Girl to Come Home To

by Grace Livingston Hill

  “No, I have no friends over here, unless I can count you one,” said Jeremy, smiling.

  “You may,” said Beryl. “Go on.”

  “Well, you see my brother wanted to call and see the mother of one of his friends who died over there. He asked me to drive him over. He has a wounded shoulder. He’s in there now.” He nodded toward the big brick mansion before which they were standing.

  “Oh,” said Beryl, “you mean Carl Browning? How wonderful! Poor dear Mrs. Browning. She knows so little about Carl’s death. It will be great for her to talk with a young man who knew him well. I’ve heard about your brother. He was quite distinguished, too. But I understood he was badly wounded.”

  “Yes, he was, but he’s recovering rapidly, especially since we got home, and he’s had Mother to take care of him.”

  “Yes. I imagine that would make a difference for all wounded men. And is he in there? I’d like so much to meet him. I wonder if you couldn’t both come into my house for a few minutes after he comes out.”

  “Why, we’d love to, I know, but we’re supposed to go to the hospital after my sister Kathie who is doing some nursing today, and it’s almost time. Perhaps another time, if we may.”

  “Oh, of course! And I shall want to meet your sister, too. It isn’t far to the hospital from here. Couldn’t you bring her down here and all come in for a little while, just till we get to know one another?”

  “Well, we might work something out. Why couldn’t you get into the car with us and drive over after Kathie, and then you come over to our house to dinner with us? I think that would be swell. Mother would be delighted to meet you. I used to tell her a lot about you when we were children in high school. Will you come?”

  “Oh, wonderful! Why, of course I’ll come!” and then those two suddenly discovered that they were still holding hands, with bright cheeks flaming, bright eyes glancing, like a whole battalion of homecomings. And it was so, suddenly standing apart consciously that Rodney saw them first as he came out of the house of mourning.

  “There’s Rod now,” said Jeremy, thrilling at the thought that Beryl Sanderson had just been holding hands publicly with him and she didn’t seem to mind at all.

  Then Rodney stood beside them inquiringly.

  “Rod, this is Beryl Sanderson. You know, I’ve told you about her, and she’s going with us over to the hospital to get Kathie, and then she’s coming home with us to dinner.”

  “Swell!” said Rodney, looking with fine appreciation at the sweet face of the girl his brother admired. “Why, that’s great! I’ve wanted to get acquainted with you, and I’m sure Dad and Mother will be terribly pleased. Say, getting home is something real, isn’t it, Jerry?”

  Soon they were all in the car speeding away to the hospital after Kathie, who presently looked at the new girl with shy interest. Oh, Kathie had seen her before, had known who she was in school days of course, although Kathie was younger than Beryl, but she added her invitation to the new girl to stay to dinner with the Graeme family.

  “You know Mother always likes to have lots of company. She always did, and we’re just delighted to have you. I’ve known all about you and often admired you in the past.”

  “Why, you dear,” said Beryl. “You don’t mean to tell me you are the little girl who used to come to school and go home with your brother? I often watched you and thought you were lovely.”

  “Well, this seems to be a sort of a mutual admiration society, Jerry. What do you think of that? All of us friends in a hurry.”

  From there they went on making a brisk acquaintance and all of them liking one another.

  The road lay through the town of Riverton on the way to the Graeme farm, and who should be walking down the street as they drove through town, entirely engrossed with their guest, but Jessica De Groot and Alida Hopkins, slowly windowshopping by the way and turning to look sharply at each car that passed them.

  “Why, who was that with the Graemes, Jess? That girl? Haven’t I seen her before?”

  “That, my dear naive little Alida, is Beryl Sanderson, the exclusive daughter of the great banker Sanderson.”

  “Well, but didn’t you know her in school once? Wasn’t she in our high school for a time before her father bought that big stone mansion on Linden Shade Drive?”

  “She certainly was, my lamb.”

  “But she didn’t speak to us, Jessica.”

