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Page 19
"Say what?"
"'So would I!'"
"Men are quite hopeless," sighed Mrs. Killigrew, when the laughter had
subsided.
"You oughtn't object to a good shindy, Molly," slyly observed her
husband. "You'll never forgive me that black eye."
"I'll never forgive the country you got it in,"--grimly. "But what's
the harm in a good scrap between two husky fellows, trained to a hair
to slam-bang each other?"
"It isn't refined, dad," said Kitty.
He sent a searching glance at her; he never was sure when that girl was
laughing. "Fiddle-sticks! For four months now I've been shopping
every day with you women, and you can't tell me prize-fights are
brutal."
Crawford applauded gently.
"By the way, Crawford, you know something about direct charity."
Killigrew threw back his rug and sat up. "I've got an idea. What's
the use of giving checks to hospitals and asylums and colleges, when
you don't know whether the cash goes right or wrong? I'm going to let
Molly here start a home-bureau to keep her from voting; a lump sum
every year to give away as she pleases. I'm strong for giving boys
college education. Smooths 'em out; gives them a start in life; that
is, if they are worth anything at the beginning. Like this: back the
boy and screw up his honor and interest by telling him that you expect
to be paid back when the time comes. There's no better charity in the
world than making a man of a boy, making him want to stand on his own
feet, independent. When you help inefficient people, you throw your
money away. What do you think of the idea?"
"A first-rate one. I'd like to come in."
"No; this is all my own and Molly's. But how'll I start her off?"
"Get an efficient young man to act as private secretary; a fairly good
accountant; no rich man's son, but some one who has had a chance to
observe life. Make him a buffer between Mrs. Killigrew and the whining
cheats. And above all, no young man who has social entr�e to your
house. That kind of a private secretary is always a fizzle."
"Any one in mind?"
"No."
"I have," said Kitty, rising and going toward the companion-ladder to
the lower decks.
"What now?" demanded Killigrew.
"Let her be; Kitty has a sensible head on her shoulders, for all her
foolery." Mrs. Killigrew laid a restraining hand on her husband's arm.
But Mrs. Crawford smiled a replica of that smile which had aroused her
curiosity in regard to Kitty. And then her face grew serious.
Kitty had a mind like her father's. Her ideas were seldom nebulous or
slow in forming. They sprang forth, full grown, like those
mythological creatures: Minerva was an idea of Jove's, as doubtless
Venus was an idea of Neptune's. Men with this quality become
captains-general of armies or of money-bags. In a man it signifies
force; in a woman, charm.
Kitty searched diligently and found the object of her quest on the
main-deck, starboard, leaning against one of the deck supports and
reading from a book which lay flat on the broad teak rail, in a blue
shadow. The sea smiled at Kitty and Kitty smiled at the sea. Men are
not the only adventurers; they have no monopoly on daring. And what
Kitty proposed doing was daring indeed, for she did not know into what
dangers it might eventually lead her.
"Mr. Webb?"
Thomas looked up. "You are wanting me, miss?"
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