"No, he is not there."
"He will be back soon, of course."
But Robin shook his head, and said with gentle gravity:
"No, he will not be back. He has journeyed to a far country."
Together they pa.s.sed under the low eaves and entered the curious dwelling. Light came through the open door and the parchment-covered window. In the high-backed chair before the hearth the hermit sat, his chin dropped forward on his breast. His years of exile were ended. All the heart-yearning and loneliness had slipped away. He had become one with the shadows among which he had dwelt so long.
Nor was there any other life in the room. As the birds outside had vanished, so the flitting squirrels had departed--who shall say whither?
Yet the change had come but recently--perhaps on that very morning--for though the fire had dropped to ashes on the hearth, a tiny wraith of smoke still lingered and drifted waveringly up the chimney.
The intruders moved softly about the room without speaking. Presently Frank beckoned to Robin, and pointed to something lying on the table. It was a birch-bark envelope, and in a dark ink, doubtless made from some root or berry, was addressed to Robin. The guide opened it and, taking it to the door, read:
MY DEAR BOY ROBIN:
I have felt of late that my time is very near. It is likely that I shall see you no more in this world. It is my desire, therefore, to set down my wishes here while I yet have strength. They are but few, for a life like mine leaves not many desires behind it.
It is my wish that such of my belongings as you care to preserve should be yours. They are of little value, but perhaps the field gla.s.s and the books may in future years recall the story in which they have been a part. In a little chest you will find some other trifles--a picture or two, some papers that were once valuable to those living in the world of men, some old letters. All that is there, all that is mine and all the affection that lingers in my heart, are yours. Yet I must not forget the little girl who was once your sister. If it chance that you meet her again, and if when she knows my story she will care for any memento of this lonely life, you may place some trifle in her hands.
It was my story that I had chiefly meant to set down for you, for it is nearer to your own than you suppose. But now, only a few days since, out of my heart I gave it to those who were here and who, perhaps, ere this, have given you my message to come. A young man and a woman they were, and their happiness together led me to speak of old days and of a happiness that was mine. The girl"s face stirred me strangely, and I spoke to her fully, as I have long wished, yet feared, to speak to you. You will show her this letter, and she will repeat to you all the tale which I no longer have strength to write. Then you will understand why I have been drawn to you so strangely; why I have called you "my dear boy"; why I would that I might call you "son."
There is no more--only, when you shall find me here asleep, make me a bed in the corner of my garden, where the hollyhocks come each year, and the squirrels frisk overhead, and the birds sing. Lay me not too deeply away from it all, and cover me only with boughs and the cool, gratifying earth which shall soothe away the fever. And bring no stone to mark the place, but only breathe a little word of prayer and leave me in the comfortable dark.
Neither Robin nor Frank spoke for a time after the reading of the letter. Then faithfully and with a few words they carried out the hermit"s wishes. Tenderly and gently they bore him to the narrow resting-place which they prepared for him, and when the task was finished they stood above the spot for a little s.p.a.ce with bowed heads.
After this they returned to the cabin and gathered up such articles of Robin"s inheritance as they would be able to carry down the mountain--the books and field gla.s.s, which had been so much to him; the gun above the mantel, a trout rod and a package of articles from the little chest which they had brought to the door and opened. At the top of the package was a small, cheap ferrotype picture, such as young people are wont to have made at the traveling photographer"s. It was of a sweet-faced, merry-lipped girl, and Robin scanned it long and thoughtfully.
"That is such a face as my mother had when young," he said at last. Then turning to Frank, "Did he know my mother? Is that the story?"
Frank bent his head in a.s.sent.
"That is the story," he said, "but it is long. Besides, it is his wish, I am sure, that another should tell it to you."
He had taken from the chest some folded official-looking papers as he spoke, and glanced at them now, first hastily, then with growing interest. They were a quant.i.ty of registered bonds--the hermit"s fortune, which in a few brief days had become, as he said, but a mockery of scrolled engraving and gaudy seals. Frank had only a slight knowledge of such matters, yet he wondered if by any possibility these old securities of a shipwrecked company might be of value to-day. The corporation t.i.tle, he thought, had a familiar sound. A vague impression grew upon him that this company had been one of the few to be rehabilitated with time; that in some measure at least it had made good its obligations.
"Suppose you let me take these," he suggested to Robin. "They may not be wholly worthless. At least, it will do no harm to send them to my solicitor."
Robin nodded. He was still regarding the little tintype and the sweet, young face of the mother who had died so long ago.
CHAPTER XII
CONSTANCE RETURNS AND HEARS A STORY
"I only told him," Frank wrote that night to Constance, "that the hermit"s story had a part in his mother"s life. I suppose I might have told him more, but he seemed quite willing to wait and hear it from you, as suggested by the hermit"s letter, and I was only too willing that he should do so. Knowing Robin, as you have, from childhood, and the sorrow of his early days and all, you are much better fitted to tell the story, and you will tell it much better than I. Robin is to leave again to-morrow on a trip over Marcy (Tahawus, I mean, for I hate these modern names), but will be back by the end of the week, by which time I hope you also will once more make glad these lonesome forest glades.
