"Not if I"m strong enough to run, Aunt Sally. I"m going to have forty-eight hours" vacation if I starve to death the rest of my life."
Rose Farrell had told him that Mrs. Owen was entertaining the Elizabeth House girls in installments, and he was not surprised to find the veranda filled with young women. Some of them he knew and Sylvia introduced him to the others.
"When"s Rose coming up?" asked Sylvia, balancing herself on the veranda rail. "You know she"s expected."
"Do I know she"s expected? Didn"t I have a note from you, Aunt Sally, ordering me to send her up? She"s coming just as soon as I get back, but I think of staying forever."
"A man has come and he"s come to stay forever," murmured one of the young women.
"Oh, you"re an event!" laughed Sylvia. "But don"t expect us to spoil you. The sport for to-morrow is tomato pickles, and the man who skipped to-day left because Aunt Sally wanted him to help scald and peel the tomats. Your job is cut out for you."
"All right," he replied humbly. "I"ll do anything you say but plough or cut wood. My enchanted youth on the farm was filled with those delights, and before I go back to that a swift Marathon runner must trip me."
He was aware presently that one by one the girls were slipping away; he saw them through the windows settling themselves at the round table of the living-room, where Mrs. Owen was reading a newspaper. Not more than a quarter of an hour had pa.s.sed when he and Sylvia found themselves alone.
"I haven"t scarlet fever or anything," he remarked, noting the flight with satisfaction.
"I suppose we might go inside, too," suggested Sylvia obtusely.
"Oh, I came up for the fresh air! Most of my nights lately have been spent in a hot office with not even a June bug for company. How are the neighbors?"
"The Ba.s.setts? Oh, Mrs. Ba.s.sett is not at all well; Marian is at home now; Blackford is tutoring and getting ready to take the Annapolis examinations the first chance he gets."
"I saw Allen to-day," he remarked carelessly.
She said nothing. He moved his chair nearer.
"He told me things that scared me to death--among others that he and Marian are engaged."
"Yes, Marian told me that."
"Ah! She really takes it seriously, does she?"
"Yes, she takes it seriously; why shouldn"t she?"
"It"s the first time she ever took anything seriously; that"s all."
"Please don"t speak of her like that, Dan. You know she and I are friends, and I thought you and she were friends too. She always speaks of you in the very kindest way. Your leaving Mr. Ba.s.sett didn"t make any difference with her. And you are the greatest of Blackford"s heroes next to Nelson and Farragut."
Dan laughed.
"So it isn"t Napoleon, and Grant and Custer any more? I"m glad he"s settled down to something."
"He"s a fine boy with a lot of the right stuff in him. We"ve been having some lessons together."
"Tutoring Blackford? You"ll have to explain the psychological processes that brought that about."
"Oh, they"re simple enough. He hadn"t done well in school last year; Mrs. Ba.s.sett was troubled about it. I take him for a couple of hours every morning. Mrs. Ba.s.sett engaged me, and Mr. Ba.s.sett approved of the plan. Allen probably told you all the news, but he didn"t know just how I came to go to Chicago cago to bring Marian home. It was to keep the news of that automobile smash from Mrs. Ba.s.sett, and to save Marian"s own dignity with the Willings."
"Oh! You went at her father"s instance, did you?"
"Yes. I offered to go when I found that he was very angry and likely to deal severely and ungenerously with Marian. I thought it would be better for me to go."
"As near as I can make out, you"ve taken the Ba.s.setts on your shoulders. I didn"t suppose Aunt Sally would stand for that."
"Aunt Sally doesn"t know why I went to Chicago. I a.s.sume Mrs. Ba.s.sett knows I went to bring Marian home, but I don"t know what Mr. Ba.s.sett told her about it, and I haven"t seen her since. It"s possible my going may have displeased her. Blackford came here for his lessons this morning."
Dan moved uneasily. The domestic affairs of the Ba.s.setts did not interest him save as they involved Sylvia. It was like Sylvia to help them out of their sc.r.a.pes; but Sylvia was not a person that he could scold or abuse.
"You needed rest and it"s too bad you"ve had to bother with their troubles. Ba.s.sett was on the boat as I came over. He had a grouch. He doesn"t look like a happy man."
"I don"t suppose he is altogether happy. And I"ve begged Marian not to tell him she wants to marry Allen. That would certainly not cheer him any, right now."
