Astra Read online

  Cameron was not long gone and came back with a look of satisfaction on his nice, tired face.

  “Well, that man Faber knew how to select a good lawyer,” he said as he took his place beside her. “He’s a busy man, but he has managed to cover a good deal of ground in a short time. The judge has given us a tentative hearing for tomorrow morning. The lawyer got in touch with the doctor in New York. He’s game to do all he can. He seems to understand the situation pretty well and advises getting the matter settled according to law in a hurry. Mr. Faber must have dropped a word to him of the importance of the situation before we came on the scene. Anyway, he’s coming as soon as he can. And now, lady, it’s time for you to go to your room and rest. You want to be fresh as a daisy tomorrow morning. Excuse my demand. I feel it is important. And by the way, is there anything of your own that should be attended to? I’ll be glad to help out in any way I can, if you will just tell me. Are there messages to send, people to see?”

  “Oh no,” said Astra, smiling. “Nothing at all important. Nothing but what I can do with a phone call or two if I decide it should be done tonight.”

  “Couldn’t I help in that?”

  “Oh no, thank you. It’s just an old friend of Father’s I may decide to give a greeting to. But probably it can wait until tomorrow.”

  “That would be better, I should think. You look decidedly weary.”

  “Oh thank you, I’m all right. You’re judging me by yourself, perhaps. I think you are tired yourself.”

  “I am,” he said wearily. “There wasn’t even time for a very sketchy doze last night. I think I’ll turn in early tonight.”

  “I will, too,” said Astra. “Good night. Don’t hesitate to call me up, no matter how late, if I am needed. I don’t suppose I will be.”

  “No,” said Cameron, “I think not. But you certainly are faithful and willing. You somehow seem like an old friend of the Faber family. Well, good night!”

  His handclasp was warm and hearty, and his smile was pleasant to remember as she took her way in the elevator to her room, until somehow that mink-coated girl managed to stand in the hallway above to meet her as she got out at her floor and went along the hall to her room.

  “Now the very idea!” said Astra to herself. “Don’t bring that up again! What difference does it make anyhow? He’s very nice, but he can have all the mink-coated girls he wants for all I care.”

  She went into her room, changed into her pajamas and robe, and lay down, with two pleasant magazines beside her that she meant to read after she got a little rested. And then the very first page she opened, behold there was a woman in a mink coat with a lovely rose in her hand and a charming smile on her provocative red lips. Astra promptly closed the magazine and flung it from her in disgust, turning over and closing her eyes. She wouldn’t have anything more to do with that magazine until she was thoroughly rested and could look on a mink coat and smile without any silly ideas.

  When Astra woke it was half past five and dark in her room. She awoke with a definite feeling that she must do something at once about her immediate future. This Faber business would soon be over, and she must know what her next move should be.

  She glanced toward her window that looked out on a park and showed the lights across on the next street. It was a pleasant room with a nice outlook. Cameron had selected it, and likely felt that as long as she was doing this work for the Faber family, he wanted her to be comfortable. She had a flash of gratitude as she got up and went to look out.

  Over in the park lights were flashing. Red and green. Across on the next corner she could see an enormous Christmas tree done in blue and white lights; another farther down the street had a color scheme of red, white, and blue, with a tiny, perfect flag at the top. It was a lovely sight; it was fascinating to watch more and more lights flash on as she stood there. Across the square was a great building, an old mansion, probably, being used as a club house of some sort, and there was a Santa Claus smiling and about to descend the great stone chimney, waving one hand in farewell to the street below. It was all very bright and festive. Up the street was another tree, all green, with a great white star at its summit. Across from it were the words UNTO YOU IS BORN A SAVIOR—She couldn’t see the rest of the legend, but she finished it out in her mind—WHICH IS CHRIST, THE LORD. Was that true? Did all the people who read that sign believe that? No, of course not. Only a comparative few. But it was good to believe. To know that that Savior was hers. She might be desolate and alone in the world, but He was her Savior. She was glad she believed!

  There came a little thrill to her heart that she used to feel sometimes when her father said such things to her. It was as if a definite message had come down from her own dear earthly father, that she wasn’t alone. As if that white star up the street had a distinct message, just for her.

  She turned on her light, gave a dash of cold water to her face, smoothed her hair, got dressed, and put on her hat and coat. She would go to the telephone and try to get Mr. Sargent at once. Then, if he was at leisure, she would perhaps go and see him a few minutes this evening and find out if it was possible to get an advance on her next month’s allowance. That was what she ought to have done before she lay down to rest.

  Also, she should count over her money and be sure just what she had left. It certainly was very little on which to depend for the two whole weeks till the holidays were over and she could venture to call up a few friends and offer them a brief visit. She was on her own, and she must live as frugally as possible. A glass of milk and a few crackers would do for supper tonight. She had lunched royally this noon. She would bring a bottle of milk and a box of crackers back with her when she returned from her walk.

  So she went to the telephone and called up the Sargent home.

  But the voice that answered was not familiar and turned out to belong to a new servant who did not know Astra.

