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Page 35
Unfortunately, too, subsequent events lent themselves to this irony
of the situation.
He was so obviously sincere in his intent, and, above all, seemed
to place such a pathetic reliance on her judgment, that she
hesitated to let him know the shock his revelation had given her.
And what might his other relations prove to be? Good Lord! Yet,
oddly enough, she was so prepossessed by him, and so fascinated by
his very Quixotism, that it was perhaps for these complex reasons
that she said a little stiffly:--
"One of these cousins, I see, is a lady, and then there is your
niece. Do you know anything about them, Mr. Spindler?"
His face grew serious. "No more than I know of the others," he
said apologetically. After a moment's hesitation he went on: "Now
you speak of it, it seems to me I've heard that my niece was
di-vorced. But," he added, brightening up, "I've heard that she
was popular."
Mrs. Price gave a short laugh, and was silent for a few minutes.
Then this sublime little woman looked up at him. What he might
have seen in her eyes was more than he expected, or, I fear,
deserved. "Cheer up, Mr. Spindler," she said manfully. "I'll see
you through this thing, don't you mind! But don't you say anything
about--about--this Vigilance Committee business to anybody. Nor
about your niece--it was your niece, wasn't it?--being divorced.
Charley (the late Mr. Price) had a queer sort of sister, who--but
that's neither here nor there! And your niece mayn't come, you
know; or if she does, you ain't bound to bring her out to the
general company."
At parting, Spindler, in sheer gratefulness, pressed her hand, and
lingered so long over it that a little color sprang into the
widow's brown cheek. Perhaps a fresh courage sprang into her
heart, too, for she went to Sacramento the next day, previously
enjoining Spindler on no account to show any answers he might
receive. At Sacramento her nieces flew to her with confidences.
"We so wanted to see you, Aunt Huldy, for we've heard something so
delightful about your funny Christmas Party!" Mrs. Price's heart
sank, but her eyes snapped. "Only think of it! One of Mr.
Spindler's long-lost relatives--a Mr. Wragg--lives in this hotel,
and papa knows him. He's a sort of half-uncle, I believe, and he's
just furious that Spindler should have invited him. He showed papa
the letter; said it was the greatest piece of insolence in the
world; that Spindler was an ostentatious fool, who had made a
little money and wanted to use him to get into society; and the fun
of the whole thing was that this half-uncle and whole brute is
himself a parvenu,--a vulgar, ostentatious creature, who was only
a"--
"Never mind what he was, Kate," interrupted Mrs. Price hastily. "I
call his conduct a shame."
"So do we," said both girls eagerly. After a pause Kate clasped
her knees with her locked fingers, and rocking backwards and
forwards, said, "Milly and I have got an idea, and don't you say
'No' to it. We've had it ever since that brute talked in that way.
Now, through him, we know more about this Mr. Spindler's family
connections than you do; and we know all the trouble you and he'll
have in getting up this party. You understand? Now, we first want
to know what Spindler's like. Is he a savage, bearded creature,
like the miners we saw on the boat?"
Mrs. Price said that, on the contrary, he was very gentle, soft-
spoken, and rather good-looking.
"Young or old?"
"Young,--in fact, a mere boy, as you may judge from his actions,"
returned Mrs. Price, with a suggestive matronly air.
Kate here put up a long-handled eyeglass to her fine gray eyes,
fitted it ostentatiously over her aquiline nose, and then said, in
a voice of simulated horror, "Aunt Huldy,--this revelation is
shocking!"
Mrs. Price laughed her usual frank laugh, albeit her brown cheek
took upon it a faint tint of Indian red. "If that's the wonderful
idea you girls have got, I don't see how it's going to help
matters," she said dryly.
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