"Yes, I know. He is different," sighed Maggie. "He"s talked with me quite a lot about--about the way they"re living. He doesn"t like--so much fuss and show and society."
Mr. Smith frowned.
"But I thought--Mrs. Hattie would get over all that by this time, after the newness of the money was worn off."
"I hoped she would. But--she doesn"t. It"s worse, if anything," sighed Miss Maggie, as they ascended the steps at her own door.
Mr. Smith frowned again.
"And Miss Bessie--" he began disapprovingly, then stopped. "Now, Miss Mellicent--" he resumed, in a very different voice.
But Miss Maggie was not apparently listening. With a rather loud rattling of the doork.n.o.b she was pushing open the door.
"Why, how hot it is! Did I leave that damper open?" she cried, hurrying into the living-room.
And Mr. Smith, hurrying after, evidently forgot to finish his sentence.
Miss Maggie did not attend any more of the merrymakings of that holiday week. But Mr. Smith did. It seemed to Miss Maggie, indeed, that Mr.
Smith was away nearly every minute of that long week--and it WAS a long week to Miss Maggie. Even the Martin girls were away many of the evenings. Miss Maggie told herself that that was why the house seemed so lonesome.
But though Miss Maggie did not partic.i.p.ate in the gay doings, she heard of them. She heard of them on all sides, except from Mr. Smith--and on all sides she heard of the devotion of Mr. Smith to Miss Mellicent. She concluded that this was the reason why Mr. Smith himself was so silent.
Miss Maggie was shocked and distressed. She was also very much puzzled.
She had supposed that Mr. Smith understood that Mellicent and young Gray cared for each other, and she had thought that Mr. Smith even approved of the affair between them. Now to push himself on the scene in this absurd fashion and try "to cut everybody out," as it was vulgarly termed--she never would have believed it of Mr. Smith in the world. And she was disappointed, too. She liked Mr. Smith very much.
She had considered him to be a man of good sense and good judgment. And had he not himself said, not so long ago, that he believed lovers should be of the same age, tastes, and habits? And yet, here now he was--
And there could be no mistake about it. Everybody was saying the same thing. The Martin girls brought it home as current gossip. Jane was highly exercised over it, and even Harriet had exclaimed over the "shameful flirtation Mellicent was carrying on with that man old enough to be her father!" No, there was no mistake. Besides, did she not see with her own eyes that Mr. Smith was gone every day and evening, and that, when he was at home at meal-time, he was silent and preoccupied, and not like himself at all?
And it was such a pity--she had thought so much of Mr. Smith! It really made her feel quite ill.
And Miss Maggie looked ill on the last evening of that holiday week when, at nine o"clock, Mr. Smith found her sitting idle-handed before the stove in the living-room.
"Why, Miss Maggie, what"s the matter with you?" cried the man, in very evident concern. "You don"t look like yourself to-night!"
Miss Maggie pulled herself up hastily.
"Nonsense! I--I"m perfectly well. I"m just--tired, I guess. You"re home early, Mr. Smith." In spite of herself Miss Maggie"s voice carried a tinge of something not quite pleasant.
Mr. Smith, however, did not appear to notice it.
"Yes, I"m home early for once, thank Heaven!" he half groaned, as he dropped himself into a chair.
"It has been a strenuous week for you, hasn"t it?" Again the tinge of something not quite pleasant in Miss Maggie"s voice.
"Yes, but it"s been worth it."
"Of course!"
Mr. Smith turned deliberately and looked at Miss Maggie. There was a vague questioning in his eyes. Obtaining, apparently, however, no satisfactory answer from Miss Maggie"s placid countenance, he turned away and began speaking again.
"Well, anyway, I"ve accomplished what I set out to do."
"You-you"ve ALREADY accomplished it?" faltered Miss Maggie. She was gazing at him now with startled, half-frightened eyes.
"Yes. Why, Miss Maggie, what"s the matter? What makes you look so--so queer?"
"Queer? Nonsense! Why, nothing--nothing at all," laughed Miss Maggie nervously, but very gayly. "I may have been a little--surprised, for a moment; but I"m very glad--very."
"Glad?"
"Why, yes, for--for you. Isn"t one always glad when--when a love affair is--is all settled?"
"Oh, then you suspected it." Mr. Smith smiled pleasantly, but without embarra.s.sment. "It doesn"t matter, of course, only--well, I had hoped it wasn"t too conspicuous."
"Oh, but you couldn"t expect to hide a thing like that, Mr. Smith,"
retorted Miss Maggie, with what was very evidently intended for an arch smile. "I heard it everywhere--everywhere."
"The mischief you did!" frowned Mr. Smith, looking slightly annoyed.
"Well, I suppose I couldn"t expect to keep a thing like that entirely in the dark. Still, I don"t believe the parties themselves--quite understood. Of course, Pennock and g.a.y.l.o.r.d knew that they were kept effectually away, but I don"t believe they realized just how systematically it was done. Of course, Gray understood from the first."
"Poor Mr. Gray! I--I can"t help being sorry for him."
"SORRY for him!"
"Certainly; and I should think YOU might give him a little sympathy,"
rejoined Miss Maggie spiritedly. "You KNOW how much he cared for Mellicent."
Mr. Smith sat suddenly erect in his chair.
"Cared for her! Sympathy! Why, what in the world are you talking about?
Wasn"t I doing the best I could for them all the time? Of COURSE, it kept HIM away from her, too, just as it did Pennock and g.a.y.l.o.r.d; but HE understood. Besides, he HAD her part of the time. I let him in whenever it was possible."
"Let him in!" Miss Maggie was sitting erect now. "Whatever in the world are YOU talking about? Do you mean to say you were doing this FOR Mr.
Gray, all the time?"
"Why, of course! Whom else should I do it for? You didn"t suppose it was for Pennock or g.a.y.l.o.r.d, did you? Nor for--" He stopped short and stared at Miss Maggie in growing amazement and dismay. "You didn"t--you DIDN"T think--I was doing that--for MYSELF?"
"Well, of course, I--I--" Miss Maggie was laughing and blushing painfully, but there was a new light in her eyes. "Well, anyway, everybody said you were!" she defended herself stoutly.
"Oh, good Heavens!" Mr. Smith leaped to his feet and thrust his hands into his pockets, as he took a nervous turn about the room. "For myself, indeed! as if, in my position, I"d--How perfectly absurd!" He wheeled and faced her irritably. "And you believed that? Why, I"m not a marrying man. I don"t like--I never saw the woman yet that I--" With his eyes on Miss Maggie"s flushed, half-averted face, he stopped again abruptly. "Well, I"ll be--" Even under his breath he did not finish his sentence; but, with a new, quite different expression on his face, he resumed his nervous pacing of the room, throwing now and then a quick glance at Miss Maggie"s still averted face.
"It WAS absurd, of course, wasn"t it?" Miss Maggie stirred and spoke lightly, with the obvious intention of putting matters back into usual conditions again. "But, come, tell me, just what did you do, and how?
I"m so interested--indeed, I am!"
"Eh? What?" Mr. Smith spoke as if he was thinking of something else entirely. "Oh--THAT." Mr. Smith sat down, but he did not go on speaking at once. His eyes frowningly regarded the stove.
"You said--you kept Pennock and g.a.y.l.o.r.d away," Miss Maggie hopefully reminded him.
"Er--yes. Oh, I--it was really very simple--I just monopolized Mellicent myself, when I couldn"t let Donald have her. That"s all. I saw very soon that she couldn"t cope with her mother alone. And g.a.y.l.o.r.d--well, I"ve no use for that young gentleman."