Books: Keineth

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He did not notice a big limousine car that passed and re-passed him--to
him these motor cars were of no interest excepting to keep out from
under their wheels. But when it stopped suddenly at the curb and an old
man climbed out, calling "Jacky, Jacky!" he paused.

The old man was beckoning to his chauffeur and talking in an excited
voice.

"Come and look at him! I know it's Jacky," he was saying.

At the name a memory stirred in Pilot's mind. He advanced slowly to the
man. The man held out his hand and called again, "Jacky," and Pilot
went to him and laid his nose in the palm of the man's hand.

"It's Jacky, it's Jacky," the old man cackled. "He'd always do that
when I called him! Look at his ears--one got torn and I had a stitch
taken in it! Look and see, Briggs, my eyes are so bad." Briggs pushed
back the hair on Pilot's ears and found the scar. The old man was very
joyful.

"He was stolen from me two years ago! Look on his collar, Briggs."

Briggs read aloud the address on the collar.

"We'll take him there right away, Briggs! Come on, Jacky, my boy!"

But Pilot considered this going a little too far--he objected, at which
the man Briggs lifted him and placed him in the automobile. He was far
too polite to struggle for his freedom, but he put his paws upon the
door and barked a vigorous protest.

Mrs. Lee had just returned from shopping and answered the bell herself.
Across her mind flashed immediately the explanation of the strange
group on her doorstep. In a few words she told the old man the story of
Pilot's coming into their family. As he listened he nodded several
times.

"I cared more for that dog than anything on earth," he told her. "He
was always with me! When he was stolen I couldn't get over it,
Madam--just couldn't get over it! Felt as if I'd lost my only friend!"
Mrs. Lee wished she could feel sympathetic, but she was thinking of
Billy!

"Now let him go, Briggs, and you watch him, Madam!"

Briggs released his hold of Pilot's collar, Pilot leaped upon Mrs. Lee
joyfully, tore down the length of the hall and back and then stood a
little apart, eyeing suspiciously the strange group.

"Come, Jacky, come Jacky!" cackled the old man, holding out his hand.

And Pilot, above all else, was faithful! Slowly, reluctantly, he went
towards the outstretched hand and laid his nose in it.

"Always did that when I called him! See his ear, Madam--I had a stitch
taken in it when he tore it! See the scar?"

There was no doubt in Mrs. Lee's mind but that the dog belonged to the
man.

"My children are going to be heartbroken," she commenced slowly. "Could
we buy--"

The old man snorted angrily. "Buy Jacky? Don't you know he's a very
valuable dog? And anyway, you haven't enough money to buy his
companionship from me! Your children can get another dog, Madam, but
for me there is only one Jacky!" As he spoke with fumbling fingers he
drew out a card and a dollar bill. "Pay the boy his dollar, Madam. Take
him down, Briggs. Very sorry, Madam, but good-day!"

Briggs pulled on the collar and Pilot went down the steps very slowly.
He knew in his dog-mind that something was happening! He turned and
looked appealingly at Mrs. Lee. She was standing very still and was not
helping him at all! He tried to tell her to tell Billy that he had to
do his duty and when this man called him Jacky he knew he had to go,
but he would always love his young master best!

So when the children returned to the house, cheeks red with the wind,
splashed with mud, tired and happy, there was no Pilot to greet them!

Mrs. Lee told them the story; tried to tell it in such a way that the
children would feel sorry for the lonely old man who had been so happy
at finding his dog!

But Billy raged--his high-pitched voice choking over the sob that
struggled in his throat. He threw the dollar and the card savagely to
the floor.

"Wouldn't you have thought the old thing would have at least given
Billy a reward!" cried Peggy indignantly.

Though she did not answer this, Mrs. Lee smiled, as she recalled the
reluctance with which the old man had extracted even the one-dollar
bill from his pocket.

"I don't want any old reward--I just want Pilot! If we hadn't gone away
and left him that old man would never have found him," Billy wailed.

"Couldn't we buy him, Mother?"

"The dog is worth a great deal of money. I'm afraid we could scarcely
afford it, my dear, even if the man would part with him. Billy must
look at the thing in a sensible way." She laid her hand on Billy's
shoulder. "Pilot will miss you as much as you do him, my son! But you
have a great many other things to make you happy and I should judge
that that old man had nothing!"

Keineth went up to her room to take off her muddy shoes. On her bureau
she found a letter Nora had placed there. In the corner of the envelope
was printed in large letters: "Brown and Company." She tore it open
with fingers trembling with excitement. It was from the music
publishers, telling her that they would publish her "Castle of Dreams,"
and for its purchase had enclosed a check.

