"There is no need of his being in the city at all," Mildred protested. "I"ve no patience with his leaving those who need him so much. I think of them, and am sure they feel badly about it, and likely enough are blaming me, when, if I had my way, he"d live and die in sight of his own chimney smoke."
"Millie, you are unreasonable," retorted Belle. "Why hasn"t Roger Atwood as good a right to seek his fortune out in the world as other young men? Papa didn"t stay on the old plantation, although they all wanted him to. What"s more, he has as good a right to like you as you have to dislike him. I may as well say it as think it."
It was difficult to refute Belle"s hard common-sense, and her sister could only protest, "Well, he has no right to be stealthily watching me, nor to persecute me with unwelcome attentions."
"Leave it all to me, Millie," said her mother gently. "I will manage it so that Belle can have his society occasionally, and we show our goodwill toward those who have been kind to us. At the same time I think I can shield you from anything disagreeable. He is pretty quick to take a hint; and you can soon show him by your manner that you wish him well, and that is all. He"ll soon get over his half-boyish preference, or at least learn to hide it. You give to his feelings more importance than they deserve."
"I suppose I do," Mildred replied musingly, "but he makes upon me the queer impression that he will never leave me alone--that I can never wholly shake him off, and that he will appear like a ghost when I least expect it."
Belle smiled significantly. "There, you might as well speak plainly as look in that way," Mildred concluded irritably. "I foresee how it will be, but must submit and endure as best I can, I suppose."
Belle"s antic.i.p.ation proved correct, for just as they were nearly ready to start for the chapel Eoger appeared, and was a little awkward from diffidence and doubt as to his reception. Mrs. Jocelyn"s kindness and Belle"s warm greeting somewhat rea.s.sured him, and atoned for Mildred"s rather constrained politeness. While answering the many and natural questions about those whom he had left in Forestville, he regained his self-possession and was able to hold his own against Belle"s sallies. "You have come to the city to stay?" she asked, point-blank.
"Yes," he said briefly, and that was the only reference he made to himself.
She soon began vivaciously, "You must go with us to church and Sunday-school. Here you are, an innocent and unprotected youth in this great wicked city, and we must get you under good influence at once."
"That is my wish," he replied, looking her laughingly in the face, "and that is why I came to see you. If you have a cla.s.s and will take me into it, I will accept all the theology you teach me."
"Mr. Wentworth"s hair would rise at the idea of my teaching theology or anything; but I"ll look after you, and if you get any fast ways I"ll make you sorry. No, I"m only a scholar. Millie has a cla.s.s of the worst boys in school, and if--" A warning glance here checked her.
"Well, then, can"t I join your cla.s.s?"
"Oh, no, we are all girls, and you"ll make us so bashful we wouldn"t dare say anything."
"I think Mr. Atwood had better go with us to the chapel, accepting the conditions on which we first attended," suggested Mrs. Jocelyn.
"If he is pleased, as we were, he can then act accordingly."
"Yes, come," cried Belle, who had resumed at once her old companionable and mirthful relations with Roger. "I"ll go with you, so you won"t feel strange or afraid. I want you to understand," she continued, as they pa.s.sed down the quaint old hallway, "that we belong to the aristocracy. Since this is the oldest house in town, we surely should be regarded as one of the old families."
"By what magic were you able to make so inviting a home in such a place?" he asked.
"Oh, that"s Millie"s work," she replied.
"I might have known that," he said, and a sudden shadow crossed his face. Quickly as it pa.s.sed away, she saw it.
"Yes," she resumed in a low, earnest tone--for she had no scruple in fanning the flame of his love which she more than half believed might yet be rewarded--"Millie is one of a million. She will be our main dependence, I fear. She is so strong and sensible."
"Is--is not Mr. Jocelyn well?" he asked apprehensively.
"I fear he isn"t well at all," she answered with some despondency.
"He is sleeping now; he always rests Sunday afternoon, and we try to let him rest all he can. He sleeps, or rather dozes, a great deal, and seems losing his strength and energy," and she spoke quite frankly concerning their plans, projects, and hopes. She believed in Roger, and knew him to be a sincere friend, and it was her nature to be very outspoken where she had confidence. "If Millie can learn thoroughly what she is now studying," she concluded, "I think we can get along."
"Yes," said Roger, in low, sad emphasis, "your sister is indeed one of a million, and my chance of winning one friendly thought from her also seems but one in a million. Belle, let us understand each other from the start. I have come to the city to stay, and I intend to succeed. I have an uncle in town who has given me a chance, and he"ll do more for me, I think. He"s peculiar, but he"s shrewd and sensible, and when he is convinced that I intend to carry out certain plans he will aid me. He is watching me now, and thinks I am here only from a restless impulse to see the world; by and by he will know better. He has the obstinate Atwood blood, and if he takes a notion to give me a chance to get a first-cla.s.s education, he will see me through. I"m going to have one anyway, but of course I"d rather be able to get it in five or six years than in eight or ten years, as would be the case if I had to work my own way. I am now employed in his commission store down town, but I am studying every spare moment I can get, and he knows it, only he thinks it won"t last. But it will, and I shall at least try to be one of the first lawyers in this city. What"s more, I shall work as few young men are willing to work or can work, for I am strong, and--well, I have motives for work that are not usual, perhaps. You see I am frank with you as you have been with me. You often talk like a gay child, but I understand you well enough to know that you are a whole-souled little woman, and thoroughly worthy of trust; and I have told you more about myself and present plans than any one else. Clara Bute informed me all about your courage at the store, and I felt proud that I knew you, and don"t intend that you shall ever be ashamed of me. You may tell your mother all this if you please, because I wish her to know just what kind of a young fellow I am, and what are my connections and prospects. I would much like to come and see you and go out with you now and then; and if you and your--well, your family should ever need any service that it was in my power to render, I should like you all to feel that I am not altogether unfit to give it, or to be your a.s.sociate."
"You needn"t talk that way," said Belle; "you are up in the world compared with us."
"I mean every word I say. I respect your mother as I do my own, for I have seen her beautiful life and beautiful face for weeks and months. I never expect to see a more perfect and genuine lady. I am not well versed in society"s ways, but I a.s.sure you I would make every effort in my power to act as she would think a young man ought to act. I"d rather fight a dragon than displease her."
Tears of gratified feeling were in Belle"s eyes, but she said brusquely, "Not versed in society"s ways! Account, then, for that fashionable suit of clothes you are wearing."
"They were not cut in Forestville," he replied dryly.
"Roger," she said impulsively, "I"m wonderfully glad you"ve come to New York to live, for I was dying for a little society and fun that mother and Millie wouldn"t disapprove of. They are so particular, you know, that I fairly ache from trying to walk in the strait and narrow path which is so easy for them. I want a lark. I must have a lark before long, or I"ll explode. What can we do that will be real genuine fun? It will do you good, too, or you"ll become a dull boy with nothing but work, work, work. You needn"t tell me the world was only made to work in. If it was, I"ve no business here.
You must think up something spicy, and no make-believe. I want to go somewhere where I can laugh with my whole heart. I can"t go on much longer at this old humdrum, monotonous jog, any more than your colts up at the farm could go around like the plow-horses, and I know it isn"t right to expect it of me. And yet what has been the case? Off early in the morning to work, standing all day till I"m lame in body and mad in spirit--stupid owls to make us stand till we are so out of sorts that we are ready to bite customers" heads off instead of waiting on "em pleasantly. When I come home, mamma often looks tired and sad, for this life is wearing on her, and she is worrying in secret over papa"s health. Millie, too, is tired and downhearted in spite of her trying to hide it. She won"t go out anywhere because she says there are no places where young girls can go unattended that are within our means. I"ve got tired of the other shop-girls. A few of them are nice; but more of them are stupid or coa.r.s.e, so I just sit around and mope, and go to bed early to get through the time. If I even try to romp with the children a little, mamma looks distressed, fearing I will disturb papa, who of late, when he comes out of his dozing condition, is strangely irritable. A year ago he"d romp and talk nonsense with me to my heart"s content; but that"s all pa.s.sed. Now is it natural for a young girl little more than sixteen to live such a life?"
"No, Belle, it is not, and yet I have seen enough of the city during the week I have been here to know that your mother and sister are right in their restrictions."
"Well, then, it"s a burning shame that in a city called Christian a poor girl is not more safe outside of her own door than if she were in a jungle. Do you mean to say that girls, situated as Millie and I are, must remain cooped up in little rooms the year round when our work is over?"
"The street is no place for you to take recreation in after nightfall; and where else you can go unattended I"m sure I don"t know. If there is any place, I"ll find out, for I intend to study this city from top to bottom. A lawyer is bound to know life as it is, above all things. But you needn"t worry about this question in the abstract any more. I"ll see that you have a good time occasionally.
You sister will not go with me, at least not yet--perhaps never--but that is not my fault. I"ve only one favor to ask of you, Belle, and I"ll do many in return. Please never, by word, or even by look, make my presence offensive or obtrusive to Miss Mildred. If you will be careful I will not prove so great an affliction as she fears."
"Roger Atwood, do you read people"s thoughts?"
"Oh, no, I only see what is to be seen, and draw my conclusions,"
he said, a little sadly.
"Well, then, if you can have the tact and delicacy to follow such good eyesight, you may fare better than you expect," she whispered at the chapel door.
He turned toward her with a quick flash, but she had stepped forward into the crowd pa.s.sing through the vestibule. From that moment, however, a ray of hope entered his heart, and in quiet resolve he decided to conform his tactics to the hint just received.
Mrs. Jocelyn and Mildred followed half a block away, and the former said to her daughter: "There they go, Millie, chattering together like two children. You surely take this affair too seriously. His sudden and boyish infatuation with you was the most natural thing in the world. He had never seen a girl like you before, and you awoke him into something like manhood. Very young men are p.r.o.ne to fall in love with women older than themselves, or those who seem older, and speedily to fall out again. Martin has often said his first flame is now a gray-headed lady, and yet he was sure at one time he never could endure life without her. You know that I consoled him quite successfully," and Mildred was pleased to hear the old, sweet laugh that was becoming too rare of late. Even now it ended in a sigh. Mr. Jocelyn was losing his resemblance to the man she had accepted in those bright days that now seemed so long ago.
"I hope you are right, mamma. It seems as if I ought to laugh at the whole affair and good-naturedly show him his folly, but for some reason I can"t. He affects me very strangely. While I feel a strong repulsion, I am beginning to fear him--to become conscious of his intensity and the tenacity and power of his will. I didn"t understand him at first, and I don"t now, but if he were an ordinary, impulsive young fellow he would not impress me as he does."
"Don"t you think him true and good at heart?"
"I"ve no reason to think him otherwise. I can"t explain to you how I feel, nor do I understand it myself. He seems the embodiment of a certain kind of force, and I always shrank from mere force, whether in nature or people."
"I can tell you how it is, Millie. Quiet and gentle as you seem, you have a tremendous will of your own, and very strong-willed people don"t get on well together."
"Astute little mother! Well, explain it in any way that pleases you, only keep your promise not to let him become the bane of my life."
"I"m not at all sure but that Belle will soon usurp your place in his regard, nor would I object, for I am very anxious about the child.
I know that her present life seems dull to her, and the temptations of the city to a girl with a nature like hers are legion. He can be a very useful friend to her, and he seems to me manly and trustworthy.
I"m not often deceived in my impressions of people, and he inspires me with confidence, and has from the first. I never saw anything underhand in him at the farm."
"Oh, no, he"s honest enough, no doubt."
"There, Millie," resumed her mother, laughing, "you have a woman"s reason for your feelings--you don"t like him, and that is the end of it. You must admit, however, that he has improved wonderfully.
I never saw a young fellow so changed, so thoroughly waked up. He has sense, too, in little things. One would think from his dress he had been born and bred in the city. They didn"t palm off an old-fashioned suit on him, if he was from the country.
"Chant his praises to Belle, mamma, and she will greatly appreciate this last proof of his superiority. To me he seems like his clothes--a little too new. Still I admit that he can be of very great service to Belle; and if he will restrict his attentions to her I will be as polite as either of you can wish. I, too, feel a very deep sympathy for Belle. She is little more than a child, and yet her life is imposing upon her the monotonous work of a middle-aged woman, and I fear the consequences. It"s contrary to nature, and no one knows it better than she. If he will help us take care of her I shall be grateful indeed; but if he grows sentimental and follows me as he did this morning, I could not endure it--indeed I could not."
"Well, Millie dear, we won"t cross any bridges till we come to them."