Wanted A Match Maker written by Paul Leicester Ford
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Paul Leicester Ford >> Wanted A Match Maker
Wanted - A Matchmaker
by
Paul Leicester Ford
[Illustration: "'Why, Swot,' cried Constance, 'nobody is going to
kill you'"]
Contents
========
Contents
Illustrations
Wanted: A Match-Maker
-*-
To
Bond and Edith Thomas
as a Record of Our Friendship
Illustrations
=============
"'Why, Swot,' cried Constance, 'nobody is going to kill you'"
"Miss Durant sprang out and lifted the head gently"
"Constance took the seat at the bedside"
"'I have come here--I have intruded on you, Miss Durant,' hurriedly began
the doctor"
"The two were quickly seated on the floor"
Wanted: A Match-Maker
=====================
"You understand, Josie, that I wouldn't for a moment wish Constance to
marry without being in love, but--"
Mrs. Durant hesitated long enough to convey the inference that she was
unfeminine enough to place a value on her own words, and then, the pause
having led to a change, or, at least, modification of what had almost
found utterance, she continued, with a touch of petulance which suggested
that the general principle had in the mind of the speaker a special
application, "It is certainly a great pity that the modern girl should be
so unimpressionable!"
"I understand and sympathise with you perfectly, dear," consolingly
acceded Mrs. Ferguson. "And Constance has such advantages!"
Quite unnoting that her friend replied to her thought rather than to her
words, Mrs. Durant responded at once eagerly, yet defensively: "That is
it. No one will deny that Muriel is quite Constance's equal in mind, and,
though perhaps I am not the one to say it, Doris surely excels her in
looks. Don't you think so, darling?" she added.
"Unquestionably," agreed the friend, with much the quality of firm
promptness with which one would bolt a nauseous pill, or extrude an ailing
oyster.
"Yet merely because Constance has been out so much longer, and therefore
is much more experienced, she self--she monopolises the attentions of the
men; you know she does, Josie."
"Absolutely," once more concurred Mrs. Ferguson; and this time, though she
spoke less quickly, her tone carried greater conviction. "They
are--well--she--she undoubtedly--that is, she contrives--somehow--to
eclipse, or at least overshadow them."
"Exactly. I don't like to think that she manages--but whether she does or
not, the results are as bad as if she did; and thoughtlessness--if it is
only that, which I can't believe--is quite as blamable as--as more
intentional scheming."
"Then of course," said Mrs. Ferguson, "every one knows about her mother's
fortune--and men are so mercenary in these days."
"Oh, Josie, I don't like to speak of that myself, but it is such a relief
to have you say it. That is the whole trouble. What sort of a chance have
my poor dears, who will inherit so little compared to her wealth, and that
not till--till we are through with it--against Constance? I call it really
shameful of her to keep on standing in their light!"
"Have you--Couldn't you let her see--drop a hint--of the unconscious
injury she is--"
"That is the cruelty of my position," moaned Mrs. Durant. "I should not
hesitate a moment, but the world is so ill-natured about stepmothers that
one has to be over-careful, and with daughters of my own, I'm afraid
people--perhaps my own husband--would think I was trying to sacrifice her
to them."
"But have you no friend you could ask to--?"
"Josie! Would you?" eagerly interrupted Mrs. Durant. "She will be
influenced, I know, by anything you--"
"Gracious, my dear, I never dreamed of--of you asking me! Why, I don't
know her in the least. I couldn't, really."
"But for my sake? And you know her as well as--as any one else; for
Constance has no intimates or--"
"Don't you see that's it? I'd as soon think of--of--From me she would only
take it as an impertinence."
"I don't see why everybody stands so in awe of a girl of twenty-three,
unless it's because she's rich," querulously sighed Mrs. Durant.
"I don't think it's that, Anne. It's her proud face and reserved manner.
And I believe those are the real reasons for her not marrying. However
much men may admire her, they--they--Well, it's your kittenish, cuddling
kind of a girl they marry."
"No; you are entirely wrong. Doubtless it is her money, but Constance has
had plenty of admirers, and if she were less self--if she considered the
interests of the family--she would have married years ago. But she is
wholly blind to her duty, and checks or rebuffs every man who attempts to
show her devotion. And just because others take their places, she is
puffed up into the belief that she is to go through life with an
everlasting train of would-be suitors, and so enjoys her own triumph, with
never a thought of my girls."
"Why not ask her father to speak to her?"
"My dear! As if I hadn't, a dozen times at the least,"
"And what does he say?"
