Part 51 (1/2)

”I haven't made up my mind yet,” he answered. ”Maybe I'll stay here for a while, get work somewhere about, an' maybe I'll go back North. There's a heap o' things to do in New York. General utility man, now, that's a good job sometimes. I had a friend last winter as worked in a house that was run by a lot of girls. He had the time of his life! The girls was all of them at work, in charities and hospitals and I don't know what-all societies. At night he'd wait on table for dinner, after he'd cooked it, and learned more'n he'd ever learn if he stayed in school all his days. He could talk like a book, that man could. And the girls, they got to relying on him for all sorts o' little things a man can do about a house. It's a nice way for girls to live, a lot of 'em together. I reckon a job like that might be fun.”

Though he did not look at Hertha she understood his thought for her and felt comforted.

”There ain't no use in hurrying,” was Tom's final comment. ”If one thing turns out not to be wisest you can try another. As for me, if I ain't needed for anything else, a colored boy can always get an elevator job.”

He rose to his feet giving a prodigious yawn. ”Time for me to go to bed.”

Hertha rose too and stood beside him. ”You can have your old room now,”

she said softly.

”That ain't my room no more, Sister,” he answered. ”I give that room to you. I'm doin' fine at Aunt Lucindy's. Don't you fret.” And with a good-night he left them.

Hertha watched him until he was out of sight. ”He's the dearest boy in the world,” she whispered to herself. ”The dearest.” Then, with a heavy heart, she turned to go in.

”Don't go to bed yet,” Ellen called. ”You can't be sleepy. Come, honey, sit here and talk.”

”What about?” Hertha took her place by Ellen's side.

”What about? Why, about everything that's happened. I haven't heard yet of a thing you've been doing.”

”I haven't succeeded at anything.”

”I'd rather decide about that.”

And so looking out into the starlight, haltingly at first, Hertha told the story of her eight months' absence. Ellen was all questions, interested to learn about New York, full of curiosity regarding the factory and the school, anxious to hear each detail of the many happenings. Her enthusiasm warmed the narrator and before she was through Hertha had given a full account of her city life.

”How wonderful!” Ellen said when it was finished.

”There's nothing wonderful about it,” Hertha replied, despondent again.

”I've come back with nearly half my money gone and have failed at everything.”

”You haven't failed at all,” was Ellen's emphatic answer. ”Of course it might have been better to have gone with Miss Witherspoon and have done the thing she planned; study dressmaking. But you didn't, and it's wonderful the way you made your way alone. Of course, Mammy and I couldn't help worrying--New York was such a big place for you to be dropped down in without a friend--but we needn't have feared.”

Amazed at this unexpected praise, Hertha let her sister go on.

”It must have been great working in a factory and going out on strike!

And Kathleen, I should love her! And if you didn't like stenography probably you got a good deal out of the course though you don't appreciate it now. You and Tom don't make plans but I notice you have all the experiences. I'm so proud of you,” Ellen ended. ”I reckon quiet folks have got more in them, more real character, than talkative ones like me.”

”Don't!” Hertha clutched her sister's dress and hid her face on her shoulder. ”Don't say that! If I'm good it's only chance----”

She stopped and in the silence that followed it would have been hard to have told which heart beat the faster.

”Sister,” Ellen whispered. ”What happened? I wish you'd let me know, it's better than guessing. You said, before you went away from here, that he despised you. What was it? I don't like to believe he's bad, he's been so good to Mammy and me. Really good, not patting you on the head the way his father does. Mammy got to relying on him. And he's made it so easy and pleasant for me at school it's one reason I ought to go away. I need a harder job.”

With all her thought of herself, Hertha could not help smiling at this Hercules who must always move to a ”higher and harder” task.

”He tried to get news of you when he went to New York. He told Mammy he meant to bring some word, but he couldn't.”