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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20719-8.txt b/20719-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4b21cda --- /dev/null +++ b/20719-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9163 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. Richmond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Under the Country Sky + +Author: Grace S. Richmond + +Illustrator: Frances Rogers + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20719] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "'Come, George--you need a good tramp,' Stuart urged at +Jeannette's elbow"] + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY + +By GRACE S. RICHMOND + +Author of + +"Red Pepper Burns," "Mrs. Red Pepper," +"The Twenty-Fourth of June," +"The Second Violin," Etc. + +With Frontispiece in Colors +By FRANCES ROGERS + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers New York + +Published by Arrangements with DOUBLEDAY, PAGE AND COMPANY + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF +TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, +INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Heart Burnings 3 + II. Something Really Happens 15 + III. A Semi-Annual Occurrence 31 + IV. A Literary Light 39 + V. Shabbiness 50 + VI. When Royalty Comes 60 + VII. Snowballs 71 + VIII. Soapsuds 84 + IX. A Reasonable Proposition 96 + X. Stuart Objects 105 + XI. Borrowed Plumes 119 + XII. Early Morning 135 + XIII. A Copyist 143 + XIV. Out of the Blue 153 + XV. "Great Luck!" 164 + XVI. A Little Trunk 176 + XVII. Reaction 187 + XVIII. "Steady On!" 199 + XIX. Revelations 212 + XX. Five Minutes 228 + XXI. Messages 236 + XXII. Toasts 248 + XXIII. Why Not? 259 + XXIV. Magic Gold 270 + XXV. Great Music 283 + XXVI. Salt Water 295 + XXVII. "Cakes and Ices" 310 +XXVIII. A Tanned Hercules 323 + XXIX. Milestones 332 + XXX. Questions and Answers 342 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HEART BURNINGS + + +She did not want to hate the girls; indeed, since she loved them all, it +would go particularly hard with her if she had to hate them; love turned +to hate is such a virulent product! But, certainly, she had never found +it so hard to be patient with them. + +They were all five her college classmates, of only last year's class, +and it was dear and kind of them to drive out here into the country to +see her, coming in Phyllis Porter's great family limousine, the +prettiest, jolliest little "crowd" imaginable. They had been thoughtful +enough to warn her that they were coming, too, so that she could set the +old manse living-room in its pleasantest order, build a crackling +apple-wood fire in the fireplace, and get out her best thin china and +silver with which to serve afternoon tea--she made it chocolate, with +vivid recollection of their tastes; and added deliciously substantial +though delicate sandwiches, with plenty of the fruitiest and nuttiest +kinds of little cakes. She had donned the one real afternoon frock she +possessed, a clever make-over out of nothing in particular. Altogether, +when she greeted her guests, as they ran, fur-clad and silk-stockinged +after the manner of their kind, into her welcoming arms, she had seemed +to them absolutely the old Georgiana. + +They had brought her a wonderful box of red roses--and Phyllis had +caught her kissing one of the great, silky buds as she put it with the +rest in a bowl. "I don't believe she's seen a hothouse rose since she +left college," thought Phyllis, with a stab of pity at her tender heart. +But for the first hour of their stay Georgiana had been her gay and +brilliant self, flinging quips and jests broadcast, asking impertinent +questions, making saucy comments, quite as of old. It was only when Dot +Manning, toward the end of the visit, began a sober tale of the +misfortunes which had come thronging into the life of one of their +classmates, that Georgiana's face, sobering into sympathetic gravity, +betrayed to her companions a curious change which had come upon it since +they saw it last. + +Meanwhile, in answer to her questioning, they had told her all about +themselves. Phyllis Porter and Celia Winters were having a glorious +season in society. Theo Crossman was deep in settlement work--"crazy +over it" was, of course, the phrase. Dot Manning was going abroad next +week for a year of travel in all sorts of beguiling, out-of-the-way +places. As for Madge Sylvester, who was getting ready to be married +after Easter, the first of the class, she sat mostly in a dreamy, +smiling silence, looking into the fire while the others talked. + +No, Georgiana did not want to hate the girls, but before their stay was +over she found herself coming dangerously near it--temporarily, at +least. They were dears, of course, but they were so content with +themselves and so pitiful of her. Not, of course, that they meant to let +her see this, but it showed in spite of them. They wanted to know what +she did with herself, whether there were any young people, and any good +times going on--Georgiana led them to the window, just at this point, +and pointed out to them a vigorous young man striding by in ulster and +soft hat, who looked up and waved as he passed, showing one of those +fine and manly young faces, glowing with health and hopefulness, which +always challenge interest from girlhood. + +"Oh, have you many like that?" Celia had asked, and when Georgiana had +owned that James Stuart was the only one precisely "like that," Dot had +inquired if Mr. Stuart belonged to Georgiana, and, being answered in the +negative, shook her head and sighed: "One swallow _may_ make a summer, +Jan, but I doubt it!" + +Theodora Crossman, the settlement worker, inquired particularly whether +Georgiana were doing anything worth while, using that pregnant modern +phrase which has been decidedly overworked, yet which hardly can be +spared from the present-day vocabulary. + +"Worth while!" cried Georgiana, flashing into flame in an instant in the +way they knew so well. "Worth while--yes! You haven't seen my father, +have you, ever? It's a pity this happens to be one of his bad, +spine-achey days, for he'd be a good and sufficient answer to that +question. Father Davy is one of the Lord's own saints on earth, and he +possesses a magnificent sense of humour, which not all saints do, you +know. To love him is a liberal education, and to take care of him is +better 'worth while' than to have any number of fingers in other +people's pies." + +"Of course, dear," Theo had answered soothingly. "We know there's +nothing in the world so well worth while as looking after one's father +and mother. Your mother died long ago, didn't she, dear? And your father +would be dreadfully lonely without you. At the same time, it doesn't +seem as if he could absorb all your energies. You remember the splendid +things Professor Nichols used to say about the duty of the college girl, +after college, particularly in a small town? I suppose you have no +foreigners here, but I thought perhaps you might find quite a wonderful +field for your endeavour in stimulating the women of the place into +clubs for study and work. It's----" + +A curious exclamation from her hostess caused Miss Crossman to pause. +In fact, they all stared wonderingly at Georgiana. She stood upon the +hearthrug, her colour, usually ready to glow in her dusky face, now +receding suggestively, her dark eyes sparkling dangerously. "The only +trouble with that sort of thing," she answered with suspicious +quietness, "or rather the two troubles with it are these: In the first +place, the women have pretty nearly a club apiece already, which suits +them much better than anything I could 'stimulate' them to; and, in the +second place, I have 'quite a wonderful field for my endeavour,' as you +call it, Theo--did you crib that phrase?--in the upper regions of my own +home. I--in fact, I may be said to belong to the I. W. W.; I'm one of +the industrial workers of the world!" + +"Jan, you haven't gone into anything crazy----" Dot was beginning, when +Georgiana, obeying an impulse, walked away from her hearthrug toward the +door, beckoning her guests to follow. + +"Come on," she invited. "Since you have so poor an opinion of the +possibilities for serious labour in a world of woe offered by my +residence in a small country village, you may come and see for +yourselves." + +They came after her, with a rustle and flutter of frocks and a patter of +smartly shod feet, up the old spindle-railed staircase, through a chilly +and unfurnished upper hall, and up a still chillier narrow second +staircase, into an attic region which could hardly be properly +characterized as chilly, for the reason that the atmosphere there was +frankly freezing. + +As near as possible to the gable window stood a monster structure the +nature of which the beholders did not instantly recognize. Phyllis was +the first to cry out: "A loom! It must be a very old one, too. Oh, how +fascinating! What do you make, Jan--fabrics?" + +"Rugs," explained Georgiana, pulling at a pile upon the floor. "Such +rugs as these. Good looking? Yes, dear classmates?" + +"Stunning!" cried Madge Sylvester, with a smothered shiver at the +penetrating cold of the place. + +"Simply wonderful!" "Too clever for anything!" and, "Oh, Jan, do you +make them to sell?" "Can I buy this one?" "I'm wild over this dull blue +and Indian red!" came tumbling from the mouths of the eager girls, as in +the fading light from the attic window they examined the hand-woven +rugs. There was sincerity in their voices; Georgiana had known there +would be; she was sure of the art and skill plainly to be found in her +product. + +"I'm afraid not, Phyl. These are all orders, and I'm weeks behind. They +go to certain exclusive city shops, and I have all I can do." + +"You must have struck a gold mine. I'm so glad!" congratulated +warm-hearted Phyllis. + +"Well, not exactly. It's rather slow work, when you do housework, too," +acknowledged Georgiana. "However, it does very well; it keeps us in +firewood--and oysters--for the winter." + +She instantly regretted this speech, for it led, presently, as she might +have known it would, to delicately worded expressions of hope that she +would in the future give her friends the pleasure of purchasing her +wares. + +Down by the fireplace again Georgiana turned upon them in her old +jesting way, which yet had in it, as they all felt, a quality which was +new. "Stop it, girls. No, I'll not sell one of you a rug of any size, +shape, or colour. I'm far behind, as I told you. But--I'll send Madge a +gorgeous one for a wedding present, if she'll tell me her preferences, +and I'll do the same for each of you, when you meet your fates. Now stop +talking about it. I only showed you to demonstrate that this is a busy +world for me as well as for you, and that I'm very content in it. Dot, +don't you want just one more of these fruitkins? By the way, since you +like them so much, I'll give you the recipe. I made it up--wasn't it +clever of me?" + +"You're much the cleverest of us all, anyway," murmured Dot meekly, +nibbling at the delicious morsel, while her hostess rapidly wrote out a +little formula and gave it to her with a smile. + +They were soon off after that, for the early winter twilight was upon +them, and the lights in the waiting car outside suddenly came on with a +suggestive completeness. Georgiana assisted her guests into luxurious +coats and capes made of or lined with chinchilla, with otter, with +sable; handed gloves and muffs; and listened to all manner of +affectionate parting speeches, every one of which contained pressing +invitations for visits, short or long. Each girl made promises of future +calls, and professed herself eager to come and stay with Georgiana at +any time. Then the whole group went away on a little warm breeze of +good-fellowship and human kindness. + +"They are dears," admitted Georgiana, as she waved her arm at the +departing car; "but, oh!--_oh!_ I can't stand having them sorry for me! +The old manse _is_ shabby, and every girl of them knew how many times +this frock has been made over--I saw Celia recognize it even through its +dye. No wonder, when it's been at every college tea she ever gave. But I +won't--_I won't_--be pitied!" + +The door opened, and a slender figure in an old-fashioned dressing-gown +came slowly into the firelit room. + +Georgiana turned quickly. "Father Davy! Do you feel better? If I'd known +it, I'd have brought you in to meet the girls. They would have enjoyed +you so." + +"I'm not quite up to meeting the girls perhaps, daughter, but decidedly +better and correspondingly cheerful. Have you had a good time?" + +He placed himself as carefully as possible upon the couch by the fire, +and his daughter tucked him up in an old plaid shawl which had lain +folded upon it. She dropped upon the hearthrug and sat looking into the +fire, while her father regarded the picture she made in the dyed frock, +now a soft Indian red, a hue which pleased his eye and brought out all +her gypsy colouring. + +The head upon the couch pillow was topped with a soft mass of curly gray +hair, the face below was thin and pale, but the eyes which rested upon +the girl were the clearest, youngest blue-gray eyes that ever spoke +mutely of the spirit's triumph over the body. One had but to glance at +David Warne to understand that here was a man who was no less a man +because he had to spend many hours of every day upon his tortured back. +It was three years since he had been forced to lay aside the care of the +village-and-country parish of which he had been minister, but he had +given up not a whit of his interest in his fellowmen, and now that he +could seldom go to them he had taught them to come to him, so that the +old manse was almost as much a centre of the village's interest and +affection as it had been when its master went freely in and out. A new +manse had been built nearer the church, for the new man, and the old +house left to Mr. Warne's undisputed possession--proof positive of his +place in the hearts of the community. + +"A good time?" murmured Georgiana, in answer to the question. "No, a +hateful, envious, black-browed time, disguised as much as might be under +a frivolous manner. The girls were lovely--and I was a perfect fiend!" + +Mr. Warne did not seem in the least disconcerted by this startling +statement. "The sounds I heard did not strike me as indicating the +presence of any fiend," he suggested. + +"Probably not. I managed to avoid giving in to the temptation to snatch +Phyl's sumptuous chinchilla coat, Madge's perfectly adorable hat, Theo's +bronze shoes, Dot's embroidered silk handbag, and Bess's hand-wrought +collar and cuffs." + +"It was a matter of clothes, then? How much heart-burning men escape!" +mused Mr. Warne. "Now, I can never recall hearing any man, young or old, +express a longing to denude other men of their apparel." + +Georgiana shot him a look. "No, men merely envy other men their acres, +their horses, their motors--and their books. Own up, now, Father Davy, +have you never coveted any man's library?" + +The blue-gray eyes sent her back a humorous glance. "Now you have me," +he owned. "But tell me, daughter--it was not only their clothes which +stirred the fiend within you? Confess!" + +She looked round at him. "I don't need to," she said. "You know the +whole of it--what I want for you and me--what they have--_life_! And +lots of it. You need it just as badly as I do--you, a suffering saint at +fifty-five when other men are playing golf! And I--simply bursting with +longing to take you and go somewhere--anywhere with you--and see +things--and do things--and _live_ things! And we as poor as poverty, +after all you've done for the Lord. Oh, I----" + +She brought her strong young fist down on the nearly threadbare rug with +a thump that reddened the fine flesh, and thumped again and yet again, +while her father lay and silently watched her, with a look in his eyes +less of pain than of utter comprehension. He said not a word, while she +bit her lip and stared again into the fire, clenching the fist that had +spoken for her bitterly aching heart. After a time the tense fingers +relaxed, and she held up the hand and looked at it. + +"I'm a brute!" she said presently. "An abominable little brute. How do +you stand me? How do you _endure_ me, Father Davy! I just bind the load +on your poor back and pull the knots tight, every time I let myself +break out like this. If you were any minister-father but yourself, you'd +either preach or pray at me. How can you keep from it?" + +He smiled. "I never liked to be preached or prayed at myself, dear," he +said. "I have not forgotten. And the Lord Himself doesn't expect a young +caged lioness to act like a caged canary. He doesn't want it to. And +some day--He will let it out of the cage!" + +She shook her head, and got up. She kissed the gray curls and patted the +thin cheek, said cheerfully: "I'm going to get your supper now," and +went away out of the room. + +In the square old kitchen she flung open an outer door and stood staring +up at the starry winter sky. + +"Oh, if anything, anything, _anything_ would happen!" she breathed, +stretching out both arms toward the snowy shrubbery-broken expanse +behind the house which in summer was her garden. "If something would +just keep this evening from being like all the other evenings! I can't +sit and read aloud--_to-night_. I can't--I _can't_! And the only +interesting thing on earth that can happen is that Jimps Stuart may come +over--and he probably won't, because he was over last evening and the +evening before that, and he knows he can't be allowed to come all the +time. He----" + +It was at this point that the old brass knocker on the front door +sounded--and something happened. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENS + + +It might have been any of the village people, as Georgiana expected it +would be when she closed the kitchen door with a bang and went +reluctantly to answer the knock. Since it was almost suppertime it was +probably Mrs. Shear, who seldom made a call at any other hour, knowing +she would as surely be asked to stay as it was sure that David Warne's +heart would respond to the wanness and unhappiness always written on +Mrs. Shear's homely middle-aged face. As she went to the door, Georgiana +felt an intensely wicked desire to hit Mrs. Shear a blow with her own +capable fist, which should send her backward into the snow. Georgiana +did not believe that the lady was as unhappy as she looked. It seemed to +be a day for expression by the use of fists! + +But when the door was opened and the light from the bracket lamp in the +manse hall shone out on the figure standing upon the porch, all desire +to hit anything more with her fist vanished from the girl's heart. For +with the first look into the face of the man outside her instant wish +was to have him come in--and stay. Somebody so evidently from the great +world which seemed so far away from the old village manse--somebody who +looked as if he could bring with him into this dull life of theirs all +manner of interest--it was small wonder that in her present mood the +girl should feel like this. And it must by no means be supposed that +Georgiana was in the habit of experiencing this sort of wish every time +she set eyes upon a personable man. Personable men had been many in her +acquaintance during the four years of her college life, and more than +one of them had followed her back to the old manse to urge his claim +upon her attention. + +"Is the Reverend Mr. Warne at home?" asked the stranger in a low and +pleasant voice. "I have a letter of introduction to him." + +"Please come in," answered Georgiana, and led him straight into the +living-room and her father's presence. Then, though consumed with +curiosity, she retired--as far as the door of the dining-room, where she +remained, ready to listen in a most reprehensible manner to the +conversation which should follow. + +There was an exchange of greetings, then evidently Mr. Warne was reading +the letter of introduction. Presently he spoke: + +"This is quite sufficient," he said, "to make you welcome under this +roof. My old friend Davidson has my affection and confidence always. +Please tell me what I can do for you, Mr. Jefferson." + +"I should like," replied the stranger's voice, "to have a room with you, +and possibly board, if that might be. If not, perhaps I could find that +elsewhere; but if I might at least have the room I should be very glad. +I am hard at work upon a book, and I have come away from my home and +other work to find a place where I can live quietly, write steadily, and +be outdoors every day for long walks in the country. Doctor Davidson +suggested this place, and thought you might take me in--for an +indefinite period of time, possibly some months." + +"That sounds very pleasant to me," Georgiana heard her father reply. "We +have never had a boarder, my daughter and I, but, if she has no +objection, I should enjoy having such a man as you look to be, in the +house. Your letter, you see, is not your only introduction. You carry +with you in your face a passport to other men's favour." + +"That is good of you," answered Mr. Jefferson--and Georgiana liked the +frank tone of his voice. It was an educated voice, it spoke for itself +of the personality behind it. + +"I will go and talk with my daughter," she heard her father say, after +the two men had had some little conversation concerning a book or two +lying on the table by Mr. Warne's couch. + +Georgiana fled into the kitchen, where her father found her. When he +appeared, closing the door behind him, she was ready for him before he +spoke. + +"If he were the angel Gabriel or old Pluto himself I'd welcome him," she +said under her breath, her eyes dancing. "To have somebody in the house +for you to talk with besides your everlasting old parishioners--why, it +would be worth a world of trouble! And it won't be any trouble at all. +Go tell him your daughter reluctantly consents." + +"You heard, then?" queried Mr. Warne, a quizzical smile on his gentle +lips. + +"Of course I heard! I was listening hard! I was all ears--regular donkey +ears. He's a godsend. His board will pay for sirloin instead of round. +We'll have roast duck on Sunday--twice a winter. He can have the big +front room; I'll have it ready by to-morrow night." + +"Come in and arrange details," urged Mr. Warne. + +Georgiana stayed behind a minute to compose her face and manner, then +went in, the demurest of young housewives. Not for nothing had been her +years of college life, which had made, when occasion demanded, a quietly +poised woman out of a girl who had been, according to village standards, +a somewhat hoydenish young person. + +As she faced the stranger in the full light of the fire-and-lamp-lit +room, she saw in detail that of which she had had a swift earlier +impression. Mr. Jefferson was a man in, she thought, the early thirties, +with a strongly modelled, shaven face, keen brown eyes behind +eyeglasses, a mouth which could be grave one moment and humorous the +next, and the air of a man who was accustomed to think for himself and +expect others to do so. He was well built though not tall, well dressed +though not dapper, and he looked less like a writer of books than a +participant in action of some kind or other. His dark hair showed a +thread or two of gray at the temples, but this suggestion of age did not +seem at all to age him. + +The stranger, on his part, saw a rather more than commonly charming +Georgiana, on account of the Indian-red silk frock. + +"It's not fair to him," thought Georgiana, "to show him a landlady who +looks so festive and fine. I can't afford to wear this often, even for +his benefit." But to him she said: "I know it will give my father much +pleasure to have some one in the house besides his daughter. And I am +quite willing to have you at our table. I must warn you that we live +very simply, as you must guess." + +"I live very simply myself," Mr. Jefferson assured her. "There are few +things I do not like. My one serious antipathy is Brussels sprouts," he +added, smiling. "With that confession the coast is clear. And--you +would not mind my smoking in my room?" + +Georgiana glanced at her father with a suddenly mischievous expression. +He was studying the prospective boarder with interested eyes. + +"I think," confessed Mr. Warne, "that merely to catch a whiff now and +then of a fragrance which is singularly pleasant to me, but which I am +denied producing for myself, would add to the things that give me +comfort. If you wouldn't mind smoking in the hall now and then, or, +better yet, by my fireside, I should be grateful." + +Mr. Jefferson nodded. "Thank you, sir. And now--when may I come? I have +a room at the hotel, so don't let me in until you are quite ready." + +"You may come to-morrow night for supper," promised Georgiana. "But you +haven't seen the room." She rose. + +"It will be in the upper right front?" hazarded Mr. Jefferson. "And it +will have the customary furnishings and some means of heating?" + +"I should prefer to have you see it," she insisted, and lighted a candle +in an ancient pewter candlestick with an extinguisher at the side. + +So the stranger, following her upstairs, surveyed his room and professed +himself entirely satisfied. It looked bare enough to Georgiana as she +showed it to him, but she told herself that there were possibilities in +the matter of certain belongings of her own room which could be +transferred to give an air of homelikeness to this. + +"It is large, and I can have plenty of light and air," commented the +prospective boarder. "If I might have some sort of good-sized table by +that south window, for my work, I should consider myself provided for." + +"You will find one when you come," promised the girl. + +"Thank you. Now, I will take myself off at once. Then you may have a +chance to discuss with your father the probabilities in favour of your +not regretting your quick decision," he said as he descended the stairs. + +"Father and I always make quick decisions," Georgiana remarked. + +"Good! So do I. Do you hold to them as well?" + +"Always. That's part of father's creed." + +"That's very good; that speaks for itself. Well, I promise you I shall +be busy enough not to bother this household overmuch. By the way"--he +turned suddenly--"that table you spoke of putting in my room--if it is +large, it must be heavy. Your father cannot help you lift it, and you +should not lift it alone. Don't put it in place until I come--please?" + +She smiled. "That's very thoughtful of you. But I am quite equal to +moving it alone." + +"Then let me help you now, won't you?" he offered. + +She shook her head. "It's really not ready to be moved. Don't think of +it again, please." + +He bade them good-night and went away, with no lingering speeches on the +road to the door. He had the air of a man accustomed to measure his time +and to waste none of it. When he had gone Georgiana went back to her +father. He looked up at her with a twinkle in his still boyish eyes. + +"Well, daughter, it looks to me as if this had happened just in time to +prevent a bad explosion from too high pressure of accumulated energy. +You can now lower the position of the indicator on the steam gauge to +the safety point by spending the whole day to-morrow in sweeping and +dusting and baking. If there are any spare moments you can employ them +in making over your clothes." + +"Father Davy! Where did you get such a perfectly uncanny understanding?" + +"From observation--purely from observation. And I myself confess to +feeling considerably excited and elated. It is not every day that a +gentleman of this sort knocks at the door of a village manse and asks to +come in and write a book. If it had not been that my old friend Davidson +is always bringing people together who need each other, I should think +it the strangest thing in the world that this should happen. Davidson +is the minister of a great New York church where this Mr. Jefferson +attends; and Davidson has never forgotten me, though he took the high +road and I the low so soon after he left the seminary. Well, it will +give us a fresh interest, my dear, for as long as it lasts." + +Georgiana thought it would. She was up betimes next morning, to begin +the sweeping and dusting and general turning upside down of the +long-unused upper front room. In the course of her window washing, her +shoulders enveloped in an old red shawl, she was vigorously hailed from +below. + +"Ship ahoy! Your name, cargo, and destination?" + +Without turning she called merrily back: "The Jefferson, with a cargo of +books, bound for the public!" + +"What's that? I don't get you." + +"Never mind. I'm too busy to be spoken by every passing ship." + +"I'll be up," called the voice, and footsteps sounded upon the porch. +The front door banged, the same ringing male voice was heard shouting a +"Good-morning, sir!" and the owner of the voice came leaping up the +stairs and burst into the room without ceremony. He advanced till he was +close to the open window, and nodded through the glass at the +window-washer, who sat on the sill with her upper body outside. + +He was a fine specimen of youth and brawn and energy, the young man whom +Georgiana had pointed out to her friends as one of her resources when it +came to the good times they were so anxious to know of. His name was +James Stuart, and he was a near neighbour of the manse. He was a college +graduate of three years' longer standing than Georgiana, and he, like +her, had returned to the country home and his father's farm because his +aging parents could not spare him, and he was the only son whose lack of +other ties left him free to care for them. He and this girl had been +schoolmates and long-time friends--with interesting intervals of enmity +during the earlier years--and were now sworn comrades, though they still +quarrelled at times. It looked, after a minute, as if this would be one +of those times. + +"I didn't just get you," complained James Stuart through the window. + +"Wait till I come in. I can't tell all the neighbours." + +Georgiana polished off her last pane, pushed up the window and slipped +into the room, quite unnecessarily assisted by Stuart. + +"I can't understand," began the young man, eying with approval her +blooming face, frost-stung and smooth in texture as the petals of a +rose, "why you're washing the windows of a room that's always shut up." + +"Jimps, if you were Mrs. Perkins next door I'd understand your consuming +curiosity. As it is----" + +"Going to have company?" + +She shook her head. + +"Then--what in thunder----" + +"We're going to have a boarder, if you must know." Georgiana began to +attack the inside of the window. + +"A boarder! What sort?" + +"A very good sort. He's a literary person with a book to write." + +"Suffering cats! Not the man at the hotel?" + +"I believe he was to exist at the hotel--if he could--for twenty-four +hours," admitted Georgiana. + +"But that man," objected Mr. James Stuart, "is a--why, he's--he doesn't +look like that sort at all." + +"What sort, if you please?" + +"The literary. He looks like a--well, I took him for a professional man +of some kind." + +Georgiana laughed derisively. "Jimps! Isn't authorship a profession?" + +"Well, I mean, you know, he doesn't look like an ink-slinger; he looks +like some sort of a doer. He hasn't that dreamy expression. He sees with +both eyes at once. In other words, he seems to be all there." + +"Your idea of literary men is a disgrace to your education, Jimps. Think +of the author-soldiers and author-engineers--and author-Presidents of +the United States," she ended triumphantly. + +"It doesn't matter," admitted Stuart. "The thing that does is that he's +coming here. I can't say that appeals to me. How in time did he come to +apply?" Georgiana told him briefly. Stuart looked gloomy. "That's all +right," he said, "as long as he confines himself to being company for +your father. But if he takes to being company for you--lookout!" + +"Absurd! He's years older than I, and he said he would be working very +hard. I shall see nothing of him except at the table. Heavens! don't +grudge us anything that promises to relieve the monotony of our lives +even a little bit." + +Stuart whistled. "Monotony, eh? In spite of all my visits? All right. +But I'd be just as well pleased if he wore skirts. And mind you--your +Uncle Jimps is coming over evenings just as often as and a little +oftener than if you didn't have this literary light burning on your +hearthstone. See?" + +He went away, his thick fair hair, uncapped, shining in the morning +sunlight, his arm waving a friendly farewell back at the window, where a +white cloth flapped in reply. + +"Dear old boy!" thought the young woman affectionately; "what should I +do without him?" + +That afternoon, just before the supper hour, the boarder's trunk +arrived. It was borne upstairs by the village baggageman, complaining +bitterly of its weight. It was an aristocratic-looking trunk, and it +bore labels which indicated that it was a traveled trunk. Shortly +afterward the boarder himself appeared and was allowed to betake himself +at once to his room, from which he emerged at the call of the bell, and +came promptly down. Meeting Mr. Warne limping slowly through the hall, +he offered his arm, and in the dining-room placed his host in his chair +with the gentle deference so welcome from a younger man to an older. + +Georgiana, as she served one of the undeniably simple but toothsome +meals for the cooking of which she was equipped by many years' +apprenticeship, noted how bright grew Father Davy's face as the supper +progressed, and how delightfully the newcomer talked--and listened--for +if he was an interesting talker he proved to be a still more +accomplished listener. When the supper was over Mr. Jefferson lingered a +few minutes by the fire, then went up to his room, explaining that he +must unpack his books and make ready for an early attack in the morning +upon his work. + +In her own room, that night, Georgiana lay awake for a long time. Just +before she went to sleep she addressed herself sternly: + +"My child, I shouldn't wonder if you've jumped out of the frying pan of +monotony into the fire of unrest. It certainly means trouble for you +when you can't get a perfect stranger's face out of your mind for an +hour. Now, there's just one thing about it: you've always despised girls +who let themselves leap into liking any man and are so upset by it that +everybody sees it. This one is undoubtedly either married or engaged to +be, and even if he's the freest old bachelor alive you are to behave as +if he were the tightest tied. You are to go straight ahead with your +work and to remember every minute that you are a poor minister's +daughter with only a college training for an asset. He's very clearly a +man of importance somewhere; he couldn't look like that and be anything +else. He will never think twice of you. Whatever attention he gives you +will be purely because he is a gentleman and he can't ignore his host's +daughter--nonsense, his landlady--I might as well face it. He's a +boarder and I'm his landlady. Gentlemen don't take much interest in +landladies. So now, Georgiana Warne, landlady--keeper of a +boarding-house, be sensible and go to sleep." + +But before she went to sleep her mind, in spite of her, had imaged for +her again the interesting, clever-looking face of the stranger under the +roof, with his clear, straightforward glance that seemed to see so much, +his smile which disclosed splendid teeth, his strongly moulded chin. And +she had owned, frankly, driven to the confession just to see if it +wouldn't relieve her: + +"It's just such a face as I've seen and liked--in crowds sometimes--but +I never knew the owner of one. It's such a face as a woman would +remember to her grave, if its owner had just belonged to her one--hour! +Oh, dear God, I've prayed you to let something happen--anything! And now +I'm--afraid!" + +But, in the morning, when pulses beat strongly and courage is bright, +Georgiana had another tone to take with herself. She faced her image in +the glass, which looked straight back at her with unflinching dark eyes. + +"I'm ashamed of you! To moon and croon like that! Now, brace up, Miss +Warne, and be yourself. You've never lacked spirit; you're not going to +lack it now. You're going to be strong and sane about this thing. You're +going to be the sort of girl whose mind no man can guess at. You're +going to weave rugs for your life, and enjoy Jimps Stuart as you always +have, and there's not going to be a whimper out of you from this hour, +no matter what happens--or doesn't happen. Do you hear? Well, +then--attention! Head up, shoulders back, heart steady; forward, +_march_!" + +Two hours later, when, in the absence of the new inmate, Georgiana went +into his room to put it in order for the day, she found it impossible +not to note the character of his belongings. They were few and simple +enough, but in every detail they betrayed a fastidious taste. And among +the articles in ebony and leather which lay upon the linen cover of the +old bureau stood one which held her fascinated attention. It was a +framed photograph of a young and very lovely woman in evening dress, and +the face which smiled over the perfect shoulder was looking straight out +at her. + +Georgiana stared back. "Who are you?" she whispered. "I might have known +you would be here!" + +"And who, please, are you?" the picture seemed to query lightly, smiling +in return for the other's frown. "As for me, don't you see plainly? I +belong to him. Else why should he have me here? You see I'm the only one +he cared to bring. Doesn't that speak for itself?" + +"Of course it does," agreed Georgiana; then stoutly: "And why should I +care? Of course I don't care. To care would be--absurd!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A SEMI-ANNUAL OCCURRENCE + + +"Father Davy, the 'Semi-Annual' has come!" Georgiana, tugging with both +strong young arms, hauled the big express package into the living-room +of the old manse, and shut the door with a bang. Breathing rapidly from +her exertions, her cheeks warmly flushed, her dark eyes glowing, she +stood over the package, looking at her father with a curious sort of +smile not wholly compounded of joy and satisfaction. + +"That is very good," said Father Davy in his pleasant voice; "and very +opportune. It was but yesterday, it seems to me, that I heard daughter +declaring that she was 'Oh, so shabby!'" + +"Yes, yes--but what do you wager there is there?" questioned Georgiana. +"I can tell you before I take the cover off. Three evening gowns, +frivolous and impossible for a little town like this; one draggled +lingerie frock, two evening coats, and possibly--just possibly--a last +year's tailored suit, with a tear in the front of the skirt and not a +scrap of goods to make a fold to cover it. Why, oh, why, do they never +have any pieces?" + +"The reason seems obvious enough," Mr. Warne suggested, as the girl +stooped and began to wrestle with the cords which tied the big package. +His glance fell musingly on the down-bent head with its masses of +dark-brown hair, upon the white and shapely arms from which the sleeves +were rolled back,--Georgiana had been busy in the kitchen when the +expressman came,--upon the whole comely young figure in its blue-print +morning dress. "They never have need of the pieces, I should judge," +said he. + +"But I have. Jeannette might think of me when she orders her clothes, +not just when her maid is packing the box with a lot of castaways. Well, +here's hoping there's just one thing I can use," and she lifted the +cover of the box and looked within, it cannot be denied, with eager +curiosity. + +"There are always many things you can use," her father gently reminded +her; "you, who are so ingenious." + +"Here's the evening frock!" cried his daughter, lifting out the top +garment and holding it up before them both. "Oh, what a dress to send a +poor country cousin! Fluff and flimsy, trimmed with sparklers; cut +frightfully low, no sleeves, and a draggly train. Doesn't it look +suitable for me?" She flung it aside with a gesture of scorn. "Ah, +here's something a shade better! A little dancing frock of +rose-coloured chiffon--and her clumsy partner stepped on the hem of it. +The maid in the dressing-room sewed it up for her to have her last dance +in, and then she came home and threw it into the box for me. Well, I can +get a gorgeous motor veil out of it--I who have so many drives in the +cars of the rich!" + +"The--the under part looks available to me," suggested Mr. Warne, +striving to be of comfort. + +Georgiana shrugged her blue-clad shoulders. "Oh, yes, if I could dress +in slitted silk petticoats and you could wear them for dressing-gowns, +we'd have plenty. Well, look at _this_! Here's a velvet--cerise! What a +glorious, impossible colour! And here's the lingerie frock; that's not +so bad; I really think it will stand a couple of launderings before it +falls to pieces in my hands. And here's the evening coat--pale gray with +fox trimmings--and she's fallen foul of some ink or something, and the +cleaner couldn't get it all out. Father Davy, look!" + +"It seems to me," said Mr. Warne in his gentle tones, which were yet not +without more firmness than one might expect from so frail a person, +"that I have heard somewhere a homely proverb to the effect that it is +not quite in good taste to----" + +"'_Look a gift horse in the mouth,_'" finished Georgiana. Her eyes were +rebellious. "And there's another: '_Beggars mustn't be choosers._' Yes, +I know. Only, semi-annually I certainly do experience a burning wish +that my dear rich relations were persons with a trifle keener sense of +discernment as to which of their old clothes would be most appreciated +by their poor cousins. They must now and then, Father Davy, wear +something sensible. They must have morning clothes and street +clothes--adorable ones. Why do they send only the worldly clothes to the +manse? And why--_why_ do they never put in so much as one of Uncle +Thomas's discarded cravats for the Little Minister himself?" + +"Your Uncle Thomas and I may possibly have different tastes in the +matter of neckwear," replied Mr. Warne with such gravity of manner but +such a sparkle of humour in his blue-gray eyes that his daughter laughed +in spite of herself. "Come, come, dear, is there nothing you can approve +among all those rich materials? You might make me innumerable cravats, +and I am such a fop I could wear a fresh one each day--to please you." + +"Father Davy!" Georgiana sat back on her heels. She had slipped her +bared arms into the armholes of the sleeveless white "fluff-and-flimsy" +evening frock, and the "sparklers" of the low-cut bodice now framed her +blue-print clad shoulders with an astonishing effect of incongruity. "I +have a wonderful inspiration. Let's ask Jeannette out here for a +visit--an object-lesson as to the state of life whereunto the country +cousins have been called. She hasn't seen me in ten years, and all I +remember of her is a fluffy, yellow-haired girl with a sniffly cold in +her head. What do you say, Father Davy? Shall we ask her?" + +Her father's gaze, quiet, comprehending, more than a little amused, met +Georgiana's, audacious, defiant, mischievous, yet reasonable. The two +looked at each other for a full minute. + +"Do you think she would come?" Mr. Warne inquired doubtfully. + +"Why shouldn't she come? She's had a gay winter so far, but not a happy +one. She's no debutante any more, you know; she's an 'old girl' in her +fifth season. That's what the society girls get by coming out at +eighteen. Now I, who am only a year out of college and who never 'came +out' in my life, am as keen at the game of being grown up as if I were +just putting up my hair for the first time. Well, Jeannette's been +keeping up the pace all winter, is thoroughly worn out and unhappy, and +doesn't know what to do with herself. It's March--and Lent--the time of +year when the society folks betake themselves to spring resorts to +recover their shattered nerves. Don't you think she'd jump at the chance +to come to the little country town and try what our air and our cookery +would do for her?" + +"You seem to know all about her in spite of not having seen or known +her--except through these boxes of clothes--since she was a little +girl." + +"Ah, that's just it--through her boxes--that's how I know her!" +Triumphantly Georgiana held up the cerise velvet gown. "Don't I know a +girl who would wear that? Wild for excitement--that's why she chose the +colour. But she didn't get the fun she expected; he didn't like it--or +somebody said she looked too pale in it--and she fired it at me before +she had done more than take the freshness off. _I_ can wear it--see +here!" + +She got to her feet, untied the little black silk tie which held the +low-rolling collar of her working dress at the throat, unfastened a row +of hooks, and let the blue print slip to her feet. Over the glory of her +white shoulders and gleaming arms she flung the cerise velvet--gorgeous, +glowing, wonderful colour, as trying to the ordinary complexion as +colour can well be. But as the gown fell into place, and Georgiana, +backing up to her father, was fastened somewhat tentatively into it, it +would have been plain to any beholder that if the rich girl could not +wear the queenly, daring robe the poor girl could--as she had said. + +She swept up and down the room, her head held high. She played the part +of a lady of fashion and held an imaginary reception, carrying on a +stream of "society" talk with a manner which made the pale man on the +couch laugh like a boy. Holding a dialogue with a hypothetical male +guest, she led him out into the hall, still within sight of Mr. Warne's +couch, and was in the midst of a scene as inspiredly clever as anything +she had ever done at college, where she had been the pride of a dramatic +club whose fame had waxed greater than that of any similar organization +for many years, when the front door of the house suddenly opened, and a +gust of chilly March air rushed in with the person entering. + +Georgiana wheeled--to find herself confronting the amused gaze of her +boarder, Mr. E. C. Jefferson, as read the address upon his mail. + +Mr. Jefferson was by this time, after a month under the roof of the old +manse, well established as a member of the household, though after the +somewhat remote fashion to be expected of a man whose absorbing work +filled most of his waking hours. He closed the door quickly as he caught +sight of Georgiana in her masquerade, removed his hat, and bent his head +before the cerise velvet. + +Georgiana, blushing as vividly as if it were the first time mortal man +had ever beheld her pretty shoulders, threw him a laughing look, +murmured: "Dress parade in borrowed finery, Mr. Jefferson; don't let the +blaze of colour put your eyes out!" and retreated toward the living-room +where her father sat, much amused by the situation. + +She was followed by her boarder's reply: "I find myself still happily +retaining the use of my eyes, Miss Warne. You need not be too much in +haste; it is very dull outside, I assure you." + +He went on up the stairs, but she had caught his smile, momentarily +illumining a face which was ordinarily rather grave. Georgiana closed +the living-room door upon the sight of the lithe figure rapidly +ascending the staircase without a glance behind. As she faced her father +she assumed the expression of a merry child caught in mischief. + +"Our new lodger has certainly come upon me in all sorts of situations, +not to mention disguises," she remarked, "but this is the first time he +has met me in the role of leading lady on the melodramatic stage. Please +unhook me, Father Davy; the play is over, and it's time to get the +pot-roast simmering. And what do you say to inviting lovely Jeannette +Crofton to visit us? Would it be too hard on you?" + +"Not at all, my dear. I should be glad to see your Uncle Thomas's +daughter. Invite her, by all means. You have far too little young +companionship; it will do you good to have a girl of your own age in the +house." + +"I wonder how we shall get on," mused Georgiana. "Anyhow she'll see what +a market this is for evening frocks cut on her lines!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LITERARY LIGHT + + +Many hours afterward, the labours of the day over, Georgiana bent her +dark head above an old-fashioned writing-desk in a corner of the +living-room, and dashed off the contemplated letter to her almost +unknown cousin. How the invitation would be received she had little +idea, but since a letter of thanks was undeniably due in response to the +"Semi-Annual" box, it was certainly a simple and natural matter enough +to offer in return for it a possible pleasure and a certain benefit. + +"I'll run straight down to the post-office and mail it," declared +Georgiana, sealing and stamping her letter after having read it aloud to +her father. "A run in this March wind will be good for me after baking +and brewing all day." + +"Do, daughter; and take a tumbler or two of jelly to Mrs. Ames, by the +way. And pick a spray or two of the scarlet geranium to go with it." Mr. +Warne spoke from the depths of an old armchair by the living-room fire, +where, with a lamp at his elbow, he was not too deep in a speech of the +elder Pitt on "Quartering Soldiers in Boston," to take thought for an +invalid whom he considered far less fortunate than himself. + +"I will--poor, disagreeable old lady. She doesn't admit that anything +tastes as it should, but I observe our jelly is never long in +disappearing." + +Georgiana, now wearing in honour of the close of day a simple frock of +dark-blue wool with a dash of scarlet at throat and wrists, donned a big +military cape of blue, scarlet lined, and twisted about her neck a scarf +of scarlet silk (dyed from a Semi-Annual petticoat!), which served less +as a protection than as the finishing touch to her gay winter's night +costume. She was likely to meet few people on her way, but there were +always plenty of loungers in the small village post-office, and not even +a college graduate could be altogether disdainful of the masculine +admiration sure to be found there, though she might ignore it. + +As she closed the house door, lifting her face to a cold, starlit sky +from which the clouds of the day had broken away at sundown, another +door a few rods down the quiet street banged loudly, and the sharp creak +of rapid footsteps was immediately to be heard upon the frozen gravel. +Georgiana smiled in the darkness at the coincidence of that banging +door. + +"Well met!" called a ringing voice. "Curious that I should break out of +Mrs. Perkins's just as you came along!" + +"Very curious, Jimps. How do you manage it? I stole out like a cat just +to avoid such a possibility. I knew you were there." + +"Did you, indeed?" inquired the owner of the voice, coming up and +standing still to look at what he could see of the military-caped form. +His own strongly built figure took up its position beside hers as if by +right. His hand slipped lightly under her arm, and he turned her gently +to face the direction in which he himself had set out. "That's like your +impertinence. To pay you for it you shall come this way," he insisted. +"It's only a step farther, it's not quite so hackneyed, and it will +bring us out where we want to be. Look at the stars!" + +"They're wonderful!" + +"Carrying something under that cape? Give it to me, chum." + +"It's only a bit of a basket, Jimps; never mind, you might spill it." + +"You can't carry a bit of a basket when I'm around! Spill nothing! Hand +it over." + +"Terribly dictatorial to-night, aren't you?" + +"Possibly. I've been bossing a lot of new hands to-day, who didn't know +a pick from a gang-plough." + +"But you've been outdoors every minute!" Her tone was envious. + +"Every blessed minute. And you've been in, puttering over a lot of house +jobs? See here, you need a run. Let's take the time to go up Harmon +Hill and run down it--eh? There'll not be a soul to see." + +She laughed doubtfully. "I'd love to, but--the jelly?" + +"That's easy." He dropped her arm, turned aside to a clump of trees at +the corner of an overgrown old place which they were passing, and +deposited the little basket in the shadow. He came back and caught her +arm again. + +"Easy, now, up the hill. I wish the snow wasn't all gone, we'd have a +farewell coast at the end of the season. But there'll undoubtedly be +more. Honestly, now, George, hasn't the coasting and tramping helped you +through this first winter?" + +"Jimps, I don't know what I should have done without it--or you." + +"Thanks; I think so myself. The first winter back in the little old +town, after the years away at school and college--well---- Anyhow, I +pride myself the partnership has worked pretty well. We've been about as +good chums as you could ask, haven't we now?" + +"About as good." + +"All right." His tone had a decided ring of satisfaction in it, but he +did not pursue the subject further. Instead he changed it abruptly: "How +does the new boarder come on?" + +"Very well. We really don't mind having him at all, he's so quiet, and +Father enjoys his table talk." + +"Father does, but daughter doesn't?" + +"Oh, yes, I do--only he doesn't talk much to me. I sit and listen to +their discussions--and jump up to wait on them so often that I sometimes +lose the thread." + +"The duffer! Why doesn't he get up and wait on you?" + +Georgiana laughed. "Jimps, we're going to have another guest." + +"Another man?" The question came quickly. + +"Not at all. A girl--my cousin, Jeannette Crofton. At least I'm writing +to ask her for the fortnight before Easter." + +"Those rich Crofton relations of yours who hold their heads so high for +no particular reason except that it helps them to forget their feet are +on the earth?" + +"James Stuart, what have I ever said of them to make you speak like +that?" + +"Never mind; go on. Is it the girl whose picture gets into the Sunday +papers--entirely against her will, of course--as the daughter of Thomas +Crofton? She's reported engaged, from time to time, and then the report +is denied. She's----" + +"I shall tell you no more about her," said Georgiana Warne, with her +head held quite as high as if she belonged to that branch of the family +to whom James Stuart had so irreverently alluded. + +"All right. I'm not interested in her anyhow, and you'll want your +breath for the run down. Come on, George; one more spurt and we're +up.... All ready. Take hold of my hand. Come on!" + +In the March starlight the two ran hand in hand down the long, steep +Harmon Hill which led from the east into the little town. Stuart's grip +was tight, or more than once Georgiana would have slipped on the rough +iciness of the descent. But she did not falter at the rush of it, and +she was not panting, only breathing quickly, when they came to a +standstill upon the level. + +"Good lungs, those of yours, George," commented Stuart, in the frank +manner in which he might have said it to a younger brother. "You haven't +played basket ball and rowed in your 'Varsity boat for nothing. Sure +you're not letting up a bit on all that training, now that you're back, +baking beans for boarders?" + +"And sweeping their rooms, and carrying up wood for their fires, +and----" + +"What? Do you mean to say that literary light allows you to tote wood +for him?" They were walking on rapidly now. "I'll be over in the morning +and take up a pile that'll leave no room for him to put his feet. What's +he thinking of?" + +"Jimps, boy, how absurd you are! How should he know who puts the wood in +his room? I don't go up with armfuls of it when he's there." + +"If you did, he'd merely open the door for you and say: 'Thank you very +much, my good girl.' I don't like this boarder business, I can tell you +that. Do you let him smoke in his room?" + +"Why not, you unreasonable mortal? He smokes a beautiful briarwood, and +such delicious tobacco that I find myself sniffing the air when I go +through the hall in the evening, hoping I may get a whiff." + +"Does, eh? When I bring up the wood I'll smoke up your hall so you won't +have to sniff the air to know you're enjoying the fragrance of Araby." + +In this light and airy mood the pair went on their way, enjoying each +other's company as might any boy and girl, though each had left the +irresponsible years behind and had settled down to the sober work of +manhood and womanhood. To Georgiana Warne, whose necessary presence at +home, instead of out in the great world of activity where she longed to +be, Stuart's society, as he had intimated, had been a strong support +during this first year and a half since her return. The singularly +similar circumstances which had shaped the plans of these two young +people had been the means of inspiring much comprehending sympathy +between them. An almost lifelong previous acquaintance had put them on a +footing of brotherly and sisterly intimacy, now powerfully enhanced by +the sense of need each felt for the other. It was small wonder that +their fellow-townsmen were accustomed to couple their names as they +would those of a pair long betrothed, and that, as the two came together +into the village post-office, where as usual a group of citizens lounged +and lingered on one pretext or another, the appearance of "Jim Stuart +and Georgie Warne" should cause no comment whatever. To-night more than +one idler noted, as often before, the fashion in which the two were +outwardly suited to each other. Both were the possessors of the superb +health which is such a desirable ally to true vigour of mind, and since +both were understood to be, in the village usage, "highly educated," +their attraction for each other was considered a natural sequence--as it +undoubtedly was. + +The mail procured, the letter posted, and the small basket delivered to +a querulously grateful old woman, the young people set out for home. +They had somehow fallen into a more serious mood, and, walking more +slowly than before, discussed soberly enough certain problems of +Stuart's connected with the commercial side of market gardening. He +spoke precisely as he would have spoken to a man, with the possible +difference that he made his explanations of business conditions a trifle +fuller than he might have done to any man. But his confidence in his +friend's ability to grasp the situation was shown by the way in which, +ending his statement of the case, he asked her advice. + +"Now, given just this crisis, what would you do, George?" he said. + +She considered in silence for some paces. Then she asked a question or +two more, put with a clearness which showed that she understood +precisely the points to be taken into consideration. He answered +concisely, and she then, after a minute's further communion with +herself, suggested what seemed to her a feasible course. + +Stuart demurred, thought it over, argued the thing for a little with +her, and came round to her point of view. He threw back his head with a +relieved laugh. "I admit it--it's a mighty good suggestion; it may be +the way out. Anyhow, it's well worth trying. George, you're a peach! +There isn't one girl in a hundred who would have listened with +intelligence enough to make her opinion worth a picayune." + +"I'm not a girl, Jimps. I don't want to be a girl--at twenty-four. I +can't; I haven't time." + +"That's a safe enough statement," replied James Stuart, looking down at +the dark head beside him under the March starlight, "as long as you +continue to act enough like a normal girl to run down the hills with me +after dark. Well, here we are, worse luck! I suppose you're not going +to ask me in?" There was a touch of appeal in the lightly spoken +question. + +"Not to-night, Jimps; I'm sorry. Father Davy overdid to-day, in spite of +all my efforts, and I must see him to bed early and read him to sleep." + +"After he's gone the literary light won't come down and smoke his +spices-of-Araby mixture by your fire, instead of his own, while you +entertain him, will he?" + +Her low laugh rang out. "You ridiculous person, what a vivid imagination +you have! Every evening at about this time the literary light goes off +for a long tramp by himself, and often doesn't come back till all our +lights are out, except the one we leave burning for him. He is +absolutely absorbed in his work. We really see nothing at all of him +except at the table." + +"Just the same, the time will come," predicted James Stuart. "Some night +he'll take his regular place at your fireside, as he does at your table. +I know your father's soft heart. Yours may not be quite so vulnerable, +but if the boarder should happen to look low in his mind after a +telegram from anywhere, or should get his precious feet wet----" + +"Jimps, go home and be sensible. When Jeannette comes--if she does come, +which I doubt more and more--you may be asked over quite a number of +times during her visit." + +"I presume so. And that's the time you'll have Jefferson down, and +you'll pair off with him, while I do my prettiest not to look like an +awkward countryman before the lady who has her picture in the Sunday +papers." + +"Good-night, James Stuart--good-night." + +"Good-night, Georgiana--dear," Stuart responded cheerfully. But the last +word was under his breath. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SHABBINESS + + +"I positively didn't know how shabby the house was till I'd read +Jeannette's letter of acceptance!" + +She did not say it to her father--not Georgiana Warne. She said it not +to James Stuart, nor to Mr. E. C. Jefferson. Being Georgiana, she said +it to no one but her slightly daunted self. She was standing in the hall +as she spoke, the wide, plain hall which ran straight through the middle +of the wide, plain house, with its square rooms on either side and its +winding, old-fashioned staircase at the back. Of the house itself, +Georgiana was not in the least ashamed. She knew that it possessed a +certain charm of aspect, from the fanlight over the entrance door to the +big quaint kitchen with its uneven floor dark with time. It was when one +came to details that the charm sordidly vanished--at least to the +critical vision of the young housewife. Like the worn white paint upon +its exterior, the walls and floors within called loudly for a restoring +hand. As for the furnishings, Georgiana looked about her with an +appraising eye which took in all their dinginess. The old rugs and +carpets were so nearly threadbare; the furniture was so worn; the very +muslin curtains at the windows, though white as hands could make them, +had been so many times repaired that even artful draping could not +wholly conceal their deficiencies. + +In other ways the household's lack of means made itself plainly apparent +to the daughter of the house, as she went from room to room. The linen +press, for instance--how pitifully low its piles of sheets and towels +had grown! Hardly a sheet but had a patch upon it, hardly a towel but +had been cut down and rehemmed, that it might last as long as possible. +There was, to be sure, one small tier of towels, handed down from +Georgiana's grandmother and carefully preserved against much using, of +which any mistress of a linen press might be proud. There were also two +pairs of fine hand-made linen sheets with borders exquisitely drawn; two +pairs of pillow cases to match, and a quite wonderful old bedspread of +knitted lace. + +"I can keep washing out the best towels for her," Georgiana reflected +resignedly as she counted her resources. + +In the china cupboard there was left quite a stock of rare old plates +and dishes which could be used as occasion demanded. The blue-and-white +crockery which must serve a part of the time was pretty meagre, the +supply of antique silver good as far as it went; it did not go very far. + +But--"After all," said Georgiana to herself determinedly, "we can give +her good things to eat, and served as attractively as need be--why +should I mind about the rest? Father in his armchair is a benediction to +any meal, and Mr. Jefferson can talk as few guests can who sit at the +Crofton table, I'll wager. I'll not be apologetic, even in my mind, no +matter how much I feel like it. I've asked her and she's coming. She +wouldn't be coming if she wasn't in a way willing to take what she +finds. We'll have a good time out of it." + +Whereupon she betook herself to the room which was to be given to her +cousin, and fell to work with a will, for this was the last thing to be +done before the arrival of the guest. + +When it was in order she looked about it, not ill content. It would be +an exacting guest, surely, who could not be comfortable here--and there +are many guest-rooms of elaborate appointments where guests are not +wholly comfortable. This room was large and square and airy, with its +four windows facing east and south, and the view from the eastern ones +was far-reaching, with a glimpse of blue mountain ranges in the +distance. If the matting upon the floor had been many times turned and +refitted, its worn places were now all cunningly hidden and it was as +fresh as the newly scrubbed paint on the woodwork. There was a +luxuriously cushioned, high-backed chair--would Jeannette, by any +possibility, recognize the blue silk of those cushion covers? Georgiana +wondered. Jeannette, who never wore a frock long enough really to become +familiar with its pattern, would only know that the cushions were soft +to her comfort-accustomed body. The woven rag rugs of blue and white +upon the floor were of Georgiana's own making. An ancient desk, which +had belonged to Mr. Warne's mother, was carefully fitted with all the +small articles one could desire in reason, taken from Georgiana's +cherished college equipment. The washstand in the corner, behind a +home-made screen of clever design, was furnished with two beautiful old +blue-and-white ewers--the pride of Georgiana's heart, for they had come +over from England with her great grandmother; and the rack was hung as +full with towels as fastidious bather could desire. There were two or +three interesting old prints upon the walls. Altogether, with its small +bedroom fireplace laid ready for a fire, and a blue denim-covered +woodbox filled to overflowing with more wood---- + +She had forgotten to fill the woodbox, as yet. It was nearly time to +dress for Jeannette's coming. Georgiana ran hurriedly downstairs and +through the kitchen, warm and fragrant with the baking of the day in +preparation for the coming supper, and in that pleasant order which the +kitchen of the good housewife shows at four in the afternoon. In the +woodshed beyond she gathered a great armful of wood, not to bother with +the basket, which would not hold so much--and hurried back again, making +toward the front stairs this time, because the back stairs were narrow +and steep, and one could not rush up them at great speed with one's arms +full of wood. + +"Wait a minute, please, Miss Warne!" + +The front door of the house shut with a bang, and hasty footsteps caught +up with Georgiana at the foot of the stairs, just as one big stick +tumbled loose from her hold and went crashing down behind her. + +"Oh, never mind," she panted. The load was much heavier than she had +realized, but she had not meant to be caught upon the front stairs with +it--not even if it had been James Stuart who came to her rescue. + +It was not Stuart, but evidently one quite of Stuart's mind, for +Georgiana now found her arms unburdened of their heavy incumbrance +without further parley, and herself put where she belonged by this cool +command: + +"Never carry a load like this when you have a man in the house." + +"But--but we haven't!" objected Georgiana, her voice a trifle +breathless. She followed Mr. Jefferson, as he strode up the stairs with +the wood. She opened the door of the guest-room and lifted the cover of +the woodbox. + +"Haven't?" he questioned, dumping the wood into the box, and then +stooping to rearrange it. "Would you object to telling me what you +consider me, then?" + +It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he was supposed to be a +literary light, but she restrained the too-familiar speech. + +"You are, of course, a boarder--a 'paying guest,' as we should say, if +we were some people," she observed with gravity. "You are expected to +complain of whatever service you receive, not to offer any under any +circumstances." + +"I see. Were you intending to fill this box?" + +He stood upright, and his glance wandered from the box in question +around the pleasant room in its fresh and expectant order. But it came +discreetly back to Georgiana's face. + +"Not at all," she denied. "There's quite enough there for to-night." + +He nodded, and went toward the door. "The woodshed is, I suppose, beyond +the kitchen, after the fashion of woodsheds, and the kitchen is beyond +the dining-room?" + +"Please don't bother!" + +Of course it was useless to protest--and she followed him down the +stairs, through dining-room and kitchen to the woodshed. As he passed +through the kitchen he stopped and stood still in the middle of it. + +"May I look for a minute?" he asked. "It takes me back to my boyhood. My +mother used just such a kitchen as this. I thought it the best room in +the house." + +His lips took on a smile as he looked. Georgiana, with her own hands, +had scoured every inch of that kitchen, had made to shine brilliantly +every utensil which had in it possibilities of shining. It was +impossible not to feel a housewifely pride in the appearance of the +place, and to exult in the spicy odours which told of the morning's +bakings. + +Mr. Jefferson, going on into the woodshed and returning with a +well-balanced load of wood which put Georgiana's late attempt to the +blush, assured her that he felt personally competent to attend to the +woodbox without further aid from her, and marched away as if he were +quite accustomed to such tasks. + +It may be here stated that next day, when in his absence she looked into +his room to see if the woodbox there were quite empty, she found it +quite full, though she could not possibly remember when he had +discovered the opportunity to do the deed without her knowledge. And +from this time forth, during the remainder of his stay, she was obliged +to resign herself to the fact that the "man in the house," though he +might be a boarder, would permit no interference with this self-assumed +task. + +Jeannette had written that she would arrive on a certain Thursday +afternoon between four and five, being conveyed by motor from the large +city, sixty miles away, which was her home. Georgiana, therefore, with +memories of college days again strong upon her, made ready to serve +afternoon tea beside the living-room fire. + +"Be prepared to have this function every day while the guest is here, +Father Davy," said she. "Jeannette's undoubtedly accustomed to it and +would miss it more than she could miss any other one thing. But she's to +have only the plainest of thin bread and butter with it, since our +six-o'clock village supper comes so soon after. We mustn't pamper her, +must we?" + +Mr. Warne, in his armchair by the fireside, ready to welcome the guest, +looked up at his daughter with bright eyes. "Pampering," said he, "is +the atmosphere of this house. Jeannette cannot escape it. I am pampered +beyond belief every day of my life. At this very moment my eyes are +feasting upon the sight of my child in what must be an absolutely new +old dress!" + +A peculiar expression crossed Georgiana's face as she glanced down at +the soft gray-blue of the afternoon frock she had donned for the +occasion. + +"I'm wondering if she will recognize it," she murmured. "It was one of +the white evening gowns in that last 'Semi-Annual.' I coloured it +myself--as usual. It really came out pretty well, but it gives me a +queer, conscious feeling to be wearing it when I meet her. Do you +suppose she'll know it, Father Davy?" + +"And if she does?" The tone was that of a tender irony. + +"I suppose I'm an idiot to care! I don't care--_but I do_!" Georgiana +flung a look at the slim man in the big chair, which said that she was +confident of his understanding her, no matter what she said. + +"No false pride, daughter," he warned her. "You can tell the big man +from the little one by the character of the things he is willing to +accept. There was never any stigma attached to wearing the discarded +garments of another, provided they were come by honestly. And when one +has coloured them, into the bargain--and looks like the 'Portrait of a +Lady' in them----" + +"Father Davy, you're the most comforting creature!" And Georgiana +dropped a kiss upon the top of the head which rested against the back of +the worn old armchair. + +If she had not been watching from the window she would not have known +when the Crofton car drew up at the door, so quietly did the great, +shining motor roll down the macadamized road which ran through the main +street of the little town. She was out and down the manse path in +hospitable alacrity, yet not without the dignity of which she was +mistress. + +So this was the guest whom she had ventured to ask down to the +hospitality of the shabby old village manse! If she had been a princess, +Miss Jeannette Crofton could not more thoroughly have looked the part. +Georgiana had known many rich men's daughters at college and had found +close friends among them, but no one of them had ever suggested such a +background of luxury as did this slim and graceful girl, as she set her +pretty foot upon the old box-bordered gravel path. She was rather small +of stature, her fair-haired beauty was of a strikingly attractive type, +and every detail of her attire and belongings breathed of wealth and +fashion. Georgiana felt herself instantly a buxom milkmaid beside her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHEN ROYALTY COMES + + +"It was so good of you to ask me," said Jeannette in a voice of much +sweetness, as she put out her hand to her cousin. Then she turned to the +man in livery who stood at attention by the door of the car. "You may +take this coat back with you, Dennis," she said; and she let him remove +from her shoulders the long, fur-lined cloak she had worn for the March +drive. He gathered together her belongings, as she walked up the path +with Georgiana, and he afterward went back for a long motor trunk which +had been brought upon the back of the car. Besides this was a larger +receptacle of black leather which he brought and deposited in the hall. + +"Dennis can take all these to my room for me," said Jeannette, with more +appreciation of the situation than Georgiana had expected. Dennis did +not look altogether pleased with this task, but he performed it and was +rewarded by a smile from his young mistress, which promised to soothe +his injured dignity at some future time. + +Mr. Warne, rising slowly from the armchair as Jeannette was brought +into his presence, looked keenly into the face of his sister's daughter. +Her fine clothing was nothing to him; he could not have told what she +wore; but he was interested in learning what she might be, herself. It +was something of a test for any stranger, the meeting of that clear look +of his, kindly though it was sure to be. With all his appearance of +frailty and exhaustion, one felt instinctively that whatever had +happened to the body, the mind was intact and resolute with energy, the +judgment swift and accurate. + +As they all took tea together Georgiana could feel their guest striving +to adjust herself to her entertainers. Her manner was very charming, +though a little languid, a little weary, as if she were tired with her +long drive--and with other things besides. But there was that about her +which proclaimed her unmistakably the gentlewoman, and this was good to +know. She got on well with her newly discovered uncle, and he with her. +Indeed, the simplicity and straight-forwardness of Father Davy's manner +with every one, his keen observation, his ready imagination, would have +put him instantly on an equal footing with the most exalted of his +fellow-creatures. It could do no less with his niece, no matter how new +to her his type of man might be, nor how new to him the fashion of her +speech and smile. + +This was a pleasant beginning. But if Georgiana, before her guest +arrived, had thought the old house shabby, she felt it now to be +positively shambling. She struggled mightily against this attitude of +mind, knowing that it was unworthy of her, but, as she led this +wonderful, winsome creature, whom she knew to be accustomed only to the +softnesses of life, up over the worn stair carpeting to the room she had +prepared for her, she was wondering how she herself had ever conceived +the preposterous idea of inviting her cousin to visit her; the task of +making this daughter of luxury comfortable, even for a fortnight, seemed +suddenly so impossible. + +"Oh, how very attractive!" exclaimed Jeannette, as she was taken into +the room over which Georgiana had spent so much thought. "I shall love +it here!" + +That was to be her attitude, thought Georgiana. Being exceedingly +well-bred, the guest was prepared to like everything that was done for +her. Though this was precisely what was to be expected and desired, +Georgiana found herself already irritated by it--most unreasonably, it +must be admitted. + +"I'm a jealous goose!" said she sternly to herself, and fell to helping +her cousin. There was something appealing about the girl's helplessness, +because she evidently tried hard not to show it. As the two lifted the +garments from the carefully packed trunk trays it was Georgiana who +found the right places for them in clothespress and bureau drawers. She +had seldom seen, never handled, such exquisite apparel, from the piles +of sheer, convent-embroidered linen to the frocks and wraps and négligés +which went into retirement on the padded hangers she had provided. She +realized, too, that elaborate as seemed to her the array of clothing +Jeannette had thought it necessary to bring for her visit, it was +probable that the girl herself had felt that she was having packed only +the simplest of her wardrobe and the least that a civilized being could +do with. + +It was when Jeannette herself spread forth upon the little +dressing-table--cleverly contrived out of an old washstand, a long and +narrow mirror, and some odds and ends of muslin and lace--the articles +she was accustomed to use every day of her life, but which might have +been matched only in the homes of princes, that the young hostess found +it hardest to control the pang of envy which smote her. Such silver, +such crystal, such genuine ivory--and such sheer beauty of design and +finish! Yet Jeannette was almost awkward in her disposal of the imposing +array, saying with a laugh that she really couldn't remember how the +things went at home, but that it didn't matter in the least. + +She set about removing her traveling clothes as if she never had been +waited upon in her life. It was only when she failed to discover how she +was put together that Georgiana had to come to the rescue. + +"It's dreadfully stupid of me," protested Jeannette, her delicate cheeks +flushing, "but I simply can't find that absurd hook." + +It was then that Georgiana frankly took the situation by its horns and +did away with all embarrassment. + +"You must let me help you, Jean," she said, finishing the unhooking with +ease, "whenever you need it. I shall love to do it, for you might have +rather a bad time trying to do everything for yourself. There you +are--and please call me when you are ready to be fastened into your +other frock. I'm just around the corner, and there's nobody else at home +now." + +Before supper was served, Georgiana prepared her cousin to meet "the +boarder." Not on any account would she have let his presence be +accounted for on the score of his being a guest in the house; not even +would she call him a "paying guest." + +"Mr. Jefferson came to us through a letter from a friend. He said he +wanted a quiet place to work in, away from all interruptions by friends +or claims of any sort. He is writing a book, and we see as little of him +as if he were not in the house--except at the table. I think you will +like him. It's so long since we have had a man in the house we're not +yet used to it, but on the whole it's rather comforting." + +"How interesting--to have a book being written in the house! Is it fact +or fiction, do you know?" + +"I don't imagine it's fiction. He has piles of reference books, and a +great deal of mail, and--somehow--he doesn't look as if he wrote +fiction." + +Yet, as Mr. Jefferson came into the dining-room that night, Georgiana +found herself wondering why she should think he did not look as if he +would write fiction--not foolish fiction, certainly, but sensible +fiction, made possible by keen observation and set off by a capacity for +quiet--possibly even biting--humour. He looked at least as if he might +write essays, thoughtful, clever essays, full of searching analyses of +his fellow human creatures, of their oddities, their hopes, their +aspirations, their sins, and their virtues. Or--was he, after all, +writing on scientific matters--facts, pure and simple; inferences, +deductions, conclusions from facts? She wondered, more than she had yet +done, as to the nature of his work. + +"I think Mr. Jefferson is delightful," said Jeannette cordially, beside +the living-room fire, when supper was over, and the boarder, after +lingering in the living-room doorway for a minute, but declining on the +score of work Mr. Warne's invitation to enter, had gone his way +upstairs. On this first night Georgiana had let the disordered dining +table wait, and had accompanied the others to the fireside as if she had +a dozen servants to attend to her household affairs. "After this, she +won't notice so much," she had argued with herself. "I don't want to +have her offering to help. I don't mean to do a thing differently on her +account, but I can't help--well, _shying_ at the dishes the very first +minute after supper!" + +"A man of fine intellect," Father Davy responded to his niece's +observation, "and accustomed to think worthy thoughts. One can see that +at once. It is a real pleasure to have him here. It is good for us, too. +Georgiana and I were growing narrow before he came. He has broadened us; +we get his point of view on subjects that we thought had been disposed +of for all time--and find them not disposed of at all." + +Before the moment arrived when, in Georgiana's mind, the waiting work in +the kitchen must be done without further postponement, the front door +was besieged by James Stuart. A basket of late winter apples in hand, he +came in, looking the image of vigorous youth, his well-set-up figure +showing its best in the irreproachable clothes he always wore when his +day's work was over, his manner, as usual, that of the friend of the +house. He had not received Georgiana's permission to come in upon this +first evening of Miss Crofton's visit, but he had taken his welcome for +granted and was not disappointed in receiving it. It was impossible not +to be glad to see his smiling face, for his good looks were backed by a +capacity for adapting himself to whatever company he might find himself +in, though it should be of the most distinguished. + +Presenting Stuart to her cousin, it occurred to Georgiana to wonder as +to the impression each must make upon the other. Jeannette was wearing a +frock of a peculiar shade of blue which the firelight and lamplight, +instead of dulling, seemed to make almost to glow. It was the sort of +apparently simple attire which is the product of high art, and in it, +sitting just where all lights seemed to play together upon hair and +cheek and perfect throat, the visitor was, as Georgiana owned to +herself, certainly worth looking at. + +She left them together presently and went off to the kitchen. Here she +covered from view with a big pinafore her own undeniably attractive +figure and fell upon her task, proceeding to dispatch it with all the +speed compatible with quiet. She had cleared the table, and, having +arranged her dishes in orderly piles, was just filling her dishpan with +the steaming water which made suds as it fell upon the soap, when a +familiar footstep was heard upon the bare kitchen floor. + +Georgiana looked over her shoulder, words of reproof upon her lips: +"Well--having come without an invitation, the least you can do is to +stay where you belong and entertain the guest." + +"There's a characteristic welcome for you!" The intruder seemed in no +wise daunted by his reception, but picked up a dish towel and stood at +ease, waiting the placing of the first tumbler in the rinsing pan. "And +where should I belong, if not standing by a chum in distress?" + +"I'm not in distress, if you please." + +"Don't mind washing dishes while the guest sits by the fire?" + +"Not a bit--more than usual," Georgiana amended honestly. + +"Why don't you pile 'em up and let 'em wait till morning?" + +"I shouldn't sleep for thinking of them." + +"My word, but you're a hustler! I don't know whether I can keep up." + +"Don't try. Go back to the other room, please, Jimps. You can be of real +use there." + +"Well, I like that!" + +As he wiped away assiduously, Stuart surveyed his companion's face in +profile. It belied the dictatorial words, for Georgiana was smiling. Her +cheeks were of a splendid colour, her dark hair drooped over the +prettiest white forehead in the world, and the whole outline of her face +was distracting. Here was a lamplight effect which rivalled the one in +the living-room, though it was thrown from a common kitchen lamp, +unshaded, and fell upon a figure in a red-and-white checked apron. +Georgiana glanced at her self-appointed assistant and encountered the +flash of an eye which told her that, however Stuart objected to her +words, he liked the look of what he saw. + +"Isn't Jeannette a beauty?" she inquired hastily, and plunged her hands +into her pan with such energy that she sent a splash of hot, soapy water +upon Stuart's cheek. He surreptitiously wiped it off with a corner of +his dish towel. + +"She sure is," he assented cordially. "I wasn't prepared for quite such +a looker. She doesn't seem to have brought with her that proud and +haughty expression she had in the Sunday papers." + +"She's a dear, and not in the least proud and haughty. I'm going to +enjoy her visit, I know. If I can only make her enjoy it!" + +"I'll be glad to help," Stuart offered. "This isn't a very promising +time of year for the country, but if you think she'd like any of the +good times we can give her here, I'll get them up." + +"Our sort of good times is just what I do want to give her. She's had +enough of her own kind and needs the diversion. What would you get up, +for instance?" + +"I'll take overnight to think it out, but I can promise you it'll be an +outdoor affair. Would she be up to any kind of a tramp, do you think?" + +"Oh, no, Jimps! Not yet, at any rate." + +"All right. I'll harness up my best team and carry her most of the way. +We must have another man, I suppose. Shall we ask the literary light, +just for a lark? It would give tone to the company to have him along, +eh?" + +"He probably wouldn't go." + +"Don't you fool yourself. A fellow who covers as many miles a day as he +does will jump at it, no matter how important his next chapter is. Do +you know, I'll have to admit I rather like him since I tramped a couple +of miles in his company the other day. There are a lot of interesting +ideas in his head, and I got him to give me the benefit of a few of +them. Drew him out, you know. Though to be strictly honest"--with a +laugh--"when I thought it over afterward I wasn't exactly sure that he +hadn't drawn me out rather more than I drew him. Anyhow, the interest +seemed to be mutual, and that flattered me a bit. It's perfectly evident +that he's a great student of affairs." + +They finished the work at a gallop. Georgiana slipped off her pinafore, +and Stuart, who had insisted on waiting for her, hung it upon its +accustomed nail. + +"Do you suppose pretty cousin ever wore one?" he queried. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SNOWBALLS + + +Mr. E. C. Jefferson laid down his pen, ran his hand through his heavy +brown hair, rumpling it still more than it had been rumpled +before--which is saying considerable--and stretched his legs under the +table upon which he had been writing steadily since half-past one +o'clock. He heaved a mighty breath, stretched his arms to match his +legs, looked round at his windows, which faced the west, and so had kept +him supplied with strong light longer than windows on any other side of +the house would have done, and took out his watch. + +Nearly half-past four. Time, and more than time, for his late afternoon +tramp. He set the piles of sheets before him in order, sheathed his pen +and put it in his pocket, and rose from his place, the light of +achievement in his eye, but crampiness and fatigue in all his limbs. + +As he approached his windows to ascertain what kind of weather was to be +found outside, he became aware of sounds which would indicate that some +event of activity and hilarity was going on below. He realized now that +he had been hearing these sounds--quite without hearing them, after the +fashion of the absorbed workman--for the last half-hour. Looking out, he +beheld an interesting affair in full swing. + +At each end of the side yard the heavy snow which a late March storm had +brought overnight had been shovelled and manipulated into the semblance +of a fort such as lads are wont to make. Between these two entrenchments +a battle was raging. But it was no lads who held the places of the +combatants. Instead, as he looked, Mr. Jefferson saw rising warily from +behind the fort nearest him, a girlish figure in a scarlet blanket suit, +its dark head half shielded by a scarlet toboggan cap very much awry. A +mittened hand flung a snowball with strength and precision straight into +the opposite fort, and the assailant immediately dodged down behind the +embankment. + +From the opposing stronghold then cautiously appeared a head snugly +bound in a blue scarf, from which locks of fair hair escaped at divers +points. A second snowball, accompanied by a loose flutter of snow, +wended its way uncertainly through the air, and fell a foot short of the +fort behind which crouched the scarlet figure. The figure immediately +rose and fired an answering volley. Peals of laughter and gay shouts +rang through the air. + +At this very moment a third person ran into the yard from the street, +calling: "For shame, George! I'm going to take sides with the enemy, +and we'll have you out in no time!" + +Jefferson saw this third figure, in sweater and cap, dash across the +open, narrowly escaping a vigorous shower of missiles from the near +fort, and disappear behind the farther one. + +The battle was now on in earnest. Let Scarlet Toboggan fire as fast and +as furiously as she might, a merciless bombardment of her protecting +walls had begun. The girl in the blue scarf--and priceless furs--had +sunk laughing upon the floor of her refuge, while her new ally, bringing +to bear the full strength and skill of his sex, battered at the +entrenchments across the yard, and began to make havoc thereon. + +Georgiana was a brave foe, but though she fought with surprising +endurance she was beginning to be seriously worsted, several feet of her +snow rampart having been shot away, when a voice behind her cried out a +command, and an arm, more sinewy than hers, sent a hard shot whizzing +past her head into the opposite fort with that directness of aim and +effectiveness of delivery which only the male arm can accomplish. + +"Duck down and make snowballs while I fire!" the voice ordered, and +Georgiana, breathless but still undaunted, obeyed. + +"Keep behind me, and pile the balls at the right," directed Jefferson. +His voice was eager as a boy's. He also had pulled on sweater and cap, +and as he and James Stuart faced each other across the twenty yards +which separated them, they might have been a couple of school-fellows +wrestling for supremacy. + +"Keep 'em coming--faster--faster!" Stuart urged Jeannette, the lust of +battle upon him. "Stop laughing and work! George is a"--he stooped to +make a ball for himself--"fiend at making 'em; you've got to learn! Keep +'em coming." + +The wet snow was precisely in the right state for quick packing, and +Georgiana was indeed an expert at the business. Jefferson found her +hard, round balls splendid missiles, and he used them with all the +energy of an arm which welcomed the change from the labours of the past +hours to those of the present. + +"Ha! there goes that left corner!" he exulted with his comrade-at-arms, +as the last of a series of well-directed shots reduced a part of the +enemies' defences to a gratifying slump. "And here comes a bit of ours," +he added, as a ball of Stuart's ploughed through a weakened upper +portion of their own rampart. + +"He'll be game to the last," panted Georgiana, working furiously. + +"So will we! We'll fight to a finish, if we go without our suppers." + +The battle raged on. The combatants took no heed of passing time, until +Jeannette, growing reckless with excitement, lifted an incautious head +and received a spent ball full upon her chin. No harm was done, as she +protested, but Stuart raised a flag of truce and Mr. Jefferson ran +across the lines to apologize. + +"It didn't hurt a bit," Jeannette reaffirmed, showing a very pink chin. + +"It's lucky it didn't. I wasn't properly protecting you," Stuart +declared warmly. + +"Both sides come in to supper!" commanded Georgiana. "Please stay, +Jimps; it's the only amends we can make you, and you must be as hungry +as a bear." + +"Thanks; I'd like to, but I'm not properly dressed, I'm afraid." + +"Jean and I won't make a change, and you can take us coasting this +evening, if you will. Do you suppose Mr. Jefferson would dream of +staving off his dignity a bit longer and going, too?" + +They all looked at the person mentioned and their glances were all gayly +audacious. + +"Is that an invitation or a challenge?" He put it to Georgiana. + +"Whichever you choose to take it." + +"I'll take it as I choose, then, and accept. The spirit of sport is upon +me; I couldn't work this evening if I tried." + +"Good for you! 'All work and no play,' you know," quoted Stuart, as they +went in together, a moist and merry company. + +Upstairs, while Jeannette dried her hair, she reflected that she didn't +know when she had had so gay a time. She ran in to say this to +Georgiana, but found that that young woman had already put her hair in +order without drying it, as its damply curling locks above her forehead +testified, and was rushing away downstairs to the kitchen. + +"Won't you take cold?" suggested Jeannette, struggling with her own wet +braids, and very naturally wishing for her maid to dry and put them in +order. + +"Mercy, no; not over the kitchen stove. They'll be dry soon enough," was +the reply; and Georgiana vanished, the supper on her mind. + +When Jeannette came down, half an hour later, and appeared in the +kitchen doorway, she saw that the speed of her young hostess's labours +and the warmth of the kitchen were quite likely to prevent all chance of +undried locks. + +There was system about Georgiana's work, fast as was its pace. Each trip +across the floor, from pantry to dining-room and back again, +demonstrated housewifely efficiency. Both hands were always full and she +seemed never to forget what she meant to do. If she passed the stove on +her way somewhere she stopped to stir something or to glance into the +oven, and when she went to the storeroom for cream she brought away +bread and butter as well. + +Jeannette commented admiringly. "Don't you ever forget and have to run +back for something?" she inquired. + +"Goodness, yes! But when you've been over certain ground several million +times, it's a pity if you can't make your head save your heels as a +rule. Excuse me, dear; but if you wouldn't mind standing just a foot or +two to the left----" + +Jeannette turned. "I see; I'm in the way when I'd like so much to help. +Isn't there anything I could do?" + +"All done, thank you--except--would you just arrange that boxful of +scarlet geraniums Jimps brought over, for the table? That would help +very much. Take any bowl or glass from the dining-room cupboard that +looks appropriate to you." + +"I'd love to." And Jeannette fell to work--if it could be called work. +Never in her life had she arranged scarlet geraniums as a table +decoration, or, for that matter, seen them so used. But as she placed +the splendid, thrifty blooms, each with its accompanying rich green +leaves, in the plain brown bowl which she felt best matched their +undistinguished beauty, she discovered for the first time that other +blossoms besides roses and orchids, chrysanthemums, and the rest of the +ordinary florists' products, may charm the eye from the centre of a +snowy cloth. + +"That's gorgeous! Thank you so much! Aren't they the jolliest flowers in +the world for a winter night? Jimps's greenhouses certainly are doing +well. Don't you want a bit of a blossom in your hair? Their grower would +feel tremendously complimented." + +"Red's not my colour, but it is yours. Let me tuck this little sprig in +these braids, and I'll risk the grower's being better pleased than if I +wore them." + +Georgiana submitted, and promptly forgot all about the scarlet +decoration. But the others did not--found forgetting it, indeed, quite +impossible. As they gathered about the table, it caught the eye of each +in turn. Georgiana's cheeks, from the vigorous exercise in the frosty +air, were glowing brilliantly; her eyes were wonderful to look at; her +dark cloth dress had upon it no relief of colour; so the scarlet +geranium in her hair was the touch of the artist which drew the eye and +held it. She had placed upon the table, instead of the customary lamp, +one of the few treasures of the house, a fine old candelabrum, with +pendent crystals, and the burning candles threw their mellow light +directly into her face. + +She looked up suddenly, after having served each one from the dish +before her, and found them all looking at her. James Stuart's fork was +suspended above his plate, but the others had not yet taken theirs. She +gazed at them in amazement. + +"Why, what is the matter?" she cried. "Do I--is something queer about +me? Have I missed a point somebody has made?" + +They all turned then, laughing, to their plates, and nobody would tell +her what was wrong. Stuart seemed to think it a great joke--her +mystification. When she removed the plates for the second course--there +were but two in the simple, hearty little supper--she glanced into the +small kitchen mirror. Her eye caught the scarlet geranium. + +"I suppose I look ridiculously sentimental with that flower just there," +she thought. "But I won't take it out after Jean put it there. No wonder +they laughed." + +An hour afterward they were all out upon the hill nearby. Stuart +possessed a splendid pair of "bobs," and they were soon dashing down the +hill at a pace which, while it made Jeannette hold her breath with +mingled fear and joy, made Georgiana cry out, "Oh! is there anything so +glorious?" and made Mr. Jefferson, just behind her, watching over her +shoulder, respond with heartiness: "The snow fight took five years off +my age, and now here goes another five. I must be almost as young as you +are now, Miss Warne." + +"Oh, no; I'm only ten myself to-night," she answered. "Coasting was one +of my earliest joys. I was so proud when I could steer Jimps Stuart's +first pair of bobs--small and primitive ones compared with these." + +She found Mr. Jefferson beside her when it came to the walk back up the +hill. A new side of him was visible to-night. He was not the quiet +student and writer, the man who discussed with her father and herself +the course of the world's events or the problems of social service, but +a light-hearted boy, much like Stuart, and ready to abet all the other +man's efforts for the amusement of the party. + +The fun went on for an hour; then Jeannette, unaccustomed to so much +vigorous exercise, began quite against her will to show evidences of +fatigue, and after one particularly long, swift flight the party went +back to the house. There followed another gay hour before the fire, +while Stuart roasted chestnuts, and Georgiana, sitting on the floor +against her father's knee, told stones of madcap pranks at college, +illustrating them by such changes of facial expression and such +significant gestures that her hearers spent themselves with their +laughter. + +Jeannette, lying back in a shabby but comfortable old armchair, looked +and listened with the absorbed interest of one to whom such simple +pleasures as these had the flavour of absolute novelty. Her eyes +wandered from Georgiana's vivid face to her father's delicate one; to +James Stuart's comely features glowing ruddily in the firelight as he +tended his chestnuts, showing splendid white teeth as he roared at +Georgiana's clever mimicry or turned to laugh into Jeannette's eyes as +he offered her a particularly plump and succulently bursting specimen of +his labours; to Mr. Jefferson's maturer personality, his brown eyes +keenly intent, his face lighted with enjoyment, his occasional comments +on Georgiana's adventures flashing with a dry humour which matched hers +and sometimes quite outdid it. To Jeannette they were all an engrossing +study. As for herself---- + +"She's the loveliest thing I ever saw," thought Georgiana from time to +time as she glanced up at her cousin, whose fair hair against the dark +cushion of the old chair caught and held the charm of the fire's own +warmth in its gleaming strands. Jeannette's eyes were matchless by +lamplight; her cheeks and lips were glowing from the outdoor life of the +day and evening; her smile was a thing to imprison hearts and hold them +fast. If she spoke little no one thought of her as silent, and the charm +of her low laughter at the sallies of the others was the sheerest +flattery, it was so evidently born of genuine delight in the cleverness +she did not attempt to emulate. + +"I'm a clown beside her," said Georgiana to herself. "Who cares how a +woman talks when she looks like that? Every line of her is absolute +grace and beauty, every turn of her head is fascination itself. I never +saw such eyes. That little twist in the corner of her lip when she +smiles is the most delicious thing I ever saw. Jimps looks at it forty +times in every five minutes and I can't blame him. Mr. Jefferson keeps +his chair facing that way so he can have her all the time in focus, +though he doesn't eat her up as Jimps does. I can't blame either of +them. And I shall go on being a clown, because that's what I can do and +it amuses them. If I should lie back in a chair like that and just smile +without saying anything, Father Davy would say, 'Daughter, don't you +feel quite well?' and Jimps would propose getting me a cup of tea. Oh, +well--how absurd of me to mind because another girl looks like a picture +by a wonderful painter while I look like--a lurid lithograph by nobody +at all!" + +Whereupon she set her strong, white teeth into a hot, roasted chestnut, +cracked it, and, regarding the halves, said: "This reminds me of the +night Prexy lost his head"--and brought down the house with the merriest +tale of all. It was so irresistibly absurd that Jeannette, helpless with +her mirth, buried her face in her cobweb handkerchief, Stuart rocked +upon his knees and made the welkin ring, and Mr. Jefferson laughed in a +growling bass that gathered volume as the preposterousness of the +situation grew upon him with consideration of it. Even Mr. Warne, whose +expressions of amusement were usually noiseless, gave way to soft little +chuckles of appreciation, and wiped his tear-filled eyes. + +Georgiana, finishing her chestnut, looked upon them all and told them +they were the most gratifying audience she had ever addressed, but that +she feared it was not good for them to give way to their emotions so +unrestrainedly, and that she should therefore not open her lips again +that night. As they found it impossible to break down this resolution, +even with entreaties backed by offerings of worldly goods, the party +broke up. Georgiana carried off her guest to put her to bed with her own +hands, while Mr. Jefferson and James Stuart smoked a bedtime pipe +together in the boarder's room; after which Stuart let himself quietly +out of a door that was never locked, to reflect, as he tramped homeward +over the snow, on what an inordinately jolly evening it had been. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SOAPSUDS + + +"Will you think I'm dreadful, Georgiana dear," asked Jeannette, lying +luxuriously back upon her pillow while her cousin sat braiding her own +thick locks by the little bedroom fireplace in which the last remnants +of the fire were smouldering, "if I say I shouldn't have believed I +could possibly have such a good time in such a way? I never did anything +the least bit like it." + +"Never coasted?" + +"Never." + +"Never threw snowballs?" + +"Not that I can remember." + +"Nor roasted chestnuts?" + +"I never tasted one before--except perhaps in the stuffing of a fowl." + +"Poor child! But at least you've sat by the fire with other girls and +men and told stories, little Jean?" + +The guest considered. "Of course--at house parties. Yet I can't seem to +recall any such scene as the one we just left, down by your fire. I +certainly never sat on the floor with my arm on my father's knee, with +a group of people around, while somebody told stories--sure not such +stories as you told. Oh, you're the cleverest girl I ever knew, to tell +such things in such a way! It was perfectly splendid! How those two men +did enjoy it! I don't know when I've heard men laugh in just that way." + +"Just what way? Please tell me how they laughed differently from other +men. To be sure, Jimps just lets go when he's amused and raises the +rafters with his howls of glee; but so do other young men of his age. +And certainly Mr. Jefferson laughed decorously enough." + +"Yes, but it was so whole-souled with both of them; and yet there wasn't +a thing in your stories but--oh, I can't tell you just what I mean, if +you don't know. But somehow it all struck me so differently from the way +any girl-and-man evening ever struck me before. There--there seems a +different air to breathe here--if that expresses it--from any I've ever +been in." + +The two regarded each other, Jeannette from between half-closed, deeply +fringed eyelids as she lay back upon her pillows, one arm, half veiled +with the finest of linen and lace, outstretched upon the treasured +old-time counterpane, the other beneath her neck; Georgiana sitting up +straight, with two long, dark braids hanging over her shoulders, her +dusky eyes wide open, her cheeks still bright with colour balanced by +the scarlet hue of the loose garment she had put on. + +"I've no doubt there is," agreed Georgiana thoughtfully. "Still, though +you live a very different life from any I've ever known, I didn't +suppose your education in the matter of roast chestnuts--and the things +that go with them--had been quite so badly neglected. To think of never +having had them except so disguised by the manipulations of a French +_chef_ that you couldn't recognize them! And to have gone to balls and +horse shows and polo games--and never to have built a snow fort! Dear, +dear, what we have to teach you! Life hasn't been really fair to you, +has it, my dear?" + +This was sheer audacity, from a poor girl to a rich one, but it was +charming audacity none the less and by no means wholly ironic. To +Jeannette, studying her cousin with eyes which were envious of the +physical superiority for lack of which no training in the social arts or +mere ability to purchase the aid of dressmaker and milliner could +possibly atone, conscious that Georgiana possessed a mind far keener and +better trained than her own, the question called for a serious answer. +She half sat up and pushed her pillow into a soft mountain behind her as +she spoke: + +"No, it hasn't! I thought so before I came here and now I'm sure of it. +I feel a weak and helpless creature beside you--helpless in every way. I +can't do anything you can. If my father should lose his money and I +should be thrown upon my own resources, I shouldn't be able to make so +much as a--snowball for myself!" + +Both laughed in spite of Jeannette's earnestness, for the words brought +back vivid memories of the wild sport of the afternoon. Then Georgiana's +ready brain leaped to the inevitable corollary: + +"Ah, but there'd be sure to be a man ready to dash into your fort and +make your snowballs for you!" + +"I'm not so sure." + +"I am." + +"Of course the men I know don't seem to mind whether a girl is helpless +or not, if she can look and act the way they want her to. But--I'm +discovering that there are other kinds of men, and somehow I like this +new kind. And I imagine this kind wouldn't care for helpless girls. You +made snowballs for your man to throw, and they were good hard ones, as +my chin can still testify." + +"You can learn to make hard snowballs," said Georgiana, smiling. + +Jeannette held up one beautifully modelled but undeniably slender arm +and clasped it with her hand. "Soft as----" She paused for a simile. + +"Sponge cake," supplied Georgiana, coming over to feel critically of the +extended arm. "It _is_ pretty spongy. It needs exercise with a punchball +or"--she flashed a mischievous glance at the languid form beside +her--"a batch of bread dough." + +"Bread dough! Would that help it?" + +"Rather! So would sweeping, and scrubbing, and moving furniture about. +But you're born to a life of ease, my dear, so those things are out of +the question for you. But fencing lessons would be good for you--and +fashionable, too, which would double their value, of course." + +"Georgiana!" Jeannette sat straight up and laid two coaxing arms about +her cousin's firmly moulded neck. "Teach me to make bread, will you, +while I'm here?" + +"Oh, good gracious!" Georgiana threw back her head to laugh. "Hear the +child! What good would that do, if you learned? You wouldn't do it when +you went back." + +"I would!--Well, of course, I might have difficulty in--but mother wants +me to be strong; she's always fussing about it because I can't endure +the round of society things she says any girl ought to--and enjoy. If +you thought bread-making would really help----" + +"It would be a drop in the bucket of exercise you ought to take." + +"Nevertheless, I want to learn," persisted Jeannette as Georgiana moved +away, evidently with the intention of leaving her for the night. "I'd +like to feel I knew how. And your bread is the most delicious I ever +tasted. Please!" + +"Oh, very well; I'll teach you with pleasure. I shall be setting bread +sponge at six to-morrow morning. Will you be down?" Georgiana's smile +was distinctly wicked. + +"Six o'clock!" There was a look of mingled incredulity and horror in the +lovely face on the pillow. "But--does bread--does bread have to be made +so early?" + +"Absolutely. After the morning dew is off the grass, bread becomes +heavy." + +Jeannette stared into the mocking eyes of her cousin; then she laughed. +"Oh, I see. You're testing me. Well,"--with a stifled sigh--"I'll get up +if you'll call me. I'm afraid I should never wake myself--especially +after all that snowballing----" + +"Exactly. And I'll not call you. So lie still in your nest, ladybird, +and don't bother your pretty head about bread sponges. What's the use? +You'll never need to know, and you'll soon forget having had even a +faint desire toward knowledge. Good-night--and sleep sweetly." + +"Oh, but wait! I'm really serious. Please call me!" + +"Never!" + +With one laughing backward look and with a kiss waved toward the slender +figure now sitting up in bed, Georgiana opened the door and fled. That +she did not want to teach her cousin an earthly thing, even if she could +have believed Jeannette serious in her request, was momentarily growing +more evident to her own consciousness. Just why, she might have been +unwilling to explain. + +Next morning, however, she found herself destined to carry out the plan +Jeannette had so impulsively proposed. She crept downstairs as quietly +as the creaking boards under the worn stair carpet would permit, and +began her work in a whirl of haste. But she had not more than assembled +her ingredients on the scrupulously scoured top of the old pine table +when she heard the kitchen door softly open. Wheeling, she beheld a +vision which brought a boyish whistle to her lips. + +Jeannette, enveloped in a long silken garment evidently thrown on over +her night attire, a little cap of lace and ribbon confining her hair, +the most impractical of slippers on her feet, stood smiling at her +cousin, sleep still clinging to her eyelids. + +"I'm down," she announced in triumph. + +"So I see. But you're not up," replied Georgiana, regarding the vision +with critical eyes. + +Jeannette's gaze left the trim morning garb of the young cook, her +perfectly arranged hair, her whole aspect of efficiency, and dropped to +her own highly inappropriate attire, and she flushed a little. But she +held her ground. + +"You didn't call me, and when I woke it was so near six I didn't dare +wait to dress. Can't I learn unless I'm dressed like you?" + +"If a French doll had come to life and offered to help me in the kitchen +I couldn't feel more stunned. What will happen to all those floating +ends of lace and ribbon, when they get mixed with flour and yeast? Be +sensible, child, and go back to bed." + +"I'll pin everything out of the way, and perhaps you'll lend me an +apron. I really don't want to bother you, Georgiana, but I do want to +learn." + +Georgiana relented. "Very well. Come here, and I'll cover you up as best +I can. Or I'll wait while you run up and dress--if you've anything to +put on that's fit for bread-making." + +"Nothing much fitter than this, I'm afraid," admitted Jeannette +reluctantly. + +"Poor little girl!" Georgiana's momentary irritation was gone, as it +usually was, in no time at all. "Well, here go the frills under a nice +big gingham all-over; and now you look like a combination of Sleeping +Beauty and Mother Bunch! All right; here we go into business. Do you +know how to scald that cupful of milk you see before you?" + +"Scald it?" repeated Jeannette doubtfully--and so the lesson began. + +Absolute ignorance on the part of the pupil, assured knowledge on that +of the teacher--the lesson was a very kindergarten in methods. There +were times when Georgiana had much difficulty in restraining her inward +mirth, but she soon saw that this must be done, though Jeannette herself +laughed at her own clumsiness, and evidently was determined to let +nothing escape her. + +"Kneading looks so easy when you do it," she lamented; "but I can't seem +to help getting stuck." + +"That will come with practice--if you ever try another batch, which I +doubt. And it's the kneading that is so good for your arms." + +"Yours are beautiful--and so strong, it must be fun to own them." + +"There are times when a bit of muscle is of use in a hustling world," +admitted her cousin. "There, I think that dough will do very well. Turn +it over and lay it smoothly in the bowl--so. Cover it with its white +blanket--so; and leave it right here, where it will have a good warm +temperature to rise in. Now, run up and snatch another nap; you'll have +plenty of time." + +"You're not going back to bed?" + +"Rather not!" Georgiana's smile strove to be tolerant. "There are just a +few things to be done about the house, and they are best done before +breakfast. Off with you, lady cousin!" + +"Do you always get up so early?" Jeannette persisted. + +"I have an extraordinary fondness for early rising," Georgiana +explained. "It's foolish, of course, but it's an old habit. Good-bye, my +dear; my next errand is down cellar," and she vanished from the sight of +her guest, quite unable to keep herself longer in hand before the +amazing point of view of this daughter of luxury. + +The "next errand" was the washing of the handful of fine towels with +which the painstaking hostess was keeping the guest-room supplied, +unwilling to furnish the aristocratic young person upstairs with the +coarser articles used by herself and the others. Jeannette, all unaware +that the snowy linen with which her room was kept plentifully supplied +was constantly relaundered in secret by Georgiana's own hands, was as +lavish in her use of it as she was accustomed to be at home, and the +result was a quite unbelievable amount of extra work for her cousin. + +Mr. Warne, coming upon his daughter by chance in this very early morning +flurry of laundering, expressed himself upon the subject in the gentle +but positive way which was his. + +"Why do it, my dear?" he questioned. "Are the sheets and towels we use +not quite good enough for others?" + +"Not half good enough for Lady Jean," responded the laundress, rubbing +energetically away--yet carefully, too, for the old linen was not so +stout as it once had been. + +"You are intentionally deceiving her, aren't you, daughter? Why do +that?--since it is not necessary for her comfort." + +"But it is. She would shudder at the touch of a cotton sheet. As for a +common huck towel----" + +Mr. Warne shook his head. "I can't agree with you. So that the sheets +and towels are spotless--as your sheets and towels are--the mere degree +of fineness is not essential. And if she knew how much labour it costs +you, I am very certain she would infinitely prefer to be less of a +spendthrift in the matter of quantity." + +"I've no doubt she would. But I'd rather wash my fingers off than not +give her the fresh towel for her perfect face each time she uses one. +I'd like it myself. I'd like a million towels, all fine as silk. I'd +like----" She stopped abruptly, seeing the look upon her father's face. +"Oh, I'm sorry!" she flashed at him repentantly. "I truly don't mind +being poor in most ways. It's the lack of certain things that go with +nicety of living that grinds me most. I shouldn't mind wearing gingham +outside, if I could have all the fine linen I want underneath. +It's--it's--oh, well, you know! And I'm an idiot to talk about it when +the thing we really need is books--books for your starving mind. If I +could get you all you want of those----" Her voice broke upon the wish, +always strong with her. + +"My dear, my mind will never starve while it has the old books to feed +upon. Listen, on what a pertinent thought did I come this morning. I was +delving in good old Thomas Fuller, of those fine seventeenth-century +writers whose works still glow with fire: '_Though my guest was never so +high, yet, by the laws of hospitality, I was above him whilst under my +roof_.'" + +The girl laughed, dashing away a hot tear with the back of a soapy hand. +"Trust you to find a classic to turn a tragedy into a comedy," she said. +"Go away now, Father Davy, and I'll soon be through. It's a poor +washerwoman I am to be thinning my suds with brine!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A REASONABLE PROPOSITION + + +"You'll come, too, Georgiana dear?" Jeannette, furrily clad for a walk +with James Stuart, stood in the doorway looking back. "Please do." + +"Come, George;--you need a good tramp," Stuart urged at Jeannette's +elbow. + +He looked the picture of anticipation. He had undertaken getting the +visitor into training by increasingly long daily walks, and the result +was proving eminently satisfactory. At the end of the first half of the +visit Jeannette was looking wonderfully well and happy--hardly the same +girl who had come to the little village to try if she could endure such +life as was likely to be offered her there. + +"Thank you, my dears, nothing could persuade me. Run along and leave me +to diversions of my own," answered Georgiana gayly. + +So they had gone, Jeannette wafting back a kiss, Stuart waving an +enthusiastic arm. Georgiana had smiled at them, had closed the door +softly behind them--and had immediately banged to another conveniently +near at hand, one opening into a small clothespress under the stair +landing. + +"Diversions of my own!" she repeated with emphasis. "Happy phrase! I +wonder what they think my diversions are--with this family to look +after. Well, you got yourself into it, George Warne. You can stick it +out if it kills you." + +She deliberately thumped one door after another all the way along her +progress through the empty rooms and up the stairs to the second floor. +Her father was away for the afternoon on a rare visit to a neighbour who +had sent for him, an old parishioner, who, falling ill, longed for the +gentle offices of his friend and long-time minister. As for Mr. +Jefferson, this was the time of day when he was always away on his usual +long walk. It was a comfort to be alone in the quiet house--and to +bang and thump. + +In her room Georgiana arrayed herself in a heavy red sweater, then +ascended to the attic and stood eying the great hand loom of antique +pattern, a relic of an earlier century. It was equipped with a black +warp, upon which a few rows of parti-coloured woof had been woven. + +"Diversions!" she repeated, and shook her round fist at the lumbering +object. + +Then she sat down on the old weaver's bench and began to weave with +heavy, jarring thuds which shook the floor, as with strong arms she +pulled and pushed and sent her clumsy shuttle flying back and forth. +The attic was very cold; but she was soon warm with the violent exercise +and presently had discarded the sweater and was working away with might +and main. + +"Go at it--go at it!" she was saying to herself. "Jealous idiot that you +are! Jealous of Jeannette, of her clothes, her money, her beauty, her power +to attract--jealous because Jimps likes her so well--because Father Davy +looks at her with the eyes of an appreciative uncle--because Mr. E. C. +Jefferson talks to her as if he enjoyed it. Pound--pound--pound away at +the old loom till your arms ache, and see if you can get the nonsense +out of you!" + +"I beg your pardon," said a deep voice at the top of the narrow stairs +not far away. + +The loom stopped with a jerk as the weaver flashed round upon the head +and shoulders protruding above the rafters. "Oh! I'm sorry! Did I +disturb you?" cried Georgiana, fire in her voice. She did not look in +the least sorry. "I thought you were out, too. And I'm just over your +head. Of course you came up to----" + +"No, I didn't," replied Mr. Jefferson. He ascended two steps more, +looking curiously at the loom "I came up because I thought something +extraordinary had happened up here and I ought to find out about it." + +"Nothing extraordinary, merely something very ordinary. I do this +whenever I have time and the coast is clear. You usually go out at this +hour," she said accusingly. + +"So I do. I came back just now, when I saw Miss Crofton and Mr. Stuart +starting off alone, in hopes that you might consent to go with me. It's +a great day. Won't you?" + +"Thank you, no," the girl replied. "I'm behind with my work. These rugs +are orders very much overdue. I've been rather delayed lately, since my +machine is so noisy I can't work when anybody is on the second floor." + +"Please never mind me," urged her visitor. "I can time my work to fit in +with yours, if you need to make haste. But that must be a rather +strenuous business. It's a very old affair, isn't it? Do you mind if I +look at it? I never saw one of just that pattern." + +"I mind very much," replied Georgiana crisply, moving off the bench and +standing on the floor. "But that's no reason why you shouldn't examine +the Monster if you like. That's what I call it. I'll run down and be +back when you are through." + +And this she would have done, but that he barred her way. + +"But I won't," he said gravely, "if you prefer that I should not. Come +back, please! I'm intruding, and I'll apologize and go." + +The light from a dusty attic window fell full on her face as she stood, +and he saw that in it which made him look again. + +"Miss Warne," he said gently, "something is wrong, I'm afraid. Can't I +be of use to you in some way? The reason I wanted to look at this loom +was that I saw your last two strokes with the bar as I came up, and I +recognized what a tremendous push you had to give. I'm something of a +mechanic and I wondered if I couldn't do a bit of oiling, perhaps, to +make it easier. I'm afraid it's tiring you unduly." + +"I need to be tired," she said, low but vehemently. "I'm in a black +mood, and the more I tire myself the quicker I shall get the better of +it. Now you know. I suppose you never have black moods." + +"Do I not? So black that I could grind myself under my own heel. Do you +have them, too? I might have known by the look of you." + +"You don't look as if you ever had them," she said rather curiously, her +eyes on his quiet face. + +"Ah, you can't always tell--luckily. It's pretty cold up here. Are you +sure you wouldn't do better to take a run in the wind with me? You know +somehow heavy tasks look lighter after a breath of outdoor air." + +"So you know what heavy tasks are?" For the life of her she could not +resist the question. + +He looked steadily back at her, smiling a little. His eyes were very +clear in their quiet scrutiny. She felt as if he saw much that she would +prefer to conceal. "I have known a few that seemed to me fairly heavy at +the time," he said. "Afterward, I was thankful to have had them--to +prepare me for heavier ones." + +"Oh--but they weren't the same dismal round----" + +"Weren't they? Most tasks are. But I never had one quite like this. I am +concerned for you, lest this prove too heavy. Now that I am here--do you +really mind so very much if I look the machine over?" + +She permitted it, and she did not run away as she had meant to do. +Presently he asked for a screw-driver and a can of oil, and when she had +procured them he did a number of things to the cumbersome loom, the +result of which, when she attacked it once more, proved that he had +relieved to a certain extent the hardest of her efforts. + +"But it is still much too severe for any woman," he said seriously, +standing, oil can in hand, a little lock of hair, shaken down by his +labours, straying across his forehead. "Please tell me, and don't think +me merely curious--is there no way in which you can add to your +resources except this? You have a college training----" + +"And no way whatever to make use of it," she exclaimed with some +bitterness. "But I can weave, and I have a feeling for colour and form +and can work out effects which find a market. Hand-woven rugs bring +their price these days. Really, Mr. Jefferson, I am no subject for pity +and----" + +"You don't want it. Let me assure you that I don't feel a particle. To +be young and strong and fit for hard work is no cause for pity. But--I +have reason for persisting in my inquiry. You see, I happen to know of +some one in need of such training as you undoubtedly have. Would you +consider giving a few hours daily to one who needs a copyist and +critic?" + +Georgiana scanned his face with intent, incredulous eyes. Then, "Do you +mean yourself?" she questioned. + +"I mean myself. I hesitate to mention that I am the candidate, knowing +that that admission must instantly create a prejudice against me." He +was smiling a little. "But I state an actual fact. I have reached a +point in my labours where I need a copyist. Do you think it possible +that I may secure one without sending away for her?" + +"I must suspect you," she said slowly and with rising colour, "of +manufacturing a need. It is very, very kind of you, Mr. Jefferson--but I +think I must continue to weave my rugs." + +"But I am not manufacturing a need," he insisted. "I declare to you that +I have been on the point of consulting you for some time. If it had not +been that your days seemed very full with your guest and your +housewifery, I should have put it to you before now. I am in earnest, +Miss Warne. Won't you, as a matter of everyday business, lend me your +eyes and your hand--and your critical judgment? If you can't do it while +Miss Crofton is here, may I engage your spare time after she goes? +Please don't deny me." He began to descend the stairs. "I won't stay for +an answer," he said. "Think it over, will you? And please don't refuse +until you have consulted your father." + +"Why do you ask that?" + +"Because I know he will look at it as any man would, without +unreasonable prejudice against accepting a business proposition simply +because it happens to come from a temporary member of the household. It +takes a woman to bother about that." + +With this straight shot he left her, laughing back at her as he +descended in a way that went far toward disarming her, though she would +not at once admit it. Instead, she went back to her loom, putting into +the next section of weaving a quite unnecessary amount of force purely +from tension of mind over the possibilities opened up by this most +unexpected offer. There was no denying that it was precisely the sort of +thing which she had often longed to do, and for which, she knew, as he +had suggested, she was more than ordinarily well fitted. It was +impossible, as she had said, not to suspect the lodger of creating a +want to fit her need of earning money, yet there could be no doubt of +the fact that any writer of books who draws upon all manner of collected +notes and reference books for his material must be able to make valuable +use of an assistant in a variety of ways. + +Why should she not take him at his word? Well, she would think of it. +And meanwhile--suddenly--the black mood was gone! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +STUART OBJECTS + + +That night, after Mr. Jefferson's unexpected proposal that she should +assist him in his literary work, Georgiana, running out upon an errand +in the business part of the village, encountered James Stuart. This had +been a not infrequent happening in days past, but since Jeannette's +arrival it had not once occurred. Stuart was much at the house, but not +for a fortnight had Georgiana had ten minutes alone with him. + +That he welcomed the chance as well as she was evident from his first +word: "Great luck! At last I get you to myself for half a wink without a +soul around. Where are you going? Wherever it is, you don't go back to +the house till you've given me what I want." + +"And what's that?" queried Georgiana. + +Her tone was cool in spite of herself. She had missed the almost daily +walks and talks with Stuart, glad as she had been to have him do his +effectual part in helping her entertain her guests. And there had been, +as she was obliged to confess to herself, a sense that if he had been +very anxious not to lose altogether her society he would have managed, +in spite of lack of ordinary opportunity, to bring about such meetings. +How much she could feel the absence of his companionship she had not +dreamed until she had been tried. + +After the friendly village fashion of intimate acquaintance he lightly +grasped her arm in its covering of the scarlet-lined military cape she +always wore on such walks, and turned her from her course toward a side +street leading away, instead of toward, the centre she had been +approaching. She protested, but he was laughingly determined and she +yielded. It was good, undeniably good, to have Jimps by her side again, +and hear his voice in his old eagerly devoted tones in her ear. That he +was really overjoyed at coming upon her in a free hour it was impossible +to doubt. + +"My word! George, but you've kept me on short rations lately," he began +accusingly. "One would think you had suddenly put me on a diet list. +Nothing but sweets, contrary to the usual prohibitions of the medical +men for the husky male! Do you think I have no appetite for the good +substantial food? Parties and drives and candy-pulls, always with the +lovely guest, and never an old-time hobnob with my chum! What's the +matter with you, George? What have I done?" + +"But such sweets! And so soon they will be gone, and nothing for the +hungry youth but plain bread and butter. How absurd of you to complain!" + +"Bread and butter! Beefsteak and mushrooms, you mean; roast turkey and +cranberry sauce! A fellow can live on them. But not on eternal honey and +fudge--with my apologies to the lady." + +"I should say so, Jimps. You're outrageous, and you don't mean it. I +wouldn't walk another step with you if you did." + +"She's undoubtedly the sweetest thing on earth," admitted Stuart. "There +are times when I think I'd like to ask her to marry me on the spot--if +she'd have me, which she wouldn't--me, a farmer! She dazzles me, +bewitches me, makes me all but lose my head. And then I look at my chum, +the girl I've known all my life, and I think--well, sugar is all right, +but you can't get on without salt--and pepper--and ginger--and----" + +"Jimps!" In spite of herself Georgiana was laughing infectiously, and +Stuart joined her. "How absolutely ridiculous! I sound like a whole +spice box, and nothing but the 'bitey' spices at that." + +"That's what you are," declared James Stuart contentedly. "And when I'm +with you I have no hankering after sugar. Mustard plasters for me; +they're warming." + +They walked on, the spirit of good fellowship keeping step with them. If +Georgiana had allowed herself to believe that Stuart was completely +absorbed with the enchantments of the beautiful guest, she now +discovered that, quite as he had said, the enchantment was by no means +complete and he had not lost appreciation of the old friendship and what +it meant to him. This was good to feel. It was all she wanted. If she +had been guilty of a creeping sense of jealousy as she watched Stuart +and Jeannette together, so evidently enjoying each other's society to +the full, it was because it made her suddenly and unpleasantly +understand what it would be to her to live her days in this commonplace +little village without Stuart at her right hand. But here he was, +literally at her right hand, and he was making her walk with him, not a +beggarly square or two out of her way, but a good three miles around a +certain course which once entered upon could not be cut short by any +crossroads. And all the way he was telling her, as he had always done, +all manner of intimate things about his affairs, and asking her of hers. + +Before the circuit had been made Georgiana had done that which an hour +before she would have thought far from her intention, natural as such a +procedure would have been a month ago, before Jeannette came--she had +told Stuart of Mr. Jefferson's offer. If the truth must be confessed, +after suffering the mood which had only lately been dissipated, she +could not resist producing the effect she knew, if Jimps were still +Jimps, was bound to be produced. Such is woman! + +Quite as she had foreseen, he was aroused on the instant. The generous +sharing of Georgiana Warne with other aspirants for her favour had never +been one of James Stuart's characteristics, open-hearted though he was +in every other way. He stopped short in the snowy path, regarding her +sternly while she smiled in the darkness. This was balm for a heavy +heart, indeed, this recognition she had of his disapproval even before +he jerked out the quick words: + +"Great Scott! You don't mean to tell me you'd do it! Spend hours every +day working with E. C. Jefferson? Not a bit of it. Not so you'd notice +it! Tell him to go to thunder!" + +"James McKenzie Stuart! What a tone to take! Why on earth should you +object?" Georgiana's tone was rich and sweet and astonished--it +certainly sounded astonished. + +"Because you're my chum, my partner; and I won't have you going into +partnership with any other man--not much!" + +"Partnership! Secretaries and stenographers aren't partners----" + +"Aren't they, though! The most intimate sort. And a fellow like +Jefferson, full of books and literary lore--he'd be breaking off work +half his time to talk Montaigne and Samuel Johnson and--and Bernard +Shaw with you. And you'd drink it all in with those eyes of yours and +make him think----" Georgiana's uncontrollable laughter halted but did +not stop him. "What's his work, anyhow? Writing a History of Art?" +growled Stuart, marching on, with Georgiana beside him bursting into +fresh mirth with every step. Her heart was quite light enough now; no +danger that she had lost her friend! + +"I've no idea what it is, but it's certainly not that. He seldom speaks +of art in any form--except literary art, of course. I've an idea it's +scientific research of some sort." + +"Then why isn't he in a laboratory somewhere, boiling acids? Why isn't +he digging in city libraries or hunting scientific stuff over in Vienna? +Vienna's the place for him. I wish him there fast enough," irritably +continued this asperser of other men's vocations. + +"His research work has undoubtedly been done; he has pile upon pile of +notebooks and papers on file. His handwriting is a fright; that's +probably what he wants me for--to make it legible to the printer." + +"Let him send for a typist then; that's what he needs if he writes an +illegible fist. You can't typewrite." + +"I could learn, if necessary. I've often wished I could." + +"You could learn! Yes, you could learn to come when E. C. Jefferson +whistled, I've no doubt! Oh, I beg your pardon, George--you needn't turn +away. Nobody could ever fancy you coming at any man's whistle. I'm just +seeing red, that's all, at the thought of your going into a thing like +this, that's bound to throw you two into the closest sort of relations." + +"That's all nonsense, Jimps. You're behaving like a little boy. And you +know I can't afford to lose a chance like this. You know how slow the +rug-weaving is----" + +"You don't mean you're still at that?" + +"Of course I am. The prices are very good now, and I'm----" + +"Then you certainly can't lose them to go into copying manuscript by +hand. Stick to the weaving; that's my advice." + +"Mr. Jefferson saw the loom to-day. He thinks it too hard work for me," +suggested Georgiana slyly. + +This was a telling shot, for Stuart had often expressed himself in +similar fashion in the past. As was to have been expected, her companion +became instantly more nettled than ever. + +"Oh, he does, does he?" he said hotly. "I'd like to know what affair it +is of his. You know well enough I've protested scores of times against +that weaving----" + +"And now you tell me to stick to it!" + +He wheeled upon her. His tone changed: "George, I know I'm absolutely +unreasonable. Of course I don't want you pulling that back-breaking +thing. I don't want you to have to hustle for money any sort of way; +that's the truth. What I do want is--to keep you away from every other +earthly beggar but myself!" + +"O James Stuart, how absurd! That's not a brotherly attitude at all." + +"The role of brother isn't always entirely satisfying," retorted Stuart +under his breath. "You know well enough you've only to say the word and +I----" + +"Jimps dear"--Georgiana's voice was very gentle now--"remember we've +left all that boy-and-girl sentimentalizing behind. It was quite settled +long ago that you and I were to be brother and sister, 'world without +end.' And I know you mean it as brotherly, all this fuss about my taking +a bit of perfectly reasonable employment for just a little while." + +"Little while? Do you know how long he expects to be at work on that +confounded book?" + +"No; do you?" + +"He told me one night when we were smoking together that he had given +himself a year to do this work in. He came in January; this is April. +Do you wonder I'm a bit upset at the notion of my best friend's going +into harness with him for a year?" Stuart's tone was grim. + +Georgiana, now in wild spirits with the relief from her fears, and the +suddenly opening prospect of a long period of such work as she dearly +loved, had some ado to keep her state of mind from showing. "It doesn't +follow," she said, outwardly sober, "that he intends to spend that whole +year here." + +"He will--if he gets you for a side partner. A man would be a fool not +to." + +"That's a great tribute--from a brother," admitted Georgiana, smiling to +herself. "But as far as our lodger is concerned, you need have no fear +of any but the most businesslike relations, even though I worked beside +him--as is quite improbable--for a year. He's not that sort." + +"Not what sort? Don't you fool yourself. He's human, if his mind is bent +on writing a book. And you are--Georgiana!" + +"Jimps, there's a path in your brain that's getting worn too deep +to-night. Come--let's hurry home. Jeannette will wonder what's become of +me." + +"Let her wonder. George, are you going to do this thing?" + +"Of course I am." + +"No matter how I feel about it?" + +"Why, Jimps--really, do you think you have any right----" + +"Georgiana, I--love you!" + +"No, Jimps, you don't. Not so much as all that. You have a brotherly +affection----" + +"Brotherly affection doesn't hurt; this does," was Stuart's declaration. + +"No, it doesn't, my dear boy. You're just made with a queer sort of +jealous element in your composition, and when something happens to call +it out you think it's--something quite different," explained Georgiana +rather lamely. "You know perfectly that you and I fit best as good +friends; we should be awfully unhappy tied up together in any way. Why, +we settled that long ago, as I reminded you just now." + +"It seems to have come unsettled," Stuart muttered. + +"Then we must settle it again. Truly--you mean everything to me as a +brother, friend, chum--whichever you like, and I--well, I should feel +pretty badly to lose you. But----" + +"I wish you'd leave it there. I don't fancy what you're going on to +say." + +"Then I'll not say it. Come, Jimps, give me your hand on the old +compact." + +"I will--on exactly one condition." Stuart stood still and faced her in +a certain secluded spot just where the snowy path was on the point of +turning into a wider, well-used thoroughfare. + +"What is it? Make it a fair one." + +"It is fair--the fairest between a man and a woman. It's this: leave the +'never-never' clause out. I'll agree to any terms of friendship you +insist on if--well, just leave me a chance, will you--dear?" + +There was a brief silence while Georgiana considered. She had not +expected this, certainly not just now, when her long-time friend frankly +admitted the drawing power of the winsome visitor. As she had implied, +there had been between them, in the days of dawning maturity while they +were yet in school together, certain youthfully tender vows which they +had later exchanged for the more carefully considered terms of the warm +but less sentimental friendship which had now existed for some years. +That Stuart was really dearer to her, more a necessary part of her life +than she had realized, had been made disconcertingly clear to her by the +totally unexpected pangs she had suffered during the last fortnight, +when it had seemed to her that she was likely to lose the fine fervor of +his devotion. Now, however, that she was assured of his intense loyalty, +she was the old Georgiana again, ready to stand beside her friend to the +last ditch, if need be, but wholly unwilling to bind herself to his +chariot wheels while no ditches threatened. + +"'Never' is a big word," she said finally. "It isn't best to say 'never' +about anything in this life." + +"Then you won't ask me to say it?" His voice was eager. + +"Not if you don't want to, Jimps." + +"I don't. There was never anything surer than that. Give me your +hand--chum." + +She gave it. "All right--chum." + +He had pulled off his own glove; he now gently drew off hers, and the +two warm hands clasped. "Here's our everlasting friendship," he said, +with a little thrill in his low voice. "Nothing shall come between us +except--love." + +"Jimps! That's not the old compact at all." + +"It's the new one then. Isn't it sufficiently ambiguous to suit you?" + +"It's much too ambiguous." + +"I can make it plainer----" + +"Perhaps you'd better leave it as it is," she admitted, recognizing +danger. + +"As you say." + +He held her hand for a minute in such a close grasp that it hurt her, +but she did not wince. Ah! if she might just have this pleasantly +satisfying relation with the man whose presence in her life meant warmth +and light and even happiness on the hard road of everyday routine, and +then have somehow besides the contentment which comes of accomplishment +along a line of chosen activity--and still remain free for whatever God +in heaven might send her of real joy, she could ask no better. + +"Jimps, I'm perfectly contented," she said radiantly, as they walked on. + +"That's good. I wish I were." + +"What would make you?" + +"Your promise to earn your money making rugs--with me to help you." + +"But you couldn't!" + +"I could learn." + +"Oh, how absurd! You haven't time, if there were no other reason." + +He did not answer, and, since they were now back in the village and +nearing the object of Georgiana's errand, no more was said until they +were once again on their way homeward. They walked in silence until they +reached the very doorstep of the manse. Then Stuart made one more +protest. + +"Not even to please me, George?" he asked, as she stood on the step +above him, leading the way in to Jeannette and the warm fireside. + +"Jimps, I'm sorry you feel that way about it. But I've talked with +Father Davy and he agrees that it's a godsend. There's no reason in the +world I could give Mr. Jefferson for refusing to help him when he needs +it, and when I need it, too. Therefore--I'm sorry, Jimps, since you are +so strange as to care--but I've made up my mind." + +"You'll excuse me if I don't come in to-night," he said, and turned +away. + +She stood looking comprehendingly after him as he left her, then ran in +and closed the door. The mood which held her now was so far from being +black that it was rosy red. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BORROWED PLUMES + + +"Uncle David, I was never so sorry to come to the end of any visit as I +am this one," said Jeannette Crofton. She was holding Mr. Warne's frail +hand in both her own, and looking straight into the young gray-blue eyes +which looked affectionately back at her. She was dressed for her +departure, and the great closed town car which had brought her was +waiting at the door. + +Near her stood Georgiana and James McKenzie Stuart. Mr. E.C. Jefferson +had just appeared in the background, come to bid the guest farewell. + +"You have given us much pleasure, my dear," responded Mr. Warne, "and if +you have received it as well, the balance is pretty evenly struck." + +"I might have stayed two days longer," declared Jeannette with evident +longing, "if it hadn't been for that sister of mine. I'm sure she could +have had a birthday dance without me--but no! How I wish I were taking +you all with me--even you, Mr. Jefferson," she added with one of her +adorable smiles, as she turned to him; "you, whom I can't possibly +imagine caring to dance a step, not even with the prettiest girl I could +find for you." + +"You almost make me wish I knew how to dance a step," said Mr. +Jefferson, advancing to take her hand. "As it is, I can at least wish +that prettiest girl a partner worthy of her grace." + +"While I am wishing," exclaimed Jeannette with characteristic +impulsiveness, "why in the world don't I bring about my own wishes? Oh, +where have my wits been! Georgiana, darling, run and dress and go with +me! I'll send you back to-morrow in the car. And you, too, Mr. Stuart! +Oh, come, both of you, and dance at Rosalie's birthday fête to-night! +Please--please do!" She turned to Mr. Warne. "Mayn't she, Uncle David? +Couldn't you manage to spare her just for twenty-four hours?" + +They looked at one another, smiling, hardly believing that the gay +suggestion was a serious one. + +But by Jeannette, accustomed to having her own way once a way had +occurred to her, all objections were thrust aside. "Oh, but you must +come!" she cried. "I'll not take no!" + +"Come and talk it over a minute with me, crazy child," bade Georgiana; +and she drew her cousin out of the room, where she could state the great +difficulty which, being a woman, had instantly assailed her. "Jean, I +hate to quash such a glorious idea, but--I shall have to be +frank--clothes!" + +"With loads of frocks hanging in my wardrobe at home? And half of them +too trying for me to wear at all, while they would suit you perfectly. +Nonsense! Oh, hurry and make ready. James Stuart will go if you will; I +saw it in his eyes." + +It could not be refused, this tempting invitation, with such a lovely +tyrant to enforce her will. One word, however, did James Stuart and +Georgiana Warne exchange in a corner before they capitulated. + +"George, my evening togs--they've been put away for the four years since +I left college. They must be about the most hopelessly ancient cut +conceivable to eyes like hers. Shall I risk looking like a rustic in +such a house as that?" But Stuart's eyes were eager as a boy's. + +"I'll not go if you won't, Jimps. As for rusticity, I can keep you +company. Can you bear to lose such a frolic? I can't." + +"Neither can I, hang it! All right, I'll be a sport if you will," agreed +Stuart with a laugh, and rushed away to pack a bag in short order, all +the zest of irrepressible youth, in one who had been forced by +circumstance to foreswear most of the joys of youth for stern labour, +coming uppermost to bid him make merry once more at any cost of after +fall of spirits. + +"Thank goodness I've had the sense always to keep the latest of +Jeannette's 'Semi-Annual' tailored suits pressed and trim," thought +Georgiana as she dressed. "This is a year behind the extreme style, but +I know perfectly well I look absolutely all right in it, and my hat, +having once been hers, is mighty becoming and smart, if it is a +make-over. It's lucky I can do those things; that's one benefit of going +to college, anyhow." + +A few other "make-overs" in the way of dress accessories, all of +exquisite material, on account of their source, and daintily preserved +because of their frailty after having served two owners, went into her +traveling bag. For the dance itself, since there was no other way, she +was not loath to accept Jeannette's generous offer, and, being a very +human creature, could not help looking forward with delight to the +prospect of finding herself arrayed in such apparel as would +successfully sustain any scrutiny which might be brought to bear upon +the country cousin. As for Stuart, she had no fears for him, for his +years of college life had made him an acceptable figure upon any +occasion, and she was confident his broad shoulders and fine carriage +could atone for any slightly antique cut of lapel or coat-tail. + +Altogether, it was a very happy young person who embraced Mr. David +Warne, shook hands with Mr. Jefferson, and ran down the path to the +great car in the wake of Jeannette, and followed by James Stuart looking +extremely personable. Well-cut clothes were the one extravagance Stuart +allowed himself now that he was immured for at least the early half of +his life, as he expected, upon the farm of his inheritance. + +"Well, well, I'm glad to have my little girl run away for a few hours," +said Father Davy, from the window where, with Mr. Jefferson at his +shoulder, he stood watching for the final wave of Georgiana's hand. "She +has enjoyed her cousin's visit, but it has meant considerable extra +labour for her. This seems a fitting return for Jeannette to make." + +"One can hardly blame Miss Crofton for wanting to prolong her enjoyment +of your daughter's society," observed Mr. Jefferson, his eyes watching +closely the laughing faces behind the glass as the travelers settled +themselves. "I can imagine one's feeling a very decided emptiness in a +place which she had left." + +"There, they're off!" announced Mr. Warne, waving his slender arm with +eagerness, his delicate features alight with pleasure in this unexpected +happening. "Emptiness, you say, Jefferson?" he added as the two turned +away, with the car out of sight down the snowy road. "That quite +expresses it. Even for a few hours I am conscious of a distinct sense of +loneliness without Georgiana. Her personality is one which makes itself +felt; it has individuality, audacity; even--I think--that curious +quality which for want of a better name we call 'charm.' Am I too +prejudiced?" + +He placed himself upon his couch, plainly very weary with the flurry of +the last hour. He lay looking up at Mr. Jefferson, who had lingered a +little before going back to the work which loudly called to him. It was +quite possible for the younger man to comprehend how desolate was the +gentle invalid's feeling at being left, if only for a day and a night, +in the care of the friendly neighbour who was to minister to his needs +and who was already to be heard bustling about the dining-room, laying +the table for the coming meal. + +"You may be prejudiced," admitted his companion, "but it is a prejudice +which can be readily forgiven--and even shared," he added, smiling. + +"Her cousin," pursued Mr. Warne slowly, "would outshine her in beauty +and in sweetness of disposition, perhaps, though I doubt if Jeannette +has ever had a fraction of the tests of character and endurance my girl +has had." + +"She surely never has," agreed the other. "And as for mere sweetness of +disposition, there are other qualities which make their own appeal." + +A whimsical smile appeared upon the pale face resting against one of +Georgiana's crimson couch pillows. "How she would make me signals of +distress and warning," he mused, "if she could hear me carrying on an +antiphonal service in her praise with our lodger, who, she would +consider, knows her not at all. Well, well---- + + "'Man, she is mine own, + And I as rich in having such a jewel, + As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, + The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.' + +You'll forgive an old man's romanticism, Mr. Jefferson, I hope?" + +"You are one of the youngest men I know. And if you may quote +Shakespeare to your purpose, I may quote good old Doctor Holmes," said +Mr. Jefferson, drawing the pillow into an easier position as he spoke: + + "'He doth not lack an almanac + Whose youth is in his soul.'" + +To Georgiana Warne, a year out of college, and during that year having +sorely missed the many gayeties of the life she had known for four happy +years, the present experience was delightful. She enjoyed every minute +of the swift drive over the sixty miles to her cousin's home, enjoyed +the arrival there, the meeting with the family and their house guests +assembled for afternoon tea, the installment in a luxuriously furnished +room where Jeannette presently brought her an armful of gowns to choose +from for the evening. A small dinner was to precede the dance, and all +sorts of scheming for Georgiana's pleasure had been fermenting in +Jeannette's brain on the way home. + +"I've arranged with Rosalie to put you next her special prize--the most +wonderful man she knows. All her set are crazy over him, though he +belongs in ours fast enough. It's Miles Channing, just home after a +year's travel, and as good looking as any illustrator ever drew. You see +you simply must be your most brilliant self. And here's the way to do +it--wear this!" + +She held up before Georgiana's disconcerted gaze such a marvel of colour +and cunning as brought a gasp of astonishment and a quick denial: "Oh, +my dear! Not that--for me. It's bad enough to wear your things at all, +but don't give me something that will make everybody look at me, like +that!" + +"That's precisely what I want," laughed Jeannette. "And this is a thing +I haven't ventured to wear and never shall, though I'm wild to do it. +But I couldn't carry it off; you can. Those orange shades will be +glorious with your eyes and hair. Besides, as for making you conspicuous +above the rest, on account of any gorgeousness of colour or eccentricity +of style, it simply can't be done these days. So put this on and see for +yourself. You needn't wear it, of course, if you don't like it; but you +will." + +Reluctantly Georgiana allowed a slim French maid to slip the marvel of +her country's art over the bared shoulders, and the next minute she was +staring at herself in a long mirror, while Susette clasped her hands, +and gay young Rosalie, passing the door at the moment and summoned to +the private view, cried joyously: + +"Oh, Georgiana, you're perfectly stunning! Of course you must wear it, +and you'll be the star of the evening." + +Rosalie rushed on, having settled the questions out of hand, after the +manner of the youthful. Jeannette was laughing as she called her mother +in to confirm the decision. + +Mrs. Crofton, languidly interested, surveyed her niece with approval. +She was an impressive lady, was Aunt Olivia, and was accustomed to have +her opinion carry weight. "It suits you, my dear," was her verdict. +"Those who can wear such daring effects should do it, for every scene +needs points of light and intensity." + +"And these other frocks," Jeannette declared, pointing to them where +Susette had spread them out upon the bed, "are just colourless baby +things that anybody can wear." + +"They look exquisite to me," regretted Georgiana, eying them wistfully. + +Somehow, now that she was here, she did not so much enjoy the thought of +appearing in borrowed finery, and, since it must be done, would have +preferred the simplest white frock in Jeannette's wardrobe. But this was +not to be without displeasing her hostesses, and she reluctantly +submitted. Susette begged leave to arrange her hair, Jeannette hunted +out silk stockings and slippers to match the frock, and Rosalie +contributed the long white gloves which completed the costuming. + +When Georgiana was ready to descend she took one last look at the girl +in the long mirror, and turned to Jeannette, herself a picture in the +delicate colourings which she affected and which set off her golden +beauty. "I feel like the old woman in the nursery song," she said, +"doubtful of my identity." + +"But you must admit you're simply glorious," cried Jeannette. "I knew +you were a beauty, but I didn't know you were such a raving one as +this." + +"I'm no beauty," denied Georgiana with spirit. "It's just the clothes. +But you--I never saw anything so enchanting as you to-night." + +"Delightful! I'm so glad, for--there's somebody I want to enchant. Come +on," and Jeannette led the way. + +At the foot of the great staircase, about a wide fireplace, Georgiana +saw James Stuart with a group of other young men, and noted swiftly that +there was no too-striking contrast to be noted between her friend and +his faultlessly attired companions, except that his face and hands wore +a deeper coat of winter tan than theirs, and he looked stronger and more +virile than any of them. And even in his outdoor colouring, there was +among them one who rivalled him, the one who, as Georgiana instantly +guessed, was the lately arrived traveler. A moment later she met +Stuart's eyes and saw his look of astonishment as he gazed at her. + +Presently, when those whom she had not already met had been made known +to her, she found Stuart at her elbow. "Am I dreaming?" said his voice +in her ear, "or is this my chum? I'm almost afraid to speak to you!" + +"You look awfully nice, Jimps," she returned under her breath. "Yes, +isn't it absurd for me to be peacocking like this? But they made me do +it." + +"You take my breath away." + +"Look at Jean," she whispered. "Isn't she the loveliest thing you ever +saw in your life?" + +He looked. "You and she are a pair," he admitted. + +Jeannette came up to them with the tall traveler, and Georgiana found +herself looking up into a pair of dark eyes whose glance told her that +their owner found her worth studying intently. Miles Channing was of the +sort who waste no time in preliminaries. By the time she had sat out +half the dinner by his side she felt as if she had been under fire for +hours. All her youth and wit responded to his sallies, and she enjoyed +the encounter as keenly as a girl might be expected to do, who for a +year had seen no men but the slow village swains--always excepting James +Stuart, who was her one reliance in time of famine. + +Channing made no attempt to disguise his preoccupation with the most +attractive of the few strangers in the set of young people whom he had +known for years. Between the dinner and the dance, Jeannette, who had +been observing without seeming to observe, dropped a word in Georgiana's +ear: + +"You've done it, dear. I never saw him lose his head so completely. +You'll have to be careful or you'll have all the girls down on you. +They're crazy over him, you know--including Rosalie." + +"Absurd! I shall never see him again, so what does it matter?" retorted +Georgiana. + +"Don't be too sure of that. Nothing can stop him when he's interested. +And you know you are a witch to-night; anybody would be caught in your +snare. I didn't know you were such a clever thing at the game, though I +might have guessed it." + +"If I weren't, I might take lessons of you," Georgiana gave back. "You +have Jimps slightly delirious, I can see. Is he the one you wanted to +enchant? I'm sure you've done it." + +"Isn't he splendid? He looks so much stronger and more interesting than +half these boys I've known all my life. I do want him to have a good +time." + +"He's having it." + +Georgiana was sure of this, but she was having so good a time herself +she didn't mind. More than once she had caught Stuart's eyes across the +table, and had noted how they were sparkling. The glance the two +exchanged might have been interpreted to mean: "Fun, isn't it? You play +up to your opportunities and so will I. This won't happen again in our +lives, perhaps." + +Presently the dancing began, in great rooms cleared for the purpose and +decorated with every art of the florist. The music was all of a quality +more perfect than any Georgiana had ever heard, and the strains which +assailed her ears made her wild to dance to every note. She was besieged +by invitations. + +"But I haven't danced for more than a year, and I don't know one of the +latest steps," she said regretfully. + +"We'll soon remedy that," promised Chester Crofton, her cousin, who +carried her off into an unoccupied room, where the music could yet be +heard, and proceeded to teach her. She was easily taught, having all the +foundations after four years of practice among college girls, and she +was soon able to go upon the floor with young Crofton and the rest. + +Miles Channing did not dance, but after watching for a time--while +Georgiana was acutely conscious that his eyes constantly followed +her--he claimed and bore her off before others could prevent. In a +palm-shadowed corner well removed from observation he drew a long breath +of content and settled down beside her. + +"I hope you will not be too much bored at missing a round or two," he +began in the slightly drawling speech which was somehow one of his +charms, it was so curiously accompanied by his intent observation. "I +haven't danced for so long I can't venture to attempt it, especially +with you." + +"I should be the most patient of partners, I'm so unaccomplished +myself," declared Georgiana. + +"Nevertheless I shouldn't want to try you. You dance like a sylph, I +like an elephant." + +"I don't believe it." + +"You do grudge sitting out, then, do you?" he asked. + +"Not a bit." + +"It wouldn't really matter if you did, for I intend to hold my advantage +now I have it. I care more to talk with you than for all the dances on +the program. And the time is so short I must make the most of it. You go +back to-morrow, I understand?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"And you'll not be here soon again?" + +"I don't expect to. I'm a very busy person at home and can seldom be +spared." + +"That means that whoever wants to know you must come to your home?" + +Georgiana felt her pulse beats quickening. This was certainly losing no +time. She assented to the interrogation, explaining that her father was +an invalid and she was his housekeeper. She felt no temptation to +represent things to Mr. Channing as other than they were. It was somehow +an atonement for appearing in her borrowed attire that she should not +allow appearances to deceive this new acquaintance into thinking her +home the counterpart of her cousin's. The news did not appear in the +least to disconcert him. + +"I should like very much to meet your father," Channing said; and +Georgiana liked him for taking the trouble to put it in that way. He +instantly added: "And I should like still more to see you in your own +home. May I have that pleasure?" + +"We shall be very glad to see you," she promised, careful of her manner. + +"No matter how soon I come?" + +"I suppose you will allow me to reach home first?" she questioned gayly. + +"Barely. This is Wednesday night. You go home to-morrow--Thursday. May I +come Saturday?" + +"You have been living on railway schedules so long you have acquired the +habit," she gave back with slightly heightened colour. In the course of +her experience she had seen more than one young man change his plans +after encountering her, but she had never known one to form new ones as +quickly as this. + +"I have discovered that when one wants to reach a place very much, he +can't start too soon," he said very low, with such obvious meaning that +she had some difficulty in keeping her cool composure. It was not only +his words, but his looks and manner which spoke. She had never dreamed +that outside of stories men ever really did begin to fire on sight, like +this. + +The matter settled, Channing began to talk of other things, but through +all his speech and acts ran the visible thread of his instant and +powerful attraction to her, so that she was conscious of the colour of +it. By the time two dances had gone by and she was sought and found by +an eager claimant, the girl was quite ready to get away from this new +and decidedly disturbing experience. And when, a little later, she +allowed James Stuart to try one of the new steps with her, she had a +comfortable sense of having got back upon known and solid ground, after +having been swimming in a too-swift current. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +EARLY MORNING + + +"You've no idea, Jimpsy," Georgiana said, when she and James Stuart had +assured themselves that they were able to suit their steps to each other +and were moving smoothly down the floor, "how glad I am to be with some +one I know, for a bit." + +"Only some one? Not particularly me?" + +"Yes, particularly you. My brain needs a little rest." + +"There's a compliment for an old friend! But I didn't suppose dancing +tired the brain. It's my feet that have bothered me. I've walked all +over Jeannette's little toes, but she's perfectly game and won't admit +it." + +"I thought you and she were getting on beautifully together." + +"So we were. I couldn't see how you and Channing got on together, +because you went off and hid somewhere. That's not fair with a perfectly +new acquaintance." + +"Didn't you and Jeannette go off and hide somewhere?" + +"We're not new acquaintances." + +"Oh, indeed! How old ones are you?" + +"A month is a long time compared with one short evening. I never knew, +George, you were such a terrific charmer. You've had them all nailed +to-night; and as for Channing--well---- Only I suppose he's a shark at +the game himself. He shows it. Better look out." + +"What an excellent opportunity a dance is for old friends to give each +other good advice." Georgiana smiled up into his eyes. + +He closed his own for an instant. "Don't do that; it dazzles me." + +"Nonsense. You're learning the game yourself. Jeannette's been teaching +you. We're all finding each other out to-night. I had no idea she could +sparkle so." + +"You're the sparkler. She simply glows with a steady light." + +"Well, I like that!" + +"You like everything to-night. You remind me of a peach--on fire." + +"Jimps!" Georgiana's soft laughter assailed his ear. "I believe we're +both a bit crazy with this sudden leap into dissipation--such +dissipation! Just remember where we'll be to-morrow night." + +"I don't want to--except that I'll be with you. We'll talk it all over +by your fire, eh?" + +"Of course. There'll be that much left, anyhow. Is this over? Thank you, +Jimps, for the best dance I've had to-night." + +"No use trying it on me," he murmured as he released her. "What's the +use of capturing what you've already got?" + +By and by it was all over and Georgiana was mounting the stairs with +Jeannette, smiling back at certain faces in the disordered spaces below, +where flowers lay about the floors and a group of young fellows, +belonging to Rosalie's house party, were making merry before they broke +ranks. + +In Jeannette's room by a blazing fire the girls held brief session, +sitting with unbound hair and swinging slippered feet, and cheeks still +flushed with the night's gayety. + +"Jimps and I were imagining ourselves sitting by the fire in our old +living-room to-morrow night," said Georgiana softly, staring into the +flame with eyes which reflected little points of light. "It will seem +like a dream then, but we shall talk it all over, and remember what fun +we had, and how lovely everybody was to us--and how beautiful you were +in that blue-and-silver frock." + +"You dear thing, you ought to have such times often and often!" cried +Jeannette. "But--O Georgiana, you have times I envy you! While you are +dreaming of our flowers and music I shall be dreaming of the dear old +house, and the jolly evenings you gave me there, and envying you--oh, +envying you----" + +"Envying me! Are you crazy, child, or are you just----" + +"Just speaking the truth. You can't think how many times I shall think +of you sitting there with your three splendid men----" + +"Jean! What are you talking about?" + +"About Uncle David, and Jimps, and Mr. Jefferson----" + +"But they're not mine," protested Georgiana, laughing. "Except Father +Davy." + +"Not--Jimps?" + +"Oh, of course he's my friend, my very good friend. And Mr. Jefferson's +only a 'boarder,'"--she made a little grimace at the word. "You speak as +if I had them all about me all the time." + +"But you do evenings, don't you?" + +"They were there much more while you were visiting me than they will be +now. Jimps has heaps of arrears to make up; he let lots of work go while +you were there, you must know, my dear. As for Mr. Jefferson--he may +never come down any more, now that Jimps won't be going up to beg him to +make a fourth for your entertainment. So don't imagine me holding court +with those three retainers. It will mostly be just Father Davy and I +with a volume of Dumas or Kipling. Isn't it odd how my pale little +father loves the red blood of literature?" + +"Just the same----" but Jeannette did not finish that. She began afresh: +"And oh! how I shall miss you, George--as Jimps calls you. Somehow I +must have you before long for a real visit here, or wherever I may be +for the summer." + +"Thank you, Jean; but I can never get away." + +"I'll arrange it somehow. That makes me think--Miles Channing was +dreadfully disappointed that you were going in the morning. I've no +doubt he will manage to see you off somehow. I think it's too bad of you +to insist on going before luncheon. Think how little sleep you'll have." + +She gave Georgiana a penetrating look as she said it, but saw only a +pair of beautiful bare arms thrown up over a mass of dark locks, as her +cousin, with a clever imitation of a half-smothered yawn, answered +merrily: "Then we must go to bed this minute or I shall never have +strength of mind to get up. And I can't leave Father Davy to the tender +mercies of Mrs. Perkins longer than I can help. She'll give him +everything that is bad for him, in spite of the best intentions." + +It was a wide-awake Georgiana, nevertheless, who, fully dressed for the +drive, leaned over Jeannette's bed at ten o'clock that morning and +kissed a warm velvet cheek, murmuring: "Don't wake up, Jean. We're just +off after breakfast. I'll write soon. You've been a perfect darling, and +I'm more grateful than I can tell you." + +"Oh, I'm dead to the world, I'm so tired!" moaned the girl in the bed. +"I always have to pay up so for dancing all night. But you,"--she lifted +languid eyelids to see her cousin's smiling freshness of face and air of +vigour--"why, you look as though you had had twelve hours' sleep--and a +cold plunge!" + +"I've had the cold plunge," admitted Georgiana, laughing. "And I'm 'fit +as a fiddle,' as Jimps says. He sent his good-bye to you and told me to +tell you he'll never forget you--never!" + +"Tell him I'll not let him forget me--or you, either. Oh, how I hate to +have you go, both of you!" + +Through a silent, sleeping house Georgiana and Stuart stole, the only +member of the family up to see them off being Mr. Thomas Crofton +himself, the oldest person under the great rooftree. + +"My dear, you must come again, you must come often," he urged, holding +Georgiana's hand and patting it with a paternal air. He was a handsome +man in the early sixties, with graying hair and tired eyes. "You have +done a great deal for our Jean; she looks much stronger than when she +went to your home. But neither she nor Rosalie can enter the race with +you for splendid health. That comes from your country life, I suppose. +I envy you, I envy you, my dear." + +"Come and see us, Uncle Thomas--do. Father Davy would be so happy; you +know he's such an invalid. But his mind and heart are as young as ever." + +"I will come; I will drive down some day, thank you, Georgiana. I should +like to see David again. Mr. Stuart, come again, come again. Good-bye; +sorry your aunt was too much done up to see you off this morning, my +dear. Good-bye." + +As the two emerged from the door a tall figure sprang up the steps. +"What luck! I was passing and I suspected you were just getting off. +Good morning! Can you possibly be the girl I saw dancing seven hours +ago?" + +"I don't wonder you ask, Mr. Channing," laughed Georgiana. "Evening +frocks and traveling clothes are quite different affairs." + +"Ah, but the traveling clothes are even the nicer of the two, when their +wearer looks----" Channing glanced at Stuart standing by. "Confound you, +sir!" said he, with a genial grin, shaking hands. "Since you're going to +drive all the way home with Miss Warne can't you give me the chance to +say something pleasant to her?" + +"You can't make it too strong to suit me," observed Stuart--and remained +within hearing. + +"Saturday, then, if I may," said Channing, looking as far into +Georgiana's eyes as he could see, which was not very far. She wore a +close little veil, which interfered with her eyelashes, and clearly she +could not lift her glance very high. + +Then they were off, with Channing waving farewell, his hat high in air. +A hand at another window also waved, and Georgiana knew Jeannette had +seen this last encounter. + +"Well, for sixteen hours' work," remarked James Stuart grimly, as the +car gathered headway and the house was left behind, "I should say you +had done some fairly deadly execution. Saturday, eh? Why does he delay +so long? Isn't to-morrow Friday--and a day sooner?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A COPYIST + + +The old study of David Warne was a square, austerely furnished room on +the second floor of the manse, opposite the sleeping-room now occupied +by Mr. Jefferson. It contained several plain bookcases, filled mostly +with worn old volumes in dingy yellow calf or faded cloth. An ancient +table served for a desk, with a splint-bottomed chair before it. On the +walls hung several portrait engravings, that of Abraham Lincoln +occupying the post of honour among them. The floor was covered with a +rag carpet of pleasantly dimmed colours, and an old Franklin stove, with +widely opening doors and a hearth with a brass rail, completed the +furnishing of the room. + +This was the place now swept and dusted and warmed for the joint labours +of the writer of books and his new assistant. Mr. Jefferson had moved +the materials of his craft to the new working quarters: he had brought +up wood for the fire and had made that fire himself, according to the +custom he had inaugurated soon after his arrival. The day and hour for +the beginning of that which James Stuart insisted on designating as a +partnership had arrived. At ten o'clock that April morning, when +Georgiana's housework should have reached a stage when she could safely +leave it for a more or less extended period, the study door was to close +upon the two and shut them away undisturbed for the first details of +their affair in common. + +Georgiana had been up since before daybreak, planning and executing a +system which should make all this possible. Now, at a quarter before +ten, with all well in hand, she flew to her room for certain personal +touches which should transform her from housewife to secretary. Two +minutes before the clock struck she surveyed herself hurriedly in her +small mirror. + +"You really look very trim and demure," she remarked to her image. "Your +colour is a bit high, but that's exercise, not excitement. Still, you +are a little excited, you know, my dear, and you must be very careful +not to show it. It's a calm, cool, business person the gentleman wants, +George, not a blushing schoolgirl. It would spoil it at once if you +should look conscious or coquettish. So now--remember. And forget--for +the love of your new occupation--forget that Miles Channing is coming +again to-night--again, after one short week! What does it matter if he +is? Run along and be good!" + +Half a minute left in which to run downstairs, kiss Father Davy on his +white forehead, and receive his warm "Bless you, dear, and bless the new +work. May you be very happy in it!" and to walk quietly upstairs again +and knock at the door of the study. It opened under Mr. Jefferson's +hand, and to the cheerful sound of snapping wood on the open hearth of +the old Franklin stove he bade her enter. + +His smile was very pleasant, his steady eyes seemed to take note of +everything about her in one quick glance, as he said with a wave of his +hand: "Welcome to my workshop! You see I've swept up all the chips, but +we'll soon make more." + +"You manage to keep your workshop remarkably free from chips," she +commented. "You must have a great system of order." + +"Pretty fair. I should be hopelessly lost if I let this mass of material +become disordered. Will you take this chair? Must we begin at once or +may we talk a little first?" + +"I think we had better begin. You know there are just two free hours +before I must be back downstairs, if you are to eat, this noon." + +He laughed and she noted, as she had noted many times before, how young +he looked at such moments, grave as his face could be when in repose. + +"Very well," he agreed. "I have no doubt you will work at this task as +you do at the loom, with all your might, and I shall have to lengthen +my stride to keep up with you. But that promises well. One is likely to +fall into habits of soldiering when one works alone. You have no idea +how carefully I have to keep certain favourite books out of sight when I +want to accomplish big stretches of work. And in this room--hard +luck!--I see so many old treasures that I'm going to have a bit of +trouble in resisting temptation." + +His eyes led hers to the old bookcases. She nodded. "It's a shabby old +collection, but it's very dear to father's heart." + +"It well may be. Gibbon, Hume, Froude, Parton--Lamb, Johnson, +Carlyle--Hugo, Thackeray, Reade, and Trollope--Keats, Shelley, and the +rest. What matters the binding? Some time I must read you a passage in +good old Christopher North that appeals to me tremendously. No, not now, +Miss Warne; I see I must fall upon my task without delay or you will be +slipping away on the plea of bad faith on my part. Well----" + +He turned his chair toward the table and took up a notebook. His face +settled instantly into an expression of serious interest. + +"I am going to ask you first," said he, "to copy in order upon a fresh +sheet each reference which you find marked with a red cross, so that the +references may be all together. Be very exact, please, and very +legible. German and French words are easily misread by the typist who +will put this work finally into copy for the printer." + +Georgiana, glancing at the first marked reference, found cause to credit +this statement, for it read: + + Cagnetto: Zur Frage der Anat. Beziehung zwischen Akromegalie u. + Hypophysistumor, Virchow's Archiv., 1904, clxxvi., 115. Neuer + Beitrag. f. Studium der Akromegalie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung + der Frage nach dem zusammenhang der Akromegalie mit + Hypophysenganggeschwulste, Virchow's Archiv., 1907, lxxxvi., 197. + +"It would be best to print the words as clearly as I can, wouldn't it?" +she suggested, suppressing her desire to laugh. + +"That depends on your handwriting. Try a line and let me see, please." + +When she had shown him a specimen of the peculiarly readable script +which she had cultivated in college, he signified his approval with a +hearty "Good! That's a splendid hand for work, the hand of a workman, in +fact. I congratulate myself. Go ahead with the jaw-breakers, only +verifying each reference before you leave it." + +Thus the new task began, and thus it continued day after day--not always +quite the same, for Georgiana soon recognized that her employer was +diversifying her labours as much as he consistently could by changing +the nature of the copying. Now and then he refreshed her endurance and +rested her tired hand by asking her to read aloud to him several just +finished pages of his own writing, walking the floor meanwhile or +sitting tipped back in his chair with closed eyes while he listened with +ears alert for error of statement or infelicity of phrase, and she +wondered at the character of the words she read. + +Of course she discovered at once what was the general subject of the +book. No essay was this, no work of fiction, no "history of art," as +Stuart had scornfully suggested. It could be only the sternest of +research and experience which dictated such sentences as these: + + The especial dangers to be contended with are that the ethmoid + cells may be mistaken for the sphenoids; that we may go too low and + enter the pons and medulla; that, laterally, we may enter the + cavernous sinus, and above, that we may injure the optic nerve. + +It was all more or less of a puzzle to her, but it was one which her +taskmaster never explained further than the revelations of each day +explained it. She understood that he was a scientist, that he +undoubtedly had been an operator in some surgical field or was putting +into shape the work of another in that field, but what he now was +besides a writer of technical books she had no manner of idea. + +"But I really enjoy it, Father Davy," she insisted, when she came down +to him one day with hotly flushed cheeks and shaking hand after a +particularly protracted siege of copying involved and incomprehensible +material. "It's monotonous in a way, but it's intensely interesting, +too. Mr. Jefferson is so absorbed in it, it's fun to watch him. To-day +he was as happy as a boy over a letter he had just received from a +Professor Somebody, a great authority in Vienna. It seemed it absolutely +confirmed some statement he had made in a monograph he wrote last year +which had been challenged by several scientists. The way he fell to +writing his next paragraph after he had read that letter made one +imagine he was writing it in his own heart's blood. He read it aloud to +me." She laughed appreciatively at the recollection. + +"Could you make anything of it?" inquired Mr. Warne with interest. + +"Not very much. It was about the pituitary body;--oh, I've come to have +a great awe of the pituitary body, it seems to be responsible for so +many things. He chuckled over it like a boy, and said to me, 'Forgive +these transports, Miss Warne, but this is food and drink to me. I wish I +could explain it to you so that you might rejoice over it with me. Some +day I will, when we are not so busy.' I hope he will. There's enough +that I do understand to make me interested." + +"I see you are--and rejoice, my Georgiana. Do you remember what Max +Müller says, echoed by many another, '_Work is life to me; and when I am +no longer able to work, life will be a heavy burden?_'" + +He smiled as he said it, but his daughter read the seldom-expressed +longing in the cheerful voice and laid her cheek for an instant against +his. "He's quite right. And you have your work, Father Davy, and you're +doing it all the time. I think you preach much more effectively now than +you did in the pulpit, even when you don't open your mouth. And when you +do open it angels couldn't compete with you!" + +They laughed softly together, though Mr. Warne shook his head. "It's a +curious thing," he mused, "that the weaker the body gets the harder does +the mind have to strive to master it. But, thank God--'_so fight I, not +as one that beateth the air_.'" + +"'Not as one that beateth the air,'" murmured the girl. "I should say +not, Father Davy. As one that delivereth hard blows on his own body, his +poor, tired body. Oh, if I had one tenth the self-control----" + +At which she ran away, as was quite like her, when emotion suddenly got +the better of her. The darkest cloud on this girl's life was the frail +tenure of her father's existence. The rest could be endured. + +The work in the upstairs study went steadily on, in spite of the fact +that James Stuart railed and that Miles Channing came at least once in +seven days, driving the sixty miles in a long, swiftly speeding car +which brought him to the door of the manse before the early May sunset, +and which took him back when the shadows lay black upon the silent road. +Two hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, Georgiana gave to the +rigid performance of the tasks Mr. Jefferson set her, while outside +below the windows at which she worked lay her garden, beloved of her +affection, beseeching her not to neglect it. + +It was hard sometimes not to betray how she longed to be outside, as she +wrote on and on, copying the often difficult and uninteresting language +of the more technical part of her employer's construction. And one +afternoon, lifting her eyes to let them dwell on a great budding purple +lilac tree, with the warm breath of the breeze which had drifted across +the apple orchard fanning her cheek, and all the notes of rioting spring +in her ears, she did draw in spite of herself one deep sigh of longing +which she instantly suppressed--too late. + +Her companion looked up quickly, noted the flush in the cheek and the +hint of a weary shadow under the dark eyes, and suddenly pushed aside +his paper. Then he drew it back, blotted it carefully, laid it with a +pile of others, and capped his pen. He wheeled about in his chair to +face his assistant. + +"Put down your work, please," he commanded gently; "precisely where you +are. Don't finish that sentence." + +Georgiana looked up, astonished. "Not finish the sentence?" + +"No. Did you never stop in the middle of a sentence?" + +"I'm afraid I have. But I didn't suppose you ever did." + +"I don't. But I want you to. Please. That's right. You will know where +to start it again to-morrow." + +"To-morrow?" In spite of herself her eyes had lighted as a child's +might. + +"Even so. To-day we are going for a drive in all this beauty--if I can +find a horse and some kind of a vehicle, and you will go with me. It's +only three o'clock. We can have a long drive between now and the hour +when you invariably disappear to make magic for our appetites. How about +it?" + +"I can keep on perfectly well, you know," she said, with pen still +poised above her paper. + +"But I can't." He was smiling. "Now that the other plan has occurred to +me, I can't keep on." + +"Did you see inside my mind?" queried Georgiana, putting away her +copying with rapid motions. + +"Suddenly I did. I've been rather blind, a hard taskmaster. I've been +conscious of what was going on outside when I went for my walks, but the +work is absorbing to me and I have kept you too steadily at it. We both +need a rest," he added as she shook her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +OUT OF THE BLUE + + +Twenty minutes afterward he drove up to the door with the best that the +village liveryman had to give for the highest price his customer could +offer--a tall black horse of fair proportions, and a hurriedly washed +buggy of the type in vogue in country districts. But as Georgiana went +down the path she was conscious that the figure which stood hat and +reins in hand awaiting her would lend dignity to any vehicle, short of a +wheelbarrow, in which he might be seen to ride. + +Then presently the pair were driving along country lanes in the very +midst of all the burgeoning beauty of the season, and Georgiana was like +a captive bird let loose. Her companion as well responded to the call of +Nature at her loveliest, and the tireless worker of the study seemed +changed at a word to a bright-eyed idler of the most carefree sort. The +two gave themselves up without restraint to the enjoyment of the hour. + +"I wonder how long it is," said Mr. Jefferson, letting the reins lie +loose at a leafy curve of the road while the black horse willingly +walked, "since I have had a drive like this. Not for ten years at +least." + +"You've lived always in a great city?" + +"Since boyhood--in the heart of it." + +"And have driven motors, not horses, for those ten years." + +"Yes, like everybody else. But I spent all my summers as a boy on my +grandfather's farm, and there I drove horses and rode them and did +acrobatic feats on their bare backs. I was a wild Indian, a cowboy, and +a captain of cavalry by turns. Those were happy days, and on a day like +this they don't seem long ago." + +"They can't be so dreadfully long ago," she dared, with a glance at the +interesting profile beside her. + +"Can't they? Don't I look pretty aged compared with your youth?" + +"I'm not so remarkably young," she retorted. + +"Aren't you? You are about ten years younger than I. That's a big leap +and must make me seem a grandfather indeed." + +"But you don't know how old I am." + +"I could come pretty close to it," said he with a quick look. + +"How could you know?" + +"When you see a spray of apple blossoms like those"--he pointed toward a +mass of pink and white at the stage of perfection beyond an old rail +fence--"can't you tell at a glance whether they've been out a day or a +week?" + +"I should say that if things had happened to them to make them feel as +if they'd been out a week when they had been out only two days----" + +"A heavy rain, for instance? In that case we should be +deceived--perhaps. But in the case of a human being those heavy rains +sometimes only mature without fading---- Hello,----what's this?" + +A small and very ragged boy had emerged suddenly from a meadow gateway, +his face convulsed with pain and fright. He nursed one hand in the other +and the colour had deserted his round cheek, leaving it pallid under its +freckles. The only house nearby was an abandoned one and there were no +others for some distance in either direction. + +Mr. Jefferson stopped his horse. "Does it hurt badly, lad?" he asked in +the friendliest of tones, which yet had a bracing quality. "Don't you +want to let me see if I can help it?" + +The boy stood still, tears silently making their way down his face. +Giving the reins to Georgiana, Mr. Jefferson jumped out and gently +examined the small hand, the middle finger of which, as the onlooker +could plainly see, was badly distorted and somewhat swollen. The skin, +however, did not seem to be broken. + +"We can make that more comfortable right away," the man promised the +little boy. "Sit down on the grass for a minute or two, laddie, while I +find something I want." + +He pulled out a handkerchief, as yet folded and fresh from its ironing, +and handed it to Georgiana. "Will you tear that into strips an inch +wide, please, while I take a look back here for a bit of wood?" and he +disappeared down the road, while Georgiana with the aid of her strong +white teeth tore the fine linen as he had bidden, and spoke comfortingly +to the little fellow, who seemed glad enough to have fallen into +friendly hands. + +When he shortly returned Mr. Jefferson was rapidly cutting and whittling +a stick into a little splint, which he then wound carefully with a strip +of the handkerchief until it was covered from view. Then he took the +injured hand in his own capable ones--his assistant had often noted +those hands--and said quietly, "I'm going to hurt you just a minute, +little man, but you'll be all right, so be game," and in two deft +motions he had pulled and twisted the broken finger, and had set it +straight as the others, with but one sharp outcry from the owner. In +less time than it can be told in, the set finger was bound securely with +its neighbouring finger to the padded splint, and the whole neatly +bandaged with the torn linen, the entire procedure accomplished with +the rapidity and skill of the practised hand. No amateur surgery this, +as Georgiana understood well enough. + +"There," said Mr. Jefferson, drawing forth another handkerchief as +spotless as the first--she wondered if he went always thus provided +against emergency--and improvising a little sling in which the bandaged +hand swung comfortably, "I think you'll do. Rest a bit and then go home, +and tell your mother not to touch that finger for three weeks. By that +time it will be as good as new, only be careful with it when you first +use it. Good-bye, laddie, and better luck next time." + +Georgiana saw the uninjured hand of the boy close over something bright +as the man's hand left it, and heard a low sound which might have been +almost anything indicative of surprise and joy. Then the black horse was +moving on, and Mr. Jefferson was saying: "Weren't we talking about apple +blossoms?" + +"We had finished with them, I think," Georgiana replied, wondering if he +really were going to offer no explanation of the hint of mystery which +had been about him ever since her work with him had begun. + +But he did not offer any, only went on with the pleasant talk with which +he had all along beguiled the way. Georgiana was recognizing this +afternoon, more than she had yet done, what a well-stored mind was +possessed by this unassuming man, whose manner and speech yet did not +lack that quality of quiet assurance which is the product only of +genuine knowledge and experience. + +The black horse was within a mile of home, passing through the last +stretch of woodland which would justify the walking pace, in which, +greatly to his astonishment, he was being allowed to indulge at all such +points, when a motor car, slowing down beside him, caused him to lay +back his ears in displeasure. + +Georgiana, turning, beheld the handsome, eager face of Miles Channing as +he leaned toward her, his hand hushing his engine as he spoke. + +"Miss Warne--Mr. Jefferson--forgive me for stopping you! I should have +gone on and waited for you if I had been sure you were on your way home. +But I'm a messenger from the Croftons; they beg you to let me bring you +back with me to-night." His eyes rested on Georgiana. + +"To-night? Is anybody ill?" + +"Oh, no, no; nothing like that. It's for quite a different reason they +want you; only I'm to ask you not to question me. You're to come on +faith, if you will. And they'll agree to have you back in the morning by +breakfast-time, if you insist." + +Georgiana looked puzzled, but, being human, she was naturally interested +and attracted by this mysterious plan. "It's very odd," she mused, "but +if father can spare me----" + +"I will undertake to see that your father is not lonely this evening," +said Mr. Jefferson's quiet voice at her side. "And please don't bother +about to-morrow morning or to-morrow at all, if you would like to be +away." + +"If Mr. Jefferson wouldn't object----" began Channing; but Mr. Jefferson +anticipated him. + +"Please don't hesitate to go on with Mr. Channing, if you would like to +gain a little time," he suggested to his companion. "He will have you at +home before I can reach the bend in the road." + +Georgiana looked round at him. "I prefer to finish one ride before I +begin another," she declared, smiling. "It's only a mile, Mr. Channing; +we shall be there nearly as soon as you. Please go on." + +It thus came about ten minutes later that James Stuart, walking up to +his home from a field where he had been superintending an interesting +new departure in cultivation, caught sight first of a now-familiar +roadster of aristocratic lines whose appearance thereabouts had become +most unwelcome, and shortly thereafter of a less pretentious vehicle, +being rapidly drawn by a still more familiar black horse, and occupied +by two people whom it gave Stuart no acute pleasure to see together. + +"Well, I should say George was displaying her admirers in great shape +this afternoon," he said gloomily to himself. "It's a wonder I'm not +trailing on behind with a wheelbarrow. But I vow I'd like to know since +when her contract with Jefferson has taken them out into the +country--and in working hours, too!" + +Afterward it was all rather a strange memory to Georgiana when she +recalled it. She had flown about to prepare the appetizing early supper +with which she was accustomed to serve her small family, and to which +she now added a delicacy or two on account of its seeming the natural +thing to ask Mr. Miles Channing to remain rather than to allow him to go +to the small village hotel. Then she had cleared her table and left the +after-work to the neighbour who was to come to the rescue as before. She +had dressed with hurried fingers for the trip, and had driven away with +a devoted escort who spared no pains to make her feel that he was +exceedingly pleased at the success of his mission. + +There was no place in her memory for something she did not see nor would +have thought of imagining significant if she had seen it. When she left +the house Mr. Jefferson was in his room, searching for a book from which +to read aloud to his self-assumed charge of the evening. When he heard +Georgiana's blithe cry of farewell to her father in the doorway below, +he left the bookcase and went with a quick step to the window. He +watched the car driven by Mr. Channing out of sight down the road; then +he descended to the garden, pipe in hand. Before he returned to the +house to take his place by the evening lamp and begin the reading to the +gentle invalid stretched on the couch, he had covered many furlongs up +and down the straggling pathways and had consumed much more than his +usual quota of choice tobacco. And though all about him had been the May +environment at its loveliest, through all his marching up and down he +had never once looked up. + +Miles away, and ever more miles away, Georgiana had flown like the wind +in the swift car under its skilfully guiding hand. The drive was a +blurred impression of slowly gathering rosy twilight, of the odour of +the apple blossoms--somehow a different and more seductive fragrance +than it had been in the sunlit afternoon--and always there was the sense +of there being beside her a presence which disturbed. Channing's low +laugh, his vibrant voice in her ear, the things he said, half serious, +half earnest, always full of an only slightly veiled intent--the girl +who had spent so many days of her life in hard study or harder +housewifery could do no less than yield herself for the hour to the +pulse-quickening charm of it and forget everything else. + +Just as twilight settled into dusk and for the first time the headlights +of the car came on with a long reach like a golden ribbon along the +road, Channing, suddenly slowing down, a few miles out of the city, +began a rapid speech on a subject so unexpected that it fairly took his +hearer's breath away. + +"It's not fair of me to tell you, but I've simply got to get in the +first word. You must pretend you haven't heard it, but if there's any +persuading to be done I want my share, and want it first. Your cousins +are going to invite you to sail with them next week for a summer in +England after a fortnight in Paris--Paris in June! You don't know what +that means; you can't even imagine it. I can--I know it--don't I know +it!" He laughed softly. "Since they're to be away and won't need her +they'll send down their housekeeper--the most competent person in the +world--to stay with your father and make him absolutely comfortable, so +you don't have to hesitate on that score." + +"It's perfectly wonderful, but"--Georgiana was staring at him through +the dusk--"but--oh, I couldn't, Mr. Channing! how could I? Father is so +feeble; something might happen." + +"Not in summer. Things don't happen to elderly people in summer. It's in +winter--pneumonia and things like that. And don't you know he'd be +delighted to have you go? He wouldn't let you miss such a chance; I know +him already well enough for that." + +"But, you see, I'm engaged to work for Mr. Jefferson----" + +"Well, he'll be all right; he's a traveled man himself; anybody can see +that. He wouldn't stand in the way of your good, not for a moment; of +course he wouldn't. He'd urge you to go. Why, there's nothing else for +you to do. Think of the glorious summer we'll have--glorious! Why, +I----" + +"What do you mean? I don't understand." Georgiana felt her cheeks grow +scarlet in the darkness. + +"Mean? What could I mean? Why, I'm going, too, of course. Sailing when +you do. Invited to spend a month in Devon with the Croftons--and you." +His voice sank lower. "And that fortnight in Paris--oh, I'll be in +Paris, too, no doubt of that! I'll show you what Paris is like on a June +evening. Do you think I'd want to send you out of this country if I +weren't going, too? Not I--Georgiana!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"GREAT LUCK!" + + +"Father Davy, are you sure, _sure_?" begged his daughter. + +"Sure that I want you to go, daughter? Very sure. What sort of father +should I be if I were willing to deny you this great pleasure merely to +insure my own comfort? And I shall be comfortable. Why should I not be, +with the good Mrs. Perkins to look after me, and our fine friend Mr. +Jefferson to bear me company in the evenings, as often as he can? And +with James Stuart, who is like a son--and with your letters arriving +with every foreign mail? Dismiss these fears, my dear, and take your +happy chance to see something of the Old World. Many a delightful +evening will we have together next winter, you and I, over the +photographs you will bring back, while you discourse to me of your +adventures." + +Thus Mr. David Warne in his most reassuring manner, while his daughter +studied his delicate, pallid face, her heart smiting her for being +willing to leave him to the loneliness she knew, in spite of all his +protests, he would suffer in her absence. And yet opportunities like +this one did not occur everyday, might not come again in her lifetime. +And everybody was conspiring to make it possible for her. + +"It goes without saying," Mr. Jefferson had told her at once, "that all +other engagements should be cancelled in the face of such an invitation +as this. We will all look after your father for you. And as far as your +work with me is concerned, don't give it another thought. I shall make +rather slower progress without you, of course, but when you return we +will take great strides and complete it well within the limit I have +set. So go by all means, and good luck!" + +As for James McKenzie Stuart, his words of persuasion seemed to be +tempered by various other emotions than those of unselfish desire for +Georgiana's pleasure. + +"Of course it's great, and there's no doubt that you must go," he said. +He was sitting upon the rear porch of the manse, looking off toward +Georgiana's garden, on the second evening after her return from the +hurried drive to the Croftons'. "I'll do all I can for your father, of +course. But don't ask me to console the book-writer." + +Georgiana laughed merrily. "He'll not need any consolation, Jimps. Nor +you either. Jeannette told me to tell you that she'd write to you once a +fortnight--if you'd answer." + +"No! She didn't say that?" + +"Yes, she did, and meant it. I'll write, too, of course. You'll be +deluged with letters and picture post-cards. You ought to be satisfied +with so much attention." + +"Letters are all right--we won't say anything about the post-cards--and +I hope you'll both keep your promises. But when I think of all these +summer evenings without you----" + +He heaved a gusty sigh which Georgiana had no reason to doubt was +genuine. How much heavier would be his spirits, if he were told that +Miles Channing was to be of the party, she had full consciousness. She +was aware of the futility of attempting to keep this unwelcome news from +him longer than the day of her departure, but she had not thus far +ventured to mention it. + +"I shall miss these evenings myself," she said soberly. "After all, +Jimps, I expect there'll be nobody gladder to get back home than I. I +shall see this old garden in my dreams." Then quickly, as another +deep-drawn breath warned her that sentimental ground was dangerous, she +cried: "Oh, but, Jimps! I haven't told you of the last and nicest thing +that wonderful girl has done for me. She insisted on my bringing home +the dearest little traveling suit of some kind of lovely summer serge +that doesn't spot and doesn't muss and is altogether adorable. She +insists it's not becoming to her, and it really isn't; but I almost know +she planned not to have it becoming so she could give it away to me. And +a perfect beauty of a little hat--and a big, loose coat, to wear on the +steamer, that looks absolutely new, but she vows it isn't, and that +she's tired of it. Was ever anybody so lucky as I?" + +"It certainly does take clothes to stir up a girl," was Stuart's cynical +comment. "Talk of separation and they pretend to be as sad over it as +you are; but let 'em think about the clothes they're going to wear and +their spirits leap up like soda water." + +"Poor old Jimps! Doesn't he know the sustaining qualities of pretty +clothes? Too bad! But really it's lucky I have something to sustain me, +it's such a pull to make myself go. I didn't suppose I'd ever leave +Father Davy this way while he is so feeble, but he's the most urgent of +all to send me off, and I know I really can bring him back wonderful +pleasure." + +Thus the talks ran during the few days which elapsed before Georgiana's +departure. Every spare hour was full with preparation, from the packing +of the trim little steamer trunk which arrived by express, a gift from +Uncle Thomas, to the careful mending and putting in perfect order of +every article Father Davy would be likely to wear during the whole +period of his daughter's absence. Georgiana's thoughts as she worked +were a curious mixture of happy anticipation and actual dread. + +"If only I could go as Jeannette is going," she said to herself, +"without a care in the world except to plan how she will fill the +summer, and to make sure her maid puts in plenty of silk stockings to +last till she can buy some more in Paris. When I went to college it was +with the fear that I ought not to accept father's sacrifice, even though +Aunt Harriet was with him then, and he was far, far stronger than he is +now. I've never done anything in my life without a guilty feeling that I +ought not to be doing it. Why can't I do now as they all bid me--drop my +cares and take my fun, like any other girl? I will--I must. It's only +fair!" + +The excitement of anticipation grew upon her as the busy hours slipped +away; the regrets and anxieties diminished. With every day came fresh +and delightfully interesting contributions to her outfitting from +Jeannette or Aunt Olivia--a handsome little handbag of silk and silver +to match the traveling suit; a snug toilet case of soft blue leather, +holding everything mortal woman could want on train or ship; a great +woolly steamer rug to use on shipboard. Georgiana could only catch her +breath at such kindness, and dash off hasty notes of spirited thanks, +and protests against any more of the same sort. But in spite of her +pride it was impossible to resist accepting these and other gifts, they +seemed prompted by such genuine affection. + +The day came; the trunk was closed and strapped. Mr. Jefferson had done +the strapping, coming upon the prospective traveler in the upper hall, +where she was trying in vain to bring leather thong and buckle into the +proper relations. + +"Haven't I yet proved my right to the title of man in the house?" he +inquired, as he did the trick with the masculine ease which is ever a +source of envy to those whose hands are weaker. + +"Indeed you have; but I shall never get over feeling that I have to do +everything for myself." + +"It will be some one's privilege to teach you better some time," was his +rejoinder. "Meanwhile, those of us who are near at hand are only too +happy to act as deputies." + +Between her "three men," as Jeannette had called them, Georgiana was +allowed to do little for herself at the last. She was to meet her +cousins as the train went through their city, but Stuart had invited +himself to accompany her to that point, thus giving himself a chance, as +he said, to clinch that bargain with Jeannette concerning the promised +letters and post-cards. + +Therefore Georgiana's farewells were not to be all said at once, for +which she was thankful. It was quite enough to take leave of Father +Davy, who was looking, it seemed to his daughter's eyes, on that sultry +June morning, a shade paler and weaker than usual. + +"It's the sudden summer heat, dear," he said with the brightest of +smiles, as with her arms about him she questioned him; "nothing more. +There, there, my little girl; don't let your fancy get the better of +you. I'm very well indeed, and shall soon be used to the summer weather. +Go--and God be with you, dearest!" + +"It doesn't matter about His going with me if He'll only stay with you," +murmured Georgiana, vainly struggling with herself, that she might take +a bright and tearless farewell of this dear being. + +"He will go with you and He will stay with me," said Mr. Warne +cheerfully, "so be at rest. Here--I've written you a steamer letter. +Read it when the good ship sails, and think of me as rejoicing in your +happiness." + +It was over at last, and she was off. At the gate she had turned to Mr. +Jefferson, who was carrying her handbag to the village stage, from which +Stuart had leaped to run up to the porch and say a word of cheer to Mr. +Warne, sitting in a big chair. + +"I can't tell you what a comfort it is, Mr. Jefferson," she said as she +gave him her hand, "to know that you are here. I haven't worked with you +for six weeks not to understand that it is no mere author of a +scientific treatise who is staying with my father." + +"No?" He smiled into her lifted eyes, and his look was that of a friend +whom one may trust. "Well, Miss Georgiana, if it is of any support to +you to be told that whatever knowledge or skill I may have is all at the +service of your father, then I am glad to assure you of that fact. I +will do my best for him always. Good-bye, and may it be a happy time +from first to last." + +His hand held hers close as he said these words, and continued to hold +it for a moment longer while he gave her a long and intent look. She +felt a strange pang; it was almost as if she could think he was going to +miss her. Yet she knew better. If he missed her it would be only because +he had become accustomed to having her about. No sign of any more +uncommon interest had he ever shown. + +Then Stuart, farther down the path, was calling, "Come, George, we're +all but late now"; and she was in the old stage and it was lumbering off +down the road, while neighbours waved from their windows, and Georgiana +strained her eyes to get a last look at the figure on the porch. + +On the train she and Stuart somehow found little to say to each other in +the ride of an hour and a half to the city station where the rest of the +party came aboard. Stuart did not catch sight of Miles Channing until +the last minute of the train's stop. He had filled the earlier period of +the ten-minute detention in the station with a hurried talk with +Jeannette, during which Georgiana noted that the two seemed thoroughly +absorbed in each other. It was small wonder, for Jeannette had never +been more radiantly lovely than in the distinguished plainness of her +traveling costume. She seemed very happy as she presumably bargained +with Stuart for letters, and Jimps himself had never looked more +interested in any proposition than in that one. + +Suddenly, however, the wait was over. Georgiana turned from greeting +Channing, who had just come aboard followed by a porter with his +luggage, when she heard Stuart's voice in her ear: + +"George, is _he_ going?" + +"I believe he is," she admitted, trying not to let her colour rise +beneath the accusing expression in his eyes. + +"And you didn't mention it?" + +"Didn't I? He's Jeannette's and Rosalie's friend, not mine." + +"No; he's something more than a friend to you--or means to be. I might +have known he'd work this scheme. It's good-bye to you in earnest then." + +"Jimps! Please don't. It's nothing of the sort. I----" + +The train began to move. But instead of a hasty leave-taking and a leap +from the steps, James Stuart stood still. "I believe I'll go on for +another hour," he said coolly, with a glance at his watch. "I can get +off at the next stop. Meanwhile--Miss Jeannette, the observation +platform seems to be nearly empty. Would you care to sit out there a +while, since I've no chair in here now and the car is full?" + +Georgiana, sitting facing Miles Channing--she wondered who was +responsible for the fact that his chair proved to be next hers--saw his +eyes, as he glanced toward the rear of the car, follow Stuart and +Jeannette. + +"He's a mighty nice fellow, isn't he?" he commented pleasantly. "Too bad +he isn't coming along. Seems tremendously interested in Jeannette, and +it's quite evident that she likes him--as much as is good for him. These +partings--well, I'm sorry for him. But he means to make the most of this +last hour. It would be unkind of us to follow them out there, wouldn't +it?--though I was about to propose going out when he stole a march on +me." + +"It would be very unkind," agreed Georgiana gayly. "Yes, I wish he could +have the whole journey; he deserves a rest and change. He's one of the +finest men I know." + +Now that Channing was beside her, with his handsome face and faultlessly +dressed figure easily the most attractive man in the car, she could not +begrudge Jeannette this final hour with Stuart, though her pride +smarted a little under the change in his manner toward herself. She had +read in her cousin's face, as Jeannette's eyes met Stuart's when she +first caught sight of him, that she was much more than commonly glad to +see him, and the observer had noted with what an air of joyous +comradeship the two had hurried, laughing, down the aisle to the rear +door after Stuart's proposal. + +But the hour was soon over. It was not until the train stopped that +Jeannette and Stuart returned to the others inside the car, and then the +farewells were necessarily hurried. With a smiling face Stuart shook +hands with them all, leaving his best friend to the last, according to +the unwritten law of farewells. + +When he came to her he looked very nearly straight into her eyes--not +quite--it might have been her lower eyelashes upon which he brought his +glance to bear. + +"Great luck, Georgiana," he said distinctly, "and all kinds of a good +time." + +"Good-bye, Jimps, and thank you very, very much for coming," she +responded. + +It was hardly to be believed that James Stuart would not lower his voice +and murmur some last word for her ear alone, for this had long been his +custom. Instead, he gave her a brilliant smile--and turned again to +Jeannette. + +"Good-bye, once more," he said--and added something under his breath, in +response to which Jeannette nodded, smiling, and went with him to the +front end of the car, where she alone was the last to wave farewell as +he looked back from the platform. + +Georgiana caught a final glimpse of him as he ran along it with bared +head, and the whole party waved hands and called parting salutes, in +which she joined. Then Jeannette came back, and Georgiana looked +searchingly at her, her own heart experiencing an uncomfortable sort of +depression as she saw the exquisite flush on her cousin's cheek and the +light in her eyes. + +"'Dog in the manger!'" Georgiana sternly reproached herself in her own +thoughts. "Isn't it enough for you to have one man looking devotion at +you, but you must claim everybody in sight?" And she made a determined +and partially successful effort not to mind that things had turned out +as they had. Only--she and James Stuart had been friends a very long +time, and she was sorry to have the parting from him tinged by a cloud +of misunderstanding. It would have been much better, she admitted to +herself now, to have told him frankly in the beginning that Miles +Channing was to be of the party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A LITTLE TRUNK + + +It was a journey of only a few hours to the dock where the party were to +take ship, the sailing being set for early afternoon. Before it seemed +possible they had left the train and were being conveyed by motor to the +pier. It was at the first whiff of salt-water fragrance that Georgiana +felt a sudden onset of dread of the sailing of the great ship. And when +she caught sight of the four black funnels rising above the mass of +smaller smokestacks and masts and spars which lifted beyond the dingy +buildings of the pier, she experienced an unexpected and disconcerting +longing to run away--back to her home. + +Her father's face rose before her as she had seen it that morning, pale +and worn, the inner brightness of the undaunted spirit shining through +the thinnest of veils. What if anything should happen to that beloved +face, so that she should never set eyes on it again? The thought shook +her with a throb of pain. + +They were on the pier, they were ascending the gangway, they were on one +of the lower decks and entering the elevator which was to lift them +past many intermediate decks to that one, next the highest of all, where +their quarters lay. And when they came out upon that upper deck +Georgiana was dimly conscious that they were a party to attract +attention, even among many people evidently of the same class. Any party +to which Aunt Olivia and Jeannette belonged, she felt, must necessarily +expect to be noticed. Of her own contribution to the party's distinction +she was entirely unaware. + +But now that she was actually on shipboard, where during the last +fortnight she had so many times imagined herself, Georgiana found to her +distress that she could not for a moment banish the thought, the image +itself, of that gentle, suffering face at home. Not that she wanted to +forget it--not that; but she did want, now that her decision was made, +to be able to appreciate what a happy occasion it was and how fortunate +the circumstances which had brought about her presence here, the last +place in the world she had expected ever to be in. + +She entered the stateroom which she was to share with her cousins, and +was amazed at the size and comfort of it. It was half filled with +flowers and baskets of fruit and other offerings sent for the girls, +with two boxes addressed to herself. Both Stuart and Mr. Jefferson had +sent her flowers. As she examined them a hurried steward appeared with +a third box, which proved to be also for her--a small box, which had +come not from a city florist, like the others, but by mail. + +It had been put up by unskilled hands, as its crushed shape and damp +exterior clearly showed. She opened it, wondering, and found a little +bunch of garden flowers, sadly wilted, their limp stems protruding from +the moistened newspaper in which they were wrapped. She searched for a +card, and found it. In a hand she knew well, a little cramped, a little +wavering, but full of character, she read these words: "Blessing her, +praying for her, loving her." + +Georgiana's heart gave a great leap of fear. What were those lines, what +the context? She knew them--knew them well. She had never heard her +father quote them, and never read with him the lines from which they +came. Did he know them, use them with intent, not imagining she would +place them? As she well remembered, they were from "Enoch Arden," and +she had spoken them herself, in a dramatized version of that pathetic +poem, the last winter of her college life. And they ran thus: + + When you shall see her, tell her that I died + Blessing her, praying for her, loving her. + +At the moment she was alone in the stateroom, the two girls having been +an instant before summoned by their brother to meet some friends who +had come on board to see them off. She stood staring at the touching +little bunch of faded bloom, knowing just how tender had been the +thought of her which had prompted the effort. It had not occurred to Mr. +Warne that there was any other way of sending flowers to ships than by +mailing them from one's own garden. As for the words, she knew well +enough that he had not dreamed of disturbing her content by quoting +them, yet--she could but feel that the reason why they came to his mind +when he was searching there for a bit of tender sentiment to send with +his parting gift was the thought of his own possible end being not far +away. And if he, too, were thinking of that---- + +With a fast-beating heart Georgiana stood staring out of the open +porthole at the scene of activity outside. Far below her she could see +the gangway over which she had come on board. In less than an hour--the +party had arrived early--that gangway would be withdrawn, the water +would slowly widen between pier and ship, and there would be no turning +back. Could she go--could she bear to go--and take the chance? Were her +fears only the natural forebodings of the unaccustomed traveler, or was +there a real reason why she should never have allowed herself to be +persuaded to leave one whose hold on life was so frail, the only being +in the world to whom she was closely bound? She closed her eyes and +tried to think.... + +Mrs. Thomas Crofton, turning from a group of friends at the touch of her +niece's hand upon hers, would have drawn the girl into the circle and +presented her with genuine pride in her, but the low voice in her ear +deterred her: + +"Aunt Olivia, please forgive me, but I must ask you to come away with me +just for five minutes. Please----" + +In a temporarily forsaken angle of the deck Georgiana laid her case +before her aunt, speaking with rapid, shaken words, but none the less +determinedly. Mrs. Crofton listened with an astonished face and with +lips which protested even before they had the chance to speak. + +"I know just how dreadful it will seem to you all--that I shouldn't have +known my duty long ago. But I see it now--oh, so plainly! And it's not +only my duty, it's my love that takes me back. I can't stop to tell you +how I feel about leaving you all when you've been so kind, so wonderful +to me. I can tell you that another time. But the thing now for me is to +get off this ship before it sails. I must!" + +"But, Georgiana, my dear child----" + +"Oh, please don't try to keep me, Aunt Olivia! My mind is made up. I +can't tell you how it hurts to do it, but I don't dare to leave my +father. If anything happened to him I could never forgive +myself--never. He isn't well. It would do no good to take me with you +now. I should be so miserable I should spoil it all for you." + +"Georgiana, listen." The calmly poised woman of the world held the +clinging hand in a firm, warm grasp, the low voice spoke evenly. "Many +people feel just as you do, dear, on the eve of sailing. Some are made +actually ill, even quite old travelers. But they know that it is pure +hysteria and they fight it off, and afterward they are able to laugh at +their fears. My dear, you are quite mistaken about there being any +danger threatening your father. He is in the best of hands, and he +himself would be sadly disappointed----" + +It was of no use. Mrs. Crofton took her niece to her stateroom, and, +sending for Jeannette and Rosalie, even for Uncle Thomas, tried in vain +to shake her. + +Ten minutes before the hour of sailing, Rosalie, rushing about the deck +in search of Miles Channing, finally discovered him and burst out under +her breath with the appalling news: + +"Georgiana's going back! She's got the idea somehow that her father +mayn't live till she comes home. We can't do a thing with her. Oh, do +come and see if you can't show her how absurd it is to do such a thing!" + +"Going back!" Miles Channing seized Rosalie's arm. "Where is she? Why, +she can't go back; the ship's all but casting off. What on earth is the +matter with her? She's too sensible a girl to lose her head at the last +minute. Good heavens! We won't let her go; we'll keep her in her +stateroom till it's too late. Take me there--quick!" + +They dashed along the narrow passageways, until, coming from the +Croftons' suite, they encountered Georgiana pale but quiet, Jeannette +flushed scarlet and in tears, and Mrs. Crofton evidently sorely +exasperated, but keeping herself well in hand. + +Channing walked straight up to Georgiana. "Will you give me five +minutes?" he asked. + +She shook her head with a faint smile. "It's no use, Mr. Channing. I +shall not change my mind again. I should have known it in the first +place, and there mayn't be five minutes to spare. I must be in sight of +the gangway." + +"I'll take you there," he said, and glanced at the others in a way which +clearly said: "Give me my chance." They understood and let him lead +Georgiana on ahead toward the place she sought. + +He was a clever man and an experienced one in the ways of women, even +though his years among them were not yet many. He realized that argument +was of little use; there was only one weapon left with which to fight +the girl's determination, and it was one he was not loath to use, though +he had not meant to speak so plainly until quite different surroundings +invited. + +"This is a hard blow to my hopes," he said very low, as they stood where +they could watch the manoeuvres of the officers and men who were in +charge of the embarkation of passengers. "I can't tell you what this +voyage with you has meant to me; I don't know how to give it up. Now, +please listen. Won't you do this? Come across with us, and then, when +you are actually over--it's only a five-day crossing, you know--if you +still feel you must go back, we'll not try to prevent you. You'll be +away then only a fortnight, and nothing in the world can go wrong at +your home in that little time. And meanwhile we shall have had this +voyage together--Georgiana?" + +His voice with its meaning inflections would have been very hard to +resist, if the girl had not by now set her teeth upon her determination. +Having suffered already so much humiliation for the sake of her sudden +conviction, her pride would not have let her change again, though a +voice from the skies had then and there assured her that all was and +would be well with her father. So once more she shook her head and moved +toward the gangway. Behind her, ready to follow her if must be, a +deckhand waited with her luggage. The Croftons, their faces showing much +concern, had remained in the background waiting for a signal from +Channing that he had or had not prevailed. + +"If you go ashore," threatened Channing, "I shall go with you. And the +ship will sail without me." + +This roused her to speech. "No, no; don't even say such a thing--just to +frighten me. Good-bye, Mr. Channing, and--I'm truly very, very sorry." + +"I mean it," he urged hotly. "The whole thing is nothing to me without +you; you know that perfectly well." + +"I should never forgive you," she said, turning to look once into his +eyes, as if to convince him of the reality of her prohibition; and he +saw there all the spirit he had reckoned with, and saw, too, such a +world of possibilities for one who could arouse that intense and +purposeful nature, that he was swept off his feet. + +"But you will forgive me if I come back by the next ship," he said +quickly. + +"No. Not if you come a day sooner than you intended." + +Once more their glances met, like blows; then Georgiana moved rapidly +toward the gangway, where the sailor in charge was beckoning. The +Croftons, one and all, hurried forward, and the retreating traveler +suffered their embraces. + +"My child, you are forcing us to leave you here alone to look after +yourself, after our promising to take every care of you," mourned Mrs. +Crofton. "I shall be most uneasy about you." + +"No, no, dear Aunt Olivia, you mustn't be. I am a perfectly independent +person, and I can take myself home without a particle of trouble. +Good-bye--and please, please forgive me, all of you!" + +She was off at last, with Jeannette's hot tears on her cheek, Rosalie's +reproachful and all but angry final speech, "I didn't think you'd +actually do it, Georgiana Warne!" ringing in her ears; and Chester's +explosive, derisive prediction following her, "By thunder, but you'll be +a sorry girl when it's too late. I can tell you that!"--to make her feel +that nobody really understood or sympathized with her. + +It was Uncle Thomas who applied the one touch of balm to his niece's +sore heart: + +"David Warne is a rich man, my dear girl, to have you," he said gently, +as he kissed her. "Don't feel too badly over disappointing us; it's all +right. Take good care of yourself going home, and give my love to your +father." + +She smiled bravely back at him as she ran down the gangway with half a +score of belated visitors to the ship. In a moment she was only one of +the crowd of people who were watching the huge bulk of the liner draw +almost imperceptibly away from the pier. Through blurred vision she +looked up to the spot where they were all waving at her and +smiling--thank heaven, they were smiling, as it was obviously their +duty to do, no matter what their feelings. + +When their faces had become indistinguishable, and the great ship had +backed far out into the waters, and was headed toward the Atlantic, +Georgiana turned to a porter at her elbow. "No," she said, "I didn't +sail. Yes, this trunk is mine; it's to go back." + +Somehow, as she followed the man through the long, dingy building, the +thing which drove home the ache in her heart was the sight of the +little, aristocratic-looking, leather-covered steamer trunk, Uncle +Thomas's gift, packed with so many high hopes, now riding alone on a +great truck. Of all the baggage which that truck had borne to the lading +of the ship, hers was the only little, lonely piece to come back! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +REACTION + + +In the darkness of the summer midnight Georgiana descended from the +"owl" train, the only passenger, as it happened, to alight at the small +station. She had hoped to slip away unobserved for the half-mile walk +home, but the station master was too quick for her. He was a young +station master, and he had known Georgiana Warne all his life--from +afar. + +"Well, I certainly did think I'd seen a ghost," said he, confronting +her. "I thought you'd gone to Europe. Get a message to come back? Your +father ain't took sick, has he?" + +"No, I hope not. I--something happened to make it best for me to come +back." + +"Well, that's too bad, sure," said he, curiously regarding her. "Say, +wait five minutes and I'll walk down the road with you. It's pretty late +for you to be out alone." + +"Thank you, Mr. Parker; I don't mind a bit, and I'm anxious to get on. +I've only this small bag to carry, and it's bright moonlight. No, truly, +please don't come. Good-night, and thank you." + +Could this really be herself, Georgiana Warne, she wondered, as she made +her escape and walked rapidly away down the road under the high arches +of the elms. How had it come about? Why was she here, she who had +expected to be out on the first reaches of the great deep when midnight +came this night? As she passed silent house after silent house, familiar +and yet somehow strangely unfamiliar in the light of what might have +been, it was hard enough to realize that she had had this wonderful +chance to stay away for two happy months from the sober little old +place, and had herself relinquished it. + +Before she knew it she was nearing her home, the old white house +standing square and stern in the moonlight--she had been seeing it all +the way in the train. She loved it dearly, no doubt of that, but it had +been no attack of homesickness which had brought her back to it. + +As she came up the path she saw, past the sweeping branches of the great +trees which surrounded the house, that Mr. Jefferson's windows were +still alight. This was no surprise, for she knew he had often worked +till late hours before she began to help him; and it looked as if, now +that he had to continue alone, he meant to keep up the rate of advance +by working overtime. + +Georgiana stole upon the porch and tried the door. It was bolted as +usual. She slipped around the house, and tried the side and rear doors +in turn, to find them fast. She had had no plan as to how to make an +undisturbing entrance at this hour, but had counted on being able to +discover some unguarded point. She and her father had never been careful +as to thorough locking of the house in a neighbourhood where thefts were +almost unknown, but evidently their boarder, accustomed to city ways and +chances of trouble, had taken pains to make all fast. + +There seemed to be only one thing to do, and Georgiana did it. After +all, it was probably better that somebody should know of her return, in +case she had to go about the house and make any betraying sounds. She +stooped to the gravel path, and scooping up a handful of pebbles flung +them up at one of the lighted windows, where they rattled like small +bird shot upon the wire netting of the screen. + +It took a second fusillade before the absorbed worker within was +attracted and appeared at the window, a black figure against the yellow +radiance of the oil lamp. + +"It's some one who belongs here," Georgiana called softly. "Please come +down very quietly and let me in." + +"Wait a minute," returned the voice above. + +In less than that minute the door swung softly open, and the tall +figure, clad in loose shirt and trousers, the former open at the neck +and revealing a sturdy throat, stood before the applicant for admission. +There was no light upon Georgiana, for the moonlit yard was behind her. + +"What can I do for you?" Mr. Jefferson was beginning in a pleasant tone, +as of one not at all disturbed by being summoned at this hour, when a +voice he had heard many times before said, with an odd thrill in it, as +if it struggled between tears and laughter: + +"You can let me in and try not to consider me an idiot. I got my father +on my mind and couldn't sail, so I came back. That's absolutely all +there is of it." + +"My dear girl!" Mr. Jefferson put forth a hand and took hers, as he came +out upon the porch. "Of course, I beg your pardon," he added, releasing +her hand after one strong pressure, "if you consider that my rather +natural surprise isn't apology enough. But--you can't mean that the +ship--and the party--have sailed without you?" + +"Just that. Is--is my father as well as he was this morning?" + +"He was quite as well, apparently, at bedtime. The heat has been trying, +but he has borne it without complaint." + +"I don't know what I expected," confessed Georgiana rather faintly; "but +I don't think I expected that. I'm very thankful. I'll come in and slip +upstairs. Thank you for coming down." + +She would stay for no more; it seemed to her that she could bear no +further explanations to-night. As if he understood her, Mr. Jefferson +was silent as he followed her in, bolted the heavy door, and took from +her the handbag she carried. He deposited this at the door of her room +upstairs, and spoke under his breath in the darkness relieved only by +the rays which shone from the open door of his own room at the front of +the hall: + +"Good-night--and welcome back!" + +It was almost daylight when she fell asleep, and she wakened again at +the first sound of Mrs. Perkins's footsteps in the kitchen below her. +She dressed slowly, her heart heavy with the sense of having made a +probably needless sacrifice. With the waking in the familiar old room, +all the realization of that which she had lost had come heavily upon +her. Why was not the sunlight pouring in through portholes, bearing the +refreshing breezes from the sea, instead of beating in over the hot tin +roof of the ell upon which her windows looked? Was it merely as Aunt +Olivia had warned her, the hysteria of the inexperienced traveler? Why +had she not at least accepted Miles Channing's eminently reasonable +suggestion that she make the voyage, giving her emotions time to cool? +At the longest, if she made an immediate return, she would have been +absent but little more than a fortnight. + +But she dressed with unusual care none the less, and when she descended +the back stairs she was looking as fresh and trim as ever in her life. +She encountered the good Mrs. Perkins in the kitchen and had it out with +her, receiving the first encouragement she had felt that somebody would +think her rational in her return. + +"Well, I must say," declared that lady, standing still, as if she had +been struck, in an attitude of astonishment, "while I'm more than sorry +for you to lose your trip, Georgie, I shall feel safer now you're back. +Your father cert'nly does look awful peaked to me and kind of weak-like, +more so than I ever noticed before. Perhaps it's just because I felt the +responsibility settlin' down on my shoulders the minute you was out of +the house. And I guess he was goin' to miss you pretty awful much; +though, of course, he wouldn't say so." + +Georgiana took in her father's tray when it was ready, quite as usual, +her heart beating fast as she entered and beheld the white face against +the propped-up pillows. After the first gasp of surprise she saw the +unwonted colour flow into the pale cheeks. + +"My dear, dear child," he said, as she set down the tray and flew to +clasp him in her arms, "this is--this is almost more than I can grasp. +What has happened Is the sailing of your ship deferred?" + +"My sailing on it is deferred," she told him. "I couldn't leave you, +Father Davy; that's the simple truth. Your daughter is an +infant-in-arms." + +She did not try to make it clear to him; but let him guess the most of +her reason for returning, and was rewarded by his fervent: "Well, dear, +it was a very wonderful thing for you to do. But you should not have +done it. You should have trusted the good Lord to take care of me, as I +bade you. You must do it yet. We will arrange for you to follow your +Uncle Thomas's party on the next boat. I cannot have you lose so much +just for me." + +"It's no use," she asserted, her eyes studying the blue veins so clearly +outlined on the fair forehead. "I've made my decision; I ought to have +made it that way in the beginning. So long as you need me I shall not +leave you." + +At the breakfast table she met Mr. Jefferson. It was only twenty-four +hours since she and he had breakfasted together, but somehow it seemed +to Georgiana as if at least a week had gone by. Mr. Warne was seldom +present at the first meal of the day, and it had come to seem very +natural to Georgiana to sit down with her boarder and pour his coffee +and talk with him. This morning, however, there was a curious constraint +in the girl's manner. After the first interchange of observations on +the promise of even more extreme heat than on the preceding day and the +possibilities of dress and diet to suit the trying conditions, the talk +flagged. + +"I am strongly tempted," said Mr. Jefferson, as he rose after making an +unusually frugal meal of fruit and coffee, "to let up on work till there +comes a change in the weather. I believe I shall try how it feels to +idle a little. You surely will indorse that, Miss Warne, as far as you +are concerned?" + +"No," she said quickly, sure that this plan was the result of +consideration for herself; "as far as I am concerned I should much +prefer to work. I am sure you can give me something to do, even if you +are not working yourself." + +"Do you mean that? Then if you do, I shall be with you, though I think +it would be good for you to rest. This last week has been pretty full +for you, even though you haven't been with me on the book." + +She shook her head. "I want to go on with it," she insisted; and he +agreed. + +News in a small village travels fast, and Georgiana was fully prepared +to have James Stuart appear with the first fall of dusk. He came through +the hedge at the foot of the garden, and found her on the seat under the +old apple tree which was her favourite resort. His greeting was full of +the astonishment which had been his all day. + +"My word, George, but I never would have believed this! How on earth did +you come to do it?" + +"I had to," she said simply and rather wearily. She had explained to at +least twenty persons that day, as well as she could explain. She was not +willing to confide to any one the incident of the flowers and the card +which had brought about the impulse to return that had hardened so +quickly into action. She had listened to all kinds of comments on the +situation, some few sympathetic, but most of them curious and critical. +Many had said to her that they never would have believed Georgie Warne +would ever change her mind about anything. Others had added that perhaps +it was a good thing, since her father certainly was pretty feeble and +nobody knew when he might take a turn for the worse. Altogether, it had +not been a happy day for the object of the village interest. + +Stuart sat down beside Georgiana on the old bench which bore his +initials from one end to the other of it, the earliest ones hacked out +during his small boyhood, the later more than once coupling Georgiana's +with his own. His hand, as he settled into place, rested on one of these +very monograms. + +"It seems like the natural thing to say I'm glad to see you back," he +said slowly, "but--there's a reason why I can't say it at all." + +"Then don't dream of saying it." Georgiana leaned her head listlessly +against the seamy old tree trunk behind her. + +"It's not that I wanted you to go; you know I was altogether too selfish +for that," he went on. "But--something happened at the last that made me +entirely reconciled to having you go. Can you guess what it was?" + +"Possibly." + +"But you can't. Of course I was pretty well dashed at finding Channing +booked for the trip. But--I got over that when--I made up my mind to +come, too." + +"To come, too!" The head resting against the tree trunk turned quickly. +"What _do_ you mean?" + +"Jeannette suggested it," said he, with something in his voice which his +listener could not quite analyze. "She put it up to me to come over +while they should be staying in Devonshire, and join their house party. +At first I said I couldn't, but the more I thought of it the more it +seemed possible to get over there for a fortnight anyhow. The plan was +not to tell you, and to surprise you by walking in on you." + +Georgiana stared at him, as well as she could see him through the fervid +twilight. "Jimps! Why, how could you get away?" + +"There's never a time when it's easy to get away," he admitted; "but +everything's in full sail now for the summer, and just lately I've +succeeded in getting hold of an awfully competent man who could run +things for the month well enough. Anyhow, of course I was dippy at the +thought of going and--I promised her I would if I could manage it. I've +never had the chance to travel much, and it suddenly struck me that I +didn't have to deny myself every possible thing. But, of course, now +that you're back----" + +"But that makes no difference!" she cried quickly, "Why should it? +Jeannette asked you because she wanted you. Of course you must go, if +you really can get away." + +"She never would have asked me if you hadn't been going. And it was only +an afterthought then. If I hadn't gone on for that last hour it wouldn't +have occurred to her." + +"It occurred to her to wish it, because she said so more than once to me +the day I was there. But she didn't dream you could do it. I don't know +why we should all consider you a fixture, for your father is much +stronger than mine and it couldn't harm him at all to spare you for a +little. Of course, you must go, Jimps! When will you start?" + +"Do you honestly want me to go, George?" He seemed to be scanning her +face through the dimness. + +"I should be a selfish thing enough if I didn't," she protested. + +He was silent for a minute; then he said: "To be frank, I wrote last +night for a berth on a ship that sails in two weeks. Jeannette warned me +not to delay, the travel is so heavy this time of year. I talked it over +with my father and he seemed pleased at the idea. You can imagine I felt +a bit dizzy this morning when I heard you hadn't sailed. I didn't +believe it at first." + +"Never mind, you will go just the same--and all the more. It's a pity +somebody shouldn't carry out the plan, and you've had less fun than I, +for you've been at home longer since college. Go, Jimps, and take the +goods the gods provide." + +She maintained this spirit throughout the ensuing fortnight, in spite of +his evident effort to make her acknowledge that she would feel her own +disappointment the more for his going. When he came over to say good-bye +he found her apparently in the gayest of spirits; and she gave him such +a friendly send-off that he went away marvelling in his heart at the +ways of young women, and the ways of Georgiana Warne in particular. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"STEADY ON!" + + +On the day following the departure of James Stuart for England, while +the two literary workmen were hard at it in the old manse study, the +July weather having mercifully turned decidedly cooler for a space, the +village telegraph messenger, a tall youth with a shambling gait, +appeared with a message for Mr. Jefferson. Georgiana brought it to him, +and waited to know whether there was a reply. + +She saw the message--evidently a long one--twice read, and noticed a +peculiar lighting of the grave face which had bent over it. Mr. +Jefferson wrote an answer, briefer than the message received, and +himself took it to the waiting boy. When he returned he sat down and +began to put in order the papers on which he had been working. + +"I have another trade, as you have guessed," he said to Georgiana. "It +seems necessary for me to go away and work at it for a few days, perhaps +a fortnight. It is fortunate for me that you are here, for I should not +have felt that I ought to leave your father, and yet I should hardly +have been able to refuse the call of that message." + +"Then I am very glad," she returned, "that I am here. Can you leave me +work to do?" + +"I am afraid not, beyond that already laid out for to-day. Won't you +rest while I am gone? This is vacation time for most people, you know." + +She shook her head. "With only father to look after I shall have little +enough to do." + +"You won't--forgive me!--go up into that blistering attic and make rugs? +I hope not!" She felt that he was looking keenly at her. + +"Why should you hope not? I am one of the people who must be busy to be +contented. How soon do you go, Mr. Jefferson?" + +"On the noon train." He looked at his watch. "I have an hour to make +ready. No, don't go. I will come back when I am ready, and we will put +things in shape to leave, so that we shall know exactly where to take +them up again." + +In half an hour he was back, and together the two put the results of +their joint work into such shape that at a moment's notice they might +resume it. This done, they went to Mr. Warne, and the intending traveler +explained briefly the situation--without, as Georgiana fully realized, +explaining it at all. Then, shortly, he went away, with something in his +manner which subtly told her that he was very glad to go, and that he +was thinking of little besides the errand which took him from them, +careful though he was in every courteous detail of leave-taking. + +When he had gone Georgiana and her father looked at each other. + +"Daughter," said Mr. Warne, looking intently at the vivid face, with the +eyes which saw so many things, "do you know what you remind me of?" + +"No, Father Davy. Of a cross child?" + +"Of a young colt, penned into a very small enclosure, with only one lame +and blind old horse to keep it company. And within sight, off on the +hillside, is a great, green pasture, with other colts and lambs sporting +gayly about, and the summer sunshine over all--except in the corral, +over which a dark cloud hangs. And I am sorry--sorry!" + +"Father Davy!" Georgiana choked back a lump in her throat. "But it is +hot July, and the cloud makes it cooler and nicer in the corral. And +besides--the lame, blind horse is such a dear--has drawn such heavy +loads and would be so lonely now without company. And--and the colt has +many long years to sport on hillsides." + +Mr. Warne smiled, more sadly than was his wont. "But not while it is a +colt." Then, after a pause, "My dear, we shall miss Mr. Jefferson." + +"Shall we?" + +"I shall miss him more than I should have realized till I saw him go +down the path. And James Stuart, too. That is why I know that you will +miss them." + +"We shall live through it," prophesied his daughter cheerfully, and +betook herself to the kitchen, which she found looking, in spite of its +well-ordered neatness, more like a jail than ever before. + +The following days went by on feet of lead. Never had Georgiana had to +make such an effort to maintain ordinary, everyday cheerfulness and +patience. She found herself longing, with one continuous dull ache from +morning till night, for something to happen, something which would +absorb her every faculty. She rose early and went for long walks, and +went again in the late afternoons, with the one purpose of tiring her +vigorous young body so that it would keep her restless mind in order. +She worked at her rug-making many hours, spent many more in reading +aloud to her father, and still there were hours left to fill. She forced +herself to go to see all her acquaintances, to visit those few who were +ill; there was nobody in want in the whole place, it seemed, in this +summer prosperity of garden. + +"There's nothing to do for any one," she said to her father one day. "I +feel guilty times without number because I'm not of more use to the +people about me." + +Her father studied her. "Dear," he said slowly, "what you need just now +is something the good Father knows you need, and I believe He will not +deny it to you. In the meantime, remember that simply being cheerful and +patient under enforced waiting is sometimes the greatest service that +can be rendered." + +"If you haven't taught me that, it isn't because you haven't illustrated +it every day of your life," she cried--and fled. + +In her own room she beat her strong young hands together. "Oh, dear God!" +she said aloud, "if I could only, only have the thing I want, I would +take anything, _anything_ that might go with it and not complain!" + +And then, suddenly, one early August night, Mr. Jefferson returned. He +came up the path, bag in hand, and saw a solitary figure standing on the +small front porch, where a latticework sheltered opposing seats. It was +a white figure in the early dusk and it rose as he approached. + +"The fortnight is not quite up," said Georgiana quietly. "But I put your +room in order to-day, hoping you would come. My father never missed +anybody so much." + +"That sounds very pleasant." He set down his bag and shook hands. "It +makes it the harder to say that I must be off again in the morning. +And--I shall not be coming back. If it had not been that I could not +leave without seeing you and Mr. Warne I should have sent on to ask you +to pack and send my trunk." + +"Really? How very unexpected! But I would gladly have sent on the +trunk," said Georgiana. Something cold clutched at her heart. + +"Would you? That sounds rather inhospitable! Do you care to hear my +plans?" + +"If you care to tell them, Mr. Jefferson." + +"I wonder," said he, "if you would be willing to go around to the other +porch and sit there. I have a fancy for being where I can get the scent +from your garden. I shall miss that spicy fragrance. Is your father +still up?" + +"He has just gone to bed. He would be very happy if you would go in and +speak to him," said Georgiana. + +Mr. Jefferson ran upstairs with his bag, and made a brief call upon Mr. +Warne. Then he came down, to find Georgiana standing with her arms about +a white pillar, her face looking off toward the garden. The lamplight +from the central hall, whose rear door opened upon the porch, gleamed +rosily out upon her. + +Mr. Jefferson came out and stood beside her. "I came back," he said, +"just to offer you my friendship in any time of need. I couldn't go away +without doing that; I couldn't be content merely to write it back to +you. I have lived here in your home with your father and yourself until +it has come to seem almost as if I belonged here. But my work calls me; +I must go back to it. The book must wait, to be finished in spare +moments as other books have been finished. I thought I could give myself +this year away from my profession to accomplish this task and perhaps to +lay in fresh stores of energy. But I find I can't be easy in mind to do +this longer. So I am going back." + +After an instant Georgiana answered, without turning her eyes away from +the garden: "You are a very fortunate person." + +"To have work that calls so loudly? I am sure of that. And it is work +which absorbs me to the full. But I shall always have time to give to +you or to your father, if in any way I can ever be of service to you. I +have no family to call upon me for any attention whatever; I have no +near relative except the married sister who lives abroad, as I have told +you. By the way, Allison has bidden me more than once to thank you for +her for taking such good care of me. You know her by her picture, if you +have noticed it--the one on my bureau." + +Georgiana nodded. She did not trust her lips, which were suddenly +trembling, to tell him that though he had often spoken of this sister he +had never mentioned the fact that the photograph on his bureau was hers. +But--what did it matter now? It was far better that she had not known, +that she had had this restraint upon her imagination to keep her from +ever letting herself go. It was far better---- But he was speaking; she +must listen. + +"While I have been in this house I have felt," he was saying, "as if I +had a real home. It is hard to give that up. Association with your +father has become much to me. I can't tell you what he has given me out +of his stores of wisdom and experience. And you--have been very good to +me; I shall not forget it." + +"I have done nothing," murmured Georgiana with dry lips, "except feed +you and dust your room. You might have had such service anywhere." + +"Might I? I doubt it. And there is something else. If I may I should +like to tell you how I have admired you for your steady facing of each +day's routine. There is no heroism in the world, Miss Georgiana, equal +to that, to my thinking." + +She shook her head. "I'm not heroic; please don't tell me I am." + +"But you are, and I must tell you so. Why not? I have seen more than you +may have realized. My whole life's training has been in the line of +observation of other human beings. And you must know that no one could +be with you and not understand that the fires of longing to live and +live strongly and vitally burn in you with more than ordinary +fierceness. Yet you subdue them every day for the sake of the one who +needs you. That is real heroism, and the sight of it has touched me very +much." + +Suddenly she found herself struggling to keep back the choking in her +throat. How well he had understood her--and what unsuspected depths of +tenderness there were in his rich and quiet voice. She could not speak +for a little, and he stood beside her in a comprehending silence. + +"I can't go away," he said presently, "without telling you that your +happiness has come to seem very important to me. I have--necessarily--a +fairly wide knowledge of men, their characters, their motives, their +ideals--or their lack of them. Miss Georgiana, when you come to +choose--will you let me say it?--don't be misled by superficial +attributes, even the most attractive. Don't let the desire to have your +horizon apparently expanded, to go far and see much and live intensely, +overbalance your appreciation of fine and lasting qualities in one who +could give you little excitement but much that is real and worth having. +It may be very daring in me to say this to you, but I find myself +impelled to it. I want you to live, and live gloriously, and find +employment for every one of your splendid energies, and there is only +one being in the world who can help you do that--the man whom you can +respect as well as love, and love as well as respect. Will you promise +me to choose him and nobody else?" + +She turned suddenly and fiercely upon him. "How can you think I----" She +stopped short, her eyes blazing in the darkness. + +"I can foresee," said he, very gently, "an hour for you when you will be +tempted out of your senses to do the thing which promises change, any +change. You are starving for it; you are desperate with longing for +it----" + +"Mr. Jefferson----" + +"Miles Channing came into town when I did: his car raced my train for +the last two miles. He has gone to the hotel. Doubtless you will see him +within the hour. Miss Georgiana, I can't let you marry him without +telling you that if you do you will be an unhappy woman for the rest of +your life." + +She was speechless for a moment with surprise. She forgot her encounter +with the speaker in her astonishment at his news. Channing had come +back, then, even as he had vowed, long before the rest of the party. The +knowledge that he was close at hand again, bringing back with him such a +wild will to accomplish that of which he had been thwarted that he had +not been able to brook delay upon the other side of the water, was +knowledge of the sort which stopped the breath. + +"Will you forgive me?" said Mr. Jefferson's low voice in her ear. + +"But--but I--don't understand," she stammered--and now at last she +showed him her unhappy eyes. + +"What I have to do with it? How can I fail to have something to do with +it? When I let you sail in the same party with this young man without +warning you, it was because I had no possible notion that he was to be +along. When I learned that he had gone and that he had followed you +back, I knew that he was in earnest--at least in his pursuit of you. I +had thought there was no actual danger for you on account of your +friend--your real friend--the young man whom you had known and trusted +so long and with such reason. But now, with him away and you alone here +and lonely and full of the hunger for life--yes, I know I am speaking +plainly, but I feel that I must put you on your guard. And I want you to +feel that though I shall be gone to-morrow night I am here to-night, and +if you have any need for me--for an elder brother----" + +"Oh, how can you think----" + +"I do think--and I know--and I fear for you. Not because I do not +believe in you, but because I know the manner of man who will approach +you. You have never known his sort. Let me be a brother to you--just for +to-night, if only in your thought. It may help to steady you." + +There was silence between them for a little. Then steps upon the front +porch, quick, ringing steps, as of one who comes with eagerness. +Georgiana felt her hand taken for an instant and pressed warmly between +two firm hands. Then her companion left her.... + +Three hours afterward Georgiana flung herself, breathing fast, upon her +knees beside her open window and lifted her face toward the sky. She +would have fled to her garden for this vigil she must keep, but the +extraordinary truth was that she did not dare be alone there. Her hands +gripped the sill, her eyes stared without seeing at the vaulted depths +above her. After a long time--hours--she rose and went to her door, +opened it without making a sound, and, listening till she had made sure +that the house was as silent as all houses should be at two in the +morning, she stole slowly along the upper hall. Presently she stood +outside the closed door of the guest who was sleeping under the roof for +the last time. With a fast-beating heart she noiselessly laid her hand +upon the panel of that door. + +"You did steady me," she whispered. "I couldn't have done it if you +hadn't warned me--fortified me. Oh, what shall I do without you?" + +Inside suddenly a footstep sounded, the footstep of a shod foot. +Instantly the girl was off down the hall like a frightened deer. In her +own room she stood with her hand upon her breast. "Up--at this hour!" +her startled consciousness was repeating. "Why? There was no light in +his room. Couldn't he sleep either? Why? Is _that_ what it means to him +to be a brother?" + +In the morning Mr. Jefferson took his leave. His parting with Mr. Warne +was like that between father and son. When he came to Georgiana he +looked straight down into her eyes. + +"Remember," he said, "that what I have told you of my wish to be of any +possible use to you and your father holds good, even though I should be +at the other side of the world. I shall write now and then to ask about +you both. I can't tell you how I hope for your happiness--Georgiana." + +When he had gone she went to her room and dropped upon her knees beside +her bed, her arms outflung upon the old blue and white counterpane. + +"O God," she whispered passionately, "how could You show it to me if I +couldn't have it? How _could_ You?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +REVELATIONS + + +Summer had gone at last, its fierce heat giving way to the cool, fresh +days of an early autumn. August, September, October--the months had +dragged interminably by, and now it was November, bleak and chill, with +gray skies and penetrating winds and sudden deluges of rain. Georgiana, +sweeping sodden leaves from a wet porch after an all-night storm, looked +up to see the village telegraph messenger approaching. With her one +dearest safe upon a couch within, and Stuart long since at home again, +she could not fear bad news. She thought of Jeannette, who was always, +in the absence of a telephone in the old manse, telegraphing her +invitations and demands. + +She tore open the dispatch with a hope that it was from Jeannette, for +she had sadly missed her letters. Jeannette, indeed, it was who had +inspired the message, but its sender was her sister. Rosalie Crofton +wired that Jeannette had been taken suddenly and violently ill while on +a visit in New York and was to be operated upon at once; that she had +begged Georgiana to come and to bring James Stuart with her; that +Rosalie herself was dreadfully frightened and prayed Georgiana not to +lose a train nor to fail to bring Stuart. + +Action was never slow with the receiver of this message; it had never +been quicker than now. With one brief explanation to her father, she was +off to find Stuart. Just at the dripping hedge she met him, his face +tense with the shock it was plain he had received. At sight of her he +drew a yellow paper from his pocket. + +"You've heard?" he cried. + +"Yes; this very minute." + +"There's only an hour to catch the ten-ten. You'll go?" + +"Of course. I was coming to tell you. I'll be ready." + +She turned again and ran back. There was much to do in the allotted +hour, but with the help of Mrs. Perkins she accomplished it. When she +and Stuart were in the train, sitting side by side in the ordinary coach +of the traveler who must conserve his resources, as Georgiana had +decreed, Stuart spoke the first word of comment upon the situation. + +"Of course, there was nothing to do but go," he said, "after that +telegram." + +"Of course not," agreed Georgiana simply. + +"She was perfectly well--last week," said Stuart. + +"Was she? You know I haven't seen her since they came back." + +"She said she had tried every way to get you there." + +"She has. I was going--when I could. You know father hasn't been as well +since they came back in September." + +"I know. But she's wanted to see you. She says she can't write half so +well as she can talk." + +"No. One can't." + +There was silence for some time after this exchange. Stuart seemed +restless, stirred often, once got up and stood for a long time at the +rear of the car, staring back at the wet tracks slipping away behind. +When they had changed trains and were headed for New York, with their +destination only a few hours away, Stuart, again in the vestibule of the +car, looking out through the closed entrance door upon a dull landscape +passing like a misty wraith through the November fog and twilight, found +Georgiana at his elbow. + +"Jimps," she was saying in her straightforward way, "what's the use of +bothering to keep it covered when it shows so plainly? Do you think I +don't understand? I do--and it's absolutely all right." + +He turned quickly, and his gloomy eyes stared down into her uplifted +face. + +"O George!" he muttered. "Can you honestly say that?" + +"Honestly. I know how it happened. You couldn't help it. It was meant to +be. The other--wasn't. That's all there is of it." + +"I've been feeling such a sneak." + +"Why should you? I've told you over and over----" + +"I know you have. But--that last time----" + +"That was really the beginning of--this other," said she with decision. +"You were not yourself and you didn't know just why. You thought it must +be because you cared for me, but it was--the stirring of your first real +feeling for any woman, only you didn't recognize it. That's the whole +thing, Jimps, and you are not to reproach yourself, particularly now +when----" She faltered suddenly, and he drew a quick breath that was as +if something stabbed him. + +After a little he began very slowly: "It didn't really happen +till--Devonshire. Those two weeks--I can't tell you. No mortal man could +have resisted her. Yet I tried; I did, George. She didn't know about +you; she never has, except that we were old friends and dear ones. She +thinks the trouble is that she's a rich man's daughter and I'm only a +farmer." + +"You're no ordinary farmer and she knows it. Her family know it. And if +she wants you she'll have you; they've never refused her anything." + +"I haven't asked her." + +"James Stuart!" It was her old tone with him. For the moment both forgot +the possible issue of this errand upon which they were going; only the +vital relations at stake seemed involved. + +"But--she knows," said Stuart very low. + +"Of course she does." + +By and by Stuart spoke again. "George, you were never quite so close to +me as now." + +She slipped her hand into his. "I'll stay close, dear; and I'll do all I +can for you both." + +This was all they said until the first lights of the great city, miles +out, were flashing past them. Then it occurred to Georgiana to put a +startled question: + +"Jimps, have you any address to go to? There was none in my telegram." + +"I know where they are staying." Stuart put his hand into his pocket and +drew out a thick letter, upon which Georgiana recognized her cousin's +handwriting. "This came only yesterday morning." + +In spite of herself the girl felt a wild thrill of pain. Her chum--her +chum! And it was the first time he had ever failed to be open with her. + +As if he recognized that the sight of the letter had told even more +plainly than words could have done, the degree of intercommunication +between the two presumable lovers, Stuart said quickly: + +"I was going to tell you, George--on my word I was. I knew you didn't +care for me--that way, but I was afraid it might hurt just the same, +after all our vows. Somehow the days went by so fast and--well, you see +there was Channing. A while back I thought you were going to marry him, +more than likely." + +"You didn't really think it, Jimps." + +"I don't know what I thought. George, we're getting in. Oh----" And he +broke off. + +She knew what had happened, for with the first glimpse of the great +terminal station the things which thus far had been never really vivid +in her consciousness had in the twinkling of an eye taken terrible form. +This was New York, and somewhere in it they were to find Jeannette, +stricken in the midst of her youth and beauty and joy of life and love. +If only they might find the worst of the danger safely past! + +They were rushed in a taxicab to the great uptown hotel, to find there a +message saying that the whole family were at the hospital and that they +were to follow at once. In the second cab Georgiana's hand again found +Stuart's and stayed there. His face was set now; he spoke not a word, +and even through his glove his hand was cold to the touch. Then, +presently, they were at the big, grim-looking hospital with the +characteristic odour, so suggestive to the senses of the tragedies which +take place there night and day, meeting them at the very portal. + +It was Georgiana who made the necessary inquiries, for Stuart seemed +like one dazed with fear of that which was to come. He followed her with +his fingers gripping his hat brim with a clutch like that of a vise, his +eyes looking straight ahead. An attendant led them to a private room, +and here in a moment Georgiana found herself caught in Rosalie's arms, +with pale faces all about which tried to smile reassuringly but could +succeed only in looking strained. It was Aunt Olivia who seemed most +composed and who made the situation clear. Uncle Thomas could only grasp +the newcomers' hands and press them, while his lips shook and his speech +halted. + +"It is a very peculiar case, and we had to wait till a certain surgeon +came who was out of town--Doctor Craig. They seemed to think it safer to +wait for him. He has had extraordinary success in similar cases. He--is +with her now, operating. My dear, I am very glad you have come--and you, +Mr. Stuart. She wanted you both, and we felt that if her mind were at +rest her chances----" But here even Aunt Olivia's long training in +composure under all circumstances deserted her, and she let Georgiana +put her in a chair and kneel beside her, murmuring affection and hope. + +It was a long wait--or so it seemed--interrupted only once by the +entrance of a young hospital interne, who came to advise the family of +the patient that thus far all was going well. It had proved, as was +expected, a complicated case, and there was necessity of proceeding +slowly. But Doctor Westfall had sent word to them to be of good cheer, +for the patient's pulse was strong, and Doctor Craig's reputation, as +they knew, was very great. + +"It's Dr. Jefferson Craig, you know," explained young Chester Crofton +softly to Georgiana. "We're mighty lucky to get him. He only came back +from abroad two days ago, and he was operating out of town somewhere +last night. Doctor Westfall was awfully keen to have him and nobody +else." + +Georgiana knew the name, as who did not? Jefferson Craig was the man +whose brilliant research work along certain lines of surgery had +astonished both his colleagues and an attentive general public, and his +operative surgery on those lines had disproved all previous theories as +to the possibilities of interference in a class of cases until recently +considered hopeless after an early stage. It was indeed subject for +confidence if Doctor Craig's skilful hands were those now at Jeannette's +service. + +But there is no beguiling such periods of suspense with assurance of +former successes in similar cases. Jeannette's family had need of all +their fortitude for the bearing of such suspense before Doctor Westfall, +the Crofton's family physician from the home city, appeared in the +doorway. He had been brought on by them when they were summoned to +Jeannette's bedside. He had known the girl from her babyhood, and the +signs of past tension were clearly visible in his face as he looked upon +his patient's family, though his eyes were very bright and his lips were +smiling. + +"Safely over," was his instant greeting, and his hand fell with the +touch of hearty friendship on the shoulder of Mr. Thomas Crofton. "I +wouldn't come till I was sure I might bid you draw a long breath and +ease up on this strain of waiting." + +They came around him, Aunt Olivia's lips trembling, her hand fast in +Georgiana's. Young Chester Crofton gave a subdued whoop of joy, and +pretty Rosalie, scarcely out of emotional girlhood, burst into +hysterical crying which she struggled vainly to keep soundless. + +"Mind you," warned Doctor Westfall, wiping his own eyes though he +continued to smile, "I don't say all danger is past. Doctor Craig would +be the last man to countenance such a statement. We must hold steady for +several days before we can speak with absolute assurance. But every sign +points to safety, and certainly--certainly--well,"--he paused as if he +could not readily find words for that which he wished to say,--"if it +had been anybody but our Jeannette I should have congratulated myself on +the chance to see such a piece of work as that. I've never seen +Jefferson Craig operate, though I've been a fascinated follower of his +research and have read every word he has written. And he's astonishingly +young. I expected to see a man of my own age." + +"We must see him, Doctor," murmured Mrs. Crofton, striving to regain her +composure which, as is often the case, was more shaken by the assurance +of good news than by the fear of bad. "We must thank him for ourselves. +He will come in to see us?" + +"As soon as he is out of his gown. I'm going back for him in a minute, +for I knew you would want the words from his own lips. You will like +him--you will like him immensely." + +He went away again presently on this errand, an imposing figure of a man +of fifty, accustomed to responsibility and able to carry it, a typical +city physician of the class employed by the prosperous, but with certain +clearly defined lines about his eyes and lips which proclaimed him a +lover of human nature and a sympathizer with its sufferings, in whatever +class he might find his patients. + +"He's such a dear," declared Rosalie, wiping away her tears and smiling +at James Stuart. "He's adored Jeannette ever since she was born, and I +know he's been just as anxious as we were. Do cheer up, Jimmy. I'm just +as sure she's going to get well now as I was sure she wasn't before." + +"I don't dare to be sure," he answered in a low tone. + +Georgiana looked at him and saw how shaken he still was, notwithstanding +the reassuring news. In spite of her anxiety she had been observant, +ever since she entered the room, of the attitude of Jeannette's family +toward James McKenzie Stuart. It had not been difficult to come to the +conclusion that for Jeannette's sake they would accept him, and that for +his own sake they were forced, in varying degrees, to like him. How +could they help it? she wondered, when they looked at his fine, frank +face and observed his manly bearing. He was college bred; he was a +successful worker with his brain as well as with his hands, for his +farming was scientific farming, and his results established a model for +the community. He was by no means poor--and yet--Georgiana realized that +the change for Jeannette from a home of luxury to one of comparative +austerity of living would be a tremendous one. Well, such events had +occurred before in the world's history, and it was by no means +unthinkable that they should occur again. As Georgiana noted the tense +look on Stuart's face, and saw the hardly abated suffering in his eyes, +she said to herself that if Jeannette cared as much for him as he for +her, she cared quite enough to bring her family to terms at any price. + +The door opened again, as quietly as hospital doors invariably open, +and Doctor Westfall advanced once more into the room, followed by a +younger man with a grave, clean-cut face and the unassuming, quietly +assured bearing of established success. As Georgiana's eyes fell upon +the distinguished surgeon whose name was Jefferson Craig she recognized +her former lodger, Mr. E. C. Jefferson. That she did not for a moment +wonder what Mr. Jefferson was doing here in the famous surgeon's place +was due to the fact that her mind instantly bridged the chasm between +the two personalities and made them one. Yet there was a subtle, but +easily recognizable, difference between the personality of Mr. Jefferson +and that of Doctor Craig. There could be no question that here his foot +was on his native heath! The literary worker had for the time vanished, +and here was the man who did things with his hands and did them better +than other men. She had long understood that he had another and more +active place in the world than that which he had temporarily occupied as +solely a writer of books. This was the place, and nothing could have +seemed less surprising than to find him in it. + +At the same time, the finding occasioned a difficulty in maintaining her +own composure of face and manner. She had known Mr. Jefferson; she did +not know Doctor Craig. She understood instantly, without any +explanation, that he had chosen to be known in the obscure village by +only a part of his name, because that name was so notable that even the +two village doctors, the old one and the young, would have recognized it +and been at his heels, to the detriment of those months of rest from +surgery which he had dedicated to the exposition of his methods upon +paper. She was quick to perceive also that it would be easy enough for +Doctor Craig to prove as different from Mr. Jefferson in relation to his +acquaintance as he was different in his position in the world. What, +indeed, had Dr. Jefferson Craig and little Georgiana Warne in common? +Certainly far, far less than had had Mr. E. C. Jefferson and that same +Georgiana Warne. + +He did not see her at once, for the father and mother of his patient met +him in the middle of the floor, and his first glance fell upon them and +remained there while he spoke to them of their daughter. Even in his +manner of speaking Georgiana felt a decided difference. There was a +curious crispness and succinctness of speech that marked the +professional man, which was decidedly different from the more expanded +conversational manner of Mr. Jefferson. + +"Yes, she is sleeping quietly under the last effects of the anæsthetic," +he was saying when Georgiana took note of his words once more. "We will +let her sleep. It will spare her some hours of consciousness." + +"Will she suffer very much when she wakes, Doctor?" was the mother's +anxious question. + +Doctor Craig's smile was the very one Georgiana had first liked about +him, for it transformed his face and gave it back the youth which his +early responsibility in a serious profession had done its best to age. +"We shall not let her suffer very much," he promised. "That's not +necessary nor desirable." + +"When may we see her?" Mrs. Crofton pursued. + +"You may all see her for a moment before she wakens, if you wish. +Afterward her mother and father for just a word, and--I am told she +expressed a very strong wish to see a young man who was on his way. Has +he come? For the sake of her contentment I have agreed to allow him a +word with her by and by--just a word, if he will be very quiet." + +It was Uncle Thomas who turned to beckon James Stuart forward, and then +to nod at Georgiana. Immediately Stuart was presented to Doctor Craig, +who, looking intently into the young man's questioning face, said +straightforwardly: "Mr. Stuart and I have met before under quite +different circumstances. He knew me as a writer of books and may be +surprised to find me here--as I am surprised to find him." + +"Let me present you to my niece, Miss Warne, Doctor Craig," said Aunt +Olivia, and Georgiana was glad of the preparation the minutes had given +her, for here indeed was need for all her powers of self-control. Her +eyes had no sooner looked into those which met them with such a keen and +searching glance than she was stirred to the depths. She had thought she +had known what it would be to feel those eyes upon her again, but she +had not reckoned with the effect of absence. + +He made no effort to conceal the situation. "When your daughter sees me +next, Mrs. Crofton," he said, without turning from Georgiana, "she will +know me, as Miss Warne and Mr. Stuart do. I spent last winter in Miss +Warne's home, under the name of Jefferson alone, to find time to work at +a book I am writing. I gave it up sooner than I had expected, because my +work here would not be denied." + +"Didn't Jean know you when she saw you before the--the operation?" cried +Rosalie, full of curiosity at this unexpected turn of affairs. + +"She did not see me before she was anæsthetized," explained Doctor +Craig; and Doctor Westfall added, patting Rosalie's hand: "It's rather +like a story, isn't it, Rosy? Doctor Seaver, of the staff here, was +telling me this morning how Doctor Craig tried to take a year off to +rest and write, but how they got him back--and glad enough to have him, +too. And yet we want that book. It's rather hard to have a reputation so +big it won't give you time to rest. He needed the rest, Seaver told +me." + +"I had it. Six months in the country did more for me than a year in +town," said Doctor Craig. He turned at the sound of a light knock upon +the door. He gave the impression of a man whose senses were every one +alert. + +An apologetic interne came in with a message for Doctor Craig and he +left them, with a final word of confidence and the request that they all +retire to rooms at the nearby hotel where they were staying. + +Georgiana found Rosalie at her side. "O George! is he really the man you +had in your house all this year? You lucky thing! Didn't you fall in +love with him instantly? Why, he's perfectly wonderful!" + +"You think so now, child, because you know he's distinguished. If you +had seen him quietly working at his book you probably wouldn't have +looked at him a second time." + +Rosalie studied her cousin's face so intently that Georgiana had some +difficulty in maintaining this attitude of cool detachment. The young +girl shook her head. "He couldn't have changed his face," she insisted. +"He's not a bit handsome, but he's stunning just the same. Oh, how +astonished Jean will be when she finds out who's saved her life! When do +you suppose he'll let Jimmy Stuart see her? He'll die if he doesn't make +sure she's alive pretty soon." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FIVE MINUTES + + +It was not many hours before Doctor Craig himself led Georgiana and +James Stuart together into the room where Jeannette lay. She had asked +to see them together, he said, and they might remain for precisely five +minutes. He immediately left the room again and took the nurse with him. + +The five minutes were spent by Stuart with Jeannette's hand in both his +own, as he knelt beside the the bed where she lay, no pillow under her +head, her face very white but her eyes glowing. + +Jeannette's look met Georgiana's. "Is it all right?" she said very low. + +"Of course it's all right, dear; and I'm perfectly happy over it," +whispered Georgiana. + +Jeannette smiled. "I couldn't be happy till I was sure," she breathed. +"I thought--I might die, even yet--and I wanted it like this--first." + +An inarticulate murmur from Stuart answered this, but Georgiana assured +her very gently: "You're going to be happy with Jimps for years and +years, Jean darling." + +They were silent then, as they had been bidden, but the silence was +eloquent. Doctor Craig, coming in to put an end to the little interview, +saw the unmistakable tableau. As Stuart, catching sight of him, rose +slowly to his feet, the surgeon's fingers closed upon his patient's +pulse. He nodded. + +"As a heart stimulant you have done very well, Mr. Stuart," he said. +"But small doses, frequently repeated, are better than large ones." + +Jeannette's hand weakly caught his. "Isn't it queer, Georgiana," she +murmured, "that it should be your Mr. Jefferson who has saved my life?" + +In spite of herself, Georgiana could not prevent the rich wave of colour +which swept over her face. She knew, without venturing to look at him, +that Doctor Craig's eyes flashed toward her with a smile in them. She +stooped over Jeannette with a gay reply: + +"And he began his acquaintance with you by snowballing you till you +almost had need of his surgery on the spot!" + +Then she and Stuart were out in the wide, bare hospital corridor, and +Stuart was saying with a shiver: "Does she look all right to you, +George--sure?" + +"Of course she does, Jimps. You never saw her before with her hair down +in braids; and any face looks pale against a white bed." + +He shook his head. "I shall not stir out of this town till she looks +like herself to me." + +"Of course you won't. I wish I needn't, but I must go back to father +to-night." + +They all tried to dissuade her from this course, but she was firm. She +knew well enough that all Jeannette had wanted of her was to assure +herself that she possessed a clear right and title to Stuart's love. +Evidently Jeannette had guessed more at Stuart's past relations with +Georgiana than either of them had imagined, and she would not allow +herself to be happy without the knowledge that she was not making her +cousin miserable. + +One brief conversation with Doctor Craig was all that was vouchsafed +Georgiana before she left the city, and that took place in the presence +of others, in Aunt Olivia's apartment. It was clear enough how busy a +man he was in this his own world, for when he came into the room he +explained to Mrs. Crofton that it had been his only chance since they +arrived to make a brief social call upon the family of his patient. It +was but an hour before Georgiana's departure, and when he learned this, +Jefferson Craig came over to her, where she sat upon a divan at one end +of the long private drawing-room of the suite. Seeing this, the others +of the party began conversations of their own, after the manner of the +highly intelligent, and for those five minutes Georgiana lived in a +place apart from the rest of the world. + +"Please tell me all about your father," he began, and the tones of his +voice, low as are habitually those of his profession, could hardly have +been heard by one across the room. + +Georgiana told him, unconsciously letting him see that the fear of her +probable loss was ever before her, though she could not put it into +words. She knew as she spoke that his eyes did not leave her face. She +had no possible idea how alluring was that face as the light from the +sconces nearby fell upon it. She was conscious, womanlike, that the +small hat she wore was made over from one of Jeannette's, and she did +not think it becoming. Though it was November, she still wore her summer +suit, for the reason that since her return from abroad Jeannette had not +found time to pack and send off the usual "Semi-Annual," and previous +boxes had not included winter suits at at all. Altogether, with +many-times-mended gloves upon her hands, and shoes which to her seemed +disgraceful, though preserved with all the care of which she was +mistress, Georgiana felt somehow more than ordinarily shabby. + +Doctor Craig asked her several questions. He spoke of the rug-making, +watching her closely as she answered. He asked how often she went to +walk and how far. He asked what she and her father were reading. He +would have asked other questions, but she interrupted him. + +"It's not fair," she said. "Please tell me about the book. Does it get +on?" + +"Do you care to know?" + +"Very much. I'm wondering if your copyist makes those German references +any clearer for the printer than I did." + +"Nobody has copied a word. I have not written a word. The book is at a +complete standstill. I see no hope for it until I can take another +vacation--under the name of E. C. Jefferson." + +"And that you will never take," she said positively. + +"I never shall--in the same way. There are reasons against it. The book +will have to be written as the others were--on trains, on shipboard, in +my own room late at night." + +"Is it right to try to put two lifetimes into one?" she asked, and now +she lifted her eyes to his. + +Before, she had managed to avoid a direct meeting by those many and +engaging little makeshifts girls have, of glancing at a man's shoulder, +his ear, his mouth--and off at the floor, the window--anywhere not to +let him see clearly what she may be afraid he will see. And Georgiana +was intensely afraid that if Dr. Jefferson Craig got one straight look +with those keen eyes of his he would recognize that her whole aching, +throbbing heart was betraying itself from between those lifted lashes. +But now, somehow, with her question she ventured to give him this one +look. The interview might end at any moment; she must have one straight +survey of his face, bent so near hers. + +He gave it back, and until her glance dropped he did not speak. Then, +very low, but very clearly, he said deliberately: + +"When may I come?" + +The room whirled. The lights from the sconces danced together and +blurred. The floor lifted and sank away again. And Chester Crofton chose +this moment--as if he were not after all really of that highly +intelligent class which knows when to pursue its own conversations and +when to break into those of others--to call across the room: + +"Oh, I beg pardon, Doctor Craig, but when did you say Jean might have +something real to eat? Rosy says it's to-morrow and I say it's not yet +at all." + +Doctor Craig turned and answered, and turned back again. He was not of +the composition of those who are balked of answers to their questions by +ill-timed interruptions. But the little diversion gave Georgiana an +instant's chance to make herself ready to answer like a woman and not +like a startled schoolgirl. So that when he repeated, his voice again +dropped: + +"When, Georgiana?" + +She was able to reply as quietly as she could have wished: "Do you want +to come, Doctor Craig?" + +"I want to come. I have never wanted anything so much." + +"Then--please do." + +"Very soon? As soon as I can get away for a few hours? Perhaps next +week? It is always difficult, but if I plan ahead sometimes I can manage +to make almost the train I hope for." + +She nodded. "Any train--anytime." + +There was an instant's silence. It seemed to her that she could hear one +or two deep-drawn breaths from him. Then: + +"Would you mind looking up just once more? I must go in a minute; I +can't even take you to your train." + +But she answered, with an odd little trembling of the lips: "Please +don't ask me to. I'm--afraid!" + +A low laugh replied to that. "So am I!" said Jefferson Craig. + +He rose, and she rose with him. The others came around and he took leave +of them. His handclasp was all that Georgiana had for farewell, for when +she lifted her eyes she let them rest on his finely moulded chin. But +she knew that in spite of his expressed fear it was not her round little +chin he looked at, but the gleam of her dark eyes through their +sheltering lashes, and that his hand gave hers a pressure which carried +with it much meaning. It told her that which as yet she hardly dared +believe. + +Since the journey home was made up of changes of trains, no sleeper was +possible, and Georgiana sat staring out of her car window while those +about her slumbered. There was too much to think of for sleep, if she +had wanted to sleep. She did not want to sleep, she wanted to live over +and over again those five minutes with their incredible revelation. And +as the wheels turned, the rhythm of their turning was set to one simple +phrase, the one which had sent her world whirling upside down and made +the stars leap out of their courses: + +"When may I come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MESSAGES + + + Hope to reach Elmville at seven to-night.--E.C. JEFFERSON. + +This was the first of them. When Georgiana received it she had been +waiting eight days for this first word. She had known well enough that +until Jeannette was entirely safe Doctor Craig would not leave her. +Georgiana had not minded that she had had no word. She had not really +expected any. A man who was too busy to come would be too busy to write, +and she wanted no makeshift letters. And she had not minded the delay in +his coming; rather, she had welcomed it. To have time to think, to hug +her half-frightened, wholly joyous knowledge to her heart, to go to +sleep with it warm at her breast, and to wake with it knocking at the +door of her consciousness--this was quite happiness enough for the +immediate present. + +Meanwhile, what pleasure to put the house in its most shining order, to +plan daily little special dishes, lest he come upon her unawares; to sit +and sew upon her clothing, shifting and turning her patchwork materials +until she had worked out clever combinations which conveyed small hint +of being make-overs! + +For the first time in her life she said nothing to her father of her +expectations. What was there to tell as yet? She could not bring herself +to put into words the memory of that brief interview, in which so much +had been said in so few simple phrases. And if Father Davy read--as it +would have been strange if he had not--the signs of his daughter's +singing lightness of heart, he made no sign himself; he only waited, +praying. + +Georgiana received her first telegram at noon. She had flown for two +wonderful hours about her kitchen, making ready, when the despatch was +followed by another: + + Unavoidably detained. Will plan to get away Thursday. + +This was Tuesday. Georgiana put away her materials, and swept the house +from attic to cellar, though it needed it no more than her glowing face +needed colour. What did it matter? Let him be detained a week, a month, +a year--he would come to her in the end. Now that she was sure of that, +each day but enhanced the glorious hope of a meeting, that meeting the +very thought of which was enough to take away her breath. + +On Thursday came the message: + + Cannot leave this week. Will advise by wire when possible. + +No letter came to explain further these delays. Georgiana felt that she +did not need one, yet admitted to herself that the ordinary course in +such circumstances would be to send a letter, no matter of how few +words. Toward the end of the following week a telegram again set a day +and hour, and as before, another followed on its heels to negative it. +The last one added, "Deep regret," and therefore bore balm. + +And then, after several more days, came a message which was all but a +letter: + + It seems impossible to arrange for absence at present. Will you not + bring your father and come to my home on Wednesday? Will meet train + arriving seven-fifteen. Journey will not hurt Mr. Warne, and visit + here will interest him. Please do not refuse. + E. C. JEFFERSON. + +Well! What girl ever had a suitor of this sort? one too busy to come or +write, yet who, on the strength of a few words spoken in the presence of +others, ventured to send for the lady of his choice to come to him, that +he might speak those other words so necessary to the conclusion of the +matter. Georgiana sat re-reading the slip of yellow paper, while her +heart beat hard and painfully. For with the invitation had come +instantly the bitter realization--they could not afford to go! Her +recent trip on the occasion of Jeannette's illness had taxed their +always slender resources, and until the money should come in for the +last bale of rugs sent away, there was only enough in the family +treasury to keep them supplied with the necessities of life. + +The time had come--undoubtedly it had--when she must confide in Father +Davy. Not that he would be able to see any way out, but that she could +not venture to refuse this urgent request without his approval. + +Georgiana tucked away in her belt the last long telegram, and went to +her father. He lay upon his couch, the blue veins on his delicate +forehead showing with pitiful distinctness in the ray of November +sunshine which chanced to fall upon him. + +Georgiana knelt beside him. "Father Davy," she said, with her face +carefully out of his sight, "I have a little story to tell you--just the +outlines of one, for you to fill in. When I was in New York Mr. +Jefferson--Doctor Craig, you know,"--she had told him this part of the +tale when she had first come home,--"asked me when--when he might come +here." + +She paused. Her father turned his head upon the crimson couch pillow, +but he could not see her face. + +"Yes, my dear?" he said, with a little smile touching his lips. "Well, +that sounds natural enough. He knows he is always welcome here. When is +he coming?" + +"He isn't coming. He can't get away. He has tried three different +times, and cancelled it each time. He seems to be very busy, too busy +even to write." + +"That is not strange; he must be a very busy man. Doubtless he will come +when he can make time. I shall be glad to see Mr. Jefferson." + +"But--you see--he wants us to come there." + +"Us?" + +"You and me. Father Davy--you understand, dear; don't make me put it +into words!" + +Her father's arm came about her and she buried her face in his thin +shoulder. "Thank God!" he said fervently, under his breath. "Thank the +good God, who knows what we need and gives it to us." + +After a minute's silence: "But we can't go, Father Davy." + +"Can't we? I could not, of course, but you----" + +"I couldn't go without you--to his house. And--we haven't any money." + +"No money? Is it so bad as that?" + +"And if we had--I'm not sure that I want to take a journey to a man--so +that----" + +"Let me see the telegram, my dear," requested Mr. Warne. When he had +read it he regarded his daughter with a curious little smile. She was +sitting upon the floor, close beside his couch, her brilliant eyes now +raised to his face, now veiled by their heavy lashes. "It seems clear +enough," he said. "Concessions must be made to a man who belongs to the +people as he does. I don't think it would be a sacrifice to your +dignity, daughter, if you were to go." + +"But, Father, darling, don't you see? I didn't want to tell you, but +there was no other way. We have quite enough to live on--without +extras--till the next rug money comes. But that may not be for a month; +they are always slow. And for us to go to New York--well, we could just +about get there. We couldn't get clear home. Father Davy, I can't +go--penniless--_to him_!" + +He lay looking at her down-bent head with its splendid masses of dark +hair, at the beautiful lines of her neck in her low-cut working frock of +blue-and-white print, at the shapely young hands gripping each other +with unconscious tenseness in her lap. His eyes were like a woman's for +understanding, and his lips were very tender. Slowly he raised himself +to his feet. + +"Stay just where you are, daughter," he said, "till I come back." + +She waited, staring at the old crimson pillow with eyes which saw again +the drawing-room in Aunt Olivia's apartment and the profile of Doctor +Craig's face as he turned from her at Chester Crofton's interrupting +question. That was more than three weeks ago---- + +Father Davy was gone some little time, but he came back at length at +his slow, limping pace, and sat down upon the couch. He held in his hand +a little bag of dark blue silk, a little bag whose contents seemed all +heavily down in one corner. Georgiana's eyes regarded it with some +wonder. She had thought she knew by heart every one of her father's few +belongings, but this little bag was new to her. + +"I think," he said softly, "the time has come for this. It was meant, +perhaps, to be given you a little later in your history, but if your +mother knew--nay, I feel she does know and approve--she would be the +first to say to me: '_Give it to her now, David; she'll never want it +more than now._'" + +Georgiana leaned forward, her lips parted. She seemed hardly to breathe +as her father went on, his slender fingers gently caressing the little +blue silk bag: + +"From the time you were a baby, a very little baby, she saved this money +for you. It came mostly from wedding fees; I always gave her those to do +with as she would. They were a country minister's fees--two-and-three-dollar +fees mostly--once in a great while some affluent farmer would pay me +five dollars. How your mother's eyes would shine when I could give her a +five! She turned all the bills and silver into gold--a great many of +these pieces are one-dollar gold pieces. There are none of them in +circulation now; it may easily be that they have increased in value, +being almost a curiosity in these days. I think I have heard of +something like that. At any rate, dear, it is all yours. It was to have +been given to you to buy your wedding outfit; but--she would have wanted +you to have it when it could help you most." He held out the little bag. +"She made it of a bit of her wedding dress," he said, and his hand +trembled as it was extended toward his daughter. "It was not only her +wedding dress, it was the best dress she had for many years." + +With a low cry that was like that of a mother's for a child, Georgiana +took the little blue silk bag, heavy in its corner with the weight of +many small gold pieces, and crushed it against her lips. Then, with it +held close to her cheek, she laid her head down on her father's knee and +sobbed her heart out for the mother she had missed for ten long years. + +In the little bag there proved to be almost a hundred +dollars--ninety-two in all. + +"She sorely wanted to get it to a hundred," said Father Davy, when he +and Georgiana, their eyes still wet, had counted the tarnished gold +pieces that had waited so long to be delivered to their owner. "There +seemed a dearth of marriages the year before she went; the sum increased +very slowly." + +"She must have gone without--things she needed," Georgiana said with +difficulty. + +"I think she did, but she would never own it. She was very clever, as +you are, at making things over and over, and she looked always trim and +fine. She was a beautiful woman--and a happy one, in spite of all she +was deprived of in her life with a poor country minister. 'If my little +daughter can only be as happy as I have been,' she used to say, 'it is +all I ask.' My dear, she would have liked--she would have loved--Mr. +Jefferson. I can't get over calling him that," he added, with his +whimsical smile struggling to shine through the tears which would not +quite be mastered. + +"O Father Davy!" was all Georgiana could say. But she lifted a flushed +and lovely face with all manner of womanly qualities written in it, and +kissed her father on brow and cheek and lips, as she would have kissed +her mother at such words as those. + + * * * * * + +"I wonder," said Mr. Warne, sitting comfortably in the Pullman chair his +daughter had insisted upon, "if I can possibly be awake, not dreaming. I +never thought to take another journey." + +"He said it wouldn't hurt you, and it's not. You're not too tired? I +haven't seen you look so well for a long time," declared his daughter. + +The eyes of other passengers, across the aisle, were irresistibly drawn +to these two travelers--the frail, intellectual-looking man with his +curly gray hair and his gentle blue eyes, his worn but carefully kept +garments, his way of turning to his daughter at every change of +scene--the daughter herself, with her face of charm under the close hat +with its veil, her clothing the suit of dark summer serge with its lines +of distinction, which was still doing duty as the only presentable +street suit she possessed. + +They were a more than commonly interesting pair, these travelers, and +they were furtively watched from behind more than one newspaper. + +Georgiana had no eyes for possible observers. With Father Davy she +preferred to sit with her chair turned toward the window, looking out at +the hills and trying to realize the thing which was happening. She was +actually on her way to the home of a man whom a month ago she had +thought gone out of her life forever. And, even now, he had not spoken a +word of love to her, had not asked her to marry him! Yet he was to meet +her at the end of this short journey; she was to look out upon the +platform and see that distinguished figure standing there, waiting for +her--for her, Georgiana Warne, maker of rugs for small sums of money, +wearer of other people's cast-oft clothing, undistinguished by anything +in the world--except by being the daughter of a real saint; and that was +much after all. Fate had not left her without the best beginning in +life, the being brought into it by such a father and mother--bless them! + +The hours flew by, the train passed through the outlying towns and came +at last to the monster city. The lights within the car and without were +bright as they drew into the great station. Following the porter who +carried Mr. Warne's worn black bag and his daughter's fine one--given +her by Aunt Olivia that summer--her arm beneath her father's, Georgiana +made her way through the car, into the vestibule, out upon the platform. +No sight of Doctor Craig rewarded the hurried glance she gave about her. +But before she could take alarm a fresh-faced young man in the livery of +a chauffeur came up to her, saying respectfully: + +"I beg pardon, is it Miss Warne?" And upon her assent he said rapidly: +"Doctor Craig bid me say he was called to a case he could not refuse, +but he hopes to be home soon. I am to take you up and to see to your +luggage." + +"We have no luggage but these bags," Georgiana told him, wondering for a +moment how he had recognized her so readily, then understanding that +though she herself might be a figure indistinguishable by description +from many another, that of Father Davy could not fail of recognition by +one who had been told what to expect. + +"I have a chair here for the gentleman," the man said, and he indicated +one of the station chairs attended by a red-capped porter. + +Mr. Warne, being wheeled rapidly through the great station, looked +about him with the eager eyes of a boy. It was twenty years--twenty long +and quiet years, since he had been in New York. What had not happened +since then? In spite of the myriad descriptions he had read and pictures +he had studied, the effect upon him of the real city, as, having been +transferred from the chair to a small but luxurious closed car, he was +conveyed along the thronged, astonishingly lighted streets, was +overwhelming. Suddenly he closed his eyes and laid his head back against +the cushioned leather. + +Georgiana bent anxiously toward him. "Are you frightfully tired, Father +dear? Are you--faint?" + +His eyes opened and his lips smiled reassuringly. "A little tired, my +dear, and very much dazed, but not upset in any way. I shall be glad to +sleep--and glad to wake in this wondrous city." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TOASTS + + +They drove downtown for many blocks, turning at last into an old and +still notable square which is one of the great town's almost untouched +residence districts, in the very heart of its teeming commercial life. +Here, all at once, the noise of traffic was quieted. Only as a distant +and not too disturbing murmur came the sounds of the warfare which raged +so near. At one of the dingy but still stately old houses the car drew +up, the chauffeur alighted and opened the door. He escorted the +travelers up the steps and rang the bell. + +The door was opened by a lad in plain livery, and he was reinforced +immediately by a middle-aged housekeeper who came forward and took the +guests in charge. She had a rosy face and iron-gray hair and her accent +was distinctly Scotch. + +"I am Mrs. MacFayden, Doctor Craig's hoose-keeper," she said. "Doctor +Craig is mair than sorry not to be here to greet ye baith. He tell't me +to say ye should mak' yersels quite at hame, and should hae yer dinners +wi'oot waitin' for him. If Maister Warne should be tae weary tae sit up +longer, he should gang awa' tae his bed. I know Doctor Craig will mak' +all the haste posseeble, but 'tis seldom he can carry oot his ain plans, +for the press o' sick folks aifter him day an' nicht." + +"Doctor Craig is very kind," said Mr. Warne. "If it will not seem +discourteous I think I shall lie down upon my bed, for I am not +accustomed to travel and am a little tired." + +"That wull be the best thing posseeble for ye," said the kindly +housekeeper, leading the way upstairs. "Tammas, ye'll bring the luggage. +I should advise, Maister Warne, havin' a small tray in your room an' +then attemptin' no mair than juist tae see Doctor Craig, when he cooms +tae say gude nicht." + +She led her guests into a large, square, pleasant room, furnished with +old mahogany. A cheery fire was burning in a fireplace. She opened a +second door, and showed a connecting room, of lesser size but very +attractive. + +"The Doctor often has special patients stayin' in these rooms," she +said, "but fortunately they were emptied three days agone, and kept for +ye. The Doctor has always some puir soul he wants to mak' comfortable. +I'm glad 'tis guests this time he has, an' no patients. He needs to +forget his wark when he cooms hame, but 'tis seldom he has the +opportunity." + +She left them, saying that if the Doctor had not returned by eight she +would serve dinner for Miss Warne alone. + +"No, please, Mrs. MacFayden," begged Georgiana. "If my father has his +tray here I will see him to his bed. I really do not care for dinner at +all." + +The housekeeper smiled. "The Doctor would na' be pleased wi' me, if I +let ye go dinnerless," she said. "But I'm thinkin' we'll see him soon. +Wull ye coom doon to the library, Miss Warne, when ye're ready? 'Tis the +door at the right o' the front entrance. The door on the left is the +waitin' room, an' the Doctor does na' keep office hours at nicht." + +With a fast-beating heart Georgiana set about making ready for that +descent to the library. The whole affair was becoming more and more a +strain upon her nerves. If Doctor Craig had met them at the station it +would have been far easier for her than this. But here she was, actually +in his house, combing her hair in his guest-room, going down to dinner +at his table--and she had not seen or heard from him, except by +telegram, since the hour when he had given her hand that meaning +pressure and left her with her friends. It was an extraordinary +experience, to say the least. + +She wondered how she should dress for dinner--the dinner that she might +eat alone! She had only her traveling suit and one simple little gray +silk, dyed from a white "Semi-Annual" and made very simply, with a wide +collar and cuffs of white net. Anybody but Georgiana would have looked +like a Quakeress in the gray silk, but with her dark hair and warm +colouring she succeeded only in imitating a young nun but just removed +from scenes of worldly gayety! She decided that the hour and the +occasion called for this frock, and put it on with fingers which shook a +little. + +Eight o'clock. She dared wait no longer, so, making sure that her +father, having eaten and drunk, was resting luxuriously on his bed, she +opened her door. The house seemed very quiet, and she went slowly along +the upper hall, and after pausing a moment at the top of the fine +staircase with its white spindles and mahogany rail, she began to +descend. The steps were heavily padded and her footfall made no sound; +therefore, as she afterward realized, a very close watch must have been +kept, for the moment she came in sight of the open library door a figure +appeared there. + +The next moment Jefferson Craig had crossed the hall and was standing at +the foot of the staircase, looking up at the descending guest. The +guest, naturally enough, paused, four stairs up, looking down. The +light, from a quaint lantern hood of wrought iron and crystal hanging +above the newel post, shone full upon the dark head and vivid face +above the demure gray frock with its nunlike broad collar and cuffs of +thin white. + +The man below looked for a full minute without speaking, but Georgiana +could not have told what expression was upon his face or whether he +smiled. She knew that at the end of that long look he stretched one arm +toward her, and that obeying the gesture which was all but a command she +came on down those four remaining steps. Jefferson Craig led her into +the library, where a great fire sparkled and leaped and filled the room, +otherwise sombre with books, full of welcoming cheer. He closed the +door, then led her to the hearth. + +"Where shall we begin?" he said, in that low but very distinct voice she +so well remembered. "Where we left off?" + +"I'm not," answered Georgiana, looking away from him into the fire, +whose light flashed in her eyes less disconcertingly than that which she +somehow knew leaped in his, "sure where we left off." + +"Aren't you? I am. We left off where we had each seen, for just one +instant, into the other's heart. And having seen there was no +forgetting--no?--Georgiana?" + +She shook her head. + +"It was good of you to come to me," he said very gently. Her hand was +still held fast in his. "I did my best to have it the other way--the +usual way. There seemed a fate against it. I could have written, but +somehow I didn't want to. I preferred to wait--with the memory of your +face always before me, till I could see it again. And now that I see +it--bent down--and turned away"--he laughed a low laugh of content--"oh, +look up, Georgiana! Surely you're not afraid now. You know I've been +loving you ever since I saw you first, in spite of thinking I must not, +because of the one I understood you belonged to----" + +She looked up then out of sheer astonishment. "Oh, no, not since you saw +me first," she disputed. "It couldn't be--and I thinking all the +while----" She stopped in confusion at the revelation she might be +making. + +But he caught her up. "You thinking all the while--what? Tell me!" + +"I thought--you hadn't the least interest in me." + +"Did you care whether I had or not?" + +"I--tried not to care," confessed Georgiana naïvely. She smiled, a +sparkling little smile. It was so clear now, that he wanted this +confession. + +He looked at her for a minute longer, then he said: "Don't you think +enough has been said to warrant--this?" + +It was then that Georgiana learned how little one may judge from outward +quiet of manner and controlled speech what may happen when the heart is +allowed to speak for itself. + +"Forgive me," he said at last, when he had released her, all enchanting +confusion under his intent gaze; "but you know the breaking up of a +famine sometimes makes human beings hard to manage. If you could know +the times I've watched you, when you were bent over my illegible fist of +copy, and thought how I should like just to put my hand on your +beautiful hair----" + +A knock sounded upon the door. With an exclamation of annoyance Doctor +Craig left Georgiana and opened it. + +"Dinner is served, sir," announced Thomas, the boy. + +His master turned back with a laughing, remorseful face. "I had +forgotten all about dinner," he said, "though now I come to think of it +I believe I had no luncheon. You must be famishing. Mrs. MacFayden tells +me your father is resting. We will go up and see him--before dinner or +after?" + +"I think he will drop off to sleep for a little, he is so tired, and +then wake by and by and be ready to see you." + +"Good! It couldn't be better. I am eager to see Mr. Warne, but I want +him to be ready for me--who have so much to ask of him. Meanwhile--shall +we go?" + +He offered her his arm, such graceful deference in his manner that she +felt afresh the wonder of his wish to transplant her from her world to +his. As they walked slowly through the dignified old hall he said in a +tone of great satisfaction: "Mrs. MacFayden has ventured to hint to me +more than once that this house is of the sort which needs a mistress. +To-night, when she saw me come in, she said to me very respectfully: +'It's a gled day for ye, Doctor, an' now that I've seen the lassie I can +congratulate ye wi' all mae hert. She'll mak' a bonny lady to be at the +head o' the hoose, if ye'll permit me to say the thocht.' I assure you, +Georgiana, the conquest of my good Scottish housekeeper upon sight is no +small achievement." + +"It must have been my gray gown and white cuffs," suggested the girl +demurely. + +He looked down at the hand resting on his arm. "Now that I have time to +look at anything but your face," he said, "I see that you are wearing +something very satisfying to the eye. I like simple things, such as I +have always seen you wear." + +With inward astonishment and congratulation Georgiana thought of all the +dyed and reconstructed "Semi-Annuals" which had marched in a frugal +procession across his vision during the past year. Suddenly she felt an +affection for the very frock she wore, difficult as had been its +achievement from the materials in hand. Certainly, women in beautiful +and wonderful clothing, such as he saw daily, had had no chance with him +against the attraction of herself in the cleverly adapted makeshifts of +her own fingers. It was the girl who had made the most of herself and +her home out of her restricted means who had drawn to her side this man +whose judgment must approve his love or he could never love at all. + +Things hadn't been so unequal after all. The wise God, who had set her +life thus far in the midst of poverty, had given her with which to fight +it the wit and resource which fashion weapons out of materials which +more favoured mortals cast away. That greatest of gifts bestowed upon +the daughters of men had been hers--the creative touch. At last she +recognized it, and knew it for what it was. Using this good gift she had +learned other things than the making of clothes! + +A great warm surge of joy and understanding enveloped Georgiana Warne as +Jefferson Craig, having led her into the dining-room and placed her +ceremoniously in her chair, bent over her where she sat, saying softly: + +"This place has been waiting a long time at the bachelor's board. Now +that I see it filled--like this--I know how well worth while it's been +to wait." + +He took the place opposite her. With a nod at the boy Thomas, he +dismissed him for the moment. He looked across the table, rich with the +finest appointments in his house, arranged by a housekeeper who heartily +approved his everyday simplicity of life, but who exulted to-night in +the chance to show the lady of his choice the fine old heirlooms of +silver and damask which were to come to her. Smiling, he lifted a +delicately chased goblet of water which stood beside his plate. + +"To my wife!" he said. + +Georgiana, raising the face of a rose, took up her own glass. She looked +at it a moment, her eyes like dark twin fires, her lips taking on lovely +curves. Then she lifted it toward the man opposite. + +"To--_you_!" + +"Still afraid?" asked Jefferson Craig, watching her as one watches only +that which is the delight of his eyes. "Never mind; I'll teach you by +and by the word I want to hear." + + * * * * * + +Upstairs, the slender figure on the bed stirred from the brief sleep +which had claimed it. Father Davy opened his eyes again upon the firelit +room and the pleasant comfort which surrounded him. + +"Before they come," he thought, "I must tell my Father how I feel about +it. I was too tired even to pray. But I am quite rested now." + +He slipped down gently to his knees and closed his eyes, folding his +thin hands on the heavy white counterpane before him. + +"Dear God," he said, "I have the desire of my heart--the answer to my +prayers--and I am very glad to-night. Yet Thou knowest my heart is +heavy, too--with longing for my Phoebe. Tell her, Father, that her child +is happy in the love of the best man she could have asked for. And tell +her that David loves and longs for her to-night with the love that will +never die. For that love that will not die in spite of years and pain I +thank Thee. If it may be, give our child the same blessed experience. +And teach us to love and serve Thee, world without end, Amen." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHY NOT? + + +"There's just one more thing to be settled," observed Dr. Jefferson +Craig. "While we are settling things, suppose we attend to that." + +He stood upon the hearthrug before the fire in his library, elbow on +chimney piece, looking down upon his two guests. It was eight o'clock of +the evening following that upon which Mr. David Warne and Georgiana had +arrived at the big New York house in the old-time, downtown square. +Although they had been under the hospitable roof for more than +twenty-four hours it was the first occasion on which the three had been +together for more than a few minutes at a time. + +On the previous evening in an upstairs room had been enacted a little +scene which would live forever in the memories of them all; but Doctor +Craig, perceiving with trained eyes the signs of growing fatigue in his +frail friend after the unwonted strain of the day and its necessarily +emotional climax, had gently but firmly insisted on withdrawing at an +early hour. Georgiana had remained with her father, herself content to +have the strange and wonderful day end in the old, simple, and natural +way in which her days had ended for so long. She had felt, as she +performed her customary daughterly offices for the beloved invalid, that +she had quite enough to take with her to her own pillow to insure its +being the happiest upon which she had ever laid her head. + +They had seen little of Doctor Craig on the following day; but he had +taken dinner with them that night, and as he had brought them back to +the library fire he had given stringent directions to the boy Thomas +that he be disturbed only for the most important summons. And hardly had +the trio taken their places in the pleasant room before Jefferson Craig +made his statement that there was something still unsettled in their +affairs. + +As he spoke he was looking down at Georgiana. It would have been strange +if he could have kept his eyes away from her to-night. Like a flower in +sunshine had she bloomed under the warm influence of the joy which had +come to her when she least expected it. She was again wearing the little +gray silk frock, but now its nunlike simplicity was gone--and happily +gone--for a bunch of glowing pink Killarney roses at her belt, placed +there by Doctor Craig's hands, lighted the plain costume into one of a +charm which could no longer be called demure. + +"Something still to settle?" It was Father Davy who replied, for +Georgiana had no answer for that suggestion. One glance at Doctor +Craig's face, as he said the words, had told her what was coming. + +"The most important thing of all. Everything else is in order. You, dear +sir, have agreed to come and live with us. We are convinced that it's +not a sacrifice, except for the leaving of certain old friends. You have +a zest still for seeing and hearing the things you have been denied; +it's to be our keen pleasure to make your days go by on wings. You're +going to have plenty of room here for the bookcases and the books, all +the furnishings you care to keep--in short, you're to live the old life +with a fine new one as well. Altogether, everything is in train for the +great change, except"--he crossed the hearthrug at a stride, and laid a +son's hand upon the thin shoulder of Father Davy--"except the date of +it," he finished, smiling down into the uplifted face. + +"But that," replied Georgiana's father without hesitation, "is not for +me to settle. It is for you two." + +Craig looked across at Georgiana and for a minute studied her down-bent +profile as she sat gazing into the flames; then came round to her, +plucking a pillow from a big leather couch by the way, to drop it at her +feet and throw himself down upon it. So placed he could look straight +into her face. "You'll have to take an interest in the ceiling now if +you succeed in avoiding me," he said, with a low laugh. + +"I don't want to avoid you," answered Georgiana, and let her eyes meet +his fairly for an instant. She could not yet do this in a quite casual +way. + +He crossed his arms upon her knee, sitting in a boyish attitude and +looking not unlike a big boy for the moment, for all the lines of care +were gone from his face in the soft firelight, and happiness had laid +its rosy mantle over his shoulders as over hers. He began to speak +rather quickly: + +"For the life of me, I can't think of a reason why you should go back +and spend a winter in the same old grind, waiting till spring +and--making me wait till spring. Why should anybody wait till spring? +I've let you talk about all the work you were going to do this winter at +home, but that was just because I didn't want to make you feel as if you +were caught in a trap. I had an idea that for a few hours, anyhow, it +might seem enough of a change to come down here and promise to marry a +perfect stranger of a surgeon instead of the 'literary light' you knew. +I thought we'd let it go at that for those few hours. But now--it +doesn't seem to me possible to go back to bachelorhood again, even with +such a prospect before me in the spring. Not after having tasted--this. +Georgiana, why must I?" + +Her face was the colour of her roses. There was no getting away from the +challenge of those eyes that watched her so steadily--not even by +following his suggestion and gazing persistently ceilingward. Craig +glanced at Father Davy, to find that his soft blue eyes showed no sign +of shock, and that his face was perfectly placid as he looked and +listened. + +The younger man went on, coming straight to the point: "Georgiana, marry +me before you go back! You've promised to stay a week. Let's have a +wedding here, next Wednesday. Then we'll leave Father Davy here +comfortably with Mrs. MacFayden, and run up to see about getting things +packed and shipped. I'll take that much of a vacation now. Then, in +April, we'll go abroad for a real honeymoon and take Father Davy with +us. I'd propose that now, but the seas are stormy in December and +January and we mustn't risk it for him. But, let's not wait! Why should +we? Now, honestly, why should we?" + +The girl turned her face, with a strange little look of appeal, toward +her father, to meet such a look of entire comprehension as stirred her +to the depths. Suddenly, obeying an impulse she did not understand, she +drew herself gently away from Craig, rose and went to the figure in the +big chair opposite. She sat down on the arm and, bending, dropped her +face upon the fatherly shoulder, hiding it there. Craig sat perfectly +still, watching the pair, as Father Davy put up a thin, white hand and +patted the dark head. Then the two men smiled at each other. + +After a while Craig got up and quietly left the room. + +By and by Father Davy whispered: "What is it, dear? You're not ready? +You shall not be hurried. Or is it----" + +She spoke into his ear. "I want to go back home--and earn--and +earn--enough to----" + +"Can you earn it, daughter? Can you ever get enough ahead to provide +what you would like? And meanwhile--he wants you very much, my dear. I +think I know more of his heart than you do, in way. Last winter we had +certain talks that showed me a little of that. Would it be such a blow +to pride to do as he asks? Unless--in other ways you are not ready. If +your love for him isn't quite mature enough yet----" + +"Oh, it isn't that; it's mature enough. It--it hasn't grown, in spite of +me, all this year like--a--tumbleweed"--her voice was a little +breathless--"not to have got its growth----" + +"Its first growth," amended her father, with a meaning smile. + +She nodded. "But--if you could know how I want--time to make the most +of--what mother left me. I could do so much if I just had time. If I +used it now I should have to use it up so fast! There'll be fifty +dollars left when we get back. I could almost make that do, if--no, of +course I couldn't. But I could earn more. O Father Davy, is it wrong of +me to be so proud?" + +"Not wrong, my girl, but very natural, I suppose. Yet to me--well, dear, +I hardly know how to say what I feel. I confess I should like to see you +married to this man. Life is--so short----" + +They sat together in silence for a time; then Georgiana slipped back +into the seat where she had been. + +Presently Father Davy said that it had been a full day, and that he +thought he should be fitter for the morrow if he should go to bed. +Georgiana went up with him, saw him comfortably resting, listened while +he whispered something in her ear as she bent above him, kissed him with +her heart on her lips, and finally stole like a mouse down the stairs +again. + +When she came into the library once more it was to find herself in arms +which held her close. "Do you think I don't understand, my dearest?" +said the low voice which had such power to move her. "Do you think I +don't respect and love you for your perfectly natural feeling about it +all? But, Georgiana, you bring me a dowry bigger than any I could ask +for--the inheritance from such a father as he is--and from the mother +who gave you all he left her to give. What are towels and tablecloths--I +don't know what it is brides bring!