Dow and Cassie exchanged looks.
“Now we come to the hard part,” Dow said. “Cassie, this is your department. Go on. Tell him.”
“Don’t tell me,” Leonidas said, “that Estelle holds a mortgage, or something like that!”
“No, but you see, the house cost—”
“Considerably more than was planned. I know,” Leonidas said. “I’ve already gathered that. About three times the original figure, wasn’t it?”
Cassie’s nod shattered his hope that he had overestimated the deficit.
”Just about. But it doesn’t cost you a cent more. You get four dollars and sixty-three cents back. Give him the check, Dow. There! That’s how Estelle happened to have a key. See?”
Leonidas shook his head.
“Well, it was my idea. We got the best of everything for practically nothing,” Cassie said happily. “We got the gas things and the electric things at cost for letting the gas and electric people demonstrate them, and hold cooking classes, and lectures, and all.”
“Er—here?” Leonidas asked.
“Yes. And because Rutherford got the nurseries a big city tree order, then we got all your trees and shrubs free. And then we got the street and sewer assessments cut for letting the mayor make a speech and say this was Dalton the Garden City’s answer to the challenge of modern progress and housing. We had Dalton Day.”
“Er-here?”
“Yes. Rutherford had to call out his Emergency Strike and Riot Squad, there were so many people. Then Blaine’s did the linoleum and the decorating and the furniture for almost nothing, and then they used it as a demonstration model. But they were awfully careful, Bill. Everything was roped off, and people weren’t let touch a thing. And the linens and the kitchen furnishings and dishes are from the Tuesday Club, in return for their study of modem housing.”
“You mean that the Tuesday Club actually came here and studied this house?”
“They just camped here,” Cassie said. “They gave you the doorbell chimes, too, and Mrs. Pettingill’s husband got the radios wholesale. And Estelle correlated all the findings and wrote them up in a paper. She called it The House Moderne. That’s why she had a key. But you’ve got four dollars and sixty-three cents left, Bill. Isn’t that fine?”
Leonidas laughed until the tears rolled down his cheeks.
“I think it’s the funniest thing I ever heard! So that’s why the cop knew about the furnace, and why those two women— Oh, my! Is there anyone in Dalton who didn’t have a hand in the building of my house?”
“I don’t think so,” Dow said. “All of Dalton and Carnavon and the surrounding towns have seen it at least twice. We never planned it as a community venture. It somehow just got to be one. And you really don’t mind?”
“After that superb refrigerator and the library ladder,” Leonidas said, “I could forgive almost anything. Dow, before we get sidetracked on the door-talker gadget, tell me something. On the train—”
“Wait,” Dow said. “While he’s in such a receptive mood, Cassie, hadn’t we better tell him about the other trouble?”
Cassie nodded. “Let’s get it over with. It’s about a woman, Bill.”
“A mousy woman?” Leonidas asked eagerly. “Merciful heavens, no! She’s a ramping termagant. Whatever made you think she was a mousy woman?”
“Well,” Leonidas said, “on the train this morning there was a beautiful girl, and also a—”
“That girl!” Cassie said. “I’m so sick of hearing about her. Dow’s talked of nothing else. Was she really beautiful?”
“She really was. And with her—”
“It took all the sterling in my character not to ditch you on the train, Bill, and chase after her,” Dow said. “That girl is going to be my life work. After I get you and your house settled, I’m going to find that girl and marry her.”
“I wish Estelle Otis could hear you say that!” Cassie said darkly. “She’d make hash of you. Bill, Dow is engaged to Elsa Otis. Isn’t that awful?”
“Hideous,’! Leonidas said promptly. He knew Elsa. Elsa was a buck-toothed replica of her mother. “How did it ever happen?”
“I can’t think,” Cassie said. “Dow doesn’t seem to know, either. He’s miserable about it, and there’s northing he can do. Estelle won’t ever let one of the Dows slip out of her family. She’s already approached the bishop about the wedding.”
“I should be inclined to blackmail the bishop, myself,” Leonidas said. “Is Elsa the ramping termagant you mentioned, Cassie?”
“That dumpy thing? Oh, no! The trouble is with your next-door neighbor. That is, she’s not very next-door, but she’s the nearest neighbor you have. She says this house is hideous, and loathsome beyond belief, and you spoil her view, and she’s going to drive you out.”
“Those,” Leonidas said, “are the ravings of a jealous woman. It’s nothing but jaundiced envy. No sane woman could say such things. She can’t mean it.”
“Well,” Dow said, “I didn’t think she did at first. But then she disinherited me. You see, she’s an aunt of mine. That is, she’s an aunt of my mother’s. I was named for her favorite brother. Chauncey Winthrop. That’s why I prefer to be called just Dow. She’s pretty sore, and she’s been doing a lot of ominous muttering. It all boils down to the fact that she has decided to drive you out.”
“Nonsense,” Leonidas said. “How can she?”
“Legally, she can’t. The land title is clear all the way back to Chief Big Toe, and the house complies with the building codes and housing regulations. I’ve had half of City Hall up here trying to find a single thing that she could rightfully carp about, and there’s not one. On the other hand, Bill, I’ve got a nasty feeling that Aunt Medora will find some nasty way of annoying you. She’s a master harrier. She’s renowned for her harrying.”
“Her name is Medora?”
“Uh-huh. Mehitable Dora, but she turned it into Medora. She’s mother’s aunt, but she’s not much older than mother. She was grandmother’s youngest—”
“What does she look like?” Leonidas twirled his pince-nez casually.
“She’s an old harridan!” Cassie said. “Her teeth click, and she wears a red wig. She’s
