Apron-Strings Part 29

"Can she come down right away?" asked Farvel.

"Yes! Right away! I'll go after her now."

"I'll go with you," suggested Sue. "May I?"

She tried to catch Farvel's eye, to warn him.

"But, Susan," objected Mrs. Milo; "I can't spare you."

"Oh, I can go alone," protested Clare. "I don't need anybody."

Behind her back, Balcome held up a lead-pencil at Sue.

She understood, "We'll send for the baby. Now, what's the address?"

She proffered Clare the pencil and an envelope from one of Balcome's sagging pockets. Then to him, as Clare wrote, "Would you mind going back to the Rectory and sending me Dora?"

"Good idea!" He pulled on the big hat.

"Dora?" cried Mrs. Milo. "That child?"

"Child!" laughed Sue. "Why, I'd send her to j.a.pan. You don't think she'd ever succ.u.mb to the snares and pitfalls of this wicked world!

She'll set the whole train to memorizing Lamentations!"

Mrs. Milo's eyes narrowed. Sue's sudden interest in Farvel's daughter was irritating and disturbing. "Wait, Brother Balcome," she begged.

"Sue, _I_ don't see why the little girl's own mother shouldn't go for her."

"Of course, I can."

Balcome waited no longer. With a meaning glance at Sue, and a scowl for Mrs. Milo, he hurried out.

"Oh, let Dora go, Mrs. Farvel," urged Sue. "And meanwhile, you can be getting settled somewhere."

Clare looked pleased. "Yes. All right."

"Then she will leave here?" inquired Mrs. Milo.

"Oh, she must," declared Sue, "if she's going to have her baby come to her." She indicated the suitcase. "Is there more?"

"A trunk. And it won't take me ten minutes." As she turned to go, Clare's look rested on the bird-cage, and she put out a hand toward it involuntarily--then checked her evident wish to take it with her, and disappeared into her own room.

"Where had she better go?" asked Farvel, appealing to Sue. "You'll know best, I'm sure----"

Mrs. Milo fluttered to join them. "Of course," she began, her voice full of sweet concern, "there are organized Homes for young women who've made mistakes----"

"s.h.!.+" cautioned Farvel, with a nervous look toward the double door.

"There's the little one, mother," reminded Sue.

"Oh, but hear me out," begged the elder woman. "In this case, I'm not advising such an inst.i.tution. I suggest some very nice family hotel."

Sue lowered her voice. "It won't do," she said. "We want to help her--and we want to help the baby. If she goes alone to a hotel, we'll never see her again. Just before you came----" She went close to the double door. Beyond it, someone was moving quickly about, with much rustling of paper. She came tiptoeing back. "She tried to steal away," she whispered.

"I mustn't lose track of my daughter," declared Farvel. He, too, went to listen for sounds from the back-parlor.

"Then we'd better take her right to the Rectory," advised Sue, "and have Barbara brought there."

Mrs. Milo bristled. "Now if you please!" she exclaimed angrily.

Farvel crossed to her, eyeing her determinedly. "I don't see any serious objection," he observed challengingly. "Your son--will not be there."

"You've lost your senses! Have you no regard for the conventions?

This woman is your ex-wife!"

"But if there is no publicity--and for just a few days, mother."

Mrs. Milo attempted to square those slender shoulders. "I won't have that girl at the Rectory," she replied with finality.

Farvel smiled. "But the Rectory is _my_ home, Mrs. Milo."

"Oh, for the sake of the child, mother! For no other reason."

"_If_ she comes, I shall leave--leave for good!"

Farvel bowed an acceptance of her edict. "Well, she _is_ coming," he said firmly; "and so is Barbara."

"Then I shan't sleep under that roof another night!" Mrs. Milo trembled with wrath. "Come, Susan! _We_ shall do some packing." She bustled to the hall door, but paused there to right her bonnet--an excuse for delaying her departure against the capitulation of her opponents. She longed to speak at greater length and more plainly, but she dreaded what Farvel might say against her son.

Sue did not follow. "But, mother!" she whispered. "Mr. Farvel!--Oh, don't let her hear any of this!" She motioned the clergyman toward the rear room. "s.h.!.+--You offer to help her! Go in there! Oh, do!"

He nodded. "And you'll come with us to the Rectory?"

"Indeed, she won't!" cried Mrs. Milo, coming back. "The very idea!"

Farvel ignored her. "You see," he added, with just a touch of humor, "we'll have to have a chaperone." He knocked.

"Oh, come in!" called Clare.

Sue shut the door behind him; then she took her mother with her to the bay-window, halted her there as if she were standing one of the naughty orphans in a corner, and looked at her in sorrowful reproval.

Mrs. Milo drew away from the touch of her daughter's hand irritably.

"Now, don't glare at me like that!" she ordered. "The Rectory is not a reformatory."

"Oh, let's not take that old ruined-girl att.i.tude!" replied Sue, impatiently. "Laura Farvel doesn't need reforming. She needs kindness and love."

"Love!" repeated Mrs. Milo, scornfully. "Do you realize that you're talking about a woman who led your own brother astray?"

"I don't know who did the leading," Sue answered quietly. "As a matter of fact, they were both very young----"