"By the way, I expect that Harry Delance will be wanting to marry you soon."
""Harry!" she exclaimed. "I talked him to death--and out of the notion--long ago, and I"m not sorry. He isn"t my kind."
""Harry"s a good fellow," I insisted.
""But he"s so dreadfully nice--such a hopeless aristocrat! Grandfather would have a fit. I want a big, full-blooded, brawny chap, who isn"t a slave to his coat and trousers--the kind of man you"ve talked so much about--one who could get his hands dirty and be a gentleman. I"m longing for the outdoor life--and the outdoor man to live it with me."
""Give Harry a chance--his uneducation had only just begun," I urged.
"I left Marie with a rather serious look in her face, and began to wonder how I should accomplish the uneducation of Harry.
"That young man came to see me, in a day or two, at our home. My new set of Smollett lay on the piano, and he greatly admired it. Above all things Harry loved books, and his specialty was Smollett; he had read every tale in the series, at college, and made a mark with his thesis on "The Fathers of English Fiction." He spent an hour of delight with those books of mine. Then he said to me:
""Only fifty copies printed?"
""Only fifty," I said.
""Could I get a set?"
""All sold," I a.s.sured him, "but I shall be glad to give these books to you on two conditions."
"He turned in astonishment.
""They can do you no further harm, and my first request is that you do not lend them. My second is that you take them home in my wheelbarrow by daylight with your own hands."
"He silently demurred.
""At last those books have a chance to do some little good in the world, and I don"t want them to lose it," I urged. "The hands, feet, and legs of the high and low born are slowly being deprived of their rights in this community. Pride is robbing them of their ancient and proper offices. How many of the young men and women of our acquaintance would be seen on the street with a package in their hands, to say nothing of a wheelbarrow? Their souls are above it!"
""Why should they carry packages and roll wheelbarrows?" Harry asked.
"Stores deliver goods these days."
""That"s one reason why it costs so much to live. We have to pay for our pride and our indolence and the delivery of the goods. It"s all charged in the bill. Some member of the family used to go to market every morning with his basket and carry the goods home with him."
""It would be ridiculous for me to do that," said Harry. "We"re able to pay the bills."
""But you"re doing a great injustice to those who are not. You make the delivery system a necessary thing, and those who can"t afford it have to help you stand the expense--a gross injustice. I want you to help me in this cause of the hand and foot. Your example would be full of inspiration. Excuse me a moment."
"I went for the wheelbarrow and rolled it up to the front door. Then we brought out the books and loaded them. That done, I seized the handles of the barrow.
""Come on," I said. "I"ll do the work--you share the disgrace with me."
"My gray hairs were too much for him.
""No; give me the handles," he insisted. "If it won"t hurt you, it won"t hurt me--that"s sure."
"So, in his silk hat and frock-coat and spats, with a carnation in his b.u.t.tonhole, he seized the wheelbarrow like a man, and away we went. I steered him up the Main Street, and people began to hail us with laughter from automobiles, and to jest with us on the sidewalk, and Marie came along with two other pretty girls, and the barrow halted in a gale of merriment.
""What in the world are you doing?" one of them asked.
""It"s the remains of the late Mr. Smollett," I explained.
""I"m setting an example to the young," said Harry, as he mopped his forehead. "Couldn"t help it. I had to do this thing."
""Great!" Marie exclaimed. "Simply great! I"m going to get me a wheelbarrow."
"She would take hold of the handles and try it, and went on half a block in spite of our protests, creating much excitement.
"That was the first rude beginning of The Basket and Wheelbarrow Brigade in Pointview, of which I shall tell you later. And now I shall explain my generosity--it can generally be explained--and how I came by the Smollett."
VI
IN WHICH BETSEY COMMITS AN INDISCRETION
"Christmas was approaching, and Betsey said to me one day that she had been guilty of a great extravagance.
""I know you will forgive me just this once," she went on. "My love for you is so extravagant that I had to keep pace with it. You"ve simply got to accept something very grand."
""I can"t think of anything that I need unless it"s a new jack-knife,"
I said.
""Nonsense!" she exclaimed. "You"ve got to let me spend some money for you. I"ve been held down in the expression of my affections as long as I can stand it. I"ve doubled my charities since we were married, as a token of my grat.i.tude, and now I"ve a right to do something to please myself."
""All right! We"ll lift the lid," I said. "We can lie about it, I suppose, and cover up our folly."
""Well, of course we don"t have to tell what it cost," said Betsey; "and, Socrates, you can"t expect to reform me in a year. It"s taken half a lifetime to acquire my follies."
"That"s one trouble with the whole problem. You can"t tear down a structure which has been slowly rising for half a century in a day, or in many days.
"Christmas arrived, and Betsey went down-stairs with me and covered my eyes in the hall and led me to the grand piano. Then I was permitted to look, and there was the most gorgeous set of books that my eyes ever beheld--a set of Smollett, in lovely brown calf, decorated with magnificent gold tooling! Yes, I love such things--who doesn"t?--and I gave Betsey a great hug, and we sat down with tears in our eyes to look at the pages of vellum and the wonderful etchings which adorned so many of them. They were charming. I knew that the books had cost at least a thousand dollars. Grandpa Smead looked awfully stern in his gold frame on the wall.
""Now don"t think too badly of me," she urged. "Every poor family within twenty miles is eating dinner at my expense this Christmas Day."
""You are the dearest girl in all the land!" I said. "There"s n.o.body like you."
""I knew that you were fond of the cla.s.sics," said Betsey, "so I consulted Harry Delance, and he suggested that I should give you a set of Smollett; said it would renew your youth. You know he"s devoted to Smollett."
""And why shouldn"t we keep up with Harry?" I said.
""Well, you know he took the first prize in literature, and ought to have excellent taste. Then the young man who sold the set to me is working his way through Yale. I was glad to help him, too; he recommended these books--said they were moral and uplifting--not at all like the modern trash. He knew that we enjoyed home reading. Mary will read them aloud to us, and we"ll enjoy them together."
"This father of romance was not unknown to me, and I did not share her confidence in the joys ahead of us, but said nothing.
"After a fine dinner Betsey wanted to start in at once. We sat down by the fireside while her secretary began to read aloud from one of the treasured volumes. I had not read the story, and chose it as being the least likely to make trouble. In a short time we came to rough going and the young woman began to falter.