--beside such things as these? Won't +you give me the real thing, and let me furnish the ones that don't +count? Dear, if you could know the pleasure there is for me in the very +thought of buying you--a hat!" + +She could but smile, his tone put so much awe into the word. Suddenly +she grew whimsical; it was so like Georgiana to do that when she was +deeply stirred! + +"What do you suppose that hat was made of, I wore here?" she asked him. +"I'll tell you. I found the shape for twenty-five cents at the village +milliner's. I cut it down and sewed it up again into another shape. Then +I hunted through the old 'Semi-Annuals'; you don't know what those are, +do you? I found a piece of velvet that had been a flounce. I steamed it +and covered the shape. Then I had to have some trimming. It came from an +old evening cloak of my Cousin Jeannette's--a bit of gilt, a silk rose, +some ribbon from--I can't tell you what it came from, but it had to be +dyed to match the velvet. I couldn't quite get the shade. But the hat, +when it was done, wasn't so bad." + +"Where is it now?" + +"Upstairs in my room." + +"Would you mind getting it?" + +She laughed, hesitated, finally ran upstairs and down again, the hat in +hand. Pausing before an old gilt mirror in the hall she put it on, then +came to him, lifting her head with a proud and merry look which bade +him beware how he might venture to criticise the work of her hands. + +Adjusting his eyeglasses with care, he viewed it judicially. "It looks +very nice to me," he said. "Suppose you keep it on and put on a coat and +let me take you out in the car for a few minutes. There's a certain +window uptown I should like to look at, with you." + +"I have no coat," she said steadily, and now the colour ebbed a little +from her warm cheek, "except the one that belongs with the suit I wore. +It's short; it wouldn't do to wear with a dress like this." + +"I see." Suddenly he came close again, gently lifted the hat from the +dark masses of her hair, laid it carefully on a table near by, and drew +her with him to a broad, high-backed couch at one side of the fire. + +"I can see," he said, very quietly, "that you and I have much to do in +getting to know each other. Let's lose no time in beginning. Listen, +while I try to tell you what marriage means to me--and to find out what +it means to you." + +It was a long talk, and, by the kindness of the fates which rule over +the irregular schedule of the men of Craig's profession, an +uninterrupted one. Long before it was over Georgiana learned many new +things concerning the man who was to be her husband, not the least of +which was his power of making others see as he saw, feel as he felt, and +believe, from first to last, in his absolute integrity of motive. And +when he told her what he thought he could do for her father if he should +have him under his eye during the coming winter, the period which was +always so long and trying for the sensitive frame of the invalid, whose +resisting powers were at their lowest when the winter winds were +blowing, she gave way and the question was settled. + +But she did not give way in everything after all, nor did he ask her to +do so. When he suggested details of preparation, and she shook her head, +he smiled and told her it should all be as she wished. And when he said, +very gently, that he hoped she would let him provide her with the means +to buy whatever she might need, because everything that he had was hers +already, he took with a submission that was all grace her refusal to use +a penny of his until she should bear his name. If he made certain +reservations of his own as to what might happen when he should hold the +right, that did not show. + +"So that I get you, dearest," he said at the end of the evening, just +before he let her go, "I am willing to take you in any sort of package +you may select for yourself. Personally it seems to me that jeweller's +cotton is the most appropriate background for you, if you won't have a +satin-and-velvet case!" + +At which Georgiana laughed, and assured him that she was no real jewel, +only one of the secondary stones, and uncut at that. The answer she got +to this sent her off upstairs with thrilling pulses, to lie awake for a +long time, recalling his voice and look as he said the few suddenly +grave words which had given her a glimpse of his bare heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MAGIC GOLD + + +The days which followed were to be remembered with peculiar delight all +Georgiana's life. Each morning, in Doctor Craig's own car, accompanied +by her father, she went shopping. Mr. Warne could not use his strength +in following her into the shops, but he could sit at ease in a corner of +the luxurious, closed landau, an extra pillow tucked behind his back, an +electric footwarmer at his feet, his slender form wrapped in a wonderful +fur-lined coat which his son-in-law to-be had put upon him with the +reasonable explanation that it had proved to be too small for himself. +From this sheltered position he could watch the hurrying crowds, study +the faces and find untiring interest in the happenings of the streets. + +Not the smallest part of his pleasure lay in receiving his daughter +again each time she came hurrying out of some great portal, the tiniest +of packages under her arm. Although Duncan, Doctor Craig's chauffeur, +was always watching, ready to jump from his seat and assist her, she was +usually too quick for him to be of much use, though she always gave him +her friendly smile and thanks for his eagerness. It may be said that +Duncan himself, a young Scotsman whose devotion to his master was now +augmented by his admiration of his master's choice, enjoyed those +shopping expeditions with an unusual zest. + +"Oh, but these shops are wonderful, Father Davy!" Georgiana was fain to +cry, as she came back with her purchases. "Of course I have to shut my +eyes and simply fly past the counters where I'd like to buy everything +in sight. But I do find such glorious little bargains, such treasures of +left-overs--you can't think how I'm making my money hold out! I'm so +thankful for all my training in turning and twisting; it's such a help +just now!" + +If Father Davy rejoiced within himself that the days of "left-overs" for +Georgiana were all but past and that there was to be no more "turning +and twisting," at least with material things, he did not say so. Instead +he surveyed the contents of the small packages with eyes which were +nearly as bright as hers, and made her supremely content with his +approval. + +The climax of the shopping came on the morning of the third day. +Georgiana returned to the car after a more than usually long absence, +during which, for the first time, Mr. Warne had become slightly weary of +using his eyes in watching the ever-moving throng, and had dropped off, +in his warm corner, into a little refreshing nap. He wakened to find +Georgiana beside him, the car moving uptown by a less congested route +than they had taken before, and his daughter's hand firmly clasping his. + +He looked round at her and saw, to his surprise and dismay, that her +heavy lashes were thick with tears. But she smiled through them, and +bade him wait to hear the reason until they were in the Park, where each +morning a drive, according to Doctor Craig's suggestion, was taken +before the swift run back to the downtown square. + +The moment they were well within the precincts and had entered upon the +less frequented drive which she had asked for, Georgiana turned to her +father. She held up something before him, and, looking at it, he +discovered the little old bag of dark blue silk which her mother had +fashioned from her own wedding gown, and which had contained the +treasured gold pieces which had made it possible for Georgiana to have a +wedding gown of her own. + +"It's nearly empty now," said the girl softly. "It's bought so much, +Father Davy; I've begun to think it was magic gold! Everybody--all the +shopgirls and women--have helped me spend it. It was as if they knew I +must make it go a long way and wanted to do it. I really think"--she +gave a tremulous little laugh--"it was a good thing I wasn't dressed to +match the car I came in, or they never would have taken the trouble to +hunt up the things I wanted--at the prices I could pay. The fact that I +looked like a shopgirl, too, was such a help!" + +"A shopgirl!" repeated her father. "You, my dear? What would Jefferson +say to that? No matter how you were dressed you could not possibly look +anything but what you are." + +"Oh, but, Father Davy, dear, you don't know what many and many of the +shopgirls, especially these city girls, look like. There are such +beautiful faces among them, such soft voices, such really charming +manners. Of course there are plenty of the other kind, the cheap and +common sort, but so many of the nice kind! I don't mind looking like +some of them, indeed I don't. And the fact that I'm wearing this little +old summer serge suit, now in December, with this hat, which any clever +girl would know I made myself--well, it has helped me to interest their +sympathies in my search. And now I've found"--her voice sank--"I've +found what I couldn't have expected to find in all New York. And I'm so +glad--so glad--I can't tell you. Look!" + +She slowly unwrapped a long, slim, cylinderlike parcel, and brought to +view what it contained. Inclosed in its pasteboard protector, to keep it +unwrinkled in its soft perfection, lay a roll of dark blue silk, of a +small brocaded pattern. + +Georgiana silently laid the little blue-silk bag upon it, and held up +the two so that her father could see how close was the resemblance. The +colour was precisely the same, making allowances for the slight dimming +of age; while the design of the brocade was so similar that the two +might have been made in the same period, if not by the same hand. + +Mr. Warne studied the two fabrics intently for a moment, then looked +into his daughter's eyes. He was too moved to speak. When she herself +could talk again composedly she told him what she meant to do. The blue +silk, made by her own hands in the three days left her, was to be her +wedding gown. She had bought a little fine lace, fit for such a use, +with which to make the finishing; and no matter what Doctor Jefferson +might think of such a substitute for the customary bridal attire, for +herself she should be far happier than in the finest white silk or satin +that could be bought. + +"God bless you, my little girl!" Father Davy murmured, wiping his eyes, +their clear blue depths misty. + +His thin hand clasped the little blue bag again, his heart ached with +the sorrow which is part joy and with the joy which is part sorrow. +Nothing his Phoebe's daughter could have done would have proclaimed her +so truly the child of her mother as this unexpected act. He looked again +and again at the roll of blue silk in Georgiana's lap. + +"How strange it seems that you could find it," he said, "now when +everything is so different from the fashions of twenty-five years ago." + +"It's a revival, the silk man said. He explained that the styles of the +moment call for the fabrics and patterns of the past, and that it's a +constant revolution, bringing back every once in so often what is +old-fashioned between times. But he himself was surprised that the very +newest thing on his shelves was the one that matched the old. I think he +was almost as pleased as I was--without knowing anything about it, +except that I was very anxious to find the silk. And now to hurry home +and make it!" + +Her unconscious use of the word "home" struck pleasantly upon Mr. +Warne's ears. He himself was beginning to feel very much at home in the +old square. Small wonder, since he had found there the son he had longed +for all his married life. + +Back at the house Georgiana fell to work without delay. She had told +Mrs. MacFayden her intention, and had enlisted the warm interest of that +motherly Scotswoman. She had offered Doctor Craig's young guest the use +of her own sitting-room, with that of the sewing-machine which stood +there, and here presently Georgiana unrolled her breadths of silk and +laid upon them the pattern she had selected. + +And now, indeed, she was glad of the long training in the dressmaker's +trade, glad of the clever art she had cultivated for so many years. It +was to her a simple enough matter to fashion herself a dress which +should be in form and line all that could be desired. To do it out of +unbroken yards of material, without necessity for piecing and patching, +was a delightful novelty. To accomplish it in three days was only a +matter of working at top speed, with fingers which flew at the behest of +a brain which also worked like magic at its task. + +During this period Doctor Craig himself was more than ordinarily busy, +to judge by his infrequent appearances at his home. For those last three +days before his marriage he was out of town, returning only on the +evening preceding the date set. But Georgiana found no lack in him as a +lover, for during the brief moments when he could be with her he made +the most of his opportunity, letting her see plainly that she was always +in his thoughts, and giving her every evidence that he was the happiest +of expectant bridegrooms. Each day a great box of flowers was brought to +her, in which she revelled as she had only dreamed of doing. While he +was away he called her up each evening on the telephone, managing to +send her somehow, over the wire, a sense of his nearness and his +devotion. Altogether those few days brought to Georgiana an experience +unique in a lifetime, and one which she would gladly have prolonged. + +Then, it seemed quite suddenly, it was Wednesday morning, and the sun +was shining brilliantly in at Georgiana's windows over a thousand +roof-tops. The marriage was to occur at noon, because, for a bride whose +bridal finery was limited to a little frock of dark blue silk and whose +traveling attire was the plainest of ready-to-wear suits and simplest of +small hats, without furs or furbelows of any sort, it seemed the only +fitting hour. + +It had been arranged that the two essential witnesses to the ceremony +should be two close friends of Doctor Craig's, an elderly couple whose +name, if the Warnes had known, was one of the old names of the city, +standing for the bluest of blue Knickerbocker blood, though for only +moderate wealth and for no ostentation whatever. Georgiana had begged +that no other guests be asked, being anxious, on her father's account, +to have the whole affair over with the least possible agitation for him. +To this Doctor Craig had cordially agreed. + +At eleven o'clock, however, a third guest arrived, a most unexpected +guest, who with a ruddy, eager face, came running up the old stone steps +of the house, a great florist's box under his arm. He demanded of the +boy Thomas instant entrance, and waved back at a taxicab driver the +summons to bring along a much larger box which was nearly filling that +vehicle. + +Georgiana, peeping out of her father's window, beheld, and was off and +down the stairs before Thomas could fairly begin his explanation that +Miss Warne was engaged and could not be intruded upon at this hour. + +"O Jimps!" + +"Well, well, George! You came pretty near giving me the slip, didn't +you? But not quite--thanks to Doctor Craig." + +Georgiana showed her surprise. "Did he let you know?" + +She had led him instantly inside the library and had unconsciously +closed the door all but in the face of the interested Thomas, ignoring +both florist's box and big package, which that young man would have +brought in to her. She had both hands on James Stuart's shoulders, and +was looking him straight in the eyes, which looked as straightly back. +If there had ever been the beginning of romance between these two, +clearly it was far in the background now. Never did brother and sister +face each other with their relationship more clearly defined. + +"I should say he did--since you didn't! What did you mean by trying to +steal a march on us all like this? Jeannette is furious, though of +course she isn't strong enough to come, wild though she is to do it. She +wanted me to tell you that she'll have revenge when she gets about, and +that you won't escape her wedding presents. Meanwhile she's sent you +something she had on hand, because there was no time to get anything +else. She thought you would find a use for it somehow. She sent her love +with it--and I can tell you that's pretty valuable." + +"Of course it is! Jimps, I'm so pleased, so wonderfully pleased that you +are here--I can't tell you!" + +"Then, why in the name of old friendship didn't you send for me?" Stuart +demanded, for plainly this still rankled. "Evidently Doctor Craig had +more belief in that than you did." + +"I wanted to, indeed I did, Jimps, dear, but I thought--I was +sure--well----" + +Stuart laughed. "Thought I wanted to save every penny for my own +wedding, eh? I rather guess I can squander a few on yours. I wouldn't +have missed it for worlds, though I'd give a good deal if _my_ +sweetheart could have been here, too--and so would she, bless her! She's +coming on splendidly, George--looks almost herself again. In a month +more her doctor will let up on restrictions." + +They talked fast, with an eye on the library clock, and when its deep, +slow chime proclaimed the half-hour Georgiana rose. + +"I must go now. Come and stay with father till the hour arrives, will +you? It will steady him to see you. Not but that he seems as serene as +ever, but I know inside it's a pretty big strain for him." + +"All right, I'd like nothing better, since I can't see you any longer. +Where's the principal man for this occasion, anyhow? Can he take the +time to be married, or is he liable to send up word he's detained? You +can't put your finger on these popular surgeons till they're here." + +"I had a telephone message from him an hour ago," Georgiana assured him, +with a conscious little smile. "I really think he'll be here, though not +till the last minute, probably." + +"If he isn't I'll go after him with a gun. If he doesn't show up I'd +marry you myself if it wasn't for a previous engagement," dared Stuart, +with a happy laugh. + +"Never! If I couldn't have my man I'd never marry anybody," she +whispered, as she turned to look back at him for an instant, her hand on +the library door. + +Stuart caught the hand, and whispered back: "George, is it like that +with you, too?" She nodded. His face flamed. "It's wonderful, isn't it? +Unbelievable!" + +She nodded again. They looked into each other's faces, smiling through a +mist of happiness, then Georgiana flung open the door and ran out into +the hall. + +Stuart followed, caught up the big box and ran after her up the stairs. +"Here," he said under his breath, as they reached the top, "be sure to +open this before you go. Jean wanted you to wear it away with you; she +said you'd be sure to need it, traveling. It's a beauty; it just came +home for her." + +He gave her the big box at the door of her room, while she pointed him +down the hall to her father's door. He patted her arm with a brotherly +gesture, and hurried along. + +Inside her room, with a glance at the clock, she opened the box. Under +the tissue lay a soft, luxurious-feeling mass, all dark blue cloth of a +velvety texture, with glimpses of dark fur. She opened it, with a sigh +of pleasure, for it meant that now she might look fit to be Dr. +Jefferson Craig's traveling companion, with this cloak, fur-lined, +all-enveloping, to slip on over the plain little suit which was not half +warm enough for severe winter weather. + +"It's the last of my 'Semi-Annuals,'" she said to herself, "and the +best. How dear of her! And oh, how good it is that Jimps is here! Now I +have a family, a real family to see me married--a father and a brother!" + +The clock again--warning her to fly. She had ever been rapid at +dressing--she had never been quicker. A cold plunge--the second that +morning, bringing the blood leaping--the donning of fair garments lying +ready to her hand--the arrangement of hair in the old way, simplicity +itself--then the slipping over her white shoulders of the blue silk +gown. When it was fastened Georgiana went to stand by her window, +looking out with eyes which did not see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GREAT MUSIC + + +"Wull ye be comin' soon, Miss Warne?" said the voice of Mrs. MacFayden +at her door. Georgiana opened it quickly, and the housekeeper entered, +quietly resplendent in black silk with fine lace collar and cuffs, her +hair in shining order, an expression of great solemnity on her face. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Peter Brandt are here," she announced with impressiveness. +"Doctor Craig is doonstairs with them; he cam' ten minutes ago. He bade +me say he wad coom for ye himself when ye were ready. It's a gled day +for him, Miss Warne, an' for us a'." + +Georgiana advanced, her heart very warm toward this good woman, who, as +she well knew, was quite as much the friend of Jefferson Craig as his +housekeeper, and well esteemed, even beloved by him. The girl came +close. + +"Mrs. MacFayden," she said, very low, "I have--no mother to kiss me +before I go down. May I----" + +The sentence was left unfinished, for with one step forward Mary +MacFayden opened wide her arms, and for a long minute the two enfolded +each other, while both hearts beat strongly. + +Then Georgiana, suddenly mindful that she must not let go for an instant +of her self-control, pressed a kiss upon the fair, smooth cheek of the +Scotswoman, received one equally warm upon her own, and drew away +smiling. "Thank you," she murmured uncertainly. "I couldn't go without +it." + +"Thet ye could na', lassie," responded Mrs. MacFayden heartily. +"Noo--wull I send the doctor up?" + +"Just in a minute--when I have seen my father----" + +Georgiana ran into his room from her own. A deep embrace, a lingering +kiss--while James Stuart looked out of the window, a lump suddenly +appearing from nowhere in his sturdy throat. + +Then Georgiana said softly at the young man's elbow: "Thank you again +for coming, Jimps. It's such a comfort to have my brother here." + +Before he could reply she was gone again. + +He led Mr. Warne downstairs, where Doctor Craig presented them both to +the Brandts--delightful people Stuart thought them, too--so simple and +unaffected--almost like village people. + +As he stood waiting with them, in the same dignified big room which he +had been in before he went upstairs, he was conscious that in his brief +absence its character had changed. Library though it still was, with its +massive bookcases filled with rows upon rows of finely bound books, it +had taken on a festal air. Great bowls of roses, deep crimson, glowing +pink, rich amber, had been brought in; they stood on table, +chimney-piece, and floor; hundreds of them it seemed to him there must +be. He realized that Georgiana herself could not have seen them; they +would be a surprise to her. Evidently the simple little wedding was to +have a character all its own. + +With the quiet departure of Jefferson Craig from the room James Stuart +was all eyes for an appearance at the door. How would Georgiana come to +her marriage? In shimmering white, he supposed, for that was the +traditional garb of all the brides he had ever seen--mostly village +girls they were. Once, while at college, he had attended a city wedding, +that of a classmate who had not been willing to wait till his college +course was finished. Stuart remembered how pale the bride had been; she, +had looked as if she were going to faint. He hoped Georgiana would not +look like that: he could not conceive it. + +The next moment he saw her, entering the wide door, on Doctor Craig's +arm--the same Georgiana he had always known, as simply dressed, even +more simply, he thought, though he had little time for looking at her +dress, so held was his gaze by her face. Never could he have conceived +so radiant a bride. And then he thought--Jefferson Craig had gone up +alone to bring her down. Stuart wondered if he himself could make +Jeannette look like that, at such a moment. He thought he could! + +Georgiana looked into Father Davy's eyes as she stood before him. He was +not tall; his face was almost on a level with her own. It seemed to her +she had never seen eyes so clear, so blue, so comprehending. Her own +never left them for a moment while the service lasted, until the closing +prayer. + +Father Davy's voice, at first very slightly tremulous, gathered force as +he went on with the words he had spoken so many times, but never as he +was speaking them now--to his child, to Phoebe's child, and to the man +of her choice. A little flush crept into his thin cheeks. More than once +his eyes rested on the dark-blue silk which covered his daughter's +shoulders; the sight of it seemed to give him strength. + +When the service ended, and his voice sank into the words of prayer, the +hand of Mr. Peter Brandt went for a moment to his eyes; Mrs. MacFayden +felt suddenly for her handkerchief; James Stuart softly cleared his +throat, winking once or twice rather rapidly. Never had any of them +heard just such a prayer as that. It was as if he who made it were very +near the invisible Presence whom he so tenderly and trustingly +addressed. + +Stuart never forgot the moment when he looked for the first time into +the eyes of Jefferson Craig's newly made wife. For one instant he +suffered a pang of jealousy--a queer, irrational feeling. It was as if +he had lost his friend, as if this star-eyed creature before him could +never find room for him again in her full heart. But he knew better in +the next breath, for she lifted her face, ever so little, and with a +sense of deep relief he gave her the brotherly kiss she thus permitted. +When he looked at Jefferson Craig he found that the keen, fine eyes were +regarding him with a very friendly intentness, and he wrung the hand +offered him as he would have wrung the hand of a brother. + +"You're the luckiest man in this whole big town," declared Stuart. His +lips had been dumb before Georgiana, but now he turned to her again. +"George, there's no use trying to tell you how I feel about this. All I +can say is that nothing's too good for you--or for him. That's pretty +lame, but--whatever eloquence I'm capable of is tied up somewhere; I +can't get it out." + +"It's out, Jimps, dear," she assured him. "Isn't it--Jefferson?" + +"It certainly is--Jimps," Craig answered heartily. "It was for just that +genuine feeling that I sent for you. I knew we couldn't spare it." + +Stuart watched the pair eagerly during the next hour--the hour during +which the little party sat at the wedding breakfast which followed. The +table was a round one, and his place was next the bride, so he missed +nothing. He had never been present on such an occasion, nor could have +guessed the beauty and charm of the setting wealth and art can give. It +was perfection itself, arranged by whose hand he had no notion, but he +understood well enough by whose order had been created all the simple +elegance which so well suited the house and the people. And as he looked +at Georgiana he said to himself: + +"She fits into this as if she had been born to it. She _was_ born to it, +for it's just the kind of thing she'd have made for herself if she'd had +the means. No show, no fuss, just niceness! And it's the sort of thing +my wife shall have, somehow, even in the country, before long. We'll +_bring_ this there; she'll know how. There's no patent on it. Bless +her--how George deserves this! If only Jean could have been here. But +I'll tell her; I'll get it over to her. And she'll understand!" + +At the end of the hour the car was at the door, and Georgiana was coming +down the stairs in her traveling clothes, her bridal bouquet on her arm. +How those splendid roses had lighted up the little dark-blue frock! + +"I've no bridesmaid to throw it to," she said, extending it toward +Stuart. "Will you take it to Jeannette?" + +"I should say I will. I'll be with her this evening; she made me +promise." And Stuart received the offering with a glad hand. + +A long, silent clinging to her father was the only parting embrace for +this girl. If James Stuart longed for one of his own, after these years +of friendship, he was obliged to be content with the lustrous look he +had from eyes lifted for a moment to his as Georgiana took her place in +the car, and with the lingering pressure her hand gave his, which spoke +of love and loyalty. + +Then she was gone, with Jefferson Craig sending back at Stuart a special +brilliant smile of gratitude for the office he had performed, that of +taking the place of the whole group of young people usually present on +such occasions, saying good-bye with bared head and face of ardent +devotion, with the first light snowflakes of winter falling on his fair +hair. + +"I can't believe I'm quite awake," said Georgiana, by and by. She sat in +one of the drawing-rooms of a fast train, the door closed, the curtains +drawn between herself and the rest of the carful of passengers, and only +the flying landscape beyond the window to tell of the world outside. + +Craig sat watching her; he seemed able to do nothing else. In his face +was the most joyous content; there seemed almost a light behind it. +"Not awake?" was his amused comment. "I wonder why. Now I feel +tremendously awake--after a long, uneasy sleep, in which I dreamed of +losing what I most wanted." + +"But it's not all strange to you as it is to me. I can't quite believe +that there's nothing on my shoulders--no care, no anxiety, just--well, +_your_ shoulders! Oh, but," she went on hastily, "don't think that means +I want you to carry everything for me; indeed I don't. I want to +carry--half!" + +"Ah, but that's it," he answered. "My shoulders for your burdens, yours +for mine. That way neither of us will feel half the weight of either. +I'm not pretending that I shall give you a life of wholly sheltered +ease; it won't be that, and you don't want it, not in this +burden-bearing world. But--you shall have some things that you have been +denied, my brave girl! Georgiana, I can't tell you how it touched +me--the dress you made to be married in." + +Her eyes went down now before the look in his. + +"I'll tell you fairly that I longed with all my heart to take you to +some place worthy of your beauty and find a wedding gown for you--not +necessarily a very costly one, but one that should bring out all you are +capable of showing. But when I saw you, looking just yourself, in the +silk that was like your mother's,"--he leaned forward, taking both her +hands in his and looking straight into her face, compelling her gaze to +lift to his lest she should miss what she knew was there,--"I felt +something inside my heart break wide open--with worship for you, little, +strong, splendid spirit that you are!" + +He pressed the hands against his lips. Then he touched two rings upon +her left hand: exquisite and rare jewels were set in both engagement and +wedding rings, after the modern fashion. But there was a third ring +there, guarding the others, a slender band of gold, worn thin by many +years of hard, self-forgetting work--the ring which David Warne had +placed twenty-seven years ago upon the hand of his bride. Jefferson +Craig studied all three, turning them round and round upon the rosy +finger they encircled. + +Presently he spoke again, very gently: "My rings on your hand mean to me +love and beauty, loyalty and truth. But her ring stands for all that +and--service. We need it there, to remind us what we owe the world we +live in. She paid her debt; we'll pay ours, in memory of her. Bless her +for giving me her daughter!" + +For a minute Georgiana could not speak. Then, with her dark eyes +sparkling through the mist of tears which had taken her unawares, she +seized his hand and lifted it to press her glowing cheek against it, +saying passionately: "Oh, _how_ you understand!" + +They were silent for a long time after that, while the train flew on, +through the gathering darkness of the late December afternoon, into the +night.... + +Georgiana had supposed that they were to go at once to the old home, for +she knew that Craig could not be long away at this time, and there was +much to do there. But she found that instead of changing trains in the +great city, sixty miles beyond which lay the home village, they were +leaving the station to be conveyed in a waiting car to a hotel. + +"If you had been spending all these years in cities," was Craig's +explanation, "I should have felt like plunging at once with you into the +solitude. But as it is--well, I wondered if we shouldn't like to hear +some great music to-night. Do you feel as I do--that there are times +when nothing but music can speak for you?" + +"But you," she said, "who live in the rush all the time----" + +"There's no rush here for me," he answered. "Nobody is likely to know me +here; I can forget the whole world in the midst of the crowd with you +to-night. As for the music--I've been on short rations a good while +myself. I think we can feast together, don't you?" + +It was all a fairy tale to Georgiana, that evening in the city. Her +college days had been spent in a small college town which, though it had +lain not many miles away from this same great metropolis, had seldom +seen her leave it for the privileges which richer girls enjoyed at every +week-end. + +As for the superb hotel to which Craig took her, although she had seen +its impressive front, she had never so much as stood within its stately +lobby. Now she experienced all sorts of queer little thrills, as she +watched the accustomed ease with which her husband led her through the +brief details of arrival and noted with what deference he was received. +Evidently he had been expected, for there was no delay in the smooth +service which took them to an apartment reserved by wire, as Georgiana +gathered from a word she overheard. + +He was quite right; a touch of this was what she needed, as a bird long +confined needs a chance to stretch its wings. To this girl, with vivid +life stirring in her pulses, the unaccustomed experience could but be a +delight, with such a companion to show her the way. Every detail had its +own fascination, such as might never come again when she should be more +wonted to such scenes. The dinner served in their own small +drawing-room, the flowers which crowned the table, the blithe talk Craig +made during the little feast, with all its pretty, ceremonious detail of +service; finally the short drive to the place where the great music, as +Craig had called it, was to be heard--it all made a richly enchanting +picture in Georgiana's mind. + +When at length she sat beside her husband in the immense, silent +audience, listening to such splendid harmonies as only once or twice in +her lifetime she had heard before, her heart was far too full for words. +He did not ask them of her, understanding something of what was passing +in her mind, though not even his more than ordinary powers of sympathy +could have guessed at all that held her breathless through those hours +of supreme delight. + +Certain words of a Psalm, which she had often heard her father quote, +came into her mind and repeated themselves over and over. She had smiled +with a bitter irony sometimes when she had heard him speak them in a +tone of utter thankfulness, while she had been quite unable to imagine +how he could use them of himself. But now--now--surely they applied to +her! + +Along with the sweep of the conductor's baton, with the rise and surge +of one of the greatest of the symphonies, ran the triumphant words of +the singer of old time: "_Thou hast set my feet in a large room._" + +Surely it was a large room into which, from a cramped and restricted +one, she had emerged. She would do small honour to the devout life which +had so long been lived beside her if she should fail to give the praise +to the Maker of all life, who, according to her father's firm belief, +had known from the beginning all for which He had been so wisely fitting +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SALT WATER + + +It was the tenth day of April. A great ship was making ready to sail; +she lay like some inert monster at her pier, while all about her, within +and without, was apparent commotion yet really ordered haste, the +customary scene of bustling activity. + +Few passengers had yet arrived, for the time of sailing was still some +hours away. One party of three, however, had just driven down to the +very gangway, allowed by some special privilege a closer approach than +most at this hour. The reason was apparent when the party alighted, for +one of its number was clearly an invalid, a frail-looking man with curly +gray hair, who leaned upon the arm of a much younger man with a keen, +distinguished face. The third person was a young woman, the sort of +young woman who looks as if no buffeting wind could blow her away, +because she would be sure to face it with delight, her eager face only +glowing the brighter for the conflict. + +"This is the advantage of coming early, isn't it?" said Mrs. Jefferson +Craig, with a look of congratulation at her husband. "It's not much as +it was when we saw Mr. and Mrs. Brandt off last week. You can walk on +board as slowly as you please, Father Davy; there's no one to push." + +Mr. David Warne was drawing deep breaths of the salty air, with its +peculiar mixture of odours. He was also gazing about him with delighted +eyes, seeming in no haste to cross the gangway. + +"When I was a boy," he said to his daughter, who remained close at his +side, "I lived, as you know, in a seaport town. Ever since I came away, +it seems to me, I have been longing to smell that salty, marshy, briny +smell again. It takes me back--how it takes me back!" + +"The voyage is going to do you worlds of good," exulted Georgiana, her +eyes bright with hope. "Jefferson was quite right: the winter at home, +to help the poor spine; now the sea air, and the complete change, to +make you strong. We'll have you marching back and forth with the other +learned men, under the lindens at Trinity, while we are in Oxford--hands +clasped behind your back, impressive nose in air--the very picture of a +gentleman and a scholar." + +"As if there were anything of the scholar about me," murmured Mr. Warne, +smiling at this picture of his undistinguished self. "Well, my children, +I suppose you are ready to go on, and I imagine we are not wanted in the +way here. Let us proceed across that little bridge, and then we can +look back at all this interesting activity." + +Half an hour later, having taken possession of their staterooms, the +party returned to the deck, where Georgiana and her husband established +Mr. Warne in his chair, well tucked up in rugs--for the April air though +balmy was treacherous. They then fell to pacing up and down, according +to the irresistible tendency of the human foot the moment that it treads +the deck. + +"He seems deliciously happy, doesn't he?" said Georgiana's voice in her +husband's ear. "If he were twenty-six instead of fifty-six he couldn't +enter into it all with more zest. How pleased he was with Mrs. Brandt's +flowers, and how dear it was of her to send them to him!" + +"However happy he may be," declared Jefferson Craig, "it's not within +the bounds of possibility that he is so happy as we!" + +"Oh, of course not!" agreed Georgiana to this decidedly boyish speech. +She realized suddenly how quickly the sense of relaxation from care was +beginning to show in her husband. Her hand within his arm gave it a warm +little squeeze. "That couldn't be expected. To be torn apart, at any and +all hours, and kept apart day after day, just when we most want to be +together--and then to come down to a big ship and know that no telephone +bell can ring, nobody can make a single demand upon us that can prevent +our being by ourselves--well, words simply can't express how wonderful +it seems!" + +"It _is_ wonderful, and we'll make the most of it. There's just one +thing I want to get out of this vacation in the way of work, and then +all the rest of it shall be at your service." + +"The book?" + +"The book. How did you guess? I haven't spoken of it." + +"No, but I've seen you looking wistfully at your notebook time and +again, and guessed what you were thinking of. Well, we can make it fly. +I'm ready for you." + +Georgiana plunged her hand into a small bag she carried on her arm, and +brought forth a notebook--of her own. She produced a pencil. "You may as +well begin to dictate now," she said demurely. "What's the use of losing +time? Just don't go too fast, that's all." + +He stared at her. "What do you mean, dear? You don't know shorthand." + +"Don't I? Well, perhaps I can write fast enough in long hand. Try me." + +"My idea is," he said, "that we might spend a couple of hours every +morning, and another couple in the afternoon, if you don't mind, and +really get ahead quite a bit while we are at sea--provided you prove a +good sailor, which I have an idea you will if---- See here, what are you +doing? You're not taking that down in signs!" He looked over her +shoulder at the notebook, where a series of dashes, angles, hooks and +dots was forming with great rapidity. "You don't mean to say----" + +"No, I mean to write, and let you do the saying. Go ahead, sir--only be +sure you say something worth while." + +"But--you didn't have that accomplishment when we worked together last +summer." + +"How I did wish I had, though! You kept insisting that I was doing all I +could for you by copying endlessly, but I knew perfectly well that if I +were a stenographer you could accomplish just three times as much in a +given time as you did. You know perfectly well you only took that course +to give a poor girl the chance to earn. If it hadn't been for helping me +you would have had a secretary at your elbow, after you got to the point +of needing him." + +"I took that course, as you well know, because I wanted you at my elbow. +If you had been able to write only a word a minute, I should have wanted +you there just the same." + +She gave him a merry, understanding look, then read him the words he had +just spoken from her book. + +"Where in the world did you learn, and how?" he demanded. "And how have +you become so proficient in so short a time?" + +"I'm afraid it's rather blundering work yet, but it will grow better all +the time. Why, I've been taking lessons all winter, dear sir, at the +best shorthand school in the city. I made up my mind that it was the +thing I could do that would be of most use to you. It's a shame that a +man who is doing the original work that you are shouldn't have time to +give other people more benefit of it. It seemed to me you could write an +important monograph in an hour, if you just had me at hand to take down +the words of wisdom as they fell from your learned lips. Why you haven't +used a secretary before for this purpose I don't know, but I certainly +am glad you haven't. It insures me the position." + +If she had wanted a reward for long and severe labours she had it in his +look. "Other men dictate such papers," he said, "but somehow it has +never seemed to me I could. I tried it once or twice and didn't get on +at all as I did when I had the pen in my fingers. But with you, it may +be different." + +"It will be different," she told him confidently. "You're going to +become used to my being so much a part of you that you can think as if +you were using my brains--or I were using yours, which would be more to +the purpose, I admit. Oh, we're going to accomplish all sorts of things +together." + +He looked down into her eager face, glowing with colour, the dark eyes +apparently seeing visions which gave them keen delight. "You are a +partner worth having," he said, much moved. "I knew you would be, and +it's seemed to me all winter that no wife could be more of one. But if +you're going to add this to your other activities you will make yourself +even more indispensable than you already are, which is saying much." + +She could hardly wait until she had made a trial of this new form of +partnership. The ship had barely turned her face out to sea, parting +company with her pilot, before the work began. + +Doctor Craig had secured a small suite of staterooms opening upon a +central sitting-room, and here he and Georgiana could be sure of much +time to themselves. While the pair were engaged Mr. Warne was supremely +content to lie in a sheltered corner of the deck, book in hand, reading +or watching the ever new glory of sea and sky, or talking with some +fellow passenger who possessed intelligence enough to discover what +manner of man was here. + +When Georgiana, ardent as a child in her joy over what was to be +revealed, unpacked a small, portable typewriter and set it upon the +table of the sitting-room, Jefferson Craig suddenly caught her in his +arms. + +"My blessed girl," he cried, "this, too? What haven't you done with +your winter, when I thought you were spending your time getting +acquainted with New York, as I meant you to do? You and Mrs. Brandt were +supposed to be seeing everything worth seeing, on those morning drives. +Were you shut up in your room all that time learning machines?" + +"No, indeed. Do you imagine I made up all the stories I told you of +those expeditions? We did all that, and this, too. I spent only an hour +each morning at the school; the rest of the study I put in at all hours. +Many of them were when I was waiting for you, Doctor Craig, to take me +to a dinner or the opera. My notebook lived with me as if it had been a +treasure I couldn't have out of my sight. It was just that. I never was +so proud of anything I learned at college as I was when the gruff man +who had my special training in charge told me I would make a +stenographer. Not all of them did, he said. Some never could get hold of +it, or acquire any speed or accuracy. Just give me a year, and I'll put +down your thoughts before you think them!" + +"I haven't a doubt of it," he agreed, with a laugh of amusement and +delight. + +Thus the work began, and thus it proceeded, with only one day's +interruption when, in mid-ocean, came twenty-four hours of moderately +bad weather. + +To Georgiana's joy she proved herself the sailor her husband had +prophesied, but her father was not so fortunate, and she promptly +tucked him in his berth, where she kept him fairly comfortable until the +rough seas quieted. When he was recovered he lay for one morning on the +couch in the sitting-room, while the two workers resumed their task. +Here he seemed to slumber much of the time, but in reality he kept +rather a close watch on the absorbed pair, whom he had never before seen +thus engaged, much as he had heard of their labours. + +Looking up suddenly Georgiana discovered the blue eyes upon her, and +when her flying fingers next stopped she put a question: "A penny for +your thoughts, Father Davy. Don't we work together rather well, in spite +of my being such a novice?" + +"You two pull excellently well in double harness, it seems to me," he +responded. "I can't see that either is taking all the load while the +other soldiers and lets the traces slack." + +Doctor Craig looked around at him. "She's always ahead by a pair of ears +at least," he declared with a laugh. + +"But I hear his steady pound--pound--at my side, and I'm afraid he's +going to get a shoulder ahead," his wife explained. + +The interest the pair excited on shipboard was greater than Georgiana +guessed, though Doctor Craig was quite aware of it. Somehow or other the +word had gone around, as words do go in a ship's company, as to the +literary labours they were engaged in, and as Jefferson Craig's name was +one known to more people than Georgiana had the slightest notion of, +there was cause enough for the attention given them. Craig's noteworthy +personality--one which marked him anywhere as a man of intellect and +action--Georgiana's fresh young beauty, her spontaneous low laughter as +she paced the deck at her husband's side, her readiness to make friends +with those whose looks and bearing attracted her--these attributes made +the Craigs the target for all eyes. + +"I never saw people who looked so absolutely content," fretfully +murmured one swathed mummy in a deck chair to another, as the pair +passed them, on the tenth round of a long tramp, one gray morning when +the wind was more than ordinarily chill. The speaker's black eyes, +heavily lidded in a pale, discontented face, followed the Craigs out of +sight as she spoke. + +"Oh, they're on their honeymoon--that accounts for it," replied the +other, languidly. Her glance also had followed the walkers. + +"No, they're not--I've told you that before. They were married last +December--plenty of time for the glamour to wear off. They act as if +they never expected it to wear off. Sue Burlison must hate to look at +them--she certainly had her mind made up to marry Jefferson Craig, if it +could be done." + +"So did Ursula Brandywine," contributed the languid one. + +"You could say that of a dozen--twenty. I presume there are at least +four disappointed mothers on board, besides Jane Burlison. Not that any +of them ever had much encouragement from him--I'll say that for him. +They'd about given him up as hopeless when he went off and married this +country girl. One thing is certain--in spite of her fine clothes she +hasn't the air his wife ought to have--she's not his equal." + +"What's that you say?" The questioner was a sallow-faced youth upon the +black-eyed lady's other side. Sunk deep in a fur-lined coat, his cap +pulled low over his eyes--which were precisely like hers, even to the +expression of discontent--he had seemed for the last hour to be +slumbering. But at the moment he looked quite wide awake, as he turned +his head toward his mother and challenged her latest statement. "What's +that you say?" he repeated, in her own acrimonious tone. + +"Oh, have you come to at last?" she inquired. "It is quite impossible to +remember that though you sleep for hours you are liable to wake in time +to contradict me on any point whatever. In this case it is of no +consequence what I may have said." + +"You were handing us the hot dope about Mrs. Craig's not being in the +same class with Dr. Jeff. It certainly does take a woman to stick her +claws into another woman's fur. There's one thing I can tell you--there +isn't a man on board who'd agree with you. If she's a country girl--you +can say good-bye for me to the little old town. I'm going to take to +rural life till I find another. Talk about peaches and cream!" + +"I believe I did not mention her complexion," his mother observed +coldly. + +"Neither did your little son--though it would bear mentioning. I should +say yes! You said she hadn't any air. Jupiter--there she comes now. No +air!" + +He subsided into his high-turned fur collar but his eyes watched +intently as the Craigs, still walking briskly after at least an hour's +exercise, came up the deck from the stern. His mother, on the contrary, +let her drooping lids fall indifferently. The moment they were out of +possible hearing the young man sat up. + +"By Jove, if you call that no air, tell the grande dames to get a move +on. She walks like a young goddess--that's what." + +"Silly boy! Nobody is talking of her face or her gait. If you don't know +what I mean, no one can tell you." + +"Oh, I know what you mean," her son assured her. "I get you. What I say +is--you don't get _her_! Jefferson Craig's the one who gets her--lucky +chap! Maybe he doesn't know it--oh, no! Maybe not!" And turning his +back he once more appeared to slumber. + +It was fortunate for Georgiana that she never even imagined such +comments, though she passed these rows of critical eyes a hundred times +a day, sat at table with people who were keenly observant of her every +act and word, and spent some reluctant hours in the society of those who +strove to cultivate her for their own blasé enjoyment. She only knew +that among the company she met a number of interesting men and women, +with whom she and her husband were thoroughly congenial, and that it did +not matter in the least about the rest. If those whom she liked so much, +and with whom she could talk with the greatest zest, turned out to be +the men and women of scientific or literary achievement, this seemed +only natural to the college-bred girl, and she cared not at all that she +did not get on so easily with those whose distinction lay in purely +social or financial lines. + +During the winter just past her experience had been much the same, in a +larger way. Her husband's acquaintance was naturally a large one, but +the circle of his real friends was bound almost wholly by these same +congenialities of mind and tastes. Georgiana had met and been +entertained by many people whose names stood high on the list of the +distinguished, though their personal fortunes were small, and their +social activities were ignored in the society columns of the Sunday +press. A college president, several famous surgeons, not a few noted +authors of scientific books, as well as certain social workers, and two +or three clergymen--these, with their wives and families, were the sort +of people who gave to Georgiana Craig a hearty and sincere welcome, +recognizing her at once as one who belonged to them. It was small wonder +that the young wife, trained in a school of life in which nothing +counted except worth and ability, found no lack, nor thought of sighing +for the privilege her husband could easily have given her, had he cared +for it himself, of mingling with a quite different class, that of the +rich and gay who cared for little except that which could give them the +most powerfully emotional reactions in the way of diversion, +acquisition, or notoriety. + +So they continued to work and walk their joyously contented way across +the wide Atlantic during the six days between port and port. Georgiana +enjoyed every hour, from that early morning one in which she first came +on deck, running up with her husband to breathe deeply of the +stimulating sea breeze before breakfasting, to the latest one, when, +furry coat drawn hurriedly on over her pretty evening frock, her dark +hair lightly confined under a gauzy scarf, she with Craig and a merry +half-dozen of the evening's group came up again upon a deserted deck, +to "blow the society fog out of their lungs," as one young biologist of +coming reputation put it, in the silvery April moonlight, with only a +few similarly inclined spirits to share with them the big empty spaces. + +"I shall really be sorry to land to-morrow," sighed Georgiana, leaning +upon the rail on the last night of the voyage, and staring ahead toward +the quarter where her husband had just indicated they would be seeing +land when they came up in the morning. "It has been so perfect, this +being off between the sea and the sky together. When shall I ever forget +this first voyage? It's a dream come true." + +"You will enjoy the second one just as much, for you're a born sailor, +and there'll be a long succession of voyages for you to look back upon +by and by. Not just my annual pilgrimages to foreign clinics, but +journeys to the ends of the earth if you like. Will that suit you, +eager-eyed one?" + +"Suit me? Oh, wonderful to think of! Am I eager-eyed really? I try so +hard to cultivate that beautiful calm of manner I admire so much in +other people. Haven't I acquired a bit of it yet?" + +"A beautiful calm of manner--all that could be desired. But your eyes +still suggest that you're standing on tiptoe, with your face lighted by +the dawn," Craig answered contentedly. "Heaven forbid you ever lose that +look! It's what gives the zest to my life." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +"CAKES AND ICES" + + +Jefferson Craig found plenty of the zest which he had told +Georgiana--that last evening on shipboard--her eager-eyed look added to +his life, when, the next day, in a compartment reserved for the three +travelers, he watched her as she fairly hung out of the windows. All +through Devonshire and on to the northeast. She was drinking in the fair +and ordered beauty of the English countryside in April, exclaiming over +apple orchards rosy as sea-shells with bloom, over vine-clad cottages +and hedge-bordered lanes, masses of wall flowers at each trim station, +and such green fields as she had never seen in her life. Father Davy was +not far behind her in his quiet enjoyment of the unaccustomed scenes. + +A night at Bath, picturesque and interesting, and then before the eldest +of the three travelers could be really weary they were in famous Oxford. +Professor Pembroke and his wife, Allison Craig, met them at the station, +to convoy them to the comfortable quarters in the dignified stone house +near Magdalen College, which Craig had more than once described to +Georgiana. + +Here the young American had her first taste of a manner of life which +enchanted her. From the moment that she set eyes on Jefferson Craig's +sister, the original of the photograph she had so often studied with a +constriction of the heart, not knowing whose it was, she was drawn to +her as she had never been drawn to any other woman. + +Sitting with her in the pleasant, chintz-hung living-room, walking with +her in the garden which was like no garden she had ever imagined, she +was conscious of a stronger sense of wonder than ever that a man whose +family was represented by a sister like this could ever have chosen the +crude young person she still considered herself. From Mrs. Pembroke, +however, she received only heart-warming assurance of her welcome and +her fitness. + +"My dear," Allison said, as the two stood at an ivy-framed window one +morning, looking out at Mr. Warne and his son-in-law as they slowly +paced up and down beneath a row of copper beeches between house and +garden, "I never saw my brother so happy in his life. Jeff always was +hard to please as a boy. I used to think it was merely a critical +disposition, but later I discovered that it was his extreme distaste for +all artifice, acting, intrigue--all absence of genuineness. Only those +boys and men interested him whom he had absolute faith in. + +"I don't mean that he himself was a goody-goody--far from it; he was a +terrible prank maker, and more than once narrowly missed suffering +serious consequences. But when he really grew up and it came to an +acquaintance with women, very few have even attracted him. I began to +fear that he was becoming hardened and would never find just what his +fastidious taste could approve--not to mention what his heart might +soften to. But now--well, I think I am almost as happy as he is, that he +has found you. He seems like a different being to me, and evidently it +is you who have wrought the miracle." + +"I surely have made no change in him," Georgiana protested. "He has been +just as he is now from the beginning--except, of course, that I know him +better. I can't imagine him hardened to anything." + +Allison Pembroke looked at her, smiling. She was herself an unusually +beautiful woman, more mature than Georgiana, but still with a touch of +girlishness in her personality which made her very appealing to her +young guest. + +"Evidently the softening process began the moment he met you," she said. +"He frankly admits that himself. I am going to tell you what he wrote to +me last winter, after you had begun your work with him. 'I feel like a +footsore traveler,' he said, 'who has been walking for many miles along +a hot and crowded highway, with the dust heavy on his shoulders and +thick in his throat, who suddenly finds his course turned aside through +a deep and quiet wood, with flowers springing on all sides, and a clear +stream running beside him, where he may bathe his flushed face and cool +his parched throat.' I have never forgotten the words, because they +struck me as so unlike him. I knew then that something had happened to +him there in the old manse. And when I saw you, dear, I didn't wonder +that he chose just those words." + +"I should never have thought," murmured Georgiana, incredulously, "that +I could ever have reminded anybody of a quiet wood--I with my hot +rebellion at having to spend my days in the country, which I could never +quite cover up." + +"I know. Just the same, Georgiana, after having known so many artificial +women, posing, as women do pose for a man in Jefferson's place, it +refreshed his very soul to find a girl like you, who dared to be herself +from head to foot, whether she pleased him or not. And oh, I am so +thankful you could care for him, since he needed you so much!" + +Such talks brought these two very close together. + +It was a happy week which Georgiana spent in the fine, classic old town, +walking or driving with Allison, exploring quaint, winding streets, +ancient halls, and flowery closes; or meeting interesting people of all +ranks, from the chancellor of the University himself to the young +undergraduates who offered her in their old and dingy but distinguished +rooms tea and toasted scones, along with their fresh-cheeked admiration. + +Not the least of her pleasure was in watching Father Davy's keen +enjoyment of everything that came his way, and in noting how many of +these English people seemed to find him one of them in his appreciation +of all they had to offer and in his intimate knowledge of their +time-honoured history. He apparently grew a little stronger with each +succeeding day; certainly he grew younger, for happiness is a tonic +which has special power upon those who carry the burden of years; and +Father Davy's years, while not so many, had been heavy of weight upon +his slender shoulders and had bowed them before their time. + +After Oxford came London--a fortnight of it, and a very different +experience. Living at a luxurious hotel with Allison Pembroke, who had +come up with them, to show her all the ways of which she felt herself +ignorant; with Craig coming and going from hospital and lecture room, +suggesting each day new wonders; with hours spent daily in the dear +delight of exploration in all sorts of out-of-the-way, famous places; +Georgiana felt as if it were all too miraculous to be true. + +That she, "Georgie Warne," as the village people had called her all her +life, should, for instance, be walking with charming Mrs. Pembroke along +Piccadilly in the May sunshine--real London sunshine and no watery +imitation such as she had heard of--dressed in the most modish of spring +costumes, violets in her belt purchased on a street corner from a young +girl with the eyes of a Mrs. Patrick Campbell and the accent of +Battersea Park--well, it simply did not seem real! + +Much less did the hours seem real when she went with her husband to take +tea on the Terrace at the Houses of Parliament, or with all three of her +party to dine with some friendly Londoner who appeared eager to offer +hospitality to the whole party. Best of all, perhaps, were the late +evening walks upon which Craig took her alone, to stroll along the +Victoria Embankment, a place of which she never tired, to watch the +myriad lights upon the black river, and to talk endlessly of all the +pair could see before them of purpose and achievement. + +"Do you know what you remind me of these days?" Craig asked one night, +when the two had returned to the hotel after one of these long, slow +walks, during which they had been unusually silent. + +He threw himself into a deep armchair as he spoke and sat looking up at +his wife, who stood at the open balcony window, gazing down at the +street below, with the interest in everything human which seemed never +to abate. + +She turned, smiling. She was particularly lovely to look at to-night, +wearing a little pale-gray, silk-and-chiffon frock (lately purchased at +a French shop in London), which, in spite of its Parisian lines and +graces, was distinctly reminiscent of a certain other gray-silk frock +worn on a never-to-be-forgotten occasion. + +"Of a child at her first party?" she asked. "That's what I feel like. +Only there's no end to the cakes and ices, the bonbons and surprises. +And I never have to worry because before long I must go home!" + +"No, not like that; your similes are always too self-deprecatory. You +seem to me more and more like a young queen who has just come to the +throne, but who is shy about picking up her sceptre. She prefers +long-stemmed roses, and every now and then she catches up her train and +runs down from her dais and out-of-doors, until some shocked courtier +rushes after her and brings her back!" + +"Now you _are_ laughing at me!" Georgiana wheeled to confront her +husband, who, stretched lazily in his chair, after a long day at the +side of a great biologist in his laboratory, was relaxing muscles and +nerves at the same time. + +He put out one arm toward her, and she came slowly to his side. "Not a +bit. It just delights me to see you your natural self in spite of all +that London can do to you. Allison tells me that it is the most +interesting thing in the world to watch you decide whether you will buy +a new hat or a new book. She declares that milliners admire you and seem +anxious to please you, but that when you get into a bookshop you have +every old bookseller climbing about his ladders to bring down his +choicest treasures for you." + +Georgiana laughed. "I can't get used to buying hats at all--not to +mention silk stockings--and as for buying hats and books and silk +stockings on the same day, it's simply past belief that I can do it. Why +do you fill my purse so full? I'm afraid I'm losing all the benefit of +my long training in frugality." + +"I hope so. I can never forget last winter watching you dissemble your +good healthy appetite and pretend you didn't want beefsteak, while you +fed your father and me on a juicy tenderloin. Brave little housekeeper +on nothing a month!" + +She looked at him quickly. "I never dreamed you noticed. And besides, I +really didn't want----" + +"Take care! The table was the only place where I ever caught you playing +a part. I forgave you, only--how I did long to divide with you! Now all +the rest of my life I can divide, equal shares, with you--my Georgiana!" + +The weeks flew by, bringing never-ending interest. After London came +Edinburgh, city of stately beauty, where among Scottish friends of the +Craigs Georgiana learned whence her husband's family had sprung, and +their noble origin and history. + +Then the vacation was at an end "for this time," as Craig said, and the +little party turned their faces homeward. + +A letter from James Stuart, in the same mail with one twice its length +from Jeannette Crofton, caused them to hasten their date of sailing by a +week in order to be in time for a great event. Stuart wrote +characteristically: + + You simply have to come home, George, and help me through it. Of + course I knew from the first I'd have to face a big city wedding, + but the actual fact rather daunts me. Of course it's all right, for + we know Jean's mother would never be satisfied to let me have her + at all except by way of the white-glove route. The white gloves + don't scare me so much as the orchids, and I suppose my new tailor + will turn me out a creditable figure. But if I can't have you and + Dr. Jeff Craig there I don't believe I can stand the strain. + + The worst of it is that after all that show I can only take her + back to the old farm. Not that she minds; in fact, she seems to be + crazy about that farm. But it certainly does sound to me like a + play called "From Orchids to Dandelions." + + So, for heaven's sake, come home in time! The date's had to be + shoved up on account of some great-aunt who intends to leave Jean + her fortune some day if she isn't offended now, and the nice old + lady wants to start for the Far East the day after the date she + sets for our affair. + +"Of course we must go," Craig agreed. "We'll stand by the dear fellow +till the last orchid has withered--if they use orchids at June weddings, +which I doubt. As for the dandelions, I think there's small fear that +Jean won't like them. I fully believe in her sincerity, and I'm prepared +to see her astonish her family by her devotion to country life. Stuart's +able to keep her in real luxury, from the rural point of view, as I +understand it, and she will bring him a lot of fresh enthusiasm that +will do him a world of good." + +"I'm trying to imagine Jimps's June-tanned face above a white shirt +front," mused Georgiana. "He'll be a perfect Indian shade by that time." + +"Not more so than any young tennis or golf enthusiast, will he?" + +"Oh, much more. Jimps is out in the sun from dawn till sundown; his very +eyebrows get a russet shade. But of course that doesn't matter, and his +splendid shoulders certainly do fill out a dress coat to great +advantage. You don't mind being considered one of his best friends by a +young farmer, do you? That's the way he feels about you." + +"I consider it a great honour. I never was better pleased than when +Stuart first made friends with me, even after I discovered that he was, +as I thought, my successful rival. It was impossible to help liking him. +In fact, I've often wondered why--he didn't continue to be my rival." + +"Oh, no, Jefferson Craig, you couldn't possibly wonder that!" +contradicted Georgiana, in such a tone of finality that her husband +laughed and told her that flattery could go no farther. + +The voyage home was nearly a duplicate of the one outward bound, except +that the two workers put in much extra time on the book and pushed it +well toward completion. + +Father Davy acquired the strength to take short walks on an even deck +and boasted hugely of his acquisition, a twinkle in his eye and a tinge +of real colour in his cheek. + +"Imagine my coming home from abroad with trunks full of clothes and +books and pictures," murmured Georgiana, as the three stood together +watching the big ship make her port. "I feel like a regular +millionairess." + +"A regular one would smile at your modest showing," was Craig's comment. +"I'm quite certain no man ever found it more difficult to persuade his +wife to buy frocks, even when he went with her and expressed his anxiety +to see her in particular colours." + +"Confess," demanded Georgiana with spirit, "that you would be +disappointed if I suddenly became a devotee of clothes and wanted all +those gorgeous things we saw, and which that black-eyed Frenchwoman +tried so hard to make me take." + +"Those wouldn't have suited you, of course. I don't want to make an +actress of you, or even a society woman who gets her gowns described in +the Sunday papers. But when you refuse simple white frocks with blue +ribbons----" + +"Costing three figures! And I could copy every one of those myself for a +fraction of the money." + +"What would you do with the money saved?" + +"Buy books." + +Georgiana and Father Davy exchanged a smiling, tender glance which spoke +of past years of longings now satisfied. + +Craig laughed heartily. "Incorrigible little book-lover! Well, it's a +worthy taste. I happened to overhear a comment on your reading the other +day which amused me very much. When you left your steamer chair to walk +with me you left also a copy of _Traditions of the Covenanters_. A +little later, coming up behind that young Edmeston, who spends most of +his time lounging in the chair next yours, I heard him say to a girl: +'She doesn't look such an awful highbrow, but believe _me_, the things +she reads on shipboard when the rest of us are yawning over summer +novels would help weight the anchor if we got on the rocks!' Then with +awe he mentioned the name of that book, and the girl said:' How +frightful! But I'm crazy about her just the same. I do think she wears +the darlingest clothes.' So there you are! The men impressed, the girls +envious, and your husband--worshipful. What more could a young wife +ask?" + +"Absolutely nothing," acknowledged Georgiana with much amusement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A TANNED HERCULES + + +In spite of the fact that the holiday was over it was good to get back +to the old house on the Square, to hear Mrs. MacFayden's warm "It's a +gled day"; to smile at Thomas and Duncan and the maids; to hug dear Mrs. +Brandt; and to receive a hearty welcome from the other friends, who were +mostly still in town in the middle of June. + +Then came eager summonses from Jeannette, who, with Aunt Olivia and +Rosalie, was staying at an uptown hotel for the finishing of the +trousseau. Georgiana found herself involved in a round of final shopping +and hurried luncheons, while Rosalie talked incessantly, Mrs. Crofton +argued maternally, and the bride-elect herself turned to Georgiana as +the one person--with the exception of her father--who understood her. + +"I can't convince mother and Rosy that I'm not really to spend the +summer in the country with Jimps, and most of the rest of the year at +home doing the usual round," sighed Jeannette, unburdening herself to +her cousin during a half-hour's needed relaxation between luncheon and +a visit to a famous jeweller's. + +"I know; you'll just have to be patient, let them equip you for what +they expect of you, and then--live your own life as you and Jimps have +planned it. After a while they will see that you really do mean to live +in the country, not the city, and that décolleté evening gowns don't +suit the fireside, nor afternoon calling costumes the five-mile tramp. +Meanwhile, don't let the poor boy ever guess at the size or quality of +your outfit. I think he'd run away and hang himself!" + +"He never shall know. And, Georgiana, I really have managed to have some +quite simple little frocks made--by a young woman whom Madame Trennet +recommended when I whispered in her ear. And I've bought the jolliest +dark green corduroy suit, with a short skirt and pockets, and a little +green corduroy soft hat to match, for the tramps. Oh, I'm going to be a +real farmer's wife, I promise you!" + +"Of course," mused Georgiana gently, lifting quizzical eyebrows, "I've +never happened to see any farmer's wife thus equipped, but there's no +reason why you shouldn't set the fashion. I suppose you will wear green +silk stockings and bronze pumps with this picturesque tramping costume, +with a bronze buckle in your hat to complete the ensemble. All you will +then need will be a beautiful painted drop of the Forest of Arden----" + +"You unkind thing! If _you_ begin to scoff----" + +"But I won't. I know there's heaps of sense in your pretty head, and +you'll make Jimps the most satisfying sort of a wife even though you +don't carry the eggs to market or milk the cows. There's no reason why +you should, with your own private income. Jimps is too wise to forbid +your spending it to decorate both your lives, for he knows you couldn't +stand real wear and tear, while a reasonable amount of country life will +make you stronger. Go ahead, dear; hang English chintzes at the +farmhouse windows, set up your baby grand piano in that nice, old +living-room, and hang jolly hunting prints in the dining-room. Wear the +corduroys--only, instead of bronze pumps, I should advise----" + +"You needn't. I've got them. The heaviest kind of tanned buckskin boots. +And you all may laugh, but you just wait!" + +"I'm not laughing; you know I'm not. I wish I could help you by +convincing Aunt Olivia that you don't need some of the things she +insists on including. But, since I can't, I'll comfort you by assuring +you that Jefferson says he's counting on your being one of the sort who +will prove the great contention--that beauty and poetry _can_ be brought +into the farmhouse." + +Thus spoke Georgiana, though in her heart of hearts, as she watched +Jeannette in all her costly elegance, at counter after counter, +selecting supplies of one sort or another, she couldn't help having her +doubts whether a lifelong training in luxury could be turned into a +fitness for living, in spite of many mitigations, the truly simple life. +These doubts, however, she suppressed, only dropping a word of caution +here and there, which Jeannette took kindly, being eager to prove +herself practical, and undoubtedly sincere in her longing to bring to +James Stuart the helpmate he needed. + +So came on the great day; and when it had arrived, and the Craigs were +guests of Aunt Olivia, making ready for the ceremony, Georgiana had her +chance to return to Stuart the support he had given her in the hour of +her own marriage. She had just completed her dressing, and was about to +descend with her husband to the waiting bridal party below, when Stuart +came to their door. + +Craig admitted him, and he entered, the dreaded white gloves in his +hands, visible agitation on his brow. + +"You young Hercules!" Georgiana cried. "Aren't you splendid!" + +"I feel anything but splendid," he returned nervously. "I look like a +boiled lobster on a white platter!" + +"Nonsense, man," denied Dr. Jefferson Craig, his hand on Stuart's +shoulder, "you're the picture of a healthy young bridegroom. I've seen +plenty of tallow candles standing up to be married; you're a refreshing +contrast." + +After a minute of heartening talk, Craig slipped out of the room, +leaving the two old friends together. + +"Cheer up, Jimps," Georgiana bade Stuart, as she gave a straightening +little touch to his white cravat, woman fashion. "This part won't last +long. And don't be frightened when you catch sight of Jean in all her +glory. She would much rather have been married as I was, you know, and +she's really precisely the same girl in spite of her veil. She worships +you, and everything's all right. Stop looking as if you wanted to run +away!" + +"But I do--if I could just take her with me," he answered, in such a +melancholy tone that Georgiana laughed in his ruddy face. + +"You can't; this is the only way you can get her; so stand up straight +and look everybody in the eye. You're perfectly stunning in those +clothes, and lots nicer to look at than most men. And Chester will take +you serenely through all the forms, so you've nothing to worry about. +That's right--give me a ghost of a smile. One would think you were about +to be hung!" + +"I came to you to be braced up, so it's all right; but call off the dogs +of war now. I did pretty well till I saw the total effect, and then I +thought maybe Jean would wish she had a man who could turn pale instead +of crimson. But I'm going through with it, and I don't intend to look +knockkneed, anyhow." + +"Good for you. Just remember that Jean would swim through a flood of +water to reach you, wedding gown and all, if the aisle should happen to +be inundated, so you certainly can stand at the altar while she walks up +that aisle." + +"I sure can." And James McKenzie Stuart shook his broad shoulders, +lifted his head, and held out both hands to Georgiana Craig. "Much +obliged for the tonic. And, George--just remember, will you, that I'm +precisely the same brother to you I've always been! Nothing can ever +change that!" + +"Of course you are," she agreed, with a rush of vivid recollections +which brought a curious little smile to her lips. "Now go, my dear boy, +and heaven bless you!" + +Half an hour later, standing beside her husband in the flower-fragrant +church, Georgiana watched with a beating heart to see Stuart bear +himself like the man she knew him to be, in spite of all the pomp and +ceremony to which he was such a stranger. She had been half angry, all +the way through the preparations, that Aunt Olivia had insisted on every +last detail of formality and ostentation--or so it had seemed to her, as +unaccustomed as Stuart himself to the great church wedding with its +long processional, its show of bridesmaids and flower girls, its ranks +of ushers, its elaborate music, its pair of distinguished clergymen in +full canonicals. But now, somehow, as the age-old words sounded upon her +ears, it seemed to matter less under what circumstances they were +spoken, so that the answers to the solemn questions came from the hearts +of those who spoke them. And of this she could have no possible doubt. + +By and by, when in her turn, back in the festally decorated house, she +came to give the newly married pair her felicitations, she was well +pleased to see Stuart quite himself again, smiling at her with the proud +look of the bridegroom from whom no human being can wrest the prize he +has just secured. And as she noted Jeannette's equally evident happy +content with the man she had married, Georgiana took courage for their +future. Surely--surely--they could go from these scenes of luxury to the +plainer life that awaited them, and miss nothing, so that they took with +them, as they were doing, the one thing needful. + +"It's all right, I'm sure it's all right, dears," she said to them, and +she said it again to her husband when they were rushing back to New York +by the first train after the bridal pair had gone. + +"Yes, I think it is," he agreed. "It's an interesting experiment, but +not more hazardous than many another in the matrimonial line. If it +succeeds Jeannette will come out a finer woman than she could ever have +been by any other process. It's amusing, though, to see her family. +Evidently they regard her as one lost to the world quite as much as if +she had gone into a convent to take the vows perpetual." + +"All but Uncle Thomas. He knows; he understands, little as he says. He +grew up on a farm himself; he told me once that he could never smother +the longing to get back to one. Poor Uncle Thomas, chained to a mahogany +desk, with a Persian rug under his feet! That one little trip across the +water, when the family went last year, was the only vacation he had +taken in five years. And he came back on the next ship!" + +"Jean and Stuart will have him often with them, see if they don't." + +"I hope so. Change is what he needs very badly. Change! Oh, if everybody +could have that when they need it! How it does make lives over! I +know--how I do know! It's the deadly monotony that kills. Jean will +bloom under the old farmhouse roof, away from all the fuss and frivolity +she's so tired of." + +"You've done some blooming yourself," observed her husband, "though I'll +venture to say you work harder than you ever did before, even at the old +loom." + +She gave him a quick glance. "Oh, it wasn't play I needed--just +work--the sort of work I love. I have that now. I love the visits to the +hospital, the looking after the patients you bring home, the taking +notes of your lectures, the teaching of my evening class of +Italians--every bit of it is a delight. And then, when we do run away +for a few hours, like this----" + +"We enjoy it all the more for the contrast. Yes, I think we do. It's a +pretty fine partnership, and it grows more satisfying all the time. +Here's hoping the two we've just seen start follow in our contented +footsteps. A year from now we'll know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +MILESTONES + + +Georgiana would not have believed that it would be a full year before +she should have a chance to see for herself what sort of life Jeannette +and Stuart were making for themselves under the conditions which seemed +such doubtful ones. But so it turned out. + +It had been before Jeannette's marriage that Georgiana found a change +coming in her own life, and the months of the summer and autumn which +followed were busy with the happy preparations for the new experience. +In January her first son was born, and she learned that even a full and +joyous partnership between two human beings is not the most complete +thing that can happen to them. When she saw her husband take the round, +little pink-blanketed bundle in his arms for the first time, and watched +his face as he explored the tiny features for signs of the future, her +heart beat high with such rich content as she had not dreamed of. + +"Strange, isn't it, dear!" Craig said, when he had laid the pink bundle +back in the arms of the nurse, who bore it away to the pretty nursery +close at hand. "It's an old miracle always new, and never so wonderful +as when it comes to us for the first time--how that little life can be +neither you nor I, yet both of us in one. Big possibilities are wrapped +up in that bit of flesh and blood; it's going to be a great interest, +the watching them begin to show." + +"Oh, yes!" she murmured, lying quietly with her hand beneath her cheek, +too weary and too happy for speech. + +"I wonder if I dare to tell you how soon it was after I knew you that I +began to think of you as playing this part in my life," he said very +softly. + +"Did you? I'm so glad." It was hardly more than a whisper. + +"Are you glad? I often think a girl little dreams of how often that +vision comes to a man long before she has thought of it at all. I was +only a very young man when I began to think of it. Even when there was +no woman in my mind I used to plan what I would do for my own son when I +should have him. And when I saw you I thought--with the greatest +reverence, darling: 'If _she_ might be my son's mother!'" + +He did not need the look her eyes gave him to tell him how this touched +her. When he went quietly away to leave her for the long sleep she +needed it was with the consciousness that the bond between them was +more absolute than it had ever been. + +It was in the following June, on the anniversary of the marriage of the +James McKenzie Stuarts, that the Jefferson Craigs had their first +opportunity to see with their own eyes how that marriage was prospering. +Letters from Jeannette had come to Georgiana from time to time, with an +occasional postscript from Stuart, and these letters always breathed of +happiness. + +"But one can't be perfectly sure from letters," Georgiana argued. "After +all the opposition and skepticism they would never own to anybody that +life didn't flow like a rose-bordered stream. But one glimpse of their +faces will tell the story. If Jeannette has a certain look I've often +seen on the faces of girls who have been married about a year I shall +guess what causes it. As for Jimps--he will be as easily read as an open +book. Jeff, you won't let anything prevent our being there for the fête +they ask us for?" + +"Nothing that I can foresee and provide for," Craig promised. "I'm quite +as eager as you to discover how the transplanting of the hothouse plant +into the hardy outdoor soil of the country has worked out. There are two +results about equally probable in such cases--hardly equally probable, +either. The natural result, I should fear, would be the dwindling and +stunting of the growth, unless protected by expedients not common to +the country, and fertilized until it should be really not growing in +country soil at all." + +"But the possible result?" urged Georgiana. + +"The one we're hoping for in this case--though I'm not sure how close an +analogy I can draw, being no gardener--is the gradual process of +adaptation to environment, so that the plant takes on a hardier quality, +at an unavoidable sacrifice in size of bloom but with a corresponding +gain in sturdiness and ability to bear the chilling winds and the +beating sunlight of outdoors. Great size in a flower never appealed to +me anyhow. I like a blossom that stands straight and firm upon its stem, +that gives forth a clean, spicy fragrance and doesn't wilt when it has +been an hour in my buttonhole." + +"That's the sort Jimps wants, I'm sure. He used to be always tucking one +of his scarlet geranium blossoms into his coat when he came over to see +me. We all think of Jeannette as the frailest sort of an orchid, +beautiful to look at but ready to wither at a touch. This letter of +invitation doesn't sound like that at all. You really think the long +drive won't hurt little son?" + +"Not a bit, if you keep from getting tired or overheated yourself. We +can manage that very nicely, with Duncan to drive, Lydia to look after +the boy, and a long stop on the one night we must spend on the way. The +change will do you good, faithful young mother." + +This proved quite true, and the two days' journey in the great car was +indeed an easy one for all concerned. Little Jefferson Junior, six +months' old, slept away many hours of the trip, and spent the rest +happily in his nurse's or his mother's lap, watching with big, dark eyes +the spots of colour or life on the summer landscape as it slipped +smoothly past. Georgiana had wanted to bring Father Davy, but though he +had grown considerably stronger during the past year, it had not seemed +worth while to put his endurance to so severe a test. He had not been +left forlorn, however, for the Peter Brandts had taken him to their +home, a welcome and a delighted guest. No doubt but there was a place +for David Warne in the great city, as there had been in the country +village. + +On the afternoon of the second day, as they neared the old home village, +to which Georgiana had returned only once since her marriage, she found +herself noting with quickening pulse every familiar landmark. + +"It seems so strange to think of my going away from such scenes for good +and all, and Jean's coming to them," she said to herself more than once. +"How little either of us would have believed it, just two short years +ago!" + +When they passed the old manse she gazed at it with affectionate eyes. +"Oh, how shabby and poor it looks!" she said under her breath to Craig. +"Did it look like that when you first saw it?" + +He nodded, smiling. "Just like that. But the moment the door opened the +first time I knew its shabbiness was just a blind to mislead the +traveler, who might otherwise stop and try to steal the treasure that it +held." + +Her eyes were searching next for the chimney tops that should mark the +other home for which they were bound. How often had she looked at those +chimney tops, because they told her where was her best friend during +those solitary days that were already so far past. A moment more and +Georgiana's first exclamation of surprise broke from her lips. There +were to be many before the day was done. + +"Look! All those ugly little buildings at the back are gone, and the +house stands all by itself at the top of the slope. Isn't that an +improvement? It's freshly painted, too; how that clear white brings out +the beauty of the old house! It used to be such a dingy slate! I always +knew it was a pleasant place, but I didn't fully appreciate it. The lawn +is as trim as can be, and there's a border of shrubs and flowers all +along the drive. How little real change to make so much! That's Jean, I +know. Oh, and there's Jean herself, running down the steps! She sees +us!" + +"Is that really Jeannette Crofton?" Craig doubted. "Yes--for a fact! +Well, well!" + +They might easily doubt the evidence of their eyes, for the slim figure +they had known so well had rounded until it showed softly blooming +curves, and colouring which put to blush the cosmetics which the society +girl had not altogether eschewed, though it had been long before the +less sophisticated cousin had found this out. No need for rouge or +powder now, for nature had laid on the lovely face her own unrivalled +tints of rose overlying the soft browns of summer tan. + +"Oh, you darlings, to come and bring the baby! Do let me look at +him--the blessed thing! Isn't he a beauty?--but, of course, how could he +help it? Jimps! O Jimps! Here they are!" + +Thus cried Jeannette out of sheer exuberance, though the fact of the +arrival was obvious enough, and James Stuart was already dashing across +the lawn from the opposite direction. + +As she looked at her cousin, Georgiana's first impression was the one +she had hardly dared hope for, that of Jeannette's entire content and +well-being. Not only was the physical improvement noteworthy but a +certain worn and worldly look had vanished--one which had not affected +her beauty and had been discernible only to the closely observing eye, +but which had been there none the less and was gone now. + +This change grew more and more apparent as Georgiana continued to regard +her young hostess. From the moment the party first entered the +wide-thrown front door, it was easy to discover that both Stuart and his +wife were eager as two children for the approval of their guests. Such +approval was not long in appearing. + +"How pleasant--how charming!" cried Georgiana, as her quick eye took in +attractive effect after effect. "Oh, you clever things, to do it like +this! How absolutely in keeping it all is, and how quiet, yet how +beautiful!" + +"She's done it," vowed James Stuart proudly. "I was a duffer at it till +she showed me what she was after. I wanted to buy brocaded silk +furniture, like that in her home--while my money held out. But she would +have nothing but this sort of thing. Homelike, isn't it?" + +It was the word which described it, if one qualified the term by making +it apply only to homes built on foundations of good taste and +suitability to environment. As she looked about her Georgiana saw +everywhere evidences of the use of abundant means, and she realized that +Jeannette had been clever indeed to supply so much without impressing +Stuart with the undoubted fact that she had contributed more than he to +the final result. + +The whole effect of the house's interior was one of well-chosen but +unostentatious comfort, and the materials and furnishings used were all +so nicely adapted to their setting that only to more discerning eyes +than those of the Stuarts' neighbours would they have expressed unusual +resources of supply. + +"It's an achievement!" Craig declared. + +His enlightened gaze traveled from one point to another of the long, +low-ceilinged living-room, sunny with new windows, and with walls and +hangings of soft browns and golden yellows. He noted that Jeannette had +had the good sense to make use of the old furniture the house possessed +wherever it was fit for preservation, and that she had dignified the +walls by retaining certain dim old portraits, done in fading oils, of +Stuart's ancestors. Everywhere could be seen similar interesting +blending of the new and the old, though it was often difficult to tell +which was which. + +The elder Stuarts were living in a wing of the house, that being the +portion where they had spent their lives, making little use of the +upright and the corresponding wing, which were now turned over to the +son and his wife. Since the elder people wisely preferred this +semi-independence, the younger were able to be much by themselves, +Stuart explained, though always near and ready to lend a hand at any +hour. Since the stalwart son could not be entirely spared by the +somewhat feeble old couple, the arrangement seemed an admirable one, +and thus far it had worked very well. + +"Jean's such a dear with them," Stuart said covertly to Georgiana, +leading her aside for a moment to look at a curious old buffet which had +been long in the family. "They adore her, and she really seems very fond +of them. Of course they have old Eliza to look after them, as they have +had for so long; but we ask them in to dinner every few days, and often +have them sitting by the fire with us here on cool evenings. The funny +part, though, is when Mother Crofton comes. She can't get over it, or +get used to it; she sits and looks at Jean as if she were an actress in +a play, and by and by would take off her make-up and be herself again." + +"I wonder how far that is from the real truth," thought Georgiana to +herself, as she watched the young mistress of the place with fascinated +eyes. + +Certainly if Jeannette were acting it was very skilfully done. As she +led her guests about the house, and then established them on the lawn, +beneath the great elms which furnished a grateful shade at this +afternoon hour over nearly the whole expanse, she seemed the embodiment +of health and happiness. + +By and by, when the Crofton car arrived, bearing Uncle Thomas and Aunt +Olivia, with Rosalie and Chester following a few moments later in +Chester's roadster, Jeannette grew fairly radiant. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS + + +It was not until late that evening that Georgiana had a chance really to +learn the whole state of the case. + +During the intervening hours had occurred the event for which they had +all been invited--the entertaining of at least two hundred people from +the surrounding country and the village. For this event, which Stuart +naïvely called a "party," Jeannette a "lawn fête," and the guests +themselves, for the most part, a "picnic," porches, lawn and trees had +been hung with gay lanterns, bonfires had been built, the small village +band engaged, a light but delectable supper provided, and as much +jollity planned as could be crowded into the hours between five o'clock +and eleven. + +From the standpoint of those entertaining, at least, the affair had been +a success, for Stuart, long accustomed to the ways of his fellow +countrymen, considered himself fully able to tell from their manner, if +not from their expressions of pleasure, whether they had really found +enjoyment in the efforts of their hosts. + +"They had a mighty good time, no doubt about it!" he declared, when the +last reluctant guest had departed in the last small car which had waited +at the edge of the roadway. (Not the least of young Chester Crofton's +enjoyment had been occasioned by the sight of the long row of vehicles, +from two-seated wagons to smart and even expensive motors, which had +lined the road for many rods.) "And a lot of them are well worth +knowing," Stuart added. + +His eye chanced to fall on his father-in-law, Mr. Thomas Crofton, as he +made this assertion. The party were sitting in a group upon the +lantern-lighted porch and its steps, and the senior Crofton's face was +plainly visible. + +That gentleman nodded. "You're quite right, Jim," he said. "I don't know +when I've had a more interesting conversation with any man than I did +with one of your neighbours, nor found a more intelligent set of +opinions on every subject we touched on. He wasn't the only one, either. +As a rule I found the people who came here to-night possessed of rather +more than the average amount of brains. I should like to try living +among them--for a change, at least." + +"I struck a tongue-tied dolt or two," remarked his son Chester, "but +dolts aren't uncommon anywhere, even when not tongue-tied. And I did run +up against some chaps I liked jolly well. One of them invited me up for +a week-end; I nearly fell over when he did it. I didn't know country +people ever talked about week-ends. I thought they called it 'staying +over Sunday.'" + +"You mean Wells Lawson," Stuart informed him. "If you could see the list +of newspapers and magazines, not to mention books, that the Lawsons +take, you'd open your eyes. He and his family have traveled a lot more +than I have, and their home is one of the finest model farms in the +county. There's no hayseed in their hair." + +"I didn't discover much hayseed in anybody's hair," observed Dr. +Jefferson Craig. "I think it's gone out of fashion." + +"There were some of the prettiest girls here to-night I ever saw," was +Rosalie's contribution to the list of comments. A figure of exquisite +modishness, she perched upon the porch rail near Chester. "I did want to +tell them not to let any one young man stick by them every minute the +way they did, but I could hardly blame the young men for wanting to +stick, the girls were so sweet, and some of them were quite stunning." + +"You certainly gave them an example of how to make eyes at fifteen or +twenty fellows, one after another," laughed her brother, at her side. +"You'd have had them all coming, Rosy, if they hadn't been tied up to +their respective girls. A lesson or two from you, and those girls would +begin to play 'round in proper shape." + +"Rosy's going to stay and take a few lessons herself," insinuated +Jeannette, who sat with her shapely young arm resting upon her father's +knee, as she occupied the step below him. "I'll promise to put some +flesh on her little bones if she's here a month. She's too thin, after +only her second season." + +"Oh, I'll stay," promised Rosalie promptly. "I simply love it here; I'm +crazy to stay!" + +"It's all very well now," came Aunt Olivia's low murmur in Georgiana's +ear--there had been many of such murmurs in the same ear during the +afternoon and evening, though why, Georgiana herself could not guess, +since the elder woman knew the younger to be unreservedly committed to +upholding Jeannette's whole course--"very well now, in June, with +flowers blooming and friends about, but how the poor child is going to +face a second winter I can't imagine." + +"She faced the first one very happily," Georgiana reminded her. + +"The first one was a novelty and of course she was determined not to +acknowledge how lonely she must often have been. I do not say that James +Stuart is not a very attractive and trustworthy young man; I am fond of +him myself--very. But I shall always feel that Jeannette has made a +terrible mistake. Brought up as she has been, it is not conceivable +that she should continue to find this sort of life possible." + +It was with this moan in her ears that, a few minutes later, Georgiana +listened to James Stuart. He had drawn her away from the group and was +strolling with her across the lawn. + +"Well, George, tell me your honest opinion. Is my wife happy?" + +It was a blunt question, but Georgiana understood. He asked it not to be +reassured but because he was confident of the answer. + +She spoke guardedly: "I never saw her seem more so, Jimps. You are sure +of it yourself?" + +"I want you to ask her point-blank. Will you?" + +"It's not the sort of question to ask anybody point-blank, is it?" + +"It is in this case. Do you think I don't know the doubt in all your +minds?--yes, even yours, for you've become another person since you +married Craig." + +"Oh, no!" + +"Oh, yes! You've been thinking ever since you came that you're dead +thankful you don't have to come back to it--now, haven't you?" + +"Jimps, dear, I lived all my life in the hardest, narrowest economy. If +I had had all this beautiful experience Jean is having----" + +"I know. But you wouldn't come back, even to this place of ours----" + +"That's begging the question. For Jean it's a wonderful change, and any +one can see what it's done for her." + +"Physically, yes. But I want you to find out whether she's actually +happy or not." + +"I will," promised his friend with a nod; for she knew James Stuart much +too well to imagine she could put him off without complying with his +expressed desire. + +It looked as if Jeannette herself were anxious to assure her cousin's +mind, for Stuart had no sooner brought Georgiana back to the porch than +his wife took possession of her. + +"Georgiana, dear, I want you to tell me one thing," began Jeannette, as +the two moved slowly a little away from the rest. "Do you think we are +making a success of it?" + +"A wonderful success, Jean. I couldn't have believed it, even what I see +on the surface. How about it--inside? That's a pretty searching +question, and you needn't answer it if you don't want to. Everything +about you seems to answer it." + +Jeannette stopped short and turned to face her cousin. "Haven't I +written you the answer, over and over?" + +"Yes. That's why I want to hear it from your own lips." + +"You shall. First, though--Georgiana, you knew Antoinette Burwell +married Miles Channing last December?" + +"I heard of it. How do they come on?" + +"Separated; she's gone back to her father. She was the most wildly happy +bride I ever saw. Think of it, George--in six months! What do you +suppose would have happened if you----" + +"Don't! I didn't." And Georgiana's grateful thoughts went back to one of +the crises in her life, the one from which Jefferson Craig had rescued +her. + +"Do you know the Ralph Hendersons? Married two years now--I'm sure +you've heard me speak of them. Everybody knows they quarrel like cats +and dogs; they're hardly civil to each other in public. And I know +several more of our old set who are none too happy, if one may judge by +their looks. Yet they all married 'in their own class,' as mother is so +fond of saying, as if I didn't!--I married _above_ it! And I am supposed +to have cast away all my chances for this life, not to mention the next, +by marrying my farmer! Georgiana, I'm getting to hate that word +_farmer_! Why isn't there a new word made for the man who reads and +studies and uses the latest modern methods on his farm? There are such a +lot of them now. College graduates, like Jimps, and men who have taken +agricultural courses and are putting their brains into their work. Why +isn't there a new word?" + +"The old word must be made to acquire a new dignity," Georgiana +suggested. "Never mind the word; you're glad you married your farmer?" + +"Glad! I thank God every night and morning; I thank Him every time I go +running down the lane to meet my husband coming up from the meadow! Of +course I know, Georgiana, that the life I'm living isn't the typical +life of the farmer's wife at all--thanks to Jimps' success and my own +little pocket-book! But it has all outdoors in it and lots of lovely +indoors; and I'm growing so well and strong--you can see that by just +looking at me. And I'm getting to know my neighbours, and like +them--some of them--oh, so much! Life never was so full. Mother talks +about how hard I'll find it to get through my second winter. It doesn't +worry me. We'll order books and books, and we'll go for splendid tramps, +and every now and then we'll run into town--for concerts and plays. And +best of all, Georgiana,"--her voice sank--"I'm sure--sure--Jimps isn't +disappointed in me." + +"Disappointed! I should say not--the lucky boy!" Georgiana agreed, all +her fears gone to the winds. + + * * * * * + +When they returned to the porch it was to hear an outcry from +Jeannette's mother: "Chester Crofton! Have you gone absolutely crazy?" + +"I think so, mother. Positively dippy. Got it in its worst form. It's +been coming on me for some time, but it's taken me now, for better or +for worse. I'm going to buy that small farm across the road and try what +I can do." + +"I'll back you," came in Mr. Thomas Crofton's deepest chest tones. + +"Hear, hear!" Dr. Jefferson Craig's shout drowned out Mrs. Crofton's +groan. + +"O Ches--I'll come and keep house for you--part of the year, anyhow!" +This was dainty Rosalie, her silk-stockinged ankles swinging wildly, as +she sat upon the porch rail. + +Georgiana was laughing, as her eyes met her husband's in a glance of +understanding, but her heart was very warm behind the laughter. + +Beyond the gleam of the lanterns she caught the golden glow of a summer +moon rising, to illumine the depths of the country sky--the immense, +star-spangled arch of the heavens. Beneath lay many homes, big and +little, all filled with human lives, each with its chance somehow to +grow; each with its chance, small or great, as a beloved writer has said +inspiringly, "_to love and to work and to play and to look up at the +stars._" + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/20719-8.zip b/20719-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fe7efb8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20719-8.zip diff --git a/20719-h.zip b/20719-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..cd16c18 --- /dev/null +++ b/20719-h.zip diff --git a/20719-h/20719-h.htm b/20719-h/20719-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1b50343 --- /dev/null +++ b/20719-h/20719-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9329 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. Richmond. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + <!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: gray; + text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; + border: 1px solid silver; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; + font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + /* horizontal rules present in text */ + hr.full {width: 100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.major {width: 75%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.minor {width: 30%; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + /* title block present in text */ + td.pr {padding-right: 10px; vertical-align: top;} + p.titleblock {text-indent: 0; text-align: center;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .caption {font-size: 80%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. Richmond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Under the Country Sky + +Author: Grace S. Richmond + +Illustrator: Frances Rogers + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20719] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="illus-001" id="illus-001"></a> +<img src="images/illus-fpc.jpg" alt=""'Come, George--you need a good tramp,' Stuart urged at Jeannette's elbow"" title="" width="300" height="506" /><br /> +<span class="caption">"'Come, George—you need a good tramp,' Stuart urged at Jeannette's elbow"</span> +</div> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width="400" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" border="1"><tr><td> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 30px; font-size: 240%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Under the</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 240%; margin-bottom: 20px; ">Country Sky</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 140%; margin-bottom: 60px; ">By GRACE S. RICHMOND</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 100%; margin-bottom: 10px; font-variant: small-caps;">Author of</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">"Red Pepper Burns," "Mrs. Red Pepper,"</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">"The Twenty-Fourth of June,"</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 60px; ">"The Second Violin," Etc.</p> +<p class="titleblock"><img src="images/illus-emb.png" width="90" height="90" alt="emblem" /></p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 80px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">With Frontispiece in Colors</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 90%; margin-bottom: 20px; ">By FRANCES ROGERS</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 140%; margin-bottom: 10px; ">A. L. BURT COMPANY</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 120%; margin-bottom: 20px; ">Publishers<span style="letter-spacing: 3em"> </span>New York</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 10px; ">Published by Arrangements with <span class="smcap">Doubleday, Page and Company</span></p> +</td></tr></table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<table width="400" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="" border="0"><tr><td> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 20px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 5px; ">COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 5px; ">DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 0px; ">TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES,</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 30px; ">INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN</p> +<p class="titleblock" style="margin-top: 0px; font-size: 80%; margin-bottom: 20px; ">COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY</p> +</td></tr></table> + +<hr class='major' /> + +<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:20%;" /> +<col style="width:70%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right"><span style="font-size: 80%">CHAPTER</span></td> + <td align="left"></td> + <td align="right"><span style="font-size: 80%">PAGE</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">I.</td> + <td align="left">HEART BURNINGS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">II.</td> + <td align="left">SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">III.</td> + <td align="left">A SEMI-ANNUAL OCCURRENCE</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">31</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IV.</td> + <td align="left">A LITERARY LIGHT</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">39</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">V.</td> + <td align="left">SHABBINESS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">50</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VI.</td> + <td align="left">WHEN ROYALTY COMES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">60</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VII.</td> + <td align="left">SNOWBALLS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">71</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">VIII.</td> + <td align="left">SOAPSUDS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">84</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">IX.</td> + <td align="left">A REASONABLE PROPOSITION</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">96</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">X.</td> + <td align="left">STUART OBJECTS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">105</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XI.</td> + <td align="left">BORROWED PLUMES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">119</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XII.</td> + <td align="left">EARLY MORNING</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">135</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIII.</td> + <td align="left">A COPYIST</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIV.</td> + <td align="left">OUT OF THE BLUE</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">153</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XV.</td> + <td align="left">"GREAT LUCK!"</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">164</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVI.</td> + <td align="left">A LITTLE TRUNK</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">176</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVII.</td> + <td align="left">REACTION</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">187</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XVIII.</td> + <td align="left">"STEADY ON!"</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">199</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XIX.</td> + <td align="left">REVELATIONS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">212</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XX.</td> + <td align="left">FIVE MINUTES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">228</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXI.</td> + <td align="left">MESSAGES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">236</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXII.</td> + <td align="left">TOASTS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">248</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXIII.</td> + <td align="left">WHY NOT?</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">259</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXIV.</td> + <td align="left">MAGIC GOLD</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">270</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXV.</td> + <td align="left">GREAT MUSIC</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">283</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXVI.</td> + <td align="left">SALT WATER</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">295</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXVII.</td> + <td align="left">"CAKES AND ICES"</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">310</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXVIII.</td> + <td align="left">A TANNED HERCULES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">323</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXIX.</td> + <td align="left">MILESTONES</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">332</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td class="pr" align="right">XXX.</td> + <td align="left">QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">342</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">3</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2><h3>HEART BURNINGS</h3> +</div> + +<p>She did not want to hate the girls; indeed, since she loved them all, it +would go particularly hard with her if she had to hate them; love turned +to hate is such a virulent product! But, certainly, she had never found +it so hard to be patient with them.</p> + +<p>They were all five her college classmates, of only last year's class, +and it was dear and kind of them to drive out here into the country to +see her, coming in Phyllis Porter's great family limousine, the +prettiest, jolliest little "crowd" imaginable. They had been thoughtful +enough to warn her that they were coming, too, so that she could set the +old manse living-room in its pleasantest order, build a crackling +apple-wood fire in the fireplace, and get out her best thin china and +silver with which to serve afternoon tea—she made it chocolate, with +vivid recollection of their tastes; and added deliciously substantial +though delicate sandwiches, with plenty of the fruitiest and nuttiest +kinds of little cakes. She had donned the one real afternoon frock she +possessed, a clever make-over out of nothing in particular. Altogether,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">4</a></span> +when she greeted her guests, as they ran, fur-clad and silk-stockinged +after the manner of their kind, into her welcoming arms, she had seemed +to them absolutely the old Georgiana.</p> + +<p>They had brought her a wonderful box of red roses—and Phyllis had +caught her kissing one of the great, silky buds as she put it with the +rest in a bowl. "I don't believe she's seen a hothouse rose since she +left college," thought Phyllis, with a stab of pity at her tender heart. +But for the first hour of their stay Georgiana had been her gay and +brilliant self, flinging quips and jests broadcast, asking impertinent +questions, making saucy comments, quite as of old. It was only when Dot +Manning, toward the end of the visit, began a sober tale of the +misfortunes which had come thronging into the life of one of their +classmates, that Georgiana's face, sobering into sympathetic gravity, +betrayed to her companions a curious change which had come upon it since +they saw it last.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, in answer to her questioning, they had told her all about +themselves. Phyllis Porter and Celia Winters were having a glorious +season in society. Theo Crossman was deep in settlement work—"crazy +over it" was, of course, the phrase. Dot Manning was going abroad next +week for a year of travel in all sorts of beguiling, out-of-the-way +places. As for Madge Sylvester, who was getting ready to be married +after Easter, the first of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">5</a></span> class, she sat mostly in a dreamy, +smiling silence, looking into the fire while the others talked.</p> + +<p>No, Georgiana did not want to hate the girls, but before their stay was +over she found herself coming dangerously near it—temporarily, at +least. They were dears, of course, but they were so content with +themselves and so pitiful of her. Not, of course, that they meant to let +her see this, but it showed in spite of them. They wanted to know what +she did with herself, whether there were any young people, and any good +times going on—Georgiana led them to the window, just at this point, +and pointed out to them a vigorous young man striding by in ulster and +soft hat, who looked up and waved as he passed, showing one of those +fine and manly young faces, glowing with health and hopefulness, which +always challenge interest from girlhood.</p> + +<p>"Oh, have you many like that?" Celia had asked, and when Georgiana had +owned that James Stuart was the only one precisely "like that," Dot had +inquired if Mr. Stuart belonged to Georgiana, and, being answered in the +negative, shook her head and sighed: "One swallow <i>may</i> make a summer, +Jan, but I doubt it!"</p> + +<p>Theodora Crossman, the settlement worker, inquired particularly whether +Georgiana were doing anything worth while, using that pregnant modern +phrase which has been decidedly overworked, yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">6</a></span> which hardly can be +spared from the present-day vocabulary.</p> + +<p>"Worth while!" cried Georgiana, flashing into flame in an instant in the +way they knew so well. "Worth while—yes! You haven't seen my father, +have you, ever? It's a pity this happens to be one of his bad, +spine-achey days, for he'd be a good and sufficient answer to that +question. Father Davy is one of the Lord's own saints on earth, and he +possesses a magnificent sense of humour, which not all saints do, you +know. To love him is a liberal education, and to take care of him is +better 'worth while' than to have any number of fingers in other +people's pies."</p> + +<p>"Of course, dear," Theo had answered soothingly. "We know there's +nothing in the world so well worth while as looking after one's father +and mother. Your mother died long ago, didn't she, dear? And your father +would be dreadfully lonely without you. At the same time, it doesn't +seem as if he could absorb all your energies. You remember the splendid +things Professor Nichols used to say about the duty of the college girl, +after college, particularly in a small town? I suppose you have no +foreigners here, but I thought perhaps you might find quite a wonderful +field for your endeavour in stimulating the women of the place into +clubs for study and work. It's——"</p> + +<p>A curious exclamation from her hostess caused<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">7</a></span> Miss Crossman to pause. +In fact, they all stared wonderingly at Georgiana. She stood upon the +hearthrug, her colour, usually ready to glow in her dusky face, now +receding suggestively, her dark eyes sparkling dangerously. "The only +trouble with that sort of thing," she answered with suspicious +quietness, "or rather the two troubles with it are these: In the first +place, the women have pretty nearly a club apiece already, which suits +them much better than anything I could 'stimulate' them to; and, in the +second place, I have 'quite a wonderful field for my endeavour,' as you +call it, Theo—did you crib that phrase?—in the upper regions of my own +home. I—in fact, I may be said to belong to the I. W. W.; I'm one of +the industrial workers of the world!"</p> + +<p>"Jan, you haven't gone into anything crazy——" Dot was beginning, when +Georgiana, obeying an impulse, walked away from her hearthrug toward the +door, beckoning her guests to follow.</p> + +<p>"Come on," she invited. "Since you have so poor an opinion of the +possibilities for serious labour in a world of woe offered by my +residence in a small country village, you may come and see for +yourselves."</p> + +<p>They came after her, with a rustle and flutter of frocks and a patter of +smartly shod feet, up the old spindle-railed staircase, through a chilly +and unfurnished upper hall, and up a still chillier narrow second +staircase, into an attic region which could hardly be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">8</a></span> properly +characterized as chilly, for the reason that the atmosphere there was +frankly freezing.</p> + +<p>As near as possible to the gable window stood a monster structure the +nature of which the beholders did not instantly recognize. Phyllis was +the first to cry out: "A loom! It must be a very old one, too. Oh, how +fascinating! What do you make, Jan—fabrics?"</p> + +<p>"Rugs," explained Georgiana, pulling at a pile upon the floor. "Such +rugs as these. Good looking? Yes, dear classmates?"</p> + +<p>"Stunning!" cried Madge Sylvester, with a smothered shiver at the +penetrating cold of the place.</p> + +<p>"Simply wonderful!" "Too clever for anything!" and, "Oh, Jan, do you +make them to sell?" "Can I buy this one?" "I'm wild over this dull blue +and Indian red!" came tumbling from the mouths of the eager girls, as in +the fading light from the attic window they examined the hand-woven +rugs. There was sincerity in their voices; Georgiana had known there +would be; she was sure of the art and skill plainly to be found in her +product.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid not, Phyl. These are all orders, and I'm weeks behind. They +go to certain exclusive city shops, and I have all I can do."</p> + +<p>"You must have struck a gold mine. I'm so glad!" congratulated +warm-hearted Phyllis.</p> + +<p>"Well, not exactly. It's rather slow work, when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">9</a></span> you do housework, too," +acknowledged Georgiana. "However, it does very well; it keeps us in +firewood—and oysters—for the winter."</p> + +<p>She instantly regretted this speech, for it led, presently, as she might +have known it would, to delicately worded expressions of hope that she +would in the future give her friends the pleasure of purchasing her +wares.</p> + +<p>Down by the fireplace again Georgiana turned upon them in her old +jesting way, which yet had in it, as they all felt, a quality which was +new. "Stop it, girls. No, I'll not sell one of you a rug of any size, +shape, or colour. I'm far behind, as I told you. But—I'll send Madge a +gorgeous one for a wedding present, if she'll tell me her preferences, +and I'll do the same for each of you, when you meet your fates. Now stop +talking about it. I only showed you to demonstrate that this is a busy +world for me as well as for you, and that I'm very content in it. Dot, +don't you want just one more of these fruitkins? By the way, since you +like them so much, I'll give you the recipe. I made it up—wasn't it +clever of me?"</p> + +<p>"You're much the cleverest of us all, anyway," murmured Dot meekly, +nibbling at the delicious morsel, while her hostess rapidly wrote out a +little formula and gave it to her with a smile.</p> + +<p>They were soon off after that, for the early winter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">10</a></span> twilight was upon +them, and the lights in the waiting car outside suddenly came on with a +suggestive completeness. Georgiana assisted her guests into luxurious +coats and capes made of or lined with chinchilla, with otter, with +sable; handed gloves and muffs; and listened to all manner of +affectionate parting speeches, every one of which contained pressing +invitations for visits, short or long. Each girl made promises of future +calls, and professed herself eager to come and stay with Georgiana at +any time. Then the whole group went away on a little warm breeze of +good-fellowship and human kindness.</p> + +<p>"They are dears," admitted Georgiana, as she waved her arm at the +departing car; "but, oh!—<i>oh!</i> I can't stand having them sorry for me! +The old manse <i>is</i> shabby, and every girl of them knew how many times +this frock has been made over—I saw Celia recognize it even through its +dye. No wonder, when it's been at every college tea she ever gave. But I +won't—<i>I won't</i>—be pitied!"</p> + +<p>The door opened, and a slender figure in an old-fashioned dressing-gown +came slowly into the firelit room.</p> + +<p>Georgiana turned quickly. "Father Davy! Do you feel better? If I'd known +it, I'd have brought you in to meet the girls. They would have enjoyed +you so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">11</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm not quite up to meeting the girls perhaps, daughter, but decidedly +better and correspondingly cheerful. Have you had a good time?"</p> + +<p>He placed himself as carefully as possible upon the couch by the fire, +and his daughter tucked him up in an old plaid shawl which had lain +folded upon it. She dropped upon the hearthrug and sat looking into the +fire, while her father regarded the picture she made in the dyed frock, +now a soft Indian red, a hue which pleased his eye and brought out all +her gypsy colouring.</p> + +<p>The head upon the couch pillow was topped with a soft mass of curly gray +hair, the face below was thin and pale, but the eyes which rested upon +the girl were the clearest, youngest blue-gray eyes that ever spoke +mutely of the spirit's triumph over the body. One had but to glance at +David Warne to understand that here was a man who was no less a man +because he had to spend many hours of every day upon his tortured back. +It was three years since he had been forced to lay aside the care of the +village-and-country parish of which he had been minister, but he had +given up not a whit of his interest in his fellowmen, and now that he +could seldom go to them he had taught them to come to him, so that the +old manse was almost as much a centre of the village's interest and +affection as it had been when its master went freely in and out. A new +manse had been built nearer the church, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">12</a></span> the new man, and the old +house left to Mr. Warne's undisputed possession—proof positive of his +place in the hearts of the community.</p> + +<p>"A good time?" murmured Georgiana, in answer to the question. "No, a +hateful, envious, black-browed time, disguised as much as might be under +a frivolous manner. The girls were lovely—and I was a perfect fiend!"</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne did not seem in the least disconcerted by this startling +statement. "The sounds I heard did not strike me as indicating the +presence of any fiend," he suggested.</p> + +<p>"Probably not. I managed to avoid giving in to the temptation to snatch +Phyl's sumptuous chinchilla coat, Madge's perfectly adorable hat, Theo's +bronze shoes, Dot's embroidered silk handbag, and Bess's hand-wrought +collar and cuffs."</p> + +<p>"It was a matter of clothes, then? How much heart-burning men escape!" +mused Mr. Warne. "Now, I can never recall hearing any man, young or old, +express a longing to denude other men of their apparel."</p> + +<p>Georgiana shot him a look. "No, men merely envy other men their acres, +their horses, their motors—and their books. Own up, now, Father Davy, +have you never coveted any man's library?"</p> + +<p>The blue-gray eyes sent her back a humorous glance. "Now you have me," +he owned. "But tell<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">13</a></span> me, daughter—it was not only their clothes which +stirred the fiend within you? Confess!"</p> + +<p>She looked round at him. "I don't need to," she said. "You know the +whole of it—what I want for you and me—what they have—<i>life</i>! And +lots of it. You need it just as badly as I do—you, a suffering saint at +fifty-five when other men are playing golf! And I—simply bursting with +longing to take you and go somewhere—anywhere with you—and see +things—and do things—and <i>live</i> things! And we as poor as poverty, +after all you've done for the Lord. Oh, I——"</p> + +<p>She brought her strong young fist down on the nearly threadbare rug with +a thump that reddened the fine flesh, and thumped again and yet again, +while her father lay and silently watched her, with a look in his eyes +less of pain than of utter comprehension. He said not a word, while she +bit her lip and stared again into the fire, clenching the fist that had +spoken for her bitterly aching heart. After a time the tense fingers +relaxed, and she held up the hand and looked at it.</p> + +<p>"I'm a brute!" she said presently. "An abominable little brute. How do +you stand me? How do you <i>endure</i> me, Father Davy! I just bind the load +on your poor back and pull the knots tight, every time I let myself +break out like this. If you were any minister-father but yourself, you'd +either preach or pray at me. How can you keep from it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">14</a></span></p> + +<p>He smiled. "I never liked to be preached or prayed at myself, dear," he +said. "I have not forgotten. And the Lord Himself doesn't expect a young +caged lioness to act like a caged canary. He doesn't want it to. And +some day—He will let it out of the cage!"</p> + +<p>She shook her head, and got up. She kissed the gray curls and patted the +thin cheek, said cheerfully: "I'm going to get your supper now," and +went away out of the room.</p> + +<p>In the square old kitchen she flung open an outer door and stood staring +up at the starry winter sky.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if anything, anything, <i>anything</i> would happen!" she breathed, +stretching out both arms toward the snowy shrubbery-broken expanse +behind the house which in summer was her garden. "If something would +just keep this evening from being like all the other evenings! I can't +sit and read aloud—<i>to-night</i>. I can't—I <i>can't</i>! And the only +interesting thing on earth that can happen is that Jimps Stuart may come +over—and he probably won't, because he was over last evening and the +evening before that, and he knows he can't be allowed to come all the +time. He——"</p> + +<p>It was at this point that the old brass knocker on the front door +sounded—and something happened.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">15</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2><h3>SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENS</h3> +</div> + +<p>It might have been any of the village people, as Georgiana expected it +would be when she closed the kitchen door with a bang and went +reluctantly to answer the knock. Since it was almost suppertime it was +probably Mrs. Shear, who seldom made a call at any other hour, knowing +she would as surely be asked to stay as it was sure that David Warne's +heart would respond to the wanness and unhappiness always written on +Mrs. Shear's homely middle-aged face. As she went to the door, Georgiana +felt an intensely wicked desire to hit Mrs. Shear a blow with her own +capable fist, which should send her backward into the snow. Georgiana +did not believe that the lady was as unhappy as she looked. It seemed to +be a day for expression by the use of fists!</p> + +<p>But when the door was opened and the light from the bracket lamp in the +manse hall shone out on the figure standing upon the porch, all desire +to hit anything more with her fist vanished from the girl's heart. For +with the first look into the face of the man outside her instant wish +was to have him come in—and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">16</a></span> stay. Somebody so evidently from the great +world which seemed so far away from the old village manse—somebody who +looked as if he could bring with him into this dull life of theirs all +manner of interest—it was small wonder that in her present mood the +girl should feel like this. And it must by no means be supposed that +Georgiana was in the habit of experiencing this sort of wish every time +she set eyes upon a personable man. Personable men had been many in her +acquaintance during the four years of her college life, and more than +one of them had followed her back to the old manse to urge his claim +upon her attention.</p> + +<p>"Is the Reverend Mr. Warne at home?" asked the stranger in a low and +pleasant voice. "I have a letter of introduction to him."</p> + +<p>"Please come in," answered Georgiana, and led him straight into the +living-room and her father's presence. Then, though consumed with +curiosity, she retired—as far as the door of the dining-room, where she +remained, ready to listen in a most reprehensible manner to the +conversation which should follow.</p> + +<p>There was an exchange of greetings, then evidently Mr. Warne was reading +the letter of introduction. Presently he spoke:</p> + +<p>"This is quite sufficient," he said, "to make you welcome under this +roof. My old friend Davidson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">17</a></span> has my affection and confidence always. +Please tell me what I can do for you, Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"I should like," replied the stranger's voice, "to have a room with you, +and possibly board, if that might be. If not, perhaps I could find that +elsewhere; but if I might at least have the room I should be very glad. +I am hard at work upon a book, and I have come away from my home and +other work to find a place where I can live quietly, write steadily, and +be outdoors every day for long walks in the country. Doctor Davidson +suggested this place, and thought you might take me in—for an +indefinite period of time, possibly some months."</p> + +<p>"That sounds very pleasant to me," Georgiana heard her father reply. "We +have never had a boarder, my daughter and I, but, if she has no +objection, I should enjoy having such a man as you look to be, in the +house. Your letter, you see, is not your only introduction. You carry +with you in your face a passport to other men's favour."</p> + +<p>"That is good of you," answered Mr. Jefferson—and Georgiana liked the +frank tone of his voice. It was an educated voice, it spoke for itself +of the personality behind it.</p> + +<p>"I will go and talk with my daughter," she heard her father say, after +the two men had had some little conversation concerning a book or two +lying on the table by Mr. Warne's couch.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">18</a></span></p> + +<p>Georgiana fled into the kitchen, where her father found her. When he +appeared, closing the door behind him, she was ready for him before he +spoke.</p> + +<p>"If he were the angel Gabriel or old Pluto himself I'd welcome him," she +said under her breath, her eyes dancing. "To have somebody in the house +for you to talk with besides your everlasting old parishioners—why, it +would be worth a world of trouble! And it won't be any trouble at all. +Go tell him your daughter reluctantly consents."</p> + +<p>"You heard, then?" queried Mr. Warne, a quizzical smile on his gentle +lips.</p> + +<p>"Of course I heard! I was listening hard! I was all ears—regular donkey +ears. He's a godsend. His board will pay for sirloin instead of round. +We'll have roast duck on Sunday—twice a winter. He can have the big +front room; I'll have it ready by to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"Come in and arrange details," urged Mr. Warne.</p> + +<p>Georgiana stayed behind a minute to compose her face and manner, then +went in, the demurest of young housewives. Not for nothing had been her +years of college life, which had made, when occasion demanded, a quietly +poised woman out of a girl who had been, according to village standards, +a somewhat hoydenish young person.</p> + +<p>As she faced the stranger in the full light of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">19</a></span> fire-and-lamp-lit +room, she saw in detail that of which she had had a swift earlier +impression. Mr. Jefferson was a man in, she thought, the early thirties, +with a strongly modelled, shaven face, keen brown eyes behind +eyeglasses, a mouth which could be grave one moment and humorous the +next, and the air of a man who was accustomed to think for himself and +expect others to do so. He was well built though not tall, well dressed +though not dapper, and he looked less like a writer of books than a +participant in action of some kind or other. His dark hair showed a +thread or two of gray at the temples, but this suggestion of age did not +seem at all to age him.</p> + +<p>The stranger, on his part, saw a rather more than commonly charming +Georgiana, on account of the Indian-red silk frock.</p> + +<p>"It's not fair to him," thought Georgiana, "to show him a landlady who +looks so festive and fine. I can't afford to wear this often, even for +his benefit." But to him she said: "I know it will give my father much +pleasure to have some one in the house besides his daughter. And I am +quite willing to have you at our table. I must warn you that we live +very simply, as you must guess."</p> + +<p>"I live very simply myself," Mr. Jefferson assured her. "There are few +things I do not like. My one serious antipathy is Brussels sprouts," he +added,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">20</a></span> smiling. "With that confession the coast is clear. And—you +would not mind my smoking in my room?"</p> + +<p>Georgiana glanced at her father with a suddenly mischievous expression. +He was studying the prospective boarder with interested eyes.</p> + +<p>"I think," confessed Mr. Warne, "that merely to catch a whiff now and +then of a fragrance which is singularly pleasant to me, but which I am +denied producing for myself, would add to the things that give me +comfort. If you wouldn't mind smoking in the hall now and then, or, +better yet, by my fireside, I should be grateful."</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson nodded. "Thank you, sir. And now—when may I come? I have +a room at the hotel, so don't let me in until you are quite ready."</p> + +<p>"You may come to-morrow night for supper," promised Georgiana. "But you +haven't seen the room." She rose.</p> + +<p>"It will be in the upper right front?" hazarded Mr. Jefferson. "And it +will have the customary furnishings and some means of heating?"</p> + +<p>"I should prefer to have you see it," she insisted, and lighted a candle +in an ancient pewter candlestick with an extinguisher at the side.</p> + +<p>So the stranger, following her upstairs, surveyed his room and professed +himself entirely satisfied. It looked bare enough to Georgiana as she +showed it to him, but she told herself that there were possibilities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">21</a></span> in +the matter of certain belongings of her own room which could be +transferred to give an air of homelikeness to this.</p> + +<p>"It is large, and I can have plenty of light and air," commented the +prospective boarder. "If I might have some sort of good-sized table by +that south window, for my work, I should consider myself provided for."</p> + +<p>"You will find one when you come," promised the girl.</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Now, I will take myself off at once. Then you may have a +chance to discuss with your father the probabilities in favour of your +not regretting your quick decision," he said as he descended the stairs.</p> + +<p>"Father and I always make quick decisions," Georgiana remarked.</p> + +<p>"Good! So do I. Do you hold to them as well?"</p> + +<p>"Always. That's part of father's creed."</p> + +<p>"That's very good; that speaks for itself. Well, I promise you I shall +be busy enough not to bother this household overmuch. By the way"—he +turned suddenly—"that table you spoke of putting in my room—if it is +large, it must be heavy. Your father cannot help you lift it, and you +should not lift it alone. Don't put it in place until I come—please?"</p> + +<p>She smiled. "That's very thoughtful of you. But I am quite equal to +moving it alone."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">22</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then let me help you now, won't you?" he offered.</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "It's really not ready to be moved. Don't think of +it again, please."</p> + +<p>He bade them good-night and went away, with no lingering speeches on the +road to the door. He had the air of a man accustomed to measure his time +and to waste none of it. When he had gone Georgiana went back to her +father. He looked up at her with a twinkle in his still boyish eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, daughter, it looks to me as if this had happened just in time to +prevent a bad explosion from too high pressure of accumulated energy. +You can now lower the position of the indicator on the steam gauge to +the safety point by spending the whole day to-morrow in sweeping and +dusting and baking. If there are any spare moments you can employ them +in making over your clothes."</p> + +<p>"Father Davy! Where did you get such a perfectly uncanny understanding?"</p> + +<p>"From observation—purely from observation. And I myself confess to +feeling considerably excited and elated. It is not every day that a +gentleman of this sort knocks at the door of a village manse and asks to +come in and write a book. If it had not been that my old friend Davidson +is always bringing people together who need each other, I should think +it the strangest thing in the world that this should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">23</a></span> happen. Davidson +is the minister of a great New York church where this Mr. Jefferson +attends; and Davidson has never forgotten me, though he took the high +road and I the low so soon after he left the seminary. Well, it will +give us a fresh interest, my dear, for as long as it lasts."</p> + +<p>Georgiana thought it would. She was up betimes next morning, to begin +the sweeping and dusting and general turning upside down of the +long-unused upper front room. In the course of her window washing, her +shoulders enveloped in an old red shawl, she was vigorously hailed from +below.</p> + +<p>"Ship ahoy! Your name, cargo, and destination?"</p> + +<p>Without turning she called merrily back: "The Jefferson, with a cargo of +books, bound for the public!"</p> + +<p>"What's that? I don't get you."</p> + +<p>"Never mind. I'm too busy to be spoken by every passing ship."</p> + +<p>"I'll be up," called the voice, and footsteps sounded upon the porch. +The front door banged, the same ringing male voice was heard shouting a +"Good-morning, sir!" and the owner of the voice came leaping up the +stairs and burst into the room without ceremony. He advanced till he was +close to the open window, and nodded through the glass at the +window-washer, who sat on the sill with her upper body outside.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">24</a></span></p> + +<p>He was a fine specimen of youth and brawn and energy, the young man whom +Georgiana had pointed out to her friends as one of her resources when it +came to the good times they were so anxious to know of. His name was +James Stuart, and he was a near neighbour of the manse. He was a college +graduate of three years' longer standing than Georgiana, and he, like +her, had returned to the country home and his father's farm because his +aging parents could not spare him, and he was the only son whose lack of +other ties left him free to care for them. He and this girl had been +schoolmates and long-time friends—with interesting intervals of enmity +during the earlier years—and were now sworn comrades, though they still +quarrelled at times. It looked, after a minute, as if this would be one +of those times.</p> + +<p>"I didn't just get you," complained James Stuart through the window.</p> + +<p>"Wait till I come in. I can't tell all the neighbours."</p> + +<p>Georgiana polished off her last pane, pushed up the window and slipped +into the room, quite unnecessarily assisted by Stuart.</p> + +<p>"I can't understand," began the young man, eying with approval her +blooming face, frost-stung and smooth in texture as the petals of a +rose, "why you're washing the windows of a room that's always shut up."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">25</a></span></p> + +<p>"Jimps, if you were Mrs. Perkins next door I'd understand your consuming +curiosity. As it is——"</p> + +<p>"Going to have company?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Then—what in thunder——"</p> + +<p>"We're going to have a boarder, if you must know." Georgiana began to +attack the inside of the window.</p> + +<p>"A boarder! What sort?"</p> + +<p>"A very good sort. He's a literary person with a book to write."</p> + +<p>"Suffering cats! Not the man at the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"I believe he was to exist at the hotel—if he could—for twenty-four +hours," admitted Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"But that man," objected Mr. James Stuart, "is a—why, he's—he doesn't +look like that sort at all."</p> + +<p>"What sort, if you please?"</p> + +<p>"The literary. He looks like a—well, I took him for a professional man +of some kind."</p> + +<p>Georgiana laughed derisively. "Jimps! Isn't authorship a profession?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I mean, you know, he doesn't look like an ink-slinger; he looks +like some sort of a doer. He hasn't that dreamy expression. He sees with +both eyes at once. In other words, he seems to be all there."</p> + +<p>"Your idea of literary men is a disgrace to your education, Jimps. Think +of the author-soldiers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">26</a></span> and author-engineers—and author-Presidents of +the United States," she ended triumphantly.</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter," admitted Stuart. "The thing that does is that he's +coming here. I can't say that appeals to me. How in time did he come to +apply?" Georgiana told him briefly. Stuart looked gloomy. "That's all +right," he said, "as long as he confines himself to being company for +your father. But if he takes to being company for you—lookout!"</p> + +<p>"Absurd! He's years older than I, and he said he would be working very +hard. I shall see nothing of him except at the table. Heavens! don't +grudge us anything that promises to relieve the monotony of our lives +even a little bit."</p> + +<p>Stuart whistled. "Monotony, eh? In spite of all my visits? All right. +But I'd be just as well pleased if he wore skirts. And mind you—your +Uncle Jimps is coming over evenings just as often as and a little +oftener than if you didn't have this literary light burning on your +hearthstone. See?"</p> + +<p>He went away, his thick fair hair, uncapped, shining in the morning +sunlight, his arm waving a friendly farewell back at the window, where a +white cloth flapped in reply.</p> + +<p>"Dear old boy!" thought the young woman affectionately; "what should I +do without him?"</p> + +<p>That afternoon, just before the supper hour, the boarder's trunk +arrived. It was borne upstairs by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">27</a></span> the village baggageman, complaining +bitterly of its weight. It was an aristocratic-looking trunk, and it +bore labels which indicated that it was a traveled trunk. Shortly +afterward the boarder himself appeared and was allowed to betake himself +at once to his room, from which he emerged at the call of the bell, and +came promptly down. Meeting Mr. Warne limping slowly through the hall, +he offered his arm, and in the dining-room placed his host in his chair +with the gentle deference so welcome from a younger man to an older.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, as she served one of the undeniably simple but toothsome +meals for the cooking of which she was equipped by many years' +apprenticeship, noted how bright grew Father Davy's face as the supper +progressed, and how delightfully the newcomer talked—and listened—for +if he was an interesting talker he proved to be a still more +accomplished listener. When the supper was over Mr. Jefferson lingered a +few minutes by the fire, then went up to his room, explaining that he +must unpack his books and make ready for an early attack in the morning +upon his work.</p> + +<p>In her own room, that night, Georgiana lay awake for a long time. Just +before she went to sleep she addressed herself sternly:</p> + +<p>"My child, I shouldn't wonder if you've jumped out of the frying pan of +monotony into the fire of unrest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">28</a></span> It certainly means trouble for you +when you can't get a perfect stranger's face out of your mind for an +hour. Now, there's just one thing about it: you've always despised girls +who let themselves leap into liking any man and are so upset by it that +everybody sees it. This one is undoubtedly either married or engaged to +be, and even if he's the freest old bachelor alive you are to behave as +if he were the tightest tied. You are to go straight ahead with your +work and to remember every minute that you are a poor minister's +daughter with only a college training for an asset. He's very clearly a +man of importance somewhere; he couldn't look like that and be anything +else. He will never think twice of you. Whatever attention he gives you +will be purely because he is a gentleman and he can't ignore his host's +daughter—nonsense, his landlady—I might as well face it. He's a +boarder and I'm his landlady. Gentlemen don't take much interest in +landladies. So now, Georgiana Warne, landlady—keeper of a +boarding-house, be sensible and go to sleep."</p> + +<p>But before she went to sleep her mind, in spite of her, had imaged for +her again the interesting, clever-looking face of the stranger under the +roof, with his clear, straightforward glance that seemed to see so much, +his smile which disclosed splendid teeth, his strongly moulded chin. And +she had owned, frankly,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">29</a></span> driven to the confession just to see if it +wouldn't relieve her:</p> + +<p>"It's just such a face as I've seen and liked—in crowds sometimes—but +I never knew the owner of one. It's such a face as a woman would +remember to her grave, if its owner had just belonged to her one—hour! +Oh, dear God, I've prayed you to let something happen—anything! And now +I'm—afraid!"</p> + +<p>But, in the morning, when pulses beat strongly and courage is bright, +Georgiana had another tone to take with herself. She faced her image in +the glass, which looked straight back at her with unflinching dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"I'm ashamed of you! To moon and croon like that! Now, brace up, Miss +Warne, and be yourself. You've never lacked spirit; you're not going to +lack it now. You're going to be strong and sane about this thing. You're +going to be the sort of girl whose mind no man can guess at. You're +going to weave rugs for your life, and enjoy Jimps Stuart as you always +have, and there's not going to be a whimper out of you from this hour, +no matter what happens—or doesn't happen. Do you hear? Well, +then—attention! Head up, shoulders back, heart steady; forward, +<i>march</i>!"</p> + +<p>Two hours later, when, in the absence of the new inmate, Georgiana went +into his room to put it in order for the day, she found it impossible +not to note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">30</a></span> the character of his belongings. They were few and simple +enough, but in every detail they betrayed a fastidious taste. And among +the articles in ebony and leather which lay upon the linen cover of the +old bureau stood one which held her fascinated attention. It was a +framed photograph of a young and very lovely woman in evening dress, and +the face which smiled over the perfect shoulder was looking straight out +at her.</p> + +<p>Georgiana stared back. "Who are you?" she whispered. "I might have known +you would be here!"</p> + +<p>"And who, please, are you?" the picture seemed to query lightly, smiling +in return for the other's frown. "As for me, don't you see plainly? I +belong to him. Else why should he have me here? You see I'm the only one +he cared to bring. Doesn't that speak for itself?"</p> + +<p>"Of course it does," agreed Georgiana; then stoutly: "And why should I +care? Of course I don't care. To care would be—absurd!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">31</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2><h3>A SEMI-ANNUAL OCCURRENCE</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Father Davy, the 'Semi-Annual' has come!" Georgiana, tugging with both +strong young arms, hauled the big express package into the living-room +of the old manse, and shut the door with a bang. Breathing rapidly from +her exertions, her cheeks warmly flushed, her dark eyes glowing, she +stood over the package, looking at her father with a curious sort of +smile not wholly compounded of joy and satisfaction.</p> + +<p>"That is very good," said Father Davy in his pleasant voice; "and very +opportune. It was but yesterday, it seems to me, that I heard daughter +declaring that she was 'Oh, so shabby!'"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—but what do you wager there is there?" questioned Georgiana. +"I can tell you before I take the cover off. Three evening gowns, +frivolous and impossible for a little town like this; one draggled +lingerie frock, two evening coats, and possibly—just possibly—a last +year's tailored suit, with a tear in the front of the skirt and not a +scrap of goods to make a fold to cover it. Why, oh, why, do they never +have any pieces?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">32</a></span></p> + +<p>"The reason seems obvious enough," Mr. Warne suggested, as the girl +stooped and began to wrestle with the cords which tied the big package. +His glance fell musingly on the down-bent head with its masses of +dark-brown hair, upon the white and shapely arms from which the sleeves +were rolled back,—Georgiana had been busy in the kitchen when the +expressman came,—upon the whole comely young figure in its blue-print +morning dress. "They never have need of the pieces, I should judge," +said he.</p> + +<p>"But I have. Jeannette might think of me when she orders her clothes, +not just when her maid is packing the box with a lot of castaways. Well, +here's hoping there's just one thing I can use," and she lifted the +cover of the box and looked within, it cannot be denied, with eager +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"There are always many things you can use," her father gently reminded +her; "you, who are so ingenious."</p> + +<p>"Here's the evening frock!" cried his daughter, lifting out the top +garment and holding it up before them both. "Oh, what a dress to send a +poor country cousin! Fluff and flimsy, trimmed with sparklers; cut +frightfully low, no sleeves, and a draggly train. Doesn't it look +suitable for me?" She flung it aside with a gesture of scorn. "Ah, +here's something a shade better! A little dancing frock of +rose-coloured<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">33</a></span> chiffon—and her clumsy partner stepped on the hem of it. +The maid in the dressing-room sewed it up for her to have her last dance +in, and then she came home and threw it into the box for me. Well, I can +get a gorgeous motor veil out of it—I who have so many drives in the +cars of the rich!"</p> + +<p>"The—the under part looks available to me," suggested Mr. Warne, +striving to be of comfort.</p> + +<p>Georgiana shrugged her blue-clad shoulders. "Oh, yes, if I could dress +in slitted silk petticoats and you could wear them for dressing-gowns, +we'd have plenty. Well, look at <i>this</i>! Here's a velvet—cerise! What a +glorious, impossible colour! And here's the lingerie frock; that's not +so bad; I really think it will stand a couple of launderings before it +falls to pieces in my hands. And here's the evening coat—pale gray with +fox trimmings—and she's fallen foul of some ink or something, and the +cleaner couldn't get it all out. Father Davy, look!"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," said Mr. Warne in his gentle tones, which were yet not +without more firmness than one might expect from so frail a person, +"that I have heard somewhere a homely proverb to the effect that it is +not quite in good taste to——"</p> + +<p>"'<i>Look a gift horse in the mouth</i>,'" finished Georgiana. Her eyes were +rebellious. "And there's another: '<i>Beggars mustn't be choosers.</i>' Yes, +I know. Only, semi-annually I certainly do experience a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">34</a></span> burning wish +that my dear rich relations were persons with a trifle keener sense of +discernment as to which of their old clothes would be most appreciated +by their poor cousins. They must now and then, Father Davy, wear +something sensible. They must have morning clothes and street +clothes—adorable ones. Why do they send only the worldly clothes to the +manse? And why—<i>why</i> do they never put in so much as one of Uncle +Thomas's discarded cravats for the Little Minister himself?"</p> + +<p>"Your Uncle Thomas and I may possibly have different tastes in the +matter of neckwear," replied Mr. Warne with such gravity of manner but +such a sparkle of humour in his blue-gray eyes that his daughter laughed +in spite of herself. "Come, come, dear, is there nothing you can approve +among all those rich materials? You might make me innumerable cravats, +and I am such a fop I could wear a fresh one each day—to please you."</p> + +<p>"Father Davy!" Georgiana sat back on her heels. She had slipped her +bared arms into the armholes of the sleeveless white "fluff-and-flimsy" +evening frock, and the "sparklers" of the low-cut bodice now framed her +blue-print clad shoulders with an astonishing effect of incongruity. "I +have a wonderful inspiration. Let's ask Jeannette out here for a +visit—an object-lesson as to the state of life whereunto the country +cousins have been called. She hasn't seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">35</a></span> me in ten years, and all I +remember of her is a fluffy, yellow-haired girl with a sniffly cold in +her head. What do you say, Father Davy? Shall we ask her?"</p> + +<p>Her father's gaze, quiet, comprehending, more than a little amused, met +Georgiana's, audacious, defiant, mischievous, yet reasonable. The two +looked at each other for a full minute.</p> + +<p>"Do you think she would come?" Mr. Warne inquired doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"Why shouldn't she come? She's had a gay winter so far, but not a happy +one. She's no debutante any more, you know; she's an 'old girl' in her +fifth season. That's what the society girls get by coming out at +eighteen. Now I, who am only a year out of college and who never 'came +out' in my life, am as keen at the game of being grown up as if I were +just putting up my hair for the first time. Well, Jeannette's been +keeping up the pace all winter, is thoroughly worn out and unhappy, and +doesn't know what to do with herself. It's March—and Lent—the time of +year when the society folks betake themselves to spring resorts to +recover their shattered nerves. Don't you think she'd jump at the chance +to come to the little country town and try what our air and our cookery +would do for her?"</p> + +<p>"You seem to know all about her in spite of not having seen or known +her—except through these boxes of clothes—since she was a little +girl."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">36</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ah, that's just it—through her boxes—that's how I know her!" +Triumphantly Georgiana held up the cerise velvet gown. "Don't I know a +girl who would wear that? Wild for excitement—that's why she chose the +colour. But she didn't get the fun she expected; he didn't like it—or +somebody said she looked too pale in it—and she fired it at me before +she had done more than take the freshness off. <i>I</i> can wear it—see +here!"</p> + +<p>She got to her feet, untied the little black silk tie which held the +low-rolling collar of her working dress at the throat, unfastened a row +of hooks, and let the blue print slip to her feet. Over the glory of her +white shoulders and gleaming arms she flung the cerise velvet—gorgeous, +glowing, wonderful colour, as trying to the ordinary complexion as +colour can well be. But as the gown fell into place, and Georgiana, +backing up to her father, was fastened somewhat tentatively into it, it +would have been plain to any beholder that if the rich girl could not +wear the queenly, daring robe the poor girl could—as she had said.</p> + +<p>She swept up and down the room, her head held high. She played the part +of a lady of fashion and held an imaginary reception, carrying on a +stream of "society" talk with a manner which made the pale man on the +couch laugh like a boy. Holding a dialogue with a hypothetical male +guest, she led him out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">37</a></span> into the hall, still within sight of Mr. Warne's +couch, and was in the midst of a scene as inspiredly clever as anything +she had ever done at college, where she had been the pride of a dramatic +club whose fame had waxed greater than that of any similar organization +for many years, when the front door of the house suddenly opened, and a +gust of chilly March air rushed in with the person entering.</p> + +<p>Georgiana wheeled—to find herself confronting the amused gaze of her +boarder, Mr. E. C. Jefferson, as read the address upon his mail.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson was by this time, after a month under the roof of the old +manse, well established as a member of the household, though after the +somewhat remote fashion to be expected of a man whose absorbing work +filled most of his waking hours. He closed the door quickly as he caught +sight of Georgiana in her masquerade, removed his hat, and bent his head +before the cerise velvet.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, blushing as vividly as if it were the first time mortal man +had ever beheld her pretty shoulders, threw him a laughing look, +murmured: "Dress parade in borrowed finery, Mr. Jefferson; don't let the +blaze of colour put your eyes out!" and retreated toward the living-room +where her father sat, much amused by the situation.</p> + +<p>She was followed by her boarder's reply: "I find myself still happily +retaining the use of my eyes, Miss<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">38</a></span> Warne. You need not be too much in +haste; it is very dull outside, I assure you."</p> + +<p>He went on up the stairs, but she had caught his smile, momentarily +illumining a face which was ordinarily rather grave. Georgiana closed +the living-room door upon the sight of the lithe figure rapidly +ascending the staircase without a glance behind. As she faced her father +she assumed the expression of a merry child caught in mischief.</p> + +<p>"Our new lodger has certainly come upon me in all sorts of situations, +not to mention disguises," she remarked, "but this is the first time he +has met me in the role of leading lady on the melodramatic stage. Please +unhook me, Father Davy; the play is over, and it's time to get the +pot-roast simmering. And what do you say to inviting lovely Jeannette +Crofton to visit us? Would it be too hard on you?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all, my dear. I should be glad to see your Uncle Thomas's +daughter. Invite her, by all means. You have far too little young +companionship; it will do you good to have a girl of your own age in the +house."</p> + +<p>"I wonder how we shall get on," mused Georgiana. "Anyhow she'll see what +a market this is for evening frocks cut on her lines!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">39</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2><h3>A LITERARY LIGHT</h3> +</div> + +<p>Many hours afterward, the labours of the day over, Georgiana bent her +dark head above an old-fashioned writing-desk in a corner of the +living-room, and dashed off the contemplated letter to her almost +unknown cousin. How the invitation would be received she had little +idea, but since a letter of thanks was undeniably due in response to the +"Semi-Annual" box, it was certainly a simple and natural matter enough +to offer in return for it a possible pleasure and a certain benefit.</p> + +<p>"I'll run straight down to the post-office and mail it," declared +Georgiana, sealing and stamping her letter after having read it aloud to +her father. "A run in this March wind will be good for me after baking +and brewing all day."</p> + +<p>"Do, daughter; and take a tumbler or two of jelly to Mrs. Ames, by the +way. And pick a spray or two of the scarlet geranium to go with it." Mr. +Warne spoke from the depths of an old armchair by the living-room fire, +where, with a lamp at his elbow, he was not too deep in a speech of the +elder Pitt on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">40</a></span> "Quartering Soldiers in Boston," to take thought for an +invalid whom he considered far less fortunate than himself.</p> + +<p>"I will—poor, disagreeable old lady. She doesn't admit that anything +tastes as it should, but I observe our jelly is never long in +disappearing."</p> + +<p>Georgiana, now wearing in honour of the close of day a simple frock of +dark-blue wool with a dash of scarlet at throat and wrists, donned a big +military cape of blue, scarlet lined, and twisted about her neck a scarf +of scarlet silk (dyed from a Semi-Annual petticoat!), which served less +as a protection than as the finishing touch to her gay winter's night +costume. She was likely to meet few people on her way, but there were +always plenty of loungers in the small village post-office, and not even +a college graduate could be altogether disdainful of the masculine +admiration sure to be found there, though she might ignore it.</p> + +<p>As she closed the house door, lifting her face to a cold, starlit sky +from which the clouds of the day had broken away at sundown, another +door a few rods down the quiet street banged loudly, and the sharp creak +of rapid footsteps was immediately to be heard upon the frozen gravel. +Georgiana smiled in the darkness at the coincidence of that banging +door.</p> + +<p>"Well met!" called a ringing voice. "Curious that I should break out of +Mrs. Perkins's just as you came along!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">41</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very curious, Jimps. How do you manage it? I stole out like a cat just +to avoid such a possibility. I knew you were there."</p> + +<p>"Did you, indeed?" inquired the owner of the voice, coming up and +standing still to look at what he could see of the military-caped form. +His own strongly built figure took up its position beside hers as if by +right. His hand slipped lightly under her arm, and he turned her gently +to face the direction in which he himself had set out. "That's like your +impertinence. To pay you for it you shall come this way," he insisted. +"It's only a step farther, it's not quite so hackneyed, and it will +bring us out where we want to be. Look at the stars!"</p> + +<p>"They're wonderful!"</p> + +<p>"Carrying something under that cape? Give it to me, chum."</p> + +<p>"It's only a bit of a basket, Jimps; never mind, you might spill it."</p> + +<p>"You can't carry a bit of a basket when I'm around! Spill nothing! Hand +it over."</p> + +<p>"Terribly dictatorial to-night, aren't you?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly. I've been bossing a lot of new hands to-day, who didn't know +a pick from a gang-plough."</p> + +<p>"But you've been outdoors every minute!" Her tone was envious.</p> + +<p>"Every blessed minute. And you've been in, puttering over a lot of house +jobs? See here, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">42</a></span> need a run. Let's take the time to go up Harmon +Hill and run down it—eh? There'll not be a soul to see."</p> + +<p>She laughed doubtfully. "I'd love to, but—the jelly?"</p> + +<p>"That's easy." He dropped her arm, turned aside to a clump of trees at +the corner of an overgrown old place which they were passing, and +deposited the little basket in the shadow. He came back and caught her +arm again.</p> + +<p>"Easy, now, up the hill. I wish the snow wasn't all gone, we'd have a +farewell coast at the end of the season. But there'll undoubtedly be +more. Honestly, now, George, hasn't the coasting and tramping helped you +through this first winter?"</p> + +<p>"Jimps, I don't know what I should have done without it—or you."</p> + +<p>"Thanks; I think so myself. The first winter back in the little old +town, after the years away at school and college—well—— Anyhow, I +pride myself the partnership has worked pretty well. We've been about as +good chums as you could ask, haven't we now?"</p> + +<p>"About as good."</p> + +<p>"All right." His tone had a decided ring of satisfaction in it, but he +did not pursue the subject further. Instead he changed it abruptly: "How +does the new boarder come on?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">43</a></span></p> + +<p>"Very well. We really don't mind having him at all, he's so quiet, and +Father enjoys his table talk."</p> + +<p>"Father does, but daughter doesn't?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I do—only he doesn't talk much to me. I sit and listen to +their discussions—and jump up to wait on them so often that I sometimes +lose the thread."</p> + +<p>"The duffer! Why doesn't he get up and wait on you?"</p> + +<p>Georgiana laughed. "Jimps, we're going to have another guest."</p> + +<p>"Another man?" The question came quickly.</p> + +<p>"Not at all. A girl—my cousin, Jeannette Crofton. At least I'm writing +to ask her for the fortnight before Easter."</p> + +<p>"Those rich Crofton relations of yours who hold their heads so high for +no particular reason except that it helps them to forget their feet are +on the earth?"</p> + +<p>"James Stuart, what have I ever said of them to make you speak like +that?"</p> + +<p>"Never mind; go on. Is it the girl whose picture gets into the Sunday +papers—entirely against her will, of course—as the daughter of Thomas +Crofton? She's reported engaged, from time to time, and then the report +is denied. She's——"</p> + +<p>"I shall tell you no more about her," said Georgiana Warne, with her +head held quite as high as if she belonged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">44</a></span> to that branch of the family +to whom James Stuart had so irreverently alluded.</p> + +<p>"All right. I'm not interested in her anyhow, and you'll want your +breath for the run down. Come on, George; one more spurt and we're +up.... All ready. Take hold of my hand. Come on!"</p> + +<p>In the March starlight the two ran hand in hand down the long, steep +Harmon Hill which led from the east into the little town. Stuart's grip +was tight, or more than once Georgiana would have slipped on the rough +iciness of the descent. But she did not falter at the rush of it, and +she was not panting, only breathing quickly, when they came to a +standstill upon the level.</p> + +<p>"Good lungs, those of yours, George," commented Stuart, in the frank +manner in which he might have said it to a younger brother. "You haven't +played basket ball and rowed in your 'Varsity boat for nothing. Sure +you're not letting up a bit on all that training, now that you're back, +baking beans for boarders?"</p> + +<p>"And sweeping their rooms, and carrying up wood for their fires, +and——"</p> + +<p>"What? Do you mean to say that literary light allows you to tote wood +for him?" They were walking on rapidly now. "I'll be over in the morning +and take up a pile that'll leave no room for him to put his feet. What's +he thinking of?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">45</a></span></p> + +<p>"Jimps, boy, how absurd you are! How should he know who puts the wood in +his room? I don't go up with armfuls of it when he's there."</p> + +<p>"If you did, he'd merely open the door for you and say: 'Thank you very +much, my good girl.' I don't like this boarder business, I can tell you +that. Do you let him smoke in his room?"</p> + +<p>"Why not, you unreasonable mortal? He smokes a beautiful briarwood, and +such delicious tobacco that I find myself sniffing the air when I go +through the hall in the evening, hoping I may get a whiff."</p> + +<p>"Does, eh? When I bring up the wood I'll smoke up your hall so you won't +have to sniff the air to know you're enjoying the fragrance of Araby."</p> + +<p>In this light and airy mood the pair went on their way, enjoying each +other's company as might any boy and girl, though each had left the +irresponsible years behind and had settled down to the sober work of +manhood and womanhood. To Georgiana Warne, whose necessary presence at +home, instead of out in the great world of activity where she longed to +be, Stuart's society, as he had intimated, had been a strong support +during this first year and a half since her return. The singularly +similar circumstances which had shaped the plans of these two young +people had been the means of inspiring much comprehending sympathy +between them. An almost lifelong previous acquaintance had put them on a +footing of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">46</a></span> brotherly and sisterly intimacy, now powerfully enhanced by +the sense of need each felt for the other. It was small wonder that +their fellow-townsmen were accustomed to couple their names as they +would those of a pair long betrothed, and that, as the two came together +into the village post-office, where as usual a group of citizens lounged +and lingered on one pretext or another, the appearance of "Jim Stuart +and Georgie Warne" should cause no comment whatever. To-night more than +one idler noted, as often before, the fashion in which the two were +outwardly suited to each other. Both were the possessors of the superb +health which is such a desirable ally to true vigour of mind, and since +both were understood to be, in the village usage, "highly educated," +their attraction for each other was considered a natural sequence—as it +undoubtedly was.</p> + +<p>The mail procured, the letter posted, and the small basket delivered to +a querulously grateful old woman, the young people set out for home. +They had somehow fallen into a more serious mood, and, walking more +slowly than before, discussed soberly enough certain problems of +Stuart's connected with the commercial side of market gardening. He +spoke precisely as he would have spoken to a man, with the possible +difference that he made his explanations of business conditions a trifle +fuller than he might have done to any man. But his confidence in his +friend's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">47</a></span> ability to grasp the situation was shown by the way in which, +ending his statement of the case, he asked her advice.</p> + +<p>"Now, given just this crisis, what would you do, George?" he said.</p> + +<p>She considered in silence for some paces. Then she asked a question or +two more, put with a clearness which showed that she understood +precisely the points to be taken into consideration. He answered +concisely, and she then, after a minute's further communion with +herself, suggested what seemed to her a feasible course.</p> + +<p>Stuart demurred, thought it over, argued the thing for a little with +her, and came round to her point of view. He threw back his head with a +relieved laugh. "I admit it—it's a mighty good suggestion; it may be +the way out. Anyhow, it's well worth trying. George, you're a peach! +There isn't one girl in a hundred who would have listened with +intelligence enough to make her opinion worth a picayune."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a girl, Jimps. I don't want to be a girl—at twenty-four. I +can't; I haven't time."</p> + +<p>"That's a safe enough statement," replied James Stuart, looking down at +the dark head beside him under the March starlight, "as long as you +continue to act enough like a normal girl to run down the hills with me +after dark. Well, here we are, worse luck! I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">48</a></span> suppose you're not going +to ask me in?" There was a touch of appeal in the lightly spoken +question.