  “No, she certainly did not. She’s too much of a snob. She never did have anything to do with me, you know, and of course just now she was entirely too much taken up with those two navy men to know that anybody else existed. She’s too snooty for words, Alida. I’m glad she didn’t see us. I would have frozen her with one of her own cold looks if she had tried to speak to me. Of course I used to be a poor girl when she knew me, but now I’m even above her class financially, I suspect, so what does it matter?”

  “Well, I wonder if that’s what Rodney has on his mind now.”

  “Oh no, lambkin,” said Jessica, “guess again. She belongs to little brother Jeremy. I used to watch them in school. He was just nuts about her.”

  “But they never went together at all in high school.”

  “Oh no, Mama wouldn’t have approved, you know. She’s a very carefully brought up girl.”

  “But who was the other girl in the car?”

  “Why, that was Kathleen Graeme, the boys’ sister. She certainly has grown up fast.

  The girls passed on to other topics, now and again recurring to the Graeme family, in one way or another, and finally ended up at the hotel where Cousin Chatterton was temporarily abiding, because there was almost always some interesting information to be got out of Cousin Louella, after any brief absence. If she didn’t really have further information, she could always invent some, which was almost as interesting.

  And this time it was interesting, if not exactly accurate.

  “Yes, girls, I really have some news for you. I went over to see dear Margaret Graeme this afternoon and uncovered a bit of information sort of unawares. That is, I walked in on it when there was a private conversation between two members of the family going on. They didn’t know I had come in. I found out that the Graeme boys are likely to stay in this country permanently, or at least for a time. There is some notable position being suggested for them. I didn’t discover just exactly what it is, but I think—now you mustn’t say anything about this of course outside, for it is a family affair, and of course I always try to be loyal to my family. But you, Jessica, were at one time almost family, so I know you won’t say anything, but I think—mind you, I don’t know for sure, I only sort of think whatever this job is, it may have something to do with Naval Intelligence. I’m not sure that I know exactly what that is, so I may be incorrect in my judgment, but I just thought it had to do with spotting spies in this country, or else teaching young navy men just before they go over what will be expected of them in going among the enemy. But anyhow it sounded interesting, and if I work judiciously I can find out a great deal that you might like to know. Of course I know I can trust you girls that you won’t betray me. I would never be forgiven by the Graemes if they dreamed I was reporting things I’d overheard. But you know those Graemes are so terribly shy and retiring, afraid of publicity, that is, that often I’m quite ashamed of them. Everybody knows that I am related to them, and of course I’m expected to be kept informed of their moves, and it’s so embarrassing to have to say, ‘I’m sorry, I haven’t heard yet what the decision is,’ or something like that. So I’m simply forced to obtain my information by backhanded means. And I don’t like it at all. I’d much rather be treated like one of the inner circle and be told frankly everything and not made to appear as one who is not honored with the confidence of those near and dear to me.”

  “Of course,” said Alida in a pitying tone.

  “But I imagine you with your cleverness,” put in Jessica, “can really obtain a wider scope of information than even if you were wholly in their confidence. Sometim
es these underhanded ways are more productive than a closer relationship. Oh, you are clever, Louella, and no mistake. Do you know what I would do if I were you? I’d get a connection with some rather outspoken daring magazine or newspaper and then write some spicy little articles anonymously that would set people wondering and get them all agog. You could really sway governments that way, and if you made the right contacts you could make oodles of money. Believe me, I know. I haven’t been asleep all the time since I got married, and my husband is as smart as a whip. Perhaps I’ll put you on to two or three matters, if you stick by me long enough, Louella. And believe me, my clever friend, life isn’t just made up of catching the right man and making him fall in love with you. It’s nine-tenths of knowing what to do with him when you’ve got him, and how much you can make out of him.”

