rob followed mr. baldwin and her suit-case from the sixth avenue elevated station at seventy-second street northward a block, and then westward two blocks on seventy-third street, followed hanging back a little, and dreading the encounter with his wife and daughter which lay before her. but mr. baldwin drew her up the steps close to his side, with a reassuring gesture of protection, and before he could get his key fully into the lock, the door flew open, and a beautiful little woman, exquisitely gowned, stood before them, while over her shoulder peered a girl of rob's age, but taller than she was.
"i am glad you came straight to us, my dear," said mrs. baldwin, with such quiet sincerity and informality that rob drew a long breath of relief. "i am sure you are too tired to be as glad to see us as we are to see you, though. hester, this is[225] roberta; take her to her room, and don't let virginie bother her—you must be her maid to-night. hester is delighted to have you here, my dear."
rob returned the sweet woman's welcoming kiss with all the gratitude of her lonely, timid heart, and laid her hand in hester baldwin's. the two girls gave each other a penetrating look, and then moved at the same instant to kiss each other, as if the scrutiny had been mutually satisfactory. hester was not pretty, but she had a keenly intelligent face, and one could see that she was going to make a noble-looking woman.
"we shall dine in half an hour," she said, in a rich alto voice. "come with me, and i'll help you get ready. the maid will bring your case," she added, as rob, accustomed to wait on herself, lifted and hastily set down, at hester's suggestion, her former burden.
"we were pleased when father telephoned that he was bringing you here," hester continued. "it is very nice to have a girl about; i never had an intimate friend, because i never went to school, and that separates a girl a good deal from others—makes her not fit in when she is with them. father said you had lots to tell me that was wonderful, all about your beautiful life, and your little grey house, and that you weren't like the[226] general run of girls of our age either. please try to like me—father wants you to; i can see that."
"see it over the telephone?" laughed rob, rather embarrassed by this appeal. "i'd do harder things for your father than that, after to-day! he has been heavenly kind, and made me believe i have been right, and brave, and wise when i was half frightened to death lest my obstinacy had ruined my family."
"that sounds mysterious, and positively thrilling," hester declared. "but as to father, he is fine—you can't imagine how i love him!"
"yes, i can," said rob, with a quiver in her voice that brought a flush to hester's cheeks.
"oh, i beg your pardon—i didn't mean to speak of father to you," she cried. "but he told me you had been your father's comfort and help, and were now the only one to understand and fulfil his desires—save his reputation, i think he said. now, maybe you are more fortunate than i, for i am no use at all, and i never shall do anything for my father in all my life, probably. i think that is worse than your sorrow."
"you can't help doing for him if you love him," said rob, rather at a loss to answer this morbid speech, yet recognizing the tactful kind[227]ness prompting it. "it is all he wants, to know that you are good and love him. patergrey loved my love for him more than my help on the machine. but it does comfort me to know i did help, and if your father really thinks i'm saving the day for dear patergrey's invention now i shall almost learn after a while not to be sorry, but half glad that he is happy, and that i did something for him when he couldn't do it himself."
"oh, yes," cried hester, with conviction. "i think i shouldn't feel badly if i were you—i don't mean i shouldn't miss him, but you have been your father's comfort. it is perfectly dreadful to be of no use."
"everybody is of use, i guess," said rob. "and the best ones don't know it. what a lovely room!"
"is it?" said hester. "i don't care much for it—i'd like a little house in the country. i think maybe i shall go into a college settlement when i'm old enough."
"dear me," thought rob, "what a queer girl! she ought to do housework, and bother about money for a while, and then she'd find out!" but she only said: "you'd like the little grey house, then. it's old-fashioned, and not a bit[228] handsome, but it is dear, and fayre is a small place—country enough."
"how pretty it is, calling the house 'the little grey house'! it is because your name is grey, isn't it?" asked hester.
"both reasons—we're grey, and the house is all time-and-weather-stained grey, too," rob answered, shaking her hair out over the dressing-sacque hester laid over her shoulders. "i haven't anything to put on, except clean collars and cuffs."
"it doesn't matter; we're alone, and black is always full dress and full undress," said hester. "if i had your hair i shouldn't care about dresses. are your sisters pretty, too?"
"they are very pretty. wythie—oswyth—is older than i, a year, and she's just sweetness—looks, and character, and all. and prue, the youngest, is a beauty," said rob, proudly.
