Dorothy's Travels Part 18

They were almost at the end of their short walk and the Judge's face lightened with a whimsical expression, as he answered:

"Well, Monty lad, m.u.f.fs are mighty handy sometimes. I heard Lucretia say they wore them large last winter! If I take a m.u.f.f into camp I shall expect it to add to the general comfort of the party. Ready to warm the heart of anybody who happens to get lonely or out of sorts."

"This m.u.f.f will do its duty, sir. You'll see; if--"

He left his sentence unfinished and although his response was delayed till after Mrs. Stark's had been received he did not complain of it, but smilingly handed it to the Judge to peruse.

His outward telegram had been:

"Papa, let me stay;" and the incoming one was: "All right. Stay."

He did not inform his mother why he was there at the office so early and she did not inquire. She attributed it to his filial affection and was accordingly touched by it. She petted him as usual, and carried him back to the hotel in her phaeton, while she thrilled with satisfaction at the knowledge she could at last get away from a benighted region where no Sunday trains were run.

The Judge's messages were last, and the longest. His outgoing one gave Mr. Ebenezer Stark a sketchy outline of his vacation plans, announced the gentlemen who would share it with him, and added a formal invitation for Montmorency to be of the party, if agreeable to the lad's friends.

Mr. Stark's reply was heartily grateful, expressed his appreciation of the Judge's courtesy and good nature in "loading himself with a boy of the calf age. A calf of good enough pedigree, but needed turning out to pasture away from the mother," and a little more to that nature.

The rub came when trunks were being packed and Montmorency announced that his "things" needn't be put in; except the "dudish" ones which he wouldn't want in a vacation camp.

Mrs. Stark was so astonished that she was silent and during that interval her son talked and explained with a rapidity that left her no chance for reply. "Father says so," was the final argument that clinched the matter; and she wisely refrained from further controversy, reflecting that "Father" might alter his opinion when she had met him and reported the true state of things. Then he would, of course, promptly recall his son and heir from a region so fraught with dangers and temptations as this Province.

Therefore, the parting was effected with less friction than Monty had antic.i.p.ated, and he watched the train that bore his too-solicitous mother out of sight with a delight that, for the present, knew no regret. He was fully in earnest to "make a man" of himself, and felt that he would be better able to succeed if freed from the indulgence which had surrounded him from his cradle.

After allowing himself the relief of one "pigeon-wing" on the station-platform, he sprang up to the steps at the rear of the hotel stage which had brought departing guests to the train and hugged Tommy, perched there, till the little fellow squealed.

"Good enough, Tommy boy! I'm to rough it now to my heart's content. Ever been hunting or fishing in the woods, younker?"

"Yep. Go most every year--that is, I've been once--with the Boss. He's the best hunter anywhere's around. It was him got all those moose and caribou heads that are in the lobby. Oh! you bet it's cracky! I'm going this fall if--if I'm let, and my mother don't make me go to school."

"Mothers--Well, mothers have a bad way of spoiling a fellow's fun, eh, lad? But after all, they're a pretty good arrangement. I hope my mother'll have a good trip over to Boston; and see? Look there?"

With that he pulled from his pocket a handful of silver, explaining that when she traveled Mrs. Stark always provided herself with a large quant.i.ty of "change" expressly for "tips," and that she had generously handed the amount on to her son, since she was simply "going home" and wouldn't need it.

"More in my suit-case, too, Tommy. But--I'm going to give it all away the minute I get back to the hotel."

Tommy's eyes almost bulged from his head, as he e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed in intense amazement:

"You _never!_"

"Fact. I'm going to begin right now."

Tommy nearly fell off the step. There in his own small hand lay the greater part of what had been in Montmorency's, but he couldn't believe in his own good fortune. Despite the tips he received at the hotel--they were neither many nor generous--master Thomas Ransom was a very poor little fellow. He held his position at the inn by the fact that he was willing to work "for his board" and whatever the guests might chance to bestow upon him. The landlord had the name of a "skin-flint," whether justly or not the boarders didn't know.

It was to his interest, however, to serve _them_ well and he did it; but it was rumored that the "help" fared upon the leavings of the guests'

plates, and in that atmosphere of healthy appet.i.tes such leavings were scant. Anyway, Tommy was always hungry, and the fact showed in his pinched, eager little face.

"You're foolin'. Here 'tis back;" he finally gasped, extending his hand toward Monty with a pitiful attempt at a smile.

