The House Read online

  IV

  THE FIRST PAYMENT

  As for Mr. Denslow, he agreed with other friends and neighbors that inour new old house we had secured a genuine bargain. But, as I havealready indicated, Mr. Denslow was no day-dreamer; he had a way ofviewing things that was severe in its practicality.

  Now, I am in no sense a business man; you may already have suspectedthis truth. I am very far from being a fool, as those who have read mynumerous treatises (particularly my "Essay to Prove the Probability ofthe Existence of an Atmosphere on the Other Side of the Moon") willtestify; but, having had little to do with the operations and methodsof trade and commerce, I am not (I admit it freely) an expert in whatin this great, bustling city of Chicago are termed affairs of the world.

  Mr. Denslow, upon the other hand, is keenly in touch with theseaffairs; brought hourly during the day into contact and competitionwith scheming--and not always scrupulous--men, he has acquired anextensive knowledge of human nature of the rapacious type, and thisknowledge has made him wary, alert, prudent, and reserved. It isperhaps this wide difference in our natures and our pursuits that hasattracted Mr. Denslow and me to each other; at any rate our friendshiphas been profitable to both. Mr. Denslow's counsel upon severalimportant occasions has been of vast value to me, and I flatter myselfthat upon one occasion at least I served Mr. Denslow to excellentpurpose. This was two years ago, when, as perhaps you remember, mysun-spot theory was widely discussed by the newspaper press. I thentold Mr. Denslow that the recurrence of the sun spots would surelyinduce a drought upon this planet, thereby causing a shortage in thecrops; whereupon Mr. Denslow "cornered the wheat market" (as the sayingis) and realized a handsome sum of money.

  Alice has long recognized Mr. Denslow's merits as a man of business;she, too, has what, in lieu of a better term, our New England peoplecall faculty. So it was natural that after having drunk deep (so tospeak) at the fountain of Mrs. Denslow's enthusiasm, we should turn forserious advice and practical counsel to _Mr._ Denslow.

  "This opportunity," said Mr. Denslow, "is one that comes only once in alifetime. You must not let it escape you. We should go at once toMrs. Schmittheimer and get her to sign an agreement to part with theproperty upon the terms specified. In order to bind the agreement weshould pay her a small sum of money--oh, say one hundred dollars. Thereceipt, in the form of an agreement or contract signed by her, willbind the bargain in the contemplation of the law."

  "But it is after dark already," said Alice. "Wouldn't it seem ratherburglarious to make a descent upon the old lady at this hour?"

  "And what is more to the point," said I, "the detail (trifling as itmay appear) of planking down one hundred dollars is one which I happenjust at this moment to be unprepared to provide for."

  "The matter should be closed at once," said Mr. Denslow. "In a deal ofthis kind delay is too often disastrous. As for the one hundreddollars, I will lend you that amount, for a small cash payment isreally necessary to bind the bargain."

  My heart went out in gratitude to this noble gentleman. Never beforehad I felt more keenly the value of neighborly friendship.

  "As this business is to be transacted in Mrs. Baker's name," said Mr.Denslow to me, "it would be better for you not to go with us to seeMrs. Schmittheimer. The presence of too many strangers might make theold lady shy of doing what we want her to do. See?"

  Yes, I comprehended the intent of the suggestion, and I approved it.While it was far from my desire to take any advantage of the WidowSchmittheimer or of anybody else, I recognized the propriety ofconserving our own interests to the extent of suffering no rights ofour own to be either lost or jeoparded. So while Mr. Denslow and Alicewent upon their business mission I remained with Mrs. Denslow and herinteresting children and elucidated my theory of the ice-caps of theplanet Mars. In less than an hour Mr. Denslow and Alice returned andexhibited with delight a receipt signed by Katherine ElizabethSchmittheimer, which receipt, I was glad to see, was practically acontract to sell the property upon the terms specified in her originaltalk with Alice.

  "The terms are certainly exceptionally advantageous!" said Mr. Denslow."It will take some time--perhaps a week or ten days--to investigate thetitle; when this detail is satisfactorily disposed of you can pay downyour one thousand dollars and take possession of the premises."

  Pay down one thousand dollars? Ah, I had quite forgotten about that.In my enthusiasm over the prospect of a home of our own, and in thedelirium induced by the delightful chatter about the paradise intowhich that front lawn and that old rookery (as Adah called it) were tobe transformed, I had suffered all thought of the essential andinevitable first payment of one thousand dollars to slip quite out ofmy mind. Now this awful consideration, from which there could be noescape, took complete and exclusive possession of me. Where in thewide, wide world was I to get the one thousand dollars?

