With a half-smile, half-frown John took his seat, and again shaded his eyes with his hand. "Being that dense creature, a man, I would appreciate the opinion of an illuminating lady on the tactics of her s.e.x. What have I done to bring this nonsense to pa.s.s? I make no pretence of understanding any sort of woman, much less Mary"s sort, but why this charming indifference at one time, this indignant curtness at another? I"m in the air, I admit, but I"m here to stay as long as that familiar-mannered individual stays. I"d like Mary to understand it, whether she wishes to or not. Would you mind making the intimation? She doesn"t give me the chance."
Miss Gibbie tapped her lips with the tips of her fingers, blew through them for a few seconds, then she tilted the stool over and kicked it aside.
"For a person of ordinary sense you are extraordinarily dull at times." She looked at him long and searchingly, then she leaned forward. "Tell me," she said, "are you honestly in earnest when you say you don"t know what is the matter with Mary?"
"With G.o.d as witness--"
"You"re such a fool! Don"t you see she"s just found out--she loves you?"
Half a moment he stared as if not hearing. In the glow of firelight she saw his face whiten; then he got up and walked to the window behind her. For some time he stayed there, looking through it with eyes that saw not, and only the crackling logs broke the stillness of the room. Celia came in to turn on lights and take away the tea-tray, but Miss Gibbie waved her back. "I want the firelight," she said. "When I need you I"ll ring."
A few minutes more she watched the dancing flames and, watching them, her face grew pale and strangely gentle. Into it came memories of the days that were for her no more. Presently, without turning, she called:
"John!"
"Well."
"I have something to tell you."
Slowly he came toward her. In his face was the look she had seen in the long ago, and suddenly hers was buried in her hands.
He stood beside her. "For the love of G.o.d"--his voice was not yet steady--"don"t tell me what you have just said--is not true."
With effort her hands were opened, and again she leaned back in her chair, but she did not look up. "I shall tell you nothing that is not true," she said, wearily. "Mary loves you, but she is as stubborn as you were blind. It has pleased you to put hope in Mrs. Deford"s heart, pleased you to be attentive to her little make-believe of a daughter.
Mary has seen and heard things that have led her to imagine you were in love with Lily."
John sat down suddenly, limp with incredulity. "In love with Lily-- Lily Deford? did she think I was a--"
"She did. She felt about you very much as really fine women would feel could they look down from the battlements of heaven and see the sort of things their husbands frequently bring home to take their place. You have been seen with Lily morning, noon, and night when she wasn"t with that Pugh boy, who they say is in love with her, and--"
"I was with her as a bluff. Billy Pugh is a friend of mine, and a good, clean fellow. Having troubles of my own, I felt sorry for him, and was standing by; that was all. He"s not responsible for his father"s or grandfather"s business. They were in it before he was born, and it"s been honestly conducted always, which, unfortunately, is more than Lily"s father"s was. Lily"s father was a rascal, if he is the husband of his wife. I"m not telling you what you don"t know; only why I have no patience with this rotten pride of Mrs. Deford. I"ve been Lily"s dump. Into my ears she"s poured oceans of lamentations, and I"ve let her babble on because it gave her such tearful satisfaction. I like Billy, and stand ready to help any time he can squeeze out courage to take things in his own hands."
"And you"ve been party to these secret meetings, have you? Been thinking so much of Lily"s happiness you forgot other people"s.
You"d help them run away, I suppose?"
"I would. I believe in all respect being paid parents, believe their consent to marriage should always be asked, their approval desired. But if for any fool ancestral reasons consent and approval are denied, then were I one of the parties I should invite the parents to the wedding, but let them understand that whether they came or not the bells would ring. Were I Billy Pugh and loved his little Lily I"d marry her to-morrow. If he had a million Mrs. Deford would forget he didn"t have recorded forefathers. The trouble with Billy is he"s not yet rich. I told him a week ago I was ready to help."
His face suddenly changed and he leaned forward. "Do you mean that Mary has actually, seriously imagined I was interested in Lily Deford?" With a hard grip his hands interclasped as he looked in the dancing flames, and when he next spoke his voice was again unsteady. "It is not given to many men to love as I love Mary. I could speak of this to no one else, for words are not for love like mine. But having known her, having in my life but one thought, one hope--Why didn"t you tell her? Why did you let her think I was such a fool?"
"Why?" Miss Gibbie sat upright. "I thought you were one myself.
Your unremitting attendance upon Lily was carrying my suggestions rather far. In matters of compromise a man is a master. He"d fall in love with anything if there was nothing else to fall in love with.
Mary has been something of a trail, and how did I know your vanity had not surrendered to the soothing balm of adoration? A bit of encouragement and Lily would have swung incense. She"s that kind.
Many a man marries a woman because of her admiration for him. Many a woman marries her husband because no to her man asked her. Only occasionally do we find either man or woman who carries through life one image alone in the heart. When you came down here you went first to the Defords.
"And why? You were with Mary, and for important matters of business discussion. I would have been in the way. I walked out to Tree Hill and back, had a fight with myself about coming in, but knew I shouldn"t. I came down purposely on the twenty ninth, the anniversary of Mary"s return to Yorkburg, but--"
"Have you told Mary this?"
"Told her? I"ve told her nothing. She gives me no chance."
"Gives? A man who doesn"t /take/ his chance doesn"t deserve it! For the love of Heaven, stop being so considerate and remember a woman has to be mastered every now the then!"
She pulled up her silk skirt and held the tips of her velvet slippers to the fire.