</p> + +<p>"Not to-night, Jimps; I'm sorry. Father Davy overdid to-day, in spite of +all my efforts, and I must see him to bed early and read him to sleep."</p> + +<p>"After he's gone the literary light won't come down and smoke his +spices-of-Araby mixture by your fire, instead of his own, while you +entertain him, will he?"</p> + +<p>Her low laugh rang out. "You ridiculous person, what a vivid imagination +you have! Every evening at about this time the literary light goes off +for a long tramp by himself, and often doesn't come back till all our +lights are out, except the one we leave burning for him. He is +absolutely absorbed in his work. We really see nothing at all of him +except at the table."</p> + +<p>"Just the same, the time will come," predicted James Stuart. "Some night +he'll take his regular place at your fireside, as he does at your table. +I know your father's soft heart. Yours may not be quite so vulnerable, +but if the boarder should happen to look low in his mind after a +telegram from anywhere, or should get his precious feet wet——"</p> + +<p>"Jimps, go home and be sensible. When Jeannette comes—if she does come, +which I doubt more and more—you may be asked over quite a number of +times during her visit."</p> + +<p>"I presume so. And that's the time you'll have Jefferson down, and +you'll pair off with him, while I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">49</a></span> do my prettiest not to look like an +awkward countryman before the lady who has her picture in the Sunday +papers."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, James Stuart—good-night."</p> + +<p>"Good-night, Georgiana—dear," Stuart responded cheerfully. But the last +word was under his breath.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">50</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2><h3>SHABBINESS</h3> +</div> + +<p>"I positively didn't know how shabby the house was till I'd read +Jeannette's letter of acceptance!"</p> + +<p>She did not say it to her father—not Georgiana Warne. She said it not +to James Stuart, nor to Mr. E. C. Jefferson. Being Georgiana, she said +it to no one but her slightly daunted self. She was standing in the hall +as she spoke, the wide, plain hall which ran straight through the middle +of the wide, plain house, with its square rooms on either side and its +winding, old-fashioned staircase at the back. Of the house itself, +Georgiana was not in the least ashamed. She knew that it possessed a +certain charm of aspect, from the fanlight over the entrance door to the +big quaint kitchen with its uneven floor dark with time. It was when one +came to details that the charm sordidly vanished—at least to the +critical vision of the young housewife. Like the worn white paint upon +its exterior, the walls and floors within called loudly for a restoring +hand. As for the furnishings, Georgiana looked about her with an +appraising eye which took in all their dinginess. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">51</a></span> old rugs and +carpets were so nearly threadbare; the furniture was so worn; the very +muslin curtains at the windows, though white as hands could make them, +had been so many times repaired that even artful draping could not +wholly conceal their deficiencies.</p> + +<p>In other ways the household's lack of means made itself plainly apparent +to the daughter of the house, as she went from room to room. The linen +press, for instance—how pitifully low its piles of sheets and towels +had grown! Hardly a sheet but had a patch upon it, hardly a towel but +had been cut down and rehemmed, that it might last as long as possible. +There was, to be sure, one small tier of towels, handed down from +Georgiana's grandmother and carefully preserved against much using, of +which any mistress of a linen press might be proud. There were also two +pairs of fine hand-made linen sheets with borders exquisitely drawn; two +pairs of pillow cases to match, and a quite wonderful old bedspread of +knitted lace.</p> + +<p>"I can keep washing out the best towels for her," Georgiana reflected +resignedly as she counted her resources.</p> + +<p>In the china cupboard there was left quite a stock of rare old plates +and dishes which could be used as occasion demanded. The blue-and-white +crockery which must serve a part of the time was pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">52</a></span> meagre, the +supply of antique silver good as far as it went; it did not go very far.</p> + +<p>But—"After all," said Georgiana to herself determinedly, "we can give +her good things to eat, and served as attractively as need be—why +should I mind about the rest? Father in his armchair is a benediction to +any meal, and Mr. Jefferson can talk as few guests can who sit at the +Crofton table, I'll wager. I'll not be apologetic, even in my mind, no +matter how much I feel like it. I've asked her and she's coming. She +wouldn't be coming if she wasn't in a way willing to take what she +finds. We'll have a good time out of it."</p> + +<p>Whereupon she betook herself to the room which was to be given to her +cousin, and fell to work with a will, for this was the last thing to be +done before the arrival of the guest.</p> + +<p>When it was in order she looked about it, not ill content. It would be +an exacting guest, surely, who could not be comfortable here—and there +are many guest-rooms of elaborate appointments where guests are not +wholly comfortable. This room was large and square and airy, with its +four windows facing east and south, and the view from the eastern ones +was far-reaching, with a glimpse of blue mountain ranges in the +distance. If the matting upon the floor had been many times turned and +refitted, its worn places were now all cunningly hidden and it was as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">53</a></span> +fresh as the newly scrubbed paint on the woodwork. There was a +luxuriously cushioned, high-backed chair—would Jeannette, by any +possibility, recognize the blue silk of those cushion covers? Georgiana +wondered. Jeannette, who never wore a frock long enough really to become +familiar with its pattern, would only know that the cushions were soft +to her comfort-accustomed body. The woven rag rugs of blue and white +upon the floor were of Georgiana's own making. An ancient desk, which +had belonged to Mr. Warne's mother, was carefully fitted with all the +small articles one could desire in reason, taken from Georgiana's +cherished college equipment. The washstand in the corner, behind a +home-made screen of clever design, was furnished with two beautiful old +blue-and-white ewers—the pride of Georgiana's heart, for they had come +over from England with her great grandmother; and the rack was hung as +full with towels as fastidious bather could desire. There were two or +three interesting old prints upon the walls. Altogether, with its small +bedroom fireplace laid ready for a fire, and a blue denim-covered +woodbox filled to overflowing with more wood——</p> + +<p>She had forgotten to fill the woodbox, as yet. It was nearly time to +dress for Jeannette's coming. Georgiana ran hurriedly downstairs and +through the kitchen, warm and fragrant with the baking of the day in +preparation for the coming supper, and in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">54</a></span> pleasant order which the +kitchen of the good housewife shows at four in the afternoon. In the +woodshed beyond she gathered a great armful of wood, not to bother with +the basket, which would not hold so much—and hurried back again, making +toward the front stairs this time, because the back stairs were narrow +and steep, and one could not rush up them at great speed with one's arms +full of wood.</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute, please, Miss Warne!"</p> + +<p>The front door of the house shut with a bang, and hasty footsteps caught +up with Georgiana at the foot of the stairs, just as one big stick +tumbled loose from her hold and went crashing down behind her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, never mind," she panted. The load was much heavier than she had +realized, but she had not meant to be caught upon the front stairs with +it—not even if it had been James Stuart who came to her rescue.</p> + +<p>It was not Stuart, but evidently one quite of Stuart's mind, for +Georgiana now found her arms unburdened of their heavy incumbrance +without further parley, and herself put where she belonged by this cool +command:</p> + +<p>"Never carry a load like this when you have a man in the house."</p> + +<p>"But—but we haven't!" objected Georgiana, her voice a trifle +breathless. She followed Mr. Jefferson, as he strode up the stairs with +the wood. She opened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">55</a></span> the door of the guest-room and lifted the cover of +the woodbox.</p> + +<p>"Haven't?" he questioned, dumping the wood into the box, and then +stooping to rearrange it. "Would you object to telling me what you +consider me, then?"</p> + +<p>It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he was supposed to be a +literary light, but she restrained the too-familiar speech.</p> + +<p>"You are, of course, a boarder—a 'paying guest,' as we should say, if +we were some people," she observed with gravity. "You are expected to +complain of whatever service you receive, not to offer any under any +circumstances."</p> + +<p>"I see. Were you intending to fill this box?"</p> + +<p>He stood upright, and his glance wandered from the box in question +around the pleasant room in its fresh and expectant order. But it came +discreetly back to Georgiana's face.</p> + +<p>"Not at all," she denied. "There's quite enough there for to-night."</p> + +<p>He nodded, and went toward the door. "The woodshed is, I suppose, beyond +the kitchen, after the fashion of woodsheds, and the kitchen is beyond +the dining-room?"</p> + +<p>"Please don't bother!"</p> + +<p>Of course it was useless to protest—and she followed him down the +stairs, through dining-room and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">56</a></span> kitchen to the woodshed. As he passed +through the kitchen he stopped and stood still in the middle of it.</p> + +<p>"May I look for a minute?" he asked. "It takes me back to my boyhood. My +mother used just such a kitchen as this. I thought it the best room in +the house."</p> + +<p>His lips took on a smile as he looked. Georgiana, with her own hands, +had scoured every inch of that kitchen, had made to shine brilliantly +every utensil which had in it possibilities of shining. It was +impossible not to feel a housewifely pride in the appearance of the +place, and to exult in the spicy odours which told of the morning's +bakings.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson, going on into the woodshed and returning with a +well-balanced load of wood which put Georgiana's late attempt to the +blush, assured her that he felt personally competent to attend to the +woodbox without further aid from her, and marched away as if he were +quite accustomed to such tasks.</p> + +<p>It may be here stated that next day, when in his absence she looked into +his room to see if the woodbox there were quite empty, she found it +quite full, though she could not possibly remember when he had +discovered the opportunity to do the deed without her knowledge. And +from this time forth, during the remainder of his stay, she was obliged +to resign herself to the fact that the "man in the house," though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">57</a></span> he +might be a boarder, would permit no interference with this self-assumed +task.</p> + +<p>Jeannette had written that she would arrive on a certain Thursday +afternoon between four and five, being conveyed by motor from the large +city, sixty miles away, which was her home. Georgiana, therefore, with +memories of college days again strong upon her, made ready to serve +afternoon tea beside the living-room fire.</p> + +<p>"Be prepared to have this function every day while the guest is here, +Father Davy," said she. "Jeannette's undoubtedly accustomed to it and +would miss it more than she could miss any other one thing. But she's to +have only the plainest of thin bread and butter with it, since our +six-o'clock village supper comes so soon after. We mustn't pamper her, +must we?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne, in his armchair by the fireside, ready to welcome the guest, +looked up at his daughter with bright eyes. "Pampering," said he, "is +the atmosphere of this house. Jeannette cannot escape it. I am pampered +beyond belief every day of my life. At this very moment my eyes are +feasting upon the sight of my child in what must be an absolutely new +old dress!"</p> + +<p>A peculiar expression crossed Georgiana's face as she glanced down at +the soft gray-blue of the afternoon frock she had donned for the +occasion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">58</a></span></p> + +<p>"I'm wondering if she will recognize it," she murmured. "It was one of +the white evening gowns in that last 'Semi-Annual.' I coloured it +myself—as usual. It really came out pretty well, but it gives me a +queer, conscious feeling to be wearing it when I meet her. Do you +suppose she'll know it, Father Davy?"</p> + +<p>"And if she does?" The tone was that of a tender irony.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I'm an idiot to care! I don't care—<i>but I do</i>!" Georgiana +flung a look at the slim man in the big chair, which said that she was +confident of his understanding her, no matter what she said.</p> + +<p>"No false pride, daughter," he warned her. "You can tell the big man +from the little one by the character of the things he is willing to +accept. There was never any stigma attached to wearing the discarded +garments of another, provided they were come by honestly. And when one +has coloured them, into the bargain—and looks like the 'Portrait of a +Lady' in them——"</p> + +<p>"Father Davy, you're the most comforting creature!" And Georgiana +dropped a kiss upon the top of the head which rested against the back of +the worn old armchair.</p> + +<p>If she had not been watching from the window she would not have known +when the Crofton car drew up at the door, so quietly did the great, +shining motor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">59</a></span> roll down the macadamized road which ran through the main +street of the little town. She was out and down the manse path in +hospitable alacrity, yet not without the dignity of which she was +mistress.</p> + +<p>So this was the guest whom she had ventured to ask down to the +hospitality of the shabby old village manse! If she had been a princess, +Miss Jeannette Crofton could not more thoroughly have looked the part. +Georgiana had known many rich men's daughters at college and had found +close friends among them, but no one of them had ever suggested such a +background of luxury as did this slim and graceful girl, as she set her +pretty foot upon the old box-bordered gravel path. She was rather small +of stature, her fair-haired beauty was of a strikingly attractive type, +and every detail of her attire and belongings breathed of wealth and +fashion. Georgiana felt herself instantly a buxom milkmaid beside her.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">60</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2><h3>WHEN ROYALTY COMES</h3> +</div> + +<p>"It was so good of you to ask me," said Jeannette in a voice of much +sweetness, as she put out her hand to her cousin. Then she turned to the +man in livery who stood at attention by the door of the car. "You may +take this coat back with you, Dennis," she said; and she let him remove +from her shoulders the long, fur-lined cloak she had worn for the March +drive. He gathered together her belongings, as she walked up the path +with Georgiana, and he afterward went back for a long motor trunk which +had been brought upon the back of the car. Besides this was a larger +receptacle of black leather which he brought and deposited in the hall.</p> + +<p>"Dennis can take all these to my room for me," said Jeannette, with more +appreciation of the situation than Georgiana had expected. Dennis did +not look altogether pleased with this task, but he performed it and was +rewarded by a smile from his young mistress, which promised to soothe +his injured dignity at some future time.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne, rising slowly from the armchair as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">61</a></span> Jeannette was brought +into his presence, looked keenly into the face of his sister's daughter. +Her fine clothing was nothing to him; he could not have told what she +wore; but he was interested in learning what she might be, herself. It +was something of a test for any stranger, the meeting of that clear look +of his, kindly though it was sure to be. With all his appearance of +frailty and exhaustion, one felt instinctively that whatever had +happened to the body, the mind was intact and resolute with energy, the +judgment swift and accurate.</p> + +<p>As they all took tea together Georgiana could feel their guest striving +to adjust herself to her entertainers. Her manner was very charming, +though a little languid, a little weary, as if she were tired with her +long drive—and with other things besides. But there was that about her +which proclaimed her unmistakably the gentlewoman, and this was good to +know. She got on well with her newly discovered uncle, and he with her. +Indeed, the simplicity and straight-forwardness of Father Davy's manner +with every one, his keen observation, his ready imagination, would have +put him instantly on an equal footing with the most exalted of his +fellow-creatures. It could do no less with his niece, no matter how new +to her his type of man might be, nor how new to him the fashion of her +speech and smile.</p> + +<p>This was a pleasant beginning. But if Georgiana,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">62</a></span> before her guest +arrived, had thought the old house shabby, she felt it now to be +positively shambling. She struggled mightily against this attitude of +mind, knowing that it was unworthy of her, but, as she led this +wonderful, winsome creature, whom she knew to be accustomed only to the +softnesses of life, up over the worn stair carpeting to the room she had +prepared for her, she was wondering how she herself had ever conceived +the preposterous idea of inviting her cousin to visit her; the task of +making this daughter of luxury comfortable, even for a fortnight, seemed +suddenly so impossible.</p> + +<p>"Oh, how very attractive!" exclaimed Jeannette, as she was taken into +the room over which Georgiana had spent so much thought. "I shall love +it here!"</p> + +<p>That was to be her attitude, thought Georgiana. Being exceedingly +well-bred, the guest was prepared to like everything that was done for +her. Though this was precisely what was to be expected and desired, +Georgiana found herself already irritated by it—most unreasonably, it +must be admitted.</p> + +<p>"I'm a jealous goose!" said she sternly to herself, and fell to helping +her cousin. There was something appealing about the girl's helplessness, +because she evidently tried hard not to show it. As the two lifted the +garments from the carefully packed trunk trays it was Georgiana who +found the right places for them in clothespress and bureau drawers. She +had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">63</a></span> seldom seen, never handled, such exquisite apparel, from the piles +of sheer, convent-embroidered linen to the frocks and wraps and négligés +which went into retirement on the padded hangers she had provided. She +realized, too, that elaborate as seemed to her the array of clothing +Jeannette had thought it necessary to bring for her visit, it was +probable that the girl herself had felt that she was having packed only +the simplest of her wardrobe and the least that a civilized being could +do with.</p> + +<p>It was when Jeannette herself spread forth upon the little +dressing-table—cleverly contrived out of an old washstand, a long and +narrow mirror, and some odds and ends of muslin and lace—the articles +she was accustomed to use every day of her life, but which might have +been matched only in the homes of princes, that the young hostess found +it hardest to control the pang of envy which smote her. Such silver, +such crystal, such genuine ivory—and such sheer beauty of design and +finish! Yet Jeannette was almost awkward in her disposal of the imposing +array, saying with a laugh that she really couldn't remember how the +things went at home, but that it didn't matter in the least.</p> + +<p>She set about removing her traveling clothes as if she never had been +waited upon in her life. It was only when she failed to discover how she +was put together that Georgiana had to come to the rescue.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">64</a></span></p> + +<p>"It's dreadfully stupid of me," protested Jeannette, her delicate cheeks +flushing, "but I simply can't find that absurd hook."</p> + +<p>It was then that Georgiana frankly took the situation by its horns and +did away with all embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"You must let me help you, Jean," she said, finishing the unhooking with +ease, "whenever you need it. I shall love to do it, for you might have +rather a bad time trying to do everything for yourself. There you +are—and please call me when you are ready to be fastened into your +other frock. I'm just around the corner, and there's nobody else at home +now."</p> + +<p>Before supper was served, Georgiana prepared her cousin to meet "the +boarder." Not on any account would she have let his presence be +accounted for on the score of his being a guest in the house; not even +would she call him a "paying guest."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jefferson came to us through a letter from a friend. He said he +wanted a quiet place to work in, away from all interruptions by friends +or claims of any sort. He is writing a book, and we see as little of him +as if he were not in the house—except at the table. I think you will +like him. It's so long since we have had a man in the house we're not +yet used to it, but on the whole it's rather comforting."</p> + +<p>"How interesting—to have a book being written in the house! Is it fact +or fiction, do you know?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">65</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't imagine it's fiction. He has piles of reference books, and a +great deal of mail, and—somehow—he doesn't look as if he wrote +fiction."</p> + +<p>Yet, as Mr. Jefferson came into the dining-room that night, Georgiana +found herself wondering why she should think he did not look as if he +would write fiction—not foolish fiction, certainly, but sensible +fiction, made possible by keen observation and set off by a capacity for +quiet—possibly even biting—humour. He looked at least as if he might +write essays, thoughtful, clever essays, full of searching analyses of +his fellow human creatures, of their oddities, their hopes, their +aspirations, their sins, and their virtues. Or—was he, after all, +writing on scientific matters—facts, pure and simple; inferences, +deductions, conclusions from facts? She wondered, more than she had yet +done, as to the nature of his work.</p> + +<p>"I think Mr. Jefferson is delightful," said Jeannette cordially, beside +the living-room fire, when supper was over, and the boarder, after +lingering in the living-room doorway for a minute, but declining on the +score of work Mr. Warne's invitation to enter, had gone his way +upstairs. On this first night Georgiana had let the disordered dining +table wait, and had accompanied the others to the fireside as if she had +a dozen servants to attend to her household affairs. "After this, she +won't notice so much," she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">66</a></span> had argued with herself. "I don't want to +have her offering to help. I don't mean to do a thing differently on her +account, but I can't help—well, <i>shying</i> at the dishes the very first +minute after supper!"</p> + +<p>"A man of fine intellect," Father Davy responded to his niece's +observation, "and accustomed to think worthy thoughts. One can see that +at once. It is a real pleasure to have him here. It is good for us, too. +Georgiana and I were growing narrow before he came. He has broadened us; +we get his point of view on subjects that we thought had been disposed +of for all time—and find them not disposed of at all."</p> + +<p>Before the moment arrived when, in Georgiana's mind, the waiting work in +the kitchen must be done without further postponement, the front door +was besieged by James Stuart. A basket of late winter apples in hand, he +came in, looking the image of vigorous youth, his well-set-up figure +showing its best in the irreproachable clothes he always wore when his +day's work was over, his manner, as usual, that of the friend of the +house. He had not received Georgiana's permission to come in upon this +first evening of Miss Crofton's visit, but he had taken his welcome for +granted and was not disappointed in receiving it. It was impossible not +to be glad to see his smiling face, for his good looks were backed by a +capacity for adapting himself to whatever company he might find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">67</a></span> himself +in, though it should be of the most distinguished.</p> + +<p>Presenting Stuart to her cousin, it occurred to Georgiana to wonder as +to the impression each must make upon the other. Jeannette was wearing a +frock of a peculiar shade of blue which the firelight and lamplight, +instead of dulling, seemed to make almost to glow. It was the sort of +apparently simple attire which is the product of high art, and in it, +sitting just where all lights seemed to play together upon hair and +cheek and perfect throat, the visitor was, as Georgiana owned to +herself, certainly worth looking at.</p> + +<p>She left them together presently and went off to the kitchen. Here she +covered from view with a big pinafore her own undeniably attractive +figure and fell upon her task, proceeding to dispatch it with all the +speed compatible with quiet. She had cleared the table, and, having +arranged her dishes in orderly piles, was just filling her dishpan with +the steaming water which made suds as it fell upon the soap, when a +familiar footstep was heard upon the bare kitchen floor.</p> + +<p>Georgiana looked over her shoulder, words of reproof upon her lips: +"Well—having come without an invitation, the least you can do is to +stay where you belong and entertain the guest."</p> + +<p>"There's a characteristic welcome for you!" The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">68</a></span> intruder seemed in no +wise daunted by his reception, but picked up a dish towel and stood at +ease, waiting the placing of the first tumbler in the rinsing pan. "And +where should I belong, if not standing by a chum in distress?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not in distress, if you please."</p> + +<p>"Don't mind washing dishes while the guest sits by the fire?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit—more than usual," Georgiana amended honestly.</p> + +<p>"Why don't you pile 'em up and let 'em wait till morning?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't sleep for thinking of them."</p> + +<p>"My word, but you're a hustler! I don't know whether I can keep up."</p> + +<p>"Don't try. Go back to the other room, please, Jimps. You can be of real +use there."</p> + +<p>"Well, I like that!"</p> + +<p>As he wiped away assiduously, Stuart surveyed his companion's face in +profile. It belied the dictatorial words, for Georgiana was smiling. Her +cheeks were of a splendid colour, her dark hair drooped over the +prettiest white forehead in the world, and the whole outline of her face +was distracting. Here was a lamplight effect which rivalled the one in +the living-room, though it was thrown from a common kitchen lamp, +unshaded, and fell upon a figure in a red-and-white checked apron. +Georgiana glanced at her self-appointed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">69</a></span> assistant and encountered the +flash of an eye which told her that, however Stuart objected to her +words, he liked the look of what he saw.</p> + +<p>"Isn't Jeannette a beauty?" she inquired hastily, and plunged her hands +into her pan with such energy that she sent a splash of hot, soapy water +upon Stuart's cheek. He surreptitiously wiped it off with a corner of +his dish towel.</p> + +<p>"She sure is," he assented cordially. "I wasn't prepared for quite such +a looker. She doesn't seem to have brought with her that proud and +haughty expression she had in the Sunday papers."</p> + +<p>"She's a dear, and not in the least proud and haughty. I'm going to +enjoy her visit, I know. If I can only make her enjoy it!"</p> + +<p>"I'll be glad to help," Stuart offered. "This isn't a very promising +time of year for the country, but if you think she'd like any of the +good times we can give her here, I'll get them up."</p> + +<p>"Our sort of good times is just what I do want to give her. She's had +enough of her own kind and needs the diversion. What would you get up, +for instance?"</p> + +<p>"I'll take overnight to think it out, but I can promise you it'll be an +outdoor affair. Would she be up to any kind of a tramp, do you think?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Jimps! Not yet, at any rate."</p> + +<p>"All right. I'll harness up my best team and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">70</a></span> carry her most of the way. +We must have another man, I suppose. Shall we ask the literary light, +just for a lark? It would give tone to the company to have him along, +eh?"</p> + +<p>"He probably wouldn't go."</p> + +<p>"Don't you fool yourself. A fellow who covers as many miles a day as he +does will jump at it, no matter how important his next chapter is. Do +you know, I'll have to admit I rather like him since I tramped a couple +of miles in his company the other day. There are a lot of interesting +ideas in his head, and I got him to give me the benefit of a few of +them. Drew him out, you know. Though to be strictly honest"—with a +laugh—"when I thought it over afterward I wasn't exactly sure that he +hadn't drawn me out rather more than I drew him. Anyhow, the interest +seemed to be mutual, and that flattered me a bit. It's perfectly evident +that he's a great student of affairs."</p> + +<p>They finished the work at a gallop. Georgiana slipped off her pinafore, +and Stuart, who had insisted on waiting for her, hung it upon its +accustomed nail.</p> + +<p>"Do you suppose pretty cousin ever wore one?" he queried.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">71</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2><h3>SNOWBALLS</h3> +</div> + +<p>Mr. E. C. Jefferson laid down his pen, ran his hand through his heavy +brown hair, rumpling it still more than it had been rumpled +before—which is saying considerable—and stretched his legs under the +table upon which he had been writing steadily since half-past one +o'clock. He heaved a mighty breath, stretched his arms to match his +legs, looked round at his windows, which faced the west, and so had kept +him supplied with strong light longer than windows on any other side of +the house would have done, and took out his watch.</p> + +<p>Nearly half-past four. Time, and more than time, for his late afternoon +tramp. He set the piles of sheets before him in order, sheathed his pen +and put it in his pocket, and rose from his place, the light of +achievement in his eye, but crampiness and fatigue in all his limbs.</p> + +<p>As he approached his windows to ascertain what kind of weather was to be +found outside, he became aware of sounds which would indicate that some +event of activity and hilarity was going on below. He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">72</a></span> realized now that +he had been hearing these sounds—quite without hearing them, after the +fashion of the absorbed workman—for the last half-hour. Looking out, he +beheld an interesting affair in full swing.</p> + +<p>At each end of the side yard the heavy snow which a late March storm had +brought overnight had been shovelled and manipulated into the semblance +of a fort such as lads are wont to make. Between these two entrenchments +a battle was raging. But it was no lads who held the places of the +combatants. Instead, as he looked, Mr. Jefferson saw rising warily from +behind the fort nearest him, a girlish figure in a scarlet blanket suit, +its dark head half shielded by a scarlet toboggan cap very much awry. A +mittened hand flung a snowball with strength and precision straight into +the opposite fort, and the assailant immediately dodged down behind the +embankment.</p> + +<p>From the opposing stronghold then cautiously appeared a head snugly +bound in a blue scarf, from which locks of fair hair escaped at divers +points. A second snowball, accompanied by a loose flutter of snow, +wended its way uncertainly through the air, and fell a foot short of the +fort behind which crouched the scarlet figure. The figure immediately +rose and fired an answering volley. Peals of laughter and gay shouts +rang through the air.</p> + +<p>At this very moment a third person ran into the yard from the street, +calling: "For shame,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">73</a></span> George! I'm going to take sides with the enemy, +and we'll have you out in no time!"</p> + +<p>Jefferson saw this third figure, in sweater and cap, dash across the +open, narrowly escaping a vigorous shower of missiles from the near +fort, and disappear behind the farther one.</p> + +<p>The battle was now on in earnest. Let Scarlet Toboggan fire as fast and +as furiously as she might, a merciless bombardment of her protecting +walls had begun. The girl in the blue scarf—and priceless furs—had +sunk laughing upon the floor of her refuge, while her new ally, bringing +to bear the full strength and skill of his sex, battered at the +entrenchments across the yard, and began to make havoc thereon.</p> + +<p>Georgiana was a brave foe, but though she fought with surprising +endurance she was beginning to be seriously worsted, several feet of her +snow rampart having been shot away, when a voice behind her cried out a +command, and an arm, more sinewy than hers, sent a hard shot whizzing +past her head into the opposite fort with that directness of aim and +effectiveness of delivery which only the male arm can accomplish.</p> + +<p>"Duck down and make snowballs while I fire!" the voice ordered, and +Georgiana, breathless but still undaunted, obeyed.</p> + +<p>"Keep behind me, and pile the balls at the right," directed Jefferson. +His voice was eager as a boy's.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">74</a></span> He also had pulled on sweater and cap, +and as he and James Stuart faced each other across the twenty yards +which separated them, they might have been a couple of school-fellows +wrestling for supremacy.</p> + +<p>"Keep 'em coming—faster—faster!" Stuart urged Jeannette, the lust of +battle upon him. "Stop laughing and work! George is a"—he stooped to +make a ball for himself—"fiend at making 'em; you've got to learn! Keep +'em coming."</p> + +<p>The wet snow was precisely in the right state for quick packing, and +Georgiana was indeed an expert at the business. Jefferson found her +hard, round balls splendid missiles, and he used them with all the +energy of an arm which welcomed the change from the labours of the past +hours to those of the present.</p> + +<p>"Ha! there goes that left corner!" he exulted with his comrade-at-arms, +as the last of a series of well-directed shots reduced a part of the +enemies' defences to a gratifying slump. "And here comes a bit of ours," +he added, as a ball of Stuart's ploughed through a weakened upper +portion of their own rampart.</p> + +<p>"He'll be game to the last," panted Georgiana, working furiously.</p> + +<p>"So will we! We'll fight to a finish, if we go without our suppers."</p> + +<p>The battle raged on. The combatants took no heed of passing time, until +Jeannette, growing reckless with excitement, lifted an incautious head +and received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">75</a></span> a spent ball full upon her chin. No harm was done, as she +protested, but Stuart raised a flag of truce and Mr. Jefferson ran +across the lines to apologize.</p> + +<p>"It didn't hurt a bit," Jeannette reaffirmed, showing a very pink chin.</p> + +<p>"It's lucky it didn't. I wasn't properly protecting you," Stuart +declared warmly.</p> + +<p>"Both sides come in to supper!" commanded Georgiana. "Please stay, +Jimps; it's the only amends we can make you, and you must be as hungry +as a bear."</p> + +<p>"Thanks; I'd like to, but I'm not properly dressed, I'm afraid."</p> + +<p>"Jean and I won't make a change, and you can take us coasting this +evening, if you will. Do you suppose Mr. Jefferson would dream of +staving off his dignity a bit longer and going, too?"</p> + +<p>They all looked at the person mentioned and their glances were all gayly +audacious.</p> + +<p>"Is that an invitation or a challenge?" He put it to Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"Whichever you choose to take it."</p> + +<p>"I'll take it as I choose, then, and accept. The spirit of sport is upon +me; I couldn't work this evening if I tried."</p> + +<p>"Good for you! 'All work and no play,' you know," quoted Stuart, as they +went in together, a moist and merry company.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">76</a></span></p> + +<p>Upstairs, while Jeannette dried her hair, she reflected that she didn't +know when she had had so gay a time. She ran in to say this to +Georgiana, but found that that young woman had already put her hair in +order without drying it, as its damply curling locks above her forehead +testified, and was rushing away downstairs to the kitchen.</p> + +<p>"Won't you take cold?" suggested Jeannette, struggling with her own wet +braids, and very naturally wishing for her maid to dry and put them in +order.</p> + +<p>"Mercy, no; not over the kitchen stove. They'll be dry soon enough," was +the reply; and Georgiana vanished, the supper on her mind.</p> + +<p>When Jeannette came down, half an hour later, and appeared in the +kitchen doorway, she saw that the speed of her young hostess's labours +and the warmth of the kitchen were quite likely to prevent all chance of +undried locks.</p> + +<p>There was system about Georgiana's work, fast as was its pace. Each trip +across the floor, from pantry to dining-room and back again, +demonstrated housewifely efficiency. Both hands were always full and she +seemed never to forget what she meant to do. If she passed the stove on +her way somewhere she stopped to stir something or to glance into the +oven, and when she went to the storeroom for cream she brought away +bread and butter as well.</p> + +<p>Jeannette commented admiringly. "Don't you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">77</a></span> ever forget and have to run +back for something?" she inquired.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, yes! But when you've been over certain ground several million +times, it's a pity if you can't make your head save your heels as a +rule. Excuse me, dear; but if you wouldn't mind standing just a foot or +two to the left——"</p> + +<p>Jeannette turned. "I see; I'm in the way when I'd like so much to help. +Isn't there anything I could do?"</p> + +<p>"All done, thank you—except—would you just arrange that boxful of +scarlet geraniums Jimps brought over, for the table? That would help +very much. Take any bowl or glass from the dining-room cupboard that +looks appropriate to you."</p> + +<p>"I'd love to." And Jeannette fell to work—if it could be called work. +Never in her life had she arranged scarlet geraniums as a table +decoration, or, for that matter, seen them so used. But as she placed +the splendid, thrifty blooms, each with its accompanying rich green +leaves, in the plain brown bowl which she felt best matched their +undistinguished beauty, she discovered for the first time that other +blossoms besides roses and orchids, chrysanthemums, and the rest of the +ordinary florists' products, may charm the eye from the centre of a +snowy cloth.</p> + +<p>"That's gorgeous! Thank you so much! Aren't they the jolliest flowers in +the world for a winter night?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">78</a></span> Jimps's greenhouses certainly are doing +well. Don't you want a bit of a blossom in your hair? Their grower would +feel tremendously complimented."</p> + +<p>"Red's not my colour, but it is yours. Let me tuck this little sprig in +these braids, and I'll risk the grower's being better pleased than if I +wore them."</p> + +<p>Georgiana submitted, and promptly forgot all about the scarlet +decoration. But the others did not—found forgetting it, indeed, quite +impossible. As they gathered about the table, it caught the eye of each +in turn. Georgiana's cheeks, from the vigorous exercise in the frosty +air, were glowing brilliantly; her eyes were wonderful to look at; her +dark cloth dress had upon it no relief of colour; so the scarlet +geranium in her hair was the touch of the artist which drew the eye and +held it. She had placed upon the table, instead of the customary lamp, +one of the few treasures of the house, a fine old candelabrum, with +pendent crystals, and the burning candles threw their mellow light +directly into her face.</p> + +<p>She looked up suddenly, after having served each one from the dish +before her, and found them all looking at her. James Stuart's fork was +suspended above his plate, but the others had not yet taken theirs. She +gazed at them in amazement.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is the matter?" she cried. "Do I—is something queer about +me? Have I missed a point somebody has made?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">79</a></span></p> + +<p>They all turned then, laughing, to their plates, and nobody would tell +her what was wrong. Stuart seemed to think it a great joke—her +mystification. When she removed the plates for the second course—there +were but two in the simple, hearty little supper—she glanced into the +small kitchen mirror. Her eye caught the scarlet geranium.</p> + +<p>"I suppose I look ridiculously sentimental with that flower just there," +she thought. "But I won't take it out after Jean put it there. No wonder +they laughed."</p> + +<p>An hour afterward they were all out upon the hill nearby. Stuart +possessed a splendid pair of "bobs," and they were soon dashing down the +hill at a pace which, while it made Jeannette hold her breath with +mingled fear and joy, made Georgiana cry out, "Oh! is there anything so +glorious?" and made Mr. Jefferson, just behind her, watching over her +shoulder, respond with heartiness: "The snow fight took five years off +my age, and now here goes another five. I must be almost as young as you +are now, Miss Warne."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no; I'm only ten myself to-night," she answered. "Coasting was one +of my earliest joys. I was so proud when I could steer Jimps Stuart's +first pair of bobs—small and primitive ones compared with these."</p> + +<p>She found Mr. Jefferson beside her when it came to the walk back up the +hill. A new side of him was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">80</a></span> visible to-night. He was not the quiet +student and writer, the man who discussed with her father and herself +the course of the world's events or the problems of social service, but +a light-hearted boy, much like Stuart, and ready to abet all the other +man's efforts for the amusement of the party.</p> + +<p>The fun went on for an hour; then Jeannette, unaccustomed to so much +vigorous exercise, began quite against her will to show evidences of +fatigue, and after one particularly long, swift flight the party went +back to the house. There followed another gay hour before the fire, +while Stuart roasted chestnuts, and Georgiana, sitting on the floor +against her father's knee, told stones of madcap pranks at college, +illustrating them by such changes of facial expression and such +significant gestures that her hearers spent themselves with their +laughter.</p> + +<p>Jeannette, lying back in a shabby but comfortable old armchair, looked +and listened with the absorbed interest of one to whom such simple +pleasures as these had the flavour of absolute novelty. Her eyes +wandered from Georgiana's vivid face to her father's delicate one; to +James Stuart's comely features glowing ruddily in the firelight as he +tended his chestnuts, showing splendid white teeth as he roared at +Georgiana's clever mimicry or turned to laugh into Jeannette's eyes as +he offered her a particularly plump and succulently bursting specimen of +his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">81</a></span> labours; to Mr. Jefferson's maturer personality, his brown eyes +keenly intent, his face lighted with enjoyment, his occasional comments +on Georgiana's adventures flashing with a dry humour which matched hers +and sometimes quite outdid it. To Jeannette they were all an engrossing +study. As for herself——</p> + +<p>"She's the loveliest thing I ever saw," thought Georgiana from time to +time as she glanced up at her cousin, whose fair hair against the dark +cushion of the old chair caught and held the charm of the fire's own +warmth in its gleaming strands. Jeannette's eyes were matchless by +lamplight; her cheeks and lips were glowing from the outdoor life of the +day and evening; her smile was a thing to imprison hearts and hold them +fast. If she spoke little no one thought of her as silent, and the charm +of her low laughter at the sallies of the others was the sheerest +flattery, it was so evidently born of genuine delight in the cleverness +she did not attempt to emulate.</p> + +<p>"I'm a clown beside her," said Georgiana to herself. "Who cares how a +woman talks when she looks like that? Every line of her is absolute +grace and beauty, every turn of her head is fascination itself. I never +saw such eyes. That little twist in the corner of her lip when she +smiles is the most delicious thing I ever saw. Jimps looks at it forty +times in every five minutes and I can't blame him. Mr. Jefferson keeps +his chair facing that way so he can have her all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">82</a></span> the time in focus, +though he doesn't eat her up as Jimps does. I can't blame either of +them. And I shall go on being a clown, because that's what I can do and +it amuses them. If I should lie back in a chair like that and just smile +without saying anything, Father Davy would say, 'Daughter, don't you +feel quite well?' and Jimps would propose getting me a cup of tea. Oh, +well—how absurd of me to mind because another girl looks like a picture +by a wonderful painter while I look like—a lurid lithograph by nobody +at all!"</p> + +<p>Whereupon she set her strong, white teeth into a hot, roasted chestnut, +cracked it, and, regarding the halves, said: "This reminds me of the +night Prexy lost his head"—and brought down the house with the merriest +tale of all. It was so irresistibly absurd that Jeannette, helpless with +her mirth, buried her face in her cobweb handkerchief, Stuart rocked +upon his knees and made the welkin ring, and Mr. Jefferson laughed in a +growling bass that gathered volume as the preposterousness of the +situation grew upon him with consideration of it. Even Mr. Warne, whose +expressions of amusement were usually noiseless, gave way to soft little +chuckles of appreciation, and wiped his tear-filled eyes.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, finishing her chestnut, looked upon them all and told them +they were the most gratifying audience she had ever addressed, but that +she feared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">83</a></span> it was not good for them to give way to their emotions so +unrestrainedly, and that she should therefore not open her lips again +that night. As they found it impossible to break down this resolution, +even with entreaties backed by offerings of worldly goods, the party +broke up. Georgiana carried off her guest to put her to bed with her own +hands, while Mr. Jefferson and James Stuart smoked a bedtime pipe +together in the boarder's room; after which Stuart let himself quietly +out of a door that was never locked, to reflect, as he tramped homeward +over the snow, on what an inordinately jolly evening it had been.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">84</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2><h3>SOAPSUDS</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Will you think I'm dreadful, Georgiana dear," asked Jeannette, lying +luxuriously back upon her pillow while her cousin sat braiding her own +thick locks by the little bedroom fireplace in which the last remnants +of the fire were smouldering, "if I say I shouldn't have believed I +could possibly have such a good time in such a way? I never did anything +the least bit like it."</p> + +<p>"Never coasted?"</p> + +<p>"Never."</p> + +<p>"Never threw snowballs?"</p> + +<p>"Not that I can remember."</p> + +<p>"Nor roasted chestnuts?"</p> + +<p>"I never tasted one before—except perhaps in the stuffing of a fowl."</p> + +<p>"Poor child! But at least you've sat by the fire with other girls and +men and told stories, little Jean?"</p> + +<p>The guest considered. "Of course—at house parties. Yet I can't seem to +recall any such scene as the one we just left, down by your fire. I +certainly never sat on the floor with my arm on my father's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">85</a></span> knee, with +a group of people around, while somebody told stories—sure not such +stories as you told. Oh, you're the cleverest girl I ever knew, to tell +such things in such a way! It was perfectly splendid! How those two men +did enjoy it! I don't know when I've heard men laugh in just that way."</p> + +<p>"Just what way? Please tell me how they laughed differently from other +men. To be sure, Jimps just lets go when he's amused and raises the +rafters with his howls of glee; but so do other young men of his age. +And certainly Mr. Jefferson laughed decorously enough."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it was so whole-souled with both of them; and yet there wasn't +a thing in your stories but—oh, I can't tell you just what I mean, if +you don't know. But somehow it all struck me so differently from the way +any girl-and-man evening ever struck me before. There—there seems a +different air to breathe here—if that expresses it—from any I've ever +been in."</p> + +<p>The two regarded each other, Jeannette from between half-closed, deeply +fringed eyelids as she lay back upon her pillows, one arm, half veiled +with the finest of linen and lace, outstretched upon the treasured +old-time counterpane, the other beneath her neck; Georgiana sitting up +straight, with two long, dark braids hanging over her shoulders, her +dusky eyes wide open, her cheeks still bright with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">86</a></span> colour balanced by +the scarlet hue of the loose garment she had put on.</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt there is," agreed Georgiana thoughtfully. "Still, though +you live a very different life from any I've ever known, I didn't +suppose your education in the matter of roast chestnuts—and the things +that go with them—had been quite so badly neglected. To think of never +having had them except so disguised by the manipulations of a French +<i>chef</i> that you couldn't recognize them! And to have gone to balls and +horse shows and polo games—and never to have built a snow fort! Dear, +dear, what we have to teach you! Life hasn't been really fair to you, +has it, my dear?"</p> + +<p>This was sheer audacity, from a poor girl to a rich one, but it was +charming audacity none the less and by no means wholly ironic. To +Jeannette, studying her cousin with eyes which were envious of the +physical superiority for lack of which no training in the social arts or +mere ability to purchase the aid of dressmaker and milliner could +possibly atone, conscious that Georgiana possessed a mind far keener and +better trained than her own, the question called for a serious answer. +She half sat up and pushed her pillow into a soft mountain behind her as +she spoke:</p> + +<p>"No, it hasn't! I thought so before I came here and now I'm sure of it. +I feel a weak and helpless creature beside you—helpless in every way. I +can't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">87</a></span> do anything you can. If my father should lose his money and I +should be thrown upon my own resources, I shouldn't be able to make so +much as a—snowball for myself!"</p> + +<p>Both laughed in spite of Jeannette's earnestness, for the words brought +back vivid memories of the wild sport of the afternoon. Then Georgiana's +ready brain leaped to the inevitable corollary:</p> + +<p>"Ah, but there'd be sure to be a man ready to dash into your fort and +make your snowballs for you!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure."</p> + +<p>"I am."</p> + +<p>"Of course the men I know don't seem to mind whether a girl is helpless +or not, if she can look and act the way they want her to. But—I'm +discovering that there are other kinds of men, and somehow I like this +new kind. And I imagine this kind wouldn't care for helpless girls. You +made snowballs for your man to throw, and they were good hard ones, as +my chin can still testify."</p> + +<p>"You can learn to make hard snowballs," said Georgiana, smiling.</p> + +<p>Jeannette held up one beautifully modelled but undeniably slender arm +and clasped it with her hand. "Soft as——" She paused for a simile.</p> + +<p>"Sponge cake," supplied Georgiana, coming over to feel critically of the +extended arm. "It <i>is</i> pretty spongy. It needs exercise with a punchball +or"—she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">88</a></span> flashed a mischievous glance at the languid form beside +her—"a batch of bread dough."</p> + +<p>"Bread dough! Would that help it?"</p> + +<p>"Rather! So would sweeping, and scrubbing, and moving furniture about. +But you're born to a life of ease, my dear, so those things are out of +the question for you. But fencing lessons would be good for you—and +fashionable, too, which would double their value, of course."</p> + +<p>"Georgiana!" Jeannette sat straight up and laid two coaxing arms about +her cousin's firmly moulded neck. "Teach me to make bread, will you, +while I'm here?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, good gracious!" Georgiana threw back her head to laugh. "Hear the +child! What good would that do, if you learned? You wouldn't do it when +you went back."</p> + +<p>"I would!—Well, of course, I might have difficulty in—but mother wants +me to be strong; she's always fussing about it because I can't endure +the round of society things she says any girl ought to—and enjoy. If +you thought bread-making would really help——"</p> + +<p>"It would be a drop in the bucket of exercise you ought to take."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, I want to learn," persisted Jeannette as Georgiana moved +away, evidently with the intention of leaving her for the night. "I'd +like to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">89</a></span> feel I knew how. And your bread is the most delicious I ever +tasted. Please!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well; I'll teach you with pleasure. I shall be setting bread +sponge at six to-morrow morning. Will you be down?" Georgiana's smile +was distinctly wicked.</p> + +<p>"Six o'clock!" There was a look of mingled incredulity and horror in the +lovely face on the pillow. "But—does bread—does bread have to be made +so early?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely. After the morning dew is off the grass, bread becomes +heavy."</p> + +<p>Jeannette stared into the mocking eyes of her cousin; then she laughed. +"Oh, I see. You're testing me. Well,"—with a stifled sigh—"I'll get up +if you'll call me. I'm afraid I should never wake myself—especially +after all that snowballing——"</p> + +<p>"Exactly. And I'll not call you. So lie still in your nest, ladybird, +and don't bother your pretty head about bread sponges. What's the use? +You'll never need to know, and you'll soon forget having had even a +faint desire toward knowledge. Good-night—and sleep sweetly."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but wait! I'm really serious. Please call me!"</p> + +<p>"Never!"</p> + +<p>With one laughing backward look and with a kiss waved toward the slender +figure now sitting up in bed, Georgiana opened the door and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">90</a></span> fled. That +she did not want to teach her cousin an earthly thing, even if she could +have believed Jeannette serious in her request, was momentarily growing +more evident to her own consciousness. Just why, she might have been +unwilling to explain.</p> + +<p>Next morning, however, she found herself destined to carry out the plan +Jeannette had so impulsively proposed. She crept downstairs as quietly +as the creaking boards under the worn stair carpet would permit, and +began her work in a whirl of haste. But she had not more than assembled +her ingredients on the scrupulously scoured top of the old pine table +when she heard the kitchen door softly open. Wheeling, she beheld a +vision which brought a boyish whistle to her lips.</p> + +<p>Jeannette, enveloped in a long silken garment evidently thrown on over +her night attire, a little cap of lace and ribbon confining her hair, +the most impractical of slippers on her feet, stood smiling at her +cousin, sleep still clinging to her eyelids.</p> + +<p>"I'm down," she announced in triumph.</p> + +<p>"So I see. But you're not up," replied Georgiana, regarding the vision +with critical eyes.</p> + +<p>Jeannette's gaze left the trim morning garb of the young cook, her +perfectly arranged hair, her whole aspect of efficiency, and dropped to +her own highly inappropriate attire, and she flushed a little. But she +held her ground.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">91</a></span></p> + +<p>"You didn't call me, and when I woke it was so near six I didn't dare +wait to dress. Can't I learn unless I'm dressed like you?"</p> + +<p>"If a French doll had come to life and offered to help me in the kitchen +I couldn't feel more stunned. What will happen to all those floating +ends of lace and ribbon, when they get mixed with flour and yeast? Be +sensible, child, and go back to bed."</p> + +<p>"I'll pin everything out of the way, and perhaps you'll lend me an +apron. I really don't want to bother you, Georgiana, but I do want to +learn."</p> + +<p>Georgiana relented. "Very well. Come here, and I'll cover you up as best +I can. Or I'll wait while you run up and dress—if you've anything to +put on that's fit for bread-making."</p> + +<p>"Nothing much fitter than this, I'm afraid," admitted Jeannette +reluctantly.</p> + +<p>"Poor little girl!" Georgiana's momentary irritation was gone, as it +usually was, in no time at all. "Well, here go the frills under a nice +big gingham all-over; and now you look like a combination of Sleeping +Beauty and Mother Bunch! All right; here we go into business. Do you +know how to scald that cupful of milk you see before you?"</p> + +<p>"Scald it?" repeated Jeannette doubtfully—and so the lesson began.</p> + +<p>Absolute ignorance on the part of the pupil, assured knowledge on that +of the teacher—the lesson<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">92</a></span> was a very kindergarten in methods. There +were times when Georgiana had much difficulty in restraining her inward +mirth, but she soon saw that this must be done, though Jeannette herself +laughed at her own clumsiness, and evidently was determined to let +nothing escape her.</p> + +<p>"Kneading looks so easy when you do it," she lamented; "but I can't seem +to help getting stuck."</p> + +<p>"That will come with practice—if you ever try another batch, which I +doubt. And it's the kneading that is so good for your arms."</p> + +<p>"Yours are beautiful—and so strong, it must be fun to own them."</p> + +<p>"There are times when a bit of muscle is of use in a hustling world," +admitted her cousin. "There, I think that dough will do very well. Turn +it over and lay it smoothly in the bowl—so. Cover it with its white +blanket—so; and leave it right here, where it will have a good warm +temperature to rise in. Now, run up and snatch another nap; you'll have +plenty of time."</p> + +<p>"You're not going back to bed?"</p> + +<p>"Rather not!" Georgiana's smile strove to be tolerant. "There are just a +few things to be done about the house, and they are best done before +breakfast. Off with you, lady cousin!"</p> + +<p>"Do you always get up so early?" Jeannette persisted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">93</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have an extraordinary fondness for early rising," Georgiana +explained. "It's foolish, of course, but it's an old habit. Good-bye, my +dear; my next errand is down cellar," and she vanished from the sight of +her guest, quite unable to keep herself longer in hand before the +amazing point of view of this daughter of luxury.</p> + +<p>The "next errand" was the washing of the handful of fine towels with +which the painstaking hostess was keeping the guest-room supplied, +unwilling to furnish the aristocratic young person upstairs with the +coarser articles used by herself and the others. Jeannette, all unaware +that the snowy linen with which her room was kept plentifully supplied +was constantly relaundered in secret by Georgiana's own hands, was as +lavish in her use of it as she was accustomed to be at home, and the +result was a quite unbelievable amount of extra work for her cousin.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne, coming upon his daughter by chance in this very early morning +flurry of laundering, expressed himself upon the subject in the gentle +but positive way which was his.</p> + +<p>"Why do it, my dear?" he questioned. "Are the sheets and towels we use +not quite good enough for others?"</p> + +<p>"Not half good enough for Lady Jean," responded the laundress, rubbing +energetically away—yet carefully,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">94</a></span> too, for the old linen was not so +stout as it once had been.</p> + +<p>"You are intentionally deceiving her, aren't you, daughter? Why do +that?—since it is not necessary for her comfort."</p> + +<p>"But it is. She would shudder at the touch of a cotton sheet. As for a +common huck towel——"</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne shook his head. "I can't agree with you. So that the sheets +and towels are spotless—as your sheets and towels are—the mere degree +of fineness is not essential. And if she knew how much labour it costs +you, I am very certain she would infinitely prefer to be less of a +spendthrift in the matter of quantity."</p> + +<p>"I've no doubt she would. But I'd rather wash my fingers off than not +give her the fresh towel for her perfect face each time she uses one. +I'd like it myself. I'd like a million towels, all fine as silk. I'd +like——" She stopped abruptly, seeing the look upon her father's face. +"Oh, I'm sorry!" she flashed at him repentantly. "I truly don't mind +being poor in most ways. It's the lack of certain things that go with +nicety of living that grinds me most. I shouldn't mind wearing gingham +outside, if I could have all the fine linen I want underneath. +It's—it's—oh, well, you know! And I'm an idiot to talk about it when +the thing we really need is books—books for your starving mind. If I +could get you all you want of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">95</a></span> those——" Her voice broke upon the wish, +always strong with her.</p> + +<p>"My dear, my mind will never starve while it has the old books to feed +upon. Listen, on what a pertinent thought did I come this morning. I was +delving in good old Thomas Fuller, of those fine seventeenth-century +writers whose works still glow with fire: '<i>Though my guest was never so +high, yet, by the laws of hospitality, I was above him whilst under my +roof</i>.'"</p> + +<p>The girl laughed, dashing away a hot tear with the back of a soapy hand. +"Trust you to find a classic to turn a tragedy into a comedy," she said. +"Go away now, Father Davy, and I'll soon be through. It's a poor +washerwoman I am to be thinning my suds with brine!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">96</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2><h3>A REASONABLE PROPOSITION</h3> +</div> + +<p>"You'll come, too, Georgiana dear?" Jeannette, furrily clad for a walk +with James Stuart, stood in the doorway looking back. "Please do."</p> + +<p>"Come, George;—you need a good tramp," Stuart urged at Jeannette's +elbow.</p> + +<p>He looked the picture of anticipation. He had undertaken getting the +visitor into training by increasingly long daily walks, and the result +was proving eminently satisfactory. At the end of the first half of the +visit Jeannette was looking wonderfully well and happy—hardly the same +girl who had come to the little village to try if she could endure such +life as was likely to be offered her there.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my dears, nothing could persuade me. Run along and leave me +to diversions of my own," answered Georgiana gayly.</p> + +<p>So they had gone, Jeannette wafting back a kiss, Stuart waving an +enthusiastic arm. Georgiana had smiled at them, had closed the door +softly behind them—and had immediately banged to another conveniently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">97</a></span> +near at hand, one opening into a small clothespress under the stair +landing.</p> + +<p>"Diversions of my own!" she repeated with emphasis. "Happy phrase! I +wonder what they think my diversions are—with this family to look +after. Well, you got yourself into it, George Warne. You can stick it +out if it kills you."</p> + +<p>She deliberately thumped one door after another all the way along her +progress through the empty rooms and up the stairs to the second floor. +Her father was away for the afternoon on a rare visit to a neighbour who +had sent for him, an old parishioner, who, falling ill, longed for the +gentle offices of his friend and long-time minister. As for Mr. +Jefferson, this was the time of day when he was always away on his usual +long walk. It was a comfort to be alone in the quiet house—and to +bang and thump.</p> + +<p>In her room Georgiana arrayed herself in a heavy red sweater, then +ascended to the attic and stood eying the great hand loom of antique +pattern, a relic of an earlier century. It was equipped with a black +warp, upon which a few rows of parti-coloured woof had been woven.</p> + +<p>"Diversions!" she repeated, and shook her round fist at the lumbering +object.</p> + +<p>Then she sat down on the old weaver's bench and began to weave with +heavy, jarring thuds which shook the floor, as with strong arms she +pulled and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">98</a></span> pushed and sent her clumsy shuttle flying back and forth. +The attic was very cold; but she was soon warm with the violent exercise +and presently had discarded the sweater and was working away with might +and main.</p> + +<p>"Go at it—go at it!" she was saying to herself. "Jealous idiot that you +are! Jealous of Jeannette, of her clothes, her money, her beauty, her power +to attract—jealous because Jimps likes her so well—because Father Davy +looks at her with the eyes of an appreciative uncle—because Mr. E. C. +Jefferson talks to her as if he enjoyed it. Pound—pound—pound away at +the old loom till your arms ache, and see if you can get the nonsense +out of you!"</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon," said a deep voice at the top of the narrow stairs +not far away.</p> + +<p>The loom stopped with a jerk as the weaver flashed round upon the head +and shoulders protruding above the rafters. "Oh! I'm sorry! Did I +disturb you?" cried Georgiana, fire in her voice. She did not look in +the least sorry. "I thought you were out, too. And I'm just over your +head. Of course you came up to——"</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't," replied Mr. Jefferson. He ascended two steps more, +looking curiously at the loom "I came up because I thought something +extraordinary had happened up here and I ought to find out about it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">99</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nothing extraordinary, merely something very ordinary. I do this +whenever I have time and the coast is clear. You usually go out at this +hour," she said accusingly.</p> + +<p>"So I do. I came back just now, when I saw Miss Crofton and Mr. Stuart +starting off alone, in hopes that you might consent to go with me. It's +a great day. Won't you?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, no," the girl replied. "I'm behind with my work. These rugs +are orders very much overdue. I've been rather delayed lately, since my +machine is so noisy I can't work when anybody is on the second floor."</p> + +<p>"Please never mind me," urged her visitor. "I can time my work to fit in +with yours, if you need to make haste. But that must be a rather +strenuous business. It's a very old affair, isn't it? Do you mind if I +look at it? I never saw one of just that pattern."</p> + +<p>"I mind very much," replied Georgiana crisply, moving off the bench and +standing on the floor. "But that's no reason why you shouldn't examine +the Monster if you like. That's what I call it. I'll run down and be +back when you are through."</p> + +<p>And this she would have done, but that he barred her way.</p> + +<p>"But I won't," he said gravely, "if you prefer that I should not. Come +back, please! I'm intruding, and I'll apologize and go."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">100</a></span></p> + +<p>The light from a dusty attic window fell full on her face as she stood, +and he saw that in it which made him look again.</p> + +<p>"Miss Warne," he said gently, "something is wrong, I'm afraid. Can't I +be of use to you in some way? The reason I wanted to look at this loom +was that I saw your last two strokes with the bar as I came up, and I +recognized what a tremendous push you had to give. I'm something of a +mechanic and I wondered if I couldn't do a bit of oiling, perhaps, to +make it easier. I'm afraid it's tiring you unduly."</p> + +<p>"I need to be tired," she said, low but vehemently. "I'm in a black +mood, and the more I tire myself the quicker I shall get the better of +it. Now you know. I suppose you never have black moods."</p> + +<p>"Do I not? So black that I could grind myself under my own heel. Do you +have them, too? I might have known by the look of you."</p> + +<p>"You don't look as if you ever had them," she said rather curiously, her +eyes on his quiet face.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you can't always tell—luckily. It's pretty cold up here. Are you +sure you wouldn't do better to take a run in the wind with me? You know +somehow heavy tasks look lighter after a breath of outdoor air."</p> + +<p>"So you know what heavy tasks are?" For the life of her she could not +resist the question.</p> + +<p>He looked steadily back at her, smiling a little. His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">101</a></span> eyes were very +clear in their quiet scrutiny. She felt as if he saw much that she would +prefer to conceal. "I have known a few that seemed to me fairly heavy at +the time," he said. "Afterward, I was thankful to have had them—to +prepare me for heavier ones."</p> + +<p>"Oh—but they weren't the same dismal round——"</p> + +<p>"Weren't they? Most tasks are. But I never had one quite like this. I am +concerned for you, lest this prove too heavy. Now that I am here—do you +really mind so very much if I look the machine over?"</p> + +<p>She permitted it, and she did not run away as she had meant to do. +Presently he asked for a screw-driver and a can of oil, and when she had +procured them he did a number of things to the cumbersome loom, the +result of which, when she attacked it once more, proved that he had +relieved to a certain extent the hardest of her efforts.</p> + +<p>"But it is still much too severe for any woman," he said seriously, +standing, oil can in hand, a little lock of hair, shaken down by his +labours, straying across his forehead. "Please tell me, and don't think +me merely curious—is there no way in which you can add to your +resources except this? You have a college training——"</p> + +<p>"And no way whatever to make use of it," she exclaimed with some +bitterness. "But I can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">102</a></span> weave, and I have a feeling for colour and form +and can work out effects which find a market. Hand-woven rugs bring +their price these days. Really, Mr. Jefferson, I am no subject for pity +and——"</p> + +<p>"You don't want it. Let me assure you that I don't feel a particle. To +be young and strong and fit for hard work is no cause for pity. But—I +have reason for persisting in my inquiry. You see, I happen to know of +some one in need of such training as you undoubtedly have. Would you +consider giving a few hours daily to one who needs a copyist and +critic?"</p> + +<p>Georgiana scanned his face with intent, incredulous eyes. Then, "Do you +mean yourself?" she questioned.</p> + +<p>"I mean myself. I hesitate to mention that I am the candidate, knowing +that that admission must instantly create a prejudice against me." He +was smiling a little. "But I state an actual fact. I have reached a +point in my labours where I need a copyist. Do you think it possible +that I may secure one without sending away for her?"</p> + +<p>"I must suspect you," she said slowly and with rising colour, "of +manufacturing a need. It is very, very kind of you, Mr. Jefferson—but I +think I must continue to weave my rugs."</p> + +<p>"But I am not manufacturing a need," he insisted. "I declare to you that +I have been on the point of consulting you for some time. If it had not +been that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">103</a></span> your days seemed very full with your guest and your +housewifery, I should have put it to you before now. I am in earnest, +Miss Warne. Won't you, as a matter of everyday business, lend me your +eyes and your hand—and your critical judgment? If you can't do it while +Miss Crofton is here, may I engage your spare time after she goes? +Please don't deny me." He began to descend the stairs. "I won't stay for +an answer," he said. "Think it over, will you? And please don't refuse +until you have consulted your father."</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask that?"</p> + +<p>"Because I know he will look at it as any man would, without +unreasonable prejudice against accepting a business proposition simply +because it happens to come from a temporary member of the household. It +takes a woman to bother about that."</p> + +<p>With this straight shot he left her, laughing back at her as he +descended in a way that went far toward disarming her, though she would +not at once admit it. Instead, she went back to her loom, putting into +the next section of weaving a quite unnecessary amount of force purely +from tension of mind over the possibilities opened up by this most +unexpected offer. There was no denying that it was precisely the sort of +thing which she had often longed to do, and for which, she knew, as he +had suggested, she was more than ordinarily well fitted. It was +impossible, as she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">104</a></span> had said, not to suspect the lodger of creating a +want to fit her need of earning money, yet there could be no doubt of +the fact that any writer of books who draws upon all manner of collected +notes and reference books for his material must be able to make valuable +use of an assistant in a variety of ways.</p> + +<p>Why should she not take him at his word? Well, she would think of it. +And meanwhile—suddenly—the black mood was gone!</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">105</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2><h3>STUART OBJECTS</h3> +</div> + +<p>That night, after Mr. Jefferson's unexpected proposal that she should +assist him in his literary work, Georgiana, running out upon an errand +in the business part of the village, encountered James Stuart. This had +been a not infrequent happening in days past, but since Jeannette's +arrival it had not once occurred. Stuart was much at the house, but not +for a fortnight had Georgiana had ten minutes alone with him.</p> + +<p>That he welcomed the chance as well as she was evident from his first +word: "Great luck! At last I get you to myself for half a wink without a +soul around. Where are you going? Wherever it is, you don't go back to +the house till you've given me what I want."</p> + +<p>"And what's that?" queried Georgiana.</p> + +<p>Her tone was cool in spite of herself. She had missed the almost daily +walks and talks with Stuart, glad as she had been to have him do his +effectual part in helping her entertain her guests. And there had been, +as she was obliged to confess to herself, a sense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">106</a></span> that if he had been +very anxious not to lose altogether her society he would have managed, +in spite of lack of ordinary opportunity, to bring about such meetings. +How much she could feel the absence of his companionship she had not +dreamed until she had been tried.</p> + +<p>After the friendly village fashion of intimate acquaintance he lightly +grasped her arm in its covering of the scarlet-lined military cape she +always wore on such walks, and turned her from her course toward a side +street leading away, instead of toward, the centre she had been +approaching. She protested, but he was laughingly determined and she +yielded. It was good, undeniably good, to have Jimps by her side again, +and hear his voice in his old eagerly devoted tones in her ear. That he +was really overjoyed at coming upon her in a free hour it was impossible +to doubt.</p> + +<p>"My word! George, but you've kept me on short rations lately," he began +accusingly. "One would think you had suddenly put me on a diet list. +Nothing but sweets, contrary to the usual prohibitions of the medical +men for the husky male! Do you think I have no appetite for the good +substantial food? Parties and drives and candy-pulls, always with the +lovely guest, and never an old-time hobnob with my chum! What's the +matter with you, George? What have I done?"</p> + +<p>"But such sweets! And so soon they will be gone,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">107</a></span> and nothing for the +hungry youth but plain bread and butter. How absurd of you to complain!"</p> + +<p>"Bread and butter! Beefsteak and mushrooms, you mean; roast turkey and +cranberry sauce! A fellow can live on them. But not on eternal honey and +fudge—with my apologies to the lady."</p> + +<p>"I should say so, Jimps. You're outrageous, and you don't mean it. I +wouldn't walk another step with you if you did."</p> + +<p>"She's undoubtedly the sweetest thing on earth," admitted Stuart. "There +are times when I think I'd like to ask her to marry me on the spot—if +she'd have me, which she wouldn't—me, a farmer! She dazzles me, +bewitches me, makes me all but lose my head. And then I look at my chum, +the girl I've known all my life, and I think—well, sugar is all right, +but you can't get on without salt—and pepper—and ginger—and——"</p> + +<p>"Jimps!" In spite of herself Georgiana was laughing infectiously, and +Stuart joined her. "How absolutely ridiculous! I sound like a whole +spice box, and nothing but the 'bitey' spices at that."</p> + +<p>"That's what you are," declared James Stuart contentedly. "And when I'm +with you I have no hankering after sugar. Mustard plasters for me; +they're warming."</p> + +<p>They walked on, the spirit of good fellowship keeping step with them. If +Georgiana had allowed herself to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">108</a></span> believe that Stuart was completely +absorbed with the enchantments of the beautiful guest, she now +discovered that, quite as he had said, the enchantment was by no means +complete and he had not lost appreciation of the old friendship and what +it meant to him. This was good to feel. It was all she wanted. If she +had been guilty of a creeping sense of jealousy as she watched Stuart +and Jeannette together, so evidently enjoying each other's society to +the full, it was because it made her suddenly and unpleasantly +understand what it would be to her to live her days in this commonplace +little village without Stuart at her right hand. But here he was, +literally at her right hand, and he was making her walk with him, not a +beggarly square or two out of her way, but a good three miles around a +certain course which once entered upon could not be cut short by any +crossroads. And all the way he was telling her, as he had always done, +all manner of intimate things about his affairs, and asking her of hers.</p> + +<p>Before the circuit had been made Georgiana had done that which an hour +before she would have thought far from her intention, natural as such a +procedure would have been a month ago, before Jeannette came—she had +told Stuart of Mr. Jefferson's offer. If the truth must be confessed, +after suffering the mood which had only lately been dissipated, she +could not resist producing the effect she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">109</a></span> knew, if Jimps were still +Jimps, was bound to be produced. Such is woman!</p> + +<p>Quite as she had foreseen, he was aroused on the instant. The generous +sharing of Georgiana Warne with other aspirants for her favour had never +been one of James Stuart's characteristics, open-hearted though he was +in every other way. He stopped short in the snowy path, regarding her +sternly while she smiled in the darkness. This was balm for a heavy +heart, indeed, this recognition she had of his disapproval even before +he jerked out the quick words:</p> + +<p>"Great Scott! You don't mean to tell me you'd do it! Spend hours every +day working with E. C. Jefferson? Not a bit of it. Not so you'd notice +it! Tell him to go to thunder!"</p> + +<p>"James McKenzie Stuart! What a tone to take! Why on earth should you +object?" Georgiana's tone was rich and sweet and astonished—it +certainly sounded astonished.</p> + +<p>"Because you're my chum, my partner; and I won't have you going into +partnership with any other man—not much!"</p> + +<p>"Partnership! Secretaries and stenographers aren't partners——"</p> + +<p>"Aren't they, though! The most intimate sort. And a fellow like +Jefferson, full of books and literary lore—he'd be breaking off work +half his time to talk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">110</a></span> Montaigne and Samuel Johnson and—and Bernard +Shaw with you. And you'd drink it all in with those eyes of yours and +make him think——" Georgiana's uncontrollable laughter halted but did +not stop him. "What's his work, anyhow? Writing a History of Art?" +growled Stuart, marching on, with Georgiana beside him bursting into +fresh mirth with every step. Her heart was quite light enough now; no +danger that she had lost her friend!</p> + +<p>"I've no idea what it is, but it's certainly not that. He seldom speaks +of art in any form—except literary art, of course. I've an idea it's +scientific research of some sort."</p> + +<p>"Then why isn't he in a laboratory somewhere, boiling acids? Why isn't +he digging in city libraries or hunting scientific stuff over in Vienna? +Vienna's the place for him. I wish him there fast enough," irritably +continued this asperser of other men's vocations.</p> + +<p>"His research work has undoubtedly been done; he has pile upon pile of +notebooks and papers on file. His handwriting is a fright; that's +probably what he wants me for—to make it legible to the printer."</p> + +<p>"Let him send for a typist then; that's what he needs if he writes an +illegible fist. You can't typewrite."</p> + +<p>"I could learn, if necessary. I've often wished I could."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">111</a></span></p> + +<p>"You could learn! Yes, you could learn to come when E. C. Jefferson +whistled, I've no doubt! Oh, I beg your pardon, George—you needn't turn +away. Nobody could ever fancy you coming at any man's whistle. I'm just +seeing red, that's all, at the thought of your going into a thing like +this, that's bound to throw you two into the closest sort of relations."</p> + +<p>"That's all nonsense, Jimps. You're behaving like a little boy. And you +know I can't afford to lose a chance like this. You know how slow the +rug-weaving is——"</p> + +<p>"You don't mean you're still at that?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I am. The prices are very good now, and I'm——"</p> + +<p>"Then you certainly can't lose them to go into copying manuscript by +hand. Stick to the weaving; that's my advice."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jefferson saw the loom to-day. He thinks it too hard work for me," +suggested Georgiana slyly.</p> + +<p>This was a telling shot, for Stuart had often expressed himself in +similar fashion in the past. As was to have been expected, her companion +became instantly more nettled than ever.</p> + +<p>"Oh, he does, does he?" he said hotly. "I'd like to know what affair it +is of his. You know well enough I've protested scores of times against +that weaving——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">112</a></span></p> + +<p>"And now you tell me to stick to it!"</p> + +<p>He wheeled upon her. His tone changed: "George, I know I'm absolutely +unreasonable. Of course I don't want you pulling that back-breaking +thing. I don't want you to have to hustle for money any sort of way; +that's the truth. What I do want is—to keep you away from every other +earthly beggar but myself!"</p> + +<p>"O James Stuart, how absurd! That's not a brotherly attitude at all."</p> + +<p>"The role of brother isn't always entirely satisfying," retorted Stuart +under his breath. "You know well enough you've only to say the word and +I——"</p> + +<p>"Jimps dear"—Georgiana's voice was very gentle now—"remember we've +left all that boy-and-girl sentimentalizing behind. It was quite settled +long ago that you and I were to be brother and sister, 'world without +end.' And I know you mean it as brotherly, all this fuss about my taking +a bit of perfectly reasonable employment for just a little while."</p> + +<p>"Little while? Do you know how long he expects to be at work on that +confounded book?"</p> + +<p>"No; do you?"</p> + +<p>"He told me one night when we were smoking together that he had given +himself a year to do this work in. He came in January; this is April. +Do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">113</a></span> you wonder I'm a bit upset at the notion of my best friend's going +into harness with him for a year?" Stuart's tone was grim.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, now in wild spirits with the relief from her fears, and the +suddenly opening prospect of a long period of such work as she dearly +loved, had some ado to keep her state of mind from showing. "It doesn't +follow," she said, outwardly sober, "that he intends to spend that whole +year here."</p> + +<p>"He will—if he gets you for a side partner. A man would be a fool not +to."</p> + +<p>"That's a great tribute—from a brother," admitted Georgiana, smiling to +herself. "But as far as our lodger is concerned, you need have no fear +of any but the most businesslike relations, even though I worked beside +him—as is quite improbable—for a year. He's not that sort."</p> + +<p>"Not what sort? Don't you fool yourself. He's human, if his mind is bent +on writing a book. And you are—Georgiana!"</p> + +<p>"Jimps, there's a path in your brain that's getting worn too deep +to-night. Come—let's hurry home. Jeannette will wonder what's become of +me."</p> + +<p>"Let her wonder. George, are you going to do this thing?"</p> + +<p>"Of course I am."</p> + +<p>"No matter how I feel about it?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">114</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, Jimps—really, do you think you have any right——"</p> + +<p>"Georgiana, I—love you!"</p> + +<p>"No, Jimps, you don't. Not so much as all that. You have a brotherly +affection——"</p> + +<p>"Brotherly affection doesn't hurt; this does," was Stuart's declaration.</p> + +<p>"No, it doesn't, my dear boy. You're just made with a queer sort of +jealous element in your composition, and when something happens to call +it out you think it's—something quite different," explained Georgiana +rather lamely. "You know perfectly that you and I fit best as good +friends; we should be awfully unhappy tied up together in any way. Why, +we settled that long ago, as I reminded you just now."</p> + +<p>"It seems to have come unsettled," Stuart muttered.</p> + +<p>"Then we must settle it again. Truly—you mean everything to me as a +brother, friend, chum—whichever you like, and I—well, I should feel +pretty badly to lose you. But——"</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd leave it there. I don't fancy what you're going on to +say."</p> + +<p>"Then I'll not say it. Come, Jimps, give me your hand on the old +compact."</p> + +<p>"I will—on exactly one condition." Stuart stood still and faced her in +a certain secluded spot just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">115</a></span> where the snowy path was on the point of +turning into a wider, well-used thoroughfare.</p> + +<p>"What is it? Make it a fair one."</p> + +<p>"It is fair—the fairest between a man and a woman. It's this: leave the +'never-never' clause out. I'll agree to any terms of friendship you +insist on if—well, just leave me a chance, will you—dear?"</p> + +<p>There was a brief silence while Georgiana considered. She had not +expected this, certainly not just now, when her long-time friend frankly +admitted the drawing power of the winsome visitor. As she had implied, +there had been between them, in the days of dawning maturity while they +were yet in school together, certain youthfully tender vows which they +had later exchanged for the more carefully considered terms of the warm +but less sentimental friendship which had now existed for some years. +That Stuart was really dearer to her, more a necessary part of her life +than she had realized, had been made disconcertingly clear to her by the +totally unexpected pangs she had suffered during the last fortnight, +when it had seemed to her that she was likely to lose the fine fervor of +his devotion. Now, however, that she was assured of his intense loyalty, +she was the old Georgiana again, ready to stand beside her friend to the +last ditch, if need be, but wholly unwilling to bind herself to his +chariot wheels while no ditches threatened.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">116</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Never' is a big word," she said finally. "It isn't best to say 'never' +about anything in this life."</p> + +<p>"Then you won't ask me to say it?" His voice was eager.</p> + +<p>"Not if you don't want to, Jimps."</p> + +<p>"I don't. There was never anything surer than that. Give me your +hand—chum."</p> + +<p>She gave it. "All right—chum."</p> + +<p>He had pulled off his own glove; he now gently drew off hers, and the +two warm hands clasped. "Here's our everlasting friendship," he said, +with a little thrill in his low voice. "Nothing shall come between us +except—love."</p> + +<p>"Jimps! That's not the old compact at all."</p> + +<p>"It's the new one then. Isn't it sufficiently ambiguous to suit you?"</p> + +<p>"It's much too ambiguous."</p> + +<p>"I can make it plainer——"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'd better leave it as it is," she admitted, recognizing +danger.</p> + +<p>"As you say."</p> + +<p>He held her hand for a minute in such a close grasp that it hurt her, +but she did not wince. Ah! if she might just have this pleasantly +satisfying relation with the man whose presence in her life meant warmth +and light and even happiness on the hard road of everyday routine, and +then have somehow besides<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">117</a></span> the contentment which comes of accomplishment +along a line of chosen activity—and still remain free for whatever God +in heaven might send her of real joy, she could ask no better.</p> + +<p>"Jimps, I'm perfectly contented," she said radiantly, as they walked on.</p> + +<p>"That's good. I wish I were."</p> + +<p>"What would make you?"</p> + +<p>"Your promise to earn your money making rugs—with me to help you."</p> + +<p>"But you couldn't!"</p> + +<p>"I could learn."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how absurd! You haven't time, if there were no other reason."</p> + +<p>He did not answer, and, since they were now back in the village and +nearing the object of Georgiana's errand, no more was said until they +were once again on their way homeward. They walked in silence until they +reached the very doorstep of the manse. Then Stuart made one more +protest.</p> + +<p>"Not even to please me, George?" he asked, as she stood on the step +above him, leading the way in to Jeannette and the warm fireside.</p> + +<p>"Jimps, I'm sorry you feel that way about it. But I've talked with +Father Davy and he agrees that it's a godsend. There's no reason in the +world I could give Mr. Jefferson for refusing to help him when he needs +it, and when I need it, too. Therefore—I'm<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">118</a></span> sorry, Jimps, since you are +so strange as to care—but I've made up my mind."</p> + +<p>"You'll excuse me if I don't come in to-night," he said, and turned +away.</p> + +<p>She stood looking comprehendingly after him as he left her, then ran in +and closed the door. The mood which held her now was so far from being +black that it was rosy red.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">119</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2><h3>BORROWED PLUMES</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Uncle David, I was never so sorry to come to the end of any visit as I +am this one," said Jeannette Crofton. She was holding Mr. Warne's frail +hand in both her own, and looking straight into the young gray-blue eyes +which looked affectionately back at her. She was dressed for her +departure, and the great closed town car which had brought her was +waiting at the door.</p> + +<p>Near her stood Georgiana and James McKenzie Stuart. Mr. E.C. Jefferson +had just appeared in the background, come to bid the guest farewell.</p> + +<p>"You have given us much pleasure, my dear," responded Mr. Warne, "and if +you have received it as well, the balance is pretty evenly struck."</p> + +<p>"I might have stayed two days longer," declared Jeannette with evident +longing, "if it hadn't been for that sister of mine. I'm sure she could +have had a birthday dance without me—but no! How I wish I were taking +you all with me—even you, Mr. Jefferson," she added with one of her +adorable smiles, as she turned to him; "you, whom I can't possibly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">120</a></span> +imagine caring to dance a step, not even with the prettiest girl I could +find for you."</p> + +<p>"You almost make me wish I knew how to dance a step," said Mr. +Jefferson, advancing to take her hand. "As it is, I can at least wish +that prettiest girl a partner worthy of her grace."</p> + +<p>"While I am wishing," exclaimed Jeannette with characteristic +impulsiveness, "why in the world don't I bring about my own wishes? Oh, +where have my wits been! Georgiana, darling, run and dress and go with +me! I'll send you back to-morrow in the car. And you, too, Mr. Stuart! +Oh, come, both of you, and dance at Rosalie's birthday fête to-night! +Please—please do!" She turned to Mr. Warne. "Mayn't she, Uncle David? +Couldn't you manage to spare her just for twenty-four hours?"</p> + +<p>They looked at one another, smiling, hardly believing that the gay +suggestion was a serious one.</p> + +<p>But by Jeannette, accustomed to having her own way once a way had +occurred to her, all objections were thrust aside. "Oh, but you must +come!" she cried. "I'll not take no!"</p> + +<p>"Come and talk it over a minute with me, crazy child," bade Georgiana; +and she drew her cousin out of the room, where she could state the great +difficulty which, being a woman, had instantly assailed her. "Jean, I +hate to quash such a glorious idea, but—I shall have to be +frank—clothes!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">121</a></span></p> + +<p>"With loads of frocks hanging in my wardrobe at home? And half of them +too trying for me to wear at all, while they would suit you perfectly. +Nonsense! Oh, hurry and make ready. James Stuart will go if you will; I +saw it in his eyes."</p> + +<p>It could not be refused, this tempting invitation, with such a lovely +tyrant to enforce her will. One word, however, did James Stuart and +Georgiana Warne exchange in a corner before they capitulated.</p> + +<p>"George, my evening togs—they've been put away for the four years since +I left college. They must be about the most hopelessly ancient cut +conceivable to eyes like hers. Shall I risk looking like a rustic in +such a house as that?" But Stuart's eyes were eager as a boy's.</p> + +<p>"I'll not go if you won't, Jimps. As for rusticity, I can keep you +company. Can you bear to lose such a frolic? I can't."</p> + +<p>"Neither can I, hang it! All right, I'll be a sport if you will," agreed +Stuart with a laugh, and rushed away to pack a bag in short order, all +the zest of irrepressible youth, in one who had been forced by +circumstance to foreswear most of the joys of youth for stern labour, +coming uppermost to bid him make merry once more at any cost of after +fall of spirits.</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness I've had the sense always to keep the latest of +Jeannette's 'Semi-Annual' tailored<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">122</a></span> suits pressed and trim," thought +Georgiana as she dressed. "This is a year behind the extreme style, but +I know perfectly well I look absolutely all right in it, and my hat, +having once been hers, is mighty becoming and smart, if it is a +make-over. It's lucky I can do those things; that's one benefit of going +to college, anyhow."</p> + +<p>A few other "make-overs" in the way of dress accessories, all of +exquisite material, on account of their source, and daintily preserved +because of their frailty after having served two owners, went into her +traveling bag. For the dance itself, since there was no other way, she +was not loath to accept Jeannette's generous offer, and, being a very +human creature, could not help looking forward with delight to the +prospect of finding herself arrayed in such apparel as would +successfully sustain any scrutiny which might be brought to bear upon +the country cousin. As for Stuart, she had no fears for him, for his +years of college life had made him an acceptable figure upon any +occasion, and she was confident his broad shoulders and fine carriage +could atone for any slightly antique cut of lapel or coat-tail.</p> + +<p>Altogether, it was a very happy young person who embraced Mr. David +Warne, shook hands with Mr. Jefferson, and ran down the path to the +great car in the wake of Jeannette, and followed by James Stuart looking +extremely personable. Well-cut<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">123</a></span> clothes were the one extravagance Stuart +allowed himself now that he was immured for at least the early half of +his life, as he expected, upon the farm of his inheritance.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, I'm glad to have my little girl run away for a few hours," +said Father Davy, from the window where, with Mr. Jefferson at his +shoulder, he stood watching for the final wave of Georgiana's hand. "She +has enjoyed her cousin's visit, but it has meant considerable extra +labour for her. This seems a fitting return for Jeannette to make."</p> + +<p>"One can hardly blame Miss Crofton for wanting to prolong her enjoyment +of your daughter's society," observed Mr. Jefferson, his eyes watching +closely the laughing faces behind the glass as the travelers settled +themselves. "I can imagine one's feeling a very decided emptiness in a +place which she had left."</p> + +<p>"There, they're off!" announced Mr. Warne, waving his slender arm with +eagerness, his delicate features alight with pleasure in this unexpected +happening. "Emptiness, you say, Jefferson?" he added as the two turned +away, with the car out of sight down the snowy road. "That quite +expresses it. Even for a few hours I am conscious of a distinct sense of +loneliness without Georgiana. Her personality is one which makes itself +felt; it has individuality, audacity; even—I think—that curious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">124</a></span> +quality which for want of a better name we call 'charm.' Am I too +prejudiced?"</p> + +<p>He placed himself upon his couch, plainly very weary with the flurry of +the last hour. He lay looking up at Mr. Jefferson, who had lingered a +little before going back to the work which loudly called to him. It was +quite possible for the younger man to comprehend how desolate was the +gentle invalid's feeling at being left, if only for a day and a night, +in the care of the friendly neighbour who was to minister to his needs +and who was already to be heard bustling about the dining-room, laying +the table for the coming meal.</p> + +<p>"You may be prejudiced," admitted his companion, "but it is a prejudice +which can be readily forgiven—and even shared," he added, smiling.</p> + +<p>"Her cousin," pursued Mr. Warne slowly, "would outshine her in beauty +and in sweetness of disposition, perhaps, though I doubt if Jeannette +has ever had a fraction of the tests of character and endurance my girl +has had."</p> + +<p>"She surely never has," agreed the other. "And as for mere sweetness of +disposition, there are other qualities which make their own appeal."</p> + +<p>A whimsical smile appeared upon the pale face resting against one of +Georgiana's crimson couch pillows. "How she would make me signals of +distress and warning," he mused, "if she could hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">125</a></span> me carrying on an +antiphonal service in her praise with our lodger, who, she would +consider, knows her not at all. Well, well——</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em"> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"'Man, she is mine own,</span><br /> +And I as rich in having such a jewel,<br /> +As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl,<br /> +The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>You'll forgive an old man's romanticism, Mr. Jefferson, I hope?"</p> + +<p>"You are one of the youngest men I know. And if you may quote +Shakespeare to your purpose, I may quote good old Doctor Holmes," said +Mr. Jefferson, drawing the pillow into an easier position as he spoke:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em"> +"'He doth not lack an almanac<br /> +Whose youth is in his soul.'"<br /> +</p> + +<p>To Georgiana Warne, a year out of college, and during that year having +sorely missed the many gayeties of the life she had known for four happy +years, the present experience was delightful. She enjoyed every minute +of the swift drive over the sixty miles to her cousin's home, enjoyed +the arrival there, the meeting with the family and their house guests +assembled for afternoon tea, the installment in a luxuriously furnished +room where Jeannette presently brought her an armful of gowns to choose +from for the evening. A small dinner was to precede<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">126</a></span> the dance, and all +sorts of scheming for Georgiana's pleasure had been fermenting in +Jeannette's brain on the way home.</p> + +<p>"I've arranged with Rosalie to put you next her special prize—the most +wonderful man she knows. All her set are crazy over him, though he +belongs in ours fast enough. It's Miles Channing, just home after a +year's travel, and as good looking as any illustrator ever drew. You see +you simply must be your most brilliant self. And here's the way to do +it—wear this!"</p> + +<p>She held up before Georgiana's disconcerted gaze such a marvel of colour +and cunning as brought a gasp of astonishment and a quick denial: "Oh, +my dear! Not that—for me. It's bad enough to wear your things at all, +but don't give me something that will make everybody look at me, like +that!"</p> + +<p>"That's precisely what I want," laughed Jeannette. "And this is a thing +I haven't ventured to wear and never shall, though I'm wild to do it. +But I couldn't carry it off; you can. Those orange shades will be +glorious with your eyes and hair. Besides, as for making you conspicuous +above the rest, on account of any gorgeousness of colour or eccentricity +of style, it simply can't be done these days. So put this on and see for +yourself. You needn't wear it, of course, if you don't like it; but you +will."</p> + +<p>Reluctantly Georgiana allowed a slim French maid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">127</a></span> to slip the marvel of +her country's art over the bared shoulders, and the next minute she was +staring at herself in a long mirror, while Susette clasped her hands, +and gay young Rosalie, passing the door at the moment and summoned to +the private view, cried joyously:</p> + +<p>"Oh, Georgiana, you're perfectly stunning! Of course you must wear it, +and you'll be the star of the evening."</p> + +<p>Rosalie rushed on, having settled the questions out of hand, after the +manner of the youthful. Jeannette was laughing as she called her mother +in to confirm the decision.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crofton, languidly interested, surveyed her niece with approval. +She was an impressive lady, was Aunt Olivia, and was accustomed to have +her opinion carry weight. "It suits you, my dear," was her verdict. +"Those who can wear such daring effects should do it, for every scene +needs points of light and intensity."</p> + +<p>"And these other frocks," Jeannette declared, pointing to them where +Susette had spread them out upon the bed, "are just colourless baby +things that anybody can wear."</p> + +<p>"They look exquisite to me," regretted Georgiana, eying them wistfully.</p> + +<p>Somehow, now that she was here, she did not so much enjoy the thought of +appearing in borrowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">128</a></span> finery, and, since it must be done, would have +preferred the simplest white frock in Jeannette's wardrobe. But this was +not to be without displeasing her hostesses, and she reluctantly +submitted. Susette begged leave to arrange her hair, Jeannette hunted +out silk stockings and slippers to match the frock, and Rosalie +contributed the long white gloves which completed the costuming.</p> + +<p>When Georgiana was ready to descend she took one last look at the girl +in the long mirror, and turned to Jeannette, herself a picture in the +delicate colourings which she affected and which set off her golden +beauty. "I feel like the old woman in the nursery song," she said, +"doubtful of my identity."</p> + +<p>"But you must admit you're simply glorious," cried Jeannette. "I knew +you were a beauty, but I didn't know you were such a raving one as +this."</p> + +<p>"I'm no beauty," denied Georgiana with spirit. "It's just the clothes. +But you—I never saw anything so enchanting as you to-night."</p> + +<p>"Delightful! I'm so glad, for—there's somebody I want to enchant. Come +on," and Jeannette led the way.</p> + +<p>At the foot of the great staircase, about a wide fireplace, Georgiana +saw James Stuart with a group of other young men, and noted swiftly that +there was no too-striking contrast to be noted between her friend and +his faultlessly attired companions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">129</a></span> except that his face and hands wore +a deeper coat of winter tan than theirs, and he looked stronger and more +virile than any of them. And even in his outdoor colouring, there was +among them one who rivalled him, the one who, as Georgiana instantly +guessed, was the lately arrived traveler. A moment later she met +Stuart's eyes and saw his look of astonishment as he gazed at her.</p> + +<p>Presently, when those whom she had not already met had been made known +to her, she found Stuart at her elbow. "Am I dreaming?" said his voice +in her ear, "or is this my chum? I'm almost afraid to speak to you!"</p> + +<p>"You look awfully nice, Jimps," she returned under her breath. "Yes, +isn't it absurd for me to be peacocking like this? But they made me do +it."</p> + +<p>"You take my breath away."</p> + +<p>"Look at Jean," she whispered. "Isn't she the loveliest thing you ever +saw in your life?"</p> + +<p>He looked. "You and she are a pair," he admitted.</p> + +<p>Jeannette came up to them with the tall traveler, and Georgiana found +herself looking up into a pair of dark eyes whose glance told her that +their owner found her worth studying intently. Miles Channing was of the +sort who waste no time in preliminaries. By the time she had sat out +half the dinner by his side she felt as if she had been under fire for +hours.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">130</a></span> All her youth and wit responded to his sallies, and she enjoyed +the encounter as keenly as a girl might be expected to do, who for a +year had seen no men but the slow village swains—always excepting James +Stuart, who was her one reliance in time of famine.</p> + +<p>Channing made no attempt to disguise his preoccupation with the most +attractive of the few strangers in the set of young people whom he had +known for years. Between the dinner and the dance, Jeannette, who had +been observing without seeming to observe, dropped a word in Georgiana's +ear:</p> + +<p>"You've done it, dear. I never saw him lose his head so completely. +You'll have to be careful or you'll have all the girls down on you. +They're crazy over him, you know—including Rosalie."</p> + +<p>"Absurd! I shall never see him again, so what does it matter?" retorted +Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"Don't be too sure of that. Nothing can stop him when he's interested. +And you know you are a witch to-night; anybody would be caught in your +snare. I didn't know you were such a clever thing at the game, though I +might have guessed it."</p> + +<p>"If I weren't, I might take lessons of you," Georgiana gave back. "You +have Jimps slightly delirious, I can see. Is he the one you wanted to +enchant? I'm sure you've done it."</p> + +<p>"Isn't he splendid? He looks so much stronger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">131</a></span> and more interesting than +half these boys I've known all my life. I do want him to have a good +time."</p> + +<p>"He's having it."</p> + +<p>Georgiana was sure of this, but she was having so good a time herself +she didn't mind. More than once she had caught Stuart's eyes across the +table, and had noted how they were sparkling. The glance the two +exchanged might have been interpreted to mean: "Fun, isn't it? You play +up to your opportunities and so will I. This won't happen again in our +lives, perhaps."</p> + +<p>Presently the dancing began, in great rooms cleared for the purpose and +decorated with every art of the florist. The music was all of a quality +more perfect than any Georgiana had ever heard, and the strains which +assailed her ears made her wild to dance to every note. She was besieged +by invitations.</p> + +<p>"But I haven't danced for more than a year, and I don't know one of the +latest steps," she said regretfully.</p> + +<p>"We'll soon remedy that," promised Chester Crofton, her cousin, who +carried her off into an unoccupied room, where the music could yet be +heard, and proceeded to teach her. She was easily taught, having all the +foundations after four years of practice among college girls, and she +was soon able to go upon the floor with young Crofton and the rest.</p> + +<p>Miles Channing did not dance, but after watching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">132</a></span> for a time—while +Georgiana was acutely conscious that his eyes constantly followed +her—he claimed and bore her off before others could prevent. In a +palm-shadowed corner well removed from observation he drew a long breath +of content and settled down beside her.</p> + +<p>"I hope you will not be too much bored at missing a round or two," he +began in the slightly drawling speech which was somehow one of his +charms, it was so curiously accompanied by his intent observation. "I +haven't danced for so long I can't venture to attempt it, especially +with you."</p> + +<p>"I should be the most patient of partners, I'm so unaccomplished +myself," declared Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless I shouldn't want to try you. You dance like a sylph, I +like an elephant."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it."</p> + +<p>"You do grudge sitting out, then, do you?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit."</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't really matter if you did, for I intend to hold my advantage +now I have it. I care more to talk with you than for all the dances on +the program. And the time is so short I must make the most of it. You go +back to-morrow, I understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed."</p> + +<p>"And you'll not be here soon again?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">133</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't expect to. I'm a very busy person at home and can seldom be +spared."</p> + +<p>"That means that whoever wants to know you must come to your home?"</p> + +<p>Georgiana felt her pulse beats quickening. This was certainly losing no +time. She assented to the interrogation, explaining that her father was +an invalid and she was his housekeeper. She felt no temptation to +represent things to Mr. Channing as other than they were. It was somehow +an atonement for appearing in her borrowed attire that she should not +allow appearances to deceive this new acquaintance into thinking her +home the counterpart of her cousin's. The news did not appear in the +least to disconcert him.</p> + +<p>"I should like very much to meet your father," Channing said; and +Georgiana liked him for taking the trouble to put it in that way. He +instantly added: "And I should like still more to see you in your own +home. May I have that pleasure?"</p> + +<p>"We shall be very glad to see you," she promised, careful of her manner.</p> + +<p>"No matter how soon I come?"</p> + +<p>"I suppose you will allow me to reach home first?" she questioned gayly.</p> + +<p>"Barely. This is Wednesday night. You go home to-morrow—Thursday. May I +come Saturday?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">134</a></span></p> + +<p>"You have been living on railway schedules so long you have acquired the +habit," she gave back with slightly heightened colour. In the course of +her experience she had seen more than one young man change his plans +after encountering her, but she had never known one to form new ones as +quickly as this.</p> + +<p>"I have discovered that when one wants to reach a place very much, he +can't start too soon," he said very low, with such obvious meaning that +she had some difficulty in keeping her cool composure. It was not only +his words, but his looks and manner which spoke. She had never dreamed +that outside of stories men ever really did begin to fire on sight, like +this.</p> + +<p>The matter settled, Channing began to talk of other things, but through +all his speech and acts ran the visible thread of his instant and +powerful attraction to her, so that she was conscious of the colour of +it. By the time two dances had gone by and she was sought and found by +an eager claimant, the girl was quite ready to get away from this new +and decidedly disturbing experience. And when, a little later, she +allowed James Stuart to try one of the new steps with her, she had a +comfortable sense of having got back upon known and solid ground, after +having been swimming in a too-swift current.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">135</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2><h3>EARLY MORNING</h3> +</div> + +<p>"You've no idea, Jimpsy," Georgiana said, when she and James Stuart had +assured themselves that they were able to suit their steps to each other +and were moving smoothly down the floor, "how glad I am to be with some +one I know, for a bit."</p> + +<p>"Only some one? Not particularly me?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, particularly you. My brain needs a little rest."</p> + +<p>"There's a compliment for an old friend! But I didn't suppose dancing +tired the brain. It's my feet that have bothered me. I've walked all +over Jeannette's little toes, but she's perfectly game and won't admit +it."</p> + +<p>"I thought you and she were getting on beautifully together."</p> + +<p>"So we were. I couldn't see how you and Channing got on together, +because you went off and hid somewhere. That's not fair with a perfectly +new acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"Didn't you and Jeannette go off and hide somewhere?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">136</a></span></p> + +<p>"We're not new acquaintances."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed! How old ones are you?"</p> + +<p>"A month is a long time compared with one short evening. I never knew, +George, you were such a terrific charmer. You've had them all nailed +to-night; and as for Channing—well—— Only I suppose he's a shark at +the game himself. He shows it. Better look out."</p> + +<p>"What an excellent opportunity a dance is for old friends to give each +other good advice." Georgiana smiled up into his eyes.</p> + +<p>He closed his own for an instant. "Don't do that; it dazzles me."</p> + +<p>"Nonsense. You're learning the game yourself. Jeannette's been teaching +you. We're all finding each other out to-night. I had no idea she could +sparkle so."</p> + +<p>"You're the sparkler. She simply glows with a steady light."</p> + +<p>"Well, I like that!"</p> + +<p>"You like everything to-night. You remind me of a peach—on fire."</p> + +<p>"Jimps!" Georgiana's soft laughter assailed his ear. "I believe we're +both a bit crazy with this sudden leap into dissipation—such +dissipation! Just remember where we'll be to-morrow night."</p> + +<p>"I don't want to—except that I'll be with you. We'll talk it all over +by your fire, eh?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">137</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course. There'll be that much left, anyhow. Is this over? Thank you, +Jimps, for the best dance I've had to-night."</p> + +<p>"No use trying it on me," he murmured as he released her. "What's the +use of capturing what you've already got?"</p> + +<p>By and by it was all over and Georgiana was mounting the stairs with +Jeannette, smiling back at certain faces in the disordered spaces below, +where flowers lay about the floors and a group of young fellows, +belonging to Rosalie's house party, were making merry before they broke +ranks.</p> + +<p>In Jeannette's room by a blazing fire the girls held brief session, +sitting with unbound hair and swinging slippered feet, and cheeks still +flushed with the night's gayety.</p> + +<p>"Jimps and I were imagining ourselves sitting by the fire in our old +living-room to-morrow night," said Georgiana softly, staring into the +flame with eyes which reflected little points of light. "It will seem +like a dream then, but we shall talk it all over, and remember what fun +we had, and how lovely everybody was to us—and how beautiful you were +in that blue-and-silver frock."</p> + +<p>"You dear thing, you ought to have such times often and often!" cried +Jeannette. "But—O Georgiana, you have times I envy you! While you are +dreaming of our flowers and music I shall be dreaming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">138</a></span> of the dear old +house, and the jolly evenings you gave me there, and envying you—oh, +envying you——"</p> + +<p>"Envying me! Are you crazy, child, or are you just——"</p> + +<p>"Just speaking the truth. You can't think how many times I shall think +of you sitting there with your three splendid men——"</p> + +<p>"Jean! What are you talking about?"</p> + +<p>"About Uncle David, and Jimps, and Mr. Jefferson——"</p> + +<p>"But they're not mine," protested Georgiana, laughing. "Except Father +Davy."</p> + +<p>"Not—Jimps?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course he's my friend, my very good friend. And Mr. Jefferson's +only a 'boarder,'"—she made a little grimace at the word. "You speak as +if I had them all about me all the time."</p> + +<p>"But you do evenings, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"They were there much more while you were visiting me than they will be +now. Jimps has heaps of arrears to make up; he let lots of work go while +you were there, you must know, my dear. As for Mr. Jefferson—he may +never come down any more, now that Jimps won't be going up to beg him to +make a fourth for your entertainment. So don't imagine me holding court +with those three retainers. It will mostly be just Father Davy and I +with a volume of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">139</a></span> Dumas or Kipling. Isn't it odd how my pale little +father loves the red blood of literature?"</p> + +<p>"Just the same——" but Jeannette did not finish that. She began afresh: +"And oh! how I shall miss you, George—as Jimps calls you. Somehow I +must have you before long for a real visit here, or wherever I may be +for the summer."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Jean; but I can never get away."</p> + +<p>"I'll arrange it somehow. That makes me think—Miles Channing was +dreadfully disappointed that you were going in the morning. I've no +doubt he will manage to see you off somehow. I think it's too bad of you +to insist on going before luncheon. Think how little sleep you'll have."</p> + +<p>She gave Georgiana a penetrating look as she said it, but saw only a +pair of beautiful bare arms thrown up over a mass of dark locks, as her +cousin, with a clever imitation of a half-smothered yawn, answered +merrily: "Then we must go to bed this minute or I shall never have +strength of mind to get up. And I can't leave Father Davy to the tender +mercies of Mrs. Perkins longer than I can help. She'll give him +everything that is bad for him, in spite of the best intentions."</p> + +<p>It was a wide-awake Georgiana, nevertheless, who, fully dressed for the +drive, leaned over Jeannette's bed at ten o'clock that morning and +kissed a warm velvet cheek, murmuring: "Don't wake up, Jean.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">140</a></span> We're just +off after breakfast. I'll write soon. You've been a perfect darling, and +I'm more grateful than I can tell you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'm dead to the world, I'm so tired!" moaned the girl in the bed. +"I always have to pay up so for dancing all night. But you,"—she lifted +languid eyelids to see her cousin's smiling freshness of face and air of +vigour—"why, you look as though you had had twelve hours' sleep—and a +cold plunge!"</p> + +<p>"I've had the cold plunge," admitted Georgiana, laughing. "And I'm 'fit +as a fiddle,' as Jimps says. He sent his good-bye to you and told me to +tell you he'll never forget you—never!"</p> + +<p>"Tell him I'll not let him forget me—or you, either. Oh, how I hate to +have you go, both of you!"</p> + +<p>Through a silent, sleeping house Georgiana and Stuart stole, the only +member of the family up to see them off being Mr. Thomas Crofton +himself, the oldest person under the great rooftree.</p> + +<p>"My dear, you must come again, you must come often," he urged, holding +Georgiana's hand and patting it with a paternal air. He was a handsome +man in the early sixties, with graying hair and tired eyes. "You have +done a great deal for our Jean; she looks much stronger than when she +went to your home. But neither she nor Rosalie can enter the race with +you for splendid health. That comes from your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">141</a></span> country life, I suppose. +I envy you, I envy you, my dear."</p> + +<p>"Come and see us, Uncle Thomas—do. Father Davy would be so happy; you +know he's such an invalid. But his mind and heart are as young as ever."</p> + +<p>"I will come; I will drive down some day, thank you, Georgiana. I should +like to see David again. Mr. Stuart, come again, come again. Good-bye; +sorry your aunt was too much done up to see you off this morning, my +dear. Good-bye."</p> + +<p>As the two emerged from the door a tall figure sprang up the steps. +"What luck! I was passing and I suspected you were just getting off. +Good morning! Can you possibly be the girl I saw dancing seven hours +ago?"</p> + +<p>"I don't wonder you ask, Mr. Channing," laughed Georgiana. "Evening +frocks and traveling clothes are quite different affairs."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but the traveling clothes are even the nicer of the two, when their +wearer looks——" Channing glanced at Stuart standing by. "Confound you, +sir!" said he, with a genial grin, shaking hands. "Since you're going to +drive all the way home with Miss Warne can't you give me the chance to +say something pleasant to her?"</p> + +<p>"You can't make it too strong to suit me," observed Stuart—and remained +within hearing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">142</a></span></p> + +<p>"Saturday, then, if I may," said Channing, looking as far into +Georgiana's eyes as he could see, which was not very far. She wore a +close little veil, which interfered with her eyelashes, and clearly she +could not lift her glance very high.</p> + +<p>Then they were off, with Channing waving farewell, his hat high in air. +A hand at another window also waved, and Georgiana knew Jeannette had +seen this last encounter.</p> + +<p>"Well, for sixteen hours' work," remarked James Stuart grimly, as the +car gathered headway and the house was left behind, "I should say you +had done some fairly deadly execution. Saturday, eh? Why does he delay +so long? Isn't to-morrow Friday—and a day sooner?"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">143</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2><h3>A COPYIST</h3> +</div> + +<p>The old study of David Warne was a square, austerely furnished room on +the second floor of the manse, opposite the sleeping-room now occupied +by Mr. Jefferson. It contained several plain bookcases, filled mostly +with worn old volumes in dingy yellow calf or faded cloth. An ancient +table served for a desk, with a splint-bottomed chair before it. On the +walls hung several portrait engravings, that of Abraham Lincoln +occupying the post of honour among them. The floor was covered with a +rag carpet of pleasantly dimmed colours, and an old Franklin stove, with +widely opening doors and a hearth with a brass rail, completed the +furnishing of the room.</p> + +<p>This was the place now swept and dusted and warmed for the joint labours +of the writer of books and his new assistant. Mr. Jefferson had moved +the materials of his craft to the new working quarters: he had brought +up wood for the fire and had made that fire himself, according to the +custom he had inaugurated soon after his arrival. The day<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">144</a></span> and hour for +the beginning of that which James Stuart insisted on designating as a +partnership had arrived. At ten o'clock that April morning, when +Georgiana's housework should have reached a stage when she could safely +leave it for a more or less extended period, the study door was to close +upon the two and shut them away undisturbed for the first details of +their affair in common.</p> + +<p>Georgiana had been up since before daybreak, planning and executing a +system which should make all this possible. Now, at a quarter before +ten, with all well in hand, she flew to her room for certain personal +touches which should transform her from housewife to secretary. Two +minutes before the clock struck she surveyed herself hurriedly in her +small mirror.</p> + +<p>"You really look very trim and demure," she remarked to her image. "Your +colour is a bit high, but that's exercise, not excitement. Still, you +are a little excited, you know, my dear, and you must be very careful +not to show it. It's a calm, cool, business person the gentleman wants, +George, not a blushing schoolgirl. It would spoil it at once if you +should look conscious or coquettish. So now—remember. And forget—for +the love of your new occupation—forget that Miles Channing is coming +again to-night—again, after one short week! What does it matter if he +is? Run along and be good!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">145</a></span></p> + +<p>Half a minute left in which to run downstairs, kiss Father Davy on his +white forehead, and receive his warm "Bless you, dear, and bless the new +work. May you be very happy in it!" and to walk quietly upstairs again +and knock at the door of the study. It opened under Mr. Jefferson's +hand, and to the cheerful sound of snapping wood on the open hearth of +the old Franklin stove he bade her enter.</p> + +<p>His smile was very pleasant, his steady eyes seemed to take note of +everything about her in one quick glance, as he said with a wave of his +hand: "Welcome to my workshop! You see I've swept up all the chips, but +we'll soon make more."</p> + +<p>"You manage to keep your workshop remarkably free from chips," she +commented. "You must have a great system of order."</p> + +<p>"Pretty fair. I should be hopelessly lost if I let this mass of material +become disordered. Will you take this chair? Must we begin at once or +may we talk a little first?"</p> + +<p>"I think we had better begin. You know there are just two free hours +before I must be back downstairs, if you are to eat, this noon."</p> + +<p>He laughed and she noted, as she had noted many times before, how young +he looked at such moments, grave as his face could be when in repose.</p> + +<p>"Very well," he agreed. "I have no doubt you will work at this task as +you do at the loom, with all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">146</a></span> your might, and I shall have to lengthen +my stride to keep up with you. But that promises well. One is likely to +fall into habits of soldiering when one works alone. You have no idea +how carefully I have to keep certain favourite books out of sight when I +want to accomplish big stretches of work. And in this room—hard +luck!—I see so many old treasures that I'm going to have a bit of +trouble in resisting temptation."</p> + +<p>His eyes led hers to the old bookcases. She nodded. "It's a shabby old +collection, but it's very dear to father's heart."</p> + +<p>"It well may be. Gibbon, Hume, Froude, Parton—Lamb, Johnson, +Carlyle—Hugo, Thackeray, Reade, and Trollope—Keats, Shelley, and the +rest. What matters the binding? Some time I must read you a passage in +good old Christopher North that appeals to me tremendously. No, not now, +Miss Warne; I see I must fall upon my task without delay or you will be +slipping away on the plea of bad faith on my part. Well——"</p> + +<p>He turned his chair toward the table and took up a notebook. His face +settled instantly into an expression of serious interest.</p> + +<p>"I am going to ask you first," said he, "to copy in order upon a fresh +sheet each reference which you find marked with a red cross, so that the +references may be all together. Be very exact, please, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">147</a></span> very +legible. German and French words are easily misread by the typist who +will put this work finally into copy for the printer."</p> + +<p>Georgiana, glancing at the first marked reference, found cause to credit +this statement, for it read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Cagnetto: Zur Frage der Anat. Beziehung zwischen Akromegalie u. +Hypophysistumor, Virchow's Archiv., 1904, clxxvi., 115. Neuer +Beitrag. f. Studium der Akromegalie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung +der Frage nach dem zusammenhang der Akromegalie mit +Hypophysenganggeschwulste, Virchow's Archiv., 1907, lxxxvi., 197. </p></div> + +<p>"It would be best to print the words as clearly as I can, wouldn't it?" +she suggested, suppressing her desire to laugh.</p> + +<p>"That depends on your handwriting. Try a line and let me see, please."</p> + +<p>When she had shown him a specimen of the peculiarly readable script +which she had cultivated in college, he signified his approval with a +hearty "Good! That's a splendid hand for work, the hand of a workman, in +fact. I congratulate myself. Go ahead with the jaw-breakers, only +verifying each reference before you leave it."</p> + +<p>Thus the new task began, and thus it continued day after day—not always +quite the same, for Georgiana soon recognized that her employer was +diversifying her labours as much as he consistently could by changing +the nature of the copying. Now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">148</a></span> and then he refreshed her endurance and +rested her tired hand by asking her to read aloud to him several just +finished pages of his own writing, walking the floor meanwhile or +sitting tipped back in his chair with closed eyes while he listened with +ears alert for error of statement or infelicity of phrase, and she +wondered at the character of the words she read.</p> + +<p>Of course she discovered at once what was the general subject of the +book. No essay was this, no work of fiction, no "history of art," as +Stuart had scornfully suggested. It could be only the sternest of +research and experience which dictated such sentences as these:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>The especial dangers to be contended with are that the ethmoid +cells may be mistaken for the sphenoids; that we may go too low and +enter the pons and medulla; that, laterally, we may enter the +cavernous sinus, and above, that we may injure the optic nerve. </p></div> + +<p>It was all more or less of a puzzle to her, but it was one which her +taskmaster never explained further than the revelations of each day +explained it. She understood that he was a scientist, that he +undoubtedly had been an operator in some surgical field or was putting +into shape the work of another in that field, but what he now was +besides a writer of technical books she had no manner of idea.</p> + +<p>"But I really enjoy it, Father Davy," she insisted, when she came down +to him one day with hotly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">149</a></span> flushed cheeks and shaking hand after a +particularly protracted siege of copying involved and incomprehensible +material. "It's monotonous in a way, but it's intensely interesting, +too. Mr. Jefferson is so absorbed in it, it's fun to watch him. To-day +he was as happy as a boy over a letter he had just received from a +Professor Somebody, a great authority in Vienna. It seemed it absolutely +confirmed some statement he had made in a monograph he wrote last year +which had been challenged by several scientists. The way he fell to +writing his next paragraph after he had read that letter made one +imagine he was writing it in his own heart's blood. He read it aloud to +me." She laughed appreciatively at the recollection.</p> + +<p>"Could you make anything of it?" inquired Mr. Warne with interest.</p> + +<p>"Not very much. It was about the pituitary body;—oh, I've come to have +a great awe of the pituitary body, it seems to be responsible for so +many things. He chuckled over it like a boy, and said to me, 'Forgive +these transports, Miss Warne, but this is food and drink to me. I wish I +could explain it to you so that you might rejoice over it with me. Some +day I will, when we are not so busy.' I hope he will. There's enough +that I do understand to make me interested."</p> + +<p>"I see you are—and rejoice, my Georgiana. Do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">150</a></span> you remember what Max +Müller says, echoed by many another, '<i>Work is life to me; and when I am +no longer able to work, life will be a heavy burden?</i>'"</p> + +<p>He smiled as he said it, but his daughter read the seldom-expressed +longing in the cheerful voice and laid her cheek for an instant against +his. "He's quite right. And you have your work, Father Davy, and you're +doing it all the time. I think you preach much more effectively now than +you did in the pulpit, even when you don't open your mouth. And when you +do open it angels couldn't compete with you!"</p> + +<p>They laughed softly together, though Mr. Warne shook his head. "It's a +curious thing," he mused, "that the weaker the body gets the harder does +the mind have to strive to master it. But, thank God—'<i>so fight I, not +as one that beateth the air</i>.'"</p> + +<p>"'Not as one that beateth the air,'" murmured the girl. "I should say +not, Father Davy. As one that delivereth hard blows on his own body, his +poor, tired body. Oh, if I had one tenth the self-control——"</p> + +<p>At which she ran away, as was quite like her, when emotion suddenly got +the better of her. The darkest cloud on this girl's life was the frail +tenure of her father's existence. The rest could be endured.</p> + +<p>The work in the upstairs study went steadily on, in spite of the fact +that James Stuart railed and that Miles Channing came at least once in +seven days, driving the sixty miles in a long, swiftly speeding car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">151</a></span> +which brought him to the door of the manse before the early May sunset, +and which took him back when the shadows lay black upon the silent road. +Two hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, Georgiana gave to the +rigid performance of the tasks Mr. Jefferson set her, while outside +below the windows at which she worked lay her garden, beloved of her +affection, beseeching her not to neglect it.</p> + +<p>It was hard sometimes not to betray how she longed to be outside, as she +wrote on and on, copying the often difficult and uninteresting language +of the more technical part of her employer's construction. And one +afternoon, lifting her eyes to let them dwell on a great budding purple +lilac tree, with the warm breath of the breeze which had drifted across +the apple orchard fanning her cheek, and all the notes of rioting spring +in her ears, she did draw in spite of herself one deep sigh of longing +which she instantly suppressed—too late.</p> + +<p>Her companion looked up quickly, noted the flush in the cheek and the +hint of a weary shadow under the dark eyes, and suddenly pushed aside +his paper. Then he drew it back, blotted it carefully, laid it with a +pile of others, and capped his pen. He wheeled about in his chair to +face his assistant.</p> + +<p>"Put down your work, please," he commanded gently; "precisely where you +are. Don't finish that sentence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">152</a></span></p> + +<p>Georgiana looked up, astonished. "Not finish the sentence?"</p> + +<p>"No. Did you never stop in the middle of a sentence?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I have. But I didn't suppose you ever did."</p> + +<p>"I don't. But I want you to. Please. That's right. You will know where +to start it again to-morrow."</p> + +<p>"To-morrow?" In spite of herself her eyes had lighted as a child's +might.</p> + +<p>"Even so. To-day we are going for a drive in all this beauty—if I can +find a horse and some kind of a vehicle, and you will go with me. It's +only three o'clock. We can have a long drive between now and the hour +when you invariably disappear to make magic for our appetites. How about +it?"</p> + +<p>"I can keep on perfectly well, you know," she said, with pen still +poised above her paper.</p> + +<p>"But I can't." He was smiling. "Now that the other plan has occurred to +me, I can't keep on."</p> + +<p>"Did you see inside my mind?" queried Georgiana, putting away her +copying with rapid motions.</p> + +<p>"Suddenly I did. I've been rather blind, a hard taskmaster. I've been +conscious of what was going on outside when I went for my walks, but the +work is absorbing to me and I have kept you too steadily at it. We both +need a rest," he added as she shook her head.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">153</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2><h3>OUT OF THE BLUE</h3> +</div> + +<p>Twenty minutes afterward he drove up to the door with the best that the +village liveryman had to give for the highest price his customer could +offer—a tall black horse of fair proportions, and a hurriedly washed +buggy of the type in vogue in country districts. But as Georgiana went +down the path she was conscious that the figure which stood hat and +reins in hand awaiting her would lend dignity to any vehicle, short of a +wheelbarrow, in which he might be seen to ride.</p> + +<p>Then presently the pair were driving along country lanes in the very +midst of all the burgeoning beauty of the season, and Georgiana was like +a captive bird let loose. Her companion as well responded to the call of +Nature at her loveliest, and the tireless worker of the study seemed +changed at a word to a bright-eyed idler of the most carefree sort. The +two gave themselves up without restraint to the enjoyment of the hour.</p> + +<p>"I wonder how long it is," said Mr. Jefferson, letting the reins lie +loose at a leafy curve of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">154</a></span> road while the black horse willingly +walked, "since I have had a drive like this. Not for ten years at +least."</p> + +<p>"You've lived always in a great city?"</p> + +<p>"Since boyhood—in the heart of it."</p> + +<p>"And have driven motors, not horses, for those ten years."</p> + +<p>"Yes, like everybody else. But I spent all my summers as a boy on my +grandfather's farm, and there I drove horses and rode them and did +acrobatic feats on their bare backs. I was a wild Indian, a cowboy, and +a captain of cavalry by turns. Those were happy days, and on a day like +this they don't seem long ago."</p> + +<p>"They can't be so dreadfully long ago," she dared, with a glance at the +interesting profile beside her.</p> + +<p>"Can't they? Don't I look pretty aged compared with your youth?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not so remarkably young," she retorted.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you? You are about ten years younger than I. That's a big leap +and must make me seem a grandfather indeed."</p> + +<p>"But you don't know how old I am."</p> + +<p>"I could come pretty close to it," said he with a quick look.</p> + +<p>"How could you know?"</p> + +<p>"When you see a spray of apple blossoms like those"—he pointed toward a +mass of pink and white<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">155</a></span> at the stage of perfection beyond an old rail +fence—"can't you tell at a glance whether they've been out a day or a +week?"</p> + +<p>"I should say that if things had happened to them to make them feel as +if they'd been out a week when they had been out only two days——"</p> + +<p>"A heavy rain, for instance? In that case we should be +deceived—perhaps. But in the case of a human being those heavy rains +sometimes only mature without fading—— Hello,——what's this?"</p> + +<p>A small and very ragged boy had emerged suddenly from a meadow gateway, +his face convulsed with pain and fright. He nursed one hand in the other +and the colour had deserted his round cheek, leaving it pallid under its +freckles. The only house nearby was an abandoned one and there were no +others for some distance in either direction.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson stopped his horse. "Does it hurt badly, lad?" he asked in +the friendliest of tones, which yet had a bracing quality. "Don't you +want to let me see if I can help it?"</p> + +<p>The boy stood still, tears silently making their way down his face. +Giving the reins to Georgiana, Mr. Jefferson jumped out and gently +examined the small hand, the middle finger of which, as the onlooker +could plainly see, was badly distorted and somewhat swollen. The skin, +however, did not seem to be broken.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">156</a></span></p> + +<p>"We can make that more comfortable right away," the man promised the +little boy. "Sit down on the grass for a minute or two, laddie, while I +find something I want."</p> + +<p>He pulled out a handkerchief, as yet folded and fresh from its ironing, +and handed it to Georgiana. "Will you tear that into strips an inch +wide, please, while I take a look back here for a bit of wood?" and he +disappeared down the road, while Georgiana with the aid of her strong +white teeth tore the fine linen as he had bidden, and spoke comfortingly +to the little fellow, who seemed glad enough to have fallen into +friendly hands.</p> + +<p>When he shortly returned Mr. Jefferson was rapidly cutting and whittling +a stick into a little splint, which he then wound carefully with a strip +of the handkerchief until it was covered from view. Then he took the +injured hand in his own capable ones—his assistant had often noted +those hands—and said quietly, "I'm going to hurt you just a minute, +little man, but you'll be all right, so be game," and in two deft +motions he had pulled and twisted the broken finger, and had set it +straight as the others, with but one sharp outcry from the owner. In +less time than it can be told in, the set finger was bound securely with +its neighbouring finger to the padded splint, and the whole neatly +bandaged with the torn linen, the entire procedure accomplished with +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">157</a></span> rapidity and skill of the practised hand. No amateur surgery this, +as Georgiana understood well enough.</p> + +<p>"There," said Mr. Jefferson, drawing forth another handkerchief as +spotless as the first—she wondered if he went always thus provided +against emergency—and improvising a little sling in which the bandaged +hand swung comfortably, "I think you'll do. Rest a bit and then go home, +and tell your mother not to touch that finger for three weeks. By that +time it will be as good as new, only be careful with it when you first +use it. Good-bye, laddie, and better luck next time."</p> + +<p>Georgiana saw the uninjured hand of the boy close over something bright +as the man's hand left it, and heard a low sound which might have been +almost anything indicative of surprise and joy. Then the black horse was +moving on, and Mr. Jefferson was saying: "Weren't we talking about apple +blossoms?"</p> + +<p>"We had finished with them, I think," Georgiana replied, wondering if he +really were going to offer no explanation of the hint of mystery which +had been about him ever since her work with him had begun.</p> + +<p>But he did not offer any, only went on with the pleasant talk with which +he had all along beguiled the way. Georgiana was recognizing this +afternoon, more than she had yet done, what a well-stored mind was +possessed by this unassuming man, whose manner and speech yet did not +lack that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">158</a></span> quality of quiet assurance which is the product only of +genuine knowledge and experience.</p> + +<p>The black horse was within a mile of home, passing through the last +stretch of woodland which would justify the walking pace, in which, +greatly to his astonishment, he was being allowed to indulge at all such +points, when a motor car, slowing down beside him, caused him to lay +back his ears in displeasure.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, turning, beheld the handsome, eager face of Miles Channing as +he leaned toward her, his hand hushing his engine as he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Miss Warne—Mr. Jefferson—forgive me for stopping you! I should have +gone on and waited for you if I had been sure you were on your way home. +But I'm a messenger from the Croftons; they beg you to let me bring you +back with me to-night." His eyes rested on Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"To-night? Is anybody ill?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no; nothing like that. It's for quite a different reason they +want you; only I'm to ask you not to question me. You're to come on +faith, if you will. And they'll agree to have you back in the morning by +breakfast-time, if you insist."</p> + +<p>Georgiana looked puzzled, but, being human, she was naturally interested +and attracted by this mysterious plan. "It's very odd," she mused, "but +if father can spare me——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">159</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will undertake to see that your father is not lonely this evening," +said Mr. Jefferson's quiet voice at her side. "And please don't bother +about to-morrow morning or to-morrow at all, if you would like to be +away."</p> + +<p>"If Mr. Jefferson wouldn't object——" began Channing; but Mr. Jefferson +anticipated him.</p> + +<p>"Please don't hesitate to go on with Mr. Channing, if you would like to +gain a little time," he suggested to his companion. "He will have you at +home before I can reach the bend in the road."</p> + +<p>Georgiana looked round at him. "I prefer to finish one ride before I +begin another," she declared, smiling. "It's only a mile, Mr. Channing; +we shall be there nearly as soon as you. Please go on."</p> + +<p>It thus came about ten minutes later that James Stuart, walking up to +his home from a field where he had been superintending an interesting +new departure in cultivation, caught sight first of a now-familiar +roadster of aristocratic lines whose appearance thereabouts had become +most unwelcome, and shortly thereafter of a less pretentious vehicle, +being rapidly drawn by a still more familiar black horse, and occupied +by two people whom it gave Stuart no acute pleasure to see together.</p> + +<p>"Well, I should say George was displaying her admirers in great shape +this afternoon," he said gloomily to himself. "It's a wonder I'm not +trailing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">160</a></span> on behind with a wheelbarrow. But I vow I'd like to know since +when her contract with Jefferson has taken them out into the +country—and in working hours, too!"</p> + +<p>Afterward it was all rather a strange memory to Georgiana when she +recalled it. She had flown about to prepare the appetizing early supper +with which she was accustomed to serve her small family, and to which +she now added a delicacy or two on account of its seeming the natural +thing to ask Mr. Miles Channing to remain rather than to allow him to go +to the small village hotel. Then she had cleared her table and left the +after-work to the neighbour who was to come to the rescue as before. She +had dressed with hurried fingers for the trip, and had driven away with +a devoted escort who spared no pains to make her feel that he was +exceedingly pleased at the success of his mission.</p> + +<p>There was no place in her memory for something she did not see nor would +have thought of imagining significant if she had seen it. When she left +the house Mr. Jefferson was in his room, searching for a book from which +to read aloud to his self-assumed charge of the evening. When he heard +Georgiana's blithe cry of farewell to her father in the doorway below, +he left the bookcase and went with a quick step to the window. He +watched the car driven by Mr. Channing out of sight down the road; then +he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">161</a></span> descended to the garden, pipe in hand. Before he returned to the +house to take his place by the evening lamp and begin the reading to the +gentle invalid stretched on the couch, he had covered many furlongs up +and down the straggling pathways and had consumed much more than his +usual quota of choice tobacco. And though all about him had been the May +environment at its loveliest, through all his marching up and down he +had never once looked up.</p> + +<p>Miles away, and ever more miles away, Georgiana had flown like the wind +in the swift car under its skilfully guiding hand. The drive was a +blurred impression of slowly gathering rosy twilight, of the odour of +the apple blossoms—somehow a different and more seductive fragrance +than it had been in the sunlit afternoon—and always there was the sense +of there being beside her a presence which disturbed. Channing's low +laugh, his vibrant voice in her ear, the things he said, half serious, +half earnest, always full of an only slightly veiled intent—the girl +who had spent so many days of her life in hard study or harder +housewifery could do no less than yield herself for the hour to the +pulse-quickening charm of it and forget everything else.</p> + +<p>Just as twilight settled into dusk and for the first time the headlights +of the car came on with a long reach like a golden ribbon along the +road, Channing, suddenly slowing down, a few miles out of the city,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">162</a></span> +began a rapid speech on a subject so unexpected that it fairly took his +hearer's breath away.</p> + +<p>"It's not fair of me to tell you, but I've simply got to get in the +first word. You must pretend you haven't heard it, but if there's any +persuading to be done I want my share, and want it first. Your cousins +are going to invite you to sail with them next week for a summer in +England after a fortnight in Paris—Paris in June! You don't know what +that means; you can't even imagine it. I can—I know it—don't I know +it!" He laughed softly. "Since they're to be away and won't need her +they'll send down their housekeeper—the most competent person in the +world—to stay with your father and make him absolutely comfortable, so +you don't have to hesitate on that score."</p> + +<p>"It's perfectly wonderful, but"—Georgiana was staring at him through +the dusk—"but—oh, I couldn't, Mr. Channing! how could I? Father is so +feeble; something might happen."</p> + +<p>"Not in summer. Things don't happen to elderly people in summer. It's in +winter—pneumonia and things like that. And don't you know he'd be +delighted to have you go? He wouldn't let you miss such a chance; I know +him already well enough for that."</p> + +<p>"But, you see, I'm engaged to work for Mr. Jefferson——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">163</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well, he'll be all right; he's a traveled man himself; anybody can see +that. He wouldn't stand in the way of your good, not for a moment; of +course he wouldn't. He'd urge you to go. Why, there's nothing else for +you to do. Think of the glorious summer we'll have—glorious! Why, +I——"</p> + +<p>"What do you mean? I don't understand." Georgiana felt her cheeks grow +scarlet in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"Mean? What could I mean? Why, I'm going, too, of course. Sailing when +you do. Invited to spend a month in Devon with the Croftons—and you." +His voice sank lower. "And that fortnight in Paris—oh, I'll be in +Paris, too, no doubt of that! I'll show you what Paris is like on a June +evening. Do you think I'd want to send you out of this country if I +weren't going, too? Not I—Georgiana!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">164</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2><h3>"GREAT LUCK!"</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Father Davy, are you sure, <i>sure</i>?" begged his daughter.</p> + +<p>"Sure that I want you to go, daughter? Very sure. What sort of father +should I be if I were willing to deny you this great pleasure merely to +insure my own comfort? And I shall be comfortable. Why should I not be, +with the good Mrs. Perkins to look after me, and our fine friend Mr. +Jefferson to bear me company in the evenings, as often as he can? And +with James Stuart, who is like a son—and with your letters arriving +with every foreign mail? Dismiss these fears, my dear, and take your +happy chance to see something of the Old World. Many a delightful +evening will we have together next winter, you and I, over the +photographs you will bring back, while you discourse to me of your +adventures."</p> + +<p>Thus Mr. David Warne in his most reassuring manner, while his daughter +studied his delicate, pallid face, her heart smiting her for being +willing to leave him to the loneliness she knew, in spite of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">165</a></span> all his +protests, he would suffer in her absence. And yet opportunities like +this one did not occur everyday, might not come again in her lifetime. +And everybody was conspiring to make it possible for her.</p> + +<p>"It goes without saying," Mr. Jefferson had told her at once, "that all +other engagements should be cancelled in the face of such an invitation +as this. We will all look after your father for you. And as far as your +work with me is concerned, don't give it another thought. I shall make +rather slower progress without you, of course, but when you return we +will take great strides and complete it well within the limit I have +set. So go by all means, and good luck!"</p> + +<p>As for James McKenzie Stuart, his words of persuasion seemed to be +tempered by various other emotions than those of unselfish desire for +Georgiana's pleasure.</p> + +<p>"Of course it's great, and there's no doubt that you must go," he said. +He was sitting upon the rear porch of the manse, looking off toward +Georgiana's garden, on the second evening after her return from the +hurried drive to the Croftons'. "I'll do all I can for your father, of +course. But don't ask me to console the book-writer."</p> + +<p>Georgiana laughed merrily. "He'll not need any consolation, Jimps. Nor +you either. Jeannette told me to tell you that she'd write to you once a +fortnight—if you'd answer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">166</a></span></p> + +<p>"No! She didn't say that?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, she did, and meant it. I'll write, too, of course. You'll be +deluged with letters and picture post-cards. You ought to be satisfied +with so much attention."</p> + +<p>"Letters are all right—we won't say anything about the post-cards—and +I hope you'll both keep your promises. But when I think of all these +summer evenings without you——"</p> + +<p>He heaved a gusty sigh which Georgiana had no reason to doubt was +genuine. How much heavier would be his spirits, if he were told that +Miles Channing was to be of the party, she had full consciousness. She +was aware of the futility of attempting to keep this unwelcome news from +him longer than the day of her departure, but she had not thus far +ventured to mention it.</p> + +<p>"I shall miss these evenings myself," she said soberly. "After all, +Jimps, I expect there'll be nobody gladder to get back home than I. I +shall see this old garden in my dreams." Then quickly, as another +deep-drawn breath warned her that sentimental ground was dangerous, she +cried: "Oh, but, Jimps! I haven't told you of the last and nicest thing +that wonderful girl has done for me. She insisted on my bringing home +the dearest little traveling suit of some kind of lovely summer serge +that doesn't spot and doesn't muss and is altogether adorable.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">167</a></span> She +insists it's not becoming to her, and it really isn't; but I almost know +she planned not to have it becoming so she could give it away to me. And +a perfect beauty of a little hat—and a big, loose coat, to wear on the +steamer, that looks absolutely new, but she vows it isn't, and that +she's tired of it. Was ever anybody so lucky as I?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly does take clothes to stir up a girl," was Stuart's cynical +comment. "Talk of separation and they pretend to be as sad over it as +you are; but let 'em think about the clothes they're going to wear and +their spirits leap up like soda water."</p> + +<p>"Poor old Jimps! Doesn't he know the sustaining qualities of pretty +clothes? Too bad! But really it's lucky I have something to sustain me, +it's such a pull to make myself go. I didn't suppose I'd ever leave +Father Davy this way while he is so feeble, but he's the most urgent of +all to send me off, and I know I really can bring him back wonderful +pleasure."</p> + +<p>Thus the talks ran during the few days which elapsed before Georgiana's +departure. Every spare hour was full with preparation, from the packing +of the trim little steamer trunk which arrived by express, a gift from +Uncle Thomas, to the careful mending and putting in perfect order of +every article Father Davy would be likely to wear during the whole +period of his daughter's absence. Georgiana's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">168</a></span> thoughts as she worked +were a curious mixture of happy anticipation and actual dread.</p> + +<p>"If only I could go as Jeannette is going," she said to herself, +"without a care in the world except to plan how she will fill the +summer, and to make sure her maid puts in plenty of silk stockings to +last till she can buy some more in Paris. When I went to college it was +with the fear that I ought not to accept father's sacrifice, even though +Aunt Harriet was with him then, and he was far, far stronger than he is +now. I've never done anything in my life without a guilty feeling that I +ought not to be doing it. Why can't I do now as they all bid me—drop my +cares and take my fun, like any other girl? I will—I must. It's only +fair!"</p> + +<p>The excitement of anticipation grew upon her as the busy hours slipped +away; the regrets and anxieties diminished. With every day came fresh +and delightfully interesting contributions to her outfitting from +Jeannette or Aunt Olivia—a handsome little handbag of silk and silver +to match the traveling suit; a snug toilet case of soft blue leather, +holding everything mortal woman could want on train or ship; a great +woolly steamer rug to use on shipboard. Georgiana could only catch her +breath at such kindness, and dash off hasty notes of spirited thanks, +and protests against any more of the same sort. But in spite of her +pride it was impossible to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">169</a></span> resist accepting these and other gifts, they +seemed prompted by such genuine affection.</p> + +<p>The day came; the trunk was closed and strapped. Mr. Jefferson had done +the strapping, coming upon the prospective traveler in the upper hall, +where she was trying in vain to bring leather thong and buckle into the +proper relations.</p> + +<p>"Haven't I yet proved my right to the title of man in the house?" he +inquired, as he did the trick with the masculine ease which is ever a +source of envy to those whose hands are weaker.</p> + +<p>"Indeed you have; but I shall never get over feeling that I have to do +everything for myself."</p> + +<p>"It will be some one's privilege to teach you better some time," was his +rejoinder. "Meanwhile, those of us who are near at hand are only too +happy to act as deputies."</p> + +<p>Between her "three men," as Jeannette had called them, Georgiana was +allowed to do little for herself at the last. She was to meet her +cousins as the train went through their city, but Stuart had invited +himself to accompany her to that point, thus giving himself a chance, as +he said, to clinch that bargain with Jeannette concerning the promised +letters and post-cards.</p> + +<p>Therefore Georgiana's farewells were not to be all said at once, for +which she was thankful. It was quite enough to take leave of Father +Davy, who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">170</a></span> looking, it seemed to his daughter's eyes, on that sultry +June morning, a shade paler and weaker than usual.</p> + +<p>"It's the sudden summer heat, dear," he said with the brightest of +smiles, as with her arms about him she questioned him; "nothing more. +There, there, my little girl; don't let your fancy get the better of +you. I'm very well indeed, and shall soon be used to the summer weather. +Go—and God be with you, dearest!"</p> + +<p>"It doesn't matter about His going with me if He'll only stay with you," +murmured Georgiana, vainly struggling with herself, that she might take +a bright and tearless farewell of this dear being.</p> + +<p>"He will go with you and He will stay with me," said Mr. Warne +cheerfully, "so be at rest. Here—I've written you a steamer letter. +Read it when the good ship sails, and think of me as rejoicing in your +happiness."</p> + +<p>It was over at last, and she was off. At the gate she had turned to Mr. +Jefferson, who was carrying her handbag to the village stage, from which +Stuart had leaped to run up to the porch and say a word of cheer to Mr. +Warne, sitting in a big chair.</p> + +<p>"I can't tell you what a comfort it is, Mr. Jefferson," she said as she +gave him her hand, "to know that you are here. I haven't worked with you +for six weeks not to understand that it is no mere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">171</a></span> author of a +scientific treatise who is staying with my father."</p> + +<p>"No?" He smiled into her lifted eyes, and his look was that of a friend +whom one may trust. "Well, Miss Georgiana, if it is of any support to +you to be told that whatever knowledge or skill I may have is all at the +service of your father, then I am glad to assure you of that fact. I +will do my best for him always. Good-bye, and may it be a happy time +from first to last."</p> + +<p>His hand held hers close as he said these words, and continued to hold +it for a moment longer while he gave her a long and intent look. She +felt a strange pang; it was almost as if she could think he was going to +miss her. Yet she knew better. If he missed her it would be only because +he had become accustomed to having her about. No sign of any more +uncommon interest had he ever shown.</p> + +<p>Then Stuart, farther down the path, was calling, "Come, George, we're +all but late now"; and she was in the old stage and it was lumbering off +down the road, while neighbours waved from their windows, and Georgiana +strained her eyes to get a last look at the figure on the porch.</p> + +<p>On the train she and Stuart somehow found little to say to each other in +the ride of an hour and a half to the city station where the rest of the +party came aboard. Stuart did not catch sight of Miles Channing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">172</a></span> until +the last minute of the train's stop. He had filled the earlier period of +the ten-minute detention in the station with a hurried talk with +Jeannette, during which Georgiana noted that the two seemed thoroughly +absorbed in each other. It was small wonder, for Jeannette had never +been more radiantly lovely than in the distinguished plainness of her +traveling costume. She seemed very happy as she presumably bargained +with Stuart for letters, and Jimps himself had never looked more +interested in any proposition than in that one.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, however, the wait was over. Georgiana turned from greeting +Channing, who had just come aboard followed by a porter with his +luggage, when she heard Stuart's voice in her ear:</p> + +<p>"George, is <i>he</i> going?"</p> + +<p>"I believe he is," she admitted, trying not to let her colour rise +beneath the accusing expression in his eyes.</p> + +<p>"And you didn't mention it?"</p> + +<p>"Didn't I? He's Jeannette's and Rosalie's friend, not mine."</p> + +<p>"No; he's something more than a friend to you—or means to be. I might +have known he'd work this scheme. It's good-bye to you in earnest then."</p> + +<p>"Jimps! Please don't. It's nothing of the sort. I——"</p> + +<p>The train began to move. But instead of a hasty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">173</a></span> leave-taking and a leap +from the steps, James Stuart stood still. "I believe I'll go on for +another hour," he said coolly, with a glance at his watch. "I can get +off at the next stop. Meanwhile—Miss Jeannette, the observation +platform seems to be nearly empty. Would you care to sit out there a +while, since I've no chair in here now and the car is full?"</p> + +<p>Georgiana, sitting facing Miles Channing—she wondered who was +responsible for the fact that his chair proved to be next hers—saw his +eyes, as he glanced toward the rear of the car, follow Stuart and +Jeannette.