  “No, Mr. Sargent isn’t here. He’s in Florida. He’s been very ill with pneumonia, and he may be there some weeks. They won’t dare bring him home till spring now, I guess, coming out of that warm climate, you know.”

  “Oh!” said Astra in dismay, her heart sinking. “I didn’t know he was sick.”

  “Who is it?” asked the woman. “Is there any message? Did you want to speak to anyone else?”

  “Oh, why, I don’t know. I’m Miss Everson. Mr. Sargent is an old friend of my father’s, and he has charge of my financial affairs. I wanted to talk to him on business as well, because he is our friend. But isn’t anybody else there? Is Mrs. Sargent there?”

  “No, she went with her husband.”

  “Well, is anybody else of the family there?”

  “Only his nephew, Mr. Will. He’s looking after the office while his uncle’s gone. Perhaps you’d like to speak to his secretary. Mr. Will Sargent isn’t here tonight. He went up to New York, but he left one of his secretaries here. Maybe you’d like to speak to her. Here she comes now. She’s just come in from the office.”

  So Astra had a brief talk with the secretary. But she was a new acquisition and had no knowledge of affairs at the office yet.

  “I think Mr. Will would know about your affairs,” she said. “He’ll be back day after tomorrow, I think, although he might not come till after Christmas. He had an invitation to go to some ranch house or club or something in the mountains, and he said he might go. He said there wouldn’t be anything much doing in the office now anyway until after the holidays. I can’t even give you an address, because he hasn’t sent it to me yet.”

  “Well, I wonder if you would have any way of finding out a few things about my account,” said Astra in desperation. “My money came last week while I was out west, and most of it was stolen from me before I started east. I had a time getting enough together to come, and I wanted to know if I could have a part of next month’s allowance in advance.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t know anything about that,” said the secretary coldly. “You’d have to wait till Mr. Will gets back.”
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  “Oh!” said Astra, dismay filling her lonely soul. “Well, couldn’t you give me Mr. Sargent’s address, and then I could wire his wife. She could surely ask Mr. Sargent a question or two.”

  “We’re not allowed to worry Mr. Sargent with anything. The doctor said anything we couldn’t settle ourselves to let go till he gets back.”

  Astra turned at last from the telephone with unbidden tears welling in her eyes. There just wasn’t anything to do but wait until that Will Sargent got back from his holiday. The strange young secretary had declined to give her his address, had probably been told not to give it to anyone, and was evidently suspicious of the young woman who wanted advance money on a cock-and-bull story of having had her money stolen from her. Astra had at last persuaded her to take down her name and address and promise to call her up when the young Mr. Sargent should arrive, but that was all. Well, that was that. She was very much on her own again!

  She went out and got her bottle of milk and her box of crackers, and went back to her cheerless little room. There were still Christmas lights out the window, across the park, and down the street, and the great white star still shone with its personal, insistent message burning bright against the tree, FOR UNTO YOU IS BORN, but Astra’s heart was very heavy, and she sat there at her window, with troubled eyes for some minutes, nibbling on a cracker, before the old thrill came with the bright words: UNTO YOU—A SAVIOR!

  Well then, she would test out her faith. If He was her Savior—and she had no doubt about that—she would just trust Him. He would look out for her! He had always taken care of her. He would!

  So she drank her milk and finished her cracker, knelt and laid her affairs in God’s hands, and then went to bed and to sleep.

  When she woke in the morning, she resolutely refused an entrance to worry, though it tried to get into her soul and distract her. Her job today was to stay in her room, ready for a summons if one should come. She had done her best to get in touch with Will Sargent once more, and if no word came from him, she would just forget it until she was through with this work for Mr. Cameron.

  She went down to the Association restaurant and got a simple, cheap breakfast. She mustn’t waste a cent, for there was no telling how long it would be before she could replenish her fortunes. Then she went back to her room, leaving careful directions at the desk to be called if anybody came for her.

  A call to the Sargent home elicited only the information that the other secretary had telephoned that Mr. Will would not return for a couple of days yet, and that she had left word with her assistant that all she knew about the Everson account was that the usual amount had been forwarded to Astra’s western address at the usual time. She had no authority to advance any on next quarter’s installment. She had made a note of it and would consult with Mr. Will as soon as he returned.

  So Astra settled down to read and tried to forget finances.

  About ten o’clock came a message from Cameron’s secretary that he would call for her at two o’clock on his way to the lawyer’s office and they would proceed to court if the doctor and nurse arrived as hoped.

  They went to court as scheduled, and the doctor and nurse walked in soon after them.

  The proceedings at court were very brief and simple. The lawyer had everything arranged. There were no hitches and no interruptions. No unwelcome stepson appeared, and no irate widow with another lawyer. It was all carried off in a quiet, quick manner. The doctor and the nurse took the next plane returning to New York. Cameron and Astra went down to the street together.

  “And that finishes it, doesn’t it?” she said as they reached the street door. She had a feeling that now she would be seeing Cameron no more, and it seemed as if she ought to ask him a question or two about getting a job if she needed one. She felt strangely desolate at the thought that there would be no one now, when he was gone, even to greet her with just a businesslike good morning.

