Margaret had never thought of Mr. Smith sending her any flowers. She wished that Jenny had had the sense to take them into her own room; she would have liked to open them by herself; but it was of no use to object, and slowly and unwillingly she untied the cords, and lifted the lid. Silver paper, sheet upon sheet, cotton wool, layer upon layer; and then more silver paper came forth. An ineffable perfume was filling her senses and bringing up dim early memories. It grew stronger, and they grew weaker, as at last she took out a great bunch of white lilacs, the large sprays tied loosely and carelessly together with a wide, soft, thick white ribbon.
"Ah!" said Mrs. Swain, in a slightly disappointed tone; "yes, very pretty; I suppose that is the style now; and they are raised in a hothouse, and must be a rarity at this season."
"Where"s his card?" asked Cousin Susan. But the card was tightly crushed up in Margaret"s hand; she was not going to have "Alcibiades" exclaimed over. She need not have been afraid, for it only bore the words, "Mr. A.
Smith, Jr." A pencil line was struck through "14,000 Michigan Avenue, Chicago," and "Garden Street, Cambridge," scribbled over it.
Margaret wondered how she should ever get her precious flowers safely upstairs and into the hall--the box was so big; but the moment the carriage stopped an obsequiously bowing servant helped her out, seized her load, ushered her up and into the cloak-room, and set down his burden with an impressiveness that seemed to strike even the chattering groups of girls. Mrs. Underwood was nowhere to be seen, and Margaret was glad to have time to adjust her dress carefully. She took out her flowers at last; but on turning to the gla.s.s for a last look, saw that one of the knots of ribbon on her bodice was half-unpinned, and stopped to lay her nosegay down, while she secured it more firmly.
"Oh, don"t!" cried a voice beside her; "don"t, pray don"t put them down"; and Margaret turned to meet the pretty girl, very pretty now, whose pa.s.sing word at the last dance had been the only sign of notice she had received from one of her own s.e.x. "You"ll spoil them," she went on; "do let me take them while you pin on your bow."
Margaret, surprised and grateful, yielded up her flowers, which the other took gingerly with the tips of her fingers, tossing her own large lace-edged bouquet of red rosebuds on to a chair.
"You will spoil your own beautiful flowers," said Margaret.
"Oh, mine are tough! And then--why, they are very nice, of course, but not anything to compare to yours"--handling them as if they were made of gla.s.s.
Margaret, astonished, took them back with thanks, and wished a moment later, that she had asked this good-natured young person to let her go into the ballroom with her party. But she had already been swept off by a crowd of friends, throwing back a parting smile and nod, and Margaret, left alone, and rather nervous at finding how late it was getting, walked across the room to the little side door that led into the dancing hall, and peeped through. There sat Mrs. Underwood at the further end, having evidently forgotten her very existence; and she drew back with a renewed sensation of awkward uncertainty.
"They must have cost fifty dollars at least," said the clear, crisp tones of Miss Kitty Chester, so near her that she started, and then perceived, by a heap of pink flounces on the floor, that the sofa against the wall of the ballroom, close by the door, was occupied, though by whom she could not see without putting her head completely out, and being seen in her turn.
"One might really almost dance with little Smith for that," went on the speaker.
"Ralph Underwood says he isn"t anything so bad as he looks," said the gentler voice of Margaret"s new acquaintance.
"Good heavens! I should hope not; that would be a little too much,"
laughed Kitty.
"He is very clever, I hear, and has very good manners, considering--and she seems such a thoroughly nice girl."
"Why, Gladys, you are quite in earnest about it. But now, do you think that you could ever make up your mind to be Mrs. Alcibiades?"
"Why, of course not! but things are so different. A girl may be just as nice a girl, and,"--she stopped as suddenly as if she were shot.
