Villanova Digital Library - The Girls' companion, v. VIII, no. 19, May 8, 1909, [Incomplete].

Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience. Next Page

Full Title	The Girls' companion, v. VIII, no. 19, May 8, 1909, [Incomplete].
Date Added	5 February 2016
Format	Journal
Language	English
Publish Date	1909-05-08
Publisher	Elgin, Ill. and Chicago : David C. Cook Publishing Co.
Source	Dime Novels and Popular Literature
Topic	Children's literature > Periodicals.
About	More Details Permanent Link
Disclaimers	Disclaimer of Liability Disclaimer of Endorsement

OCR ‘ll. ILA x’ S. 1009. ' THE GIRLS’ C0.V1l’rAN ION. ‘ - . ’"'”"‘.""”"-Ii 3 Gioria And e'ie.s;.5‘ 527-e HAMILTON DONIVEL L ’ ’ cm’ axon e 6’llz1,0L‘6I‘.5‘ s r‘ BY ANNIE cl CIIAPTER VI.. T WAS on the day of Gloria's visit I with the District Nurse that Mr. Mc- Andrew came home to luncheon, which was rather an unusual proceeding for the busy attorney during hot weather. Mrs. hit-Anilrew, seated with her mending on the shady piazza, could see a worried ex- pression upon her husband's face even be- fore he reached the steps. ' “Something is the matter," she said, rising hastily, while spools and scissors fell upon the cat dozing near. “ Somethin is the matter or he would never have come 'hoiiie in this boiling sun.” “ What is, dear?” she asked. as the mid- dle-aged. slightly bent figure toiled up the steps exhaustedly. “Where is Gloria?” was Mr. McAn- drew's reply, as he dropped with a. sigh of relief into one of the piazza chairs. , “ lane with Missel can't think of her nam%the District Nurse. syou mustn't blame me. if she wasn't the settest little thing!" “I was afraid so-felt it in my bones. Now, groaned the lawyer, “must she have selected to-day?‘ And here I've come up home at the risk of my life all to no end! I wanted to make sure she oking round in that miserable street today, of all tlays+and you have to tell me she is!“ “ You mustn't blame me,” his wife re- peated mildly. “ You knowayourself when GIory's set-” “Yes, but you ought to have been set, too! Why didn't you put your foot down that she shouldn't go off to such a foolish place? No knowing what mischief it has done!" Mrs. McAndrew leaned down and stroked the big cat with lingers that longed to stroke away the worries from her hus- band's brow. “ Your uncle is so tired and hot, Abou Bcn,” she might have been heard whisper- ing in the silky ear. - “Why don‘t you ask what mischief?" pursued Mr. i‘IcAndrew shortly. “ Emmy, I'm out and out worried, I tell you!" - “Yes, do tell me, dear,” purred Aunt Em soothingly. “I was waiting for you to get ready to. IIer%fan yourself while you talk." “Well, Richards was in the office an hour ago with a story about some accident down at No. 80. Some-lio:ly‘s fallen down- stairs and got badly hurtaarried to the hospital. lichards says they told him the mother was red-hot angry." “Angry?" questioned Aunt Em in won- der. It seemed a strange mood mother of someone who had been hurt. “Yes, because she would have it the landlord was entirely to blame; those peo- ple always luy everything to their land- lords. But Richards owned up that-well, the stair railing gave way, or something of that sort. And on say Gloria's down in that neighborhood It:-ally, it does put me at my wit‘s end" “Yes,” agreed his wife ahsently. Iler thoughts were still with the angry mother. Suddenly a new thought obtruded its un- pleasant head. “ What house is it? Note” A look of disniny came into Aunt Em's eyes. “Yes, exactly," answered her husband. “Yuu’re got on to it, have you? And GIoria‘s down there. She's just one of the kind that think they can help things that can't be helped.” ' ““'ell, you know I advised telling her at the very start,” answered Aunt Em. And now her face wore as worried a look as did -her hnsbiind‘s. Then she added. “If we had explained the yvhole thing to her at the start, it would not have been so dif- hcult. But how is anyone to tell her now? She is so intense, and she's hardly more than it child to reason with. And in the meantime she's gotten so many ideas into her head that she wouldntharc had, maybe, if she had known the situation from the first. and grown up.with it.” “I acted for the best," her husband grumbled. “Such things are coming up in life all the time. lint when women are mixed up in 'em, there's no making them = for badly x‘ Q see straight. It wasn’t fitting that Gloria should have everything explained to her at the start. It wasn’t businesslike. When she comes into full control of things herself. it will be diderent. I am afraid Kit-hards is not quite the man to have charge of things down there. I have given him his own way too much. But one has to with Richards. He‘s a good collector." .