“Maybe we hadn’t,” the old lady agreed with brisk amusement. “You sit down at the table with us and have a cup of tea, Jonas. There’s safety in numbers.” She graciously waved Jonas into the one vacant chair of the four around the table. Had he been her elder brother instead of her major-domo of many years she could not have treated him with more kindly affection.
“It’s mean in me to tease you children,” she said, flashing her guests one of her bright smiles. “Forgive me. I’m really going to tell you all about it now.”
“The past is forgot,” Jerry moaned ungrammatically.
“Thank you,” Miss Susanna responded gratefully. “I was hoping it might be. Now for the tale of my adventures in New York. My lawyer, who was young when I was, left Hamilton many years ago and established himself in New York. His name is Richard Henry Garrett. He never married. During our younger days we lost track of each other. Later we met again and after Uncle Brooke’s death I engaged him to attend to the legalities of the estate. Uncle Brooke’s lawyer died shortly after my great uncle’s decease.
“Since the laying of the dormitory corner stone last fall,” Miss Susanna continued, “I have often wondered what I could give the girls who are to live there that would be of use and benefit to all. When the dormitory is completed I shall carry out a certain wish of Uncle Brooke’s of which at present I prefer not to speak. What I was anxious to do was something personal for the girls’ welfare. In the midst of my quandary I received my old friend Richard’s letter. I had not finished reading it when the very idea I was seeking came to me. Let me read you the paragraph of his letter which furnished my inspiration.”
Miss Susanna drew from an ornamental ruffled silk pocket of her skirt the folded sheets of a letter. She unfolded them; hunted them for the desired paragraph. She quickly found it and read in her brisk tones:
“‘Since you used to be greatly interested in old and rare books you will remember the Ellerton’s fine private library which I once took you to see when you were in New York. It is to be sold soon, at auction, as a whole. The elder Ellertons have died and the heirs to the Ellerton estate prefer to convert the library into cash. It appears to be the chief aim of the rising generation to convert everything of beauty and worth, which has a monetary value, into dollars, regardless of tradition. So that splendid monument to learning, Steven Ellerton’s library, will come under the auctioneer’s hammer next month.’”
“I’m sure the Ellerton library couldn’t be finer than the Hamilton Arms’ library,” Marjorie said in loyal defense of the remarkable collection of volumes gathered together by Brooke Hamilton.
“It is not as complete, if I remember rightly,” Miss Susanna said, looking pleased at Marjorie’s staunch opinion. “Uncle Brooke has some rare Chinese and Japanese books and a collection of Spanish incunabula which I know the Ellerton library lacks, as well as a good many other rare and curious books of which he possessed the only known copies.”
Miss Susanna’s face broke into a little, amused smile as she glanced from one to the other of the two girls.