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diff --git a/15321-h/15321-h.htm b/15321-h/15321-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..35fd23a --- /dev/null +++ b/15321-h/15321-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,22245 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tracy Park, by Mary Jane Holmes</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Tracy Park, by Mary Jane Holmes</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Tracy Park</p> +<p>Author: Mary Jane Holmes</p> +<p>Release Date: March 10, 2005 [eBook #15321]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRACY PARK***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by David Garcia, Josephine Paolucci,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + from page images generously made available by<br /> + the Kentuckiana Digital Library</h3> +<p> </p> +<table border="0" cellpadding="10" style="background-color: #ccccff;"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages of the printed work can be seen at + the Electonic Text Collection of the Kentuckiana Digital Library + <a href="http://kdl.kyvl.org/"> + http://kdl.kyvl.org/</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> + +<p>"Don't stand and cry; press forward and remove the difficulty."—Dickens.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>TRACY PARK.</h1> + +<h2>A Novel.</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MRS. MARY J. HOLMES,</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF BESSIE'S FORTUNE, QUEENIE HETHERTON, EDITH LYSLE'S +SECRET, HOMESTEAD ON THE HILLSIDE, ETC., ETC., ETC.</h3> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h6>Toronto:<br /> +Rose Publishing Company.<br /> +<br /> +Hunter Rose & Co.<br /> +Printers & Book Binders<br /> +Toronto<br /> +25 Wellington St</h6> + +<h4>1886</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> +<p> </p> +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2"> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXIII</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>CHAPTER XXV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>CHAPTER XXX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><b>CHAPTER XXXI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><b>CHAPTER XXXII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXXIV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><b>CHAPTER XXXV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXXVI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXXIX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XL"><b>CHAPTER XL.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI"><b>CHAPTER XLI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII"><b>CHAPTER XLII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII"><b>CHAPTER XLIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV"><b>CHAPTER XLIV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV"><b>CHAPTER XLV.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI"><b>CHAPTER XLVI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII"><b>CHAPTER XLVII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII"><b>CHAPTER XLVIII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX"><b>CHAPTER XLIX.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_L"><b>CHAPTER L.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_LI"><b>CHAPTER LI.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_LII"><b>CHAPTER LII.</b></a></td></tr> + <tr><td align="left"><a href="#CHAPTER_LIII"><b>CHAPTER LIII.</b></a></td></tr> + </table></div> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="TRACEY_PARK" id="TRACEY_PARK" ></a>TRACEY PARK.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I" ></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h2>THE TELEGRAM.</h2> + + +<p>'BREVOORT HOUSE, NEW YORK, Oct. 6th, 18—.</p> + +<p>'<i>To Mr. Frank Tracy, Tracy Park, Shannondale</i>.</p> + +<p>'I arrived in the Scotia this morning, and shall take the train +for Shannondale at 3 p.m. Send someone to the station to meet +us.</p> + +<p>'ARTHUR TRACEY.'</p> + +<p>This was the telegram which the clerk in the Shannonville +office wrote out one October morning, and despatched +to the Hon. Frank Tracy, of Tracy Park, in the +quiet town of Shannondale, where our story opens.</p> + +<p>Mr. Frank Tracy, who, since his election to the State Legislature +for two successive terms, had done nothing except to attend +political meetings and make speeches on all public occasions, +had an office in town, where he usually spent his mornings, +smoking, reading the papers and talking to Mr. Colvin, +his business agent and lawyer, for, though born in one of the +humblest of New England houses, where the slanting roof almost +touched the ground in the rear, and he could scarcely +stand upright in the chamber where he slept, Mr. Frank Tracy was +a great man now, and as he dashed along the turnpike behind his +blooded bays, with his driver beside him, people looked admiringly +after him, and pointed him out to strangers as the Hon. +Mr. Tracy, of Tracy Park, one of the finest places in the county. +It is true it did not belong to him, but he had lived there so +long that he had come to look upon it as his, while his neighbors, +too, seemed to have forgotten that there was across the +ocean a Mr. Arthur Tracy, who might at any time come home to +claim his own, and demand an account of his brother's stewardship. +And it was this very Arthur Tracy, whose telegram +announcing his return from Europe was read by his brother +with mingled feelings of surprise and consternation.</p> + +<p>'Not that everything isn't fair and above-board, and he is welcome +to look into matters as much as he likes,' Frank said over +and over to himself, as he sat stating blankly at the telegram, +while the cold chills ran up and down his back and arms. 'Yes, +he can examine all Colvin's books and he will find them straight +as a string, for didn't he tell me to use what I needed as remuneration +for looking after his property while he was gallivanting +over the world; and if he objects that I have paid +myself too much, why, I can at once transfer those investments +in my name to him. No, it is not that which affects +me so, it is the suddenness of the thing, coming without warning +and to-night of all nights, when the house will be full of carousing +and champagne. What will Dolly say! Hysterics of +course, if not a sick headache. I don't believe I can face her +till she has had a little time to get over it. Here, boy, I want, +you!' and he rapped at the window at a young lad who happened +to be passing with a basket on his arm. 'I want you to +do an errand for me,' he continued, as the boy entered the +office, and, removing his cap, stood respectfully before him +'Take this telegram to Mrs. Tracy, and here is a dime for +you.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, but I don't care for the money,' the boy said +'I was going to the park anyway to tell Mrs. Tracy that grandma +is sick and can't go there to-night.'</p> + +<p>'Cannot go! Sick! What is the matter?' Mr. Tracy asked, +in some dismay, feeling that here was a fresh cause of trouble +and worry for Dolly, as he designated his wife when off +his guard and not on show before his fashionable friends, to +whom she was Dora, or Mrs. Tracy.</p> + +<p>'She catched cold yesterday fixing up mother's grave,' the +boy replied; and, as if the mention of that grave had sent Mr. +Tracy's thoughts straying backward to the past, he looked +thoughtfully at the child a moment, and then said:</p> + +<p>'How old are you, Harold?'</p> + +<p>'Ten, last August,' was the reply; and Mr. Tracy continued:</p> + +<p>'You do not remember your mother?'</p> + +<p>'No, sir, only a great crowd, and grandma crying so hard,' +was Harold's reply.</p> + +<p>'You look like her,' Mr. Tracy said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir,' Harold answered, while into his frank, open face +there came an expression of regret for the mother who had died +when he was three years old, and whose life had been so short +and sad.</p> + +<p>'Now, hurry off with the telegram, and mind you don't lose +it. It is from my brother. He is coming to-night.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Arthur Tracy, who sent the monument for my mother—is +he coming home? Oh, I am so glad!' Harold exclaimed, +and his handsome face lighted up with childish joy, as he put +the telegram in his pocket and started For Tracy Park, wondering +if he should encounter Tom, and thinking that if he did, and +Tom gave him any chaff, he should lick him, or try to.</p> + +<p>'Darn him!' he said to himself, as he recalled the many +times when Tom Tracy, a boy of his own age, had laughed at +him for his poverty and coarse clothes. 'Darn him! he ain't +any better than I am, if he does wear velvet trousers and live +in a big house. 'Taint his'n; it's Mr. Arthur's, and I'm glad +he is coming home. I wonder if he will bring grandma anything. +I wish he'd I bring me a pyramid. He's seen 'em, they say.'</p> + +<p>Meantime, Mr. Frank Tracy had resumed his seat, and, with +his hands clasped together over his head, was wondering what +effect his brother's return would have upon him. Would he be +obliged to leave the park, and the luxury he had enjoyed so +long, and go back to the old life which he hated so much.</p> + +<p>'No; Arthur will never be so mean,' he said. 'He has always +shown himself generous, and will continue to do so. Besides +that, he will want somebody to keep his house for him, +unless—' and here the perspiration started from every +pore, as Frank Tracy thought: 'What if he is married, and the +<i>us</i> in his telegram means a wife, instead of a friend or servant, +as I imagined!'</p> + +<p>This would indeed be a calamity, for then his own and Dolly's +reign was over at Tracy Park, and the party they were to give +that night to at least three hundred people would be their last +grand blow-out.</p> + +<p>'Confound the party!' he thought, as he arose from his +chair and began to pace the room. 'Arthur won't like that as +a greeting after eleven years' absence. He never fancied being +cheek by jowl with Tom, Dick and Harry; and that is just +what the smash is to-night. Dolly wants to please everybody, +thinking to get me votes for Congress, and so she has invited +all creation and his wife. There's old Peterkin, the roughest +kind of a canal bummer when Arthur went away. Think of +my fastidious brother shaking hands with him and Widow +Shipley, who kept a low tavern on the tow-path! She'll be +there; in her silks and long gold chain, for she has four boys, +all voters, who call me <i>Frank</i> and slap me on the shoulder. +Ugh! even I hate it all; and in a most perturbed state of +mind, the Hon. Frank and would-be Congressman continued to +walk the room lamenting the party which must be, and wondering +what his aristocratic brother would say to such a crowd in +his house on the night of his return.</p> + +<p>And if there should be a Mrs. Arthur Tracy, with possibly +some little Tracys! But that idea was too horrible to contemplate, +and so he tried to put it from his mind, and to be as +calm and quiet as possible until lunch-time, when, with no very +great amount of alacrity and cheerfulness, he started for home, +where, as he had been warned by his wife when he left her in +the morning, 'he was to lunch standing up or anyhow, as she +had no time for parade that day.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II" ></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR TRACY.</h2> + + +<p>Although it was a morning in October, the grass in +the park was as green as in early June, while the +flowers in the beds and borders, the geraniums, the +phlox, the stocks, and verbenas were handsomer, if possible, +than they had been in the summer-time: for the rain, which +had fallen almost continually during the month of September, +had kept them fresh and bright. Here and there the scarlet +and golden tints of autumn were beginning to show on the +trees; but this only added a new charm to a place which was +noted for its beauty, and was the pride and admiration of the +town.</p> + +<p>And yet Mrs. Frank Tracy, who stood on the wide piazza, +looking after a carriage which was moving down the avenue +which led through the park to the highway, did not seem as +happy as the mistress of that house ought to have been, standing +there in the clear, crisp morning, with a silken wrapper +trailing behind her, a coquettish French cap on her head, and +costly jewels on her short, fat hands, which once were not as +white and soft as they were now. For Mrs. Frank Tracy, as +Dorothy Smith, had known what hard labor and poverty +meant, and slights, too, because of the poverty and labor. Her +mother was a widow, sickly and lame, and Dorothy in her girlhood +had worked in the cotton mills at Langley, and bound +shoes for the firm of Newell & Brothers, and had taught a district +school, 'by way of elevating herself,' but the elevation did +not pay, and she went back to the mills in the day-time and +her shoes at night, and rebelled at the fate which had made her +so poor and seemed likely to keep her so.</p> + +<p>But there was something better in store for her than binding +shoes, or even teaching a district school, and, from the time +when young Frank Tracy came to Langley as clerk in the +Newell firm, Dorothy's life was changed and her star began to +rise. They both sang in the choir, standing side by side, and +sometimes using the same book, and once or twice their hands +met as both tried to turn the leaves together. Dorothy's were +red and rough, and not nearly as delicate as those of Frank, +who had been in a store all his life: and still there was a magnetism +in their touch which sent a thrill through the young +man's veins, and made him for the first time look critically at +his companion.</p> + +<p>She was very pretty, he thought, with bright black eyes, a +healthful bloom, and a smile and blush which went straight to +his heart and made him her slave at once. In three months' +time they were married and commenced housekeeping in a very +unostentatious way, for Frank had nothing but his salary to +depend upon. But he was well connected, and boasted some +blue blood, which, in Dorothy's estimation, made amends for +lack of money. The Tracys of Boston were his distant relatives, +and he had a rich bachelor uncle who spent his winters +in New Orleans and his summers in Shannondale, at Tracy +Park, on which he had lavished fabulous sums of money. +From this uncle Frank had expectations, though naturally the +greater part of his fortune would go to his god-son and name-sake, +Arthur Tracy, who was Frank's elder brother, and as unlike +him as one brother could well be unlike another.</p> + +<p>Arthur was scholarly in his tastes, quiet and gentlemanly in +his manners, with a musical voice which won him friends at +once, while in his soft black eyes there was a peculiar look of +sadness, as if he were brooding over something which filled him +with regret. Frank was very proud of his brother, and with +Dorothy felt that he was honored when, six months after their +marriage, he came for a day or so to visit them, and with him +his intimate friend Harold Hastings, an Englishman by birth, +but so thoroughly Americanized as to pass unchallenged for a +native. There was a band of crape on Arthur's hat, and his +manner was like one trying to be sorry, while conscious of a +great inward feeling of resignation, if not content. The rich +uncle was dead. He had died suddenly in Paris, where he had +gone on business, and the whole of his vast fortune was left to +his nephew Arthur—not a farthing to Frank, not even the +mention of his name in the will: and when Dorothy heard it +she put her white apron over her face, and cried as if her heart +would break. They were so poor, she and Frank, and they +wanted so many things, and the man who could have helped +them was dead and had left them nothing. It was hard, and +she might not have made the young heir very welcome if he +had not ensured her that he should do something for her husband. +And he kept his word, and in course of time bought out +a grocery in Langley and put Frank in it, and paid the mortgage +on his house, and gave him a thousand dollars, and invited +them for a few days to visit him; and then it would +seem as if he forgot them entirely; for with his friend Harold +he settled himself at Tracy Park, and played the role of the +grand gentleman to perfection.</p> + +<p>Dinner parties and card parties, where it was said the play +was for money, and where Arthur always allowed himself to +lose and his friends to win; races and hunts were of frequent +occurrence at Tracy Park, where matters generally were managed +on a magnificent scale, and created a great deal of talk +among the plain folks of Shannondale, whose only dissipation +then was going to church twice on Sunday and to the cattle +show once each year.</p> + +<p>Few ladies ever graced these festivities, for Arthur was very +aristocratic in his feelings, and with two or three exceptions, +held himself aloof from the people of Shannondale. It was +said, however, that sometimes, when he and his friend were +alone, there was the sweep of a white dress and the gleam of +golden hair in the parlor, where sweet Amy Crawford, daughter +of the housekeeper, played and sang her simple ballads to the +two gentlemen, who always treated her with as much deference +as if she had been a queen, instead of a poor young girl dependent +for her bread upon her own and her mother's exertions. +But beyond the singing in the twilight Amy never advanced, +and so far as her mother knew she had never for a +single instant been alone with either of the gentlemen. How, +then, was the household electrified one morning when it was +found that Amy had fled, and that Harold Hastings was the +companion of her flight?</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I wanted to tell you,' Amy wrote to her mother in the note left +on her dressing table. 'I wanted to tell you and be married at +home, but Mr. Hastings would not allow it. It would create trouble, +he said, between himself and Mr. Tracy, who I may confess +to you in confidence, asked me twice to be his wife, and when I refused, +without giving him a reason, for I dared not tell him of my +love for his friend, he was so angry and behaved so strangely, and +there was such a look in his eyes, that I was afraid of him, and it +was this fear, I think, which made me willing to go away secretly +with Harold and be married in New York. We are going to Europe; +shall sail to-morrow morning at nine o'clock in the Scotia. The +marriage ceremony will be performed before we go on board. I +shall write as soon as we reach Liverpool. You must forgive me, +mother, and I am sure you would not blame me, if you knew how +much I love Mr. Hastings. I know he is poor, and that I might +be mistress of Tracy Park, but I love Harold best. It is ten o'clock, +and the train, you know, passes at eleven; so I must say good-bye.</p> + +<p>'Yours lovingly,</p> + +<p>'Amy Crawford, now, but when you read this,</p> + +<p>'Amy Hastings.'</p></div> + +<p>This was Amy's letter which her mother found upon entering +her room after waiting more than an hour for her daughter's +appearance at the breakfast, which they always took by +themselves. To say that she was shocked and astonished would +but faintly portray the state of her mind as she read that her +beautiful young daughter had gone with Harold Hastings, +whom she had never liked, for though he was handsome, and +agreeable, and gentlemanly as a rule, she knew him to be thoroughly +selfish and indolent, and she trembled for her daughter's +happiness when a little time had quenched the ardor of his passion. +Added to this was another thought which made her brain +reel for a moment an she thought what might have been. +Arthur Tracy had wished to make Amy his wife, and mistress +of Tracy Park, which she would have graced so well, for in all +the town there was not a fairer, sweeter girl than Amy Crawford, +or one better beloved.</p> + +<p>It did not matter that she was poor, and her mother was only +a housekeeper. She had never felt a slight on that account, +and had been reared as carefully and tenderly as the daughters +of the rich, and if away down, in her mother's heart there had +been a half defined hope that some time the master of Tracy +Park might turn his attention to her, it had been hidden so +closely that Mrs. Crawford scarcely knew of it herself until +she learned what her daughter was and what she might have +been. But it was too late now. There was no turning back +the wheels of fate.</p> + +<p>Forcing herself to be as calm as possible, she took the note +to Arthur, who had breakfasted alone, and was waiting impatiently +in the library for the appearance of his friend.</p> + +<p>'Lazy dog!' Mrs. Crawford heard him say, as she approached +the open door. 'Does he think he has nothing to do +but to sleep? We were to start by this time, and he in bed +yet!'</p> + +<p>'Are you speaking of Mr. Hastings?' Mrs. Crawford asked, +as she stepped into the room.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' was his crisp and haughty reply, as if he resented the +question, and her presence there.</p> + +<p>He could be very proud and stern when he felt like it, and +one of these moods was on him now, but Mrs. Crawford did not +heed it, and sinking into a chair, for she felt that she could not +stand and face him, she began:</p> + +<p>'I came to tell you of Mr. Hastings and—Amy. She did +not come to breakfast, and I found this note in her room. She +has gone to New York with him. They took the eleven o'clock +train last night. They are to be married this morning, and sail +in the Scotia for Europe.'</p> + +<p>She had told her story, and paused for the result, which was +worse than she had expected.</p> + +<p>For a moment Arthur Tracy stood staring at her, while his +face grew white as ashes, and into his dark eyes, usually so soft +and mild, there came a fiery gleam like that of a madman, as he +seemed for a time to be.</p> + +<p>'Amy gone with Harold, my friend!' he said at last. 'Gone +to New York! Gone to be married! Traitors! Vipers! Both +of them. Curse them! If he were here I'd shoot him like a +dog; and she—I believe I would kill her.'</p> + +<p>He was walking the floor rapidly, and to Mrs. Crawford it +seemed as if he really were unsettled in his mind, he talked so +incoherently and acted so strangely.</p> + +<p>'What else did she say?' he asked, suddenly, stopping and +confronting her. 'You have not told me all. Did she speak +of me? Let me see the note,' and he held his hand for it.</p> + +<p>For a moment Mrs. Crawford hesitated, but as he grew more +and more persistent she suffered him to take it, and then watched +him as he read it, white the veins on his forehead began to +swell until they stood out like a dark blue net-work against his +otherwise pallid face.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he snapped between his white teeth. 'I did ask her +to be my wife, and she refused, and with her soft, kittenish +ways made me more in love with her than ever, and more her +dupe. I never suspected Harold, and when I told him of my +disappointment, for I never kept a thing from him—traitor that +he was—he laughed at me for losing my heart to my housekeeper's +daughter! I, who, he said, might marry the greatest +lady in the land. I could have knocked him down for his +sneer at Amy, and I wish now I had, the wretch! He will not +marry your daughter, madam; and if he does not I will kill +him!'</p> + +<p>He was certainly mad, and Mrs. Crawford shrank away from +him an from something dangerous, and going to her room took +her bed in a fit of frightful hysterics. This was followed by a +state of nervous prostration, and for a few days she neither saw, +nor heard of, nor inquired for Mr. Tracy. At the end of the +fourth day, however, she was told by the house-maid that he +had that morning packed his valise and, without a word to any +one, had taken the train for New York. A week went by, and +then there came a letter from him, which ran as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'New York, May ——, 18—.</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Crawford:—I am off for Europe to-morrow, and when I +shall return is a matter of uncertainty. They are married; or at +least I suppose so, for I found a list of the passengers who sailed in +the Scotia, and the names, Mr. and Mrs. Hastings, were in it. So +that saves me from breaking the sixth commandment, as I should +have done if he hid played Amy false. I may not make myself +known to them, but I shall follow them, and if he harms a hair of +her head I shall shoot him yet. My brother Frank is to live at +Tracy Park. That will suit his wife, and as you will not care to +stay with her, I send you a deed of that cottage in the lane by the +wood where the gardener now lives. It is a pretty little place, and +Amy liked it well. We used to meet there sometimes, and more +than once I have sat with her on that seat under the elm tree, and +it was there I asked her to be my wife. Alas! I loved her so much, +and I love her still as I can never love another woman, and I could +have made her so happy; but that is past, and I can only watch +her at a distance. When I have anything to communicate, I will +write again.</p> + +<p>'Yours truly, 'Arthur Tracy.'</p> + +<p>'P.S.—Take all the furniture in your room and Amy's, and +whatever else is needful for your house. I shall tell Colvin to give +you a thousand dollars, and when you want more let him know, I +shall never forget that you are Amy's mother.</p></div> + +<p>This was Arthur's letter to Mrs. Crawford, while to his brother +he wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Dear Frank:—I am going to Europe for an indefinite length +of time. Why I go it matters not to you or any one. I go to suit +myself, and I want you to sell out your business at Langley and live +at Tracy Park, where you can see to things as if they were your +own. You will find everything straight and square, for Colvin is +honest and methodical. He knows all about the bonds, and mortgages, +and stocks, so you cannot do better than to retain him in +your service, overseeing matters yourself, of course, and drawing +for your salary what you think right and necessary for your support +and for keeping up the place as it ought to be kept up. I enclose +a power of attorney. When I want money I shall call upon +Colvin. I may be gone for years and perhaps forever.</p> + +<p>'I shall never marry, and when I die, what I have will naturally +go to you. We have not been to each other much like brothers for +the past few years, but I do not forget the old home in the mountains +where we were boys together, and played, and quarreled, and +slept up under the roof, where the blankets were hung to keep the +snow from sifting through the rafters upon our bed.</p> + +<p>'And, Frank, do you remember the bitter mornings, when the +thermometer was below zero, and we performed our ablutions in +the wood-shed, and the black-eye you gave me once for telling +mother that you had not washed yourself at all, it was so cold? +She sent you from the table, and made you go without your breakfast, +and we had ham and johnny-cake toast that morning, too. +That was long ago, and our lives are different now. There are marble +basins, with silver chains and stoppers, at Tracy Pack, and you +can have a hot bath every day if you like, in a room which would +not shame Caracalla himself. And I know you will like it all, and +Dolly, too; but don't make fools of yourselves. Nothing stamps a +person as a <i>come-up</i> from the scum so soon as airs and ostentation. +Be quiet and modest, as if you had always lived at Tracy Park. +Imitate Squire Harrington and Mr. St. Claire. They are the true +gentlemen, and were to the manner born. Be kind to Mrs. Crawford. +She is a lady in every sense of the word, for she comes of +good New England stock.</p> + +<p>'And now, good-bye. I shall write sometimes, but not often.</p> + +<p>'Your brother,</p> + +<p>'Arthur Tracy.'</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III" ></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h2>MR. AND MRS. FRANK TRACY.</h2> + + +<p>Mr. Frank, in his small grocery store at Langley, was +weighing out a pound of butter for the Widow Simpson, +who was haggling with him about the price, +when his brother's letter was brought to him by the boy who +swept his store and did errands for him. But Frank was too +busy just then to read it. There was a circus in the village that +day, and it brought the country people into the town in larger +numbers than usual. Naturally, many of them paid Frank a +visit in the course of the morning, so that it was not until he +went home to his dinner that be even thought of the letter, +which was finally brought to his mind by his wife's asking if +there was any news.