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diff --git a/20722.txt b/20722.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cfb25c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/20722.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8990 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Little Girl in Old Salem, by Amanda Minnie +Douglas + + +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: A Little Girl in Old Salem + + +Author: Amanda Minnie Douglas + + + +Release Date: March 1, 2007 [eBook #20722] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SALEM*** + + +E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, J. P. W. Fraser, Emmy, and +the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team +(http://www.pgdp.net/c/) + + + +A Little Girl in Old Salem + + + * * * * * + + THE "LITTLE GIRL" SERIES + + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW YORK. + HANNAH ANN; A SEQUEL. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BOSTON. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD PHILADELPHIA. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD WASHINGTON. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD NEW ORLEANS. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD DETROIT. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD ST. LOUIS. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD CHICAGO. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SAN FRANCISCO. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD QUEBEC. + A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD BALTIMORE. + + + * * * * * + + +A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SALEM + +by + +AMANDA M. DOUGLAS + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +New York +Dodd, Mead and Company +1908 + +Copyright, 1908 +by Dodd, Mead and Company + +Published, September, 1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I TWO LETTERS 1 + + II THE LITTLE GIRL 19 + + III A STRANGER, YET AT HOME 36 + + IV UNWELCOME 52 + + V MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE LITTLE GIRL 68 + + VI GOING TO SCHOOL 91 + + VII CHANGEFUL LIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD 108 + + VIII SORROW'S CROWN OF SORROW 128 + + IX LESSONS OF LIFE 143 + + X A NEW DEPARTURE 161 + + XI THE VOICE OF A ROSE 180 + + XII CHANGES IN THE OLD HOUSE 194 + + XIII A TASTE OF PLEASURE 213 + + XIV IN GAY OLD SALEM 231 + + XV LOVERS AND LOVERS 248 + + XVI PERILOUS PATHS 270 + + XVII THE FLOWERING OF THE SOUL 288 + + XVIII THE PASSING OF OLD SALEM 296 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +TWO LETTERS + + +The Leveretts were at their breakfast in the large sunny room in Derby +Street. It had an outlook on the garden, and beyond the garden was a +lane, well used and to be a street itself in the future. Then, at quite +a distance, a strip of woods on a rise of ground, that still further +enhanced the prospect. The sun slanted in at the windows on one side, +there was nothing to shut it out. It would go all round the house now, +and seem to end where it began, in the garden. + +Chilian was very fond of it. He always brought his book to the table; he +liked to eat slowly, to gaze out and digest one or two thoughts at his +leisure, as well as the delightful breakfast set before him. He was a +man of delicate tastes and much refinement, for with all the New England +sturdiness, hardness one might say, there was in many families a strain +of what we might term high breeding. His face, with its clear-cut +features, indicated this. His hair was rather light, fine, with a few +waves in it that gave it a slightly tumbled look--far from any touch of +disorder. His eyes were a deep, clear blue, his complexion fair enough +for a woman. + +His father and grandfather had lived and died in this house. He had +bought out his sister's share when she married, and she had gone to +Providence. He had asked the two relatives of his father--termed cousins +by courtesy--to continue housekeeping. They were the last of their +family and in rather straitened circumstances. Miss Elizabeth was +nearing sixty, tall, straight, fair, and rather austere-looking. Eunice +was two years younger, shorter, a trifle stouter, with a rounder face, +and a mouth that wore a certain sweetness when it did not actually +smile. + +Chilian was past thirty. He was a Harvard graduate, and now went in two +days each week for teaching classes. His father had left some business +interests in Salem, rather distasteful to him, but he was a strictly +conscientious person and attended to them, if with a sort of mental +protest. For the rest, he was a bookworm and revelled in intellectual +pursuits. + +The day previous had been desperately stormy, this late March morning +was simply glorious. The mail, which came late in the afternoon, had not +been delivered, causing no uneasiness, as letters were not daily +visitors. But now the serving-man, with a gentle rap, opened the door +and said briefly: + +"Letters." + +Eunice rose and took them. + +"An East Indian one for you, Chilian, and why--one from Boston--for you, +Elizabeth. It is Cousin Giles' hand." + +Elizabeth reached for it. They were both so interested that they took +no note of Chilian's missive. She cut carefully around the big wafer he +had used. It was a large letter sheet, quite blue and not of over-fine +quality. Envelopes had not come in and there was quite an art in folding +a letter--unfolding it as well. + +"Really what has started Cousin Giles? I hope no one is dead----" + +"There would have been a black seal." + +"Oh, yes, m'm;" making a curious sound with closed lips. "They are well. +Oh, the Thatchers have been visiting them and are coming out here for a +week--why, on Saturday, and to-day is Thursday. Chilian, do you hear +that?" + +"What?" he asked, closing his book over his own letter. + +"Why, the Thatchers are coming--on Saturday, not a long notice, and I +don't know how many. They have had a nice time in Boston--and Cousin +Giles has been beauing them round and seems to like it. He might have +sent you word on Tuesday, when you were in;" and Elizabeth's tone +expressed a grievance. + +"And the house not cleaned! It's been so cold." + +"The house is always clean. Don't, I beg of you, Cousin Bessy, turn it +upside down and scrub and scour, and wear yourself out and take a bad +cold. There are two guest chambers, and I suppose half a dozen more +might be made ready." + +"That's the man of it. I don't believe a man would ever see dirt until +some day when he had to dig himself out, or call upon the women folks to +do it." + +Elizabeth always softened, in spite of her austerity, when he called her +Bessy. The newer generation indulged in household diminutives +occasionally. + +"Well, there is to be no regular house-cleaning. We shall want fires a +good six weeks yet." + +"I don't see why Cousin Giles couldn't have said how many there were. +Let me see, Rachel Leverett, who married the Thatcher, was your father's +cousin. They went up in Vermont. Then they came to Concord. He"--which +meant the head of the house--"went to the State Legislature after the +war. He had some sons married. Why, I haven't seen them in years." + +"It will be just like meeting strangers," declared Eunice. "It's almost +as if we kept an inn." + +Chilian turned. "When I am in Boston to-morrow I will hunt up Cousin +Giles." + +"Oh, that will be good of you." + +He slipped his letter into the Latin book he had been going over, and +with a slight inclination of the head left the room. The hall was wide, +though it ended just beyond this door, where it led to the kitchen. The +woodwork was of oak, darkened much by the years that had passed over it. +The broad staircase showed signs of the many feet that had trodden up +and down. + +Chilian's study was directly over the living-room, and next to the +sleeping-chamber. This part had been added to the main house, but that +was years ago. Bookshelves were ranged on two sides, but the windows +interfered with their course around, two on each of the other sides. +There was a wide fireplace between those at the west, and under them low +closets, with cushions--ancestors of useful window-seats. A large +easy-chair, covered with Cordovan leather, another curiously carved with +a straight narrow strip up the back, set off by the side carving. The +seat was broad and cushioned. Then one from France, as you could tell by +the air and style, that had been in a palace. A low splint rocker, and +one with a high back and comfortable cushions, inviting one to take a +nap. + +The bookcases went about two-thirds of the way up and were ornamented by +articles beautiful and grotesque from almost every land, for there had +been seafaring men in the Leverett family, and more than one home in +Salem could boast of treasures of this sort. + +Chilian stirred the fire, sending a shower of sparks up the chimney, and +put on a fresh log. Then he settled himself in his chair and fingered +his letter in an absent way. The last time Anthony wrote he vaguely +suggested changes and chances and the uncertainty of life, rather +despondent for a brisk business man who was always seeing opportunities +at money-making. Had he been unfortunate in some of his ventures? And it +was odd in him to write so soon again. Not that they were ever frequent +correspondents. + +He opened the letter slowly. It was tied about with a thread of waxed +silk and sealed, so he cut about the seal deliberately; he had a +delicate carefulness in all his ways that was rather womanly. Then +unfolding it, he began to read. + +Was this what the previous letter had meant? Was Anthony Leverett +nearing the end, counting his days, finishing up his earthly work, and +delegating it to other hands? There was something pathetic in it, and +the trust in the uprightness and honor that Anthony Leverett reposed in +him touched him keenly. But this part surprised and, at first, annoyed +him. He drew his fine brows in a repellent sort of frown. + + "Do you remember, Chilian, when you were a lad of + eighteen, in your second year at Harvard, you came + to Salem to recruit after a period of rather + severe study? And you met Alletta Orne, who was + four-and-twenty and engaged to me. In some sort of + fashion we were all related. Your father had been + like a father to me in my later boyhood. And, with + a young man's fervor, you fell in love with her. I + was sorry then for any pain you suffered, I am + glad now; for there is no one else in the wide + world I would as soon trust her child and mine to. + + "We had been away nearly three years, when we came + back, and the baby was born in the house endeared + to me by many tender recollections. You were away + then, but on our second visit we were the most + congenial friends again. I did not think then it + would be our last meeting. I had meant, after + making my fortune, to return and end my days in my + birthplace. My greatest interest was in the + commercial house I had established. My first mate, + John Corwin, took my place and sailed the vessel. + Then my dear wife died, and I had only my little + girl left. + + "I could hardly believe six months ago that I must + die. Should I return, or remain here and sleep + beside the one who had filled my soul with her + serene and lovely life and her blessed memory? I + could not endure the thought of leaving her + precious body here alone. So I chose to remain. + And now I send my little girl to your care and + guardianship without even consulting you. She is + amply provided for, though the business this side + of the world cannot be settled in some time. I + send her with a trusty maid and Captain Corwin, + because I do not want her to remember the end. + Some day you can tell her I am sleeping beside her + dear mother and that we are together in the Better + Land. She has been separated considerably from me + of late,--I have had to be journeying about on + business,--therefore it will not come so hard to + her, and though children do not forget, the sorrow + softens and has a tender vagueness from the hand + of time. + + "So I give my little girl to you. If so be you + should marry and have children of your own, she + will not be crowded out, I know. In the course of + years,--for girls grow rapidly up to + womanhood,--she may love and marry. Direct her a + little here and see that no one takes her for the + mere money. I want her to know the sweetness and + richness of a true satisfying love." + +All important papers, and a sort of diary Anthony Leverett had kept, +were to come in the vessel that would bring the little girl in the +charge of Captain Corwin. + +Chilian Leverett sat for a long while with the letter in his hand, until +the log broke in the middle and one end fell over the andiron. Then he +started suddenly. + +Had he been dreaming of the sweetness of the woman who had so captivated +his youthful fancy, almost a dozen years agone? He never thought she had +led him astray, and had no blame for her. Perhaps the love for her +betrothed had so permeated her whole being that she shed an exquisitely +fascinating sweetness all about. He was to her as if he had been her +betrothed's younger brother. And when the engagement was confessed he +allowed himself no reprehensible longing for the woman so soon to be +another's. All his instincts were pure and high, perhaps rather too +idealized, though there was much strength and heroism in the old Puritan +blood. Right was right in those days. Lines were sharply drawn among +those of the old stock. + +But there had been years of what one might call living for self, +indulgence in studious habits and tastes and the higher intellectual +life, much solitary dreaming, although he was by no means a recluse. And +to have a little girl come into his life! He would have liked a boy +better, he thought. The boy would be out of doors, playing with mates. +And now he bethought himself how few small children there were in his +branch of the Leverett line. Some of the men and women had not married. +His brother and one sister had died in childhood. The first cousins were +nearly all older than he, many of them had dropped out of life. A little +girl! No chance to decline the trust--well, he would hardly have done +that. He knew Anthony Leverett had counted on a serene old age in his +native town. And he was not much past middle life. What had befallen +him? + +Well, there was nothing to be done. He read the letter over again. Then +he turned to some papers to compose his mind. There was a stir in the +next room, his sleeping-chamber. He always opened the windows and closed +the door between. After the dishes were washed and the dining-room and +hall brushed up, Elizabeth came upstairs and made the two beds. When he +had gone to Cambridge she opened the door between. So she did not +disturb him now, but crossed the hall and inspected the two +guest-chambers. She had swept them a week or so ago and had settled in +her mind that they would do until house-cleaning time. To be sure, if +she cleaned them now they would need it when the guests were gone. And +Chilian had a man's objection to house-cleaning. It was hardly time to +put away blankets. She wished she knew how many guests there would be. + +The rooms were full of old Colonial furniture that had been in the +family for generations. Every spring Elizabeth polished the mahogany +until it shone. She dusted now, though there was hardly a speck visible. +The snow through the winter had laid it, and the spring rains had not +allowed it to rear its head. + +Chilian put on his coat presently and sallied out for his morning +exercise. The family had been connected with shipbuilding to a certain +extent, and there was the old warehouse where vessels came in with their +precious cargoes from civilized and barbaric lands. For at the close of +the Revolutionary War the men of note, many of whom had not disdained +privateering, found themselves in possession of idle fleets, that with +their able seamen could outsail almost anything afloat. So they struck +out for new ventures in unknown seas and new channels of trade. +Calcutta, Bombay, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Batavia, and other ports came to +know the American flag and the busy enterprising traders. + +But the old Salem that was once the capital of the state, the Salem of +John Endicott and Roger Williams, of stern Puritanism, of terrible +witchcraft horrors, and then of the sturdy and vigorous stand in her +differences with the mother country, her patriotism through the darkest +days, was fast fading away, just as this grand commercial epoch was +destined to merge into science and educational fame later on, and give +to the world some master spirits. But as he wended his way hither and +thither in a desultory fashion, one thought almost like spoken words +kept running through his mind--"A little girl--a little girl in Old +Salem"--for the almost two hundred years gave her the right to that +eminence, and a little girl from a foreign land seemed incongruous. Not +but that there were little girls in Salem, but their life-lines did not +touch his. And this one came so near, for the sake of both parents he +had loved. + +When he came in to dinner, he had made up his mind to say nothing of his +letter until the guests had come and gone. He did not wish to be deluged +with questions. + +He hunted up Cousin Giles the next day, who was quite a real-estate +dealer, investing his own and other people's money in sound mortgages, +who had been a widower so long that he had quite gone back to +bachelorhood. + +And he found three Thatcher cousins--a widow, a married one, and a +single one, the youngest of the family, but past girlhood. He was asked +to take luncheon with them and they proved quite agreeable and +intelligent, and much pleased at the prospect of seeing Elizabeth and +Eunice Leverett. + +"We have been hunting up several of the Boston relatives," said Miss +Thatcher, with a kind of winsome smile. "Cousin Giles has been a good +directory. We've kept in with so few of them. Father hunted up some of +them while he was in the Legislature, but they are so scattered about +and many of them dead. Mother was your father's cousin, I believe." + +Chilian gave a graceful inclination of the head. + +"Elizabeth and Eunice visited us years ago, along after the war when I +was first left a widow," explained Mrs. Brent. "Henry went all through +it, but was worn out, and died in '88. But I've two nice sons, who are a +great comfort. Father was very good to them and me. And they're both +promising farmers." + +"I tell her that's a good deal to be thankful for," remarked Cousin +Giles. + +"It is indeed," commented Chilian. + +"And I have a lad who is all for study and wants to come in to Harvard. +He has been teaching school this winter. His father's quite set against +it, and I don't know how it will end. He will be only nineteen in +August, and his father thinks he has a hold on him two years longer." + +Mrs. Drayton looked up rather appealingly. + +"If his mind is made up to that, he will work his way through," said +Chilian, and he thought he should like to know the boy. + +"You see the next two are girls and they can't help much about a farm. +Father really needs him. And I seem to stand between two fires. His +teaching term will end in May, but he has planned to take the school +next winter. He has made quite a bit of money." + +Chilian thought he would be a lad fully worth helping, and made a mental +note of it. He liked the mother. + +It was settled that they would reach Salem about noon in the stage, the +only mode of conveyance, and they parted with a pleased friendliness. + +Chilian rehearsed the interview at home to the great delight of the +household. Indeed, he had been very well pleased with the prospective +visitors and he felt rather thankful for the respite from the shadow the +coming event was casting. A little girl! It did annoy him. + +He did not allow it to interfere with his duties as host, however. The +three ladies had a most delightful visit at Salem, looking up points of +interest and hearing old history concerning the Leveretts. Chilian's +father had jotted down many facts. There were seafaring uncles, who had +brought home trophies; there were men in the family, who had died for +their country if they had not filled eminent positions; others who had. +How this branch of the family seemed to have dwindled away! + +Serena Thatcher was more than pleased with her cousin, though she felt +somewhat awed by his attainments and his rather punctilious ways. Mrs. +Brent set him down as a good deal of a Miss Nancy. But the ladies had a +delightful time going over family histories and getting relationships +disentangled. + +When the eventful day of parting came it brought a very real sorrow. +They made promises that they would renew their meetings and keep each +other in mind. + +It was Saturday evening when the Leverett household sat around the +cheerful fire in the cozy room where the small family gathered on this +evening of the week with their work all done, after the fashion of the +past, still strictly observed by many of the older Puritan families. The +industrious ladies sat with folded hands. Sometimes Chilian read aloud +from a volume of the divines who had finished their good fight. + +This night he was gazing idly in the fire, the lines in his face +deepening now and then. + +"I suppose he _is_ tired with all the talk, and rambles, and confusion +of the week," Elizabeth thought, stealing furtive glances at him. + +He straightened himself presently and made a pretence of clearing his +throat, as an embarrassed person often does. + +"I have something to tell you," he began. "I thought I would not disturb +you while our relatives were here. We found enough to talk about;" with +a short half-laugh. + +"And it tired you out, I know. We live so quietly that such an event +quite upsets us," Eunice said in a gentle, deprecating tone. + +"It was very pleasant," he added. "I was a good deal interested in +Anthony Drayton. But this is something quite different. Can you recall +that I had a letter from the East Indies the morning the word came from +Cousin Giles?" + +"Why, yes!" Elizabeth started in surprise. "I had really forgotten about +it. Business, I suppose, with Anthony Leverett. Why, I think it is high +time he came home." + +Chilian sighed. "I am afraid--though I cannot see why we should fear so +much to enter the other portal, since it is the destiny of all, and we +believe in a better world. He was hopelessly ill when he wrote and was +winding up some business matters. He is a brave man to meet death so +composedly. The only pang is parting from his child." + +"Oh, his little girl! Let me see--she must be eight or nine years old. +What will become of her?" + +"He makes me executor and guardian of the child. She was to start three +weeks after his letter with Captain Corwin in the _Flying Star_. That +will be due, if it meets with no mishap, from the middle to the last of +April." + +"But she doesn't come alone!" ejaculated Elizabeth in surprise. + +"Yes. He wishes to be buried there beside his wife. And he does not +want her to have the remembrance of his death. So he sends her with the +woman who has been her nurse and maid the last three years, an +Englishwoman." + +"Of all things! I wonder what will come next! We seem in the line of +surprises. And it's queer they should happen together. A little girl! +Chilian, do _you_ like it? Why, it will fairly turn the house upside +down!" + +There was an accent of protest in Elizabeth's tone, showing plainly her +unwillingness to accept the situation. + +"One little girl can't move much furniture about;" with a sound of humor +in his voice. + +"Oh, you know what I mean--not actually dragging sofas and tables about, +but she will chairs, as you'll see. And lots of other things. Look at +the Rendall children. The house always looks as if it had been stirred +up with the pudding-stick, and Sally Rendall spends good half her time +looking for things they have carted off. Tom and Anstice were digging up +the path the day we called, and what do you suppose they had! The +tablespoons. And I'll venture to say they were left out of doors." + +"There are so many of them," Chilian said, as if in apology. + +"And I don't see how we can keep this child away from them. It isn't as +if they were low-down people. Sally's father having been a major in the +war, and the Rendalls are good stock. Let me see--what's her name? Her +mother was called Letty." + +"Cynthia. She was named for my mother." Chilian's voice had a reverent +softness in it. + +"I always thought it a pretty name," said Eunice. + +"And I've heard people call it 'Cyn.' I do abominate nicknames." + +Elizabeth uttered this with a good deal of vigor. Then she remembered +she quite liked Bessy. + +No one spoke for some moments. Chilian thought of the sister, whose +brief married life had ended in her pretty home at Providence, and how +she looked in her coffin with her baby sheltered by one arm. The picture +came before him vividly. + +Elizabeth liked cleanliness and order. It was natural after a long +practice in it. Chilian's particular ways suited her. Year after year +had settled them--perhaps she had settled him more definitely, as he +liked the way. Eunice was thinking of the little girl who had neither +father or mother. She had some unfulfilled dreams. In her youth there +had been a lover, and a wedding planned when he came home from his +voyage. She had begun to "lay by" for housekeeping. And there were some +pretty garments in the trunk upstairs, packed away with other articles. +The lover was lost at sea, as befell many another New England coast +woman. + +She had hoped against hope for several years--men were sometimes +restored as by a miracle--but he never came. So she sometimes dreamed +of what might have been, of home and children, and it kept her heart +tender. Anthony's little girl would make a sight of trouble, she could +see that, but a little girl about would be a great pleasure--to her at +least. She glanced furtively at Elizabeth, then at Chilian. She could +not comfort either of them with this sudden glow and warmth that +thrilled through her veins. + +"Well, we will be through with house-cleaning before she comes," said +the practical and particular housewife. Chilian simply sighed. It was +the usual spring ordeal, and did end. But who could predict the ending +of the other? + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE LITTLE GIRL + + +Down at the wharf there was much bustle and stir. Vessels were lading +for various home ports, fishing craft were going out on their ventures, +even a whaler had just fitted up for a long cruise, and the young as +well as middle-aged sailors were shouting out farewells. White and black +men were running to and fro, laughing, chaffing, and swearing at each +other. + +There lay the East Indiaman, with her foreign flag as well as that of +her country. She had come in about midnight and at early dawn +preliminaries had begun. Captain Corwin had been ashore a time or two, +looking up and down amid the motley throng, and now he touched his hat +and nodded to Chilian Leverett, who picked his way over to him. + +"We are somewhat late," he began apologetically. "A little due to rough +weather, but one can never fix an exact date." + +"All is well, I hope;" in an anxious tone. + +"Yes; the child proved a good sailor and was much interested in +everything. I was afraid she would take it hard. But she is counting on +her father's coming. I don't know how you will ever console her when she +learns the truth." + +"And he----" Chilian looked intently into the captain's eyes. + +"I suppose the end has come before this. They thought he might last a +month when we left. It's sad enough. He should have lived to be ninety. +But matters went well with him, and he has been an honest, kindly, +upright man with a large heart. I've lost my best friend and adviser." + +The captain drew his rough coat-sleeve across his face and looked past +Chilian, winking hard. + +"There's a sight of business when we come to that, Mr. Leverett, but +now--will you go on board? The maid is a most excellent and sensible +person. They are in the cabin." + +"Yes," he answered and followed with a curious throb at his heart--pity +for the orphaned child and a sense of responsibility he was conscious +that he accepted unwillingly, yet he would do his duty to the uttermost. + +Already some officials were on hand, for at this period Salem was really +a notable port. Chilian passed them with a bow, followed the captain +down the gangplank, stared a little at the foreign deck-hands in their +odd habiliments, stepped over boxes and bales in canvas and matting full +of Oriental fragrance that from the closeness was almost stifling, +coming from the clear air. Then he was ushered into the cabin, that was +replete with Orientalism as well. + +A rather tall woman rose to meet him. + +"This is Mistress Rachel Winn, who has mothered the little girl for +several years, Mr. Leverett, her relative and guardian, +and--Cynthia----" + +The child threw herself down on the couch. + +"I want to go back home. I want to see my father, and Aymeer, and Babo, +and Nalla. I can't stay here." + +"But perhaps your father will bring them when he comes. Don't you +remember he told you he lived here when he was a little boy, and what +nice times he had with the cousin he loved? And the cousin is here to +bid you welcome. Come and speak to him. We cannot go back at once, the +ship has to unload her cargo and take in ever so many other things. See, +here is Cousin Leverett." + +She sat up, made a forward movement as if she would rise, but simply +stared. + +"Yes, I am Cousin Leverett." He began advancing and held out his hand. + +"And very glad to see such an excellent traveller as you have been," +said the captain. "And such a nice little girl. You are an American +girl; you know your father told you that. And this is your native town. +Cousin Leverett remembers you when you were very little." + +"But I don't remember you;" taking no notice of the proffered hand. + +"Then you must get acquainted with me. And you must tell me about your +life and your father, whom I have not seen in a long, long time. Let us +shake hands." + +She held out hers then and raised herself to her feet. + +"Oh, how soft your hands are," she cried, "just like Nalla's. But they +are very white. Nalla's were brown." + +"And who was Nalla?" + +"She used to come and play with me and make chains out of shells, and +make bracelets and anklets, and dance. And she used to go to the Sahibs' +house and dance with snakes. I'm afraid of them. Are you?" + +"Indeed I am, of the large ones," he said at a venture. + +He fancied that he felt a gentle pressure of sympathetic approval. She +glanced up for an instant and her eyes transfixed him. They were a deep +wonderful blue, almost black at the pupil, then raying off a little +lighter. It made him think of a star in the winter midnight sky with a +halo around it. The lashes were long and nearly black. Otherwise she had +little claim to beauty just then. Her complexion had a tawny hue made by +sun and wind, her hair was light, but it had a peculiar sunburned tint, +though it was fine and abundant and hung in loose curls about her +shoulders. Her nose was the only Leverett feature--it was straight, +rather small, and had the flexibility that betrayed passing emotions. +The Leverett lips were thin, hers were full in the middle, giving a +certain roundness to the mouth. + +"Are there any where you live?" hesitatingly. + +"Any?" Then he recalled the subject they had touched upon. "Oh, no; you +seldom see them, and they are mostly harmless." + +"Have you any little girls in your house?" + +"No, I am sorry to say." + +"There were two little English girls on shipboard at first. They went on +board another vessel after a while. I liked them very much. They knew a +great many things about countries. I can read, but I don't a great deal. +Sometimes father would tell me about America. There are a great many +countries in it, and once they had a big war. They had wars, too, in +India. Why must people kill each other?" + +"There seem to be reasons. A little girl could not understand them all, +I think;" and how could he explain them? + +"Oh, there is Captain Corwin!" She flew across the cabin with +outstretched arms, which she clasped about him. + +"Well, have you been getting acquainted with--he will be your uncle, I +suppose. What title are you going to take with the child, Mr. Leverett?" + +Chilian Leverett colored, without a cause he thought, and it annoyed +him. + +"Are you going back to India to-day?" She was not interested in Chilian +Leverett's answer. + +Captain Corwin laughed heartily and patted her shoulder. + +"Not to-day, nor even next week. The cargo will have to be taken off, +little missy, and a new one stowed away. And I fancy there must be some +repairs. I shall stay in town and run down to Marblehead. So you will +see me quite often." + +"And you are coming back again from India?" + +"Oh, I hope so. More than once." + +"You will bring father then. It is such a long while to wait;" and she +sighed. + +The men exchanged glances. + +"I want to see him so much. Couldn't I go back with you?" + +"Don't you remember I told you the other evening he might start before I +reached India again? Don't you want to go ashore and see Salem? Ask Miss +Rachel to get you ready." + +Rachel was beckoning to her. "Let us go up on deck," she said. "It's a +strange country to me as well as to you. And I fancy the men want to +talk." + +She crossed the cabin slowly, not quite certain what she did desire +most, except to see her father. + +"You will have a rather sorry task. But Captain Ant'ny would have it so. +He wanted to feel that she would be among friends. He had the fullest +confidence that you could manage wisely. There is a great box of +papers, instructions, etc. You are appointed her guardian and trustee. +I've brought boxes of stuff that the officers will have to go through. +But the legal matters you may take with you. He tried to make it as easy +as he could. She will have considerable of a fortune, and more to come +when matters get settled on the other side. A cousin of the Bannings +came out,--English are great hands to keep things in the family. But it +is one of the biggest importing houses out there and it owes its success +to the long and wise head of Captain Anthony. They want young Banning in +it and the matter was about settled when we came away, but the payments +will run over several years. All these papers will be sent to you. The +Bannings are upright business men, and I think you need have no fear. +But the child's fortune is to be invested on this side of the water. Oh, +you cannot realize what a trial it was to give up all thoughts of ending +his days here." + +Captain Corwin brushed some tears from his honest, weather-beaten face. + +"But if he had started earlier----" + +"He would not believe the trouble would prove fatal. And when it was +declared there was so much to put in order. Then he could not bear to +think of leaving his wife alone there, though it's only the shell after +all, and, if we believe the Good Book, we shall see the real part over +there that was so much to us. But he could not explain the parting to +the child, though death is such a common thing out there. Yet it _is_ +hard to believe our own can die. We are never ready for that. How you +will manage----" + +The customs officers had come. Captain Corwin went out to meet them. +Chilian Leverett dropped into the well-worn leather-covered chair that +had been fine in its day. A heavy burthen had been laid upon him. He was +not fond of business. Cousin Giles might be of some assistance; he +grasped at the thought as if he had been a drowning man and this the +straw. And the child, somehow, was different from the average child, he +felt; though he was not certain what the average child would unfold day +after day. What would Elizabeth think? Eunice he could count on. Though +she yielded on many points in that tacit sort of way, she was by no +means an echo of her sister. + +The three men entered the cabin. Chilian was no stranger to the +officials, who greeted him cordially and who sympathized with Captain +Anthony Leverett's untimely ending, as he was hardly past middle life. + +"Why, it will be quite a change to have a child in your household," said +Josiah Ward. "But if she is like mine, I advise you not to give her the +run of your study. But there are two ladies to look after her;" and he +smiled. + +It was surmised that Mr. Ward, a widower of two years' standing, had +glanced more than once in the direction of Miss Eunice Leverett. + +Rachel came back at this juncture. The little girl had an accession of +shyness and would only nod to the strangers. Then they made ready to +leave the vessel. Chilian took his japanned case of important papers; +the rest of the luggage would be sent after inspection. + +A primitive street it was in those days, and the fine wharves of the +present were rather rude if busy places. Over beyond they could see the +river,--South River,--and that was alive with various small craft. + +"It seems almost like home," said Rachel Winn, pausing to take a survey. +"You do not find this rural aspect in India." + +"How long were you there?" asked Chilian. + +"Seven years. I went out with my brother, who had just married my +dearest friend. He died the third year, and she soon after married a +military man. Then I took charge of a little lame boy and was mostly up +in the mountains until he was sent to England, when Captain Leverett's +hospitable doors opened to me. Believe me, I was sorry to leave him at +this crisis. Yet it was his wish;" and she glanced at Cynthia. + +"Why did we come away?" demanded the child passionately. "Oh, Rachel, +are you sure father will come? It takes so long, so long;" and there +were tears in her voice. + +"Here we are!" exclaimed Chilian. + +There was a white picket fence across the sort of courtyard that had a +broad paved path leading up to the front door, bordered by shrubs that +would presently be in bloom, and spaces between for smaller plants. +This was the delight of Eunice's heart. A square but rather ornate +porch, with fluted columns, supporting the outer edge of the roof, and +an elaborately carved hall-door with a fanlight overhead. The stoop +stood up some five steps, and at the sides there were benches for +out-of-doors comfort on summer nights. A brass knocker, with a lion's +head, announced visitors. Chilian, however, let himself in with his +latchkey. But both sisters met the party in the hall. + +"And this is Anthony's little girl!" said Elizabeth. "Child, let me look +at you----" + +But the child had a perverse fit at that moment and turned away her +head, to the elder's surprise and almost displeasure. + +"This is Miss Winn," interrupted Chilian. "My household guardians and +cousins, Miss Elizabeth and Miss Eunice Leverett. I dare say our guests +feel strange to be on land, after such a long journey." + +"It seems almost incredible that one can stand it, but we see them +starting every few days for distant ports. My farthest journey has been +to Providence; but, land alive! you don't know where that is, and it's +no great distance. Will you not come and have a cup of tea or coffee?" + +"Thank you. We had breakfast not long ago, it seems." + +"Let me take you to your room," said Eunice. "And I hope you will soon +feel at home with us. We are quiet people, but we shall endeavor to +make you comfortable. Cynthia, will you not shake hands with me?" + +The soft, rather pleading voice attracted the child. She glanced up +shyly and then held out a tiny hand hesitatingly. + +"She is rather backward at first," explained Rachel, who followed the +hostess up the broad stairway. + +One of the guest-chambers had been set aside for their use after much +discussion as to whether one or two would be needed. A smaller one +opened into this, and a large closet was at the side. + +"You can take off your things--I suppose your boxes, or whatever you +have, will be here presently. The bureau is empty and this chest of +drawers. We are rather old-fashioned people, and the house is the same +as it was in the time of Chilian's father. The captain made one visit +here, when the little girl was about four. It must have been hard for +him to lose his wife in a strange country like that. I suppose there are +not many Americans?" + +"No; there are numbers of Englishwomen, wives of soldiers and traders, +though I think most of them long to get home. They do not seem to take +root easily." + +"I shouldn't think they would, in that idolatrous country. The accounts +of heathendom are appalling. And that car of Juggernaut, and drowning +their poor little babies! They do not seem to make much of girl +children." + +"Indeed, they do not, only as in some families they are wanted for +wives. But the devotion of mothers to their sons is wonderful." + +Rachel had laid aside a silk coat that filled Eunice with a sort of +wonder, being brocaded with beautiful leaves and roses that seemed as if +they must have been worked by hand, they stood out so clearly. The child +appeared fantastically attired to her plainer eyes, and her slim arms +were weighted with bracelets. In her dainty ears were some splendid +sapphires. + +"I do hope you will soon feel at home," Eunice said from a full heart, +if there was a rather awkward feeling about it. Yet she liked Miss +Winn's face. It had a kindly and intelligent aspect and was medium in +all respects. The social lines in the town, indeed in all the Eastern +towns, were not sharply defined as to mistress and maid. True, many +households preferred black servants; in not a few some elderly relative +looked after the household, or a bound-out girl was trained in +industrious ways. + +There had been some discussion as to what sphere this Miss Winn would +occupy. If she was simply the attendant on an over-indulged child, an +uneducated person, as many of the English maids were who came over to +better their conditions or get husbands, it might be rather awkward. But +the woman was certainly well-bred and used her English in a correct +manner. + +"Perhaps you will get to feeling more at home if you come down to the +sitting-room, since there is nothing to unpack;" with a faint smile. + +Cynthia had been looking out of the window. "How queer it all is!" she +said. "I think I do not quite like it. And how funny one feels. I want +to go this way;" and she swayed from side to side. + +"The motion of the vessel," interposed Rachel. "I have heard it took +days to get over it." + +Meanwhile, downstairs Elizabeth had studied her Cousin Chilian. + +"The child is not at all pretty," she began rather sharply. "And her +mother was considered a beautiful young woman, I believe." + +"Yes; but a long voyage and shipboard living may not be conducive to the +development of beauty. And children seldom are at that age." + +"The Goodell children are pretty, I am sure, with their fine +complexions. And the Bates girls. She has a furtive sort of look. Oh, I +hope she isn't deceitful and untrue. Those heathen nations, I believe, +are given largely to falsehood, and she has lived among them so long +without any mother's care. It seems as if a pretty girl like Alletta +Orne might have found some one at home to marry and reared her child in +a Christian land." + +"Do not let us begin by borrowing trouble. It always comes fast enough." + +"And I can foresee that we shall have plenty of it. Well, I suppose it +must be endured. There! my bread is light enough to go in the +oven--running over, likely as not." + +So, when they came downstairs, Miss Elizabeth was in the kitchen, +immersed in her baking interest. + +A large gray cat lay curled up on a cushion. Cynthia went straight over +to it, but it glanced at her with wild eyes, jumped down, and +disappeared through the doorway. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed in accents of disappointment, glancing up at +Chilian. + +"Pussy is not used to children. He always runs away from them. But I +think he will like you when he gets acquainted." + +She turned to the window with a swelling heart. It seemed so cold and +strange. It was better on shipboard, she thought. She had come to know +the sailors quite well and Missy had grown to be a great favorite with +them. There was always something cheerful going on. They sang songs in +their loud clear voices, or whistled merry tunes. They danced as well. +She was quite used to the dancing-girls at Calcutta, and when they were +at Hong Kong or other ports. But the Indian girls pleased her best. + +The sailors seemed always full of fun, even in the worst of times. +During some fearful storms she was safely housed in the cabin, and it +amused her to see the things pitch and roll as far as their chains would +allow them. Sometimes, too, they had to hold the food in their hands, +but she never knew the danger of the worst storms. Rachel would not +admit that she was afraid, and the captain said, "Yes, we're having a +stiff blow, but the _Flying Star_ has weathered many a gale before." And +here it was so very quiet. It looked dreary outside, with the leafless +trees. She liked the toss and tumult of the waves with their snowy, +jewelled crests, and the clouds scudding along the sky, which she +imagined was another sea full of ships. Often they went in port and +there was nothing left but the blue sky above--a great hollow vault. And +when the sun shone the real sea and ocean was in flames of such splendid +colors. There was no end of curious people at ports where they stopped +for supplies, there was always something strange, even when they were +days alone on the water. For the sunset and sunrise were never twice +alike. Then the moon from its tiny crescent to the great round globe +that illumined the world with her fairy richness and scattered jewels on +every crested wave. She had watched it turn the other way and grow +smaller and smaller until you saw it vaguely in the morning. + +She was so interested in the stories they told about it, the signs and +wonders they ascribed to it. + +"And was it ever a real world like that we have left behind?" she asked +of the captain. "Were there people in it? And land, and rivers, and +growing things, and flowers?" and her wondering eyes grew larger. + +"No one can tell now. Some astronomers believe it a burned-out world and +the things we take for a man," laughing, "and the cow ready to jump +off, are remnants of roads, and forests, and mountains." + +"You _can_ see the man in the moon," she returned decisively. "Sometimes +he laughs. And the cow has great horns. I should be afraid of them if I +met such a cow. Ours are so small and tame." + +"You will see large ones in Salem. But I think, for the most part, they +are gentle." + +She never wearied talking over the strange things. And so she came to +have her head filled with wonderful lore that indeed cropped out now and +then all her life long until she felt as if she had really been in +fairyland. + +It seemed stranger here than on shipboard. The others were going through +the ceremony of getting acquainted. Rachel Winn's voice had a soft +sound, with an almost foreign accent. Eunice's, though low-pitched, had +a clear resonance. Now and then Chilian Leverett made a comment, or +asked a question, but she was not heeding them. Her heart and mind had +wandered back to her father and that wonderful land where nothing ever +seemed bleak, though in long hot droughts it was arid. But there were +always temples, and palaces, and picturesque huts, and women and +children in gay attire, old men kneeling somewhere, praying but keeping +a sharp lookout for alms. + +Chilian Leverett had been watching the small face and wondering at the +changes passing over it. Now he saw some tears slowly coursing down the +pale cheeks, and his heart was moved with infinite pity. + +Suddenly a robin alighted on the limb of a tree and began picking at the +buds. Then he held his head up straight, swelled out his brownish red +breast, and poured forth such a volume of melody that the effort fairly +made him dance with joy. Spring had surely come! It was the time of love +and joy, and all things made over new. + +She turned a trifle. Her face was transfigured with delight. Her eyes +shone, though the tears were still wet on her cheek. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +A STRANGER, YET AT HOME + + +Rachel Winn settled herself to the new order of things more readily than +the Leveretts. Or rather she seemed to take the lead in arrangements for +herself and her charge. She was after all a sort of nurse and +waiting-maid, though she had a fine dignity about it that even Elizabeth +could not gainsay. She was to be one of the family, there could be no +objection to that in the simple New England living. Though it was true, +times were changing greatly since the days of war and privation, and +perhaps the mingling of people from other states, the growing +responsibility of being part of a great commonwealth. Servants were +being relegated to a different position. Boston in a certain fashion set +the pace, though Salem held up her head proudly. Were not her seaports +the busy mart of the Eastern shore? Stores of finery, silks and laces, +and marvellous Indian embroidery went down to Boston and the houses were +enriched with choice china that in the next hundred years was to be +handed down as heirlooms. Fine houses were being built, choice woods +came from southern ports by vessels that believed they could find +fortunes nearer home than China or India. But they could grow no +spices, or coffees, or teas, and they must come from the Orient. No +looms could turn out such exquisite fabrics as yet, though housewives +were to be proud of their home-made drapery for a generation or two. + +Chilian spent a large part of that first night inspecting his box of +papers. There was a journal-like letter in which Anthony Leverett had +jotted down many things he hardly dared say in his letter; indeed, there +was not sufficient space. As soon as he had learned the serious nature +of his disease, he had begun to put his house in order and consider the +future welfare of his child. Some lines touched Chilian deeply, the +trust and dependence he was not at all sure he could fulfil, but he felt +he _must_ rouse himself to the earnest endeavor. The father had a +passionate love for his child, he was making a fortune for her, counting +the years when he should return and have a home of his own, when Cynthia +would grow up and marry and there would be grandchildren to climb his +knees. India was no place for a woman child to grow up in, there were no +chances for education or accomplishment, and next to no society. After +all there was not, and never would be, such a country as the new world +that had struggled so long and bravely for her independence, and now had +only to go on developing her grand theories. Crowned heads might look on +doubtingly, but the foundation had been laid in justice and truth and +equality of right. It quite thrilled him that this man, amassing money +in a far-away land, could see so clearly and have no doubts about its +future greatness. + +To Captain Corwin, his good, trusty friend, he had willed half the value +of the _Flying Star_. The money from his part was to be invested, as the +payments came in, in real estate in Salem, which was to be the shipping +mart of the New England coast, at least, and run a race with New York, +he thought. So with the stations at Calcutta and Hong Kong in the hands +of the Bannings. And there were treasures that would answer for a +wedding dowry when the time came. If possible, he would like Rachel Winn +retained; he had the highest confidence in her, and she had no relatives +to call her back to England. He had given her much of the family +history, and described the town and the people, so that it would not +seem so new and strange to her. + +He was not asking all this as a favor. Chilian was touched by the +provision made for himself, which it would be quite impossible to +decline, he saw. True it would break in upon his leisurely, student +life, yet he felt he could not in honor refuse to accept the trust. + +Rachel Winn studied the arrangements of the rooms at their disposal. Her +young mistress was not a child taken out of benevolence or relationship. +She must have her standing from the very beginning, and she fancied +Elizabeth was inclined to consider her a sort of interloper. + +"If it makes no difference, I will take the small room," she announced +to her. "There are some pieces of furniture on the vessel that Captain +Leverett particularly wished her to keep, and as she grows older she +will cherish them----" + +"That great room for such a child!" In her amazement, Elizabeth spoke +without thought. She was not used to seeing children set in the very +forefront. In her day, indeed, yet in some families the large open +garret was considered the place for children. + +"You see, she was used to it at home--over there, I mean;" with a nod of +the head. "Her father's room was one side, mine on the other. Of course, +in a way I shall share it with her. I will keep it in order and look +after her clothes, and sew for her. But I prefer the smaller one." + +Elizabeth was aghast. One of the best spare chambers, with the +furnishings that had come from England a hundred years before. On the +other side she and Eunice shared a plainly appointed room with some of +their very own belongings. There was still another, but the closet was +small. She had asked Chilian where they should be placed and he had +chosen this. It was his house, of course---- + +Whether it would have ended in a discussion could not to be told, for at +that moment a dray drove up with some boxes and a piece of furniture so +wrapped and protected that it was quite impossible to guess at its +name. + +Chilian came out and ran lightly down the stairs; and then called +Elizabeth. + +"Where had the boxes better go? They will have to be unpacked, I +suppose;" helplessly. + +"There are more to come," announced the man. "Enough to set up +housekeeping, if the right sort of things are in them;" and he gave a +short laugh. + +Miss Winn came downstairs. "Isn't there a garret to the house?" she +asked, looking from one to the other. "I packed them up, but I can +hardly tell----" + +"Yes; we could store half the vessel's contents in it. Well, not exactly +that. A ship's hold is a capacious place. Yes, the boxes might go there. +Have you any idea what this is?" + +"A sort of desk and bookcase. A very handsome thing the captain set +great store by." + +The men shouldered the boxes and Elizabeth convoyed them. Silas was +spading up the garden and came at the call. + +It was a work of some labor to get the article out of its secure +casings. It disclosed a very handsome piece of furniture in the +escritoire style, carved and inlaid not only with beautiful woods, but +much silver. Chilian surveyed it with admiration. + +"That must stand in the parlor," he decided. "But some one must come and +help. I'm afraid I am not sufficiently robust. Silas, see if you can't +find the Uphams' man. He was working there a short time ago." + +"If there's more to come, it is hardly worth while to clear up," began +Elizabeth. "I hope it will soon follow." + +Chilian directed the two men, who found it still quite a burthen. +Elizabeth opened the parlor shutter unwillingly, and the men set it in +the middle of the floor. + +There were two large rooms held almost sacred by both sisters. They were +separated by an archway, apparently upheld on each end by a fluted +column. Both rooms had a wide chimney-piece, the mantel and its supports +elaborately carved and painted white. Two windows were in each end, +draped with soft crimson curtains. The floor was polished, with a rug +laid down in the centre. It was furnished in a manner that would have +delighted a connoisseur, but Elizabeth did not admire the +conglomeration. They were family relics and seemed to have little +relation with one another, yet they were harmonious. There was a +thin-legged spinet, with a Latin legend running across the front of the +cover, which was always down. The chairs were not made for lounging, +that was plain; and the sofa, with its rolling ends and claw feet, had +been polished until the haircloth looked like satin. A dead and gone +Leverett bride had imported that from London. + +When the East Indian article had been consigned to an appropriate space, +it looked as much at home as if it had lived there half a century. Then +the parlor was shut up again, the mat in the hall shaken out, the front +door bolted. Miss Winn had asked for a hammer and chisel that she might +open one of the boxes. + +"Take Silas. That is a man's work," said Chilian. + +Cynthia was in the sitting-room, where it was still chilly enough to +have a fire. Eunice was knotting fringe for a bedspread, and it +interested the child wonderfully. She was not a little shocked to find a +child of nine knew nothing about sewing, had never hemmed ruffles, nor +done overseam, or knit, or it seemed anything useful. + +"Why, when I was a little girl of your age I could spin in the little +wheel." + +"What did you spin?" + +"Why, thread, of course, linen thread made from flax." + +"Were you a truly little girl?" in surprise. + +"Why, child, don't you know anything?" Then Miss Eunice laughed softly +and patted the small shoulder, looking kindly into the wondering eyes. +There was no hurt in her tone and the words rather amused. + +"I know a great many things. I can read some Latin, and I know about +Greece and its splendid heroes who conquered a good deal of the world. +There was Alexander the Great and Philip of Macedon. And Tamerlane, who +conquered nearly all Asia. And--and Confucius, the great man of China, +who was a wise philosopher, and wrote a bible----" + +"Oh, no; not a bible!" interrupted Miss Eunice, horrified. "There is +only one Bible, my dear, and that is the Word of God." + +"But the other is the bible of the Chinese, and some of them believe +Confucius was a god." + +"That is quite impossible, my dear;" in a rather decisive, but still +gentle tone. + +"And there is Brahma, and Vishnu, and there are ever so many gods in +India. The people pray to them. And temples. When they want anything +very much, they go and pray for it. There was a woman whose little son +was very ill, and if he lived he was going to be a great prince, or +something, and she gathered up her precious stones and her necklace and +took them to the temple for the god. Father sent an English doctor, but +they wouldn't let him see the little boy. He was so pretty, too. I used +to see him in the court." + +"And did he live?" Miss Eunice asked, much interested. + +"No; he didn't. And the father beat her for losing the jewels." + +"You see, those gods have no power." + +"Did you ever pray for anything you wanted very much?" + +Cynthia's bright eyes studied the placid face before her. + +"Yes," the lips murmured faintly. + +"And did you get it?" + +A flush stole over the puzzled countenance. + +"My dear, God doesn't see as we do. And He knows what is best for us, +and gives us that. Maybe our prayer wasn't right." + +"How can you tell when a prayer is right or wrong?" inquired the young +theologian. + +"Why, you have to leave that to God;" in a low, resigned tone. + +"I didn't want to come here. I wanted to stay with father. I didn't know +there was any one beside, and I do not believe any one will ever love me +so well. But he promised to come when the business was all done. So I +prayed to the God of father's Bible, and I went to the temple with Nalla +and put down a half-crown--it was all the money I had. But"--her eyes +filled with tears and her voice had a break in it--"father begged so, +and I came. But if Captain Corwin does not bring him next time I shall +go back. I can't live without him." + +The mild blue eyes of Miss Eunice filled with tears as well. She was not +sure this had been the wisest course. The absolute truth was always +best. But she temporized also in a vague fashion. + +"Yes; you can tell then. And you may come to like us so well you may +stay content." + +"Oh, if he comes! Then it will be all right. And you think I ought to +pray for that?" + +It was a cruel strait for Miss Eunice and staggered her faith. She was +not to lead astray or harm "one of the least of these." But the child +_was_ a heathen with no real knowledge of the true God. Like a vision +almost, Miss Eunice looked back at her own childhood, and the awful, +overshadowing power she believed was God, who wrote down every wicked +thought and wrong deed, and would confront her with them at the Judgment +Day. She prayed nightly, often in the night, when she woke up, and she +was no surer of God's love than this little heathen child. + +"It is right to pray for the things we want, but to be resigned if God +doesn't see fit to give them to us." + +"Then the prayers are thrown away. And do you know just what God is?" + +"My dear!" in a shocked tone, "no one can tell. It is one of the +mysteries to be revealed when we see Him as He truly is at the last day. +A little girl cannot understand it. I do not, and I have sought the +truth many years. Now I am trusting, because I feel assured He will do +what is right. Tell me something about your life with your father." + +"Oh, things were so different there. Houses, and there were always +servants, so you didn't ever need to fan yourself. Babo and Nalla were +always about. Babo used to take me out in a chair that had curtains +around and a big umbrella overhead. Sometimes Chandra went with him. And +the streets were funny and crooked, and houses set anywhere in them. I +liked going up in the mountains best, it wasn't so hot. And the trees +were splendid, and beautiful vines and flowers of all sorts. Mrs. Dallas +went the last time. She had two girls and a big boy. I did not like +him. He would pinch my arms and then say he didn't. I liked the girls, +one was larger than I. And we swung in the hammocks the vines made. Only +I was afraid of the snakes, and there are so many everywhere. Alfred +liked to kill them." + +She shuddered a little and glanced about the room with dilated eyes. + +"They come into your houses sometimes. Nalla used to catch them and +sling them hard on the ground, and that stunned them. And we used to +make wreaths of the beautiful flowers. Agnes Dallas knew so many stories +about fairies, little people who come out at night, when the moon +shines, and dance round in rings. They slip in houses, and the nice ones +do some work, but the wicked ones sour the milk, and spoil the bread, +and hide things. And, sometimes, they change children into a cat, or a +rabbit, or something, and it is seven years before you can get your own +shape again. Do you have them here?" + +"There is no such thing. That is all falsehood," was the decisive +comment. + +"But--Agnes knew of their coming. And she had seen them dancing on the +grass. But if you speak or go near them, they disappear." + +Miss Winn came out to the sitting-room. + +"Oh, you are here," she said. "I thought you were out of doors. You +ought to take a run. What a wonderful garret you have upstairs, Miss +Eunice. But I am afraid we shall fill it up sadly. There were so many +things to bring. I do not believe we shall find use for half of them. I +want a few mouthfuls of fresh air. I suppose I can walk up the street +without danger of getting lost if I turn square around when I return? +Don't you want to come, Cynthia?" + +Cynthia was ready. + +"You had better wrap up warm. It gets chilly towards night." + +"It was a long stretch on shipboard. We stopped at several ports, +however. But I am glad to be on solid ground. Come, child." + +She had brought down a wrap and hood. Cynthia was glad of something new, +though she liked Miss Eunice. + +They turned a rather rounding corner and went on to a sort of +market-place, where sweepers were gathering up the debris after the +day's sales. They glanced about the city. Salem had made rapid strides +since the grand declaration of peace, but at the end of the century it +was far from the grandeur the next twenty years would give it. + +"There are no palaces and no temples," said Cynthia, rather +complainingly. "And how white all the people are. Do you suppose they +have been ill?" + +"Oh, no; they have been housed up during the winter, and the climate is +cold. And, you know, they are of a different race. This part, New +England, was settled mostly from old England." + +"Are you going to like it, Rachel?" + +"Why--I don't quite know. You can't tell at once about a strange place." + +"Miss Eunice is nice. But she has some queer ideas." + +"Or is it a little girl, named Cynthia Leverett, who has queer ideas +that she has brought largely from a far-off country?" + +The child laughed. Then she saw some girls and boys playing tag in the +street, laughing and squealing when they were caught, or when they +narrowly missed. And some empty carts went rattling by, with now and +then a stately coach, or a man on horseback, attired in the fashion of +the times. The sun suddenly dropped down. + +"We had better turn about," declared Miss Winn. "It will not do to be +late for supper." + +The walk had not been straight, but her gift of locality was good. They +passed the market-place again, made the winding turn, and found the +lighted lamps gave the house a cheerful aspect. + +Miss Eunice had put away her knotting and begun to lay the cloth when +Elizabeth entered, her face clouded over. + +"I'm sure I don't see why Providence should send this avalanche upon us +to destroy our peace and comfort," she began almost angrily. "The +Thatchers' visit was pleasant, though that made a sight of clearing up +afterward. And we had hardly gotten over that when this must happen. I +was going to put that white quilt in the frame, but the garret will be +turned upside down for no one knows how long! Such a mess of stuff, and +more coming. There's enough in this house without any more being added +to it." + +"But it was natural Captain Anthony should want his child to have +something belonging to him, maybe her mother, too. And goodness knows +there's room enough in the garret. It isn't half full with his traps, +and there's some of ours. And there's the loft over the kitchen." + +"Well, we want some place to dry clothes in rainy weather. And when I +sweep I want to move things about, not sweep just in front of them, and +have the dust settle in rows behind. Chilian didn't know what a lot +there would be, though he might have looked it over on the ship. When it +is all through, the house will need a thorough cleaning again. And what +_do_ you think, Eunice! She's going to put the child in that big bed and +she sleep in the little one! The best room in the house! I'm sorry they +have it." + +Eunice was roused a little. + +"That doesn't seem the proper thing. But maybe she thought--I do suppose +the child has had the best of everything." + +"I don't believe in pampering children. And I don't altogether like the +woman. I do wonder if we will have to keep her. A girl of nine is old +enough to look after herself, and begin to keep her own clothes and her +room in order." + +"It's been very different out in India. And I do suppose Anthony was +over-indulgent, she having no mother to train her." + +"We'll have our hands full, Eunice, when the tussle really begins." + +"Oh, I do not think she will be hard to manage. She seems rather +shy----" + +"Those eyes of hers ain't so deep for nothing. She hasn't the Leverett +mouth, and those full lips are wilful and saucy, generally speaking. +Letty Orne was a pretty girl, as I remember. Strange, now, when you come +to think of it, that the child should have been born in this house. But +she'll never have any beauty to spare, that's certain. For the land +sakes, Eunice, look at the time and you dawdling over the table. I'm +tired as a dog after a long race." + +Elizabeth dropped into a chair. In her secret heart Eunice knew that +when her sister was tired out she was fractious; she loved her too well +to say cross words. + +"Shall we have fish or cold meat?" she asked mildly. + +"Oh, I don't care! Well, fish. There will be meat enough for to-morrow's +dinner if it isn't meddled with." + +The fish was salted down in the season, soaked a little, laid in spiced +vinegar for a few hours, cut in thin slices, and was very appetizing. +Eunice went about with no useless flutter, she stepped lightly and +never made any clatter with dishes. The tea china, thin and lovely, the +piles of white bread and brown, molasses gingerbread and frosted sugar +cake, stewed dried fruit and rich preserves, made an inviting-looking +table. Chilian came in and made himself neat, as usual, then the guests. + +Cynthia was very quiet. Twice Miss Winn answered a question for her. She +scarcely ate anything. Then she said wearily: + +"I am so tired and sleepy. Can't I go to bed?" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +UNWELCOME + + +Miss Winn and her charge went down to the ship the next morning with +Chilian Leverett. Elizabeth inspected the rooms. She was not meddlesome, +nor over-curious generally, but with a feeling of possessorship and +responsibility in the house, she wanted to know how far she could trust +the newcomers. The beds were well made, but closets and drawers were +rather awry. She did begrudge the best chamber, and wondered whether it +would not be possible to change them about presently. True, they seldom +had guests. + +Then a new load of boxes came, with two trunks, and several more pieces +of furniture. The latter were left standing in the hall. The garret had +been a sort of fetich with Elizabeth. There were dried herbs hanging to +the rafters in their muslin bags, so as not to make a litter and mostly +for the fragrance. There was not a cobweb anywhere. On one side of the +sloping roof were ranged their own trunks and chests, two of cedar, in +which woollen clothes and blankets passed the summer, securely hidden +from moths. In one gable were miscellaneous household articles, a few +chairs good enough to be repaired, a more than century-old cherry table, +spinning-wheels, a bedstead piled high with a feather bed, and +numberless pillows, for Elizabeth thought it her duty to make a new pair +every year, as they kept a flock of geese that spent their days in a +small cove on South River. + +The interloper boxes could make a row down the cleared side. That left +the centre, the highest part, clear for drying clothes, which probably +would not be needed until winter. But careful Elizabeth planned ahead +for every emergency. True, the emergency did not always fit the plans, +but it gave her tense spirit a rest. + +The Salem air was fragrant, with all manner of sweet springtime +odors--the ship was not. Things that had been stored in the hold came up +with a certain old smell and a little mustiness. First, Cynthia held her +nose and made a wry face. But it was delightful to run about and +exchange greetings with the sailors, who seemed merry enough over their +work. + +"Well, missy," said the captain, catching her in his arms as she ran, +"how do you like living on dry land? You haven't lost your sea legs yet, +that's plain." + +"It's very queer. There are just tiny leaves coming out on the trees, +and a few curious white flowers, little bells, coming up in the garden, +and crocus in pretty colors. But I don't like it very much. Miss Eunice +is nice and has such a soft voice. And the houses are so funny and shut +up, and there are no servants about, nor any one praying on the corners +and holding out a basin for rice; and no piles of fruit for sale." + +"No; this isn't the time of year for fruit;" and there was a funny +twinkle in the captain's eye. "Just wait until August and September." + +Cynthia considered. "That is three and four months away. Father will be +here then;" with a child's confidence. + +"And there are berries earlier, and cherries, and then some sugar pears. +Oh, you will be feasted. And you'll like Cousin Leverett, when you come +to get acquainted with him. You will go to school, too, and know lots of +little girls. You won't want to go back to India." + +"Unless father shouldn't come. Oh, he surely will, because, you see, I'm +praying ever so many times a day." + +"That's right;" with a cheerful nod. + +"When are you going back?" + +"In about a month, I calculate." + +She sighed and looked out over the great stretch of waters. "What is +that long point down there?" she asked suddenly. + +"That's Salem Neck, and there is Winter Island. They are always building +ships down there and turn out some mighty fine ones. And fishing; +there's a sight of cod, and haddock, and mackerel, and all the other +fish in season. They salt them and take them half over the world. And +there's a rope-walk you'd enjoy seeing, leastways you would if you were +a boy. And there are some stores. We have lots of goods consigned to the +Merrits. Salem's a big place, now I tell you!" + +"Bigger than Calcutta?" + +"Sho' now! Calcutta can't hold a candle to it." + +The captain's cabin was being dismantled for repairs and cleaning. She +glanced in it. How many days she had spent here! Everything was in +disorder, yet there was a certain home remembrance that touched the +child's heart, and brought tears to her eyes. + +"Oh, are you here?" It was Chilian Leverett's voice, and he held out his +hand. She looked so bright now and there was a little color in her +cheeks, an eager interest about her. He was afraid she was going to be a +rather dull child. + +"Yes; it's almost like home, you know; only when we lived here it wasn't +so topsy-turvy." + +"Did you feel queer when you woke up this morning?" thinking it his duty +to smile. + +"Oh, I didn't know where I was. It seemed as if I was being smothered in +something. And it didn't toss and rock. Oh, there were some birds +singing." She laughed gleefully. "Then I saw Rachel, and it came to me +in little bits, but it seems such a long, long while since yesterday +morning." + +"Where is Miss Winn? I want to see her a moment." + +"She has been looking over some things as they came up from the hold," +said the captain. "Oh, here she is!" + +Chilian took her aside for a moment. It was necessary for him to go in +to Boston and he wanted to make a few suggestions, so that any of +Elizabeth's strictures might not offend. He began to perceive the child +and her attendant were not exactly welcome guests. + +"How long do you suppose she will stay?" Elizabeth had asked of him +rather sharply. "For, when we are once settled, I do not think there +will be any real necessity for keeping Miss Winn." + +She had been considering it at intervals through the night, and was +impatient for what she called an understanding. + +Chilian had often given in to her on points that did not really affect +him. He hated to bicker with any one, especially women. + +"My dear Elizabeth," he began, "the child has been consigned to my +charge until she comes of age. I should not have chosen the +guardianship, but it seems there is no other relative who can attend to +all matters as well. She is to be no dependent, only for whatever love +we choose to give her. Anthony has made an ample allowance for her, +indeed such a generous one that it irks me to accept it. If it makes too +much work for you and Eunice, we will have some help. Miss Winn is to +look after her, that was her father's wish; so there will be no change. +Of course, it alters our quiet mode of living, but perhaps we were +getting in too much of a rut and needed some shaking up;" smiling +gravely. "Try and make it as comfortable for them as you can. There is +plenty of room in the house for us all." + +Then there was nothing before them but acceptance. In a way she had +known it, but there was a vague idea seething in her mind that if the +maid could be dismissed, she and her sister could train the child in a +better manner, and instil some Salem virtues in her that yet held a +little of the old Puritanic leaven; like industry, economy, forethought. +She still believed in the strait and narrow pathway. + +That Chilian should take the matter so philosophically _did_ surprise +her. To him there seemed something so pitiful in the hope held out to +the little girl, yet after all could it have been managed any more +wisely? She would not know what the acute pang of death was. And her +longing would become less, there would be a vagueness in her sorrow that +would help to heal it. This would be her home. He had been living all +these years for himself, was it not time that he espoused some other +motive? That he began to be of real service? + +He finished his talk with Miss Winn. Cynthia was hopping over some coils +of cable, and he watched her agile, graceful movements, half smiling. + +"Come and tell me good-bye," he said, holding out his hand. "I am going +in to Boston." + +"In a vessel?" + +"No; though I suppose that would be possible. I am late for the stage, +and must go on horseback." + +"Where is Boston?" + +"Oh, some eighteen miles--rather southerly. It is a big city, and the +capital." + +"When are you coming back?" with a daintily anxious air. + +"Oh, by supper-time." + +"Well;" nodding. + +"What shall I bring you?" + +"Nothing at all. We have twice too much now, Rachel says. Only--be sure +to come back." + +"If I did not, what then?" + +"If you did not come back, I should go to India with Captain Corwin. I +like Miss Eunice a little, but your other lady doesn't want me," she +replied with a frankness that was amusing, it was so free from malice. + +"Good-bye until to-night, then." + +She put her hand in his. Then she reached up tiptoe. "Kiss me," she +said. "Father always did and he said, 'Be a good girl.'" + +"Be a good girl." Chilian kissed the soft red lips and then went his +way. There was not much caressing in the restrained New England nature +of that day, especially among those who had grown up with few family +ties. His mother had died while he was yet quite a boy. + +"Let us go back now," said Rachel presently. "I believe I have found all +our goods. Miss Leverett will be appalled." + +The child repeated the word. "What does it mean?" she asked. + +"Astonished, surprised." + +"Why, _they_ have a houseful of things;" in protest. + +"Then there is the less room for ours." + +"But there is ever so much room in the garret." + +"I almost wish we were going to live by ourselves in a little house, +like some we saw yesterday." + +"Who would cook the dinner and wash the dishes?" + +"Oh, I could;" laughing. + +"Only us two? It would be lonesome." + +"We are not likely to." + +"Don't go straight home. Let us find the market again. I didn't half see +it last night." + +"It wasn't night exactly. Yes--we must learn to find our way about, for +we cannot stay in all the time. This is Essex Street. Let us turn here." + +The market was in its glory this morning. The stalls were ornamented +with branches of evergreens, the floors sifted over with sawdust. There +were vegetables and meats, but no great variety. There was no sunny +south, no swift train to send in delicious luxuries. The cold storage of +that day was being buried in pits and being brought out to light as +occasion required. + +There were other stalls, with various household stores. Iron-holders, +tin kettles, whiskbrooms, pins (which were quite a luxury), crockery +ware even. Wagons had come in from country places and customers were +thronging about them. + +The people interested Miss Winn, and the chaffering, the beating down in +prices, was quite amusing. Here a woman was measuring some cotton goods +from her chin to the ends of her fingers; here sat a cobbler doing odd +jobs while some one waited. Altogether it was very entertaining, and it +was dinner-time when they reached home. + +"Mr. Leverett has gone to Boston," announced Miss Leverett. "We must +have our dinner without him." + +"Yes, he was down on the ship," said Miss Winn. "Do you often go to +Boston?" + +"I am much too busy to be gadding about," returned Elizabeth sharply; +"though we have connections there, and I once spent several years in the +city." + +"I don't suppose it is at all like London. Eastern cities are so +different--and dirty," she added. + +"Boston is very nice, quite a superior place, but we do not consider it +much above Salem," Miss Elizabeth said, with an air. "We have nearly all +of the East India trade. To be sure, there is Harvard at Cambridge, and +that calls students and professors. Cousin Chilian is a graduate. He +could have been an accepted professor if he had chosen." + +Then the conversation languished. They were hardly through dinner when +the next relay of goods arrived. + +"Cynthia's desk must go upstairs, I suppose. Her father had it made for +her birthday. Will Silas unpack again? There is a small cabinet of +teakwood that is beautifully carved. If you could find room in the +parlor for that. There were many other fine pieces that will no doubt be +sold, and it seems a great pity." + +Elizabeth acquiesced rather frigidly, adding, "It is fortunate the house +is large, but one seems to accumulate a good deal through generations." + +Cynthia went up in the garret with Miss Winn and was full of interest +over the old Leverett treasures. Here was the cradle in which Leverett +babies had been rocked, an old bit of mahogany nearly black with age. + +"How funny!" cried Cynthia, springing into it, and making a clatter on +the floor. + +"Don't, dear! Miss Elizabeth may not like it," said Miss Winn. + +"As if I should hurt it!" indignantly. + +"It is not ours." + +"But we sit on their chairs, and sleep in their beds, and eat at their +table," returned the child. "Do you suppose they do not want us?" + +"Our coming is Mr. Leverett's affair, and he is your guardian, so +whatever home he provides is right." + +"Well, we can have a home of our own when father comes?" + +"Oh, yes; when he comes." + +"Well, then I shall not mind;" decisively. + +Still she peered about among the old things. There were some iron +fire-dogs, a much-tarnished frame, with a cracked glass that cut her +face in a grotesque fashion, old dishes and kitchen furniture past +using, or that had been supplanted by a newer and better kind. + +"Oh, dear! this is an undertaking!" declared Miss Winn, with a sigh. "I +do not believe you will ever use half these things; there are stuffs +enough to dress a queen." + +It was beginning to grow dusky before she was through, though the sky +was overcast, and there would be no fine sunset. Indeed, the wind blew +up stormily. Cynthia had been viewing the place from the windows in the +four gables, though she had to stand on a box. There were South River +and the Neck and the shipping--the men, hurrying to and fro, looking so +much smaller that it puzzled Cynthia. And there was North River winding +about, and over beyond the great ocean she had crossed. There was old +St. Peter's Church, the new one was not built until long afterward, and +smaller places of worship. There was the small beginning of things to be +famous later on. + +The wind began to whistle about and it grew cool, so they were glad to +go down to the cheerful sitting-room, where a fire was blazing on the +hearth. + +"We shall have a storm to-night," said Miss Eunice, "our three days' +storm that usually makes its appearance about this time. Didn't you +'most perish upstairs? And what did you find to interest you?" + +Cynthia had brought a stool and sat close to Miss Eunice, leaning one +arm on her knee. + +"Oh, so many queer things. You don't mind if I call them queer, do you?" + +"Oh, no; they _are_ queer. And when we are dead and gone some one will +call ours queer, no doubt. But we haven't many. When father died we were +on a farm just out of Marblehead. Things were mostly sold at a vendue, +for the two boys were going in the army. That was back in '78. Mother +and we two girls went to her mother's at Danvers. Elizabeth took up +sewing, but there were hard times, for the war stretched out so long, +and it did seem as if the Colonies would never gain their cause. But +they did. Brother Linus was killed, and later on I had a dear friend +lost at sea. Mother died, and we were sort of scattered about till we +came here. Cousin Chilian was very good to us. So you see we haven't +much to leave, but then we haven't any descendant;" and she gave a soft +little laugh. "Elizabeth has mother's gold comb, set with amethysts, and +a brooch, and I have the string of gold beads and some rings. A cousin +in London sent them to grandmother." + +"Eunice, you might set the table," said Elizabeth, rather sharply. "I'm +making some fritters. They will taste good this cold night." + +"Couldn't I help?" asked Rachel. + +"Oh, you must be tired enough without doing any more. It's a good thing +you have all your belongings housed. The garret doesn't leak." + +"Yes, I am thankful. I really did not think there was so much." + +There was a savory fragrance in the sitting-room. Chilian came in, +looking weary with his long ride. + +"It is almost wintry cold," he said, holding his hands to the fire. +"Have you had a nice day, little girl?" + +"Yes;" glancing up with a smile. + +They did justice to Bessy's nice supper. Chilian had seen Cousin Giles, +who sent remembrances to them all, and was coming up some day to see +Letty Orne's little girl. Chilian found there was a good deal of +business to do. For a while his days of leisure and ease would be over. + +Then he brought out a Boston paper and read them some of the news. Miss +Eunice went on with her fringe. Elizabeth was knitting a sock for +Chilian out of fine linen yarn, spun by herself, and she put pretty +open-work stitches all up the instep. For imported articles were still +dear, and there was a pride in the women to do all for themselves that +they could. Cynthia leaned her head on Rachel's lap and went asleep. + +"Do hear that rain! The storm has begun in good earnest." + +It was rushing like a tramp of soldiers, flinging great sheets against +the closed shutters, and the wind roared in the chimney like some +prisoned spirit. + +"Wake up, Cynthia, and say good-night." + +Elizabeth watched the child. Her theory was that children should be put +to bed early and not allowed to lie around on any one's lap. There was +always a tussle of wills when you roused them. She drew herself up with +a kind of severe mental bracing and awaited the result, glad Chilian was +there. + +Rachel toyed with the hair, patted the soft flushed cheek, and took the +hands in hers. + +"Cynthia," she said gently, "Cynthia, dear, wake up." + +The child roused, opened her eyes. "I'm so tired," she murmured. "Will +we never be done crossing the wide, wide ocean? And where is Salem?" + +"We are there, dear, safe and housed from the storm. You have been +asleep on my knee. Come to bed now. Say good-night." + +She stood the little girl up on her feet and put one arm around her. + +It was against Elizabeth Leverett's theories that any child should go +off peaceably, with no snarling protest. Chilian raised his book a +little, hoping in the depths of his soul there would be no scene. + +"Say good-night." + +No child of Puritan training, with the fear of the rod before her eyes, +could have done better. She said good-night in a very sleepy tone, and +slipped her arm about Rachel's waist as they left the room together. + +No one made any comment at first. Then Eunice said, in what she made a +casual tone: + +"She seems a very tractable child." + +"You can't tell by one instance. Children of that age are always +self-willed. And allowing a child to lie around one's lap, when she +should have said her prayers and gone to bed at the proper hour, is a +most reprehensible habit. And I don't suppose she ever says a prayer." + +Eunice thought of the daily prayers for her father's safe journey. Would +that be set down as a sort of idolatry? + +Chilian picked up his papers; he had grown fastidious, and rarely left +his belongings about to annoy Elizabeth. Eunice rolled up her work and +dropped it in the bag that hung on the post of her chair, straightened +up a few things, stood the logs in the corner and put up the wire +fender, so there should be no danger of fire; while Elizabeth set all +things straight in the kitchen. + +Cynthia meanwhile was undressed and mounted the steps to the high bed. +Then she flung her arms about Rachel's neck. + +"Oh, come and sleep in my bed to-night!" she cried pleadingly. "It's so +big and lonesome, that I am afraid. I wish it was like your little bed. +They were so cunning on the ship. I don't like this one, where you have +to go upstairs to get in it. Oh, do come!" + +And Elizabeth Leverett would have been shocked if she could have seen +the child cuddled up in her attendant's arms. Theoretically, she +believed Holy Writ--"He hath made of one blood all nations." Practically +she made many exceptions. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +MAKING FRIENDS WITH THE LITTLE GIRL + + +The northeast storm was terrific. The wind lashed the ocean until it +writhed and groaned and sent great billows up on the land. The trees +bent to the fierce blasts; many storms had toughened them and perhaps +taught them the wisdom of yielding, since it must be break or bend. +Silas sat in the barn mending tools and harness and clearing up +generally; Elizabeth spent most of the first day clearing up the garret +again, and looking with a grudging eye on the new accession of boxes, +and sniffing up the queer smell disdainfully. + +"One can't have the windows open," she ruminated, "and the smell must go +through the house. I don't believe it will ever get out." + +More than one family in Salem had stores from the Orient. Many of them +liked the fragrance of sandalwood and strange perfumes. "God's fresh air +was good enough for her," said Elizabeth. + +Eunice had finished her fringe and brought out some patchwork in the +afternoon--a curious pattern, called basket-work. The basket was made of +green chintz, with a small yellow figure here and there. It had a handle +from side to side, neatly hemmed on a white half square. The upper edge +of the basket was cut in points and between each one was a bit of color +to represent or suggest a possible bud of some kind. One had pink, +different shades of red, and a bright yellow. She had seven blocks +finished and they were in the bottom of the box. Eunice took them out +for the little girl, who spread them on the floor. + +No one was thinking at that day of the mills that would dot New England, +where cotton cloths, calicoes, and cambrics would be turned out by the +bale. These things had to be imported and were costly. One could dye +plain colors that were used for frocks and gowns, and some of the hand +looms wove ginghams that were dyed in the thread beforehand. + +"It will take forty-two blocks," said Miss Eunice. "Six one way, seven +the other." + +"Then what are you going to do with it?" asked the child eagerly. + +"Why, quilt it. Put some cotton between this and the lining, and sew +them together with fine stitches." + +"And then----" + +"Why"--Eunice wondered herself. There were chests of them piled away in +the garret--Chilian's mother's, and those they had made to fill in the +moments when housework was finished. She had a quiet sense of humor, and +she smiled. What were they laying up these treasures for? Neither of +them would be married, most of their relatives were well provided for. + +"Well, some one may like to have them;" after a pause. "You must learn +to sew." + +"Patchwork?" + +It was absurd to pile up any more. + +"You see," said the child, "no one needed them over there;" inclining +her head to the East. "You have a little bed and a pallet, and it is +warm, so you do not need quilts. And the poor people and the servants +have a mat they spread down anywhere and a blanket, but you see, they +sleep with their clothes on." + +Eunice looked rather horrified. + +"But they change them! They would--why, there would be soil and vermin." + +"They go to the river and bathe and wash them out. They sling them on +the stones in a queer way. But some of them are very dirty and ragged. +They are not like the English and us, and don't wear many clothes. +Sometimes they are wrapped up in a white sheet." + +"It is a very queer country. They are not civilized, or Christianized. I +don't know what will become of them in the end." + +"It's their country and no one knows how old it is. China is the oldest +country in the world." + +"But, my dear, there was the garden of Eden when God first created the +world. Nothing could be older than that, you know. Two thousand years to +the flood, and two thousand years to the coming of Christ, and some +people think the world will end in another two thousand years." + +"I don't see any sense in burning it up, when there are so many lovely +things in it;" and Cynthia's eyes took on a deep, inquiring expression. +"That was what the chaplain used to say. Father thought it would go on +and on, getting wiser and greater, and the people learning to be better +and making wonderful things." + +"My dear, what the Bible says _must_ be true. And it will be burned up. +You have a Bible?" + +"The chaplain gave me a pretty prayer-book. It is upstairs." + +"We do not believe in prayer-books, dear." The tone was soft, yet +decided. "We came over here, at least our forefathers did, that we might +worship God according to the dictates of our conscience. We tried to +leave the prayer-books and the bishops behind, but we couldn't quite. +You must have a Bible and read a chapter every day. Why, I had read it +through once before I was as old as you." + +Cynthia simply stared. Then, after a pause, she said: + +"Did you sew patchwork, too?" + +"When I was eight I had finished a quilt. And I learned to knit. I knit +my own stockings; I always have. And I braided rags for a mat. Mother +sewed it together." + +"And your clothes--who made those?" + +"Well--mother made some. But a woman used to come round fall and spring +and make for the girls and boys, though father bought his best suit. He +had one when he was married; it was his freedom suit as well----" + +"Why, was he a prisoner?" the child interrupted. + +"Oh, no;" smiling a little. "Boys had to be subject to their fathers +until they were twenty-one. Then they had a suit of clothes all the way +through and their time, which meant they were at liberty to work for any +one and ask wages. He had been courting mother and they were married +soon after, so it was his wedding suit. He had outgrown it before he +died, so he had to get a new one. Mother sold that to a neighbor that it +just fitted." + +"Tell me some more about them." Cynthia was fond of stories. And this +was about real folks, not the fantastic legends she had heard so often. + +"Well--he and mother worked, she had been living with a family. Girls +did in those days, and were like daughters of the house. Father went to +work there. They were married in the spring and in the fall he took a +place on shares; that is, he had half of everything, and they divided up +the house. A year or so afterward it was for sale, and he bought it, and +we were all born there, and there was no change until he died. That was +a sad thing for us. He'd been buying some more land, and the place +wasn't clear. Another man stood ready to buy it, and mother thought it +best to sell. You see there was a good deal of trouble between us and +England, who wanted to get all the money she could out of the Colonies, +and wasn't willing to send troops to protect us from the Indians, and we +had to sell our produce and things to her, and presently the Colonies +wouldn't stand it any longer, and there was war. Some people were +bitterly opposed to it, some favored it. Then we wouldn't take the tea +she insisted on our buying, and there was the Stamp Act. And Salem +really made the first armed resistance. You must go out some nice day to +North Bridge. The British troops marched up from Marblehead to seize +some arms they heard were stored here. General Gage sent them. But the +people had word, for a Major Pedrick rode up to give the alarm, and they +hid them in a secure place. Colonel Leslie headed the British troops to +make the search. But the people of Salem turned out strong and met the +colonel and declared that he was marching on private property, not on +the King's highway, that the lane and the bridge were private property, +where he had no right. You see, war had not been declared and the people +had a right to defend their own. So they would not allow them to cross +the river and make a search. But, finally, they agreed, if the draw over +the river could be lowered and they allowed to march a few rods, they +would withdraw. Of course, they saw nothing suspicious and came back, +keeping their word. Otherwise, I suppose, that would have been the first +battle of the war. We were not living here then, but Cousin Chilian's +father lived in this very house." + +"And the arms were really there!" Cynthia drew a long breath. + +"Oh, yes! They were ships' cannon going to be mounted for protection. +Some day Cousin Chilian may take you over to the bridge and tell you all +about it. There was a romance about a girl said to be in love with a +British officer, but you are too young for such stories." + +If she had not been, the entrance of Elizabeth and Miss Winn would have +checked the garrulity of Eunice. Cynthia had been laying down the small +diamond-shaped pieces, making a block. + +"Why do you let the child muddle over those pieces, Eunice? The carpet +may not be clean," said Elizabeth sharply. + +"And it is getting dark, so we had better put them all up. Mercy! how it +still rains. Why, it seems as if there would be another flood." + +"That can never happen. We have the promise." + +"That the whole world will not be destroyed. But parts of it may suffer. +You and Cynthia are fortunate not to be in it;" and Eunice raised her +eyes to them, with a certain thankfulness. + +It had not stopped yet in the morning, but the wind was veering to the +south, the air was not so cold and the rain much gentler. Cynthia +wandered about like an unquiet spirit. It was cold up in their room. +Chilian had proposed a fire, but Elizabeth had negatived it sharply. + +"There ought to be room enough in the dining-room and keeping-room for +two extra people," she said decidedly. + +He felt sorry for the little girl with her downcast face, as he met her +on the landing. + +"Don't you want to come and visit me?" he asked, in an inviting tone. + +"Oh, yes!" and the grave little face lightened. + +The blaze was brighter here than downstairs, she felt quite sure. And +the room had a more cheerful look. The table was spread with books and +papers, and, oh, the books that were on the shelves! The curious things +above them suggested India. There really was the triple-faced god she +had seen so often, carved in ivory, and another carving of a temple. She +walked slowly round and inspected them. Then she paused at a window. + +"How much it rains!" she began. "I don't see how so much rain can be +made. When is it going to stop?" + +"I think it will hold up this afternoon and be clear to-morrow, clear +and sunny." + +"I like sunshine best. And little rains. This has been so long." + +"And we haven't much to amuse a child. When it clears up we must find +some little folks. Does it seem very strange to you?" + +"I haven't lived with big women much, except Rachel. And the houses are +so different. You get things about, and the servants pick them up. There +are so many servants. Sometimes there