Part 41 (1/2)

”You see,” said the Eagle Man, softly, ”I'm using Suzanna as a mask; I'm telling her what I couldn't say to your face, Richard Procter.” He stretched out his hand and Richard Procter let his own fall into it. The two men stood thus bound in a spirit of perfect friends.h.i.+p.

Suzanna went on upstairs. She found ”Miss Ma.s.sey” in a large room with pink curtains at the windows, pink rugs on the floor and even pink chairs and sofas. Like a sea sh.e.l.l, Suzanna thought. The baby lay in a beautiful rose-tinted crib drawn near the window, and above the crib the new mother bent.

She turned when Suzanna knocked softly.

”Oh, Suzanna,” she cried at once, a glad note in her voice. She ran across the room and enfolded the little visitor close within her arms.

”And you've come back with a baby,” Suzanna cried, after a time.

”Yes, come and see him. He's named after my father.”

Suzanna went to the cradle and looked down. ”He's a nice fat baby,” she admitted. She really didn't think that he was pretty, but that she did not say.

”And don't you love Sat.u.r.day nights when it rains and you're safe indoors with Robert and the baby?” asked Suzanna, interestedly.

”Oh, dear girl, I do, I do. What a picture you painted, and how I've tried to make it true.”

”And have you a cross man with b.u.t.tons to jump at your bidding?” Suzanna pursued.

”No, dear; we have a little home with a garden, where in the summer all the old-fas.h.i.+oned flowers bloom. I do most of my own work, and care altogether for my baby. And I'm happier than ever before in my life. And my father is no longer angry with me. He wrote asking me to pay him a visit after he knew he had a grandson named for him.”

She bent above her baby for a moment, then turned her s.h.i.+ning face to Suzanna. ”And now, tell me about yourself, Suzanna, and your loved ones.”

Suzanna paused to think. ”Well, you know father doesn't weigh out nails any more; he's the Eagle Man's right-hand man.” She remembered the phrase and brought it out roundly. ”And father helped build all those nice new homes for the people who work in the Ma.s.sey Steel Mills.

”My father's a great man,” finished Suzanna, simply as always when stating this incontrovertible fact. ”And his Machine's nearly ready now for the world to know about it.”

”Oh, oh, Suzanna! And then?”

”And then many, many people are going to be happy ever after because my father thought of that machine and worked on it for years and years.”

After a moment Suzanna continued: ”And my dear, dear Drusilla set off on a far journey and didn't come back. And Graham cried, and went away for a long time, and Bartlett Villa was closed. But they've come back now and it's open again. And David and Daphne are quite well, thank you. And Mrs. Reynolds has two little children of her own.”

”I'm so glad,” said Robert's wife. ”You're a very happy little girl, then, aren't you, dear?”

”Oh, very happy,” said Suzanna. ”I love so many people, you see. And I have a sister, Maizie, who was once smiled upon by a very great Man.”

Her listener was puzzled, but she asked no questions. It didn't seem to her the right moment to ask an explanation. Some day she would. But Suzanna told the story of Maizie's rare selection, dwelling upon it with a degree of wondrous awe, for she believed the story now. It stood so clear to her, so real, that it had a fine influence upon her inner life.

Often when swift anger surged through her, anger directed against the little sister, she brought to bear a strong control, as she remembered Maizie's great awakening.

She returned to her surroundings in a moment. ”I must be going, Miss Ma.s.sey. I wish you'd come to see us. We've got a lovely new rug in the front room and mother has two new dresses for herself. She is awfully pretty in them.”

”I certainly shall come to visit you,” Miss Ma.s.sey promised, kissing the little girl.

Suzanna ran downstairs. She did not stop at the library, fearing she would reach home late for luncheon.

But she was just in time to set the table. Her father had not yet arrived. Mother, of course, was there and with an eager face full of news, delightful news, Suzanna guessed.

”Suzanna, dear, what do you think? Mrs. Graham Woods Bartlett was here during your absence.”