Part 13 (1/2)
”Absolutely positive!”
”Then,” said he, rising with a sigh, ”I'll go to the office.”
To Mr. Conant's disappointment, to Mrs. Conant's delight, to Irene's satisfaction and the astonishment of all, Mr. Jason Jones selected Mrs.
Harrington's modest house and ordered it rented and prepared for his arrival on the following Thursday. This was conveyed in a second telegram from Colonel Hathaway, who requested the lawyer to inform old Uncle Eben and Aunt Sally, the Colonel's own faithful colored servants and caretakers, that he and Mary Louise would return home on the same day.
”You see,” said Aunt Hannah, triumphantly, ”I sized the Joneses up pretty well. It isn't necessary for a man to be rich to be a friend of the dear Colonel, for he considers a man, rather than a man's pocketbook.”
”Yet a man who can afford to travel abroad, with his daughter,” began Mr. Conant, argumentatively, ”should certainly be able and willing----”
”What do you know about him, Peter? Perhaps he has spent his ready money in Europe and is now obliged to economize. Unless that is the case, why does he come to a sleepy little town like Dorfield, which is almost forgotten by the big world, to settle down?”
”Why, he's the Colonel's friend,” retorted the lawyer, stiffly.
”And Mary Louise is his daughter's friend,” said Irene. ”That accounts for it, of course, and they couldn't have picked a prettier place.
Dorfield may be sleepy, and quiet, and half forgotten by the rest of the big world, but it's simply delightful as a residence. Didn't Colonel Hathaway choose it for a home? And the Colonel could afford to live at the Waldorf-Astoria, if he wanted to.”
”I know why you are pleased, Irene,” remarked Aunt Hannah, smiling upon her niece. ”You're going to have another girl friend.”
”She won't be as nice as Mary Louise, though,” was the reply. ”There's no girl in the world as sweet and lovely as Mary Louise!”
”Or one that innocently gets into more trouble,” declared Mr. Conant.
”That,” said Aunt Hannah, ”is because she can't let other people's troubles alone.”
CHAPTER XIV HOME AGAIN
Mr. Conant, who was Colonel Hathaway's lawyer and confidential agent, was at the train to meet his important client on his return to Dorfield. The first to alight from the coach was the Colonel, who greeted his lawyer with a cordial handclasp. Mary Louise kissed Peter Conant upon his impa.s.sive cheek and presented him to a pretty young girl who clung to her arm smiling, yet half bewildered by her arrival in a strange town. There seemed no one else with the party and Mr.
Conant glanced over the crowd of pa.s.sengers and said:
”Mr. Jones did not accompany you, then?”
”Why, yes; I suppose he's here,” answered the Colonel carelessly. ”I believe he traveled another car.”
”I don't see him anywhere,” added Mary Louise. ”I wonder if anyone reminded him that this is the place to get off?”
”Never mind,” said Alora; ”if father can't keep track of himself, let him go on to another station. I can't lose him for long, that's certain.”
”There he is, up ahead,” announced Mara Louise. ”He's quarreling with his porter about something.”
”To save the tip,” suggested Alora, scornfully.
Mary Louise rushed to greet an old colorful man with snow-white hair, who was picking up their hand baggage.
”Oh, Uncle Eben, I'm so glad to see again!” she exclaimed. ”And how's Aunt Sallie? And is my pony well? And are the goldfish still alive?
And----”