"All right, go alone. I"m going to the real Tiffany"s."
"What for?"
"To squander my fortune, Pauline Pry. I"ll meet you at Sherry"s at one-thirty. I suppose some kindly policeman will guide my faltering footsteps in the right direction. Good-bye." And he closed the door of the car in her radiant face.
They had a merry lunch an hour later, Austin ordering the meal and paying for it with such evident pleasure that Sylvia could not help being touched at his joy over his little legacy. Then he proposed that, although they were a little late, they might go to a matinee, and afterwards insisted on walking up Fifth Avenue and stopping for tea at the Plaza.
"I"ve seen more beautiful cities than New York," he said, as they sauntered along, much more slowly than most of the hurrying throng,--"Paris, for instance--fairly alive with loveliness! But I don"t believe there"s a place in the world that gives you the feeling of _power_ that this does--especially just at this time of day, when the lights are coming on, and all these mult.i.tudes of people going home after their day"s work or pleasure. It"s tremendous--lifts you right off your feet--do you know what I mean?"
They reached home a little after six, to find Uncle Mat, whose existence they had completely forgotten, waiting for them with his eyes glued to the clock.
"I was about to have the Hudson River dragged for you two," he said, as Austin wrung his hand and Sylvia kissed him penitently. "Where _have_ you been? I came home to lunch, and made several appointments to introduce Austin to some very influential men, who I think would make valuable acquaintances for him. It"s inexcusable, Sylvia, for you to monopolize him this way."
The happy culprits exchanged glances, and then Sylvia linked her arm in Austin"s and got down on her knees, dragging him after her.
"I suppose we may as well confess," she said, "because you"d guess it inside of five minutes, anyway. Please don"t be very angry with us."
"What _are_ you talking about? Austin, can you explain? Has Sylvia taken leave of her senses?"
"I"m afraid so, sir," said Austin, with mock gravity; "it certainly looks that way. For about six weeks ago she told me that--some time in the dim future, of course--she might possibly be prevailed upon to marry me!"
Uncle Mat declared afterwards that this last shock was too much for him, and that he swooned away. But all that Austin and Sylvia could remember was that after a moment of electrified silence, he embraced them both, exclaiming, "Bless my stars! I never for one moment suspected that she had that much sense!"
CHAPTER XIV
"Are you two young idiots going out again this evening?" asked Uncle Mat as the three were eating their dessert, glancing from Sylvia"s low-necked white gown to Austin"s immaculate dress-suit.
"No. This is entirely in each other"s honor. But I hope you are, for I want to talk to Austin."
"Good gracious! What have you been doing all day? What do you expect _me_ to do?"
"You can go to your club and have five nice long rubbers of bridge," said Sylvia mercilessly, "and when you come back, please cough in the hall."
"I want to write a few lines to my mother, after I"ve had a little talk with Mr. Stevens--then I"m entirely at your disposal," said Austin, as she lighted their cigars and rose to leave them.
"I"m glad some one wants to talk to me," murmured Uncle Mat meekly.
Sylvia hugged him and kissed the top of his head. "You dear jealous old thing! I"ve got some telephoning and notes to attend to myself. Come and knock on my door when you"re ready, Austin."
"You have a good deal of courage," remarked Uncle Mat, nodding in Sylvia"s direction as she went down the hall.
"Perhaps you think effrontery would be the better word."
"Not at all, my dear boy--you misunderstand me completely. Sylvia"s the dearest thing in the world to me, and I"ve been worrying a good deal about her remarriage, which I knew was bound to come sooner or later. I"m more than satisfied and pleased at her choice--I"m relieved."
"Thank you. It"s good to know you feel that way, even if I don"t deserve it."
"You do deserve it. In speaking of courage, I meant that the poor husband of a rich wife always has a good deal to contend with; and aside from the money question, you"re supersensitive about what you consider your lack of advantages and polish--though Heaven knows you don"t need to be!" he added, glancing with satisfaction at the handsome, well-groomed figure stretched out before him. "I never saw any one pick up the veneer of good society, so called, as rapidly as you have. It shows that real good breeding was back of it all the time."
"I guess I"d better go and write my letter," laughed Austin, "before you flatter me into having an awfully swelled head. But I want to tell you first--I"m not a pauper any more. I"ve got twenty thousand dollars of my own--an old aunt has died and left most of her will in my favor. I"ve taken capital, and paid off all our debts--except what we owe to Sylvia.
She can give me that for a wedding present if she wants to. It"s queer how much less sore I am about her money now that I"ve got a little of my own! There are one or two things that I want to buy for her, and I want to pay my own expenses and Peter"s on a trip through western New York farms this summer. The rest I must invest as well as I can, to bring me in a little regular income. I"m sure, now that the farm and the family are perfectly free of debt, that I can earn enough to add quite a little to it every year. If Sylvia lost every cent she had, we could get married just the same, and though she"d have to live simply and quietly, she wouldn"t suffer. I thought you would help me with investments--or take me to some other man who would."
