"Weel now, I"d no say that; he was far from that to be right fair to them both--for ye see--ye"r mither would never have loved him if he"d been that--but he--he was an Irishman, and ye"r Uncle Peter could never thole an Irishman, and he--he--fair stole ye"r mither from us a"--an--" she hesitated to continue, then blurted out the real horror.
"Your Uncle Peter kenned he had ance been in the theayter, a sort o"
an actor body an" he couldna thole that."
But little was to be gained with all his questioning, and what he could learn seemed no more than that his father had done what any man might be expected to do if some one stood between him and the girl he loved; so Richard felt that there must be something unknown to any one but his uncle that had turned them all against his father. Why had his father never appeared to claim his son? Why had he left his boy to be reared by a man who hated the boy"s father? It was a strange thing to do, and it must be that his father was dead.
At this time Richard was filled with ambitions,--fired by his early companionship with Bertrand Ballard,--and thought he would go to France and become an artist;--to France, the Mecca of Bertrand"s dreams--he desired of all things to go there for study. But of all this he said nothing to any one, for where was the money? He would never ask his uncle for it, and now that he had learned that he had been all his young life really a dependent on the bounty of his Uncle Peter, he could no longer accept his help. He would hereafter make his own way, asking no favors.
The old aunts guessed at his predicament, and offered to give him for his mother"s sake enough to carry him through the first year, but he would not allow them to take from their income to pay his bills. No, he would take his way back to America, and find a place for himself in the new world; seek some active, stirring work, and save money, and sometime--sometime he would do the things his heart loved. He often thought of Betty, the little Betty who used to run to meet him and say such quaint things; some day he would go to her and take her with him.
He would work first and do something worthy of so choice a little mortal.
Thus dreaming, after the manner of youth, he went to Ireland, to his father"s boyhood home. He found only distant relatives there, and learned that his father had disposed of all he ever owned of Irish soil to an Englishman. A cousin much older than himself owned and still lived on the estate that had been his grandfather Kildene"s, and Richard was welcomed and treated with openhearted hospitality. But there, also, little was known of his father, only that the peasants on the estate remembered him lovingly as a free-hearted gentleman.
Even that little was a relief to Richard"s sore heart. Yes, his father must be dead. He was sorry. He was a lonely man, and to have a relative who was his very own, as near as a father, would be a great deal. His cousin, Peter Junior, was good as a friend, but from now on they must take paths that diverged, and that old intimacy must naturally change. His sweet Aunt Hester he loved, and she would fill the mother"s place if she could, but it was not to be. It would mean help from his Uncle Peter, and that would mean taking a place in his uncle"s bank, which had already been offered him, but which he did not want, which he would not accept if he did want it.
So, after a long and happy visit at his cousin Kildene"s, in Ireland, he at last left for America again, and plunged into a new, interesting, and vigorous life, one that suited well his energetic nature. He found work on the great railway that was being built across the plains to the Pacific Coast. He started as an engineer"s a.s.sistant, but soon his talent for managing men caused his employers to put him in charge of gangs of workmen who were often difficult and lawless. He did not object; indeed he liked the new job better than that he began with. He was more interested in men than materials.
The life was hard and rough, but he came to love it. He loved the wide, sweeping prairies, and, later on, the desert. He liked to lie out under the stars,--often when the men slept under tents,--his gun at his side and his thoughts back on the river bluffs at Leauvite. He did a lot of dreaming and thinking, and he never forgot Betty. He thought of her as still a child, although he was expecting her to grow up and be ready for him when he should return to her. He had a vague sort of feeling that all was understood between them, and that she was quietly becoming womanly, and waiting for him.
Peter Junior might have found other friends in Leauvite had he sought them out, but he did not care for them. His nature called for what he found in Bertrand"s studio, and he followed the desire of his heart regardless of anything else, spending all the time he could reasonably filch from his home. And what wonder! Richard would have done the same and was even then envying Peter the opportunity, as Peter well knew from his cousin"s letters. There was no place in the village so fascinating and delightful as this little country home on its outskirts, no conversation more hopeful and helpful than Bertrand"s, and no welcome sweeter or kinder than Mary Ballard"s.
One day, after Richard had gone out on the plains with the engineers of the projected road, Peter lay stretched on a long divan in the studio, his head supported by his hand as he half reclined on his elbow, and his one crutch--he had long since discarded the other--within reach of his arm. His violin also lay within reach, for he had been playing there by himself, as Bertrand had gone on one of his rare visits to the city a hundred miles away.
Betty Ballard had heard the wail of his violin from the garden, where she had been gathering pears. That was how she knew where to find him when she quickly appeared before him, rosy and flushed from her run to the house and up the long flight of stairs.
As Peter lay there, he was gazing at the half-finished copy he had been making of the head of an old man, for Peter had decided, since in all probability he would be good for no active work such as Richard had taken up, that he too would become an artist, like Bertrand Ballard. To have followed his cousin would have delighted his heart, for he had all the Scotchman"s love of adventure, but, since that was impossible, nothing was more alluring than the thought of fame and success as an artist. He would not tie himself to Leauvite to get it.
