GI Brides (44 page)

The dinner was good, and the room was fairly quiet. They could sit there and talk. They searched out each other’s innermost thoughts and rejoiced in one another. And so at last the hours sped on until it was time to hurry to the station, time for David to retrieve his checked baggage and answer the call of the train.

There were other servicemen standing there with friends, mothers, and girls, and some fathers. Tears on averted faces, earnest last words. But Dale and David had no eyes for others. They were taking those last looks at each other.

And then the final call. David stooped and kissed her now, as if he had the right before all the world to own her as his, and she dared to put her arms around his neck for one brief instant.

“It is night now,” he whispered as he held her close, “but it will be day, by and by. And ‘All through the night, my Savior will be watching over you,’ my darling!”

One more kiss and he was gone, flying down the platform with other last ones, swinging on the train and waving his farewell. And then the train chugged out of the station and into the darkness of the night. He was gone!

Dale turned and went back into the empty station, her heart suddenly crying out for him. Then she heard his whispered song words: “
All through the night, my Savior will be watching over you
,” and she continued on, her heart comforted with the thought.

A
ll the way home, Dale was reveling in the things that had come to her and thrilling with joy over them. Life could never again be the same to her. Someone loved her! Someone wanted her, needed her. Come life or death that would always be something to rejoice over. And she did not once think what else was before her except the great empty space until her love’s return, nor once remember the problems she had left behind her in her own home, problems that had loomed so large last night. Not until she got out of the bus and saw her house standing in its usual place up the hill a little way and remembered that there were other people perhaps waiting for her in her house who felt anything but love for her and who could well engender hate if one wasn’t on guard continually. But all through the night her Savior would be watching over her. And He would also be there in the day, too, when problems thickened and storms arose.

Then she turned into her own street and walked up the hill and was surprised to find her home ablaze with light. Lights in every window, even up to the third story. Someone must have been rummaging. Of course Hattie hadn’t discovered that yet or the lights would have been promptly turned off. But what could be the occasion of the other lights? Every room visible from the front and one side had a light in every window. Only the windows in Grandmother’s locked room were dark. She was thankful for that. She had worried a little about Corliss. There was no telling if she would not even get the ax and break the door if she took the notion. She was that way, and she was so determined to take possession of that particular room, just because it was forbidden, perhaps. But Dale was greatly anxious to protect the room from desecrating prying hands and to keep it as far as possible just as Grandmother had left it. She could not bear to have it disturbed, not yet.

But now Dale hurried on, for the sounds that reached her were a bit hilarious, as if a party was under way. But who were the people?

As she reached the gate, it became apparent that the crowd in the house was not only jovial but decidedly boisterous, and one voice sounded actually
drunk
! Oh dear! Now what could be going on?

There were two men on the front porch smoking long cigars. There was a noisy bunch of youngsters on the side porch, glasses and plates in their hands, talking in loud screaming voices and beside themselves with laughter.

Unholy laughter it sounded like. But of course she must not judge them. They were young. That was Corliss’s style. But oh, it didn’t sound like Grandmother’s house! What should she do? Did she have to stand this?

A glance toward the living room showed her several tables set around the room, and two separate groups were sitting around the tables playing some kind of a card game, between times taking sips from glasses that contained some dark liquid. Well, it looked like a party all right, whoever the people might be, and the sounds of hilarity that boomed out from the simple old house did not seem in keeping with the atmosphere that Grandmother had always had there. Somehow it shocked Dale. Not that she disapproved of laughter and merrymaking; of course not, and neither had Grandmother. But this was not just simple-hearted merrymaking. This was more hilarious merrymaking than seemed in keeping with a beloved place where death had just been to take a dear one away.

With distress in her eyes, Dale slipped softly around to the back of the house to find Hattie, if possible, and discover just what was going on.

She did not have far to search for Hattie, for she stood in the deepest shadow just around the corner by the kitchen door, evidently watching for her.

“What is it, Hattie?” she whispered.