"That Constance shows her sense by not caring for the men _I_ invite to
the house! As if _I_ could help it! Of course with three girls in the
house one must cultivate dancing-men, and it's very unfair to blame me if
they aren't all one could wish."
"I thought Constance gave up going to dances last winter?"
"She did, but still I must ask them to my dinners, for if I don't they
won't show Muriel and Doris attention. Mr. Durant should realise that I
only do it for their sakes; yet to listen to him you'd suppose it was my
duty to close my doors to dancing-men, and spend my time seeking out the
kind one never hears of--who certainly don't know how to dance, and who
would either not talk at my dinners, or would lecture upon one subject to
the whole table--just because they are what he calls 'purposeful men.'"
"He probably recognises that the society man is not a marrying species,
while the other is."
"But there are several who would marry Constance in a minute if she'd only
give any one of them the smallest encouragement; and that's what I mean
when I complain of her being so unimpressionable. Muriel and Doris like
our set of men well enough, and I don't see what right she has to be so
over-particular."
Mrs. Ferguson rose and began the adjustment of her wrap, while saying, "It
seems to me there is but one thing for you to do, Anne."
"What?" eagerly questioned Mrs. Durant.
"Indulge in a little judicious matchmaking," suggested the friend, as she
held out her hand.
"It's utterly useless, Josie. I've tried again and again, and every time
have only done harm."
"How?"
"She won't--she is so suspicious. Now, last winter, Weston Curtis was
sending her flowers and--and, oh, all that sort of thing, and so I invited
him to dinner several times, and always put him next Constance, and tried
to help him in other ways, until she--well, what do you think that girl
did?"
Mrs. Ferguson's interest led her to drop her outstretched hand. "Requested
you not to?" she asked.
"Not one word did she have the grace to say to me, Josie, but she wrote to
him, and asked him not to send her any more flowers! Just think of it."
"Then that's why he went to India."
"Yes. Of course if she had come and told me she didn't care for him, I
never would have kept on inviting him; but she is so secretive it is
impossible to tell what she is thinking about. I never dreamed that she
was conscious that I was trying to--to help her; and I have always been so
discreet that I think she never would have been if Mr. Durant hadn't begun
to joke about it. Only guess, darling, what he said to me once right
before her, just as I thought I was getting her interested in young
Schenck!"
"I can't imagine."
"Oh, it was some of his Wall Street talk about promoters of trusts always
securing options on the properties to be taken in, before attempting a
consolidation, or something of that sort. I shouldn't have known what he
meant if the boys hadn't laughed and looked at Constance. And then Jack
made matters worse by saying that my interest would be satisfied with
common stock, but Constance would only accept preferred for hers. Men do
blurt things out so--and yet they assert that we women haven't tongue
discretion. No, dear, with them about it's perfectly useless for me to do
so much as lift a finger to marry Constance off, let alone her own
naturally distrustful nature."
"Well, then, can't you get some one to do it for you--some friend of
hers?"
"I don't believe there is a person in the world who could influence
Constance as regards marriage," moaned Mrs. Durant. "Don't think that I
want to sacrifice her, dear; but she really isn't happy
herself--for--well--she is a stepdaughter, you know--and so can never
quite be the same in the family life; and now that she has tired of
society, she really doesn't find enough to do to keep busy. Constance
wanted to go into the Settlement work, but her father wouldn't hear of
it--and really, Josie, every one would be happier and better if she only
would marry--"
"I beg your pardon for interrupting you, mama. I thought you were alone,"
came a voice from the doorway. "How do you do, Mrs. Ferguson?"
"Oh!" ejaculated both ladies, as they looked up, to find standing in the
doorway a handsome girl, with clear-cut patrician features, and an erect
carriage which gave her an air of marked distinction.
"I only stopped to ask about the errand you asked me to do when I went
out," explained the girl, quietly, as the two women hunted for something
to say.
"Oh. Yes. Thank you for remembering, darling," stammered Mrs. Durant,
finding her voice at last. "Won't you please order a bunch of something
sent to Miss Porter--and--and--I'll be very much obliged if you'll attend
to it, Constance, my dear."
The girl merely nodded her head as she disappeared, but neither woman
spoke till the front door was heard to close, when Mrs. Durant exclaimed,
"How long had she been standing there?"
"I don't know."
"I hope she didn't hear!"
"I don't think she could have, or she would have shown it more,"
"That doesn't mean anything. She never shows anything outwardly. And
really, though I wouldn't purposely have said it to her, I'm not sure that
I hope she didn't hear it--for--well, I do wish some one would give her
just such advice."