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Frank was always inquiring for and expecting news, but +she was not prepared for what this day brought her. Neither +was her husband, and when he read his brother's letter, which +he did twice to assure himself that he was not mistaken, he sat +for a moment perfectly bewildered, and staring at his wife, who +was putting his dinner upon the table.</p> + +<p>'Dolly,' he gasped at last, when he could speak at all—'Dolly, +what do you think? Just listen. Arthur is going to +Europe, to stay forever, perhaps, and has left us Tracy Park. +We are going there to live, and you will be as grand a lady as +Mrs. Atherton, of Brier Hill; or that young girl at Collingwood.'</p> + +<p>Dolly had a platter of ham and eggs in her hand, and she +never could tell, though she often tried to do so, what prevented +her from dropping the whole upon the floor. She did spill some +of the fat upon her clean tablecloth, she put the dish down so +suddenly, and sinking into a chair, demanded what her husband +meant. Was he crazy, or what?</p> + +<p>'Not a bit of it,' he replied, recovering himself and beginning +to realize the good fortune which had come to him. 'We +are rich people, Dolly. Read for yourself;' and he passed her +the letter, which she seemed to understand better than he had +done.</p> + +<p>'Why, yes,' she said. 'We are going to Tracy Park to live; +but that doesn't make us rich. It is not ours.'</p> + +<p>'I know that,' her husband replied. 'But we shall enjoy it +all the same, and hold our heads with the best of them. Besides, +don't you see, Arthur gives me <i>carte blanche</i> as to pay for my +services, and, though I shall do right, it is not in human nature +that I should not feather my nest when I have a chance. Some +of that money ought to have been mine. I shall sell out at +once if I can find a purchaser, and if I cannot, I shall rent the +grocery and move out of this hole double quick.'</p> + +<p>His ideas were growing faster than those of his wife, who was +attached to Langley and its people, and shrank a little from the +grander opening before her. She had once spent a few days at +Tracy Park, as Arthur's guest, and had felt great restraint even +in the presence of Mrs. Crawford and Amy, whom she recognized +as ladies notwithstanding their position in the house. On +that occasion she had, with her brother-in-law, been invited to +dine at Brier Hill, the country-seat of Mrs. Grace Atherton, a +gay widow, whose dash and style had completely overawed the +plain, matter-of-fact Dolly, who did not know what half the +dishes were, or what she was expected to do. But, by watching +Arthur, and declining some things which she felt sure were +beyond her comprehension, she managed tolerably well, though +when the dinner was over, and she could breathe freely again, +she found that the back of her new silk gown was wet with +perspiration, which had oozed from every pore during the hour +and a half she had sat at the table. And even then her troubles +were not ended, for coffee was served in the drawing-room, and +as Arthur took his clear, she did not know whether she was +expected to do the same or not, but finally ventured to say she +would have hers with 'trimmin's.' There was a mischievous +twinkle in Mrs. Atherton's eyes which disconcerted her so +much that she spilled her coffee in her lap, and felt, as she afterward +told a friend to whom she was describing the dinner, as if +she could have been knocked down with a feather.</p> + +<p>'Such folderol!' she said. 'Changing your plates all the +time—eating peas in the winter greener than grass, with +nothing under the sun with them, and drinking coffee out of a +cup about as big as a thimble. Give me the good old-fashioned +way, I say, with peas and potatoes, and meat, and things, and +cups that will hold half a pint and have some thickness that +you can feel in your mouth.'</p> + +<p>And now she was to exchange the good, old-fashioned way +for what she termed 'folderol,' and for a time she did not like +it. But her husband was so delighted and eager that he succeeded +in impressing her with some of his enthusiasm, and after +he had returned to his grocery, and her dishes were washed, she +removed her large kitchen apron, and pulling down the sleeves +of her dress, went and stood before the mirror, where she examined +herself critically and not without some degree of +complacency.</p> + +<p>Her hair was black and glossy, or would be if she had time +to care for it as it ought to be cared for; her eyes were bright, +and perhaps in time she might learn to use them as Mrs. +Atherton used hers.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Atherton stood as the criterion for everything elegant +and fashionable, and naturally it was with her that she compared +herself.</p> + +<p>'She is older than I am,' she said to herself; 'there are crow-tracks +around her eyes, and her complexion is not a bit better +than mine was before I spoiled it with soap-suds, and stove +heat, and everything else.'</p> + +<p>Then she looked at her hands, but they were red and rough, +and the nails were broken and not at all like the nails which +an expert has polished for an hour or more. Mrs. Atherton's +diamond rings would be sadly out of place on Dolly's fingers, +but time and abstinence from work would do much for them, +she reflected, and after all it would be nice to live in a grand +house, ride in a handsome carriage, and keep a hired girl to do +the heavy work. So, on the whole, she began to feel quite reconciled +to her change of situation, and to wonder how she +ought to conduct herself in view of her future position. She +had intended going to the circus that night, but she gave that +up, telling her husband that it was a second-class amusement +any way, and she did not believe that either Mrs. Atherton or +the young lady at Collingwood patronized such places. So they +staid at home and talked together of what they should do at +Tracy Park, and wondered if it was their duty to ask all their +Langley friends to visit them. Mrs. Frank, as the more democratic +of the two, decided that it was. She was not going to +begin by being <i>stuck up</i>, she said, and when at last she left +Langley four weeks later, every man, woman, and child of her +familiar acquaintance in town had been heartily invited to call +upon her at Tracy Park if ever they came that way.</p> + +<p>Frank had disposed of his business at a reasonable price, and +had rented his house with all the furniture, except such articles +as his wife insisted upon taking with her. The bureau, and +bedstead, and chairs which she and Frank had bought together +in Springfield just before their marriage, the Boston rocker her +mother had given her, and in which the old mother had sat +until the day she died, the cradle in which she had rocked her +first baby boy who was lying in the Langley grave-yard, were dear +to the wife and mother, and though her husband told her she +could have no use for them at Tracy Park, where the furniture +was of the costliest kind, and that she would probably put them +in the servants' rooms or attic, there was enough of sentiment +in her nature to make her cling to them as something of the +past, and so they were boxed up and forwarded by freight to +Tracy Park, whither Mr. and Mrs. Tracy followed them a week +later.</p> + +<p>The best dressmaker in Langley had been employed upon +the wardrobe of Mrs. Frank, who, in her travelling dress of +some stuff goods of a plaided pattern, too large and too bright +to be quite in good taste, felt herself perfectly <i>au fait</i> as the +mistress of Tracy Park, until she reached Springfield, where +Mrs. Grace Atherton, accompanied by a tall, elegant looking +young lady, entered the car and took a seat in front of her. +Neither of the ladies noticed her, but she recognized Mrs. Atherton +at once and guessed that her companion was the young lady +from Collingwood, who, rumor said, was soon to marry her +guardian, Mr. Richard Harrington, although he was old enough +to be her father.</p> + +<p>Dolly scanned both the ladies very closely, noting every article +of their costumes from their plain linen collars and cuffs to +their quiet dresses of gray, which seemed so much more in +keeping with the dusty cars than her buff and purple plaid.</p> + +<p>'I ain't like them, and never shall be,' she said to herself, +with a bitter sense of her inferiority pressing upon her. 'I +ain't like them, and never shall be, if I live to be a hundred. +I wish we were not going to be grand. I shall never get used +to it,' and the hot tears sprang to her eyes as she longed +to be back in the kitchen where she had worked so hard.</p> + +<p>But Dolly did not know then how readily people can forget +the life of toil behind them and adapt themselves to one of +luxury and ease; and with her the adaptability commenced in +some degree the moment Shannondale station was reached, and +she saw the handsome carriage waiting for them. A carriage +finer far and more modern than the one from Collingwood, in +which Mrs. Atherton and the young lady took their seats, +laughing and chatting so gayly that they did not see the woman +in the big plaid who stood watching them with a rising feeling +of jealousy and resentment as she thought of Mrs. Atherton, +'She does not even notice me.'</p> + +<p>But when the Tracy carriage drew up, Grace Atherton saw +and recognized her, and whispered, in an aside to her companion:</p> + +<p>'For goodness' sake, Edith, look! There are the Tracys, +our new neighbors.' Then she bowed to Mrs. Tracy, and said: +'Ah, I did not know you were on the train.'</p> + +<p>'I sat right behind you,' was Mrs. Tracy's rather ungracious +reply: and then, not knowing whether she ought to do it or +not, she introduced her husband.</p> + +<p>'Yes, Mr. Tracy—how do you do?' was Mrs. Atherton's response; +but she did not in return introduce the young girl, +whose dark eyes were scanning the strangers so curiously, and +this Dolly took as a slight and inwardly resented it.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Atherton had spoken to her and that was something, +and helped to keep her spirits up as she was driven along +the turnpike to the entrance of the park.</p> + +<p>On the occasion of Mrs. Frank's first and only visit to her +brother-in-law it was winter, and everything was covered with +snow. But it was summer now, the month of roses, and fragrance, +and beauty, and as the carriage passed up the broad, +smooth avenue which led to the house, Dolly's eyes wandered +over the well-kept lawn, sweet with the scent of newly-mown +grass, the parteries of flowers and shrubs, the winding walks +and clumps of evergreens here and there formed into fancy +rooms, with rustic seats and tables under the over-hanging +boughs; and when she reflected that all this was hers to enjoy +for many years, and perhaps for her life-time, she felt the first +stirring of that pride, and satisfaction, and self-assertion which +was to grow upon her so rapidly and transform her from the +plain, unpretentious woman who had washed, and ironed, and +baked, and mended in the small house in Langley into the arrogant, +haughty lady of fashion, who courted only the rich and +looked down upon her less fortunate neighbors. Now, however, +she was very meek and humble, and trembled as she +alighted from the carriage before the great stone house which +was to be her home.</p> + +<p>'Isn't this grand, Dolly?' her husband said, rubbing his +hands together and looking about him complacently.</p> + +<p>'Yes, very grand,' Dolly answered him; but somehow it +makes me feel weaker than water. I suppose, though, I shall +get accustomed to it.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV" ></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h2>GETTING ACCUSTOMED TO IT.</h2> + + +<p>In the absence of Mrs. Crawford, who for a week or more +had been domesticated in the cottage in the lane, as the +house was designated which Arthur had given her, there +was no one to receive the strangers except the cook and the +house-maid, and as Mrs. Tracy entered the hall the two came +forward, bristling with criticism, and ready to resent anything +like interference in the new-comers.</p> + +<p>The servants at the park had not been pleased with the change +of administration. That Mr. Arthur was a gentleman whom it +was an honor to serve, they all conceded; but with regard to the +new master and mistress, they had grave doubts. Although +none of them had been at the park on the occasion of Mrs. +Tracy's first visit there, many rumors concerning her had reached +them, and she would scarcely have recognized herself could she +have heard the remarks of which she was the subject. That she +had worked in a factory—which was true—was her least offence, +for it was whispered that once, when the winter was unusually +severe, and work scarce, she had gone to a soup-house, +and even asked and procured coal from the poor-master for herself +and her mother.</p> + +<p>This was not true, and would have argued nothing against +her as a woman if it had been, but the cook and the house-maid +believed it, and passed sundry jokes together while preparing +to meet 'the pauper,' as they designated her.</p> + +<p>In this state of things their welcome could not be very cordial, +but Mrs. Tracy was too tired and too much excited, to observe +their demeanor particularly. They were civil, and the +house was in perfect order, and so much larger and handsomer +than she had thought it to be, that she felt bewildered and embarrassed, +and said 'Yes 'em,' and 'No, ma'am,' to Martha, the +cook, and told Sarah, who was waiting at dinner, that she +'might as well sit down in a chair as to stand all the time; she +presumed she was tired with so many extra steps to take.'</p> + +<p>But Sarah knew her business, and persisted in standing, and +inflicting upon the poor woman as much ceremony as possible, +and then, in the kitchen, she repeated to the cook and the +coachman, with sundry embellishments of her own, the particulars +of the dinner, amid peals of laughter at the expense of the +would-be lady, who had said 'she could just as soon have her +salad with her other things, and save washing go many dishes.'</p> + +<p>It was hardly possible that mistress and maids would stay together +long, especially as Mrs. Tracy, when a little more assured, +and a little less in awe of her servants, began to show a disposition +to know by personal observation what was going on in +the kitchen, and to hint broadly that there was too much waste +here and expenditure there, and quite too much company at all +hours of the day.</p> + +<p>'She didn't propose to keep a boarding-house,' she said, 'or +to support families outside, and the old woman who came so often +to the basement door with a big basket under her cloak +must discontinue her calls.'</p> + +<p>Then there occurred one of those Hibernian cyclones which +sweep everything before them, and which in this instance swept +Mrs. Tracy out of the kitchen for the time being, and the cook +out of the house. Her self-respect, she said, would not allow +her to stay with a woman who knew just how much coal was +burned, how much butter was used, and how much bread was +thrown away, and who objected to giving a bite now and then +to a poor old woman, who, poor as she was, had never yet been +helped by the poor-master, or gone to a soup-house like my +lady!</p> + +<p>Martha's departure was followed by that of Sarah, and then +Mrs. Tracy was alone, and for a few days enjoyed herself immensely, +doing her own work, cooking her own dinner, and eating +it when and where she liked—in the kitchen mostly, as that +kept the flies from the dining-room, and saved her many steps, +for Dolly was beginning to find that there was a vast difference +between keeping a house with six rooms and one with twenty +or more.</p> + +<p>Her husband urged her to try a new servant, saying there was +no necessity for her to make a slave of herself: but she refused +to listen. Economy was a part of her nature, and besides that +she meant to show them that she was perfectly independent of +the whole tribe; the <i>tribe</i> and <i>them</i> referring to the hired +girls +alone, for she knew no one else in town.</p> + +<p>Nobody had called except the clergyman, not even Mrs. +Crawford, whose friendship and possible advice Mrs. Tracy had +counted upon, and with whom she knew she should feel more +at ease than with Mrs. Atherton from Brier Hill, or Miss Hastings +from Collingwood. She had seen both the last named +ladies at church and had a nod from Mrs. Atherton, and that +was all the recognition she had received from her neighbors up +to the hot July morning, a week or more after the house-maid's +departure, when she was busy in the kitchen canning black +raspberries, of which the garden was full.</p> + +<p>Like many housekeepers who do their own work, Dolly was +not very particular with regard to her dress in the morning, +and on this occasion her hair was drawn from her rather high +forehead, and twisted into a hard knot at the back of her head; +her calico dress hung straight dawn, for she was minus hoops, +which in those days were worn quite large; her sleeves were +rolled above her elbows, and, as a protection against the juice of +the berries, she wore a huge apron made of sacking. In this +garb, and with no thought of being interrupted, she kept on with +her work until the last kettle of fruit, was boiling and bubbling +on the stove, and she was just glancing at the clock to see if it +were time to put over the peas for dinner, when there came a +quick, decisive ring at the front door.</p> + +<p>'Who can that be?' she said to herself, as she wiped her +hands upon her apron. 'Some peddler or agent, I dare say. +Why couldn't he come round to the kitchen, door, I'd like to +know?'</p> + +<p>She had been frequently troubled with peddlers and agents +of all kinds, and feeling certain that this was one—ringing the +bell a second time, as if in a hurry—she started for' the door in +no very amiable frame of mind, for peddlers were her abomination. +Something ailed the lock or key, which resisted all her +efforts to turn it; and at last, putting her mouth to the keyhole, +she called out, rather sharply:</p> + +<p>'Go to the back door: I cannot open this,'</p> + +<p>Then, as she caught a whiff of burnt syrup, she hurried to the +kitchen, where she found that her berries had boiled over, and +were hissing and sputtering on the hot stove, raising a cloud of +smoke so dense that she did not see the person who stood on +the threshold of the door until a voice wholly unlike that of +any peddler or agent said to her;</p> + +<p>'Good morning, Mrs. Tracy. I hope I am not intruding.'</p> + +<p>Then she turned, and to her horror and surprise, saw Grace +Atherton, attired in the coolest and daintiest of morning costumes, +with a jaunty French bonnet set coquettishly upon her +head, and a silver card-case in her hand.</p> + +<p>For the moment Dolly's wits forsook her and she stood staring +at her visitor, who, perfectly at her ease, advanced into the +room and said:</p> + +<p>'I hope you will excuse me, Mrs. Tracy, for this morning call +I came—'</p> + +<p>But she did not finish the sentence, for by this time Dolly +had recovered herself a little, and throwing off her apron, she +replied, nervously:</p> + +<p>'Not at all—not at all, I supposed you were some peddler +or agent when I sent you to this door. They are the plague of +my life, and think I'll buy everything and give to everything +because Arthur did. I am doing my own work, you see. +Come into the parlor;' and she led the way into the dark +drawing-room, and where the chairs and sofas were surrounded +in white linen, looking like so many ghosts in the dim, uncertain +light.</p> + +<p>But Dolly opened one of the windows, and pushing back the +blinds, let in a flood of sunshine, so strong and bright that she +at once closed the shutters, saying, apologetically, that she did +not believe in fading the carpets, if they were not her own. +Then she sat down upon an ottoman and faced her visitor, who +was regarding her with a mixture of amusement and wonder.</p> + +<p>Grace Atherton was an aristocrat to her very finger-tips, and +shrank from contact with anything vulgar and unsightly, and, +to her mind, Mrs. Tracy represented both, and seemed sadly out +of place in that handsome room, with her sleeves rolled up and +the berry stains on her hands and face. Grace knew nothing +by actual experience of canning berries, or of aprons made of +sacking, or of bare arms, except it were of an evening when +they showed white and fair against her satin gown, with bands +of gold and precious stones upon them, and she felt that there +was an immeasurable distance between herself and this woman, +whom she had come to see partly on business and partly because +she thought she must call upon her for the sake of Arthur +Tracy, the former occupant of the park.</p> + +<p>Grace and Arthur had been fast friends, and Brier Hill was +almost the only place where he had visited on anything like +terms of intimacy. Indeed, it was rumored by the busy knowing +ones of Shannondale that, had the pretty widow been six +years his junior instead of his senior, she would have left no +art untried to win him. But here the wise ones were in fault, +for though Grace Atherton's heart was not buried in her husband's +grave, and, in fact, had never been her husband's at all, +it was given to one who, though he cared for it once, did not +prize it now, for, with all the intensity of his noble nature, +Richard Harrington, of Collingwood; loved the beautiful girl +whom, years ago, he had taken to his home as his child, and +whom, it was said, he was to marry. But if the belief that the +love she once refused and which she would fain recover was +lost to her forever rankled in her breast, Grace never made a +sign, and laughed as gayly and looked almost as young and +handsome as in the days when Richard was wooing her in the +pleasant old English town across the sea. She had loved +Richard then, but, alas! loved money more, and she chose a +richer man, old enough to be her father, who had died when +she was twenty-one and left her the possessor of nearly half a +million, every dollar of which she would have given to have +recalled the days which were gone forever.</p> + +<p>Grace had been intending to call upon Mrs. Tracy ever since +she came to the park. 'Not,' as she said to her friend, Edith +Hastings, 'for the woman's sake, for she knew her to be vulgar: +but because she was a neighbor and the sister-in-law of +Arthur Tracy,' And so at last she came, partly out of compliment +and partly on business, into which last she plunged at +once. She was going to the mountains with Mr. Harrington +and Miss Hastings: her cook, who had been with her seven +years, had gone to attend a sick mother, and had recommended +as a fit person to take her place the woman who had just left +Tracy Park.</p> + +<p>'I do not like to take a servant without first knowing something +of her from her last employer,' she said: 'and, if you do +not mind, I should like to ask if Martha left for anything very +bad.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy colored scarlet, and for a moment was silent. +She could not tell that fine lady in the white muslin dress, with +seas of lace and embroidery, that Martha had called her <i>second +classy</i>, and <i>stingy</i> and <i>strooping</i>, and <i>mean</i>, +because +she objected +to the amount of coal burned, and bread thrown away, and +time consumed at the table, besides turning down the gas in the +kitchen when she thought it too light, to say nothing of turning +it off at the meter at ten o'clock, just when the servants +were beginning to enjoy themselves. All this she felt would +scarcely interest a person like Mrs. Atherton, who might sympathize +with Martha more than with herself, so she finally said:</p> + +<p>'Martha was saucy to me, and on the whole it was better +for them all to go; and so I am doing my own work.'</p> + +<p>'Doing your own work!' and Grace gave a little cry of surprise, +while her shoulders shrugged meaningly, and made Mrs. +Tracy almost as angry as she had been with Martha when she +called her mean and second-class. 'It cannot be possible that +you cook, and wash, and iron, and do everything,' Mrs. Atherton +continued. 'My dear Mrs. Tracy, you can never stand it +in a house like this, and Mr. Arthur would not like it if he +knew. Why he kept as many as six servants, and sometimes +more. Pray let me advise you, and commend to you a good +girl; who lived with me three years, and can do everything, +from dressing my hair to making a blanc-mange. I only parted +with her because she was sick, and now that she is well, her +place is filled. Try her, and do not make a servant of yourself. +It is not fitting that you should.'</p> + +<p>Grace was fond of giving advice, and had said more than she +intended saying when she began, but Mrs. Tracy, though annoyed, +was not angry, and consented to receive the girl who +had lived at Brier Hill three years, and who, she reflected, +could be of use to her in many ways.</p> + +<p>While sitting there in her soiled working dress talking to the +elegant Mrs. Atherton she had felt her inferiority more keenly +than she had ever done before, while at the same time she was +conscious that a new set of ideas and thoughts had taken possession +of her, reawaking in her the germ of that ambition to +be somebody which she had felt so often when a girl, and which +now was to bud and blossom, and bear fruit a hundred fold. +She would take the girl, and from her learn the ways of the +world as presented at Brier Hill. She would no longer wear +sacking aprons, and open the door herself. She would be more +like Grace Atherton, whom she watched admiringly as she went +down the walk to the handsome carriage waiting for her, with +driver and footman in tall hats and long coats on the box.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning of the fine lady into which Dolly finally +blossomed, and when that day Frank went home to his +dinner he noticed something in her manner which he could not +understand until she told him of Mrs. Atherton's call, and the +plight in which that lady had found her.</p> + +<p>'Served you right, Dolly,' Frank said, laughing till the tears +ran. 'You have no business to be digging round like a slave +when we are able to have what we like. Arthur said we were +to keep up the place us he had done, and that does not mean +that you should be a scullion. No, Dolly; have all the girls +you want, and hold up your head with the best of them. Get +a new silk gown, and return Mrs. Atherton's call at once, and +take a card and turn down one corner or the other, I don't +know which, but this girl of hers can tell you. Pump her dry +as a powder horn; find out what the quality do, and then do it, +and not bother about the expense. I am going in for a good +time, and don't mean to work either. I told Colvin this morning +that I thought I ought to draw a salary of about four thousand +a year, besides our living expenses, and though he looked +at me pretty sharp over his spectacles he said nothing. Arthur +is worth half a million, if he is worth a cent. So, go it, +Dolly, while you are young,' and in the exuberance of his joy +Frank kissed his wife on both cheeks, and then hurried back to +his office, where he spent most of his time trying to be a gentleman.</p> + +<p>That day they dined in the kitchen with a leaf of the table +turned up as they had done in Langley, but the next day they +had dinner in the dining-room, and were waited upon by the +new girl as well as it was possible for her to do with her mistress' +interference.</p> + +<p>'Never mind; Mr. Tracy's in a hurry. Give him his pie at +once,' she said, as Susan was about to clear the table preparatory +to the dessert, but she repented the speech when she saw +the look of surprise which the girl gave her and which expressed +more than words could have done.</p> + +<p>'Better let her run herself,' Frank said, when Susan had left +the room, 'and if she wants to take every darned thing off the +table and tip it over to boot, let her do it. If she has lived +three years with Mrs. Atherton, she knows what is what better +than we do.'