And Keineth, unfolding the small slip of paper, saw written there: "The
Sum of Twenty-five Dollars."

"Peggy! Peg-gy!"

CHAPTER XXII

KEINETH'S GIFT

Twenty-five dollars! To Keineth it seemed like a fortune!

She had never thought much about money. She knew some people were very
poor--she had often felt sorry for them as she watched them near the
Square in New York. And she knew some were very rich, for Aunt
Josephine talked of them. She had always had all the money she wanted,
because she had never wanted very much. She supposed Peggy and the
others had all they wanted, too. Each week Mr. Lee gave to each one of
them a small allowance and whenever they managed to save anything from
this each of them put it in her bank. Keineth supposed that the Lees
were not as rich as Aunt Josephine and not as poor as Francesca's
family next door to her old home, but it didn't seem to matter at all,
because she did not think that the Lees wanted to be rich, anyway. They
never talked of anything in terms of dollars and cents! Twenty-five
dollars--that seemed enough to Keineth to buy everything anyone could
want!

Keineth and Peggy had carefully kept the precious secret of the "Castle
of Dreams." For a few weeks they had watched the mail each day, then
the holiday fun had filled their minds and the secret was forgotten. As
the weeks passed and Keineth heard nothing she had almost given up all
hope of selling her music and her great ambitions had taken a sad fall.
Peggy had urged her to consult her music master about it, but after one
or two attempts Keineth found she had not the courage.

And now a check had come! Twenty-five whole dollars!

"Peggy! Peggy!" she called, unable to wait one moment to share the good
news.

It was a very excited family that listened to their story at dinner
time. Even Billy, red-eyed, forgot his own sorrow. Everyone had to hold
the check and read it! Then each one suggested some way for Keineth to
spend her money!

And as is the way with all fortunes, sooner or later they become a
burden! Already, even while they made merry over the check, Keineth was
beginning to worry as to what she should do with it! Of course Mr. Lee
had advised her putting it in the bank, but that did not seem like much
fun! If Daddy were at home she would buy something for him with it or
she might send it to Tante to help the poor children that were
suffering from the war.

"Give it to the Red Cross!" Peggy suggested grandly.

"Buy a bicycle!" said Alice, "or one of those cunning electric stoves
that we can cook on!"

"If I had it I'd buy Pilot!" put in Billy sadly.

"I'd like to do something with it," said Keineth slowly, "that would
make somebody just awfully happy, because--" She looked down the length
of the table and realized suddenly how dear to her these Lees had grown
and what this home was to her. "Because I'm so happy here!"

And even while she was speaking she decided just what she would do! But
she would tell no one, not even Peggy!

She would buy Pilot for Billy! Mrs. Lee had said they could not afford
it! What good luck that her check had come just at the right time!
After dinner she searched for and found the old man's card. It was
soiled and crumpled from Billy's angry fingers. She hid it away with
the check. She must wait until Monday.

Keineth had to ride on the street-car a very long way before she
reached the address which the card gave. Then she found herself before
a great iron fence and had to ring twice before the big gate in the
fence opened. It opened quite by itself and it clanged shut behind her,
startling her with its noise. There seemed to be a million steps
leading to the big bronze door and her feet moved like tons of lead!
She had to ring again. The door swung back and a sour-faced man in dark
livery faced her.

"Is--is Mr. Grandison at home?" she asked in a voice so strange that
she scarcely recognized it herself.

The sour-faced man looked very hard at her.

"Who is it, miss?" he asked wonderingly, as though few people came to
that door for Mr. Grandison.

"I'm Keineth Randolph. I must see him, please!" "He never sees anyone,
miss, but you can go in. Only I wouldn't advise you to bother him very
much because he's bad this morning with his rheumatism!"

He was telling her this in a whisper as he led her through the long
hall. Keineth thought it quite the longest, widest hall she had ever
seen and she walked very fast past the big doors that opened into dark
empty rooms that looked like great caverns! If a giant, bending his
great head, had leaped through one of the heavy door-frames she would
have thought it quite to be expected!

The servant drew back a door and Keineth saw a long room full of books.
At the other end, close to a table, sat an old, old man. Then she saw
something move suddenly and Pilot dashed at her from a corner and
leaped upon her with great whimpering, licking her hands and face and
even her shoes.

"What's this? Come here, Jacky! Who are you? Who let you in here?"
roared the old man, glaring at Keineth.

Keineth, terribly frightened, advanced slowly towards him, one hand on
the dog's head. "I live at the bees' where you found Pilot. We all miss
him so terribly, especially Billy, that I came to buy him back!"

"You did, did you? Well, nobody has money enough to buy him."

Keineth was so indignant at his disagreeable manner that she forgot her
fright.

"I know the Lees haven't money enough, because they have so many
children and buy lots of things for them and give them a good time! But
I'm going to buy Pilot for them! I know Pilot couldn't be happy here,
anyway, it's so--so big and horrid and you're so--cross--after having a
happy home with the Lees!"

Pilot, as though to tell her that was very true, snuggled his nose
under her arm and wagged his tail.

"I've got twenty-five dollars," finished Keineth triumphantly, "and I
can spend all of it because I earned it myself--writing music!"

He turned and looked hard at her. Her fury seemed to have amused him.

"Music--you write music! A child like you!"

Keineth stepped closer to him. "Yes. Do you like music?"

The old man answered very slowly. "It was all I cared for once upon a
time! Let me see your eyes!" He reached out a wrinkled hand and drew
her towards him. "They are blue--like hers were! Child, years and years
ago I loved a young girl very much--and she taught me to love music!
But she went out of my life and left me with nothing but loneliness!"

Keineth thought of the great empty house and felt very sorry for him.

"What was her name?" she asked softly.

"A pretty name--like she was!" he muttered, his eyes fastened on the
child's face. It was as if something he saw there was awakening the
memories. "It was Keineth."

"Why, that is my name!"

"Keineth--Keineth what?" he cried.

"Keineth Randolph."

"You are John Randolph's girl--her son's girl."

"You mean my grandmother? That--lady--you loved was my daddy's mother?"

The old man was half laughing, half crying. He held Keineth's arms with
his trembling fingers.

"Of course--the same blue eyes--and music! How your grandmother loved
music! How her fingers could play, make sounds that'd tear the heart
right out of you!" He shook his head. "And she wouldn't have me--my
money couldn't buy her! After she died I stood in the Square and
watched them take her away from the house--saw the flowers I had sent
go with her! I saw the man she had chosen instead of me walk out, too.
He had two children by the hand--the little fellow was your father. I
went away from New York then--" He drew his hands across his eyes as
though to brush away the haunting pictures. "And you're Keineth!" he
finished.

Keineth told him of her daddy and of her coming from New York to live
with the Lees until her father returned. She had almost forgotten Pilot
in her deep sympathy for this lonely old man who had loved her father's
mother--and had loved her for so many, many years! But Pilot suddenly
barked!

"Pilot thinks he belongs to us because he once saved my life," Keineth
explained, going on, then, to tell the story of her narrow escape from
drowning. Perhaps the old man heard her, though his face still wore a
far-away look as if he had not yet been able to bring himself back from
that dear past the child's eyes had awakened.

"And so I'd like to buy him, please," Keineth finished, laying her
check before him.

For a long time the old man stared at it, while Keineth and Pilot
waited.

"He loves you better than he does me! You're right--he wasn't happy
here--he's cried and cried! I can't keep even a dog's love! Take him."
He slowly lifted the check, read it, turned it over, folded it and put
it in his pocket.

Then Keineth felt very sorry for the old man. She felt, too, that now
in some way or other he belonged to her, though not exactly related.

"Won't you come home to lunch with me? Then you can meet Peggy and the
others and see how glad they are to get Pilot back! They'll be awfully
glad to see you, really! Please don't be lonely any more--for--I'll be
your friend!"

He had risen slowly to his feet, towering over her. He looked down at
the bright face. Keineth slipped her hand into his.

"Oh, please come--it'll be such fun," and she gave his fingers a
coaxing, friendly squeeze.

The sour-faced servant muttered, "Well, I never!" under his breath,
when he saw his master walk through the door to his waiting car,
holding the little girl's hand and listening to her chatter with a
smile! It was the strangest sight he had ever beheld in this very
strange house!

But it was a stranger sight for the Lees when the big limousine drew up
at their curb and Pilot dashed from its door, followed by Keineth and a
very, very old man who leaned one hand upon Keineth's shoulder.

"Pilot!" cried Billy, who had seen them through the window.

"And that old man!" echoed Peggy.

In the hall Billy was on his knees with his arms around Pilot's neck.

"Dear, dear old Pilot!" he was saying over and over.

