"It seems to me, Virginia, you use very unbecoming expressions. I have no desire to _run things_; I only supposed you would be glad of a few suggestions."
"I am sure I don"t wish to be rude, but I will be frank and tell you, Caroline, that I mean to do as I please while you are away."
Mrs. Millard gazed at her in surprise. "Why, Virginia, one would suppose you had been a captive in chains! Very well, I wash my hands of it all,--only," relapsing into a tone of pathetic reproach, "you do such singular things at times, you know."
She was manifestly shaken by this declaration of independence, but she was committed to her older sister. It was too late to change her plans. She ventured one parting injunction. "Pray, Virginia, do not patronize the shop. Let me beg of you, if you have any regard for me."
In Mrs. Millard"s sudden departure the Terrace naturally felt an interest.
"So Caroline"s going to leave us," Judge Russell remarked at the breakfast table. "We shall be free to do as we please this winter.
I"ll have that poplar set out in February."
"Aren"t you ashamed, grandfather!" laughed Madelaine. "As if you had not strength of mind to do as you like."
The judge smiled as he stirred his coffee. "Caroline is a forceful woman; and then, too, she is generally right. It may be, as she says, the tree will not grow, but I want to try it."
"I wonder she is willing to leave Virginia all the responsibility of Charlotte. She is such a headstrong child, and so northern," said Mrs.
Russell.
"Now, mother," expostulated Alexina, "isn"t that dreadfully narrow?"
"What harm is there in liking your own part of the country best?"
asked her sister.
"I did not mean any such thing," cried Alex. "I only insist that no locality has the monopoly of nice people."
"But some peculiarities are northern and some are southern, and I don"t see that it is narrow to prefer one sort above the other,"
Madelaine persisted. "How can Mrs. Millard make up her mind to leave the shop?" she continued. "Miss Sarah has gone over to the enemy, and Alex is going."
"I don"t understand about that shop," said her grandfather, not for the first time, by any means. "I told you about that young lady who so kindly picked up my books,--a most intelligent person, and as pretty as--as Madelaine." This with a smile at his youngest granddaughter.
"Here is another conversion," laughed Madelaine.
"I can"t understand about the shop," the judge repeated.
"Why isn"t keeping a shop just as respectable as teaching or keeping boarders?" asked Alex. She had in truth been strongly attracted to Miss Pennington that evening at Miss Wilbur"s, and had a secret desire to see more of her.
Wayland Leigh brought the news of Mrs. Millard"s proposed departure to his two aunts. He had it from Madelaine Russell.
"I wish you could have such a trip, Sarah," said Mrs. Leigh. "It would do you a world of good. As Aunt Nancy used to say, you are so thin you have to stand up twice to cast a shadow."
"Caroline is going from a sense of duty, you may be sure. And what would my boarders do while I was skylarking in California?" her niece demanded. This was a mild joke, for the boarders had not as yet materialized.
"I wish you would give up that idea, Aunt Sarah," growled Wayland.
"You agree with Mrs. Millard, I suppose. She thinks it involves the whole Terrace in a downward step. But what am I to do? Caroline a.s.sured me she could secure the position of matron at the Children"s Home for me, but what would you and Aunt Sally do then, poor things?"
"Oh, it is easy to laugh--" began Wayland.
"Is it? Then I wish you would favor us sometimes, my dear nephew."
"I was going to say," continued Wayland, with dignity, "that it was easy to make fun of Mrs. Millard, but she is my idea of an elegant woman."
"Far be it from me to deny Caroline"s elegance. I am often proud to know her. I believe there could be no emergency great enough to make her say "h.e.l.lo!" over the telephone, and I saw her on one occasion put up her lorgnette when she answered a call."
"Now, Sarah," said Mrs. Leigh, laughing.
The two ladies talked on about neighborhood affairs, but Wayland paid little heed, being absorbed in his own thoughts. He was in an impatient and critical mood. What he considered his aunt"s oddity annoyed him. He wished she would dress like other people,--meaning Mrs. Millard. He was twenty years old, and was working in a bank for fifty dollars a month, with small chance of promotion. He had wished to go to college,--not so much, however, as his aunt had wished it for him,--but now this was overshadowed by the ambition to be rich. And all for Madelaine. Sometimes he fiercely resolved that he _would_ be rich; and again he lost heart at the thought that lovely, dainty Madelaine was certain to find another palace long before his was built. Her frank worldliness did not weaken his adoration, strange to say.
CHAPTER FIFTEENTH
GIANT DESPAIR
"Miss Norah, I am afraid Miss Marion is falling back." Susanna stood in the doorway, a tea towel in one hand, a cup in the other.
Norah, who was putting in order certain shelves before the day"s work began, asked, "Why do you think so, Susanna?"
"Well, Miss Norah, I caught her walking around the house with her eyes shut, feeling her way like she was trying to get used to it." Susanna advanced and spoke in a whisper, "And she hasn"t had a smile for anybody this last day or two. Haven"t you noticed it?"
"To tell the truth, I have, Susanna; but, after all, it is not unnatural. The excitement of getting settled and beginning work made her forget, and now the novelty is wearing off she has, as you say, slipped back. All this rain and fog is in itself depressing. Don"t worry, Susanna. Hasn"t everything I promised you come true up till now?"
"I suppose so, Miss Norah," was the reluctant answer.
"Then don"t worry, and I"ll let you keep shop this afternoon."
Where the shop was concerned, Susanna was like a child; and nothing pleased her more than to be left in charge for an hour or so. Her own domain, the three bedrooms, dining room, and kitchen, she kept in spotless order, creating the daintiest repasts as if by magic, and seeming always to have time to spare.
She went back to her dishes, and Norah worked away with a thoughtful frown. Presently Marion entered and dropped into a chair with a weary sigh. "It is a horrid day," she said.
"There is a bit of blue in the west; by afternoon it may be pleasant,"
Norah responded.
When one is immersed in gloom, the sight of determined cheerfulness is irritating. So Marion found it.
"The air is so heavy one can hardly breathe," she went on. "I believe I"ll let Susanna attend to the plants; I am tired."
"I have time to do it," said Norah, closing the door of the case.
Marion rose impatiently. "You shall not touch them. If Susanna cannot do them, I will."