</p> + +<p>"He's a mighty nice fellow, isn't he?" he commented pleasantly. "Too bad +he isn't coming along. Seems tremendously interested in Jeannette, and +it's quite evident that she likes him—as much as is good for him. These +partings—well, I'm sorry for him. But he means to make the most of this +last hour. It would be unkind of us to follow them out there, wouldn't +it?—though I was about to propose going out when he stole a march on +me."</p> + +<p>"It would be very unkind," agreed Georgiana gayly. "Yes, I wish he could +have the whole journey; he deserves a rest and change. He's one of the +finest men I know."</p> + +<p>Now that Channing was beside her, with his handsome face and faultlessly +dressed figure easily the most attractive man in the car, she could not +begrudge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">174</a></span> Jeannette this final hour with Stuart, though her pride +smarted a little under the change in his manner toward herself. She had +read in her cousin's face, as Jeannette's eyes met Stuart's when she +first caught sight of him, that she was much more than commonly glad to +see him, and the observer had noted with what an air of joyous +comradeship the two had hurried, laughing, down the aisle to the rear +door after Stuart's proposal.</p> + +<p>But the hour was soon over. It was not until the train stopped that +Jeannette and Stuart returned to the others inside the car, and then the +farewells were necessarily hurried. With a smiling face Stuart shook +hands with them all, leaving his best friend to the last, according to +the unwritten law of farewells.</p> + +<p>When he came to her he looked very nearly straight into her eyes—not +quite—it might have been her lower eyelashes upon which he brought his +glance to bear.</p> + +<p>"Great luck, Georgiana," he said distinctly, "and all kinds of a good +time."</p> + +<p>"Good-bye, Jimps, and thank you very, very much for coming," she +responded.</p> + +<p>It was hardly to be believed that James Stuart would not lower his voice +and murmur some last word for her ear alone, for this had long been his +custom. Instead, he gave her a brilliant smile—and turned again to +Jeannette.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">175</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good-bye, once more," he said—and added something under his breath, in +response to which Jeannette nodded, smiling, and went with him to the +front end of the car, where she alone was the last to wave farewell as +he looked back from the platform.</p> + +<p>Georgiana caught a final glimpse of him as he ran along it with bared +head, and the whole party waved hands and called parting salutes, in +which she joined. Then Jeannette came back, and Georgiana looked +searchingly at her, her own heart experiencing an uncomfortable sort of +depression as she saw the exquisite flush on her cousin's cheek and the +light in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Dog in the manger!'" Georgiana sternly reproached herself in her own +thoughts. "Isn't it enough for you to have one man looking devotion at +you, but you must claim everybody in sight?" And she made a determined +and partially successful effort not to mind that things had turned out +as they had. Only—she and James Stuart had been friends a very long +time, and she was sorry to have the parting from him tinged by a cloud +of misunderstanding. It would have been much better, she admitted to +herself now, to have told him frankly in the beginning that Miles +Channing was to be of the party.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">176</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2><h3>A LITTLE TRUNK</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was a journey of only a few hours to the dock where the party were to +take ship, the sailing being set for early afternoon. Before it seemed +possible they had left the train and were being conveyed by motor to the +pier. It was at the first whiff of salt-water fragrance that Georgiana +felt a sudden onset of dread of the sailing of the great ship. And when +she caught sight of the four black funnels rising above the mass of +smaller smokestacks and masts and spars which lifted beyond the dingy +buildings of the pier, she experienced an unexpected and disconcerting +longing to run away—back to her home.</p> + +<p>Her father's face rose before her as she had seen it that morning, pale +and worn, the inner brightness of the undaunted spirit shining through +the thinnest of veils. What if anything should happen to that beloved +face, so that she should never set eyes on it again? The thought shook +her with a throb of pain.</p> + +<p>They were on the pier, they were ascending the gangway, they were on one +of the lower decks and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">177</a></span> entering the elevator which was to lift them +past many intermediate decks to that one, next the highest of all, where +their quarters lay. And when they came out upon that upper deck +Georgiana was dimly conscious that they were a party to attract +attention, even among many people evidently of the same class. Any party +to which Aunt Olivia and Jeannette belonged, she felt, must necessarily +expect to be noticed. Of her own contribution to the party's distinction +she was entirely unaware.</p> + +<p>But now that she was actually on shipboard, where during the last +fortnight she had so many times imagined herself, Georgiana found to her +distress that she could not for a moment banish the thought, the image +itself, of that gentle, suffering face at home. Not that she wanted to +forget it—not that; but she did want, now that her decision was made, +to be able to appreciate what a happy occasion it was and how fortunate +the circumstances which had brought about her presence here, the last +place in the world she had expected ever to be in.</p> + +<p>She entered the stateroom which she was to share with her cousins, and +was amazed at the size and comfort of it. It was half filled with +flowers and baskets of fruit and other offerings sent for the girls, +with two boxes addressed to herself. Both Stuart and Mr. Jefferson had +sent her flowers. As she examined them a hurried steward appeared with +a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">178</a></span> third box, which proved to be also for her—a small box, which had +come not from a city florist, like the others, but by mail.</p> + +<p>It had been put up by unskilled hands, as its crushed shape and damp +exterior clearly showed. She opened it, wondering, and found a little +bunch of garden flowers, sadly wilted, their limp stems protruding from +the moistened newspaper in which they were wrapped. She searched for a +card, and found it. In a hand she knew well, a little cramped, a little +wavering, but full of character, she read these words: "Blessing her, +praying for her, loving her."</p> + +<p>Georgiana's heart gave a great leap of fear. What were those lines, what +the context? She knew them—knew them well. She had never heard her +father quote them, and never read with him the lines from which they +came. Did he know them, use them with intent, not imagining she would +place them? As she well remembered, they were from "Enoch Arden," and +she had spoken them herself, in a dramatized version of that pathetic +poem, the last winter of her college life. And they ran thus:</p> + +<p style="margin-left: 2em"> +When you shall see her, tell her that I died<br /> +Blessing her, praying for her, loving her.<br /> +</p> + +<p>At the moment she was alone in the stateroom, the two girls having been +an instant before summoned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">179</a></span> by their brother to meet some friends who +had come on board to see them off. She stood staring at the touching +little bunch of faded bloom, knowing just how tender had been the +thought of her which had prompted the effort. It had not occurred to Mr. +Warne that there was any other way of sending flowers to ships than by +mailing them from one's own garden. As for the words, she knew well +enough that he had not dreamed of disturbing her content by quoting +them, yet—she could but feel that the reason why they came to his mind +when he was searching there for a bit of tender sentiment to send with +his parting gift was the thought of his own possible end being not far +away. And if he, too, were thinking of that——</p> + +<p>With a fast-beating heart Georgiana stood staring out of the open +porthole at the scene of activity outside. Far below her she could see +the gangway over which she had come on board. In less than an hour—the +party had arrived early—that gangway would be withdrawn, the water +would slowly widen between pier and ship, and there would be no turning +back. Could she go—could she bear to go—and take the chance? Were her +fears only the natural forebodings of the unaccustomed traveler, or was +there a real reason why she should never have allowed herself to be +persuaded to leave one whose hold on life was so frail, the only being +in the world<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">180</a></span> to whom she was closely bound? She closed her eyes and +tried to think....</p> + +<p>Mrs. Thomas Crofton, turning from a group of friends at the touch of her +niece's hand upon hers, would have drawn the girl into the circle and +presented her with genuine pride in her, but the low voice in her ear +deterred her:</p> + +<p>"Aunt Olivia, please forgive me, but I must ask you to come away with me +just for five minutes. Please——"</p> + +<p>In a temporarily forsaken angle of the deck Georgiana laid her case +before her aunt, speaking with rapid, shaken words, but none the less +determinedly. Mrs. Crofton listened with an astonished face and with +lips which protested even before they had the chance to speak.</p> + +<p>"I know just how dreadful it will seem to you all—that I shouldn't have +known my duty long ago. But I see it now—oh, so plainly! And it's not +only my duty, it's my love that takes me back. I can't stop to tell you +how I feel about leaving you all when you've been so kind, so wonderful +to me. I can tell you that another time. But the thing now for me is to +get off this ship before it sails. I must!"</p> + +<p>"But, Georgiana, my dear child——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, please don't try to keep me, Aunt Olivia! My mind is made up. I +can't tell you how it hurts to do it, but I don't dare to leave my +father. If anything<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">181</a></span> happened to him I could never forgive +myself—never. He isn't well. It would do no good to take me with you +now. I should be so miserable I should spoil it all for you."</p> + +<p>"Georgiana, listen." The calmly poised woman of the world held the +clinging hand in a firm, warm grasp, the low voice spoke evenly. "Many +people feel just as you do, dear, on the eve of sailing. Some are made +actually ill, even quite old travelers. But they know that it is pure +hysteria and they fight it off, and afterward they are able to laugh at +their fears. My dear, you are quite mistaken about there being any +danger threatening your father. He is in the best of hands, and he +himself would be sadly disappointed——"</p> + +<p>It was of no use. Mrs. Crofton took her niece to her stateroom, and, +sending for Jeannette and Rosalie, even for Uncle Thomas, tried in vain +to shake her.</p> + +<p>Ten minutes before the hour of sailing, Rosalie, rushing about the deck +in search of Miles Channing, finally discovered him and burst out under +her breath with the appalling news:</p> + +<p>"Georgiana's going back! She's got the idea somehow that her father +mayn't live till she comes home. We can't do a thing with her. Oh, do +come and see if you can't show her how absurd it is to do such a thing!"</p> + +<p>"Going back!" Miles Channing seized Rosalie's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">182</a></span> arm. "Where is she? Why, +she can't go back; the ship's all but casting off. What on earth is the +matter with her? She's too sensible a girl to lose her head at the last +minute. Good heavens! We won't let her go; we'll keep her in her +stateroom till it's too late. Take me there—quick!"</p> + +<p>They dashed along the narrow passageways, until, coming from the +Croftons' suite, they encountered Georgiana pale but quiet, Jeannette +flushed scarlet and in tears, and Mrs. Crofton evidently sorely +exasperated, but keeping herself well in hand.</p> + +<p>Channing walked straight up to Georgiana. "Will you give me five +minutes?" he asked.</p> + +<p>She shook her head with a faint smile. "It's no use, Mr. Channing. I +shall not change my mind again. I should have known it in the first +place, and there mayn't be five minutes to spare. I must be in sight of +the gangway."</p> + +<p>"I'll take you there," he said, and glanced at the others in a way which +clearly said: "Give me my chance." They understood and let him lead +Georgiana on ahead toward the place she sought.</p> + +<p>He was a clever man and an experienced one in the ways of women, even +though his years among them were not yet many. He realized that argument +was of little use; there was only one weapon left with which to fight +the girl's determination, and it was one he was not loath to use, though +he had not meant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">183</a></span> to speak so plainly until quite different surroundings +invited.</p> + +<p>"This is a hard blow to my hopes," he said very low, as they stood where +they could watch the manœuvres of the officers and men who were in +charge of the embarkation of passengers. "I can't tell you what this +voyage with you has meant to me; I don't know how to give it up. Now, +please listen. Won't you do this? Come across with us, and then, when +you are actually over—it's only a five-day crossing, you know—if you +still feel you must go back, we'll not try to prevent you. You'll be +away then only a fortnight, and nothing in the world can go wrong at +your home in that little time. And meanwhile we shall have had this +voyage together—Georgiana?"</p> + +<p>His voice with its meaning inflections would have been very hard to +resist, if the girl had not by now set her teeth upon her determination. +Having suffered already so much humiliation for the sake of her sudden +conviction, her pride would not have let her change again, though a +voice from the skies had then and there assured her that all was and +would be well with her father. So once more she shook her head and moved +toward the gangway. Behind her, ready to follow her if must be, a +deckhand waited with her luggage. The Croftons, their faces showing much +concern, had remained in the background waiting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">184</a></span> for a signal from +Channing that he had or had not prevailed.</p> + +<p>"If you go ashore," threatened Channing, "I shall go with you. And the +ship will sail without me."</p> + +<p>This roused her to speech. "No, no; don't even say such a thing—just to +frighten me. Good-bye, Mr. Channing, and—I'm truly very, very sorry."</p> + +<p>"I mean it," he urged hotly. "The whole thing is nothing to me without +you; you know that perfectly well."</p> + +<p>"I should never forgive you," she said, turning to look once into his +eyes, as if to convince him of the reality of her prohibition; and he +saw there all the spirit he had reckoned with, and saw, too, such a +world of possibilities for one who could arouse that intense and +purposeful nature, that he was swept off his feet.</p> + +<p>"But you will forgive me if I come back by the next ship," he said +quickly.</p> + +<p>"No. Not if you come a day sooner than you intended."</p> + +<p>Once more their glances met, like blows; then Georgiana moved rapidly +toward the gangway, where the sailor in charge was beckoning. The +Croftons, one and all, hurried forward, and the retreating traveler +suffered their embraces.</p> + +<p>"My child, you are forcing us to leave you here alone to look after +yourself, after our promising to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">185</a></span> take every care of you," mourned Mrs. +Crofton. "I shall be most uneasy about you."</p> + +<p>"No, no, dear Aunt Olivia, you mustn't be. I am a perfectly independent +person, and I can take myself home without a particle of trouble. +Good-bye—and please, please forgive me, all of you!"</p> + +<p>She was off at last, with Jeannette's hot tears on her cheek, Rosalie's +reproachful and all but angry final speech, "I didn't think you'd +actually do it, Georgiana Warne!" ringing in her ears; and Chester's +explosive, derisive prediction following her, "By thunder, but you'll be +a sorry girl when it's too late. I can tell you that!"—to make her feel +that nobody really understood or sympathized with her.</p> + +<p>It was Uncle Thomas who applied the one touch of balm to his niece's +sore heart:</p> + +<p>"David Warne is a rich man, my dear girl, to have you," he said gently, +as he kissed her. "Don't feel too badly over disappointing us; it's all +right. Take good care of yourself going home, and give my love to your +father."</p> + +<p>She smiled bravely back at him as she ran down the gangway with half a +score of belated visitors to the ship. In a moment she was only one of +the crowd of people who were watching the huge bulk of the liner draw +almost imperceptibly away from the pier. Through blurred vision she +looked up to the spot where they were all waving at her and +smiling—thank<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">186</a></span> heaven, they were smiling, as it was obviously their +duty to do, no matter what their feelings.</p> + +<p>When their faces had become indistinguishable, and the great ship had +backed far out into the waters, and was headed toward the Atlantic, +Georgiana turned to a porter at her elbow. "No," she said, "I didn't +sail. Yes, this trunk is mine; it's to go back."</p> + +<p>Somehow, as she followed the man through the long, dingy building, the +thing which drove home the ache in her heart was the sight of the +little, aristocratic-looking, leather-covered steamer trunk, Uncle +Thomas's gift, packed with so many high hopes, now riding alone on a +great truck. Of all the baggage which that truck had borne to the lading +of the ship, hers was the only little, lonely piece to come back!</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">187</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2><h3>REACTION</h3> +</div> + +<p>In the darkness of the summer midnight Georgiana descended from the +"owl" train, the only passenger, as it happened, to alight at the small +station. She had hoped to slip away unobserved for the half-mile walk +home, but the station master was too quick for her. He was a young +station master, and he had known Georgiana Warne all his life—from +afar.</p> + +<p>"Well, I certainly did think I'd seen a ghost," said he, confronting +her. "I thought you'd gone to Europe. Get a message to come back? Your +father ain't took sick, has he?"</p> + +<p>"No, I hope not. I—something happened to make it best for me to come +back."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's too bad, sure," said he, curiously regarding her. "Say, +wait five minutes and I'll walk down the road with you. It's pretty late +for you to be out alone."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, Mr. Parker; I don't mind a bit, and I'm anxious to get on. +I've only this small bag to carry, and it's bright moonlight. No, truly, +please don't come. Good-night, and thank you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">188</a></span></p> + +<p>Could this really be herself, Georgiana Warne, she wondered, as she made +her escape and walked rapidly away down the road under the high arches +of the elms. How had it come about? Why was she here, she who had +expected to be out on the first reaches of the great deep when midnight +came this night? As she passed silent house after silent house, familiar +and yet somehow strangely unfamiliar in the light of what might have +been, it was hard enough to realize that she had had this wonderful +chance to stay away for two happy months from the sober little old +place, and had herself relinquished it.</p> + +<p>Before she knew it she was nearing her home, the old white house +standing square and stern in the moonlight—she had been seeing it all +the way in the train. She loved it dearly, no doubt of that, but it had +been no attack of homesickness which had brought her back to it.</p> + +<p>As she came up the path she saw, past the sweeping branches of the great +trees which surrounded the house, that Mr. Jefferson's windows were +still alight. This was no surprise, for she knew he had often worked +till late hours before she began to help him; and it looked as if, now +that he had to continue alone, he meant to keep up the rate of advance +by working overtime.</p> + +<p>Georgiana stole upon the porch and tried the door. It was bolted as +usual. She slipped around the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">189</a></span> house, and tried the side and rear doors +in turn, to find them fast. She had had no plan as to how to make an +undisturbing entrance at this hour, but had counted on being able to +discover some unguarded point. She and her father had never been careful +as to thorough locking of the house in a neighbourhood where thefts were +almost unknown, but evidently their boarder, accustomed to city ways and +chances of trouble, had taken pains to make all fast.</p> + +<p>There seemed to be only one thing to do, and Georgiana did it. After +all, it was probably better that somebody should know of her return, in +case she had to go about the house and make any betraying sounds. She +stooped to the gravel path, and scooping up a handful of pebbles flung +them up at one of the lighted windows, where they rattled like small +bird shot upon the wire netting of the screen.</p> + +<p>It took a second fusillade before the absorbed worker within was +attracted and appeared at the window, a black figure against the yellow +radiance of the oil lamp.</p> + +<p>"It's some one who belongs here," Georgiana called softly. "Please come +down very quietly and let me in."</p> + +<p>"Wait a minute," returned the voice above.</p> + +<p>In less than that minute the door swung softly open, and the tall +figure, clad in loose shirt and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">190</a></span> trousers, the former open at the neck +and revealing a sturdy throat, stood before the applicant for admission. +There was no light upon Georgiana, for the moonlit yard was behind her.</p> + +<p>"What can I do for you?" Mr. Jefferson was beginning in a pleasant tone, +as of one not at all disturbed by being summoned at this hour, when a +voice he had heard many times before said, with an odd thrill in it, as +if it struggled between tears and laughter:</p> + +<p>"You can let me in and try not to consider me an idiot. I got my father +on my mind and couldn't sail, so I came back. That's absolutely all +there is of it."</p> + +<p>"My dear girl!" Mr. Jefferson put forth a hand and took hers, as he came +out upon the porch. "Of course, I beg your pardon," he added, releasing +her hand after one strong pressure, "if you consider that my rather +natural surprise isn't apology enough. But—you can't mean that the +ship—and the party—have sailed without you?"</p> + +<p>"Just that. Is—is my father as well as he was this morning?"</p> + +<p>"He was quite as well, apparently, at bedtime. The heat has been trying, +but he has borne it without complaint."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what I expected," confessed Georgiana rather faintly; "but +I don't think I expected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">191</a></span> that. I'm very thankful. I'll come in and slip +upstairs. Thank you for coming down."</p> + +<p>She would stay for no more; it seemed to her that she could bear no +further explanations to-night. As if he understood her, Mr. Jefferson +was silent as he followed her in, bolted the heavy door, and took from +her the handbag she carried. He deposited this at the door of her room +upstairs, and spoke under his breath in the darkness relieved only by +the rays which shone from the open door of his own room at the front of +the hall:</p> + +<p>"Good-night—and welcome back!"</p> + +<p>It was almost daylight when she fell asleep, and she wakened again at +the first sound of Mrs. Perkins's footsteps in the kitchen below her. +She dressed slowly, her heart heavy with the sense of having made a +probably needless sacrifice. With the waking in the familiar old room, +all the realization of that which she had lost had come heavily upon +her. Why was not the sunlight pouring in through portholes, bearing the +refreshing breezes from the sea, instead of beating in over the hot tin +roof of the ell upon which her windows looked? Was it merely as Aunt +Olivia had warned her, the hysteria of the inexperienced traveler? Why +had she not at least accepted Miles Channing's eminently reasonable +suggestion that she make the voyage, giving her emotions time to cool? +At the longest, if she made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">192</a></span> an immediate return, she would have been +absent but little more than a fortnight.</p> + +<p>But she dressed with unusual care none the less, and when she descended +the back stairs she was looking as fresh and trim as ever in her life. +She encountered the good Mrs. Perkins in the kitchen and had it out with +her, receiving the first encouragement she had felt that somebody would +think her rational in her return.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must say," declared that lady, standing still, as if she had +been struck, in an attitude of astonishment, "while I'm more than sorry +for you to lose your trip, Georgie, I shall feel safer now you're back. +Your father cert'nly does look awful peaked to me and kind of weak-like, +more so than I ever noticed before. Perhaps it's just because I felt the +responsibility settlin' down on my shoulders the minute you was out of +the house. And I guess he was goin' to miss you pretty awful much; +though, of course, he wouldn't say so."</p> + +<p>Georgiana took in her father's tray when it was ready, quite as usual, +her heart beating fast as she entered and beheld the white face against +the propped-up pillows. After the first gasp of surprise she saw the +unwonted colour flow into the pale cheeks.</p> + +<p>"My dear, dear child," he said, as she set down the tray and flew to +clasp him in her arms, "this is—this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">193</a></span> is almost more than I can grasp. +What has happened Is the sailing of your ship deferred?"</p> + +<p>"My sailing on it is deferred," she told him. "I couldn't leave you, +Father Davy; that's the simple truth. Your daughter is an +infant-in-arms."</p> + +<p>She did not try to make it clear to him; but let him guess the most of +her reason for returning, and was rewarded by his fervent: "Well, dear, +it was a very wonderful thing for you to do. But you should not have +done it. You should have trusted the good Lord to take care of me, as I +bade you. You must do it yet. We will arrange for you to follow your +Uncle Thomas's party on the next boat. I cannot have you lose so much +just for me."</p> + +<p>"It's no use," she asserted, her eyes studying the blue veins so clearly +outlined on the fair forehead. "I've made my decision; I ought to have +made it that way in the beginning. So long as you need me I shall not +leave you."</p> + +<p>At the breakfast table she met Mr. Jefferson. It was only twenty-four +hours since she and he had breakfasted together, but somehow it seemed +to Georgiana as if at least a week had gone by. Mr. Warne was seldom +present at the first meal of the day, and it had come to seem very +natural to Georgiana to sit down with her boarder and pour his coffee +and talk with him. This morning, however, there was a curious constraint +in the girl's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">194</a></span> manner. After the first interchange of observations on +the promise of even more extreme heat than on the preceding day and the +possibilities of dress and diet to suit the trying conditions, the talk +flagged.</p> + +<p>"I am strongly tempted," said Mr. Jefferson, as he rose after making an +unusually frugal meal of fruit and coffee, "to let up on work till there +comes a change in the weather. I believe I shall try how it feels to +idle a little. You surely will indorse that, Miss Warne, as far as you +are concerned?"</p> + +<p>"No," she said quickly, sure that this plan was the result of +consideration for herself; "as far as I am concerned I should much +prefer to work. I am sure you can give me something to do, even if you +are not working yourself."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that? Then if you do, I shall be with you, though I think +it would be good for you to rest. This last week has been pretty full +for you, even though you haven't been with me on the book."</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "I want to go on with it," she insisted; and he +agreed.</p> + +<p>News in a small village travels fast, and Georgiana was fully prepared +to have James Stuart appear with the first fall of dusk. He came through +the hedge at the foot of the garden, and found her on the seat under the +old apple tree which was her favourite resort. His greeting was full of +the astonishment which had been his all day.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">195</a></span></p> + +<p>"My word, George, but I never would have believed this! How on earth did +you come to do it?"</p> + +<p>"I had to," she said simply and rather wearily. She had explained to at +least twenty persons that day, as well as she could explain. She was not +willing to confide to any one the incident of the flowers and the card +which had brought about the impulse to return that had hardened so +quickly into action. She had listened to all kinds of comments on the +situation, some few sympathetic, but most of them curious and critical. +Many had said to her that they never would have believed Georgie Warne +would ever change her mind about anything. Others had added that perhaps +it was a good thing, since her father certainly was pretty feeble and +nobody knew when he might take a turn for the worse. Altogether, it had +not been a happy day for the object of the village interest.</p> + +<p>Stuart sat down beside Georgiana on the old bench which bore his +initials from one end to the other of it, the earliest ones hacked out +during his small boyhood, the later more than once coupling Georgiana's +with his own. His hand, as he settled into place, rested on one of these +very monograms.</p> + +<p>"It seems like the natural thing to say I'm glad to see you back," he +said slowly, "but—there's a reason why I can't say it at all."</p> + +<p>"Then don't dream of saying it." Georgiana<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">196</a></span> leaned her head listlessly +against the seamy old tree trunk behind her.</p> + +<p>"It's not that I wanted you to go; you know I was altogether too selfish +for that," he went on. "But—something happened at the last that made me +entirely reconciled to having you go. Can you guess what it was?"</p> + +<p>"Possibly."</p> + +<p>"But you can't. Of course I was pretty well dashed at finding Channing +booked for the trip. But—I got over that when—I made up my mind to +come, too."</p> + +<p>"To come, too!" The head resting against the tree trunk turned quickly. +"What <i>do</i> you mean?"</p> + +<p>"Jeannette suggested it," said he, with something in his voice which his +listener could not quite analyze. "She put it up to me to come over +while they should be staying in Devonshire, and join their house party. +At first I said I couldn't, but the more I thought of it the more it +seemed possible to get over there for a fortnight anyhow. The plan was +not to tell you, and to surprise you by walking in on you."</p> + +<p>Georgiana stared at him, as well as she could see him through the fervid +twilight. "Jimps! Why, how could you get away?"</p> + +<p>"There's never a time when it's easy to get away," he admitted; "but +everything's in full sail now for the summer, and just lately I've +succeeded in getting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">197</a></span> hold of an awfully competent man who could run +things for the month well enough. Anyhow, of course I was dippy at the +thought of going and—I promised her I would if I could manage it. I've +never had the chance to travel much, and it suddenly struck me that I +didn't have to deny myself every possible thing. But, of course, now +that you're back——"</p> + +<p>"But that makes no difference!" she cried quickly, "Why should it? +Jeannette asked you because she wanted you. Of course you must go, if +you really can get away."</p> + +<p>"She never would have asked me if you hadn't been going. And it was only +an afterthought then. If I hadn't gone on for that last hour it wouldn't +have occurred to her."</p> + +<p>"It occurred to her to wish it, because she said so more than once to me +the day I was there. But she didn't dream you could do it. I don't know +why we should all consider you a fixture, for your father is much +stronger than mine and it couldn't harm him at all to spare you for a +little. Of course, you must go, Jimps! When will you start?"</p> + +<p>"Do you honestly want me to go, George?" He seemed to be scanning her +face through the dimness.</p> + +<p>"I should be a selfish thing enough if I didn't," she protested.</p> + +<p>He was silent for a minute; then he said: "To be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">198</a></span> frank, I wrote last +night for a berth on a ship that sails in two weeks. Jeannette warned me +not to delay, the travel is so heavy this time of year. I talked it over +with my father and he seemed pleased at the idea. You can imagine I felt +a bit dizzy this morning when I heard you hadn't sailed. I didn't +believe it at first."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, you will go just the same—and all the more. It's a pity +somebody shouldn't carry out the plan, and you've had less fun than I, +for you've been at home longer since college. Go, Jimps, and take the +goods the gods provide."</p> + +<p>She maintained this spirit throughout the ensuing fortnight, in spite of +his evident effort to make her acknowledge that she would feel her own +disappointment the more for his going. When he came over to say good-bye +he found her apparently in the gayest of spirits; and she gave him such +a friendly send-off that he went away marvelling in his heart at the +ways of young women, and the ways of Georgiana Warne in particular.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">199</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2><h3>"STEADY ON!"</h3> +</div> + +<p>On the day following the departure of James Stuart for England, while +the two literary workmen were hard at it in the old manse study, the +July weather having mercifully turned decidedly cooler for a space, the +village telegraph messenger, a tall youth with a shambling gait, +appeared with a message for Mr. Jefferson. Georgiana brought it to him, +and waited to know whether there was a reply.</p> + +<p>She saw the message—evidently a long one—twice read, and noticed a +peculiar lighting of the grave face which had bent over it. Mr. +Jefferson wrote an answer, briefer than the message received, and +himself took it to the waiting boy. When he returned he sat down and +began to put in order the papers on which he had been working.</p> + +<p>"I have another trade, as you have guessed," he said to Georgiana. "It +seems necessary for me to go away and work at it for a few days, perhaps +a fortnight. It is fortunate for me that you are here, for I should not +have felt that I ought to leave your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">200</a></span> father, and yet I should hardly +have been able to refuse the call of that message."</p> + +<p>"Then I am very glad," she returned, "that I am here. Can you leave me +work to do?"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid not, beyond that already laid out for to-day. Won't you +rest while I am gone? This is vacation time for most people, you know."</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "With only father to look after I shall have little +enough to do."</p> + +<p>"You won't—forgive me!—go up into that blistering attic and make rugs? +I hope not!" She felt that he was looking keenly at her.</p> + +<p>"Why should you hope not? I am one of the people who must be busy to be +contented. How soon do you go, Mr. Jefferson?"</p> + +<p>"On the noon train." He looked at his watch. "I have an hour to make +ready. No, don't go. I will come back when I am ready, and we will put +things in shape to leave, so that we shall know exactly where to take +them up again."</p> + +<p>In half an hour he was back, and together the two put the results of +their joint work into such shape that at a moment's notice they might +resume it. This done, they went to Mr. Warne, and the intending traveler +explained briefly the situation—without, as Georgiana fully realized, +explaining it at all. Then, shortly, he went away, with something in his +manner which subtly told her that he was very glad to go,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">201</a></span> and that he +was thinking of little besides the errand which took him from them, +careful though he was in every courteous detail of leave-taking.</p> + +<p>When he had gone Georgiana and her father looked at each other.</p> + +<p>"Daughter," said Mr. Warne, looking intently at the vivid face, with the +eyes which saw so many things, "do you know what you remind me of?"</p> + +<p>"No, Father Davy. Of a cross child?"</p> + +<p>"Of a young colt, penned into a very small enclosure, with only one lame +and blind old horse to keep it company. And within sight, off on the +hillside, is a great, green pasture, with other colts and lambs sporting +gayly about, and the summer sunshine over all—except in the corral, +over which a dark cloud hangs. And I am sorry—sorry!"</p> + +<p>"Father Davy!" Georgiana choked back a lump in her throat. "But it is +hot July, and the cloud makes it cooler and nicer in the corral. And +besides—the lame, blind horse is such a dear—has drawn such heavy +loads and would be so lonely now without company. And—and the colt has +many long years to sport on hillsides."</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne smiled, more sadly than was his wont. "But not while it is a +colt." Then, after a pause, "My dear, we shall miss Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"Shall we?"</p> + +<p>"I shall miss him more than I should have realized<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">202</a></span> till I saw him go +down the path. And James Stuart, too. That is why I know that you will +miss them."</p> + +<p>"We shall live through it," prophesied his daughter cheerfully, and +betook herself to the kitchen, which she found looking, in spite of its +well-ordered neatness, more like a jail than ever before.</p> + +<p>The following days went by on feet of lead. Never had Georgiana had to +make such an effort to maintain ordinary, everyday cheerfulness and +patience. She found herself longing, with one continuous dull ache from +morning till night, for something to happen, something which would +absorb her every faculty. She rose early and went for long walks, and +went again in the late afternoons, with the one purpose of tiring her +vigorous young body so that it would keep her restless mind in order. +She worked at her rug-making many hours, spent many more in reading +aloud to her father, and still there were hours left to fill. She forced +herself to go to see all her acquaintances, to visit those few who were +ill; there was nobody in want in the whole place, it seemed, in this +summer prosperity of garden.</p> + +<p>"There's nothing to do for any one," she said to her father one day. "I +feel guilty times without number because I'm not of more use to the +people about me."</p> + +<p>Her father studied her. "Dear," he said slowly, "what you need just now +is something the good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">203</a></span> Father knows you need, and I believe He will not +deny it to you. In the meantime, remember that simply being cheerful and +patient under enforced waiting is sometimes the greatest service that +can be rendered."</p> + +<p>"If you haven't taught me that, it isn't because you haven't illustrated +it every day of your life," she cried—and fled.</p> + +<p>In her own room she beat her strong young hands together. "Oh, dear God!" +she said aloud, "if I could only, only have the thing I want, I would +take anything, <i>anything</i> that might go with it and not complain!"</p> + +<p>And then, suddenly, one early August night, Mr. Jefferson returned. He +came up the path, bag in hand, and saw a solitary figure standing on the +small front porch, where a latticework sheltered opposing seats. It was +a white figure in the early dusk and it rose as he approached.</p> + +<p>"The fortnight is not quite up," said Georgiana quietly. "But I put your +room in order to-day, hoping you would come. My father never missed +anybody so much."</p> + +<p>"That sounds very pleasant." He set down his bag and shook hands. "It +makes it the harder to say that I must be off again in the morning. +And—I shall not be coming back. If it had not been that I could not +leave without seeing you and Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">204</a></span> Warne I should have sent on to ask you +to pack and send my trunk."</p> + +<p>"Really? How very unexpected! But I would gladly have sent on the +trunk," said Georgiana. Something cold clutched at her heart.</p> + +<p>"Would you? That sounds rather inhospitable! Do you care to hear my +plans?"</p> + +<p>"If you care to tell them, Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"I wonder," said he, "if you would be willing to go around to the other +porch and sit there. I have a fancy for being where I can get the scent +from your garden. I shall miss that spicy fragrance. Is your father +still up?"</p> + +<p>"He has just gone to bed. He would be very happy if you would go in and +speak to him," said Georgiana.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson ran upstairs with his bag, and made a brief call upon Mr. +Warne. Then he came down, to find Georgiana standing with her arms about +a white pillar, her face looking off toward the garden. The lamplight +from the central hall, whose rear door opened upon the porch, gleamed +rosily out upon her.</p> + +<p>Mr. Jefferson came out and stood beside her. "I came back," he said, +"just to offer you my friendship in any time of need. I couldn't go away +without doing that; I couldn't be content merely to write it back to +you. I have lived here in your home with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">205</a></span> your father and yourself until +it has come to seem almost as if I belonged here. But my work calls me; +I must go back to it. The book must wait, to be finished in spare +moments as other books have been finished. I thought I could give myself +this year away from my profession to accomplish this task and perhaps to +lay in fresh stores of energy. But I find I can't be easy in mind to do +this longer. So I am going back."</p> + +<p>After an instant Georgiana answered, without turning her eyes away from +the garden: "You are a very fortunate person."</p> + +<p>"To have work that calls so loudly? I am sure of that. And it is work +which absorbs me to the full. But I shall always have time to give to +you or to your father, if in any way I can ever be of service to you. I +have no family to call upon me for any attention whatever; I have no +near relative except the married sister who lives abroad, as I have told +you. By the way, Allison has bidden me more than once to thank you for +her for taking such good care of me. You know her by her picture, if you +have noticed it—the one on my bureau."</p> + +<p>Georgiana nodded. She did not trust her lips, which were suddenly +trembling, to tell him that though he had often spoken of this sister he +had never mentioned the fact that the photograph on his bureau was hers. +But—what did it matter now? It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">206</a></span> far better that she had not known, +that she had had this restraint upon her imagination to keep her from +ever letting herself go. It was far better—— But he was speaking; she +must listen.</p> + +<p>"While I have been in this house I have felt," he was saying, "as if I +had a real home. It is hard to give that up. Association with your +father has become much to me. I can't tell you what he has given me out +of his stores of wisdom and experience. And you—have been very good to +me; I shall not forget it."</p> + +<p>"I have done nothing," murmured Georgiana with dry lips, "except feed +you and dust your room. You might have had such service anywhere."</p> + +<p>"Might I? I doubt it. And there is something else. If I may I should +like to tell you how I have admired you for your steady facing of each +day's routine. There is no heroism in the world, Miss Georgiana, equal +to that, to my thinking."</p> + +<p>She shook her head. "I'm not heroic; please don't tell me I am."</p> + +<p>"But you are, and I must tell you so. Why not? I have seen more than you +may have realized. My whole life's training has been in the line of +observation of other human beings. And you must know that no one could +be with you and not understand that the fires of longing to live and +live strongly and vitally burn in you with more than ordinary +fierceness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">207</a></span> Yet you subdue them every day for the sake of the one who +needs you. That is real heroism, and the sight of it has touched me very +much."</p> + +<p>Suddenly she found herself struggling to keep back the choking in her +throat. How well he had understood her—and what unsuspected depths of +tenderness there were in his rich and quiet voice. She could not speak +for a little, and he stood beside her in a comprehending silence.</p> + +<p>"I can't go away," he said presently, "without telling you that your +happiness has come to seem very important to me. I have—necessarily—a +fairly wide knowledge of men, their characters, their motives, their +ideals—or their lack of them. Miss Georgiana, when you come to +choose—will you let me say it?—don't be misled by superficial +attributes, even the most attractive. Don't let the desire to have your +horizon apparently expanded, to go far and see much and live intensely, +overbalance your appreciation of fine and lasting qualities in one who +could give you little excitement but much that is real and worth having. +It may be very daring in me to say this to you, but I find myself +impelled to it. I want you to live, and live gloriously, and find +employment for every one of your splendid energies, and there is only +one being in the world who can help you do that—the man whom you can +respect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">208</a></span> as well as love, and love as well as respect. Will you promise +me to choose him and nobody else?"</p> + +<p>She turned suddenly and fiercely upon him. "How can you think I——" She +stopped short, her eyes blazing in the darkness.</p> + +<p>"I can foresee," said he, very gently, "an hour for you when you will be +tempted out of your senses to do the thing which promises change, any +change. You are starving for it; you are desperate with longing for +it——"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Jefferson——"</p> + +<p>"Miles Channing came into town when I did: his car raced my train for +the last two miles. He has gone to the hotel. Doubtless you will see him +within the hour. Miss Georgiana, I can't let you marry him without +telling you that if you do you will be an unhappy woman for the rest of +your life."</p> + +<p>She was speechless for a moment with surprise. She forgot her encounter +with the speaker in her astonishment at his news. Channing had come +back, then, even as he had vowed, long before the rest of the party. The +knowledge that he was close at hand again, bringing back with him such a +wild will to accomplish that of which he had been thwarted that he had +not been able to brook delay upon the other side of the water, was +knowledge of the sort which stopped the breath.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">209</a></span></p> + +<p>"Will you forgive me?" said Mr. Jefferson's low voice in her ear.</p> + +<p>"But—but I—don't understand," she stammered—and now at last she +showed him her unhappy eyes.</p> + +<p>"What I have to do with it? How can I fail to have something to do with +it? When I let you sail in the same party with this young man without +warning you, it was because I had no possible notion that he was to be +along. When I learned that he had gone and that he had followed you +back, I knew that he was in earnest—at least in his pursuit of you. I +had thought there was no actual danger for you on account of your +friend—your real friend—the young man whom you had known and trusted +so long and with such reason. But now, with him away and you alone here +and lonely and full of the hunger for life—yes, I know I am speaking +plainly, but I feel that I must put you on your guard. And I want you to +feel that though I shall be gone to-morrow night I am here to-night, and +if you have any need for me—for an elder brother——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, how can you think——"</p> + +<p>"I do think—and I know—and I fear for you. Not because I do not +believe in you, but because I know the manner of man who will approach +you. You have never known his sort. Let me be a brother to you—just for +to-night, if only in your thought. It may help to steady you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">210</a></span></p> + +<p>There was silence between them for a little. Then steps upon the front +porch, quick, ringing steps, as of one who comes with eagerness. +Georgiana felt her hand taken for an instant and pressed warmly between +two firm hands. Then her companion left her....</p> + +<p>Three hours afterward Georgiana flung herself, breathing fast, upon her +knees beside her open window and lifted her face toward the sky. She +would have fled to her garden for this vigil she must keep, but the +extraordinary truth was that she did not dare be alone there. Her hands +gripped the sill, her eyes stared without seeing at the vaulted depths +above her. After a long time—hours—she rose and went to her door, +opened it without making a sound, and, listening till she had made sure +that the house was as silent as all houses should be at two in the +morning, she stole slowly along the upper hall. Presently she stood +outside the closed door of the guest who was sleeping under the roof for +the last time. With a fast-beating heart she noiselessly laid her hand +upon the panel of that door.</p> + +<p>"You did steady me," she whispered. "I couldn't have done it if you +hadn't warned me—fortified me. Oh, what shall I do without you?"</p> + +<p>Inside suddenly a footstep sounded, the footstep of a shod foot. +Instantly the girl was off down the hall like a frightened deer. In her +own room she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">211</a></span> stood with her hand upon her breast. "Up—at this hour!" +her startled consciousness was repeating. "Why? There was no light in +his room. Couldn't he sleep either? Why? Is <i>that</i> what it means to him +to be a brother?"</p> + +<p>In the morning Mr. Jefferson took his leave. His parting with Mr. Warne +was like that between father and son. When he came to Georgiana he +looked straight down into her eyes.</p> + +<p>"Remember," he said, "that what I have told you of my wish to be of any +possible use to you and your father holds good, even though I should be +at the other side of the world. I shall write now and then to ask about +you both. I can't tell you how I hope for your happiness—Georgiana."</p> + +<p>When he had gone she went to her room and dropped upon her knees beside +her bed, her arms outflung upon the old blue and white counterpane.</p> + +<p>"O God," she whispered passionately, "how could You show it to me if I +couldn't have it? How <i>could</i> You?"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">212</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2><h3>REVELATIONS</h3> +</div> + +<p>Summer had gone at last, its fierce heat giving way to the cool, fresh +days of an early autumn. August, September, October—the months had +dragged interminably by, and now it was November, bleak and chill, with +gray skies and penetrating winds and sudden deluges of rain. Georgiana, +sweeping sodden leaves from a wet porch after an all-night storm, looked +up to see the village telegraph messenger approaching. With her one +dearest safe upon a couch within, and Stuart long since at home again, +she could not fear bad news. She thought of Jeannette, who was always, +in the absence of a telephone in the old manse, telegraphing her +invitations and demands.</p> + +<p>She tore open the dispatch with a hope that it was from Jeannette, for +she had sadly missed her letters. Jeannette, indeed, it was who had +inspired the message, but its sender was her sister. Rosalie Crofton +wired that Jeannette had been taken suddenly and violently ill while on +a visit in New York and was to be operated upon at once; that she had +begged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">213</a></span> Georgiana to come and to bring James Stuart with her; that +Rosalie herself was dreadfully frightened and prayed Georgiana not to +lose a train nor to fail to bring Stuart.</p> + +<p>Action was never slow with the receiver of this message; it had never +been quicker than now. With one brief explanation to her father, she was +off to find Stuart. Just at the dripping hedge she met him, his face +tense with the shock it was plain he had received. At sight of her he +drew a yellow paper from his pocket.</p> + +<p>"You've heard?" he cried.</p> + +<p>"Yes; this very minute."</p> + +<p>"There's only an hour to catch the ten-ten. You'll go?"</p> + +<p>"Of course. I was coming to tell you. I'll be ready."</p> + +<p>She turned again and ran back. There was much to do in the allotted +hour, but with the help of Mrs. Perkins she accomplished it. When she +and Stuart were in the train, sitting side by side in the ordinary coach +of the traveler who must conserve his resources, as Georgiana had +decreed, Stuart spoke the first word of comment upon the situation.</p> + +<p>"Of course, there was nothing to do but go," he said, "after that +telegram."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," agreed Georgiana simply.</p> + +<p>"She was perfectly well—last week," said Stuart.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">214</a></span></p> + +<p>"Was she? You know I haven't seen her since they came back."</p> + +<p>"She said she had tried every way to get you there."</p> + +<p>"She has. I was going—when I could. You know father hasn't been as well +since they came back in September."</p> + +<p>"I know. But she's wanted to see you. She says she can't write half so +well as she can talk."</p> + +<p>"No. One can't."</p> + +<p>There was silence for some time after this exchange. Stuart seemed +restless, stirred often, once got up and stood for a long time at the +rear of the car, staring back at the wet tracks slipping away behind. +When they had changed trains and were headed for New York, with their +destination only a few hours away, Stuart, again in the vestibule of the +car, looking out through the closed entrance door upon a dull landscape +passing like a misty wraith through the November fog and twilight, found +Georgiana at his elbow.</p> + +<p>"Jimps," she was saying in her straightforward way, "what's the use of +bothering to keep it covered when it shows so plainly? Do you think I +don't understand? I do—and it's absolutely all right."</p> + +<p>He turned quickly, and his gloomy eyes stared down into her uplifted +face.</p> + +<p>"O George!" he muttered. "Can you honestly say that?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">215</a></span></p> + +<p>"Honestly. I know how it happened. You couldn't help it. It was meant to +be. The other—wasn't. That's all there is of it."</p> + +<p>"I've been feeling such a sneak."</p> + +<p>"Why should you? I've told you over and over——"</p> + +<p>"I know you have. But—that last time——"</p> + +<p>"That was really the beginning of—this other," said she with decision. +"You were not yourself and you didn't know just why. You thought it must +be because you cared for me, but it was—the stirring of your first real +feeling for any woman, only you didn't recognize it. That's the whole +thing, Jimps, and you are not to reproach yourself, particularly now +when——" She faltered suddenly, and he drew a quick breath that was as +if something stabbed him.</p> + +<p>After a little he began very slowly: "It didn't really happen +till—Devonshire. Those two weeks—I can't tell you. No mortal man could +have resisted her. Yet I tried; I did, George. She didn't know about +you; she never has, except that we were old friends and dear ones. She +thinks the trouble is that she's a rich man's daughter and I'm only a +farmer."</p> + +<p>"You're no ordinary farmer and she knows it. Her family know it. And if +she wants you she'll have you; they've never refused her anything."</p> + +<p>"I haven't asked her."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">216</a></span></p> + +<p>"James Stuart!" It was her old tone with him. For the moment both forgot +the possible issue of this errand upon which they were going; only the +vital relations at stake seemed involved.</p> + +<p>"But—she knows," said Stuart very low.</p> + +<p>"Of course she does."</p> + +<p>By and by Stuart spoke again. "George, you were never quite so close to +me as now."</p> + +<p>She slipped her hand into his. "I'll stay close, dear; and I'll do all I +can for you both."</p> + +<p>This was all they said until the first lights of the great city, miles +out, were flashing past them. Then it occurred to Georgiana to put a +startled question:</p> + +<p>"Jimps, have you any address to go to? There was none in my telegram."</p> + +<p>"I know where they are staying." Stuart put his hand into his pocket and +drew out a thick letter, upon which Georgiana recognized her cousin's +handwriting. "This came only yesterday morning."</p> + +<p>In spite of herself the girl felt a wild thrill of pain. Her chum—her +chum! And it was the first time he had ever failed to be open with her.</p> + +<p>As if he recognized that the sight of the letter had told even more +plainly than words could have done, the degree of intercommunication +between the two presumable lovers, Stuart said quickly:</p> + +<p>"I was going to tell you, George—on my word I was. I knew you didn't +care for me—that way, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">217</a></span> I was afraid it might hurt just the same, +after all our vows. Somehow the days went by so fast and—well, you see +there was Channing. A while back I thought you were going to marry him, +more than likely."</p> + +<p>"You didn't really think it, Jimps."</p> + +<p>"I don't know what I thought. George, we're getting in. Oh——" And he +broke off.</p> + +<p>She knew what had happened, for with the first glimpse of the great +terminal station the things which thus far had been never really vivid +in her consciousness had in the twinkling of an eye taken terrible form. +This was New York, and somewhere in it they were to find Jeannette, +stricken in the midst of her youth and beauty and joy of life and love. +If only they might find the worst of the danger safely past!</p> + +<p>They were rushed in a taxicab to the great uptown hotel, to find there a +message saying that the whole family were at the hospital and that they +were to follow at once. In the second cab Georgiana's hand again found +Stuart's and stayed there. His face was set now; he spoke not a word, +and even through his glove his hand was cold to the touch. Then, +presently, they were at the big, grim-looking hospital with the +characteristic odour, so suggestive to the senses of the tragedies which +take place there night and day, meeting them at the very portal.</p> + +<p>It was Georgiana who made the necessary inquiries,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">218</a></span> for Stuart seemed +like one dazed with fear of that which was to come. He followed her with +his fingers gripping his hat brim with a clutch like that of a vise, his +eyes looking straight ahead. An attendant led them to a private room, +and here in a moment Georgiana found herself caught in Rosalie's arms, +with pale faces all about which tried to smile reassuringly but could +succeed only in looking strained. It was Aunt Olivia who seemed most +composed and who made the situation clear. Uncle Thomas could only grasp +the newcomers' hands and press them, while his lips shook and his speech +halted.</p> + +<p>"It is a very peculiar case, and we had to wait till a certain surgeon +came who was out of town—Doctor Craig. They seemed to think it safer to +wait for him. He has had extraordinary success in similar cases. He—is +with her now, operating. My dear, I am very glad you have come—and you, +Mr. Stuart. She wanted you both, and we felt that if her mind were at +rest her chances——" But here even Aunt Olivia's long training in +composure under all circumstances deserted her, and she let Georgiana +put her in a chair and kneel beside her, murmuring affection and hope.</p> + +<p>It was a long wait—or so it seemed—interrupted only once by the +entrance of a young hospital interne, who came to advise the family of +the patient that thus far all was going well. It had proved, as was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">219</a></span> +expected, a complicated case, and there was necessity of proceeding +slowly. But Doctor Westfall had sent word to them to be of good cheer, +for the patient's pulse was strong, and Doctor Craig's reputation, as +they knew, was very great.</p> + +<p>"It's Dr. Jefferson Craig, you know," explained young Chester Crofton +softly to Georgiana. "We're mighty lucky to get him. He only came back +from abroad two days ago, and he was operating out of town somewhere +last night. Doctor Westfall was awfully keen to have him and nobody +else."</p> + +<p>Georgiana knew the name, as who did not? Jefferson Craig was the man +whose brilliant research work along certain lines of surgery had +astonished both his colleagues and an attentive general public, and his +operative surgery on those lines had disproved all previous theories as +to the possibilities of interference in a class of cases until recently +considered hopeless after an early stage. It was indeed subject for +confidence if Doctor Craig's skilful hands were those now at Jeannette's +service.</p> + +<p>But there is no beguiling such periods of suspense with assurance of +former successes in similar cases. Jeannette's family had need of all +their fortitude for the bearing of such suspense before Doctor Westfall, +the Crofton's family physician from the home city, appeared in the +doorway. He had been brought on by them when they were summoned to +Jeannette's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">220</a></span> bedside. He had known the girl from her babyhood, and the +signs of past tension were clearly visible in his face as he looked upon +his patient's family, though his eyes were very bright and his lips were +smiling.</p> + +<p>"Safely over," was his instant greeting, and his hand fell with the +touch of hearty friendship on the shoulder of Mr. Thomas Crofton. "I +wouldn't come till I was sure I might bid you draw a long breath and +ease up on this strain of waiting."</p> + +<p>They came around him, Aunt Olivia's lips trembling, her hand fast in +Georgiana's. Young Chester Crofton gave a subdued whoop of joy, and +pretty Rosalie, scarcely out of emotional girlhood, burst into +hysterical crying which she struggled vainly to keep soundless.</p> + +<p>"Mind you," warned Doctor Westfall, wiping his own eyes though he +continued to smile, "I don't say all danger is past. Doctor Craig would +be the last man to countenance such a statement. We must hold steady for +several days before we can speak with absolute assurance. But every sign +points to safety, and certainly—certainly—well,"—he paused as if he +could not readily find words for that which he wished to say,—"if it +had been anybody but our Jeannette I should have congratulated myself on +the chance to see such a piece of work as that. I've never seen +Jefferson Craig operate,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">221</a></span> though I've been a fascinated follower of his +research and have read every word he has written. And he's astonishingly +young. I expected to see a man of my own age."</p> + +<p>"We must see him, Doctor," murmured Mrs. Crofton, striving to regain her +composure which, as is often the case, was more shaken by the assurance +of good news than by the fear of bad. "We must thank him for ourselves. +He will come in to see us?"</p> + +<p>"As soon as he is out of his gown. I'm going back for him in a minute, +for I knew you would want the words from his own lips. You will like +him—you will like him immensely."</p> + +<p>He went away again presently on this errand, an imposing figure of a man +of fifty, accustomed to responsibility and able to carry it, a typical +city physician of the class employed by the prosperous, but with certain +clearly defined lines about his eyes and lips which proclaimed him a +lover of human nature and a sympathizer with its sufferings, in whatever +class he might find his patients.</p> + +<p>"He's such a dear," declared Rosalie, wiping away her tears and smiling +at James Stuart. "He's adored Jeannette ever since she was born, and I +know he's been just as anxious as we were. Do cheer up, Jimmy. I'm just +as sure she's going to get well now as I was sure she wasn't before."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">222</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't dare to be sure," he answered in a low tone.</p> + +<p>Georgiana looked at him and saw how shaken he still was, notwithstanding +the reassuring news. In spite of her anxiety she had been observant, +ever since she entered the room, of the attitude of Jeannette's family +toward James McKenzie Stuart. It had not been difficult to come to the +conclusion that for Jeannette's sake they would accept him, and that for +his own sake they were forced, in varying degrees, to like him. How +could they help it? she wondered, when they looked at his fine, frank +face and observed his manly bearing. He was college bred; he was a +successful worker with his brain as well as with his hands, for his +farming was scientific farming, and his results established a model for +the community. He was by no means poor—and yet—Georgiana realized that +the change for Jeannette from a home of luxury to one of comparative +austerity of living would be a tremendous one. Well, such events had +occurred before in the world's history, and it was by no means +unthinkable that they should occur again. As Georgiana noted the tense +look on Stuart's face, and saw the hardly abated suffering in his eyes, +she said to herself that if Jeannette cared as much for him as he for +her, she cared quite enough to bring her family to terms at any price.</p> + +<p>The door opened again, as quietly as hospital doors<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">223</a></span> invariably open, +and Doctor Westfall advanced once more into the room, followed by a +younger man with a grave, clean-cut face and the unassuming, quietly +assured bearing of established success. As Georgiana's eyes fell upon +the distinguished surgeon whose name was Jefferson Craig she recognized +her former lodger, Mr. E. C. Jefferson. That she did not for a moment +wonder what Mr. Jefferson was doing here in the famous surgeon's place +was due to the fact that her mind instantly bridged the chasm between +the two personalities and made them one. Yet there was a subtle, but +easily recognizable, difference between the personality of Mr. Jefferson +and that of Doctor Craig. There could be no question that here his foot +was on his native heath! The literary worker had for the time vanished, +and here was the man who did things with his hands and did them better +than other men. She had long understood that he had another and more +active place in the world than that which he had temporarily occupied as +solely a writer of books. This was the place, and nothing could have +seemed less surprising than to find him in it.</p> + +<p>At the same time, the finding occasioned a difficulty in maintaining her +own composure of face and manner. She had known Mr. Jefferson; she did +not know Doctor Craig. She understood instantly, without any +explanation, that he had chosen to be known in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">224</a></span> the obscure village by +only a part of his name, because that name was so notable that even the +two village doctors, the old one and the young, would have recognized it +and been at his heels, to the detriment of those months of rest from +surgery which he had dedicated to the exposition of his methods upon +paper. She was quick to perceive also that it would be easy enough for +Doctor Craig to prove as different from Mr. Jefferson in relation to his +acquaintance as he was different in his position in the world. What, +indeed, had Dr. Jefferson Craig and little Georgiana Warne in common? +Certainly far, far less than had had Mr. E. C. Jefferson and that same +Georgiana Warne.</p> + +<p>He did not see her at once, for the father and mother of his patient met +him in the middle of the floor, and his first glance fell upon them and +remained there while he spoke to them of their daughter. Even in his +manner of speaking Georgiana felt a decided difference. There was a +curious crispness and succinctness of speech that marked the +professional man, which was decidedly different from the more expanded +conversational manner of Mr. Jefferson.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she is sleeping quietly under the last effects of the anæsthetic," +he was saying when Georgiana took note of his words once more. "We will +let her sleep. It will spare her some hours of consciousness."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">225</a></span></p> + +<p>"Will she suffer very much when she wakes, Doctor?" was the mother's +anxious question.</p> + +<p>Doctor Craig's smile was the very one Georgiana had first liked about +him, for it transformed his face and gave it back the youth which his +early responsibility in a serious profession had done its best to age. +"We shall not let her suffer very much," he promised. "That's not +necessary nor desirable."</p> + +<p>"When may we see her?" Mrs. Crofton pursued.</p> + +<p>"You may all see her for a moment before she wakens, if you wish. +Afterward her mother and father for just a word, and—I am told she +expressed a very strong wish to see a young man who was on his way. Has +he come? For the sake of her contentment I have agreed to allow him a +word with her by and by—just a word, if he will be very quiet."</p> + +<p>It was Uncle Thomas who turned to beckon James Stuart forward, and then +to nod at Georgiana. Immediately Stuart was presented to Doctor Craig, +who, looking intently into the young man's questioning face, said +straightforwardly: "Mr. Stuart and I have met before under quite +different circumstances. He knew me as a writer of books and may be +surprised to find me here—as I am surprised to find him."</p> + +<p>"Let me present you to my niece, Miss Warne, Doctor Craig," said Aunt +Olivia, and Georgiana was glad of the preparation the minutes had given +her, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">226</a></span> here indeed was need for all her powers of self-control. Her +eyes had no sooner looked into those which met them with such a keen and +searching glance than she was stirred to the depths. She had thought she +had known what it would be to feel those eyes upon her again, but she +had not reckoned with the effect of absence.</p> + +<p>He made no effort to conceal the situation. "When your daughter sees me +next, Mrs. Crofton," he said, without turning from Georgiana, "she will +know me, as Miss Warne and Mr. Stuart do. I spent last winter in Miss +Warne's home, under the name of Jefferson alone, to find time to work at +a book I am writing. I gave it up sooner than I had expected, because my +work here would not be denied."</p> + +<p>"Didn't Jean know you when she saw you before the—the operation?" cried +Rosalie, full of curiosity at this unexpected turn of affairs.</p> + +<p>"She did not see me before she was anæsthetized," explained Doctor +Craig; and Doctor Westfall added, patting Rosalie's hand: "It's rather +like a story, isn't it, Rosy? Doctor Seaver, of the staff here, was +telling me this morning how Doctor Craig tried to take a year off to +rest and write, but how they got him back—and glad enough to have him, +too. And yet we want that book. It's rather hard to have a reputation so +big it won't give you time to rest. He needed the rest, Seaver told +me."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">227</a></span></p> + +<p>"I had it. Six months in the country did more for me than a year in +town," said Doctor Craig. He turned at the sound of a light knock upon +the door. He gave the impression of a man whose senses were every one +alert.</p> + +<p>An apologetic interne came in with a message for Doctor Craig and he +left them, with a final word of confidence and the request that they all +retire to rooms at the nearby hotel where they were staying.</p> + +<p>Georgiana found Rosalie at her side. "O George! is he really the man you +had in your house all this year? You lucky thing! Didn't you fall in +love with him instantly? Why, he's perfectly wonderful!"</p> + +<p>"You think so now, child, because you know he's distinguished. If you +had seen him quietly working at his book you probably wouldn't have +looked at him a second time."</p> + +<p>Rosalie studied her cousin's face so intently that Georgiana had some +difficulty in maintaining this attitude of cool detachment. The young +girl shook her head. "He couldn't have changed his face," she insisted. +"He's not a bit handsome, but he's stunning just the same. Oh, how +astonished Jean will be when she finds out who's saved her life! When do +you suppose he'll let Jimmy Stuart see her? He'll die if he doesn't make +sure she's alive pretty soon."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">228</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2><h3>FIVE MINUTES</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was not many hours before Doctor Craig himself led Georgiana and +James Stuart together into the room where Jeannette lay. She had asked +to see them together, he said, and they might remain for precisely five +minutes. He immediately left the room again and took the nurse with him.</p> + +<p>The five minutes were spent by Stuart with Jeannette's hand in both his +own, as he knelt beside the the bed where she lay, no pillow under her +head, her face very white but her eyes glowing.</p> + +<p>Jeannette's look met Georgiana's. "Is it all right?" she said very low.</p> + +<p>"Of course it's all right, dear; and I'm perfectly happy over it," +whispered Georgiana.</p> + +<p>Jeannette smiled. "I couldn't be happy till I was sure," she breathed. +"I thought—I might die, even yet—and I wanted it like this—first."</p> + +<p>An inarticulate murmur from Stuart answered this, but Georgiana assured +her very gently: "You're going to be happy with Jimps for years and +years, Jean darling."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">229</a></span></p> + +<p>They were silent then, as they had been bidden, but the silence was +eloquent. Doctor Craig, coming in to put an end to the little interview, +saw the unmistakable tableau. As Stuart, catching sight of him, rose +slowly to his feet, the surgeon's fingers closed upon his patient's +pulse. He nodded.</p> + +<p>"As a heart stimulant you have done very well, Mr. Stuart," he said. +"But small doses, frequently repeated, are better than large ones."</p> + +<p>Jeannette's hand weakly caught his. "Isn't it queer, Georgiana," she +murmured, "that it should be your Mr. Jefferson who has saved my life?"</p> + +<p>In spite of herself, Georgiana could not prevent the rich wave of colour +which swept over her face. She knew, without venturing to look at him, +that Doctor Craig's eyes flashed toward her with a smile in them. She +stooped over Jeannette with a gay reply:</p> + +<p>"And he began his acquaintance with you by snowballing you till you +almost had need of his surgery on the spot!"</p> + +<p>Then she and Stuart were out in the wide, bare hospital corridor, and +Stuart was saying with a shiver: "Does she look all right to you, +George—sure?"</p> + +<p>"Of course she does, Jimps. You never saw her before with her hair down +in braids; and any face looks pale against a white bed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">230</a></span></p> + +<p>He shook his head. "I shall not stir out of this town till she looks +like herself to me."</p> + +<p>"Of course you won't. I wish I needn't, but I must go back to father +to-night."</p> + +<p>They all tried to dissuade her from this course, but she was firm. She +knew well enough that all Jeannette had wanted of her was to assure +herself that she possessed a clear right and title to Stuart's love. +Evidently Jeannette had guessed more at Stuart's past relations with +Georgiana than either of them had imagined, and she would not allow +herself to be happy without the knowledge that she was not making her +cousin miserable.</p> + +<p>One brief conversation with Doctor Craig was all that was vouchsafed +Georgiana before she left the city, and that took place in the presence +of others, in Aunt Olivia's apartment. It was clear enough how busy a +man he was in this his own world, for when he came into the room he +explained to Mrs. Crofton that it had been his only chance since they +arrived to make a brief social call upon the family of his patient. It +was but an hour before Georgiana's departure, and when he learned this, +Jefferson Craig came over to her, where she sat upon a divan at one end +of the long private drawing-room of the suite. Seeing this, the others +of the party began conversations of their own, after the manner of the +highly intelligent, and for those five minutes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">231</a></span> Georgiana lived in a +place apart from the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>"Please tell me all about your father," he began, and the tones of his +voice, low as are habitually those of his profession, could hardly have +been heard by one across the room.</p> + +<p>Georgiana told him, unconsciously letting him see that the fear of her +probable loss was ever before her, though she could not put it into +words. She knew as she spoke that his eyes did not leave her face. She +had no possible idea how alluring was that face as the light from the +sconces nearby fell upon it. She was conscious, womanlike, that the +small hat she wore was made over from one of Jeannette's, and she did +not think it becoming. Though it was November, she still wore her summer +suit, for the reason that since her return from abroad Jeannette had not +found time to pack and send off the usual "Semi-Annual," and previous +boxes had not included winter suits at at all. Altogether, with +many-times-mended gloves upon her hands, and shoes which to her seemed +disgraceful, though preserved with all the care of which she was +mistress, Georgiana felt somehow more than ordinarily shabby.</p> + +<p>Doctor Craig asked her several questions. He spoke of the rug-making, +watching her closely as she answered. He asked how often she went to +walk and how far. He asked what she and her father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">232</a></span> were reading. He +would have asked other questions, but she interrupted him.</p> + +<p>"It's not fair," she said. "Please tell me about the book. Does it get +on?"</p> + +<p>"Do you care to know?"</p> + +<p>"Very much. I'm wondering if your copyist makes those German references +any clearer for the printer than I did."</p> + +<p>"Nobody has copied a word. I have not written a word. The book is at a +complete standstill. I see no hope for it until I can take another +vacation—under the name of E. C. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"And that you will never take," she said positively.</p> + +<p>"I never shall—in the same way. There are reasons against it. The book +will have to be written as the others were—on trains, on shipboard, in +my own room late at night."</p> + +<p>"Is it right to try to put two lifetimes into one?" she asked, and now +she lifted her eyes to his.</p> + +<p>Before, she had managed to avoid a direct meeting by those many and +engaging little makeshifts girls have, of glancing at a man's shoulder, +his ear, his mouth—and off at the floor, the window—anywhere not to +let him see clearly what she may be afraid he will see. And Georgiana +was intensely afraid that if Dr. Jefferson Craig got one straight look +with those keen eyes of his he would recognize that her whole<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">233</a></span> aching, +throbbing heart was betraying itself from between those lifted lashes. +But now, somehow, with her question she ventured to give him this one +look. The interview might end at any moment; she must have one straight +survey of his face, bent so near hers.</p> + +<p>He gave it back, and until her glance dropped he did not speak. Then, +very low, but very clearly, he said deliberately:</p> + +<p>"When may I come?"</p> + +<p>The room whirled. The lights from the sconces danced together and +blurred. The floor lifted and sank away again. And Chester Crofton chose +this moment—as if he were not after all really of that highly +intelligent class which knows when to pursue its own conversations and +when to break into those of others—to call across the room:</p> + +<p>"Oh, I beg pardon, Doctor Craig, but when did you say Jean might have +something real to eat? Rosy says it's to-morrow and I say it's not yet +at all."</p> + +<p>Doctor Craig turned and answered, and turned back again. He was not of +the composition of those who are balked of answers to their questions by +ill-timed interruptions. But the little diversion gave Georgiana an +instant's chance to make herself ready to answer like a woman and not +like a startled schoolgirl. So that when he repeated, his voice again +dropped:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">234</a></span></p> + +<p>"When, Georgiana?"</p> + +<p>She was able to reply as quietly as she could have wished: "Do you want +to come, Doctor Craig?"</p> + +<p>"I want to come. I have never wanted anything so much."</p> + +<p>"Then—please do."</p> + +<p>"Very soon? As soon as I can get away for a few hours? Perhaps next +week? It is always difficult, but if I plan ahead sometimes I can manage +to make almost the train I hope for."</p> + +<p>She nodded. "Any train—anytime."</p> + +<p>There was an instant's silence. It seemed to her that she could hear one +or two deep-drawn breaths from him. Then:</p> + +<p>"Would you mind looking up just once more? I must go in a minute; I +can't even take you to your train."</p> + +<p>But she answered, with an odd little trembling of the lips: "Please +don't ask me to. I'm—afraid!"</p> + +<p>A low laugh replied to that. "So am I!" said Jefferson Craig.</p> + +<p>He rose, and she rose with him. The others came around and he took leave +of them. His handclasp was all that Georgiana had for farewell, for when +she lifted her eyes she let them rest on his finely moulded chin. But +she knew that in spite of his expressed fear it was not her round little +chin he looked at, but the gleam of her dark eyes through their +sheltering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">235</a></span> lashes, and that his hand gave hers a pressure which carried +with it much meaning. It told her that which as yet she hardly dared +believe.</p> + +<p>Since the journey home was made up of changes of trains, no sleeper was +possible, and Georgiana sat staring out of her car window while those +about her slumbered. There was too much to think of for sleep, if she +had wanted to sleep. She did not want to sleep, she wanted to live over +and over again those five minutes with their incredible revelation. And +as the wheels turned, the rhythm of their turning was set to one simple +phrase, the one which had sent her world whirling upside down and made +the stars leap out of their courses:</p> + +<p>"When may I come?"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">236</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2><h3>MESSAGES</h3> +</div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Hope to reach Elmville at seven to-night.—<span class="smcap">E.C. Jefferson.</span> </p></div> + +<p>This was the first of them. When Georgiana received it she had been +waiting eight days for this first word. She had known well enough that +until Jeannette was entirely safe Doctor Craig would not leave her. +Georgiana had not minded that she had had no word. She had not really +expected any. A man who was too busy to come would be too busy to write, +and she wanted no makeshift letters. And she had not minded the delay in +his coming; rather, she had welcomed it. To have time to think, to hug +her half-frightened, wholly joyous knowledge to her heart, to go to +sleep with it warm at her breast, and to wake with it knocking at the +door of her consciousness—this was quite happiness enough for the +immediate present.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, what pleasure to put the house in its most shining order, to +plan daily little special dishes, lest he come upon her unawares; to sit +and sew upon her clothing, shifting and turning her patchwork materials +until she had worked out clever combinations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">237</a></span> which conveyed small hint +of being make-overs!</p> + +<p>For the first time in her life she said nothing to her father of her +expectations. What was there to tell as yet? She could not bring herself +to put into words the memory of that brief interview, in which so much +had been said in so few simple phrases. And if Father Davy read—as it +would have been strange if he had not—the signs of his daughter's +singing lightness of heart, he made no sign himself; he only waited, +praying.</p> + +<p>Georgiana received her first telegram at noon. She had flown for two +wonderful hours about her kitchen, making ready, when the despatch was +followed by another:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Unavoidably detained. Will plan to get away Thursday. </p></div> + +<p>This was Tuesday. Georgiana put away her materials, and swept the house +from attic to cellar, though it needed it no more than her glowing face +needed colour. What did it matter? Let him be detained a week, a month, +a year—he would come to her in the end. Now that she was sure of that, +each day but enhanced the glorious hope of a meeting, that meeting the +very thought of which was enough to take away her breath.</p> + +<p>On Thursday came the message:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Cannot leave this week. Will advise by wire when possible. </p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">238</a></span></p> + +<p>No letter came to explain further these delays. Georgiana felt that she +did not need one, yet admitted to herself that the ordinary course in +such circumstances would be to send a letter, no matter of how few +words. Toward the end of the following week a telegram again set a day +and hour, and as before, another followed on its heels to negative it. +The last one added, "Deep regret," and therefore bore balm.</p> + +<p>And then, after several more days, came a message which was all but a +letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It seems impossible to arrange for absence at present. Will you not +bring your father and come to my home on Wednesday? Will meet train +arriving seven-fifteen. Journey will not hurt Mr. Warne, and visit +here will interest him. Please do not refuse.</p> + +<p style="text-align:right"><span class="smcap">E. C. Jefferson.</span> </p></div> + +<p>Well! What girl ever had a suitor of this sort? one too busy to come or +write, yet who, on the strength of a few words spoken in the presence of +others, ventured to send for the lady of his choice to come to him, that +he might speak those other words so necessary to the conclusion of the +matter. Georgiana sat re-reading the slip of yellow paper, while her +heart beat hard and painfully. For with the invitation had come +instantly the bitter realization—they could not afford to go! Her +recent trip on the occasion of Jeannette's illness had taxed their +always slender resources, and until the money<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">239</a></span> should come in for the +last bale of rugs sent away, there was only enough in the family +treasury to keep them supplied with the necessities of life.</p> + +<p>The time had come—undoubtedly it had—when she must confide in Father +Davy. Not that he would be able to see any way out, but that she could +not venture to refuse this urgent request without his approval.</p> + +<p>Georgiana tucked away in her belt the last long telegram, and went to +her father. He lay upon his couch, the blue veins on his delicate +forehead showing with pitiful distinctness in the ray of November +sunshine which chanced to fall upon him.</p> + +<p>Georgiana knelt beside him. "Father Davy," she said, with her face +carefully out of his sight, "I have a little story to tell you—just the +outlines of one, for you to fill in. When I was in New York Mr. +Jefferson—Doctor Craig, you know,"—she had told him this part of the +tale when she had first come home,—"asked me when—when he might come +here."</p> + +<p>She paused. Her father turned his head upon the crimson couch pillow, +but he could not see her face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my dear?" he said, with a little smile touching his lips. "Well, +that sounds natural enough. He knows he is always welcome here. When is +he coming?"</p> + +<p>"He isn't coming. He can't get away. He has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">240</a></span> tried three different +times, and cancelled it each time. He seems to be very busy, too busy +even to write."</p> + +<p>"That is not strange; he must be a very busy man. Doubtless he will come +when he can make time. I shall be glad to see Mr. Jefferson."</p> + +<p>"But—you see—he wants us to come there."</p> + +<p>"Us?"</p> + +<p>"You and me. Father Davy—you understand, dear; don't make me put it +into words!"</p> + +<p>Her father's arm came about her and she buried her face in his thin +shoulder. "Thank God!" he said fervently, under his breath. "Thank the +good God, who knows what we need and gives it to us."</p> + +<p>After a minute's silence: "But we can't go, Father Davy."</p> + +<p>"Can't we? I could not, of course, but you——"</p> + +<p>"I couldn't go without you—to his house. And—we haven't any money."</p> + +<p>"No money? Is it so bad as that?"</p> + +<p>"And if we had—I'm not sure that I want to take a journey to a man—so +that——"</p> + +<p>"Let me see the telegram, my dear," requested Mr. Warne. When he had +read it he regarded his daughter with a curious little smile. She was +sitting upon the floor, close beside his couch, her brilliant eyes now +raised to his face, now veiled by their heavy lashes. "It seems clear +enough," he said. "Concessions must be made to a man who belongs to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">241</a></span> +people as he does. I don't think it would be a sacrifice to your +dignity, daughter, if you were to go."</p> + +<p>"But, Father, darling, don't you see? I didn't want to tell you, but +there was no other way. We have quite enough to live on—without +extras—till the next rug money comes. But that may not be for a month; +they are always slow. And for us to go to New York—well, we could just +about get there. We couldn't get clear home. Father Davy, I can't +go—penniless—<i>to him</i>!"</p> + +<p>He lay looking at her down-bent head with its splendid masses of dark +hair, at the beautiful lines of her neck in her low-cut working frock of +blue-and-white print, at the shapely young hands gripping each other +with unconscious tenseness in her lap. His eyes were like a woman's for +understanding, and his lips were very tender. Slowly he raised himself +to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Stay just where you are, daughter," he said, "till I come back."</p> + +<p>She waited, staring at the old crimson pillow with eyes which saw again +the drawing-room in Aunt Olivia's apartment and the profile of Doctor +Craig's face as he turned from her at Chester Crofton's interrupting +question. That was more than three weeks ago——</p> + +<p>Father Davy was gone some little time, but he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">242</a></span> came back at length at +his slow, limping pace, and sat down upon the couch. He held in his hand +a little bag of dark blue silk, a little bag whose contents seemed all +heavily down in one corner. Georgiana's eyes regarded it with some +wonder. She had thought she knew by heart every one of her father's few +belongings, but this little bag was new to her.</p> + +<p>"I think," he said softly, "the time has come for this. It was meant, +perhaps, to be given you a little later in your history, but if your +mother knew—nay, I feel she does know and approve—she would be the +first to say to me: '<i>Give it to her now, David; she'll never want it +more than now.</i>'"</p> + +<p>Georgiana leaned forward, her lips parted. She seemed hardly to breathe +as her father went on, his slender fingers gently caressing the little +blue silk bag:</p> + +<p>"From the time you were a baby, a very little baby, she saved this money +for you. It came mostly from wedding fees; I always gave her those to do +with as she would. They were a country minister's fees—two-and-three-dollar +fees mostly—once in a great while some affluent farmer would pay me +five dollars. How your mother's eyes would shine when I could give her a +five! She turned all the bills and silver into gold—a great many of +these pieces are one-dollar gold pieces. There are none of them in +circulation now; it may easily be that they have increased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">243</a></span> in value, +being almost a curiosity in these days. I think I have heard of +something like that. At any rate, dear, it is all yours. It was to have +been given to you to buy your wedding outfit; but—she would have wanted +you to have it when it could help you most." He held out the little bag. +"She made it of a bit of her wedding dress," he said, and his hand +trembled as it was extended toward his daughter. "It was not only her +wedding dress, it was the best dress she had for many years."</p> + +<p>With a low cry that was like that of a mother's for a child, Georgiana +took the little blue silk bag, heavy in its corner with the weight of +many small gold pieces, and crushed it against her lips. Then, with it +held close to her cheek, she laid her head down on her father's knee and +sobbed her heart out for the mother she had missed for ten long years.</p> + +<p>In the little bag there proved to be almost a hundred +dollars—ninety-two in all.</p> + +<p>"She sorely wanted to get it to a hundred," said Father Davy, when he +and Georgiana, their eyes still wet, had counted the tarnished gold +pieces that had waited so long to be delivered to their owner. "There +seemed a dearth of marriages the year before she went; the sum increased +very slowly."</p> + +<p>"She must have gone without—things she needed," Georgiana said with +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"I think she did, but she would never own it. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">244</a></span> was very clever, as +you are, at making things over and over, and she looked always trim and +fine. She was a beautiful woman—and a happy one, in spite of all she +was deprived of in her life with a poor country minister. 'If my little +daughter can only be as happy as I have been,' she used to say, 'it is +all I ask.' My dear, she would have liked—she would have loved—Mr. +Jefferson. I can't get over calling him that," he added, with his +whimsical smile struggling to shine through the tears which would not +quite be mastered.</p> + +<p>"O Father Davy!" was all Georgiana could say. But she lifted a flushed +and lovely face with all manner of womanly qualities written in it, and +kissed her father on brow and cheek and lips, as she would have kissed +her mother at such words as those.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>"I wonder," said Mr. Warne, sitting comfortably in the Pullman chair his +daughter had insisted upon, "if I can possibly be awake, not dreaming. I +never thought to take another journey."</p> + +<p>"He said it wouldn't hurt you, and it's not. You're not too tired? I +haven't seen you look so well for a long time," declared his daughter.</p> + +<p>The eyes of other passengers, across the aisle, were irresistibly drawn +to these two travelers—the frail, intellectual-looking man with his +curly gray hair and his gentle blue eyes, his worn but carefully kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">245</a></span> +garments, his way of turning to his daughter at every change of +scene—the daughter herself, with her face of charm under the close hat +with its veil, her clothing the suit of dark summer serge with its lines +of distinction, which was still doing duty as the only presentable +street suit she possessed.</p> + +<p>They were a more than commonly interesting pair, these travelers, and +they were furtively watched from behind more than one newspaper.</p> + +<p>Georgiana had no eyes for possible observers. With Father Davy she +preferred to sit with her chair turned toward the window, looking out at +the hills and trying to realize the thing which was happening. She was +actually on her way to the home of a man whom a month ago she had +thought gone out of her life forever. And, even now, he had not spoken a +word of love to her, had not asked her to marry him! Yet he was to meet +her at the end of this short journey; she was to look out upon the +platform and see that distinguished figure standing there, waiting for +her—for her, Georgiana Warne, maker of rugs for small sums of money, +wearer of other people's cast-oft clothing, undistinguished by anything +in the world—except by being the daughter of a real saint; and that was +much after all. Fate had not left her without the best beginning in +life, the being brought into it by such a father and mother—bless them!</p> + +<p>The hours flew by, the train passed through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">246</a></span> outlying towns and came +at last to the monster city. The lights within the car and without were +bright as they drew into the great station. Following the porter who +carried Mr. Warne's worn black bag and his daughter's fine one—given +her by Aunt Olivia that summer—her arm beneath her father's, Georgiana +made her way through the car, into the vestibule, out upon the platform. +No sight of Doctor Craig rewarded the hurried glance she gave about her. +But before she could take alarm a fresh-faced young man in the livery of +a chauffeur came up to her, saying respectfully:</p> + +<p>"I beg pardon, is it Miss Warne?" And upon her assent he said rapidly: +"Doctor Craig bid me say he was called to a case he could not refuse, +but he hopes to be home soon. I am to take you up and to see to your +luggage."</p> + +<p>"We have no luggage but these bags," Georgiana told him, wondering for a +moment how he had recognized her so readily, then understanding that +though she herself might be a figure indistinguishable by description +from many another, that of Father Davy could not fail of recognition by +one who had been told what to expect.</p> + +<p>"I have a chair here for the gentleman," the man said, and he indicated +one of the station chairs attended by a red-capped porter.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne, being wheeled rapidly through the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">247</a></span> great station, looked +about him with the eager eyes of a boy. It was twenty years—twenty long +and quiet years, since he had been in New York. What had not happened +since then? In spite of the myriad descriptions he had read and pictures +he had studied, the effect upon him of the real city, as, having been +transferred from the chair to a small but luxurious closed car, he was +conveyed along the thronged, astonishingly lighted streets, was +overwhelming. Suddenly he closed his eyes and laid his head back against +the cushioned leather.</p> + +<p>Georgiana bent anxiously toward him. "Are you frightfully tired, Father +dear? Are you—faint?"</p> + +<p>His eyes opened and his lips smiled reassuringly. "A little tired, my +dear, and very much dazed, but not upset in any way. I shall be glad to +sleep—and glad to wake in this wondrous city."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">248</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2><h3>TOASTS</h3> +</div> + +<p>They drove downtown for many blocks, turning at last into an old and +still notable square which is one of the great town's almost untouched +residence districts, in the very heart of its teeming commercial life. +Here, all at once, the noise of traffic was quieted. Only as a distant +and not too disturbing murmur came the sounds of the warfare which raged +so near. At one of the dingy but still stately old houses the car drew +up, the chauffeur alighted and opened the door. He escorted the +travelers up the steps and rang the bell.</p> + +<p>The door was opened by a lad in plain livery, and he was reinforced +immediately by a middle-aged housekeeper who came forward and took the +guests in charge. She had a rosy face and iron-gray hair and her accent +was distinctly Scotch.</p> + +<p>"I am Mrs. MacFayden, Doctor Craig's hoose-keeper," she said. "Doctor +Craig is mair than sorry not to be here to greet ye baith. He tell't me +to say ye should mak' yersels quite at hame, and should hae yer dinners +wi'oot waitin' for him. If Maister Warne<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">249</a></span> should be tae weary tae sit up +longer, he should gang awa' tae his bed. I know Doctor Craig will mak' +all the haste posseeble, but 'tis seldom he can carry oot his ain plans, +for the press o' sick folks aifter him day an' nicht."</p> + +<p>"Doctor Craig is very kind," said Mr. Warne. "If it will not seem +discourteous I think I shall lie down upon my bed, for I am not +accustomed to travel and am a little tired."</p> + +<p>"That wull be the best thing posseeble for ye," said the kindly +housekeeper, leading the way upstairs. "Tammas, ye'll bring the luggage. +I should advise, Maister Warne, havin' a small tray in your room an' +then attemptin' no mair than juist tae see Doctor Craig, when he cooms +tae say gude nicht."</p> + +<p>She led her guests into a large, square, pleasant room, furnished with +old mahogany. A cheery fire was burning in a fireplace. She opened a +second door, and showed a connecting room, of lesser size but very +attractive.</p> + +<p>"The Doctor often has special patients stayin' in these rooms," she +said, "but fortunately they were emptied three days agone, and kept for +ye. The Doctor has always some puir soul he wants to mak' comfortable. +I'm glad 'tis guests this time he has, an' no patients. He needs to +forget his wark when he cooms hame, but 'tis seldom he has the +opportunity."</p> + +<p>She left them, saying that if the Doctor had not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">250</a></span> returned by eight she +would serve dinner for Miss Warne alone.</p> + +<p>"No, please, Mrs. MacFayden," begged Georgiana. "If my father has his +tray here I will see him to his bed. I really do not care for dinner at +all."</p> + +<p>The housekeeper smiled. "The Doctor would na' be pleased wi' me, if I +let ye go dinnerless," she said. "But I'm thinkin' we'll see him soon. +Wull ye coom doon to the library, Miss Warne, when ye're ready? 'Tis the +door at the right o' the front entrance. The door on the left is the +waitin' room, an' the Doctor does na' keep office hours at nicht."</p> + +<p>With a fast-beating heart Georgiana set about making ready for that +descent to the library. The whole affair was becoming more and more a +strain upon her nerves. If Doctor Craig had met them at the station it +would have been far easier for her than this. But here she was, actually +in his house, combing her hair in his guest-room, going down to dinner +at his table—and she had not seen or heard from him, except by +telegram, since the hour when he had given her hand that meaning +pressure and left her with her friends. It was an extraordinary +experience, to say the least.</p> + +<p>She wondered how she should dress for dinner—the dinner that she might +eat alone! She had only her traveling suit and one simple little gray +silk,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">251</a></span> dyed from a white "Semi-Annual" and made very simply, with a wide +collar and cuffs of white net. Anybody but Georgiana would have looked +like a Quakeress in the gray silk, but with her dark hair and warm +colouring she succeeded only in imitating a young nun but just removed +from scenes of worldly gayety! She decided that the hour and the +occasion called for this frock, and put it on with fingers which shook a +little.</p> + +<p>Eight o'clock. She dared wait no longer, so, making sure that her +father, having eaten and drunk, was resting luxuriously on his bed, she +opened her door. The house seemed very quiet, and she went slowly along +the upper hall, and after pausing a moment at the top of the fine +staircase with its white spindles and mahogany rail, she began to +descend. The steps were heavily padded and her footfall made no sound; +therefore, as she afterward realized, a very close watch must have been +kept, for the moment she came in sight of the open library door a figure +appeared there.</p> + +<p>The next moment Jefferson Craig had crossed the hall and was standing at +the foot of the staircase, looking up at the descending guest. The +guest, naturally enough, paused, four stairs up, looking down. The +light, from a quaint lantern hood of wrought iron and crystal hanging +above the newel post, shone full upon the dark head and vivid face<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">252</a></span> +above the demure gray frock with its nunlike broad collar and cuffs of +thin white.</p> + +<p>The man below looked for a full minute without speaking, but Georgiana +could not have told what expression was upon his face or whether he +smiled. She knew that at the end of that long look he stretched one arm +toward her, and that obeying the gesture which was all but a command she +came on down those four remaining steps. Jefferson Craig led her into +the library, where a great fire sparkled and leaped and filled the room, +otherwise sombre with books, full of welcoming cheer. He closed the +door, then led her to the hearth.</p> + +<p>"Where shall we begin?" he said, in that low but very distinct voice she +so well remembered. "Where we left off?"</p> + +<p>"I'm not," answered Georgiana, looking away from him into the fire, +whose light flashed in her eyes less disconcertingly than that which she +somehow knew leaped in his, "sure where we left off."</p> + +<p>"Aren't you? I am. We left off where we had each seen, for just one +instant, into the other's heart. And having seen there was no +forgetting—no?—Georgiana?"</p> + +<p>She shook her head.</p> + +<p>"It was good of you to come to me," he said very gently. Her hand was +still held fast in his. "I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">253</a></span> did my best to have it the other way—the +usual way. There seemed a fate against it. I could have written, but +somehow I didn't want to. I preferred to wait—with the memory of your +face always before me, till I could see it again. And now that I see +it—bent down—and turned away"—he laughed a low laugh of content—"oh, +look up, Georgiana! Surely you're not afraid now. You know I've been +loving you ever since I saw you first, in spite of thinking I must not, +because of the one I understood you belonged to——"</p> + +<p>She looked up then out of sheer astonishment. "Oh, no, not since you saw +me first," she disputed. "It couldn't be—and I thinking all the +while——" She stopped in confusion at the revelation she might be +making.</p> + +<p>But he caught her up. "You thinking all the while—what? Tell me!"</p> + +<p>"I thought—you hadn't the least interest in me."</p> + +<p>"Did you care whether I had or not?"</p> + +<p>"I—tried not to care," confessed Georgiana naïvely. She smiled, a +sparkling little smile. It was so clear now, that he wanted this +confession.</p> + +<p>He looked at her for a minute longer, then he said: "Don't you think +enough has been said to warrant—this?"</p> + +<p>It was then that Georgiana learned how little one may judge from outward +quiet of manner and controlled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">254</a></span> speech what may happen when the heart is +allowed to speak for itself.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me," he said at last, when he had released her, all enchanting +confusion under his intent gaze; "but you know the breaking up of a +famine sometimes makes human beings hard to manage. If you could know +the times I've watched you, when you were bent over my illegible fist of +copy, and thought how I should like just to put my hand on your +beautiful hair——"</p> + +<p>A knock sounded upon the door. With an exclamation of annoyance Doctor +Craig left Georgiana and opened it.</p> + +<p>"Dinner is served, sir," announced Thomas, the boy.</p> + +<p>His master turned back with a laughing, remorseful face. "I had +forgotten all about dinner," he said, "though now I come to think of it +I believe I had no luncheon. You must be famishing. Mrs. MacFayden tells +me your father is resting. We will go up and see him—before dinner or +after?"</p> + +<p>"I think he will drop off to sleep for a little, he is so tired, and +then wake by and by and be ready to see you."</p> + +<p>"Good! It couldn't be better. I am eager to see Mr. Warne, but I want +him to be ready for me—who have so much to ask of him. Meanwhile—shall +we go?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">255</a></span></p> + +<p>He offered her his arm, such graceful deference in his manner that she +felt afresh the wonder of his wish to transplant her from her world to +his. As they walked slowly through the dignified old hall he said in a +tone of great satisfaction: "Mrs. MacFayden has ventured to hint to me +more than once that this house is of the sort which needs a mistress. +To-night, when she saw me come in, she said to me very respectfully: +'It's a gled day for ye, Doctor, an' now that I've seen the lassie I can +congratulate ye wi' all mae hert. She'll mak' a bonny lady to be at the +head o' the hoose, if ye'll permit me to say the thocht.' I assure you, +Georgiana, the conquest of my good Scottish housekeeper upon sight is no +small achievement."</p> + +<p>"It must have been my gray gown and white cuffs," suggested the girl +demurely.</p> + +<p>He looked down at the hand resting on his arm. "Now that I have time to +look at anything but your face," he said, "I see that you are wearing +something very satisfying to the eye. I like simple things, such as I +have always seen you wear."</p> + +<p>With inward astonishment and congratulation Georgiana thought of all the +dyed and reconstructed "Semi-Annuals" which had marched in a frugal +procession across his vision during the past year. Suddenly she felt an +affection for the very frock she wore, difficult as had been its +achievement from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">256</a></span> materials in hand. Certainly, women in beautiful +and wonderful clothing, such as he saw daily, had had no chance with him +against the attraction of herself in the cleverly adapted makeshifts of +her own fingers. It was the girl who had made the most of herself and +her home out of her restricted means who had drawn to her side this man +whose judgment must approve his love or he could never love at all.</p> + +<p>Things hadn't been so unequal after all. The wise God, who had set her +life thus far in the midst of poverty, had given her with which to fight +it the wit and resource which fashion weapons out of materials which +more favoured mortals cast away. That greatest of gifts bestowed upon +the daughters of men had been hers—the creative touch. At last she +recognized it, and knew it for what it was. Using this good gift she had +learned other things than the making of clothes!</p> + +<p>A great warm surge of joy and understanding enveloped Georgiana Warne as +Jefferson Craig, having led her into the dining-room and placed her +ceremoniously in her chair, bent over her where she sat, saying softly:</p> + +<p>"This place has been waiting a long time at the bachelor's board. Now +that I see it filled—like this—I know how well worth while it's been +to wait."</p> + +<p>He took the place opposite her. With a nod at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">257</a></span> boy Thomas, he +dismissed him for the moment. He looked across the table, rich with the +finest appointments in his house, arranged by a housekeeper who heartily +approved his everyday simplicity of life, but who exulted to-night in +the chance to show the lady of his choice the fine old heirlooms of +silver and damask which were to come to her. Smiling, he lifted a +delicately chased goblet of water which stood beside his plate.</p> + +<p>"To my wife!" he said.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, raising the face of a rose, took up her own glass. She looked +at it a moment, her eyes like dark twin fires, her lips taking on lovely +curves. Then she lifted it toward the man opposite.</p> + +<p>"To—<i>you</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Still afraid?" asked Jefferson Craig, watching her as one watches only +that which is the delight of his eyes. "Never mind; I'll teach you by +and by the word I want to hear."</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>Upstairs, the slender figure on the bed stirred from the brief sleep +which had claimed it. Father Davy opened his eyes again upon the firelit +room and the pleasant comfort which surrounded him.</p> + +<p>"Before they come," he thought, "I must tell my Father how I feel about +it. I was too tired even to pray. But I am quite rested now."</p> + +<p>He slipped down gently to his knees and closed his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">258</a></span> eyes, folding his +thin hands on the heavy white counterpane before him.</p> + +<p>"Dear God," he said, "I have the desire of my heart—the answer to my +prayers—and I am very glad to-night. Yet Thou knowest my heart is +heavy, too—with longing for my Phoebe. Tell her, Father, that her child +is happy in the love of the best man she could have asked for. And tell +her that David loves and longs for her to-night with the love that will +never die. For that love that will not die in spite of years and pain I +thank Thee. If it may be, give our child the same blessed experience. +And teach us to love and serve Thee, world without end, Amen."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">259</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2><h3>WHY NOT?</h3> +</div> + +<p>"There's just one more thing to be settled," observed Dr. Jefferson +Craig. "While we are settling things, suppose we attend to that."</p> + +<p>He stood upon the hearthrug before the fire in his library, elbow on +chimney piece, looking down upon his two guests. It was eight o'clock of +the evening following that upon which Mr. David Warne and Georgiana had +arrived at the big New York house in the old-time, downtown square. +Although they had been under the hospitable roof for more than +twenty-four hours it was the first occasion on which the three had been +together for more than a few minutes at a time.</p> + +<p>On the previous evening in an upstairs room had been enacted a little +scene which would live forever in the memories of them all; but Doctor +Craig, perceiving with trained eyes the signs of growing fatigue in his +frail friend after the unwonted strain of the day and its necessarily +emotional climax, had gently but firmly insisted on withdrawing at an +early hour. Georgiana had remained with her father, herself content<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">260</a></span> to +have the strange and wonderful day end in the old, simple, and natural +way in which her days had ended for so long. She had felt, as she +performed her customary daughterly offices for the beloved invalid, that +she had quite enough to take with her to her own pillow to insure its +being the happiest upon which she had ever laid her head.</p> + +<p>They had seen little of Doctor Craig on the following day; but he had +taken dinner with them that night, and as he had brought them back to +the library fire he had given stringent directions to the boy Thomas +that he be disturbed only for the most important summons. And hardly had +the trio taken their places in the pleasant room before Jefferson Craig +made his statement that there was something still unsettled in their +affairs.</p> + +<p>As he spoke he was looking down at Georgiana. It would have been strange +if he could have kept his eyes away from her to-night. Like a flower in +sunshine had she bloomed under the warm influence of the joy which had +come to her when she least expected it. She was again wearing the little +gray silk frock, but now its nunlike simplicity was gone—and happily +gone—for a bunch of glowing pink Killarney roses at her belt, placed +there by Doctor Craig's hands, lighted the plain costume into one of a +charm which could no longer be called demure.</p> + +<p>"Something still to settle?" It was Father Davy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">261</a></span> who replied, for +Georgiana had no answer for that suggestion. One glance at Doctor +Craig's face, as he said the words, had told her what was coming.</p> + +<p>"The most important thing of all. Everything else is in order. You, dear +sir, have agreed to come and live with us. We are convinced that it's +not a sacrifice, except for the leaving of certain old friends. You have +a zest still for seeing and hearing the things you have been denied; +it's to be our keen pleasure to make your days go by on wings. You're +going to have plenty of room here for the bookcases and the books, all +the furnishings you care to keep—in short, you're to live the old life +with a fine new one as well. Altogether, everything is in train for the +great change, except"—he crossed the hearthrug at a stride, and laid a +son's hand upon the thin shoulder of Father Davy—"except the date of +it," he finished, smiling down into the uplifted face.</p> + +<p>"But that," replied Georgiana's father without hesitation, "is not for +me to settle. It is for you two."</p> + +<p>Craig looked across at Georgiana and for a minute studied her down-bent +profile as she sat gazing into the flames; then came round to her, +plucking a pillow from a big leather couch by the way, to drop it at her +feet and throw himself down upon it. So placed he could look straight +into her face. "You'll have to take an interest in the ceiling now if +you succeed in avoiding me," he said, with a low laugh.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">262</a></span></p> + +<p>"I don't want to avoid you," answered Georgiana, and let her eyes meet +his fairly for an instant. She could not yet do this in a quite casual +way.</p> + +<p>He crossed his arms upon her knee, sitting in a boyish attitude and +looking not unlike a big boy for the moment, for all the lines of care +were gone from his face in the soft firelight, and happiness had laid +its rosy mantle over his shoulders as over hers. He began to speak +rather quickly:</p> + +<p>"For the life of me, I can't think of a reason why you should go back +and spend a winter in the same old grind, waiting till spring +and—making me wait till spring. Why should anybody wait till spring? +I've let you talk about all the work you were going to do this winter at +home, but that was just because I didn't want to make you feel as if you +were caught in a trap. I had an idea that for a few hours, anyhow, it +might seem enough of a change to come down here and promise to marry a +perfect stranger of a surgeon instead of the 'literary light' you knew. +I thought we'd let it go at that for those few hours. But now—it +doesn't seem to me possible to go back to bachelorhood again, even with +such a prospect before me in the spring. Not after having tasted—this. +Georgiana, why must I?"</p> + +<p>Her face was the colour of her roses. There was no getting away from the +challenge of those eyes that watched her so steadily—not even by +following his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">263</a></span> suggestion and gazing persistently ceilingward. Craig +glanced at Father Davy, to find that his soft blue eyes showed no sign +of shock, and that his face was perfectly placid as he looked and +listened.</p> + +<p>The younger man went on, coming straight to the point: "Georgiana, marry +me before you go back! You've promised to stay a week. Let's have a +wedding here, next Wednesday. Then we'll leave Father Davy here +comfortably with Mrs. MacFayden, and run up to see about getting things +packed and shipped. I'll take that much of a vacation now. Then, in +April, we'll go abroad for a real honeymoon and take Father Davy with +us. I'd propose that now, but the seas are stormy in December and +January and we mustn't risk it for him. But, let's not wait! Why should +we? Now, honestly, why should we?"</p> + +<p>The girl turned her face, with a strange little look of appeal, toward +her father, to meet such a look of entire comprehension as stirred her +to the depths. Suddenly, obeying an impulse she did not understand, she +drew herself gently away from Craig, rose and went to the figure in the +big chair opposite. She sat down on the arm and, bending, dropped her +face upon the fatherly shoulder, hiding it there. Craig sat perfectly +still, watching the pair, as Father Davy put up a thin, white hand and +patted the dark head. Then the two men smiled at each other.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">264</a></span></p> + +<p>After a while Craig got up and quietly left the room.</p> + +<p>By and by Father Davy whispered: "What is it, dear? You're not ready? +You shall not be hurried. Or is it——"</p> + +<p>She spoke into his ear. "I want to go back home—and earn—and +earn—enough to——"</p> + +<p>"Can you earn it, daughter? Can you ever get enough ahead to provide +what you would like? And meanwhile—he wants you very much, my dear. I +think I know more of his heart than you do, in way. Last winter we had +certain talks that showed me a little of that. Would it be such a blow +to pride to do as he asks? Unless—in other ways you are not ready. If +your love for him isn't quite mature enough yet——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it isn't that; it's mature enough. It—it hasn't grown, in spite of +me, all this year like—a—tumbleweed"—her voice was a little +breathless—"not to have got its growth——"</p> + +<p>"Its first growth," amended her father, with a meaning smile.</p> + +<p>She nodded. "But—if you could know how I want—time to make the most +of—what mother left me. I could do so much if I just had time. If I +used it now I should have to use it up so fast! There'll be fifty +dollars left when we get back. I could almost make that do, if—no, of +course I couldn't. But I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">265</a></span> could earn more. O Father Davy, is it wrong of +me to be so proud?"</p> + +<p>"Not wrong, my girl, but very natural, I suppose. Yet to me—well, dear, +I hardly know how to say what I feel. I confess I should like to see you +married to this man. Life is—so short——"</p> + +<p>They sat together in silence for a time; then Georgiana slipped back +into the seat where she had been.</p> + +<p>Presently Father Davy said that it had been a full day, and that he +thought he should be fitter for the morrow if he should go to bed. +Georgiana went up with him, saw him comfortably resting, listened while +he whispered something in her ear as she bent above him, kissed him with +her heart on her lips, and finally stole like a mouse down the stairs +again.</p> + +<p>When she came into the library once more it was to find herself in arms +which held her close. "Do you think I don't understand, my dearest?" +said the low voice which had such power to move her. "Do you think I +don't respect and love you for your perfectly natural feeling about it +all? But, Georgiana, you bring me a dowry bigger than any I could ask +for—the inheritance from such a father as he is—and from the mother +who gave you all he left her to give. What are towels and tablecloths—I +don't know what it is brides bring!—beside such things as these? Won't +you give me the real thing, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">266</a></span> let me furnish the ones that don't +count? Dear, if you could know the pleasure there is for me in the very +thought of buying you—a hat!"</p> + +<p>She could but smile, his tone put so much awe into the word. Suddenly +she grew whimsical; it was so like Georgiana to do that when she was +deeply stirred!</p> + +<p>"What do you suppose that hat was made of, I wore here?" she asked him. +"I'll tell you. I found the shape for twenty-five cents at the village +milliner's. I cut it down and sewed it up again into another shape. Then +I hunted through the old 'Semi-Annuals'; you don't know what those are, +do you? I found a piece of velvet that had been a flounce. I steamed it +and covered the shape. Then I had to have some trimming. It came from an +old evening cloak of my Cousin Jeannette's—a bit of gilt, a silk rose, +some ribbon from—I can't tell you what it came from, but it had to be +dyed to match the velvet. I couldn't quite get the shade. But the hat, +when it was done, wasn't so bad."</p> + +<p>"Where is it now?"</p> + +<p>"Upstairs in my room."</p> + +<p>"Would you mind getting it?"</p> + +<p>She laughed, hesitated, finally ran upstairs and down again, the hat in +hand. Pausing before an old gilt mirror in the hall she put it on, then +came to him, lifting her head with a proud and merry look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">267</a></span> which bade +him beware how he might venture to criticise the work of her hands.</p> + +<p>Adjusting his eyeglasses with care, he viewed it judicially. "It looks +very nice to me," he said. "Suppose you keep it on and put on a coat and +let me take you out in the car for a few minutes. There's a certain +window uptown I should like to look at, with you."</p> + +<p>"I have no coat," she said steadily, and now the colour ebbed a little +from her warm cheek, "except the one that belongs with the suit I wore. +It's short; it wouldn't do to wear with a dress like this."</p> + +<p>"I see." Suddenly he came close again, gently lifted the hat from the +dark masses of her hair, laid it carefully on a table near by, and drew +her with him to a broad, high-backed couch at one side of the fire.</p> + +<p>"I can see," he said, very quietly, "that you and I have much to do in +getting to know each other. Let's lose no time in beginning. Listen, +while I try to tell you what marriage means to me—and to find out what +it means to you."</p> + +<p>It was a long talk, and, by the kindness of the fates which rule over +the irregular schedule of the men of Craig's profession, an +uninterrupted one. Long before it was over Georgiana learned many new +things concerning the man who was to be her husband, not the least of +which was his power of making others see as he saw, feel as he felt, and +believe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">268</a></span> from first to last, in his absolute integrity of motive. And +when he told her what he thought he could do for her father if he should +have him under his eye during the coming winter, the period which was +always so long and trying for the sensitive frame of the invalid, whose +resisting powers were at their lowest when the winter winds were +blowing, she gave way and the question was settled.</p> + +<p>But she did not give way in everything after all, nor did he ask her to +do so. When he suggested details of preparation, and she shook her head, +he smiled and told her it should all be as she wished. And when he said, +very gently, that he hoped she would let him provide her with the means +to buy whatever she might need, because everything that he had was hers +already, he took with a submission that was all grace her refusal to use +a penny of his until she should bear his name. If he made certain +reservations of his own as to what might happen when he should hold the +right, that did not show.</p> + +<p>"So that I get you, dearest," he said at the end of the evening, just +before he let her go, "I am willing to take you in any sort of package +you may select for yourself. Personally it seems to me that jeweller's +cotton is the most appropriate background for you, if you won't have a +satin-and-velvet case!"</p> + +<p>At which Georgiana laughed, and assured him that she was no real jewel, +only one of the secondary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">269</a></span> stones, and uncut at that. The answer she got +to this sent her off upstairs with thrilling pulses, to lie awake for a +long time, recalling his voice and look as he said the few suddenly +grave words which had given her a glimpse of his bare heart.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">270</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2><h3>MAGIC GOLD</h3> +</div> + +<p>The days which followed were to be remembered with peculiar delight all +Georgiana's life. Each morning, in Doctor Craig's own car, accompanied +by her father, she went shopping. Mr. Warne could not use his strength +in following her into the shops, but he could sit at ease in a corner of +the luxurious, closed landau, an extra pillow tucked behind his back, an +electric footwarmer at his feet, his slender form wrapped in a wonderful +fur-lined coat which his son-in-law to-be had put upon him with the +reasonable explanation that it had proved to be too small for himself. +From this sheltered position he could watch the hurrying crowds, study +the faces and find untiring interest in the happenings of the streets.</p> + +<p>Not the smallest part of his pleasure lay in receiving his daughter +again each time she came hurrying out of some great portal, the tiniest +of packages under her arm. Although Duncan, Doctor Craig's chauffeur, +was always watching, ready to jump from his seat and assist her, she was +usually too quick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">271</a></span> for him to be of much use, though she always gave him +her friendly smile and thanks for his eagerness. It may be said that +Duncan himself, a young Scotsman whose devotion to his master was now +augmented by his admiration of his master's choice, enjoyed those +shopping expeditions with an unusual zest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, but these shops are wonderful, Father Davy!" Georgiana was fain to +cry, as she came back with her purchases. "Of course I have to shut my +eyes and simply fly past the counters where I'd like to buy everything +in sight. But I do find such glorious little bargains, such treasures of +left-overs—you can't think how I'm making my money hold out! I'm so +thankful for all my training in turning and twisting; it's such a help +just now!"</p> + +<p>If Father Davy rejoiced within himself that the days of "left-overs" for +Georgiana were all but past and that there was to be no more "turning +and twisting," at least with material things, he did not say so. Instead +he surveyed the contents of the small packages with eyes which were +nearly as bright as hers, and made her supremely content with his +approval.</p> + +<p>The climax of the shopping came on the morning of the third day. +Georgiana returned to the car after a more than usually long absence, +during which, for the first time, Mr. Warne had become slightly weary of +using his eyes in watching the ever-moving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">272</a></span> throng, and had dropped off, +in his warm corner, into a little refreshing nap. He wakened to find +Georgiana beside him, the car moving uptown by a less congested route +than they had taken before, and his daughter's hand firmly clasping his.</p> + +<p>He looked round at her and saw, to his surprise and dismay, that her +heavy lashes were thick with tears. But she smiled through them, and +bade him wait to hear the reason until they were in the Park, where each +morning a drive, according to Doctor Craig's suggestion, was taken +before the swift run back to the downtown square.</p> + +<p>The moment they were well within the precincts and had entered upon the +less frequented drive which she had asked for, Georgiana turned to her +father. She held up something before him, and, looking at it, he +discovered the little old bag of dark blue silk which her mother had +fashioned from her own wedding gown, and which had contained the +treasured gold pieces which had made it possible for Georgiana to have a +wedding gown of her own.</p> + +<p>"It's nearly empty now," said the girl softly. "It's bought so much, +Father Davy; I've begun to think it was magic gold! Everybody—all the +shopgirls and women—have helped me spend it. It was as if they knew I +must make it go a long way and wanted to do it. I really think"—she +gave a tremulous little laugh—"it was a good thing I wasn't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">273</a></span> dressed to +match the car I came in, or they never would have taken the trouble to +hunt up the things I wanted—at the prices I could pay. The fact that I +looked like a shopgirl, too, was such a help!"</p> + +<p>"A shopgirl!" repeated her father. "You, my dear? What would Jefferson +say to that? No matter how you were dressed you could not possibly look +anything but what you are."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but, Father Davy, dear, you don't know what many and many of the +shopgirls, especially these city girls, look like. There are such +beautiful faces among them, such soft voices, such really charming +manners. Of course there are plenty of the other kind, the cheap and +common sort, but so many of the nice kind! I don't mind looking like +some of them, indeed I don't. And the fact that I'm wearing this little +old summer serge suit, now in December, with this hat, which any clever +girl would know I made myself—well, it has helped me to interest their +sympathies in my search. And now I've found"—her voice sank—"I've +found what I couldn't have expected to find in all New York. And I'm so +glad—so glad—I can't tell you. Look!"</p> + +<p>She slowly unwrapped a long, slim, cylinderlike parcel, and brought to +view what it contained. Inclosed in its pasteboard protector, to keep it +unwrinkled in its soft perfection, lay a roll of dark blue silk, of a +small brocaded pattern.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">274</a></span></p> + +<p>Georgiana silently laid the little blue-silk bag upon it, and held up +the two so that her father could see how close was the resemblance. The +colour was precisely the same, making allowances for the slight dimming +of age; while the design of the brocade was so similar that the two +might have been made in the same period, if not by the same hand.</p> + +<p>Mr. Warne studied the two fabrics intently for a moment, then looked +into his daughter's eyes. He was too moved to speak. When she herself +could talk again composedly she told him what she meant to do. The blue +silk, made by her own hands in the three days left her, was to be her +wedding gown. She had bought a little fine lace, fit for such a use, +with which to make the finishing; and no matter what Doctor Jefferson +might think of such a substitute for the customary bridal attire, for +herself she should be far happier than in the finest white silk or satin +that could be bought.</p> + +<p>"God bless you, my little girl!" Father Davy murmured, wiping his eyes, +their clear blue depths misty.</p> + +<p>His thin hand clasped the little blue bag again, his heart ached with +the sorrow which is part joy and with the joy which is part sorrow. +Nothing his Phoebe's daughter could have done would have proclaimed her +so truly the child of her mother as this unexpected act. He looked again +and again at the roll of blue silk in Georgiana's lap.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">275</a></span></p> + +<p>"How strange it seems that you could find it," he said, "now when +everything is so different from the fashions of twenty-five years ago."</p> + +<p>"It's a revival, the silk man said. He explained that the styles of the +moment call for the fabrics and patterns of the past, and that it's a +constant revolution, bringing back every once in so often what is +old-fashioned between times. But he himself was surprised that the very +newest thing on his shelves was the one that matched the old. I think he +was almost as pleased as I was—without knowing anything about it, +except that I was very anxious to find the silk. And now to hurry home +and make it!"</p> + +<p>Her unconscious use of the word "home" struck pleasantly upon Mr. +Warne's ears. He himself was beginning to feel very much at home in the +old square. Small wonder, since he had found there the son he had longed +for all his married life.</p> + +<p>Back at the house Georgiana fell to work without delay. She had told +Mrs. MacFayden her intention, and had enlisted the warm interest of that +motherly Scotswoman. She had offered Doctor Craig's young guest the use +of her own sitting-room, with that of the sewing-machine which stood +there, and here presently Georgiana unrolled her breadths of silk and +laid upon them the pattern she had selected.</p> + +<p>And now, indeed, she was glad of the long training in the dressmaker's +trade, glad of the clever art she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">276</a></span> had cultivated for so many years. It +was to her a simple enough matter to fashion herself a dress which +should be in form and line all that could be desired. To do it out of +unbroken yards of material, without necessity for piecing and patching, +was a delightful novelty. To accomplish it in three days was only a +matter of working at top speed, with fingers which flew at the behest of +a brain which also worked like magic at its task.</p> + +<p>During this period Doctor Craig himself was more than ordinarily busy, +to judge by his infrequent appearances at his home. For those last three +days before his marriage he was out of town, returning only on the +evening preceding the date set. But Georgiana found no lack in him as a +lover, for during the brief moments when he could be with her he made +the most of his opportunity, letting her see plainly that she was always +in his thoughts, and giving her every evidence that he was the happiest +of expectant bridegrooms. Each day a great box of flowers was brought to +her, in which she revelled as she had only dreamed of doing. While he +was away he called her up each evening on the telephone, managing to +send her somehow, over the wire, a sense of his nearness and his +devotion. Altogether those few days brought to Georgiana an experience +unique in a lifetime, and one which she would gladly have prolonged.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">277</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, it seemed quite suddenly, it was Wednesday morning, and the sun +was shining brilliantly in at Georgiana's windows over a thousand +roof-tops. The marriage was to occur at noon, because, for a bride whose +bridal finery was limited to a little frock of dark blue silk and whose +traveling attire was the plainest of ready-to-wear suits and simplest of +small hats, without furs or furbelows of any sort, it seemed the only +fitting hour.</p> + +<p>It had been arranged that the two essential witnesses to the ceremony +should be two close friends of Doctor Craig's, an elderly couple whose +name, if the Warnes had known, was one of the old names of the city, +standing for the bluest of blue Knickerbocker blood, though for only +moderate wealth and for no ostentation whatever. Georgiana had begged +that no other guests be asked, being anxious, on her father's account, +to have the whole affair over with the least possible agitation for him. +To this Doctor Craig had cordially agreed.</p> + +<p>At eleven o'clock, however, a third guest arrived, a most unexpected +guest, who with a ruddy, eager face, came running up the old stone steps +of the house, a great florist's box under his arm. He demanded of the +boy Thomas instant entrance, and waved back at a taxicab driver the +summons to bring along a much larger box which was nearly filling that +vehicle.</p> + +<p>Georgiana, peeping out of her father's window, beheld,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">278</a></span> and was off and +down the stairs before Thomas could fairly begin his explanation that +Miss Warne was engaged and could not be intruded upon at this hour.</p> + +<p>"O Jimps!"</p> + +<p>"Well, well, George! You came pretty near giving me the slip, didn't +you? But not quite—thanks to Doctor Craig."</p> + +<p>Georgiana showed her surprise. "Did he let you know?"</p> + +<p>She had led him instantly inside the library and had unconsciously +closed the door all but in the face of the interested Thomas, ignoring +both florist's box and big package, which that young man would have +brought in to her. She had both hands on James Stuart's shoulders, and +was looking him straight in the eyes, which looked as straightly back. +If there had ever been the beginning of romance between these two, +clearly it was far in the background now. Never did brother and sister +face each other with their relationship more clearly defined.</p> + +<p>"I should say he did—since you didn't! What did you mean by trying to +steal a march on us all like this? Jeannette is furious, though of +course she isn't strong enough to come, wild though she is to do it. She +wanted me to tell you that she'll have revenge when she gets about, and +that you won't escape her wedding presents. Meanwhile she's sent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">279</a></span> you +something she had on hand, because there was no time to get anything +else. She thought you would find a use for it somehow. She sent her love +with it—and I can tell you that's pretty valuable."</p> + +<p>"Of course it is! Jimps, I'm so pleased, so wonderfully pleased that you +are here—I can't tell you!"</p> + +<p>"Then, why in the name of old friendship didn't you send for me?" Stuart +demanded, for plainly this still rankled. "Evidently Doctor Craig had +more belief in that than you did."</p> + +<p>"I wanted to, indeed I did, Jimps, dear, but I thought—I was +sure—well——"</p> + +<p>Stuart laughed. "Thought I wanted to save every penny for my own +wedding, eh? I rather guess I can squander a few on yours. I wouldn't +have missed it for worlds, though I'd give a good deal if <i>my</i> +sweetheart could have been here, too—and so would she, bless her! She's +coming on splendidly, George—looks almost herself again. In a month +more her doctor will let up on restrictions."</p> + +<p>They talked fast, with an eye on the library clock, and when its deep, +slow chime proclaimed the half-hour Georgiana rose.</p> + +<p>"I must go now. Come and stay with father till the hour arrives, will +you? It will steady him to see you. Not but that he seems as serene as +ever, but I know inside it's a pretty big strain for him."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">280</a></span></p> + +<p>"All right, I'd like nothing better, since I can't see you any longer. +Where's the principal man for this occasion, anyhow? Can he take the +time to be married, or is he liable to send up word he's detained? You +can't put your finger on these popular surgeons till they're here."</p> + +<p>"I had a telephone message from him an hour ago," Georgiana assured him, +with a conscious little smile. "I really think he'll be here, though not +till the last minute, probably."</p> + +<p>"If he isn't I'll go after him with a gun. If he doesn't show up I'd +marry you myself if it wasn't for a previous engagement," dared Stuart, +with a happy laugh.</p> + +<p>"Never! If I couldn't have my man I'd never marry anybody," she +whispered, as she turned to look back at him for an instant, her hand on +the library door.</p> + +<p>Stuart caught the hand, and whispered back: "George, is it like that +with you, too?" She nodded. His face flamed. "It's wonderful, isn't it? +Unbelievable!"</p> + +<p>She nodded again. They looked into each other's faces, smiling through a +mist of happiness, then Georgiana flung open the door and ran out into +the hall.</p> + +<p>Stuart followed, caught up the big box and ran after her up the stairs. +"Here," he said under his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">281</a></span> breath, as they reached the top, "be sure to +open this before you go. Jean wanted you to wear it away with you; she +said you'd be sure to need it, traveling. It's a beauty; it just came +home for her."</p> + +<p>He gave her the big box at the door of her room, while she pointed him +down the hall to her father's door. He patted her arm with a brotherly +gesture, and hurried along.</p> + +<p>Inside her room, with a glance at the clock, she opened the box. Under +the tissue lay a soft, luxurious-feeling mass, all dark blue cloth of a +velvety texture, with glimpses of dark fur. She opened it, with a sigh +of pleasure, for it meant that now she might look fit to be Dr. +Jefferson Craig's traveling companion, with this cloak, fur-lined, +all-enveloping, to slip on over the plain little suit which was not half +warm enough for severe winter weather.</p> + +<p>"It's the last of my 'Semi-Annuals,'" she said to herself, "and the +best. How dear of her! And oh, how good it is that Jimps is here! Now I +have a family, a real family to see me married—a father and a brother!"</p> + +<p>The clock again—warning her to fly. She had ever been rapid at +dressing—she had never been quicker. A cold plunge—the second that +morning, bringing the blood leaping—the donning of fair garments lying +ready to her hand—the arrangement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">282</a></span> of hair in the old way, simplicity +itself—then the slipping over her white shoulders of the blue silk +gown. When it was fastened Georgiana went to stand by her window, +looking out with eyes which did not see.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">283</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2><h3>GREAT MUSIC</h3> +</div> + +<p>"Wull ye be comin' soon, Miss Warne?" said the voice of Mrs. MacFayden +at her door. Georgiana opened it quickly, and the housekeeper entered, +quietly resplendent in black silk with fine lace collar and cuffs, her +hair in shining order, an expression of great solemnity on her face.</p> + +<p>"Mr. and Mrs. Peter Brandt are here," she announced with impressiveness. +"Doctor Craig is doonstairs with them; he cam' ten minutes ago. He bade +me say he wad coom for ye himself when ye were ready. It's a gled day +for him, Miss Warne, an' for us a'."</p> + +<p>Georgiana advanced, her heart very warm toward this good woman, who, as +she well knew, was quite as much the friend of Jefferson Craig as his +housekeeper, and well esteemed, even beloved by him. The girl came +close.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. MacFayden," she said, very low, "I have—no mother to kiss me +before I go down. May I——"</p> + +<p>The sentence was left unfinished, for with one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">284</a></span> step forward Mary +MacFayden opened wide her arms, and for a long minute the two enfolded +each other, while both hearts beat strongly.</p> + +<p>Then Georgiana, suddenly mindful that she must not let go for an instant +of her self-control, pressed a kiss upon the fair, smooth cheek of the +Scotswoman, received one equally warm upon her own, and drew away +smiling. "Thank you," she murmured uncertainly. "I couldn't go without +it."</p> + +<p>"Thet ye could na', lassie," responded Mrs. MacFayden heartily. +"Noo—wull I send the doctor up?"</p> + +<p>"Just in a minute—when I have seen my father——"</p> + +<p>Georgiana ran into his room from her own. A deep embrace, a lingering +kiss—while James Stuart looked out of the window, a lump suddenly +appearing from nowhere in his sturdy throat.</p> + +<p>Then Georgiana said softly at the young man's elbow: "Thank you again +for coming, Jimps. It's such a comfort to have my brother here."</p> + +<p>Before he could reply she was gone again.</p> + +<p>He led Mr. Warne downstairs, where Doctor Craig presented them both to +the Brandts—delightful people Stuart thought them, too—so simple and +unaffected—almost like village people.</p> + +<p>As he stood waiting with them, in the same dignified big room which he +had been in before he went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">285</a></span> upstairs, he was conscious that in his brief +absence its character had changed. Library though it still was, with its +massive bookcases filled with rows upon rows of finely bound books, it +had taken on a festal air. Great bowls of roses, deep crimson, glowing +pink, rich amber, had been brought in; they stood on table, +chimney-piece, and floor; hundreds of them it seemed to him there must +be. He realized that Georgiana herself could not have seen them; they +would be a surprise to her. Evidently the simple little wedding was to +have a character all its own.</p> + +<p>With the quiet departure of Jefferson Craig from the room James Stuart +was all eyes for an appearance at the door. How would Georgiana come to +her marriage? In shimmering white, he supposed, for that was the +traditional garb of all the brides he had ever seen—mostly village +girls they were. Once, while at college, he had attended a city wedding, +that of a classmate who had not been willing to wait till his college +course was finished. Stuart remembered how pale the bride had been; she, +had looked as if she were going to faint. He hoped Georgiana would not +look like that: he could not conceive it.</p> + +<p>The next moment he saw her, entering the wide door, on Doctor Craig's +arm—the same Georgiana he had always known, as simply dressed, even +more simply, he thought, though he had little time for looking at her +dress, so held was his gaze by her face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">286</a></span> Never could he have conceived +so radiant a bride. And then he thought—Jefferson Craig had gone up +alone to bring her down. Stuart wondered if he himself could make +Jeannette look like that, at such a moment. He thought he could!</p> + +<p>Georgiana looked into Father Davy's eyes as she stood before him. He was +not tall; his face was almost on a level with her own. It seemed to her +she had never seen eyes so clear, so blue, so comprehending. Her own +never left them for a moment while the service lasted, until the closing +prayer.</p> + +<p>Father Davy's voice, at first very slightly tremulous, gathered force as +he went on with the words he had spoken so many times, but never as he +was speaking them now—to his child, to Phoebe's child, and to the man +of her choice. A little flush crept into his thin cheeks. More than once +his eyes rested on the dark-blue silk which covered his daughter's +shoulders; the sight of it seemed to give him strength.</p> + +<p>When the service ended, and his voice sank into the words of prayer, the +hand of Mr. Peter Brandt went for a moment to his eyes; Mrs. MacFayden +felt suddenly for her handkerchief; James Stuart softly cleared his +throat, winking once or twice rather rapidly. Never had any of them +heard just such a prayer as that. It was as if he who made it were very +near the invisible Presence whom he so tenderly and trustingly +addressed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">287</a></span></p> + +<p>Stuart never forgot the moment when he looked for the first time into +the eyes of Jefferson Craig's newly made wife. For one instant he +suffered a pang of jealousy—a queer, irrational feeling. It was as if +he had lost his friend, as if this star-eyed creature before him could +never find room for him again in her full heart. But he knew better in +the next breath, for she lifted her face, ever so little, and with a +sense of deep relief he gave her the brotherly kiss she thus permitted. +When he looked at Jefferson Craig he found that the keen, fine eyes were +regarding him with a very friendly intentness, and he wrung the hand +offered him as he would have wrung the hand of a brother.</p> + +<p>"You're the luckiest man in this whole big town," declared Stuart. His +lips had been dumb before Georgiana, but now he turned to her again. +"George, there's no use trying to tell you how I feel about this. All I +can say is that nothing's too good for you—or for him. That's pretty +lame, but—whatever eloquence I'm capable of is tied up somewhere; I +can't get it out."</p> + +<p>"It's out, Jimps, dear," she assured him. "Isn't it—Jefferson?"</p> + +<p>"It certainly is—Jimps," Craig answered heartily. "It was for just that +genuine feeling that I sent for you. I knew we couldn't spare it."</p> + +<p>Stuart watched the pair eagerly during the next<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">288</a></span> hour—the hour during +which the little party sat at the wedding breakfast which followed. The +table was a round one, and his place was next the bride, so he missed +nothing. He had never been present on such an occasion, nor could have +guessed the beauty and charm of the setting wealth and art can give. It +was perfection itself, arranged by whose hand he had no notion, but he +understood well enough by whose order had been created all the simple +elegance which so well suited the house and the people. And as he looked +at Georgiana he said to himself:</p> + +<p>"She fits into this as if she had been born to it. She <i>was</i> born to it, +for it's just the kind of thing she'd have made for herself if she'd had +the means. No show, no fuss, just niceness! And it's the sort of thing +my wife shall have, somehow, even in the country, before long. We'll +<i>bring</i> this there; she'll know how. There's no patent on it. Bless +her—how George deserves this! If only Jean could have been here. But +I'll tell her; I'll get it over to her. And she'll understand!"</p> + +<p>At the end of the hour the car was at the door, and Georgiana was coming +down the stairs in her traveling clothes, her bridal bouquet on her arm. +How those splendid roses had lighted up the little dark-blue frock!</p> + +<p>"I've no bridesmaid to throw it to," she said, extending<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">289</a></span> it toward +Stuart. "Will you take it to Jeannette?"</p> + +<p>"I should say I will. I'll be with her this evening; she made me +promise." And Stuart received the offering with a glad hand.</p> + +<p>A long, silent clinging to her father was the only parting embrace for +this girl. If James Stuart longed for one of his own, after these years +of friendship, he was obliged to be content with the lustrous look he +had from eyes lifted for a moment to his as Georgiana took her place in +the car, and with the lingering pressure her hand gave his, which spoke +of love and loyalty.</p> + +<p>Then she was gone, with Jefferson Craig sending back at Stuart a special +brilliant smile of gratitude for the office he had performed, that of +taking the place of the whole group of young people usually present on +such occasions, saying good-bye with bared head and face of ardent +devotion, with the first light snowflakes of winter falling on his fair +hair.</p> + +<p>"I can't believe I'm quite awake," said Georgiana, by and by. She sat in +one of the drawing-rooms of a fast train, the door closed, the curtains +drawn between herself and the rest of the carful of passengers, and only +the flying landscape beyond the window to tell of the world outside.</p> + +<p>Craig sat watching her; he seemed able to do nothing else. In his face +was the most joyous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">290</a></span> content; there seemed almost a light behind it. +"Not awake?" was his amused comment. "I wonder why. Now I feel +tremendously awake—after a long, uneasy sleep, in which I dreamed of +losing what I most wanted."</p> + +<p>"But it's not all strange to you as it is to me. I can't quite believe +that there's nothing on my shoulders—no care, no anxiety, just—well, +<i>your</i> shoulders! Oh, but," she went on hastily, "don't think that means +I want you to carry everything for me; indeed I don't. I want to +carry—half!"</p> + +<p>"Ah, but that's it," he answered. "My shoulders for your burdens, yours +for mine. That way neither of us will feel half the weight of either. +I'm not pretending that I shall give you a life of wholly sheltered +ease; it won't be that, and you don't want it, not in this +burden-bearing world. But—you shall have some things that you have been +denied, my brave girl! Georgiana, I can't tell you how it touched +me—the dress you made to be married in."</p> + +<p>Her eyes went down now before the look in his.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you fairly that I longed with all my heart to take you to +some place worthy of your beauty and find a wedding gown for you—not +necessarily a very costly one, but one that should bring out all you are +capable of showing. But when I saw you, looking just yourself, in the +silk that was like your mother's,"—he leaned forward, taking both her +hands in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">291</a></span> and looking straight into her face, compelling her gaze to +lift to his lest she should miss what she knew was there,—"I felt +something inside my heart break wide open—with worship for you, little, +strong, splendid spirit that you are!"</p> + +<p>He pressed the hands against his lips. Then he touched two rings upon +her left hand: exquisite and rare jewels were set in both engagement and +wedding rings, after the modern fashion. But there was a third ring +there, guarding the others, a slender band of gold, worn thin by many +years of hard, self-forgetting work—the ring which David Warne had +placed twenty-seven years ago upon the hand of his bride. Jefferson +Craig studied all three, turning them round and round upon the rosy +finger they encircled.</p> + +<p>Presently he spoke again, very gently: "My rings on your hand mean to me +love and beauty, loyalty and truth. But her ring stands for all that +and—service. We need it there, to remind us what we owe the world we +live in. She paid her debt; we'll pay ours, in memory of her. Bless her +for giving me her daughter!"</p> + +<p>For a minute Georgiana could not speak. Then, with her dark eyes +sparkling through the mist of tears which had taken her unawares, she +seized his hand and lifted it to press her glowing cheek against it, +saying passionately: "Oh, <i>how</i> you understand!"</p> + +<p>They were silent for a long time after that, while<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">292</a></span> the train flew on, +through the gathering darkness of the late December afternoon, into the +night....</p> + +<p>Georgiana had supposed that they were to go at once to the old home, for +she knew that Craig could not be long away at this time, and there was +much to do there. But she found that instead of changing trains in the +great city, sixty miles beyond which lay the home village, they were +leaving the station to be conveyed in a waiting car to a hotel.</p> + +<p>"If you had been spending all these years in cities," was Craig's +explanation, "I should have felt like plunging at once with you into the +solitude. But as it is—well, I wondered if we shouldn't like to hear +some great music to-night. Do you feel as I do—that there are times +when nothing but music can speak for you?"</p> + +<p>"But you," she said, "who live in the rush all the time——"</p> + +<p>"There's no rush here for me," he answered. "Nobody is likely to know me +here; I can forget the whole world in the midst of the crowd with you +to-night. As for the music—I've been on short rations a good while +myself. I think we can feast together, don't you?"</p> + +<p>It was all a fairy tale to Georgiana, that evening in the city. Her +college days had been spent in a small college town which, though it had +lain not many miles away from this same great metropolis, had seldom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">293</a></span> +seen her leave it for the privileges which richer girls enjoyed at every +week-end.</p> + +<p>As for the superb hotel to which Craig took her, although she had seen +its impressive front, she had never so much as stood within its stately +lobby. Now she experienced all sorts of queer little thrills, as she +watched the accustomed ease with which her husband led her through the +brief details of arrival and noted with what deference he was received. +Evidently he had been expected, for there was no delay in the smooth +service which took them to an apartment reserved by wire, as Georgiana +gathered from a word she overheard.</p> + +<p>He was quite right; a touch of this was what she needed, as a bird long +confined needs a chance to stretch its wings. To this girl, with vivid +life stirring in her pulses, the unaccustomed experience could but be a +delight, with such a companion to show her the way. Every detail had its +own fascination, such as might never come again when she should be more +wonted to such scenes. The dinner served in their own small +drawing-room, the flowers which crowned the table, the blithe talk Craig +made during the little feast, with all its pretty, ceremonious detail of +service; finally the short drive to the place where the great music, as +Craig had called it, was to be heard—it all made a richly enchanting +picture in Georgiana's mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">294</a></span></p> + +<p>When at length she sat beside her husband in the immense, silent +audience, listening to such splendid harmonies as only once or twice in +her lifetime she had heard before, her heart was far too full for words. +He did not ask them of her, understanding something of what was passing +in her mind, though not even his more than ordinary powers of sympathy +could have guessed at all that held her breathless through those hours +of supreme delight.</p> + +<p>Certain words of a Psalm, which she had often heard her father quote, +came into her mind and repeated themselves over and over. She had smiled +with a bitter irony sometimes when she had heard him speak them in a +tone of utter thankfulness, while she had been quite unable to imagine +how he could use them of himself. But now—now—surely they applied to +her!</p> + +<p>Along with the sweep of the conductor's baton, with the rise and surge +of one of the greatest of the symphonies, ran the triumphant words of +the singer of old time: "<i>Thou hast set my feet in a large room.</i>"</p> + +<p>Surely it was a large room into which, from a cramped and restricted +one, she had emerged. She would do small honour to the devout life which +had so long been lived beside her if she should fail to give the praise +to the Maker of all life, who, according to her father's firm belief, +had known from the beginning all for which He had been so wisely fitting +her.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">295</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2><h3>SALT WATER</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was the tenth day of April. A great ship was making ready to sail; +she lay like some inert monster at her pier, while all about her, within +and without, was apparent commotion yet really ordered haste, the +customary scene of bustling activity.</p> + +<p>Few passengers had yet arrived, for the time of sailing was still some +hours away. One party of three, however, had just driven down to the +very gangway, allowed by some special privilege a closer approach than +most at this hour. The reason was apparent when the party alighted, for +one of its number was clearly an invalid, a frail-looking man with curly +gray hair, who leaned upon the arm of a much younger man with a keen, +distinguished face. The third person was a young woman, the sort of +young woman who looks as if no buffeting wind could blow her away, +because she would be sure to face it with delight, her eager face only +glowing the brighter for the conflict.</p> + +<p>"This is the advantage of coming early, isn't it?" said Mrs. Jefferson +Craig, with a look of congratulation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">296</a></span> at her husband. "It's not much as +it was when we saw Mr. and Mrs. Brandt off last week. You can walk on +board as slowly as you please, Father Davy; there's no one to push."</p> + +<p>Mr. David Warne was drawing deep breaths of the salty air, with its +peculiar mixture of odours. He was also gazing about him with delighted +eyes, seeming in no haste to cross the gangway.</p> + +<p>"When I was a boy," he said to his daughter, who remained close at his +side, "I lived, as you know, in a seaport town. Ever since I came away, +it seems to me, I have been longing to smell that salty, marshy, briny +smell again. It takes me back—how it takes me back!"</p> + +<p>"The voyage is going to do you worlds of good," exulted Georgiana, her +eyes bright with hope. "Jefferson was quite right: the winter at home, +to help the poor spine; now the sea air, and the complete change, to +make you strong. We'll have you marching back and forth with the other +learned men, under the lindens at Trinity, while we are in Oxford—hands +clasped behind your back, impressive nose in air—the very picture of a +gentleman and a scholar."</p> + +<p>"As if there were anything of the scholar about me," murmured Mr. Warne, +smiling at this picture of his undistinguished self. "Well, my children, +I suppose you are ready to go on, and I imagine we are not wanted in the +way here. Let us proceed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">297</a></span> across that little bridge, and then we can +look back at all this interesting activity."</p> + +<p>Half an hour later, having taken possession of their staterooms, the +party returned to the deck, where Georgiana and her husband established +Mr. Warne in his chair, well tucked up in rugs—for the April air though +balmy was treacherous. They then fell to pacing up and down, according +to the irresistible tendency of the human foot the moment that it treads +the deck.</p> + +<p>"He seems deliciously happy, doesn't he?" said Georgiana's voice in her +husband's ear. "If he were twenty-six instead of fifty-six he couldn't +enter into it all with more zest. How pleased he was with Mrs. Brandt's +flowers, and how dear it was of her to send them to him!"</p> + +<p>"However happy he may be," declared Jefferson Craig, "it's not within +the bounds of possibility that he is so happy as we!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course not!" agreed Georgiana to this decidedly boyish speech. +She realized suddenly how quickly the sense of relaxation from care was +beginning to show in her husband. Her hand within his arm gave it a warm +little squeeze. "That couldn't be expected. To be torn apart, at any and +all hours, and kept apart day after day, just when we most want to be +together—and then to come down to a big ship and know that no telephone +bell can ring, nobody<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">298</a></span> can make a single demand upon us that can prevent +our being by ourselves—well, words simply can't express how wonderful +it seems!"</p> + +<p>"It <i>is</i> wonderful, and we'll make the most of it. There's just one +thing I want to get out of this vacation in the way of work, and then +all the rest of it shall be at your service."</p> + +<p>"The book?"</p> + +<p>"The book. How did you guess? I haven't spoken of it."</p> + +<p>"No, but I've seen you looking wistfully at your notebook time and +again, and guessed what you were thinking of. Well, we can make it fly. +I'm ready for you."