Seriously, Conny, I long for you much more than perhaps you realize or, I am sure, would permit me to say. And I don"t mean to write a love letter now. In the first place, I would not disobey orders to that degree, and even if I did, I know that you would say that it was only because poor old Robin Gray"s story and his death, and all, and perhaps wandering about in these woods alone, had made me a bit sentimental.
Well, who knows just whence and how emotions come? Perhaps you would be right, but if I should tell you that, during the two weeks which have nearly slipped by since that day when we found our way through the mist to the hermit"s cabin, my whole point of view has somehow changed, and that, whatever the reasons, I see with different eyes--with a new heart and with an uplifted spirit--perhaps I should be right, too; and if from such a consecration my soul should speak and say, "Dear, my heart, I love you, and I will love you all my days!" it may be that you would believe and understand."
Whether it was this letter, or the news it contained, or whether Mrs.
Deane"s improved condition warranted--from whatever reason, Constance and her mother two days later returned to the camp on the Au Sable. They were given a genuine ovation as they pa.s.sed the Lodge, at which point Mr. Deane joined them. Frank found his heart in a very disturbing condition indeed as he looked once more into Miss Deane"s eyes and took her hand in welcome. Later in the day, he deemed it necessary to take a walk in the direction of the camp to see if he could be of any a.s.sistance in making the new arrivals comfortable. It was a matter of course that he should remain for dinner, and whatever change may have taken place in him, he certainly appeared on this occasion much like the old light-hearted youth, with little thought beyond the joy of the event and the jest of the moment.
But that night, when he parted from Constance to take the dark trail home, he did not find it easy to go, nor yet to make an excuse for lingering. The mantle of gayety had somehow slipped away, and as they stood there in the fragrance of the firs, with the sound of falling water coming through the trees, the words he had meant to utter did not come.
He spoke at last of their day together on the mountain and of their visit to the hermit"s cabin. To both of them it seemed something of a very long time ago. Then Frank recounted in detail all that had happened that quiet morning when he and Robin had visited the place, and spoke of the letter and last wishes of the dead man.
"You are sure you do not mind letting me tell Robin the story?" she said; "alone, I mean? I should like to do so, and I think he would prefer it."
Frank looked at her through the dusk.
"I want you to do it that way," he said earnestly. "I told you so in my letter. I have a feeling that any third person would be an intruder at such a time. It seems to me that you are the only one to tell him."
"Yes," she agreed, after a pause, "I am. I--knew Robin"s mother. I was a little girl, but I remember. Oh, you will understand it all, some day."
Frank may have wondered vaguely why she put it in that way, but he made no comment. His hand found hers in the dusk, and he held it for a moment at parting.
"That is a dark way I am going," he said, looking down the trail. "But I shall not even remember the darkness, now that you are here again."
Constance laughed softly.
"Perhaps it is my halo that makes the difference."
A moment later he had turned to go, but paused to say--casually, it seemed:
"By the way, I have a story to read to you--a ma.n.u.script. It was written by some one I know, who had a copy mailed me. It came this morning. I am sure the author, whose name is to be withheld for the present, would appreciate your opinion."
"And my judgment is to be final, of course. Very well; Minerva holds her court at ten to-morrow, at the top of yon small mountain, which on the one side slopes to the lake, and on the other overlooks the pleasant Valley of Decision, which borders the West Branch."
"And do I meet Minerva on the mountain top, or do I call for her at the usual address--that is to say, here?"
"You may call for Minerva. After her recent period of inactivity she may need a.s.sistance over the hard places."
Frank did, in fact, arrive at the camp next morning almost in time for breakfast. Perhaps the habit of early rising had grown upon him of late.
Perhaps he only wished to a.s.sure himself that Constance had really returned. Even a wish to hear her opinion of the ma.n.u.script may have exerted a certain influence.
They set out presently, followed by numerous injunctions from Mrs.
Deane concerning fogs and trails and an early return. Frank had never ascended this steep little mountain back of the camp, save once by a trail that started from near the Lodge. He let Constance take the lead.
It was a rare morning--one of the first September days, when the early blaze of autumn begins to kindle along the hills, when there is just a spice of frost in the air, when the air and sunlight combine in a tonic that lifts the heart, the soul, almost the body itself, from the material earth.
"If you are Minerva, then I am Mercury," Frank declared as they ascended the first rise. "I feel that my feet have wings."
Then suddenly he paused, for they had come to a little enclosure, where the bushes had been but recently cleared away. There was a gate, and within a small grave, evidently that of a child; also a headstone upon which was cut the single word, "CONSTANCE."
Frank started a little as he read the name, and regarded it wonderingly without speaking. Then he turned to his companion with inquiry in his face.
"That was the first little Constance," she said. "I took her place and name. She always loved this spot, so when she died they laid her here.