American Progress Page 9
That was the same question that they had been asking for weeks. Why?
“Let’s make sure nothing’s missing,” Mrs. Hoag said when they reported to her.
Again they went room by room with the cataloging list. And again they found a statue missing in the Western Room and replaced with another one. Nothing else was bothered.
“The thief likes Western art,” Mrs. Hoag said. “Let’s go back downstairs and talk.”
They followed her downstairs, and this time Maureen saw that Mrs. Hoag had the tea service set out, like the time they had talked with her about taking the job. In her earlier rush to the stairs, Maureen hadn’t noticed it.
Mrs. Hoag poured them each a cup of tea, then she sat back on the couch. “After we burned the birds Tuesday evening, I got scared. Bertha and I went to the West Hotel and spent the night, although I didn’t get any more sleep than I would have if I’d stayed here. I sat in that hotel room and had a long talk with myself.”
She stood and walked to the secret staircase panel and pushed it open, then closed it again. “Someone is trying to frighten me. I don’t know who, but he’s been a success. Franklin would be ashamed of my behavior. He would have wanted me to fight this person, and I’m going to,” she said and clenched her fist.
“I am staying here. No one is going to scare me out of my home again. And I want to open my house as a children’s museum. I want each room to appear as a room from another country instead of just a place to store our souvenirs and artwork. That would take a bit of work and maybe another trip or two, but it would be fun. I’ve been rotting in this house since Franklin died, and it’s time I made peace with that and moved forward.”
“Would you still live here?” Mark asked.
“Oh yes. This mansion is so large, I could live very well in one part and let the rest be the museum.”
“That’s wonderful,” Maureen said as a knock sounded at the front door.
Mrs. Hoag answered it and ushered Sidney Orr into the room. He held a bouquet of roses, obviously from a flower shop, and after taking one out, he handed them to Mrs. Hoag.
“To cheer you up after that horrible ordeal with the dead birds,” he said. “And this one is for your little friend.” He walked over to Maureen and handed her the rose.
“Thank you,” she said. “Nobody’s ever given me a flower before.”
Mr. Orr smiled down at her. Mrs. Hoag got a vase for her roses and brought in another teacup for Sidney.
“How are you doing, Lillian?”
Mrs. Hoag told him about the missing artwork, but she didn’t mention the footprint on the secret staircase.
“Have you called the police?”
“They are aware of some stolen art in the past. I shall call them again.”
“Lillian, I don’t like this. If someone’s getting into your house, you may be in danger. First the birds; you could be next. Have you thought about my offer? This is too big a house for one person.”
“No, no,” she answered. “I’m not leaving my home.”
“It might do you some good to get away from this house,” he said with a smile. “My offer to buy it still stands. You did say you’d give it serious thought.”
“I have, and my home is not for sale. I was just telling my friends that I want to open a children’s museum. Let youngsters come and see things exactly as they would be in the country they came from. It would seem children were getting to travel without leaving this city. It would be quite different from a regular museum, and I believe it would be successful.”
Mr. Orr glanced at Maureen and Mark. “I can see you’ve made up your mind, Lillian. I’m sure your museum will be well received. But what about the rest of your land? Have you got anything planned for it?”
“Not right now, but I’m sure we’ll be finding a use for it.”
“If you change your mind, let me know.” Sidney Orr rose to his feet. “I’ll be checking to see that you’re all right. Keep the doors locked.”
“I’ll do that, Sidney, but don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Mrs. Hoag led the way to the entry and opened the door for him, then returned to the Oriental Room.
“Mr. Orr thought you should leave,” Maureen said. “I’m thinking that, too.”
“I did, too, Tuesday night. But not now. It’s my home, and I’m staying. Right now I’m going to drive to the police station and report the latest robbery. Talking face-to-face is better than using the telephone. I want to find out who’s doing this.”
“What about work?” Mark asked.
“We’ll start again on Saturday. No, wait. Nadine told me tomorrow’s the last day of school, and I’m thinking you should have some time to celebrate. Come over Monday morning, and we’ll set up a new schedule for the summer.”
CHAPTER 11
Citizenship!
School was out for the summer. To start the summer off right, Mother and Father took Maureen to the symphony on Saturday night. They included Mrs. Hoag in their plans, and the evening was a grand success.
No one mentioned the dead birds or the stolen art. Instead, the evening was a gala event with dress-up clothes and fabulous music.
Mrs. Hoag seemed grateful to be included. She squeezed Maureen’s hand tightly as they walked into the symphony hall, and she was greeted from all sides. She must have known everyone in the lobby. At first, she wouldn’t let go of Maureen’s hand, but then she had to because women were coming up and hugging her and kissing her on the cheek.
Maureen heard, “Lillian, it’s so good to see you here,” over and over.
As they settled into their auditorium seats, Mrs. Hoag said, “This is the first time I’ve seen most of these people since Franklin’s funeral. Thank you for making me come.”
“I didn’t make you come,” Maureen said.
“You asked me, and I didn’t know how to turn you down. Thank you, dear, for bringing me back into the life of the city.”
The brand-new symphony enchanted Maureen, who’d never heard anything like it. The music carried her along, and her heart soared with the emotion in the powerful sounds.
She tried to describe it to Mark the next morning after Sunday school but couldn’t explain it well. “You’ll have to come with us next time,” she said.
“Father said he’s going to take me so I can hear the great brass section,” Mark said. “We would have gone last night, but the whole family went to our neighbor’s seventieth birthday party, which was pretty dull.”
“For excitement we could go to Mrs. Hoag’s creek tomorrow morning before we learn our summer work schedule.”
“Yes! We can search for the something red that the person dropped,” Mark said.
They agreed on a time, and Mark rode his bicycle over early Monday morning. Maureen opened the door when he knocked.
“Come in. You won’t believe the good news. Come in.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him inside to the parlor where Mother was talking on the telephone.
“What in the world?” Mark asked.
“Shh …” Maureen held her finger to her lips and nodded toward Mother. She cocked her head to one side, listening to the onesided conversation. Mother’s eyes danced with excitement, and she nodded her head as if the lawyer on the other end could see it.
“At the judge’s earliest convenience,” she said. “Ten o’clock will be fine. Thank you for taking care of this.”
She hung up the phone and grabbed Maureen. “Friday morning at ten. We’ll have a luncheon afterward. Who would you like to invite? Who would you like to attend the ceremony?”
“What’s going on?” Mark asked.
“I’m going to be a citizen,” Maureen sang. “I’m going to be a citizen of the United States of America.”
“That doesn’t give us long to plan,” Mother said, “but I figured we should take the earliest date.” She had already reached for a pen and paper and was jotting down notes. “We’ll have Mark’s family, of course, and Mrs. Hoag. What about the girls at school?”
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Maureen looked at Mark and shrugged.
“Ask all of them,” he said.
“All of them?” Maureen echoed. Both the wealthy girls in Sarah’s group and the daughters of servants who had pretty much ignored her since she’d been adopted? Well, why not? In her present mood, she was feeling very generous and forgiving. Why not ask all of them? The servants’ daughters could see how easy it was to become a citizen, and the wealthy girls could meet Mrs. Hoag and see that she was a wonderful person.
Maureen named the girls as she pointed to her fingers, counting them off. “Have I forgotten anyone?” she asked Mark.
“What about Ross and Aaron and Dominic?”
Why shouldn’t she invite Mark’s friends? They had included her at school in games when the girls hadn’t.
“How many can we have?” she asked.
“The main table will hold eighteen, but we can set up a smaller table in the dining room. We need to get out invitations today, and then there will be the menu to plan. Ice cream and cake for dessert?”
“Yes. Oh yes,” Maureen said.
They talked awhile longer about the luncheon, then Mark reminded Maureen that they should get over to Mrs. Hoag’s.
Maureen rode Mother’s bicycle alongside Mark’s up the drive to the front porch. The exploration of the creek area would have to wait until after they talked to Mrs. Hoag.
Once again, Mrs. Hoag had the tea service out, which Maureen knew meant they would have a discussion.
“This is a celebration,” Mrs. Hoag said, once Maureen had told her the news about the swearing-in ceremony and the luncheon. “I’ll call Nadine and see what I can do to help with the planning. Now, about your summer work hours.” She went into detail about cataloging the rest of the house before they started planning each museum room.
“What will the Western Room be?” Mark asked.
“I may have to divide that into several rooms. I’m going to decorate a room to look like Theodore Roosevelt’s ranch house in Dakota, with an Indian blanket on the back of the couch, just like I remember his main room.”
“Will you keep all the statues?” Maureen asked.
“Yes, but we will only put one or two in the actual ranch room. The others will be displayed in a special art section. There are lots of details to work out. I’m going to create a board of directors, just like at the museum downtown. I want children as well as adults on it. And you two must be members. Do you accept board positions?” she asked solemnly.
“I do,” Maureen said.
“Yes,” Mark said.
“Well done. Then we should get to work in the Egypt Room today.”
They worked until noon. After eating with Mother, Maureen and Mark left to deliver the luncheon invitation to the printer’s. On their return trip, they detoured by the creek, pushing their bicycles onto Mrs. Hoag’s grounds and leaving them near the street to explore the rest of the way on foot.
As they approached the area where Maureen had seen the figure, they heard whistling. Looking down the short bluff to the creek, Maureen saw a boy, a few years older than she, carrying a fishing pole and walking along the ledge that was about a foot above the water.
“What are you doing?” she called.
He looked startled and nearly dropped his fishing pole. “Nothing. Just looking around.”
“You come here often?” Mark asked.
“Sometimes. There aren’t any fish in here, though. None big enough to keep anyway.”
“Oh,” Maureen said and backed away from the edge of the bluff. She didn’t want to look for something red with the boy around. “Let’s go, Mark. Mother may need us to run other errands for her.”
“Could he have been the person you saw?” Mark asked as soon as they were back on their bicycles.
“I don’t know. It was hard to tell an age, but it could have been him.”
It was late afternoon before they went back to the creek, and they only had a few minutes. Maureen located the spot by the old iron stake in the ground. Although they walked in ever-widening circles, they didn’t see anything red.