Mrs. Lee, concealing her amazement when Keineth quaintly introduced "my
friend, Mr. Grandison," greeted him cordially and by her smile and
gracious manner made the old man immediately feel at home. At the table
she placed him between Keineth and Peggy, and Peggy found that he was
not such a cross old man after all!

"It's just like a story, Ken," she said after he had gone away and
Keineth had given them an account of her morning's adventure. "You have
found a fairy grandfather! But wasn't it scrumptious to see His Aged
Grandness eating hash?"

"Well, I guess Keineth's money has been well spent," added Mrs. Lee,
looking fondly at the little girl. "For I think--besides making Billy
very happy, it has opened a new life to a very lonely old man!"

"I'll never forget what Ken has done," said Billy solemnly, as though
he was taking a vow. "She's just all right and I'd like to see anyone
that says she ain't!"

"Billy--your English!" pleaded his mother.

But Keineth blushed with pleasure. She knew she had won Billy's
everlasting friendship! That evening a boy brought to the door a huge
package addressed to Miss Keineth Randolph. It was a set of beautifully
bound books, "The Lives of the Masters," and with them came a little
note written in a queer, old-fashioned handwriting.

May these books give instruction, inspiration and courage to one whose
feet are on the threshold. They are bought with the money you
unselfishly spent to give a boy back his dog.

Your devoted friend,

WILFRED GRANDISON.

CHAPTER XXIII

SURPRISES

"Why, I just can't believe that I'm Peggy Lee!" Peggy stood in the
aisle of a sleeping car and looked up and down its length. Keineth,
from her superior knowledge of sleeping cars, was pointing out to Peggy
its arrangements. Both girls were dressed in new coats and hats and
carried with them the bag Aunt Josephine had given Keineth and in which
they had packed their nightgowns and toilet articles.

For they were starting for Washington!

Two days before Mr. Lee had come home and asked the children what would
be the biggest surprise they could imagine! Of course they had guessed
all sorts of things and he had teased them for quite a little while
over it! Then, very quietly, he had said:

"Do you think you would like to make a little trip to Washington?"

Keineth had not been able to speak. Peggy, jumping from her chair,
rushed at her father and threw both arms about his neck.

"All of us?" she cried between hugs.

"No, this time we'll leave mother home with Billy and Alice. Then the
next time they'll go."

Peggy's eyes swept over Billy's and Alice's disappointed faces.

"Oh, I wish we could all go!"

"Mother'll make it up to them, my dear. I'll wager right now all sorts
of nice plans are floating around in her head. Well, can you be ready?"

"Can we--!" they cried in chorus.

The hours then were full of excited preparations. The new clothes had
to be purchased. "Keineth may be invited to meet the President," Mrs.
Lee had laughingly explained, as she held two pretty hats, one in each
hand, and considered them carefully.

"Oh, wouldn't that be _wonderful!_" Keineth whispered. She wanted to
ask him so many questions about Daddy--she would tell him that she
could keep a secret!

Billy gave them a thousand instructions. They must remember everything
they saw to tell him! They must climb the big monument and walk up the
Capitol steps and hear the echo in the rotunda of the Capitol Building.
They must go to Camp Meyer and to Arlington and to Mount Vernon and be
sure to see Washington's swords!

"And the White House china," Mrs. Lee added. "It must be as good as a
lesson in history to look at that exhibit in the White House! They'd
tell the tastes of the different ones who used them! I can picture
pretty Dolly Madison ordering all new china because the pattern of the
old did not please her!"

Billy broke in: "I'd want to go to the Treasury Building and see all
the money and the watchmen that guard the building from little
watch-houses! And the big machine where they destroy all the old money!
Four men have keys and they go and unlock it and put the money in it
and it gets ground and ground by sharp knives until it's just a pulp!
And then they sell the pulp! I wish I had one of those keys!" Billy was
very excited.

"And I want to see the Indian Exhibit at the National Museum," declared
Peggy.

"You will, my dear, and a great many other things of interest." Little
wonder that she could scarcely believe that she was Peggy Lee! As the
train pulled away Keineth was very quiet. She was recalling how often
her Daddy had told her of the interesting places in the National
Capital and how often he had said, "Some day we'll go there together!"
And now she was really going, but Daddy was far away.

"Well, aren't you children going to take off your things and stay
awhile?" asked Mr. Lee, coming in from a smoke on the platform.

They laughed and began to lay aside their wraps. "I can't picture
myself sleeping on that funny little shelf," Peggy declared. "What if I
should roll out!"