“Oh Miss Dale, I’m certainly thankful you’ve come at last. Such goings on! I did my best to stop it, but she said it was none of my business, so I took myself off where I could watch and not be seen. They think I’ve gone to bed, but I couldn’t sleep with the likes of this goin’ on, and I’m just certain they’ve broke into the sideboard drawer and took the best napkins, and they’re usin’ the Spode plates Grandma liked so much and only got out for her lovingest company,” wailed the woman in a subdued whisper.

“Never mind, Hattie; don’t let them hear you. Who are they, do you know? People who called to see Aunt Blanche?”

“Naw. They’s just a pick-up crowd. Some that old Buffington brang along and some she brang over from the hotel! She come out into the kitchen and says they was gonna have a party and if I wanted to make some cakes and wait on her company, she’d give me a whole dollar for the evening. I said no, I worked for
you,
and I couldn’t do nothin’ you hadn’t told me to do, and anyhow I was tired and half sick and I was goin’ to bed. So I went off and ‘tended like I was goin’ up to my room. But I come right down soon as I heard tell what she was doin’. She went to the telephone, and she called up a lotta numbers, and she got a case of liquor sent over from the hotel and a lot of cakes and ice creams and things, and then she rafted round the furniture till you wouldn’t never know the place. And Miss Corliss, she went out and searched up a couple’a soldiers and a drunken sailor, and that brother of hers brought three of the toughest girls I’ve seen in this town, besides one boy, Greek Lufty, who has just come home from reform school! Listen to ’em sing them sickenin’ songs. It worse’n ever anythin’ comes over the radio. Now Miss Dale, what ya goin’ to do? We can’t have no goin’s on like this is Grandma’s place, now she’s gone.”

Dale had been thinking rapidly as Hattie talked. “No,” she said thoughtfully. “Wait. Let me think! I’ll tell you, Hattie. Suppose you run over to Mrs. Relyea’s back door—I see there’s a light in the kitchen there yet—and ask her if you may call up somebody on her telephone. Tell her there’s so much noise over here with my aunt’s friends that we couldn’t phone without them all hearing. And then you go in and call up Mr. Granniss’s number and ask him if he and Mrs. Granniss can come over here quickly, that I need them both in a hurry.”

“Yes ma’am! That’s a good idea.”

“If he wants to know what it’s all about, tell him my aunt has a very noisy party here and I don’t know how I can quiet it down. He’ll understand, and he promised to help any time.”

Dale stood still in the darkness of the backyard and tried to think how this thing was going to work out. Suppose Mr. Granniss was not at home? Suppose Hattie came back having failed to reach him? What should she do? There wasn’t a neighbor she cared to bother to help her. Indeed, they were mostly quiet women or shy men. They wouldn’t be able to get anywhere with that crowd in there. It would take a person with some degree of sophistication to deal with a problem like this. In fact, there were only a few lights downstairs in any house along the street, indicating that her neighbors were going to bed at this hour. They were early risers, most of them war-workers in some way. Poor things! They must have been annoyed at the unusual tumult on their quiet street. Her cheeks burned with mortification as she thought of explanations she would have to give to a few who were always wondering about anything unusual.

Then suddenly Hattie was beside her, looming out of the darkness, all out of breath from hurrying over the rough grass so her footsteps would not be heard on the walk. By the party.

“He’s comin’,” panted Hattie, “right away, he said, and he said to tell you not to worry. It’ll be all right. He’s bringin’ somebody with him, and he’ll see that they understand the situation. Mrs. Granniss is comin’, too. Now, what all you want I should do?”

“Well, I think
I’ll
have to go in and do something,” said Dale with a troubled glance toward the house. “Suppose you slip in and stay where you can hear if I need you. Is there anything around in the kitchen that needs clearing up? Just seem to be busy, you know.”

“There’s plenty,” said Hattie grimly. “There’s a whole lot of bottles in some kind of a contraption, right in the middle of my kitchen floor. They come out as big as you please and open up their bottles and cut their cake, and they took our best dishes and broke one right before my face, when they first asked me to serve, and they was mad ’cause I said I worked only for you and under your orders. They was hoppin’ mad.”

“Well,” said Dale, “I’ll go in and see what I can do. Perhaps they will go home of their own accord and we can phone Mr. Granniss not to come.”

“Not them, they won’t. They ain’t that kind! You’ll see!”

So Dale went into the house the front way and paused in the living room door. “Oh,” she said with well-feigned surprise, “you have guests, Aunt Blanche. It is nice that you were not lonely. I didn’t know that you had friends living near.”

Dale looked around with her sweet engaging smile and hoped her hands were not trembling. She did not know how very sweet and young and beautiful she looked, with the quick color in her cheeks and her eyes so starry bright. The guests looked up in amazement, and one sophisticated woman from the hotel asked, “Why, who is this, Mrs. Huntley? I did not know you had a young niece. Won’t she come and play with us? That will just make up for Buff, if he really has to go.”

Aunt Blanche froze into haughtiness and performed a few reluctant introductions, beginning with, “Oh Dale, is that you? I understood you were to be quite late tonight.”

Then the men drew near, including the lawyer Buffington, quite openly admiring the pretty newcomer. There arose a clamor for Dale to take off her hat and join them in their game, and one of the men hurried to her with a glass of wine.

“You’ll have a glass of wine first, won’t you, Miss Huntley? And shall I get you a piece of cake?”

Looking up, Dale caught a glimpse of an angry, jealous Corliss scowling, but somehow she was enabled to keep on smiling as she shook her head courteously. “No, thank you. Nothing to eat or drink. And I don’t play cards, so I’m sure I wouldn’t be any addition to your number. But now, if you’ve all quite finished your refreshments, I’ll have Hattie remove the plates and glasses, if you don’t mind. You see, I have some friends coming to see me shortly. So I thought it would look a bit tidier if we just got rid of the dirty dishes.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake!” said the aunt, rising in anger. “You have people coming here at this hour? You have no right to do that, right in the middle of my party!”

“Sorry, Aunt Blanche. But you didn’t tell me you were having a party.” Dale smiled.

“Oh for Pete’s sake!” Corliss shouted furiously. “Can you beat that?”

“Well Dale, you know now, so go to the phone at once and call them. Tell them they can come tomorrow night or some other time but you find it isn’t convenient now.”

“I can’t very well do that Aunt Blanche, for they are just arriving at the door now.”

“Oh, certainly you can! I’ll send Corliss or Powelton out to inform them the house is occupied and they’ll have to come again.”

Powelton quickly dodged around the corner of the porch out of sight and remarked aloud to himself or to Corliss, who had also dodged out of sight, “Well, for crying out loud! Can you beat it?”

But Dale paid no heed to her aunt’s admonition. She was at the door now, her hands extended cordially and a little lilt in her voice as she said clearly, “Oh Mrs. Granniss! I’m so glad you were able to come! And how lovely that you brought the Bonniwells with you. This makes it just perfect!”

But behind Dale the former guests sprang to their feet in consternation, with a shower of playing cards all over the floor at their feet where they had fallen from the hand of the one who was dealing.

So the guests entered, five of them. The Grannisses and the Bonniwells and their charming daughter, the latter in a gorgeous evening dress.

“You must excuse our formal dress,” said Mrs. Bonniwell, entering cordially into the room and not seeming to notice what was going on. “We have just come from the Newell wedding, you know, and the Grannisses simply insisted that we join them here. I do hope we’re not intruding.”

But Dale turned graciously, looked at the dismayed group behind her, and began her introductions with pleasant poise, more than she likely would have had if there had not been the interval out in the darkness of the backyard to prepare herself and gather strength from above.

“This is my aunt Mrs. Huntley, Mr. Bonniwell. I think you, Mrs. Granniss, have met her before, haven’t you?”

The incoming guests were full of courtesy and graciousness and appeared not to notice the distraught look of the formally jovial crowd. Of course they couldn’t know how funny they were, caught all unawares with that ridiculous shower of cards at their feet and that guilty look over them all. The strangers from the hotel were impressed with the newcomers. The Grannisses were always distinguished-looking people, and the elegant simplicity of the Bonniwells, even the young daughter, was demanded attention, and they looked the Bonniwells over thoroughly and realized that these were people from another world.