Part 23 (1/2)
”Well, now, I'm sorry to hear that.”
”It's been in me a good while,” David explained, ”but yesterday I said it. It was 'd.a.m.n.'”
”It's a foolish word, David; I never use it.”
”You _don't_?” David said blankly, and all his pride was gone.
They parted with some seriousness; but Dr. Lavendar was still chuckling when he turned in at Benjamin Wright's neglected carriage road where burdocks and plantains grew rank between the wheel-tracks.
As he came up to the house he saw Mr. Wright sitting out in the sun on the gravel of the driveway, facing his veranda. A great locust was dropping its honey-sweet blossoms all about--on his bent shoulders, on his green cashmere dressing-gown, on his shrunken knees, even one or two on the tall beaver hat. A dozen bird-cages had been placed in a row along the edge of the veranda, and he was nibbling orange-skin and watching the canaries twittering and hopping on their perches. As he heard the wheels of the buggy, he looked around, and raised a cautioning hand:
”Look out! You scare my birds. Rein in that mettlesome steed of yours!
That green c.o.c.k was just going to take a bath.”
Goliath stopped at a discreet distance, and Dr. Lavendar sat still.
There was a breathless moment of awaiting the pleasure of the green c.o.c.k, who, balancing on the edge of his tub, his head on one side, looked with inquisitive eyes at the two old men before deciding to return to his perch and attack the cuttle-fish stuck between the bars of his cage. Upon which Mr. Wright swore at him with proud affection, and waved his hand to his visitor.
”Come on! Sorry I can't take you indoors. I have to sit out here and watch these confounded fowls for fear a cat will come along. There's not a soul I can trust to attend to it, so I have to waste my valuable time. Sit down.”
Dr. Lavendar clambered out of the buggy, and came up to the porch where he was told to ”_'s.h.!.+_” while Mr. Wright held his breath to see if the green c.o.c.k would not bathe, after all.
”That n.i.g.g.e.r of mine is perfectly useless. Look at that perch! Hasn't been cleaned for a week.”
”Yes, suh; cleaned yesterday, suh,” Simmons murmured, hobbling up with a handful of chickweed which he arranged on the top of one of the cages, its faint faded smell mingling with the heavy fragrance of the locust blossoms.
”Whiskey!” Mr. Wright commanded.
”Not for me,” said Dr. Lavendar; and there was the usual snarl, during which Simmons disappeared. The whiskey was not produced.
”Lavendar, look at that c.o.c.k--the scoundrel understands every word we say.”
”He does look knowing. Benjamin, I just dropped in to tell you that I think you needn't worry so about Sam's Sam. Your neighbor has promised w.i.l.l.y King that she will help us with him. But I want you to talk the matter over with Samuel, and--” ”My _neighbor?_” the older man interrupted, his lower lip dropping with dismay. ”Ye don't mean--the female at the Stuffed Animal House?”
”Yes; Mrs. Richie. She will snub him if it's necessary, William says; but she'll help us, by urging him to attend to his business. See?”
”I see--more than you do!” cried Benjamin Wright. ”Much w.i.l.l.y King has accomplished! It's just what I've always said;--if you want a thing done, do it yourself. It's another case of these confounded canaries.
If they are not to be eaten up by some devilish cat, I've got to sit out here and watch over 'em. If that boy is not to be injured, I've got to watch over him. My neighbor is going to help? Gad-a-mercy!
Help!”
Dr. Lavendar took off his broad-brimmed felt hat and wiped his forehead with his big red bandanna. ”Benjamin, what's got into you? A little being in love won't hurt him. Why, before I was his age I had lost my heart to my grandmother's first cousin!”
But the older man was not listening. His anger had suddenly hardened into alarm; he even forgot the canaries. ”She's going to help?
Lavendar, this is serious; it is very serious. He's got to be sent away!--if I have to see”--his voice trailed into a whisper; he looked at Dr. Lavendar with startled eyes.
The green c.o.c.k hopped down into his gla.s.s tub and began to ruffle and splash, but Benjamin Wright did not notice him. Dr. Lavendar beamed.
”You mean you'll see his father?”
The very old man nodded. ”Yes; I'll have to see--my son.”