Chad looked at his clothes-foot-ball seemed pretty hard on clothes-"I don"t know," he said-"mebbe."
It was plain that neither of the boys was holding anything against Chad, but neither had asked the mountain lad to come to see him-an omission that was almost unforgivable according to Chad"s social ethics. So Chad proudly went into his sh.e.l.l again, and while the three boys met often, no intimacy developed. Often he saw them with Margaret, on the street, in a carriage or walking with a laughing crowd of boys and girls; on the porticos of old houses or in the yards; and, one night, Chad saw, through the wide-open door of a certain old house on the corner of Mill and Market Streets, a party going on; and Margaret, all in white, dancing, and he stood in the shade of the trees opposite with new pangs shooting through him and went back to his room in desolate loneliness, but with a new grip on his resolution that his own day should yet come.
Steadily the boy worked, forging his way slowly but surely toward the head of his cla.s.s in the "kitchen," and the school-master helped him unwearyingly. And it was a great help-mental and spiritual-to be near the stern Puritan, who loved the boy as a brother and was ever ready to guide him with counsel and aid him with his studies. In time the Major went to the president to ask him about Chad, and that august dignitary spoke of the lad in a way that made the Major, on his way through the campus, swish through the gra.s.s with his cane in great satisfaction. He always spoke of the boy now as his adopted son and, whenever it was possible, he came in to take Chad out home to spend Sunday with him; but, being a wise man and loving Chad"s independence, he let the boy have his own way. He had bought the filly-and would hold her, he said, until Chad could buy her back, and he would keep the old nag as a broodmare and would divide profits with Chad-to all of which the boy agreed. The question of the lad"s birth was ignored between them, and the Major rarely spoke to Chad of the Deans, who were living in town during the winter, nor questioned him about Dan or Harry or Margaret. But Chad had found out where the little girl went to church, and every Sunday, despite Caleb Hazel"s protest, he would slip into the Episcopal church, with a queer feeling-little Calvinist of the hills that he was-that it was not quite right for him even to enter that church; and he would watch the little girl come in with her family and, after the queer way of these "furriners," kneel first in prayer. And there, with soul uplifted by the dim rich light and the peal of the organ, he would sit watching her; rising when she rose, watching the light from the windows on her shining hair and sweet-spirited face, watching her reverent little head bend in obeisance to the name of the Master, though he kept his own held straight, for no Popery like that was for him. Always, however, he would slip out before the service was quite over and never wait even to see her come out of church. He was too proud for that and, anyhow, it made him lonely to see the people greeting one another and chatting and going off home together when there was not a soul to speak to him. It was just one such Sunday that they came face to face for the first time. Chad had gone down the street after leaving the church, had changed his mind and was going back to his room. People were pouring from the church, as he went by, but Chad did not even look across. A clatter rose behind him and he turned to see a horse and rockaway coming at a gallop up the street, which was narrow. The negro driver, frightened though he was, had sense enough to pull his running horse away from the line of vehicles in front of the church so that the beast stumbled against the curb-stone, crashed into a tree, and dropped struggling in the gutter below another line of vehicles waiting on the other side of the street. Like lightning, Chad leaped and landed full length on the horse"s head and was tossed violently to and fro, but he held on until the animal lay still.
"Unhitch the hoss," he called, sharply.
"Well, that was pretty quick work for a boy," said a voice across the street that sounded familiar, and Chad looked across to see General Dean and Margaret watching him. The boy blushed furiously when his eyes met Margaret"s and he thought he saw her start slightly, but he lowered his eyes and hurried away.
It was only a few days later that, going up from town toward the campus, he turned a corner and there was Margaret alone and moving slowly ahead of him. Hearing his steps she turned her head to see who it was, but Chad kept his eyes on the ground and pa.s.sed her without looking up. And thus he went on, although she was close behind him, across the street and to the turnstile. As he was pa.s.sing through, a voice rose behind him:
"You aren"t very polite, little boy." He turned quickly-Margaret had not gone around the corner: she, too, was coming through the campus and there she stood, grave and demure, though her eyes were dancing.
"My mamma says a NICE little boy always lets a little GIRL go FIRST."
"I didn"t know you was comin" through."
"Was comin" through!" Margaret made a little face as though to say-"Oh, dear."
"I said I didn"t know you were coming through this way."
Margaret shook her head. "No," she said; "no, you didn"t."
