"I want you to ask her point-blank. Will you?"
"It"s not the sort of question to ask anybody point-blank, is it?"
"It is in this case. Do you think I don"t know the doubt in all your minds?--yes, even yours, for you"ve become another person since you married Craig."
"Oh, no!"
"Oh, yes! You"ve been thinking ever since you came that you"re dead thankful you don"t have to come back to it--now, haven"t you?"
"Jimps, dear, I lived all my life in the hardest, narrowest economy. If I had had all this beautiful experience Jean is having----"
"I know. But you wouldn"t come back, even to this place of ours----"
"That"s begging the question. For Jean it"s a wonderful change, and any one can see what it"s done for her."
"Physically, yes. But I want you to find out whether she"s actually happy or not."
"I will," promised his friend with a nod; for she knew James Stuart much too well to imagine she could put him off without complying with his expressed desire.
It looked as if Jeannette herself were anxious to a.s.sure her cousin"s mind, for Stuart had no sooner brought Georgiana back to the porch than his wife took possession of her.
"Georgiana, dear, I want you to tell me one thing," began Jeannette, as the two moved slowly a little away from the rest. "Do you think we are making a success of it?"
"A wonderful success, Jean. I couldn"t have believed it, even what I see on the surface. How about it--inside? That"s a pretty searching question, and you needn"t answer it if you don"t want to. Everything about you seems to answer it."
Jeannette stopped short and turned to face her cousin. "Haven"t I written you the answer, over and over?"
"Yes. That"s why I want to hear it from your own lips."
"You shall. First, though--Georgiana, you knew Antoinette Burwell married Miles Channing last December?"
"I heard of it. How do they come on?"
"Separated; she"s gone back to her father. She was the most wildly happy bride I ever saw. Think of it, George--in six months! What do you suppose would have happened if you----"
"Don"t! I didn"t." And Georgiana"s grateful thoughts went back to one of the crises in her life, the one from which Jefferson Craig had rescued her.
"Do you know the Ralph Hendersons? Married two years now--I"m sure you"ve heard me speak of them. Everybody knows they quarrel like cats and dogs; they"re hardly civil to each other in public. And I know several more of our old set who are none too happy, if one may judge by their looks. Yet they all married "in their own cla.s.s," as mother is so fond of saying, as if I didn"t!--I married _above_ it! And I am supposed to have cast away all my chances for this life, not to mention the next, by marrying my farmer! Georgiana, I"m getting to hate that word _farmer_! Why isn"t there a new word made for the man who reads and studies and uses the latest modern methods on his farm? There are such a lot of them now. College graduates, like Jimps, and men who have taken agricultural courses and are putting their brains into their work. Why isn"t there a new word?"
"The old word must be made to acquire a new dignity," Georgiana suggested. "Never mind the word; you"re glad you married your farmer?"
"Glad! I thank G.o.d every night and morning; I thank Him every time I go running down the lane to meet my husband coming up from the meadow! Of course I know, Georgiana, that the life I"m living isn"t the typical life of the farmer"s wife at all--thanks to Jimps" success and my own little pocket-book! But it has all outdoors in it and lots of lovely indoors; and I"m growing so well and strong--you can see that by just looking at me. And I"m getting to know my neighbours, and like them--some of them--oh, so much! Life never was so full. Mother talks about how hard I"ll find it to get through my second winter. It doesn"t worry me. We"ll order books and books, and we"ll go for splendid tramps, and every now and then we"ll run into town--for concerts and plays. And best of all, Georgiana,"--her voice sank--"I"m sure--sure--Jimps isn"t disappointed in me."
"Disappointed! I should say not--the lucky boy!" Georgiana agreed, all her fears gone to the winds.
When they returned to the porch it was to hear an outcry from Jeannette"s mother: "Chester Crofton! Have you gone absolutely crazy?"
"I think so, mother. Positively dippy. Got it in its worst form. It"s been coming on me for some time, but it"s taken me now, for better or for worse. I"m going to buy that small farm across the road and try what I can do."
"I"ll back you," came in Mr. Thomas Crofton"s deepest chest tones.
"Hear, hear!" Dr. Jefferson Craig"s shout drowned out Mrs. Crofton"s groan.
"O Ches--I"ll come and keep house for you--part of the year, anyhow!"
This was dainty Rosalie, her silk-stockinged ankles swinging wildly, as she sat upon the porch rail.
Georgiana was laughing, as her eyes met her husband"s in a glance of understanding, but her heart was very warm behind the laughter.
Beyond the gleam of the lanterns she caught the golden glow of a summer moon rising, to illumine the depths of the country sky--the immense, star-spangled arch of the heavens. Beneath lay many homes, big and little, all filled with human lives, each with its chance somehow to grow; each with its chance, small or great, as a beloved writer has said inspiringly, "_to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars._"
THE END