“ But the stair-rail, dear," interposed his wife. “Stair railings should be secure, above all thin;.'s." “ Yes, Richards ought to have seen that everything was safe. I cannot understand :1 glaring negligence like that. He's al- ways given me the impression that things were kept very fairly shipsliape.” IIav- ing said this, Mr. McAndrew rose and be- gan pacing the veranda. “Richards said it was a poor, half-wit- ted creature,” he murmured, as though thinking aloud. “But, dear," interposed his wife, “half- wittcd creatures can be ' led!“ Aunt Em's thoughts seemed to he keep- ing pace with those of the man marching up and down the piazza floor. “Oh, she won’t die. That sort 0’ folks don't," her husband answere . And at that moment Gloria was standing in Itose’s room in No. 30, listening to the dying away of the footsteps of the angry mother of Sal, the woman vowing ven- geance on the one who could leave 21 house to tumble down over people's heads. in with the angry tones were the protest- ing ones of the District Nurse. > :2 n. A few moments later Ros‘-.“'s door opened. t and the District Nurse, flushed and wor- ried. entered. “Sal's mother has been drinking: and she's wild over the accident," she said in tones as steady as she could make them. But Gloria saw that she was strangely wrought up. . “ Drink or no drink,” said Gloria, with a. bridling of her head, "I should think a mother had cause to he worked up Over an accident like that." A look of hauteur was on the young girl’: face. “That such things can he, and no note , taken of them, is a disgrace (0 the century." The nurse's face P511913. she looked into GIoria’s eyes. “ Don't, Gloria, don’t!” she said pleadingly. “It is pitiful enough. Don't e" she stopped. “ And may not one even utter a protest against the existence of such a thing?" said Gloria. “Well, I shall go to the hos- pital and see Sal. can a least do that." “It can hardly do any good,“ said the nurse in a discouraged D3 tone. “But if you really wish to go,-Gloria, I will go with you." ' ‘ “"ery well," said Gloria. f‘ we will go just assoon as we get rested aft:-r luncheon." At the corner near Gloria’s home, the District Nurse bade Gloria good-by, as She had an errand to do on her way home. Gloria watched her to a car. , Then she turned and made her ,- own way back to Treeless Street. . It was on the corner near N0. ' 80 that she came upon the very one she was wishing for. “Oh, Dinney, I am so glad to find you! I want your help. You are a good business man, and I want you to do some- - thing for me." “I a good business man?" said Dinney, grinning from ear to ear. “ I should say! wh.-.1‘: your business, Miss?“ And having said this. be doubled up with droll laughter. “Don’t!" said Gloria, laying her hand best-echingly upon him. “I am really in earnest." Dinney straightened, and then in as (lccorous a manner as he could command, at a ll : “I'm your man for husincss." “Very well. Now, Dinney. you're lis- tening. I want y0I]:t0‘llD(.l:0llC," said Gloria, impressively speaking each word distinctly, “who it is that owns No. 80. I want you to find it out, and I want you to tell me and no one else. If you will find out and promise not to tell anyone else, and will come to me with the name, then I will TWII)‘, Dinney, I will give you 8. five-dollar gold piece." I)inney‘s breath was fairly taken away. He stood there on the sidewalk stock still, looking into the face of the girl before him. At last he said in an awed voice: ' “ Ilonest?" “ Honest,” answered Gloria. The boy drew a long breath. Five dol- lars! Instantly there came before him some little red shoes for Ilnnkie, and some stockings, and maybe a little red cap. But‘ there was not time to go further into the, matter as to what five dollars might stand: for. Gloria's hand was grasping his shoul- dcr ‘with a firm grip, ““'ill you find it out, Dinney? “'ill you? Will you come to me straight with the name and to nobody else?" ‘Vhat she saw of honesty and truth in Dinney's face so satisfied the girl that her hands fell from the thin shoulders, and she in turn drew a long breath as though she had found at last something she ha long been seeking. Then she looked down at Dinney. “ I am going to tell you, Dinncyhjust why