are white children, but not many. +Their mothers take them back to England. Or they die." + +She uttered the last sadly, and her long lashes drooped. + +He wondered a little how she had stood the climate. She looked more like +a foreigner than a native of Salem town. + +"What did you do there?" He hardly knew how to talk to a little girl. + +"Oh, a great many things. I went to ride in a curious sort of cart--the +natives pulled it. Then the children came and played in the court. They +threw up balls and caught them, ever so many, and they played curious +games on the stones, and acrobatic feats, and sung, and danced, and +acted stories of funny things. Then father read to me, and told me about +Salem when he was a little boy. You can't really think the grown-up +people were little, like you." + +"And that one day you will be big like them." + +She pushed up her sleeve. They were large and made just big enough for +her hand at the wrist, not at all like the straight, small sleeves of +the Puritan children. After surveying it a moment, she said gravely: + +"I can't understand _how_ you grow. You must be pushed out all the time +by something inside." + +"You have just hit it;" and he smiled approvingly. "It is the forces +inside. There is a curious factory inside of us that keeps working, day +and night, that supplies the blood, the warmth, the strength, and is +always pushing out; it even enlarges the bones until one is grown and +finished, as one may say. And the food you eat, the air you breathe, are +the supplies." + +"But you go on eating and breathing. Why don't you go on growing?" + +There was a curious little knot in her forehead where the lines crossed, +and she raised her eyes questioningly to him. What wonderful eyes they +were! + +"I suppose it is partly this: You employ your mind and your body and +they need more nourishment. Then--well, I think it is the restraining +law of nature, else we should all be giants. In very hot countries and +very cold countries they do not grow so large." + +He could not go into the intricacies of physiology, as he did with some +of the students. + +"You did not go to school?" + +"Oh, no!" She laughed softly. "The native schools were funny. They sat +on mats and did not have any books, but repeated after the teacher. And, +sometimes, he beat them dreadfully. There were some English people had a +school, but it was to teach the language to the natives. And then Mr. +Cathcart came to stay with father. He had been the chaplain somewhere +and wasn't well, so they gave him a--a----" + +"Furlough?" suggested Chilian. + +"Yes; father sent him out in one of the boats. He began to teach me some +things. I could read, you know. And I could talk Hindostani some--with +the children. Then I learned to spell and pronounce the words better. He +had a few books of verses that were beautiful. I learned some of them by +heart. And Latin." + +"Latin!" in surprise. + +"He had some books and a Testament. It was grand in the sound, and I +liked it. There were many things, cases and such, that I couldn't get +quite straight, but after a little I could read, and then make it over +into English." + +When he was eight he was reading Latin and beginning French. Some of the +Boston women he knew were very good French scholars, though education +was not looked upon as a necessity for women. It seemed odd to him--this +little girl in Calcutta learning Latin. + +"Let us see how far you have gone." Teaching never irked him when he +once set about it. + +He hunted up a simple Latin primer. + +"Come around this side;" and he drew her nearer to him. There had been +no little girls to train and teach, and for a moment he felt +embarrassed. But she took it as a matter of course, and he could see +she was all interest. + +It had been, as he supposed, rather desultory teaching. But she took the +corrections and explanations with a sweetness that was quite enchanting. +And she could translate quite well, in an idiomatic fashion. Really, +with the right kind of training she would make a good scholar. + +"Oh, you must be tired of standing," he said presently. "How thoughtless +of me. I have no little chairs, so I must hunt one up, but this will +have to do now. That will be more comfortable. Now we can go on." + +She laughed at her own little blunders in a cheerful fashion, and made +haste to correct them. And then he found that she knew several of the +old Latin hymns by heart, as they had been favorites of the English +clergyman. + +They were interrupted by a light tap at the door. He said "Come"; and +turned his head. + +It was Miss Winn. + +"Pardon me. We couldn't imagine where Cynthia was. Hasn't she been an +annoyance?" + +"Oh, no; we have had a very nice time." + +"But--had you not better come downstairs. Miss Eunice is sewing her +pretty patchwork again." + +"Oh, let me stay," she pleaded. "Do I bother you?" + +It crossed his mind just then that in the years to come more than one +man would yield to the sweet persuasiveness of those eyes. + +"Yes, let her stay. She is no trouble. Indeed, we are studying." + +Miss Winn was glad of his indorsement. Miss Elizabeth had been +"worrying" for the last ten minutes. She had crept softly up to the +garret, quite sure she should find the child in mischief. Then she had +glanced into the "best chamber," but there was no sign of her there. + +"Very well," replied Miss Winn. + +Cynthia drew a long breath presently. + +"Oh, you are tired!" he exclaimed. "Run over to the window and tell me +how the sky looks. I think it doesn't rain now." + +She slipped down, stood still for a moment, then turned and clapped her +hands, laughing deliciously. + +"Oh, there is blue sky, and a great yellow streak. The clouds are trying +to hide the sun, but they can't. Oh, see, see!" + +She danced up and down the room like a fairy in the long ray of sunshine +that illumined the apartment. + +"Oh, are you not glad!" She turned such a joyous face to him that he +smiled and came over to the window that nearly faced the west. + +"Better than the Latin?" + +"Well--I like both;" archly. + +He raised the window. A warm breath of delightful air rushed in, making +the room with the fire seem chilly by contrast. He drew in long +reviving breaths. Spring had truly come. To-morrow the swelling buds +would burst. + +"We must have a little Latin every day. And occasionally a walk in the +sunshine. Twice a week I go down to Boston, but the other days will be +ours." + +"I like your room," she said frankly. "But what sights of books! Do you +read them all?" + +"Not very often. I do not believe I have read them all through. But I +need them for reference, and some I like very much." + +He wanted to add, "And some were a gift from your dear father," but he +could not disturb her happy mood. + +"Suppose we go down on the porch. It is too wet to walk anywhere." + +"Oh, yes;" delightedly. "And to-morrow I will go down to the vessel +again and see Captain Corwin. I do not want it to rain any more for +weeks and weeks." + +"No, for days and days. Weeks would dry us all up, and we would have no +lovely spring flowers." + +"And a famine maybe. Do the very poor people sometimes starve?" + +"I do not think we have any very poor people, as they do in India. We +are not overcrowded yet." + +The rain had beaten the paths and the street hard, and it looked as if +it had been swept clean. In spite of it all there were cheering +evidences of spring. + +"There are some children in that house," she exclaimed, nodding her +head. + +"Yes, the Uphams. There are two girls and two boys, the oldest and the +youngest, who isn't much more than a baby. Bentley Upham must be about +twelve. Polly is next, but she is a head taller than you. Then there's +Betty. I am glad there will be some little girls for you to play with." + +She looked eager and interested. + +"Will you come in to supper? Chilian, you ought to know better than to +be standing in this damp air. And that child with nothing around her!" + +"The air is reviving, after having been housed for two days." But he +turned and went in, leading the child by the hand. + +The long, bleak New England coast winter was over, though it had +lingered as if loath to go. Springs were seldom early, no one expected +that. But this one came on with a rush. The willows donned their silver +catkins and then threw them off for baby leaves, the lilac buds showed +purple, the elms and maples came out in bloom, and the soft ones drew +crowds of half-famished bees to their sweet tassels. The grass was +vividly green, iridescent in the morning sun, with the dew still upon +it. Snowdrop, crocus, hepatica, and coltsfoot, wild honeysuckle, were +all about, the forsythia flared out her saucy yellow, the fruit buds +swelled. Parties were out in the woods hunting trailing arbutus that has +been called the darling of northern skies, that lies hidden in its nest +of green leaves, silent, with no wind tossing it to and fro, but +betrayed by its sweetness. + +There were other signs of spring at Salem. The whole town seemed to +burst out in house-cleaning. Parlor shutters were thrown open and +windows washed. Carpets were beaten, blankets hung out to air, those +that had been in real use washed. Women were out in gardens with +sunbonnets and gloves, a coat of tan not being held in much esteem, and +snipped at roses and hardy plants. Men were spading and planting the +vegetable gardens, painting or white-washing fences. All was stir and +bustle, and tired folk excused themselves if they nodded in church on +Sunday. + +Cynthia made pilgrimages to the _Flying Star_ that had been her home for +so long. The storm had wrought great havoc with some of the shipping, +and big boys were out gathering driftwood. The _Gazette_ had some +melancholy news of "lost at sea." But Captain Corwin thought he had +weathered worse storms. + +"She is picking up mightily," he said to Miss Winn, nodding toward +Cynthia. "Shouldn't be surprised if she favored her mother, after all. +Only them eyes ain't neither Orne nor Leverett. Don't let her grieve too +much when the bad news comes." + +Eunice and Chilian had taken her to call on the Uphams. And though she +was quite familiar at home, here she shrank into painful shyness and +would not leave Eunice's sheltering figure. + +"Children get soonest acquainted by themselves," declared Mrs. Upham. "I +suppose you will send her to school. If she's not very forward, Dame +Wilby's is best. She and Betty can go together. Why, she isn't as tall +as Betty--and nine, you said? Granny was talking the other day about the +time she was born. She's a real little Salem girl after all, though +she's got a foreign skin, and what odd-colored hair! We've started Polly +to Miss Betts. I want her to learn sewing and needlework, and she's too +big now to company with such children. Why, I was almost a woman at +twelve, and could spin and knit with the best of them. Miss Eunice, I +wish you'd teach her that pretty openwork stitch you do so handy. +Imported stockings cost so much. They say there's women in Boston doing +the fancy ones for customers. But I tell Polly if she wants any she must +do them herself." + +Mrs. Upham had a tolerably pleasant voice. She always talked in +monologues. Betty edged around presently and would have taken Cynthia's +hand, but the child laid it in Miss Eunice's lap, and looked +distrustful. + +Chilian was as glad as she when the call ended. He did not seek the +society of women often enough to feel at home with them, though he was +kindly polite when he did meet them. + +"Did you ask about the school?" was the inquiry of Elizabeth that +evening. + +"Yes; she thinks Dame Wilby's the best for small children. And Cynthia +knows so little that is of real importance, though she reads pretty +well," said Eunice. + +"Yes, she must get started. I shall be glad when the _Flying Star_ is +off and she isn't running down there with the men. I don't see what's +got into Chilian to think of teaching her Latin. It had enough sight +better be the multiplication table." + +So she proposed the school to Chilian. She had a queer feeling about his +fancy for the child. She would have scouted the idea of jealousy, but +she would have had much the same feeling if he had "begun to pay +attention" to some woman. The other matters had reached a passable +settlement. The "best chamber" was tidily kept, the little girl well +looked after to see that she troubled no one. Miss Winn kept her clothes +in order, but they had a decidedly foreign look, and of materials no one +would think of buying for a child. But the goods were here, and might as +well be used. + +Miss Winn had made a few alterations in the room--softened the aspect of +it. She longed to take out the big carved bedstead, but she knew that +would never do. She made herself useful in many unobtrusive ways, +gardened a little, was neighborly yet reserved. + +"I don't know what we would do if she were a gossip," Elizabeth +commented. + +She broached the subject of the school to Chilian. + +"Why, yes," he answered reluctantly. "I suppose she ought to go. She's +curiously shy with other children." + +"She talks enough about that Nalla, as if they had been like sisters." + +"You can notice that she always preserves the distinction, though." + +"There's no use bothering with that Latin, Chilian. Next thing it will +be French. And she won't know enough figuring to count change. Girls +don't need that kind of education." + +"But some of them have to be Presidents' wives. And some of them wives +to men who have to go abroad. French seems to be quite general among +cultivated people." + +"It's hardly likely she'll go abroad. And she needs to be like other +people. I don't see what you find so entertaining about her. And you +couldn't bear children in your room!" + +"She isn't any annoyance. Then she is so deft, so dainty. She touches +books with the lightest of fingers. She will sit and look at pictures, +and it quite surprises me how much she knows about geography." + +"And nothing much about her native country. She can't tell the +difference between Pilgrims and Puritans. And she didn't know why we +came over here, and why it was not the same God in England, and if all +the gods in India were idols. Chilian, you shouldn't encourage her +irreverence. It looks pert in a child." + +"She will get over these ways as she grows older and mingles with other +children." + +"That is what I am coming to. She ought to begin at once. Betty Upham +goes to Dame Wilby. Her mother considers it excellent for small +children. She could go with Betty and there would be no fear of her +trailing off no one knows where." + +Of course, she ought to go to school. He could manage a big boy on the +verge of manhood very well. But this woman-child puzzled him. She seemed +very tractable, obedient in a certain sense, yet in the end she seemed +to get, or to take, her own way. Suppressing one train of action opened +another. She had a sweet way of yielding, but a strong way of holding +on. A little thing made her happy, yet in her deepest happiness there +was much gravity. His theories were that certain qualities brought to +pass certain results. He forgot that there were no such things as pure +temperaments, and that environments made second nature different from +what the first might have been. The child puzzled him by her +contrariety, yet she was not a troublesome child. + +"Well;" reluctantly. + +"I'll see the Dame. And we will start her on Monday." + +He nodded. + +Elizabeth had another point to gain. She looked over her trunk of +pieces. Here were several yards of brown and white gingham, quite enough +for a frock without any furbelows. With the roll in her hand she tapped +at the partly open door. Rachel had laid out on the bed several white +frocks, plain enough even for Salem tastes. + +"Cynthia's going to school on Monday," she announced. "And I thought +this would make her a good school frock. It won't be dirtysome. You see +children here _do_ dress differently. You'll get into the ways." + +Rachel looked at the gingham. "I shouldn't like it for her," she said +quietly. "Her father always wanted to see her in white. That is new +every time it is washed. These things fade and then look so wretched. +Beside she will only outgrow these frocks." + +"Children here keep their white frocks for Sundays," was the decisive +reply. + +"She may as well wear these out. They were made last summer. She has not +grown much meanwhile. I should like to keep her in the way her father +desired." + +"Then she must have a long-sleeved apron to cover her up. This will make +two. For those white things make an endless sight of washing." + +"I have been considering that," said Rachel Winn quietly. "I wear white +a good deal myself. I noticed a small house on Front Street where there +were nearly always clothes on the lines, and I stopped in to inquire. I +felt it was too much laundry-work for your woman through the summer. +This Mrs. Pratt is very reasonable and does her work nicely. So I have +made arrangements with her. Captain Leverett made a generous allowance +for incidental expenses." + +What Elizabeth termed Miss Winn's "independence" grated sorely upon her +ideas of what was owing to the head of the house, which was herself. It +was always done so quietly and pleasantly one could hardly take umbrage. +Cynthia was not exactly a child of the house. She was in no wise +dependent on her newly found relatives. Chilian had made that understood +in the beginning, when he had chosen the best chamber for them. + +"You don't need to take boarders," she had replied tartly. + +"I don't know as we are to call it that. I am the child's guardian and +answerable for her comfort and her welfare. The perfect trust confided +in me has touched me inexpressibly. I didn't know that Anthony Leverett +held me in such high esteem. And if I choose to put this money by until +she is grown--it will make such a little difference in our living----" + +"Chilian Leverett, you are justly entitled to it," she interrupted with +sharp decision. "He's right enough in making a fair provision for +them--no doubt he has plenty. But I don't quite like the boarder +business, for all that." + +"We must get some one to help you with the work." + +"I don't want any more help than I have. Land sakes! Eunice and I have +plenty of leisure on our hands. I wouldn't have a servant around wasting +things, if she paid me wages." + +They had gone on very smoothly. Eunice had found her way to the child's +heart. But then Eunice had lived with her dream children that might have +been like Charles Lamb's "Children of Alice." Elizabeth might have +married twice in her life, but there was no love in either case, rather +a secret mortification that such incapables should dare to raise their +thoughts to her. But she had some strenuous ideas on the rearing of +children, quite of the older sort. Life was softening somewhat, even for +childhood, but she did not approve of it. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOING TO SCHOOL + + +Elizabeth Leverett interviewed Dame Wilby beforehand. The woman came +half a day on Monday to wash and she hardly knew how to spend half an +hour, but when she found Miss Winn was going, she loftily relegated the +whole business to her. + +Dame Wilby lived in an old rambling house, already an eyesore to the +finer houses in Lafayette Street, but the Dame was obstinate and would +not sell. "It was going to last her time out. She was born here when it +was only a lane, and she meant to be buried from here." Once it had been +quite a flourishing school; but newer methods had begun to supersede it. +It was handy for the small children about the neighborhood, it took them +over the troublesome times, it gave their mothers a rest, and kept them +out of mischief. And the old dames were thorough, as far as they went. +Indeed, some of the mothers had never gone any farther. They could cast +up accounts, they could weigh and measure, for they had learned all the +tables. They could spell and read clearly, they knew all the common arts +of life, and how to keep on learning out of the greater than printed +books--experience. + +Dame Wilby might have been eighty. No one remembered her being young. +Her husband was lost at sea and she opened the school, worked in her +garden, saved until she had cleared her small old home, and now was +laying up a trifle every year. She was tall and somewhat bent in the +shoulders, very much wrinkled, with clear, piercing light blue eyes and +snowy hair. She always wore a cap and only a little line of it showed at +the edge of her high forehead. Her frocks were made in the plainest +style, skirts straight and narrow, and she always wore a little shoulder +shawl, pinned across the bosom--white in the summer, home-dyed blue in +the winter. + +Some children were playing tag in the unoccupied lot next door. The +schoolroom door opened at the side. There were two rows of desks, with +benches for the older children, two more with no desks for the A B C and +spelling classes. The rest they learned in concert, orally. The dame had +a table covered with a gray woollen cloth, some books, an inkstand, a +holder for pens and pencils, and the never-failing switch. + +"Yes," she answered to Miss Winn's explanation. "Miss Leverett was +telling about her. I was teaching school here when she was born, and +then the captain took her away to the Ingies again." Most folks +pronounced it that way. "Rather meachin' little thing--I s'pose it was +the climate over there. They say it turns the skin yellow. Let's see how +you read, sissy?" + +She read several verses out of the New Testament quite to the dame's +satisfaction. Then about spelling. The second word, in two syllables, +floored her. Had she ciphered? No. Did she know her tables? No. The +capital of the state? That she could answer. When the war broke out? +When peace was declared? + +"I'll ask Cousin Leverett," she answered, in nowise abashed by her +ignorance. "He tells me a great many things." + +"You must study it out of books. I s'pose she's going to live here? +She's not going back to the Ingies? I heard the captain was coming +home." + +"He is settling up his affairs," was the quiet answer. + +Dame Wilby looked the child all over. + +"You'll sit on that bench," she said. Then she rang the bell and the +children trooped in, staring at her. The little boys--four of them--were +on the seat back of her, on her seat she made the fifth. Betty Upham was +in the desk contingent. + +They repeated the Lord's prayer in concert. Then lessons were given out. +The larger girls read. + +"You can come and read with this class;" nodding to Cynthia. + +She was not a regularly bashful child, but she flushed as the children +stared at her. They sometimes wore their Sunday white frock one or two +days at school. Cynthia was so used to her clothes, cared so little +about them that they were rarely in her mind. But this universal +attention annoyed her. + +"'Tend to your books, children." + +Cynthia acquitted herself finely, rather too much so, the dame thought. +She would talk to her about it. A girl didn't want to read as if she was +a minister preaching a sermon. + +Then she was given a very much "dog's-eared" spelling-book to study down +a column. Another class read some easy lesson; a story about a dog that +interested her so much that she forgot to study. While the older +children were doing sums one little boy after another came up to the +desk and spelled from a book. One's attention wandered and the dame hit +him a sharp rap. Tables followed, eight and nine times; dry measure, and +then questions were asked singly. Some few missed. Cynthia followed the +spelling where they went up and down. Then the larger ones were +dismissed for recess. + +"Cynthy Leverett, come up here and see how many words you can spell. You +ought to be ashamed, a big girl like you staying behind in next to the +baby class." + +Cynthia's face was scarlet. Alas! She had been so interested watching +and listening she had not studied at all. But the words were rather easy +and she did know all but two. + +"Now you take the next line and those two over again. See if you can't +get them all learned by noon." + +The next little girl, who could not have been more than six, missed a +number. She had a queer drawl in her voice. + +"What did I tell you, Jane Mason? And you have missed more than two. +Hold out your hand!" + +The switch came down on the poor little hand with an angry swish. +Cynthia winched. + +"Now you go back and study. No going out to play for you this morning. +Jane Mason, you're the biggest dunce in school." + +The two other girls did better. Then the bell rang and the girls came in +with flushed and laughing faces. + +Cynthia studied her two words over until they ceased to have any +meaning. At twelve they were all dismissed. + +"Isn't she a hateful old thing?" said Janie Mason, when they were +outside of the door. "I wish I was big enough to strike back. I don't +like school anyhow. Do you?" + +"I--I don't know. I have never been before." + +Several of the other girls swarmed around her with curious eyes. + +"What a pretty frock!" began Betty Upham. "I suppose it's your Sunday +best, with all that work." + +"Betty said you were an Injun," said another. "I never saw an Injun who +didn't have coarse, straight, black hair, and yours is lightish and +curls. I'd so love to have curly hair." + +"I'm not the kind of Indians you have here," she returned indignantly. +"I was born right here in Salem. I've lived in Calcutta and in China, +and been to Batavia, and ever so many places." + +"Then you ain't an Injun at all! Betty, how could you?" + +"Well, that's what some of them said. Maybe your mother was an Injun!" +looking as if she had fixed the uncertain suspicion. + +"No, she wasn't. She lived here part of the time. She was born in +Boston." + +They glanced at each other in a kind of upbraiding fashion. + +"And you had to be put with the little children! Aren't there any +schools in that place you came from? It's a heathen country. Our +minister prays for it. Don't you have any churches either? What do +people do when they are grown up if they never go to school?" + +"Are you coming stiddy?" + +"Is Mr. Chilian Leverett your real relation?" + +"Oh, tell me--have you any other frock as pretty as this? My sister +Hetty has a beautiful one, all lace and needlework. She's saving it to +be married in." + +"Martha, I dare you to a race!" + +Two girls ran off as fast as they could. Betty Upham caught Cynthia's +arm. + +"I didn't say you were a real Injun. Debby Strang always gets things +mixed up. But it is something queer----" + +"East India;" in a tone of great dignity. + +"Where the ships are coming from all the time? Is it prettier than +Salem?" + +"It's so different you can't tell. We do not have hardly any winter. And +there are vines and flowers and temples to heathen gods, and the people +_are_ yellow and brown." + +"Do you suppose you will ever grow clear white?" + +Cynthia had half a mind to be angry. Even Miss Elizabeth was fair, and +Miss Eunice had such a soft, pretty skin. + +"There, that's your corner. You're coming this afternoon?" + +"Oh, I suppose so." + +Miss Elizabeth was all bustle and hurry. It was clouding up a little. It +hadn't been a real fair day, and the hot sun had dried the clothes too +quick. She liked them to bleach on the line, it was almost as good as +the grass. And Miss Drake couldn't stay and iron, they had sickness over +to the Appletons and she had to go there. Everything was out of gear. + +"I'd help with the ironing, if you would like," said Miss Winn. + +"Well, the ironing isn't so much;" rather ungraciously. "You see, there +were four blankets. I never touch an iron to them, but shake them good +and fold them, and let them lay one night, then hang them on the line in +the garret. The bulk of it was large. And a good stiff breeze blows out +wrinkles. The wind hasn't blown worth a Continental;" complainingly. + +"Did you like the school?" Miss Winn inquired in the hall. + +"No, I didn't. And I don't seem to know anything;" in a discouraged +tone. + +"Oh, you will learn." + +It was warm in the afternoon. Two of the boys were decidedly bad and +were punished. They positively roared. Cynthia spelled, and spelled, and +studied--"One and one are two," "one and two are three," and after a +while it dawned on her that it was just one more every time. Why, she +had known that all the time, only it hadn't been put in a table. + +It grew very tiresome after a while. She asked if she couldn't have +recess with the big girls, but was sharply refused. In truth the good +dame grew very weary herself, and was glad when five o'clock came and +she could go out in the garden and recruit her tired nerves. + +The stage was stopping at the door. Oh, how glad she was to see Cousin +Leverett. He smiled down in the flushed face. + +"How did the school go?" he asked. + +She hung her head. "I don't like it. I have to be with the little class +because I don't know tables, but I learned all the one times. That was +easy enough when you came to see into it. But--nine and nine?" + +"Eighteen," he answered promptly. + +"And you answered it right offhand!" She gave a soft, cheerful laugh. +"Oh, do you suppose I shall ever know so much?" + +"There was a time when I didn't know it." + +"Truly?" She looked incredulous. + +"Truly. And I had quite hard work remembering to spell correctly." + +"I studied two lines. This morning I missed two words, but this +afternoon I knew them all. And I can't write on the slate. The pencil +wabbles so, and then it gives an awful squeak that goes all over you. +And I can't do sums. And there's all the tables to learn. And I don't +like the teacher. I wish Miss Eunice could teach me. Or maybe Rachel +might." + +"I might help you a little. But you read well?" + +"She said it was too--too"--she wrinkled up her forehead--"too affected, +like a play-actor." + +"Nonsense!" he cried disapprovingly. "We will see about some other +school presently. Would you like to take a walk with me? I'm tired of +the long stage-ride." + +"Oh, so much!" She caught one hand in both of hers and gave a few skips +of joy. + +"Let us go over to the river." + +Of course, he should have gone in and announced their resolve. But he +was so used to considering only himself, and he realized that it must +have been a tiresome day to her. They went over Lafayette Street, which +was only a lane, and then turned up the stream. + +Oh, how sweet the air was with the odorous dampness and the smell of +new growths, tree and grass. The sun, low in the west, slanted golden +gleams through the tree branches which chased each other over the grassy +spaces, as if they were quite alive and at merry-making. There were +sedgy plants in bloom, jack-in-the-pulpit, and what might have been a +lily, with a more euphonious name. Iridescent flies were skimming about, +now and then a fish made a stir and dazzle. Squirrels ran up and down +the trees and chattered, robins were singing joyously, the thrush with +her soft, plaintive note. She glanced up now and then and caught his +eye, and he felt she was happy. It was a delightful thing, after all, to +render some one truly happy. Perhaps children were more easily +satisfied, more responsive. + +"Oh," he said presently, "we must go back or we will lose our supper, +and Cousin Elizabeth will scold." + +"I shouldn't think she would dare to scold you;" raising wondering eyes. + +"Why not?" He wondered what reason she would give. + +"Because you are a man." + +"She scolds Silas." + +"Oh, that is different." + +"How--different? We are both men. He is quite as tall as I." + +"But you see--well, he is something like a servant. She tells him what +to do, and if he doesn't do it right she can find fault with it. But +you are--well, the house is yours. You can do what pleases you." + +"Quite reasoned out, little one;" and he laughed with an approving +sound. + +"It's curious that you scold people you like, and other people may do +the same thing and--is it because you don't dare to? If it is wrong in +the one place, why not in the other?" + +"Perhaps politeness restrains us." + +"I don't like people to scold. Miss Eunice never does." + +"Eunice has a sweet nature. Doesn't Miss Winn ever scold you?" + +"Well--I suppose I am bad and wilful sometimes, and then she has the +right. But when you do things that do not matter----" + +Miss Winn was walking in the garden. Cynthia waved her hand, but walked +leisurely forward. + +"I couldn't imagine what had become of you." + +"It was my fault," interposed Chilian. "I met her at the gate and asked +her to go for a walk." + +"And with that soiled apron!" + +"That came off the slate. I hadn't any desk. It was hard to hold it on +my knee." + +"You might have come in for a clean one. Run upstairs and change it." + +But she was destined to meet Cousin Elizabeth in the hall. The elder +caught her arm roughly. + +"Where have you been gadding to, bad girl? Didn't you know you must +come straight home from school? Here we have been worried half to death +about you, and I'm tired as a dog, trotting 'round all day. You deserve +a good whipping;" and she shook her. She would have enjoyed slapping her +soundly. But Chilian entered at that instant. + +"She is going upstairs for a clean apron," he said. "I took her off for +a walk." + +"She might have asked whether she could go or not," snapped Elizabeth. +"She's the most lawless thing!" + +"It was my place. Don't blame the child!" + +"Well, supper's ready." + +She didn't have her apron on quite straight and her hair was a little +frowsy. Elizabeth had proposed it should be cut short on the neck for +the summer, but Miss Winn had objected. + +"Such a great mop! No child wears it!" + +Cynthia came in quietly and took her place. After her first cup of tea +Elizabeth thawed a little, enough to announce that two of the Appleton +children were ill, they thought with scarlet fever. + +Chilian expressed some sympathy. + +"And how was the school, Cynthia? We thought you might have been kept in +for some of your good deeds, as children are so seldom bad." + +"I--I didn't like it," she answered simply. + +"Children can't have just what they like in this world," was Elizabeth's +rejoinder. + +"Nor grown people either," was Chilian's softening comment. Then he +changed the subject. He had seen Cousin Giles, who proposed to pay them +a visit, coming on some Saturday. + +"Have you any lesson to learn?" he asked of Cynthia. "If so, bring your +book and come to my room." + +"Oh, thank you!" Her face was radiant with delight. + +Where had she left her book? Dame Wilby had told her to take it home and +study. Surely she had brought it--oh, yes! she had put it just inside +the gate under the great clump of ribbon grass. If only Cousin +Elizabeth's sharp eyes had not seen it. But there it was, safe enough. + +She was delighted to go to Cousin Chilian's room, though she never +presumed. She seemed to have an innate sort of delicacy that he wondered +at. + +The spelling was soon mastered. It was the rather unusual words that +puzzled her. Then they attacked the tables and he practised her in +making figures. Like most children left to themselves, she printed +instead of writing. + +"Oh!" she cried with a wistful yet joyous emphasis, "I wish I could come +to school to you. And I'd like to be the only scholar." + +"But you ought to be with little girls." + +"I don't like them very much." + +Then Miss Winn came for her. "You are very good to take so much +trouble," she said. + +"Oh, I like you so much, so much!" she exclaimed with her sweet eyes as +well as her lips. + +He recalled then the day on board the vessel, when she had besought in +her impetuous fashion that he should kiss her. She had never offered the +caress since. She was not an effusive child. + +Her position at school was rather anomalous. A younger woman might have +managed differently. There was a new scholar that rather crowded them on +the bench. And the boy back of her did some sly things that annoyed her. +He gave her hair a twitch now and then. One day he dropped a little toad +on her book, at which she screamed, though an instant after she was not +at all afraid. Of course, he was whipped for that, and for once she did +not feel sorry. + +"You're a great ninny to be afraid of a toad not bigger than a button," +he said scornfully. "I'll get you whipped some day to make up for it, +see if I don't." + +Thursday was unfortunate and she was kept in for some rather saucy +replies. When she returned they were in the sitting-room and had been +discussing some household matters. She surveyed them with a courageous +but indignant air. + +"I've quit," she exclaimed. "I'm not going there to school any more." + +She stood up very straight, her eyes flashing. + +"What!" ejaculated Cousin Elizabeth. + +"Why, I've quit! She wanted to make me say I was sorry and beg her +pardon, and she threatened to keep me all night, but I knew some of you +would come, at least Rachel." + +"And I suppose you were a saucy, naughty girl!" + +"What happened?" asked Chilian quietly. + +"Why, you see--I went up to her table with the figures I had been making +on my slate. I'd done some of them over three times, for Tommy Marsh +joggled my elbow. Then I went back to my seat. We're crowded now, and I +went to sit down and sat on the floor. I do believe Sadie Green did it +on purpose--moved so there wasn't room enough for me to sit. And Tom +laughed, then all the children laughed, and Dame Wilby said, 'Get up, +Cynthy Leverett,' and I said 'My name isn't Cynthy, if you please, and I +haven't any seat to sit on if I do get up.' And then the children +laughed again, and I don't quite know what did happen, but I was so +angry. Then she said all the children should stay in for laughing. She +called me to the desk and I went. The slate was broken and I laid it on +the table. Then she said wasn't I sorry for being saucy, and I said I +wasn't. It was bad enough to fall on the floor, for I might have hurt +myself. Then she took up her switch, and I said: 'You strike me, if you +dare!' Then she pushed me in a little closet place, and there I staid +until after school was out. Then she said, 'Would I tell Miss Leverett +to come over?' and I said Mr. Leverett was my guardian and I would tell +him, but I wasn't coming to school any more, and that Tommy Marsh +pinched me and pulled my hair, and called me wild Indian. And so--I've +quit. You can't make me go again. I'll run away first and go on some of +the boats." + +There was a blaze of scarlet on her cheeks and her eyes flashed fire, +but she stood up straight and defiant, when another child might have +broken down and cried. Chilian Leverett always remembered the picture +she made--small, dark, and spirited. + +"No," he exclaimed, "you need not go back." Then he rose and took her +hand that was cold and trembling. "You will not go back. Let us find +Miss Winn----" + +"Chilian!" warned Elizabeth. + +He led Cynthia from the room, up the stairs. Miss Winn sat there sewing. +She clasped her arms about him, he could fairly feel the throb in them. + +"Oh," she cried with a strange sort of sweetness. "I love you. You are +so good to me, and I have told you just the truth." + +Then she buried her face on Miss Winn's bosom. + +Chilian went downstairs. He laughed, yet he was deeply touched by her +audacity and bravery. + +"Elizabeth," he announced; "I will see Mrs. Wilby. Let the matter die +out, do not refer to it. I did not think it quite the school for her. We +will find something else." + +"Chilian, I must make one effort for you and her. Going on this way will +be her ruin. I should insist upon her going back to school and +apologizing to Mrs. Wilby. I wouldn't let a chit like that order what a +household of grown people should do and make them bow down to her. You +will be sorry for it in the end. You have had no experience with +children, you have seen so few. And a man hasn't the judgment----" + +His usually serene temper was getting ruffled, and with such characters +the end is often obstinacy. + +"If she is to make a disturbance here, become a bone of contention with +us, I will send her away. Cousin Giles is taking a great interest in +her. There are good boarding-schools in Boston, or she and Miss Winn +could have a home together under his supervision. There is enough to +provide for them." + +"And you would turn her over to that half-heathen woman!" in a horrified +tone. "Then I wash my hands of the matter. Send her to perdition, if you +will." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +CHANGEFUL LIGHTS OF CHILDHOOD + + +Elizabeth Leverett busied herself about the supper. She felt as one does +in the threatening of a thunderstorm, when the clouds roll up and the +rumbling is low and distant and one studies the sky with presentiments. +Then it comes nearer, flirts a little with the elements, breaks open and +shows the blue that the scurrying wind soon hides and the real storm +bursts. She had believed all along that it must come. + +She was not an ungracious or a selfish woman outside of her own home. +She was good to the sick and the needy, she gave of her time and +strength. In the home there was a sense of ownership, of the +self-appropriation so often termed duty. Everything had gone on smoothly +for years. She had settled that Chilian would not marry. Such a bookish +man, whose interests lay chiefly with men, did not need a wife when +there was some one at hand to make him comfortable. And that he surely +was. He understood and enjoyed it. He had only to suggest to have. Her +affection for him was like that for a younger brother. Even Eunice could +not minister so well for his comfort, though, like Mary of Bible lore, +she often added a delicate pleasure in listening to matters or +incidents that interested him. + +Elizabeth had settled to the idea of a little heathen soul that she was +to lead aright. Missionary work in godless lands had not made much +advance and, having no mother, who was there to warn her of the great +peril of her soul? Seafaring men were not much given to thought of the +other world. Perhaps there was some grace for them in the hours of +peril, she had heard they prayed to God in an extremity; and there was +the dying thief. But on land no one had a right to count on this. + +The child had changed everything. Even Eunice seemed to have lost the +sharp distinction. Miss Winn belonged to the ungodly, that was +clear--though she was upright, honest, neat, and in some ways sensible. +But her ideas about the child were foreign and reprehensible--dangerous +even. The child was no worse than others, not as bad as some, for she +had either by nature or training a delicate respect for the property of +others. She never meddled. She asked few questions even when she stood +by the kitchen table and watched the mysteries of cake and pie making +and the delicacies of cooking. It was the right to herself that annoyed +Elizabeth. People had hardly begun to suspect that children had any +rights. + +"But if she went away? If she was swallowed up in the vortex of the more +populous city"--greater, Salem would not have admitted. "If the child's +soul was finally lost, would she be quite clear? Would she have done all +that she could for her salvation?" + +She thought of it as she prepared the supper. She surveyed the +inviting-looking table and then rang the bell. Eunice brought in a +handful of flowers. Chilian came--and Miss Winn. + +"Cynthia has gone to bed, she does not want any supper," was her quiet +announcement. + +Elizabeth would have sent her to bed supperless, and approved of a +severer punishment. + +Miss Winn asked some questions about Boston. + +"I have quite a desire to see it," she added. + +Yes, she would no doubt plan for a removal. Then the child would be +forever lost. And a Leverett, too, come of a strong God-fearing family! + +The child, when she had hidden her face on Rachel's bosom, gave some +dry, hard sobs that shook her small frame. Rachel smoothed her hair, +patted the shoulder softly, and said "Dear" in a caressing tone. Then +had come a torrent of tears, a wild hysterical weeping. She did not +attempt to check it, but took Cynthia in her arms as if she had been a +baby. + +"I'm not going to that school any more," she said brokenly, after a +while. + +"What happened, dear?" + +Cynthia raised her head. "It was very mean, as if I had done it on +purpose! Why, I might have hurt myself;" indignantly. + +"How was it?" gently. + +And then the story came tumbling out. She saw a certain ludicrous aspect +in it now, and laughed a little herself. "I couldn't help being saucy. +And I thought she was going to strike me. Tommy Marsh began to laugh +first. The slate broke----" + +"Are you quite sure you were not hurt?" + +"Well, my arm hurt a little at first, but it is all well now. But I +shan't go back to school,--no, not even to please Cousin Leverett, and I +like him best of any one." + +"I'm going down to supper, dear. Shall I bring up yours?" + +"I don't want any. I couldn't eat anything. And I can't have Cousin +Elizabeth's sharp eyes looking at me. Oh, I'm glad I am not her little +girl! I like you a million times better, Rachel;" hugging her +rapturously. "I think I'd like to have a glass of milk. And may I lie on +your little bed?" + +"Yes, dear." + +She was asleep when Rachel came up and it was past nine when she woke, +drank her milk, and went to bed for the night. + +How gaily the birds were singing the next morning, and the sunbeams were +playing hide-and-seek through the branches that dance in the soft wind. +All the air was sweet and the little girl couldn't help being +light-hearted. She sang, too; not measured hymns of sorrow and +repentance, but a gay lilt that followed the bird voices. And she went +down to breakfast and said her good-morning cheerfully. + +"That child has the assurance of the Evil One," Elizabeth thought. + +Cynthia waylaid Cousin Chilian as he was going down the path. + +"I meant what I said yesterday. I won't go to that school any more. If +there was some other--only--only I wish you could teach me until I could +get up straight in all the things, so the other children wouldn't laugh +when I made blunders. I suppose it does sound funny;" and a smile +hovered about the seriousness. + +"We will consider another school," he returned kindly, smiling himself +at the remembrance of the tempest of yesterday. + +She persuaded Rachel to go out to walk and they went over to the bridge. +She had been so interested in the story of it. Before it had faded from +the minds of men it was to be splendidly commemorated as a point of +interest in the old town. + +"I like real stories," she said. "I don't understand about the war, but +it is fine to think the Salem men made the British soldiers go back when +all the while the cannon and other arms were hidden away. You don't +mind, Rachel, if the Colonists did beat England, do you? I'm a Colonist, +you know." + +"That is long ago, and we are all friends now. I think the Colonists +were very brave and persevering and they deserved their liberty. I have +heard your father talk about the war." + +"Oh, when do you suppose he will come? It seems so long to wait." + +Rachel smiled to keep the tears out of her eyes. + +Chilian Leverett made a call and a brief explanation to Dame Wilby. She +admitted she had been hasty, but the children were unusually trying. She +was getting to be an old body and maybe she hadn't as much patience as +years ago. Cynthia said so many odd things that the children _would_ +giggle. She was slow in some things, and it seemed hard for her to learn +tables, but she was not a bad child. + +So the tempest blew over. Elizabeth preserved a rather injured silence, +but Eunice was cheerful and ready to entertain Cynthia with stories of +the time when she was a little girl. Chilian arranged for her to spend +most of the mornings with him when he was at home. She liked so very +much to hear him read. The histories of that time were rather dry and +long spun out, but he had a way of skipping the moralizing and the +endless disquisitions and adding a little more vividness to people and +incidents. It inspired him to watch her face changing with every +emotion, her eyes deepening or brightening, and the slight mark in her +forehead where lines of perplexity crossed. Then they would talk it all +over. Often he was puzzled with her endless "whys" that he could not +rightly explain to a child's limited understanding. Sometimes she would +say, "Why, I would have done so," and he found her course would be on +the side of the finest right, if not what was considered feasible. + +The spelling was a trial when the words were a little obscure. And +though she had a wonderful knack of guessing at things, she surely was +not born for a mathematician. He had a fine, quick mind in that respect. +But the Latin was a delight to her and she delved away at the difficult +parts for the sake of what she called the grand and beautiful sound. His +rendering of it enchanted her. + +"I don't see any sense in educating her like a boy," declared Elizabeth. +"And she can't do a decent bit of hemming. She ought to work a sampler +and learn the letters to mark her own clothes. We did it before we were +her age. Chilian thinks you can hire people to do these things for you, +but it seems so helpless not to be able to do them for yourself. +Housekeeping is of more account than all this folderol. She can never be +a college professor." + +"But women _are_ keeping schools," interposed Eunice. + +"They don't teach Latin and all kinds of nonsense. That Miss Miller was +here a few days ago to see if we didn't want our niece--folks are +beginning to call her that--to see if we did not want her to take +lessons on the spinet. I was so glad she did not appeal to Chilian, +though he was out. I said, 'No,' very decidedly, 'that she had