CHAPTER XXIX
ROUNDING UP THE SCOUNDRELS
To say that Joe was astounded would be putting it too mildly. He was almost paralyzed with astonishment. He was not accustomed to being embraced by women, elderly or otherwise, in public places.
He flushed a fiery red as he gently loosened the firm hold of the woman’s arms, and his embarrassment was not lessened by the grins of the spectators who had paused to witness the scene nor by Reggie’s undisguised amusement at his plight.
As the woman fell away from him he saw that her face was somewhat scarred, as if from burns. He looked again and something familiar about her appearance brought the truth to his mind like a flash.
It was Mrs. Bultoza, the woman whom he had saved from the burning house down at the southern training camp!
“Oh, you brave young man!” she said, with her foreign accent. “How glad I am to see you and thank you again. I have remembered you in my prayers every night. You saved my life. And you did not forget the lonely old woman in the hospital and sent her flowers. Oh, I am so happy to see you again!”
She made as though to embrace him again, but Joe diplomatically evaded this by stooping to pick up her scattered packages. Then he took her by the hand and led her to a bench at the extreme end of the subway station.
“I am very glad that you seem to be all right again after your accident,” he said kindly. “I never expected to see you so far north as this. Are you visiting friends here?”
“I have just come to join my husband,” she said. “He has been living and working here for some time, and now he has sent for me to join him.”
“In what line of business is he?” Joe asked, more to make conversation than anything else.