Aunt Etherege was to go on Thursday. On Wednesday, the three ladies sat together in the cool, open parlor, where Mr. Armstrong, walking over from the Old House, had joined them. He had the July number of the _Mishaumok_ in his hand, and a finger between the fresh-cut leaves at a poem he would read them.
Just as he had finished the last stanza, amidst a hush of the room that paid tribute to the beauty of the lines and his perfect rendering of them, wheels came round from the high road into the lane.
"It is Mr. Gartney come back from Sedgely," said Aunt Etherege, looking from her window, between the blinds. "Whom on earth has he picked up to bring with him?"
A thin, angular figure of a woman, dest.i.tute of crinoline, wearing big boots, and a bonnet that ignored the fashion, and carrying in her hand a black enameled leather bag, was alighting as she spoke, at the gate.
"Mother!" said Faith, leaning forward, and glancing out, also, "it looks like--it is--Nurse Sampson!"
And she put her work hastily from her lap, and rose to go out at the side door, to meet and welcome her.
To do this, she had to pa.s.s by Mr. Armstrong. How came that rigid look, that deadly paleness, to his face? What spasm of pain made him clutch the pamphlet he held with fingers that grew white about the nails?
Faith stopped, startled.
"Mr. Armstrong! Are you not well?" said she. At the same instant of her pausing, Miss Sampson entered from the hall, behind her. Mr. Armstrong"s eye, lifted toward Faith in an attempt to reply, caught a glimpse of the sharp, p.r.o.nounced outlines of the nurse"s face. Before Faith could comprehend, or turn, or cry out, the paleness blanched ghastlier over his features, and the strong man fell back, fainting.
With quick, professional instinct, Miss Sampson sprang forward, seizing, as she did so, an ice-water pitcher from the table.
"There, take this!" said she to Faith, "and sprinkle him with it, while I loosen his neckcloth! Gracious goodness!" she exclaimed, in an altered tone, as she came nearer to him for this purpose, "do it, some of the rest of you, and let me get out of his way! It was me!"
And she vanished out of the room.
CHAPTER XXII.
ROGER ARMSTRONG"S STORY.
"Even by means of our sorrows, we belong to the Eternal Plan."
HUMBOLDT.
"Go in there," said Nurse Sampson to Mr. Gartney, calling him in from the porch, "and lay that man flat on the floor!"
Which Mr. Gartney did, wondering, vaguely, in the instant required for his transit to the apartment, whether bandit or lunatic might await his offices.
All happened in a moment; and in that moment, the minister"s fugitive senses began to return.
"Lie quiet, a minute. Faith, get a gla.s.s of wine, or a little brandy."
Faith quickly brought both; and Mr. Armstrong, whom her father now a.s.sisted to the armchair again, took the wine from her hand, with a smile that thanked her, and depreciated himself.
"I am not ill," he said. "It is all over now. It was the sudden shock. I did not think I could have been so weak."
Mrs. Gartney had gone to find some hartshorn. Mrs. Etherege, seeing that the need for it was pa.s.sing, went out to tell her sister so, and to ask the strange woman who had originated all the commotion, what it could possibly mean. Mr. Gartney, at the same instant, caught a glimpse of his horse, which he had left unfastened at the gate, giving indications of restlessness, and hastened out to tie him.
Faith and Mr. Armstrong were left alone.
"Did I frighten you, my child?" he asked, gently. "It was a strange thing to happen! I thought that woman was in her grave. I thought she died, when--I will tell you all about it some day, soon, Miss Faith. It was the sad, terrible page of my life."
Faith"s eyes were l.u.s.trous with sympathy. Under all other thought was a beating joy--not looked at yet--that he could speak to her so! That he could s.n.a.t.c.h this chance moment to tell her, only, of his sacred sorrow!
She moved a half step nearer, and laid her hand, softly, on the chair arm beside him. She did not touch so much as a fold of his sleeve; but it seemed, somehow, like a pitying caress.
"I am sorry!" said she. And then the others came in.
Mr. Gartney walked round with his friend to the old house.
Miss Sampson began to recount what she knew of the story. Faith escaped to her own room at the first sentence. She would rather have it as Mr.
Armstrong"s confidence.
Next morning, Faith was dusting, and arranging flowers in the east parlor, and had just set the "hillside door," as they called it, open, when Mr. Armstrong pa.s.sed the window and appeared thereat.
"I came to ask, Miss Faith, if you would walk up over the Ridge. It is a lovely morning, and I am selfish enough to wish to have you to myself for a little of it. By and by, I would like to come back, and see Miss Sampson."
Faith understood. He meant to tell her this that had been heavy upon his heart through all these years. She would go. Directly, when she had brought her hat, and spoken with her mother.
Mrs. Etherege and Mrs. Gartney were sitting together in the guest chamber, above. At noon, after an early dinner, Mrs. Etherege was to leave.
Mr. Armstrong stood upon the doorstone below, looking outward, waiting.
If he had been inside the room, he would not have heard. The ladies, sitting by the window, just over his head, were quite unaware and thoughtless of his possible position.
He caught Faith"s clear, sweet accent first, as she announced her purpose to her mother, adding:
"I shall be back, auntie, long before dinner."
Then she crossed the hall into her own room, made her slight preparation for the walk, and went down by the kitchen staircase, to give Parthenia some last word about the early dinner.
"I think," said Mrs. Etherege, in the keenness of her worldly wisdom, "that this minister of yours might as well have a hint of how matters stand. It seems to me he is growing to monopolize Faith, rather."
"Oh," replied Mrs. Gartney, "there is nothing of that! You know what nurse told us, last evening. It isn"t quite likely that a man would faint away at the memory of one woman, if his thoughts were turned, the least, in that way, upon another. No, indeed! She is his Sunday scholar, and he treats her always as a very dear young friend. But that is all."
"Maybe. But is it quite safe for her? He is a young man yet, notwithstanding those few gray hairs."
"Oh, Faith has tacitly belonged to Paul Rushleigh these three years!"
Mr. Armstrong heard it all. He turned the next moment, and met his "dear young friend" with the same gentle smile and manner that he always wore toward her, and they walked up the Ridge path, among the trees, together.
A bowlder of rock, scooped into smooth hollows that made pleasant seats, was the goal, usually, of the Ridge walk. Here Faith paused, and Mr.
Armstrong made her sit down and rest.
Standing there before her, he began his story.
"One summer--years ago," he said, "I went to the city of New Orleans. I went to bring thence, with me, a dear friend--her who was to have been my wife."
The deep voice trembled, and paused. Faith could not look up, her breath came quickly, and the tears were all but ready.