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Page 51
She turned to the narrow little staircase between the walls, and gayly
led the way. But Ellen exclaimed in dismay over the steepness of the
stairs.
"Charlotte! Do you think dear little old Madam Chase can climb these?
They are the steepest I ever saw!"
"She won't need to. Private lift, always ready."
"What do you mean? Surely not--"
Charlotte extended two round, supple arms. "Why not? Granny weighs just
eighty pounds--if she is wearing plenty of clothes. In her little nightie
and lavender kimono considerably less. And I'm strong as strong."
"But even then she's more than you ought to carry up and down this
ladder."
Charlotte turned at the top of the stairs, and laughed back at her
friend. "Granny's a sports-woman," said she. "She will--whisper
it!--thoroughly enjoy sliding down these stairs, and, as for my carrying
her up them, haven't you yet found out that a weight you love devotedly
is just no weight at all? Now, look here! Aren't these bits of rooms
fascinating? Hot, just now, I admit--" She ran to the windows, wrenched
them open and propped them up. "Too hot in July, certainly; we'll camp
downstairs while this weather lasts. But fine and warm and sunny through
the winter. A bit of an oil-stove will make Granny as snug as a kitten,
and her maid Charlotte will see that she's never left alone with it
burning."
"I see you're quite invincible in your determination to make the best of
everything. I can hardly believe you are the same girl I used to know,
brought up to be waited on and petted by everybody. You've developed
splendidly, and I'm proud of you."
"Thank you, Len. No, I'm not the same girl at all. I've been having to
depend upon my own management for four years now--long enough to learn
a good many makeshifts. It's been rather a pull, but I've had Granny
through it all, and as long as she's left to me I won't complain. I used
to be an extravagant person, but you've no idea how I've learned to make
money last. Don't stay up here, it's too hot for you. But I'll get the
place in order, for it may be cooler by the time I bring Granny, so we
can sleep here."
"I'll help. What comes first?"
"Nothing--for you. I'll run up and down with rugs and
curtains,--really, they're about all there are to go up here,
except Granny's dressing-table. I've saved that for her, and a
little old single bed she likes. I'll have Tom bring them up."
But Ellen insisted on helping, and when the bed was in place made it up
with the fine old linen Charlotte produced, exclaiming over its handsome
monograms, of an antique pattern much admired in these days.
"But where is your bed, Charlotte? I want to get that ready, too," she
urged, when various small tasks were completed.
"Oh, never mind about mine. I'll see to that later." Charlotte was
rubbing away at an old brass candlestick upon the dressing-table.
"I didn't see another bed. Surely you can't both sleep in this?"
"Hardly--poor Granny! No; mine is a folding cot, the nicest thing!"
"And you've no furniture at all for your room?"
"Don't want it. Granny will let me peep in her mirror. Don't look so
shocked, Len. We're just camping out for a year, you know, and I brought
all we needed. What's the use of being encumbered with household goods?"
"But you have them, somewhere? Let me send for them, dear, please. If you
are to stay all winter you must be comfortable."
"We shall be. And--I haven't any more things, if you must have it. When
the estate was sold I bought in all I could afford, but have sold some
since. You may as well know it, but I want you to understand that I don't
consider it a hardship at all to live as I intend to live this year. I
shall be making money hand over fist, presently, and by the time I have
had my city studio a year or two shall be affording Eastern rugs and
hand-carved furniture. Wait and see!"
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