He would go to Paris, and there he would do the things Bertrand had been prevented from doing. Poor Bertrand! How he would have loved the chance Peter Junior was planning for himself as he lay there dreaming and studying the half-finished copy.
Suddenly he beheld Betty, standing directly in front of the work, extending to him a folded bit of paper. "Here"s a note from your father," she cried.
Looking upon her thus, with eyes that had been filled with the aged, rugged face on the canvas, Betty appealed to Peter as a lovely vision.
He had never noticed before, in just this way, her curious charm, but these months of companionship and study with Bertrand had taught him to see beauty understandingly, and now, as she stood panting a little, with breath coming through parted lips and hair flying almost in the wild way of her childhood, Peter saw, as if it were a revelation, that she was lovely. He raised himself slowly and reached for the note without taking his eyes from her face.
He did not open the letter, but continued to look in her eyes, at which she turned about half shyly. "I heard your violin; that"s how I knew you were up here. Oh! Have you been painting on it again?"
"On my violin? No, I"ve been playing on it."
"No! Painting on the picture of your old man. I think you have it too drawn out and thin. He"s too hollow there under the cheek bone."
"Is he, Miss Critic? Well, thank your stars you"re not."
"I know. I"m too fat." She rubbed her cheek until it was redder than ever.
"What are you painting your cheeks for? There"s color enough on them as they are."
She made a little mouth at him. "I could paint your old man as well as that, I know."
"I know you could. You could paint him far better than that."
She laughed, quickly repentant. "I didn"t say that to be horrid. I only said it for fun. I couldn"t."
"And I know you could." He rose and stood without his crutch, looking down on her. "And you"re not "too long drawn out," are you? See? You only come up to--about--here on me." He measured with his hand a little below his chin.
"I don"t care. You"re not so awfully tall."
"Very well, have it so. That only makes you the shorter."
"I tell you I don"t care. You"d better stop staring at me, if I"m so little, and read your letter. The man"s waiting for it. That"s why I ran all the way up here." By this it may be seen that Betty had lost all her awe of the young soldier. Maybe it left her when he doffed his uniform. "Here"s your crutch. Doesn"t it hurt you to stand alone?" She reached him the despised prop.
"Hurt me to stand alone? No! I"m not a baby. Do you think I"m likely to grow up bow-legged?" he thundered, taking it from her hand without a thank you, and glaring down on her humorously. "You"re a bit cruel to remind me of it. I"m going to walk with a cane hereafter, and next thing you know you"ll see me stalking around without either."
"Why, Peter Junior! I"d be so proud of that crutch I wouldn"t leave it off for anything! I"d always limp a little, even if I didn"t use it.
Cruel? I was complimenting you."
"Complimenting me? How?"
"By reminding you that you had been brave--and had been a soldier--and had been wounded for your country--and had been promoted--and--"
But Peter drowned her voice with uproarious laughter, and suddenly surprised himself as well as her by slipping his arm around her waist and stopping her lips with a kiss.
Betty was surprised but not shocked. She knew of no reason why Peter should not kiss her even though it was not his custom to treat her thus. In Betty"s home, demonstrative expressions of affection were as natural as sunlight, and why should not Peter like her? Therefore it was Peter who was shocked, and embarra.s.sed her with his sudden apology.
"I don"t care if you did kiss me. You"re just like my big brother--the same as Richard is--and he often used to kiss me." She was trying to set Peter at his ease. "And, anyway, I like you. Why, I supposed of course you liked me--only naturally not as much as I liked you."
"Oh, more! Much more!" he stammered tremblingly. He knew in his heart that there was a subtle difference, and that what he felt was not what she meant when she said, "I like you." "I"m sure it is I who like you the most."
"Oh, no, it isn"t! Why, you never even used to see me. And I--I used to gaze on you--and be so romantic! It was Richard who always saw me and played with me. He used to toss me up, and I would run away down the road to meet him. I wonder when he"s coming back! I wish he"d come. Why don"t you read your father"s letter? The man"s waiting, you know."
"Ah, yes. And I suppose Dad"s waiting, too. I wonder why he wrote me when he can see me every day!"
"Well, read it. Don"t stand there looking at it and staring at me. Do you know how you look? You look as if it were a message from the king, saying: "You are remanded to the tower, and are to have your head struck off at sundown." That"s the way they did things in the olden days." She turned to go.
"Stay here until I see if you are right." He dropped on the divan and made room for her at his side.
"All right! That"s what I wanted to do, but I thought it wouldn"t be polite to be curious."
"But you wouldn"t be polite anyway, you know, so you might as well stay. M-m-m. I"m remanded to the tower, sure enough. Father wants me to meet him in the director"s room as soon as banking hours are over.
Fine old Dad! He wouldn"t think of infringing on banking hours for any private reasons unless the sky were falling, and even then he would save the bank papers first. See here--Betty--er--never mind. I"ll tell you another time."
"Please tell me now! What is it? Something dreadful, Peter Junior?"
"I wasn"t thinking about this; it--it"s something else--"
"About what?"
"About you."
"Oh, then it is no consequence. I want to hear what"s in the letter.
Why did you tell me to stay if you weren"t going to tell me what"s in it?"