</p> + +<p>'But it takes so long, and I have much to see to in this great +house,' Dolly objected, and her husband replied:</p> + +<p>'Get another girl, then; three of them if you like. What +matter how many girls we have so long as Arthur pays for +them, and he is bound to do that. He said so in his letter. +You are altogether too economical. I've told you so a hundred +times, and now there is no need of saving. I want to see you +a lady of silks and satins like Mrs. Atherton. Pump that girl. +I tell you, and find out what ladies do!'</p> + +<p>This was Frank's advice to his wife, and as far as in her lay +she acted upon it, and whatever Susan told her was done by +Mrs. Atherton at Brier Hill, she tried to do at Tracy Park: +all except staying out of the kitchen. That, from her nature, +she could not and would not do. Consequently she was constantly +changing cooks, and frequently took the helm herself, +to the great disgust of her husband, who managed at last to imbue +her with his own ideas of things.</p> + +<p>In course of time most of the neighbors who had any claim +to society called at the park, and among them Mrs. Crawford. +But Mrs. Tracy had then reached a point from which she looked +down upon one who had been housekeeper where she was now +mistress, and whose daughter's good name was under a cloud, +as there were some who did not believe that Harold Hastings +had ever made her his wife. When told that Mrs. Crawford +had asked for her Mrs. Tracy sent word that she was engaged, +and that if Mrs. Crawford pleased she would give her errand to +the girl.</p> + +<p>'I have no errand. I came to call,' was Mrs. Crawford's reply, +and she never crossed the threshold of her old home again +until the March winds were blowing and there was a little boy +in the nursery at the park.</p> + +<p>At the last moment the expected nurse had fallen sick, and +in his perplexity Mr. Tracy went to the cottage in the lane and +begged of Mrs. Crawford to come and care for his wife. Mrs. +Crawford was very proud, but she was poor, too, and as the +price per week which Frank offered her was four times as much +as she could earn by sewing, she consented at last and went as +nurse to the sick-room, and the baby, Tom, on whose little red +face she imprinted many a kiss for the sake of her daughter +who was coming home in June, and over whom the shadow of +hope and fear was hanging.</p> + +<p>Dolly Tracy's growth after it fairly commenced, was very +rapid, and when Mrs. Crawford went to her as nurse she had +three servants in her employ, besides the coachman, and was +imitating Mrs. Atherton to the best of her ability; and when, +early in the summer, she received the wedding cards of Edith +Hastings, the young lady from Collingwood, who had married +a Mr. St. Claire instead of her guardian, she felt that her position +was assured, and from that time her progress was onward and +upward until the October morning, ten years later, when our +story proper opens, and we see her standing upon the piazza of +her handsome house, with every sign of wealth and luxury +about her person, from the silken robe to the jewels upon her +soft, white hands, which once had washed her own dishes, and +canned berries in her own kitchen, where she had received +Grace Atherton, with her sleeves above her elbows.</p> + +<p>There were five servants in the house now, and they ran over +and against each other, and quarrelled, and gossipped, and worried +her life nearly out of her, until she was sometimes tempted +to send them away and do the work herself. But she was far +too great a lady for that. She dressed in silk and satin every +day, and drove in her handsome carriage, with her driver and +footman in tall hats and long coats. She was thoroughly up in +etiquette, and did not need Susan to tell her what to do. She +knew all about visiting cards, and dinner cards, and cards of +acceptance, and regret, and condolence, and she read much oftener +than she did her Bible a book entitled 'Habits of Good +Society.'</p> + +<p>Three children played in the nursery now, Tom, and Jack, +and baby Maude, and she kept a nurse constantly for them, and +strove with all her might to instil into their infant minds that +they were the Tracys of Tracy Park, and entitled to due respect +from their inferiors; and Tom, the boy of ten and a half, had +profited by her teaching, and was the veriest little braggart in +all Shannondale, boasting of his father's house, and his father's +money, without a word of the Uncle Arthur wandering no one +knew where, or cared particularly for that matter.</p> + +<p>Arthur had never been home since the day he quitted it to +look after Amy Crawford, now lying in the grave-yard of Shannondale, +under the shadow of the tall monument which Arthur's +money had bought. At first he had written frequently to Mrs. +Crawford, and occasionally to his brother, and his agent, Mr. +Colvin; then his letters came very irregularly, and sometimes a +year would intervene between them. Then he would write +every week, and he once told them not to be anxious if they did +not hear from him in a long time, as in case of his death he had +arranged to have the news communicated to his friends at once. +After this letter nothing had been heard from him for more +than two years, until the morning when his telegram came and +so greatly disturbed the mental equilibrium of Mr. Frank Tracy +that for an hour or more he sat staring into the street in a bewildered +kind of way, wondering what would be the result of +his brother's return, and if he should be required to give up the +investments he had made from the exorbitant sum he had +charged for looking after the place. Once he thought he would +ask Colvin's opinion; but he was a little afraid of the old man, +who had sometimes hinted that his salary was far greater than +the services rendered, but as Mr. Arthur, to whom he made reports +of the expenditures, had never objected, it was not for him +to do so, he said. And still Frank distrusted him, and decided +that, on the whole, his better plan was to wait, or at least to +consult no one but his wife, and he was glad when lunch-time +came, and he started home, where preparations were going forward +for the first large party they had ever given.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V" ></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h2>AT THE PARK.</h2> + + +<p>Frank Tracy had at first grown faster than his wife, and +the change in his manner had been more perceptible; +for with all her foolishness Dolly had a kind heart, and +a keen sense of right, and wrong, and justice than her husband. +She had opposed him stoutly when he raised his own +salary from $4,000 to $6,000 a year, on the plea that his services +were worth it, and that two thousand more or less was +nothing to Arthur; and when he was a candidate for the Legislature +she had protested loudly against his inviting to the house +and giving beer and cider to the men whose votes he wanted, +and for whom as men he did not care a farthing; but when he +came up for Congress she forgot all her scruples, and was as +anxious as himself to please those who could help him secure +the nomination and afterward the election. It was she who had +proposed the party, to which nearly everybody was to be invited, +from old Peterkin, with his powerful influence among +a certain class, and Widow Shipleigh with her four sons, to +Mr. and Mrs. St. Claire, from Grassy Spring, Squire Harrington, +from Collingwood, and Grace Atherton, from Brier Hill. Very +few who could in any way help Frank to a seat in Congress were +omitted from the list, whether Republican or Democrat, for +Frank was popular with both parties and expected help +from both. Over three hundred cards had been issued for +the party, which was the absorbing topic of conversation in +the whole town, and which brought white kids and white muslins +into great requisition, while swallow-tails and non swallow-tails +were discussed in the privacy of households, and discarded +or decided upon according to the length of the masculine purse +or the strength of the masculine resistance, for dress coats were +not then the rule in Shannondale. It was said that Mr. St. Claire +and Squire Harrington always wore them to dinner, but they +were the nobility <i>par excellence</i> of the town, and were expected +to do things differently from the middle class, who had +their bread to earn. Old Peterkin, however, whom Frank in +his soliloquy, had designated a <i>canal bummer</i>, had become a rich +man, and was resolved to show that he knew what was <i>au fait</i> +for the occasion; a new suit throughout, in the very latest +style, was in progress of making for him, and he had been +heard to say that 'Tracy should have his vote and that of fifty +more of the boys to pay for his ticket to the doin's'. This +speech, which was reported to Mrs. Tracy, reconciled her to the +prospect of receiving as a guest the coarsest, roughest man in +town, whose only recommendation was his money and the brute +influence he exercised over a certain class.</p> + +<p>Dolly has scarcely slept for excitement since the party had +been decided upon, and everything seemed to be moving on +very smoothly and in order. They were to have music, and +flowers, and a caterer from Springfield, where a lovely party-dress +for herself of peach-blow satin was making, and nothing occurred +of any importance to disturb her until the morning of +the day appointed for the party, when it seemed as if every +evil culminated at once. First, the colored boy who was to +wait in the upper hall came down with measles. Then +Grace Atherton drove round in her carriage to say that it +would be impossible for her to be present, as she had received +news from New York which made it necessary for her to go +there by the next train. She was exceedingly sorry, she said, +and for once in her life Grace was sincere. She <i>was</i> anxious +to attend the party, for, as she said to Edith St. Claire in confidence, +she wanted to see old Peterkin in his swallow-tail and +white vest, with a shirt-front as big as a platter. There was a +great deal of sarcasm and ridicule in Grace Atherton's nature, +but at heart she was kind and meant to be just, and after a +fashion really liked Mrs. Tracy, to whom she had been of service +in various ways, helping her to fill her new position more gracefully +than she could otherwise have done, and enlightening her +without seeming to do so on many points which puzzled her +sorely; on the whole they were good friends, and, after expressing +her regret that she could not be present in the evening, +Grace stood a few moments chatting familiarly and offering to +send over flowers from her greenhouse, and her own maid to +arrange Mrs. Tracy's hair and assist her in dressing. Then she +took her leave, and it was her carriage Mrs. Tracy was watching +as it went down the avenue, when little Harold Hastings +appeared around the corner of the house, and, coming up the +steps, took off his cap respectfully as he said:</p> + +<p>'Grandma sends you her compliments, and is very sorry that +she has rheumatism this morning and cannot come to-night to +help you. She thinks, perhaps, you can get Mrs. Mosher.'</p> + +<p>'Your grandmother can't come, when I depended so much +upon her, and she thinks I can get Mrs. Mosher, that termagant, +who would raise a mutiny in the kitchen in an hour!' Mrs. +Tracy said this so sharply that a flush mounted to the handsome +face of the boy, who felt as if he were in some way a culprit +and being reprimanded. 'She <i>must</i> come, if she does nothing +but sit in the kitchen and keep order,' was Mrs. Tracy's next +remark.</p> + +<p>'She can't,' Harold replied; 'her foot and ankle is all swelled +and aches so she almost cries. She is awful sorry, and so am I, +for I was coming with her to see the show.'</p> + +<p>This speech put a new idea into Mrs. Tracy's mind, and she +said to the boy:</p> + +<p>'How would you like to come anyway, and stay in the upper +hall, and tell the people where to go? The boy I engaged +has disappointed me. You are rather small for the place, but I +guess you'll do, and I will give you fifty cents.'</p> + +<p>'I'd like it first-rate,' Harold said, his face brightening at +the thought of earning fifty cents and seeing the show at the +same time.</p> + +<p>Half-dollars were not very plentiful with Harold, and he was +trying to save enough to buy his grandmother a pair of spectacles, +for he had heard her say that she could not thread her +needle as readily as she once did, and must have glasses +as soon as she had the money to spare. Harold had seen +a pair at the drug-store for one dollar, and, without knowing +at all whether they would fit his grandmother's eyes or +not, had asked the druggist to keep them until he had the +required amount. Fifty cents would just make it, and he +promised at once that he would come; but in an instant +there fell a shadow upon his face as he thought of <i>Tom</i>, his +tormentor, who worried him so much.</p> + +<p>'What is it?' Mrs. Tracy asked, as she detected in him a disposition +to reconsider.</p> + +<p>'Will Tom be up in the hall?' Harold asked.</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' Mrs. Tracy replied. 'He will be in the parlors +until ten o'clock, and then he will go to bed. Why do you +ask?'</p> + +<p>'Because,' Harold answered fearlessly, 'if he was to be there +I could not come; he chaffs me so and twits me with being poor +and living in a house his uncle gave us.'</p> + +<p>'That is very naughty in him, and I will see that he behaves +better in future,' said Mrs. Tracy, rather amused than other +wise at the boy's frankness.</p> + +<p>As the mention of the uncle reminded Harold of the telegram, +he took it from his pocket and handed it to her.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Tracy said I was to bring you this. It's from Mr. +Arthur, and he's coming to-night. I'm so glad, and grandma +will be, too!'</p> + +<p>If Mrs. Tracy heard the last of Harold's speech she did not +heed it, for she had caught the words that Arthur was coming +that night, and, for a moment, she felt giddy and faint, and her +hand shook so she could scarcely open the telegram.</p> + +<p>Arthur had been gone so long and left them in undisputed +possession of the park, that she had come to feel as if it belonged +to them by right, and she had grown so into a life of ease and +luxury, that to give it up now and go back to Langley seemed +impossible to her. She could see it all so plainly—the old life +of obscurity and toil in the little kitchen where she had eaten +her breakfast on winter mornings so near the stove that she +could cook her buckwheats on the griddle and transfer them to +her own and her husband's plates without leaving her seat. She +had been happy, or comparatively so there, she said to herself, +because she knew no better. But now she did know better, and +she ate her breakfast in an oak-paneled dining-room, with a waitress +at her elbow, and her buckwheats hot from a silver dish +instead of the smoking griddle. She had a governess for her +two boys, Tom and Jack, and a nurse for her little Maude, who, +in her ambitious heart, she hoped would one day marry Dick +St. Clair, the young heir of Grassy Spring.</p> + +<p>It never occurred to Dolly that they might possibly remain +at the park if Arthur did come home. She felt sure they could +not, for Arthur would hardly approve of his brother's stewardship +when he came to realize how much it had cost him. +They would have to leave, and this party she was giving would +be her first and last at Tracy Park. How she wished she had never +thought of it, or, having thought of it, that she had omitted from +the list those who, she knew, would be obnoxious to the foreign +brother, and who had only been invited for the sake of their political +influence, which would now be useless, for Frank Tracy +as a nobody, with very little money to spend, would not run as +well, even in his own party, as Frank Tracy of Tracy Park, with +thousands at his command if he chose to take them.</p> + +<p>'It is too bad, and I wish we could give up the party,' she +said aloud, forgetting in her excitement that Harold was +still standing there, gazing curiously at her. 'You here yet? I +thought you had gone!' she said, half angrily, as she recovered +herself a little and met the boy's wondering eyes.</p> + +<p>'Yes'm; but you ain't going to give the party up?' he said, +afraid of losing his half-dollar.</p> + +<p>'Of course not. How can I, with all the people invited?' she +asked, questioningly, and a little less sharply.</p> + +<p>'I don't know, unless I get a pony and go round and tell 'em +not to come,' Harold suggested, thinking he might earn his +fifty cents as easily that way as any other.</p> + +<p>But, much as Mrs. Tracy wished the party had never been +thought of, she could not now abandon it, and declining the +services of Harold and his pony, she again bade him go home, +with a charge that he should be on time in the evening, +adding, as she surveyed him critically:</p> + +<p>'If you have no clothes suitable, you can wear some of +Tom's. You are about his size.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you; I have my meetin' clothes, and do not want +Tom's,' was Harold's reply, as he walked away, thinking he +would go in rags before he would wear anything which belonged +to his enemy, Tom Tracy.</p> + +<p>The rest of the morning was passed by Mrs. Frank in a +most unhappy frame of mind, and she was glad when, at an +hour earlier than she had reason to expect him, her husband +came home.</p> + +<p>'Well, Dolly,' he said, the moment they were alone, 'this is +awfully unlucky, the whole business. If Arthur must come +home, why couldn't he have written in advance, and not take +us by surprise? Looks as if he meant to spring a trap on us, +don't it? And if he did, by Jove, he has caught us nicely. +It will be somewhat like the prodigal son, who heard the +sound of music and dancing, only I don't suppose Arthur +has spent his substance in riotous living, with not over nice +people; but there is no telling what he has been up to all +these years that he has not written to us. Perhaps he is married. +He said in his telegram, "Send to meet <i>us</i>." What +does that mean, if not a wife?'</p> + +<p>'A wife! Oh, Frank!' and with a great gasp Dolly sank +down upon the lounge near where she was standing, and +actually went into the hysterics her husband had prophesied.</p> + +<p>In reading the telegram she had not noticed the little +monosyllable '<i>us</i>,' which was now affecting her so powerfully. +Of course it meant a wife and possibly children, and her day +was surely over at Tracy Park. It was in vain that her husband +tried to comfort her, saying that they knew nothing +positively, except that Arthur was coming home and somebody +was coming with him; it might be a friend, or, what +was more likely, it might be a valet; and at all events he was +not going to cross Fox River till he reached it, when he might +find a bridge across it.</p> + +<p>But Frank's reasoning did not console his wife, whose hysterical +fit was succeeded by a racking headache, which by +night was almost unbearable. Strong coffee, aconite, brandy, +and belladonna, were all tried without effect. Nothing helped +her until she commenced her toilet, when in the excitement of +dressing she partly forgot her disquietude, and the pain in her +head grew leas. Still she was conscious of a feeling of wretchedness +and regret as she sat in her handsome boudoir and felt +that it might be for the last time—that on the morrow another +would be mistress where she had reigned so long.</p> + +<p>It was known in the house that Arthur was expected, and +some one with him, but no hint had been given of a wife, and +Mrs. Tracy had ordered separate rooms prepared for the +strangers, who were to arrive on the half-past ten train. How +she should manage to keep up and appear natural until that +time Mrs. Tracy did not know, and her face and eyes wore an +anxious, frightened look, which all her finery could not hide. +And still she was really very handsome and striking in her +dress of peach blow satin, and the bare arms which had once +been more familiar with soap-suds and dishwater than lace and +gold bracelets, looked very fair and girlish when at last she +descended to the drawing-room and stood waiting for the first +ring which would open the party.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI" ></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h2>THE COTTAGE IN THE LANE.</h2> + + +<p>It was called thus because it stood at the end of a broad, +grassy avenue or lane, which led from the park to the +entrance of the grounds of Collingwood, whose chimneys +and gables were distinctly visible in the winter when the trees +were stripped of their foliage. At the time when Mrs. Crawford +took possession of it its color was red, but the storms and rains +of eleven summers and winters had washed nearly all the red +away; and as Mrs. Crawford had never had the money to +spare for its repainting, it would have presented a brown and +dingy appearance outwardly, but for the luxurious woodbine, +which she had trained with so much care and skill that it +covered nearly three sides of the cottage, and made a gorgeous +display in the autumn, when the leaves had turned a bright +scarlet.</p> + +<p>Thanks to the thoughtfulness of Arthur Tracy, the cottage +was furnished comfortably and even prettily when Mrs. Crawford +entered it, and it was from the same kind friend that her +resources mostly had come up to the day when, three years +after her marriage, Amy Hastings came home to die, bringing +with her a little two-year-old boy, whom, she called Harold, +for his father. Just where the father was, if indeed he were +living, she did not know. He had left her in London six +months before, saying he was going over to Paris for a few +days, and should be back almost before she had time to miss +him. Just before he left her he said to her, playfully:</p> + +<p>'Cheer up, <i>petite</i>. I have not been quite as regular in my +habits as I ought to have been, but London is not the place +for a man of my tastes—too many temptations for a fellow +like me. When I come back we will go into the country, +where you can have a garden, with flowers and chickens, and +grow fat and pretty again. You are not much like the girl I +married. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>He kissed her and the baby, and went whistling down the +stairs. She never saw him again, and only heard from him +once. Then he was in Paris, and had decided to go for a +week to Pau, where he said they were having such fine fox +hunts. Weeks went by and he never wrote nor came, and +Amy would have been utterly destitute and friendless but for +Arthur Tracy, who, when her need was greatest, went to her, +telling her that he had never been far from her, but had watched +over her vigilantly to see that no harm came to her. When +her husband went to Paris he knew it through a detective, +and from the same source knew when he went to Pau, where +all trace of him had been lost.</p> + +<p>'But we are sure to find him again,' he said, encouragingly; +'and meantime I shall see that you do not suffer. As an old +friend of your husband, you will allow me to care for you until +he is found.'</p> + +<p>And Amy, who had no alternative, accepted his care, and +tried to seem cheerful and brave while waiting for the husband +who never came back.</p> + +<p>At last when all hope of seeing him again was gone, Arthur +sent her home to the cottage in the lane, where her mother +received her gladly, thanking Heaven that she had her daughter +back again. But not for long. Poor Amy's heart was +broken. She loved her husband devotedly, and his cruel +desertion of her—for she knew now it was that—hurt her +more than years of suffering with him could have done. Occasionally +she heard from Arthur, who was still busy in search +of the delinquent, and who always sent in his letter a substantial +proof of his friendship and generosity.</p> + +<p>And so the weeks and months went by; and then, one day, +there came a letter in the well-known handwriting. But it +was Mrs. Crawford who opened it and read that Harold Hastings +was dead: that Amy was free, and that Arthur Tracy, +who through all had loved her just as well as when he first +asked her to be his wife, now put the question again, offering +to make her the mistress of Tracy Park and surround her +with every possible comfort.</p> + +<p>'Say yes, darling Amy,' he wrote, 'and we may yet be +very happy. I will be a good husband to you and a father to +your child, who shall share my fortune as if he were my own. +Answer at once, telling me to come, and, before you know it +I shall be there to claim you for my wife.'</p> + +<p>With a low moan, Mrs. Crawford hid her face in her hands +and sobbed aloud, for the Amy who might have been the +honored wife of Arthur Tracy lay dead in her coffin; and that +day they buried her under the November snow, which was falling +in great sheets upon the frozen ground. What Arthur felt +when he heard the news no one ever knew, for he made no +sign to any one, but at once gave orders to Colvin that a costly +monument should be placed at her grave, with only this +inscription upon it:</p> + +<p> +AMY<br /> +<br /> +<i>Aged</i> 23.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Of course the low-minded people talked, and Mrs. Crawford +knew they did; but her heart was too full of sorrow to +care what was said. Her beautiful daughter was dead, and +she was alone with the little boy, the child Harold, who had +inherited his mother's beauty, with all her lovely traits of +character. Had Mrs. Crawford consented, Arthur would have +supported him entirely; but she was too proud for that. She +would take care of him herself as long as possible, she wrote +him, but if, when Harold was older, he chose to educate him, +she would offer no objection.</p> + +<p>And there the matter dropped, and Mrs. Crawford struggled +on as best she could, sometimes going out to do plain sewing, +sometimes taking it home, sometimes going to people's houses +to superintend when they had company, and sometimes selling +fruit and flowers from the garden attached to the cottage. But +whatever she did, she was always the same quiet, lady-like +woman, who commanded the respect of all, and who, poor as +she was, was held in high esteem by the better class in +Shannondale. Grace Atherton's carriage and that of Edith +St. Claire stood oftener before her door than that at Tracy +Park; and though the ladies came mostly on business, they +found themselves lingering after the business was over to talk +with one who, in everything save money, was their equal.</p> + +<p>Harold was his grandmother's idol. For him she toiled and +worked, feeling more than repaid for all she did by his love +and devotion to her. And Harold was a noble little fellow, +full of manly instincts, and always ready to deny himself for +the sake of others. That he and his grandmother were poor +he knew, but he had never felt the effects of their poverty, +save when Tom Tracy had jeered at him for it, and called him +a pauper. There had been one square fight between the two +boys, in which Harold had been the victor, with only a torn +jacket, while Tom's eye had been black for a week, and Mrs. +Tracy had gone to the cottage to complain and insist that +Harold should be punished. But when she heard that Dick +St. Claire had assisted in the fray, taking Harold's part, and +himself dealing Tom the blow which blackened his eye, she +changed her tactics, for she did not care to quarrel with Mrs. +Arthur St. Claire, of Grassy Spring.</p> + +<p>Harold and Richard St. Claire, or Dick, as he was familiarly +called, were great friends, and if the latter knew there was +a difference between himself and the child of poverty he never +manifested it, and played far oftener with Harold than with +Tom, whose domineering disposition and rough manners were +distasteful to him. That Harold would one day be obliged to +earn his living, Mrs. Crawford knew, but he was still too young +for anything of that kind; and when Grace Atherton, or Mrs. +St. Claire offered him money for the errands he sometimes did +for them, she steadily refused to let him take it. Had she +known of Mrs. Tracy's proposition that he should be present +at the party as hall-boy, she would have declined, for though +she could go there herself as an employee, she shrank from +suffering Harold to do so. That Mrs. Tracy was not a lady, +she knew, and in her heart there was always a feeling of +superiority to the woman even while she served her, and she +was not as sorry, perhaps, as she ought to have been, for the +attack of rheumatism which would prevent her from going to +the park to take charge of the kitchen during the evening.