For some hours the two wanderers rested in that sunny little home, both most reluctant to leave it, and Dorothy"s own wish now being to remain until the Monday when, as he said, their new acquaintance would be at liberty to take them to the city. Jim was not so anxious to remain. It was not until his companion"s entreaties grew more persistent, that he told her the truth:
"Dorothy, we _can"t_ stay. We mustn"t. I da.s.sent. You was scared o" that feller on horseback. Well, he"s been ridin" by here two, three times, an" he"s fetched another feller along. Them men mean bad to us. I"ve studied out "t they ain"t sure the old man ain"t to home. If they was they wouldn"t wait to ketch us long. The first man, he seen us come with St. John. He must. He couldn"t have rid so fur he didn"t. Well, I feel"s if _he_ ketched us, "twould be out the fryin"-pan into the fire. We couldn"t get shet o" him--till he got that five hundred dollars. We"ve got to go on, someway, somewheres. An"--go _now_, whilst they"ve rid back agin, out o" sight."
CHAPTER XVII
A SUNDAY DRIVE
Mrs. Cecil was extremely restless. She had been so ever since her visit to Kidder & Kidder. She would roam from room to room of her great house, staying long in none, finding fault with everybody and everything, in a manner most unusual. For though she was sharp of speech, at times, the times were fortunately at intervals, not incessant; but now she had altered and her dependents felt it to be for the worse.
"I declar" my soul, Ephraim, looks lak ouah Miss Betty done got somepin"
on her min", de way she ca"y on erbout nottin er tall. Jus" cayse cook, she done put sallyratus in dem biscuits, stidder raisin" "em yeas" cake way, she done "most flung "em offen de table. All de time fussin" wid some us boys an" girls, erbout some fault er nother; an" I lay out it"s her own min" is all corrodin" wid wickedness. What"s yo" "pinion now, Ephraim, boy?"
The old colored man pushed away his plate and scratched his white wool.
He was loyalty itself to his Miss Betty, but in his heart he agreed with Dinah that the house of Calvert had fallen upon uncomfortable times.
Fortunately, he was saved the trouble of a reply, by the sharp ringing of the stable bell.
"What now!" cried Dinah, hurrying away.
Dinner had been served as usual. As usual Mrs. Cecil had attended service at old St. Paul"s, but had felt herself defrauded because the rector had invited a stranger to occupy the pulpit: "when he knows as well as I do that this is my last Sunday in Baltimore, before the autumn, and should have paid me the respect of preaching himself," she had confided to her next-pew neighbor. Whereupon that other old member had felt herself also aggrieved, and had left the edifice for her carriage in a most unchristian state of mind. As usual, the one church-going and the stately dinner over, the household had settled into a Sunday somnolence. Ephraim had a comfortable lounge in the carriage-house loft and was ready for his afternoon nap. Cook was already asleep, in her kitchen rocker; and having finished her own grumble, Dinah was about to follow the universal custom, and seek repose in the little waiting-room beyond her mistress"s boudoir, while that lady enjoyed the same within. For that stable bell to ring at this unwonted hour was enough to startle both old servants, and to send Dinah speeding to answer it.
"Bless yo" heart, Miss Betty, did you-all done ring dat bell? Or did dat Methusalem done it, fo" mischievousness?"
"I rang it, Dinah. Tell Ephraim to harness his horses. I"m going out for a drive."
Dinah delayed to obey. Drive on Sunday? Such a thing was unheard of, except on the rare occasion of some intimate friend being desperately ill. Instantly the maid"s thought ran over the list of her mistress"s intimates, but could find none who was ailing, or hardly one who was still in town.
"Lawd, honey, Miss Betty, who-all"s sick?"
"n.o.body, you foolish girl. Can"t I stir off these grounds unless somebody is ill? I"m going to drive. I"ve no need to tell you, you"ve no right to ask me--but one must humor imbecility! _I--am--going--to--drive!_ I--I"m not sleeping as well as usual, and I need the air. Now, get my things, and don"t stare."
"Yas"m. Co"se. Yas"m. But year me, Miss Betty Somerset, if yo" po" maw was er libin" you-all wouldn"t get to go no ridin" on a Sunday ebenin", jus" if yo" didn" know no diff"rent. Lak dem po" no-"count folks what doan" b"long to good famblies. You-all may go, whuther er no, cayse yo"
does most inginerally take yo" own way. But I owes it to yo" maw to recommind you-all o" yo" plain, Christian duty."
With that Dinah felt she had relieved herself of all obligation either to duty or tradition, and proceeded with great dignity to bring out her lady"s handsome wrap and hat: while down deep in that old gentlewoman"s breast fluttered a feeling of actual guilt. It was a lifelong habit she was about to break; a habit that had been the law of her parents in the days of her youth. When one was a privileged person of leisure, who could take her outings on any week-day, she should pay strictest honor to the Sabbath.
However, Miss Betty had made up her mind to go and Miss Betty went. Not only thus endangering her own soul but those of Dinah and Ephraim as well; and once well out of city limits and the possible observation of friends, the affair began to have for all three the sweet flavor of stolen fruit.
"It"s delightful. It"s such a perfect day. "Twould be more sinful to waste it indoors, asleep, than to be out here on the highway, pa.s.sing through such loveliness. We"ll--_We"ll come again_, some other Sunday, Dinah," observed Mrs. Cecil, when they had already traveled some few miles.
