"Why, aunt Luceba!" Isabel had left her position to draw forward a chair. "What"s that?" She pointed to the foot of the lounge, where, half hidden in shadow, stood a large, old-fashioned blue chest.
""Sh! that"s it! that"s what I come for. It"s her chist."
"Whose?"
"Your aunt "Liza"s." She looked Isabel in the face with an absurd triumph and awe. She had done a brave deed, the nature of which was not at once apparent.
"What"s in it?" asked Isabel, walking over to it.
"Don"t you touch it!" cried her aunt, in agitation. "I wouldn"t have you meddle with it--But there! it"s locked. I al"ays forgit that. I feel as if the things could git out an" walk. Here! you let it alone, an"
byme-by we"ll open it. Se" down here on the lounge. There, now! I guess I can tell ye. It was sister "Liza"s chist, an" she kep" it up attic.
She begun it when we wa"n"t more"n girls goin" to Number Six, an" she"s been fillin" on "t ever sence."
"Begun it! You talk as if "t was a quilt!" Isabel began to laugh.
"Now don"t!" said her aunt, in great distress. "Don"t ye! I s"pose "t was because we was such little girls an" all when "Liza started it, but it makes me as nervous as a witch, an" al"ays did. You see, "Liza was a great hand for deaths an" buryin"s; an" as for funerals, she"d ruther go to "em than eat. I"d say that if she was here this minute, for more"n once I said it to her face. Well, everybody "t died, she saved suthin"
they wore or handled the last thing, an" laid it away in this chist; an"
last time I see it opened, "t was full, an" she kind o" smacked her lips, an" said she should have to begin another. But the very next week she was took away."
"Aunt Luceba," said Isabel suddenly, "was aunt Eliza hard to live with?
Did you and aunt Mary Ellen have to toe the mark?"
"Don"t you say one word," answered her aunt hastily. "That"s all past an" gone. There ain"t no way of settlin" old scores but buryin" of "em.
She was older"n we were, an" on"y a step-sister, arter all. We must think o" that. Well, I must come to the end o" my story, an" then we"ll open the chist. Next day arter we laid her away, it come into my head, "Now we can burn up them things." It may ha" been wicked, but there "t was, an" the thought kep" arter me, till all I could think of was the chist; an" byme-by I says to Mary Ellen, one mornin", "Le"s open it to-day an" make a burnfire!" An" Mary Ellen she turned as white as a sheet, an" dropped her spoon into her sa.s.ser, an" she says: "Not yet!
Luceba, don"t you ask me to touch it yet." An" I found out, though she never "d say another word, that it unset her more"n it did me. One day, I come on her up attic stan"in" over it with the key in her hand, an"
she turned round as if I"d ketched her stealin", an" slipped off downstairs. An" this arternoon, she went into Tilly Ellison"s with her work, an" it come to me all of a sudden how I"d git Tim Yatter to harness an" load the chist onto the pung, an" I"d bring it over here, an" we"d look it over together; an" then, if there"s nothin" in it but what I think, I"d leave it behind, an" maybe you or Sadie "d burn it.
John Cole happened to ride by, and he helped me in with it. I ain"t a-goin" to have Mary Ellen worried. She"s different from me. She went to school, same"s you have, an" she"s different somehow. She"s been meddled with all her life, an" I"ll be whipped if she sha"n"t make a new start.
Should you jest as lieves ask Sadie or John?"
"Why, yes," said Isabel wonderingly; "or do it myself. I don"t see why you care."
Aunt Luceba wiped her beaded face with a large handkerchief.
"I dunno either," she owned, in an exhausted voice. "I guess it"s al"ays little things you can"t stand. Big ones you can b.u.t.t ag"inst. There! I feel better, now I"ve told ye. Here"s the key. Should you jest as soon open it?"
Isabel drew the chest forward with a vigorous pull of her st.u.r.dy arm.
She knelt before it and inserted the key. Aunt Luceba rose and leaned over her shoulder, gazing with the fascination of horror. At the moment the lid was lifted, a curious odor filled the room.
"My soul!" exclaimed Aunt Luceba. "O my soul!" She seemed incapable of saying more; and Isabel, awed in spite of herself, asked, in a whisper:--
"What"s that smell? I know, but I can"t think."
"You take out that parcel," said aunt Luceba, beginning to fan herself with her handkerchief. "That little one down there "t the end. It"s that. My soul! how things come back! Talk about spirits! There"s no need of "em! _Things_ are full bad enough!"
