I've got it in my pocket, and I'm going behind when it's his turn, to prompt him. Did you see me winking at him? it sort of cheers him up."He was almost as keen over the floral procession as the Fitzmaurices themselves. The Lossing garden had been stripped to the last bud, and levies made on the asparagus-bed, into the bargain, and Mrs. Lossing and Alma and Mrs. Carriswood and Derry and Susy Lossing had made bouquets and baskets and wreaths, and Harry had distributed them among friends in different parts of the house.
I say Harry, but, complimented by Mrs. Carriswood, he admitted ingenuously that it was Tommy's idea.
"Tommy thought they would make more show that way," says Harry, "and they are all on the middle aisle, so his father and mother can see them;Tim O'Halloran has got one for him, too, and Mrs. Macillarney, and she's got some splendid pinies. Picked every last one.
They'll make a show!"
But Harry knew nothing of the most magnificent of his friend's trophies until it undulated gloriously down the aisle, above the heads of two men, white satin ribbons flying, tinfoil shining--an enormous horseshoe of roses and mignonette!
The parents were both on their feet to crane their necks after it, as it passed them amid the plaudits.
"Oh, it was YOU, Cousin Margaret; I know it was you," cried Harry.
He took the ladies over to the Fitzmaurices the minute that the diplomas were given; and, directly, Tommy joined them, attended by two admiring followers laden with the trophies.
Mrs. O'Halloran and Mrs. Macillarney and divers of the friends, both male and female, joined the circle. Tommy held quite a little court.
He shook hands with all the ladies, beginning with Mrs. Carriswood (who certainly never had found herself before in such a company, jammed between Alderman McGinnis's resplendent new tweeds and Mrs. Macillarney's calico); he affectionately embraced his mother, and he allowed himself to be embraced by Mrs. Macillarney and Mrs. O'Halloran, while Patrick Fitzmaurice shook hands with the alderman.
"Here's the lady that helped me on me piece, father;she's the lady that sent me the horseshoe, mother.
Like to make you acquainted with me father and me mother.
Mr. and Mrs. Fitzmaurice, Mrs. Carriswood."
In these words, Tommy, blushing and happy, presented his happy parents.
"Sure, I'm proud to meet you, ma'am," said Fitzmaurice, bowing, while his wife courtesied and wiped her eyes.
They were very grateful, but they were more grateful for the flowers than for the oratorical drilling. No doubt they thought that their Tommy could have done as well in any case;but the splendid horseshoe was another matter!
Ten years passed before Mrs. Carriswood saw her pupil again.
During those years the town had increased and prospered;so had the Lossing Art Furniture Works. It was after Harry Lossing had disappointed his father. This is not saying that he had done anything out of the way; he had simply declined to be the fourth Harry Lossing on the rolls of Harvard College.
Instead, he proposed to enter the business and to begin by learning his own trade. He was so industrious, he kept at it with such energy that his first convert was his father--no, I am wrong, Mrs. Carriswood was the first; Mrs. Lossing was not a convert, SHE had believed in Harry from the beginning.
But all this was years before Mrs. Carriswood's visit.
Another of Master Harry's notions was his belief in the necessity of his "meddling"--so his father put it--in the affairs of the town, the state, and the nation, as well as those of the Lossing furniture company. But, though he was pleased to make rather cynical fun of his son's political enthusiasm, esteeming it in a sense a diverting and therefore reprehensible pursuit for a business man, the elder Lossing had a sneaking pride in it, all the same.
He liked to bring out Harry's political shrewdness.
"Fancy, Margaret," says he, "whom do you think Harry has brought over to our side now? The shrewdest ward politician in the town--why, you saw him when he was a boy--Tommy Fitzmaurice."Then Mrs. Carriswood remembered; she asked, amused, how was Tommy and where was he?
"Tommy? Oh, he went to the State university; the old man was bound to send him, and he was more dutiful than some sons.
He was graduated with honors, and came back to a large, ready-made justice court's practice. Of course he drifted into criminal practice; but he has made a fine income out of that, and is the shrewdest, some folks say the least scrupulous, political manager in the county. And so, Harry, you have persuaded him to cast in his lot with the party of principle, have you? and he is packing the primaries?""I see nothing dishonest in our trying to get our friends out to vote at the primaries, sir.""Of course not, but he may not stop there. However, I want Bailey elected, and I am glad he will work for us;what's his price?"
Harry blushed a little. "I believe he would like to be city attorney, sir," said he; and Mr. Lossing laughed.
"Would he make a bad one?" asked Mrs. Carriswood.
"He would make the best kind of a one," replied Harry, with youthful fervor; "he's a ward politician and all that, I know; but he has it in him to be an uncommon deal more!
And I say, sir, do you know that he and the old man will take twenty-five thousand of the stock at par if we turn ourselves into a corporation?""How about this new license measure? won't that bear a little bit hard on the old man?" This from Mr. Lossing, who was biting his cigar in deep thought.
"That will not prevent his doing his duty; why, the old man for very pride will be the first to obey the law. You'll SEE!"Six months later they did see, since it was mostly due to Fitzmaurice's efforts that the reform candidate was elected; as a consequence, Tommy became prosecuting attorney; and, to the amazement of the critics, made the best prosecuting attorney that the city had ever known.
It was during the campaign that Mrs. Carriswood met him.
