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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22041-8.txt b/22041-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dfed575 --- /dev/null +++ b/22041-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6548 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Mary Rose of Mifflin, by Frances R. Sterrett, +Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Mary Rose of Mifflin + + +Author: Frances R. Sterrett + + + +Release Date: July 10, 2007 [eBook #22041] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 22041-h.htm or 22041-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041/22041-h/22041-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041/22041-h.zip) + + + + + +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN + +by + +FRANCES R. STERRETT + +Author of +The "Jam Girl" and "Up the Road with Sallie" + +Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said in +surprise"] + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers + +Copyright, 1910, by +D. Appleton and Company + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER + + +WHO MADE A VERY FRIENDLY + +PLACE IN THIS BIG WORLD + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said + in surprise" . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid + it is to wear skirts'" + +"Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared" + +"'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured" + +"'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big city!'" + +"Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and was + telling him of Mifflin" + +"There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting cat" + +"'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' + Miss Thorley asked" + + + + +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN + + +CHAPTER I + +"It's there in every lease, plain as print," Larry Donovan insisted. +"No childern, no dogs an' no cats. It's in every lease." + +"I don't care if it is!" Kate Donovan's face was as red as a poppy and +she spoke with a determination that exactly matched her husband's. +"You needn't think I'm goin' to turn away my own sister's only child? +Who should take care of her if I don't? Tell me that, Larry Donovan, +an' be ashamed of yourself for askin' me to send her away!" + +"Sure, an' I'd like the little thing here as much as you, Kate, dear," +Larry said soothingly, and in her heart Mrs. Donovan knew that he meant +it. "But it isn't every day that a man picks up a job like this, +janitor of a swell apartmen' buildin', an' if we take in a kid when the +lease says plain as can be, no childern, no dogs an' no cats, I'll lose +the job an' then how'll I put a roof over your heads an' bread in your +stomachs? That's why I'm again' it." + +"A clever man like you'll find a way." Mrs. Donovan's confidence was +both flattering and stimulating. If a woman expects her husband to do +things he just has to do them. He has no choice. "Don't you worry. +You haven't been out of work since we were married 'cept the three +months you was laid up with inflamm't'ry rheumatiz. The way I look at +it is this: the good Lord must have meant us to have Mary Rose or he +wouldn't have taken her mother an' her father an' all her relations but +us. Seems if he didn't send us any of our own so we'd have plenty of +room in our hearts an' home for her. She's a present to us straight +from the Lord." + +"That may be, Kate," Larry scratched his puzzled head. "But will the +agents, will Brown an' Lawson look at it that way? The lease says----" + +"Bother the lease!" Mrs. Donovan interrupted him impatiently. "What's +the lease got to do with a slip of a girl who's been left an orphan +down in Mifflin?" + +"That's just what I'm tryin' to tell you." Larry clung to his temper +with all of his ten fingers, for it was irritating to have her refuse +to understand. "If we took Mary Rose in here to live don't you s'pose +all those up above," he jerked his thumb significantly toward the +ceiling, "'d know it an' make trouble? God knows they make enough as +it is. They're a queer lot of folks under this roof, Kate, and that's +no lie. Folks--they're cranks!" explosively. "When one isn't findin' +fault another is. When I've heat enough for ol' Mrs. Johnson it's too +hot for Mrs. Bracken. Mrs. Schuneman on the first floor has too much +hot water an' Miss Adams on the third too little. Mrs. Rawson won't +stand for Mrs. Matchan's piano an' Mrs. Matchan kicks on Mrs. Rawson's +sewin' machine. Mr. Jarvis never gets his newspaper an' Mrs. Lewis +al'ys gets two. Mrs. Willoughby jumps on me if a pin drops in the +hall. She can't stand no noise since her mother died. She don't do +nothin' but cry. I don't blame her man for stayin' away. I'd as soon +be married to a fountain. When they can't find anythin' else to jaw me +about they take the laundries. An' selfish! There isn't one can see +beyond the reach of his fingers. I used to think that folks were put +into the world to be friendly an' helpful to each other but I've +learned different." He sighed and shook his head helplessly. "Mrs. +Bracken on the first floor has lived here as long as we have, two years +nex' October, an' I've yet to hear her give a friendly word to anyone +in the house. When little Miss Smith up on the third was sick las' +winter did her nex' door neighbor lend a hand? She did not. She was +just worried stiff for fear she'd catch somethin'. She gave me no +peace till Miss Smith was out of the house an' into a hospital. Peace! +I've forgot there was such a word. They won't stand for any kid in the +house when the lease says no childern, no dogs an' no cats." + +"You can't tell me anythin' about _them_!" Mrs. Donovan agreed with +pleasant promptness. It is always agreeable to have one's estimate of +human nature endorsed. "An' the most of 'em look like thunder clouds +when you meet 'em. Ain't it queer, Larry, how few folks look happy +when a smile's 'bout the cheapest thing a body can wear? An' it never +goes out of style. I know I never get tired seein' one on old or +young. All folks can't be rich nor han'some but most of us could look +pleasant if we thought so, seems if. I want to tell that to little +Miss Macy every time I see her, but I know full well she'd say I was +impudent, so I keep my mouth shut. Maybe the tenants won't stand for a +child in the house. They haven't wit to see that the Lord had his good +reasons when he invented the fam'ly. But there's some way. There must +be! An' we've got to find it, Larry Donovan. Are you goin' to wash +Mrs. Rawson's windows today?" She changed the subject abruptly. "She +called me up twice yesterday to see they needed it, as if I had nothin' +to do but traipse aroun' after her." + +Larry understood exactly how she felt. He had been called up more than +twice to see the windows and had promised to clean them within +twenty-four hours. Before he went away he patted his wife's shoulder +and said again: "It isn't that I don't want the little thing here, +Kate. She'd be good for both of us. It's bad for folks to grow old +'thout young ones growin' up around 'em, but a job's a job. It +wouldn't be easy for a man to get another as good as this at this time +of year. See the home it gives you." + +He looked proudly around the pleasant basement living-room. Open doors +led into the dining-room and hall from which more doors opened into +kitchen and sleeping-rooms. There was a small room at the end of the +hall in which Mrs. Donovan kept her sewing machine but for which, in +the last twenty-four hours, she had found another use. The apartment +was very comfortable and Mrs. Donovan kept it as neat as wax. There +was never any dust on her floors if the fault-finding tenants did say +there was in the halls. + +Mrs. Donovan was proud of her home also, but she frowned as she glanced +about her. "There's plenty of room for one more," she grumbled. "That +little room beyond ours is just the place for a child. But go on, +Larry, we'll think of a way. We've got to! It shan't ever be said +that Kate Donovan turned away her only sister's only child. Do you +mind when Mary married Sam Crocker? It was thought to be a big step up +for the daughter of an Irish carpenter to marry a Crocker, the son of +ol' Judge Crocker an' a lawyer himself. Seems if there never was a +prettier girl than Mary an' she was happy till she died. An' now Sam's +dead, too. He wasn't the man his father was. He couldn't keep money +an' he couldn't earn it. Mary used to feel sorry for me, Larry, +because you weren't a Crocker, but if she could see us now an', seems +if, I believe she can, she mus' be glad I got a good honest hard +workin' Irishman. You've a good job an' a little money in the bank. +You don't owe no man a penny. That's more'n Sam Crocker could ever say +an' tell the truth!" + +For two years Larry Donovan had been the proud janitor of the +Washington Apartment House. He had moved in before the building was +fairly completed and felt that it belonged to him quite as much as to +the owner, whose name he did not know, for all business was transacted +through the rental agents, Brown and Lawson. + +It was an attractive building. The center of the red brick front, with +its rather ornate entrance, was pushed back some ten feet. The +rectangular space that was left was neatly bisected by the cement walk. +On either side were grassy squares, like pocket handkerchiefs, man's +size, with clumps of shrubbery in the corners for monograms. The +Washington was long and broad and low, not more than three stories +high, but it had an air of comfort and also of pretension that was +lacking in many of the taller apartment houses whose shoulders it could +not begin to touch. Under the low roof were some twenty apartments of +different sizes and the occupant of each was bound by lease not to +introduce a child nor a cat nor a dog. No one showed the least desire +to introduce any one of the three but each went his way and insisted on +his full rights with a selfish disregard of the rights and conveniences +of others in a way that at first had made Larry Donovan's mouth pop +wide open in amazement. Even now that he was used to it he was often +surprised. + +And to the Washington with its lease forbidding children and pets had +come a letter from Mifflin telling of the sudden death of Mrs. +Donovan's brother-in-law. Samuel Crocker had been an unsuccessful man, +as the world counts success, and had left nothing behind him but his +little daughter, Mary Rose. + +"It's her age that's again' her," thought Mrs. Donovan, when she was +alone. "If she were a couple of years older there couldn't be any +objection. Well, for the lan's sakes!" Her face broke into a broad +grin. "There isn't any reason why we should--nobody need ever know," +she murmured cryptically. + +Ten minutes later she was busy in the little room at the end of the +hall. When Larry came back he stumbled over the machine she had pushed +out of her way. + +"Hullo," he said. "What's up?" + +Mrs. Donovan lifted a smiling face. "I'm gettin' ready." + +"For what?" he asked stupidly. + +"For my niece, Mary Rose Crocker." She turned around and stood before +him, a scrub-cloth in her hand. + +Larry frowned. "I thought we'd finished with that, Kate. I told you +about the leases. You'll have to board Mary Rose in Mifflin or send +her to a convent." + +"Board!" The scrub-doth, a very banner of defiance, was waved an inch +in front of his nose. "Board out my own niece, a kid of eleven? I +think I see myself, Larry Donovan. An' aren't you ashamed to have such +thoughts, you, a decent man? A little thing that needs a mother's +care. An' who should give it to her but me, her own aunt? The Lord +had his plans when he took away all her other relations an' I ain't one +to interfere." + +"It means the loss of my job," objected Larry sullenly. + +"It does not." There was another flourish of the scrub-cloth. "Listen +to me, Larry Donovan. Is there anyone in this house 't knows how old +Mary Rose is? Does Mrs. Bracken or that crosspatch Miss Adams or the +weepin' willow, Mrs. Willoughby, know she isn't eleven? Who's to tell +'em if we keep our mouths shut? It ain't none of their business +though, seems if, there isn't one that'd be beyond makin' it their +business. I'll grant you that. Your old lease, more shame to it, says +childern ain't allowed here. Mary Rose is a child but if she takes +after her mother's fam'ly, an' I know in my heart she does, she'll be a +big up-standin' girl, a girl anyone 'd take for fourteen. Maybe +fifteen. Why, when her mother was twelve she weighed a hundred an' +twenty-five pounds. I've known women of fifty that didn't weigh that!" +triumphantly. "Don't you worry, Larry, dear. I've got it all planned +out. There's the clothes your sister left here when she an' Ella went +West las' fall. Ella was fourteen an' her clothes 'll just fit Mary +Rose or I miss my guess. They'll make her look every minute of +fourteen. An' a girl of fourteen isn't a child. Why, the state that's +again' child labor lets a girl of fourteen go to work if she can get a +permit, so we've got the law on our side. You see how easy it is, +Larry?" She beamed with pride at the solution she had found for the +problem that had tormented her ever since the letter had come from +Mifflin. + +"Do you mean you're goin' to tell lies about your own niece?" demanded +Larry incredulously. + +Mrs. Donovan looked at him sadly. "Why should I tell lies?" she asked +sweetly. "Sure, it's no lie to say Mary Rose is goin' on fourteen. I +ain't denyin' it'll be some time before she gets to fourteen but she's +goin' on fourteen more'n she is on ten. If the tenants take a wrong +meaning from my words is it my fault? No, Larry," firmly. "I wouldn't +tell lies for nobody an' I wouldn't let Mary Rose tell lies. We al'ys +had our mouths well scoured out with soft soap when we didn't tell the +truth. But it ain't no lie to say a child's goin' on fourteen when she +is." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A taxicab stopped before the Washington Apartment House and a slim +boyish little figure hopped out and stared up at the roof of the long +red brick building that towered so far above. + +"It's an e-normous house, isn't it!" she said in surprise. + +"Here, Mary Rose." A hand reached out a basket and then a birdcage. +"I'll go in with you." + +"You're awfully good, Mrs. Black." Mary Rose looked at her with loving +admiration. "Of course, I'd have come here all right by myself for +daddy always said there was a special Providence to look after children +and fools and that was why we were so well taken care of, but it +certainly did make it pleasant for me to have you come all the way." + +"It certainly made it pleasant for me," Mrs. Black said, and it had. +Mary Rose was so enthusiastic on this, her first trip away from +Mifflin, that she had amused Mrs. Black, who had made the journey to +Waloo so many times that it had become nothing but a necessary bore. +She was sorry that they had arrived at Mary Rose's destination. "Now, +where do we find your aunt?" She, too, looked up at the red brick +building that faced them so proudly. + +"My Uncle Larry's the janitor of this splendid mansion!" Mary Rose told +her joyously, although there was a trace of awe in her birdlike voice. +The mansion seemed so very, very large to her. "Is janitor the same as +owner, Mrs. Black? It's--it's----" she drew a deep breath as if she +found it difficult to say what it was. "It's wonderful! There isn't +one house in all Mifflin so big and grand, is there? It looks more," +she cocked her head on one side, "like the new Masonic Temple on Main +Street than anybody's home." + +"So it does," agreed Mrs. Black, leading the way into the vestibule, +where she found a bell labeled "Janitor." + +When Kate Donovan answered it she saw a pleasant-faced, smartly clad +woman with a child in a neat, if shabby, boy's suit of blue serge, +belted blouse over shrunken knickerbockers. She knew at once that they +had come to look at the vacant apartment on the second floor. + +"An I'll have to tell her we don't have no childern here," she said to +herself, and she sighed. "I wish Larry had a place in a house that was +overrun with childern. Seems if I hate to tell her how it is." + +But the pleasant-faced smartly clad woman smiled at her as no +prospective tenant had ever smiled and asked sweetly: "Is this Mrs. +Donovan?" + +Before Kate Donovan could admit it the boyish little figure ran to her. + +"My Aunt Kate! I know it is. It's my Aunt Kate!" + +"My soul an' body!" murmured the startled Mrs. Donovan, staring +stupidly at the child embracing her knees. + +"I brought your little niece," began Mrs. Black. + +"Niece!" gasped Mrs. Donovan in astonishment, for the figure at her +knees did not look like any niece she had ever seen. "Sure, it's a +boy!" + +The little face upturned to her broke into a radiant smile. "That's +what everyone says. But I'm not a boy, I'm not! Am I, Mrs. Black? +I'm a girl and my name's Mary Rose and I'm almost eleven----" + +"H-sh, h-sh, dearie!" Mrs. Donovan's hand slipped over the red lips +and she sent a quick glance over her shoulder. Bewildered and +surprised as she was she realized that her niece's age was not to be +shouted out in the vestibule of the Washington in any such joyous +fashion. "My soul an' body," she murmured again as she looked at the +sturdy little figure in knickerbockers. "You're Mary Rose Crocker?" +she asked doubtfully. She almost hoped she wasn't. + +"Mary Rose Crocker," repeated the red lips and the knickerbockered legs +jumped up and down. + +"My soul an' body!" Mrs. Donovan murmured helplessly. "Will you come +down to my rooms, ma'am," she said to Mrs. Black, as she tried to +remember her manners and not think how she was to tell Larry the truth. +Why, this child was undersized rather than over. Her mother might have +weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds when she was twelve but Mary +Rose couldn't weigh seventy. Dear, dear, why couldn't she just as well +have been bigger? But after one glance at the glowing little face, +Kate Donovan would have lost almost everything rather than her right to +take care of diminutive Mary Rose. + +Mrs. Black smiled at her. She liked her honest good-natured face. It +was a shining door-plate for the big heart behind it. She had been +rather worried over Mary Rose's only living relative, for she was fond +of Mary Rose and wanted her to have a real home. + +"Thank you, but I fear I must go on. Our train was a little late. I +am glad to have met you and if you like Mary Rose half as much as I do +you will think you are a lucky woman to have her always with you. +Good-by, Mary Rose. Thank you for coming with me." + +Mary Rose threw her arms about her friend. "Thank you for bringing +me," she whispered. + +"Have you everything? Her trunk is at the station and she has the +check," she explained to Mrs. Donovan. "Good-by." And with another +kiss for Mary Rose she was gone. They could hear the purr of the +taxicab as it dashed up the street. + +Mary Rose drew a deep breath. "It's very pleasant to get to the end of +a journey," she began a trifle tremulously. Mary Rose was beginning to +feel a bit forlorn at being left alone with an aunt she had never seen +before. "Mrs. Black's a very kind lady and she brought me here in a +taxicab. It's very pleasant riding in a taxicab." + +"I've no doubt it is," remarked Mrs. Donovan, who knew taxicabs only by +sight. "Now, Mary Rose, we'll go down to my rooms. Is this your +canary?" She looked oddly at the bird-cage. + +"Yes, that's Jennie Lind. I couldn't leave her behind and Mrs. Black +said you'd be sure to have room for her, for all she needs is a window +to hang in and everybody has at least one window. Your house is very +large, isn't it?" admiringly. "It makes me think of a palace, although +it is something like the new Masonic Temple in Mifflin. Do you live in +the cellar?" she asked in astonishment as her aunt led the way down the +basement stairs. "I've never lived in a cellar before. In Mifflin our +cellar had only room for jellies and pickles and a closet for +vegetables, turnips and parsnips, you know." + +"This isn't a cellar," she was told rather sharply. "It's a basement." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose tried to see the difference between a cellar and a +basement and had little difficulty, for nothing could have been more +different from the little Mifflin cellar with its swinging shelf for +preserves and pickles, its dark closet for vegetables, than Aunt Kate's +basement apartment. The sun streamed into the windows, only half of +which were below the level of the street, and the rooms looked very +bright and pleasant to tired Mary Rose. + +"It's--it's very pleasant," she said. "But do you always live down +here?" She couldn't understand why her aunt should choose rooms in the +cellar when she had such a large house. + +Her aunt did not answer her but asked a question of her own. "Mary +Rose, what makes you dress like that, like a boy?" She couldn't +imagine why. + +Mary Rose regarded her small person with a blush and a frown. "I know. +Isn't it horrid? I'd lots rather wear girls' clothes, but you see +these saved washing, and Lena, who took care of daddy and me, made a +fuss about the washing almost every week, so daddy said boys' clothes +were pleasanter than arguments. Aunt Kate," her voice was tragic, "I'm +'most eleven years old and I haven't ever had a white dress with a blue +sash in all my life. I never even had a hair ribbon!" + +"My soul an' body!" murmured Aunt Kate, and derived no more +satisfaction from the exclamation than she had the other times she had +used it. + +"Don't you think boys should wear boys' clothes and girls girls' +clothes, Aunt Kate? Of course, if you have to think of the washing, +too, I won't say a word and I'll try to be happy in these. But I do +hate them. I think little girls' clothes are beautiful. All my life +I've wanted a white dress with lace on it and a blue sash. Gladys +Evans has one. She wore it at the church social. I spoke a piece and +I had to wear these ugly clothes. It hurt my pride awful but daddy +said that was because I didn't look at it right, that if I had the +right kind of an eye I'd see washing in a white dress instead of +beauty. But I guess it's hard to see right when you haven't ever had +anything but boys' clothes. Oh, Aunt Kate!" she put her arms around +her aunt. "I do think that it is good of you to want me to live with +you. You're the only relation I have out of Heaven. I don't quite +understand about that, when Gladys Evans has four sisters and a brother +and three aunts and two uncles and a pair of grandfathers and even one +grandmother. It doesn't seem just fair, does it? But I think you're +nicer than all of hers put together. One of her aunts is cross-eyed +and another lives in California and one of her uncles is stingy," she +whispered. "You--you're beautiful!" And she hugged her again. + +Mrs. Donovan dropped weakly into a chair and her arms went around Mary +Rose. She had never realized how empty they had been until they +enclosed Mary Rose. + +"You didn't say anything about bringing my friends with me," went on +Mary Rose happily, "but of course I couldn't leave Jenny Lind and +George Washington behind. George Washington has the same name as your +house," she gurgled. "Wouldn't you like to see him?" She slipped from +her aunt's arms to the chair where she had put her basket. There had +been sundry angry upheavals of the cover but it was tightly tied with a +stout string. Mrs. Donovan had scarcely noticed it. She had been too +bewildered to see anything but Mary Rose. + +Mary Rose untied the basket cover but before she could raise it a big +maltese cat had pushed it aside and jumped to the floor and stood +stretching himself in front of Mrs. Donovan's horrified eyes. + +"Mary Rose!" she cried. It was all she could say. + +"Isn't he a beauty?" Mary Rose turned shining eyes to her as she +patted her pet. "I've had him ever since he was a weeny kitten. Mrs. +Campbell gave him to me when I had the tonsilitis. We adore each +other. You see his mother is dead and so is mine. We're both orphans." + +And she caught the orphaned George Washington to her and hugged him. +"I've a dog, too, but I left him in Mifflin." + +"Thank God for that," murmured Mrs. Donovan under her breath. + +"His name is Solomon," went on Mary Rose. "He was such a wise little +puppy that daddy said he should have a wise name. The superintendent +of schools made out a list for me and I copied each one on a separate +piece of paper and let the puppy take his choice. He took Solomon and +daddy said he showed his sense for Solomon was the very wisest of all. +But that shows just how smart Solomon was even as a puppy. Jimmie +Bronson's taking care of him until I send for him. He said he'd just +as soon I never sent, but of course I will as soon as I can. Do you +see Jenny Lind, George Washington?" She took the cat's head in her +hands and turned it to the cage in which Jenny Lind hopped restlessly. +"They aren't the friends I'd like them to be," she explained almost +apologetically to her aunt. "Sometimes it worries me. Dear me, I wish +I could have a talk with Noah! Don't you often wonder how he managed +in the ark? It must have been hard with cats and mice and snakes and +birds and lions and people. Daddy thought Noah must have been a fine +animal tamer, like the one in the circus Gladys Evans' father took us +to, only better, of course. Don't you think you'll like George +Washington?" she asked timidly, rather puzzled by her aunt's silence. + +"He's a beautiful cat," gulped Mrs. Donovan, who was more puzzled than +Mary Rose. What should she do? What could she do? She took both Mary +Rose and George Washington in her arms. "Listen to me, Mary Rose, for +a minute. You know your Uncle Larry is janitor of this building?" + +"It's a fine building," admiringly. "He must be awful rich." + +"He isn't rich at all," hurriedly. "If he was he wouldn't be a +janitor. A janitor is the man who takes care of it----" + +"Oh," Mary Rose was frankly disappointed. "I thought he owned it." + +"You see other folks live here, lots of them, an' the man who owns it +won't let them have any cats or dogs," she hesitated, she hated to say +it, "or childern in it. It's in the lease. A lease is the same as a +law." + +"Won't have any cats or dogs or children!" Mary Rose's voice was +shrill with astonishment and her eyes were as big as saucers. "Why, +everybody has children! They always have had. Don't you remember, +even Adam and Eve? In Mifflin everyone has children." + +"It's different in Waloo. You see the man who owns this house thinks +childern are noisy an' destructive." She tried her best to find an +excuse for the unknown owner. "He doesn't know, of course. He's +probably a cross old bachelor." + +"But I'm a child," wailed Mary Rose suddenly. "Wha-what are you going +to do with me?" Her face whitened. + +Her aunt put her hand under the little chin and turned Mary Rose's +startled face up so that the two pairs of eyes looked directly into +each other. "You're not a child, Mary Rose. You're a great big girl +goin' on fourteen. Don't ever forget that. If anyone asks you how old +you are you just tell 'em you're goin' on fourteen. That's what you +are, you know." + +"Yes," doubtfully. "But I have to go to eleven first and then to +twelve and thirteen----" + +"Waloo folks don't care about that," her aunt interrupted quickly. +"They don't care to hear about any but the fourteen. Don't you ever +forget." + +"I won't," promised Mary Rose solemnly, too puzzled just then to think +it out. "But what about George Washington? He's just a cat." She +looked dubiously at George Washington and shook her head. Nothing +could be made of him but a cat. "An orphan cat!" she added firmly. + +"I know, dearie." Aunt Kate's arms tightened around her. "An' I hate +to ask you to give him up. I know you love him but if you keep him +here it may mean that your uncle will lose his job an' if he did that +there wouldn't be any roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose stared at her. "Would that cross old bachelor owner +make him not be janitor?" + +Her aunt nodded. "We'll have to find someone to take care of him--just +for a while," she added quickly as she saw two big tears in Mary Rose's +blue eyes. "Some day, please God, we'll have a home where we can have +him with us." + +Mary Rose stood very still, trying in vain to understand this strange +world to which she had come, a world where children and cats and dogs +were not considered precious and desirable. Suddenly a bell rang. + +"That's Mrs. Rawson," murmured Aunt Kate. "I'll bet she wants me to +run up an' look at her windows again. I'll be right back, Mary Rose," +she promised as she hurried away to answer the insistent jangle of Mrs. +Rawson's bell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Left alone, Mary Rose caught George Washington to her heart and stood +staring about the room. She shook her head. This might be a beautiful +palace but she was very much afraid that she was not going to like it. +She walked slowly into the next room and then to the kitchen, whose +windows faced the alley. + +Across the driveway she could see a broad open space, the yard of a +rambling old-fashioned house. A man was cleaning an automobile and +through the open window Mary Rose could hear his cheery whistle. There +was something about the old-fashioned house and the spacious yard that +reminded Mary Rose of Mifflin, where people loved children and had +pets. The puzzled frown left her face, and clutching George Washington +closer she went out of the back door and across the alley. + +"If you please," she said, her heart beating so fast that she was +almost choked, "would you take a cat to board?" + +She had to say it a second time before the man heard her. He looked up +in surprise. He had a frank, pleasant face with twinkling eyes and +Mary Rose liked him at once. + +"Hullo, brother," he said, quite as cordially as a Mifflin man would +have spoken. "And where did you drop from?" + +"I didn't drop," answered literal Mary Rose. "I came across the +alley," and she nodded toward the big apartment house. It now turned a +white brick face to her. Mary Rose almost forgot her errand when she +saw that. In Mifflin houses were the same color all the way around. +"Why--why, it's two-faced!" she cried. "The front is all red and now +the back is all white. It's just like an enchanted palace." + +"It is an enchanted palace," grumbled the man. + +Mary Rose flew to his side. "Oh, is there a princess there? A +beautiful princess?" she begged. + +The man colored under the tan the sun and wind had spread over his +face. "There is," he admitted, "a most beautiful princess." + +"And a witch?" insisted Mary Rose. "A wicked witch?" The color flew +into her face also. + +"The wickedest witch that could ever enslave a beautiful princess. Her +darned old name is Independence!" + +Mary Rose did not understand and she thought it was an odd name for a +witch but she wished to know more. "And is the prince there?" she +demanded thirstily. + +The man's face turned redder than before. "The prince is here," he +said sadly. "Right here. And he might as well be in Jericho," he +added under his breath. + +"I've heard the Presbyterian minister speak of Jericho but I never read +of it in any fairy-tale. Oh, dear! I hope the prince won't go there. +I want him to stay here and rescue the pretty princess from that wicked +witch In-independence," she stumbled over the unfamiliar word. + +The man looked at her. He had to look away down to find her, for he +was tall, over six feet, and Mary Rose was not much more than half +that, but when he finally did find her Mary Rose was amazed to see the +look of determination that came into his sunburned face. + +"He'll do it," he said, half under his breath. "It's all very well for +a girl to be independent, but she needn't be so darned independent that +she won't listen to a word a man says." + +"I don't think I understand," Mary Rose ventured to say when there was +a long pause. + +Her new friend laughed. "No, of course, you don't." He put his hands +on her shoulders. "As man to man," he said, "the modern girl is +getting to be almost too much of a problem for the modern man. I don't +suppose you understand that, either. But wait ten or fifteen years and +you will. Godfrey! I feel sorry for you. If they keep on as they've +started what will they be in ten years? Did you say you were living +over there?" He looked toward the white wall. + +Mary Rose nodded her yellow head. "I thought perhaps you might like to +take a cat to board. An orphan cat," she explained pityingly. + +Jerry Longworthy swallowed a laugh when he saw that there was real +trouble in her face. "Suppose you climb into the car and tell me why +you're looking for a boarding place for an orphan cat?" + +Mary Rose smiled radiantly as she obeyed and, with George Washington +cuddled against her, she told him all about it. + +"My Uncle Larry," she began very importantly, "is the janitor of that +wonderful two-faced palace." + +"Is he, indeed," remarked Jerry Longworthy, lighting his pipe. + +"But he doesn't own it. At first I thought he did. I used to live in +Mifflin, where there aren't any houses like that. Every family has its +own house. Some of them are little but Mrs. Black's is as big as +yours. She brought me to Waloo and we had a taxicab all the way." + +"All the way!" Mr. Jerry showed a proper amount of astonishment. "That +was a treat." + +"It was to me," simply. "There aren't any taxicabs in Mifflin, just +one old hack that was made before the war, Mr. Day said, and that's a +very long time ago." + +"It is," agreed Mr. Jerry. "Longer than either you or I can remember. +I expect you are all of ten years old?" + +"I'm older than that." She would have told him how much older but she +remembered what Aunt Kate had said. "I'm going on fourteen." It +sounded so aged that she felt quite important. "And my name is Mary +Rose Crocker." + +"Mary Rose?" He lifted his eyebrows, and Mary Rose knew at once that +he was thinking that boys' clothes and girls' names do not usually go +together. She flushed. + +"I wear them to save washing," she said with a certain dignity as she +touched the shrunken knickerbockers. "Girls' clothes are a lot of +trouble. Lena said they weren't worth it." + +"I'm sure she's right. You're only a little ahead of the style. All +girls'll be wearing them soon, no doubt. They're that independent. +How old is the orphan George?" He changed a subject that was evidently +so painful to Mary Rose. + +"He's 'most five. I got him when I had tonsilitis, when I was six," +unconsciously betraying to anyone who could add five to six the secret +Aunt Kate had begged her to keep. "And we've never been separated a +whole day. But now," she swallowed the lump in her throat and went on +bravely, "you see the owner of that palace won't have any children nor +any dogs nor any cats in it." + +"I know." Mr. Jerry seemed to know everything. "What are you going to +do?" + +"If we kept him Uncle Larry would lose the janitor and we wouldn't have +a roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs, so I thought if I +could find a pleasant place for him to board near by I could see him +often. I couldn't give him away, for Aunt Kate says perhaps the +Lord'll give us a real home some day where we can all be together. +When I saw your house it made me think of Mifflin and I wondered if you +had a cat and if you hadn't if you would like to board one?" Her face +was painfully serious as she lifted It to Jerry Longworthy. + +"Well," he considered the question gravely. "Can you pay his board?" + +"I've a dollar and forty-three cents. The forty-three cents I saved +and the dollar Mr. Black gave me when he took me to the train in +Mifflin. How much should a cat's board be?" anxiously. + +"How much milk does he drink? Milk's seven cents a quart in Waloo." + +"Oh, not more than a quart a day," eagerly. "And he's almost too fat +now." + +"A quart a day would be seven times seven----" + +"I know. I know all my tables up to twelve times twelve. That would +be forty-nine cents. Do you think fifty cents would be enough?" + +"I should think fifty cents a week very good board for a cat. Suppose +we go in and see what my Aunt Mary has to say." + +His Aunt Mary proved to be a plump lady with a round rosy face, who +agreed with Mary Rose that children and cats and dogs were most +desirable additions to a family. She seemed quite glad to take George +Washington as a boarder and thought that fifty cents a week was enough +to charge as long as Mary Rose solemnly promised to come over every day +and help take care of him. Mary Rose promised most solemnly. + +"I'm so glad." She beamed on Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary and hugged +George Washington. "It's a great relief to find a pleasant boarding +place. I can pay for two weeks, almost three weeks now," she offered. + +Mr. Jerry started to speak but his Aunt Mary shook her head and he shut +his mouth with the words inside. + +"We don't take board in advance for a cat," said his Aunt Mary in a way +that told Mary Rose such a thing was never done. "In fact, we've never +taken a cat to board before. I think it will be more satisfactory if +we wait until the end of the week, when we can tell just how much milk +he will drink," she added soberly. + +"He's awfully greedy." Mary Rose looked sadly at the greedy George +Washington. "But he's always had all he wanted. I can't tell you how +much obliged I am and I'll come over every day. It's awfully good of +you to take him when you haven't any other boarders." + +"I'd take you, too, if I could," Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary murmured as she +went to get a ginger cooky. + +"I'm going to find the beautiful princess," Mary Rose told Mr. Jerry, +when she said good-by to him a few minutes later. "And when I do shall +I tell her that the prince is not going to Jericho?" + +"Do," he said and his face went all red again. "Tell her that he's +going to stay right here on the job, that he will never give her up." + +"Never give her up," repeated Mary Rose. She tried to say it as firmly +as he had said it and she waved her hand as she went across the alley +and into the back door of the Washington, with a most delicious thrill +at entering such a two-faced building. + +Mr. Jerry looked after her and frowned. Then he shook his fist at the +Washington. + +"You are an enchanted palace," he told it sternly. "If it weren't for +doggone places like you, girls would have to stay at home. They +couldn't go out in the world and grow so independent that they think +work is the biggest thing in creation. Oh, Godfrey! it isn't normal +for any girl to like a job better than a perfectly good man. When I +think of Elizabeth Thorley wasting herself on advertisements for +Bingham and Henderson's sickening jams when she might be making a +Heaven for me it sends my temperature up until I'm afraid of +spontaneous combustion. She wouldn't care if I did blow up and turn to +ashes. She wouldn't care what happened to me so long as she could send +out a new poster for peach marmalade. She wants to live her own life +and not be tied down to a man or a home," he groaned. "Darn these +feministic ideas, anyway! I wish I had been my own grandfather. The +girl he wanted wasn't on any old factory payroll." + +He had been in love with Elizabeth Thorley ever since one night, almost +a year ago, when he had looked across a room and seen her red-brown +hair, her oval face with its uplifted pointed chin, and met her +laughing eyes. He had held her gaze for the fraction of a moment and +in that time his heart had stopped beating. When it began again the +world was a very different place to him. But, alas, it was not a +different place to her. She had suffered no magical change by the +short interchange of glances. + +They had been the best of friends. They had a certain similarity of +tastes and interests, for he was an architect and she was an +advertising artist. But when he asked for more than friendship she +tilted her white chin a bit higher and told him frankly that she was +not the type of girl to want or think of marriage; that all she wished +was her work and she thanked her lucky stars every night of her life +that she had enough of it to be independent. + +"Marriage to me is a many-headed dragon," she said. "It eats up a +girl's individuality, her ambitions, her talents. Oh, yes, it does! +I've seen it too many times not to know, and I want to keep Elizabeth +Thorley's personality for her as long as she lives. I shan't merge it +in that of any man." + +She valued his friendship; she would like to keep it always, she added, +but she did not want his love. She did not want any man's love. That +was why Mr. Jerry shook his fist at the white face of the Washington +and swore that he loathed the idea of feminine independence, loathed it +from the very bottom of his heart. + +"Why, Mary Rose, wherever have you been?" demanded startled Mrs. +Donovan, when Mary Rose, a trifle breathless and minus George +Washington, slipped into the basement flat. "I've been lookin' +everywhere for you." + +"I'm sorry but I just had to find a boarding place for George +Washington. Oh, Aunt Kate, do you suppose there's any way a girl like +me can earn fifty cents every week?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +When Larry Donovan saw his niece she had changed her shabby boy's suit +of blue serge for the clothes that Ella Murphy had outgrown. Ella had +astonished and disgusted her mother by lengthening herself, in a single +night, it seemed to the outraged Mrs. Murphy, to such an extent that a +new outfit was necessary. + +"It may be well enough for asparagus and tulips to grow like that, but +it's all wrong for a girl," she had said resentfully. "I just wish the +Power that lengthened her had to find her dresses and petticoats and +things to make her decent to go to the grandmother that's never seen +her. Here I am, all but ready to start, an' I have to get her new +clothes. Childern may be a blessing, there's folks that say they are, +but there's times I can't see anything but the worry and the expense of +'em." + +So the lengthened Ella's discarded garments had been left behind for +Mrs. Donovan to dispose of. They had been packed away and forgotten +until Mary Rose arrived and reminded her Aunt Kate that a perfectly +good outfit for a girl of fourteen was in one of her closets. + +Fortunately Ella had been slim as well as tall and the middy blouse +that Mrs. Donovan tried on Mary Rose did not look too much as if it had +been made for her grandmother. The bright plaid skirt trailed on the +floor but Aunt Kate turned back the hem which still left the skirt +hanging considerably below Mary Rose's shabby shoe tops, much to her +delight. + +She hung over the machine, her tongue clattering an unwearied +accompaniment to the whir of the wheel, as Mrs. Donovan sewed the +basted hem. + +"Did you know there was an enchanted princess in your house, Aunt +Kate?" she demanded excitedly. + +Mrs. Donovan had not known it and her surprise made her break her +thread. When Mary Rose had explained she grunted something. + +"You mean the girl that Mr. Longworthy's crazy about? She's up above +an' won't have nothin' to do with men. 'I don't want nothin' in my +life but my work,' says she to me, herself. That's all very well for +now but let her wait a few years an' she'll sing a different tune or I +miss my guess. She ain't enchanted, Mary Rose, she's just pig-headed +an' young." + +Mary Rose was disappointed. "Mr. Jerry said she was under the spell of +the wicked witch, Independence," she insisted. "Wasn't it good of him +to take George Washington to board? It's such a relief to have found a +pleasant place so near. I'm sure they'll be friendly to him." + +Mrs. Donovan mentally planned to slip across the alley and see Mr. +Jerry and his Aunt Mary herself about George Washington's board as she +looked into the earnest little face so near her own. + +"Sure, they will," she said above the whir of the machine. "But you +mustn't make friends of everyone you meet, Mary Rose. A city isn't +like the country. I suppose you knew everyone in Mifflin?" + +"Everyone," with an emphatic shake of her head. "Animals and +vegetables as well as people. And everyone knew me." + +"Well, it won't be that way in Waloo," Mrs. Donovan explained. "No one +knows you an' you don't know anyone. You mustn't go makin' up to +strangers. A little girl can't tell who's good an' who's bad." + +"She can if she has the right kind of an eye," Mary Rose told her +eagerly. "Daddy said so over and over again. He said the good Lord +never made bad people because it would be a waste of time and dust when +he could just as well make them good. And if you had the right kind of +an eye you could see that there was good in every single person. Daddy +said I had the right kind. Mine's blue but it isn't in the color, for +his eyes were brown and they were right, too. It's something," she +hesitated as she tried to explain what was so very dear and simple to +her. "It's something to do with the inside and your heart. I +shouldn't wonder, Aunt Kate, if you had the right kind. Isn't it +easier for you to see that people are kind and good than it is to see +them bad?" + +It wasn't for Aunt Kate. A two-years' residence in the basement of the +Washington had about convinced her that all human nature was sour but +she disliked to tell Mary Rose so when Mary Rose so plainly expected +her to agree that the world was inhabited by a superior sort of angel. +She snipped her threads and drew the plaid skirt from under the needle. + +Mary Rose fairly squealed with delight when she was in the white middy +blouse and the skirt flapped about her ankles in such a very grown-up +manner. Mary Rose's yellow hair had always been bobbed but no one had +seen that it was trimmed before she left Mifflin and it hung in rather +straight lanky locks about her elfish face. Some of the locks were +long enough to be drawn under one of Ella's discarded red hair ribbons +and Aunt Kate pinned back the others. The result was a very different +Mary Rose from the one who had jumped out of the taxicab a few hours +ago. She climbed on a chair and looked at her reflection in the mirror +of her aunt's bureau. + +"I do think it's too lovely!" she cried rapturously. "You can't ever +know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to wear skirts. Sometimes," she +whispered confidentially, "I used to wonder if I really was a girl. +You don't think it will make too much washing?" anxiously. "I +shouldn't want to be a burden to you. But I do love this skirt! I +wish Gladys Evans could see me!" + +[Illustration: "'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to +wear skirts.'"] + +She was still admiring her new clothes in the mirror when her Uncle +Larry came in. + +"Hullo," he said in a loud cheery voice. "Who's this? Kate, Mrs. +Bracken wants to see you." + +Mary Rose tore her eyes from the fascinating reflection in the mirror +that she could scarcely believe was herself, and looked at the big +broad-shouldered man in the doorway. He had been frowning but the +frown slipped away from his forehead when he gazed into Mary Rose's +blue eyes, so that he looked very kind and friendly. Mary Rose jumped +from the chair and ran over to him. + +"I'm Mary Rose," she said a bit shyly. This unknown uncle was so big +and strong and he was janitor of this strange two-faced palace. A +janitor sounded powerful and important even if Aunt Kate had explained +that he wasn't, so that Mary Rose felt a little shy with him. + +"Mary Rose, eh?" He picked her up and raised her in his arms until her +face was on a level with his. "Sure, I think you're more of a Rose +than a Mary," he added as he kissed the face that was as pink as any +flower. + +Her arms met around his neck. "That's because I'm so happy to be with +you and Aunt Kate," she whispered. "You know, after daddy went to +Heaven there wasn't anyone in the whole world that belonged to me in +Mifflin but George Washington, and my dog that Jimmie Bronson borrowed, +and Jenny Lind, and now to have a great big uncle and a beautiful aunt +of my very own m-makes me very happy." + +"Who's George Washington?" asked Uncle Larry as he found a chair and +sat down with her in his arms. + +Mary Rose told him about her cat, which was boarding across the alley, +and Uncle Larry thought to himself that he would go over and make sure +that the cat was all right. It was a thundering shame the child +couldn't have her pet with her. He'd like to tell the owner of the +Washington a few things if he knew who he was and if there was no fear +of losing his job. + +"And Jenny Lind," Mary Rose was saying eagerly. "I must show you Jenny +Lind." She slipped down and ran into the next room to come back with a +birdcage. "Aunt Kate says I may keep her here because there isn't one +word in that law about canary birds." + +"No, thank God, there isn't," said Uncle Larry. "The old grouch must +have forgotten about them." He admired Jenny Lind as much as Mary Rose +could wish. + +"The real Jenny Lind was a girl with a bird in her throat," Mary Rose +explained as she leaned against his knee. "My own grandfather heard it +and he told daddy and daddy told me that to hear her sing made a man +think he was in Heaven. So when Mrs. Lenox gave me this beautiful bird +for my very own, of course, I named her Jenny Lind. Mrs. Lenox called +her Cleopatra. Wasn't that a silly name for a bird? Mrs. Lenox must +have liked it or she wouldn't have given it to anything. Isn't it the +luckiest thing that everyone hasn't the same likes? Just suppose +everyone had been like my father and my mother and all the little girls +were named Mary Rose? I think it's the most beautiful name in the +entire dictionary, but Gladys Evans in Mifflin said it was common. She +counted up and she knew seven Marys, with her grandmother and old Mrs. +Wilcox, who's deaf and half blind, and four Roses. But there wasn't +one Mary Rose!" triumphantly. "And that made all the difference in the +world. My daddy chose the Mary because he said there wasn't a better +name for a little girl to have for her own and my little mother chose +the Rose because she said I was just like a flower when she saw me +first. Don't you like it, Uncle Larry?" + +"I do!" Uncle Larry could not have told her how much he liked it, but +as he listened to her chatter he wondered how on earth Kate was going +to make the tenants of the Washington think the child was fourteen. + +"And I like your name," Mary Rose was kind enough to say. "And Aunt +Kate's, too," she added, as Aunt Kate came back from her interview with +Mrs. Bracken. + +"Her girl's gone," she said in answer to Uncle Larry's question. "I +don't wonder. That's the fourth in three weeks. Seems if she only +stays home long enough to hire an' discharge 'em. She heard I had a +niece with me an' she wants her to go up every mornin' an' wash the +dishes till she gets another girl. So, Mary Rose, if you really want +to earn money to pay for George Washington's board, here's a chance." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose slid to the floor and clapped her hands. "I do think +this is the most wonderful world that ever was. I just wish for +something and then I have it." + +"That'll happen just so long as you wish for what you can get," Aunt +Kate told her. + +When Mary Rose was tucked in bed, where she told Aunt Kate she felt +like a long green pickle in a glass jar because she never had slept in +a cellar--a basement--before, and they always had pickles in their +cellar, Aunt Kate explained to her husband about Mrs. Bracken. + +"I couldn't say anythin', but, of course, she'd come. Mrs. Bracken had +the nerve to tell me she knew Mary Rose wasn't a child for childern +weren't allowed in the buildin'. What was I to do, Larry Donovan, but +say she'd wash her dirty old dishes? It won't hurt Mary Rose an' I'll +give her a hand if she needs it. Isn't it a pity though that Mary Rose +couldn't have taken more after her mother's fam'ly? Seems if I never +saw such a small eleven-year-old as she is." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Enveloped in a blue and white checked gingham apron of her aunt's, Mary +Rose washed Mrs. Bracken's dishes. Mrs. Donovan had brought her up to +the apartment and Mary Rose had looked curiously around the rather bare +and empty halls. There was something in the atmosphere of them that +made her catch Mrs. Donovan by the hand. + +"It feels like the Presbyterian Church in the middle of the week," she +whispered. "It doesn't seem as if anyone really lived here, Aunt Kate." + +"You'll find folks live here," Mrs. Donovan said grimly as she unlocked +the Bracken door. "We don't ever get a chance to forget 'em." + +Mrs. Bracken had gone out with her husband and there was no one in the +apartment that seemed so big and grand to Mary Rose's unsophisticated +eyes. But Aunt Kate sniffed at the untidy kitchen and living-room. + +"Seems if it was just about as important for a woman to make a home as +a club," she said under her breath as she picked up papers and +straightened chairs in the living-room. She found the dish pan and +showed Mary Rose what to do. + +"I know how to wash dishes, Aunt Kate." Mary Rose was in a fever to +begin. "I washed them for Lena and no one could be more particular +than she was. We got our hot water out of a kettle instead of a pipe." +She watched with interest the water run steaming from the faucet. +"Wouldn't it be grand if Mrs. Bracken had a little girl so we could +wash dishes together? I don't mind doing them all by myself a bit, +Aunt Kate. I'm glad to do it. I know there's nothing so splendid as a +girl being useful. Daddy told me that and Mr. Mann, the minister, and +Gladys Evans' grandmother and all the other grown-uppers. But I think +the grandest part is to earn George Washington's board. It's splendid +to have someone besides yourself to work for," she added with a very +adult air. + +She sang to herself as she worked, after Aunt Kate had left her. + + "Where have you been, Billie boy, Billie boy? + Where have you been, charming Billie? + I've been to see my wife, she's the treasure of my life, + She's a young thing and can't leave her mother." + + +It was Lena's favorite song and it had many verses. Mary Rose sang +them all with gusto. + +"If I didn't make a noise I'd be scared of the quiet," she thought. "I +never was in a home that was so little like a home. It's because there +isn't anything alive in it. There isn't even a Lady Washington +geranium." She was astonished that there wasn't, for in Mifflin pots +of geraniums and other plants were always to be seen in sunny windows. +"It gives you a hollow feeling--not empty for bread and butter but for +people," she decided. + +Mary Rose had never lived where there were no live things. "Dogs and +cats and birds help to make you feel friendly toward all the world. +And so do plants. I guess that's true of all the things God made," she +thought as she hung up the dish pan on the nail Aunt Kate had pointed +out. + +She stood in the doorway, looking back at the clean and tidy kitchen +with considerable satisfaction. She had done it all herself and it +would have pleased even the critical Lena. + +A door across the hall opened suddenly and Mary Rose swung around and +looked into the curious face of an elderly woman who was almost as +broad as she was tall. Her round face wore a scowl and the corners of +her mouth turned straight down. + +"Good morning," Mary Rose said in the neighborly fashion that was in +vogue in Mifflin. + +"H-m." The fat lady eyed her over gold spectacles. "Can't Mrs. +Bracken get a full-grown girl to do her work? I thought she was +against child labor." + +She laughed unpleasantly. + +"I'm not working regular," Mary Rose said quickly, with a blush because +she was not so large as the fat lady thought she should be. "I'm Mrs. +Donovan's niece and I've just come from Mifflin. I'm only washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes until she gets another girl, so I can earn money to +pay for George Washington's board." + +"George Washington's board?" echoed the fat lady. "Come here, Mina," +she called over her shoulder, "and listen to this child. Who's George +Washington?" She was frankly curious and so was the maid, who had +joined her. + +"He's my cat. I've had him ever since I had tonsilitis. Aunt Kate +says the law won't let him live here with me, so I'm boarding him over +there." And she nodded in the direction of the alley and the +hospitable Mr. Jerry. + +"Cats here? I should say not!" exclaimed Mrs. Schuneman. She watched +Mary Rose as she carefully locked the door of the Bracken apartment. +The child puzzled her and when Mrs. Schuneman was puzzled over anything +or anyone she had to find out all about them. She had nothing else to +do. Once she had been an active harassed woman, busy with the problem +of how she was to support herself and her two daughters, but just when +the problem seemed about to be too much for her to solve a brother died +and left her money enough to live comfortably for the remainder of her +life. She had moved from the crowded downtown rooms to the more +pretentious Washington and tried to think that she was happier for the +change, but really she was very lonely and discontented. Miss Louise +Schuneman was too busy with church work and Miss Lottie Schuneman had a +bridge club four afternoons a week and went to the matinee and the +moving picture shows the other afternoons, so that neither of them was +a companion for their mother. Mrs. Schuneman had nothing to do but +wonder about the neighbors she did not know and tell her maid how much +admired her daughters were and how hard she had worked herself until +the good God had seen fit to take her brother from his packing plant. +"If you're the janitor's niece you can come in and clean up the mess +the plumber made on my floor. It isn't the place of the girl I pay +wages to, to clean up the dirt the workmen make." + +"Isn't it?" Mary Rose did not know and she followed Mrs. Schuneman +into the living-room. "What a pleasant room," she said, when she +crossed the threshold, for the sun streamed in through the windows in a +way that made even a rather garish decoration seem attractive. + +Mrs. Schuneman's grim face relaxed a trifle. "It ought to be pretty," +she grumbled. "It cost enough but it don't suit Louise. And Lottie +don't like the rug. She says it's too red. But I like red," she +snapped. "It's a thankless task to try and please girls who think they +know more than their old mother." + +"There is a lot of red in it." Mary Rose had to admit that much. "But +red is a cheerful color. It makes you feel very warm and comfortable." + +"It isn't cheerful to my girls. They won't stay at home, always away, +and their old mother left alone. When they were little I gave them all +the time I could spare from my work and now they leave me by myself. +They think because I have a girl to cook and wash I don't need them." + +Mary Rose did not understand and she stood there, just beyond the +threshold, uncertainly. But if she did not understand why Mrs. +Schuneman's daughters did not stay in the room with the red tug, she +realized that Mrs. Schuneman was lonely. + +"It's too bad you haven't a pet," she suggested. "A dog or a cat is a +lot of company. Why--" a sudden thought came to her. "Just wait a +minute. I'll be right back," she called as she ran out of the room. + +Before Mrs. Schuneman fairly realized that she had gone she was back +with Jenny Lind in her cage. + +"I thought perhaps you might like to have Jenny Lind spend the day with +you," she said breathlessly. "She isn't just the same as a grown up +daughter, but she's lots of company and she sings--she sings," she was +rather at a loss to tell how well Jenny Lind could sing, "like a +seraphim! They sing in the Bible and sound so grand I've always wanted +to hear one though I know there isn't a seraphim that could sing +sweeter than Jenny Lind. You can put the cage in that window. She +loves the sunshine and she'll sing and sing until you forget you are +lonely." + +"My gracious me!" murmured Mrs. Schuneman, staring from the eager face +to the sleek yellow bird. "I haven't had a canary since I was a girl +in my father's house." + +"Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say you can't have birds here. It's +cats and dogs and children." + +"Yes, yes. I know." Mrs. Schuneman walked up to the cage and looked +at Jenny Lind, who looked at her with her bright bead-like eyes before +she burst into joyous song. "Now, why didn't I think of a canary?" +Mrs. Schuneman demanded sharply. "There isn't any reason why I +shouldn't have one." + +"You're perfectly welcome to Jenny Lind until you get one of your own." +Mary Rose was delighted to have Jenny Lind received so cordially. +"She'll be glad to spend the day with you. She's a very friendly bird." + +"I'll be glad to have her. Perhaps you'll stay, too." Mrs. Schuneman +surprised herself more than she did Mary Rose by the invitation that +popped so suddenly from her mouth. She had never asked anyone in the +Washington to spend the day with her before. "Tell me where you came +from and what's your name and how old you are?" + +"I came from Mifflin and my name's Mary Rose Crocker and I'm almost +el--I mean I'm going on fourteen." She remembered the secret she had +with Aunt Kate just in time. A second more and it would have been too +late. + +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her over the gold spectacles. "Going on +fourteen?" she repeated. "You're very small for your age. Why, when +my Lottie was fourteen she would have made two of you." + +Mary Rose squirmed. The unjust criticism was very hard to bear. She +just had to murmur faintly that it would be some time before she would +reach fourteen. + +"H-m, I thought so." Mrs. Schuneman looked very wise, as if she +understood perfectly and there is no doubt that she understood more +than Mary Rose. "Well, well," she said, while Mary Rose, scarlet and +mortified, stood twisting the corner of Aunt Kate's apron. + +"I--I hope you won't tell," she said hurriedly, her eyes on the red +rug, "because it's something of a secret on account of the law for this +house. I don't understand exactly but Aunt Kate does." + +"I've no doubt she does." The corners of Mrs. Schuneman's mouth were +pulled down farther than they had been and she looked very, very stern +until Jenny Lind broke into joyous song again, when the corners of Mrs. +Schuneman's mouth tilted up, slightly. "Well, well," she said again, +but not quite so crossly. "So long as you behave yourself and aren't a +nuisance I shan't say a word. Where I lived before my brother left me +his money there were more children than a body could count. Such a +noise and confusion all the time. I was glad to get away from them and +come up here where there couldn't be any children----" + +"Nor any dogs nor cats," murmured Mary Rose sadly. + +"But maybe that's why the place hasn't seemed like home to me." + +"Of course it is." Mary Rose knew. "I never heard of a home without +children. There wasn't one in all Mifflin." She tried to imagine such +a thing but she couldn't do it. "It wouldn't be a home," she decided +emphatically. + +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her curiously before she gave herself another +surprise. "Suppose you go and ask your aunt if you can go out with me +and find a bird? I believe you would choose a good one. Louise and +Lottie can make a fuss if they want to but I never said a word when +they bought a phonograph and a bird will be more company for an old +lady than a machine." + +They had a wonderful time finding a canary. They visited several shops +where birds of many kinds were offered for sale. Mary Rose quite lost +her heart to a great red and green poll parrot with fierce red-rimmed +eyes. + +"You'd never be lonesome if you had him," she whispered. "He could +really talk to you." + +"Damn! Damn! Damn!" remarked Poll Parrot pleasantly, as if to show +that he really could talk. "Polly wants a cracker. Oh, damn! Damn! +Fools and idiots! Damn!" + +"It isn't conversation I care for. It's too much like having a man +around again." Mrs. Schuneman was quite shocked. + +After they had made their choice and had a bird in a neat little wooden +cage and had bought a fine brass cage for a permanent home they stopped +at a confectioner's for a sundae. Mary Rose's cheeks were as pink as +pink as they sat at the little table and ate ice cream and discussed a +name for the new member of the Schuneman family. They finally agreed +on Germania in deference to Mrs. Schuneman's love for her native +country and Mary Rose's firm belief that a bird's name should be +suggestive of music. "And I've heard that lots of music was made in +Germany," she said. + +Altogether it was a very pleasant afternoon and they went back to the +Washington very happily. Mrs. Schuneman carried Germania in the +temporary wooden cage and Mary Rose proudly bore the brass cage. As +they went up the steps a man brushed past them. He was tall and thin +and had a nervous irritable manner that one felt as well as saw. Mary +Rose locked up and smiled politely. + +"Good afternoon," she said. + +The tall thin man did not answer her. He did not even look at her but +hurried on up the stairs. + +"That's Mr. Wells," Mrs. Schuneman explained in a hoarse whisper that +must have followed Mr. Wells up the stairs and caught him at the first +landing. "He's an awful grouch. He's over the Brackens, but if Lottie +is entertaining one of her bridge clubs and he's at home he's sure to +send his Jap man down to ask her to make less noise. I've never spoken +to him in my life. I don't see how you dared." + +"I always spoke to people in Mifflin." Mary Rose couldn't understand +why she shouldn't speak to people in Waloo. + +"Folks don't speak to folks in Waloo unless they've been introduced," +Mrs. Schuneman told her gloomily. "The good God knows I've had to +learn that. And you're too young to know good from bad," she began, as +Aunt Kate had, but Mary Rose interrupted her to explain that she could, +that she had the right kind of an eye, and he tried to tell her what +the right kind of an eye was. + +"You look through your heart with it," vaguely. "I don't understand +just how for your eyes are here," she touched her face, "and your +heart's here," and her hand tapped her small chest. "But that's what +daddy said. He called it the friendly eye. Being friendly to people, +he said, was as if you had a candle in your heart and the light shines +through your eyes. Oh, Mrs. Schuneman, I do believe Germania is going +to like it here." For Germania was twittering as if she did find her +new home to her liking. + +They had scarcely transferred Germania from the wooden cage to the +shining brass one and hung it in the window when Miss Lottie Schuneman +came in. Mary Rose looked at her eagerly. Could she be the enchanted +princess Mr. Jerry had spoken of? But Miss Lottie was short and plump +like her mother and her face was round and rosy. She did not bear the +faintest resemblance to any princess Mary Rose had ever read of. It +was disappointing. + +"What have you there?" Miss Lottie asked at once. "You can't have pets +in this flat, you know." + +"You can have canary birds," Mary Rose told her quickly. "Uncle Larry +said the law never spoke of them." + +"Uncle Larry said that, did he?" Miss Lottie began but her mother broke +in with an eagerness that was very different from the querulous way in +which she usually spoke: + +"I've got to have something alive here to keep me company. You don't +know how lonesome it is for a woman to have nothing to do when she's +been as busy as I was. There isn't anyone for me to talk to but Mina, +and she's paid to work, not to listen. You and Louise bought a +phonograph. I guess I can have a bird if I want one." + +"My word!" Miss Lottie put her hands on her hips and stared at her +mother. She laughed softly, indulgently. "Sure, you can have a bird +if you want one. But don't let it wake me up mornings." + +"Wouldn't you just as soon be wakened by a bird singing as a steam +radiator sizzling?" asked Mary Rose. "Unless you live all by yourself +on a desert island you've got to be wakened by some kind of a noise. I +think a bird singing is just about the most beautiful noise that ever +was." + +"So do I," agreed Mrs. Schuneman. "And you needn't worry, Lottie +Schuneman. I don't complain of your phonograph nights, I leave that to +Mr. Wells, and you needn't find fault with my bird mornings." + +"I'm not finding fault, far be it from me; only when Mr. Wells sends +down word that your new pet is a nuisance you can answer him yourself." + +"How could anyone say a bird was a nuisance?" Mary Rose was shocked. +"Why, it can't be that late!" for the dock on the mantel called out +five times and she looked at it in wide-eyed amazement. Never had an +afternoon run away any faster. "I must go. I've had a perfectly +wonderful time, Mrs. Schuneman, and I hope that Germania will be happy +with you in her new home." + +There was a wistful note in her voice that reminded Mrs. Schuneman that +Mary Rose had recently come to a new home. She patted Mary Rose on the +shoulder and told her to come again. + +"Come whenever you like. I'm alone most of the time and you can be +free with me," meaningly. "My tongue isn't hung in the middle to wag +at both ends." + +"You can't have a kid running in and out all the time," objected Miss +Lottie, when Mary Rose had gone. + +Mrs. Schuneman stopped snapping her fingers at Germania and looked at +her daughter. "There isn't much about this house that you let me have +as I want it. You took me away from my old friends and brought me up +here where it's so stylish I don't know a soul. I wonder I haven't +lost my voice, I've so little chance to use it. We've been here for +seven months now and though there's dozens and dozens of people pass my +door every night and morning, there's not one of them ever stops. The +janitor and his wife are the only ones I can talk to and I have to find +fault to get them up here. You and Louise are out all day. You don't +stay here." + +"You don't have to stay here, either," yawned Miss Lottie. She had +heard all that before, very, very often. "We've told you a million +times to go out." + +"Where'll I go?" asked her mother sharply. "Where'll I go? I can't +run about the streets and the stores six days in the week. A woman's +got to be home some time and if I find that child amuses me I'm going +to have her here when I want her. You needn't say another word, Lottie +Schuneman. So long as I pay the bills I'll have something to say about +my own house." + +"I was only telling you the kid might be a nuisance," muttered Miss +Lottie. + +"And I was telling you I'd do as you do, choose my own friends. That +child's the only soul that has ever looked at me in a friendly way +since I came to this house and I'm going to see her when I want to." + +Mrs. Donovan could scarcely believe her ears when Mary Rose poured out +the story of the afternoon. + + +"Old Lady Schuneman's been crosser than two sticks ever since she came +here. Maybe it is because she's lonesome, I dunno. Seems if a canary +won't do much for her but, for the land's sakes, Mary Rose, don't put +one in every flat." + +"Wouldn't that be grand!" Mary Rose stopped paring potatoes for supper +to look at her aunt with admiration. "It would be like living inside +an organ, wouldn't it. I think it would be perfectly lovely." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +When Mary Rose went up to Mrs. Bracken's the next morning she took +Jenny Lind with her and placed the cage on the kitchen table. + +"I can't bear to be alone," she had explained to Aunt Kate. "If I +don't have a friend with me I feel as if I was shut up in a dark +closet." + +First Mary Rose went into the big living-room and picked up papers, +straightened the chairs and raised the shades as she had seen her aunt +do the day before. It was a very splendid room to Mary Rose but there +was something about it that made her frown as she stood in the doorway. + +"It needs something. Even the chairs don't look as if they really knew +each other. It doesn't feel as if people ever had a good time in it." +She shook her head and thought of the shabby sitting-room in +Mifflin--not big enough to swing a cat in, daddy had said--where she +and daddy and Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and Lena had +been crowded together. Everyone had had good times there. + +She winked back a tear as she went down the hall. She glanced in at an +open door and stopped short as she found that she was looking into the +black eyes of a woman on the bed. + +"Are you Mrs. Donovan's niece?" the woman said faintly. "Come in. +Gracious, but you're small for your age! You washed up very nicely +yesterday. I didn't close my eyes last night and I'm not feeling well +today, so I'm not going to get up for a while. I wish you would tell +your uncle that Mrs. Matchan can't practice this morning. I must get +some sleep. What's that in the kitchen?" she demanded as she heard a +happy chirp-chirp. + +"That's Jenny Lind." Mary Rose was all sympathy for this lovely lady +who could not sleep. For a moment she had thought that she might be +the enchanted princess but if she was Mrs. Bracken she was a married +lady and Mary Rose had never heard of a married princess. All the +princesses she knew ceased to exist when they began to live happily +ever after. + +"Jenny Lind?" asked Mrs. Bracken. + +"My canary. I brought her for company. I never was in a house by +myself and it's lonely if you're only going on fourteen," faltered Mary +Rose, fully conscious that Mrs. Bracken did not care for canaries. + +"Well, I can't have her in my kitchen. She makes me nervous. Put her +out in the hall and shut the bedroom door. When you have washed the +dishes I may let you make a cup of tea." And she closed the black eyes +which had looked at Mary Rose in such a chilly way. + +Mary Rose went out on tiptoe. She meant to close the door softly but +she was so indignant that it would slam. Put her Jenny Lind out in the +hall where cats could get her? She would not. Even if cats were +forbidden to enter the Washington some cat might not know the law and +slip in. She would take no risk. She nodded encouragingly at the bird +as she looked about the kitchen. Near the sink was an open cupboard +with three shelves, broad and high enough to hold a birdcage. She +would put the cage on the lowest shelf and then if Mrs. Bracken came +out, she would push the door shut. + +"You'd better go to sleep too, Jenny Lind," she cautioned in a low +voice. "The lady doesn't like you. She thinks you're noisy." She did +not tell Jenny Lind what she thought of the lady, but shut her lips +firmly and began her work. She did not sing that morning. She did not +even look up to smile and nod to Jenny Lind, but kept her eyes on her +dishes, her lips pressed into an indignant red button. + +Suddenly there was a whir--a rattle--and she did look up to see that +the cupboard had vanished. Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared. +Nothing was left but a vacant space and an open door. Mary Rose +dropped the dish she held. Fortunately it was a kitchen bowl, but it +would have been the same if it had been one of the best cups. + +[Illustration: "Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared."] + +"Why--why!" gasped Mary Rose. She tried to put her head in the space +where the shelves had been to see where Jenny Lind had gone. + +"Jenny Lind!" she shrieked suddenly. She could not help it. If your +pet canary was suddenly snatched from you by some mysterious power, I +rather fancy you would shriek, too. "Jenny Lind!" + +The crash of the kitchen bowl or Mary Rose's astonished shriek brought +Mrs. Bracken from her bed. She stood in the doorway, one hand +clutching the kimono she had thrown around her. + +"You must be more quiet," she said crossly. "How can I sleep when you +are making such a noise? And if you break any more dishes I shall have +to charge you for them. It's pure carelessness." + +"It's Jenny Lind," gulped Mary Rose, too frightened to think of dishes. +And she tried to make Mrs. Bracken understand that Jenny Lind had been +there, in that hole in the wall, and that now--Oh, where was she? + +Mrs. Bracken shrugged her shoulders. "It's the dumbwaiter," she +yawned. "Your bird has gone up to Mr. Wells or possibly higher. If +it's Mr. Wells I don't suppose you'll see the bird again. He's a very +peculiar man." + +Mary Rose did not wait to hear another word. With Aunt Kate's big blue +and white checked apron on, the dish mop in her hand, and a great fear +in her heart, she dashed up the stairs and pounded on the door of the +apartment above. Mr. Wells came himself and if he had looked cross and +forbidding the night before he looked a thousand times crosser and more +forbidding now. Indeed, he exactly fulfilled Mary Rose's idea of an +ogre. + +"Please don't hurt Jenny Lind," sobbed Mary Rose, as soon as she could +gather breath to speak. "I'll take her right away." + +"Hurt who? Who's Jenny Lind?" growled the ogre. + +"My bird! my Jenny Lind! She came up to your house with a dumbwaiter." +Mary Rose hadn't the faintest idea of what a dumbwaiter was and it +sounded horrible to her. "Please, please, give her to me at once!" +She fairly danced in her impatience. She would have rushed into the +apartment but Mr. Wells stood in the doorway. + +"The dumbwaiter?" Mary Rose had never heard a more unfriendly voice. +He called to someone behind him and a Japanese man came and peered +under Mr. Wells' arm as he held it against the frame of the door. + +"Sako has taken nothing from the dumbwaiter this morning," Mr. Wells +said very coldly after he had exchanged a few words with his servant. +"But if you have lost your bird it is only what you must expect. Pets +are not allowed in this house." And he scowled fiercely enough to +frighten anyone but the owner of a lost canary. + +"They are if they're not children nor cats nor dogs," insisted tearful +Mary Rose. "Uncle Larry said the law never says one word about birds. +Oh, are you quite sure Jenny Lind isn't in your house?" she wailed. + +"I told you we have taken nothing from the dumbwaiter," impatiently. +He thought he was wonderfully patient with the child. He could have +ordered her out of the building at once. "Your bird may have gone up +to the next floor." + +"Perhaps she has." Mary Rose was on the stairs before he finished the +sentence. "I'm sorry for bothering you," she called back, "but if one +of your family was lost I rather think you'd try to find her." + +Her voice rang out shrill and clear and it was such an unexpected sound +in the Washington, where children's voices were forbidden, that old +Mrs. Johnson opened her door in a spasm of curiosity. She closed it +abruptly when she met the cold unfriendly glance of Mr. Wells' black +eyes, and shook in her shoes. + +Four doors faced Mary Rose when she reached the third floor. She +knocked on all of them not to waste time. Two doors remained firmly +closed. The other two opened simultaneously. In one stood a girl with +yellow hair and blue eyes and in the other was a young man who promptly +changed the morose expression he had put on when he rose for a +pleasanter one as he glanced across at Miss Blanche Carter before he +even looked at Mary Rose. Miss Carter looked at Mary Rose first and +then at Mr. Robert Strahan. + +"Oh, please," Mary Rose was almost, if not quite, in tears, "have you +seen Jenny Lind?" + +They stared at her. The only Jenny Lind they had ever heard of had +been quietly in her grave for many years. They looked at each other. +Mr. Strahan added a satisfied grin to his pleasant expression, for he +had wished to know Miss Carter ever since he had met her on the stairs +the day after he had moved into the Washington, but Fate had refused to +bring them together. He determined to make the most of this rare +opportunity as he kindly questioned Mary Rose. + +"Who is Jenny Lind?" + +"My canary," sobbed Mary Rose. "I put her on the shelf in Mrs. +Bracken's kitchen and she--she disappeared!" + +"Cats," suggested Mr. Strahan with a very knowing glance for Miss +Carter. + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Cats aren't allowed here. It was a +dumbwaiter, Mrs. Bracken said." Her voice was filled with anguish. +How hateful city life was! + +"Oh! I thought it was the milkman." Miss Carter turned and ran into +her flat, Mary Rose at her heels. After a moment's hesitation, in +which he called himself a bashful idiot, Mr. Strahan deserted his +doorway for his neighbor's. On the top shelf of a cupboard like that +which had been in Mrs. Bracken's kitchen Mary Rose saw a bottle of +milk. She groaned. But Miss Carter gave a pull somewhere and sent it +higher. There on the lower shelf, swinging unconcernedly in her cage, +was Jenny Lind. Mary Rose gave a joyous shriek. + +"I thought I'd never see her again. I can't thank you, but I'll +remember you as long as I live. I--I feel as if you'd saved her life." +She shivered as she remembered the snap of Mr. Wells' black eyes, the +click of his heavy jaw, when he had said that pets were not allowed in +the building. + +"What is all this excitement?" questioned a soft voice behind them, and +Mary Rose whirled around and stared at another girl. + +Now that her anxiety in regard to Jenny Lind was relieved, Mary Rose +had time to think of other things. She brushed the tears from her +eyes, and her face was wreathed with a dewy smile as she asked eagerly: + +"Please, which--which of you is the enchanted princess?" One of them +must be. She knew it by a funny prickle down her back. + +Both girls laughed, the yellow-haired one and the brown. + +"Princesses aren't enchanted now." Miss Carter pulled a lock of Mary +Rose's yellow hair. "They have their eyes too wide open." + +"But Mr. Jerry said there was, that in this very house was a most +beautiful princess who was under the spell of a wicked witch. He said +the old witch's name was Independence." Her words fairly ran over each +other, she was so afraid something would happen before she could +deliver Mr. Jerry's message to the princess. "And he said to tell the +princess that the prince wasn't ever going to Jericho, but was going to +stay right here on the job." + +Miss Carter looked significantly at the brown-haired girl. "That +message isn't for me," she told Mary Rose. "Independence and I are +strangers. I can't bear the thing. I quite agree with Mr. Jerry that +she is an old witch. Isn't someone a picture, Bess," she asked, "with +her birdcage and checked apron?" + +"She surely is." The impatient frown that had marred Miss Thorley's +face at the mere mention of Mr. Jerry's name slipped away. "I must +paint her. She'll make a fine ad. Who are you, honey?" + +And Mary Rose told them who she was and how she had come from Mifflin +to make her home with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry in the cellar-basement, +she meant; and how she had had to board out George Washington and had +taken Jenny Lind to Mrs. Bracken's for company while she earned money +to pay for George Washington's board. + +"By jinks, what a jolly story," murmured Mr. Strahan who still clung to +his neighbor's doorway and his opportunity. The two girls looked at +him and the three smiled involuntarily. + +"I must go back and finish the dishes," Mary Rose announced suddenly. +"Mrs. Bracken won't like it if I stay away any longer. I'm sorry I +bothered you," she smiled tremulously. "But I just had to find Jenny +Lind. Thank you for your trouble. Good-by." + +"Come and see us again?" The invitation came in a chorus. + +Mary Rose stopped abruptly. "Is that an honest and true invitation?" +she asked doubtfully. "Aunt Kate said I mustn't ever be a nuisance to +the tenements because children aren't allowed here. I'm not a child, +she said, because I'm going on fourteen, but I had to promise to be +careful of the tenements." + +"Bless the baby," murmured Miss Carter as she and Mr. Strahan stood in +the hall and watched Mary Rose's head go down, down. + +"I thought children were barred?" asked Mr. Strahan quickly, he was so +afraid that Miss Carter would disappear also. + +"I thought pets were barred, too. She's a quaint little thing. I +suppose she is homesick. A city apartment house is not like a home in +a small town," she said, as if she knew, and she sighed. + +"It is not!" He agreed with her emphatically. He had come from a +small town himself and he knew. "I think I'll make a little story out +of this. I'm a newspaper man, you know, and there isn't anything a +city editor likes better than he does a human interest story. I have a +hunch that there is a lot of human interest in that kid." + +"I fancy you are right. I'm a librarian myself, and I should be at my +library this blessed moment. I'd far rather go down and help Mary +Rose," and she laughed scornfully because she had such simple tastes. + +He looked as if he admired them. "If you feel that way you surely +aren't under the spell of that wicked witch Independence that Mary Rose +talks of." There was nothing scornful in his laugh. It held so little +scorn and so much admiration that she flushed. + +"Independence!" she shrugged her shoulders. "I learned long ago that +independence is just another word for loneliness. My friend, Miss +Thorley, doesn't agree with me. We have very warm arguments over it." + +"They haven't been warm enough to disturb me. You're very quiet +neighbors. Doesn't the very quiet get on your nerves sometimes? It's +something just to hear people, when you are alone and have no one to +talk to." + +"Lonely! You?" She was astonished. "I don't see how a young man could +be lonely." Evidently her idea of masculine life was a merry round of +social pleasure. + +His laugh was a trifle bitter. "A man can be lonely for exactly the +same reason a girl can," he asserted. "I've lived here for three +months, and this is the first time I've spoken to you." + +The color deepened in her cheeks. "I suppose I shouldn't be talking to +you now but--Mary Rose--and we are neighbors. One does get so +suspicious living with suspicious people," apologetically. + +"Please don't be suspicious of me. I'm the most harmless man in Waloo. +I'm too busy hanging on to my job to be dangerous. I propose a vote of +thanks to Mary Rose for bringing us together. All in favor say aye. +The ayes have it." He held out his hand. + +She laughed consciously, but after a second she gave him her fingers. +"It is pleasant to be able to speak to one's neighbors," she admitted +with a hint of formality that in some way pleased Mr. Strahan. + +Mary Rose stopped at Mr. Wells' door as she went downstairs. It would +be but friendly to tell him that Jenny Lind was found, he must be +anxious. But she hesitated before she rapped on the door, very gently +this time. + +Mr. Wells had not lost any of his grimness when he opened it. He had +on his hat and he looked to Mary Rose's startled eyes as tall as the +steeple of the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin. + +"Well, what now?" he snapped. + +Mary Rose caught her breath. "I thought you would like to know that +Jenny Lind is safe." She lifted the cage so that he could see for +himself how safe and comfortable Jenny Lind was. "She was on the +lowest shelf of the dumbwaiter. The enchanted princess's milk bottle +was on the top shelf." And she chuckled. Now that she was no longer +frightened, Jenny Lind's adventure seemed a joke. + +It was not a joke to Mr. Wells. "A city apartment house is no place +for pets--or children," he said and shut the door. + +Mary Rose stared at the mahogany panels. "Crosspatch," she whispered. +And then she said it louder, "Crosspatch!" + +The door opened as if by magic and Mr. Wells came out and shut it +behind him. + +"Did you say anything?" he asked coldly. + +Mary Rose was too startled and too honest not to tell the truth. + +"I said crosspatch," she faltered and waited bravely for the deluge. + +The two looked at each other. The tall man with the nervous, irritable +face and the little girl with the birdcage in her hand. She did not +say that she had called him a crosspatch, and kindly Discretion +whispered in Mr. Wells' ear that it would be wise to leave well enough +alone. Without another word he stalked by Mary Rose down the stairs. + +Mary Rose followed meekly. "It's a lucky thing, Jenny Lind, that you +were not on his dumbwaiter. He's not what I call a very friendly man," +she murmured. + +She told Mr. Jerry all about it that afternoon when she ran over to see +how George Washington was doing as a boarder. Mr. Jerry watched her +curiously. + +"Poor little kid," he thought. "She's up against it for fair with a +cold-blooded bunch like that." He was very sympathetic and kind and +quite enthusiastic over his new boarder. He cheered Mary Rose +amazingly and lifted her to the seventh heaven of delight when he +suggested that she should ride downtown with him in the automobile when +he went for his Aunt Mary. + +"You may take Jenny Lind and George Washington with you," he was good +enough to say. + +Mary Rose's dancing feet moved in a more sedate measure. "I think +Jenny Lind has had ride enough for one day. And George Washington +likes his four feet better than he does an automobile. He won't mind +if we leave him behind." + +"Then you may sit on the front seat with me," Mr. Jerry promised. + +"It's very exciting living in the city," sighed Mary Rose, when she was +on the front seat beside him. "I've been here only three days and see +all that's happened. Oh, there's the lady who found Jenny Lind--and +the enchanted princess, too!" she cried as they passed Miss Thorley and +Miss Carter. "Isn't that the enchanted princess, Mr. Jerry?" She +twisted around so that she could look into his face. He colored and +his eyes seemed to darken as he spoke to the two girls. Miss Thorley +nodded curtly, but Miss Carter waved a friendly hand. "My," sighed +Mary Rose, "if I were a prince I wouldn't let any old witch +Independence keep her enchanted." + +"I wonder how you would prevent it," muttered Mr. Jerry under his +breath. "Saying and doing, Mary Rose, are two very separate and +distinct things." + +"I know." Mary Rose felt quite capable of discussing the subject. +"Mr. Mann, the Presbyterian minister in Mifflin, preached a whole +sermon about that. He said the Lord didn't ever give you what you want +right off quick. You had to work for it, and the more precious it was +the harder you had to work. I should think that a beautiful princess +would be the most precious thing a prince could work for, shouldn't +you?" + +Mr. Jerry took his hand from the wheel to squeeze Mary Rose's brown +fingers. "I should!" he said solemnly. "I do, Mary Rose, I do!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Strange as the Washington seemed to Mary Rose, it was not very +different from any other large city apartment house where people lived +side by side for months, for years, sometimes, without becoming +acquainted. It was not worth while, some said; neighbors change too +often. You don't know who people are, others thought. In such close +quarters one cannot afford to know undesirable people. The advantage +of an apartment house is that you don't have to know your neighbors, +murmured a third group. Consequently the tenants came and went and one +could count on a hand and have fingers to spare, the few who exchanged +greetings when they met on the stairs. + +This was an appalling state of affairs to country-bred Mary Rose, who +had been brought up in a friendly atmosphere. In Mifflin everyone knew +everyone and was interested in what happened. When joy came to a +neighbor there was general rejoicing, and when sorrow touched a family +there was a universal sympathy, while the little between pleasures and +perplexities lost nothing and gained considerably by the knowledge that +they were shared with others. Mary Rose was intensely interested in +this new phase of life, if she could not understand it. It amazed her +when she counted how many people were over her small head. + +"In Mifflin I didn't have anyone but God and the angels," she told Aunt +Kate, "but here there's the Schunemans and the Rawsons and the Blakes +and Mr. Jarvis and Miss Adams and Mrs. Matchan and Miss Proctor and Mr. +Wilcox and his friend. In Mifflin we lived side by side, you know, and +not up and down. We ought all to be friends when we live so close +together, shouldn't we?" wistfully. + +Aunt Kate tried her best to tell her that they were all friends, but +she couldn't do it. + +"What's the good of tellin' her folks are friendly when they don't look +friendly? Seems if a body can't frown with her face an' smile with her +heart at the same time. An' frowns are just as catchin' as germs. You +naturally don't pat a growlin' dog an' so you don't smile at a frownin' +person. I've al'ys seen more frowns 'n smiles in the Washington." + +But Mary Rose did her best to make friends, because that was what she +had done always and because that was the only way she knew how to live. +And one by one her unconscious little efforts to unlock the gates of +reserve that suspicion and indifference and consciousness had placed +over the hearts and lips of the people she was thrown with began to +make some impression. + +Even Mrs. Willoughby, who had wept ever since her mother died, smiled +when she saw the little girl in the checked apron that was so much too +big for her, with her birdcage in her hand, and forgot to complain of +the unusual noise in the hall. Mary Rose smiled, too, and when Mrs. +Willoughby spoke of Jenny Lind, Mary Rose offered to loan her bird. + +"She'll make you feel happier," she said. "She did me, when my daddy +went to be with my little mother in Heaven. Jenny Lind can't talk," +she admitted regretfully, "but she can sing and she's--she's so +friendly!" + +And Mr. Willoughby came down that very night and thanked the Donovans +for the loan of Jenny Lind and for what Mary Rose had said and done. +Larry Donovan and his wife looked at each other after he had gone. It +was not often that they were thanked by a tenant. + +Miss Adams would have died before she would have confessed to anyone +but Mary Rose that she hated Waloo, she hated the Washington. Mary +Rose looked at her with wide open eyes, too astonished to be shocked +that anyone could hate a world that was as beautiful and as full of +wonderful surprises as Mary Rose found this world to be. + +"I don't see how you can be lonesome when there are people above you +and below you and in front of you and behind you and right across from +you. Why, you're almost entirely surrounded by neighbors," she cried, +as if Miss Adams could not be almost entirely surrounded by anything +more desirable. "There are almost as many people in this house as +there are in the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin and no one was ever +lonely there except on week days. Don't you like your neighbors?" + +"I don't know them," confessed Miss Adams, mournfully. + +"You don't know the people who live right next door to you!" Mary Rose +had never heard of such a situation. "Why, when the Jenkses moved from +Prairieville Mrs. Mullins, who'd never set eyes on one of them before, +took over a pan of hot gingerbread so she could get acquainted right +away. Of course the people here are all moved in, but you could borrow +an egg or a cup of molasses, couldn't you? And take it back right +away. That would give you two excuses to call." + +"I couldn't do that." Miss Adams shivered at the mere thought. "It +isn't that I care to know any of them, Mary Rose, only--it makes me so +mad that I don't!" with a sudden burst of honesty. + +"Couldn't you ask about a pattern or what to do for a cold in the head +or how to get red ants off of a plant? But you haven't any plants. +Wouldn't you feel more friendly if you had a beautiful pink geranium +growing in your window?" + +"There isn't sun enough in this flat to keep a geranium alive," +grumbled Miss Adams, who seemed determined to be lonely and +faultfinding. + +Mary Rose sighed. "Of course, no one can have the sun all the time," +she said gently, as if to excuse old Sol for not lingering longer in +Miss Adams' small apartment. "I'll let you have Jenny Lind for a while +tomorrow," she suggested after a moment of frowning thought. "She'll +cheer you up." + +Miss Adams wanted to refuse to be cheered by Jenny Lind, but she had +not the courage, and when Mary Rose brought the bird the next morning +she brought also a small glass dish filled with pebbles on which rested +a little green bulb. + +"Inside it is a Japanese lily," she said, and there was both pride and +awe in her voice. "Don't you wonder how God ever folded it up in such +a small package? Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was going to throw it away. +She said it was too late, that it ought to have been planted months +ago, but I said wouldn't she please give it a chance. My daddy used to +say that was all people needed, just a chance. Mrs. Mullins had one in +Mifflin, I mean a lily, and it didn't need hardly any sun. It just +grew and grew. You can sit beside it in the window and pretend you're +a Japanese queen. Don't you think it's fun to pretend? And imagine? +It's almost the same as having everything you want. I've imagined I +was a queen on a throne and the whale that swallowed Jonah--he must +have been so surprised--and a circus rider and an angel with a harp and +a pussy willow. I don't know which I liked the best. It helps a lot +when things go wrong to imagine they're right. You'll like to see the +Japanese lily come out of its bulb, won't you?" + +Miss Adams was polite enough to say she would, although she frowned at +the glass dish as she set it in the window. If Mary Rose had seen as +much of the world as she had, she wouldn't think that to imagine a +thing was the same as having it. + +"I'll tell Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary you're much obliged," Mary Rose +suggested when she left. + +Another day Miss Proctor found her leaning against the door of the +apartment she shared with Mrs. Matchan, listening entranced to the +music that Mrs. Matchan was making with her ten fingers and her piano. + +"Isn't it beautiful?" Mary Rose looked up with shining eyes, not at +all abashed at being discovered listening. "It's better than any +circus band I ever heard. It's like Jenny Lind when the sun is shining +and she has had a leaf of fresh lettuce. It makes me feel in my heart +like soda water feels in my nose, all prickly and light," vaguely. +"It's--it's wonderful! Take this place," she moved generously away +from the crack that Miss Proctor might put her ear to it. "You can +hear better. When I grow up I want to play just like that." Mary Rose +always wanted to do what other people could do. + +"Do you?" Miss Proctor looked at her and forgot that she had +considered children unmitigated nuisances. She actually opened the +door. "Come in," she said, "and tell Mrs. Matchan that you like her +music." + +And the result of Mary Rose's attempt to put in words the feeling she +had in her heart that was like soda water in her nose, was that Mrs. +Matchan went down to the Donovans' and asked if she might be +permitted--permitted--to give Mary Rose music lessons. + +"You could have knocked me down with the pin feather of a chicken," +Aunt Kate told Uncle Larry. "I supposed, of course, she'd come tearin' +down to find fault with Mrs. Rawson for runnin' her sewin' machine last +night an' I was all ready to tell her that each of us has some rights, +but no, it was to offer to give Mary Rose lessons on her piano. She +says the child's got talent an' feelin' an' she'd like to see how she'd +express them. She had to tell me twice before I could take it in. It +isn't often that folks come down here to give a favor. Seems if they +only find the way when they want to complain. I never knew Mrs. +Matchan to do anythin' for anybody before an' we've lived under the +same roof for most two years now." + +She had another surprise when Bob Strahan tramped down the basement +stairs with a big box of Annie Keller chocolates under his arm. He +solemnly presented the candy to Mary Rose. + +"In payment of a debt," he explained gravely when Aunt Kate and Uncle +Larry stared and Mary Rose giggled. "She helped me with a very +important bit of work," he added, although the addition did not make +the matter any clearer to the Donovans nor to Mary Rose. + +"You bet she helped me," he told Miss Carter when he went up and met +her in the lower hall. They had encountered each other on the stairs +several times since the day of Jenny Lind's adventure and had made the +amazing discovery that they had formerly lived within fifteen miles of +each other and had many mutual friends. "If it hadn't been for Mary +Rose, I wouldn't be on the staff of the Waloo _Gazette_ today. They're +cutting off heads down there, and I'm sure mine was slated to go, but +the chief's strong for human interest stuff, especially kid stuff. He +says that every living being, however hard his outside shell is now, +was once a kid, and sometime the kid stuff will get to him for the sake +of old times. Mary Rose and the cat she's boarding out saved my neck +and I'm still a man with a job." + +"That's splendid." Miss Carter tried to speak with enthusiasm, but she +could not look enthusiastic. She was tired and discontented with life; +all the sparkle had gone out of her face. + +Bob Strahan saw it and was sorry. "Say," he said impulsively. "I've +two tickets for a show in my pocket this minute. You've known me over +forty-eight hours. Is that long enough to make it proper for you to go +with me? I'll give you the names of the banker and the minister in my +old home town and you can call them up on the long distance for +references." + +"The idea!" A bit of sparkle crept back into Miss Carter's face and +she laughed. "Louis Blodgett's chum doesn't need any reference. Louis +has told me quite a little about you," significantly. "It seems +perfectly ridiculous that you were living right next door and I never +knew it." + +"And you might not know it now if it hadn't been for Mary Rose and that +canary of hers. Gee! I'm glad I took her that box of chocolates." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +With Jenny Lind's cage in her hand, Mary Rose knocked at Miss Thorley's +door. + +"We've come to have our pictures taken," she told Miss Carter, when she +opened it. "The princess, I mean the other lady," she colored pinkly as +Miss Carter laughed, "said we were to advertise Mr. Bingham Henderson's +jam." Mary Rose always made a careful explanation. "If she would like +two birds I'm almost sure that Mrs. Schuneman would loan her Germania." + +"Do you want two birds, Bess?" called Miss Carter, and Miss Thorley came +in. + +She wore a faded blue smock over her crash gown and looked more beautiful +than before to Mary Rose's admiring eyes. + +"I think I have two birds," she laughed, and patted Mary Rose's head and +snapped her fingers at Jenny Lind. "But don't tell me old Lady Grouch is +so human as to have a canary." + +"Old Lady Grouch?" Mary Rose did not know whom she meant. + +"Schuneman, is that her name?" absently. Miss Thorley was studying Mary +Rose from behind half shut eyes. Just how should she pose her? + +"Oh, but she isn't grouchy!" Mary Rose flew to the defense of her new +friend. "She was just lonesome. Now that she has Germania for company, +she is very, very pleasant. I go to see her every day." + +Miss Thorley shrugged her shoulders. "Every one to their taste. Stand +here, Mary Rose, so that the sun will fall on that yellow mop of yours. +Would your heart break if I took off that hair ribbon? I'd rather your +hair was loose." + +"Aunt Kate put it there," doubtfully. + +"I'll put it back before Aunt Kate sees you. Now, just hold Jenny Lind's +cage under one arm and these under the other." She handed her a couple +of blue and white jars, labeled with big letters--"Henderson-Bingham. +Jam Manufacturers." "Can you hold another? Don't say yes if you can't, +for it is tiresome to pose when you're not used to it. Now then, how is +that, Blanche? Isn't she ducky? You know it's moving day, Mary Rose, +and you won't trust anyone but yourself to move what you like best, your +bird and your jam." + +"I just did move," proudly, "from Mifflin to Waloo." + +"Exactly. Quaint, isn't she?" Miss Thorley murmured to Miss Carter. +"How old are you, Mary Rose?" + +Before Mary Rose could stammer that she was going on fourteen Miss Carter +broke in to say that she was off. + +"Be good to Mary Rose," she begged. "And, Mary Rose, when you are tired, +say so. Miss Thorley will forget all about you when she is interested in +the picture and she'll let you stand there until you drop. I know. You +have a hard pose with your arms like that and when you are tired be sure +and say so." + +"Oh, run along, Blanche, and leave us alone," Miss Thorley said +impatiently as she got her drawing board and brushes and sat down beside +the little table that held her paints. + +Miss Carter only waited to make a face at Mary Rose before she shut the +door and left the artist and her model together. Neither spoke for a few +moments. Mary Rose was too interested in watching Miss Thorley's +wonderful fingers and Miss Thorley was too intent on her work for +conversation. At last Mary Rose could keep still no longer. + +"Are you really an enchanted princess?" she asked eagerly. + +"I should scarcely call myself that, Mary Rose. A working woman is the +way I say it." + +"Then what did Mr. Jerry mean? Don't you think he is an awfully nice +man? He makes me think of Alvin Lewis in Mifflin, only Alvin isn't quite +so stylish. He is a clerk in the drug store in Mifflin and he was real +pleasant. When Gladys and I only had a nickel he'd let us have a glass +of ice cream soda with two spoons. He was such a pleasant man. But what +did Mr. Jerry mean," she returned to her mutton with a suddenness that +made Miss Thorley blur a line, "when he said you were under the spell of +the wicked witch Independence?" + +"How should I know?" And Miss Thorley frowned in a way that made Mary +Rose wish she wouldn't. It quite spoiled her face to frown with it. + +"What is Independence?" Mary Rose frowned, too. As Aunt Kate had said, +frowns were contagious. Mary Rose had caught one now in a flash. + +Miss Thorley took up a handful of brushes and regarded them intently +before she said slowly: "Independence is the greatest thing in the world, +Mary Rose. It means that I can live as I choose, where I choose, that I +can pay my own bills, buy my own clothes and food, that I can do exactly +as I please and as I think best. The independence of women is the most +wonderful thing in this wonderful age." + +Mary Rose looked puzzled. Mr. Jerry had not spoken of it as if it were +such a wonderful thing. She looked around the pretty room with its +simple furnishings and then at Miss Thorley. + +"Does it mean you aren't ever going to be married?" she asked doubtfully. +In Mifflin all the girls as big as Miss Thorley meant to be married. + +"It means exactly that." Miss Thorley's pretty lips were pressed closer +together. "Work, Mary Rose, is the most important thing in life." + +But Mary Rose was horrified. "Aren't you ever going to make a home for a +family?" she cried. She couldn't believe that was what Miss Thorley +meant and she dropped a jam jar. "You don't have to stop work to do it," +she cried eagerly and helpfully after she had retrieved the jar. "Mrs. +Evans, she's Gladys' mother, says she'd think the millennium was here if +she didn't have any work to do. She has five children at home and three +in the cemetery." Miss Thorley shuddered. "She can cook and sew and +sweep and play the piano and she belongs to the Woman's Club and the +Missionary Society and the Revolution Daughters and the Presbyterian +Church. You don't ever have to stop working to make a home for a +family," she repeated with a nod of encouragement to Miss Thorley who +looked disgusted instead of pleased as Mary Rose had expected she would +look. + +"That isn't the kind of work I care for," and she shrugged her shoulders. +"I should think your Mrs. Evans would die." + +"She hasn't time to die," Mary Rose told her seriously. "She's too busy +taking care of Mr. Evans and her family and helping other people. She's +a fine woman, everyone said in Mifflin. When I grow up I want to be just +like her," emphatically. + +"Oh, Mary Rose! You want to be something besides a drudge. Women have +other things to do now but cook and sew and look after crying babies." + +"Babies don't cry unless there's a pin sticking into them or they have +the colic, and, anyway, I think babies are the dearest things God ever +made. I'd like to have twelve when I grow up, six boys and six girls. I +don't ever want an only child. It's too lonesome. Don't you ever get +lonesome, Miss Thorley?" + +"I have my work," Miss Thorley told her briefly. + +Mary Rose watched her at her work. She admired Miss Thorley's swift, +sure strokes, but she drew a sigh that came from the tips of her shabby +shoes as she murmured: "All the same I don't understand just what Mr. +Jerry meant." + +Miss Thorley did not answer, unless a frown could be considered an +answer. She painted for perhaps five minutes longer, but her strokes +were not so swift nor so sure. At last she threw down her brushes as if +she hated herself for doing it, but realized she could do nothing else. + +"Mary Rose," she said crossly. Even Mary Rose could see that she was not +pleased with something. "I don't feel like painting today. It's too +warm or something. If I could find a little girl about," she looked +critically at Mary Rose, "about ten years old, I think I'd ask her to go +out to the lake with me." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose forgot that she was posing and dropped both jam jars. +She almost dropped Jenny Lind, too. She remembered Aunt Kate's request +as she clung to the cage. "Would one going on fourteen be too old?" Her +voice trembled and her heart beat fast for fear Miss Thorley would say +that was far too old. "If she should be a long, long time, perhaps three +years, before she got to fourteen?" + +Miss Thorley's face was as sober as a judge's as she considered this. +"Well," she said at last very slowly, "one going on fourteen might do. +Run and ask your aunt and I'll meet you downstairs." + +Mary Rose obeyed after she had hugged Miss Thorley. "You're an angel," +she exclaimed fervently, "a regular seraphim and cherubim angel, if you +are independent." + +She almost fell down the stairs and made such a racket that a door on the +second floor opened promptly. Mary Rose caught her breath. She was +afraid to see whose door was ajar. If that cross Mr. Wells should catch +her she was afraid to think what he might do. But it was not Mr. Wells' +door that had opened, nor Mr. Wells' face that looked at her. An elderly +woman stood staring at her impatiently. + +"Dearie me!" she was saying, "I thought the house was falling down." + +"No, ma'am." Mary Rose was very apologetic. "I just stumbled a teeny +bit. You see I'm in such a hurry because Miss Thorley's going to take me +to the lake and I must carry Jenny Lind downstairs and tell Aunt Kate and +be at the front door in a jiffy." She would have darted on but the +elderly lady put out a wrinkled hand and caught Mary Rose's blue and +white checked apron. + +"Who's Jenny Lind?" she demanded. + +"This is Jenny Lind." Mary Rose held up the cage. "The best bird that +ever had feathers. She came with me from Mifflin and Miss Thorley's +painting our picture for Mr. Henderson Bingham." + +The old lady looked at Jenny Lind in a strange way. "I haven't seen a +canary bird for years," she murmured, more to herself than to Mary Rose. + +[Illustration: "'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured."] + +Mary Rose answered her impulsively as she usually answered people. +"Would you like to have her visit you until I come back? I'm not going +to take her with us. She wouldn't be any trouble. She's used to +visiting. All you have to do is to let her have a chair or a table to +sit on." She offered the cage generously. + +The old lady seemed to hesitate. She looked like Gladys' grandmother, +only not so comfortable, Mary Rose thought. At last she held out her +hand. + +"I declare I don't know but I will let you leave it with me. I'm all +alone, and even a bird is company." + +"Jenny Lind's splendid company. Shall I put her on the table for you? +There! I'll run up before supper and get her. And don't you worry, +because Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say one word about birds." And +before startled Mother Johnson could ask her what she meant by the law, +she ran off, stumbling down the two flights of stairs to the basement. +Only the special Providence that looks after children saved her. + +Aunt Kate was in the kitchen and she exclaimed in surprise when she heard +that Mary Rose was going to the lake with Miss Thorley and had left Jenny +Lind to spend the afternoon with the grandmother on the second floor. + +"My soul an' body!" she said. "Whatever will you do next!" + +Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry in his car in the alley and ran to the open +window to tell him of the pleasure that was in store for her. + +"Mr. Jerry! Oh, Mr. Jerry! I'm going to the lake with the enchanted +princess. Don't you wish you were me?" + +Mr. Jerry waved his hand as he smiled and nodded, but Mary Rose did not +wait to hear whether he would like to change places with her, for she had +to slip out of the plaid skirt and middy blouse into a white frock that +Aunt Kate had shortened. + +"Isn't it the luckiest thing that Ella had so many beautiful clothes!" +she said breathlessly. "I shouldn't want to go out with Miss Thorley in +that horrid boys' suit." + +She was ready first, and as she waited in the lower hall she talked to +Mrs. Schuneman about Germania. Miss Thorley found them together when she +came down, looking exactly like a princess to Mary Rose, in her white +linen skirt and lingerie blouse and with a big black hat all a-bloom with +pink roses on her red-brown head. + +"I was ready first," Mary Rose cried happily, "but I didn't mind waiting, +for I was talking to a friend, to Mrs. Schuneman. She has Germania, you +know. This is my friend, Miss Thorley, Mrs. Schuneman." She introduced +them politely. + +Miss Thorley nodded carelessly, but even a careless glance told her that +there was not the sign of a grouch on Mrs. Schuneman's fat red face that +day. Indeed, it quite beamed with friendliness as she hoped that they +would have a good time. + +"You see, she's very pleasant when you know her," Mary Rose explained as +they walked over to the street car. "That's why it's so important to +know people. If you don't really know them, you might often think they +were grouchy when they aren't." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Lake Nokomis was on the outskirts of Waloo and was a popular pleasure +resort for Waloo people from June until September. A band played in +the pavilion, there was a moving picture show, a merry-go-round with a +wheezy organ, a roller coaster and many other amusement features, as +well as several ice-cream parlors. There was always a crowd drifting +from one place to another, and Mary Rose fairly danced with delight +when she and Miss Thorley became a part of the good-natured throng. + +They were standing beside the enclosure in which the fat Shetland +ponies waited for the children who were fortunate enough to possess a +nickel to pay for a ride on their broad backs or a drive in a roomy +carriage, when Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry. She had sadly refused Miss +Thorley's invitation to ride because she did not wish to leave her +alone, and Miss Thorley would not ride one of the ponies nor drive in +one of the carriages. + +"There's Mr. Jerry!" squealed Mary Rose when she saw him. She could +scarcely believe her eyes, but she waved her hand. "He's the man who +boards my cat, you know," she explained to Miss Thorley. "And he's +very pleasant and friendly, just like a Mifflin man." + +Miss Thorley looked first surprised and then displeased and then she +frowned and shrugged her shoulders as if she did not really care +whether Mr. Jerry was there or not. She gave him rather a curt +greeting when he joined them with a cheery: + +"Hullo, Mary Rose. Are you thinking of a canter in the park?" + +There was nothing curt in the greeting Mary Rose gave him. She smiled +enchantingly and slipped her hand into his. "We're just watching the +ponies. Aren't they loves? Miss Thorley thinks they are too small for +her to ride, but I don't see how she can be sure unless she tries. Do +you know Mr. Jerry, Miss Thorley? He's making such a comfortable home +for George Washington. She didn't feel like painting today," she +explained to Mr. Jerry, "so we came out for a change. Oh, I do just +love that blackest pony, but no one seems to choose him!" She pointed +an eager finger to the corner where the blackest and fattest pony stood +neglected. + +"Suppose you choose him. I've money to treat a lady friend to a ride." +And he made a pleasant jingle with the coins in his pocket. + +"Miss Thorley invited me, but I didn't like to leave her alone. Would +you stay with her, Mr. Jerry? It would be real friendly of you to me +and the pony, for if I don't take him I'm afraid no one will, and he'll +feel so sad when he goes home tonight. Will you take good care of Miss +Thorley, Mr. Jerry?" + +"I will," promised Mr. Jerry emphatically, although Miss Thorley +exclaimed hurriedly that she could take care of herself. He found a +bench from which they could watch Mary Rose as she made the black pony +happy and rode around the ring, prouder than any peacock. + +"Funny kid, isn't she?" remarked Mr. Jerry, realizing that if there was +to be any conversation between them he would have to begin. "I wish +you could have seen her when she came over with her cat to ask if we +would take the beast to board. Who's the owner of that joint of yours? +I'd like to tell him what I think of him for separating a homesick +little girl from her pet." + +"It would be rather a nuisance if the place was overrun with cats and +dogs and children," Miss Thorley said coldly. "There wouldn't be much +peace or comfort in the house." + +"The peace and comfort you've had don't seem to agree with all of you," +remarked Mr. Jerry pleasantly. "I've seen some of your neighbors who +look as if they needed a big dose of noise and discomfort." + +"You must mean Mr. Wells. He does have rather a touch-me-not, +speak-to-me-never manner. And the fuss he makes if there is any noise +in the place after ten o'clock! Imagine him with a cat or a bird." +The picture her imagination made was so impossible that she laughed. + +Mr. Jerry drew a contented sigh and ventured to move a trifle nearer. +He started to say something and then changed his mind. He wouldn't say +anything just then that might bring back that distant expression to her +face. He knew very well how cold and forbidding she could be. So +instead of saying what he wished to say he talked of Mary Rose and +George Washington, and she listened and smiled and made holes in the +turf with her parasol, but never once did she speak of the conversation +she had had with Mary Rose which had caused her to throw down her +brushes and treat herself to a holiday. + +Mary Rose's face was an incandescent light as, with a good-by pat for +the blackest pony, she ran back to them. + +"I felt like a queen!" she cried. "It was splendid. Oh, won't you +have a ride?" She looked from one to the other. "I'll pay. I'm +making lots of money. You needn't worry another minute about George +Washington's board," she told Mr. Jerry. "It's as good as paid." + +He laughed. "I won't worry and I shan't ride the ponies. My legs are +too long. I'd have to tie double knots in them to keep them off the +ground. But I'll take a turn on the merry-go-round with you." He +nodded toward that attractive circle of animals as it went around and +around to the accompaniment of the wheezy organ. "I dare you to come +with us." He looked straight at Miss Thorley. + +"Oh, please!" Mary Rose clapped her hands. "You will, won't you, Miss +Thorley? You needn't be afraid," she whispered. "I'm sure he's strong +enough to hold you on." + +Miss Thorley looked anything but afraid as she frowned at the +merry-go-round and at Mr. Jerry impartially. But when she met Mary +Rose's eyes, filled with a great hunger for merry-go-rounds, she +laughed softly and told Mr. Jerry that, of course, she wouldn't take a +dare, she never had and she never would, and she thought she'd choose +the giraffe because his long neck gave a rider so much to cling to. + +It was not easy for Mary Rose to choose a mount. Each animal seemed so +very desirable that she sighed as she finally selected an ostrich for +the same reason that she had taken the black pony. "I haven't seen a +single person ride him and I expect he feels neglected." + +But when they mounted the merry-go-round Miss Thorley stepped into a +gay little sleigh drawn by two fat polar bears. After he had seen Mary +Rose properly astride the neglected ostrich Mr. Jerry took the seat +beside Miss Thorley. + +"I promised Mary Rose that I wouldn't let you fall out," he said, as if +that could be the only reason he would ride beside her. + +Much to Mary Rose's amazement, Miss Thorley was satisfied with one +ride, although Mr. Jerry very handsomely offered them a turn on each +animal. Mary Rose could not resist such an invitation and one by one +she rode on a giraffe, a camel, and a lion. + +"Mercy, mercy, Mary Rose!" Miss Thorley said at last. "You must stop. +Your head will be completely turned. And we must go home." + +"Won't you ride back with me?" asked Mr. Jerry. "I have the car. If +you will, we have time for a sundae first." + +Mary Rose's heart all but stopped beating as she waited for Miss +Thorley to say they would. It didn't seem possible that anyone, even +an independent woman, could refuse such an alluring invitation. But +grown-ups were queer. Mary Rose had found that out long, long ago. +She did not hesitate for even the fraction of a second when Miss +Thorley turned and left the decision to her. A moment later they were +in the ice cream parlor that was like a cool green cave after the heat +and the light outside. + +Mary Rose chose a chocolate sundae and she giggled as she looked at the +rich brown sauce. "When I was little, nothing but a baby," she said, +"I thought that it was the yellow in the eggs I ate that made my hair +yellow. Do you suppose if I ate lots and lots of chocolate, I'd ever +have hair as brown as Miss Thorley's. Isn't it beautiful, Mr. Jerry?" + +"Very beautiful!" Mr. Jerry agreed as heartily as she could wish. + +Miss Thorley flushed uncomfortably under the admiration of Mr. Jerry +and Mary Rose. "Mary Rose," she said hurriedly, "don't you know you +shouldn't make personal remarks?" + +"Eh?" Mary Rose's attention was centered in the well she was making in +her ice cream for the chocolate syrup. + +"You shouldn't talk of people's hair and eyes." The rebuke was far more +feeble than Miss Thorley had meant it to be. + +"You shouldn't!" Mary Rose was so surprised that she left the well +half made. "Why, in Mifflin when we liked the way a friend looked we +always told them." + +Miss Thorley pushed away her sundae. "Mary Rose, if you say Mifflin +again, I'll scream." + +Mary Rose's cheeks turned as pink as Miss Thorley's cheeks had turned. +"That's what Aunt Kate says sometimes, but if you like a place the way +I like Mifflin you just have to talk about it. It's--it's in your +heart." + +"Talk about it to me, Mary Rose," Mr. Jerry offered kindly. "It +doesn't make me cross to hear of a place where people are kind and +friendly. My conscience is perfectly clear." He spoke as if he were +very proud of his clear conscience. + +Miss Thorley pushed back her chair. "It doesn't make me cross," she +said, "only----" + +They waited courteously to hear what would follow "only," but nothing +ever did. Miss Thorley just jumped up and said instead that really +they must go. Mr. Jerry's eyes twinkled as he agreed with her. + +It was far more pleasant riding to town in Mr. Jerry's automobile than +it would have been in the crowded street car. Mary Rose called Miss +Thorley's attention to the crowd as she snuggled close to her in the +spacious tonneau. + +"I'm playing it's mine," she whispered, "and that Mr. Jerry is my own +driver. Wouldn't it be fun to drive with him forever and ever?" + +Mr. Jerry heard her and sharpened his ears for the answer. + +"You'd get tired riding forever with anyone, Mary Rose. There is only +one thing that people never get tired of." + +"What's that?" Mary Rose hungered to hear. + +"Work." Mr. Jerry sniffed. They could hear him in the tonneau. + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Gladys' mother did. She said she had never +had enough fun to know whether she would get tired of it or not, but +she'd had plenty of chance to know there were some things she never +wanted to see again, and one of them was work and the other was the red +and black plaid silk dress that the dressmaker spoiled." + +Mr. Jerry chuckled on the front seat and after a second Miss Thorley +laughed, too. + +"Mary Rose," she said very distinctly, "I'll have to give you a broader +vision. You have entirely too narrow an outlook." + +"What's that, Miss Thorley? What's a broader vision?" Mary Rose +couldn't imagine. + +It was Mr. Jerry who answered. "In this particular case, Mary Rose, +it's seeing far too much for one and not enough for two." + +As they rolled up to the Washington Miss Carter came down the street +with Bob Strahan whom she had met on the car. It was amazing, now that +they were on speaking terms, how often they met. Bob Strahan stopped +to open the door of the automobile and help Miss Thorley out, and Mary +Rose proudly introduced Mr. Jerry who boarded her cat. They all +laughed and talked together for a few minutes and then Mary Rose hopped +from the back seat to the front. + +"I'll go around and see George Washington, if you don't mind," she +said. "Hasn't it been just the loveliest afternoon, the kind you're +always hoping for but never really expect to have," with a sigh of +rapture. She patted Mr. Jerry's arm lovingly. "Isn't Miss Thorley a +darling! She told me all about that Independence. It isn't a witch as +you thought, Mr. Jerry, it's something about wanting to pay her own +bills and live alone. I don't understand it," she frowned, "but that's +what she said." + +Mr. Jerry frowned too, as he turned into the alley. "She doesn't +know," he said briefly. "Take it from me, Mary Rose, that Independence +is an old witch, and she's enchanted more girls than you could count." + +Mary Rose looked doubtful. "If Miss Thorley really is enchanted," she +suggested, "we must find something to break the spell. I told her she +wouldn't have to stop work to make a home for a family, Mr. Jerry," she +whispered encouragingly. + +"Did you?" Mr. Jerry laughed. "What did she say?" + +Mary Rose knit her small brows before she answered. "I don't think she +just agreed with me, but I'll explain it to her again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +When Mary Rose ran up to get Jenny Lind young Mrs. Johnson met her at +the door and smiled pleasantly. + +"You're the little girl for the canary?" she said. "I was +wondering--Mother Johnson seems to have taken a fancy to you--and I +wondered if you would go out for a little walk with her every morning. +I'll pay you ten cents a day." + +Mary Rose's eyes popped open. In Mifflin little girls were expected to +do what they were asked to do and were never paid for such tasks. + +"Why, of course, I'd be glad to," she said promptly. + +"That will be splendid. You see she won't go by herself and I have my +own engagements. The doctor said she must have some exercise," sighed +Mrs. Johnson, as if the doctor had made a most unreasonable demand. +"Suppose you come up tomorrow about eleven? That will give you time +for a good walk before lunch." + +"I'll soon be making money enough to send for Solomon," Mary Rose told +Mrs. Donovan, her voice trembling with excitement. "There's ten cents +a day from Grandma Johnson and ten cents from Mrs. Bracken for washing +the breakfast dishes and a quarter from Miss Thorley. Why, Aunt Kate, +I never thought there was so much money in the world as what I'm going +to earn by myself!" + +Aunt Kate laughed as she hugged her. "There's no one in the house can +be cross to her," she told Uncle Larry proudly. + +Promptly at eleven o'clock the next morning Mary Rose was waiting for +Mother Johnson who grumbled and fussed before she could be persuaded to +take the walk the doctor had recommended. But, once outside, the sky +was so blue, the air so pleasant, and Mary Rose so sociable that her +face grew less peevish. + +"Where shall we go?" Mary Rose paused at the corner. "You see I'm a +stranger here. In Mifflin I knew the way everywhere. Aunt Kate said +there was a little park over this street. Perhaps it would be pleasant +there?" + +Mother Johnson said grumpily that it made little difference to her, all +she wanted was to have her walk over and be home again. + +"But you'll feel better after your exercise," promised Mary Rose. "I +should think you'd love to be outdoors. Your home is very pretty, but +it isn't like the outdoors, you know. Did you ever see the sky so +blue? It looks as if it was made out of the very silk that was in Miss +Lucy Miller's bridesmaid's dress. It was the most beautiful dress Miss +Lena Carlson ever made. Miss Lena goes out sewing for a dollar and a +half a day." And she described the wedding at which Miss Lucy Miller +had worn the frock made by the dollar and a half a day seamstress with +an enthusiasm that was undimmed by Mother Johnson's lack of interest. +From the wedding and Miss Lucy it was but a step to other Mifflin +happenings. They found themselves in the park before they knew it. + +"It's something like the cemetery in Mifflin," Mary Rose said after she +had looked about. "Of course, there aren't any graves but there is a +monument and seats. Do you want to sit down? Oh, do look, grandma! +Do look," and she pulled the black sleeve beside her. + +Since she had come to Waloo Mother Johnson had not been called grandma +and she had missed the grandchildren she had left behind more than she +realized. Mary Rose had called most of the older women in Mifflin +grandma--Grandma Robinson and Grandma Smith. It was a friendly little +custom that was in vogue there and so she had unhesitatingly called old +Mrs. Johnson grandma. Mrs. Johnson was so surprised that she had +nothing to say when Mary Rose pulled her to a bench and pointed a +trembling finger at a little brownish-grayish animal which stood up in +the grass and looked at them with bright eyes. + +"Do you see what that is?" Mary Rose's voice shook. "It's a squirrel! +A really truly squirrel in this big city! Here, squirrelly, +squirrelly," she snapped her fingers. "I wish I had something to feed +you!" despairingly as the squirrel ran away. + +[Illustration: "'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big +city!'"] + +Grandma Johnson had her purse in the bag she carried and she opened it +and took out five cents. "Here," she said crossly, "go and get +something to feed him with if that's what you're crying for." + +Mary Rose straightened herself and threw her arms around Grandma +Johnson's knees. "Why--why!" she gasped, "I do think you are a regular +fairy godmother!" + +Grandma Johnson had been called several names since she had been in the +Washington. Once she had heard Hilda in the kitchen speak of her as +"the old hen" and had almost had apoplexy. And Larry Donovan had +muttered that she was "an old crank" which was what one might expect of +a mannerless janitor but no one had ever called her a fairy godmother. +It sounded rather pleasant. She actually smiled as Mary Rose ran over +to the popcorn wagon on the corner and came back with a bag of peanuts. + +"What wouldn't I give if Tom had a girl like that!" she sighed. "But +then he'd have to move. Children aren't allowed in the Washington." + +Mary Rose insisted on an exact division of the nuts. "You want to feed +them just as much as I do." She hadn't a doubt of that. "So you must +have half. When the squirrel sees how many we have perhaps he'll bring +his brothers and sisters and have a squirrel party," she giggled. + +Indeed, it did seem as if the squirrel had sent out invitations when he +saw the heap of nuts that Mary Rose and Grandma Johnson had beside them +for, one after another, other squirrels came until half a dozen +clustered around them. They were very tame. One even climbed up Mary +Rose's arm for the nut she held between her lips and Grandma Johnson +lured another to her shoulder. + +"Aren't they ducks?" Mary Rose demanded. A red poppy blossomed in each +of her cheeks and her eyes were lit with candles. "I do believe the +Lord sent them here to be pets for people who live in houses where +there's a law against dogs and cats and children. I think it was--it +was wonderful in Him! Don't you? Shall we come every day and feed +them? Then they'll really get acquainted with us and we'll be friends. +Oh, I'm so glad that I know you--that we know each other!" She threw +her arms around the startled Grandma Johnson and gave her another hug. + +They met Mrs. Schuneman on the steps when they went home and Mary Rose +had to stop and tell her the wonderful news, that the Lord had put pets +in the park for people who couldn't have them in their homes. She +introduced Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Schuneman, who had looked at each +other furtively when they had met in the halls but who had never spoken +until now. + +"It's just as well not to make friends with the people who live in the +same apartment house you do," young Mrs. Johnson had told Grandma when +she came to make her home with her son. "You can't tell who they are." + +"You can tell they are human beings," Mother Johnson had muttered but +that was not enough for her daughter-in-law and the older woman had +been too depressed by the strangeness of everything about her to make +friends for herself. + +She even hesitated now when Mary Rose's inquiry after the health of +Germania brought an invitation to step in and see how much at home +Germania was. But in Mary Rose's opinion one could not refuse such an +invitation and she drew Grandma Johnson in to admire and to exclaim +over Germania, who did seem very contented. They had a very pleasant +little visit and Mrs. Schuneman eagerly asked them both to come again. +Mother Johnson gathered courage to say she would, she'd be glad to. + +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" Mary Rose asked as they went up the +stairs. "I think it's very kind of you to let me go walking with you. +I'm so glad the doctor said you needed exercise." + +And Grandma Johnson smiled and patted the small shoulder. There was +not a trace of the old peevishness on her face which was like a +withered apple. "I don't know but I'm glad, too, Mary Rose. I'll see +you tomorrow." + +"You certainly will. Won't the squirrels be glad to see us? Good-by." +She ran down the stairs with the ten cents in her hand. The coin +dropped on the landing and rolled away. She was looking for it when +Mr. Wells came up and almost walked over her. Mary Rose was on her +feet in a flash. + +"Good morning," she said politely. "I'm looking for the dime I +dropped. I earned it walking with Grandma Johnson. We had the +grandest time in the park. Did you know that there are pets there for +people who can't have them in their homes? They're squirrels and the +Lord put them there. Oh, here's my dime. Good-by." And she ran on +while Mr. Wells stood and stared after her as if he thought he or she +had lost their wits and he was not sure which. + +He went on up and met Larry Donovan. + +"Donovan," he said sharply. "I thought children were not allowed in +this building?" + +"No more they are, Mr. Wells," Larry tried to speak pleasantly. +"There's a clause in every lease that says so." + +"Then why do you allow a child to run all over the place?" Mr. Wells +wanted to know and he scowled fiercely. + +Larry straightened himself and a dull red crept up into his face. "If +you mean my niece by your remarks," he said stiffly, "she isn't a +child. She's--she's," he stumbled, "she's goin' on fourteen." + +"She has a long time to go before she ever reaches fourteen," grimly. +"Do Brown and Lawson know you have a child living with you?" + +"They do not." Larry's tone was as short and crisp as pie crust. + +"H-m," was all Mr. Wells said to that but he looked at Larry before he +went into his apartment and slammed the door. + +"The ol' chimpanzee 'll tell Brown an' Lawson," Uncle Larry told Aunt +Kate when he came down and found her in the bedroom. "That's what +he'll do. He's goin' to complain about Mary Rose." + +Aunt Kate stared at him. "An' what'll you do, Larry Donovan? What'll +you do then?" + +"I'll tell them they know what they can do if they don't like it," he +answered gruffly. "I've been a good man for the place. I've kept the +peace with the tenants though, God knows, it's been no easy job. I've +kept the bills down an' made a lot of the repairs myself an' if Brown +an' Lawson want to fire me just because my niece, my wife's niece, an +inoffensive little kid, is livin' with us why they can fire. That's +what they can do. I'd be ashamed to stay an' work for them." + +"Larry," Mrs. Donovan put her arms around her husband and kissed him. +"Larry Donovan, I'm that proud of you I can't see!" And she put her +hand over her wet eyes. "Then you like to have Mary Rose here?" + +"I'll tell you the truth, Kate, dear. The little thing has made +herself necessary to me. That's what she's done. We got along all +right without her but that was because we didn't know what it was to +have a kid in the house. No, sir, Mary Rose is one of the fam'ly and +she stays with the fam'ly. She's good for the tenants, too. See what +she's done for Mrs. Willoughby an' Mrs. Schuneman. The ol' lady called +me in to hear her bird sing this very morning. An' Mrs. Bracken, who's +so busy club workin' for other folks she hasn't any time for her home, +tells me Mary Rose is the biggest kind of a help to her. I thought she +was goin' to jaw me about fixin' that back window 't sticks a bit. I +should have fixed it before but it clean slipped my mind, an' I up an' +asked her how Mary Rose was doing. She forgot the window to talk about +the kid. 'Ain't she small for her age?' says she. 'I guess you don't +know much about childern,' says I. 'Mary Rose's as big as she should +be!' 'When I was fourteen,' says she, 'I weighed a hunderd an' ten +poun's.' 'That's a good weight for a growing girl,' says I. 'I don't +believe you weigh much more'n that now, Mrs. Bracken,' says I. And +that ended it. She weighs a hunderd an' thirty if she weighs a pound. +An' then there's the Johnsons. Young Mrs. Johnson said this morning +that it would be a blessed relief if Mary Rose'd get the ol' lady out +every day. I guess there's a place for her here all right, whether ol' +Wells sees it or not." + +"Wouldn't it be just as well for you to tell Brown an' Lawson your +story first?" asked Mrs. Donovan. "Of course, when it's a tenant +again' a janitor the janitor don't stand much show. But if you tell +the agents that your wife's niece, a girl goin' on fourteen, is staying +with you an' makin' herself useful to the tenants they won't come here +with a lot of confusin' questions when Mr. Wells has had his say. +Seems if it was the one who spoke first who gets the mos' attention. +Haven't you any errand that could take you down there the first thing +in the mornin'?" + +Larry laughed scornfully. "I have that. I can al'ys find a complaint +to carry if I'm so minded. I guess you're right an' it won't do no +harm to get our side in first. Where's Mary Rose now?" + +"She's gone over to Mr. Jerry's. The cat's board's overdue." +Evidently Aunt Kate thought that overdue board was a laughing matter +for she chuckled. "Mary Rose was horrified when she remembered she'd +forgotten to pay but I said Mr. Jerry 'd understand that she wasn't +used to business. So long as she paid in the end a little waiting +wouldn't matter." + + +Mr. Jerry had just driven into the garage when the delinquent Mary Rose +slipped in at the back gate. + +"Hullo, Mary Rose," he called cheerily. + +"I've come to pay George Washington's board," importantly. "I'm +ashamed I'm late but I forgot. I'm not used to business," she +apologized, mortification dyeing her cheeks pink. + +"That's all right. But if it's board you're going to pay we'd better +go in and see my Aunt Mary." + +His Aunt Mary looked mildly surprised when Mary Rose announced that she +had come to pay George Washington's board and she was sorry she was +late. Aunt Mary pursed her lips in a way that made Mary Rose quake +until she remembered that she was earning a lot of money and it really +didn't matter if the board was more than fifty cents. And George +Washington did have an awful appetite. + +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was saying so. "That cat is perfectly hollow. +It's amazing the milk he drinks. He has been here a little over a +week, Mary Rose," again mortification painted Mary Rose's cheeks, "and +in that time he has caught five mice. It is impossible to estimate the +damage that five mice would have done if they hadn't been caught so I +figure that George Washington has earned his own board." + +"Why, George Washington!" Mary Rose could scarcely grasp this but when +she did she caught the cat to her in a rapturous hug. "Isn't he the +very smartest cat? Why, he's self-supporting, isn't he?" And she +hugged him again. "If he keeps on earning his board I can send for +Solomon. I don't suppose you would want to board a dog, too? I think +I'd almost feel as if I were in Heaven to have my animal friends with +me again." + +"What kind of dog is Solomon?" Mr. Jerry asked carelessly. "I've been +thinking of buying a dog but perhaps I could rent old Sol." + +"Mr. Jerry! I'd be glad to let you have him for his board. He's +splendid, a real fox terrier, and that clever. He can do lots of +tricks. You couldn't help but love him. He's so affectionate and +friendly." + +"It was a fox terrier that I thought of buying. Then we can consider +that settled, Mary Rose. You send for Sol as soon as you please and +I'll board him for the use of him. I think he would look well on the +front seat of the car." + +Mary Rose had jumped to her feet and, with George Washington still in +her arms, she threw herself on Mr. Jerry in a perfect spasm of +delighted gratitude that brought tears to the eyes of both of them for +George Washington was not accustomed to being squeezed between a young +man and a little girl. + +"What a--what a splendid man you are!" cried Mary Rose. "You're like +King Arthur and Robin Hood, always succoring the friendless though I'm +not friendless when I have you and your Aunt Mary and all the people +over there." She nodded across at the white face of the Washington. + +"All the people?" questioned Mr. Jerry. He had heard of some of them +who did not act friendly. + +"Well, perhaps not all--yet," amended Mary Rose. "I do like to be +friends with people, Mr. Jerry. It gives you such a comfortable +feeling inside. When you're not friends it's just as if you had the +stomachache and the headache at the same time." + +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought in some cookies and three glasses of +ginger ale, all sparkling and frosty. + +"It's a party," beamed Mary Rose. "I've always thought the world was +full of nice people and now I know it. Aunt Kate's forever telling me +that I'm too little to know the good from the bad but I tell her there +isn't any bad, that the Lord wouldn't waste His time and dust, and +anyway I have the right kind of an eye. I showed that when I made +friends with you and Mr. Jerry." + +When she left she hesitated at the gate. "Would it be a bother if I +brought a friend over to see George Washington?" she ventured. "I'd +like Miss Thorley to meet him and then perhaps she'd paint his picture." + +"I should think she would," promptly agreed Mr. Jerry. "He's a cat who +deserves to have his portrait painted. Bring over any friends you +wish, Mary Rose," hospitably, "but let me know first so George +Washington will be home. Sometimes I take him out with me," gravely. + +Mary Rose gazed at him with adoration. "I don't believe I could have +found a better boarding place for him, not if I had searched all Waloo. +I'll let you know, Mr. Jerry, just as soon as I know myself." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +But before Mary Rose could write the letter that would tell Jimmie +Bronson that she was now financially able to maintain her animal +friends she had a big surprise. + +The day had been warm and sultry, the sort that makes every nerve +disagreeably alive and brings to the surface all the unpleasant little +traits that in cooler weather one can keep hidden. + +"Old General Humidity hasn't shirked his job a minute to-day," Bob +Strahan told Miss Carter as they left the car and walked up the block +to the Washington together. + +In front of them sauntered a boy with a dog at his heels. The boy was +a sturdy young fellow of perhaps fourteen, very shabby as to clothes +but very dauntless as to manner. The dog was a fox terrier with one +black spot over his left eye like a patch. Bob Strahan whistled and +snapped his fingers at him. + +"I've always meant to have a fox terrier some day," he told Miss +Carter. "They're so intelligent." + +But this particular fox terrier, while he wagged his tail and looked +around to see who whistled, kept close to the heels of the boy who +looked carefully at the houses as if in search of one. When he came to +the Washington he stood and stared up at the long brick wall with its +many windows peering so curiously down at him, much as Mary Rose had +stared less than a month before. + +"Well, young man," Bob Strahan said pleasantly, "is there anyone here +you wish to see?" + +"Gee," exclaimed the boy with a fervor that seemed to come from his +dusty heels, "I hadn't any idea it would be such a big place!" + +"It isn't a cottage," agreed Bob Strahan amiably, "nor yet a bungalow. +But a roof has to be some size to cover a couple of dozen families. +What particular family are you interested in, may I ask?" He stooped +to pat the black-eyed fox terrier as it sniffed his ankles. "Some +dog!" he told the boy. + +Down the street came Mary Rose and Miss Thorley. Mary Rose had been to +the bakery for rolls for supper and had met Miss Thorley on the corner. +The little group by the steps of the Washington could hear her voice +before they saw her and the boy swung around and listened. + +"I used to think that if I wasn't a human being, made in the image of +God, I'd like to be the milkman's horse in Mifflin," he heard Mary Rose +say and he chuckled. + +"Why, Mary Rose?" laughed Miss Thorley. + +"Because it was so friendly to go from house to house every morning +with milk for the babies and cream for the coffee. Everyone in Mifflin +was a friend to old Whiteface. Why--why!" she broke her story short to +stand still and stare at the boy and the dog, who were both staring at +her. The boy's face was one broad grin and the dog's tail was wagging +frantically. "Why, Solomon Crocker! It's never you! Oh, Solomon!" as +he darted to her. "I've missed you more than tongue could tell. It +seems a hundred thousand years since we were together. Jimmie Bronson, +however did you know that I'd made arrangements for Solomon to come to +Waloo?" + +"I didn't know but I wanted to leave Mifflin and I couldn't let old Sol +stay alone. You know Aunt Nora died just after you left and there +wasn't any home for me any more. I wanted to see the world so I +thought I'd bring the pup and if you didn't want him I'd be glad to +keep him. He's a dandy dog and he's valuable. He's helped to more +than pay our way." He jingled the contents of his pocket so that they +could hear how Solomon had helped. + +"How did he do that, Jimmie? I'm sorry about your Aunt Nora but now +you have one more friend in Heaven and you've lots left on earth. He's +got heaps of friends right here, hasn't he?" She looked at Bob Strahan +and the two girls for confirmation of her words. "We're all friends in +Waloo. But how did Solomon help you to earn your way?" + +Jimmie laughed sheepishly. "I've taught him a lot of new tricks. He's +a smart dog and learned like lightning. Folks were glad to see him +perform. I never asked for pay but they always gave me something. I +could have sold him half a dozen times for big money but he's your dog, +Mary Rose, so I brought him right along." + +"Show us his new tricks," begged Mary Rose. "Show them to us this +minute." + +So Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, with Mary Rose between them, and Bob +Strahan sat down on the broad front steps and watched Jimmie Bronson +put Solomon through his repertoire. Mrs. Schuneman and Lottie joined +them and from their windows Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby watched +the performance. Solomon really was a clever dog and Jimmie had been +an excellent teacher so that the entertainment was very creditable. +They were all so interested in it that they never saw an addition to +their number until a harsh strident voice sounded beside them. It made +Mary Rose jump and Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby suddenly left their +windows. + +"Mein lieber Gott!" Mrs. Schuneman rose involuntarily and heavily to +her feet. "It's Mr. Wells!" + +"What's this? What's this?" Lightning flashed from Mr. Wells' eyes +and thunder rumbled in his voice. No wonder everyone was startled. +"Dogs aren't allowed here. Where's Donovan? He shouldn't allow such a +nuisance. Run along, boy, and take your dog with you. You aren't +allowed here!" + +"It isn't his dog." Mary Rose ran in front of him. "It's my dog and +he's come all the way from Mifflin. I wish you'd been here earlier so +you could see how smart he is," timidly. "He knows such a lot of funny +tricks. Jimmie, will you have him do that one--" + +"Your dog!" interrupted Mr. Wells, with a snort, and his fiery eyes +seemed to bore a hole right through Mary Rose, who was trying +desperately to remember that she had the right kind of eye and could +see nothing but good in the cross old man in front of her. "You know +very well that dogs are not allowed in this house. Take him away, boy, +and don't let me see either of you again." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose's heart was full of indignation. So were her eyes. +She was too hurt to be afraid. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, a +great big man like you to talk that way to a poor little dog who has +come all the way from Mifflin expecting to find friends here? He's my +dog and--" + +But Mr. Wells would not let her finish. "You can't keep him here," he +snarled. He was furious at being spoken to in such a fashion by a +janitor's child and before a group of young people who did their best +to look serious. "You haven't any business here yourself. Children +and dogs are forbidden in this building." + +Mrs. Donovan had come to the basement window just in time to hear this +angry outburst and she called hastily: "Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" + +Mary Rose never heard her. "Why are you always picking at me?" she +demanded of Mr. Wells. "I'm only a little girl and you're a big man +but never once since I came to Waloo have you looked as if you wanted +to be friends with me. I don't mean to be impudent but you--you do +make it very hard for me to like you." Her lip quivered and she turned +quickly and hid her face against Miss Thorley's white skirt. + +Miss Thorley's arm went around her and a thrill of emotion rarely +intense ran over the older girl. When she spoke her voice was strange +even to herself: + +"Really, Mr. Wells, this is all very unnecessary. You have not been +annoyed by Mary Rose or her pets. I think you can trust to her and to +the Donovans--" + +"Oh, you can!" Mary Rose's face came out again and she was so eager to +assure him that he could that she forgot how rude it is to interrupt. +"You shan't ever see Solomon unless you look out of one of the windows +in the white-faced wall. He's going to live with Mr. Jerry. I've made +all the arrangements. I never meant you to be bothered with him. But +I do wish you'd like him. He's a very friendly dog," wistfully. "He'd +like you to like him." + +Mr. Wells looked at the friendly dog who wanted to be liked, and at +Mary Rose, before his eyes swept the older group. There was not the +faintest trace of a smile on the faces of Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, +but there was more than a trace on the countenance of Bob Strahan. + +"I don't like dogs!" the grin made him say with a snap. "I won't have +one here!" And he went up the steps and slammed the screen door behind +him. + +"Mercy, mercy!" feebly murmured Mr. Strahan. "You might think he owned +the whole works. My rent comes due every month, just as his does." + +At her window Aunt Kate wrung her hands and thought sadly how +comfortable they were in the basement of the Washington. Mr. Wells +would never rest now until he had Larry discharged. She knew he +wouldn't. He would never overlook the fact that Mary Rose had talked +back to him on the very steps of the Washington. She could not blame +Mary Rose, the child had had provocation enough, goodness knows, but +she wished--she wished--Oh, how fervently she wished that Mr. Wells had +never been born! + +Mary Rose looked sadly after the retreating figure which looked as +friendly and unbending as a poker. + +"He won't ever forget I called him a crosspatch," she said sadly and +she blushed. + +"What!" There was an astonished chorus. How had she dared? It did +not sound like Mary Rose. + +"I did!" the color in her cheeks deepened painfully. "I never meant to +but the words were in my mind and so they slipped out of my mouth. +Come on, Jimmie, we'll take Solomon over to Mr. Jerry's. He'll be glad +to see him. He's a human being." + +"I think I'll go, too," suggested Bob Strahan who scented a story. +"Have you seen George Washington, the self-supporting cat?" he asked +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter. + +"All of you come," begged Mary Rose, glowing happily again. "Mr. +Jerry'd be glad to have you and there's plenty of room in the back +yard. I'd like to have you see my cat. Isn't it wonderful that George +Washington and Solomon are self-supporting? That's being independent, +isn't it, Miss Thorley? Will you come?" she caught her hand and drew +her to her feet. + +Miss Thorley hesitated. If George Washington had been boarding with +anyone but Jerry Longworthy she would have gone at once but Jerry +Longworthy was very apt to forget that she preferred work to love. If +she went to his back yard he would be sure to think that her coming was +an inch and proceed to make an ell out of it. It would be far wiser to +stay away. So she shook her head. "Not now, Mary Rose," she said +gently. "Some other time." + +After a quick glance at her face Mary Rose did not tease but went off +with the others. They found Mr. Jerry in the back yard. He looked +beyond them as if he found the party too small but as no one followed +to complete it he gave his attention to Solomon and pronounced him +something of a dog. When Jimmie had put him through his tricks again +Mr. Jerry gravely shook hands with both boy and dog. + +"You've been a fine teacher," he said to Jimmie. "I congratulate you." + +Jimmie's face was as scarlet as the poppies in Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary's +garden. "Oh, go on!" he murmured in delighted embarrassment. + +"Just think, they walked all the way from Mifflin!" exclaimed Mary Rose +in a voice of awe. "It took an automobile and a train and a taxicab to +bring me." + +"Well, I didn't have money for an auto nor a train nor a taxi," grinned +Jimmie, "so Sol and I walked. Not all the way. Folks gave us a lift +now and then." + +"Of course they did. You'd be sure to find friends," Mary Rose told +him jubilantly. "That's the beautiful part of traveling. You find +friends everywhere." + +"Sure!" Jimmie winked at Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan. "I found one +friend so glad to see me that he had me arrested." + +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" Mary Rose's eyes were as large as the largest +kind of saucers. "What for? Was Solomon arrested, too?" She looked +reprovingly at her dog. + +Jimmie chuckled. "I told you I had more than one chance to sell the +brute," with a loving kick at Solomon. "And one man was so mad when I +told him 'nothing doing' that he had me arrested. Said I had stolen +the dog from him. You see there's some class to old Sol but there +isn't much to me. The judge didn't know which of us was lying until I +told him that Sol was a trick dog and would the man who was trying to +put one over on me run through his tricks to show they had worked +together. The cuss turned green and stammered that he wasn't no animal +tamer. The judge gave me a chance and we had a great performance in +the courtroom. When it was over the judge said he guessed if I'd had +Solomon long enough to teach him so much the man, if he was the owner, +should have found him before. He fined the other chap a greenback and +gave it to me. We had beefsteak and potatoes for supper instead of +going to jail, didn't we, old sport?" + +"Good for you!" Mr. Jerry gave him a comradely slap on the shoulder. + +Bob Strahan nodded significantly to Miss Carter. "Didn't I say I'd get +a story out of this?" he whispered. + +"What are you going to do now, Jimmie?" asked Mary Rose. "You aren't +going back to Mifflin?" + +No, Jimmie wasn't going back to Mifflin. He thought, rather vaguely, +he'd stay in Waloo and see the world. There must be something there +for a boy to do if he were strong and willing. + +"Oh, there is! Isn't there?" Mary Rose looked appealingly from Mr. +Jerry to Bob Strahan. + +"Sure, there is," Mr. Jerry told her heartily. He asked for further +particulars. Just what would Jimmie like to do? Had he any plans? + +Jimmie hadn't any plans just at present beyond food and shelter but in +ten years or so he hoped to be an electrician. Of course, that +couldn't be until he was a man. In the meantime he'd take anything and +if he could get a job that would let him go to school he'd be about the +happiest kid in the world. + +"You can get that kind of job," Bob Strahan told him easily. "I'll +write a little story about your trip and your arrest for the _Gazette_ +and I'll bet you'll have a lot of jobs offered you." + +"And until you do you can stay here. There's a little room up there," +Mr. Jerry nodded toward his attic, "that would just about fit a boy of +your size. Do you know anything about autos? Have you ever met a lawn +mower? I guess I can find work for you until you get a regular job." + +Every freckle on Jimmie's freckled face glowed gratefully. Mary Rose +jumped up and down. + +"Mr. Jerry!" she began in a choked voice. She ran to him and hid her +face against his hand. "First you took my cat," she gasped chokingly, +"and then you took my dog and now my friend from Mifflin. I--I don't +believe a friendlier man ever lived!" + +"Mary Rose!" It was Aunt Kate's voice from the back door of the +Washington. "Bring your friend in to supper." Aunt Kate knew that, +under the circumstances, she had no business to ask a boy into the +house but she felt desperately that now it did not matter what she did +and it would please Mary Rose. + +"Well, Mary Rose," Bob Strahan pulled her hair as they trooped back to +the Washington, leaving Solomon jumping frantically at Mr. Jerry's +snapping fingers, "are you happy now?" + +Mary Rose's face clouded. "Half of me's happy and half of me isn't," +she confessed in a low voice. "It makes me mad not to be friends with +everybody and I can't honestly feel that Mr. Wells and I are friends." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mr. Bracken found one morning, when he had reached his office, that he +had forgotten some important papers. He went home at noon to get them. +He let himself into the apartment and walked directly into the +living-room. He stopped with an exclamation of surprise for on the +broad davenport was a little girl fast asleep. One of her arms was +thrown protectingly about a brass cage in which a bird swung lazily. + +"Well, upon my word!" muttered Mr. Bracken. He looked about to be sure +he was in the right apartment. He had been away from home and had not +met Mary Rose. + +The words, low as they were uttered, reached Mary Rose's ear and she +opened her eyes. When she saw a tall man staring somewhat frowningly +at her she sat up suddenly. + +"I--I hope you're Mr. Bracken, Mrs. Bracken's husband?" she said. +There was a tremble in her voice as she slipped from the davenport and +bobbed a curtsy. There was a shake in her knees, also. Suppose this +strange man should be a burglar? The thought was enough to make the +voice and knees of any little girl tremble and shake. But the strange +man nodded curtly and Mary Rose laughed tremulously. "I thought +perhaps you were a burglar," she confessed at once. "I never knew a +real burglar but I see now you don't look a bit like one. If I hadn't +been so sleepy I'd have seen it at once for I've the right kind of an +eye, the kind that can see the good in people. I think you have, too, +because your eyes are just the same color my daddy's were and he had +the right kind. Gracious! I should just think he had!" + +"Never mind about eyes," Mr. Bracken said impatiently. "What are you +doing here?" + +"I'll tell you," she blushed. "I came up to wash the dishes, as I do +every morning for Mrs. Bracken, and I left the key on the outside and +the wind slammed the door shut. I couldn't open it. I thought I'd +have to wait until Mrs. Bracken came home to let me out. I didn't dare +make a noise for fear I'd disturb Mr. Wells. I must have gone to sleep +for I never heard you come in. I live in the cellar with my Aunt Kate +and Uncle Larry. At first I felt like a green cucumber pickle because +in Mifflin, where I used to live, there wasn't anything in our cellar +but a swinging shelf for pickles and jellies and a person couldn't ever +feel like a glass of plum jelly, could they? So I felt like a cucumber +pickle but now I don't mind it at all. I love to live in the cellar. +There's everything in getting used to things, isn't there? I like it +here now pretty well for I've lots of friends. Mrs. Schuneman and +Germania and Mrs. Johnson, the grandma one. We go to the park every +day and feed her pet squirrel. The Lord keeps it there because she +can't have any pets but canary birds in houses like this. There's a +law against it, Uncle Larry said. And there's Miss Thorley, the +enchanted princess, who's painting my picture for Mr. Bingham +Henderson's jam to tell people how good it is. She gave me some once, +apricot. We only had strawberry and raspberry and plum and grape and +apple butter in Mifflin. I used to stir the apple butter for Lena. +You have to stir it all the time or it burns. It makes your arm awful +tired but it's good for the muscle. Feel mine!" She clenched her +small arm and held it out so that Mr. Bracken could feel her muscles. + +He murmured: "I'll be darned!" in a dazed sort of a way as he felt her +muscle, and Mary Rose went on sociably. + +"And there's Mrs. Bracken. She said I washed her dishes better than a +full-sized girl. And now there's you. Have you had any lunch?" she +demanded suddenly. "Shall I get you some?" she wanted to know when he +had admitted that he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. "Mrs. +Bracken wouldn't like it if I let you go away hungry. It won't take a +minute. You just keep an eye on Jenny Lind." And she put Jenny Lind +on the table at his elbow before she flew to the kitchen. + +Mr. Bracken stood and stared at Jenny Lind and then at the door through +which Mary Rose had disappeared. "Well, I'll be darned!" he said +again. He went to his desk and found his important papers. He did not +intend to stay for lunch but when Mary Rose flew back to demand +hurriedly whether he liked his eggs fried or boiled he told her boiled. + +A postponed meeting brought Mrs. Bracken home that day several hours +before she had planned. She stopped on the threshold in astonishment +when she heard voices and laughter in the rear of her apartment. She +hurried back with pursed lips and frowning face for both laugh and +voice had sounded young. If Mary Rose were making free with her things +she would give Mary Rose a good big piece of her mind and then she +would present Mrs. Donovan with an equal portion. + +She went through the dining-room and into the kitchen to find Joseph +Bracken--_Joseph Bracken_--sitting at the kitchen table eating boiled +eggs and drinking tea. Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from +him and was telling him of Mifflin. Jenny Lind's cage was between them. + +[Illustration: "Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and +was telling him of Mifflin."] + +"Why--why," gasped Mrs. Bracken. She could not say another word. She +forgot all about the big piece of her mind that she was going to give +Mary Rose and stood there staring with bulging eyes. + +Mary Rose jumped to the floor. "Here's Mrs. Bracken!" she cried in +delight. "Isn't it a pity we didn't know she was coming? I could just +as well have boiled another egg. But there's plenty of tea. It's like +a party, isn't it? Except that we haven't any birthday candles. In +Mifflin I always had candles on my birthday cake because daddy said a +birthday should be like a candle, a light to guide you into the new +year. Shall I boil an egg for you, Mrs. Bracken?" + +Mrs. Bracken sat down suddenly in the chair Mary Rose had vacated and +murmured helplessly: "Well, upon my word!" + +"That's what I said," smiled Mr. Bracken, which wasn't exactly true +although the words he had used meant the same thing, "when I came home +and found a girl and a bird on the davenport." + +"I locked myself in," Mary Rose explained with a shamed face. "I was +careless and left the key on the outside. Mr. Bracken should have +scolded me but he didn't. We've been the best friends and had the +nicest time together and now it's going to be nicer because you're +here." + +She beamed on first one and then the other as she bustled about finding +a plate and a knife and fork, making the toast that Mrs. Bracken +thought she would prefer to bread and all the time talking in a +friendly fashion. She never doubted that what interested her would +interest others. + +At first Mrs. Bracken regarded her helplessly, as Mr. Bracken had done, +but gradually the look of irritation disappeared and at last a smile +took its place. It was strange to share a lunch of boiled eggs and tea +on the kitchen table with Joseph Bracken. She had not done that since +they were first married and were moving into their first home. She +hadn't thought of it for years but now it was oddly pleasant to +remember the little details of a time before she had been absorbed by +clubs and he by business. Neither she nor Mr. Bracken had much to say +but Mary Rose talked enough for three. She waited on them with a +solicitude that forced them to eat and when they had finished she sent +them into the other room. + +"I'll wash up. It won't take me a minute." + +So, because she told them to, Mr. and Mrs. Bracken drifted into the +other room and left her alone with Jenny Lind. Mr. Bracken did not +take his hat and mutter that he would be back for dinner. He walked +over to the window and stood looking down the street. At last he +turned around and looked at his wife who was sitting on the davenport +as if she were tired. + +"Elsie," he said abruptly, "what ever became of your niece?" + +She looked up in surprise. "You mean Harriet White? She's living with +the Norrises in Prairieville." + +"Wouldn't you like to have her here?" he asked suddenly. "It doesn't +seem just right--decent--to let strangers look after your own +relations." + +Her eyes opened wider. He had never seemed to think whether it was +decent or not until now. "But we can't have her here. That was the +trouble after her mother died. Children aren't allowed in the house +and we didn't want to move." + +"How old is she?" + +"Thirteen or fourteen. I'm not just sure which." + +"A girl of thirteen isn't a child. Send for her, Elsie, and if anyone +objects, we can move. But I guess a tenant means something to a +landlord and there won't be any objections. We need her, Elsie, as +much as she needs us. We need someone young with us. That kid," he +nodded toward the kitchen where Mary Rose was lustily singing the many +verses of "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?" "has made me realize what +we are missing. Why she fussed around me as if--as if," he colored +slightly, "as if I were her father. No, it isn't anything new. I've +been thinking for some time that we aren't getting all we should out of +life. You give your time and strength to clubs and I give mine to +business and what does it amount to? What are we working for? +Abstract people aren't the same as your own flesh and blood. What we +need is something to bring us together and if Hattie White is anything +like that kid she'll keep us good and busy." + +Mrs. Bracken slipped across the room and put her hand on his arm. +"I'll be glad to send for her, Joe. I haven't felt just right to leave +her with the Whites but I thought you didn't want her and I told myself +that my first duty was to you. I'll write today. No, I'll go for her, +if you don't mind." + +"That's a good girl." His arm slipped around her waist. + +Out in the kitchen Mary Rose brought her song to an abrupt close. She +thrust her head in the doorway. "I'm all through. Didn't I say it +wouldn't take a jiffy? It's been very pleasant but Aunt Kate'll be +wondering where I am and so will Grandma Johnson. Good-by." + +"Good-by," they chorused. "Come again," they added, as if they +couldn't help but speak the hospitable words. + +"I shall," Mary Rose called back. "Sure, I'll come again." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"And Mr. Jerry said that if you weren't so much of an angel you'd be a +splendid artist or if you weren't so much of an artist you'd be a +splendid angel. It sounds queer the way I say it but I know he meant +it for a compliment." Mary Rose and Jenny Lind were posing for the jam +poster. It was almost finished and Mary Rose was sinfully proud of it. + +Miss Thorley frowned and refused to say what she thought of Mr. Jerry's +compliment. Mary Rose frowned, also. + +"You don't like Mr. Jerry very much, do you?" she ventured to ask. + +"I'm too busy to know whether I do or not." Miss Thorley half closed +her eyes and looked at Mary Rose in the funny way she did when she was +painting. "My work takes all of my time. Chin up, Mary Rose." + +"Yes'm." Mary Rose tilted her chin a little higher. "You aren't under +any obligation to think of him, of course, but if your cat was boarding +with him and he had borrowed your dog you'd just have to keep him in +your mind and heart. And he's worth thinking of. He's a very fine +young man. Everyone says so. Jimmie adores him and he hasn't known +him a week. You've known him lots longer than that, haven't you?" She +spoke as if she could not understand how Jimmie could be so much more +clever. It must be on account of the spell that old Independence had +put upon Miss Thorley. There couldn't be any other reason for not +liking Mr. Jerry. He was so altogether likeable. Mary Rose sighed at +life's complications. "I just love Mr. Jerry myself. I can't help +it," she went on more slowly. "I wish you did, too," wistfully. "It's +much more pleasant when the people you love will love each other. It +gives you such a comfortable feeling as if you didn't care if Heaven +was so far away. I do think this world would be almost as wonderful as +Heaven if everyone would love everyone else." + +"There is no doubt of that," Miss Thorley absently agreed with her. + +"Then will you try and love my friends?" eagerly. She almost lost her +pose in her eagerness. "I'll love yours. Every one! I will! I can +because I have a big heart. Did you know that the more you put into a +heart the more it will hold? It's the hearts that haven't anyone in +them that are so little and hard. I think hearts must be like +balloons. You can blow and blow and blow into balloons and there's +always room for some more breath." + +"Unless they break. Balloons break, Mary Rose, and so do hearts." + +Mary Rose looked incredulous. "Mine never did. And anyway I'd rather +have my heart break from being too full than get hard because it didn't +have anyone in it. I'd like to have the very biggest heart in the +whole world!" she cried ambitiously. + +"Big enough to hold Mr. Wells? Did you know he was ill, Mary Rose? +His Jap came up last night and asked Miss Carter not to play on the +piano because Mr. Wells wasn't well and didn't wish to be disturbed." +Miss Thorley's lip curled disdainfully. + +"Mr. Wells sick?" Mary Rose was much concerned. "What's the matter?" + +Miss Thorley shook her head. + +"Haven't you been down to ask?" Mary Rose always had been sent to ask +in Mifflin. + +"Gracious, no! I shouldn't dare. He'd probably bite my head off." + +"He couldn't bite your head off if he was sick. It doesn't seem real +neighborly, Miss Thorley. And you are neighbors. You live right over +his head. I expect he has dyspepsia and that's the reason he looked +so--" she hesitated over a word, "unfriendly. Why when Mr. Lewis, he's +the postmaster in Mifflin, had dyspepsia Mrs. Lewis didn't dare say her +soul was her own. Mr. Lewis couldn't be cross to people when they came +for their mail so he saved it all for Mrs. Lewis. That doesn't seem +quite fair, does it, for people to be pleasant to outsiders and save +their bad temper for their homes?" + +"It isn't fair but I rather think it's human." + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Sometimes I think that human and +disagreeable mean the same thing because people all say the bad things +we do are human. Where did we learn them, Miss Thorley? The Lord made +us all good because it wouldn't have paid him to make us bad. Where do +you suppose Mr. Lewis learned to snap and Mr. Wells to scold and you to +frown?" + +Miss Thorley certainly did have a frown. It ran right across her +pretty forehead when she said: "Bless me! child, how do I know? That's +enough for one day." She put the drawing board on the table and +stretched herself luxuriously. "Try and be on time tomorrow, Mary +Rose, and I think we can finish it." + +"Yes'm." Mary Rose stared at the drawing which was a very wonderful +thing to her. "Don't you believe Mr. Bingham Henderson 'll be pleased +with it? It's a beautiful picture of Jenny Lind." + +"It's a beautiful picture of you, if I do say it," laughed the artist. + +Mary Rose drew closer until she could whisper into Miss Thorley's ear. +"I wish Mr. Jerry could see it." + +Miss Thorley rose abruptly and pushed her away. "He can. He'll have +lots of opportunity to see it when it is on the back of a magazine. +Run along, now. Skip!" She fairly pushed Mary Rose out of the door +before she could say anything more about Mr. Jerry. Sometimes it +seemed to Mary Rose that Miss Thorley was afraid to hear about Mr. +Jerry. + +She went down the stairs slowly and hesitated when she came to Mr. +Wells' door. She knew she should stop and inquire how he was. It +would have been a terrible breach of good manners in Mifflin not to ask +after a sick neighbor, but Mr. Wells had not been like any neighbor +Mary Rose had ever known. Nevertheless he was a neighbor. She tossed +her head and ventured closer to the door. There was no answer when she +knocked timidly and she tried again. The door was slightly ajar and +when her second knock brought no response she ventured to push it open +an inch. Mr. Wells might be all alone and need someone. She would +just slip in and see. If he didn't she could slip out again. + +There was a chilly deserted feeling in the hall that made Mary Rose +shiver. She hurried through softly as if in the presence of something +that oppressed her. When she reached the door of the living-room she +stopped and looked across into the amazed eyes of Mr. Wells, who was +lying on the broad couch. + +"Oh!" Mary Rose refused to be frightened away by his scowl. "I'm so +glad you're able to be up. You are better, aren't you? I was worried +when Miss Thorley said you were sick and I just stopped to inquire. In +Mifflin when anyone was sick we always went with chicken broth or cup +custard or a new magazine. Why, when Lily Thompson had tonsilitis she +had eleven different things sent in one day. I helped her eat the +eating ones." + +"How did you get in?" growled Mr. Wells for all the world like the Big +Bear in the story of Goldilocks. Mary Rose had to think what a +splendid Big Bear he would make. + +"The door was open. I knocked but no one came. I was afraid you might +want something. Has your Japanese gentleman gone to the drug store? +Isn't it lonely for you all by yourself? I was going to ask Aunt Kate +to make you some beef tea but perhaps you'd rather have Jenny Lind stay +with you. She's splendid company and I'd be glad to loan her to you." +She crossed the room to put the cage down beside Mr. Wells. Jenny Lind +began to sing immediately as if to show Mr. Wells what splendid company +she could be. + +Mr. Wells raised himself on his elbow and shook a threatening fist at +the canary. + +"Take that damn bird away!" he shouted. His face was red and Mary Rose +was sure she could see flames darting from his eyes. + +"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!" She snatched Jenny Lind at once. "I s-suppose +she is too noisy for you yet. Mrs. Mason didn't like her when she had +the nerves. But you shouldn't be alone. It's bad for you. I'm sure +you need friendly company. Oh, I know the very thing!" And before the +astonished and indignant invalid could say a word she had dashed out of +the room. + +He could hear her stumble in the hall but he did not hear her exclaim +hurriedly when a door across the way opened: "Oh, Mrs. Rawson, will you +take Jenny Lind for a minute? I'll be right back for her." She pushed +the hook of the cage into the hands of the startled Mrs. Rawson and +flew down the stairs. + +She was back in an incredibly short time with a small glass globe that +she carried very carefully. Her face shone as she tiptoed in and +placed it on the table beside the invalid. + +"There!" she said proudly. "There! The perfect pets for the sickroom. +When you said Jenny Lind was too disturbing I remembered that Mr. +Jerry's Aunt Mary had these two little goldfish. Wasn't it lucky? She +was glad to loan them to you and hopes you'll find them pleasant +friends. They won't be any care at all. I'll come up every day and +feed them if you don't feel well enough. I'd like to. Aren't they +beautiful? Do you suppose all the fish in Heaven are like that, all +gold and glisteny? Won't you just love to watch them? They can't sing +or make any noise to annoy you. They'll be splendid company." + +"God bless my soul!" murmured Mr. Wells helplessly, when he could find +breath to murmur anything. He stared at her as if he really had never +seen her before. + +An exclamation, like the pop of a gun, made them look at the doorway +where Sako was staring at them as if he could not believe his eyes. + +"Sako!" shouted Mr. Wells, angrily. "Why did you leave the door open +when you went out?" + +"Wasn't it lucky he did?" asked Mary Rose, standing before him and +rocking on her heels and toes as she often did when she was pleased. +"I might never have come in, if he hadn't. If there's anything I can +do for you, Mr. Wells, any time, don't you hesitate to ask me. Just +send the Japanese gentleman right down. I live in the cellar, I mean +the basement, with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry and we'll all be only too +glad to do anything to help you get well. It's horrid to be sick. You +look better, I think," critically, and indeed he was not at all pale +how. He had so much color in his face that he was almost purple. "I +must go now and get Jenny Lind. I left her with Mrs. Rawson. I expect +she thought I was crazy," with a giggle as she remembered Mrs. Rawson's +amazed face. + +"I'll bet she did!" Mr. Wells stared after her as if he, too, thought +Mary Rose was crazy. She turned in the doorway to wave her hand to him +and he watched her out of sight. Then he looked at the goldfish. He +had half a mind to tell Sako to throw them out. What did he want with +a couple of damned goldfish? The child was a nuisance, an unmitigated +nuisance. Children always were. That was why he lived in the +Washington where they were forbidden. He would have to ask the agents +what they meant by letting the place be overrun with children when +there was a clause in every lease forbidding it. Mary Rose might be a +friendly little soul, she might mean well, but she was an unmitigated +nuisance. The Lord only knew what she would do next if she remained in +the building. And she had dared to talk back to him in front of +people. No, he would see that the lease was lived up to. It was his +right. If he demanded protection against Mary Rose, an impudent +interfering chit, he fumed, the agents would have to protect him. + +"Sako!" he called sharply. "Take these damned goldfish down to the +Donovans. And tell Donovan to keep his niece at home. I won't have +her here!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Through Bob Strahan, Jimmie obtained a paper route. Mr. Jerry's Aunt +Mary insisted that was work enough for him at present. + +"A growing boy has to have plenty of time to eat and sleep," she said, +"and no one is using that attic bedroom." + +"You can earn your board taking care of the lawn and lending a hand +with the car. The paper route 'll stand you in for clothes and +spending money," suggested Mr. Jerry. "Might as well take it easy +while you can." + +"He's a prince, that's what he is!" Jimmie told Mary Rose somewhat +chokingly, when she came over to see how George Washington and Solomon +and Jimmie were doing. "I never knew such a man." + +"Didn't you?" Mary Rose was surprised. "Mr. Jerry is splendid but +there are lots and lots of splendid people in the world, Jimmie +Bronson." + +"Oh, are there!" snorted Jimmie. "Well, I haven't seen so many of +them, and that's straight. Judging from what I saw and heard that +first day I was in Waloo, you've run across at least one of the other +sort, too." + +Mary Rose blushed. Her inability to make friends with Mr. Wells +annoyed her. "He's got dyspepsia," she said, as if that were an +excuse. "To tell you the truth, Jimmie Bronson, when I first came here +I nearly died. I had an awful time remembering that daddy said when +there were so many people in the world there were friends for +everybody. The people were so different and it was so funny to have +them live up and down instead of side by side. At first I thought I'd +never get used to it but I did. And I have lots of friends here now. +But Waloo isn't Mifflin." And she sighed because it wasn't. + +"Mifflin!" jeered Jimmie. "Mifflin! You can be mighty good and glad +it isn't. I don't know where you got your idea of Mifflin, Mary Rose, +for it's about the deadest one-horse town I ever ran across. And the +people. Huh! A collection of boneheads." + +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" gasped Mary Rose. "Mifflin's the friendliest +town--" + +"Friendly!" Jimmie elevated his nose at the word. "Prying, +interfering, gossiping! That's what it is. I guess I know. You're +all wrong, Mary Rose, all wrong. If you should go back you'd see. +You're nothing but a kid. You don't know. But take it from me you've +got entirely the wrong idea of your native town. If Mifflin was what +you think it was do you imagine Solomon and I would have left? No, +siree! We'd have stayed and been part of the happy crowd. But it +isn't. Honest! It's dead and narrow and one-horse and the people are +boneheads." + +Mary Rose could not believe it. She stared at him and her lip quivered. + +"Jimmie," she said at last and her voice was very low and shaky, "is +that what you want me to think of Mifflin? It's always been a +wonderful place to me. You see I was born there and no other city, no +matter how grand it is, can be my birthplace. It doesn't seem as if I +could be all wrong about it. And the people! Daddy always said +people's hearts were friendly and in Mifflin their faces were friendly, +too. Yes, they were, Jimmie Bronson, when I lived there. Perhaps they +have changed. It's a long time since I left." + +Jimmie gave a whoop. "Long time! It isn't two months. And it would +take more than sixty days to put that sour look on old Mr. Mallow's +face. He nearly ate me up alive when I asked for a job after Aunt Nora +died. No, Mary Rose, you're wrong, all wrong, about Mifflin. There +isn't any place in this whole world that's like what you think that old +burg is." + +"Isn't there, Jimmie?" Mary Rose was very troubled. "Is that what I'm +really to believe?" + +There was a quiver in her voice that made James Bronson turn and look +at her. He flushed all over his freckled face, to the very roots of +his red hair. He even put out his tanned hand and patted Mary Rose's +arm. "No, Mary Rose," he said slowly. "I guess you're right. You're +always looking for friends and so you'll find them. You keep on being +a silly simp and thinking of Mifflin as the new Jerusalem and perhaps +it'll grow into one." + +"It would if everyone thought it would," Mary Rose insisted and the +troubled look slipped away from her face. "If people feel friendly +they'll find friends." + +"And she believes it," Jimmie told Mr. Jerry when they were cleaning +the car together that evening. "Gosh, aren't girl kids queer! I +couldn't tell her the truth but I guess I know Mifflin better than she +does." + +"I'm glad you didn't tell her the truth, Jim." Mr. Jerry lighted his +pipe and gave Jimmie the hose. "She'll learn soon enough." + +"Of course she will," agreed Jimmie. "She's just got to find out that +folks aren't going up and down the streets holding out the glad hand. +That's what I say, Mr. Jerry, if people feel so friendly inside why +don't they show it outside? Gee whiz!" he stopped to squeeze the water +out of the big sponge. "Wouldn't it be a great old world if they did, +if folks were what Mary Rose thinks they are?" + +"It would. And as every little bit added to what there is makes a +little bit more you could help the good time along by feeling a bit +more friendly to the world yourself, James," advised Mr. Jerry, +stepping off to look at the car. "Mary Rose is right when she says +that smiles are just as catching as frowns. Take it from me that it +never makes a bad thing any worse by thinking that it is better than it +is." + +Jimmie Bronson's opinion of Mifflin bothered Mary Rose and she +discussed it with everyone. It was not until they had all agreed with +her that people and places are what you think they are that she felt +comfortable again. + +"I knew I was right all the time," she told Aunt Kate. + +"If folks were really what she thinks they are, what a snap we'd have," +Aunt Kate said to Uncle Larry, after Mary Rose had gone to bed. "To be +honest I'll have to admit that the atmosphere's a mite pleasanter here +but whether that's because of Mary Rose or because I haven't seen quite +so much of the tenants--I never do in summer--I can't say. Seems if +she does have the faculty of bringing out the kind side of folks. If I +hadn't seen it with my own eyes I never would have believed that Mrs. +Rawson would have loaned her machine to Mrs. Matchan or that Mrs. +Matchan would condescend to borrow it. Land, the rows they've had over +that machine and that piano! Perhaps there is somethin' in thinkin' +folks are friendly. What do you say, Larry?" + +"What's thinkin' done for old Wells?" asked Uncle Larry. "He's worse'n +ever. Take my word for it, Kate, he'll make trouble for us. You might +as well begin to pack." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Mrs. Donovan looked with admiration at the sheer linen blouse that Miss +Thorley handed her. + +"Sure, I'll do it up for you the very best I know how an' seems if you +can't expect a body to do more than that. If all of us who are in the +world just did our best it would be a different place than it is, now +wouldn't it? What's ailin' you, Miss Thorley? Seems if you don't look +so hearty as you did. Don't you work too hard. It's what you have in +your heart more'n what you have in your pocketbook that makes +happiness. A pretty young thing like you hain't no business to be +thinkin' of jam all the time. I hear you're makin' oodles of money +drawin' pictures for Mr. Bingham Henderson but let me tell you, my +girl, you can't make good red blood no matter how much money you have. +There's only one can do that." + +"Who's that, Aunt Kate?" Mary Rose hungered for the information, as +she leaned against the table. "Who can make good red blood?" + +"God Almighty, honey, an' he's the only one. Land, I remember Jim +Peaslie took a dozen raw eggs a day, a quart of cream an' beefsteak so +raw it dripped blood but he couldn't make none of those red corpuskles +an' so there wasn't nothin' for him to do but die an' he died. A body +can't live without plenty of red corpuskles an' by that same token, a +girl has got to have somethin' beside work. That's gospel true, Miss +Thorley. My ol' father used to say you robbed the ol' when you took +pleasures from the young an', seems if, that's gospel true, too. Land, +if I hadn't had good times when I was a girl to remember sometimes I'd +go crazy. Layin' up pleasant memories is what everyone can do an' it +means as much as money in the bank. This is pretty lace on your waist, +Miss Thorley. I dunno as I ever saw just this pattern." + +"It's imported," Miss Thorley told her listlessly as she lingered in +the cosy kitchen. She was pale and her eyes were dull. She was tired, +she told herself impatiently. The summer had been hot and she had +worked hard. It irritated her that the keen eyes of Mrs. Donovan saw +that she was not happy but how could she be happy when she had so many +things to annoy her? She should be happy, she was independent, she had +work, the two things that had seemed so necessary to happiness but +recently she had been conscious of a desire for something more. It +made her furious to be restless and discontented and so listless and +colorless that people noticed it. + +Mrs. Donovan snorted at the imported lace. "That's it. Girls nowadays +think 't fine clothes 'll make 'em happy. An imported waist costs +more'n one made in Waloo an' it keeps a girl strong enough to work for +the silk stockin's she's got to have," she said with scorn. "I don't +wonder there's so many bach'lors when I figure how much money it costs +now to dress a girl." + +"Is that why men are bachelors?" asked astonished Mary Rose. "Mr. +Jerry is a bachelor, his Aunt Mary told him so right in front of me. +She doesn't like it in him. And Mr. Strahan's one and Jimmie Bronson +and Mr. Wells and Mr. Jarvis. Why, what a lot of bachelors are right +under this very roof!" + +"That's just it," laughed Mrs. Donovan. "'Stead of havin' so many +bach'lor flats in Waloo there oughta be more fam'ly cottages." + +"There's Mr. Jerry now." Mary Rose ran to the window to wave her hand +to her friend as he drove his car up the alley. Solomon was with him +and he looked quite as well on the front seat as Mr. Jerry had hoped he +would. "I could have asked him if that was why he was a bachelor if he +hadn't gone away." + +Miss Thorley crossed the kitchen and stood beside her. She saw the +automobile turn the corner and disappear down the cross street. + +"Mary Rose," she suddenly put her arm around the small shoulders beside +her. "Do you know I've never seen George Washington." + +"You haven't?" Mary Rose twisted around and looked up into her face. +"Oh, you must see him. He's such a wonderful cat. But I can't bring +him here. It's against the law, you know. Would you--Oh, would +you!--come across the alley and see him in his boarding house? You +know he's only a cat," she explained slowly as if she were afraid that +Miss Thorley might expect to find George Washington something more. +"But he's wonderful just the same. He earns his own board, every +single drop. Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary said so." + +Miss Thorley and Aunt Kate smiled at each other above Mary Rose's +yellow head. + +"I've never seen a self-supporting cat," Miss Thorley laughed. "I +should love to meet George Washington." She did not understand why she +would love to meet him now, why she wished to go across to Jerry +Longworthy's back yard, when until that afternoon nothing could have +induced her to go there. + +"Come on." Mary Rose put out an eager hand and Miss Thorley took it in +hers. They were halfway across the alley when Mary Rose stopped. "I +forgot," she said, and her face was troubled. "I promised to let Mr. +Jerry know when you'd come." + +"It's too late to tell him now. We saw him go off in the car." Miss +Thorley did not explain that that was the reason she was willing to +call on George Washington. "I shall be very busy after today, Mary +Rose. I might not be able to come again for several weeks." + +"Is that so?" Mary Rose looked less doubtful. "Perhaps I can explain +that to Mr. Jerry." She led the way into Mr. Jerry's spacious yard. +"I expect George Washington's inside," she said when they failed to +find him outside. + +"Run in and bring him out," suggested Miss Thorley, sitting down in one +of the wicker chairs that were under the big apple tree that had lived +there ever since Waloo had been some man's farm. + +Mary Rose disappeared but before Miss Thorley had looked half over the +yard she was back. "He's asleep," she said in a loud whisper. "Do +come in and see him. He looks perfectly beautiful with a fern at his +head and a bunch of asters at his feet. Please, come." She took Miss +Thorley's hand and tried to pull her to her feet. + +Miss Thorley did not wish to go into the house. She had had no +intention of doing more than to slip into the yard for a moment. Now +that she was there she felt uncomfortably conscious. But Mr. Jerry was +away, she had seen him go with her own eyes. It would be interesting +to see his home. Or perhaps the picture Mary Rose had described, a +sleeping cat with a fern at his head and asters at his feet, was +alluring. Whichever it was she allowed Mary Rose to lead her in at the +side door, through the dining-room that seemed far too large for only +Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary, into the big living-room that had begun +life as a front and back parlor. There on the wide window seat was the +self-supporting cat, George Washington himself, with a fern spreading +its feathery fronds above his head and a cluster of red asters in a +brass bowl at his tall. George Washington had calculated the amount of +space between the jardinière and the bowl to a nicety. There was not +the fraction of an inch to spare. + +[Illustration: "There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting +cat."] + +"There!" Mary Rose pointed a proud finger as she stopped before the +window. + +"He is a beauty," Miss Thorley was honest enough to say. Her sense of +color was delighted at the play of sunshine on George Washington's gray +overcoat which had caught a warm glow from the red asters. "Wake him +up, Mary Rose. You really can't see a cat asleep any more than you can +a baby." + +"Shall I?" Mary Rose would never in the world have disturbed a +sleeping baby and for the same reason she hesitated before a sleeping +cat. And while she hesitated Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and their +voices woke George Washington. He sprang up, artfully eluding bowl and +ferns, and stood in the sunlight stretching himself. He looked at Mary +Rose and at Miss Thorley and at Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary with his calm +yellow eyes. + +"That's a lot better than waking him," Mary Rose clapped her hands. "I +can't bear to waken anyone for fear of interrupting a dream. +Sometimes," she went on thoughtfully, "I'd give most anything to know +what's inside of George Washington's mind. He looks so wise. Isn't he +splendid?" she asked Miss Thorley, who had flushed uncomfortably when +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and who now was standing rather stiffly +conscious, wishing with all her heart she had never come. Mary Rose +caught her cat and brought him to Miss Thorley. "You tell her how +self-supporting he is?" she asked Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary in a voice that +reeked with pride. + +"I think I can tell that story better than Aunt Mary." And lo and +behold, there was Mr. Jerry himself in the doorway, an unusual color in +his brown cheeks, a reproachful look in his eye. + +Miss Thorley's face had more color than usual, also, as she bowed +coldly, but Mary Rose flew to take his hand. + +"I'm so glad you came back. We saw you drive away but we had to come +now for Miss Thorley's going to be so awfully busy that she couldn't +come for weeks and weeks." + +"Is she?" Mr. Jerry looked oddly at Miss Thorley, but Miss Thorley +refused to look at him. "The best laid plans of mice and men," he said +meaningly and paused until Mary Rose squeezed his hand. + +"Are you telling her about George Washington?" she whispered. + +He laughed and after a moment a faint smile lifted the corners of Miss +Thorley's lips. Mr. Jerry drew a sigh of relief and sat down. + +"That's better," he said. "No, Mary Rose, I was not just then +referring to George Washington, but I can assure you that he is +untiringly on the job. He brought a dead mouse to me at six o'clock +this morning. At six o'clock!" impressively. "I thought I had the +nightmare when I opened my eyes and saw old George standing there with +a mouse in his mouth. He's working overtime. He should take a rest. +He'll injure his health if he attends too strictly to business, Mary +Rose." + +"I know." Mary Rose nodded a wise head. "Too much work doesn't make +good red blood. Aunt Kate was just telling us, wasn't she, Miss +Thorley, that all the money you make won't buy good times nor red +blood. She was telling us that very thing not ten minutes ago." Mary +Rose was overjoyed to hear Mr. Jerry confirm what Aunt Kate had said. +Now, of course, Miss Thorley would have to believe that it was true. + +"Your Aunt Kate is a very wise, wise woman. It's a pity others can't +see it." He sighed and looked at Miss Thorley, who stroked George +Washington's gray overcoat and refused to lift her eyes to meet his. + +"If they could they'd have old heads on young shoulders, perhaps," +suggested Mary Rose. "You wouldn't like that, would you? Just suppose +Mrs. Schuneman's head was on Miss Thorley's shoulders. How would you +like that?" + +"I shouldn't like it at all. I shouldn't want any head on Miss +Thorley's shoulders but her very own. It suits me there--perfectly." +Mr. Jerry eyed Miss Thorley rather critically and screwed his eyes half +shut as Miss Thorley did when she was looking at the model she was +painting, and his voice was as firm as a voice could be. "Even to have +her as wise as your Aunt Kate I shouldn't want her to have Mrs. +Schuneman's head." + +"And just suppose you had Mr. Wells' head and he had yours?" giggled +Mary Rose. + +Mr. Jerry tweaked her pink ear. "Mr. Wells wouldn't keep my head for a +minute. Perhaps it is just as well to leave heads where they are." + +"I used to want to change mine," Mary Rose confided to them soberly. +"You know I've millions of freckles and my hair's as straight as a +string. Nobody ever thinks I'm pretty like Gladys. One day Mrs. Evans +told me that pretty is as pretty does and for almost a week I did my +best to do pretty, the very prettiest I knew how. But no one ever +stopped and said, 'What a beautiful child,' as they do when they see +Gladys. Gladys is afraid of dogs and she screams when she sees a +mouse. She's even afraid of her tables. So I tried to think I had +more real good times by being brave instead of beautiful. Oh!" she +broke off with a squeal of delight, for Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought +in a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of little cakes gay with white and +pink frosting. "Oh, Miss Thorley! aren't you glad now that you came?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Long before school began Mary Rose had established an acquaintance, if +not a friendship, with all the people who lived in the Washington. Not +only did she know them herself, but she was the means of many of them +knowing others. Mrs. Schuneman and Mrs. Johnson often went to the park +together now to feed the squirrels which Mary Rose was firmly convinced +the Lord had placed there for those who could not have pets in their +homes. Mrs. Matchan had promised to play at one of Mrs. Bracken's club +meetings and Mrs. Rawson and her machine were making garments for the +children's ward of the new hospital in which Mrs. Willoughby had become +interested. + +Until Mary Rose came neither Miss Adams nor Mrs. Smith knew that the +other was a slave to the crochet hook. Mary Rose arranged an exchange +of patterns and when a pineapple border proved too complicated to be +worked out alone she brought expert aid and Miss Adams no longer hated +the Washington. It was Mary Rose who discovered that old Mr. Jarvis +and young Mr. Wilcox were graduates of the same college and that Mr. +Blake's grandfather and Mrs. Bracken's grandmother had once sung in the +same church choir. Miss Carter and Bob Strahan were often seen +strolling together and more than once they had transported Mary Rose to +the seventh heaven of delight by taking her to a moving picture show. + +Mary Rose's friendliness had had an effect with the maids as well as +the mistresses. When she had found Mrs. Johnson's Hilda crying because +she didn't know anyone in Waloo and was so homesick and lonesome she +didn't think she'd stay, Mary Rose went down and asked Mrs. Schuneman's +Mina if she wouldn't please be a little friendly to a new friend of +hers. + +Mina had stared at her with her big china blue eyes and said she +wouldn't do it for anyone else, but since Mary Rose had come Mrs. +Schuneman had let up a little on her everlasting nagging, so she felt +she owed her a favor and she'd go up that very evening. + +It was Mary Rose who soothed Ida at Mrs. Rawson's when she took it into +her head that she could not work in the same building with a Japanese. + +"You're a Norwegian, aren't you, Ida? So you're a foreigner just as +Mr. Sako is. I suppose he thinks Norwegians are just as strange as you +think Japanese. Countries are like families, I guess; you think your +own is the best in the world. But I don't believe that God was so good +to the Norwegians that he made them the best. He had to divide the +good things just as I do when I have any candy. I give some to Aunt +Kate and some to Uncle Larry and once I gave a chocolate to you, Ida. +I wish you'd try and be polite to Mr. Sako. You don't need to be +intimate friends if you don't want to. Just think what a splendid +chance you have to learn about Japan." + +Ida had stared at her as Lena had done, but she told Mrs. Rawson that +she'd changed her mind and she wouldn't leave on account of any Jap, +she wouldn't be driven away by any yellow man. She guessed that +Norwegians were as good as Japanese any day. + +There were many things that puzzled Mary Rose but almost as many that +pleased her. + +"I've enjoyed living in Waloo," she told Mr. Jerry one evening as they +sat under the apple tree. "I didn't think I would at first. I thought +I'd die to have to live in a place where there couldn't be any children +nor any pets, but everyone's so friendly I mean--almost every one. I +do think the Lord did just right when he made people instead of +stopping, as he might have done, with horses and lions and monkeys. +Did you ever think how strange it would be if there wasn't any you nor +any Miss Thorley nor any Mrs. Schuneman nor any Mr. Wells," she spoke +the last name in a whisper, "but just animals and vegetables and birds? +Sometimes I can't understand how the Lord ever did think of making so +many different things. I suppose it was just because He was the Lord. +That's what Aunt Kate said when I asked her. But I shall be glad to go +to school, Mr. Jerry, because then I'll know some children. You know +in Mifflin I played almost all the time with children, Gladys and Mary +Mallow and Lucy Norris and Harry Mann and lots of others, but here I +don't seem to know anyone but grown-ups. They're very nice grown-ups. +I just love you, Mr. Jerry, and your Aunt Mary and the enchanted +princess! Do you think you'll ever be able to break the spell of that +wicked witch Independence?" anxiously. "You know I don't think she's +just happy. Aunt Kate doesn't either. She thinks it's red corpuscles +but I really believe it's that Independence. We must do something, Mr. +Jerry. And I love Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan and Mrs. Schuneman and +Grandma Johnson and everybody else. Isn't a heart the biggest thing? +Mine has room for Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and all +the other pets I ever had or ever will have and for all the people that +were made. It's--it's--" she frowned--"very elastic, isn't it? You +have an elastic one, too, Mr. Jerry, or you'd never have taken in +George Washington and Solomon and Jimmie Bronson. You're a bachelor, +aren't you?" + +Mr. Jerry looked quite dazed as he attempted to keep up with Mary +Rose's subjects. He sighed as he acknowledged that he was a bachelor. + +"Is it because when you look at a girl you see how much she costs?" +Mary Rose had worried over that. "Because really Miss Thorley doesn't +cost so much. She told Aunt Kate she didn't. She said appearances +were deceitful and the most costly looking girls were often the +cheapest. Of course, you needn't tell me if you don't want to," +remembering, alas, too late, that Miss Thorley had told her that one +should not ask personal questions. She drew a deep sigh. "I'm so +full, just so plumb full of questions I've got to spill some of them +out once in a while." + +"To be sure you have!" Mr. Jerry was the most understanding person. +"When I was your age I was nothing but a walking question." + +"Weren't you?" admiringly. "And did people answer your questions? +They usually say to me, 'Run along, child, I'm busy' or 'Never mind +that now, you'll know soon enough.' It's a very, very puzzling world, +isn't it, with so many things you don't understand. That's another +reason I'm so glad to go to school. The day after the day after the +day after tomorrow, Mr. Jerry, my Aunt Kate's going to take me. I've +never been to a city school so I can imagine it's just like a palace +with gold seats for the children and thrones for the teachers who are +all fairy princesses with beautiful golden hair and white satin +dresses." + +"Mary Rose! Oh, Mary Rose!" Mr. Jerry regarded her sadly. "You are a +living proof that anticipation is greater than any old participation. +I'm only doing you a kindness when I tell you that there is not a +golden seat for any child in the Lincoln School. There isn't even one +throne. And if you don't have an old witch for a teacher instead of a +golden-haired fairy I'm a goat. I tell you this for your own good, +Mary Rose, believe me." + +Mary Rose shook her head until her hair refused to stay in the ribbon +Aunt Kate had tied on it. "All the same I'm going to believe in the +golden seats. They are pleasant things to think of." + +It was the next day that she was in the hall with Jenny Lind. They had +been calling on Mrs. Schuneman and Germania and had had a pleasant +time. Mary Rose had eaten two pieces of coffee cake and drunk a glass +of ginger ale and Jenny Lind had had a crumb of coffee cake which +seemed to be all she cared for. + +Mrs. Schuneman had told Mary Rose a great secret, that Lottie was going +to be married to the brother of one of her bridge-playing friends and +that Mary Rose might come to the wedding. Mary Rose was so excited she +could scarcely speak. She had never been to a wedding in all of her +"going on fourteen" years. + +"I've been to three funerals and a revival meeting--" ecstasy made her +voice tremble--"but I've never been to a wedding. Gladys went to one +and she said it was grand. Her grandmother cried all the time and her +grandfather blew his nose six times. Gladys counted. Oh, Mrs. +Schuneman, will Miss Lottie really invite me? It would be something," +and she clasped her hands as she stood in front of Mrs. Schuneman, "for +me to remember all of my life!" + +"Sure, she'll invite you, you and Jenny Lind. She can hang in the +window with Germania and sing for the bride." + +Mary Rose threw herself against Mrs. Schuneman. "I wouldn't exchange +you for Cinderella's godmother!" she half sobbed. "I'd rather go to a +wedding than have a dozen pumpkin coaches. Jenny Lind and I can't tell +you how obliged we are." + +She was in a whirl of excitement as she shut the door. She heard her +name called softly from above and looking up she saw Miss Carter's face +smiling down at her from the third floor. + +"Oh, Mary Rose, honey," came the soft whisper. "There's a package +there for me, parcel post. You know they don't come up. Will you +bring it to me? I'm not dressed to go down. Do, there's a love!" + +Mary Rose ran into the vestibule and found a parcel addressed to Miss +Blanche Carter. It was rather a large package and Mary Rose's arms +were not so long as they would be some day. She looked dubiously from +the package to Jenny Lind. + +"You'll just have to stay by yourself a minute, Jenny Lind. It's lucky +for you that the law doesn't let the cats come into this house." + +She put the cage on the flat top of the newel post and, taking Miss +Carter's package in her arms, she went up as fast as she could. She +had to tell Miss Carter of Lottie Schuneman's wedding and of the +invitation that she and Jenny Lind were to receive, and Miss Carter had +to open the parcel and show the contents to Mary Rose, so that it was +several minutes instead of one before Mary Rose ran downstairs. + +The newel post was empty. There was no bird cage with a yellow canary, +on it. Mary Rose couldn't believe there wasn't and looked again. She +was frightened. + +"Jenny Lind!" she called. "Jenny Lind!" Perhaps someone had taken the +cage to tease her. Perhaps there had been a new law and birds were not +allowed in the house. Perhaps a cat had slipped in regardless of the +fact that cats were forbidden. But no cat could have carried the cage +out of the front door. Mary Rose wrung her hands in horror and ran to +knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door. Mrs. Schuneman cried out in dismay. + +"Why didn't you leave her with me?" + +"I didn't want to bother you when you'd been so kind," faltered Mary +Rose. "Where can she be? Perhaps Uncle Larry took her home." + +But neither Uncle Larry nor Aunt Kate had taken Jenny Lind to the +basement flat. Aunt Kate shook her head when Mary Rose told what had +happened and followed her up to look at the empty newel post. She +could only suggest feebly that someone must have taken the bird. "For +a joke," she added when she saw Mary Rose's frightened face. + +"A nice kind of a joke to frighten a child to death," grunted Mrs. +Schuneman. "Here, Mary Rose, we'll knock on every door and ask. I'll +go with you and if anyone is playing a joke they'll stop when they see +me." + +She looked quite grim enough to frighten any joker as they went from +door to door. But no one had seen Jenny Lind. No one had heard of +her. Mrs. Johnson and Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and Mrs. +Willoughby came out on the second-floor landing and said what a shame +it was, and on the third floor Mrs. Matchan and Miss Adams and Miss +Proctor and Miss Carter talked together and tried to comfort Mary Rose. + +But all the talking on all three floors did not bring Jenny Lind back. +Mary Rose pressed her face close to Aunt Kate and tried not to cry and +to believe the conscience-stricken Miss Carter when she said that Jenny +Lind was all right, they'd find her before Mary Rose could say Jack +Robinson. + +"She's all I had here of my very own," hiccoughed Mary Rose; "I had to +board out my cat and loan my dog. I've had her for years and years. +It doesn't seem just fair for anyone to take her from me." + +"You can have Germania," promised Mrs. Schuneman, to the surprise of +all who heard her. "I'll be busy with the wedding and won't have time +to take care of her," she added kindly so that Mary Rose would think it +was a favor to take her bird. + +"But Germania's yours and Jenny Lind was--was mine. They can't ever be +the same, though I'm much obliged, Mrs. Schuneman. Oh, where can she +be, Aunt Kate? Where can she be?" + +"Yes, where can she be?" repeated Grandma Johnson helplessly. + +"We'll advertise," promised Bob Strahan, who had come in and heard the +sad story of Jenny Lind's disappearance. "Just you keep a stiff upper +lip, Mary Rose. We'll find your bird." + +They were all talking at once and advising Mary Rose to keep her upper +lip stiff when Mr. Wells slammed the door behind him. He stopped when +he saw the group around the newel post. + +"What's the matter?" he scowled, and his voice was like the bark of a +dog to Mrs. Donovan's nervous ear. "What's the matter?" + +It was Mrs. Schuneman who told him. She had never dared to speak to +him before. He looked oddly from one to the other and last of all at +Mary Rose whose upper lip just wouldn't stay stiff. + +"It is only what you should expect," he said, as he went on up the +stairs. "Pets are not allowed in this building." + +"I wish grouches weren't," muttered Bob Strahan to Miss Carter, who was +almost as tearful as Mary Rose. + +"Brute!" she answered. "If he had been here I should think he had +something to do with Jenny Lind's disappearance." + +"That Jap of his was here," suggested Bob Strahan, but no one paid any +attention to him then. + +"Come down with me, dearie," whispered Aunt Kate, whose ruddy cheeks +had lost their color under the cold stare of Mr. Wells. "We mustn't +make any disturbance here. Come down an' tell Uncle Larry. P'rhaps he +can help us." + +"It's not--not knowing where she is or what's happened to her," Mary +Rose gulped. "If she was well and comfortable I'd--I'd try to be +resigned, but when I don't know, Aunt Kate! When I don't know!" + +"Nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said promptly. "No one +would hurt Jenny Lind. She is a valuable bird. I expect she was +stolen and we'll find her at a bird store. The thief would be sure to +sell her right away, before he was caught. I'll look up the bird +shops." + +"Do!" begged Miss Carter, who wished from the very bottom of her heart +that she had never asked Mary Rose to bring up her parcel post package. +"I have half a mind to go with you." + +"Be generous and have a whole mind. Poor little kid," he looked after +Mary Rose as Aunt Kate half carried her down. "It's a thundering +shame. Lord! I'm almost ready to think old grouch Wells did have a +hand in this. Did you see his face? He's had it in for Mary Rose ever +since she came." + +Aunt Kate sat down in the big rocker and drew Mary Rose close to her +heart. "Don't you fret yourself, Mary Rose," she said with her lips +against Mary Rose's tear-stained face. "We'll find Jenny Lind. Sure, +we'll find her. Just you pretend she's gone for a visit. You've +loaned her to 'most everyone in the buildin', just you pretend she's +loaned now." + +"It's easy enough to pretend when you don't have to, Aunt Kate, but it +isn't so easy when you know the truth," sobbed Mary Rose. + +When Uncle Larry heard what had happened he shut his jaws with a click +and a stern look came into his mild blue eyes. + +"Of course someone took her," he said, patting Mary Rose's shoulder +with a comforting hand. "But don't you worry, Mary Rose. A janitor +can go into any flat in this building, so if someone is hiding her for +fun or meanness I'll find out. An' if it's anyone outside, well, what +are the police for if not to help folks? I'll just speak to Officer +Murphy to be on the safe side." + +He seemed so helpful and confident that Mary Rose stopped crying and +tried to feel confident, also. + +"Perhaps someone in the house did take her for company, but I think it +would have been more polite if they'd said something to me," she +murmured. + +"It's more likely that one of the old cranks thought the bird was a +nuisance and wrung its neck," frowned Uncle Larry when he spoke to Aunt +Kate alone. He did not seem half so confident as when he had spoken to +Mary Rose. "There are folks not so many miles away who'd not stop to +think whether they broke a kid's heart or not so long as they had their +way. I declare, Kate, I'm 'most sorry you didn't leave her in Mifflin. +From all she says folks were kind to her there." + +"Well, I'm not sorry!" Aunt Kate's voice was emphatic. "It breaks my +heart to have her hurt, but we'll just have to keep remindin' her of +what she has left, although it seems if it was little enough. First +her mother an' then her father, her cat put out to board an' her dog +the same as given away, an' now her bird's stolen. You might almost +think that Providence was pickin' on the little thing." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Jerry Longworthy went up the steps of the Washington and eyed the long +row of mail boxes that ran down two sides of the vestibule, until he +came to one whose card read, "Miss Elizabeth Thorley, Miss Blanche +Carter." He touched the bell beneath. + +"Is Miss Thorley in? This is Jerry Longworthy. I want to speak to you +about Mary Rose." + +"Oh, do come up!" The voice was very eager and hospitable as it came +swiftly down the tube, and Mr. Jerry obeyed it almost as swiftly. + +Miss Thorley met him in the hall on the third floor. She wore a little +lingerie frock of white voile, tucked and inset with lace and girdled +with pink satin. It was collarless and her hair was done high on her +head so that little locks escaped from the pins and rested on her white +neck. She looked about eighteen as she greeted Mr. Jerry. + +He held her hand much longer than she thought was necessary and she +flushed as she drew it from him. He looked around the big pleasant +room as if he were glad to be in it. + +"It's a long time since I was here," he said in a low voice, not as if +he meant to say it but as if he had to. + +It seemed long to her now, too, and when she answered, it was as Mr. +Jerry had spoken, as if the words came of their own will. + +"It is a long time." If Aunt Kate had seen her then she would not have +worried over any lack of red "corpuskles." A goodly number of them +slipped into Miss Thorley's face and dyed it pinker than her girdle. + +A flame was lighted in Mr. Jerry's eyes and he stepped quickly forward. +She shrank back behind the high morris chair and he stopped suddenly. + +"Long enough to prove to you that love is the biggest thing in the +world?" he asked gently, but there was a tremble in his voice that +thrilled her down to her very heels. "Oh, my dear, has it? Work and +independence are all well enough but they can't take the place of +love." His eyes watched her hungrily, but as the color left her cheeks +as quickly as it had come and she shook her head, he went on more +slowly and there was no longer a wistful tremble in his voice to thrill +her to her heels. "You remember the night when you offered me +friendship instead of love and I scornfully refused the half loaf?" +She nodded almost mechanically, her eyes on her fingers as they pleated +a fold of her frock. "Well, I've changed my mind. Mary Rose has shown +me that friends may have a big place in one's life and if you can't +give me anything more I'm going to be satisfied with your friendship. +May I have that?" He held out his hand. + +"Oh!" It was a startled little gasp and it was a startled little +glance that she gave him. "Is--is that what you came for?" If his +ears had been sharper he would have caught a tiny note of +disappointment in the question as if she had expected him to ask for +more. + +"It isn't what I came for," he acknowledged honestly. "But I wanted to +tell you so you wouldn't keep on avoiding me as if I had the plague. +The other afternoon you wouldn't have come over if you had thought I +would be back?" + +A red banner in each cheek convicted her. + +"We're neighbors and friends of Mary Rose," he went on slowly, "so +we'll doubtless meet more or less and I'd like to feel that you trust +me, that we are friends. But, honestly, I came tonight to talk of Mary +Rose." + +She would be glad to talk of Mary Rose, glad to talk of anyone but +herself, and she left the morris chair that had proved such a safe +shelter and took a gaily cushioned wicker one on the other side of the +room. + +"Isn't it a shame?" she asked a bit breathlessly. "I can't imagine how +anyone who has seen that ducky child with her birdcage could have had +the heart to steal her canary." + +"Surely you don't think anyone who knew her took Jenny Lind?" He was +astonished. + +"Everyone says that Mr. Wells has acted very oddly. And Mary Rose told +me herself that he swore at Jenny Lind. He's as hard as nails, you can +see it in his face. I've heard that he has complained to Brown and +Lawson that the leases are not lived up to and that there is a child in +the house. When you put two and two together you can't make much but +four out of the result." + +"The old murderer!" scowled Mr. Jerry. "If that's true I'd like--I'd +like----" + +"So would I!" Miss Thorley agreed with him heartily. + +"Jim said something of the sort, but I told him he was crazy. He said +he was going up the fire escape and see if he couldn't find the bird in +Wells' flat, but I laughed at him. I didn't know the old man had +complained of Mary Rose. Of Mary Rose!" he repeated, as if he could +not understand how anyone could complain of Mary Rose. Mary Rose had +been a joy to him ever since he had looked up from his car and seen her +standing there in the boys' blue serge and with George Washington in +her arms. + +Miss Thorley nodded. "I'd hate to think what this house would be +without her. She seems to have warmed it from the top to the basement. +Perhaps you won't understand when I say it's as if she had humanized +it. I'd hate to have it overrun with children!" hastily as she caught +the sudden flash of Mr. Jerry's eyes. "But Mary Rose--Mary Rose is +different." + +"Why don't you tenants get up a petition of some kind? It wouldn't do +any harm to let the owner know that the rest of you are strong for the +Donovans and Mary Rose." + +"No one knows who the owner is. All business is transacted through the +agents." + +"The agents know," wisely. "It won't do any harm and it might do some +good. The complaints of one tenant won't weigh as much as the requests +of a dozen, believe me." + +Miss Thorley drew her black brows together until they formed a line +across her white forehead. + +"I believe you're right," she said after a pause. "I'll ask Mr. +Strahan to write one and we'll have all the tenants sign it. But that +won't bring back the canary," forlornly. + +"No, it won't bring back the canary," he repeated. "We'll have to get +another pet for Mary Rose, one that she may have in the flat. No, not +a canary. That wouldn't do at all. But I thought perhaps some +goldfish. She loves to watch a couple Aunt Mary has. Once she +borrowed them." + +"I know, for company for Mr. Wells when he was ill." + +"Goldfish would give her something to think of until school opens. +After that she'll have enough to do to keep her occupied." + +Miss Thorley looked at him with surprise. "Do you know, that's really +very thoughtful. I've been trying to think what I could do and I +couldn't get beyond another bird. I had sense enough to see that that +would never do." + +"No, another bird wouldn't do. And tomorrow--I wondered if tomorrow +you and Mary Rose wouldn't go off for the day in the car with Aunt Mary +and me? We might run down to Blue Heron Lake for dinner. Mary Rose +loves to motor." + +"Why not take your aunt and Mary Rose? I'm afraid I----" + +"Nothing doing!" he interrupted firmly. "Can't you trust me?" He +looked her straight in the eyes as he asked. "I swear I won't say a +word of love. We're friends now, you know, not--not lovers. And Mary +Rose adores you. She'd go through fire and water for you. Honest, she +wouldn't be contented with me and Aunt Mary, but I know it would be all +right if you were along." + +She hesitated and bit her lip before she finally shrugged her shoulders +and said: "Oh, very well. I'll go for Mary Rose." + +"I knew you would. I knew you'd see the big sister, the humanitarian +philanthropic friendly side of it." There was more than the hint of a +twinkle in his eyes. "And one more thing." Mr. Jerry firmly believed +in striking the iron before it had any chance to cool. "They have +goldfish for sale over at the drug store on Twenty-eighth Street. +Won't you walk over with me and help pick out a few? I'd like Mary +Rose to find them when she wakes up in the morning." + +She did not hesitate over this request. Perhaps she realized what a +very persuasive way he had, for she laughed softly. + +"I'll go. I'd do more than that for Mary Rose." + +On the way they met Miss Carter and Bob Strahan returning from a +fruitless quest among the bird stores. But if they had not found Jenny +Lind they had explained the situation to the proprietors of the shops +and each of them had promised on his word of honor to telephone to Mr. +Strahan the very minute that a canary was offered for sale. + +The four went together to the drug store and after the globe had been +bought and they had selected the half-dozen fish that were to live in +it, they loitered at a little table over their ice cream. + +"Gosh!" suddenly exclaimed Bob Strahan. "I'm glad I'm not built on the +plans and specifications that produced old Wells. I shouldn't want the +theft of a kid's canary on my conscience." + +"He will insist that Mr. Wells knows all about it," Miss Carter said +mournfully. She could not help but feel that she was to blame. If she +hadn't asked Mary Rose to bring up the parcel post package Jenny Lind +might never have disappeared. + +"Why?" asked Mr. Jerry curiously. + +"Because!" Miss Carter and Bob Strahan made the rather unsatisfactory +explanation a duet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +When Mary Rose opened her eyes the next morning the very first thing +she saw was the glass globe in which flashing sunbeams seemed to dart. + +"Why--why!" cried amazed Mary Rose, and she sat bolt upright. + +Aunt Kate heard her and came in. "Do you like them, honey? Mr. Jerry +and Miss Thorley brought them in last night. Mr. Jerry said you liked +his aunt's goldfish, so he was sure you'd like some of your own." + +"Did he?" All the gladness slipped from her face and voice as she +remembered the pet she had lost. "You know, Aunt Kate, last night I +just about decided I'd never have another pet. I'm--I'm so unlucky +with them." Her lip quivered. "I don't seem to be able to keep one +thing that really belongs to me." + +"Nonsense!" Aunt Kate took her in her arms and kissed her. "You'll +keep me and your Uncle Larry. You can't lose us. Aren't they pretty?" +She tapped the glass globe. "Seems if a body'd never get tired of +lookin' at 'em. But get dressed, dearie. Breakfas's most ready an' +Mr. Jerry wants you to go out to Blue Heron Lake in his motor car. His +aunt an' Miss Thorley are goin' too. You're to be away all day an' +have your dinner at a big hotel." + +Not eighteen hours before Mary Rose would have danced and clapped her +hands at such a delectable prospect, but now she lay back on her pillow +and looked at her aunt. Two big tears gathered in her eyes. + +"I can't go. Suppose we'd hear something from Jenny Lind." + +"As if I wouldn't be here, an' your Uncle Larry. An' Jimmie Bronson's +goin' to keep an eye on the cat an' dog. To be sure you're goin', +dearie. Put your clothes on. Your breakfas's near ready an' your +uncle's starvin'." And to avoid any further argument she bustled away. + +Mary Rose lay and watched the goldfish for another sixty seconds and +the big tears dropped from her eyes to her pillow. But even if her +heart was broken she had to admire those flashes of gold in the clear +water. + +"They're so--so beautiful." She was surprised to find herself laughing +when one fish pushed against another. She had thought she never would +laugh again. She turned and hid her face. "No matter how beautiful +they are I shan't ever, forget you, Jenny Lind," she promised. "Ever! +I'm not the forgetting kind of a person and I'll never stop trying to +find you. May the good Lord take care of you now and evermore. Amen." +It wasn't exactly a prayer but it comforted Mary Rose as if it had been. + +She slipped out of bed and began to dress soberly and slowly instead of +singing and hurriedly as usual. When she had combed her hair and +washed her face and hands she went into her closet and came out with +the detested boys' suit of faded blue serge. Her red lips were pressed +into a firm line as she put it on. + +"My soul an' body!" exclaimed astonished Aunt Kate when she came in +with the coffeepot and saw a boyish little figure in the doorway. Mary +Rose ran to her. "I was so proud of wearing girls' clothes that maybe +that was the reason Jenny Lind was taken from me," she explained in a +whisper. "I just hate these, Aunt Kate. I despise them! But I'm +going to wear them. You know proud people are punished, the Bible says +so, and I was as proud--as proud as the proudest. That's the way I've +thought it out and that's why I put on this hateful suit this morning." + +"I think you're wrong, Mary Rose," began Aunt Kate, while Uncle Larry +put down the colored supplement that he had been holding out so +enticingly to look at his niece, who appeared smaller than ever in the +shabby blouse and shrunken knickers. "You haven't had so much to be +proud of, a few of Ella's old clothes. But if you feel better in +those, why, wear 'em. Where's your goldfish? Don't you want to show +'em to your uncle? Miss Thorley an' Mr. Jerry'll understand," she said +as Mary Rose ran to bring the goldfish. "An' I hate to argue with her +today. She can wear those now, but tomorrow she'll put on proper +girls' clothes to go to school. I don't care what Brown an' Lawson or +anyone else says. You hain't heard anythin' from them, have you?" + +"Nothin' yet, but it won't be good news when it comes. We'll have to +move, Kate. Ol' Wells has seen to that an' after last night I don't +care so much. If honest faithful work don't count for anythin' here I +dunno as I want to stay. I can find another job. It won't be as easy +as this. This was just velvet for a man like me." + +"Well, if they have the nerve to fire you just because you're givin' a +home to an orphan niece I hope Mr. Strahan writes it all over the front +of his paper. I'd like to see it in big red letters an' then maybe the +owner an' Mr. Wells'd be ashamed of themselves." + +"S-sh! S-sh!" cautioned Uncle Larry but not quickly enough, for Aunt +Kate's voice was shrill and excited and Mary Rose in her little room +heard every word. + +She stood and looked about her bewildered. It wasn't possible that +anyone, even the owner of the Washington, would take her Uncle Larry's +work from him just because a little girl was living with him? Aunt +Kate must be mistaken or perhaps she had misunderstood. She often +found herself mistaken in her ideas of what grown people meant. She +tried to think she was now as she took the globe and carried it +carefully into the dining-room and placed it on the table where the +sunlight fell on the fish and polished their golden scales. + +"That's what I call a han'some present," admired Uncle Larry in the +same hearty voice Mary Rose usually heard from him. + +She looked up quickly. He wouldn't speak like that if he were going to +lose his work. She hadn't understood. That was it. Children often +didn't understand grown people. + +"They are beautiful," she said softly. "I wasn't very welcoming to +them at first because I was afraid Mr. Jerry meant them to take the +place of darling Jenny Lind and nothing can do that--fish nor dogs nor +cats nor squirrels nor anything. But when I watched them swim I found +they could have a place of their very own and so I'm very glad now to +have them." + +"Of course you are. But eat your breakfas', child, or Mr. Jerry'll be +callin' for you before you're ready." + +That was a wonderful Sunday to Mary Rose. She sat on the front seat +beside Mr. Jerry and as neither of them felt much like talking they +enjoyed the silence. Mile after mile was left behind them and when +they began to pass through small towns and villages Mary Rose sat up +straighter. + +"They're like Mifflin, only different," she murmured vaguely. + +When they came to a little white meetinghouse standing all by itself +near the road Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary asked him to stop and let them go +to church. + +"It seems as if it would be rather pleasant to go to a simple service +such as they must have here," she suggested. + +"I'll put it to a vote," Mr. Jerry offered obligingly. "Mary Rose, +what do you say?" + +"Oh, let's!" she begged. "And I'll pretend I'm sitting with Gladys in +the Evans pew and that Mr. Mann is preaching." + +Mr. Jerry stopped the car by the roadside and they all stepped out. + +"What a doggone idiot I was," Mr. Jerry whispered to Miss Thorley as +they followed his Aunt Mary and Mary Rose; "I might just as well have +taken the kid to Mifflin as to Blue Heron Lake, but I never thought of +it." + +"This is better," Miss Thorley told him with pleasing promptness. +"Mifflin would have reminded her of Jenny Lind. You can take her there +some other day." + +"Will you go, too?" eagerly. "I'll go any day you say." + +But she only smiled over her shoulder as she went up the steps and into +the meetinghouse. A quiet peaceful hour followed and when the service +was over Mary Rose slipped one hand around Mr. Jerry's fingers and gave +the other to Miss Thorley. + +"I feel a lot better," she said. "I think it was awfully kind of that +minister to preach about sparrows. Jenny Lind isn't a sparrow but +she's a bird and when the Lord looks after sparrows so carefully I'm +sure he'd keep an eye on a canary." + +She was more like her old self as they went on, faster now, because, as +Mr. Jerry explained, they had to make up the time they had spent in +church and if they didn't reach the hotel at Blue Heron Lake in time +for dinner all the chicken breasts and legs would be eaten and there +would be nothing left for them but backbones and necks. + +"That's all Gladys ever has," Mary Rose told him importantly. "You see +they have such a big family that all the other pieces are gone before +it is her turn to be helped. She used to love to come to dinner at our +house so she could have a wishbone. When her grandmother dies she'll +have a leg." + +"My gracious!" murmured Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary. + +"My word!" giggled Miss Thorley. + +Fortunately they reached the hotel in time to have their choice of +chicken and everyone was glad to see that Mary Rose was hungry and +seemed to enjoy her dinner. After dinner they went for a ride on the +lake in a launch and then they sat in the shade of a dump of linden +trees and watched the bathers. + +"Why didn't I tell you to bring your bathing suits?" Mr. Jerry asked +suddenly. "What a dolt I was not to think of it." + +"You're not a dolt!" Mary Rose said indignantly, although she hadn't +the faintest idea what a dolt was. "And I couldn't have brought one +for I haven't one. And anyway I wouldn't care to make too merry +today." Her face clouded as she remembered why she did not wish to be +too merry. + +It was long, long after her bedtime when the car stopped in front of +the Washington and it was a very sleepy tired little girl who was taken +into Uncle Larry's strong arms. + +"I've had such a wonderful time," she murmured, half asleep. "Uncle +Larry, have you found Jenny Lind? We don't have to worry About her any +more because I know now the Lord has his eye on her." + +Uncle Larry looked over her head to Mr. Jerry. "I can't thank you, +sir," he said in a hushed voice, "but you've been a kind friend to the +little girl today." + +"She's such a darling one has to be kind to her." Miss Thorley +answered for Mr. Jerry and blushed when she realized it. "Don't you +bother, Mr. Donovan. I'm like Mary Rose, I know everything will be all +right." + +"I hope so, Miss Thorley. Thank you again, sir." And he went in with +Mary Rose asleep in his arms. + +"I can't thank you, either." Miss Thorley held out her hand to Mr. +Jerry after she had said good night to his Aunt Mary. "I've had a +perfect day and it was mighty good of you to plan it for Mary Rose." + +He took her hand in both of his. "It was mighty good of you to come +with Mary Rose and me. And we're going to be friends, now, real +friends?" he asked gently. + +She caught her breath and looked at him quickly. "Y-es," she said +slowly. "Of course, we'll be friends. I--I'm glad you are willing to +be friends." + +Mr. Jerry laughed oddly. "I've learned about the value of that half +loaf. Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Nothing had been heard of Jenny Lind. Jimmie Bronson had made a +surreptitious visit to Mr. Wells' apartment and had escaped only "by +the skin of his teeth," he assured Mr. Jerry. + +"I didn't get any further than the window before that Jap caught me and +I didn't see any birdcage. But I shan't give up, Mr. Longworthy. I'll +find that canary yet!" + +Everybody seemed more anxious now than Mary Rose. She was so confident +that the Lord had his eye on the missing Jenny Lind that she almost +stopped worrying. Aunt Kate resolutely refused to allow her to go to +the Lincoln School in the blue serge suit. + +"You'll wear proper clothes or you don't stir a step," she said +sternly. "An' if you don't go to school the truant officer'll come +here an' like enough I'll be arrested for not sendin' you. If you +don't want your poor aunt to go to jail you'll stand up an' put on this +dress I bought 'specially for you." + +She had not been able to resist a sale of children's clothes at the Big +Store and had bought three dresses for an eleven-year-old girl. She +brought one out that morning, a blue and green and red plaid gingham +with a white collar and a black patent leather belt. Mary Rose was +speechless with admiration when she saw it. But if she had been so +proud of Ella's old clothes that she had to be punished, what would she +be in this ducky dress? + +"I can't trust myself in it, Aunt Kate. It's too beautiful. It's fine +enough for a princess." + +But after Aunt Kate had explained that if Mary Rose did not wear the +dress she might have to go to jail Mary Rose had no choice. She would +have to wear the frock and go to school and try her very hardest not to +be proud. She had only to think of Jenny Lind to humble her spirit. + +She was very sedate as she walked with Aunt Kate. It did not seem +possible that at last she was going to enter the big school building +with towers and battlements enough for a fortress. + +"It is like a castle. I don't care what Mr. Jerry said," she told Aunt +Kate as they went up the steps and into the principal's office where a +pleasant-faced middle-aged lady looked questioningly at Mary Rose and +asked how old she was. + +From force of habit Aunt Kate said hastily: "Goin' on fourteen." + +"Fourteen!" The principal was plainly astonished. "She's very small +for her age. And backward if she is only in the sixth grade. She +should be in high school at fourteen. Has she been ill?" + +Backward! It was bad enough to be called small for her age, but to be +told that she was stupid was more than Mary Rose could bear in silence. +She opened her mouth to explain and then she remembered that she had +promised she would mortify her pride so she said never a word, although +she thought she would burst at having to keep quiet. But Aunt Kate's +pride was also touched and she stammered hurriedly that she should have +said her niece was going on eleven. + +"That sounds more normal." And the principal smiled as she led the way +into a big sunny room full of children. Mary Rose drew a sigh of +relief when she saw the teacher. Mr. Jerry was all wrong about her, +for she was not an old witch. She was as pretty a young woman as any +child could wish to have for a teacher. She smiled at Mary Rose in a +very friendly fashion and found her a seat beside a little girl with +wonderful long yellow curls. It was delightful to be with children +again and Mary Rose's face rivaled the sun. + +Aunt Kate had a strange ache in her heart as she watched her. Mary +Rose would make friends here, friends of her own age, and she would +miss her. But that was the way of the world, she thought +philosophically. When she was quite convinced that Mary Rose was happy +and contented and could find her way home alone she left the school. + +Mrs. Bracken called to her from her window as she passed and she went +in to be introduced to Mrs. Bracken's niece, Harriet White. + +"She is going to live with us," Mrs. Bracken explained, her arm around +Harriet's waist. "Isn't she a big girl for thirteen? I meant to be +back yesterday so she could start in school today, but we were delayed. +I was just telling her there was another little girl, Mary Rose, in the +building." + +Mrs. Donovan looked almost enviously at Harriet White who was thirteen +and who appeared at least two years older. How easy everything would +have been if Mary Rose had been as large. She sighed and then smiled, +for she knew that she would not change small Mary Rose for big Harriet +White if she had the chance. She gazed pleasantly at Mrs. Bracken, +whose face seemed to have found a new expression in Prairieville, and +said from the very depths of her heart: + +"If you enjoy her half as much as we enjoy our niece you'll consider +yourself a lucky woman to have her." + +"I know I'm a lucky woman," Mrs. Bracken answered heartily. "I never +realized what made this building seem almost depressing until Mary Rose +came into it. What is this Mrs. Schuneman tells me about Mary Rose's +bird? I'm so sorry. She was so attached to Jenny Lind. Do you really +think that Mr. Wells had anything to do with it?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Bracken, how could any man with a heart steal a child's pet +bird!" Mrs. Donovan tried her best to be discreet as she told the +story. + +"Of course, we all know that Mr. Wells is queer," Mrs. Bracken remarked +when she finished. "Mrs. Schuneman said she understood that he had +complained to Brown and Lawson, but don't you worry, Mrs. Donovan. Mr. +Wells is not the only tenant and I rather think the rest of us will +have something to say. If he objects to Harriet Mr. Bracken will tell +him quite plainly what he thinks. And there are others. We all like +Mr. Donovan. He's a good janitor, willing and pleasant, and we won't +let him be discharged without a protest. Perhaps I shouldn't tell you, +but Mr. Strahan has written out a petition to send to the owner and +everyone in the building will sign it, I know, except perhaps Mr. +Wells." And she laughed as if Mr. Wells' not signing the petition was +a joke. "One against twenty won't have much influence." + +Mrs. Donovan put out her hand and touched Mrs. Bracken's white fingers, +something she would not have dared to do two months earlier. "Thank +you for telling me that. Larry's tried, I know, and it isn't easy to +please so many people. We don't know who the owner is so we can only +talk to the agents, but a petition signed by everybody ought to prove +to them that Mary Rose isn't a nuisance." + +"Anything but a nuisance!" insisted Mrs. Bracken. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Mary Rose had decided to write a letter. The more she thought of what +she had heard her Aunt Kate say to her Uncle Larry that Sunday morning +the less she liked it. She would write to the owner of the Washington, +to the man who made laws so that children and cats and dogs were not +allowed in his house, and tell him just how it was; and then, why, of +course, he would say it was all right, that Uncle Larry could stay and +she could stay, and everything would be as it was except for Jenny +Lind. Her lip quivered as she tried hard to remember that the Lord had +his eye on Jenny Lind. + +She had a box of paper of her own with cunning Kewpie figures across +the top of each sheet. Miss Carter had given it to her one day when +Mary Rose told her of a letter she had received from Gladys. The +letter to the owner of the Washington was not as easy to write as the +answer to Gladys' note had been. She screwed her face into a frowning +knot as she tried to think what it was best for her to say. + + +DEAR MR. OWNER: [That much was easy.] + +This letter is from Mary Rose Crocker, who lives in the cellar of your +Washington house. I mean the basement. We call them cellars in +Mifflin where I used to live, but in Waloo they are basements. Uncle +Larry said you have a law that won't let children live in your house. +I don't understand that, for there have always been children. Adam and +Eve had them and most everybody but George Washington. He never did. +Is that why you named your house after him? My mother died when I was +a tweenty baby and my father is in Heaven with her, too, and I had to +leave Solomon, he's my dog, in Mifflin and board out my cat, but he's +self-supporting now and my bird has been stolen, so there isn't anyone +but just me in the cellar. I mean basement. Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry +are my only relatives on earth and if I don't live with them I'll have +to go to an orphan's home, which I shouldn't like at all. But if you +won't let Uncle Larry keep his job and me, too, of course I'll have to +go. I'll try and not make any noise and be quiet and good if you'll +please let me stay and please, please, I'm getting less of a child +every day. When I came I was going on eleven and now I'm almost going +on twelve, for my birthday is in two months. Aunt Kate doesn't know +I'm writing to you. Neither does Uncle Larry. I thought of it all +myself when I heard Uncle Larry tell Aunt Kate you were going to take +his job away if I lived with them. I know I shouldn't have listened, +but I did. Perhaps you've never been an orphan and don't know what it +means to have all your parents in Heaven when Gladys Evans has +twenty-seven relations here on earth. But I shall be much obliged if +you won't take Uncle Larry's job away from him and if you'll let me +live with him. God bless you and me. + + Your obedient servant and friend, + MARY ROSE CROCKER. + + +It was a long letter and quite covered two sheets of Kewpie paper. +There were many blots and more misspelled words. Mary Rose frowned as +she looked at it. It was the best she could do. She was uncertain how +to get it to the owner and she did not wish to ask her uncle. Mr. +Jerry could tell her. He knew everything. And holding the closely +written sheets in her hand she ran across the alley. + +Fortunately Mr. Jerry was alone under the apple tree. She handed him +the letter and watched his face anxiously while he read it. + +"Is it all right?" she begged. She had George Washington cuddled in +her arms and hid her face against his soft fur coat as she asked. "I +know the words aren't spelled right but I'm only in the sixth grade. +Perhaps I should have put that in? But is the meaning right?" + +Mr. Jerry coughed twice before he answered. "Just right, Mary Rose. +Exactly right! I couldn't have done it better and I've been to +college. Write on the envelope: 'To the Owner of the Washington' and +I'll take it over to the agents myself." + +"Oh, will you!" Mary Rose had been puzzled how to get it to the +agents. She decided then and there that she would never be puzzled +over anything again. Mr. Jerry could do everything. First he had +taken her cat and then her dog and her friend from Mifflin and now her +letter. Her heart was filled with a passionate devotion to him as she +laughed tremulously. She was both proud and happy to possess such a +resourceful friend. "Don't you think Mr. Owner sounds a little more +respectful? You see," her voice shook, for it meant so much to her, "I +don't know him at all. I've never had any chance to make friends with +him." + +With Mr. Jerry's fountain pen she wrote carefully: "Mr. Owner of the +Washington." + +Then she folded the letter smoothly and dropped a kiss on it before she +put it in the envelope. + +"Just for friendliness," she said when she met Mr. Jerry's eyes and she +blushed. Even her ears turned into pink roses. + +He caught her in his arms and hugged her. + +"Mary Rose," he said and his voice was not quite clear, "you're +absolutely the friendliest soul I know!" + +"That's what I try to be, Mr. Jerry." Her arm slipped up about his +neck. "Daddy said I was to be friendly and the friendlier I was the +easier it would be." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Mary Rose loved her school. It was too delightful to be with children +again and she made new friends rapidly. After supper she liked to run +up to the third floor and tell Miss Thorley and Miss Carter what a +wonderful day she had had and they always seemed glad to hear. She +often found Mr. Strahan there and generally there were grapes or pears +or peaches or candy to nibble while she told her tale. + +Mr. Strahan had written a lot of stories out of Mary Rose's experiences +and he grinned with delight as he heard her talk of school. He saw her +as a mine of human interest tales. + +"If it hadn't been for her I'd never have kept my job this summer," he +told Miss Carter and Miss Thorley, one night after Mary Rose had gone. +"The old man liked the stuff she told me and it gave me a chance to +show what I could do. I've a regular run now and a regular salary." +He looked across at Miss Carter and colored a bit. "My foot's on the +ladder now for keeps." + +Miss Carter laughed and colored a bit, too, as she hoped that his foot +was there "for keeps." Miss Thorley caught the exchange of glances +with an odd little contraction of her heart. Was that the way the wind +was blowing? Funny she hadn't noticed anything before. If Blanche +went away she would be left alone--alone with her work and her +independence. She shivered involuntarily. Once that had been all she +wanted. Why didn't they satisfy her now? They should satisfy her. +She'd work harder than ever on jam advertisements and when she had +saved a lot of money she'd go to New York and get a big position and +some people would have to admit that it would have been a waste to tie +her down to a humdrum--what was it Mary Rose had said?--"home for a +family." Her lip curled with scorn. Mary Rose was only a child. She +didn't know that homes and families were not the most important things +in the world. Someone else had told her what was the most important, +but she would not think of him. She just would not. And anyway all he +wanted now was friendship. Men were so constant. Her nose tilted. +She felt so much more scorn than a curled lip could express that her +nose had to tilt. But until she could save a lot of money and go to +New York she would stay right there in the Washington and listen to +Mary Rose's experiences at the Lincoln School. + +"It isn't like the school at Mifflin one bit, but I like it just the +same. And I've made a lot of new friends. I never realized how you +needed friends your own age until today. I've managed very well and +been happy until--until," she gulped as she remembered what had +happened to make her unhappy, "the other day, but it's such fun to have +friends your own size. There's that girl at Mrs. Bracken's. She's +older and bigger than I am, but Mrs. Bracken said we could be friends +and there isn't as much difference as there is between me and Grandma +Johnson. And we're friends. There's a boy with only one leg in my +class," importantly. "He's going to tell me how he lost the other one +tomorrow. And a girl, Anna Paulovitch. Isn't that a funny name? She +was born in O-Odessa, Russia. I never knew anyone who was born in +Russia before. It's very interesting. Do you know," her voice dropped +to a whisper, "that two years ago she lost all of her hair. She was +sick and it disappeared until now there isn't even a single solitary +hair on any part of her head. It's as bare, as bare," she looked about +for a comparison but could not find one that would suit her, "as +anything could be bare. It's very strange." + +"And does she go to school without any hair?" asked Bob Strahan, trying +to visualize Anna Paulovitch's bare pate. + +"Oh, no! You can't go to school without hair. So last summer Anna +picked berries for a farmer and saved every penny and soon she had +enough to buy a wig. Her own hair was black and she hated it. She +always wanted yellow curls and so when she bought her wig she bought +long yellow curls. They're perfectly beautiful. You'd never guess +they didn't grow on her own head. She showed me because I'm her +friend. We're in the same number class." + +"Ye gods! Long yellow curls on a swart-faced black-eyed Russian." Bob +Strahan laughed at the combination. + +Miss Carter looked at him reproachfully as she swung the conversation +to the safe subject of Mrs. Bracken's niece. + +"I wonder what Mr. Wells will have to say about her?" she asked. + +"He can't steal her canary for she hasn't one," muttered Bob Strahan. + +Mary Rose caught the words, low as they were uttered. + +"You don't think Mr. Wells has my Jenny Lind?" She was so astonished +that her eyes popped as far open as they could pop. "He hates birds. +He told me so himself when I offered to lend her to him. And we're +friends. Not friends like us but sort of friends. I'm sure he didn't +take her," she insisted. "I must go now. Aunt Kate said I could only +stay a minute. Good night." + +"I wish I could be as sure of old Wells as she is," Bob Strahan said +when the door closed behind her. + +Mary Rose hesitated as she came to Mr. Wells' door. She did not +believe that he had taken Jenny Lind and if he heard that people +thought he had, he would be so hurt and grieved. She would have to +stop and tell him that she didn't believe it, anyway, not for a moment, +and if he wanted to borrow her goldfish any time, he could. She'd be +glad to loan them to him. That would show how she trusted him. She +knocked rather timidly. Mr. Wells, himself, opened the door. + +"What d'you want?" he demanded gruffly. He had a letter in his hand +and he made Mary Rose feel as if she had interrupted very important +business. + +"I just stopped to tell you that no matter what other people say I know +you didn't steal Jenny Lind," she stammered. + +"Steal Jenny Lind!" he thundered. His face was one black frown. "Who +said I did? Come in." He motioned toward the living-room. + +"Everybody's saying so," faltered Mary Rose. "But I know you better +than they do. You couldn't steal the only pet a little orphan girl +had, could you?" + +Mr. Wells opened his mouth twice before he could say a word and then he +only grunted a sentence that Mary Rose could not understand. He threw +the letter he held on the table. An enclosure dropped from it and Mary +Rose saw that there were Kewpies across the top of the paper. She +recognized the writing also. + +"Why--why!" she stammered. She was so surprised that she could +scarcely speak at all. "That's my letter, the one I wrote to the owner +of this very house." + +A dull red crept up Mr. Wells' face into his grizzled hair. "Yes, I +know," he rumbled. "I'm a lawyer and the owner is a client of mine. +He gave it to me so I could advise him what to do." + +"And what will you advise?" asked Mary Rose after a breathless silence. +Her heart was beating so fast that she was almost choked. "Have you +read it?" + +"Yes, I've read it." + +"Uncle Larry and Aunt Kate don't know I wrote it. I just had to +because if Uncle Larry loses his job it's all my fault. Not all mine +really for it wasn't exactly my fault that my mother died when I was +six months old and that daddy went to Heaven in June so there was no +one left to take care of me but Aunt Kate. I've tried to be good," she +resolutely winked back a tear, "and not make trouble. Mrs. Schuneman +and Mrs. Bracken and Mr. Bracken and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan like me awfully. They +said so. I wish you'd please speak to them before you give your +advice. Will you?" eagerly. + +The frown on Mr. Wells' face grew very black and threatening. It made +Mary Rose's little heart jump right into her mouth and she shut her +white teeth tight so that it wouldn't jump out. + +"It's--it's awfully rude of me to speak of it," she went on in a low +shamed voice. "I shouldn't remind you, I know, but you are under an +obligation to me. I was neighborly when you were sick. I brought you +the goldfish. It isn't much that I ask, just for you to speak to the +tenements. If they say I'm a nuisance, why I won't say another word +because it's the law, but I _am_ getting bigger every day, now. +Please, promise me just that much?" + +And Mr. Wells promised. He couldn't very well refuse. Mary Rose +caught his hand and hugged it to her thumping little heart. + +"You're a kind, kind man," she said. "I know you are. I don't care +what people say. And you'll see I'm treated fair? That's all I ask, +Mr. Wells, honest it is! Just for the owner to be fair. Good night. +I'm going to tell everyone you didn't steal Jenny Lind." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +There was a short story in the Waloo _Gazette_ the next evening that +would have interested Mary Rose very much if she had read it. It was +one of the little incidents that have both a pathetic and a humorous +appeal and it was very well written. It told of a little black-haired +swarthy-skinned girl who had always longed for long yellow curls. When +illness robbed her of the hated, black locks she had resolutely set to +work to earn money to buy a wig that she might return to school. All +summer she worked under the hot sun, picking berries for a neighboring +farmer, her bald head covered with a ragged straw hat, and when the +last berry was gathered and she had the required sum she had +triumphantly purchased the long yellow curls she had craved always. +And now, prouder than any queen, she was attending the Lincoln School. +It was the sort of story that a city editor likes for it brings shoals +of letters with offers of help, to the newspaper office, and proves in +a most practical way that it has been read. + +Usually Mary Rose was home from school by four o'clock for at half-past +three her room was dismissed and it never took her more than half an +hour to say good-by to her numerous new friends and dawdle home. + +But the afternoon after the story of the yellow-curls appeared in the +_Gazette_, Mary Rose was not at home at four o'clock. She was not at +home at half-past four. Mrs. Donovan looked uneasily at the clock. It +was not like Mary Rose to be so dilatory. At a quarter to five Mrs. +Donovan put on her hat and walked up the street. She would go and meet +Mary Rose. Perhaps the child had been kept after school, perhaps she +had stopped to play in spite of the fact that she had been told she +must come straight home from school always. + +Mrs. Donovan walked the six blocks to the Lincoln School without seeing +as much as the hem of Mary Rose's gingham skirt. The big school +building loomed up in front of her silent and forlorn. She stared at +it before she went up the steps and tried to open the door. It was +locked. Then Mary Rose had not been kept after school. Where could +she be? She might have gone home a different way so as to walk with +one of her new friends. Of course, she was safe at home by now. Mrs. +Donovan retraced her steps very hurriedly but she found no Mary Rose in +the basement flat. It was so strange that she was worried. Where +could the child be? + +Suddenly she laughed unsteadily. What a fool she was. To be sure, +Mary Rose had stopped to see Mrs. Schuneman or to exchange experiences +with Harriet White who was now attending the Lincoln School, too. She +ran up to the first floor to knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door and say +breathlessly that she wanted to speak to Mary Rose at once. Mrs. +Schuneman heard her and followed Mina. + +"Mary Rose isn't here, Mrs. Donovan," she said. "Hasn't the little +minx come home yet?" + +"No, she hasn't!" Mrs. Donovan was most unpleasantly disappointed. "I +don't understand it. I've told her again and again that she was to +come straight home as soon as school was out. Then she could go out to +play. But she was to come home first." + +"Perhaps she's over to Mrs. Bracken's?" suggested Mrs. Schuneman and +she followed Mrs. Donovan across the hall. + +But Mary Rose was not at Mrs. Bracken's. Neither was she in any other +apartment in the Washington. Mrs. Donovan's ruddy face lost its color. + +"She can't be lost," she said, expecting Mrs. Schuneman promptly to +agree with her that Mary Rose could not be lost. "She's big enough to +know where she lives if she is only ten." She did not care now if +everybody knew how old Mary Rose really was. + +"Of course, she isn't lost," everyone told her soothingly. "She knows +where she belongs. Perhaps she is over at Longworthys'?" + +But neither Mr. Jerry nor his Aunt Mary had seen Mary Rose that day. +Jimmie Bronson, who came in while Mrs. Donovan was inquiring, had not +seen her since noon. Mrs. Donovan was very uneasy as she went home. + +"The little thing's that friendly and honest herself she thinks +everyone else is friendly. She don't know anythin' about city folks. +I wish she'd come," she told Mrs. Schuneman who came down to hear if +Mary Rose had been found. + +"You remember that girl over on Sixth Avenue who was kidnapped last--" +began Mrs. Schuneman and clapped her hand over her mouth, hoping Mrs. +Donovan had not heard. + +But she had heard and her face whitened. The minutes dragged slowly by +and Mary Rose did not come home. Larry Donovan was downtown and was +late, also. When he did come in he could not understand at first that +Mary Rose was missing. + +"She's in the house somewhere," he insisted, "with Miss Carter or old +lady Johnson." + +"I've inquired at every flat in the building," half sobbed Mrs. +Donovan. "I can't imagine where she is." + +"Who's her teacher?" asked Bob Strahan. "Do you know her name? I'll +telephone and ask her if she knows whether Mary Rose went off with any +of the kids." + +Mrs. Donovan stopped twisting a corner of her white apron. + +"Her teacher's name is Choate, Isabel Choate. But I dunno where she +lives," she wailed. + +"The directory does," Bob Strahan said encouragingly. "And so, I'm +sure, does the telephone book." + +He had no difficulty in getting Miss Choate on the telephone, but the +teacher only remembered that Mary Rose had left the building when the +other children did. She had seen her go out of the school yard with a +group of boys and girls. Who were they? She was sorry but she did not +remember. They had not impressed her. She had noticed no one but Mary +Rose, who had such a strong personality one had to notice her. She did +hope that nothing had happened to her and she, too, remembered the +little girl who had been kidnapped over on Sixth Avenue. + +"Of course, nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said hurriedly. +"She'll turn up all right." + +He told Mrs. Donovan the same thing when he went back and reported the +result of his interview. + +"What shall I do?" Mrs. Donovan was twisting the corners of her apron +into hard knots and her mouth twitched with nervousness. "She's never +been out so late as this since she came to Waloo. An' she's all alone! +I'll never forgive myself if anythin's happened to her." + +"We'll go over to the police station," suggested Mr. Jerry. "What did +she wear, Mrs. Donovan? The police will want a description of her +clothes." + +Mrs. Donovan sobbed as she described the blue and red and green gingham +frock with the white collar and black patent leather belt that had been +Mary Rose's pride. + +"We'll call up the hospitals, too," Mr. Jerry said to Bob Strahan as +they drove to the police station in his car. "It's just possible that +she has been hurt, an automobile or something, and taken to a hospital +If she was knocked unconscious she couldn't very well tell who she was." + +"Gee!" exclaimed big-eyed white-faced Jimmie Bronson, who had jumped +into the tonneau and was standing with his hands on the back of the +front seat, "I hope Mary Rose wasn't knocked insensible!" + +The police had heard nothing of any little girl who answered to the +description of Mary Rose but a careful note was made of what Mr. Jerry +and Bob Strahan had to say of her disappearance. There had been no +report of any accident in the district and no child had been kidnapped +so far as the police knew. Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan were +disappointed. They felt baffled. It didn't seem possible that a +little girl could have disappeared so completely as Mary Rose had +disappeared. When they drove back to the Washington, Jimmie was not +with them. He was going to make a few inquiries on his own hook, he +told the two men. + +"No news is good news, Mrs. Donovan," Mr. Jerry insisted. "Mary Rose +is all right. No one could harm her." + +"I wish I could believe that." Mrs. Donovan had lost control of +herself and was sobbing bitterly. "Here it is after ten o'clock an' we +don't know where the little thing is. Seems if bad luck was taggin' +her. It isn't a week since her bird was stolen and now--" she +shuddered and hid her face in her apron. + +"Nothing's happened to her," repeated Mrs. Schuneman with a poor +attempt at firmness. "Nothing could happen to a child like Mary Rose. +It's when you're looking for trouble that trouble comes, Mrs. Donovan, +and Mary Rose never looked for trouble. She was too busy looking for +friends." + +"That's what she always said," exclaimed Grandma Johnson; "that the +pleasant things come to the people who are looking for pleasant things +but, land! see what's happened to her and if anyone ever looked for +pleasantness it was Mary Rose. Why she even looked for it in us!" And +she laughed harshly. + +"And she found it, too," Mrs. Schuneman declared quickly. "Yes, she +did. She looked deep enough to find the pleasantness we didn't know +was there because we'd covered it up with so much disagreeableness. +I'm not ashamed to admit that she made me see that so long as you live +in a world with other people you owe some obligation to be agreeable to +them. If each of us did our share, as Mary Rose was always asking us +to do, we'd find this world a friendlier place than it is." + +"She must have said that to me a hundred times," sniffled Miss Adams. +"I knew she was right all the time but I wouldn't say so." + +"It's easy to get out of the habit of being friendly in the city," +murmured Mrs. Matchan. "It's different in the country." + +"I guess it's much the same, city or country. If she hadn't found +Germania for me I'd have been in an asylum by now," asserted Mrs. +Schuneman. "There I was all by myself and while a bird isn't a human +being, it's a lot of company. And it's through Germania and Mary Rose +that I've got acquainted with all of you." + +"If it hadn't been for Mary Rose I doubt if Mr. Bracken would have +asked me to go for Harriet," Mrs. Bracken said in a low voice. + +It seemed as if each of them had something to say of what Mary Rose had +done for her. Mary Rose's friendly nature, her undaunted belief in the +friendliness of people and of the world in which she lived had made +those whose lives she had touched develop friendliness also. The dozen +people gathered in the Donovan living-room said so, quite frankly. + +Suddenly the clock struck eleven times. Mrs. Donovan burst into a +perfect storm of tears. "She should have been in her bed hours ago!" +she sobbed. "An' where is she? Where's Mary Rose?" + +"Sh--sh!" There was a step on the stairs. It seemed as if everyone +stopped breathing to listen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Larry Donovan jumped to the door. + +But it was Mr. Wells' grim face that appeared in the circle of light +and his grimmer voice that asked harshly: + +"What's the matter? What's all this disturbance through the building, +Donovan? Every door is open and there's a general turmoil." + +They faced him indignantly, fellow tenants and janitor. Each had had +some experience with him that had been more unpleasant than pleasant. +All of them knew that he disliked Mary Rose, that he had complained to +the agents because she lived in the basement with the Donovans. Each +of them resented the selfishness that had brought him down to make +another complaint when all of them were so worried and anxious. It was +Bob Strahan who put some of this feeling into words. + +"No doubt you'll be glad to hear that Mary Rose, the little girl who +has been such a nuisance to you, has disappeared?" he said +sarcastically. + +Mr. Wells looked at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "What do you +mean?" he snapped. "What do you mean?" + +Everyone tried to tell him at once but Mrs. Donovan who was sobbing in +her apron and could not speak. Mr. Wells looked at her oddly. + +"Nonsense!" he said when the story was clear to him. "She's locked +herself in somewhere as she did once before." He had heard of the time +the wind had slammed Mrs. Bracken's door and shut Mary Rose inside. +"She's fallen asleep." + +"We've been in every flat but yours," Larry Donovan told him dully. + +"Everyone but mine?" repeated Mr. Wells. "Well, she wouldn't go +there." Then he remembered that Mary Rose had been there in a +neighborly desire to be kind to him when he was ill, in a friendly wish +to tell him of her belief in him when he was under suspicion, and he +colored painfully. For all he knew she might be there now. She had a +habit of going when and where she pleased. That was what made her such +a nuisance in his eyes. "You can come and see for yourself," he said +sharply. "So far as I know there's no one there. Sako is out and I've +just come in." + +They trooped eagerly after him up the stairs to the second floor, and +he had an unpleasant feeling that they expected to find Mary Rose +locked in his apartment, a prisoner by his orders. Hadn't Mary Rose +herself told him that he was suspected of doing cruel things? Well, he +didn't care what they thought, he muttered to himself as he put his key +in the lock. But he did care. Cross and crusty as he was, he was +human, and deep in the hearts of all human beings is the desire to have +people think well of them. + +It was the first time any of them but the Donovans had been in the +apartment. Mr. Wells threw open doors to closets and pantries. He +even scornfully opened drawers and cupboards. + +"Make a thorough search while you're about it," he snarled. + +Under the sink in the kitchen Bob Strahan caught a bright gleam. He +stooped down and picked up a piece of heavy brass wire. It had been +broken at both ends and was twisted and bent. Bob Strahan stared at it +and whistled softly. + +"What is it?" Miss Carter ran across to him. He drew her aside and +showed her the brass 'wire. "Do you see that? It's the kind of wire +that bird cages are made of." + +"Oh!" Miss Carter stared at him. She couldn't believe it. She turned +and stared at Mr. Wells as he stood so contemptuously and watched his +neighbors. There was a sneer on his face. "I w-wouldn't have believed +that anyone would be so despicable!" + +"He's been a selfish brute, always finding fault with everyone and +everything. You might almost think he was the darned old owner +himself," muttered Bob Strahan. + +"He wouldn't make himself so disagreeable if he was the owner." Miss +Carter nodded a wise head. "He'd be too anxious to please his tenants. +No, it's just because he's so selfish and disagreeable and," she looked +at the broken wire and thought of friendly Jenny Lind, "brutal!" + +"You're quite sure the child is not here?" they heard Mr. Wells say in +a voice that was as sarcastic as a voice could be, and there was a most +unpleasant glare in the cold black eyes. "Quite convinced that I +haven't hidden her away to fatten for my breakfast?" + +"Mr. Wells! Mr. Wells!" began Mrs. Donovan indignantly but her spirit +died and she cried instead--quite involuntarily you may be sure: "Oh, +Mary Rose said there was sure to be good in you if we'd look for it." + +It seemed to Miss Carter that a black screen was drawn over Mr. Wells' +face. He said not a word but walked to the door and threw it wide +open. One by one his neighbors went out. No one said anything; there +seemed to be nothing to say. + +"Good night." Mr. Wells spoke with cold, almost ominous, curtesy and +he would have shut the door in their faces if he had not caught the +pitying look in a girl's eyes. A dull red crept into his face. +Involuntarily he stepped toward Elizabeth Thorley. "If you hear +anything of the child let me know," he said as if the words were forced +from him, and then he slammed the door behind him. + +As they went down the stairs Miss Carter dropped behind the others. So +did Bob Strahan. As he waited for her he saw her dab her eyes with her +handkerchief and he put out his hand and touched her arm. + +"Look here," he spoke sharply. "That won't do. Mary Rose is all +right, you know." And he gave her a little shake. + +"I'd like to see that for myself, that she is all right." She dabbed +her eyes again with the damp little square of linen. + +He put a hand on each shoulder and looked directly into her tear-wet +eyes. "Listen to me. I shan't go to bed until I do know that she's +all right. I couldn't sleep. Mary Rose has done too much for me. +When I think--Lord!--when she came here I was a friendless young cuss +hanging on to a job by the skin of my teeth and now--You know I used to +be crazy to know you when I met you in the hall and on the stairs and +it was Mary Rose, bless her heart! and her canary who made it possible +for us to be friends. I can't forget that and I'll find her." + +She looked up and there was a light in her eyes that caused his hands +to tighten on her shoulders. + +"You know I love you, honey," he said quickly. "I think I've always +loved you and ever since I got a real grip on my job I've wanted to +tell you. If you could care half as much for me as I do for you +I'd--I'd--" he stopped before he told her what he would do for she had +lifted her face and he had seen there that she did care, as much as he +did. He stooped and kissed her. + +She kissed him also and clung to him for a moment before she pushed him +away. + +"We--we shouldn't be thinking of ourselves now," her voice trembled. +"We must think of Mary Rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Mrs. Donovan cried bitterly as she went down the stairs and Larry put +his arm around her. + +"There, there, Kate," he said. "Crying won't help any." + +"If we could only do somethin', Larry!" She wrung her hands. "If we +could only do somethin'! It seems awful just to have to wait an' wait. +I--I can't bear it." + +"I'll call up the morning paper." Bob Strahan and Miss Carter had +slipped down behind the rest and no one noticed that they came in hand +in hand. "It won't do any harm to run a little story about Mary Rose +and then if she has strayed in anywhere or been found people will know +where to take her." + +"The mornin' paper!" cried Mrs. Donovan. "I can't wait for the mornin' +paper. I want her now!" + +The three men looked at each other and shook their heads. She might +have to wait longer than for the morning paper to have news of Mary +Rose. They felt so helpless. They had followed every clew, they had +the assistance of the entire police force, but they had discovered +nothing. They knew no more about Mary Rose than they knew when they +had first discovered that she had disappeared. + +Miss Thorley put her arms around Mrs. Donovan and tried to sooth her. +All the red "corpuskles" had left her face now and her eyes had a +strained frightened expression. It startled Mr. Jerry to see her show +so much emotion. Usually she let one see very plainly that she was +interested in only her own affairs. Tonight she had forgotten herself +in a sweet sympathy for Mrs. Donovan and in her anxiety for her little +friend. It made Mr. Jerry's heart thump to hear her speak to Mrs. +Donovan so gently and so tenderly. It made him more determined to do +something. He was just about to suggest that he should telephone to +Mifflin although he was positive that Mary Rose had not run away, when +he heard a child's laugh on the street above them. + +Kate Donovan heard it, too, and pushed Miss Thorley from her. + +"It's Mary Rose!" she cried. "Thank God! It's Mary Rose!" + +Before she could reach the door a burly policeman stood on the +threshold. He held a bundle in his arms that struggled to reach the +floor. Jimmie Bronson stumbled wearily behind them. + +"Here's a very tired little girl for you," the policeman said, as he +dropped Mary Rose into Mrs. Donovan's hungry arms. + +"Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" Mrs. Donovan was so happy that she cried and +cried. The tears fell on Mary Rose's face. "Where have you been? +Where have you been?" + +"Yes, Mary Rose, where have you been?" demanded an eager chorus. The +tears had rushed to Miss Thorley's eyes also and when she discovered +that, she discovered also that the hand with which she would have wiped +them away was held fast in the firm grasp of Jerry Longworthy. How it +had found its way there she never knew. She snatched it from him, her +face aflame, and there were no longer tears in her eyes. + +Mary Rose hugged her aunt and beamed on her friends. Her eyes were +like stars. + +"How glad you'll be to hear what I've found!" she cried jubilantly. +"I've been in the most wonderful place, a big flat building like this, +only not so grand, but it has children! And pets, too! Dogs and cats! +It has, Uncle Larry! I've seen them with my own eyes. Lots and lots +of children! Babies and all kinds!" Her cheeks were scarlet. "I +couldn't believe it myself at first but Anna Paulovitch said it was +true and that it had always been like that. I asked her all about it +so I could tell you, Uncle Larry, and you could tell the owner of the +Washington. He can't know!" + +"Never mind that, Mary Rose." Aunt Kate gave her a shake. "I want to +know where you've been. Why didn't you come straight home from school +as I've told you to, time an' again? You've frightened us all to death +stayin' away so long." + +Mary Rose looked regretfully at the people she had frightened to death +and then she smiled radiantly. + +"Well, you see it was this way. You know there was a story in the +newspaper last night about Anna Paulovitch's bald head and when she +went to school the boys made fun of her and teased her to show them if +she really was bald. It hurt her feelings dreadfully and she was +afraid to go home alone so I said I'd go with her. It's a long way +from here but I'm glad I went because I helped my friend and I found +Jenny Lind." + +"You found Jenny Lind!" Everyone was as astonished as Mary Rose could +wish. + +Bob Strahan and Miss Carter looked at each other and Bob dropped the +piece of brass wire he had found in Mr. Wells' kitchen. + +"Yes, I did. Isn't it just like a fairy story? You see if you do a +kind thing a kind thing's done to you. I've told all of you that and +you wouldn't believe me but now you've got to. Anna Paulovitch lives +in this big friendly house I was telling you about. It isn't splendid +and beautiful like this but it is friendly and there are a lot of +children and pets. The law lets them live there. I didn't suppose +there was a house like that in all Waloo! Anna's mother goes out +washing and her father's dead like mine. She has seven brothers and +sisters that Mrs. Paulovitch has to find clothes and bread for. It's a +good deal for one woman she said and I think it is, too. And right +across the hall from the Paulovitch's, just like across the hall from +Mrs. Bracken's to Mrs. Schuneman's, lives John Kalich. He's a +messenger boy and his sister Becky's been in bed for seven years. +She's nine now and Johnny's crazy about her. He came here with a +message and when he saw Jenny Lind all by herself in the hall he +thought how much Becky would like her. And Becky did like her. She +hadn't ever seen a canary bird before. I told her she could borrow +Jenny Lind for a while longer though I did want to bring her home +tonight. But I thought, Aunt Kate, that since George Washington's +supporting himself and I haven't spent the money I earned washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes and playing with the squirrels with Grandma Johnson +I'd buy a bird for Becky for her very own. I'm going to let her keep +Jenny Lind until then. It seems as if I was always lending Jenny Lind, +doesn't it? Aunt Kate," she stopped suddenly and looked appealingly at +her aunt. "I'm so hungry! Can't I have some supper?" + +"Haven't you had any?" Aunt Kate was horrified. + +"I couldn't eat any at Mrs. Paulovitch's because she only had enough to +go around once and anyway I don't think I care for Russian cooking, +bread and lard. I'm an American, you know, and that's why I like +American cooking best." + +Miss Thorley leaned over and took Mary Rose as Aunt Kate jumped up +murmuring: "Bread an' lard! My soul an' body!" + +"Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?" Miss Thorley asked when +she had Mary Rose cuddled in her arms. She couldn't remember when she +had held a child before. It was odd but she had suddenly found that +she wanted to hold Mary Rose. + +[Illustration: "'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss +Thorley asked."] + +"I got lost." Mary Rose blushed with shame. "I thought I was so smart +I could come right home but I turned the wrong corner. I was away over +on the other side of Waloo when a kind lady found me and put me on a +street car and gave me a nickel and told the conductor to keep his eye +on me. But I forgot to tell her it was East Twenty-sixth Street and +she sent me west. And then Jimmie found me." + +"Good for you, James!" Mr. Jerry reached over to slap Jimmie on the +back. "How did you do that?" + +"I was just looking round," Jimmie answered vaguely. "I couldn't sit +down and do nothing with Mary Rose lost. I had to look till she was +found and I was lucky and ran across her. Gee, Mary Rose, but you did +give me a scare! I was afraid you'd been kidnapped!" + +"You know, Mary Rose, I told you always to come straight home from +school," called Aunt Kate from the kitchen. + +"I know," in a shamed voice. "And I always did until today, and +today--why, I didn't. But I found Jenny Lind and I've made lots of new +friends. Mr. Strahan," she peered around at Bob Strahan, "how did that +story of Anna's curls get into the newspaper? Did you write it?" + +Bob Strahan blushed until he was redder than any tomato that ever +ripened. "Yes, Mary Rose, I did," he acknowledged. "I thought it was +a dandy little story of a brave girl and that it would be good for +people to read." + +"Of course, you didn't know that it would hurt Anna Paulovitch's +feelings. She says she can't ever hold up her head again but I told +her she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of and I'd stand by her." + +"I'll stand by her, too!" Bob Strahan promised quickly. He had never +thought of a story but as a story. The consequences it might have had +not occurred to him. "And a lot of other people will stand by her. +You should see the letters that came to the office to day with offers +of help for Anna and her mother." + +"Did they!" Mary Rose was delighted. "Then Mrs. Paulovitch won't have +to work so hard. Oh, Miss Thorley," she drew the red-brown head down +so that she could whisper in a pink ear, "if you could just talk to +Anna's mother for a minute you'd know you wouldn't have to stop work to +make a home for a family. She says it takes more than one pair of +hands no matter how busy you keep them. Will you go with me when I +take the bird to Becky and talk to Mrs. Paulovitch?" + +"Perhaps I will," stammered Miss Thorley, as she kissed the eager +little face, feeling that the room was suddenly filled with Jerry +Longworthy's eyes. + +"Oh," Mary Rose jumped down and stood looking from one to the other, +"but I am glad to be home again! It does seem a hundred years since I +had my dinner. I don't think any girl ever had such a nice home or +such nice friends as I have and it's just because I have a friendly +heart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +When Mary Rose went to school the next morning Mrs. Donovan had half a +mind to walk with her and make sure that she arrived there safely. +After the day before it seemed to her that many dangers might lie in +wait for Mary Rose and Mrs. Donovan had discovered that Mary Rose was +very rare and precious. She watched her from the window and her eyes +opened wide in astonishment when she saw Mary Rose stop and wait for +Mr. Wells. He looked twice as grim and twice as cross as he had ever +looked before to Mrs. Donovan as he came down the steps. But it was no +wonder that he looked grim and cross. His experience of the night +before, when he learned how his neighbors regarded him, could not have +been pleasant. A cold shiver ran the full length of Mrs. Donovan's +spine as she remembered that experience. If she had had any hope of +remaining in the cozy basement flat and keeping Mary Rose, it vanished +at the sight of that scowling face. Mr. Wells would surely insist on +having Larry discharged. She just knew he would. + +Even Mary Rose's staunch and friendly soul was a bit daunted by Mr. +Wells' very unfriendly appearance but she tried to speak to him as +usual. + +"Good morning, sir." + +He looked down at her and his shaggy brows drew nearer together. Mary +Rose had thought he could not look crosser but he managed to look +considerably crosser as he grunted: "So you're back?" It almost +sounded as if he wished she hadn't come back. + +She blushed. "Did you hear that I was lost? I was so ashamed. I +thought I could find my way anywhere in Waloo just as I could in +Mifflin. But you couldn't get lost in Mifflin, no matter how hard you +tried. You'd be sure to find yourself in the cemetery or at the post +office or the lumber yard." She looked up at the cross face and +ventured a smile. "You'll be glad to hear that I've found Jenny Lind," +she said joyfully. "I knew all the time you hadn't borrowed her and I +guess now other people will be sorry they thought you stole her." She +laughed and nodded to let him see how very glad she was that his +innocence was proved. + +Mr. Wells was too amazed to add anything to his scowl. "You've found +your bird?" he asked stupidly. + +"Yes, I have. I'll tell you all about it. Are you going my way? +Usually I go up the other street, that's the shortest, but today I'm +going over this way to meet Anna Paulovitch and walk with her so the +boys won't tease her." And she told him about Anna Paulovitch and her +yellow curls which had led to the discovery of Jenny Lind. "And I'm +going to buy Becky a bird of her own with the money I've earned, +because I don't have to pay a cent of board for George Washington. +He's self-supporting, you know. Isn't it wonderful to be +self-supporting? Mrs. Paulovitch has seven children and only one of +them can earn anything. He's Mickey and he sells papers after school. +If I were a gentleman and bought papers I'd always buy them of Mickey," +she hinted delicately. "The other Paulovitches who are over six have +to go to school. It takes a lot of washing to make bread enough for +them but Mr. Strahan thinks he has found friends to help Anna. Aren't +you glad you were born in America instead of Russia?" She told him why +he should be glad as they walked along. + +He looked down at her curiously out of the tail of his eye but he said +never a word. Indeed, Mary Rose gave him little opportunity for speech +as she had so much to say. When they reached the corner where Anna +Paulovitch waited across the street like a stolid figure of Patience, +Mary Rose waved her hand. Anna Paulovitch responded like a semaphore. + +"That's Anna! That's Anna Paulovitch," Mary Rose said eagerly. "Isn't +her hair beautiful?" Mary Rose admired the long yellow curls +immensely. "It seems a pity they couldn't have grown on her own head +when she would have appreciated it so but I expect the Lord knew best. +I'm awfully glad I met you so that I could tell you about Jenny Lind. +You don't have to worry another minute for everyone knows now that you +never touched her." + +"Here, wait a minute!" Never had Mr. Wells' voice been gruffer nor his +frown blacker. "How much is a canary? Can you get one for this?" He +took a bill from his pocket and offered it to Mary Rose. + +"Mr. Wells!" Mary Rose took his hand and squeezed it. "That's a lot. +I'm sure you can get a splendid bird." + +"Well, get one then," snapped Mr. Wells. + +"You mean for Becky?" Mary Rose could scarcely believe her two small +ears. "I'll be glad to." She regarded him with an admiration that +should have made him feel enveloped in a soft warm mantle. "I'll tell +her it's a present from a kind gentleman who wants to be her friend. +Sometime I'll take you to see her. What shall we name her bird? You +think and I'll think and then tonight we can choose. It must have +something to do with music, you know. Good-by." She squeezed his hand +again and started across the street but ran back. "I forgot to tell +you something that's most important," she said in a low voice. "Did +you ever imagine there would be a flat-house right here in Waloo where +the law lets children live? The Paulovitchs live in one. They do +really. I saw them! And cats and dogs, too. I did! It wasn't like +the Washington but it was a flat-house. It seemed such a friendly +place. I thought you didn't know and now you can tell your friend who +owns the Washington. I don't suppose he knows either. You haven't +heard anything from him about me, have you?" She looked up wistfully. +"I'd--I'd hate to have to go away to an orphan's home now," she +whispered and there were tears in her blue eyes. + +He looked down at her and coughed before he answered. "No, I haven't +heard anything." + +"If you see him today will you tell him of that friendly house I was +telling you about? That there are flat-houses in Waloo where children +can live? It might make him willing to let them live in his house. +And please!" she clung to his hand, "please tell him that I'm growing +older every single day I live!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +That very afternoon Mr. Jerry and Mary Rose bought a canary for Becky +and paid for it with the five-dollar bill that Mr. Wells had given Mary +Rose. Mr. Jerry insisted that that particular bill should have been +framed and Mary Rose insisted that Mr. Wells had said it was to buy a +canary. She could not understand why Mr. Jerry had laughed nor why he +said: "Oh, very well. But honestly, Mary Rose, it should be framed." + +He took Mary Rose and the new canary in his car to the flat-building +that allowed children to live in it. Becky wept with joy when she was +told that the bird was to be her own. John was at home and he blushed +and stammered as he tried to explain to Mr. Jerry that he hadn't meant +any harm to anyone, cross his heart if he had! but as soon as he saw +Jenny Lind he had thought what company she would be for Becky. And Mr. +Jerry kindly said he understood perfectly and that if John ever wanted +any advice or help he was to come straight to him. + +"You see it's a very friendly house," Mary Rose whispered as she and +Mr. Jerry went down the long flights of stairs. "See how many children +there are!" + +Mr. Jerry looked about him. There were, indeed, many children of +assorted nationalities and sizes. There could not have been a greater +contrast to the orderly and clean, if childless, Washington. + +"It's undoubtedly friendly, Mary Rose," agreed Mr. Jerry. "And there +are lots of children but there are also lots of smells." + +She crinkled her small nose. "I expect that's Russian," she suggested. + +On their way home they passed Bingham and Henderson's big jam factory +and Mary Rose caught a glimpse of Miss Thorley waiting for a street +car. When she called Mr. Jerry's attention to the enchanted princess +he deftly inserted his automobile between Miss Thorley and the +approaching car. + +"Room for one more passenger here," he said with a grin. "And the fare +will be even cheaper." + +"Do come with us, Miss Thorley!" begged Mary Rose. "See, here's Jenny +Lind. You'll want to speak to her. And there's such lots of room +right here with us. Isn't there, Mr. Jerry?" + +"Scads of room. I don't see how you can hesitate." And he looked at +the crowded street car where people were standing on the platform and +the conductor was calling impatiently: "Move up in front!" + +Miss Thorley looked also. The street car was not so inviting as the +automobile. Prejudiced as she was she had to admit that. She laughed. +"Oh, very well," she said. + +Mr. Jerry jumped out and triumphantly robbed the street car company of +a fare. He helped Miss Thorley in beside Mary Rose and Jenny Lind. + +"You see there's lots of room," Mary Rose fairly bubbled with joy. +"Just as Mr. Jerry said. Aren't you glad to see Jenny Lind again? I +can't see that she has changed a feather." + +"We'll leave her at the house and then run out to Nokomis for a breath +of air. That friendly flat of the Paulovitch's has almost strangled +me. I have a great yearning for wide open spaces," Mr. Jerry told Miss +Thorley over Mary Rose's head. + +They left Jenny Lind with Aunt Kate and drove along the boulevards and +around the lake. + +"Isn't it a beautiful world?" asked Mary Rose suddenly. "I just love +it and everybody in it! Don't you, Mr. Jerry?" + +"I won't go so far as to say I love everybody but I certainly do love +you, Mary Rose," he told her with pleasing promptness. + +"And Miss Thorley, too?" demanded Mary Rose, jealously afraid that Miss +Thorley might feel hurt if she were excluded from Mr. Jerry's +affections. "She's the enchanted princess, you know," she reminded him +in a whisper. "You must love her." + +Mr. Jerry was so silent that Mary Rose pinched his arm. + +"Sure, I love Miss Thorley," he said then, very hurriedly. + +"And she loves you, don't you, Miss Thorley?" Mary Rose pinched Miss +Thorley's arm to remind her that something was expected of her, also. + +There was a longer pause. Mary Rose had to pinch Miss Thorley's arm a +second time and Mr. Jerry, himself, had to ask her in a funny shaky +sort of a voice: + +"Do you, Bess? Do you?" + +Miss Thorley tried to frown and look away but she was not able to take +her eyes from the two faces, the man's and the little girl's, which +looked at her with such imploring eagerness. And what she saw in those +two faces made her heart give a great throb. In a flash she knew, and +knew beyond a doubt, that at last she could answer the question that +had been tormenting her for over half a year. Long, long before that +she had learned that everything one has in this world must be paid for +and the question that had caused her to lose her red "corpuskles" had +been whether she was willing to pay the price or whether she would go +without the love and happiness and companionship that were offered to +her. + +She flushed adorably as she met Mr. Jerry's anxious eyes. "I--I don't +want to," she said with rueful honesty and then the words came in a +hurried rush, "But I'm--I'm afraid I do! It's all your fault, Mary +Rose." And she hid her pink cheeks in Mary Rose's yellow hair. + +"My fault!" Mary Rose was surprised and puzzled and a wee bit hurt. +She did not understand how she could be to blame. + +But Mr. Jerry understood and with a quick exclamation he stopped the +car. And there, behind a great clump of tall lilac bushes, he put his +arms around them both. He kissed them both, too, Mary Rose first and +hurriedly and then Miss Thorley, second and lingeringly. + +"You dear--you darling!" he said to Miss Thorley and his breath came +quickly and his eyes shone. He kissed her again. "You dearest! I've +been the most patient lover on the footstool. Thank God, I was patient +and just wouldn't be discouraged!" + +Mary Rose caught his sleeve. "Are you the prince, Mr. Jerry?" she +wanted to know and her eyes shone, too. "And is the spell broken? +Have you driven away the old witch Independence? What did it?" + +Mr. Jerry smiled at her flushed face. His own face was flushed and it +had a wonderful radiance to Mary Rose as she looked up at him. "Love +did it, Mary Rose." He squeezed her hand. "Love for you and love for +me. Love's the only thing that can break old Independence's spell." + +"Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose," interrupted Miss +Thorley, who was squeezing Mary Rose's other hand. + +"Isn't she?" Mary Rose was doubtful. Mr. Jerry had said she was a most +wicked witch. + +"A wicked witch would never make a girl brave and strong and self----" + +"Self-supporting like George Washington," Mary Rose broke in jubilantly. + +"Self-supporting," Miss Thorley accepted the word with a smile, "and +keep her safe and busy until her prince came and she could be a real +help to him. Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose. She's a +girl's good fairy." + +"Is she, Mr. Jerry?" Mary Rose had to have that theory indorsed before +she could be quite sure. "Is she?" + +"I expect she is," Mr. Jerry handsomely admitted. "Perhaps I've been +mistaken in the old girl. Anyway we're friends now, good friends. +And, Mary Rose," he went on grandly, "ask me what you will and you +shall have it, even to the half of my kingdom. I can't give you the +whole of it because the other half, the half that includes me, is now +the property of the most beautiful princess in the world." + +The most beautiful princess in the world laughed in a funny choked sort +of a way and she hugged Mary Rose. "You see, honey girl," she said, +and Mary Rose loved her voice now that the enchantment was broken and +she could hear how soft and sweet it was, "we own him together, you and +I." + +Mary Rose looked at their joint property with awe and admiration. "Do +we?" It scarcely seemed possible. "Aren't we the lucky girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Never did a five-passenger automobile hold more happiness than that car +of Mr. Jerry's as it was driven slowly back to the Washington that +wonderful September evening. And never did the Washington look more +pleasant. A little group of tenants, Mrs. Schuneman, Mrs. Willoughby, +Mrs. Matchan and Miss Carter, were standing out in front talking of +what had happened the night before. Mary Rose waved her hand to them +and to Bob Strahan, who was hurrying up the street. + +"Say!" he called. "I've found out who owns the Washington. It's old +Wells!" + +"Mr. Wells!" They stared from him up to the windows of Mr. Wells' +apartments which were wide open. + +"Yep! I had to dig up some stuff over at the building inspector's and +ran plump against the fact that the owner of the Washington has always +been Horace J. Wells. No wonder he acted as if he owned it." + +"But he told me he was a friend of the owner," objected Mary Rose, when +she understood. + +"I guess he isn't a friend to anyone but himself," murmured Bob Strahan. + +Mary Rose sat there in the car and tried to think it out. If Mr. Wells +really did own this strange two-faced building why hadn't he told her +so when she had asked him to plead for her? She supposed that he had +made up his mind that she would have to leave, that the law never would +let children live there, and hated to tell her. Mary Rose felt as if a +black cloud had fallen over this day that had been so happy and she +winked rapidly to keep the tears from her eyes. She even tried to wave +her hand to Aunt Kate when she came to the window. + +Contrary to custom Aunt Kate did not wave back but ran out. She had a +letter in her hand and looked very, very much pleased. + +"You've heard good news, Mrs. Donovan. Who's died and left you a +million?" asked Bob Strahan. "Your face looks like a Christmas tree, +all decorated and lighted." + +"Have you?" Mary Rose asked and she jumped from the car and stood +beside her aunt. "Have you heard good news, Aunt Kate? Has anyone +left you a million?" + +Aunt Kate stooped and put her arms around Mary Rose. "It's worth more +'n a million to me, Mary Rose. I've had the best of news. Larry's had +a letter from Brown an' Lawson." She stood up and looked from one to +the other of the people who had gathered around her. There were tears +in her eyes. "They say we can keep Mary Rose. That so long as the +tenants are willin' an' because she's gettin' older every day they +won't insist on the rule of the house bein' enforced. They say Mary +Rose can stay as long as we want to keep her." + +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" cried Bob Strahan and he flung his hat into the +air. + +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" echoed Jimmie Bronson, who had run around the +corner to stand grinning at Mary Rose. + +Mary Rose stood quite still and stared at her aunt. Her blue eyes were +very large and as bright as stars. "I can stay," she said softly, +almost unbelievingly. "I can really stay? Oh, where's Mr. Wells! +Where is Mr. Wells! I want to tell him this very minute how much +obliged I am. Oh, there he is!" + +For Mr. Wells had actually come up the street and was about to slip +grumblingly past the little group that blocked the walk. Mary Rose ran +to him. + +"I can't thank you," she said in a trembling voice, although the +radiance in her face should have thanked anyone. "But I do think you +are the very friendliest man that God ever made!" + +Friendly! Mr. Wells actually blushed. He tried to frown but the +attempt was a wretched failure for Mary Rose had dropped a soft kiss on +the hand she had clasped. "See that you do what I promised the owner +you'd do," he grunted, making a failure, also, of his attempt to speak +crossly. "See that you grow older every day." + +"Oh, I will!" promised Mary Rose. "I will!" she repeated firmly and +she squeezed his hand as she looked up at the big red brick building +that could now be her home. The spell had been removed from it, too. +There were tears in her blue eyes as she dropped Mr. Wells' hand and +put out her arms as if she would take them all into her embrace. Her +face was like a flower, lifted to the sun, as she cried from the very +depths of her happy, grateful heart: + +"I--I just knew this beautiful world would be full of friends if I felt +friendly!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 22041-8.txt or 22041-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Sterrett, +Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Mary Rose of Mifflin</p> +<p>Author: Frances R. Sterrett</p> +<p>Release Date: July 10, 2007 [eBook #22041]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Al Haines</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" noshade> +<p> </p> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said in surprise"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="416" HEIGHT="627"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 450px"> +"'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said in surprise" +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +FRANCES R. STERRETT +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +AUTHOR OF +<BR> +THE "JAM GIRL" AND +<BR> +"UP THE ROAD WITH SALLIE" +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATED BY +<BR> +MAGINEL WRIGHT ENRIGHT +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +GROSSET & DUNLAP +<BR> +PUBLISHERS +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY +<BR> +D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +TO THE MEMORY OF +<BR> +MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER +<BR> +WHO MADE A VERY FRIENDLY +<BR> +PLACE IN THIS BIG WORLD +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap23">CHAPTER XXIII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap24">CHAPTER XXIV</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap25">CHAPTER XXV</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap26">CHAPTER XXVI</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap27">CHAPTER XXVII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said +in surprise" . . . . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-045"> +"'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid +it is to wear skirts'" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-077"> +"Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-115"> +"'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-135"> +"'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big city!'" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-171"> +"Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and was +telling him<BR>of Mifflin" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-203"> +"There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting cat" +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-293"> +"'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss Thorley asked" +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +"It's there in every lease, plain as print," Larry Donovan insisted. +"No childern, no dogs an' no cats. It's in every lease." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't care if it is!" Kate Donovan's face was as red as a poppy and +she spoke with a determination that exactly matched her husband's. +"You needn't think I'm goin' to turn away my own sister's only child? +Who should take care of her if I don't? Tell me that, Larry Donovan, +an' be ashamed of yourself for askin' me to send her away!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, an' I'd like the little thing here as much as you, Kate, dear," +Larry said soothingly, and in her heart Mrs. Donovan knew that he meant +it. "But it isn't every day that a man picks up a job like this, +janitor of a swell apartmen' buildin', an' if we take in a kid when the +lease says plain as can be, no childern, no dogs an' no cats, I'll lose +the job an' then how'll I put a roof over your heads an' bread in your +stomachs? That's why I'm again' it." +</P> + +<P> +"A clever man like you'll find a way." Mrs. Donovan's confidence was +both flattering and stimulating. If a woman expects her husband to do +things he just has to do them. He has no choice. "Don't you worry. +You haven't been out of work since we were married 'cept the three +months you was laid up with inflamm't'ry rheumatiz. The way I look at +it is this: the good Lord must have meant us to have Mary Rose or he +wouldn't have taken her mother an' her father an' all her relations but +us. Seems if he didn't send us any of our own so we'd have plenty of +room in our hearts an' home for her. She's a present to us straight +from the Lord." +</P> + +<P> +"That may be, Kate," Larry scratched his puzzled head. "But will the +agents, will Brown an' Lawson look at it that way? The lease says——" +</P> + +<P> +"Bother the lease!" Mrs. Donovan interrupted him impatiently. "What's +the lease got to do with a slip of a girl who's been left an orphan +down in Mifflin?" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just what I'm tryin' to tell you." Larry clung to his temper +with all of his ten fingers, for it was irritating to have her refuse +to understand. "If we took Mary Rose in here to live don't you s'pose +all those up above," he jerked his thumb significantly toward the +ceiling, "'d know it an' make trouble? God knows they make enough as +it is. They're a queer lot of folks under this roof, Kate, and that's +no lie. Folks—they're cranks!" explosively. "When one isn't findin' +fault another is. When I've heat enough for ol' Mrs. Johnson it's too +hot for Mrs. Bracken. Mrs. Schuneman on the first floor has too much +hot water an' Miss Adams on the third too little. Mrs. Rawson won't +stand for Mrs. Matchan's piano an' Mrs. Matchan kicks on Mrs. Rawson's +sewin' machine. Mr. Jarvis never gets his newspaper an' Mrs. Lewis +al'ys gets two. Mrs. Willoughby jumps on me if a pin drops in the +hall. She can't stand no noise since her mother died. She don't do +nothin' but cry. I don't blame her man for stayin' away. I'd as soon +be married to a fountain. When they can't find anythin' else to jaw me +about they take the laundries. An' selfish! There isn't one can see +beyond the reach of his fingers. I used to think that folks were put +into the world to be friendly an' helpful to each other but I've +learned different." He sighed and shook his head helplessly. "Mrs. +Bracken on the first floor has lived here as long as we have, two years +nex' October, an' I've yet to hear her give a friendly word to anyone +in the house. When little Miss Smith up on the third was sick las' +winter did her nex' door neighbor lend a hand? She did not. She was +just worried stiff for fear she'd catch somethin'. She gave me no +peace till Miss Smith was out of the house an' into a hospital. Peace! +I've forgot there was such a word. They won't stand for any kid in the +house when the lease says no childern, no dogs an' no cats." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't tell me anythin' about <I>them</I>!" Mrs. Donovan agreed with +pleasant promptness. It is always agreeable to have one's estimate of +human nature endorsed. "An' the most of 'em look like thunder clouds +when you meet 'em. Ain't it queer, Larry, how few folks look happy +when a smile's 'bout the cheapest thing a body can wear? An' it never +goes out of style. I know I never get tired seein' one on old or +young. All folks can't be rich nor han'some but most of us could look +pleasant if we thought so, seems if. I want to tell that to little +Miss Macy every time I see her, but I know full well she'd say I was +impudent, so I keep my mouth shut. Maybe the tenants won't stand for a +child in the house. They haven't wit to see that the Lord had his good +reasons when he invented the fam'ly. But there's some way. There must +be! An' we've got to find it, Larry Donovan. Are you goin' to wash +Mrs. Rawson's windows today?" She changed the subject abruptly. "She +called me up twice yesterday to see they needed it, as if I had nothin' +to do but traipse aroun' after her." +</P> + +<P> +Larry understood exactly how she felt. He had been called up more than +twice to see the windows and had promised to clean them within +twenty-four hours. Before he went away he patted his wife's shoulder +and said again: "It isn't that I don't want the little thing here, +Kate. She'd be good for both of us. It's bad for folks to grow old +'thout young ones growin' up around 'em, but a job's a job. It +wouldn't be easy for a man to get another as good as this at this time +of year. See the home it gives you." +</P> + +<P> +He looked proudly around the pleasant basement living-room. Open doors +led into the dining-room and hall from which more doors opened into +kitchen and sleeping-rooms. There was a small room at the end of the +hall in which Mrs. Donovan kept her sewing machine but for which, in +the last twenty-four hours, she had found another use. The apartment +was very comfortable and Mrs. Donovan kept it as neat as wax. There +was never any dust on her floors if the fault-finding tenants did say +there was in the halls. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan was proud of her home also, but she frowned as she glanced +about her. "There's plenty of room for one more," she grumbled. "That +little room beyond ours is just the place for a child. But go on, +Larry, we'll think of a way. We've got to! It shan't ever be said +that Kate Donovan turned away her only sister's only child. Do you +mind when Mary married Sam Crocker? It was thought to be a big step up +for the daughter of an Irish carpenter to marry a Crocker, the son of +ol' Judge Crocker an' a lawyer himself. Seems if there never was a +prettier girl than Mary an' she was happy till she died. An' now Sam's +dead, too. He wasn't the man his father was. He couldn't keep money +an' he couldn't earn it. Mary used to feel sorry for me, Larry, +because you weren't a Crocker, but if she could see us now an', seems +if, I believe she can, she mus' be glad I got a good honest hard +workin' Irishman. You've a good job an' a little money in the bank. +You don't owe no man a penny. That's more'n Sam Crocker could ever say +an' tell the truth!" +</P> + +<P> +For two years Larry Donovan had been the proud janitor of the +Washington Apartment House. He had moved in before the building was +fairly completed and felt that it belonged to him quite as much as to +the owner, whose name he did not know, for all business was transacted +through the rental agents, Brown and Lawson. +</P> + +<P> +It was an attractive building. The center of the red brick front, with +its rather ornate entrance, was pushed back some ten feet. The +rectangular space that was left was neatly bisected by the cement walk. +On either side were grassy squares, like pocket handkerchiefs, man's +size, with clumps of shrubbery in the corners for monograms. The +Washington was long and broad and low, not more than three stories +high, but it had an air of comfort and also of pretension that was +lacking in many of the taller apartment houses whose shoulders it could +not begin to touch. Under the low roof were some twenty apartments of +different sizes and the occupant of each was bound by lease not to +introduce a child nor a cat nor a dog. No one showed the least desire +to introduce any one of the three but each went his way and insisted on +his full rights with a selfish disregard of the rights and conveniences +of others in a way that at first had made Larry Donovan's mouth pop +wide open in amazement. Even now that he was used to it he was often +surprised. +</P> + +<P> +And to the Washington with its lease forbidding children and pets had +come a letter from Mifflin telling of the sudden death of Mrs. +Donovan's brother-in-law. Samuel Crocker had been an unsuccessful man, +as the world counts success, and had left nothing behind him but his +little daughter, Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"It's her age that's again' her," thought Mrs. Donovan, when she was +alone. "If she were a couple of years older there couldn't be any +objection. Well, for the lan's sakes!" Her face broke into a broad +grin. "There isn't any reason why we should—nobody need ever know," +she murmured cryptically. +</P> + +<P> +Ten minutes later she was busy in the little room at the end of the +hall. When Larry came back he stumbled over the machine she had pushed +out of her way. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo," he said. "What's up?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan lifted a smiling face. "I'm gettin' ready." +</P> + +<P> +"For what?" he asked stupidly. +</P> + +<P> +"For my niece, Mary Rose Crocker." She turned around and stood before +him, a scrub-cloth in her hand. +</P> + +<P> +Larry frowned. "I thought we'd finished with that, Kate. I told you +about the leases. You'll have to board Mary Rose in Mifflin or send +her to a convent." +</P> + +<P> +"Board!" The scrub-doth, a very banner of defiance, was waved an inch +in front of his nose. "Board out my own niece, a kid of eleven? I +think I see myself, Larry Donovan. An' aren't you ashamed to have such +thoughts, you, a decent man? A little thing that needs a mother's +care. An' who should give it to her but me, her own aunt? The Lord +had his plans when he took away all her other relations an' I ain't one +to interfere." +</P> + +<P> +"It means the loss of my job," objected Larry sullenly. +</P> + +<P> +"It does not." There was another flourish of the scrub-cloth. "Listen +to me, Larry Donovan. Is there anyone in this house 't knows how old +Mary Rose is? Does Mrs. Bracken or that crosspatch Miss Adams or the +weepin' willow, Mrs. Willoughby, know she isn't eleven? Who's to tell +'em if we keep our mouths shut? It ain't none of their business +though, seems if, there isn't one that'd be beyond makin' it their +business. I'll grant you that. Your old lease, more shame to it, says +childern ain't allowed here. Mary Rose is a child but if she takes +after her mother's fam'ly, an' I know in my heart she does, she'll be a +big up-standin' girl, a girl anyone 'd take for fourteen. Maybe +fifteen. Why, when her mother was twelve she weighed a hundred an' +twenty-five pounds. I've known women of fifty that didn't weigh that!" +triumphantly. "Don't you worry, Larry, dear. I've got it all planned +out. There's the clothes your sister left here when she an' Ella went +West las' fall. Ella was fourteen an' her clothes 'll just fit Mary +Rose or I miss my guess. They'll make her look every minute of +fourteen. An' a girl of fourteen isn't a child. Why, the state that's +again' child labor lets a girl of fourteen go to work if she can get a +permit, so we've got the law on our side. You see how easy it is, +Larry?" She beamed with pride at the solution she had found for the +problem that had tormented her ever since the letter had come from +Mifflin. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean you're goin' to tell lies about your own niece?" demanded +Larry incredulously. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan looked at him sadly. "Why should I tell lies?" she asked +sweetly. "Sure, it's no lie to say Mary Rose is goin' on fourteen. I +ain't denyin' it'll be some time before she gets to fourteen but she's +goin' on fourteen more'n she is on ten. If the tenants take a wrong +meaning from my words is it my fault? No, Larry," firmly. "I wouldn't +tell lies for nobody an' I wouldn't let Mary Rose tell lies. We al'ys +had our mouths well scoured out with soft soap when we didn't tell the +truth. But it ain't no lie to say a child's goin' on fourteen when she +is." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<P> +A taxicab stopped before the Washington Apartment House and a slim +boyish little figure hopped out and stared up at the roof of the long +red brick building that towered so far above. +</P> + +<P> +"It's an e-normous house, isn't it!" she said in surprise. +</P> + +<P> +"Here, Mary Rose." A hand reached out a basket and then a birdcage. +"I'll go in with you." +</P> + +<P> +"You're awfully good, Mrs. Black." Mary Rose looked at her with loving +admiration. "Of course, I'd have come here all right by myself for +daddy always said there was a special Providence to look after children +and fools and that was why we were so well taken care of, but it +certainly did make it pleasant for me to have you come all the way." +</P> + +<P> +"It certainly made it pleasant for me," Mrs. Black said, and it had. +Mary Rose was so enthusiastic on this, her first trip away from +Mifflin, that she had amused Mrs. Black, who had made the journey to +Waloo so many times that it had become nothing but a necessary bore. +She was sorry that they had arrived at Mary Rose's destination. "Now, +where do we find your aunt?" She, too, looked up at the red brick +building that faced them so proudly. +</P> + +<P> +"My Uncle Larry's the janitor of this splendid mansion!" Mary Rose told +her joyously, although there was a trace of awe in her birdlike voice. +The mansion seemed so very, very large to her. "Is janitor the same as +owner, Mrs. Black? It's—it's——" she drew a deep breath as if she +found it difficult to say what it was. "It's wonderful! There isn't +one house in all Mifflin so big and grand, is there? It looks more," +she cocked her head on one side, "like the new Masonic Temple on Main +Street than anybody's home." +</P> + +<P> +"So it does," agreed Mrs. Black, leading the way into the vestibule, +where she found a bell labeled "Janitor." +</P> + +<P> +When Kate Donovan answered it she saw a pleasant-faced, smartly clad +woman with a child in a neat, if shabby, boy's suit of blue serge, +belted blouse over shrunken knickerbockers. She knew at once that they +had come to look at the vacant apartment on the second floor. +</P> + +<P> +"An I'll have to tell her we don't have no childern here," she said to +herself, and she sighed. "I wish Larry had a place in a house that was +overrun with childern. Seems if I hate to tell her how it is." +</P> + +<P> +But the pleasant-faced smartly clad woman smiled at her as no +prospective tenant had ever smiled and asked sweetly: "Is this Mrs. +Donovan?" +</P> + +<P> +Before Kate Donovan could admit it the boyish little figure ran to her. +</P> + +<P> +"My Aunt Kate! I know it is. It's my Aunt Kate!" +</P> + +<P> +"My soul an' body!" murmured the startled Mrs. Donovan, staring +stupidly at the child embracing her knees. +</P> + +<P> +"I brought your little niece," began Mrs. Black. +</P> + +<P> +"Niece!" gasped Mrs. Donovan in astonishment, for the figure at her +knees did not look like any niece she had ever seen. "Sure, it's a +boy!" +</P> + +<P> +The little face upturned to her broke into a radiant smile. "That's +what everyone says. But I'm not a boy, I'm not! Am I, Mrs. Black? +I'm a girl and my name's Mary Rose and I'm almost eleven——" +</P> + +<P> +"H-sh, h-sh, dearie!" Mrs. Donovan's hand slipped over the red lips +and she sent a quick glance over her shoulder. Bewildered and +surprised as she was she realized that her niece's age was not to be +shouted out in the vestibule of the Washington in any such joyous +fashion. "My soul an' body," she murmured again as she looked at the +sturdy little figure in knickerbockers. "You're Mary Rose Crocker?" +she asked doubtfully. She almost hoped she wasn't. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose Crocker," repeated the red lips and the knickerbockered legs +jumped up and down. +</P> + +<P> +"My soul an' body!" Mrs. Donovan murmured helplessly. "Will you come +down to my rooms, ma'am," she said to Mrs. Black, as she tried to +remember her manners and not think how she was to tell Larry the truth. +Why, this child was undersized rather than over. Her mother might have +weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds when she was twelve but Mary +Rose couldn't weigh seventy. Dear, dear, why couldn't she just as well +have been bigger? But after one glance at the glowing little face, +Kate Donovan would have lost almost everything rather than her right to +take care of diminutive Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Black smiled at her. She liked her honest good-natured face. It +was a shining door-plate for the big heart behind it. She had been +rather worried over Mary Rose's only living relative, for she was fond +of Mary Rose and wanted her to have a real home. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, but I fear I must go on. Our train was a little late. I +am glad to have met you and if you like Mary Rose half as much as I do +you will think you are a lucky woman to have her always with you. +Good-by, Mary Rose. Thank you for coming with me." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose threw her arms about her friend. "Thank you for bringing +me," she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you everything? Her trunk is at the station and she has the +check," she explained to Mrs. Donovan. "Good-by." And with another +kiss for Mary Rose she was gone. They could hear the purr of the +taxicab as it dashed up the street. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose drew a deep breath. "It's very pleasant to get to the end of +a journey," she began a trifle tremulously. Mary Rose was beginning to +feel a bit forlorn at being left alone with an aunt she had never seen +before. "Mrs. Black's a very kind lady and she brought me here in a +taxicab. It's very pleasant riding in a taxicab." +</P> + +<P> +"I've no doubt it is," remarked Mrs. Donovan, who knew taxicabs only by +sight. "Now, Mary Rose, we'll go down to my rooms. Is this your +canary?" She looked oddly at the bird-cage. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, that's Jennie Lind. I couldn't leave her behind and Mrs. Black +said you'd be sure to have room for her, for all she needs is a window +to hang in and everybody has at least one window. Your house is very +large, isn't it?" admiringly. "It makes me think of a palace, although +it is something like the new Masonic Temple in Mifflin. Do you live in +the cellar?" she asked in astonishment as her aunt led the way down the +basement stairs. "I've never lived in a cellar before. In Mifflin our +cellar had only room for jellies and pickles and a closet for +vegetables, turnips and parsnips, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"This isn't a cellar," she was told rather sharply. "It's a basement." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose tried to see the difference between a cellar and a +basement and had little difficulty, for nothing could have been more +different from the little Mifflin cellar with its swinging shelf for +preserves and pickles, its dark closet for vegetables, than Aunt Kate's +basement apartment. The sun streamed into the windows, only half of +which were below the level of the street, and the rooms looked very +bright and pleasant to tired Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"It's—it's very pleasant," she said. "But do you always live down +here?" She couldn't understand why her aunt should choose rooms in the +cellar when she had such a large house. +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt did not answer her but asked a question of her own. "Mary +Rose, what makes you dress like that, like a boy?" She couldn't +imagine why. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose regarded her small person with a blush and a frown. "I know. +Isn't it horrid? I'd lots rather wear girls' clothes, but you see +these saved washing, and Lena, who took care of daddy and me, made a +fuss about the washing almost every week, so daddy said boys' clothes +were pleasanter than arguments. Aunt Kate," her voice was tragic, "I'm +'most eleven years old and I haven't ever had a white dress with a blue +sash in all my life. I never even had a hair ribbon!" +</P> + +<P> +"My soul an' body!" murmured Aunt Kate, and derived no more +satisfaction from the exclamation than she had the other times she had +used it. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't you think boys should wear boys' clothes and girls girls' +clothes, Aunt Kate? Of course, if you have to think of the washing, +too, I won't say a word and I'll try to be happy in these. But I do +hate them. I think little girls' clothes are beautiful. All my life +I've wanted a white dress with lace on it and a blue sash. Gladys +Evans has one. She wore it at the church social. I spoke a piece and +I had to wear these ugly clothes. It hurt my pride awful but daddy +said that was because I didn't look at it right, that if I had the +right kind of an eye I'd see washing in a white dress instead of +beauty. But I guess it's hard to see right when you haven't ever had +anything but boys' clothes. Oh, Aunt Kate!" she put her arms around +her aunt. "I do think that it is good of you to want me to live with +you. You're the only relation I have out of Heaven. I don't quite +understand about that, when Gladys Evans has four sisters and a brother +and three aunts and two uncles and a pair of grandfathers and even one +grandmother. It doesn't seem just fair, does it? But I think you're +nicer than all of hers put together. One of her aunts is cross-eyed +and another lives in California and one of her uncles is stingy," she +whispered. "You—you're beautiful!" And she hugged her again. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan dropped weakly into a chair and her arms went around Mary +Rose. She had never realized how empty they had been until they +enclosed Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"You didn't say anything about bringing my friends with me," went on +Mary Rose happily, "but of course I couldn't leave Jenny Lind and +George Washington behind. George Washington has the same name as your +house," she gurgled. "Wouldn't you like to see him?" She slipped from +her aunt's arms to the chair where she had put her basket. There had +been sundry angry upheavals of the cover but it was tightly tied with a +stout string. Mrs. Donovan had scarcely noticed it. She had been too +bewildered to see anything but Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose untied the basket cover but before she could raise it a big +maltese cat had pushed it aside and jumped to the floor and stood +stretching himself in front of Mrs. Donovan's horrified eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose!" she cried. It was all she could say. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't he a beauty?" Mary Rose turned shining eyes to her as she +patted her pet. "I've had him ever since he was a weeny kitten. Mrs. +Campbell gave him to me when I had the tonsilitis. We adore each +other. You see his mother is dead and so is mine. We're both orphans." +</P> + +<P> +And she caught the orphaned George Washington to her and hugged him. +"I've a dog, too, but I left him in Mifflin." +</P> + +<P> +"Thank God for that," murmured Mrs. Donovan under her breath. +</P> + +<P> +"His name is Solomon," went on Mary Rose. "He was such a wise little +puppy that daddy said he should have a wise name. The superintendent +of schools made out a list for me and I copied each one on a separate +piece of paper and let the puppy take his choice. He took Solomon and +daddy said he showed his sense for Solomon was the very wisest of all. +But that shows just how smart Solomon was even as a puppy. Jimmie +Bronson's taking care of him until I send for him. He said he'd just +as soon I never sent, but of course I will as soon as I can. Do you +see Jenny Lind, George Washington?" She took the cat's head in her +hands and turned it to the cage in which Jenny Lind hopped restlessly. +"They aren't the friends I'd like them to be," she explained almost +apologetically to her aunt. "Sometimes it worries me. Dear me, I wish +I could have a talk with Noah! Don't you often wonder how he managed +in the ark? It must have been hard with cats and mice and snakes and +birds and lions and people. Daddy thought Noah must have been a fine +animal tamer, like the one in the circus Gladys Evans' father took us +to, only better, of course. Don't you think you'll like George +Washington?" she asked timidly, rather puzzled by her aunt's silence. +</P> + +<P> +"He's a beautiful cat," gulped Mrs. Donovan, who was more puzzled than +Mary Rose. What should she do? What could she do? She took both Mary +Rose and George Washington in her arms. "Listen to me, Mary Rose, for +a minute. You know your Uncle Larry is janitor of this building?" +</P> + +<P> +"It's a fine building," admiringly. "He must be awful rich." +</P> + +<P> +"He isn't rich at all," hurriedly. "If he was he wouldn't be a +janitor. A janitor is the man who takes care of it——" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," Mary Rose was frankly disappointed. "I thought he owned it." +</P> + +<P> +"You see other folks live here, lots of them, an' the man who owns it +won't let them have any cats or dogs," she hesitated, she hated to say +it, "or childern in it. It's in the lease. A lease is the same as a +law." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't have any cats or dogs or children!" Mary Rose's voice was +shrill with astonishment and her eyes were as big as saucers. "Why, +everybody has children! They always have had. Don't you remember, +even Adam and Eve? In Mifflin everyone has children." +</P> + +<P> +"It's different in Waloo. You see the man who owns this house thinks +childern are noisy an' destructive." She tried her best to find an +excuse for the unknown owner. "He doesn't know, of course. He's +probably a cross old bachelor." +</P> + +<P> +"But I'm a child," wailed Mary Rose suddenly. "Wha-what are you going +to do with me?" Her face whitened. +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt put her hand under the little chin and turned Mary Rose's +startled face up so that the two pairs of eyes looked directly into +each other. "You're not a child, Mary Rose. You're a great big girl +goin' on fourteen. Don't ever forget that. If anyone asks you how old +you are you just tell 'em you're goin' on fourteen. That's what you +are, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," doubtfully. "But I have to go to eleven first and then to +twelve and thirteen——" +</P> + +<P> +"Waloo folks don't care about that," her aunt interrupted quickly. +"They don't care to hear about any but the fourteen. Don't you ever +forget." +</P> + +<P> +"I won't," promised Mary Rose solemnly, too puzzled just then to think +it out. "But what about George Washington? He's just a cat." She +looked dubiously at George Washington and shook her head. Nothing +could be made of him but a cat. "An orphan cat!" she added firmly. +</P> + +<P> +"I know, dearie." Aunt Kate's arms tightened around her. "An' I hate +to ask you to give him up. I know you love him but if you keep him +here it may mean that your uncle will lose his job an' if he did that +there wouldn't be any roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose stared at her. "Would that cross old bachelor owner +make him not be janitor?" +</P> + +<P> +Her aunt nodded. "We'll have to find someone to take care of him—just +for a while," she added quickly as she saw two big tears in Mary Rose's +blue eyes. "Some day, please God, we'll have a home where we can have +him with us." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose stood very still, trying in vain to understand this strange +world to which she had come, a world where children and cats and dogs +were not considered precious and desirable. Suddenly a bell rang. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Mrs. Rawson," murmured Aunt Kate. "I'll bet she wants me to +run up an' look at her windows again. I'll be right back, Mary Rose," +she promised as she hurried away to answer the insistent jangle of Mrs. +Rawson's bell. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<P> +Left alone, Mary Rose caught George Washington to her heart and stood +staring about the room. She shook her head. This might be a beautiful +palace but she was very much afraid that she was not going to like it. +She walked slowly into the next room and then to the kitchen, whose +windows faced the alley. +</P> + +<P> +Across the driveway she could see a broad open space, the yard of a +rambling old-fashioned house. A man was cleaning an automobile and +through the open window Mary Rose could hear his cheery whistle. There +was something about the old-fashioned house and the spacious yard that +reminded Mary Rose of Mifflin, where people loved children and had +pets. The puzzled frown left her face, and clutching George Washington +closer she went out of the back door and across the alley. +</P> + +<P> +"If you please," she said, her heart beating so fast that she was +almost choked, "would you take a cat to board?" +</P> + +<P> +She had to say it a second time before the man heard her. He looked up +in surprise. He had a frank, pleasant face with twinkling eyes and +Mary Rose liked him at once. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, brother," he said, quite as cordially as a Mifflin man would +have spoken. "And where did you drop from?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't drop," answered literal Mary Rose. "I came across the +alley," and she nodded toward the big apartment house. It now turned a +white brick face to her. Mary Rose almost forgot her errand when she +saw that. In Mifflin houses were the same color all the way around. +"Why—why, it's two-faced!" she cried. "The front is all red and now +the back is all white. It's just like an enchanted palace." +</P> + +<P> +"It is an enchanted palace," grumbled the man. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose flew to his side. "Oh, is there a princess there? A +beautiful princess?" she begged. +</P> + +<P> +The man colored under the tan the sun and wind had spread over his +face. "There is," he admitted, "a most beautiful princess." +</P> + +<P> +"And a witch?" insisted Mary Rose. "A wicked witch?" The color flew +into her face also. +</P> + +<P> +"The wickedest witch that could ever enslave a beautiful princess. Her +darned old name is Independence!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose did not understand and she thought it was an odd name for a +witch but she wished to know more. "And is the prince there?" she +demanded thirstily. +</P> + +<P> +The man's face turned redder than before. "The prince is here," he +said sadly. "Right here. And he might as well be in Jericho," he +added under his breath. +</P> + +<P> +"I've heard the Presbyterian minister speak of Jericho but I never read +of it in any fairy-tale. Oh, dear! I hope the prince won't go there. +I want him to stay here and rescue the pretty princess from that wicked +witch In-independence," she stumbled over the unfamiliar word. +</P> + +<P> +The man looked at her. He had to look away down to find her, for he +was tall, over six feet, and Mary Rose was not much more than half +that, but when he finally did find her Mary Rose was amazed to see the +look of determination that came into his sunburned face. +</P> + +<P> +"He'll do it," he said, half under his breath. "It's all very well for +a girl to be independent, but she needn't be so darned independent that +she won't listen to a word a man says." +</P> + +<P> +"I don't think I understand," Mary Rose ventured to say when there was +a long pause. +</P> + +<P> +Her new friend laughed. "No, of course, you don't." He put his hands +on her shoulders. "As man to man," he said, "the modern girl is +getting to be almost too much of a problem for the modern man. I don't +suppose you understand that, either. But wait ten or fifteen years and +you will. Godfrey! I feel sorry for you. If they keep on as they've +started what will they be in ten years? Did you say you were living +over there?" He looked toward the white wall. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose nodded her yellow head. "I thought perhaps you might like to +take a cat to board. An orphan cat," she explained pityingly. +</P> + +<P> +Jerry Longworthy swallowed a laugh when he saw that there was real +trouble in her face. "Suppose you climb into the car and tell me why +you're looking for a boarding place for an orphan cat?" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose smiled radiantly as she obeyed and, with George Washington +cuddled against her, she told him all about it. +</P> + +<P> +"My Uncle Larry," she began very importantly, "is the janitor of that +wonderful two-faced palace." +</P> + +<P> +"Is he, indeed," remarked Jerry Longworthy, lighting his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +"But he doesn't own it. At first I thought he did. I used to live in +Mifflin, where there aren't any houses like that. Every family has its +own house. Some of them are little but Mrs. Black's is as big as +yours. She brought me to Waloo and we had a taxicab all the way." +</P> + +<P> +"All the way!" Mr. Jerry showed a proper amount of astonishment. "That +was a treat." +</P> + +<P> +"It was to me," simply. "There aren't any taxicabs in Mifflin, just +one old hack that was made before the war, Mr. Day said, and that's a +very long time ago." +</P> + +<P> +"It is," agreed Mr. Jerry. "Longer than either you or I can remember. +I expect you are all of ten years old?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'm older than that." She would have told him how much older but she +remembered what Aunt Kate had said. "I'm going on fourteen." It +sounded so aged that she felt quite important. "And my name is Mary +Rose Crocker." +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose?" He lifted his eyebrows, and Mary Rose knew at once that +he was thinking that boys' clothes and girls' names do not usually go +together. She flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"I wear them to save washing," she said with a certain dignity as she +touched the shrunken knickerbockers. "Girls' clothes are a lot of +trouble. Lena said they weren't worth it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sure she's right. You're only a little ahead of the style. All +girls'll be wearing them soon, no doubt. They're that independent. +How old is the orphan George?" He changed a subject that was evidently +so painful to Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"He's 'most five. I got him when I had tonsilitis, when I was six," +unconsciously betraying to anyone who could add five to six the secret +Aunt Kate had begged her to keep. "And we've never been separated a +whole day. But now," she swallowed the lump in her throat and went on +bravely, "you see the owner of that palace won't have any children nor +any dogs nor any cats in it." +</P> + +<P> +"I know." Mr. Jerry seemed to know everything. "What are you going to +do?" +</P> + +<P> +"If we kept him Uncle Larry would lose the janitor and we wouldn't have +a roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs, so I thought if I +could find a pleasant place for him to board near by I could see him +often. I couldn't give him away, for Aunt Kate says perhaps the +Lord'll give us a real home some day where we can all be together. +When I saw your house it made me think of Mifflin and I wondered if you +had a cat and if you hadn't if you would like to board one?" Her face +was painfully serious as she lifted It to Jerry Longworthy. +</P> + +<P> +"Well," he considered the question gravely. "Can you pay his board?" +</P> + +<P> +"I've a dollar and forty-three cents. The forty-three cents I saved +and the dollar Mr. Black gave me when he took me to the train in +Mifflin. How much should a cat's board be?" anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +"How much milk does he drink? Milk's seven cents a quart in Waloo." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, not more than a quart a day," eagerly. "And he's almost too fat +now." +</P> + +<P> +"A quart a day would be seven times seven——" +</P> + +<P> +"I know. I know all my tables up to twelve times twelve. That would +be forty-nine cents. Do you think fifty cents would be enough?" +</P> + +<P> +"I should think fifty cents a week very good board for a cat. Suppose +we go in and see what my Aunt Mary has to say." +</P> + +<P> +His Aunt Mary proved to be a plump lady with a round rosy face, who +agreed with Mary Rose that children and cats and dogs were most +desirable additions to a family. She seemed quite glad to take George +Washington as a boarder and thought that fifty cents a week was enough +to charge as long as Mary Rose solemnly promised to come over every day +and help take care of him. Mary Rose promised most solemnly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad." She beamed on Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary and hugged +George Washington. "It's a great relief to find a pleasant boarding +place. I can pay for two weeks, almost three weeks now," she offered. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry started to speak but his Aunt Mary shook her head and he shut +his mouth with the words inside. +</P> + +<P> +"We don't take board in advance for a cat," said his Aunt Mary in a way +that told Mary Rose such a thing was never done. "In fact, we've never +taken a cat to board before. I think it will be more satisfactory if +we wait until the end of the week, when we can tell just how much milk +he will drink," she added soberly. +</P> + +<P> +"He's awfully greedy." Mary Rose looked sadly at the greedy George +Washington. "But he's always had all he wanted. I can't tell you how +much obliged I am and I'll come over every day. It's awfully good of +you to take him when you haven't any other boarders." +</P> + +<P> +"I'd take you, too, if I could," Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary murmured as she +went to get a ginger cooky. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm going to find the beautiful princess," Mary Rose told Mr. Jerry, +when she said good-by to him a few minutes later. "And when I do shall +I tell her that the prince is not going to Jericho?" +</P> + +<P> +"Do," he said and his face went all red again. "Tell her that he's +going to stay right here on the job, that he will never give her up." +</P> + +<P> +"Never give her up," repeated Mary Rose. She tried to say it as firmly +as he had said it and she waved her hand as she went across the alley +and into the back door of the Washington, with a most delicious thrill +at entering such a two-faced building. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry looked after her and frowned. Then he shook his fist at the +Washington. +</P> + +<P> +"You are an enchanted palace," he told it sternly. "If it weren't for +doggone places like you, girls would have to stay at home. They +couldn't go out in the world and grow so independent that they think +work is the biggest thing in creation. Oh, Godfrey! it isn't normal +for any girl to like a job better than a perfectly good man. When I +think of Elizabeth Thorley wasting herself on advertisements for +Bingham and Henderson's sickening jams when she might be making a +Heaven for me it sends my temperature up until I'm afraid of +spontaneous combustion. She wouldn't care if I did blow up and turn to +ashes. She wouldn't care what happened to me so long as she could send +out a new poster for peach marmalade. She wants to live her own life +and not be tied down to a man or a home," he groaned. "Darn these +feministic ideas, anyway! I wish I had been my own grandfather. The +girl he wanted wasn't on any old factory payroll." +</P> + +<P> +He had been in love with Elizabeth Thorley ever since one night, almost +a year ago, when he had looked across a room and seen her red-brown +hair, her oval face with its uplifted pointed chin, and met her +laughing eyes. He had held her gaze for the fraction of a moment and +in that time his heart had stopped beating. When it began again the +world was a very different place to him. But, alas, it was not a +different place to her. She had suffered no magical change by the +short interchange of glances. +</P> + +<P> +They had been the best of friends. They had a certain similarity of +tastes and interests, for he was an architect and she was an +advertising artist. But when he asked for more than friendship she +tilted her white chin a bit higher and told him frankly that she was +not the type of girl to want or think of marriage; that all she wished +was her work and she thanked her lucky stars every night of her life +that she had enough of it to be independent. +</P> + +<P> +"Marriage to me is a many-headed dragon," she said. "It eats up a +girl's individuality, her ambitions, her talents. Oh, yes, it does! +I've seen it too many times not to know, and I want to keep Elizabeth +Thorley's personality for her as long as she lives. I shan't merge it +in that of any man." +</P> + +<P> +She valued his friendship; she would like to keep it always, she added, +but she did not want his love. She did not want any man's love. That +was why Mr. Jerry shook his fist at the white face of the Washington +and swore that he loathed the idea of feminine independence, loathed it +from the very bottom of his heart. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Mary Rose, wherever have you been?" demanded startled Mrs. +Donovan, when Mary Rose, a trifle breathless and minus George +Washington, slipped into the basement flat. "I've been lookin' +everywhere for you." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm sorry but I just had to find a boarding place for George +Washington. Oh, Aunt Kate, do you suppose there's any way a girl like +me can earn fifty cents every week?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<P> +When Larry Donovan saw his niece she had changed her shabby boy's suit +of blue serge for the clothes that Ella Murphy had outgrown. Ella had +astonished and disgusted her mother by lengthening herself, in a single +night, it seemed to the outraged Mrs. Murphy, to such an extent that a +new outfit was necessary. +</P> + +<P> +"It may be well enough for asparagus and tulips to grow like that, but +it's all wrong for a girl," she had said resentfully. "I just wish the +Power that lengthened her had to find her dresses and petticoats and +things to make her decent to go to the grandmother that's never seen +her. Here I am, all but ready to start, an' I have to get her new +clothes. Childern may be a blessing, there's folks that say they are, +but there's times I can't see anything but the worry and the expense of +'em." +</P> + +<P> +So the lengthened Ella's discarded garments had been left behind for +Mrs. Donovan to dispose of. They had been packed away and forgotten +until Mary Rose arrived and reminded her Aunt Kate that a perfectly +good outfit for a girl of fourteen was in one of her closets. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately Ella had been slim as well as tall and the middy blouse +that Mrs. Donovan tried on Mary Rose did not look too much as if it had +been made for her grandmother. The bright plaid skirt trailed on the +floor but Aunt Kate turned back the hem which still left the skirt +hanging considerably below Mary Rose's shabby shoe tops, much to her +delight. +</P> + +<P> +She hung over the machine, her tongue clattering an unwearied +accompaniment to the whir of the wheel, as Mrs. Donovan sewed the +basted hem. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you know there was an enchanted princess in your house, Aunt +Kate?" she demanded excitedly. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan had not known it and her surprise made her break her +thread. When Mary Rose had explained she grunted something. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean the girl that Mr. Longworthy's crazy about? She's up above +an' won't have nothin' to do with men. 'I don't want nothin' in my +life but my work,' says she to me, herself. That's all very well for +now but let her wait a few years an' she'll sing a different tune or I +miss my guess. She ain't enchanted, Mary Rose, she's just pig-headed +an' young." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose was disappointed. "Mr. Jerry said she was under the spell of +the wicked witch, Independence," she insisted. "Wasn't it good of him +to take George Washington to board? It's such a relief to have found a +pleasant place so near. I'm sure they'll be friendly to him." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan mentally planned to slip across the alley and see Mr. +Jerry and his Aunt Mary herself about George Washington's board as she +looked into the earnest little face so near her own. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, they will," she said above the whir of the machine. "But you +mustn't make friends of everyone you meet, Mary Rose. A city isn't +like the country. I suppose you knew everyone in Mifflin?" +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone," with an emphatic shake of her head. "Animals and +vegetables as well as people. And everyone knew me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, it won't be that way in Waloo," Mrs. Donovan explained. "No one +knows you an' you don't know anyone. You mustn't go makin' up to +strangers. A little girl can't tell who's good an' who's bad." +</P> + +<P> +"She can if she has the right kind of an eye," Mary Rose told her +eagerly. "Daddy said so over and over again. He said the good Lord +never made bad people because it would be a waste of time and dust when +he could just as well make them good. And if you had the right kind of +an eye you could see that there was good in every single person. Daddy +said I had the right kind. Mine's blue but it isn't in the color, for +his eyes were brown and they were right, too. It's something," she +hesitated as she tried to explain what was so very dear and simple to +her. "It's something to do with the inside and your heart. I +shouldn't wonder, Aunt Kate, if you had the right kind. Isn't it +easier for you to see that people are kind and good than it is to see +them bad?" +</P> + +<P> +It wasn't for Aunt Kate. A two-years' residence in the basement of the +Washington had about convinced her that all human nature was sour but +she disliked to tell Mary Rose so when Mary Rose so plainly expected +her to agree that the world was inhabited by a superior sort of angel. +She snipped her threads and drew the plaid skirt from under the needle. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose fairly squealed with delight when she was in the white middy +blouse and the skirt flapped about her ankles in such a very grown-up +manner. Mary Rose's yellow hair had always been bobbed but no one had +seen that it was trimmed before she left Mifflin and it hung in rather +straight lanky locks about her elfish face. Some of the locks were +long enough to be drawn under one of Ella's discarded red hair ribbons +and Aunt Kate pinned back the others. The result was a very different +Mary Rose from the one who had jumped out of the taxicab a few hours +ago. She climbed on a chair and looked at her reflection in the mirror +of her aunt's bureau. +</P> + +<P> +"I do think it's too lovely!" she cried rapturously. "You can't ever +know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to wear skirts. Sometimes," she +whispered confidentially, "I used to wonder if I really was a girl. +You don't think it will make too much washing?" anxiously. "I +shouldn't want to be a burden to you. But I do love this skirt! I +wish Gladys Evans could see me!" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-045"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-045.jpg" ALT=""'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to wear skirts.'"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="396" HEIGHT="540"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 396px"> +"'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to wear skirts.'" +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +She was still admiring her new clothes in the mirror when her Uncle +Larry came in. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo," he said in a loud cheery voice. "Who's this? Kate, Mrs. +Bracken wants to see you." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose tore her eyes from the fascinating reflection in the mirror +that she could scarcely believe was herself, and looked at the big +broad-shouldered man in the doorway. He had been frowning but the +frown slipped away from his forehead when he gazed into Mary Rose's +blue eyes, so that he looked very kind and friendly. Mary Rose jumped +from the chair and ran over to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm Mary Rose," she said a bit shyly. This unknown uncle was so big +and strong and he was janitor of this strange two-faced palace. A +janitor sounded powerful and important even if Aunt Kate had explained +that he wasn't, so that Mary Rose felt a little shy with him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose, eh?" He picked her up and raised her in his arms until her +face was on a level with his. "Sure, I think you're more of a Rose +than a Mary," he added as he kissed the face that was as pink as any +flower. +</P> + +<P> +Her arms met around his neck. "That's because I'm so happy to be with +you and Aunt Kate," she whispered. "You know, after daddy went to +Heaven there wasn't anyone in the whole world that belonged to me in +Mifflin but George Washington, and my dog that Jimmie Bronson borrowed, +and Jenny Lind, and now to have a great big uncle and a beautiful aunt +of my very own m-makes me very happy." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's George Washington?" asked Uncle Larry as he found a chair and +sat down with her in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose told him about her cat, which was boarding across the alley, +and Uncle Larry thought to himself that he would go over and make sure +that the cat was all right. It was a thundering shame the child +couldn't have her pet with her. He'd like to tell the owner of the +Washington a few things if he knew who he was and if there was no fear +of losing his job. +</P> + +<P> +"And Jenny Lind," Mary Rose was saying eagerly. "I must show you Jenny +Lind." She slipped down and ran into the next room to come back with a +birdcage. "Aunt Kate says I may keep her here because there isn't one +word in that law about canary birds." +</P> + +<P> +"No, thank God, there isn't," said Uncle Larry. "The old grouch must +have forgotten about them." He admired Jenny Lind as much as Mary Rose +could wish. +</P> + +<P> +"The real Jenny Lind was a girl with a bird in her throat," Mary Rose +explained as she leaned against his knee. "My own grandfather heard it +and he told daddy and daddy told me that to hear her sing made a man +think he was in Heaven. So when Mrs. Lenox gave me this beautiful bird +for my very own, of course, I named her Jenny Lind. Mrs. Lenox called +her Cleopatra. Wasn't that a silly name for a bird? Mrs. Lenox must +have liked it or she wouldn't have given it to anything. Isn't it the +luckiest thing that everyone hasn't the same likes? Just suppose +everyone had been like my father and my mother and all the little girls +were named Mary Rose? I think it's the most beautiful name in the +entire dictionary, but Gladys Evans in Mifflin said it was common. She +counted up and she knew seven Marys, with her grandmother and old Mrs. +Wilcox, who's deaf and half blind, and four Roses. But there wasn't +one Mary Rose!" triumphantly. "And that made all the difference in the +world. My daddy chose the Mary because he said there wasn't a better +name for a little girl to have for her own and my little mother chose +the Rose because she said I was just like a flower when she saw me +first. Don't you like it, Uncle Larry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do!" Uncle Larry could not have told her how much he liked it, but +as he listened to her chatter he wondered how on earth Kate was going +to make the tenants of the Washington think the child was fourteen. +</P> + +<P> +"And I like your name," Mary Rose was kind enough to say. "And Aunt +Kate's, too," she added, as Aunt Kate came back from her interview with +Mrs. Bracken. +</P> + +<P> +"Her girl's gone," she said in answer to Uncle Larry's question. "I +don't wonder. That's the fourth in three weeks. Seems if she only +stays home long enough to hire an' discharge 'em. She heard I had a +niece with me an' she wants her to go up every mornin' an' wash the +dishes till she gets another girl. So, Mary Rose, if you really want +to earn money to pay for George Washington's board, here's a chance." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose slid to the floor and clapped her hands. "I do think +this is the most wonderful world that ever was. I just wish for +something and then I have it." +</P> + +<P> +"That'll happen just so long as you wish for what you can get," Aunt +Kate told her. +</P> + +<P> +When Mary Rose was tucked in bed, where she told Aunt Kate she felt +like a long green pickle in a glass jar because she never had slept in +a cellar—a basement—before, and they always had pickles in their +cellar, Aunt Kate explained to her husband about Mrs. Bracken. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't say anythin', but, of course, she'd come. Mrs. Bracken had +the nerve to tell me she knew Mary Rose wasn't a child for childern +weren't allowed in the buildin'. What was I to do, Larry Donovan, but +say she'd wash her dirty old dishes? It won't hurt Mary Rose an' I'll +give her a hand if she needs it. Isn't it a pity though that Mary Rose +couldn't have taken more after her mother's fam'ly? Seems if I never +saw such a small eleven-year-old as she is." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<P> +Enveloped in a blue and white checked gingham apron of her aunt's, Mary +Rose washed Mrs. Bracken's dishes. Mrs. Donovan had brought her up to +the apartment and Mary Rose had looked curiously around the rather bare +and empty halls. There was something in the atmosphere of them that +made her catch Mrs. Donovan by the hand. +</P> + +<P> +"It feels like the Presbyterian Church in the middle of the week," she +whispered. "It doesn't seem as if anyone really lived here, Aunt Kate." +</P> + +<P> +"You'll find folks live here," Mrs. Donovan said grimly as she unlocked +the Bracken door. "We don't ever get a chance to forget 'em." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bracken had gone out with her husband and there was no one in the +apartment that seemed so big and grand to Mary Rose's unsophisticated +eyes. But Aunt Kate sniffed at the untidy kitchen and living-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Seems if it was just about as important for a woman to make a home as +a club," she said under her breath as she picked up papers and +straightened chairs in the living-room. She found the dish pan and +showed Mary Rose what to do. +</P> + +<P> +"I know how to wash dishes, Aunt Kate." Mary Rose was in a fever to +begin. "I washed them for Lena and no one could be more particular +than she was. We got our hot water out of a kettle instead of a pipe." +She watched with interest the water run steaming from the faucet. +"Wouldn't it be grand if Mrs. Bracken had a little girl so we could +wash dishes together? I don't mind doing them all by myself a bit, +Aunt Kate. I'm glad to do it. I know there's nothing so splendid as a +girl being useful. Daddy told me that and Mr. Mann, the minister, and +Gladys Evans' grandmother and all the other grown-uppers. But I think +the grandest part is to earn George Washington's board. It's splendid +to have someone besides yourself to work for," she added with a very +adult air. +</P> + +<P> +She sang to herself as she worked, after Aunt Kate had left her. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +"Where have you been, Billie boy, Billie boy?<BR> +Where have you been, charming Billie?<BR> +I've been to see my wife, she's the treasure of my life,<BR> +She's a young thing and can't leave her mother."<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was Lena's favorite song and it had many verses. Mary Rose sang +them all with gusto. +</P> + +<P> +"If I didn't make a noise I'd be scared of the quiet," she thought. "I +never was in a home that was so little like a home. It's because there +isn't anything alive in it. There isn't even a Lady Washington +geranium." She was astonished that there wasn't, for in Mifflin pots +of geraniums and other plants were always to be seen in sunny windows. +"It gives you a hollow feeling—not empty for bread and butter but for +people," she decided. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose had never lived where there were no live things. "Dogs and +cats and birds help to make you feel friendly toward all the world. +And so do plants. I guess that's true of all the things God made," she +thought as she hung up the dish pan on the nail Aunt Kate had pointed +out. +</P> + +<P> +She stood in the doorway, looking back at the clean and tidy kitchen +with considerable satisfaction. She had done it all herself and it +would have pleased even the critical Lena. +</P> + +<P> +A door across the hall opened suddenly and Mary Rose swung around and +looked into the curious face of an elderly woman who was almost as +broad as she was tall. Her round face wore a scowl and the corners of +her mouth turned straight down. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning," Mary Rose said in the neighborly fashion that was in +vogue in Mifflin. +</P> + +<P> +"H-m." The fat lady eyed her over gold spectacles. "Can't Mrs. +Bracken get a full-grown girl to do her work? I thought she was +against child labor." +</P> + +<P> +She laughed unpleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not working regular," Mary Rose said quickly, with a blush because +she was not so large as the fat lady thought she should be. "I'm Mrs. +Donovan's niece and I've just come from Mifflin. I'm only washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes until she gets another girl, so I can earn money to +pay for George Washington's board." +</P> + +<P> +"George Washington's board?" echoed the fat lady. "Come here, Mina," +she called over her shoulder, "and listen to this child. Who's George +Washington?" She was frankly curious and so was the maid, who had +joined her. +</P> + +<P> +"He's my cat. I've had him ever since I had tonsilitis. Aunt Kate +says the law won't let him live here with me, so I'm boarding him over +there." And she nodded in the direction of the alley and the +hospitable Mr. Jerry. +</P> + +<P> +"Cats here? I should say not!" exclaimed Mrs. Schuneman. She watched +Mary Rose as she carefully locked the door of the Bracken apartment. +The child puzzled her and when Mrs. Schuneman was puzzled over anything +or anyone she had to find out all about them. She had nothing else to +do. Once she had been an active harassed woman, busy with the problem +of how she was to support herself and her two daughters, but just when +the problem seemed about to be too much for her to solve a brother died +and left her money enough to live comfortably for the remainder of her +life. She had moved from the crowded downtown rooms to the more +pretentious Washington and tried to think that she was happier for the +change, but really she was very lonely and discontented. Miss Louise +Schuneman was too busy with church work and Miss Lottie Schuneman had a +bridge club four afternoons a week and went to the matinee and the +moving picture shows the other afternoons, so that neither of them was +a companion for their mother. Mrs. Schuneman had nothing to do but +wonder about the neighbors she did not know and tell her maid how much +admired her daughters were and how hard she had worked herself until +the good God had seen fit to take her brother from his packing plant. +"If you're the janitor's niece you can come in and clean up the mess +the plumber made on my floor. It isn't the place of the girl I pay +wages to, to clean up the dirt the workmen make." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it?" Mary Rose did not know and she followed Mrs. Schuneman +into the living-room. "What a pleasant room," she said, when she +crossed the threshold, for the sun streamed in through the windows in a +way that made even a rather garish decoration seem attractive. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Schuneman's grim face relaxed a trifle. "It ought to be pretty," +she grumbled. "It cost enough but it don't suit Louise. And Lottie +don't like the rug. She says it's too red. But I like red," she +snapped. "It's a thankless task to try and please girls who think they +know more than their old mother." +</P> + +<P> +"There is a lot of red in it." Mary Rose had to admit that much. "But +red is a cheerful color. It makes you feel very warm and comfortable." +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't cheerful to my girls. They won't stay at home, always away, +and their old mother left alone. When they were little I gave them all +the time I could spare from my work and now they leave me by myself. +They think because I have a girl to cook and wash I don't need them." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose did not understand and she stood there, just beyond the +threshold, uncertainly. But if she did not understand why Mrs. +Schuneman's daughters did not stay in the room with the red tug, she +realized that Mrs. Schuneman was lonely. +</P> + +<P> +"It's too bad you haven't a pet," she suggested. "A dog or a cat is a +lot of company. Why—" a sudden thought came to her. "Just wait a +minute. I'll be right back," she called as she ran out of the room. +</P> + +<P> +Before Mrs. Schuneman fairly realized that she had gone she was back +with Jenny Lind in her cage. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought perhaps you might like to have Jenny Lind spend the day with +you," she said breathlessly. "She isn't just the same as a grown up +daughter, but she's lots of company and she sings—she sings," she was +rather at a loss to tell how well Jenny Lind could sing, "like a +seraphim! They sing in the Bible and sound so grand I've always wanted +to hear one though I know there isn't a seraphim that could sing +sweeter than Jenny Lind. You can put the cage in that window. She +loves the sunshine and she'll sing and sing until you forget you are +lonely." +</P> + +<P> +"My gracious me!" murmured Mrs. Schuneman, staring from the eager face +to the sleek yellow bird. "I haven't had a canary since I was a girl +in my father's house." +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say you can't have birds here. It's +cats and dogs and children." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, yes. I know." Mrs. Schuneman walked up to the cage and looked +at Jenny Lind, who looked at her with her bright bead-like eyes before +she burst into joyous song. "Now, why didn't I think of a canary?" +Mrs. Schuneman demanded sharply. "There isn't any reason why I +shouldn't have one." +</P> + +<P> +"You're perfectly welcome to Jenny Lind until you get one of your own." +Mary Rose was delighted to have Jenny Lind received so cordially. +"She'll be glad to spend the day with you. She's a very friendly bird." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll be glad to have her. Perhaps you'll stay, too." Mrs. Schuneman +surprised herself more than she did Mary Rose by the invitation that +popped so suddenly from her mouth. She had never asked anyone in the +Washington to spend the day with her before. "Tell me where you came +from and what's your name and how old you are?" +</P> + +<P> +"I came from Mifflin and my name's Mary Rose Crocker and I'm almost +el—I mean I'm going on fourteen." She remembered the secret she had +with Aunt Kate just in time. A second more and it would have been too +late. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her over the gold spectacles. "Going on +fourteen?" she repeated. "You're very small for your age. Why, when +my Lottie was fourteen she would have made two of you." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose squirmed. The unjust criticism was very hard to bear. She +just had to murmur faintly that it would be some time before she would +reach fourteen. +</P> + +<P> +"H-m, I thought so." Mrs. Schuneman looked very wise, as if she +understood perfectly and there is no doubt that she understood more +than Mary Rose. "Well, well," she said, while Mary Rose, scarlet and +mortified, stood twisting the corner of Aunt Kate's apron. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I hope you won't tell," she said hurriedly, her eyes on the red +rug, "because it's something of a secret on account of the law for this +house. I don't understand exactly but Aunt Kate does." +</P> + +<P> +"I've no doubt she does." The corners of Mrs. Schuneman's mouth were +pulled down farther than they had been and she looked very, very stern +until Jenny Lind broke into joyous song again, when the corners of Mrs. +Schuneman's mouth tilted up, slightly. "Well, well," she said again, +but not quite so crossly. "So long as you behave yourself and aren't a +nuisance I shan't say a word. Where I lived before my brother left me +his money there were more children than a body could count. Such a +noise and confusion all the time. I was glad to get away from them and +come up here where there couldn't be any children——" +</P> + +<P> +"Nor any dogs nor cats," murmured Mary Rose sadly. +</P> + +<P> +"But maybe that's why the place hasn't seemed like home to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it is." Mary Rose knew. "I never heard of a home without +children. There wasn't one in all Mifflin." She tried to imagine such +a thing but she couldn't do it. "It wouldn't be a home," she decided +emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her curiously before she gave herself another +surprise. "Suppose you go and ask your aunt if you can go out with me +and find a bird? I believe you would choose a good one. Louise and +Lottie can make a fuss if they want to but I never said a word when +they bought a phonograph and a bird will be more company for an old +lady than a machine." +</P> + +<P> +They had a wonderful time finding a canary. They visited several shops +where birds of many kinds were offered for sale. Mary Rose quite lost +her heart to a great red and green poll parrot with fierce red-rimmed +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd never be lonesome if you had him," she whispered. "He could +really talk to you." +</P> + +<P> +"Damn! Damn! Damn!" remarked Poll Parrot pleasantly, as if to show +that he really could talk. "Polly wants a cracker. Oh, damn! Damn! +Fools and idiots! Damn!" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't conversation I care for. It's too much like having a man +around again." Mrs. Schuneman was quite shocked. +</P> + +<P> +After they had made their choice and had a bird in a neat little wooden +cage and had bought a fine brass cage for a permanent home they stopped +at a confectioner's for a sundae. Mary Rose's cheeks were as pink as +pink as they sat at the little table and ate ice cream and discussed a +name for the new member of the Schuneman family. They finally agreed +on Germania in deference to Mrs. Schuneman's love for her native +country and Mary Rose's firm belief that a bird's name should be +suggestive of music. "And I've heard that lots of music was made in +Germany," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Altogether it was a very pleasant afternoon and they went back to the +Washington very happily. Mrs. Schuneman carried Germania in the +temporary wooden cage and Mary Rose proudly bore the brass cage. As +they went up the steps a man brushed past them. He was tall and thin +and had a nervous irritable manner that one felt as well as saw. Mary +Rose locked up and smiled politely. +</P> + +<P> +"Good afternoon," she said. +</P> + +<P> +The tall thin man did not answer her. He did not even look at her but +hurried on up the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Mr. Wells," Mrs. Schuneman explained in a hoarse whisper that +must have followed Mr. Wells up the stairs and caught him at the first +landing. "He's an awful grouch. He's over the Brackens, but if Lottie +is entertaining one of her bridge clubs and he's at home he's sure to +send his Jap man down to ask her to make less noise. I've never spoken +to him in my life. I don't see how you dared." +</P> + +<P> +"I always spoke to people in Mifflin." Mary Rose couldn't understand +why she shouldn't speak to people in Waloo. +</P> + +<P> +"Folks don't speak to folks in Waloo unless they've been introduced," +Mrs. Schuneman told her gloomily. "The good God knows I've had to +learn that. And you're too young to know good from bad," she began, as +Aunt Kate had, but Mary Rose interrupted her to explain that she could, +that she had the right kind of an eye, and he tried to tell her what +the right kind of an eye was. +</P> + +<P> +"You look through your heart with it," vaguely. "I don't understand +just how for your eyes are here," she touched her face, "and your +heart's here," and her hand tapped her small chest. "But that's what +daddy said. He called it the friendly eye. Being friendly to people, +he said, was as if you had a candle in your heart and the light shines +through your eyes. Oh, Mrs. Schuneman, I do believe Germania is going +to like it here." For Germania was twittering as if she did find her +new home to her liking. +</P> + +<P> +They had scarcely transferred Germania from the wooden cage to the +shining brass one and hung it in the window when Miss Lottie Schuneman +came in. Mary Rose looked at her eagerly. Could she be the enchanted +princess Mr. Jerry had spoken of? But Miss Lottie was short and plump +like her mother and her face was round and rosy. She did not bear the +faintest resemblance to any princess Mary Rose had ever read of. It +was disappointing. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you there?" Miss Lottie asked at once. "You can't have pets +in this flat, you know." +</P> + +<P> +"You can have canary birds," Mary Rose told her quickly. "Uncle Larry +said the law never spoke of them." +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Larry said that, did he?" Miss Lottie began but her mother broke +in with an eagerness that was very different from the querulous way in +which she usually spoke: +</P> + +<P> +"I've got to have something alive here to keep me company. You don't +know how lonesome it is for a woman to have nothing to do when she's +been as busy as I was. There isn't anyone for me to talk to but Mina, +and she's paid to work, not to listen. You and Louise bought a +phonograph. I guess I can have a bird if I want one." +</P> + +<P> +"My word!" Miss Lottie put her hands on her hips and stared at her +mother. She laughed softly, indulgently. "Sure, you can have a bird +if you want one. But don't let it wake me up mornings." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't you just as soon be wakened by a bird singing as a steam +radiator sizzling?" asked Mary Rose. "Unless you live all by yourself +on a desert island you've got to be wakened by some kind of a noise. I +think a bird singing is just about the most beautiful noise that ever +was." +</P> + +<P> +"So do I," agreed Mrs. Schuneman. "And you needn't worry, Lottie +Schuneman. I don't complain of your phonograph nights, I leave that to +Mr. Wells, and you needn't find fault with my bird mornings." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm not finding fault, far be it from me; only when Mr. Wells sends +down word that your new pet is a nuisance you can answer him yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"How could anyone say a bird was a nuisance?" Mary Rose was shocked. +"Why, it can't be that late!" for the dock on the mantel called out +five times and she looked at it in wide-eyed amazement. Never had an +afternoon run away any faster. "I must go. I've had a perfectly +wonderful time, Mrs. Schuneman, and I hope that Germania will be happy +with you in her new home." +</P> + +<P> +There was a wistful note in her voice that reminded Mrs. Schuneman that +Mary Rose had recently come to a new home. She patted Mary Rose on the +shoulder and told her to come again. +</P> + +<P> +"Come whenever you like. I'm alone most of the time and you can be +free with me," meaningly. "My tongue isn't hung in the middle to wag +at both ends." +</P> + +<P> +"You can't have a kid running in and out all the time," objected Miss +Lottie, when Mary Rose had gone. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Schuneman stopped snapping her fingers at Germania and looked at +her daughter. "There isn't much about this house that you let me have +as I want it. You took me away from my old friends and brought me up +here where it's so stylish I don't know a soul. I wonder I haven't +lost my voice, I've so little chance to use it. We've been here for +seven months now and though there's dozens and dozens of people pass my +door every night and morning, there's not one of them ever stops. The +janitor and his wife are the only ones I can talk to and I have to find +fault to get them up here. You and Louise are out all day. You don't +stay here." +</P> + +<P> +"You don't have to stay here, either," yawned Miss Lottie. She had +heard all that before, very, very often. "We've told you a million +times to go out." +</P> + +<P> +"Where'll I go?" asked her mother sharply. "Where'll I go? I can't +run about the streets and the stores six days in the week. A woman's +got to be home some time and if I find that child amuses me I'm going +to have her here when I want her. You needn't say another word, Lottie +Schuneman. So long as I pay the bills I'll have something to say about +my own house." +</P> + +<P> +"I was only telling you the kid might be a nuisance," muttered Miss +Lottie. +</P> + +<P> +"And I was telling you I'd do as you do, choose my own friends. That +child's the only soul that has ever looked at me in a friendly way +since I came to this house and I'm going to see her when I want to." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan could scarcely believe her ears when Mary Rose poured out +the story of the afternoon. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Old Lady Schuneman's been crosser than two sticks ever since she came +here. Maybe it is because she's lonesome, I dunno. Seems if a canary +won't do much for her but, for the land's sakes, Mary Rose, don't put +one in every flat." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't that be grand!" Mary Rose stopped paring potatoes for supper +to look at her aunt with admiration. "It would be like living inside +an organ, wouldn't it. I think it would be perfectly lovely." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<P> +When Mary Rose went up to Mrs. Bracken's the next morning she took +Jenny Lind with her and placed the cage on the kitchen table. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't bear to be alone," she had explained to Aunt Kate. "If I +don't have a friend with me I feel as if I was shut up in a dark +closet." +</P> + +<P> +First Mary Rose went into the big living-room and picked up papers, +straightened the chairs and raised the shades as she had seen her aunt +do the day before. It was a very splendid room to Mary Rose but there +was something about it that made her frown as she stood in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"It needs something. Even the chairs don't look as if they really knew +each other. It doesn't feel as if people ever had a good time in it." +She shook her head and thought of the shabby sitting-room in +Mifflin—not big enough to swing a cat in, daddy had said—where she +and daddy and Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and Lena had +been crowded together. Everyone had had good times there. +</P> + +<P> +She winked back a tear as she went down the hall. She glanced in at an +open door and stopped short as she found that she was looking into the +black eyes of a woman on the bed. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you Mrs. Donovan's niece?" the woman said faintly. "Come in. +Gracious, but you're small for your age! You washed up very nicely +yesterday. I didn't close my eyes last night and I'm not feeling well +today, so I'm not going to get up for a while. I wish you would tell +your uncle that Mrs. Matchan can't practice this morning. I must get +some sleep. What's that in the kitchen?" she demanded as she heard a +happy chirp-chirp. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Jenny Lind." Mary Rose was all sympathy for this lovely lady +who could not sleep. For a moment she had thought that she might be +the enchanted princess but if she was Mrs. Bracken she was a married +lady and Mary Rose had never heard of a married princess. All the +princesses she knew ceased to exist when they began to live happily +ever after. +</P> + +<P> +"Jenny Lind?" asked Mrs. Bracken. +</P> + +<P> +"My canary. I brought her for company. I never was in a house by +myself and it's lonely if you're only going on fourteen," faltered Mary +Rose, fully conscious that Mrs. Bracken did not care for canaries. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I can't have her in my kitchen. She makes me nervous. Put her +out in the hall and shut the bedroom door. When you have washed the +dishes I may let you make a cup of tea." And she closed the black eyes +which had looked at Mary Rose in such a chilly way. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose went out on tiptoe. She meant to close the door softly but +she was so indignant that it would slam. Put her Jenny Lind out in the +hall where cats could get her? She would not. Even if cats were +forbidden to enter the Washington some cat might not know the law and +slip in. She would take no risk. She nodded encouragingly at the bird +as she looked about the kitchen. Near the sink was an open cupboard +with three shelves, broad and high enough to hold a birdcage. She +would put the cage on the lowest shelf and then if Mrs. Bracken came +out, she would push the door shut. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd better go to sleep too, Jenny Lind," she cautioned in a low +voice. "The lady doesn't like you. She thinks you're noisy." She did +not tell Jenny Lind what she thought of the lady, but shut her lips +firmly and began her work. She did not sing that morning. She did not +even look up to smile and nod to Jenny Lind, but kept her eyes on her +dishes, her lips pressed into an indignant red button. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly there was a whir—a rattle—and she did look up to see that +the cupboard had vanished. Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared. +Nothing was left but a vacant space and an open door. Mary Rose +dropped the dish she held. Fortunately it was a kitchen bowl, but it +would have been the same if it had been one of the best cups. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-077"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-077.jpg" ALT=""Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="405" HEIGHT="478"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 405px"> +"Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Why—why!" gasped Mary Rose. She tried to put her head in the space +where the shelves had been to see where Jenny Lind had gone. +</P> + +<P> +"Jenny Lind!" she shrieked suddenly. She could not help it. If your +pet canary was suddenly snatched from you by some mysterious power, I +rather fancy you would shriek, too. "Jenny Lind!" +</P> + +<P> +The crash of the kitchen bowl or Mary Rose's astonished shriek brought +Mrs. Bracken from her bed. She stood in the doorway, one hand +clutching the kimono she had thrown around her. +</P> + +<P> +"You must be more quiet," she said crossly. "How can I sleep when you +are making such a noise? And if you break any more dishes I shall have +to charge you for them. It's pure carelessness." +</P> + +<P> +"It's Jenny Lind," gulped Mary Rose, too frightened to think of dishes. +And she tried to make Mrs. Bracken understand that Jenny Lind had been +there, in that hole in the wall, and that now—Oh, where was she? +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bracken shrugged her shoulders. "It's the dumbwaiter," she +yawned. "Your bird has gone up to Mr. Wells or possibly higher. If +it's Mr. Wells I don't suppose you'll see the bird again. He's a very +peculiar man." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose did not wait to hear another word. With Aunt Kate's big blue +and white checked apron on, the dish mop in her hand, and a great fear +in her heart, she dashed up the stairs and pounded on the door of the +apartment above. Mr. Wells came himself and if he had looked cross and +forbidding the night before he looked a thousand times crosser and more +forbidding now. Indeed, he exactly fulfilled Mary Rose's idea of an +ogre. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't hurt Jenny Lind," sobbed Mary Rose, as soon as she could +gather breath to speak. "I'll take her right away." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurt who? Who's Jenny Lind?" growled the ogre. +</P> + +<P> +"My bird! my Jenny Lind! She came up to your house with a dumbwaiter." +Mary Rose hadn't the faintest idea of what a dumbwaiter was and it +sounded horrible to her. "Please, please, give her to me at once!" +She fairly danced in her impatience. She would have rushed into the +apartment but Mr. Wells stood in the doorway. +</P> + +<P> +"The dumbwaiter?" Mary Rose had never heard a more unfriendly voice. +He called to someone behind him and a Japanese man came and peered +under Mr. Wells' arm as he held it against the frame of the door. +</P> + +<P> +"Sako has taken nothing from the dumbwaiter this morning," Mr. Wells +said very coldly after he had exchanged a few words with his servant. +"But if you have lost your bird it is only what you must expect. Pets +are not allowed in this house." And he scowled fiercely enough to +frighten anyone but the owner of a lost canary. +</P> + +<P> +"They are if they're not children nor cats nor dogs," insisted tearful +Mary Rose. "Uncle Larry said the law never says one word about birds. +Oh, are you quite sure Jenny Lind isn't in your house?" she wailed. +</P> + +<P> +"I told you we have taken nothing from the dumbwaiter," impatiently. +He thought he was wonderfully patient with the child. He could have +ordered her out of the building at once. "Your bird may have gone up +to the next floor." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps she has." Mary Rose was on the stairs before he finished the +sentence. "I'm sorry for bothering you," she called back, "but if one +of your family was lost I rather think you'd try to find her." +</P> + +<P> +Her voice rang out shrill and clear and it was such an unexpected sound +in the Washington, where children's voices were forbidden, that old +Mrs. Johnson opened her door in a spasm of curiosity. She closed it +abruptly when she met the cold unfriendly glance of Mr. Wells' black +eyes, and shook in her shoes. +</P> + +<P> +Four doors faced Mary Rose when she reached the third floor. She +knocked on all of them not to waste time. Two doors remained firmly +closed. The other two opened simultaneously. In one stood a girl with +yellow hair and blue eyes and in the other was a young man who promptly +changed the morose expression he had put on when he rose for a +pleasanter one as he glanced across at Miss Blanche Carter before he +even looked at Mary Rose. Miss Carter looked at Mary Rose first and +then at Mr. Robert Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please," Mary Rose was almost, if not quite, in tears, "have you +seen Jenny Lind?" +</P> + +<P> +They stared at her. The only Jenny Lind they had ever heard of had +been quietly in her grave for many years. They looked at each other. +Mr. Strahan added a satisfied grin to his pleasant expression, for he +had wished to know Miss Carter ever since he had met her on the stairs +the day after he had moved into the Washington, but Fate had refused to +bring them together. He determined to make the most of this rare +opportunity as he kindly questioned Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Who is Jenny Lind?" +</P> + +<P> +"My canary," sobbed Mary Rose. "I put her on the shelf in Mrs. +Bracken's kitchen and she—she disappeared!" +</P> + +<P> +"Cats," suggested Mr. Strahan with a very knowing glance for Miss +Carter. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose shook her head. "Cats aren't allowed here. It was a +dumbwaiter, Mrs. Bracken said." Her voice was filled with anguish. +How hateful city life was! +</P> + +<P> +"Oh! I thought it was the milkman." Miss Carter turned and ran into +her flat, Mary Rose at her heels. After a moment's hesitation, in +which he called himself a bashful idiot, Mr. Strahan deserted his +doorway for his neighbor's. On the top shelf of a cupboard like that +which had been in Mrs. Bracken's kitchen Mary Rose saw a bottle of +milk. She groaned. But Miss Carter gave a pull somewhere and sent it +higher. There on the lower shelf, swinging unconcernedly in her cage, +was Jenny Lind. Mary Rose gave a joyous shriek. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought I'd never see her again. I can't thank you, but I'll +remember you as long as I live. I—I feel as if you'd saved her life." +She shivered as she remembered the snap of Mr. Wells' black eyes, the +click of his heavy jaw, when he had said that pets were not allowed in +the building. +</P> + +<P> +"What is all this excitement?" questioned a soft voice behind them, and +Mary Rose whirled around and stared at another girl. +</P> + +<P> +Now that her anxiety in regard to Jenny Lind was relieved, Mary Rose +had time to think of other things. She brushed the tears from her +eyes, and her face was wreathed with a dewy smile as she asked eagerly: +</P> + +<P> +"Please, which—which of you is the enchanted princess?" One of them +must be. She knew it by a funny prickle down her back. +</P> + +<P> +Both girls laughed, the yellow-haired one and the brown. +</P> + +<P> +"Princesses aren't enchanted now." Miss Carter pulled a lock of Mary +Rose's yellow hair. "They have their eyes too wide open." +</P> + +<P> +"But Mr. Jerry said there was, that in this very house was a most +beautiful princess who was under the spell of a wicked witch. He said +the old witch's name was Independence." Her words fairly ran over each +other, she was so afraid something would happen before she could +deliver Mr. Jerry's message to the princess. "And he said to tell the +princess that the prince wasn't ever going to Jericho, but was going to +stay right here on the job." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter looked significantly at the brown-haired girl. "That +message isn't for me," she told Mary Rose. "Independence and I are +strangers. I can't bear the thing. I quite agree with Mr. Jerry that +she is an old witch. Isn't someone a picture, Bess," she asked, "with +her birdcage and checked apron?" +</P> + +<P> +"She surely is." The impatient frown that had marred Miss Thorley's +face at the mere mention of Mr. Jerry's name slipped away. "I must +paint her. She'll make a fine ad. Who are you, honey?" +</P> + +<P> +And Mary Rose told them who she was and how she had come from Mifflin +to make her home with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry in the cellar-basement, +she meant; and how she had had to board out George Washington and had +taken Jenny Lind to Mrs. Bracken's for company while she earned money +to pay for George Washington's board. +</P> + +<P> +"By jinks, what a jolly story," murmured Mr. Strahan who still clung to +his neighbor's doorway and his opportunity. The two girls looked at +him and the three smiled involuntarily. +</P> + +<P> +"I must go back and finish the dishes," Mary Rose announced suddenly. +"Mrs. Bracken won't like it if I stay away any longer. I'm sorry I +bothered you," she smiled tremulously. "But I just had to find Jenny +Lind. Thank you for your trouble. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +"Come and see us again?" The invitation came in a chorus. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose stopped abruptly. "Is that an honest and true invitation?" +she asked doubtfully. "Aunt Kate said I mustn't ever be a nuisance to +the tenements because children aren't allowed here. I'm not a child, +she said, because I'm going on fourteen, but I had to promise to be +careful of the tenements." +</P> + +<P> +"Bless the baby," murmured Miss Carter as she and Mr. Strahan stood in +the hall and watched Mary Rose's head go down, down. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought children were barred?" asked Mr. Strahan quickly, he was so +afraid that Miss Carter would disappear also. +</P> + +<P> +"I thought pets were barred, too. She's a quaint little thing. I +suppose she is homesick. A city apartment house is not like a home in +a small town," she said, as if she knew, and she sighed. +</P> + +<P> +"It is not!" He agreed with her emphatically. He had come from a +small town himself and he knew. "I think I'll make a little story out +of this. I'm a newspaper man, you know, and there isn't anything a +city editor likes better than he does a human interest story. I have a +hunch that there is a lot of human interest in that kid." +</P> + +<P> +"I fancy you are right. I'm a librarian myself, and I should be at my +library this blessed moment. I'd far rather go down and help Mary +Rose," and she laughed scornfully because she had such simple tastes. +</P> + +<P> +He looked as if he admired them. "If you feel that way you surely +aren't under the spell of that wicked witch Independence that Mary Rose +talks of." There was nothing scornful in his laugh. It held so little +scorn and so much admiration that she flushed. +</P> + +<P> +"Independence!" she shrugged her shoulders. "I learned long ago that +independence is just another word for loneliness. My friend, Miss +Thorley, doesn't agree with me. We have very warm arguments over it." +</P> + +<P> +"They haven't been warm enough to disturb me. You're very quiet +neighbors. Doesn't the very quiet get on your nerves sometimes? It's +something just to hear people, when you are alone and have no one to +talk to." +</P> + +<P> +"Lonely! You?" She was astonished. "I don't see how a young man could +be lonely." Evidently her idea of masculine life was a merry round of +social pleasure. +</P> + +<P> +His laugh was a trifle bitter. "A man can be lonely for exactly the +same reason a girl can," he asserted. "I've lived here for three +months, and this is the first time I've spoken to you." +</P> + +<P> +The color deepened in her cheeks. "I suppose I shouldn't be talking to +you now but—Mary Rose—and we are neighbors. One does get so +suspicious living with suspicious people," apologetically. +</P> + +<P> +"Please don't be suspicious of me. I'm the most harmless man in Waloo. +I'm too busy hanging on to my job to be dangerous. I propose a vote of +thanks to Mary Rose for bringing us together. All in favor say aye. +The ayes have it." He held out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed consciously, but after a second she gave him her fingers. +"It is pleasant to be able to speak to one's neighbors," she admitted +with a hint of formality that in some way pleased Mr. Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose stopped at Mr. Wells' door as she went downstairs. It would +be but friendly to tell him that Jenny Lind was found, he must be +anxious. But she hesitated before she rapped on the door, very gently +this time. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells had not lost any of his grimness when he opened it. He had +on his hat and he looked to Mary Rose's startled eyes as tall as the +steeple of the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, what now?" he snapped. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose caught her breath. "I thought you would like to know that +Jenny Lind is safe." She lifted the cage so that he could see for +himself how safe and comfortable Jenny Lind was. "She was on the +lowest shelf of the dumbwaiter. The enchanted princess's milk bottle +was on the top shelf." And she chuckled. Now that she was no longer +frightened, Jenny Lind's adventure seemed a joke. +</P> + +<P> +It was not a joke to Mr. Wells. "A city apartment house is no place +for pets—or children," he said and shut the door. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose stared at the mahogany panels. "Crosspatch," she whispered. +And then she said it louder, "Crosspatch!" +</P> + +<P> +The door opened as if by magic and Mr. Wells came out and shut it +behind him. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you say anything?" he asked coldly. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose was too startled and too honest not to tell the truth. +</P> + +<P> +"I said crosspatch," she faltered and waited bravely for the deluge. +</P> + +<P> +The two looked at each other. The tall man with the nervous, irritable +face and the little girl with the birdcage in her hand. She did not +say that she had called him a crosspatch, and kindly Discretion +whispered in Mr. Wells' ear that it would be wise to leave well enough +alone. Without another word he stalked by Mary Rose down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose followed meekly. "It's a lucky thing, Jenny Lind, that you +were not on his dumbwaiter. He's not what I call a very friendly man," +she murmured. +</P> + +<P> +She told Mr. Jerry all about it that afternoon when she ran over to see +how George Washington was doing as a boarder. Mr. Jerry watched her +curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor little kid," he thought. "She's up against it for fair with a +cold-blooded bunch like that." He was very sympathetic and kind and +quite enthusiastic over his new boarder. He cheered Mary Rose +amazingly and lifted her to the seventh heaven of delight when he +suggested that she should ride downtown with him in the automobile when +he went for his Aunt Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"You may take Jenny Lind and George Washington with you," he was good +enough to say. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's dancing feet moved in a more sedate measure. "I think +Jenny Lind has had ride enough for one day. And George Washington +likes his four feet better than he does an automobile. He won't mind +if we leave him behind." +</P> + +<P> +"Then you may sit on the front seat with me," Mr. Jerry promised. +</P> + +<P> +"It's very exciting living in the city," sighed Mary Rose, when she was +on the front seat beside him. "I've been here only three days and see +all that's happened. Oh, there's the lady who found Jenny Lind—and +the enchanted princess, too!" she cried as they passed Miss Thorley and +Miss Carter. "Isn't that the enchanted princess, Mr. Jerry?" She +twisted around so that she could look into his face. He colored and +his eyes seemed to darken as he spoke to the two girls. Miss Thorley +nodded curtly, but Miss Carter waved a friendly hand. "My," sighed +Mary Rose, "if I were a prince I wouldn't let any old witch +Independence keep her enchanted." +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder how you would prevent it," muttered Mr. Jerry under his +breath. "Saying and doing, Mary Rose, are two very separate and +distinct things." +</P> + +<P> +"I know." Mary Rose felt quite capable of discussing the subject. +"Mr. Mann, the Presbyterian minister in Mifflin, preached a whole +sermon about that. He said the Lord didn't ever give you what you want +right off quick. You had to work for it, and the more precious it was +the harder you had to work. I should think that a beautiful princess +would be the most precious thing a prince could work for, shouldn't +you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry took his hand from the wheel to squeeze Mary Rose's brown +fingers. "I should!" he said solemnly. "I do, Mary Rose, I do!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<P> +Strange as the Washington seemed to Mary Rose, it was not very +different from any other large city apartment house where people lived +side by side for months, for years, sometimes, without becoming +acquainted. It was not worth while, some said; neighbors change too +often. You don't know who people are, others thought. In such close +quarters one cannot afford to know undesirable people. The advantage +of an apartment house is that you don't have to know your neighbors, +murmured a third group. Consequently the tenants came and went and one +could count on a hand and have fingers to spare, the few who exchanged +greetings when they met on the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +This was an appalling state of affairs to country-bred Mary Rose, who +had been brought up in a friendly atmosphere. In Mifflin everyone knew +everyone and was interested in what happened. When joy came to a +neighbor there was general rejoicing, and when sorrow touched a family +there was a universal sympathy, while the little between pleasures and +perplexities lost nothing and gained considerably by the knowledge that +they were shared with others. Mary Rose was intensely interested in +this new phase of life, if she could not understand it. It amazed her +when she counted how many people were over her small head. +</P> + +<P> +"In Mifflin I didn't have anyone but God and the angels," she told Aunt +Kate, "but here there's the Schunemans and the Rawsons and the Blakes +and Mr. Jarvis and Miss Adams and Mrs. Matchan and Miss Proctor and Mr. +Wilcox and his friend. In Mifflin we lived side by side, you know, and +not up and down. We ought all to be friends when we live so close +together, shouldn't we?" wistfully. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate tried her best to tell her that they were all friends, but +she couldn't do it. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the good of tellin' her folks are friendly when they don't look +friendly? Seems if a body can't frown with her face an' smile with her +heart at the same time. An' frowns are just as catchin' as germs. You +naturally don't pat a growlin' dog an' so you don't smile at a frownin' +person. I've al'ys seen more frowns 'n smiles in the Washington." +</P> + +<P> +But Mary Rose did her best to make friends, because that was what she +had done always and because that was the only way she knew how to live. +And one by one her unconscious little efforts to unlock the gates of +reserve that suspicion and indifference and consciousness had placed +over the hearts and lips of the people she was thrown with began to +make some impression. +</P> + +<P> +Even Mrs. Willoughby, who had wept ever since her mother died, smiled +when she saw the little girl in the checked apron that was so much too +big for her, with her birdcage in her hand, and forgot to complain of +the unusual noise in the hall. Mary Rose smiled, too, and when Mrs. +Willoughby spoke of Jenny Lind, Mary Rose offered to loan her bird. +</P> + +<P> +"She'll make you feel happier," she said. "She did me, when my daddy +went to be with my little mother in Heaven. Jenny Lind can't talk," +she admitted regretfully, "but she can sing and she's—she's so +friendly!" +</P> + +<P> +And Mr. Willoughby came down that very night and thanked the Donovans +for the loan of Jenny Lind and for what Mary Rose had said and done. +Larry Donovan and his wife looked at each other after he had gone. It +was not often that they were thanked by a tenant. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Adams would have died before she would have confessed to anyone +but Mary Rose that she hated Waloo, she hated the Washington. Mary +Rose looked at her with wide open eyes, too astonished to be shocked +that anyone could hate a world that was as beautiful and as full of +wonderful surprises as Mary Rose found this world to be. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't see how you can be lonesome when there are people above you +and below you and in front of you and behind you and right across from +you. Why, you're almost entirely surrounded by neighbors," she cried, +as if Miss Adams could not be almost entirely surrounded by anything +more desirable. "There are almost as many people in this house as +there are in the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin and no one was ever +lonely there except on week days. Don't you like your neighbors?" +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know them," confessed Miss Adams, mournfully. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't know the people who live right next door to you!" Mary Rose +had never heard of such a situation. "Why, when the Jenkses moved from +Prairieville Mrs. Mullins, who'd never set eyes on one of them before, +took over a pan of hot gingerbread so she could get acquainted right +away. Of course the people here are all moved in, but you could borrow +an egg or a cup of molasses, couldn't you? And take it back right +away. That would give you two excuses to call." +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't do that." Miss Adams shivered at the mere thought. "It +isn't that I care to know any of them, Mary Rose, only—it makes me so +mad that I don't!" with a sudden burst of honesty. +</P> + +<P> +"Couldn't you ask about a pattern or what to do for a cold in the head +or how to get red ants off of a plant? But you haven't any plants. +Wouldn't you feel more friendly if you had a beautiful pink geranium +growing in your window?" +</P> + +<P> +"There isn't sun enough in this flat to keep a geranium alive," +grumbled Miss Adams, who seemed determined to be lonely and +faultfinding. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose sighed. "Of course, no one can have the sun all the time," +she said gently, as if to excuse old Sol for not lingering longer in +Miss Adams' small apartment. "I'll let you have Jenny Lind for a while +tomorrow," she suggested after a moment of frowning thought. "She'll +cheer you up." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Adams wanted to refuse to be cheered by Jenny Lind, but she had +not the courage, and when Mary Rose brought the bird the next morning +she brought also a small glass dish filled with pebbles on which rested +a little green bulb. +</P> + +<P> +"Inside it is a Japanese lily," she said, and there was both pride and +awe in her voice. "Don't you wonder how God ever folded it up in such +a small package? Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was going to throw it away. +She said it was too late, that it ought to have been planted months +ago, but I said wouldn't she please give it a chance. My daddy used to +say that was all people needed, just a chance. Mrs. Mullins had one in +Mifflin, I mean a lily, and it didn't need hardly any sun. It just +grew and grew. You can sit beside it in the window and pretend you're +a Japanese queen. Don't you think it's fun to pretend? And imagine? +It's almost the same as having everything you want. I've imagined I +was a queen on a throne and the whale that swallowed Jonah—he must +have been so surprised—and a circus rider and an angel with a harp and +a pussy willow. I don't know which I liked the best. It helps a lot +when things go wrong to imagine they're right. You'll like to see the +Japanese lily come out of its bulb, won't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Adams was polite enough to say she would, although she frowned at +the glass dish as she set it in the window. If Mary Rose had seen as +much of the world as she had, she wouldn't think that to imagine a +thing was the same as having it. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary you're much obliged," Mary Rose +suggested when she left. +</P> + +<P> +Another day Miss Proctor found her leaning against the door of the +apartment she shared with Mrs. Matchan, listening entranced to the +music that Mrs. Matchan was making with her ten fingers and her piano. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it beautiful?" Mary Rose looked up with shining eyes, not at +all abashed at being discovered listening. "It's better than any +circus band I ever heard. It's like Jenny Lind when the sun is shining +and she has had a leaf of fresh lettuce. It makes me feel in my heart +like soda water feels in my nose, all prickly and light," vaguely. +"It's—it's wonderful! Take this place," she moved generously away +from the crack that Miss Proctor might put her ear to it. "You can +hear better. When I grow up I want to play just like that." Mary Rose +always wanted to do what other people could do. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you?" Miss Proctor looked at her and forgot that she had +considered children unmitigated nuisances. She actually opened the +door. "Come in," she said, "and tell Mrs. Matchan that you like her +music." +</P> + +<P> +And the result of Mary Rose's attempt to put in words the feeling she +had in her heart that was like soda water in her nose, was that Mrs. +Matchan went down to the Donovans' and asked if she might be +permitted—permitted—to give Mary Rose music lessons. +</P> + +<P> +"You could have knocked me down with the pin feather of a chicken," +Aunt Kate told Uncle Larry. "I supposed, of course, she'd come tearin' +down to find fault with Mrs. Rawson for runnin' her sewin' machine last +night an' I was all ready to tell her that each of us has some rights, +but no, it was to offer to give Mary Rose lessons on her piano. She +says the child's got talent an' feelin' an' she'd like to see how she'd +express them. She had to tell me twice before I could take it in. It +isn't often that folks come down here to give a favor. Seems if they +only find the way when they want to complain. I never knew Mrs. +Matchan to do anythin' for anybody before an' we've lived under the +same roof for most two years now." +</P> + +<P> +She had another surprise when Bob Strahan tramped down the basement +stairs with a big box of Annie Keller chocolates under his arm. He +solemnly presented the candy to Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"In payment of a debt," he explained gravely when Aunt Kate and Uncle +Larry stared and Mary Rose giggled. "She helped me with a very +important bit of work," he added, although the addition did not make +the matter any clearer to the Donovans nor to Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"You bet she helped me," he told Miss Carter when he went up and met +her in the lower hall. They had encountered each other on the stairs +several times since the day of Jenny Lind's adventure and had made the +amazing discovery that they had formerly lived within fifteen miles of +each other and had many mutual friends. "If it hadn't been for Mary +Rose, I wouldn't be on the staff of the Waloo <I>Gazette</I> today. They're +cutting off heads down there, and I'm sure mine was slated to go, but +the chief's strong for human interest stuff, especially kid stuff. He +says that every living being, however hard his outside shell is now, +was once a kid, and sometime the kid stuff will get to him for the sake +of old times. Mary Rose and the cat she's boarding out saved my neck +and I'm still a man with a job." +</P> + +<P> +"That's splendid." Miss Carter tried to speak with enthusiasm, but she +could not look enthusiastic. She was tired and discontented with life; +all the sparkle had gone out of her face. +</P> + +<P> +Bob Strahan saw it and was sorry. "Say," he said impulsively. "I've +two tickets for a show in my pocket this minute. You've known me over +forty-eight hours. Is that long enough to make it proper for you to go +with me? I'll give you the names of the banker and the minister in my +old home town and you can call them up on the long distance for +references." +</P> + +<P> +"The idea!" A bit of sparkle crept back into Miss Carter's face and +she laughed. "Louis Blodgett's chum doesn't need any reference. Louis +has told me quite a little about you," significantly. "It seems +perfectly ridiculous that you were living right next door and I never +knew it." +</P> + +<P> +"And you might not know it now if it hadn't been for Mary Rose and that +canary of hers. Gee! I'm glad I took her that box of chocolates." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<P> +With Jenny Lind's cage in her hand, Mary Rose knocked at Miss Thorley's +door. +</P> + +<P> +"We've come to have our pictures taken," she told Miss Carter, when she +opened it. "The princess, I mean the other lady," she colored pinkly as +Miss Carter laughed, "said we were to advertise Mr. Bingham Henderson's +jam." Mary Rose always made a careful explanation. "If she would like +two birds I'm almost sure that Mrs. Schuneman would loan her Germania." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you want two birds, Bess?" called Miss Carter, and Miss Thorley came +in. +</P> + +<P> +She wore a faded blue smock over her crash gown and looked more beautiful +than before to Mary Rose's admiring eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I have two birds," she laughed, and patted Mary Rose's head and +snapped her fingers at Jenny Lind. "But don't tell me old Lady Grouch is +so human as to have a canary." +</P> + +<P> +"Old Lady Grouch?" Mary Rose did not know whom she meant. +</P> + +<P> +"Schuneman, is that her name?" absently. Miss Thorley was studying Mary +Rose from behind half shut eyes. Just how should she pose her? +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, but she isn't grouchy!" Mary Rose flew to the defense of her new +friend. "She was just lonesome. Now that she has Germania for company, +she is very, very pleasant. I go to see her every day." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley shrugged her shoulders. "Every one to their taste. Stand +here, Mary Rose, so that the sun will fall on that yellow mop of yours. +Would your heart break if I took off that hair ribbon? I'd rather your +hair was loose." +</P> + +<P> +"Aunt Kate put it there," doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put it back before Aunt Kate sees you. Now, just hold Jenny Lind's +cage under one arm and these under the other." She handed her a couple +of blue and white jars, labeled with big letters—"Henderson-Bingham. +Jam Manufacturers." "Can you hold another? Don't say yes if you can't, +for it is tiresome to pose when you're not used to it. Now then, how is +that, Blanche? Isn't she ducky? You know it's moving day, Mary Rose, +and you won't trust anyone but yourself to move what you like best, your +bird and your jam." +</P> + +<P> +"I just did move," proudly, "from Mifflin to Waloo." +</P> + +<P> +"Exactly. Quaint, isn't she?" Miss Thorley murmured to Miss Carter. +"How old are you, Mary Rose?" +</P> + +<P> +Before Mary Rose could stammer that she was going on fourteen Miss Carter +broke in to say that she was off. +</P> + +<P> +"Be good to Mary Rose," she begged. "And, Mary Rose, when you are tired, +say so. Miss Thorley will forget all about you when she is interested in +the picture and she'll let you stand there until you drop. I know. You +have a hard pose with your arms like that and when you are tired be sure +and say so." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, run along, Blanche, and leave us alone," Miss Thorley said +impatiently as she got her drawing board and brushes and sat down beside +the little table that held her paints. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter only waited to make a face at Mary Rose before she shut the +door and left the artist and her model together. Neither spoke for a few +moments. Mary Rose was too interested in watching Miss Thorley's +wonderful fingers and Miss Thorley was too intent on her work for +conversation. At last Mary Rose could keep still no longer. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you really an enchanted princess?" she asked eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +"I should scarcely call myself that, Mary Rose. A working woman is the +way I say it." +</P> + +<P> +"Then what did Mr. Jerry mean? Don't you think he is an awfully nice +man? He makes me think of Alvin Lewis in Mifflin, only Alvin isn't quite +so stylish. He is a clerk in the drug store in Mifflin and he was real +pleasant. When Gladys and I only had a nickel he'd let us have a glass +of ice cream soda with two spoons. He was such a pleasant man. But what +did Mr. Jerry mean," she returned to her mutton with a suddenness that +made Miss Thorley blur a line, "when he said you were under the spell of +the wicked witch Independence?" +</P> + +<P> +"How should I know?" And Miss Thorley frowned in a way that made Mary +Rose wish she wouldn't. It quite spoiled her face to frown with it. +</P> + +<P> +"What is Independence?" Mary Rose frowned, too. As Aunt Kate had said, +frowns were contagious. Mary Rose had caught one now in a flash. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley took up a handful of brushes and regarded them intently +before she said slowly: "Independence is the greatest thing in the world, +Mary Rose. It means that I can live as I choose, where I choose, that I +can pay my own bills, buy my own clothes and food, that I can do exactly +as I please and as I think best. The independence of women is the most +wonderful thing in this wonderful age." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked puzzled. Mr. Jerry had not spoken of it as if it were +such a wonderful thing. She looked around the pretty room with its +simple furnishings and then at Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +"Does it mean you aren't ever going to be married?" she asked doubtfully. +In Mifflin all the girls as big as Miss Thorley meant to be married. +</P> + +<P> +"It means exactly that." Miss Thorley's pretty lips were pressed closer +together. "Work, Mary Rose, is the most important thing in life." +</P> + +<P> +But Mary Rose was horrified. "Aren't you ever going to make a home for a +family?" she cried. She couldn't believe that was what Miss Thorley +meant and she dropped a jam jar. "You don't have to stop work to do it," +she cried eagerly and helpfully after she had retrieved the jar. "Mrs. +Evans, she's Gladys' mother, says she'd think the millennium was here if +she didn't have any work to do. She has five children at home and three +in the cemetery." Miss Thorley shuddered. "She can cook and sew and +sweep and play the piano and she belongs to the Woman's Club and the +Missionary Society and the Revolution Daughters and the Presbyterian +Church. You don't ever have to stop working to make a home for a +family," she repeated with a nod of encouragement to Miss Thorley who +looked disgusted instead of pleased as Mary Rose had expected she would +look. +</P> + +<P> +"That isn't the kind of work I care for," and she shrugged her shoulders. +"I should think your Mrs. Evans would die." +</P> + +<P> +"She hasn't time to die," Mary Rose told her seriously. "She's too busy +taking care of Mr. Evans and her family and helping other people. She's +a fine woman, everyone said in Mifflin. When I grow up I want to be just +like her," emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mary Rose! You want to be something besides a drudge. Women have +other things to do now but cook and sew and look after crying babies." +</P> + +<P> +"Babies don't cry unless there's a pin sticking into them or they have +the colic, and, anyway, I think babies are the dearest things God ever +made. I'd like to have twelve when I grow up, six boys and six girls. I +don't ever want an only child. It's too lonesome. Don't you ever get +lonesome, Miss Thorley?" +</P> + +<P> +"I have my work," Miss Thorley told her briefly. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose watched her at her work. She admired Miss Thorley's swift, +sure strokes, but she drew a sigh that came from the tips of her shabby +shoes as she murmured: "All the same I don't understand just what Mr. +Jerry meant." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley did not answer, unless a frown could be considered an +answer. She painted for perhaps five minutes longer, but her strokes +were not so swift nor so sure. At last she threw down her brushes as if +she hated herself for doing it, but realized she could do nothing else. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose," she said crossly. Even Mary Rose could see that she was not +pleased with something. "I don't feel like painting today. It's too +warm or something. If I could find a little girl about," she looked +critically at Mary Rose, "about ten years old, I think I'd ask her to go +out to the lake with me." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose forgot that she was posing and dropped both jam jars. +She almost dropped Jenny Lind, too. She remembered Aunt Kate's request +as she clung to the cage. "Would one going on fourteen be too old?" Her +voice trembled and her heart beat fast for fear Miss Thorley would say +that was far too old. "If she should be a long, long time, perhaps three +years, before she got to fourteen?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley's face was as sober as a judge's as she considered this. +"Well," she said at last very slowly, "one going on fourteen might do. +Run and ask your aunt and I'll meet you downstairs." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose obeyed after she had hugged Miss Thorley. "You're an angel," +she exclaimed fervently, "a regular seraphim and cherubim angel, if you +are independent." +</P> + +<P> +She almost fell down the stairs and made such a racket that a door on the +second floor opened promptly. Mary Rose caught her breath. She was +afraid to see whose door was ajar. If that cross Mr. Wells should catch +her she was afraid to think what he might do. But it was not Mr. Wells' +door that had opened, nor Mr. Wells' face that looked at her. An elderly +woman stood staring at her impatiently. +</P> + +<P> +"Dearie me!" she was saying, "I thought the house was falling down." +</P> + +<P> +"No, ma'am." Mary Rose was very apologetic. "I just stumbled a teeny +bit. You see I'm in such a hurry because Miss Thorley's going to take me +to the lake and I must carry Jenny Lind downstairs and tell Aunt Kate and +be at the front door in a jiffy." She would have darted on but the +elderly lady put out a wrinkled hand and caught Mary Rose's blue and +white checked apron. +</P> + +<P> +"Who's Jenny Lind?" she demanded. +</P> + +<P> +"This is Jenny Lind." Mary Rose held up the cage. "The best bird that +ever had feathers. She came with me from Mifflin and Miss Thorley's +painting our picture for Mr. Henderson Bingham." +</P> + +<P> +The old lady looked at Jenny Lind in a strange way. "I haven't seen a +canary bird for years," she murmured, more to herself than to Mary Rose. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-115"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-115.jpg" ALT=""'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="378" HEIGHT="483"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 450px"> +"'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Mary Rose answered her impulsively as she usually answered people. +"Would you like to have her visit you until I come back? I'm not going +to take her with us. She wouldn't be any trouble. She's used to +visiting. All you have to do is to let her have a chair or a table to +sit on." She offered the cage generously. +</P> + +<P> +The old lady seemed to hesitate. She looked like Gladys' grandmother, +only not so comfortable, Mary Rose thought. At last she held out her +hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I declare I don't know but I will let you leave it with me. I'm all +alone, and even a bird is company." +</P> + +<P> +"Jenny Lind's splendid company. Shall I put her on the table for you? +There! I'll run up before supper and get her. And don't you worry, +because Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say one word about birds." And +before startled Mother Johnson could ask her what she meant by the law, +she ran off, stumbling down the two flights of stairs to the basement. +Only the special Providence that looks after children saved her. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate was in the kitchen and she exclaimed in surprise when she heard +that Mary Rose was going to the lake with Miss Thorley and had left Jenny +Lind to spend the afternoon with the grandmother on the second floor. +</P> + +<P> +"My soul an' body!" she said. "Whatever will you do next!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry in his car in the alley and ran to the open +window to tell him of the pleasure that was in store for her. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Jerry! Oh, Mr. Jerry! I'm going to the lake with the enchanted +princess. Don't you wish you were me?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry waved his hand as he smiled and nodded, but Mary Rose did not +wait to hear whether he would like to change places with her, for she had +to slip out of the plaid skirt and middy blouse into a white frock that +Aunt Kate had shortened. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it the luckiest thing that Ella had so many beautiful clothes!" +she said breathlessly. "I shouldn't want to go out with Miss Thorley in +that horrid boys' suit." +</P> + +<P> +She was ready first, and as she waited in the lower hall she talked to +Mrs. Schuneman about Germania. Miss Thorley found them together when she +came down, looking exactly like a princess to Mary Rose, in her white +linen skirt and lingerie blouse and with a big black hat all a-bloom with +pink roses on her red-brown head. +</P> + +<P> +"I was ready first," Mary Rose cried happily, "but I didn't mind waiting, +for I was talking to a friend, to Mrs. Schuneman. She has Germania, you +know. This is my friend, Miss Thorley, Mrs. Schuneman." She introduced +them politely. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley nodded carelessly, but even a careless glance told her that +there was not the sign of a grouch on Mrs. Schuneman's fat red face that +day. Indeed, it quite beamed with friendliness as she hoped that they +would have a good time. +</P> + +<P> +"You see, she's very pleasant when you know her," Mary Rose explained as +they walked over to the street car. "That's why it's so important to +know people. If you don't really know them, you might often think they +were grouchy when they aren't." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<P> +Lake Nokomis was on the outskirts of Waloo and was a popular pleasure +resort for Waloo people from June until September. A band played in +the pavilion, there was a moving picture show, a merry-go-round with a +wheezy organ, a roller coaster and many other amusement features, as +well as several ice-cream parlors. There was always a crowd drifting +from one place to another, and Mary Rose fairly danced with delight +when she and Miss Thorley became a part of the good-natured throng. +</P> + +<P> +They were standing beside the enclosure in which the fat Shetland +ponies waited for the children who were fortunate enough to possess a +nickel to pay for a ride on their broad backs or a drive in a roomy +carriage, when Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry. She had sadly refused Miss +Thorley's invitation to ride because she did not wish to leave her +alone, and Miss Thorley would not ride one of the ponies nor drive in +one of the carriages. +</P> + +<P> +"There's Mr. Jerry!" squealed Mary Rose when she saw him. She could +scarcely believe her eyes, but she waved her hand. "He's the man who +boards my cat, you know," she explained to Miss Thorley. "And he's +very pleasant and friendly, just like a Mifflin man." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley looked first surprised and then displeased and then she +frowned and shrugged her shoulders as if she did not really care +whether Mr. Jerry was there or not. She gave him rather a curt +greeting when he joined them with a cheery: +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Mary Rose. Are you thinking of a canter in the park?" +</P> + +<P> +There was nothing curt in the greeting Mary Rose gave him. She smiled +enchantingly and slipped her hand into his. "We're just watching the +ponies. Aren't they loves? Miss Thorley thinks they are too small for +her to ride, but I don't see how she can be sure unless she tries. Do +you know Mr. Jerry, Miss Thorley? He's making such a comfortable home +for George Washington. She didn't feel like painting today," she +explained to Mr. Jerry, "so we came out for a change. Oh, I do just +love that blackest pony, but no one seems to choose him!" She pointed +an eager finger to the corner where the blackest and fattest pony stood +neglected. +</P> + +<P> +"Suppose you choose him. I've money to treat a lady friend to a ride." +And he made a pleasant jingle with the coins in his pocket. +</P> + +<P> +"Miss Thorley invited me, but I didn't like to leave her alone. Would +you stay with her, Mr. Jerry? It would be real friendly of you to me +and the pony, for if I don't take him I'm afraid no one will, and he'll +feel so sad when he goes home tonight. Will you take good care of Miss +Thorley, Mr. Jerry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I will," promised Mr. Jerry emphatically, although Miss Thorley +exclaimed hurriedly that she could take care of herself. He found a +bench from which they could watch Mary Rose as she made the black pony +happy and rode around the ring, prouder than any peacock. +</P> + +<P> +"Funny kid, isn't she?" remarked Mr. Jerry, realizing that if there was +to be any conversation between them he would have to begin. "I wish +you could have seen her when she came over with her cat to ask if we +would take the beast to board. Who's the owner of that joint of yours? +I'd like to tell him what I think of him for separating a homesick +little girl from her pet." +</P> + +<P> +"It would be rather a nuisance if the place was overrun with cats and +dogs and children," Miss Thorley said coldly. "There wouldn't be much +peace or comfort in the house." +</P> + +<P> +"The peace and comfort you've had don't seem to agree with all of you," +remarked Mr. Jerry pleasantly. "I've seen some of your neighbors who +look as if they needed a big dose of noise and discomfort." +</P> + +<P> +"You must mean Mr. Wells. He does have rather a touch-me-not, +speak-to-me-never manner. And the fuss he makes if there is any noise +in the place after ten o'clock! Imagine him with a cat or a bird." +The picture her imagination made was so impossible that she laughed. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry drew a contented sigh and ventured to move a trifle nearer. +He started to say something and then changed his mind. He wouldn't say +anything just then that might bring back that distant expression to her +face. He knew very well how cold and forbidding she could be. So +instead of saying what he wished to say he talked of Mary Rose and +George Washington, and she listened and smiled and made holes in the +turf with her parasol, but never once did she speak of the conversation +she had had with Mary Rose which had caused her to throw down her +brushes and treat herself to a holiday. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's face was an incandescent light as, with a good-by pat for +the blackest pony, she ran back to them. +</P> + +<P> +"I felt like a queen!" she cried. "It was splendid. Oh, won't you +have a ride?" She looked from one to the other. "I'll pay. I'm +making lots of money. You needn't worry another minute about George +Washington's board," she told Mr. Jerry. "It's as good as paid." +</P> + +<P> +He laughed. "I won't worry and I shan't ride the ponies. My legs are +too long. I'd have to tie double knots in them to keep them off the +ground. But I'll take a turn on the merry-go-round with you." He +nodded toward that attractive circle of animals as it went around and +around to the accompaniment of the wheezy organ. "I dare you to come +with us." He looked straight at Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, please!" Mary Rose clapped her hands. "You will, won't you, Miss +Thorley? You needn't be afraid," she whispered. "I'm sure he's strong +enough to hold you on." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley looked anything but afraid as she frowned at the +merry-go-round and at Mr. Jerry impartially. But when she met Mary +Rose's eyes, filled with a great hunger for merry-go-rounds, she +laughed softly and told Mr. Jerry that, of course, she wouldn't take a +dare, she never had and she never would, and she thought she'd choose +the giraffe because his long neck gave a rider so much to cling to. +</P> + +<P> +It was not easy for Mary Rose to choose a mount. Each animal seemed so +very desirable that she sighed as she finally selected an ostrich for +the same reason that she had taken the black pony. "I haven't seen a +single person ride him and I expect he feels neglected." +</P> + +<P> +But when they mounted the merry-go-round Miss Thorley stepped into a +gay little sleigh drawn by two fat polar bears. After he had seen Mary +Rose properly astride the neglected ostrich Mr. Jerry took the seat +beside Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +"I promised Mary Rose that I wouldn't let you fall out," he said, as if +that could be the only reason he would ride beside her. +</P> + +<P> +Much to Mary Rose's amazement, Miss Thorley was satisfied with one +ride, although Mr. Jerry very handsomely offered them a turn on each +animal. Mary Rose could not resist such an invitation and one by one +she rode on a giraffe, a camel, and a lion. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, mercy, Mary Rose!" Miss Thorley said at last. "You must stop. +Your head will be completely turned. And we must go home." +</P> + +<P> +"Won't you ride back with me?" asked Mr. Jerry. "I have the car. If +you will, we have time for a sundae first." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's heart all but stopped beating as she waited for Miss +Thorley to say they would. It didn't seem possible that anyone, even +an independent woman, could refuse such an alluring invitation. But +grown-ups were queer. Mary Rose had found that out long, long ago. +She did not hesitate for even the fraction of a second when Miss +Thorley turned and left the decision to her. A moment later they were +in the ice cream parlor that was like a cool green cave after the heat +and the light outside. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose chose a chocolate sundae and she giggled as she looked at the +rich brown sauce. "When I was little, nothing but a baby," she said, +"I thought that it was the yellow in the eggs I ate that made my hair +yellow. Do you suppose if I ate lots and lots of chocolate, I'd ever +have hair as brown as Miss Thorley's. Isn't it beautiful, Mr. Jerry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Very beautiful!" Mr. Jerry agreed as heartily as she could wish. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley flushed uncomfortably under the admiration of Mr. Jerry +and Mary Rose. "Mary Rose," she said hurriedly, "don't you know you +shouldn't make personal remarks?" +</P> + +<P> +"Eh?" Mary Rose's attention was centered in the well she was making in +her ice cream for the chocolate syrup. +</P> + +<P> +"You shouldn't talk of people's hair and eyes." The rebuke was far more +feeble than Miss Thorley had meant it to be. +</P> + +<P> +"You shouldn't!" Mary Rose was so surprised that she left the well +half made. "Why, in Mifflin when we liked the way a friend looked we +always told them." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley pushed away her sundae. "Mary Rose, if you say Mifflin +again, I'll scream." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's cheeks turned as pink as Miss Thorley's cheeks had turned. +"That's what Aunt Kate says sometimes, but if you like a place the way +I like Mifflin you just have to talk about it. It's—it's in your +heart." +</P> + +<P> +"Talk about it to me, Mary Rose," Mr. Jerry offered kindly. "It +doesn't make me cross to hear of a place where people are kind and +friendly. My conscience is perfectly clear." He spoke as if he were +very proud of his clear conscience. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley pushed back her chair. "It doesn't make me cross," she +said, "only——" +</P> + +<P> +They waited courteously to hear what would follow "only," but nothing +ever did. Miss Thorley just jumped up and said instead that really +they must go. Mr. Jerry's eyes twinkled as he agreed with her. +</P> + +<P> +It was far more pleasant riding to town in Mr. Jerry's automobile than +it would have been in the crowded street car. Mary Rose called Miss +Thorley's attention to the crowd as she snuggled close to her in the +spacious tonneau. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm playing it's mine," she whispered, "and that Mr. Jerry is my own +driver. Wouldn't it be fun to drive with him forever and ever?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry heard her and sharpened his ears for the answer. +</P> + +<P> +"You'd get tired riding forever with anyone, Mary Rose. There is only +one thing that people never get tired of." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that?" Mary Rose hungered to hear. +</P> + +<P> +"Work." Mr. Jerry sniffed. They could hear him in the tonneau. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose shook her head. "Gladys' mother did. She said she had never +had enough fun to know whether she would get tired of it or not, but +she'd had plenty of chance to know there were some things she never +wanted to see again, and one of them was work and the other was the red +and black plaid silk dress that the dressmaker spoiled." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry chuckled on the front seat and after a second Miss Thorley +laughed, too. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose," she said very distinctly, "I'll have to give you a broader +vision. You have entirely too narrow an outlook." +</P> + +<P> +"What's that, Miss Thorley? What's a broader vision?" Mary Rose +couldn't imagine. +</P> + +<P> +It was Mr. Jerry who answered. "In this particular case, Mary Rose, +it's seeing far too much for one and not enough for two." +</P> + +<P> +As they rolled up to the Washington Miss Carter came down the street +with Bob Strahan whom she had met on the car. It was amazing, now that +they were on speaking terms, how often they met. Bob Strahan stopped +to open the door of the automobile and help Miss Thorley out, and Mary +Rose proudly introduced Mr. Jerry who boarded her cat. They all +laughed and talked together for a few minutes and then Mary Rose hopped +from the back seat to the front. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go around and see George Washington, if you don't mind," she +said. "Hasn't it been just the loveliest afternoon, the kind you're +always hoping for but never really expect to have," with a sigh of +rapture. She patted Mr. Jerry's arm lovingly. "Isn't Miss Thorley a +darling! She told me all about that Independence. It isn't a witch as +you thought, Mr. Jerry, it's something about wanting to pay her own +bills and live alone. I don't understand it," she frowned, "but that's +what she said." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry frowned too, as he turned into the alley. "She doesn't +know," he said briefly. "Take it from me, Mary Rose, that Independence +is an old witch, and she's enchanted more girls than you could count." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked doubtful. "If Miss Thorley really is enchanted," she +suggested, "we must find something to break the spell. I told her she +wouldn't have to stop work to make a home for a family, Mr. Jerry," she +whispered encouragingly. +</P> + +<P> +"Did you?" Mr. Jerry laughed. "What did she say?" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose knit her small brows before she answered. "I don't think she +just agreed with me, but I'll explain it to her again." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<P> +When Mary Rose ran up to get Jenny Lind young Mrs. Johnson met her at +the door and smiled pleasantly. +</P> + +<P> +"You're the little girl for the canary?" she said. "I was +wondering—Mother Johnson seems to have taken a fancy to you—and I +wondered if you would go out for a little walk with her every morning. +I'll pay you ten cents a day." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's eyes popped open. In Mifflin little girls were expected to +do what they were asked to do and were never paid for such tasks. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, of course, I'd be glad to," she said promptly. +</P> + +<P> +"That will be splendid. You see she won't go by herself and I have my +own engagements. The doctor said she must have some exercise," sighed +Mrs. Johnson, as if the doctor had made a most unreasonable demand. +"Suppose you come up tomorrow about eleven? That will give you time +for a good walk before lunch." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll soon be making money enough to send for Solomon," Mary Rose told +Mrs. Donovan, her voice trembling with excitement. "There's ten cents +a day from Grandma Johnson and ten cents from Mrs. Bracken for washing +the breakfast dishes and a quarter from Miss Thorley. Why, Aunt Kate, +I never thought there was so much money in the world as what I'm going +to earn by myself!" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate laughed as she hugged her. "There's no one in the house can +be cross to her," she told Uncle Larry proudly. +</P> + +<P> +Promptly at eleven o'clock the next morning Mary Rose was waiting for +Mother Johnson who grumbled and fussed before she could be persuaded to +take the walk the doctor had recommended. But, once outside, the sky +was so blue, the air so pleasant, and Mary Rose so sociable that her +face grew less peevish. +</P> + +<P> +"Where shall we go?" Mary Rose paused at the corner. "You see I'm a +stranger here. In Mifflin I knew the way everywhere. Aunt Kate said +there was a little park over this street. Perhaps it would be pleasant +there?" +</P> + +<P> +Mother Johnson said grumpily that it made little difference to her, all +she wanted was to have her walk over and be home again. +</P> + +<P> +"But you'll feel better after your exercise," promised Mary Rose. "I +should think you'd love to be outdoors. Your home is very pretty, but +it isn't like the outdoors, you know. Did you ever see the sky so +blue? It looks as if it was made out of the very silk that was in Miss +Lucy Miller's bridesmaid's dress. It was the most beautiful dress Miss +Lena Carlson ever made. Miss Lena goes out sewing for a dollar and a +half a day." And she described the wedding at which Miss Lucy Miller +had worn the frock made by the dollar and a half a day seamstress with +an enthusiasm that was undimmed by Mother Johnson's lack of interest. +From the wedding and Miss Lucy it was but a step to other Mifflin +happenings. They found themselves in the park before they knew it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's something like the cemetery in Mifflin," Mary Rose said after she +had looked about. "Of course, there aren't any graves but there is a +monument and seats. Do you want to sit down? Oh, do look, grandma! +Do look," and she pulled the black sleeve beside her. +</P> + +<P> +Since she had come to Waloo Mother Johnson had not been called grandma +and she had missed the grandchildren she had left behind more than she +realized. Mary Rose had called most of the older women in Mifflin +grandma—Grandma Robinson and Grandma Smith. It was a friendly little +custom that was in vogue there and so she had unhesitatingly called old +Mrs. Johnson grandma. Mrs. Johnson was so surprised that she had +nothing to say when Mary Rose pulled her to a bench and pointed a +trembling finger at a little brownish-grayish animal which stood up in +the grass and looked at them with bright eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Do you see what that is?" Mary Rose's voice shook. "It's a squirrel! +A really truly squirrel in this big city! Here, squirrelly, +squirrelly," she snapped her fingers. "I wish I had something to feed +you!" despairingly as the squirrel ran away. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-135"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-135.jpg" ALT=""'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big city!'"" BORDER="2" WIDTH="401" HEIGHT="560"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 440px"> +"'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big city!'" +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Grandma Johnson had her purse in the bag she carried and she opened it +and took out five cents. "Here," she said crossly, "go and get +something to feed him with if that's what you're crying for." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose straightened herself and threw her arms around Grandma +Johnson's knees. "Why—why!" she gasped, "I do think you are a regular +fairy godmother!" +</P> + +<P> +Grandma Johnson had been called several names since she had been in the +Washington. Once she had heard Hilda in the kitchen speak of her as +"the old hen" and had almost had apoplexy. And Larry Donovan had +muttered that she was "an old crank" which was what one might expect of +a mannerless janitor but no one had ever called her a fairy godmother. +It sounded rather pleasant. She actually smiled as Mary Rose ran over +to the popcorn wagon on the corner and came back with a bag of peanuts. +</P> + +<P> +"What wouldn't I give if Tom had a girl like that!" she sighed. "But +then he'd have to move. Children aren't allowed in the Washington." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose insisted on an exact division of the nuts. "You want to feed +them just as much as I do." She hadn't a doubt of that. "So you must +have half. When the squirrel sees how many we have perhaps he'll bring +his brothers and sisters and have a squirrel party," she giggled. +</P> + +<P> +Indeed, it did seem as if the squirrel had sent out invitations when he +saw the heap of nuts that Mary Rose and Grandma Johnson had beside them +for, one after another, other squirrels came until half a dozen +clustered around them. They were very tame. One even climbed up Mary +Rose's arm for the nut she held between her lips and Grandma Johnson +lured another to her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +"Aren't they ducks?" Mary Rose demanded. A red poppy blossomed in each +of her cheeks and her eyes were lit with candles. "I do believe the +Lord sent them here to be pets for people who live in houses where +there's a law against dogs and cats and children. I think it was—it +was wonderful in Him! Don't you? Shall we come every day and feed +them? Then they'll really get acquainted with us and we'll be friends. +Oh, I'm so glad that I know you—that we know each other!" She threw +her arms around the startled Grandma Johnson and gave her another hug. +</P> + +<P> +They met Mrs. Schuneman on the steps when they went home and Mary Rose +had to stop and tell her the wonderful news, that the Lord had put pets +in the park for people who couldn't have them in their homes. She +introduced Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Schuneman, who had looked at each +other furtively when they had met in the halls but who had never spoken +until now. +</P> + +<P> +"It's just as well not to make friends with the people who live in the +same apartment house you do," young Mrs. Johnson had told Grandma when +she came to make her home with her son. "You can't tell who they are." +</P> + +<P> +"You can tell they are human beings," Mother Johnson had muttered but +that was not enough for her daughter-in-law and the older woman had +been too depressed by the strangeness of everything about her to make +friends for herself. +</P> + +<P> +She even hesitated now when Mary Rose's inquiry after the health of +Germania brought an invitation to step in and see how much at home +Germania was. But in Mary Rose's opinion one could not refuse such an +invitation and she drew Grandma Johnson in to admire and to exclaim +over Germania, who did seem very contented. They had a very pleasant +little visit and Mrs. Schuneman eagerly asked them both to come again. +Mother Johnson gathered courage to say she would, she'd be glad to. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" Mary Rose asked as they went up the +stairs. "I think it's very kind of you to let me go walking with you. +I'm so glad the doctor said you needed exercise." +</P> + +<P> +And Grandma Johnson smiled and patted the small shoulder. There was +not a trace of the old peevishness on her face which was like a +withered apple. "I don't know but I'm glad, too, Mary Rose. I'll see +you tomorrow." +</P> + +<P> +"You certainly will. Won't the squirrels be glad to see us? Good-by." +She ran down the stairs with the ten cents in her hand. The coin +dropped on the landing and rolled away. She was looking for it when +Mr. Wells came up and almost walked over her. Mary Rose was on her +feet in a flash. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning," she said politely. "I'm looking for the dime I +dropped. I earned it walking with Grandma Johnson. We had the +grandest time in the park. Did you know that there are pets there for +people who can't have them in their homes? They're squirrels and the +Lord put them there. Oh, here's my dime. Good-by." And she ran on +while Mr. Wells stood and stared after her as if he thought he or she +had lost their wits and he was not sure which. +</P> + +<P> +He went on up and met Larry Donovan. +</P> + +<P> +"Donovan," he said sharply. "I thought children were not allowed in +this building?" +</P> + +<P> +"No more they are, Mr. Wells," Larry tried to speak pleasantly. +"There's a clause in every lease that says so." +</P> + +<P> +"Then why do you allow a child to run all over the place?" Mr. Wells +wanted to know and he scowled fiercely. +</P> + +<P> +Larry straightened himself and a dull red crept up into his face. "If +you mean my niece by your remarks," he said stiffly, "she isn't a +child. She's—she's," he stumbled, "she's goin' on fourteen." +</P> + +<P> +"She has a long time to go before she ever reaches fourteen," grimly. +"Do Brown and Lawson know you have a child living with you?" +</P> + +<P> +"They do not." Larry's tone was as short and crisp as pie crust. +</P> + +<P> +"H-m," was all Mr. Wells said to that but he looked at Larry before he +went into his apartment and slammed the door. +</P> + +<P> +"The ol' chimpanzee 'll tell Brown an' Lawson," Uncle Larry told Aunt +Kate when he came down and found her in the bedroom. "That's what +he'll do. He's goin' to complain about Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate stared at him. "An' what'll you do, Larry Donovan? What'll +you do then?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell them they know what they can do if they don't like it," he +answered gruffly. "I've been a good man for the place. I've kept the +peace with the tenants though, God knows, it's been no easy job. I've +kept the bills down an' made a lot of the repairs myself an' if Brown +an' Lawson want to fire me just because my niece, my wife's niece, an +inoffensive little kid, is livin' with us why they can fire. That's +what they can do. I'd be ashamed to stay an' work for them." +</P> + +<P> +"Larry," Mrs. Donovan put her arms around her husband and kissed him. +"Larry Donovan, I'm that proud of you I can't see!" And she put her +hand over her wet eyes. "Then you like to have Mary Rose here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you the truth, Kate, dear. The little thing has made +herself necessary to me. That's what she's done. We got along all +right without her but that was because we didn't know what it was to +have a kid in the house. No, sir, Mary Rose is one of the fam'ly and +she stays with the fam'ly. She's good for the tenants, too. See what +she's done for Mrs. Willoughby an' Mrs. Schuneman. The ol' lady called +me in to hear her bird sing this very morning. An' Mrs. Bracken, who's +so busy club workin' for other folks she hasn't any time for her home, +tells me Mary Rose is the biggest kind of a help to her. I thought she +was goin' to jaw me about fixin' that back window 't sticks a bit. I +should have fixed it before but it clean slipped my mind, an' I up an' +asked her how Mary Rose was doing. She forgot the window to talk about +the kid. 'Ain't she small for her age?' says she. 'I guess you don't +know much about childern,' says I. 'Mary Rose's as big as she should +be!' 'When I was fourteen,' says she, 'I weighed a hunderd an' ten +poun's.' 'That's a good weight for a growing girl,' says I. 'I don't +believe you weigh much more'n that now, Mrs. Bracken,' says I. And +that ended it. She weighs a hunderd an' thirty if she weighs a pound. +An' then there's the Johnsons. Young Mrs. Johnson said this morning +that it would be a blessed relief if Mary Rose'd get the ol' lady out +every day. I guess there's a place for her here all right, whether ol' +Wells sees it or not." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't it be just as well for you to tell Brown an' Lawson your +story first?" asked Mrs. Donovan. "Of course, when it's a tenant +again' a janitor the janitor don't stand much show. But if you tell +the agents that your wife's niece, a girl goin' on fourteen, is staying +with you an' makin' herself useful to the tenants they won't come here +with a lot of confusin' questions when Mr. Wells has had his say. +Seems if it was the one who spoke first who gets the mos' attention. +Haven't you any errand that could take you down there the first thing +in the mornin'?" +</P> + +<P> +Larry laughed scornfully. "I have that. I can al'ys find a complaint +to carry if I'm so minded. I guess you're right an' it won't do no +harm to get our side in first. Where's Mary Rose now?" +</P> + +<P> +"She's gone over to Mr. Jerry's. The cat's board's overdue." +Evidently Aunt Kate thought that overdue board was a laughing matter +for she chuckled. "Mary Rose was horrified when she remembered she'd +forgotten to pay but I said Mr. Jerry 'd understand that she wasn't +used to business. So long as she paid in the end a little waiting +wouldn't matter." +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry had just driven into the garage when the delinquent Mary Rose +slipped in at the back gate. +</P> + +<P> +"Hullo, Mary Rose," he called cheerily. +</P> + +<P> +"I've come to pay George Washington's board," importantly. "I'm +ashamed I'm late but I forgot. I'm not used to business," she +apologized, mortification dyeing her cheeks pink. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all right. But if it's board you're going to pay we'd better +go in and see my Aunt Mary." +</P> + +<P> +His Aunt Mary looked mildly surprised when Mary Rose announced that she +had come to pay George Washington's board and she was sorry she was +late. Aunt Mary pursed her lips in a way that made Mary Rose quake +until she remembered that she was earning a lot of money and it really +didn't matter if the board was more than fifty cents. And George +Washington did have an awful appetite. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was saying so. "That cat is perfectly hollow. +It's amazing the milk he drinks. He has been here a little over a +week, Mary Rose," again mortification painted Mary Rose's cheeks, "and +in that time he has caught five mice. It is impossible to estimate the +damage that five mice would have done if they hadn't been caught so I +figure that George Washington has earned his own board." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, George Washington!" Mary Rose could scarcely grasp this but when +she did she caught the cat to her in a rapturous hug. "Isn't he the +very smartest cat? Why, he's self-supporting, isn't he?" And she +hugged him again. "If he keeps on earning his board I can send for +Solomon. I don't suppose you would want to board a dog, too? I think +I'd almost feel as if I were in Heaven to have my animal friends with +me again." +</P> + +<P> +"What kind of dog is Solomon?" Mr. Jerry asked carelessly. "I've been +thinking of buying a dog but perhaps I could rent old Sol." +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Jerry! I'd be glad to let you have him for his board. He's +splendid, a real fox terrier, and that clever. He can do lots of +tricks. You couldn't help but love him. He's so affectionate and +friendly." +</P> + +<P> +"It was a fox terrier that I thought of buying. Then we can consider +that settled, Mary Rose. You send for Sol as soon as you please and +I'll board him for the use of him. I think he would look well on the +front seat of the car." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose had jumped to her feet and, with George Washington still in +her arms, she threw herself on Mr. Jerry in a perfect spasm of +delighted gratitude that brought tears to the eyes of both of them for +George Washington was not accustomed to being squeezed between a young +man and a little girl. +</P> + +<P> +"What a—what a splendid man you are!" cried Mary Rose. "You're like +King Arthur and Robin Hood, always succoring the friendless though I'm +not friendless when I have you and your Aunt Mary and all the people +over there." She nodded across at the white face of the Washington. +</P> + +<P> +"All the people?" questioned Mr. Jerry. He had heard of some of them +who did not act friendly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, perhaps not all—yet," amended Mary Rose. "I do like to be +friends with people, Mr. Jerry. It gives you such a comfortable +feeling inside. When you're not friends it's just as if you had the +stomachache and the headache at the same time." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought in some cookies and three glasses of +ginger ale, all sparkling and frosty. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a party," beamed Mary Rose. "I've always thought the world was +full of nice people and now I know it. Aunt Kate's forever telling me +that I'm too little to know the good from the bad but I tell her there +isn't any bad, that the Lord wouldn't waste His time and dust, and +anyway I have the right kind of an eye. I showed that when I made +friends with you and Mr. Jerry." +</P> + +<P> +When she left she hesitated at the gate. "Would it be a bother if I +brought a friend over to see George Washington?" she ventured. "I'd +like Miss Thorley to meet him and then perhaps she'd paint his picture." +</P> + +<P> +"I should think she would," promptly agreed Mr. Jerry. "He's a cat who +deserves to have his portrait painted. Bring over any friends you +wish, Mary Rose," hospitably, "but let me know first so George +Washington will be home. Sometimes I take him out with me," gravely. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose gazed at him with adoration. "I don't believe I could have +found a better boarding place for him, not if I had searched all Waloo. +I'll let you know, Mr. Jerry, just as soon as I know myself." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<P> +But before Mary Rose could write the letter that would tell Jimmie +Bronson that she was now financially able to maintain her animal +friends she had a big surprise. +</P> + +<P> +The day had been warm and sultry, the sort that makes every nerve +disagreeably alive and brings to the surface all the unpleasant little +traits that in cooler weather one can keep hidden. +</P> + +<P> +"Old General Humidity hasn't shirked his job a minute to-day," Bob +Strahan told Miss Carter as they left the car and walked up the block +to the Washington together. +</P> + +<P> +In front of them sauntered a boy with a dog at his heels. The boy was +a sturdy young fellow of perhaps fourteen, very shabby as to clothes +but very dauntless as to manner. The dog was a fox terrier with one +black spot over his left eye like a patch. Bob Strahan whistled and +snapped his fingers at him. +</P> + +<P> +"I've always meant to have a fox terrier some day," he told Miss +Carter. "They're so intelligent." +</P> + +<P> +But this particular fox terrier, while he wagged his tail and looked +around to see who whistled, kept close to the heels of the boy who +looked carefully at the houses as if in search of one. When he came to +the Washington he stood and stared up at the long brick wall with its +many windows peering so curiously down at him, much as Mary Rose had +stared less than a month before. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, young man," Bob Strahan said pleasantly, "is there anyone here +you wish to see?" +</P> + +<P> +"Gee," exclaimed the boy with a fervor that seemed to come from his +dusty heels, "I hadn't any idea it would be such a big place!" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't a cottage," agreed Bob Strahan amiably, "nor yet a bungalow. +But a roof has to be some size to cover a couple of dozen families. +What particular family are you interested in, may I ask?" He stooped +to pat the black-eyed fox terrier as it sniffed his ankles. "Some +dog!" he told the boy. +</P> + +<P> +Down the street came Mary Rose and Miss Thorley. Mary Rose had been to +the bakery for rolls for supper and had met Miss Thorley on the corner. +The little group by the steps of the Washington could hear her voice +before they saw her and the boy swung around and listened. +</P> + +<P> +"I used to think that if I wasn't a human being, made in the image of +God, I'd like to be the milkman's horse in Mifflin," he heard Mary Rose +say and he chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Mary Rose?" laughed Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +"Because it was so friendly to go from house to house every morning +with milk for the babies and cream for the coffee. Everyone in Mifflin +was a friend to old Whiteface. Why—why!" she broke her story short to +stand still and stare at the boy and the dog, who were both staring at +her. The boy's face was one broad grin and the dog's tail was wagging +frantically. "Why, Solomon Crocker! It's never you! Oh, Solomon!" as +he darted to her. "I've missed you more than tongue could tell. It +seems a hundred thousand years since we were together. Jimmie Bronson, +however did you know that I'd made arrangements for Solomon to come to +Waloo?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't know but I wanted to leave Mifflin and I couldn't let old Sol +stay alone. You know Aunt Nora died just after you left and there +wasn't any home for me any more. I wanted to see the world so I +thought I'd bring the pup and if you didn't want him I'd be glad to +keep him. He's a dandy dog and he's valuable. He's helped to more +than pay our way." He jingled the contents of his pocket so that they +could hear how Solomon had helped. +</P> + +<P> +"How did he do that, Jimmie? I'm sorry about your Aunt Nora but now +you have one more friend in Heaven and you've lots left on earth. He's +got heaps of friends right here, hasn't he?" She looked at Bob Strahan +and the two girls for confirmation of her words. "We're all friends in +Waloo. But how did Solomon help you to earn your way?" +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie laughed sheepishly. "I've taught him a lot of new tricks. He's +a smart dog and learned like lightning. Folks were glad to see him +perform. I never asked for pay but they always gave me something. I +could have sold him half a dozen times for big money but he's your dog, +Mary Rose, so I brought him right along." +</P> + +<P> +"Show us his new tricks," begged Mary Rose. "Show them to us this +minute." +</P> + +<P> +So Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, with Mary Rose between them, and Bob +Strahan sat down on the broad front steps and watched Jimmie Bronson +put Solomon through his repertoire. Mrs. Schuneman and Lottie joined +them and from their windows Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby watched +the performance. Solomon really was a clever dog and Jimmie had been +an excellent teacher so that the entertainment was very creditable. +They were all so interested in it that they never saw an addition to +their number until a harsh strident voice sounded beside them. It made +Mary Rose jump and Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby suddenly left their +windows. +</P> + +<P> +"Mein lieber Gott!" Mrs. Schuneman rose involuntarily and heavily to +her feet. "It's Mr. Wells!" +</P> + +<P> +"What's this? What's this?" Lightning flashed from Mr. Wells' eyes +and thunder rumbled in his voice. No wonder everyone was startled. +"Dogs aren't allowed here. Where's Donovan? He shouldn't allow such a +nuisance. Run along, boy, and take your dog with you. You aren't +allowed here!" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't his dog." Mary Rose ran in front of him. "It's my dog and +he's come all the way from Mifflin. I wish you'd been here earlier so +you could see how smart he is," timidly. "He knows such a lot of funny +tricks. Jimmie, will you have him do that one—" +</P> + +<P> +"Your dog!" interrupted Mr. Wells, with a snort, and his fiery eyes +seemed to bore a hole right through Mary Rose, who was trying +desperately to remember that she had the right kind of eye and could +see nothing but good in the cross old man in front of her. "You know +very well that dogs are not allowed in this house. Take him away, boy, +and don't let me see either of you again." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose's heart was full of indignation. So were her eyes. +She was too hurt to be afraid. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, a +great big man like you to talk that way to a poor little dog who has +come all the way from Mifflin expecting to find friends here? He's my +dog and—" +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Wells would not let her finish. "You can't keep him here," he +snarled. He was furious at being spoken to in such a fashion by a +janitor's child and before a group of young people who did their best +to look serious. "You haven't any business here yourself. Children +and dogs are forbidden in this building." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan had come to the basement window just in time to hear this +angry outburst and she called hastily: "Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose never heard her. "Why are you always picking at me?" she +demanded of Mr. Wells. "I'm only a little girl and you're a big man +but never once since I came to Waloo have you looked as if you wanted +to be friends with me. I don't mean to be impudent but you—you do +make it very hard for me to like you." Her lip quivered and she turned +quickly and hid her face against Miss Thorley's white skirt. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley's arm went around her and a thrill of emotion rarely +intense ran over the older girl. When she spoke her voice was strange +even to herself: +</P> + +<P> +"Really, Mr. Wells, this is all very unnecessary. You have not been +annoyed by Mary Rose or her pets. I think you can trust to her and to +the Donovans—" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, you can!" Mary Rose's face came out again and she was so eager to +assure him that he could that she forgot how rude it is to interrupt. +"You shan't ever see Solomon unless you look out of one of the windows +in the white-faced wall. He's going to live with Mr. Jerry. I've made +all the arrangements. I never meant you to be bothered with him. But +I do wish you'd like him. He's a very friendly dog," wistfully. "He'd +like you to like him." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells looked at the friendly dog who wanted to be liked, and at +Mary Rose, before his eyes swept the older group. There was not the +faintest trace of a smile on the faces of Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, +but there was more than a trace on the countenance of Bob Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +"I don't like dogs!" the grin made him say with a snap. "I won't have +one here!" And he went up the steps and slammed the screen door behind +him. +</P> + +<P> +"Mercy, mercy!" feebly murmured Mr. Strahan. "You might think he owned +the whole works. My rent comes due every month, just as his does." +</P> + +<P> +At her window Aunt Kate wrung her hands and thought sadly how +comfortable they were in the basement of the Washington. Mr. Wells +would never rest now until he had Larry discharged. She knew he +wouldn't. He would never overlook the fact that Mary Rose had talked +back to him on the very steps of the Washington. She could not blame +Mary Rose, the child had had provocation enough, goodness knows, but +she wished—she wished—Oh, how fervently she wished that Mr. Wells had +never been born! +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked sadly after the retreating figure which looked as +friendly and unbending as a poker. +</P> + +<P> +"He won't ever forget I called him a crosspatch," she said sadly and +she blushed. +</P> + +<P> +"What!" There was an astonished chorus. How had she dared? It did +not sound like Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"I did!" the color in her cheeks deepened painfully. "I never meant to +but the words were in my mind and so they slipped out of my mouth. +Come on, Jimmie, we'll take Solomon over to Mr. Jerry's. He'll be glad +to see him. He's a human being." +</P> + +<P> +"I think I'll go, too," suggested Bob Strahan who scented a story. +"Have you seen George Washington, the self-supporting cat?" he asked +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter. +</P> + +<P> +"All of you come," begged Mary Rose, glowing happily again. "Mr. +Jerry'd be glad to have you and there's plenty of room in the back +yard. I'd like to have you see my cat. Isn't it wonderful that George +Washington and Solomon are self-supporting? That's being independent, +isn't it, Miss Thorley? Will you come?" she caught her hand and drew +her to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley hesitated. If George Washington had been boarding with +anyone but Jerry Longworthy she would have gone at once but Jerry +Longworthy was very apt to forget that she preferred work to love. If +she went to his back yard he would be sure to think that her coming was +an inch and proceed to make an ell out of it. It would be far wiser to +stay away. So she shook her head. "Not now, Mary Rose," she said +gently. "Some other time." +</P> + +<P> +After a quick glance at her face Mary Rose did not tease but went off +with the others. They found Mr. Jerry in the back yard. He looked +beyond them as if he found the party too small but as no one followed +to complete it he gave his attention to Solomon and pronounced him +something of a dog. When Jimmie had put him through his tricks again +Mr. Jerry gravely shook hands with both boy and dog. +</P> + +<P> +"You've been a fine teacher," he said to Jimmie. "I congratulate you." +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie's face was as scarlet as the poppies in Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary's +garden. "Oh, go on!" he murmured in delighted embarrassment. +</P> + +<P> +"Just think, they walked all the way from Mifflin!" exclaimed Mary Rose +in a voice of awe. "It took an automobile and a train and a taxicab to +bring me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I didn't have money for an auto nor a train nor a taxi," grinned +Jimmie, "so Sol and I walked. Not all the way. Folks gave us a lift +now and then." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course they did. You'd be sure to find friends," Mary Rose told +him jubilantly. "That's the beautiful part of traveling. You find +friends everywhere." +</P> + +<P> +"Sure!" Jimmie winked at Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan. "I found one +friend so glad to see me that he had me arrested." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" Mary Rose's eyes were as large as the largest +kind of saucers. "What for? Was Solomon arrested, too?" She looked +reprovingly at her dog. +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie chuckled. "I told you I had more than one chance to sell the +brute," with a loving kick at Solomon. "And one man was so mad when I +told him 'nothing doing' that he had me arrested. Said I had stolen +the dog from him. You see there's some class to old Sol but there +isn't much to me. The judge didn't know which of us was lying until I +told him that Sol was a trick dog and would the man who was trying to +put one over on me run through his tricks to show they had worked +together. The cuss turned green and stammered that he wasn't no animal +tamer. The judge gave me a chance and we had a great performance in +the courtroom. When it was over the judge said he guessed if I'd had +Solomon long enough to teach him so much the man, if he was the owner, +should have found him before. He fined the other chap a greenback and +gave it to me. We had beefsteak and potatoes for supper instead of +going to jail, didn't we, old sport?" +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you!" Mr. Jerry gave him a comradely slap on the shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +Bob Strahan nodded significantly to Miss Carter. "Didn't I say I'd get +a story out of this?" he whispered. +</P> + +<P> +"What are you going to do now, Jimmie?" asked Mary Rose. "You aren't +going back to Mifflin?" +</P> + +<P> +No, Jimmie wasn't going back to Mifflin. He thought, rather vaguely, +he'd stay in Waloo and see the world. There must be something there +for a boy to do if he were strong and willing. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, there is! Isn't there?" Mary Rose looked appealingly from Mr. +Jerry to Bob Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, there is," Mr. Jerry told her heartily. He asked for further +particulars. Just what would Jimmie like to do? Had he any plans? +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie hadn't any plans just at present beyond food and shelter but in +ten years or so he hoped to be an electrician. Of course, that +couldn't be until he was a man. In the meantime he'd take anything and +if he could get a job that would let him go to school he'd be about the +happiest kid in the world. +</P> + +<P> +"You can get that kind of job," Bob Strahan told him easily. "I'll +write a little story about your trip and your arrest for the <I>Gazette</I> +and I'll bet you'll have a lot of jobs offered you." +</P> + +<P> +"And until you do you can stay here. There's a little room up there," +Mr. Jerry nodded toward his attic, "that would just about fit a boy of +your size. Do you know anything about autos? Have you ever met a lawn +mower? I guess I can find work for you until you get a regular job." +</P> + +<P> +Every freckle on Jimmie's freckled face glowed gratefully. Mary Rose +jumped up and down. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Jerry!" she began in a choked voice. She ran to him and hid her +face against his hand. "First you took my cat," she gasped chokingly, +"and then you took my dog and now my friend from Mifflin. I—I don't +believe a friendlier man ever lived!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose!" It was Aunt Kate's voice from the back door of the +Washington. "Bring your friend in to supper." Aunt Kate knew that, +under the circumstances, she had no business to ask a boy into the +house but she felt desperately that now it did not matter what she did +and it would please Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, Mary Rose," Bob Strahan pulled her hair as they trooped back to +the Washington, leaving Solomon jumping frantically at Mr. Jerry's +snapping fingers, "are you happy now?" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's face clouded. "Half of me's happy and half of me isn't," +she confessed in a low voice. "It makes me mad not to be friends with +everybody and I can't honestly feel that Mr. Wells and I are friends." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. Bracken found one morning, when he had reached his office, that he +had forgotten some important papers. He went home at noon to get them. +He let himself into the apartment and walked directly into the +living-room. He stopped with an exclamation of surprise for on the +broad davenport was a little girl fast asleep. One of her arms was +thrown protectingly about a brass cage in which a bird swung lazily. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, upon my word!" muttered Mr. Bracken. He looked about to be sure +he was in the right apartment. He had been away from home and had not +met Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +The words, low as they were uttered, reached Mary Rose's ear and she +opened her eyes. When she saw a tall man staring somewhat frowningly +at her she sat up suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"I—I hope you're Mr. Bracken, Mrs. Bracken's husband?" she said. +There was a tremble in her voice as she slipped from the davenport and +bobbed a curtsy. There was a shake in her knees, also. Suppose this +strange man should be a burglar? The thought was enough to make the +voice and knees of any little girl tremble and shake. But the strange +man nodded curtly and Mary Rose laughed tremulously. "I thought +perhaps you were a burglar," she confessed at once. "I never knew a +real burglar but I see now you don't look a bit like one. If I hadn't +been so sleepy I'd have seen it at once for I've the right kind of an +eye, the kind that can see the good in people. I think you have, too, +because your eyes are just the same color my daddy's were and he had +the right kind. Gracious! I should just think he had!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind about eyes," Mr. Bracken said impatiently. "What are you +doing here?" +</P> + +<P> +"I'll tell you," she blushed. "I came up to wash the dishes, as I do +every morning for Mrs. Bracken, and I left the key on the outside and +the wind slammed the door shut. I couldn't open it. I thought I'd +have to wait until Mrs. Bracken came home to let me out. I didn't dare +make a noise for fear I'd disturb Mr. Wells. I must have gone to sleep +for I never heard you come in. I live in the cellar with my Aunt Kate +and Uncle Larry. At first I felt like a green cucumber pickle because +in Mifflin, where I used to live, there wasn't anything in our cellar +but a swinging shelf for pickles and jellies and a person couldn't ever +feel like a glass of plum jelly, could they? So I felt like a cucumber +pickle but now I don't mind it at all. I love to live in the cellar. +There's everything in getting used to things, isn't there? I like it +here now pretty well for I've lots of friends. Mrs. Schuneman and +Germania and Mrs. Johnson, the grandma one. We go to the park every +day and feed her pet squirrel. The Lord keeps it there because she +can't have any pets but canary birds in houses like this. There's a +law against it, Uncle Larry said. And there's Miss Thorley, the +enchanted princess, who's painting my picture for Mr. Bingham +Henderson's jam to tell people how good it is. She gave me some once, +apricot. We only had strawberry and raspberry and plum and grape and +apple butter in Mifflin. I used to stir the apple butter for Lena. +You have to stir it all the time or it burns. It makes your arm awful +tired but it's good for the muscle. Feel mine!" She clenched her +small arm and held it out so that Mr. Bracken could feel her muscles. +</P> + +<P> +He murmured: "I'll be darned!" in a dazed sort of a way as he felt her +muscle, and Mary Rose went on sociably. +</P> + +<P> +"And there's Mrs. Bracken. She said I washed her dishes better than a +full-sized girl. And now there's you. Have you had any lunch?" she +demanded suddenly. "Shall I get you some?" she wanted to know when he +had admitted that he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. "Mrs. +Bracken wouldn't like it if I let you go away hungry. It won't take a +minute. You just keep an eye on Jenny Lind." And she put Jenny Lind +on the table at his elbow before she flew to the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Bracken stood and stared at Jenny Lind and then at the door through +which Mary Rose had disappeared. "Well, I'll be darned!" he said +again. He went to his desk and found his important papers. He did not +intend to stay for lunch but when Mary Rose flew back to demand +hurriedly whether he liked his eggs fried or boiled he told her boiled. +</P> + +<P> +A postponed meeting brought Mrs. Bracken home that day several hours +before she had planned. She stopped on the threshold in astonishment +when she heard voices and laughter in the rear of her apartment. She +hurried back with pursed lips and frowning face for both laugh and +voice had sounded young. If Mary Rose were making free with her things +she would give Mary Rose a good big piece of her mind and then she +would present Mrs. Donovan with an equal portion. +</P> + +<P> +She went through the dining-room and into the kitchen to find Joseph +Bracken—<I>Joseph Bracken</I>—sitting at the kitchen table eating boiled +eggs and drinking tea. Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from +him and was telling him of Mifflin. Jenny Lind's cage was between them. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-171"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-171.jpg" ALT=""Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and was telling him of Mifflin."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="638" HEIGHT="399"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 660px"> +"Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and was telling him of Mifflin." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"Why—why," gasped Mrs. Bracken. She could not say another word. She +forgot all about the big piece of her mind that she was going to give +Mary Rose and stood there staring with bulging eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose jumped to the floor. "Here's Mrs. Bracken!" she cried in +delight. "Isn't it a pity we didn't know she was coming? I could just +as well have boiled another egg. But there's plenty of tea. It's like +a party, isn't it? Except that we haven't any birthday candles. In +Mifflin I always had candles on my birthday cake because daddy said a +birthday should be like a candle, a light to guide you into the new +year. Shall I boil an egg for you, Mrs. Bracken?" +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bracken sat down suddenly in the chair Mary Rose had vacated and +murmured helplessly: "Well, upon my word!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I said," smiled Mr. Bracken, which wasn't exactly true +although the words he had used meant the same thing, "when I came home +and found a girl and a bird on the davenport." +</P> + +<P> +"I locked myself in," Mary Rose explained with a shamed face. "I was +careless and left the key on the outside. Mr. Bracken should have +scolded me but he didn't. We've been the best friends and had the +nicest time together and now it's going to be nicer because you're +here." +</P> + +<P> +She beamed on first one and then the other as she bustled about finding +a plate and a knife and fork, making the toast that Mrs. Bracken +thought she would prefer to bread and all the time talking in a +friendly fashion. She never doubted that what interested her would +interest others. +</P> + +<P> +At first Mrs. Bracken regarded her helplessly, as Mr. Bracken had done, +but gradually the look of irritation disappeared and at last a smile +took its place. It was strange to share a lunch of boiled eggs and tea +on the kitchen table with Joseph Bracken. She had not done that since +they were first married and were moving into their first home. She +hadn't thought of it for years but now it was oddly pleasant to +remember the little details of a time before she had been absorbed by +clubs and he by business. Neither she nor Mr. Bracken had much to say +but Mary Rose talked enough for three. She waited on them with a +solicitude that forced them to eat and when they had finished she sent +them into the other room. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll wash up. It won't take me a minute." +</P> + +<P> +So, because she told them to, Mr. and Mrs. Bracken drifted into the +other room and left her alone with Jenny Lind. Mr. Bracken did not +take his hat and mutter that he would be back for dinner. He walked +over to the window and stood looking down the street. At last he +turned around and looked at his wife who was sitting on the davenport +as if she were tired. +</P> + +<P> +"Elsie," he said abruptly, "what ever became of your niece?" +</P> + +<P> +She looked up in surprise. "You mean Harriet White? She's living with +the Norrises in Prairieville." +</P> + +<P> +"Wouldn't you like to have her here?" he asked suddenly. "It doesn't +seem just right—decent—to let strangers look after your own +relations." +</P> + +<P> +Her eyes opened wider. He had never seemed to think whether it was +decent or not until now. "But we can't have her here. That was the +trouble after her mother died. Children aren't allowed in the house +and we didn't want to move." +</P> + +<P> +"How old is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"Thirteen or fourteen. I'm not just sure which." +</P> + +<P> +"A girl of thirteen isn't a child. Send for her, Elsie, and if anyone +objects, we can move. But I guess a tenant means something to a +landlord and there won't be any objections. We need her, Elsie, as +much as she needs us. We need someone young with us. That kid," he +nodded toward the kitchen where Mary Rose was lustily singing the many +verses of "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?" "has made me realize what +we are missing. Why she fussed around me as if—as if," he colored +slightly, "as if I were her father. No, it isn't anything new. I've +been thinking for some time that we aren't getting all we should out of +life. You give your time and strength to clubs and I give mine to +business and what does it amount to? What are we working for? +Abstract people aren't the same as your own flesh and blood. What we +need is something to bring us together and if Hattie White is anything +like that kid she'll keep us good and busy." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bracken slipped across the room and put her hand on his arm. +"I'll be glad to send for her, Joe. I haven't felt just right to leave +her with the Whites but I thought you didn't want her and I told myself +that my first duty was to you. I'll write today. No, I'll go for her, +if you don't mind." +</P> + +<P> +"That's a good girl." His arm slipped around her waist. +</P> + +<P> +Out in the kitchen Mary Rose brought her song to an abrupt close. She +thrust her head in the doorway. "I'm all through. Didn't I say it +wouldn't take a jiffy? It's been very pleasant but Aunt Kate'll be +wondering where I am and so will Grandma Johnson. Good-by." +</P> + +<P> +"Good-by," they chorused. "Come again," they added, as if they +couldn't help but speak the hospitable words. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall," Mary Rose called back. "Sure, I'll come again." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<P> +"And Mr. Jerry said that if you weren't so much of an angel you'd be a +splendid artist or if you weren't so much of an artist you'd be a +splendid angel. It sounds queer the way I say it but I know he meant +it for a compliment." Mary Rose and Jenny Lind were posing for the jam +poster. It was almost finished and Mary Rose was sinfully proud of it. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley frowned and refused to say what she thought of Mr. Jerry's +compliment. Mary Rose frowned, also. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't like Mr. Jerry very much, do you?" she ventured to ask. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm too busy to know whether I do or not." Miss Thorley half closed +her eyes and looked at Mary Rose in the funny way she did when she was +painting. "My work takes all of my time. Chin up, Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." Mary Rose tilted her chin a little higher. "You aren't under +any obligation to think of him, of course, but if your cat was boarding +with him and he had borrowed your dog you'd just have to keep him in +your mind and heart. And he's worth thinking of. He's a very fine +young man. Everyone says so. Jimmie adores him and he hasn't known +him a week. You've known him lots longer than that, haven't you?" She +spoke as if she could not understand how Jimmie could be so much more +clever. It must be on account of the spell that old Independence had +put upon Miss Thorley. There couldn't be any other reason for not +liking Mr. Jerry. He was so altogether likeable. Mary Rose sighed at +life's complications. "I just love Mr. Jerry myself. I can't help +it," she went on more slowly. "I wish you did, too," wistfully. "It's +much more pleasant when the people you love will love each other. It +gives you such a comfortable feeling as if you didn't care if Heaven +was so far away. I do think this world would be almost as wonderful as +Heaven if everyone would love everyone else." +</P> + +<P> +"There is no doubt of that," Miss Thorley absently agreed with her. +</P> + +<P> +"Then will you try and love my friends?" eagerly. She almost lost her +pose in her eagerness. "I'll love yours. Every one! I will! I can +because I have a big heart. Did you know that the more you put into a +heart the more it will hold? It's the hearts that haven't anyone in +them that are so little and hard. I think hearts must be like +balloons. You can blow and blow and blow into balloons and there's +always room for some more breath." +</P> + +<P> +"Unless they break. Balloons break, Mary Rose, and so do hearts." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked incredulous. "Mine never did. And anyway I'd rather +have my heart break from being too full than get hard because it didn't +have anyone in it. I'd like to have the very biggest heart in the +whole world!" she cried ambitiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Big enough to hold Mr. Wells? Did you know he was ill, Mary Rose? +His Jap came up last night and asked Miss Carter not to play on the +piano because Mr. Wells wasn't well and didn't wish to be disturbed." +Miss Thorley's lip curled disdainfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wells sick?" Mary Rose was much concerned. "What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you been down to ask?" Mary Rose always had been sent to ask +in Mifflin. +</P> + +<P> +"Gracious, no! I shouldn't dare. He'd probably bite my head off." +</P> + +<P> +"He couldn't bite your head off if he was sick. It doesn't seem real +neighborly, Miss Thorley. And you are neighbors. You live right over +his head. I expect he has dyspepsia and that's the reason he looked +so—" she hesitated over a word, "unfriendly. Why when Mr. Lewis, he's +the postmaster in Mifflin, had dyspepsia Mrs. Lewis didn't dare say her +soul was her own. Mr. Lewis couldn't be cross to people when they came +for their mail so he saved it all for Mrs. Lewis. That doesn't seem +quite fair, does it, for people to be pleasant to outsiders and save +their bad temper for their homes?" +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't fair but I rather think it's human." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose shook her head. "Sometimes I think that human and +disagreeable mean the same thing because people all say the bad things +we do are human. Where did we learn them, Miss Thorley? The Lord made +us all good because it wouldn't have paid him to make us bad. Where do +you suppose Mr. Lewis learned to snap and Mr. Wells to scold and you to +frown?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley certainly did have a frown. It ran right across her +pretty forehead when she said: "Bless me! child, how do I know? That's +enough for one day." She put the drawing board on the table and +stretched herself luxuriously. "Try and be on time tomorrow, Mary +Rose, and I think we can finish it." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes'm." Mary Rose stared at the drawing which was a very wonderful +thing to her. "Don't you believe Mr. Bingham Henderson 'll be pleased +with it? It's a beautiful picture of Jenny Lind." +</P> + +<P> +"It's a beautiful picture of you, if I do say it," laughed the artist. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose drew closer until she could whisper into Miss Thorley's ear. +"I wish Mr. Jerry could see it." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley rose abruptly and pushed her away. "He can. He'll have +lots of opportunity to see it when it is on the back of a magazine. +Run along, now. Skip!" She fairly pushed Mary Rose out of the door +before she could say anything more about Mr. Jerry. Sometimes it +seemed to Mary Rose that Miss Thorley was afraid to hear about Mr. +Jerry. +</P> + +<P> +She went down the stairs slowly and hesitated when she came to Mr. +Wells' door. She knew she should stop and inquire how he was. It +would have been a terrible breach of good manners in Mifflin not to ask +after a sick neighbor, but Mr. Wells had not been like any neighbor +Mary Rose had ever known. Nevertheless he was a neighbor. She tossed +her head and ventured closer to the door. There was no answer when she +knocked timidly and she tried again. The door was slightly ajar and +when her second knock brought no response she ventured to push it open +an inch. Mr. Wells might be all alone and need someone. She would +just slip in and see. If he didn't she could slip out again. +</P> + +<P> +There was a chilly deserted feeling in the hall that made Mary Rose +shiver. She hurried through softly as if in the presence of something +that oppressed her. When she reached the door of the living-room she +stopped and looked across into the amazed eyes of Mr. Wells, who was +lying on the broad couch. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Mary Rose refused to be frightened away by his scowl. "I'm so +glad you're able to be up. You are better, aren't you? I was worried +when Miss Thorley said you were sick and I just stopped to inquire. In +Mifflin when anyone was sick we always went with chicken broth or cup +custard or a new magazine. Why, when Lily Thompson had tonsilitis she +had eleven different things sent in one day. I helped her eat the +eating ones." +</P> + +<P> +"How did you get in?" growled Mr. Wells for all the world like the Big +Bear in the story of Goldilocks. Mary Rose had to think what a +splendid Big Bear he would make. +</P> + +<P> +"The door was open. I knocked but no one came. I was afraid you might +want something. Has your Japanese gentleman gone to the drug store? +Isn't it lonely for you all by yourself? I was going to ask Aunt Kate +to make you some beef tea but perhaps you'd rather have Jenny Lind stay +with you. She's splendid company and I'd be glad to loan her to you." +She crossed the room to put the cage down beside Mr. Wells. Jenny Lind +began to sing immediately as if to show Mr. Wells what splendid company +she could be. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells raised himself on his elbow and shook a threatening fist at +the canary. +</P> + +<P> +"Take that damn bird away!" he shouted. His face was red and Mary Rose +was sure she could see flames darting from his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!" She snatched Jenny Lind at once. "I s-suppose +she is too noisy for you yet. Mrs. Mason didn't like her when she had +the nerves. But you shouldn't be alone. It's bad for you. I'm sure +you need friendly company. Oh, I know the very thing!" And before the +astonished and indignant invalid could say a word she had dashed out of +the room. +</P> + +<P> +He could hear her stumble in the hall but he did not hear her exclaim +hurriedly when a door across the way opened: "Oh, Mrs. Rawson, will you +take Jenny Lind for a minute? I'll be right back for her." She pushed +the hook of the cage into the hands of the startled Mrs. Rawson and +flew down the stairs. +</P> + +<P> +She was back in an incredibly short time with a small glass globe that +she carried very carefully. Her face shone as she tiptoed in and +placed it on the table beside the invalid. +</P> + +<P> +"There!" she said proudly. "There! The perfect pets for the sickroom. +When you said Jenny Lind was too disturbing I remembered that Mr. +Jerry's Aunt Mary had these two little goldfish. Wasn't it lucky? She +was glad to loan them to you and hopes you'll find them pleasant +friends. They won't be any care at all. I'll come up every day and +feed them if you don't feel well enough. I'd like to. Aren't they +beautiful? Do you suppose all the fish in Heaven are like that, all +gold and glisteny? Won't you just love to watch them? They can't sing +or make any noise to annoy you. They'll be splendid company." +</P> + +<P> +"God bless my soul!" murmured Mr. Wells helplessly, when he could find +breath to murmur anything. He stared at her as if he really had never +seen her before. +</P> + +<P> +An exclamation, like the pop of a gun, made them look at the doorway +where Sako was staring at them as if he could not believe his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Sako!" shouted Mr. Wells, angrily. "Why did you leave the door open +when you went out?" +</P> + +<P> +"Wasn't it lucky he did?" asked Mary Rose, standing before him and +rocking on her heels and toes as she often did when she was pleased. +"I might never have come in, if he hadn't. If there's anything I can +do for you, Mr. Wells, any time, don't you hesitate to ask me. Just +send the Japanese gentleman right down. I live in the cellar, I mean +the basement, with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry and we'll all be only too +glad to do anything to help you get well. It's horrid to be sick. You +look better, I think," critically, and indeed he was not at all pale +how. He had so much color in his face that he was almost purple. "I +must go now and get Jenny Lind. I left her with Mrs. Rawson. I expect +she thought I was crazy," with a giggle as she remembered Mrs. Rawson's +amazed face. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll bet she did!" Mr. Wells stared after her as if he, too, thought +Mary Rose was crazy. She turned in the doorway to wave her hand to him +and he watched her out of sight. Then he looked at the goldfish. He +had half a mind to tell Sako to throw them out. What did he want with +a couple of damned goldfish? The child was a nuisance, an unmitigated +nuisance. Children always were. That was why he lived in the +Washington where they were forbidden. He would have to ask the agents +what they meant by letting the place be overrun with children when +there was a clause in every lease forbidding it. Mary Rose might be a +friendly little soul, she might mean well, but she was an unmitigated +nuisance. The Lord only knew what she would do next if she remained in +the building. And she had dared to talk back to him in front of +people. No, he would see that the lease was lived up to. It was his +right. If he demanded protection against Mary Rose, an impudent +interfering chit, he fumed, the agents would have to protect him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sako!" he called sharply. "Take these damned goldfish down to the +Donovans. And tell Donovan to keep his niece at home. I won't have +her here!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<P> +Through Bob Strahan, Jimmie obtained a paper route. Mr. Jerry's Aunt +Mary insisted that was work enough for him at present. +</P> + +<P> +"A growing boy has to have plenty of time to eat and sleep," she said, +"and no one is using that attic bedroom." +</P> + +<P> +"You can earn your board taking care of the lawn and lending a hand +with the car. The paper route 'll stand you in for clothes and +spending money," suggested Mr. Jerry. "Might as well take it easy +while you can." +</P> + +<P> +"He's a prince, that's what he is!" Jimmie told Mary Rose somewhat +chokingly, when she came over to see how George Washington and Solomon +and Jimmie were doing. "I never knew such a man." +</P> + +<P> +"Didn't you?" Mary Rose was surprised. "Mr. Jerry is splendid but +there are lots and lots of splendid people in the world, Jimmie +Bronson." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, are there!" snorted Jimmie. "Well, I haven't seen so many of +them, and that's straight. Judging from what I saw and heard that +first day I was in Waloo, you've run across at least one of the other +sort, too." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose blushed. Her inability to make friends with Mr. Wells +annoyed her. "He's got dyspepsia," she said, as if that were an +excuse. "To tell you the truth, Jimmie Bronson, when I first came here +I nearly died. I had an awful time remembering that daddy said when +there were so many people in the world there were friends for +everybody. The people were so different and it was so funny to have +them live up and down instead of side by side. At first I thought I'd +never get used to it but I did. And I have lots of friends here now. +But Waloo isn't Mifflin." And she sighed because it wasn't. +</P> + +<P> +"Mifflin!" jeered Jimmie. "Mifflin! You can be mighty good and glad +it isn't. I don't know where you got your idea of Mifflin, Mary Rose, +for it's about the deadest one-horse town I ever ran across. And the +people. Huh! A collection of boneheads." +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" gasped Mary Rose. "Mifflin's the friendliest +town—" +</P> + +<P> +"Friendly!" Jimmie elevated his nose at the word. "Prying, +interfering, gossiping! That's what it is. I guess I know. You're +all wrong, Mary Rose, all wrong. If you should go back you'd see. +You're nothing but a kid. You don't know. But take it from me you've +got entirely the wrong idea of your native town. If Mifflin was what +you think it was do you imagine Solomon and I would have left? No, +siree! We'd have stayed and been part of the happy crowd. But it +isn't. Honest! It's dead and narrow and one-horse and the people are +boneheads." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose could not believe it. She stared at him and her lip quivered. +</P> + +<P> +"Jimmie," she said at last and her voice was very low and shaky, "is +that what you want me to think of Mifflin? It's always been a +wonderful place to me. You see I was born there and no other city, no +matter how grand it is, can be my birthplace. It doesn't seem as if I +could be all wrong about it. And the people! Daddy always said +people's hearts were friendly and in Mifflin their faces were friendly, +too. Yes, they were, Jimmie Bronson, when I lived there. Perhaps they +have changed. It's a long time since I left." +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie gave a whoop. "Long time! It isn't two months. And it would +take more than sixty days to put that sour look on old Mr. Mallow's +face. He nearly ate me up alive when I asked for a job after Aunt Nora +died. No, Mary Rose, you're wrong, all wrong, about Mifflin. There +isn't any place in this whole world that's like what you think that old +burg is." +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't there, Jimmie?" Mary Rose was very troubled. "Is that what I'm +really to believe?" +</P> + +<P> +There was a quiver in her voice that made James Bronson turn and look +at her. He flushed all over his freckled face, to the very roots of +his red hair. He even put out his tanned hand and patted Mary Rose's +arm. "No, Mary Rose," he said slowly. "I guess you're right. You're +always looking for friends and so you'll find them. You keep on being +a silly simp and thinking of Mifflin as the new Jerusalem and perhaps +it'll grow into one." +</P> + +<P> +"It would if everyone thought it would," Mary Rose insisted and the +troubled look slipped away from her face. "If people feel friendly +they'll find friends." +</P> + +<P> +"And she believes it," Jimmie told Mr. Jerry when they were cleaning +the car together that evening. "Gosh, aren't girl kids queer! I +couldn't tell her the truth but I guess I know Mifflin better than she +does." +</P> + +<P> +"I'm glad you didn't tell her the truth, Jim." Mr. Jerry lighted his +pipe and gave Jimmie the hose. "She'll learn soon enough." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course she will," agreed Jimmie. "She's just got to find out that +folks aren't going up and down the streets holding out the glad hand. +That's what I say, Mr. Jerry, if people feel so friendly inside why +don't they show it outside? Gee whiz!" he stopped to squeeze the water +out of the big sponge. "Wouldn't it be a great old world if they did, +if folks were what Mary Rose thinks they are?" +</P> + +<P> +"It would. And as every little bit added to what there is makes a +little bit more you could help the good time along by feeling a bit +more friendly to the world yourself, James," advised Mr. Jerry, +stepping off to look at the car. "Mary Rose is right when she says +that smiles are just as catching as frowns. Take it from me that it +never makes a bad thing any worse by thinking that it is better than it +is." +</P> + +<P> +Jimmie Bronson's opinion of Mifflin bothered Mary Rose and she +discussed it with everyone. It was not until they had all agreed with +her that people and places are what you think they are that she felt +comfortable again. +</P> + +<P> +"I knew I was right all the time," she told Aunt Kate. +</P> + +<P> +"If folks were really what she thinks they are, what a snap we'd have," +Aunt Kate said to Uncle Larry, after Mary Rose had gone to bed. "To be +honest I'll have to admit that the atmosphere's a mite pleasanter here +but whether that's because of Mary Rose or because I haven't seen quite +so much of the tenants—I never do in summer—I can't say. Seems if +she does have the faculty of bringing out the kind side of folks. If I +hadn't seen it with my own eyes I never would have believed that Mrs. +Rawson would have loaned her machine to Mrs. Matchan or that Mrs. +Matchan would condescend to borrow it. Land, the rows they've had over +that machine and that piano! Perhaps there is somethin' in thinkin' +folks are friendly. What do you say, Larry?" +</P> + +<P> +"What's thinkin' done for old Wells?" asked Uncle Larry. "He's worse'n +ever. Take my word for it, Kate, he'll make trouble for us. You might +as well begin to pack." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan looked with admiration at the sheer linen blouse that Miss +Thorley handed her. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I'll do it up for you the very best I know how an' seems if you +can't expect a body to do more than that. If all of us who are in the +world just did our best it would be a different place than it is, now +wouldn't it? What's ailin' you, Miss Thorley? Seems if you don't look +so hearty as you did. Don't you work too hard. It's what you have in +your heart more'n what you have in your pocketbook that makes +happiness. A pretty young thing like you hain't no business to be +thinkin' of jam all the time. I hear you're makin' oodles of money +drawin' pictures for Mr. Bingham Henderson but let me tell you, my +girl, you can't make good red blood no matter how much money you have. +There's only one can do that." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's that, Aunt Kate?" Mary Rose hungered for the information, as +she leaned against the table. "Who can make good red blood?" +</P> + +<P> +"God Almighty, honey, an' he's the only one. Land, I remember Jim +Peaslie took a dozen raw eggs a day, a quart of cream an' beefsteak so +raw it dripped blood but he couldn't make none of those red corpuskles +an' so there wasn't nothin' for him to do but die an' he died. A body +can't live without plenty of red corpuskles an' by that same token, a +girl has got to have somethin' beside work. That's gospel true, Miss +Thorley. My ol' father used to say you robbed the ol' when you took +pleasures from the young an', seems if, that's gospel true, too. Land, +if I hadn't had good times when I was a girl to remember sometimes I'd +go crazy. Layin' up pleasant memories is what everyone can do an' it +means as much as money in the bank. This is pretty lace on your waist, +Miss Thorley. I dunno as I ever saw just this pattern." +</P> + +<P> +"It's imported," Miss Thorley told her listlessly as she lingered in +the cosy kitchen. She was pale and her eyes were dull. She was tired, +she told herself impatiently. The summer had been hot and she had +worked hard. It irritated her that the keen eyes of Mrs. Donovan saw +that she was not happy but how could she be happy when she had so many +things to annoy her? She should be happy, she was independent, she had +work, the two things that had seemed so necessary to happiness but +recently she had been conscious of a desire for something more. It +made her furious to be restless and discontented and so listless and +colorless that people noticed it. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan snorted at the imported lace. "That's it. Girls nowadays +think 't fine clothes 'll make 'em happy. An imported waist costs +more'n one made in Waloo an' it keeps a girl strong enough to work for +the silk stockin's she's got to have," she said with scorn. "I don't +wonder there's so many bach'lors when I figure how much money it costs +now to dress a girl." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that why men are bachelors?" asked astonished Mary Rose. "Mr. +Jerry is a bachelor, his Aunt Mary told him so right in front of me. +She doesn't like it in him. And Mr. Strahan's one and Jimmie Bronson +and Mr. Wells and Mr. Jarvis. Why, what a lot of bachelors are right +under this very roof!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's just it," laughed Mrs. Donovan. "'Stead of havin' so many +bach'lor flats in Waloo there oughta be more fam'ly cottages." +</P> + +<P> +"There's Mr. Jerry now." Mary Rose ran to the window to wave her hand +to her friend as he drove his car up the alley. Solomon was with him +and he looked quite as well on the front seat as Mr. Jerry had hoped he +would. "I could have asked him if that was why he was a bachelor if he +hadn't gone away." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley crossed the kitchen and stood beside her. She saw the +automobile turn the corner and disappear down the cross street. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose," she suddenly put her arm around the small shoulders beside +her. "Do you know I've never seen George Washington." +</P> + +<P> +"You haven't?" Mary Rose twisted around and looked up into her face. +"Oh, you must see him. He's such a wonderful cat. But I can't bring +him here. It's against the law, you know. Would you—Oh, would +you!—come across the alley and see him in his boarding house? You +know he's only a cat," she explained slowly as if she were afraid that +Miss Thorley might expect to find George Washington something more. +"But he's wonderful just the same. He earns his own board, every +single drop. Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary said so." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley and Aunt Kate smiled at each other above Mary Rose's +yellow head. +</P> + +<P> +"I've never seen a self-supporting cat," Miss Thorley laughed. "I +should love to meet George Washington." She did not understand why she +would love to meet him now, why she wished to go across to Jerry +Longworthy's back yard, when until that afternoon nothing could have +induced her to go there. +</P> + +<P> +"Come on." Mary Rose put out an eager hand and Miss Thorley took it in +hers. They were halfway across the alley when Mary Rose stopped. "I +forgot," she said, and her face was troubled. "I promised to let Mr. +Jerry know when you'd come." +</P> + +<P> +"It's too late to tell him now. We saw him go off in the car." Miss +Thorley did not explain that that was the reason she was willing to +call on George Washington. "I shall be very busy after today, Mary +Rose. I might not be able to come again for several weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Is that so?" Mary Rose looked less doubtful. "Perhaps I can explain +that to Mr. Jerry." She led the way into Mr. Jerry's spacious yard. +"I expect George Washington's inside," she said when they failed to +find him outside. +</P> + +<P> +"Run in and bring him out," suggested Miss Thorley, sitting down in one +of the wicker chairs that were under the big apple tree that had lived +there ever since Waloo had been some man's farm. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose disappeared but before Miss Thorley had looked half over the +yard she was back. "He's asleep," she said in a loud whisper. "Do +come in and see him. He looks perfectly beautiful with a fern at his +head and a bunch of asters at his feet. Please, come." She took Miss +Thorley's hand and tried to pull her to her feet. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley did not wish to go into the house. She had had no +intention of doing more than to slip into the yard for a moment. Now +that she was there she felt uncomfortably conscious. But Mr. Jerry was +away, she had seen him go with her own eyes. It would be interesting +to see his home. Or perhaps the picture Mary Rose had described, a +sleeping cat with a fern at his head and asters at his feet, was +alluring. Whichever it was she allowed Mary Rose to lead her in at the +side door, through the dining-room that seemed far too large for only +Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary, into the big living-room that had begun +life as a front and back parlor. There on the wide window seat was the +self-supporting cat, George Washington himself, with a fern spreading +its feathery fronds above his head and a cluster of red asters in a +brass bowl at his tall. George Washington had calculated the amount of +space between the jardinière and the bowl to a nicety. There was not +the fraction of an inch to spare. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-203"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-203.jpg" ALT=""There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting cat."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="409" HEIGHT="541"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 480px"> +"There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting cat." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"There!" Mary Rose pointed a proud finger as she stopped before the +window. +</P> + +<P> +"He is a beauty," Miss Thorley was honest enough to say. Her sense of +color was delighted at the play of sunshine on George Washington's gray +overcoat which had caught a warm glow from the red asters. "Wake him +up, Mary Rose. You really can't see a cat asleep any more than you can +a baby." +</P> + +<P> +"Shall I?" Mary Rose would never in the world have disturbed a +sleeping baby and for the same reason she hesitated before a sleeping +cat. And while she hesitated Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and their +voices woke George Washington. He sprang up, artfully eluding bowl and +ferns, and stood in the sunlight stretching himself. He looked at Mary +Rose and at Miss Thorley and at Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary with his calm +yellow eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"That's a lot better than waking him," Mary Rose clapped her hands. "I +can't bear to waken anyone for fear of interrupting a dream. +Sometimes," she went on thoughtfully, "I'd give most anything to know +what's inside of George Washington's mind. He looks so wise. Isn't he +splendid?" she asked Miss Thorley, who had flushed uncomfortably when +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and who now was standing rather stiffly +conscious, wishing with all her heart she had never come. Mary Rose +caught her cat and brought him to Miss Thorley. "You tell her how +self-supporting he is?" she asked Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary in a voice that +reeked with pride. +</P> + +<P> +"I think I can tell that story better than Aunt Mary." And lo and +behold, there was Mr. Jerry himself in the doorway, an unusual color in +his brown cheeks, a reproachful look in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley's face had more color than usual, also, as she bowed +coldly, but Mary Rose flew to take his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"I'm so glad you came back. We saw you drive away but we had to come +now for Miss Thorley's going to be so awfully busy that she couldn't +come for weeks and weeks." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she?" Mr. Jerry looked oddly at Miss Thorley, but Miss Thorley +refused to look at him. "The best laid plans of mice and men," he said +meaningly and paused until Mary Rose squeezed his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Are you telling her about George Washington?" she whispered. +</P> + +<P> +He laughed and after a moment a faint smile lifted the corners of Miss +Thorley's lips. Mr. Jerry drew a sigh of relief and sat down. +</P> + +<P> +"That's better," he said. "No, Mary Rose, I was not just then +referring to George Washington, but I can assure you that he is +untiringly on the job. He brought a dead mouse to me at six o'clock +this morning. At six o'clock!" impressively. "I thought I had the +nightmare when I opened my eyes and saw old George standing there with +a mouse in his mouth. He's working overtime. He should take a rest. +He'll injure his health if he attends too strictly to business, Mary +Rose." +</P> + +<P> +"I know." Mary Rose nodded a wise head. "Too much work doesn't make +good red blood. Aunt Kate was just telling us, wasn't she, Miss +Thorley, that all the money you make won't buy good times nor red +blood. She was telling us that very thing not ten minutes ago." Mary +Rose was overjoyed to hear Mr. Jerry confirm what Aunt Kate had said. +Now, of course, Miss Thorley would have to believe that it was true. +</P> + +<P> +"Your Aunt Kate is a very wise, wise woman. It's a pity others can't +see it." He sighed and looked at Miss Thorley, who stroked George +Washington's gray overcoat and refused to lift her eyes to meet his. +</P> + +<P> +"If they could they'd have old heads on young shoulders, perhaps," +suggested Mary Rose. "You wouldn't like that, would you? Just suppose +Mrs. Schuneman's head was on Miss Thorley's shoulders. How would you +like that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I shouldn't like it at all. I shouldn't want any head on Miss +Thorley's shoulders but her very own. It suits me there—perfectly." +Mr. Jerry eyed Miss Thorley rather critically and screwed his eyes half +shut as Miss Thorley did when she was looking at the model she was +painting, and his voice was as firm as a voice could be. "Even to have +her as wise as your Aunt Kate I shouldn't want her to have Mrs. +Schuneman's head." +</P> + +<P> +"And just suppose you had Mr. Wells' head and he had yours?" giggled +Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry tweaked her pink ear. "Mr. Wells wouldn't keep my head for a +minute. Perhaps it is just as well to leave heads where they are." +</P> + +<P> +"I used to want to change mine," Mary Rose confided to them soberly. +"You know I've millions of freckles and my hair's as straight as a +string. Nobody ever thinks I'm pretty like Gladys. One day Mrs. Evans +told me that pretty is as pretty does and for almost a week I did my +best to do pretty, the very prettiest I knew how. But no one ever +stopped and said, 'What a beautiful child,' as they do when they see +Gladys. Gladys is afraid of dogs and she screams when she sees a +mouse. She's even afraid of her tables. So I tried to think I had +more real good times by being brave instead of beautiful. Oh!" she +broke off with a squeal of delight, for Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought +in a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of little cakes gay with white and +pink frosting. "Oh, Miss Thorley! aren't you glad now that you came?" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<P> +Long before school began Mary Rose had established an acquaintance, if +not a friendship, with all the people who lived in the Washington. Not +only did she know them herself, but she was the means of many of them +knowing others. Mrs. Schuneman and Mrs. Johnson often went to the park +together now to feed the squirrels which Mary Rose was firmly convinced +the Lord had placed there for those who could not have pets in their +homes. Mrs. Matchan had promised to play at one of Mrs. Bracken's club +meetings and Mrs. Rawson and her machine were making garments for the +children's ward of the new hospital in which Mrs. Willoughby had become +interested. +</P> + +<P> +Until Mary Rose came neither Miss Adams nor Mrs. Smith knew that the +other was a slave to the crochet hook. Mary Rose arranged an exchange +of patterns and when a pineapple border proved too complicated to be +worked out alone she brought expert aid and Miss Adams no longer hated +the Washington. It was Mary Rose who discovered that old Mr. Jarvis +and young Mr. Wilcox were graduates of the same college and that Mr. +Blake's grandfather and Mrs. Bracken's grandmother had once sung in the +same church choir. Miss Carter and Bob Strahan were often seen +strolling together and more than once they had transported Mary Rose to +the seventh heaven of delight by taking her to a moving picture show. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose's friendliness had had an effect with the maids as well as +the mistresses. When she had found Mrs. Johnson's Hilda crying because +she didn't know anyone in Waloo and was so homesick and lonesome she +didn't think she'd stay, Mary Rose went down and asked Mrs. Schuneman's +Mina if she wouldn't please be a little friendly to a new friend of +hers. +</P> + +<P> +Mina had stared at her with her big china blue eyes and said she +wouldn't do it for anyone else, but since Mary Rose had come Mrs. +Schuneman had let up a little on her everlasting nagging, so she felt +she owed her a favor and she'd go up that very evening. +</P> + +<P> +It was Mary Rose who soothed Ida at Mrs. Rawson's when she took it into +her head that she could not work in the same building with a Japanese. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a Norwegian, aren't you, Ida? So you're a foreigner just as +Mr. Sako is. I suppose he thinks Norwegians are just as strange as you +think Japanese. Countries are like families, I guess; you think your +own is the best in the world. But I don't believe that God was so good +to the Norwegians that he made them the best. He had to divide the +good things just as I do when I have any candy. I give some to Aunt +Kate and some to Uncle Larry and once I gave a chocolate to you, Ida. +I wish you'd try and be polite to Mr. Sako. You don't need to be +intimate friends if you don't want to. Just think what a splendid +chance you have to learn about Japan." +</P> + +<P> +Ida had stared at her as Lena had done, but she told Mrs. Rawson that +she'd changed her mind and she wouldn't leave on account of any Jap, +she wouldn't be driven away by any yellow man. She guessed that +Norwegians were as good as Japanese any day. +</P> + +<P> +There were many things that puzzled Mary Rose but almost as many that +pleased her. +</P> + +<P> +"I've enjoyed living in Waloo," she told Mr. Jerry one evening as they +sat under the apple tree. "I didn't think I would at first. I thought +I'd die to have to live in a place where there couldn't be any children +nor any pets, but everyone's so friendly I mean—almost every one. I +do think the Lord did just right when he made people instead of +stopping, as he might have done, with horses and lions and monkeys. +Did you ever think how strange it would be if there wasn't any you nor +any Miss Thorley nor any Mrs. Schuneman nor any Mr. Wells," she spoke +the last name in a whisper, "but just animals and vegetables and birds? +Sometimes I can't understand how the Lord ever did think of making so +many different things. I suppose it was just because He was the Lord. +That's what Aunt Kate said when I asked her. But I shall be glad to go +to school, Mr. Jerry, because then I'll know some children. You know +in Mifflin I played almost all the time with children, Gladys and Mary +Mallow and Lucy Norris and Harry Mann and lots of others, but here I +don't seem to know anyone but grown-ups. They're very nice grown-ups. +I just love you, Mr. Jerry, and your Aunt Mary and the enchanted +princess! Do you think you'll ever be able to break the spell of that +wicked witch Independence?" anxiously. "You know I don't think she's +just happy. Aunt Kate doesn't either. She thinks it's red corpuscles +but I really believe it's that Independence. We must do something, Mr. +Jerry. And I love Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan and Mrs. Schuneman and +Grandma Johnson and everybody else. Isn't a heart the biggest thing? +Mine has room for Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and all +the other pets I ever had or ever will have and for all the people that +were made. It's—it's—" she frowned—"very elastic, isn't it? You +have an elastic one, too, Mr. Jerry, or you'd never have taken in +George Washington and Solomon and Jimmie Bronson. You're a bachelor, +aren't you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry looked quite dazed as he attempted to keep up with Mary +Rose's subjects. He sighed as he acknowledged that he was a bachelor. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it because when you look at a girl you see how much she costs?" +Mary Rose had worried over that. "Because really Miss Thorley doesn't +cost so much. She told Aunt Kate she didn't. She said appearances +were deceitful and the most costly looking girls were often the +cheapest. Of course, you needn't tell me if you don't want to," +remembering, alas, too late, that Miss Thorley had told her that one +should not ask personal questions. She drew a deep sigh. "I'm so +full, just so plumb full of questions I've got to spill some of them +out once in a while." +</P> + +<P> +"To be sure you have!" Mr. Jerry was the most understanding person. +"When I was your age I was nothing but a walking question." +</P> + +<P> +"Weren't you?" admiringly. "And did people answer your questions? +They usually say to me, 'Run along, child, I'm busy' or 'Never mind +that now, you'll know soon enough.' It's a very, very puzzling world, +isn't it, with so many things you don't understand. That's another +reason I'm so glad to go to school. The day after the day after the +day after tomorrow, Mr. Jerry, my Aunt Kate's going to take me. I've +never been to a city school so I can imagine it's just like a palace +with gold seats for the children and thrones for the teachers who are +all fairy princesses with beautiful golden hair and white satin +dresses." +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose! Oh, Mary Rose!" Mr. Jerry regarded her sadly. "You are a +living proof that anticipation is greater than any old participation. +I'm only doing you a kindness when I tell you that there is not a +golden seat for any child in the Lincoln School. There isn't even one +throne. And if you don't have an old witch for a teacher instead of a +golden-haired fairy I'm a goat. I tell you this for your own good, +Mary Rose, believe me." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose shook her head until her hair refused to stay in the ribbon +Aunt Kate had tied on it. "All the same I'm going to believe in the +golden seats. They are pleasant things to think of." +</P> + +<P> +It was the next day that she was in the hall with Jenny Lind. They had +been calling on Mrs. Schuneman and Germania and had had a pleasant +time. Mary Rose had eaten two pieces of coffee cake and drunk a glass +of ginger ale and Jenny Lind had had a crumb of coffee cake which +seemed to be all she cared for. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Schuneman had told Mary Rose a great secret, that Lottie was going +to be married to the brother of one of her bridge-playing friends and +that Mary Rose might come to the wedding. Mary Rose was so excited she +could scarcely speak. She had never been to a wedding in all of her +"going on fourteen" years. +</P> + +<P> +"I've been to three funerals and a revival meeting—" ecstasy made her +voice tremble—"but I've never been to a wedding. Gladys went to one +and she said it was grand. Her grandmother cried all the time and her +grandfather blew his nose six times. Gladys counted. Oh, Mrs. +Schuneman, will Miss Lottie really invite me? It would be something," +and she clasped her hands as she stood in front of Mrs. Schuneman, "for +me to remember all of my life!" +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, she'll invite you, you and Jenny Lind. She can hang in the +window with Germania and sing for the bride." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose threw herself against Mrs. Schuneman. "I wouldn't exchange +you for Cinderella's godmother!" she half sobbed. "I'd rather go to a +wedding than have a dozen pumpkin coaches. Jenny Lind and I can't tell +you how obliged we are." +</P> + +<P> +She was in a whirl of excitement as she shut the door. She heard her +name called softly from above and looking up she saw Miss Carter's face +smiling down at her from the third floor. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mary Rose, honey," came the soft whisper. "There's a package +there for me, parcel post. You know they don't come up. Will you +bring it to me? I'm not dressed to go down. Do, there's a love!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose ran into the vestibule and found a parcel addressed to Miss +Blanche Carter. It was rather a large package and Mary Rose's arms +were not so long as they would be some day. She looked dubiously from +the package to Jenny Lind. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll just have to stay by yourself a minute, Jenny Lind. It's lucky +for you that the law doesn't let the cats come into this house." +</P> + +<P> +She put the cage on the flat top of the newel post and, taking Miss +Carter's package in her arms, she went up as fast as she could. She +had to tell Miss Carter of Lottie Schuneman's wedding and of the +invitation that she and Jenny Lind were to receive, and Miss Carter had +to open the parcel and show the contents to Mary Rose, so that it was +several minutes instead of one before Mary Rose ran downstairs. +</P> + +<P> +The newel post was empty. There was no bird cage with a yellow canary, +on it. Mary Rose couldn't believe there wasn't and looked again. She +was frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"Jenny Lind!" she called. "Jenny Lind!" Perhaps someone had taken the +cage to tease her. Perhaps there had been a new law and birds were not +allowed in the house. Perhaps a cat had slipped in regardless of the +fact that cats were forbidden. But no cat could have carried the cage +out of the front door. Mary Rose wrung her hands in horror and ran to +knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door. Mrs. Schuneman cried out in dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you leave her with me?" +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't want to bother you when you'd been so kind," faltered Mary +Rose. "Where can she be? Perhaps Uncle Larry took her home." +</P> + +<P> +But neither Uncle Larry nor Aunt Kate had taken Jenny Lind to the +basement flat. Aunt Kate shook her head when Mary Rose told what had +happened and followed her up to look at the empty newel post. She +could only suggest feebly that someone must have taken the bird. "For +a joke," she added when she saw Mary Rose's frightened face. +</P> + +<P> +"A nice kind of a joke to frighten a child to death," grunted Mrs. +Schuneman. "Here, Mary Rose, we'll knock on every door and ask. I'll +go with you and if anyone is playing a joke they'll stop when they see +me." +</P> + +<P> +She looked quite grim enough to frighten any joker as they went from +door to door. But no one had seen Jenny Lind. No one had heard of +her. Mrs. Johnson and Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and Mrs. +Willoughby came out on the second-floor landing and said what a shame +it was, and on the third floor Mrs. Matchan and Miss Adams and Miss +Proctor and Miss Carter talked together and tried to comfort Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +But all the talking on all three floors did not bring Jenny Lind back. +Mary Rose pressed her face close to Aunt Kate and tried not to cry and +to believe the conscience-stricken Miss Carter when she said that Jenny +Lind was all right, they'd find her before Mary Rose could say Jack +Robinson. +</P> + +<P> +"She's all I had here of my very own," hiccoughed Mary Rose; "I had to +board out my cat and loan my dog. I've had her for years and years. +It doesn't seem just fair for anyone to take her from me." +</P> + +<P> +"You can have Germania," promised Mrs. Schuneman, to the surprise of +all who heard her. "I'll be busy with the wedding and won't have time +to take care of her," she added kindly so that Mary Rose would think it +was a favor to take her bird. +</P> + +<P> +"But Germania's yours and Jenny Lind was—was mine. They can't ever be +the same, though I'm much obliged, Mrs. Schuneman. Oh, where can she +be, Aunt Kate? Where can she be?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, where can she be?" repeated Grandma Johnson helplessly. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll advertise," promised Bob Strahan, who had come in and heard the +sad story of Jenny Lind's disappearance. "Just you keep a stiff upper +lip, Mary Rose. We'll find your bird." +</P> + +<P> +They were all talking at once and advising Mary Rose to keep her upper +lip stiff when Mr. Wells slammed the door behind him. He stopped when +he saw the group around the newel post. +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter?" he scowled, and his voice was like the bark of a +dog to Mrs. Donovan's nervous ear. "What's the matter?" +</P> + +<P> +It was Mrs. Schuneman who told him. She had never dared to speak to +him before. He looked oddly from one to the other and last of all at +Mary Rose whose upper lip just wouldn't stay stiff. +</P> + +<P> +"It is only what you should expect," he said, as he went on up the +stairs. "Pets are not allowed in this building." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish grouches weren't," muttered Bob Strahan to Miss Carter, who was +almost as tearful as Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Brute!" she answered. "If he had been here I should think he had +something to do with Jenny Lind's disappearance." +</P> + +<P> +"That Jap of his was here," suggested Bob Strahan, but no one paid any +attention to him then. +</P> + +<P> +"Come down with me, dearie," whispered Aunt Kate, whose ruddy cheeks +had lost their color under the cold stare of Mr. Wells. "We mustn't +make any disturbance here. Come down an' tell Uncle Larry. P'rhaps he +can help us." +</P> + +<P> +"It's not—not knowing where she is or what's happened to her," Mary +Rose gulped. "If she was well and comfortable I'd—I'd try to be +resigned, but when I don't know, Aunt Kate! When I don't know!" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said promptly. "No one +would hurt Jenny Lind. She is a valuable bird. I expect she was +stolen and we'll find her at a bird store. The thief would be sure to +sell her right away, before he was caught. I'll look up the bird +shops." +</P> + +<P> +"Do!" begged Miss Carter, who wished from the very bottom of her heart +that she had never asked Mary Rose to bring up her parcel post package. +"I have half a mind to go with you." +</P> + +<P> +"Be generous and have a whole mind. Poor little kid," he looked after +Mary Rose as Aunt Kate half carried her down. "It's a thundering +shame. Lord! I'm almost ready to think old grouch Wells did have a +hand in this. Did you see his face? He's had it in for Mary Rose ever +since she came." +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate sat down in the big rocker and drew Mary Rose close to her +heart. "Don't you fret yourself, Mary Rose," she said with her lips +against Mary Rose's tear-stained face. "We'll find Jenny Lind. Sure, +we'll find her. Just you pretend she's gone for a visit. You've +loaned her to 'most everyone in the buildin', just you pretend she's +loaned now." +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy enough to pretend when you don't have to, Aunt Kate, but it +isn't so easy when you know the truth," sobbed Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +When Uncle Larry heard what had happened he shut his jaws with a click +and a stern look came into his mild blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course someone took her," he said, patting Mary Rose's shoulder +with a comforting hand. "But don't you worry, Mary Rose. A janitor +can go into any flat in this building, so if someone is hiding her for +fun or meanness I'll find out. An' if it's anyone outside, well, what +are the police for if not to help folks? I'll just speak to Officer +Murphy to be on the safe side." +</P> + +<P> +He seemed so helpful and confident that Mary Rose stopped crying and +tried to feel confident, also. +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps someone in the house did take her for company, but I think it +would have been more polite if they'd said something to me," she +murmured. +</P> + +<P> +"It's more likely that one of the old cranks thought the bird was a +nuisance and wrung its neck," frowned Uncle Larry when he spoke to Aunt +Kate alone. He did not seem half so confident as when he had spoken to +Mary Rose. "There are folks not so many miles away who'd not stop to +think whether they broke a kid's heart or not so long as they had their +way. I declare, Kate, I'm 'most sorry you didn't leave her in Mifflin. +From all she says folks were kind to her there." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I'm not sorry!" Aunt Kate's voice was emphatic. "It breaks my +heart to have her hurt, but we'll just have to keep remindin' her of +what she has left, although it seems if it was little enough. First +her mother an' then her father, her cat put out to board an' her dog +the same as given away, an' now her bird's stolen. You might almost +think that Providence was pickin' on the little thing." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<P> +Jerry Longworthy went up the steps of the Washington and eyed the long +row of mail boxes that ran down two sides of the vestibule, until he +came to one whose card read, "Miss Elizabeth Thorley, Miss Blanche +Carter." He touched the bell beneath. +</P> + +<P> +"Is Miss Thorley in? This is Jerry Longworthy. I want to speak to you +about Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, do come up!" The voice was very eager and hospitable as it came +swiftly down the tube, and Mr. Jerry obeyed it almost as swiftly. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley met him in the hall on the third floor. She wore a little +lingerie frock of white voile, tucked and inset with lace and girdled +with pink satin. It was collarless and her hair was done high on her +head so that little locks escaped from the pins and rested on her white +neck. She looked about eighteen as she greeted Mr. Jerry. +</P> + +<P> +He held her hand much longer than she thought was necessary and she +flushed as she drew it from him. He looked around the big pleasant +room as if he were glad to be in it. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a long time since I was here," he said in a low voice, not as if +he meant to say it but as if he had to. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed long to her now, too, and when she answered, it was as Mr. +Jerry had spoken, as if the words came of their own will. +</P> + +<P> +"It is a long time." If Aunt Kate had seen her then she would not have +worried over any lack of red "corpuskles." A goodly number of them +slipped into Miss Thorley's face and dyed it pinker than her girdle. +</P> + +<P> +A flame was lighted in Mr. Jerry's eyes and he stepped quickly forward. +She shrank back behind the high morris chair and he stopped suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"Long enough to prove to you that love is the biggest thing in the +world?" he asked gently, but there was a tremble in his voice that +thrilled her down to her very heels. "Oh, my dear, has it? Work and +independence are all well enough but they can't take the place of +love." His eyes watched her hungrily, but as the color left her cheeks +as quickly as it had come and she shook her head, he went on more +slowly and there was no longer a wistful tremble in his voice to thrill +her to her heels. "You remember the night when you offered me +friendship instead of love and I scornfully refused the half loaf?" +She nodded almost mechanically, her eyes on her fingers as they pleated +a fold of her frock. "Well, I've changed my mind. Mary Rose has shown +me that friends may have a big place in one's life and if you can't +give me anything more I'm going to be satisfied with your friendship. +May I have that?" He held out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" It was a startled little gasp and it was a startled little +glance that she gave him. "Is—is that what you came for?" If his +ears had been sharper he would have caught a tiny note of +disappointment in the question as if she had expected him to ask for +more. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't what I came for," he acknowledged honestly. "But I wanted to +tell you so you wouldn't keep on avoiding me as if I had the plague. +The other afternoon you wouldn't have come over if you had thought I +would be back?" +</P> + +<P> +A red banner in each cheek convicted her. +</P> + +<P> +"We're neighbors and friends of Mary Rose," he went on slowly, "so +we'll doubtless meet more or less and I'd like to feel that you trust +me, that we are friends. But, honestly, I came tonight to talk of Mary +Rose." +</P> + +<P> +She would be glad to talk of Mary Rose, glad to talk of anyone but +herself, and she left the morris chair that had proved such a safe +shelter and took a gaily cushioned wicker one on the other side of the +room. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a shame?" she asked a bit breathlessly. "I can't imagine how +anyone who has seen that ducky child with her birdcage could have had +the heart to steal her canary." +</P> + +<P> +"Surely you don't think anyone who knew her took Jenny Lind?" He was +astonished. +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone says that Mr. Wells has acted very oddly. And Mary Rose told +me herself that he swore at Jenny Lind. He's as hard as nails, you can +see it in his face. I've heard that he has complained to Brown and +Lawson that the leases are not lived up to and that there is a child in +the house. When you put two and two together you can't make much but +four out of the result." +</P> + +<P> +"The old murderer!" scowled Mr. Jerry. "If that's true I'd like—I'd +like——" +</P> + +<P> +"So would I!" Miss Thorley agreed with him heartily. +</P> + +<P> +"Jim said something of the sort, but I told him he was crazy. He said +he was going up the fire escape and see if he couldn't find the bird in +Wells' flat, but I laughed at him. I didn't know the old man had +complained of Mary Rose. Of Mary Rose!" he repeated, as if he could +not understand how anyone could complain of Mary Rose. Mary Rose had +been a joy to him ever since he had looked up from his car and seen her +standing there in the boys' blue serge and with George Washington in +her arms. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley nodded. "I'd hate to think what this house would be +without her. She seems to have warmed it from the top to the basement. +Perhaps you won't understand when I say it's as if she had humanized +it. I'd hate to have it overrun with children!" hastily as she caught +the sudden flash of Mr. Jerry's eyes. "But Mary Rose—Mary Rose is +different." +</P> + +<P> +"Why don't you tenants get up a petition of some kind? It wouldn't do +any harm to let the owner know that the rest of you are strong for the +Donovans and Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +"No one knows who the owner is. All business is transacted through the +agents." +</P> + +<P> +"The agents know," wisely. "It won't do any harm and it might do some +good. The complaints of one tenant won't weigh as much as the requests +of a dozen, believe me." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley drew her black brows together until they formed a line +across her white forehead. +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you're right," she said after a pause. "I'll ask Mr. +Strahan to write one and we'll have all the tenants sign it. But that +won't bring back the canary," forlornly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it won't bring back the canary," he repeated. "We'll have to get +another pet for Mary Rose, one that she may have in the flat. No, not +a canary. That wouldn't do at all. But I thought perhaps some +goldfish. She loves to watch a couple Aunt Mary has. Once she +borrowed them." +</P> + +<P> +"I know, for company for Mr. Wells when he was ill." +</P> + +<P> +"Goldfish would give her something to think of until school opens. +After that she'll have enough to do to keep her occupied." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley looked at him with surprise. "Do you know, that's really +very thoughtful. I've been trying to think what I could do and I +couldn't get beyond another bird. I had sense enough to see that that +would never do." +</P> + +<P> +"No, another bird wouldn't do. And tomorrow—I wondered if tomorrow +you and Mary Rose wouldn't go off for the day in the car with Aunt Mary +and me? We might run down to Blue Heron Lake for dinner. Mary Rose +loves to motor." +</P> + +<P> +"Why not take your aunt and Mary Rose? I'm afraid I——" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing doing!" he interrupted firmly. "Can't you trust me?" He +looked her straight in the eyes as he asked. "I swear I won't say a +word of love. We're friends now, you know, not—not lovers. And Mary +Rose adores you. She'd go through fire and water for you. Honest, she +wouldn't be contented with me and Aunt Mary, but I know it would be all +right if you were along." +</P> + +<P> +She hesitated and bit her lip before she finally shrugged her shoulders +and said: "Oh, very well. I'll go for Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +"I knew you would. I knew you'd see the big sister, the humanitarian +philanthropic friendly side of it." There was more than the hint of a +twinkle in his eyes. "And one more thing." Mr. Jerry firmly believed +in striking the iron before it had any chance to cool. "They have +goldfish for sale over at the drug store on Twenty-eighth Street. +Won't you walk over with me and help pick out a few? I'd like Mary +Rose to find them when she wakes up in the morning." +</P> + +<P> +She did not hesitate over this request. Perhaps she realized what a +very persuasive way he had, for she laughed softly. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll go. I'd do more than that for Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +On the way they met Miss Carter and Bob Strahan returning from a +fruitless quest among the bird stores. But if they had not found Jenny +Lind they had explained the situation to the proprietors of the shops +and each of them had promised on his word of honor to telephone to Mr. +Strahan the very minute that a canary was offered for sale. +</P> + +<P> +The four went together to the drug store and after the globe had been +bought and they had selected the half-dozen fish that were to live in +it, they loitered at a little table over their ice cream. +</P> + +<P> +"Gosh!" suddenly exclaimed Bob Strahan. "I'm glad I'm not built on the +plans and specifications that produced old Wells. I shouldn't want the +theft of a kid's canary on my conscience." +</P> + +<P> +"He will insist that Mr. Wells knows all about it," Miss Carter said +mournfully. She could not help but feel that she was to blame. If she +hadn't asked Mary Rose to bring up the parcel post package Jenny Lind +might never have disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Why?" asked Mr. Jerry curiously. +</P> + +<P> +"Because!" Miss Carter and Bob Strahan made the rather unsatisfactory +explanation a duet. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<P> +When Mary Rose opened her eyes the next morning the very first thing +she saw was the glass globe in which flashing sunbeams seemed to dart. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—why!" cried amazed Mary Rose, and she sat bolt upright. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate heard her and came in. "Do you like them, honey? Mr. Jerry +and Miss Thorley brought them in last night. Mr. Jerry said you liked +his aunt's goldfish, so he was sure you'd like some of your own." +</P> + +<P> +"Did he?" All the gladness slipped from her face and voice as she +remembered the pet she had lost. "You know, Aunt Kate, last night I +just about decided I'd never have another pet. I'm—I'm so unlucky +with them." Her lip quivered. "I don't seem to be able to keep one +thing that really belongs to me." +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" Aunt Kate took her in her arms and kissed her. "You'll +keep me and your Uncle Larry. You can't lose us. Aren't they pretty?" +She tapped the glass globe. "Seems if a body'd never get tired of +lookin' at 'em. But get dressed, dearie. Breakfas's most ready an' +Mr. Jerry wants you to go out to Blue Heron Lake in his motor car. His +aunt an' Miss Thorley are goin' too. You're to be away all day an' +have your dinner at a big hotel." +</P> + +<P> +Not eighteen hours before Mary Rose would have danced and clapped her +hands at such a delectable prospect, but now she lay back on her pillow +and looked at her aunt. Two big tears gathered in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't go. Suppose we'd hear something from Jenny Lind." +</P> + +<P> +"As if I wouldn't be here, an' your Uncle Larry. An' Jimmie Bronson's +goin' to keep an eye on the cat an' dog. To be sure you're goin', +dearie. Put your clothes on. Your breakfas's near ready an' your +uncle's starvin'." And to avoid any further argument she bustled away. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose lay and watched the goldfish for another sixty seconds and +the big tears dropped from her eyes to her pillow. But even if her +heart was broken she had to admire those flashes of gold in the clear +water. +</P> + +<P> +"They're so—so beautiful." She was surprised to find herself laughing +when one fish pushed against another. She had thought she never would +laugh again. She turned and hid her face. "No matter how beautiful +they are I shan't ever, forget you, Jenny Lind," she promised. "Ever! +I'm not the forgetting kind of a person and I'll never stop trying to +find you. May the good Lord take care of you now and evermore. Amen." +It wasn't exactly a prayer but it comforted Mary Rose as if it had been. +</P> + +<P> +She slipped out of bed and began to dress soberly and slowly instead of +singing and hurriedly as usual. When she had combed her hair and +washed her face and hands she went into her closet and came out with +the detested boys' suit of faded blue serge. Her red lips were pressed +into a firm line as she put it on. +</P> + +<P> +"My soul an' body!" exclaimed astonished Aunt Kate when she came in +with the coffeepot and saw a boyish little figure in the doorway. Mary +Rose ran to her. "I was so proud of wearing girls' clothes that maybe +that was the reason Jenny Lind was taken from me," she explained in a +whisper. "I just hate these, Aunt Kate. I despise them! But I'm +going to wear them. You know proud people are punished, the Bible says +so, and I was as proud—as proud as the proudest. That's the way I've +thought it out and that's why I put on this hateful suit this morning." +</P> + +<P> +"I think you're wrong, Mary Rose," began Aunt Kate, while Uncle Larry +put down the colored supplement that he had been holding out so +enticingly to look at his niece, who appeared smaller than ever in the +shabby blouse and shrunken knickers. "You haven't had so much to be +proud of, a few of Ella's old clothes. But if you feel better in +those, why, wear 'em. Where's your goldfish? Don't you want to show +'em to your uncle? Miss Thorley an' Mr. Jerry'll understand," she said +as Mary Rose ran to bring the goldfish. "An' I hate to argue with her +today. She can wear those now, but tomorrow she'll put on proper +girls' clothes to go to school. I don't care what Brown an' Lawson or +anyone else says. You hain't heard anythin' from them, have you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Nothin' yet, but it won't be good news when it comes. We'll have to +move, Kate. Ol' Wells has seen to that an' after last night I don't +care so much. If honest faithful work don't count for anythin' here I +dunno as I want to stay. I can find another job. It won't be as easy +as this. This was just velvet for a man like me." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, if they have the nerve to fire you just because you're givin' a +home to an orphan niece I hope Mr. Strahan writes it all over the front +of his paper. I'd like to see it in big red letters an' then maybe the +owner an' Mr. Wells'd be ashamed of themselves." +</P> + +<P> +"S-sh! S-sh!" cautioned Uncle Larry but not quickly enough, for Aunt +Kate's voice was shrill and excited and Mary Rose in her little room +heard every word. +</P> + +<P> +She stood and looked about her bewildered. It wasn't possible that +anyone, even the owner of the Washington, would take her Uncle Larry's +work from him just because a little girl was living with him? Aunt +Kate must be mistaken or perhaps she had misunderstood. She often +found herself mistaken in her ideas of what grown people meant. She +tried to think she was now as she took the globe and carried it +carefully into the dining-room and placed it on the table where the +sunlight fell on the fish and polished their golden scales. +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I call a han'some present," admired Uncle Larry in the +same hearty voice Mary Rose usually heard from him. +</P> + +<P> +She looked up quickly. He wouldn't speak like that if he were going to +lose his work. She hadn't understood. That was it. Children often +didn't understand grown people. +</P> + +<P> +"They are beautiful," she said softly. "I wasn't very welcoming to +them at first because I was afraid Mr. Jerry meant them to take the +place of darling Jenny Lind and nothing can do that—fish nor dogs nor +cats nor squirrels nor anything. But when I watched them swim I found +they could have a place of their very own and so I'm very glad now to +have them." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course you are. But eat your breakfas', child, or Mr. Jerry'll be +callin' for you before you're ready." +</P> + +<P> +That was a wonderful Sunday to Mary Rose. She sat on the front seat +beside Mr. Jerry and as neither of them felt much like talking they +enjoyed the silence. Mile after mile was left behind them and when +they began to pass through small towns and villages Mary Rose sat up +straighter. +</P> + +<P> +"They're like Mifflin, only different," she murmured vaguely. +</P> + +<P> +When they came to a little white meetinghouse standing all by itself +near the road Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary asked him to stop and let them go +to church. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems as if it would be rather pleasant to go to a simple service +such as they must have here," she suggested. +</P> + +<P> +"I'll put it to a vote," Mr. Jerry offered obligingly. "Mary Rose, +what do you say?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, let's!" she begged. "And I'll pretend I'm sitting with Gladys in +the Evans pew and that Mr. Mann is preaching." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry stopped the car by the roadside and they all stepped out. +</P> + +<P> +"What a doggone idiot I was," Mr. Jerry whispered to Miss Thorley as +they followed his Aunt Mary and Mary Rose; "I might just as well have +taken the kid to Mifflin as to Blue Heron Lake, but I never thought of +it." +</P> + +<P> +"This is better," Miss Thorley told him with pleasing promptness. +"Mifflin would have reminded her of Jenny Lind. You can take her there +some other day." +</P> + +<P> +"Will you go, too?" eagerly. "I'll go any day you say." +</P> + +<P> +But she only smiled over her shoulder as she went up the steps and into +the meetinghouse. A quiet peaceful hour followed and when the service +was over Mary Rose slipped one hand around Mr. Jerry's fingers and gave +the other to Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +"I feel a lot better," she said. "I think it was awfully kind of that +minister to preach about sparrows. Jenny Lind isn't a sparrow but +she's a bird and when the Lord looks after sparrows so carefully I'm +sure he'd keep an eye on a canary." +</P> + +<P> +She was more like her old self as they went on, faster now, because, as +Mr. Jerry explained, they had to make up the time they had spent in +church and if they didn't reach the hotel at Blue Heron Lake in time +for dinner all the chicken breasts and legs would be eaten and there +would be nothing left for them but backbones and necks. +</P> + +<P> +"That's all Gladys ever has," Mary Rose told him importantly. "You see +they have such a big family that all the other pieces are gone before +it is her turn to be helped. She used to love to come to dinner at our +house so she could have a wishbone. When her grandmother dies she'll +have a leg." +</P> + +<P> +"My gracious!" murmured Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary. +</P> + +<P> +"My word!" giggled Miss Thorley. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately they reached the hotel in time to have their choice of +chicken and everyone was glad to see that Mary Rose was hungry and +seemed to enjoy her dinner. After dinner they went for a ride on the +lake in a launch and then they sat in the shade of a dump of linden +trees and watched the bathers. +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't I tell you to bring your bathing suits?" Mr. Jerry asked +suddenly. "What a dolt I was not to think of it." +</P> + +<P> +"You're not a dolt!" Mary Rose said indignantly, although she hadn't +the faintest idea what a dolt was. "And I couldn't have brought one +for I haven't one. And anyway I wouldn't care to make too merry +today." Her face clouded as she remembered why she did not wish to be +too merry. +</P> + +<P> +It was long, long after her bedtime when the car stopped in front of +the Washington and it was a very sleepy tired little girl who was taken +into Uncle Larry's strong arms. +</P> + +<P> +"I've had such a wonderful time," she murmured, half asleep. "Uncle +Larry, have you found Jenny Lind? We don't have to worry About her any +more because I know now the Lord has his eye on her." +</P> + +<P> +Uncle Larry looked over her head to Mr. Jerry. "I can't thank you, +sir," he said in a hushed voice, "but you've been a kind friend to the +little girl today." +</P> + +<P> +"She's such a darling one has to be kind to her." Miss Thorley +answered for Mr. Jerry and blushed when she realized it. "Don't you +bother, Mr. Donovan. I'm like Mary Rose, I know everything will be all +right." +</P> + +<P> +"I hope so, Miss Thorley. Thank you again, sir." And he went in with +Mary Rose asleep in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't thank you, either." Miss Thorley held out her hand to Mr. +Jerry after she had said good night to his Aunt Mary. "I've had a +perfect day and it was mighty good of you to plan it for Mary Rose." +</P> + +<P> +He took her hand in both of his. "It was mighty good of you to come +with Mary Rose and me. And we're going to be friends, now, real +friends?" he asked gently. +</P> + +<P> +She caught her breath and looked at him quickly. "Y-es," she said +slowly. "Of course, we'll be friends. I—I'm glad you are willing to +be friends." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry laughed oddly. "I've learned about the value of that half +loaf. Good night." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<P> +Nothing had been heard of Jenny Lind. Jimmie Bronson had made a +surreptitious visit to Mr. Wells' apartment and had escaped only "by +the skin of his teeth," he assured Mr. Jerry. +</P> + +<P> +"I didn't get any further than the window before that Jap caught me and +I didn't see any birdcage. But I shan't give up, Mr. Longworthy. I'll +find that canary yet!" +</P> + +<P> +Everybody seemed more anxious now than Mary Rose. She was so confident +that the Lord had his eye on the missing Jenny Lind that she almost +stopped worrying. Aunt Kate resolutely refused to allow her to go to +the Lincoln School in the blue serge suit. +</P> + +<P> +"You'll wear proper clothes or you don't stir a step," she said +sternly. "An' if you don't go to school the truant officer'll come +here an' like enough I'll be arrested for not sendin' you. If you +don't want your poor aunt to go to jail you'll stand up an' put on this +dress I bought 'specially for you." +</P> + +<P> +She had not been able to resist a sale of children's clothes at the Big +Store and had bought three dresses for an eleven-year-old girl. She +brought one out that morning, a blue and green and red plaid gingham +with a white collar and a black patent leather belt. Mary Rose was +speechless with admiration when she saw it. But if she had been so +proud of Ella's old clothes that she had to be punished, what would she +be in this ducky dress? +</P> + +<P> +"I can't trust myself in it, Aunt Kate. It's too beautiful. It's fine +enough for a princess." +</P> + +<P> +But after Aunt Kate had explained that if Mary Rose did not wear the +dress she might have to go to jail Mary Rose had no choice. She would +have to wear the frock and go to school and try her very hardest not to +be proud. She had only to think of Jenny Lind to humble her spirit. +</P> + +<P> +She was very sedate as she walked with Aunt Kate. It did not seem +possible that at last she was going to enter the big school building +with towers and battlements enough for a fortress. +</P> + +<P> +"It is like a castle. I don't care what Mr. Jerry said," she told Aunt +Kate as they went up the steps and into the principal's office where a +pleasant-faced middle-aged lady looked questioningly at Mary Rose and +asked how old she was. +</P> + +<P> +From force of habit Aunt Kate said hastily: "Goin' on fourteen." +</P> + +<P> +"Fourteen!" The principal was plainly astonished. "She's very small +for her age. And backward if she is only in the sixth grade. She +should be in high school at fourteen. Has she been ill?" +</P> + +<P> +Backward! It was bad enough to be called small for her age, but to be +told that she was stupid was more than Mary Rose could bear in silence. +She opened her mouth to explain and then she remembered that she had +promised she would mortify her pride so she said never a word, although +she thought she would burst at having to keep quiet. But Aunt Kate's +pride was also touched and she stammered hurriedly that she should have +said her niece was going on eleven. +</P> + +<P> +"That sounds more normal." And the principal smiled as she led the way +into a big sunny room full of children. Mary Rose drew a sigh of +relief when she saw the teacher. Mr. Jerry was all wrong about her, +for she was not an old witch. She was as pretty a young woman as any +child could wish to have for a teacher. She smiled at Mary Rose in a +very friendly fashion and found her a seat beside a little girl with +wonderful long yellow curls. It was delightful to be with children +again and Mary Rose's face rivaled the sun. +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate had a strange ache in her heart as she watched her. Mary +Rose would make friends here, friends of her own age, and she would +miss her. But that was the way of the world, she thought +philosophically. When she was quite convinced that Mary Rose was happy +and contented and could find her way home alone she left the school. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Bracken called to her from her window as she passed and she went +in to be introduced to Mrs. Bracken's niece, Harriet White. +</P> + +<P> +"She is going to live with us," Mrs. Bracken explained, her arm around +Harriet's waist. "Isn't she a big girl for thirteen? I meant to be +back yesterday so she could start in school today, but we were delayed. +I was just telling her there was another little girl, Mary Rose, in the +building." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan looked almost enviously at Harriet White who was thirteen +and who appeared at least two years older. How easy everything would +have been if Mary Rose had been as large. She sighed and then smiled, +for she knew that she would not change small Mary Rose for big Harriet +White if she had the chance. She gazed pleasantly at Mrs. Bracken, +whose face seemed to have found a new expression in Prairieville, and +said from the very depths of her heart: +</P> + +<P> +"If you enjoy her half as much as we enjoy our niece you'll consider +yourself a lucky woman to have her." +</P> + +<P> +"I know I'm a lucky woman," Mrs. Bracken answered heartily. "I never +realized what made this building seem almost depressing until Mary Rose +came into it. What is this Mrs. Schuneman tells me about Mary Rose's +bird? I'm so sorry. She was so attached to Jenny Lind. Do you really +think that Mr. Wells had anything to do with it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, Mrs. Bracken, how could any man with a heart steal a child's pet +bird!" Mrs. Donovan tried her best to be discreet as she told the +story. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, we all know that Mr. Wells is queer," Mrs. Bracken remarked +when she finished. "Mrs. Schuneman said she understood that he had +complained to Brown and Lawson, but don't you worry, Mrs. Donovan. Mr. +Wells is not the only tenant and I rather think the rest of us will +have something to say. If he objects to Harriet Mr. Bracken will tell +him quite plainly what he thinks. And there are others. We all like +Mr. Donovan. He's a good janitor, willing and pleasant, and we won't +let him be discharged without a protest. Perhaps I shouldn't tell you, +but Mr. Strahan has written out a petition to send to the owner and +everyone in the building will sign it, I know, except perhaps Mr. +Wells." And she laughed as if Mr. Wells' not signing the petition was +a joke. "One against twenty won't have much influence." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan put out her hand and touched Mrs. Bracken's white fingers, +something she would not have dared to do two months earlier. "Thank +you for telling me that. Larry's tried, I know, and it isn't easy to +please so many people. We don't know who the owner is so we can only +talk to the agents, but a petition signed by everybody ought to prove +to them that Mary Rose isn't a nuisance." +</P> + +<P> +"Anything but a nuisance!" insisted Mrs. Bracken. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<P> +Mary Rose had decided to write a letter. The more she thought of what +she had heard her Aunt Kate say to her Uncle Larry that Sunday morning +the less she liked it. She would write to the owner of the Washington, +to the man who made laws so that children and cats and dogs were not +allowed in his house, and tell him just how it was; and then, why, of +course, he would say it was all right, that Uncle Larry could stay and +she could stay, and everything would be as it was except for Jenny +Lind. Her lip quivered as she tried hard to remember that the Lord had +his eye on Jenny Lind. +</P> + +<P> +She had a box of paper of her own with cunning Kewpie figures across +the top of each sheet. Miss Carter had given it to her one day when +Mary Rose told her of a letter she had received from Gladys. The +letter to the owner of the Washington was not as easy to write as the +answer to Gladys' note had been. She screwed her face into a frowning +knot as she tried to think what it was best for her to say. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="salutation"> +DEAR MR. OWNER: [That much was easy.] +</P> + +<P CLASS="letter"> +This letter is from Mary Rose Crocker, who lives in the cellar of your +Washington house. I mean the basement. We call them cellars in +Mifflin where I used to live, but in Waloo they are basements. Uncle +Larry said you have a law that won't let children live in your house. +I don't understand that, for there have always been children. Adam and +Eve had them and most everybody but George Washington. He never did. +Is that why you named your house after him? My mother died when I was +a tweenty baby and my father is in Heaven with her, too, and I had to +leave Solomon, he's my dog, in Mifflin and board out my cat, but he's +self-supporting now and my bird has been stolen, so there isn't anyone +but just me in the cellar. I mean basement. Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry +are my only relatives on earth and if I don't live with them I'll have +to go to an orphan's home, which I shouldn't like at all. But if you +won't let Uncle Larry keep his job and me, too, of course I'll have to +go. I'll try and not make any noise and be quiet and good if you'll +please let me stay and please, please, I'm getting less of a child +every day. When I came I was going on eleven and now I'm almost going +on twelve, for my birthday is in two months. Aunt Kate doesn't know +I'm writing to you. Neither does Uncle Larry. I thought of it all +myself when I heard Uncle Larry tell Aunt Kate you were going to take +his job away if I lived with them. I know I shouldn't have listened, +but I did. Perhaps you've never been an orphan and don't know what it +means to have all your parents in Heaven when Gladys Evans has +twenty-seven relations here on earth. But I shall be much obliged if +you won't take Uncle Larry's job away from him and if you'll let me +live with him. God bless you and me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="closing"> +Your obedient servant and friend,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">MARY ROSE CROCKER.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was a long letter and quite covered two sheets of Kewpie paper. +There were many blots and more misspelled words. Mary Rose frowned as +she looked at it. It was the best she could do. She was uncertain how +to get it to the owner and she did not wish to ask her uncle. Mr. +Jerry could tell her. He knew everything. And holding the closely +written sheets in her hand she ran across the alley. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately Mr. Jerry was alone under the apple tree. She handed him +the letter and watched his face anxiously while he read it. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it all right?" she begged. She had George Washington cuddled in +her arms and hid her face against his soft fur coat as she asked. "I +know the words aren't spelled right but I'm only in the sixth grade. +Perhaps I should have put that in? But is the meaning right?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry coughed twice before he answered. "Just right, Mary Rose. +Exactly right! I couldn't have done it better and I've been to +college. Write on the envelope: 'To the Owner of the Washington' and +I'll take it over to the agents myself." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, will you!" Mary Rose had been puzzled how to get it to the +agents. She decided then and there that she would never be puzzled +over anything again. Mr. Jerry could do everything. First he had +taken her cat and then her dog and her friend from Mifflin and now her +letter. Her heart was filled with a passionate devotion to him as she +laughed tremulously. She was both proud and happy to possess such a +resourceful friend. "Don't you think Mr. Owner sounds a little more +respectful? You see," her voice shook, for it meant so much to her, "I +don't know him at all. I've never had any chance to make friends with +him." +</P> + +<P> +With Mr. Jerry's fountain pen she wrote carefully: "Mr. Owner of the +Washington." +</P> + +<P> +Then she folded the letter smoothly and dropped a kiss on it before she +put it in the envelope. +</P> + +<P> +"Just for friendliness," she said when she met Mr. Jerry's eyes and she +blushed. Even her ears turned into pink roses. +</P> + +<P> +He caught her in his arms and hugged her. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose," he said and his voice was not quite clear, "you're +absolutely the friendliest soul I know!" +</P> + +<P> +"That's what I try to be, Mr. Jerry." Her arm slipped up about his +neck. "Daddy said I was to be friendly and the friendlier I was the +easier it would be." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<P> +Mary Rose loved her school. It was too delightful to be with children +again and she made new friends rapidly. After supper she liked to run +up to the third floor and tell Miss Thorley and Miss Carter what a +wonderful day she had had and they always seemed glad to hear. She +often found Mr. Strahan there and generally there were grapes or pears +or peaches or candy to nibble while she told her tale. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Strahan had written a lot of stories out of Mary Rose's experiences +and he grinned with delight as he heard her talk of school. He saw her +as a mine of human interest tales. +</P> + +<P> +"If it hadn't been for her I'd never have kept my job this summer," he +told Miss Carter and Miss Thorley, one night after Mary Rose had gone. +"The old man liked the stuff she told me and it gave me a chance to +show what I could do. I've a regular run now and a regular salary." +He looked across at Miss Carter and colored a bit. "My foot's on the +ladder now for keeps." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter laughed and colored a bit, too, as she hoped that his foot +was there "for keeps." Miss Thorley caught the exchange of glances +with an odd little contraction of her heart. Was that the way the wind +was blowing? Funny she hadn't noticed anything before. If Blanche +went away she would be left alone—alone with her work and her +independence. She shivered involuntarily. Once that had been all she +wanted. Why didn't they satisfy her now? They should satisfy her. +She'd work harder than ever on jam advertisements and when she had +saved a lot of money she'd go to New York and get a big position and +some people would have to admit that it would have been a waste to tie +her down to a humdrum—what was it Mary Rose had said?—"home for a +family." Her lip curled with scorn. Mary Rose was only a child. She +didn't know that homes and families were not the most important things +in the world. Someone else had told her what was the most important, +but she would not think of him. She just would not. And anyway all he +wanted now was friendship. Men were so constant. Her nose tilted. +She felt so much more scorn than a curled lip could express that her +nose had to tilt. But until she could save a lot of money and go to +New York she would stay right there in the Washington and listen to +Mary Rose's experiences at the Lincoln School. +</P> + +<P> +"It isn't like the school at Mifflin one bit, but I like it just the +same. And I've made a lot of new friends. I never realized how you +needed friends your own age until today. I've managed very well and +been happy until—until," she gulped as she remembered what had +happened to make her unhappy, "the other day, but it's such fun to have +friends your own size. There's that girl at Mrs. Bracken's. She's +older and bigger than I am, but Mrs. Bracken said we could be friends +and there isn't as much difference as there is between me and Grandma +Johnson. And we're friends. There's a boy with only one leg in my +class," importantly. "He's going to tell me how he lost the other one +tomorrow. And a girl, Anna Paulovitch. Isn't that a funny name? She +was born in O-Odessa, Russia. I never knew anyone who was born in +Russia before. It's very interesting. Do you know," her voice dropped +to a whisper, "that two years ago she lost all of her hair. She was +sick and it disappeared until now there isn't even a single solitary +hair on any part of her head. It's as bare, as bare," she looked about +for a comparison but could not find one that would suit her, "as +anything could be bare. It's very strange." +</P> + +<P> +"And does she go to school without any hair?" asked Bob Strahan, trying +to visualize Anna Paulovitch's bare pate. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, no! You can't go to school without hair. So last summer Anna +picked berries for a farmer and saved every penny and soon she had +enough to buy a wig. Her own hair was black and she hated it. She +always wanted yellow curls and so when she bought her wig she bought +long yellow curls. They're perfectly beautiful. You'd never guess +they didn't grow on her own head. She showed me because I'm her +friend. We're in the same number class." +</P> + +<P> +"Ye gods! Long yellow curls on a swart-faced black-eyed Russian." Bob +Strahan laughed at the combination. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Carter looked at him reproachfully as she swung the conversation +to the safe subject of Mrs. Bracken's niece. +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder what Mr. Wells will have to say about her?" she asked. +</P> + +<P> +"He can't steal her canary for she hasn't one," muttered Bob Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose caught the words, low as they were uttered. +</P> + +<P> +"You don't think Mr. Wells has my Jenny Lind?" She was so astonished +that her eyes popped as far open as they could pop. "He hates birds. +He told me so himself when I offered to lend her to him. And we're +friends. Not friends like us but sort of friends. I'm sure he didn't +take her," she insisted. "I must go now. Aunt Kate said I could only +stay a minute. Good night." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could be as sure of old Wells as she is," Bob Strahan said +when the door closed behind her. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose hesitated as she came to Mr. Wells' door. She did not +believe that he had taken Jenny Lind and if he heard that people +thought he had, he would be so hurt and grieved. She would have to +stop and tell him that she didn't believe it, anyway, not for a moment, +and if he wanted to borrow her goldfish any time, he could. She'd be +glad to loan them to him. That would show how she trusted him. She +knocked rather timidly. Mr. Wells, himself, opened the door. +</P> + +<P> +"What d'you want?" he demanded gruffly. He had a letter in his hand +and he made Mary Rose feel as if she had interrupted very important +business. +</P> + +<P> +"I just stopped to tell you that no matter what other people say I know +you didn't steal Jenny Lind," she stammered. +</P> + +<P> +"Steal Jenny Lind!" he thundered. His face was one black frown. "Who +said I did? Come in." He motioned toward the living-room. +</P> + +<P> +"Everybody's saying so," faltered Mary Rose. "But I know you better +than they do. You couldn't steal the only pet a little orphan girl +had, could you?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells opened his mouth twice before he could say a word and then he +only grunted a sentence that Mary Rose could not understand. He threw +the letter he held on the table. An enclosure dropped from it and Mary +Rose saw that there were Kewpies across the top of the paper. She +recognized the writing also. +</P> + +<P> +"Why—why!" she stammered. She was so surprised that she could +scarcely speak at all. "That's my letter, the one I wrote to the owner +of this very house." +</P> + +<P> +A dull red crept up Mr. Wells' face into his grizzled hair. "Yes, I +know," he rumbled. "I'm a lawyer and the owner is a client of mine. +He gave it to me so I could advise him what to do." +</P> + +<P> +"And what will you advise?" asked Mary Rose after a breathless silence. +Her heart was beating so fast that she was almost choked. "Have you +read it?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I've read it." +</P> + +<P> +"Uncle Larry and Aunt Kate don't know I wrote it. I just had to +because if Uncle Larry loses his job it's all my fault. Not all mine +really for it wasn't exactly my fault that my mother died when I was +six months old and that daddy went to Heaven in June so there was no +one left to take care of me but Aunt Kate. I've tried to be good," she +resolutely winked back a tear, "and not make trouble. Mrs. Schuneman +and Mrs. Bracken and Mr. Bracken and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan like me awfully. They +said so. I wish you'd please speak to them before you give your +advice. Will you?" eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +The frown on Mr. Wells' face grew very black and threatening. It made +Mary Rose's little heart jump right into her mouth and she shut her +white teeth tight so that it wouldn't jump out. +</P> + +<P> +"It's—it's awfully rude of me to speak of it," she went on in a low +shamed voice. "I shouldn't remind you, I know, but you are under an +obligation to me. I was neighborly when you were sick. I brought you +the goldfish. It isn't much that I ask, just for you to speak to the +tenements. If they say I'm a nuisance, why I won't say another word +because it's the law, but I <I>am</I> getting bigger every day, now. +Please, promise me just that much?" +</P> + +<P> +And Mr. Wells promised. He couldn't very well refuse. Mary Rose +caught his hand and hugged it to her thumping little heart. +</P> + +<P> +"You're a kind, kind man," she said. "I know you are. I don't care +what people say. And you'll see I'm treated fair? That's all I ask, +Mr. Wells, honest it is! Just for the owner to be fair. Good night. +I'm going to tell everyone you didn't steal Jenny Lind." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<P> +There was a short story in the Waloo <I>Gazette</I> the next evening that +would have interested Mary Rose very much if she had read it. It was +one of the little incidents that have both a pathetic and a humorous +appeal and it was very well written. It told of a little black-haired +swarthy-skinned girl who had always longed for long yellow curls. When +illness robbed her of the hated, black locks she had resolutely set to +work to earn money to buy a wig that she might return to school. All +summer she worked under the hot sun, picking berries for a neighboring +farmer, her bald head covered with a ragged straw hat, and when the +last berry was gathered and she had the required sum she had +triumphantly purchased the long yellow curls she had craved always. +And now, prouder than any queen, she was attending the Lincoln School. +It was the sort of story that a city editor likes for it brings shoals +of letters with offers of help, to the newspaper office, and proves in +a most practical way that it has been read. +</P> + +<P> +Usually Mary Rose was home from school by four o'clock for at half-past +three her room was dismissed and it never took her more than half an +hour to say good-by to her numerous new friends and dawdle home. +</P> + +<P> +But the afternoon after the story of the yellow-curls appeared in the +<I>Gazette</I>, Mary Rose was not at home at four o'clock. She was not at +home at half-past four. Mrs. Donovan looked uneasily at the clock. It +was not like Mary Rose to be so dilatory. At a quarter to five Mrs. +Donovan put on her hat and walked up the street. She would go and meet +Mary Rose. Perhaps the child had been kept after school, perhaps she +had stopped to play in spite of the fact that she had been told she +must come straight home from school always. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan walked the six blocks to the Lincoln School without seeing +as much as the hem of Mary Rose's gingham skirt. The big school +building loomed up in front of her silent and forlorn. She stared at +it before she went up the steps and tried to open the door. It was +locked. Then Mary Rose had not been kept after school. Where could +she be? She might have gone home a different way so as to walk with +one of her new friends. Of course, she was safe at home by now. Mrs. +Donovan retraced her steps very hurriedly but she found no Mary Rose in +the basement flat. It was so strange that she was worried. Where +could the child be? +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly she laughed unsteadily. What a fool she was. To be sure, +Mary Rose had stopped to see Mrs. Schuneman or to exchange experiences +with Harriet White who was now attending the Lincoln School, too. She +ran up to the first floor to knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door and say +breathlessly that she wanted to speak to Mary Rose at once. Mrs. +Schuneman heard her and followed Mina. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose isn't here, Mrs. Donovan," she said. "Hasn't the little +minx come home yet?" +</P> + +<P> +"No, she hasn't!" Mrs. Donovan was most unpleasantly disappointed. "I +don't understand it. I've told her again and again that she was to +come straight home as soon as school was out. Then she could go out to +play. But she was to come home first." +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps she's over to Mrs. Bracken's?" suggested Mrs. Schuneman and +she followed Mrs. Donovan across the hall. +</P> + +<P> +But Mary Rose was not at Mrs. Bracken's. Neither was she in any other +apartment in the Washington. Mrs. Donovan's ruddy face lost its color. +</P> + +<P> +"She can't be lost," she said, expecting Mrs. Schuneman promptly to +agree with her that Mary Rose could not be lost. "She's big enough to +know where she lives if she is only ten." She did not care now if +everybody knew how old Mary Rose really was. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, she isn't lost," everyone told her soothingly. "She knows +where she belongs. Perhaps she is over at Longworthys'?" +</P> + +<P> +But neither Mr. Jerry nor his Aunt Mary had seen Mary Rose that day. +Jimmie Bronson, who came in while Mrs. Donovan was inquiring, had not +seen her since noon. Mrs. Donovan was very uneasy as she went home. +</P> + +<P> +"The little thing's that friendly and honest herself she thinks +everyone else is friendly. She don't know anythin' about city folks. +I wish she'd come," she told Mrs. Schuneman who came down to hear if +Mary Rose had been found. +</P> + +<P> +"You remember that girl over on Sixth Avenue who was kidnapped last—" +began Mrs. Schuneman and clapped her hand over her mouth, hoping Mrs. +Donovan had not heard. +</P> + +<P> +But she had heard and her face whitened. The minutes dragged slowly by +and Mary Rose did not come home. Larry Donovan was downtown and was +late, also. When he did come in he could not understand at first that +Mary Rose was missing. +</P> + +<P> +"She's in the house somewhere," he insisted, "with Miss Carter or old +lady Johnson." +</P> + +<P> +"I've inquired at every flat in the building," half sobbed Mrs. +Donovan. "I can't imagine where she is." +</P> + +<P> +"Who's her teacher?" asked Bob Strahan. "Do you know her name? I'll +telephone and ask her if she knows whether Mary Rose went off with any +of the kids." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan stopped twisting a corner of her white apron. +</P> + +<P> +"Her teacher's name is Choate, Isabel Choate. But I dunno where she +lives," she wailed. +</P> + +<P> +"The directory does," Bob Strahan said encouragingly. "And so, I'm +sure, does the telephone book." +</P> + +<P> +He had no difficulty in getting Miss Choate on the telephone, but the +teacher only remembered that Mary Rose had left the building when the +other children did. She had seen her go out of the school yard with a +group of boys and girls. Who were they? She was sorry but she did not +remember. They had not impressed her. She had noticed no one but Mary +Rose, who had such a strong personality one had to notice her. She did +hope that nothing had happened to her and she, too, remembered the +little girl who had been kidnapped over on Sixth Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said hurriedly. +"She'll turn up all right." +</P> + +<P> +He told Mrs. Donovan the same thing when he went back and reported the +result of his interview. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall I do?" Mrs. Donovan was twisting the corners of her apron +into hard knots and her mouth twitched with nervousness. "She's never +been out so late as this since she came to Waloo. An' she's all alone! +I'll never forgive myself if anythin's happened to her." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll go over to the police station," suggested Mr. Jerry. "What did +she wear, Mrs. Donovan? The police will want a description of her +clothes." +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan sobbed as she described the blue and red and green gingham +frock with the white collar and black patent leather belt that had been +Mary Rose's pride. +</P> + +<P> +"We'll call up the hospitals, too," Mr. Jerry said to Bob Strahan as +they drove to the police station in his car. "It's just possible that +she has been hurt, an automobile or something, and taken to a hospital +If she was knocked unconscious she couldn't very well tell who she was." +</P> + +<P> +"Gee!" exclaimed big-eyed white-faced Jimmie Bronson, who had jumped +into the tonneau and was standing with his hands on the back of the +front seat, "I hope Mary Rose wasn't knocked insensible!" +</P> + +<P> +The police had heard nothing of any little girl who answered to the +description of Mary Rose but a careful note was made of what Mr. Jerry +and Bob Strahan had to say of her disappearance. There had been no +report of any accident in the district and no child had been kidnapped +so far as the police knew. Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan were +disappointed. They felt baffled. It didn't seem possible that a +little girl could have disappeared so completely as Mary Rose had +disappeared. When they drove back to the Washington, Jimmie was not +with them. He was going to make a few inquiries on his own hook, he +told the two men. +</P> + +<P> +"No news is good news, Mrs. Donovan," Mr. Jerry insisted. "Mary Rose +is all right. No one could harm her." +</P> + +<P> +"I wish I could believe that." Mrs. Donovan had lost control of +herself and was sobbing bitterly. "Here it is after ten o'clock an' we +don't know where the little thing is. Seems if bad luck was taggin' +her. It isn't a week since her bird was stolen and now—" she +shuddered and hid her face in her apron. +</P> + +<P> +"Nothing's happened to her," repeated Mrs. Schuneman with a poor +attempt at firmness. "Nothing could happen to a child like Mary Rose. +It's when you're looking for trouble that trouble comes, Mrs. Donovan, +and Mary Rose never looked for trouble. She was too busy looking for +friends." +</P> + +<P> +"That's what she always said," exclaimed Grandma Johnson; "that the +pleasant things come to the people who are looking for pleasant things +but, land! see what's happened to her and if anyone ever looked for +pleasantness it was Mary Rose. Why she even looked for it in us!" And +she laughed harshly. +</P> + +<P> +"And she found it, too," Mrs. Schuneman declared quickly. "Yes, she +did. She looked deep enough to find the pleasantness we didn't know +was there because we'd covered it up with so much disagreeableness. +I'm not ashamed to admit that she made me see that so long as you live +in a world with other people you owe some obligation to be agreeable to +them. If each of us did our share, as Mary Rose was always asking us +to do, we'd find this world a friendlier place than it is." +</P> + +<P> +"She must have said that to me a hundred times," sniffled Miss Adams. +"I knew she was right all the time but I wouldn't say so." +</P> + +<P> +"It's easy to get out of the habit of being friendly in the city," +murmured Mrs. Matchan. "It's different in the country." +</P> + +<P> +"I guess it's much the same, city or country. If she hadn't found +Germania for me I'd have been in an asylum by now," asserted Mrs. +Schuneman. "There I was all by myself and while a bird isn't a human +being, it's a lot of company. And it's through Germania and Mary Rose +that I've got acquainted with all of you." +</P> + +<P> +"If it hadn't been for Mary Rose I doubt if Mr. Bracken would have +asked me to go for Harriet," Mrs. Bracken said in a low voice. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if each of them had something to say of what Mary Rose had +done for her. Mary Rose's friendly nature, her undaunted belief in the +friendliness of people and of the world in which she lived had made +those whose lives she had touched develop friendliness also. The dozen +people gathered in the Donovan living-room said so, quite frankly. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the clock struck eleven times. Mrs. Donovan burst into a +perfect storm of tears. "She should have been in her bed hours ago!" +she sobbed. "An' where is she? Where's Mary Rose?" +</P> + +<P> +"Sh—sh!" There was a step on the stairs. It seemed as if everyone +stopped breathing to listen. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap23"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIII +</H3> + +<P> +Larry Donovan jumped to the door. +</P> + +<P> +But it was Mr. Wells' grim face that appeared in the circle of light +and his grimmer voice that asked harshly: +</P> + +<P> +"What's the matter? What's all this disturbance through the building, +Donovan? Every door is open and there's a general turmoil." +</P> + +<P> +They faced him indignantly, fellow tenants and janitor. Each had had +some experience with him that had been more unpleasant than pleasant. +All of them knew that he disliked Mary Rose, that he had complained to +the agents because she lived in the basement with the Donovans. Each +of them resented the selfishness that had brought him down to make +another complaint when all of them were so worried and anxious. It was +Bob Strahan who put some of this feeling into words. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt you'll be glad to hear that Mary Rose, the little girl who +has been such a nuisance to you, has disappeared?" he said +sarcastically. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells looked at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "What do you +mean?" he snapped. "What do you mean?" +</P> + +<P> +Everyone tried to tell him at once but Mrs. Donovan who was sobbing in +her apron and could not speak. Mr. Wells looked at her oddly. +</P> + +<P> +"Nonsense!" he said when the story was clear to him. "She's locked +herself in somewhere as she did once before." He had heard of the time +the wind had slammed Mrs. Bracken's door and shut Mary Rose inside. +"She's fallen asleep." +</P> + +<P> +"We've been in every flat but yours," Larry Donovan told him dully. +</P> + +<P> +"Everyone but mine?" repeated Mr. Wells. "Well, she wouldn't go +there." Then he remembered that Mary Rose had been there in a +neighborly desire to be kind to him when he was ill, in a friendly wish +to tell him of her belief in him when he was under suspicion, and he +colored painfully. For all he knew she might be there now. She had a +habit of going when and where she pleased. That was what made her such +a nuisance in his eyes. "You can come and see for yourself," he said +sharply. "So far as I know there's no one there. Sako is out and I've +just come in." +</P> + +<P> +They trooped eagerly after him up the stairs to the second floor, and +he had an unpleasant feeling that they expected to find Mary Rose +locked in his apartment, a prisoner by his orders. Hadn't Mary Rose +herself told him that he was suspected of doing cruel things? Well, he +didn't care what they thought, he muttered to himself as he put his key +in the lock. But he did care. Cross and crusty as he was, he was +human, and deep in the hearts of all human beings is the desire to have +people think well of them. +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time any of them but the Donovans had been in the +apartment. Mr. Wells threw open doors to closets and pantries. He +even scornfully opened drawers and cupboards. +</P> + +<P> +"Make a thorough search while you're about it," he snarled. +</P> + +<P> +Under the sink in the kitchen Bob Strahan caught a bright gleam. He +stooped down and picked up a piece of heavy brass wire. It had been +broken at both ends and was twisted and bent. Bob Strahan stared at it +and whistled softly. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" Miss Carter ran across to him. He drew her aside and +showed her the brass 'wire. "Do you see that? It's the kind of wire +that bird cages are made of." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh!" Miss Carter stared at him. She couldn't believe it. She turned +and stared at Mr. Wells as he stood so contemptuously and watched his +neighbors. There was a sneer on his face. "I w-wouldn't have believed +that anyone would be so despicable!" +</P> + +<P> +"He's been a selfish brute, always finding fault with everyone and +everything. You might almost think he was the darned old owner +himself," muttered Bob Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +"He wouldn't make himself so disagreeable if he was the owner." Miss +Carter nodded a wise head. "He'd be too anxious to please his tenants. +No, it's just because he's so selfish and disagreeable and," she looked +at the broken wire and thought of friendly Jenny Lind, "brutal!" +</P> + +<P> +"You're quite sure the child is not here?" they heard Mr. Wells say in +a voice that was as sarcastic as a voice could be, and there was a most +unpleasant glare in the cold black eyes. "Quite convinced that I +haven't hidden her away to fatten for my breakfast?" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wells! Mr. Wells!" began Mrs. Donovan indignantly but her spirit +died and she cried instead—quite involuntarily you may be sure: "Oh, +Mary Rose said there was sure to be good in you if we'd look for it." +</P> + +<P> +It seemed to Miss Carter that a black screen was drawn over Mr. Wells' +face. He said not a word but walked to the door and threw it wide +open. One by one his neighbors went out. No one said anything; there +seemed to be nothing to say. +</P> + +<P> +"Good night." Mr. Wells spoke with cold, almost ominous, curtesy and +he would have shut the door in their faces if he had not caught the +pitying look in a girl's eyes. A dull red crept into his face. +Involuntarily he stepped toward Elizabeth Thorley. "If you hear +anything of the child let me know," he said as if the words were forced +from him, and then he slammed the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +As they went down the stairs Miss Carter dropped behind the others. So +did Bob Strahan. As he waited for her he saw her dab her eyes with her +handkerchief and he put out his hand and touched her arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Look here," he spoke sharply. "That won't do. Mary Rose is all +right, you know." And he gave her a little shake. +</P> + +<P> +"I'd like to see that for myself, that she is all right." She dabbed +her eyes again with the damp little square of linen. +</P> + +<P> +He put a hand on each shoulder and looked directly into her tear-wet +eyes. "Listen to me. I shan't go to bed until I do know that she's +all right. I couldn't sleep. Mary Rose has done too much for me. +When I think—Lord!—when she came here I was a friendless young cuss +hanging on to a job by the skin of my teeth and now—You know I used to +be crazy to know you when I met you in the hall and on the stairs and +it was Mary Rose, bless her heart! and her canary who made it possible +for us to be friends. I can't forget that and I'll find her." +</P> + +<P> +She looked up and there was a light in her eyes that caused his hands +to tighten on her shoulders. +</P> + +<P> +"You know I love you, honey," he said quickly. "I think I've always +loved you and ever since I got a real grip on my job I've wanted to +tell you. If you could care half as much for me as I do for you +I'd—I'd—" he stopped before he told her what he would do for she had +lifted her face and he had seen there that she did care, as much as he +did. He stooped and kissed her. +</P> + +<P> +She kissed him also and clung to him for a moment before she pushed him +away. +</P> + +<P> +"We—we shouldn't be thinking of ourselves now," her voice trembled. +"We must think of Mary Rose." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap24"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXIV +</H3> + +<P> +Mrs. Donovan cried bitterly as she went down the stairs and Larry put +his arm around her. +</P> + +<P> +"There, there, Kate," he said. "Crying won't help any." +</P> + +<P> +"If we could only do somethin', Larry!" She wrung her hands. "If we +could only do somethin'! It seems awful just to have to wait an' wait. +I—I can't bear it." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll call up the morning paper." Bob Strahan and Miss Carter had +slipped down behind the rest and no one noticed that they came in hand +in hand. "It won't do any harm to run a little story about Mary Rose +and then if she has strayed in anywhere or been found people will know +where to take her." +</P> + +<P> +"The mornin' paper!" cried Mrs. Donovan. "I can't wait for the mornin' +paper. I want her now!" +</P> + +<P> +The three men looked at each other and shook their heads. She might +have to wait longer than for the morning paper to have news of Mary +Rose. They felt so helpless. They had followed every clew, they had +the assistance of the entire police force, but they had discovered +nothing. They knew no more about Mary Rose than they knew when they +had first discovered that she had disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley put her arms around Mrs. Donovan and tried to sooth her. +All the red "corpuskles" had left her face now and her eyes had a +strained frightened expression. It startled Mr. Jerry to see her show +so much emotion. Usually she let one see very plainly that she was +interested in only her own affairs. Tonight she had forgotten herself +in a sweet sympathy for Mrs. Donovan and in her anxiety for her little +friend. It made Mr. Jerry's heart thump to hear her speak to Mrs. +Donovan so gently and so tenderly. It made him more determined to do +something. He was just about to suggest that he should telephone to +Mifflin although he was positive that Mary Rose had not run away, when +he heard a child's laugh on the street above them. +</P> + +<P> +Kate Donovan heard it, too, and pushed Miss Thorley from her. +</P> + +<P> +"It's Mary Rose!" she cried. "Thank God! It's Mary Rose!" +</P> + +<P> +Before she could reach the door a burly policeman stood on the +threshold. He held a bundle in his arms that struggled to reach the +floor. Jimmie Bronson stumbled wearily behind them. +</P> + +<P> +"Here's a very tired little girl for you," the policeman said, as he +dropped Mary Rose into Mrs. Donovan's hungry arms. +</P> + +<P> +"Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" Mrs. Donovan was so happy that she cried and +cried. The tears fell on Mary Rose's face. "Where have you been? +Where have you been?" +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, Mary Rose, where have you been?" demanded an eager chorus. The +tears had rushed to Miss Thorley's eyes also and when she discovered +that, she discovered also that the hand with which she would have wiped +them away was held fast in the firm grasp of Jerry Longworthy. How it +had found its way there she never knew. She snatched it from him, her +face aflame, and there were no longer tears in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose hugged her aunt and beamed on her friends. Her eyes were +like stars. +</P> + +<P> +"How glad you'll be to hear what I've found!" she cried jubilantly. +"I've been in the most wonderful place, a big flat building like this, +only not so grand, but it has children! And pets, too! Dogs and cats! +It has, Uncle Larry! I've seen them with my own eyes. Lots and lots +of children! Babies and all kinds!" Her cheeks were scarlet. "I +couldn't believe it myself at first but Anna Paulovitch said it was +true and that it had always been like that. I asked her all about it +so I could tell you, Uncle Larry, and you could tell the owner of the +Washington. He can't know!" +</P> + +<P> +"Never mind that, Mary Rose." Aunt Kate gave her a shake. "I want to +know where you've been. Why didn't you come straight home from school +as I've told you to, time an' again? You've frightened us all to death +stayin' away so long." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked regretfully at the people she had frightened to death +and then she smiled radiantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, you see it was this way. You know there was a story in the +newspaper last night about Anna Paulovitch's bald head and when she +went to school the boys made fun of her and teased her to show them if +she really was bald. It hurt her feelings dreadfully and she was +afraid to go home alone so I said I'd go with her. It's a long way +from here but I'm glad I went because I helped my friend and I found +Jenny Lind." +</P> + +<P> +"You found Jenny Lind!" Everyone was as astonished as Mary Rose could +wish. +</P> + +<P> +Bob Strahan and Miss Carter looked at each other and Bob dropped the +piece of brass wire he had found in Mr. Wells' kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I did. Isn't it just like a fairy story? You see if you do a +kind thing a kind thing's done to you. I've told all of you that and +you wouldn't believe me but now you've got to. Anna Paulovitch lives +in this big friendly house I was telling you about. It isn't splendid +and beautiful like this but it is friendly and there are a lot of +children and pets. The law lets them live there. I didn't suppose +there was a house like that in all Waloo! Anna's mother goes out +washing and her father's dead like mine. She has seven brothers and +sisters that Mrs. Paulovitch has to find clothes and bread for. It's a +good deal for one woman she said and I think it is, too. And right +across the hall from the Paulovitch's, just like across the hall from +Mrs. Bracken's to Mrs. Schuneman's, lives John Kalich. He's a +messenger boy and his sister Becky's been in bed for seven years. +She's nine now and Johnny's crazy about her. He came here with a +message and when he saw Jenny Lind all by herself in the hall he +thought how much Becky would like her. And Becky did like her. She +hadn't ever seen a canary bird before. I told her she could borrow +Jenny Lind for a while longer though I did want to bring her home +tonight. But I thought, Aunt Kate, that since George Washington's +supporting himself and I haven't spent the money I earned washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes and playing with the squirrels with Grandma Johnson +I'd buy a bird for Becky for her very own. I'm going to let her keep +Jenny Lind until then. It seems as if I was always lending Jenny Lind, +doesn't it? Aunt Kate," she stopped suddenly and looked appealingly at +her aunt. "I'm so hungry! Can't I have some supper?" +</P> + +<P> +"Haven't you had any?" Aunt Kate was horrified. +</P> + +<P> +"I couldn't eat any at Mrs. Paulovitch's because she only had enough to +go around once and anyway I don't think I care for Russian cooking, +bread and lard. I'm an American, you know, and that's why I like +American cooking best." +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley leaned over and took Mary Rose as Aunt Kate jumped up +murmuring: "Bread an' lard! My soul an' body!" +</P> + +<P> +"Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?" Miss Thorley asked when +she had Mary Rose cuddled in her arms. She couldn't remember when she +had held a child before. It was odd but she had suddenly found that +she wanted to hold Mary Rose. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-293"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-293.jpg" ALT=""'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss Thorley asked."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="627" HEIGHT="457"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 627px"> +"'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss Thorley asked." +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"I got lost." Mary Rose blushed with shame. "I thought I was so smart +I could come right home but I turned the wrong corner. I was away over +on the other side of Waloo when a kind lady found me and put me on a +street car and gave me a nickel and told the conductor to keep his eye +on me. But I forgot to tell her it was East Twenty-sixth Street and +she sent me west. And then Jimmie found me." +</P> + +<P> +"Good for you, James!" Mr. Jerry reached over to slap Jimmie on the +back. "How did you do that?" +</P> + +<P> +"I was just looking round," Jimmie answered vaguely. "I couldn't sit +down and do nothing with Mary Rose lost. I had to look till she was +found and I was lucky and ran across her. Gee, Mary Rose, but you did +give me a scare! I was afraid you'd been kidnapped!" +</P> + +<P> +"You know, Mary Rose, I told you always to come straight home from +school," called Aunt Kate from the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +"I know," in a shamed voice. "And I always did until today, and +today—why, I didn't. But I found Jenny Lind and I've made lots of new +friends. Mr. Strahan," she peered around at Bob Strahan, "how did that +story of Anna's curls get into the newspaper? Did you write it?" +</P> + +<P> +Bob Strahan blushed until he was redder than any tomato that ever +ripened. "Yes, Mary Rose, I did," he acknowledged. "I thought it was +a dandy little story of a brave girl and that it would be good for +people to read." +</P> + +<P> +"Of course, you didn't know that it would hurt Anna Paulovitch's +feelings. She says she can't ever hold up her head again but I told +her she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of and I'd stand by her." +</P> + +<P> +"I'll stand by her, too!" Bob Strahan promised quickly. He had never +thought of a story but as a story. The consequences it might have had +not occurred to him. "And a lot of other people will stand by her. +You should see the letters that came to the office to day with offers +of help for Anna and her mother." +</P> + +<P> +"Did they!" Mary Rose was delighted. "Then Mrs. Paulovitch won't have +to work so hard. Oh, Miss Thorley," she drew the red-brown head down +so that she could whisper in a pink ear, "if you could just talk to +Anna's mother for a minute you'd know you wouldn't have to stop work to +make a home for a family. She says it takes more than one pair of +hands no matter how busy you keep them. Will you go with me when I +take the bird to Becky and talk to Mrs. Paulovitch?" +</P> + +<P> +"Perhaps I will," stammered Miss Thorley, as she kissed the eager +little face, feeling that the room was suddenly filled with Jerry +Longworthy's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," Mary Rose jumped down and stood looking from one to the other, +"but I am glad to be home again! It does seem a hundred years since I +had my dinner. I don't think any girl ever had such a nice home or +such nice friends as I have and it's just because I have a friendly +heart!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap25"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXV +</H3> + +<P> +When Mary Rose went to school the next morning Mrs. Donovan had half a +mind to walk with her and make sure that she arrived there safely. +After the day before it seemed to her that many dangers might lie in +wait for Mary Rose and Mrs. Donovan had discovered that Mary Rose was +very rare and precious. She watched her from the window and her eyes +opened wide in astonishment when she saw Mary Rose stop and wait for +Mr. Wells. He looked twice as grim and twice as cross as he had ever +looked before to Mrs. Donovan as he came down the steps. But it was no +wonder that he looked grim and cross. His experience of the night +before, when he learned how his neighbors regarded him, could not have +been pleasant. A cold shiver ran the full length of Mrs. Donovan's +spine as she remembered that experience. If she had had any hope of +remaining in the cozy basement flat and keeping Mary Rose, it vanished +at the sight of that scowling face. Mr. Wells would surely insist on +having Larry discharged. She just knew he would. +</P> + +<P> +Even Mary Rose's staunch and friendly soul was a bit daunted by Mr. +Wells' very unfriendly appearance but she tried to speak to him as +usual. +</P> + +<P> +"Good morning, sir." +</P> + +<P> +He looked down at her and his shaggy brows drew nearer together. Mary +Rose had thought he could not look crosser but he managed to look +considerably crosser as he grunted: "So you're back?" It almost +sounded as if he wished she hadn't come back. +</P> + +<P> +She blushed. "Did you hear that I was lost? I was so ashamed. I +thought I could find my way anywhere in Waloo just as I could in +Mifflin. But you couldn't get lost in Mifflin, no matter how hard you +tried. You'd be sure to find yourself in the cemetery or at the post +office or the lumber yard." She looked up at the cross face and +ventured a smile. "You'll be glad to hear that I've found Jenny Lind," +she said joyfully. "I knew all the time you hadn't borrowed her and I +guess now other people will be sorry they thought you stole her." She +laughed and nodded to let him see how very glad she was that his +innocence was proved. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Wells was too amazed to add anything to his scowl. "You've found +your bird?" he asked stupidly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, I have. I'll tell you all about it. Are you going my way? +Usually I go up the other street, that's the shortest, but today I'm +going over this way to meet Anna Paulovitch and walk with her so the +boys won't tease her." And she told him about Anna Paulovitch and her +yellow curls which had led to the discovery of Jenny Lind. "And I'm +going to buy Becky a bird of her own with the money I've earned, +because I don't have to pay a cent of board for George Washington. +He's self-supporting, you know. Isn't it wonderful to be +self-supporting? Mrs. Paulovitch has seven children and only one of +them can earn anything. He's Mickey and he sells papers after school. +If I were a gentleman and bought papers I'd always buy them of Mickey," +she hinted delicately. "The other Paulovitches who are over six have +to go to school. It takes a lot of washing to make bread enough for +them but Mr. Strahan thinks he has found friends to help Anna. Aren't +you glad you were born in America instead of Russia?" She told him why +he should be glad as they walked along. +</P> + +<P> +He looked down at her curiously out of the tail of his eye but he said +never a word. Indeed, Mary Rose gave him little opportunity for speech +as she had so much to say. When they reached the corner where Anna +Paulovitch waited across the street like a stolid figure of Patience, +Mary Rose waved her hand. Anna Paulovitch responded like a semaphore. +</P> + +<P> +"That's Anna! That's Anna Paulovitch," Mary Rose said eagerly. "Isn't +her hair beautiful?" Mary Rose admired the long yellow curls +immensely. "It seems a pity they couldn't have grown on her own head +when she would have appreciated it so but I expect the Lord knew best. +I'm awfully glad I met you so that I could tell you about Jenny Lind. +You don't have to worry another minute for everyone knows now that you +never touched her." +</P> + +<P> +"Here, wait a minute!" Never had Mr. Wells' voice been gruffer nor his +frown blacker. "How much is a canary? Can you get one for this?" He +took a bill from his pocket and offered it to Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wells!" Mary Rose took his hand and squeezed it. "That's a lot. +I'm sure you can get a splendid bird." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, get one then," snapped Mr. Wells. +</P> + +<P> +"You mean for Becky?" Mary Rose could scarcely believe her two small +ears. "I'll be glad to." She regarded him with an admiration that +should have made him feel enveloped in a soft warm mantle. "I'll tell +her it's a present from a kind gentleman who wants to be her friend. +Sometime I'll take you to see her. What shall we name her bird? You +think and I'll think and then tonight we can choose. It must have +something to do with music, you know. Good-by." She squeezed his hand +again and started across the street but ran back. "I forgot to tell +you something that's most important," she said in a low voice. "Did +you ever imagine there would be a flat-house right here in Waloo where +the law lets children live? The Paulovitchs live in one. They do +really. I saw them! And cats and dogs, too. I did! It wasn't like +the Washington but it was a flat-house. It seemed such a friendly +place. I thought you didn't know and now you can tell your friend who +owns the Washington. I don't suppose he knows either. You haven't +heard anything from him about me, have you?" She looked up wistfully. +"I'd—I'd hate to have to go away to an orphan's home now," she +whispered and there were tears in her blue eyes. +</P> + +<P> +He looked down at her and coughed before he answered. "No, I haven't +heard anything." +</P> + +<P> +"If you see him today will you tell him of that friendly house I was +telling you about? That there are flat-houses in Waloo where children +can live? It might make him willing to let them live in his house. +And please!" she clung to his hand, "please tell him that I'm growing +older every single day I live!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap26"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVI +</H3> + +<P> +That very afternoon Mr. Jerry and Mary Rose bought a canary for Becky +and paid for it with the five-dollar bill that Mr. Wells had given Mary +Rose. Mr. Jerry insisted that that particular bill should have been +framed and Mary Rose insisted that Mr. Wells had said it was to buy a +canary. She could not understand why Mr. Jerry had laughed nor why he +said: "Oh, very well. But honestly, Mary Rose, it should be framed." +</P> + +<P> +He took Mary Rose and the new canary in his car to the flat-building +that allowed children to live in it. Becky wept with joy when she was +told that the bird was to be her own. John was at home and he blushed +and stammered as he tried to explain to Mr. Jerry that he hadn't meant +any harm to anyone, cross his heart if he had! but as soon as he saw +Jenny Lind he had thought what company she would be for Becky. And Mr. +Jerry kindly said he understood perfectly and that if John ever wanted +any advice or help he was to come straight to him. +</P> + +<P> +"You see it's a very friendly house," Mary Rose whispered as she and +Mr. Jerry went down the long flights of stairs. "See how many children +there are!" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry looked about him. There were, indeed, many children of +assorted nationalities and sizes. There could not have been a greater +contrast to the orderly and clean, if childless, Washington. +</P> + +<P> +"It's undoubtedly friendly, Mary Rose," agreed Mr. Jerry. "And there +are lots of children but there are also lots of smells." +</P> + +<P> +She crinkled her small nose. "I expect that's Russian," she suggested. +</P> + +<P> +On their way home they passed Bingham and Henderson's big jam factory +and Mary Rose caught a glimpse of Miss Thorley waiting for a street +car. When she called Mr. Jerry's attention to the enchanted princess +he deftly inserted his automobile between Miss Thorley and the +approaching car. +</P> + +<P> +"Room for one more passenger here," he said with a grin. "And the fare +will be even cheaper." +</P> + +<P> +"Do come with us, Miss Thorley!" begged Mary Rose. "See, here's Jenny +Lind. You'll want to speak to her. And there's such lots of room +right here with us. Isn't there, Mr. Jerry?" +</P> + +<P> +"Scads of room. I don't see how you can hesitate." And he looked at +the crowded street car where people were standing on the platform and +the conductor was calling impatiently: "Move up in front!" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley looked also. The street car was not so inviting as the +automobile. Prejudiced as she was she had to admit that. She laughed. +"Oh, very well," she said. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry jumped out and triumphantly robbed the street car company of +a fare. He helped Miss Thorley in beside Mary Rose and Jenny Lind. +</P> + +<P> +"You see there's lots of room," Mary Rose fairly bubbled with joy. +"Just as Mr. Jerry said. Aren't you glad to see Jenny Lind again? I +can't see that she has changed a feather." +</P> + +<P> +"We'll leave her at the house and then run out to Nokomis for a breath +of air. That friendly flat of the Paulovitch's has almost strangled +me. I have a great yearning for wide open spaces," Mr. Jerry told Miss +Thorley over Mary Rose's head. +</P> + +<P> +They left Jenny Lind with Aunt Kate and drove along the boulevards and +around the lake. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't it a beautiful world?" asked Mary Rose suddenly. "I just love +it and everybody in it! Don't you, Mr. Jerry?" +</P> + +<P> +"I won't go so far as to say I love everybody but I certainly do love +you, Mary Rose," he told her with pleasing promptness. +</P> + +<P> +"And Miss Thorley, too?" demanded Mary Rose, jealously afraid that Miss +Thorley might feel hurt if she were excluded from Mr. Jerry's +affections. "She's the enchanted princess, you know," she reminded him +in a whisper. "You must love her." +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry was so silent that Mary Rose pinched his arm. +</P> + +<P> +"Sure, I love Miss Thorley," he said then, very hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +"And she loves you, don't you, Miss Thorley?" Mary Rose pinched Miss +Thorley's arm to remind her that something was expected of her, also. +</P> + +<P> +There was a longer pause. Mary Rose had to pinch Miss Thorley's arm a +second time and Mr. Jerry, himself, had to ask her in a funny shaky +sort of a voice: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you, Bess? Do you?" +</P> + +<P> +Miss Thorley tried to frown and look away but she was not able to take +her eyes from the two faces, the man's and the little girl's, which +looked at her with such imploring eagerness. And what she saw in those +two faces made her heart give a great throb. In a flash she knew, and +knew beyond a doubt, that at last she could answer the question that +had been tormenting her for over half a year. Long, long before that +she had learned that everything one has in this world must be paid for +and the question that had caused her to lose her red "corpuskles" had +been whether she was willing to pay the price or whether she would go +without the love and happiness and companionship that were offered to +her. +</P> + +<P> +She flushed adorably as she met Mr. Jerry's anxious eyes. "I—I don't +want to," she said with rueful honesty and then the words came in a +hurried rush, "But I'm—I'm afraid I do! It's all your fault, Mary +Rose." And she hid her pink cheeks in Mary Rose's yellow hair. +</P> + +<P> +"My fault!" Mary Rose was surprised and puzzled and a wee bit hurt. +She did not understand how she could be to blame. +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Jerry understood and with a quick exclamation he stopped the +car. And there, behind a great clump of tall lilac bushes, he put his +arms around them both. He kissed them both, too, Mary Rose first and +hurriedly and then Miss Thorley, second and lingeringly. +</P> + +<P> +"You dear—you darling!" he said to Miss Thorley and his breath came +quickly and his eyes shone. He kissed her again. "You dearest! I've +been the most patient lover on the footstool. Thank God, I was patient +and just wouldn't be discouraged!" +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose caught his sleeve. "Are you the prince, Mr. Jerry?" she +wanted to know and her eyes shone, too. "And is the spell broken? +Have you driven away the old witch Independence? What did it?" +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Jerry smiled at her flushed face. His own face was flushed and it +had a wonderful radiance to Mary Rose as she looked up at him. "Love +did it, Mary Rose." He squeezed her hand. "Love for you and love for +me. Love's the only thing that can break old Independence's spell." +</P> + +<P> +"Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose," interrupted Miss +Thorley, who was squeezing Mary Rose's other hand. +</P> + +<P> +"Isn't she?" Mary Rose was doubtful. Mr. Jerry had said she was a most +wicked witch. +</P> + +<P> +"A wicked witch would never make a girl brave and strong and self——" +</P> + +<P> +"Self-supporting like George Washington," Mary Rose broke in jubilantly. +</P> + +<P> +"Self-supporting," Miss Thorley accepted the word with a smile, "and +keep her safe and busy until her prince came and she could be a real +help to him. Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose. She's a +girl's good fairy." +</P> + +<P> +"Is she, Mr. Jerry?" Mary Rose had to have that theory indorsed before +she could be quite sure. "Is she?" +</P> + +<P> +"I expect she is," Mr. Jerry handsomely admitted. "Perhaps I've been +mistaken in the old girl. Anyway we're friends now, good friends. +And, Mary Rose," he went on grandly, "ask me what you will and you +shall have it, even to the half of my kingdom. I can't give you the +whole of it because the other half, the half that includes me, is now +the property of the most beautiful princess in the world." +</P> + +<P> +The most beautiful princess in the world laughed in a funny choked sort +of a way and she hugged Mary Rose. "You see, honey girl," she said, +and Mary Rose loved her voice now that the enchantment was broken and +she could hear how soft and sweet it was, "we own him together, you and +I." +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose looked at their joint property with awe and admiration. "Do +we?" It scarcely seemed possible. "Aren't we the lucky girls!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap27"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXVII +</H3> + +<P> +Never did a five-passenger automobile hold more happiness than that car +of Mr. Jerry's as it was driven slowly back to the Washington that +wonderful September evening. And never did the Washington look more +pleasant. A little group of tenants, Mrs. Schuneman, Mrs. Willoughby, +Mrs. Matchan and Miss Carter, were standing out in front talking of +what had happened the night before. Mary Rose waved her hand to them +and to Bob Strahan, who was hurrying up the street. +</P> + +<P> +"Say!" he called. "I've found out who owns the Washington. It's old +Wells!" +</P> + +<P> +"Mr. Wells!" They stared from him up to the windows of Mr. Wells' +apartments which were wide open. +</P> + +<P> +"Yep! I had to dig up some stuff over at the building inspector's and +ran plump against the fact that the owner of the Washington has always +been Horace J. Wells. No wonder he acted as if he owned it." +</P> + +<P> +"But he told me he was a friend of the owner," objected Mary Rose, when +she understood. +</P> + +<P> +"I guess he isn't a friend to anyone but himself," murmured Bob Strahan. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose sat there in the car and tried to think it out. If Mr. Wells +really did own this strange two-faced building why hadn't he told her +so when she had asked him to plead for her? She supposed that he had +made up his mind that she would have to leave, that the law never would +let children live there, and hated to tell her. Mary Rose felt as if a +black cloud had fallen over this day that had been so happy and she +winked rapidly to keep the tears from her eyes. She even tried to wave +her hand to Aunt Kate when she came to the window. +</P> + +<P> +Contrary to custom Aunt Kate did not wave back but ran out. She had a +letter in her hand and looked very, very much pleased. +</P> + +<P> +"You've heard good news, Mrs. Donovan. Who's died and left you a +million?" asked Bob Strahan. "Your face looks like a Christmas tree, +all decorated and lighted." +</P> + +<P> +"Have you?" Mary Rose asked and she jumped from the car and stood +beside her aunt. "Have you heard good news, Aunt Kate? Has anyone +left you a million?" +</P> + +<P> +Aunt Kate stooped and put her arms around Mary Rose. "It's worth more +'n a million to me, Mary Rose. I've had the best of news. Larry's had +a letter from Brown an' Lawson." She stood up and looked from one to +the other of the people who had gathered around her. There were tears +in her eyes. "They say we can keep Mary Rose. That so long as the +tenants are willin' an' because she's gettin' older every day they +won't insist on the rule of the house bein' enforced. They say Mary +Rose can stay as long as we want to keep her." +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" cried Bob Strahan and he flung his hat into the +air. +</P> + +<P> +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" echoed Jimmie Bronson, who had run around the +corner to stand grinning at Mary Rose. +</P> + +<P> +Mary Rose stood quite still and stared at her aunt. Her blue eyes were +very large and as bright as stars. "I can stay," she said softly, +almost unbelievingly. "I can really stay? Oh, where's Mr. Wells! +Where is Mr. Wells! I want to tell him this very minute how much +obliged I am. Oh, there he is!" +</P> + +<P> +For Mr. Wells had actually come up the street and was about to slip +grumblingly past the little group that blocked the walk. Mary Rose ran +to him. +</P> + +<P> +"I can't thank you," she said in a trembling voice, although the +radiance in her face should have thanked anyone. "But I do think you +are the very friendliest man that God ever made!" +</P> + +<P> +Friendly! Mr. Wells actually blushed. He tried to frown but the +attempt was a wretched failure for Mary Rose had dropped a soft kiss on +the hand she had clasped. "See that you do what I promised the owner +you'd do," he grunted, making a failure, also, of his attempt to speak +crossly. "See that you grow older every day." +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, I will!" promised Mary Rose. "I will!" she repeated firmly and +she squeezed his hand as she looked up at the big red brick building +that could now be her home. The spell had been removed from it, too. +There were tears in her blue eyes as she dropped Mr. Wells' hand and +put out her arms as if she would take them all into her embrace. Her +face was like a flower, lifted to the sun, as she cried from the very +depths of her happy, grateful heart: +</P> + +<P> +"I—I just knew this beautiful world would be full of friends if I felt +friendly!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> +<hr class="full" noshade> + +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 22041-h.txt or 22041-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041">http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/0/4/22041</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Sterrett, +Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Mary Rose of Mifflin + + +Author: Frances R. Sterrett + + + +Release Date: July 10, 2007 [eBook #22041] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 22041-h.htm or 22041-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041/22041-h/22041-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041/22041-h.zip) + + + + + +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN + +by + +FRANCES R. STERRETT + +Author of +The "Jam Girl" and "Up the Road with Sallie" + +Illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: "'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said in +surprise"] + + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap +Publishers + +Copyright, 1910, by +D. Appleton and Company + + + + +TO THE MEMORY OF + +MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER + + +WHO MADE A VERY FRIENDLY + +PLACE IN THIS BIG WORLD + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +"'It's an e-normous house, isn't it!' she said + in surprise" . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + +"'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid + it is to wear skirts'" + +"Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared" + +"'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured" + +"'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big city!'" + +"Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and was + telling him of Mifflin" + +"There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting cat" + +"'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' + Miss Thorley asked" + + + + +MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN + + +CHAPTER I + +"It's there in every lease, plain as print," Larry Donovan insisted. +"No childern, no dogs an' no cats. It's in every lease." + +"I don't care if it is!" Kate Donovan's face was as red as a poppy and +she spoke with a determination that exactly matched her husband's. +"You needn't think I'm goin' to turn away my own sister's only child? +Who should take care of her if I don't? Tell me that, Larry Donovan, +an' be ashamed of yourself for askin' me to send her away!" + +"Sure, an' I'd like the little thing here as much as you, Kate, dear," +Larry said soothingly, and in her heart Mrs. Donovan knew that he meant +it. "But it isn't every day that a man picks up a job like this, +janitor of a swell apartmen' buildin', an' if we take in a kid when the +lease says plain as can be, no childern, no dogs an' no cats, I'll lose +the job an' then how'll I put a roof over your heads an' bread in your +stomachs? That's why I'm again' it." + +"A clever man like you'll find a way." Mrs. Donovan's confidence was +both flattering and stimulating. If a woman expects her husband to do +things he just has to do them. He has no choice. "Don't you worry. +You haven't been out of work since we were married 'cept the three +months you was laid up with inflamm't'ry rheumatiz. The way I look at +it is this: the good Lord must have meant us to have Mary Rose or he +wouldn't have taken her mother an' her father an' all her relations but +us. Seems if he didn't send us any of our own so we'd have plenty of +room in our hearts an' home for her. She's a present to us straight +from the Lord." + +"That may be, Kate," Larry scratched his puzzled head. "But will the +agents, will Brown an' Lawson look at it that way? The lease says----" + +"Bother the lease!" Mrs. Donovan interrupted him impatiently. "What's +the lease got to do with a slip of a girl who's been left an orphan +down in Mifflin?" + +"That's just what I'm tryin' to tell you." Larry clung to his temper +with all of his ten fingers, for it was irritating to have her refuse +to understand. "If we took Mary Rose in here to live don't you s'pose +all those up above," he jerked his thumb significantly toward the +ceiling, "'d know it an' make trouble? God knows they make enough as +it is. They're a queer lot of folks under this roof, Kate, and that's +no lie. Folks--they're cranks!" explosively. "When one isn't findin' +fault another is. When I've heat enough for ol' Mrs. Johnson it's too +hot for Mrs. Bracken. Mrs. Schuneman on the first floor has too much +hot water an' Miss Adams on the third too little. Mrs. Rawson won't +stand for Mrs. Matchan's piano an' Mrs. Matchan kicks on Mrs. Rawson's +sewin' machine. Mr. Jarvis never gets his newspaper an' Mrs. Lewis +al'ys gets two. Mrs. Willoughby jumps on me if a pin drops in the +hall. She can't stand no noise since her mother died. She don't do +nothin' but cry. I don't blame her man for stayin' away. I'd as soon +be married to a fountain. When they can't find anythin' else to jaw me +about they take the laundries. An' selfish! There isn't one can see +beyond the reach of his fingers. I used to think that folks were put +into the world to be friendly an' helpful to each other but I've +learned different." He sighed and shook his head helplessly. "Mrs. +Bracken on the first floor has lived here as long as we have, two years +nex' October, an' I've yet to hear her give a friendly word to anyone +in the house. When little Miss Smith up on the third was sick las' +winter did her nex' door neighbor lend a hand? She did not. She was +just worried stiff for fear she'd catch somethin'. She gave me no +peace till Miss Smith was out of the house an' into a hospital. Peace! +I've forgot there was such a word. They won't stand for any kid in the +house when the lease says no childern, no dogs an' no cats." + +"You can't tell me anythin' about _them_!" Mrs. Donovan agreed with +pleasant promptness. It is always agreeable to have one's estimate of +human nature endorsed. "An' the most of 'em look like thunder clouds +when you meet 'em. Ain't it queer, Larry, how few folks look happy +when a smile's 'bout the cheapest thing a body can wear? An' it never +goes out of style. I know I never get tired seein' one on old or +young. All folks can't be rich nor han'some but most of us could look +pleasant if we thought so, seems if. I want to tell that to little +Miss Macy every time I see her, but I know full well she'd say I was +impudent, so I keep my mouth shut. Maybe the tenants won't stand for a +child in the house. They haven't wit to see that the Lord had his good +reasons when he invented the fam'ly. But there's some way. There must +be! An' we've got to find it, Larry Donovan. Are you goin' to wash +Mrs. Rawson's windows today?" She changed the subject abruptly. "She +called me up twice yesterday to see they needed it, as if I had nothin' +to do but traipse aroun' after her." + +Larry understood exactly how she felt. He had been called up more than +twice to see the windows and had promised to clean them within +twenty-four hours. Before he went away he patted his wife's shoulder +and said again: "It isn't that I don't want the little thing here, +Kate. She'd be good for both of us. It's bad for folks to grow old +'thout young ones growin' up around 'em, but a job's a job. It +wouldn't be easy for a man to get another as good as this at this time +of year. See the home it gives you." + +He looked proudly around the pleasant basement living-room. Open doors +led into the dining-room and hall from which more doors opened into +kitchen and sleeping-rooms. There was a small room at the end of the +hall in which Mrs. Donovan kept her sewing machine but for which, in +the last twenty-four hours, she had found another use. The apartment +was very comfortable and Mrs. Donovan kept it as neat as wax. There +was never any dust on her floors if the fault-finding tenants did say +there was in the halls. + +Mrs. Donovan was proud of her home also, but she frowned as she glanced +about her. "There's plenty of room for one more," she grumbled. "That +little room beyond ours is just the place for a child. But go on, +Larry, we'll think of a way. We've got to! It shan't ever be said +that Kate Donovan turned away her only sister's only child. Do you +mind when Mary married Sam Crocker? It was thought to be a big step up +for the daughter of an Irish carpenter to marry a Crocker, the son of +ol' Judge Crocker an' a lawyer himself. Seems if there never was a +prettier girl than Mary an' she was happy till she died. An' now Sam's +dead, too. He wasn't the man his father was. He couldn't keep money +an' he couldn't earn it. Mary used to feel sorry for me, Larry, +because you weren't a Crocker, but if she could see us now an', seems +if, I believe she can, she mus' be glad I got a good honest hard +workin' Irishman. You've a good job an' a little money in the bank. +You don't owe no man a penny. That's more'n Sam Crocker could ever say +an' tell the truth!" + +For two years Larry Donovan had been the proud janitor of the +Washington Apartment House. He had moved in before the building was +fairly completed and felt that it belonged to him quite as much as to +the owner, whose name he did not know, for all business was transacted +through the rental agents, Brown and Lawson. + +It was an attractive building. The center of the red brick front, with +its rather ornate entrance, was pushed back some ten feet. The +rectangular space that was left was neatly bisected by the cement walk. +On either side were grassy squares, like pocket handkerchiefs, man's +size, with clumps of shrubbery in the corners for monograms. The +Washington was long and broad and low, not more than three stories +high, but it had an air of comfort and also of pretension that was +lacking in many of the taller apartment houses whose shoulders it could +not begin to touch. Under the low roof were some twenty apartments of +different sizes and the occupant of each was bound by lease not to +introduce a child nor a cat nor a dog. No one showed the least desire +to introduce any one of the three but each went his way and insisted on +his full rights with a selfish disregard of the rights and conveniences +of others in a way that at first had made Larry Donovan's mouth pop +wide open in amazement. Even now that he was used to it he was often +surprised. + +And to the Washington with its lease forbidding children and pets had +come a letter from Mifflin telling of the sudden death of Mrs. +Donovan's brother-in-law. Samuel Crocker had been an unsuccessful man, +as the world counts success, and had left nothing behind him but his +little daughter, Mary Rose. + +"It's her age that's again' her," thought Mrs. Donovan, when she was +alone. "If she were a couple of years older there couldn't be any +objection. Well, for the lan's sakes!" Her face broke into a broad +grin. "There isn't any reason why we should--nobody need ever know," +she murmured cryptically. + +Ten minutes later she was busy in the little room at the end of the +hall. When Larry came back he stumbled over the machine she had pushed +out of her way. + +"Hullo," he said. "What's up?" + +Mrs. Donovan lifted a smiling face. "I'm gettin' ready." + +"For what?" he asked stupidly. + +"For my niece, Mary Rose Crocker." She turned around and stood before +him, a scrub-cloth in her hand. + +Larry frowned. "I thought we'd finished with that, Kate. I told you +about the leases. You'll have to board Mary Rose in Mifflin or send +her to a convent." + +"Board!" The scrub-doth, a very banner of defiance, was waved an inch +in front of his nose. "Board out my own niece, a kid of eleven? I +think I see myself, Larry Donovan. An' aren't you ashamed to have such +thoughts, you, a decent man? A little thing that needs a mother's +care. An' who should give it to her but me, her own aunt? The Lord +had his plans when he took away all her other relations an' I ain't one +to interfere." + +"It means the loss of my job," objected Larry sullenly. + +"It does not." There was another flourish of the scrub-cloth. "Listen +to me, Larry Donovan. Is there anyone in this house 't knows how old +Mary Rose is? Does Mrs. Bracken or that crosspatch Miss Adams or the +weepin' willow, Mrs. Willoughby, know she isn't eleven? Who's to tell +'em if we keep our mouths shut? It ain't none of their business +though, seems if, there isn't one that'd be beyond makin' it their +business. I'll grant you that. Your old lease, more shame to it, says +childern ain't allowed here. Mary Rose is a child but if she takes +after her mother's fam'ly, an' I know in my heart she does, she'll be a +big up-standin' girl, a girl anyone 'd take for fourteen. Maybe +fifteen. Why, when her mother was twelve she weighed a hundred an' +twenty-five pounds. I've known women of fifty that didn't weigh that!" +triumphantly. "Don't you worry, Larry, dear. I've got it all planned +out. There's the clothes your sister left here when she an' Ella went +West las' fall. Ella was fourteen an' her clothes 'll just fit Mary +Rose or I miss my guess. They'll make her look every minute of +fourteen. An' a girl of fourteen isn't a child. Why, the state that's +again' child labor lets a girl of fourteen go to work if she can get a +permit, so we've got the law on our side. You see how easy it is, +Larry?" She beamed with pride at the solution she had found for the +problem that had tormented her ever since the letter had come from +Mifflin. + +"Do you mean you're goin' to tell lies about your own niece?" demanded +Larry incredulously. + +Mrs. Donovan looked at him sadly. "Why should I tell lies?" she asked +sweetly. "Sure, it's no lie to say Mary Rose is goin' on fourteen. I +ain't denyin' it'll be some time before she gets to fourteen but she's +goin' on fourteen more'n she is on ten. If the tenants take a wrong +meaning from my words is it my fault? No, Larry," firmly. "I wouldn't +tell lies for nobody an' I wouldn't let Mary Rose tell lies. We al'ys +had our mouths well scoured out with soft soap when we didn't tell the +truth. But it ain't no lie to say a child's goin' on fourteen when she +is." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +A taxicab stopped before the Washington Apartment House and a slim +boyish little figure hopped out and stared up at the roof of the long +red brick building that towered so far above. + +"It's an e-normous house, isn't it!" she said in surprise. + +"Here, Mary Rose." A hand reached out a basket and then a birdcage. +"I'll go in with you." + +"You're awfully good, Mrs. Black." Mary Rose looked at her with loving +admiration. "Of course, I'd have come here all right by myself for +daddy always said there was a special Providence to look after children +and fools and that was why we were so well taken care of, but it +certainly did make it pleasant for me to have you come all the way." + +"It certainly made it pleasant for me," Mrs. Black said, and it had. +Mary Rose was so enthusiastic on this, her first trip away from +Mifflin, that she had amused Mrs. Black, who had made the journey to +Waloo so many times that it had become nothing but a necessary bore. +She was sorry that they had arrived at Mary Rose's destination. "Now, +where do we find your aunt?" She, too, looked up at the red brick +building that faced them so proudly. + +"My Uncle Larry's the janitor of this splendid mansion!" Mary Rose told +her joyously, although there was a trace of awe in her birdlike voice. +The mansion seemed so very, very large to her. "Is janitor the same as +owner, Mrs. Black? It's--it's----" she drew a deep breath as if she +found it difficult to say what it was. "It's wonderful! There isn't +one house in all Mifflin so big and grand, is there? It looks more," +she cocked her head on one side, "like the new Masonic Temple on Main +Street than anybody's home." + +"So it does," agreed Mrs. Black, leading the way into the vestibule, +where she found a bell labeled "Janitor." + +When Kate Donovan answered it she saw a pleasant-faced, smartly clad +woman with a child in a neat, if shabby, boy's suit of blue serge, +belted blouse over shrunken knickerbockers. She knew at once that they +had come to look at the vacant apartment on the second floor. + +"An I'll have to tell her we don't have no childern here," she said to +herself, and she sighed. "I wish Larry had a place in a house that was +overrun with childern. Seems if I hate to tell her how it is." + +But the pleasant-faced smartly clad woman smiled at her as no +prospective tenant had ever smiled and asked sweetly: "Is this Mrs. +Donovan?" + +Before Kate Donovan could admit it the boyish little figure ran to her. + +"My Aunt Kate! I know it is. It's my Aunt Kate!" + +"My soul an' body!" murmured the startled Mrs. Donovan, staring +stupidly at the child embracing her knees. + +"I brought your little niece," began Mrs. Black. + +"Niece!" gasped Mrs. Donovan in astonishment, for the figure at her +knees did not look like any niece she had ever seen. "Sure, it's a +boy!" + +The little face upturned to her broke into a radiant smile. "That's +what everyone says. But I'm not a boy, I'm not! Am I, Mrs. Black? +I'm a girl and my name's Mary Rose and I'm almost eleven----" + +"H-sh, h-sh, dearie!" Mrs. Donovan's hand slipped over the red lips +and she sent a quick glance over her shoulder. Bewildered and +surprised as she was she realized that her niece's age was not to be +shouted out in the vestibule of the Washington in any such joyous +fashion. "My soul an' body," she murmured again as she looked at the +sturdy little figure in knickerbockers. "You're Mary Rose Crocker?" +she asked doubtfully. She almost hoped she wasn't. + +"Mary Rose Crocker," repeated the red lips and the knickerbockered legs +jumped up and down. + +"My soul an' body!" Mrs. Donovan murmured helplessly. "Will you come +down to my rooms, ma'am," she said to Mrs. Black, as she tried to +remember her manners and not think how she was to tell Larry the truth. +Why, this child was undersized rather than over. Her mother might have +weighed a hundred and twenty-five pounds when she was twelve but Mary +Rose couldn't weigh seventy. Dear, dear, why couldn't she just as well +have been bigger? But after one glance at the glowing little face, +Kate Donovan would have lost almost everything rather than her right to +take care of diminutive Mary Rose. + +Mrs. Black smiled at her. She liked her honest good-natured face. It +was a shining door-plate for the big heart behind it. She had been +rather worried over Mary Rose's only living relative, for she was fond +of Mary Rose and wanted her to have a real home. + +"Thank you, but I fear I must go on. Our train was a little late. I +am glad to have met you and if you like Mary Rose half as much as I do +you will think you are a lucky woman to have her always with you. +Good-by, Mary Rose. Thank you for coming with me." + +Mary Rose threw her arms about her friend. "Thank you for bringing +me," she whispered. + +"Have you everything? Her trunk is at the station and she has the +check," she explained to Mrs. Donovan. "Good-by." And with another +kiss for Mary Rose she was gone. They could hear the purr of the +taxicab as it dashed up the street. + +Mary Rose drew a deep breath. "It's very pleasant to get to the end of +a journey," she began a trifle tremulously. Mary Rose was beginning to +feel a bit forlorn at being left alone with an aunt she had never seen +before. "Mrs. Black's a very kind lady and she brought me here in a +taxicab. It's very pleasant riding in a taxicab." + +"I've no doubt it is," remarked Mrs. Donovan, who knew taxicabs only by +sight. "Now, Mary Rose, we'll go down to my rooms. Is this your +canary?" She looked oddly at the bird-cage. + +"Yes, that's Jennie Lind. I couldn't leave her behind and Mrs. Black +said you'd be sure to have room for her, for all she needs is a window +to hang in and everybody has at least one window. Your house is very +large, isn't it?" admiringly. "It makes me think of a palace, although +it is something like the new Masonic Temple in Mifflin. Do you live in +the cellar?" she asked in astonishment as her aunt led the way down the +basement stairs. "I've never lived in a cellar before. In Mifflin our +cellar had only room for jellies and pickles and a closet for +vegetables, turnips and parsnips, you know." + +"This isn't a cellar," she was told rather sharply. "It's a basement." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose tried to see the difference between a cellar and a +basement and had little difficulty, for nothing could have been more +different from the little Mifflin cellar with its swinging shelf for +preserves and pickles, its dark closet for vegetables, than Aunt Kate's +basement apartment. The sun streamed into the windows, only half of +which were below the level of the street, and the rooms looked very +bright and pleasant to tired Mary Rose. + +"It's--it's very pleasant," she said. "But do you always live down +here?" She couldn't understand why her aunt should choose rooms in the +cellar when she had such a large house. + +Her aunt did not answer her but asked a question of her own. "Mary +Rose, what makes you dress like that, like a boy?" She couldn't +imagine why. + +Mary Rose regarded her small person with a blush and a frown. "I know. +Isn't it horrid? I'd lots rather wear girls' clothes, but you see +these saved washing, and Lena, who took care of daddy and me, made a +fuss about the washing almost every week, so daddy said boys' clothes +were pleasanter than arguments. Aunt Kate," her voice was tragic, "I'm +'most eleven years old and I haven't ever had a white dress with a blue +sash in all my life. I never even had a hair ribbon!" + +"My soul an' body!" murmured Aunt Kate, and derived no more +satisfaction from the exclamation than she had the other times she had +used it. + +"Don't you think boys should wear boys' clothes and girls girls' +clothes, Aunt Kate? Of course, if you have to think of the washing, +too, I won't say a word and I'll try to be happy in these. But I do +hate them. I think little girls' clothes are beautiful. All my life +I've wanted a white dress with lace on it and a blue sash. Gladys +Evans has one. She wore it at the church social. I spoke a piece and +I had to wear these ugly clothes. It hurt my pride awful but daddy +said that was because I didn't look at it right, that if I had the +right kind of an eye I'd see washing in a white dress instead of +beauty. But I guess it's hard to see right when you haven't ever had +anything but boys' clothes. Oh, Aunt Kate!" she put her arms around +her aunt. "I do think that it is good of you to want me to live with +you. You're the only relation I have out of Heaven. I don't quite +understand about that, when Gladys Evans has four sisters and a brother +and three aunts and two uncles and a pair of grandfathers and even one +grandmother. It doesn't seem just fair, does it? But I think you're +nicer than all of hers put together. One of her aunts is cross-eyed +and another lives in California and one of her uncles is stingy," she +whispered. "You--you're beautiful!" And she hugged her again. + +Mrs. Donovan dropped weakly into a chair and her arms went around Mary +Rose. She had never realized how empty they had been until they +enclosed Mary Rose. + +"You didn't say anything about bringing my friends with me," went on +Mary Rose happily, "but of course I couldn't leave Jenny Lind and +George Washington behind. George Washington has the same name as your +house," she gurgled. "Wouldn't you like to see him?" She slipped from +her aunt's arms to the chair where she had put her basket. There had +been sundry angry upheavals of the cover but it was tightly tied with a +stout string. Mrs. Donovan had scarcely noticed it. She had been too +bewildered to see anything but Mary Rose. + +Mary Rose untied the basket cover but before she could raise it a big +maltese cat had pushed it aside and jumped to the floor and stood +stretching himself in front of Mrs. Donovan's horrified eyes. + +"Mary Rose!" she cried. It was all she could say. + +"Isn't he a beauty?" Mary Rose turned shining eyes to her as she +patted her pet. "I've had him ever since he was a weeny kitten. Mrs. +Campbell gave him to me when I had the tonsilitis. We adore each +other. You see his mother is dead and so is mine. We're both orphans." + +And she caught the orphaned George Washington to her and hugged him. +"I've a dog, too, but I left him in Mifflin." + +"Thank God for that," murmured Mrs. Donovan under her breath. + +"His name is Solomon," went on Mary Rose. "He was such a wise little +puppy that daddy said he should have a wise name. The superintendent +of schools made out a list for me and I copied each one on a separate +piece of paper and let the puppy take his choice. He took Solomon and +daddy said he showed his sense for Solomon was the very wisest of all. +But that shows just how smart Solomon was even as a puppy. Jimmie +Bronson's taking care of him until I send for him. He said he'd just +as soon I never sent, but of course I will as soon as I can. Do you +see Jenny Lind, George Washington?" She took the cat's head in her +hands and turned it to the cage in which Jenny Lind hopped restlessly. +"They aren't the friends I'd like them to be," she explained almost +apologetically to her aunt. "Sometimes it worries me. Dear me, I wish +I could have a talk with Noah! Don't you often wonder how he managed +in the ark? It must have been hard with cats and mice and snakes and +birds and lions and people. Daddy thought Noah must have been a fine +animal tamer, like the one in the circus Gladys Evans' father took us +to, only better, of course. Don't you think you'll like George +Washington?" she asked timidly, rather puzzled by her aunt's silence. + +"He's a beautiful cat," gulped Mrs. Donovan, who was more puzzled than +Mary Rose. What should she do? What could she do? She took both Mary +Rose and George Washington in her arms. "Listen to me, Mary Rose, for +a minute. You know your Uncle Larry is janitor of this building?" + +"It's a fine building," admiringly. "He must be awful rich." + +"He isn't rich at all," hurriedly. "If he was he wouldn't be a +janitor. A janitor is the man who takes care of it----" + +"Oh," Mary Rose was frankly disappointed. "I thought he owned it." + +"You see other folks live here, lots of them, an' the man who owns it +won't let them have any cats or dogs," she hesitated, she hated to say +it, "or childern in it. It's in the lease. A lease is the same as a +law." + +"Won't have any cats or dogs or children!" Mary Rose's voice was +shrill with astonishment and her eyes were as big as saucers. "Why, +everybody has children! They always have had. Don't you remember, +even Adam and Eve? In Mifflin everyone has children." + +"It's different in Waloo. You see the man who owns this house thinks +childern are noisy an' destructive." She tried her best to find an +excuse for the unknown owner. "He doesn't know, of course. He's +probably a cross old bachelor." + +"But I'm a child," wailed Mary Rose suddenly. "Wha-what are you going +to do with me?" Her face whitened. + +Her aunt put her hand under the little chin and turned Mary Rose's +startled face up so that the two pairs of eyes looked directly into +each other. "You're not a child, Mary Rose. You're a great big girl +goin' on fourteen. Don't ever forget that. If anyone asks you how old +you are you just tell 'em you're goin' on fourteen. That's what you +are, you know." + +"Yes," doubtfully. "But I have to go to eleven first and then to +twelve and thirteen----" + +"Waloo folks don't care about that," her aunt interrupted quickly. +"They don't care to hear about any but the fourteen. Don't you ever +forget." + +"I won't," promised Mary Rose solemnly, too puzzled just then to think +it out. "But what about George Washington? He's just a cat." She +looked dubiously at George Washington and shook her head. Nothing +could be made of him but a cat. "An orphan cat!" she added firmly. + +"I know, dearie." Aunt Kate's arms tightened around her. "An' I hate +to ask you to give him up. I know you love him but if you keep him +here it may mean that your uncle will lose his job an' if he did that +there wouldn't be any roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose stared at her. "Would that cross old bachelor owner +make him not be janitor?" + +Her aunt nodded. "We'll have to find someone to take care of him--just +for a while," she added quickly as she saw two big tears in Mary Rose's +blue eyes. "Some day, please God, we'll have a home where we can have +him with us." + +Mary Rose stood very still, trying in vain to understand this strange +world to which she had come, a world where children and cats and dogs +were not considered precious and desirable. Suddenly a bell rang. + +"That's Mrs. Rawson," murmured Aunt Kate. "I'll bet she wants me to +run up an' look at her windows again. I'll be right back, Mary Rose," +she promised as she hurried away to answer the insistent jangle of Mrs. +Rawson's bell. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Left alone, Mary Rose caught George Washington to her heart and stood +staring about the room. She shook her head. This might be a beautiful +palace but she was very much afraid that she was not going to like it. +She walked slowly into the next room and then to the kitchen, whose +windows faced the alley. + +Across the driveway she could see a broad open space, the yard of a +rambling old-fashioned house. A man was cleaning an automobile and +through the open window Mary Rose could hear his cheery whistle. There +was something about the old-fashioned house and the spacious yard that +reminded Mary Rose of Mifflin, where people loved children and had +pets. The puzzled frown left her face, and clutching George Washington +closer she went out of the back door and across the alley. + +"If you please," she said, her heart beating so fast that she was +almost choked, "would you take a cat to board?" + +She had to say it a second time before the man heard her. He looked up +in surprise. He had a frank, pleasant face with twinkling eyes and +Mary Rose liked him at once. + +"Hullo, brother," he said, quite as cordially as a Mifflin man would +have spoken. "And where did you drop from?" + +"I didn't drop," answered literal Mary Rose. "I came across the +alley," and she nodded toward the big apartment house. It now turned a +white brick face to her. Mary Rose almost forgot her errand when she +saw that. In Mifflin houses were the same color all the way around. +"Why--why, it's two-faced!" she cried. "The front is all red and now +the back is all white. It's just like an enchanted palace." + +"It is an enchanted palace," grumbled the man. + +Mary Rose flew to his side. "Oh, is there a princess there? A +beautiful princess?" she begged. + +The man colored under the tan the sun and wind had spread over his +face. "There is," he admitted, "a most beautiful princess." + +"And a witch?" insisted Mary Rose. "A wicked witch?" The color flew +into her face also. + +"The wickedest witch that could ever enslave a beautiful princess. Her +darned old name is Independence!" + +Mary Rose did not understand and she thought it was an odd name for a +witch but she wished to know more. "And is the prince there?" she +demanded thirstily. + +The man's face turned redder than before. "The prince is here," he +said sadly. "Right here. And he might as well be in Jericho," he +added under his breath. + +"I've heard the Presbyterian minister speak of Jericho but I never read +of it in any fairy-tale. Oh, dear! I hope the prince won't go there. +I want him to stay here and rescue the pretty princess from that wicked +witch In-independence," she stumbled over the unfamiliar word. + +The man looked at her. He had to look away down to find her, for he +was tall, over six feet, and Mary Rose was not much more than half +that, but when he finally did find her Mary Rose was amazed to see the +look of determination that came into his sunburned face. + +"He'll do it," he said, half under his breath. "It's all very well for +a girl to be independent, but she needn't be so darned independent that +she won't listen to a word a man says." + +"I don't think I understand," Mary Rose ventured to say when there was +a long pause. + +Her new friend laughed. "No, of course, you don't." He put his hands +on her shoulders. "As man to man," he said, "the modern girl is +getting to be almost too much of a problem for the modern man. I don't +suppose you understand that, either. But wait ten or fifteen years and +you will. Godfrey! I feel sorry for you. If they keep on as they've +started what will they be in ten years? Did you say you were living +over there?" He looked toward the white wall. + +Mary Rose nodded her yellow head. "I thought perhaps you might like to +take a cat to board. An orphan cat," she explained pityingly. + +Jerry Longworthy swallowed a laugh when he saw that there was real +trouble in her face. "Suppose you climb into the car and tell me why +you're looking for a boarding place for an orphan cat?" + +Mary Rose smiled radiantly as she obeyed and, with George Washington +cuddled against her, she told him all about it. + +"My Uncle Larry," she began very importantly, "is the janitor of that +wonderful two-faced palace." + +"Is he, indeed," remarked Jerry Longworthy, lighting his pipe. + +"But he doesn't own it. At first I thought he did. I used to live in +Mifflin, where there aren't any houses like that. Every family has its +own house. Some of them are little but Mrs. Black's is as big as +yours. She brought me to Waloo and we had a taxicab all the way." + +"All the way!" Mr. Jerry showed a proper amount of astonishment. "That +was a treat." + +"It was to me," simply. "There aren't any taxicabs in Mifflin, just +one old hack that was made before the war, Mr. Day said, and that's a +very long time ago." + +"It is," agreed Mr. Jerry. "Longer than either you or I can remember. +I expect you are all of ten years old?" + +"I'm older than that." She would have told him how much older but she +remembered what Aunt Kate had said. "I'm going on fourteen." It +sounded so aged that she felt quite important. "And my name is Mary +Rose Crocker." + +"Mary Rose?" He lifted his eyebrows, and Mary Rose knew at once that +he was thinking that boys' clothes and girls' names do not usually go +together. She flushed. + +"I wear them to save washing," she said with a certain dignity as she +touched the shrunken knickerbockers. "Girls' clothes are a lot of +trouble. Lena said they weren't worth it." + +"I'm sure she's right. You're only a little ahead of the style. All +girls'll be wearing them soon, no doubt. They're that independent. +How old is the orphan George?" He changed a subject that was evidently +so painful to Mary Rose. + +"He's 'most five. I got him when I had tonsilitis, when I was six," +unconsciously betraying to anyone who could add five to six the secret +Aunt Kate had begged her to keep. "And we've never been separated a +whole day. But now," she swallowed the lump in her throat and went on +bravely, "you see the owner of that palace won't have any children nor +any dogs nor any cats in it." + +"I know." Mr. Jerry seemed to know everything. "What are you going to +do?" + +"If we kept him Uncle Larry would lose the janitor and we wouldn't have +a roof over our heads nor bread for our stomachs, so I thought if I +could find a pleasant place for him to board near by I could see him +often. I couldn't give him away, for Aunt Kate says perhaps the +Lord'll give us a real home some day where we can all be together. +When I saw your house it made me think of Mifflin and I wondered if you +had a cat and if you hadn't if you would like to board one?" Her face +was painfully serious as she lifted It to Jerry Longworthy. + +"Well," he considered the question gravely. "Can you pay his board?" + +"I've a dollar and forty-three cents. The forty-three cents I saved +and the dollar Mr. Black gave me when he took me to the train in +Mifflin. How much should a cat's board be?" anxiously. + +"How much milk does he drink? Milk's seven cents a quart in Waloo." + +"Oh, not more than a quart a day," eagerly. "And he's almost too fat +now." + +"A quart a day would be seven times seven----" + +"I know. I know all my tables up to twelve times twelve. That would +be forty-nine cents. Do you think fifty cents would be enough?" + +"I should think fifty cents a week very good board for a cat. Suppose +we go in and see what my Aunt Mary has to say." + +His Aunt Mary proved to be a plump lady with a round rosy face, who +agreed with Mary Rose that children and cats and dogs were most +desirable additions to a family. She seemed quite glad to take George +Washington as a boarder and thought that fifty cents a week was enough +to charge as long as Mary Rose solemnly promised to come over every day +and help take care of him. Mary Rose promised most solemnly. + +"I'm so glad." She beamed on Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary and hugged +George Washington. "It's a great relief to find a pleasant boarding +place. I can pay for two weeks, almost three weeks now," she offered. + +Mr. Jerry started to speak but his Aunt Mary shook her head and he shut +his mouth with the words inside. + +"We don't take board in advance for a cat," said his Aunt Mary in a way +that told Mary Rose such a thing was never done. "In fact, we've never +taken a cat to board before. I think it will be more satisfactory if +we wait until the end of the week, when we can tell just how much milk +he will drink," she added soberly. + +"He's awfully greedy." Mary Rose looked sadly at the greedy George +Washington. "But he's always had all he wanted. I can't tell you how +much obliged I am and I'll come over every day. It's awfully good of +you to take him when you haven't any other boarders." + +"I'd take you, too, if I could," Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary murmured as she +went to get a ginger cooky. + +"I'm going to find the beautiful princess," Mary Rose told Mr. Jerry, +when she said good-by to him a few minutes later. "And when I do shall +I tell her that the prince is not going to Jericho?" + +"Do," he said and his face went all red again. "Tell her that he's +going to stay right here on the job, that he will never give her up." + +"Never give her up," repeated Mary Rose. She tried to say it as firmly +as he had said it and she waved her hand as she went across the alley +and into the back door of the Washington, with a most delicious thrill +at entering such a two-faced building. + +Mr. Jerry looked after her and frowned. Then he shook his fist at the +Washington. + +"You are an enchanted palace," he told it sternly. "If it weren't for +doggone places like you, girls would have to stay at home. They +couldn't go out in the world and grow so independent that they think +work is the biggest thing in creation. Oh, Godfrey! it isn't normal +for any girl to like a job better than a perfectly good man. When I +think of Elizabeth Thorley wasting herself on advertisements for +Bingham and Henderson's sickening jams when she might be making a +Heaven for me it sends my temperature up until I'm afraid of +spontaneous combustion. She wouldn't care if I did blow up and turn to +ashes. She wouldn't care what happened to me so long as she could send +out a new poster for peach marmalade. She wants to live her own life +and not be tied down to a man or a home," he groaned. "Darn these +feministic ideas, anyway! I wish I had been my own grandfather. The +girl he wanted wasn't on any old factory payroll." + +He had been in love with Elizabeth Thorley ever since one night, almost +a year ago, when he had looked across a room and seen her red-brown +hair, her oval face with its uplifted pointed chin, and met her +laughing eyes. He had held her gaze for the fraction of a moment and +in that time his heart had stopped beating. When it began again the +world was a very different place to him. But, alas, it was not a +different place to her. She had suffered no magical change by the +short interchange of glances. + +They had been the best of friends. They had a certain similarity of +tastes and interests, for he was an architect and she was an +advertising artist. But when he asked for more than friendship she +tilted her white chin a bit higher and told him frankly that she was +not the type of girl to want or think of marriage; that all she wished +was her work and she thanked her lucky stars every night of her life +that she had enough of it to be independent. + +"Marriage to me is a many-headed dragon," she said. "It eats up a +girl's individuality, her ambitions, her talents. Oh, yes, it does! +I've seen it too many times not to know, and I want to keep Elizabeth +Thorley's personality for her as long as she lives. I shan't merge it +in that of any man." + +She valued his friendship; she would like to keep it always, she added, +but she did not want his love. She did not want any man's love. That +was why Mr. Jerry shook his fist at the white face of the Washington +and swore that he loathed the idea of feminine independence, loathed it +from the very bottom of his heart. + +"Why, Mary Rose, wherever have you been?" demanded startled Mrs. +Donovan, when Mary Rose, a trifle breathless and minus George +Washington, slipped into the basement flat. "I've been lookin' +everywhere for you." + +"I'm sorry but I just had to find a boarding place for George +Washington. Oh, Aunt Kate, do you suppose there's any way a girl like +me can earn fifty cents every week?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +When Larry Donovan saw his niece she had changed her shabby boy's suit +of blue serge for the clothes that Ella Murphy had outgrown. Ella had +astonished and disgusted her mother by lengthening herself, in a single +night, it seemed to the outraged Mrs. Murphy, to such an extent that a +new outfit was necessary. + +"It may be well enough for asparagus and tulips to grow like that, but +it's all wrong for a girl," she had said resentfully. "I just wish the +Power that lengthened her had to find her dresses and petticoats and +things to make her decent to go to the grandmother that's never seen +her. Here I am, all but ready to start, an' I have to get her new +clothes. Childern may be a blessing, there's folks that say they are, +but there's times I can't see anything but the worry and the expense of +'em." + +So the lengthened Ella's discarded garments had been left behind for +Mrs. Donovan to dispose of. They had been packed away and forgotten +until Mary Rose arrived and reminded her Aunt Kate that a perfectly +good outfit for a girl of fourteen was in one of her closets. + +Fortunately Ella had been slim as well as tall and the middy blouse +that Mrs. Donovan tried on Mary Rose did not look too much as if it had +been made for her grandmother. The bright plaid skirt trailed on the +floor but Aunt Kate turned back the hem which still left the skirt +hanging considerably below Mary Rose's shabby shoe tops, much to her +delight. + +She hung over the machine, her tongue clattering an unwearied +accompaniment to the whir of the wheel, as Mrs. Donovan sewed the +basted hem. + +"Did you know there was an enchanted princess in your house, Aunt +Kate?" she demanded excitedly. + +Mrs. Donovan had not known it and her surprise made her break her +thread. When Mary Rose had explained she grunted something. + +"You mean the girl that Mr. Longworthy's crazy about? She's up above +an' won't have nothin' to do with men. 'I don't want nothin' in my +life but my work,' says she to me, herself. That's all very well for +now but let her wait a few years an' she'll sing a different tune or I +miss my guess. She ain't enchanted, Mary Rose, she's just pig-headed +an' young." + +Mary Rose was disappointed. "Mr. Jerry said she was under the spell of +the wicked witch, Independence," she insisted. "Wasn't it good of him +to take George Washington to board? It's such a relief to have found a +pleasant place so near. I'm sure they'll be friendly to him." + +Mrs. Donovan mentally planned to slip across the alley and see Mr. +Jerry and his Aunt Mary herself about George Washington's board as she +looked into the earnest little face so near her own. + +"Sure, they will," she said above the whir of the machine. "But you +mustn't make friends of everyone you meet, Mary Rose. A city isn't +like the country. I suppose you knew everyone in Mifflin?" + +"Everyone," with an emphatic shake of her head. "Animals and +vegetables as well as people. And everyone knew me." + +"Well, it won't be that way in Waloo," Mrs. Donovan explained. "No one +knows you an' you don't know anyone. You mustn't go makin' up to +strangers. A little girl can't tell who's good an' who's bad." + +"She can if she has the right kind of an eye," Mary Rose told her +eagerly. "Daddy said so over and over again. He said the good Lord +never made bad people because it would be a waste of time and dust when +he could just as well make them good. And if you had the right kind of +an eye you could see that there was good in every single person. Daddy +said I had the right kind. Mine's blue but it isn't in the color, for +his eyes were brown and they were right, too. It's something," she +hesitated as she tried to explain what was so very dear and simple to +her. "It's something to do with the inside and your heart. I +shouldn't wonder, Aunt Kate, if you had the right kind. Isn't it +easier for you to see that people are kind and good than it is to see +them bad?" + +It wasn't for Aunt Kate. A two-years' residence in the basement of the +Washington had about convinced her that all human nature was sour but +she disliked to tell Mary Rose so when Mary Rose so plainly expected +her to agree that the world was inhabited by a superior sort of angel. +She snipped her threads and drew the plaid skirt from under the needle. + +Mary Rose fairly squealed with delight when she was in the white middy +blouse and the skirt flapped about her ankles in such a very grown-up +manner. Mary Rose's yellow hair had always been bobbed but no one had +seen that it was trimmed before she left Mifflin and it hung in rather +straight lanky locks about her elfish face. Some of the locks were +long enough to be drawn under one of Ella's discarded red hair ribbons +and Aunt Kate pinned back the others. The result was a very different +Mary Rose from the one who had jumped out of the taxicab a few hours +ago. She climbed on a chair and looked at her reflection in the mirror +of her aunt's bureau. + +"I do think it's too lovely!" she cried rapturously. "You can't ever +know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to wear skirts. Sometimes," she +whispered confidentially, "I used to wonder if I really was a girl. +You don't think it will make too much washing?" anxiously. "I +shouldn't want to be a burden to you. But I do love this skirt! I +wish Gladys Evans could see me!" + +[Illustration: "'You can't ever know, Aunt Kate, how splendid it is to +wear skirts.'"] + +She was still admiring her new clothes in the mirror when her Uncle +Larry came in. + +"Hullo," he said in a loud cheery voice. "Who's this? Kate, Mrs. +Bracken wants to see you." + +Mary Rose tore her eyes from the fascinating reflection in the mirror +that she could scarcely believe was herself, and looked at the big +broad-shouldered man in the doorway. He had been frowning but the +frown slipped away from his forehead when he gazed into Mary Rose's +blue eyes, so that he looked very kind and friendly. Mary Rose jumped +from the chair and ran over to him. + +"I'm Mary Rose," she said a bit shyly. This unknown uncle was so big +and strong and he was janitor of this strange two-faced palace. A +janitor sounded powerful and important even if Aunt Kate had explained +that he wasn't, so that Mary Rose felt a little shy with him. + +"Mary Rose, eh?" He picked her up and raised her in his arms until her +face was on a level with his. "Sure, I think you're more of a Rose +than a Mary," he added as he kissed the face that was as pink as any +flower. + +Her arms met around his neck. "That's because I'm so happy to be with +you and Aunt Kate," she whispered. "You know, after daddy went to +Heaven there wasn't anyone in the whole world that belonged to me in +Mifflin but George Washington, and my dog that Jimmie Bronson borrowed, +and Jenny Lind, and now to have a great big uncle and a beautiful aunt +of my very own m-makes me very happy." + +"Who's George Washington?" asked Uncle Larry as he found a chair and +sat down with her in his arms. + +Mary Rose told him about her cat, which was boarding across the alley, +and Uncle Larry thought to himself that he would go over and make sure +that the cat was all right. It was a thundering shame the child +couldn't have her pet with her. He'd like to tell the owner of the +Washington a few things if he knew who he was and if there was no fear +of losing his job. + +"And Jenny Lind," Mary Rose was saying eagerly. "I must show you Jenny +Lind." She slipped down and ran into the next room to come back with a +birdcage. "Aunt Kate says I may keep her here because there isn't one +word in that law about canary birds." + +"No, thank God, there isn't," said Uncle Larry. "The old grouch must +have forgotten about them." He admired Jenny Lind as much as Mary Rose +could wish. + +"The real Jenny Lind was a girl with a bird in her throat," Mary Rose +explained as she leaned against his knee. "My own grandfather heard it +and he told daddy and daddy told me that to hear her sing made a man +think he was in Heaven. So when Mrs. Lenox gave me this beautiful bird +for my very own, of course, I named her Jenny Lind. Mrs. Lenox called +her Cleopatra. Wasn't that a silly name for a bird? Mrs. Lenox must +have liked it or she wouldn't have given it to anything. Isn't it the +luckiest thing that everyone hasn't the same likes? Just suppose +everyone had been like my father and my mother and all the little girls +were named Mary Rose? I think it's the most beautiful name in the +entire dictionary, but Gladys Evans in Mifflin said it was common. She +counted up and she knew seven Marys, with her grandmother and old Mrs. +Wilcox, who's deaf and half blind, and four Roses. But there wasn't +one Mary Rose!" triumphantly. "And that made all the difference in the +world. My daddy chose the Mary because he said there wasn't a better +name for a little girl to have for her own and my little mother chose +the Rose because she said I was just like a flower when she saw me +first. Don't you like it, Uncle Larry?" + +"I do!" Uncle Larry could not have told her how much he liked it, but +as he listened to her chatter he wondered how on earth Kate was going +to make the tenants of the Washington think the child was fourteen. + +"And I like your name," Mary Rose was kind enough to say. "And Aunt +Kate's, too," she added, as Aunt Kate came back from her interview with +Mrs. Bracken. + +"Her girl's gone," she said in answer to Uncle Larry's question. "I +don't wonder. That's the fourth in three weeks. Seems if she only +stays home long enough to hire an' discharge 'em. She heard I had a +niece with me an' she wants her to go up every mornin' an' wash the +dishes till she gets another girl. So, Mary Rose, if you really want +to earn money to pay for George Washington's board, here's a chance." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose slid to the floor and clapped her hands. "I do think +this is the most wonderful world that ever was. I just wish for +something and then I have it." + +"That'll happen just so long as you wish for what you can get," Aunt +Kate told her. + +When Mary Rose was tucked in bed, where she told Aunt Kate she felt +like a long green pickle in a glass jar because she never had slept in +a cellar--a basement--before, and they always had pickles in their +cellar, Aunt Kate explained to her husband about Mrs. Bracken. + +"I couldn't say anythin', but, of course, she'd come. Mrs. Bracken had +the nerve to tell me she knew Mary Rose wasn't a child for childern +weren't allowed in the buildin'. What was I to do, Larry Donovan, but +say she'd wash her dirty old dishes? It won't hurt Mary Rose an' I'll +give her a hand if she needs it. Isn't it a pity though that Mary Rose +couldn't have taken more after her mother's fam'ly? Seems if I never +saw such a small eleven-year-old as she is." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +Enveloped in a blue and white checked gingham apron of her aunt's, Mary +Rose washed Mrs. Bracken's dishes. Mrs. Donovan had brought her up to +the apartment and Mary Rose had looked curiously around the rather bare +and empty halls. There was something in the atmosphere of them that +made her catch Mrs. Donovan by the hand. + +"It feels like the Presbyterian Church in the middle of the week," she +whispered. "It doesn't seem as if anyone really lived here, Aunt Kate." + +"You'll find folks live here," Mrs. Donovan said grimly as she unlocked +the Bracken door. "We don't ever get a chance to forget 'em." + +Mrs. Bracken had gone out with her husband and there was no one in the +apartment that seemed so big and grand to Mary Rose's unsophisticated +eyes. But Aunt Kate sniffed at the untidy kitchen and living-room. + +"Seems if it was just about as important for a woman to make a home as +a club," she said under her breath as she picked up papers and +straightened chairs in the living-room. She found the dish pan and +showed Mary Rose what to do. + +"I know how to wash dishes, Aunt Kate." Mary Rose was in a fever to +begin. "I washed them for Lena and no one could be more particular +than she was. We got our hot water out of a kettle instead of a pipe." +She watched with interest the water run steaming from the faucet. +"Wouldn't it be grand if Mrs. Bracken had a little girl so we could +wash dishes together? I don't mind doing them all by myself a bit, +Aunt Kate. I'm glad to do it. I know there's nothing so splendid as a +girl being useful. Daddy told me that and Mr. Mann, the minister, and +Gladys Evans' grandmother and all the other grown-uppers. But I think +the grandest part is to earn George Washington's board. It's splendid +to have someone besides yourself to work for," she added with a very +adult air. + +She sang to herself as she worked, after Aunt Kate had left her. + + "Where have you been, Billie boy, Billie boy? + Where have you been, charming Billie? + I've been to see my wife, she's the treasure of my life, + She's a young thing and can't leave her mother." + + +It was Lena's favorite song and it had many verses. Mary Rose sang +them all with gusto. + +"If I didn't make a noise I'd be scared of the quiet," she thought. "I +never was in a home that was so little like a home. It's because there +isn't anything alive in it. There isn't even a Lady Washington +geranium." She was astonished that there wasn't, for in Mifflin pots +of geraniums and other plants were always to be seen in sunny windows. +"It gives you a hollow feeling--not empty for bread and butter but for +people," she decided. + +Mary Rose had never lived where there were no live things. "Dogs and +cats and birds help to make you feel friendly toward all the world. +And so do plants. I guess that's true of all the things God made," she +thought as she hung up the dish pan on the nail Aunt Kate had pointed +out. + +She stood in the doorway, looking back at the clean and tidy kitchen +with considerable satisfaction. She had done it all herself and it +would have pleased even the critical Lena. + +A door across the hall opened suddenly and Mary Rose swung around and +looked into the curious face of an elderly woman who was almost as +broad as she was tall. Her round face wore a scowl and the corners of +her mouth turned straight down. + +"Good morning," Mary Rose said in the neighborly fashion that was in +vogue in Mifflin. + +"H-m." The fat lady eyed her over gold spectacles. "Can't Mrs. +Bracken get a full-grown girl to do her work? I thought she was +against child labor." + +She laughed unpleasantly. + +"I'm not working regular," Mary Rose said quickly, with a blush because +she was not so large as the fat lady thought she should be. "I'm Mrs. +Donovan's niece and I've just come from Mifflin. I'm only washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes until she gets another girl, so I can earn money to +pay for George Washington's board." + +"George Washington's board?" echoed the fat lady. "Come here, Mina," +she called over her shoulder, "and listen to this child. Who's George +Washington?" She was frankly curious and so was the maid, who had +joined her. + +"He's my cat. I've had him ever since I had tonsilitis. Aunt Kate +says the law won't let him live here with me, so I'm boarding him over +there." And she nodded in the direction of the alley and the +hospitable Mr. Jerry. + +"Cats here? I should say not!" exclaimed Mrs. Schuneman. She watched +Mary Rose as she carefully locked the door of the Bracken apartment. +The child puzzled her and when Mrs. Schuneman was puzzled over anything +or anyone she had to find out all about them. She had nothing else to +do. Once she had been an active harassed woman, busy with the problem +of how she was to support herself and her two daughters, but just when +the problem seemed about to be too much for her to solve a brother died +and left her money enough to live comfortably for the remainder of her +life. She had moved from the crowded downtown rooms to the more +pretentious Washington and tried to think that she was happier for the +change, but really she was very lonely and discontented. Miss Louise +Schuneman was too busy with church work and Miss Lottie Schuneman had a +bridge club four afternoons a week and went to the matinee and the +moving picture shows the other afternoons, so that neither of them was +a companion for their mother. Mrs. Schuneman had nothing to do but +wonder about the neighbors she did not know and tell her maid how much +admired her daughters were and how hard she had worked herself until +the good God had seen fit to take her brother from his packing plant. +"If you're the janitor's niece you can come in and clean up the mess +the plumber made on my floor. It isn't the place of the girl I pay +wages to, to clean up the dirt the workmen make." + +"Isn't it?" Mary Rose did not know and she followed Mrs. Schuneman +into the living-room. "What a pleasant room," she said, when she +crossed the threshold, for the sun streamed in through the windows in a +way that made even a rather garish decoration seem attractive. + +Mrs. Schuneman's grim face relaxed a trifle. "It ought to be pretty," +she grumbled. "It cost enough but it don't suit Louise. And Lottie +don't like the rug. She says it's too red. But I like red," she +snapped. "It's a thankless task to try and please girls who think they +know more than their old mother." + +"There is a lot of red in it." Mary Rose had to admit that much. "But +red is a cheerful color. It makes you feel very warm and comfortable." + +"It isn't cheerful to my girls. They won't stay at home, always away, +and their old mother left alone. When they were little I gave them all +the time I could spare from my work and now they leave me by myself. +They think because I have a girl to cook and wash I don't need them." + +Mary Rose did not understand and she stood there, just beyond the +threshold, uncertainly. But if she did not understand why Mrs. +Schuneman's daughters did not stay in the room with the red tug, she +realized that Mrs. Schuneman was lonely. + +"It's too bad you haven't a pet," she suggested. "A dog or a cat is a +lot of company. Why--" a sudden thought came to her. "Just wait a +minute. I'll be right back," she called as she ran out of the room. + +Before Mrs. Schuneman fairly realized that she had gone she was back +with Jenny Lind in her cage. + +"I thought perhaps you might like to have Jenny Lind spend the day with +you," she said breathlessly. "She isn't just the same as a grown up +daughter, but she's lots of company and she sings--she sings," she was +rather at a loss to tell how well Jenny Lind could sing, "like a +seraphim! They sing in the Bible and sound so grand I've always wanted +to hear one though I know there isn't a seraphim that could sing +sweeter than Jenny Lind. You can put the cage in that window. She +loves the sunshine and she'll sing and sing until you forget you are +lonely." + +"My gracious me!" murmured Mrs. Schuneman, staring from the eager face +to the sleek yellow bird. "I haven't had a canary since I was a girl +in my father's house." + +"Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say you can't have birds here. It's +cats and dogs and children." + +"Yes, yes. I know." Mrs. Schuneman walked up to the cage and looked +at Jenny Lind, who looked at her with her bright bead-like eyes before +she burst into joyous song. "Now, why didn't I think of a canary?" +Mrs. Schuneman demanded sharply. "There isn't any reason why I +shouldn't have one." + +"You're perfectly welcome to Jenny Lind until you get one of your own." +Mary Rose was delighted to have Jenny Lind received so cordially. +"She'll be glad to spend the day with you. She's a very friendly bird." + +"I'll be glad to have her. Perhaps you'll stay, too." Mrs. Schuneman +surprised herself more than she did Mary Rose by the invitation that +popped so suddenly from her mouth. She had never asked anyone in the +Washington to spend the day with her before. "Tell me where you came +from and what's your name and how old you are?" + +"I came from Mifflin and my name's Mary Rose Crocker and I'm almost +el--I mean I'm going on fourteen." She remembered the secret she had +with Aunt Kate just in time. A second more and it would have been too +late. + +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her over the gold spectacles. "Going on +fourteen?" she repeated. "You're very small for your age. Why, when +my Lottie was fourteen she would have made two of you." + +Mary Rose squirmed. The unjust criticism was very hard to bear. She +just had to murmur faintly that it would be some time before she would +reach fourteen. + +"H-m, I thought so." Mrs. Schuneman looked very wise, as if she +understood perfectly and there is no doubt that she understood more +than Mary Rose. "Well, well," she said, while Mary Rose, scarlet and +mortified, stood twisting the corner of Aunt Kate's apron. + +"I--I hope you won't tell," she said hurriedly, her eyes on the red +rug, "because it's something of a secret on account of the law for this +house. I don't understand exactly but Aunt Kate does." + +"I've no doubt she does." The corners of Mrs. Schuneman's mouth were +pulled down farther than they had been and she looked very, very stern +until Jenny Lind broke into joyous song again, when the corners of Mrs. +Schuneman's mouth tilted up, slightly. "Well, well," she said again, +but not quite so crossly. "So long as you behave yourself and aren't a +nuisance I shan't say a word. Where I lived before my brother left me +his money there were more children than a body could count. Such a +noise and confusion all the time. I was glad to get away from them and +come up here where there couldn't be any children----" + +"Nor any dogs nor cats," murmured Mary Rose sadly. + +"But maybe that's why the place hasn't seemed like home to me." + +"Of course it is." Mary Rose knew. "I never heard of a home without +children. There wasn't one in all Mifflin." She tried to imagine such +a thing but she couldn't do it. "It wouldn't be a home," she decided +emphatically. + +Mrs. Schuneman regarded her curiously before she gave herself another +surprise. "Suppose you go and ask your aunt if you can go out with me +and find a bird? I believe you would choose a good one. Louise and +Lottie can make a fuss if they want to but I never said a word when +they bought a phonograph and a bird will be more company for an old +lady than a machine." + +They had a wonderful time finding a canary. They visited several shops +where birds of many kinds were offered for sale. Mary Rose quite lost +her heart to a great red and green poll parrot with fierce red-rimmed +eyes. + +"You'd never be lonesome if you had him," she whispered. "He could +really talk to you." + +"Damn! Damn! Damn!" remarked Poll Parrot pleasantly, as if to show +that he really could talk. "Polly wants a cracker. Oh, damn! Damn! +Fools and idiots! Damn!" + +"It isn't conversation I care for. It's too much like having a man +around again." Mrs. Schuneman was quite shocked. + +After they had made their choice and had a bird in a neat little wooden +cage and had bought a fine brass cage for a permanent home they stopped +at a confectioner's for a sundae. Mary Rose's cheeks were as pink as +pink as they sat at the little table and ate ice cream and discussed a +name for the new member of the Schuneman family. They finally agreed +on Germania in deference to Mrs. Schuneman's love for her native +country and Mary Rose's firm belief that a bird's name should be +suggestive of music. "And I've heard that lots of music was made in +Germany," she said. + +Altogether it was a very pleasant afternoon and they went back to the +Washington very happily. Mrs. Schuneman carried Germania in the +temporary wooden cage and Mary Rose proudly bore the brass cage. As +they went up the steps a man brushed past them. He was tall and thin +and had a nervous irritable manner that one felt as well as saw. Mary +Rose locked up and smiled politely. + +"Good afternoon," she said. + +The tall thin man did not answer her. He did not even look at her but +hurried on up the stairs. + +"That's Mr. Wells," Mrs. Schuneman explained in a hoarse whisper that +must have followed Mr. Wells up the stairs and caught him at the first +landing. "He's an awful grouch. He's over the Brackens, but if Lottie +is entertaining one of her bridge clubs and he's at home he's sure to +send his Jap man down to ask her to make less noise. I've never spoken +to him in my life. I don't see how you dared." + +"I always spoke to people in Mifflin." Mary Rose couldn't understand +why she shouldn't speak to people in Waloo. + +"Folks don't speak to folks in Waloo unless they've been introduced," +Mrs. Schuneman told her gloomily. "The good God knows I've had to +learn that. And you're too young to know good from bad," she began, as +Aunt Kate had, but Mary Rose interrupted her to explain that she could, +that she had the right kind of an eye, and he tried to tell her what +the right kind of an eye was. + +"You look through your heart with it," vaguely. "I don't understand +just how for your eyes are here," she touched her face, "and your +heart's here," and her hand tapped her small chest. "But that's what +daddy said. He called it the friendly eye. Being friendly to people, +he said, was as if you had a candle in your heart and the light shines +through your eyes. Oh, Mrs. Schuneman, I do believe Germania is going +to like it here." For Germania was twittering as if she did find her +new home to her liking. + +They had scarcely transferred Germania from the wooden cage to the +shining brass one and hung it in the window when Miss Lottie Schuneman +came in. Mary Rose looked at her eagerly. Could she be the enchanted +princess Mr. Jerry had spoken of? But Miss Lottie was short and plump +like her mother and her face was round and rosy. She did not bear the +faintest resemblance to any princess Mary Rose had ever read of. It +was disappointing. + +"What have you there?" Miss Lottie asked at once. "You can't have pets +in this flat, you know." + +"You can have canary birds," Mary Rose told her quickly. "Uncle Larry +said the law never spoke of them." + +"Uncle Larry said that, did he?" Miss Lottie began but her mother broke +in with an eagerness that was very different from the querulous way in +which she usually spoke: + +"I've got to have something alive here to keep me company. You don't +know how lonesome it is for a woman to have nothing to do when she's +been as busy as I was. There isn't anyone for me to talk to but Mina, +and she's paid to work, not to listen. You and Louise bought a +phonograph. I guess I can have a bird if I want one." + +"My word!" Miss Lottie put her hands on her hips and stared at her +mother. She laughed softly, indulgently. "Sure, you can have a bird +if you want one. But don't let it wake me up mornings." + +"Wouldn't you just as soon be wakened by a bird singing as a steam +radiator sizzling?" asked Mary Rose. "Unless you live all by yourself +on a desert island you've got to be wakened by some kind of a noise. I +think a bird singing is just about the most beautiful noise that ever +was." + +"So do I," agreed Mrs. Schuneman. "And you needn't worry, Lottie +Schuneman. I don't complain of your phonograph nights, I leave that to +Mr. Wells, and you needn't find fault with my bird mornings." + +"I'm not finding fault, far be it from me; only when Mr. Wells sends +down word that your new pet is a nuisance you can answer him yourself." + +"How could anyone say a bird was a nuisance?" Mary Rose was shocked. +"Why, it can't be that late!" for the dock on the mantel called out +five times and she looked at it in wide-eyed amazement. Never had an +afternoon run away any faster. "I must go. I've had a perfectly +wonderful time, Mrs. Schuneman, and I hope that Germania will be happy +with you in her new home." + +There was a wistful note in her voice that reminded Mrs. Schuneman that +Mary Rose had recently come to a new home. She patted Mary Rose on the +shoulder and told her to come again. + +"Come whenever you like. I'm alone most of the time and you can be +free with me," meaningly. "My tongue isn't hung in the middle to wag +at both ends." + +"You can't have a kid running in and out all the time," objected Miss +Lottie, when Mary Rose had gone. + +Mrs. Schuneman stopped snapping her fingers at Germania and looked at +her daughter. "There isn't much about this house that you let me have +as I want it. You took me away from my old friends and brought me up +here where it's so stylish I don't know a soul. I wonder I haven't +lost my voice, I've so little chance to use it. We've been here for +seven months now and though there's dozens and dozens of people pass my +door every night and morning, there's not one of them ever stops. The +janitor and his wife are the only ones I can talk to and I have to find +fault to get them up here. You and Louise are out all day. You don't +stay here." + +"You don't have to stay here, either," yawned Miss Lottie. She had +heard all that before, very, very often. "We've told you a million +times to go out." + +"Where'll I go?" asked her mother sharply. "Where'll I go? I can't +run about the streets and the stores six days in the week. A woman's +got to be home some time and if I find that child amuses me I'm going +to have her here when I want her. You needn't say another word, Lottie +Schuneman. So long as I pay the bills I'll have something to say about +my own house." + +"I was only telling you the kid might be a nuisance," muttered Miss +Lottie. + +"And I was telling you I'd do as you do, choose my own friends. That +child's the only soul that has ever looked at me in a friendly way +since I came to this house and I'm going to see her when I want to." + +Mrs. Donovan could scarcely believe her ears when Mary Rose poured out +the story of the afternoon. + + +"Old Lady Schuneman's been crosser than two sticks ever since she came +here. Maybe it is because she's lonesome, I dunno. Seems if a canary +won't do much for her but, for the land's sakes, Mary Rose, don't put +one in every flat." + +"Wouldn't that be grand!" Mary Rose stopped paring potatoes for supper +to look at her aunt with admiration. "It would be like living inside +an organ, wouldn't it. I think it would be perfectly lovely." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +When Mary Rose went up to Mrs. Bracken's the next morning she took +Jenny Lind with her and placed the cage on the kitchen table. + +"I can't bear to be alone," she had explained to Aunt Kate. "If I +don't have a friend with me I feel as if I was shut up in a dark +closet." + +First Mary Rose went into the big living-room and picked up papers, +straightened the chairs and raised the shades as she had seen her aunt +do the day before. It was a very splendid room to Mary Rose but there +was something about it that made her frown as she stood in the doorway. + +"It needs something. Even the chairs don't look as if they really knew +each other. It doesn't feel as if people ever had a good time in it." +She shook her head and thought of the shabby sitting-room in +Mifflin--not big enough to swing a cat in, daddy had said--where she +and daddy and Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and Lena had +been crowded together. Everyone had had good times there. + +She winked back a tear as she went down the hall. She glanced in at an +open door and stopped short as she found that she was looking into the +black eyes of a woman on the bed. + +"Are you Mrs. Donovan's niece?" the woman said faintly. "Come in. +Gracious, but you're small for your age! You washed up very nicely +yesterday. I didn't close my eyes last night and I'm not feeling well +today, so I'm not going to get up for a while. I wish you would tell +your uncle that Mrs. Matchan can't practice this morning. I must get +some sleep. What's that in the kitchen?" she demanded as she heard a +happy chirp-chirp. + +"That's Jenny Lind." Mary Rose was all sympathy for this lovely lady +who could not sleep. For a moment she had thought that she might be +the enchanted princess but if she was Mrs. Bracken she was a married +lady and Mary Rose had never heard of a married princess. All the +princesses she knew ceased to exist when they began to live happily +ever after. + +"Jenny Lind?" asked Mrs. Bracken. + +"My canary. I brought her for company. I never was in a house by +myself and it's lonely if you're only going on fourteen," faltered Mary +Rose, fully conscious that Mrs. Bracken did not care for canaries. + +"Well, I can't have her in my kitchen. She makes me nervous. Put her +out in the hall and shut the bedroom door. When you have washed the +dishes I may let you make a cup of tea." And she closed the black eyes +which had looked at Mary Rose in such a chilly way. + +Mary Rose went out on tiptoe. She meant to close the door softly but +she was so indignant that it would slam. Put her Jenny Lind out in the +hall where cats could get her? She would not. Even if cats were +forbidden to enter the Washington some cat might not know the law and +slip in. She would take no risk. She nodded encouragingly at the bird +as she looked about the kitchen. Near the sink was an open cupboard +with three shelves, broad and high enough to hold a birdcage. She +would put the cage on the lowest shelf and then if Mrs. Bracken came +out, she would push the door shut. + +"You'd better go to sleep too, Jenny Lind," she cautioned in a low +voice. "The lady doesn't like you. She thinks you're noisy." She did +not tell Jenny Lind what she thought of the lady, but shut her lips +firmly and began her work. She did not sing that morning. She did not +even look up to smile and nod to Jenny Lind, but kept her eyes on her +dishes, her lips pressed into an indignant red button. + +Suddenly there was a whir--a rattle--and she did look up to see that +the cupboard had vanished. Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared. +Nothing was left but a vacant space and an open door. Mary Rose +dropped the dish she held. Fortunately it was a kitchen bowl, but it +would have been the same if it had been one of the best cups. + +[Illustration: "Shelves and birdcage had all disappeared."] + +"Why--why!" gasped Mary Rose. She tried to put her head in the space +where the shelves had been to see where Jenny Lind had gone. + +"Jenny Lind!" she shrieked suddenly. She could not help it. If your +pet canary was suddenly snatched from you by some mysterious power, I +rather fancy you would shriek, too. "Jenny Lind!" + +The crash of the kitchen bowl or Mary Rose's astonished shriek brought +Mrs. Bracken from her bed. She stood in the doorway, one hand +clutching the kimono she had thrown around her. + +"You must be more quiet," she said crossly. "How can I sleep when you +are making such a noise? And if you break any more dishes I shall have +to charge you for them. It's pure carelessness." + +"It's Jenny Lind," gulped Mary Rose, too frightened to think of dishes. +And she tried to make Mrs. Bracken understand that Jenny Lind had been +there, in that hole in the wall, and that now--Oh, where was she? + +Mrs. Bracken shrugged her shoulders. "It's the dumbwaiter," she +yawned. "Your bird has gone up to Mr. Wells or possibly higher. If +it's Mr. Wells I don't suppose you'll see the bird again. He's a very +peculiar man." + +Mary Rose did not wait to hear another word. With Aunt Kate's big blue +and white checked apron on, the dish mop in her hand, and a great fear +in her heart, she dashed up the stairs and pounded on the door of the +apartment above. Mr. Wells came himself and if he had looked cross and +forbidding the night before he looked a thousand times crosser and more +forbidding now. Indeed, he exactly fulfilled Mary Rose's idea of an +ogre. + +"Please don't hurt Jenny Lind," sobbed Mary Rose, as soon as she could +gather breath to speak. "I'll take her right away." + +"Hurt who? Who's Jenny Lind?" growled the ogre. + +"My bird! my Jenny Lind! She came up to your house with a dumbwaiter." +Mary Rose hadn't the faintest idea of what a dumbwaiter was and it +sounded horrible to her. "Please, please, give her to me at once!" +She fairly danced in her impatience. She would have rushed into the +apartment but Mr. Wells stood in the doorway. + +"The dumbwaiter?" Mary Rose had never heard a more unfriendly voice. +He called to someone behind him and a Japanese man came and peered +under Mr. Wells' arm as he held it against the frame of the door. + +"Sako has taken nothing from the dumbwaiter this morning," Mr. Wells +said very coldly after he had exchanged a few words with his servant. +"But if you have lost your bird it is only what you must expect. Pets +are not allowed in this house." And he scowled fiercely enough to +frighten anyone but the owner of a lost canary. + +"They are if they're not children nor cats nor dogs," insisted tearful +Mary Rose. "Uncle Larry said the law never says one word about birds. +Oh, are you quite sure Jenny Lind isn't in your house?" she wailed. + +"I told you we have taken nothing from the dumbwaiter," impatiently. +He thought he was wonderfully patient with the child. He could have +ordered her out of the building at once. "Your bird may have gone up +to the next floor." + +"Perhaps she has." Mary Rose was on the stairs before he finished the +sentence. "I'm sorry for bothering you," she called back, "but if one +of your family was lost I rather think you'd try to find her." + +Her voice rang out shrill and clear and it was such an unexpected sound +in the Washington, where children's voices were forbidden, that old +Mrs. Johnson opened her door in a spasm of curiosity. She closed it +abruptly when she met the cold unfriendly glance of Mr. Wells' black +eyes, and shook in her shoes. + +Four doors faced Mary Rose when she reached the third floor. She +knocked on all of them not to waste time. Two doors remained firmly +closed. The other two opened simultaneously. In one stood a girl with +yellow hair and blue eyes and in the other was a young man who promptly +changed the morose expression he had put on when he rose for a +pleasanter one as he glanced across at Miss Blanche Carter before he +even looked at Mary Rose. Miss Carter looked at Mary Rose first and +then at Mr. Robert Strahan. + +"Oh, please," Mary Rose was almost, if not quite, in tears, "have you +seen Jenny Lind?" + +They stared at her. The only Jenny Lind they had ever heard of had +been quietly in her grave for many years. They looked at each other. +Mr. Strahan added a satisfied grin to his pleasant expression, for he +had wished to know Miss Carter ever since he had met her on the stairs +the day after he had moved into the Washington, but Fate had refused to +bring them together. He determined to make the most of this rare +opportunity as he kindly questioned Mary Rose. + +"Who is Jenny Lind?" + +"My canary," sobbed Mary Rose. "I put her on the shelf in Mrs. +Bracken's kitchen and she--she disappeared!" + +"Cats," suggested Mr. Strahan with a very knowing glance for Miss +Carter. + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Cats aren't allowed here. It was a +dumbwaiter, Mrs. Bracken said." Her voice was filled with anguish. +How hateful city life was! + +"Oh! I thought it was the milkman." Miss Carter turned and ran into +her flat, Mary Rose at her heels. After a moment's hesitation, in +which he called himself a bashful idiot, Mr. Strahan deserted his +doorway for his neighbor's. On the top shelf of a cupboard like that +which had been in Mrs. Bracken's kitchen Mary Rose saw a bottle of +milk. She groaned. But Miss Carter gave a pull somewhere and sent it +higher. There on the lower shelf, swinging unconcernedly in her cage, +was Jenny Lind. Mary Rose gave a joyous shriek. + +"I thought I'd never see her again. I can't thank you, but I'll +remember you as long as I live. I--I feel as if you'd saved her life." +She shivered as she remembered the snap of Mr. Wells' black eyes, the +click of his heavy jaw, when he had said that pets were not allowed in +the building. + +"What is all this excitement?" questioned a soft voice behind them, and +Mary Rose whirled around and stared at another girl. + +Now that her anxiety in regard to Jenny Lind was relieved, Mary Rose +had time to think of other things. She brushed the tears from her +eyes, and her face was wreathed with a dewy smile as she asked eagerly: + +"Please, which--which of you is the enchanted princess?" One of them +must be. She knew it by a funny prickle down her back. + +Both girls laughed, the yellow-haired one and the brown. + +"Princesses aren't enchanted now." Miss Carter pulled a lock of Mary +Rose's yellow hair. "They have their eyes too wide open." + +"But Mr. Jerry said there was, that in this very house was a most +beautiful princess who was under the spell of a wicked witch. He said +the old witch's name was Independence." Her words fairly ran over each +other, she was so afraid something would happen before she could +deliver Mr. Jerry's message to the princess. "And he said to tell the +princess that the prince wasn't ever going to Jericho, but was going to +stay right here on the job." + +Miss Carter looked significantly at the brown-haired girl. "That +message isn't for me," she told Mary Rose. "Independence and I are +strangers. I can't bear the thing. I quite agree with Mr. Jerry that +she is an old witch. Isn't someone a picture, Bess," she asked, "with +her birdcage and checked apron?" + +"She surely is." The impatient frown that had marred Miss Thorley's +face at the mere mention of Mr. Jerry's name slipped away. "I must +paint her. She'll make a fine ad. Who are you, honey?" + +And Mary Rose told them who she was and how she had come from Mifflin +to make her home with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry in the cellar-basement, +she meant; and how she had had to board out George Washington and had +taken Jenny Lind to Mrs. Bracken's for company while she earned money +to pay for George Washington's board. + +"By jinks, what a jolly story," murmured Mr. Strahan who still clung to +his neighbor's doorway and his opportunity. The two girls looked at +him and the three smiled involuntarily. + +"I must go back and finish the dishes," Mary Rose announced suddenly. +"Mrs. Bracken won't like it if I stay away any longer. I'm sorry I +bothered you," she smiled tremulously. "But I just had to find Jenny +Lind. Thank you for your trouble. Good-by." + +"Come and see us again?" The invitation came in a chorus. + +Mary Rose stopped abruptly. "Is that an honest and true invitation?" +she asked doubtfully. "Aunt Kate said I mustn't ever be a nuisance to +the tenements because children aren't allowed here. I'm not a child, +she said, because I'm going on fourteen, but I had to promise to be +careful of the tenements." + +"Bless the baby," murmured Miss Carter as she and Mr. Strahan stood in +the hall and watched Mary Rose's head go down, down. + +"I thought children were barred?" asked Mr. Strahan quickly, he was so +afraid that Miss Carter would disappear also. + +"I thought pets were barred, too. She's a quaint little thing. I +suppose she is homesick. A city apartment house is not like a home in +a small town," she said, as if she knew, and she sighed. + +"It is not!" He agreed with her emphatically. He had come from a +small town himself and he knew. "I think I'll make a little story out +of this. I'm a newspaper man, you know, and there isn't anything a +city editor likes better than he does a human interest story. I have a +hunch that there is a lot of human interest in that kid." + +"I fancy you are right. I'm a librarian myself, and I should be at my +library this blessed moment. I'd far rather go down and help Mary +Rose," and she laughed scornfully because she had such simple tastes. + +He looked as if he admired them. "If you feel that way you surely +aren't under the spell of that wicked witch Independence that Mary Rose +talks of." There was nothing scornful in his laugh. It held so little +scorn and so much admiration that she flushed. + +"Independence!" she shrugged her shoulders. "I learned long ago that +independence is just another word for loneliness. My friend, Miss +Thorley, doesn't agree with me. We have very warm arguments over it." + +"They haven't been warm enough to disturb me. You're very quiet +neighbors. Doesn't the very quiet get on your nerves sometimes? It's +something just to hear people, when you are alone and have no one to +talk to." + +"Lonely! You?" She was astonished. "I don't see how a young man could +be lonely." Evidently her idea of masculine life was a merry round of +social pleasure. + +His laugh was a trifle bitter. "A man can be lonely for exactly the +same reason a girl can," he asserted. "I've lived here for three +months, and this is the first time I've spoken to you." + +The color deepened in her cheeks. "I suppose I shouldn't be talking to +you now but--Mary Rose--and we are neighbors. One does get so +suspicious living with suspicious people," apologetically. + +"Please don't be suspicious of me. I'm the most harmless man in Waloo. +I'm too busy hanging on to my job to be dangerous. I propose a vote of +thanks to Mary Rose for bringing us together. All in favor say aye. +The ayes have it." He held out his hand. + +She laughed consciously, but after a second she gave him her fingers. +"It is pleasant to be able to speak to one's neighbors," she admitted +with a hint of formality that in some way pleased Mr. Strahan. + +Mary Rose stopped at Mr. Wells' door as she went downstairs. It would +be but friendly to tell him that Jenny Lind was found, he must be +anxious. But she hesitated before she rapped on the door, very gently +this time. + +Mr. Wells had not lost any of his grimness when he opened it. He had +on his hat and he looked to Mary Rose's startled eyes as tall as the +steeple of the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin. + +"Well, what now?" he snapped. + +Mary Rose caught her breath. "I thought you would like to know that +Jenny Lind is safe." She lifted the cage so that he could see for +himself how safe and comfortable Jenny Lind was. "She was on the +lowest shelf of the dumbwaiter. The enchanted princess's milk bottle +was on the top shelf." And she chuckled. Now that she was no longer +frightened, Jenny Lind's adventure seemed a joke. + +It was not a joke to Mr. Wells. "A city apartment house is no place +for pets--or children," he said and shut the door. + +Mary Rose stared at the mahogany panels. "Crosspatch," she whispered. +And then she said it louder, "Crosspatch!" + +The door opened as if by magic and Mr. Wells came out and shut it +behind him. + +"Did you say anything?" he asked coldly. + +Mary Rose was too startled and too honest not to tell the truth. + +"I said crosspatch," she faltered and waited bravely for the deluge. + +The two looked at each other. The tall man with the nervous, irritable +face and the little girl with the birdcage in her hand. She did not +say that she had called him a crosspatch, and kindly Discretion +whispered in Mr. Wells' ear that it would be wise to leave well enough +alone. Without another word he stalked by Mary Rose down the stairs. + +Mary Rose followed meekly. "It's a lucky thing, Jenny Lind, that you +were not on his dumbwaiter. He's not what I call a very friendly man," +she murmured. + +She told Mr. Jerry all about it that afternoon when she ran over to see +how George Washington was doing as a boarder. Mr. Jerry watched her +curiously. + +"Poor little kid," he thought. "She's up against it for fair with a +cold-blooded bunch like that." He was very sympathetic and kind and +quite enthusiastic over his new boarder. He cheered Mary Rose +amazingly and lifted her to the seventh heaven of delight when he +suggested that she should ride downtown with him in the automobile when +he went for his Aunt Mary. + +"You may take Jenny Lind and George Washington with you," he was good +enough to say. + +Mary Rose's dancing feet moved in a more sedate measure. "I think +Jenny Lind has had ride enough for one day. And George Washington +likes his four feet better than he does an automobile. He won't mind +if we leave him behind." + +"Then you may sit on the front seat with me," Mr. Jerry promised. + +"It's very exciting living in the city," sighed Mary Rose, when she was +on the front seat beside him. "I've been here only three days and see +all that's happened. Oh, there's the lady who found Jenny Lind--and +the enchanted princess, too!" she cried as they passed Miss Thorley and +Miss Carter. "Isn't that the enchanted princess, Mr. Jerry?" She +twisted around so that she could look into his face. He colored and +his eyes seemed to darken as he spoke to the two girls. Miss Thorley +nodded curtly, but Miss Carter waved a friendly hand. "My," sighed +Mary Rose, "if I were a prince I wouldn't let any old witch +Independence keep her enchanted." + +"I wonder how you would prevent it," muttered Mr. Jerry under his +breath. "Saying and doing, Mary Rose, are two very separate and +distinct things." + +"I know." Mary Rose felt quite capable of discussing the subject. +"Mr. Mann, the Presbyterian minister in Mifflin, preached a whole +sermon about that. He said the Lord didn't ever give you what you want +right off quick. You had to work for it, and the more precious it was +the harder you had to work. I should think that a beautiful princess +would be the most precious thing a prince could work for, shouldn't +you?" + +Mr. Jerry took his hand from the wheel to squeeze Mary Rose's brown +fingers. "I should!" he said solemnly. "I do, Mary Rose, I do!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Strange as the Washington seemed to Mary Rose, it was not very +different from any other large city apartment house where people lived +side by side for months, for years, sometimes, without becoming +acquainted. It was not worth while, some said; neighbors change too +often. You don't know who people are, others thought. In such close +quarters one cannot afford to know undesirable people. The advantage +of an apartment house is that you don't have to know your neighbors, +murmured a third group. Consequently the tenants came and went and one +could count on a hand and have fingers to spare, the few who exchanged +greetings when they met on the stairs. + +This was an appalling state of affairs to country-bred Mary Rose, who +had been brought up in a friendly atmosphere. In Mifflin everyone knew +everyone and was interested in what happened. When joy came to a +neighbor there was general rejoicing, and when sorrow touched a family +there was a universal sympathy, while the little between pleasures and +perplexities lost nothing and gained considerably by the knowledge that +they were shared with others. Mary Rose was intensely interested in +this new phase of life, if she could not understand it. It amazed her +when she counted how many people were over her small head. + +"In Mifflin I didn't have anyone but God and the angels," she told Aunt +Kate, "but here there's the Schunemans and the Rawsons and the Blakes +and Mr. Jarvis and Miss Adams and Mrs. Matchan and Miss Proctor and Mr. +Wilcox and his friend. In Mifflin we lived side by side, you know, and +not up and down. We ought all to be friends when we live so close +together, shouldn't we?" wistfully. + +Aunt Kate tried her best to tell her that they were all friends, but +she couldn't do it. + +"What's the good of tellin' her folks are friendly when they don't look +friendly? Seems if a body can't frown with her face an' smile with her +heart at the same time. An' frowns are just as catchin' as germs. You +naturally don't pat a growlin' dog an' so you don't smile at a frownin' +person. I've al'ys seen more frowns 'n smiles in the Washington." + +But Mary Rose did her best to make friends, because that was what she +had done always and because that was the only way she knew how to live. +And one by one her unconscious little efforts to unlock the gates of +reserve that suspicion and indifference and consciousness had placed +over the hearts and lips of the people she was thrown with began to +make some impression. + +Even Mrs. Willoughby, who had wept ever since her mother died, smiled +when she saw the little girl in the checked apron that was so much too +big for her, with her birdcage in her hand, and forgot to complain of +the unusual noise in the hall. Mary Rose smiled, too, and when Mrs. +Willoughby spoke of Jenny Lind, Mary Rose offered to loan her bird. + +"She'll make you feel happier," she said. "She did me, when my daddy +went to be with my little mother in Heaven. Jenny Lind can't talk," +she admitted regretfully, "but she can sing and she's--she's so +friendly!" + +And Mr. Willoughby came down that very night and thanked the Donovans +for the loan of Jenny Lind and for what Mary Rose had said and done. +Larry Donovan and his wife looked at each other after he had gone. It +was not often that they were thanked by a tenant. + +Miss Adams would have died before she would have confessed to anyone +but Mary Rose that she hated Waloo, she hated the Washington. Mary +Rose looked at her with wide open eyes, too astonished to be shocked +that anyone could hate a world that was as beautiful and as full of +wonderful surprises as Mary Rose found this world to be. + +"I don't see how you can be lonesome when there are people above you +and below you and in front of you and behind you and right across from +you. Why, you're almost entirely surrounded by neighbors," she cried, +as if Miss Adams could not be almost entirely surrounded by anything +more desirable. "There are almost as many people in this house as +there are in the Presbyterian Church in Mifflin and no one was ever +lonely there except on week days. Don't you like your neighbors?" + +"I don't know them," confessed Miss Adams, mournfully. + +"You don't know the people who live right next door to you!" Mary Rose +had never heard of such a situation. "Why, when the Jenkses moved from +Prairieville Mrs. Mullins, who'd never set eyes on one of them before, +took over a pan of hot gingerbread so she could get acquainted right +away. Of course the people here are all moved in, but you could borrow +an egg or a cup of molasses, couldn't you? And take it back right +away. That would give you two excuses to call." + +"I couldn't do that." Miss Adams shivered at the mere thought. "It +isn't that I care to know any of them, Mary Rose, only--it makes me so +mad that I don't!" with a sudden burst of honesty. + +"Couldn't you ask about a pattern or what to do for a cold in the head +or how to get red ants off of a plant? But you haven't any plants. +Wouldn't you feel more friendly if you had a beautiful pink geranium +growing in your window?" + +"There isn't sun enough in this flat to keep a geranium alive," +grumbled Miss Adams, who seemed determined to be lonely and +faultfinding. + +Mary Rose sighed. "Of course, no one can have the sun all the time," +she said gently, as if to excuse old Sol for not lingering longer in +Miss Adams' small apartment. "I'll let you have Jenny Lind for a while +tomorrow," she suggested after a moment of frowning thought. "She'll +cheer you up." + +Miss Adams wanted to refuse to be cheered by Jenny Lind, but she had +not the courage, and when Mary Rose brought the bird the next morning +she brought also a small glass dish filled with pebbles on which rested +a little green bulb. + +"Inside it is a Japanese lily," she said, and there was both pride and +awe in her voice. "Don't you wonder how God ever folded it up in such +a small package? Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was going to throw it away. +She said it was too late, that it ought to have been planted months +ago, but I said wouldn't she please give it a chance. My daddy used to +say that was all people needed, just a chance. Mrs. Mullins had one in +Mifflin, I mean a lily, and it didn't need hardly any sun. It just +grew and grew. You can sit beside it in the window and pretend you're +a Japanese queen. Don't you think it's fun to pretend? And imagine? +It's almost the same as having everything you want. I've imagined I +was a queen on a throne and the whale that swallowed Jonah--he must +have been so surprised--and a circus rider and an angel with a harp and +a pussy willow. I don't know which I liked the best. It helps a lot +when things go wrong to imagine they're right. You'll like to see the +Japanese lily come out of its bulb, won't you?" + +Miss Adams was polite enough to say she would, although she frowned at +the glass dish as she set it in the window. If Mary Rose had seen as +much of the world as she had, she wouldn't think that to imagine a +thing was the same as having it. + +"I'll tell Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary you're much obliged," Mary Rose +suggested when she left. + +Another day Miss Proctor found her leaning against the door of the +apartment she shared with Mrs. Matchan, listening entranced to the +music that Mrs. Matchan was making with her ten fingers and her piano. + +"Isn't it beautiful?" Mary Rose looked up with shining eyes, not at +all abashed at being discovered listening. "It's better than any +circus band I ever heard. It's like Jenny Lind when the sun is shining +and she has had a leaf of fresh lettuce. It makes me feel in my heart +like soda water feels in my nose, all prickly and light," vaguely. +"It's--it's wonderful! Take this place," she moved generously away +from the crack that Miss Proctor might put her ear to it. "You can +hear better. When I grow up I want to play just like that." Mary Rose +always wanted to do what other people could do. + +"Do you?" Miss Proctor looked at her and forgot that she had +considered children unmitigated nuisances. She actually opened the +door. "Come in," she said, "and tell Mrs. Matchan that you like her +music." + +And the result of Mary Rose's attempt to put in words the feeling she +had in her heart that was like soda water in her nose, was that Mrs. +Matchan went down to the Donovans' and asked if she might be +permitted--permitted--to give Mary Rose music lessons. + +"You could have knocked me down with the pin feather of a chicken," +Aunt Kate told Uncle Larry. "I supposed, of course, she'd come tearin' +down to find fault with Mrs. Rawson for runnin' her sewin' machine last +night an' I was all ready to tell her that each of us has some rights, +but no, it was to offer to give Mary Rose lessons on her piano. She +says the child's got talent an' feelin' an' she'd like to see how she'd +express them. She had to tell me twice before I could take it in. It +isn't often that folks come down here to give a favor. Seems if they +only find the way when they want to complain. I never knew Mrs. +Matchan to do anythin' for anybody before an' we've lived under the +same roof for most two years now." + +She had another surprise when Bob Strahan tramped down the basement +stairs with a big box of Annie Keller chocolates under his arm. He +solemnly presented the candy to Mary Rose. + +"In payment of a debt," he explained gravely when Aunt Kate and Uncle +Larry stared and Mary Rose giggled. "She helped me with a very +important bit of work," he added, although the addition did not make +the matter any clearer to the Donovans nor to Mary Rose. + +"You bet she helped me," he told Miss Carter when he went up and met +her in the lower hall. They had encountered each other on the stairs +several times since the day of Jenny Lind's adventure and had made the +amazing discovery that they had formerly lived within fifteen miles of +each other and had many mutual friends. "If it hadn't been for Mary +Rose, I wouldn't be on the staff of the Waloo _Gazette_ today. They're +cutting off heads down there, and I'm sure mine was slated to go, but +the chief's strong for human interest stuff, especially kid stuff. He +says that every living being, however hard his outside shell is now, +was once a kid, and sometime the kid stuff will get to him for the sake +of old times. Mary Rose and the cat she's boarding out saved my neck +and I'm still a man with a job." + +"That's splendid." Miss Carter tried to speak with enthusiasm, but she +could not look enthusiastic. She was tired and discontented with life; +all the sparkle had gone out of her face. + +Bob Strahan saw it and was sorry. "Say," he said impulsively. "I've +two tickets for a show in my pocket this minute. You've known me over +forty-eight hours. Is that long enough to make it proper for you to go +with me? I'll give you the names of the banker and the minister in my +old home town and you can call them up on the long distance for +references." + +"The idea!" A bit of sparkle crept back into Miss Carter's face and +she laughed. "Louis Blodgett's chum doesn't need any reference. Louis +has told me quite a little about you," significantly. "It seems +perfectly ridiculous that you were living right next door and I never +knew it." + +"And you might not know it now if it hadn't been for Mary Rose and that +canary of hers. Gee! I'm glad I took her that box of chocolates." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +With Jenny Lind's cage in her hand, Mary Rose knocked at Miss Thorley's +door. + +"We've come to have our pictures taken," she told Miss Carter, when she +opened it. "The princess, I mean the other lady," she colored pinkly as +Miss Carter laughed, "said we were to advertise Mr. Bingham Henderson's +jam." Mary Rose always made a careful explanation. "If she would like +two birds I'm almost sure that Mrs. Schuneman would loan her Germania." + +"Do you want two birds, Bess?" called Miss Carter, and Miss Thorley came +in. + +She wore a faded blue smock over her crash gown and looked more beautiful +than before to Mary Rose's admiring eyes. + +"I think I have two birds," she laughed, and patted Mary Rose's head and +snapped her fingers at Jenny Lind. "But don't tell me old Lady Grouch is +so human as to have a canary." + +"Old Lady Grouch?" Mary Rose did not know whom she meant. + +"Schuneman, is that her name?" absently. Miss Thorley was studying Mary +Rose from behind half shut eyes. Just how should she pose her? + +"Oh, but she isn't grouchy!" Mary Rose flew to the defense of her new +friend. "She was just lonesome. Now that she has Germania for company, +she is very, very pleasant. I go to see her every day." + +Miss Thorley shrugged her shoulders. "Every one to their taste. Stand +here, Mary Rose, so that the sun will fall on that yellow mop of yours. +Would your heart break if I took off that hair ribbon? I'd rather your +hair was loose." + +"Aunt Kate put it there," doubtfully. + +"I'll put it back before Aunt Kate sees you. Now, just hold Jenny Lind's +cage under one arm and these under the other." She handed her a couple +of blue and white jars, labeled with big letters--"Henderson-Bingham. +Jam Manufacturers." "Can you hold another? Don't say yes if you can't, +for it is tiresome to pose when you're not used to it. Now then, how is +that, Blanche? Isn't she ducky? You know it's moving day, Mary Rose, +and you won't trust anyone but yourself to move what you like best, your +bird and your jam." + +"I just did move," proudly, "from Mifflin to Waloo." + +"Exactly. Quaint, isn't she?" Miss Thorley murmured to Miss Carter. +"How old are you, Mary Rose?" + +Before Mary Rose could stammer that she was going on fourteen Miss Carter +broke in to say that she was off. + +"Be good to Mary Rose," she begged. "And, Mary Rose, when you are tired, +say so. Miss Thorley will forget all about you when she is interested in +the picture and she'll let you stand there until you drop. I know. You +have a hard pose with your arms like that and when you are tired be sure +and say so." + +"Oh, run along, Blanche, and leave us alone," Miss Thorley said +impatiently as she got her drawing board and brushes and sat down beside +the little table that held her paints. + +Miss Carter only waited to make a face at Mary Rose before she shut the +door and left the artist and her model together. Neither spoke for a few +moments. Mary Rose was too interested in watching Miss Thorley's +wonderful fingers and Miss Thorley was too intent on her work for +conversation. At last Mary Rose could keep still no longer. + +"Are you really an enchanted princess?" she asked eagerly. + +"I should scarcely call myself that, Mary Rose. A working woman is the +way I say it." + +"Then what did Mr. Jerry mean? Don't you think he is an awfully nice +man? He makes me think of Alvin Lewis in Mifflin, only Alvin isn't quite +so stylish. He is a clerk in the drug store in Mifflin and he was real +pleasant. When Gladys and I only had a nickel he'd let us have a glass +of ice cream soda with two spoons. He was such a pleasant man. But what +did Mr. Jerry mean," she returned to her mutton with a suddenness that +made Miss Thorley blur a line, "when he said you were under the spell of +the wicked witch Independence?" + +"How should I know?" And Miss Thorley frowned in a way that made Mary +Rose wish she wouldn't. It quite spoiled her face to frown with it. + +"What is Independence?" Mary Rose frowned, too. As Aunt Kate had said, +frowns were contagious. Mary Rose had caught one now in a flash. + +Miss Thorley took up a handful of brushes and regarded them intently +before she said slowly: "Independence is the greatest thing in the world, +Mary Rose. It means that I can live as I choose, where I choose, that I +can pay my own bills, buy my own clothes and food, that I can do exactly +as I please and as I think best. The independence of women is the most +wonderful thing in this wonderful age." + +Mary Rose looked puzzled. Mr. Jerry had not spoken of it as if it were +such a wonderful thing. She looked around the pretty room with its +simple furnishings and then at Miss Thorley. + +"Does it mean you aren't ever going to be married?" she asked doubtfully. +In Mifflin all the girls as big as Miss Thorley meant to be married. + +"It means exactly that." Miss Thorley's pretty lips were pressed closer +together. "Work, Mary Rose, is the most important thing in life." + +But Mary Rose was horrified. "Aren't you ever going to make a home for a +family?" she cried. She couldn't believe that was what Miss Thorley +meant and she dropped a jam jar. "You don't have to stop work to do it," +she cried eagerly and helpfully after she had retrieved the jar. "Mrs. +Evans, she's Gladys' mother, says she'd think the millennium was here if +she didn't have any work to do. She has five children at home and three +in the cemetery." Miss Thorley shuddered. "She can cook and sew and +sweep and play the piano and she belongs to the Woman's Club and the +Missionary Society and the Revolution Daughters and the Presbyterian +Church. You don't ever have to stop working to make a home for a +family," she repeated with a nod of encouragement to Miss Thorley who +looked disgusted instead of pleased as Mary Rose had expected she would +look. + +"That isn't the kind of work I care for," and she shrugged her shoulders. +"I should think your Mrs. Evans would die." + +"She hasn't time to die," Mary Rose told her seriously. "She's too busy +taking care of Mr. Evans and her family and helping other people. She's +a fine woman, everyone said in Mifflin. When I grow up I want to be just +like her," emphatically. + +"Oh, Mary Rose! You want to be something besides a drudge. Women have +other things to do now but cook and sew and look after crying babies." + +"Babies don't cry unless there's a pin sticking into them or they have +the colic, and, anyway, I think babies are the dearest things God ever +made. I'd like to have twelve when I grow up, six boys and six girls. I +don't ever want an only child. It's too lonesome. Don't you ever get +lonesome, Miss Thorley?" + +"I have my work," Miss Thorley told her briefly. + +Mary Rose watched her at her work. She admired Miss Thorley's swift, +sure strokes, but she drew a sigh that came from the tips of her shabby +shoes as she murmured: "All the same I don't understand just what Mr. +Jerry meant." + +Miss Thorley did not answer, unless a frown could be considered an +answer. She painted for perhaps five minutes longer, but her strokes +were not so swift nor so sure. At last she threw down her brushes as if +she hated herself for doing it, but realized she could do nothing else. + +"Mary Rose," she said crossly. Even Mary Rose could see that she was not +pleased with something. "I don't feel like painting today. It's too +warm or something. If I could find a little girl about," she looked +critically at Mary Rose, "about ten years old, I think I'd ask her to go +out to the lake with me." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose forgot that she was posing and dropped both jam jars. +She almost dropped Jenny Lind, too. She remembered Aunt Kate's request +as she clung to the cage. "Would one going on fourteen be too old?" Her +voice trembled and her heart beat fast for fear Miss Thorley would say +that was far too old. "If she should be a long, long time, perhaps three +years, before she got to fourteen?" + +Miss Thorley's face was as sober as a judge's as she considered this. +"Well," she said at last very slowly, "one going on fourteen might do. +Run and ask your aunt and I'll meet you downstairs." + +Mary Rose obeyed after she had hugged Miss Thorley. "You're an angel," +she exclaimed fervently, "a regular seraphim and cherubim angel, if you +are independent." + +She almost fell down the stairs and made such a racket that a door on the +second floor opened promptly. Mary Rose caught her breath. She was +afraid to see whose door was ajar. If that cross Mr. Wells should catch +her she was afraid to think what he might do. But it was not Mr. Wells' +door that had opened, nor Mr. Wells' face that looked at her. An elderly +woman stood staring at her impatiently. + +"Dearie me!" she was saying, "I thought the house was falling down." + +"No, ma'am." Mary Rose was very apologetic. "I just stumbled a teeny +bit. You see I'm in such a hurry because Miss Thorley's going to take me +to the lake and I must carry Jenny Lind downstairs and tell Aunt Kate and +be at the front door in a jiffy." She would have darted on but the +elderly lady put out a wrinkled hand and caught Mary Rose's blue and +white checked apron. + +"Who's Jenny Lind?" she demanded. + +"This is Jenny Lind." Mary Rose held up the cage. "The best bird that +ever had feathers. She came with me from Mifflin and Miss Thorley's +painting our picture for Mr. Henderson Bingham." + +The old lady looked at Jenny Lind in a strange way. "I haven't seen a +canary bird for years," she murmured, more to herself than to Mary Rose. + +[Illustration: "'I haven't seen a canary bird for years,' she murmured."] + +Mary Rose answered her impulsively as she usually answered people. +"Would you like to have her visit you until I come back? I'm not going +to take her with us. She wouldn't be any trouble. She's used to +visiting. All you have to do is to let her have a chair or a table to +sit on." She offered the cage generously. + +The old lady seemed to hesitate. She looked like Gladys' grandmother, +only not so comfortable, Mary Rose thought. At last she held out her +hand. + +"I declare I don't know but I will let you leave it with me. I'm all +alone, and even a bird is company." + +"Jenny Lind's splendid company. Shall I put her on the table for you? +There! I'll run up before supper and get her. And don't you worry, +because Uncle Larry said the law doesn't say one word about birds." And +before startled Mother Johnson could ask her what she meant by the law, +she ran off, stumbling down the two flights of stairs to the basement. +Only the special Providence that looks after children saved her. + +Aunt Kate was in the kitchen and she exclaimed in surprise when she heard +that Mary Rose was going to the lake with Miss Thorley and had left Jenny +Lind to spend the afternoon with the grandmother on the second floor. + +"My soul an' body!" she said. "Whatever will you do next!" + +Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry in his car in the alley and ran to the open +window to tell him of the pleasure that was in store for her. + +"Mr. Jerry! Oh, Mr. Jerry! I'm going to the lake with the enchanted +princess. Don't you wish you were me?" + +Mr. Jerry waved his hand as he smiled and nodded, but Mary Rose did not +wait to hear whether he would like to change places with her, for she had +to slip out of the plaid skirt and middy blouse into a white frock that +Aunt Kate had shortened. + +"Isn't it the luckiest thing that Ella had so many beautiful clothes!" +she said breathlessly. "I shouldn't want to go out with Miss Thorley in +that horrid boys' suit." + +She was ready first, and as she waited in the lower hall she talked to +Mrs. Schuneman about Germania. Miss Thorley found them together when she +came down, looking exactly like a princess to Mary Rose, in her white +linen skirt and lingerie blouse and with a big black hat all a-bloom with +pink roses on her red-brown head. + +"I was ready first," Mary Rose cried happily, "but I didn't mind waiting, +for I was talking to a friend, to Mrs. Schuneman. She has Germania, you +know. This is my friend, Miss Thorley, Mrs. Schuneman." She introduced +them politely. + +Miss Thorley nodded carelessly, but even a careless glance told her that +there was not the sign of a grouch on Mrs. Schuneman's fat red face that +day. Indeed, it quite beamed with friendliness as she hoped that they +would have a good time. + +"You see, she's very pleasant when you know her," Mary Rose explained as +they walked over to the street car. "That's why it's so important to +know people. If you don't really know them, you might often think they +were grouchy when they aren't." + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +Lake Nokomis was on the outskirts of Waloo and was a popular pleasure +resort for Waloo people from June until September. A band played in +the pavilion, there was a moving picture show, a merry-go-round with a +wheezy organ, a roller coaster and many other amusement features, as +well as several ice-cream parlors. There was always a crowd drifting +from one place to another, and Mary Rose fairly danced with delight +when she and Miss Thorley became a part of the good-natured throng. + +They were standing beside the enclosure in which the fat Shetland +ponies waited for the children who were fortunate enough to possess a +nickel to pay for a ride on their broad backs or a drive in a roomy +carriage, when Mary Rose saw Mr. Jerry. She had sadly refused Miss +Thorley's invitation to ride because she did not wish to leave her +alone, and Miss Thorley would not ride one of the ponies nor drive in +one of the carriages. + +"There's Mr. Jerry!" squealed Mary Rose when she saw him. She could +scarcely believe her eyes, but she waved her hand. "He's the man who +boards my cat, you know," she explained to Miss Thorley. "And he's +very pleasant and friendly, just like a Mifflin man." + +Miss Thorley looked first surprised and then displeased and then she +frowned and shrugged her shoulders as if she did not really care +whether Mr. Jerry was there or not. She gave him rather a curt +greeting when he joined them with a cheery: + +"Hullo, Mary Rose. Are you thinking of a canter in the park?" + +There was nothing curt in the greeting Mary Rose gave him. She smiled +enchantingly and slipped her hand into his. "We're just watching the +ponies. Aren't they loves? Miss Thorley thinks they are too small for +her to ride, but I don't see how she can be sure unless she tries. Do +you know Mr. Jerry, Miss Thorley? He's making such a comfortable home +for George Washington. She didn't feel like painting today," she +explained to Mr. Jerry, "so we came out for a change. Oh, I do just +love that blackest pony, but no one seems to choose him!" She pointed +an eager finger to the corner where the blackest and fattest pony stood +neglected. + +"Suppose you choose him. I've money to treat a lady friend to a ride." +And he made a pleasant jingle with the coins in his pocket. + +"Miss Thorley invited me, but I didn't like to leave her alone. Would +you stay with her, Mr. Jerry? It would be real friendly of you to me +and the pony, for if I don't take him I'm afraid no one will, and he'll +feel so sad when he goes home tonight. Will you take good care of Miss +Thorley, Mr. Jerry?" + +"I will," promised Mr. Jerry emphatically, although Miss Thorley +exclaimed hurriedly that she could take care of herself. He found a +bench from which they could watch Mary Rose as she made the black pony +happy and rode around the ring, prouder than any peacock. + +"Funny kid, isn't she?" remarked Mr. Jerry, realizing that if there was +to be any conversation between them he would have to begin. "I wish +you could have seen her when she came over with her cat to ask if we +would take the beast to board. Who's the owner of that joint of yours? +I'd like to tell him what I think of him for separating a homesick +little girl from her pet." + +"It would be rather a nuisance if the place was overrun with cats and +dogs and children," Miss Thorley said coldly. "There wouldn't be much +peace or comfort in the house." + +"The peace and comfort you've had don't seem to agree with all of you," +remarked Mr. Jerry pleasantly. "I've seen some of your neighbors who +look as if they needed a big dose of noise and discomfort." + +"You must mean Mr. Wells. He does have rather a touch-me-not, +speak-to-me-never manner. And the fuss he makes if there is any noise +in the place after ten o'clock! Imagine him with a cat or a bird." +The picture her imagination made was so impossible that she laughed. + +Mr. Jerry drew a contented sigh and ventured to move a trifle nearer. +He started to say something and then changed his mind. He wouldn't say +anything just then that might bring back that distant expression to her +face. He knew very well how cold and forbidding she could be. So +instead of saying what he wished to say he talked of Mary Rose and +George Washington, and she listened and smiled and made holes in the +turf with her parasol, but never once did she speak of the conversation +she had had with Mary Rose which had caused her to throw down her +brushes and treat herself to a holiday. + +Mary Rose's face was an incandescent light as, with a good-by pat for +the blackest pony, she ran back to them. + +"I felt like a queen!" she cried. "It was splendid. Oh, won't you +have a ride?" She looked from one to the other. "I'll pay. I'm +making lots of money. You needn't worry another minute about George +Washington's board," she told Mr. Jerry. "It's as good as paid." + +He laughed. "I won't worry and I shan't ride the ponies. My legs are +too long. I'd have to tie double knots in them to keep them off the +ground. But I'll take a turn on the merry-go-round with you." He +nodded toward that attractive circle of animals as it went around and +around to the accompaniment of the wheezy organ. "I dare you to come +with us." He looked straight at Miss Thorley. + +"Oh, please!" Mary Rose clapped her hands. "You will, won't you, Miss +Thorley? You needn't be afraid," she whispered. "I'm sure he's strong +enough to hold you on." + +Miss Thorley looked anything but afraid as she frowned at the +merry-go-round and at Mr. Jerry impartially. But when she met Mary +Rose's eyes, filled with a great hunger for merry-go-rounds, she +laughed softly and told Mr. Jerry that, of course, she wouldn't take a +dare, she never had and she never would, and she thought she'd choose +the giraffe because his long neck gave a rider so much to cling to. + +It was not easy for Mary Rose to choose a mount. Each animal seemed so +very desirable that she sighed as she finally selected an ostrich for +the same reason that she had taken the black pony. "I haven't seen a +single person ride him and I expect he feels neglected." + +But when they mounted the merry-go-round Miss Thorley stepped into a +gay little sleigh drawn by two fat polar bears. After he had seen Mary +Rose properly astride the neglected ostrich Mr. Jerry took the seat +beside Miss Thorley. + +"I promised Mary Rose that I wouldn't let you fall out," he said, as if +that could be the only reason he would ride beside her. + +Much to Mary Rose's amazement, Miss Thorley was satisfied with one +ride, although Mr. Jerry very handsomely offered them a turn on each +animal. Mary Rose could not resist such an invitation and one by one +she rode on a giraffe, a camel, and a lion. + +"Mercy, mercy, Mary Rose!" Miss Thorley said at last. "You must stop. +Your head will be completely turned. And we must go home." + +"Won't you ride back with me?" asked Mr. Jerry. "I have the car. If +you will, we have time for a sundae first." + +Mary Rose's heart all but stopped beating as she waited for Miss +Thorley to say they would. It didn't seem possible that anyone, even +an independent woman, could refuse such an alluring invitation. But +grown-ups were queer. Mary Rose had found that out long, long ago. +She did not hesitate for even the fraction of a second when Miss +Thorley turned and left the decision to her. A moment later they were +in the ice cream parlor that was like a cool green cave after the heat +and the light outside. + +Mary Rose chose a chocolate sundae and she giggled as she looked at the +rich brown sauce. "When I was little, nothing but a baby," she said, +"I thought that it was the yellow in the eggs I ate that made my hair +yellow. Do you suppose if I ate lots and lots of chocolate, I'd ever +have hair as brown as Miss Thorley's. Isn't it beautiful, Mr. Jerry?" + +"Very beautiful!" Mr. Jerry agreed as heartily as she could wish. + +Miss Thorley flushed uncomfortably under the admiration of Mr. Jerry +and Mary Rose. "Mary Rose," she said hurriedly, "don't you know you +shouldn't make personal remarks?" + +"Eh?" Mary Rose's attention was centered in the well she was making in +her ice cream for the chocolate syrup. + +"You shouldn't talk of people's hair and eyes." The rebuke was far more +feeble than Miss Thorley had meant it to be. + +"You shouldn't!" Mary Rose was so surprised that she left the well +half made. "Why, in Mifflin when we liked the way a friend looked we +always told them." + +Miss Thorley pushed away her sundae. "Mary Rose, if you say Mifflin +again, I'll scream." + +Mary Rose's cheeks turned as pink as Miss Thorley's cheeks had turned. +"That's what Aunt Kate says sometimes, but if you like a place the way +I like Mifflin you just have to talk about it. It's--it's in your +heart." + +"Talk about it to me, Mary Rose," Mr. Jerry offered kindly. "It +doesn't make me cross to hear of a place where people are kind and +friendly. My conscience is perfectly clear." He spoke as if he were +very proud of his clear conscience. + +Miss Thorley pushed back her chair. "It doesn't make me cross," she +said, "only----" + +They waited courteously to hear what would follow "only," but nothing +ever did. Miss Thorley just jumped up and said instead that really +they must go. Mr. Jerry's eyes twinkled as he agreed with her. + +It was far more pleasant riding to town in Mr. Jerry's automobile than +it would have been in the crowded street car. Mary Rose called Miss +Thorley's attention to the crowd as she snuggled close to her in the +spacious tonneau. + +"I'm playing it's mine," she whispered, "and that Mr. Jerry is my own +driver. Wouldn't it be fun to drive with him forever and ever?" + +Mr. Jerry heard her and sharpened his ears for the answer. + +"You'd get tired riding forever with anyone, Mary Rose. There is only +one thing that people never get tired of." + +"What's that?" Mary Rose hungered to hear. + +"Work." Mr. Jerry sniffed. They could hear him in the tonneau. + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Gladys' mother did. She said she had never +had enough fun to know whether she would get tired of it or not, but +she'd had plenty of chance to know there were some things she never +wanted to see again, and one of them was work and the other was the red +and black plaid silk dress that the dressmaker spoiled." + +Mr. Jerry chuckled on the front seat and after a second Miss Thorley +laughed, too. + +"Mary Rose," she said very distinctly, "I'll have to give you a broader +vision. You have entirely too narrow an outlook." + +"What's that, Miss Thorley? What's a broader vision?" Mary Rose +couldn't imagine. + +It was Mr. Jerry who answered. "In this particular case, Mary Rose, +it's seeing far too much for one and not enough for two." + +As they rolled up to the Washington Miss Carter came down the street +with Bob Strahan whom she had met on the car. It was amazing, now that +they were on speaking terms, how often they met. Bob Strahan stopped +to open the door of the automobile and help Miss Thorley out, and Mary +Rose proudly introduced Mr. Jerry who boarded her cat. They all +laughed and talked together for a few minutes and then Mary Rose hopped +from the back seat to the front. + +"I'll go around and see George Washington, if you don't mind," she +said. "Hasn't it been just the loveliest afternoon, the kind you're +always hoping for but never really expect to have," with a sigh of +rapture. She patted Mr. Jerry's arm lovingly. "Isn't Miss Thorley a +darling! She told me all about that Independence. It isn't a witch as +you thought, Mr. Jerry, it's something about wanting to pay her own +bills and live alone. I don't understand it," she frowned, "but that's +what she said." + +Mr. Jerry frowned too, as he turned into the alley. "She doesn't +know," he said briefly. "Take it from me, Mary Rose, that Independence +is an old witch, and she's enchanted more girls than you could count." + +Mary Rose looked doubtful. "If Miss Thorley really is enchanted," she +suggested, "we must find something to break the spell. I told her she +wouldn't have to stop work to make a home for a family, Mr. Jerry," she +whispered encouragingly. + +"Did you?" Mr. Jerry laughed. "What did she say?" + +Mary Rose knit her small brows before she answered. "I don't think she +just agreed with me, but I'll explain it to her again." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +When Mary Rose ran up to get Jenny Lind young Mrs. Johnson met her at +the door and smiled pleasantly. + +"You're the little girl for the canary?" she said. "I was +wondering--Mother Johnson seems to have taken a fancy to you--and I +wondered if you would go out for a little walk with her every morning. +I'll pay you ten cents a day." + +Mary Rose's eyes popped open. In Mifflin little girls were expected to +do what they were asked to do and were never paid for such tasks. + +"Why, of course, I'd be glad to," she said promptly. + +"That will be splendid. You see she won't go by herself and I have my +own engagements. The doctor said she must have some exercise," sighed +Mrs. Johnson, as if the doctor had made a most unreasonable demand. +"Suppose you come up tomorrow about eleven? That will give you time +for a good walk before lunch." + +"I'll soon be making money enough to send for Solomon," Mary Rose told +Mrs. Donovan, her voice trembling with excitement. "There's ten cents +a day from Grandma Johnson and ten cents from Mrs. Bracken for washing +the breakfast dishes and a quarter from Miss Thorley. Why, Aunt Kate, +I never thought there was so much money in the world as what I'm going +to earn by myself!" + +Aunt Kate laughed as she hugged her. "There's no one in the house can +be cross to her," she told Uncle Larry proudly. + +Promptly at eleven o'clock the next morning Mary Rose was waiting for +Mother Johnson who grumbled and fussed before she could be persuaded to +take the walk the doctor had recommended. But, once outside, the sky +was so blue, the air so pleasant, and Mary Rose so sociable that her +face grew less peevish. + +"Where shall we go?" Mary Rose paused at the corner. "You see I'm a +stranger here. In Mifflin I knew the way everywhere. Aunt Kate said +there was a little park over this street. Perhaps it would be pleasant +there?" + +Mother Johnson said grumpily that it made little difference to her, all +she wanted was to have her walk over and be home again. + +"But you'll feel better after your exercise," promised Mary Rose. "I +should think you'd love to be outdoors. Your home is very pretty, but +it isn't like the outdoors, you know. Did you ever see the sky so +blue? It looks as if it was made out of the very silk that was in Miss +Lucy Miller's bridesmaid's dress. It was the most beautiful dress Miss +Lena Carlson ever made. Miss Lena goes out sewing for a dollar and a +half a day." And she described the wedding at which Miss Lucy Miller +had worn the frock made by the dollar and a half a day seamstress with +an enthusiasm that was undimmed by Mother Johnson's lack of interest. +From the wedding and Miss Lucy it was but a step to other Mifflin +happenings. They found themselves in the park before they knew it. + +"It's something like the cemetery in Mifflin," Mary Rose said after she +had looked about. "Of course, there aren't any graves but there is a +monument and seats. Do you want to sit down? Oh, do look, grandma! +Do look," and she pulled the black sleeve beside her. + +Since she had come to Waloo Mother Johnson had not been called grandma +and she had missed the grandchildren she had left behind more than she +realized. Mary Rose had called most of the older women in Mifflin +grandma--Grandma Robinson and Grandma Smith. It was a friendly little +custom that was in vogue there and so she had unhesitatingly called old +Mrs. Johnson grandma. Mrs. Johnson was so surprised that she had +nothing to say when Mary Rose pulled her to a bench and pointed a +trembling finger at a little brownish-grayish animal which stood up in +the grass and looked at them with bright eyes. + +"Do you see what that is?" Mary Rose's voice shook. "It's a squirrel! +A really truly squirrel in this big city! Here, squirrelly, +squirrelly," she snapped her fingers. "I wish I had something to feed +you!" despairingly as the squirrel ran away. + +[Illustration: "'It's a squirrel! A really truly squirrel in this big +city!'"] + +Grandma Johnson had her purse in the bag she carried and she opened it +and took out five cents. "Here," she said crossly, "go and get +something to feed him with if that's what you're crying for." + +Mary Rose straightened herself and threw her arms around Grandma +Johnson's knees. "Why--why!" she gasped, "I do think you are a regular +fairy godmother!" + +Grandma Johnson had been called several names since she had been in the +Washington. Once she had heard Hilda in the kitchen speak of her as +"the old hen" and had almost had apoplexy. And Larry Donovan had +muttered that she was "an old crank" which was what one might expect of +a mannerless janitor but no one had ever called her a fairy godmother. +It sounded rather pleasant. She actually smiled as Mary Rose ran over +to the popcorn wagon on the corner and came back with a bag of peanuts. + +"What wouldn't I give if Tom had a girl like that!" she sighed. "But +then he'd have to move. Children aren't allowed in the Washington." + +Mary Rose insisted on an exact division of the nuts. "You want to feed +them just as much as I do." She hadn't a doubt of that. "So you must +have half. When the squirrel sees how many we have perhaps he'll bring +his brothers and sisters and have a squirrel party," she giggled. + +Indeed, it did seem as if the squirrel had sent out invitations when he +saw the heap of nuts that Mary Rose and Grandma Johnson had beside them +for, one after another, other squirrels came until half a dozen +clustered around them. They were very tame. One even climbed up Mary +Rose's arm for the nut she held between her lips and Grandma Johnson +lured another to her shoulder. + +"Aren't they ducks?" Mary Rose demanded. A red poppy blossomed in each +of her cheeks and her eyes were lit with candles. "I do believe the +Lord sent them here to be pets for people who live in houses where +there's a law against dogs and cats and children. I think it was--it +was wonderful in Him! Don't you? Shall we come every day and feed +them? Then they'll really get acquainted with us and we'll be friends. +Oh, I'm so glad that I know you--that we know each other!" She threw +her arms around the startled Grandma Johnson and gave her another hug. + +They met Mrs. Schuneman on the steps when they went home and Mary Rose +had to stop and tell her the wonderful news, that the Lord had put pets +in the park for people who couldn't have them in their homes. She +introduced Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Schuneman, who had looked at each +other furtively when they had met in the halls but who had never spoken +until now. + +"It's just as well not to make friends with the people who live in the +same apartment house you do," young Mrs. Johnson had told Grandma when +she came to make her home with her son. "You can't tell who they are." + +"You can tell they are human beings," Mother Johnson had muttered but +that was not enough for her daughter-in-law and the older woman had +been too depressed by the strangeness of everything about her to make +friends for herself. + +She even hesitated now when Mary Rose's inquiry after the health of +Germania brought an invitation to step in and see how much at home +Germania was. But in Mary Rose's opinion one could not refuse such an +invitation and she drew Grandma Johnson in to admire and to exclaim +over Germania, who did seem very contented. They had a very pleasant +little visit and Mrs. Schuneman eagerly asked them both to come again. +Mother Johnson gathered courage to say she would, she'd be glad to. + +"Haven't we had a gorgeous time?" Mary Rose asked as they went up the +stairs. "I think it's very kind of you to let me go walking with you. +I'm so glad the doctor said you needed exercise." + +And Grandma Johnson smiled and patted the small shoulder. There was +not a trace of the old peevishness on her face which was like a +withered apple. "I don't know but I'm glad, too, Mary Rose. I'll see +you tomorrow." + +"You certainly will. Won't the squirrels be glad to see us? Good-by." +She ran down the stairs with the ten cents in her hand. The coin +dropped on the landing and rolled away. She was looking for it when +Mr. Wells came up and almost walked over her. Mary Rose was on her +feet in a flash. + +"Good morning," she said politely. "I'm looking for the dime I +dropped. I earned it walking with Grandma Johnson. We had the +grandest time in the park. Did you know that there are pets there for +people who can't have them in their homes? They're squirrels and the +Lord put them there. Oh, here's my dime. Good-by." And she ran on +while Mr. Wells stood and stared after her as if he thought he or she +had lost their wits and he was not sure which. + +He went on up and met Larry Donovan. + +"Donovan," he said sharply. "I thought children were not allowed in +this building?" + +"No more they are, Mr. Wells," Larry tried to speak pleasantly. +"There's a clause in every lease that says so." + +"Then why do you allow a child to run all over the place?" Mr. Wells +wanted to know and he scowled fiercely. + +Larry straightened himself and a dull red crept up into his face. "If +you mean my niece by your remarks," he said stiffly, "she isn't a +child. She's--she's," he stumbled, "she's goin' on fourteen." + +"She has a long time to go before she ever reaches fourteen," grimly. +"Do Brown and Lawson know you have a child living with you?" + +"They do not." Larry's tone was as short and crisp as pie crust. + +"H-m," was all Mr. Wells said to that but he looked at Larry before he +went into his apartment and slammed the door. + +"The ol' chimpanzee 'll tell Brown an' Lawson," Uncle Larry told Aunt +Kate when he came down and found her in the bedroom. "That's what +he'll do. He's goin' to complain about Mary Rose." + +Aunt Kate stared at him. "An' what'll you do, Larry Donovan? What'll +you do then?" + +"I'll tell them they know what they can do if they don't like it," he +answered gruffly. "I've been a good man for the place. I've kept the +peace with the tenants though, God knows, it's been no easy job. I've +kept the bills down an' made a lot of the repairs myself an' if Brown +an' Lawson want to fire me just because my niece, my wife's niece, an +inoffensive little kid, is livin' with us why they can fire. That's +what they can do. I'd be ashamed to stay an' work for them." + +"Larry," Mrs. Donovan put her arms around her husband and kissed him. +"Larry Donovan, I'm that proud of you I can't see!" And she put her +hand over her wet eyes. "Then you like to have Mary Rose here?" + +"I'll tell you the truth, Kate, dear. The little thing has made +herself necessary to me. That's what she's done. We got along all +right without her but that was because we didn't know what it was to +have a kid in the house. No, sir, Mary Rose is one of the fam'ly and +she stays with the fam'ly. She's good for the tenants, too. See what +she's done for Mrs. Willoughby an' Mrs. Schuneman. The ol' lady called +me in to hear her bird sing this very morning. An' Mrs. Bracken, who's +so busy club workin' for other folks she hasn't any time for her home, +tells me Mary Rose is the biggest kind of a help to her. I thought she +was goin' to jaw me about fixin' that back window 't sticks a bit. I +should have fixed it before but it clean slipped my mind, an' I up an' +asked her how Mary Rose was doing. She forgot the window to talk about +the kid. 'Ain't she small for her age?' says she. 'I guess you don't +know much about childern,' says I. 'Mary Rose's as big as she should +be!' 'When I was fourteen,' says she, 'I weighed a hunderd an' ten +poun's.' 'That's a good weight for a growing girl,' says I. 'I don't +believe you weigh much more'n that now, Mrs. Bracken,' says I. And +that ended it. She weighs a hunderd an' thirty if she weighs a pound. +An' then there's the Johnsons. Young Mrs. Johnson said this morning +that it would be a blessed relief if Mary Rose'd get the ol' lady out +every day. I guess there's a place for her here all right, whether ol' +Wells sees it or not." + +"Wouldn't it be just as well for you to tell Brown an' Lawson your +story first?" asked Mrs. Donovan. "Of course, when it's a tenant +again' a janitor the janitor don't stand much show. But if you tell +the agents that your wife's niece, a girl goin' on fourteen, is staying +with you an' makin' herself useful to the tenants they won't come here +with a lot of confusin' questions when Mr. Wells has had his say. +Seems if it was the one who spoke first who gets the mos' attention. +Haven't you any errand that could take you down there the first thing +in the mornin'?" + +Larry laughed scornfully. "I have that. I can al'ys find a complaint +to carry if I'm so minded. I guess you're right an' it won't do no +harm to get our side in first. Where's Mary Rose now?" + +"She's gone over to Mr. Jerry's. The cat's board's overdue." +Evidently Aunt Kate thought that overdue board was a laughing matter +for she chuckled. "Mary Rose was horrified when she remembered she'd +forgotten to pay but I said Mr. Jerry 'd understand that she wasn't +used to business. So long as she paid in the end a little waiting +wouldn't matter." + + +Mr. Jerry had just driven into the garage when the delinquent Mary Rose +slipped in at the back gate. + +"Hullo, Mary Rose," he called cheerily. + +"I've come to pay George Washington's board," importantly. "I'm +ashamed I'm late but I forgot. I'm not used to business," she +apologized, mortification dyeing her cheeks pink. + +"That's all right. But if it's board you're going to pay we'd better +go in and see my Aunt Mary." + +His Aunt Mary looked mildly surprised when Mary Rose announced that she +had come to pay George Washington's board and she was sorry she was +late. Aunt Mary pursed her lips in a way that made Mary Rose quake +until she remembered that she was earning a lot of money and it really +didn't matter if the board was more than fifty cents. And George +Washington did have an awful appetite. + +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary was saying so. "That cat is perfectly hollow. +It's amazing the milk he drinks. He has been here a little over a +week, Mary Rose," again mortification painted Mary Rose's cheeks, "and +in that time he has caught five mice. It is impossible to estimate the +damage that five mice would have done if they hadn't been caught so I +figure that George Washington has earned his own board." + +"Why, George Washington!" Mary Rose could scarcely grasp this but when +she did she caught the cat to her in a rapturous hug. "Isn't he the +very smartest cat? Why, he's self-supporting, isn't he?" And she +hugged him again. "If he keeps on earning his board I can send for +Solomon. I don't suppose you would want to board a dog, too? I think +I'd almost feel as if I were in Heaven to have my animal friends with +me again." + +"What kind of dog is Solomon?" Mr. Jerry asked carelessly. "I've been +thinking of buying a dog but perhaps I could rent old Sol." + +"Mr. Jerry! I'd be glad to let you have him for his board. He's +splendid, a real fox terrier, and that clever. He can do lots of +tricks. You couldn't help but love him. He's so affectionate and +friendly." + +"It was a fox terrier that I thought of buying. Then we can consider +that settled, Mary Rose. You send for Sol as soon as you please and +I'll board him for the use of him. I think he would look well on the +front seat of the car." + +Mary Rose had jumped to her feet and, with George Washington still in +her arms, she threw herself on Mr. Jerry in a perfect spasm of +delighted gratitude that brought tears to the eyes of both of them for +George Washington was not accustomed to being squeezed between a young +man and a little girl. + +"What a--what a splendid man you are!" cried Mary Rose. "You're like +King Arthur and Robin Hood, always succoring the friendless though I'm +not friendless when I have you and your Aunt Mary and all the people +over there." She nodded across at the white face of the Washington. + +"All the people?" questioned Mr. Jerry. He had heard of some of them +who did not act friendly. + +"Well, perhaps not all--yet," amended Mary Rose. "I do like to be +friends with people, Mr. Jerry. It gives you such a comfortable +feeling inside. When you're not friends it's just as if you had the +stomachache and the headache at the same time." + +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought in some cookies and three glasses of +ginger ale, all sparkling and frosty. + +"It's a party," beamed Mary Rose. "I've always thought the world was +full of nice people and now I know it. Aunt Kate's forever telling me +that I'm too little to know the good from the bad but I tell her there +isn't any bad, that the Lord wouldn't waste His time and dust, and +anyway I have the right kind of an eye. I showed that when I made +friends with you and Mr. Jerry." + +When she left she hesitated at the gate. "Would it be a bother if I +brought a friend over to see George Washington?" she ventured. "I'd +like Miss Thorley to meet him and then perhaps she'd paint his picture." + +"I should think she would," promptly agreed Mr. Jerry. "He's a cat who +deserves to have his portrait painted. Bring over any friends you +wish, Mary Rose," hospitably, "but let me know first so George +Washington will be home. Sometimes I take him out with me," gravely. + +Mary Rose gazed at him with adoration. "I don't believe I could have +found a better boarding place for him, not if I had searched all Waloo. +I'll let you know, Mr. Jerry, just as soon as I know myself." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +But before Mary Rose could write the letter that would tell Jimmie +Bronson that she was now financially able to maintain her animal +friends she had a big surprise. + +The day had been warm and sultry, the sort that makes every nerve +disagreeably alive and brings to the surface all the unpleasant little +traits that in cooler weather one can keep hidden. + +"Old General Humidity hasn't shirked his job a minute to-day," Bob +Strahan told Miss Carter as they left the car and walked up the block +to the Washington together. + +In front of them sauntered a boy with a dog at his heels. The boy was +a sturdy young fellow of perhaps fourteen, very shabby as to clothes +but very dauntless as to manner. The dog was a fox terrier with one +black spot over his left eye like a patch. Bob Strahan whistled and +snapped his fingers at him. + +"I've always meant to have a fox terrier some day," he told Miss +Carter. "They're so intelligent." + +But this particular fox terrier, while he wagged his tail and looked +around to see who whistled, kept close to the heels of the boy who +looked carefully at the houses as if in search of one. When he came to +the Washington he stood and stared up at the long brick wall with its +many windows peering so curiously down at him, much as Mary Rose had +stared less than a month before. + +"Well, young man," Bob Strahan said pleasantly, "is there anyone here +you wish to see?" + +"Gee," exclaimed the boy with a fervor that seemed to come from his +dusty heels, "I hadn't any idea it would be such a big place!" + +"It isn't a cottage," agreed Bob Strahan amiably, "nor yet a bungalow. +But a roof has to be some size to cover a couple of dozen families. +What particular family are you interested in, may I ask?" He stooped +to pat the black-eyed fox terrier as it sniffed his ankles. "Some +dog!" he told the boy. + +Down the street came Mary Rose and Miss Thorley. Mary Rose had been to +the bakery for rolls for supper and had met Miss Thorley on the corner. +The little group by the steps of the Washington could hear her voice +before they saw her and the boy swung around and listened. + +"I used to think that if I wasn't a human being, made in the image of +God, I'd like to be the milkman's horse in Mifflin," he heard Mary Rose +say and he chuckled. + +"Why, Mary Rose?" laughed Miss Thorley. + +"Because it was so friendly to go from house to house every morning +with milk for the babies and cream for the coffee. Everyone in Mifflin +was a friend to old Whiteface. Why--why!" she broke her story short to +stand still and stare at the boy and the dog, who were both staring at +her. The boy's face was one broad grin and the dog's tail was wagging +frantically. "Why, Solomon Crocker! It's never you! Oh, Solomon!" as +he darted to her. "I've missed you more than tongue could tell. It +seems a hundred thousand years since we were together. Jimmie Bronson, +however did you know that I'd made arrangements for Solomon to come to +Waloo?" + +"I didn't know but I wanted to leave Mifflin and I couldn't let old Sol +stay alone. You know Aunt Nora died just after you left and there +wasn't any home for me any more. I wanted to see the world so I +thought I'd bring the pup and if you didn't want him I'd be glad to +keep him. He's a dandy dog and he's valuable. He's helped to more +than pay our way." He jingled the contents of his pocket so that they +could hear how Solomon had helped. + +"How did he do that, Jimmie? I'm sorry about your Aunt Nora but now +you have one more friend in Heaven and you've lots left on earth. He's +got heaps of friends right here, hasn't he?" She looked at Bob Strahan +and the two girls for confirmation of her words. "We're all friends in +Waloo. But how did Solomon help you to earn your way?" + +Jimmie laughed sheepishly. "I've taught him a lot of new tricks. He's +a smart dog and learned like lightning. Folks were glad to see him +perform. I never asked for pay but they always gave me something. I +could have sold him half a dozen times for big money but he's your dog, +Mary Rose, so I brought him right along." + +"Show us his new tricks," begged Mary Rose. "Show them to us this +minute." + +So Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, with Mary Rose between them, and Bob +Strahan sat down on the broad front steps and watched Jimmie Bronson +put Solomon through his repertoire. Mrs. Schuneman and Lottie joined +them and from their windows Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby watched +the performance. Solomon really was a clever dog and Jimmie had been +an excellent teacher so that the entertainment was very creditable. +They were all so interested in it that they never saw an addition to +their number until a harsh strident voice sounded beside them. It made +Mary Rose jump and Mrs. Bracken and Mrs. Willoughby suddenly left their +windows. + +"Mein lieber Gott!" Mrs. Schuneman rose involuntarily and heavily to +her feet. "It's Mr. Wells!" + +"What's this? What's this?" Lightning flashed from Mr. Wells' eyes +and thunder rumbled in his voice. No wonder everyone was startled. +"Dogs aren't allowed here. Where's Donovan? He shouldn't allow such a +nuisance. Run along, boy, and take your dog with you. You aren't +allowed here!" + +"It isn't his dog." Mary Rose ran in front of him. "It's my dog and +he's come all the way from Mifflin. I wish you'd been here earlier so +you could see how smart he is," timidly. "He knows such a lot of funny +tricks. Jimmie, will you have him do that one--" + +"Your dog!" interrupted Mr. Wells, with a snort, and his fiery eyes +seemed to bore a hole right through Mary Rose, who was trying +desperately to remember that she had the right kind of eye and could +see nothing but good in the cross old man in front of her. "You know +very well that dogs are not allowed in this house. Take him away, boy, +and don't let me see either of you again." + +"Oh!" Mary Rose's heart was full of indignation. So were her eyes. +She was too hurt to be afraid. "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, a +great big man like you to talk that way to a poor little dog who has +come all the way from Mifflin expecting to find friends here? He's my +dog and--" + +But Mr. Wells would not let her finish. "You can't keep him here," he +snarled. He was furious at being spoken to in such a fashion by a +janitor's child and before a group of young people who did their best +to look serious. "You haven't any business here yourself. Children +and dogs are forbidden in this building." + +Mrs. Donovan had come to the basement window just in time to hear this +angry outburst and she called hastily: "Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" + +Mary Rose never heard her. "Why are you always picking at me?" she +demanded of Mr. Wells. "I'm only a little girl and you're a big man +but never once since I came to Waloo have you looked as if you wanted +to be friends with me. I don't mean to be impudent but you--you do +make it very hard for me to like you." Her lip quivered and she turned +quickly and hid her face against Miss Thorley's white skirt. + +Miss Thorley's arm went around her and a thrill of emotion rarely +intense ran over the older girl. When she spoke her voice was strange +even to herself: + +"Really, Mr. Wells, this is all very unnecessary. You have not been +annoyed by Mary Rose or her pets. I think you can trust to her and to +the Donovans--" + +"Oh, you can!" Mary Rose's face came out again and she was so eager to +assure him that he could that she forgot how rude it is to interrupt. +"You shan't ever see Solomon unless you look out of one of the windows +in the white-faced wall. He's going to live with Mr. Jerry. I've made +all the arrangements. I never meant you to be bothered with him. But +I do wish you'd like him. He's a very friendly dog," wistfully. "He'd +like you to like him." + +Mr. Wells looked at the friendly dog who wanted to be liked, and at +Mary Rose, before his eyes swept the older group. There was not the +faintest trace of a smile on the faces of Miss Thorley and Miss Carter, +but there was more than a trace on the countenance of Bob Strahan. + +"I don't like dogs!" the grin made him say with a snap. "I won't have +one here!" And he went up the steps and slammed the screen door behind +him. + +"Mercy, mercy!" feebly murmured Mr. Strahan. "You might think he owned +the whole works. My rent comes due every month, just as his does." + +At her window Aunt Kate wrung her hands and thought sadly how +comfortable they were in the basement of the Washington. Mr. Wells +would never rest now until he had Larry discharged. She knew he +wouldn't. He would never overlook the fact that Mary Rose had talked +back to him on the very steps of the Washington. She could not blame +Mary Rose, the child had had provocation enough, goodness knows, but +she wished--she wished--Oh, how fervently she wished that Mr. Wells had +never been born! + +Mary Rose looked sadly after the retreating figure which looked as +friendly and unbending as a poker. + +"He won't ever forget I called him a crosspatch," she said sadly and +she blushed. + +"What!" There was an astonished chorus. How had she dared? It did +not sound like Mary Rose. + +"I did!" the color in her cheeks deepened painfully. "I never meant to +but the words were in my mind and so they slipped out of my mouth. +Come on, Jimmie, we'll take Solomon over to Mr. Jerry's. He'll be glad +to see him. He's a human being." + +"I think I'll go, too," suggested Bob Strahan who scented a story. +"Have you seen George Washington, the self-supporting cat?" he asked +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter. + +"All of you come," begged Mary Rose, glowing happily again. "Mr. +Jerry'd be glad to have you and there's plenty of room in the back +yard. I'd like to have you see my cat. Isn't it wonderful that George +Washington and Solomon are self-supporting? That's being independent, +isn't it, Miss Thorley? Will you come?" she caught her hand and drew +her to her feet. + +Miss Thorley hesitated. If George Washington had been boarding with +anyone but Jerry Longworthy she would have gone at once but Jerry +Longworthy was very apt to forget that she preferred work to love. If +she went to his back yard he would be sure to think that her coming was +an inch and proceed to make an ell out of it. It would be far wiser to +stay away. So she shook her head. "Not now, Mary Rose," she said +gently. "Some other time." + +After a quick glance at her face Mary Rose did not tease but went off +with the others. They found Mr. Jerry in the back yard. He looked +beyond them as if he found the party too small but as no one followed +to complete it he gave his attention to Solomon and pronounced him +something of a dog. When Jimmie had put him through his tricks again +Mr. Jerry gravely shook hands with both boy and dog. + +"You've been a fine teacher," he said to Jimmie. "I congratulate you." + +Jimmie's face was as scarlet as the poppies in Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary's +garden. "Oh, go on!" he murmured in delighted embarrassment. + +"Just think, they walked all the way from Mifflin!" exclaimed Mary Rose +in a voice of awe. "It took an automobile and a train and a taxicab to +bring me." + +"Well, I didn't have money for an auto nor a train nor a taxi," grinned +Jimmie, "so Sol and I walked. Not all the way. Folks gave us a lift +now and then." + +"Of course they did. You'd be sure to find friends," Mary Rose told +him jubilantly. "That's the beautiful part of traveling. You find +friends everywhere." + +"Sure!" Jimmie winked at Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan. "I found one +friend so glad to see me that he had me arrested." + +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" Mary Rose's eyes were as large as the largest +kind of saucers. "What for? Was Solomon arrested, too?" She looked +reprovingly at her dog. + +Jimmie chuckled. "I told you I had more than one chance to sell the +brute," with a loving kick at Solomon. "And one man was so mad when I +told him 'nothing doing' that he had me arrested. Said I had stolen +the dog from him. You see there's some class to old Sol but there +isn't much to me. The judge didn't know which of us was lying until I +told him that Sol was a trick dog and would the man who was trying to +put one over on me run through his tricks to show they had worked +together. The cuss turned green and stammered that he wasn't no animal +tamer. The judge gave me a chance and we had a great performance in +the courtroom. When it was over the judge said he guessed if I'd had +Solomon long enough to teach him so much the man, if he was the owner, +should have found him before. He fined the other chap a greenback and +gave it to me. We had beefsteak and potatoes for supper instead of +going to jail, didn't we, old sport?" + +"Good for you!" Mr. Jerry gave him a comradely slap on the shoulder. + +Bob Strahan nodded significantly to Miss Carter. "Didn't I say I'd get +a story out of this?" he whispered. + +"What are you going to do now, Jimmie?" asked Mary Rose. "You aren't +going back to Mifflin?" + +No, Jimmie wasn't going back to Mifflin. He thought, rather vaguely, +he'd stay in Waloo and see the world. There must be something there +for a boy to do if he were strong and willing. + +"Oh, there is! Isn't there?" Mary Rose looked appealingly from Mr. +Jerry to Bob Strahan. + +"Sure, there is," Mr. Jerry told her heartily. He asked for further +particulars. Just what would Jimmie like to do? Had he any plans? + +Jimmie hadn't any plans just at present beyond food and shelter but in +ten years or so he hoped to be an electrician. Of course, that +couldn't be until he was a man. In the meantime he'd take anything and +if he could get a job that would let him go to school he'd be about the +happiest kid in the world. + +"You can get that kind of job," Bob Strahan told him easily. "I'll +write a little story about your trip and your arrest for the _Gazette_ +and I'll bet you'll have a lot of jobs offered you." + +"And until you do you can stay here. There's a little room up there," +Mr. Jerry nodded toward his attic, "that would just about fit a boy of +your size. Do you know anything about autos? Have you ever met a lawn +mower? I guess I can find work for you until you get a regular job." + +Every freckle on Jimmie's freckled face glowed gratefully. Mary Rose +jumped up and down. + +"Mr. Jerry!" she began in a choked voice. She ran to him and hid her +face against his hand. "First you took my cat," she gasped chokingly, +"and then you took my dog and now my friend from Mifflin. I--I don't +believe a friendlier man ever lived!" + +"Mary Rose!" It was Aunt Kate's voice from the back door of the +Washington. "Bring your friend in to supper." Aunt Kate knew that, +under the circumstances, she had no business to ask a boy into the +house but she felt desperately that now it did not matter what she did +and it would please Mary Rose. + +"Well, Mary Rose," Bob Strahan pulled her hair as they trooped back to +the Washington, leaving Solomon jumping frantically at Mr. Jerry's +snapping fingers, "are you happy now?" + +Mary Rose's face clouded. "Half of me's happy and half of me isn't," +she confessed in a low voice. "It makes me mad not to be friends with +everybody and I can't honestly feel that Mr. Wells and I are friends." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Mr. Bracken found one morning, when he had reached his office, that he +had forgotten some important papers. He went home at noon to get them. +He let himself into the apartment and walked directly into the +living-room. He stopped with an exclamation of surprise for on the +broad davenport was a little girl fast asleep. One of her arms was +thrown protectingly about a brass cage in which a bird swung lazily. + +"Well, upon my word!" muttered Mr. Bracken. He looked about to be sure +he was in the right apartment. He had been away from home and had not +met Mary Rose. + +The words, low as they were uttered, reached Mary Rose's ear and she +opened her eyes. When she saw a tall man staring somewhat frowningly +at her she sat up suddenly. + +"I--I hope you're Mr. Bracken, Mrs. Bracken's husband?" she said. +There was a tremble in her voice as she slipped from the davenport and +bobbed a curtsy. There was a shake in her knees, also. Suppose this +strange man should be a burglar? The thought was enough to make the +voice and knees of any little girl tremble and shake. But the strange +man nodded curtly and Mary Rose laughed tremulously. "I thought +perhaps you were a burglar," she confessed at once. "I never knew a +real burglar but I see now you don't look a bit like one. If I hadn't +been so sleepy I'd have seen it at once for I've the right kind of an +eye, the kind that can see the good in people. I think you have, too, +because your eyes are just the same color my daddy's were and he had +the right kind. Gracious! I should just think he had!" + +"Never mind about eyes," Mr. Bracken said impatiently. "What are you +doing here?" + +"I'll tell you," she blushed. "I came up to wash the dishes, as I do +every morning for Mrs. Bracken, and I left the key on the outside and +the wind slammed the door shut. I couldn't open it. I thought I'd +have to wait until Mrs. Bracken came home to let me out. I didn't dare +make a noise for fear I'd disturb Mr. Wells. I must have gone to sleep +for I never heard you come in. I live in the cellar with my Aunt Kate +and Uncle Larry. At first I felt like a green cucumber pickle because +in Mifflin, where I used to live, there wasn't anything in our cellar +but a swinging shelf for pickles and jellies and a person couldn't ever +feel like a glass of plum jelly, could they? So I felt like a cucumber +pickle but now I don't mind it at all. I love to live in the cellar. +There's everything in getting used to things, isn't there? I like it +here now pretty well for I've lots of friends. Mrs. Schuneman and +Germania and Mrs. Johnson, the grandma one. We go to the park every +day and feed her pet squirrel. The Lord keeps it there because she +can't have any pets but canary birds in houses like this. There's a +law against it, Uncle Larry said. And there's Miss Thorley, the +enchanted princess, who's painting my picture for Mr. Bingham +Henderson's jam to tell people how good it is. She gave me some once, +apricot. We only had strawberry and raspberry and plum and grape and +apple butter in Mifflin. I used to stir the apple butter for Lena. +You have to stir it all the time or it burns. It makes your arm awful +tired but it's good for the muscle. Feel mine!" She clenched her +small arm and held it out so that Mr. Bracken could feel her muscles. + +He murmured: "I'll be darned!" in a dazed sort of a way as he felt her +muscle, and Mary Rose went on sociably. + +"And there's Mrs. Bracken. She said I washed her dishes better than a +full-sized girl. And now there's you. Have you had any lunch?" she +demanded suddenly. "Shall I get you some?" she wanted to know when he +had admitted that he hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast. "Mrs. +Bracken wouldn't like it if I let you go away hungry. It won't take a +minute. You just keep an eye on Jenny Lind." And she put Jenny Lind +on the table at his elbow before she flew to the kitchen. + +Mr. Bracken stood and stared at Jenny Lind and then at the door through +which Mary Rose had disappeared. "Well, I'll be darned!" he said +again. He went to his desk and found his important papers. He did not +intend to stay for lunch but when Mary Rose flew back to demand +hurriedly whether he liked his eggs fried or boiled he told her boiled. + +A postponed meeting brought Mrs. Bracken home that day several hours +before she had planned. She stopped on the threshold in astonishment +when she heard voices and laughter in the rear of her apartment. She +hurried back with pursed lips and frowning face for both laugh and +voice had sounded young. If Mary Rose were making free with her things +she would give Mary Rose a good big piece of her mind and then she +would present Mrs. Donovan with an equal portion. + +She went through the dining-room and into the kitchen to find Joseph +Bracken--_Joseph Bracken_--sitting at the kitchen table eating boiled +eggs and drinking tea. Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from +him and was telling him of Mifflin. Jenny Lind's cage was between them. + +[Illustration: "Mary Rose was perched on a chair across from him and +was telling him of Mifflin."] + +"Why--why," gasped Mrs. Bracken. She could not say another word. She +forgot all about the big piece of her mind that she was going to give +Mary Rose and stood there staring with bulging eyes. + +Mary Rose jumped to the floor. "Here's Mrs. Bracken!" she cried in +delight. "Isn't it a pity we didn't know she was coming? I could just +as well have boiled another egg. But there's plenty of tea. It's like +a party, isn't it? Except that we haven't any birthday candles. In +Mifflin I always had candles on my birthday cake because daddy said a +birthday should be like a candle, a light to guide you into the new +year. Shall I boil an egg for you, Mrs. Bracken?" + +Mrs. Bracken sat down suddenly in the chair Mary Rose had vacated and +murmured helplessly: "Well, upon my word!" + +"That's what I said," smiled Mr. Bracken, which wasn't exactly true +although the words he had used meant the same thing, "when I came home +and found a girl and a bird on the davenport." + +"I locked myself in," Mary Rose explained with a shamed face. "I was +careless and left the key on the outside. Mr. Bracken should have +scolded me but he didn't. We've been the best friends and had the +nicest time together and now it's going to be nicer because you're +here." + +She beamed on first one and then the other as she bustled about finding +a plate and a knife and fork, making the toast that Mrs. Bracken +thought she would prefer to bread and all the time talking in a +friendly fashion. She never doubted that what interested her would +interest others. + +At first Mrs. Bracken regarded her helplessly, as Mr. Bracken had done, +but gradually the look of irritation disappeared and at last a smile +took its place. It was strange to share a lunch of boiled eggs and tea +on the kitchen table with Joseph Bracken. She had not done that since +they were first married and were moving into their first home. She +hadn't thought of it for years but now it was oddly pleasant to +remember the little details of a time before she had been absorbed by +clubs and he by business. Neither she nor Mr. Bracken had much to say +but Mary Rose talked enough for three. She waited on them with a +solicitude that forced them to eat and when they had finished she sent +them into the other room. + +"I'll wash up. It won't take me a minute." + +So, because she told them to, Mr. and Mrs. Bracken drifted into the +other room and left her alone with Jenny Lind. Mr. Bracken did not +take his hat and mutter that he would be back for dinner. He walked +over to the window and stood looking down the street. At last he +turned around and looked at his wife who was sitting on the davenport +as if she were tired. + +"Elsie," he said abruptly, "what ever became of your niece?" + +She looked up in surprise. "You mean Harriet White? She's living with +the Norrises in Prairieville." + +"Wouldn't you like to have her here?" he asked suddenly. "It doesn't +seem just right--decent--to let strangers look after your own +relations." + +Her eyes opened wider. He had never seemed to think whether it was +decent or not until now. "But we can't have her here. That was the +trouble after her mother died. Children aren't allowed in the house +and we didn't want to move." + +"How old is she?" + +"Thirteen or fourteen. I'm not just sure which." + +"A girl of thirteen isn't a child. Send for her, Elsie, and if anyone +objects, we can move. But I guess a tenant means something to a +landlord and there won't be any objections. We need her, Elsie, as +much as she needs us. We need someone young with us. That kid," he +nodded toward the kitchen where Mary Rose was lustily singing the many +verses of "Where Have You Been, Billy Boy?" "has made me realize what +we are missing. Why she fussed around me as if--as if," he colored +slightly, "as if I were her father. No, it isn't anything new. I've +been thinking for some time that we aren't getting all we should out of +life. You give your time and strength to clubs and I give mine to +business and what does it amount to? What are we working for? +Abstract people aren't the same as your own flesh and blood. What we +need is something to bring us together and if Hattie White is anything +like that kid she'll keep us good and busy." + +Mrs. Bracken slipped across the room and put her hand on his arm. +"I'll be glad to send for her, Joe. I haven't felt just right to leave +her with the Whites but I thought you didn't want her and I told myself +that my first duty was to you. I'll write today. No, I'll go for her, +if you don't mind." + +"That's a good girl." His arm slipped around her waist. + +Out in the kitchen Mary Rose brought her song to an abrupt close. She +thrust her head in the doorway. "I'm all through. Didn't I say it +wouldn't take a jiffy? It's been very pleasant but Aunt Kate'll be +wondering where I am and so will Grandma Johnson. Good-by." + +"Good-by," they chorused. "Come again," they added, as if they +couldn't help but speak the hospitable words. + +"I shall," Mary Rose called back. "Sure, I'll come again." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"And Mr. Jerry said that if you weren't so much of an angel you'd be a +splendid artist or if you weren't so much of an artist you'd be a +splendid angel. It sounds queer the way I say it but I know he meant +it for a compliment." Mary Rose and Jenny Lind were posing for the jam +poster. It was almost finished and Mary Rose was sinfully proud of it. + +Miss Thorley frowned and refused to say what she thought of Mr. Jerry's +compliment. Mary Rose frowned, also. + +"You don't like Mr. Jerry very much, do you?" she ventured to ask. + +"I'm too busy to know whether I do or not." Miss Thorley half closed +her eyes and looked at Mary Rose in the funny way she did when she was +painting. "My work takes all of my time. Chin up, Mary Rose." + +"Yes'm." Mary Rose tilted her chin a little higher. "You aren't under +any obligation to think of him, of course, but if your cat was boarding +with him and he had borrowed your dog you'd just have to keep him in +your mind and heart. And he's worth thinking of. He's a very fine +young man. Everyone says so. Jimmie adores him and he hasn't known +him a week. You've known him lots longer than that, haven't you?" She +spoke as if she could not understand how Jimmie could be so much more +clever. It must be on account of the spell that old Independence had +put upon Miss Thorley. There couldn't be any other reason for not +liking Mr. Jerry. He was so altogether likeable. Mary Rose sighed at +life's complications. "I just love Mr. Jerry myself. I can't help +it," she went on more slowly. "I wish you did, too," wistfully. "It's +much more pleasant when the people you love will love each other. It +gives you such a comfortable feeling as if you didn't care if Heaven +was so far away. I do think this world would be almost as wonderful as +Heaven if everyone would love everyone else." + +"There is no doubt of that," Miss Thorley absently agreed with her. + +"Then will you try and love my friends?" eagerly. She almost lost her +pose in her eagerness. "I'll love yours. Every one! I will! I can +because I have a big heart. Did you know that the more you put into a +heart the more it will hold? It's the hearts that haven't anyone in +them that are so little and hard. I think hearts must be like +balloons. You can blow and blow and blow into balloons and there's +always room for some more breath." + +"Unless they break. Balloons break, Mary Rose, and so do hearts." + +Mary Rose looked incredulous. "Mine never did. And anyway I'd rather +have my heart break from being too full than get hard because it didn't +have anyone in it. I'd like to have the very biggest heart in the +whole world!" she cried ambitiously. + +"Big enough to hold Mr. Wells? Did you know he was ill, Mary Rose? +His Jap came up last night and asked Miss Carter not to play on the +piano because Mr. Wells wasn't well and didn't wish to be disturbed." +Miss Thorley's lip curled disdainfully. + +"Mr. Wells sick?" Mary Rose was much concerned. "What's the matter?" + +Miss Thorley shook her head. + +"Haven't you been down to ask?" Mary Rose always had been sent to ask +in Mifflin. + +"Gracious, no! I shouldn't dare. He'd probably bite my head off." + +"He couldn't bite your head off if he was sick. It doesn't seem real +neighborly, Miss Thorley. And you are neighbors. You live right over +his head. I expect he has dyspepsia and that's the reason he looked +so--" she hesitated over a word, "unfriendly. Why when Mr. Lewis, he's +the postmaster in Mifflin, had dyspepsia Mrs. Lewis didn't dare say her +soul was her own. Mr. Lewis couldn't be cross to people when they came +for their mail so he saved it all for Mrs. Lewis. That doesn't seem +quite fair, does it, for people to be pleasant to outsiders and save +their bad temper for their homes?" + +"It isn't fair but I rather think it's human." + +Mary Rose shook her head. "Sometimes I think that human and +disagreeable mean the same thing because people all say the bad things +we do are human. Where did we learn them, Miss Thorley? The Lord made +us all good because it wouldn't have paid him to make us bad. Where do +you suppose Mr. Lewis learned to snap and Mr. Wells to scold and you to +frown?" + +Miss Thorley certainly did have a frown. It ran right across her +pretty forehead when she said: "Bless me! child, how do I know? That's +enough for one day." She put the drawing board on the table and +stretched herself luxuriously. "Try and be on time tomorrow, Mary +Rose, and I think we can finish it." + +"Yes'm." Mary Rose stared at the drawing which was a very wonderful +thing to her. "Don't you believe Mr. Bingham Henderson 'll be pleased +with it? It's a beautiful picture of Jenny Lind." + +"It's a beautiful picture of you, if I do say it," laughed the artist. + +Mary Rose drew closer until she could whisper into Miss Thorley's ear. +"I wish Mr. Jerry could see it." + +Miss Thorley rose abruptly and pushed her away. "He can. He'll have +lots of opportunity to see it when it is on the back of a magazine. +Run along, now. Skip!" She fairly pushed Mary Rose out of the door +before she could say anything more about Mr. Jerry. Sometimes it +seemed to Mary Rose that Miss Thorley was afraid to hear about Mr. +Jerry. + +She went down the stairs slowly and hesitated when she came to Mr. +Wells' door. She knew she should stop and inquire how he was. It +would have been a terrible breach of good manners in Mifflin not to ask +after a sick neighbor, but Mr. Wells had not been like any neighbor +Mary Rose had ever known. Nevertheless he was a neighbor. She tossed +her head and ventured closer to the door. There was no answer when she +knocked timidly and she tried again. The door was slightly ajar and +when her second knock brought no response she ventured to push it open +an inch. Mr. Wells might be all alone and need someone. She would +just slip in and see. If he didn't she could slip out again. + +There was a chilly deserted feeling in the hall that made Mary Rose +shiver. She hurried through softly as if in the presence of something +that oppressed her. When she reached the door of the living-room she +stopped and looked across into the amazed eyes of Mr. Wells, who was +lying on the broad couch. + +"Oh!" Mary Rose refused to be frightened away by his scowl. "I'm so +glad you're able to be up. You are better, aren't you? I was worried +when Miss Thorley said you were sick and I just stopped to inquire. In +Mifflin when anyone was sick we always went with chicken broth or cup +custard or a new magazine. Why, when Lily Thompson had tonsilitis she +had eleven different things sent in one day. I helped her eat the +eating ones." + +"How did you get in?" growled Mr. Wells for all the world like the Big +Bear in the story of Goldilocks. Mary Rose had to think what a +splendid Big Bear he would make. + +"The door was open. I knocked but no one came. I was afraid you might +want something. Has your Japanese gentleman gone to the drug store? +Isn't it lonely for you all by yourself? I was going to ask Aunt Kate +to make you some beef tea but perhaps you'd rather have Jenny Lind stay +with you. She's splendid company and I'd be glad to loan her to you." +She crossed the room to put the cage down beside Mr. Wells. Jenny Lind +began to sing immediately as if to show Mr. Wells what splendid company +she could be. + +Mr. Wells raised himself on his elbow and shook a threatening fist at +the canary. + +"Take that damn bird away!" he shouted. His face was red and Mary Rose +was sure she could see flames darting from his eyes. + +"Yes, sir! Yes, sir!" She snatched Jenny Lind at once. "I s-suppose +she is too noisy for you yet. Mrs. Mason didn't like her when she had +the nerves. But you shouldn't be alone. It's bad for you. I'm sure +you need friendly company. Oh, I know the very thing!" And before the +astonished and indignant invalid could say a word she had dashed out of +the room. + +He could hear her stumble in the hall but he did not hear her exclaim +hurriedly when a door across the way opened: "Oh, Mrs. Rawson, will you +take Jenny Lind for a minute? I'll be right back for her." She pushed +the hook of the cage into the hands of the startled Mrs. Rawson and +flew down the stairs. + +She was back in an incredibly short time with a small glass globe that +she carried very carefully. Her face shone as she tiptoed in and +placed it on the table beside the invalid. + +"There!" she said proudly. "There! The perfect pets for the sickroom. +When you said Jenny Lind was too disturbing I remembered that Mr. +Jerry's Aunt Mary had these two little goldfish. Wasn't it lucky? She +was glad to loan them to you and hopes you'll find them pleasant +friends. They won't be any care at all. I'll come up every day and +feed them if you don't feel well enough. I'd like to. Aren't they +beautiful? Do you suppose all the fish in Heaven are like that, all +gold and glisteny? Won't you just love to watch them? They can't sing +or make any noise to annoy you. They'll be splendid company." + +"God bless my soul!" murmured Mr. Wells helplessly, when he could find +breath to murmur anything. He stared at her as if he really had never +seen her before. + +An exclamation, like the pop of a gun, made them look at the doorway +where Sako was staring at them as if he could not believe his eyes. + +"Sako!" shouted Mr. Wells, angrily. "Why did you leave the door open +when you went out?" + +"Wasn't it lucky he did?" asked Mary Rose, standing before him and +rocking on her heels and toes as she often did when she was pleased. +"I might never have come in, if he hadn't. If there's anything I can +do for you, Mr. Wells, any time, don't you hesitate to ask me. Just +send the Japanese gentleman right down. I live in the cellar, I mean +the basement, with Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry and we'll all be only too +glad to do anything to help you get well. It's horrid to be sick. You +look better, I think," critically, and indeed he was not at all pale +how. He had so much color in his face that he was almost purple. "I +must go now and get Jenny Lind. I left her with Mrs. Rawson. I expect +she thought I was crazy," with a giggle as she remembered Mrs. Rawson's +amazed face. + +"I'll bet she did!" Mr. Wells stared after her as if he, too, thought +Mary Rose was crazy. She turned in the doorway to wave her hand to him +and he watched her out of sight. Then he looked at the goldfish. He +had half a mind to tell Sako to throw them out. What did he want with +a couple of damned goldfish? The child was a nuisance, an unmitigated +nuisance. Children always were. That was why he lived in the +Washington where they were forbidden. He would have to ask the agents +what they meant by letting the place be overrun with children when +there was a clause in every lease forbidding it. Mary Rose might be a +friendly little soul, she might mean well, but she was an unmitigated +nuisance. The Lord only knew what she would do next if she remained in +the building. And she had dared to talk back to him in front of +people. No, he would see that the lease was lived up to. It was his +right. If he demanded protection against Mary Rose, an impudent +interfering chit, he fumed, the agents would have to protect him. + +"Sako!" he called sharply. "Take these damned goldfish down to the +Donovans. And tell Donovan to keep his niece at home. I won't have +her here!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Through Bob Strahan, Jimmie obtained a paper route. Mr. Jerry's Aunt +Mary insisted that was work enough for him at present. + +"A growing boy has to have plenty of time to eat and sleep," she said, +"and no one is using that attic bedroom." + +"You can earn your board taking care of the lawn and lending a hand +with the car. The paper route 'll stand you in for clothes and +spending money," suggested Mr. Jerry. "Might as well take it easy +while you can." + +"He's a prince, that's what he is!" Jimmie told Mary Rose somewhat +chokingly, when she came over to see how George Washington and Solomon +and Jimmie were doing. "I never knew such a man." + +"Didn't you?" Mary Rose was surprised. "Mr. Jerry is splendid but +there are lots and lots of splendid people in the world, Jimmie +Bronson." + +"Oh, are there!" snorted Jimmie. "Well, I haven't seen so many of +them, and that's straight. Judging from what I saw and heard that +first day I was in Waloo, you've run across at least one of the other +sort, too." + +Mary Rose blushed. Her inability to make friends with Mr. Wells +annoyed her. "He's got dyspepsia," she said, as if that were an +excuse. "To tell you the truth, Jimmie Bronson, when I first came here +I nearly died. I had an awful time remembering that daddy said when +there were so many people in the world there were friends for +everybody. The people were so different and it was so funny to have +them live up and down instead of side by side. At first I thought I'd +never get used to it but I did. And I have lots of friends here now. +But Waloo isn't Mifflin." And she sighed because it wasn't. + +"Mifflin!" jeered Jimmie. "Mifflin! You can be mighty good and glad +it isn't. I don't know where you got your idea of Mifflin, Mary Rose, +for it's about the deadest one-horse town I ever ran across. And the +people. Huh! A collection of boneheads." + +"Why, Jimmie Bronson!" gasped Mary Rose. "Mifflin's the friendliest +town--" + +"Friendly!" Jimmie elevated his nose at the word. "Prying, +interfering, gossiping! That's what it is. I guess I know. You're +all wrong, Mary Rose, all wrong. If you should go back you'd see. +You're nothing but a kid. You don't know. But take it from me you've +got entirely the wrong idea of your native town. If Mifflin was what +you think it was do you imagine Solomon and I would have left? No, +siree! We'd have stayed and been part of the happy crowd. But it +isn't. Honest! It's dead and narrow and one-horse and the people are +boneheads." + +Mary Rose could not believe it. She stared at him and her lip quivered. + +"Jimmie," she said at last and her voice was very low and shaky, "is +that what you want me to think of Mifflin? It's always been a +wonderful place to me. You see I was born there and no other city, no +matter how grand it is, can be my birthplace. It doesn't seem as if I +could be all wrong about it. And the people! Daddy always said +people's hearts were friendly and in Mifflin their faces were friendly, +too. Yes, they were, Jimmie Bronson, when I lived there. Perhaps they +have changed. It's a long time since I left." + +Jimmie gave a whoop. "Long time! It isn't two months. And it would +take more than sixty days to put that sour look on old Mr. Mallow's +face. He nearly ate me up alive when I asked for a job after Aunt Nora +died. No, Mary Rose, you're wrong, all wrong, about Mifflin. There +isn't any place in this whole world that's like what you think that old +burg is." + +"Isn't there, Jimmie?" Mary Rose was very troubled. "Is that what I'm +really to believe?" + +There was a quiver in her voice that made James Bronson turn and look +at her. He flushed all over his freckled face, to the very roots of +his red hair. He even put out his tanned hand and patted Mary Rose's +arm. "No, Mary Rose," he said slowly. "I guess you're right. You're +always looking for friends and so you'll find them. You keep on being +a silly simp and thinking of Mifflin as the new Jerusalem and perhaps +it'll grow into one." + +"It would if everyone thought it would," Mary Rose insisted and the +troubled look slipped away from her face. "If people feel friendly +they'll find friends." + +"And she believes it," Jimmie told Mr. Jerry when they were cleaning +the car together that evening. "Gosh, aren't girl kids queer! I +couldn't tell her the truth but I guess I know Mifflin better than she +does." + +"I'm glad you didn't tell her the truth, Jim." Mr. Jerry lighted his +pipe and gave Jimmie the hose. "She'll learn soon enough." + +"Of course she will," agreed Jimmie. "She's just got to find out that +folks aren't going up and down the streets holding out the glad hand. +That's what I say, Mr. Jerry, if people feel so friendly inside why +don't they show it outside? Gee whiz!" he stopped to squeeze the water +out of the big sponge. "Wouldn't it be a great old world if they did, +if folks were what Mary Rose thinks they are?" + +"It would. And as every little bit added to what there is makes a +little bit more you could help the good time along by feeling a bit +more friendly to the world yourself, James," advised Mr. Jerry, +stepping off to look at the car. "Mary Rose is right when she says +that smiles are just as catching as frowns. Take it from me that it +never makes a bad thing any worse by thinking that it is better than it +is." + +Jimmie Bronson's opinion of Mifflin bothered Mary Rose and she +discussed it with everyone. It was not until they had all agreed with +her that people and places are what you think they are that she felt +comfortable again. + +"I knew I was right all the time," she told Aunt Kate. + +"If folks were really what she thinks they are, what a snap we'd have," +Aunt Kate said to Uncle Larry, after Mary Rose had gone to bed. "To be +honest I'll have to admit that the atmosphere's a mite pleasanter here +but whether that's because of Mary Rose or because I haven't seen quite +so much of the tenants--I never do in summer--I can't say. Seems if +she does have the faculty of bringing out the kind side of folks. If I +hadn't seen it with my own eyes I never would have believed that Mrs. +Rawson would have loaned her machine to Mrs. Matchan or that Mrs. +Matchan would condescend to borrow it. Land, the rows they've had over +that machine and that piano! Perhaps there is somethin' in thinkin' +folks are friendly. What do you say, Larry?" + +"What's thinkin' done for old Wells?" asked Uncle Larry. "He's worse'n +ever. Take my word for it, Kate, he'll make trouble for us. You might +as well begin to pack." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +Mrs. Donovan looked with admiration at the sheer linen blouse that Miss +Thorley handed her. + +"Sure, I'll do it up for you the very best I know how an' seems if you +can't expect a body to do more than that. If all of us who are in the +world just did our best it would be a different place than it is, now +wouldn't it? What's ailin' you, Miss Thorley? Seems if you don't look +so hearty as you did. Don't you work too hard. It's what you have in +your heart more'n what you have in your pocketbook that makes +happiness. A pretty young thing like you hain't no business to be +thinkin' of jam all the time. I hear you're makin' oodles of money +drawin' pictures for Mr. Bingham Henderson but let me tell you, my +girl, you can't make good red blood no matter how much money you have. +There's only one can do that." + +"Who's that, Aunt Kate?" Mary Rose hungered for the information, as +she leaned against the table. "Who can make good red blood?" + +"God Almighty, honey, an' he's the only one. Land, I remember Jim +Peaslie took a dozen raw eggs a day, a quart of cream an' beefsteak so +raw it dripped blood but he couldn't make none of those red corpuskles +an' so there wasn't nothin' for him to do but die an' he died. A body +can't live without plenty of red corpuskles an' by that same token, a +girl has got to have somethin' beside work. That's gospel true, Miss +Thorley. My ol' father used to say you robbed the ol' when you took +pleasures from the young an', seems if, that's gospel true, too. Land, +if I hadn't had good times when I was a girl to remember sometimes I'd +go crazy. Layin' up pleasant memories is what everyone can do an' it +means as much as money in the bank. This is pretty lace on your waist, +Miss Thorley. I dunno as I ever saw just this pattern." + +"It's imported," Miss Thorley told her listlessly as she lingered in +the cosy kitchen. She was pale and her eyes were dull. She was tired, +she told herself impatiently. The summer had been hot and she had +worked hard. It irritated her that the keen eyes of Mrs. Donovan saw +that she was not happy but how could she be happy when she had so many +things to annoy her? She should be happy, she was independent, she had +work, the two things that had seemed so necessary to happiness but +recently she had been conscious of a desire for something more. It +made her furious to be restless and discontented and so listless and +colorless that people noticed it. + +Mrs. Donovan snorted at the imported lace. "That's it. Girls nowadays +think 't fine clothes 'll make 'em happy. An imported waist costs +more'n one made in Waloo an' it keeps a girl strong enough to work for +the silk stockin's she's got to have," she said with scorn. "I don't +wonder there's so many bach'lors when I figure how much money it costs +now to dress a girl." + +"Is that why men are bachelors?" asked astonished Mary Rose. "Mr. +Jerry is a bachelor, his Aunt Mary told him so right in front of me. +She doesn't like it in him. And Mr. Strahan's one and Jimmie Bronson +and Mr. Wells and Mr. Jarvis. Why, what a lot of bachelors are right +under this very roof!" + +"That's just it," laughed Mrs. Donovan. "'Stead of havin' so many +bach'lor flats in Waloo there oughta be more fam'ly cottages." + +"There's Mr. Jerry now." Mary Rose ran to the window to wave her hand +to her friend as he drove his car up the alley. Solomon was with him +and he looked quite as well on the front seat as Mr. Jerry had hoped he +would. "I could have asked him if that was why he was a bachelor if he +hadn't gone away." + +Miss Thorley crossed the kitchen and stood beside her. She saw the +automobile turn the corner and disappear down the cross street. + +"Mary Rose," she suddenly put her arm around the small shoulders beside +her. "Do you know I've never seen George Washington." + +"You haven't?" Mary Rose twisted around and looked up into her face. +"Oh, you must see him. He's such a wonderful cat. But I can't bring +him here. It's against the law, you know. Would you--Oh, would +you!--come across the alley and see him in his boarding house? You +know he's only a cat," she explained slowly as if she were afraid that +Miss Thorley might expect to find George Washington something more. +"But he's wonderful just the same. He earns his own board, every +single drop. Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary said so." + +Miss Thorley and Aunt Kate smiled at each other above Mary Rose's +yellow head. + +"I've never seen a self-supporting cat," Miss Thorley laughed. "I +should love to meet George Washington." She did not understand why she +would love to meet him now, why she wished to go across to Jerry +Longworthy's back yard, when until that afternoon nothing could have +induced her to go there. + +"Come on." Mary Rose put out an eager hand and Miss Thorley took it in +hers. They were halfway across the alley when Mary Rose stopped. "I +forgot," she said, and her face was troubled. "I promised to let Mr. +Jerry know when you'd come." + +"It's too late to tell him now. We saw him go off in the car." Miss +Thorley did not explain that that was the reason she was willing to +call on George Washington. "I shall be very busy after today, Mary +Rose. I might not be able to come again for several weeks." + +"Is that so?" Mary Rose looked less doubtful. "Perhaps I can explain +that to Mr. Jerry." She led the way into Mr. Jerry's spacious yard. +"I expect George Washington's inside," she said when they failed to +find him outside. + +"Run in and bring him out," suggested Miss Thorley, sitting down in one +of the wicker chairs that were under the big apple tree that had lived +there ever since Waloo had been some man's farm. + +Mary Rose disappeared but before Miss Thorley had looked half over the +yard she was back. "He's asleep," she said in a loud whisper. "Do +come in and see him. He looks perfectly beautiful with a fern at his +head and a bunch of asters at his feet. Please, come." She took Miss +Thorley's hand and tried to pull her to her feet. + +Miss Thorley did not wish to go into the house. She had had no +intention of doing more than to slip into the yard for a moment. Now +that she was there she felt uncomfortably conscious. But Mr. Jerry was +away, she had seen him go with her own eyes. It would be interesting +to see his home. Or perhaps the picture Mary Rose had described, a +sleeping cat with a fern at his head and asters at his feet, was +alluring. Whichever it was she allowed Mary Rose to lead her in at the +side door, through the dining-room that seemed far too large for only +Mr. Jerry and his Aunt Mary, into the big living-room that had begun +life as a front and back parlor. There on the wide window seat was the +self-supporting cat, George Washington himself, with a fern spreading +its feathery fronds above his head and a cluster of red asters in a +brass bowl at his tall. George Washington had calculated the amount of +space between the jardiniere and the bowl to a nicety. There was not +the fraction of an inch to spare. + +[Illustration: "There on the wide window seat was the self-supporting +cat."] + +"There!" Mary Rose pointed a proud finger as she stopped before the +window. + +"He is a beauty," Miss Thorley was honest enough to say. Her sense of +color was delighted at the play of sunshine on George Washington's gray +overcoat which had caught a warm glow from the red asters. "Wake him +up, Mary Rose. You really can't see a cat asleep any more than you can +a baby." + +"Shall I?" Mary Rose would never in the world have disturbed a +sleeping baby and for the same reason she hesitated before a sleeping +cat. And while she hesitated Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and their +voices woke George Washington. He sprang up, artfully eluding bowl and +ferns, and stood in the sunlight stretching himself. He looked at Mary +Rose and at Miss Thorley and at Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary with his calm +yellow eyes. + +"That's a lot better than waking him," Mary Rose clapped her hands. "I +can't bear to waken anyone for fear of interrupting a dream. +Sometimes," she went on thoughtfully, "I'd give most anything to know +what's inside of George Washington's mind. He looks so wise. Isn't he +splendid?" she asked Miss Thorley, who had flushed uncomfortably when +Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary came in and who now was standing rather stiffly +conscious, wishing with all her heart she had never come. Mary Rose +caught her cat and brought him to Miss Thorley. "You tell her how +self-supporting he is?" she asked Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary in a voice that +reeked with pride. + +"I think I can tell that story better than Aunt Mary." And lo and +behold, there was Mr. Jerry himself in the doorway, an unusual color in +his brown cheeks, a reproachful look in his eye. + +Miss Thorley's face had more color than usual, also, as she bowed +coldly, but Mary Rose flew to take his hand. + +"I'm so glad you came back. We saw you drive away but we had to come +now for Miss Thorley's going to be so awfully busy that she couldn't +come for weeks and weeks." + +"Is she?" Mr. Jerry looked oddly at Miss Thorley, but Miss Thorley +refused to look at him. "The best laid plans of mice and men," he said +meaningly and paused until Mary Rose squeezed his hand. + +"Are you telling her about George Washington?" she whispered. + +He laughed and after a moment a faint smile lifted the corners of Miss +Thorley's lips. Mr. Jerry drew a sigh of relief and sat down. + +"That's better," he said. "No, Mary Rose, I was not just then +referring to George Washington, but I can assure you that he is +untiringly on the job. He brought a dead mouse to me at six o'clock +this morning. At six o'clock!" impressively. "I thought I had the +nightmare when I opened my eyes and saw old George standing there with +a mouse in his mouth. He's working overtime. He should take a rest. +He'll injure his health if he attends too strictly to business, Mary +Rose." + +"I know." Mary Rose nodded a wise head. "Too much work doesn't make +good red blood. Aunt Kate was just telling us, wasn't she, Miss +Thorley, that all the money you make won't buy good times nor red +blood. She was telling us that very thing not ten minutes ago." Mary +Rose was overjoyed to hear Mr. Jerry confirm what Aunt Kate had said. +Now, of course, Miss Thorley would have to believe that it was true. + +"Your Aunt Kate is a very wise, wise woman. It's a pity others can't +see it." He sighed and looked at Miss Thorley, who stroked George +Washington's gray overcoat and refused to lift her eyes to meet his. + +"If they could they'd have old heads on young shoulders, perhaps," +suggested Mary Rose. "You wouldn't like that, would you? Just suppose +Mrs. Schuneman's head was on Miss Thorley's shoulders. How would you +like that?" + +"I shouldn't like it at all. I shouldn't want any head on Miss +Thorley's shoulders but her very own. It suits me there--perfectly." +Mr. Jerry eyed Miss Thorley rather critically and screwed his eyes half +shut as Miss Thorley did when she was looking at the model she was +painting, and his voice was as firm as a voice could be. "Even to have +her as wise as your Aunt Kate I shouldn't want her to have Mrs. +Schuneman's head." + +"And just suppose you had Mr. Wells' head and he had yours?" giggled +Mary Rose. + +Mr. Jerry tweaked her pink ear. "Mr. Wells wouldn't keep my head for a +minute. Perhaps it is just as well to leave heads where they are." + +"I used to want to change mine," Mary Rose confided to them soberly. +"You know I've millions of freckles and my hair's as straight as a +string. Nobody ever thinks I'm pretty like Gladys. One day Mrs. Evans +told me that pretty is as pretty does and for almost a week I did my +best to do pretty, the very prettiest I knew how. But no one ever +stopped and said, 'What a beautiful child,' as they do when they see +Gladys. Gladys is afraid of dogs and she screams when she sees a +mouse. She's even afraid of her tables. So I tried to think I had +more real good times by being brave instead of beautiful. Oh!" she +broke off with a squeal of delight, for Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary brought +in a pitcher of lemonade and a plate of little cakes gay with white and +pink frosting. "Oh, Miss Thorley! aren't you glad now that you came?" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Long before school began Mary Rose had established an acquaintance, if +not a friendship, with all the people who lived in the Washington. Not +only did she know them herself, but she was the means of many of them +knowing others. Mrs. Schuneman and Mrs. Johnson often went to the park +together now to feed the squirrels which Mary Rose was firmly convinced +the Lord had placed there for those who could not have pets in their +homes. Mrs. Matchan had promised to play at one of Mrs. Bracken's club +meetings and Mrs. Rawson and her machine were making garments for the +children's ward of the new hospital in which Mrs. Willoughby had become +interested. + +Until Mary Rose came neither Miss Adams nor Mrs. Smith knew that the +other was a slave to the crochet hook. Mary Rose arranged an exchange +of patterns and when a pineapple border proved too complicated to be +worked out alone she brought expert aid and Miss Adams no longer hated +the Washington. It was Mary Rose who discovered that old Mr. Jarvis +and young Mr. Wilcox were graduates of the same college and that Mr. +Blake's grandfather and Mrs. Bracken's grandmother had once sung in the +same church choir. Miss Carter and Bob Strahan were often seen +strolling together and more than once they had transported Mary Rose to +the seventh heaven of delight by taking her to a moving picture show. + +Mary Rose's friendliness had had an effect with the maids as well as +the mistresses. When she had found Mrs. Johnson's Hilda crying because +she didn't know anyone in Waloo and was so homesick and lonesome she +didn't think she'd stay, Mary Rose went down and asked Mrs. Schuneman's +Mina if she wouldn't please be a little friendly to a new friend of +hers. + +Mina had stared at her with her big china blue eyes and said she +wouldn't do it for anyone else, but since Mary Rose had come Mrs. +Schuneman had let up a little on her everlasting nagging, so she felt +she owed her a favor and she'd go up that very evening. + +It was Mary Rose who soothed Ida at Mrs. Rawson's when she took it into +her head that she could not work in the same building with a Japanese. + +"You're a Norwegian, aren't you, Ida? So you're a foreigner just as +Mr. Sako is. I suppose he thinks Norwegians are just as strange as you +think Japanese. Countries are like families, I guess; you think your +own is the best in the world. But I don't believe that God was so good +to the Norwegians that he made them the best. He had to divide the +good things just as I do when I have any candy. I give some to Aunt +Kate and some to Uncle Larry and once I gave a chocolate to you, Ida. +I wish you'd try and be polite to Mr. Sako. You don't need to be +intimate friends if you don't want to. Just think what a splendid +chance you have to learn about Japan." + +Ida had stared at her as Lena had done, but she told Mrs. Rawson that +she'd changed her mind and she wouldn't leave on account of any Jap, +she wouldn't be driven away by any yellow man. She guessed that +Norwegians were as good as Japanese any day. + +There were many things that puzzled Mary Rose but almost as many that +pleased her. + +"I've enjoyed living in Waloo," she told Mr. Jerry one evening as they +sat under the apple tree. "I didn't think I would at first. I thought +I'd die to have to live in a place where there couldn't be any children +nor any pets, but everyone's so friendly I mean--almost every one. I +do think the Lord did just right when he made people instead of +stopping, as he might have done, with horses and lions and monkeys. +Did you ever think how strange it would be if there wasn't any you nor +any Miss Thorley nor any Mrs. Schuneman nor any Mr. Wells," she spoke +the last name in a whisper, "but just animals and vegetables and birds? +Sometimes I can't understand how the Lord ever did think of making so +many different things. I suppose it was just because He was the Lord. +That's what Aunt Kate said when I asked her. But I shall be glad to go +to school, Mr. Jerry, because then I'll know some children. You know +in Mifflin I played almost all the time with children, Gladys and Mary +Mallow and Lucy Norris and Harry Mann and lots of others, but here I +don't seem to know anyone but grown-ups. They're very nice grown-ups. +I just love you, Mr. Jerry, and your Aunt Mary and the enchanted +princess! Do you think you'll ever be able to break the spell of that +wicked witch Independence?" anxiously. "You know I don't think she's +just happy. Aunt Kate doesn't either. She thinks it's red corpuscles +but I really believe it's that Independence. We must do something, Mr. +Jerry. And I love Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan and Mrs. Schuneman and +Grandma Johnson and everybody else. Isn't a heart the biggest thing? +Mine has room for Jenny Lind and George Washington and Solomon and all +the other pets I ever had or ever will have and for all the people that +were made. It's--it's--" she frowned--"very elastic, isn't it? You +have an elastic one, too, Mr. Jerry, or you'd never have taken in +George Washington and Solomon and Jimmie Bronson. You're a bachelor, +aren't you?" + +Mr. Jerry looked quite dazed as he attempted to keep up with Mary +Rose's subjects. He sighed as he acknowledged that he was a bachelor. + +"Is it because when you look at a girl you see how much she costs?" +Mary Rose had worried over that. "Because really Miss Thorley doesn't +cost so much. She told Aunt Kate she didn't. She said appearances +were deceitful and the most costly looking girls were often the +cheapest. Of course, you needn't tell me if you don't want to," +remembering, alas, too late, that Miss Thorley had told her that one +should not ask personal questions. She drew a deep sigh. "I'm so +full, just so plumb full of questions I've got to spill some of them +out once in a while." + +"To be sure you have!" Mr. Jerry was the most understanding person. +"When I was your age I was nothing but a walking question." + +"Weren't you?" admiringly. "And did people answer your questions? +They usually say to me, 'Run along, child, I'm busy' or 'Never mind +that now, you'll know soon enough.' It's a very, very puzzling world, +isn't it, with so many things you don't understand. That's another +reason I'm so glad to go to school. The day after the day after the +day after tomorrow, Mr. Jerry, my Aunt Kate's going to take me. I've +never been to a city school so I can imagine it's just like a palace +with gold seats for the children and thrones for the teachers who are +all fairy princesses with beautiful golden hair and white satin +dresses." + +"Mary Rose! Oh, Mary Rose!" Mr. Jerry regarded her sadly. "You are a +living proof that anticipation is greater than any old participation. +I'm only doing you a kindness when I tell you that there is not a +golden seat for any child in the Lincoln School. There isn't even one +throne. And if you don't have an old witch for a teacher instead of a +golden-haired fairy I'm a goat. I tell you this for your own good, +Mary Rose, believe me." + +Mary Rose shook her head until her hair refused to stay in the ribbon +Aunt Kate had tied on it. "All the same I'm going to believe in the +golden seats. They are pleasant things to think of." + +It was the next day that she was in the hall with Jenny Lind. They had +been calling on Mrs. Schuneman and Germania and had had a pleasant +time. Mary Rose had eaten two pieces of coffee cake and drunk a glass +of ginger ale and Jenny Lind had had a crumb of coffee cake which +seemed to be all she cared for. + +Mrs. Schuneman had told Mary Rose a great secret, that Lottie was going +to be married to the brother of one of her bridge-playing friends and +that Mary Rose might come to the wedding. Mary Rose was so excited she +could scarcely speak. She had never been to a wedding in all of her +"going on fourteen" years. + +"I've been to three funerals and a revival meeting--" ecstasy made her +voice tremble--"but I've never been to a wedding. Gladys went to one +and she said it was grand. Her grandmother cried all the time and her +grandfather blew his nose six times. Gladys counted. Oh, Mrs. +Schuneman, will Miss Lottie really invite me? It would be something," +and she clasped her hands as she stood in front of Mrs. Schuneman, "for +me to remember all of my life!" + +"Sure, she'll invite you, you and Jenny Lind. She can hang in the +window with Germania and sing for the bride." + +Mary Rose threw herself against Mrs. Schuneman. "I wouldn't exchange +you for Cinderella's godmother!" she half sobbed. "I'd rather go to a +wedding than have a dozen pumpkin coaches. Jenny Lind and I can't tell +you how obliged we are." + +She was in a whirl of excitement as she shut the door. She heard her +name called softly from above and looking up she saw Miss Carter's face +smiling down at her from the third floor. + +"Oh, Mary Rose, honey," came the soft whisper. "There's a package +there for me, parcel post. You know they don't come up. Will you +bring it to me? I'm not dressed to go down. Do, there's a love!" + +Mary Rose ran into the vestibule and found a parcel addressed to Miss +Blanche Carter. It was rather a large package and Mary Rose's arms +were not so long as they would be some day. She looked dubiously from +the package to Jenny Lind. + +"You'll just have to stay by yourself a minute, Jenny Lind. It's lucky +for you that the law doesn't let the cats come into this house." + +She put the cage on the flat top of the newel post and, taking Miss +Carter's package in her arms, she went up as fast as she could. She +had to tell Miss Carter of Lottie Schuneman's wedding and of the +invitation that she and Jenny Lind were to receive, and Miss Carter had +to open the parcel and show the contents to Mary Rose, so that it was +several minutes instead of one before Mary Rose ran downstairs. + +The newel post was empty. There was no bird cage with a yellow canary, +on it. Mary Rose couldn't believe there wasn't and looked again. She +was frightened. + +"Jenny Lind!" she called. "Jenny Lind!" Perhaps someone had taken the +cage to tease her. Perhaps there had been a new law and birds were not +allowed in the house. Perhaps a cat had slipped in regardless of the +fact that cats were forbidden. But no cat could have carried the cage +out of the front door. Mary Rose wrung her hands in horror and ran to +knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door. Mrs. Schuneman cried out in dismay. + +"Why didn't you leave her with me?" + +"I didn't want to bother you when you'd been so kind," faltered Mary +Rose. "Where can she be? Perhaps Uncle Larry took her home." + +But neither Uncle Larry nor Aunt Kate had taken Jenny Lind to the +basement flat. Aunt Kate shook her head when Mary Rose told what had +happened and followed her up to look at the empty newel post. She +could only suggest feebly that someone must have taken the bird. "For +a joke," she added when she saw Mary Rose's frightened face. + +"A nice kind of a joke to frighten a child to death," grunted Mrs. +Schuneman. "Here, Mary Rose, we'll knock on every door and ask. I'll +go with you and if anyone is playing a joke they'll stop when they see +me." + +She looked quite grim enough to frighten any joker as they went from +door to door. But no one had seen Jenny Lind. No one had heard of +her. Mrs. Johnson and Grandma Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and Mrs. +Willoughby came out on the second-floor landing and said what a shame +it was, and on the third floor Mrs. Matchan and Miss Adams and Miss +Proctor and Miss Carter talked together and tried to comfort Mary Rose. + +But all the talking on all three floors did not bring Jenny Lind back. +Mary Rose pressed her face close to Aunt Kate and tried not to cry and +to believe the conscience-stricken Miss Carter when she said that Jenny +Lind was all right, they'd find her before Mary Rose could say Jack +Robinson. + +"She's all I had here of my very own," hiccoughed Mary Rose; "I had to +board out my cat and loan my dog. I've had her for years and years. +It doesn't seem just fair for anyone to take her from me." + +"You can have Germania," promised Mrs. Schuneman, to the surprise of +all who heard her. "I'll be busy with the wedding and won't have time +to take care of her," she added kindly so that Mary Rose would think it +was a favor to take her bird. + +"But Germania's yours and Jenny Lind was--was mine. They can't ever be +the same, though I'm much obliged, Mrs. Schuneman. Oh, where can she +be, Aunt Kate? Where can she be?" + +"Yes, where can she be?" repeated Grandma Johnson helplessly. + +"We'll advertise," promised Bob Strahan, who had come in and heard the +sad story of Jenny Lind's disappearance. "Just you keep a stiff upper +lip, Mary Rose. We'll find your bird." + +They were all talking at once and advising Mary Rose to keep her upper +lip stiff when Mr. Wells slammed the door behind him. He stopped when +he saw the group around the newel post. + +"What's the matter?" he scowled, and his voice was like the bark of a +dog to Mrs. Donovan's nervous ear. "What's the matter?" + +It was Mrs. Schuneman who told him. She had never dared to speak to +him before. He looked oddly from one to the other and last of all at +Mary Rose whose upper lip just wouldn't stay stiff. + +"It is only what you should expect," he said, as he went on up the +stairs. "Pets are not allowed in this building." + +"I wish grouches weren't," muttered Bob Strahan to Miss Carter, who was +almost as tearful as Mary Rose. + +"Brute!" she answered. "If he had been here I should think he had +something to do with Jenny Lind's disappearance." + +"That Jap of his was here," suggested Bob Strahan, but no one paid any +attention to him then. + +"Come down with me, dearie," whispered Aunt Kate, whose ruddy cheeks +had lost their color under the cold stare of Mr. Wells. "We mustn't +make any disturbance here. Come down an' tell Uncle Larry. P'rhaps he +can help us." + +"It's not--not knowing where she is or what's happened to her," Mary +Rose gulped. "If she was well and comfortable I'd--I'd try to be +resigned, but when I don't know, Aunt Kate! When I don't know!" + +"Nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said promptly. "No one +would hurt Jenny Lind. She is a valuable bird. I expect she was +stolen and we'll find her at a bird store. The thief would be sure to +sell her right away, before he was caught. I'll look up the bird +shops." + +"Do!" begged Miss Carter, who wished from the very bottom of her heart +that she had never asked Mary Rose to bring up her parcel post package. +"I have half a mind to go with you." + +"Be generous and have a whole mind. Poor little kid," he looked after +Mary Rose as Aunt Kate half carried her down. "It's a thundering +shame. Lord! I'm almost ready to think old grouch Wells did have a +hand in this. Did you see his face? He's had it in for Mary Rose ever +since she came." + +Aunt Kate sat down in the big rocker and drew Mary Rose close to her +heart. "Don't you fret yourself, Mary Rose," she said with her lips +against Mary Rose's tear-stained face. "We'll find Jenny Lind. Sure, +we'll find her. Just you pretend she's gone for a visit. You've +loaned her to 'most everyone in the buildin', just you pretend she's +loaned now." + +"It's easy enough to pretend when you don't have to, Aunt Kate, but it +isn't so easy when you know the truth," sobbed Mary Rose. + +When Uncle Larry heard what had happened he shut his jaws with a click +and a stern look came into his mild blue eyes. + +"Of course someone took her," he said, patting Mary Rose's shoulder +with a comforting hand. "But don't you worry, Mary Rose. A janitor +can go into any flat in this building, so if someone is hiding her for +fun or meanness I'll find out. An' if it's anyone outside, well, what +are the police for if not to help folks? I'll just speak to Officer +Murphy to be on the safe side." + +He seemed so helpful and confident that Mary Rose stopped crying and +tried to feel confident, also. + +"Perhaps someone in the house did take her for company, but I think it +would have been more polite if they'd said something to me," she +murmured. + +"It's more likely that one of the old cranks thought the bird was a +nuisance and wrung its neck," frowned Uncle Larry when he spoke to Aunt +Kate alone. He did not seem half so confident as when he had spoken to +Mary Rose. "There are folks not so many miles away who'd not stop to +think whether they broke a kid's heart or not so long as they had their +way. I declare, Kate, I'm 'most sorry you didn't leave her in Mifflin. +From all she says folks were kind to her there." + +"Well, I'm not sorry!" Aunt Kate's voice was emphatic. "It breaks my +heart to have her hurt, but we'll just have to keep remindin' her of +what she has left, although it seems if it was little enough. First +her mother an' then her father, her cat put out to board an' her dog +the same as given away, an' now her bird's stolen. You might almost +think that Providence was pickin' on the little thing." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Jerry Longworthy went up the steps of the Washington and eyed the long +row of mail boxes that ran down two sides of the vestibule, until he +came to one whose card read, "Miss Elizabeth Thorley, Miss Blanche +Carter." He touched the bell beneath. + +"Is Miss Thorley in? This is Jerry Longworthy. I want to speak to you +about Mary Rose." + +"Oh, do come up!" The voice was very eager and hospitable as it came +swiftly down the tube, and Mr. Jerry obeyed it almost as swiftly. + +Miss Thorley met him in the hall on the third floor. She wore a little +lingerie frock of white voile, tucked and inset with lace and girdled +with pink satin. It was collarless and her hair was done high on her +head so that little locks escaped from the pins and rested on her white +neck. She looked about eighteen as she greeted Mr. Jerry. + +He held her hand much longer than she thought was necessary and she +flushed as she drew it from him. He looked around the big pleasant +room as if he were glad to be in it. + +"It's a long time since I was here," he said in a low voice, not as if +he meant to say it but as if he had to. + +It seemed long to her now, too, and when she answered, it was as Mr. +Jerry had spoken, as if the words came of their own will. + +"It is a long time." If Aunt Kate had seen her then she would not have +worried over any lack of red "corpuskles." A goodly number of them +slipped into Miss Thorley's face and dyed it pinker than her girdle. + +A flame was lighted in Mr. Jerry's eyes and he stepped quickly forward. +She shrank back behind the high morris chair and he stopped suddenly. + +"Long enough to prove to you that love is the biggest thing in the +world?" he asked gently, but there was a tremble in his voice that +thrilled her down to her very heels. "Oh, my dear, has it? Work and +independence are all well enough but they can't take the place of +love." His eyes watched her hungrily, but as the color left her cheeks +as quickly as it had come and she shook her head, he went on more +slowly and there was no longer a wistful tremble in his voice to thrill +her to her heels. "You remember the night when you offered me +friendship instead of love and I scornfully refused the half loaf?" +She nodded almost mechanically, her eyes on her fingers as they pleated +a fold of her frock. "Well, I've changed my mind. Mary Rose has shown +me that friends may have a big place in one's life and if you can't +give me anything more I'm going to be satisfied with your friendship. +May I have that?" He held out his hand. + +"Oh!" It was a startled little gasp and it was a startled little +glance that she gave him. "Is--is that what you came for?" If his +ears had been sharper he would have caught a tiny note of +disappointment in the question as if she had expected him to ask for +more. + +"It isn't what I came for," he acknowledged honestly. "But I wanted to +tell you so you wouldn't keep on avoiding me as if I had the plague. +The other afternoon you wouldn't have come over if you had thought I +would be back?" + +A red banner in each cheek convicted her. + +"We're neighbors and friends of Mary Rose," he went on slowly, "so +we'll doubtless meet more or less and I'd like to feel that you trust +me, that we are friends. But, honestly, I came tonight to talk of Mary +Rose." + +She would be glad to talk of Mary Rose, glad to talk of anyone but +herself, and she left the morris chair that had proved such a safe +shelter and took a gaily cushioned wicker one on the other side of the +room. + +"Isn't it a shame?" she asked a bit breathlessly. "I can't imagine how +anyone who has seen that ducky child with her birdcage could have had +the heart to steal her canary." + +"Surely you don't think anyone who knew her took Jenny Lind?" He was +astonished. + +"Everyone says that Mr. Wells has acted very oddly. And Mary Rose told +me herself that he swore at Jenny Lind. He's as hard as nails, you can +see it in his face. I've heard that he has complained to Brown and +Lawson that the leases are not lived up to and that there is a child in +the house. When you put two and two together you can't make much but +four out of the result." + +"The old murderer!" scowled Mr. Jerry. "If that's true I'd like--I'd +like----" + +"So would I!" Miss Thorley agreed with him heartily. + +"Jim said something of the sort, but I told him he was crazy. He said +he was going up the fire escape and see if he couldn't find the bird in +Wells' flat, but I laughed at him. I didn't know the old man had +complained of Mary Rose. Of Mary Rose!" he repeated, as if he could +not understand how anyone could complain of Mary Rose. Mary Rose had +been a joy to him ever since he had looked up from his car and seen her +standing there in the boys' blue serge and with George Washington in +her arms. + +Miss Thorley nodded. "I'd hate to think what this house would be +without her. She seems to have warmed it from the top to the basement. +Perhaps you won't understand when I say it's as if she had humanized +it. I'd hate to have it overrun with children!" hastily as she caught +the sudden flash of Mr. Jerry's eyes. "But Mary Rose--Mary Rose is +different." + +"Why don't you tenants get up a petition of some kind? It wouldn't do +any harm to let the owner know that the rest of you are strong for the +Donovans and Mary Rose." + +"No one knows who the owner is. All business is transacted through the +agents." + +"The agents know," wisely. "It won't do any harm and it might do some +good. The complaints of one tenant won't weigh as much as the requests +of a dozen, believe me." + +Miss Thorley drew her black brows together until they formed a line +across her white forehead. + +"I believe you're right," she said after a pause. "I'll ask Mr. +Strahan to write one and we'll have all the tenants sign it. But that +won't bring back the canary," forlornly. + +"No, it won't bring back the canary," he repeated. "We'll have to get +another pet for Mary Rose, one that she may have in the flat. No, not +a canary. That wouldn't do at all. But I thought perhaps some +goldfish. She loves to watch a couple Aunt Mary has. Once she +borrowed them." + +"I know, for company for Mr. Wells when he was ill." + +"Goldfish would give her something to think of until school opens. +After that she'll have enough to do to keep her occupied." + +Miss Thorley looked at him with surprise. "Do you know, that's really +very thoughtful. I've been trying to think what I could do and I +couldn't get beyond another bird. I had sense enough to see that that +would never do." + +"No, another bird wouldn't do. And tomorrow--I wondered if tomorrow +you and Mary Rose wouldn't go off for the day in the car with Aunt Mary +and me? We might run down to Blue Heron Lake for dinner. Mary Rose +loves to motor." + +"Why not take your aunt and Mary Rose? I'm afraid I----" + +"Nothing doing!" he interrupted firmly. "Can't you trust me?" He +looked her straight in the eyes as he asked. "I swear I won't say a +word of love. We're friends now, you know, not--not lovers. And Mary +Rose adores you. She'd go through fire and water for you. Honest, she +wouldn't be contented with me and Aunt Mary, but I know it would be all +right if you were along." + +She hesitated and bit her lip before she finally shrugged her shoulders +and said: "Oh, very well. I'll go for Mary Rose." + +"I knew you would. I knew you'd see the big sister, the humanitarian +philanthropic friendly side of it." There was more than the hint of a +twinkle in his eyes. "And one more thing." Mr. Jerry firmly believed +in striking the iron before it had any chance to cool. "They have +goldfish for sale over at the drug store on Twenty-eighth Street. +Won't you walk over with me and help pick out a few? I'd like Mary +Rose to find them when she wakes up in the morning." + +She did not hesitate over this request. Perhaps she realized what a +very persuasive way he had, for she laughed softly. + +"I'll go. I'd do more than that for Mary Rose." + +On the way they met Miss Carter and Bob Strahan returning from a +fruitless quest among the bird stores. But if they had not found Jenny +Lind they had explained the situation to the proprietors of the shops +and each of them had promised on his word of honor to telephone to Mr. +Strahan the very minute that a canary was offered for sale. + +The four went together to the drug store and after the globe had been +bought and they had selected the half-dozen fish that were to live in +it, they loitered at a little table over their ice cream. + +"Gosh!" suddenly exclaimed Bob Strahan. "I'm glad I'm not built on the +plans and specifications that produced old Wells. I shouldn't want the +theft of a kid's canary on my conscience." + +"He will insist that Mr. Wells knows all about it," Miss Carter said +mournfully. She could not help but feel that she was to blame. If she +hadn't asked Mary Rose to bring up the parcel post package Jenny Lind +might never have disappeared. + +"Why?" asked Mr. Jerry curiously. + +"Because!" Miss Carter and Bob Strahan made the rather unsatisfactory +explanation a duet. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +When Mary Rose opened her eyes the next morning the very first thing +she saw was the glass globe in which flashing sunbeams seemed to dart. + +"Why--why!" cried amazed Mary Rose, and she sat bolt upright. + +Aunt Kate heard her and came in. "Do you like them, honey? Mr. Jerry +and Miss Thorley brought them in last night. Mr. Jerry said you liked +his aunt's goldfish, so he was sure you'd like some of your own." + +"Did he?" All the gladness slipped from her face and voice as she +remembered the pet she had lost. "You know, Aunt Kate, last night I +just about decided I'd never have another pet. I'm--I'm so unlucky +with them." Her lip quivered. "I don't seem to be able to keep one +thing that really belongs to me." + +"Nonsense!" Aunt Kate took her in her arms and kissed her. "You'll +keep me and your Uncle Larry. You can't lose us. Aren't they pretty?" +She tapped the glass globe. "Seems if a body'd never get tired of +lookin' at 'em. But get dressed, dearie. Breakfas's most ready an' +Mr. Jerry wants you to go out to Blue Heron Lake in his motor car. His +aunt an' Miss Thorley are goin' too. You're to be away all day an' +have your dinner at a big hotel." + +Not eighteen hours before Mary Rose would have danced and clapped her +hands at such a delectable prospect, but now she lay back on her pillow +and looked at her aunt. Two big tears gathered in her eyes. + +"I can't go. Suppose we'd hear something from Jenny Lind." + +"As if I wouldn't be here, an' your Uncle Larry. An' Jimmie Bronson's +goin' to keep an eye on the cat an' dog. To be sure you're goin', +dearie. Put your clothes on. Your breakfas's near ready an' your +uncle's starvin'." And to avoid any further argument she bustled away. + +Mary Rose lay and watched the goldfish for another sixty seconds and +the big tears dropped from her eyes to her pillow. But even if her +heart was broken she had to admire those flashes of gold in the clear +water. + +"They're so--so beautiful." She was surprised to find herself laughing +when one fish pushed against another. She had thought she never would +laugh again. She turned and hid her face. "No matter how beautiful +they are I shan't ever, forget you, Jenny Lind," she promised. "Ever! +I'm not the forgetting kind of a person and I'll never stop trying to +find you. May the good Lord take care of you now and evermore. Amen." +It wasn't exactly a prayer but it comforted Mary Rose as if it had been. + +She slipped out of bed and began to dress soberly and slowly instead of +singing and hurriedly as usual. When she had combed her hair and +washed her face and hands she went into her closet and came out with +the detested boys' suit of faded blue serge. Her red lips were pressed +into a firm line as she put it on. + +"My soul an' body!" exclaimed astonished Aunt Kate when she came in +with the coffeepot and saw a boyish little figure in the doorway. Mary +Rose ran to her. "I was so proud of wearing girls' clothes that maybe +that was the reason Jenny Lind was taken from me," she explained in a +whisper. "I just hate these, Aunt Kate. I despise them! But I'm +going to wear them. You know proud people are punished, the Bible says +so, and I was as proud--as proud as the proudest. That's the way I've +thought it out and that's why I put on this hateful suit this morning." + +"I think you're wrong, Mary Rose," began Aunt Kate, while Uncle Larry +put down the colored supplement that he had been holding out so +enticingly to look at his niece, who appeared smaller than ever in the +shabby blouse and shrunken knickers. "You haven't had so much to be +proud of, a few of Ella's old clothes. But if you feel better in +those, why, wear 'em. Where's your goldfish? Don't you want to show +'em to your uncle? Miss Thorley an' Mr. Jerry'll understand," she said +as Mary Rose ran to bring the goldfish. "An' I hate to argue with her +today. She can wear those now, but tomorrow she'll put on proper +girls' clothes to go to school. I don't care what Brown an' Lawson or +anyone else says. You hain't heard anythin' from them, have you?" + +"Nothin' yet, but it won't be good news when it comes. We'll have to +move, Kate. Ol' Wells has seen to that an' after last night I don't +care so much. If honest faithful work don't count for anythin' here I +dunno as I want to stay. I can find another job. It won't be as easy +as this. This was just velvet for a man like me." + +"Well, if they have the nerve to fire you just because you're givin' a +home to an orphan niece I hope Mr. Strahan writes it all over the front +of his paper. I'd like to see it in big red letters an' then maybe the +owner an' Mr. Wells'd be ashamed of themselves." + +"S-sh! S-sh!" cautioned Uncle Larry but not quickly enough, for Aunt +Kate's voice was shrill and excited and Mary Rose in her little room +heard every word. + +She stood and looked about her bewildered. It wasn't possible that +anyone, even the owner of the Washington, would take her Uncle Larry's +work from him just because a little girl was living with him? Aunt +Kate must be mistaken or perhaps she had misunderstood. She often +found herself mistaken in her ideas of what grown people meant. She +tried to think she was now as she took the globe and carried it +carefully into the dining-room and placed it on the table where the +sunlight fell on the fish and polished their golden scales. + +"That's what I call a han'some present," admired Uncle Larry in the +same hearty voice Mary Rose usually heard from him. + +She looked up quickly. He wouldn't speak like that if he were going to +lose his work. She hadn't understood. That was it. Children often +didn't understand grown people. + +"They are beautiful," she said softly. "I wasn't very welcoming to +them at first because I was afraid Mr. Jerry meant them to take the +place of darling Jenny Lind and nothing can do that--fish nor dogs nor +cats nor squirrels nor anything. But when I watched them swim I found +they could have a place of their very own and so I'm very glad now to +have them." + +"Of course you are. But eat your breakfas', child, or Mr. Jerry'll be +callin' for you before you're ready." + +That was a wonderful Sunday to Mary Rose. She sat on the front seat +beside Mr. Jerry and as neither of them felt much like talking they +enjoyed the silence. Mile after mile was left behind them and when +they began to pass through small towns and villages Mary Rose sat up +straighter. + +"They're like Mifflin, only different," she murmured vaguely. + +When they came to a little white meetinghouse standing all by itself +near the road Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary asked him to stop and let them go +to church. + +"It seems as if it would be rather pleasant to go to a simple service +such as they must have here," she suggested. + +"I'll put it to a vote," Mr. Jerry offered obligingly. "Mary Rose, +what do you say?" + +"Oh, let's!" she begged. "And I'll pretend I'm sitting with Gladys in +the Evans pew and that Mr. Mann is preaching." + +Mr. Jerry stopped the car by the roadside and they all stepped out. + +"What a doggone idiot I was," Mr. Jerry whispered to Miss Thorley as +they followed his Aunt Mary and Mary Rose; "I might just as well have +taken the kid to Mifflin as to Blue Heron Lake, but I never thought of +it." + +"This is better," Miss Thorley told him with pleasing promptness. +"Mifflin would have reminded her of Jenny Lind. You can take her there +some other day." + +"Will you go, too?" eagerly. "I'll go any day you say." + +But she only smiled over her shoulder as she went up the steps and into +the meetinghouse. A quiet peaceful hour followed and when the service +was over Mary Rose slipped one hand around Mr. Jerry's fingers and gave +the other to Miss Thorley. + +"I feel a lot better," she said. "I think it was awfully kind of that +minister to preach about sparrows. Jenny Lind isn't a sparrow but +she's a bird and when the Lord looks after sparrows so carefully I'm +sure he'd keep an eye on a canary." + +She was more like her old self as they went on, faster now, because, as +Mr. Jerry explained, they had to make up the time they had spent in +church and if they didn't reach the hotel at Blue Heron Lake in time +for dinner all the chicken breasts and legs would be eaten and there +would be nothing left for them but backbones and necks. + +"That's all Gladys ever has," Mary Rose told him importantly. "You see +they have such a big family that all the other pieces are gone before +it is her turn to be helped. She used to love to come to dinner at our +house so she could have a wishbone. When her grandmother dies she'll +have a leg." + +"My gracious!" murmured Mr. Jerry's Aunt Mary. + +"My word!" giggled Miss Thorley. + +Fortunately they reached the hotel in time to have their choice of +chicken and everyone was glad to see that Mary Rose was hungry and +seemed to enjoy her dinner. After dinner they went for a ride on the +lake in a launch and then they sat in the shade of a dump of linden +trees and watched the bathers. + +"Why didn't I tell you to bring your bathing suits?" Mr. Jerry asked +suddenly. "What a dolt I was not to think of it." + +"You're not a dolt!" Mary Rose said indignantly, although she hadn't +the faintest idea what a dolt was. "And I couldn't have brought one +for I haven't one. And anyway I wouldn't care to make too merry +today." Her face clouded as she remembered why she did not wish to be +too merry. + +It was long, long after her bedtime when the car stopped in front of +the Washington and it was a very sleepy tired little girl who was taken +into Uncle Larry's strong arms. + +"I've had such a wonderful time," she murmured, half asleep. "Uncle +Larry, have you found Jenny Lind? We don't have to worry About her any +more because I know now the Lord has his eye on her." + +Uncle Larry looked over her head to Mr. Jerry. "I can't thank you, +sir," he said in a hushed voice, "but you've been a kind friend to the +little girl today." + +"She's such a darling one has to be kind to her." Miss Thorley +answered for Mr. Jerry and blushed when she realized it. "Don't you +bother, Mr. Donovan. I'm like Mary Rose, I know everything will be all +right." + +"I hope so, Miss Thorley. Thank you again, sir." And he went in with +Mary Rose asleep in his arms. + +"I can't thank you, either." Miss Thorley held out her hand to Mr. +Jerry after she had said good night to his Aunt Mary. "I've had a +perfect day and it was mighty good of you to plan it for Mary Rose." + +He took her hand in both of his. "It was mighty good of you to come +with Mary Rose and me. And we're going to be friends, now, real +friends?" he asked gently. + +She caught her breath and looked at him quickly. "Y-es," she said +slowly. "Of course, we'll be friends. I--I'm glad you are willing to +be friends." + +Mr. Jerry laughed oddly. "I've learned about the value of that half +loaf. Good night." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +Nothing had been heard of Jenny Lind. Jimmie Bronson had made a +surreptitious visit to Mr. Wells' apartment and had escaped only "by +the skin of his teeth," he assured Mr. Jerry. + +"I didn't get any further than the window before that Jap caught me and +I didn't see any birdcage. But I shan't give up, Mr. Longworthy. I'll +find that canary yet!" + +Everybody seemed more anxious now than Mary Rose. She was so confident +that the Lord had his eye on the missing Jenny Lind that she almost +stopped worrying. Aunt Kate resolutely refused to allow her to go to +the Lincoln School in the blue serge suit. + +"You'll wear proper clothes or you don't stir a step," she said +sternly. "An' if you don't go to school the truant officer'll come +here an' like enough I'll be arrested for not sendin' you. If you +don't want your poor aunt to go to jail you'll stand up an' put on this +dress I bought 'specially for you." + +She had not been able to resist a sale of children's clothes at the Big +Store and had bought three dresses for an eleven-year-old girl. She +brought one out that morning, a blue and green and red plaid gingham +with a white collar and a black patent leather belt. Mary Rose was +speechless with admiration when she saw it. But if she had been so +proud of Ella's old clothes that she had to be punished, what would she +be in this ducky dress? + +"I can't trust myself in it, Aunt Kate. It's too beautiful. It's fine +enough for a princess." + +But after Aunt Kate had explained that if Mary Rose did not wear the +dress she might have to go to jail Mary Rose had no choice. She would +have to wear the frock and go to school and try her very hardest not to +be proud. She had only to think of Jenny Lind to humble her spirit. + +She was very sedate as she walked with Aunt Kate. It did not seem +possible that at last she was going to enter the big school building +with towers and battlements enough for a fortress. + +"It is like a castle. I don't care what Mr. Jerry said," she told Aunt +Kate as they went up the steps and into the principal's office where a +pleasant-faced middle-aged lady looked questioningly at Mary Rose and +asked how old she was. + +From force of habit Aunt Kate said hastily: "Goin' on fourteen." + +"Fourteen!" The principal was plainly astonished. "She's very small +for her age. And backward if she is only in the sixth grade. She +should be in high school at fourteen. Has she been ill?" + +Backward! It was bad enough to be called small for her age, but to be +told that she was stupid was more than Mary Rose could bear in silence. +She opened her mouth to explain and then she remembered that she had +promised she would mortify her pride so she said never a word, although +she thought she would burst at having to keep quiet. But Aunt Kate's +pride was also touched and she stammered hurriedly that she should have +said her niece was going on eleven. + +"That sounds more normal." And the principal smiled as she led the way +into a big sunny room full of children. Mary Rose drew a sigh of +relief when she saw the teacher. Mr. Jerry was all wrong about her, +for she was not an old witch. She was as pretty a young woman as any +child could wish to have for a teacher. She smiled at Mary Rose in a +very friendly fashion and found her a seat beside a little girl with +wonderful long yellow curls. It was delightful to be with children +again and Mary Rose's face rivaled the sun. + +Aunt Kate had a strange ache in her heart as she watched her. Mary +Rose would make friends here, friends of her own age, and she would +miss her. But that was the way of the world, she thought +philosophically. When she was quite convinced that Mary Rose was happy +and contented and could find her way home alone she left the school. + +Mrs. Bracken called to her from her window as she passed and she went +in to be introduced to Mrs. Bracken's niece, Harriet White. + +"She is going to live with us," Mrs. Bracken explained, her arm around +Harriet's waist. "Isn't she a big girl for thirteen? I meant to be +back yesterday so she could start in school today, but we were delayed. +I was just telling her there was another little girl, Mary Rose, in the +building." + +Mrs. Donovan looked almost enviously at Harriet White who was thirteen +and who appeared at least two years older. How easy everything would +have been if Mary Rose had been as large. She sighed and then smiled, +for she knew that she would not change small Mary Rose for big Harriet +White if she had the chance. She gazed pleasantly at Mrs. Bracken, +whose face seemed to have found a new expression in Prairieville, and +said from the very depths of her heart: + +"If you enjoy her half as much as we enjoy our niece you'll consider +yourself a lucky woman to have her." + +"I know I'm a lucky woman," Mrs. Bracken answered heartily. "I never +realized what made this building seem almost depressing until Mary Rose +came into it. What is this Mrs. Schuneman tells me about Mary Rose's +bird? I'm so sorry. She was so attached to Jenny Lind. Do you really +think that Mr. Wells had anything to do with it?" + +"Oh, Mrs. Bracken, how could any man with a heart steal a child's pet +bird!" Mrs. Donovan tried her best to be discreet as she told the +story. + +"Of course, we all know that Mr. Wells is queer," Mrs. Bracken remarked +when she finished. "Mrs. Schuneman said she understood that he had +complained to Brown and Lawson, but don't you worry, Mrs. Donovan. Mr. +Wells is not the only tenant and I rather think the rest of us will +have something to say. If he objects to Harriet Mr. Bracken will tell +him quite plainly what he thinks. And there are others. We all like +Mr. Donovan. He's a good janitor, willing and pleasant, and we won't +let him be discharged without a protest. Perhaps I shouldn't tell you, +but Mr. Strahan has written out a petition to send to the owner and +everyone in the building will sign it, I know, except perhaps Mr. +Wells." And she laughed as if Mr. Wells' not signing the petition was +a joke. "One against twenty won't have much influence." + +Mrs. Donovan put out her hand and touched Mrs. Bracken's white fingers, +something she would not have dared to do two months earlier. "Thank +you for telling me that. Larry's tried, I know, and it isn't easy to +please so many people. We don't know who the owner is so we can only +talk to the agents, but a petition signed by everybody ought to prove +to them that Mary Rose isn't a nuisance." + +"Anything but a nuisance!" insisted Mrs. Bracken. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Mary Rose had decided to write a letter. The more she thought of what +she had heard her Aunt Kate say to her Uncle Larry that Sunday morning +the less she liked it. She would write to the owner of the Washington, +to the man who made laws so that children and cats and dogs were not +allowed in his house, and tell him just how it was; and then, why, of +course, he would say it was all right, that Uncle Larry could stay and +she could stay, and everything would be as it was except for Jenny +Lind. Her lip quivered as she tried hard to remember that the Lord had +his eye on Jenny Lind. + +She had a box of paper of her own with cunning Kewpie figures across +the top of each sheet. Miss Carter had given it to her one day when +Mary Rose told her of a letter she had received from Gladys. The +letter to the owner of the Washington was not as easy to write as the +answer to Gladys' note had been. She screwed her face into a frowning +knot as she tried to think what it was best for her to say. + + +DEAR MR. OWNER: [That much was easy.] + +This letter is from Mary Rose Crocker, who lives in the cellar of your +Washington house. I mean the basement. We call them cellars in +Mifflin where I used to live, but in Waloo they are basements. Uncle +Larry said you have a law that won't let children live in your house. +I don't understand that, for there have always been children. Adam and +Eve had them and most everybody but George Washington. He never did. +Is that why you named your house after him? My mother died when I was +a tweenty baby and my father is in Heaven with her, too, and I had to +leave Solomon, he's my dog, in Mifflin and board out my cat, but he's +self-supporting now and my bird has been stolen, so there isn't anyone +but just me in the cellar. I mean basement. Aunt Kate and Uncle Larry +are my only relatives on earth and if I don't live with them I'll have +to go to an orphan's home, which I shouldn't like at all. But if you +won't let Uncle Larry keep his job and me, too, of course I'll have to +go. I'll try and not make any noise and be quiet and good if you'll +please let me stay and please, please, I'm getting less of a child +every day. When I came I was going on eleven and now I'm almost going +on twelve, for my birthday is in two months. Aunt Kate doesn't know +I'm writing to you. Neither does Uncle Larry. I thought of it all +myself when I heard Uncle Larry tell Aunt Kate you were going to take +his job away if I lived with them. I know I shouldn't have listened, +but I did. Perhaps you've never been an orphan and don't know what it +means to have all your parents in Heaven when Gladys Evans has +twenty-seven relations here on earth. But I shall be much obliged if +you won't take Uncle Larry's job away from him and if you'll let me +live with him. God bless you and me. + + Your obedient servant and friend, + MARY ROSE CROCKER. + + +It was a long letter and quite covered two sheets of Kewpie paper. +There were many blots and more misspelled words. Mary Rose frowned as +she looked at it. It was the best she could do. She was uncertain how +to get it to the owner and she did not wish to ask her uncle. Mr. +Jerry could tell her. He knew everything. And holding the closely +written sheets in her hand she ran across the alley. + +Fortunately Mr. Jerry was alone under the apple tree. She handed him +the letter and watched his face anxiously while he read it. + +"Is it all right?" she begged. She had George Washington cuddled in +her arms and hid her face against his soft fur coat as she asked. "I +know the words aren't spelled right but I'm only in the sixth grade. +Perhaps I should have put that in? But is the meaning right?" + +Mr. Jerry coughed twice before he answered. "Just right, Mary Rose. +Exactly right! I couldn't have done it better and I've been to +college. Write on the envelope: 'To the Owner of the Washington' and +I'll take it over to the agents myself." + +"Oh, will you!" Mary Rose had been puzzled how to get it to the +agents. She decided then and there that she would never be puzzled +over anything again. Mr. Jerry could do everything. First he had +taken her cat and then her dog and her friend from Mifflin and now her +letter. Her heart was filled with a passionate devotion to him as she +laughed tremulously. She was both proud and happy to possess such a +resourceful friend. "Don't you think Mr. Owner sounds a little more +respectful? You see," her voice shook, for it meant so much to her, "I +don't know him at all. I've never had any chance to make friends with +him." + +With Mr. Jerry's fountain pen she wrote carefully: "Mr. Owner of the +Washington." + +Then she folded the letter smoothly and dropped a kiss on it before she +put it in the envelope. + +"Just for friendliness," she said when she met Mr. Jerry's eyes and she +blushed. Even her ears turned into pink roses. + +He caught her in his arms and hugged her. + +"Mary Rose," he said and his voice was not quite clear, "you're +absolutely the friendliest soul I know!" + +"That's what I try to be, Mr. Jerry." Her arm slipped up about his +neck. "Daddy said I was to be friendly and the friendlier I was the +easier it would be." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +Mary Rose loved her school. It was too delightful to be with children +again and she made new friends rapidly. After supper she liked to run +up to the third floor and tell Miss Thorley and Miss Carter what a +wonderful day she had had and they always seemed glad to hear. She +often found Mr. Strahan there and generally there were grapes or pears +or peaches or candy to nibble while she told her tale. + +Mr. Strahan had written a lot of stories out of Mary Rose's experiences +and he grinned with delight as he heard her talk of school. He saw her +as a mine of human interest tales. + +"If it hadn't been for her I'd never have kept my job this summer," he +told Miss Carter and Miss Thorley, one night after Mary Rose had gone. +"The old man liked the stuff she told me and it gave me a chance to +show what I could do. I've a regular run now and a regular salary." +He looked across at Miss Carter and colored a bit. "My foot's on the +ladder now for keeps." + +Miss Carter laughed and colored a bit, too, as she hoped that his foot +was there "for keeps." Miss Thorley caught the exchange of glances +with an odd little contraction of her heart. Was that the way the wind +was blowing? Funny she hadn't noticed anything before. If Blanche +went away she would be left alone--alone with her work and her +independence. She shivered involuntarily. Once that had been all she +wanted. Why didn't they satisfy her now? They should satisfy her. +She'd work harder than ever on jam advertisements and when she had +saved a lot of money she'd go to New York and get a big position and +some people would have to admit that it would have been a waste to tie +her down to a humdrum--what was it Mary Rose had said?--"home for a +family." Her lip curled with scorn. Mary Rose was only a child. She +didn't know that homes and families were not the most important things +in the world. Someone else had told her what was the most important, +but she would not think of him. She just would not. And anyway all he +wanted now was friendship. Men were so constant. Her nose tilted. +She felt so much more scorn than a curled lip could express that her +nose had to tilt. But until she could save a lot of money and go to +New York she would stay right there in the Washington and listen to +Mary Rose's experiences at the Lincoln School. + +"It isn't like the school at Mifflin one bit, but I like it just the +same. And I've made a lot of new friends. I never realized how you +needed friends your own age until today. I've managed very well and +been happy until--until," she gulped as she remembered what had +happened to make her unhappy, "the other day, but it's such fun to have +friends your own size. There's that girl at Mrs. Bracken's. She's +older and bigger than I am, but Mrs. Bracken said we could be friends +and there isn't as much difference as there is between me and Grandma +Johnson. And we're friends. There's a boy with only one leg in my +class," importantly. "He's going to tell me how he lost the other one +tomorrow. And a girl, Anna Paulovitch. Isn't that a funny name? She +was born in O-Odessa, Russia. I never knew anyone who was born in +Russia before. It's very interesting. Do you know," her voice dropped +to a whisper, "that two years ago she lost all of her hair. She was +sick and it disappeared until now there isn't even a single solitary +hair on any part of her head. It's as bare, as bare," she looked about +for a comparison but could not find one that would suit her, "as +anything could be bare. It's very strange." + +"And does she go to school without any hair?" asked Bob Strahan, trying +to visualize Anna Paulovitch's bare pate. + +"Oh, no! You can't go to school without hair. So last summer Anna +picked berries for a farmer and saved every penny and soon she had +enough to buy a wig. Her own hair was black and she hated it. She +always wanted yellow curls and so when she bought her wig she bought +long yellow curls. They're perfectly beautiful. You'd never guess +they didn't grow on her own head. She showed me because I'm her +friend. We're in the same number class." + +"Ye gods! Long yellow curls on a swart-faced black-eyed Russian." Bob +Strahan laughed at the combination. + +Miss Carter looked at him reproachfully as she swung the conversation +to the safe subject of Mrs. Bracken's niece. + +"I wonder what Mr. Wells will have to say about her?" she asked. + +"He can't steal her canary for she hasn't one," muttered Bob Strahan. + +Mary Rose caught the words, low as they were uttered. + +"You don't think Mr. Wells has my Jenny Lind?" She was so astonished +that her eyes popped as far open as they could pop. "He hates birds. +He told me so himself when I offered to lend her to him. And we're +friends. Not friends like us but sort of friends. I'm sure he didn't +take her," she insisted. "I must go now. Aunt Kate said I could only +stay a minute. Good night." + +"I wish I could be as sure of old Wells as she is," Bob Strahan said +when the door closed behind her. + +Mary Rose hesitated as she came to Mr. Wells' door. She did not +believe that he had taken Jenny Lind and if he heard that people +thought he had, he would be so hurt and grieved. She would have to +stop and tell him that she didn't believe it, anyway, not for a moment, +and if he wanted to borrow her goldfish any time, he could. She'd be +glad to loan them to him. That would show how she trusted him. She +knocked rather timidly. Mr. Wells, himself, opened the door. + +"What d'you want?" he demanded gruffly. He had a letter in his hand +and he made Mary Rose feel as if she had interrupted very important +business. + +"I just stopped to tell you that no matter what other people say I know +you didn't steal Jenny Lind," she stammered. + +"Steal Jenny Lind!" he thundered. His face was one black frown. "Who +said I did? Come in." He motioned toward the living-room. + +"Everybody's saying so," faltered Mary Rose. "But I know you better +than they do. You couldn't steal the only pet a little orphan girl +had, could you?" + +Mr. Wells opened his mouth twice before he could say a word and then he +only grunted a sentence that Mary Rose could not understand. He threw +the letter he held on the table. An enclosure dropped from it and Mary +Rose saw that there were Kewpies across the top of the paper. She +recognized the writing also. + +"Why--why!" she stammered. She was so surprised that she could +scarcely speak at all. "That's my letter, the one I wrote to the owner +of this very house." + +A dull red crept up Mr. Wells' face into his grizzled hair. "Yes, I +know," he rumbled. "I'm a lawyer and the owner is a client of mine. +He gave it to me so I could advise him what to do." + +"And what will you advise?" asked Mary Rose after a breathless silence. +Her heart was beating so fast that she was almost choked. "Have you +read it?" + +"Yes, I've read it." + +"Uncle Larry and Aunt Kate don't know I wrote it. I just had to +because if Uncle Larry loses his job it's all my fault. Not all mine +really for it wasn't exactly my fault that my mother died when I was +six months old and that daddy went to Heaven in June so there was no +one left to take care of me but Aunt Kate. I've tried to be good," she +resolutely winked back a tear, "and not make trouble. Mrs. Schuneman +and Mrs. Bracken and Mr. Bracken and Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Rawson and +Miss Thorley and Miss Carter and Mr. Strahan like me awfully. They +said so. I wish you'd please speak to them before you give your +advice. Will you?" eagerly. + +The frown on Mr. Wells' face grew very black and threatening. It made +Mary Rose's little heart jump right into her mouth and she shut her +white teeth tight so that it wouldn't jump out. + +"It's--it's awfully rude of me to speak of it," she went on in a low +shamed voice. "I shouldn't remind you, I know, but you are under an +obligation to me. I was neighborly when you were sick. I brought you +the goldfish. It isn't much that I ask, just for you to speak to the +tenements. If they say I'm a nuisance, why I won't say another word +because it's the law, but I _am_ getting bigger every day, now. +Please, promise me just that much?" + +And Mr. Wells promised. He couldn't very well refuse. Mary Rose +caught his hand and hugged it to her thumping little heart. + +"You're a kind, kind man," she said. "I know you are. I don't care +what people say. And you'll see I'm treated fair? That's all I ask, +Mr. Wells, honest it is! Just for the owner to be fair. Good night. +I'm going to tell everyone you didn't steal Jenny Lind." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +There was a short story in the Waloo _Gazette_ the next evening that +would have interested Mary Rose very much if she had read it. It was +one of the little incidents that have both a pathetic and a humorous +appeal and it was very well written. It told of a little black-haired +swarthy-skinned girl who had always longed for long yellow curls. When +illness robbed her of the hated, black locks she had resolutely set to +work to earn money to buy a wig that she might return to school. All +summer she worked under the hot sun, picking berries for a neighboring +farmer, her bald head covered with a ragged straw hat, and when the +last berry was gathered and she had the required sum she had +triumphantly purchased the long yellow curls she had craved always. +And now, prouder than any queen, she was attending the Lincoln School. +It was the sort of story that a city editor likes for it brings shoals +of letters with offers of help, to the newspaper office, and proves in +a most practical way that it has been read. + +Usually Mary Rose was home from school by four o'clock for at half-past +three her room was dismissed and it never took her more than half an +hour to say good-by to her numerous new friends and dawdle home. + +But the afternoon after the story of the yellow-curls appeared in the +_Gazette_, Mary Rose was not at home at four o'clock. She was not at +home at half-past four. Mrs. Donovan looked uneasily at the clock. It +was not like Mary Rose to be so dilatory. At a quarter to five Mrs. +Donovan put on her hat and walked up the street. She would go and meet +Mary Rose. Perhaps the child had been kept after school, perhaps she +had stopped to play in spite of the fact that she had been told she +must come straight home from school always. + +Mrs. Donovan walked the six blocks to the Lincoln School without seeing +as much as the hem of Mary Rose's gingham skirt. The big school +building loomed up in front of her silent and forlorn. She stared at +it before she went up the steps and tried to open the door. It was +locked. Then Mary Rose had not been kept after school. Where could +she be? She might have gone home a different way so as to walk with +one of her new friends. Of course, she was safe at home by now. Mrs. +Donovan retraced her steps very hurriedly but she found no Mary Rose in +the basement flat. It was so strange that she was worried. Where +could the child be? + +Suddenly she laughed unsteadily. What a fool she was. To be sure, +Mary Rose had stopped to see Mrs. Schuneman or to exchange experiences +with Harriet White who was now attending the Lincoln School, too. She +ran up to the first floor to knock at Mrs. Schuneman's door and say +breathlessly that she wanted to speak to Mary Rose at once. Mrs. +Schuneman heard her and followed Mina. + +"Mary Rose isn't here, Mrs. Donovan," she said. "Hasn't the little +minx come home yet?" + +"No, she hasn't!" Mrs. Donovan was most unpleasantly disappointed. "I +don't understand it. I've told her again and again that she was to +come straight home as soon as school was out. Then she could go out to +play. But she was to come home first." + +"Perhaps she's over to Mrs. Bracken's?" suggested Mrs. Schuneman and +she followed Mrs. Donovan across the hall. + +But Mary Rose was not at Mrs. Bracken's. Neither was she in any other +apartment in the Washington. Mrs. Donovan's ruddy face lost its color. + +"She can't be lost," she said, expecting Mrs. Schuneman promptly to +agree with her that Mary Rose could not be lost. "She's big enough to +know where she lives if she is only ten." She did not care now if +everybody knew how old Mary Rose really was. + +"Of course, she isn't lost," everyone told her soothingly. "She knows +where she belongs. Perhaps she is over at Longworthys'?" + +But neither Mr. Jerry nor his Aunt Mary had seen Mary Rose that day. +Jimmie Bronson, who came in while Mrs. Donovan was inquiring, had not +seen her since noon. Mrs. Donovan was very uneasy as she went home. + +"The little thing's that friendly and honest herself she thinks +everyone else is friendly. She don't know anythin' about city folks. +I wish she'd come," she told Mrs. Schuneman who came down to hear if +Mary Rose had been found. + +"You remember that girl over on Sixth Avenue who was kidnapped last--" +began Mrs. Schuneman and clapped her hand over her mouth, hoping Mrs. +Donovan had not heard. + +But she had heard and her face whitened. The minutes dragged slowly by +and Mary Rose did not come home. Larry Donovan was downtown and was +late, also. When he did come in he could not understand at first that +Mary Rose was missing. + +"She's in the house somewhere," he insisted, "with Miss Carter or old +lady Johnson." + +"I've inquired at every flat in the building," half sobbed Mrs. +Donovan. "I can't imagine where she is." + +"Who's her teacher?" asked Bob Strahan. "Do you know her name? I'll +telephone and ask her if she knows whether Mary Rose went off with any +of the kids." + +Mrs. Donovan stopped twisting a corner of her white apron. + +"Her teacher's name is Choate, Isabel Choate. But I dunno where she +lives," she wailed. + +"The directory does," Bob Strahan said encouragingly. "And so, I'm +sure, does the telephone book." + +He had no difficulty in getting Miss Choate on the telephone, but the +teacher only remembered that Mary Rose had left the building when the +other children did. She had seen her go out of the school yard with a +group of boys and girls. Who were they? She was sorry but she did not +remember. They had not impressed her. She had noticed no one but Mary +Rose, who had such a strong personality one had to notice her. She did +hope that nothing had happened to her and she, too, remembered the +little girl who had been kidnapped over on Sixth Avenue. + +"Of course, nothing has happened to her," Bob Strahan said hurriedly. +"She'll turn up all right." + +He told Mrs. Donovan the same thing when he went back and reported the +result of his interview. + +"What shall I do?" Mrs. Donovan was twisting the corners of her apron +into hard knots and her mouth twitched with nervousness. "She's never +been out so late as this since she came to Waloo. An' she's all alone! +I'll never forgive myself if anythin's happened to her." + +"We'll go over to the police station," suggested Mr. Jerry. "What did +she wear, Mrs. Donovan? The police will want a description of her +clothes." + +Mrs. Donovan sobbed as she described the blue and red and green gingham +frock with the white collar and black patent leather belt that had been +Mary Rose's pride. + +"We'll call up the hospitals, too," Mr. Jerry said to Bob Strahan as +they drove to the police station in his car. "It's just possible that +she has been hurt, an automobile or something, and taken to a hospital +If she was knocked unconscious she couldn't very well tell who she was." + +"Gee!" exclaimed big-eyed white-faced Jimmie Bronson, who had jumped +into the tonneau and was standing with his hands on the back of the +front seat, "I hope Mary Rose wasn't knocked insensible!" + +The police had heard nothing of any little girl who answered to the +description of Mary Rose but a careful note was made of what Mr. Jerry +and Bob Strahan had to say of her disappearance. There had been no +report of any accident in the district and no child had been kidnapped +so far as the police knew. Mr. Jerry and Bob Strahan were +disappointed. They felt baffled. It didn't seem possible that a +little girl could have disappeared so completely as Mary Rose had +disappeared. When they drove back to the Washington, Jimmie was not +with them. He was going to make a few inquiries on his own hook, he +told the two men. + +"No news is good news, Mrs. Donovan," Mr. Jerry insisted. "Mary Rose +is all right. No one could harm her." + +"I wish I could believe that." Mrs. Donovan had lost control of +herself and was sobbing bitterly. "Here it is after ten o'clock an' we +don't know where the little thing is. Seems if bad luck was taggin' +her. It isn't a week since her bird was stolen and now--" she +shuddered and hid her face in her apron. + +"Nothing's happened to her," repeated Mrs. Schuneman with a poor +attempt at firmness. "Nothing could happen to a child like Mary Rose. +It's when you're looking for trouble that trouble comes, Mrs. Donovan, +and Mary Rose never looked for trouble. She was too busy looking for +friends." + +"That's what she always said," exclaimed Grandma Johnson; "that the +pleasant things come to the people who are looking for pleasant things +but, land! see what's happened to her and if anyone ever looked for +pleasantness it was Mary Rose. Why she even looked for it in us!" And +she laughed harshly. + +"And she found it, too," Mrs. Schuneman declared quickly. "Yes, she +did. She looked deep enough to find the pleasantness we didn't know +was there because we'd covered it up with so much disagreeableness. +I'm not ashamed to admit that she made me see that so long as you live +in a world with other people you owe some obligation to be agreeable to +them. If each of us did our share, as Mary Rose was always asking us +to do, we'd find this world a friendlier place than it is." + +"She must have said that to me a hundred times," sniffled Miss Adams. +"I knew she was right all the time but I wouldn't say so." + +"It's easy to get out of the habit of being friendly in the city," +murmured Mrs. Matchan. "It's different in the country." + +"I guess it's much the same, city or country. If she hadn't found +Germania for me I'd have been in an asylum by now," asserted Mrs. +Schuneman. "There I was all by myself and while a bird isn't a human +being, it's a lot of company. And it's through Germania and Mary Rose +that I've got acquainted with all of you." + +"If it hadn't been for Mary Rose I doubt if Mr. Bracken would have +asked me to go for Harriet," Mrs. Bracken said in a low voice. + +It seemed as if each of them had something to say of what Mary Rose had +done for her. Mary Rose's friendly nature, her undaunted belief in the +friendliness of people and of the world in which she lived had made +those whose lives she had touched develop friendliness also. The dozen +people gathered in the Donovan living-room said so, quite frankly. + +Suddenly the clock struck eleven times. Mrs. Donovan burst into a +perfect storm of tears. "She should have been in her bed hours ago!" +she sobbed. "An' where is she? Where's Mary Rose?" + +"Sh--sh!" There was a step on the stairs. It seemed as if everyone +stopped breathing to listen. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +Larry Donovan jumped to the door. + +But it was Mr. Wells' grim face that appeared in the circle of light +and his grimmer voice that asked harshly: + +"What's the matter? What's all this disturbance through the building, +Donovan? Every door is open and there's a general turmoil." + +They faced him indignantly, fellow tenants and janitor. Each had had +some experience with him that had been more unpleasant than pleasant. +All of them knew that he disliked Mary Rose, that he had complained to +the agents because she lived in the basement with the Donovans. Each +of them resented the selfishness that had brought him down to make +another complaint when all of them were so worried and anxious. It was +Bob Strahan who put some of this feeling into words. + +"No doubt you'll be glad to hear that Mary Rose, the little girl who +has been such a nuisance to you, has disappeared?" he said +sarcastically. + +Mr. Wells looked at him from under his shaggy eyebrows. "What do you +mean?" he snapped. "What do you mean?" + +Everyone tried to tell him at once but Mrs. Donovan who was sobbing in +her apron and could not speak. Mr. Wells looked at her oddly. + +"Nonsense!" he said when the story was clear to him. "She's locked +herself in somewhere as she did once before." He had heard of the time +the wind had slammed Mrs. Bracken's door and shut Mary Rose inside. +"She's fallen asleep." + +"We've been in every flat but yours," Larry Donovan told him dully. + +"Everyone but mine?" repeated Mr. Wells. "Well, she wouldn't go +there." Then he remembered that Mary Rose had been there in a +neighborly desire to be kind to him when he was ill, in a friendly wish +to tell him of her belief in him when he was under suspicion, and he +colored painfully. For all he knew she might be there now. She had a +habit of going when and where she pleased. That was what made her such +a nuisance in his eyes. "You can come and see for yourself," he said +sharply. "So far as I know there's no one there. Sako is out and I've +just come in." + +They trooped eagerly after him up the stairs to the second floor, and +he had an unpleasant feeling that they expected to find Mary Rose +locked in his apartment, a prisoner by his orders. Hadn't Mary Rose +herself told him that he was suspected of doing cruel things? Well, he +didn't care what they thought, he muttered to himself as he put his key +in the lock. But he did care. Cross and crusty as he was, he was +human, and deep in the hearts of all human beings is the desire to have +people think well of them. + +It was the first time any of them but the Donovans had been in the +apartment. Mr. Wells threw open doors to closets and pantries. He +even scornfully opened drawers and cupboards. + +"Make a thorough search while you're about it," he snarled. + +Under the sink in the kitchen Bob Strahan caught a bright gleam. He +stooped down and picked up a piece of heavy brass wire. It had been +broken at both ends and was twisted and bent. Bob Strahan stared at it +and whistled softly. + +"What is it?" Miss Carter ran across to him. He drew her aside and +showed her the brass 'wire. "Do you see that? It's the kind of wire +that bird cages are made of." + +"Oh!" Miss Carter stared at him. She couldn't believe it. She turned +and stared at Mr. Wells as he stood so contemptuously and watched his +neighbors. There was a sneer on his face. "I w-wouldn't have believed +that anyone would be so despicable!" + +"He's been a selfish brute, always finding fault with everyone and +everything. You might almost think he was the darned old owner +himself," muttered Bob Strahan. + +"He wouldn't make himself so disagreeable if he was the owner." Miss +Carter nodded a wise head. "He'd be too anxious to please his tenants. +No, it's just because he's so selfish and disagreeable and," she looked +at the broken wire and thought of friendly Jenny Lind, "brutal!" + +"You're quite sure the child is not here?" they heard Mr. Wells say in +a voice that was as sarcastic as a voice could be, and there was a most +unpleasant glare in the cold black eyes. "Quite convinced that I +haven't hidden her away to fatten for my breakfast?" + +"Mr. Wells! Mr. Wells!" began Mrs. Donovan indignantly but her spirit +died and she cried instead--quite involuntarily you may be sure: "Oh, +Mary Rose said there was sure to be good in you if we'd look for it." + +It seemed to Miss Carter that a black screen was drawn over Mr. Wells' +face. He said not a word but walked to the door and threw it wide +open. One by one his neighbors went out. No one said anything; there +seemed to be nothing to say. + +"Good night." Mr. Wells spoke with cold, almost ominous, curtesy and +he would have shut the door in their faces if he had not caught the +pitying look in a girl's eyes. A dull red crept into his face. +Involuntarily he stepped toward Elizabeth Thorley. "If you hear +anything of the child let me know," he said as if the words were forced +from him, and then he slammed the door behind him. + +As they went down the stairs Miss Carter dropped behind the others. So +did Bob Strahan. As he waited for her he saw her dab her eyes with her +handkerchief and he put out his hand and touched her arm. + +"Look here," he spoke sharply. "That won't do. Mary Rose is all +right, you know." And he gave her a little shake. + +"I'd like to see that for myself, that she is all right." She dabbed +her eyes again with the damp little square of linen. + +He put a hand on each shoulder and looked directly into her tear-wet +eyes. "Listen to me. I shan't go to bed until I do know that she's +all right. I couldn't sleep. Mary Rose has done too much for me. +When I think--Lord!--when she came here I was a friendless young cuss +hanging on to a job by the skin of my teeth and now--You know I used to +be crazy to know you when I met you in the hall and on the stairs and +it was Mary Rose, bless her heart! and her canary who made it possible +for us to be friends. I can't forget that and I'll find her." + +She looked up and there was a light in her eyes that caused his hands +to tighten on her shoulders. + +"You know I love you, honey," he said quickly. "I think I've always +loved you and ever since I got a real grip on my job I've wanted to +tell you. If you could care half as much for me as I do for you +I'd--I'd--" he stopped before he told her what he would do for she had +lifted her face and he had seen there that she did care, as much as he +did. He stooped and kissed her. + +She kissed him also and clung to him for a moment before she pushed him +away. + +"We--we shouldn't be thinking of ourselves now," her voice trembled. +"We must think of Mary Rose." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +Mrs. Donovan cried bitterly as she went down the stairs and Larry put +his arm around her. + +"There, there, Kate," he said. "Crying won't help any." + +"If we could only do somethin', Larry!" She wrung her hands. "If we +could only do somethin'! It seems awful just to have to wait an' wait. +I--I can't bear it." + +"I'll call up the morning paper." Bob Strahan and Miss Carter had +slipped down behind the rest and no one noticed that they came in hand +in hand. "It won't do any harm to run a little story about Mary Rose +and then if she has strayed in anywhere or been found people will know +where to take her." + +"The mornin' paper!" cried Mrs. Donovan. "I can't wait for the mornin' +paper. I want her now!" + +The three men looked at each other and shook their heads. She might +have to wait longer than for the morning paper to have news of Mary +Rose. They felt so helpless. They had followed every clew, they had +the assistance of the entire police force, but they had discovered +nothing. They knew no more about Mary Rose than they knew when they +had first discovered that she had disappeared. + +Miss Thorley put her arms around Mrs. Donovan and tried to sooth her. +All the red "corpuskles" had left her face now and her eyes had a +strained frightened expression. It startled Mr. Jerry to see her show +so much emotion. Usually she let one see very plainly that she was +interested in only her own affairs. Tonight she had forgotten herself +in a sweet sympathy for Mrs. Donovan and in her anxiety for her little +friend. It made Mr. Jerry's heart thump to hear her speak to Mrs. +Donovan so gently and so tenderly. It made him more determined to do +something. He was just about to suggest that he should telephone to +Mifflin although he was positive that Mary Rose had not run away, when +he heard a child's laugh on the street above them. + +Kate Donovan heard it, too, and pushed Miss Thorley from her. + +"It's Mary Rose!" she cried. "Thank God! It's Mary Rose!" + +Before she could reach the door a burly policeman stood on the +threshold. He held a bundle in his arms that struggled to reach the +floor. Jimmie Bronson stumbled wearily behind them. + +"Here's a very tired little girl for you," the policeman said, as he +dropped Mary Rose into Mrs. Donovan's hungry arms. + +"Mary Rose! Mary Rose!" Mrs. Donovan was so happy that she cried and +cried. The tears fell on Mary Rose's face. "Where have you been? +Where have you been?" + +"Yes, Mary Rose, where have you been?" demanded an eager chorus. The +tears had rushed to Miss Thorley's eyes also and when she discovered +that, she discovered also that the hand with which she would have wiped +them away was held fast in the firm grasp of Jerry Longworthy. How it +had found its way there she never knew. She snatched it from him, her +face aflame, and there were no longer tears in her eyes. + +Mary Rose hugged her aunt and beamed on her friends. Her eyes were +like stars. + +"How glad you'll be to hear what I've found!" she cried jubilantly. +"I've been in the most wonderful place, a big flat building like this, +only not so grand, but it has children! And pets, too! Dogs and cats! +It has, Uncle Larry! I've seen them with my own eyes. Lots and lots +of children! Babies and all kinds!" Her cheeks were scarlet. "I +couldn't believe it myself at first but Anna Paulovitch said it was +true and that it had always been like that. I asked her all about it +so I could tell you, Uncle Larry, and you could tell the owner of the +Washington. He can't know!" + +"Never mind that, Mary Rose." Aunt Kate gave her a shake. "I want to +know where you've been. Why didn't you come straight home from school +as I've told you to, time an' again? You've frightened us all to death +stayin' away so long." + +Mary Rose looked regretfully at the people she had frightened to death +and then she smiled radiantly. + +"Well, you see it was this way. You know there was a story in the +newspaper last night about Anna Paulovitch's bald head and when she +went to school the boys made fun of her and teased her to show them if +she really was bald. It hurt her feelings dreadfully and she was +afraid to go home alone so I said I'd go with her. It's a long way +from here but I'm glad I went because I helped my friend and I found +Jenny Lind." + +"You found Jenny Lind!" Everyone was as astonished as Mary Rose could +wish. + +Bob Strahan and Miss Carter looked at each other and Bob dropped the +piece of brass wire he had found in Mr. Wells' kitchen. + +"Yes, I did. Isn't it just like a fairy story? You see if you do a +kind thing a kind thing's done to you. I've told all of you that and +you wouldn't believe me but now you've got to. Anna Paulovitch lives +in this big friendly house I was telling you about. It isn't splendid +and beautiful like this but it is friendly and there are a lot of +children and pets. The law lets them live there. I didn't suppose +there was a house like that in all Waloo! Anna's mother goes out +washing and her father's dead like mine. She has seven brothers and +sisters that Mrs. Paulovitch has to find clothes and bread for. It's a +good deal for one woman she said and I think it is, too. And right +across the hall from the Paulovitch's, just like across the hall from +Mrs. Bracken's to Mrs. Schuneman's, lives John Kalich. He's a +messenger boy and his sister Becky's been in bed for seven years. +She's nine now and Johnny's crazy about her. He came here with a +message and when he saw Jenny Lind all by herself in the hall he +thought how much Becky would like her. And Becky did like her. She +hadn't ever seen a canary bird before. I told her she could borrow +Jenny Lind for a while longer though I did want to bring her home +tonight. But I thought, Aunt Kate, that since George Washington's +supporting himself and I haven't spent the money I earned washing Mrs. +Bracken's dishes and playing with the squirrels with Grandma Johnson +I'd buy a bird for Becky for her very own. I'm going to let her keep +Jenny Lind until then. It seems as if I was always lending Jenny Lind, +doesn't it? Aunt Kate," she stopped suddenly and looked appealingly at +her aunt. "I'm so hungry! Can't I have some supper?" + +"Haven't you had any?" Aunt Kate was horrified. + +"I couldn't eat any at Mrs. Paulovitch's because she only had enough to +go around once and anyway I don't think I care for Russian cooking, +bread and lard. I'm an American, you know, and that's why I like +American cooking best." + +Miss Thorley leaned over and took Mary Rose as Aunt Kate jumped up +murmuring: "Bread an' lard! My soul an' body!" + +"Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?" Miss Thorley asked when +she had Mary Rose cuddled in her arms. She couldn't remember when she +had held a child before. It was odd but she had suddenly found that +she wanted to hold Mary Rose. + +[Illustration: "'Why didn't you come home before, Mary Rose?' Miss +Thorley asked."] + +"I got lost." Mary Rose blushed with shame. "I thought I was so smart +I could come right home but I turned the wrong corner. I was away over +on the other side of Waloo when a kind lady found me and put me on a +street car and gave me a nickel and told the conductor to keep his eye +on me. But I forgot to tell her it was East Twenty-sixth Street and +she sent me west. And then Jimmie found me." + +"Good for you, James!" Mr. Jerry reached over to slap Jimmie on the +back. "How did you do that?" + +"I was just looking round," Jimmie answered vaguely. "I couldn't sit +down and do nothing with Mary Rose lost. I had to look till she was +found and I was lucky and ran across her. Gee, Mary Rose, but you did +give me a scare! I was afraid you'd been kidnapped!" + +"You know, Mary Rose, I told you always to come straight home from +school," called Aunt Kate from the kitchen. + +"I know," in a shamed voice. "And I always did until today, and +today--why, I didn't. But I found Jenny Lind and I've made lots of new +friends. Mr. Strahan," she peered around at Bob Strahan, "how did that +story of Anna's curls get into the newspaper? Did you write it?" + +Bob Strahan blushed until he was redder than any tomato that ever +ripened. "Yes, Mary Rose, I did," he acknowledged. "I thought it was +a dandy little story of a brave girl and that it would be good for +people to read." + +"Of course, you didn't know that it would hurt Anna Paulovitch's +feelings. She says she can't ever hold up her head again but I told +her she hadn't done anything to be ashamed of and I'd stand by her." + +"I'll stand by her, too!" Bob Strahan promised quickly. He had never +thought of a story but as a story. The consequences it might have had +not occurred to him. "And a lot of other people will stand by her. +You should see the letters that came to the office to day with offers +of help for Anna and her mother." + +"Did they!" Mary Rose was delighted. "Then Mrs. Paulovitch won't have +to work so hard. Oh, Miss Thorley," she drew the red-brown head down +so that she could whisper in a pink ear, "if you could just talk to +Anna's mother for a minute you'd know you wouldn't have to stop work to +make a home for a family. She says it takes more than one pair of +hands no matter how busy you keep them. Will you go with me when I +take the bird to Becky and talk to Mrs. Paulovitch?" + +"Perhaps I will," stammered Miss Thorley, as she kissed the eager +little face, feeling that the room was suddenly filled with Jerry +Longworthy's eyes. + +"Oh," Mary Rose jumped down and stood looking from one to the other, +"but I am glad to be home again! It does seem a hundred years since I +had my dinner. I don't think any girl ever had such a nice home or +such nice friends as I have and it's just because I have a friendly +heart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +When Mary Rose went to school the next morning Mrs. Donovan had half a +mind to walk with her and make sure that she arrived there safely. +After the day before it seemed to her that many dangers might lie in +wait for Mary Rose and Mrs. Donovan had discovered that Mary Rose was +very rare and precious. She watched her from the window and her eyes +opened wide in astonishment when she saw Mary Rose stop and wait for +Mr. Wells. He looked twice as grim and twice as cross as he had ever +looked before to Mrs. Donovan as he came down the steps. But it was no +wonder that he looked grim and cross. His experience of the night +before, when he learned how his neighbors regarded him, could not have +been pleasant. A cold shiver ran the full length of Mrs. Donovan's +spine as she remembered that experience. If she had had any hope of +remaining in the cozy basement flat and keeping Mary Rose, it vanished +at the sight of that scowling face. Mr. Wells would surely insist on +having Larry discharged. She just knew he would. + +Even Mary Rose's staunch and friendly soul was a bit daunted by Mr. +Wells' very unfriendly appearance but she tried to speak to him as +usual. + +"Good morning, sir." + +He looked down at her and his shaggy brows drew nearer together. Mary +Rose had thought he could not look crosser but he managed to look +considerably crosser as he grunted: "So you're back?" It almost +sounded as if he wished she hadn't come back. + +She blushed. "Did you hear that I was lost? I was so ashamed. I +thought I could find my way anywhere in Waloo just as I could in +Mifflin. But you couldn't get lost in Mifflin, no matter how hard you +tried. You'd be sure to find yourself in the cemetery or at the post +office or the lumber yard." She looked up at the cross face and +ventured a smile. "You'll be glad to hear that I've found Jenny Lind," +she said joyfully. "I knew all the time you hadn't borrowed her and I +guess now other people will be sorry they thought you stole her." She +laughed and nodded to let him see how very glad she was that his +innocence was proved. + +Mr. Wells was too amazed to add anything to his scowl. "You've found +your bird?" he asked stupidly. + +"Yes, I have. I'll tell you all about it. Are you going my way? +Usually I go up the other street, that's the shortest, but today I'm +going over this way to meet Anna Paulovitch and walk with her so the +boys won't tease her." And she told him about Anna Paulovitch and her +yellow curls which had led to the discovery of Jenny Lind. "And I'm +going to buy Becky a bird of her own with the money I've earned, +because I don't have to pay a cent of board for George Washington. +He's self-supporting, you know. Isn't it wonderful to be +self-supporting? Mrs. Paulovitch has seven children and only one of +them can earn anything. He's Mickey and he sells papers after school. +If I were a gentleman and bought papers I'd always buy them of Mickey," +she hinted delicately. "The other Paulovitches who are over six have +to go to school. It takes a lot of washing to make bread enough for +them but Mr. Strahan thinks he has found friends to help Anna. Aren't +you glad you were born in America instead of Russia?" She told him why +he should be glad as they walked along. + +He looked down at her curiously out of the tail of his eye but he said +never a word. Indeed, Mary Rose gave him little opportunity for speech +as she had so much to say. When they reached the corner where Anna +Paulovitch waited across the street like a stolid figure of Patience, +Mary Rose waved her hand. Anna Paulovitch responded like a semaphore. + +"That's Anna! That's Anna Paulovitch," Mary Rose said eagerly. "Isn't +her hair beautiful?" Mary Rose admired the long yellow curls +immensely. "It seems a pity they couldn't have grown on her own head +when she would have appreciated it so but I expect the Lord knew best. +I'm awfully glad I met you so that I could tell you about Jenny Lind. +You don't have to worry another minute for everyone knows now that you +never touched her." + +"Here, wait a minute!" Never had Mr. Wells' voice been gruffer nor his +frown blacker. "How much is a canary? Can you get one for this?" He +took a bill from his pocket and offered it to Mary Rose. + +"Mr. Wells!" Mary Rose took his hand and squeezed it. "That's a lot. +I'm sure you can get a splendid bird." + +"Well, get one then," snapped Mr. Wells. + +"You mean for Becky?" Mary Rose could scarcely believe her two small +ears. "I'll be glad to." She regarded him with an admiration that +should have made him feel enveloped in a soft warm mantle. "I'll tell +her it's a present from a kind gentleman who wants to be her friend. +Sometime I'll take you to see her. What shall we name her bird? You +think and I'll think and then tonight we can choose. It must have +something to do with music, you know. Good-by." She squeezed his hand +again and started across the street but ran back. "I forgot to tell +you something that's most important," she said in a low voice. "Did +you ever imagine there would be a flat-house right here in Waloo where +the law lets children live? The Paulovitchs live in one. They do +really. I saw them! And cats and dogs, too. I did! It wasn't like +the Washington but it was a flat-house. It seemed such a friendly +place. I thought you didn't know and now you can tell your friend who +owns the Washington. I don't suppose he knows either. You haven't +heard anything from him about me, have you?" She looked up wistfully. +"I'd--I'd hate to have to go away to an orphan's home now," she +whispered and there were tears in her blue eyes. + +He looked down at her and coughed before he answered. "No, I haven't +heard anything." + +"If you see him today will you tell him of that friendly house I was +telling you about? That there are flat-houses in Waloo where children +can live? It might make him willing to let them live in his house. +And please!" she clung to his hand, "please tell him that I'm growing +older every single day I live!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +That very afternoon Mr. Jerry and Mary Rose bought a canary for Becky +and paid for it with the five-dollar bill that Mr. Wells had given Mary +Rose. Mr. Jerry insisted that that particular bill should have been +framed and Mary Rose insisted that Mr. Wells had said it was to buy a +canary. She could not understand why Mr. Jerry had laughed nor why he +said: "Oh, very well. But honestly, Mary Rose, it should be framed." + +He took Mary Rose and the new canary in his car to the flat-building +that allowed children to live in it. Becky wept with joy when she was +told that the bird was to be her own. John was at home and he blushed +and stammered as he tried to explain to Mr. Jerry that he hadn't meant +any harm to anyone, cross his heart if he had! but as soon as he saw +Jenny Lind he had thought what company she would be for Becky. And Mr. +Jerry kindly said he understood perfectly and that if John ever wanted +any advice or help he was to come straight to him. + +"You see it's a very friendly house," Mary Rose whispered as she and +Mr. Jerry went down the long flights of stairs. "See how many children +there are!" + +Mr. Jerry looked about him. There were, indeed, many children of +assorted nationalities and sizes. There could not have been a greater +contrast to the orderly and clean, if childless, Washington. + +"It's undoubtedly friendly, Mary Rose," agreed Mr. Jerry. "And there +are lots of children but there are also lots of smells." + +She crinkled her small nose. "I expect that's Russian," she suggested. + +On their way home they passed Bingham and Henderson's big jam factory +and Mary Rose caught a glimpse of Miss Thorley waiting for a street +car. When she called Mr. Jerry's attention to the enchanted princess +he deftly inserted his automobile between Miss Thorley and the +approaching car. + +"Room for one more passenger here," he said with a grin. "And the fare +will be even cheaper." + +"Do come with us, Miss Thorley!" begged Mary Rose. "See, here's Jenny +Lind. You'll want to speak to her. And there's such lots of room +right here with us. Isn't there, Mr. Jerry?" + +"Scads of room. I don't see how you can hesitate." And he looked at +the crowded street car where people were standing on the platform and +the conductor was calling impatiently: "Move up in front!" + +Miss Thorley looked also. The street car was not so inviting as the +automobile. Prejudiced as she was she had to admit that. She laughed. +"Oh, very well," she said. + +Mr. Jerry jumped out and triumphantly robbed the street car company of +a fare. He helped Miss Thorley in beside Mary Rose and Jenny Lind. + +"You see there's lots of room," Mary Rose fairly bubbled with joy. +"Just as Mr. Jerry said. Aren't you glad to see Jenny Lind again? I +can't see that she has changed a feather." + +"We'll leave her at the house and then run out to Nokomis for a breath +of air. That friendly flat of the Paulovitch's has almost strangled +me. I have a great yearning for wide open spaces," Mr. Jerry told Miss +Thorley over Mary Rose's head. + +They left Jenny Lind with Aunt Kate and drove along the boulevards and +around the lake. + +"Isn't it a beautiful world?" asked Mary Rose suddenly. "I just love +it and everybody in it! Don't you, Mr. Jerry?" + +"I won't go so far as to say I love everybody but I certainly do love +you, Mary Rose," he told her with pleasing promptness. + +"And Miss Thorley, too?" demanded Mary Rose, jealously afraid that Miss +Thorley might feel hurt if she were excluded from Mr. Jerry's +affections. "She's the enchanted princess, you know," she reminded him +in a whisper. "You must love her." + +Mr. Jerry was so silent that Mary Rose pinched his arm. + +"Sure, I love Miss Thorley," he said then, very hurriedly. + +"And she loves you, don't you, Miss Thorley?" Mary Rose pinched Miss +Thorley's arm to remind her that something was expected of her, also. + +There was a longer pause. Mary Rose had to pinch Miss Thorley's arm a +second time and Mr. Jerry, himself, had to ask her in a funny shaky +sort of a voice: + +"Do you, Bess? Do you?" + +Miss Thorley tried to frown and look away but she was not able to take +her eyes from the two faces, the man's and the little girl's, which +looked at her with such imploring eagerness. And what she saw in those +two faces made her heart give a great throb. In a flash she knew, and +knew beyond a doubt, that at last she could answer the question that +had been tormenting her for over half a year. Long, long before that +she had learned that everything one has in this world must be paid for +and the question that had caused her to lose her red "corpuskles" had +been whether she was willing to pay the price or whether she would go +without the love and happiness and companionship that were offered to +her. + +She flushed adorably as she met Mr. Jerry's anxious eyes. "I--I don't +want to," she said with rueful honesty and then the words came in a +hurried rush, "But I'm--I'm afraid I do! It's all your fault, Mary +Rose." And she hid her pink cheeks in Mary Rose's yellow hair. + +"My fault!" Mary Rose was surprised and puzzled and a wee bit hurt. +She did not understand how she could be to blame. + +But Mr. Jerry understood and with a quick exclamation he stopped the +car. And there, behind a great clump of tall lilac bushes, he put his +arms around them both. He kissed them both, too, Mary Rose first and +hurriedly and then Miss Thorley, second and lingeringly. + +"You dear--you darling!" he said to Miss Thorley and his breath came +quickly and his eyes shone. He kissed her again. "You dearest! I've +been the most patient lover on the footstool. Thank God, I was patient +and just wouldn't be discouraged!" + +Mary Rose caught his sleeve. "Are you the prince, Mr. Jerry?" she +wanted to know and her eyes shone, too. "And is the spell broken? +Have you driven away the old witch Independence? What did it?" + +Mr. Jerry smiled at her flushed face. His own face was flushed and it +had a wonderful radiance to Mary Rose as she looked up at him. "Love +did it, Mary Rose." He squeezed her hand. "Love for you and love for +me. Love's the only thing that can break old Independence's spell." + +"Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose," interrupted Miss +Thorley, who was squeezing Mary Rose's other hand. + +"Isn't she?" Mary Rose was doubtful. Mr. Jerry had said she was a most +wicked witch. + +"A wicked witch would never make a girl brave and strong and self----" + +"Self-supporting like George Washington," Mary Rose broke in jubilantly. + +"Self-supporting," Miss Thorley accepted the word with a smile, "and +keep her safe and busy until her prince came and she could be a real +help to him. Independence isn't a wicked witch, Mary Rose. She's a +girl's good fairy." + +"Is she, Mr. Jerry?" Mary Rose had to have that theory indorsed before +she could be quite sure. "Is she?" + +"I expect she is," Mr. Jerry handsomely admitted. "Perhaps I've been +mistaken in the old girl. Anyway we're friends now, good friends. +And, Mary Rose," he went on grandly, "ask me what you will and you +shall have it, even to the half of my kingdom. I can't give you the +whole of it because the other half, the half that includes me, is now +the property of the most beautiful princess in the world." + +The most beautiful princess in the world laughed in a funny choked sort +of a way and she hugged Mary Rose. "You see, honey girl," she said, +and Mary Rose loved her voice now that the enchantment was broken and +she could hear how soft and sweet it was, "we own him together, you and +I." + +Mary Rose looked at their joint property with awe and admiration. "Do +we?" It scarcely seemed possible. "Aren't we the lucky girls!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Never did a five-passenger automobile hold more happiness than that car +of Mr. Jerry's as it was driven slowly back to the Washington that +wonderful September evening. And never did the Washington look more +pleasant. A little group of tenants, Mrs. Schuneman, Mrs. Willoughby, +Mrs. Matchan and Miss Carter, were standing out in front talking of +what had happened the night before. Mary Rose waved her hand to them +and to Bob Strahan, who was hurrying up the street. + +"Say!" he called. "I've found out who owns the Washington. It's old +Wells!" + +"Mr. Wells!" They stared from him up to the windows of Mr. Wells' +apartments which were wide open. + +"Yep! I had to dig up some stuff over at the building inspector's and +ran plump against the fact that the owner of the Washington has always +been Horace J. Wells. No wonder he acted as if he owned it." + +"But he told me he was a friend of the owner," objected Mary Rose, when +she understood. + +"I guess he isn't a friend to anyone but himself," murmured Bob Strahan. + +Mary Rose sat there in the car and tried to think it out. If Mr. Wells +really did own this strange two-faced building why hadn't he told her +so when she had asked him to plead for her? She supposed that he had +made up his mind that she would have to leave, that the law never would +let children live there, and hated to tell her. Mary Rose felt as if a +black cloud had fallen over this day that had been so happy and she +winked rapidly to keep the tears from her eyes. She even tried to wave +her hand to Aunt Kate when she came to the window. + +Contrary to custom Aunt Kate did not wave back but ran out. She had a +letter in her hand and looked very, very much pleased. + +"You've heard good news, Mrs. Donovan. Who's died and left you a +million?" asked Bob Strahan. "Your face looks like a Christmas tree, +all decorated and lighted." + +"Have you?" Mary Rose asked and she jumped from the car and stood +beside her aunt. "Have you heard good news, Aunt Kate? Has anyone +left you a million?" + +Aunt Kate stooped and put her arms around Mary Rose. "It's worth more +'n a million to me, Mary Rose. I've had the best of news. Larry's had +a letter from Brown an' Lawson." She stood up and looked from one to +the other of the people who had gathered around her. There were tears +in her eyes. "They say we can keep Mary Rose. That so long as the +tenants are willin' an' because she's gettin' older every day they +won't insist on the rule of the house bein' enforced. They say Mary +Rose can stay as long as we want to keep her." + +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" cried Bob Strahan and he flung his hat into the +air. + +"Hurrah for Mary Rose!" echoed Jimmie Bronson, who had run around the +corner to stand grinning at Mary Rose. + +Mary Rose stood quite still and stared at her aunt. Her blue eyes were +very large and as bright as stars. "I can stay," she said softly, +almost unbelievingly. "I can really stay? Oh, where's Mr. Wells! +Where is Mr. Wells! I want to tell him this very minute how much +obliged I am. Oh, there he is!" + +For Mr. Wells had actually come up the street and was about to slip +grumblingly past the little group that blocked the walk. Mary Rose ran +to him. + +"I can't thank you," she said in a trembling voice, although the +radiance in her face should have thanked anyone. "But I do think you +are the very friendliest man that God ever made!" + +Friendly! Mr. Wells actually blushed. He tried to frown but the +attempt was a wretched failure for Mary Rose had dropped a soft kiss on +the hand she had clasped. "See that you do what I promised the owner +you'd do," he grunted, making a failure, also, of his attempt to speak +crossly. "See that you grow older every day." + +"Oh, I will!" promised Mary Rose. "I will!" she repeated firmly and +she squeezed his hand as she looked up at the big red brick building +that could now be her home. The spell had been removed from it, too. +There were tears in her blue eyes as she dropped Mr. Wells' hand and +put out her arms as if she would take them all into her embrace. Her +face was like a flower, lifted to the sun, as she cried from the very +depths of her happy, grateful heart: + +"I--I just knew this beautiful world would be full of friends if I felt +friendly!" + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MARY ROSE OF MIFFLIN*** + + +******* This file should be named 22041.txt or 22041.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/0/4/22041 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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