Isabel lifted out a small brown paper package, labeled in a cramped handwriting. She held it to the fading light. ""Slippery elm left by my dear father from his last illness,"" she read, with difficulty. ""The broken piece used by him on the day of his death.""
"My land!" exclaimed aunt Luceba weakly. "Now what"d she want to keep that for? He had it round all that winter, an" he used to give us a little mite, to please us. Oh, dear! it smells like death. Well, le"s lay it aside an" git on. The light"s goin", an" I must jog along. Take out that dress. I guess I know what "t is, though I can"t hardly believe it."
Isabel took out a black dress, made with a full, gathered skirt and an old-fashioned waist. ""Dress made ready for aunt Mercy,"" she read, ""before my dear uncle bought her a robe." But, auntie," she added, "there"s no back breadth!"
"I know it! I know it! She was so large they had to cut it out, for fear "t wouldn"t go into the coffin; an" Monroe Giles said she was a real particular woman, an" he wondered how she"d feel to have the back breadth of her quilted petticoat showin" in heaven. I declare I"m "most sick! What"s in that pasteboard box?"
It was a shriveled object, black with long-dried mould.
""Lemon held by Timothy Marden in his hand just before he died." Aunt Luceba," said Isabel, turning with a swift impulse, "I think aunt Eliza was a horror!"
"Don"t you say it, if you do think it," said her aunt, sinking into a chair and rocking vigorously. "Le"s git through with it as quick "s we can. Ain"t that a bandbox? Yes, that"s great-aunt Isabel"s leghorn bunnit. You was named for her, you know. An" there"s cousin Hattie"s cashmere shawl, an" Obed"s spe"tacles. An" if there ain"t old Mis"
Eaton"s false front! Don"t you read no more. I don"t care what they"re marked. Move that box a mite. My soul! There"s ma"am"s checked ap.r.o.n I bought her to the fair! Them are all her things down below." She got up and walked to the window, looking into the chestnut branches, with unseeing eyes. She turned about presently, and her cheeks were wet.
"There!" she said; "I guess we needn"t look no more. Should you jest as soon burn "em?"
"Yes," answered Isabel. She was crying a little, too. "Of course I will, auntie. I"ll put "em back now. But when you"re gone, I"ll do it; perhaps not till Sat.u.r.day, but I will then."
She folded the articles, and softly laid them away. They were no longer gruesome, since even a few of them could recall the beloved and still remembered dead. As she was gently closing the lid, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Aunt Luceba was standing there, trembling a little, though the tears had gone from her face.
"Isabel," said she, in a whisper, "you needn"t burn the ap.r.o.n, when you do the rest. Save it careful. I should like to put it away among my things."
Isabel nodded. She remembered her grandmother, a placid, hopeful woman, whose every deed breathed the fragrance of G.o.dly living.
"There!" said her aunt, turning away with the air of one who thrusts back the too insistent past, lest it dominate her quite. "It"s gittin"
along towards dark, an" I must put for home. I guess that hoss thinks he"s goin" to be froze to the ground. You wrop up my soap-stone while I git on my shawl. Land! don"t it smell hot? I wisht I hadn"t been so spry about puttin" on "t into the oven." She hurried on her things; and Isabel, her hair blowing about her face, went out to uncover the horse and speed the departure. The reins in her hands, aunt Luceba bent forward once more to add, "Isabel, if there"s one thing left for me to say, to tole you over to live with us, I want to say it."
Isabel laughed. "I know it," she answered brightly. "And if there"s anything I can say to make you and aunt Mary Ellen come over here"--
Aunt Luceba shook her head ponderously, and clucked at the horse. "Fur"s I"m concerned, it"s settled now. I"d come, an" be glad. But there"s Mary Ellen! Go "long!" She went jangling away along the country road to the music of old-fashioned bells.
Isabel ran into the house, and, with one look at the chest, set about preparing her supper. She was enjoying her life of perfect freedom with a kind of bravado, inasmuch as it seemed an innocent delight of which n.o.body approved. If the two aunts would come to live with her, so much the better; but since they refused, she scorned the descent to any domestic expedient. Indeed, she would have been glad to sleep, as well as to eat, in the lonely house; but to that her sister would never consent, and though she had compromised by going to Sadie"s for the night, she always returned before breakfast. She put up a leaf of the table standing by the wall, and arranged her simple supper there, uttering aloud as she did so fragments of her lesson, or dramatic sentences which had caught her fancy in reading or in speech. Finally, as she was dipping her cream toast, she caught herself saying, over and over, "My soul!" in the tremulous tone her aunt had used at that moment of warm emotion. She could not make it quite her own, and she tried again and again, like a faithful parrot. Then of a sudden the human power and pity of it flashed upon her, and she reddened, conscience-smitten, though no one was by to hear. She set her dish upon the table with indignant emphasis.
