Mr. Starr declines;
when they come to Maverick Square he will report the man to the superintendent, who knows him well.
Slight scuffle.
Mr. Starr resists.
Conductor calls driver.
Mr. Starr is ejected.
Coat torn badly and hat thrown into mud.
Car departs.
UP
(MUDDY STREET IN EAST BOSTON. Mr. STARR, WIPING
HIS HAT WITH HIS HANDKERCHIEF, SOLUS.)
MR. STARR. If only Clara had not been so anxious
about the Board meeting! (EYES FIVE-CENT PIECE.)
Where can that penny be? (SEARCHES IN POCKETS, IS
SEARCHING WHEN—)
(ENTER R. H. U. E. SPAN OF WILD HORSES, SWIFTLY
DRAGGING A CARRYALL. IN THE CARRYALL TWO CHILDREN
SCREAMING. SPEED OF HORSES, 2.41.)
MR. STARR. Under the present circumstances life
is worthless, or nearly so. Let me bravely throw it
away!
(RUSHES UPON THE SPAN. CATCHES EACH HORSE BY THE BIT,
AND BY SHEER WEIGHT CONTROLS THEM. HORSES ON THEIR
METTLE; Mr. Starr ON HIS. ENTER, RUNNING, JOHN
CRADOCK.)
JOHN CRADOCK. Whoa, whoa! Ha! they stop. How
can I thank you, my man? You have saved my children's
lives.
MR. STARR (STILL HOLDING BITS). You had better
take the reins.
John Cradock mounts the seat, seizes reins, but is
eager to reward the poor, tattered wretch at their heads.
Passes reins to right hand, and with left feels for a
half eagle, which he throws, with grateful words, to Mr.
Starr. Mr. Starr leaves the plunging horses, and
they rush toward Prescott Street. (EXEUNT JOHN
CRADOCK, HORSES AND CHILDREN.)
Half amused, half ashamed, Mr. Starr picks up the
coin, which he also supposes to be half an eagle.
It proves to be a bright penny, just from the mint.
Mr. Starr lays it with delight upon the five-cent
nickel.
(ENTER A STREET CAR, L. H. L. E. Mr. STARR WAVES
HIS HAND WITH DIGNITY, AND ENTERS CAR. PAYS HIS FARE,
SIX CENTS, AS HE PASSES CONDUCTOR.)
In fifteen minutes they are at Maverick Square. Mr.
Starr stops the car at the office of Siemens & Bessemer,
and enters. Meets his friend Fothergill.
FOTHERGILL. Bless me, Starr, you are covered
with mud! Pottery, eh? Runaway horse, eh? No matter;
we are just in time to see Wendell off. William, take
Mr. Starr's hat to be pressed. Put on this light
overcoat, Starr. Here is my tweed cap. Now, jump in,
and we will go to the "Samaria" to bid Wendell good-by.
And indeed they both found Wendell. Mr. Starr bade
him good-by, and advised him a little about the man be
was to see in Dresden. He met Herr Birnebaum, and talked
with him a little about the chemistry of enamels. Oddly
enough, Fonseca was there, the attache, the same whom
Clara had taken to drive at Bethlehem. Mr. Starr talked
a little Spanish with him. Then they were all rung
onshore.
TABLEAU: DEPARTING STEAMER. CROWD WAVES
HANDKERCHIEFS.
SCENE III
CHRISTMAS—THE END
At Mr. Starr's Christmas dinner, beside their cousins
from Harvard College and their second cousins from
Wellesley College and their third cousins from Bradford
Academy, they had young Clifford, the head book-keeper.
As he came in, joining the party on their way home from
church, he showed Mr. Starr a large parcel.
"It's the `Alaska's' mail, and I thought you might
like to see it."
"Ah, well!" said Mr. Starr, "it is Christmas, and I
think the letters can wait, at least till after dinner."
And a jolly dinner it was. Turkey for those who
wished, and goose for those who chose goose. And when
the Washington pie and the Marlborough pudding came, the
squash, the mince, the cranberry-tart, and the blazing
plum-pudding, then the children were put through their
genealogical catechism.
"Will, who is your mother's father's mother's father?"