"My dear, it isn't a case for advice; it's a case for match-making,"
reiterated Mrs. Ferguson, as she once more held out her hand.
Meanwhile Miss Durant thoughtfully went down the steps to her carriage, so
abstracted from what she was doing that after the footman tucked the fur
robe about her feet, he stood waiting for his orders; and finally,
realising his mistress's unconsciousness, touched his hat and asked,--
"Where to, Miss Constance?"
With a slight start the girl came back from her meditations, and, after a
moment's hesitation, gave a direction. Then, as the man mounted to his
seat and the brougham started, the girl's face, which had hitherto been
pale, suddenly flushed, and she leaned back in the carriage, so that no
one should see her wipe her eyes with her handkerchief.
"I do wish," she murmured, with a slight break in her voice, "that at
least mama wouldn't talk about it to outsiders. I--I'd marry to-morrow,
just to escape it all--if--if--a loveless marriage wasn't even worse." The
girl shivered slightly, and laid her head against the cushioned side, as
if weary.
She was still so busy with her thoughts that she failed to notice when the
brougham stopped at the florist's, and once more was only recalled to
concrete concerns by the footman opening the door. The ordering of some
flowers for a débutante evidently steadied her and allowed her to regain
self-control, for she drove in succession to the jeweller's to select a
wedding gift, and to the dressmaker's for a fitting, at each place giving
the closest attention to the matter in hand. These nominal duties, but in
truth pleasures, concluded, nominal pleasures, but in truth duties,
succeeded them, and the carriage halted at four houses long enough to
ascertain that the especial objects of Miss Durant's visits "begged to be
excused," or were "not at home," each of which pieces of information, or,
to speak more correctly, the handing in by the footman, in response to the
information, of her card or cards, drew forth an unmistakable sigh of
relief from that young lady. Evidently Miss Durant was bored by people,
and this to those experienced in the world should be proof that Miss
Durant was, in fact, badly bored by herself.
One consequence of her escape, however, was that the girl remained with an
hour which must be got through with in some manner, and so, in a voice
totally without desire or eagerness, she said, "The Park, Wallace;" and in
the Park some fifty minutes were spent, her greatest variation from the
monotony of the wonted and familiar roads being an occasional nod of the
head to people driving or riding, with a glance at those with each, or at
the costumes they wore.
It was with a distinct note of anticipation in her voice, therefore, that
Miss Durant finally ordered, "Home, now, Murdock;" and, if the truth were
to be told, the chill in her hands and feet, due to the keen November
cold, with a mental picture of the blazing wood fire of her own room, and
of the cup of tea that would be drank in front of it, was producing almost
the first pleasurable prospect of the day to her.
Seemingly the coachman was as eager to be in-doors as his mistress, for he
whipped up the horses, and the carriage was quickly crossing the plaza and
speeding down the avenue. Though the street was crowded with vehicles and
pedestrians, the growing darkness put an end to Miss Durant's nods of
recognition, and she leaned back, once more buried in her own thoughts.
At Forty-second Street she was sharply recalled from whatever her mind was
dwelling upon by a sudden jar, due to the checking of the carriage, and
simultaneously with it came the sound of crashing of glass and splintering
of wood. So abrupt was the halt that Miss Durant was pitched forward, and
as she put out her hand to save herself from being thrown into the bottom
of the brougham, she caught a moment's glimpse of a ragged boy close
beside her window, and heard, even above the hurly-burly of the pack of
carriages and street-crossers, his shrill cry,--
"Extry _Woild_'r _Joinal_. Terrible--"
There the words ended, for the distraught horses shied backwards and
sideways, and the fore wheel, swung outwards by the sharp turn, struck the
little fellow and threw him down. Miss Durant attempted a warning cry, but
it was too late; and even as it rang out, the carriage gave a jolt and
then a jar as it passed over the body. Instantly came a dozen warning
shouts and shrieks and curses, and the horses reared and plunged wildly,
with the new fright of something under their feet.
White with terror, the girl caught at the handle, but she did no more than
throw open the door, for, as if they sprang from the ground, a crowd of
men were pressing about the brougham. All was confusion for a moment; then
the tangle of vehicles seemed to open out and the mob of people,
struggling and gesticulating, fell back before a policeman while another,
aided by some one, caught the heads of the two horses, just as the footman
drew out from under their feet into the cleared space something which
looked like a bundle of rags and newspapers.