</p> + +<p>'I am sorry to disappoint her, but I am glad not to be there,' +she was thinking to herself as she sat in her bright, cheerful +kitchen, waiting for Harold, when he burst in upon her, +exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'Oh, grandma, only think! I am invited to the party, and +I told her I'd go, and I am to be there at half-past seven sharp, +and to wear my meetin' clothes.'</p> + +<p>'Invited to the party! What do you mean? Only grown +up people are to be there,' Mrs. Crawford said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know;' replied Harold, 'but I'm not to be with the +<i>grown-ups</i>. I'm to stay in the upper hall and tell 'em where to +go.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, you are to be a <i>waiter</i>,' was Mrs. Crawford's rather +contemptuous remark, which Harold did not heed in his excitement.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I'm to be at the head of the stairs, and somebody else +at the bottom; and they are to have fiddlin and dancin'; I've +never seen anybody dance; and ice-cream and cake, with something +like plaster all over it, and oranges and grapes, and, oh, +everything! Dick St. Claire told me; he knows; his mother +has had parties, and she's going to-night, and her gown is crimson +velvet, with black and white fur in it like our cat, only +they don't call it that; and—oh, I forgot—they have had a +telegraph, and I took it to Mrs. Tracy, who looked mad and +almost cried when she read it, Mr. Arthur Tracy is coming +home to-night.'</p> + +<p>Harold had talked so fast that his grandmother could hardly +follow him, but she understood what he said last, and started +as if he had struck her a blow.</p> + +<p>'Arthur Tracy! Coming home to-night!' she exclaimed. +'Oh, I am so glad, so glad.'</p> + +<p>'But Mrs. Tracy did not seem to be, and I guess she wanted +to stop the party,' Harold said, repeating as nearly as he could +what had passed between him and the lady.</p> + +<p>Harold was full of the party to which he believed he had +been invited, and when in the afternoon Dick St. Claire came +to the cottage to play with him, he felt a kind of patronizing +pity for his friend who was not to share his honor.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps mother will let me come over and help you,' Dick +said, 'I know how they do it. You mustn't talk to the people +as they come up the stairs, nor even say good-evening, only;</p> + +<p>'"Ladies will please walk this way, and gentlemen that!"</p> + +<p>And Dick went through with a pantomime performance for +the benefit of Harold, who, when the drill was over, felt himself +competent to receive the Queen's guests at the head of the +great staircase in Windsor Castle.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know,' he said, '"Ladies this way, and gentlemen +that;" but when am I to go down and see the dancing and get +some ice-cream?'</p> + +<p>On this point Dick was doubtful. He did not believe, he +said, that waiters ever went down to see the dancing, or to get +ice cream, until the party was over, and then they ate it in the +kitchen, if there was any left.</p> + +<p>This was not a cheerful outlook for Harold, whose thoughts +were more intent upon cream and dancing than upon showing +the people where to go, and it was also the second time the word +waiter had been used in connection with what he was expected +to do. But Harold was too young to understand that he was +not of the party itself. Later on it would come to him fast +enough, that he was only a part of the machinery which moved +the social engine. Now, he felt like the engine itself, and long +before six o'clock he was dressed, and waiting anxiously for his +grandmother's permission to start.'</p> + +<p>'I'll tell you all about it,' he said to her. 'What they do, +and what they say, and what they wear, and if I can, I'll speak +to Mr. Arthur Tracy and thank him for mother's grave-stone.'</p> + +<p>By seven o'clock he was on his way to the park, walking +rapidly, and occasionally saying aloud with a gesture of his +hand to the right and the left, and a bow almost to the +ground.</p> + +<p>'Ladies this way,' and 'gentlemen that.'</p> + +<p>When he reached the house the gas-jets had just been turned +up, and every window was ablaze with light from the attic to +the basement.</p> + +<p>'My eye! ain't it swell!' Harold said to himself, as he stood +a moment, looking at the brilliantly lighted rooms. 'Don't I +wish I was rich and could burn all that gas, and maybe I shall +be. Grandma says Mr. Arthur Tracy was once a poor boy like +me; only he had an uncle and I haven't. I've got do earn my +money, and I mean to, and sometimes, maybe, I'll have a house +us big as this, and just such a party, with a boy up stairs to +tell 'em where to go. I wonder now if I'm expected to go into +the kitchen door. Of course not, I've got on my Sunday +clothes, and am invited to the party. I shall ring,'</p> + +<p>And he did ring—a sharp, loud ring, which made Mrs. Tracy, +who had not yet left her room, start nervously as she +wondered who had come so early.</p> + +<p>'Old Peterkin, of course. Those whom you care for least +always come first.'</p> + +<p>Peering over the banister Tom Tracy saw Harold when the +door was opened, and screaming to his mother at the top of his +voice, 'It ain't old Peterkin, mother; it's Hall Hastings, come +to the front door,' he ran down the stairs, and confronting the +intruder just as he was crossing the threshold, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Go 'long; go back. You hain't no business ringin' the bell +as if you was a gentleman. Go to the kitchen door with the +other servants!'</p> + +<p>With a thrust of the hand he pushed Harold back and was +about to shut the door upon him when, with a quick, dextrous +movement, Harold darted past him into the hall, saying, as he +did so:</p> + +<p>'Darn you, Tom Tracy, I won't go to the back kitchen door, +and I'm not a servant, and if you call me so again I'll lick +you!'</p> + +<p>How the matter would have ended is doubtful, if Mrs. Tracy +had not called from the head of the stairs:</p> + +<p>'Thomas! Thomas Tracy! I am ashamed of you! Come +to me this minute! And you, boy, go to the kitchen; or, +no—now you are here, come up stairs, and I'll tell you what you +are to do.'</p> + +<p>Her directions were much like those of Dick St. Claire, +except that she laid more stress upon the fact that he was not +to speak to any one familiarly, but was to be in all respects a +machine. Just what she meant by that Harold did not know; +but he hung his cap on a bracket, and taking his place where +she told him to stand, watched her admiringly as she went +down the staircase, with her peach-blow satin trailing behind +her, and followed, by her husband, who looked and felt anxious +and ill at ease.</p> + +<p>Tom had disappeared, but his younger brother, Jack, who was +wholly unlike him, came to Harold's side, and began telling him +what quantities of good things there were in the dining-room +and pantry, and that his Uncle Arthur was coming home that +night, and his mother was so glad, she cried; then, with a +spring he mounted upon the banister of the long staircase and +slipped swiftly to the bottom. Ascending the stairs almost as +quickly as he had gone down, he bade Harold try it with him.</p> + +<p>'It's such fun! and mother won't care. I've done it forty +times,' he said, as Harold demurred; and then, as the temptation +became too strong to be resisted, two boys instead of one +rode down the banister and landed in the lower hall, and two +pairs of little legs ran nimbly up the stairs just as the door +opened and admitted the first arrival.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII" ></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>THE PARTY.</h2> + + +<p>The invitations had been for half-past seven, and precisely +at that hour Peterkin arrived, magnificent in his swallow-tail +and white shirt front, where an enormous diamond +shone conspicuously. With him came the second Mrs. Peterkin, +whose name was Mary Jane, but whom her husband always called +<i>May</i> Jane. She was a frail, pale faced little woman, and had +once been Grace Atherton's maid, but had married Peterkin for +his money. This was her first appearance at a grand party, +and in her excitement and timidity she did not hear Harold's +thrice repeated words, 'Ladies go that way,' but followed her +husband into the gentlemen's dressing-room, where she deposited +her wraps, and then, shaking in every limb, descended to the +drawing-room, where Peterkin's boisterous laugh was soon +heard, as he slapped his host on the shoulder, and said:</p> + +<p>'You see, we are here on time, though May Jane said it was +too early. But I s'posed half-past seven meant half-past seven +and then I wanted a little time to talk up the ropes with you. +We are going to run you in, you bet!' and again his coarse +laugh thrilled every nerve in Mrs. Tracy's body, and she longed +for fresh arrivals to help quiet this vulgar man.</p> + +<p>Soon they began to come by twos, and threes, and sixes, and +Harold was kept busy with his 'Ladies this way, and gentlemen +that.'</p> + +<p>After Mrs. Peterkin had gone down stairs, leaving her wraps +in the gentlemen's rooms, Harold, who knew they did not belong +there, had carried them to the ladies' room and deposited +them upon the bed, just as the girl who was to be in attendance +appeared at her post, asked him sharply why he was in +there rummaging the ladies' things.</p> + +<p>'I'm not rummaging. They are Mrs. Peterkin's. She left +them in the other room, and I brought them here,' Harold said, +as he returned to the hall, never dreaming that this little circumstance, +trivial as it seemed, would be one of the links in +the chain of evidence which must for a time overshadow him so +darkly.</p> + +<p>Now, he was eager and excited, and interested in watching +the people as they came up the stairs and went down again. +With the quick instinct of a bright, intelligent boy, he decided +who was accustomed to society and who was not, and leaning +over the banister when not on duty, watched them when they +entered the drawing-room and were received by Mr. and Mrs. +Tracy. Unconsciously he began to imitate them, bowing when +they bowed, and saying softly to himself:</p> + +<p>'Oh, how do you do? Good evening. Happy to see you. +Pleasant to-night. Walk in. Ye-as!'</p> + +<p>This was the monosyllable with which he finished every sentence, +and was the affirmation to the thought in his mind that +he, too, would some day go down those stairs and into those +parlors as a guest, while some other boy in the upper hall bade +the ladies go this way and the gentlemen that.</p> + +<p>It was after nine when Mr. and Mrs. St. Claire arrived, with +Squire Harrington, from Collingwood. Harold had been looking +for them, anxious to see the crimson satin trimmed with +ermine, of which Dick had told him. Many of the guests he +had mentally criticised unsparingly, but Mrs. St. Claire, he +knew, was genuine, and his face beamed, when in passing him, +she smiled upon him with her sweet, gracious manner, and said, +pleasantly:</p> + +<p>'Good evening, Harold. I knew you were to be here. Dick +told me, and he wanted to come and assist you, but I thought +he'd better stay home with Nina.'</p> + +<p>Up to this time no one had spoken to Harold, and he had +spoken to no one except to tell them where to go, but had, as +far as possible, followed Mrs. Tracy's injunction to be a machine. +But the machine was getting a little tired. It was hard work +to stand for two hours or more, and Mrs. Tracy had impressed +it upon him that he was not to sit down. But when Mrs. St. Claire +came from the dressing-room and stood before him a +moment in her crimson satin and pearls, he forgot his weariness +and forgot that he was not to talk, and said to her, involuntarily:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mrs. St. Claire, how handsome you look! Handsomer +than anybody yet, and different, too, somehow.'</p> + +<p>Edith knew the compliment was genuine, and she replied:</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Harold,' then, laying her hand on the boy's head +and parting his soft, brown hair, she said, as she noticed a look +of fatigue in his eyes, 'are you not tired, standing so long? +Why don't you bring a chair from one of the rooms and sit +when you can?'</p> + +<p>'She told me to stand,' Harold replied, nodding toward the +parlors, from which a strain of music then issued.</p> + +<p>The dancing had commenced, and Harold's feet and hands +beat time to the lively strains of the piano and violin, until he +could contain himself no longer. The dancing he must see at +all hazards and know what it was like, and when the last guests +came up the stairs there was no hall boy there to tell them, +'Ladies this way, gentlemen that,' for Harold was in the thickest +of the crowd, standing on a chair so as to look over the heads +of those in front of him and see the dancers. But, alas, for poor +Harold! He was soon discovered by Mrs. Tracy, who, asking +him if he did not know his place better than that, ordered him +back to his post, where he was told to stay until the party was +over.</p> + +<p>Wholly unconscious of the nature of his offence, but very +sorry that he had offended, Harold went up the stairs, wondering +why he could not see the dancing, and how long the party +would last. His head was beginning to ache with the glare +and gas; his little legs were tired, and he was growing sleepy. +Surely he might sit down now, particularly as Mrs. St. Claire +had suggested it, and bringing himself a chair from one of the +rooms he sat down in a corner of the hall and was soon in a +sound sleep, from which, however, he was roused by the sound +of Mr. Tracy's voice, as he came up the stairs, followed by a tall, +distinguished-looking man, who wore a Spanish cloak wrapped +gracefully around him, and a large, broad-brimmed hat drawn +down so closely, as to hide his features from view.</p> + +<p>As he reached the upper landing he raised his head, and +Harold, who was now wide awake and standing up, caught a +glimpse of a thin, pale face and a pair of keen, black eyes, +which seemed for an instant to take everything in; than the +head was dropped, and the two men disappeared in a room at +the far end of the hall.</p> + +<p>'I'll bet that's Mr. Arthur. How grand he is! looks just +like a pirate in that cloak and hat,' was Harold's mental comment.</p> + +<p>Before he had time for further thought, Frank Tracy came +from the room and hurried down the stairs to rejoin his guests.</p> + +<p>Five minutes later and the door at the end of the long hall +which communicated with the back staircase and the rear of the +house, opened, and a man whom Harold recognized as the expressman +from the station appeared with a huge trunk on his +shoulder and a large valise in his hand. These he deposited in +the stranger's room and then went back for more, until four had +been carried in. But when he came with the fifth and largest +of all, a hand, white and delicate as a woman's, was thrust +from the door-way with an imperative gesture, and a voice with +a decided foreign accent exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'For heaven's sake, don't bring any more boxes in here. +Why, I am positively stumbling over them now. Surely there +must be some place in the house for my luggage besides my +private apartment.'</p> + +<p>Then the door was shut with a bang, and Harold heard the +sliding of the bolt as Arthur Tracy fastened himself in his +room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII" ></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR.</h2> + + +<p>All the time that Frank Tracy had been receiving his +guests and trying to seem happy and at his ease, his +thoughts had been dwelling upon his brother's telegram +and the ominous words, 'Send some one to meet us.' How +slowly the minutes dragged until it was ten o'clock, and he +knew that John had started for the station to meet the dreaded +'<i>us</i>.' He had told everybody that he was expecting his long-absent +brother, and had tried to seem glad on account of it.</p> + +<p>'You and he were great friends, I believe,' he said to Squire +Harrington.</p> + +<p>'Yes, we were friends,' the latter replied; 'but when he lived +here my health was such that I did not mingle much in society. +I met him, however, in Paris four years ago, and found him +very companionable and quite Europeanized in his manner and +tastes. He spoke French or German altogether, and might +easily have passed for a foreigner. I shall be glad to see him.'</p> + +<p>'And so shall I,' chimed in Peterkin, whose voice was like a +trumpet and could be heard everywhere. 'A first-rate chap, +though we didn't use to hitch very well together. He was all-fired +big feelin', and them days Peterkin was nowhere; but circumstances +alter cases. He'll be glad to see me now, no doubt;' +and with the most satisfied air the half millionaire put his hand +as if by accident to his immense diamond pin, and pulling down +his swallow-tail, walked away.</p> + +<p>Frank saw the faint smile of contempt which showed itself +in Squire Harrington's face, and his own grew red with shame, +but paled almost instantly as the outer door was opened by +some one who did not seem to think it necessary to ring; and +a stranger, in Spanish cloak and broad-brimmed hat, stepped +into the hall.</p> + +<p>Arthur had come, and was <i>alone</i>. The train had been on +time, and at just half-past ten the long line of cars stopped before +the Shannondale station, where John, the coachman from +Tracy Park, was waiting. The night was dark, but by the light +from the engine and the office John saw the foreign-looking +stranger, who stepped upon the platform, and felt sure it was +his man. But there was no one with him, though it seemed as +if he were expecting some one to follow him from the car as he +stood for a moment waiting. Then, as the train moved on, he +turned with a puzzled look upon his face to meet John, who said +to him, respectfully:</p> + +<p>'Are you Mr. Arthur Tracy?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; who are you?' was the not very cordial response.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Frank Tracy sent me from the park to fetch you,' John +replied. 'I think he expected some one with you. Are you +alone?'</p> + +<p>'Yes—no, no!' and Arthur's voice indicated growing alarm +and uneasiness as he looked rapidly around him, 'Where is +she? Didn't you see her? She was with me all the way. +Surely she got off when I did. Where can she have gone?'</p> + +<p>He was greatly excited, and kept peering through the darkness +as he talked; while John, a good deal puzzled, looked +curiously at him, as if uncertain whether he were in his right +mind or not.</p> + +<p>'Was there some one with you in the car?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Yes, in the car, and in New York, and on the ship. She +was with me all the way,' Mr. Tracy replied. 'It is strange +where she is now. Did no one alight from the train when I +did?'</p> + +<p>'No one,' John answered, more puzzled than ever.... 'I was +looking for you, and there was no one else. She may have +fallen asleep and been carried by.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, probably that is it,' Mr. Tracy said, more cheerfully, +'she was asleep and carried by. She will come back to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>He seemed quite content with this solution of the mystery, +and began to talk of his luggage, which lay upon the platform—a +pile so immense that John looked at it in some alarm, knowing +that the carriage could never take it all.</p> + +<p>'Eight trunks, two portmanteaus, and a hat-box!' he said, +aloud, counting the pieces.</p> + +<p>'Yes, and a nice sum those rascally agents in New York +made me pay for having them come with me,' Arthur rejoined. +'They weighed them all, and charged me a little fortune. I +might as well have sent them by express; but I wanted them +with me, and here they are. What will you do with them? +This is hers,' and he designated a black trunk or box, longer +and larger than two ordinary trunks ought to be.</p> + +<p>'I can take one of them with the box and portmanteau, and +the expressman will take the rest. He is here. Hallo, Brown,' +John said, calling to a man in the distance, who came forward, +and, on learning what was wanted, begun piling the trunks into +his wagon, while Arthur followed John, to the carriage, which +he entered, and, sinking into a seat, pulled his broad-brimmed +hat over his face and eyes, and sat as motionless as if he had +been a stone.</p> + +<p>For a moment John stood looking at him, wondering what +manner of man he was, and thinking, too, of the woman who, +he said, had been with him in the train, and who should have +alighted with him. At last, remembering suddenly a message +his master had given him, he began:</p> + +<p>'If you please, sir, Mr. Tracy told me to tell you he was very +sorry that he could not come himself to meet you. If he had +known that you were coming sooner, he would have done different; +but he did not get your telegram till this morning, and +then it was too late to stop it. We are having a great break-down +to-night.'</p> + +<p>During the first of these remarks Arthur had given no sign +that he heard, but when John spoke of a break-down, he lifted +his head quickly, and the great black eyes, which Harold +noticed later as peculiar, flashed a look of inquiry upon John, +as he said:</p> + +<p>'Break-down? What is that!'</p> + +<p>'A party—a smasher! Mr. Tracy is running for Congress.' +was John's reply.</p> + +<p>And then over the thin face there crept a ghost of a smile, +which, faint as it was, changed the expression wonderfully.</p> + +<p>'Oh, a party!' he said. 'Well, I will be a guest, too. I +have my dress-suit in some of those trunks. Frank is going to +Congress, is he? That's a good joke! Drive on. What are you +standing there for?'</p> + +<p>The carriage door was shut, and, mounting the box, John +drove as rapidly toward Tracy Park as the darkness of the night +would admit, while the passenger inside sat with his hat over +his eyes, and his chin almost touching his breast, as if absorbed +in thought, or else not thinking at all. Once, however, he spoke +to himself, and said:</p> + +<p>'Poor little Gretchen! I wonder how I could have forgotten +and left her in the train. What will she do alone in a +strange place? But perhaps Heaven will take care of her. She +always said so. I wish I had her faith and could believe as she +does. Poor little Gretchen!'</p> + +<p>They had turned into the park by this time, and very soon +draw up before the house, from every window of which lights +were flashing, while the sounds of music and dancing could be +distinctly heard.</p> + +<p>Something like Frank's idea came into Arthur's mind at the +sight.</p> + +<p>'It makes me think of the return of the prodigal, only I have +not wasted my substance and my father does not come to meet +me,' he said, as he descended from the carriage and went up the +broad steps to the piazza, on which a few young people were +walking, unmindful of the chill night air.</p> + +<p>'I need not ring at my own house,' Arthur thought, as he +opened the door and stepped into the hall; and thus it was +that the first intimation which Frank had of his arrival was +when he saw him standing in the midst of a crowd of people, +who were gazing curiously at him.</p> + +<p>'Arthur!' he exclaimed, rushing forward and taking his +brother's hand. 'Welcome home again! I did not hear the +carriage, though I was listening for it. I am so glad to see you! +Come with me to your room;' and he led the way up stairs to +the apartment prepared for the stranger.</p> + +<p>He had seen at a glance that Arthur was alone, unless, indeed, +he had brought a servant who had gone to the side door; +and thus relieved from a load of anxiety, he was very cordial +in his manner, and began at once to make excuses for the +party, repeating in substance what John had already said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know; that fellow who drove me here told me,' +Arthur said, throwing off his coat and hat, and beginning to +lave his face, and neck, and hands in the cold water which he +turned into the bowl until it was full to the brim, and splashed +over the sides as he dashed it upon himself.</p> + +<p>All this time Frank had not seen his face distinctly, nor did +he have an opportunity to do so until the ablutions were ended +and Arthur had rubbed himself with, not one towel, but two, +until it seemed as if he must have taken off the skin in places. +Then he turned, and running his fingers through his luxuriant +hair, which had a habit of curling around his forehead as in his +boyhood, looked full at his brother, who saw that he was very pale +and thin, and that his eyes were unnaturally large and bright, +while there was about him an indescribable something which +puzzled Frank a little. It was not altogether the air of foreign +travel and cultivation which was so perceptible, but a something +else—a restlessness and nervousness of speech and manner +as he moved about the room, walking rapidly and gesticulating +as he walked.</p> + +<p>'You are looking thin and tired. Are you not well?' Frank +asked.</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, perfectly well,' Arthur replied: 'only this infernal +heat in my blood, which keeps me up to fever pitch all the +time. I shall have to bathe my face again,' and, turning a +second time to the bowl, he began to throw water over his face +and hands as he had done before.</p> + +<p>'I'd like a bath in ice water,' he said, as he began drying +himself with a fresh towel. 'If I remember right, there is no +bath-room on this floor, but I can soon have one built. I intend +to throw down the wall between this room and the next, +and perhaps the next, so as to have a suite.'</p> + +<p>He was asserting the ownership at once, and Frank had +nothing to say, for his brother was master there, and had a +right to tear the house down if he chose. The second washing +must have cooled him, for there came a change in his manner, +and he moved more slowly and spoke with greater deliberation, +as he asked some questions about the people below.</p> + +<p>'Will you come down by-and-bye,' Frank said, after having +made some explanations with regard to his guests.</p> + +<p>'No, you will have to excuse me,' Arthur replied. 'I am +too tired to encounter old acquaintances or make new. I do +not believe I could stand old Peterkin, who you say is a millionaire. +I suppose you want his influence; your coachman +told me you were running for Congress,' and Arthur laughed +the old merry musical laugh which Frank remembered so well: +then, suddenly changing his tune, he said: 'When does the +next train from the East pass the station?'</p> + +<p>Frank told him at seven the next morning, and he continued:</p> + +<p>'Please send the carriage to meet it. Gretchen will probably +be there. She was in the train with me, and should have gotten +out when I did, but she must have been asleep and carried +by.'</p> + +<p>'Gr-gr-gretchen! Who is she?' Frank stammered, while +the cold sweat began to run down his back.</p> + +<p>The 'us' in the telegram did mean something, and mischief, +too, to his interests, he felt intuitively.</p> + +<p>Instantly into Arthur's eyes there stole a look of cunning, +and a peculiar smile played round his mouth as he replied:</p> + +<p>'She is Gretchen. See that the carriage goes for her, will +you?'</p> + +<p>His voice and manner indicated that he wished the conference +ended, and with a great sinking at his heart Frank left +the room and returned to his guests and his wife, who had not +seen the stranger when he entered the hall, and thus did not +know of Arthur's arrival until her husband rejoined her.</p> + +<p>'He has come,' he whispered to her, while she whispered +back:</p> + +<p>'Is he alone?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, but somebody is coming to-morrow; I do not know +who; Gretchen, he calls her,' was Frank's reply.</p> + +<p>'Gretchen!' Mrs. Tracy repeated, in a trembling voice. +'Who is she?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know. He merely said she was Gretchen; his +daughter, perhaps,' was Frank's answer, which sent the color +from his wife's cheeks, and made her so faint and sick that she +would have given much to be alone and think over this evil +coming upon her the next day in the shape of the mysterious +Gretchen.