"I will, indeed--if you don"t spend _all_ your time, as Sylvia fully intends you shall, making love to her. This changes the outlook wonderfully--clears the sky for both of you! It"s bad for a man to be wholly dependent on his wife, and scarcely less bad for her. But there"s another matter--"
"Yes, sir?"
"I don"t want you to think I"m meddling--or underestimating Sylvia--"
"I won"t think that, no matter what you say."
"How long have you and she been in love with each other? Wasn"t it pretty nearly a case of "first sight"?"
Austin flushed. "It certainly was with me," he said quietly.
"And haven"t you--quarrelled from the very beginning, too?"
The boy"s flush deepened. "Yes," he said, still more quietly, "we seemed to misunderstand--and antagonize each other."
"Even to-day?"--Then as Austin did not answer, "Now, tell me truthfully--whose fault is it?"
"The first time it was mine," said Austin quickly. "She made me clean up the yard--it needed it, too!--and I was furious! And I was rude--worse than rude--to her for a long time. But since then--"
"You needn"t be afraid to say it was hers," remarked Sylvia"s uncle dryly. "She wants an absolutely free hand, which isn"t good for her to have--she"s only twenty-two now, pretty as a picture, and still absolutely inexperienced about many things. She can"t bear the thought of dictation, and you"re both young and self-willed and proud, and very much in love--which makes the whole thing harder, and not easier, as I suppose you imagine. Now, some women, even in these days, aren"t fit to live with until--figuratively speaking--they"ve been beaten over the head with a club. Sylvia"s not that kind. She"s not only got to respect her husband"s wishes, she"s got to _want_ to--and I believe you can make her want to! I think you"re absolutely just--and unusually decent. If I didn"t I shouldn"t dare say all this to you--or let you have her at all, if I could help it. And besides being fair, you know how to express yourself--which some poor fellows unfortunately can"t do--they"re absolutely tongue-tied. In fact, you"re perfectly capable of taking things into your own hands every way, and making a success of it--and if you don"t before you"re married, neither of you can possibly hope to be happy afterwards."
"There"s one thing you"re overlooking, Mr. Stevens, which I should have had to tell you to-night, anyway."
"What is it?"
"I"m not worthy of tying up Sylvia"s shoes--much less of marrying her.
I"ve been straight as a string since she came to the farm, but before that--any one in Hamstead would tell you. It was town talk. I can"t, knowing that, act as I would if I--didn"t have that to remember. It"s all very well to say that a man--_gets through_ with all that, absolutely--I"ve heard them say it dozens of times! But how can he be sure he is through--that the old sins won"t crop up again? I love Sylvia more than--than I can possibly talk about, and I"m _afraid_--afraid that I won"t be worthy of her, and that if she gave in absolutely--that I"d abuse my position."
Uncle Mat glanced up quietly from his cigar. There were tears in the boy"s eyes, his voice trembled. The older man, for a moment, felt powerless to speak before the penitent sincerity of Austin"s confession, the humility of his bared soul.
"As long as you feel that way," he said at last, a trifle huskily, "I don"t believe there"s very much danger--for either of you. And remember this--lots of good people make mistakes, but if they"re made of the right stuff, they don"t make the same mistake but once. And sometimes they gain more than they lose from a slip-up. You certainly are made of the right stuff. Perhaps you will go through some experience like what you"re dreading, though I can"t foresee what form it will take. Meanwhile remember that Sylvia"s been through an awful ordeal, and be very gentle with her, though you take the reins in your hands, as you should do. I"m thankful that she has such a bright prospect for happiness ahead of her now--but don"t forget that you have a right to be happy, too. Don"t be too grateful and too humble. She"s done you some favors in the past, but she isn"t doing you one now--she never would have accepted you if she hadn"t been head over heels in love with you. Now write your letter, and then go to her. But to-morrow I want you all the morning--we must look into the acquaintances I spoke about, and the investments you spoke about. Meanwhile, the best of luck--you deserve it!"
Austin smoked thoughtfully for some minutes after Uncle Mat left him, and finally, roused from his brown study by the striking of a clock, went hurriedly to the desk and began his letter. Before he had finished, Sylvia"s patience had quite given out, and she came and stood behind him, with her arm over his shoulder as he wrote. He acknowledged the caress with a nod and a smile, but went on writing, and did not speak until the letter was sealed and stamped.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting, dear. Now, then, what is it?"
"I"ve been thinking things over."
"So I supposed. Well, what have you thought, honey?"
"First, that I want you to have these. I"ve been going through my jewelry lately, and have had Uncle Mat sell everything except a few little trinkets I had before I--was married, and the pearls he gave me then. In my sorting process, I came across these things that were my father"s. I never offered them to--to--any one before. But I want you to wear them, if you will."