Dust

"I don"t hate anybody but him. I hate him and I"m afraid of him--just like you are."

"Oh, Billy," cried Rose, shocked to the quick. "You must never, never say I hate your father--when you"re older you"ll understand. He is a wonderful man."

"He"s mean," said Billy succinctly. "When I get big I"m going to run away."

"From me? Oh, darling, don"t think such thoughts. Papa doesn"t intend to be mean. He just doesn"t know what fun it is to play. You see, dear, when he was a boy like you, he had to work, oh, ever and ever so much more than you do--yes, he did," she nodded solemnly at Bill"s incredulous stare. "And his mother never talked with him or held him close as I do you. She didn"t have time. Aunt Nellie has told me all about it. He just worked and worked and worked--they all did. That"s all there was in their life--just work. Why, when he was your age, his father was at war and papa and Grandmother Wade had to do everything.

He did a man"s share at fourteen and by the time he was fifteen, he ran this whole farm. Work has gotten to be a habit with him and it"s made him different from a great many people. But he thinks that is why he"s gone ahead and so he"s trying to raise you the same way. If he really didn"t care about you, Billy, it wouldn"t bother him what you did."

In the silence that fell they could hear old Molly bellowing with pathetic monotony for her calf that had been taken from her. Yesterday she had been so proud, so happy. She had had such a hard time bringing it into the world, too. Martin had been obliged to tie a rope to its protruding legs and pull with all his strength. It didn"t seem fair to think that the trusting-eyed little fellow had been s.n.a.t.c.hed from her so soon, as if her pain had been an entirely negligible incident. Already, after six short weeks, he was hanging, drawn and quartered, in one of Fallon"s meat-markets.

"I hate this place!" burst out the boy pa.s.sionately. "I hate it!"

"All farms are cruel," agreed his mother quickly. "But I suppose they have to be. People must have milk and they must have veal."

At nine, though his fingers would become cramped and his wrists would pain him, Bill had three cows to account for twice a day. At five in the morning, he would be shaken by Martin and told to hurry up. It would be dark when he stepped out into the chill air, and he would draw back with a shiver. Somewhere on these six hundred acres was the herd and it was his ch.o.r.e to find it and bring it in. He would go struggling through the pasture, unable to see twenty-five feet ahead of him, the cold dew or snow soaking through his overalls, his shoes becoming wet. Often he would go a mile north only to have to wander to another end of the farm before he located them. Other times, when he was lucky, they would be waiting within a hundred yards of the barn. Oh, how precious the warm bed was, and how his growing body craved a few more hours of sleep! He had a trick of pulling the sheet up over his head, as if thus he could shut out the world, but always his father was there to rout him out from this nest and set him none too gently on his feet; always there was a herd to be brought in and udders to be emptied. It made no difference to Martin that the daily walk to and from the district school was long, and left no spare time; it made no difference that the long hours at his lessons left the boy longing for play--always there was the herd, twice a day, cows and cows without end.

At twelve, Bill was plowing behind four heavy horses. He could run a mower, and clean a pasture of weeds in a day. He could cultivate and handle the manure spreader. In the hot, blazing sun, he could shock wheat behind Martin, who sat on the binder and cut the beautiful swaying gold. There wasn"t a thing he could not do, but there was not one that he did with a willing heart. His dreams were all of escape from this grinding, harsh farm. It seemed to him that it was as ruthless as his father; that everything it demanded of him was, at best, just a little beyond his strength. If there was a lever to be pulled on the disk, very likely it was rusted and refused to give unless he yanked until he was short of breath and his heart beat fast; four horses were so unruly and hard to keep in place; the gates were all so heavy--they were not easy to lift and then drag open. It was such a bitter struggle every step of the way. It was so hard to plow as deeply as he was commanded. It was so wearing to make the seed bed smooth enough to measure up to his father"s standard. Never was there a person who saw less to love about a farm than this son of Martin"s. He even ceased to take any interest in the little colts.

"You used to be foolish about them," Martin taunted, "cried whenever I broke one."

"If I don"t get to liking "em, I don"t care what happens to em," Bill answered with his father"s own laconicism.

This chicken-heartedness, as he dubbed it, disgusted Martin, who consequently took a satisfaction in compelling the boy to a.s.sist him actively whenever there were cattle to be dehorned, wire rings to be pushed through bunches of pigs" snouts, calves to be delivered by force, young stuff to be castrated or butchering to be done. Often the sensitive lad"s nerves were strained to the breaking point by the inhuman torture he was constantly forced to inflict upon creatures that had learned to trust him. There was a period when it seemed to him every hour brought new horrors; with each one, his determination strengthened to free himself as soon as possible from this life that was one round of toil and brutality.

