第58章 PUZZLES(2)

"No,no,I beg of you,"stammered Mr.Jack,growing still more red."Don't let me drive--that is,I mean,don't go,please.Ididn't know.I had no warning--I didn't see--Your carriage was not at the door to-day."Miss Holbrook's eyebrows rose the fraction of an inch.

"I sent it home.I am planning to walk back.I have several calls to make on the way;and it's high time I was starting.Good-bye,David.""But,Lady,of the Roses,please,please,don't go,"besought David,who had been looking from one to the other in worried dismay."Why,you've just come!"But neither coaxing nor argument availed;and before David really knew just what had happened,he found himself alone with Mr.

Jack.

Even then disappointment was piled on disappointment,for Mr.

Jack's visit was not the unalloyed happiness it usually was.Mr.

Jack himself was almost cross at first,and then he was silent and restless,moving jerkily about the room in a way that disturbed David very much.

Mr.Jack had brought with him a book;but even that only made matters worse,for when he saw the beautifully bound volumes that Miss Holbrook had just left,he frowned,and told David that he guessed he did not need his gift at all,with all those other fine books.And David could not seem to make him understand that the one book from him was just exactly as dear as were the whole set of books that his Lady of the Roses brought.

Certainly it was not a satisfactory visit at all,and for the first time David was almost glad to have Mr.Jack go and leave him with his books.The BOOKS,David told himself,he could understand;Mr.Jack he could not--to-day.

Several times after this David's Lady of the Roses and Mr.Jack happened to call at the same hour;but never could David persuade these two friends of his to stay together.Always,if one came and the other was there,the other went away,in spite of David's protestations that two people did not tire him at all and his assertions that he often entertained as many as that at once.

Tractable as they were in all other ways,anxious as they seemed to please him,on this one point they were obdurate:never would they stay together.

They were not angry with each other--David was sure of that,for they were always very especially polite,and rose,and stood,and bowed in a most delightful fashion.Still,he sometimes thought that they did not quite like each other,for always,after the one went away,the other,left behind,was silent and almost stern--if it was Mr.Jack;and flushed-faced and nervous--if it was Miss Holbrook.But why this was so David could not understand.

The span of handsome black horses came very frequently to the Holly farmhouse now,and as time passed they often bore away behind them a white-faced but happy-eyed boy on the seat beside Miss Holbrook.

"My,but I don't see how every one can be so good to me!"exclaimed the boy,one day,to his Lady of the Roses.

"Oh,that's easy,David,"she smiled."The only trouble is to find out what you want--you ask for so little.""But I don't need to ask--you do it all beforehand,"asserted the,boy."you and Mr.Jack,and everybody.""Really?That's good."For a brief moment Miss Holbrook hesitated;then,as if casually,she asked:"And he tells you stories,too,I suppose,--this Mr.Jack,--just as he used to,doesn't he?""Well,he never did tell me but one,you know,before;but he's told me more now,since I've been sick.""Oh,yes,I remember,and that one was 'The Princess and the Pauper,'wasn't it?Well,has he told you any more--like--that?"The boy shook his head with decision.

"No,he doesn't tell me any more like that,and--and I don't want him to,either."Miss Holbrook laughed a little oddly.

"Why,David,what is the matter with that?"she queried.

"The ending;it wasn't nice,you know."

"Oh,yes,I--I remember."

"I've asked him to change it,"went on David,in a grieved voice.

"I asked him just the other day,but he wouldn't.""Perhaps he--he didn't want to."Miss Holbrook spoke very quickly,but so low that David barely heard the words.