GI Brides (26 page)

A quick examination showed the shirring around the waist was very full indeed, and surely it would do no harm to take one small piece out of all that fullness!

So she went to work trying to steady her trembling hands, trying not to think of what her ruthless sister had done to her as she carefully ripped the shirring loose from the belt, and then examined it again to calculate just how far she would need to rip out the shirring to make the skirt wide enough to go on the band again. How fortunate it was that the belt had not been touched by the ink!

And down in the living room, Cinda had a problem all her own. The angry, bewildered woman who had been so precipitately lifted out of her borrowed garments, and placed trembling in the corner wearing a ruined pink slip with a great black stain down its front breadth, stood staring stupidly down at the devastation she had wrought, too bewildered to utter a word, which was a state to which she had seldom in her life been brought.

And just then, while Cinda wiped the small rivers of ink from the otherwise neat floor, they both heard that elegant limousine drive up to the door, and Elaine came sharply to her senses. Her callers had arrived, and she in a shocking pink slip with ink stains all down the front and over one white arm was standing unprotected in the opposite corner of the room from the door to her bedroom, and nothing between her and her callers but a worn old screen door!

Cinda was on her feet with the basin and rags in her hand. She gave a glance out the front door and saw the men getting out of the elegant car.

“Yer callers is here,” she announced grimly. “Ye better beat it an’ get some cloes on. I’ll open the door for ’em,” and she flung open the bedroom door. As Elaine scuttled across the room into her haven, Cinda went and stood guard before the screen door watching the two men come up the path.

But Lexie, upstairs, had no time to more than glance out the window, though she sensed what must be going on. Well, she had her work cut out for her, and she needn’t take time to go down unless Mr. Gordon came, in which case Cinda would surely tell her. Thank the Lord, Cinda, downstairs, let the two men in, scanned them thoroughly, classified them according to her wide knowledge and keen discernment, and then took her implements of service into the dining room, where she took care to leave the door open a crack, and where she had beforehand carefully set her stage so that she could come and go and get on with her work, and hear all that went on without seeming to do so.

She lumbered up the stairs and touched Lexie’s door with the tips of her fingers, giving a high sign, and Lexie softly unlocked the door and let her in.

“Them men is come!” she announced in a solemn whisper. “An’ ef one cud look worse’n t’ other, he
does.
Seem like I’ve seed him ‘afore, too, but I wouldn’t trust him with me dog’s bone!” Lexie managed a one-sided grin in the corner of her mouth that was not filled with pins.

“You’d oughtta seed
her,
scootin’ acrost the room in her inky slip. It was a sight fer sore eyes! How ya gettin’ on with the dress? Can ye do anythin’ with it?”

“Yes, I think so, but it will take time. Don’t call me down unless Mr. Gordon comes, though I’ll listen for him.”

“Okay! Well, is there any sewin’ I kin do fer ye?”

“Not yet, I guess, Cinda. By and by I’ll want you to see if it looks all right. I just took out a length in front and let out the shirring. That ought to look all right, don’t you think?”

“Sure thing!” said Cinda. “It sure was a shame I didn’t find out what that brat of a woman was doin’ ‘afore this happened, but I was tryin’ ta get things in order early so you wouldn’t do no work, an’ here look at what come!”

“Never mind,” said Lexie. “I guess I can wear it. There isn’t but one little blot on the waist, and that’s where I can cut the blot out and paste a bit of the organdie over it. I think I’ll get by all right.”

Lexie had run up the two seams of the skirt quickly, and adjusted the gathers about the waistline. She was just about to try it on when she heard a car drive down the street, and then another from the opposite direction, but when she looked out there was only one and it went on by and stopped across the street on the other side. Could that be Mr. Gordon’s car?

She opened the door and listened. There seemed to be several voices downstairs, but she didn’t hear Mr. Gordon’s yet, and she did not want to go down until Cinda called her. Elaine could make trouble enough without charging her with coming in where she was not wanted. So she closed the door and went back to her sewing, but she had an uneasy feeling that something was going on that she did not understand.

Then she went to her window again, and looking out toward the side of the house she saw a man going like a shadow, silently, and disappearing out behind the kitchen. Quietly she opened her door again and slipped down the hall to the little window that opened out toward the back, and there she saw two men standing, looking toward the house, talking in very low tones, more as if they were whispering or using sign language. A horror came with the memory that the lawyer had suggested they might arrest
her.
How dreadful if they were really going to try that on her, and Elaine was going to let them do it, the very day she was to graduate! Would Elaine be as mean as that?

Then she heard Cinda coming up the stairs and she slipped back to her own room, followed by Cinda, who came in after her and held the door closed while she whispered: “That there Mr. Gordon you was lookin’ for is in the kitchen. He says for you
not
to come down just yet till he sends you word. He’s brung a lotta cops and got ’em all standin’ around, an’ he says tell you you was right, that’s the man. An’ it’ll all be over in a few minutes, but you’re to stay up here till I come after you.”

Cinda vanished, and Lexie remained by her door listening.

She heard measured steps below the stairs. Through the dining room three figures passed showing up sharply against the sunlight in the opposite dining room window. They were policemen! In uniform! What could it mean? And did Cinda say that Mr. Gordon was down there, too? Or was he out in the kitchen? Oh, surely she ought to go down! But Cinda had been so sure that Mr. Gordon wanted her to stay upstairs until he called her. Then the door into the living room was swung open. She hadn’t noticed before that it had been shut. But it swung so silently as if a deft hand had swung it, and she could hear low talk, then Elaine’s rippling, apologetic laughter almost like a giggle. She did that when men were there, especially that outrageous lawyer of hers. And then—a sudden silence! A breathless silence it seemed, as if everyone in the room was suddenly suppressed, a frightened silence, though none had made a sound since the talking ceased.

Then a strange voice spoke. “Harry Perrine, alias Waddie Dager, alias Mike Gilkie, you are under arrest for forgery. I must beg your pardon, madam, for interrupting your conversation, but this man has been wanted by the state for more than a year and we can’t take chances! Handcuff him, Officer!”

Elaine gave a little childish scream. Lexie could almost envision how she would be shrugged down in her chair with her pretty, slender, manicured fingers pressing over her eyes.

Lexie could hear the other two men step forward to someone who sat in a chair just inside the living room door, and then a well-remembered voice that she had always disliked came tremblingly out: “But, Officer, you have made a mistake. I am not the man you are looking for. My name is not any of those names you spoke. I am James Bradwell, and I’m a respectable citizen. I have never been in any criminal trouble.” “No, Jimmy Brady, we haven’t made any mistake. You can call yourself Bradwell, or Brady, or Tanzey Brown if you like, or any one of a dozen other aliases that I have on my list, but you’re still the same old Harry Perrine you used to be when you got away with that big forgery game, and we’re not running any chances.”

“But I’m a respectable citizen,” whined the culprit. “I can prove that I am innocent of any crime. These people are merely my friends and I was making a business call, offering them an investment that is worth its weight—”

“Oh yes?” said the officer. “Your friends are fortunate that I met up with you before they signed any of your rotten papers. Come, Harry Perrine, let’s get going. You arrived in a limousine but you will be going away in a police car. You’re sure none of the rest of you feel you’d like to go with us?” Lexie could well imagine his glance at Lawyer Thomas as he said it.

But there was only an ominous silence, and then the policemen marched away to their car with their reluctant prisoner in their midst.

Lexie remained at her door, wondering what would happen next, wondering if the next thing would be a call for herself to come down and see Mr. Gordon, but after the police cars had gone she heard another car going away, and stealing into her own room she saw it was the car that had been parked across the road a little while before. Yet she lingered, uneasily, and then she heard Lawyer Thomas say: “Well, Elaine, I guess that about finishes our interview for the morning. You can readily see that I’ve got to go at once and see what can be done to release our star witness.”

“But I thought you were going to tell me this morning where that money is to be found. That is the point I was so anxious about,” wailed Elaine.

“Well, of course I was not anticipating any such happening as has just occurred. I can’t understand this. Just who did you tell about this witness? You don’t suppose that sister of yours has found it out and told the police, do you? You didn’t tell her about this witness, did you?”

“Certainly
not
!” lied Elaine firmly. “And if I had, my sister wouldn’t think of going to the police. She is not that kind of a girl.”

“Oh, isn’t she?” queried the lawyer. “I understood that you felt she would stoop to almost anything to carry her point and keep this money. And besides, I’m afraid you’re going to have to let me have a little more money right at once. It is going to cost quite a sum to get this witness free, I’m afraid. And you know it is essential that we get him. If you could spare, say, fifty dollars, right away I’ll hurry down and see if I can get him off. You know he is really the only one who can tell you where that money is. If you’ll get the money, I’ll go at once and see if I can set him free.”

“But I haven’t any money. I couldn’t possibly give you any today.”

“What about that tightwad of a sister of yours? Can’t you work something on her?”

“Oh no!” groaned Elaine. “I can’t do a thing with her. Not now, especially. Oh, this has been an awful day!” And Elaine burst into loud weeping.

“Well, there, there! Don’t cry. We’ll manage somehow for a day or two, but I really must go at once. I shouldn’t care to have these police get me mixed up in this sort of thing! Good-bye. I really must hurry!”

“
This
sort of thing?” screamed Elaine. “What do you mean? Are we mixed up in something terrible? Oh, I don’t know what the neighbors are going to think with police coming here and taking a man away. This has always been a respectable neighborhood! Oh, you said you would take care of my affairs and I would have no trouble!”

“There, there, Elaine,” soothed the hurried lawyer, “don’t go getting excited. Just take it easy and everything will come out all right. Now, good-bye for the present. I’ve got to go and see what I can do about that witness, you know.”

With oily tones that were almost funny because he seemed so excited himself, he got himself out of the house and went plunging down the walk to his limousine, and away in a whirl around the corner and out of sight.

“Good riddance to him,” breathed Cinda, coming softly up the stairs. “An’ yer Mr. Gordon said he would be coming again some other day perhaps, but you had done good work, an’ not to worry. He had to go away to some sort of a hearing in court, he said. An’ I come to ast you could I do something about the dress, or would you want me to see to the likes of her, an’ get her quiet? But beggin’ pardon, Miss Lexie, my advice is to leave her be awhile till she comes to. She’s had a good hard shake-up, an’ it’ll be awhile ‘afore she gets her balance again. I’m hopin’ it’ll do her good.”

“Thank you, Cinda, for all you’ve done, and I guess you’re right about Elaine. Perhaps she won’t be wanting to see either of us for a while. Suppose you come in and let me put on my dress and see if you think it will do at all, before I finish it up. I’ve got it on the belt, but I’m not sure it hangs just right. If I can get this so it’s wearable I’ll be able to think about other things.”

So Lexie put the dress on and Cinda got down on her knees and measured the distance from the floor to the hem all around and then held an old mirror off so that Lexie could get a view of herself. They finally decided they had done the best they could.

“And it’s really pretty an’ becomin’, Miss Lexie. Maybe I ain’t no judge, but I don’t believe there’ll be another dress as purty in the whole bunch. Now, Miss Lexie, you just don’t worry another bit. You take that dress off an’ hang it up an’ I’ll finish sewing them gethers fer ye, an’ you go lay down an’ rest. Goodness knows, you’ve hed it hard enough this day, let alone graduatin’, an’ you need ta get some rest.”

Lexie gave a breathless little laugh and shook her head.

“No, Cinda, you’ve plenty to do, and I’ll finish this myself. There isn’t much more since you’re sure it hangs all right. But I’d appreciate it if you would see if Elaine’s all right. You know she’s apt to get into one of her spells of hysterics after a time like this. And there’ll be plenty of work for you today without sewing. And, by the way, isn’t it almost time for the postman? I wonder if you couldn’t head him off this once and get anything there may be for me. I’ve been getting notes from my former classmates, and I wouldn’t like one of them to fall into my sister’s hands in her present state. I’d never see it, I’m sure, if it did.”

“Okay!” said Cinda. “An’ then agin there mought be some letter from foreign lands again, ye never can tell.”

“Oh no,” said Lexie. “Not so soon again. You know I just got one last week.”

“Wal, we’ll see!” said Cinda with a sly wink, and thumped heavily down the stairs. There were times when Cinda could walk featherlight and again times when she defied the world with her stride. This was one of them. Her young lady had come through the fire and her graduating dress was still intact and quite wearable. So Cinda sailed downstairs, and peered cautiously into the living room, but there wasn’t a sign of her ladyship in the room, and the door of her bedroom was wide open. A casual glance in there showed a dismal little silent heap on the bed, face buried in the pillow. Elaine was too stricken even for sobs. Besides, there wasn’t any audience.