"Please, please, let"s not be so--so foody! Of course he wants to go!"
"But what in Heaven"s name would you ever have done without my help, poor mindless child that you are?"
But she was oblivious to this subtlety.
"Yes, dear, you"re always a comfort. We"ll ride over this afternoon and tell him he"s to go. It will be a fine thing to do--he"s so promising."
"Look here, Nell"--he glanced at her shrewdly--"is this to be his picnic or yours?"
She burned with a little inner rage to feel her cheeks redden, but the black fringe of her eyes did not fall before him.
"We"ll ride over after luncheon," she repeated, "and I do wish, Clarence, that you"d shave and wear a collar or a stock, and throw that unspeakable coat away, and have your boots cleaned, and send for some cigars."
He looked complacently down over the objectionable attire, pulled sputteringly at the condemned pipe, then grinned at her.
"Say, Sis, if it"s going to be _that_ much fun for you, I"ll rope and throw him, and send him on tied if he acts rough."
Late that evening the two inmates of the lake cabin sat before the big fireplace in the studio to talk of a wondrous thing. They had survived the most exciting half day in the life of either, and the atmosphere of the room was still electrical with echoes of the big event. Through their supper Ewing, unable to eat, had sat staring afar, helpless in the rush of the current, inert as a bowlder in the bed of a mountain stream.
He, so long at rest, was to be swept down from the peace of his hill nook to the ocean, to life itself. It was a thing to leave one aghast with a consternation that was somehow joyous. Since supper he had stared into the fire in dumb surrender to the flood, with intervals of dazed floor-pacing, in which he tried to foresee his course.
Ben Crider, submerged by the waters of the same cloudburst, was giving stouter battle to the current. His face drawn to more than its wonted dejection, he strove to play the beacon. Between s.n.a.t.c.hes of worldly counsel he read with solemn inflection certain gems of guidance from authors in whose wisdom he had long felt a faith entire. His ready mind harked forward to direful emergencies, and he submitted devices for meeting these.
"Remember what that says, Kid," he urged impressively, and he read once more a saving pa.s.sage from his well-thumbed "Guide to Polite Behavior."
""If you cannot sing a song or tell a mirth-provoking story at an evening ball or party you may well perform a few tricks in legerdemain.
The following are among the simplest and, when deftly performed never fail to provoke loud applause and win you the undying grat.i.tude of your hostess." Are you a-hearin" me? Well, I"ve turned down the pages at that one with the coin and the hat, and the one where you must tell the right card by a simple act of mind-readin". And don"t forget what he says here, "the hand is quicker"n the eye.""
"Yes, Ben; I"m listening."
"Well, listen to this here other book. It"s more serious."
He took up his treasured "Traps and Pitfalls of a Great City," and again became a voice in the wilderness, waving a forefinger to punctuate and warn.
""It is the habit of these gentry to lie in wait for their intended victims when they alight at the princ.i.p.al railway stations, and where, by their plausible and insinuating advances, they ingratiate themselves into the _confidence_ of those whom it is their purpose to fleece; hence the name, "confidence men." Only by constant watchfulness and a thorough knowledge of their methods may the stranger in the great city hope to escape their wiles, since their ways of approach are manifold." You hear that, Kid--their ways is manifold. Here"s a pitcher of one of "em tacklin" a countryman. See what an oily-lookin" feller he is, stovepipe hat, fancy vest, big watchchain, long coat, striped pants. You"d say he was a bank president. Oh, I bet they"re slick ones. They"d have to be to tog out like that every day in the week. Now remember, if one o" them ducks comes up to you and starts to b.u.t.ter you up with fine words and wants to carry your satchel, you just let out a yell for the police and hand him over. That"s the way to settle "em!"
"I"ll surely remember, Ben."
"And there"s thugs and footpads. Always keep your coat b.u.t.toned over your watch, it says, and if you"re goin" along Broadway or Fifth Avenue after dark, get out and walk in the middle o" the street, so"s they can"t spring around a corner and slug you. And don"t talk to strangers, and don"t look into store windows ner up at the high buildin"s, else they"ll spot you fer a greeny and give you the laugh."