Margaret could discern the cause perfectly well; it was that Mr. Smith was approaching the door, looking out, she had no doubt, for her, and unconsciously returning the bows of the invisible pair. She had the consideration to wait a few moments before she appeared, and then she pa.s.sed the sofa without a look, taking in through the back of her head, as it were, Miss Kitty"s raised eyebrows and round mouth of comic despair, and poor Gladys"s scarlet cheeks. Her own affairs were becoming so engrossing, that it mattered little to her what other people thought or said of them; and she crossed the floor on her partner"s arm as unconsciously as if they were alone together, and spoke to the matrons with the ease which comes of absolute indifference. She did not mind Mrs. Underwood"s short answers, or Mrs. Thorndike Freeman"s little ungracious nod, but the long stare with which the latter lady regarded her flowers troubled her a little. What was the matter with them?
Somehow, Mr. Smith had given her the impression of a man who counts his sixpences, and if he had really been sending her anything very expensive, it was flattering, though imprudent. Margaret was now beginning to feel a personal interest in his affairs, and its growth had been so gradual and so fostered by circ.u.mstances, that she was less shy with him than young girls usually are in such a position. She felt quite equal to administering a gentle scolding when she had the chance; and when they were seated, and the music made it safe to talk confidentially, she began with conciliation.
"Thank you so much for these beautiful flowers."
"Do you like the way they are put up?"
"Oh, yes, they are perfect; but they are too handsome for me to carry.
You ought not to have sent me such splendid ones, nor spent so much upon them. I did not have any idea what they were till I came here and everybody--"
"I am very sorry," said Mr. Smith, apologetically, "to have made you so conspicuous; but really I never thought of their costing so much, or making such a show. I wanted to send you white lilacs, because somehow you always make me think of them; don"t you remember telling me about the lilac bushes at Royalston? And when I saw the wretched little bits at the florist"s I told them to cut some large sprays, and never thought of asking how much they would be." Then, as Margaret"s eyes grew larger with anxiety, he went on, with an air of amus.e.m.e.nt she had seldom seen in him, "Never mind! I guess I can stand it for once, and I won"t do so again. I"ll tell you, Miss Parke, you shall choose the next flowers I give you, if you will. Will you be my partner at the next German, and give me a chance?"
"I wish I could," said Margaret, "but I shall not be here then. I am going home."
"What--so soon?"
"Yes, my term at the Art School will be over, and I know Cousin Susan won"t want to have me stay after that. She hates to have anyone round.
Mother thought that if I came down, Mrs. Underwood would ask me to visit her before I went home, but she hasn"t, and," with a little sigh, "I must go. Never mind! I have had a very nice time."
Mr. Smith seemed about to say something, but checked himself; perhaps he might have taken it up again, but just then Ralph Underwood approached to ask Margaret for a turn. Something in her partner"s manner had set her heart beating, and she was glad to rise and work off her excitement.
As she spun round with young Underwood, she felt that his former frigid indifference was replaced by a sort of patronising interest, a mood that pleased her better, for she could cope with it; and when he said, "I"m so glad you like Al Smith, Miss Parke; he is a thorough good fellow,"
she looked him full in the face, with an emphatic, "Yes, that he is,"
which silenced him completely.
The men Margaret had danced with the last time asked her again; and she was introduced to so many more, that she was on the floor a very fair share of the time. Her reputation as a wall-flower seemed threatened; but it was too late, for she went home that night from her last girlish gayety. The attentions which would have been so delightful at her first ball were rather a bore now. They kept breaking up her talks with Mr.
Smith, making them desultory and fitful; and then she had such a hurried parting from him at last! It was too bad! and she might not have such another chance to see him before she left. Their talks were becoming too absorbing to be carried on with any comfort in the street,--it would be hateful to say good-by there. Perhaps he felt that himself, and would not try to meet her there again. She almost hoped he would not; and yet, as she entered the Public Garden a little later than usual the next morning, what a bound her heart gave as she saw him, evidently waiting for her! As he advanced to meet her, he said at once,--
"Miss Parke, will you walk a little way on the Common with me? There are not so many people there, and I have something I wish very much to say to you."
Simple as Margaret was, it was impossible for her not to see that Mr.
Smith "meant something"; only he did not have at all the air that she had supposed natural to the occasion. He looked neither confident nor doubtful, but calm, and a little sad. Perhaps it was not the great "something," after all, but an inferior "something else." She walked along with him in silence, her own face perplexed and doubtful enough.
