Part 8 (2/2)
Mr. Magee threw back his head and laughed heartily.
”We understand one another, it seems,” he said. ”I look forward to pleasant companions.h.i.+p where I had expected solitude. You will excuse me now--there is the work to which I referred. Ah, here's Peters,” he added as the hermit entered through the dining-room door at the side of the stairs.
”All finished, gentlemen?” he asked, coming forward. ”Now, this is solid comfort, ain't it? I reckon when you get a few days of this, you'll all become hermits, and build yourselves shacks on the mountain. Solid comfort. No woman to make you put on overshoes when you go out, or lecture you about the effects of alcohol on the stomach. Heaven, I call it.”
”Peters,” said Mr. Magee, ”we have been wondering if you will stay on here and cook for us. We need you. How about it?”
”Well--I'll be glad to help you out,” the hermit replied. ”I guess I can manage to give satisfaction, seeing there ain't no women around. If there was, I wouldn't think of it. Yes, I'll stay and do what I can to boost the hermit life in your estimation. I--”
He stopped. His eyes were on the dining-room door, toward which Mr.
Magee's back was turned. The jaw of Peters fell, and his mouth stood wide open. Behind the underbrush of beard a very surprised face was discernible.
Mr. Magee turned quickly. A few feet inside the door stood the girl of the station, weeping no more, but radiant with smiles. Back of her was the determined impossible companion of yesterday.
”Oh, mamma,” laughed the girl, ”we're too late for breakfast! Isn't it a shame?”
Mr. Bland's lean hands went quickly to adjust his purple tie. Professor Bolton looked every inch the owl as he blinked in dazed fas.h.i.+on at the blue corduroy vision. Gingerly Mr. Peters set down the plates he had taken from the table, still neglecting his open mouth.
Mr. Magee rose from the table, and went forward with outstretched hand.
CHAPTER V
THE MAYOR CASTS A SHADOW BEFORE
”From tears to smiles,” said Mr. Magee, taking the girl's hand. ”What worked the transformation? Not the Commercial House, I know, for I pa.s.sed it last evening.”
”No, hardly the Commercial House,” laughed the girl. ”Rather the suns.h.i.+ne of a winter morning, the brisk walk up the mountain, and the sight of the Hermit of Baldpate with eyes like saucers staring at a little girl who once bought his postal cards.”
”Then you know Mr. Peters?” inquired Magee.
”Is that his name? You see, I never met him in private life--he was just the hermit when I knew him. I used to come to Baldpate in the summers, and send his cards back to the folks at home, and dream dreams of his love-story when from my window I saw the light of his shack at night.
I'm so glad to meet Mr. Peters informally.”
She held out her hand, but Peters, by long practise wary of women, had burdened himself with breakfast plates which prevented his clasping it.
He muttered ”How d'ye do?” and fled toward the door, narrowly averting what would have proved a serious collision with the large woman on the way.
”Mr. Peters meets so few of your s.e.x in winter,” Magee apologized, ”you must pardon his clumsiness. This gentleman”--he indicated the professor, who arose--”is Thaddeus Bolton, a distinguished member of a certain university faculty, who has fled to Baldpate to escape the press of America. And this is Mr. Bland, who hides here from the world the scars of a broken heart. But let us not go into details.”
The girl smiled brightly. ”And you--” she asked.
”William Hallowell Magee,” he returned, bowing low. ”I have a neat little collection of stories accounting for my presence here, from which I shall allow you to choose later. Not to mention the real one, which is simple almost to a fault.”
”I am so happy to meet you all,” said the girl. ”We shall no doubt become very good friends. For mamma and I have also come to Baldpate Inn--to stay.”
Mr. Bland opened wide his usually narrow eyes, and ran his hand thoughtfully over his one day's beard. Professor Bolton blinked his astonishment. Mr. Magee smiled.
”I, for one, am delighted to hear it,” he said.
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