Part 10 (1/2)
”My mother's nurse.”
”Oh. Was it her wages she demanded?”
”Perhaps so. I may have misjudged father in that case. But it seemed to me--I was a mere child then--that it must have been a larger sum than wages would have amounted to. Yet, perhaps not. Anyhow, he left America right afterward, and when we had wandered a year or so in various countries we settled down here.”
”Won't he have to account for all the money he has spent and given away, when you come of age?” inquired Mary Louise.
”No. Mother distinctly told me I was to ask for no accounting whatever.
Her will says he is to handle the income as he sees fit, just as if it were his own, so long as he provides properly for his daughter and treats her with fatherly consideration. That's the only reason he keeps me with him, guarding my person but neglecting the other injunctions.
If he set me adrift, as I'm sure he'd like to do, I could appeal to the court and his income would cease and another guardian be appointed. I believe there is something of that sort in the will, and that is why he is so afraid of losing me. But he gives me no chance to appeal to anyone, although I sometimes think I shall run away and leave him in the lurch. If I could get to Chicago and tell Judge Bernsted, my mother's lawyer, how I am treated, I believe he could make the court set aside my father's guardians.h.i.+p. But I can't get ten miles away from here, for lack of money.”
”How your dear mother would grieve, if she knew her plans for your happiness have failed!” exclaimed Mary Louise.
Alora frowned, and somehow that frown reminded Mary Louise of the girl's father.
”My mother ought to have known my father better,” she declared sullenly. ”I must not criticize her judgment, for her memory is my most precious possession and I know she loved me devotedly. But there is one thing in her history I can never understand.”
”And that?” questioned Mary Louise curiously, as Alora paused.
”My mother was an educated woman, well-bred and refined.”
”Yes; Gran'pa Jim told me that.”
”Then how could she have married my father, who is not a gentleman and never could have impressed a lady with the notion he was one?”
Mary Louise hesitated, for to admit this would send her deductions, so carefully constructed, tumbling in ruins. But Alora ought to know the man.
”If that is true, dear,” said she, ”it is the strangest part of your story; and, of course, we can only guess the reason, for the only one who could have explained it properly was your mother.”
CHAPTER XI JASON JONES IS FRIGHTENED
When Alora had retired to her bedroom that night Mary Louise told to her grandfather, who was her trusted confidant, all that the unhappy girl had related.
”Of course,” she added, ”Alora's explanations dispel my half formed suspicion that there is some mystery about Jason Jones. I now see that you were right, Gran'pa Jim, to laugh at me when I suggested such a thing, for in truth the man is easily understood once you become acquainted with his history. However, I now dislike him more than ever.”
”In justice to Jason Jones,” remarked the old Colonel, ”we must acquit him of being a hypocrite. He doesn't attempt to mask his nature and a stranger is bound to see him at his worst. Doubtless Antoinette Seaver understood the man better than we are able to and sixteen years ago, or so, when he had youth, talent and ambition, his disagreeable characteristics were probably not so marked. As for Alora, she is strongly prejudiced against her father and we must make due allowance for her bitterness. The feeling probably arose through her sudden transfer from the care of a generous and loving mother to that of an ungracious father--a parent she had never before known. A child of eleven is likely to form strong affections and pa.s.sionate dislikes.”
”Do you know,” said Mary Louise, ”it shocks me, this hatred of her father. It seems so unnatural. I wish we could bring them to understand one another better, Gran'pa Jim.”
”That might prove a difficult task, my dear,” he replied with a smile, gently stroking her hair the while, ”and I do not think we are justified in undertaking it. How many times during our travels, Mary Louise, has your impulsive and tender heart urged you to a.s.sume the burdens of other people? You seem to pick up a trail of sorrow or unhappiness with the eagerness of a bloodhound and I have all I can do to call you off the scent. One small girl can't regulate the world, you know, and in this case we are likely to see very little of Alora Jones and her artist father. We will be nice to them during the few days we are here, but we must soon move on or we'll never get home for your birthday, as we have planned.”
Mary Louise sighed.
”You're almost always right, Gran'pa Jim,” she admitted; ”but in all our European travels I've not met so interesting a person as Alora, and she's an American girl, which draws us still closer together. I'm going to make her promise that when she's of age and her own mistress she will let me know, and come to us for a visit. Wouldn't that be all right, Gran'pa?”
He a.s.sured her it would be quite proper and that he also admired Alora and was sorry for her.
On Sunday forenoon they went to the cathedral and in the afternoon took a boat to the blue grottoes. In the evening there was a concert in the hotel. All that day the two girls were arm in arm and chatting together, developing their mutual liking, while the old Colonel trudged along in their wake and was generally ignored in the conversation. On Monday they planned an excursion to Capri, ”For you won't mind if we don't get you home until after dinner, will you?” asked Mary Louise.