“This sort of thing?” screamed Elaine. “What do you mean? Are we mixed up in something terrible? Oh, I don’t know what the neighbors are going to think with police coming here and taking a man away. This has always been a respectable neighborhood! Oh, you said you would take care of my affairs and I would have no trouble!”
“There, there, Elaine,” soothed the hurried lawyer, “don’t go getting excited. Just take it easy and everything will come out all right. Now, good-bye for the present. I’ve got to go and see what I can do about that witness, you know.”
With oily tones that were almost funny because he seemed so excited himself, he got himself out of the house and went plunging down the walk to his limousine, and away in a whirl around the corner and out of sight.
“Good riddance to him,” breathed Cinda, coming softly up the stairs. “An’ yer Mr. Gordon said he would be coming again some other day perhaps, but you had done good work, an’ not to worry. He had to go away to some sort of a hearing in court, he said. An’ I come to ast you could I do something about the dress, or would you want me to see to the likes of her, an’ get her quiet? But beggin’ pardon, Miss Lexie, my advice is to leave her be awhile till she comes to. She’s had a good hard shake-up, an’ it’ll be awhile ‘afore she gets her balance again. I’m hopin’ it’ll do her good.”
“Thank you, Cinda, for all you’ve done, and I guess you’re right about Elaine. Perhaps she won’t be wanting to see either of us for a while. Suppose you come in and let me put on my dress and see if you think it will do at all, before I finish it up. I’ve got it on the belt, but I’m not sure it hangs just right. If I can get this so it’s wearable I’ll be able to think about other things.”
So Lexie put the dress on and Cinda got down on her knees and measured the distance from the floor to the hem all around and then held an old mirror off so that Lexie could get a view of herself. They finally decided they had done the best they could.
“And it’s really pretty an’ becomin’, Miss Lexie. Maybe I ain’t no judge, but I don’t believe there’ll be another dress as purty in the whole bunch. Now, Miss Lexie, you just don’t worry another bit. You take that dress off an’ hang it up an’ I’ll finish sewing them gethers fer ye, an’ you go lay down an’ rest. Goodness knows, you’ve hed it hard enough this day, let alone graduatin’, an’ you need ta get some rest.”
Lexie gave a breathless little laugh and shook her head.
“No, Cinda, you’ve plenty to do, and I’ll finish this myself. There isn’t much more since you’re sure it hangs all right. But I’d appreciate it if you would see if Elaine’s all right. You know she’s apt to get into one of her spells of hysterics after a time like this. And there’ll be plenty of work for you today without sewing. And, by the way, isn’t it almost time for the postman? I wonder if you couldn’t head him off this once and get anything there may be for me. I’ve been getting notes from my former classmates, and I wouldn’t like one of them to fall into my sister’s hands in her present state. I’d never see it, I’m sure, if it did.”
“Okay!” said Cinda. “An’ then agin there mought be some letter from foreign lands again, ye never can tell.”
“Oh no,” said Lexie. “Not so soon again. You know I just got one last week.”
“Wal, we’ll see!” said Cinda with a sly wink, and thumped heavily down the stairs. There were times when Cinda could walk featherlight and again times when she defied the world with her stride. This was one of them. Her young lady had come through the fire and her graduating dress was still intact and quite wearable. So Cinda sailed downstairs, and peered cautiously into the living room, but there wasn’t a sign of her ladyship in the room, and the door of her bedroom was wide open. A casual glance in there showed a dismal little silent heap on the bed, face buried in the pillow. Elaine was too stricken even for sobs. Besides, there wasn’t any audience.
Chapter 17
Elaine’s collapse lasted all through the day and into the next, which in a way was a relief to Lexie because she had enough of her own concerns to attend to without trying to deal with her sister. And it was of no use whatever for Lexie to try and coax her out of her doldrums. It would only be a waste of time. So Elaine continued in her discouraged heap, woebegone to the last extent. She refused anything to eat, even shook her head at the cup of coffee Cinda grimly offered. The whole collapse of her arrogant schemes was upon her and she could not creep out from under it even long enough to drink that cup of heartening coffee.
Perhaps, as the lonely day went on, and there were no sounds of more than light footsteps in the house, for the children had been invited across the way to lunch outdoors with their playmates, it may be that some sense of her own fault in all this disaster came upon her, though it is doubtful, for Elaine had never been one to see anything wrong with herself.
She was still arrayed in the street suit she had put on so hastily at the approach of her visitors. She hadn’t troubled to take it off when in her despair she threw herself on the bed, and Cinda hadn’t bothered to go and coax her into a bathrobe. Cinda felt that this was Lexie’s day, and whatever she did, beyond absolute necessity, must be done for Lexie. So Elaine had her room and her quiet entirely to herself, and whether she waked or whether she slept she was undisturbed. But it must have been brought home to her mind as the day wore on and there came no word from her lawyer that she had got about to the end of her rope with him. He hadn’t given her much hope when he left that if this arrested witness should fail them, they had a chance to win a case. And Elaine was really a bright woman when she stopped thinking about herself long enough to exercise her brains. She was beginning to see that she was beaten. And if she couldn’t get any money out of Lexie, what was she to do? Sit still and make Lexie support her? Maybe she might do that if she ever got up her ambition again. But how terrible. Lexie couldn’t even make enough to support her in the style she had lately been used to, and now that her husband was gone, who was there to care? And what was Lexie going to be like after that dress episode? Of course she could perhaps persuade her that the ink part was her own fault. That if she hadn’t come in and startled her she never would have jumped and knocked over the ink bottle. But Elaine was at last so low in spirits that she couldn’t even rouse a lead like that.
