"Perhaps not," said Jimmy thoughtfully, "perhaps not. I might be better employed here, amusing the people by telling them all about our old New York days and----"
Mr. McEachern might have been observed, and was so observed by Jimmy, to swallow somewhat convulsively.
"But as Molly promised ye----" said he.
"Just so," said Jimmy. "My own sentiments, neatly expressed. Shall we start, Miss McEachern?"
"That fellah," said Mr. Wesson solemnly to his immortal soul, "is a d.a.m.n bounder. _And_ cad," he added after a moment"s reflection.
The fowls lived in a little world of noise and smells at the back of the stables. The first half of the journey thither was performed in silence. Molly"s cheerful little face was set in what she probably imagined to be a forbidding scowl. The tilt of her chin spoke of displeasure.
"If a penny would be any use to you," said Jimmy, breaking the tension.
"I"m not at all pleased with you," said Molly severely.
"How _can_ you say such savage things! And me an orphan, too!
What"s the trouble? What have I done?"
"You know perfectly well. Making fun of father like that."
"My dear girl, he loved it. Brainy badinage of that sort is exchanged every day in the best society. You should hear dukes and earls! The wit! the _esprit_! The flow of soul! Mine is nothing to it. What"s this in the iron pot? Is this what you feed them? Queer birds, hens--I wouldn"t touch the stuff for a fortune. It looks perfectly poisonous.
Flock around, you pullets. Come in your thousands. All bad nuts returned, and a souvenir goes with every corpse. A little more of this putrescent mixture for you, sir. Certainly, pick up your dead, pick up your dead."
An unwilling dimple appeared on Molly"s chin, like a sunbeam through clouds.
"All the same," she said, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself, Jimmy."
"I haven"t time when I find myself stopping in the same house with a girl I"ve been looking for for three years."
Molly looked away. There was silence for a moment.
"Used you ever to think of me?" she said quietly.
That curious constraint which had fallen upon Jimmy in the road came to him again, now, as sobering as a blow. Something which he could not define had changed the atmosphere. Suddenly in an instant, like a shallow stream that runs babbling over the stones into some broad, still pool, the note of their talk had deepened.
"Yes," he said simply. He could find no words for what he wished to say.
"I"ve thought of you--often," said Molly.
He took a step toward her. But the moment had pa.s.sed. Her mood had changed in a flash, or seemed to have changed. The stream babbled on over the stones again.
"Be careful, Jimmy! You nearly touched me with the spoon. I don"t want to be covered with that horrible stuff. Look at that poor, little chicken out there in the cold. It hasn"t had a morsel."
Jimmy responded to her lead. There was nothing else for him to do.
"It"s in luck," he said.
"Give it a spoonful."
"It can have one if it likes. But it"s taking big risks. Here you are, Hercules. Pitch in."
He sc.r.a.ped the last spoonful out of the iron pot, and they began to walk back to the house.
"You"re very quiet, Jimmy," said Molly.
"I was thinking."
"What about?"
"Lots of things."
"New York?"
"That among others."
"Dear old New York," said Molly, with a little sigh. "I"m not sure it wasn"t--I mean, I sometimes wish--oh, you know. I mean it"s lovely here, but it _was_ nice in the old days, wasn"t it, Jimmy? It"s a pity that things change, isn"t it?"
"It depends."
"What do you mean?"
"I don"t mind things changing, if people don"t."
"Do you think I"ve changed? You said I hadn"t when we met in the road."
"You haven"t, as far as looks go."
"Have I changed in other ways?"
Jimmy looked at her.
"I don"t know," he said slowly.
They were in the hall, now. Keggs had just left after beating the dressing gong. The echoes of it still lingered. Molly paused on the bottom step.
"I haven"t, Jimmy," she said; and ran on up the stairs.
CHAPTER VII.
Jimmy dressed for dinner in a very exalted frame of mind that night.
It seemed to him that he had awakened from a sort of a stupor. Life was so much fuller of possibilities than he had imagined a few days back. The sudden acquisition of his uncle"s money had, in a manner, brought him to a halt. Till then the exhilarating feeling of having his hand against the world had lent a zest to life. There had been no monotony. There had always been obstacles. One may hardly perhaps dilate on the joys of toil in connection with him, considering the precise methods by which he had supported himself; but nevertheless his emotions when breaking the law of the United States had been akin to those of the honest worker in so far that his operations had satisfied the desire for action which possesses every man of brains and energy. They had given him something to do. He had felt alive. His uncle"s legacy had left him with a sensation of abrupt stoppage. Life had suddenly become aimless.
But now everything was altered. Once more the future was a thing of importance, to-morrow a day to be looked forward to with keen expectation.