"He wasn"t going there till next week, but he was to be in Philadelphia a few days before that; the letter might miss him."
"Mr. Plumfield! ? couldn"t he?"
But Fleda shook her head.
"Wouldn"t do, aunt Lucy: he would do all he could, but he don"t know New York, nor the papers; he wouldn"t know how to manage it; he don"t know uncle Rolf; I shouldn"t like to trust it to him."
"Who, then? There isn"t a creature we could ask."
Fleda laid her cheek to her poor aunt"s, and said, ?
"I"ll do it."
"But you must be in New York to do it, dear Fleda ? you can"t do it here."
"I will go to New York."
"When?"
"To-morrow morning."
"But, dear Fleda, you can"t go alone! I can"t let you, and you"re not fit to go at all, my poor child!" and between conflicting feelings Mrs. Rossitur sat down and wept without measure.
"Listen, aunt Lucy," said Fleda, pressing a hand on her shoulder; "listen, and don"t cry so. I"ll go and make all right, if efforts can do it. I am not going alone ? I"ll get Seth to go with me, and I can sleep in the cars, and rest nicely in the steamboat. I shall feel happy and well when I know that I am leaving you easier, and doing all that can be done to bring uncle Rolf home. Leave me to manage, and don"t say anything to Marion ? it is one blessed thing that she need not know anything about all this. I shall feel better than if I were at home, and had trusted this business to any other hands."
"You are the blessing of my life," said Mrs. Rossitur.
"Cheer up, and come down and let us have some tea," said Fleda, kissing her; "I feel as if that would make me up a little; and then I"ll write the letters. I sha"n"t want but very little baggage; there"ll be nothing to pack up."
Philetus was sent up the hill with a note to Seth Plumfield, and brought home a favourable answer. Fleda thought, as she went to rest, that it was well the mind"s strength could sometimes act independently of its servant, the body, ? hers felt so very shattered and unsubstantial.
CHAPTER XIV.
"I thank you for your company; but, good faith, I had as lief have been myself alone."
AS YOU LIKE IT.
The first thing next morning, Seth Plumfield came down to say that he had seen Dr. Quackenboss the night before, and had chanced to find out that he was going to New York, too, this very day; and knowing that the doctor would be just as safe an escort as himself, Seth had made over the charge of his cousin to him; "calculating," he said, "that it would make no difference to Fleda, and that he had better stay at home with his mother."
Fleda said nothing, and looked as little as possible of her disappointment, and her cousin went away wholly unsuspecting of it.
"Seth Plumfield ha"n"t done a smarter thing than that in a good while," Barby remarked, satirically, as he was shutting the door. "I should think he"d ha" hurt himself."
"I dare say the doctor will take good care of me," said Fleda; "as good as he knows how."
"Men beat all!" said Barby, impatiently. "The little sense there is into them."
Fleda"s sinking heart was almost ready to echo the sentiment; but n.o.body knew it.
Coffee was swallowed, her little travelling-bag and bonnet on the sofa ? all ready. Then came the doctor.
"My dear Miss Ringgan, I am most happy of this delightful opportunity ? I had supposed you were located at home for the winter. This is a sudden start."
"Is it sudden to you, Dr. Quackenboss?" said Fleda.
"Why ? a ? not disagreeably so," said the doctor, smiling; "nothing could be that in the present circ.u.mstances ? but I ?
a ? I hadn"t calculated upon it for much of a spell beforehand."
Fleda was vexed, and looked ? only unconversable.
"I suppose," said the doctor, after a pause, "that we have not much time to waste ? a ? in idle moments. Which route do you intend to travel?"
"I was thinking to go by the North River, Sir."
"But the ice has collected, I am afraid."
"At Albany, I know; but when I came up, there was a boat every other day, and we could get there in time by the stage ? this is her day."
"But we have had some pretty tight weather since, if you remember," said the doctor; "and the boats have ceased to connect with the stage. We shall have to go to Greenfield to take the Housatonic, which will land us at Bridgeport on the Sound."
"Have we time to reach Greenfield this morning?"
"Oceans of time," said the doctor, delightedly; "I"ve got my team here, and they"re jumping out of their skins with having nothing to do, and the weather ? they"ll carry us there as spry as gra.s.shoppers ? now, if you"re ready, my dear Miss Ringgan."
There was nothing more but to give and receive those speechless lip-messages that are out of the reach of words, and Mrs. Rossitur"s half-spoken last charge, to take care of herself; and with these seals upon her mission, Fleda set forth and joined the doctor, thankful for one foil to curiosity in the shape of a veil, and only wishing that there were any invented screen that she could place between her and hearing.
"I hope your attire is of a very warm description," said the doctor, as he helped her into the wagon; "it friz pretty hard last night, and I don"t think it has got out of the notion yet. If I had been consulted in any other? a ? form, than that of a friend, I should have disapprobated, if you"ll excuse me, Miss Ringgan"s travelling again before her "Rose of Ca.s.sius"
there was in blow. I hope you have heard no evil tidings? Dr.
? a ? Gregory, I hope, is not taken ill?"
"I hope not, Sir," said Fleda.
"He didn"t look like it. A very hearty old gentleman. Not very old either, I should judge. Was he the brother of your mother or your father?"
"Neither, Sir."
"Ah! ? I misunderstood ? I thought, but of course I was mistaken ? I thought I heard you speak to him under the t.i.tle of uncle. But that is a t.i.tle we sometimes give to elderly people as a term of familiarity; there is an old fellow that works for me, he has been a long time in our family, and we always call him "uncle Jenk." "
Fleda was ready to laugh, cry, and be angry, in a breath. She looked straight before her, and was mum.
"That "Rose of Ca.s.sius" is a most exquisite thing," said the doctor, recurring to the cl.u.s.ter of bare bushy stems in the corner of the garden. "Did Mr. Rossitur bring it with him when he came to his present residence?"
"Yes, Sir."
"Where is Mr. Rossitur now?"