Finally he said:
"Kate, won"t you be hurt if I say an indiscreet thing?"
"Certainly not. You know you can say anything you like to me. I"m not a fool."
"Well, here goes, then. I"ve been noticing lately that you don"t stammer any more. Are you being treated for it?"
"No," cried Kate, plainly delighted. "I am treating myself."
"Then, don"t!" cried Noel. "Kate, I can"t bear it. Yours was the most attractive, the dearest little mannerism--not a bit disagreeable. Your speech, so far from being marred by it, was only made distinctive. I--I feel as if I had lost my Kate!"
His voice sank with unmistakable tenderness at the last words, and Kate stiffened herself, as if prepared for a plunge into ice-water. Finally she caught her breath sufficiently to say, awkwardly:
"If you care, Noel, of course I w-won"t."
"If I care!" cried St. Quentin. "Do I care about anything or anybody else in all this world except Kate Howard? Don"t talk as if you didn"t know it."
"K-know it!" cried Kate, stammering quite honestly. "Indeed," as she told Carolina later, "after that, I"d have stammered if I"d been cured of it fifty times over. A proposal is enough to make any woman stammer!"
"Indeed, and I didn"t. I th-thought you were in love with C-Carolina."
"Carolina!" cried Noel. "Carolina! Well, you are blind! As if she would ever look at me, in the first place--"
"Oh, so that was your reason," interrupted Kate.
"And in the second place," pursued Noel, calmly ignoring the interruption, "she is in love with--"
"With whom?" exploded Kate, gripping his arm.
"Why, with La Grange! Did you never notice them together last spring, and then the way she speaks of him?"
Kate let her own love-affair slip from her mind, while she thought rapidly for a few minutes.
"I believe you are right," she said, slowly, "but I can tell you something more. They are not engaged. Something is separating them."
"I think so, too. Possibly Carolina is holding off. I"ve noticed that girls have a way of doing that."
Kate"s face crimsoned. She afterward told Carolina that, if Noel had caught her laughing, he would have known all.
But her obstinate silence left it to Noel to continue.
"Kate," he said, finally, "when you get through playing with me, will you begin to take me seriously? I"m tired of your game. Now don"t pretend that you haven"t been baiting me."
"Honestly, Carolina," said Kate, afterward, "I"m telling you this j-just so you"ll know how d-dog funny the whole thing was. Here I"ve nearly had nervous prostration for a year, wondering if he ever _would_ propose, and then he went and accused me of playing a game to hold him off! Aren"t men fools?"
"I--I thought when you g-got good and ready, y-you"d speak your mind,"
said Kate to Noel. "I c-couldn"t go down on my knees and b-beg you to name the day, could I?"
"Do you mean to tell me," said St. Quentin, "that you will accept me,--that you will marry me, Kate?"
"T-that"s just what my p-poor, feeble speech is t-trying to g-get through your th-thick head," said Kate.
But Noel refused to be amused. He reached for Kate"s hand, and, in spite of Kate"s impertinence, if he had looked, he would have seen tears in her eyes.
CHAPTER XXV.
BOB FITZHUGH
Even Carolina was satisfied with the expression on Judge Fanshaw Lee"s face when he was whirled up the great avenue of live-oaks, and the new Guildford burst upon his view. He had snow-white hair, a pale olive complexion, and piercing black eyes. His eyebrows were still black, and he had a ferocious way of working them back and forth very rapidly when he was moved. This was one sign by which Carolina could tell; another was that the unusual colour came into his face.
Even before the guests had been to see their own rooms, Carolina was implored to lead the way and let them explore Guildford. This she was as eager to do as a young bride, and yet, in spite of her natural pride in her achievement, her modesty was so sincere and delightful that Judge Lee and Mr. Howard were obliged to ply her with questions.
The exclamations of delight were perfectly satisfactory, even to Mrs.
Winchester, who moved with majestic mien in their midst, listening with a jealous ear for praises of her idol, and, by her questioning eyes, plainly demanding more of the same kind.
Mrs. G.o.ddard"s eyes were dewy with grat.i.tude, and Carolina whispered to her that she--Mrs. G.o.ddard--was Guildford"s fairy G.o.dmother.
When they had all returned to the drawing-room, Mr. Howard turned to Judge Lee and said:
"Well, judge, what is your opinion? Isn"t this pretty good for one little girl to accomplish all by herself?"
"Mr. Howard," said Judge Lee and his eyebrows, "it is the most marvellous thing I ever heard of a young girl achieving. Why, sir, to us Southerners, it is nothing short of miraculous. Here are scores of my own dear friends, similarly situated,--land poor, they call themselves,--yet, as I cannot doubt Carolina"s word or your figures, and you both a.s.sert that Guildford has paid for itself, each and every one of them might restore their property in a similar manner. I had no idea of the value of this new turpentine company of yours."
"Aren"t you sorry now, Cousin Fanshaw," said Carolina, mischievously, "that you wouldn"t invest when we wanted you to?"
Judge Lee cleared his throat and reddened slightly. He did not relish being jested with.
"I think I am, Carolina," he said. "G.o.d knows I needed the money, but, if you will allow me, under the circ.u.mstances of your great triumph, to be ungallant, I will tell you that I did not have any faith in a woman"s head for business."
"Few of us have, I think," said Mr. Howard, coming to his rescue. "At first, I did not, but Carolina was so sure that I began it as an experiment which was likely to cost me dear. I have ended by believing in it with all my heart."
"Of course I have had a great deal of help," said Carolina, generously.
"Mr. La Grange is very influential, and I am sure I could not have got the telephone and electric light without him. They were carrying lanterns in Enterprise when we first came down here, and I expected to have to get along with acetylene, which I greatly dislike. But he told me that for the last ten years the subject of electric lighting had been agitated, and that he believed a little new blood and ready money would start the thing. That was easily managed, but the cost of bringing the wires to Guildford was greater than I expected. However, in another year several other estates will need lighting, and I shall carry it for them over my wires, and thus reduce my initial expense materially."
"Who owns the control in the electric company?" asked Judge Lee.
"Why, Carolina does, of course!" said Mr. Howard. "You don"t suppose my little Napoleon of Finance would commit such an error of judgment as not to keep that? Nevertheless, she put up the poles from Enterprise to Guildford at her own expense. She wouldn"t take any unfair advantage of her control."
Judge Lee glanced at his cousin in half-way disapproval. He greatly disliked a woman who understood finance, and he privately considered Carolina uns.e.xed. If she had not been beautiful, he would have said so, but her girlish loveliness saved her.
Judge Lee looked around. On every side familiar objects met his eye.
It was the same Guildford of his ancestors, yet enlarged, dignified, engrandeured. His gaze clung affectionately to the heavy, quaint furnishings, so cunningly reproduced that they might well pa.s.s as the ancient pieces they represented. He began to realize the enormous amount of hard work this indicated,--of the hours and days of unremitting toil,--of the discouragements overcome,--the obstacles surmounted,--the love this mirrored.
Finally he turned to Carolina, with his keen eyes softened.