"I"m ashamed of myself!" said Isabel, and she sat down to her delicate repast, and forced herself, while she ate with a cordial relish, to fix her mind on what seemed to her things common as compared with her beloved ambition. Isabel often felt that she was too much absorbed in reading, and that, somehow or other, G.o.d would come to that conclusion also, and take away her wicked facility.
The dark seemed to drift quickly down, that night, because her supper had been delayed, and she washed her dishes by lamplight. When she had quite finished, and taken off her ap.r.o.n, she stood a moment over the chest, before sitting down to her task of memorizing verse. She was wondering whether she might not burn a few of the smaller things to-night; yet somehow, although she was quite free from aunt Luceba"s awe of them, she did feel that the act must be undertaken with a certain degree of solemnity. It ought not to be accomplished over the remnants of a fire built for cooking; it should, moreover, be to the accompaniment of a serious mood in herself. She turned away, but at that instant there came a jingle of bells. It stopped at the gate. Isabel went into the dark entry, and pressed her face against the side-light.
It was the parson. She knew him at once; no one in Tiverton could ever mistake that stooping figure, draped in a shawl. Isabel always hated him the more when she thought of his shawl. It flashed upon her then, as it often did when revulsion came over her, how much she had loved him until he had conceived this altogether horrible attachment for her. It was like a cherished friend who had begun to cut undignified capers. More than that, there lurked a certain cruelty in it, because he seemed to be trading on her inherited reverence for his office. If he should ask her to marry him, he was the minister, and how could she refuse? Unless, indeed, there were somebody else in the room, to give her courage, and that was hardly to be expected. Isabel began casting wildly about her for help. Her thoughts ran in a rushing current, and even in the midst of her tragic despair some sense of the foolishness of it smote her like a comic note, and she could have laughed hysterically.
"But I can"t help it," she said aloud, "I am afraid. I can"t put out the light. He"s seen it. I can"t slip out the back door. He"d hear me on the crust. He"ll--ask me--to-night! Oh, he will! he will! and I said to myself I"d be cunning and never give him a chance. Oh, why couldn"t aunt Luceba have stayed? My soul! my soul!" And then the dramatic fibre, always awake in her, told her that she had found the tone she sought.
He was blanketing his horse, and Isabel had flown into the sitting-room.
Her face was alive with resolution and a kind of joy. She had thought.
She threw open the chest, with a trembling hand, and pulled out the black dress.
"I"m sorry," she said, as she slipped it on over her head, and speaking as if she addressed some unseen guardian, "but I can"t help it. If you don"t want your things used, you keep him from coming in!"
The parson knocked at the door. Isabel took no notice. She was putting on the false front, the horn spectacles, the cashmere shawl, and the leghorn bonnet, with its long veil. She threw back the veil, and closed the chest. The parson knocked again. She heard him kicking the snow from his feet against the sc.r.a.per. It might have betokened a decent care for her floors. It sounded to Isabel like a lover"s haste, and smote her anew with that fear which is the forerunner of action. She blew out the lamp, and lighted a candle. Then she went to the door, schooling herself in desperation to remember this, to remember that, to remember, above all things, that her under dress was red and that her upper one had no back breadth. She threw open the door.
"Good-evening"--said the parson. He was about to add "Miss Isabel," but the words stuck in his throat.
"She ain"t to home," answered Isabel. "My niece ain"t to home."
The parson had bent forward, and was eyeing her curiously, yet with benevolence. He knew all the residents within a large radius, and he expected, at another word from the shadowy masker, to recognize her also. "Will she be away long?" he hesitated.
"I guess she will," answered Isabel promptly. "She ain"t to be relied on. I never found her so." Her spirits had risen. She knew how exactly she was imitating aunt Luceba"s mode of speech. The tones were dramatically exact, albeit of a more resonant quality. "Auntie"s voice is like suet," she thought. "Mine is vinegar. _But I"ve got it!_" A merry devil a.s.sailed her, the child of dramatic triumph. She spoke with decision: "Won"t you come in?"