But when they reached the long walk across the loneliest corner of the Common, almost deserted at this season, he said, without further preface,--
"I don"t think I ought to let you go home without telling you how great a happiness your stay here has been to me. I never thought I should enjoy anything--I mean anything of that kind--so much. It would not be fair not to tell you so, and it would not be fair to myself either. I must let you know how much I love you. I don"t suppose there is much chance of your returning it, but you ought to know it."
Margaret"s downcast eyes and blushes, according to the wont of girls, might mean anything or nothing; but her eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with great tears, that, in spite of all her efforts to check them, rolled slowly over her crimson cheeks.
"Don"t, pray, feel so sorry about it," said her lover more cheerfully; "there is no need of that. I have been very happy since I first saw you,--happier than I ever was before. I knew it could not last long; but I shall have the memory of it always. You have given me more pleasure than pain, a great deal."
For the first and last time in her life, Margaret felt a little provoked with Mr. Smith. Was the man blind? Then, as she looked down at his face, pale with suppressed emotion, a great wave of mingled pity and reverence at their utmost height swept over her, and made her feel for a moment how near human nature can come to the divine. Had he, indeed, been blind, light must have dawned for him; though, as it was never his way to leave things at loose ends, he had probably intended all along to say just what he did. He stopped short, and said in tones that were now tremulous with a rising hope,--
"Margaret, tell me if you can love me ever so little?"
"How can I help it, when you have been so good to me?" Margaret contrived to stammer out, vexed with herself that she had nothing better to say. Her words sounded so inadequate--so foolish.
"Oh, but you mustn"t take me merely out of grat.i.tude," said he, rather sadly.
"Merely out of grat.i.tude!" cried Margaret, her tongue loosened as if by magic, and exulting in her freedom as her words hurried over each other.
"Why, what is there better than grat.i.tude, or what more would you want to be loved for? If I had seen you behave to another girl as you have to me, I might have admired and respected you more than any man I ever saw; but I shouldn"t have had the right to love you for it, as I do now. Oh!"
she went on, all radiant now with beauty and happiness, "how I wish I could do something for you that would make you feel for one single moment to me as I feel to you, and then you would never, never talk of mere grat.i.tude again!
"Darling, forgive me--only give yourself to me, and I"ll feel it all my life."
There was no Art School for Margaret that day, nor any thought of it, as she and Mr. Smith walked up and down the long walk again and again, until she was frightened to find how late it was, and hurried home; but now he proudly walked with her to the very door. They had so much to say about the past and the future both, and it was hard to tell which was most delightful; whether they laughingly recalled their first meeting, or more soberly discussed their future plans. How fortunate it was, after all, that she was going back so soon, as now Mr. Smith could follow her in a few days to Royalston. Margaret said she must write to mamma that night--she could not wait; and Mr. Smith said he hoped that her parents would not want to have their engagement a very long one. Of course he had some means besides his books on which to marry. It was asking a great deal of her father and mother, but perhaps he need not take her so very much away from them. Would it not be pleasant to have their home at Royalston, where he could do a great deal of his work, and run down to Boston when necessary? Margaret was charmed with the idea, and said that living was so cheap there, and house rent--oh, almost nothing.
Margaret found Cousin Susan up and halfway through her lunch. She apologised in much confusion, but her cousin did not seem to mind. She, as well as Margaret, was occupied with some weighty affair of her own, and both were silent till Jenny had carried off the lunch tray, when both wanted to speak, but Margaret, always the quicker of the two, began first. Might not Mr. Smith call that evening? He had been saying--of course it could not be considered anything till her father and mother had heard--but she thought Cousin Susan ought to know it before he called at her house--only no one else must know a word till she had written home.
This rather incoherent confession was helped out by the prettiest smiles and blushes; but Mrs. Manton showed none of an older woman"s usual prompt comprehension and pleasure in helping out a faltering love-tale. She listened in stolid silence, the most repellent of confidantes, and when it ended in an almost appealing cadence, she broke out with, "Margaret Parke, I am astonished at you!"
Margaret first started, then stared amazedly.
"I would not have believed it if anyone had told me!" went on Mrs.
Manton. "I would never have thought that your mother"s daughter could sell herself in that barefaced way."