"Yes, Mr. Morton, it has, and I thank _you_ for the drive very much.
Let me suggest that Reuben is much too honest for a conspirator."
"Well, he was a very willing one; and I see by his face, as he drives down to the barn, that you have made him a happy one."
"It doesn"t take much to make him happy."
"And would it take such an enormous amount to make you happy?"
"You are much too inclined to be personal to be an editor. The world at large should hold your interest;" and she went to her room.
At the dinner-table the genial spell worked on; she recognized it with a quiet smile, but yielded to its kindly power. At last she apparently formed the resolution to make the most of this one bright day, and she became the life of the party.
"Emily," said Mrs. Yocomb, as we rose from the table, "father proposes that we all go on a family picnic to Silver Pond, and take our supper there. It"s only three miles away. Would thee feel strong enough to go?"
Mrs. Yocomb spoke with the utmost simplicity and innocence; but the young girl laughed outright, then fixed a penetrating glance on Mr.
Yocomb, whose florid face became much more ruddy.
"Evidences of guilt clearly apparent," she said, "and Mr. Morton, too, looks very conscious. "The best laid schemes of mice and men"--you know the rest. Oh, yes, I"d go if I had to be carried. When webs are spun so kindly, flies ought to be caught."
"What is the matter with you all?" cried Adah.
"Miss Adah, if you"ll find me a match for my cigar you"ll make me happy," I said hastily, availing myself of the first line of retreat open.
"Is that all thee needs to make thee happy?"
"Well, one thing at a time, Miss Adah, if you please."
As the day grew cool, Reuben came around with the family rockaway. Mrs.
Yocomb and Adah had prepared a basket as large as their own generous natures. I placed Miss Warren beside Mrs. Yocomb on the back seat, while I took my place by Adah, with Zillah between us. Little Adela and Reuben had become good friends, and she insisted on sitting between him and his father.
As we rolled along the quiet country roads, chatting, laughing, and occasionally singing a s.n.a.t.c.h of a song, no one would have dreamed that any shadows rested on the party except those which slanted eastward from the trees, which often hung far over our heads.
I took pains not to feign any forced gayety, nor had I occasion to, for I was genuinely happy--happier than I had ever been before. Nothing was a.s.sured save the absolute truth of the woman that I loved, but with this ally I was confident. I was impartial in my attentions to Adah and Zillah, and so friendly to both that Adah was as pleased and happy as the child. We chaffed the country neighbors whom we met, and even chattered back at the barking squirrels that whisked before us along the fences. Mr. Yocomb seemed almost as much of a boy as Reuben, and for some reason Miss Warren always laughed most at his pleasantries.
Mrs. Yocomb looked as placid and bright as Silver Pond, as it at last glistened beneath us in the breathless, sunny afternoon; but like the clear surface fringed with shadows that sank far beneath the water, there were traces of many thoughts in her large blue eyes.
There was a cow lying under the trees where we meant to spread our table. I pointed her out to Miss Warren with humorous dismay. "Shall we turn back?" I asked.
"No," she replied, looking into my eyes gratefully. "You have become so brave that I"m not afraid to go on."
I ignored her reference to that which I intended she should forget for one day, believing that if we could make her happy she would recognize how far her golden-haloed lover came short of this power. So I said banteringly, "I"ll wager you my hat that you dare not get out and drive that terrific beast away."
"The idea of Emily"s being afraid of a cow, after facing Dapple!" cried Reuben.
"Well, we"ll see," I said. "Stop the rockaway here."
"What should I do with your hat, Mr. Morton?"
"Wear it, and suffer the penalty," laughed Adah.
"You would surely win it," retorted the girl, a little nettled.
"I"ll wager you a box of candy then, or anything you please."
"Let it be anything I please," she agreed, laughing. "Mr. Morton, you are not going to let me get out alone?"
"Oh, no," and I sprang out to a.s.sist her down.
"She wants you to be on hand in case the ferocious beast switches its tail," cried Adah.
The hand she gave me trembled as I helped her out, and I saw that she regarded the placid creature with a dread that she could not disguise.
Picking up a little stick, she stepped cautiously and hesitatingly toward the animal. While still ridiculously far away, she stopped, brandished her stick, and said, with a quaver in her threatening tone, "Get up, I tell you!"
But the cow ruminated quietly as if understanding well that there was no occasion for alarm.
The girl took one or two more faltering steps, and exclaimed, in a voice of desperate entreaty, "Oh, please get up!"
We could scarcely contain ourselves for laughter.
"Oh, ye G.o.ds! how beautiful she is!" I murmured. "With her arm over Dapple"s neck she was a G.o.ddess. Now she"s a shrinking woman. Heaven grant that it may be my lot to protect her from the real perils of life!"
The cow suddenly switched her tail at a teasing gadfly, and the girl precipitately sought my side.
Reuben sprang out of the rockaway and lay down and rolled in his uncontrollable mirth.
"Was there anything ever so ridiculous?" cried Adah; for to the country girl Miss Warren"s fear was affectation.
At Adah"s words Miss Warren"s face suddenly became white and resolute.
"You, at least, shall not despise me," she said to me in a low tone; and shutting her eyes she made a blind rush toward the cow. I had barely time to catch her, or she would have thrown herself on the horns of the startled animal that, with tail in air, careered away among the trees. The girl was so weak and faint that I had to support her; but I could not forbear saying, in a tone that she alone heard:
"Do we ever despise that which we love supremely?"
"Hush!" she answered sternly.
Mrs. Yocomb was soon at our side with a flask of currant wine, and Adah laughed a little bitterly as she said, "It was "as good as a play"!"
Miss Warren recovered herself speedily by the aid of the generous wine, and this was the only cloud on our simple festivity. In her response to my ardent words she seemingly had satisfied her conscience, and she acted like one bent on making the most of this one occasion of fleeting pleasure.
Adah was the only one who mentioned the banker. "How Mr. Hearn would have enjoyed being here with us!" she exclaimed.
Miss Warren"s response was a sudden pallor and a remorseful expression; but Mr. Yocomb and I speedily created a diversion of thought; I saw, however, that Adah was watching her with a perplexed brow. The hours quickly pa.s.sed, and in the deepening shadows we returned homeward, Miss Warren singing some sweet old ballads, to which my heart kept time.
She seemed both to bring the evening to a close, and sat down at the piano. Adah and I listened, well content. Having put the children to bed Mrs. Yocomb joined us, and we chatted over the pleasant trip while waiting for Mr. Yocomb and Reuben, who had not returned from the barn.
At last Mrs. Yocomb said heartily, as if summing it all up:
"Well, Richard, thee"s given us a bright, merry afternoon."
"Yes, Richard," Miss Warren began, as if her heart had spoken unawares--"I beg your pardon--Mr. Morton--" and then she stopped in piteous confusion, for I had turned toward her with all my unspeakable love in my face.