I am wanting to had out. You would like to know a nice secret: something we can keep to ourselves-a wonderful secret!" - inney was all expectation. At last he said, “Ma used to tell me things. She told me lots the rest of the folks didn't know. All about pa and how it was when they first married and lots more. I never told anyone else around, as she said not 0 .. “ And you won't tell this? We will have it all to ourselves, and it will make you want to help me. Sometimesboys can dud out things big folks can't. It came to me when I was walking along with the Dis- trict Nurse that you were just the one to help me. You're so-well, so sharp yet If they suspect they would not let us know, maybe." The two were now walking along in n companionahle way back in the direction Gloria had come. “i win. uizrfriin tuosnr son rotv, DISNEY." “Dinney, if you find out who owns that] house I will' buy it. I've got money: Uncle Em says I have. we'll fix it up good." Dinney's face was ceilings and new window panes if you bought that house?” “Yes, I would,” said Gloria. “At first I thought I'd tear it down. But I don't believe now I‘ would, it's been home for so many. I'd just like to see it fixed up the way it should have been years and yours and years ago.” “And you'd (ix the hole in the ceiling?" asked the boy. Evidently that break in the ceiling over the bed that had been his mother's had left a deep impression on in. “Wouldn‘t I, Dinney!" And now the girl's eyes shone. “It is a secret worth she said. should say!” answered Dinney. “And I'll find out ifeif-it takes my life, I will.” Dinney was young in years, but old in experience. IIis small figure now straightened with determination, and over his face swept a look of honest manil- ness far beyond his years. Gloria, looking down upon him. felt glad she had taken him for a helper. “I wish mother had waited," Dinney said quietly, and then the two parted. After her late luncheon, eaten alone, her uncle having returned to the office, Gloria was ready for the District Nurse, who had promised to go with her to the hospital. unt Em was taking a nap, so Gloria did not disturb her. As the two walked along, Gloria's impatience broke forth afresh. “A coat of tar and feathers would serve the one right that allows such things to exist!” she said. “Don’t, Gloria!“ cried the nurse, in the same tone of terror she had used in the hallway when trying to quiet Sal's mother. . “ But I meant it!” said Gloria. “ I don't see how the owner of that building with all those trippy places can sleep nights. Think of anyone taking rent for a house like that! I never knew such ]Jll1(‘QS were allowed in the market." “I don’t believe I would be so hard, Gloria, if I were you. Let it rest." There was a strange note of wistful plead- ing in the nurse‘s voice. But Gloria did not heed it. “ Let it rest? Never!" she answered. The hospital reached, the neazly-uni- formed interne who came down to answer the District Nurse's inquiry. assured them that their pa- Iient was resting quietly. He even went so far as to say that possibly the fall might work good in the end. “ I only say might in a gen- eral way. If the poor crea- tn'iX>'s mental apathy has been due to an injury of the head, it may possibly be. Do you know the cause of her mental condition?” he inquired of the nurse. The nurse gave the informa- tion desired. “ If that is so, then the sec- ond hlow may neutralize the first. It is certainly an inter- (‘sting case." But at the end he assured his visitors that time only could prove what the outcome might be. “ I’oor Sal!" said the nurse, as they left the large building, and went quietly down the stone steps. “I wonder if it would be coniforling to her to know she is an ‘interesting case.’ Sal was never interest- in: before." “But just think if he should be right," said Gloria, quivering with excitement. ““'ouldn’t it be beauti- ful, just beautiful. If it should come true! It would almost make me forgive that awful man who did not mend the railing." ‘ " But then," said the nurse. “unless life changes all through for Sal, it might be worse to be beaten and starved and feel conscious of it. than to be beaten and I will buy it and starved in a lialf-demented condition." “Oh, don't put it that way!" said aglow, his eycs shone, his breath was Gloria. drawn sharp and quick. “I could not help thinking how little “ Would you put in new stairs and newlyou can see of what her life all these years .x..... as Mm...-a , .. . I l