Flood Tide Read online

  CHAPTER XIII

  A NEWCOMER ENTERS

  The next day Mr. Howard Snelling made his appearance at the Spenceworkshop.

  Bob was fitting wire netting to some metal uprights and struggling tofocus his mind on what he was doing enough to forget that DelightHathaway was on the other side of the partition when from the windowabove the bench he saw Cynthia Galbraith come rolling up to the gate inher runabout, accompanied by a strikingly handsome stranger.

  He hurried out to meet them.

  Her father and Roger, the girl said, had gone to a yacht race atHyannis, so she had brought Mr. Snelling over. She introduced the twomen but refused somewhat curtly to come in, explaining that she wouldbe back, or some one else would, to fetch the guest home to Belleportfor luncheon. Then, without a backward glance, she started the engineand disappeared around the curve of the Harbor Road.

  Perhaps it was just as well, Robert Morton reflected, that she had notaccepted his invitation to come in, for to bring her and Delighttogether at this delicate juncture might result in awkwardness;nevertheless, it certainly was something unprecedented for Cynthia tobe so brusque and be in such a hurry. The enigma puzzled him, and hefound it recurring to his mind persistently. However, he resolutelyshook it off and turned his attention instead to his new acquaintance.

  He was, he could not but admit, quite unprepared to find Mr. HowardSnelling, his future chief, possessed of so attractive a personality.Mr. Galbraith, when alluding to the expert craftsman, had nevermentioned his age, and Bob had gleaned the impression that the manbefore whose ability the entire Galbraith shipbuilding plant bowed downwas middle-aged, possibly even elderly. Therefore to be confronted bysome one in the early forties was a distinct shock.

  Snelling's hair was, to be sure, sprinkled lightly with gray, but thishint of maturity was given the lie by his ruddy, unlined countenanceand the youthfulness with which he wore his clothes. A good tailor hadevidently found a model worthy of his skill and had tried to live up tothe task set him, for everything in the stranger's attitude andappearance proclaimed smartness and the _savoir faire_ of the man abouttown. Yet Howard Snelling was something far better than either afashion plate or a society darling. He was energy personified. Itspoke in every motion of his strong, fine hands, in the quick turn ofhis head, in the alert attention with which he listened. Nothingescaped his well-trained eye. One's very thoughts seemed to be at hismercy. Mingling, however, with these more astute qualities andcounterbalancing them was a winning tact and courtesy which instantlyput another at his ease. Without these characteristics Mr. Snellingwould have been unbearable; but with them he was thoroughly charming.

  "Well, Morton, I am glad to have a chance to meet you in the flesh," hesaid, as they still loitered at the gate. "The Galbraiths have sungyour praises until I began to think you a sort of myth. You certainlyhave something to live up to if you are to reach the reputation theyhave painted of your virtues. Mr. Galbraith, in particular, thinksthere is no obstacle that you cannot conquer."

  He swept his eye curiously over the young man before him.

  "You mustn't believe a word of what they've told you, Mr. Snelling,"laughed Robert Morton. "Our friends are always over-indulgent to ourfaults. When I begin work under you, a thing I am greatlyanticipating, you will find out what a duffer I really am."

  The elder man smiled.

  "I'm ready to take the chance," said he.

  "Besides," Bob went on, "Mr. Galbraith has given you something of acharacter too. He has frightened me clean out of my life with histales of your--"

  "Pooh! Nonsense!" broke in Mr. Snelling deprecatingly. "I like myjob, that's all; and Mr. Galbraith and I happen to hit it off."Nevertheless Bob could see that he was pleased by the flattery.

  It was on his tongue's end to voice his thought and add that the manwho could not get on with a person of Mr. Snelling's adroitness anddiplomacy would be hard to please; but although he did not utter thewords he felt them to be true.

  "Now," began the New Yorker with a swift change of subject, "let us getdown to business. How are we going to work this thing? You must coachme. I gather I am being employed on quite a delicate mission. Myinstructions are to come in here as a friend of yours and theGalbraiths, and without raising the suspicion that I have much of anyknowledge about boats, I am to help get this invention into workableshape. Any parts we lack, any drawings we wish made, any materials weneed I have authority to procure from our Long Island plant. There isto be no stint as to expense. The enterprise is to be carried throughto the finish properly."

  Robert Morton gasped.

  "I had no idea Mr. Galbraith meant to go into it to such lengths," hemurmured.

  "Oh, Mr. Galbraith never does things by halves when once he isinterested," was the reply. "Besides, he has a hunter's scent for thecommercial. He says there is a live idea here that has money in it,and that's enough for him. Anyway, whether there is or not," Snellingadded hurriedly, "we are to humor the old gentleman's whims and get hisidea so he can handle it."

  "It is tremendously generous of Mr. Galbraith."

  Howard Snelling regarded his companion quizzically for a moment, thenremarked with gravity:

  "Oh, there is a kind heart in Mr. Galbraith, in spite of all hisbusiness instincts."

