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“Gerald! Ger-a-l-d! Come quick! She’s eating it all up from us, and I’m h-o-n-g-ry!”

  “Oh,” said Lexie pleasantly. “Would you like to have some dinner? Suppose you sit down here beside me. What would you like to have?”

  “I want some of that puffy om-let!” announced Angelica, slamming herself into the chair indicated. “And I want some of that nice green stuff with yellow wheels on it.”

  Lexie put a small amount of spinach on the child’s plate, with a slice of lovely hard-boiled egg on the top, and beside it a helping of beautifully browned omelet. The little girl lost no time in sampling the food.

  “It’s good!” she screamed. Gerald, who suddenly had appeared in the doorway with Bluebell by the hand, looked on jealously.

  Lexie paid no attention to him until he came closer to the table.

  “I want some!” he announced.

  “Oh, do you?” said Lexie calmly. “Well, sit down on this other side, and I’ll put a big book on a chair for the baby.”

  Amazingly, they were finally seated, eating with zest.

  “I want some more,” said Angelica, handing out her plate. “I want some milk, too. You’ve got milk.”

  “Why, of course. You can all have milk!” said Lexie, filling a glass for each one.

  At last without any coaxing they ate, heartily, eagerly, and asked for more.

  When the spinach and potatoes were all gone, except for the small portion she had kept in the warming oven for Elaine in case she would deign to eat it, Lexie brought out a generous plate of cookies and a pear apiece, and the children by this time were almost appreciative.

  “Say, these cookies are good,” said Angelica, setting the pace for the others. “They’ve got good raisins in them.”

  “I don’t like cookies,” said Gerald. “I’druther have chocolate cake.”

  “Well, that’s too bad,” said Lexie sympathetically. “Sorry we haven’t any chocolate cake. You don’t need to eat cookies if you don’t like them,” and she drew the plate back and did not pass it to him.

  Gerald’s reply was to rise up on his chair and reach out for the plate, knocking over Bluebell’s glass of milk and sending a stream of milk over the table.

  “I will so have some cookies! You can’t keep me from having some!” declared the obstreperous child. “You just want to keep them all for yourself, but you shan’t.”

  Lexie, rescuing the glass of milk before the entire contents were broadcast, said gently: “Oh, I’m sorry. Did you want some? I understood you to say you didn’t like them.” She lifted the cookie plate before Gerald succeeded in plunging a willful hand into its midst. “Sit down, Gerald, and I’ll pass them to you.”

  Gerald settled back astonished, about to howl but thought better of it, and soon had his mouth stuffed full of so much cookie he couldn’t speak.

  When that meal was concluded Lexie felt as if she had fought a battle, but she felt reasonably satisfied with the result. The children were still munching cookies and demanding more pears, and Bluebell was nodding with sleep in her chair. Lexie hadn’t eaten much except those first few decoy mouthfuls, but she drank a little milk and hurried upstairs with the tray for Elaine. She was greeted as she entered the room by sounds of heartrending sobs, and Elaine turned a woebegone face to meet her.

  “So you did decide to bring me something at last, did you? Of course I am only an uninteresting invalid, and it doesn’t matter if I starve, but you certainly might have brought me a crust of bread.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, Elaine,” said Lexie with a sudden, quick sigh. “I thought you would want the children fed first. And I’m not altogether sure you’ll like what I’ve brought, but it was all I could get tonight. Toast and jam, a glass of milk. It isn’t bad if you’d try it. I made a little new omelet for you, too, so it would come to you hot. Of course, it isn’t the beefsteak you wanted, but I’m afraid from all I hear, that you won’t get much of that these days.”

  Elaine surveyed the tray with dissatisfaction and was about to discount everything on it, but Lexie spoke first.

  “Now I’ll go and see if I can find some blankets and things to make up beds for the children. They are dropping over with weariness. If you need anything, send Angelica up to the attic after me,” and she quickly retired from the room before her sister had time to say anything more. But when she came down, every crumb and drop was gone from the tray, and Elaine had retired to her pillow to prepare for another weeping spell.