If only Cinda would come in and say that Bettinger Thomas had sent a telegram or a message to say that his witness was free and everything was going to be all right, why, then she could rouse up and even forgive Lexie for having been the cause of her ruining that lovely silk slip, the slip of the only really imported dress she ever owned. But as it was, perhaps, she would say nothing more about that slip for the present.
So Lexie stayed in her room and put her dress in perfect order, and Elaine stayed in her room and finally slept, and at least there was peace in the house, if not harmony.
Cinda had brought up a tray for Lexie and on it was a note she said she found on the kitchen table. It was from Mr. Gordon.
Dear Miss Kendall:
Sorry not to have seen you, but later I hope to explain fully.
Meantime you have helped to do one of the neatest pieces of detective work I have seen in a long time, by making it possible to put into custody one of the slickest criminals in this part of the country. I am only thankful that we could get him before he put over any of his frauds on your family.
Let me know if there is any way I can be of immediate service at any time, and I shall be seeing you again soon.
Sincerely,
R. Gordon
Lexie read the note over carefully and then after due deliberation she tore it into small bits and put them where they could never be read. She wondered as she was doing it whether she would ever be able to trust that sister of hers again, or would she have to go on living in danger of perpetual annoyance?
Lexie went early to the city, for she had an uneasy feeling that if she stayed in the house a moment beyond getting ready that something might happen to upset her plans and perhaps eit
her spoil her dress again or keep her at home. Elaine was perfectly capable of staging a near-to-death scene if she thought that in some way she could hurt Lexie. Lexie was running no risks. She didn’t even go out the front gate, for the children, if they should spy her all dressed up, would be altogether likely to rush across the street and make an outcry that would bring the attention of the neighborhood, and they would probably embrace her with sticky, dirty hands, and ruin her dress once more. So, gathering her dress up carefully, and getting Cinda to help her over the fence, she went carefully down across the meadow, the voluminous billows of her skirt gathered up on either side so that it would not come in contact with grass and weeds. At last she stepped safely on the sidewalk of the highway, and could stand in quietness and peace, waiting for the bus she knew would be there very soon to bear her to the city.
So at last Lexie was started, and could get her breath before the ordeal of the evening began, and just be thankful that the various disasters of the day had not been permitted to prevent her from coming to commencement. There in the quiet of the country road, under a tall elm tree, as she waited for the bus, she bowed her head and closed her eyes, and murmured softly: “Dear Father, thank You for being with me all day long. Please be with me tonight, too, and keep me when I get back home. Please look after all the rest, and don’t let Elaine make any more awful trouble for us.”
Then the bus came, and she was on her way.
There were few people on the bus, and she took a seat at the back where she could lean her arm on the window seat, put her head down on her hand, and close her eyes. She suddenly realized that she was very tired. It had been a hard day, and it was almost done. What was it going to feel like to be through with college? Well, it didn’t matter much now, since none of her friends could be with her, and her pleasant anticipations had all to be transferred to another institution. But at least she would be in a position to get a good job, even if Judge Foster wouldn’t be well enough to need her. She still had much to be glad about.
The next thing on the docket to worry about was that lawsuit, which if Elaine carried out her plans might upset everything else she had hoped for. But she simply would not think of that tonight. God had taken care of her so far, and she could surely trust Him for the rest. How great it was that the awful Perrine was in custody. “Oh, dear God, please keep him where he cannot do us harm by telling lies.”
She was almost asleep when the bus reached the university and people were getting off all around her. Slowly she made her way out and entered the great gates that led from the street up to the auditorium. Somehow she couldn’t seem to realize what she was about to do. Graduate? Yes, but why had it seemed so important? The nicest thing about it all was that she was away from her troubles for a little while and felt almost rested. She hadn’t felt as rested since Elaine came back. And if she had only known it, she looked rested, and more than one passer on the street turned and looked at the pretty girl with the sweet eyes who had such an expression of utter peace. Dewy-eyed she was from just those few minutes with her eyes closed.
When she entered the hall she found a great number of students in gala attire, and the graduating class in their white dresses. Her own dress was not just like theirs, but she felt happy and inconspicuous among them. And then, just at the last minute before the class would march up on the platform, one of the ushers hunted her up.
“There’s a box of flowers here for you, Miss Kendall,” he said and handed her a small box. “It says they are to be given to you before the exercises. You’d better open them here. They are probably for you to wear.” He grinned as he went on his way.
“Oh, but nobody would send me flowers to wear,” said Lexie to herself. “Even those crazy girls in my old college wouldn’t think of it. I was really nothing to them, only a girl who worked hard and belonged to their class.”