Thinking of nothing save that limp little body, Miss Durant sprang out,
and kneeling beside it, lifted the head gently into her lap, and smoothed
back from the pallid face the unkempt hair. "He isn't dead, Wallace?" she
gasped out.
"I don't think he is, Miss Constance, though he looks like he was bad
hurt. An', indeed, Miss Constance, it wasn't Murdock's fault. The coupé
backed right into our pole without--"
"Here," interrupted a man's voice from the circle of spectators, "give him
this;" and some one handed to the girl the cup of a flask half full of
brandy. Dipping her fingers into it, she rubbed them across the mouth and
forehead; then, raising the head with one of her arms, she parted the lips
and poured a few drops between them.
"Now, mum," suggested the policeman. "Just you let go of it, and we'll
lift it to where it can stay till the ambulance gets here."
"Oh, don't," begged Miss Durant. "He shouldn't be moved until--"
"Like as not it'll take ten minutes to get it here, and we can't let the
street stay blocked like this."
"Ten minutes!" exclaimed the girl. "Isn't it possible--We must get help
sooner, or he--" She broke in upon her own words, "Lift him into my
carriage, and I'll take him to the hospital."
"Can't let you, miss," spoke up a police sergeant, who meantime had forced
his way through the crowd. "Your coachman's got to stay and answer for
this."
"He shall, but not now," protested Miss Durant. "I will be responsible for
him. Wallace, give them one of my cards from the case in the carriage."
[Illustration: "Miss Durant sprang out and lifted the head gently"]
The officer took the bit of pasteboard and looked at it. "That's all
right, miss," he said. "Here, Casey, together now and easy."
The two big men in uniform lifted the urchin as if he were without weight,
and laid him as gently as might be on the seat of the brougham. This done,
the roundsman dropped the small front seat, helped Miss Durant in, and
once she was seated upon it, took his place beside her. The sergeant
closed the door, gave an order to the coachman, and, wheeling about, the
carriage turned up the avenue, followed by the eyes of the crowd and by a
trail of the more curious.
"Better give it another swig, mum," counselled her companion; and the
girl, going on her knees, raised the head, and administered a second
swallow of the brandy. She did not resume her seat, but kept her arm about
the boy, in an attempt to render his position easier. It was a wizened,
pinched little face she gazed down at, and now the mouth was drawn as if
there was physical suffering, even in the unconsciousness. Neither head
nor hands had apparently ever known soap, but the dirt only gave
picturesqueness, and, indeed, to Miss Durant an added pathos; and the
tears came into her eyes as she noted that under the ragged coat was only
a flimsy cotton shirt, so bereft of buttons that the whole chest was
exposed to the cold which but a little while before the girl, clad in furs
and sheltered by the carriage, had yet found so nipping. She raised her
free hand and laid it gently on the exposed breast, and slightly shivered
as she felt how little warmth there was.
"Please put the fur rug over him," she requested; and her companion pulled
it from under their feet, and laid it over the coiled-up legs and body.
The weight, or the second dose of the stimulant, had an effect, for Miss
Durant felt the body quiver, and then the eyes unclosed. At first they
apparently saw nothing, but slowly the dulness left them, and they, and
seemingly the whole face, sharpened into comprehension, and then, as they
fastened on the blue coat of the policeman, into the keenest apprehension.
"Say," he moaned, "I didn't do nuttin', dis time, honest."
"I ain't takin' you to the station-house," denied the officer, colouring
and looking sideways at his companion.
"You were run over, and we are carrying you to where a doctor can see how
much you are hurt," said the gently.
The eyes of the boy turned to hers, and the face lost some of its fright
and suspicion. "Is dat on de level?" he asked, after a moment's scrutiny.
"Youse oin't runnin' me in?"
"No," answered Miss Durant. "We are taking you to the hospital."
"De horspital!" exclaimed the little chap, his eyes brightening. "Is Ise
in de rattler?"
"The what?" asked Constance.
"De rattler," repeated the questioner, "de ding-dong."
"No, you ain't in no ambulance," spoke up the officer. "You're in this
young lady's carriage."
The look of hope and pride faded out of the boy's face. "Ise oin't playin'
in no sorter luck dese days," he sighed. Suddenly the expression of alarm
reappeared in his face. "Wheer's me papes?"
"They're all right. Don't you work yourself up over them," said the
roundsman, heartily.
"Youse didn't let de udder newsies swipe dem, did youse?" the lad appealed
anxiously.
"I'll pay you for every one you lost," offered Constance. "How many did
you have?"
The ragamuffin stared at her for a moment, his face an essence of
disbelief.