</p> + +<p>Meantime when left to himself, Arthur changed his mind +with regard to going down into the parlors to see his brother's +guests, and, unlocking the trunk which held his own wardrobe +he took out an evening suit fresh from the hands of a +London tailor, and, arraying himself in it, stood for a moment +before the glass to see the effect. Everything was faultless, +from his neck-tie to his boots; and, opening the door, he went +out into the hall, which was empty, except for Harold, who +was sitting near the stairs, half asleep again. Most of the +guests were in the supper-room, but a few of the younger portion +were dancing, and the strains of music were heard with +great distinctness in the upper hall.</p> + +<p>'Ugh!' Arthur said, with a shiver, as he stopped a moment +to listen, while his quick eye took in every detail of the furniture +and its arrangement in the hall. 'That violinist ought to +be hung—the pianist, too! Don't they know what horrid discord +they are making? It brings that heat back. I believe, +upon my soul, I shall have to bathe my face again.'</p> + +<p>Suiting the action to the word, he went back and washed his +face for the third time; then returning to the hall, he advanced +toward Harold, who was now wide awake and stood up +to meet him. As Arthur met the clear-brown eyes fixed so +curiously upon him, he stopped suddenly, and put his hand to +his head as if trying to recall something; then going a step or +two nearer to Harold, he said:</p> + +<p>'Well, my little boy, what are you doing up here?'</p> + +<p>'Telling the folks which way to go,' was Harold's answer.</p> + +<p>'Who are you?' Arthur continued. 'What is your name?'</p> + +<p>'Harold Hastings,' was the reply; and instantly there came +over the white, thin face, and into the large, bright eyes, an +expression which made the boy stand back a little as the tall +man came up to him and, laying a hand on his shoulder, said, +excitedly:</p> + +<p>'Harold Hastings! He was once my friend, or, I thought +he was; but I hate him now. And he was your father, and +Amy Crawford was your mother? <i>N'est ce pas?</i> Answer me!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir—yes, sir; but I don't know what you mean by +"<i>na-se par</i>,"' Harold said, in a frightened voice; and Arthur +continued, as he tightened his grasp on his shoulder:</p> + +<p>'Don't you know you ought to have been my son, instead of +his?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir—yes, sir; I'll never do so again,' Harold stammered, +too much alarmed now to know what he was saying, or +of what he was accused.</p> + +<p>'No, you never will do it again. I hated your father, and +I hate you, and I am going to throw you over the stair railing!' +Arthur said, and seizing Harold's coat-collar, he swung him +over the banister as if he had been a feather, while the boy +struggled and fought, and held onto the rails, until help appeared +in the person of Frank Tracy, who came swiftly up the +stairs, demanding the cause of what he saw.</p> + +<p>He had been standing near the drawing-room door, and had +caught the sound of his brother's voice and Harold's as if in +altercation. Excusing himself from those around him, he +hastened to the scene of action in time to save Harold from a +broken limb, if not a broken neck.</p> + +<p>'What is it? What have you been doing?' he asked the +boy, who replied, amid his tears:</p> + +<p>'I hain't been doing anything, only minding my business, +and he came and asked me who I was, and when I told him, he +was going to chuck me over the railing—darn him! I wish I +was big; I'd lick him!'</p> + +<p>Harold's cheeks were flushed, and the great tears glittered in +his eyes, as he stood up, brave and defiant, and resentful of the +injustice done him.</p> + +<p>'Are you mad, Arthur?' Frank said.</p> + +<p>And whether it was the tone of his voice, or the words he +uttered, something produced a wonderful effect upon his brother, +whose mood changed at once, and who advanced toward +Harold with outstretched hand, saying to him:</p> + +<p>'Forgive me, my little man. I think I must have been mad +for the instant; there is such a heat in my head, and the crash +of that music almost drives me wild. Shall it be peace between +us, my boy?'</p> + +<p>It was next to impossible to resist the influence of Arthur +Tracy's smile, and Harold took the offered hand and said, between +a sob and a laugh:</p> + +<p>'I don't know now why you wanted to throw me down +stairs.'</p> + +<p>'Nor I, and I will make it up to you some time,' was Arthur's +reply, as he took his brother's arm and said: 'Now introduce +me to your guests.'</p> + +<p>The moment the gentlemen disappeared from view Harold's +resolution was taken. He was of no use there any longer, as +he could see. It was nearly midnight. He was very tired +and sleepy, and his head was aching terribly. He could not +see the dancing. He had had nothing to eat; he had stood +until his legs were ready to drop off, and to crown all a lunatic +had tried to throw him over the banister.</p> + +<p>'I won't stay here another minute,' he said.</p> + +<p>And leaving the hall by the rear entrance, and slipping down +a back stairway, he was soon in the open air, and running +swiftly through the park toward the cottage in the lane.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the two brothers had descended to the drawing-room, +where Arthur was soon surrounded by his friends and +old acquaintances, whom he greeted with that cordiality and +friendliness of manner which had made him so popular with +those who knew him best. Every trace of excitement had disappeared, +and had he been master of ceremonies himself, at +whose bidding the guests were there, he could not have been +more gracious or affable. Even old Peterkin, when he came +into notice, was treated with a consideration which put that +worthy man at ease, and set his tongue again in motion. At +first he had felt a little overawed by Arthur's elegant appearance, +and had whispered to his neighbor:</p> + +<p>'That's a swell, and no mistake. I s'pose that's what you +call foreign get up. Well, me and ma is goin' to Europe some +time, and hang me if I don't put on style when I come home. +I'd kind of like to speak to the feller. I wonder if he remember +that I was runnin' a boat when he went away?'</p> + +<p>If Arthur did remember it he showed no sign when Peterkin +at last pressed up to him, claiming his attention, as Captain +Peterkin, of the <i>'Liza Ann</i>, the fastest boat on the canal, and +by George, the all-tiredest meanest, too, I guess, he said: 'but +them days is past, and the old captain is past with them. I +dabbled a little in ile, and if I do say it, I could about buy up +the whole canal if I wanted to; but I ain't an atom proud, and +I don't forget the old boatin' days, and I've got the old '<i>Liza +Ann</i> hauled up inter my back yard as a relict. The children +use it for a play-house, but to me it is a—a—what do you call +it? a—gol darn it, what is it?'</p> + +<p>'Souvenir,' suggested Arthur, vastly amused at this tirade, +which had assumed the form of a speech, and drawn a crowd +around him.</p> + +<p>'Wall, yes; I s'pose that's it, though 'taint exactly what I +was trying to think of,' he said. It's a reminder, and keeps +down my pride, for when I get to feelin' pretty big, after +hearin' myself pointed out as Peterkin the millionaire, I go out +to that old boat in the back yard, and says I, '<i>'Liza Ann</i>,' says +I, 'you and me has took many a trip up and down the canal, +with about the wust crew, and the wust hosses, and the wust +boys that was ever created, and though you've got a new coat of +paint onto you, and can set still all day and do nothing while +I can wear the finest broadcloth and set still, too, it won't do +for us to forget the pit from which we was dug, and I don't forget +it neither, no more than I forgit favors shown when I was +not fust cut. You, sir, rode on the <i>'Liza Ann</i> with that +crony of yours—Hastings was his name—and you paid me +han'some, though I didn't ask nothin'; and ther's your brother—Frank, +I call him. I don't forgit that he used to speak +to me civil when I was nobody, and now, though I'm a Dimocrat, +as everybody knows me knows, and everybody most does +know me, for Shannondale allus was my native town, I'm goin' +to run him into Congress, if it takes my bottom dollar, and anybody, +Republican or Dimocrat; who don't vote him ain't my +friend, and must expect to feel the full heft of my—my—'</p> + +<p>'Powerful disapprobation,' Arthur said, softly, and Peterkin +continued:</p> + +<p>'Thank you, sir, that's the word—powerful, sir, powerful, +powerful,' and he glowered threateningly at two or three young +men in white kids and high shirt collars, who were known to +prefer the opposing candidate.</p> + +<p>Peterkin had finished his harrangue, and was wiping his wet +face with his handkerchief, when Arthur, who had listened to +him with well-bred attention, said:</p> + +<p>'I thank you, Captain Peterkin, for your interest in my +brother, who, if he succeeds, will, I am sure, owe his success to +your influence, and be grateful in proportion. Perhaps you +have a bill you would like him to bring before the House?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Peterkin said, with a shake of the head. 'My Bill is +a little shaver, eight or nine years old; too young to go from +home, but'—and he lowered his voice: a little—'I don't mind +saying that if there should be a chance, I'd like the post-office +fust-rate. It would be a kind of hist, you know, to see my +name in print, Captain Joseph Peterkin, P.M.'</p> + +<p>Here the conversation ended, and the aspirant for the post-office, +who had tired himself out, stepped aside and gave place +to others who were anxious to renew their acquaintance with +Arthur. It was between one and two o'clock in the morning +when the party finally broke up, and, as the Peterkins had +been the first to arrive, so they were the last to leave, and Mrs. +Peterkin found herself again in the gentlemen's dressing-room, +looking after her wraps. But they were not there, and after a +vain and anxious search she said to her husband:</p> + +<p>'Joe, somebody has stole my things, and 'twas my Indian +shawl, too, and gold-headed pin, with the little diamond.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy was at once summoned to the scene, and the +missing wraps were found in the ladies' room, where Harold had +carried them, but the gold-headed shawl-pin was gone and +could not be found.</p> + +<p>Lucy, the girl in attendance, said, when questioned, that she +knew nothing of the pin or Mrs. Peterkin's wraps either, except +that on first going up to the room after the lady's arrival, +she found Harold Hastings fumbling them over, and that she +sent him out with a sharp reprimand. Harold was then +looked for and could not be found, for he had been at home and +in bed for a good two hours. Clearly, then, he knew something +of the pin; and Peterkin and his wife said good-night, resolving +to see the boy the first thing in the morning, and demand +their property.</p> + +<p>When the Peterkins were gone, Arthur started at once for his +room, but stopped at the foot of the stairs and said to his +brother:</p> + +<p>'Don't forget to have the carriage at the station at seven +o'clock. Gretchen is sure to be there.'</p> + +<p>'All right,' was Frank's reply.</p> + +<p>While Mrs. Tracy asked:</p> + +<p>'Who is Gretchen?'</p> + +<p>If Arthur heard her he made no reply, but kept on up the stairs +to his room, where they heard him for a long time walking +about, opening and shutting windows, locking and unlocking +trunks, and occasionally splashing water over his face and +hands.</p> + +<p>'Your brother is a very elegant-looking man,' Mrs. Tracy +said to her husband as she was preparing to retire. 'Quite like +a foreigner, but how bright his eyes are, and they look at you +sometimes as if they would see through you and know what +you were thinking. They almost make me afraid of him.'</p> + +<p>Frank made no direct reply. In his heart there was an undefined +fear which he then could not put into words, and with +the remark that he was very tired, he stepped into bed, and was +just falling into a quiet sleep when there came a knock upon his +door loud enough, it seemed to him, to waken the dead. Starting +up he demanded who was there and what was wanted.</p> + +<p>'It is I,' Arthur said. 'I thought I smelled gas, and I have +been hunting round for it. There is nothing worse to breathe +than gas, whether from the furnace, the pipes, or the drain. I +hope that is all right.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank answered, a little crossly. 'Had a new one put +in two weeks ago.'</p> + +<p>'If there's gas in the main sewer it will come up just the +same, and I am sure I smell it,' Arthur said. 'I think I shall +have all the waste-pipes which connect with the drain cut off. +Good-night. Am sorry I disturbed you.'</p> + +<p>They heard him as he went across the hall to his room, and +Frank was settling down again to sleep when there came a +second knock, and Arthur said, in a whisper:</p> + +<p>'I hope I do not trouble you, but I have decided to go myself +to the station to meet Gretchen. She is very timid, and +does not speak much English. Good-night once more, and +pleasant dreams.'</p> + +<p>To sleep now was impossible, and both husband and wife +turned restlessly on their pillows, Frank wondering what ailed +his brother, and Dolly wondering who Gretchen was and how +her coming would affect them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX" ></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h2>WHO IS GRETCHEN?</h2> + + +<p>This was the question which Mr. and Mrs. Tracy asked +of themselves and each other many times during the +hours which intervened between their retiring and rising. +But speculate as they might they could reach no satisfactory +conclusion, and were obliged to wait for what the morning +and the train might bring. The party had been a success, +and Frank felt that his election to Congress was almost certain; +but of what avail would all this be if he lost his foothold at +Tracy Park, as he was sure to do if a woman appeared upon +the scene. Both he and his wife had outgrown the life of eleven +years ago, and could not go back to it without a struggle, and +it is not strange if both wished that the troublesome brother +had remained abroad instead of coming home so suddenly and +disturbing all their plans. They heard him moving in his room +before the clock struck six, and knew he was getting himself +in readiness to meet the dreaded Gretchen. Then, long before +the carriage came round they heard him in the hall opening the +windows and admitting a gust of wind which blew their door +open, and when Frank arose to shut it he saw the top of +Arthur's broad-brimmed hat disappearing down the stairs.</p> + +<p>'I believe he is going to walk to the station; he certainly is +crazy,' Frank said to his wife, as they dressed themselves and +waited with feverish impatience for the return of the carriage.</p> + +<p>Arthur did walk to the station, which he reached just as +the ticket agent was unlocking the door, and there, with his +Spanish cloak wrapped around him, he stalked up and down the +long platform for more than an hour, for the train was late, +and it was nearer eight than seven when it finally came in +sight.</p> + +<p>Standing side by side Arthur and John looked anxiously for +some one to alight, but nobody appeared and the expression of +Arthur's face was pitiable as he turned it to John, and said:</p> + +<p>'Gretchen did not come. Where do you suppose she is?'</p> + +<p>'I am sure I don't know. On the next train, may be,' was +John's reply, at which Arthur caught eagerly.</p> + +<p>'Yes, the next train, most likely. We will come and meet +it; and now drive home as fast as you can. This disappointment +has brought that heat to my head, and I must have a bath. +But, stop a bit; who is the best carpenter in town?'</p> + +<p>John told him that Belknap was the best, and Burchard the +highest priced.</p> + +<p>'I'll see them both,' Arthur said. 'Take me to their houses;' +and in the course of half an hour he had interviewed both +Burchard and Belknap, and made an appointment with both +for the afternoon.</p> + +<p>Then he was driven back to Tracy Park, where breakfast had +been waiting until it was spoiled, and the cook's temper was +spoiled, too, and when Frank and Dolly met him at the door, +both asked in the same breath:</p> + +<p>'Where is she?'</p> + +<p>'She was not on this train. She will come on the next. We +must go and meet her,' was Arthur's reply, as he passed up the +stairs, while Frank and his wife looked wonderingly at each +other.</p> + +<p>The spoiled breakfast was eaten by Mr. and Mrs. Tracy alone, +for the children had had theirs and gone to their lessons, and +Arthur had said that he never took anything in the morning +except a cup of coffee and a roll, and these he wished sent to +his room, together with a time-table.</p> + +<p>After breakfast Mrs. Tracy, who was suffering from a sick +headache, declared her inability to sit up a moment longer and +returned to her bed, leaving her husband and the servants to +bring what order they could out of the confusion reigning +everywhere, and nowhere to a greater extent than in Arthur's +room, or rather the rooms which he had appropriated to himself, +and into which he had had all his numerous boxes and +trunks brought, so that he could open them at his leisure. +There were more coming by express, he said, boxes which came +through the custom-house, for he had brought many valuable +things, such as pictures, and statuary, and rugs and inlaid tables +and chinas, with which to adorn his home.</p> + +<p>The house, which was very large, had a wing on either side, +while the main building was divided by a wide hall, with three +rooms on each side, the middle one being a little smaller than +the other two, with each of which it communicated by a door. +And it was into this middle room on the second floor Arthur +had been put, and which he found quite too small for his use. +So he ordered both the doors to be opened and took possession +of the suite, pacing them several times, and then +measuring their length, and breadth, and height, and the +distance between the windows. Then he inspected the wing +on that side of the house, and, going into the yard, looked +the building over from all points, occasionally marking a few +lines on the paper he held in his hand. Before noon every room +in the house, except the one where Dolly lay sick with a headache +had been visited and examined minutely, while Frank +watched him nervously, wondering if he would think they had +greatly injured anything, or had expended too much money on +furniture. But Arthur was thinking of none of these things, +and found fault with nothing except the drain and the gas fixtures, +all of which he declared bad, saying that the latter must +be changed at once, and that ten pounds of copperas must be +bought immediately and put down the drain, and that quantities +of chloride of lime and carbolic acid must be placed where +there was the least danger of vegetable decomposition.</p> + +<p>'I am very sensitive to smells, and afraid of them, too, for +they breed malaria and disease of all kinds,' he said to the cook, +whose nose and chin both were high in the air, not on account +of any obnoxious odor, but because of this unreasonable meddling +with what she considered her own affairs. If things were +to go on in this way, she said to the house-maid, and if that +man was going to poke his nose into drains, and gas-pipes, and +kerosene lamps, and bowls of sour milk which she might have +forgotten, she should give notice to quit.</p> + +<p>But when, half an hour later, some boxes and trunks which +had come by express were deposited in the back hall, and +Arthur, who was superintending them, said to her, as he pointed +to a large black trunk, 'I think this has the dress patterns and +shawls I brought for you, girls; for though I did not know you +personally, I knew that women were always pleased with anything +from Paris' her feelings underwent a radical change, and +Arthur was free to smell the drain and the gas fixtures as much +as he liked.</p> + +<p>He was very busy, and though always pleasant, and even +familiar at times, there was in all he said and did an air of ownership, +as if he had assumed the mastership. And he had. +Everything was his, and he knew it, and Frank knew it, too, +and gave no sign of rebelling when the reins were taken +from him by one who seemed to be driving at a break-neck +speed.</p> + +<p>At lunch, while the brothers were together, Arthur announced +his intentions in part, but not until Frank, who was anxious +to get it off his mind, said to him:</p> + +<p>'By the way, I suppose you will be going to the office this +afternoon, to see Colvin and look over the books. I believe you +will find them straight, and hope you will not think I have +spent too much, or drawn too large a salary. It you do, I +will—'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense!' was Arthur's reply, with a graceful shrug of his +shoulders. 'Don't bother about that there is money enough +for us both. What I invested in Europe has trebled itself, +and more too, and would make me a rich man if I had nothing +else. I am always lucky. I played but once at Monte Carlo, +just before I came home, and won ten thousand dollars, which +I invested in—But no matter; that is a surprise—something +for your wife and Gretchen. I have come home to stay. I do +not think I am quite what I used to be. I was sick all that +time when you heard from me so seldom, and I am not strong +yet. I need quite a rest. I have seen the world, and am tired +of it, and now I want a house for Gretchen and myself, and you +too. I expect you to stay with me as long as we pull together +pleasantly and you do not interfere with my plans. I am going +to take the three south rooms on the second floor for my own. +I shall put folding-doors, or rather a wide arch between two of +them, making them almost like one, and these I shall fit up to +suit my own taste. In the smaller and middle room, where I +slept last night, I shall have a large bow window, with shelves +for books in the spaces between and beneath, and by the sides +of the windows. I got the idea in a villa a little way out of +Florence. Opposite this bow window, on the other side of the +room, I shall have niches in the wall and corners for statuary, +with shelves for books above and below. I have some beautiful +pieces of marble from Florence and Rome. The Venus de Milo, +Apollo Belvidere, Nydra and Psyche, and Ruth at the Well. +But the crowning glory of this room will be the upper half of +the middle window of the bow. This is to be of stained glass, +bright but soft colors which harmonize perfectly, two rows on +the four sides, and in the centre a lovely picture of Gretchen, +also of cathedral glass, and so like her that it seems to speak to +me in her soft German tongue. I had it made from a photograph +I have of her, and it is very natural—the same sad, sweet +smile around the lips which never said an unkind word to any +one—the same bright, wavy hair, and eyes of blue, innocent as +a child—and Gretchen is little more than that. She is only +twenty-one—poor little Gretchen!' and, leaning back in his +chair, Arthur seemed to be lost in recollections of the past.</p> + +<p>Not pleasant, all of them, it would seem, for there was a +moisture in his eyes when he at last looked up in response to his +brother's questioning.</p> + +<p>'Who did you say Gretchen was?'</p> + +<p>Instantly the expression of the eye changed to one of weariness +and caution, as Arthur replied:</p> + +<p>'I did not say who she was, but you will soon know. I saw +by the time-table that the train which passes here at eleven +does not stop, but the three o'clock does, and you will please +see that John goes with the carriage. I may be occupied with +the carpenters, Burchard and Belknap, who were coming to +talk with me about the changes I purpose to make, and which I +wish commenced immediately. It is a rule of mine that when +I am to do a thing, to do it at once. So I shall employ at least +twenty men, and before Christmas everything will be finished, +and I will show you rooms worthy of a palace. It is of Gretchen +I am thinking, more than of myself. Poor little Gretchen!'</p> + +<p>Arthur's voice was inexpressibly sad and pitiful as he said +'Poor Gretchen,' while his eyes again grew soft and tender, +with a far-away look in them, as if they were seeing things in +the past rather than in the future.</p> + +<p>There was not a particle of sentiment in Frank's nature, and +Gretchen was to him an object of dread rather than a romance. +So far as he could judge, his brother had no intention of routing +him; but a woman in the field would be different, and he +should at once lose his vantage-ground.</p> + +<p>'You seem to be very fond of Gretchen,' he said, at last.</p> + +<p>'Fond!' Arthur replied, 'I should say I am, though the poor +child has not much cause to think so. But I am going to +atone, and this suite of rooms is for her. I mean to make her +a very queen, and dress her in satin and diamonds every day. +She has the diamonds. I sent them to her when I wrote to +her to join me in Liverpool.'</p> + +<p>'And she did join you, I suppose?' Frank said, determined +by adroit questioning to learn something of the mysterious +Gretchen.</p> + +<p>'Yes, she joined me,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>'Was she very seasick?' Frank continued.</p> + +<p>'Not a minute. She sat by me all the time while I lay in my +berth, but she would not let me hold her hand, and if I tried +to touch even her hair, she always moved away to the other +side of the state-room, where she sat looking at me reproachfully +with those soft blue eyes of hers.'</p> + +<p>'And she was with you at the Brevoort in New York!' +Frank said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, with me at Brevoort.'</p> + +<p>'And in the train?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and in the train.'</p> + +<p>'And you left her there?'</p> + +<p>'No; she left herself. She did not follow me out. She +went on by mistake, but is sure to come back this afternoon,' +Arthur replied, rather excitedly, just as a sharp ring at the bell +announced the arrival of Burchard and Belknap, the leading +carpenters of the town, with whom he was closeted for the next +two hours, and both of whom he finally hired in order to expedite +the work he had in hand.</p> + +<p>At precisely three o'clock the carriage from Tracy Park drew +up before the station, awaiting the arrival of the train and +Gretchen, but though the former came, the latter did not, and +John returned alone, mentally avowing to himself that he would +not be sent on a fool's errand a third time; but five o'clock found +him there again with the same result. Gretchen did not come, +and Arthur's face wore a sad, troubled expression, and looked +pale and worn, notwithstanding the many times he bathed it in +the coldest water and rubbed it with the coarsest towels.</p> + +<p>He had unpacked several of his trunks and boxes, and made +friends of all she servants by the presents, curious and rare, +which he gave them, while Dolly's headache had been wholly +cured at sight of the exquisite diamonds which her husband +brought to her room and told her were hers, the gift of Arthur, +who had bought them in Paris, and who begged her to accept +them with his love.</p> + +<p>The box itself, which was of tortoise shell, lined with blue +velvet, was a marvel of beauty, while the pin was a cluster of +five diamonds with a larger one in the center, but the ear-rings +were solitaires, large and brilliant, and Dolly's delight knew no +bounds as she took the dazzling stones in her hands and examined +them carefully. Diamond were the jewels of all others +which she coveted, but which Frank never felt warranted in +buying, and now they were hers, and for a time she forgot even +Gretchen, whose arrival, or rather non-arrival, troubled her as +much as it did her brother-in-law.</p> + +<p>Arthur had been very quiet and gentle all the afternoon, +showing no sign of the temper he had exhibited the previous +night at sight of Harold until about six o'clock, when Tom, his +ten-year-old nephew, came rushing into the library, followed by +Peterkin, very hot and very red in the face, which he mopped +with his yellow silk handkerchief.</p> + +<p>'Oh, mother,' Tom began, 'what do you think Harold Hastings +has done? He stole Mrs. Peterkin's gold pin last night. +It was stuck in her shawl, and she couldn't find it, and Lucy +saw him fumbling with the things, and he denies it up hill and +down, and Mr. Peterkin is going to arrest him. I guess Dick +St. Claire won't think him the nicest boy in town now. The +thief! I'd like—</p> + +<p>But what he would like was never known, for with a spring +Arthur bounded toward him, and seizing him by the coat +collar, shook him vigorously, while he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Coward and liar! Harold Hastings is not a thief! No +child of Amy Crawford could ever be a thief, and if you +say that again, or even insinuate it to any living being, I'll +break every bone in your body. Do you understand?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir; no sir, I won't; I won't,' Tom gasped, as well as +he could, with his head bobbing forward and back so rapidly +that his teeth cut into his under lip.</p> + +<p>'But <i>I</i> shall,' Peterkin roared. 'I'll have the young dog arrested, +too, if he don't own up and give up.'</p> + +<p>There was a wicked look in Arthur's black eyes, which he +fastened upon Peterkin, as he said;</p> + +<p>'What does it all mean, sir? Will you please explain?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, in double quick time,' replied Peterkin, a little nettled +by Arthur's manner, which he could not understand. 'You +see, me and Mary Jane was early to the doin's; fust ones, in +fact, for when your invite says half past seven it means it, I take +it. Wall, we was here on time, and Mary Jane has been on a +tear ever since, and says Miss St. Claire nor none of the big +bugs didn't come till nine, which I take is imperlite, don't +you?'</p> + +<p>'Never mind, we are not discussing etiquette. Go on with +the pin and the boy,' Arthur said haughtily.</p> + +<p>'Mary Jane,' Peterkin continued, 'had a gold-headed shawl +pin, with a small diamond in the head—real, too, for I don't +b'lieve in shams, and haint sense the day I quit boatin' and +hauled ther 'Liza Ann up inter my back yard. Well, she left +this pin stickin' in her shawl, and no one up there but this boy +of that Crawford gal's, and nobody knows who else.'</p> + +<p>Something in Arthur's face and manner made Frank think of +a tiger about to pounce upon its prey, and he felt himself growing +cold with suspense and dread as he watched his brother, +while Peterkin continued:</p> + +<p>'When Mary Jane came to go home, her things wa'n't there, +and the pin was missin'; and Lucy, the girl, said she found the +boy pullin' them over by himself, when he had no call to be in +there; and, sir, there ain't a lawyer in the United States that +would refuse a writ on that evidence, and I'll get one of St. Claire +afore to-morrow night. I told 'em so, the widder and the boy, who +was as brassy as you please, and faced me down and said he never +seen the pin, nor knowed there was one; while she—wall, I +swow, if she didn't start round lively for a woman with her leg +bandaged up in vinegar and flannel. When I called the brat a +thief and said I'd have him arrested, she made for the door and +ordered me out—me, Joe Peterkin, of the 'Liza Ann! I'll make +her smart, though, wus than the rheumatiz. I'll make her feel +the heft—'</p> + +<p>He did not have time to finish the sentence, for the tiger in +Arthur was fully roused, and with a bound toward Peterkin he +opened the door, and, in a voice which seemed to fill the room, +although it was only a whisper, he said:</p> + +<p>'Clown! loafer! puff-ball! Leave my house instantly, and +never enter it again until you have apologized to Mrs. Crawford +and her grandson for the insult offered them by your vile accusations. +If it were not for soiling my hands, I would throw you +down the steps,' he continued, as he stood holding the door +open, and looking with his flashing eyes and dilated nostrils, as +if he were fully equal to anything.</p> + +<p>Like most men of the boasting sort, Peterkin was a coward, +and though he probably had twice the strength of Arthur, he +went through the door-way out upon the piazza, where he stopped, +and, with a flourish of his fist, denounced the whole Tracy +tribe, declaring them but a race of upstarts, no better than he +was, and saying he would yet be even with them, and make +them feel the heft of his powerful disapprobation. Whatever +else he said was not heard, for Arthur shut the door upon him, +and returning to the library, where his brother stood, pale, +trembling, and anxious for the votes he felt he had lost, he became +on the instant as quiet and gentle as a child, and, consulting +his watch, said in his natural tone:</p> + +<p>'Quarter of seven, and the train is due at half-past. Please +tell John to have the carriage ready. I am going myself this +time.'</p> + +<p>Frank opened his lips to protest against it, but something in +his brother's manner kept him quiet and submissive. He was +no longer master there—unless—unless—he scarcely dared whisper +to himself what; but when the carriage went for the fourth +time to the station after Gretchen and returned without her, he +said to his wife:</p> + +<p>'I think Arthur is crazy, and possibly we shall have to shut +him up.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I wish you would,' was Dolly's reply, in a tone of relief, +for, thus far, Arthur's presence in the house had not added to +her comfort. 'Of course he is crazy, and ought to be taken +care of before he tears the house down over our heads, or does +some dreadful thing.'</p> + +<p>'That's so, and I will see St. Claire to-morrow and find out +the proper steps to be taken,' said Frank.</p> + +<p>That night he dreamed of windows with iron bars across +them, and strait-jackets, into which he was thrusting his brother, +while a face, the loveliest he had ever seen, looked reproachfully +at him, with tears in the soft blue eyes, and a +pleading pathos in the voice which said words he could not +understand, for the language was a strange one to him who +only knew his own.</p> + +<p>With a start Frank awoke, and found his wife sitting up in +bed, listening intently to sounds which came from the hall, +where some one was evidently moving around.</p> + +<p>'Hark!' she said, in a whisper. 'Do you hear that? There's +a burglar in the house after my diamonds. What shall I do?'</p> + +<p>But Frank knew that no burglar ever made the noise this +disturber of their rest was making and stepping out of bed +he opened the door cautiously, and looking out, saw his brother, +wrapped in a long dressing-gown, with a candle in his hand, +opening one window after another until the hall was filled with +the cold night wind, which swept down the long corridor +banging a door at the farther end and setting all the rest to rattling.</p> + +<p>'Oh! Frank, is that you?' Arthur said. 'I am sorry I +woke you, but I smelled an awful smell somewhere, and traced +it to the hall, which you see I am airing; better shut the door +or you will take cold. The house is full of malaria.'</p> + +<p>He was certainly crazy; there could be no doubt of it; and +next morning, when Mr. St. Claire entered his office, he found +Frank Tracy waiting there to consult him with regard to the +legal steps necessary to procure his brother's incarceration in a +lunatic asylum.</p> + +<p>Arthur St. Claire's face wore a grave, troubled look as he +listened, for he remembered a time, years before, when he, too, +had been interested in the lunatic asylum at Worcester, where +a beautiful young girl, his wife, had been confined. She was +dead now, and the Florida roses were growing over her grave, +but there were many sad, regretful memories connected with +her short life, and not the least sad of these were those connected +with the asylum.</p> + +<p>'If it were to do over again I would not put her there, +unless she became dangerous,' he had often said to himself, and +he said much the same thing to Frank Tracy with regard to his +brother.</p> + +<p>'Keep him at home, if possible. Do not place him with a +lot of lunatics if you can help it. No proof he is crazy because +he smells everything. My wife does the same. Her nose is +over the registers half the time in winter to see if any gas is +escaping from the furnace. And as to this Gretchen, it is possible +there was some woman with him on the ship, or in New +York, and he may be a little muddled there. You can inquire +at the hotel where he stopped.'</p> + +<p>This was Mr. St. Claire's advice, and Frank acted upon it, +and took immediate steps to ascertain if there had been a lady +in company with his brother at the Brevoort House, where he +had stopped, or if there had been any one in his company on +the ship, which was still lying in the dock at New York. But +there no one had been with him. Arthur Tracy alone was +registered among the list of passengers, and only Arthur Tracy +was on the books at the hotel. He had come alone, and been +alone on the sea and at the hotel.</p> + +<p>Gretchen was a myth, or at least a mystery, though he still +persisted that she would arrive with every train from Boston; +and for nearly a week they humored him, and the carriage +went to meet her, until at last there seemed to dawn upon his +mind the possibility of a mistake, and when the carriage had +made its twentieth trip for nothing, and Mr. St. Claire, who +was standing by him on the platform when the train came up +and brought no Gretchen, said to him:</p> + +<p>'She did not come.'</p> + +<p>'I am afraid she will never come,' he answered, sadly. 'No, +she will never come. There has been some mistake. She will +never come. Poor little Gretchen!' Then, after a moment +he added, but there <i>is</i> a Gretchen, and I wrote to her to join +me in Liverpool, and I thought she did and was with me on +the ship and in the train, but sometimes, when my head is so +hot, I get things mixed, and am not sure but—' and he +looked wistfully in his companion's face, while his voice trembled +a little. 'Don't let them shut me up; I have a suspicion +that they will try it, but it will do no good. I was in an +asylum nearly three years near Vienna; went of my own accord, +because of that heat in my head.'</p> + +<p>'Been in an asylum?' Mr. St. Claire said, wonderingly.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Arthur continued, 'I was only out three months ago. +I wrote occasionally to Frank and Gretchen, but did not tell +them where I was. They called it a <i>maison de santé</i>, and +treated me well because I paid well, but the sight of so many +crazy people made me worse, and if I had staid I should have +been mad as the maddest of them. As it was, I forgot almost +everything that ever happened, and fancied I was an Austrian. +As soon as I came out I was better, though I was not quite +myself till I got to Liverpool. Then things came back to me. +Stand by me, St. Claire. I can see I am in the way, and +Frank would like to be rid of me; but stand by me, and don't +let them do it.'</p> + +<p>His manner was very pleading, and like one who was in fear +of something, and remembering the past when a golden-haired +girl had begged him to save her from iron bars and bolts, Mr. +St. Claire assured him of his support against any steps which +might be taken to prove him mad enough for the asylum.</p> + +<p>'But I would not come for Gretchen any more,' he said. 'I +would give her a rest. Who is she?'</p> + +<p>Instantly the old look of cunning came into Arthur's eyes, +as he replied:</p> + +<p>'She is Gretchen;' and then he walked toward the carriage, +while Mr. St. Claire looked curiously after him, and said to +himself:</p> + +<p>'That fellow is not right, but he is not a subject for a mad +house, and I should oppose his being sent there. I do not +believe, however, that they will try it on.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X" ></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR SETTLES HIMSELF.</h2> + + +<p>They did try it on, but not until after the November +election, at which Frank was defeated by a large majority, +for Peterkin worked against him and brought all the +'heft of his powerful disapprobation' to bear upon him. Although +Frank had had no part in turning him from the door +that morning after the party, he had not tried to prevent it by +a word, and this the low, brutal man resented, and swearing +vengeance upon the whole Tracy tribe, declared his intention +to defeat Frank if it cost him half his fortune to do so. And it +did cost him at least two thousand dollars, for Frank Tracy +was popular with both parties; many of the Democrats voted +for him, but the rabble, the scum, those who could be bought +on both sides, went against him, even to the Widow Shipley's +four sons; and when all was over, Frank found himself defeated +by just as many votes as old Peterkin had paid for, not only +in Shannondale, but in the adjoining towns, where his money +carried 'heft,' as he expressed it.</p> + +<p>It was a terrible disappointment to Frank and his wife, who +had looked forward to enjoying a winter in Washington, where +they intended to take a house and enjoy all society had to offer +them in the national metropolis. Particularly were they anxious +for the change now that Arthur had come home, for it +was not altogether pleasant to be ruled where they had so +long been rulers, and to see the house turned upside down +without the right to protest.</p> + +<p>'I can't stand it, and I won't,' Frank said to his wife in the first +flush of his bitter disappointment. 'Ever since he came home +he has raised Cain generally, with his carpenters, and masons, +and painters, and stewing about water-pipes, and sewer-gas, +and smells. He's mad as a March hare, and if I can't get +rid of him by going to Washington, I'll do it in some other +way. You know he is crazy, and so do I, and I'll swear to it +on a stack of Bibles as high as the house.'</p> + +<p>And Frank did swear to it, not on a stack of Bibles, but before +two or three physicians and Mr. St. Claire, who, at his solicitation, +came to Tracy Park, and were closeted with him for +an hour or more, while he related his grievances, asserting +finally that he considered his brother dangerous, and did not +think his family safe with him, citing as proof that he had on +one occasion threatened to kill his son Tom for accusing Harold +Hastings of theft.</p> + +<p>How the matter would have terminated is doubtful, if Arthur +himself had not appeared upon the scene, calm, dignified, +and courtly in his manner, which insensibly won upon his +hearers, as in a few well-chosen and eloquent words, he proceeded +to prove that though he might be peculiar in some respects, +he was not mad, and that a man might repair his own +house, and cut off his own water-pipes, and take up his +sewer, and detect a bad smell, and still not be a subject for a +lunatic asylum.</p> + +<p>'And,' he continued, addressing his brother, 'it ill becomes +you to take this course against me—you, who have enriched +yourself at my expense, while I have held my peace. Suppose +I require you to give an account of all the money which you +have considered necessary for your support and salary—would +you like to do it? Would the world consider you strictly honorable, +or would they call you a lunatic on the subject of +money and not responsible for your acts? But I have no wish +to harm you. I have money enough, and cannot forget that +you are my brother. But molest me, and I shall molest you. +If I go to the asylum you will leave Tracy Park. If I am allowed +to stay here in peace, you can do so, too—at least, until +Gretchen comes, when it will, perhaps, be better for us to separate. +Two masters may manage to scramble along in the same +house, but two mistresses never can, and Dora and Gretchen +would not be congenial. Good morning, gentlemen!' and he +bowed himself from the room, leaving Frank covered with confusion +and shame as he felt that he was beaten.</p> + +<p>The physicians did not think it a case in which they were +warranted to interfere. Neither could conscientiously sign a +certificate which should declare Arthur a lunatic, and their advice +to Frank was that he should suffer his brother to have his +own way in his own house, and when he felt that he could not +bear with his idiosyncracies he could go elsewhere. But it was +this going elsewhere which Frank did not fancy; and, after a +consultation with his wife, he decided to let matters take their +course for a time at least, or until Gretchen came, if she ever +did.</p> + +<p>Arthur's allusion to the sums of money his brother had appropriated +to his own use had warned Frank that he was not +quite so indifferent or ignorant of his business affairs as he had +seemed, and this of itself served to keep him quiet and patient +during the confusion which ensued, as walls were torn down, +and doors and windows cut, while the house was filled with +workmen, and the sound of the hammer and saw was heard +from morning till night.</p> + +<p>It was in the middle of October when Arthur fairly commenced +his repairs, but so many men did he employ, and so +rapidly was the work pushed on, that the first of January +found everything finished and Arthur installed in his suite of +rooms, which a prince might have envied, so richly and tastefully +were they fitted up. Beautiful pictures and rich tapestry +covered the walls in the first room, where the floor was inlaid +with colored woods in lovely Mosaic designs, and the centre +was covered with a costly Oriental rug, which Arthur had +bought at a fabulous price in Paris, where it had once adorned +a room in the Tuileries. But the gem of the whole was the +library, where the statuary stood in the niches, and where, +from the large bow-window at the south, a young girl's face +looked upon the scene with an expression of shy surprise and +half regret in the soft blue eyes, as if their owner wondered +how she came there, and was always thinking of the fields and +forests of far-away Germany. For it was decidedly a German +face of the higher type, and such as is seldom found among +the lower or even middle classes. And yet you instinctively +felt that it belonged to the latter, notwithstanding the richness +of the dress, from the pearl-embroidered cap set jauntily on the +reddish golden hair to the velvet bodice and the satin peasant +waist. The hands, small and dimpled like those of a child, +were clasped around a prayer-book and a bunch of wild flowers +which had evidently just been gathered. It was a marvelously +beautiful face, pure and sweet as that of a Madonna, and the +workmen involuntarily bowed their heads before it, calling it, +not without some reason, a memorial window, for the name +Gretchen was under the picture, and one unconsciously found +himself looking for the date of birth and death. But only the +one word 'Gretchen' was there, with no sign to tell who she +was, or where, if living, she was now, or what relation she bore +to the strange man who often stood before her whispering to +himself:</p> + +<p>'Poor little Gretchen! Will you never come?'</p> + +<p>For a few days after the rooms were completed, they were +thrown open to such of Arthur's friends as cared to see them, +and the question 'Who is Gretchen?' was often asked, but +the answer was always the same: 'She is Gretchen. I am expecting +her every day.'</p> + +<p>But if he were expecting her, he no longer asked that the +carriage be sent to meet her. That had been one of the proofs +of his insanity as alleged by his brother, and Arthur was sane +enough and cunning enough to avoid a repetition of that offence, +but he often went himself to the station, when the New +York trains were due, for it was from the west rather than the +east that he was now looking for her.</p> + +<p>Frank, who watched him nervously, with all his senses sharpened, +guessed what had caused the change and grew more +nervous and morbid on the subject of Gretchen than ever. At +first his brother, who was greatly averse to going out, had +asked him to post his letters; business letters they seemed to +be, for they were addressed to business firms in New York, +London, and Paris, with all of which Arthur had relations. +But one morning when Frank went as usual to his brother's +room asking if there was any mail to be taken to the office, +Arthur, who was just finishing a letter, replied:</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, I will post this myself. I have been writing +to Gretchen.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, to Gretchen?' Frank said, quickly, as he advanced +nearer to the writing desk, hoping to see the address on the +envelope.</p> + +<p>But Arthur must have suspected his motive, for he at once +turned over the envelope and kept his hand upon it, while +Frank said to him:</p> + +<p>'Is she in London now?'</p> + +<p>'No; she was never in London,' was the curt reply, and +then, turning suddenly, Arthur faced his brother and said: +'Why are you so curious about Gretchen? It is enough for +you to know that the is the sweetest, truest little girl that ever +lived. When she comes I shall tell you everything, but not +before. You have tried to prove me crazy; have said I was +full of cranks; perhaps I am, and Gretchen is one of them, but +it does not harm you, so leave me in peace, if you wish for +peace yourself.'</p> + +<p>There was a menacing look in Arthur's eyes which Frank did +not like, and he retreated from the room, resolved to say no +more to him of Gretchen, whose arrival he again began to look +for and dread. But Gretchen did not come, or any tidings of +her, and Christmas came and went, and the lovely bracelets +which Arthur brought from the trunk he said was hers, and +into which no one had ever looked but himself, remained unclaimed +upon his table, as did the costly inlaid work-box, and +the cut-glass bottles with the gold stoppers. All these were to +have been Gretchen's Christmas presents; but when she did +not come they disappeared from view and were not seen again, +while Arthur seemed to be settling into a state of great depression, +caring nothing for the outside world, but spending all his +time in the lovely rooms he had prepared for himself and one +who never came.</p> + +<p>As far as was possible he continued his foreign habits, having +his coffee and rolls at eight in the morning, his breakfast, +as he called it, at half-past twelve, and his dinner at half-past +six. All these meals were served in his room as elaborately, +and with as much ceremony, as if lords and ladies sat at the +table instead of one lone man, who never let himself down a +particle, but required the utmost subservience and care in the +waiting. The finest of linen, and china, and glass, and silver +adorned his table, with bits of fanciful crockery gathered here +and there in his extended wanderings, and always flowers for +a centre-piece—roses mostly, if he could get them—tea roses +and Marshal Neils, for Gretchen, he said, was fond of these, +and, as she might surprise him at any moment, he wished to be +ready for her, and show that he was expecting her.</p> + +<p>Opposite him, at the end of the table, was always an empty +plate with its surroundings, and the curiously-carved chair, +which had seen the lion at Lucerne. But no one ever sat in +it. No one ever used the decorated plate, or the glass mug at +its side, with its twisted handle and the letter 'G.' on the silver +cover. Just what this mug was for none of the household +knew until Grace Atherton, who had travelled in Europe, and +to whom Mrs. Tracy showed it one day when Arthur was out, +said:</p> + +<p>'Why, it is a beer-mug, such as is used in Germany, though +more particularly among the Bavarian Alps and in the Tyrol. +This Gretchen is probably a tippler, with a red nose and a +double chin. I wish to goodness she would come and satisfy +our curiosity.'</p> + +<p>This wish of Grace's was not shared by Mrs. Tracy, who felt +an uneasy sense of relief as the days went on, and the beer-drinking +Gretchen did not appear, while Arthur became more +and more depressed and remained altogether in his room, seeing +no one and holding no intercourse with the outside world. +He had returned no calls, and had been but once to the cottage +in the lane to see Mrs. Crawford. That interview had been a +long and sad one, and when they talked of Amy, whose grave +Arthur had visited on his way to the cottage, both had cried +together, and Gretchen seemed for the time forgotten. They +talked of Amy's husband, who, Arthur said, had died at Monte +Carlo; and then he spoke of Amy's son, who was not present, +and whom he seemed to have forgotten entirely, for when Mrs. +Crawford said to him, 'You saw him on the night of your return +home,' he looked at her in a perplexed kind of way, and if +trying to recall something which had gone almost entirely from +his mind. It was this utter forgetfulness of people and events +which was a marked feature of his insanity, if insane he were, +and he knew it and struggled against it; and when Mrs. +Crawford told him he had seen Harold he tried to recall him, +and could not until the boy came in, flushed and excited from +a race with Dick St. Claire through the crisp November wind, +which had brought a bright color to his cheek and a sparkle to +his eye. Then Arthur remembered everything, and something +of his old prejudice came back to him, and his manner was a +little constrained as he talked to the boy, whose only fault was +that Harold Hastings had been his father and that he bore his +name.</p> + +<p>Arthur did not stay long after Harold came in, but said +good-morning to Mrs. Crawford and walked slowly away, going +again to Amy's grave, and taking from it a few leaves of the +ivy which was growing around the monument. And this was +all the intercourse he held with Mrs. Crawford, except to send +her at Christmas a hundred dollars, which he said was for the +boy Harold, to whom he had done an injustice.</p> + +<p>After this he seldom went out, but gave himself heart and +soul to the completion of his rooms, and when they were finished +he settled down into the life of a recluse, seeing very few +and talking but little, except occasionally to himself, when he +seemed to be carrying on a conversation with some unseen visitant, +who must have spoken in a foreign tongue or tongues, +for sometimes it was French, sometimes Italian, and oftener +German, in which he addressed his fancied guest, and neither +Frank nor Dolly could understand a word of the strange jargon. +On the whole, however, he was very quiet and undemonstrative, +and but for the habit of talking to himself and smelling +odors where there were none, he would not have seemed +very different from many peculiar people who are never suspected +of being crazy.</p> + +<p>If he were still expecting Gretchen, he gave no sign of it, +except the place at his table always laid for her, and Frank +was beginning to breathe freely, and to look upon his brother's +presence in the house as not altogether unbearable, when an +event occurred which excited all Shannondale, and for a time +made Frank almost as crazy as his brother.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI" ></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h2>THE STORM.</h2> + + +<p>The winter since Christmas had been unusually severe, +and the oldest inhabitant, of whom there are always +many in every town, pronounced the days as they came +and went the coldest they had ever known. Ten, twelve, and +even fourteen degrees below zero the thermometers marked +more than once, while old Peterkin's, which was hung inside +the Lizy Ann and always took the lead, went down one morning +to seventeen, and all the water-pipes and pumps in town +either froze or burst, and Arthur Tracy, who, with his absorption +of self, never forgot the poor, sent tons and tons of coal to +them, and whispered to himself:</p> + +<p>'Poor Gretchen! It is hard for her if she is on the sea in +such weather as this. Heaven protect her, poor little Gretchen!'</p> + +<p>That night when Frank went, as his custom was, to sit a few +moments with his brother, he found him on his knees, with his +face toward the picture, repeating the prayer for those upon +the sea.</p> + +<p>The next day there was a change for the better, and the next, +and the next, until when the last day of February dawned +Peterkin's thermometer registered only two, and people began +to show themselves in the streets, while the sun tried to break +through the grey clouds which shrouded the wintry sky. But +this was only temporary, for before noon the mercury fell again +to eight below, the wind began to rise, and when the New York +train came panting to the station at half-past six, clouds of snow +so dense and dark were driving over the hills and along the line +of track that nothing could be distinctly seen.