Rose blushed and tried to answer but could not. The beautiful splendid limbs of the young man flamed upon her with marvelous appeal. It was beautiful, and yet her training made her think it somehow not to be talked about.
Josephine led the way downstairs into the little parlor, which was quite as uncomfortably beautiful as the bedroom. The vases and flowers, and simple pictures, and the piano, all seemed like the furnishings of the homes she had read about in stories.
But dazed as she was she kept her self-command, at least she kept silence and sat in sombre, almost sullen dejection amid it all. Mrs.
Thatcher hardly knew what to think of her, but the Doctor comprehended her mood better for he had pa.s.sed through such experiences himself. He talked to her for a few minutes about her plans, and then they went out to dinner.
Rose entered the dining-room with a great fear in her heart. She longed to run away and hide.
"O I don"t know anything!" was the bitter cry welling up in her throat again and again, and she nearly cried out upon the impulse.
The Doctor liked to have his dinner at one, and so Rose found two knives, and two forks at her plate, and two spoons also. She had read in stories of banquets, and she saw that this was to be her greatest trial.
She sat very stiff and silent as the soup was brought on by the Norwegian girl.
She took the plate as it was handed her, and handed back the one which was turned down with the napkin on top of it. The Norwegian girl smiled broadly and handed them both back. Then Rose saw her mistake and the hot blood swept over her brown face in a purple wave.
The Doctor and his wife pa.s.sed it in silence. Josie fortunately was talking to the cat and did not see it.
Rose could hardly touch her soup, which was delicious; her whole mind was filled with a desire to escape as soon as possible.
Which of the knives should she use first, and what was the extra little plate for, were the disturbing questions. She could use a fork, but she was afraid of betraying herself in the minutiae of the service. As a matter of fact she got along very well, but of that she had no knowledge.
Some way she lived through the dainty dinner, scarcely tasting anything of it. At the close of it Mrs. Thatcher said:
"Wouldn"t you like to lie down for a little while? aren"t you tired?"
Rose hardly knew what weariness was, but she a.s.sented because she wished to be alone.
"I"ll call you at three, may I?" asked Josie, who was wildly in love with Rose already.
"O, isn"t she big and splendid, but she"s queer," she said when she came down.
"That"ll wear off," said the Doctor. "She feels a little strange now. I know all about it. I went from a farm to the city."
Rose hardly dared lie down on the spotless bed. A latent good taste in her enabled her to see in every detail harmony of effect, and herself as the one discordant note in the house. O, how dirty and rough and awkward she was!
Looking out of the window she saw a couple of ladies come out of a large house opposite and walk down toward a carriage which waited at the gate.
The ladies held their dresses with a dainty action of their gloved hands as they stood for a moment in consultation. (How graceful their hats were!) Then they entered the carriage.
As they gathered their soft dresses about their limbs and stooped to enter the door, the flexile line of waist and hip and thigh came out beautifully, modestly.
They were a revelation of elegance and grace to the farmer"s daughter.
Their gaiters were of the same color as their dresses. This was most wonderful of all. Such unity and completeness of attire was unknown to her before. She looked down at her red dress, which Mattie Teel had cut out for her, and she saw it in all its deformity. The sleeves didn"t fit like Josie"s did. It didn"t hang right; it just wrinkled all around her waist, and hung in bunches, and she knew it. And her hat, made over from her last winter"s hat, was awful.
She might just as well die or go back home, and never go out of the coule again. She was nothing but a great country gawk, anyway.
In this bitter fashion she raged on, lying face downward on the sofa.
She lay there until she heard dancing steps, and Josie called out: "May I come in?"
"Yes," said Rose coldly.
"O, you"ve been having a good cry, I know! I just like to go off and have a good cry that way. It makes your eyes red, but you can fix that.
Just sit still now and let me see what I can do."
She bustled about and Rose let her bathe her face with cool water and cologne, and fuss about. Her little fingers were like a baby"s and she murmured and gurgled in the goodness of her heart like a kitten. Rose actually fell asleep under her touch.
Josie stopped astonished and startled for a moment, and then tip-toed out of the room like a burglar, and told Mrs. Thatcher all about it.
"And O, auntie, she"s very poor, isn"t she? Her clothes----"
"Tut," warned Mrs. Thatcher, "you must be careful not to notice that.
Edward, is she so very poor?"
The Doctor, seated at his desk in the little office, looked up a moment.
"No, I don"t think so. It is lack of judgment partially. A little tact and taste will fix her all right. Dutcher is fairly well-to-do, and she is all he has. He wrote me to get her what she needed, but I"ll leave that to you girls."
Josie danced with delight. Buying things for yourself was fun, but buying for another was ecstasy!
"The poor child hasn"t a dress that she can wear without alteration, and she is such a splendid creature, too. I can"t conceive how they failed to fit her."
"It seems to me that putting her beside Josie is pretty hard on her. I am afraid you are not conversant with the wardrobe of farmer"s girls."
"Well, I didn"t suppose--and the other room is so small."
"O, well, it all depends upon Josie. Josie, come here."
The girl rose up, and he put his arm around her.
"Now, my kitten, you must be very careful not to allude to any little mistakes Rose makes."
"O, Uncle Ed--you know--"
"Yes, I know chatterboxes mean all right, but they forget. Now, Rose is going to be a great scholar and she is going to be a lady, very quick, too; but she is awkward, now, and my little girl mustn"t make it hard for her."
After Josie went out, Thatcher said:
"I know just how the girl feels. I went through it myself. It"s hard, but it won"t hurt her, only don"t try to talk it over with her. If she"s the girl I think she is, she"ll work the whole matter out in a week herself. More than that, let me talk to her myself. If she"s rested, ask her to come down."
Rose came into the Doctor"s office in a numb sort of timidity, for there was a great change in the Doctor. He was hardly the same man who had eaten at their table. She couldn"t describe it, but there was something in his voice which awed her. He sat now surrounded by his professional books and tools, which gave him dignity in her eyes.
"Sit down, Rose," he said, "I want to talk with you. I"ve had a letter from your father about you and your expenses."
And then, in some way, she never knew exactly how, he talked away her bitterness and gave her hope and comfort. He advised about books, and said: "And you"ll need some little things which Bluff Siding doesn"t keep. Mrs. Thatcher will drive you up town tomorrow and you can get what you need. Your father has deposited some money here to pay your expenses. I am going over to University Hill to make a call; perhaps you"d like to go."
She a.s.sented, and went to get her hat.
It was the largest town she had ever seen, and the capitol was wonderful to her, set in its park, where squirrels ran about on the velvet green of the gra.s.s. The building towered up in the sky, just as she had seen it in pictures. Swarms of people came and went along the hard, blue-black paths, and round it the teams moved before the stores of the square. It was all mightily impressive to her.
They pa.s.sed the Public Library, and the Doctor said: