist her. How in the world did he ever get any such notion as that she had inherited a fortune? How ridiculous! Could it be possible that from the inquiries of those Western lawyers who were trying to find her he had got that idea? Surely lawyers wouldn't tell anything even about a small amount of money. But suppose they had and some reporter had overheard and thought he had got some news for his paper. How annoying if anything had been published about her in the hometown paper!

But the more she thought about it the more she felt that something like that might have happened. For how else would Dinsmore Ramsay have got the idea? He was not original enough to have made it up out of whole cloth. And then, Arliss Webster! Had he heard it, too?

For surely he wasn't in love with her, she was certain about that. But if he thought she was well off he might want to get ahold of her money.

How perfectly absurd. Well, what difference did it make? She probably would never go back to the hometown anyway, and it didn't matter what old acquaintances thought about it.

So she turned her thoughts to the baby and went again to look at him as he slept uneasily in his crib, studying his delicate little face. Did she fancy it, or was it true that there seemed again to be gray shadows under the eyes, shadows that made the long golden lashes stand out with startling distinctness. Oh, she wished the doctor would come! She wished Rand would come back! Somehow she felt that if he were here now he would do something. But what was there to do? Anything that she ought to be doing?

Then the telephone rang.

She sprang to answer it lest it might waken the baby. The nurse had gone down to the drugstore to get something that was needed, and she was on duty alone. She hoped it might be the doctor. Oh, if he would only come!

But no, it was Arliss Webster again. She had been pretty sure he would have gone home by this time.

"Is that you, Dale? This is Arliss Webster. Well, I'm glad I've got you at last! That other nurse seemed only anxious to get rid of me. Didn't she tell you I had called?"

"She told me someone had called, but I guess she didn't remember the name. I thought you would be home by this time."