  "Had you ever met the rest of the family before now?" questioned Bobmore with a desire to turn the channel of conversation than because hehad any interest in the matter.

  The inquiry, idly made, produced an unexpected result, visibly throwingthe expert out of his imperturbable composure; he flushed, stammered,and bit his lip before he successfully conquered his confusion:

  "I--eh--oh, yes," was his reply. "I've been a dinner guest at the NewYork house several times; been sent for on a pinch to help out. ThenMr. Galbraith summons me there occasionally for consultation onbusiness matters. The Belleport place is attractive, isn't it?"

  "It's corking!"

  "I suppose you spend a lot of time over there," ventured Snelling,lighting a gold-tipped Egyptian cigarette and offering Bob one.

  Something in the question, he could not have told what, caused RobertMorton to dart a quick, furtive glance at the speaker.

  Mr. Snelling was smoking and blowing indifferently into the air filmyrings of smoke, but through it the disconcerted young man encounteredhis penetrating gaze.

  "I don't get over there very often," said Bob. "This invention keepsme rather busy."

  "Of course, of course!" was the cordial response. "And now as to ourpolicy on this deal. I shall follow your lead, understand. Anyassertion you see fit to make you can trust me to swear to. You mayintroduce me to the old chap as your college pal, even your long-lostbrother, if you choose."

  "I hardly think that will be necessary," Robert Morton answered, a hintof coldness in his voice. "I shall simply introduce you for what youare, Mr. Galbraith's friend--"

  "And yours," smiled Mr. Snelling, graciously placing a hand on theyoung man's shoulder.

  It was unaccountable, absurd, that Bob should have shrunk at the touch;nevertheless he did so.

  "Don't you think," he replied abruptly, "that the sooner we go in andget to work the better? How long do you expect to be able to stayhere?"

  Again the color crept into Snelling's cheek, but this time he was quitemaster of himself.

  "I cannot tell yet. It will depend to some extent on how we get on."

  "I suppose you really can't be spared from the Long Island plant agreat while."

  "As to that, Mr. Galbraith is all-powerful," was his smiling answer."What he wills must be arranged. Fortunately just now business isrunning slack, at least my part of it is. Most of our contracts arewell on the way to completion and others can carry them out, so I canstay down here as long as is necessary. It can go as my vacation, ifworst comes to worst. Hence you see," concluded he, pulling a spray ofhoneysuckle to pieces, "we don't need to rush things."

  They entered the gate, passed the low, silvered ho
use now almost buriedin blossoming roses, and following the clam-shell path that led to theworkshop found Willie, his spectacles pushed back from his forehead,dragging a pile of new boards down from the shelf.

  "We have a visitor, Mr. Spence," Bob said. "Mr. Snelling, a friend ofMr. Galbraith's and--" he paused the fraction of a second, "and ofmine. He has come over to spend the morning and wants to see whatwe're doing."

  The little old inventor reached out a horny palm.

  "I'm glad to see you, sir," affirmed he simply. "Any friend of Bob'swon't want for a welcome here. Set right down an' make yourself tohome, or stand up an' poke found, if it suits you better. That's whatMr. Galbraith did. I reckon there warn't a corner of this whole placehe didn't fish into. 'Twas amusin' to see him. He said it took himback to the days when he was a boy. I couldn't but smile to watch himfussin' with the plane an' saw an' hammer like as if they was oldfriends he hadn't clapped eyes on for years."

  "It does feel good to handle tools when you haven't done so for a longtime," assented Mr. Snelling.

  "Likely you yourself, sir, ain't had a hammer nor nothin' in your handsfor quite a spell," went on Willie, with a benign smile. "They don'tlook as if you ever had had."

  Howard Snelling glanced down at his slender, well-modelled hands withtheir carefully manicured nails.

  "I haven't done much carpentry of late years," he confessed. "It wouldbe quite a novelty were I to be turned loose in a place like this. Ishould like nothing better."

  "You don't say so!" responded Willie, with pleased surprise. "Well,well! Ain't that queer now? I'd much sooner 'a' put you down as agentleman who wouldn't want to get into no dirt or clutter."

  "You don't know me."

  "Evidently not," the old man rejoined. "Well, you can have your wishfur's carpenterin' goes. You can putter round here much as you like."

  Mr. Snelling moved toward the long workbench.

  "This is a neat thing," remarked he, regarding the unfinished inventionquite as if he had never heard of it before. "What are you doing here?"

  A glow of satisfaction spread over the little fellow's kindly face.

  "Why, me an' Bob," he explained, "are tinkerin' with a notion I gotinto my head a while ago. The idee kitched me in the night, an' I comedownstairs an' commenced tacklin' it right away. But I didn't see mycourse ahead, an' 'twarn't 'til Bob hove in sight an' lent a helpin'hand that the contraption begun to take shape. But for him 'twouldnever have amounted to a darn thing, I reckon. I ain't much on theputtin' together, anyhow, an' this was such a whale of a scheme it hadme floored. But it didn't seem to strike Bob abeam. He went at itlike a dogfish for bait, an' he's beginnin' to tow the thing out of thefog now into clear water."