There were a number of other people on the car. The children watched
them closely and tried to do whatever they did. Peggy's eyes grew round
with interest as she saw the porter deftly spread out mattresses and
blankets and make cosy beds where nothing but seats had been. The girls
insisted upon sharing the same berth and drew lots "for position," as
Peggy put it. Keineth drew the place by the window and was soon cuddled
there. And though they had declared that they were going to lie awake
for a long time watching out of the window, their heads had scarcely
touched the pillow when the motion of the train lulled them to sleep.

Then the night would have passed like any night at home, only that
Peggy _did_ fall out of bed!

She awakened suddenly to find herself in a heap in the aisle of the car
with the brakeman, a swinging lantern in his hand, bending over her.
"Well, bless my stars!" he was saying.

It took a moment or two for Peggy to realize where she was and what had
happened! Then, torn between a desire to laugh at herself and to cry
with chagrin, she clambered back into the berth and snuggled very close
to Keineth.

It was too funny not to tell Keineth, who had wakened, but after she
told her she made Keineth promise, crossing her heart over and over,
that she would never, never, never tell Billy that Peggy had rolled out
of bed!

"Where are we? It isn't a bit different from home," the girls cried as
they stood the next morning with Mr. Lee viewing from the platform the
country through which they were speeding.

"This is Maryland. In just half an hour we'll be in Washington. We'll
wait and eat breakfast at the hotel there."

Mr. Lee was acting curiously excited and impatient. He looked at his
watch several times. "On time," the girls heard him say once or
twice--as if it made any difference. Before they were in the city he
told them to put on their wraps.

"We'll be the first ones off," he said.

It was only a moment then before they had rolled into the station shed.
They stepped from the train and walked a long way down between rows of
cars. A great many people seemed hurrying in every direction. There was
a dull roar echoing through the vaulted smoky space pierced by the loud
voices of the trainmen giving their orders and the occasional clang of
a bell. Then they passed through a little iron gate into the station.
Keineth, clinging to Mr. Lee's arm, thought it quite the biggest place
she had ever seen! Every step made an echo and though there were crowds
of people there did not seem to be many because there was so much room!
Mr. Lee gave some checks to a porter, then stood looking up and down
the great space as though expecting to see someone. Peggy was just
whispering something in Keineth's ear when Keineth gave a clear, joyous
cry.

For there, stepping out from a little group, walking straight toward
them, a smile on his tanned face, both arms extended as though they
could not reach her quickly enough, was her dear, dear daddy!

CHAPTER XXIV

MR. PRESIDENT

Her own dear father!

Keineth had not realized until then how very dear he was to her! She
clung to him as though she could not bear to ever lose her hold. A
woman waiting in the station was watching the little scene, and turned
away, wiping her eyes. And Keineth did not know whether she wanted to
laugh or to cry!

So this was Mr. Lee's big surprise! He had known John Randolph was in
Washington!

"This is Peggy," Keineth managed finally to say. At which John Randolph
put his arm about Peggy and kissed her, too!

Mr. Lee said something about breakfast, and Keineth's father hurried
them into a waiting taxicab. And as they drove away Keineth was so busy
looking at her father's dear face that she did not notice the Capitol,
its noble dome outlined against the blue morning sky. But Peggy gave an
excited little shriek. "Oh--look--look!"

So, with her hand in her father's, Keineth saw Washington! He told the
driver to go slowly while he pointed out to them the buildings they
passed. The whole city lay bathed in sunshine that brought with it the
balminess of real springtime for which they waited so long in the
North. Robins were singing in the trees, so gladly that Keineth thought
that even they must have guessed how happy she was!

Keineth and Peggy listened while John Randolph told Mr. Lee of his trip
home across the ocean--how to escape the submarines of the Germans they
had run cautiously, at half-speed, as in a fog, with look-outs posted
all along the ship's decks and all lights out! Their voices were very
serious as they talked and Keineth noticed for the first time that her
father's face, under its tan, looked worn and tired, as though he had
been working very hard.

But each time that his eyes came back to her face they lighted with a
smile.

"I can hardly believe that this is my little girl," he said to Mr. Lee.
"Her stay with you has done wonders for her!" And what he said was very
true, for the year had changed Keineth from the shy-eyed, delicate
child he had left to a happy, round-cheeked, strong-limbed girl. The
pretty simple dress she wore had the becoming touch of color that Tante
used to think unsuitable, and her fair hair, drawn loosely back from
her forehead and fastened with a barrette, hung in heavy waves over her
shoulders.

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