"I"m glad you had a chance to do that. I told Allen to skip right out for Europe and hang on to his mother"s ap.r.o.n strings till I send for him. This old Capulet and Montague business doesn"t ring quite true in this twentieth century; there"s something unreal about it. And just what those youngsters can see in each other is beyond me."
"You must be fair about that. We haven"t any right to question their sincerity."
"Oh, Allen is sincere enough; but you"ll have to show me the doc.u.ments on Marian"s side of it. She sees in the situation a great lark. The fact that her father and Thatcher are enemies appeals to her romantic instincts."
"I think better of it than that, Dan. She"s a fine, strong, loyal girl with a lot of hard common sense. But that doesn"t relieve the situation of its immediate dangers. She"s promised me not to speak to her father yet--not until she has my consent. When I see that it can"t be helped, I"m going to speak to Mr Ba.s.sett about it myself."
"You seem to be the good angel of the Ba.s.sett household," he remarked sullenly. A lover"s jealousy stirred in his heart, he did not like to think of Sylvia as preoccupied with the affairs of others, and he saw no peace or happiness ahead for Marian and Allen. "It"s all more wretched than you imagine. This war between Thatcher and Ba.s.sett has pa.s.sed the bounds of mere political rivalry. There"s an implacable hatred there that"s got to take its course. Allen told me of it this morning when he was trying to enlist me in his cause with Marian. It"s hideous--a perfectly rotten mess. Thatcher is preparing a poisoned arrow for Ba.s.sett. He"s raked up an old scandal, an affair with a woman. It makes my blood run cold to think of its possibilities."
"But Mr. Thatcher wouldn"t do such a thing; he might threaten, but he wouldn"t really use that sort of weapon!"
"You don"t know the man, Sylvia. He will risk anything to break Ba.s.sett down. There"s nothing respectable about Thatcher but his love for Allen, and that doesn"t redeem everything."
"But you won"t let it come to that. You have influence enough yourself to stop it. Even if you hated him you would protect Mrs. Ba.s.sett and the children."
"I could do nothing of the kind, Sylvia. Now that I"ve left Ba.s.sett my influence has vanished utterly. Besides, I"m out of politics. I hate the game. It"s rotten--rotten clean through."
"I don"t believe it"s quite true that you have lost your influence. I read the newspapers, and some of them are saying that you are the hope of your party, and that you have a large following. But you wouldn"t do that, Dan; you wouldn"t lend yourself to such a thing as that!"
"I"m not so sure," he replied doggedly, angry that they should be discussing the subject at all, though to be sure he had introduced it.
"A man"s family has got to suffer for his acts; it"s a part of the punishment. I"d like to see Ba.s.sett driven out of politics, but I a.s.sure you that I don"t mean to do it. There"s no possibility of my having the chance. He put me in the legislature to use me; and I"m glad that"s all over. As I tell you, I"m out of the game."
"I don"t sympathize with that at all, Dan; you not only ought to stay in, but you ought to do all you can to make it impossible for men like Ba.s.sett and Thatcher to have any power. The honor of the state ought to be dear to all of us; and if I belonged to a party I think I should have a care for its honor too."
The time was pa.s.sing. It was not to discuss politics that he had gone to Waupegan.
"Come," he said. "Let"s find a canoe and get out under the stars."
Sylvia went for a wrap, and they had soon embarked, skimming along in silence for a time till they were free of the sh.o.r.es. There was no moon, but the stars shone brilliantly; a fitful west wind scarcely ruffled the water. Along the deep-shadowed sh.o.r.es the dock lanterns twinkled, and above and beyond them the lamps of the cottages flashed and vanished.
Dan paddled steadily with a skilled, splashless stroke. The paddle sank noiselessly and rose to the accompaniment of a tinkling drip as the canoe parted the waters. There is nothing like a canoe flight under stars to tranquilize a troubled and perplexed spirit, and Dan was soon won to the mood he sought. It seemed to him that Sylvia, enfolded in the silvery-dim dusk in the bow, was a part of the peace of sky and water.
They were alone, away from the strifes and jars of the world, shut in together as completely as though they had been flung back for unreckoned ages into a world of unbroken calm. The peace that Wordsworth sought and sang crept into their blood, and each was sensible that the other knew and felt it and that it was grateful to them both.
Sylvia spoke, after a time, of immaterial things, or answered his questions as to the ident.i.ty of the constellations mapped in the clear arch above.