Mama and the Roomer

Mr. Hyde called after seeing the "Room for Rent" sign in our window. This was Mama's first experience in "renting", so she forgot to ask about Mr. Hyde's background. Also she forgot to ask him for any rent payment ahead of time.
       "The room is most nice," Mr. Hyde said. "I'll have my bags sent up this evening. And my books."
       Mr. Hyde fitted into our family without any difficulty. True, he didn't seem to have much work to do. But he always spoke pleasantly to us children. And he was polite to Mama.
       Papa liked him, too. Papa was fond of talking about Norway, the country that was his home before he came to America. Mr. Hyde had visited Norway once, and he would chat with Papa about the fine fishing there.
       Only Aunt Jenny did not like our roomer. "When," she asked, "is he going to pay his rent?"
       "It's so hard to ask him for money," Mama replied. "He will pay soon, of course."
       But Aunt Jenny only shook her head. "I have seen his kind before,"  she told us. "Don't think you'll be able to buy any new coat with the rent you are going to get from that one. Don't believe him to be a gentleman!" Mama smiled, and made coffee for Aunt Jenny to stop her.
       When the bad rainy weather came, Mama worried that Mr. Hyde's room was cold in the evenings. So she had Papa invite him into the warm kitchen to sit with us.
       Mr. Hyde helped Nels, my brother, with his Latin and other lessons. Nels came to be interested in his school work. He even gave up begging Papa to let him quit school and go to work.
      After we had finished our school work and Mama had sat down in the chair with her sewing, Mr. Hyde would tell us of his travels and adventures. Oh, he knew so many things!
       One night he began to read us from a book by Charles Dickens. Soon it became a fact that, after our homework was done, Mr. Hyde would bring down one of his books and read aloud. What strange new worlds were opened to us!
       "They are like the old Norwegian tales we loved as children,"  Mama said. "They are wonderful to hear!"
       Even when the warm weather came, we children didn't beg to go out in the evening to play. I think Mama was glad; she never liked us playing in the streets after dark.
       Best of all, Nels went less and less to the street corner to hang around with the neighborhood boys. One night they got into trouble for breaking into Mr. Dilon's store. But that night Nels was home with us. He had wanted to hear the last part of Oliver Twist.
       "I must go," he told her. "I shall leave the books for Nels and the other children. Here is my check for all I owe you, madam, and my deepest thanks for your kindness."
       We were sorry to see Mr. Hyde leave, but we were all excited to bring the books down to the kitten. There were so many of them!
       Mama cleaned them carefully.  "There's so much we can learn," she said. "Nels can read aloud to us each evening, just as Mr. Hyde did. Nels, too, has a fine voice. I could see that made Nels very proud.
       Mama showed Mr. Hyde's check to Aunt Jenny. "You see?" she said. "I shall have that warm coat, after all."
       It was too bad that Aunt Jenny was still there when Mr. Kruper came. He was the owner of a shop down the street. And now he was very angry.
       "That man Hyde was a crook!"   he shouted. "Look at this check he gave me. It's no good! The bank people told me that he had no money in the bank."
       Aunt Jenny seemed to shout the words, "I told you so! Why don't you listen to me?"
       "I'll say he owes you plenty, too, eh?"  Mr. Kruper asked, a bit hopefully.
       Mama looked around all of us. Her eyes rested longest on Nels. Then she walked to the stove and put the check into the flames.
       "No," she answered Mr. Kruper, "No. He owes us nothing."