“Ya-as. I could see it. Didn’t need any specs to see that.”
“Then why didn’t you answer them as they deserved?”
“Oh, I don’t know. What’s the use? They’ve got troubles of their own. One of ’em’s a used-to-be, and the other’s a never-was. Either disease is bad enough without addin’ complications.”
Pearson laughed. “I don’t get the whole of that, Captain,” he said. “Mrs. Van is the used-to-be, I suppose. But what is it that Miss Sherborne never was?”
“Married,” was the prompt reply. “Old maiditis is creepin’ on her fast. You want to be careful, Jim; a certain kind of female gets desperate about her stage.”
Pearson laughed again.
“Oh, get out!” he exclaimed, turning to go.
“All right! I will, when you and she are together and you give me the signal. But I tell you honest, I’d hate to do it. Judgin’ by the way she smiles and looks up under her eye-winkers at you, you’re in danger of kidnappin’. So long. I’ll see you again after I get my dunnage unpacked.”
The snubbing and sneering came to an abrupt end. Pearson, in conversation with Mrs. Ruggles, casually imparted the information that Captain Elisha was the brother of A. Rodgers Warren, late society leader and wealthy broker. Also, that he had entire charge of the latter’s estate. Thereafter Mrs. Ruggles treated the captain as one whose rank was equal to her own, and, consequently, higher than anyone’s else in the boarding-house. She made it a point to publicly ask his advice concerning “securities” and “investments,” and favored him with many reminiscences of her distinguished father, the Senator. Miss Sherborne, as usual, followed her lead. Captain Elisha, when Pearson joked him on the altered behavior of the two ladies, merely grinned.
“You may thank me for that, Captain,” said the young man. “When I told Mrs. Ruggles who and what you were she almost broke down and sobbed. The fact that she had risked offending one so closely connected with the real thing on Fifth Avenue and Wall Street was too dreadful. But she’s yours devotedly now. There’s an 18-karat crown on your head.”