"We"ve got it all now. There"s nothing more behind, Salome. It would have been better for you to have told as straight a story at first, young man."
Chester knew that, but, having no reply to make, made none. Miss Salome looked at him wistfully.
"But, with it all, you didn"t do right to run away, Chester," she said firmly. "I dare say your aunt was severe with you--but two wrongs never make a right, you know."
"No"m," said Chester.
"You must go back to your aunt," continued Miss Salome sadly.
Chester nodded. He knew this, but he could not trust himself to speak.
Then did Clemantiny arise in her righteous indignation.
"Well, I never heard of such nonsense, Salome Whitney! What on earth do you want to send him back for? I knew Harriet Elwell years ago, and if she"s still what she was then, it ain"t much wonder Chester ran away from her. I"d say "run," too. Go back, indeed! You keep him right here, as you should, and let Harriet Elwell look somewhere else for somebody to scold!"
"Clemantiny!" expostulated Miss Salome.
"Oh, I must and will speak my mind, Salome. There"s no one else to take Chester"s part, it seems. You have as much claim on him as Harriet Elwell has. She ain"t any real relation to him any more than you are."
Miss Salome looked troubled. Perhaps there was something in Clemantiny"s argument. And she hated to think of seeing Chester go. He looked more like Johnny than ever, as he stood there with his flushed face and wistful eyes.
"Chester," she said gravely, "I leave it to you to decide. If you think you ought to go back to your aunt, well and good. If not, you shall stay here."
This was the hardest yet. Chester wished she had not left the decision to him. It was like cutting off his own hand. But he spoke up manfully.
"I--I think I ought to go back, Miss Salome, and I want to pay back the money, too."
"I think so, too, Chester, although I"m sorry as sorry can be. I"ll go back to Upton with you. We"ll start tomorrow. If, when we get there, your aunt is willing to let you stay with me, you can come back."
"There"s a big chance of that!" said Clemantiny sourly. "A woman"s likely to give up a boy like Chester--a good, steady worker and as respectful and obliging as there is between this and sunset--very likely, isn"t she! Well, this taffy is all burnt to the saucepan and clean ruined--but what"s the odds! All I hope, Salome Whitney, is that the next time you adopt a boy and let him twine himself "round a person"s heart, you"ll make sure first that you are going to stick to it. I don"t like having my affections torn up by the roots."
Clemantiny seized the saucepan and disappeared with it into the pantry amid a whirl of pungent smoke.
Mount Hope Farm was a strangely dismal place that night. Miss Salome sighed heavily and often as she made her preparations for the morrow"s journey.
Clemantiny stalked about with her grim face grimmer than ever. As for Chester, when he went to bed that night in the little porch chamber, he cried heartily into his pillows. He didn"t care for pride any longer; he just cried and didn"t even pretend he wasn"t crying when Miss Salome came in to sit by him a little while and talk to him. That talk comforted Chester. He realized that, come what might, he would always have a good friend in Miss Salome--aye, and in Clemantiny, too.
Chester never knew it, but after he had fallen asleep, with the tears still glistening on his brown cheeks, Clemantiny tiptoed silently in with a candle in her hand and bent over him with an expression of almost maternal tenderness on her face. It was late and an aroma of boiling sugar hung about her. She had sat up long after Miss Salome was abed, to boil another saucepan of taffy for Chester to eat on his journey.
"Poor, dear child!" she said, softly touching one of his crisp curls.
"It"s a shame in Salome to insist on his going back. She doesn"t know what she"s sending him to, or she wouldn"t. He didn"t say much against his aunt, and Salome thinks she was only just a little bit cranky. But _I_ could guess."
Early in the morning Miss Salome and Chester started. They were to drive to Montrose, leave their team there and take the boat for Belltown. Chester bade farewell to the porch chamber and the long, white kitchen and the friendly barns with a full heart. When he climbed into the wagon, Clemantiny put a big bagful of taffy into his hands.
"Good-by, Chester," she said. "And remember, you"ve always got a friend in me, anyhow."
Then Clemantiny went back into the kitchen and cried--good, rough-spoken, tender-hearted Clemantiny sat down and cried.
It was an ideal day for travelling--crisp, clear and sunny--but neither Chester nor Miss Salome was in a mood for enjoyment.
Back over Chester"s runaway route they went, and reached Belltown on the boat that evening.
They stayed in Belltown overnight and in the morning took the train to Roxbury Station. Here Miss Salome hired a team from the storekeeper and drove out to Upton.
Chester felt his heart sink as they drove into the Elwell yard. How well he knew it!
Miss Salome tied her hired nag to the gatepost and took Chester by the hand. They went to the door and knocked. It was opened with a jerk and Mrs. Elwell stood before them. She had probably seen them from the window, for she uttered no word of surprise at seeing Chester again.
Indeed, she said nothing at all, but only stood rigidly before them.
Dear me, what a disagreeable-looking woman! thought Miss Salome. But she said courteously, "Are you Mrs. Elwell?"
"I am," said that lady forbiddingly.
"I"ve brought your nephew home," continued Miss Salome, laying her hand encouragingly on Chester"s shrinking shoulder. "I have had him hired for some time on my farm at Hopedale, but I didn"t know until yesterday that he had run away from you. When he told me about it, I thought he ought to come straight back and return your four dollars, and so did he. So I have brought him."
"You might have saved yourself the trouble then!" cried Mrs. Elwell shrilly. Her black eyes flashed with anger. "I"m done with him and don"t want the money. Run away when there was work to do, and thinks he can come back now that it"s all done and loaf all winter, does he?
He shall never enter my house again."
"That he shall not!" cried Miss Salome, at last finding her tongue.
Her gentle nature was grievously stirred by the heartlessness shown in the face and voice of Mrs. Elwell. "That he shall not!" she cried again. "But he shall not want for a home as long as I have one to give him. Come, Chester, we"ll go home."
"I wish you well of him," Mrs. Elwell said sarcastically.
Miss Salome already repented her angry retort. She was afraid she had been undignified, but she wished for a moment that Clemantiny was there. Wicked as she feared it was, Miss Salome thought she could have enjoyed a tilt between her ancient handmaid and Mrs. Elwell.
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Elwell, if I have used any intemperate expressions," she said with great dignity. "You provoked me more than was becoming by your remarks. I wish you good morning."
Mrs. Elwell slammed the door shut.
With her cheeks even more than usually rosy, Miss Salome led Chester down to the gate, untied her horse and drove out of the yard. Not until they reached the main road did she trust herself to speak to the dazed lad beside her.
"What a disagreeable women!" she e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed at last. "I don"t wonder you ran away, Chester--I don"t, indeed! Though, mind you, I don"t think it was right, for all that. But I"m gladder than words can say that she wouldn"t take you back. You are mine now, and you will stay mine. I want you to call me Aunt Salome after this. Get up, horse! If we can catch that train at Roxbury, we"ll be home by night yet."
Chester was too happy to speak. He had never felt so glad and grateful in his life before.
They got home that night just as the sun was setting redly behind the great maples on the western hill. As they drove into the yard, Clemantiny"s face appeared, gazing at them over the high board fence of the cow-yard. Chester waved his hand at her gleefully.
"Lawful heart!" said Clemantiny. She set down her pail and came out to the lane on a run. She caught Chester as he sprang from the wagon and gave him a hearty hug.
"I"m glad clean down to my boot soles to see you back again," she said.
"He"s back for good," said Miss Salome. "Chester, you"d better go in and study up your lessons for tomorrow."
The Strike at Putney
The church at Putney was one that gladdened the hearts of all the ministers in the presbytery whenever they thought about it. It was such a satisfactory church. While other churches here and there were continually giving trouble in one way or another, the Putneyites were never guilty of brewing up internal or presbyterial strife.