After that they motored through the residence district, and Mrs.
Weatherbee expressed greater wonder and delight at the rows of thrifty
homes, each with its breadth of green lawn and budding shrubbery, where
hardly six months ago had been unreclaimed acres of sage. And so, at last,
they came to the city park, where the road wound smooth and firm between
broad stretches of velvety green, broken by beds of blossoming tulips,
nodding daffodils, clumps of landscape foliage putting forth new leaves.
Sprinklers, supplied by a limpid canal that followed the drive, played
here, there, everywhere, and under all this moisture and the warm rays of
the spring sun, the light soil teemed with awakening life. Then, finally,
the car skirted a low, broad mound, in which was set the source of the
viaduct, a basin of masonry, brimming with water crystal clear and fed by
two streams that gushed from a pedestal of stone on the farther rim. "How
beautiful!" she exclaimed. "How incredible! And there is to be a statue to
complete it. A faun, a water nymph, some figure to symbolize the spirit of
the place."
"I can't tell you much about the statue," replied Bailey, watching the
curve ahead. "Mr. Banks engaged the sculptor; some noted man in the east.
He is carrying the responsibility; it was his idea. But it was to have
been in place, ready to be unveiled by the fifteenth, and there was some
delay."
After that, the mayor was silent, devoting his attention to the speeding
car. They left the park and, taking the river road, arrived presently at
the bungalow. The shingles still lacked staining, the roof was incomplete,
but a sprinkler threw rainbow mist over the new lawn, which was beginning
to show shades of green. A creeper, planted at the corner of the veranda,
already sent out pale, crinkled shoots.
Lucky Banks came beaming down the steps, and Annabel, in a crisp frock of
royal blue taffeta, stood smiling a welcome as the automobile stopped.
Then Bailey, springing down to throw open the door of the tonneau, lifted
his voice to say: "And this--is the home of the Editor of the _Weatherbee
Record_ and Mrs. Daniels."
They did not at once grasp his meaning, and the prospector made it clear
as they went up to the veranda. "The house is a wedding present from Mrs.
Banks," he said; "and Mr. Bailey, here, put up the lot, so's I thought
this would come in handy; it will take quite a bunch of furniture."
There was a silent moment while Geraldine stood regarding the envelope he
had put in her hand. She was looking her best in a trim, tailored suit of
gray. There was a turquoise facing to the brim of her smart gray hat, but
her only ornaments were a sorority pin fastened to the lapel of her coat
and a gold button that secured her watch in the small breast pocket made
for it. At last she looked up, an unusual flush warmed her face, and she
began: "It's perfectly lovely of you--we are so surprised--we never can
thank you enough."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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