</p> + +<p>It was not until the train had moved on that the station-master, +who, half blinded with the sleet, was gathering up the +mail-bag, which had been unceremoniously dropped, saw across +the track at a little distance from him the figure of a woman +who seemed to be trying to examine a paper she held in her +hand, while clinging to her skirts and crying piteously was a +little child, but whether boy or girl, he could not tell.</p> + +<p>'Can I do anything for you?' he said advancing toward the +stranger, who, thrusting the paper from sight, caught up the +child in her arms, and without word of answer, hurried away in +the storm and rapidly-increasing darkness.</p> + +<p>'Curis! She must have got off t'other side of the cars. I +wonder who she is and where she is goin'. Not fur, I hope, +such a night as this. Ugh! the wind is like so many screech +owls and almost takes a feller off his feet, the agent said to himself, +as he looked after the stranger, and then went back to the +light and warmth of his office, where he soon forgot the woman, +who, with the child held closely in her arms, walked rapidly on, +her eyes strained to their utmost tension as they peered through +the darkness and the storm until she reached a gate opening +into a grassy road which led through the fields in a straight line +to Tracy Park and Collingwood beyond.</p> + +<p>Carriages seldom traversed this road, but in the summer +time the people from Collingwood and Tracy Park frequently +walked that way, as it was a much nearer route to town than +the main highway. Here the woman stopped, and looking up +at the tall arch over the gate, said aloud, as if repeating a lesson +learned by heart, 'Leave the car on your right hand; take +the road to the right, as I have drawn it on paper; go straight +on for a quarter of a mile until you come to a wide iron gate +with a tall arch over it. This gate is also at your right. You +cannot mistake it.'</p> + +<p>'No,' she continued, 'I cannot mistake it. This is the place. +We are almost there,' and putting down the child, she tugged +with all her strength at the ponderous gate, which she at last +succeeded in opening, and resuming her burden, passed through +into the field where the snow lay on the ground in great white +drifts, while the blinding flakes and cutting sleet from the +leaden clouds above, beat pitilessly upon her as she struggled +on the wearisome way.</p> + +<p>And while she toiled on, fighting bravely with the storm, and +occasionally speaking a word of encouragement to the little +child nestled in her bosom, Arthur Tracy stood at one of the +windows in his library, with his white face pressed close against +the pane, as he looked anxiously out into the gathering darkness, +shuddering involuntarily as the wind came screaming +round a corner of the house, bending the tall evergreens until +their slender tops almost touched the ground, and then rushing +on down the carriage-drive with a shriek like so many demons +let loose from the ice-caves of the north, where the winds are +supposed to hold high carnival.</p> + +<p>They were surely holding carnival to-night, and their king +was out with all his legions, and as Arthur listened to the roar of +the tempest he whispered to himself:</p> + +<p>'A wild, wild night for Gretchen to arrive, and her dear little +feet and hands will be so cold; but there is warmth and +comfort here, and love such as she never dreamed of, poor Gretchen! +I will hold her in my arms and chafe her cold fingers +and kiss her tired face until she feels that her home-coming is +a happy one. It must be almost time,' and he glanced at a +small cathedral clock which stood upon the mantel.</p> + +<p>In the adjoining room the dinner table was as usual laid for +two, but one could see that more care than usual had been given +to its arrangement, while the roses in the centre were the largest +and finest of their kind. In the low, wide grate a bright +fire was burning, and Arthur placed a large easy chair before it, +and then brought from the library a covered footstool, with a +delicate covering of blue and gold. No foot had ever yet profaned +this stool with a touch, for it was one of Arthur's specialties, +bought at a great price in Algiers; but he brought it now +for Gretchen and saw in fancy resting upon it the cold little +feet his hands were to rub and warm and caress until life came +back to them, and Gretchen's blue eyes smiled upon him and +Gretchen's sweet voice said:</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Arthur. It is pleasant coming home.'</p> + +<p>For the last two or three weeks, Arthur had been very quiet +and taciturn, but on the morning of this day he had seemed restless +and nervous, and his nervousness and excitability increased +until a violent headache came on, and Charles, the servant, +who attended him, reported to Mrs. Tracy that his midday meal +had been untouched and that he really seemed quite ill. Then +Frank went to him, and sitting down beside him as he lay upon +a couch in the room with Gretchen's picture, said to him, not +unkindly:</p> + +<p>'Are you sick to-day? What is the matter?'</p> + +<p>For a few moments Arthur made no reply, but lay with his +eyes closed as if he had not heard. Then suddenly rousing +himself, he burst out, vehemently:</p> + +<p>'Frank, you think me crazy, or you have thought so, and +you have based that belief in part on the fact that I am always +expecting Gretchen. And so for a long time I have suppressed +all mention of her, though I have never ceased to look +for her arrival, since—since—well, I may as well tell you the +truth. I know now that she could not have been with me on +the ship and in the train, although I thought she was. I wrote +her to join me in Liverpool, and fancied she did. But my brain +must have been a little mixed. She did not come with me, but +I wrote to her weeks ago, telling her to come at once, and giving +her directions how to find the park if she should arrive at +the station and no one there to meet her. She has had more +than time to get here, but I have said nothing about sending +the carriage for her, as that seemed to annoy you. But to-day, +Frank, to-day'—and Arthur's voice grew softer and pleading, +and trembled as he went on. 'I dreamed of her last night, and +to-day she seems so near to me that more than once I have put +out my hand to touch her. Frank, it is not insanity, this presentiment +of mine that she is near me, that she is coming to me, +or tidings of her; it is mind acting upon mind; her thoughts +of me reaching forward and fastening upon my thoughts of her, +making a mental bridge on which to see her coming to me. +And you will send for her. You will let John go again. Think +if she should arrive in this terrible storm and no one there to +meet her. You will send this once, and if she is not there I will +not trouble you again.'</p> + +<p>There was something in Arthur's white face which Frank +could not resist, and though he had no idea that anything would +come of it, he promised that John should go.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Frank,' Arthur exclaimed, his face brightening at once, +'you have made me so happy! My headache is quite gone,' and +then he began to plan for the dinner, which was to be more +elaborate than usual, and served an hour later, so as to give +plenty of time for Gretchen to rest and dress herself if she +wished to do so.</p> + +<p>'And she will when she sees the lovely dress I have for her,' +he thought to himself, and after his brother had gone he went +to the large closet where he kept the long black trunk which +he called Gretchen's, and into which Dolly's curious eyes had +never looked, although she longed to know the contents.</p> + +<p>This Arthur now opened, and had Dolly been there she +would have held her breath in wonder at the many beautiful +things it contained. Folded in one of the trays, as only a French +packer accustomed to the business could have arranged it, was +an exquisite dinner-dress of salmon-colored satin, with a brocaded +front and jacket of blue and gold, and here and there a +knot of duchess lace, which gave it a more airy effect. This +Arthur took out carefully and laid upon the bed in his sleeping-apartment, +together with every article of the toilet necessary to +such a dress, from a lace pocket handkerchief to a pair of pale-blue +silk hose, which he kissed reverently as he whispered to himself:</p> + +<p>'Dear little feet, which, no doubt, are so cold now in the +wretched car; but they will never be cold when once I have +them here.'</p> + +<p>He was talking in German, as he always did when Gretchen +was the subject of his thought, and so Dolly, who came to say +that some things which he had ordered for dinner were impossible +now, could not understand him, but she caught a glimpse +of the dress upon the bed, and advanced quickly toward the +open door, exclaiming:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Arthur, what a lovely gown! Whose—?'</p> + +<p>But before she completed her question Arthur was upon the +threshold and had closed the door, saying as he did so:</p> + +<p>'It is Gretchen's. I had it made at Worth's. She is coming +to-night, you know.'</p> + +<p>Dolly had heard from her husband of Arthur's fancy, and +though she had no faith in it, she replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, Frank told me you were expecting her again, and I +came to say that we cannot get the fish you ordered, for no one +can go to town in this storm, and I doubt if we could find it +if we did. You will have to skip the fish.'</p> + +<p>'All right; all right. Gretchen will be too much excited to +care,' Arthur replied, standing with his hand upon the door-knob +until Dolly left the room and went to this kitchen, where Frank +was interviewing the coachman.</p> + +<p>He had found that important personage before the fire, bending +nearly double and complaining bitterly of a fall he had just +had on his way from the stable to the house. According to his +statement, the wind had taken him up bodily, and carrying him +a dozen rods or so, had set him down heavily upon a stone flowerpot +which was left outside in the winter, nearly breaking his +back, as he declared. This did not look very promising for the +drive to the station, and Frank opened the business hesitatingly, +and asked John what he thought of it.</p> + +<p>'I think I would not go out in such a storm as this with my +back if Queen Victoria was to be there,' John answered gruffly. +'And what would be the use?' he continued. 'I have been to +meet that woman, if she is a woman, with the outlandish name, +more than fifty times, I'll bet; he don't know what he is talking +about when he gets on her track. And s'posin' she does +come, she can find somebody to fetch her. She ain't going to +walk.'</p> + +<p>This seemed reasonable; and as Frank's sympathies were +with his coachman and horses rather than with Gretchen and +his brother, he decided with John that he need not go, but +added, laughingly, as he saw the man walk across the floor as +well as he ever did on his way to the woodshed:</p> + +<p>'Seems to me your broken back has recovered its elasticity +very soon.'</p> + +<p>To this John made no reply except an inaudible growl, and +Frank returned to the library, resolving not to go near his brother +until after train time, but to let him think that John had +gone to the station.</p> + +<p>At half-past five, however, Arthur sent for him, and said:</p> + +<p>'Has he gone? It must be time.'</p> + +<p>'Not quite; it is only half-past five. The train does not +come until half-past six, and is likely to be late,' was Frank's +reply.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know,' Arthur continued, 'but he should be there +on time. Tell him to start at once, and take an extra robe with +him, and say to Charles that I will have sherry to-night, and +champagne, too, and Hamburg grapes, and—'</p> + +<p>The remainder of his speech was lost on Frank, who was +hurrying down the stairs with a guilty feeling in his heart, although +he felt that the end justified the means, and that under +the circumstances he was justified in deceiving his half-crazy +brother. Still he was ill at ease. He had no faith in Arthur's +presentiments, and no idea that any one bound for Tracy Park +would be on the train that night, but he could not shake off a +feeling of anxiety, amounting almost to a dread of some impending +calamity, which possibly the sending of John to the station +might have averted, and going to a window in the library, he, +too, stood looking out into the night, trying not to believe that +he was watching for some possible arrival, when, above the +storm, he heard the shrill scream of the locomotive as it stopped +for a moment and then dashed on into the white snow clouds; +trying to believe, too, that he was not glad, as the minutes became +a quarter, the quarter a half, and the half three-quarters, +until at last he heard the clock strike the half-hour past seven, +and nobody had come.</p> + +<p>'I shall have to tell Arthur,' he thought, and, with something +like hesitancy, he started for his brother's room.</p> + +<p>Arthur was standing before the fire, with his arm thrown +caressingly across the chair where Gretchen was to sit, when +Frank opened the door and advanced a step or two across the +threshold.</p> + +<p>'Has she come? I did not see the carriage. Where is she?' +Arthur cried, springing swiftly forward, while his bright, eager +eyes darted past his brother to the open door-way and out into +the hall.</p> + +<p>'No, she has not come. I knew she wouldn't; and it was +nonsense to send the horses out such a night as this,' Frank +said, sternly, with a mistaken notion that he must speak sharply +to the unfortunate man, who, if rightly managed, was gentle as +a child.</p> + +<p>'Not come! Gretchen not come! There must be some +mistake!' Arthur said, all the brightness fading from his face, +which seemed to grow pinched and pallid as he turned it +piteously toward his brother and continued: 'Not come! Oh, +Frank! did John say so? Was no one there? Let me go +and question him—there must be a mistake.'</p> + +<p>He was hurrying toward the door, when Frank caught his +arm and detained him, while he said, decidedly:</p> + +<p>'No use to see John. Can't you believe me when I tell you +no one was there—and I knew there would not be. It was +folly to send.'</p> + +<p>For a moment a pale, haggard face, which looked still more +haggard and pale with the firelight flickering over it, confronted +Frank steadily; then the lips began to quiver, and the +eyelids to twitch, while great tears gathered in Arthur's eyes, +until at last, covering his face with his hands, he staggered to +the couch, and throwing himself upon it, sobbed convulsively.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Gretchen, my darling!' he said. 'I was so sure, and +now everything is swept away, and I am left so desolate.'</p> + +<p>Frank had never seen grief just like this, and, with his conscience +pricking him a little for the deception he had practised, +he found himself pitying his brother as he had never done +before; and when at last the latter cried out loud, he went to +him, and laying his hand gently upon his bowed head, said to +him, soothingly:</p> + +<p>'Don't, Arthur; don't feel so badly. It is terrible to see a +man cry as you are crying.'</p> + +<p>'No, no; let me cry,' Arthur replied. 'The tears do me +good, and my brain would burst without them. It is all on +fire, and my head is aching so hard again.'</p> + +<p>At this moment Charles appeared, asking if his master would +have dinner served. But Arthur could not eat, and the table +which had been arranged with so much care for Gretchen was +cleared away, while Gretchen's chair was moved back from the +fire and Gretchen's footstool put in its place, and nothing +remained to show that she had been expected except the +pretty dress, with its accessories, which lay upon Arthur's bed. +These he took care of himself, folding them with trembling +hands and tear-wet eyes, as a fond mother folds the clothes her +dead child has worn, sorrowing most over the half-worn shoes, +so like the dear little feet which will never wear them again. +So Arthur sorrowed over the high-heeled slippers, with the +blue rosettes and pointed toes, fashionable in Paris at that time. +Gretchen had never worn them, it is true, but they seemed so +much like her that his tears fell fast as he held them in his +hands, and, dropping upon the pure white satin, left a stain +upon it.</p> + +<p>When everything was put away and the long trunk locked +again, Arthur went back to the couch and said to his brother, +who was still in the room:</p> + +<p>'Don't leave me, Frank; at least not yet, till I am more +composed. My nerves are dreadfully shaken to-night, and I +feel afraid of something, I don't know what. How the wind +howls and moans! I never heard it like that but once before, +and that was years ago, among the Alps in Switzerland. Then +it blew off the roof of the chalet where I was staying, and I +heard afterward that Amy died that night. You remember +Amy, the girl I loved so well, though not as I love Gretchen. +If she had come, I should have told you all about her, but now +it does not matter who she is, or where I saw her first, knitting +in the sunshine, with the halo on her hair and the blue of +the summer skies reflected in her eyes. Oh, Gretchen, my +love, my love!'</p> + +<p>He was talking more to himself than to Frank, who sat +beside him until far into the night, while the wild storm +raged on and shook the solid house to its very foundations. A +tall tree in the yard was uprooted, and a chimney-top came +crushing down with a force which threatened to break through +the roof. For a moment there was a lull in the tempest, and, +raising himself upon his elbow, Arthur listened intently, while +he said, in a whisper which made Frank's blood curdle in his +veins:</p> + +<p>'Hark! there's more abroad to-night than the storm! Something +is happening or has happened which affects me. I have +heard voices in the wind—Gretchen calling me from far away. +Frank, Frank, <i>did</i> you hear that? It was a woman's cry; her +voice—Gretchen's. Yes, Gretchen, I am coming!'</p> + +<p>And with a bound he was at the window, which he opened +wide, and leaning far out of it, listened to hear repeated a +sound which Frank, too, had heard—a cry like the voice of one +in mortal peril calling for help.</p> + +<p>It might have been the wind, which on the instant swept +round the corner in a great gust, driving the snow and sleet +into Arthur's face, and making him draw in his body, nearly +half of which was leaning from the window as he waited for +the strange cry to be repeated. But it did not come again, +though Frank, whose nerves were strung to almost as high a +tension as his brother's, thought he heard it once above the +roar of the tempest, and a vague feeling of disquiet took possession +of him as he sat for an hour longer watching his brother +and listening to the noise without.</p> + +<p>Gradually the storm subsided, and when the clock struck +one the wind had gone down, the snow had ceased to fall, and +the moon was struggling feebly through a rift of dark clouds in +the west. After persuading his brother to go to bed, Frank +retired to his own room and was soon asleep, unmindful of the +tragedy which was being enacted not very far away, where a +little child was smiling in its dreams, while the woman beside +it was praying for life until her mission should be accomplished.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII" ></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h2>THE TRAMP HOUSE.</h2> + + +<p>About midway between the entrance to the park and +the Collingwood grounds, and fifty rods or more from +the cross-road which the strange woman had taken on +the night of the storm, stood a small stone building, which had +been used as a school-house until the Shannondale turnpike was +built and the cross-road abandoned. After that it was occupied +by one poor family after another, until the property of which +it was a part came into the hands of the elder Mr. Tracy, who, +with his English ideas, thought to make it a lodge and bring +the gates of his park down to it. But this he did not do, and +the house was left to the mercy of the winds, and the storms, +and the boys, until Arthur became master there, and with his +artistic taste thought to beautify it a little and turn it to some +use.</p> + +<p>'I would tear it down,' he said to his neighbor, Mr. St. +Claire, who stood with him one day looking at it, 'I would tear +it down, and have once or twice given orders to that effect, but +as often countermanded them. I do not know that I am +exactly superstitious, but I am subject to fancies, or presentiments, +or whatever you choose to call those moods which take +possession of you and which you cannot shake off, and, singularly +enough, one of these fancies is connected with this old +hut, and as often as I decide to remove it something tells me +not to; and once I actually dreamed that a dead woman's hand +clutched me by the arm and bade me leave it alone. A case of +"Woodman spare that tree," you see.'</p> + +<p>And Arthur laughed lightly at his own morbid fancies, but +he left the house and planted around it quantities of woodbine, +which soon crept up its sides to the chimney-top and made it +look like the ivy-covered cottages so common in Ireland. It +was the nicest kind of rendezvous for lovers, who frequently +availed themselves of its seclusion to whisper their secrets to +each other, and it was sometimes used as a dining-room by the +people of Shannondale, where in summer they held picnics in +the pretty pine grove not far away. But during Arthur's +absence it had been suffered to go to decay, for Frank cared +little for lovers or picnics, and less for the tramps who often +slept there at night, and for whom it came at last to be called +the Tramp House. So the winds, and the storms, and the boys +did their work upon it unmolested, and when Arthur returned, +the door hung upon one hinge, and there was scarcely a whole +light of glass in the six windows.</p> + +<p>'Better tear the old rookery down. It is of no earthly use +except to harbor rats and tramps. I've known two or three to +spend the night in it at a time, and once a lot of gipsies quartered +themselves here for a week and nearly scared Dolly to +death,' Frank said to his brother as they were walking past it +a few days after his return, and Arthur was commenting upon +its dilapidated appearance.</p> + +<p>'Oh, the tramps sleep here, do they?' Arthur said. 'Well, +let them. If any poor, homeless wretches want to stay here +nights they are very welcome, I am sure, and I will see that the +door is rehung and glass put in the windows. May as well +make them comfortable.'</p> + +<p>'Do as you like,' Frank replied, and there, so far as he was +concerned, the matter ended.</p> + +<p>But while the carpenters were at work at the Park Arthur +sent one of them to the old stone house and had the door fixed +and glass put in two of the windows, while rude but close shutters +were nailed before the others, and then Arthur went himself +into the room and pushed a long table which the picnic +people had used for their refreshments and the tramps for a +bed into a corner, where one sleeping upon it would be more +sheltered from the draught. All this seemed nonsense to +Frank, who laughingly suggested that Arthur should place in +it a stove and a ton of coal for the benefit of his lodgers. But +Arthur cared little for his brother's jokes. His natural kindness +of heart, which was always seeking another's good, had +prompted him to this care for the Tramp House, in which he +felt a strange interest, never dreaming that what he was doing +would reach forward to the future and influence not only his +life but that of many others.</p> + +<p>The storm which had raged so fiercely around the house in +the park had not spared the cottage in the lane, which rocked +like a cradle as gust after gust of wind struck it with a force +which made every timber quiver, and sent the boy Harold close +to his grandmother's side as he asked, tremblingly:</p> + +<p>'Do you think we shall be blown away?'</p> + +<p>The rheumatism from which Mrs. Crawford had been suffering +in the fall had troubled her more or less during the entire +winter, and now, aggravated by a cold, it was worse than it had +ever been before, and on the night of the storm she was suffering +intense pain, which was only relieved by the hot poultices +which Harold made under her direction and applied to the +swollen limb. This kept him up later than usual, and the clock +was striking eleven when his grandmother declared herself +easier, and bade him go to bed.</p> + +<p>It was at this hour that Arthur Tracy had fancied he heard +the cry for help, and the snow was sweeping past the cottage +in great billows of white when Harold went to the window and +looked out into the night. In the summer when the leaves +were upon the trees the old stone house could not he seen from +the cottage, from which it was distant a quarter of a mile or +more, but in the winter when the trees were stripped of their +foliage it was plainly discernible, and as Harold glanced that +way a gleam of light appeared suddenly, as if the door had been +opened and the flickering rays of a candle had for a moment +shone out into the darkness. Then it disappeared, but not +until Harold had cried out:</p> + +<p>'Oh, grandma, there's a light in the Tramp House; I saw +it plain as day. Somebody is in there.'</p> + +<p>'God pity them.' was Mrs. Crawford's reply, though she did +not quite credit Harold's statement, or think of it again that +night.</p> + +<p>It was late next morning when Harold awoke to find the +sun shining into the room, and without any sign of the terrible +storm, except the snow, which lay in great piles everywhere +and came almost to the window's edge. But Harold was not +afraid of snow, and soon had the walks cleared around the +cottage, and when, after breakfast, which he prepared himself, +for his grandmother could not step, he was told that a doctor +must be had and he must go for him, he did not demur at all, +but commenced his preparations at once for the long and wearisome +walk.</p> + +<p>'Better go through the park,' his grandmother said to him, +as he was tying his warm comforter about his ears and putting +on his mittens. 'It is a little farther that way, but somebody +has broken a path by this time, and the cross-road, which is +nearer, must be impassable.'</p> + +<p>Harold made no reply, but remembering the light he had +seen in the Tramp House, resolved within himself to take the +cross-road and investigate the mystery. Bidding his grandmother +good-by, and telling her he should be back before she +had time to miss him, he started on his journey, and was soon +plunging through the snow, which, in some places, was up to +his armpits, so that his progress was very slow, but by kicking +with his feet and throwing out his arms like the paddles of a +boat, he managed to get on until he was opposite the Tramp +House, which looked like an immense snow-heap, so completely +was it covered. Only the chimney and the slanting roof +showed any semblance to a house as Harold made his way +toward it, still beating the snow with his arms, and thinking it +was not quite the fun he had fancied it might be.</p> + +<p>He was close to the house at last, and stood for a moment +looking at it, while a faint thrill of fear stirred in his veins as +he remembered to have heard that burglars and thieves sometimes +made it their rendezvous after a night's marauding. +What if they were there now, and should rush upon him if he +ventured to disturb them!</p> + +<p>'I don't believe I will try it,' he thought, as he glanced nervously +at the door, which was blockaded by a great bank of +snow; and he was about to retrace his steps, when a sound +met his ear which made him stand still and listen until it was +repeated a second time.</p> + +<p>Then forgetting both burglar and thief, he started forward +quickly, and was soon at the door, from which he dug away +the snow with a desperate energy, as if working for his life. +For the sound was the cry of a little child, frightened and +pleading.</p> + +<p>'Mah-nee! mah-nee!' it seemed to say; and Harold, thinking +it was mamma, answered, cheerily:</p> + +<p>'I am coming as fast I can.'