"Ah, hell!" he ejaculated. "Wot's dis song an' dance youse givin' us?"
"Really, I will," insisted the girl. She reached back of her and took her
purse from the rack, and as well as she could with her one hand opened it.
The sight of the bills and coin brought doubt to the sceptic. "Say," he
demanded, his eyes burning with avidity, "does youse mean dat? Dere oin't
no crawl in dis?"
"No. How much were they worth?"
The boy hesitated, and scanned her face, as if he were measuring the girl
more than he was his loss. "Dere wuz twinty _Joinals_" he said, speaking
slowly, and his eyes watching her as a cat might a mouse,
"an'--an'--twinty _Woilds_--an'--an' tirty _Telegrams_--an'--an'--" He
drew a fresh breath, as if needing strength, shot an apprehensive glance
at the roundsman, and went on hurriedly, in a lower voice, "an' tirty-five
_Posts_--"
"Ah, g'long with you," broke in the policeman, disgustedly. "He didn't
have mor'n twenty in all, that I know."
"Hope I may die if Ise didn't have all dem papes, boss," protested the
boy.
"You deserve to be run in, that's what you do," asserted the officer of
the law, angrily.
"Oh, don't threaten him," begged Miss Durant.
"Don't you be fooled by him, mum. He ain't the kind as sells _Posts_, an'
if he was, he wouldn't have more'n five."
"It's de gospel trute Ise chuckin' at youse dis time," asserted the
youngster.
"Gospel Ananias--!" began the officer.
"Never mind," interrupted Miss Durant. "Would ten dollars pay for them
all?"
"Ah, I know'd youse wuz tryin' to stuff me," dejectedly exclaimed the boy;
then, in an evident attempt to save his respect for his own acuteness, he
added: "But youse didn't. I seed de goime youse wuz settin' up right from
de start."
Out of the purse Constance, with some difficulty, drew a crisp ten-dollar
bill, the boy watching the one-handed operation half doubtingly and half
eagerly; and when it was finally achieved, at the first movement of her
hand toward him, his arm shot out, and the money was snatched, more than
taken. With the quick motion, however, the look of eagerness and joy
changed to one of agony; he gave a sharp cry, and, despite the grime, the
cheeks whitened perceptibly.
"Oh, please stay quiet," implored Miss Durant. "You mustn't move."
"Hully gee, but dat hurted!" gasped the youngster, yet clinging to the new
wealth. He lay quiet for a few breaths; then, as if he feared the sight of
the bill might in time tempt a change of mind in the giver, he stole the
hand to his trousers pocket and endeavoured to smuggle the money into it,
his teeth set, but his lips trembling, with the pain the movement cost
him.
Not understanding the fear in the boy's mind, Constance put her free hand
down and tried to assist him; but the instant he felt her fingers, his
tightened violently. "Youse guv it me," he wailed. "Didn't she guv it me?"
he appealed desperately to the policeman.
"I'm only trying to help put it in your pocket," explained the girl.
"Ah, chase youseself!" exclaimed the doubter, contemptuously. "Dat don't
go wid me. Nah!"
"What doesn't go?" bewilderedly questioned Miss Durant.
"Wotcher tink youse up aginst? Suttin' easy? Well, I guess not! Youse
don't get youse pickers in me pocket on dat racket."
"She ain't goin' to take none of your money!" asserted the policeman,
indignantly. "Can't you tell a real lady when you see her?"
"Den let her quit tryin' to go tru me," protested the anxious capitalist;
and Constance desisted from her misinterpreted attempt, with a laugh which
died as the little fellow, at last successful in his endeavour to secrete
the money, moaned again at the pain it cost him.
"Shall we never get there?" she demanded impatiently, and, as if an answer
were granted her, the carriage slowed, and turning, passed into a
porte-cochère, in which the shoes of the horses rang out sharply, and
halted.
"Stay quiet a bit, mum," advised the policeman, as he got out; and
Constance remained, still supporting the urchin, until two men with a
stretcher appeared, upon which they lifted the little sufferer, who
screamed with pain that even this gentlest of handling cost him.
Her heart wrung with sympathy for him, Miss Durant followed after them
into the reception-ward. At the door she hesitated, in doubt as to whether
it was right or proper for her to follow, till the sight of a nurse
reassured her, and she entered; but her boldness carried her no farther
than to stand quietly while the orderlies set down the litter. Without a
moment's delay the nurse knelt beside the boy, and with her scissors began
slitting up the sleeves of the tattered coat.