FullReads

At the end of six weeks we bought him a chauffeur’s outfit. The next day the sister arrived and Tufik brought her to Aggie’s, where we were waiting. We had not told Hannah about the sister; she would not have understood.

Charlie Sands telephoned while we were waiting and asked if he might come over and help receive the girl. We were to greet her and welcome her to America; then she was to go to the home of the Syrian with the large mustache. Charlie Sands came in and shook hands all round, surveying each of us carefully.

“Strange!” he muttered. “Curious is no name for it! What do we know of the vagaries of the human mind? Three minds and one obsession!” he said with the utmost gentleness. “Three maiden ladies who have lived impeccable lives for far be it from me to say how many years; and now–this! Oh, Aunt Tish! Dear Aunt Tish!”

He got out his handkerchief and wiped his eyes. Tish was speechless with rage, but I rose to our defense.

“We don’t want to do it and you know it!” I said tartly. “But when the Lord sends want and suffering to one’s very door–“

“Want, with large brown eyes and a gentle voice!” he retorted. “My dear ladies, it’s your money; and I dare say it costs you less than bridge at five cents a point, or the Gay White Way. But, for Heaven’s sake, my respected but foolish virgins, why not an American that wants a real job? Why let a sticky Oriental pull your legs–“

“Charlie Sands!” cried Tish, rising in her wrath. “I will not endure such vulgarity. And when Tufik takes you out in a taxicab–“

“God forbid!” said Charlie Sands, and sat down to wait for Tufik’s sister.

She did not look like Tufik and she was tired and dirty from the journey; but she had big brown eyes and masses of dark hair and she spoke not a single word of English. Tufik’s joy was boundless; his soft eyes were snapping with excitement; and Aggie, who is sentimental, was obliged to go out and swallow half a glass of water without breathing to keep from crying. Charlie Sands said nothing, but sat back in a corner and watched us all; and once he took out his notebook and made a memorandum of something. He showed it to us later.

Tufik’s sister was the calmest of us all, I believe. She sat on a stiff chair near the door and turned her brown eyes from one to the other. Tish said that proper clothing would make her beautiful; and Aggie, disappearing for a few minutes, came back with her last summer’s foulard and a jet bonnet. When the poor thing understood they were for her, she looked almost frightened, the thing being unexpected; and Tufik, in a paroxysm of delight, kissed all our hands and the girl on each cheek.

Tish says our vulgar lip-osculation is unknown in the Orient and that they rub noses by way of greeting. I think, however, that she is mistaken in this and that the Australians are the nose-rubbers. I recall a returned missionary’s telling this, but I cannot remember just where he had been stationed.

Things were very quiet for a couple of weeks. Tufik came round only once–to tell us that, having to pay car fare to get to the automobile school, his nine dollars were not enough. We added a dollar a week under protest; and Tish suggested with some asperity that as he was only busy four hours a day he might find some light employment for the balance of the day. He spread out his hands and drew up his shoulders.

“My friends are angry,” he said sadly. “It is not enough that I study? I must also work? Ver’ well, I labor. I sell the newspaper. But, to buy newspapers, one must have money–a dollar; two dollars. Ver’ leetle; only–I have it not.”