Dawn Eleanor Porter (free novels to read txt) 📖

didn't want him to know, yet, did you?" he added,looking a bit anxiously into the girl's somewhat flushed face as heclosed the hall door.

"Quite right. No, I don't want him to know yet. There's so much to bedone to get started, and he'd want to help. And he couldn't help aboutthat part; and't would only fret him and make him unhappy."

"My idea exactly," nodded the man. "When we get the room, and thegoods there, we'll want to tell him then."

"Of course, you'll tell him then," cried the girl.

"Yes, indeed, of course we will!" exclaimed the man, very evidentlynot noticing the change in the pronoun. "Now, if you'll wait a minuteI'll get that letter, then we'll go out to Keith on the piazza."

It was a short letter, and one quickly read; and very soon they wereout on the piazza again. But Miss Dorothy said "No, no!" very hastilywhen he urged her to go around on the other side; and she added, "Ireally must go home now," as she hurried down the steps. Daniel Burtonwent then around the corner of the piazza to explain her absence tohis son Keith. But he need not have hurried. His son Keith was notthere.

For all the good progress that was made on that first day, thingsseemed to move a bit slowly after that. To begin with, the matter ofselecting a suitable room gave no little difficulty. The right room inthe right location seemed not to be had; and Daniel Burton evensuggested that they use some room in his own house. But after a littlethought he gave up this idea as being neither practical nor desirable.

Meanwhile he was in daily communication with Dorothy Parkman, and thetwo spent hours together, thrashing out the different problems one byone as they arose, sometimes at her home, more frequently at his; for"home" to Dorothy in Hinsdale meant the Sanborn house, where Mazie wasalways in evidence—and Daniel Burton did not care for Mazie.Especially he did not care for her advice and assistance on theproblems that were puzzling him now.

To be sure, at his own home there was Keith; but he contrived to avoidKeith on most occasions. Besides, Keith himself seemed quite inclinedto keep out of the way (particularly if he heard the voice of DorothyParkman), which did not disturb Daniel Burton in the least, under thecircumstances. Until they got ready to tell Keith, he was rather gladthat he did keep so conveniently out of the way. And as Dorothy seemedalways glad to avoid seeing Keith or talking to him, there was reallyvery little trouble on that score; and they could have theirconsultations in peace and quietness.

And there were so many of them—those consultations! When at last theroom was found, there were the furnishings to select, and the finalplans to be made for the real work to be done. David Patch provedhimself to be invaluable then. As if by magic a long table appeared,and the coils and the tape, and all the various paraphernalia of aproperly equipped winding-room marched smoothly into place. Meanwhilethree soldiers and one civilian stood ready and eager to be taught,needing only the word of command to begin.

"And now we'll tell Keith," said Daniel Burton.

"Yes; now you must tell Keith," said Miss Dorothy.

"To-morrow at nine."

"To-morrow at nine," bowed Miss Dorothy.

"I'll bring him down and we'll show him."

"And I do so hope he'll like it."

"Of course, he'll like it!" cried Daniel Burton. "You wait and see."

But she did not see. She was not there to see.

Promptly at nine o'clock Daniel Burton appeared at the winding-roomwith Keith. But Dorothy Parkman was nowhere in sight. He waited ten,fifteen minutes; then he told Keith the story of the room, and of whatthey hoped to do there, fuming meanwhile within himself because he hadto tell it alone.

But it was not lack of interest that kept Miss Dorothy away. It couldnot have been; for that very afternoon she sought Daniel Burton outand asked eagerly what his son had said, and how he had taken it. Andher eyes shone and her breath quickened at the story Daniel Burtontold; and so eager was she to know every little word that had fallenfrom Keith's lips that she kept Daniel Burton repeating over and overeach minute detail.

Yet the next day when Keith and four other blind youths began work inearnest, she never once went near Keith's chair, though she went oftento the others, dropping here and there a word of encouragement or atouch of aiding fingers. When night came, however, and she found anopportunity for a few words alone with Daniel Burton, she told himthat, in her opinion, Keith had done the best work of the five, andthat it was perfectly marvelous the way he was taking hold. And againher eyes sparkled and her breath quickened; and she spent the entireten minutes talking about Keith to his father. Yet the next day, whenthe work began again, she still went to the back of every chair butKeith's.

Things happened very rapidly after that. It was not a week before thefirst long table in the big room was filled with eager workers, andthe second one had to be added to take care of the newcomers.

The project was already the talk of the town, and not the leastexcited and interested of the observers was John McGuire's mother.When the news came of the second table's being added to the equipmentof the place, she hurried over to Susan's kitchen without delay—though with the latest poem of her son's as the ostensible excuse.

"It's 'The Stumbling-Block,'" she announced. "He just got it doneyesterday, an' I copied it for you. I think it's the best yet," shebeamed, handing over a folded paper. "It's kind of long, so don't stopto read it now. Say, is it true? Have they had to put in another tableat that blind windin'-room?"

"They have."

"Well, if that ain't the greatest! I think it's just grand. They tookmy John down there to see the place yesterday. Do you know? That boyis a different bein' since his book an' his writin'. An' he's learnin'to do such a lot