  "It's quite a scheme," observed Snelling, with an assumed nonchalance."How did you happen on it?"

  "Them idees just come to me," was the ingenuous reply. "Some brains,like some gardens, grow one thing, some another. Mine seems to turnout stuff like this."

  "It's pretty good stuff."

  "It's a lot of bother to me sometimes," said the old man simply."Still, I enjoy it. I'd be badly off if it warn't for the thinkin' Ido. What a marvel thinkin' is, ain't it? You can think all sorts ofthings; can travel in your mind to 'most every corner of the globe.You can think yourself rich, think yourself poor, think yourself young,think yourself happy. There's nothin' you want you can't think youhave, an' dreamin' about it is 'most as good as gettin' it."

  Mr. Snelling nodded.

  "Sometimes I think myself an artist, sometimes a musician," went on thewistful voice. "Then again I think myself a great man an' doin'somethin' worth while in the world. Then there's times I've thoughtmyself with a family of children an' planned how they should learnmor'n ever I did." He mused, then banishing the seriousness of histone by an embarrassed laugh added, "I've waked up afterward to thinkhow much less it cost just to imagine 'em."

  The heart that would not have been won by the naivete of the speakerwould have been stony indeed!

  Howard Snelling flashed a tribute of honest admiration into the gentleold face.

  "Dreams are cheap things," rambled on the little inventor. "SometimesI figger the Lord gave 'em to those who didn't have much else, so'st tomake 'em think they are kings. If you can dream there ain't a thing inall the world ain't yours."

  The conversation had furnished Snelling with the opportunity to studymore minutely the object on the table, and he now said with a motion ofhis hand toward it:

  "Wouldn't it be rather nice if you had some netting of coarser mesh andwhich wouldn't corrode?"

  "Oh, this screenin' ain't what I'd choose," returned Willie, "but 'twasall I had. I ripped it off the front door. Tiny didn't fancy my doin'it very well. 'Tain't often she's ruffled, an' even this time shedidn't say much; still, I could see it didn't altogether please her."

  "Tiny?" interpolated Mr. Snelling.

  "My aunt, Miss Morton, who keeps house for Mr. Spence," explained Bobwith proud directness.

  "I wasn't aware you had relatives down here," the boat-builderobserved, turning toward Robert Morton with interest. "I imagined youcame to the Cape because of the Galbraiths."

  "Oh, no. I didn't know the Galbraith's were here until the other day."

  "Really!"

  The single word was weighted with incredulousness.

  "'Twas the funniest thing you ever knew how it happened," put in Willie.

  Robert Morton tried to cut him short.

  "A package for the Galbraiths was sent to me by mistake; that was how Isecured their address," he said.

  Snelling looked puzzled.

  "That warn't it at all, Bob," persisted Willie. "You ain't tellin' ithalf as queer as 'twas."

  It was useless to attempt to check the little old man now. Artlesslyhe babbled the story, and Howard Snelling, listening, constructed agood part of the romance interwoven with it from the young man's colorand irritation.

  "So there were two beauties in the case!" commented he, when the talewas finished.

  "There were two silver buckles," came sharply from Bob.

  "Which amounts to the same thing," smiled the New Yorker.

  Robert Morton vouchsafed no reply.

  "Have your friends the Galbraiths met this--other lady?" asked Snellinginsinuatingly.

  "No, not yet."

  "I see."

  There was something offensive in the observation; something, too, thatcompelled Robert Morton even against his will to add with dignity:

  "I am expecting to take Miss Hathaway over to see them some day soon."

  He told himself, as he uttered the words, that he owed Howard Snellingno explanation and that it was ridiculous of him to make one;nevertheless he felt impelled to do so.

  Mr. Snelling smiled superciliously.

  "That will be very pleasant, won't it?" he remarked.

  One could not have quarreled with the sentiment, but its blandnessconveyed an exasperating disbelief.

  The young man bit his lip angrily.

  At the same instant there was a sound at the door.

  "Aunt Tiny wants to know--"

  The three men glanced up simultaneously, and Mr. Snelling's jaw droppedwith amazement.

  "I beg your pardon," murmured Delight. "I did not know there was anyone here."

  "It's only Mr. Snelling, a friend of Bob's," Willie hastened to say.

  "Mr. Snelling is also a friend of Mr. Galbraith's," interrupted RobertMorton, enraged that it fell to him to perform the introduction. "Thisis Miss Hathaway, Mr. Snelling."

  "I am charmed to meet you, Miss Hathaway," Howard Snelling declared,bending low over the girl's outstretched hand. "I did not realize youwere an inmate of the house." Then with a sidelong glance at Bob headded: "Wilton certainly abounds in beautiful surprises."

  As with unveiled wonder he scanned the exquisite face, Robert Morton,looking on, could have strangled him with a relish.