The rest of that week, they didn’t have time to search. Preparations for the luncheon took time. Mark helped with the decorations, even though he was reluctant to get involved at first.
“We couldn’t add another flag anywhere,” he said on Thursday afternoon when they stood back and admired their work in the dining room. Each place setting had a small flag, and the large table and the smaller one were covered with red tablecloths. Red, white, and blue bunting draped the buffet table.
On Friday morning, Father drove Maureen, Mother, and Mrs. Hoag to the courthouse. Uncle Albert and Aunt Annie, Mark, and his brother and sisters were already there when they arrived.
The group was ushered into the judge’s chambers for the ceremony. Maureen had brought the Bible that Mother had given her when she’d joined the new church, and the judge held it while Maureen put her hand on it and swore allegiance to the United States and disavowed her citizenship in Ireland.
“Maybe someday you can go back to Ireland to see where you were born,” Mrs. Hoag said after the judge had declared Maureen a citizen and she and Mother and Father had signed the official papers. “You don’t want to lose sight of where you came from, but it’s a better place for you here.”
Congratulations came from everyone. Father had brought the Brownie camera and let Mark take snapshot after snapshot. Aunt Annie hugged Maureen, and Mark patted her on the back. When the excitement wore down, they walked back outside to a bright May morning to load up for the trip home for the luncheon.
Uncle Albert pulled Maureen aside. “This is a big day,” he said. “We take for granted what you have become—a citizen of this great country.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a chain with a round disk charm dangling from it. An image of a teddy bear was engraved on the small pendant, and the words Teddy Roosevelt were inscribed below. “This is to remind you that you’ve met the president of the United States. Not many citizens can claim that honor.”
“Thank you, Uncle Albert,” Maureen said and took the necklace. “I’ll wear it always.” She hooked it behind her neck and let it dangle in front.
“Smile,” Mark called. He pointed the camera at them and clicked a picture of his father with Maureen.
Back home, both families and Mrs. Hoag assembled on the front porch for more pictures.
“Stay here,” Father instructed Maureen. He went inside and returned a moment later wheeling a brand-new girl’s bicycle. “Every new citizen should have a way to get around,” he said. “Now you don’t have to ride Mother’s bicycle, and the three of us can go on rides together.”
“If we can get him away from the automobile,” Mother said, and the rest laughed.
“We can ride everywhere,” Mark said.
And they could. Mother’s bicycle was too large, and Maureen had ridden it standing up instead of sitting on the seat.
“Thank you,” Maureen said and hugged her mother and father.
She didn’t have a chance to ride it then, since the luncheon guests were expected right at noon, and they needed to make certain all was done before Maureen’s classmates arrived.
At a quarter to twelve, the first of the girls knocked on the door. A couple more trickled in a few minutes later, and Mark’s friends arrived; but it was the stroke of noon before Sarah and her group of friends came all together. Maureen had feared they wouldn’t come.
“We didn’t want to miss a party,” Sarah said to Mark, but Maureen overheard her. “We heard you were having ice cream.”
Maureen had thought her citizenship would help Sarah see her in a different light, but it would obviously take a lot more than that. Maureen made sure that the wealthy group were seated among the poorer girls. Sarah picked up her place card from the small table and attempted to move it.
“I should sit at the main table,” Sarah said and took another girl’s place card from the big table to trade with hers.
Sarah glared at him and Maureen, but she took her assigned seat.
As soon as they were all seated, Father clinked a spoon against his glass and asked for quiet. He offered a prayer of thanksgiving that Maureen had come to this country and that she was now a citizen. And he asked for God’s blessing on her life.
“Amen,” Uncle Albert said in a strong voice when the prayer ended.
Father asked Maureen to introduce each person so they would all know one another. Maureen stood and swallowed hard then started naming the guests. She decided being a member of the Stevenson family meant speaking in front of others a lot, and she’d better get used to it. She noticed many curious stares from the girls when she introduced Mrs. Hoag, and she was glad the older woman looked quite handsome in a fashionable green dress.
The guests moved quietly down the buffet line, then chatter took over as they again took their seats at the tables.
“It was a good party,” Mother said later after the last of the guests had departed. “I noticed that Sarah Noble resented being at the smaller table.”
“Mother, I have not lived by the Golden Rule,” Maureen confessed.
“Let me guess. You put Sarah at the small table because you knew she wouldn’t like it.”
“Yes,” Maureen admitted.
“Several people had to sit at the small table. And probably all those who sat there would have preferred being a part of the larger group.” She put her arm around Maureen. “If you were seated at a smaller table at a party like this, would you have acted as rudely as Sarah did?”
“No,” Maureen said honestly.
“Well, then, I think this is one of those instances where you must learn that you will not always be liked by everyone. And although we should try to be friends and treat others in a kind manner, others may not always treat us kindly back. Don’t let it worry you, Maureen. Remember to turn the other cheek, smile, and go on.”
At Sunday school some of the other girls made a point of talking to Maureen. Sarah did not; but this time it didn’t bother Maureen. She followed Mother’s advice and smiled.