Galusha the Magnificent Part 22

"Why--why, I don't know, I'm sure."

"I don't believe you could guess, either. I looked up 'archaeologist' in the dictionary."

Mr. Bangs blinked surprise behind the spectacles.

"In the--in the dictionary?" he repeated. "Oh--ah--dear me! Really!"

"Yes. I'm afraid you'll think I am awfully ignorant, but to save my soul I couldn't think what an archaeologist did, what sort of a business it was, I mean. Of course, I knew I OUGHT to know, and that I did know once, but it seemed to be perfectly certain that I didn't know THEN.

So I looked it up. It fits in with what you told Primmie and me about travelin'--that camel driver creature and all--and yet--and yet, you know, I was surprised."

"Surprised? Really? Yes, of course, but--but why?"

"Well, because somehow you don't look like that kind of man. I mean the kind of man who travels in all sorts of wild places and does dangerous things, you know, and--"

Galusha's desire to protest overcame his politeness. He broke in hurriedly.

"Oh, but I'm not, you know," he cried. "I'm not really. Dear me, no!"

"But you said you had been to--to Africa, was it?--three or four times."

"Oh, but those were my Abyssinian trips. Abyssinia isn't wild, or dangerous, any more than Egypt."

"Oh, isn't it?"

"No, not in the least, really. Oh, dear me, no!"

"Not with darky camel drivers stealin' your--er--underclothes and goodness knows what? It sounds a little wild to ME."

"Oh, but it isn't, I a.s.sure you. And Egypt--ah--Egypt is a wonderful country. On my most recent trip I.... May I tell you?"

He began to tell her without waiting for permission. For the next hour Martha Phipps journeyed afar, under an African sun, over desert sands, beside a river she had read of in her geography when a girl, under palm trees, amid pyramids and temples and the buried cities of a buried people. And before her skipped, figuratively speaking, the diminutive figure of Galusha Bangs, guiding, pointing, declaiming, describing, the incarnation of enthusiastic energy, as different as anything could be from the mild, dreamy little person who had sat opposite her at the supper table so short a time before.

The wooden clock on the mantel--it had wooden works and Martha wound it each night before she went to bed--banged its gong ten times. Mr. Bangs descended from Egypt as if he had fallen from a palm tree, alighting upon reality and Cape Cod with startled suddenness.

"Oh, dear me!" he cried. "What was that? Goodness me, it CAN'T be ten o'clock, can it? Oh, I must have talked you almost to death, Miss Phipps. I must have bored you to distraction, I must really. Oh, I'm SO sorry!"

Miss Martha also seemed to be coming out of a dream, or trance. She stirred in her chair.

"You haven't bored me, Mr. Bangs," she said,

"Oh, but I must have, really. I should know better. You see.... Well, it's quite extraordinary my talking to you in this way, isn't it? I don't do it often--ah--except to other members of my profession. Why, up there in the mountains--at the place where I spent the past month or two, I scarcely talked of--ah--my work at all. And I was constantly being asked to do so. There was a dreadful--ah--that is, there was a woman who.... But I promise you I won't go on in this way again, Miss Phipps, really I won't."

Martha drew a long breath and shook her head.

"I hope you won't promise any such thing," she declared. "I feel as if I had been readin' the most interestin' storybook that ever was.... My, my!" she added, with a sigh. "What a curious thing life is, isn't it?

There's nothin' new in that thought, of course, but it comes to us all every little while, I suppose. Just think of the difference there has been in our two lives, for instance. Here are you, Mr. Bangs, you've been everywhere, pretty nearly, and yet you're--well, you're not so very big or strong-lookin'. The average person would say I was the one best fitted to trot around the world, and all my life--or nearly all--I've been keepin' house in this little corner of East Wellmouth. That's curious, isn't it? Of course I can't see myself doin' the things you do--ridin' a camel, for instance."

"Oh, but it is quite easy, quite," Galusha hastened to a.s.sure her. "You could do it very well, I'm sure, Miss Phipps."

"Maybe so, but I'm afraid I'm a little bit doubtful. I should want my camel on wheels, with a railin' around his hump. But YOU must feel lost enough down in this tame place, Mr. Bangs. The wildest thing around here is a woodchuck."

She laughed. Galusha smiled, but he answered promptly.

"I like it here, Miss Phipps," he said, earnestly. "I do, really. I like it very much indeed. In fact--in fact--Miss Phipps, would you mind answering a question or two?... Oh, they're not personal questions, personal to you, I mean. Really they are not. May I ask them?"

She was puzzled and looked so.

"Why, of course," she said.

"Well... well, they're foolish questions, I suppose, for I think I know the answers already. But, you see, I want my conscience to be quite clear before making a decision.... That is, the decision is already made, but you see... oh, no, you don't see, of course, do you?"

"Why not ask your questions, Mr. Bangs?" she suggested.

"Yes--ah--thank you; yes, I will. The first one is about--ah--rest. This is a good spot for one to--ah--rest in, isn't it?"

She laughed. "Are you jokin', Mr. Bangs?" she asked. "Rest! I should say the average person would find it easier to rest here than to do anything else. But you are jokin', of course?"

"No; no, indeed, I am quite serious. Second, the air about here is--ah--good and--and fresh?"

"GOOD! Well, considerin' that most of it is blown over three or four thousand miles of salt water before it gets here it ought to be fairly good, I should say. As to its bein' fresh--well, if you were here when a February no'theaster was blowin' I'm afraid you might find it a little TOO fresh."

"That is satisfactory, that is very satisfactory indeed. Now what was the third thing the doctor said I must have? Oh, yes, people. And I know there are people here because I have met them. And very nice people, indeed.... Oh, this is VERY satisfactory, Miss Phipps. Now my conscience is quite clear concerning my promise to the doctor and I can go on to my proposal to you."

"Your--your WHAT?"

"My proposal--the--ah--proposition I want to make you, Miss Phipps. And I DO hope you will consider it favorably. You see, I like East Wellmouth VERY much. My doctor told me I must go where I could find fresh air, rest, and people. They are all here in East Wellmouth. And he said I must have exercise, and behold my daily walks to that most interesting old cemetery of yours. Now, you have been VERY kind to me already, Miss Phipps; could you be still more kind? Would you--ah--could you let me continue our present arrangement indefinitely--for a few months, let us say? Might I be permitted to board here with you until--well, until spring, perhaps?"

Martha Phipps leaned back in her chair. She regarded him keenly.

"Mr. Bangs," she said, slowly, "has some one been tellin' you that I needed money and are you makin' me this offer out of--well, out of charity?"

Galusha jumped violently. He turned quite pale.

"Oh, dear, dear, dear!" he cried, in a great agitation. "Oh, dear me, dear me! No, INDEED, Miss Phipps! I am VERY sorry you should so misunderstand me. I--I--Of course I know nothing of your money affairs, nor should I presume to--to--Oh, I--I--Oh, dear!"

His distress was so keen that she was obliged to recognize it.

"All right, all right, Mr. Bangs," she said. "It wasn't charity, I can see that. But what was it? Do I understand you to say that you like--actually like this lonesome place well enough to want to stay here all WINTER?"

"Yes--ah--yes. And it doesn't seem lonesome to me."

"Doesn't it? Well, wait a little while.... And you really mean you want to keep on boardin' here--with me, with us?"

"Yes, if--if you will be so very kind as to permit me to do so. If you will be so good."

"Good! To what? My soul and body!"

"No--ah--good to mine," said Galusha.