Part 28

"What was his name--this brakeman's?" demanded Mr. King.

"I don't know, sir," said the little, thin clerk. "Jim--that was all I knew him by. I used to see him of a morning when I was coming to the office, and he was waiting to take his train. He was a steady fellow, Jim was," he added, anxiously scanning the handsome face beneath the white hair.

"I don't doubt that," said old Mr. King hastily. "I don't in the least doubt it."

"And he wasn't given to drink, sir," the little, thin clerk cried abruptly, "although some did say it who shouldn't; for there were many after Jim's place. He had an easy run. And----"

"Yes, yes; well, now what I want to know," said Mr. King interrupting the stream, Polly and Jasper on either side having a hard time to control their impatience, "is where this 'Jim,' as you call him, lived, and what was his last name."

"That I don't know, sir," said the little, thin clerk. "I only know he had a family, for once in a while when I had a minute to spare he'd get to talking about 'em, when we met. Jim was awful fond of 'em; that any one could see."

"Yes, well, now what would he say?" asked the old gentleman, trying to hurry matters along. The pompous official had his eye on the clock. It might go hard for the little, thin clerk in his seedy coat, if he took too much time from office hours.

"Why, he had one girl who was crazy about music," said the little clerk, "and--"

"Oh dear me!" exclaimed Polly. Old Mr. King heard her sigh at his side, and he cried, "Well, what else?"

"Why, I've heard Jim say more'n once he'd live on bread and water if he could only give his daughter a chance. And there were his three boys."

"Three boys," echoed Mr. King sharply.

"Yes, sir. I saw 'em round the train once or twice; they were likely chaps, it seemed to me." The little, thin clerk, a bachelor with several unmarried sisters on his hands for support, sighed deeply.

"Well, now," cried Mr. King, thinking it quite time to bring the interview to a close, "I'd take it quite kindly if you'd find out for me all you can about this Jim. A member of my family was on the train last night, who but for this noble brakeman might--might--bless me! There is my card." The old gentleman pulled out one from his cardcase, then fell to wiping his face violently.

"What is your name?" asked Jasper, seeing that his father couldn't speak.

"Hiram Potter," said the little clerk. The pompous official drew near, and looked over his shoulder at the card. "Oh! why--Mr. King!" he cried, all the pomposity suddenly gone. "I beg your pardon; what can I do for you, sir?"

"Nothing whatever, sir." Mr. King waved him away. "Well, now, Mr. Potter, if you'll be so very good as to get this information for me as soon as possible and bring it up to my house, I'll be very much indebted to you." With a bow to him, in which the official was nowise included, the old gentleman and Polly and Jasper went off down the stairs again.

"Finkle, you're caught this time; you're in a hole," the brother officials sang out when the card had been displayed around the office. "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes," said more than one.

Finkle tried to brave out the dismay he felt at having offended the powerful millionaire railroad director, but he made but a poor show of it. Meanwhile the little, thin clerk, slipping the precious card into his seedy coat pocket, clambered up to his high stool, his mind busy with plans to unearth all possible information concerning Jim, the brakeman, as soon as the big clock up on the wall should let them out of the office.

"Polly, my dear," old Mr. King kept saying, as they went down the stairs, and he held her hand very closely, "I think this Potter--a very good sort of a man he seems to be, too--will find out all we want to know about Jim. I really do, Polly; so we won't worry about it, child."

Nevertheless, on top of all the rest that was worrying her, Polly had a sorry enough time, to keep her troubles from showing on her face. And after dinner, when the bell pealed violently, she gave a great start and turned quite pale.

Jasper saw it. "I don't believe it's any bad news, Polly," he hastened to say reassuringly, and longing to comfort, though he couldn't imagine the reason.

"Oh, where's Polly?" She heard the girls' voices out in the hall, and ran out to meet them. "Oh dear me!" she cried at sight of their faces that confirmed her worst fears.

"Yes, oh Polly, it's just as I said," cried Leslie Fyle, precipitating herself against Polly. "Now, girls, keep back; I'm going to tell her first."

"Well, we are all going to tell too, Les; that's what we've come for," cried the others, crowding up.

"Oh, what is it?" cried Polly, standing quite still, and feeling as if she never could hold up her head again now that the picnic was lost through her.

"I shall tell, myself," declared Sarah bluntly. "I'm the one, it seems, that made all the trouble, so it really belongs to me, I should think, to be the first speaker."

Polly folded her hands tightly together, while the babel went on, feeling that if she didn't hear the dreaded news soon, she should fly off to Mamsie.

"Miss Salisbury said--" She could hear little scraps of chatter.