"I can"t believe it yet, Ben." He rose to walk the floor again, his hands sunk deep in his pockets, his head bent low.
"And don"t git into no card game on the train with a couple o" smooth strangers that ain"t ever met each other before and want to pa.s.s away the time pleasantly. And don"t bet you can open the patent lock after you think you found the secret spring. And don"t buy any o" that money you can"t tell from real, that was printed from stolen Gov"ment plates."
"Think of his giving a hundred dollars for that drawing of "Lon Pierce on the pinto, throwing a steer, and all that money for the others."
"Serves him right!" Ben hissed this vindictively, having first reluctantly laid aside "Traps and Pitfalls." "Serves him dead right!
That feller puts on a wise look that"s about sixty-five years beyond his real age, as I"d cal"late it. I tell you, son, it sure takes all kinds o" fools to make a world."
"But he said they were worth the money," Ewing pleaded. "He said I would do even better, some day."
"Sure--_sure_ he said it! An" didn"t he ask me if I had dyspepsia, an"
did I sleep at night, an" I"d better remember to live an outdoor life of activity if I ever got that a-way. An" he thinks he"s learned how to grain a deer hide after watching me do it three minutes, an" he"s goin"
to pick up a live skunk next chanct he gits, because I told him jest how to grab it. Oh, he _said_ things all right! He said a variety o"
things!" He glared at Ewing as he rounded out this catalogue of follies.
"I"m torn in two, Ben. I shan"t be glad to leave here, and yet I"ll be glad to go. I"ve dreamed it so long. It seems as if I"d dreamed it so hard I"d made it come true."
"Always pin your money to the inside of your vest, like I told you,"
came the voice of warning.
"I will, I will. But things _do_ happen, don"t they? This is like a fairy tale."
"Fairy tale!" The wise one uttered this with violent scorn. "Likely you was the sleepin" beauty, an" this here princess comes along with an alarm clock!"
"Not a princess, Ben." He laughed boyishly. "She"s a sure-enough queen."
"Jest remember they"s knaves in the deck. That"s all _I_ ask."
"You like her don"t you?"
Ben made an effort to be fair.
"Well, I do an" then I don"t. She"s saddle stock, fur looks, that lady is, but she ain"t serious. No, sir! When her eyes is on me I know as well"s I want to she"s snickerin" inside; makes no difference if her face does look like it was starched. You"ll find, when all"s said an"
done, that she"s plumb levitous, an" levitous folks is triflin"."
"Have you seen how sorrowful she looks sometimes, a sort of glad-sorry, as if she felt sorry for herself and glad for other people? She makes me feel old when she looks that way--as if I must protect her."
"Yes, an" other times she"s stiffer"n Lot"s wife!"
"Other times she seems older than all the world, a woman who has always lived and always will."
"Well, son, when you git put afoot there, you write on an" I"ll manage to scare up a git-away stake fur you."
"It"s wonderful to think of going out into the world that _they_ knew, Ben--my father and mother. It seems as if they must be out there now, and that I"m going to meet them very quietly and naturally some day. I think it wouldn"t astonish me."
"Look a-here, Kid! That"ll be about enough o" _that_! You go to bed."
The other smiled a little wanly.
"I can"t. I"m afraid to. I"m going to sit here awhile and think, and when the moon gets up I"m going outside to think. The hills haven"t heard the news yet, and the trail over to the lake doesn"t know about it. I"ve got to spread it before I sleep. You see, when I do sleep, I"m afraid I"ll wake up and find it was stuff I dreamed."
"Shucks, Kid, what"s the use o" talking like that? It ain"t no dream.
It"s true as G.o.d made little apples." There was, at the moment, a noticeable relaxation from the speaker"s habitual austerity. An awkward smile of affection melted the hardness of his face as he held out a hand to Ewing. "An" I"m doggoned if I"d be so _all-fired_ amazed if everything come out fur the best. Yes, sir, blame me, Kid, if I don"t almost half b"lieve you"ll make good!"
"You can bet I"ll try, Ben!"
"That"s right; you do your d.a.m.ndest--"angels can do no more," as the feller said."
As he lighted a candle his face was grim once more--savagely grim, even as he sang, in going to his rest: