"Yes; I"ll make a picture of Bess too, if you can stay long enough," he answered good humoredly.
"We can stay till dark, "f we like. Summer nights ain"t never lonesome.
An" Sat"day"s full of folks."
Travis laughed. "All right. Push your hat up higher-so. No, let your hair stay tumbled."
"It isn"t pritty hair. They used to call me red-top, an" names. "Tain"t so red as it was."
She ran her fingers through it, and gave her head a shake.
"Capital." He had just drawn out his sketch-book, when the policeman came down with a solemn tread and authoritative countenance. But Travis nodded, and gave him an a.s.suring smile that all was right.
"Let me see; I think I"ll tell you about an old apple orchard I know.
You never saw one in bloom?"
"Oh, do apples have flowers?" cried Bess. "There"s never any such in the stores. What a wonderful thing country must be!"
"The blossom comes first, then the fruit." Then he began with the fascinating preface: "When I was a little boy I had been ill a long while with scarlet fever. It was the middle of May when I was taken to the country."
What a wonderful romance he made of bloom and bird music, of chickens and cows, of lambs, of the little colt that ran in the orchard, so very shy at first, and then growing so tame that the little lad took him for a playfellow. Very simple indeed, but he held his small audience entranced. The delight in Bess"s face seemed to bring fine and tender expressions to that of Dil. Her nose wrinkled piquantly, her lips fell into beguiling curves. Travis found himself speculating upon the capacity of the face under the influence of cultivation, education, and happiness. He really hated to leave off, there were so many inspiring possibilities.
Now and then some one gave them a sidelong glance of wonder; but Travis went on in a steady, business-like manner; and the guardian of the square shielded them from undue curiosity.
"Bess isn"t well," he said presently. "She looks like a little ghost."
"She was hurted a long while ago and she can"t walk. Her little legs is just like a baby"s, an" they never grow any more. But she won"t grow either, and I don"t so much mind so long as I can carry her."
"Will she never walk again?" he asked in surprise. "How old is she?"
"She"s ten; but she"s littler than the boys now, so she"s the baby-the sweetest baby of thim all."
Ah, what a wealth of love spoke in the tone, in the simple words.
"I think you may take off Bess"s cap," he said, with an unconsciously tender manner. Poor little girl! And yet it could not be for very long.
He noted the lines made by suffering, and his heart went out in sympathy.
"Now, if there is anything you would like to ask me-anything that puzzles you"-and he reflected that most things might seem mysteries to their untrained brains.
They glanced at each other and drew long breaths, as if this was the golden opportunity they had long waited for. Then an irresistibly shy, sweet, beseeching expression crossed Bess"s face, as her eyes wandered from him to her sister.
"O Dil-you might ast him "bout-you know"-hesitating with pitiful eagerness in her large eyes-""bout goin" to heaven, an" how far it is."
"Do you know where heaven is, mister?"
The question was asked with the good faith of utter ignorance; but there was an intense and puzzled anxiety in every line of the child"s countenance.
"Heaven!" He was struck with a strange mental helplessness. "Heaven!" he repeated.
"Don"t anybody know for true?" A despair quenched the sunshine in the brown eyes and made outer darkness.
"An" how they get there?" continued Bess breathlessly. "That"s what we wanter know, "cause Dil wants to go an" take me. Is it very, very far?"
Travis glanced at Dil. Never in his life had he been more at loss. There was a line between her brows, and the wrinkled nose added to the weight of thoughtfulness. Never had he seen a few wrinkles express so much.
She felt as if he was questioning her.
"I went to the Mission School, you see," she began to explain. "The teacher read about a woman who took her children an" a girl who lived with her, an" started for heaven. Then Owny took my shoes, "cause "twas wet an" slushy "n" I couldn"t go, an" so I didn"t hear if they got there. "N" when I went again, that teacher had gone away. I didn"t like the new wan. When I ast her she said it was a gory somethin", an" you didn"t go that way to heaven now."
"An allegory, yes."
"Then, what"s that?"
"A story of something that _may_ happen, like every-day events." Ah, how could he meet the comprehension of these innocent children?
"Well, did she get there?" with eager haste.
The sparrows went on with their cheerful, rather aggressive chirp. The fountain played, people pa.s.sed to and fro, and wagons rumbled; but it seemed to John Travis as if there were only themselves in the wide world-and G.o.d. He did not understand G.o.d, but he knew then there was some supreme power above man.
"Yes," with reverent gentleness, "yes, she found heaven."
"Then, what"s to hinder us, Dil? "Twouldn"t be any use to ast mother-she"d rather go to Cunny Island or Mis" MacBride"s. If you only would tell us the way-"
"Yes; if you _could_ tell us the way," said Dil wistfully, raising her entreating eyes.
Could he direct any one on the road to heaven? And then he admitted to himself that he had cast away the faint clew of years agone, and would not know what step to take first.
"You see," explained Dil hurriedly, "I thought when we"d found just how to go, I"d take Bess some Sunday mornin", an" we"d go up by Cent"l Park and over by the river, "cause they useter sing "One more river to cross." Then we"d get on a ferry-boat. Mother wouldn"t care much. She don"t care for Bess since she"s hurted, and won"t never be no good. But I could take care of her; an" when we struck the right way, "twould be just goin" straight along. I could scrub an" "tend babies an" sweep an"
earn some money. People was good to the woman in the story, an" mebbe they"d be good to us when we were on the road an" no mistake. If we could just get started."
Oh, the eager, appealing desire in her face, the faith and fervor in her voice! A poor little pilgrim, not even knowing what the City of Destruction meant, longing with all her soul to set out for that better country, and take her poor little crippled sister. It moved him beyond anything he had ever known, and blurred the sunshine with a tremulous mistiness.
Dil was watching the varying expressions.
"O mister, ain"t there any heaven? Will we have to go on living in Barker"s Court forever "n" ever?"
The despair in Dil"s voice was heartrending. John Travis thought he had pa.s.sed one hour of crucial anguish; but it was as nothing to this, inasmuch as the pang of the soul must exceed the purely physical pain.
He drew a long, quivering breath.
"Oh, there ain"t any!"
He was on the witness stand. To destroy their hope would be a crueler murder than that of the innocents. No, he dared not deny G.o.d.
III-THE WAY TO HEAVEN