第68章

"You're welcome.So much for that.But there's another side to our relations together, yours and mine, that I haven't spoken of to you afore.And I have kept still on purpose.I've figgered that so long as you kept straight and didn't go off the course, didn't drink or gamble, or go wild or the like of that, what you did was pretty much your own business.I've noticed you're considerable of a feller with the girls, but I kept an eye on the kind of girls and I will say that so far as I can see, you've picked the decent kind.

I say so far as I can see.Of course I ain't fool enough to believe I see all you do, or know all you do.I've been young myself, and when I get to thinkin' how much I know about you I try to set down and remember how much my dad didn't know about me when I was your age.That--er--helps some toward givin' me my correct position on the chart."He paused.Albert's brain was vainly striving to guess what all this meant.What was he driving at? The captain crossed his legs and continued.

"I did think for a spell," he said, "that you and Helen Kendall were gettin' to understand each other pretty well.Well, Helen's a good girl and your grandma and I like her.Course we didn't cal'late anything very serious was liable to come of the understandin', not for some time, anyhow, for with your salary and--well, sort of unsettled prospects, I gave you credit for not figgerin' on pickin'

a wife right away....Haven't got much laid by to support a wife on, have you, Al?"Albert's expression had changed during the latter portion of the speech.Now he was gazing intently at his grandfather and at the letter in the latter's hands.He was beginning to guess, to dread, to be fearful.

"Haven't got much to support a wife on, Al, have you?" repeated Captain Zelotes.

"No, sir, not now."

"Um....But you hope to have by and by, eh? Well, I hope you will.But UNTIL you have it would seem to older folks like me kind of risky navigatin' to--to...Oh, there was a letter in the mail for you this mornin, Al."He put down the envelope he had hitherto held in his hand and, reaching into his pocket, produced another.Even before he had taken it from his grandfather's hand Albert recognized the handwriting.It was from Madeline.

Captain Zelotes, regarding him keenly, leaned back again in his chair."Read it if you want to, Al," he said."Maybe you'd better.I can wait."Albert hesitated a moment and then tore open the envelope.The note within was short, evidently written in great haste and agitation and was spotted with tear stains.He read it, his cheeks paling and his hand shaking as he did so.Something dreadful had happened.Mother--Mrs.Fosdick, of course--had discovered everything.She had found all his--Albert's--letters and read them.She was furious.There had been the most terrible scene.

Madeline was in her own room and was smuggling him this letter by Mary, her maid, who will do anything for me, and has promised to mail it.Oh, dearest, they say I must give you up.They say-- Oh, they say dreadful things about you! Mother declares she will take me to Japan or some frightful place and keep me there until I forget you.

I don't care if they take me to the ends of the earth, I shall NEVER forget you.I will never--never--NEVER give you up.And you mustn't give me up, will you, darling? They say I must never write you again.But you see I have--and I shall.Oh, what SHALL we do?

I was SO happy and now I am so miserable.Write me the minute you get this, but oh, I KNOW they won't let me see your letters and then I shall die.But write, write just the same, every day.Oh what SHALL we do?

Yours, always and always, no matter what everyone does or says, lovingly and devotedly, MADELINE.

When the reading was finished Albert sat silently staring at the floor, seeing it through a wet mist.Captain Zelotes watched him, his heavy brows drawn together and the smoke wreaths from his pipe curling slowly upward toward the office ceiling.At length he said:

"Well, Al, I had a letter, too.I presume likely it came from the same port even if not from the same member of the family.It's about you, and I think you'd better read it, maybe.I'll read it to you, if you'd rather."Albert shook his head and held out his hand for the second letter.

His grandfather gave it to him, saying as he did so: "I'd like to have you understand, Al, that I don't necessarily believe all that she says about you in this thing.""Thanks, Grandfather," mechanically.

"All right, boy."

The second letter was, as he had surmised, from Mrs.Fosdick.It had evidently been written at top speed and at a mental temperature well above the boiling point.Mrs.Fosdick addressed Captain Zelotes Snow because she had been given to understand that he was the nearest relative, or guardian, or whatever it was, of the person concerning whom the letter was written and therefore, it was presumed, might be expected to have some measure of control over that person's actions.The person was, of course, one Albert Speranza, and Mrs.Fosdick proceeded to set forth her version of his conduct in sentences which might almost have blistered the paper.Taking advantage of her trust in her daughter's good sense and ability to take care of herself--which trust it appeared had been in a measure misplaced--he, the Speranza person, had sneakingly, underhandedly and in a despicably clandestine fashion--the lady's temper had rather gotten away from her here--succeeded in meeting her daughter in various places and by various disgraceful means and had furthermore succeeded in ensnaring her youthful affections, et cetera, et cetera.