  “Did you contact my lawyer?” she asked sharply.

  “Oh no, of course not. I hadn’t time. I knew you all would have to have some supper. Now, do you want Bluebell to sleep with you?”

  “Heavens no! Do you think I could be bothered that way, me, in my condition? She’ll sleep all right by herself. She’s not used to being petted, not since I’ve been sick, anyway. Not since the nurse left.”

  Lexie gazed in compassion at the poor baby, now asleep on the floor in the dining room, tears on her cheeks and an intermittent hectic sob shaking her baby shoulders. Poor little mite, with nobody taking care of her, and already a hard, belligerent set to her little lips! What could she do for her? Obviously she was the first one to be made comfortable. The rest could wait.

  In quick thought, she reviewed the possibilities of the house. There were two folding cots in the attic. She could easily bring those down for the two older children. There were plenty of blankets, now that she had opened the big old chest in which they were packed. But there was no crib for Bluebell. The last one in the family must have been her own, and only a very valuable piece of unneeded furniture would have survived so many years. But there was a wide couch in the room that used to be her mother’s. She could make a bed for the baby up there, and herself sleep in her mother’s bed, if she got any chance to sleep at all in this disorganized household.

  Swiftly she went to work and soon had a comfortable place for Bluebell with chairs to guard the side so she couldn’t roll off. Then she brought down the cots, an armful of sheets and blankets, and made up two beds for Angelica and Gerald.

  “What in the world are you doing there in the next room?” called Elaine. “It seems to me you might keep a little still and give me a chance to sleep. And what is the mater with those two children? They’ve done nothing but wrangle since you brought the baby upstairs. I should think you might amuse them a few minutes and let me get a little rest before that lawyer comes. What time did he say he would be here?”

  “There’ll be no lawyer here tonight,” said Lexie firmly. “And the best amusement these children can have is a little sleep. I’ve made up two cots here, and they’ll soon be in bed. You better tell them what to do about nighties. I’ve got some things to attend to in the kitchen, and it’s time we were all asleep. We’re very tired. Angelica, go ask your mother where you can find your night things.”

  Lexie hurried away to find more blankets and left her petulant sister to deal with the two sleepy children. Returning a few minutes later she found all three in tears. Elaine crying heartbrokenly into her pillow like a well-bred invalid, Angelica struggling with a resistant button in the back of her dress, which wasn’t really a sewed-on button at all, but was only pinned on with a safety pin. Gerald was howling as usual.

  “I won’t sleep in that old cot. I just won’t, so there! I want a real bed, not an old cot!”

  Lexie, tired as she was, breezed into the room and spoke cheerfully.

  “Well, come now, we’re going to play the game of go-to-bed. Who wants to be It?”

  The two young wailers stopped instantly, surveyed her for a moment, and then changed face and put on eagerness.

  “I would like to be It,” said Angelica sedately, with a speculative attention that showed she was interested.

  Then Gerald sounded his trumpet.

  “That’s not fair! I choose to be It! I’m the youngest, and you ought to let me be It. Isn’t that so, Elaine? Mustn’t they let me be It? I won’t play if I can’t be It!”

  T
hen came Elaine’s sharp voice: “Certainly, Lexie. You must let Gerald have what he wants or he won’t go to sleep tonight, and I shan’t get any rest.” But Lexie chimed right over Elaine’s voice, just as if she hadn’t heard her at all. Lexie said cheerfully: “Why yes, of course, you can be It next. You can’t be first because you didn’t choose to be as soon as I spoke. However, you can be It second, and that gives you a chance to watch the game and see if you can improve on the way Angel did it. That gives you quite an advantage, you see. Besides, there’s a prize! That is, there are two prizes, and one is just as good as the other, because the winner of the second prize gets to choose whether he’ll have one just like the first, or a new one. But there’s one rule that makes them both alike. There positively won’t be any prize at all if there is a single squeal or yell or howl. It’s got to be all very quiet and gentle, because your mother is sick and needs taken care of. Now, are you ready to hear the rules?”

  “I am!” said Angelica. “I’m very quiet.”

  “Me, too!” said the little boy in a subdued tone.

  “Very well, then,” said Lexie. “Rule number one is that everything must proceed very quietly, no running nor pushing nor shoving. Rule number two—no dropping shoes noisily, nor fighting for hairbrushes. Rule number three—you must not leave your clothes on the floor. Lay them nicely on the chairs at the foot of the beds. You will find your nightclothes each lying on your cots. Put them on smoothly and get quietly into bed. I will watch the clock and see which gets in first, and afterward if you are still quite quiet I will award the two prizes. Angelica gets the first chance to wash while Gerry takes off his shoes and stockings and puts them nicely by the chair. Then Gerry takes his turn washing, and the hands and faces must be clean, and I mean clean, you know. Now, are you ready? If you are, go stand on the edge of that board in the floor and watch my raised hands. When I drop them, you may start. Ready?”

  The two children scuttled across the room and toed the crack in the floor, watching her eagerly, silently. Lexie thrilled as she saw their interested faces. Then she dropped her hands.

  “Go!” she said quietly.

  Gerald dropped silently to the floor and went at the knot in his shoestring, while Angelica scurried to the bathroom. Silently, swiftly, earnestly they worked. Lexie was astonished that her game had interested them. From what she had seen of the children so far, she had not dared to hope that it would.

  Angelica was back in a trice, and Gerald gave a last yank to his shoestring and dashed to take his place at the washbowl.

  In five minutes those two children were snuggled in their cots under the blankets awaiting the prizes with eagerness, and there hadn’t been a single argument about which cot should be occupied by which child!

  Lexie brought a large chocolate drop to Angelica, and gave the little boy his choice between another and a date. He chose the chocolate, and both lay happily licking their chocolates while their tired young eyes blinked into quick sleepiness, and it wasn’t many minutes before both were sound asleep.

  “Well,” said Elaine jealously, “what in the world did you do to them? I never saw them succumb so quickly. Did you give them a box of candy apiece, or administer a sleeping tablet?”

  “Neither,” whispered Lexie, laughing. “We played a game of going to bed. I’ll teach you how tomorrow. Now, do you want anything yourself before you go to sleep? Do you want something more to eat or drink, or are you going right to sleep?”

  “No, I don’t want anything more to eat. I want you to go out somewhere and telephone to that lawyer. That’s the first thing on the docket. And next I want you to go wherever you keep such things, and bring me all of Mamma’s private papers. I want to look them over before the lawyer gets here.”

  Lexie stood still a moment and faced her sister quietly. Then she said: “Sorry! That’s impossible! I will not ever telephone that man! I can’t stop your trusting him, but I can refuse to have anything to do with the matter. And if you persist in it, I shall simply have to go away and leave you. I cannot have anything to do with Bettinger Thomas.”

  “Oh, how silly and unkind and prejudiced you are! I didn’t think you’d be unkind when I’m so ill! I can’t see why you couldn’t call him up and just say I wanted to see him. He’ll understand. He knew I was going to call him. I sent him a telegram and told him I would call. You needn’t let him know who you are. Please, Lex, do it for me!”

  “No, Elaine, it’s for your sake that I can’t do it. I know him to be a bad, unprincipled man, and I’ll save you from him if I can.”

  “You mean you’ll do everything to save the money for yourself,” sneered Elaine. “Well, if you won’t do that, please go somewhere and telephone for a nurse. I’ve got to have one tonight.”

  “No, Elaine, I can’t do that either. The only place near here where they have a telephone is down at Mrs. Hadley’s, and she has gone to stay a week with her daughter in New York.”

  “Well, surely you can go down to the drugstore and phone.”

  “Elaine, if you were dying and the only thing that would save you was a nurse, I’d go at the risk of my life. But you’re not dying, and what you need is some sleep. No nurse could get out here anyway tonight. You know we are a long way out, and—really, Elaine—I’m just about all in. I feel as if I couldn’t drag another step.”