With trembling fingers she untied the knot, turned back the soft folds of green wax paper, and there nested three of the most gorgeous gardenias she had ever seen, fastened with silver ribbon, and all equipped with pearl-headed pins to fasten them on.
“Oh, how lovely!” exclaimed one of the other graduates, smiling gaily at Lexie. “Gardenias! Aren’t they spiffy! Here, let me help you fasten them.”
“Oh, but I don’t think I’m going to wear them,” said Lexie shyly.
“Why, sure you are. You wouldn’t let such gorgeous gardenias as that go to waste. Sure! Put them on. We want all the honors in our class that are coming. Who is he anyway? Not your family?”
“Why, I haven’t looked yet,” said Lexie, her cheeks as rosy as if they were painted.
“Well, look quick! Here’s the card. A soldier, as I live! Benedict Barron! That’s some name. Where is he?”
“He’s overseas,” said Lexie softly, her eyes starry with a new kind of joy. What a wonderful thing to come at the close of this awful day. Now, now she could go through the evening calmly!
It was not until the class was seated on the great platform with all the dignitaries and professors and speakers in their places that Lexie was able to get her thoughts in order and begin to wonder how her soldier had gotten those flowers to her for this particular night. Yes, she had told him when her commencement came, but only a word or two to explain how busily she was working for her examinations. And here he had figured it out and somehow got word to a florist to send those wonderful blossoms to her in time for her to wear them. She held her sweet head up proudly, and looked down at the flowers nestling among her lace-edged ruffles. She laid her hands in her lap over the front seam at which she had worked so hard that morning with her dress. In fact, the whole morning—obnoxious lawyer and lying witness, policemen, arrest, and Elaine’s collapse—had become a blank for the time. She was sitting here in this great throng, living through the thing she had dreamed about for years, the night that she and her mother used to talk about and plan for, and she had no thought for anything else, except the wonderful soldier friend who had sent her beautiful flowers for the crowning touch to her festive evening. It was all very wonderful, and she must not let other thoughts get tangled up with it, for she wanted to remember everything just as it happened. It would be the shining evening of her young life. Other girls might be looking forward to going into society, and then marriage, but so far as she could see now there would be only plain days of work for herself. And grateful enough she would be for even that if she could be free from such incidents as “suits” for money she had never had, and contact with unholy, dishonest lawyers. At least she had a God who was protecting her! Look how He had spared that dress so she could wear it, in spite of her sister’s ruthless unkindness. Look how He had sent those policemen to arrest that criminal witness! Look how the lawyer had been frightened away! Might not God always frighten away her enemies who were trying to plot for her downfall? Oh, she would be willing to work hard all her life if she might just have peace, and now and then a little pleasantness. And this assurance she now had of God’s caring for her was wonderful.
But the exercises of the evening were beginning, and her interest was caught away from the troubles of the day. Music and speeches and well-dressed young people made a pleasant combination. How pretty some of the girls looked! Lexie did not know that she herself was as pretty a girl as any on that platform. But she was not thinking of herself except as she was thrilled by being a part of this great pageant.
For a little time she was lost in the program, as if it were a ship on which she had embarked, sailing down the evening. Then the sweet breath of the flowers on her shoulder would speak to her, mingle with her consciousness, and make themselves apparent, and a thrill would come over her. She was like other girls. She had a friend. She was wearing flowers, flowers a man had been thoughtful enough to send her! Oh, of course there was nothing loverlike about it. He was just a friend. A friend “of the years,” that was it. That sounded well, if Elaine should ask her. For she would have to wear the flowers home. She couldn’t just lose them by her sneers and quest
ions. She must make them last as long as possible. Her first flowers from a young man! Even if the sender of them was half a world away from her, it was nice that he should have thought to do it.
She tried to think it through. She had only told him about the commencement in her last letter. He must have cabled for the flowers to get them here so soon.
Then she remembered the card she was clasping tightly in eager fingers. She hadn’t read it yet. But of course he could only cable the words. They would not be in his handwriting. Her eyes sought the card. It said:
With best wishes to Lexie for a happy commencement. Wish I could be with you.
Benedict Barron
It seemed to Lexie as if she had never been so happy as now, when she sat there with that card in her hand and those gardenias on her shoulder. At least not since her mother died. And how she longed just then to be able to tell her mother all about it.
But then perhaps she knows. Perhaps she sees the flowers, and is glad for me, she thought to herself.
So in a daze of joy she sat through the evening.
Then at last came the diploma for which she had worked so long. Brimming over, that evening was, just brimming over with nice things, even enough to offset the awful morning that had passed.
And then as if that were not enough there were more flowers, afterward, different personal gifts to the graduates from friends. That was something in which she would not share because she was a stranger among them, she thought, but lo, they brought her three! First a great basket of lilies and blue delphiniums from her class at the dear old college, and the inscription, “For our dear Lexie from her own old class,” and all their names signed. How lovely of them to do it! She hadn’t thought they cared about her. Then there were beautiful pink roses from Judge and Mrs. Foster, and an exquisite purple and white orchid from Mr. Gordon. How kind they all were!
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