"Put on a fresh log, will you? Not even backlogs have backbone any more. When I was young, men had red blood, and color and flavor went with love-making. Nowadays people are afraid of emotion, and courtship is a milk-and-mush affair. What time is it?"
John took out his watch. "Quarter to six."
"Time to go home, boy. You are going to the Porters" party, I suppose? I understand the little pot and big pot will be put on to-night. They"ll live on herrings for breakfast and cheese for supper the rest of the winter, doubtless, but Josephine Porter is bound to blow out once a year. Those decorations of her grandfather, by royalty bestowed, must be kept in remembrance. With whom are you going?"
"I asked Mary, and am going with Lily." John smiled grimly. "I got an invitation for Billy and will hand her over as soon as her mother is out of the way. I can"t understand why Billy doesn"t a.s.sert himself."
"You can"t? Queer!" Miss Gibbie looked in the fire. "Mary is going to the party with that Fielding person, I believe. To-morrow night she spends here. At supper I have some things to talk over with her; so you can"t come to supper. You might come in about eight-thirty.
I"m reading a French novel that Mary objects to. She read it, and told me I mustn"t. Unless some one talks to her she"ll talk to me.
Would you mind dropping in so I can get at the book?"
She held out her hand. "Our bargain," he said, gravely. "I can no longer hold to it. Do you release me?"
"Release you?" She strangled the sudden sob in her throat.
"Love has released you. Don"t you see--Mary is awake?"
Chapter XXII
THE NEWS
The basket in Mrs. McDougal"s hands was dropped as if its every egg were a coal of living fire.
"Kingdom come and glory be! Kingdom come--and--glory be!" She clapped first her right hand on her left and then her left on her right and stared into Mr. Blick"s beaming black eyes as if through them rather than his mouth the information just received was to be confirmed. Then she sat down on a soap-box and rocked in unqualified delight.
"Kingdom come and glory be! What "d you tell me a thing like that for when I was a-standin" up? I might have sat down in that bucket of lard "stead of on a keg of herrings--or is it soap?" She looked down with sudden anxiety on the seat she had taken without thought.
"I been long a-hopin" somethin" like this would happen, but I wasn"t expectin" of it to come this way. Kingdom come and glory be!"
Again Mrs. McDougal rocked backward and forward, her arms this time tightly clasped as if hugging a cherished possession. Presently she threw back her head and laughed until the tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Can"t help it, Mr. Blick--can"t help it! To think of Pa Pugh and Ma Deford in the course of nature being grandparents of the same unsuspectin" infant! One and the same! I"ve never heard tell that the devil was much on laughin", but he"s a good grinner, and he"ll be just enjoyin" of himself to-day. That he will. And so will I.
Bein" human, I chuckle when I gets a chance. Kingdom come and glory be!"
From a mysterious arrangement in the back of her skirt Mrs. McDougal pulled out a handkerchief, made from the remains of an old sheet, and wiped her eyes with it. Then she got up and leaned upon the counter behind which Mr. Blick stood waiting for a chance to speak; his round, red cheeks redder than usual, and his beady little eyes blinking with importance.
"Tell me about it," she said. "I must have been dead and buried not to have heard no speculations. Now I come to think of it, I did hear the children say they seen Mr. Billy Pugh and Miss Lily Deford sneakin"
along in the shank of the evenin", all alone by themselves. But I ain"t paid no attention to it. Mrs. Deford don"t think people like the Pughs is fitten to spit on, but she owes Mr. Pugh this minute a bill, I bet you, for carriage rides, what"s bigger than she will ever pay. Maybe now he won"t press her for it, bein" they"re so close connected from henceforth and forever on." And once more Mrs. McDougal"s hands came together with a resounding smack.
"But tell me about it." She leaned farther over the counter. "When did it happen, and where did they go, and how did the news come? Do pray shake your tongue, Mr. Blick, and say something. You"re as bad as McDougal, and slower "n mola.s.ses in winter runnin" down a hill.
Is she come to yet? Now, if "twas just death, I could go by and leave my sympathies. Even mill folks is counted then, for people like to say poor people come and shed tears. It sounds hopeful for heaven. But in marriage it"s different. Congratulations is presumptuous, lessen they come from kinfolks and friends, I reckon, and Mrs. Deford wouldn"t care to get the kind I"d like to give. Pride is a sure destroyer, and as for haughty spirits!--I ain"t no student of history, but I"ve watched Yorkburg and I"ve seen right many different kinds of falls. I don"t make no pretence of bein" a Miss Mary Cary kind of Christian. I"m just a church kind, who goes regular when I got the clothes, and talks mean about my fellow-members when they make me mad. "Tain"t no set of people which talks more about each other than church members. Seems like "tis their chief delight. It"s a heap easier and more soothin" to go to church and feel you kind of got a permit to say what you oughtn"t than to try to live like Christ. But if you ain"t a-goin" to tell me about the runaway I"ll just leave my eggs and step over and see Miss Puss Jenkins. Miss Puss will talk to anybody, anywhere, day or night. All you got to do is to ask your first question and take your seat. If "n you ain"t got nothin" to say--"
"How can I say it if you don"t let a word get in noway, nohow?" Mr.
Blick was huffy. He had much to say, and thus far had been forced to dumbness. "Don"t anybody know anything much. They was both at the party last night, and Mrs. Porter says that"s what comes of givin" folks like the Pughs an inch. Mr. John Maxwell asked her for an invitation for Billy, and she gave it, being it was Mr.