"To-morrow I shall come with a number of names of girls who are "dying,"
as they say, to speak Spanish, and then you can go and make arrangements with them. Will you?"
Thus pushed to the wall, Rose"s tear-filled eyes were her only answer.
Ruth"s own filled in turn.
"Dear little Rose," she said, her usual sweet voice coming back to her, "won"t it be lovely to do this? You will feel so much better when you once get out and are earning your independent, pleasant living again.
And now will you forgive me for having been so harsh?"
"Forgive you!" A red spot glowed on each pallid cheek; she raised her eyes and said with simple fervor, "I would die for you."
"No, but you may live for me," laughed Ruth, rising; "will you promise me to go out this morning, just for a block or two?"
"I promise you."
"Well, then, good-by." She held out her hand meaningly; a little fluttering one was placed in hers, and Ruth bent and kissed the wistful mouth. That pure kiss would have wiped out every stain from Rose"s worshipping soul.
"I shall see you to-morrow surely," she called back, turning a radiant face to the lonely little figure in the doorway. She felt deliriously happy as she ran down the stairs; her eyes shone like stars; a buoyant joyfulness spoke in her step.
"It is so easy to be happy when one has everything," she mused. She forgot to add, "And gives much." There is so much happiness derived from a kind action that were it not for the motive, charity might be called supreme selfishness.
Chapter XI.
She told her mother in a few words at luncheon that she had arranged to take Spanish lessons from a young protege of Dr. Kemp, who had been ill and was in want.
"And I was thinking," she added with naive policy, "that I might combine a little business with pleasure this afternoon,--pay off some of those ever urgent calls you accuse me of outlawing, and at the same time try to get up a cla.s.s of pupils for Miss Delano. What do you think?"
"That would be nice; don"t forget Mrs. Bunker. I know you don"t like her, but you must pay a call for the musical which we did not attend; and she has children who might like to learn Spanish. I wonder if I could take lessons too; it would not be exciting, and I am not yet so old but I may learn."
"You might ask the doctor. He has almost dismissed himself now; and after we get back from the country perhaps Jennie would join us two in a cla.s.s. Mother and daughter can then go to school together."
"It is very fortunate," Mrs. Levice observed pensively, sipping her necessary gla.s.s of port, "that C---- sent your hat this morning to wear with your new gown. Isn"t it?"
"Fortunate!" Ruth exclaimed, laughing banteringly; "it is destiny."
So Mrs. Levice slipped easily into Ruth"s plan from a social standpoint, and Ruth slipped out, trim and graceful, from her mother"s artistic manipulations.
Meanwhile Mrs. Levice intended writing some delayed letters till her husband"s return, which promised to be early in the afternoon.
She had just about settled herself at her desk when Jennie Lewis came bustling in. Mrs. Lewis always brought in a sense of importance; one looked upon her presence with that exhilarating feeling with which one antic.i.p.ates the latest number of a society journal.
"Go right on with your writing, Aunt Esther," she said after they had exchanged greetings. "I have brought my work, so I shall not mind the quiet in the least."
"As if I would bore you in that way!" returned Mrs. Levice, with a laughing glance at her, as she closed her desk. "Lay off your things, and let us have a downright comfortable afternoon. Don"t forget a single sensation; I am actually starving for one."
Mrs. Lewis smiled grimly as she fluffed up her bang with her hat-pin.
She drew up a second cosey rocking-chair near her aunt"s, drew out her needle and crochet-work, and as the steel hook flashed in and out, her tongue soon acquired its accustomed momentum.
"Where is Ruth?" she began, winding her thread round her chubby, ring-bedecked finger.
"She is paying off some calls for a change."
"Indeed! Got down to conventionality again?" "You would not call her unconventional, would you?"
"Oh, well; every one has a right to an opinion."
Mrs. Levice glanced at her inquiringly. Without doubt there was an underground mine beneath this non-committal remark. Mrs. Lewis rocked violently backward and forward without raising her eyes. Her face was beet-red, and it looked as if an explosion were imminent. Mrs. Levice waited with no little speculation as to what act of Ruth her cousin disapproved of so obviously. She like Jennie; every one who knew her recognized her sterling good heart; but almost every one who knew her agreed that a grain of flour was a whole cake, baked and iced, to Mrs. Lewis"s imagination, and these airy comfits were pa.s.sed around promiscuously to whoever was on hand. Not a sound broke the portentous silence but the decided snap with which Mrs. Lewis pulled her needle through, and the hurricane she raised with her rocking.
"I was at the theatre last night."
The blow drew no blood.
"Which theatre?" asked Mrs. Levice, innocently.
"The Baldwin; Booth played the "Merchant of Venice.""
"Did you enjoy it?" queried her aunt, either evading or failing to perceive the meaning.
"I did." A pause, and then, "Did Ruth?"
Mrs. Levice saw a flash of daylight, but her answer hinted at no perturbation.
"Very much. Booth is her actor-idol, you know."
"So I have heard." She spread her crochet work on her knee as if measuring its length, then with striking indifference picked it up again and adjusted her needle,--
"She came in rather late, didn"t she?"
"Did she?" questioned Mrs. Levice, parrying with enjoyment the indirect thrusts. "I did not know; had the curtain risen?"
"No; there was plenty of time for every one to recognize her."
"I had no idea she was so well known."
"Those who did not know her, knew her escort. Dr. Kemp is well known, and his presence is naturally remarked."
"Yes; his appearance is very striking."
"Aunt Esther!" The vehemence of Mrs. Lewis"s feelings sent her ball of cotton rolling to the other end of the room.
"My dear, what is it?" Mrs. Levice turned a pair of bright, interested eyes on her niece.
"You know very well what I wish to say: everybody wondered to see Ruth with Dr. Kemp."
"Why?"