<h2 id="c16">CHAPTER XVI <br/><span class="small">A STARTLING DISCOVERY</span></h2>
<p>“How funny!” exclaimed Tavia, as she and
Dorothy began to ascend the stairs in the deep,
dark hallway of the apartment house that Aunt
Winnie owned, and in which Miss Mingle and her
sister lived. It was six stories high and had two
apartments on each floor. A porter, with the unconcern
of long habit, carelessly carried a rosy,
cooing baby on his shoulder up the long flights of
stairs, his destination being an apartment on the
sixth floor. The mother of the child climbed up
after him deep in thought, probably as to what
to have for dinner that day.</p>
<p>“No, there are no elevators,” explained Dorothy.
“This house is one of the early apartments,
built before the people knew the necessity for such
luxuries as elevators.”</p>
<p>“Luxuries!” said Tavia, stopping to catch her
breath, “if elevators are luxuries in a six-story
house, I’ll vote for luxuries!”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_150">[150]</div>
<p>“Just one more flight,” said Dorothy, “it’s the
fifth floor, the left apartment, I believe,” she consulted
a card as they paused on a landing.</p>
<p>“I don’t wonder now at Miss Mingle looking
haggard,” said Tavia, “if she must face this climb
every time she comes back. Imagine doing this
several times a day!”</p>
<p>“At least, one would get all the necessary exercising,
and in wet, cold weather, could have both
amusement and exercise, sliding down the banisters
and climbing back,” Dorothy said, determined
to see the bright side of it.</p>
<p>Tavia slipped in a heap on a step and gasped:
“Yes, indeed, I’ll admit there may be advantages
in the way of exercise.”</p>
<p>“Courage,” said Dorothy laughing, “we have
only ten steps more!”</p>
<p>While Dorothy resolutely dragged Tavia up
the last ten steps, Miss Mingle appeared in the
hall.</p>
<p>“I heard your cheerful laughter,” she said with
a smile, “and I said to sister, prepare the pillows
for the girls to fall on, after their awful climb.
But I didn’t say,” she added, playfully, “feather
pillows to fall on the girls!”</p>
<p>“We really enjoyed the climb,” said Dorothy.</p>
<p>“It was lots of fun,” agreed Tavia.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_151">[151]</div>
<p>They entered a room which at first glance
seemed a confused jumble of beautiful furniture,
magazines, newspapers and books, grocer and
butcher and gas bills, and a gentle-faced woman
reclining languidly in an easy chair. Her smooth
black hair fell gracefully over her ears; she had
large gray eyes, whose sweet patience was the
most marked characteristic of her face.</p>
<p>“My sister, Mrs. Bergham, has been quite ill,”
explained Miss Mingle, as she rushed about trying
to clear off two chairs for the girls to sit on.
Every chair in the room seemed to be littered with
what Dorothy thought was a unique collection of
various sorts of jars, tea pots, and cups; and last
week’s laundry seemed to cover the radiators and
tables. The room, however, for all the confusion,
was quaint and artistic, and had odd little corners
fixed up here and there.</p>
<div class="fig">> <ANTIMG src="images/fig2.jpg" alt="“MY SISTER, MRS. BERGHAM, HAS BEEN QUITE ILL,” EXPLAINED MISS MINGLE." width-obs="500" height-obs="775" /> <p class="center"><span class="small">“MY SISTER, MRS. BERGHAM, HAS BEEN QUITE ILL,” EXPLAINED MISS MINGLE.</span></p> </div>
<p>“I’m so ill and I’m afraid I’ve been quite selfish,
demanding so much of sister’s time!” Mrs. Bergham
said, extending a long white hand to the girls,
and with her other removing a scarf from her
shoulders, allowing it to drop to the floor. Miss
Mingle immediately picked it up, folded it neatly,
and laid it on the window seat.</p>
<p>“I’ve had rather a sad Christmas,” she went
on. “Sister, it’s getting too warm in this room,”
and, removing a pillow from under her head, she
permitted that also to drop to the floor. Miss
Mingle stooped and picked it up.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_152">[152]</div>
<p>“There, there, dear,” said the latter, “I can’t
let you talk about it. The girls will tell you all
about their trip and you’ll forget the miserable
aches and pains.” She puffed and patted the pillows
on which her sister was resting.</p>
<p>Mrs. Bergham smiled languidly. “It’s so fine
to be young and strong,” she said. “I have two
small sons, and it made my Christmas so hard not
to have them with me. But I couldn’t take care of
them. They are such robust little fellows! Sister
decided, and I suppose she’s right—she always is—that
it would be best for me not to have the care
of them while I am so ill.” She sighed and smiled
patiently at Miss Mingle. “So we sent them away
to school. I did so count on having them with me
this holiday, but sister thought it would only be
a worry; didn’t you, dear?”</p>
<p>Miss Mingle hesitated just the fraction of a
second, then she answered cheerfully: “Mrs.
