Prudence liked boys as she liked girls,--that was the end of it.
Romance was to her a closed book, and she felt no inclination to peep between the covers. Soul-stirring had not come to her yet.
But Prudence was attractive. She had that indescribable charm that carries a deep appeal to the eyes, and the lips, and the hearts of men.
Happily Prudence herself did not realize this. The first young man of Mount Mark to yield to the charms of Prudence was a serious-minded lawyer, nearly ten years her senior. This was just the type of man to become enraptured with Prudence. He gazed across at her solemnly during the church service. He waited patiently after the benediction until she finished her Methodist practise of hand-shaking, and then walked joyously home with her. He said little, but he gazed in frank enchantment at the small womanly girl beside him.
"He"s not half bad, Fairy," Prudence would confide to her sister when they were snug in their bed. "He"s not half bad at all. But at heart, he doesn"t approve of me. He doesn"t know that himself, and I certainly can"t believe it is my duty to tell him. But I am convinced that it is true. For instance, he thinks every one, especially women, should have a mission in life, a serious, earnest mission. I told him I didn"t believe anything of the kind,--I think we are just supposed to live along from day to day and do what we can, and be happy, and not say mean things about one another. But he said he considered that I was fulfilling the n.o.blest mission a woman could have. Now what do you reckon he meant by that, Fairy? I"ve been puzzling my brain over it for days and days. Anybody can tell I am not the sort of girl to have a mission! Maybe he just said it to encourage me,--he"s a very encouraging sort of man. He"s very nice,--oh, very nice, indeed! But isn"t it a nuisance to have him tagging along home with me, when I might be having such a good time with you and the twins, or father?
Can a girl tell a man she prefers to go home with her family, without hurting his feelings? Is there any way to turn a person down without letting him know it? He"s so nice I wouldn"t hurt his feelings for anything, but--it"s such a bother! I"m too young for beaus, and since I"m never going to get married it"s just a waste of time."
And Fairy screamed with laughter, but told Prudence she must solve her own love problems! And Prudence, unwilling to give offense, and preferring self-sacrifice, endured his company until a gay young college lad slipped in ahead of him. "First come, first served," was the motto of heartless Prudence, and so she tripped comfortably away with "Jimmy," laughing at his silly college stories, and never thinking to give more than a parting smile at the solemn face she left behind.
After Jimmy came a grocery clerk named Byron Poe Smith, and after him somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else. And Prudence continued to laugh, and thought it "awfully amusing, Fairy, but I keep wondering what you and the twins are laughing about!"
But it was Fairy herself who brought a real disturbing element into the life of Prudence. One of the lightest-minded of the many light-minded college men, had been deeply smitten by the charms of dignified Fairy.
He walked with her, and talked with her,--this young man was a great deal of a talker, as so pathetically many college men are! He planned many little expeditions and entertainments for her amus.e.m.e.nt, and his own happiness. His name was Eugene Babler.
"Oh, he talks a lot," said Fairy coolly, "but he certainly shows one a good time, and that"s the point, you know!"
She came in from college one afternoon and rattled off this little tale to Prudence.
"A few of us were on the campus to-day, and we decided to go down the creek to-morrow afternoon and take our suppers. There"ll be Ellen Stark, and Georgia Prentiss, and myself. And the boys will be Tom Angell, and Frank Morris, and Eugene Babler. And Professor Rayburn was there when we were talking about it, and so we asked him to go along, but we told him he must take a girl. And he said, "I wonder if your sister wouldn"t go? I have only met her once, but perhaps on your recommendation, Miss Fairy----" and he paused with his breath in the air, inquiringly. So I said, "Do you mean Prudence, or one of the twins?" He smiled very kindly and said, "I mean Prudence." I said I was sure you would go, and so you"ll have to do it. It"s a great honor, Prue, for all the upper-cla.s.s girls, and even the unmarried women on the Fac. are crazy about him. He"s so aloof, you know, and very intelligent. I swelled with pride at the public tribute to the parsonage!"
"Professor Rayburn! Of the Fac.!" gasped Prudence. "Oh, I"m sure he didn"t mean me, Fairy. You must have misunderstood him. Why, I wouldn"t know what to say to a professor, you know! What is his line?"
"Bugs!" cried Fairy. "He"s the biology man. And this is his first year here, and he"s very brilliant,--they say! I"m no authority on bugs myself. But anyhow every one just raves about him, and he showed very plainly that he was anxious to get acquainted with you, so you"ll have to go."
"But bugs!" wailed Prudence. "What do I know about bugs! Will he expect me to know how to divide them,--separate them, you know--"
"I suppose you mean dissect them, you poor child," screamed Fairy.
"Divide bugs! If professor could hear you now, Prue, he would be sadly disillusioned. You must just trot up-stairs and get one of the twins"
biology books and cram up a little. He won"t expect you to be an advanced buggist. He can give you points himself. Men do love to have girls appeal to their superior knowledge, and be admiring and deferent.
Maybe he will "divide one" for you if you ask him "please.""
"I won"t do it," declared Prudence. "I don"t like bugs anyhow, and--why, the very pictures of them in the twins" books make me nervous. I won"t do it. You can just tell him I don"t feel qualified to go."
"You"ve got to go," said Fairy sternly, "for I said you would, and he"s counting on it. He"s going to phone you this afternoon and ask you himself. You"ve got to go."
At that instant, the telephone rang.
"There"s professor!" cried Fairy. "You tell him you are just delighted to go, and that you are so interested in bugs!"
With a flushed face, Prudence took down the receiver. "h.e.l.lo," she said, "this is the parsonage."
And then, a second later, she said, "Yes, this is Prudence."
After that she stood silent for some little time, with Fairy crouched beside her, trying to hear.
Then spoke Prudence. "Yes, Fairy has been telling me. And it"s very kind of you, indeed, and I know I would enjoy it. But as I was telling Fairy, I don"t know a thing about bugs, and I don"t like them anyhow, so I"m afraid you would find me rather stupid."
Fairy was striving to get a hand over her sister"s lips to stem the words, but Prudence eluded her. They were both somewhat astounded at the great peal of laughter which came over the telephone.
"Good! That"s just what I was hoping for! You couldn"t have said anything that would give me greater pleasure. Then shall I come around with Babler, for you and your sister, about one o"clock?--Oh, that is very kind of you, Miss Starr. Good-by! Don"t cultivate an interest in bugs between now and to-morrow, for my sake!"
The girls looked at each other doubtfully when the receiver was once more on its hook.
"I"m afraid he"s laughing at me," said Prudence questioningly.
"I should hope so," cried Fairy. "What in the world did you say that for? Couldn"t you have pretended to be interested? Professor likes women to be dignified and intellectual and deep, and----"
"Then why on earth did he ask me to go?" demanded Prudence. "Any one could tell to look at me that I"m not dignified and intellectual and deep, and----"
"And I know he admired you, for he was so eager when he asked about you. Think how grand it would be to speak of "my sister, Mrs.
Professor Rayburn," and----"
"Don"t be silly, Fairy. If I was going to marry anybody, which I am not, I hope you do not think for one minute that I"d marry a buggist!
Gracious! Goodness! I"ve a notion not to go a step! I"ll call him up and----"
But Fairy only laughed.
And after all, Prudence looked forward to the little outing in the glorious October woods with eager antic.i.p.ation. It was seldom indeed that she indulged in merry-making away from the parsonage. Yet she was fond of gaiety. Long before one o"clock on that eventful day, she was ready. And her face was so bright, and her eyes so starry, that placid self-satisfied Fairy felt a twinge of something like envy.
"You look like a creature from another world, Prue," she said. "If Professor Rayburn has any sense in his bones, he will fall dead in love with you,--bugs or no bugs!"
"People do not have sense in their bones, Fairy, and--and--shall I say professor, or just plain Mister?"
"Professor, I suppose,--every one calls him professor."
"Then I shall say Mister," said Prudence. "It will be so hard to enjoy myself if I keep remembering that he teaches bugs! I might as well be at school. I shall say Mister."
And she did say "Mister," and she said it so sweetly, and looked up into Professor Rayburn"s face so brightly, and with happiness so evident and so girlish, that the staid professor felt a quick unaccountable throbbing down somewhere beneath his coat. He did look eager! There was no doubt of it. And he looked at Prudence, continuously.
"Just like ordinary men, isn"t he?" whispered Fairy to Eugene Babler,--called "Babbie," for short and for humiliation,--for he enjoyed the reputation of being a "talker" even among college men!
The three young couples struck off briskly down the road, creek-ward, and Prudence followed sedately with her professor.
"Fairy says it was perfectly disgusting of me to tell you I didn"t know anything about bugs," she said comfortably. "But I thought maybe, you were one of those professors who like one thing so much they can"t be interested in anything else. And I wanted to warn you. But I guess you aren"t that kind, after all?"
"Oh, no, indeed," he a.s.sured her fervently, looking deep into her blue eyes. "I like bugs, it is true. But really I like other things, one thing at least, much better."
"Is it a riddle?" she inquired. "Am I supposed to guess?"
"It isn"t a riddle, but you may guess. Think hard, now! It"s a serious matter. Please don"t say "food.""
"If I get below seventy will I be put down a grade?" she asked. Then with intense solemnity, "I guess girls."
They laughed together, youthfully. "You are right," he said.
And with a sigh of relief, Prudence answered, "That"s the first time I ever got a hundred in anything in my life. I was very much accustomed to eighties when I was in school. I am very common and unbrilliant,"
she a.s.sured him. "Fairy says you are perfectly horribly clever----"