第23章 A HAPPY BREAKFAST(2)

"Would you mind calling me Jewel?You know it isn't any matter about the rest,because they're not my real relations,but Julia is mother's name,and Jewel is mine;and when I love people very much,I like them to call me Jewel."Mrs.Forbes here entered with a tray,and Mr.Evringham merely said,"Very well,"twice over,and retreated into his newspaper.

On the tray were boiled eggs.Jewel glanced quickly up at Mrs.

Forbes's impassive face.She might have remembered.Probably she did remember.

Life had not taught the child to be shy,as has been evidenced;so although Mrs.Forbes was an awing experience,she felt strong in the presence of her important grandfather,and only kept silence now in order not to interrupt his reading.

When at last he laid down his paper and began to chip an egg,Jewel glanced at those which Mrs.Forbes had set before her.Her little face had grown very serious.

"Grandpa,do you think it's error for me not to like eggs?"she asked.

"Mother never said it was.She was willing I should eat something else.""Of course,eat whatever you like,"responded Mr.Evringham quickly.

Mrs.Forbes seemed to swell and grow pink."You always have eggs,sir,and if there's two breakfasts to be got,will you kindly tell me what the other shall be?"Mr.Evringham glanced up in some surprise at the unfamiliar tone.

"Oh,the oatmeal is a plenty,"said Jewel,looking at the housekeeper,eager to mollify her.

"Try an egg.Perhaps you'll like them by this time,"suggested Mr.

Evringham.

"Do you like everything to eat,grandpa?"

Mr.Evringham,being most arbitrary and peculiar in his tastes,could only gain time by clearing his throat again,and taking a drink of coffee.

"Mrs.Forbes will bring you a glass of milk,I dare say,"he returned at last,without looking up;and the housekeeper turned with ponderous obedience and left the room.

Nimbly Jewel slid down from her chair,and running around the table to her grandfather's place,put both her arms around his neck and whispered to him eagerly and swiftly,"If you have such a pro--something respect for Mrs.Forbes,and it makes her sorry because Iwon't eat eggs,perhaps I ought to.If it offends thy brother to have you eat meat,you mustn't,the Bible says,so I suppose,if it makes Mrs.Forbes turn red and perhaps get the stomach ache to have me not eat eggs,I ought to;but grandpa,if you decide I must,please let me wait till to-morrow morning,so I can say the Scientific Statement of Being all day--"Here Mrs.Forbes entered with a glass of milk on a little tray.She stood transfixed at the sight that met her.

"That child hasn't the fear of man before her eyes!"she ejaculated mentally,then she marched forward and deposited the milk beside Jewel's empty plate,while the child ran back and took her seat.

Mr.Evringham,gazing at his visitor in mute astonishment,was much disconcerted to receive a confiding gesture of raised shoulders and eyebrows,which,combined with a little smile,plainly signified that they had been caught.He took up his newspaper mechanically.

He had never had a daughter,and caresses had seldom passed between him and his children.His duties as a family man had always been perfunctory.He was tingling now from the surprise of Jewel's action,the feeling of the little gingham clad arms about his neck,the touch of the rose-leaf skin as she swept his cheek and ear in her emphatic half-whisper.

His mental processes were stiff when the subject related to things apart from the stock market,his horses,and golf,but he was finally understanding that his granddaughter had come to Bel-Air,prepared by accounts which had cast a glamour over everything and everybody in it.

She had evidently found Mrs.Forbes fall below her expectations.He had been disillusioned concerning Mrs.Evringham and Eloise.As yet the halo with which he himself had been invested was intact.Was it to remain so?He still saw how foolish he had been to send for the child.

He still wished,of course,that she was in Chicago now,instead of sitting across there from him in crisp short skirts,her head and shoulders only showing above the high table,and a little smile of good understanding waiting for him each time he looked up.

He had done very well during a lifetime without being hugged,yet the innocent incense,which had been rising spontaneously before him ever since the child entered the dining-room,had a strangely sweet savor.

Such was the joy of breakfast alone with him that it made her feel as if she had a birthday!Perfectly absurd!Quite the most absurd thing that he had ever heard in his life.