  “Oh really?” I don’t see what you’ve done to make you tired. You’ve simply been loafing here all day, haven’t you? I didn’t think you were so selfish! Well, anyway, if you’ll go wherever you keep such things and find Mamma’s papers right now, I’ll be satisfied. I couldn’t sleep until I have a chance to look them over.”

  Lexie looked at her sister sadly.

  “I’ve told you twice that there are no papers. The only paper I know anything about is the deed of this house, and that is in a safe-deposit box in the bank out where my college is. It is absolutely the only paper I have that has anything to do with any financial matters. If you don’t believe me you’ll have to do what you want to, but I’m going to bed! I’m just done out!”

  Lexie walked out of the room to her own, and wrapping the only unused blanket about her she dropped wearily down on her bed, a few steps from the sleeping Bluebell.

  Chapter 4

  Although the relaxation was grateful to Lexie’s weary body, she did not fall asleep at once. She realized that her hard day was not yet over. There were things she must decide, many questions that she must settle now in the silent night while all her tormentors were asleep. In the morning she would have to have a settlement with her sister, and she must make up her mind beforehand just what attitude she was going to take and stick to it. That was the only way to manage Elaine. She knew that from her girlhood days.

  First, there was the question of finances. Elaine must have some money—perhaps not much—or she would never have come all this way home. But she must have a little or she would not have produced some for that nurse and driver. If she had none at all, what were they to do? They had the house, of course, but could they even afford to keep the house going if there was no money to run it and nothing to buy food with? Elaine would have to consider that. She wasn’t altogether devoid of common sense when she could be gotten down to facts, but at present her mind seemed to be filled with the idea that there was a large sum of money that her father had left and to which she had a right. Until she got over that obsession, there wasn’t much she could hope to do with her. But must she go on this way from day to day and wait until Elaine came to her senses? Definitely the question of money was first. She must settle with Elaine the first thing in the morning. But above all, she must not give up her college and her job unless it became absolutely necessary.

  Before dawn began to creep into the window and lay rosy fingers on the old wallpaper above the bed, Lexie had fallen into an uneasy sleep. In the near future, there was still a relentless sister and three terrible infants who were determined to bend the earth to their wishes. But a new day was coming that undoubtedly
would be tempestuous, with decisions to be made that would be difficult, yet in spite of them all she must go on, through whatever was in store for her reluctant feet. She must go on and conquer, doing what was in the Almighty’s plan for her life. She must not be blinded by darkness, nor fire, nor opposition of any sort. It was a war perhaps between her sister and herself, but she must remember that Elaine was the daughter of her own father, and there was a certain obligation upon her as the daughter of a beloved father to treat his other daughter with all kindness and unselfishness, even if Elaine persisted in being selfish toward her. It was what was right, not what she wanted. It was—it had to be—what God, if He cared about such things at all, must expect of her! Just why she felt that way, she didn’t know. But she did, and so she must go on. Even if it meant eventually that she would have to come back and nurse Elaine, and try to get along with those terrific children! Of course it wouldn’t be so hard to get along with the children if she had a right to order their lives and make them behave, but Elaine would never stand for that.

  When Lexie at last awoke and adjusted her mind to the present day with its problems, she got up hurriedly and tiptoed out of the room. Bluebell was still asleep and looked very sweet without the petulance of the new day upon her yet. But Lexie couldn’t afford to stop and admire her young niece. She went downstairs, started some cereal, fixed a tray for Elaine, and set the table with as little ceremony as she possibly could. Whatever this new day turned out to be, it was certain it would be very full, and she must not be lavish with dishes that would have to be washed.

  The family was tired and had not been used to arising early, so Lexie had a chance to get a real breakfast herself. Toast and scrambled eggs, the lunch she had prepared for herself the day before and hadn’t eaten. It would taste good now, and give her a new heart of hope for the day’s worries. Besides, she would have opportunity to go over quietly her resolves of the night before and check up on them. See if they were really wise in the light of day.