"Well, that"s what I meant to say." Chad was having a hard time with his English. He had s.n.a.t.c.hed his cap from his head, had stepped back outside the stile and was waiting to turn it for her. Margaret pa.s.sed through and waited where the paths forked.
"Are you going up to the college?" she asked.
"I was-but I ain"t now-if you"ll let me walk a piece with you." He was scarlet with confusion-a tribute that Chad rarely paid his kind. His way of talking was very funny, to be sure, but had she not heard her father say that "the poor little chap had had no chance in life;" and Harry, that some day he would be the best in his cla.s.s?
"Aren"t you-Chad?"
"Yes-ain"t you Margaret-Miss Margaret?"
"Yes, I"m Margaret." She was pleased with the hesitant t.i.tle and the boy"s halting reverence.
"An" I called you a little gal." Margaret"s laugh tinkled in merry remembrance. "An" you wouldn"t take my fish."
"I can"t bear to touch them."
"I know," said Chad, remembering Melissa.
They pa.s.sed a boy who knew Chad, but not Margaret. The lad took off his hat, but Chad did not lift his; then a boy and a girl and, when only the two girls spoke, the other boy lifted his hat, though he did not speak to Margaret. Still Chad"s hat was untouched and when Margaret looked up, Chad"s face was red with confusion again. But it never took the boy long to learn and, thereafter, during the walk his hat came off unfailingly. Everyone looked at the two with some surprise and Chad noticed that the little girl"s chin was being lifted higher and higher. His intuition told him what the matter was, and when they reached the stile across the campus and Chad saw a crowd of Margaret"s friends coming down the street, he halted as if to turn back, but the little girl told him imperiously to come on. It was a strange escort for haughty Margaret-the country-looking boy, in coa.r.s.e homespun-but Margaret spoke cheerily to her friends and went on, looking up at Chad and talking to him as though he were the dearest friend she had on earth.
At the edge of town she suggested that they walk across a pasture and go back by another street, and not until they were pa.s.sing through the woodland did Chad come to himself.
"You know I didn"t rickollect when you called me "little boy.""
"Indeed!"
"Not at fust, I mean," stammered Chad.
Margaret grew mock-haughty and Chad grew grave. He spoke very slowly and steadily. "I reckon I rickollect ever"thing that happened out thar a sight better"n you. I ain"t forgot nothin"-anything."
The boy"s sober and half-sullen tone made Margaret catch her breath with a sudden vague alarm.
Unconsciously she quickened her pace, but, already, she was mistress of an art to which she was born and she said, lightly:
"Now, that"s MUCH better." A piece of pasteboard dropped from Chad"s jacket just then, and, taking the little girl"s cue to swerve from the point at issue, he picked it up and held it out for Margaret to read. It was the first copy of the placard which he had tied around Jack"s neck when he sent him home, and it set Margaret to laughing and asking questions. Before he knew it Chad was telling her about Jack and the mountains; how he had run away; about the Turners and about Melissa and coming down the river on a raft-all he had done and all he meant to do. And from looking at Chad now and then, Margaret finally kept her eyes fixed on his-and thus they stood when they reached the gate, while crows flew cawing over them and the air grew chill.
"And did Jack go home?"
Chad laughed.
"No, he didn"t. He come back, and I had to hide fer two days. Then, because he couldn"t find me he did go, thinking I had gone back to the mountains, too. He went to look fer me."
"Well, if he comes back again I"ll ask my papa to get them to let you keep Jack at college," said Margaret.
Chad shook his head.
"Then I"ll keep him for you myself." The boy looked his grat.i.tude, but shook his head again.
"He won"t stay."
Margaret asked for the placard again as they moved down the street.
"You"ve got it spelled wrong," she said, pointing to "steel." Chad blushed. "I can"t spell when I write," he said. "I can"t even talk-right."
"But you"ll learn," she said.
"Will you help me?"
"Yes."
"Tell me when I say things wrong?"
"Yes."
"Where"m I goin" to see you?"
Margaret shook her head thoughtfully: then the reason for her speaking first to Chad came out.
"Papa and I saw you on Sunday, and papa said you must be very strong as well as brave, and that you knew something about horses. Harry told us who you were when papa described you, and then I remembered. Papa told Harry to bring you to see us. And you must come," she said, decisively.
They had reached the turnstile at the campus again.
"Have you had any more tournaments?" asked Margaret.
"No," said Chad, apprehensively.