"SH!" said Mrs. Schofield. "It"s Mr. Kinosling, the new rector of Saint Joseph"s."
"Where?"
"SH! On the front porch with Margaret; he"s going to stay for dinner. I do hope----"
"Bachelor, isn"t he?"
"Yes."
"OUR old minister was speaking of him the other day," said Mr.
Schofield, "and he didn"t seem so terribly impressed."
"SH! Yes; about thirty, and of course so superior to most of Margaret"s friends--boys home from college. She thinks she likes young Robert Williams, I know--but he laughs so much! Of course there isn"t any comparison. Mr. Kinosling talks so intellectually; it"s a good thing for Margaret to hear that kind of thing, for a change and, of course, he"s very spiritual. He seems very much interested in her." She paused to muse. "I think Margaret likes him; he"s so different, too. It"s the third time he"s dropped in this week, and I----"
"Well," said Mr. Schofield grimly, "if you and Margaret want him to come again, you"d better not let him see Penrod."
"But he"s asked to see him; he seems interested in meeting all the family. And Penrod nearly always behaves fairly well at table."
She paused, and then put to her husband a question referring to his interview with Penrod upstairs. "Did you--did you--do it?"
"No," he answered gloomily. "No, I didn"t, but----" He was interrupted by a violent crash of china and metal in the kitchen, a shriek from Della, and the outrageous voice of Penrod. The well-informed Della, ill-inspired to set up for a wit, had ventured to address the scion of the house roguishly as "little gentleman," and Penrod, by means of the rapid elevation of his right foot, had removed from her supporting hands a laden tray. Both parents, started for the kitchen, Mr. Schofield completing his interrupted sentence on the way.
"But I will, now!"
The rite thus promised was hastily but accurately performed in that apartment most distant from the front porch; and, twenty minutes later, Penrod descended to dinner. The Rev. Mr. Kinosling had asked for the pleasure of meeting him, and it had been decided that the only course possible was to cover up the scandal for the present, and to offer an undisturbed and smiling family surface to the gaze of the visitor.
Scorched but not bowed, the smouldering Penrod was led forward for the social formulae simultaneously with the somewhat bleak departure of Robert Williams, who took his guitar with him, this time, and went in forlorn unconsciousness of the powerful forces already set in secret motion to be his allies.
The punishment just undergone had but made the haughty and unyielding soul of Penrod more stalwart in revolt; he was unconquered. Every time the one intolerable insult had been offered him, his resentment had become the hotter, his vengeance the more instant and furious. And, still burning with outrage, but upheld by the conviction of right, he was determined to continue to the last drop of his blood the defense of his honour, whenever it should be a.s.sailed, no matter how mighty or august the powers that attacked it. In all ways, he was a very sore boy.
During the brief ceremony of presentation, his usually inscrutable countenance wore an expression interpreted by his father as one of insane obstinacy, while Mrs. Schofield found it an incentive to inward prayer. The fine graciousness of Mr. Kinosling, however, was unimpaired by the glare of virulent suspicion given him by this little brother: Mr.
Kinosling mistook it for a natural curiosity concerning one who might possibly become, in time, a member of the family. He patted Penrod upon the head, which was, for many reasons, in no condition to be patted with any pleasure to the patter. Penrod felt himself in the presence of a new enemy.
"How do you do, my little lad," said Mr. Kinosling. "I trust we shall become fast friends."
To the ear of his little lad, it seemed he said, "A trost we shall bick-home fawst frainds." Mr. Kinosling"s p.r.o.nunciation was, in fact, slightly precious; and, the little lad, simply mistaking it for some cryptic form of mockery of himself, a.s.sumed a manner and expression which argued so ill for the proposed friendship that Mrs. Schofield hastily interposed the suggestion of dinner, and the small procession went in to the dining-room.
"It has been a delicious day," said Mr. Kinosling, presently; "warm but balmy." With a benevolent smile he addressed Penrod, who sat opposite him. "I suppose, little gentleman, you have been indulging in the usual outdoor sports of vacation?"
Penrod laid down his fork and glared, open-mouthed at Mr. Kinosling.
"You"ll have another slice of breast of the chicken?" Mr. Schofield inquired, loudly and quickly.
"A lovely day!" exclaimed Margaret, with equal prompt.i.tude and emphasis.
"Lovely, oh, lovely! Lovely!"
"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!" said Mrs. Schofield, and after a glance at Penrod which confirmed her impression that he intended to say something, she continued, "Yes, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful beautiful!"
Penrod closed his mouth and sank back in his chair--and his relatives took breath.
Mr. Kinosling looked pleased. This responsive family, with its ready enthusiasm, made the kind of audience he liked. He pa.s.sed a delicate white hand gracefully over his tall, pale forehead, and smiled indulgently.
"Youth relaxes in summer," he said. "Boyhood is the age of relaxation; one is playful, light, free, unfettered. One runs and leaps and enjoys one"s self with one"s companions. It is good for the little lads to play with their friends; they jostle, push, and wrestle, and simulate little, happy struggles with one another in harmless conflict. The young muscles are toughening. It is good. Boyish chivalry develops, enlarges, expands.