"Lucy Pico, sir!" and then great shouting. Then was
it that Mr. Starr told the story which the reader has
read in scene one,—of the perils which may come when a
man has not a penny. He did not speak hastily, nor cast
reproach on Clara for her care of the button. Over
that part of the story he threw a cautious veil. But to
boys and girls he pointed a terrible lesson of the value
of one penny.
"How dangerous, papa, to drop it into a box for the
heathen!"
But little Tom found this talk tiresome, and asked
leave to slip away, teasing Clifford as he went about
some postage-stamps Clifford had promised him.
"Go bring the parcel I left on the hall table, and
your papa will give you some Spanish stamps."
So the boy brought the mail.
"What in the world is this?" cried Mr. Starr, as he
cut open the great envelope; and more and more amazed he
was as he ran down the lines:—
"`Much Esteemed and Respected Senor, Don JOHN STARR,
Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece:
"`SENOR,—It is with true yet inexpressible
satisfaction that I write this private note, that I may
be the first of your friends in Madrid to say to you that
the order for your creation as a Knight Companion of the
much esteemed and truly venerable Order of the Golden
Fleece passed the seals of the Chancellerie yesterday.
His Majesty is pleased to say that your views on the
pacification of Porto Rico coincide precisely with his
own; that the hands of the government will be
strengthened as with the force of giants when he
communicates them to the very excellent and much
honored governor of the island, and that, as a mark of
his confidence, he has the pleasure of sending to you the
cordon of the order, and of asking your acceptance.'
"My dear Lady Dulcinea del Toboso, that is what came
to you when that Cradock man threw a cent into the mud
for me."
"But, papa, what are the other letters?"
"Oh, yes, what are they? Here is English; it's from
Wendell. H'm—h'm—h'm. Shortpassage. Worcestershire—
h'm—Wedgewood—h'm—Staffordshire—h'm. Why, Clara,
George, listen:
"`I suppose you will not be surprised when I say that
your suggestion made on the deck of the `Samaria,' as to
oxalate of strontium, was received with surprise by Herr
Fernow and Herr Klee. But such is the respect in which
suggestions from America are now held, that they ordered
a trial at once in the Royal kilns, the result of which
are memoranda A and B, enclosed. They are so much
delighted with these results that they have formed a
syndicate with the Winkels, of Potsdam, and the
Schonhoffs, of Berlin, to undertake the manufacture in
Germany; and I am instructed to ask you whether you will
accept a round sum, say 150,000 marks, for the German
patent, or join them, say as a partner, with twenty per
cent of stock in their adventure.'
"I think so," said Mr. Starr. "That is what the
bright penny comes to at compound interest. Let us try
Birnebaum's letter."
"`GOTTFRIEED BIRNEBAUM to JOHN STARR:
"`MY HONORED SIR,—I am at a loss to express to you
the satisfaction with which I write. The eminently
practical suggestions which you made to me so kindly and
freely, as we parted, have, indeed, also proved
themselves undoubtedly to be of even the first import.
It has to me been also, indeed, of the very first
pleasure to communicate them, as I said indeed, to the
first director in charge at the works at Sevres, as I
passed through Paris, and now yet again, with equal
precision also and readiness, to the Herr first fabricant
at Dresden. Your statement regarding the action of the
oxides of gold, in combination with the tungstate of
bdellium, has more than in practice verified itself. I
am requested by the authorities at Dresden to ask the
acceptance, by your accomplished and highly respected
lady, of a dinner-set of their recent manufacture, in
token small of their appreciation, renewed daily, of your
contribution so valuable to the resources of tint and
color in their rooms of design; and M. Foudroyant, of
Sevres, tells me also, by telegraph of to-day, that to
the same much esteemed and highly distinguished lady he
has shipped by the `San Laurent' a tea-service, made to
the order of the Empress of China, and delayed only by
the untoward state of hostilities, greatly to be
regretted, on the Annamite frontier.'"
Mr. Starr read this long-winded letter with
astonishment.
"Well, Dulcinea, you will be able to give a dinner-
party to the King of Spain when he comes to visit you at
Toboso.
"So much for Brother Cradock's penny."
"Dear John, till I die I will never be afraid to call
you back when your buttons are tattered."
"And for me," said little Jack, "I will go now and
look under the bureau for the lost cent, and will have it
for my own.