</p> + +<p>Georgiana plunged her hand into a small bag she carried on her arm, and +brought forth a notebook—of her own. She produced a pencil. "You may as +well begin to dictate now," she said demurely. "What's the use of losing +time? Just don't go too fast, that's all."</p> + +<p>He stared at her. "What do you mean, dear? You don't know shorthand."</p> + +<p>"Don't I? Well, perhaps I can write fast enough in long hand. Try me."</p> + +<p>"My idea is," he said, "that we might spend a couple of hours every +morning, and another couple in the afternoon, if you don't mind, and +really get ahead quite a bit while we are at sea—provided you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">299</a></span> prove a +good sailor, which I have an idea you will if—— See here, what are you +doing? You're not taking that down in signs!" He looked over her +shoulder at the notebook, where a series of dashes, angles, hooks and +dots was forming with great rapidity. "You don't mean to say——"</p> + +<p>"No, I mean to write, and let you do the saying. Go ahead, sir—only be +sure you say something worth while."</p> + +<p>"But—you didn't have that accomplishment when we worked together last +summer."</p> + +<p>"How I did wish I had, though! You kept insisting that I was doing all I +could for you by copying endlessly, but I knew perfectly well that if I +were a stenographer you could accomplish just three times as much in a +given time as you did. You know perfectly well you only took that course +to give a poor girl the chance to earn. If it hadn't been for helping me +you would have had a secretary at your elbow, after you got to the point +of needing him."</p> + +<p>"I took that course, as you well know, because I wanted you at my elbow. +If you had been able to write only a word a minute, I should have wanted +you there just the same."</p> + +<p>She gave him a merry, understanding look, then read him the words he had +just spoken from her book.</p> + +<p>"Where in the world did you learn, and how?" he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">300</a></span> demanded. "And how have +you become so proficient in so short a time?"</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid it's rather blundering work yet, but it will grow better all +the time. Why, I've been taking lessons all winter, dear sir, at the +best shorthand school in the city. I made up my mind that it was the +thing I could do that would be of most use to you. It's a shame that a +man who is doing the original work that you are shouldn't have time to +give other people more benefit of it. It seemed to me you could write an +important monograph in an hour, if you just had me at hand to take down +the words of wisdom as they fell from your learned lips. Why you haven't +used a secretary before for this purpose I don't know, but I certainly +am glad you haven't. It insures me the position."</p> + +<p>If she had wanted a reward for long and severe labours she had it in his +look. "Other men dictate such papers," he said, "but somehow it has +never seemed to me I could. I tried it once or twice and didn't get on +at all as I did when I had the pen in my fingers. But with you, it may +be different."</p> + +<p>"It will be different," she told him confidently. "You're going to +become used to my being so much a part of you that you can think as if +you were using my brains—or I were using yours, which would be more to +the purpose, I admit. Oh, we're going to accomplish all sorts of things +together."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">301</a></span></p> + +<p>He looked down into her eager face, glowing with colour, the dark eyes +apparently seeing visions which gave them keen delight. "You are a +partner worth having," he said, much moved. "I knew you would be, and +it's seemed to me all winter that no wife could be more of one. But if +you're going to add this to your other activities you will make yourself +even more indispensable than you already are, which is saying much."</p> + +<p>She could hardly wait until she had made a trial of this new form of +partnership. The ship had barely turned her face out to sea, parting +company with her pilot, before the work began.</p> + +<p>Doctor Craig had secured a small suite of staterooms opening upon a +central sitting-room, and here he and Georgiana could be sure of much +time to themselves. While the pair were engaged Mr. Warne was supremely +content to lie in a sheltered corner of the deck, book in hand, reading +or watching the ever new glory of sea and sky, or talking with some +fellow passenger who possessed intelligence enough to discover what +manner of man was here.</p> + +<p>When Georgiana, ardent as a child in her joy over what was to be +revealed, unpacked a small, portable typewriter and set it upon the +table of the sitting-room, Jefferson Craig suddenly caught her in his +arms.</p> + +<p>"My blessed girl," he cried, "this, too? What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">302</a></span> haven't you done with +your winter, when I thought you were spending your time getting +acquainted with New York, as I meant you to do? You and Mrs. Brandt were +supposed to be seeing everything worth seeing, on those morning drives. +Were you shut up in your room all that time learning machines?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed. Do you imagine I made up all the stories I told you of +those expeditions? We did all that, and this, too. I spent only an hour +each morning at the school; the rest of the study I put in at all hours. +Many of them were when I was waiting for you, Doctor Craig, to take me +to a dinner or the opera. My notebook lived with me as if it had been a +treasure I couldn't have out of my sight. It was just that. I never was +so proud of anything I learned at college as I was when the gruff man +who had my special training in charge told me I would make a +stenographer. Not all of them did, he said. Some never could get hold of +it, or acquire any speed or accuracy. Just give me a year, and I'll put +down your thoughts before you think them!"</p> + +<p>"I haven't a doubt of it," he agreed, with a laugh of amusement and +delight.</p> + +<p>Thus the work began, and thus it proceeded, with only one day's +interruption when, in mid-ocean, came twenty-four hours of moderately +bad weather.</p> + +<p>To Georgiana's joy she proved herself the sailor her husband had +prophesied, but her father was not so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">303</a></span> fortunate, and she promptly +tucked him in his berth, where she kept him fairly comfortable until the +rough seas quieted. When he was recovered he lay for one morning on the +couch in the sitting-room, while the two workers resumed their task. +Here he seemed to slumber much of the time, but in reality he kept +rather a close watch on the absorbed pair, whom he had never before seen +thus engaged, much as he had heard of their labours.</p> + +<p>Looking up suddenly Georgiana discovered the blue eyes upon her, and +when her flying fingers next stopped she put a question: "A penny for +your thoughts, Father Davy. Don't we work together rather well, in spite +of my being such a novice?"</p> + +<p>"You two pull excellently well in double harness, it seems to me," he +responded. "I can't see that either is taking all the load while the +other soldiers and lets the traces slack."</p> + +<p>Doctor Craig looked around at him. "She's always ahead by a pair of ears +at least," he declared with a laugh.</p> + +<p>"But I hear his steady pound—pound—at my side, and I'm afraid he's +going to get a shoulder ahead," his wife explained.</p> + +<p>The interest the pair excited on shipboard was greater than Georgiana +guessed, though Doctor Craig was quite aware of it. Somehow or other the +word had gone around, as words do go in a ship's company,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">304</a></span> as to the +literary labours they were engaged in, and as Jefferson Craig's name was +one known to more people than Georgiana had the slightest notion of, +there was cause enough for the attention given them. Craig's noteworthy +personality—one which marked him anywhere as a man of intellect and +action—Georgiana's fresh young beauty, her spontaneous low laughter as +she paced the deck at her husband's side, her readiness to make friends +with those whose looks and bearing attracted her—these attributes made +the Craigs the target for all eyes.</p> + +<p>"I never saw people who looked so absolutely content," fretfully +murmured one swathed mummy in a deck chair to another, as the pair +passed them, on the tenth round of a long tramp, one gray morning when +the wind was more than ordinarily chill. The speaker's black eyes, +heavily lidded in a pale, discontented face, followed the Craigs out of +sight as she spoke.</p> + +<p>"Oh, they're on their honeymoon—that accounts for it," replied the +other, languidly. Her glance also had followed the walkers.</p> + +<p>"No, they're not—I've told you that before. They were married last +December—plenty of time for the glamour to wear off. They act as if +they never expected it to wear off. Sue Burlison must hate to look at +them—she certainly had her mind made up to marry Jefferson Craig, if it +could be done."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">305</a></span></p> + +<p>"So did Ursula Brandywine," contributed the languid one.</p> + +<p>"You could say that of a dozen—twenty. I presume there are at least +four disappointed mothers on board, besides Jane Burlison. Not that any +of them ever had much encouragement from him—I'll say that for him. +They'd about given him up as hopeless when he went off and married this +country girl. One thing is certain—in spite of her fine clothes she +hasn't the air his wife ought to have—she's not his equal."</p> + +<p>"What's that you say?" The questioner was a sallow-faced youth upon the +black-eyed lady's other side. Sunk deep in a fur-lined coat, his cap +pulled low over his eyes—which were precisely like hers, even to the +expression of discontent—he had seemed for the last hour to be +slumbering. But at the moment he looked quite wide awake, as he turned +his head toward his mother and challenged her latest statement. "What's +that you say?" he repeated, in her own acrimonious tone.</p> + +<p>"Oh, have you come to at last?" she inquired. "It is quite impossible to +remember that though you sleep for hours you are liable to wake in time +to contradict me on any point whatever. In this case it is of no +consequence what I may have said."</p> + +<p>"You were handing us the hot dope about Mrs. Craig's not being in the +same class with Dr. Jeff.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">306</a></span> It certainly does take a woman to stick her +claws into another woman's fur. There's one thing I can tell you—there +isn't a man on board who'd agree with you. If she's a country girl—you +can say good-bye for me to the little old town. I'm going to take to +rural life till I find another. Talk about peaches and cream!"</p> + +<p>"I believe I did not mention her complexion," his mother observed +coldly.</p> + +<p>"Neither did your little son—though it would bear mentioning. I should +say yes! You said she hadn't any air. Jupiter—there she comes now. No +air!"</p> + +<p>He subsided into his high-turned fur collar but his eyes watched +intently as the Craigs, still walking briskly after at least an hour's +exercise, came up the deck from the stern. His mother, on the contrary, +let her drooping lids fall indifferently. The moment they were out of +possible hearing the young man sat up.</p> + +<p>"By Jove, if you call that no air, tell the grande dames to get a move +on. She walks like a young goddess—that's what."</p> + +<p>"Silly boy! Nobody is talking of her face or her gait. If you don't know +what I mean, no one can tell you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I know what you mean," her son assured her. "I get you. What I say +is—you don't get <i>her</i>! Jefferson Craig's the one who gets her—lucky +chap!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">307</a></span> Maybe he doesn't know it—oh, no! Maybe not!" And turning his +back he once more appeared to slumber.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for Georgiana that she never even imagined such +comments, though she passed these rows of critical eyes a hundred times +a day, sat at table with people who were keenly observant of her every +act and word, and spent some reluctant hours in the society of those who +strove to cultivate her for their own blasé enjoyment. She only knew +that among the company she met a number of interesting men and women, +with whom she and her husband were thoroughly congenial, and that it did +not matter in the least about the rest. If those whom she liked so much, +and with whom she could talk with the greatest zest, turned out to be +the men and women of scientific or literary achievement, this seemed +only natural to the college-bred girl, and she cared not at all that she +did not get on so easily with those whose distinction lay in purely +social or financial lines.</p> + +<p>During the winter just past her experience had been much the same, in a +larger way. Her husband's acquaintance was naturally a large one, but +the circle of his real friends was bound almost wholly by these same +congenialities of mind and tastes. Georgiana had met and been +entertained by many people whose names stood high on the list of the +distinguished, though their personal fortunes were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">308</a></span> small, and their +social activities were ignored in the society columns of the Sunday +press. A college president, several famous surgeons, not a few noted +authors of scientific books, as well as certain social workers, and two +or three clergymen—these, with their wives and families, were the sort +of people who gave to Georgiana Craig a hearty and sincere welcome, +recognizing her at once as one who belonged to them. It was small wonder +that the young wife, trained in a school of life in which nothing +counted except worth and ability, found no lack, nor thought of sighing +for the privilege her husband could easily have given her, had he cared +for it himself, of mingling with a quite different class, that of the +rich and gay who cared for little except that which could give them the +most powerfully emotional reactions in the way of diversion, +acquisition, or notoriety.</p> + +<p>So they continued to work and walk their joyously contented way across +the wide Atlantic during the six days between port and port. Georgiana +enjoyed every hour, from that early morning one in which she first came +on deck, running up with her husband to breathe deeply of the +stimulating sea breeze before breakfasting, to the latest one, when, +furry coat drawn hurriedly on over her pretty evening frock, her dark +hair lightly confined under a gauzy scarf, she with Craig and a merry +half-dozen of the evening's group came up again upon a deserted deck, +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">309</a></span> "blow the society fog out of their lungs," as one young biologist of +coming reputation put it, in the silvery April moonlight, with only a +few similarly inclined spirits to share with them the big empty spaces.</p> + +<p>"I shall really be sorry to land to-morrow," sighed Georgiana, leaning +upon the rail on the last night of the voyage, and staring ahead toward +the quarter where her husband had just indicated they would be seeing +land when they came up in the morning. "It has been so perfect, this +being off between the sea and the sky together. When shall I ever forget +this first voyage? It's a dream come true."</p> + +<p>"You will enjoy the second one just as much, for you're a born sailor, +and there'll be a long succession of voyages for you to look back upon +by and by. Not just my annual pilgrimages to foreign clinics, but +journeys to the ends of the earth if you like. Will that suit you, +eager-eyed one?"</p> + +<p>"Suit me? Oh, wonderful to think of! Am I eager-eyed really? I try so +hard to cultivate that beautiful calm of manner I admire so much in +other people. Haven't I acquired a bit of it yet?"</p> + +<p>"A beautiful calm of manner—all that could be desired. But your eyes +still suggest that you're standing on tiptoe, with your face lighted by +the dawn," Craig answered contentedly. "Heaven forbid you ever lose that +look! It's what gives the zest to my life."</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">310</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2><h3>"CAKES AND ICES"</h3> +</div> + +<p>Jefferson Craig found plenty of the zest which he had told +Georgiana—that last evening on shipboard—her eager-eyed look added to +his life, when, the next day, in a compartment reserved for the three +travelers, he watched her as she fairly hung out of the windows. All +through Devonshire and on to the northeast. She was drinking in the fair +and ordered beauty of the English countryside in April, exclaiming over +apple orchards rosy as sea-shells with bloom, over vine-clad cottages +and hedge-bordered lanes, masses of wall flowers at each trim station, +and such green fields as she had never seen in her life. Father Davy was +not far behind her in his quiet enjoyment of the unaccustomed scenes.</p> + +<p>A night at Bath, picturesque and interesting, and then before the eldest +of the three travelers could be really weary they were in famous Oxford. +Professor Pembroke and his wife, Allison Craig, met them at the station, +to convoy them to the comfortable quarters in the dignified stone house +near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">311</a></span> Magdalen College, which Craig had more than once described to +Georgiana.</p> + +<p>Here the young American had her first taste of a manner of life which +enchanted her. From the moment that she set eyes on Jefferson Craig's +sister, the original of the photograph she had so often studied with a +constriction of the heart, not knowing whose it was, she was drawn to +her as she had never been drawn to any other woman.</p> + +<p>Sitting with her in the pleasant, chintz-hung living-room, walking with +her in the garden which was like no garden she had ever imagined, she +was conscious of a stronger sense of wonder than ever that a man whose +family was represented by a sister like this could ever have chosen the +crude young person she still considered herself. From Mrs. Pembroke, +however, she received only heart-warming assurance of her welcome and +her fitness.</p> + +<p>"My dear," Allison said, as the two stood at an ivy-framed window one +morning, looking out at Mr. Warne and his son-in-law as they slowly +paced up and down beneath a row of copper beeches between house and +garden, "I never saw my brother so happy in his life. Jeff always was +hard to please as a boy. I used to think it was merely a critical +disposition, but later I discovered that it was his extreme distaste for +all artifice, acting, intrigue—all absence of genuineness. Only those +boys and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">312</a></span> men interested him whom he had absolute faith in.</p> + +<p>"I don't mean that he himself was a goody-goody—far from it; he was a +terrible prank maker, and more than once narrowly missed suffering +serious consequences. But when he really grew up and it came to an +acquaintance with women, very few have even attracted him. I began to +fear that he was becoming hardened and would never find just what his +fastidious taste could approve—not to mention what his heart might +soften to. But now—well, I think I am almost as happy as he is, that he +has found you. He seems like a different being to me, and evidently it +is you who have wrought the miracle."</p> + +<p>"I surely have made no change in him," Georgiana protested. "He has been +just as he is now from the beginning—except, of course, that I know him +better. I can't imagine him hardened to anything."</p> + +<p>Allison Pembroke looked at her, smiling. She was herself an unusually +beautiful woman, more mature than Georgiana, but still with a touch of +girlishness in her personality which made her very appealing to her +young guest.</p> + +<p>"Evidently the softening process began the moment he met you," she said. +"He frankly admits that himself. I am going to tell you what he wrote to +me last winter, after you had begun your work with him. 'I feel like a +footsore traveler,' he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">313</a></span> said, 'who has been walking for many miles along +a hot and crowded highway, with the dust heavy on his shoulders and +thick in his throat, who suddenly finds his course turned aside through +a deep and quiet wood, with flowers springing on all sides, and a clear +stream running beside him, where he may bathe his flushed face and cool +his parched throat.' I have never forgotten the words, because they +struck me as so unlike him. I knew then that something had happened to +him there in the old manse. And when I saw you, dear, I didn't wonder +that he chose just those words."</p> + +<p>"I should never have thought," murmured Georgiana, incredulously, "that +I could ever have reminded anybody of a quiet wood—I with my hot +rebellion at having to spend my days in the country, which I could never +quite cover up."</p> + +<p>"I know. Just the same, Georgiana, after having known so many artificial +women, posing, as women do pose for a man in Jefferson's place, it +refreshed his very soul to find a girl like you, who dared to be herself +from head to foot, whether she pleased him or not. And oh, I am so +thankful you could care for him, since he needed you so much!"</p> + +<p>Such talks brought these two very close together.</p> + +<p>It was a happy week which Georgiana spent in the fine, classic old town, +walking or driving with Allison, exploring quaint, winding streets, +ancient halls,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">314</a></span> and flowery closes; or meeting interesting people of all +ranks, from the chancellor of the University himself to the young +undergraduates who offered her in their old and dingy but distinguished +rooms tea and toasted scones, along with their fresh-cheeked admiration.</p> + +<p>Not the least of her pleasure was in watching Father Davy's keen +enjoyment of everything that came his way, and in noting how many of +these English people seemed to find him one of them in his appreciation +of all they had to offer and in his intimate knowledge of their +time-honoured history. He apparently grew a little stronger with each +succeeding day; certainly he grew younger, for happiness is a tonic +which has special power upon those who carry the burden of years; and +Father Davy's years, while not so many, had been heavy of weight upon +his slender shoulders and had bowed them before their time.</p> + +<p>After Oxford came London—a fortnight of it, and a very different +experience. Living at a luxurious hotel with Allison Pembroke, who had +come up with them, to show her all the ways of which she felt herself +ignorant; with Craig coming and going from hospital and lecture room, +suggesting each day new wonders; with hours spent daily in the dear +delight of exploration in all sorts of out-of-the-way, famous places; +Georgiana felt as if it were all too miraculous to be true.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">315</a></span></p> + +<p>That she, "Georgie Warne," as the village people had called her all her +life, should, for instance, be walking with charming Mrs. Pembroke along +Piccadilly in the May sunshine—real London sunshine and no watery +imitation such as she had heard of—dressed in the most modish of spring +costumes, violets in her belt purchased on a street corner from a young +girl with the eyes of a Mrs. Patrick Campbell and the accent of +Battersea Park—well, it simply did not seem real!</p> + +<p>Much less did the hours seem real when she went with her husband to take +tea on the Terrace at the Houses of Parliament, or with all three of her +party to dine with some friendly Londoner who appeared eager to offer +hospitality to the whole party. Best of all, perhaps, were the late +evening walks upon which Craig took her alone, to stroll along the +Victoria Embankment, a place of which she never tired, to watch the +myriad lights upon the black river, and to talk endlessly of all the +pair could see before them of purpose and achievement.</p> + +<p>"Do you know what you remind me of these days?" Craig asked one night, +when the two had returned to the hotel after one of these long, slow +walks, during which they had been unusually silent.</p> + +<p>He threw himself into a deep armchair as he spoke and sat looking up at +his wife, who stood at the open balcony window, gazing down at the +street below,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">316</a></span> with the interest in everything human which seemed never +to abate.</p> + +<p>She turned, smiling. She was particularly lovely to look at to-night, +wearing a little pale-gray, silk-and-chiffon frock (lately purchased at +a French shop in London), which, in spite of its Parisian lines and +graces, was distinctly reminiscent of a certain other gray-silk frock +worn on a never-to-be-forgotten occasion.</p> + +<p>"Of a child at her first party?" she asked. "That's what I feel like. +Only there's no end to the cakes and ices, the bonbons and surprises. +And I never have to worry because before long I must go home!"</p> + +<p>"No, not like that; your similes are always too self-deprecatory. You +seem to me more and more like a young queen who has just come to the +throne, but who is shy about picking up her sceptre. She prefers +long-stemmed roses, and every now and then she catches up her train and +runs down from her dais and out-of-doors, until some shocked courtier +rushes after her and brings her back!"</p> + +<p>"Now you <i>are</i> laughing at me!" Georgiana wheeled to confront her +husband, who, stretched lazily in his chair, after a long day at the +side of a great biologist in his laboratory, was relaxing muscles and +nerves at the same time.</p> + +<p>He put out one arm toward her, and she came slowly to his side. "Not a +bit. It just delights me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">317</a></span> to see you your natural self in spite of all +that London can do to you. Allison tells me that it is the most +interesting thing in the world to watch you decide whether you will buy +a new hat or a new book. She declares that milliners admire you and seem +anxious to please you, but that when you get into a bookshop you have +every old bookseller climbing about his ladders to bring down his +choicest treasures for you."</p> + +<p>Georgiana laughed. "I can't get used to buying hats at all—not to +mention silk stockings—and as for buying hats and books and silk +stockings on the same day, it's simply past belief that I can do it. Why +do you fill my purse so full? I'm afraid I'm losing all the benefit of +my long training in frugality."</p> + +<p>"I hope so. I can never forget last winter watching you dissemble your +good healthy appetite and pretend you didn't want beefsteak, while you +fed your father and me on a juicy tenderloin. Brave little housekeeper +on nothing a month!"</p> + +<p>She looked at him quickly. "I never dreamed you noticed. And besides, I +really didn't want——"</p> + +<p>"Take care! The table was the only place where I ever caught you playing +a part. I forgave you, only—how I did long to divide with you! Now all +the rest of my life I can divide, equal shares, with you—my Georgiana!"</p> + +<p>The weeks flew by, bringing never-ending interest. After London came +Edinburgh, city of stately beauty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">318</a></span> where among Scottish friends of the +Craigs Georgiana learned whence her husband's family had sprung, and +their noble origin and history.</p> + +<p>Then the vacation was at an end "for this time," as Craig said, and the +little party turned their faces homeward.</p> + +<p>A letter from James Stuart, in the same mail with one twice its length +from Jeannette Crofton, caused them to hasten their date of sailing by a +week in order to be in time for a great event. Stuart wrote +characteristically:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>You simply have to come home, George, and help me through it. Of +course I knew from the first I'd have to face a big city wedding, +but the actual fact rather daunts me. Of course it's all right, for +we know Jean's mother would never be satisfied to let me have her +at all except by way of the white-glove route. The white gloves +don't scare me so much as the orchids, and I suppose my new tailor +will turn me out a creditable figure. But if I can't have you and +Dr. Jeff Craig there I don't believe I can stand the strain.</p> + +<p>The worst of it is that after all that show I can only take her +back to the old farm. Not that she minds; in fact, she seems to be +crazy about that farm. But it certainly does sound to me like a +play called "From Orchids to Dandelions."</p> + +<p>So, for heaven's sake, come home in time! The date's had to be +shoved up on account of some great-aunt who intends to leave Jean +her fortune some day if she isn't offended now, and the nice old +lady wants to start for the Far East the day after the date she +sets for our affair. </p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">319</a></span></p> + +<p>"Of course we must go," Craig agreed. "We'll stand by the dear fellow +till the last orchid has withered—if they use orchids at June weddings, +which I doubt. As for the dandelions, I think there's small fear that +Jean won't like them. I fully believe in her sincerity, and I'm prepared +to see her astonish her family by her devotion to country life. Stuart's +able to keep her in real luxury, from the rural point of view, as I +understand it, and she will bring him a lot of fresh enthusiasm that +will do him a world of good."</p> + +<p>"I'm trying to imagine Jimps's June-tanned face above a white shirt +front," mused Georgiana. "He'll be a perfect Indian shade by that time."</p> + +<p>"Not more so than any young tennis or golf enthusiast, will he?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, much more. Jimps is out in the sun from dawn till sundown; his very +eyebrows get a russet shade. But of course that doesn't matter, and his +splendid shoulders certainly do fill out a dress coat to great +advantage. You don't mind being considered one of his best friends by a +young farmer, do you? That's the way he feels about you."</p> + +<p>"I consider it a great honour. I never was better pleased than when +Stuart first made friends with me, even after I discovered that he was, +as I thought, my successful rival. It was impossible to help liking him. +In fact, I've often wondered why—he didn't continue to be my rival."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">320</a></span></p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Jefferson Craig, you couldn't possibly wonder that!" +contradicted Georgiana, in such a tone of finality that her husband +laughed and told her that flattery could go no farther.</p> + +<p>The voyage home was nearly a duplicate of the one outward bound, except +that the two workers put in much extra time on the book and pushed it +well toward completion.</p> + +<p>Father Davy acquired the strength to take short walks on an even deck +and boasted hugely of his acquisition, a twinkle in his eye and a tinge +of real colour in his cheek.</p> + +<p>"Imagine my coming home from abroad with trunks full of clothes and +books and pictures," murmured Georgiana, as the three stood together +watching the big ship make her port. "I feel like a regular +millionairess."</p> + +<p>"A regular one would smile at your modest showing," was Craig's comment. +"I'm quite certain no man ever found it more difficult to persuade his +wife to buy frocks, even when he went with her and expressed his anxiety +to see her in particular colours."</p> + +<p>"Confess," demanded Georgiana with spirit, "that you would be +disappointed if I suddenly became a devotee of clothes and wanted all +those gorgeous things we saw, and which that black-eyed Frenchwoman +tried so hard to make me take."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">321</a></span></p> + +<p>"Those wouldn't have suited you, of course. I don't want to make an +actress of you, or even a society woman who gets her gowns described in +the Sunday papers. But when you refuse simple white frocks with blue +ribbons——"</p> + +<p>"Costing three figures! And I could copy every one of those myself for a +fraction of the money."</p> + +<p>"What would you do with the money saved?"</p> + +<p>"Buy books."</p> + +<p>Georgiana and Father Davy exchanged a smiling, tender glance which spoke +of past years of longings now satisfied.</p> + +<p>Craig laughed heartily. "Incorrigible little book-lover! Well, it's a +worthy taste. I happened to overhear a comment on your reading the other +day which amused me very much. When you left your steamer chair to walk +with me you left also a copy of <i>Traditions of the Covenanters</i>. A +little later, coming up behind that young Edmeston, who spends most of +his time lounging in the chair next yours, I heard him say to a girl: +'She doesn't look such an awful highbrow, but believe <i>me</i>, the things +she reads on shipboard when the rest of us are yawning over summer +novels would help weight the anchor if we got on the rocks!' Then with +awe he mentioned the name of that book, and the girl said:' How +frightful! But I'm crazy about her just the same. I do think she wears +the darlingest clothes.' So there you are! The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">322</a></span> men impressed, the girls +envious, and your husband—worshipful. What more could a young wife +ask?"</p> + +<p>"Absolutely nothing," acknowledged Georgiana with much amusement.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">323</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2><h3>A TANNED HERCULES</h3> +</div> + +<p>In spite of the fact that the holiday was over it was good to get back +to the old house on the Square, to hear Mrs. MacFayden's warm "It's a +gled day"; to smile at Thomas and Duncan and the maids; to hug dear Mrs. +Brandt; and to receive a hearty welcome from the other friends, who were +mostly still in town in the middle of June.</p> + +<p>Then came eager summonses from Jeannette, who, with Aunt Olivia and +Rosalie, was staying at an uptown hotel for the finishing of the +trousseau. Georgiana found herself involved in a round of final shopping +and hurried luncheons, while Rosalie talked incessantly, Mrs. Crofton +argued maternally, and the bride-elect herself turned to Georgiana as +the one person—with the exception of her father—who understood her.</p> + +<p>"I can't convince mother and Rosy that I'm not really to spend the +summer in the country with Jimps, and most of the rest of the year at +home doing the usual round," sighed Jeannette, unburdening herself to +her cousin during a half-hour's needed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">324</a></span> relaxation between luncheon and +a visit to a famous jeweller's.</p> + +<p>"I know; you'll just have to be patient, let them equip you for what +they expect of you, and then—live your own life as you and Jimps have +planned it. After a while they will see that you really do mean to live +in the country, not the city, and that décolleté evening gowns don't +suit the fireside, nor afternoon calling costumes the five-mile tramp. +Meanwhile, don't let the poor boy ever guess at the size or quality of +your outfit. I think he'd run away and hang himself!"</p> + +<p>"He never shall know. And, Georgiana, I really have managed to have some +quite simple little frocks made—by a young woman whom Madame Trennet +recommended when I whispered in her ear. And I've bought the jolliest +dark green corduroy suit, with a short skirt and pockets, and a little +green corduroy soft hat to match, for the tramps. Oh, I'm going to be a +real farmer's wife, I promise you!"</p> + +<p>"Of course," mused Georgiana gently, lifting quizzical eyebrows, "I've +never happened to see any farmer's wife thus equipped, but there's no +reason why you shouldn't set the fashion. I suppose you will wear green +silk stockings and bronze pumps with this picturesque tramping costume, +with a bronze buckle in your hat to complete the ensemble. All<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">325</a></span> you will +then need will be a beautiful painted drop of the Forest of Arden——"</p> + +<p>"You unkind thing! If <i>you</i> begin to scoff——"</p> + +<p>"But I won't. I know there's heaps of sense in your pretty head, and +you'll make Jimps the most satisfying sort of a wife even though you +don't carry the eggs to market or milk the cows. There's no reason why +you should, with your own private income. Jimps is too wise to forbid +your spending it to decorate both your lives, for he knows you couldn't +stand real wear and tear, while a reasonable amount of country life will +make you stronger. Go ahead, dear; hang English chintzes at the +farmhouse windows, set up your baby grand piano in that nice, old +living-room, and hang jolly hunting prints in the dining-room. Wear the +corduroys—only, instead of bronze pumps, I should advise——"</p> + +<p>"You needn't. I've got them. The heaviest kind of tanned buckskin boots. +And you all may laugh, but you just wait!"</p> + +<p>"I'm not laughing; you know I'm not. I wish I could help you by +convincing Aunt Olivia that you don't need some of the things she +insists on including. But, since I can't, I'll comfort you by assuring +you that Jefferson says he's counting on your being one of the sort who +will prove the great contention—that beauty and poetry <i>can</i> be brought +into the farmhouse."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">326</a></span></p> + +<p>Thus spoke Georgiana, though in her heart of hearts, as she watched +Jeannette in all her costly elegance, at counter after counter, +selecting supplies of one sort or another, she couldn't help having her +doubts whether a lifelong training in luxury could be turned into a +fitness for living, in spite of many mitigations, the truly simple life. +These doubts, however, she suppressed, only dropping a word of caution +here and there, which Jeannette took kindly, being eager to prove +herself practical, and undoubtedly sincere in her longing to bring to +James Stuart the helpmate he needed.</p> + +<p>So came on the great day; and when it had arrived, and the Craigs were +guests of Aunt Olivia, making ready for the ceremony, Georgiana had her +chance to return to Stuart the support he had given her in the hour of +her own marriage. She had just completed her dressing, and was about to +descend with her husband to the waiting bridal party below, when Stuart +came to their door.</p> + +<p>Craig admitted him, and he entered, the dreaded white gloves in his +hands, visible agitation on his brow.</p> + +<p>"You young Hercules!" Georgiana cried. "Aren't you splendid!"</p> + +<p>"I feel anything but splendid," he returned nervously. "I look like a +boiled lobster on a white platter!"</p> + +<p>"Nonsense, man," denied Dr. Jefferson Craig, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">327</a></span> hand on Stuart's +shoulder, "you're the picture of a healthy young bridegroom. I've seen +plenty of tallow candles standing up to be married; you're a refreshing +contrast."</p> + +<p>After a minute of heartening talk, Craig slipped out of the room, +leaving the two old friends together.</p> + +<p>"Cheer up, Jimps," Georgiana bade Stuart, as she gave a straightening +little touch to his white cravat, woman fashion. "This part won't last +long. And don't be frightened when you catch sight of Jean in all her +glory. She would much rather have been married as I was, you know, and +she's really precisely the same girl in spite of her veil. She worships +you, and everything's all right. Stop looking as if you wanted to run +away!"</p> + +<p>"But I do—if I could just take her with me," he answered, in such a +melancholy tone that Georgiana laughed in his ruddy face.</p> + +<p>"You can't; this is the only way you can get her; so stand up straight +and look everybody in the eye. You're perfectly stunning in those +clothes, and lots nicer to look at than most men. And Chester will take +you serenely through all the forms, so you've nothing to worry about. +That's right—give me a ghost of a smile. One would think you were about +to be hung!"</p> + +<p>"I came to you to be braced up, so it's all right; but call off the dogs +of war now. I did pretty well<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">328</a></span> till I saw the total effect, and then I +thought maybe Jean would wish she had a man who could turn pale instead +of crimson. But I'm going through with it, and I don't intend to look +knockkneed, anyhow."</p> + +<p>"Good for you. Just remember that Jean would swim through a flood of +water to reach you, wedding gown and all, if the aisle should happen to +be inundated, so you certainly can stand at the altar while she walks up +that aisle."</p> + +<p>"I sure can." And James McKenzie Stuart shook his broad shoulders, +lifted his head, and held out both hands to Georgiana Craig. "Much +obliged for the tonic. And, George—just remember, will you, that I'm +precisely the same brother to you I've always been! Nothing can ever +change that!"</p> + +<p>"Of course you are," she agreed, with a rush of vivid recollections +which brought a curious little smile to her lips. "Now go, my dear boy, +and heaven bless you!"</p> + +<p>Half an hour later, standing beside her husband in the flower-fragrant +church, Georgiana watched with a beating heart to see Stuart bear +himself like the man she knew him to be, in spite of all the pomp and +ceremony to which he was such a stranger. She had been half angry, all +the way through the preparations, that Aunt Olivia had insisted on every +last detail of formality and ostentation—or so it had seemed to her, as +unaccustomed as Stuart himself to the great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">329</a></span> church wedding with its +long processional, its show of bridesmaids and flower girls, its ranks +of ushers, its elaborate music, its pair of distinguished clergymen in +full canonicals. But now, somehow, as the age-old words sounded upon her +ears, it seemed to matter less under what circumstances they were +spoken, so that the answers to the solemn questions came from the hearts +of those who spoke them. And of this she could have no possible doubt.</p> + +<p>By and by, when in her turn, back in the festally decorated house, she +came to give the newly married pair her felicitations, she was well +pleased to see Stuart quite himself again, smiling at her with the proud +look of the bridegroom from whom no human being can wrest the prize he +has just secured. And as she noted Jeannette's equally evident happy +content with the man she had married, Georgiana took courage for their +future. Surely—surely—they could go from these scenes of luxury to the +plainer life that awaited them, and miss nothing, so that they took with +them, as they were doing, the one thing needful.</p> + +<p>"It's all right, I'm sure it's all right, dears," she said to them, and +she said it again to her husband when they were rushing back to New York +by the first train after the bridal pair had gone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think it is," he agreed. "It's an interesting experiment, but +not more hazardous than many another in the matrimonial line. If it +succeeds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">330</a></span> Jeannette will come out a finer woman than she could ever have +been by any other process. It's amusing, though, to see her family. +Evidently they regard her as one lost to the world quite as much as if +she had gone into a convent to take the vows perpetual."</p> + +<p>"All but Uncle Thomas. He knows; he understands, little as he says. He +grew up on a farm himself; he told me once that he could never smother +the longing to get back to one. Poor Uncle Thomas, chained to a mahogany +desk, with a Persian rug under his feet! That one little trip across the +water, when the family went last year, was the only vacation he had +taken in five years. And he came back on the next ship!"</p> + +<p>"Jean and Stuart will have him often with them, see if they don't."</p> + +<p>"I hope so. Change is what he needs very badly. Change! Oh, if everybody +could have that when they need it! How it does make lives over! I +know—how I do know! It's the deadly monotony that kills. Jean will +bloom under the old farmhouse roof, away from all the fuss and frivolity +she's so tired of."</p> + +<p>"You've done some blooming yourself," observed her husband, "though I'll +venture to say you work harder than you ever did before, even at the old +loom."</p> + +<p>She gave him a quick glance. "Oh, it wasn't play<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">331</a></span> I needed—just +work—the sort of work I love. I have that now. I love the visits to the +hospital, the looking after the patients you bring home, the taking +notes of your lectures, the teaching of my evening class of +Italians—every bit of it is a delight. And then, when we do run away +for a few hours, like this——"</p> + +<p>"We enjoy it all the more for the contrast. Yes, I think we do. It's a +pretty fine partnership, and it grows more satisfying all the time. +Here's hoping the two we've just seen start follow in our contented +footsteps. A year from now we'll know!"</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">332</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX</h2><h3>MILESTONES</h3> +</div> + +<p>Georgiana would not have believed that it would be a full year before +she should have a chance to see for herself what sort of life Jeannette +and Stuart were making for themselves under the conditions which seemed +such doubtful ones. But so it turned out.</p> + +<p>It had been before Jeannette's marriage that Georgiana found a change +coming in her own life, and the months of the summer and autumn which +followed were busy with the happy preparations for the new experience. +In January her first son was born, and she learned that even a full and +joyous partnership between two human beings is not the most complete +thing that can happen to them. When she saw her husband take the round, +little pink-blanketed bundle in his arms for the first time, and watched +his face as he explored the tiny features for signs of the future, her +heart beat high with such rich content as she had not dreamed of.</p> + +<p>"Strange, isn't it, dear!" Craig said, when he had laid the pink bundle +back in the arms of the nurse,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">333</a></span> who bore it away to the pretty nursery +close at hand. "It's an old miracle always new, and never so wonderful +as when it comes to us for the first time—how that little life can be +neither you nor I, yet both of us in one. Big possibilities are wrapped +up in that bit of flesh and blood; it's going to be a great interest, +the watching them begin to show."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes!" she murmured, lying quietly with her hand beneath her cheek, +too weary and too happy for speech.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if I dare to tell you how soon it was after I knew you that I +began to think of you as playing this part in my life," he said very +softly.</p> + +<p>"Did you? I'm so glad." It was hardly more than a whisper.</p> + +<p>"Are you glad? I often think a girl little dreams of how often that +vision comes to a man long before she has thought of it at all. I was +only a very young man when I began to think of it. Even when there was +no woman in my mind I used to plan what I would do for my own son when I +should have him. And when I saw you I thought—with the greatest +reverence, darling: 'If <i>she</i> might be my son's mother!'"</p> + +<p>He did not need the look her eyes gave him to tell him how this touched +her. When he went quietly away to leave her for the long sleep she +needed it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">334</a></span> was with the consciousness that the bond between them was +more absolute than it had ever been.</p> + +<p>It was in the following June, on the anniversary of the marriage of the +James McKenzie Stuarts, that the Jefferson Craigs had their first +opportunity to see with their own eyes how that marriage was prospering. +Letters from Jeannette had come to Georgiana from time to time, with an +occasional postscript from Stuart, and these letters always breathed of +happiness.</p> + +<p>"But one can't be perfectly sure from letters," Georgiana argued. "After +all the opposition and skepticism they would never own to anybody that +life didn't flow like a rose-bordered stream. But one glimpse of their +faces will tell the story. If Jeannette has a certain look I've often +seen on the faces of girls who have been married about a year I shall +guess what causes it. As for Jimps—he will be as easily read as an open +book. Jeff, you won't let anything prevent our being there for the fête +they ask us for?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing that I can foresee and provide for," Craig promised. "I'm quite +as eager as you to discover how the transplanting of the hothouse plant +into the hardy outdoor soil of the country has worked out. There are two +results about equally probable in such cases—hardly equally probable, +either. The natural result, I should fear, would be the dwindling and +stunting of the growth, unless protected by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">335</a></span> expedients not common to +the country, and fertilized until it should be really not growing in +country soil at all."</p> + +<p>"But the possible result?" urged Georgiana.</p> + +<p>"The one we're hoping for in this case—though I'm not sure how close an +analogy I can draw, being no gardener—is the gradual process of +adaptation to environment, so that the plant takes on a hardier quality, +at an unavoidable sacrifice in size of bloom but with a corresponding +gain in sturdiness and ability to bear the chilling winds and the +beating sunlight of outdoors. Great size in a flower never appealed to +me anyhow. I like a blossom that stands straight and firm upon its stem, +that gives forth a clean, spicy fragrance and doesn't wilt when it has +been an hour in my buttonhole."</p> + +<p>"That's the sort Jimps wants, I'm sure. He used to be always tucking one +of his scarlet geranium blossoms into his coat when he came over to see +me. We all think of Jeannette as the frailest sort of an orchid, +beautiful to look at but ready to wither at a touch. This letter of +invitation doesn't sound like that at all. You really think the long +drive won't hurt little son?"</p> + +<p>"Not a bit, if you keep from getting tired or overheated yourself. We +can manage that very nicely, with Duncan to drive, Lydia to look after +the boy, and a long stop on the one night we must spend on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">336</a></span> the way. The +change will do you good, faithful young mother."</p> + +<p>This proved quite true, and the two days' journey in the great car was +indeed an easy one for all concerned. Little Jefferson Junior, six +months' old, slept away many hours of the trip, and spent the rest +happily in his nurse's or his mother's lap, watching with big, dark eyes +the spots of colour or life on the summer landscape as it slipped +smoothly past. Georgiana had wanted to bring Father Davy, but though he +had grown considerably stronger during the past year, it had not seemed +worth while to put his endurance to so severe a test. He had not been +left forlorn, however, for the Peter Brandts had taken him to their +home, a welcome and a delighted guest. No doubt but there was a place +for David Warne in the great city, as there had been in the country +village.</p> + +<p>On the afternoon of the second day, as they neared the old home village, +to which Georgiana had returned only once since her marriage, she found +herself noting with quickening pulse every familiar landmark.</p> + +<p>"It seems so strange to think of my going away from such scenes for good +and all, and Jean's coming to them," she said to herself more than once. +"How little either of us would have believed it, just two short years +ago!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">337</a></span></p> + +<p>When they passed the old manse she gazed at it with affectionate eyes. +"Oh, how shabby and poor it looks!" she said under her breath to Craig. +"Did it look like that when you first saw it?"</p> + +<p>He nodded, smiling. "Just like that. But the moment the door opened the +first time I knew its shabbiness was just a blind to mislead the +traveler, who might otherwise stop and try to steal the treasure that it +held."</p> + +<p>Her eyes were searching next for the chimney tops that should mark the +other home for which they were bound. How often had she looked at those +chimney tops, because they told her where was her best friend during +those solitary days that were already so far past. A moment more and +Georgiana's first exclamation of surprise broke from her lips. There +were to be many before the day was done.</p> + +<p>"Look! All those ugly little buildings at the back are gone, and the +house stands all by itself at the top of the slope. Isn't that an +improvement? It's freshly painted, too; how that clear white brings out +the beauty of the old house! It used to be such a dingy slate! I always +knew it was a pleasant place, but I didn't fully appreciate it. The lawn +is as trim as can be, and there's a border of shrubs and flowers all +along the drive. How little real change to make so much! That's Jean, I +know. Oh, and there's Jean herself, running down the steps! She sees +us!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">338</a></span></p> + +<p>"Is that really Jeannette Crofton?" Craig doubted. "Yes—for a fact! +Well, well!"</p> + +<p>They might easily doubt the evidence of their eyes, for the slim figure +they had known so well had rounded until it showed softly blooming +curves, and colouring which put to blush the cosmetics which the society +girl had not altogether eschewed, though it had been long before the +less sophisticated cousin had found this out. No need for rouge or +powder now, for nature had laid on the lovely face her own unrivalled +tints of rose overlying the soft browns of summer tan.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you darlings, to come and bring the baby! Do let me look at +him—the blessed thing! Isn't he a beauty?—but, of course, how could he +help it? Jimps! O Jimps! Here they are!"</p> + +<p>Thus cried Jeannette out of sheer exuberance, though the fact of the +arrival was obvious enough, and James Stuart was already dashing across +the lawn from the opposite direction.</p> + +<p>As she looked at her cousin, Georgiana's first impression was the one +she had hardly dared hope for, that of Jeannette's entire content and +well-being. Not only was the physical improvement noteworthy but a +certain worn and worldly look had vanished—one which had not affected +her beauty and had been discernible only to the closely observing eye, +but which had been there none the less and was gone now.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">339</a></span></p> + +<p>This change grew more and more apparent as Georgiana continued to regard +her young hostess. From the moment the party first entered the +wide-thrown front door, it was easy to discover that both Stuart and his +wife were eager as two children for the approval of their guests. Such +approval was not long in appearing.</p> + +<p>"How pleasant—how charming!" cried Georgiana, as her quick eye took in +attractive effect after effect. "Oh, you clever things, to do it like +this! How absolutely in keeping it all is, and how quiet, yet how +beautiful!"</p> + +<p>"She's done it," vowed James Stuart proudly. "I was a duffer at it till +she showed me what she was after. I wanted to buy brocaded silk +furniture, like that in her home—while my money held out. But she would +have nothing but this sort of thing. Homelike, isn't it?"</p> + +<p>It was the word which described it, if one qualified the term by making +it apply only to homes built on foundations of good taste and +suitability to environment. As she looked about her Georgiana saw +everywhere evidences of the use of abundant means, and she realized that +Jeannette had been clever indeed to supply so much without impressing +Stuart with the undoubted fact that she had contributed more than he to +the final result.</p> + +<p>The whole effect of the house's interior was one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">340</a></span> well-chosen but +unostentatious comfort, and the materials and furnishings used were all +so nicely adapted to their setting that only to more discerning eyes +than those of the Stuarts' neighbours would they have expressed unusual +resources of supply.</p> + +<p>"It's an achievement!" Craig declared.</p> + +<p>His enlightened gaze traveled from one point to another of the long, +low-ceilinged living-room, sunny with new windows, and with walls and +hangings of soft browns and golden yellows. He noted that Jeannette had +had the good sense to make use of the old furniture the house possessed +wherever it was fit for preservation, and that she had dignified the +walls by retaining certain dim old portraits, done in fading oils, of +Stuart's ancestors. Everywhere could be seen similar interesting +blending of the new and the old, though it was often difficult to tell +which was which.</p> + +<p>The elder Stuarts were living in a wing of the house, that being the +portion where they had spent their lives, making little use of the +upright and the corresponding wing, which were now turned over to the +son and his wife. Since the elder people wisely preferred this +semi-independence, the younger were able to be much by themselves, +Stuart explained, though always near and ready to lend a hand at any +hour. Since the stalwart son could not be entirely spared by the +somewhat feeble old couple, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">341</a></span> arrangement seemed an admirable one, +and thus far it had worked very well.</p> + +<p>"Jean's such a dear with them," Stuart said covertly to Georgiana, +leading her aside for a moment to look at a curious old buffet which had +been long in the family. "They adore her, and she really seems very fond +of them. Of course they have old Eliza to look after them, as they have +had for so long; but we ask them in to dinner every few days, and often +have them sitting by the fire with us here on cool evenings. The funny +part, though, is when Mother Crofton comes. She can't get over it, or +get used to it; she sits and looks at Jean as if she were an actress in +a play, and by and by would take off her make-up and be herself again."</p> + +<p>"I wonder how far that is from the real truth," thought Georgiana to +herself, as she watched the young mistress of the place with fascinated +eyes.</p> + +<p>Certainly if Jeannette were acting it was very skilfully done. As she +led her guests about the house, and then established them on the lawn, +beneath the great elms which furnished a grateful shade at this +afternoon hour over nearly the whole expanse, she seemed the embodiment +of health and happiness.</p> + +<p>By and by, when the Crofton car arrived, bearing Uncle Thomas and Aunt +Olivia, with Rosalie and Chester following a few moments later in +Chester's roadster, Jeannette grew fairly radiant.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<div style="margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em"> +<a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">342</a></span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX</h2><h3>QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was not until late that evening that Georgiana had a chance really to +learn the whole state of the case.</p> + +<p>During the intervening hours had occurred the event for which they had +all been invited—the entertaining of at least two hundred people from +the surrounding country and the village. For this event, which Stuart +naïvely called a "party," Jeannette a "lawn fête," and the guests +themselves, for the most part, a "picnic," porches, lawn and trees had +been hung with gay lanterns, bonfires had been built, the small village +band engaged, a light but delectable supper provided, and as much +jollity planned as could be crowded into the hours between five o'clock +and eleven.</p> + +<p>From the standpoint of those entertaining, at least, the affair had been +a success, for Stuart, long accustomed to the ways of his fellow +countrymen, considered himself fully able to tell from their manner, if +not from their expressions of pleasure, whether they had really found +enjoyment in the efforts of their hosts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">343</a></span></p> + +<p>"They had a mighty good time, no doubt about it!" he declared, when the +last reluctant guest had departed in the last small car which had waited +at the edge of the roadway. (Not the least of young Chester Crofton's +enjoyment had been occasioned by the sight of the long row of vehicles, +from two-seated wagons to smart and even expensive motors, which had +lined the road for many rods.) "And a lot of them are well worth +knowing," Stuart added.</p> + +<p>His eye chanced to fall on his father-in-law, Mr. Thomas Crofton, as he +made this assertion. The party were sitting in a group upon the +lantern-lighted porch and its steps, and the senior Crofton's face was +plainly visible.</p> + +<p>That gentleman nodded. "You're quite right, Jim," he said. "I don't know +when I've had a more interesting conversation with any man than I did +with one of your neighbours, nor found a more intelligent set of +opinions on every subject we touched on. He wasn't the only one, either. +As a rule I found the people who came here to-night possessed of rather +more than the average amount of brains. I should like to try living +among them—for a change, at least."</p> + +<p>"I struck a tongue-tied dolt or two," remarked his son Chester, "but +dolts aren't uncommon anywhere, even when not tongue-tied. And I did run +up against some chaps I liked jolly well. One of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">344</a></span> them invited me up for +a week-end; I nearly fell over when he did it. I didn't know country +people ever talked about week-ends. I thought they called it 'staying +over Sunday.'"</p> + +<p>"You mean Wells Lawson," Stuart informed him. "If you could see the list +of newspapers and magazines, not to mention books, that the Lawsons +take, you'd open your eyes. He and his family have traveled a lot more +than I have, and their home is one of the finest model farms in the +county. There's no hayseed in their hair."</p> + +<p>"I didn't discover much hayseed in anybody's hair," observed Dr. +Jefferson Craig. "I think it's gone out of fashion."</p> + +<p>"There were some of the prettiest girls here to-night I ever saw," was +Rosalie's contribution to the list of comments. A figure of exquisite +modishness, she perched upon the porch rail near Chester. "I did want to +tell them not to let any one young man stick by them every minute the +way they did, but I could hardly blame the young men for wanting to +stick, the girls were so sweet, and some of them were quite stunning."</p> + +<p>"You certainly gave them an example of how to make eyes at fifteen or +twenty fellows, one after another," laughed her brother, at her side. +"You'd have had them all coming, Rosy, if they hadn't been tied up to +their respective girls. A lesson or two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">345</a></span> from you, and those girls would +begin to play 'round in proper shape."</p> + +<p>"Rosy's going to stay and take a few lessons herself," insinuated +Jeannette, who sat with her shapely young arm resting upon her father's +knee, as she occupied the step below him. "I'll promise to put some +flesh on her little bones if she's here a month. She's too thin, after +only her second season."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I'll stay," promised Rosalie promptly. "I simply love it here; I'm +crazy to stay!"</p> + +<p>"It's all very well now," came Aunt Olivia's low murmur in Georgiana's +ear—there had been many of such murmurs in the same ear during the +afternoon and evening, though why, Georgiana herself could not guess, +since the elder woman knew the younger to be unreservedly committed to +upholding Jeannette's whole course—"very well now, in June, with +flowers blooming and friends about, but how the poor child is going to +face a second winter I can't imagine."</p> + +<p>"She faced the first one very happily," Georgiana reminded her.</p> + +<p>"The first one was a novelty and of course she was determined not to +acknowledge how lonely she must often have been. I do not say that James +Stuart is not a very attractive and trustworthy young man; I am fond of +him myself—very. But I shall always feel that Jeannette has made a +terrible mistake. Brought up as she has been, it is not conceivable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">346</a></span> +that she should continue to find this sort of life possible."</p> + +<p>It was with this moan in her ears that, a few minutes later, Georgiana +listened to James Stuart. He had drawn her away from the group and was +strolling with her across the lawn.</p> + +<p>"Well, George, tell me your honest opinion. Is my wife happy?"</p> + +<p>It was a blunt question, but Georgiana understood. He asked it not to be +reassured but because he was confident of the answer.</p> + +<p>She spoke guardedly: "I never saw her seem more so, Jimps. You are sure +of it yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I want you to ask her point-blank. Will you?"</p> + +<p>"It's not the sort of question to ask anybody point-blank, is it?"</p> + +<p>"It is in this case. Do you think I don't know the doubt in all your +minds?—yes, even yours, for you've become another person since you +married Craig."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! You've been thinking ever since you came that you're dead +thankful you don't have to come back to it—now, haven't you?"</p> + +<p>"Jimps, dear, I lived all my life in the hardest, narrowest economy. If +I had had all this beautiful experience Jean is having——"</p> + +<p>"I know. But you wouldn't come back, even to this place of ours——"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">347</a></span></p> + +<p>"That's begging the question. For Jean it's a wonderful change, and any +one can see what it's done for her."</p> + +<p>"Physically, yes. But I want you to find out whether she's actually +happy or not."</p> + +<p>"I will," promised his friend with a nod; for she knew James Stuart much +too well to imagine she could put him off without complying with his +expressed desire.</p> + +<p>It looked as if Jeannette herself were anxious to assure her cousin's +mind, for Stuart had no sooner brought Georgiana back to the porch than +his wife took possession of her.</p> + +<p>"Georgiana, dear, I want you to tell me one thing," began Jeannette, as +the two moved slowly a little away from the rest. "Do you think we are +making a success of it?"</p> + +<p>"A wonderful success, Jean. I couldn't have believed it, even what I see +on the surface. How about it—inside? That's a pretty searching +question, and you needn't answer it if you don't want to. Everything +about you seems to answer it."</p> + +<p>Jeannette stopped short and turned to face her cousin. "Haven't I +written you the answer, over and over?"</p> + +<p>"Yes. That's why I want to hear it from your own lips."</p> + +<p>"You shall. First, though—Georgiana, you knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">348</a></span> Antoinette Burwell +married Miles Channing last December?"</p> + +<p>"I heard of it. How do they come on?"</p> + +<p>"Separated; she's gone back to her father. She was the most wildly happy +bride I ever saw. Think of it, George—in six months! What do you +suppose would have happened if you——"</p> + +<p>"Don't! I didn't." And Georgiana's grateful thoughts went back to one of +the crises in her life, the one from which Jefferson Craig had rescued +her.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the Ralph Hendersons? Married two years now—I'm sure +you've heard me speak of them. Everybody knows they quarrel like cats +and dogs; they're hardly civil to each other in public. And I know +several more of our old set who are none too happy, if one may judge by +their looks. Yet they all married 'in their own class,' as mother is so +fond of saying, as if I didn't!—I married <i>above</i> it! And I am supposed +to have cast away all my chances for this life, not to mention the next, +by marrying my farmer! Georgiana, I'm getting to hate that word +<i>farmer</i>! Why isn't there a new word made for the man who reads and +studies and uses the latest modern methods on his farm? There are such a +lot of them now. College graduates, like Jimps, and men who have taken +agricultural courses and are putting their brains into their work. Why +isn't there a new word?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">349</a></span></p> + +<p>"The old word must be made to acquire a new dignity," Georgiana +suggested. "Never mind the word; you're glad you married your farmer?"</p> + +<p>"Glad! I thank God every night and morning; I thank Him every time I go +running down the lane to meet my husband coming up from the meadow! Of +course I know, Georgiana, that the life I'm living isn't the typical +life of the farmer's wife at all—thanks to Jimps' success and my own +little pocket-book! But it has all outdoors in it and lots of lovely +indoors; and I'm growing so well and strong—you can see that by just +looking at me. And I'm getting to know my neighbours, and like +them—some of them—oh, so much! Life never was so full. Mother talks +about how hard I'll find it to get through my second winter. It doesn't +worry me. We'll order books and books, and we'll go for splendid tramps, +and every now and then we'll run into town—for concerts and plays. And +best of all, Georgiana,"—her voice sank—"I'm sure—sure—Jimps isn't +disappointed in me."</p> + +<p>"Disappointed! I should say not—the lucky boy!" Georgiana agreed, all +her fears gone to the winds.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>When they returned to the porch it was to hear an outcry from +Jeannette's mother: "Chester Crofton! Have you gone absolutely crazy?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">350</a></span></p> + +<p>"I think so, mother. Positively dippy. Got it in its worst form. It's +been coming on me for some time, but it's taken me now, for better or +for worse. I'm going to buy that small farm across the road and try what +I can do."</p> + +<p>"I'll back you," came in Mr. Thomas Crofton's deepest chest tones.</p> + +<p>"Hear, hear!" Dr. Jefferson Craig's shout drowned out Mrs. Crofton's +groan.</p> + +<p>"O Ches—I'll come and keep house for you—part of the year, anyhow!" +This was dainty Rosalie, her silk-stockinged ankles swinging wildly, as +she sat upon the porch rail.</p> + +<p>Georgiana was laughing, as her eyes met her husband's in a glance of +understanding, but her heart was very warm behind the laughter.</p> + +<p>Beyond the gleam of the lanterns she caught the golden glow of a summer +moon rising, to illumine the depths of the country sky—the immense, +star-spangled arch of the heavens. Beneath lay many homes, big and +little, all filled with human lives, each with its chance somehow to +grow; each with its chance, small or great, as a beloved writer has said +inspiringly, "<i>to love and to work and to play and to look up at the +stars.</i>"</p> + +<p style='text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 3em;'>THE END</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. 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Richmond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Under the Country Sky + +Author: Grace S. Richmond + +Illustrator: Frances Rogers + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [EBook #20719] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: "'Come, George--you need a good tramp,' Stuart urged at +Jeannette's elbow"] + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +UNDER THE COUNTRY SKY + +By GRACE S. RICHMOND + +Author of + +"Red Pepper Burns," "Mrs. Red Pepper," +"The Twenty-Fourth of June," +"The Second Violin," Etc. + +With Frontispiece in Colors +By FRANCES ROGERS + +A. L. BURT COMPANY +Publishers New York + +Published by Arrangements with DOUBLEDAY, PAGE AND COMPANY + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY +DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF +TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, +INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, 1916, BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Heart Burnings 3 + II. Something Really Happens 15 + III. A Semi-Annual Occurrence 31 + IV. A Literary Light 39 + V. Shabbiness 50 + VI. When Royalty Comes 60 + VII. Snowballs 71 + VIII. Soapsuds 84 + IX. A Reasonable Proposition 96 + X. Stuart Objects 105 + XI. Borrowed Plumes 119 + XII. Early Morning 135 + XIII. A Copyist 143 + XIV. Out of the Blue 153 + XV. "Great Luck!" 164 + XVI. A Little Trunk 176 + XVII. Reaction 187 + XVIII. "Steady On!" 199 + XIX. Revelations 212 + XX. Five Minutes 228 + XXI. Messages 236 + XXII. Toasts 248 + XXIII. Why Not? 259 + XXIV. Magic Gold 270 + XXV. Great Music 283 + XXVI. Salt Water 295 + XXVII. "Cakes and Ices" 310 +XXVIII. A Tanned Hercules 323 + XXIX. Milestones 332 + XXX. Questions and Answers 342 + +----------------------------------------------------------------------- + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HEART BURNINGS + + +She did not want to hate the girls; indeed, since she loved them all, it +would go particularly hard with her if she had to hate them; love turned +to hate is such a virulent product! But, certainly, she had never found +it so hard to be patient with them. + +They were all five her college classmates, of only last year's class, +and it was dear and kind of them to drive out here into the country to +see her, coming in Phyllis Porter's great family limousine, the +prettiest, jolliest little "crowd" imaginable. They had been thoughtful +enough to warn her that they were coming, too, so that she could set the +old manse living-room in its pleasantest order, build a crackling +apple-wood fire in the fireplace, and get out her best thin china and +silver with which to serve afternoon tea--she made it chocolate, with +vivid recollection of their tastes; and added deliciously substantial +though delicate sandwiches, with plenty of the fruitiest and nuttiest +kinds of little cakes. She had donned the one real afternoon frock she +possessed, a clever make-over out of nothing in particular. Altogether, +when she greeted her guests, as they ran, fur-clad and silk-stockinged +after the manner of their kind, into her welcoming arms, she had seemed +to them absolutely the old Georgiana. + +They had brought her a wonderful box of red roses--and Phyllis had +caught her kissing one of the great, silky buds as she put it with the +rest in a bowl. "I don't believe she's seen a hothouse rose since she +left college," thought Phyllis, with a stab of pity at her tender heart. +But for the first hour of their stay Georgiana had been her gay and +brilliant self, flinging quips and jests broadcast, asking impertinent +questions, making saucy comments, quite as of old. It was only when Dot +Manning, toward the end of the visit, began a sober tale of the +misfortunes which had come thronging into the life of one of their +classmates, that Georgiana's face, sobering into sympathetic gravity, +betrayed to her companions a curious change which had come upon it since +they saw it last. + +Meanwhile, in answer to her questioning, they had told her all about +themselves. Phyllis Porter and Celia Winters were having a glorious +season in society. Theo Crossman was deep in settlement work--"crazy +over it" was, of course, the phrase. Dot Manning was going abroad next +week for a year of travel in all sorts of beguiling, out-of-the-way +places. As for Madge Sylvester, who was getting ready to be married +after Easter, the first of the class, she sat mostly in a dreamy, +smiling silence, looking into the fire while the others talked. + +No, Georgiana did not want to hate the girls, but before their stay was +over she found herself coming dangerously near it--temporarily, at +least. They were dears, of course, but they were so content with +themselves and so pitiful of her. Not, of course, that they meant to let +her see this, but it showed in spite of them. They wanted to know what +she did with herself, whether there were any young people, and any good +times going on--Georgiana led them to the window, just at this point, +and pointed out to them a vigorous young man striding by in ulster and +soft hat, who looked up and waved as he passed, showing one of those +fine and manly young faces, glowing with health and hopefulness, which +always challenge interest from girlhood. + +"Oh, have you many like that?" Celia had asked, and when Georgiana had +owned that James Stuart was the only one precisely "like that," Dot had +inquired if Mr. Stuart belonged to Georgiana, and, being answered in the +negative, shook her head and sighed: "One swallow _may_ make a summer, +Jan, but I doubt it!" + +Theodora Crossman, the settlement worker, inquired particularly whether +Georgiana were doing anything worth while, using that pregnant modern +phrase which has been decidedly overworked, yet which hardly can be +spared from the present-day vocabulary. + +"Worth while!" cried Georgiana, flashing into flame in an instant in the +way they knew so well. "Worth while--yes! You haven't seen my father, +have you, ever? It's a pity this happens to be one of his bad, +spine-achey days, for he'd be a good and sufficient answer to that +question. Father Davy is one of the Lord's own saints on earth, and he +possesses a magnificent sense of humour, which not all saints do, you +know. To love him is a liberal education, and to take care of him is +better 'worth while' than to have any number of fingers in other +people's pies." + +"Of course, dear," Theo had answered soothingly. "We know there's +nothing in the world so well worth while as looking after one's father +and mother. Your mother died long ago, didn't she, dear? And your father +would be dreadfully lonely without you. At the same time, it doesn't +seem as if he could absorb all your energies. You remember the splendid +things Professor Nichols used to say about the duty of the college girl, +after college, particularly in a small town? I suppose you have no +foreigners here, but I thought perhaps you might find quite a wonderful +field for your endeavour in stimulating the women of the place into +clubs for study and work. It's----" + +A curious exclamation from her hostess caused Miss Crossman to pause. +In fact, they all stared wonderingly at Georgiana. She stood upon the +hearthrug, her colour, usually ready to glow in her dusky face, now +receding suggestively, her dark eyes sparkling dangerously. "The only +trouble with that sort of thing," she answered with suspicious +quietness, "or rather the two troubles with it are these: In the first +place, the women have pretty nearly a club apiece already, which suits +them much better than anything I could 'stimulate' them to; and, in the +second place, I have 'quite a wonderful field for my endeavour,' as you +call it, Theo--did you crib that phrase?--in the upper regions of my own +home. I--in fact, I may be said to belong to the I. W. W.; I'm one of +the industrial workers of the world!" + +"Jan, you haven't gone into anything crazy----" Dot was beginning, when +Georgiana, obeying an impulse, walked away from her hearthrug toward the +door, beckoning her guests to follow. + +"Come on," she invited. "Since you have so poor an opinion of the +possibilities for serious labour in a world of woe offered by my +residence in a small country village, you may come and see for +yourselves." + +They came after her, with a rustle and flutter of frocks and a patter of +smartly shod feet, up the old spindle-railed staircase, through a chilly +and unfurnished upper hall, and up a still chillier narrow second +staircase, into an attic region which could hardly be properly +characterized as chilly, for the reason that the atmosphere there was +frankly freezing. + +As near as possible to the gable window stood a monster structure the +nature of which the beholders did not instantly recognize. Phyllis was +the first to cry out: "A loom! It must be a very old one, too. Oh, how +fascinating! What do you make, Jan--fabrics?" + +"Rugs," explained Georgiana, pulling at a pile upon the floor. "Such +rugs as these. Good looking? Yes, dear classmates?" + +"Stunning!" cried Madge Sylvester, with a smothered shiver at the +penetrating cold of the place. + +"Simply wonderful!" "Too clever for anything!" and, "Oh, Jan, do you +make them to sell?" "Can I buy this one?" "I'm wild over this dull blue +and Indian red!" came tumbling from the mouths of the eager girls, as in +the fading light from the attic window they examined the hand-woven +rugs. There was sincerity in their voices; Georgiana had known there +would be; she was sure of the art and skill plainly to be found in her +product. + +"I'm afraid not, Phyl. These are all orders, and I'm weeks behind. They +go to certain exclusive city shops, and I have all I can do." + +"You must have struck a gold mine. I'm so glad!" congratulated +warm-hearted Phyllis. + +"Well, not exactly. It's rather slow work, when you do housework, too," +acknowledged Georgiana. "However, it does very well; it keeps us in +firewood--and oysters--for the winter." + +She instantly regretted this speech, for it led, presently, as she might +have known it would, to delicately worded expressions of hope that she +would in the future give her friends the pleasure of purchasing her +wares. + +Down by the fireplace again Georgiana turned upon them in her old +jesting way, which yet had in it, as they all felt, a quality which was +new. "Stop it, girls. No, I'll not sell one of you a rug of any size, +shape, or colour. I'm far behind, as I told you. But--I'll send Madge a +gorgeous one for a wedding present, if she'll tell me her preferences, +and I'll do the same for each of you, when you meet your fates. Now stop +talking about it. I only showed you to demonstrate that this is a busy +world for me as well as for you, and that I'm very content in it. Dot, +don't you want just one more of these fruitkins? By the way, since you +like them so much, I'll give you the recipe. I made it up--wasn't it +clever of me?" + +"You're much the cleverest of us all, anyway," murmured Dot meekly, +nibbling at the delicious morsel, while her hostess rapidly wrote out a +little formula and gave it to her with a smile. + +They were soon off after that, for the early winter twilight was upon +them, and the lights in the waiting car outside suddenly came on with a +suggestive completeness. Georgiana assisted her guests into luxurious +coats and capes made of or lined with chinchilla, with otter, with +sable; handed gloves and muffs; and listened to all manner of +affectionate parting speeches, every one of which contained pressing +invitations for visits, short or long. Each girl made promises of future +calls, and professed herself eager to come and stay with Georgiana at +any time. Then the whole group went away on a little warm breeze of +good-fellowship and human kindness. + +"They are dears," admitted Georgiana, as she waved her arm at the +departing car; "but, oh!--_oh!_ I can't stand having them sorry for me! +The old manse _is_ shabby, and every girl of them knew how many times +this frock has been made over--I saw Celia recognize it even through its +dye. No wonder, when it's been at every college tea she ever gave. But I +won't--_I won't_--be pitied!" + +The door opened, and a slender figure in an old-fashioned dressing-gown +came slowly into the firelit room. + +Georgiana turned quickly. "Father Davy! Do you feel better? If I'd known +it, I'd have brought you in to meet the girls. They would have enjoyed +you so." + +"I'm not quite up to meeting the girls perhaps, daughter, but decidedly +better and correspondingly cheerful. Have you had a good time?" + +He placed himself as carefully as possible upon the couch by the fire, +and his daughter tucked him up in an old plaid shawl which had lain +folded upon it. She dropped upon the hearthrug and sat looking into the +fire, while her father regarded the picture she made in the dyed frock, +now a soft Indian red, a hue which pleased his eye and brought out all +her gypsy colouring. + +The head upon the couch pillow was topped with a soft mass of curly gray +hair, the face below was thin and pale, but the eyes which rested upon +the girl were the clearest, youngest blue-gray eyes that ever spoke +mutely of the spirit's triumph over the body. One had but to glance at +David Warne to understand that here was a man who was no less a man +because he had to spend many hours of every day upon his tortured back. +It was three years since he had been forced to lay aside the care of the +village-and-country parish of which he had been minister, but he had +given up not a whit of his interest in his fellowmen, and now that he +could seldom go to them he had taught them to come to him, so that the +old manse was almost as much a centre of the village's interest and +affection as it had been when its master went freely in and out. A new +manse had been built nearer the church, for the new man, and the old +house left to Mr. Warne's undisputed possession--proof positive of his +place in the hearts of the community. + +"A good time?" murmured Georgiana, in answer to the question. "No, a +hateful, envious, black-browed time, disguised as much as might be under +a frivolous manner. The girls were lovely--and I was a perfect fiend!" + +Mr. Warne did not seem in the least disconcerted by this startling +statement. "The sounds I heard did not strike me as indicating the +presence of any fiend," he suggested. + +"Probably not. I managed to avoid giving in to the temptation to snatch +Phyl's sumptuous chinchilla coat, Madge's perfectly adorable hat, Theo's +bronze shoes, Dot's embroidered silk handbag, and Bess's hand-wrought +collar and cuffs." + +"It was a matter of clothes, then? How much heart-burning men escape!" +mused Mr. Warne. "Now, I can never recall hearing any man, young or old, +express a longing to denude other men of their apparel." + +Georgiana shot him a look. "No, men merely envy other men their acres, +their horses, their motors--and their books. Own up, now, Father Davy, +have you never coveted any man's library?" + +The blue-gray eyes sent her back a humorous glance. "Now you have me," +he owned. "But tell me, daughter--it was not only their clothes which +stirred the fiend within you? Confess!" + +She looked round at him. "I don't need to," she said. "You know the +whole of it--what I want for you and me--what they have--_life_! And +lots of it. You need it just as badly as I do--you, a suffering saint at +fifty-five when other men are playing golf! And I--simply bursting with +longing to take you and go somewhere--anywhere with you--and see +things--and do things--and _live_ things! And we as poor as poverty, +after all you've done for the Lord. Oh, I----" + +She brought her strong young fist down on the nearly threadbare rug with +a thump that reddened the fine flesh, and thumped again and yet again, +while her father lay and silently watched her, with a look in his eyes +less of pain than of utter comprehension. He said not a word, while she +bit her lip and stared again into the fire, clenching the fist that had +spoken for her bitterly aching heart. After a time the tense fingers +relaxed, and she held up the hand and looked at it. + +"I'm a brute!" she said presently. "An abominable little brute. How do +you stand me? How do you _endure_ me, Father Davy! I just bind the load +on your poor back and pull the knots tight, every time I let myself +break out like this. If you were any minister-father but yourself, you'd +either preach or pray at me. How can you keep from it?" + +He smiled. "I never liked to be preached or prayed at myself, dear," he +said. "I have not forgotten. And the Lord Himself doesn't expect a young +caged lioness to act like a caged canary. He doesn't want it to. And +some day--He will let it out of the cage!" + +She shook her head, and got up. She kissed the gray curls and patted the +thin cheek, said cheerfully: "I'm going to get your supper now," and +went away out of the room. + +In the square old kitchen she flung open an outer door and stood staring +up at the starry winter sky. + +"Oh, if anything, anything, _anything_ would happen!" she breathed, +stretching out both arms toward the snowy shrubbery-broken expanse +behind the house which in summer was her garden. "If something would +just keep this evening from being like all the other evenings! I can't +sit and read aloud--_to-night_. I can't--I _can't_! And the only +interesting thing on earth that can happen is that Jimps Stuart may come +over--and he probably won't, because he was over last evening and the +evening before that, and he knows he can't be allowed to come all the +time. He----" + +It was at this point that the old brass knocker on the front door +sounded--and something happened. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SOMETHING REALLY HAPPENS + + +It might have been any of the village people, as Georgiana expected it +would be when she closed the kitchen door with a bang and went +reluctantly to answer the knock. Since it was almost suppertime it was +probably Mrs. Shear, who seldom made a call at any other hour, knowing +she would as surely be asked to stay as it was sure that David Warne's +heart would respond to the wanness and unhappiness always written on +Mrs. Shear's homely middle-aged face. As she went to the door, Georgiana +felt an intensely wicked desire to hit Mrs. Shear a blow with her own +capable fist, which should send her backward into the snow. Georgiana +did not believe that the lady was as unhappy as she looked. It seemed to +be a day for expression by the use of fists! + +But when the door was opened and the light from the bracket lamp in the +manse hall shone out on the figure standing upon the porch, all desire +to hit anything more with her fist vanished from the girl's heart. For +with the first look into the face of the man outside her instant wish +was to have him come in--and stay. Somebody so evidently from the great +world which seemed so far away from the old village manse--somebody who +looked as if he could bring with him into this dull life of theirs all +manner of interest--it was small wonder that in her present mood the +girl should feel like this. And it must by no means be supposed that +Georgiana was in the habit of experiencing this sort of wish every time +she set eyes upon a personable man. Personable men had been many in her +acquaintance during the four years of her college life, and more than +one of them had followed her back to the old manse to urge his claim +upon her attention. + +"Is the Reverend Mr. Warne at home?" asked the stranger in a low and +pleasant voice. "I have a letter of introduction to him." + +"Please come in," answered Georgiana, and led him straight into the +living-room and her father's presence. Then, though consumed with +curiosity, she retired--as far as the door of the dining-room, where she +remained, ready to listen in a most reprehensible manner to the +conversation which should follow. + +There was an exchange of greetings, then evidently Mr. Warne was reading +the letter of introduction. Presently he spoke: + +"This is quite sufficient," he said, "to make you welcome under this +roof. My old friend Davidson has my affection and confidence always. +Please tell me what I can do for you, Mr. Jefferson." + +"I should like," replied the stranger's voice, "to have a room with you, +and possibly board, if that might be. If not, perhaps I could find that +elsewhere; but if I might at least have the room I should be very glad. +I am hard at work upon a book, and I have come away from my home and +other work to find a place where I can live quietly, write steadily, and +be outdoors every day for long walks in the country. Doctor Davidson +suggested this place, and thought you might take me in--for an +indefinite period of time, possibly some months." + +"That sounds very pleasant to me," Georgiana heard her father reply. "We +have never had a boarder, my daughter and I, but, if she has no +objection, I should enjoy having such a man as you look to be, in the +house. Your letter, you see, is not your only introduction. You carry +with you in your face a passport to other men's favour." + +"That is good of you," answered Mr. Jefferson--and Georgiana liked the +frank tone of his voice. It was an educated voice, it spoke for itself +of the personality behind it. + +"I will go and talk with my daughter," she heard her father say, after +the two men had had some little conversation concerning a book or two +lying on the table by Mr. Warne's couch. + +Georgiana fled into the kitchen, where her father found her. When he +appeared, closing the door behind him, she was ready for him before he +spoke. + +"If he were the angel Gabriel or old Pluto himself I'd welcome him," she +said under her breath, her eyes dancing. "To have somebody in the house +for you to talk with besides your everlasting old parishioners--why, it +would be worth a world of trouble! And it won't be any trouble at all. +Go tell him your daughter reluctantly consents." + +"You heard, then?" queried Mr. Warne, a quizzical smile on his gentle +lips. + +"Of course I heard! I was listening hard! I was all ears--regular donkey +ears. He's a godsend. His board will pay for sirloin instead of round. +We'll have roast duck on Sunday--twice a winter. He can have the big +front room; I'll have it ready by to-morrow night." + +"Come in and arrange details," urged Mr. Warne. + +Georgiana stayed behind a minute to compose her face and manner, then +went in, the demurest of young housewives. Not for nothing had been her +years of college life, which had made, when occasion demanded, a quietly +poised woman out of a girl who had been, according to village standards, +a somewhat hoydenish young person. + +As she faced the stranger in the full light of the fire-and-lamp-lit +room, she saw in detail that of which she had had a swift earlier +impression. Mr. Jefferson was a man in, she thought, the early thirties, +with a strongly modelled, shaven face, keen brown eyes behind +eyeglasses, a mouth which could be grave one moment and humorous the +next, and the air of a man who was accustomed to think for himself and +expect others to do so. He was well built though not tall, well dressed +though not dapper, and he looked less like a writer of books than a +participant in action of some kind or other. His dark hair showed a +thread or two of gray at the temples, but this suggestion of age did not +seem at all to age him. + +The stranger, on his part, saw a rather more than commonly charming +Georgiana, on account of the Indian-red silk frock. + +"It's not fair to him," thought Georgiana, "to show him a landlady who +looks so festive and fine. I can't afford to wear this often, even for +his benefit." But to him she said: "I know it will give my father much +pleasure to have some one in the house besides his daughter. And I am +quite willing to have you at our table. I must warn you that we live +very simply, as you must guess." + +"I live very simply myself," Mr. Jefferson assured her. "There are few +things I do not like. My one serious antipathy is Brussels sprouts," he +added, smiling. "With that confession the coast is clear. And--you +would not mind my smoking in my room?" + +Georgiana glanced at her father with a suddenly mischievous expression. +He was studying the prospective boarder with interested eyes. + +"I think," confessed Mr. Warne, "that merely to catch a whiff now and +then of a fragrance which is singularly pleasant to me, but which I am +denied producing for myself, would add to the things that give me +comfort. If you wouldn't mind smoking in the hall now and then, or, +better yet, by my fireside, I should be grateful." + +Mr. Jefferson nodded. "Thank you, sir. And now--when may I come? I have +a room at the hotel, so don't let me in until you are quite ready." + +"You may come to-morrow night for supper," promised Georgiana. "But you +haven't seen the room." She rose. + +"It will be in the upper right front?" hazarded Mr. Jefferson. "And it +will have the customary furnishings and some means of heating?" + +"I should prefer to have you see it," she insisted, and lighted a candle +in an ancient pewter candlestick with an extinguisher at the side. + +So the stranger, following her upstairs, surveyed his room and professed +himself entirely satisfied. It looked bare enough to Georgiana as she +showed it to him, but she told herself that there were possibilities in +the matter of certain belongings of her own room which could be +transferred to give an air of homelikeness to this. + +"It is large, and I can have plenty of light and air," commented the +prospective boarder. "If I might have some sort of good-sized table by +that south window, for my work, I should consider myself provided for." + +"You will find one when you come," promised the girl. + +"Thank you. Now, I will take myself off at once. Then you may have a +chance to discuss with your father the probabilities in favour of your +not regretting your quick decision," he said as he descended the stairs. + +"Father and I always make quick decisions," Georgiana remarked. + +"Good! So do I. Do you hold to them as well?" + +"Always. That's part of father's creed." + +"That's very good; that speaks for itself. Well, I promise you I shall +be busy enough not to bother this household overmuch. By the way"--he +turned suddenly--"that table you spoke of putting in my room--if it is +large, it must be heavy. Your father cannot help you lift it, and you +should not lift it alone. Don't put it in place until I come--please?" + +She smiled. "That's very thoughtful of you. But I am quite equal to +moving it alone." + +"Then let me help you now, won't you?" he offered. + +She shook her head. "It's really not ready to be moved. Don't think of +it again, please." + +He bade them good-night and went away, with no lingering speeches on the +road to the door. He had the air of a man accustomed to measure his time +and to waste none of it. When he had gone Georgiana went back to her +father. He looked up at her with a twinkle in his still boyish eyes. + +"Well, daughter, it looks to me as if this had happened just in time to +prevent a bad explosion from too high pressure of accumulated energy. +You can now lower the position of the indicator on the steam gauge to +the safety point by spending the whole day to-morrow in sweeping and +dusting and baking. If there are any spare moments you can employ them +in making over your clothes." + +"Father Davy! Where did you get such a perfectly uncanny understanding?" + +"From observation--purely from observation. And I myself confess to +feeling considerably excited and elated. It is not every day that a +gentleman of this sort knocks at the door of a village manse and asks to +come in and write a book. If it had not been that my old friend Davidson +is always bringing people together who need each other, I should think +it the strangest thing in the world that this should happen. Davidson +is the minister of a great New York church where this Mr. Jefferson +attends; and Davidson has never forgotten me, though he took the high +road and I the low so soon after he left the seminary. Well, it will +give us a fresh interest, my dear, for as long as it lasts." + +Georgiana thought it would. She was up betimes next morning, to begin +the sweeping and dusting and general turning upside down of the +long-unused upper front room. In the course of her window washing, her +shoulders enveloped in an old red shawl, she was vigorously hailed from +below. + +"Ship ahoy! Your name, cargo, and destination?" + +Without turning she called merrily back: "The Jefferson, with a cargo of +books, bound for the public!" + +"What's that? I don't get you." + +"Never mind. I'm too busy to be spoken by every passing ship." + +"I'll be up," called the voice, and footsteps sounded upon the porch. +The front door banged, the same ringing male voice was heard shouting a +"Good-morning, sir!" and the owner of the voice came leaping up the +stairs and burst into the room without ceremony. He advanced till he was +close to the open window, and nodded through the glass at the +window-washer, who sat on the sill with her upper body outside. + +He was a fine specimen of youth and brawn and energy, the young man whom +Georgiana had pointed out to her friends as one of her resources when it +came to the good times they were so anxious to know of. His name was +James Stuart, and he was a near neighbour of the manse. He was a college +graduate of three years' longer standing than Georgiana, and he, like +her, had returned to the country home and his father's farm because his +aging parents could not spare him, and he was the only son whose lack of +other ties left him free to care for them. He and this girl had been +schoolmates and long-time friends--with interesting intervals of enmity +during the earlier years--and were now sworn comrades, though they still +quarrelled at times. It looked, after a minute, as if this would be one +of those times. + +"I didn't just get you," complained James Stuart through the window. + +"Wait till I come in. I can't tell all the neighbours." + +Georgiana polished off her last pane, pushed up the window and slipped +into the room, quite unnecessarily assisted by Stuart. + +"I can't understand," began the young man, eying with approval her +blooming face, frost-stung and smooth in texture as the petals of a +rose, "why you're washing the windows of a room that's always shut up." + +"Jimps, if you were Mrs. Perkins next door I'd understand your consuming +curiosity. As it is----" + +"Going to have company?" + +She shook her head. + +"Then--what in thunder----" + +"We're going to have a boarder, if you must know." Georgiana began to +attack the inside of the window. + +"A boarder! What sort?" + +"A very good sort. He's a literary person with a book to write." + +"Suffering cats! Not the man at the hotel?" + +"I believe he was to exist at the hotel--if he could--for twenty-four +hours," admitted Georgiana. + +"But that man," objected Mr. James Stuart, "is a--why, he's--he doesn't +look like that sort at all." + +"What sort, if you please?" + +"The literary. He looks like a--well, I took him for a professional man +of some kind." + +Georgiana laughed derisively. "Jimps! Isn't authorship a profession?" + +"Well, I mean, you know, he doesn't look like an ink-slinger; he looks +like some sort of a doer. He hasn't that dreamy expression. He sees with +both eyes at once. In other words, he seems to be all there." + +"Your idea of literary men is a disgrace to your education, Jimps. Think +of the author-soldiers and author-engineers--and author-Presidents of +the United States," she ended triumphantly. + +"It doesn't matter," admitted Stuart. "The thing that does is that he's +coming here. I can't say that appeals to me. How in time did he come to +apply?" Georgiana told him briefly. Stuart looked gloomy. "That's all +right," he said, "as long as he confines himself to being company for +your father. But if he takes to being company for you--lookout!" + +"Absurd! He's years older than I, and he said he would be working very +hard. I shall see nothing of him except at the table. Heavens! don't +grudge us anything that promises to relieve the monotony of our lives +even a little bit." + +Stuart whistled. "Monotony, eh? In spite of all my visits? All right. +But I'd be just as well pleased if he wore skirts. And mind you--your +Uncle Jimps is coming over evenings just as often as and a little +oftener than if you didn't have this literary light burning on your +hearthstone. See?" + +He went away, his thick fair hair, uncapped, shining in the morning +sunlight, his arm waving a friendly farewell back at the window, where a +white cloth flapped in reply. + +"Dear old boy!" thought the young woman affectionately; "what should I +do without him?" + +That afternoon, just before the supper hour, the boarder's trunk +arrived. It was borne upstairs by the village baggageman, complaining +bitterly of its weight. It was an aristocratic-looking trunk, and it +bore labels which indicated that it was a traveled trunk. Shortly +afterward the boarder himself appeared and was allowed to betake himself +at once to his room, from which he emerged at the call of the bell, and +came promptly down. Meeting Mr. Warne limping slowly through the hall, +he offered his arm, and in the dining-room placed his host in his chair +with the gentle deference so welcome from a younger man to an older. + +Georgiana, as she served one of the undeniably simple but toothsome +meals for the cooking of which she was equipped by many years' +apprenticeship, noted how bright grew Father Davy's face as the supper +progressed, and how delightfully the newcomer talked--and listened--for +if he was an interesting talker he proved to be a still more +accomplished listener. When the supper was over Mr. Jefferson lingered a +few minutes by the fire, then went up to his room, explaining that he +must unpack his books and make ready for an early attack in the morning +upon his work. + +In her own room, that night, Georgiana lay awake for a long time. Just +before she went to sleep she addressed herself sternly: + +"My child, I shouldn't wonder if you've jumped out of the frying pan of +monotony into the fire of unrest. It certainly means trouble for you +when you can't get a perfect stranger's face out of your mind for an +hour. Now, there's just one thing about it: you've always despised girls +who let themselves leap into liking any man and are so upset by it that +everybody sees it. This one is undoubtedly either married or engaged to +be, and even if he's the freest old bachelor alive you are to behave as +if he were the tightest tied. You are to go straight ahead with your +work and to remember every minute that you are a poor minister's +daughter with only a college training for an asset. He's very clearly a +man of importance somewhere; he couldn't look like that and be anything +else. He will never think twice of you. Whatever attention he gives you +will be purely because he is a gentleman and he can't ignore his host's +daughter--nonsense, his landlady--I might as well face it. He's a +boarder and I'm his landlady. Gentlemen don't take much interest in +landladies. So now, Georgiana Warne, landlady--keeper of a +boarding-house, be sensible and go to sleep." + +But before she went to sleep her mind, in spite of her, had imaged for +her again the interesting, clever-looking face of the stranger under the +roof, with his clear, straightforward glance that seemed to see so much, +his smile which disclosed splendid teeth, his strongly moulded chin. And +she had owned, frankly, driven to the confession just to see if it +wouldn't relieve her: + +"It's just such a face as I've seen and liked--in crowds sometimes--but +I never knew the owner of one. It's such a face as a woman would +remember to her grave, if its owner had just belonged to her one--hour! +Oh, dear God, I've prayed you to let something happen--anything! And now +I'm--afraid!" + +But, in the morning, when pulses beat strongly and courage is bright, +Georgiana had another tone to take with herself. She faced her image in +the glass, which looked straight back at her with unflinching dark eyes. + +"I'm ashamed of you! To moon and croon like that! Now, brace up, Miss +Warne, and be yourself. You've never lacked spirit; you're not going to +lack it now. You're going to be strong and sane about this thing. You're +going to be the sort of girl whose mind no man can guess at. You're +going to weave rugs for your life, and enjoy Jimps Stuart as you always +have, and there's not going to be a whimper out of you from this hour, +no matter what happens--or doesn't happen. Do you hear? Well, +then--attention! Head up, shoulders back, heart steady; forward, +_march_!" + +Two hours later, when, in the absence of the new inmate, Georgiana went +into his room to put it in order for the day, she found it impossible +not to note the character of his belongings. They were few and simple +enough, but in every detail they betrayed a fastidious taste. And among +the articles in ebony and leather which lay upon the linen cover of the +old bureau stood one which held her fascinated attention. It was a +framed photograph of a young and very lovely woman in evening dress, and +the face which smiled over the perfect shoulder was looking straight out +at her. + +Georgiana stared back. "Who are you?" she whispered. "I might have known +you would be here!" + +"And who, please, are you?" the picture seemed to query lightly, smiling +in return for the other's frown. "As for me, don't you see plainly? I +belong to him. Else why should he have me here? You see I'm the only one +he cared to bring. Doesn't that speak for itself?" + +"Of course it does," agreed Georgiana; then stoutly: "And why should I +care? Of course I don't care. To care would be--absurd!" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A SEMI-ANNUAL OCCURRENCE + + +"Father Davy, the 'Semi-Annual' has come!" Georgiana, tugging with both +strong young arms, hauled the big express package into the living-room +of the old manse, and shut the door with a bang. Breathing rapidly from +her exertions, her cheeks warmly flushed, her dark eyes glowing, she +stood over the package, looking at her father with a curious sort of +smile not wholly compounded of joy and satisfaction. + +"That is very good," said Father Davy in his pleasant voice; "and very +opportune. It was but yesterday, it seems to me, that I heard daughter +declaring that she was 'Oh, so shabby!'" + +"Yes, yes--but what do you wager there is there?" questioned Georgiana. +"I can tell you before I take the cover off. Three evening gowns, +frivolous and impossible for a little town like this; one draggled +lingerie frock, two evening coats, and possibly--just possibly--a last +year's tailored suit, with a tear in the front of the skirt and not a +scrap of goods to make a fold to cover it. Why, oh, why, do they never +have any pieces?" + +"The reason seems obvious enough," Mr. Warne suggested, as the girl +stooped and began to wrestle with the cords which tied the big package. +His glance fell musingly on the down-bent head with its masses of +dark-brown hair, upon the white and shapely arms from which the sleeves +were rolled back,--Georgiana had been busy in the kitchen when the +expressman came,--upon the whole comely young figure in its blue-print +morning dress. "They never have need of the pieces, I should judge," +said he. + +"But I have. Jeannette might think of me when she orders her clothes, +not just when her maid is packing the box with a lot of castaways. Well, +here's hoping there's just one thing I can use," and she lifted the +cover of the box and looked within, it cannot be denied, with eager +curiosity. + +"There are always many things you can use," her father gently reminded +her; "you, who are so ingenious." + +"Here's the evening frock!" cried his daughter, lifting out the top +garment and holding it up before them both. "Oh, what a dress to send a +poor country cousin! Fluff and flimsy, trimmed with sparklers; cut +frightfully low, no sleeves, and a draggly train. Doesn't it look +suitable for me?" She flung it aside with a gesture of scorn. "Ah, +here's something a shade better! A little dancing frock of +rose-coloured chiffon--and her clumsy partner stepped on the hem of it. +The maid in the dressing-room sewed it up for her to have her last dance +in, and then she came home and threw it into the box for me. Well, I can +get a gorgeous motor veil out of it--I who have so many drives in the +cars of the rich!" + +"The--the under part looks available to me," suggested Mr. Warne, +striving to be of comfort. + +Georgiana shrugged her blue-clad shoulders. "Oh, yes, if I could dress +in slitted silk petticoats and you could wear them for dressing-gowns, +we'd have plenty. Well, look at _this_! Here's a velvet--cerise! What a +glorious, impossible colour! And here's the lingerie frock; that's not +so bad; I really think it will stand a couple of launderings before it +falls to pieces in my hands. And here's the evening coat--pale gray with +fox trimmings--and she's fallen foul of some ink or something, and the +cleaner couldn't get it all out. Father Davy, look!" + +"It seems to me," said Mr. Warne in his gentle tones, which were yet not +without more firmness than one might expect from so frail a person, +"that I have heard somewhere a homely proverb to the effect that it is +not quite in good taste to----" + +"'_Look a gift horse in the mouth,_'" finished Georgiana. Her eyes were +rebellious. "And there's another: '_Beggars mustn't be choosers._' Yes, +I know. Only, semi-annually I certainly do experience a burning wish +that my dear rich relations were persons with a trifle keener sense of +discernment as to which of their old clothes would be most appreciated +by their poor cousins. They must now and then, Father Davy, wear +something sensible. They must have morning clothes and street +clothes--adorable ones. Why do they send only the worldly clothes to the +manse? And why--_why_ do they never put in so much as one of Uncle +Thomas's discarded cravats for the Little Minister himself?" + +"Your Uncle Thomas and I may possibly have different tastes in the +matter of neckwear," replied Mr. Warne with such gravity of manner but +such a sparkle of humour in his blue-gray eyes that his daughter laughed +in spite of herself. "Come, come, dear, is there nothing you can approve +among all those rich materials? You might make me innumerable cravats, +and I am such a fop I could wear a fresh one each day--to please you." + +"Father Davy!" Georgiana sat back on her heels. She had slipped her +bared arms into the armholes of the sleeveless white "fluff-and-flimsy" +evening frock, and the "sparklers" of the low-cut bodice now framed her +blue-print clad shoulders with an astonishing effect of incongruity. "I +have a wonderful inspiration. Let's ask Jeannette out here for a +visit--an object-lesson as to the state of life whereunto the country +cousins have been called. She hasn't seen me in ten years, and all I +remember of her is a fluffy, yellow-haired girl with a sniffly cold in +her head. What do you say, Father Davy? Shall we ask her?" + +Her father's gaze, quiet, comprehending, more than a little amused, met +Georgiana's, audacious, defiant, mischievous, yet reasonable. The two +looked at each other for a full minute. + +"Do you think she would come?" Mr. Warne inquired doubtfully. + +"Why shouldn't she come? She's had a gay winter so far, but not a happy +one. She's no debutante any more, you know; she's an 'old girl' in her +fifth season. That's what the society girls get by coming out at +eighteen. Now I, who am only a year out of college and who never 'came +out' in my life, am as keen at the game of being grown up as if I were +just putting up my hair for the first time. Well, Jeannette's been +keeping up the pace all winter, is thoroughly worn out and unhappy, and +doesn't know what to do with herself. It's March--and Lent--the time of +year when the society folks betake themselves to spring resorts to +recover their shattered nerves. Don't you think she'd jump at the chance +to come to the little country town and try what our air and our cookery +would do for her?" + +"You seem to know all about her in spite of not having seen or known +her--except through these boxes of clothes--since she was a little +girl." + +"Ah, that's just it--through her boxes--that's how I know her!" +Triumphantly Georgiana held up the cerise velvet gown. "Don't I know a +girl who would wear that? Wild for excitement--that's why she chose the +colour. But she didn't get the fun she expected; he didn't like it--or +somebody said she looked too pale in it--and she fired it at me before +she had done more than take the freshness off. _I_ can wear it--see +here!" + +She got to her feet, untied the little black silk tie which held the +low-rolling collar of her working dress at the throat, unfastened a row +of hooks, and let the blue print slip to her feet. Over the glory of her +white shoulders and gleaming arms she flung the cerise velvet--gorgeous, +glowing, wonderful colour, as trying to the ordinary complexion as +colour can well be. But as the gown fell into place, and Georgiana, +backing up to her father, was fastened somewhat tentatively into it, it +would have been plain to any beholder that if the rich girl could not +wear the queenly, daring robe the poor girl could--as she had said. + +She swept up and down the room, her head held high. She played the part +of a lady of fashion and held an imaginary reception, carrying on a +stream of "society" talk with a manner which made the pale man on the +couch laugh like a boy. Holding a dialogue with a hypothetical male +guest, she led him out into the hall, still within sight of Mr. Warne's +couch, and was in the midst of a scene as inspiredly clever as anything +she had ever done at college, where she had been the pride of a dramatic +club whose fame had waxed greater than that of any similar organization +for many years, when the front door of the house suddenly opened, and a +gust of chilly March air rushed in with the person entering. + +Georgiana wheeled--to find herself confronting the amused gaze of her +boarder, Mr. E. C. Jefferson, as read the address upon his mail. + +Mr. Jefferson was by this time, after a month under the roof of the old +manse, well established as a member of the household, though after the +somewhat remote fashion to be expected of a man whose absorbing work +filled most of his waking hours. He closed the door quickly as he caught +sight of Georgiana in her masquerade, removed his hat, and bent his head +before the cerise velvet. + +Georgiana, blushing as vividly as if it were the first time mortal man +had ever beheld her pretty shoulders, threw him a laughing look, +murmured: "Dress parade in borrowed finery, Mr. Jefferson; don't let the +blaze of colour put your eyes out!" and retreated toward the living-room +where her father sat, much amused by the situation. + +She was followed by her boarder's reply: "I find myself still happily +retaining the use of my eyes, Miss Warne. You need not be too much in +haste; it is very dull outside, I assure you." + +He went on up the stairs, but she had caught his smile, momentarily +illumining a face which was ordinarily rather grave. Georgiana closed +the living-room door upon the sight of the lithe figure rapidly +ascending the staircase without a glance behind. As she faced her father +she assumed the expression of a merry child caught in mischief. + +"Our new lodger has certainly come upon me in all sorts of situations, +not to mention disguises," she remarked, "but this is the first time he +has met me in the role of leading lady on the melodramatic stage. Please +unhook me, Father Davy; the play is over, and it's time to get the +pot-roast simmering. And what do you say to inviting lovely Jeannette +Crofton to visit us? Would it be too hard on you?" + +"Not at all, my dear. I should be glad to see your Uncle Thomas's +daughter. Invite her, by all means. You have far too little young +companionship; it will do you good to have a girl of your own age in the +house." + +"I wonder how we shall get on," mused Georgiana. "Anyhow she'll see what +a market this is for evening frocks cut on her lines!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +A LITERARY LIGHT + + +Many hours afterward, the labours of the day over, Georgiana bent her +dark head above an old-fashioned writing-desk in a corner of the +living-room, and dashed off the contemplated letter to her almost +unknown cousin. How the invitation would be received she had little +idea, but since a letter of thanks was undeniably due in response to the +"Semi-Annual" box, it was certainly a simple and natural matter enough +to offer in return for it a possible pleasure and a certain benefit. + +"I'll run straight down to the post-office and mail it," declared +Georgiana, sealing and stamping her letter after having read it aloud to +her father. "A run in this March wind will be good for me after baking +and brewing all day." + +"Do, daughter; and take a tumbler or two of jelly to Mrs. Ames, by the +way. And pick a spray or two of the scarlet geranium to go with it." Mr. +Warne spoke from the depths of an old armchair by the living-room fire, +where, with a lamp at his elbow, he was not too deep in a speech of the +elder Pitt on "Quartering Soldiers in Boston," to take thought for an +invalid whom he considered far less fortunate than himself. + +"I will--poor, disagreeable old lady. She doesn't admit that anything +tastes as it should, but I observe our jelly is never long in +disappearing." + +Georgiana, now wearing in honour of the close of day a simple frock of +dark-blue wool with a dash of scarlet at throat and wrists, donned a big +military cape of blue, scarlet lined, and twisted about her neck a scarf +of scarlet silk (dyed from a Semi-Annual petticoat!), which served less +as a protection than as the finishing touch to her gay winter's night +costume. She was likely to meet few people on her way, but there were +always plenty of loungers in the small village post-office, and not even +a college graduate could be altogether disdainful of the masculine +admiration sure to be found there, though she might ignore it. + +As she closed the house door, lifting her face to a cold, starlit sky +from which the clouds of the day had broken away at sundown, another +door a few rods down the quiet street banged loudly, and the sharp creak +of rapid footsteps was immediately to be heard upon the frozen gravel. +Georgiana smiled in the darkness at the coincidence of that banging +door. + +"Well met!" called a ringing voice. "Curious that I should break out of +Mrs. Perkins's just as you came along!" + +"Very curious, Jimps. How do you manage it? I stole out like a cat just +to avoid such a possibility. I knew you were there." + +"Did you, indeed?" inquired the owner of the voice, coming up and +standing still to look at what he could see of the military-caped form. +His own strongly built figure took up its position beside hers as if by +right. His hand slipped lightly under her arm, and he turned her gently +to face the direction in which he himself had set out. "That's like your +impertinence. To pay you for it you shall come this way," he insisted. +"It's only a step farther, it's not quite so hackneyed, and it will +bring us out where we want to be. Look at the stars!" + +"They're wonderful!" + +"Carrying something under that cape? Give it to me, chum." + +"It's only a bit of a basket, Jimps; never mind, you might spill it." + +"You can't carry a bit of a basket when I'm around! Spill nothing! Hand +it over." + +"Terribly dictatorial to-night, aren't you?" + +"Possibly. I've been bossing a lot of new hands to-day, who didn't know +a pick from a gang-plough." + +"But you've been outdoors every minute!" Her tone was envious. + +"Every blessed minute. And you've been in, puttering over a lot of house +jobs? See here, you need a run. Let's take the time to go up Harmon +Hill and run down it--eh? There'll not be a soul to see." + +She laughed doubtfully. "I'd love to, but--the jelly?" + +"That's easy." He dropped her arm, turned aside to a clump of trees at +the corner of an overgrown old place which they were passing, and +deposited the little basket in the shadow. He came back and caught her +arm again. + +"Easy, now, up the hill. I wish the snow wasn't all gone, we'd have a +farewell coast at the end of the season. But there'll undoubtedly be +more. Honestly, now, George, hasn't the coasting and tramping helped you +through this first winter?" + +"Jimps, I don't know what I should have done without it--or you." + +"Thanks; I think so myself. The first winter back in the little old +town, after the years away at school and college--well---- Anyhow, I +pride myself the partnership has worked pretty well. We've been about as +good chums as you could ask, haven't we now?" + +"About as good." + +"All right." His tone had a decided ring of satisfaction in it, but he +did not pursue the subject further. Instead he changed it abruptly: "How +does the new boarder come on?" + +"Very well. We really don't mind having him at all, he's so quiet, and +Father enjoys his table talk." + +"Father does, but daughter doesn't?" + +"Oh, yes, I do--only he doesn't talk much to me. I sit and listen to +their discussions--and jump up to wait on them so often that I sometimes +lose the thread." + +"The duffer! Why doesn't he get up and wait on you?" + +Georgiana laughed. "Jimps, we're going to have another guest." + +"Another man?" The question came quickly. + +"Not at all. A girl--my cousin, Jeannette Crofton. At least I'm writing +to ask her for the fortnight before Easter." + +"Those rich Crofton relations of yours who hold their heads so high for +no particular reason except that it helps them to forget their feet are +on the earth?" + +"James Stuart, what have I ever said of them to make you speak like +that?" + +"Never mind; go on. Is it the girl whose picture gets into the Sunday +papers--entirely against her will, of course--as the daughter of Thomas +Crofton? She's reported engaged, from time to time, and then the report +is denied. She's----" + +"I shall tell you no more about her," said Georgiana Warne, with her +head held quite as high as if she belonged to that branch of the family +to whom James Stuart had so irreverently alluded. + +"All right. I'm not interested in her anyhow, and you'll want your +breath for the run down. Come on, George; one more spurt and we're +up.... All ready. Take hold of my hand. Come on!" + +In the March starlight the two ran hand in hand down the long, steep +Harmon Hill which led from the east into the little town. Stuart's grip +was tight, or more than once Georgiana would have slipped on the rough +iciness of the descent. But she did not falter at the rush of it, and +she was not panting, only breathing quickly, when they came to a +standstill upon the level. + +"Good lungs, those of yours, George," commented Stuart, in the frank +manner in which he might have said it to a younger brother. "You haven't +played basket ball and rowed in your 'Varsity boat for nothing. Sure +you're not letting up a bit on all that training, now that you're back, +baking beans for boarders?" + +"And sweeping their rooms, and carrying up wood for their fires, +and----" + +"What? Do you mean to say that literary light allows you to tote wood +for him?" They were walking on rapidly now. "I'll be over in the morning +and take up a pile that'll leave no room for him to put his feet. What's +he thinking of?" + +"Jimps, boy, how absurd you are! How should he know who puts the wood in +his room? I don't go up with armfuls of it when he's there." + +"If you did, he'd merely open the door for you and say: 'Thank you very +much, my good girl.' I don't like this boarder business, I can tell you +that. Do you let him smoke in his room?" + +"Why not, you unreasonable mortal? He smokes a beautiful briarwood, and +such delicious tobacco that I find myself sniffing the air when I go +through the hall in the evening, hoping I may get a whiff." + +"Does, eh? When I bring up the wood I'll smoke up your hall so you won't +have to sniff the air to know you're enjoying the fragrance of Araby." + +In this light and airy mood the pair went on their way, enjoying each +other's company as might any boy and girl, though each had left the +irresponsible years behind and had settled down to the sober work of +manhood and womanhood. To Georgiana Warne, whose necessary presence at +home, instead of out in the great world of activity where she longed to +be, Stuart's society, as he had intimated, had been a strong support +during this first year and a half since her return. The singularly +similar circumstances which had shaped the plans of these two young +people had been the means of inspiring much comprehending sympathy +between them. An almost lifelong previous acquaintance had put them on a +footing of brotherly and sisterly intimacy, now powerfully enhanced by +the sense of need each felt for the other. It was small wonder that +their fellow-townsmen were accustomed to couple their names as they +would those of a pair long betrothed, and that, as the two came together +into the village post-office, where as usual a group of citizens lounged +and lingered on one pretext or another, the appearance of "Jim Stuart +and Georgie Warne" should cause no comment whatever. To-night more than +one idler noted, as often before, the fashion in which the two were +outwardly suited to each other. Both were the possessors of the superb +health which is such a desirable ally to true vigour of mind, and since +both were understood to be, in the village usage, "highly educated," +their attraction for each other was considered a natural sequence--as it +undoubtedly was. + +The mail procured, the letter posted, and the small basket delivered to +a querulously grateful old woman, the young people set out for home. +They had somehow fallen into a more serious mood, and, walking more +slowly than before, discussed soberly enough certain problems of +Stuart's connected with the commercial side of market gardening. He +spoke precisely as he would have spoken to a man, with the possible +difference that he made his explanations of business conditions a trifle +fuller than he might have done to any man. But his confidence in his +friend's ability to grasp the situation was shown by the way in which, +ending his statement of the case, he asked her advice. + +"Now, given just this crisis, what would you do, George?" he said. + +She considered in silence for some paces. Then she asked a question or +two more, put with a clearness which showed that she understood +precisely the points to be taken into consideration. He answered +concisely, and she then, after a minute's further communion with +herself, suggested what seemed to her a feasible course. + +Stuart demurred, thought it over, argued the thing for a little with +her, and came round to her point of view. He threw back his head with a +relieved laugh. "I admit it--it's a mighty good suggestion; it may be +the way out. Anyhow, it's well worth trying. George, you're a peach! +There isn't one girl in a hundred who would have listened with +intelligence enough to make her opinion worth a picayune." + +"I'm not a girl, Jimps. I don't want to be a girl--at twenty-four. I +can't; I haven't time." + +"That's a safe enough statement," replied James Stuart, looking down at +the dark head beside him under the March starlight, "as long as you +continue to act enough like a normal girl to run down the hills with me +after dark. Well, here we are, worse luck! I suppose you're not going +to ask me in?" There was a touch of appeal in the lightly spoken +question. + +"Not to-night, Jimps; I'm sorry. Father Davy overdid to-day, in spite of +all my efforts, and I must see him to bed early and read him to sleep." + +"After he's gone the literary light won't come down and smoke his +spices-of-Araby mixture by your fire, instead of his own, while you +entertain him, will he?" + +Her low laugh rang out. "You ridiculous person, what a vivid imagination +you have! Every evening at about this time the literary light goes off +for a long tramp by himself, and often doesn't come back till all our +lights are out, except the one we leave burning for him. He is +absolutely absorbed in his work. We really see nothing at all of him +except at the table." + +"Just the same, the time will come," predicted James Stuart. "Some night +he'll take his regular place at your fireside, as he does at your table. +I know your father's soft heart. Yours may not be quite so vulnerable, +but if the boarder should happen to look low in his mind after a +telegram from anywhere, or should get his precious feet wet----" + +"Jimps, go home and be sensible. When Jeannette comes--if she does come, +which I doubt more and more--you may be asked over quite a number of +times during her visit." + +"I presume so. And that's the time you'll have Jefferson down, and +you'll pair off with him, while I do my prettiest not to look like an +awkward countryman before the lady who has her picture in the Sunday +papers." + +"Good-night, James Stuart--good-night." + +"Good-night, Georgiana--dear," Stuart responded cheerfully. But the last +word was under his breath. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SHABBINESS + + +"I positively didn't know how shabby the house was till I'd read +Jeannette's letter of acceptance!" + +She did not say it to her father--not Georgiana Warne. She said it not +to James Stuart, nor to Mr. E. C. Jefferson. Being Georgiana, she said +it to no one but her slightly daunted self. She was standing in the hall +as she spoke, the wide, plain hall which ran straight through the middle +of the wide, plain house, with its square rooms on either side and its +winding, old-fashioned staircase at the back. Of the house itself, +Georgiana was not in the least ashamed. She knew that it possessed a +certain charm of aspect, from the fanlight over the entrance door to the +big quaint kitchen with its uneven floor dark with time. It was when one +came to details that the charm sordidly vanished--at least to the +critical vision of the young housewife. Like the worn white paint upon +its exterior, the walls and floors within called loudly for a restoring +hand. As for the furnishings, Georgiana looked about her with an +appraising eye which took in all their dinginess. The old rugs and +carpets were so nearly threadbare; the furniture was so worn; the very +muslin curtains at the windows, though white as hands could make them, +had been so many times repaired that even artful draping could not +wholly conceal their deficiencies. + +In other ways the household's lack of means made itself plainly apparent +to the daughter of the house, as she went from room to room. The linen +press, for instance--how pitifully low its piles of sheets and towels +had grown! Hardly a sheet but had a patch upon it, hardly a towel but +had been cut down and rehemmed, that it might last as long as possible. +There was, to be sure, one small tier of towels, handed down from +Georgiana's grandmother and carefully preserved against much using, of +which any mistress of a linen press might be proud. There were also two +pairs of fine hand-made linen sheets with borders exquisitely drawn; two +pairs of pillow cases to match, and a quite wonderful old bedspread of +knitted lace. + +"I can keep washing out the best towels for her," Georgiana reflected +resignedly as she counted her resources. + +In the china cupboard there was left quite a stock of rare old plates +and dishes which could be used as occasion demanded. The blue-and-white +crockery which must serve a part of the time was pretty meagre, the +supply of antique silver good as far as it went; it did not go very far. + +But--"After all," said Georgiana to herself determinedly, "we can give +her good things to eat, and served as attractively as need be--why +should I mind about the rest? Father in his armchair is a benediction to +any meal, and Mr. Jefferson can talk as few guests can who sit at the +Crofton table, I'll wager. I'll not be apologetic, even in my mind, no +matter how much I feel like it. I've asked her and she's coming. She +wouldn't be coming if she wasn't in a way willing to take what she +finds. We'll have a good time out of it." + +Whereupon she betook herself to the room which was to be given to her +cousin, and fell to work with a will, for this was the last thing to be +done before the arrival of the guest. + +When it was in order she looked about it, not ill content. It would be +an exacting guest, surely, who could not be comfortable here--and there +are many guest-rooms of elaborate appointments where guests are not +wholly comfortable. This room was large and square and airy, with its +four windows facing east and south, and the view from the eastern ones +was far-reaching, with a glimpse of blue mountain ranges in the +distance. If the matting upon the floor had been many times turned and +refitted, its worn places were now all cunningly hidden and it was as +fresh as the newly scrubbed paint on the woodwork. There was a +luxuriously cushioned, high-backed chair--would Jeannette, by any +possibility, recognize the blue silk of those cushion covers? Georgiana +wondered. Jeannette, who never wore a frock long enough really to become +familiar with its pattern, would only know that the cushions were soft +to her comfort-accustomed body. The woven rag rugs of blue and white +upon the floor were of Georgiana's own making. An ancient desk, which +had belonged to Mr. Warne's mother, was carefully fitted with all the +small articles one could desire in reason, taken from Georgiana's +cherished college equipment. The washstand in the corner, behind a +home-made screen of clever design, was furnished with two beautiful old +blue-and-white ewers--the pride of Georgiana's heart, for they had come +over from England with her great grandmother; and the rack was hung as +full with towels as fastidious bather could desire. There were two or +three interesting old prints upon the walls. Altogether, with its small +bedroom fireplace laid ready for a fire, and a blue denim-covered +woodbox filled to overflowing with more wood---- + +She had forgotten to fill the woodbox, as yet. It was nearly time to +dress for Jeannette's coming. Georgiana ran hurriedly downstairs and +through the kitchen, warm and fragrant with the baking of the day in +preparation for the coming supper, and in that pleasant order which the +kitchen of the good housewife shows at four in the afternoon. In the +woodshed beyond she gathered a great armful of wood, not to bother with +the basket, which would not hold so much--and hurried back again, making +toward the front stairs this time, because the back stairs were narrow +and steep, and one could not rush up them at great speed with one's arms +full of wood. + +"Wait a minute, please, Miss Warne!" + +The front door of the house shut with a bang, and hasty footsteps caught +up with Georgiana at the foot of the stairs, just as one big stick +tumbled loose from her hold and went crashing down behind her. + +"Oh, never mind," she panted. The load was much heavier than she had +realized, but she had not meant to be caught upon the front stairs with +it--not even if it had been James Stuart who came to her rescue. + +It was not Stuart, but evidently one quite of Stuart's mind, for +Georgiana now found her arms unburdened of their heavy incumbrance +without further parley, and herself put where she belonged by this cool +command: + +"Never carry a load like this when you have a man in the house." + +"But--but we haven't!" objected Georgiana, her voice a trifle +breathless. She followed Mr. Jefferson, as he strode up the stairs with +the wood. She opened the door of the guest-room and lifted the cover of +the woodbox. + +"Haven't?" he questioned, dumping the wood into the box, and then +stooping to rearrange it. "Would you object to telling me what you +consider me, then?" + +It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that he was supposed to be a +literary light, but she restrained the too-familiar speech. + +"You are, of course, a boarder--a 'paying guest,' as we should say, if +we were some people," she observed with gravity. "You are expected to +complain of whatever service you receive, not to offer any under any +circumstances." + +"I see. Were you intending to fill this box?" + +He stood upright, and his glance wandered from the box in question +around the pleasant room in its fresh and expectant order. But it came +discreetly back to Georgiana's face. + +"Not at all," she denied. "There's quite enough there for to-night." + +He nodded, and went toward the door. "The woodshed is, I suppose, beyond +the kitchen, after the fashion of woodsheds, and the kitchen is beyond +the dining-room?" + +"Please don't bother!" + +Of course it was useless to protest--and she followed him down the +stairs, through dining-room and kitchen to the woodshed. As he passed +through the kitchen he stopped and stood still in the middle of it. + +"May I look for a minute?" he asked. "It takes me back to my boyhood. My +mother used just such a kitchen as this. I thought it the best room in +the house." + +His lips took on a smile as he looked. Georgiana, with her own hands, +had scoured every inch of that kitchen, had made to shine brilliantly +every utensil which had in it possibilities of shining. It was +impossible not to feel a housewifely pride in the appearance of the +place, and to exult in the spicy odours which told of the morning's +bakings. + +Mr. Jefferson, going on into the woodshed and returning with a +well-balanced load of wood which put Georgiana's late attempt to the +blush, assured her that he felt personally competent to attend to the +woodbox without further aid from her, and marched away as if he were +quite accustomed to such tasks. + +It may be here stated that next day, when in his absence she looked into +his room to see if the woodbox there were quite empty, she found it +quite full, though she could not possibly remember when he had +discovered the opportunity to do the deed without her knowledge. And +from this time forth, during the remainder of his stay, she was obliged +to resign herself to the fact that the "man in the house," though he +might be a boarder, would permit no interference with this self-assumed +task. + +Jeannette had written that she would arrive on a certain Thursday +afternoon between four and five, being conveyed by motor from the large +city, sixty miles away, which was her home. Georgiana, therefore, with +memories of college days again strong upon her, made ready to serve +afternoon tea beside the living-room fire. + +"Be prepared to have this function every day while the guest is here, +Father Davy," said she. "Jeannette's undoubtedly accustomed to it and +would miss it more than she could miss any other one thing. But she's to +have only the plainest of thin bread and butter with it, since our +six-o'clock village supper comes so soon after. We mustn't pamper her, +must we?" + +Mr. Warne, in his armchair by the fireside, ready to welcome the guest, +looked up at his daughter with bright eyes. "Pampering," said he, "is +the atmosphere of this house. Jeannette cannot escape it. I am pampered +beyond belief every day of my life. At this very moment my eyes are +feasting upon the sight of my child in what must be an absolutely new +old dress!" + +A peculiar expression crossed Georgiana's face as she glanced down at +the soft gray-blue of the afternoon frock she had donned for the +occasion. + +"I'm wondering if she will recognize it," she murmured. "It was one of +the white evening gowns in that last 'Semi-Annual.' I coloured it +myself--as usual. It really came out pretty well, but it gives me a +queer, conscious feeling to be wearing it when I meet her. Do you +suppose she'll know it, Father Davy?" + +"And if she does?" The tone was that of a tender irony. + +"I suppose I'm an idiot to care! I don't care--_but I do_!" Georgiana +flung a look at the slim man in the big chair, which said that she was +confident of his understanding her, no matter what she said. + +"No false pride, daughter," he warned her. "You can tell the big man +from the little one by the character of the things he is willing to +accept. There was never any stigma attached to wearing the discarded +garments of another, provided they were come by honestly. And when one +has coloured them, into the bargain--and looks like the 'Portrait of a +Lady' in them----" + +"Father Davy, you're the most comforting creature!" And Georgiana +dropped a kiss upon the top of the head which rested against the back of +the worn old armchair. + +If she had not been watching from the window she would not have known +when the Crofton car drew up at the door, so quietly did the great, +shining motor roll down the macadamized road which ran through the main +street of the little town. She was out and down the manse path in +hospitable alacrity, yet not without the dignity of which she was +mistress. + +So this was the guest whom she had ventured to ask down to the +hospitality of the shabby old village manse! If she had been a princess, +Miss Jeannette Crofton could not more thoroughly have looked the part. +Georgiana had known many rich men's daughters at college and had found +close friends among them, but no one of them had ever suggested such a +background of luxury as did this slim and graceful girl, as she set her +pretty foot upon the old box-bordered gravel path. She was rather small +of stature, her fair-haired beauty was of a strikingly attractive type, +and every detail of her attire and belongings breathed of wealth and +fashion. Georgiana felt herself instantly a buxom milkmaid beside her. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +WHEN ROYALTY COMES + + +"It was so good of you to ask me," said Jeannette in a voice of much +sweetness, as she put out her hand to her cousin. Then she turned to the +man in livery who stood at attention by the door of the car. "You may +take this coat back with you, Dennis," she said; and she let him remove +from her shoulders the long, fur-lined cloak she had worn for the March +drive. He gathered together her belongings, as she walked up the path +with Georgiana, and he afterward went back for a long motor trunk which +had been brought upon the back of the car. Besides this was a larger +receptacle of black leather which he brought and deposited in the hall. + +"Dennis can take all these to my room for me," said Jeannette, with more +appreciation of the situation than Georgiana had expected. Dennis did +not look altogether pleased with this task, but he performed it and was +rewarded by a smile from his young mistress, which promised to soothe +his injured dignity at some future time. + +Mr. Warne, rising slowly from the armchair as Jeannette was brought +into his presence, looked keenly into the face of his sister's daughter. +Her fine clothing was nothing to him; he could not have told what she +wore; but he was interested in learning what she might be, herself. It +was something of a test for any stranger, the meeting of that clear look +of his, kindly though it was sure to be. With all his appearance of +frailty and exhaustion, one felt instinctively that whatever had +happened to the body, the mind was intact and resolute with energy, the +judgment swift and accurate. + +As they all took tea together Georgiana could feel their guest striving +to adjust herself to her entertainers. Her manner was very charming, +though a little languid, a little weary, as if she were tired with her +long drive--and with other things besides. But there was that about her +which proclaimed her unmistakably the gentlewoman, and this was good to +know. She got on well with her newly discovered uncle, and he with her. +Indeed, the simplicity and straight-forwardness of Father Davy's manner +with every one, his keen observation, his ready imagination, would have +put him instantly on an equal footing with the most exalted of his +fellow-creatures. It could do no less with his niece, no matter how new +to her his type of man might be, nor how new to him the fashion of her +speech and smile. + +This was a pleasant beginning. But if Georgiana, before her guest +arrived, had thought the old house shabby, she felt it now to be +positively shambling. She struggled mightily against this attitude of +mind, knowing that it was unworthy of her, but, as she led this +wonderful, winsome creature, whom she knew to be accustomed only to the +softnesses of life, up over the worn stair carpeting to the room she had +prepared for her, she was wondering how she herself had ever conceived +the preposterous idea of inviting her cousin to visit her; the task of +making this daughter of luxury comfortable, even for a fortnight, seemed +suddenly so impossible. + +"Oh, how very attractive!" exclaimed Jeannette, as she was taken into +the room over which Georgiana had spent so much thought. "I shall love +it here!" + +That was to be her attitude, thought Georgiana. Being exceedingly +well-bred, the guest was prepared to like everything that was done for +her. Though this was precisely what was to be expected and desired, +Georgiana found herself already irritated by it--most unreasonably, it +must be admitted. + +"I'm a jealous goose!" said she sternly to herself, and fell to helping +her cousin. There was something appealing about the girl's helplessness, +because she evidently tried hard not to show it. As the two lifted the +garments from the carefully packed trunk trays it was Georgiana who +found the right places for them in clothespress and bureau drawers. She +had seldom seen, never handled, such exquisite apparel, from the piles +of sheer, convent-embroidered linen to the frocks and wraps and negliges +which went into retirement on the padded hangers she had provided. She +realized, too, that elaborate as seemed to her the array of clothing +Jeannette had thought it necessary to bring for her visit, it was +probable that the girl herself had felt that she was having packed only +the simplest of her wardrobe and the least that a civilized being could +do with. + +It was when Jeannette herself spread forth upon the little +dressing-table--cleverly contrived out of an old washstand, a long and +narrow mirror, and some odds and ends of muslin and lace--the articles +she was accustomed to use every day of her life, but which might have +been matched only in the homes of princes, that the young hostess found +it hardest to control the pang of envy which smote her. Such silver, +such crystal, such genuine ivory--and such sheer beauty of design and +finish! Yet Jeannette was almost awkward in her disposal of the imposing +array, saying with a laugh that she really couldn't remember how the +things went at home, but that it didn't matter in the least. + +She set about removing her traveling clothes as if she never had been +waited upon in her life. It was only when she failed to discover how she +was put together that Georgiana had to come to the rescue. + +"It's dreadfully stupid of me," protested Jeannette, her delicate cheeks +flushing, "but I simply can't find that absurd hook." + +It was then that Georgiana frankly took the situation by its horns and +did away with all embarrassment. + +"You must let me help you, Jean," she said, finishing the unhooking with +ease, "whenever you need it. I shall love to do it, for you might have +rather a bad time trying to do everything for yourself. There you +are--and please call me when you are ready to be fastened into your +other frock. I'm just around the corner, and there's nobody else at home +now." + +Before supper was served, Georgiana prepared her cousin to meet "the +boarder." Not on any account would she have let his presence be +accounted for on the score of his being a guest in the house; not even +would she call him a "paying guest." + +"Mr. Jefferson came to us through a letter from a friend. He said he +wanted a quiet place to work in, away from all interruptions by friends +or claims of any sort. He is writing a book, and we see as little of him +as if he were not in the house--except at the table. I think you will +like him. It's so long since we have had a man in the house we're not +yet used to it, but on the whole it's rather comforting." + +"How interesting--to have a book being written in the house! Is it fact +or fiction, do you know?" + +"I don't imagine it's fiction. He has piles of reference books, and a +great deal of mail, and--somehow--he doesn't look as if he wrote +fiction." + +Yet, as Mr. Jefferson came into the dining-room that night, Georgiana +found herself wondering why she should think he did not look as if he +would write fiction--not foolish fiction, certainly, but sensible +fiction, made possible by keen observation and set off by a capacity for +quiet--possibly even biting--humour. He looked at least as if he might +write essays, thoughtful, clever essays, full of searching analyses of +his fellow human creatures, of their oddities, their hopes, their +aspirations, their sins, and their virtues. Or--was he, after all, +writing on scientific matters--facts, pure and simple; inferences, +deductions, conclusions from facts? She wondered, more than she had yet +done, as to the nature of his work. + +"I think Mr. Jefferson is delightful," said Jeannette cordially, beside +the living-room fire, when supper was over, and the boarder, after +lingering in the living-room doorway for a minute, but declining on the +score of work Mr. Warne's invitation to enter, had gone his way +upstairs. On this first night Georgiana had let the disordered dining +table wait, and had accompanied the others to the fireside as if she had +a dozen servants to attend to her household affairs. "After this, she +won't notice so much," she had argued with herself. "I don't want to +have her offering to help. I don't mean to do a thing differently on her +account, but I can't help--well, _shying_ at the dishes the very first +minute after supper!" + +"A man of fine intellect," Father Davy responded to his niece's +observation, "and accustomed to think worthy thoughts. One can see that +at once. It is a real pleasure to have him here. It is good for us, too. +Georgiana and I were growing narrow before he came. He has broadened us; +we get his point of view on subjects that we thought had been disposed +of for all time--and find them not disposed of at all." + +Before the moment arrived when, in Georgiana's mind, the waiting work in +the kitchen must be done without further postponement, the front door +was besieged by James Stuart. A basket of late winter apples in hand, he +came in, looking the image of vigorous youth, his well-set-up figure +showing its best in the irreproachable clothes he always wore when his +day's work was over, his manner, as usual, that of the friend of the +house. He had not received Georgiana's permission to come in upon this +first evening of Miss Crofton's visit, but he had taken his welcome for +granted and was not disappointed in receiving it. It was impossible not +to be glad to see his smiling face, for his good looks were backed by a +capacity for adapting himself to whatever company he might find himself +in, though it should be of the most distinguished. + +Presenting Stuart to her cousin, it occurred to Georgiana to wonder as +to the impression each must make upon the other. Jeannette was wearing a +frock of a peculiar shade of blue which the firelight and lamplight, +instead of dulling, seemed to make almost to glow. It was the sort of +apparently simple attire which is the product of high art, and in it, +sitting just where all lights seemed to play together upon hair and +cheek and perfect throat, the visitor was, as Georgiana owned to +herself, certainly worth looking at. + +She left them together presently and went off to the kitchen. Here she +covered from view with a big pinafore her own undeniably attractive +figure and fell upon her task, proceeding to dispatch it with all the +speed compatible with quiet. She had cleared the table, and, having +arranged her dishes in orderly piles, was just filling her dishpan with +the steaming water which made suds as it fell upon the soap, when a +familiar footstep was heard upon the bare kitchen floor. + +Georgiana looked over her shoulder, words of reproof upon her lips: +"Well--having come without an invitation, the least you can do is to +stay where you belong and entertain the guest." + +"There's a characteristic welcome for you!" The intruder seemed in no +wise daunted by his reception, but picked up a dish towel and stood at +ease, waiting the placing of the first tumbler in the rinsing pan. "And +where should I belong, if not standing by a chum in distress?" + +"I'm not in distress, if you please." + +"Don't mind washing dishes while the guest sits by the fire?" + +"Not a bit--more than usual," Georgiana amended honestly. + +"Why don't you pile 'em up and let 'em wait till morning?" + +"I shouldn't sleep for thinking of them." + +"My word, but you're a hustler! I don't know whether I can keep up." + +"Don't try. Go back to the other room, please, Jimps. You can be of real +use there." + +"Well, I like that!" + +As he wiped away assiduously, Stuart surveyed his companion's face in +profile. It belied the dictatorial words, for Georgiana was smiling. Her +cheeks were of a splendid colour, her dark hair drooped over the +prettiest white forehead in the world, and the whole outline of her face +was distracting. Here was a lamplight effect which rivalled the one in +the living-room, though it was thrown from a common kitchen lamp, +unshaded, and fell upon a figure in a red-and-white checked apron. +Georgiana glanced at her self-appointed assistant and encountered the +flash of an eye which told her that, however Stuart objected to her +words, he liked the look of what he saw. + +"Isn't Jeannette a beauty?" she inquired hastily, and plunged her hands +into her pan with such energy that she sent a splash of hot, soapy water +upon Stuart's cheek. He surreptitiously wiped it off with a corner of +his dish towel. + +"She sure is," he assented cordially. "I wasn't prepared for quite such +a looker. She doesn't seem to have brought with her that proud and +haughty expression she had in the Sunday papers." + +"She's a dear, and not in the least proud and haughty. I'm going to +enjoy her visit, I know. If I can only make her enjoy it!" + +"I'll be glad to help," Stuart offered. "This isn't a very promising +time of year for the country, but if you think she'd like any of the +good times we can give her here, I'll get them up." + +"Our sort of good times is just what I do want to give her. She's had +enough of her own kind and needs the diversion. What would you get up, +for instance?" + +"I'll take overnight to think it out, but I can promise you it'll be an +outdoor affair. Would she be up to any kind of a tramp, do you think?" + +"Oh, no, Jimps! Not yet, at any rate." + +"All right. I'll harness up my best team and carry her most of the way. +We must have another man, I suppose. Shall we ask the literary light, +just for a lark? It would give tone to the company to have him along, +eh?" + +"He probably wouldn't go." + +"Don't you fool yourself. A fellow who covers as many miles a day as he +does will jump at it, no matter how important his next chapter is. Do +you know, I'll have to admit I rather like him since I tramped a couple +of miles in his company the other day. There are a lot of interesting +ideas in his head, and I got him to give me the benefit of a few of +them. Drew him out, you know. Though to be strictly honest"--with a +laugh--"when I thought it over afterward I wasn't exactly sure that he +hadn't drawn me out rather more than I drew him. Anyhow, the interest +seemed to be mutual, and that flattered me a bit. It's perfectly evident +that he's a great student of affairs." + +They finished the work at a gallop. Georgiana slipped off her pinafore, +and Stuart, who had insisted on waiting for her, hung it upon its +accustomed nail. + +"Do you suppose pretty cousin ever wore one?" he queried. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SNOWBALLS + + +Mr. E. C. Jefferson laid down his pen, ran his hand through his heavy +brown hair, rumpling it still more than it had been rumpled +before--which is saying considerable--and stretched his legs under the +table upon which he had been writing steadily since half-past one +o'clock. He heaved a mighty breath, stretched his arms to match his +legs, looked round at his windows, which faced the west, and so had kept +him supplied with strong light longer than windows on any other side of +the house would have done, and took out his watch. + +Nearly half-past four. Time, and more than time, for his late afternoon +tramp. He set the piles of sheets before him in order, sheathed his pen +and put it in his pocket, and rose from his place, the light of +achievement in his eye, but crampiness and fatigue in all his limbs. + +As he approached his windows to ascertain what kind of weather was to be +found outside, he became aware of sounds which would indicate that some +event of activity and hilarity was going on below. He realized now that +he had been hearing these sounds--quite without hearing them, after the +fashion of the absorbed workman--for the last half-hour. Looking out, he +beheld an interesting affair in full swing. + +At each end of the side yard the heavy snow which a late March storm had +brought overnight had been shovelled and manipulated into the semblance +of a fort such as lads are wont to make. Between these two entrenchments +a battle was raging. But it was no lads who held the places of the +combatants. Instead, as he looked, Mr. Jefferson saw rising warily from +behind the fort nearest him, a girlish figure in a scarlet blanket suit, +its dark head half shielded by a scarlet toboggan cap very much awry. A +mittened hand flung a snowball with strength and precision straight into +the opposite fort, and the assailant immediately dodged down behind the +embankment. + +From the opposing stronghold then cautiously appeared a head snugly +bound in a blue scarf, from which locks of fair hair escaped at divers +points. A second snowball, accompanied by a loose flutter of snow, +wended its way uncertainly through the air, and fell a foot short of the +fort behind which crouched the scarlet figure. The figure immediately +rose and fired an answering volley. Peals of laughter and gay shouts +rang through the air. + +At this very moment a third person ran into the yard from the street, +calling: "For shame, George! I'm going to take sides with the enemy, +and we'll have you out in no time!" + +Jefferson saw this third figure, in sweater and cap, dash across the +open, narrowly escaping a vigorous shower of missiles from the near +fort, and disappear behind the farther one. + +The battle was now on in earnest. Let Scarlet Toboggan fire as fast and +as furiously as she might, a merciless bombardment of her protecting +walls had begun. The girl in the blue scarf--and priceless furs--had +sunk laughing upon the floor of her refuge, while her new ally, bringing +to bear the full strength and skill of his sex, battered at the +entrenchments across the yard, and began to make havoc thereon. + +Georgiana was a brave foe, but though she fought with surprising +endurance she was beginning to be seriously worsted, several feet of her +snow rampart having been shot away, when a voice behind her cried out a +command, and an arm, more sinewy than hers, sent a hard shot whizzing +past her head into the opposite fort with that directness of aim and +effectiveness of delivery which only the male arm can accomplish. + +"Duck down and make snowballs while I fire!" the voice ordered, and +Georgiana, breathless but still undaunted, obeyed. + +"Keep behind me, and pile the balls at the right," directed Jefferson. +His voice was eager as a boy's. He also had pulled on sweater and cap, +and as he and James Stuart faced each other across the twenty yards +which separated them, they might have been a couple of school-fellows +wrestling for supremacy. + +"Keep 'em coming--faster--faster!" Stuart urged Jeannette, the lust of +battle upon him. "Stop laughing and work! George is a"--he stooped to +make a ball for himself--"fiend at making 'em; you've got to learn! Keep +'em coming." + +The wet snow was precisely in the right state for quick packing, and +Georgiana was indeed an expert at the business. Jefferson found her +hard, round balls splendid missiles, and he used them with all the +energy of an arm which welcomed the change from the labours of the past +hours to those of the present. + +"Ha! there goes that left corner!" he exulted with his comrade-at-arms, +as the last of a series of well-directed shots reduced a part of the +enemies' defences to a gratifying slump. "And here comes a bit of ours," +he added, as a ball of Stuart's ploughed through a weakened upper +portion of their own rampart. + +"He'll be game to the last," panted Georgiana, working furiously. + +"So will we! We'll fight to a finish, if we go without our suppers." + +The battle raged on. The combatants took no heed of passing time, until +Jeannette, growing reckless with excitement, lifted an incautious head +and received a spent ball full upon her chin. No harm was done, as she +protested, but Stuart raised a flag of truce and Mr. Jefferson ran +across the lines to apologize. + +"It didn't hurt a bit," Jeannette reaffirmed, showing a very pink chin. + +"It's lucky it didn't. I wasn't properly protecting you," Stuart +declared warmly. + +"Both sides come in to supper!" commanded Georgiana. "Please stay, +Jimps; it's the only amends we can make you, and you must be as hungry +as a bear." + +"Thanks; I'd like to, but I'm not properly dressed, I'm afraid." + +"Jean and I won't make a change, and you can take us coasting this +evening, if you will. Do you suppose Mr. Jefferson would dream of +staving off his dignity a bit longer and going, too?" + +They all looked at the person mentioned and their glances were all gayly +audacious. + +"Is that an invitation or a challenge?" He put it to Georgiana. + +"Whichever you choose to take it." + +"I'll take it as I choose, then, and accept. The spirit of sport is upon +me; I couldn't work this evening if I tried." + +"Good for you! 'All work and no play,' you know," quoted Stuart, as they +went in together, a moist and merry company. + +Upstairs, while Jeannette dried her hair, she reflected that she didn't +know when she had had so gay a time. She ran in to say this to +Georgiana, but found that that young woman had already put her hair in +order without drying it, as its damply curling locks above her forehead +testified, and was rushing away downstairs to the kitchen. + +"Won't you take cold?" suggested Jeannette, struggling with her own wet +braids, and very naturally wishing for her maid to dry and put them in +order. + +"Mercy, no; not over the kitchen stove. They'll be dry soon enough," was +the reply; and Georgiana vanished, the supper on her mind. + +When Jeannette came down, half an hour later, and appeared in the +kitchen doorway, she saw that the speed of her young hostess's labours +and the warmth of the kitchen were quite likely to prevent all chance of +undried locks. + +There was system about Georgiana's work, fast as was its pace. Each trip +across the floor, from pantry to dining-room and back again, +demonstrated housewifely efficiency. Both hands were always full and she +seemed never to forget what she meant to do. If she passed the stove on +her way somewhere she stopped to stir something or to glance into the +oven, and when she went to the storeroom for cream she brought away +bread and butter as well. + +Jeannette commented admiringly. "Don't you ever forget and have to run +back for something?" she inquired. + +"Goodness, yes! But when you've been over certain ground several million +times, it's a pity if you can't make your head save your heels as a +rule. Excuse me, dear; but if you wouldn't mind standing just a foot or +two to the left----" + +Jeannette turned. "I see; I'm in the way when I'd like so much to help. +Isn't there anything I could do?" + +"All done, thank you--except--would you just arrange that boxful of +scarlet geraniums Jimps brought over, for the table? That would help +very much. Take any bowl or glass from the dining-room cupboard that +looks appropriate to you." + +"I'd love to." And Jeannette fell to work--if it could be called work. +Never in her life had she arranged scarlet geraniums as a table +decoration, or, for that matter, seen them so used. But as she placed +the splendid, thrifty blooms, each with its accompanying rich green +leaves, in the plain brown bowl which she felt best matched their +undistinguished beauty, she discovered for the first time that other +blossoms besides roses and orchids, chrysanthemums, and the rest of the +ordinary florists' products, may charm the eye from the centre of a +snowy cloth. + +"That's gorgeous! Thank you so much! Aren't they the jolliest flowers in +the world for a winter night? Jimps's greenhouses certainly are doing +well. Don't you want a bit of a blossom in your hair? Their grower would +feel tremendously complimented." + +"Red's not my colour, but it is yours. Let me tuck this little sprig in +these braids, and I'll risk the grower's being better pleased than if I +wore them." + +Georgiana submitted, and promptly forgot all about the scarlet +decoration. But the others did not--found forgetting it, indeed, quite +impossible. As they gathered about the table, it caught the eye of each +in turn. Georgiana's cheeks, from the vigorous exercise in the frosty +air, were glowing brilliantly; her eyes were wonderful to look at; her +dark cloth dress had upon it no relief of colour; so the scarlet +geranium in her hair was the touch of the artist which drew the eye and +held it. She had placed upon the table, instead of the customary lamp, +one of the few treasures of the house, a fine old candelabrum, with +pendent crystals, and the burning candles threw their mellow light +directly into her face. + +She looked up suddenly, after having served each one from the dish +before her, and found them all looking at her. James Stuart's fork was +suspended above his plate, but the others had not yet taken theirs. She +gazed at them in amazement. + +"Why, what is the matter?" she cried. "Do I--is something queer about +me? Have I missed a point somebody has made?" + +They all turned then, laughing, to their plates, and nobody would tell +her what was wrong. Stuart seemed to think it a great joke--her +mystification. When she removed the plates for the second course--there +were but two in the simple, hearty little supper--she glanced into the +small kitchen mirror. Her eye caught the scarlet geranium. + +"I suppose I look ridiculously sentimental with that flower just there," +she thought. "But I won't take it out after Jean put it there. No wonder +they laughed." + +An hour afterward they were all out upon the hill nearby. Stuart +possessed a splendid pair of "bobs," and they were soon dashing down the +hill at a pace which, while it made Jeannette hold her breath with +mingled fear and joy, made Georgiana cry out, "Oh! is there anything so +glorious?" and made Mr. Jefferson, just behind her, watching over her +shoulder, respond with heartiness: "The snow fight took five years off +my age, and now here goes another five. I must be almost as young as you +are now, Miss Warne." + +"Oh, no; I'm only ten myself to-night," she answered. "Coasting was one +of my earliest joys. I was so proud when I could steer Jimps Stuart's +first pair of bobs--small and primitive ones compared with these." + +She found Mr. Jefferson beside her when it came to the walk back up the +hill. A new side of him was visible to-night. He was not the quiet +student and writer, the man who discussed with her father and herself +the course of the world's events or the problems of social service, but +a light-hearted boy, much like Stuart, and ready to abet all the other +man's efforts for the amusement of the party. + +The fun went on for an hour; then Jeannette, unaccustomed to so much +vigorous exercise, began quite against her will to show evidences of +fatigue, and after one particularly long, swift flight the party went +back to the house. There followed another gay hour before the fire, +while Stuart roasted chestnuts, and Georgiana, sitting on the floor +against her father's knee, told stones of madcap pranks at college, +illustrating them by such changes of facial expression and such +significant gestures that her hearers spent themselves with their +laughter. + +Jeannette, lying back in a shabby but comfortable old armchair, looked +and listened with the absorbed interest of one to whom such simple +pleasures as these had the flavour of absolute novelty. Her eyes +wandered from Georgiana's vivid face to her father's delicate one; to +James Stuart's comely features glowing ruddily in the firelight as he +tended his chestnuts, showing splendid white teeth as he roared at +Georgiana's clever mimicry or turned to laugh into Jeannette's eyes as +he offered her a particularly plump and succulently bursting specimen of +his labours; to Mr. Jefferson's maturer personality, his brown eyes +keenly intent, his face lighted with enjoyment, his occasional comments +on Georgiana's adventures flashing with a dry humour which matched hers +and sometimes quite outdid it. To Jeannette they were all an engrossing +study. As for herself---- + +"She's the loveliest thing I ever saw," thought Georgiana from time to +time as she glanced up at her cousin, whose fair hair against the dark +cushion of the old chair caught and held the charm of the fire's own +warmth in its gleaming strands. Jeannette's eyes were matchless by +lamplight; her cheeks and lips were glowing from the outdoor life of the +day and evening; her smile was a thing to imprison hearts and hold them +fast. If she spoke little no one thought of her as silent, and the charm +of her low laughter at the sallies of the others was the sheerest +flattery, it was so evidently born of genuine delight in the cleverness +she did not attempt to emulate. + +"I'm a clown beside her," said Georgiana to herself. "Who cares how a +woman talks when she looks like that? Every line of her is absolute +grace and beauty, every turn of her head is fascination itself. I never +saw such eyes. That little twist in the corner of her lip when she +smiles is the most delicious thing I ever saw. Jimps looks at it forty +times in every five minutes and I can't blame him. Mr. Jefferson keeps +his chair facing that way so he can have her all the time in focus, +though he doesn't eat her up as Jimps does. I can't blame either of +them. And I shall go on being a clown, because that's what I can do and +it amuses them. If I should lie back in a chair like that and just smile +without saying anything, Father Davy would say, 'Daughter, don't you +feel quite well?' and Jimps would propose getting me a cup of tea. Oh, +well--how absurd of me to mind because another girl looks like a picture +by a wonderful painter while I look like--a lurid lithograph by nobody +at all!" + +Whereupon she set her strong, white teeth into a hot, roasted chestnut, +cracked it, and, regarding the halves, said: "This reminds me of the +night Prexy lost his head"--and brought down the house with the merriest +tale of all. It was so irresistibly absurd that Jeannette, helpless with +her mirth, buried her face in her cobweb handkerchief, Stuart rocked +upon his knees and made the welkin ring, and Mr. Jefferson laughed in a +growling bass that gathered volume as the preposterousness of the +situation grew upon him with consideration of it. Even Mr. Warne, whose +expressions of amusement were usually noiseless, gave way to soft little +chuckles of appreciation, and wiped his tear-filled eyes. + +Georgiana, finishing her chestnut, looked upon them all and told them +they were the most gratifying audience she had ever addressed, but that +she feared it was not good for them to give way to their emotions so +unrestrainedly, and that she should therefore not open her lips again +that night. As they found it impossible to break down this resolution, +even with entreaties backed by offerings of worldly goods, the party +broke up. Georgiana carried off her guest to put her to bed with her own +hands, while Mr. Jefferson and James Stuart smoked a bedtime pipe +together in the boarder's room; after which Stuart let himself quietly +out of a door that was never locked, to reflect, as he tramped homeward +over the snow, on what an inordinately jolly evening it had been. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SOAPSUDS + + +"Will you think I'm dreadful, Georgiana dear," asked Jeannette, lying +luxuriously back upon her pillow while her cousin sat braiding her own +thick locks by the little bedroom fireplace in which the last remnants +of the fire were smouldering, "if I say I shouldn't have believed I +could possibly have such a good time in such a way? I never did anything +the least bit like it." + +"Never coasted?" + +"Never." + +"Never threw snowballs?" + +"Not that I can remember." + +"Nor roasted chestnuts?" + +"I never tasted one before--except perhaps in the stuffing of a fowl." + +"Poor child! But at least you've sat by the fire with other girls and +men and told stories, little Jean?" + +The guest considered. "Of course--at house parties. Yet I can't seem to +recall any such scene as the one we just left, down by your fire. I +certainly never sat on the floor with my arm on my father's knee, with +a group of people around, while somebody told stories--sure not such +stories as you told. Oh, you're the cleverest girl I ever knew, to tell +such things in such a way! It was perfectly splendid! How those two men +did enjoy it! I don't know when I've heard men laugh in just that way." + +"Just what way? Please tell me how they laughed differently from other +men. To be sure, Jimps just lets go when he's amused and raises the +rafters with his howls of glee; but so do other young men of his age. +And certainly Mr. Jefferson laughed decorously enough." + +"Yes, but it was so whole-souled with both of them; and yet there wasn't +a thing in your stories but--oh, I can't tell you just what I mean, if +you don't know. But somehow it all struck me so differently from the way +any girl-and-man evening ever struck me before. There--there seems a +different air to breathe here--if that expresses it--from any I've ever +been in." + +The two regarded each other, Jeannette from between half-closed, deeply +fringed eyelids as she lay back upon her pillows, one arm, half veiled +with the finest of linen and lace, outstretched upon the treasured +old-time counterpane, the other beneath her neck; Georgiana sitting up +straight, with two long, dark braids hanging over her shoulders, her +dusky eyes wide open, her cheeks still bright with colour balanced by +the scarlet hue of the loose garment she had put on. + +"I've no doubt there is," agreed Georgiana thoughtfully. "Still, though +you live a very different life from any I've ever known, I didn't +suppose your education in the matter of roast chestnuts--and the things +that go with them--had been quite so badly neglected. To think of never +having had them except so disguised by the manipulations of a French +_chef_ that you couldn't recognize them! And to have gone to balls and +horse shows and polo games--and never to have built a snow fort! Dear, +dear, what we have to teach you! Life hasn't been really fair to you, +has it, my dear?" + +This was sheer audacity, from a poor girl to a rich one, but it was +charming audacity none the less and by no means wholly ironic. To +Jeannette, studying her cousin with eyes which were envious of the +physical superiority for lack of which no training in the social arts or +mere ability to purchase the aid of dressmaker and milliner could +possibly atone, conscious that Georgiana possessed a mind far keener and +better trained than her own, the question called for a serious answer. +She half sat up and pushed her pillow into a soft mountain behind her as +she spoke: + +"No, it hasn't! I thought so before I came here and now I'm sure of it. +I feel a weak and helpless creature beside you--helpless in every way. I +can't do anything you can. If my father should lose his money and I +should be thrown upon my own resources, I shouldn't be able to make so +much as a--snowball for myself!" + +Both laughed in spite of Jeannette's earnestness, for the words brought +back vivid memories of the wild sport of the afternoon. Then Georgiana's +ready brain leaped to the inevitable corollary: + +"Ah, but there'd be sure to be a man ready to dash into your fort and +make your snowballs for you!" + +"I'm not so sure." + +"I am." + +"Of course the men I know don't seem to mind whether a girl is helpless +or not, if she can look and act the way they want her to. But--I'm +discovering that there are other kinds of men, and somehow I like this +new kind. And I imagine this kind wouldn't care for helpless girls. You +made snowballs for your man to throw, and they were good hard ones, as +my chin can still testify." + +"You can learn to make hard snowballs," said Georgiana, smiling. + +Jeannette held up one beautifully modelled but undeniably slender arm +and clasped it with her hand. "Soft as----" She paused for a simile. + +"Sponge cake," supplied Georgiana, coming over to feel critically of the +extended arm. "It _is_ pretty spongy. It needs exercise with a punchball +or"--she flashed a mischievous glance at the languid form beside +her--"a batch of bread dough." + +"Bread dough! Would that help it?" + +"Rather! So would sweeping, and scrubbing, and moving furniture about. +But you're born to a life of ease, my dear, so those things are out of +the question for you. But fencing lessons would be good for you--and +fashionable, too, which would double their value, of course." + +"Georgiana!" Jeannette sat straight up and laid two coaxing arms about +her cousin's firmly moulded neck. "Teach me to make bread, will you, +while I'm here?" + +"Oh, good gracious!" Georgiana threw back her head to laugh. "Hear the +child! What good would that do, if you learned? You wouldn't do it when +you went back." + +"I would!--Well, of course, I might have difficulty in--but mother wants +me to be strong; she's always fussing about it because I can't endure +the round of society things she says any girl ought to--and enjoy. If +you thought bread-making would really help----" + +"It would be a drop in the bucket of exercise you ought to take." + +"Nevertheless, I want to learn," persisted Jeannette as Georgiana moved +away, evidently with the intention of leaving her for the night. "I'd +like to feel I knew how. And your bread is the most delicious I ever +tasted. Please!" + +"Oh, very well; I'll teach you with pleasure. I shall be setting bread +sponge at six to-morrow morning. Will you be down?" Georgiana's smile +was distinctly wicked. + +"Six o'clock!" There was a look of mingled incredulity and horror in the +lovely face on the pillow. "But--does bread--does bread have to be made +so early?" + +"Absolutely. After the morning dew is off the grass, bread becomes +heavy." + +Jeannette stared into the mocking eyes of her cousin; then she laughed. +"Oh, I see. You're testing me. Well,"--with a stifled sigh--"I'll get up +if you'll call me. I'm afraid I should never wake myself--especially +after all that snowballing----" + +"Exactly. And I'll not call you. So lie still in your nest, ladybird, +and don't bother your pretty head about bread sponges. What's the use? +You'll never need to know, and you'll soon forget having had even a +faint desire toward knowledge. Good-night--and sleep sweetly." + +"Oh, but wait! I'm really serious. Please call me!" + +"Never!" + +With one laughing backward look and with a kiss waved toward the slender +figure now sitting up in bed, Georgiana opened the door and fled. That +she did not want to teach her cousin an earthly thing, even if she could +have believed Jeannette serious in her request, was momentarily growing +more evident to her own consciousness. Just why, she might have been +unwilling to explain. + +Next morning, however, she found herself destined to carry out the plan +Jeannette had so impulsively proposed. She crept downstairs as quietly +as the creaking boards under the worn stair carpet would permit, and +began her work in a whirl of haste. But she had not more than assembled +her ingredients on the scrupulously scoured top of the old pine table +when she heard the kitchen door softly open. Wheeling, she beheld a +vision which brought a boyish whistle to her lips. + +Jeannette, enveloped in a long silken garment evidently thrown on over +her night attire, a little cap of lace and ribbon confining her hair, +the most impractical of slippers on her feet, stood smiling at her +cousin, sleep still clinging to her eyelids. + +"I'm down," she announced in triumph. + +"So I see. But you're not up," replied Georgiana, regarding the vision +with critical eyes. + +Jeannette's gaze left the trim morning garb of the young cook, her +perfectly arranged hair, her whole aspect of efficiency, and dropped to +her own highly inappropriate attire, and she flushed a little. But she +held her ground. + +"You didn't call me, and when I woke it was so near six I didn't dare +wait to dress. Can't I learn unless I'm dressed like you?" + +"If a French doll had come to life and offered to help me in the kitchen +I couldn't feel more stunned. What will happen to all those floating +ends of lace and ribbon, when they get mixed with flour and yeast? Be +sensible, child, and go back to bed." + +"I'll pin everything out of the way, and perhaps you'll lend me an +apron. I really don't want to bother you, Georgiana, but I do want to +learn." + +Georgiana relented. "Very well. Come here, and I'll cover you up as best +I can. Or I'll wait while you run up and dress--if you've anything to +put on that's fit for bread-making." + +"Nothing much fitter than this, I'm afraid," admitted Jeannette +reluctantly. + +"Poor little girl!" Georgiana's momentary irritation was gone, as it +usually was, in no time at all. "Well, here go the frills under a nice +big gingham all-over; and now you look like a combination of Sleeping +Beauty and Mother Bunch! All right; here we go into business. Do you +know how to scald that cupful of milk you see before you?" + +"Scald it?" repeated Jeannette doubtfully--and so the lesson began. + +Absolute ignorance on the part of the pupil, assured knowledge on that +of the teacher--the lesson was a very kindergarten in methods. There +were times when Georgiana had much difficulty in restraining her inward +mirth, but she soon saw that this must be done, though Jeannette herself +laughed at her own clumsiness, and evidently was determined to let +nothing escape her. + +"Kneading looks so easy when you do it," she lamented; "but I can't seem +to help getting stuck." + +"That will come with practice--if you ever try another batch, which I +doubt. And it's the kneading that is so good for your arms." + +"Yours are beautiful--and so strong, it must be fun to own them." + +"There are times when a bit of muscle is of use in a hustling world," +admitted her cousin. "There, I think that dough will do very well. Turn +it over and lay it smoothly in the bowl--so. Cover it with its white +blanket--so; and leave it right here, where it will have a good warm +temperature to rise in. Now, run up and snatch another nap; you'll have +plenty of time." + +"You're not going back to bed?" + +"Rather not!" Georgiana's smile strove to be tolerant. "There are just a +few things to be done about the house, and they are best done before +breakfast. Off with you, lady cousin!" + +"Do you always get up so early?" Jeannette persisted. + +"I have an extraordinary fondness for early rising," Georgiana +explained. "It's foolish, of course, but it's an old habit. Good-bye, my +dear; my next errand is down cellar," and she vanished from the sight of +her guest, quite unable to keep herself longer in hand before the +amazing point of view of this daughter of luxury. + +The "next errand" was the washing of the handful of fine towels with +which the painstaking hostess was keeping the guest-room supplied, +unwilling to furnish the aristocratic young person upstairs with the +coarser articles used by herself and the others. Jeannette, all unaware +that the snowy linen with which her room was kept plentifully supplied +was constantly relaundered in secret by Georgiana's own hands, was as +lavish in her use of it as she was accustomed to be at home, and the +result was a quite unbelievable amount of extra work for her cousin. + +Mr. Warne, coming upon his daughter by chance in this very early morning +flurry of laundering, expressed himself upon the subject in the gentle +but positive way which was his. + +"Why do it, my dear?" he questioned. "Are the sheets and towels we use +not quite good enough for others?" + +"Not half good enough for Lady Jean," responded the laundress, rubbing +energetically away--yet carefully, too, for the old linen was not so +stout as it once had been. + +"You are intentionally deceiving her, aren't you, daughter? Why do +that?--since it is not necessary for her comfort." + +"But it is. She would shudder at the touch of a cotton sheet. As for a +common huck towel----" + +Mr. Warne shook his head. "I can't agree with you. So that the sheets +and towels are spotless--as your sheets and towels are--the mere degree +of fineness is not essential. And if she knew how much labour it costs +you, I am very certain she would infinitely prefer to be less of a +spendthrift in the matter of quantity." + +"I've no doubt she would. But I'd rather wash my fingers off than not +give her the fresh towel for her perfect face each time she uses one. +I'd like it myself. I'd like a million towels, all fine as silk. I'd +like----" She stopped abruptly, seeing the look upon her father's face. +"Oh, I'm sorry!" she flashed at him repentantly. "I truly don't mind +being poor in most ways. It's the lack of certain things that go with +nicety of living that grinds me most. I shouldn't mind wearing gingham +outside, if I could have all the fine linen I want underneath. +It's--it's--oh, well, you know! And I'm an idiot to talk about it when +the thing we really need is books--books for your starving mind. If I +could get you all you want of those----" Her voice broke upon the wish, +always strong with her. + +"My dear, my mind will never starve while it has the old books to feed +upon. Listen, on what a pertinent thought did I come this morning. I was +delving in good old Thomas Fuller, of those fine seventeenth-century +writers whose works still glow with fire: '_Though my guest was never so +high, yet, by the laws of hospitality, I was above him whilst under my +roof_.'" + +The girl laughed, dashing away a hot tear with the back of a soapy hand. +"Trust you to find a classic to turn a tragedy into a comedy," she said. +"Go away now, Father Davy, and I'll soon be through. It's a poor +washerwoman I am to be thinning my suds with brine!" + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +A REASONABLE PROPOSITION + + +"You'll come, too, Georgiana dear?" Jeannette, furrily clad for a walk +with James Stuart, stood in the doorway looking back. "Please do." + +"Come, George;--you need a good tramp," Stuart urged at Jeannette's +elbow. + +He looked the picture of anticipation. He had undertaken getting the +visitor into training by increasingly long daily walks, and the result +was proving eminently satisfactory. At the end of the first half of the +visit Jeannette was looking wonderfully well and happy--hardly the same +girl who had come to the little village to try if she could endure such +life as was likely to be offered her there. + +"Thank you, my dears, nothing could persuade me. Run along and leave me +to diversions of my own," answered Georgiana gayly. + +So they had gone, Jeannette wafting back a kiss, Stuart waving an +enthusiastic arm. Georgiana had smiled at them, had closed the door +softly behind them--and had immediately banged to another conveniently +near at hand, one opening into a small clothespress under the stair +landing. + +"Diversions of my own!" she repeated with emphasis. "Happy phrase! I +wonder what they think my diversions are--with this family to look +after. Well, you got yourself into it, George Warne. You can stick it +out if it kills you." + +She deliberately thumped one door after another all the way along her +progress through the empty rooms and up the stairs to the second floor. +Her father was away for the afternoon on a rare visit to a neighbour who +had sent for him, an old parishioner, who, falling ill, longed for the +gentle offices of his friend and long-time minister. As for Mr. +Jefferson, this was the time of day when he was always away on his usual +long walk. It was a comfort to be alone in the quiet house--and to +bang and thump. + +In her room Georgiana arrayed herself in a heavy red sweater, then +ascended to the attic and stood eying the great hand loom of antique +pattern, a relic of an earlier century. It was equipped with a black +warp, upon which a few rows of parti-coloured woof had been woven. + +"Diversions!" she repeated, and shook her round fist at the lumbering +object. + +Then she sat down on the old weaver's bench and began to weave with +heavy, jarring thuds which shook the floor, as with strong arms she +pulled and pushed and sent her clumsy shuttle flying back and forth. +The attic was very cold; but she was soon warm with the violent exercise +and presently had discarded the sweater and was working away with might +and main. + +"Go at it--go at it!" she was saying to herself. "Jealous idiot that you +are! Jealous of Jeannette, of her clothes, her money, her beauty, her power +to attract--jealous because Jimps likes her so well--because Father Davy +looks at her with the eyes of an appreciative uncle--because Mr. E. C. +Jefferson talks to her as if he enjoyed it. Pound--pound--pound away at +the old loom till your arms ache, and see if you can get the nonsense +out of you!" + +"I beg your pardon," said a deep voice at the top of the narrow stairs +not far away. + +The loom stopped with a jerk as the weaver flashed round upon the head +and shoulders protruding above the rafters. "Oh! I'm sorry! Did I +disturb you?" cried Georgiana, fire in her voice. She did not look in +the least sorry. "I thought you were out, too. And I'm just over your +head. Of course you came up to----" + +"No, I didn't," replied Mr. Jefferson. He ascended two steps more, +looking curiously at the loom "I came up because I thought something +extraordinary had happened up here and I ought to find out about it." + +"Nothing extraordinary, merely something very ordinary. I do this +whenever I have time and the coast is clear. You usually go out at this +hour," she said accusingly. + +"So I do. I came back just now, when I saw Miss Crofton and Mr. Stuart +starting off alone, in hopes that you might consent to go with me. It's +a great day. Won't you?" + +"Thank you, no," the girl replied. "I'm behind with my work. These rugs +are orders very much overdue. I've been rather delayed lately, since my +machine is so noisy I can't work when anybody is on the second floor." + +"Please never mind me," urged her visitor. "I can time my work to fit in +with yours, if you need to make haste. But that must be a rather +strenuous business. It's a very old affair, isn't it? Do you mind if I +look at it? I never saw one of just that pattern." + +"I mind very much," replied Georgiana crisply, moving off the bench and +standing on the floor. "But that's no reason why you shouldn't examine +the Monster if you like. That's what I call it. I'll run down and be +back when you are through." + +And this she would have done, but that he barred her way. + +"But I won't," he said gravely, "if you prefer that I should not. Come +back, please! I'm intruding, and I'll apologize and go." + +The light from a dusty attic window fell full on her face as she stood, +and he saw that in it which made him look again. + +"Miss Warne," he said gently, "something is wrong, I'm afraid. Can't I +be of use to you in some way? The reason I wanted to look at this loom +was that I saw your last two strokes with the bar as I came up, and I +recognized what a tremendous push you had to give. I'm something of a +mechanic and I wondered if I couldn't do a bit of oiling, perhaps, to +make it easier. I'm afraid it's tiring you unduly." + +"I need to be tired," she said, low but vehemently. "I'm in a black +mood, and the more I tire myself the quicker I shall get the better of +it. Now you know. I suppose you never have black moods." + +"Do I not? So black that I could grind myself under my own heel. Do you +have them, too? I might have known by the look of you." + +"You don't look as if you ever had them," she said rather curiously, her +eyes on his quiet face. + +"Ah, you can't always tell--luckily. It's pretty cold up here. Are you +sure you wouldn't do better to take a run in the wind with me? You know +somehow heavy tasks look lighter after a breath of outdoor air." + +"So you know what heavy tasks are?" For the life of her she could not +resist the question. + +He looked steadily back at her, smiling a little. His eyes were very +clear in their quiet scrutiny. She felt as if he saw much that she would +prefer to conceal. "I have known a few that seemed to me fairly heavy at +the time," he said. "Afterward, I was thankful to have had them--to +prepare me for heavier ones." + +"Oh--but they weren't the same dismal round----" + +"Weren't they? Most tasks are. But I never had one quite like this. I am +concerned for you, lest this prove too heavy. Now that I am here--do you +really mind so very much if I look the machine over?" + +She permitted it, and she did not run away as she had meant to do. +Presently he asked for a screw-driver and a can of oil, and when she had +procured them he did a number of things to the cumbersome loom, the +result of which, when she attacked it once more, proved that he had +relieved to a certain extent the hardest of her efforts. + +"But it is still much too severe for any woman," he said seriously, +standing, oil can in hand, a little lock of hair, shaken down by his +labours, straying across his forehead. "Please tell me, and don't think +me merely curious--is there no way in which you can add to your +resources except this? You have a college training----" + +"And no way whatever to make use of it," she exclaimed with some +bitterness. "But I can weave, and I have a feeling for colour and form +and can work out effects which find a market. Hand-woven rugs bring +their price these days. Really, Mr. Jefferson, I am no subject for pity +and----" + +"You don't want it. Let me assure you that I don't feel a particle. To +be young and strong and fit for hard work is no cause for pity. But--I +have reason for persisting in my inquiry. You see, I happen to know of +some one in need of such training as you undoubtedly have. Would you +consider giving a few hours daily to one who needs a copyist and +critic?" + +Georgiana scanned his face with intent, incredulous eyes. Then, "Do you +mean yourself?" she questioned. + +"I mean myself. I hesitate to mention that I am the candidate, knowing +that that admission must instantly create a prejudice against me." He +was smiling a little. "But I state an actual fact. I have reached a +point in my labours where I need a copyist. Do you think it possible +that I may secure one without sending away for her?" + +"I must suspect you," she said slowly and with rising colour, "of +manufacturing a need. It is very, very kind of you, Mr. Jefferson--but I +think I must continue to weave my rugs." + +"But I am not manufacturing a need," he insisted. "I declare to you that +I have been on the point of consulting you for some time. If it had not +been that your days seemed very full with your guest and your +housewifery, I should have put it to you before now. I am in earnest, +Miss Warne. Won't you, as a matter of everyday business, lend me your +eyes and your hand--and your critical judgment? If you can't do it while +Miss Crofton is here, may I engage your spare time after she goes? +Please don't deny me." He began to descend the stairs. "I won't stay for +an answer," he said. "Think it over, will you? And please don't refuse +until you have consulted your father." + +"Why do you ask that?" + +"Because I know he will look at it as any man would, without +unreasonable prejudice against accepting a business proposition simply +because it happens to come from a temporary member of the household. It +takes a woman to bother about that." + +With this straight shot he left her, laughing back at her as he +descended in a way that went far toward disarming her, though she would +not at once admit it. Instead, she went back to her loom, putting into +the next section of weaving a quite unnecessary amount of force purely +from tension of mind over the possibilities opened up by this most +unexpected offer. There was no denying that it was precisely the sort of +thing which she had often longed to do, and for which, she knew, as he +had suggested, she was more than ordinarily well fitted. It was +impossible, as she had said, not to suspect the lodger of creating a +want to fit her need of earning money, yet there could be no doubt of +the fact that any writer of books who draws upon all manner of collected +notes and reference books for his material must be able to make valuable +use of an assistant in a variety of ways. + +Why should she not take him at his word? Well, she would think of it. +And meanwhile--suddenly--the black mood was gone! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +STUART OBJECTS + + +That night, after Mr. Jefferson's unexpected proposal that she should +assist him in his literary work, Georgiana, running out upon an errand +in the business part of the village, encountered James Stuart. This had +been a not infrequent happening in days past, but since Jeannette's +arrival it had not once occurred. Stuart was much at the house, but not +for a fortnight had Georgiana had ten minutes alone with him. + +That he welcomed the chance as well as she was evident from his first +word: "Great luck! At last I get you to myself for half a wink without a +soul around. Where are you going? Wherever it is, you don't go back to +the house till you've given me what I want." + +"And what's that?" queried Georgiana. + +Her tone was cool in spite of herself. She had missed the almost daily +walks and talks with Stuart, glad as she had been to have him do his +effectual part in helping her entertain her guests. And there had been, +as she was obliged to confess to herself, a sense that if he had been +very anxious not to lose altogether her society he would have managed, +in spite of lack of ordinary opportunity, to bring about such meetings. +How much she could feel the absence of his companionship she had not +dreamed until she had been tried. + +After the friendly village fashion of intimate acquaintance he lightly +grasped her arm in its covering of the scarlet-lined military cape she +always wore on such walks, and turned her from her course toward a side +street leading away, instead of toward, the centre she had been +approaching. She protested, but he was laughingly determined and she +yielded. It was good, undeniably good, to have Jimps by her side again, +and hear his voice in his old eagerly devoted tones in her ear. That he +was really overjoyed at coming upon her in a free hour it was impossible +to doubt. + +"My word! George, but you've kept me on short rations lately," he began +accusingly. "One would think you had suddenly put me on a diet list. +Nothing but sweets, contrary to the usual prohibitions of the medical +men for the husky male! Do you think I have no appetite for the good +substantial food? Parties and drives and candy-pulls, always with the +lovely guest, and never an old-time hobnob with my chum! What's the +matter with you, George? What have I done?" + +"But such sweets! And so soon they will be gone, and nothing for the +hungry youth but plain bread and butter. How absurd of you to complain!" + +"Bread and butter! Beefsteak and mushrooms, you mean; roast turkey and +cranberry sauce! A fellow can live on them. But not on eternal honey and +fudge--with my apologies to the lady." + +"I should say so, Jimps. You're outrageous, and you don't mean it. I +wouldn't walk another step with you if you did." + +"She's undoubtedly the sweetest thing on earth," admitted Stuart. "There +are times when I think I'd like to ask her to marry me on the spot--if +she'd have me, which she wouldn't--me, a farmer! She dazzles me, +bewitches me, makes me all but lose my head. And then I look at my chum, +the girl I've known all my life, and I think--well, sugar is all right, +but you can't get on without salt--and pepper--and ginger--and----" + +"Jimps!" In spite of herself Georgiana was laughing infectiously, and +Stuart joined her. "How absolutely ridiculous! I sound like a whole +spice box, and nothing but the 'bitey' spices at that." + +"That's what you are," declared James Stuart contentedly. "And when I'm +with you I have no hankering after sugar. Mustard plasters for me; +they're warming." + +They walked on, the spirit of good fellowship keeping step with them. If +Georgiana had allowed herself to believe that Stuart was completely +absorbed with the enchantments of the beautiful guest, she now +discovered that, quite as he had said, the enchantment was by no means +complete and he had not lost appreciation of the old friendship and what +it meant to him. This was good to feel. It was all she wanted. If she +had been guilty of a creeping sense of jealousy as she watched Stuart +and Jeannette together, so evidently enjoying each other's society to +the full, it was because it made her suddenly and unpleasantly +understand what it would be to her to live her days in this commonplace +little village without Stuart at her right hand. But here he was, +literally at her right hand, and he was making her walk with him, not a +beggarly square or two out of her way, but a good three miles around a +certain course which once entered upon could not be cut short by any +crossroads. And all the way he was telling her, as he had always done, +all manner of intimate things about his affairs, and asking her of hers. + +Before the circuit had been made Georgiana had done that which an hour +before she would have thought far from her intention, natural as such a +procedure would have been a month ago, before Jeannette came--she had +told Stuart of Mr. Jefferson's offer. If the truth must be confessed, +after suffering the mood which had only lately been dissipated, she +could not resist producing the effect she knew, if Jimps were still +Jimps, was bound to be produced. Such is woman! + +Quite as she had foreseen, he was aroused on the instant. The generous +sharing of Georgiana Warne with other aspirants for her favour had never +been one of James Stuart's characteristics, open-hearted though he was +in every other way. He stopped short in the snowy path, regarding her +sternly while she smiled in the darkness. This was balm for a heavy +heart, indeed, this recognition she had of his disapproval even before +he jerked out the quick words: + +"Great Scott! You don't mean to tell me you'd do it! Spend hours every +day working with E. C. Jefferson? Not a bit of it. Not so you'd notice +it! Tell him to go to thunder!" + +"James McKenzie Stuart! What a tone to take! Why on earth should you +object?" Georgiana's tone was rich and sweet and astonished--it +certainly sounded astonished. + +"Because you're my chum, my partner; and I won't have you going into +partnership with any other man--not much!" + +"Partnership! Secretaries and stenographers aren't partners----" + +"Aren't they, though! The most intimate sort. And a fellow like +Jefferson, full of books and literary lore--he'd be breaking off work +half his time to talk Montaigne and Samuel Johnson and--and Bernard +Shaw with you. And you'd drink it all in with those eyes of yours and +make him think----" Georgiana's uncontrollable laughter halted but did +not stop him. "What's his work, anyhow? Writing a History of Art?" +growled Stuart, marching on, with Georgiana beside him bursting into +fresh mirth with every step. Her heart was quite light enough now; no +danger that she had lost her friend! + +"I've no idea what it is, but it's certainly not that. He seldom speaks +of art in any form--except literary art, of course. I've an idea it's +scientific research of some sort." + +"Then why isn't he in a laboratory somewhere, boiling acids? Why isn't +he digging in city libraries or hunting scientific stuff over in Vienna? +Vienna's the place for him. I wish him there fast enough," irritably +continued this asperser of other men's vocations. + +"His research work has undoubtedly been done; he has pile upon pile of +notebooks and papers on file. His handwriting is a fright; that's +probably what he wants me for--to make it legible to the printer." + +"Let him send for a typist then; that's what he needs if he writes an +illegible fist. You can't typewrite." + +"I could learn, if necessary. I've often wished I could." + +"You could learn! Yes, you could learn to come when E. C. Jefferson +whistled, I've no doubt! Oh, I beg your pardon, George--you needn't turn +away. Nobody could ever fancy you coming at any man's whistle. I'm just +seeing red, that's all, at the thought of your going into a thing like +this, that's bound to throw you two into the closest sort of relations." + +"That's all nonsense, Jimps. You're behaving like a little boy. And you +know I can't afford to lose a chance like this. You know how slow the +rug-weaving is----" + +"You don't mean you're still at that?" + +"Of course I am. The prices are very good now, and I'm----" + +"Then you certainly can't lose them to go into copying manuscript by +hand. Stick to the weaving; that's my advice." + +"Mr. Jefferson saw the loom to-day. He thinks it too hard work for me," +suggested Georgiana slyly. + +This was a telling shot, for Stuart had often expressed himself in +similar fashion in the past. As was to have been expected, her companion +became instantly more nettled than ever. + +"Oh, he does, does he?" he said hotly. "I'd like to know what affair it +is of his. You know well enough I've protested scores of times against +that weaving----" + +"And now you tell me to stick to it!" + +He wheeled upon her. His tone changed: "George, I know I'm absolutely +unreasonable. Of course I don't want you pulling that back-breaking +thing. I don't want you to have to hustle for money any sort of way; +that's the truth. What I do want is--to keep you away from every other +earthly beggar but myself!" + +"O James Stuart, how absurd! That's not a brotherly attitude at all." + +"The role of brother isn't always entirely satisfying," retorted Stuart +under his breath. "You know well enough you've only to say the word and +I----" + +"Jimps dear"--Georgiana's voice was very gentle now--"remember we've +left all that boy-and-girl sentimentalizing behind. It was quite settled +long ago that you and I were to be brother and sister, 'world without +end.' And I know you mean it as brotherly, all this fuss about my taking +a bit of perfectly reasonable employment for just a little while." + +"Little while? Do you know how long he expects to be at work on that +confounded book?" + +"No; do you?" + +"He told me one night when we were smoking together that he had given +himself a year to do this work in. He came in January; this is April. +Do you wonder I'm a bit upset at the notion of my best friend's going +into harness with him for a year?" Stuart's tone was grim. + +Georgiana, now in wild spirits with the relief from her fears, and the +suddenly opening prospect of a long period of such work as she dearly +loved, had some ado to keep her state of mind from showing. "It doesn't +follow," she said, outwardly sober, "that he intends to spend that whole +year here." + +"He will--if he gets you for a side partner. A man would be a fool not +to." + +"That's a great tribute--from a brother," admitted Georgiana, smiling to +herself. "But as far as our lodger is concerned, you need have no fear +of any but the most businesslike relations, even though I worked beside +him--as is quite improbable--for a year. He's not that sort." + +"Not what sort? Don't you fool yourself. He's human, if his mind is bent +on writing a book. And you are--Georgiana!" + +"Jimps, there's a path in your brain that's getting worn too deep +to-night. Come--let's hurry home. Jeannette will wonder what's become of +me." + +"Let her wonder. George, are you going to do this thing?" + +"Of course I am." + +"No matter how I feel about it?" + +"Why, Jimps--really, do you think you have any right----" + +"Georgiana, I--love you!" + +"No, Jimps, you don't. Not so much as all that. You have a brotherly +affection----" + +"Brotherly affection doesn't hurt; this does," was Stuart's declaration. + +"No, it doesn't, my dear boy. You're just made with a queer sort of +jealous element in your composition, and when something happens to call +it out you think it's--something quite different," explained Georgiana +rather lamely. "You know perfectly that you and I fit best as good +friends; we should be awfully unhappy tied up together in any way. Why, +we settled that long ago, as I reminded you just now." + +"It seems to have come unsettled," Stuart muttered. + +"Then we must settle it again. Truly--you mean everything to me as a +brother, friend, chum--whichever you like, and I--well, I should feel +pretty badly to lose you. But----" + +"I wish you'd leave it there. I don't fancy what you're going on to +say." + +"Then I'll not say it. Come, Jimps, give me your hand on the old +compact." + +"I will--on exactly one condition." Stuart stood still and faced her in +a certain secluded spot just where the snowy path was on the point of +turning into a wider, well-used thoroughfare. + +"What is it? Make it a fair one." + +"It is fair--the fairest between a man and a woman. It's this: leave the +'never-never' clause out. I'll agree to any terms of friendship you +insist on if--well, just leave me a chance, will you--dear?" + +There was a brief silence while Georgiana considered. She had not +expected this, certainly not just now, when her long-time friend frankly +admitted the drawing power of the winsome visitor. As she had implied, +there had been between them, in the days of dawning maturity while they +were yet in school together, certain youthfully tender vows which they +had later exchanged for the more carefully considered terms of the warm +but less sentimental friendship which had now existed for some years. +That Stuart was really dearer to her, more a necessary part of her life +than she had realized, had been made disconcertingly clear to her by the +totally unexpected pangs she had suffered during the last fortnight, +when it had seemed to her that she was likely to lose the fine fervor of +his devotion. Now, however, that she was assured of his intense loyalty, +she was the old Georgiana again, ready to stand beside her friend to the +last ditch, if need be, but wholly unwilling to bind herself to his +chariot wheels while no ditches threatened. + +"'Never' is a big word," she said finally. "It isn't best to say 'never' +about anything in this life." + +"Then you won't ask me to say it?" His voice was eager. + +"Not if you don't want to, Jimps." + +"I don't. There was never anything surer than that. Give me your +hand--chum." + +She gave it. "All right--chum." + +He had pulled off his own glove; he now gently drew off hers, and the +two warm hands clasped. "Here's our everlasting friendship," he said, +with a little thrill in his low voice. "Nothing shall come between us +except--love." + +"Jimps! That's not the old compact at all." + +"It's the new one then. Isn't it sufficiently ambiguous to suit you?" + +"It's much too ambiguous." + +"I can make it plainer----" + +"Perhaps you'd better leave it as it is," she admitted, recognizing +danger. + +"As you say." + +He held her hand for a minute in such a close grasp that it hurt her, +but she did not wince. Ah! if she might just have this pleasantly +satisfying relation with the man whose presence in her life meant warmth +and light and even happiness on the hard road of everyday routine, and +then have somehow besides the contentment which comes of accomplishment +along a line of chosen activity--and still remain free for whatever God +in heaven might send her of real joy, she could ask no better. + +"Jimps, I'm perfectly contented," she said radiantly, as they walked on. + +"That's good. I wish I were." + +"What would make you?" + +"Your promise to earn your money making rugs--with me to help you." + +"But you couldn't!" + +"I could learn." + +"Oh, how absurd! You haven't time, if there were no other reason." + +He did not answer, and, since they were now back in the village and +nearing the object of Georgiana's errand, no more was said until they +were once again on their way homeward. They walked in silence until they +reached the very doorstep of the manse. Then Stuart made one more +protest. + +"Not even to please me, George?" he asked, as she stood on the step +above him, leading the way in to Jeannette and the warm fireside. + +"Jimps, I'm sorry you feel that way about it. But I've talked with +Father Davy and he agrees that it's a godsend. There's no reason in the +world I could give Mr. Jefferson for refusing to help him when he needs +it, and when I need it, too. Therefore--I'm sorry, Jimps, since you are +so strange as to care--but I've made up my mind." + +"You'll excuse me if I don't come in to-night," he said, and turned +away. + +She stood looking comprehendingly after him as he left her, then ran in +and closed the door. The mood which held her now was so far from being +black that it was rosy red. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BORROWED PLUMES + + +"Uncle David, I was never so sorry to come to the end of any visit as I +am this one," said Jeannette Crofton. She was holding Mr. Warne's frail +hand in both her own, and looking straight into the young gray-blue eyes +which looked affectionately back at her. She was dressed for her +departure, and the great closed town car which had brought her was +waiting at the door. + +Near her stood Georgiana and James McKenzie Stuart. Mr. E.C. Jefferson +had just appeared in the background, come to bid the guest farewell. + +"You have given us much pleasure, my dear," responded Mr. Warne, "and if +you have received it as well, the balance is pretty evenly struck." + +"I might have stayed two days longer," declared Jeannette with evident +longing, "if it hadn't been for that sister of mine. I'm sure she could +have had a birthday dance without me--but no! How I wish I were taking +you all with me--even you, Mr. Jefferson," she added with one of her +adorable smiles, as she turned to him; "you, whom I can't possibly +imagine caring to dance a step, not even with the prettiest girl I could +find for you." + +"You almost make me wish I knew how to dance a step," said Mr. +Jefferson, advancing to take her hand. "As it is, I can at least wish +that prettiest girl a partner worthy of her grace." + +"While I am wishing," exclaimed Jeannette with characteristic +impulsiveness, "why in the world don't I bring about my own wishes? Oh, +where have my wits been! Georgiana, darling, run and dress and go with +me! I'll send you back to-morrow in the car. And you, too, Mr. Stuart! +Oh, come, both of you, and dance at Rosalie's birthday fete to-night! +Please--please do!" She turned to Mr. Warne. "Mayn't she, Uncle David? +Couldn't you manage to spare her just for twenty-four hours?" + +They looked at one another, smiling, hardly believing that the gay +suggestion was a serious one. + +But by Jeannette, accustomed to having her own way once a way had +occurred to her, all objections were thrust aside. "Oh, but you must +come!" she cried. "I'll not take no!" + +"Come and talk it over a minute with me, crazy child," bade Georgiana; +and she drew her cousin out of the room, where she could state the great +difficulty which, being a woman, had instantly assailed her. "Jean, I +hate to quash such a glorious idea, but--I shall have to be +frank--clothes!" + +"With loads of frocks hanging in my wardrobe at home? And half of them +too trying for me to wear at all, while they would suit you perfectly. +Nonsense! Oh, hurry and make ready. James Stuart will go if you will; I +saw it in his eyes." + +It could not be refused, this tempting invitation, with such a lovely +tyrant to enforce her will. One word, however, did James Stuart and +Georgiana Warne exchange in a corner before they capitulated. + +"George, my evening togs--they've been put away for the four years since +I left college. They must be about the most hopelessly ancient cut +conceivable to eyes like hers. Shall I risk looking like a rustic in +such a house as that?" But Stuart's eyes were eager as a boy's. + +"I'll not go if you won't, Jimps. As for rusticity, I can keep you +company. Can you bear to lose such a frolic? I can't." + +"Neither can I, hang it! All right, I'll be a sport if you will," agreed +Stuart with a laugh, and rushed away to pack a bag in short order, all +the zest of irrepressible youth, in one who had been forced by +circumstance to foreswear most of the joys of youth for stern labour, +coming uppermost to bid him make merry once more at any cost of after +fall of spirits. + +"Thank goodness I've had the sense always to keep the latest of +Jeannette's 'Semi-Annual' tailored suits pressed and trim," thought +Georgiana as she dressed. "This is a year behind the extreme style, but +I know perfectly well I look absolutely all right in it, and my hat, +having once been hers, is mighty becoming and smart, if it is a +make-over. It's lucky I can do those things; that's one benefit of going +to college, anyhow." + +A few other "make-overs" in the way of dress accessories, all of +exquisite material, on account of their source, and daintily preserved +because of their frailty after having served two owners, went into her +traveling bag. For the dance itself, since there was no other way, she +was not loath to accept Jeannette's generous offer, and, being a very +human creature, could not help looking forward with delight to the +prospect of finding herself arrayed in such apparel as would +successfully sustain any scrutiny which might be brought to bear upon +the country cousin. As for Stuart, she had no fears for him, for his +years of college life had made him an acceptable figure upon any +occasion, and she was confident his broad shoulders and fine carriage +could atone for any slightly antique cut of lapel or coat-tail. + +Altogether, it was a very happy young person who embraced Mr. David +Warne, shook hands with Mr. Jefferson, and ran down the path to the +great car in the wake of Jeannette, and followed by James Stuart looking +extremely personable. Well-cut clothes were the one extravagance Stuart +allowed himself now that he was immured for at least the early half of +his life, as he expected, upon the farm of his inheritance. + +"Well, well, I'm glad to have my little girl run away for a few hours," +said Father Davy, from the window where, with Mr. Jefferson at his +shoulder, he stood watching for the final wave of Georgiana's hand. "She +has enjoyed her cousin's visit, but it has meant considerable extra +labour for her. This seems a fitting return for Jeannette to make." + +"One can hardly blame Miss Crofton for wanting to prolong her enjoyment +of your daughter's society," observed Mr. Jefferson, his eyes watching +closely the laughing faces behind the glass as the travelers settled +themselves. "I can imagine one's feeling a very decided emptiness in a +place which she had left." + +"There, they're off!" announced Mr. Warne, waving his slender arm with +eagerness, his delicate features alight with pleasure in this unexpected +happening. "Emptiness, you say, Jefferson?" he added as the two turned +away, with the car out of sight down the snowy road. "That quite +expresses it. Even for a few hours I am conscious of a distinct sense of +loneliness without Georgiana. Her personality is one which makes itself +felt; it has individuality, audacity; even--I think--that curious +quality which for want of a better name we call 'charm.' Am I too +prejudiced?" + +He placed himself upon his couch, plainly very weary with the flurry of +the last hour. He lay looking up at Mr. Jefferson, who had lingered a +little before going back to the work which loudly called to him. It was +quite possible for the younger man to comprehend how desolate was the +gentle invalid's feeling at being left, if only for a day and a night, +in the care of the friendly neighbour who was to minister to his needs +and who was already to be heard bustling about the dining-room, laying +the table for the coming meal. + +"You may be prejudiced," admitted his companion, "but it is a prejudice +which can be readily forgiven--and even shared," he added, smiling. + +"Her cousin," pursued Mr. Warne slowly, "would outshine her in beauty +and in sweetness of disposition, perhaps, though I doubt if Jeannette +has ever had a fraction of the tests of character and endurance my girl +has had." + +"She surely never has," agreed the other. "And as for mere sweetness of +disposition, there are other qualities which make their own appeal." + +A whimsical smile appeared upon the pale face resting against one of +Georgiana's crimson couch pillows. "How she would make me signals of +distress and warning," he mused, "if she could hear me carrying on an +antiphonal service in her praise with our lodger, who, she would +consider, knows her not at all. Well, well---- + + "'Man, she is mine own, + And I as rich in having such a jewel, + As twenty seas, if all their sand were pearl, + The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.' + +You'll forgive an old man's romanticism, Mr. Jefferson, I hope?" + +"You are one of the youngest men I know. And if you may quote +Shakespeare to your purpose, I may quote good old Doctor Holmes," said +Mr. Jefferson, drawing the pillow into an easier position as he spoke: + + "'He doth not lack an almanac + Whose youth is in his soul.'" + +To Georgiana Warne, a year out of college, and during that year having +sorely missed the many gayeties of the life she had known for four happy +years, the present experience was delightful. She enjoyed every minute +of the swift drive over the sixty miles to her cousin's home, enjoyed +the arrival there, the meeting with the family and their house guests +assembled for afternoon tea, the installment in a luxuriously furnished +room where Jeannette presently brought her an armful of gowns to choose +from for the evening. A small dinner was to precede the dance, and all +sorts of scheming for Georgiana's pleasure had been fermenting in +Jeannette's brain on the way home. + +"I've arranged with Rosalie to put you next her special prize--the most +wonderful man she knows. All her set are crazy over him, though he +belongs in ours fast enough. It's Miles Channing, just home after a +year's travel, and as good looking as any illustrator ever drew. You see +you simply must be your most brilliant self. And here's the way to do +it--wear this!" + +She held up before Georgiana's disconcerted gaze such a marvel of colour +and cunning as brought a gasp of astonishment and a quick denial: "Oh, +my dear! Not that--for me. It's bad enough to wear your things at all, +but don't give me something that will make everybody look at me, like +that!" + +"That's precisely what I want," laughed Jeannette. "And this is a thing +I haven't ventured to wear and never shall, though I'm wild to do it. +But I couldn't carry it off; you can. Those orange shades will be +glorious with your eyes and hair. Besides, as for making you conspicuous +above the rest, on account of any gorgeousness of colour or eccentricity +of style, it simply can't be done these days. So put this on and see for +yourself. You needn't wear it, of course, if you don't like it; but you +will." + +Reluctantly Georgiana allowed a slim French maid to slip the marvel of +her country's art over the bared shoulders, and the next minute she was +staring at herself in a long mirror, while Susette clasped her hands, +and gay young Rosalie, passing the door at the moment and summoned to +the private view, cried joyously: + +"Oh, Georgiana, you're perfectly stunning! Of course you must wear it, +and you'll be the star of the evening." + +Rosalie rushed on, having settled the questions out of hand, after the +manner of the youthful. Jeannette was laughing as she called her mother +in to confirm the decision. + +Mrs. Crofton, languidly interested, surveyed her niece with approval. +She was an impressive lady, was Aunt Olivia, and was accustomed to have +her opinion carry weight. "It suits you, my dear," was her verdict. +"Those who can wear such daring effects should do it, for every scene +needs points of light and intensity." + +"And these other frocks," Jeannette declared, pointing to them where +Susette had spread them out upon the bed, "are just colourless baby +things that anybody can wear." + +"They look exquisite to me," regretted Georgiana, eying them wistfully. + +Somehow, now that she was here, she did not so much enjoy the thought of +appearing in borrowed finery, and, since it must be done, would have +preferred the simplest white frock in Jeannette's wardrobe. But this was +not to be without displeasing her hostesses, and she reluctantly +submitted. Susette begged leave to arrange her hair, Jeannette hunted +out silk stockings and slippers to match the frock, and Rosalie +contributed the long white gloves which completed the costuming. + +When Georgiana was ready to descend she took one last look at the girl +in the long mirror, and turned to Jeannette, herself a picture in the +delicate colourings which she affected and which set off her golden +beauty. "I feel like the old woman in the nursery song," she said, +"doubtful of my identity." + +"But you must admit you're simply glorious," cried Jeannette. "I knew +you were a beauty, but I didn't know you were such a raving one as +this." + +"I'm no beauty," denied Georgiana with spirit. "It's just the clothes. +But you--I never saw anything so enchanting as you to-night." + +"Delightful! I'm so glad, for--there's somebody I want to enchant. Come +on," and Jeannette led the way. + +At the foot of the great staircase, about a wide fireplace, Georgiana +saw James Stuart with a group of other young men, and noted swiftly that +there was no too-striking contrast to be noted between her friend and +his faultlessly attired companions, except that his face and hands wore +a deeper coat of winter tan than theirs, and he looked stronger and more +virile than any of them. And even in his outdoor colouring, there was +among them one who rivalled him, the one who, as Georgiana instantly +guessed, was the lately arrived traveler. A moment later she met +Stuart's eyes and saw his look of astonishment as he gazed at her. + +Presently, when those whom she had not already met had been made known +to her, she found Stuart at her elbow. "Am I dreaming?" said his voice +in her ear, "or is this my chum? I'm almost afraid to speak to you!" + +"You look awfully nice, Jimps," she returned under her breath. "Yes, +isn't it absurd for me to be peacocking like this? But they made me do +it." + +"You take my breath away." + +"Look at Jean," she whispered. "Isn't she the loveliest thing you ever +saw in your life?" + +He looked. "You and she are a pair," he admitted. + +Jeannette came up to them with the tall traveler, and Georgiana found +herself looking up into a pair of dark eyes whose glance told her that +their owner found her worth studying intently. Miles Channing was of the +sort who waste no time in preliminaries. By the time she had sat out +half the dinner by his side she felt as if she had been under fire for +hours. All her youth and wit responded to his sallies, and she enjoyed +the encounter as keenly as a girl might be expected to do, who for a +year had seen no men but the slow village swains--always excepting James +Stuart, who was her one reliance in time of famine. + +Channing made no attempt to disguise his preoccupation with the most +attractive of the few strangers in the set of young people whom he had +known for years. Between the dinner and the dance, Jeannette, who had +been observing without seeming to observe, dropped a word in Georgiana's +ear: + +"You've done it, dear. I never saw him lose his head so completely. +You'll have to be careful or you'll have all the girls down on you. +They're crazy over him, you know--including Rosalie." + +"Absurd! I shall never see him again, so what does it matter?" retorted +Georgiana. + +"Don't be too sure of that. Nothing can stop him when he's interested. +And you know you are a witch to-night; anybody would be caught in your +snare. I didn't know you were such a clever thing at the game, though I +might have guessed it." + +"If I weren't, I might take lessons of you," Georgiana gave back. "You +have Jimps slightly delirious, I can see. Is he the one you wanted to +enchant? I'm sure you've done it." + +"Isn't he splendid? He looks so much stronger and more interesting than +half these boys I've known all my life. I do want him to have a good +time." + +"He's having it." + +Georgiana was sure of this, but she was having so good a time herself +she didn't mind. More than once she had caught Stuart's eyes across the +table, and had noted how they were sparkling. The glance the two +exchanged might have been interpreted to mean: "Fun, isn't it? You play +up to your opportunities and so will I. This won't happen again in our +lives, perhaps." + +Presently the dancing began, in great rooms cleared for the purpose and +decorated with every art of the florist. The music was all of a quality +more perfect than any Georgiana had ever heard, and the strains which +assailed her ears made her wild to dance to every note. She was besieged +by invitations. + +"But I haven't danced for more than a year, and I don't know one of the +latest steps," she said regretfully. + +"We'll soon remedy that," promised Chester Crofton, her cousin, who +carried her off into an unoccupied room, where the music could yet be +heard, and proceeded to teach her. She was easily taught, having all the +foundations after four years of practice among college girls, and she +was soon able to go upon the floor with young Crofton and the rest. + +Miles Channing did not dance, but after watching for a time--while +Georgiana was acutely conscious that his eyes constantly followed +her--he claimed and bore her off before others could prevent. In a +palm-shadowed corner well removed from observation he drew a long breath +of content and settled down beside her. + +"I hope you will not be too much bored at missing a round or two," he +began in the slightly drawling speech which was somehow one of his +charms, it was so curiously accompanied by his intent observation. "I +haven't danced for so long I can't venture to attempt it, especially +with you." + +"I should be the most patient of partners, I'm so unaccomplished +myself," declared Georgiana. + +"Nevertheless I shouldn't want to try you. You dance like a sylph, I +like an elephant." + +"I don't believe it." + +"You do grudge sitting out, then, do you?" he asked. + +"Not a bit." + +"It wouldn't really matter if you did, for I intend to hold my advantage +now I have it. I care more to talk with you than for all the dances on +the program. And the time is so short I must make the most of it. You go +back to-morrow, I understand?" + +"Yes, indeed." + +"And you'll not be here soon again?" + +"I don't expect to. I'm a very busy person at home and can seldom be +spared." + +"That means that whoever wants to know you must come to your home?" + +Georgiana felt her pulse beats quickening. This was certainly losing no +time. She assented to the interrogation, explaining that her father was +an invalid and she was his housekeeper. She felt no temptation to +represent things to Mr. Channing as other than they were. It was somehow +an atonement for appearing in her borrowed attire that she should not +allow appearances to deceive this new acquaintance into thinking her +home the counterpart of her cousin's. The news did not appear in the +least to disconcert him. + +"I should like very much to meet your father," Channing said; and +Georgiana liked him for taking the trouble to put it in that way. He +instantly added: "And I should like still more to see you in your own +home. May I have that pleasure?" + +"We shall be very glad to see you," she promised, careful of her manner. + +"No matter how soon I come?" + +"I suppose you will allow me to reach home first?" she questioned gayly. + +"Barely. This is Wednesday night. You go home to-morrow--Thursday. May I +come Saturday?" + +"You have been living on railway schedules so long you have acquired the +habit," she gave back with slightly heightened colour. In the course of +her experience she had seen more than one young man change his plans +after encountering her, but she had never known one to form new ones as +quickly as this. + +"I have discovered that when one wants to reach a place very much, he +can't start too soon," he said very low, with such obvious meaning that +she had some difficulty in keeping her cool composure. It was not only +his words, but his looks and manner which spoke. She had never dreamed +that outside of stories men ever really did begin to fire on sight, like +this. + +The matter settled, Channing began to talk of other things, but through +all his speech and acts ran the visible thread of his instant and +powerful attraction to her, so that she was conscious of the colour of +it. By the time two dances had gone by and she was sought and found by +an eager claimant, the girl was quite ready to get away from this new +and decidedly disturbing experience. And when, a little later, she +allowed James Stuart to try one of the new steps with her, she had a +comfortable sense of having got back upon known and solid ground, after +having been swimming in a too-swift current. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +EARLY MORNING + + +"You've no idea, Jimpsy," Georgiana said, when she and James Stuart had +assured themselves that they were able to suit their steps to each other +and were moving smoothly down the floor, "how glad I am to be with some +one I know, for a bit." + +"Only some one? Not particularly me?" + +"Yes, particularly you. My brain needs a little rest." + +"There's a compliment for an old friend! But I didn't suppose dancing +tired the brain. It's my feet that have bothered me. I've walked all +over Jeannette's little toes, but she's perfectly game and won't admit +it." + +"I thought you and she were getting on beautifully together." + +"So we were. I couldn't see how you and Channing got on together, +because you went off and hid somewhere. That's not fair with a perfectly +new acquaintance." + +"Didn't you and Jeannette go off and hide somewhere?" + +"We're not new acquaintances." + +"Oh, indeed! How old ones are you?" + +"A month is a long time compared with one short evening. I never knew, +George, you were such a terrific charmer. You've had them all nailed +to-night; and as for Channing--well---- Only I suppose he's a shark at +the game himself. He shows it. Better look out." + +"What an excellent opportunity a dance is for old friends to give each +other good advice." Georgiana smiled up into his eyes. + +He closed his own for an instant. "Don't do that; it dazzles me." + +"Nonsense. You're learning the game yourself. Jeannette's been teaching +you. We're all finding each other out to-night. I had no idea she could +sparkle so." + +"You're the sparkler. She simply glows with a steady light." + +"Well, I like that!" + +"You like everything to-night. You remind me of a peach--on fire." + +"Jimps!" Georgiana's soft laughter assailed his ear. "I believe we're +both a bit crazy with this sudden leap into dissipation--such +dissipation! Just remember where we'll be to-morrow night." + +"I don't want to--except that I'll be with you. We'll talk it all over +by your fire, eh?" + +"Of course. There'll be that much left, anyhow. Is this over? Thank you, +Jimps, for the best dance I've had to-night." + +"No use trying it on me," he murmured as he released her. "What's the +use of capturing what you've already got?" + +By and by it was all over and Georgiana was mounting the stairs with +Jeannette, smiling back at certain faces in the disordered spaces below, +where flowers lay about the floors and a group of young fellows, +belonging to Rosalie's house party, were making merry before they broke +ranks. + +In Jeannette's room by a blazing fire the girls held brief session, +sitting with unbound hair and swinging slippered feet, and cheeks still +flushed with the night's gayety. + +"Jimps and I were imagining ourselves sitting by the fire in our old +living-room to-morrow night," said Georgiana softly, staring into the +flame with eyes which reflected little points of light. "It will seem +like a dream then, but we shall talk it all over, and remember what fun +we had, and how lovely everybody was to us--and how beautiful you were +in that blue-and-silver frock." + +"You dear thing, you ought to have such times often and often!" cried +Jeannette. "But--O Georgiana, you have times I envy you! While you are +dreaming of our flowers and music I shall be dreaming of the dear old +house, and the jolly evenings you gave me there, and envying you--oh, +envying you----" + +"Envying me! Are you crazy, child, or are you just----" + +"Just speaking the truth. You can't think how many times I shall think +of you sitting there with your three splendid men----" + +"Jean! What are you talking about?" + +"About Uncle David, and Jimps, and Mr. Jefferson----" + +"But they're not mine," protested Georgiana, laughing. "Except Father +Davy." + +"Not--Jimps?" + +"Oh, of course he's my friend, my very good friend. And Mr. Jefferson's +only a 'boarder,'"--she made a little grimace at the word. "You speak as +if I had them all about me all the time." + +"But you do evenings, don't you?" + +"They were there much more while you were visiting me than they will be +now. Jimps has heaps of arrears to make up; he let lots of work go while +you were there, you must know, my dear. As for Mr. Jefferson--he may +never come down any more, now that Jimps won't be going up to beg him to +make a fourth for your entertainment. So don't imagine me holding court +with those three retainers. It will mostly be just Father Davy and I +with a volume of Dumas or Kipling. Isn't it odd how my pale little +father loves the red blood of literature?" + +"Just the same----" but Jeannette did not finish that. She began afresh: +"And oh! how I shall miss you, George--as Jimps calls you. Somehow I +must have you before long for a real visit here, or wherever I may be +for the summer." + +"Thank you, Jean; but I can never get away." + +"I'll arrange it somehow. That makes me think--Miles Channing was +dreadfully disappointed that you were going in the morning. I've no +doubt he will manage to see you off somehow. I think it's too bad of you +to insist on going before luncheon. Think how little sleep you'll have." + +She gave Georgiana a penetrating look as she said it, but saw only a +pair of beautiful bare arms thrown up over a mass of dark locks, as her +cousin, with a clever imitation of a half-smothered yawn, answered +merrily: "Then we must go to bed this minute or I shall never have +strength of mind to get up. And I can't leave Father Davy to the tender +mercies of Mrs. Perkins longer than I can help. She'll give him +everything that is bad for him, in spite of the best intentions." + +It was a wide-awake Georgiana, nevertheless, who, fully dressed for the +drive, leaned over Jeannette's bed at ten o'clock that morning and +kissed a warm velvet cheek, murmuring: "Don't wake up, Jean. We're just +off after breakfast. I'll write soon. You've been a perfect darling, and +I'm more grateful than I can tell you." + +"Oh, I'm dead to the world, I'm so tired!" moaned the girl in the bed. +"I always have to pay up so for dancing all night. But you,"--she lifted +languid eyelids to see her cousin's smiling freshness of face and air of +vigour--"why, you look as though you had had twelve hours' sleep--and a +cold plunge!" + +"I've had the cold plunge," admitted Georgiana, laughing. "And I'm 'fit +as a fiddle,' as Jimps says. He sent his good-bye to you and told me to +tell you he'll never forget you--never!" + +"Tell him I'll not let him forget me--or you, either. Oh, how I hate to +have you go, both of you!" + +Through a silent, sleeping house Georgiana and Stuart stole, the only +member of the family up to see them off being Mr. Thomas Crofton +himself, the oldest person under the great rooftree. + +"My dear, you must come again, you must come often," he urged, holding +Georgiana's hand and patting it with a paternal air. He was a handsome +man in the early sixties, with graying hair and tired eyes. "You have +done a great deal for our Jean; she looks much stronger than when she +went to your home. But neither she nor Rosalie can enter the race with +you for splendid health. That comes from your country life, I suppose. +I envy you, I envy you, my dear." + +"Come and see us, Uncle Thomas--do. Father Davy would be so happy; you +know he's such an invalid. But his mind and heart are as young as ever." + +"I will come; I will drive down some day, thank you, Georgiana. I should +like to see David again. Mr. Stuart, come again, come again. Good-bye; +sorry your aunt was too much done up to see you off this morning, my +dear. Good-bye." + +As the two emerged from the door a tall figure sprang up the steps. +"What luck! I was passing and I suspected you were just getting off. +Good morning! Can you possibly be the girl I saw dancing seven hours +ago?" + +"I don't wonder you ask, Mr. Channing," laughed Georgiana. "Evening +frocks and traveling clothes are quite different affairs." + +"Ah, but the traveling clothes are even the nicer of the two, when their +wearer looks----" Channing glanced at Stuart standing by. "Confound you, +sir!" said he, with a genial grin, shaking hands. "Since you're going to +drive all the way home with Miss Warne can't you give me the chance to +say something pleasant to her?" + +"You can't make it too strong to suit me," observed Stuart--and remained +within hearing. + +"Saturday, then, if I may," said Channing, looking as far into +Georgiana's eyes as he could see, which was not very far. She wore a +close little veil, which interfered with her eyelashes, and clearly she +could not lift her glance very high. + +Then they were off, with Channing waving farewell, his hat high in air. +A hand at another window also waved, and Georgiana knew Jeannette had +seen this last encounter. + +"Well, for sixteen hours' work," remarked James Stuart grimly, as the +car gathered headway and the house was left behind, "I should say you +had done some fairly deadly execution. Saturday, eh? Why does he delay +so long? Isn't to-morrow Friday--and a day sooner?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A COPYIST + + +The old study of David Warne was a square, austerely furnished room on +the second floor of the manse, opposite the sleeping-room now occupied +by Mr. Jefferson. It contained several plain bookcases, filled mostly +with worn old volumes in dingy yellow calf or faded cloth. An ancient +table served for a desk, with a splint-bottomed chair before it. On the +walls hung several portrait engravings, that of Abraham Lincoln +occupying the post of honour among them. The floor was covered with a +rag carpet of pleasantly dimmed colours, and an old Franklin stove, with +widely opening doors and a hearth with a brass rail, completed the +furnishing of the room. + +This was the place now swept and dusted and warmed for the joint labours +of the writer of books and his new assistant. Mr. Jefferson had moved +the materials of his craft to the new working quarters: he had brought +up wood for the fire and had made that fire himself, according to the +custom he had inaugurated soon after his arrival. The day and hour for +the beginning of that which James Stuart insisted on designating as a +partnership had arrived. At ten o'clock that April morning, when +Georgiana's housework should have reached a stage when she could safely +leave it for a more or less extended period, the study door was to close +upon the two and shut them away undisturbed for the first details of +their affair in common. + +Georgiana had been up since before daybreak, planning and executing a +system which should make all this possible. Now, at a quarter before +ten, with all well in hand, she flew to her room for certain personal +touches which should transform her from housewife to secretary. Two +minutes before the clock struck she surveyed herself hurriedly in her +small mirror. + +"You really look very trim and demure," she remarked to her image. "Your +colour is a bit high, but that's exercise, not excitement. Still, you +are a little excited, you know, my dear, and you must be very careful +not to show it. It's a calm, cool, business person the gentleman wants, +George, not a blushing schoolgirl. It would spoil it at once if you +should look conscious or coquettish. So now--remember. And forget--for +the love of your new occupation--forget that Miles Channing is coming +again to-night--again, after one short week! What does it matter if he +is? Run along and be good!" + +Half a minute left in which to run downstairs, kiss Father Davy on his +white forehead, and receive his warm "Bless you, dear, and bless the new +work. May you be very happy in it!" and to walk quietly upstairs again +and knock at the door of the study. It opened under Mr. Jefferson's +hand, and to the cheerful sound of snapping wood on the open hearth of +the old Franklin stove he bade her enter. + +His smile was very pleasant, his steady eyes seemed to take note of +everything about her in one quick glance, as he said with a wave of his +hand: "Welcome to my workshop! You see I've swept up all the chips, but +we'll soon make more." + +"You manage to keep your workshop remarkably free from chips," she +commented. "You must have a great system of order." + +"Pretty fair. I should be hopelessly lost if I let this mass of material +become disordered. Will you take this chair? Must we begin at once or +may we talk a little first?" + +"I think we had better begin. You know there are just two free hours +before I must be back downstairs, if you are to eat, this noon." + +He laughed and she noted, as she had noted many times before, how young +he looked at such moments, grave as his face could be when in repose. + +"Very well," he agreed. "I have no doubt you will work at this task as +you do at the loom, with all your might, and I shall have to lengthen +my stride to keep up with you. But that promises well. One is likely to +fall into habits of soldiering when one works alone. You have no idea +how carefully I have to keep certain favourite books out of sight when I +want to accomplish big stretches of work. And in this room--hard +luck!--I see so many old treasures that I'm going to have a bit of +trouble in resisting temptation." + +His eyes led hers to the old bookcases. She nodded. "It's a shabby old +collection, but it's very dear to father's heart." + +"It well may be. Gibbon, Hume, Froude, Parton--Lamb, Johnson, +Carlyle--Hugo, Thackeray, Reade, and Trollope--Keats, Shelley, and the +rest. What matters the binding? Some time I must read you a passage in +good old Christopher North that appeals to me tremendously. No, not now, +Miss Warne; I see I must fall upon my task without delay or you will be +slipping away on the plea of bad faith on my part. Well----" + +He turned his chair toward the table and took up a notebook. His face +settled instantly into an expression of serious interest. + +"I am going to ask you first," said he, "to copy in order upon a fresh +sheet each reference which you find marked with a red cross, so that the +references may be all together. Be very exact, please, and very +legible. German and French words are easily misread by the typist who +will put this work finally into copy for the printer." + +Georgiana, glancing at the first marked reference, found cause to credit +this statement, for it read: + + Cagnetto: Zur Frage der Anat. Beziehung zwischen Akromegalie u. + Hypophysistumor, Virchow's Archiv., 1904, clxxvi., 115. Neuer + Beitrag. f. Studium der Akromegalie mit besonderer Beruecksichtigung + der Frage nach dem zusammenhang der Akromegalie mit + Hypophysenganggeschwulste, Virchow's Archiv., 1907, lxxxvi., 197. + +"It would be best to print the words as clearly as I can, wouldn't it?" +she suggested, suppressing her desire to laugh. + +"That depends on your handwriting. Try a line and let me see, please." + +When she had shown him a specimen of the peculiarly readable script +which she had cultivated in college, he signified his approval with a +hearty "Good! That's a splendid hand for work, the hand of a workman, in +fact. I congratulate myself. Go ahead with the jaw-breakers, only +verifying each reference before you leave it." + +Thus the new task began, and thus it continued day after day--not always +quite the same, for Georgiana soon recognized that her employer was +diversifying her labours as much as he consistently could by changing +the nature of the copying. Now and then he refreshed her endurance and +rested her tired hand by asking her to read aloud to him several just +finished pages of his own writing, walking the floor meanwhile or +sitting tipped back in his chair with closed eyes while he listened with +ears alert for error of statement or infelicity of phrase, and she +wondered at the character of the words she read. + +Of course she discovered at once what was the general subject of the +book. No essay was this, no work of fiction, no "history of art," as +Stuart had scornfully suggested. It could be only the sternest of +research and experience which dictated such sentences as these: + + The especial dangers to be contended with are that the ethmoid + cells may be mistaken for the sphenoids; that we may go too low and + enter the pons and medulla; that, laterally, we may enter the + cavernous sinus, and above, that we may injure the optic nerve. + +It was all more or less of a puzzle to her, but it was one which her +taskmaster never explained further than the revelations of each day +explained it. She understood that he was a scientist, that he +undoubtedly had been an operator in some surgical field or was putting +into shape the work of another in that field, but what he now was +besides a writer of technical books she had no manner of idea. + +"But I really enjoy it, Father Davy," she insisted, when she came down +to him one day with hotly flushed cheeks and shaking hand after a +particularly protracted siege of copying involved and incomprehensible +material. "It's monotonous in a way, but it's intensely interesting, +too. Mr. Jefferson is so absorbed in it, it's fun to watch him. To-day +he was as happy as a boy over a letter he had just received from a +Professor Somebody, a great authority in Vienna. It seemed it absolutely +confirmed some statement he had made in a monograph he wrote last year +which had been challenged by several scientists. The way he fell to +writing his next paragraph after he had read that letter made one +imagine he was writing it in his own heart's blood. He read it aloud to +me." She laughed appreciatively at the recollection. + +"Could you make anything of it?" inquired Mr. Warne with interest. + +"Not very much. It was about the pituitary body;--oh, I've come to have +a great awe of the pituitary body, it seems to be responsible for so +many things. He chuckled over it like a boy, and said to me, 'Forgive +these transports, Miss Warne, but this is food and drink to me. I wish I +could explain it to you so that you might rejoice over it with me. Some +day I will, when we are not so busy.' I hope he will. There's enough +that I do understand to make me interested." + +"I see you are--and rejoice, my Georgiana. Do you remember what Max +Mueller says, echoed by many another, '_Work is life to me; and when I am +no longer able to work, life will be a heavy burden?_'" + +He smiled as he said it, but his daughter read the seldom-expressed +longing in the cheerful voice and laid her cheek for an instant against +his. "He's quite right. And you have your work, Father Davy, and you're +doing it all the time. I think you preach much more effectively now than +you did in the pulpit, even when you don't open your mouth. And when you +do open it angels couldn't compete with you!" + +They laughed softly together, though Mr. Warne shook his head. "It's a +curious thing," he mused, "that the weaker the body gets the harder does +the mind have to strive to master it. But, thank God--'_so fight I, not +as one that beateth the air_.'" + +"'Not as one that beateth the air,'" murmured the girl. "I should say +not, Father Davy. As one that delivereth hard blows on his own body, his +poor, tired body. Oh, if I had one tenth the self-control----" + +At which she ran away, as was quite like her, when emotion suddenly got +the better of her. The darkest cloud on this girl's life was the frail +tenure of her father's existence. The rest could be endured. + +The work in the upstairs study went steadily on, in spite of the fact +that James Stuart railed and that Miles Channing came at least once in +seven days, driving the sixty miles in a long, swiftly speeding car +which brought him to the door of the manse before the early May sunset, +and which took him back when the shadows lay black upon the silent road. +Two hours in the morning, three in the afternoon, Georgiana gave to the +rigid performance of the tasks Mr. Jefferson set her, while outside +below the windows at which she worked lay her garden, beloved of her +affection, beseeching her not to neglect it. + +It was hard sometimes not to betray how she longed to be outside, as she +wrote on and on, copying the often difficult and uninteresting language +of the more technical part of her employer's construction. And one +afternoon, lifting her eyes to let them dwell on a great budding purple +lilac tree, with the warm breath of the breeze which had drifted across +the apple orchard fanning her cheek, and all the notes of rioting spring +in her ears, she did draw in spite of herself one deep sigh of longing +which she instantly suppressed--too late. + +Her companion looked up quickly, noted the flush in the cheek and the +hint of a weary shadow under the dark eyes, and suddenly pushed aside +his paper. Then he drew it back, blotted it carefully, laid it with a +pile of others, and capped his pen. He wheeled about in his chair to +face his assistant. + +"Put down your work, please," he commanded gently; "precisely where you +are. Don't finish that sentence." + +Georgiana looked up, astonished. "Not finish the sentence?" + +"No. Did you never stop in the middle of a sentence?" + +"I'm afraid I have. But I didn't suppose you ever did." + +"I don't. But I want you to. Please. That's right. You will know where +to start it again to-morrow." + +"To-morrow?" In spite of herself her eyes had lighted as a child's +might. + +"Even so. To-day we are going for a drive in all this beauty--if I can +find a horse and some kind of a vehicle, and you will go with me. It's +only three o'clock. We can have a long drive between now and the hour +when you invariably disappear to make magic for our appetites. How about +it?" + +"I can keep on perfectly well, you know," she said, with pen still +poised above her paper. + +"But I can't." He was smiling. "Now that the other plan has occurred to +me, I can't keep on." + +"Did you see inside my mind?" queried Georgiana, putting away her +copying with rapid motions. + +"Suddenly I did. I've been rather blind, a hard taskmaster. I've been +conscious of what was going on outside when I went for my walks, but the +work is absorbing to me and I have kept you too steadily at it. We both +need a rest," he added as she shook her head. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +OUT OF THE BLUE + + +Twenty minutes afterward he drove up to the door with the best that the +village liveryman had to give for the highest price his customer could +offer--a tall black horse of fair proportions, and a hurriedly washed +buggy of the type in vogue in country districts. But as Georgiana went +down the path she was conscious that the figure which stood hat and +reins in hand awaiting her would lend dignity to any vehicle, short of a +wheelbarrow, in which he might be seen to ride. + +Then presently the pair were driving along country lanes in the very +midst of all the burgeoning beauty of the season, and Georgiana was like +a captive bird let loose. Her companion as well responded to the call of +Nature at her loveliest, and the tireless worker of the study seemed +changed at a word to a bright-eyed idler of the most carefree sort. The +two gave themselves up without restraint to the enjoyment of the hour. + +"I wonder how long it is," said Mr. Jefferson, letting the reins lie +loose at a leafy curve of the road while the black horse willingly +walked, "since I have had a drive like this. Not for ten years at +least." + +"You've lived always in a great city?" + +"Since boyhood--in the heart of it." + +"And have driven motors, not horses, for those ten years." + +"Yes, like everybody else. But I spent all my summers as a boy on my +grandfather's farm, and there I drove horses and rode them and did +acrobatic feats on their bare backs. I was a wild Indian, a cowboy, and +a captain of cavalry by turns. Those were happy days, and on a day like +this they don't seem long ago." + +"They can't be so dreadfully long ago," she dared, with a glance at the +interesting profile beside her. + +"Can't they? Don't I look pretty aged compared with your youth?" + +"I'm not so remarkably young," she retorted. + +"Aren't you? You are about ten years younger than I. That's a big leap +and must make me seem a grandfather indeed." + +"But you don't know how old I am." + +"I could come pretty close to it," said he with a quick look. + +"How could you know?" + +"When you see a spray of apple blossoms like those"--he pointed toward a +mass of pink and white at the stage of perfection beyond an old rail +fence--"can't you tell at a glance whether they've been out a day or a +week?" + +"I should say that if things had happened to them to make them feel as +if they'd been out a week when they had been out only two days----" + +"A heavy rain, for instance? In that case we should be +deceived--perhaps. But in the case of a human being those heavy rains +sometimes only mature without fading---- Hello,----what's this?" + +A small and very ragged boy had emerged suddenly from a meadow gateway, +his face convulsed with pain and fright. He nursed one hand in the other +and the colour had deserted his round cheek, leaving it pallid under its +freckles. The only house nearby was an abandoned one and there were no +others for some distance in either direction. + +Mr. Jefferson stopped his horse. "Does it hurt badly, lad?" he asked in +the friendliest of tones, which yet had a bracing quality. "Don't you +want to let me see if I can help it?" + +The boy stood still, tears silently making their way down his face. +Giving the reins to Georgiana, Mr. Jefferson jumped out and gently +examined the small hand, the middle finger of which, as the onlooker +could plainly see, was badly distorted and somewhat swollen. The skin, +however, did not seem to be broken. + +"We can make that more comfortable right away," the man promised the +little boy. "Sit down on the grass for a minute or two, laddie, while I +find something I want." + +He pulled out a handkerchief, as yet folded and fresh from its ironing, +and handed it to Georgiana. "Will you tear that into strips an inch +wide, please, while I take a look back here for a bit of wood?" and he +disappeared down the road, while Georgiana with the aid of her strong +white teeth tore the fine linen as he had bidden, and spoke comfortingly +to the little fellow, who seemed glad enough to have fallen into +friendly hands. + +When he shortly returned Mr. Jefferson was rapidly cutting and whittling +a stick into a little splint, which he then wound carefully with a strip +of the handkerchief until it was covered from view. Then he took the +injured hand in his own capable ones--his assistant had often noted +those hands--and said quietly, "I'm going to hurt you just a minute, +little man, but you'll be all right, so be game," and in two deft +motions he had pulled and twisted the broken finger, and had set it +straight as the others, with but one sharp outcry from the owner. In +less time than it can be told in, the set finger was bound securely with +its neighbouring finger to the padded splint, and the whole neatly +bandaged with the torn linen, the entire procedure accomplished with +the rapidity and skill of the practised hand. No amateur surgery this, +as Georgiana understood well enough. + +"There," said Mr. Jefferson, drawing forth another handkerchief as +spotless as the first--she wondered if he went always thus provided +against emergency--and improvising a little sling in which the bandaged +hand swung comfortably, "I think you'll do. Rest a bit and then go home, +and tell your mother not to touch that finger for three weeks. By that +time it will be as good as new, only be careful with it when you first +use it. Good-bye, laddie, and better luck next time." + +Georgiana saw the uninjured hand of the boy close over something bright +as the man's hand left it, and heard a low sound which might have been +almost anything indicative of surprise and joy. Then the black horse was +moving on, and Mr. Jefferson was saying: "Weren't we talking about apple +blossoms?" + +"We had finished with them, I think," Georgiana replied, wondering if he +really were going to offer no explanation of the hint of mystery which +had been about him ever since her work with him had begun. + +But he did not offer any, only went on with the pleasant talk with which +he had all along beguiled the way. Georgiana was recognizing this +afternoon, more than she had yet done, what a well-stored mind was +possessed by this unassuming man, whose manner and speech yet did not +lack that quality of quiet assurance which is the product only of +genuine knowledge and experience. + +The black horse was within a mile of home, passing through the last +stretch of woodland which would justify the walking pace, in which, +greatly to his astonishment, he was being allowed to indulge at all such +points, when a motor car, slowing down beside him, caused him to lay +back his ears in displeasure. + +Georgiana, turning, beheld the handsome, eager face of Miles Channing as +he leaned toward her, his hand hushing his engine as he spoke. + +"Miss Warne--Mr. Jefferson--forgive me for stopping you! I should have +gone on and waited for you if I had been sure you were on your way home. +But I'm a messenger from the Croftons; they beg you to let me bring you +back with me to-night." His eyes rested on Georgiana. + +"To-night? Is anybody ill?" + +"Oh, no, no; nothing like that. It's for quite a different reason they +want you; only I'm to ask you not to question me. You're to come on +faith, if you will. And they'll agree to have you back in the morning by +breakfast-time, if you insist." + +Georgiana looked puzzled, but, being human, she was naturally interested +and attracted by this mysterious plan. "It's very odd," she mused, "but +if father can spare me----" + +"I will undertake to see that your father is not lonely this evening," +said Mr. Jefferson's quiet voice at her side. "And please don't bother +about to-morrow morning or to-morrow at all, if you would like to be +away." + +"If Mr. Jefferson wouldn't object----" began Channing; but Mr. Jefferson +anticipated him. + +"Please don't hesitate to go on with Mr. Channing, if you would like to +gain a little time," he suggested to his companion. "He will have you at +home before I can reach the bend in the road." + +Georgiana looked round at him. "I prefer to finish one ride before I +begin another," she declared, smiling. "It's only a mile, Mr. Channing; +we shall be there nearly as soon as you. Please go on." + +It thus came about ten minutes later that James Stuart, walking up to +his home from a field where he had been superintending an interesting +new departure in cultivation, caught sight first of a now-familiar +roadster of aristocratic lines whose appearance thereabouts had become +most unwelcome, and shortly thereafter of a less pretentious vehicle, +being rapidly drawn by a still more familiar black horse, and occupied +by two people whom it gave Stuart no acute pleasure to see together. + +"Well, I should say George was displaying her admirers in great shape +this afternoon," he said gloomily to himself. "It's a wonder I'm not +trailing on behind with a wheelbarrow. But I vow I'd like to know since +when her contract with Jefferson has taken them out into the +country--and in working hours, too!" + +Afterward it was all rather a strange memory to Georgiana when she +recalled it. She had flown about to prepare the appetizing early supper +with which she was accustomed to serve her small family, and to which +she now added a delicacy or two on account of its seeming the natural +thing to ask Mr. Miles Channing to remain rather than to allow him to go +to the small village hotel. Then she had cleared her table and left the +after-work to the neighbour who was to come to the rescue as before. She +had dressed with hurried fingers for the trip, and had driven away with +a devoted escort who spared no pains to make her feel that he was +exceedingly pleased at the success of his mission. + +There was no place in her memory for something she did not see nor would +have thought of imagining significant if she had seen it. When she left +the house Mr. Jefferson was in his room, searching for a book from which +to read aloud to his self-assumed charge of the evening. When he heard +Georgiana's blithe cry of farewell to her father in the doorway below, +he left the bookcase and went with a quick step to the window. He +watched the car driven by Mr. Channing out of sight down the road; then +he descended to the garden, pipe in hand. Before he returned to the +house to take his place by the evening lamp and begin the reading to the +gentle invalid stretched on the couch, he had covered many furlongs up +and down the straggling pathways and had consumed much more than his +usual quota of choice tobacco. And though all about him had been the May +environment at its loveliest, through all his marching up and down he +had never once looked up. + +Miles away, and ever more miles away, Georgiana had flown like the wind +in the swift car under its skilfully guiding hand. The drive was a +blurred impression of slowly gathering rosy twilight, of the odour of +the apple blossoms--somehow a different and more seductive fragrance +than it had been in the sunlit afternoon--and always there was the sense +of there being beside her a presence which disturbed. Channing's low +laugh, his vibrant voice in her ear, the things he said, half serious, +half earnest, always full of an only slightly veiled intent--the girl +who had spent so many days of her life in hard study or harder +housewifery could do no less than yield herself for the hour to the +pulse-quickening charm of it and forget everything else. + +Just as twilight settled into dusk and for the first time the headlights +of the car came on with a long reach like a golden ribbon along the +road, Channing, suddenly slowing down, a few miles out of the city, +began a rapid speech on a subject so unexpected that it fairly took his +hearer's breath away. + +"It's not fair of me to tell you, but I've simply got to get in the +first word. You must pretend you haven't heard it, but if there's any +persuading to be done I want my share, and want it first. Your cousins +are going to invite you to sail with them next week for a summer in +England after a fortnight in Paris--Paris in June! You don't know what +that means; you can't even imagine it. I can--I know it--don't I know +it!" He laughed softly. "Since they're to be away and won't need her +they'll send down their housekeeper--the most competent person in the +world--to stay with your father and make him absolutely comfortable, so +you don't have to hesitate on that score." + +"It's perfectly wonderful, but"--Georgiana was staring at him through +the dusk--"but--oh, I couldn't, Mr. Channing! how could I? Father is so +feeble; something might happen." + +"Not in summer. Things don't happen to elderly people in summer. It's in +winter--pneumonia and things like that. And don't you know he'd be +delighted to have you go? He wouldn't let you miss such a chance; I know +him already well enough for that." + +"But, you see, I'm engaged to work for Mr. Jefferson----" + +"Well, he'll be all right; he's a traveled man himself; anybody can see +that. He wouldn't stand in the way of your good, not for a moment; of +course he wouldn't. He'd urge you to go. Why, there's nothing else for +you to do. Think of the glorious summer we'll have--glorious! Why, +I----" + +"What do you mean? I don't understand." Georgiana felt her cheeks grow +scarlet in the darkness. + +"Mean? What could I mean? Why, I'm going, too, of course. Sailing when +you do. Invited to spend a month in Devon with the Croftons--and you." +His voice sank lower. "And that fortnight in Paris--oh, I'll be in +Paris, too, no doubt of that! I'll show you what Paris is like on a June +evening. Do you think I'd want to send you out of this country if I +weren't going, too? Not I--Georgiana!" + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"GREAT LUCK!" + + +"Father Davy, are you sure, _sure_?" begged his daughter. + +"Sure that I want you to go, daughter? Very sure. What sort of father +should I be if I were willing to deny you this great pleasure merely to +insure my own comfort? And I shall be comfortable. Why should I not be, +with the good Mrs. Perkins to look after me, and our fine friend Mr. +Jefferson to bear me company in the evenings, as often as he can? And +with James Stuart, who is like a son--and with your letters arriving +with every foreign mail? Dismiss these fears, my dear, and take your +happy chance to see something of the Old World. Many a delightful +evening will we have together next winter, you and I, over the +photographs you will bring back, while you discourse to me of your +adventures." + +Thus Mr. David Warne in his most reassuring manner, while his daughter +studied his delicate, pallid face, her heart smiting her for being +willing to leave him to the loneliness she knew, in spite of all his +protests, he would suffer in her absence. And yet opportunities like +this one did not occur everyday, might not come again in her lifetime. +And everybody was conspiring to make it possible for her. + +"It goes without saying," Mr. Jefferson had told her at once, "that all +other engagements should be cancelled in the face of such an invitation +as this. We will all look after your father for you. And as far as your +work with me is concerned, don't give it another thought. I shall make +rather slower progress without you, of course, but when you return we +will take great strides and complete it well within the limit I have +set. So go by all means, and good luck!" + +As for James McKenzie Stuart, his words of persuasion seemed to be +tempered by various other emotions than those of unselfish desire for +Georgiana's pleasure. + +"Of course it's great, and there's no doubt that you must go," he said. +He was sitting upon the rear porch of the manse, looking off toward +Georgiana's garden, on the second evening after her return from the +hurried drive to the Croftons'. "I'll do all I can for your father, of +course. But don't ask me to console the book-writer." + +Georgiana laughed merrily. "He'll not need any consolation, Jimps. Nor +you either. Jeannette told me to tell you that she'd write to you once a +fortnight--if you'd answer." + +"No! She didn't say that?" + +"Yes, she did, and meant it. I'll write, too, of course. You'll be +deluged with letters and picture post-cards. You ought to be satisfied +with so much attention." + +"Letters are all right--we won't say anything about the post-cards--and +I hope you'll both keep your promises. But when I think of all these +summer evenings without you----" + +He heaved a gusty sigh which Georgiana had no reason to doubt was +genuine. How much heavier would be his spirits, if he were told that +Miles Channing was to be of the party, she had full consciousness. She +was aware of the futility of attempting to keep this unwelcome news from +him longer than the day of her departure, but she had not thus far +ventured to mention it. + +"I shall miss these evenings myself," she said soberly. "After all, +Jimps, I expect there'll be nobody gladder to get back home than I. I +shall see this old garden in my dreams." Then quickly, as another +deep-drawn breath warned her that sentimental ground was dangerous, she +cried: "Oh, but, Jimps! I haven't told you of the last and nicest thing +that wonderful girl has done for me. She insisted on my bringing home +the dearest little traveling suit of some kind of lovely summer serge +that doesn't spot and doesn't muss and is altogether adorable. She +insists it's not becoming to her, and it really isn't; but I almost know +she planned not to have it becoming so she could give it away to me. And +a perfect beauty of a little hat--and a big, loose coat, to wear on the +steamer, that looks absolutely new, but she vows it isn't, and that +she's tired of it. Was ever anybody so lucky as I?" + +"It certainly does take clothes to stir up a girl," was Stuart's cynical +comment. "Talk of separation and they pretend to be as sad over it as +you are; but let 'em think about the clothes they're going to wear and +their spirits leap up like soda water." + +"Poor old Jimps! Doesn't he know the sustaining qualities of pretty +clothes? Too bad! But really it's lucky I have something to sustain me, +it's such a pull to make myself go. I didn't suppose I'd ever leave +Father Davy this way while he is so feeble, but he's the most urgent of +all to send me off, and I know I really can bring him back wonderful +pleasure." + +Thus the talks ran during the few days which elapsed before Georgiana's +departure. Every spare hour was full with preparation, from the packing +of the trim little steamer trunk which arrived by express, a gift from +Uncle Thomas, to the careful mending and putting in perfect order of +every article Father Davy would be likely to wear during the whole +period of his daughter's absence. Georgiana's thoughts as she worked +were a curious mixture of happy anticipation and actual dread. + +"If only I could go as Jeannette is going," she said to herself, +"without a care in the world except to plan how she will fill the +summer, and to make sure her maid puts in plenty of silk stockings to +last till she can buy some more in Paris. When I went to college it was +with the fear that I ought not to accept father's sacrifice, even though +Aunt Harriet was with him then, and he was far, far stronger than he is +now. I've never done anything in my life without a guilty feeling that I +ought not to be doing it. Why can't I do now as they all bid me--drop my +cares and take my fun, like any other girl? I will--I must. It's only +fair!" + +The excitement of anticipation grew upon her as the busy hours slipped +away; the regrets and anxieties diminished. With every day came fresh +and delightfully interesting contributions to her outfitting from +Jeannette or Aunt Olivia--a handsome little handbag of silk and silver +to match the traveling suit; a snug toilet case of soft blue leather, +holding everything mortal woman could want on train or ship; a great +woolly steamer rug to use on shipboard. Georgiana could only catch her +breath at such kindness, and dash off hasty notes of spirited thanks, +and protests against any more of the same sort. But in spite of her +pride it was impossible to resist accepting these and other gifts, they +seemed prompted by such genuine affection. + +The day came; the trunk was closed and strapped. Mr. Jefferson had done +the strapping, coming upon the prospective traveler in the upper hall, +where she was trying in vain to bring leather thong and buckle into the +proper relations. + +"Haven't I yet proved my right to the title of man in the house?" he +inquired, as he did the trick with the masculine ease which is ever a +source of envy to those whose hands are weaker. + +"Indeed you have; but I shall never get over feeling that I have to do +everything for myself." + +"It will be some one's privilege to teach you better some time," was his +rejoinder. "Meanwhile, those of us who are near at hand are only too +happy to act as deputies." + +Between her "three men," as Jeannette had called them, Georgiana was +allowed to do little for herself at the last. She was to meet her +cousins as the train went through their city, but Stuart had invited +himself to accompany her to that point, thus giving himself a chance, as +he said, to clinch that bargain with Jeannette concerning the promised +letters and post-cards. + +Therefore Georgiana's farewells were not to be all said at once, for +which she was thankful. It was quite enough to take leave of Father +Davy, who was looking, it seemed to his daughter's eyes, on that sultry +June morning, a shade paler and weaker than usual. + +"It's the sudden summer heat, dear," he said with the brightest of +smiles, as with her arms about him she questioned him; "nothing more. +There, there, my little girl; don't let your fancy get the better of +you. I'm very well indeed, and shall soon be used to the summer weather. +Go--and God be with you, dearest!" + +"It doesn't matter about His going with me if He'll only stay with you," +murmured Georgiana, vainly struggling with herself, that she might take +a bright and tearless farewell of this dear being. + +"He will go with you and He will stay with me," said Mr. Warne +cheerfully, "so be at rest. Here--I've written you a steamer letter. +Read it when the good ship sails, and think of me as rejoicing in your +happiness." + +It was over at last, and she was off. At the gate she had turned to Mr. +Jefferson, who was carrying her handbag to the village stage, from which +Stuart had leaped to run up to the porch and say a word of cheer to Mr. +Warne, sitting in a big chair. + +"I can't tell you what a comfort it is, Mr. Jefferson," she said as she +gave him her hand, "to know that you are here. I haven't worked with you +for six weeks not to understand that it is no mere author of a +scientific treatise who is staying with my father." + +"No?" He smiled into her lifted eyes, and his look was that of a friend +whom one may trust. "Well, Miss Georgiana, if it is of any support to +you to be told that whatever knowledge or skill I may have is all at the +service of your father, then I am glad to assure you of that fact. I +will do my best for him always. Good-bye, and may it be a happy time +from first to last." + +His hand held hers close as he said these words, and continued to hold +it for a moment longer while he gave her a long and intent look. She +felt a strange pang; it was almost as if she could think he was going to +miss her. Yet she knew better. If he missed her it would be only because +he had become accustomed to having her about. No sign of any more +uncommon interest had he ever shown. + +Then Stuart, farther down the path, was calling, "Come, George, we're +all but late now"; and she was in the old stage and it was lumbering off +down the road, while neighbours waved from their windows, and Georgiana +strained her eyes to get a last look at the figure on the porch. + +On the train she and Stuart somehow found little to say to each other in +the ride of an hour and a half to the city station where the rest of the +party came aboard. Stuart did not catch sight of Miles Channing until +the last minute of the train's stop. He had filled the earlier period of +the ten-minute detention in the station with a hurried talk with +Jeannette, during which Georgiana noted that the two seemed thoroughly +absorbed in each other. It was small wonder, for Jeannette had never +been more radiantly lovely than in the distinguished plainness of her +traveling costume. She seemed very happy as she presumably bargained +with Stuart for letters, and Jimps himself had never looked more +interested in any proposition than in that one. + +Suddenly, however, the wait was over. Georgiana turned from greeting +Channing, who had just come aboard followed by a porter with his +luggage, when she heard Stuart's voice in her ear: + +"George, is _he_ going?" + +"I believe he is," she admitted, trying not to let her colour rise +beneath the accusing expression in his eyes. + +"And you didn't mention it?" + +"Didn't I? He's Jeannette's and Rosalie's friend, not mine." + +"No; he's something more than a friend to you--or means to be. I might +have known he'd work this scheme. It's good-bye to you in earnest then." + +"Jimps! Please don't. It's nothing of the sort. I----" + +The train began to move. But instead of a hasty leave-taking and a leap +from the steps, James Stuart stood still. "I believe I'll go on for +another hour," he said coolly, with a glance at his watch. "I can get +off at the next stop. Meanwhile--Miss Jeannette, the observation +platform seems to be nearly empty. Would you care to sit out there a +while, since I've no chair in here now and the car is full?" + +Georgiana, sitting facing Miles Channing--she wondered who was +responsible for the fact that his chair proved to be next hers--saw his +eyes, as he glanced toward the rear of the car, follow Stuart and +Jeannette. + +"He's a mighty nice fellow, isn't he?" he commented pleasantly. "Too bad +he isn't coming along. Seems tremendously interested in Jeannette, and +it's quite evident that she likes him--as much as is good for him. These +partings--well, I'm sorry for him. But he means to make the most of this +last hour. It would be unkind of us to follow them out there, wouldn't +it?--though I was about to propose going out when he stole a march on +me." + +"It would be very unkind," agreed Georgiana gayly. "Yes, I wish he could +have the whole journey; he deserves a rest and change. He's one of the +finest men I know." + +Now that Channing was beside her, with his handsome face and faultlessly +dressed figure easily the most attractive man in the car, she could not +begrudge Jeannette this final hour with Stuart, though her pride +smarted a little under the change in his manner toward herself. She had +read in her cousin's face, as Jeannette's eyes met Stuart's when she +first caught sight of him, that she was much more than commonly glad to +see him, and the observer had noted with what an air of joyous +comradeship the two had hurried, laughing, down the aisle to the rear +door after Stuart's proposal. + +But the hour was soon over. It was not until the train stopped that +Jeannette and Stuart returned to the others inside the car, and then the +farewells were necessarily hurried. With a smiling face Stuart shook +hands with them all, leaving his best friend to the last, according to +the unwritten law of farewells. + +When he came to her he looked very nearly straight into her eyes--not +quite--it might have been her lower eyelashes upon which he brought his +glance to bear. + +"Great luck, Georgiana," he said distinctly, "and all kinds of a good +time." + +"Good-bye, Jimps, and thank you very, very much for coming," she +responded. + +It was hardly to be believed that James Stuart would not lower his voice +and murmur some last word for her ear alone, for this had long been his +custom. Instead, he gave her a brilliant smile--and turned again to +Jeannette. + +"Good-bye, once more," he said--and added something under his breath, in +response to which Jeannette nodded, smiling, and went with him to the +front end of the car, where she alone was the last to wave farewell as +he looked back from the platform. + +Georgiana caught a final glimpse of him as he ran along it with bared +head, and the whole party waved hands and called parting salutes, in +which she joined. Then Jeannette came back, and Georgiana looked +searchingly at her, her own heart experiencing an uncomfortable sort of +depression as she saw the exquisite flush on her cousin's cheek and the +light in her eyes. + +"'Dog in the manger!'" Georgiana sternly reproached herself in her own +thoughts. "Isn't it enough for you to have one man looking devotion at +you, but you must claim everybody in sight?" And she made a determined +and partially successful effort not to mind that things had turned out +as they had. Only--she and James Stuart had been friends a very long +time, and she was sorry to have the parting from him tinged by a cloud +of misunderstanding. It would have been much better, she admitted to +herself now, to have told him frankly in the beginning that Miles +Channing was to be of the party. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A LITTLE TRUNK + + +It was a journey of only a few hours to the dock where the party were to +take ship, the sailing being set for early afternoon. Before it seemed +possible they had left the train and were being conveyed by motor to the +pier. It was at the first whiff of salt-water fragrance that Georgiana +felt a sudden onset of dread of the sailing of the great ship. And when +she caught sight of the four black funnels rising above the mass of +smaller smokestacks and masts and spars which lifted beyond the dingy +buildings of the pier, she experienced an unexpected and disconcerting +longing to run away--back to her home. + +Her father's face rose before her as she had seen it that morning, pale +and worn, the inner brightness of the undaunted spirit shining through +the thinnest of veils. What if anything should happen to that beloved +face, so that she should never set eyes on it again? The thought shook +her with a throb of pain. + +They were on the pier, they were ascending the gangway, they were on one +of the lower decks and entering the elevator which was to lift them +past many intermediate decks to that one, next the highest of all, where +their quarters lay. And when they came out upon that upper deck +Georgiana was dimly conscious that they were a party to attract +attention, even among many people evidently of the same class. Any party +to which Aunt Olivia and Jeannette belonged, she felt, must necessarily +expect to be noticed. Of her own contribution to the party's distinction +she was entirely unaware. + +But now that she was actually on shipboard, where during the last +fortnight she had so many times imagined herself, Georgiana found to her +distress that she could not for a moment banish the thought, the image +itself, of that gentle, suffering face at home. Not that she wanted to +forget it--not that; but she did want, now that her decision was made, +to be able to appreciate what a happy occasion it was and how fortunate +the circumstances which had brought about her presence here, the last +place in the world she had expected ever to be in. + +She entered the stateroom which she was to share with her cousins, and +was amazed at the size and comfort of it. It was half filled with +flowers and baskets of fruit and other offerings sent for the girls, +with two boxes addressed to herself. Both Stuart and Mr. Jefferson had +sent her flowers. As she examined them a hurried steward appeared with +a third box, which proved to be also for her--a small box, which had +come not from a city florist, like the others, but by mail. + +It had been put up by unskilled hands, as its crushed shape and damp +exterior clearly showed. She opened it, wondering, and found a little +bunch of garden flowers, sadly wilted, their limp stems protruding from +the moistened newspaper in which they were wrapped. She searched for a +card, and found it. In a hand she knew well, a little cramped, a little +wavering, but full of character, she read these words: "Blessing her, +praying for her, loving her." + +Georgiana's heart gave a great leap of fear. What were those lines, what +the context? She knew them--knew them well. She had never heard her +father quote them, and never read with him the lines from which they +came. Did he know them, use them with intent, not imagining she would +place them? As she well remembered, they were from "Enoch Arden," and +she had spoken them herself, in a dramatized version of that pathetic +poem, the last winter of her college life. And they ran thus: + + When you shall see her, tell her that I died + Blessing her, praying for her, loving her. + +At the moment she was alone in the stateroom, the two girls having been +an instant before summoned by their brother to meet some friends who +had come on board to see them off. She stood staring at the touching +little bunch of faded bloom, knowing just how tender had been the +thought of her which had prompted the effort. It had not occurred to Mr. +Warne that there was any other way of sending flowers to ships than by +mailing them from one's own garden. As for the words, she knew well +enough that he had not dreamed of disturbing her content by quoting +them, yet--she could but feel that the reason why they came to his mind +when he was searching there for a bit of tender sentiment to send with +his parting gift was the thought of his own possible end being not far +away. And if he, too, were thinking of that---- + +With a fast-beating heart Georgiana stood staring out of the open +porthole at the scene of activity outside. Far below her she could see +the gangway over which she had come on board. In less than an hour--the +party had arrived early--that gangway would be withdrawn, the water +would slowly widen between pier and ship, and there would be no turning +back. Could she go--could she bear to go--and take the chance? Were her +fears only the natural forebodings of the unaccustomed traveler, or was +there a real reason why she should never have allowed herself to be +persuaded to leave one whose hold on life was so frail, the only being +in the world to whom she was closely bound? She closed her eyes and +tried to think.... + +Mrs. Thomas Crofton, turning from a group of friends at the touch of her +niece's hand upon hers, would have drawn the girl into the circle and +presented her with genuine pride in her, but the low voice in her ear +deterred her: + +"Aunt Olivia, please forgive me, but I must ask you to come away with me +just for five minutes. Please----" + +In a temporarily forsaken angle of the deck Georgiana laid her case +before her aunt, speaking with rapid, shaken words, but none the less +determinedly. Mrs. Crofton listened with an astonished face and with +lips which protested even before they had the chance to speak. + +"I know just how dreadful it will seem to you all--that I shouldn't have +known my duty long ago. But I see it now--oh, so plainly! And it's not +only my duty, it's my love that takes me back. I can't stop to tell you +how I feel about leaving you all when you've been so kind, so wonderful +to me. I can tell you that another time. But the thing now for me is to +get off this ship before it sails. I must!" + +"But, Georgiana, my dear child----" + +"Oh, please don't try to keep me, Aunt Olivia! My mind is made up. I +can't tell you how it hurts to do it, but I don't dare to leave my +father. If anything happened to him I could never forgive +myself--never. He isn't well. It would do no good to take me with you +now. I should be so miserable I should spoil it all for you." + +"Georgiana, listen." The calmly poised woman of the world held the +clinging hand in a firm, warm grasp, the low voice spoke evenly. "Many +people feel just as you do, dear, on the eve of sailing. Some are made +actually ill, even quite old travelers. But they know that it is pure +hysteria and they fight it off, and afterward they are able to laugh at +their fears. My dear, you are quite mistaken about there being any +danger threatening your father. He is in the best of hands, and he +himself would be sadly disappointed----" + +It was of no use. Mrs. Crofton took her niece to her stateroom, and, +sending for Jeannette and Rosalie, even for Uncle Thomas, tried in vain +to shake her. + +Ten minutes before the hour of sailing, Rosalie, rushing about the deck +in search of Miles Channing, finally discovered him and burst out under +her breath with the appalling news: + +"Georgiana's going back! She's got the idea somehow that her father +mayn't live till she comes home. We can't do a thing with her. Oh, do +come and see if you can't show her how absurd it is to do such a thing!" + +"Going back!" Miles Channing seized Rosalie's arm. "Where is she? Why, +she can't go back; the ship's all but casting off. What on earth is the +matter with her? She's too sensible a girl to lose her head at the last +minute. Good heavens! We won't let her go; we'll keep her in her +stateroom till it's too late. Take me there--quick!" + +They dashed along the narrow passageways, until, coming from the +Croftons' suite, they encountered Georgiana pale but quiet, Jeannette +flushed scarlet and in tears, and Mrs. Crofton evidently sorely +exasperated, but keeping herself well in hand. + +Channing walked straight up to Georgiana. "Will you give me five +minutes?" he asked. + +She shook her head with a faint smile. "It's no use, Mr. Channing. I +shall not change my mind again. I should have known it in the first +place, and there mayn't be five minutes to spare. I must be in sight of +the gangway." + +"I'll take you there," he said, and glanced at the others in a way which +clearly said: "Give me my chance." They understood and let him lead +Georgiana on ahead toward the place she sought. + +He was a clever man and an experienced one in the ways of women, even +though his years among them were not yet many. He realized that argument +was of little use; there was only one weapon left with which to fight +the girl's determination, and it was one he was not loath to use, though +he had not meant to speak so plainly until quite different surroundings +invited. + +"This is a hard blow to my hopes," he said very low, as they stood where +they could watch the manoeuvres of the officers and men who were in +charge of the embarkation of passengers. "I can't tell you what this +voyage with you has meant to me; I don't know how to give it up. Now, +please listen. Won't you do this? Come across with us, and then, when +you are actually over--it's only a five-day crossing, you know--if you +still feel you must go back, we'll not try to prevent you. You'll be +away then only a fortnight, and nothing in the world can go wrong at +your home in that little time. And meanwhile we shall have had this +voyage together--Georgiana?" + +His voice with its meaning inflections would have been very hard to +resist, if the girl had not by now set her teeth upon her determination. +Having suffered already so much humiliation for the sake of her sudden +conviction, her pride would not have let her change again, though a +voice from the skies had then and there assured her that all was and +would be well with her father. So once more she shook her head and moved +toward the gangway. Behind her, ready to follow her if must be, a +deckhand waited with her luggage. The Croftons, their faces showing much +concern, had remained in the background waiting for a signal from +Channing that he had or had not prevailed. + +"If you go ashore," threatened Channing, "I shall go with you. And the +ship will sail without me." + +This roused her to speech. "No, no; don't even say such a thing--just to +frighten me. Good-bye, Mr. Channing, and--I'm truly very, very sorry." + +"I mean it," he urged hotly. "The whole thing is nothing to me without +you; you know that perfectly well." + +"I should never forgive you," she said, turning to look once into his +eyes, as if to convince him of the reality of her prohibition; and he +saw there all the spirit he had reckoned with, and saw, too, such a +world of possibilities for one who could arouse that intense and +purposeful nature, that he was swept off his feet. + +"But you will forgive me if I come back by the next ship," he said +quickly. + +"No. Not if you come a day sooner than you intended." + +Once more their glances met, like blows; then Georgiana moved rapidly +toward the gangway, where the sailor in charge was beckoning. The +Croftons, one and all, hurried forward, and the retreating traveler +suffered their embraces. + +"My child, you are forcing us to leave you here alone to look after +yourself, after our promising to take every care of you," mourned Mrs. +Crofton. "I shall be most uneasy about you." + +"No, no, dear Aunt Olivia, you mustn't be. I am a perfectly independent +person, and I can take myself home without a particle of trouble. +Good-bye--and please, please forgive me, all of you!" + +She was off at last, with Jeannette's hot tears on her cheek, Rosalie's +reproachful and all but angry final speech, "I didn't think you'd +actually do it, Georgiana Warne!" ringing in her ears; and Chester's +explosive, derisive prediction following her, "By thunder, but you'll be +a sorry girl when it's too late. I can tell you that!"--to make her feel +that nobody really understood or sympathized with her. + +It was Uncle Thomas who applied the one touch of balm to his niece's +sore heart: + +"David Warne is a rich man, my dear girl, to have you," he said gently, +as he kissed her. "Don't feel too badly over disappointing us; it's all +right. Take good care of yourself going home, and give my love to your +father." + +She smiled bravely back at him as she ran down the gangway with half a +score of belated visitors to the ship. In a moment she was only one of +the crowd of people who were watching the huge bulk of the liner draw +almost imperceptibly away from the pier. Through blurred vision she +looked up to the spot where they were all waving at her and +smiling--thank heaven, they were smiling, as it was obviously their +duty to do, no matter what their feelings. + +When their faces had become indistinguishable, and the great ship had +backed far out into the waters, and was headed toward the Atlantic, +Georgiana turned to a porter at her elbow. "No," she said, "I didn't +sail. Yes, this trunk is mine; it's to go back." + +Somehow, as she followed the man through the long, dingy building, the +thing which drove home the ache in her heart was the sight of the +little, aristocratic-looking, leather-covered steamer trunk, Uncle +Thomas's gift, packed with so many high hopes, now riding alone on a +great truck. Of all the baggage which that truck had borne to the lading +of the ship, hers was the only little, lonely piece to come back! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +REACTION + + +In the darkness of the summer midnight Georgiana descended from the +"owl" train, the only passenger, as it happened, to alight at the small +station. She had hoped to slip away unobserved for the half-mile walk +home, but the station master was too quick for her. He was a young +station master, and he had known Georgiana Warne all his life--from +afar. + +"Well, I certainly did think I'd seen a ghost," said he, confronting +her. "I thought you'd gone to Europe. Get a message to come back? Your +father ain't took sick, has he?" + +"No, I hope not. I--something happened to make it best for me to come +back." + +"Well, that's too bad, sure," said he, curiously regarding her. "Say, +wait five minutes and I'll walk down the road with you. It's pretty late +for you to be out alone." + +"Thank you, Mr. Parker; I don't mind a bit, and I'm anxious to get on. +I've only this small bag to carry, and it's bright moonlight. No, truly, +please don't come. Good-night, and thank you." + +Could this really be herself, Georgiana Warne, she wondered, as she made +her escape and walked rapidly away down the road under the high arches +of the elms. How had it come about? Why was she here, she who had +expected to be out on the first reaches of the great deep when midnight +came this night? As she passed silent house after silent house, familiar +and yet somehow strangely unfamiliar in the light of what might have +been, it was hard enough to realize that she had had this wonderful +chance to stay away for two happy months from the sober little old +place, and had herself relinquished it. + +Before she knew it she was nearing her home, the old white house +standing square and stern in the moonlight--she had been seeing it all +the way in the train. She loved it dearly, no doubt of that, but it had +been no attack of homesickness which had brought her back to it. + +As she came up the path she saw, past the sweeping branches of the great +trees which surrounded the house, that Mr. Jefferson's windows were +still alight. This was no surprise, for she knew he had often worked +till late hours before she began to help him; and it looked as if, now +that he had to continue alone, he meant to keep up the rate of advance +by working overtime. + +Georgiana stole upon the porch and tried the door. It was bolted as +usual. She slipped around the house, and tried the side and rear doors +in turn, to find them fast. She had had no plan as to how to make an +undisturbing entrance at this hour, but had counted on being able to +discover some unguarded point. She and her father had never been careful +as to thorough locking of the house in a neighbourhood where thefts were +almost unknown, but evidently their boarder, accustomed to city ways and +chances of trouble, had taken pains to make all fast. + +There seemed to be only one thing to do, and Georgiana did it. After +all, it was probably better that somebody should know of her return, in +case she had to go about the house and make any betraying sounds. She +stooped to the gravel path, and scooping up a handful of pebbles flung +them up at one of the lighted windows, where they rattled like small +bird shot upon the wire netting of the screen. + +It took a second fusillade before the absorbed worker within was +attracted and appeared at the window, a black figure against the yellow +radiance of the oil lamp. + +"It's some one who belongs here," Georgiana called softly. "Please come +down very quietly and let me in." + +"Wait a minute," returned the voice above. + +In less than that minute the door swung softly open, and the tall +figure, clad in loose shirt and trousers, the former open at the neck +and revealing a sturdy throat, stood before the applicant for admission. +There was no light upon Georgiana, for the moonlit yard was behind her. + +"What can I do for you?" Mr. Jefferson was beginning in a pleasant tone, +as of one not at all disturbed by being summoned at this hour, when a +voice he had heard many times before said, with an odd thrill in it, as +if it struggled between tears and laughter: + +"You can let me in and try not to consider me an idiot. I got my father +on my mind and couldn't sail, so I came back. That's absolutely all +there is of it." + +"My dear girl!" Mr. Jefferson put forth a hand and took hers, as he came +out upon the porch. "Of course, I beg your pardon," he added, releasing +her hand after one strong pressure, "if you consider that my rather +natural surprise isn't apology enough. But--you can't mean that the +ship--and the party--have sailed without you?" + +"Just that. Is--is my father as well as he was this morning?" + +"He was quite as well, apparently, at bedtime. The heat has been trying, +but he has borne it without complaint." + +"I don't know what I expected," confessed Georgiana rather faintly; "but +I don't think I expected that. I'm very thankful. I'll come in and slip +upstairs. Thank you for coming down." + +She would stay for no more; it seemed to her that she could bear no +further explanations to-night. As if he understood her, Mr. Jefferson +was silent as he followed her in, bolted the heavy door, and took from +her the handbag she carried. He deposited this at the door of her room +upstairs, and spoke under his breath in the darkness relieved only by +the rays which shone from the open door of his own room at the front of +the hall: + +"Good-night--and welcome back!" + +It was almost daylight when she fell asleep, and she wakened again at +the first sound of Mrs. Perkins's footsteps in the kitchen below her. +She dressed slowly, her heart heavy with the sense of having made a +probably needless sacrifice. With the waking in the familiar old room, +all the realization of that which she had lost had come heavily upon +her. Why was not the sunlight pouring in through portholes, bearing the +refreshing breezes from the sea, instead of beating in over the hot tin +roof of the ell upon which her windows looked? Was it merely as Aunt +Olivia had warned her, the hysteria of the inexperienced traveler? Why +had she not at least accepted Miles Channing's eminently reasonable +suggestion that she make the voyage, giving her emotions time to cool? +At the longest, if she made an immediate return, she would have been +absent but little more than a fortnight. + +But she dressed with unusual care none the less, and when she descended +the back stairs she was looking as fresh and trim as ever in her life. +She encountered the good Mrs. Perkins in the kitchen and had it out with +her, receiving the first encouragement she had felt that somebody would +think her rational in her return. + +"Well, I must say," declared that lady, standing still, as if she had +been struck, in an attitude of astonishment, "while I'm more than sorry +for you to lose your trip, Georgie, I shall feel safer now you're back. +Your father cert'nly does look awful peaked to me and kind of weak-like, +more so than I ever noticed before. Perhaps it's just because I felt the +responsibility settlin' down on my shoulders the minute you was out of +the house. And I guess he was goin' to miss you pretty awful much; +though, of course, he wouldn't say so." + +Georgiana took in her father's tray when it was ready, quite as usual, +her heart beating fast as she entered and beheld the white face against +the propped-up pillows. After the first gasp of surprise she saw the +unwonted colour flow into the pale cheeks. + +"My dear, dear child," he said, as she set down the tray and flew to +clasp him in her arms, "this is--this is almost more than I can grasp. +What has happened Is the sailing of your ship deferred?" + +"My sailing on it is deferred," she told him. "I couldn't leave you, +Father Davy; that's the simple truth. Your daughter is an +infant-in-arms." + +She did not try to make it clear to him; but let him guess the most of +her reason for returning, and was rewarded by his fervent: "Well, dear, +it was a very wonderful thing for you to do. But you should not have +done it. You should have trusted the good Lord to take care of me, as I +bade you. You must do it yet. We will arrange for you to follow your +Uncle Thomas's party on the next boat. I cannot have you lose so much +just for me." + +"It's no use," she asserted, her eyes studying the blue veins so clearly +outlined on the fair forehead. "I've made my decision; I ought to have +made it that way in the beginning. So long as you need me I shall not +leave you." + +At the breakfast table she met Mr. Jefferson. It was only twenty-four +hours since she and he had breakfasted together, but somehow it seemed +to Georgiana as if at least a week had gone by. Mr. Warne was seldom +present at the first meal of the day, and it had come to seem very +natural to Georgiana to sit down with her boarder and pour his coffee +and talk with him. This morning, however, there was a curious constraint +in the girl's manner. After the first interchange of observations on +the promise of even more extreme heat than on the preceding day and the +possibilities of dress and diet to suit the trying conditions, the talk +flagged. + +"I am strongly tempted," said Mr. Jefferson, as he rose after making an +unusually frugal meal of fruit and coffee, "to let up on work till there +comes a change in the weather. I believe I shall try how it feels to +idle a little. You surely will indorse that, Miss Warne, as far as you +are concerned?" + +"No," she said quickly, sure that this plan was the result of +consideration for herself; "as far as I am concerned I should much +prefer to work. I am sure you can give me something to do, even if you +are not working yourself." + +"Do you mean that? Then if you do, I shall be with you, though I think +it would be good for you to rest. This last week has been pretty full +for you, even though you haven't been with me on the book." + +She shook her head. "I want to go on with it," she insisted; and he +agreed. + +News in a small village travels fast, and Georgiana was fully prepared +to have James Stuart appear with the first fall of dusk. He came through +the hedge at the foot of the garden, and found her on the seat under the +old apple tree which was her favourite resort. His greeting was full of +the astonishment which had been his all day. + +"My word, George, but I never would have believed this! How on earth did +you come to do it?" + +"I had to," she said simply and rather wearily. She had explained to at +least twenty persons that day, as well as she could explain. She was not +willing to confide to any one the incident of the flowers and the card +which had brought about the impulse to return that had hardened so +quickly into action. She had listened to all kinds of comments on the +situation, some few sympathetic, but most of them curious and critical. +Many had said to her that they never would have believed Georgie Warne +would ever change her mind about anything. Others had added that perhaps +it was a good thing, since her father certainly was pretty feeble and +nobody knew when he might take a turn for the worse. Altogether, it had +not been a happy day for the object of the village interest. + +Stuart sat down beside Georgiana on the old bench which bore his +initials from one end to the other of it, the earliest ones hacked out +during his small boyhood, the later more than once coupling Georgiana's +with his own. His hand, as he settled into place, rested on one of these +very monograms. + +"It seems like the natural thing to say I'm glad to see you back," he +said slowly, "but--there's a reason why I can't say it at all." + +"Then don't dream of saying it." Georgiana leaned her head listlessly +against the seamy old tree trunk behind her. + +"It's not that I wanted you to go; you know I was altogether too selfish +for that," he went on. "But--something happened at the last that made me +entirely reconciled to having you go. Can you guess what it was?" + +"Possibly." + +"But you can't. Of course I was pretty well dashed at finding Channing +booked for the trip. But--I got over that when--I made up my mind to +come, too." + +"To come, too!" The head resting against the tree trunk turned quickly. +"What _do_ you mean?" + +"Jeannette suggested it," said he, with something in his voice which his +listener could not quite analyze. "She put it up to me to come over +while they should be staying in Devonshire, and join their house party. +At first I said I couldn't, but the more I thought of it the more it +seemed possible to get over there for a fortnight anyhow. The plan was +not to tell you, and to surprise you by walking in on you." + +Georgiana stared at him, as well as she could see him through the fervid +twilight. "Jimps! Why, how could you get away?" + +"There's never a time when it's easy to get away," he admitted; "but +everything's in full sail now for the summer, and just lately I've +succeeded in getting hold of an awfully competent man who could run +things for the month well enough. Anyhow, of course I was dippy at the +thought of going and--I promised her I would if I could manage it. I've +never had the chance to travel much, and it suddenly struck me that I +didn't have to deny myself every possible thing. But, of course, now +that you're back----" + +"But that makes no difference!" she cried quickly, "Why should it? +Jeannette asked you because she wanted you. Of course you must go, if +you really can get away." + +"She never would have asked me if you hadn't been going. And it was only +an afterthought then. If I hadn't gone on for that last hour it wouldn't +have occurred to her." + +"It occurred to her to wish it, because she said so more than once to me +the day I was there. But she didn't dream you could do it. I don't know +why we should all consider you a fixture, for your father is much +stronger than mine and it couldn't harm him at all to spare you for a +little. Of course, you must go, Jimps! When will you start?" + +"Do you honestly want me to go, George?" He seemed to be scanning her +face through the dimness. + +"I should be a selfish thing enough if I didn't," she protested. + +He was silent for a minute; then he said: "To be frank, I wrote last +night for a berth on a ship that sails in two weeks. Jeannette warned me +not to delay, the travel is so heavy this time of year. I talked it over +with my father and he seemed pleased at the idea. You can imagine I felt +a bit dizzy this morning when I heard you hadn't sailed. I didn't +believe it at first." + +"Never mind, you will go just the same--and all the more. It's a pity +somebody shouldn't carry out the plan, and you've had less fun than I, +for you've been at home longer since college. Go, Jimps, and take the +goods the gods provide." + +She maintained this spirit throughout the ensuing fortnight, in spite of +his evident effort to make her acknowledge that she would feel her own +disappointment the more for his going. When he came over to say good-bye +he found her apparently in the gayest of spirits; and she gave him such +a friendly send-off that he went away marvelling in his heart at the +ways of young women, and the ways of Georgiana Warne in particular. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"STEADY ON!" + + +On the day following the departure of James Stuart for England, while +the two literary workmen were hard at it in the old manse study, the +July weather having mercifully turned decidedly cooler for a space, the +village telegraph messenger, a tall youth with a shambling gait, +appeared with a message for Mr. Jefferson. Georgiana brought it to him, +and waited to know whether there was a reply. + +She saw the message--evidently a long one--twice read, and noticed a +peculiar lighting of the grave face which had bent over it. Mr. +Jefferson wrote an answer, briefer than the message received, and +himself took it to the waiting boy. When he returned he sat down and +began to put in order the papers on which he had been working. + +"I have another trade, as you have guessed," he said to Georgiana. "It +seems necessary for me to go away and work at it for a few days, perhaps +a fortnight. It is fortunate for me that you are here, for I should not +have felt that I ought to leave your father, and yet I should hardly +have been able to refuse the call of that message." + +"Then I am very glad," she returned, "that I am here. Can you leave me +work to do?" + +"I am afraid not, beyond that already laid out for to-day. Won't you +rest while I am gone? This is vacation time for most people, you know." + +She shook her head. "With only father to look after I shall have little +enough to do." + +"You won't--forgive me!--go up into that blistering attic and make rugs? +I hope not!" She felt that he was looking keenly at her. + +"Why should you hope not? I am one of the people who must be busy to be +contented. How soon do you go, Mr. Jefferson?" + +"On the noon train." He looked at his watch. "I have an hour to make +ready. No, don't go. I will come back when I am ready, and we will put +things in shape to leave, so that we shall know exactly where to take +them up again." + +In half an hour he was back, and together the two put the results of +their joint work into such shape that at a moment's notice they might +resume it. This done, they went to Mr. Warne, and the intending traveler +explained briefly the situation--without, as Georgiana fully realized, +explaining it at all. Then, shortly, he went away, with something in his +manner which subtly told her that he was very glad to go, and that he +was thinking of little besides the errand which took him from them, +careful though he was in every courteous detail of leave-taking. + +When he had gone Georgiana and her father looked at each other. + +"Daughter," said Mr. Warne, looking intently at the vivid face, with the +eyes which saw so many things, "do you know what you remind me of?" + +"No, Father Davy. Of a cross child?" + +"Of a young colt, penned into a very small enclosure, with only one lame +and blind old horse to keep it company. And within sight, off on the +hillside, is a great, green pasture, with other colts and lambs sporting +gayly about, and the summer sunshine over all--except in the corral, +over which a dark cloud hangs. And I am sorry--sorry!" + +"Father Davy!" Georgiana choked back a lump in her throat. "But it is +hot July, and the cloud makes it cooler and nicer in the corral. And +besides--the lame, blind horse is such a dear--has drawn such heavy +loads and would be so lonely now without company. And--and the colt has +many long years to sport on hillsides." + +Mr. Warne smiled, more sadly than was his wont. "But not while it is a +colt." Then, after a pause, "My dear, we shall miss Mr. Jefferson." + +"Shall we?" + +"I shall miss him more than I should have realized till I saw him go +down the path. And James Stuart, too. That is why I know that you will +miss them." + +"We shall live through it," prophesied his daughter cheerfully, and +betook herself to the kitchen, which she found looking, in spite of its +well-ordered neatness, more like a jail than ever before. + +The following days went by on feet of lead. Never had Georgiana had to +make such an effort to maintain ordinary, everyday cheerfulness and +patience. She found herself longing, with one continuous dull ache from +morning till night, for something to happen, something which would +absorb her every faculty. She rose early and went for long walks, and +went again in the late afternoons, with the one purpose of tiring her +vigorous young body so that it would keep her restless mind in order. +She worked at her rug-making many hours, spent many more in reading +aloud to her father, and still there were hours left to fill. She forced +herself to go to see all her acquaintances, to visit those few who were +ill; there was nobody in want in the whole place, it seemed, in this +summer prosperity of garden. + +"There's nothing to do for any one," she said to her father one day. "I +feel guilty times without number because I'm not of more use to the +people about me." + +Her father studied her. "Dear," he said slowly, "what you need just now +is something the good Father knows you need, and I believe He will not +deny it to you. In the meantime, remember that simply being cheerful and +patient under enforced waiting is sometimes the greatest service that +can be rendered." + +"If you haven't taught me that, it isn't because you haven't illustrated +it every day of your life," she cried--and fled. + +In her own room she beat her strong young hands together. "Oh, dear God!" +she said aloud, "if I could only, only have the thing I want, I would +take anything, _anything_ that might go with it and not complain!" + +And then, suddenly, one early August night, Mr. Jefferson returned. He +came up the path, bag in hand, and saw a solitary figure standing on the +small front porch, where a latticework sheltered opposing seats. It was +a white figure in the early dusk and it rose as he approached. + +"The fortnight is not quite up," said Georgiana quietly. "But I put your +room in order to-day, hoping you would come. My father never missed +anybody so much." + +"That sounds very pleasant." He set down his bag and shook hands. "It +makes it the harder to say that I must be off again in the morning. +And--I shall not be coming back. If it had not been that I could not +leave without seeing you and Mr. Warne I should have sent on to ask you +to pack and send my trunk." + +"Really? How very unexpected! But I would gladly have sent on the +trunk," said Georgiana. Something cold clutched at her heart. + +"Would you? That sounds rather inhospitable! Do you care to hear my +plans?" + +"If you care to tell them, Mr. Jefferson." + +"I wonder," said he, "if you would be willing to go around to the other +porch and sit there. I have a fancy for being where I can get the scent +from your garden. I shall miss that spicy fragrance. Is your father +still up?" + +"He has just gone to bed. He would be very happy if you would go in and +speak to him," said Georgiana. + +Mr. Jefferson ran upstairs with his bag, and made a brief call upon Mr. +Warne. Then he came down, to find Georgiana standing with her arms about +a white pillar, her face looking off toward the garden. The lamplight +from the central hall, whose rear door opened upon the porch, gleamed +rosily out upon her. + +Mr. Jefferson came out and stood beside her. "I came back," he said, +"just to offer you my friendship in any time of need. I couldn't go away +without doing that; I couldn't be content merely to write it back to +you. I have lived here in your home with your father and yourself until +it has come to seem almost as if I belonged here. But my work calls me; +I must go back to it. The book must wait, to be finished in spare +moments as other books have been finished. I thought I could give myself +this year away from my profession to accomplish this task and perhaps to +lay in fresh stores of energy. But I find I can't be easy in mind to do +this longer. So I am going back." + +After an instant Georgiana answered, without turning her eyes away from +the garden: "You are a very fortunate person." + +"To have work that calls so loudly? I am sure of that. And it is work +which absorbs me to the full. But I shall always have time to give to +you or to your father, if in any way I can ever be of service to you. I +have no family to call upon me for any attention whatever; I have no +near relative except the married sister who lives abroad, as I have told +you. By the way, Allison has bidden me more than once to thank you for +her for taking such good care of me. You know her by her picture, if you +have noticed it--the one on my bureau." + +Georgiana nodded. She did not trust her lips, which were suddenly +trembling, to tell him that though he had often spoken of this sister he +had never mentioned the fact that the photograph on his bureau was hers. +But--what did it matter now? It was far better that she had not known, +that she had had this restraint upon her imagination to keep her from +ever letting herself go. It was far better---- But he was speaking; she +must listen. + +"While I have been in this house I have felt," he was saying, "as if I +had a real home. It is hard to give that up. Association with your +father has become much to me. I can't tell you what he has given me out +of his stores of wisdom and experience. And you--have been very good to +me; I shall not forget it." + +"I have done nothing," murmured Georgiana with dry lips, "except feed +you and dust your room. You might have had such service anywhere." + +"Might I? I doubt it. And there is something else. If I may I should +like to tell you how I have admired you for your steady facing of each +day's routine. There is no heroism in the world, Miss Georgiana, equal +to that, to my thinking." + +She shook her head. "I'm not heroic; please don't tell me I am." + +"But you are, and I must tell you so. Why not? I have seen more than you +may have realized. My whole life's training has been in the line of +observation of other human beings. And you must know that no one could +be with you and not understand that the fires of longing to live and +live strongly and vitally burn in you with more than ordinary +fierceness. Yet you subdue them every day for the sake of the one who +needs you. That is real heroism, and the sight of it has touched me very +much." + +Suddenly she found herself struggling to keep back the choking in her +throat. How well he had understood her--and what unsuspected depths of +tenderness there were in his rich and quiet voice. She could not speak +for a little, and he stood beside her in a comprehending silence. + +"I can't go away," he said presently, "without telling you that your +happiness has come to seem very important to me. I have--necessarily--a +fairly wide knowledge of men, their characters, their motives, their +ideals--or their lack of them. Miss Georgiana, when you come to +choose--will you let me say it?--don't be misled by superficial +attributes, even the most attractive. Don't let the desire to have your +horizon apparently expanded, to go far and see much and live intensely, +overbalance your appreciation of fine and lasting qualities in one who +could give you little excitement but much that is real and worth having. +It may be very daring in me to say this to you, but I find myself +impelled to it. I want you to live, and live gloriously, and find +employment for every one of your splendid energies, and there is only +one being in the world who can help you do that--the man whom you can +respect as well as love, and love as well as respect. Will you promise +me to choose him and nobody else?" + +She turned suddenly and fiercely upon him. "How can you think I----" She +stopped short, her eyes blazing in the darkness. + +"I can foresee," said he, very gently, "an hour for you when you will be +tempted out of your senses to do the thing which promises change, any +change. You are starving for it; you are desperate with longing for +it----" + +"Mr. Jefferson----" + +"Miles Channing came into town when I did: his car raced my train for +the last two miles. He has gone to the hotel. Doubtless you will see him +within the hour. Miss Georgiana, I can't let you marry him without +telling you that if you do you will be an unhappy woman for the rest of +your life." + +She was speechless for a moment with surprise. She forgot her encounter +with the speaker in her astonishment at his news. Channing had come +back, then, even as he had vowed, long before the rest of the party. The +knowledge that he was close at hand again, bringing back with him such a +wild will to accomplish that of which he had been thwarted that he had +not been able to brook delay upon the other side of the water, was +knowledge of the sort which stopped the breath. + +"Will you forgive me?" said Mr. Jefferson's low voice in her ear. + +"But--but I--don't understand," she stammered--and now at last she +showed him her unhappy eyes. + +"What I have to do with it? How can I fail to have something to do with +it? When I let you sail in the same party with this young man without +warning you, it was because I had no possible notion that he was to be +along. When I learned that he had gone and that he had followed you +back, I knew that he was in earnest--at least in his pursuit of you. I +had thought there was no actual danger for you on account of your +friend--your real friend--the young man whom you had known and trusted +so long and with such reason. But now, with him away and you alone here +and lonely and full of the hunger for life--yes, I know I am speaking +plainly, but I feel that I must put you on your guard. And I want you to +feel that though I shall be gone to-morrow night I am here to-night, and +if you have any need for me--for an elder brother----" + +"Oh, how can you think----" + +"I do think--and I know--and I fear for you. Not because I do not +believe in you, but because I know the manner of man who will approach +you. You have never known his sort. Let me be a brother to you--just for +to-night, if only in your thought. It may help to steady you." + +There was silence between them for a little. Then steps upon the front +porch, quick, ringing steps, as of one who comes with eagerness. +Georgiana felt her hand taken for an instant and pressed warmly between +two firm hands. Then her companion left her.... + +Three hours afterward Georgiana flung herself, breathing fast, upon her +knees beside her open window and lifted her face toward the sky. She +would have fled to her garden for this vigil she must keep, but the +extraordinary truth was that she did not dare be alone there. Her hands +gripped the sill, her eyes stared without seeing at the vaulted depths +above her. After a long time--hours--she rose and went to her door, +opened it without making a sound, and, listening till she had made sure +that the house was as silent as all houses should be at two in the +morning, she stole slowly along the upper hall. Presently she stood +outside the closed door of the guest who was sleeping under the roof for +the last time. With a fast-beating heart she noiselessly laid her hand +upon the panel of that door. + +"You did steady me," she whispered. "I couldn't have done it if you +hadn't warned me--fortified me. Oh, what shall I do without you?" + +Inside suddenly a footstep sounded, the footstep of a shod foot. +Instantly the girl was off down the hall like a frightened deer. In her +own room she stood with her hand upon her breast. "Up--at this hour!" +her startled consciousness was repeating. "Why? There was no light in +his room. Couldn't he sleep either? Why? Is _that_ what it means to him +to be a brother?" + +In the morning Mr. Jefferson took his leave. His parting with Mr. Warne +was like that between father and son. When he came to Georgiana he +looked straight down into her eyes. + +"Remember," he said, "that what I have told you of my wish to be of any +possible use to you and your father holds good, even though I should be +at the other side of the world. I shall write now and then to ask about +you both. I can't tell you how I hope for your happiness--Georgiana." + +When he had gone she went to her room and dropped upon her knees beside +her bed, her arms outflung upon the old blue and white counterpane. + +"O God," she whispered passionately, "how could You show it to me if I +couldn't have it? How _could_ You?