CHAPTER XXIV.
HOME AGAIN.
The Major was at the station to meet them. Uncle John had shylysuggested a telegram, and Patsy had decided they could stand theexpense for the pleasure of seeing the old Dad an hour sooner.
The girl caught sight of him outside the gates, his face red andbeaming as a poppy in bloom and his snowy moustache bristling witheagerness. At once she dropped her bundles and flew to the Major'sarms, leaving the little man in her wake to rescue her belongings andfollow after.
He could hardly see Patsy at all, the Major wrapped her in such anample embrace; but bye and bye she escaped to get her breath, and thenher eyes fell upon the meek form holding her bundles.
"Oh, Dad," she cried, "here's Uncle John, who has come to live withus; and if you don't love him as much as I do I'll make your lifemiserable!"
"On which account," said the Major, grasping the little man's handmost cordially, "I'll love Uncle John like my own brother. Andsurely," he added, his voice falling tenderly, "my dear Violet'sbrother must be my own. Welcome, sir, now and always, to our littlehome. It's modest, sir; but wherever Patsy is the sun is sure toshine."
"I can believe that," said Uncle John, with a nod and smile.
They boarded a car for the long ride up town, and as soon as they wereseated Patsy demanded the story of the Major's adventures with hiscolonel, and the old fellow rattled away with the eagerness of aboy, telling every detail in the most whimsical manner, and findingsomething humorous in every incident.
"Oh, but it was grand, Patsy!" he exclaimed, "and the Colonel wept onmy neck when we parted and stained the collar of me best coat, and hegive me a bottle of whiskey that would make a teetotaler roll his eyesin ecstacy. 'Twas the time of my life."
"And you're a dozen years younger, Major!" she cried, laughing, "andfit to dig into work like a pig in clover."
His face grew grave.
"But how about the money, Patsy dear?" he asked. "Did you get nothingout of Jane Merrick's estate?"
"Not a nickle, Dad. 'Twas the best joke you ever knew. I fought withAunt Jane like a pirate and it quite won her heart. When she died sheleft me all she had in the world."
"Look at that, now!" said the Major, wonderingly.
"Which turned out to be nothing at all," continued Patsy. "For anotherwill was found, made by Mr. Thomas Bradley, which gave the money tohis own nephew after Aunt Jane died. Did you ever?"
"Wonderful!" said the Major, with a sigh.
"So I was rich for half a day, and then poor as ever."
"It didn't hurt you, did it?" asked the Major. "You weren't vexed withdisappointment, were you, Patsy?"
"Not at all, Daddy."
"Then don't mind it, child. Like as not the money would be theruination of us all. Eh, sir?" appealing to Uncle John.
"To be sure," said the little man. "Jane left five thousand to me,also, which I didn't get. But I'm not sorry at all."
"Quite right, sir," approved the Major, sympathetically, "althoughit's easier not to expect anything at all, than to set your heart on athing and then not get it. In your case, it won't matter. Our house isyours, and there's plenty and to spare."
"Thank you," said Uncle John, his face grave but his eyes merry.
"Oh, Major!" cried Patsy, suddenly. "There's Danny Reeves'srestaurant. Let's get off and have our dinner now; I'm as hungry as abear."
So they stopped the car and descended, lugging all the parcels intothe little restaurant, where they were piled into a chair while theproprietor and the waiters all gathered around Patsy to welcome herhome.
My, how her eyes sparkled! She fairly danced for joy, and ordered thedinner with reckless disregard of the bill.
"Ah, but it's good to be back," said the little Bohemian, gleefully."The big house at Elmhurst was grand and stately, Major, but therewasn't an ounce of love in the cupboard."
"Wasn't I there. Patsy?" asked Uncle John, reproachfully.
"True, but now you're here; and our love, Uncle, has nothing to dowith Elmhurst. I'll bet a penny you liked it as little as I did."
"You'd win," admitted the little man.
"And now," said the girl to the smiling waiter, "a bottle of redCalifornia wine for Uncle John and the Major, and two real cigars.We'll be merry tonight if it bankrupts the Doyle family entirely."
But, after a merry meal and a good one, there was no bill at all whenit was called for.
Danny Reeves himself came instead, and made a nice little speech,saying that Patsy had always brought good luck to the place, and thisdinner was his treat to welcome her home.
So the Major thanked him with gracious dignity and Patsy kissed Dannyon his right cheek, and then they went away happy and content to findthe little rooms up the second flight of the old tenement.
"It's no palace," said Patsy, entering to throw down the bundles assoon as the Major unlocked the door, "but there's a cricket in thehearth, and it's your home, Uncle John, as well as ours."
Uncle John looked around curiously. The place was so plain after thecomparative luxury of Elmhurst, and especially of the rose chamberPatsy had occupied, that the old man could not fail to marvel at thegirl's ecstatic joy to find herself in the old tenement again. Therewas one good sized living-room, with an ancient rag-carpet partiallycovering the floor, a sheet-iron stove, a sofa, a table and three orfour old-fashioned chairs that had probably come from a second-handdealer.