a good +many things to learn before she tackled that.' And she said she ought +to be trained while her fingers were flexible, and I said I thought +washing would make them flexible enough. And there's fine ironing." + +"There's no need of either for her," protested Eunice. + +"Oh, you don't know. There might be a war again. And a trouble about +money. I'm sure there is talk enough and the country raising loans all +the time, one party pulling one way, one the other. People are getting +awfully extravagant nowadays. Patty Conant gave seven dollars a yard for +her new black silk, and there were twelve yards. It broke pretty well +into a hundred, and there was some fancy gimp and fringe and the making. +Of course, there's going to be two weddings in the family, and I don't +suppose Patty will ever buy another handsome gown at her time of life. +Abner brought her home that elegant crape shawl, with the fringe and +netting nearly half a yard deep. Maybe 'twas a present, she let it go +that way." + +"Of course, there's money enough among the Conants," Eunice commented +gently. + +"As I said--one can't always tell what will come to pass, nor how much +need you may have for your money. But I'm thankful my heart is not set +on the pomps and vanities of this world. And children ought to be +brought up to some useful habits." + +It was a fact that Cynthia did not take to the useful branches of +womanly living. She abhorred hemming--and such work as she made of it! +Miss Eunice groaned over it. + +"But you ought to have seen what I did two or three weeks ago," and she +laughed with a gay ring. "Such stitches! When I made them nice on the +top, they were dreadful underneath, and the cotton thread was almost +black. What is the use of taking such little bits of stitches?" + +"Why--they look prettier. And--it is the right thing to do." + +"But you know Rachel can hem all the ruffles. And Cousin Elizabeth said +ruffles were vanity. I'd like my frocks just as well to be plain." + +"There would have to be nice stitches in the hem." + +"Rachel didn't sew when she was little. A great lady took her to +Scotland, to wait on her, to get her shawl when she was a little cool, +and fan her when she was warm, and carry messages, and drive out in the +carriage with her. They had servants for everything. And then--she was +ten years old--she sent her to a school, where she learned everything. +But she doesn't know all the tables and a great many other things." + +"But she knows what fits her for her station in life." + +Cynthia looked puzzled. "What is your station in life?" she asked with +an accent of curiosity. + +"Oh, child, it is where you are placed; and the work of life is the +duties that grow out of it--and your duty towards God." + +Cynthia dropped into thought. + +"Then my duty now is to study. I like it; that is, I like a good many +things in it. And when my father comes home it will be changed, I +suppose. You can't stay a little girl always." + +"But you will have to learn to keep house," returned Eunice. + +"Oh, I'll have some one to do that. Men never have to cook or keep +house. Oh, yes; all the cooks on the ship were men. Wasn't that funny!" +she continued. + +She laughed with so much innocent merriment that Miss Eunice laughed +too. + +"I suppose you have to do various things in your life," she sagely +remarked, after a pause. + +"Then you must learn to do the various things now." + +"I believe I won't ever get married. I'll live with father always, and +we will have some one to keep the house, and Rachel will make the +clothes. And I'll read aloud to father. We'll have a carriage and go out +riding, and talk about India. I remember so many things just by thinking +them over. Isn't it queer, when for a long time they have gone out of +your mind? Oh, dear Cousin Eunice, what makes you sigh?" + +Cousin Eunice took off her glasses, wiped them vigorously, and then +wiped her eyes. + +"It is a bad habit I have." But she was thinking of the dream of the +little girl that could never come true. + +The two days in the week that Chilian went into Boston were long to +Cynthia. She sat in his room and studied. He had given her a small table +to herself and a shelf in a sort of miscellaneous bookcase. He found +that she never trespassed and that she did really study her two hours, +sometimes longer when the task was not so easily mastered. There _was_ +some of the old Leverett blood in her, but it had a picturesque strain. +She placed every book at its prettiest, and her papers were gathered up +and taken down to the kitchen when she was done with them. She was +beginning to write quite well. + +Then in the afternoon she went to walk with Rachel to show her the +curious places Cousin Leverett had told her about. And there were still +beautiful woods around the town, where they found wild flowers and +sassafras buds. + +Elizabeth was very much engrossed. She had cleared the garret spick and +span, scrubbed up the floor, wiped off her quilting frames, and put in +her white quilt, rolling up both sides so she could get at the middle. +There was to be a circle, with clover leaves on the outside. Then long +leaves rayed off from the exact middle. She had all the patterns marked +out. When that was done a wreath went around next--oak leaves and +acorns. + +She had groaned over the time the little girl devoted to Latin, but she +never thought all this a waste of precious hours. She would never need +it and she could not decide upon any relative she would like to leave it +to. There was one quilt of this pattern in Salem and, though white +quilts were made, few could afford to spend so much time over them. +There were knitted quilts, with ball fringe around four sides, and the +tester fringed the same way. Old ladies kept up their habits of industry +in this manner when they were past hard work. + +Eunice had finished her basket quilt and it was really a work of art. +But she was out in the flower garden a good deal in the early morning +and late afternoon. Cynthia sometimes kept her company, but she was not +an expert in gardening science. In the evening they sat out on the +porch, and a neighbor called perhaps. Or she walked over to South River +if it was moonlight. And, oh, how beautiful everything was! + +But it was not all quilting with Miss Elizabeth. In July wild green +grapes were gathered for preserves. Cynthia thought it quite fun to help +"pit" them. You cut them through the middle and with a small pointed +knife took out the seeds. She tired of it presently and did not cut them +evenly, beside she was afraid of cutting her thumb. + +Cousin Elizabeth went about getting dinner, which was quite a simple +thing when Chilian was away, and at night they had a high tea. + +"I'll cut them," said Eunice, "and you can pick out the seeds. But maybe +you are tired;" with a glance of solicitude. + +"Yes, I'm tired, but I'm going to keep straight on until dinner-time," +she answered pluckily. + +"You are a brave little girl." + +But Cousin Elizabeth said, "Well, for once you have made yourself +useful." + +There was a great point of interest just then for the people on this +side of the town. Front Street was the old river path that had followed +the shore line. One end was known now as Wharf Street, and was beginning +to be lined with docks. Up farther to what is now Essex Street there had +stood a house with a history. Its owner had been a Tory, and just before +the war broke out he entertained Governor Gage and the civil and +military staff. Timothy Pickering had been summoned to the Governor's +presence, but he kept his Excellency so long in an indecent passion that +the town-meeting had to be adjourned. Troops were ordered up from the +Neck and for a while an encounter seemed imminent. Later, when the +Colonists were in the ascendency, Colonel Browne's estate was +confiscated, and after the close of the war it was turned over to Mr. +Elias Derby. Now he was removing it to make way for a much finer +residence and, being a notably patriotic citizen, he did not enjoy the +stigma of a Tory house. Parts were carried away as curiosities, and +there were some beautiful carvings and fine newel posts that found a +place in new homes as mementoes. Afterward, Mr. Derby built the +handsomest and costliest house in Salem, with grounds laid out +magnificently. + +Then came a very busy time. There was preserving that every housewife +attended to for winter use, pickling of various kinds, for there was no +canning stock in those days to eke out. There were some queer fruits +from India, and preserved ginger in curious jars that are highly +esteemed to this day, but they were luxuries. Then a house-cleaning +season, not as bad as the spring, but still bad enough. And flower seeds +to be saved, garden seeds to be dried, so the beautiful quilt was rolled +up in a thick sheet and put away for the present. + +The little girl had made quite friends with the Upham children and went +over there to tea all alone, but she felt very strange. They played tag +and blind-man's buff, but Cynthia thought puss in the corner the most +fun. Bentley was a nice big boy and very well mannered. Polly talked +over her school and brought out her needlework, which was to be the +bottom of a white frock. It would be only two yards round and she had +almost a yard worked. Then she was making a sampler, with an oak and +acorn vine around it, and it was to have four different kinds of +lettering on it. + +"I don't know when I shall get it done," she said with a sigh. + +Betty declared Dame Wilby was crosser than ever and Priscilla Lee wasn't +coming back, nor Margaret Rand, and she was coaxing mother to let her go +elsewhere. + +After a while Cynthia declared she must go home. Cousin Chilian had said +he would come for her, but the clock was striking nine and he had not +come. He sometimes _did_ forget. + +Bentley took his hat and walked beside her in quite a mannish way. + +"I do hope you will come again," he said. "You were so pleasant when you +were caught, and I do hate to have girls saying all the time, 'Now that +isn't fair,' and squirming out." + +"But if you're playing you must take the best and the worst. I liked +puss in the corner and didn't mind being the left-out pussy. I thought +it was quite fun to hunt a corner again." + +Then they met Cousin Chilian, who had been playing a rather prolonged +game of chess with a visitor. But Bentley kept on with them, and said +good-night with a polite bow, adding, "She must come again, Mr. +Leverett, we had such a very nice time." + +"And wasn't he nice!" exclaimed the child eagerly. "He is like some of +the grown-up men. I like big boys much better than the little ones." + +He smiled to himself at that. + +Now there came cool nights and mornings, but the world was beautiful in +its turning leaves, the fragrance of ripening fruit, and the late +gorgeous-colored flowers. They took delightful walks and found so many +curious places. Sometimes Bentley Upham met them and joined in their +walks and talks. He thought the little girl knew a great deal. And that +she had been in India, and China, and ever so many of the islands, was +wonderful. + +"Don't you ever sew?" he asked one afternoon, as they were rambling +about. + +"I don't like it much;" and she glanced up with fascinating archness. "I +suppose I shall have to some day, but Cousin Leverett thinks there is +time enough." + +"I'm glad you don't," in a hearty tone. "I don't have any good of Polly +any more. What with her white frock, and some lace she is making for a +cape, and forty other things, she never has time for a game of anything, +or a nice walk. And she doesn't care about study, though her lessons are +so different. I don't know another girl who studies Latin, and it's so +nice to talk it over. How rapidly you must have learned." + +He looked at her in admiration. + +"Oh, I knew some of it before I came here. There was a chaplain in +Calcutta who was--well, not exactly ill, but not well; and father took +him with us on the vessel when he went for certain things, and he staid +with us afterward. He used to read aloud, and it sounded so splendid! +Then he taught me. But Cousin Leverett said it wasn't quite right, so I +am going over it. And he is teaching me a little French." + +"You know they think women don't need to know much beside housekeeping +and sewing. I just hate to hear about ruffles cut on the straight or +bias, and I couldn't tell what Dacca muslin, or jaconet, or dimity was +to save myself. And eyelet work and French knots and run lace--that's +what the big girls who come to see Polly talk about. But I like books, +and studies, and different countries. I'd like to travel. But I don't +know that I want to be a sea captain." + +They found some queer old houses that were odd enough. Mr. Leverett said +they were almost two hundred years old, and that at first the place kept +the old Indian name, Naumkeag. But the Reverend Francis Higginson gave +it a new name out of the Bible--"In Salem also is His tabernacle." The +early pilgrims built a chapel at once. + +"How close the houses are!" + +It was a row that had survived the hand of improvement. There was a huge +central chimney-stack, big enough for a modern factory, and the house +seemed built around it. The second story overhung the first, and in some +of them were small dormer windows looking like bird houses. And the +little panes of greenish glass seemed to make windows all framework. + +Cynthia was much interested in the Roger Williams house, and the story +of the old minister. + +"Why, I thought religion made people good and pleasant----" Then she +checked herself, for often Cousin Elizabeth was _not_ pleasant. And she +seemed more religious than Cousin Eunice. And Cousin Chilian rarely +scolded or said a cross word--he never talked about religion, but he +went to church on Sunday; they all did. She studied the Catechism, she +could learn easily when she had a mind to, but she didn't understand it +at all. She shocked Elizabeth by her irreverent questions. There was the +old horn-book primer with-- + + "In Adam's fall + We sinned all." + +"I don't see how that could be when we were not there!" she said almost +defiantly. + +"It means the nature we inherited." + +"But I don't think that fair!" + +"You don't know, you never can understand until you are in a state of +grace. Don't ask such impertinent questions. You are a little heathen +child." + +Then she asked Cousin Chilian what "a state of grace" meant. + +"I think it is the willingness to do right, to be truthful, kindly, +obliging. It is all comprised in the Golden Rule--to love God with all +your heart and your neighbor as yourself, not to do anything to him that +you would not like to have done to yourself, and to do to him whatever +you would like him to do for you. That is enough for a little girl." + +"That sounds like Confucius," she said thoughtfully. + +But she went back to Roger Williams when Bentley said he was one of his +heroes. + +"What did he do?" she asked, interested. + +"Well, he founded the City of Providence. And if William Penn is to be +honored for founding a city of brotherly love, Roger Williams deserves +it for establishing a city where different sects should agree without +persecuting each other. You see, they banished him from Salem back to +England because he thought a man had some right to his own opinions, so +long as he worshipped God. So he went to Providence instead. He walked +all the way with just his pocket compass to guide him, and how he must +have worked to make a dwelling-place for himself and his friends in the +dead of winter! There were some Quakers already there, who had been +banished from other settlements, and they all resolved to be friendly. +Yes, I call him a hero!" + +Cynthia studied the house with the little courtyard and the great tree +shading it. + +"Polly said it was the Witch House," she remarked. + +"That was because there were trials for witchcraft. You are too young to +hear about that," Chilian said decisively, with a glance at Bentley. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SORROW'S CROWN OF SORROW + + +Occasionally they went down to the warehouse, and while Chilian was busy +some of the captains or mates would speak to her. They knew about her +father and one sad fact she did not know. For she had settled in her +mind that Captain Corwin would bring him back and that it would take a +long, long while. So she tried to be content and if not teasing or +fretting was one of the ways of being good, she tried her utmost to keep +to that. She was too brave to tell falsehoods to shield herself from any +inadvertent wrongdoing, even if Cousin Elizabeth did sometimes say: + +"You ought to be soundly whipped. To spare the rod is to spoil the +child." + +She thought if anybody ever did whip her she should hate him all the +rest of her life. Servants and workmen were beaten in India, and it +seemed degrading. She did not know that Cousin Chilian had insisted that +she should never be struck. He was understanding more every day how her +father had loved her, and finding sweet traits in her unfolding. + +She liked these rough bronzed men to touch their odd hats to her and +call her Missy. Some of them had seen her in Calcutta and knew her +father. And when she said, "It takes a long, long while to go there and +come back, but when Captain Corwin brings him he is going to live here +and will never go to sea any more"--"No, that he never will, missy;" and +the sailor drew his hand across his eyes. + +Oh, how full the wharves were with shipping! Flags and pennons waved, +and white sails; others, gray with age and weather, flapped in the wind. +She liked to see them start out; she always sent a message by them in +the full faith of childhood. And there were the fishermen in the cove +lower down. Fishing was quite a great business. + +Cousin Giles had made his visit and spent two whole days down in the +warehouse, when they had not taken her. But she helped Cousin Eunice cut +the stems of the sweet garden herbs for drying, and the others for +perfumery. There was lavender, the blossoms had been gathered long ago, +and sweet marjoram and sweet clover. She always gathered the full-blown +rose leaves and sewed them up in little bags and laid them among the +household stores. Everything was so fragrant. Cynthia thought she liked +it better than sandalwood and the pungent Oriental perfumes. + +Then came the autumnal storms, when the vessels hugged the docks +securely at anchor. The house was chilly all through and fires were in +order. Some two or three miles below there was a wreck of an East +Indiaman, and for days fragments floated around. Some lives were lost, +and the little girl shuddered over the accounts. + +All the foliage began to turn and fall. The late flowers hung their +heads. It had been a beautiful autumn, people said to pay up for the +late spring. + +There had been a little discussion about a school again. + +"She seems so small, and in some things diffident," Chilian said. "The +winters are long and cold, and she has not been used to them. Cousin +Giles thinks her very delicate." + +"She isn't like children raised here, but she's quite as strong as +common. She oughtn't be pampered and made any more finicking than she +is. A girl almost ten. What is she going to be good for, I'd like to +know?" + +Cousin Giles had not made much headway with her. He was large and strong +with an emphatic voice, and a head of thick, strong white hair, a rather +full face, and penetrating eyes. He had advised about investments, +though he thought no place had the outlook of Boston. But Salem was +ahead of her in foreign trade. + +Chilian Leverett felt very careful of the little girl. For if she died a +large part of her fortune came to him. He really wished it had not been +left that way. There was an East India Marine Society that had many +curiosities--stored in rooms on the third floor of the Stearns building. +It had a wider scope than that and was to assist widows and orphans of +deceased members, who were all to be those "who had actually navigated +the seas beyond Cape of Good Hope, or Cape Horn, as masters or +supercargoes of vessels belonging to Salem." To this Anthony had +bequeathed many curiosities and a gift. There was talk of enlarging its +scope, which was begun shortly after this. + +Matters had settled to an amicable basis in the Leverett house. Rachel +had won the respect of Elizabeth, who prayed daily for her conversion +from heathendom and that she might see the claims the Christian religion +had upon her. Eunice and she were more really friendly. She made some +acquaintances outside and most people thought she must be some relation +of the captain's. She had proved herself very efficient in several cases +of illness, for in those days neighbors were truly neighborly. + +Cynthia did shrink from the cold, though there were good fires kept in +the house. This winter Chilian had a stove put up in the hall, very much +against Elizabeth's desires. Quite large logs could be slipped in and +they would lie there and smoulder, lasting sometimes all night. It was a +great innovation and extravagance, though wood seemed almost +inexhaustible in those days. And it was considered unhealthy to sleep in +warm rooms, though people would shut themselves up close and have no +fresh air. + +Then the snow came, but it was a greater success in the inland towns, +and there were sledding and sleigh-riding. The boys and girls had great +times building forts and having snowballing contests. But the little +girl caught a cold and had a cough that alarmed her guardian a good deal +and made him more indulgent than ever, to Elizabeth's disgust. + +She was not really ill, only pale and languid and seemed to grow +thinner. She was much fairer than any one could have supposed and her +eyes looked large and wistful. Chilian put some pillows in the big +rocking-chair and tilted it back so that she could almost lie down on +it. + +"You are so good to me," she would say with her sweet, faint smile. + +Bentley came in now and then of an evening, and she liked to hear what +they were doing at school. Polly, too, made visits; they had a +half-holiday on Saturday. She always brought some work, and Elizabeth +considered her a very industrious girl. She was going to a birthday +party of one of her mates. + +"What do they do at parties?" inquired the little girl. + +"Oh, they play games. There's stagecoach. Everybody but one has a seat. +He blows a horn and sings out, 'Stage for Boston,' or any place. Then +every one has to change seats. Such a scrambling and scurrying time! and +the one who gets left has to take the horn." + +"It's something like puss in the corner." + +"Only ever so many can play this. Then there's 'What's my thought like?' +That's rather hard, but funny. I like twirling the platter. If you +don't catch it when it comes near you, you must pay a forfeit. And +redeeming them is lots of fun, for you are told to do all sorts of +ridiculous things. Then there's some goodies and mottoes and you can +exchange with a boy. But Kate Saltonstall's big sister had a party where +they danced. Eliza wanted some dancing, but her mother said so many +people did not approve of it for children." + +"And don't you have some one to come and dance for you?" + +"Oh, what a queer idea! The fun is in dancing yourself with a real nice +boy. Some people think it awfully wrong. Do you, Miss Winn?" + +"No, indeed. When I was a child in England we went out and danced on the +green. Everybody did. And when there were doings at the great +houses--like Christmas, and weddings, and coming of age--the ladies, in +their silks and satins and laces, came down in the servants' hall and +danced with the butler and the footmen, and my lord took out some of the +maids. I don't think dancing hurts any one." + +"I'm glad to hear you say that, Miss Winn. They are talking of having a +dancing-class in school. I hope mother will let me join it." + +"And they teach it in schools there." + +"And why shouldn't they here?" said Polly. + +To be sure. Cynthia was much interested and made Polly promise to come +again and tell her all about it. Old Salem was awakening rapidly from +her rigid torpor. + +"I wonder if I could ever have a party," she said to Cousin Leverett +that evening. "When father comes home we might have what they did at the +Perkinses when they went in their new place--a house-warming. Is that +like a party?" + +"About the same thing." + +"Cousin Elizabeth thinks it wicked. Wouldn't she think dancing wicked?" + +"I am afraid she would." + +Cynthia sighed. No, she couldn't have a party here. + +She waited quite eagerly for Polly's account. The little girl was in her +own room. Miss Winn had gone out to get some medicine. Cynthia tried to +be well sometimes, so she would not have to take the nauseous stuff. No +one had invented medicated sugar pills at that time. She liked Cousin +Elizabeth's cough syrup. + +Polly was overflowing with spirits. + +"Oh, I want to be big, right away. Bella Saltonstall was there and she's +going into company next winter, she says. And she showed us some of the +dancing steps and they just bewitch you. It's like this"--and Polly +picked up her frock in a dainty manner and whirled about the vacant +spaces in the room. + +"But doesn't it tire you dreadfully? The girls in India stand still a +great deal more and just sway about. They come in and dance for you." + +"Tire you! Oh, no. That's the great fun, to do it yourself. Bella said +it was--ex--something, and the word is in the spelling-book, but I never +can remember the long words. Oh, I just wish I was fifteen and wasn't +going to school any more. And then there's keeping company and getting +married, and having your setting out. School seems stupid. There were +two boys who wanted to come home with me, but mother said Ben must. Then +I wished--well, I wished he was in college. He wants to go. Father says +Mr. Leverett has infected him with the craze." + +"If I was a boy, I'd like to go. Cousin Leverett is going to take me to +Harvard next summer when they have their grand closing time." + +"I'd rather be a girl and have a nice beau." + +Plainly Polly had been saturated with dissipation. + +Spring was suggesting her advent. The days were longer. The snow was +disappearing. + +"Oh, Cousin Leverett, look--there are some buds on the trees!" she +cried. + +"Yes. You can see them at intervals through the winter. They are wise +little things, and swell and then shrink back in the cold." + +"I'm so glad. I can soon go out. I get very tired some days. I like +summer best." + +"Yes. I do hope we shall have an early spring." + +She looked up with smiling gladness. + +That afternoon she had fallen asleep in the big chair. How almost +transparent she was. The long lashes lay on the whiteness of her +cheek--yes, it was really white. And there was very little color in her +lips. + +Abner Hayes came up from the warehouse with some papers the _Ulysses_ +had just brought in. + +"That the captain's poor little girl?" + +"Yes; she's asleep. She hasn't been very well this winter, but the first +nice balmy day I shall take her out driving. I've been almost afraid to +have the air blow on her." + +"Yes, she ought to live and enjoy all that big fortune. It's a thousand +pities the captain couldn't have come back and enjoyed it with her. But +we must all go when our time comes. You never hear a hard word said +about him, and sure's there's a heaven he is in it." + +Chilian held up his finger. Then he signed a paper that had to go back, +and asked if the cargo of the _Ulysses_ was in good shape. + +Elizabeth called him downstairs after that. There was a poor man wanting +some sort of a position and Chilian promised to look out for him. He had +been porter in a store, but the heavy lifting made him cough. He would +have to get something lighter. + +When he returned Cynthia was standing by his table, white as a little +ghost. He almost dropped into the chair. + +"Was I dreaming, or did that man say my father couldn't come back to +Salem, that he--that he was----" + +She swayed almost as if she would fall. He drew her down on his knee and +her head sank on his shoulder. She was so still that he was startled. +How many times he had wondered how he would get her told. Perhaps it had +been wrong to wait. + +"My little girl! My little Cynthia----" + +"Wait," she breathed, and he held her closer. He had come to love her +very much, though he had taken her unwillingly. + +"Is it true? But no one would say such a thing if it were not. I had +been asleep. I woke just as he said that. Perhaps I had been dreaming +about our being together. And it seemed at first as if my tongue was +stiff and I couldn't even make a sound. Did he go to heaven without me?" + +Oh, what should he say to comfort her! She had so many feelings far +under the surface. + +"My little dear," and his voice was infinitely fond, "I want to tell you +that he loved your mother tenderly. No one could have been better loved. +In the course of a few hours she was snatched away from him. You were so +little--five years ago. I doubt if there was ever a day in which he did +not think of her. When you are grown and come to love some one with the +strength of your whole heart, you will understand how great it is. And +when the summons came for him his first thought was that he should see +her, and with the next he must find a new home for his little girl, so +he gave you to me. It is very hard just now, but you must think how +happy they are together. Perhaps they both know you are here, where you +will be cared for and made happy, for we all love you. Every one has not +the same way of showing love, but Cousin Elizabeth has done everything +she could for you this winter. And we don't want to lose you. You won't +grudge them a few years together in that happy place?" + +"Oh, are you quite sure there _is_ a heaven?" + +Oh, Cynthia, you are not the first one who has asked to have it +certified. + +"Yes, dear; very sure," in the tone of faith. + +"He loved mother very much?" + +"Yes." + +There was a long silence. He felt the slow beating of her little heart. + +"Then I ought to be content, since he gave me to you, when he knew he +was going away." + +"It would have been very sad if you had been left alone there. Out of +his great love he planned it this way, thinking the tidings would not +come so hard after a while. And now you can always recall him as you saw +him last and just think, in a moment of time God called and he stepped +over the narrow space that seems such a mystery to us and met _her_. I +wish we didn't invest death with so much that is painful, for it is +God's way of calling us to a better land where there are no more +partings. Sometime you and I will go over to them." + +"I shouldn't feel afraid with you," she commented simply. + +When the tea bell rang she asked to be carried to her room and laid on +Rachel's little bed. He kissed her gently and turned away. + +The next was his day in Boston. But late in the afternoon, after Miss +Eunice had been visiting her an hour or so, she went to the study and +sat by the window, where she could see him come. He glanced up and she +waved her hand daintily. All day he had been wondering how he should +find her. + +"I haven't coughed but a very little to-day," she exclaimed. "Cousin +Elizabeth made some new syrup. And the doctor was in. He said I was a +little lazy, that I must be more energetic." + +"I've been ordering a new carriage to-day. The old one was hardly worth +repairing. And when you are stronger I think I'll buy a gentle pony and +we can go out riding. You would not be afraid after a little?" + +"Not with you." + +Her confidence was very sweet. + +"I'm going down to tea to-night. I was down at noon." + +"Oh, you are improving. I hope there will come some warm weather and +balmy airs." + +"It was beautiful last spring. You know I never saw a real spring +before." + +She was bearing her loss and her sorrow beautifully. All day she had +been thinking of the joy of those two when they met on the confines of +that beautiful world. It made heaven seem so near, so real. Sometimes +the tears came to her eyes. She was Cousin Chilian's little girl, so why +should she feel lonely! + +Once in a number of years spring comes early. It did this time, at the +close of the century. People shook their heads and talked about +"weather-breeders," and mentioned snow as late as May, when fruit trees +had been in bloom. But nature had turned over a bright, clear leaf, that +made the book of time fairly shine. + +The carriage came and Cynthia was taken out. Miss Elizabeth wrapped her +up like a mummy, and would put a brick, swathed in coverings, in the +bottom for her feet. He had taken the ladies out occasionally, but of +late years the sisters had been so busy they had little time for +pleasure, they thought. + +They crossed North Bridge and went up Danvers way. Oh, how lovely it was +with the trees in baby leaf, and some wild things blossoming. And even +then industry had planted itself. There on the farther bank of Waters +River was the iron mill, where Dr. Nathan Read invented his scheme for +cut nails. And he built a paddle-wheel steamboat that was a success +before Robert Fulton tried his. And they passed the Page house, where +General Gage had his office, and Madam Page had tea on the roof, because +they had promised not to use tea in the house. + +That amused Cynthia and he also told her of the woman, when tea first +came to the country, who boiled the leaves and seasoned them, passing +them around to her guests, who didn't think they were anything much in +the vegetable line and too expensive ever to become general. + +Birds sang about them, flocks of wild geese had started on their +northward journey. What a wonderful world it was! And her father had +been a boy here in Salem village, had lived in Cousin Chilian's house in +the father's time, and her mother had been married in the stately +parlor. Why, she could dream of their being real guests of the place. +How odd she should come to live here. The life in India would be the +dream presently. + +She was very tired when Chilian lifted her out of the carriage and took +her upstairs. Rachel put her to bed for a while and gave her a cup of +hot tea--mint and catnip--which was a great restorer, or so considered, +in those days. She came down to supper and was quite bright. + +Every day she improved a little. Eunice said she was getting 'climated. + +Elizabeth wondered if she had any deep feeling. She had expected to see +her "take on" terribly. Chilian begged her not to disturb the child's +faith that both parents were in heaven. + +"Letty Orne, that was, might have been one of the elect, but sea +captains are seldom considered safe in the fold, as children of grace. I +never heard that he had any evidence. And 'tisn't safe to count on +meeting them unless you've had some sign." + +"We must leave a good many of these things to God. His ways are better +than our short-sighted wisdom." + +Elizabeth was never quite sure of Chilian. So much study, and reading, +and college talk, and the new theories, and what they called +discoveries, were enough to unsettle one's faith, and she feared for +him. Younger children than Cynthia had gone through the throes of +conviction--she had herself, and she longed to see her in this state. + +But the child was quite her olden self. What with the change of climate +and her illness she was many shades fairer, and her hair was losing its +queer sunburned color. Her thin frame began to fill out, her face grew +rounder, and her smile was sweetness itself. + +"But she hasn't grown a mite since she came. Leverett people are all of +a fair size. I don't know a little runt among them," persisted +Elizabeth. + +"I wish I could grow," she sighed in confidence to Chilian. + +"Never mind. Then you will always be my little girl," he would answer +consolingly. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +LESSONS OF LIFE + + +Even Chilian wondered that the little girl took the death of her father +so calmly. Elizabeth called it unnatural and questioned whether the +child had any deep feeling. + +"I don't believe she's shed a tear. And, Eunice, the child ought to go +in black." + +The child was trying to get used to changed ideas. If her mother was +glad and happy, now that they were again united, why should she be +sorry? It seemed selfish to her as if she grudged them the joy. And +Cousin Chilian was trying every way to entertain her, to help her on to +perfect recovery. Sometimes, when she sat alone in the study, the soft +eyes would overflow and the tears course silently down her cheeks. She +never cried in the tempestuous way of some children. But she knew now +she had counted a good deal on their having a home together. Rachel +would keep the house and she and her father would take walks and have a +garden, where she could cut flowers and have them in the house. Cousin +Elizabeth said they made a litter. And now she should never go down to +the wharf and see him standing on the deck, and wave her hand to him, +as she used when he went on short journeys in India. They would have a +low carry-all and ride around, as she would tell him all she had learned +about Salem. And they would have people in to drink tea and have pretty +dishes on the table. Perhaps he would give her a party. But she didn't +know any children, except the Uphams. It might be better to go to school +so that she could get acquainted. + +Chilian was a good deal startled about the black garments. + +"She is so little and thin," he objected. "I never did like children in +black; it seems as if you weighted them down with woe. And he has been +dead so many months now." + +"But one ought to pay decent respect to a custom sanctioned by all +civilized people. There will be a talk about it. Folks may think it our +fault." + +"I do not believe half a dozen people would notice it. It's only a +custom after all. I never did like it. We will see how she feels about +it." + +"Chilian, you make that child of as much importance as if she was a +woman grown. You will have your hands full by and by. She will think +every one must bow down to her and consult her whims and fancies." + +"We will see;" nodding indifferently. + +He didn't want her around in garments of woe. Very gently he mentioned +the subject. + +She glanced up out of sweet, entreating eyes. She had been standing by +him, looking over a very choice book of engravings. + +"Yes," she returned. "Rachel spoke of it. And you know there are some +people who wear white, and some who put on yellow. Black isn't a nice +color. Do you like it?" + +He shook his head. + +"It is the inside of me that aches now and then, when I think I shall +never see him come sailing back, that I must be a long while without him +until I go to their land. But he must be very happy with mother, and +that is what I think of when I feel how hard it is;" and the tears stole +softly down her cheeks. "I have Rachel and you, and he said you would +always love me and care for me. But I try not to feel sorry, and if I +had on a black frock I couldn't help but think of it all the time. Then +I should be sorry inside and outside both, and is it right to make +yourself unhappy when you believe people have gone to heaven?" + +She said it so simply that he was deeply moved. She had been alone with +her sorrow all this time, when they had thought her indifferent. + +"You need not wear black--I wish you would not. I want you to get real +well and happy. And you are a brave little girl to think of them and +refrain from grief." + +She wiped away the tears lest they should fall on the book. + +"At first it was quite dreadful to me. I couldn't say anything. Then I +remembered how we used to talk of mother, as if she was only in the next +room. And then I sit here and think, when the sky is such a splendid +blue and there come little white rifts in it, as if somewhere it opened, +I can almost see them. Can't people come back for a few moments?" + +"Only in dreams, I imagine." + +"I can _almost_ see them. And they are so glad to be together. And I +know father says, 'Cynthia will come by and by.' But twenty years, or +thirty years, is a long while to wait." + +Perhaps she wouldn't need to wait so long, he thought, as he noted the +transparent face. + +"And now I should be sorry to go away from you," she said, with grave +sweetness. + +"I think your father meant you should stay a long while with me when he +gave you to me;" and he pressed her closer to his heart. + +So she did not wear mourning, to Elizabeth's very real displeasure. +There was no further talk about the school, but she did try to sew a +little and began the sampler. Cousin Eunice was her guide here. She +brought out hers that was over fifty years old, and all the colors were +fading. + +"I wonder if I shall live fifty years," she mused. + +Driving about was her great entertainment. You could go to Marblehead, +which was a peninsula. There were the fishery huts and the men curing +and drying fish. Sometimes they took passage in one of the numerous +sailing vessels and went in and out the irregular shore, and saw Boston +from the bay. It seemed in those times as if it might get drowned out, +there was so much water around it. + +"And if it should float off out to sea, some day," she half inquired, +laughingly. + +He was glad to hear her soft, sweet laugh again. + +She thought she liked Salem best, and even now people began to talk of +old Salem, there had been so many improvements since the time Governor +Bradford had written: + + "Almost ten years we lived here alone,-- + In other places there were few or none; + For Salem was the next of any fame + That began to augment New England's name." + +And then it went by the old Indian name and was called Naumkeag. And she +found that it was older than Boston, and had been the seat of government +twice, and that Governor Burnett, finding Boston unmanageable, had +convened the General Court here for two years. That was in 1728, and now +it was 1800. + +"But no one lives a hundred years," she said. + +"Oh, yes; there are a number of persons who have lived that long. Now +and then a person lives in three centuries, is born the last year of +one, goes through a whole century, and dies in the next one." + +"What a long, long while!" she sighed. + +And there was the old Court House where the Stamp Act was denounced. She +wanted to know all about that, and he was fond of explaining things, +the sort of teacher habit, but there was nothing dogmatic about it. Here +were houses where the Leveretts had lived, third or fourth cousins who +had married with the Graingers, and the Lyndes, and the Saltonstalls, +and the Hales. It is so in the course of a hundred or two years, when +emigration does not come in to disturb the purity of the blood. + +The little girl really began to improve. Her hair was taking on a +brighter tint and in the warm weather the uneven ends curled about her +forehead in dainty rings, her complexion was many shades fairer, her +cheeks rounded out, and her chin began to show the cleft in it. She was +more like her olden self, quite merry at times. + +The summer went on as usual. Gardening, berry-picking, and she helped +with the gooseberries, the briery vines she did not like. There were +jars of jam and preserves, rose leaves to gather, and all the mornings +were crowded full. Often in the afternoon she went up in the garret to +see Miss Eunice spin--sometimes on the big wheel, at others with flax on +the small wheel. She liked the whirring sound, and it was a mystery to +her how the thread came out so fine and even. + +Elizabeth had taken the white quilt out of its wrappings, it did not get +finished the summer before. A neighbor had let her copy a new pattern +for the border that had come from New York. And she heard there had +been imported white woven quilts with wonderful figures in them. + +"Then one wouldn't have to quilt any more. Shan't you be glad, Cousin +Elizabeth?" + +"Glad!" She gave a kind of snort and pushed the needle into her finger, +and had to stop lest a drop of blood might mar the whiteness. "Well, I'm +not as lazy as that comes to, and I don't see how they can put much +beauty in them. You can change blue and white and show a pattern, but +where it is all white! Why, you couldn't tell it from a tablecloth." + +It was warm up in the garret, and what with drying herbs, and the sun +pouring on the shingles, there was a rather close, peculiar air. Cynthia +stood by the open window, where the sweet summer wind went by, laden +with the fragrance of newly cut grasses and the silk of the corn that +was just tasselling out. The hills rose up, tree-crowned; white clouds +floated by overhead, and out beyond was the great ocean that led to +other countries--to India she thought of so often. + +Oh, how the birds sang! She was so sorry Cousin Eunice had to sit and +spin, when there was such a beautiful world all around, and Cousin +Elizabeth pricked her fingers quilting. She heard her sigh, but she did +not dare look around. She had that nice sense of delicacy, rather +unusual in a child. But then she wasn't an everyday child. + +"Cynthia," called Rachel from the foot of the stairs, "don't you want to +go out for a walk? They've been unloading the _Mingo_, and they have a +store of new things at the Merrits'." + +That was the great East India emporium. + +"Oh, yes!" She skipped across the floor and ran downstairs lightly. + +"That child's like a whirlwind," exclaimed Elizabeth crossly. + +"But we ought to be glad she's so much better. I was really afraid in +the spring we wouldn't have her long." + +"Oh, the Leverett stock is tough." + +"But her mother died young." + +"Of that horrid India fever. No, I didn't truly think she would die. If +she had, I wonder where all the money would go? Chilian is awful +close-mouthed about it. But it would have to go somewhere. 