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +REVELATIONS + + +Summer had gone at last, its fierce heat giving way to the cool, fresh +days of an early autumn. August, September, October--the months had +dragged interminably by, and now it was November, bleak and chill, with +gray skies and penetrating winds and sudden deluges of rain. Georgiana, +sweeping sodden leaves from a wet porch after an all-night storm, looked +up to see the village telegraph messenger approaching. With her one +dearest safe upon a couch within, and Stuart long since at home again, +she could not fear bad news. She thought of Jeannette, who was always, +in the absence of a telephone in the old manse, telegraphing her +invitations and demands. + +She tore open the dispatch with a hope that it was from Jeannette, for +she had sadly missed her letters. Jeannette, indeed, it was who had +inspired the message, but its sender was her sister. Rosalie Crofton +wired that Jeannette had been taken suddenly and violently ill while on +a visit in New York and was to be operated upon at once; that she had +begged Georgiana to come and to bring James Stuart with her; that +Rosalie herself was dreadfully frightened and prayed Georgiana not to +lose a train nor to fail to bring Stuart. + +Action was never slow with the receiver of this message; it had never +been quicker than now. With one brief explanation to her father, she was +off to find Stuart. Just at the dripping hedge she met him, his face +tense with the shock it was plain he had received. At sight of her he +drew a yellow paper from his pocket. + +"You've heard?" he cried. + +"Yes; this very minute." + +"There's only an hour to catch the ten-ten. You'll go?" + +"Of course. I was coming to tell you. I'll be ready." + +She turned again and ran back. There was much to do in the allotted +hour, but with the help of Mrs. Perkins she accomplished it. When she +and Stuart were in the train, sitting side by side in the ordinary coach +of the traveler who must conserve his resources, as Georgiana had +decreed, Stuart spoke the first word of comment upon the situation. + +"Of course, there was nothing to do but go," he said, "after that +telegram." + +"Of course not," agreed Georgiana simply. + +"She was perfectly well--last week," said Stuart. + +"Was she? You know I haven't seen her since they came back." + +"She said she had tried every way to get you there." + +"She has. I was going--when I could. You know father hasn't been as well +since they came back in September." + +"I know. But she's wanted to see you. She says she can't write half so +well as she can talk." + +"No. One can't." + +There was silence for some time after this exchange. Stuart seemed +restless, stirred often, once got up and stood for a long time at the +rear of the car, staring back at the wet tracks slipping away behind. +When they had changed trains and were headed for New York, with their +destination only a few hours away, Stuart, again in the vestibule of the +car, looking out through the closed entrance door upon a dull landscape +passing like a misty wraith through the November fog and twilight, found +Georgiana at his elbow. + +"Jimps," she was saying in her straightforward way, "what's the use of +bothering to keep it covered when it shows so plainly? Do you think I +don't understand? I do--and it's absolutely all right." + +He turned quickly, and his gloomy eyes stared down into her uplifted +face. + +"O George!" he muttered. "Can you honestly say that?" + +"Honestly. I know how it happened. You couldn't help it. It was meant to +be. The other--wasn't. That's all there is of it." + +"I've been feeling such a sneak." + +"Why should you? I've told you over and over----" + +"I know you have. But--that last time----" + +"That was really the beginning of--this other," said she with decision. +"You were not yourself and you didn't know just why. You thought it must +be because you cared for me, but it was--the stirring of your first real +feeling for any woman, only you didn't recognize it. That's the whole +thing, Jimps, and you are not to reproach yourself, particularly now +when----" She faltered suddenly, and he drew a quick breath that was as +if something stabbed him. + +After a little he began very slowly: "It didn't really happen +till--Devonshire. Those two weeks--I can't tell you. No mortal man could +have resisted her. Yet I tried; I did, George. She didn't know about +you; she never has, except that we were old friends and dear ones. She +thinks the trouble is that she's a rich man's daughter and I'm only a +farmer." + +"You're no ordinary farmer and she knows it. Her family know it. And if +she wants you she'll have you; they've never refused her anything." + +"I haven't asked her." + +"James Stuart!" It was her old tone with him. For the moment both forgot +the possible issue of this errand upon which they were going; only the +vital relations at stake seemed involved. + +"But--she knows," said Stuart very low. + +"Of course she does." + +By and by Stuart spoke again. "George, you were never quite so close to +me as now." + +She slipped her hand into his. "I'll stay close, dear; and I'll do all I +can for you both." + +This was all they said until the first lights of the great city, miles +out, were flashing past them. Then it occurred to Georgiana to put a +startled question: + +"Jimps, have you any address to go to? There was none in my telegram." + +"I know where they are staying." Stuart put his hand into his pocket and +drew out a thick letter, upon which Georgiana recognized her cousin's +handwriting. "This came only yesterday morning." + +In spite of herself the girl felt a wild thrill of pain. Her chum--her +chum! And it was the first time he had ever failed to be open with her. + +As if he recognized that the sight of the letter had told even more +plainly than words could have done, the degree of intercommunication +between the two presumable lovers, Stuart said quickly: + +"I was going to tell you, George--on my word I was. I knew you didn't +care for me--that way, but I was afraid it might hurt just the same, +after all our vows. Somehow the days went by so fast and--well, you see +there was Channing. A while back I thought you were going to marry him, +more than likely." + +"You didn't really think it, Jimps." + +"I don't know what I thought. George, we're getting in. Oh----" And he +broke off. + +She knew what had happened, for with the first glimpse of the great +terminal station the things which thus far had been never really vivid +in her consciousness had in the twinkling of an eye taken terrible form. +This was New York, and somewhere in it they were to find Jeannette, +stricken in the midst of her youth and beauty and joy of life and love. +If only they might find the worst of the danger safely past! + +They were rushed in a taxicab to the great uptown hotel, to find there a +message saying that the whole family were at the hospital and that they +were to follow at once. In the second cab Georgiana's hand again found +Stuart's and stayed there. His face was set now; he spoke not a word, +and even through his glove his hand was cold to the touch. Then, +presently, they were at the big, grim-looking hospital with the +characteristic odour, so suggestive to the senses of the tragedies which +take place there night and day, meeting them at the very portal. + +It was Georgiana who made the necessary inquiries, for Stuart seemed +like one dazed with fear of that which was to come. He followed her with +his fingers gripping his hat brim with a clutch like that of a vise, his +eyes looking straight ahead. An attendant led them to a private room, +and here in a moment Georgiana found herself caught in Rosalie's arms, +with pale faces all about which tried to smile reassuringly but could +succeed only in looking strained. It was Aunt Olivia who seemed most +composed and who made the situation clear. Uncle Thomas could only grasp +the newcomers' hands and press them, while his lips shook and his speech +halted. + +"It is a very peculiar case, and we had to wait till a certain surgeon +came who was out of town--Doctor Craig. They seemed to think it safer to +wait for him. He has had extraordinary success in similar cases. He--is +with her now, operating. My dear, I am very glad you have come--and you, +Mr. Stuart. She wanted you both, and we felt that if her mind were at +rest her chances----" But here even Aunt Olivia's long training in +composure under all circumstances deserted her, and she let Georgiana +put her in a chair and kneel beside her, murmuring affection and hope. + +It was a long wait--or so it seemed--interrupted only once by the +entrance of a young hospital interne, who came to advise the family of +the patient that thus far all was going well. It had proved, as was +expected, a complicated case, and there was necessity of proceeding +slowly. But Doctor Westfall had sent word to them to be of good cheer, +for the patient's pulse was strong, and Doctor Craig's reputation, as +they knew, was very great. + +"It's Dr. Jefferson Craig, you know," explained young Chester Crofton +softly to Georgiana. "We're mighty lucky to get him. He only came back +from abroad two days ago, and he was operating out of town somewhere +last night. Doctor Westfall was awfully keen to have him and nobody +else." + +Georgiana knew the name, as who did not? Jefferson Craig was the man +whose brilliant research work along certain lines of surgery had +astonished both his colleagues and an attentive general public, and his +operative surgery on those lines had disproved all previous theories as +to the possibilities of interference in a class of cases until recently +considered hopeless after an early stage. It was indeed subject for +confidence if Doctor Craig's skilful hands were those now at Jeannette's +service. + +But there is no beguiling such periods of suspense with assurance of +former successes in similar cases. Jeannette's family had need of all +their fortitude for the bearing of such suspense before Doctor Westfall, +the Crofton's family physician from the home city, appeared in the +doorway. He had been brought on by them when they were summoned to +Jeannette's bedside. He had known the girl from her babyhood, and the +signs of past tension were clearly visible in his face as he looked upon +his patient's family, though his eyes were very bright and his lips were +smiling. + +"Safely over," was his instant greeting, and his hand fell with the +touch of hearty friendship on the shoulder of Mr. Thomas Crofton. "I +wouldn't come till I was sure I might bid you draw a long breath and +ease up on this strain of waiting." + +They came around him, Aunt Olivia's lips trembling, her hand fast in +Georgiana's. Young Chester Crofton gave a subdued whoop of joy, and +pretty Rosalie, scarcely out of emotional girlhood, burst into +hysterical crying which she struggled vainly to keep soundless. + +"Mind you," warned Doctor Westfall, wiping his own eyes though he +continued to smile, "I don't say all danger is past. Doctor Craig would +be the last man to countenance such a statement. We must hold steady for +several days before we can speak with absolute assurance. But every sign +points to safety, and certainly--certainly--well,"--he paused as if he +could not readily find words for that which he wished to say,--"if it +had been anybody but our Jeannette I should have congratulated myself on +the chance to see such a piece of work as that. I've never seen +Jefferson Craig operate, though I've been a fascinated follower of his +research and have read every word he has written. And he's astonishingly +young. I expected to see a man of my own age." + +"We must see him, Doctor," murmured Mrs. Crofton, striving to regain her +composure which, as is often the case, was more shaken by the assurance +of good news than by the fear of bad. "We must thank him for ourselves. +He will come in to see us?" + +"As soon as he is out of his gown. I'm going back for him in a minute, +for I knew you would want the words from his own lips. You will like +him--you will like him immensely." + +He went away again presently on this errand, an imposing figure of a man +of fifty, accustomed to responsibility and able to carry it, a typical +city physician of the class employed by the prosperous, but with certain +clearly defined lines about his eyes and lips which proclaimed him a +lover of human nature and a sympathizer with its sufferings, in whatever +class he might find his patients. + +"He's such a dear," declared Rosalie, wiping away her tears and smiling +at James Stuart. "He's adored Jeannette ever since she was born, and I +know he's been just as anxious as we were. Do cheer up, Jimmy. I'm just +as sure she's going to get well now as I was sure she wasn't before." + +"I don't dare to be sure," he answered in a low tone. + +Georgiana looked at him and saw how shaken he still was, notwithstanding +the reassuring news. In spite of her anxiety she had been observant, +ever since she entered the room, of the attitude of Jeannette's family +toward James McKenzie Stuart. It had not been difficult to come to the +conclusion that for Jeannette's sake they would accept him, and that for +his own sake they were forced, in varying degrees, to like him. How +could they help it? she wondered, when they looked at his fine, frank +face and observed his manly bearing. He was college bred; he was a +successful worker with his brain as well as with his hands, for his +farming was scientific farming, and his results established a model for +the community. He was by no means poor--and yet--Georgiana realized that +the change for Jeannette from a home of luxury to one of comparative +austerity of living would be a tremendous one. Well, such events had +occurred before in the world's history, and it was by no means +unthinkable that they should occur again. As Georgiana noted the tense +look on Stuart's face, and saw the hardly abated suffering in his eyes, +she said to herself that if Jeannette cared as much for him as he for +her, she cared quite enough to bring her family to terms at any price. + +The door opened again, as quietly as hospital doors invariably open, +and Doctor Westfall advanced once more into the room, followed by a +younger man with a grave, clean-cut face and the unassuming, quietly +assured bearing of established success. As Georgiana's eyes fell upon +the distinguished surgeon whose name was Jefferson Craig she recognized +her former lodger, Mr. E. C. Jefferson. That she did not for a moment +wonder what Mr. Jefferson was doing here in the famous surgeon's place +was due to the fact that her mind instantly bridged the chasm between +the two personalities and made them one. Yet there was a subtle, but +easily recognizable, difference between the personality of Mr. Jefferson +and that of Doctor Craig. There could be no question that here his foot +was on his native heath! The literary worker had for the time vanished, +and here was the man who did things with his hands and did them better +than other men. She had long understood that he had another and more +active place in the world than that which he had temporarily occupied as +solely a writer of books. This was the place, and nothing could have +seemed less surprising than to find him in it. + +At the same time, the finding occasioned a difficulty in maintaining her +own composure of face and manner. She had known Mr. Jefferson; she did +not know Doctor Craig. She understood instantly, without any +explanation, that he had chosen to be known in the obscure village by +only a part of his name, because that name was so notable that even the +two village doctors, the old one and the young, would have recognized it +and been at his heels, to the detriment of those months of rest from +surgery which he had dedicated to the exposition of his methods upon +paper. She was quick to perceive also that it would be easy enough for +Doctor Craig to prove as different from Mr. Jefferson in relation to his +acquaintance as he was different in his position in the world. What, +indeed, had Dr. Jefferson Craig and little Georgiana Warne in common? +Certainly far, far less than had had Mr. E. C. Jefferson and that same +Georgiana Warne. + +He did not see her at once, for the father and mother of his patient met +him in the middle of the floor, and his first glance fell upon them and +remained there while he spoke to them of their daughter. Even in his +manner of speaking Georgiana felt a decided difference. There was a +curious crispness and succinctness of speech that marked the +professional man, which was decidedly different from the more expanded +conversational manner of Mr. Jefferson. + +"Yes, she is sleeping quietly under the last effects of the anaesthetic," +he was saying when Georgiana took note of his words once more. "We will +let her sleep. It will spare her some hours of consciousness." + +"Will she suffer very much when she wakes, Doctor?" was the mother's +anxious question. + +Doctor Craig's smile was the very one Georgiana had first liked about +him, for it transformed his face and gave it back the youth which his +early responsibility in a serious profession had done its best to age. +"We shall not let her suffer very much," he promised. "That's not +necessary nor desirable." + +"When may we see her?" Mrs. Crofton pursued. + +"You may all see her for a moment before she wakens, if you wish. +Afterward her mother and father for just a word, and--I am told she +expressed a very strong wish to see a young man who was on his way. Has +he come? For the sake of her contentment I have agreed to allow him a +word with her by and by--just a word, if he will be very quiet." + +It was Uncle Thomas who turned to beckon James Stuart forward, and then +to nod at Georgiana. Immediately Stuart was presented to Doctor Craig, +who, looking intently into the young man's questioning face, said +straightforwardly: "Mr. Stuart and I have met before under quite +different circumstances. He knew me as a writer of books and may be +surprised to find me here--as I am surprised to find him." + +"Let me present you to my niece, Miss Warne, Doctor Craig," said Aunt +Olivia, and Georgiana was glad of the preparation the minutes had given +her, for here indeed was need for all her powers of self-control. Her +eyes had no sooner looked into those which met them with such a keen and +searching glance than she was stirred to the depths. She had thought she +had known what it would be to feel those eyes upon her again, but she +had not reckoned with the effect of absence. + +He made no effort to conceal the situation. "When your daughter sees me +next, Mrs. Crofton," he said, without turning from Georgiana, "she will +know me, as Miss Warne and Mr. Stuart do. I spent last winter in Miss +Warne's home, under the name of Jefferson alone, to find time to work at +a book I am writing. I gave it up sooner than I had expected, because my +work here would not be denied." + +"Didn't Jean know you when she saw you before the--the operation?" cried +Rosalie, full of curiosity at this unexpected turn of affairs. + +"She did not see me before she was anaesthetized," explained Doctor +Craig; and Doctor Westfall added, patting Rosalie's hand: "It's rather +like a story, isn't it, Rosy? Doctor Seaver, of the staff here, was +telling me this morning how Doctor Craig tried to take a year off to +rest and write, but how they got him back--and glad enough to have him, +too. And yet we want that book. It's rather hard to have a reputation so +big it won't give you time to rest. He needed the rest, Seaver told +me." + +"I had it. Six months in the country did more for me than a year in +town," said Doctor Craig. He turned at the sound of a light knock upon +the door. He gave the impression of a man whose senses were every one +alert. + +An apologetic interne came in with a message for Doctor Craig and he +left them, with a final word of confidence and the request that they all +retire to rooms at the nearby hotel where they were staying. + +Georgiana found Rosalie at her side. "O George! is he really the man you +had in your house all this year? You lucky thing! Didn't you fall in +love with him instantly? Why, he's perfectly wonderful!" + +"You think so now, child, because you know he's distinguished. If you +had seen him quietly working at his book you probably wouldn't have +looked at him a second time." + +Rosalie studied her cousin's face so intently that Georgiana had some +difficulty in maintaining this attitude of cool detachment. The young +girl shook her head. "He couldn't have changed his face," she insisted. +"He's not a bit handsome, but he's stunning just the same. Oh, how +astonished Jean will be when she finds out who's saved her life! When do +you suppose he'll let Jimmy Stuart see her? He'll die if he doesn't make +sure she's alive pretty soon." + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +FIVE MINUTES + + +It was not many hours before Doctor Craig himself led Georgiana and +James Stuart together into the room where Jeannette lay. She had asked +to see them together, he said, and they might remain for precisely five +minutes. He immediately left the room again and took the nurse with him. + +The five minutes were spent by Stuart with Jeannette's hand in both his +own, as he knelt beside the the bed where she lay, no pillow under her +head, her face very white but her eyes glowing. + +Jeannette's look met Georgiana's. "Is it all right?" she said very low. + +"Of course it's all right, dear; and I'm perfectly happy over it," +whispered Georgiana. + +Jeannette smiled. "I couldn't be happy till I was sure," she breathed. +"I thought--I might die, even yet--and I wanted it like this--first." + +An inarticulate murmur from Stuart answered this, but Georgiana assured +her very gently: "You're going to be happy with Jimps for years and +years, Jean darling." + +They were silent then, as they had been bidden, but the silence was +eloquent. Doctor Craig, coming in to put an end to the little interview, +saw the unmistakable tableau. As Stuart, catching sight of him, rose +slowly to his feet, the surgeon's fingers closed upon his patient's +pulse. He nodded. + +"As a heart stimulant you have done very well, Mr. Stuart," he said. +"But small doses, frequently repeated, are better than large ones." + +Jeannette's hand weakly caught his. "Isn't it queer, Georgiana," she +murmured, "that it should be your Mr. Jefferson who has saved my life?" + +In spite of herself, Georgiana could not prevent the rich wave of colour +which swept over her face. She knew, without venturing to look at him, +that Doctor Craig's eyes flashed toward her with a smile in them. She +stooped over Jeannette with a gay reply: + +"And he began his acquaintance with you by snowballing you till you +almost had need of his surgery on the spot!" + +Then she and Stuart were out in the wide, bare hospital corridor, and +Stuart was saying with a shiver: "Does she look all right to you, +George--sure?" + +"Of course she does, Jimps. You never saw her before with her hair down +in braids; and any face looks pale against a white bed." + +He shook his head. "I shall not stir out of this town till she looks +like herself to me." + +"Of course you won't. I wish I needn't, but I must go back to father +to-night." + +They all tried to dissuade her from this course, but she was firm. She +knew well enough that all Jeannette had wanted of her was to assure +herself that she possessed a clear right and title to Stuart's love. +Evidently Jeannette had guessed more at Stuart's past relations with +Georgiana than either of them had imagined, and she would not allow +herself to be happy without the knowledge that she was not making her +cousin miserable. + +One brief conversation with Doctor Craig was all that was vouchsafed +Georgiana before she left the city, and that took place in the presence +of others, in Aunt Olivia's apartment. It was clear enough how busy a +man he was in this his own world, for when he came into the room he +explained to Mrs. Crofton that it had been his only chance since they +arrived to make a brief social call upon the family of his patient. It +was but an hour before Georgiana's departure, and when he learned this, +Jefferson Craig came over to her, where she sat upon a divan at one end +of the long private drawing-room of the suite. Seeing this, the others +of the party began conversations of their own, after the manner of the +highly intelligent, and for those five minutes Georgiana lived in a +place apart from the rest of the world. + +"Please tell me all about your father," he began, and the tones of his +voice, low as are habitually those of his profession, could hardly have +been heard by one across the room. + +Georgiana told him, unconsciously letting him see that the fear of her +probable loss was ever before her, though she could not put it into +words. She knew as she spoke that his eyes did not leave her face. She +had no possible idea how alluring was that face as the light from the +sconces nearby fell upon it. She was conscious, womanlike, that the +small hat she wore was made over from one of Jeannette's, and she did +not think it becoming. Though it was November, she still wore her summer +suit, for the reason that since her return from abroad Jeannette had not +found time to pack and send off the usual "Semi-Annual," and previous +boxes had not included winter suits at at all. Altogether, with +many-times-mended gloves upon her hands, and shoes which to her seemed +disgraceful, though preserved with all the care of which she was +mistress, Georgiana felt somehow more than ordinarily shabby. + +Doctor Craig asked her several questions. He spoke of the rug-making, +watching her closely as she answered. He asked how often she went to +walk and how far. He asked what she and her father were reading. He +would have asked other questions, but she interrupted him. + +"It's not fair," she said. "Please tell me about the book. Does it get +on?" + +"Do you care to know?" + +"Very much. I'm wondering if your copyist makes those German references +any clearer for the printer than I did." + +"Nobody has copied a word. I have not written a word. The book is at a +complete standstill. I see no hope for it until I can take another +vacation--under the name of E. C. Jefferson." + +"And that you will never take," she said positively. + +"I never shall--in the same way. There are reasons against it. The book +will have to be written as the others were--on trains, on shipboard, in +my own room late at night." + +"Is it right to try to put two lifetimes into one?" she asked, and now +she lifted her eyes to his. + +Before, she had managed to avoid a direct meeting by those many and +engaging little makeshifts girls have, of glancing at a man's shoulder, +his ear, his mouth--and off at the floor, the window--anywhere not to +let him see clearly what she may be afraid he will see. And Georgiana +was intensely afraid that if Dr. Jefferson Craig got one straight look +with those keen eyes of his he would recognize that her whole aching, +throbbing heart was betraying itself from between those lifted lashes. +But now, somehow, with her question she ventured to give him this one +look. The interview might end at any moment; she must have one straight +survey of his face, bent so near hers. + +He gave it back, and until her glance dropped he did not speak. Then, +very low, but very clearly, he said deliberately: + +"When may I come?" + +The room whirled. The lights from the sconces danced together and +blurred. The floor lifted and sank away again. And Chester Crofton chose +this moment--as if he were not after all really of that highly +intelligent class which knows when to pursue its own conversations and +when to break into those of others--to call across the room: + +"Oh, I beg pardon, Doctor Craig, but when did you say Jean might have +something real to eat? Rosy says it's to-morrow and I say it's not yet +at all." + +Doctor Craig turned and answered, and turned back again. He was not of +the composition of those who are balked of answers to their questions by +ill-timed interruptions. But the little diversion gave Georgiana an +instant's chance to make herself ready to answer like a woman and not +like a startled schoolgirl. So that when he repeated, his voice again +dropped: + +"When, Georgiana?" + +She was able to reply as quietly as she could have wished: "Do you want +to come, Doctor Craig?" + +"I want to come. I have never wanted anything so much." + +"Then--please do." + +"Very soon? As soon as I can get away for a few hours? Perhaps next +week? It is always difficult, but if I plan ahead sometimes I can manage +to make almost the train I hope for." + +She nodded. "Any train--anytime." + +There was an instant's silence. It seemed to her that she could hear one +or two deep-drawn breaths from him. Then: + +"Would you mind looking up just once more? I must go in a minute; I +can't even take you to your train." + +But she answered, with an odd little trembling of the lips: "Please +don't ask me to. I'm--afraid!" + +A low laugh replied to that. "So am I!" said Jefferson Craig. + +He rose, and she rose with him. The others came around and he took leave +of them. His handclasp was all that Georgiana had for farewell, for when +she lifted her eyes she let them rest on his finely moulded chin. But +she knew that in spite of his expressed fear it was not her round little +chin he looked at, but the gleam of her dark eyes through their +sheltering lashes, and that his hand gave hers a pressure which carried +with it much meaning. It told her that which as yet she hardly dared +believe. + +Since the journey home was made up of changes of trains, no sleeper was +possible, and Georgiana sat staring out of her car window while those +about her slumbered. There was too much to think of for sleep, if she +had wanted to sleep. She did not want to sleep, she wanted to live over +and over again those five minutes with their incredible revelation. And +as the wheels turned, the rhythm of their turning was set to one simple +phrase, the one which had sent her world whirling upside down and made +the stars leap out of their courses: + +"When may I come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +MESSAGES + + + Hope to reach Elmville at seven to-night.--E.C. JEFFERSON. + +This was the first of them. When Georgiana received it she had been +waiting eight days for this first word. She had known well enough that +until Jeannette was entirely safe Doctor Craig would not leave her. +Georgiana had not minded that she had had no word. She had not really +expected any. A man who was too busy to come would be too busy to write, +and she wanted no makeshift letters. And she had not minded the delay in +his coming; rather, she had welcomed it. To have time to think, to hug +her half-frightened, wholly joyous knowledge to her heart, to go to +sleep with it warm at her breast, and to wake with it knocking at the +door of her consciousness--this was quite happiness enough for the +immediate present. + +Meanwhile, what pleasure to put the house in its most shining order, to +plan daily little special dishes, lest he come upon her unawares; to sit +and sew upon her clothing, shifting and turning her patchwork materials +until she had worked out clever combinations which conveyed small hint +of being make-overs! + +For the first time in her life she said nothing to her father of her +expectations. What was there to tell as yet? She could not bring herself +to put into words the memory of that brief interview, in which so much +had been said in so few simple phrases. And if Father Davy read--as it +would have been strange if he had not--the signs of his daughter's +singing lightness of heart, he made no sign himself; he only waited, +praying. + +Georgiana received her first telegram at noon. She had flown for two +wonderful hours about her kitchen, making ready, when the despatch was +followed by another: + + Unavoidably detained. Will plan to get away Thursday. + +This was Tuesday. Georgiana put away her materials, and swept the house +from attic to cellar, though it needed it no more than her glowing face +needed colour. What did it matter? Let him be detained a week, a month, +a year--he would come to her in the end. Now that she was sure of that, +each day but enhanced the glorious hope of a meeting, that meeting the +very thought of which was enough to take away her breath. + +On Thursday came the message: + + Cannot leave this week. Will advise by wire when possible. + +No letter came to explain further these delays. Georgiana felt that she +did not need one, yet admitted to herself that the ordinary course in +such circumstances would be to send a letter, no matter of how few +words. Toward the end of the following week a telegram again set a day +and hour, and as before, another followed on its heels to negative it. +The last one added, "Deep regret," and therefore bore balm. + +And then, after several more days, came a message which was all but a +letter: + + It seems impossible to arrange for absence at present. Will you not + bring your father and come to my home on Wednesday? Will meet train + arriving seven-fifteen. Journey will not hurt Mr. Warne, and visit + here will interest him. Please do not refuse. + E. C. JEFFERSON. + +Well! What girl ever had a suitor of this sort? one too busy to come or +write, yet who, on the strength of a few words spoken in the presence of +others, ventured to send for the lady of his choice to come to him, that +he might speak those other words so necessary to the conclusion of the +matter. Georgiana sat re-reading the slip of yellow paper, while her +heart beat hard and painfully. For with the invitation had come +instantly the bitter realization--they could not afford to go! Her +recent trip on the occasion of Jeannette's illness had taxed their +always slender resources, and until the money should come in for the +last bale of rugs sent away, there was only enough in the family +treasury to keep them supplied with the necessities of life. + +The time had come--undoubtedly it had--when she must confide in Father +Davy. Not that he would be able to see any way out, but that she could +not venture to refuse this urgent request without his approval. + +Georgiana tucked away in her belt the last long telegram, and went to +her father. He lay upon his couch, the blue veins on his delicate +forehead showing with pitiful distinctness in the ray of November +sunshine which chanced to fall upon him. + +Georgiana knelt beside him. "Father Davy," she said, with her face +carefully out of his sight, "I have a little story to tell you--just the +outlines of one, for you to fill in. When I was in New York Mr. +Jefferson--Doctor Craig, you know,"--she had told him this part of the +tale when she had first come home,--"asked me when--when he might come +here." + +She paused. Her father turned his head upon the crimson couch pillow, +but he could not see her face. + +"Yes, my dear?" he said, with a little smile touching his lips. "Well, +that sounds natural enough. He knows he is always welcome here. When is +he coming?" + +"He isn't coming. He can't get away. He has tried three different +times, and cancelled it each time. He seems to be very busy, too busy +even to write." + +"That is not strange; he must be a very busy man. Doubtless he will come +when he can make time. I shall be glad to see Mr. Jefferson." + +"But--you see--he wants us to come there." + +"Us?" + +"You and me. Father Davy--you understand, dear; don't make me put it +into words!" + +Her father's arm came about her and she buried her face in his thin +shoulder. "Thank God!" he said fervently, under his breath. "Thank the +good God, who knows what we need and gives it to us." + +After a minute's silence: "But we can't go, Father Davy." + +"Can't we? I could not, of course, but you----" + +"I couldn't go without you--to his house. And--we haven't any money." + +"No money? Is it so bad as that?" + +"And if we had--I'm not sure that I want to take a journey to a man--so +that----" + +"Let me see the telegram, my dear," requested Mr. Warne. When he had +read it he regarded his daughter with a curious little smile. She was +sitting upon the floor, close beside his couch, her brilliant eyes now +raised to his face, now veiled by their heavy lashes. "It seems clear +enough," he said. "Concessions must be made to a man who belongs to the +people as he does. I don't think it would be a sacrifice to your +dignity, daughter, if you were to go." + +"But, Father, darling, don't you see? I didn't want to tell you, but +there was no other way. We have quite enough to live on--without +extras--till the next rug money comes. But that may not be for a month; +they are always slow. And for us to go to New York--well, we could just +about get there. We couldn't get clear home. Father Davy, I can't +go--penniless--_to him_!" + +He lay looking at her down-bent head with its splendid masses of dark +hair, at the beautiful lines of her neck in her low-cut working frock of +blue-and-white print, at the shapely young hands gripping each other +with unconscious tenseness in her lap. His eyes were like a woman's for +understanding, and his lips were very tender. Slowly he raised himself +to his feet. + +"Stay just where you are, daughter," he said, "till I come back." + +She waited, staring at the old crimson pillow with eyes which saw again +the drawing-room in Aunt Olivia's apartment and the profile of Doctor +Craig's face as he turned from her at Chester Crofton's interrupting +question. That was more than three weeks ago---- + +Father Davy was gone some little time, but he came back at length at +his slow, limping pace, and sat down upon the couch. He held in his hand +a little bag of dark blue silk, a little bag whose contents seemed all +heavily down in one corner. Georgiana's eyes regarded it with some +wonder. She had thought she knew by heart every one of her father's few +belongings, but this little bag was new to her. + +"I think," he said softly, "the time has come for this. It was meant, +perhaps, to be given you a little later in your history, but if your +mother knew--nay, I feel she does know and approve--she would be the +first to say to me: '_Give it to her now, David; she'll never want it +more than now._'" + +Georgiana leaned forward, her lips parted. She seemed hardly to breathe +as her father went on, his slender fingers gently caressing the little +blue silk bag: + +"From the time you were a baby, a very little baby, she saved this money +for you. It came mostly from wedding fees; I always gave her those to do +with as she would. They were a country minister's fees--two-and-three-dollar +fees mostly--once in a great while some affluent farmer would pay me +five dollars. How your mother's eyes would shine when I could give her a +five! She turned all the bills and silver into gold--a great many of +these pieces are one-dollar gold pieces. There are none of them in +circulation now; it may easily be that they have increased in value, +being almost a curiosity in these days. I think I have heard of +something like that. At any rate, dear, it is all yours. It was to have +been given to you to buy your wedding outfit; but--she would have wanted +you to have it when it could help you most." He held out the little bag. +"She made it of a bit of her wedding dress," he said, and his hand +trembled as it was extended toward his daughter. "It was not only her +wedding dress, it was the best dress she had for many years." + +With a low cry that was like that of a mother's for a child, Georgiana +took the little blue silk bag, heavy in its corner with the weight of +many small gold pieces, and crushed it against her lips. Then, with it +held close to her cheek, she laid her head down on her father's knee and +sobbed her heart out for the mother she had missed for ten long years. + +In the little bag there proved to be almost a hundred +dollars--ninety-two in all. + +"She sorely wanted to get it to a hundred," said Father Davy, when he +and Georgiana, their eyes still wet, had counted the tarnished gold +pieces that had waited so long to be delivered to their owner. "There +seemed a dearth of marriages the year before she went; the sum increased +very slowly." + +"She must have gone without--things she needed," Georgiana said with +difficulty. + +"I think she did, but she would never own it. She was very clever, as +you are, at making things over and over, and she looked always trim and +fine. She was a beautiful woman--and a happy one, in spite of all she +was deprived of in her life with a poor country minister. 'If my little +daughter can only be as happy as I have been,' she used to say, 'it is +all I ask.' My dear, she would have liked--she would have loved--Mr. +Jefferson. I can't get over calling him that," he added, with his +whimsical smile struggling to shine through the tears which would not +quite be mastered. + +"O Father Davy!" was all Georgiana could say. But she lifted a flushed +and lovely face with all manner of womanly qualities written in it, and +kissed her father on brow and cheek and lips, as she would have kissed +her mother at such words as those. + + * * * * * + +"I wonder," said Mr. Warne, sitting comfortably in the Pullman chair his +daughter had insisted upon, "if I can possibly be awake, not dreaming. I +never thought to take another journey." + +"He said it wouldn't hurt you, and it's not. You're not too tired? I +haven't seen you look so well for a long time," declared his daughter. + +The eyes of other passengers, across the aisle, were irresistibly drawn +to these two travelers--the frail, intellectual-looking man with his +curly gray hair and his gentle blue eyes, his worn but carefully kept +garments, his way of turning to his daughter at every change of +scene--the daughter herself, with her face of charm under the close hat +with its veil, her clothing the suit of dark summer serge with its lines +of distinction, which was still doing duty as the only presentable +street suit she possessed. + +They were a more than commonly interesting pair, these travelers, and +they were furtively watched from behind more than one newspaper. + +Georgiana had no eyes for possible observers. With Father Davy she +preferred to sit with her chair turned toward the window, looking out at +the hills and trying to realize the thing which was happening. She was +actually on her way to the home of a man whom a month ago she had +thought gone out of her life forever. And, even now, he had not spoken a +word of love to her, had not asked her to marry him! Yet he was to meet +her at the end of this short journey; she was to look out upon the +platform and see that distinguished figure standing there, waiting for +her--for her, Georgiana Warne, maker of rugs for small sums of money, +wearer of other people's cast-oft clothing, undistinguished by anything +in the world--except by being the daughter of a real saint; and that was +much after all. Fate had not left her without the best beginning in +life, the being brought into it by such a father and mother--bless them! + +The hours flew by, the train passed through the outlying towns and came +at last to the monster city. The lights within the car and without were +bright as they drew into the great station. Following the porter who +carried Mr. Warne's worn black bag and his daughter's fine one--given +her by Aunt Olivia that summer--her arm beneath her father's, Georgiana +made her way through the car, into the vestibule, out upon the platform. +No sight of Doctor Craig rewarded the hurried glance she gave about her. +But before she could take alarm a fresh-faced young man in the livery of +a chauffeur came up to her, saying respectfully: + +"I beg pardon, is it Miss Warne?" And upon her assent he said rapidly: +"Doctor Craig bid me say he was called to a case he could not refuse, +but he hopes to be home soon. I am to take you up and to see to your +luggage." + +"We have no luggage but these bags," Georgiana told him, wondering for a +moment how he had recognized her so readily, then understanding that +though she herself might be a figure indistinguishable by description +from many another, that of Father Davy could not fail of recognition by +one who had been told what to expect. + +"I have a chair here for the gentleman," the man said, and he indicated +one of the station chairs attended by a red-capped porter. + +Mr. Warne, being wheeled rapidly through the great station, looked +about him with the eager eyes of a boy. It was twenty years--twenty long +and quiet years, since he had been in New York. What had not happened +since then? In spite of the myriad descriptions he had read and pictures +he had studied, the effect upon him of the real city, as, having been +transferred from the chair to a small but luxurious closed car, he was +conveyed along the thronged, astonishingly lighted streets, was +overwhelming. Suddenly he closed his eyes and laid his head back against +the cushioned leather. + +Georgiana bent anxiously toward him. "Are you frightfully tired, Father +dear? Are you--faint?" + +His eyes opened and his lips smiled reassuringly. "A little tired, my +dear, and very much dazed, but not upset in any way. I shall be glad to +sleep--and glad to wake in this wondrous city." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +TOASTS + + +They drove downtown for many blocks, turning at last into an old and +still notable square which is one of the great town's almost untouched +residence districts, in the very heart of its teeming commercial life. +Here, all at once, the noise of traffic was quieted. Only as a distant +and not too disturbing murmur came the sounds of the warfare which raged +so near. At one of the dingy but still stately old houses the car drew +up, the chauffeur alighted and opened the door. He escorted the +travelers up the steps and rang the bell. + +The door was opened by a lad in plain livery, and he was reinforced +immediately by a middle-aged housekeeper who came forward and took the +guests in charge. She had a rosy face and iron-gray hair and her accent +was distinctly Scotch. + +"I am Mrs. MacFayden, Doctor Craig's hoose-keeper," she said. "Doctor +Craig is mair than sorry not to be here to greet ye baith. He tell't me +to say ye should mak' yersels quite at hame, and should hae yer dinners +wi'oot waitin' for him. If Maister Warne should be tae weary tae sit up +longer, he should gang awa' tae his bed. I know Doctor Craig will mak' +all the haste posseeble, but 'tis seldom he can carry oot his ain plans, +for the press o' sick folks aifter him day an' nicht." + +"Doctor Craig is very kind," said Mr. Warne. "If it will not seem +discourteous I think I shall lie down upon my bed, for I am not +accustomed to travel and am a little tired." + +"That wull be the best thing posseeble for ye," said the kindly +housekeeper, leading the way upstairs. "Tammas, ye'll bring the luggage. +I should advise, Maister Warne, havin' a small tray in your room an' +then attemptin' no mair than juist tae see Doctor Craig, when he cooms +tae say gude nicht." + +She led her guests into a large, square, pleasant room, furnished with +old mahogany. A cheery fire was burning in a fireplace. She opened a +second door, and showed a connecting room, of lesser size but very +attractive. + +"The Doctor often has special patients stayin' in these rooms," she +said, "but fortunately they were emptied three days agone, and kept for +ye. The Doctor has always some puir soul he wants to mak' comfortable. +I'm glad 'tis guests this time he has, an' no patients. He needs to +forget his wark when he cooms hame, but 'tis seldom he has the +opportunity." + +She left them, saying that if the Doctor had not returned by eight she +would serve dinner for Miss Warne alone. + +"No, please, Mrs. MacFayden," begged Georgiana. "If my father has his +tray here I will see him to his bed. I really do not care for dinner at +all." + +The housekeeper smiled. "The Doctor would na' be pleased wi' me, if I +let ye go dinnerless," she said. "But I'm thinkin' we'll see him soon. +Wull ye coom doon to the library, Miss Warne, when ye're ready? 'Tis the +door at the right o' the front entrance. The door on the left is the +waitin' room, an' the Doctor does na' keep office hours at nicht." + +With a fast-beating heart Georgiana set about making ready for that +descent to the library. The whole affair was becoming more and more a +strain upon her nerves. If Doctor Craig had met them at the station it +would have been far easier for her than this. But here she was, actually +in his house, combing her hair in his guest-room, going down to dinner +at his table--and she had not seen or heard from him, except by +telegram, since the hour when he had given her hand that meaning +pressure and left her with her friends. It was an extraordinary +experience, to say the least. + +She wondered how she should dress for dinner--the dinner that she might +eat alone! She had only her traveling suit and one simple little gray +silk, dyed from a white "Semi-Annual" and made very simply, with a wide +collar and cuffs of white net. Anybody but Georgiana would have looked +like a Quakeress in the gray silk, but with her dark hair and warm +colouring she succeeded only in imitating a young nun but just removed +from scenes of worldly gayety! She decided that the hour and the +occasion called for this frock, and put it on with fingers which shook a +little. + +Eight o'clock. She dared wait no longer, so, making sure that her +father, having eaten and drunk, was resting luxuriously on his bed, she +opened her door. The house seemed very quiet, and she went slowly along +the upper hall, and after pausing a moment at the top of the fine +staircase with its white spindles and mahogany rail, she began to +descend. The steps were heavily padded and her footfall made no sound; +therefore, as she afterward realized, a very close watch must have been +kept, for the moment she came in sight of the open library door a figure +appeared there. + +The next moment Jefferson Craig had crossed the hall and was standing at +the foot of the staircase, looking up at the descending guest. The +guest, naturally enough, paused, four stairs up, looking down. The +light, from a quaint lantern hood of wrought iron and crystal hanging +above the newel post, shone full upon the dark head and vivid face +above the demure gray frock with its nunlike broad collar and cuffs of +thin white. + +The man below looked for a full minute without speaking, but Georgiana +could not have told what expression was upon his face or whether he +smiled. She knew that at the end of that long look he stretched one arm +toward her, and that obeying the gesture which was all but a command she +came on down those four remaining steps. Jefferson Craig led her into +the library, where a great fire sparkled and leaped and filled the room, +otherwise sombre with books, full of welcoming cheer. He closed the +door, then led her to the hearth. + +"Where shall we begin?" he said, in that low but very distinct voice she +so well remembered. "Where we left off?" + +"I'm not," answered Georgiana, looking away from him into the fire, +whose light flashed in her eyes less disconcertingly than that which she +somehow knew leaped in his, "sure where we left off." + +"Aren't you? I am. We left off where we had each seen, for just one +instant, into the other's heart. And having seen there was no +forgetting--no?--Georgiana?" + +She shook her head. + +"It was good of you to come to me," he said very gently. Her hand was +still held fast in his. "I did my best to have it the other way--the +usual way. There seemed a fate against it. I could have written, but +somehow I didn't want to. I preferred to wait--with the memory of your +face always before me, till I could see it again. And now that I see +it--bent down--and turned away"--he laughed a low laugh of content--"oh, +look up, Georgiana! Surely you're not afraid now. You know I've been +loving you ever since I saw you first, in spite of thinking I must not, +because of the one I understood you belonged to----" + +She looked up then out of sheer astonishment. "Oh, no, not since you saw +me first," she disputed. "It couldn't be--and I thinking all the +while----" She stopped in confusion at the revelation she might be +making. + +But he caught her up. "You thinking all the while--what? Tell me!" + +"I thought--you hadn't the least interest in me." + +"Did you care whether I had or not?" + +"I--tried not to care," confessed Georgiana naively. She smiled, a +sparkling little smile. It was so clear now, that he wanted this +confession. + +He looked at her for a minute longer, then he said: "Don't you think +enough has been said to warrant--this?" + +It was then that Georgiana learned how little one may judge from outward +quiet of manner and controlled speech what may happen when the heart is +allowed to speak for itself. + +"Forgive me," he said at last, when he had released her, all enchanting +confusion under his intent gaze; "but you know the breaking up of a +famine sometimes makes human beings hard to manage. If you could know +the times I've watched you, when you were bent over my illegible fist of +copy, and thought how I should like just to put my hand on your +beautiful hair----" + +A knock sounded upon the door. With an exclamation of annoyance Doctor +Craig left Georgiana and opened it. + +"Dinner is served, sir," announced Thomas, the boy. + +His master turned back with a laughing, remorseful face. "I had +forgotten all about dinner," he said, "though now I come to think of it +I believe I had no luncheon. You must be famishing. Mrs. MacFayden tells +me your father is resting. We will go up and see him--before dinner or +after?" + +"I think he will drop off to sleep for a little, he is so tired, and +then wake by and by and be ready to see you." + +"Good! It couldn't be better. I am eager to see Mr. Warne, but I want +him to be ready for me--who have so much to ask of him. Meanwhile--shall +we go?" + +He offered her his arm, such graceful deference in his manner that she +felt afresh the wonder of his wish to transplant her from her world to +his. As they walked slowly through the dignified old hall he said in a +tone of great satisfaction: "Mrs. MacFayden has ventured to hint to me +more than once that this house is of the sort which needs a mistress. +To-night, when she saw me come in, she said to me very respectfully: +'It's a gled day for ye, Doctor, an' now that I've seen the lassie I can +congratulate ye wi' all mae hert. She'll mak' a bonny lady to be at the +head o' the hoose, if ye'll permit me to say the thocht.' I assure you, +Georgiana, the conquest of my good Scottish housekeeper upon sight is no +small achievement." + +"It must have been my gray gown and white cuffs," suggested the girl +demurely. + +He looked down at the hand resting on his arm. "Now that I have time to +look at anything but your face," he said, "I see that you are wearing +something very satisfying to the eye. I like simple things, such as I +have always seen you wear." + +With inward astonishment and congratulation Georgiana thought of all the +dyed and reconstructed "Semi-Annuals" which had marched in a frugal +procession across his vision during the past year. Suddenly she felt an +affection for the very frock she wore, difficult as had been its +achievement from the materials in hand. Certainly, women in beautiful +and wonderful clothing, such as he saw daily, had had no chance with him +against the attraction of herself in the cleverly adapted makeshifts of +her own fingers. It was the girl who had made the most of herself and +her home out of her restricted means who had drawn to her side this man +whose judgment must approve his love or he could never love at all. + +Things hadn't been so unequal after all. The wise God, who had set her +life thus far in the midst of poverty, had given her with which to fight +it the wit and resource which fashion weapons out of materials which +more favoured mortals cast away. That greatest of gifts bestowed upon +the daughters of men had been hers--the creative touch. At last she +recognized it, and knew it for what it was. Using this good gift she had +learned other things than the making of clothes! + +A great warm surge of joy and understanding enveloped Georgiana Warne as +Jefferson Craig, having led her into the dining-room and placed her +ceremoniously in her chair, bent over her where she sat, saying softly: + +"This place has been waiting a long time at the bachelor's board. Now +that I see it filled--like this--I know how well worth while it's been +to wait." + +He took the place opposite her. With a nod at the boy Thomas, he +dismissed him for the moment. He looked across the table, rich with the +finest appointments in his house, arranged by a housekeeper who heartily +approved his everyday simplicity of life, but who exulted to-night in +the chance to show the lady of his choice the fine old heirlooms of +silver and damask which were to come to her. Smiling, he lifted a +delicately chased goblet of water which stood beside his plate. + +"To my wife!" he said. + +Georgiana, raising the face of a rose, took up her own glass. She looked +at it a moment, her eyes like dark twin fires, her lips taking on lovely +curves. Then she lifted it toward the man opposite. + +"To--_you_!" + +"Still afraid?" asked Jefferson Craig, watching her as one watches only +that which is the delight of his eyes. "Never mind; I'll teach you by +and by the word I want to hear." + + * * * * * + +Upstairs, the slender figure on the bed stirred from the brief sleep +which had claimed it. Father Davy opened his eyes again upon the firelit +room and the pleasant comfort which surrounded him. + +"Before they come," he thought, "I must tell my Father how I feel about +it. I was too tired even to pray. But I am quite rested now." + +He slipped down gently to his knees and closed his eyes, folding his +thin hands on the heavy white counterpane before him. + +"Dear God," he said, "I have the desire of my heart--the answer to my +prayers--and I am very glad to-night. Yet Thou knowest my heart is +heavy, too--with longing for my Phoebe. Tell her, Father, that her child +is happy in the love of the best man she could have asked for. And tell +her that David loves and longs for her to-night with the love that will +never die. For that love that will not die in spite of years and pain I +thank Thee. If it may be, give our child the same blessed experience. +And teach us to love and serve Thee, world without end, Amen." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +WHY NOT? + + +"There's just one more thing to be settled," observed Dr. Jefferson +Craig. "While we are settling things, suppose we attend to that." + +He stood upon the hearthrug before the fire in his library, elbow on +chimney piece, looking down upon his two guests. It was eight o'clock of +the evening following that upon which Mr. David Warne and Georgiana had +arrived at the big New York house in the old-time, downtown square. +Although they had been under the hospitable roof for more than +twenty-four hours it was the first occasion on which the three had been +together for more than a few minutes at a time. + +On the previous evening in an upstairs room had been enacted a little +scene which would live forever in the memories of them all; but Doctor +Craig, perceiving with trained eyes the signs of growing fatigue in his +frail friend after the unwonted strain of the day and its necessarily +emotional climax, had gently but firmly insisted on withdrawing at an +early hour. Georgiana had remained with her father, herself content to +have the strange and wonderful day end in the old, simple, and natural +way in which her days had ended for so long. She had felt, as she +performed her customary daughterly offices for the beloved invalid, that +she had quite enough to take with her to her own pillow to insure its +being the happiest upon which she had ever laid her head. + +They had seen little of Doctor Craig on the following day; but he had +taken dinner with them that night, and as he had brought them back to +the library fire he had given stringent directions to the boy Thomas +that he be disturbed only for the most important summons. And hardly had +the trio taken their places in the pleasant room before Jefferson Craig +made his statement that there was something still unsettled in their +affairs. + +As he spoke he was looking down at Georgiana. It would have been strange +if he could have kept his eyes away from her to-night. Like a flower in +sunshine had she bloomed under the warm influence of the joy which had +come to her when she least expected it. She was again wearing the little +gray silk frock, but now its nunlike simplicity was gone--and happily +gone--for a bunch of glowing pink Killarney roses at her belt, placed +there by Doctor Craig's hands, lighted the plain costume into one of a +charm which could no longer be called demure. + +"Something still to settle?" It was Father Davy who replied, for +Georgiana had no answer for that suggestion. One glance at Doctor +Craig's face, as he said the words, had told her what was coming. + +"The most important thing of all. Everything else is in order. You, dear +sir, have agreed to come and live with us. We are convinced that it's +not a sacrifice, except for the leaving of certain old friends. You have +a zest still for seeing and hearing the things you have been denied; +it's to be our keen pleasure to make your days go by on wings. You're +going to have plenty of room here for the bookcases and the books, all +the furnishings you care to keep--in short, you're to live the old life +with a fine new one as well. Altogether, everything is in train for the +great change, except"--he crossed the hearthrug at a stride, and laid a +son's hand upon the thin shoulder of Father Davy--"except the date of +it," he finished, smiling down into the uplifted face. + +"But that," replied Georgiana's father without hesitation, "is not for +me to settle. It is for you two." + +Craig looked across at Georgiana and for a minute studied her down-bent +profile as she sat gazing into the flames; then came round to her, +plucking a pillow from a big leather couch by the way, to drop it at her +feet and throw himself down upon it. So placed he could look straight +into her face. "You'll have to take an interest in the ceiling now if +you succeed in avoiding me," he said, with a low laugh. + +"I don't want to avoid you," answered Georgiana, and let her eyes meet +his fairly for an instant. She could not yet do this in a quite casual +way. + +He crossed his arms upon her knee, sitting in a boyish attitude and +looking not unlike a big boy for the moment, for all the lines of care +were gone from his face in the soft firelight, and happiness had laid +its rosy mantle over his shoulders as over hers. He began to speak +rather quickly: + +"For the life of me, I can't think of a reason why you should go back +and spend a winter in the same old grind, waiting till spring +and--making me wait till spring. Why should anybody wait till spring? +I've let you talk about all the work you were going to do this winter at +home, but that was just because I didn't want to make you feel as if you +were caught in a trap. I had an idea that for a few hours, anyhow, it +might seem enough of a change to come down here and promise to marry a +perfect stranger of a surgeon instead of the 'literary light' you knew. +I thought we'd let it go at that for those few hours. But now--it +doesn't seem to me possible to go back to bachelorhood again, even with +such a prospect before me in the spring. Not after having tasted--this. +Georgiana, why must I?" + +Her face was the colour of her roses. There was no getting away from the +challenge of those eyes that watched her so steadily--not even by +following his suggestion and gazing persistently ceilingward. Craig +glanced at Father Davy, to find that his soft blue eyes showed no sign +of shock, and that his face was perfectly placid as he looked and +listened. + +The younger man went on, coming straight to the point: "Georgiana, marry +me before you go back! You've promised to stay a week. Let's have a +wedding here, next Wednesday. Then we'll leave Father Davy here +comfortably with Mrs. MacFayden, and run up to see about getting things +packed and shipped. I'll take that much of a vacation now. Then, in +April, we'll go abroad for a real honeymoon and take Father Davy with +us. I'd propose that now, but the seas are stormy in December and +January and we mustn't risk it for him. But, let's not wait! Why should +we? Now, honestly, why should we?" + +The girl turned her face, with a strange little look of appeal, toward +her father, to meet such a look of entire comprehension as stirred her +to the depths. Suddenly, obeying an impulse she did not understand, she +drew herself gently away from Craig, rose and went to the figure in the +big chair opposite. She sat down on the arm and, bending, dropped her +face upon the fatherly shoulder, hiding it there. Craig sat perfectly +still, watching the pair, as Father Davy put up a thin, white hand and +patted the dark head. Then the two men smiled at each other. + +After a while Craig got up and quietly left the room. + +By and by Father Davy whispered: "What is it, dear? You're not ready? +You shall not be hurried. Or is it----" + +She spoke into his ear. "I want to go back home--and earn--and +earn--enough to----" + +"Can you earn it, daughter? Can you ever get enough ahead to provide +what you would like? And meanwhile--he wants you very much, my dear. I +think I know more of his heart than you do, in way. Last winter we had +certain talks that showed me a little of that. Would it be such a blow +to pride to do as he asks? Unless--in other ways you are not ready. If +your love for him isn't quite mature enough yet----" + +"Oh, it isn't that; it's mature enough. It--it hasn't grown, in spite of +me, all this year like--a--tumbleweed"--her voice was a little +breathless--"not to have got its growth----" + +"Its first growth," amended her father, with a meaning smile. + +She nodded. "But--if you could know how I want--time to make the most +of--what mother left me. I could do so much if I just had time. If I +used it now I should have to use it up so fast! There'll be fifty +dollars left when we get back. I could almost make that do, if--no, of +course I couldn't. But I could earn more. O Father Davy, is it wrong of +me to be so proud?" + +"Not wrong, my girl, but very natural, I suppose. Yet to me--well, dear, +I hardly know how to say what I feel. I confess I should like to see you +married to this man. Life is--so short----" + +They sat together in silence for a time; then Georgiana slipped back +into the seat where she had been. + +Presently Father Davy said that it had been a full day, and that he +thought he should be fitter for the morrow if he should go to bed. +Georgiana went up with him, saw him comfortably resting, listened while +he whispered something in her ear as she bent above him, kissed him with +her heart on her lips, and finally stole like a mouse down the stairs +again. + +When she came into the library once more it was to find herself in arms +which held her close. "Do you think I don't understand, my dearest?" +said the low voice which had such power to move her. "Do you think I +don't respect and love you for your perfectly natural feeling about it +all? But, Georgiana, you bring me a dowry bigger than any I could ask +for--the inheritance from such a father as he is--and from the mother +who gave you all he left her to give. What are towels and tablecloths--I +don't know what it is brides bring!--beside such things as these? Won't +you give me the real thing, and let me furnish the ones that don't +count? Dear, if you could know the pleasure there is for me in the very +thought of buying you--a hat!" + +She could but smile, his tone put so much awe into the word. Suddenly +she grew whimsical; it was so like Georgiana to do that when she was +deeply stirred! + +"What do you suppose that hat was made of, I wore here?" she asked him. +"I'll tell you. I found the shape for twenty-five cents at the village +milliner's. I cut it down and sewed it up again into another shape. Then +I hunted through the old 'Semi-Annuals'; you don't know what those are, +do you? I found a piece of velvet that had been a flounce. I steamed it +and covered the shape. Then I had to have some trimming. It came from an +old evening cloak of my Cousin Jeannette's--a bit of gilt, a silk rose, +some ribbon from--I can't tell you what it came from, but it had to be +dyed to match the velvet. I couldn't quite get the shade. But the hat, +when it was done, wasn't so bad." + +"Where is it now?" + +"Upstairs in my room." + +"Would you mind getting it?" + +She laughed, hesitated, finally ran upstairs and down again, the hat in +hand. Pausing before an old gilt mirror in the hall she put it on, then +came to him, lifting her head with a proud and merry look which bade +him beware how he might venture to criticise the work of her hands. + +Adjusting his eyeglasses with care, he viewed it judicially. "It looks +very nice to me," he said. "Suppose you keep it on and put on a coat and +let me take you out in the car for a few minutes. There's a certain +window uptown I should like to look at, with you." + +"I have no coat," she said steadily, and now the colour ebbed a little +from her warm cheek, "except the one that belongs with the suit I wore. +It's short; it wouldn't do to wear with a dress like this." + +"I see." Suddenly he came close again, gently lifted the hat from the +dark masses of her hair, laid it carefully on a table near by, and drew +her with him to a broad, high-backed couch at one side of the fire. + +"I can see," he said, very quietly, "that you and I have much to do in +getting to know each other. Let's lose no time in beginning. Listen, +while I try to tell you what marriage means to me--and to find out what +it means to you." + +It was a long talk, and, by the kindness of the fates which rule over +the irregular schedule of the men of Craig's profession, an +uninterrupted one. Long before it was over Georgiana learned many new +things concerning the man who was to be her husband, not the least of +which was his power of making others see as he saw, feel as he felt, and +believe, from first to last, in his absolute integrity of motive. And +when he told her what he thought he could do for her father if he should +have him under his eye during the coming winter, the period which was +always so long and trying for the sensitive frame of the invalid, whose +resisting powers were at their lowest when the winter winds were +blowing, she gave way and the question was settled. + +But she did not give way in everything after all, nor did he ask her to +do so. When he suggested details of preparation, and she shook her head, +he smiled and told her it should all be as she wished. And when he said, +very gently, that he hoped she would let him provide her with the means +to buy whatever she might need, because everything that he had was hers +already, he took with a submission that was all grace her refusal to use +a penny of his until she should bear his name. If he made certain +reservations of his own as to what might happen when he should hold the +right, that did not show. + +"So that I get you, dearest," he said at the end of the evening, just +before he let her go, "I am willing to take you in any sort of package +you may select for yourself. Personally it seems to me that jeweller's +cotton is the most appropriate background for you, if you won't have a +satin-and-velvet case!" + +At which Georgiana laughed, and assured him that she was no real jewel, +only one of the secondary stones, and uncut at that. The answer she got +to this sent her off upstairs with thrilling pulses, to lie awake for a +long time, recalling his voice and look as he said the few suddenly +grave words which had given her a glimpse of his bare heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +MAGIC GOLD + + +The days which followed were to be remembered with peculiar delight all +Georgiana's life. Each morning, in Doctor Craig's own car, accompanied +by her father, she went shopping. Mr. Warne could not use his strength +in following her into the shops, but he could sit at ease in a corner of +the luxurious, closed landau, an extra pillow tucked behind his back, an +electric footwarmer at his feet, his slender form wrapped in a wonderful +fur-lined coat which his son-in-law to-be had put upon him with the +reasonable explanation that it had proved to be too small for himself. +From this sheltered position he could watch the hurrying crowds, study +the faces and find untiring interest in the happenings of the streets. + +Not the smallest part of his pleasure lay in receiving his daughter +again each time she came hurrying out of some great portal, the tiniest +of packages under her arm. Although Duncan, Doctor Craig's chauffeur, +was always watching, ready to jump from his seat and assist her, she was +usually too quick for him to be of much use, though she always gave him +her friendly smile and thanks for his eagerness. It may be said that +Duncan himself, a young Scotsman whose devotion to his master was now +augmented by his admiration of his master's choice, enjoyed those +shopping expeditions with an unusual zest. + +"Oh, but these shops are wonderful, Father Davy!" Georgiana was fain to +cry, as she came back with her purchases. "Of course I have to shut my +eyes and simply fly past the counters where I'd like to buy everything +in sight. But I do find such glorious little bargains, such treasures of +left-overs--you can't think how I'm making my money hold out! I'm so +thankful for all my training in turning and twisting; it's such a help +just now!" + +If Father Davy rejoiced within himself that the days of "left-overs" for +Georgiana were all but past and that there was to be no more "turning +and twisting," at least with material things, he did not say so. Instead +he surveyed the contents of the small packages with eyes which were +nearly as bright as hers, and made her supremely content with his +approval. + +The climax of the shopping came on the morning of the third day. +Georgiana returned to the car after a more than usually long absence, +during which, for the first time, Mr. Warne had become slightly weary of +using his eyes in watching the ever-moving throng, and had dropped off, +in his warm corner, into a little refreshing nap. He wakened to find +Georgiana beside him, the car moving uptown by a less congested route +than they had taken before, and his daughter's hand firmly clasping his. + +He looked round at her and saw, to his surprise and dismay, that her +heavy lashes were thick with tears. But she smiled through them, and +bade him wait to hear the reason until they were in the Park, where each +morning a drive, according to Doctor Craig's suggestion, was taken +before the swift run back to the downtown square. + +The moment they were well within the precincts and had entered upon the +less frequented drive which she had asked for, Georgiana turned to her +father. She held up something before him, and, looking at it, he +discovered the little old bag of dark blue silk which her mother had +fashioned from her own wedding gown, and which had contained the +treasured gold pieces which had made it possible for Georgiana to have a +wedding gown of her own. + +"It's nearly empty now," said the girl softly. "It's bought so much, +Father Davy; I've begun to think it was magic gold! Everybody--all the +shopgirls and women--have helped me spend it. It was as if they knew I +must make it go a long way and wanted to do it. I really think"--she +gave a tremulous little laugh--"it was a good thing I wasn't dressed to +match the car I came in, or they never would have taken the trouble to +hunt up the things I wanted--at the prices I could pay. The fact that I +looked like a shopgirl, too, was such a help!" + +"A shopgirl!" repeated her father. "You, my dear? What would Jefferson +say to that? No matter how you were dressed you could not possibly look +anything but what you are." + +"Oh, but, Father Davy, dear, you don't know what many and many of the +shopgirls, especially these city girls, look like. There are such +beautiful faces among them, such soft voices, such really charming +manners. Of course there are plenty of the other kind, the cheap and +common sort, but so many of the nice kind! I don't mind looking like +some of them, indeed I don't. And the fact that I'm wearing this little +old summer serge suit, now in December, with this hat, which any clever +girl would know I made myself--well, it has helped me to interest their +sympathies in my search. And now I've found"--her voice sank--"I've +found what I couldn't have expected to find in all New York. And I'm so +glad--so glad--I can't tell you. Look!" + +She slowly unwrapped a long, slim, cylinderlike parcel, and brought to +view what it contained. Inclosed in its pasteboard protector, to keep it +unwrinkled in its soft perfection, lay a roll of dark blue silk, of a +small brocaded pattern. + +Georgiana silently laid the little blue-silk bag upon it, and held up +the two so that her father could see how close was the resemblance. The +colour was precisely the same, making allowances for the slight dimming +of age; while the design of the brocade was so similar that the two +might have been made in the same period, if not by the same hand. + +Mr. Warne studied the two fabrics intently for a moment, then looked +into his daughter's eyes. He was too moved to speak. When she herself +could talk again composedly she told him what she meant to do. The blue +silk, made by her own hands in the three days left her, was to be her +wedding gown. She had bought a little fine lace, fit for such a use, +with which to make the finishing; and no matter what Doctor Jefferson +might think of such a substitute for the customary bridal attire, for +herself she should be far happier than in the finest white silk or satin +that could be bought. + +"God bless you, my little girl!" Father Davy murmured, wiping his eyes, +their clear blue depths misty. + +His thin hand clasped the little blue bag again, his heart ached with +the sorrow which is part joy and with the joy which is part sorrow. +Nothing his Phoebe's daughter could have done would have proclaimed her +so truly the child of her mother as this unexpected act. He looked again +and again at the roll of blue silk in Georgiana's lap. + +"How strange it seems that you could find it," he said, "now when +everything is so different from the fashions of twenty-five years ago." + +"It's a revival, the silk man said. He explained that the styles of the +moment call for the fabrics and patterns of the past, and that it's a +constant revolution, bringing back every once in so often what is +old-fashioned between times. But he himself was surprised that the very +newest thing on his shelves was the one that matched the old. I think he +was almost as pleased as I was--without knowing anything about it, +except that I was very anxious to find the silk. And now to hurry home +and make it!" + +Her unconscious use of the word "home" struck pleasantly upon Mr. +Warne's ears. He himself was beginning to feel very much at home in the +old square. Small wonder, since he had found there the son he had longed +for all his married life. + +Back at the house Georgiana fell to work without delay. She had told +Mrs. MacFayden her intention, and had enlisted the warm interest of that +motherly Scotswoman. She had offered Doctor Craig's young guest the use +of her own sitting-room, with that of the sewing-machine which stood +there, and here presently Georgiana unrolled her breadths of silk and +laid upon them the pattern she had selected. + +And now, indeed, she was glad of the long training in the dressmaker's +trade, glad of the clever art she had cultivated for so many years. It +was to her a simple enough matter to fashion herself a dress which +should be in form and line all that could be desired. To do it out of +unbroken yards of material, without necessity for piecing and patching, +was a delightful novelty. To accomplish it in three days was only a +matter of working at top speed, with fingers which flew at the behest of +a brain which also worked like magic at its task. + +During this period Doctor Craig himself was more than ordinarily busy, +to judge by his infrequent appearances at his home. For those last three +days before his marriage he was out of town, returning only on the +evening preceding the date set. But Georgiana found no lack in him as a +lover, for during the brief moments when he could be with her he made +the most of his opportunity, letting her see plainly that she was always +in his thoughts, and giving her every evidence that he was the happiest +of expectant bridegrooms. Each day a great box of flowers was brought to +her, in which she revelled as she had only dreamed of doing. While he +was away he called her up each evening on the telephone, managing to +send her somehow, over the wire, a sense of his nearness and his +devotion. Altogether those few days brought to Georgiana an experience +unique in a lifetime, and one which she would gladly have prolonged. + +Then, it seemed quite suddenly, it was Wednesday morning, and the sun +was shining brilliantly in at Georgiana's windows over a thousand +roof-tops. The marriage was to occur at noon, because, for a bride whose +bridal finery was limited to a little frock of dark blue silk and whose +traveling attire was the plainest of ready-to-wear suits and simplest of +small hats, without furs or furbelows of any sort, it seemed the only +fitting hour. + +It had been arranged that the two essential witnesses to the ceremony +should be two close friends of Doctor Craig's, an elderly couple whose +name, if the Warnes had known, was one of the old names of the city, +standing for the bluest of blue Knickerbocker blood, though for only +moderate wealth and for no ostentation whatever. Georgiana had begged +that no other guests be asked, being anxious, on her father's account, +to have the whole affair over with the least possible agitation for him. +To this Doctor Craig had cordially agreed. + +At eleven o'clock, however, a third guest arrived, a most unexpected +guest, who with a ruddy, eager face, came running up the old stone steps +of the house, a great florist's box under his arm. He demanded of the +boy Thomas instant entrance, and waved back at a taxicab driver the +summons to bring along a much larger box which was nearly filling that +vehicle. + +Georgiana, peeping out of her father's window, beheld, and was off and +down the stairs before Thomas could fairly begin his explanation that +Miss Warne was engaged and could not be intruded upon at this hour. + +"O Jimps!" + +"Well, well, George! You came pretty near giving me the slip, didn't +you? But not quite--thanks to Doctor Craig." + +Georgiana showed her surprise. "Did he let you know?" + +She had led him instantly inside the library and had unconsciously +closed the door all but in the face of the interested Thomas, ignoring +both florist's box and big package, which that young man would have +brought in to her. She had both hands on James Stuart's shoulders, and +was looking him straight in the eyes, which looked as straightly back. +If there had ever been the beginning of romance between these two, +clearly it was far in the background now. Never did brother and sister +face each other with their relationship more clearly defined. + +"I should say he did--since you didn't! What did you mean by trying to +steal a march on us all like this? Jeannette is furious, though of +course she isn't strong enough to come, wild though she is to do it. She +wanted me to tell you that she'll have revenge when she gets about, and +that you won't escape her wedding presents. Meanwhile she's sent you +something she had on hand, because there was no time to get anything +else. She thought you would find a use for it somehow. She sent her love +with it--and I can tell you that's pretty valuable." + +"Of course it is! Jimps, I'm so pleased, so wonderfully pleased that you +are here--I can't tell you!" + +"Then, why in the name of old friendship didn't you send for me?" Stuart +demanded, for plainly this still rankled. "Evidently Doctor Craig had +more belief in that than you did." + +"I wanted to, indeed I did, Jimps, dear, but I thought--I was +sure--well----" + +Stuart laughed. "Thought I wanted to save every penny for my own +wedding, eh? I rather guess I can squander a few on yours. I wouldn't +have missed it for worlds, though I'd give a good deal if _my_ +sweetheart could have been here, too--and so would she, bless her! She's +coming on splendidly, George--looks almost herself again. In a month +more her doctor will let up on restrictions." + +They talked fast, with an eye on the library clock, and when its deep, +slow chime proclaimed the half-hour Georgiana rose. + +"I must go now. Come and stay with father till the hour arrives, will +you? It will steady him to see you. Not but that he seems as serene as +ever, but I know inside it's a pretty big strain for him." + +"All right, I'd like nothing better, since I can't see you any longer. +Where's the principal man for this occasion, anyhow? Can he take the +time to be married, or is he liable to send up word he's detained? You +can't put your finger on these popular surgeons till they're here." + +"I had a telephone message from him an hour ago," Georgiana assured him, +with a conscious little smile. "I really think he'll be here, though not +till the last minute, probably." + +"If he isn't I'll go after him with a gun. If he doesn't show up I'd +marry you myself if it wasn't for a previous engagement," dared Stuart, +with a happy laugh. + +"Never! If I couldn't have my man I'd never marry anybody," she +whispered, as she turned to look back at him for an instant, her hand on +the library door. + +Stuart caught the hand, and whispered back: "George, is it like that +with you, too?" She nodded. His face flamed. "It's wonderful, isn't it? +Unbelievable!" + +She nodded again. They looked into each other's faces, smiling through a +mist of happiness, then Georgiana flung open the door and ran out into +the hall. + +Stuart followed, caught up the big box and ran after her up the stairs. +"Here," he said under his breath, as they reached the top, "be sure to +open this before you go. Jean wanted you to wear it away with you; she +said you'd be sure to need it, traveling. It's a beauty; it just came +home for her." + +He gave her the big box at the door of her room, while she pointed him +down the hall to her father's door. He patted her arm with a brotherly +gesture, and hurried along. + +Inside her room, with a glance at the clock, she opened the box. Under +the tissue lay a soft, luxurious-feeling mass, all dark blue cloth of a +velvety texture, with glimpses of dark fur. She opened it, with a sigh +of pleasure, for it meant that now she might look fit to be Dr. +Jefferson Craig's traveling companion, with this cloak, fur-lined, +all-enveloping, to slip on over the plain little suit which was not half +warm enough for severe winter weather. + +"It's the last of my 'Semi-Annuals,'" she said to herself, "and the +best. How dear of her! And oh, how good it is that Jimps is here! Now I +have a family, a real family to see me married--a father and a brother!" + +The clock again--warning her to fly. She had ever been rapid at +dressing--she had never been quicker. A cold plunge--the second that +morning, bringing the blood leaping--the donning of fair garments lying +ready to her hand--the arrangement of hair in the old way, simplicity +itself--then the slipping over her white shoulders of the blue silk +gown. When it was fastened Georgiana went to stand by her window, +looking out with eyes which did not see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +GREAT MUSIC + + +"Wull ye be comin' soon, Miss Warne?" said the voice of Mrs. MacFayden +at her door. Georgiana opened it quickly, and the housekeeper entered, +quietly resplendent in black silk with fine lace collar and cuffs, her +hair in shining order, an expression of great solemnity on her face. + +"Mr. and Mrs. Peter Brandt are here," she announced with impressiveness. +"Doctor Craig is doonstairs with them; he cam' ten minutes ago. He bade +me say he wad coom for ye himself when ye were ready. It's a gled day +for him, Miss Warne, an' for us a'." + +Georgiana advanced, her heart very warm toward this good woman, who, as +she well knew, was quite as much the friend of Jefferson Craig as his +housekeeper, and well esteemed, even beloved by him. The girl came +close. + +"Mrs. MacFayden," she said, very low, "I have--no mother to kiss me +before I go down. May I----" + +The sentence was left unfinished, for with one step forward Mary +MacFayden opened wide her arms, and for a long minute the two enfolded +each other, while both hearts beat strongly. + +Then Georgiana, suddenly mindful that she must not let go for an instant +of her self-control, pressed a kiss upon the fair, smooth cheek of the +Scotswoman, received one equally warm upon her own, and drew away +smiling. "Thank you," she murmured uncertainly. "I couldn't go without +it." + +"Thet ye could na', lassie," responded Mrs. MacFayden heartily. +"Noo--wull I send the doctor up?" + +"Just in a minute--when I have seen my father----" + +Georgiana ran into his room from her own. A deep embrace, a lingering +kiss--while James Stuart looked out of the window, a lump suddenly +appearing from nowhere in his sturdy throat. + +Then Georgiana said softly at the young man's elbow: "Thank you again +for coming, Jimps. It's such a comfort to have my brother here." + +Before he could reply she was gone again. + +He led Mr. Warne downstairs, where Doctor Craig presented them both to +the Brandts--delightful people Stuart thought them, too--so simple and +unaffected--almost like village people. + +As he stood waiting with them, in the same dignified big room which he +had been in before he went upstairs, he was conscious that in his brief +absence its character had changed. Library though it still was, with its +massive bookcases filled with rows upon rows of finely bound books, it +had taken on a festal air. Great bowls of roses, deep crimson, glowing +pink, rich amber, had been brought in; they stood on table, +chimney-piece, and floor; hundreds of them it seemed to him there must +be. He realized that Georgiana herself could not have seen them; they +would be a surprise to her. Evidently the simple little wedding was to +have a character all its own. + +With the quiet departure of Jefferson Craig from the room James Stuart +was all eyes for an appearance at the door. How would Georgiana come to +her marriage? In shimmering white, he supposed, for that was the +traditional garb of all the brides he had ever seen--mostly village +girls they were. Once, while at college, he had attended a city wedding, +that of a classmate who had not been willing to wait till his college +course was finished. Stuart remembered how pale the bride had been; she, +had looked as if she were going to faint. He hoped Georgiana would not +look like that: he could not conceive it. + +The next moment he saw her, entering the wide door, on Doctor Craig's +arm--the same Georgiana he had always known, as simply dressed, even +more simply, he thought, though he had little time for looking at her +dress, so held was his gaze by her face. Never could he have conceived +so radiant a bride. And then he thought--Jefferson Craig had gone up +alone to bring her down. Stuart wondered if he himself could make +Jeannette look like that, at such a moment. He thought he could! + +Georgiana looked into Father Davy's eyes as she stood before him. He was +not tall; his face was almost on a level with her own. It seemed to her +she had never seen eyes so clear, so blue, so comprehending. Her own +never left them for a moment while the service lasted, until the closing +prayer. + +Father Davy's voice, at first very slightly tremulous, gathered force as +he went on with the words he had spoken so many times, but never as he +was speaking them now--to his child, to Phoebe's child, and to the man +of her choice. A little flush crept into his thin cheeks. More than once +his eyes rested on the dark-blue silk which covered his daughter's +shoulders; the sight of it seemed to give him strength. + +When the service ended, and his voice sank into the words of prayer, the +hand of Mr. Peter Brandt went for a moment to his eyes; Mrs. MacFayden +felt suddenly for her handkerchief; James Stuart softly cleared his +throat, winking once or twice rather rapidly. Never had any of them +heard just such a prayer as that. It was as if he who made it were very +near the invisible Presence whom he so tenderly and trustingly +addressed. + +Stuart never forgot the moment when he looked for the first time into +the eyes of Jefferson Craig's newly made wife. For one instant he +suffered a pang of jealousy--a queer, irrational feeling. It was as if +he had lost his friend, as if this star-eyed creature before him could +never find room for him again in her full heart. But he knew better in +the next breath, for she lifted her face, ever so little, and with a +sense of deep relief he gave her the brotherly kiss she thus permitted. +When he looked at Jefferson Craig he found that the keen, fine eyes were +regarding him with a very friendly intentness, and he wrung the hand +offered him as he would have wrung the hand of a brother. + +"You're the luckiest man in this whole big town," declared Stuart. His +lips had been dumb before Georgiana, but now he turned to her again. +"George, there's no use trying to tell you how I feel about this. All I +can say is that nothing's too good for you--or for him. That's pretty +lame, but--whatever eloquence I'm capable of is tied up somewhere; I +can't get it out." + +"It's out, Jimps, dear," she assured him. "Isn't it--Jefferson?" + +"It certainly is--Jimps," Craig answered heartily. "It was for just that +genuine feeling that I sent for you. I knew we couldn't spare it." + +Stuart watched the pair eagerly during the next hour--the hour during +which the little party sat at the wedding breakfast which followed. The +table was a round one, and his place was next the bride, so he missed +nothing. He had never been present on such an occasion, nor could have +guessed the beauty and charm of the setting wealth and art can give. It +was perfection itself, arranged by whose hand he had no notion, but he +understood well enough by whose order had been created all the simple +elegance which so well suited the house and the people. And as he looked +at Georgiana he said to himself: + +"She fits into this as if she had been born to it. She _was_ born to it, +for it's just the kind of thing she'd have made for herself if she'd had +the means. No show, no fuss, just niceness! And it's the sort of thing +my wife shall have, somehow, even in the country, before long. We'll +_bring_ this there; she'll know how. There's no patent on it. Bless +her--how George deserves this! If only Jean could have been here. But +I'll tell her; I'll get it over to her. And she'll understand!" + +At the end of the hour the car was at the door, and Georgiana was coming +down the stairs in her traveling clothes, her bridal bouquet on her arm. +How those splendid roses had lighted up the little dark-blue frock! + +"I've no bridesmaid to throw it to," she said, extending it toward +Stuart. "Will you take it to Jeannette?" + +"I should say I will. I'll be with her this evening; she made me +promise." And Stuart received the offering with a glad hand. + +A long, silent clinging to her father was the only parting embrace for +this girl. If James Stuart longed for one of his own, after these years +of friendship, he was obliged to be content with the lustrous look he +had from eyes lifted for a moment to his as Georgiana took her place in +the car, and with the lingering pressure her hand gave his, which spoke +of love and loyalty. + +Then she was gone, with Jefferson Craig sending back at Stuart a special +brilliant smile of gratitude for the office he had performed, that of +taking the place of the whole group of young people usually present on +such occasions, saying good-bye with bared head and face of ardent +devotion, with the first light snowflakes of winter falling on his fair +hair. + +"I can't believe I'm quite awake," said Georgiana, by and by. She sat in +one of the drawing-rooms of a fast train, the door closed, the curtains +drawn between herself and the rest of the carful of passengers, and only +the flying landscape beyond the window to tell of the world outside. + +Craig sat watching her; he seemed able to do nothing else. In his face +was the most joyous content; there seemed almost a light behind it. +"Not awake?" was his amused comment. "I wonder why. Now I feel +tremendously awake--after a long, uneasy sleep, in which I dreamed of +losing what I most wanted." + +"But it's not all strange to you as it is to me. I can't quite believe +that there's nothing on my shoulders--no care, no anxiety, just--well, +_your_ shoulders! Oh, but," she went on hastily, "don't think that means +I want you to carry everything for me; indeed I don't. I want to +carry--half!" + +"Ah, but that's it," he answered. "My shoulders for your burdens, yours +for mine. That way neither of us will feel half the weight of either. +I'm not pretending that I shall give you a life of wholly sheltered +ease; it won't be that, and you don't want it, not in this +burden-bearing world. But--you shall have some things that you have been +denied, my brave girl! Georgiana, I can't tell you how it touched +me--the dress you made to be married in." + +Her eyes went down now before the look in his. + +"I'll tell you fairly that I longed with all my heart to take you to +some place worthy of your beauty and find a wedding gown for you--not +necessarily a very costly one, but one that should bring out all you are +capable of showing. But when I saw you, looking just yourself, in the +silk that was like your mother's,"--he leaned forward, taking both her +hands in his and looking straight into her face, compelling her gaze to +lift to his lest she should miss what she knew was there,--"I felt +something inside my heart break wide open--with worship for you, little, +strong, splendid spirit that you are!" + +He pressed the hands against his lips. Then he touched two rings upon +her left hand: exquisite and rare jewels were set in both engagement and +wedding rings, after the modern fashion. But there was a third ring +there, guarding the others, a slender band of gold, worn thin by many +years of hard, self-forgetting work--the ring which David Warne had +placed twenty-seven years ago upon the hand of his bride. Jefferson +Craig studied all three, turning them round and round upon the rosy +finger they encircled. + +Presently he spoke again, very gently: "My rings on your hand mean to me +love and beauty, loyalty and truth. But her ring stands for all that +and--service. We need it there, to remind us what we owe the world we +live in. She paid her debt; we'll pay ours, in memory of her. Bless her +for giving me her daughter!" + +For a minute Georgiana could not speak. Then, with her dark eyes +sparkling through the mist of tears which had taken her unawares, she +seized his hand and lifted it to press her glowing cheek against it, +saying passionately: "Oh, _how_ you understand!" + +They were silent for a long time after that, while the train flew on, +through the gathering darkness of the late December afternoon, into the +night.... + +Georgiana had supposed that they were to go at once to the old home, for +she knew that Craig could not be long away at this time, and there was +much to do there. But she found that instead of changing trains in the +great city, sixty miles beyond which lay the home village, they were +leaving the station to be conveyed in a waiting car to a hotel. + +"If you had been spending all these years in cities," was Craig's +explanation, "I should have felt like plunging at once with you into the +solitude. But as it is--well, I wondered if we shouldn't like to hear +some great music to-night. Do you feel as I do--that there are times +when nothing but music can speak for you?" + +"But you," she said, "who live in the rush all the time----" + +"There's no rush here for me," he answered. "Nobody is likely to know me +here; I can forget the whole world in the midst of the crowd with you +to-night. As for the music--I've been on short rations a good while +myself. I think we can feast together, don't you?" + +It was all a fairy tale to Georgiana, that evening in the city. Her +college days had been spent in a small college town which, though it had +lain not many miles away from this same great metropolis, had seldom +seen her leave it for the privileges which richer girls enjoyed at every +week-end. + +As for the superb hotel to which Craig took her, although she had seen +its impressive front, she had never so much as stood within its stately +lobby. Now she experienced all sorts of queer little thrills, as she +watched the accustomed ease with which her husband led her through the +brief details of arrival and noted with what deference he was received. +Evidently he had been expected, for there was no delay in the smooth +service which took them to an apartment reserved by wire, as Georgiana +gathered from a word she overheard. + +He was quite right; a touch of this was what she needed, as a bird long +confined needs a chance to stretch its wings. To this girl, with vivid +life stirring in her pulses, the unaccustomed experience could but be a +delight, with such a companion to show her the way. Every detail had its +own fascination, such as might never come again when she should be more +wonted to such scenes. The dinner served in their own small +drawing-room, the flowers which crowned the table, the blithe talk Craig +made during the little feast, with all its pretty, ceremonious detail of +service; finally the short drive to the place where the great music, as +Craig had called it, was to be heard--it all made a richly enchanting +picture in Georgiana's mind. + +When at length she sat beside her husband in the immense, silent +audience, listening to such splendid harmonies as only once or twice in +her lifetime she had heard before, her heart was far too full for words. +He did not ask them of her, understanding something of what was passing +in her mind, though not even his more than ordinary powers of sympathy +could have guessed at all that held her breathless through those hours +of supreme delight. + +Certain words of a Psalm, which she had often heard her father quote, +came into her mind and repeated themselves over and over. She had smiled +with a bitter irony sometimes when she had heard him speak them in a +tone of utter thankfulness, while she had been quite unable to imagine +how he could use them of himself. But now--now--surely they applied to +her! + +Along with the sweep of the conductor's baton, with the rise and surge +of one of the greatest of the symphonies, ran the triumphant words of +the singer of old time: "_Thou hast set my feet in a large room._" + +Surely it was a large room into which, from a cramped and restricted +one, she had emerged. She would do small honour to the devout life which +had so long been lived beside her if she should fail to give the praise +to the Maker of all life, who, according to her father's firm belief, +had known from the beginning all for which He had been so wisely fitting +her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +SALT WATER + + +It was the tenth day of April. A great ship was making ready to sail; +she lay like some inert monster at her pier, while all about her, within +and without, was apparent commotion yet really ordered haste, the +customary scene of bustling activity. + +Few passengers had yet arrived, for the time of sailing was still some +hours away. One party of three, however, had just driven down to the +very gangway, allowed by some special privilege a closer approach than +most at this hour. The reason was apparent when the party alighted, for +one of its number was clearly an invalid, a frail-looking man with curly +gray hair, who leaned upon the arm of a much younger man with a keen, +distinguished face. The third person was a young woman, the sort of +young woman who looks as if no buffeting wind could blow her away, +because she would be sure to face it with delight, her eager face only +glowing the brighter for the conflict. + +"This is the advantage of coming early, isn't it?" said Mrs. Jefferson +Craig, with a look of congratulation at her husband. "It's not much as +it was when we saw Mr. and Mrs. Brandt off last week. You can walk on +board as slowly as you please, Father Davy; there's no one to push." + +Mr. David Warne was drawing deep breaths of the salty air, with its +peculiar mixture of odours. He was also gazing about him with delighted +eyes, seeming in no haste to cross the gangway. + +"When I was a boy," he said to his daughter, who remained close at his +side, "I lived, as you know, in a seaport town. Ever since I came away, +it seems to me, I have been longing to smell that salty, marshy, briny +smell again. It takes me back--how it takes me back!" + +"The voyage is going to do you worlds of good," exulted Georgiana, her +eyes bright with hope. "Jefferson was quite right: the winter at home, +to help the poor spine; now the sea air, and the complete change, to +make you strong. We'll have you marching back and forth with the other +learned men, under the lindens at Trinity, while we are in Oxford--hands +clasped behind your back, impressive nose in air--the very picture of a +gentleman and a scholar." + +"As if there were anything of the scholar about me," murmured Mr. Warne, +smiling at this picture of his undistinguished self. "Well, my children, +I suppose you are ready to go on, and I imagine we are not wanted in the +way here. Let us proceed across that little bridge, and then we can +look back at all this interesting activity." + +Half an hour later, having taken possession of their staterooms, the +party returned to the deck, where Georgiana and her husband established +Mr. Warne in his chair, well tucked up in rugs--for the April air though +balmy was treacherous. They then fell to pacing up and down, according +to the irresistible tendency of the human foot the moment that it treads +the deck. + +"He seems deliciously happy, doesn't he?" said Georgiana's voice in her +husband's ear. "If he were twenty-six instead of fifty-six he couldn't +enter into it all with more zest. How pleased he was with Mrs. Brandt's +flowers, and how dear it was of her to send them to him!" + +"However happy he may be," declared Jefferson Craig, "it's not within +the bounds of possibility that he is so happy as we!" + +"Oh, of course not!" agreed Georgiana to this decidedly boyish speech. +She realized suddenly how quickly the sense of relaxation from care was +beginning to show in her husband. Her hand within his arm gave it a warm +little squeeze. "That couldn't be expected. To be torn apart, at any and +all hours, and kept apart day after day, just when we most want to be +together--and then to come down to a big ship and know that no telephone +bell can ring, nobody can make a single demand upon us that can prevent +our being by ourselves--well, words simply can't express how wonderful +it seems!" + +"It _is_ wonderful, and we'll make the most of it. There's just one +thing I want to get out of this vacation in the way of work, and then +all the rest of it shall be at your service." + +"The book?" + +"The book. How did you guess? I haven't spoken of it." + +"No, but I've seen you looking wistfully at your notebook time and +again, and guessed what you were thinking of. Well, we can make it fly. +I'm ready for you." + +Georgiana plunged her hand into a small bag she carried on her arm, and +brought forth a notebook--of her own. She produced a pencil. "You may as +well begin to dictate now," she said demurely. "What's the use of losing +time? Just don't go too fast, that's all." + +He stared at her. "What do you mean, dear? You don't know shorthand." + +"Don't I? Well, perhaps I can write fast enough in long hand. Try me." + +"My idea is," he said, "that we might spend a couple of hours every +morning, and another couple in the afternoon, if you don't mind, and +really get ahead quite a bit while we are at sea--provided you prove a +good sailor, which I have an idea you will if---- See here, what are you +doing? You're not taking that down in signs!" He looked over her +shoulder at the notebook, where a series of dashes, angles, hooks and +dots was forming with great rapidity. "You don't mean to say----" + +"No, I mean to write, and let you do the saying. Go ahead, sir--only be +sure you say something worth while." + +"But--you didn't have that accomplishment when we worked together last +summer." + +"How I did wish I had, though! You kept insisting that I was doing all I +could for you by copying endlessly, but I knew perfectly well that if I +were a stenographer you could accomplish just three times as much in a +given time as you did. You know perfectly well you only took that course +to give a poor girl the chance to earn. If it hadn't been for helping me +you would have had a secretary at your elbow, after you got to the point +of needing him." + +"I took that course, as you well know, because I wanted you at my elbow. +If you had been able to write only a word a minute, I should have wanted +you there just the same." + +She gave him a merry, understanding look, then read him the words he had +just spoken from her book. + +"Where in the world did you learn, and how?" he demanded. "And how have +you become so proficient in so short a time?" + +"I'm afraid it's rather blundering work yet, but it will grow better all +the time. Why, I've been taking lessons all winter, dear sir, at the +best shorthand school in the city. I made up my mind that it was the +thing I could do that would be of most use to you. It's a shame that a +man who is doing the original work that you are shouldn't have time to +give other people more benefit of it. It seemed to me you could write an +important monograph in an hour, if you just had me at hand to take down +the words of wisdom as they fell from your learned lips. Why you haven't +used a secretary before for this purpose I don't know, but I certainly +am glad you haven't. It insures me the position." + +If she had wanted a reward for long and severe labours she had it in his +look. "Other men dictate such papers," he said, "but somehow it has +never seemed to me I could. I tried it once or twice and didn't get on +at all as I did when I had the pen in my fingers. But with you, it may +be different." + +"It will be different," she told him confidently. "You're going to +become used to my being so much a part of you that you can think as if +you were using my brains--or I were using yours, which would be more to +the purpose, I admit. Oh, we're going to accomplish all sorts of things +together." + +He looked down into her eager face, glowing with colour, the dark eyes +apparently seeing visions which gave them keen delight. "You are a +partner worth having," he said, much moved. "I knew you would be, and +it's seemed to me all winter that no wife could be more of one. But if +you're going to add this to your other activities you will make yourself +even more indispensable than you already are, which is saying much." + +She could hardly wait until she had made a trial of this new form of +partnership. The ship had barely turned her face out to sea, parting +company with her pilot, before the work began. + +Doctor Craig had secured a small suite of staterooms opening upon a +central sitting-room, and here he and Georgiana could be sure of much +time to themselves. While the pair were engaged Mr. Warne was supremely +content to lie in a sheltered corner of the deck, book in hand, reading +or watching the ever new glory of sea and sky, or talking with some +fellow passenger who possessed intelligence enough to discover what +manner of man was here. + +When Georgiana, ardent as a child in her joy over what was to be +revealed, unpacked a small, portable typewriter and set it upon the +table of the sitting-room, Jefferson Craig suddenly caught her in his +arms. + +"My blessed girl," he cried, "this, too? What haven't you done with +your winter, when I thought you were spending your time getting +acquainted with New York, as I meant you to do? You and Mrs. Brandt were +supposed to be seeing everything worth seeing, on those morning drives. +Were you shut up in your room all that time learning machines?" + +"No, indeed. Do you imagine I made up all the stories I told you of +those expeditions? We did all that, and this, too. I spent only an hour +each morning at the school; the rest of the study I put in at all hours. +Many of them were when I was waiting for you, Doctor Craig, to take me +to a dinner or the opera. My notebook lived with me as if it had been a +treasure I couldn't have out of my sight. It was just that. I never was +so proud of anything I learned at college as I was when the gruff man +who had my special training in charge told me I would make a +stenographer. Not all of them did, he said. Some never could get hold of +it, or acquire any speed or accuracy. Just give me a year, and I'll put +down your thoughts before you think them!" + +"I haven't a doubt of it," he agreed, with a laugh of amusement and +delight. + +Thus the work began, and thus it proceeded, with only one day's +interruption when, in mid-ocean, came twenty-four hours of moderately +bad weather. + +To Georgiana's joy she proved herself the sailor her husband had +prophesied, but her father was not so fortunate, and she promptly +tucked him in his berth, where she kept him fairly comfortable until the +rough seas quieted. When he was recovered he lay for one morning on the +couch in the sitting-room, while the two workers resumed their task. +Here he seemed to slumber much of the time, but in reality he kept +rather a close watch on the absorbed pair, whom he had never before seen +thus engaged, much as he had heard of their labours. + +Looking up suddenly Georgiana discovered the blue eyes upon her, and +when her flying fingers next stopped she put a question: "A penny for +your thoughts, Father Davy. Don't we work together rather well, in spite +of my being such a novice?" + +"You two pull excellently well in double harness, it seems to me," he +responded. "I can't see that either is taking all the load while the +other soldiers and lets the traces slack." + +Doctor Craig looked around at him. "She's always ahead by a pair of ears +at least," he declared with a laugh. + +"But I hear his steady pound--pound--at my side, and I'm afraid he's +going to get a shoulder ahead," his wife explained. + +The interest the pair excited on shipboard was greater than Georgiana +guessed, though Doctor Craig was quite aware of it. Somehow or other the +word had gone around, as words do go in a ship's company, as to the +literary labours they were engaged in, and as Jefferson Craig's name was +one known to more people than Georgiana had the slightest notion of, +there was cause enough for the attention given them. Craig's noteworthy +personality--one which marked him anywhere as a man of intellect and +action--Georgiana's fresh young beauty, her spontaneous low laughter as +she paced the deck at her husband's side, her readiness to make friends +with those whose looks and bearing attracted her--these attributes made +the Craigs the target for all eyes. + +"I never saw people who looked so absolutely content," fretfully +murmured one swathed mummy in a deck chair to another, as the pair +passed them, on the tenth round of a long tramp, one gray morning when +the wind was more than ordinarily chill. The speaker's black eyes, +heavily lidded in a pale, discontented face, followed the Craigs out of +sight as she spoke. + +"Oh, they're on their honeymoon--that accounts for it," replied the +other, languidly. Her glance also had followed the walkers. + +"No, they're not--I've told you that before. They were married last +December--plenty of time for the glamour to wear off. They act as if +they never expected it to wear off. Sue Burlison must hate to look at +them--she certainly had her mind made up to marry Jefferson Craig, if it +could be done." + +"So did Ursula Brandywine," contributed the languid one. + +"You could say that of a dozen--twenty. I presume there are at least +four disappointed mothers on board, besides Jane Burlison. Not that any +of them ever had much encouragement from him--I'll say that for him. +They'd about given him up as hopeless when he went off and married this +country girl. One thing is certain--in spite of her fine clothes she +hasn't the air his wife ought to have--she's not his equal." + +"What's that you say?" The questioner was a sallow-faced youth upon the +black-eyed lady's other side. Sunk deep in a fur-lined coat, his cap +pulled low over his eyes--which were precisely like hers, even to the +expression of discontent--he had seemed for the last hour to be +slumbering. But at the moment he looked quite wide awake, as he turned +his head toward his mother and challenged her latest statement. "What's +that you say?" he repeated, in her own acrimonious tone. + +"Oh, have you come to at last?" she inquired. "It is quite impossible to +remember that though you sleep for hours you are liable to wake in time +to contradict me on any point whatever. In this case it is of no +consequence what I may have said." + +"You were handing us the hot dope about Mrs. Craig's not being in the +same class with Dr. Jeff. It certainly does take a woman to stick her +claws into another woman's fur. There's one thing I can tell you--there +isn't a man on board who'd agree with you. If she's a country girl--you +can say good-bye for me to the little old town. I'm going to take to +rural life till I find another. Talk about peaches and cream!" + +"I believe I did not mention her complexion," his mother observed +coldly. + +"Neither did your little son--though it would bear mentioning. I should +say yes! You said she hadn't any air. Jupiter--there she comes now. No +air!" + +He subsided into his high-turned fur collar but his eyes watched +intently as the Craigs, still walking briskly after at least an hour's +exercise, came up the deck from the stern. His mother, on the contrary, +let her drooping lids fall indifferently. The moment they were out of +possible hearing the young man sat up. + +"By Jove, if you call that no air, tell the grande dames to get a move +on. She walks like a young goddess--that's what." + +"Silly boy! Nobody is talking of her face or her gait. If you don't know +what I mean, no one can tell you." + +"Oh, I know what you mean," her son assured her. "I get you. What I say +is--you don't get _her_! Jefferson Craig's the one who gets her--lucky +chap! Maybe he doesn't know it--oh, no! Maybe not!" And turning his +back he once more appeared to slumber. + +It was fortunate for Georgiana that she never even imagined such +comments, though she passed these rows of critical eyes a hundred times +a day, sat at table with people who were keenly observant of her every +act and word, and spent some reluctant hours in the society of those who +strove to cultivate her for their own blase enjoyment. She only knew +that among the company she met a number of interesting men and women, +with whom she and her husband were thoroughly congenial, and that it did +not matter in the least about the rest. If those whom she liked so much, +and with whom she could talk with the greatest zest, turned out to be +the men and women of scientific or literary achievement, this seemed +only natural to the college-bred girl, and she cared not at all that she +did not get on so easily with those whose distinction lay in purely +social or financial lines. + +During the winter just past her experience had been much the same, in a +larger way. Her husband's acquaintance was naturally a large one, but +the circle of his real friends was bound almost wholly by these same +congenialities of mind and tastes. Georgiana had met and been +entertained by many people whose names stood high on the list of the +distinguished, though their personal fortunes were small, and their +social activities were ignored in the society columns of the Sunday +press. A college president, several famous surgeons, not a few noted +authors of scientific books, as well as certain social workers, and two +or three clergymen--these, with their wives and families, were the sort +of people who gave to Georgiana Craig a hearty and sincere welcome, +recognizing her at once as one who belonged to them. It was small wonder +that the young wife, trained in a school of life in which nothing +counted except worth and ability, found no lack, nor thought of sighing +for the privilege her husband could easily have given her, had he cared +for it himself, of mingling with a quite different class, that of the +rich and gay who cared for little except that which could give them the +most powerfully emotional reactions in the way of diversion, +acquisition, or notoriety. + +So they continued to work and walk their joyously contented way across +the wide Atlantic during the six days between port and port. Georgiana +enjoyed every hour, from that early morning one in which she first came +on deck, running up with her husband to breathe deeply of the +stimulating sea breeze before breakfasting, to the latest one, when, +furry coat drawn hurriedly on over her pretty evening frock, her dark +hair lightly confined under a gauzy scarf, she with Craig and a merry +half-dozen of the evening's group came up again upon a deserted deck, +to "blow the society fog out of their lungs," as one young biologist of +coming reputation put it, in the silvery April moonlight, with only a +few similarly inclined spirits to share with them the big empty spaces. + +"I shall really be sorry to land to-morrow," sighed Georgiana, leaning +upon the rail on the last night of the voyage, and staring ahead toward +the quarter where her husband had just indicated they would be seeing +land when they came up in the morning. "It has been so perfect, this +being off between the sea and the sky together. When shall I ever forget +this first voyage? It's a dream come true." + +"You will enjoy the second one just as much, for you're a born sailor, +and there'll be a long succession of voyages for you to look back upon +by and by. Not just my annual pilgrimages to foreign clinics, but +journeys to the ends of the earth if you like. Will that suit you, +eager-eyed one?" + +"Suit me? Oh, wonderful to think of! Am I eager-eyed really? I try so +hard to cultivate that beautiful calm of manner I admire so much in +other people. Haven't I acquired a bit of it yet?" + +"A beautiful calm of manner--all that could be desired. But your eyes +still suggest that you're standing on tiptoe, with your face lighted by +the dawn," Craig answered contentedly. "Heaven forbid you ever lose that +look! It's what gives the zest to my life." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +"CAKES AND ICES" + + +Jefferson Craig found plenty of the zest which he had told +Georgiana--that last evening on shipboard--her eager-eyed look added to +his life, when, the next day, in a compartment reserved for the three +travelers, he watched her as she fairly hung out of the windows. All +through Devonshire and on to the northeast. She was drinking in the fair +and ordered beauty of the English countryside in April, exclaiming over +apple orchards rosy as sea-shells with bloom, over vine-clad cottages +and hedge-bordered lanes, masses of wall flowers at each trim station, +and such green fields as she had never seen in her life. Father Davy was +not far behind her in his quiet enjoyment of the unaccustomed scenes. + +A night at Bath, picturesque and interesting, and then before the eldest +of the three travelers could be really weary they were in famous Oxford. +Professor Pembroke and his wife, Allison Craig, met them at the station, +to convoy them to the comfortable quarters in the dignified stone house +near Magdalen College, which Craig had more than once described to +Georgiana. + +Here the young American had her first taste of a manner of life which +enchanted her. From the moment that she set eyes on Jefferson Craig's +sister, the original of the photograph she had so often studied with a +constriction of the heart, not knowing whose it was, she was drawn to +her as she had never been drawn to any other woman. + +Sitting with her in the pleasant, chintz-hung living-room, walking with +her in the garden which was like no garden she had ever imagined, she +was conscious of a stronger sense of wonder than ever that a man whose +family was represented by a sister like this could ever have chosen the +crude young person she still considered herself. From Mrs. Pembroke, +however, she received only heart-warming assurance of her welcome and +her fitness. + +"My dear," Allison said, as the two stood at an ivy-framed window one +morning, looking out at Mr. Warne and his son-in-law as they slowly +paced up and down beneath a row of copper beeches between house and +garden, "I never saw my brother so happy in his life. Jeff always was +hard to please as a boy. I used to think it was merely a critical +disposition, but later I discovered that it was his extreme distaste for +all artifice, acting, intrigue--all absence of genuineness. Only those +boys and men interested him whom he had absolute faith in. + +"I don't mean that he himself was a goody-goody--far from it; he was a +terrible prank maker, and more than once narrowly missed suffering +serious consequences. But when he really grew up and it came to an +acquaintance with women, very few have even attracted him. I began to +fear that he was becoming hardened and would never find just what his +fastidious taste could approve--not to mention what his heart might +soften to. But now--well, I think I am almost as happy as he is, that he +has found you. He seems like a different being to me, and evidently it +is you who have wrought the miracle." + +"I surely have made no change in him," Georgiana protested. "He has been +just as he is now from the beginning--except, of course, that I know him +better. I can't imagine him hardened to anything." + +Allison Pembroke looked at her, smiling. She was herself an unusually +beautiful woman, more mature than Georgiana, but still with a touch of +girlishness in her personality which made her very appealing to her +young guest. + +"Evidently the softening process began the moment he met you," she said. +"He frankly admits that himself. I am going to tell you what he wrote to +me last winter, after you had begun your work with him. 'I feel like a +footsore traveler,' he said, 'who has been walking for many miles along +a hot and crowded highway, with the dust heavy on his shoulders and +thick in his throat, who suddenly finds his course turned aside through +a deep and quiet wood, with flowers springing on all sides, and a clear +stream running beside him, where he may bathe his flushed face and cool +his parched throat.' I have never forgotten the words, because they +struck me as so unlike him. I knew then that something had happened to +him there in the old manse. And when I saw you, dear, I didn't wonder +that he chose just those words." + +"I should never have thought," murmured Georgiana, incredulously, "that +I could ever have reminded anybody of a quiet wood--I with my hot +rebellion at having to spend my days in the country, which I could never +quite cover up." + +"I know. Just the same, Georgiana, after having known so many artificial +women, posing, as women do pose for a man in Jefferson's place, it +refreshed his very soul to find a girl like you, who dared to be herself +from head to foot, whether she pleased him or not. And oh, I am so +thankful you could care for him, since he needed you so much!" + +Such talks brought these two very close together. + +It was a happy week which Georgiana spent in the fine, classic old town, +walking or driving with Allison, exploring quaint, winding streets, +ancient halls, and flowery closes; or meeting interesting people of all +ranks, from the chancellor of the University himself to the young +undergraduates who offered her in their old and dingy but distinguished +rooms tea and toasted scones, along with their fresh-cheeked admiration. + +Not the least of her pleasure was in watching Father Davy's keen +enjoyment of everything that came his way, and in noting how many of +these English people seemed to find him one of them in his appreciation +of all they had to offer and in his intimate knowledge of their +time-honoured history. He apparently grew a little stronger with each +succeeding day; certainly he grew younger, for happiness is a tonic +which has special power upon those who carry the burden of years; and +Father Davy's years, while not so many, had been heavy of weight upon +his slender shoulders and had bowed them before their time. + +After Oxford came London--a fortnight of it, and a very different +experience. Living at a luxurious hotel with Allison Pembroke, who had +come up with them, to show her all the ways of which she felt herself +ignorant; with Craig coming and going from hospital and lecture room, +suggesting each day new wonders; with hours spent daily in the dear +delight of exploration in all sorts of out-of-the-way, famous places; +Georgiana felt as if it were all too miraculous to be true. + +That she, "Georgie Warne," as the village people had called her all her +life, should, for instance, be walking with charming Mrs. Pembroke along +Piccadilly in the May sunshine--real London sunshine and no watery +imitation such as she had heard of--dressed in the most modish of spring +costumes, violets in her belt purchased on a street corner from a young +girl with the eyes of a Mrs. Patrick Campbell and the accent of +Battersea Park--well, it simply did not seem real! + +Much less did the hours seem real when she went with her husband to take +tea on the Terrace at the Houses of Parliament, or with all three of her +party to dine with some friendly Londoner who appeared eager to offer +hospitality to the whole party. Best of all, perhaps, were the late +evening walks upon which Craig took her alone, to stroll along the +Victoria Embankment, a place of which she never tired, to watch the +myriad lights upon the black river, and to talk endlessly of all the +pair could see before them of purpose and achievement. + +"Do you know what you remind me of these days?" Craig asked one night, +when the two had returned to the hotel after one of these long, slow +walks, during which they had been unusually silent. + +He threw himself into a deep armchair as he spoke and sat looking up at +his wife, who stood at the open balcony window, gazing down at the +street below, with the interest in everything human which seemed never +to abate. + +She turned, smiling. She was particularly lovely to look at to-night, +wearing a little pale-gray, silk-and-chiffon frock (lately purchased at +a French shop in London), which, in spite of its Parisian lines and +graces, was distinctly reminiscent of a certain other gray-silk frock +worn on a never-to-be-forgotten occasion. + +"Of a child at her first party?" she asked. "That's what I feel like. +Only there's no end to the cakes and ices, the bonbons and surprises. +And I never have to worry because before long I must go home!" + +"No, not like that; your similes are always too self-deprecatory. You +seem to me more and more like a young queen who has just come to the +throne, but who is shy about picking up her sceptre. She prefers +long-stemmed roses, and every now and then she catches up her train and +runs down from her dais and out-of-doors, until some shocked courtier +rushes after her and brings her back!" + +"Now you _are_ laughing at me!" Georgiana wheeled to confront her +husband, who, stretched lazily in his chair, after a long day at the +side of a great biologist in his laboratory, was relaxing muscles and +nerves at the same time. + +He put out one arm toward her, and she came slowly to his side. "Not a +bit. It just delights me to see you your natural self in spite of all +that London can do to you. Allison tells me that it is the most +interesting thing in the world to watch you decide whether you will buy +a new hat or a new book. She declares that milliners admire you and seem +anxious to please you, but that when you get into a bookshop you have +every old bookseller climbing about his ladders to bring down his +choicest treasures for you." + +Georgiana laughed. "I can't get used to buying hats at all--not to +mention silk stockings--and as for buying hats and books and silk +stockings on the same day, it's simply past belief that I can do it. Why +do you fill my purse so full? I'm afraid I'm losing all the benefit of +my long training in frugality." + +"I hope so. I can never forget last winter watching you dissemble your +good healthy appetite and pretend you didn't want beefsteak, while you +fed your father and me on a juicy tenderloin. Brave little housekeeper +on nothing a month!" + +She looked at him quickly. "I never dreamed you noticed. And besides, I +really didn't want----" + +"Take care! The table was the only place where I ever caught you playing +a part. I forgave you, only--how I did long to divide with you! Now all +the rest of my life I can divide, equal shares, with you--my Georgiana!" + +The weeks flew by, bringing never-ending interest. After London came +Edinburgh, city of stately beauty, where among Scottish friends of the +Craigs Georgiana learned whence her husband's family had sprung, and +their noble origin and history. + +Then the vacation was at an end "for this time," as Craig said, and the +little party turned their faces homeward. + +A letter from James Stuart, in the same mail with one twice its length +from Jeannette Crofton, caused them to hasten their date of sailing by a +week in order to be in time for a great event. Stuart wrote +characteristically: + + You simply have to come home, George, and help me through it. Of + course I knew from the first I'd have to face a big city wedding, + but the actual fact rather daunts me. Of course it's all right, for + we know Jean's mother would never be satisfied to let me have her + at all except by way of the white-glove route. The white gloves + don't scare me so much as the orchids, and I suppose my new tailor + will turn me out a creditable figure. But if I can't have you and + Dr. Jeff Craig there I don't believe I can stand the strain. + + The worst of it is that after all that show I can only take her + back to the old farm. Not that she minds; in fact, she seems to be + crazy about that farm. But it certainly does sound to me like a + play called "From Orchids to Dandelions." + + So, for heaven's sake, come home in time! The date's had to be + shoved up on account of some great-aunt who intends to leave Jean + her fortune some day if she isn't offended now, and the nice old + lady wants to start for the Far East the day after the date she + sets for our affair. + +"Of course we must go," Craig agreed. "We'll stand by the dear fellow +till the last orchid has withered--if they use orchids at June weddings, +which I doubt. As for the dandelions, I think there's small fear that +Jean won't like them. I fully believe in her sincerity, and I'm prepared +to see her astonish her family by her devotion to country life. Stuart's +able to keep her in real luxury, from the rural point of view, as I +understand it, and she will bring him a lot of fresh enthusiasm that +will do him a world of good." + +"I'm trying to imagine Jimps's June-tanned face above a white shirt +front," mused Georgiana. "He'll be a perfect Indian shade by that time." + +"Not more so than any young tennis or golf enthusiast, will he?" + +"Oh, much more. Jimps is out in the sun from dawn till sundown; his very +eyebrows get a russet shade. But of course that doesn't matter, and his +splendid shoulders certainly do fill out a dress coat to great +advantage. You don't mind being considered one of his best friends by a +young farmer, do you? That's the way he feels about you." + +"I consider it a great honour. I never was better pleased than when +Stuart first made friends with me, even after I discovered that he was, +as I thought, my successful rival. It was impossible to help liking him. +In fact, I've often wondered why--he didn't continue to be my rival." + +"Oh, no, Jefferson Craig, you couldn't possibly wonder that!" +contradicted Georgiana, in such a tone of finality that her husband +laughed and told her that flattery could go no farther. + +The voyage home was nearly a duplicate of the one outward bound, except +that the two workers put in much extra time on the book and pushed it +well toward completion. + +Father Davy acquired the strength to take short walks on an even deck +and boasted hugely of his acquisition, a twinkle in his eye and a tinge +of real colour in his cheek. + +"Imagine my coming home from abroad with trunks full of clothes and +books and pictures," murmured Georgiana, as the three stood together +watching the big ship make her port. "I feel like a regular +millionairess." + +"A regular one would smile at your modest showing," was Craig's comment. +"I'm quite certain no man ever found it more difficult to persuade his +wife to buy frocks, even when he went with her and expressed his anxiety +to see her in particular colours." + +"Confess," demanded Georgiana with spirit, "that you would be +disappointed if I suddenly became a devotee of clothes and wanted all +those gorgeous things we saw, and which that black-eyed Frenchwoman +tried so hard to make me take." + +"Those wouldn't have suited you, of course. I don't want to make an +actress of you, or even a society woman who gets her gowns described in +the Sunday papers. But when you refuse simple white frocks with blue +ribbons----" + +"Costing three figures! And I could copy every one of those myself for a +fraction of the money." + +"What would you do with the money saved?" + +"Buy books." + +Georgiana and Father Davy exchanged a smiling, tender glance which spoke +of past years of longings now satisfied. + +Craig laughed heartily. "Incorrigible little book-lover! Well, it's a +worthy taste. I happened to overhear a comment on your reading the other +day which amused me very much. When you left your steamer chair to walk +with me you left also a copy of _Traditions of the Covenanters_. A +little later, coming up behind that young Edmeston, who spends most of +his time lounging in the chair next yours, I heard him say to a girl: +'She doesn't look such an awful highbrow, but believe _me_, the things +she reads on shipboard when the rest of us are yawning over summer +novels would help weight the anchor if we got on the rocks!' Then with +awe he mentioned the name of that book, and the girl said:' How +frightful! But I'm crazy about her just the same. I do think she wears +the darlingest clothes.' So there you are! The men impressed, the girls +envious, and your husband--worshipful. What more could a young wife +ask?" + +"Absolutely nothing," acknowledged Georgiana with much amusement. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A TANNED HERCULES + + +In spite of the fact that the holiday was over it was good to get back +to the old house on the Square, to hear Mrs. MacFayden's warm "It's a +gled day"; to smile at Thomas and Duncan and the maids; to hug dear Mrs. +Brandt; and to receive a hearty welcome from the other friends, who were +mostly still in town in the middle of June. + +Then came eager summonses from Jeannette, who, with Aunt Olivia and +Rosalie, was staying at an uptown hotel for the finishing of the +trousseau. Georgiana found herself involved in a round of final shopping +and hurried luncheons, while Rosalie talked incessantly, Mrs. Crofton +argued maternally, and the bride-elect herself turned to Georgiana as +the one person--with the exception of her father--who understood her. + +"I can't convince mother and Rosy that I'm not really to spend the +summer in the country with Jimps, and most of the rest of the year at +home doing the usual round," sighed Jeannette, unburdening herself to +her cousin during a half-hour's needed relaxation between luncheon and +a visit to a famous jeweller's. + +"I know; you'll just have to be patient, let them equip you for what +they expect of you, and then--live your own life as you and Jimps have +planned it. After a while they will see that you really do mean to live +in the country, not the city, and that decollete evening gowns don't +suit the fireside, nor afternoon calling costumes the five-mile tramp. +Meanwhile, don't let the poor boy ever guess at the size or quality of +your outfit. I think he'd run away and hang himself!" + +"He never shall know. And, Georgiana, I really have managed to have some +quite simple little frocks made--by a young woman whom Madame Trennet +recommended when I whispered in her ear. And I've bought the jolliest +dark green corduroy suit, with a short skirt and pockets, and a little +green corduroy soft hat to match, for the tramps. Oh, I'm going to be a +real farmer's wife, I promise you!" + +"Of course," mused Georgiana gently, lifting quizzical eyebrows, "I've +never happened to see any farmer's wife thus equipped, but there's no +reason why you shouldn't set the fashion. I suppose you will wear green +silk stockings and bronze pumps with this picturesque tramping costume, +with a bronze buckle in your hat to complete the ensemble. All you will +then need will be a beautiful painted drop of the Forest of Arden----" + +"You unkind thing! If _you_ begin to scoff----" + +"But I won't. I know there's heaps of sense in your pretty head, and +you'll make Jimps the most satisfying sort of a wife even though you +don't carry the eggs to market or milk the cows. There's no reason why +you should, with your own private income. Jimps is too wise to forbid +your spending it to decorate both your lives, for he knows you couldn't +stand real wear and tear, while a reasonable amount of country life will +make you stronger. Go ahead, dear; hang English chintzes at the +farmhouse windows, set up your baby grand piano in that nice, old +living-room, and hang jolly hunting prints in the dining-room. Wear the +corduroys--only, instead of bronze pumps, I should advise----" + +"You needn't. I've got them. The heaviest kind of tanned buckskin boots. +And you all may laugh, but you just wait!" + +"I'm not laughing; you know I'm not. I wish I could help you by +convincing Aunt Olivia that you don't need some of the things she +insists on including. But, since I can't, I'll comfort you by assuring +you that Jefferson says he's counting on your being one of the sort who +will prove the great contention--that beauty and poetry _can_ be brought +into the farmhouse." + +Thus spoke Georgiana, though in her heart of hearts, as she watched +Jeannette in all her costly elegance, at counter after counter, +selecting supplies of one sort or another, she couldn't help having her +doubts whether a lifelong training in luxury could be turned into a +fitness for living, in spite of many mitigations, the truly simple life. +These doubts, however, she suppressed, only dropping a word of caution +here and there, which Jeannette took kindly, being eager to prove +herself practical, and undoubtedly sincere in her longing to bring to +James Stuart the helpmate he needed. + +So came on the great day; and when it had arrived, and the Craigs were +guests of Aunt Olivia, making ready for the ceremony, Georgiana had her +chance to return to Stuart the support he had given her in the hour of +her own marriage. She had just completed her dressing, and was about to +descend with her husband to the waiting bridal party below, when Stuart +came to their door. + +Craig admitted him, and he entered, the dreaded white gloves in his +hands, visible agitation on his brow. + +"You young Hercules!" Georgiana cried. "Aren't you splendid!" + +"I feel anything but splendid," he returned nervously. "I look like a +boiled lobster on a white platter!" + +"Nonsense, man," denied Dr. Jefferson Craig, his hand on Stuart's +shoulder, "you're the picture of a healthy young bridegroom. I've seen +plenty of tallow candles standing up to be married; you're a refreshing +contrast." + +After a minute of heartening talk, Craig slipped out of the room, +leaving the two old friends together. + +"Cheer up, Jimps," Georgiana bade Stuart, as she gave a straightening +little touch to his white cravat, woman fashion. "This part won't last +long. And don't be frightened when you catch sight of Jean in all her +glory. She would much rather have been married as I was, you know, and +she's really precisely the same girl in spite of her veil. She worships +you, and everything's all right. Stop looking as if you wanted to run +away!" + +"But I do--if I could just take her with me," he answered, in such a +melancholy tone that Georgiana laughed in his ruddy face. + +"You can't; this is the only way you can get her; so stand up straight +and look everybody in the eye. You're perfectly stunning in those +clothes, and lots nicer to look at than most men. And Chester will take +you serenely through all the forms, so you've nothing to worry about. +That's right--give me a ghost of a smile. One would think you were about +to be hung!" + +"I came to you to be braced up, so it's all right; but call off the dogs +of war now. I did pretty well till I saw the total effect, and then I +thought maybe Jean would wish she had a man who could turn pale instead +of crimson. But I'm going through with it, and I don't intend to look +knockkneed, anyhow." + +"Good for you. Just remember that Jean would swim through a flood of +water to reach you, wedding gown and all, if the aisle should happen to +be inundated, so you certainly can stand at the altar while she walks up +that aisle." + +"I sure can." And James McKenzie Stuart shook his broad shoulders, +lifted his head, and held out both hands to Georgiana Craig. "Much +obliged for the tonic. And, George--just remember, will you, that I'm +precisely the same brother to you I've always been! Nothing can ever +change that!" + +"Of course you are," she agreed, with a rush of vivid recollections +which brought a curious little smile to her lips. "Now go, my dear boy, +and heaven bless you!" + +Half an hour later, standing beside her husband in the flower-fragrant +church, Georgiana watched with a beating heart to see Stuart bear +himself like the man she knew him to be, in spite of all the pomp and +ceremony to which he was such a stranger. She had been half angry, all +the way through the preparations, that Aunt Olivia had insisted on every +last detail of formality and ostentation--or so it had seemed to her, as +unaccustomed as Stuart himself to the great church wedding with its +long processional, its show of bridesmaids and flower girls, its ranks +of ushers, its elaborate music, its pair of distinguished clergymen in +full canonicals. But now, somehow, as the age-old words sounded upon her +ears, it seemed to matter less under what circumstances they were +spoken, so that the answers to the solemn questions came from the hearts +of those who spoke them. And of this she could have no possible doubt. + +By and by, when in her turn, back in the festally decorated house, she +came to give the newly married pair her felicitations, she was well +pleased to see Stuart quite himself again, smiling at her with the proud +look of the bridegroom from whom no human being can wrest the prize he +has just secured. And as she noted Jeannette's equally evident happy +content with the man she had married, Georgiana took courage for their +future. Surely--surely--they could go from these scenes of luxury to the +plainer life that awaited them, and miss nothing, so that they took with +them, as they were doing, the one thing needful. + +"It's all right, I'm sure it's all right, dears," she said to them, and +she said it again to her husband when they were rushing back to New York +by the first train after the bridal pair had gone. + +"Yes, I think it is," he agreed. "It's an interesting experiment, but +not more hazardous than many another in the matrimonial line. If it +succeeds Jeannette will come out a finer woman than she could ever have +been by any other process. It's amusing, though, to see her family. +Evidently they regard her as one lost to the world quite as much as if +she had gone into a convent to take the vows perpetual." + +"All but Uncle Thomas. He knows; he understands, little as he says. He +grew up on a farm himself; he told me once that he could never smother +the longing to get back to one. Poor Uncle Thomas, chained to a mahogany +desk, with a Persian rug under his feet! That one little trip across the +water, when the family went last year, was the only vacation he had +taken in five years. And he came back on the next ship!" + +"Jean and Stuart will have him often with them, see if they don't." + +"I hope so. Change is what he needs very badly. Change! Oh, if everybody +could have that when they need it! How it does make lives over! I +know--how I do know! It's the deadly monotony that kills. Jean will +bloom under the old farmhouse roof, away from all the fuss and frivolity +she's so tired of." + +"You've done some blooming yourself," observed her husband, "though I'll +venture to say you work harder than you ever did before, even at the old +loom." + +She gave him a quick glance. "Oh, it wasn't play I needed--just +work--the sort of work I love. I have that now. I love the visits to the +hospital, the looking after the patients you bring home, the taking +notes of your lectures, the teaching of my evening class of +Italians--every bit of it is a delight. And then, when we do run away +for a few hours, like this----" + +"We enjoy it all the more for the contrast. Yes, I think we do. It's a +pretty fine partnership, and it grows more satisfying all the time. +Here's hoping the two we've just seen start follow in our contented +footsteps. A year from now we'll know!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +MILESTONES + + +Georgiana would not have believed that it would be a full year before +she should have a chance to see for herself what sort of life Jeannette +and Stuart were making for themselves under the conditions which seemed +such doubtful ones. But so it turned out. + +It had been before Jeannette's marriage that Georgiana found a change +coming in her own life, and the months of the summer and autumn which +followed were busy with the happy preparations for the new experience. +In January her first son was born, and she learned that even a full and +joyous partnership between two human beings is not the most complete +thing that can happen to them. When she saw her husband take the round, +little pink-blanketed bundle in his arms for the first time, and watched +his face as he explored the tiny features for signs of the future, her +heart beat high with such rich content as she had not dreamed of. + +"Strange, isn't it, dear!" Craig said, when he had laid the pink bundle +back in the arms of the nurse, who bore it away to the pretty nursery +close at hand. "It's an old miracle always new, and never so wonderful +as when it comes to us for the first time--how that little life can be +neither you nor I, yet both of us in one. Big possibilities are wrapped +up in that bit of flesh and blood; it's going to be a great interest, +the watching them begin to show." + +"Oh, yes!" she murmured, lying quietly with her hand beneath her cheek, +too weary and too happy for speech. + +"I wonder if I dare to tell you how soon it was after I knew you that I +began to think of you as playing this part in my life," he said very +softly. + +"Did you? I'm so glad." It was hardly more than a whisper. + +"Are you glad? I often think a girl little dreams of how often that +vision comes to a man long before she has thought of it at all. I was +only a very young man when I began to think of it. Even when there was +no woman in my mind I used to plan what I would do for my own son when I +should have him. And when I saw you I thought--with the greatest +reverence, darling: 'If _she_ might be my son's mother!'" + +He did not need the look her eyes gave him to tell him how this touched +her. When he went quietly away to leave her for the long sleep she +needed it was with the consciousness that the bond between them was +more absolute than it had ever been. + +It was in the following June, on the anniversary of the marriage of the +James McKenzie Stuarts, that the Jefferson Craigs had their first +opportunity to see with their own eyes how that marriage was prospering. +Letters from Jeannette had come to Georgiana from time to time, with an +occasional postscript from Stuart, and these letters always breathed of +happiness. + +"But one can't be perfectly sure from letters," Georgiana argued. "After +all the opposition and skepticism they would never own to anybody that +life didn't flow like a rose-bordered stream. But one glimpse of their +faces will tell the story. If Jeannette has a certain look I've often +seen on the faces of girls who have been married about a year I shall +guess what causes it. As for Jimps--he will be as easily read as an open +book. Jeff, you won't let anything prevent our being there for the fete +they ask us for?" + +"Nothing that I can foresee and provide for," Craig promised. "I'm quite +as eager as you to discover how the transplanting of the hothouse plant +into the hardy outdoor soil of the country has worked out. There are two +results about equally probable in such cases--hardly equally probable, +either. The natural result, I should fear, would be the dwindling and +stunting of the growth, unless protected by expedients not common to +the country, and fertilized until it should be really not growing in +country soil at all." + +"But the possible result?" urged Georgiana. + +"The one we're hoping for in this case--though I'm not sure how close an +analogy I can draw, being no gardener--is the gradual process of +adaptation to environment, so that the plant takes on a hardier quality, +at an unavoidable sacrifice in size of bloom but with a corresponding +gain in sturdiness and ability to bear the chilling winds and the +beating sunlight of outdoors. Great size in a flower never appealed to +me anyhow. I like a blossom that stands straight and firm upon its stem, +that gives forth a clean, spicy fragrance and doesn't wilt when it has +been an hour in my buttonhole." + +"That's the sort Jimps wants, I'm sure. He used to be always tucking one +of his scarlet geranium blossoms into his coat when he came over to see +me. We all think of Jeannette as the frailest sort of an orchid, +beautiful to look at but ready to wither at a touch. This letter of +invitation doesn't sound like that at all. You really think the long +drive won't hurt little son?" + +"Not a bit, if you keep from getting tired or overheated yourself. We +can manage that very nicely, with Duncan to drive, Lydia to look after +the boy, and a long stop on the one night we must spend on the way. The +change will do you good, faithful young mother." + +This proved quite true, and the two days' journey in the great car was +indeed an easy one for all concerned. Little Jefferson Junior, six +months' old, slept away many hours of the trip, and spent the rest +happily in his nurse's or his mother's lap, watching with big, dark eyes +the spots of colour or life on the summer landscape as it slipped +smoothly past. Georgiana had wanted to bring Father Davy, but though he +had grown considerably stronger during the past year, it had not seemed +worth while to put his endurance to so severe a test. He had not been +left forlorn, however, for the Peter Brandts had taken him to their +home, a welcome and a delighted guest. No doubt but there was a place +for David Warne in the great city, as there had been in the country +village. + +On the afternoon of the second day, as they neared the old home village, +to which Georgiana had returned only once since her marriage, she found +herself noting with quickening pulse every familiar landmark. + +"It seems so strange to think of my going away from such scenes for good +and all, and Jean's coming to them," she said to herself more than once. +"How little either of us would have believed it, just two short years +ago!" + +When they passed the old manse she gazed at it with affectionate eyes. +"Oh, how shabby and poor it looks!" she said under her breath to Craig. +"Did it look like that when you first saw it?" + +He nodded, smiling. "Just like that. But the moment the door opened the +first time I knew its shabbiness was just a blind to mislead the +traveler, who might otherwise stop and try to steal the treasure that it +held." + +Her eyes were searching next for the chimney tops that should mark the +other home for which they were bound. How often had she looked at those +chimney tops, because they told her where was her best friend during +those solitary days that were already so far past. A moment more and +Georgiana's first exclamation of surprise broke from her lips. There +were to be many before the day was done. + +"Look! All those ugly little buildings at the back are gone, and the +house stands all by itself at the top of the slope. Isn't that an +improvement? It's freshly painted, too; how that clear white brings out +the beauty of the old house! It used to be such a dingy slate! I always +knew it was a pleasant place, but I didn't fully appreciate it. The lawn +is as trim as can be, and there's a border of shrubs and flowers all +along the drive. How little real change to make so much! That's Jean, I +know. Oh, and there's Jean herself, running down the steps! She sees +us!" + +"Is that really Jeannette Crofton?" Craig doubted. "Yes--for a fact! +Well, well!" + +They might easily doubt the evidence of their eyes, for the slim figure +they had known so well had rounded until it showed softly blooming +curves, and colouring which put to blush the cosmetics which the society +girl had not altogether eschewed, though it had been long before the +less sophisticated cousin had found this out. No need for rouge or +powder now, for nature had laid on the lovely face her own unrivalled +tints of rose overlying the soft browns of summer tan. + +"Oh, you darlings, to come and bring the baby! Do let me look at +him--the blessed thing! Isn't he a beauty?--but, of course, how could he +help it? Jimps! O Jimps! Here they are!" + +Thus cried Jeannette out of sheer exuberance, though the fact of the +arrival was obvious enough, and James Stuart was already dashing across +the lawn from the opposite direction. + +As she looked at her cousin, Georgiana's first impression was the one +she had hardly dared hope for, that of Jeannette's entire content and +well-being. Not only was the physical improvement noteworthy but a +certain worn and worldly look had vanished--one which had not affected +her beauty and had been discernible only to the closely observing eye, +but which had been there none the less and was gone now. + +This change grew more and more apparent as Georgiana continued to regard +her young hostess. From the moment the party first entered the +wide-thrown front door, it was easy to discover that both Stuart and his +wife were eager as two children for the approval of their guests. Such +approval was not long in appearing. + +"How pleasant--how charming!" cried Georgiana, as her quick eye took in +attractive effect after effect. "Oh, you clever things, to do it like +this! How absolutely in keeping it all is, and how quiet, yet how +beautiful!" + +"She's done it," vowed James Stuart proudly. "I was a duffer at it till +she showed me what she was after. I wanted to buy brocaded silk +furniture, like that in her home--while my money held out. But she would +have nothing but this sort of thing. Homelike, isn't it?" + +It was the word which described it, if one qualified the term by making +it apply only to homes built on foundations of good taste and +suitability to environment. As she looked about her Georgiana saw +everywhere evidences of the use of abundant means, and she realized that +Jeannette had been clever indeed to supply so much without impressing +Stuart with the undoubted fact that she had contributed more than he to +the final result. + +The whole effect of the house's interior was one of well-chosen but +unostentatious comfort, and the materials and furnishings used were all +so nicely adapted to their setting that only to more discerning eyes +than those of the Stuarts' neighbours would they have expressed unusual +resources of supply. + +"It's an achievement!" Craig declared. + +His enlightened gaze traveled from one point to another of the long, +low-ceilinged living-room, sunny with new windows, and with walls and +hangings of soft browns and golden yellows. He noted that Jeannette had +had the good sense to make use of the old furniture the house possessed +wherever it was fit for preservation, and that she had dignified the +walls by retaining certain dim old portraits, done in fading oils, of +Stuart's ancestors. Everywhere could be seen similar interesting +blending of the new and the old, though it was often difficult to tell +which was which. + +The elder Stuarts were living in a wing of the house, that being the +portion where they had spent their lives, making little use of the +upright and the corresponding wing, which were now turned over to the +son and his wife. Since the elder people wisely preferred this +semi-independence, the younger were able to be much by themselves, +Stuart explained, though always near and ready to lend a hand at any +hour. Since the stalwart son could not be entirely spared by the +somewhat feeble old couple, the arrangement seemed an admirable one, +and thus far it had worked very well. + +"Jean's such a dear with them," Stuart said covertly to Georgiana, +leading her aside for a moment to look at a curious old buffet which had +been long in the family. "They adore her, and she really seems very fond +of them. Of course they have old Eliza to look after them, as they have +had for so long; but we ask them in to dinner every few days, and often +have them sitting by the fire with us here on cool evenings. The funny +part, though, is when Mother Crofton comes. She can't get over it, or +get used to it; she sits and looks at Jean as if she were an actress in +a play, and by and by would take off her make-up and be herself again." + +"I wonder how far that is from the real truth," thought Georgiana to +herself, as she watched the young mistress of the place with fascinated +eyes. + +Certainly if Jeannette were acting it was very skilfully done. As she +led her guests about the house, and then established them on the lawn, +beneath the great elms which furnished a grateful shade at this +afternoon hour over nearly the whole expanse, she seemed the embodiment +of health and happiness. + +By and by, when the Crofton car arrived, bearing Uncle Thomas and Aunt +Olivia, with Rosalie and Chester following a few moments later in +Chester's roadster, Jeannette grew fairly radiant. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS + + +It was not until late that evening that Georgiana had a chance really to +learn the whole state of the case. + +During the intervening hours had occurred the event for which they had +all been invited--the entertaining of at least two hundred people from +the surrounding country and the village. For this event, which Stuart +naively called a "party," Jeannette a "lawn fete," and the guests +themselves, for the most part, a "picnic," porches, lawn and trees had +been hung with gay lanterns, bonfires had been built, the small village +band engaged, a light but delectable supper provided, and as much +jollity planned as could be crowded into the hours between five o'clock +and eleven. + +From the standpoint of those entertaining, at least, the affair had been +a success, for Stuart, long accustomed to the ways of his fellow +countrymen, considered himself fully able to tell from their manner, if +not from their expressions of pleasure, whether they had really found +enjoyment in the efforts of their hosts. + +"They had a mighty good time, no doubt about it!" he declared, when the +last reluctant guest had departed in the last small car which had waited +at the edge of the roadway. (Not the least of young Chester Crofton's +enjoyment had been occasioned by the sight of the long row of vehicles, +from two-seated wagons to smart and even expensive motors, which had +lined the road for many rods.) "And a lot of them are well worth +knowing," Stuart added. + +His eye chanced to fall on his father-in-law, Mr. Thomas Crofton, as he +made this assertion. The party were sitting in a group upon the +lantern-lighted porch and its steps, and the senior Crofton's face was +plainly visible. + +That gentleman nodded. "You're quite right, Jim," he said. "I don't know +when I've had a more interesting conversation with any man than I did +with one of your neighbours, nor found a more intelligent set of +opinions on every subject we touched on. He wasn't the only one, either. +As a rule I found the people who came here to-night possessed of rather +more than the average amount of brains. I should like to try living +among them--for a change, at least." + +"I struck a tongue-tied dolt or two," remarked his son Chester, "but +dolts aren't uncommon anywhere, even when not tongue-tied. And I did run +up against some chaps I liked jolly well. One of them invited me up for +a week-end; I nearly fell over when he did it. I didn't know country +people ever talked about week-ends. I thought they called it 'staying +over Sunday.'" + +"You mean Wells Lawson," Stuart informed him. "If you could see the list +of newspapers and magazines, not to mention books, that the Lawsons +take, you'd open your eyes. He and his family have traveled a lot more +than I have, and their home is one of the finest model farms in the +county. There's no hayseed in their hair." + +"I didn't discover much hayseed in anybody's hair," observed Dr. +Jefferson Craig. "I think it's gone out of fashion." + +"There were some of the prettiest girls here to-night I ever saw," was +Rosalie's contribution to the list of comments. A figure of exquisite +modishness, she perched upon the porch rail near Chester. "I did want to +tell them not to let any one young man stick by them every minute the +way they did, but I could hardly blame the young men for wanting to +stick, the girls were so sweet, and some of them were quite stunning." + +"You certainly gave them an example of how to make eyes at fifteen or +twenty fellows, one after another," laughed her brother, at her side. +"You'd have had them all coming, Rosy, if they hadn't been tied up to +their respective girls. A lesson or two from you, and those girls would +begin to play 'round in proper shape." + +"Rosy's going to stay and take a few lessons herself," insinuated +Jeannette, who sat with her shapely young arm resting upon her father's +knee, as she occupied the step below him. "I'll promise to put some +flesh on her little bones if she's here a month. She's too thin, after +only her second season." + +"Oh, I'll stay," promised Rosalie promptly. "I simply love it here; I'm +crazy to stay!" + +"It's all very well now," came Aunt Olivia's low murmur in Georgiana's +ear--there had been many of such murmurs in the same ear during the +afternoon and evening, though why, Georgiana herself could not guess, +since the elder woman knew the younger to be unreservedly committed to +upholding Jeannette's whole course--"very well now, in June, with +flowers blooming and friends about, but how the poor child is going to +face a second winter I can't imagine." + +"She faced the first one very happily," Georgiana reminded her. + +"The first one was a novelty and of course she was determined not to +acknowledge how lonely she must often have been. I do not say that James +Stuart is not a very attractive and trustworthy young man; I am fond of +him myself--very. But I shall always feel that Jeannette has made a +terrible mistake. Brought up as she has been, it is not conceivable +that she should continue to find this sort of life possible." + +It was with this moan in her ears that, a few minutes later, Georgiana +listened to James Stuart. He had drawn her away from the group and was +strolling with her across the lawn. + +"Well, George, tell me your honest opinion. Is my wife happy?" + +It was a blunt question, but Georgiana understood. He asked it not to be +reassured but because he was confident of the answer. + +She spoke guardedly: "I never saw her seem more so, Jimps. You are sure +of it yourself?" + +"I want you to ask her point-blank. Will you?" + +"It's not the sort of question to ask anybody point-blank, is it?" + +"It is in this case. Do you think I don't know the doubt in all your +minds?--yes, even yours, for you've become another person since you +married Craig." + +"Oh, no!" + +"Oh, yes! You've been thinking ever since you came that you're dead +thankful you don't have to come back to it--now, haven't you?" + +"Jimps, dear, I lived all my life in the hardest, narrowest economy. If +I had had all this beautiful experience Jean is having----" + +"I know. But you wouldn't come back, even to this place of ours----" + +"That's begging the question. For Jean it's a wonderful change, and any +one can see what it's done for her." + +"Physically, yes. But I want you to find out whether she's actually +happy or not." + +"I will," promised his friend with a nod; for she knew James Stuart much +too well to imagine she could put him off without complying with his +expressed desire. + +It looked as if Jeannette herself were anxious to assure her cousin's +mind, for Stuart had no sooner brought Georgiana back to the porch than +his wife took possession of her. + +"Georgiana, dear, I want you to tell me one thing," began Jeannette, as +the two moved slowly a little away from the rest. "Do you think we are +making a success of it?" + +"A wonderful success, Jean. I couldn't have believed it, even what I see +on the surface. How about it--inside? That's a pretty searching +question, and you needn't answer it if you don't want to. Everything +about you seems to answer it." + +Jeannette stopped short and turned to face her cousin. "Haven't I +written you the answer, over and over?" + +"Yes. That's why I want to hear it from your own lips." + +"You shall. First, though--Georgiana, you knew Antoinette Burwell +married Miles Channing last December?" + +"I heard of it. How do they come on?" + +"Separated; she's gone back to her father. She was the most wildly happy +bride I ever saw. Think of it, George--in six months! What do you +suppose would have happened if you----" + +"Don't! I didn't." And Georgiana's grateful thoughts went back to one of +the crises in her life, the one from which Jefferson Craig had rescued +her. + +"Do you know the Ralph Hendersons? Married two years now--I'm sure +you've heard me speak of them. Everybody knows they quarrel like cats +and dogs; they're hardly civil to each other in public. And I know +several more of our old set who are none too happy, if one may judge by +their looks. Yet they all married 'in their own class,' as mother is so +fond of saying, as if I didn't!--I married _above_ it! And I am supposed +to have cast away all my chances for this life, not to mention the next, +by marrying my farmer! Georgiana, I'm getting to hate that word +_farmer_! Why isn't there a new word made for the man who reads and +studies and uses the latest modern methods on his farm? There are such a +lot of them now. College graduates, like Jimps, and men who have taken +agricultural courses and are putting their brains into their work. Why +isn't there a new word?" + +"The old word must be made to acquire a new dignity," Georgiana +suggested. "Never mind the word; you're glad you married your farmer?" + +"Glad! I thank God every night and morning; I thank Him every time I go +running down the lane to meet my husband coming up from the meadow! Of +course I know, Georgiana, that the life I'm living isn't the typical +life of the farmer's wife at all--thanks to Jimps' success and my own +little pocket-book! But it has all outdoors in it and lots of lovely +indoors; and I'm growing so well and strong--you can see that by just +looking at me. And I'm getting to know my neighbours, and like +them--some of them--oh, so much! Life never was so full. Mother talks +about how hard I'll find it to get through my second winter. It doesn't +worry me. We'll order books and books, and we'll go for splendid tramps, +and every now and then we'll run into town--for concerts and plays. And +best of all, Georgiana,"--her voice sank--"I'm sure--sure--Jimps isn't +disappointed in me." + +"Disappointed! I should say not--the lucky boy!" Georgiana agreed, all +her fears gone to the winds. + + * * * * * + +When they returned to the porch it was to hear an outcry from +Jeannette's mother: "Chester Crofton! Have you gone absolutely crazy?" + +"I think so, mother. Positively dippy. Got it in its worst form. It's +been coming on me for some time, but it's taken me now, for better or +for worse. I'm going to buy that small farm across the road and try what +I can do." + +"I'll back you," came in Mr. Thomas Crofton's deepest chest tones. + +"Hear, hear!" Dr. Jefferson Craig's shout drowned out Mrs. Crofton's +groan. + +"O Ches--I'll come and keep house for you--part of the year, anyhow!" +This was dainty Rosalie, her silk-stockinged ankles swinging wildly, as +she sat upon the porch rail. + +Georgiana was laughing, as her eyes met her husband's in a glance of +understanding, but her heart was very warm behind the laughter. + +Beyond the gleam of the lanterns she caught the golden glow of a summer +moon rising, to illumine the depths of the country sky--the immense, +star-spangled arch of the heavens. Beneath lay many homes, big and +little, all filled with human lives, each with its chance somehow to +grow; each with its chance, small or great, as a beloved writer has said +inspiringly, "_to love and to work and to play and to look up at the +stars._" + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Under the Country Sky, by Grace S. 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