Bergham is so nervous, and the boys are such lively
little crickets, we didn’t have them home for
Christmas.”</p>
<p>“Children are sometimes such perfect cares,”
declared Tavia, feeling that something should be
said.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_153">[153]</div>
<p>“Then, too,” continued Mrs. Bergham, evidently
greatly enjoying the opportunity to talk about
herself to the helpless callers, “I’ve tried hard to
add a little to our income. I paint,” she arched
her straight, black eyebrows slightly. “Everything
was going along so beautifully, although it
is an expensive apartment to keep up, and I cared
nothing for myself, I like to keep a home for my
sister, and I worked and worked, and was so worried.
Don’t you like this apartment? I’ve grown
very fond of it.” She talked in a rambling way,
but her voice was pleasing and her manner quite
tranquil, so that Dorothy wondered how she said
so much with apparently little exertion.</p>
<p>“The night the telegram came,” said Miss Mingle,
“I thought she was dying, and I must say,”
she laughed, “that that alone saved you naughty
girls from receiving some horrible punishment.”
They all laughed at the remembrance of that last
night at Glenwood. “But when I got here,” continued
Miss Mingle, “my sister was much better, and
I was so relieved to find her just like her own dear
self, when I had expected to find her—very ill—that
I forgot everything, even having the boys
home, so that sister’s fatherless sons had no Santa
Claus this year.”</p>
<p>Tavia was curious. The furnishings of the
room were good, almost elaborate, but the carelessness
of it all at first hid the good points. Surely
Mrs. Bergham did not keep it up on her painting.
Tavia judged that, by the long, slender, almost
helpless hand and the whole poise of the woman.
And the two little boys at school! Could it be
possible, she thought, that Miss Mingle supported
the family?</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_154">[154]</div>
<p>“I’m sorry I am not well enough to arrange to
have you meet some of my young friends,” said
Mrs. Bergham. “We entertain a little, sister and
I. I know so many interesting young people. Bohemians,
sister calls them!”</p>
<p>Miss Mingle was arranging the books on top
of a bookcase and they fell with a clatter. If she
made any answer, it was lost in the noise.</p>
<p>At the name of “Bohemians” Dorothy brightened.
“I’ve never seen a real, live Bohemian!”
she exclaimed, clasping her hands together with
ecstasy.</p>
<p>“But we met an actress yesterday,” Tavia said,
hesitatingly.</p>
<p>Mrs. Bergham waved her hand in space. “I
mean real artists, people who have genius, who are
doing wonderful things for the world! We count
those among our friends,” she said.</p>
<p>“My!” thought Dorothy, “did Miss Mingle
belong to that society? Did she know the geniuses
of the world, and yet had never mentioned it to
the girls at school?” But Miss Mingle had little
to say. She finished arranging the books, and moving
swiftly, nervously about, she tried to bring
some kind of order out of the confusion in the
room.</p>
<p>“Do sit down, sister, this can all wait. I’m sure
the girls don’t mind if we are not in perfect
order,” said Mrs. Bergham.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_155">[155]</div>
<p>Dorothy and Tavia, in one breath, assured the
ladies that they didn’t mind a bit, and Tavia even
added, with the intention of making Miss Mingle
feel at ease, that it was “more home-like.”</p>
<p>“I never could sit up perfectly straight nor stay
comfortably near anything that was just where it
should be,” explained Mrs. Bergham. “My husband
loved that streak of disorder that was part
of my nature, but sister was always the most precise
and careful little creature.” She looked at
Miss Mingle with limpid, loving eyes. “Sister
was always the greatest girl for taking all the responsibility,
she was so hopelessly in love with
work in her girlhood! What a lovely time our
girlhood was! Isn’t it time for my broth?” she
asked, as she glanced at a small watch on her
wrist.</p>
<p>“Forgive me, dear,” said Miss Mingle, “I forgot.
I’ll prepare it immediately,” and she dropped
what she was doing and hurried to the kitchen.</p>
<p>Mrs. Bergham arose and walked to the window
seat, resting her elbows on some pillows. She
wore a light blue dressing gown, made on simple
lines, but so perfectly pretty that Dorothy and
Tavia decided at once to make one like it immediately,
on reaching home. The light blue shade
brought out the clear blue-grey of her eyes, and
her heavy dark lashes shaded the soft, white skin.
She sighed, and asked the girls to sit with her in
the window seat. In her presence Tavia felt very
awkward, young and inexperienced, and she sat
rather rigidly. Dorothy was more at ease and,
too, more critical of their hostess. She listened
to the quick, nervous steps of Miss Mingle as she
hurried about the kitchen, preparing nourishment
for her languid sister.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_156">[156]</div>
<p>“There isn’t much view from this window,”
said Tavia bluntly, more because she felt ill at
ease than because she had expected to see something
besides the tall, brown buildings across the
street. The buildings were high, no sky could
be seen from the window, and the sun did not
seem to penetrate the long line of stone buildings
across the way.</p>
<p>“Oh, there are disadvantages here, I know, but
I’m so fond of just this one room. The house is
in that part of the city most convenient to everything—that
is, everything worth while, of course.
So, sister decided it was best to stay here. However,
the rent is enormous. It was that mostly
which caused my breakdown. In six months time
our rent has been doubled by the landlord. I got
ill thinking about it, and I just had to send for
sister. Sister’s salary isn’t so large, and the constant
increase in our rent is a burden too great to
bear.”</p>
<p>“I’d move,” said Tavia, promptly.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_157">[157]</div>
<p>“But where would we find another place that
meets all the requirements as this place does? If
sister were always with me, we might come across
something suitable some time, but alone, I am of
little use in a business manner. Sister is so clever!
She can do everything so much better than I. My
illness is keeping me at home at present, and as my
sister will return to school directly, there is really
no time to look about for other quarters.” The
sufferer said this quite decidedly.</p>
<p>“Who raises the rents?” Dorothy tried to ask
the question naturally, but a lump seized her
throat, and she felt the blood rushing to her
cheeks.</p>
<p>“Oh, some agent. Several dozens of persons
have bought and sold this house, according to Mr.
Akerson, since we moved in.” The subject was evidently
beginning to bore Mrs. Bergham, for she
yawned. “What pretty hair you have, Miss
Dale,” she exclaimed, “so much like the gold the
poets sing about.”</p>
<p>Dorothy brushed back the tiny locks that persisted
in hanging about her ears, and she smiled
shyly.</p>
<p>“Can’t you refuse to pay the increases in the
rent?” asked Dorothy.</p>
<p>“Oh, these is always some good reason for the
increases,” answered Mrs. Bergham. “Some new
improvements, or some big expense attached to
maintaining a studio apartment, in fact, according
to Mr. Akerson, the reasons for raising our rent
are endless.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_158">[158]</div>
<p>Dorothy’s eyes met Tavia’s in a quick flash, as
she noted the name of the agent.</p>
<p>Then Miss Mingle came into the room with a
neatly-arranged tray for her sister. Mrs. Bergham
thanked her and waited patiently while little
Miss Mingle drew up a table to the window seat
and placed the things on it.</p>
<p>Mrs. Bergham held up a napkin. “I don’t want
to trouble, dear, but really I’ve used this napkin
several times. Just hand me any kind; I know
things haven’t been ironed or cared for as they
should be, but I don’t mind. There, that one is
all right. I’m an awful care; am I not?”</p>
<p>Miss Mingle squeezed her hand. “Just get
well and be your old, happy self again, that’s all
I ask.” She turned to the girls. “My sister and
her boys are all I have in the world to work and
live for,” she finished.</p>
<p>“I’m really so sorry, sister, that you did not
speak about the girls spending their holiday in
town. We could have a nice little dinner before
you all return to Glenwood,” suggested Mrs. Bergham.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_159">[159]</div>
<p>“Don’t think of it,” said Dorothy, shocked at
the idea of little Miss Mingle being burdened with
the additional care of trying to give a dinner for
Tavia and herself. Indeed, it would have been
more to Dorothy’s mind to have taken Miss
Mingle with her, and have her sit in Aunt
Winnie’s luxurious apartment, and be waited on
for just one day, as the little teacher was waiting
on her languid sister.</p>
<p>Tavia, too, thought, since the idea of increasing
any of Miss Mingle’s responsibilities was apt to
be brought up, it was the right moment to depart.</p>
<p>Dorothy held Miss Mingle’s hand as they were
leaving and said: “Mrs. Bergham told us of your
difficulty about the rent. I’m so sorry.”</p>
<p>“We are absolutely helpless,” said Miss
Mingle. “We are paying three times what the
apartment was originally rented for and there is
no logical reason why it should be so. The agent
says it’s the landlord’s commands, and if we don’t
like it we can move. It seems that this particular
landlord is money mad!”</p>
<p>“Oh,” cried Dorothy, “something must be
done!”</p>
<p>“The only thing that I can think of,” said Mrs.
Bergham, wiping two tears from her eyes, “is to
forget the whole tiresome business. It was horrid
of me to say anything at all, but it’s so much on
our minds that I cannot help talking about it.”</p>
<p>“I’m very glad indeed,” said Dorothy, “that
you did.”</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_160">[160]</div>
<p>“We were not bored by that story,” Tavia said,
“and we surely are very pleased to have had this
pleasure of becoming acquainted with Miss
Mingle’s sister.”</p>
<p>In another moment the girls began the weary
climb down the four flights of stairs.</p>
<p>Reaching the street Dorothy started off at a
mad pace.</p>
<p>“I’m so thoroughly provoked,” she said to
Tavia, who was a yard behind, “that I must walk
quickly or I’ll explode.”</p>
<p>“Well, I’m disgusted too, Dorothy, but I’ll take
a chance on exploding, I’m not used to six-day
walking races, however much you may be. And
incidentally, I must say I should have liked very
much to have shaken a certain person until all the
languidness was shaken out of her bones!”</p>
<p>“Shaken her!” cried Dorothy, “I should have
liked to spank her!”</p>
<p>“If that is an artistic temperament,” said Tavia,
“I never wish to meet another. Of all the lackadaisical
clinging vines; of all the sentimental, selfish
people that ever existed!”</p>
<p>“To think of that poor little woman teaching
school, and going without ordinary comforts, to
help support her sister in ease and relieve her of
the responsibility of bringing up her two children!”
Dorothy had slackened her pace and the
girls walked together, although still swinging
along rapidly.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_161">[161]</div>
<p>“A person without a temperament would have
moved instantly, but that creature stayed on and
on, paying every increase, getting the extra money
of course from Miss Mingle, just because she was
so fond of that one room!” Tavia mimicked
Mrs. Bergham’s voice and manner.</p>
<p>“Too languid to look for another,” said Dorothy,
her eyes aglow with indignation. “But,
Tavia, there is one thing certain. Dear Aunt
Winnie shall now know where the leak in her income
is,” said Dorothy.</p>
<p>Tavia did not reply, because a sudden idea had
leaped to her brain. She listened quietly while
Dorothy talked about Aunt Winnie’s business affairs,
her brain awhirl with the excitement of this
thing that had suddenly come to her; come as a
means of repaying Dorothy and Aunt Winnie for
all their loving kindness to her. To keep the idea
tucked away in the innermost regions of her mind,
she bit her tongue, so afraid was she that once
her lips opened the idea would burst forth. So
Dorothy talked on and on and Tavia only listened.</p>
<div class="pb" id="Page_162">[162]</div>
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