The house was mildly excited, next day, by the departure of Aunt Elsie on a sightseeing expedition, escorted by Kendall Forsythe. They made a noticeable couple; Mr. Forsythe, who had descended from a long line of ancestors belonging to the privileged and cultured class, and who, to all outward appearances, belonged himself to the fashionable world, accompanied by Aunt Elsie, in her severely plain and unmistakably not tailor-made suit. She might, however, have passed very well for a favorite servant grown old in the employ of his family.
Florence Forman looked after them, with a frown of annoyance on her pretty face as she said: “Aunt Elsie ought to have a new suit; that queer woman who lived near them and made all her clothes because she needed the work did not know how to fit a coat any more than I do! and Kendall is such a gentleman! Mother, do you suppose she has left herself money enough for clothes?”
“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Forman said. “She assured your father that she had plenty for all her needs; although it must be confessed that her idea of what she needs might differ from yours; but I wouldn’t worry about the set of her coat to-day; Kendall is a gentleman in every respect.”
Ray, who was just starting out to her afternoon pupils, was troubled from a different standpoint:
“Doesn’t it seem almost pitiful that Aunt Elsie had to appeal to Kendall for her little outing? I confess it has never occurred to me that she might like to go through the business streets and out to the park; I wonder if we are all selfishly busy with our own affairs; we younger ones, I mean,” she made haste to add.
“Don’t worry,” said Jean, the cheerful; “Kendall can do it lots better than we could; he’ll give her a good time.”
But it was Aunt Elsie who took the initiative, and gave her escort surprises. She was thoroughly interested in all the sights she saw and sounds she heard; she examined the new statue critically, and compared the features with those in the best prints she had seen; and she remarked that she was glad the man was made of bronze and did not mind standing there forever to be gazed at. Then she asked if Henry Westlake’s office wasn’t somewhere near this park entrance. She would like very much to stop at his office for a minute, if Kendall didn’t mind. She used to know Henry when he was a boy and came to the farm for the week-end; and she hadn’t seen him since.
Kendall was a trifle embarrassed; he knew Henry Westlake, certainly; at least by reputation; he was a very great lawyer, perhaps the greatest one in the city, and a man of remarkable ability in other than legal matters; his opinion was very much sought after by business men, even when no legal question was involved. So, of course, he was a very busy man; Mr. Forsythe doubted if he was ever seen in business hours, except by special appointment.
“Perhaps not,” Aunt Elsie said, serenely, “but it would do no harm to try, would it?” Whereupon Mr. Forsythe resolved at all hazards to try. The youth who received them in the great man’s outer office was patronizing.
“Appointment, I suppose?” he said, inquiringly, to Mr. Forsythe, who looked at Aunt Elsie.