The young learn quickly, intuitively, spontaneously. They perceive the obligations of n.o.blesse oblige. They begin to comprehend the necessity of caste and its requirements. They learn what birth means--ah,--that is, they learn what it means to be well born. They learn courtesy in their games; they learn politeness, consideration for one another in their pastimes, amus.e.m.e.nts, lighter occupations. I make it my pleasure to join them often, for I sympathize with them in all their wholesome joys as well as in their little bothers and perplexities. I understand them, you see; and let me tell you it is no easy matter to understand the little lads and la.s.sies." He sent to each listener his beaming glance, and, permitting it to come to rest upon Penrod, inquired:
"And what do you say to that, little gentleman?"
Mr. Schofield uttered a stentorian cough. "More? You"d better have some more chicken! More! Do!"
"More chicken!" urged Margaret simultaneously. "Do please! Please! More!
Do! More!"
"Beautiful, beautiful," began Mrs. Schofield. "Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful----"
It is not known in what light Mr. Kinosling viewed the expression of Penrod"s face. Perhaps he mistook it for awe; perhaps he received no impression at all of its extraordinary quality. He was a rather self-engrossed young man, just then engaged in a double occupation, for he not only talked, but supplied from his own consciousness a critical though favourable auditor as well, which of course kept him quite busy.
Besides, it is oftener than is expected the case that extremely peculiar expressions upon the countenances of boys are entirely overlooked, and suggest nothing to the minds of people staring straight at them.
Certainly Penrod"s expression--which, to the perception of his family, was perfectly horrible--caused not the faintest perturbation in the breast of Mr. Kinosling.
Mr. Kinosling waived the chicken, and continued to talk. "Yes, I think I may claim to understand boys," he said, smiling thoughtfully. "One has been a boy one"s self. Ah, it is not all playtime! I hope our young scholar here does not overwork himself at his Latin, at his cla.s.sics, as I did, so that at the age of eight years I was compelled to wear gla.s.ses. He must be careful not to strain the little eyes at his scholar"s tasks, not to let the little shoulders grow round over his scholar"s desk. Youth is golden; we should keep it golden, bright, glistening. Youth should frolic, should be sprightly; it should play its cricket, its tennis, its hand-ball. It should run and leap; it should laugh, should sing madrigals and glees, carol with the lark, ring out in chanties, folk-songs, ballads, roundelays----"
He talked on. At any instant Mr. Schofield held himself ready to cough vehemently and shout, "More chicken," to drown out Penrod in case the fatal words again fell from those eloquent lips; and Mrs. Schofield and Margaret kept themselves prepared at all times to a.s.sist him. So pa.s.sed a threatening meal, which Mrs. Schofield hurried, by every means with decency, to its conclusion. She felt that somehow they would all be safer out in the dark of the front porch, and led the way thither as soon as possible.
"No cigar, I thank you." Mr. Kinosling, establishing himself in a wicker chair beside Margaret, waved away her father"s proffer. "I do not smoke.
I have never tasted tobacco in any form." Mrs. Schofield was confirmed in her opinion that this would be an ideal son-in-law. Mr. Schofield was not so sure.
"No," said Mr. Kinosling. "No tobacco for me. No cigar, no pipe, no cigarette, no cheroot. For me, a book--a volume of poems, perhaps.
Verses, rhymes, lines metrical and cadenced--those are my dissipation.
Tennyson by preference: "Maud," or "Idylls of the King"--poetry of the sound Victorian days; there is none later. Or Longfellow will rest me in a tired hour. Yes; for me, a book, a volume in the hand, held lightly between the fingers."
Mr. Kinosling looked pleasantly at his fingers as he spoke, waving his hand in a curving gesture which brought it into the light of a window faintly illumined from the interior of the house. Then he pa.s.sed those graceful fingers over his hair, and turned toward Penrod, who was perched upon the railing in a dark corner.
"The evening is touched with a slight coolness," said Mr. Kinosling.
"Perhaps I may request the little gentleman----"
"B"gr-r-RUFF!" coughed Mr. Schofield. "You"d better change your mind about a cigar."
"No, I thank you. I was about to request the lit----"
"DO try one," Margaret urged. "I"m sure papa"s are nice ones. Do try----"
"No, I thank you. I remarked a slight coolness in the air, and my hat is in the hallway. I was about to request----"
"I"ll get it for you," said Penrod suddenly.
"If you will be so good," said Mr. Kinosling. "It is a black bowler hat, little gentleman, and placed upon a table in the hall."
"I know where it is." Penrod entered the door, and a feeling of relief, mutually experienced, carried from one to another of his three relatives their interchanged congratulations that he had recovered his sanity.
""The day is done, and the darkness,"" began Mr. Kinosling--and recited that poem entire. He followed it with "The Children"s Hour," and after a pause, at the close, to allow his listeners time for a little reflection upon his rendition, he pa.s.sed his handagain over his head, and called, in the direction of the doorway: