"Should not I?" said he. "Well, perhaps not; but there"s the truth, and no harm ever comes of that. Perhaps I"d better not ask you for an answer now, but I thought it better you should know it all. And remember this--I only care for one thing now in the world, and that is for your love." And then he paused, thinking possibly that in spite of what he had said he might perhaps get some sort of an answer, some inkling of the state of her heart"s disposition towards him.
But Susan had at once resolved to take him at his word when he suggested that an immediate reply was not necessary. To say that she loved him was of course impossible, and to say that she did not was equally so. She determined therefore to close at once with the offer of silence.
When he ceased speaking there was a moment"s pause, during which he strove hard to read what might be written on her down-turned face.
But he was not good at such reading. "Well, I guess I"ll go and get my things ready now," he said, and then turned round to open the door.
"Mother will be in before you are gone, I suppose," said Susan.
"I have only got twenty minutes," said he, looking at his watch.
"But, Susan, tell her what I have said to you. Goodbye." And he put out his hand. He knew he should see her again, but this had been his plan to get her hand in his.
"Good-bye, Mr. Dunn," and she gave him her hand.
He held it tight for a moment, so that she could not draw it away,-- could not if she would. "Will you tell your mother?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered, quite in a whisper. "I guess I"d better tell her." And then she gave a long sigh. He pressed her hand again and got it up to his lips.
"Mr. Dunn, don"t," she said. But he did kiss it. "G.o.d bless you, my own dearest, dearest girl! I"ll just open the door as I come down. Perhaps Mrs. Bell will be here." And then he rushed up stairs.
But Mrs. Bell did not come in. She and Hetta were at a weekly service at Mr. Beckard"s meeting-house, and Mr. Beckard it seemed had much to say. Susan, when left alone, sat down and tried to think. But she could not think; she could only love. She could use her mind only in recounting to herself the perfections of that demiG.o.d whose heavy steps were so audible overhead, as he walked to and fro collecting his things and putting them into his bag.
And then, just when he had finished, she bethought herself that he must be hungry. She flew to the kitchen, but she was too late.
Before she could even reach at the loaf of bread he descended the stairs, with a clattering noise, and heard her voice as she spoke quickly to Kate O"Brien.
"Miss Susan," he said, "don"t get anything for me, for I"m off."
"Oh, Mr. Dunn, I am so sorry. You"ll be so hungry on your journey,"
and she came out to him in the pa.s.sage.
"I shall want nothing on the journey, dearest, if you"ll say one kind word to me."
Again her eyes went to the ground. "What do you want me to say, Mr.
Dunn?"
"Say, G.o.d bless you, Aaron."
"G.o.d bless you, Aaron," said she; and yet she was sure that she had not declared her love. He however thought otherwise, and went up to New York with a happy heart.
Things happened in the next fortnight rather quickly. Susan at once resolved to tell her mother, but she resolved also not to tell Hetta. That afternoon she got her mother to herself in Mrs. Bell"s own room, and then she made a clean breast of it.
"And what did you say to him, Susan?"
"I said nothing, mother."
"Nothing, dear!"
"No, mother; not a word. He told me he didn"t want it." She forgot how she had used his Christian name in bidding G.o.d bless him.
"Oh dear!" said the widow.
"Was it very wrong?" asked Susan.
"But what do you think yourself, my child?" asked Mrs. Bell after a while. "What are your own feelings."
Mrs. Bell was sitting on a chair and Susan was standing opposite to her against the post of the bed. She made no answer, but moving from her place, she threw herself into her mother"s arms, and hid her face on her mother"s shoulder. It was easy enough to guess what were her feelings.
"But, my darling," said her mother, "you must not think that it is an engagement."
"No," said Susan, sorrowfully.
"Young men say those things to amuse themselves." Wolves, she would have said, had she spoken out her mind freely.
"Oh, mother, he is not like that."
The daughter contrived to extract a promise from the mother that Hetta should not be told just at present. Mrs. Bell calculated that she had six weeks before her; as yet Mr. Beckard had not spoken out, but there was reason to suppose that he would do so before those six weeks would be over, and then she would be able to seek counsel from him.
Mr. Beckard spoke out at the end of six days, and Hetta frankly accepted him. "I hope you"ll love your brother-in-law," said she to Susan.
"Oh, I will indeed," said Susan; and in the softness of her heart at the moment she almost made up her mind to tell; but Hetta was full of her own affairs, and thus it pa.s.sed off.
It was then arranged that Hetta should go and spend a week with Mr.
Beckard"s parents. Old Mr. Beckard was a farmer living near Utica, and now that the match was declared and approved, it was thought well that Hetta should know her future husband"s family. So she went for a week, and Mr. Beckard went with her. "He will be back in plenty of time for me to speak to him before Aaron Dunn"s six weeks are over," said Mrs. Bell to herself.
But things did not go exactly as she expected. On the very morning after the departure of the engaged couple, there came a letter from Aaron, saying that he would be at Saratoga that very evening. The railway people had ordered him down again for some days" special work; then he was to go elsewhere, and not to return to Saratoga till June. "But he hoped," so said the letter, "that Mrs. Bell would not turn him into the street even then, though the summer might have come, and her regular lodgers might be expected."
"Oh dear, oh dear!" said Mrs. Bell to herself, reflecting that she had no one of whom she could ask advice, and that she must decide that very day. Why had she let Mr. Beckard go without telling him?
Then she told Susan, and Susan spent the day trembling. Perhaps, thought Mrs. Bell, he will say nothing about it. In such case, however, would it not be her duty to say something? Poor mother!
She trembled nearly as much as Susan.
It was dark when the fatal knock came at the door. The tea-things were already laid, and the tea-cake was already baked; for it would at any rate be necessary to give Mr. Dunn his tea. Susan, when she heard the knock, rushed from her chair and took refuge up stairs.
The widow gave a long sigh and settled her dress. Kate O"Brien with willing step opened the door, and bade her old friend welcome.
"How are the ladies?" asked Aaron, trying to gather something from the face and voice of the domestic.
"Miss Hetta and Mr. Beckard be gone off to Utica, just man-and-wife like! and so they are, more power to them."
"Oh indeed; I"m very glad," said Aaron--and so he was; very glad to have Hetta the demure out of the way. And then he made his way into the parlour, doubting much, and hoping much.
Mrs. Bell rose from her chair, and tried to look grave. Aaron glancing round the room saw that Susan was not there. He walked straight up to the widow, and offered her his hand, which she took.
It might be that Susan had not thought fit to tell, and in such case it would not be right for him to compromise her; so he said never a word.
But the subject was too important to the mother to allow of her being silent when the young man stood before her. "Oh, Mr. Dunn,"
said she, "what is this you have been saying to Susan?"
"I have asked her to be my wife," said he, drawing himself up and looking her full in the face. Mrs. Bell"s heart was almost as soft as her daughter"s, and it was nearly gone; but at the moment she had nothing to say but, "Oh dear, oh dear!"
"May I not call you mother?" said he, taking both her hands in his.