  “Now, Jessica, that sounds very worldly indeed. I never would have suspected you of having been at one time almost a member of this dear, silly Graeme family. And now, my dear, since you don’t seem satisfied to be utterly done with those innocent dears, I have a little scheme for you, and it has to do with your attendance at that church service in Harper Memorial Church next Sunday night. I would suggest that you plan to be there, and to perhaps sit in the top gallery. Get Alida to go with you, and keep a watchful eye out for Rodney. I’m almost positive he’s going to that meeting and will probably sit in the gallery himself. He seems to want to keep in the background at present. And if you and Alida should be sitting nearby, it will be easy to slip over and sit beside him and get to talking. I can put you on to two or three matters that Naval Intelligencers ought to be able to answer without a suggestion that there was anything out of order in your asking questions, or their answering them, especially if it was done under the guise of a very loving old friend, merely wanting to get near Rod’s work, because of old times. And my dear, I’ll write two or three questions for you, which if you could write up the answers you get, I could get you good pay for the articles. You would be just the one to write them, for you are clever enough to disguise your intentions, both in asking the questions and in writing them up, anonymously of course, afterward. Think it over, my dear, and I’ll see what I can do. And now, really, I must go. I have an appointment at the hairdresser’s.”

  “Well, that sounds most interesting. I certainly could use a little extra money,” said Jessica, “even though I am married, and if I couldn’t win the personal attention I’d like from my old beau, at least I could find a way to punish him for his indifference.”

  And so the meeting ended, and the girls went out to talk it over. Not that Alida was a very wise adviser, but she certainly could gush and encourage anything that sounded like a lark, or an interesting intrigue.

  Chapter 8

  Dad,” said Kathie quietly the next morning when her father came downstairs a bit early to attend to something in the barn, “wouldn’t there be some way to get that key away from Cousin Louella? I was worried to death all last evening while that lovely Sanderson girl was here, lest Cousin Louella would barge in on us again and butt in on all the conversation. Dad, she is simply impossible!”

  “Yes, I know,” said Father Graeme. “I have been thinking about that. I’ll get the key. There’s no reason why she should have a perpetual right to open our door without notice. I’ll see to that today. But don’t say anything to anybody about it yet. I don’t want your mother worried.”

  “Yes, I understand, Dad. Thank you so much. You don’t know what a trial she has been. I’ll be kind to her when we meet, but it’s awful to have her turning up in the most embarrassing times. You know how she comes right into the room when we are having family prayers and sits there scorning us. She takes no pains to hide her dislike of it. She told me the other day that she couldn’t understand why we hadn’t protested against such old-fashioned ideas. She said nice people nowadays didn’t flaunt their religion in the faces of outsiders.”

  “Poor soul!” he said with a sad little smile on his kindly face. “Poor soul! She certainly needs praying for, and the day may come when she’ll be glad to have some religion to flaunt, even if it is old-fashioned. Don’t worry, Kathie, I’ll see to it.”

  Father Graeme came in very soon, ate his breakfast, and then took the car and went down to the village.

  “The boys won’t be down for a while,” he said as he went out. “Let them sleep as long as they want to. They’ve had to do a lot of getting up early over there in the war. I’ll be back by the time they want to use the car.”

  Kathie flashed a twinkle of a smile at her father. She knew what he was going out for, although she couldn’t imagine how he was going to work it. Sometimes there were things that only Dad could accomplish. Things that were difficult, yet Dad could always manage to get them done without definitely offending anyone.

