and there were several things that I bought myself with the first money I earned. But I guess we won't fight over that." Lexie ended with a fleeting smile. "We must get you in and comfortable first, and then perhaps you would like me to send for a doctor, would you?"
"Certainly not! I don't want any little one-horse doctor from this dinky town. I'm under a noted specialist, you know, and I'll have to contact someone in the city whom my doctor recommends. But I suppose if you have let things get into this barren state I'll have to do the best I can for to-night. I suppose I'll have to try to get up the stairs with the help of the driver and the nurse. Nurse, you carry my wraps and pillows up first and make it comfortable for me, and then when you come down we'll go up slowly. Perhaps it won't be so impossible."
"Well, if you hurry I'll help you up," said the nurse grimly, "but then I'm done. And I'll thank you to pay me what you promised for bringing you over."
"Oh, dear me! How tiresome! What kind of a nurse are you anyway, talking that way to an invalid? Of course you'll get paid. My sister will look after all that. I've spent every cent I had when I started. Lexie, will you attend to this, and get enough for the driver, too? How much was it, driver? Five dollars, did you say?"
"No, lady, it was seven dollars and a half."
"But I'm sure you said five. I distinctly remember you said five."
"Look here, lady. My car registers the miles, see? And I havta go by the meter. I gave you the slip. It's seven dollars and a half. I told ya before we started I couldn't say just how much it would be till I saw how many miles it was, and you, lady, you didn't know! You just said it wasn't far."
"Oh dear! How tiresome you are! Lexie, get five dollars for him. He'll have to be satisfied with that or nothing. And Lexie, get about twenty more. I'll have to pay the nurse for some things she bought for me on the way, and the meals we had on the train. How much was it in all? I have the memorandum here somewhere. Hurry, Lexie, and let's get this thing over and get me to bed as quickly as possible. I feel as if I might be going to faint again. All this discussion is bad for me. Won't you get the money quickly?"
Lexie was looking aghast.
"I'm sorry, Elaine. I just haven't got that much money. I had only about three or four dollars left when I got my ticket paid for."
"Oh, that's all right, Lexie, run in the house and make out a check. Make two, one for the driver and one for the nurse. Here! Here's the nurse's bill. Add ten to it for her trouble on the way."
Great trouble descended upon Lexie.
"I'm sorry, Elaine, but I haven't got my checkbook here. I left it at college. You know, I only came up for a couple of days to get the house in order to rent. The agent wrote me that he thought he had a tenant, and I knew this was the only time I could get away from my classes to do this work, so I came in a great rush and brought very little baggage. Just an overnight bag. So I have no checkbook."
"Well, but surely you can find an old checkbook around the house somewhere. Go look in your old desk. Or go borrow a blank check from the neighbors."
"No," said Lexie positively. "I have no money in our local bank here. My account is in the bank at college town. I'm sorry, but remember I didn't know you were even coming. In fact, Elaine, I haven't very much money left, not even in the bank. It has cost a good deal for the last days of college."
"Oh yes?" said the sister with a hateful inflection in her tone. "Of course you'll say that. Well, what has become of the money? I know there was a whole lot saved up for our college courses, and half of that was mine, you know. Suppose you hand that over. That ought to be plenty to pay these two, and get rid of them."
"I'm sorry, Elaine, but the money that was for our college courses was only what my mother had saved from her own salary in the job where she worked as long as her health allowed, and there was only enough left to bury her."
"Oh really! You must have had some funeral! I suppose you bought a plot in the most expensive part of the cemetery, and ordered the handsomest casket on the list!"
Sudden tears sprang into Lexie's eyes as she remember the plain simple casket, the cheapest thing that could be had, that had been her mother's choice in the few words of direction she had left behind her.
"No!" she said, choking down a sob and shaking her head with a quick, gasping motion. "It wasn't like that! Oh, please don't, Elaine! She loved you and did her best for you. She had no show nor expense at her going. If you had chosen to come, you would have seen. You would have been ashamed to say what you have just said."
"There! I thought you would find fault with me for not coming to her funeral! But I tell you I was too sick to travel, and it happened that I had no one to leave my children with. My husband was gone to war, and I was alone. You don't seem to care what my situation was."
"Don't, Elaine, please. I'm not finding fault with you, and of course I know you were sick. Now let's end this useless talk and get you into the house and try to make you as comfortable as possible. Remember, you hired these people, and if a check will satisfy them it's you who will have to give it."
Lexie turned and ran up the walk into the house, thankful to have her sudden rush of tears hidden for the moment. But she found to her dismay that she was not alone in the house. The children, unobserved for the time, had taken full possession. The oldest girl was ransacking the bookcase, pulling out armful after armful of Lexie's cherished books and casting them hit-or-miss about the floor, some halfway open, some tumbled in a heap with their pages turned in messily, some piled crookedly.
The little boy had placed a stool before a table that he had shoved against the fireplace. Then he had climbed to the top of the table to investigate the clock that stood on the mantel. As Lexie arrived in the room he was about to pull off the hands of the clock, and crowing as he did it.
The youngest girl was seated in the dining room calmly eating up the cold scrambled eggs and bread and butter that Lexie had arranged for her own hurried lunch. She could see her through the doorway, and was only thankful that she was harmlessly occupied for the moment. She made a dash for the boy on the table, put firm hands about his tough young wrists, holding them so tightly that he was forced to let go of the frail clock hands, and then she swept him from the table and swung him around to plant his feet on the floor. He set up the most unearthly howl she had ever heard from the lips of a child, and promptly started his stubby young toes to kicking her shins most unmercifully.
For answer she reached down and enfolded him in a grip such as he had seldom encountered. Lexie was indignant enough to hold even that fierce young animal quiet for the moment.
"You lemme alone!" he shrieked, and his voice rang out to the mother and nurse and driver in the taxi—and beyond to the whole neighborhood.
"Stop!" said Lexie in a low, tense voice. "Stop, do you hear me! If you don't stop this instant I shall spank you."
"You shan't spank me. You ain't my mother. She never spanks me! You couldn't spank me. I dare y' to!"
Lexie bore down upon him again, taking him by surprise, turned him firmly around and laid several smart spanks on the young bare legs below the abbreviated trousers. Sharp, stinging slaps they were, cutting into the soft young flesh and bringing quick color to the surface.
The older girl suddenly rose from her literary pursuits and went over to her brother. She lifted her skinny little fists and struck at Lexie's face, an ineffectual blow.
"You stop that! You just let my brother alone!"
