  Paradise Avenue, with its imitation brick houses and neat garden plots, might have had some pretensions, but Tidewater Road had none. Here the houses were built of frame, most of them in need of a new coat of paint, many of them badly wanting repairs. Even the streets seemed uncared for. Scraps of old newspapers rustled in the gutters, and the pavement itself was cracked and worn. Looking at its bleak row of buildings, Peggy felt like catching the next train back to the city. Tom Agate couldn’t be living here. She had to remind herself that she had made a promise as she crossed the street and approached the first house on the block. A child’s tricycle, one wheel twisted awkwardly out of shape, lay on its side across the steps. Peggy picked her way gingerly around it, crossed the porch, and put her finger on the bell. No sound came from the house so she tried knocking. “Yeah?” came a thin, querulous voice, but inside the house nothing moved. Peggy stepped back, wondering what to do next. “Excuse me,” she called at last. “I wonder if you could give me some information.” “We don’t want none,” answered the same voice. “I’m not selling anything,” Peggy replied. “I just want some help.” There was a moment’s silence and then the shuffling of feet. A suspicious face appeared at the door and examined Peggy narrowly. It was an older woman, dressed in a worn housecoat with her hair up in pin curls. “Yeah? Whatcha want?” Peggy fumbled at her envelope and drew out the photograph. “I’m trying to locate somebody,” she said. “I understand that he lives in this neighborhood, and I wonder if you know him?” She held out the picture for inspection. The door opened a little wider as the woman leaned down to examine the photograph. The pin curls gave a decisive shake. “Naw. Never saw him.” The next instant the door was slammed shut and Peggy found herself alone on the porch. She made her way carefully back down the steps and out to the sidewalk. Finding Tom Agate was going to be much harder than she had anticipated. There was no answer at the next house. In the one following lived a woman who spoke no English. The trail became warmer at the third house where a woman said she thought the face looked familiar, but couldn’t place it. The next five houses were blanks. By now it was well after four o’clock in the afternoon. Peggy knew she had time for only two or three more calls before taking the train back to New York. Peter Grey had arranged to meet her at the Broadway Drugstore on Forty-eighth Street at eight-thirty, giving her barely enough time to get back to the city, bolt down some supper, and keep her appointment. But the next three houses could give her no fresh information and Peggy decided that she had had enough for one day. She would return in the morning and finish the rest of the houses on the block. As she turned to retrace her footsteps to the bus stop on the corner, her eye was caught by a bright flash of color. Four doors down from where she stood was a house decorated with two window boxes full of fall flowers. Peggy wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. The house itself was weatherworn, and like all the other houses on the block, in need of a fresh coat of paint. But somehow it gave the impression of a home that had been carefully tended. The porch was neat, the lawn had been recently raked of leaves, and someone had even tried to trim the hedges. Standing in the midst of such careless neglect, the house seemed to sparkle with life and friendly invitation. Before she realized it, Peggy was standing at the front door, listening to a set of chimes peal softly at her touch. The door was opened by a pleasant-looking woman who was drying her hands on a towel. When she saw Peggy, her face broke into a smile of welcome. “Come in,” she said. “You caught me washing some things in the kitchen.” Peggy stepped into a clean, simply furnished front hall. “I’m sorry to interrupt you,” she said. “But I’m trying to locate someone, and I thought maybe you could help me.” Peggy displayed her photograph again and waited for the reaction. But this time, instead of a blank stare and a quick shake of the head, she was met with an exclamation of surprise. “But that’s Mr. Armour!” the woman cried in a delighted voice. “Mr. Armour?” “Yes. He lived with us for over a year and a half.” “You mean he’s moved?” Peggy heard the disappointment in her own voice. Tom Agate had chosen another name. “I’m afraid he has,” the woman said. She beckoned Peggy into the living room. “Here, won’t you come in for a few moments? You look tired.” “Well, yes, I am,” Peggy admitted. “I’ve been going since early this morning.” “Trying to find Mr. Armour?” the woman asked, sitting down in an easy chair. Peggy nodded as she took a chair near the door. “Yes. It’s a terribly complicated story, but believe me, it’s important that I locate him.” “I’ll be happy to tell you all I know,” the woman said. “A little less than two years ago, Mr. Armour rang my front doorbell and asked if he could rent a room. Well, I had never rented a room before, but it just so happened that my son had recently left home.” The woman smiled shyly. “He had just gotten married, you see.” Peggy smiled back and nodded. “He has a little baby girl now. Lives in upstate New York. We’ll be going to see them for Thanksgiving.” The woman paused and laughed. “But you don’t want to hear about that. Anyway,” she said, returning to her story, “I told him all right and about a week later he moved in. Well, we couldn’t have had a nicer man in our house—not even if we had picked him ourselves. Always cheerful he was, and very quiet.” “You say he was quiet?” Peggy interrupted. “Didn’t he ever play the banjo?” The woman beamed. “He certainly did. He used to play it for us in the evenings. He was very good, you know.” Peggy nodded. “Yes, I know. Do you remember any of the tunes he used to play?” “Let’s see now. Well, he played all the old favorites—Stephen Foster and ... oh, I can’t remember what-all.” “Did he ever play ‘Kathleen Aroon’?” “How did you know that?” the woman cried. “That was one he did all the time. Beautiful too. Simply lovely.” Peggy sighed. It must have been Tom Agate. She wondered if he was still calling himself Armour. He seemed to change his name each time he moved. “What happened to him?” she asked. “He left us. About three months ago.” Three months! Peggy almost groaned aloud. “Have you any idea where he went?” The woman shook her head slowly. “No. He didn’t leave a forwarding address. He said there wouldn’t be any mail.” This matched the story Peggy had heard earlier that afternoon. “He didn’t give you any hint about where he was going?” “No. None at all.” The woman looked at Peggy sympathetically. “I’m sorry. I wish I could help you, but I’m afraid....” “Do you know why he left?” The woman paused and stared down at the floor. “I think so,” she said in a troubled voice. “It was because he couldn’t afford to pay the rent any more. I was perfectly willing to let him stay, but he insisted on going. He said that he couldn’t allow himself to accept charity. I tried to explain that his presence gave us real pleasure and that was payment enough, but he wouldn’t listen. One day he went out and just never came back....” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged helplessly. “Didn’t he take his banjo with him?” “Yes, he took that. But not very far.” “What do you mean?” “There’s a little boy in the house next door. Tommy Stanton, his name is. Mr. Armour was very fond of Tommy. They used to spend hours together. He even taught Tommy how to play the banjo a little, and before he left, he gave it to him.” Peggy passed a hand across her forehead. Every trail seemed to lead to a dead end. Tom Agate had disappeared without a trace. Peggy finally gathered herself together and stood up. “Thank you very much,” she said. “I guess that just about finishes any chance of finding my friend.” “I guess so,” the woman agreed sadly. “Unless”—she got up and put her finger against her lips—“you want ... listen,” she whispered. “There’s Tommy playing now.” Peggy listened carefully and heard the sound of a banjo being plucked. It seemed to be coming from the back yard. “Maybe Tommy knows something about him. Would you like to ask?” the woman inquired. “I certainly would,” Peggy said, moving toward the front door. “Here,” cried the woman, taking her by the arm. “Come around the back way. It’s quicker.” Moving quietly, the woman led the way through the kitchen and out the back door into the yard. The sound of the banjo was now loud and clear. “Tommy!” cried the woman. “Oh, Tommy! Can you come here a minute?” The music stopped and in a moment a small tousled head appeared over a back fence. “Hello, Tommy,” the woman said in a friendly voice. “This nice young lady said she wanted to meet you.” A small tousled head appeared over a back fence. The face above the fence gave a scowl of annoyance but held its position. Peggy walked over and smiled. “How do you do, Tommy?” she said. “I like the way you play the banjo.” There was no answer to this. A pair of eyes gazed at her steadily, and Peggy could hear the sound of a foot impatiently kicking the other side of the fence. She decided that flattery was going to get her nowhere with Tommy, and abandoned it for a more direct approach. “I bet I know who taught you how to play,” she said. “It was Mr. Armour, wasn’t it?” The scuffing stopped and Peggy thought she detected a flash of interest. She held out the picture to the little boy. “That’s Mr. Armour, isn’t it?” The boy’s eyes grew round and he nodded his head briefly. “You know Mr. Armour?” he said in a matter-of-fact voice. “No,” Peggy admitted. “I don’t. But I want to.” “Why?” Tommy demanded. “You want to learn how to play?” “I wouldn’t mind.” Tommy nodded. “He can teach you. He can teach anybody.” He eyed her moodily. “Even girls.” “I bet he can,” Peggy said, wondering why all little boys seemed to have such vast scorn where girls were concerned. “The only trouble is,” she went on, “I don’t know where to find him. Do you know?” The kicking on the other side of the fence started in again. Tommy lowered his eyes and stared at Peggy’s feet. “It’s a secret,” he muttered. “What is?” “Where Mr. Armour went.” Peggy’s heart almost missed a beat. She tried to keep her voice calm. “Can’t you tell me?” The kicking increased to a thunderous volley. “Nope,” Tommy said abruptly. “Oh, please,” Peggy begged. “I want to see him so badly.” Tommy’s lower lip stuck out as he considered Peggy’s request. “I want to see him too,” he announced. “Well, if you tell me where he is,” Peggy said, “maybe I can get him to come back.” The kicking stopped a second time as Tommy paused to appraise this new idea. Then quite suddenly, he disappeared. For a moment Peggy thought he had gone back into his house, but the next instant, a gate swung open and Tommy marched into the yard, holding a banjo in one hand. He stopped in front of Peggy and looked at her earnestly. “Honest?” he said. “You really think you can get him to come see me?” “I’ll try,” Peggy promised. “I’ll try as hard as I can.” Indecision was stamped all over Tommy’s face, but in the end the desire to see his old friend won out. “He’s gone far away from here,” he said in a clear voice that left no room for doubt. “How far?” “To a place where there are kings and queens and all sorts of magic things. There’s a one-eyed giant there who looks after everybody and sees to it that everybody is happy. Mr. Armour told me. He said he’d always be happy ’cause he’d be with friends. It’s a place where everybody lives in trunks.” “In trunks!” Peggy exclaimed. Tommy nodded solemnly. “That’s what he said. He told me I mustn’t miss him too much on account of he was going to be very, very happy and safe.” “Did he say where this place was?” Tommy shook his head. “Just that it’s far away.” Peggy and the woman looked at each other blankly. Kings and queens who lived in trunks with a one-eyed giant to guard them! It didn’t make any sense. “When you find him,” Tommy was saying, “tell him I can play lots better now, and I want him to come and hear me.” “I will,” Peggy said automatically. “I’ll tell him.” “Okay,” Tommy said with a satisfied nod. “I gotta go now.” “All right.” Peggy held out her hand, but Tommy backed resolutely away from it. He turned and ran for the gate. “G’by,” he called. “Good-by,” Peggy said. The gate swung open and Tommy disappeared. A one-eyed giant! Where on earth could Tom Agate be living? Peggy turned thoughtfully back to the house. |
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