Opening from this were two closet-like rooms containing each a bed anda chair, with a wash-basin on a bracket shelf. On the wails were afew colored prints from the Sunday newspapers and one large and finephotograph of a grizzled old soldier that Uncle John at once decidedmust represent "the Colonel."
Having noted these details, Patsy's uncle smoothed back his stubbygray hair with a reflective and half puzzled gesture.
"It's cozy enough, my child; and I thank you for my welcome," said he."But may I enquire where on earth you expect to stow me in this ratherlimited establishment?"
"Where? Have you no eyes, then?" she asked, in astonishment. "It's thefinest sofa in the world, Uncle John, and you'll sleep there like atop, with the dear Colonel's own picture looking down at you to keepyou safe and give you happy dreams. Where, indeed!"
"Ah; I see," said Uncle John.
"And you can wash in my chamber," added the Major, with a grand air,"and hang your clothes on the spare hooks behind my door."
"I haven't many," said Uncle John, looking thoughtfully at his redbundle.
The Major coughed and turned the lamp a little higher.
"You'll find the air fine, and the neighborhood respectable," he said,to turn the subject. "Our modest apartments are cool in summer andwarm in winter, and remarkably reasonable in price. Patsy gets ourbreakfast on the stove yonder, and we buy our lunches down town, wherewe work, and then dine at Danny Reeves's place. A model home, sir, anda happy one, as I hope you'll find it."
"I'm sure to be happy here," said Uncle John, taking out his pipe."May I smoke?"
"Of course; but don't spoil the lace curtains, dear," answered Patsy,mischievously. And then, turning to her father, she exclaimed: "Oh,daddy! What will the Uncle do all the day while we're at work?"
"That's as he may choose," said the Major, courteously.
"Couldn't we get him a job?" asked Patsy, wistfully. "Not wherethere'll be much work, you know, for the Uncle is old. But just tokeep him out of mischief, and busy. He can't hang around all day andbe happy, I suppose."
"I'll look around," answered the Major, briskly, as if such a "job"was the easiest thing in the world to procure. "And meantime--"
"Meantime," said Uncle John, smiling at them, "I'll look aroundmyself."
"To be sure," agreed the Major. "Between the two of us and Patsy, weought to have no trouble at all."
There was a moment of thoughtful silence after this, and then Patsysaid:
"You know it won't matter, Uncle John, if you don't work. There'lleasy be enough for all, with the Major's wages and my own."
"By the bye," added the Major, "if you have any money about you, whichis just possible, sir, of course, you'd better turn it over to Patsyto keep, and let her make you an allowance. That's the way I do--it'svery satisfactory."
"The Major's extravagant," exclaimed Patsy; "and if he has money hewants to treat every man he meets."
Uncle John shook his head, reproachfully, at the Major.
"A very bad habit, sir," he said.
"I acknowledge it, Mr. Merrick," responded the Major. "But Patsy isfast curing me. And, after all, it's a wicked city to be carrying afat pocketbook around in, as I've often observed."
"My pocketbook is not exactly fat," remarked Uncle John.
"But you've money, sir, for I marked you squandering it on the train,"said Patsy, severely. "So out with it, and we'll count up, and see howmuch of an allowance I can make you 'till you get the job."
Uncle John laughed and drew his chair up to the table. Then he emptiedhis trousers' pockets upon the cloth, and Patsy gravely separated thekeys and jackknife from the coins and proceeded to count the money.
"Seven dollars and forty-two cents," she announced. "Any more?"
Uncle John hesitated a moment, and then drew from an inner pocket ofhis coat a thin wallet. From this, when she had received it from hishand, the girl abstracted two ten and one five dollar bills, all crispand new.
"Good gracious!" she cried, delightedly. "All this wealth, and youpleading poverty?"
"I never said I was a pauper," returned Uncle John, complacently.
"You couldn't, and be truthful, sir," declared the girl. "Why, thiswill last for ages, and I'll put it away safe and be liberal withyour allowance. Let me see," pushing the coins about with her slenderfingers, "you just keep the forty-two cents, Uncle John. It'll do forcar-fare and a bit of lunch now and then, and when you get broke youcan come to me."
"He smokes," observed the Major, significantly.
"Bah! a pipe," said Patsy. "And Bull Durham is only five cents a bag,and a bag ought to last a week. And every Saturday night, sir, youshall have a cigar after dinner, with the Major. It's it our regularpractice."
"Thank you, Patsy," said Uncle John, meekly, and gathered up hisforty-two cents.
"You've now a home, and a manager, sir, with money in the bank ofPatsy & Company, Limited," announced the Major. "You ought to be verycontented, sir."
"I am," replied Uncle John.
Aunt Jane's Nieces Page 24