  This was the question I put to Alice on the way home from the Denslows'that memorable evening. Alice knew as well as I did that my salary wassufficient only to cover the current expenses of the family. She knewas well as I did that the royalties from my books the last year were asfollows:

  "The Star Gamma in Leo and Its Satellite" . . . . . $1.60 "Mars and Its Ice-Caps" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 "Probable Depth of the Bottle-Neck Seas as Indicated by the Spectroscope" . . . . . . . . . .30 "Logarithms for the Nursery" . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.15 "Alphabetical Catalogue of Binary Stars" . . . . . . .65 ----- Total $4.45

  Alice knew, too, as well as I did, that the whole amount of money Ireceived from my lectures before the West Side Society for theDiffusion of Knowledge did not exceed seventy dollars last year. Sheknew all these things, and I told her so, and then I asked her where orhow she fancied we were going to raise the one thousand dollars for thefirst payment on "our house." To my surprise, Alice was prepared--orat least she seemed to be prepared for this question.

  "Reuben," said she, "I remember having heard Mr. Black say one dayduring his visit to us last summer that we ought to have a home, andthat if we ever decided to buy one he would try his best to help us."

  Now that Alice spoke of it I, too, recalled that friendly remark of Mr.Black's. A man who is drowning will catch at a straw. A man who hasbought a house with nothing to pay for it is also predisposed toclutch. Our old friend Mr. Black now loomed up as my only suresalvation.

  Mr. Black is upward of seventy years of age. He and my father went toschool together in Maine, and subsequently they lived near each otherin Cincinnati. Mr. Black had been a merchant; he had retired frombusiness rich. After my father's death, while I was still a boy, thiskind old friend was good to me, taking an interest in my work and mywelfare. He had no children of his own, and, if he did not regard mealmost as a son, I certainly grew to regard him almost as a father.Mr. Black knew the value of money and respected it. He gave freely,but only where he was assured it was deserved and would do actual good.A prudent, careful, economical man himself, he encouraged prudence andthrift in others. He never quite condoned what he regarded asextravagance upon my part in buying my fifty pieces of mediaeval armor,although it is to his munificence that I am indebted for the six-foottelescope with which I am wont to scan the face of the heavens.

  The upshot of talks with Alice and Adah and the Denslows--to saynothing of other neighbors with whom I confidentially consulted--theupshot of these talks was that I determined to go to Cincinnati toconfer with Mr. Black upon the propriety of his advancing to me themoney wherewith Alice should make the first payment upon her--I meanour house. To make short of a long story (for if there is one thingthat I despise above all others it is prolixity), I went to Cincinnatiand unfolded my business to my aged friend. Mr. Black appeared to bein no indecent haste to satiate my craving. He is not, and never was,a man of exuberant enthusiasms. I was rather pained when, uponlearning of the unparalleled bargain we had secured in theSchmittheime
r place, he did not go into raptures as did Mrs. Denslow,and Mrs. Baylor, and Mrs. Tiltman and the rest of our neighbors athome. So far from being carried away by any whirlwind of enthusiasm,Mr. Black maintained a placidity of demeanor amounting to stoicism; heplied me with questions about "titles," and "abstracts," and"indentures," and "mortgages," and "liens," and "incumbrances," andother things that I actually knew no more about than the veriestBushman knows about the theory of Nebulae.

  To add to my embarrassment he solicited explicit information about theSchmittheimer place, in what subdivision it was located, and in whattownship. Had I been a veritable human encyclopaedia I could hardlyhave satisfied that man's greed for information touching thatparticular spot. What knew I of tracts, of townships, of quartersections or of subdivisions? Were I filled with a knowledge of thesehumdrum commonplaces, should I know aught of that enthusiasm whichthrills the being who, after many and long years of weary hoping andwaiting, sees the object of his desires just within his grasp? ShouldMoses just in sight of the promised land be expected to give thedimensions of that delectable spot, and to locate it and bound it andmap it off with the accuracy of a Rand & McNally township guide?

  I suppose that this conservatism is natural with some people--this lackof fervor, this absence of enthusiasm. Still I will admit Mr. Black'stranquillity--nay, his glacial composure--under the circumstancessurprised and grieved me. I did not understand why the prospect andthe promise of "our house" did not set Mr. Black--and, for that matter,all the rest of humanity--into the selfsame transports of delight whichI experienced. Mind you, now, I am not complaining of nor am I findingfault with Mr. Black. I am simply chronicling happenings andobservations. Mr. Black is a benevolent and beneficent man. He saidto me at last: "Well, you can tell Alice that I will send her a draftfor the money she needs, and within a fortnight I shall run up to takea look at your purchase."

  I was in Cincinnati three days. I should have been there but two. Acurious happening detained me. As I was going to the railway stationfrom Mr. Black's house the evening of the second day I saw a man with areflector telescope selling views of the moon at five cents apiece.The night was so auspicious for this diversion that I could not resistthe temptation. Thus seduced, the time sped so quickly and theintoxication of the enjoyment was so complete that two hours slippedaway before I awakened to a realization of my folly, which cost mesomewhat over a dollar and a half, and compelled me to postpone mydeparture for home to the next day.