  “Well, not quite,” said Cameron. “I have a little business to settle up with you for the Faber estate. Yes, those were my orders. Mr. Faber spoke a few words to me after you left us. He rallied. It seemed as if there were things he felt he must say before he left this world, and one of those things was to ask me to thank you and see that you were paid. He told me what to give you.”

  “But I don’t think I should be paid for a little favor to a dying man. It doesn’t seem ethical to me.”

  Cameron smiled appreciatively.

  “I understand, of course. You can call it a gift of gratitude if you want to, but I think you’d better take it. You surely can make better use of it than that fury of a widow of his would. Don’t you think so? And then there’s another thing—it wasn’t just the matter of a little stenography and typing, and the trouble you’ve had to take to go to the lawyer and to court. That, he would pay for, of course. But he was most grateful to you for that prayer. Remember, if it had been his minister, or any passing minister who had prayed for him in his dying moment, Mr. Faber would want a substantial gift of money presented to him. And he spoke of the prayer especially. Of course, his breath was almost gone, and he could only gasp detached words, but evidently your prayer made a great impression upon him. It seemed as if it had taught him the way to expect entrance at the heavenly gate.”

  “Oh!” said Astra, her eyes suddenly brimming with quick, unbidden tears. “That is pay enough for what I did. I don’t want anything else!”

  Some men coming out of the courthouse just then turned and looked curiously at her. Cameron drew her away toward the edge of the pavement and summoned a taxi.

  “I understand,” he said comfortably, “but would you mind coming over to my office a few minutes so I can tell you a few things? And there’ll be some papers for you to read and sign.”

  She let him put her in a taxi, and when they were on their way again she looked up, a resolute expression on her face.

  “Please,” she said wistfully, “I’d rather not sign any more papers. I wouldn’t like Mrs. Faber to know even my name or find out where I am.”

  “Of course not!” said Cameron. “I wouldn’t think of suggesting anything that would give her a clue about you. But I would like to hand young Mr. Faber papers showing what his father asked us to do. Of course the lawyer will deal with that, too, in his statement, but I felt that Paul Faber merited a little more personal statement from us who came closest to his father in his last hours. If you object after reading what I have dictated, you need not sign it.”

  “Oh, of course I’m willing to sign anything you think I ought to be sent to him. I thought maybe it was something for the family. I really wouldn’t like to meet that woman again. She was insulting. You don’t think I should go to the funeral, do you?”

  “Why no, of course not. Now we’ll get this business over as quickly as possible, and then I suppose you’ll be very glad to be seeing the last of me. I hope I shall not have to be troubling you any more with annoying requests.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry I objected!” said Astra. “You haven’t been in the least annoying. It has been very interesting, the whole affair, and you have been most kind. I’m afraid I am going to feel quite stranded after you are gone. You have made me feel as if you were an old friend. And I have discovered that the friends with whom I expected to spend Christmas are sick and gone to Florida, so I am quite on my own for a few days until I hunt up some of my other friends. You see, the business you have provided has really helped to fill rather lonely days. You mustn’t feel you have annoyed me, please.”

  “Well, that’s nice,” said Cameron, smiling genially. “That’s better than I had counted on. Now, here we are at the office. Shall we go in?”

  Astra found the statements she was asked to sign were very simple indeed, just the story of how she was called to take dictation. When she had signed them, Cameron handed her an envelope.

  “Just take that home with you. It’s nothing I am responsible for, so you don’t have to open it now. It’s what I was told to give you, and there’s no
one alive now to argue it out except the old man’s wife, so I advise you to accept it and not worry any more about it. Now, my secretary thinks she found a handkerchief or glove or something you must have left when you were here typing. If you’ll just step into the outer room, she’ll give it to you. Sorry I can’t see you back to your hotel, but I have a man waiting for me who is in a hurry to get back to New York. I guess you won’t have any trouble finding your way. I told Miss Harmer to order a taxi for you. I hope you won’t have too desolate a Christmas. Sorry I can’t do something to make it a pleasant one, but I promised my stepmother I’d spend the day with her. This will be rather a lonely time for her, the first Christmas since my father’s death. But I’ll be calling you up before I leave, just to wish you Merry Christmas anyway. You are going to stay in the same place until after the holidays?”

  “I think so,” said Astra, putting on a brave little smile. Then Cameron’s secretary appeared at the door with a tall gentleman behind her carrying a briefcase, and Astra followed her back to her desk and retrieved the lost glove. She thanked the secretary and turned to go out, with the other girl’s pleasant, formal little Christmas wishes ringing in her ears. Suddenly a great loneliness enveloped her, and she had to swallow hard to keep down the tears which were imminent. What was the matter with her? She wasn’t a crying girl, and she had been through a lot of utter loneliness since her father died. Why should just going away from a stranger with whom she had been working for a few brief days knock her out so? This feeling of having left her only friend, whom she would probably not see again, and the holidays upon her. Long, lonely holidays without a soul to speak to! Oh, but this was foolish!

  She dashed the tears and went out to her taxi, which drove up just then, gave her address, and set herself firmly to get her emotions under control before she had to get out and go into the brightly lighted hallway.