"Fooling? Not one bit. You put that where it's safe, and the first chance you get run into the village to some restaurant and get yourself a good square meal. Then go to the circus, if you want. I see by the placards that one is coming."

"Oh! Pshaw! I don't know what to say. But, if you do mean it, I ain't going to no restaurant. I'm going home to my mother the first leave off I get and give it to her. She can't make her rent hardly, sewing, and she'll cook a dinner for me to the queen's taste! Wish you'd come and eat it with us."

"Wish I could," answered Monty, with a warm glow in his heart. He hadn't often had such a look of rapturous grat.i.tude turned upon him and it gave him a most delightful sensation. "But you see we're off by the afternoon train. Going to hurry along now till we get into camp. See you later, maybe."

Then they were at the hotel entrance and master Tommy made haste to bestow his treasure in the safest place he knew until his brief hour of recreation should arrive and he could take it home. But how he worked that day! Even the keen-eyed proprietor could find no manner of fault with the nimble little fellow, who answered bells like a flash, so smilingly trotted about with pitchers of ice-water, and so regretfully watched the departure of the Breckenridge party from the house. And in justice to him be it said this regret was after all and most sincerely for the courteous treatment all of them had given him.

"Some folks--_some_ folks think a bell-boy hain't no feelings, but I might ha' been--Why, I might ha' been _them_, their own folks, so nice they all were to me;" thought the lad, watching the afternoon train bearing them all away, and secretly wiping the tears from his eyes.

However, even for him, deserted as his childish heart felt then, there was comfort. The circus was coming to-morrow! It would be his day off and he had the money to pay for his ticket and one for Ma!

The train was nearing Wolfville where the travelers were to leave it for a brief visit to "Evangeline land" before proceeding to Halifax whence the campers would set out. Aunt Lucretia had checked off the various stations from her time-table and now announced:

"Better get your things together, everybody. Next stop will be ours."

Then Montmorency Vavasour-Stark got his courage to the sticking point and went forward to where the Judge stood looking through the car door at the landscape whirling by.

"Judge Breckenridge will you do me a favor? Another one, I mean, for you've done a lot already."

"Certainly, if it's within my power."

"It is, easy enough. I want you to take this and keep it for me. I want to actually give it away, or put it beyond my reach. I've been thinking it's the boys without money that amount to something. I want to make myself poor and see if I'm worth 'shucks' aside from my father's cash."

He held out a fat pocketbook but, for a moment, the Judge did not appear to see it. He looked the lad critically over, his keen, but kindly eyes interested and yet doubtful. Then he said:

"I don't like whimsies. A person who makes a resolution and doesn't keep it weakens rather than strengthens his character. Have you the slightest idea what it means to be 'poor,' or even like Melvin back yonder, who has but a very small wage to use for his own?"

"I don't suppose I have. But I'd like to try it during all the time I'm over here in the Province. What I mean is that you should pay all my necessary expenses just as you pay for the others; and beyond that I don't want a cent."

"Melvin will earn a little for his work in camp. He is to cook and do whatever is needed. There will be an Indian guide with us, and he, of course, will have his regular price per day, or week. Beyond these two helpers we 'Boys' will do everything else ourselves. It is our custom. I can't hire you and pay you, as an extra. If that were done it would have to be by some other of the party and it's not likely."

The gentleman's tone was more grave than the lad felt was necessary, but it made him reflect a little deeper himself. At last he again offered the purse, saying:

"I mean it. It's my chance. The first one I ever had to see if I can deny myself anything. Please try me."

"Very well, lad, and I congratulate you on the pluck that makes the effort. However--your last chance! Once made, once this pocketbook pa.s.ses into my care it becomes mine for the rest of our stay together."

"All right, sir. That's exactly what I want."

"Do you know how much is in it?"

"To a cent. And it's a great deal too much for a good-for-nothing like me."

"Don't say that, Montmorency. I wouldn't take a 'good-for-nothing'

under my care for so long a time. You forget I already have a 'm.u.f.f'

on hand. I congratulate myself, this time, on having secured a 'good-for-something.' Ah! here we are!"

The Judge took the purse and coolly slipped it into his own pocket, merely adding:

"I will also count the contents and make a note of them as soon as I can. As your expenses have been paid by yourself until now we'll begin our account from this moment. When we part company, soon or late, you shall have an itemized account of all that is used from your store."