But it was Dinah"s hour for sleep, and having been prevented from indulging herself at home in a proper place and condition, she saw no reason why she shouldn"t nod here and now. The carriage was full as comfortable as her own easy-chair, and she had been ordered to ride, not to stay awake.
So, finding her remarks unheeded, Mrs. Cecil set herself to studying the landscape; and she found this so soothing to her tired nerves that when the coachman asked if he should turn about, she indignantly answered:
"No. Time for that when I give the order. It"s my carriage, as I often have to remind you, Ephraim."
"Yas"m. Dat"s so, Miss Betty. But dese yere hosses, dey ain" much usen to trabelin" so fur, cos" erspecially not inginerally on a _Sunday_."
"Do them good, boy, do them good. They"re so fat they can hardly trot a rod before they"re winded. When we get into the country, and they have to climb up and down those hills of the highlands, they"ll lose some of their bulk. They"re a sight now. I"m fairly ashamed of them. Touch them up, boy, touch them up. See if they can travel at all. They had a good deal of spirit when I bought them, but you"d ruin any team you shook the reins over, Ephraim. Touch them up!"
Ephraim groaned, but obeyed; and, for a brief distance, the bays did trot fairly well, as if there had come to their equine minds a memory of that past when they had been young and frisky. Then they settled down again to their ordinary jog, quite unlike their mistress"s mood, which grew more and more excited and gay the longer she trespa.s.sed upon her old-time habits.
n.o.body, who loved nature at all, could resist the influence of that golden summer afternoon--"evening" as southerners call it. To Mrs. Cecil as to little Dorothy, hours before, came the sweet, suggestive odor of honeysuckle; that brought back old memories, touched to tenderness her heart, and to an undefinable longing for something and somebody on which to expend all that stored-up affection.
"Tu"n yet, Miss Betty? Dat off hoss done gettin" badly breathed,"
suggested Ephraim, rudely breaking in upon Mrs. Cecil"s reflections.
"Oh, you tiresome boy! One-half mile more, then turn if you will and must. For me--I haven"t enjoyed myself nor felt so at peace in--in several days. Not since that wretched plumber came to Bellevieu and stirred me all up with his--gossip. I could drive on forever! but, of course, I"m human, and I"ll remember you, Ephraim, as well as my poor, abused horses! One mile--did I say a half? Well, drive on, anyway."
It was at the very turn of the road that she saw them.
A long, lanky lad, far worse winded than her fat bays, skulking along behind the honeysuckle hedge-rows, as if in hiding from somebody. As they approached each other--she in her roomy carriage, he on his bruised and aching feet--she saw that he was almost spent; that he carried a girl on his back; and that the desperation of fear was on both their young faces. Then looking forward along her side of the hedge, down the road that stretched so smooth and even, she saw two men on horseback.
They were riding swiftly, and now and then one would rise in his stirrups and peer over the hedge, as if to keep in sight the struggling children, then settle back again into that easy lope that was certain of speedy victory.
Mrs. Cecil"s nerves tingled with a new--an old--sensation. In the days of her girlhood she had followed the hounds over many a well-contested field. Behold here again was a fox-hunt--with two human children for foxes! Whatever they might have done, how deserved re-capture, she didn"t pause to inquire. All her old sporting blood rose in her, but--on the side of the foxes!
"Drive, drive, Ephraim, drive! Kill the horses--save those children!"
Ephraim had once been young, too, and he caught his lady"s spirit with a readiness that delighted her. In a moment the carriage was abreast the fleeing children on that further side the hedge, and Mrs. Cecil"s voice was excitedly calling:
"Come through! Come through the hedge! We"ll befriend you!"
It had been a weary, weary race. Although her foot had been so carefully bandaged by Daniel St. John, it was not fit to be used and Dorothy"s suffering could not be told in words. Jim had done his best. He had comforted, encouraged, carried her; at times, incessantly, but with a now fast-dying hope that they could succeed in evading these pursuers, so relentlessly intent upon their capture.
"It"s the money, Dorothy, they want. They mustn"t get it. That"s your folkses"--do try--you _must_ keep on! I"ll--they shan"t--Oh, pshaw!"
Wheels again! again added to that thump, thump, thump of steel-shod hoofs along the hard road! and the youth felt that the race was over--himself beaten.
Then he peered through a break in the honeysuckle and saw a wonderful old lady with snow-white hair and a beautiful face, standing up in a finer vehicle than he had known could be constructed, and eagerly beckoning him to: "Come! Come!"
He stood still, panting for breath, and Dorothy lifted her face which she had hidden on his shoulder and--what was that the child was calling?
"Mrs. Cecil! Mrs. Cecil! Don"t you know me? John Chester"s little girl?
"Johnnie"--postman "Johnnie"--you know him--take me home!"
The two hors.e.m.e.n came riding up and reined in shortly. There was bewilderment on their faces and disappointment in their hearts; for behold! here were five hundred dollars being swept out of their very grasp by a wealthy old woman who didn"t need a cent!
And what was that happy old creature answering to the fugitive"s appeal but an equally joyful:
"Dorothy C.! You poor lost darling--Dorothy C.! Thank G.o.d you"re found!
Thank Him I took this ride this day!"
Another moment and not only Dorothy but poor Jim Barlow, mud-stained, unkempt, as awkward a lad as ever lived and as humble, was riding toward Baltimore city in state, on a velvet-covered cushion beside one of its most aristocratic dames!
This was a turn in affairs, indeed; and the discomfited hors.e.m.e.n, who had felt a goodly sum already within their pockets, followed the equipage into town to learn the outcome of the matter.