'Tisn't at +all likely he'd leave word for it to be thrown back in the sea." + +"No; oh, no." + +"There's some talk about missionaries going out to try to convert the +heathen. But Giles thinks it would cost more than it would amount to. +Giles has got way off; seems to me religion's dying out since they've +begun to preach easy ways of getting to heaven and letting the bars down +here and there. There's no struggle and sense of conviction nowadays; +you just take it up as a business. And that child talks about heaven as +if she'd had a glimpse of it and saw her father and mother there. Letty +Orne was a church member in her younger days, but I don't believe the +captain ever was. And they who don't repent will surely perish." + +Eunice sighed. She could never get used to the thought that thousands of +souls were brought into the world to perish eternally. + +Cynthia tied on her Leghorn hat. It did have some black ribbon on it, +and the strings were passed under her chin and tied at one side. That +and her silken gown gave her a quaint appearance, rather striking as +well. + +They walked down the street and turned corners. There was quite a +procession of ladies bound for the same place. If they had been all +buyers, Mr. Merrit would have made quite a fortune. But he was glad to +have them come. They would describe the stock to their neighbors, and +perhaps decide on what they wanted for themselves. + +"Ah, Miss Winn!" exclaimed a pleasant-faced woman. "And that is Captain +Leverett's little girl? Why, she looks as if she was quite well again. +We heard of her being so poorly. I suppose the shock of her father's +death was dreadful! Poor little thing! And she's to be quite an heiress, +I heard. What are they going to do with her? Won't she be sent to Boston +to school?" + +"Oh, I think not. Mr. Leverett has been teaching her a little." + +They had fairly to elbow their way in. Long counters were piled with +goods. Silks, laces, sheerest of muslins embroidered beautifully, lace +wraps, India shawls, jewelry, caps, collars, handkerchiefs, stockings, +slippers that were dainty enough for a Cinderella. + +And all down one side were ranged tables, and jars, and vases, and +articles one could hardly find a name for. Such exquisite carving, such +odd figures painted and embroidered on silk, birds the like of which +were never seen on land or sea, dragons that flew, and crawled, and +climbed trees, and disported themselves on waves. + +"Oh, it looks like home," cried Cynthia, for the moment forgetting +herself. And she kept sauntering round among the beautiful things, her +heart growing strangely light, and her pulses throbbing with a sort of +joy. + +She was almost hidden by a great pile of tapestry. The Indians had found +some secrets of beauty as well as France, if they did make it with +infinite pains. And this was made with the little hand-looms and joined +together so neatly and the colors blended so harmoniously that it was +like a dream. Only the little girl did not like the dragons and strange +animals. She had never seen any real ones like them. They were in the +stories Nalla used to tell. + +Then some one else spoke to Miss Winn. "Is your little charge here?" she +asked. "I'm quite anxious to see her. I've called twice on the +Leveretts, and really asked for her once when they said she was quite +ill. But I saw her out in the carriage with--isn't it her uncle? No? +And she's to be very well to do, I've heard. The idea of the Leverett +women undertaking to bring up a child! They're good as gold and some of +the best housekeepers in Salem, but I dare say they'll teach her to knit +stockings, and make bedquilts, and braid rag mats, and do fifty-year-old +things--make a regular little Puritan of her. I knew her mother quite +well before she was married. Doesn't seem as if we were near of an age +and went to school together. But some of the Ornes married in our line. +And I was married when I was seventeen, and now I'm a grandmother. How +the years do fly on! And she had to die out in that heathen land; he +too. Wasn't it odd about sending her here beforehand? I do want to see +her." + +"She is somewhere about, interested in all these foreign things." Miss +Winn was not quite sure of the chattering woman. She had learned that +the Leverett ladies were exclusive, whether from inclination or lack of +time. They asked their minister and a few old family friends in to tea +on rare occasions, and then it was cooking and baking and cleaning up +the choice old silver and dusting and polishing, and the next day +clearing up. Everything out of the routine made so much extra work. +Among the few English-speaking people in India there had been a sort of +free and easy sociability. + +Cynthia meanwhile had slipped around the end of the counter and came up +to them. She wanted to see the woman who had been to school with her +mother. Then her mother was a little girl, perhaps no older than she. +Did she like it? Cynthia wondered. + +"This is Captain Leverett's little daughter," Rachel announced rather +stiffly. + +"My--but you don't favor your mother at all. I'm Mrs. Turner and I knew +her off and on. We lived about thirty miles above here. Then her folks +died and she went to Boston, but she used to be at the Leveretts' a good +deal. I married and came here. I'm living up North River way and have a +house full of children--like steps--and one grandchild, and I'm just on +the eve of thirty-seven. I've one little girl about your age, but she's +ever so much bigger. I'd like you to be friends with her. The next older +is a girl, too. Why, you'd have real nice times if the old aunties were +willing. Do they keep her strict? And she's going to be a considerable +heiress, I heard. I wonder where her eyes came from? They're not +Leverett eyes, and her mother's were a clear blue, real china blue, but +then there's different blues in china," and she laughed. "Sad about the +captain, wasn't it? He should have lived to enjoy his fortune, and now +his little girl will have it all. I must come and scrape acquaintance +for the sake of my girls. You'd like them, I know, they're full of fun. +We're not strait-laced people--that's going out of date." + +Then she passed on. They wandered about a little more among the vases +and jars and the paintings on silk. The air was heavy with sandalwood, +and attar of rose, and incense. The fragrance seemed never to die out of +those old things that became family heirlooms. + +"Come," Rachel said, taking her by the hand. It was quite late in the +afternoon now, and the shadows of everything were growing longer. She +could not understand why it was at first, but now she knew. And the sun +would be round there in Asia presently. In her secret heart she still +believed the sun went round and the earth stood still, for in the +movement people _must_ slip off. But then what held it in the air? +Cousin Chilian had a globe, but you see there was a strong wire through +the middle, fastened to the frame at both ends. Perhaps the earth was +fastened somewhere! She liked to make it revolve on its axis, and in +imagination she crossed the oceans, and seas, and capes, and found her +father again. + +The stage had just come in. They paused on the corner, waiting for +Cousin Chilian. Some one was with him--yes, it was Cousin Giles +Leverett. + +"Well, little woman," he began, "so I find you out here meandering +round, and so much improved that I hardly know you. We were afraid in +the winter you were going to slip away and leave all this fortune behind +you, never having had a bit of good of it. But you look now as if you +had taken a new lease. And you are positively growing!" + +Chilian smiled at the remark. He had begun to think so himself. And she +looked so pretty just now with the pink in her cheeks and the soft +tendrils of hair about her forehead, the eager, luminous eyes. He +reached out and took her hand. + +"Have you been inspecting old Salem, and did you find any queer things?" +Cousin Giles asked. + +"Oh, there was a great shipload of goods from India and it seemed almost +as if you were walking through the booths at home, only there were no +natives and no beggars or holy men----" + +"Tut! tut! child; they are not holy men who are too lazy to move and +waiting for other people to fill their mouths. If they were here we'd +make them work or they'd have to starve. They're talking about +missionaries being sent out to convert them. I heard a rousing sermon on +Sunday, but it didn't loosen my purse-strings. Your greatest missionary +is work, good hard labor, clearing up and planting. Suppose those old +_Mayflower_ people had sat down and held out their hands for alms. Do +you suppose our Indians would have filled 'em with their corn, and fish, +and game? Not much. They'd tied 'em to a tree and set fire to 'em." When +Cousin Giles was excited he made elisions of speech rather unusual for a +Boston man. "They went to work and cut down trees, and built houses, and +raised farm and garden truck, and made shoes and clothes, and roads and +bridges, and built cities and towns, and shamed those countries +thousands of years old. And now we're trying to help them by bringing +over their goods and selling them." + +"And creating extravagance, Elizabeth would say," returned Chilian, with +a sort of humorous smile. + +"Oh, you might as well keep the money going as to hoard it up in an old +stocking, so long as it is honestly yours. We're getting to be quite a +notable country, Chilian Leverett." + +They turned into Derby Street, and Cousin Giles paused to survey the +garden. + +"You've lots of things to enjoy here," he said. "I don't know but it's a +sensible thing to take the good of what you have as you go along. And +little Miss here will have enough without your adding to the store. You +men of Salem ought to begin to do some big things--build a college." + +"Oh, I think our young men would rather go to Harvard. We don't want to +rival you. We shall be the biggest New England seaport. We'll divide up +the glories." + +Elizabeth was so taken by surprise that she was rather cross. She liked +things planned beforehand. Now the tablecloth must come off. This one +had been on since Sunday and it had two darns in it. And the old silver +must come out. + +"I don't believe Cousin Giles would ever notice," Eunice said. "And I do +think the china prettier than that old silver." + +"Well, it has the crown mark on it and the Leveretts owned it before +they came from England. Giles' folks had some of it, too, but the Lord +only knows what he's done with his. I dare say servants have made way +with it, or banged it out of shape. Anybody can have china. Come, do be +spry, Eunice." + +Cynthia went upstairs and had her hair brushed and a clean apron put on, +though the other was not soiled. + +"Rachel, what is an heiress?" she asked. + +"Why--some one, a woman, who inherits a good deal of money." + +"Does she have to wait until she is a woman?" + +"Why, no. Yes, in a way, too. She can have the money spent upon her, but +she can't have it herself until she is twenty-one." + +Cynthia wondered how it would seem to go and spend money, buy ever so +many things. But she really couldn't think of anything she wanted, +unless it was a house of her very own, and books, and pretty pictures, +not portraits of old-fashioned men and women. And a pony and a dainty +chaise. But then--she was such a little girl, and she wouldn't want to +leave Cousin Chilian. + +Elizabeth made delicious cream shortcake for supper. Cousin Giles said +everything tasted better up here, perhaps it was the clear salt water. +There were so many fresh ponds and streams around Boston. But there were +big plans for drainage and for docking out. Then Elizabeth was such a +fine cook. + +The two men sat out on the stoop in the summer moonlight and Cynthia +thought Cousin Giles really quarrelled trying to establish the +superiority of Boston. Then they talked about investments and Captain +Leverett, and Giles said, "Cynthia will be one of the richest women of +Salem. Chilian, you'll have to look sharp that some schemer doesn't +marry her for her money." + +"You must come to bed, Cynthia," declared Rachel. Through the open +window they could hear Cousin Giles' voice plainly. + +The men went the next morning to consider an investment Chilian had in +view. It had been thought best to divide the sums coming in between +Salem and Boston. Then they walked about and saw the improvements, the +new docks being built to accommodate the shipping, the great fleet of +boats, the busy ship-yard, the hurrying to and fro everywhere. It was +not merely finery, but spices and articles used in the arts. Gum copal +was brought from Zanzibar. Indigo came in, though they were trying to +raise that at the South. + +And when Giles saw the new streets and fine houses, and Mr. Derby's, +that was to cost eighty thousand dollars, he did open his eyes in +surprise. Though he said rather grudgingly: + +"It's a shame for one little girl to have all that money. There should +have been three or four children. Fifty years ago the Leveretts had such +big families they bid fair to overrun the earth, and now they've +dwindled down to next to nothing. Chilian, why don't you marry?" + +"The same to yourself. Are you clinging to any old memory?" + +"Well, not just that. I don't seem to have time. Now you are a fellow of +leisure. Get about it, man, and hunt up a wife." + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A NEW DEPARTURE + + +Cynthia Leverett was making great improvement in every respect. She was +no longer the thin, wan little thing that had come from India. She had +outgrown her clothes, which was a good sign, Eunice said. + +Elizabeth made a stand for good wearing ginghams and plain cloths for +winter. + +"There's that gray cloth of mine that's too nice to hack around for +every day. I could have it dyed, I suppose, but I've two nice black +stuff dresses beside my silk, and that other one Chilian gave me that +must have cost a sight of money; it's thick enough to almost stand +alone. I can't bear those sleazy stuffs that come from India. But I've +wished more than once that I had the money it cost, out at interest. And +the cloth----" + +"It isn't a very pretty color," ventured Eunice timidly. + +"What does that matter for a child? It won't show dirt easily. And it is +settled that she is going to school, I'm thankful to say." + +The dress in question was not a clear, pretty gray, but had an ugly +yellow tint. + +"She certainly is rich enough to buy her own clothes, or have them +bought for her. I'd dip that dress over a good deal darker brown. You +know Chilian didn't like it for you, and he will not for her." + +Eunice was amazed at her own protest. The child had always been prettily +attired. And more attention was being paid to children's clothes she +noticed in church on Sunday, and after she had indulged in such sinful +wanderings, she read the chapter in Isaiah where the prophet denounced +the "round tires like the moon, the bonnets and the head bands, the +mantles, and wimples, and crisping pins, and changeable suits of +apparel," and other vanities, and predicted dire punishments for them. + +Mrs. Turner had called according to her proposal. She brought her little +daughter Arabella, commonly called Bella. Cousin Chilian was out in the +garden with Cynthia, and received her with his usual kindly cordiality, +inviting them to walk into the house. The parlor shutters were tightly +closed, and Mrs. Turner abhorred state parlors. Hers was always open, +for guests were no rarity. + +"Why can't we sit out here a spell? It is so delightful to have this +garden in view. And your clematis is a perfect show. Then let the +children run around and get acquainted. How are the ladies?" + +She seated herself on the bench at the side of the porch. + +"I will call them," he said. "But--hadn't you better walk in?" + +"Oh, we can't stay very long. I've been waiting for the ladies to return +my last call, but we were down in this vicinity, so I stopped. You see, +I don't always stand on ceremony. And we have been so interested in your +little girl. I saw her in Merrit's with Miss Winn." + +He summoned the ladies, and then he returned to the guests. The children +were both down the path--Bella talking and gesticulating, and Cynthia +laughing. + +Mrs. Turner was in nowise formal. She talked of Mr. Turner's +business--he was a shipbuilder--of the rapid strides Salem was making; +indeed one would hardly know it for old Salem of the witch days. And +people's ideas had broadened out so, softened from their rigidity, +"though some of the old folks are thinking the very trade we are so +proud of is going to ruin our character and morals, and fill us with +pride and vanity. But I say to Mr. Turner the people did their hard work +and bore their deprivations bravely all through the Revolution, and we +can't go back and make their lot easier by depriving ourselves of +comforts, or even pleasures." + +There might be some casuistry in that, but there was truth as well. + +Then he asked if she knew of any nice schools for girls. Where did hers +go? + +"Oh, to Madam Torrey's. That's up Church Street. Maybe it would be too +far in bad weather, though our girls don't mind it. Alice is thirteen, +but she's been there since she was eight, and Bella has been going these +two years. The boys are at the Bertram School, and your neighbor Bentley +Upham goes there. He's a nice boy. But Madam Torrey is a fine woman. She +has an assistant, and a woman comes in to teach the French class. +Then--I don't suppose everybody will approve of this, but there is going +to be a dancing-class out of school hours, yet no one is compelled to +send their children to that. There's fine needlework, too, and fancy +knitting, indeed about all that it is necessary for a girl to know. And +the children are all from good families; that is quite an important +point." + +"I think I must walk over and see her." + +"Do. I am sure you will be pleased. The walk will be the only objection. +Isn't she delicate?" + +"She wasn't well last winter. She took a cold. She was not used to our +bleak winters. And there was her father's death. She had counted so much +on his return." + +"It was very sad. She looks well now." + +Then the ladies made their appearance. Elizabeth apologized for Chilian +not asking her into the parlor. "It looked inhospitable." + +"It was my fault. The stoop was so tempting. A shady porch in the +afternoon is a luxury. We take our sewing out there; that is, Alice and +I, and sometimes the guests. How lovely your vines are! And your garden +is a regular show place, quite worth coming to see if there were no +other charm. And, Miss Leverett, I hear you have been making the most +beautiful white quilt there is in Salem." + +"Oh, no. But as nice as any. And it was a sight of work. I don't know as +I'd do it again. I've no chick or child to leave it to." + +"May I come over some day and see it? Not that I shall do anything of +the kind. With four big boys to mend for and the two girls, I have my +hands full." + +Then they talked about putting up fruit and making jellies, and Mrs. +Turner said she must go over to the Uphams. She heard that Polly was +getting to be such a nice, smart girl, and had worked the bottom of her +white frock and a round cape to match. Then she called Bella. + +"Oh, can't I go over with them?" pleaded Cynthia. + +Cousin Chilian nodded. Elizabeth rose stiffly and went in. Eunice pulled +out her knitting. It was so lovely here. There were the warmth and +perfume of summer and the rich fragrance of ripening fruits and grass +mown for feed, not snipped with a lawn-mower, such things had not been +heard of even in the rapidly improving Salem. + +"There are some countries where people live out of doors nearly all the +time," began Eunice reflectively. "Well, they do a good deal in India. +But I think this is in Europe. And this is so lovely, so restful. But +I'm afraid you have affronted Elizabeth by not insisting Mrs. Turner +should walk into the parlor. Though really--we had not returned her last +call. I do wish Elizabeth could find some time to get out. I don't see +why there should be so much work." + +"Couldn't you have some one to help?" + +"Well, it isn't just the cooking and kitchenwork. And no one could suit +her there. She's up in that old garret toiling, and moiling, and packing +away enough things to furnish an inn. We shall never want them. And +there's your mother's, and some of your grandmother's, blankets." + +"The New England thrift is rather too thrifty sometimes," he commented +dryly. + +Cynthia staid after Mrs. Turner made her adieus. Indeed, as it was +nearing supper-time, he walked over for her. She and Betty were in the +wide-seated swing and Ben was swinging them so high that Betty, used as +she was to it, gave now and then little squeals. Chilian held up his +hand and Ben let the "cat die," which meant the swing stopping of +itself. + +"Oh, Mr. Leverett, can't Cynthy stay to tea? I'll run and ask mother." + +"Not to-day. She had better come home now." + +"Oh, dear!" cried Bentley disappointedly. + +"Yes, I had better go. And I've had such a lovely time. Cousin Chilian, +can't I come over again?" + +How pretty she looked with her shining eyes, her rosy cheeks, and her +entreating lips! What would she coax out of men as she grew older! + +"Oh, yes; any time they want you." + +"Well, we'd like her every day!" cried Ben eagerly. "And isn't it +splendid that she's grown so well and strong, and can run and play, and +have good out-of-doors times? Though I used to like it in the winter up +in your room, and Mr. Price said he never knew a boy to improve so in +Latin." + +Bentley made a graceful bow to Mr. Leverett. + +"Oh," said Cynthia, skipping along in exuberant joy, "children are nice, +aren't they? You can't have much fun alone by yourself, and the days are +so long when you go in to Boston." + +"I wonder if you would like to try school again?" + +"Yes, I think I would;" after a pause. "You see," with a gravity that +sat oddly upon her, "I'm not so afraid as I was, and I have more sense. +And I know things more evenly than I did. I can write now quite well, +and I know most of the tables, though division does bother me. And I can +spell all but the very difficult words. I don't think any one would +laugh at me now." + +"No, they wouldn't," he answered decisively. + +"I shouldn't like little boys, but I wouldn't mind them as big as +Bentley. And, oh, I wish we had a swing. And they have a real sailors' +hammock, such as they have on shipboard. It's delightful under the +trees." + +"I think we can manage that." + +"Well, if your head isn't tousled!" cried Elizabeth. "It looks like a +brush heap. Get it fixed, for supper is all ready. Why didn't you stay?" +the last ironically. + +"Cousin Chilian thought I had better not. They did want me to." + +"Are you sure they _wanted_ you to?" + +"Why, yes," she answered in ignorance of the sarcasm. + +She walked up and down the garden path with Cousin Chilian and asked +about the school, was glad when she found Bella and her sister Alice +went there. Now and then she gave two or three skips and pulled on the +hand she held so tightly. He had never seen her in quite such glee, and +how charming she was! + +"Chilian, bring that child in out of the dew. Next thing she'll be in +for a winter's cold," said the severe voice. + +The interview with Madam Torrey was very satisfactory. Chilian asked +Miss Winn to go out and buy what was needed and get it made. They went +over to Mrs. Turner's one day and took the school in on their way. + +"When it rains Silas can take you and come for you. I think the walk +will not tire you out." + +"Oh, no; I don't get tired out now." + +It was Miss Winn's place to look after the child, of course, but +Elizabeth felt in some way defrauded. She wished Cynthia had been poor +and dependent upon them. Then she would stand a chance to be brought up +in a useful manner. + +Chilian took her to school the first morning. Miss Winn was to come for +her. She had been rather shy at first. But Bella Turner told the girls +about her, how she had been born in Salem, and gone to Calcutta when +only a few months old, come and gone again in her father's ship, and he +was Captain Leverett, and then returned to America. He was to come +afterward, but he had died. And Mr. Chilian Leverett, who was something +in Harvard College, was her guardian. And she was to have ever so much +money when she was a young lady. + +Any other child might have been spoiled by the attentions lavished upon +her. The girls thought her curly hair so pretty, and her hands were so +small, with their dainty, tapering fingers. Then she found one of the +girls, Lois Brinsmaid, lived in Central Avenue, so there was no further +question of troubling any one. Cousin Chilian had given her a good +foundation for study and she was eager for knowledge of all sorts, +except that of the needle. + +Then autumn began to merge into winter and there were storms and bleak +winds, and some days she staid at home. She caught light colds, but +Chilian and Miss Winn were very watchful. + +She went to the Turners one afternoon and staid to tea, and the big boys +hovered about her like bees. She was not forward or aggressive, but +there was a sort of charming sweetness about her. When she raised her +lovely eyes they seemed to appeal to every heart, though they never went +very far with Cousin Elizabeth. + +One day she came home and found the house in a great state of +excitement. Elizabeth had started to go down into the cellar with both +hands full. She had been a little dizzy for several days, and meant to +take a dose of herb tea, boneset being her great stand-by, when she +could find time. Whether it was the vertigo, or she slipped, she lay +there unconscious, and they sent for Doctor Prescott. + +Silas and the doctor carried her upstairs, and the latter brought her +out of the faint. But when she started to stand up, she toppled over and +fainted again. + +"There's something quite serious. Let us carry her up to her room, and +you women undress her. Her legs are sound, so the trouble is higher up." + +Then he found her hip was broken, a bad thing at any time of life, but +at her age doubly so. And he sent for Doctor Lapham to help him set it. +It was very bad. They were still there when Chilian came home. + +"I'm afraid she's laid up for a year or so;" and the doctor shook his +head ominously. + +"Do your very best for her," besought Chilian. + +He said to Eunice, "Now you must have some one. You can't carry on the +house alone." + +"If it is the same to you, Chilian, I'd rather have a nurse. There's +Mother Taft, who is good and strong, and used to nursing. She's willing +to help about a little, too." + +"Just as you think best. I want every care taken of her." + +For a month it was a very serious matter. They thought the spine was +somewhat injured as well. And Elizabeth knew they could never get on +without her. + +"I expect I shall find the house in such a state when I do get about, it +will take me all summer to right it. You never were as thorough as I +could wish, Eunice." + +Miss Winn begged that she might be of service. She had so little to do, +or to think about, that time hung heavy on her hands, now that Cynthia +was in school. For then school hours were from nine to five. And the +child was getting so handy caring for herself. She curled her hair and +put on her clothes, brought her shoes down every evening for Silas to +black, and sometimes wiped the tea dishes while Miss Winn washed them. +Somehow there didn't seem so much work to do. Eunice didn't always have +two kinds of cake for supper, nor a great shelf full of pies for Silas +to take home. There was plenty of everything and no one complained. + +They found Mother Taft invaluable. She was about the average height, and +had long arms, and strength according. Then she had a most excellent +way with her. When Elizabeth groaned that they never could get on +without her, and she must be up and about before everything went to +"wrack and ruin," Mother Taft said: + +"The kitchen looks like a new pin. There's no signs of ruin that I can +see. Meals are good, cake fine, house clean. When you get downstairs +you'll think you haven't been out of the harness more'n a week." + +"A likely story," Elizabeth moaned. + +Cynthia went through March very successfully, but with the first warm +spell in April she caught a cold and coughed, and Chilian was almost +wild about her, his nerves having been worn somewhat by Elizabeth's +mishap. But after ten days or so she came around all right and was eager +for school again. + +She was sitting in her old place by the window late one afternoon and he +had been reading some poems to her--a volume lately come from England. + +"Cousin Chilian," she said, "will you tell me what true relation we +are?" + +"Why, what has put that in your head?" + +"I want to know." She said it persuasively. + +"Well, it isn't very near after all. My father and yours were cousins. +My father was the son of the oldest brother, your father the son of the +youngest, that stretched them quite far apart. When I wasn't much more +than a baby Anthony came to live with us, and was like an elder brother +to me. Father was very fond of him. But he would go to sea and he made +a fine sailor and captain. Then he was married from here, and you were +born here." + +"The girls sometimes say, 'your uncle.' I wonder if you would like to +have me call you uncle?" + +Something in him protested. He could not tell what it was, unless an odd +feeling that it made him seem older. He wished he were ten years +younger, and he could give no reason for that either. + +"I think I like the 'cousin' best;" after some deliberation. + +"And it is so lovely to be dear to some one, very dear. I like Rachel, +she's been almost a mother to me, and I like Cousin Eunice for her sweet +ways. But I've no one of my very own, and so--I'm very glad to be dear +to you. It is like a ship being anchored to something safe and strong." + +She came and put her arms about his neck and kissed him. He drew her +down on his knee. She was her mother's child, and her mother had been +dear to him, his first love, his only love so far. + +Oh, how would the garden get made and the house cleaned, the blankets +and the winter clothing aired and put away, those in use washed? Eunice +and Miss Winn went up in the garret one day and swept and dusted, not +giving a whole week to it. + +"Now," said Mother Taft, "I'm going to take a holiday off. I'm tired of +puttering round in the sick room, and she's so much better now that she +doesn't keep one on the jump. And I'm going to wash them there blankets +and you can pack them away, so there'll be one thing less to worry +about." + +"But Silas' wife would come and do it. And a holiday! Why don't you go +off somewhere----" + +"I want to do it." + +And do it she did. Some way the house did get cleaned. "After a +fashion," Elizabeth said. And the garden was made. Chilian and Eunice +trimmed up roses. Cynthia and Miss Winn planted seeds. There were always +some things that wintered over--sweet Williams, lilies of various sorts, +pinks, laurels, some spiraeas, snowball and syringas, hosts of lilacs +that made a fragrant hedge. Cynthia thought it had never been so lovely +before. She wore a nosegay at her throat, and in her belt just a few; +she had the fine taste that never overloaded. She and Cousin Chilian +used to walk up and down the fragrant paths after supper and no one +fretted at them about the dew. Sometimes Rachel or Eunice would bring +out a dainty scarf. And how many things they found to talk about. She +loved to dwell on the times with her father, and it seemed as if she +remembered a great deal more about her mother than she did at first, but +she never imagined it was Cousin Chilian's memory that helped out hers. + +She had enjoyed the school very much. There were no high up "isms" or +"ologies" for girls in those days. She learned about her own country, +for already there were some histories written, and the causes that led +to the war. Some of the girls had grandmothers who had lived through +those exciting years, and made the relation of incidents much more +interesting than any dry written account that was mostly dates and +names. What heroes they had been! And the old _Mayflower_ story and John +Alden, and others who were to inspire a poet's pen. + +Then there was the dread story of the witchcraft that had led Salem +astray. Cousin Chilian would never have it mentioned, and had taken away +several books he did not want her to see. But the girls had gone to some +of the old places, where witches had been taken from their homes and +cast into jail, the Court House where they had been tried, and Gallows +Hill, that most people shunned even now. + +One rainy evening, after her lessons had been studied, Cynthia went +downstairs. Rachel had been fomenting her face for the toothache and was +lying down. Cousin Chilian had gone to a town-meeting, and the house +seemed so still that she almost believed she might see the ghost or +witch of the stories she had heard. No one was in the sitting-room, or +the kitchen proper, but she heard voices in what was called the summer +kitchen, a roughly constructed place with a stone chimney and a great +swinging crane. Here they did much of the autumn work, for Elizabeth was +quite a stickler for having a common place to save something nicer. + +Mother Taft always smoked a pipe of tobacco in the evening. "It soothed +her," she said, after her tussle of fixing her patient for the night, +"and made her sleep better." + +"And it's my opinion if Miss 'Lisbeth could just have a good smoke at +night 'twould do her more good than the doctor's powders." + +"Why, Cynthy!" Cousin Eunice exclaimed. + +"I was lonesome. Rachel's gone to sleep, Cousin Eunice--were there such +things as witches over a hundred years ago?" + +Eunice glanced at Mother Taft. Witchcraft was a tabooed subject, yet it +lingered in more than one imaginative mind, though few would confess a +belief in it. + +"Well, people may talk as they like, but there's many queer things in +the world. Now there's that falling sickness, as they call it. Jabez +Green has two children that roll on the floor, and froth at the mouth, +and their eyes bulge most out of their heads. They're lacking, we all +know. But when they come out of the fit they tell queer things that they +saw, and I do suppose it was that way then. They do act as if they were +bewitched." + +We know this misfortune now as epilepsy, but medical science in the +earlier century did not understand that, nor incipient insanity. + +"It was very strange," said Eunice rather awesomely. "And Mr. Parris +was a minister and a good man, yet it broke out in his family." + +"But he had them slaves, and in their own land black people do awful +things to each other. But it was strange; again, after his wife was +accused, Governor Phipps ordered there should be no more punished and +all set free, and then the thing stopped." + +"And it wasn't real witchcraft?" said Cynthia. + +"Well, I wouldn't undertake to say. There were witches in Bible times +and they kept themselves mighty close, for they were not to be allowed +to live. And Saul had a hard time getting anything out of the witch of +Endor, you know, Miss Eunice." + +Eunice nodded. They were trenching on forbidden ground. + +"My grandmother believed in them and she was a good God-fearing woman, +too. You see what made it worse for Salem was their sending so many here +for trial from the places round. Grandfather lived way up above +Topsfield, had a farm there and 'twas woods all around. No one troubled +them then, but afterward--well, they'd cleared the woods and built a +road and new houses were put up around, for some people were glad enough +to get out of Salem. There was a woman named Martha Goodno, who had been +in prison, and people were shy of her. Grandmother had two cows, and +folks turned them out in the woods then. One of them went in Martha's +garden, but she spied her out and drove her off before much damage was +done. The fence had been broken down and she laid it to the cow, but +people said it had been down for days. Well, something got the matter +with the cow. She gave good rich milk and mother saved it for butter. +But when she churned there came queer streaks in it that looked like +blood. She doctored the cow, although it seemed well enough. One day a +neighbor was in and the same thing happened. 'Throw some in the fire,' +said the neighbor, 'and if you hear of any one being burned you'll know +who is the witch.' So grandmother threw two dippers full in the fire and +she said it made an awful smell. The rest she dumped out of doors, she +wouldn't feed it to the pigs. About an hour afterward another neighbor +came in. Grandmother made a salve that was splendid for burns and cuts. +'Mis' Denfield,' she says, 'won't you come over to Martha Goodno's and +bring your pot of salve. She's burned herself dreadfully drawin' the +coals out of the oven, set her dress on fire just at the waist.' So +mother went over and found it was a pretty bad, sure enough burn, and +she was groaning just fit to die. Mother spread a piece of linen and +laid it on and left her some salve. 'What did I tell you?' says mother's +neighbor, and they nodded their heads. But the queer thing was that +after that the cow was all right and she never had any more trouble. + +"After she was well she took a spite against another neighbor, who used +to spin flax and sell the thread. Then her flax took to cutting up +queer, and would break off, and turn yellow, and trouble her dreadfully. +Mother was there one afternoon when it bothered so. 'Just throw a +handful in the fire,' says mother. 'Fire's purifying;' and she did. They +sent to mother again for salve, for Martha had scalded her right hand. +Then the folks talked it over and a letter was written and tucked under +her door, warning her to move, and the next-door man bought the place. +I've heard grandmother tell this over--she lived to be ninety, and she +was a good Christian woman, and she never added nor took away one iota. +There, I oughtn't have told all this before the child; she's white as a +ghost." + +"You must go to bed this minute," exclaimed Eunice. "I'll go up with +you." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE VOICE OF A ROSE + + +There were some marvellous ghost stories in those days, and haunted +houses as well. The society of Psychical Research would have found many +queer things if it had existed at that time. The sailors spun strange +yarns over the power we call telepathy now. Many of the families had a +retired captain or disabled first mate, or supercargo, who had seen +mysterious appearances and heard warning voices. And it recalled to the +little girl some of the stories she had heard in India that she pieced +out of vague fragments. Maybe there were curious influences no one could +explain. + +Elizabeth improved a little. She had been moved from cot to bed, but now +they packed her in a big chair and pushed her over to the window where +she could see the vegetable garden and the chicken yard. They had not +had very good luck at the hatching this season. The hens had missed +Elizabeth's motherly care. She had trained them to an amusing habit of +obedience, and the little chickens were her delight. Was she never to be +out among them again? + +One day Cynthia came up with two roses in a glass, most exquisite ones +at that. + +"Cousin Elizabeth," she began, "do you remember the little rosebush you +put in my garden last summer? We thought it would die. It came out +beautifully in the spring and these are the first roses that bloomed. I +thought you ought to have them. Are you never going to get well enough +to walk around the garden? Cousin Eunice has kept it so nice." + +Elizabeth Leverett's heart was touched and she swallowed over a lump in +her throat. She had taken up the rose from a place where it had been +smothered with those of larger growth and given it to the child who had +begged for "a garden of her very own." She had not supposed it would +live. And that Cynthia should bring her the firstfruits! + +"I'm obliged to you," she returned huskily. "They are very beautiful." +And she wondered the child had not given them to Chilian. + +"I wish you liked a few flowers every day," the little girl said +wistfully. + +"Well--I might;" reluctantly. + +"They are so lovely. The world is so beautiful. It's very hard to be ill +in summer, in winter one wouldn't mind it so much. But I am glad you can +sit up." + +Was it tears that Elizabeth winked away? + +She had many serious thoughts through these months of helplessness. She +had always measured everything by the strict line of duty, of +usefulness. There was a virtue in enduring hardness as a good soldier, +and the harder it was the more virtue it held in it. Her room was plain, +almost to bareness. There had been a faded patchwork top quilt at first, +until Mother Taft insisted upon having something nicer. But it had to be +folded up carefully at sundown, when the likelihood of calls was over. +And she did put one of the new rugs on the floor. + +"That's beginning to go," Mrs. Taft said. "Some one will catch their +foot in it and have a bad fall." + +"It could be mended, I suppose." + +"Yes. There's a new one needed in the kitchen. I'll sew it up for that. +Land sakes! you've got enough in this house to last ten lifetimes!" + +Friends came in to sit with her and brought their work. Sometimes she +sewed a little, but drawing out her needle hurt her back after a while. +She read her Bible and Baxter's "Saints' Rest" And she wondered a little +what the other world would be like. She had never thought of heaven with +joy--there was the judgment first. And now that she could begin to sit +up it did prefigure recovery. + +Most schools had kept open all the year round, but now the higher ones +were giving a month's vacation. Altogether it had been a happy year to +Cynthia. She had really been adored at school. Her frocks were admired, +she let the girls curl her hair, usually she wore it tied in a bunch +behind--not unlike the queue. Then she had some rings that she coaxed +Rachel to let her wear, it was such a pleasure to lend them to the +girls. She was learning what was considered necessary for a girl in +those days; a good deal more with Cousin Chilian. She kept her love for +the Latin and often read to him. She began to draw and paint flowers, +she joined the dancing-class, which was a delight to her; but Chilian +suggested she should not mention it to Elizabeth. She pirouetted up and +down the path like a fairy, and he loved to watch her. + +There had been parties among the girls, but he would rather not have her +go, it was a bad thing for children to be up so late. She went to take +tea now and then. The Turners were very fond of her and the Uphams +wanted her once a week. She wondered if she might ever ask any one to +tea. + +Then they planned what they would do in this wonderful vacation. Go off +for day's rides, take sails up and down, there were so many places. She +was brimming over with joy. + +Chilian was called up in the night by Mother Taft. + +"She's had a stroke. And she seemed so smart yesterday. She even laughed +over some school stories Cynthia told. That child's brought her flowers +every morning, and she's softened so much to her. I really think she's +been getting religion, as one may say, and being prepared." + +Chilian heard the stertorous breathing. The eyes were half open and +rolled up, her face was drawn. He took the hand. It was cold and heavy. + +"I'll go for the doctor. I think the end has come." + +Dr. Prescott said the same thing, adding with a slow turn of the head, +"She will not last long." + +What should he do with Cynthia? He remembered how careful her father had +been to shield her. She must not see Elizabeth, she must not confront +death in this awesome fashion. + +When they came to breakfast he said: + +"Cynthia, wouldn't you like to go in to Boston with me this morning?" + +"Oh, it would be splendid!" She clapped her hands in delight. + +"Well, Rachel must get you ready. We will take the stage. It goes early +now." + +Of course, she was full of excitement. It had been planned as one of the +month's outings, but to take it as the first! Cousin Chilian was always +thinking up such nice things. + +"Oh," she cried, tying the big Leghorn hat down, making a great bow +under her chin, "I must get my flowers for Cousin Elizabeth." + +When she came in she would have flown upstairs, but Rachel stopped her. + +"Miss Elizabeth is asleep. She had a bad spell in the night and the +doctor doesn't want her disturbed. I'll take them." + +"Oh!" She looked disappointed. "Tell her good-bye and that I was sorry +not to come in and say it. And give her the flowers. I hope she will be +better to-night." + +What a great thing it was to go off in the stage! It was a fine morning +with an easterly breeze. To be sure, the roads were dusty, but +travellers were not so dainty in those days. Cynthia had a dust cloak of +some thin material that shielded her white frock. There were three men +and two women. They sat on the middle seat, two of the men on front with +the driver, the other back with the ladies. Presently the driver blew a +long toot on his horn and they came to a little town with a tavern, as +they were called then, at its very entrance. + +Two of the passengers left, one came in. The horses had a drink and on +they went over hill and dale, through great farms, where there were not +more than two or three houses in sight. The stage stopped for a man who +gave a loud halloo, and he climbed in. Then the horn gave another loud +signal. + +So it went on. Some places were very pretty, great fields of corn waving +in the sunshine, potatoes, stubble where grain had been cut, stretches +of woodland, high, rather rough hills, then towns again. The sun went +under a cloud, which made it pleasanter. The passengers changed now and +then. One woman told her next neighbor "she was goin' in to Boston to +shop, because things were cheaper now. She always went after the rush +was over. There were cambrics, she heard, for one and ninepence, and +cotton cloth home-made was so much cheaper than the imported, but you +had to bleach it. And little traps that you couldn't get at a country +store." + +Cynthia was tired and sleepy when they reached their journey's end, +which was Marlborough Street, where Cousin Giles had an office. + +"Well! well! well!" he ejaculated in surprise. "Why, Miss Cynthia +Leverett, I'm glad to see you. Have you come to town to shop?" + +Chilian made a little sign. "She has a whole month's vacation and we are +going to fill it up with journeys, taking Boston first." + +"That's right. We shall have lots to show her. You'll hardly want to go +back to Salem. It was a long warm ride, wasn't it? Chilian, take off her +hat. Don't you want a drink?" + +"I am thirsty," she admitted. + +He fixed a glass of lemonade, and lemons were dear at that +period--scarce, too. While she was sipping it, being refreshed in every +pulse, the two men went down to the end of the room for a talk. + +"She's dreadfully disfigured," Chilian said in a low tone. "And +Elizabeth wasn't a bad-looking woman. The doctor thinks she can't live +but a few days, her body is growing cold rapidly. I'd like to have the +child out of it all. Death is a great shock and very mysterious to a +child." + +"Oh, I'll be glad to keep her, if she will stay content. I wish you +could have brought that woman with you. Poor Elizabeth! How Eunice will +miss her. Chilian, you've been like a son to those women. Women ought to +marry and have children of their own, but children are not always kind. +Yes. After you're rested we'll go home. I'm going to change my office, +get nearer to the business centre, only this is so pleasant with a nice +outlook." + +"You ought to retire." + +"Oh, what would I do? Like that Roman fellow, buy a farm? I don't know a +bit about farming and don't want to. There's so much going on here." + +Presently they returned to the little girl, who was quite refreshed, and +then they went out, as it would be dinner-time presently. Cousin Giles +lived in Cambridge Street in quite an imposing row, though it had no +such spacious grounds as at Salem. + +An immaculate black man opened the door and took the men's hats. "Ask +Mrs. Stevens to come down," Cousin Giles said. + +Mrs. Stevens seemed a great lady. Eudora Castleton's mother was like +this, always looking as if she was dressed for a party. She had a pretty +silk gown, with some ruffles about the bottom, short enough to show her +clocked silk stockings. The waist was short also, the square neck filled +in with lace, and great balloon sleeves--so large at the top they came +almost up to her ears. + +"This is the little girl who came from India, that I told you about, and +who is going to be a great lady some day. When she gets older we'll have +to have her down here to Boston, and give balls and parties for her, and +pick out a fine lover for her; hey, Cynthia?" + +Cynthia turned scarlet. + +"I think you must be warm and tired with the long stage ride; wouldn't +you like to come upstairs with me?" + +Cynthia rose as Cousin Chilian looked approval, and followed up the +stairway, where her feet sank in the carpet. There were several rooms, +with the air blowing through delightfully, and there was fragrance +everywhere from vases of flowers. + +Mrs. Stevens took off her hat and inspected her. She was going to be a +big heiress and a pretty girl in the bargain, piquant with a slightly +foreign look, though perhaps it was more in her manner. + +"Susan," she called to a girl sewing in the next room, "come and wash +this little visitor's hands and face. She has come all the way from +Salem this morning. I wish we had a fresh frock for you, but we have no +little girls." + +The voice was so soft and charming that Cynthia looked up with a kind of +admiring smile. + +Susan took off her frock, bathed her face and hands with some perfumed +water, brushed out her hair, and said, "What lovely hair you have, and +so much of it. A queen might envy you!" + +The idea of a queen wanting anything she had! Oh, how nice and refreshed +she felt. + +Susan shook out the frock and put it on again, pulled out the sleeves, +smoothed the wrinkled skirt, and took her in the next room. + +"It rests one so much. Are you hungry? We shall have dinner in half an +hour." + +"Oh, no," Cynthia said. "And--and I am very much obliged to Susan." + +"Come and sit here. Tell me how the aunties are--the one with the broken +limb." + +"I think she isn't so well. Yesterday she was so much improved. The +doctor was there this morning." + +"Poor lady! She has been ill a long while. And you are quite at home in +Salem, I suppose? You had a long journey. Did you like India?" + +"Father was there;" with a sweet, attractive simplicity. "And some of it +was very beautiful. Oh, I almost froze the first winter here, but last +winter I didn't mind. And the sleigh-riding was splendid." + +"Are there many little girls to be friends with?" + +"Oh, I go to a nice school. And we have so many funny plays and dancing +once a week. I didn't tease about it, though I wanted to go, and Cousin +Chilian said I might. It's queer, but in India they come and dance for +you, and you pay them. But it is lovely to do it for yourself;" and she +made some graceful motions with her hands, while her beautiful eyes were +alight with emotion, as if she heard the music. + +"Did you ever want to go back?" + +"At first. But when I heard that father had gone away, he had meant to +come to Salem, but----" she made a pause, "mother was there in India. +Only the bodies, you know, the other part that thinks and feels is in +heaven. He wanted mother so much. He used to talk about her. And now I +am going to live in Salem with Cousin Chilian all my life long." + +How simply sweet she was, with no self-consciousness. + +Then they were summoned to dinner. The elegant black servant waited on +them, and that suggested India again. They went out on a back porch and +sat in the shade. Cousin Giles found an opportunity to explain the +matter to Mrs. Stevens, and after that the men went out for a while. + +Quite in the afternoon there were calls from stylishly-dressed ladies, +and cake and cool drinks were brought in. Then Cousin Chilian told her +that he would like her to stay all night and he would come in to-morrow. + +She didn't want to a bit. "Why, I would be very quiet and not disturb +Cousin Elizabeth," she said, with beseeching eyes. + +"Will you not do it to please me?" + +She choked down a great lump. "Oh, yes," she answered in a low tone, +without looking up. But it seemed very queer to her to be left this way. + +There was company in the evening--quite a party playing cards. She had +a pretty story book to read until Susan came to put her to bed. And what +a delightful little bed it was, like her little pallet at home, so much +nicer than the big bed at Salem. + +She would not show that she was homesick, for so many nice things were +being done for her. A note came from Chilian--Cousin Elizabeth was very +ill, and he hoped she would be content. Some clothes were sent for her, +some of her very best ones, and she was glad to have them. + +There were so many things to see in Boston, really much more than at +Salem. They were putting up some fine public buildings. And there was +Bunker Hill and Copp's Hill, and, down near the bay, Fort Hill. There +seemed little rivers running all about and submerged lands. + +There were many other entertainments and her days were full. Mrs. +Stevens sent out some cards and seven or eight young girls came in and +chatted quite like the grown-up ladies, asking her about Salem, and +being not a little surprised that she had lived in India. They had a +pretty sort of half tea, cakes and delicacies after the thin bread and +butter, and a most delightful cool drink that seemed to have all flavors +in it. One of the girls played on the spinet afterward. So she had her +first party at Cousin Giles', instead of Salem. + +Notes came from Cousin Chilian, and at last the welcome news that he was +coming down for her. + +She had come to like Cousin Giles very much. He was so different from +Chilian--breezy and rather teasing--and, oh, what would Cousin Elizabeth +have said to his fashion of getting things about, putting papers or +books on chairs, mislaying his glasses and his gloves, and she would +think the fine furniture, and the servants, and the little feasts +awfully extravagant. + +Poor Elizabeth! She had never come back to consciousness. She had shrunk +intensely from the last moment when she would have to face death and the +judgment, though she had been striving all her life to prepare for it. +But God had mercifully spared her that, the two worlds had touched and +merged with each other and left her to God. + +There had been a quiet funeral, though it was well attended, but the +coffin was closed and a pall thrown over it, for the poor face had never +recovered its natural look. + +All this was softened to Cynthia, as she sat with Cousin Chilian's arm +about her. She had the sweet remembrance of that last day, and the smile +that somehow had made the wrinkled face pretty. It had been thoughtful +and tender in Cousin Chilian to spare her the rest. + +They went over to Cambridge and he took her through the place that was +to be so much grander before she was done with life. And here was the +house where he had lived through the week, going home to spend Sundays, +for his father was alive then. And he told her stories about old Boston, +some quaintly funny, but she was rather proud that Salem had been the +first capital of the State. + +"I've had such a nice time," she said with her adieu. "Every day has +been full of pleasure. I thank you both very much." + +She was to come again, and again, they rejoined cordially. + +"What a nice child!" Cousin Giles said. "She doesn't seem to consider +what an heiress she is. And she's enough like Chilian to be his own +child. He always had that dainty way with him, like a woman, and +everything must be fine and nice, yet he never was ostentatious. She'll +make a charming young woman. I wish I could persuade Chilian to come to +Boston." + +Chilian had driven in with the carriage. There had been a shower in the +night and the travelling was delightful. He had missed his little girl +so much, yet he knew it had been better to save her the poignancy of the +sad occurrence. So her father had thought in his trusting appeal. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +CHANGES IN THE OLD HOUSE + + +There was not as much change in household affairs as Cynthia supposed +there would be. Elizabeth had been laid by so long that her place at the +table had been filled by Eunice. Indeed, the former had an unfortunate +habit of running out in the kitchen to see to something, then returning, +pouring a cup of tea, passing some article of food, then disappearing +again. It had grown on her, the belief that she must be everywhere or +something would go wrong. It did annoy Chilian. And no one hustled up +the dishes when you had eaten the last crumb of cake. He liked to linger +over the table. + +Eunice was very glad to see her. Rachel took her wrap and her parcel +upstairs, for supper had been waiting. Eunice poured the tea, Rachel +passed the eatables, and they were both eager to hear how it had fared +with the little girl. + +"It's been just splendid! Mrs. Stevens is--well, she is grand, and, oh, +you ought to see the beautiful gowns she wears; but she doesn't hold you +way off. You can come up close and lean on her shoulder or her lap. They +were both so good. And, look! Cousin Giles would buy me these two +rings;" and she held up her hand laughingly. "And an elegant necklace. I +told him there were so many things here that were my mother's, but he +wouldn't mind. And slippers! There's white, and a kind of gray, and a +bronze, and a red pair. The little girls wear them when they come from +school and go out to companies. Oh, Cousin Chilian, doesn't any one play +on the spinet? I'd like to learn." + +"It's very old. It was mother's. I think we must have a new one. And you +can learn." + +"Oh, I shall be so glad." + +Mrs. Taft was out in the kitchen. "Now you all go your ways," she began. +"'Taint nothing to clear off the supper table." + +They sat out on the front porch. But through the talk Cynthia kept +thinking of poor Cousin Elizabeth and feeling sorry she had not enjoyed +more of the pleasures of life. Was there so much real virtue in making +life hard and cold? But there were some girls in school who were very +much afraid of dancing and reading story-books. + +Truth to tell, as Chilian listened, he came to experience a queer +feeling--he would have scouted the idea of jealousy about Cousin Giles, +but that he should have devoted himself so much to her and taken her +about, wanted to buy trinkets for her and all that! There was still a +week of vacation left. They would go somewhere to-morrow. + +He had asked Mrs. Taft to stay with them. + +"Well, I can't exactly promise. You see, I like to 'wrastle' with things +and fight off the worst. Though I hadn't much hope of 'Lisbeth when the +doctor said her spine was hurt. That's a kind of queer hidden thing that +even doctors can't see into. And the poor creature suffered a good deal. +My, but she was spunky and was bound not to die, and I fought for her +all I could. But the last few weeks there was a change. She liked Cynthy +to come in with the posies and say something bright. And now it's all +done and over, and she was a good upright woman in the old-fashioned +way. So I'll stay a spell till Miss Eunice gets used to the change, and +when I see another good fight somewhere, you mustn't have hard feelings +if I go." + +They went out the next morning and found a boat going up to Plum Island. +It was like going to sea to go around Rockport Point. Captain Green +declared "he wan't much on passengers, but he had a nice cabin and an +awning on the for'ard deck, and there was a woman and some children +whose husband living up there had bespoke passage." + +It was a fine day with the right sort of wind. Oh, how splendid it was +as they went out oceanward. She had been on the water such a very little +since her long voyage. + +Mrs. Halcom had three children and a baby. She was a plain, commonplace +body, who had been living up to North Salem, but her folks were +Newburyport people and she should be glad to get in sight and sound of +them once again. Chilian had brought a book along, Ben Johnson's Plays, +and now and then he met with such a charming line or two he must read it +to her. There were some new poets coming to the fore as well, but he +knew most of the older ones. Oh, he must get back his youth for her +sake. Cousin Giles was ever so much older. + +She was interested in the ship as well and talked to Captain Green. He +had so many funny nautical terms, provincialisms, that she had to +inquire what some of the words meant. For most of the early people of +New England had not dropped into the careless modes of speech that were +to come later on and be adopted as a sort of patois. They read their +Bibles a good deal and the older divines, and if their speech was a +little stilted it had a certain correctness. Then Chilian Leverett was +rather fastidious in this respect. + +The wind filled the sails and they skimmed along merrily. Now the sea +was green and so clear you could see the fish disporting themselves. +Then the sun tinted it with gold and threw up diamond, amethyst, and +emeralds, taunting one with treasures. + +There are new names along the coast, though a few of the old ones +remain. They passed Gloucester, Thatcher's Island, rounded Rockport, +where in the inside harbor they had to unload part of their cargo. Then +on to Plum Island, where the rest were set ashore and the woman and her +children. Some few things were taken on board, but they were to stop at +Gloucester, going down for the return cargo. + +They walked about a little and bought some ripe, luscious dewberries and +fruit. + +"How queer it would be to live on an island and have to take your boat +when you went anywhere," and Cynthia laughed gayly. + +"People do, farther up. There are a great many islands on the coast of +Maine, and fishermen are living on them." + +"And in Boston Harbor Cousin Giles took us out. It's funny that they +don't float off. Do they go 'way down to the bottom of the sea?" + +"I think they must. Sometimes one does disappear." + +"Suppose you were living on it. And you saw the water coming up all +around you and you couldn't get away----" + +Her eyes filled with a kind of terror. + +"Oh, you would have some boats." + +"But if it happened in the night?" + +"We won't go and live on an island," he said with a smile. + +It was rougher going back, but not bad enough to cause any alarm. The +wind had died down, but the swells were coming in. They stopped at +Gloucester and took on some boxes and great planks, and several pieces +of furniture. + +"There's enough old truck in Salem now," declared Captain Green +ungraciously. "'F I had my way I'd turn it out on the Common and put a +match to it. Now there's the Hibbins--came over in 1680 and brought +their housen goods. There wan't any way of makin' 'em then but just +outen rough logs. An' now the old granma'am's died and 'twas her +mother's, I b'lieve, and Mis' Hibbins she's just gone crazy over it. And +they're buildin' a fine new house. Strange how Salem's buildin' up! +Those East Ingy traders do make lots of money. But before I'd have that +old truck in my nice new house!" And the captain gave a snort of +disdain. + +He did not dream that before another hundred years had passed there +would be comparative fortunes made in the old truck. + +"We'll be a little late gettin' in, but there'll be a moon. Lucky wind +ain't dead agin us." + +How good the supper tasted, for Cynthia was very hungry. And then they +went on and on, hugging the shore, the captain said, until it was a kind +of shadowy waving blur, but on the other side most beautiful. It made +her think of coming from India, but she was glad to see the vague +outline of the shore. + +The captain was much surprised that she had been such a traveller. He +had been to New York and all around Long Island, and up as far as Nova +Scotia. The Bay of Fundy was wonderful, with its strange dangerous +tides. + +"We will go there another summer," Chilian said, holding her hand, and +she returned the soft pressure. + +"I was 'most afraid something had happened." Eunice had gone down the +street to meet them. "But it's clear as a bell and no wind to speak of, +and the captains of the coasting vessels know every inch of the way." + +"Only just lovely things happened. It's been splendid. But I'm hungry +again. Can't I have a second supper?" + +How different she looked from the little girl who had come to him for +care and friendship. And he had been rather unwilling to accept her. She +was growing tall, and--yes, really pretty. + +They had one more excursion to Winter Island. Why, it seemed as if they +were building ships enough for the whole world. And there were the +fisheries, and the curious musical singing, not really words, but sort +of detached sounds that floated off in a weird kind of way. + +After that school again. She was glad to see the girls, and Madam Torrey +gave her a warm welcome, saying, "Why, Miss Cynthia, how tall you have +grown!" + +"I'm very glad," she said smilingly. "All the Leveretts are tall, but I +don't ever want to be very large." + +"And she had really been to Boston! Was it so much handsomer than Salem? +They had a real theatre, and parties, and balls. Sadie Adams' big +sister was going to spend the whole winter there." + +Chilian Leverett decided to alter his house a little. The two rooms at +the back had always seemed crowded up, though Elizabeth preferred a +separate one so long as they connected. But he had the memory of the +poor drawn face, as he had seen it the morning of her seizure. Wouldn't +Eunice recall it as well? + +"I think I will make some alterations," he announced to her. "I'll push +that upstairs room out over the summer kitchen and make it a good deal +larger. While they are doing it, Eunice, you had better go over the +other side and let Mrs. Taft take your room." + +She assented, though she thought the house and the rooms were large +enough for the few people in it. Cynthia was interested in her studies, +and the girls, and the new books coming in. For now Sir Walter Scott was +having a great hearing, and there were some new poets. + +It was not expected that people would be at all gay when there had been +a death in the family, so Cynthia felt compelled to decline her few +invitations. The new room was finished and made much brighter with the +two added windows. The walls were painted a soft gray, with a warm tint. +There were yards and yards of new rag carpet up in the garret, sewed in +bagging to keep out moths. Of course, it might as well be used. The old +bedstead was taken out and though the one substituted was quite as old, +it was very much prettier, with its carved posts and the tester frame +from which depended white curtains. Some of the other furniture was +changed and it made a very pretty room, so Eunice came back to it very +much pleased, though not quite sure so much comeliness was best for the +soul. + +At Christmas Chilian took the little girl down to Boston on a special +invitation. There were two visitors a little older than herself, one +whose father was a representative from the State, the other from New +York. + +Washington was not much thought of in those days. Other cities had +yielded their claims unwillingly, and there had been much talk of its +being set in a morass. Mrs. President Adams had described her +infelicities very graphically. The rooms were not finished, and she took +one of the parlors for an adjunct to the laundry to dry the wash in. New +York considered itself the great head for fashion and gayety, Boston for +education and refinement, and she too, had quite an extensive port +trade. + +But Giles Leverett thought the little girl from Salem was quite as +pretty and well bred as Boston girls, and really she never seemed at +loss now, and was seldom overtaken with a fit of shyness. They had a +gay, happy time, with a regular dancing party, which filled Cynthia with +the utmost delight. + +And though the winter seemed cold and bleak spring came again, as it +always does. Mrs. Taft had gone away to another bad case. Eunice and +Miss Winn kept the house. There had been quite an entertaining episode +with Miss Winn. A very prosperous man, who lived up on the North side, +and had a fine house and five children, asked her to be his wife, +thinking she would make such an excellent mother for girls. It was +supposed at that time that no woman could refuse a good offer of +marriage. + +"Consider it well," said Mr. Leverett. "I don't know how we could give +you up, and, of course, you could not take Cynthia. Her father made a +generous provision for you, and I think he chose wisely for his child. +But----" + +"I don't know that I want to begin over again," and she gave a peculiar +smile. "Five seems quite an undertaking when you have had only one. And +you have taken so much the charge of her." + +"But you see, now she will need a woman's guidance more than ever. She +has outgrown childhood. I see the change in her every day. Eunice could +not supervise her clothes and her pleasures, times have changed so much. +I want her to be very happy and have a life like other girls----" + +She thought she could give up the prospect good as it was, won by that +persuasive voice. And she had come to really love Miss Eunice, who was +blossoming in a new phase now that there was nothing to restrain her +natural sweetness. + +"I promised her father to do the best I could for her. I love her very +much. I enjoy the home here. I do not think I could be any happier. And +I am so used to owning myself that I do not feel disposed to give up my +liberty. If I had no prospect, I might consider it. And Cynthia will +need some one as she grows older to see that she makes the right sort of +acquaintances and guide her a little." + +"Then since all is agreeable we can count on your staying. You cannot +imagine my own thankfulness;" and he pressed her hand cordially. + +"Isn't it funny!" cried Cynthia. "Why, Margaret Plummer goes to Madam +Torrey's, but she is very--well, I don't know just how to describe it, +only she said once that they would all make the house too hot to hold a +step-mother. And, oh, dear Rachel, I couldn't bear to have anybody ugly +to you. And then you know we couldn't give you up. Cousin Chilian said +so, and Miss Eunice cried." + +Miss Winn winked some tears out of her eyes, though she tried to smile. +It was very comforting to a woman without kith or kin to feel so welcome +in a household. + +Cynthia was sitting on the step of the porch one May night when the moon +was making shifting shadows through the trees and silvering the paths. +Chilian was studying the face, and wondering a little what was flitting +through the brain that now and then gave it such intentness. + +"What are you thinking about?" he asked. + +"Oh, Cousin Chilian!" She flushed a lovely, rosy glow. "Building an air +castle." + +"Is it very airy? So far that it would be a journey for another person +to reach it?" + +"Oh, part of it is near by. The other is what could be, maybe;" +wistfully. + +"Can't I hear about it?" + +"Cousin Chilian, why are the parlors always shut up, and why don't you +have people coming and going, and saying bright things, and talking +about the improvements and--and Napoleon and the wars in Europe, and the +new streets and houses, and, oh, ever so many things?" + +He looked at the tightly closed shutters. In his father's time there +were visitors, discussions, playing at whist and loo, and little +suppers. She wouldn't care for that, of course. Yet he remembered that +she had been interested in the talks at Boston. + +"Why, yes; the rooms could be opened. Only we have grown so at home in +the sitting-room, and you and I in the study." + +"At the Dearborns' they keep the house all open and lighted up, as they +do in Boston. And they ask in young people and have plays, and charades, +and funny conundrums----" + +Oh, she was young and should have this kind of life. How should he set +about it? He must ask Miss Winn. But he ventured rather timidly, for a +man. + +"Would you like--well, some girls in to tea? They ask you so often. And +there is no reason why we should all be hermits." + +She sprang up and clasped her arms about his neck. + +"Oh, I just should. At first when Cousin Elizabeth went away, and the +lessons were difficult, and it was winter, but now everything seems so +joyous----" + +"Why, yes; we must talk to Miss Winn about it, Cynthia," and his voice +dropped to a tender inflection. "I want you to feel this is your home +and you must have all the joy and pleasures of youth. You need never be +afraid. I've been a rather dull old fellow----" + +"Oh, you're not old. You're not as old as Cousin Giles, and ever so much +handsomer. The girls at school think," she flushed and paused, "that you +were so good to get me the pony and the pretty wagon." She was going to +say something much more flattering, but delicacy stopped her. + +"My dear," he said gravely, "I was glad to make you the gift, but I want +you to know that there is a considerable sum of money of your own, and +your father wished you to enjoy it. Whatever you want and is proper for +you to have, I shall be glad to get, and to do. For I have no little +girl but you." + +"Would it be wicked and selfish if I said I was glad?" + +The arms tightened a little. How soft they were! And her hair brushed +his cheek. It always seemed to have a delicate subtle perfume. + +"No, dear. You and I are curiously alone in the world. I haven't a first +cousin, neither have you." + +"And a whole houseful of folks is so nice," she said wistfully. + +He had been very well content with his books and his college friends. +But women were different, at least--those who shut out everybody +narrowed their lives fearfully. + +"We will try and have some." + +"And you must like it. If you do not, the greatest pleasure will be +taken out of it for me." + +"I shall like it;" encouragingly. + +"How good you are to me. Father said I must love you and obey you, for +you would know what would be best for me." + +Then they sat in silence, the contentment of affection. + +He spoke to Miss Winn the next day. Afterward they went into the parlor +and opened the shutters. It was stately, grand, and gloomy. + +Before Anthony Leverett had thought of sending his little girl to his +care he had forwarded to Chilian a gift "for old remembrance' sake," he +said, of a very handsome Oriental rug. Floors of the "best rooms" had +been polished until you could see your shadow in them. Chilian did not +like the noise or the continual trouble. So he laid down the rug and +bought one for the other room. But the heavy curtains, with their silken +linings, staid up year after year. He noticed those at Giles' house were +much lighter and in soft colors. And his furniture was not so massive. + +"I wish we could change things a little. That old sofa might go up in +the new room. It was grand enough in my father's time, with its borders +of brass-headed tacks, and its flat, hard seat. Two of these chairs +might come up in my room." + +"I wish we could find a place for the lovely sort of cabinet that +Cynthia's father sent over. I keep it covered from dust and scratches. +She will be glad to have it when she has a house of her own." + +"One of the rooms ought to be hers--well, both," he added reflectively. + +"The rugs are elegant. Yes, lighter curtains would change it a good +deal. How very handsome the mantels are with all their carving." + +They would have adorned a modern house. They went nearly up to the +ceiling with small shelves and nooks, on which were vases and ornaments +such as bring fortunes now. + +"And--about the party?" + +"Oh, that will be only a girls' tea--her schoolmates where she has been. +Next year will be time enough for the party;" with a little laugh. + +So the two spacious rooms were quite remodelled and modernized, and the +gloomy appearance was a thing of the past. Why shouldn't he spend his +money on her? There was no one else. + +He had not lost sight of Anthony Drayton. The father had been exigent. +Anthony, being the eldest, must take the farm when he was done with it. +The lad had worked his time out. Cousin Chilian had offered him enough +to take him to a preparatory school where he would be fitted for +college. He had come in to Boston and Chilian had been attracted to the +manly young fellow. + +Cynthia was more than delighted with the privilege of the tea party. + +"Some of the girls have brothers, but I don't know them very well. I +like Bentley, but he is away at school. And I'd rather have just girls." + +Her admiration of the parlor knew no bounds, and it gratified him. + +She had been taking lessons on the spinet, but the painting was a great +rival. And this was old, thin, and creaky. + +"I have found a much better one in Boston, and the dealer wants this +because it was made in London in 1680. How strenuous some people are +over old things. It has no special interest that I know of, and is +comparatively useless." + +The new ones were really the beginning of pianofortes and this one was +very sweet in tone. + +Chilian had been very greatly interested in the changes. He began to +cultivate his neighbors a little more. Indeed improvements were taking +place in the town. New streets were laid out, old ones straightened, +fine new houses built. There seemed a sudden outburst of commercial +grandeur. Furnishings of the richest sort were eagerly caught up by the +shoppers, who did not think it necessary to go to Boston and buy goods +that had come in port here. Many of the old wooden houses were replaced +with brick, and the beautiful doorways, windows, roofs, and porches +still attract craftsmen and architects from different sections of the +country, while illustrators find rich material in old Colonial doorways. + +Miss Winn consulted Mrs. Upham as to what was proper for a girls' tea. + +"Miss Cynthia is old enough now to begin with friends in a simple +manner. The family have lived so quietly that I have not gained much +experience in such matters, and Miss Eunice doesn't feel equal to +managing it. Of course, Miss Cynthia is quite an heiress and will go in +with the best people." + +"As the Leveretts always have. There's been many a cap set for Chilian +Leverett and it's been a wonder to every one that he hasn't married. But +there's time enough yet." + +She came over and admired the parlors without stint. + +"You see," she said confidentially, "Miss Elizabeth was no hand for +company. Some of the older people did the same, shut up the best rooms +lest they should get faded, or something scratched, or worn. And I +suppose he kept giving in; then there was his going in to college, and +that's a sort of man's life. I'm glad he has had something to stir him +up. He has been to several town-meetings. They are talking up +improvements. It's a fine thing to have so many vessels flying Salem +flags in different ports; nigh on to two hundred registered, husband +said. But I told him there ought to be some home interest as well. We +must not let Boston get so far ahead of us, nor forget the young people +are to be the next generation." + +"And young people want some pleasure. I do not see how they stood so +much of the gloomy side twenty years ago. I was that surprised when I +first came here." + +"Well, there had been a good many things, and all that witchcraft +business. Puritan ways grew sterner and sterner. I can't say that people +were really the better for it, in my way of thinking, and the Saviour +talked a good deal about loving and helping people. He didn't stop to +make them subscribe to all sorts of hard things before he worked a +miracle. But we were going to talk about the tea." + +"Yes; about what time now? I want Cynthia to have it just right and +proper;" laughing. + +"They come--we'll say about four. They will want to run around and see +things, and I'd have supper about five and they'll sit over it, and +talk, and laugh. Suppose I send my 'Mimy over to pass things and wait. +You would not want Miss Eunice to do it, and you will have other things +on your hands." + +"Oh, thank you. You are very kind about it." + +"Well, I've had a girl to grow up and be married, and Polly's to leave +school this summer, and next winter she will be setting up for a young +lady. Little cookies and spicenuts are nice and two kinds of cake. You +never give them real tea, you know, though it's called a tea party. And +some cold chicken, or sliced ham. I'd spread the plates of bread, it's +so much less trouble. They'll be sure to enjoy everything. A lot of +girls always do have a good time." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +A TASTE OF PLEASURE + + +Cynthia was full of joy, running down to the gate to meet and greet +guests. They came in groups of twos and threes, having called for each +other. There were fifteen in all--the girls she knew best, who were +nearest her own age, and at most of the houses she had been made a +welcome guest. Indeed, more than one mother was glad to have her +daughter good friends with Miss Cynthia Leverett, who was to be a rich +young woman, and whose trustee in Boston lived in fine style. + +Yet it was not exactly that money was so much thought of either, though +it was always esteemed an excellent thing. Somehow it was rather +relegated to the men. A father had an idea that his daughters would +marry well, so business opportunities, and often the homestead, went to +the sons. Here was an undivided fortune. And now it was hardly likely +Chilian Leverett would marry, so she might come in for that. + +The house had always been considered rather gloomy, as even on state +occasions not much light was allowed in the parlors. Some of the girls +had been gently advised to notice if there had been changes made. + +Cynthia led them upstairs to take off their things. They were rather +particular about complexions in those days. Some of the summer hats were +really ornate sunbonnets, others were the great poke shape with a big +bow on top and wide strings that were allowed to float on a hot day, so +as not to get crushed by the warmth under the chin. They had long muslin +sleeves to pull over their arms, indeed some of them were finished with +mittens, so that the hands might not get tanned. + +The girls wore rather scant straight skirts, tucked up to the waist, or +with needlework at the bottom, or two or three tiny ruffles. The +stockings were not always white, oftener they matched the color of the +slippers that were laced across the instep. The necks were cut square, +often finished with a lace berthe. Some old families have handed these +down and kept them laid away in rose leaves and lavender, and they are +so sweet that when they are shaken out they perfume the room. + +Cynthia wore a white gauzy frock made over blue silk that was soft as a +pansy leaf. It had blue satin stripes and she was very glad she had the +pretty blue slippers to match. Then almost every girl had a coral +necklace, or was allowed to wear grandmother's gold beads. Some had +their hair tied up high on their heads with a great bow, and maybe the +family silver or gold comb put in artistically. Chilian liked the +little girl's to hang loose, and now it was down to her waist. + +It was said the Holland wives of centuries ago took their visitors +through their wardrobes and displayed their silk and velvet gowns. And +when England passed some sumptuary laws that no one below titled rank +should wear silk, the good wives of traders lined theirs with silk and +hung them up in grand array to gratify their visitors or themselves. + +"You have so many lovely things," said a girl enviously. "I haven't but +one silk frock, and that was Mary's until she outgrew it. And mother's +so choice of it; she thinks it ought to last and go to Ruth." + +"Why, you see, so many things came from India," apologized Cynthia, +almost ashamed of having so much. "And there's a boxful upstairs, but I +think I like the white muslins best, they look so pretty when they are +clean, and you don't have to be so careful." + +"Do you ever get scolded when accidents happen?" + +"Well, not much. Cousin Eunice is so sweet. Cousin Elizabeth was more +particular." + +"And Miss Winn?" + +"Oh, my dear Rachel loves me too much," the child said laughingly. + +There were so many odd and pretty things that they staid up until all +the girls had come--not one of them declined. Then they went down to the +parlors. + +"Cousin Chilian said this back room was to be mine. That lovely desk +and the cabinet were my own mother's. And the table is teakwood. The +chair father had carved for me, and that big portrait is father. This +case has miniatures of them both, but it is too big ever to wear." + +"What a pity!" + +It was a beautifully engraved gold case, set with jewels. + +"Well, you are a lucky girl! And you can have all these yourself. You +just don't have to share them with anybody. Is the room truly yours?" + +"Why, it is to put my things in, but anybody can come in it, and we can +go in the other room. Most of those articles were Cousin Chilian's +father's and mother's, and the great clock in the hall came over in +1640. It's funny;" and she laughed. "Old furniture and quilts and things +never get cross and queer as folks sometimes do." + +"Well, they're not really alive." + +"And they last so much longer than folks." + +They had not inspected all the things when Miss Winn invited them out to +supper. She took the head of the table, and began to talk so that they +should not feel embarrassed. The lovely old china was on the table, and +two vases of flowers that looked as if they were set with gems. 'Mimy +passed the plates of bread and butter and cold meats and cottage cheese, +and after a little they all began to talk as if it was recess at +school. + +Mr. Chilian Leverett passed through the sitting-room and thought it was +really an enchanting sight, and that Cynthia was the prettiest girl of +them all. + +People had not thought up ice cream in those days, but they made lovely +custards, baked in cups with handles, and a tiny spoon to eat them with. +They were the last of the tea. + +Then they went into the front parlor, which was the larger and played +fox and geese, and blind-man's buff in a ring. Oh, Elizabeth, it was +enough to disturb your rest to have those merry feet twinkle over the +beautiful rug, when you scarcely dared walk tiptoe for fear of crushing +the soft pile. But they had a grand, good time. + +Then Mr. Leverett brought in Cousin Eunice, who had a bit of white at +her neck and wrists, and a lavender bow on her cap. She had protested +against the bow, but Miss Winn had carried her point. + +Mr. Leverett set them to doing some amusing things he had resurrected +from his own boyhood. Catches on words, such as "Malaga grapes are very +good grapes, but the grapes of Oporto are better." And then, "A hen, a +hen, but not a rooster. Can you say _that_?" They were greatly puzzled +and looked at Cynthia, who was silently smiling, saying it over in every +manner, until at last one girl almost shrieked out, "_That_," and there +was a chorus of laughter. + +At nine o'clock they were bidden to come home. Some of them were sent +for and those who lived near together went in a group. Ben Upham came +for his sisters. + +"I don't see why they couldn't have had boys," said Ben to Polly. "Ever +so many of us would have been glad to come." + +"Well, we didn't have any real boys' plays. But the supper was elegant. +And 'Mimy waited so nicely. Cynthia's going to have the back parlor for +hers, and Mr. Leverett has bought a new spinet. And she has the most +beautiful things----" + +"Oh, yes, I've seen those;" rather impatiently. + +"And Mr. Leverett's just splendid!" + +"I always told you so;" somewhat grumpily. "But I'd rather be up in the +study with him and Cynthy than to go to half a dozen parties." + +"Oh, we weren't in the study at all." + +"No, that isn't for girls." So he had scored one, after all. + +It was the general verdict when the tea party was talked over that +Cynthia Leverett was in a fair way of being spoiled. A man didn't know +how to bring up a girl, and, of course, Miss Winn let her have her own +way. Miss Eunice had given in to her sister so long that she gave in to +every one else. + +Friends went to call and found the children had not exaggerated. Now and +then a neighbor was asked in to supper, and found Cynthia a nice, modest +girl, with no airs of superiority. + +They had some journeys about. They went up to the bay of Fundy and +cruised around, chatting with fishermen and French settlers in their odd +costumes, looked at their funny little huts, and were amazed at the +children rolling round in the sand and the sun. Cousin Chilian talked to +them, but their language was a sort of patois difficult to understand. + +After that Cynthia was much interested in the French and English war. +And the whole country was watching the Corsican who had made himself +master of half of Europe. + +"It is a wonderful world," Cynthia said when they were safe in the study +again. "And I wonder if it is narrow and selfish to be glad that you are +just you?" + +He was amused at the idea. But he couldn't recall that he had ever been +anxious to change with any one. + +"And that _you_ are just _you_. I couldn't like any one else as well, +not even Cousin Giles, and I do like him very much." + +Chilian felt a rise of color stealing up his cheek. The preference was +sweet, for Cousin Giles was extremely indulgent to her, and he was not a +child enthusiast either. + +In those days no one supposed parents and friends were put in the world +purposely for children's pleasure. They didn't even consider they came +for _their_ pleasure. It was right to have them, they were to be the +future men and women, workers, legislators, and homemakers. They didn't +always have easy times, nor their own way, and they were not thought to +be wiser than their parents, even in the choice of professions for life. +But there were many fine brave fellows among the boys, and the girls +went on, making pretty good wives and mothers. If life did not bring +them just what they wished, they accepted it and did the best they +could. + +Anthony Drayton came to make Cousin Chilian a visit and pass an +examination for Harvard. With a little help he had worked his way +through the academy. He was one of the brave, resolute boys, and, though +it grieved him to go against his father's wishes, he had decided for +himself. + +"I really could not bury myself on a farm," he confessed. "I want a +wider life, I want to mix with men and take an interest in the country. +Not that I despise farming, and if one could branch out and do many new +things, but to keep on year after year in the old rut, corn and +potatoes, wheat and rye--just as grandfather did. What is the use of a +man living if he can't strike out some new ways? Maybe I'd been willing +to go to the new countries, but father was just as opposed to that." + +He was a fresh, fair lad, with eyes of the Leverett blue, a strong, fine +face, not delicate as Cousin Chilian's. His hair was not very dark, but +his brows well defined, and with the eyelashes much darker than the +hair. His voice had such a cheerful uplift. + +"You have quite decided then?" Chilian wondered if he could ever have +gone against his father's wishes, but in that case father and son had +similar tastes. + +"Oh, yes; I've nothing farther to look for, and I'm willing to leave my +share to the other children. I know I can make my way, and I'm ready to +work and wait." + +His voice had such a nice wholesome ring that it inspired you with faith +in him. + +Cousin Eunice took a great fancy to him. They talked over the visit of +years ago. It seemed to her as if it had just been the beginning of +things. + +One sister was grown up and "keeping company," the other a nice handy +girl. The next brother would be a great help--he cared nothing for +books. Both of the Brent cousins were married, one living on the farm +with his mother, the other having struck out for himself. And Miss Eliza +Leverett was weakly. Like many women of that period, when all hope of +marrying and having a home of her own was past, she sank down into a +gentle nonentity and dreamed of Cousin Chilian. Not that she had +expected to captivate him, but life with some one like that would set +one on the highest pinnacle. + +He thought Cousin Cynthia--they were always cousins, to the fourth +generation--was the sweetest, daintiest, and most winsome thing he had +ever seen--and so she was, for his acquaintance with girls had been +limited. They looked over the old treasures in the house and thought it +wonderful any one should ever go to India and return without being +wrecked. They walked about the lovely garden, and he was amazed at her +familiarity with flowers and plants he had never seen. + +Then she took him over to the Uphams, for an old friend came in to play +checkers with Cousin Chilian. Polly was bright and merry, but somehow +Ben seemed rather captious. Anthony listened with surprise at the bright +sayings they flung at one another. + +The next day he and Cousin Chilian went over topics for examination. His +reading had not been extensive but thorough. In mathematics he was +excellent. But he found some time to chat with Cynthia, and they both +walked down to the warehouse with Cousin Chilian. + +What a sight it was! He had read of such things, but to see the hundreds +of busy men, the great fleet of vessels, the docks piled with all kinds +of wares, the boxes and bales lying round in endless confusion. And the +great ocean, lost over beyond in the far-off sky. + +When the two had gone up to Boston, Cynthia felt very lonely. She had +been sipping the sweets of unspoken admiration. She saw it in the eyes, +in the deference, as if he was almost afraid of her, in the sudden flush +when she turned her eyes to him. It was a new kind of worship. + +She went over to the Uphams. Polly had been having her sampler framed. +The acorn border was very pretty in its greens and browns. Then a stiff +little tree grew up both sides, about like those that came in the Noah's +Ark later on. And between these two trees was worked in cross-stitch: + + "Mary Upham is my name, + America is my nation; + Salem is my dwelling place, + And Christ is my salvation." + +"Isn't the frame nice?" she asked. "I made father two shirts and he gave +me the frame and the glass. Peter Daly made it. And the frame is oiled +and polished until the grain shows--well, almost like watered silk. +Gitty Sprague has a beautiful pelisse of gray watered silk. And now I +have one thing for my house. I'm beginning to lay by." + +"Your house!" Cynthia ejaculated in surprise. + +"Why, yes--when I'm married. You have such lots of things, you'll never +have to save up." + +Cynthia was wondering what she could give away. Not anything that was +her father's or her mother's. + +"I'll paint you a picture. You do so much better needlework than I that +I should be ashamed to offer you any." + +"And the girls will give me some, I know. I'd fifty times rather have +the picture. What a nice young fellow that cousin is! I'm glad his name +isn't Leverett. There's such a host of them. But I don't like Anthony so +well." + +"That was father's name. It's quite a family name. It always sounds good +to me." + +"And is he going to Harvard?" + +"Yes; even if he can't get in right away." + +"That's nice, too. It's quite the style for young men to go to college. +Some of them put on a sight of airs, though. He doesn't look like that +kind." + +"He isn't," she returned warmly. "He is going to work his way through." + +"Oh! Hasn't he any father?" + +"Yes; but his father will not do anything for him. I think it is real +grand of him." + +Polly nodded, but she lost interest in the young man. + +Bentley walked home with Cynthia. It was afternoon, so he did not really +need to. + +"I suppose that cousin isn't going to live with you?" he asked +presently. + +"Oh, no; he will have to live in Boston." + +"And come up here for Sundays?" + +"Why, I don't know. That would be nice. I think I am growing fond of +company." + +"Well, I can come over;" half jocosely. + +"Oh, I meant other people;" innocently. + +"Then you don't care for my coming?" + +"Yes, I do. Oh, do you remember that winter I was half sick and how you +used to come over and read Latin? And I used to say it to myself after +you." + +That delighted him. He didn't feel so cross about the young fellow, but +he half hoped he wouldn't pass, and have to go back to New Hampshire for +another year. + +They sat on the stoop and chatted until the old stage stopped and +Chilian alighted. + +"Oh!" the young girl cried, "where did you leave Anthony?" + +"With Cousin Giles. The examinations will begin to-morrow." + +It was near supper-time and Ben rose to go. Sometimes they asked him to +stay to supper, but to-night they did not. + +Then an event happened that took Cynthia's entire interest for a while. +This was the return of Captain Corwin. He came up the walk one +day--quite a grizzled old fellow it seemed, with the sailor's rolling +gait--and looked at her so sharply that she had a mind to run away. + +"Oh, Captain Anthony's little girl," he cried. "You have forgotten me. +And it ain't been so long either." + +She thought a moment and turned from red to white. Then she stretched +out both hands and cried, her eyes and voice full of tears: + +"Oh, you couldn't bring him back!" + +"No, little Missy. He'd shipped for the last time before I'd reached +there and gone to a better haven. He was the best friend I ever had. But +he knew it long afore, and that was why he wanted you safe with +friends." + +"I know now." She brushed the tears from her eyes. + +"And I hope you've been happy." + +"I waited and waited at first. Sometimes I wished I was a bird. Oh, +wouldn't we have a lovely time if we could fly? And one time in the +winter I was quite ill--it was so cold and I did get so tired of +waiting. Then Cousin Chilian told me he had gone to mother and I knew +how glad she would be to see him. I had some nice times. Cousin Chilian +loved me very much. So did Cousin Eunice. I think Cousin Elizabeth would +if she had lived longer, but she went away, too. Oh, I've done so many +things--studied books, and taken journeys, and made friends, and painted +pictures, flowers, and such. And I've tried to paint the sea, but I +can't make it move and seem like a real sea." + +"Oh, Missy, how smart you must be!" + +"There are so many things I don't know," she laughed. "And now tell me +about yourself and why you did not come back." + +"We had a pretty fair journey all along first. But as we were nearing +Torres Strait an awful storm took us, and we were driven ashore almost a +wreck and lost two of our men. After a while we got patched up and set +sail again, but I was afraid we would never reach harbor. Howsomever we +did, in a pretty bad condition. Poor _Flying Star_ seemed on its last +legs and 'twasn't sea legs either. Then I went up to Hong Kong and +cruised around, buying stuff and selling it elsewhere. The _Flying Star_ +was patched up again, but she wasn't thought safe for a long journey. +But there was plenty of work near at hand. Of course, I knew all about +your father, and that the word must have reached you, but I hated +mortally to come back and face you. But after a while the hankerin' for +old Salem grew upon me. And there was the _Aurora_ wantin' a captain, +for the man who brought her out died of a fever. So says I, 'I'm your +man, and I've been over often enough to know the ropes, the islands, and +p'ints of danger and safe sailing.' So here I be once more. But jiminy +Peter! I should hardly 'a' knowed little old Salem. Why, she looks as if +she was going to outsail all creation!" + +"Oh, we're getting very grand. New streets, and splendid new houses, and +stores, and churches. Why, Boston isn't very much finer." + +"Don't b'lieve Boston harbor can show tonnage with her! And where's +first mate?" + +"I don't know, but he will be in soon. Oh, there's Rachel. Rachel, come +here to an old friend." + +The captain shook hands heartily. "Why, you don't seem to have changed a +mite, only to grow younger and plump as a partridge." + +It had all to be talked over again and in the midst of it supper was +ready, and there was Miss Eunice's surprise. Cynthia could hardly eat, +the long journey and the dangers seemed such a strange thing now. Had +she really come from India, or was it all a dream? + +Yes, old Salem was almost fading out of the minds of even middle-aged +people. There were curious stories told about witches and ghosts, but +the real witchcraft was dying out of mind and the old houses that had +been associated with it were looked upon as curiosities. Public spirit +was being roused. In 1804 the East India Marine Society left the Stearns +house and moved to the new Pickman Building in Essex Street. People +began to send in curiosities that had been stored away in garrets: +models of early vessels, articles from Calcutta, from the islands about +the Central and South Pacific, cloths, and cloaks, and shawls, and +implements. + +The captain was quite sure Winter Island had grown larger--perhaps it +had, by docking out. And he declared the streets looked like London, +with the gayly gowned women, the stores, the carriages, for a number of +handsome late ones were to be seen. There were a few fine young men on +the promenade and they were attired in the height of fashion, as the +society men of New York and Philadelphia. They were still paying +attention to business and devoting the evenings to pleasure. Descendants +of the strict old Puritans met to play cards and have dances and gay +times with the young ladies. In the afternoon a cup of tea would be +offered to callers, or a piece of choice cake and a glass of +wine--often home-made. There were few excesses. + +Many were still wearing the old Continental attire, yet you saw an old +Puritan gentleman, with his long coat, his high-crowned hat, black silk +stockings, and low shoes with great steel buckles. + +Anthony was very much interested in the captain, whose best friend had +been Anthony Leverett. He was proud of the name, and Cynthia's story was +like a romance to him. He was taken up quite cordially by Cousin Giles, +and very cordially by Mrs. Stevens, who had a liking for young men when +they were well-mannered. He had managed to enter Harvard, with some +studies to make up. Chilian Leverett insisted he should do no teaching +this year, and offered him enough to see him through, but he would only +accept it as a loan. + +Bentley Upham was a year ahead and had a good standing, but he felt a +little jealous of the young country fellow--"bumpkin" he would have +liked to call him, but he was not that. A young man received at Mr. +Giles Leverett's, and who sometimes escorted Mrs. Stevens to an +entertainment, was not to be ignored. + +The captain staid in port nearly two months and Cynthia experienced her +old fondness for him, if he was a little uncouth and rough. They went +down to see the _Aurora_ off and she recalled the day she had said +good-bye to the _Flying Star_, that was to bring back her father. + +As for her she was very busy learning to play and to paint. It was a +young lady's accomplishment, but she really did very well. There were +girls' teas, and now and then a small dance that began at seven and +ended at nine, but boys were invited generally. Miss Polly Upham was +quite in the swim, as we should say now. Mothers expected their +daughters to marry, and how could they if they did not see young men? +But there was a certain propriety observed, and very little playing fast +and loose with the most sacred period of life, with the greatest +God-given blessing--Love. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +IN GAY OLD SALEM + + +The next winter Cynthia was fairly launched on society. There was no +regular coming out in almost bridal array, with a grand tea and a +houseful of flowers. When a girl left school she expected to be invited +out and to give little companies at home. Almost the first thing, she +was asked to be one of the six bridesmaids at Laura Manning's wedding. + +The Mannings had one of the splendid new houses on Chestnut Street, with +spacious grounds before the houses grew so close together. Avis Manning +was still in school, Cynthia was between the two in age. Mr. Manning was +connected with the East India trade and an old friend of the Leverett +family. It had begun by Cynthia being invited to a girls' tea, and Mrs. +Manning had taken a great fancy to her. Laura was not very tall, and +they did not want any one to dwarf the bride. + +Every one was to be in white, the bride in a soft, thick silk, and she +was to have a court train. The maids were to be in mull or gauze, as a +very pretty thin material was called. The Empress Josephine had brought +in new styles that certainly were very becoming to young people. The +short waist and square neck, the sleeve puffs that had shrunk so much +they no longer reached the ears, the short curls around the edge of the +forehead arranged so the white parting showed, the dainty feet in +elegant slippers and choice silk stockings that could not help showing, +for the skirts were short. Pretty feet and slim ankles seemed to be a +mark of good family. + +"Will I do?" Cynthia stood before Cousin Chilian with a half-saucy +smile. Around her throat she wore a beautiful Oriental necklace, with +pendants of different fine stones that sparkled with every turn of the +head. There were match pendants in her ears, and just back of the rows +of curls was a jewelled comb. + +She was a pretty girl without being a striking beauty. But her eyes +would have redeemed almost any face, and now they were all aglow with a +wonderful light. + +He looked his admiration. + +"Because if _you_ don't like me----" + +There was a charming half-coquettish way about her, but she never made a +bid for compliments. + +"What then?" laughing. + +"I'd stay home and spoil the wedding party. I know they couldn't fill my +place on a short notice." + +He thought they couldn't fill it at all, but he said almost merrily, +"You need not stay at home." + +Cousin Eunice said she looked pretty enough for the bride. Miss Winn had +attended to her toilette, and now she wrapped a soft silken cloak about +her and Cousin Chilian put her in the carriage. He was all in his best, +ruffled shirt-front, light brocaded silk waist-coat, and there were lace +ruffles about his hands. + +One feels inclined to wonder at the extravagance of those days, when one +sees some of the heirlooms that have come down to us. But their handsome +gowns went through several seasons, and then were made over for the +daughters. And they did not have their jewels reset every few months. + +Such a roomful of pretty girls! Youth and health and picturesque +dressing make almost any one pretty. Miss Laura looked fine, but she +paused to say, "Oh, Cynthia, what an elegant necklace!" + +"Father had it made for mother," she replied simply. + +They patted and pulled a little, powdered, too. + +Miss Willard, the great mantua-maker of that day, who superintended the +dressing of brides, saw that everything was right. The young men came +from their dressing-room, and they began to form the procession. Both +halls were illuminated with no end of candles, and guests were standing +about. Mr. Lynde Saltonstall took his bride-to-be, and they let the +white train sweep down the broad stairway, then Avis Manning and Ed +Saltonstall followed. They were not much on knick-names in those days, +but he had been called Ed to distinguish him from some cousins. + +Cynthia and a cousin came next, and there were several other relatives. +It was a beautiful sight. The bride walked up to the white satin cushion +on which the couple would kneel during the prayer, the maids and +attendants made a semicircle around her, and then the nearest relatives. +The old white-haired minister had married her mother. + +Then there was kissing and congratulation and Mrs. Saltonstall had her +new name, though Avis said she liked Manning a hundred times better. + +"Then you wouldn't accept my name?" said Ed, but he looked laughingly at +Cynthia. + +"Indeed I wouldn't! I don't want any one's name at present. I'm going to +be the only daughter of the house a while," she returned saucily. + +"I wonder if I ought to go on and ask all the maids?" There was such a +funny anxiety in his face that it added to the merriment. + +"You needn't ask this one," said Ward Adams, and Cousin Lois Reade +blushed scarlet, though they all knew she was engaged. + +"But I'm going to dance with every maid. And just at twelve I'm going to +hunt for a glass slipper." + +His look at Cynthia said he needn't hunt very far, and she blushed, +which made her more enchanting than before. + +They all laughed and talked, the older men teasing the bride a little +and giving her advice as to how she should break in her new husband. +Young people's weddings were expected to be gay and every one added his +or her mite. The fine new house was duly admired. On one side it was all +one long room, beautifully decorated. On the other a library, for books +were beginning to come in fashion, even if you were not a clergyman or a +student. Then a kind of family sitting-room, with a large dining-room at +the back. Some of the fine old houses were taken for public purposes +later on. + +They went out to refreshments and the bride cut the cake with a silver +knife. Large suppers were no longer considered the style, but there was +a bountiful supply of delicacies. They drank health and long life to the +bride and groom, and good wishes of all kinds. + +The black waiter, in white gloves and white apron, stood in the hall to +deliver boxes of wedding cake as the older people took their departure. +And then the fiddlers began to tune up. There were two minuets to take +in all the party. Cynthia and Mr. Jordan were in the head one, with the +bride. He was a little stiff and excused himself, as he wasn't much +given to dancing. It didn't matter so much in the minuet. + +Then they paired off any way. Mr. Ed Saltonstall caught Cynthia's hand. + +"I'm just dying to dance with you, and this is the basket quadrille. +Jordan dances like a pump handle, but he's a good fellow. Now let us +have something worth while. I know you dance beautifully." + +"How do you know?" piquantly. + +"I'd like to be nautical and impertinent, but I'm afraid you'd report +me to Mr. Leverett. Oh, it's in you, in every motion. Aren't you glad +you didn't live in those old Puritan days when you would have been put +in the stocks if you had skipped across the room? Come." + +That _was_ dancing. Not a halt nor an ungraceful turn, but every curve +and motion was as perfect as if they had danced together all their +lives. She gave two or three happy sighs. Her cheeks were like the heart +of a blush rose; she never turned very red when she ran or skipped, and +never looked blowsy. + +Another person watched and thought her the prettiest thing in the room, +and was very glad she belonged to him. + +"I'm sorry I have to dance with some one else and it's Lois Reade. Adams +would like to kick me, I know, and she would be twice as happy with him. +That is the price you pay for assisting your brother into matrimony. +Next time there shall not be but one bridesmaid, and I'll dance with her +all the evening." + +"Next time? Will he be married twice?" she asked demurely. + +"Oh, you witch! You are the most delicious dancer--it almost seems as if +you were sipping some very fine wine----" + +"And it went to your head," she laughed. + +"Head and heels both. I'm extravagantly fond of it with a partner like +you. You'll go to the assemblies this winter?" + +"Oh, I don't know." + +"Is Mr. Leverett very--he's your guardian, and somehow I stand just a +little in awe of him. He is so polished, and knows so much, and is he +going to be very exclusive?" + +"Why----" She didn't quite understand, but she looked out of such lovely +eyes that all his pulses throbbed. + +"Take your places." + +She was standing there alone when Mr. Adams asked her. That was only +fair play. Mr. Saltonstall was in the same set and he gave her hand a +squeeze when he took her, crumpled it all up in his, and she flushed +daintily. + +He could not dance with her again until the very last. That was a +"circle" in which you balanced and turned your partner and went to the +next couple, but some way you returned to your own. There were various +pretty figures in it. Once or twice she was a little confused, but he +seemed always on the watch for her. + +The music stopped and the fiddlers were locking their cases. The dancers +went out to the supper-room again. + +"I'd rather dance than eat. I believe I could dance without music. Would +you like to try?" he asked. + +"Oh, no!" with a frightened look that made him laugh. + +Mr. Leverett came, and Mr. Saltonstall was all polite deference. He +wished he could be invited to call, but how was it to be managed? + +Then Cynthia went upstairs to put on her cloak. The bride kissed her, +and said she was glad to have had her, and when they gave their +house-warming she must be sure to come. + +"I've had such a lovely time. Thank you ever so much." + +"I'm the obliged one," was the reply. + +If she had not been in the carriage she must have danced all the way +home. There was music in her head and a "spirit in her feet." She hardly +heard what Cousin Chilian was saying, only after they entered the house +and she slipped out of her wrap, with his good-night, he said, "You are +a very pretty girl, Cynthia." Of course, he should have had more sense +than to foster a girl's vanity. + +The next morning she asked him about the assemblies. + +"They are very nice dancing parties. Only the best people go and no sort +of freedom or misbehavior is tolerated. I think I'll take out a +membership." + +"Oh, do, please do," she entreated. + +The elegant wedding was talked of for days. Girls called on Miss +Leverett--it seemed funny to be called that. She was asked to join a +sewing society that made articles of clothing for the widows and +children of drowned sailors, and there were many of them on the New +England coast. Her tender heart was moved by the pathetic tales she +heard. + +"Dear Cousin Eunice," she said one day, "I went with one of the +committee to see a poor sick woman who is in awful destitution. There +are three small children, and when she is well she goes out washing. +They send her driftwood and old stuff from the ship-yards, and one of +the companies pays her rent. But you should see the things! Such ragged +quilts that hardly hold together, and one little boy was without +stockings. There are so many things up in the garret that you will never +use----" + +"Likely, dear, but they are Chilian's." + +"He said I might ask you, that he was willing. Can't we go up and find +some? What is the use of their being piled up year after year, and +people in need? Ah, if you could see the poor place!" + +Miss Eunice went unwillingly. The thrift of New England did often +shrivel into penuriousness. She and Elizabeth were in the habit of +putting away so many partly worn articles for the time of need. + +"Those old blankets and quilts----" + +"Elizabeth thought they would do to cover over." + +"But there are so many better ones. And some on the closet shelves that +have never been used. Why, there is enough to last a hundred years." + +"Oh, no;" with an alarmed expression. + +"And even I shall not last a hundred years. No one does." + +"Oh, yes. I knew a woman who lived to be one hundred and four." + +"Did she come to want?" + +"She had a good son to take care of her." + +"And you have Cousin Chilian. I read somewhere in the Bible--I wish I +could remember the chapters and verses, 'While we have time let us do +good unto _all_ men.' I suppose that means those who haven't been frugal +and careful, as well as the others." + +"We can't tell just what every sentence means." + +"But we can help them. And here is a poor woman who doesn't go to +taverns;" smiling tenderly and with persuasive eyes. + +They picked out enough for a wagon-load. Some of Cousin Chilian's +clothes that would do to cut over, old woollen blankets, and a variety +of articles. + +"Let us put them all in this chest." + +"We might need the chest." + +"Oh, no, we won't. They will be so much easier to carry that way. Silas +could drive down there. And, oh, you can't imagine how much good they +will do." + +Cynthia went down to see afterward, and the poor woman's gratitude +brought tears to her eyes. + +"They will be a perfect God-send this winter," she said. "I've been +frettin' as to what we should do. I've never begged yet. Well, the Lord +is good." + +Then there came another source of interest. Polly Upham was "keeping +company." A nice, steady young man in the ship-chandlery business, with +a little money saved up, whose folks lived at Portsmouth. He came +regularly on Wednesday night and Sundays to tea. They went to church in +the evening, and that certified it to the young people. Betty had left +school and was trying her hand at housekeeping. Louis, the little +fellow, was a big boy. + +Alice Turner was engaged also, and certainly very much in love if she +considered the young man a paragon. Cynthia compared them all with +Cousin Chilian, and it wasn't a bit fair. + +She met Mr. Saltonstall at a small party, where they played games and +had forfeits. + +It was odd, she thought, how the girls chose him in everything. She +didn't choose him once. He spoke of it afterward. + +"Why, I thought some of the others ought to have a chance," she +explained with winning sweetness. "But if it had been dancing!" and she +laughed, and that reconciled him. + +Then Mrs. Lynde Saltonstall gave her house-warming. It was a simple +dwelling and not very large, but it was pretty as a picture. And young +people didn't expect to rival their fathers and mothers in the start. + +They had dancing, and that was enough. They were all young people, and +two of the fiddlers were there. They had a gay time and a nice supper. + +"I think Ed is smitten with Cynthia Leverett," Laura remarked to her +husband. "He seemed to feel annoyed that they had sent Miss Winn in the +carriage for her. She's a lovely dancer." + +"It wouldn't be a bad thing for Ed. She has lots of money that just +turns itself over on interest. And her trustee has been buying up some +choice Boston property for her. She's pretty and has charming manners +and comes of a good family." + +Then Mrs. Stevens asked her to come in to Boston for a few days. She was +going to have a little dancing party. + +"My dear, you'll dance yourself to death," said Cousin Eunice. + +"Oh, no. It isn't as hard as cleaning house or washing, as some of the +poor women do. And it is tiresome to practise on the spinet, hour after +hour--counting time and all that. If I was a girl of twenty years ago +I'm afraid I should be chasing up and down some old garret, spinning on +the big wheel." + +Cousin Eunice laughed, too. Cynthia always made commonplaces seem +amusing, she accented them so with her bright face. + +They were very glad to have her in Boston. Chilian took her in on +Saturday and staid with her until Monday morning. On Sunday Anthony +Drayton was invited in to dinner. He had improved very much. The country +air had been effaced. And he was a gentleman by instinct, and acquired +cultivation readily. + +"And a fine fellow!" said Cousin Giles, rubbing his hands. "He's decided +to go in for law presently, and it will be a most excellent thing. I +don't know but I'll have to adopt him, as you did Cynthia." + +Anthony hovered about the young girl. She had been cultivating her voice +the last year. It was a sweet parlor voice, adapted to the old-time +songs. Mrs. Stevens had a book of them and she sang most cheerfully. + +"Oh, I wish you were going to stay over another Sunday," he exclaimed +wistfully. "But I shall come in on Tuesday evening. I don't dance, but +Mrs. Stevens is so kind to me, I've met several of the first men in the +city here." + +"Oh, I am glad you are coming." + +It was a very sincere joy and she could not keep it out of her face, did +not try to. And it was such a sweet face that she raised to his. He had +a sudden unreasonable wish that he was five years older and settled in +business, but then--she was very young. + +Mrs. Stevens said to her on Monday, after she had read a note over and +glanced up at her rather furtively, "There's a friend of yours coming +Tuesday night--a friend from Salem that I hope you will be glad to see." + +"From Salem----" + +"Mr. Saltonstall. He was in here a fortnight or so ago. His mother and I +used to be great friends. I happened to ask him if he knew the +Leveretts, and he told me about his brother's marriage, that you were +one of the bridesmaids." + +"Oh, yes. Laura Manning was one of the older girls at Madam Torrey's. +They had just gone in their new house and the wedding was splendid. And +I liked Mr. Edward Saltonstall so much. He is a most beautiful dancer. +I'm so glad he is coming. You see I don't know many of the new dances, +and I shouldn't so much mind making a break with him." + +She looked up in her sweet, brave innocence as she uttered it. + +"You are not in love with him, little lady, and he is very much smitten +with you," Mrs. Stevens ruminated. "But you shall have the chance." + +"I've always liked Ed," she continued. "He's a nice, frank, honest +fellow, pretty gay at times, but not at all in the dissipated line, just +full of fun and frolic. So I asked him down, and here he says he will +come," waving her note. "I look out for men who dance. I do like to see +young folks have a good time. The older people can play cards." + +It seemed rather odd that at eight o'clock not a soul had come. At home +they would be beginning the fun by this time. Then a sudden influx of +girls, some she had met before--two or three young men--and then young +Saltonstall, who had been counting the moments the last half hour. + +"I am so glad to see you. It was such a surprise." + +He could see it in her face, hear it in her voice. He really was afraid +of saying something foolish--something that would be no harm if they +were alone. + +"I've known Mrs. Stevens a long while. And Mr. Giles Leverett. It's +queer--well, not quite that either--that I've known you such a little +while. I always thought of you as a child, though I've seen you drive +your pony carriage." + +"Mrs. Stevens is delightful." + +Then there was another relay, quite a number of young gentlemen. The +black fiddlers in the hall began to tune up. + +There were two very handsome girls and beautifully gowned. All of them +looked pretty in dancing attire. Then a quadrille was called. There were +just eight couples. + +Of course, Mr. Saltonstall took her. The rug was up and the floor had +been polished. The dancing was elegant, harmonious. + +"The next is the Spanish dance. You will like that. The windings about +are like the song words to the music." + +"But--I don't know it;" and she shrank back. + +"Oh, you'll get into it. You are the kind that could pick up any step. +You make me think of a swallow as it darts round. If it made a mistake +no one would know it." + +"Oh, I'd rather not;" entreatingly. + +"Don't spoil the set." + +She rose up and let him lead her out. She had a way of yielding so +quickly, when it was right and best, very flattering to a man in love +and easily misread. + +If dancing had been art instead of nature, something by rote instead of +a segment of inner harmony, she could not have succeeded so well. He +warded off the few blunders, and at the third change she had another +well-bred partner. But she was glad to get back to him. The joy shone in +her dangerous eyes. + +There were some new dances coming in. One of the girls from New York and +her escort waltzed up and down the room in a slow-gliding manner that +was the poetry of motion. She was fascinated, enchanted, and she knew +she could do it herself. + +"We'll try it sometime," Saltonstall said. + +Mr. Leverett came in, bringing Anthony Drayton with him. He knew he was +late, but he didn't dance, and he had earned five dollars copying that +evening. But he must see Cynthia. + +"Oh, I thought you would not come!" + +Then she had been giving a thought to him out of her happy time! + +"I was detained. Are they all well, or didn't Cousin Chilian come down?" + +"Oh, no." + +They were being marshalled out to supper. + +"You'll have to content yourself with me," said Mrs. Stevens to Anthony, +and he accepted smilingly. But she placed Cynthia next, so he could have +a little talk with her. He was getting on so well, and she was glad for +him. + +Some one wanted Miss Tracy to waltz again. Then they had a galop, and +the party broke up. Anthony said good-night, and that he was coming up +on Saturday. Then Saltonstall drew her into a little nook in the hall +that made a connection with another room when it was open. Mrs. Stevens +had smiled over its uses. + +"Cynthia, my darling, I must tell you this," and his voice seemed to +throb with emotion. "I want the right to come and visit you as lovers +have, for I love you, love you! I am coming to see Mr. Leverett and ask +his permission. I do nothing but dream of you day and night. You are the +sweetest, dearest----" + +"Oh, don't! don't!" She struggled in the clasp. "Oh, I can't--I----" and +he felt her slight body tremble, so he loosed it. + +"Forgive me. I wanted you to know so no one can take you from me. I want +to see you often. Oh, love, good-night, good-night!" + +He pressed a rapturous kiss upon her hand and was gone. She slipped +through to the dining-room and took a glass of water. + +"You look tired to death, little country girl," said Uncle Giles, and he +kissed her on the forehead. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LOVERS AND LOVERS + + +"Take me home with you, Cousin Chilian," she pleaded, when he came in +the next day. + +"But I thought"--he studied her in surprise. + +"I want to go home," she interrupted, and her under lip had a quiver in +it that would have disarmed almost any one, persuaded as well. + +"Why, yes. Didn't you enjoy the party?" He felt suddenly at loss, he was +not used to translating moods with all his knowledge. + +"Oh, it was delightful! And some such pretty girls. There were new +dances. And Mrs. Stevens _is_ charming. Anthony came over a little +while." + +In spite of inducements held out, she would go. Cousin Giles was almost +cross about it. + +"I'm so glad to get back," she said to Rachel. "One feels so safe here." + +"Was there any danger?" laughed the elder. + +Cynthia's face was scarlet. It wasn't danger exactly, but she felt +better under Cousin Chilian's wing. And she was her bright gay self all +the evening. + +But how to get her story told? For if Mr. Saltonstall came and asked for +her company, as they termed it then, and not being warned, he should +consent---- + +They sat by the study fire. It had turned out cold and cloudy, with +indications of snow. He had a lamp near him on the small table, and read +and thought, as his glance wandered dreamily over the leaping flashing +blue and yellow flames. If it stormed for one or two days, she could not +have come home. + +She rose presently and came and stood by him, laid her hand lightly on +his shoulder. She was a young lady now, and it was hardly proper to draw +her down on his knee. + +"Cousin Chilian;" hesitatingly. + +"Well, dear?" in an inquiring tone. + +"There is something I ought to tell you, and I want to ask you--to--to +do--oh, I hardly know how to say it. Mr. Saltonstall came down; he and +Mrs. Stevens are old friends----" + +Ah, he knew now. This young man had dared to invade the virginal +sweetness of her soul, to trouble the quiet stream of girlhood. He was +roused, strangely angry, for all his placid temperament. + +"I couldn't help it--just before he went away--and I couldn't have +dreamed of such a thing----" + +Then she hid her head down on his shoulder and cried. + +"Dear--my dear little girl--oh, yes, it would have to happen sometime. +And--he loves you." + +"Oh, that isn't the worst;" illogically, between her sobs. "He is coming +to ask you if he may--and I don't want him to come that way. I just want +it as it was before. Polly Upham can't think or talk of anything but her +intended, and it gets tiresome. He doesn't seem so very wonderful to me. +And wouldn't it weary you to hear me praising some one all the time?" + +"I think it would," he answered honestly, yet with some confusion of +mind. + +"So I don't want it;" with more courage in her voice. "I want good times +with them all. And I don't see how you can come to love any one all in a +moment." + +Was he hearing aright? Didn't she really want the young man for a lover? +He was unreasonably, fatuously glad, and the pulses, that were chilled a +moment ago, seemed to race hot through his body. + +"It was not quite marriage?" a little huskily. + +"He wanted to ask if he might have the right to come, and he said he +loved me, and, oh, I am afraid----" + +She was trembling. He could feel it where she leaned against him. He +took sudden courage. + +"And you do not want him to come in that way? It would most likely lead +to an engagement. And then I should have to listen to his praises +continually. Yes, it would be rather hard on me;" and he laughed with a +humorous sound. + +It heartened her a good deal. She was smiling now herself, but there +were tears on her cheek. + +"And you won't mind telling him; that is not _very_ much, that----" + +"I think you are too young to decide such a grave matter, Cynthia," he +began seriously. "And you ought to have a glad, sweet youth. There is no +reason why you should rush into marriage. You have a pleasant home with +those that love you----" + +"And I don't want to go away. I feel as if I would like to live here +always. You are so good and indulgent, and Cousin Eunice is so nice, now +that she doesn't seem afraid of any one. Were we all afraid of Cousin +Elizabeth? And we have such nice talks. She tells me about the old times +and what queer thoughts people had, and how hard they were. And about +girls whose lovers went away to sea and never came back, and how they +watched and waited, and sometimes we cry over them. And the house is so +cheerful, and I can have all the flowers I want, and friends coming in, +and, oh, I shall never want to go away, because I shall never love any +one as well as you." + +That was very sweet, but it was a girl's innocence, and her face did not +change color in the admission. + +"Well, I will explain the matter to Mr. Saltonstall. I am glad you told +me, otherwise I should hardly have known your wishes on the subject. And +now we will go on having good times together, and count out lovers." + +"Yes, yes." She gave his hand a squeeze and was her own happy self, not +feeling half as sorry for the man who would come to be denied as he did. + +It snowed furiously the next morning, and sullenly the day after. Then +it was cold, and she said half a dozen times a day she was so glad she +came home. + +She did not see Mr. Saltonstall when he called, and she really did miss +him at two little companies. Then she wondered if she oughtn't give one, +she had gone to so many. + +"Why, yes," Cousin Chilian answered. She might have turned the house +upside down so long as she was going to stay in it. + +Then she wondered if she ought to invite _him_. Mrs. Lynde and she were +very good friends, and she should ask Avis, of course. They spoke--they +were not ill friends. + +Chilian considered. "Yes, I think I would," he made answer. + +They had a merry time and danced on the beautiful rugs, and had a fine +supper. And Mr. Saltonstall was glad to be friends. She _was_ young and +presently she might think of lovers. He would try and keep his chance +good. + +_Anthony came now_ and then and spent a Sunday with them. He loved to +hear Cousin Chilian read Greek verses, but the pretty love odes seemed +to mean Cynthia, and he used to watch her. Then Ben Upham was a visitor +as well, and used to play checkers with her, as that was considered +quite a good exercise for one's brains. + +Polly would be married in the spring, Alice Turner in June. The Turners +were always besieging her for a two or three days' visit, and the Turner +young men hovered round her. She never seemed to do anything, she never +demanded attention, but when she glanced up at them, or smiled, they +followed her as the children did the Pied Piper. She might have led them +into dangerous places, but she was very simple of heart. Yet the danger +was alluring to them. + +Polly came to her for a good deal of counsel. When there were two +patterns of sleeves, which should she take? + +"Why, I'd have the India silk made with this and the English gingham +with that--you see it will iron so much easier. Miss Grayson does up the +puffs on a shirring cord, then you can let them out in the washing." + +"That's a fine idea. You do have such splendid ideas, Cynthy." + +"They are mostly Rachel Winn's," laughed the young girl. + +They had a capable woman in the kitchen now. Cynthia should have been +mastering the high art of housekeeping, people thought, instead of +running about so much and driving round in the pony carriage with Miss +Winn, or a girl companion. Of course, there was plenty of money, but one +never quite knew what would happen. + +John Loring was building his house as people who could did in those +days. They would not be able to finish it all inside, and there was a +nook left for an addition when they needed it. Polly was to have some of +grandmother's furniture, and John's mother would provide a little. +Corner cupboards were quite a substitute in those days for china +closets, and window-seats answered for chairs. But there was bedding and +napery, and no one thought of levying on friends. Relatives looked over +their stock and bestowed a few articles. Cynthia thought of the stores +in the old house and wished she might donate them. She did pick out some +laces from her store, and two pretty scarfs, one of which Polly declared +would be just the thing to trim her wedding hat, which was of fine +Leghorn. So she would only have to buy the feather. + +They haunted the stores and occasionally picked up a real bargain. Even +at that period shoppers did not throw their money broadcast. + +"Cynthia Leverett is the sweetest girl I know," Polly said daily, and +Bentley was of the same opinion. + +They were to stand at the wedding. + +"And I want you to wear that beautiful frock that you had when Laura +Manning was married. I shall only have two bridesmaids, you and Betty, +but I want you to look your sweetest." + +And surely she did. They had a very nice wedding party and the next day +Polly went to her own house and had various small tea-drinkings, and she +arranged them for Saturday so Bentley could come up. They were +wonderfully good friends, but Cynthia felt as if she had outgrown him. +In her estimation he was just a big friendly boy that one could talk to +familiarly. Anthony was more backward in the laughter and small-talk. + +Then there was the college degree. There was no such great fuss made +over commencement then, no grand regattas, no inter-collegiate +athletics, for it was a rather serious thing to begin a young man's life +and look forward to marriage. + +He went straight to Mr. Chilian. It was the proper thing to be fortified +with the elders' consent. Of course, he would not marry in some time +yet, but if he could be her "company" and speak presently--they had been +such friends. + +Chilian studied the honest young fellow, whose face was in a glow of +hope. So young to dream of love and plan for the future! + +"You are both too young;" and his voice had a bit of sharpness in it. +"Cynthia is not thinking of such things." + +"But one _can_ think of them. They begin somehow and go into your very +life. I believe I've loved her a long while." + +"I think neither of you really know what love is. No, I cannot consent +to it. I want her to go on having a good free time without any anxiety. +I have some right to her, being her guardian." + +"But--I will wait--I didn't mean to ask her immediately." + +"We are going on a journey presently. I cannot have her disturbed with +this. No, your attention must be devoted to business for the next two +years." + +He drew a long breath. "But you don't mean I must break +off--everything?" and there was an unsteadiness in his voice. + +"Oh, no. Not if you can keep to the old friendliness." + +Then Chilian Leverett dropped into his easy-chair and thought. The child +had grown very dear to him, she was a gift from her father. A +tumultuous, uncomprehended pain wrenched his very soul. To live without +her--to miss her everywhere! To have lonely days, longer lonely evenings +when the dreariness of winter set in. And yet she had a right to the +sweet, rich draught of love. But she did not need it amid all the +pleasures of youth. Let her have two or three years, even if it was +blissful thoughtlessness. But he must put her on her guard. A young +fellow soon changed his mind. The old couplet sang itself in his brain: + + "If she be not fair for me, + What care I how fair she be?" + +Did he get over his early love and forget? We all say, "But ours was +different." + +How to find the right moment? Ben did not come over. She was very busy +with this friend and that, youth finds so _many_ interests. But one +evening, when they were sitting on the porch in the moonlight, the young +fellow walked slowly along, glanced at them, halted. + +She flew down to the gate. + +"Oh, Ben, what has happened?" she cried, the most bewitching anxiety in +her face. "Why, you have not been in--for weeks." + +"Not quite two weeks." Had it seemed so long to her? To him it had been +months. + +"Oh, come in. Cousin Chilian will be glad to see you." + +The radiant cordiality in her face unnerved him. + +"And you?" Yes, he must know. + +"Do you have to ask that question?" + +The sweet, dangerous eyes said too much, but the smile was that of +amusement. + +So they walked up the path together. Mr. Leverett greeted him in a +friendly manner. + +"I thought I ought to come in and say good-bye. I'm going off on some +business for father, and may not be back for several weeks." + +"That sounds as if you needed an apology for coming at all," she +commented with half-resentful gayety. + +He flushed and made no immediate reply. + +"And we are going to take a journey as well. Up somewhere in Maine. Mr. +Giles Leverett insists we shall, for our health, but I think it is our +delightful company. He has to go to look after a large estate where some +people think of founding a town. Isn't it funny?" and she gave her +bewitching laugh that was like the notes of silver bells, soft, yet +clear. "They must go off and build up new places. And some people are +going West, as if there wasn't room here. Have you noticed that we are +overcrowded?" + +"Well, sometimes along the docks it looks that way." + +"I like a good many people. Often Merrits' is crowded, and it's funny to +catch bits of sentences. And at Plummer's as well. Did you ever read +right across the paper, one line in each column, and notice the odd and +twisted-up sense it made? That's about the way it sounds." + +How bright and charming she was! Ben could not keep his eyes from her +radiant face. Was she really a coquette, Chilian wondered. Yet she was +so simple with it all, so seemingly careless of the effect. That was the +danger of it. + +He lingered like one entranced. Poor young lad! Chilian began to feel +sorry for him. + +She walked down to the gate with him, and hoped they would have a nice +time when autumn came, if he meant to stay in Salem. + +A young man not in love would have called her a bright, merry, chatty +girl. He went away with the consciousness that she liked him very much. +Chilian asked her if she did. + +She glanced up wonderingly. + +"Why--he is nice, and being Polly's brother makes it--well, more +familiar. Then we can talk about Anthony. I believe he didn't like him +much at first, but he does now." + +Oh, how could he put her on her guard! She was not dreaming of love. +Saltonstall's fancy had died out--no doubt this would, too. Lad's love. +Was it worth ruffling up the sunny artlessness? But he would watch the +young men closer now that he knew the danger line. + +He said simply to himself that he could not give her up to any one else +so soon. There would be a long life of joy and satisfaction to her, and +he knew she would not grudge him these few years. Then, too, he was +quite certain she had not even had an imaginary fancy for these two +men--Ben was nothing but a boy. + +Anthony Drayton was to join them. Miss Winn was to be Cynthia's +companion. Mrs. Stevens had refused to trust her precious self to any +wilds, and bear and wolf hunts, though Mr. Giles declared they were not +going to take guns along. He was not an enthusiastic hunter. As for +Chilian, such sport did not attract him. + +The journey was partly by stage, partly on horseback, and one or two +days they left the ladies at the tavern where they stopped. Cynthia was +charmed and amused at the uncouthness of the people and their dialect in +some places, and positive good breeding in others. Anthony unearthed a +college chum who was tally man at a sawmill. The new town was really +making progress. A small chapel had been started, a schoolhouse built. +And twenty years later it was a pretty town; in fifty years an +enterprising city. + +"Anthony's going to be a first-class fellow. I should like to have such +a son. Chilian, you and I should have married and have sons and +daughters growing up. But at my time of life I should want them grown +up. And smart, as well. I always feel sorry for the fathers of dull +lads, when they have plenty of means to educate them. Yes, I should want +mine to have a good supply of brains." + +Chilian Leverett enjoyed the change very much and the breath of spruce +and pine was invigorating. But there was a little nervous feeling about +Cynthia. Cousin Giles was somewhat of a lady's man, and he was on the +continual lookout that Cynthia should not tire herself unduly, that she +be assisted over the rough places, that she should have the best of +everything. He was almost jealous at times. + +But Cynthia moved about gayly, serenely, full of merry little quips, +seizing the small ridiculous events with such a sense of amusement that +she inspirited them all. And he could not notice that she paid any more +attention to Anthony than either of her seniors. There was such a +genuine frankness in all she said and did, a charm of manner that was +just herself, and had none of the arts of society, but came from a heart +that overflowed with spontaneous warmth, but was not directed to any +particular person. + +Cousin Giles declared he was sorry to get back to Boston. He could not +remember when he had enjoyed such a good time. Then in a business way it +had been a success, which added to his satisfaction. + +They really had to stay in Boston one night. They would fain have kept +Cynthia for a week, but she said she was tired of just changing from one +frock to another, and longed for more variety. + +"And I'm so glad to get back home again," she cried delightedly. "I've +had a splendid time, and I like Anthony ever so much. Cousin Giles was +so nice and fatherly. He ought to adopt Anthony and give him his name, +and that would always make me think of father. But after all, home is +best. Oh, suppose I was a waif, just being handed from one to another!" + +She looked frightened with the imaginary lot. She expressed emotions so +easily. + +"You couldn't have been;" hoarsely. + +"Cousin Chilian, if you had not been in the world, or if you hadn't been +willing to take me--I don't think father knew much about Cousin +Giles--why, I must have gone to strangers." + +There were tears in her eyes, and a sweet melancholy in her voice. + +She had so much to tell Cousin Eunice that it seemed really as if she +had taken the journey with them. She put on Jane's faded gingham +sunbonnet and gave her voice a queer nasal twang, and talked as some of +the women did up there in the wilderness, who thought a city "must be an +awfully crowdy place an' she jes' didn't see how people managed to live +in it. An' as fer the sea, give her dry land every time." + +Then she talked the French-English patois of the emigrants from Canada, +and told of their funny attire, and their log huts, sometimes with only +one big room, with a stone chimney in the centre, and sawed logs for +seats. + +"They did that in Salem nigh on to two hundred years ago," said Cousin +Eunice. + +"How much people do learn by living," remarked the little girl sagely. + +Then the olden round began. Being asked out to tea and inviting in +return, sewing bees, quilting parties when some girl was making an +outfit. And though the elders shook their heads at such a waste of time, +they went out to walk in the afternoon and stopped in the shops that +were making a show on Essex Street and Federal Street. There was Miss +Rust's pretty millinery parlor--it had a sofa in the front room and a +table with an embroidered cover that Cynthia had sent her. They talked +of new styles and colors, and were aghast at the thought that royalty +sometimes had as many as twenty hats and bonnets. She made pretty old +lady caps as well, and she did love to hear the young girls chatter. And +Molly Saunders was still baking gingerbread, that had delighted them as +school children, and no one made such good spruce and sassafras beer. + +One evening at a dance she had a great surprise. Some one said, "Miss +Cynthia Leverett, Mr. Marsh." + +A rather tall, ruddy, good-looking fellow, with laughing eyes and an +unmistakable sailor air, held her dainty hand and studied her face. + +"Oh, you don't know me!" in the jolliest of tones. "And I should know +you if you had been cast ashore on a rocky island and I were looking at +you through a spyglass. You haven't changed in the main, only to grow +prettier. You were a poor pale little thing then." + +"Oh, I can't think!" She flushed and smiled. Something in the hearty +voice won her. + +"At Dame Wilby's school. And the bad boy who sat behind you--Tommy +Marsh." + +"Oh! oh! And that day I sat on the floor!" She laughed gayly. She did +not mind it a bit now. + +"Wasn't it funny? And the way you just sat still with the school in an +uproar. You standing up there and 'sassing' back the old dame! Such a +mite of a thing, too. My! but you were a plucky one!" in admiration. +"And you never came to school after that. I ought to get down on my +knees and beg your pardon for the sly pinches I gave you, and the times +I tweaked your curly hair. I've half a mind to do it." + +"Oh, no!" and she made a funny gesture of alarm, and both laughed. + +"And I've been over there to India, where you came from, and found some +people who knew your father. I've been to sea seven years, three on this +last cruise, and when the _Vixen_ is repaired and refitted I'm going out +again as first mate. One of these days I shall be a captain." + +How proud and strong he looked. Why, one couldn't help liking him. + +"I wonder if I might dance with you?" + +"Oh, do you dance? I thought sailors--and there are no girls----" and +she blushed at her incoherence. + +"I think we do a little. Where did you get the Sailor's Hornpipe from? +We're sorry about not having girls, but we make it answer. And when you +get in the doldrums, or becalmed, it stirs up your blood. Oh, they are +taking their places." + +Ben was in the same quadrille. Every time he touched her hand he gave it +a pressure that made her cheeks rosier. Altogether it was a delightful +evening. + +Cousin Chilian came for her. He had found she preferred it. + +"Oh, Cousin Chilian, I've had such a funny adventure. Perhaps you can +recall the little boy I really hated that week I went to the dame's +school. Well, he is a nice big fellow now, and we had a talk, and he +has been to Calcutta and seen people who knew father. I want him to come +so we can have a good long talk, and won't you ask him? You'll like him, +I know. I'll find him and bring him to you, and you can ask him to come +while I'm putting on my things." + +She hunted him up and he was very pleased to meet Mr. Leverett. She gave +them quite a while, for she was chatting with the girls about some +weddings on the tapis. + +She gave Mr. Marsh her hand and a smile that would have set almost any +masculine heart beating. It must have been born with her, though it was +pitifully appealing in the childhood days. Now the true, sweet nature +shone through it, lending it a fascinating radiance. + +Mr. Leverett said he should be glad to have him call while he was in +port, and the young man thanked him and said he should give himself the +pleasure. + +"And when he does come," said the little lady in her half-coaxing, +half-imperious way, "can't we have him up in the study? You see, it does +very well for half a dozen of us to be down in the parlor, but it gets +kind of stiff and not cheerful with just one. And you'll like to talk to +him." + +He assented readily. Ben always came up in the study, though now he +would rather have been alone with Cynthia. There were some things he +meant to say, if he ever had a chance, in spite of youth and +guardianship. + +Mr. Marsh did not lose much time considering. The very next week he +called. + +They found him a nice, agreeable, well-informed young man, a true sailor +lad, and like many a Yankee boy, he kept adding to his stock of +knowledge where-ever he went. He had drawn some useful charts of +seaports and islands he knew about, their products and climates, and +really his descriptions were as good as a geography. + +"There's no doubt Salem has the lead in the foreign trade, but we're +going to be pushed hard the next few years. Other cities have found out +the profit in it. But we've some of the best captains, and that's what I +mean to be myself." + +At Calcutta they still held a warm remembrance of Captain Anthony +Leverett. And Marsh thought it quite a wonderful thing that the little +girl had gone back and forth and braved all the perils. He told them of +a pirate ship they had once battled with and the rich stores they had +taken from her. The prisoners had been left on an island. + +"But--how would they get to their homes?" she asked. + +"Oh, that wasn't our lookout. They'd have done the same thing to us if +they could, maybe worse. Occasionally vessels are wrecked, and sometimes +it is months before a ship goes that way and sees their signal." + +Yes, she was glad nothing of the kind had happened to her. And Chilian, +watching the little shiver, gave thanks also. + +Thomas Marsh enjoyed these evenings wonderfully. He was always glancing +at Cynthia to see if what he said met with her approval. It seemed so +strangely sweet to be thrilled at the tones of her voice and the touch +of her hand. And when she looked up and smiled, the blood surged to his +brain. He was quite a favorite with the girls, but no other one had that +power over him. + +Of course, they met here and there at the different companies--he never +went unless she was sure to be there, and if he asked she answered +frankly. Cousin Chilian took her down to see the _Vixen_, which was +nearly ready for her new cruise. He was very proud of her, so was +Captain Langfelt, and they had some tea in the cabin. But some sudden +knowledge came to Chilian Leverett, and he was sincerely glad the young +man was going away. + +The evening Thomas Marsh came in to say good-bye, she was alone. + +"You'll find Miss Cynthia up in the study," said Jane, and thither he +went two steps at a time. She had on a soft gown, and he thought she +looked like some lovely flower as she rose to greet him. + +"I believe we are to sail to-morrow. Stores and cargo are all in, and +now the captain is in haste to be off. Come down about eleven in the +morning and wish me God-speed, a safe journey, and a happy return." + +"Yes. We were talking of it to-day. Oh, I hope you will have all, though +a great many things happen in three years." Neither of them, indeed no +one, could have predicted what was to happen in those eventful three +years. + +They discussed the pleasant times, the girls and boys who had grown up +and married during the whole seven years of his absence. Oh, how sweet +and pretty she was! He envied the boys like Bentley Upham and two or +three others who had business at home--but no, he never could have been +anything but a sailor. + +Then he rose to go. He stood holding her hand and the red and white kept +flitting over her face, her eyes were so soft and dark. They would haunt +him many a night on the deck. + +"It's best that I am going so soon," he began in a rather tremulous +voice. "Do you remember what your uncle was reading the other day about +the man who wanted to be