Before her father departed for the store and she went to her room to finish packing, she sat upon the arm of his chair and, bending down, said:
"Daddy, if you hadn"t got this money, this three thousand dollars, do you know what I had very nearly made up my mind to do?"
"No, I"m sure I don"t."
"I had almost decided not to stay at college, but to come back here and live with you and mother."
"For the land sakes! Why?"
"Because I was sure you needed me. You never told me, of course--being you, you wouldn"t--but I was sure that you were troubled about--about things."
"Me? Troubled? What put that into your head? I"m the most gay, happy-go-lucky fellow in the world. I don"t get troubled enough. Ask your mother if that ain"t so."
"I shall not ask anybody but you. Tell me truly: Weren"t you troubled; about the business, and the store? Truly, now."
Captain Dan rubbed his chin. He wished very much to deny the allegation, or at least to dodge the truth. But he was a poor prevaricator at any time, and his daughter was looking him straight in the eye.
"Well," he faltered, "I--I--How in time did you guess that? I--Humph!
why, yes, I was a little mite upset. You see, trade ain"t been first rate this summer, and collections were awful slow. I hate to drive folks, especially when I know they"re hard up. I was a little worried, but it"s all right now. Aunt Laviny"s three thousand fixed that all right. It"ll carry me along like a full sail breeze. You go back to school, like a sensible girl, and don"t you worry a mite. It"s all right now, Gertie."
"Honest?"
"Honest to Betsy!" with an emphatic nod.
He meant it; he really thought it was all right. The fact that he owed a thousand already and that the remaining two would almost certainly be swept into the capacious maw of the Metropolitan Store did not occur to him then. Daniel Dott was a failure as a business man but as an optimist he was a huge success.
"Then you"re sure you can afford to have me go back for my last year?"
"Course I am. I couldn"t afford to do anything else."
His absolute certainty stifled his daughter"s doubts for the time, but she asked another question.
"And there"s nothing that troubles you at all?"
"No-o." The captain"s answer was not quite as emphatic this time.
Gertrude smiled, and patted his shoulder.
"Daddy, dear," she said, "you"re as transparent as a window pane, aren"t you. Well, don"t worry any more. That will be all right pretty soon, too. Mrs. Black doesn"t stay in Trumet all the year."
Her father gasped. That this child of his, whom he had always regarded as a child, should dive into the recesses of his soul and drag to light its most secret misgivings was amazing.
"What on earth?" he demanded.
"You know what I mean. I"m not blind. I can see. Mother is just a little carried away. She has heard so much about big houses and servants and society and woman"s opportunity, and all the rest of it, that she has been swept off her feet. But it won"t last, I"m sure. She isn"t really discontented; she only thinks she is."
Daniel sighed. "I know," he said. "Fact is, I ain"t up-to-date enough, myself, that"s what"s the matter. She"s a mighty able, ambitious woman, your mother is, Gertie, and I don"t wonder she gets to thinkin", sometimes, that Trumet is a kind of one-horse town. I like it; I AM one-horse, I suppose. But she ain"t, and she ain"t satisfied to be satisfied, like me. It"s a good thing she ain"t, I guess. Somebody"s got to live up to the responsibilities of life, and--"
Gertrude laughed. "She said that, didn"t she," she interrupted.
"Why, yes, she did. She says it every once in a while. How did you know?"
"I guessed. And I imagine Mrs. Phelps Black said it first. But there, Dad, be patient and.... Sh-sh! here"s Mother now."
It was Serena, sure enough, breathless from hurrying, her hat a bit on one side, one glove off and the other on, but full of energy and impatience.
"I suppose you"ve had dinner," she exclaimed. "Well, all right, I don"t care. I couldn"t help being late, there was so much to do at the lodge rooms and n.o.body to do it right, except me. If Mrs. Black hadn"t helped and superintended and--and everything, I don"t know where we should have been. And those visiting delegates from Boston coming! I must get a bite and hurry back. Where"s Azuba? Azuba!"
She was rushing in the direction of the kitchen, but her husband detained her.
"Hold on, Serena," he shouted. "Goin" back! What do you mean? You ain"t goin" back to that lodge this afternoon, are you? Why, Gertie"s goin" on the up-train!"
"I know, but I must go back, Daniel. Goodness knows what would happen if I didn"t. If you had seen some of the decorations those other women wanted to put up, you would think it was necessary for someone with respectable taste to be there. Why, Sophronia Smalley actually would have draped the presiding officer"s desk--MY desk--with a blue flag with a white whale on it, if I hadn"t been there to stop her."
"Well, I--Why, Serena, you know Sophrony thinks a sight of that flag.
Simeon Smalley, her father, was in the whalin" trade for years, and that flag was his private signal. She always has that flag up somewhere."
"Well, she shan"t have it on my desk. Annette--Mrs. Black, I mean--said it was ridiculous. If such a thing happened in Scarford the audience would have hysterics. Would you want your wife to make a spectacle of herself, before those Boston delegates, standing behind a white whale, and a dirty white at that! Gertie, I shall be at the depot to say good by, but I must be at that lodge room first. I MUST. You understand, don"t you?"
Gertrude said she understood perfectly and her mother hurried to the kitchen, where she ate lukewarm fried fish and apple pie, while Azuba washed the dishes and prophesied darkly concerning "dyspepsy." Gertrude went to her room to put the last few things in her trunks, and Captain Dan returned to the store, where he found the Bartlett boy pacifying a gnawing appet.i.te with chocolate creams abstracted from stock.
At a quarter to three the captain was at the railway station, where he was joined by John Doane, who, his vacation over, was returning to Boston. After a five-minute wait Serena and Gertrude appeared. The latter had called at the lodge room for her mother and, during the walk to the station, had broken the news of her engagement.
Serena was not surprised, of course; she, like everyone else, had expected it, and she liked John. But she was a good deal agitated and even the portentous business of the lodge meeting was driven from her mind. She and Mr. Doane shook hands, but the young man felt very much like a thief, and a particularly mean sort of thief, as young men are likely to feel under such circ.u.mstances. Farewells were harder to say than usual, although Gertrude tried her best to seem cheerful, and the captain swallowed the lump in his throat and smiled and joked in a ghastly fashion all through the ceremony. Just before the train started, his daughter led him to one side and whispered:
"Now, Daddy, remember--you are not to worry. And, if you need me at any time, you will tell me so, and I shall surely come. You"ll promise, won"t you? And you will write at least once a week?"
The captain made both promises. They kissed, Serena and Gertrude exchanged hugs, and John Doane solemnly shook hands once more. Then the train moved away from the station.
Daniel and Serena walked homeward, Mrs. Dott wiping her eyes with a damp handkerchief, and her husband very grave and silent. As they pa.s.sed the lodge building the lady said:
"I ought to go right back in there again. I ought to, but I just can"t, not now. I--I want to be with you, Daniel, a time like this."
"Goodness knows I want you, Serena; but--but for mercy sakes don"t call it a "time like this." Sounds as if we"d just come from the cemetery instead of the depot. We ain"t been to a funeral; we"re only lookin"
for"ard to a weddin"."
In spite of this philosophical declaration the remainder of that afternoon was rather funereal for Captain Dan. He moped about the store, waiting half-heartedly upon the few customers who happened in, and the ring of the supper bell was welcome, as it promised some company other than his thoughts.
But the promise was not fulfilled. He ate his supper alone. Mrs. Dott had gone back to the lodge room, so Azuba said.
"I don"t think she was intendin" to," remarked the latter, confidentially. "She said she guessed she"d "lay down a spell"; said she was "kind of tired." But afore she got upstairs scarcely, along comes that Black automobile with that Irish "shover man"--that"s what they call "em, ain"t it?--drivin" it and her in the back seat, and he gets out and comes and rings the front door bell, and when I answer it--had my hands all plastered up with dough, I did, for I was makin" pie, and it took me the longest time to get "em clean--when I answered it he said that she said she wanted to see her and--"
"Here! hold on, Zuba!" interrupted her bewildered employer. ""Vast heavin" a second, will you? You ought to run that yarn of yours through a sieve and strain some of the "hes" and "shes" out of it. "He said that she said she wanted to see her." Who wanted to see what?"
"Why, Barney Black"s wife. She wanted to see Serena. So in she came, all rigged up in her best clothes and--"
"How do you know they were her best ones?"
"Hey? Well, they would have been MY best ones, if _I_ owned "em, I tell you that. I never see such clothes as that woman has! All trimmin" and flounces and didos, and--"