Part 7 (1/2)
The force gasped at her temerity. They had heard he was a horrid old man; but the youngest observed wisely that probably he wouldn't bite.
Miss Bentley, however, having recently developed a b.u.mp of discretion, did first consult Dr. Prue in the matter, who responded, ”Why certainly, I see no objection to your asking to see the book. Mr. Knight is a harmless, studious man. I have met him on two occasions when I was called in to attend his housekeeper, Mrs. Sampson, and he was courtesy itself. I will go with you and introduce you, if you like.”
Virginia, hanging around and overhearing, begged to be allowed to go too. ”I'd love to see the inside of his house,” she urged.
She was a.s.sured she would find it stupid, but this was as nothing compared with the glory of entering the abode of the Miser in company with her ladys.h.i.+p, and the other pigeons looking enviously on outside.
Dr. Prue, of course, had no time to waste, so Margaret Elizabeth hastened to find her pad and pencil, and across the street they went forthwith. The Miser was discovered in his library, a s.p.a.cious, shabby room, yet not too shabby for dignity, full of valuable and even rare things, such as old prints and engravings, and most of all of books, which overflowed their shelves in a scholarly disorder not unfamiliar to Margaret Elizabeth.
With businesslike brevity Dr. Vandegrift presented her cousin and her credentials to Mr. Knight, who, with a quaint and formal courtesy, was happy to oblige the daughter of an author so distinguished in his chosen field.
Miss Bentley in her turn presented, with suitable gravity, Miss Virginia Brooks, who promised to be quiet as a mouse, and whose eyes betrayed her disappointment on discovering the inside of the Miser's house to be so much like any other.
After the necessary stir attending upon the finding of the desired volume, and getting settled to work, profound quiet again rested upon the library. Margaret Elizabeth wrote busily, her book propped upon a small stand before her, while across the room Virginia softly turned the leaves of a huge volume of engravings, pausing now and then to rest her cheek in her palm and regard the Miser steadily for a moment.
The master of the library had the air of having forgotten their presence altogether. Aided by a microscope, with a grave absorbed face, he studied and compared a series of prints spread before him. So quiet was it all, that the crackle and purr of the coal fire in the old-fas.h.i.+oned grate made itself quite audible, and the leisurely tick of the clock in the hall marked time solemnly.
Margaret Elizabeth's interest in Vedantic Philosophy began after a time to wane, and she allowed her attention to wander about the room, from object to object, until it concentrated upon the student himself. Was he really a miser? she wondered. He did not look it. His was rather the face of an ascetic. Suddenly it flashed into her mind that here was the sad, grey man of that unforgettable conversation in the park.
Virginia slipped down and came to her side. ”Is there really a room full of gold?” she whispered.
Margaret Elizabeth shook her head sternly. It was time they were going.
Her hand was tired. She would ask permission to come again. As she returned her book to the shelf, she displaced a smaller one, a shabby leather-bound book, at which she scarcely glanced, but upon which Virginia seized.
”The Candy Man has one like this,” she said. ”Such a funny name! See?
Only his is Vol. one and this is Vol. two.”
Miss Bentley cared not at all what strange books the Candy Man owned, and said so, frowning so severely you could scarcely have believed her to be the same person who only a few minutes later was thanking the Miser with such alluring grace of manner.
She was welcome to come when she chose, she was a.s.sured, with grave politeness. His library was at her disposal.
”You have many beautiful things,” said Margaret Elizabeth. ”This portrait above the mantel, for instance, seems to me very interesting.”
The portrait in question was rather a splendid one of a military-looking man probably in his thirties. One of the best examples of Jouett's work it was generally considered, Mr. Knight explained, and said to have been an admirable likeness of his uncle, General Waite, at the time it was painted.
It was inexplicable that as Margaret Elizabeth gazed up at the general the eyes beneath the stern brows should become the eyes of the Candy Man. But her exasperation at this absurd illusion pa.s.sed quickly into horrified embarra.s.sment, when Virginia, edging toward the master of the house, asked explosively, ”Say, have you really got a room full of gold?”
”There is one thing certain, you can never go there with me again,” said Miss Bentley, on their way across the street.
”But Aleck said----” began the culprit.
”Never mind what he said. Aleck is a very ignorant little boy. People don't keep gold in rooms. If they have it they put it in the bank or send it to the mint.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
_In which the Miser's past history is touched upon; which shows how his solitude is again invaded, and how he makes a new friend._