lashed to the mast when they passed the Syrens? +It would be that way with me if I staid much longer. I--I wouldn't be +able to help loving you, and I doubt whether it would be a good thing +for either of us. I've tried all along to keep it to a plain, honest +like, but I know now it is more than that. I shall take away with me the +remembrance of the sweetest girl in all the world, and I have no right +to spoil her life. But sometimes maybe you'll think of a far-away lad, +who sends you his love and the best wishes for your happiness with the +man you will love best of all." + +Then he pressed her hand to his lips and went slowly down the stairs. +She heard the door shut. And, foolish girl, she sat down and cried, and +there Cousin Chilian found her, and had to listen and absolve. + +"No," he said, "it would not do for you to have a sailor lad. Your +tender heart would break with the anxiety. He's a nice, upright fellow, +and he will never shirk a duty. But you----" What should he say to her? + +"I want to stay here. Oh, I wonder if you will like me when I get as old +as Cousin Eunice, and the world will change and improve and I shall be +queer and old-fashioned?" + +He held her in his arms, but he was shocked to find what was in his own +heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PERILOUS PATHS + + +Avis Manning's "Company" was one of the events of the season. She was a +full-fledged young lady, and knowing she could have her choice of the +young men of Salem, was rather difficult to capture. She and her +brother-in-law were very good friends, but not lovers. And Laura, who +knew where his fancy lay, counselled him to go slowly, though she was +quite sure he would win in the end. + +"You see, she is like a child to Mr. Chilian Leverett, and he is loath +to part with her. But all girls do marry sooner or later, and he isn't +selfish enough to want her to stay single. If he was not so much older +he might marry her--they are not own cousins, you know." + +"He marry her! Why, he's getting to be quite an old man," and there was +a touch of disdain in his tone. "But there's half a dozen others----" + +"It's queer, but she isn't a flirt. She's one of the sweetest of +girls--she was, at school. And with her fortune she might hold herself +high. They say the Boston trustee has doubled some of it that he +invested." + +"I wish she hadn't a cent!" the young man flung out angrily. + +"Well, money is not to be despised. She'll get a little tired by and by, +and long for a home and children of her own, as we all do. And if you +haven't found any one else----" + +"I never shall find any one like her;" gloomily. + +"Oh, there are a great many nice girls in the world." + +Avis knew all the best people in Salem, it was not so large, after all. +And they came to the beautiful house and made merry, played "guessing +words"--what we call charades, quite a new thing then--and it made no +end of merriment. Of course, Cynthia was in them, was arch and piquant, +and delighted the audience. Then they had supper and more dancing. One +of the Turner boys, Archibald, hovered about Cynthia like a shadow. +There was Ben Upham, but Edward Saltonstall warded them off to her +satisfaction. But Bella Turner was shortly to be married, and Archie +would have her for that evening surely. + +She and Mr. Saltonstall were very good friends. He was a little older +than the others, and grown wary by experience. But it was queer that +half a dozen girls were pulling straws for him and here was one who did +not care, would not raise a finger, but, oh, how sweet her smiles were. + +"If you are a bridesmaid the third time, you will never be a bride," +said some of the wiseacres. + +Cynthia tossed her proud, dainty head and laughed over it to Cousin +Chilian. He looked a little grave. + +"Would you mind if I were an old maid? I wouldn't really be _old_ in a +long while, you know. And you will always want some one. If anything +should happen to Cousin Eunice, how lonely you would be." + +"Yes, if you went away." + +"I don't care for any of them very much. I like Mr. Saltonstall the +best. He isn't quite so young, so--so sort of impetuous. And the boys +get jealous." + +Then it was likely to be Mr. Saltonstall, after all! Was he going to be +narrow and mean enough to keep her out of what was best in a woman's +life? But he looked down the dreary years without her. He could not +attach himself to the world of business as Cousin Giles did. Some of +these young fellows might come into a sort of sonship with him--there +was Anthony Drayton. + +Why was it his soul protested against them? He did not understand the +deep underlying dissent that made a cruel discordance in his desire for +her happiness. + +Mr. Saltonstall walked home from church with her and Miss Winn. And he +came in one evening to ask some advice. He had cudgelled his brain for +days to find just the right subject. That ended, they had a talk about +chess--that was becoming quite an interest in some circles. There were +several moves that puzzled him. + +"Come in some evening and talk them over," said Mr. Leverett. + +Edward Saltonstall wondered at the favor of the gods and accepted. Not +as if he was in any vulgar hurry, but he dropped in, politely social, +and asked if he should disturb them. Chilian had been reading Southey's +"Thalaba." + +"Oh, no. We often read in the evening," said Cynthia. + +She was netting a bead bag, an industry all the rage then among the +women. They really were prettier than the samplers. But she rose and +brought the box of chessmen, while he rolled the table from its corner. + +"Will I disturb you if I stay?" she asked. + +"Not unless it interferes with Mr. Saltonstall's attention," said +Chilian, then bit his lip. + +"Oh, I do not think it will;" smilingly. + +"You are very good to bother with a tyro. I'd like to be able to play a +good game. Father is so fond of it, and Lynde seldom comes in +nowadays--family cares;" laughingly. + +They led off very well. Saltonstall was wise enough to try his best, +though out of one eye he watched the dainty fingers threading in and out +among the colored beads, and could not help thinking he would rather be +holding them and pressing kisses on the soft white hand. Then he made a +wrong play. + +"We may as well turn back," said Mr. Leverett, "since the question at +stake is not winning, but improving." + +"You are very good," returned the young man meekly. + +This time they went on a little further, but the result was the same. So +with the third game. + +"Of course, I could let you win," Mr. Leverett began, "but that wouldn't +conduce to the real science of the game which a good player desires. But +you do very well for a young man. I should keep on, if I were you." + +"And annoy you with my shortcomings?" + +"Oh, it will not be annoyance, truly. Come in when you feel like it." + +"Thank you." Then he said good-night in a friendly, gentlemanly manner, +and Cynthia rose and bowed. + +After that she gathered up her work and said good-night. Chilian sat and +thought. Edward Saltonstall was a nice, steady young fellow; that is, he +neither gamed, nor drank, nor went roystering round in the taverns +jollying with the sailors, as some of the sons of really good families +did. He would not have all his fortune to make, and his father's +business was well established. The sons would take it. The two daughters +were well married. What more could he ask for Cynthia? She was not so +young now and would know her own mind. + +Yet it gave his heart a sharp, mysterious wrench, a longing for what he +was putting away, the essence of the solemn ideals of love that run +through the intricate meshes of the human soul. He knew that he loved +her, that he wanted her for his very own, and his conscience told him it +was not right. Of all her admirers he liked this one the best. Under +other circumstances he would have considered him an admirable young man. + +Saltonstall dropped in now and then, not too often. He did not mean to +startle any one with his purpose, but to let it grow gradually. Still, +at the last assembly of the season, his attentions were somewhat +pronounced. It was partly her doings, she was sheltering herself from +other rather warm indications. + +A few days later she went over to Polly Loring's with her work. Polly's +bag had somehow gone wrong. Cynthia had to cut the thread and ravel out +a round. The baby was to be admired as well as the chair seat Polly had +begun in worsted work, which was the new accomplishment. And they talked +over various matters: who had new gowns, new lovers, and new babies. But +every time she came almost to the subject so near her heart, Cynthia +made an elusive detour. Then she ventured out straight with her +question. + +"Cynthia, are you going to take Ed Saltonstall?" + +Cynthia's face was scarlet. + +"He hasn't asked me, he hasn't even asked Cousin Chilian," but her voice +was not quite steady. + +"How do you know? It was talked of at the assembly--the two men were a +good deal together. And if you don't mean anything, Cynthia, you'll get +yourself gossiped about, and you'll spoil some lives," declared Polly +spiritedly. This thing had been seething in her mind, and she was going +to have it out at the risk of breaking friendship. + +"I don't want to spoil any one's life. And I've never really kept +company with any one." + +The keeping company was the great test. When the young man came steady +one night in the week, to Sunday tea, and went to church with the girl +alone, the matter was as good as declared. + +"But--well, I don't know how you've done it, but they hang about you and +it does upset them. First it's one, then it's another. You ought to +know. You ought to settle upon one and let the others alone." + +Polly had acquired a good deal of married wisdom, and she really did +love Cynthia. Ben loved her, too. + +"But suppose I didn't want any of them?" and Cynthia tried to laugh, but +it was a poor shadowy attempt. + +"Oh, nonsense! You don't mean to be an old maid. No girl does. But it is +time you stopped playing fast and loose with hearts. Now there's Ben. +You know he's loved you this long while. And we all like you so. Last +fall he quite gave up and went to see Jenny Willing. She'll make a good +wife and she's a nice girl, though she hasn't your fortune. Mother's +been trying to make him believe that you are looking higher." + +"Oh, Polly--I never scarcely think of my fortune," Cynthia interrupted, +her face full of distressful color. + +"Well, I'm not saying that you do. Ben's getting along first-rate. He +has a college degree and father isn't poor. I know several girls who +would jump at a chance for him. Of course, we would _all_ rather have +you. Then at Avis Manning's party you gave him the sweetest of your +smiles, and lured him back." + +Oh, she recalled it with a kind of shame. It was to keep off Archie +Turner and Mr. Saltonstall. And then for a while he had grown +troublesome. If they could be merely friends! + +"The thing is just here, Cynthia. I know I'm speaking plainly and you +may get angry. If you don't want Ben, let him alone. A young man begins +to think of a home and a wife of his own, and when he likes a girl very +much--yes, I will say it, she can make or mar. She can take him away +from some other nice girl. And people now are beginning to say you are a +flirt. I think Jenny will make Ben a nice wife, and if you don't want +him----" + +"Oh, Polly, I don't want any of them. You can't think how delightful +life is with Cousin Chilian. I couldn't be as happy anywhere else, or +with any other person. I can't make myself fall in love as all of you +girls have, and think this one or that one perfect. Something must be +wrong with me. And I'm very sorry. I'm not a bit jealous when they take +to other girls. Why, I'd be glad to be Jenny's bridesmaid if she wanted +me to." + +Cynthia paused and mopped the tears from her cheeks. Polly was a little +subdued. Cynthia was taking this so meekly. But she said rather +spitefully, "You had better marry Mr. Leverett." + +Ah, Polly, it was a dangerous seed to fling at a young girl. And it +dropped on a bit of out of the way fruitful soil. + +Cynthia rose quietly. She was very pale. She began to roll up her work. + +"Now I think you can go on with it," she said. "If you get in trouble +again, let me know." + +Then the two friends looked at each other until the tears came into +their eyes. + +"I'm very sorry," murmured Cynthia in a broken voice. + +"But you see----" + +"Yes. I understand. I hope Ben will be very happy." + +Afterward Polly sat down and cried. She knew Ben loved Cynthia so. They +had counted on having her in the family. But she felt quite certain now +that Ed Saltonstall would get her. And he was a flirt, going with every +pretty girl, every new girl for a little while. + +Cynthia went home in a very sober mood. Why had they all cared so much +about her? They had nice attractive qualities, but why could they not +look at her just as she looked at them! She did not know very much about +men and that with them pursuit often merged into the strong desire for +possession, which she did not understand. But she did not want to be +blamed. She would have none of them. Cousin Chilian was more to her. If +he seldom danced and was never very gay, there were so many other +requirements to life; there was something in his nature to which hers +responded readily. + +Then suddenly she seemed to have lost the clue. She experienced a season +of bewilderment. Was Cousin Chilian meaning she should take Mr. +Saltonstall for a lover? He surely gave him opportunities he had given +no other. Sometimes he excused himself and went out. There were some +difficulties with the mother country that men were discussing. She +really felt a little awkward at being left alone with Mr. Saltonstall. +Not only that, but it awoke a strange terror in her soul that he should +come so near; it was as if her whole being rose in arms. + +Occasionally Chilian spoke of her marriage--he had always said she was +too young, in a protesting manner. So on one occasion she gained +courage. + +"Do you mean--that is--you would like to--have me married, Cousin +Chilian?" + +Married! It was as if she had given him a stab. And yet was not that +just the thing he had been thinking of? + +"Why, you see, Cynthia," he made his voice purposely cold, "I am much +older than you. I may die some day. Cousin Eunice will no doubt go +before me, and you would not like to go on alone. Then Giles is older +even than I. One has to think of these things. Yes, it would be nice to +know you were happily settled." + +"And why couldn't a woman live alone as well as a man? I could have Miss +Winn, and a housekeeper, and a man----" + +"It's a lonely life for a woman." + +"But why not for a man?" + +"Oh, well, that is different. Only a few men do. And they grow queer and +opinionated." + +A fortnight ago she would have protested and said, "You are not old, you +are not opinionated," in her eager, girlish manner. Now she was hurt, +and she could not tell why; so she kept silent. + +And she began to note a change in him. The delightful harmony in which +they had lived fell below the major key into minors, that touched and +pierced her. He did not come so often to listen to her music, to ask her +for a song, to watch while she painted some pretty flower, to go around +with her training roses, or cutting them for the house. She put a few of +them everywhere; she did not like great bunches, only such things as +grew in clusters, lilacs and syringas and long sprays of clematis. She +missed the little walks around, and the dear talks they used to have. + +She felt somewhat deceitful in planning adroitly. She made Miss Winn go +to church with her, and when they came home with Mr. Saltonstall they +sat on the porch together. A girl thinking of a lover would have asked +him in. Then she went down to Boston, and Anthony came over as often as +he could. Surely there was no danger with him. + +All this time Chilian Leverett was having a hard fight with himself. He +was really ashamed of having been conquered by what he called a boy's +romantic passion. He could excuse himself for the early lapse; he was a +boy then. His honor and what he called good sense were mightily at war +with this desire that well-nigh overmastered him. True, men older than +he had married young wives. But this child had been entrusted to him in +a sacred fashion by her dying father; he must place before her the best +and richest of life, even if it condemned him to after-years of joyless +solitude. + +For it was not as a father he loved her, though he had played a little +at fatherhood in the beginning. She was so companionable, they had so +many similar tastes. He was so fond of reading to an appreciative +listener, and even as he sat in the darkness, when she did not know he +was alone in the study, he could see her lovely eyes raised in their +tender light. He thought this her unusual wisdom and discernment, never +dreaming it had been mostly his training and her receptiveness. And to +think of the house without her! Why, going out of it in her wedding gown +would be almost as if she had been laid in her shroud and shut away. Of +course, he could not have her here and see her love another. + +Giles Leverett's dream was much happier. In his mind he saved her for +his favorite. When Anthony was through--and he was putting in law, with +the classics--he would take him in his office, where he would find much +business made to his hand. The house was big enough for them all, and he +had grown curiously interested in young people. Anthony was very fond of +his sweet, fascinating cousin--they all were. He did not know whether +there was any one in Salem quite good enough for her. Saltonstall was a +rather trifling fellow, whose fancies were evanescent. + +But Mr. Ed Saltonstall had a good friend in Mrs. Stevens, and she +counselled him not to be too ardent in his pursuit. She said pleasant +little things about him without any effusiveness. She considered his +friendship with her very charming--young men were not generally devoted +to middle-aged women. Once she shrewdly wondered why he had not made +some errand down. + +Altogether it was a pleasant visit, though Cynthia kept revolving her +duty, if such there was in the case. A blind, mysterious asking for +something haunted her, something it would be sad to miss out of her +life. + +Then she came home alone in the stage. There was a property dispute +going on, where Mr. Leverett was an important witness for a friend. When +the stage stopped, Rachel and Jane both ran out and gave her a joyful +welcome. + +"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Cousin Eunice, "we are so glad to get you back. +You are the light _of_ the house, isn't she?" glancing at the other. +"Even Chilian has been mopey, though I think he isn't well. He is +getting thin, too, and goodness knows he had no flesh to lose. Oh, my +dear, I hope you will never go away again while I live;" and she gave a +long sigh as the girl left the room. + +She came down presently in a cheerful light frock and began to tell +Cousin Eunice and Jane what she had seen and heard. She was in the full +tide of this, eager, bright, and flushing when Chilian entered. He +greeted her rather languidly. Yes, he had grown thinner, and Cousin +Giles was putting on too much flesh and growing jollier. Chilian did not +look well and an ache went all over Cynthia's body, every nerve being +sympathetic. He was not silent, however; he asked questions, but she +thought he was hardly paying attention to the answers. He remained down +in the sitting-room and read his _Gazette_, now and then making some +comment, or answering some query of Cousin Eunice. It was not nine yet +when he rose and said, "He was very tired; if they would excuse him, he +would go to bed." + +They all went presently. She was glad to be alone in the room, glad +there was no moon, and she turned her face over on the pillow and cried +softly. After all, life was a riddle--two ways and not knowing which to +take, both having a curiously lonely ending. Could she not bear it +better alone? If he should go away as her father had done, if she should +stay here in the old house, and then Cousin Eunice would fold her hands +in that silent clasp, Rachel would slip into old womanhood, Jane would +marry, she was keeping company now. There would be other Janes and +she---- + +On the other hand would be love, marriage, children maybe, a pleasant +home. Living along side by side, as other people did. + +She did not try to shut out either vision. Which should she take? Was +life just for one's self? + +She was not morbid. It was only in religion that people took out their +very souls and examined them for lurking sins; the days' duties were +what must be accomplished, whether or no. She knew she was not very +religious, the deep things seemed beyond her grasp. And there was a +certain joyousness in her love for sunshine, flowers, people, and all +the attractive things of life. She was deeply grateful, she raised her +heart in thankfulness to God for every good gift. And now she took up +the daily duties cheerfully. It was not their fault the shadow had +fallen over them. + +Some days afterward she was rambling around aimlessly, when she met a +girl friend, and they chatted about various matters. + +"Oh," exclaimed the friend, "there'll be another wedding in the autumn, +and Betty Upham is keeping steady company. I used to have an idea that +you and Ben would make a match----" + +"It's Jenny Willing," she interrupted. "And I am heartily glad." + +"You were all such friends;" looking puzzled. + +"And I hope we will go on being friends. I have always liked Jenny." + +"She was awfully afraid you'd cut her out. You know he did fancy you +first. I think she would have been very unhappy if she had missed him. I +don't see what there is about you, Cynthia;" studying her intently. "You +are pretty, but there are some handsome girls in Salem. And they run +after Ed Saltonstall as if there was no other man in town. And my advice +to you is to seize on him, for I think your chance best. He's an awful +flirt, though. I think good-looking men always are." + +Cynthia flushed. Why should these things be profaned by foolish gossip. + +Polly came over one afternoon. She had accomplished the bag and was +proud enough of it. And she announced Bentley's engagement. + +"They will be married in the early fall; they are not going to build, +but have part of that double house of Nelsons'. She'll make a fine, +economical wife, and that is what men need who are trying to get along. +Assemblies and all that are not the thing for prudent married people." + +"And one gets tired of them." She had a feeling just then that she +should never want to dance any more. + +Cynthia was glad to have him settled, glad Jenny Willing had the man she +loved. + +And the last time he had come back to her she had held up her finger to +him thoughtlessly, to shield herself from some other pointed attentions. +It had been a mean thing to do. But she had only meant it for that +evening, and he had gone on importunately. She was ashamed of it now. +Yes, she had better marry; then no one would be pleading for favors, +mistaking a simple smile for deeper meaning. Was her smile different +from that of other girls? + +She watched Cousin Chilian narrowly. Was the old dear freedom between +them gone? He seemed rather abstracted. He did not call her into the +study, he went out oftener of an evening. Mr. Saltonstall would pass by, +then turn and walk up the path and sit down on the step. This would +occur several times a week. He asked her to ride with him, but she +shrank from that. She went over one evening on special invitation, when +Chilian was to play chess with the father. Mrs. Saltonstall took her in +quite as if she was one of the family, and really was very sweet to her. +And the old gentleman was fatherly. + +That seemed to settle it for her, rather the fact that sank deeper in +her mind every day that Cousin Chilian wished her to marry and that this +young man was his preference. She allowed him to come a little nearer, +to hold her hand, to take nameless small freedoms, and he was always +delicate. + +Would he be satisfied without all she could not help withholding? Would +it be right to give him a half love? But then how could she help loving +Cousin Chilian, who had been so tender to her in childhood? She would be +gladly content to stay without any nearer tie between them; of course, +that other could not be thought of. + +One night Mr. Saltonstall asked her in a manly fashion. And suddenly a +great white light shot up in her heart, and loving one man she knew she +had no right to deceive another, to live a deception all her life long, +to cheat him--yes, it was that. Better a hundred times to live out her +flawed life alone. + +"Oh, I cannot," she murmured. "I--I"--she choked down the strangling +sob. + +"My little darling, give me the opportunity to teach you what love +really is. You do not know." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE FLOWERING OF THE SOUL + + +Cynthia had said coldly that she did not wish to marry at present, +perhaps never. "I have been trying to love you to--to please some one +else, and it is a compliment for you to ask me. But any woman ought to +be sure before she makes a life-long promise. I must be honest--with +you, with myself." + +Something in the solemn tone awed him. He had not been looking at the +serious side of love. She was pretty, bright, and winsome, with a good +deal of Puritan simplicity, a great power of enjoyment and difficult to +win. He liked to do the winning himself. He liked to find some new +qualities in girls, and Cynthia, with all her daintiness, had many sides +that surprised one. She had been brought up by a man--that made the +difference. + +"We will wait a little," he said. "Talk to your cousin about it. I think +it will all come right. You are the first woman I ever desired to marry, +and I have been fond of girls, too." + +That would have flattered some women. She said good-night in a strained, +breathless tone, and vanished through the door. He sat and thought. +There was no other lover, he was quite sure. + +She went to bed at once. She did not cry, she was somehow stunned at +this revelation about herself, for she had resolved to accept him and +this sudden protest told her that it was quite impossible. If Cousin +Chilian was disappointed, if he was tired of her, there was a warm +welcome in Boston. + +She did not sleep much. Rachel noted her heavy eyes, and the expression +as if she might be secretly upbraiding fate. What if Mr. Saltonstall had +been trifling? + +Chilian went up to his study. He felt languid, he nearly always did now. +He took a book and sat by the open window. Two tall trees hid the +prospect, except a space of blooming garden. To-day a small outlook +pleased him, for his life was to be made narrower. She would come and +tell him--shut the golden gate forever. He could not, would not, enter +their paradise. Let him keep quite on the outside. + +She came in a soft, white gown that clung to her virginal figure. The +swelling-out period had passed, even sleeves had collapsed to a small +puff, and for house wear the arms and neck were left bare. + +The book was a Greek play. The letters danced before her eyes as she +stood there. He looked off the book, but not up at her. + +"Cousin Chilian, I want to tell you"--her voice had the peculiar +softness that one uses to try to cover the hurt one cannot help +giving--"Mr. Saltonstall was here last evening. He has asked me to marry +him." + +It seemed to her the silence lasted moments. Then he said in an +incurious tone, "Well?" + +"I--will you be angry or disappointed when I confess that I cannot, that +I do not love him." + +"Oh, Cynthia, child; what do you know about love?" he said impatiently. + +"Enough to know that it would be wrong to take a man's love and give him +nothing in return." Now her voice was steady, convincing. + +He had a sudden thought. Like a vision the stalwart form of the young +sailor rose before him. He had carried admiration, yes, love in his +eyes. What if he had carried more than that away? + +"Cynthia, is there some one else, some one you _could_ love----" + +"There is some one else." Her tone was very low, but brave. That +admission would settle the matter. + +"Are you to wait three years for him?" + +"For whom?" in surprise. + +Then he glanced up. Her face, that had been lily-white, was flushed from +brow to neck. What was there in the beautiful, entreating eyes? + +"Cynthia?" All his firmness gave way. + +His arm stole softly around her, drew her a trifle down. "Tell me! Tell +me!" he cried, yet he had no idea he was asking her to lay her heart +bare. There was still the boy Anthony. + +"Cousin Chilian, if a woman loved very much, would it be a shame to her +if, unasked, she----" + +Her head sank down on his shoulder. He felt the warm, throbbing breath +on his cheek. He drew her closer. Did the slim, palpitating body betray +its secret? + +"Oh, Cynthia, child, the most precious thing in all the world to me, +tell me that I will not have to give you to another, that I may keep you +to myself. For I cannot comprehend how so great a joy could come to me. +And whether I would have the right to take your sweet young life, that +should be replete with the joys of youth, with the gladness that is its +proper birthright." + +"If I gave it to you? If I could never have given it to any other?" + +He drew her down closer, and the gentle yielding, the sort of rapturous +sigh, answered him better than any words. He pressed kisses on the +unresisting lips, kisses that then were sacred to affianced lovers and +husbands. + +Was it an hour or half a lifetime? He inclined her to his knee as he had +when she was a little girl, but at length he came back to his senses. + +"Cynthia," he began with tender gravity, "there are many points to +consider. Do you know that I am more than double your age----" + +"Don't tell that to me. Isn't love as sweet?" + +Could he deny it in the face of that ravishing smile, those appealing +eyes. + +"Still--the world will think about it. And you are a rich young woman, +you could take your pick of lovers----" + +"But they are all so troublesome," she interrupted. "And one gets +affronted with the other. And if I picked very much I might be called a +flirt, perhaps I have been. I didn't want them, only to dance and be +merry with, and there are so many pretty girls in the world--enough for +all of them." + +He smiled a little and it gave her a heartache to see how thin he had +grown, and there were new creases in his forehead that had been so fair +and smooth. + +"And if some day you should repent?" + +"I'm not going to repent. Why should one when one gets the thing one +wanted?" + +There was a touch of the old brightness in her tone. Had she really +wanted him? + +"I've been very naughty with all these lovers, haven't I? But no one +came near enough to really ask me that question until last night, though +Mr. Marsh thought he would if he were going to stay. And Cousin Chilian, +I had made up my mind truly, I thought, for I liked Mr. Saltonstall very +much, and it seemed to me you wanted me to----" Her voice died away in +pathos. + +"I did. Oh, you must know the worst of me. When I found you were +growing into my very heart, and I began to feel jealous of the young +men, I took myself in hand as a most reprehensible old fellow. But I +found you had entwined yourself in every fibre of my heart, and it was +hard indeed to uproot you." + +"And you really tried?" Her tone was upbraiding. + +"I tried like an honest, upright man. I shall never be ashamed of the +effort. I would not mar or spoil your life. You see you might have loved +some of these brave young lads. You might have been very happy with +them." + +"Oh, you can't have but one husband;" in laughing gayety. + +He flushed at her mischief. + +"I wonder when you began to love me? And what has made you so cold and +distant, as if you were taking your affection away?" + +"I was--I was--Heaven forgive me! I was learning to live without you; to +go back to a life more solitary than it was before you came. And, +Cynthia, you were not altogether a welcome guest. I did not know what to +do with a little girl. I was set in my ways. I did not like to be +disturbed. I could have sent a boy off to school. And Elizabeth thought +it a trouble, too. You must read your father's letter and see the trust +he reposed in me. But you were such a strange, shy little thing, and so +delicate in all your ways. You never touched an article without +permission, you handled books so gently, you never made dog's-ears, or +crumpled a page. And that winter you were ill--and the faith you had in +his return. How many times my heart ached for you. After that I could +not have given you up, and I fell into a sort of belief that it would go +on this always. When the lovers began to come, I found I must awake from +my delusion. And then I knew that an oldish fellow could love a sweet +girl in her first bloom, but that it would be a selfish, unpardonable +thing." + +"Not if she loved him!" She raised her face in all its sweet bravery of +color. + +"But it was his duty to let her see what pleasure there was in the world +for youth; it was the promise to her dead father, who had confided his +treasure to him. And even now he hesitates, lest you shall not have the +best of everything." + +"I shall have the best;" with winning confidence. + +"I loved your mother. I was a young lad, and she some five years older. +I suppose I was like a young brother to her, because your father, her +lover, had been here so much. And somehow, you slipped into the place +where there never had been any other." + +"It must have been kept for me," she said gravely. "And now I give you +warning that I shall never go out of it. No place could ever be so dear +as this house with all its memories. I am glad you knew and loved my +mother." + +It came noon before they were talked out, or before they had settled +only one point, about which she would have her way. She wrote a pretty +note to Mr. Saltonstall, reiterating some things she had said the +evening before, and acknowledging that when she had tried to accept him, +she had found her heart was another's, "and you are worthy of a woman's +best love," she added, which did comfort him. + +Still it puzzled him a good deal, but he finally settled upon Anthony +and thought it a rather foolish choice. No doubt but that Giles Leverett +was back of it all. + +They told Cousin Eunice and Miss Winn. The former cried for sheer joy. +She seemed older than her years, but she was well and bid fair to live +years yet. + +"Then you will never go away. I could not live without you, and as for +Chilian----" + +"It would only be half a life," returned the lover, and he kissed Cousin +Eunice. + +Miss Winn hardly knew whether to be pleased or not. She liked Mr. +Saltonstall very much for his gayety, good humor, and fine presence, and +then he had the divine gift of youth to match hers. Would she not tire +of Chilian Leverett's grave life? + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE PASSING OF OLD SALEM + + +After all, they were foolish lovers. She did not hoard up any sweetness. +If he could not look forward to so many years, she must give him a +double portion. That was her only regret about him, and she never +confessed that. + +He was surprised at himself. If she had loved another, the wound of +loneliness must have bled inwardly until it sapped his life. Oh, how +daintily sweet she was! Every day he found some new trait. + +"You see," she explained to Miss Winn, "we shall all keep together. +Father trusted you to the uttermost, and you have been nobly loyal. I +couldn't do without you. And no one could look so well after Cousin +Eunice, who will keep growing older." + +That was true enough. She was very well content in her home, and at her +time of life did not care to try a new one. Cynthia was almost like a +child to her. + +Meanwhile matters had not gone prosperously with old Salem, England had +claimed her right of search, against which the country strongly +protested. The British government issued orders, and the French Emperor +decrees, forbidding ships of neutrals to enter the ports, or engage in +trade with their respective enemies. This crippled the trade of Salem. +Then there had been the embargo, which for a while closed the ports. But +the town went on improving. Fortunes had been made and now were being +spent. But much of the shipping lay idle. Yet the social life went on, +there was marrying and giving in marriage. + +Of course, there was some gossip about the Saltonstall fiasco. No one, +at least very few, supposed a sensible girl would give up such an +opportunity to settle herself. Miss Cynthia would no doubt use her best +efforts to get him back. She seemed superbly indifferent to the gossip. + +At first Chilian insisted upon an engagement of some length, so that she +might be sure of the wisdom of the step. But she only laughed in her +charming fashion, and declared she would not give up the old house, much +more its owner. + +But they had a quiet wedding, with only the choicest friends, and then +they went to Boston to escape the wonderings. Cousin Giles was really +displeased. + +"It's an unfair thing for an old fellow like you to do. And you had +money enough of your own; her fortune should have gone to help some nice +young fellow along. Why, really Cynthia has hardly outgrown childhood. +You might have been her father!" + +"Hardly!" returned Chilian dryly. + +On their return the house was opened and really crowded with guests. +Cynthia was in her most splendid attire. Happiness had certainly +improved Chilian Leverett, he had gained some flesh and looked younger. +The most beautiful belongings had been brought out to decorate the +rooms. + +"For I am not going to have them stored away for possible +grandchildren," she declared gayly. + +And the guests had a charming welcome. The younger girls were truly glad +she had made her election, and no one could deny that she was very much +in love with her husband. Neither had need to marry for money, since +both had fortunes. And they wished her health and happiness with all +their hearts. + +Jane had said to her, "Mis' Leverett, there's an old adage: + + "'Change the name and not the letter, + You marry for worse and not for better.'" + +Cynthia laughed. "I'm not going to let signs or omens trouble me. And I +haven't even changed my name, so the letter cannot count. And it is one +of the good old Salem names. It was my dear father's." + +One incident touched Cynthia deeply. Eunice took her up in the garret +one day and exhumed from a chest the beautiful white quilt of +Elizabeth's handiwork. Pinned to one corner was a card, "For my little +Cynthia." + +"Only a few days before she had her stroke she made me write this and +go up and pin it on the quilt. Maybe she'd had a warning, people do +sometimes. I supposed she'd leave it to Chilian. Oh, my dear, she'd be +so glad to have you go on in the old house if she could know." + +Eunice wiped the tears from her eyes. Cynthia bent over and kissed among +the stitches the poor fingers had toiled at day after day, sorry for the +toil, glad for the love that came at the last. + +The Leverett house opened its doors with a generous hospitality. People, +men at least, began to think of something beside money-making, and some +fine plans were broached. Chilian Leverett seemed to grow younger. +Cynthia should not miss the joys of youth out of her life. He did +something more than dance minuets, for her sake he essayed quadrilles. +The exquisite motion with her, her dainty hand in his, or at times +resting on his shoulder, filled him with an all-pervading delight. + +"Chilian, do you realize that you are a really beautiful dancer?" she +said one evening after they had returned from a small company. + +"Then I must have caught it from you. In my youth dancing was considered +frivolous." + +"And in India you hire the men and women to dance for you, and follow +the enchanting motions with your eye. But it is so warm out there." + +She had been playing one evening when she started up, exclaiming, "Let +us try that new thing--the waltz. It is just made for two people very +much in love." + +"It is?" He smiled in the eager face. It was said that she could twist +him around her finger. "Why, we have no music." + +"I can sing the measure, just la, la!" and she started the melody. There +were two long paths of moonlight through the wide-open shutters. +Moonlight and sunshine were welcome visitors. She held out her hands. +Just that way she had charmed others, and he yielded to the seductive +influence. For, oh, she was so young and sweet. + +It was a little awkward at first, but they soon found the steps. It was +rather slow and graceful, not the mad whirl of later times. It _was_ +considered rather reprehensible, but between husband and wife it was +right enough. They found it very fascinating. + +After a while a sort of grave, sweet seriousness came over her. She +liked to sit in the study and have him read poetry to her while she +sewed. She had never loved sewing, but now she had taken a fancy to it. +Dainty little lacey things, with the softest of muslins, treasures that +had come from India. For there were stacks of towels and sheets and +useful articles, so why should she bother about them? + +Jane was married and a middle-aged, homeless widow was very glad to +come. Miss Winn took the head of the housekeeping, and Cousin Eunice was +very willing. + +Then there came to them both a little son. Women often dream of babies +of their own, but men have so many outside interests. There really were +people at that time who thought children a boon and blessing of the +Lord. Chilian Leverett was amazed, rendered speechless with joy. His own +little son, Cynthia's little son, the life and love of both hearts. His +cup of joy and thankfulness ran over. For he had never imagined there +could be such perfect bliss. He thought over the time when the little +girl had come, and he had not wanted her. Now she had brought him life's +choicest blessing. + +Meanwhile events ran on which were to thrill all hearts and make +stirring history. For war had been declared. + +Handsome, pleasure-loving Edward Saltonstall volunteered in the army. +Perilous times there were on the northern frontier, dreadful losses, few +gains, until suddenly the Lake battles changed the aspect and won the +splendid victories that thrilled every heart. + +But Salem's almost meteoric prosperity came to a sudden halt, for there +was war on the high seas as well. The whole mercantile marine was +refitted and turned out to win what it might in other channels. +Privateering was held right enough in those days. + +There was the electrifying capture of the _Guerriere_ and her being +towed into Boston with Captain Dacres as a prisoner, and another to be +quite as famous, that of the _United States_ and the _Macedonia_, where +the American loss seemed incredibly small. Other splendid victories as +well. But it was not until February, 1815, after nearly four years of +struggle and war, that peace was again declared with the Colonies as +victorious. America had won her right to the liberty of the seas, as +well as that of the land. + +But the supremacy of trade no longer could be claimed for Salem. Other +ports were built up, other markets opened. Cities saw the advantage of +foreign trade. American products were shipped hither and thither. No one +city had the monopoly. + +But romances flourished all the same and were to be handed down to other +generations. There was the old Forester house, with its legends, its +lovely gardens, and fine pictures. And the beautiful house of Elias +Hasket Derby, in which he had lived but such a short time. No one felt +rich enough then to undertake such a costly establishment, and finally +the estate came into possession of the city, and the big area was named +Derby Square, and a commodious market built and a Town Hall. When that +was opened President Monroe made a visit to Salem, and was +enthusiastically received there, citizens thronging to see him. The next +day Judge Story entertained him, and Mr. Stephen White, of Washington +Square, gave a ball in his honor. The Leveretts were among the guests, +and Captain Edward Saltonstall, who had won promotions by brave conduct +under General Harrison, but was now a private citizen and a fine-looking +man, with a new bevy of girls as eager for his attentions as the others +were seven or eight years before. + +There was another guest who claimed, or at least received, a good share +of attention. This was the naval Captain Marsh, who had been in the +encounter between the _Macedonia_ and the frigate _United States_, +Captain Decatur, which was considered one of the greatest of the naval +battles. For his bravery then and afterward, he had been promoted and +was now a captain in command of a fine vessel. + +Cynthia was delighted to see him; but she said he must visit them to +talk over matters and the wonders that had happened to him. She would +not dance any, although she was in the grand march with her husband. Mr. +Saltonstall she saw quite frequently. His parents were quite old people +and he was devoted to them. + +She wondered at times if any old fancy kept him single. If so, she was +sincerely sorry. For she had been very, very happy with the husband of +her love. And in the household there were two merry, frolicking boys, +and a sweet little girl, with her mother's eyes. + +Captain Marsh did come and he was delighted with his visit. The little +boys climbed over him as if they had known him always. He told the story +of the terrific battle at the Canaries, and many another battle that had +left him unscathed. + +"And I used to think if I came back to old Salem and found you +unmarried, it would go hard with me if I could not win you," he said to +Cynthia in his cordial, manly fashion. "And I confess to you now if Dame +Wilby had struck you that day at school, I should have rushed at her +like a tiger. I like that remembrance of you standing there so brave and +defying." + +They both laughed over it. + +She had changed very little. Chilian said she grew younger with the +birth of every baby. She was happy and merry, truly the light of the +house, and Cousin Eunice was the happiest grandmother in all of Salem. +Miss Winn shared their joys--so far there had been no sorrows. + +Chilian grew a little stouter with advancing years, which really +improved him. He took a warm interest in the new projects. There was the +Essex Historical Society, gathering portraits and relics of the older +Salem, and the East India Marine Society was enlarging its scope. The +new Salem was to be curiously intellectual, historic, and one might say +antiquarian. Modernized and transformed in many respects, it still has +the old-time fragrance of sandalwood and incense when the chests in the +old garrets are turned over for fine things that came from India a +century before. + +Cousin Giles aged more rapidly, but then he was considerably older than +Chilian. He did adopt young Anthony, and insisted upon his taking the +name of Leverett, and a share of the business burthens. And he married +quite to the approval of the elder man, though not such an heiress as +Cynthia. + +And no one was dreaming that the little boy born in Union Street in 1804 +was to add such interest and lustre to his native town that the scenes +of his curious wizard-like romances were to be settled upon by those +interested in them and handed down as actual occurrences. Do we not all +know Hester Prynne and Mr. Dimmesdale, Phebe and Hephzibah and Judge +Pyncheon, and weird old Dr. Grimshawe, and many another that have +flitted through the pages of Hawthorne's strange romances, leaving Salem +the richer by the memories? + +There was another little girl who was to grow up and take a great +interest in all these things, and finally to see the old Leverett house +pass away, after its more than two hundred years. But it was a new and +doubly interesting Salem then, with its several evolutions that have +passed and gone. + +She lived a long and happy life, this little girl who came back to her +birthplace consigned to Chilian Leverett's care, and won his love that +never changed, or grew any less. Her sons never tired of the old +reminiscences. Many of the old houses were still standing. Here +President Washington had been entertained; here the artist Copley had +lived and painted portraits that are heirlooms; Justice Story and his +gifted son, poet and artist; Prescott, the historian, and many another +of whom the country is proud to-day, and civilians whose fine thought +and noble work have made the city a Mecca for intellectual tourists, and +a beautiful and interesting abiding-place for her citizens, a town of +three striking epochs that linger not only in tradition but in history. + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + Obvious punctuation errors were corrected. + + Table of Contents, the final "VIII" was changed to "XVIII". + + Page 41, "spinnet" changed to "spinet". (a thin-legged spinet) + + Page 148, "exlaining" changed to "explaining". (fond of explaining) + + Page 174, "Chilan's" changed to "Chilian's". (Cousin Chilian's + memory) + + Page 200, "detatched" changed to "detached". (of detached sounds) + + Page 216, "beutifully" changed to "beautifully". (a beautifully + engraved) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A LITTLE GIRL IN OLD SALEM*** + + +******* This file should be named 20722.txt or 20722.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/7/2/20722 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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