CHAPTER XXV
A month later Jennie was able to announce that
Lester intended to marry
her. His visits had of course paved the way for this, and it seemed natural
enough. Only Gerhardt seemed a little doubtful. He did not know just how
this might be. Perhaps it was all right. Lester seemed a fine enough man in
all conscience, and really, after Brander, why not? If a United States Senator
could fall in love with Jennie, why not a business man? There was just one
thing—the child. "Has she told him about Vesta?" he asked his wife.
"No," said Mrs.
Gerhardt, "not yet."
"Not yet, not yet. Always something underhanded. Do you think he wants
her if he knows? That's what comes of such conduct in the first place. Now
she has to slip around like a thief. The child cannot even have an honest
name."
Gerhardt went back to his newspaper reading and brooding. His life seemed
a complete failure to him and he was only waiting to get well enough to hunt
up another job as watchman. He wanted to get out of this mess of deception
and dishonesty.
A week or two later Jennie confided to her mother that Lester had written
her to join him in Chicago. He was not feeling well, and could not come to
Cleveland. The two women explained to Gerhardt that Jennie was going
away to be married to Mr. Kane.
Gerhardt flared up at this, and his
suspicions were again aroused. But he could do nothing but grumble over
the situation; it would lead to no good end, of that he was sure.
When the day came for Jennie's departure she had to go without saying
farewell to her father. He was out looking
for work until late in the
afternoon, and before he had returned she had been obliged to leave for the
station. "I will write a note to him when I get there," she said. She kissed her
baby over and over. "Lester will take a better house for us soon," she went
on hopefully. "He wants us to move." The night train bore her to Chicago;
the old life had ended and the new one had begun.
The curious fact should be recorded here that, although Lester's generosity
had relieved the stress upon the family finances, the children and Gerhardt
were actually none the wiser. It was easy for Mrs. Gerhardt to deceive her
husband as to the purchase of necessities and she had not as yet indulged
in any of the fancies which an enlarged purse permitted. Fear deterred her.
But, after Jennie had been in Chicago for a few days, she wrote to her
mother saying that Lester wanted them to take a new home. This letter was
shown to Gerhardt, who had been merely biding her return to make a scene.
He frowned, but somehow it seemed an evidence of regularity. If he had not
married her why should he want to help them? Perhaps Jennie was well
married after all. Perhaps she really had been lifted to a high station in life,
and was now able to help the family. Gerhardt almost concluded to forgive
her everything once and for all.
The end of it was that a new house was decided upon, and Jennie returned
to Cleveland to help her mother move. Together they searched the streets for
a nice,
quiet neighborhood, and finally found one. A house of nine rooms,
with a yard, which rented for thirty dollars, was secured and suitably
furnished. There were comfortable fittings for the dining-room and sitting-
room, a handsome parlor set and bedroom sets complete for each room. The
kitchen was supplied with every convenience,
and there was even a bath-
room, a luxury the Gerhardts had never enjoyed before. Altogether the
house was attractive, though plain, and Jennie was happy to know that her
family could be comfortable in it.
When the time came for the actual moving Mrs. Gerhardt was fairly beside
herself with joy, for was not this the realization of her dreams? All through
the long years of her life she had been waiting, and now it had come. A new
house, new furniture, plenty of room—things finer than she had ever even
imagined—think of it! Her eyes shone as she looked at the new beds and
tables and bureaus and whatnots. "Dear, dear, isn't this nice!" she
exclaimed. "Isn't it beautiful!" Jennie smiled and tried to pretend satisfaction
without emotion, but there were tears in her eyes. She was so glad for her
mother's sake. She could have kissed Lester's feet for his goodness to her
family.
The day the furniture was moved in Mrs. Gerhardt, Martha, and Veronica
were on hand to clean and arrange things. At the sight of the large rooms
and pretty yard, bare enough in winter, but giving promise of a delightful
greenness
in spring, and the array of new furniture standing about in
excelsior, the whole family fell into a fever of delight. Such beauty, such
spaciousness! George rubbed his feet over the new carpets and Bass
examined the quality of the furniture critically. "Swell," was his comment.
Mrs. Gerhardt roved to and fro like a person in a dream. She could not
believe that these bright bedrooms,
this beautiful parlor, this handsome
dining-room were actually hers.
Gerhardt came last of all. Although he tried hard not to show it, he, too,
could scarcely refrain from enthusiastic comment. The sight of an opal-
globed chandelier over the dining-room table was the finishing touch.
"Gas, yet!" he said.
He looked grimly around, under his shaggy eyebrows,
at the new carpets
under his feet, the long oak extension table covered with a white cloth and
set with new dishes, at the pictures on the walls, the bright, clean kitchen.
He shook his head. "By chops, it's fine!" he said. "It's very nice. Yes, it's very
nice. We want to be careful now not to break anything. It's so easy to
scratch things up, and then it's all over." Yes, even Gerhardt was satisfied.
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