"What?" said Charles; "you did not tell me. Did you know it, Alice?"
"Yes; we can"t expect her to be at school all her days."
"Ca.s.sandra," he said suddenly, "will you give me the salt?"
He looked for the ring on the hand which I stretched toward him.
He not only missed that, but he observed the disregard of his wishes in the way I had arranged my hair. I shook it looser from the comb and pushed it from my face. An expression of unspeakable pa.s.sion, pride, and anguish came into his eyes; his mouth trembled; he caught up a gla.s.s of water to hide his face, and drank slowly from it.
"Are you going away again soon?" Alice asked him presently.
"No."
"To keep Ca.s.sandra, I intend to ask Mrs. Morgeson to come again. Will you write Mr. Morgeson to urge it?"
"Yes."
"I shall ask them to give up Ca.s.s altogether to us."
"You like her so much, do you, Alice?"
His voice sounded far off and faint.
Again I refrained from speaking my resolution of going home. I would give up thinking of it even! I felt again the tension of the chain between us. That night I ceased to dream of him.
"My letter is from Helen, Alice," I said.
"When did you see Somers?" Charles asked.
"To-day. I have an idea he will not remain here long."
"He is an amusing young man," Alice remarked.
"Very," said Charles.
Helen"s letter was long and full of questions. What had I done? How had I been? She gave an account of her life at home. She was her father"s nurse, and seldom left him. It was a dreary sort of business, but she was not melancholy. In truth, she felt better pleased with herself than she had been in Rosville. She could not help thinking that a chronic invalid would be a good thing for me. How was Ben Somers? How much longer should I stay in Rosville? It would know us no more forever when we left, and both of us would leave it at the same time. Would I visit her ever? They lived in a big house with a red front door. On the left was a lane with tall poplars dying on each side of it, up which the cows pa.s.sed every night. At the back of it was a huge barn round which martins and pigeons flew the year through.
It was dull but respectable and refined, and no one knew that she was tattooed on the arm.
I treasured this letter and all she wrote me. It was my first school-girl correspondence and my last.
Relations of Alice came from a distance to pay her a visit. There was a father, a mother, a son about twenty-one, and two girls who were younger. Alice wished that they had stayed at home; but she was polite and endeavored to make their visit agreeable. The son, called by his family "Bill," informed Charles that he was a judge of horseflesh, and would like to give his nags a try, having a high-flyer himself at home that the old gentleman would not hear of his bringing along. His actions denoted an admiration of me. He looked over the book I was reading or rummaged my workbox, trying on my thimble with an air of tenderness, and peeping into my needlebook. He told Alice that he thought I was a whole team and a horse to let, but he felt rather balky when he came near me, I had such a smartish eye.
"What am I to do, marm?" asked Jesse one morning when Charles was away. "That ere young man wants to ride the new horse, and it is jist the one he mus"n"t ride."
"I will speak to Cousin Bill myself," she said.
"He seems a sperrited young feller, and if he wants to break his neck it"s most a pity he shouldn"t."
"I think," she said when Jesse had retired, "that Charles must be saving up that beast to kill himself with. He will not pull a chaise yet."
"Has Charles tried him?"
"In the lane in an open wagon. He has a whim of having him broken to drive without blinders, bare of harness; he has been away so of late that he has not accomplished it."
Bill entered while we were talking, and Alice told him he must not attempt to use the horse, but proposed he should take her pair and drive out with me. I shook my head in vain; she was bent on mischief.
He was mollified by the proposal, and I was obliged to get ready. On starting he placed his cap on one side, held his whip upright, telling me that it was not up to the mark in length, and doubled his knuckles over the reins. He was a good Jehu, but I could not induce him to observe anything along the road.
"Where"s Mr. Morgeson"s mills?"
We turned in their direction.
"He is a man of property, ain"t he?"
"I think so."
"He has prime horses anyhow. That stallion of his would bring a first-rate price if he wanted to sell. Do you play the piano?"
"A little."
"And sing?"
"Yes."
"I have not heard you. Will you sing "_A place in thy memory, dearest,"_ some time for me?"
"Certainly."
"Are you fond of flowers and the like?"
"Very fond of them."
"So am I; our tastes agree. Here we are, hey?"
Charles came out when he saw us coming over the bridge, and Bill pulled up the horses scientifically, giving him a coachman"s salute.
"You see I am quite a whip."
"You are," said Charles.
"What a cub!" he whispered me. "I think I"ll give up my horses and take to walking as you have."
On the way home Bill held the reins in one hand and attempted to take mine with the other, a proceeding which I checked, whereupon he was exceedingly confused. The whip fell from his clutch over the dasher, and in recovering it his hat fell off; shame kept him silent for the rest of the ride.
I begged Alice to propose no more rides with Cousin Bill. That night he composed a letter which he sent me by Charlotte early the next morning.
"Why, Charlotte, what nonsense is this?"
"I expect," she answered sympathizingly, "that it is an offer of his hand and heart."
"Don"t mention it, Charlotte."