"to think of having two sisters!" sighed hester, laying out rob's fresh little hemstitched "turnover" collar.
at dinner rob's shyness returned, but the baldwins were most kind, and spared her the necessity of more conversation than was required to make her feel thoroughly welcome. the beautifully appointed dining-room, the perfect[229] service, brought before rob's eyes in a new light the little grey house, the patient cheerfulness of the dear grey mardy through all the past years of drudgery and petty economies, the perfect breeding of the mistress of the little house, and the careful training of its daughters, in spite of adverse circumstances. for the first time rob realized the difference between wealth and poverty, and that there were hundreds of people who had never felt the wheels of life jar. and for the first time, though she had always worshipped her mother, she fully realized what that hidden, unselfish life had accomplished in keeping life in the little grey house on the plane on which she and wythie and prue had been taught to live and think. she caught her breath in a wordless prayer that her mission might not be vain, and that, in the midst of grief, her brave mother might be set free of her long struggle.
mr. baldwin and his wife left the girls to themselves after dinner, sitting across the room from their elders, and soon rob was telling hester, with more detail and far more humor than she had shown her father, all that there was to tell of fayre, the river, the little grey house, the rutherfords and frances, cousin peace and aunt azraella, kiku-san, wythie and prue, her[230] mother, their queer adventures in economy, her story-telling, mr. flinders and polly, and all the sorrows and joys which she saw, from this distance and in this beautiful home, in a totally new and impersonal light.
hester went off into such peals of laughter that she grew hysterical, and her father and mother came over to share the fun. rob did not mind them; she had got so excited over her own narrative, and so interested in it, that she could have told the story to the president.
"why, it's like the nicest sort of a girls' story, rob," cried hester. "how perfectly lovely to live such adventures! and here am i all alone!"
"and here are you seeing plays, studying whatever you like, going to concerts, and doing all kinds of things!" retorted rob. "it's funny enough to tell, but let me assure you, miss hester baldwin, there are times when the mercury gets pretty low in the little grey house."
"it's going to climb, and stay up," said mr. baldwin. "and now, hester, take rob to bed—she is more tired than she realizes. and to-morrow, while i set in motion the wheels which are to prove the wheel of fortune to her, you show rob all of new york you can crowd into a day.[231] i suppose we mustn't try to keep you a moment longer than can be helped, bobs bahadur?"
"no, please, mr. baldwin," said rob. "i should be happy here, and you are all only too good to me, but they are troubled at home, and need me."
"i can believe they need you, my dear, in joy or sorrow," said mrs. baldwin, affectionately giving rob her good-night kiss.
"oh, you're up, are you, rob?" cried hester, trailing into rob's room in her pale blue, eiderdown wrapper. "i came to call you. if you're strong enough, i'm going to take you from dan to beersheba to-day—or at least from nellie to columbia. nellie's the seal down in the aquarium, and——"
"please, hester, don't tell me columbia is the college, because even in fayre we've heard of columbia college," interrupted rob. "i'm strong, and shall be ready soon."
hester was an energetic and resolute young person. she had set out to show rob new york, and she rushed from one end to the other of the long-drawn city until rob cried her mercy. "it's a whirl of a battery, with imaginary old dutchmen airing themselves by the harbor waves, and[232] high buildings, as modern as a minute ago, and rattling trolleys, and rising elevated roads bending around dizzy curves, and splendid college libraries, and impressive tombs overlooking the palisades, and guarding soldiers' ashes and tattered flags, and swarming harlem flats, and gorgeous fifth avenue mansions, and cathedral spires," rob said at last, sinking wearily down on a seat before the entrance to the art museum. "i can't go in, hester, not if all the pictures in europe and michelangelo's moses are in there. i didn't think i should give out, but let's risk new york and i meeting again, and finishing up. if we don't, i know one of us will be finished up this time for good."
so hester reluctantly postponed exhibiting the remainder of her city's glories, and took home a thoroughly tired rob. they found mr. baldwin had come home early, and was waiting them impatiently.
"rob," he cried. "i've great news for you. i have found the very concern which is most interested in bricquette machines, and most ready to purchase the best thing of the sort on the market. they told me to-day that, on general principles, if the concern represented by mr. marston would give four thousand dollars for your[233] father's invention, it would be worth not less than ten thousand to them. i am to take you to see them in the morning, and their representative will probably follow you to fayre in a few days. at least, you see, we have undoubtedly gained a great deal by waiting, and you are already justified in your wisdom."
rob turned pale. "you don't know how frightened i have been. do you think i can go home to-morrow?" she said.
"so tired of us?" suggested mr. baldwin, lifting the quivering face by its chin.
"so anxious to get back, because i know how they want me," said rob, simply. "and just now i cannot stay away from the little grey house. but please don't think me dreadful—i never could tell you how i feel about your kindness. some day, if hester will come to the little grey house, all the greys will try to give her the best time that small edifice can hold."
"we understand, rob, and i'm coming, just as you're coming back here, for we're going to be friends forever," said hester.
"and as to kindness," added mr. baldwin, "sylvester sent you to me, and i only do what he would do for my girl, if the case were reversed."
in the morning rob left the house which she[234] had dreaded to enter, feeling that the beautiful woman who was its mistress, and the tall girl with her vague dissatisfactions, but ready affection, who had proved a friend at sight, were something that had been part of her life for years, instead of less than forty-eight hours. she went away as she had come, with mr. baldwin and her suit-case, for she meant to go back to fayre as soon as this formidable interview before her was over, but she went reluctantly, and at the corner, when she turned back to wave her hand a last time to hester and her mother, watching her depart, she could scarcely see them for the tears she was trying to hide from mr. baldwin.
mr. baldwin took rob to his office to rid themselves of her cumbersome case, and at once carried her off again to meet the possible purchasers of the invention.
"stop fluttering, robin redbreast," said mr. baldwin, feeling the girl's heart palpitating against the arm through which he had drawn her left one, tucking her up protectingly.
"oh, that's what cousin peace calls me!" cried rob. and the home pet-name helped to steady her.
"they won't devour robins, my dear, and they won't be too business-like with a slip of a sixteen[235]year-old girl, so don't be frightened. just tell them as clearly as you can your recollections of the construction and working of your father's invention, and for his sake, and the dear mardy's and the girls', do your best."
"i will," said rob, bracing herself, as mr. baldwin felt sure she would. "but i feel so incompetent and ridiculous."
everything swam before rob's eyes as mr. baldwin opened a door and ushered her into an office where she dimly perceived three or four gentlemen, and solid mahogany desks and chairs. into one of the latter she felt herself sink, as someone placed it for her, while mr. baldwin presented her in words that seemed to be intended to set her at her ease, but which she hardly heard.
just what happened first rob never knew, but she found the oldest of these solid, business-like personages asking her questions, and heard her own voice answering as from afar. then before her eyes flashed a vision. she saw the wainscoted room at home, and her father—patergrey—bending his thin form over the models, and saying: "you could explain this as well as i could myself, rob, my son." and now there was none else to do it—she was acting for patergrey, saving the work of his life from being lost.[236] she felt as though his wistful eyes were upon her, and she knew that she must not fail him. with that vision fear left her. straightening herself, she leaned slightly forward in her chair, and said, with a new note of confidence in her voice—confidence in herself and in the machine she had come to explain: "i think, sir, if you please, i can tell you better just how the machine is built and how it works, if you will let me describe it in my own way. if i do not make it clear to you, you will stop me, please, and ask me to explain fully."
the big man with the iron-grey hair stared at this sudden transformation, but mr. baldwin understood, with instinctive sympathy, something of what had passed in rob's mind, and he felt a lump come into his throat as he realized how bravely and loyally rob loved her father.
without a moment's hesitation roberta began her description. forgetting herself more and more in the interest of her own words, seeing not the stately new york office, but the low-ceiled, dear old wainscoted workroom at home, she rose to her feet, illustrating what she said with articles borrowed from the desk and table before her. her eyes were dilating and flashing, her color went and came, her voice trembled, but words never failed her, even technical words uncon[237]sciously retained from hearing her father use them, words which she could not have used except under the exaltation of her mood and motive.
no one interrupted her; she told her story quite to the end, not noticing the silence in which they heard her. when she ended, and had dropped back into her big chair, her audience stirred. "you are a wonderful young girl, miss grey," said the gentleman, who evidently was the person most concerned in the matter. "your father was singularly fortunate in such a daughter and assistant. we have perfectly understood your description. the invention has important advantageous points of difference from any machine on the market intended for this purpose. i am speaking within bounds in saying that our firm will certainly purchase it, if you will sell to us, and that we shall certainly offer you a fair price, dealing honestly with you. the offer you have received was so dishonest that it is a pity there is no law punishing a rascal for making it, trying to take advantage of women in their new sorrow. we will, by your permission, go to fayre to see your models, and will then lay before you the offer upon which we will, in the meantime, decide. i can only repeat, miss grey, that we want the machine."
[238]
rob arose, trembling in every limb. "if you will send me word when you're coming, i'll meet you at the station; fayre is rather crooked," she said, faintly.
the gentlemen smiled, and mr. baldwin drew rob's arm through his again, and patted her hand as though she had been hester.
"not a bad little girl, is she?" he said, proudly. "you see, she has done her best, and now longs to run away. i am obliged to you for your courtesy, gentlemen, and so is miss roberta."
"oh, yes; thank you ever so much for listening to me," said poor rob, wondering if she were going to be able to get out of that office without crying like a baby.
"it has been the pleasantest, most interesting, most exceptional business interview i ever had, my dear young lady," said the old gentleman. "i shall go to fayre myself, for i should like to see your mother. good-morning, and i shall be obliged to you if you will consider the invention mine until you have refused my offer for it."
"yes, sir," said rob, and mr. baldwin, to her intense relief, bore her away.
"not another night, dear little robin?" hinted mr. baldwin. "couldn't you, wouldn't you, telegraph your mother, and come back with me[239] to gladden mrs. baldwin and hester's eyes with the sight of you, and their hearts with our good news?"
"oh, no; please not this time, dear, kind mr. baldwin," cried rob. "don't you see how i must ache to get back? it was such a dreadful thing to do, and now it's done, i must go home to my little grey house and blessed grey people."
"i know you must—you shall," said mr. baldwin. "i'll take you to lunch, and then put you on the train myself, and speed you away to fayre."
at the grand central station mr. baldwin established rob in luxury in the parlor-car, and held her hands fast. "i can't tell you how glad i am you have come into our lives, robin bobs bahadur," he said. "you shall not slip out again, i promise you."
"wait till you see wythie and prue," said rob, smiling through her tears.
"rob will do for me," said mr. baldwin, and, stooping, kissed her cheek, "for her dear father, and for herself," he added, kissing the other. and so, victorious, and with new friends, rob set out on the journey back to fayre.