  As he drove down the street into the glory of the morning, he began to think over the night before, and it gave him great comfort that a girl like Beryl Sanderson had come to their home and seemed to be so glad to be there and to like his boys and his girl so much. He thought it all over, recalled the lovely smile she wore, the sweet unspoiled look of her, the happy way in which she entered into the conversation, the reverent way she bowed her head during the blessing at the table, with not a trace of sneer on her lovely face afterward. She had stayed for the evening and entered into the family life as if she had been one of them, as if she had real sympathy for the things they liked and did and said. And Mother liked her, too. He always knew when Mother liked a girl. Yes, she was the right kind. How was it that her boys hadn’t found Beryl before? He recalled also that he had met her father a few years ago and liked his attitude on certain questions in the presbytery. He was a right-minded man. On the whole Beryl Sanderson had made a good impression on Father Graeme, and he hoped in his soul they would see more of her. She was like a breath of fresh air in a stifling atmosphere, after that other girl with the bleached hair that Rod used to go with. He prayed in his heart that they would not have to see more of her. Well, of course they said she was married now, but that didn’t seem to mean a thing in these days when there were almost as many divorces as marriages. He hoped with all his heart that his two sons had not come to feel lightly about marriage.

  Thinking these thoughts, he soon arrived at his destination, a place to which he did not often go, the hotel where Louella Chatterton was staying for the present.

  He parked his car and went to the desk, asked if Mrs. Chatterton was in, and being told that she was, sent up his name. He was informed that she would presently come down, as she was planning a trip to the city that morning, so he sat himself down to wait, well knowing that he must have patience, for he had had experience in waiting for Louella before and knew that she would not hasten.

  When she arrived he made haste to come toward the elevator to meet her. “Good morning, Louella. I hope I didn’t interrupt you seriously, but I shall not keep you long. I came to ask you for my house key, which I loaned you over a year ago, you remember. And now the time has come when I need it, so I thought I would stop by and get it.”

  Now Louella made her mind up that he had come to invite her to dinner perhaps, and she had come down all smiles. The dinners at the Graemes’ were always good and cost her nothing. So the little matter of a latchkey did not interest her. The interest when out of her eyes.

  “A key?” she said meditatively. “Oh yes, a key. I believe you did give me a key. I thought of course you meant me to keep it. Let me see, what did I do with that key? I think I may have brought it east with me. I’m not sure. I’ll have to look through my things and see.” Louella gave an obvious glance toward the clock as if she had no time now to look it up.

  “Oh, yes, you brought it with you,” said Father Graeme. “You used it to open our door the night the boys came home and walked right into the dining room, don’t you remember?”

  “Did I? But no, I think you are mistaken. I think the door was not locked.”

  “Yes, the door was locked, Louel
la. We always lock it at night, and we heard the key in the lock before you came in. I’m sorry to ask you to go back upstairs and get it now if you are in a hurry to go out, but I really need that key this morning.”

  “Oh!” said Louella with annoyance in her voice. “What’s the hurry? Wouldn’t it do if I brought it over this evening?”

  “Sorry, no, Louella, I need it this morning. Would you like to have me go up to your room and try to find it for you? I really want it now, if you please.”

  “Oh, no, of course not,” snapped Louella. “But wait! Maybe I have it in my purse.”

  She opened her man-size purse of bright red she was carrying under her well-tailored arm and rummaged through it, and there right in the compartment with her change was the key, just where her cousin was sure she would find it.

  “Well, of course, here it is, if you must have it, but I shall feel rather lost without it. Giving this up makes me feel that I have no family anymore.” She managed a break in her voice. “But—how long will you need it? Perhaps I can call tomorrow and get it again. Will you be through with it by that time?”

  “I’m afraid not, Louella. My family is all home now, and we need our keys. But I am sure you will always be able to get into the house if you ring the bell or even knock. Thank you, Louella, and now I won’t keep you any longer. You have a nice day for your city trip. Have a good time. Good-bye.” And Father Graeme lifted his hat and bowed himself out. Louella looked after him angrily and began at once to plan how she could get that key back. Perhaps she could bribe Hetty to give her her key. The very idea! Give a servant a key and take it away from a blood relation, at least a relation by marriage!

  There was no denying that Louella was very much upset about that key, and she decided to get it back at the first possible moment. As she climbed into the bus that would take her to her lawyer’s in the city, her mind was occupied with the problem of how to get that key back, and also incidentally to get a little more information concerning the doings of the Graeme boys.