Rose gave him all the sympathy and help her great heart knew. His rebellion had been her own, but she had allowed it to be ground out of her, with her soul now in complete surrender. And here was her boy going through it all over again, for himself, learning the dull religion of toil from one of its most fanatical priests. What if Bill, too, should finally have acquiescence to Martin rubbed into his very marrow, should absorb his father"s point of view, grow up and run, with mechanical obedience, the farm he abhorred? The very possibility made her shudder.

If only she could rescue him in some manner, help him to break free from this bondage. College--that would be the open avenue. Martin would insist upon an agricultural course, but she would use all her tact and rally all her powers that Billy might be given the opportunity to fit himself for some congenial occupation. Martin might even die, and if she were to have the farm to sell and the interest from the investments to live on, how happy she could be with this son of hers, so like her in temperament. She caught herself up sharply. Well, it was Martin himself who was driving her to such thoughts.

"You are like old Dorcas," she once told her husband, driven desperate by the exhausted, harrowed look that was becoming habitual in Bill"s face. "You"re trampling down your own flesh and blood, that"s what you"re doing--eating the heart out of your own boy."

"Go right on," retorted Martin, all his loneliness finding vent in his bitter sneer, "tell that to Bill. You"ve turned him against me from the day he was born. A fine chance I"ve ever had with my son!"

VI. DUST IN HIS EYES

SUCH was the relationship of the Wades when one morning the mail brought them a letter from Sharon, Illinois. Rose wrote that she was miserably unhappy with her step-mother. Could she live with them until she found a job? She had been to business college and was a dandy stenographer.

Maybe Uncle Martin could help her get located in Fallon.

"Of course I will, if she"s got her head set on working," was his comment. "I"ll telegraph her to come right along. Might as well wire the fare, too, while I"m about it and tell her to let us know exactly when she can get here."

Mrs. Wade looked up quickly at this unusual generosity, yet she was, she realized, more startled than surprised. For had not little Rose been the one creature Martin had loved and to whom he had enjoyed giving pleasure? It had been charming--the response of the big, aloof man to the merry child of seven, but that child was now a woman, and, in all probability, a beautiful one. Wasn"t there danger of far more complicated emotions which might prove even uprooting in their consequences? Mrs. Wade blushed. Really, she chided herself sternly, she wouldn"t have believed she could be such an old goose--going out of her way to borrow trouble. If her husband was moved to be hospitable, she ought to be wholly glad, not petty enough to resent it. She would put such thoughts out of her mind, indeed she would, and welcome Rose as she would have wanted Norah to have welcomed Bill, had the circ.u.mstances been reversed. It would be lovely to have the girl about--she would be so much company, and the atmosphere of light-hearted youth which she would bring with her would be just what Billy needed. By the time Rose"s answer came, saying she would arrive in two weeks, her aunt was genuinely enthusiastic.

"I wonder," said Martin, "if we could build on an extra room by then.

If she"s going to make this her home, she can"t be crowded as if she was just here for a short visit. I"ll hunt up Fletcher this afternoon."

Mrs. Wade"s lips shut tight, as she grappled with an altogether new kind of jealousy. To think that Martin should delight in giving to an outsider a pleasure he had persistently denied his own son. How often had she pleaded: "It"s a shame to make Billy sleep in the parlor! A boy ought to have one spot to himself where he can keep his own little treasures." But always she had been met with a plausible excuse or a direct refusal. "I suppose I ought to be thankful someone can strike an unselfish chord in him," she thought, wearily.

"You"ll have to get some furniture," Martin continued placidly.

"Mahogany"s the thing nowadays."

"It"s fearfully expensive," she murmured.

"Oh, I don"t know. Might as well get something good while we"re buying.

And while you"re at it, pick out some of those curtains that have flowers and birds on "em and a pretty rug or two. I"ll have Fletcher put down hard oak flooring; and I guess it won"t make much more of a mess if we go ahead and connect up the house with the rest of the Delco system."

"It"s about time," put in Bill, who had been listening round-eyed, until now actually more than half believing his father to be in cynical jest.

"We"re known all over the county as the place that has electric lights in the barns and lamps in the house."

"It hasn"t been convenient to do it before," was the crisp answer.

Bill and his mother exchanged expressive glances. When was anything ever convenient for Martin Wade unless he were to derive a direct, personal satisfaction from it! Then it became a horse of quite another color. He could even become lavish; everything must be of the best; nothing else would do; no expense, as long as full value was received, was too great.

Mrs. Wade found herself searching her memory. She was positive that not since those occasions upon which he had brought home the sacks of candy for the sheer sunshine of watching little Rose"s glee had anyone"s pleasure been of enough importance to him to become his own. All this present concern for her comfort talked far more plainly than words.

This time, Mrs. Wade admitted bravely to herself that her jealousy was not for Billy. It would have been far easier for her if she had known that Martin was thinking of their coming guest as he had last seen her thirteen years before. He realized, thoroughly, that she must have grown up, but before his mental eyes there still danced the roguish little girl he had held so tenderly in his arms and had so longed to protect and cherish.

He experienced a distinct sense of shock, therefore, when, tall, slender and smartly dressed, Rose stepped off the train and, throwing her arms impulsively around his neck, gave him an affectionate kiss. The feel of those soft, warm lips lingered strangely, setting his heart to pounding as he guided her down the platform.

"Uncle Martin, you haven"t changed a bit!" she exclaimed joyously. "I was wondering if I"d recognise you--imagine! Somehow, I thought thirteen years would make a lot of difference, but you don"t look a day older."

"You little blarney," he smiled, pleased nevertheless. "Well, here we are," and he stopped before his fine Cadillac.

"Oh, Uncle Martin," gasped Rose ecstatically. "What a perfectly gorgeous car! I thought all farmers were supposed to have Fords."

They laughed happily together.

"It"s the best in these parts," he admitted complacently.

"It"s too wonderful to think that it is really yours. Oh, Uncle Martin, do you suppose you could ever teach me to drive it?"

"It takes a good deal of strength to shift the gears, but you can have a try at it anyway, tomorrow."

"Oh-h-h!" she exulted, slipping naturally into their old comradeship.

Martin took her elbow as he helped her into the car. The firm young flesh felt good--it was hard to let go. His thumb and under finger had pressed the muscles slightly and they had moved under his touch. His hand trembled a bit. The grace with which she stepped up gave him another thrill. He was struck with her trim pump, and the several inches of silk stocking that flashed before his eyes, so unaccustomed to noticing dainty details, gave him a mingled sensation of delight and embarra.s.sment. It had been many a day, many a year, since he had consciously observed his wife. She was too useful for him to permit himself to be influenced by questions of beauty into underrating her value, and he was a respectable husband, if not a kind one. They had jogged on so long together that he would have said he had ceased to be conscious of her appearance. But suddenly he felt that he could not continue to endure, for another day, the sight of the spreading, flat house-slippers which, because of her two hundred and forty pounds and frequently rheumatic feet, she wore about her work. Moreover, it was forcibly borne in upon him just what a source of irritation they had been. And they were only as a drop in the bucket! Well, such thoughts did no one any good. Thank heaven, from now on he would have Rose to look at.

They settled down beside each other in the front seat and he was aware that her lovely eyes, so violet-blue and ivory-white, were studying him admiringly. Here was a man, she was deciding, who for his age was the physical superior of any she had ever met. He was clearly one of those whom toil did not bend, and while, she concluded further, he might be taken for all of his fifty-four years it would be simply because of his austere manner.

Martin sustained her scrutiny until they were well out of Fallon and speeding along on a good level road. Then with a teasing "turn about"s fair play," he, too, took a frank look, oddly stirred by the sophisticated touches which added so subtly to her natural beauty. From her soft, thick brown hair done up cleverly in the latest mode and her narrow eyebrows arched, oh, so carefully, and penciled with such skill, to that same trim provocative pump and disconcerting flash of silk-clad ankle, Rose had dash. Hers was that gift of style which is as unmistakable as the gift of song and which, like it, is sometimes to be found unexpectedly in any village or small town.

Martin drank in every detail wonderingly, with a kind of awe. All his life, it seemed to him, for the last thirteen years positively, he had known that somewhere there must be just such a woman whose radiance would set his heart beating with the rapture of this moment and whose moods would blend so easily with his own that she would seem like a very part of himself. And here she was, come true, sitting right beside him in his own car. For the first time in his whole life, Martin understood the meaning of the word happiness. It gripped and shook him and made his heart ache with a delicious pain.

"It"s hard to believe," he murmured, "such a very small girl went away and such a very grown up little woman has come back. Let"s see--twenty is it? My, you make me feel old--but you say I haven"t changed much."

"You haven"t. A little bit of gray, a number of tiny wrinkles about your eyes"--the tips of two dainty fingers touched them lightly--"and you"re a bit thinner--that"s all. Why you look so good to me, Uncle Martin, I could fall in love with you myself, if you weren"t auntie"s husband."

It was an innocent remark, and he understood it as such, but its effect on him was dynamic.