</p> + +<p>Then the crying ceased, and all was still inside, while +Harold worked on until enough snow was cleared away to allow +of his opening the door about a foot, and through this narrow +opening he forced his way into the cold, damp room, where for +a moment he could see nothing distinctly, for the sunlight outside +had blinded him, and there was but little light inside, +owing to the barred and snow-bound windows.</p> + +<p>Gradually, however, as he became accustomed to the place, +he saw upon the long table in the corner where Arthur Tracy +had moved it months before, what looked like a human form +stretched at full length and lying upon its back, with its +white, stony face upturned to the rafters above, and no sound +or motion to tell that it still lived.</p> + +<p>With an exclamation of surprise, Harold sprang forward +and laid his hand upon the pale forehead of the woman, but +started back as quickly with a cry of horror, for by the touch +of the ice-cold flesh he knew the woman was dead.</p> + +<p>'Frozen to death!' he whispered, with ashen lips; and then, +as something stirred under the gray cloak which partly covered +the woman, he conquered his terror and went forward again to +the table, over which he bent curiously.</p> + +<p>Again the cry, which was more like 'mah-nee' now than +'mamma,' met his ear, and, stooping lower, he saw a curly +head nestle close to the bosom of the woman, while a little +fat white hand was clasping the neck as if for warmth and +protection.</p> + +<p>At this sight all Harold's fear vanished, and, bending down +so that his lips almost touched the bright, wavy hair, he said:</p> + +<p>'Poor little girl!'—he felt instinctively that it was a girl—'poor +little girl! come with me away from this dreadful place!' +and he tried to lift up her head, but she drew it away from +him, and repeated the piteous cry of 'Mah-nee, mah-nee!'</p> + +<p>At last, however, as Harold continued to talk to her, the +cries ceased, and, cautiously lifting her head, she turned toward +him a fat, chubby face and a pair of soft, blue eyes in +which the great tears were standing. Then her lips began to +quiver in a grieved kind of way, as if the horror of the previous +night had stamped itself upon her tender mind and she +were asking for sympathy.</p> + +<p>'Mah-nee!' she said again, placing one hand on the cold, +dead face, and stretching the other toward Harold, who put +out his arms to take her.</p> + +<p>But something resisted all his efforts, and a closer inspection +showed him a long, old-fashioned carpet-bag, which enveloped +her body from her neck to her feet, and into which she had +evidently been put to protect her from the cold.</p> + +<p>'Not a bad idea either,' Harold said, as he comprehended +the situation; 'and your poor mother gave you the most of +her cloak, too, and her shawl,' he continued, as he saw how +carefully the child had been wrapped, while the mother, if it +were her mother, had paid for her unselfishness with her life.</p> + +<p>'What is your name, little girl?' he asked.</p> + +<p>The child, who had been staring at him while he talked as +if he were a lunatic, made no reply until he had her in his +arms, when she, too, began to talk in a half-frightened way. +Then he looked at her as if she were the lunatic, for never had +he heard such speech as hers.</p> + +<p>'I do believe you are a Dutchman,' he said, as he wrapped +both shawl and cloak around her and started for the door, +which he kicked against some time in order to make an opening +wide enough to allow of his egress with his burden.</p> + +<p>When at last they emerged from the cold, dark room into +the bright sunshine, the child gave a great cry of delight, and +the blue eyes fairly danced with joy as they fell upon the +dazzling snow. Then she put both arms around Harold's +neck, and nestling her face close to his, kissed him as fondly +as if she had known him all her life, while the boy paid her +back kiss after kiss as he proceeded slowly toward home.</p> + +<p>The child was heavy, and the bag and shawl made such an +unwieldy bundle that his progress was very slow, and he +stopped more than once to rest and take breath, and as often +as he stopped the blue eyes would look up enquiringly at him +with an expression which made his boyish heart beat faster as +he thought what pretty eyes they were and wondered who she +was. Once he fell down, and bag and baby rolled in the snow; +but only the vigorous kicking of a pair of little legs inside the +bag showed that the child disapproved of the proceeding, for +she made no sound, and when he picked her up she brushed +the snow from his hair, and laughed as if the thing had been +done for fun.</p> + +<p>He reached the cottage at last, and bursting into the room +where his grandmother was sitting with her foot in a chair, +exclaimed, as he put down the child, who, as she was still enveloped +in the bag, stood with difficulty:</p> + +<p>'Oh grandma, what do you think? I did see a light in the +Tramp House, and there is somebody there—a woman—dead—frozen +to death, with nothing over her, for she had given +her cloak and shawl to her little girl. I went there. I found +her, and brought the baby home in the carpet-bag, and now I +must go back to the woman. Oh, it was dreadful to see her +white face, and it is so cold there and dark;' and if the horror +of what he had seen had just impressed itself upon him, the +boy turned pale and faint, and, staggering to a chair, burst +into tears.</p> + +<p>Too much astonished to utter a word, Mrs. Crawford stared +at him a moment in a bewildered kind of way, and then +when the child, seeing him cry, began also to cry for "Mah-nee," +and struggle in the bag, she forgot her lame foot, on +which she had not stepped for a week, and going to the little +girl, released her from the bag, and taking her upon her lap, +began to untie the soft woollen cloak and to chafe the cold +fingers, while she questioned her grandson.</p> + +<p>Having recovered himself somewhat, Harold repeated his +story, and asked with a shudder:</p> + +<p>'Must I go for her alone? I can't, I can't. I was not afraid +with the baby there, but it is so awful, and I never saw any +one dead before.'</p> + +<p>'Go back alone! Of course not!' his grandmother replied. +'But you must go to the park at once and tell them; go as +fast as you can. She may not be dead.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, she is,' Harold answered, decidedly. 'I touched +her face, and nothing alive could feel like that.'</p> + +<p>He was buttoning his overcoat preparatory to a fresh start, +but before he went he kissed the little girl who was sitting on +his grandmother's lap, and who, as she saw him leaving her, +began to cry for him and to utter curious sounds unintelligible +to them both. But Harold brought her a piece of bread, +which she began to devour ravenously, and then he stepped +quietly out and was soon breaking through the drifts which +lay between the cottage and the park.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII" ></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h2>THE WOMAN.</h2> + + +<p>They slept later than usual at the park house that morning, +and Frank and his family were just sitting down to +breakfast, and Arthur was taking his rolls and coffee in +his own room, when John, with a white, scared face, looked in +and said:</p> + +<p>'Excuse me, Mr. Tracy, but—but something dreadful has +happened. There's a woman frozen to death in the Tramp +House, with a baby, and Harold Hastings found them, and—but +he is here, sir; he will tell you himself;' and he went for +the boy, who soon entered the room, followed by every servant +in the house.</p> + +<p>Harold had come upon John first in the stable, and sinking +down exhausted upon the hay, had told his story, while the +man, John, listened terror-stricken and open-mouthed. Then +seeing how weak and tired Harold seemed, and how he sank +back upon the hay when he attempted to rise, he took him in +his arms, and carrying him to the kitchen, left him there while +he went with the news to his master.</p> + +<p>'A woman dead in the Tramp House, and a baby!' Frank +exclaimed, and for an instant he felt as if he were dying, for +there flashed over him a conviction that the woman had come +in the train the previous night, and that it was her cry for +help which had been borne to him on the winds, and to which +he had paid no heed.</p> + +<p>'Are you sick? Are you going to faint?' his wife said to +him, as she saw how white he grew, and how heavily he +leaned back in his chair as Harold related the particulars of +his finding the woman and the child.</p> + +<p>'I am not going to faint; but it makes me sick and shaky +to think of a woman freezing to death so near us that if she +had cried for help we might perhaps have heard her,' Frank +replied.</p> + +<p>Then turning to Harold, he continued:</p> + +<p>'How did she look? Was she young? Was she pretty? +Was she dark or fair?'</p> + +<p>He almost gasped the last word, as if it choked him, and +no one guessed how anxiously he waited for Harold's answer, +which did not afford him much relief.</p> + +<p>'I don't know; it was so dark in there, and cold, and I +was afraid some of the time, and in a hurry. I only know +that her nose was long and large, for I touched it when I was +trying to get at the little girl, and it was so cold—oh, oh!'</p> + +<p>And Harold shuddered as if he still felt the icy touch of the +dead.</p> + +<p>'A long nose and a large one,' Frank said, involuntarily, +while a sigh of relief escaped him as he remembered that the +nose of the picture in his brother's room was neither long nor +large.</p> + +<p>Still Harold might be mistaken, and though he had no good +cause for believing that the woman lying dead in the Tramp +House was Gretchen, there was a horrible feeling in his heart, +while a lump came into his throat and affected his speech, +which was thick and indistinct, as he rose from his chair at +last and said to John:</p> + +<p>'We have no time to lose. Hitch up the horses to the +long sleigh as quick as you can. We must go to the Tramp +House after the woman, and send to the village for a doctor, +and telegraph to Springfield for the coroner. I suppose there +must be an inquest; and, Dolly, see that a room is prepared +for the body.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Frank, must it come here? Why not take it to the +cottage? The child is there,' Mrs. Tracy said, not because +she cared so much for the trouble, but because of her aversion +to having the corpse of a stranger in the house, with all that +it involved.</p> + +<p>'I tell you that woman must come here,' was Frank's decided +reply, as he began to make himself ready for the ride.</p> + +<p>'Don't tell Arthur yet,' he said, as he left the house and +took his seat in the sleigh, which was soon ploughing its way +through the snow banks in the direction of the Tramp House.</p> + +<p>It was Harold who acted as master of ceremonies, for John +was nervous and hung back from the half open door, while +Frank was too much unstrung to know just what he was doing +or saying, as he squeezed through the narrow space and then +stood for a moment, snow-blind and dizzy, in the cheerless room.</p> + +<p>Harold was not afraid now. He had been there before alone, +had seen and touched the white face of the corpse, and now, +with companionship in its presence, he went fearlessly up to it, +followed by Frank, who could scarcely stand, and who laid his +hand for support on Harold's shoulder, and then turned curiously +and eagerly toward the woman.</p> + +<p>John had lingered outside, shovelling the snow from the door +which he succeeded in opening wide, so that the full, broad +sunlight fell upon the face, which was neither young, nor pretty, +nor fair, while the hair was black as night.</p> + +<p>Frank noted all these points at a glance, and could have +shouted aloud for joy, so great was the revulsion of his feelings. +It was not Gretchen lying there before him, and he was not a +murderer, as he had accused himself of being, for she did not +come by the train; she had no connection with Tracy Park; +she was going somewhere else—to Collingwood, perhaps—when, +overcome by the storm and the cold, she had sought shelter for +the night in this wretched place.</p> + +<p>'I suppose the proper thing to do is to leave her here till the +coroner can see her,' he said to John; 'but no train can get +through from Springfield to-day, I am sure, and I shall have +her taken to the park. Bring me the blankets from the +sleigh.'</p> + +<p>He was very collected now, for a great load was lifted from +his mind.</p> + +<p>'Had she nothing with her? nothing to cover her?' he asked, +as they proceeded to wrap her in the warm blankets, which, +had they sooner come, would have saved her life.</p> + +<p>Harold told him again of the carpet-bag and the cloak and +the shawl, which had covered the child, and added, 'That's all; +there don't seem to be anything else. Oh, what's this?' and +stooping down, he picked up some hard substance which he had +kicked against the table.</p> + +<p>It proved to be one of those olive wood candle sticks, so +convenient in travelling, as when not in use, they can be made +into a small round box or ball, and take but little room. It +contained but the remains of a wax candle, which had burned +down into the socket and then gone out. Near by, upon the +floor, was a tiny box of matches, with two or three charred +ones among them.</p> + +<p>'The poor woman must have had a light for at least a portion +of the time,' Frank said, as he picked up the box.</p> + +<p>'She had, I know she had,' Harold cried, excitedly; 'for I saw +it and told grandma so. It was like she had opened the door +and let out a big blaze, and then everything was dark, as if the +door was shut or the wind had blown the candle out.'</p> + +<p>'What time was that, do you think?' Frank asked.</p> + +<p>'It must have been about eleven,' Harold replied, 'for I remember +hearing the clock strike and grandma's saying I must +go to bed, it was so late. I was up with her because her foot +was so bad, and I warmed the poultices.'</p> + +<p>Frank groaned aloud, unmindful of the boy looking so curiously +at him, for that was the time when he had heard the +sound like a human voice is distress. He had thought it a +fancy then communicated to him by his brother's nervousness, +but now he was certain it must have been the stranger calling +through the storm, in the vain hope that somebody would hear +and come. Somebody had heard, but no one had come; and +so in the cold and the darkness, with the snow sifting through +every crevice and blowing down the wide chimney to the hearth +where it made a drift like a grave, she had battled for her own +life and that of the child beside her, saving the latter but losing +her own.</p> + +<p>'If I had only believed it was a cry,' Frank thought, and as +he wrapped the body in the blankets and buffalo robe as tenderly +and reverently as if the stiffened limbs had belonged to +his mother, he saw distinctly before him as if painted upon canvas +the driving gale, the inky sky, the half-opened door, +through which the sleet was driving, the light behind, and the +frantic, freezing woman, screaming for help, while only the +winds made answer, and the pitiless storm raged on.</p> + +<p>This was the picture which Frank was destined to see in his +dreams for many and many a night, until the mystery was +solved concerning the woman whom they carried to the sleigh, +which was driven back to the park house, where, within fifteen +or twenty minutes a crowd of anxious, curious people gathered. +The messenger sent to town had done his work rapidly and +thoroughly, and half the villagers who heard of the tragedy +enacted at their very door started at once for Tracy Park. The +boy had stopped at the station and told his story there, making +the baggage-master feel as if he, too, were a murderer, or at +least an accessory.</p> + +<p>'If I had only gone after that woman,' he said, as he told of +the stranger who had come on the train and gotten off on the +side of the car farthest from the depot—'if I had gone after +her and made her take a conveyance to where she was going, +this would not have happened; but it was so all-fired cold, and +the wind was yelling so, and she walked off so fast, as if she +knew her own business. So I just minded mine, or rather I +didn't, for I never even seen the box, or trunk, which was pitched +out helter-skelter, and which I found this morning, all covered +up with snow. It was hers, of course, and I shall send it right +over there, as it may tell who the poor critter was.'</p> + +<p>This trunk, which was little more than a strong wooden box +with two double locks upon it, was still further secured by a bit +of rope wound twice around it and tied in a hard knot. There +was no name upon it to tell whose it was, or whence it came, +except the name of a German steamer, on which its owner had +probably crossed the ocean, and the significant word 'Hold,' +showing that it had not been used in the state-room. It had +been checked at the Grand Central depot in New York for +Shannondale, and the check was still attached to the iron handle +when it was put down in the kitchen at Tracy Park, where +the utmost excitement prevailed, the servants huddling together +with scared faces, and talking in whispers of the terrible thing +which had happened, while Mrs. Tracy and the housekeeper, +scarcely less excited than the servants, gave their attention to +the dead.</p> + +<p>At the end of the rear hall was a small room, where Frank +sometimes received business calls when at home, and there they +laid the body, after the physician, who had arrived, declared +that life had been extinct for many hours.</p> + +<p>Seen in the full daylight, she seemed to be at least thirty-five +years of age, and her features, though not unpleasing, were +coarse and large, especially the nose. Her hair was black, her +complexion dark, and the hands, which lay folded upon her +bosom, showed marks of toil, for they were rough and unshapely, +though smaller in proportion than the other members of her +body. Her woollen dress of grayish blue was short and scant; +her knit stockings were black and thick, and her leather shoes +were designed fur use rather than ornament. A wide white +apron was tied around her waist, and she wore a small black +and white plaided shawl pinned about her neck.</p> + +<p>And there she lay, not a pleasant picture to contemplate, +helpless and defenceless against the curious eyes bent upon her +and the remarks concerning her, as one after another of the +villagers came in to look at her and speculate as to who she was +or how she came in the Tramp House.</p> + +<p>Among the crowd was Mr. St. Claire, who gave it as his +opinion that she was a Frenchwoman of the lower class, and +asked if nothing had been found with her except the clothes she +wore. Harold told him of the shawl, and cloak, and carpet-bag +which he had carried with the child to the cottage.</p> + +<p>'Yes, there is something more—her trunk,' chimed in the +baggage-master, who had just entered the room, trembling and +breathless.</p> + +<p>'Her trunk! Did she come in the cars?' Frank asked, his +hands dropping helplessly at his side, and his lips growing +pale, as the man replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes; last night, on the quarter-past-six from New York; +and what is curi's, she got out on the side away from the depot, +and I never seen her till the cars went on, when she was +lookin' at a paper, and the child cryin' at her feet. I spoke to +her, but she did not answer, and snatching up the child, she +hurried off, almost on a run. It was storming so I did not see +her trunk till this mornin', when I found it on the platform. I +wish I had gone after her and made her take a sleigh. If I had +she wouldn't now have been dead, and, I swow, I feel as if I +had killed her. I wonder why under the sun she turned into +the lots, unless she was goin' to Collingwood—'</p> + +<p>'Or Tracy Park,' Frank said, involuntarily.</p> + +<p>'Were you expecting any one?' Mr. St. Claire asked.</p> + +<p>Sinking into a chair, Frank replied:</p> + +<p>'No, I was not, but Arthur, who has been worse than usual +for a few days, has again a fancy that Gretchen is coming. He +says now that she was not in the ship with him, but that he +has written her to join him here, and yesterday he took it into +his head that she would be here last night, and insisted that the +carriage be sent to meet her; but John had hurt his back, and +as I had no faith in her coming, he did not go. I wish he had; +it might have saved this woman's life, although she is not +Gretchen.'</p> + +<p>Frank had made his confession, except so far as deceiving his +brother was concerned, and he felt his mind eased a little, +though there was still a lump in his throat, and a feeling of +disquiet in his heart, with a wish that the dead woman had +never crossed his path, and a conviction that he had not yet +seen the worst of it.</p> + +<p>Mr. St. Claire looked at him thoughtfully a moment, and +then said:</p> + +<p>'I should not accuse myself too much. You could not know +that any one would be there, and this woman certainly is not +the Gretchen of whom your brother talks so much, and whose +picture is in his room. Has he seen her? Does he know of +the accident?'</p> + +<p>'I have not told him yet. He is not feeling well to-day. +Charles says he is still in bed,' was Frank's reply.</p> + +<p>'We may find something in her trunk,' Mr. St. Claire +continued, 'which will give us a clue to her history. Where +do you suppose she kept her key?'</p> + +<p>No one volunteered an answer, until Harold suggested that +if she had a pocket it was probably there, when half a dozen +hands or more at once felt for the pocket, which was found at +last, and proved to be one of great capacity, and to contain a +heterogeneous mass of contents: A purse, in which were two +or three small German coins, an English sovereign, and a five +dollar green-back; two handkerchiefs, one soiled and coarse, +bearing in German text the initials 'N.B.' the other small and +fine, bearing the initial 'J.,' also in German text: a pair of +scissors, a thimble, a small needle-case, a child's toy, a worn +picture-book, printed in Leipsic, a box of pills, some peanuts, +some cloves, a piece of candy, a seed cake, a pocket comb, half +a biscuit; and at the very bottom, the brass check whose number +corresponded with that upon the trunk; also a ring to +which were attached three keys, one belonging to the trunk, +another evidently to the carpet-bag, while the third, which was +very small and straight, must have been used for fastening +some box or dressing-case.</p> + +<p>It was Mr. St. Claire who opened the trunk, from which +one of the servants had removed the rope, while Frank sat near +still trembling in every limb, and watching anxiously as article +after article was taken out and examined, but afforded no satisfaction +whatever, or gave any sign by which the stranger might +be traced.</p> + +<p>There was a black alpaca dress and a few coarse garments +which must have belonged to the woman. Some of them bore +the initials 'N.B.,' some were without a mark, and all were +cheap and plain, like the clothes of a servant before her head +is turned and she apes her mistress' wardrobe. The child's +dresses were of a better quality, and one embroidered petticoat +bore the name 'Jerrine,' while the letter 'J.' was upon them +all, except a towel of the finest linen, on one corner of which +was the letter 'M.' worked with colored floss.</p> + +<p>'Jerrine!' Mr. St. Claire repeated, pronouncing it 'Jerreen.' +'That is a French name, and a pretty one. It is the child's, of +course.'</p> + +<p>To this no one replied, and he continued his examination of +the trunk until it was quite empty.</p> + +<p>'That is all,' he said in a tone of disappointment; and +Frank, who had been sitting by and holding some of the things +in his lap as they were taken from the trunk, answered, faintly:</p> + +<p>'No, here is a book. It was done up in a handkerchief,' +and he held up what proved to be a German Bible; but he did +not tell that he had found something else, which he had thrust +into his pocket when no one was looking at him.</p> + +<p>What he had found was a photograph, which had slipped +from the leaves of the Bible, and at sight of the face, of which +he only had a glimpse, every drop of blood seemed to leave his +heart and came surging to his brain, making him so giddy and +wild that he did not realise what he was doing when he hid +away the picture until he could examine it by himself. Once +in his pocket he dared not take it out, although he raised his +hand two or three times to do so, but was as often deterred by +the thought that everybody would think that he had intended +to hide it and suspect his motive. So he kept quiet and saw +them examine the book, the blank page of which had been torn +half off, leaving only the last three letters of what must have +been the owner's name, '——ich'—that was all, and might as +well not have been there, for any light it shed upon the matter.</p> + +<p>Opening the book by chance at 1st Corinthians, 2nd chapter, +Mr. St. Claire, who could read German much better than he +could speak it, saw pencil-marks around the ninth verse, and +read aloud:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into +the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that +love Him.'</p></div> + +<p>On the margin opposite this verse was written, in a girlish +hand:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Think of me as there when you read this, and do not be sorry.'</p></div> + +<p>A lock of soft, golden hair, which might have been cut from +a baby's head, and a few faded flowers, which still gave forth a +faint perfume like heliotrope, were tied with a bit of thread, +and lying between the leaves. And except that the book was +full of marked passages, chiefly comforting and conciliatory, +there was nothing more to indicate the character of the owner.</p> + +<p>'If this Bible were hers, she was a good woman,' Mr. St. +Claire said, laying his hand reverently upon the forehead of the +dead, while Frank, who saw another meaning between the +lines, shook like one in an ague fit, for he did not believe that +those hands, so pulseless and cold, had ever traced the words, +'Think of me as there when you read this, and do not be sorry.' +She who wrote them might be, and probably was dead, but +her grave was far away, and the fact did not at all change the +duty which he owed to her and him for whom the message was +intended.</p> + +<p>'What shall I say to Arthur, and how shall I tell him,' he +was wondering to himself, when Mr. St. Claire roused him by +saying:</p> + +<p>'You seem greatly unstrung by what has happened. I never +saw you look so ill.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I feel as if I had murdered her by not sending John to +the station,' Frank stammered, glad to offer this as an excuse +for his manner, which he knew must seem strange and unnatural.</p> + +<p>'You are too sensitive altogether. John might not have +seen her, she hurried off so fast, and you have no particular +reason to think she was coming here,' Mr. St. Claire said, adding: +'We'd better leave her now. We can do nothing more +until the coroner comes, which will hardly be to-day. I hear +the roads are all blocked and impassable. Let everything remain +in the trunk where he can see them.'</p> + +<p>Mechanically Mrs. Tracy, who was present, put the different +articles into the trunk, leaving the Bible on the top, +and then followed her husband from the room. She knew +there was more affecting him than the fact that a dead +woman was in the house, or that he had not sent John to the +station. But what it was she could not guess, unless, and she, +too, felt faint and giddy for a moment, as a new idea entered +her mind.</p> + +<p>'Frank,' she said to him when they were alone for a few +moments, 'Arthur had a fancy that Gretchen was coming last +night. You do not think this woman is she?'</p> + +<p>'Gretchen? No. Don't be a fool, Dolly. Gretchen is fair and +young, and the woman is old and black as the ace of spades. +Gretchen! No, indeed!'</p> + +<p>He did not show her the picture he had secreted; he knew +she would not approve of the act, and if she had no suspicion +with regard to the woman and the child he did not care +to share his with her, particularly as it was only a suspicion, +and so far as he could judge in his perturbed state of mind, nothing +he could do would ever make things sure. His wife +seemed to have forgotten the child at the cottage, and he +would not bring it to her mind until it was necessary to do so. +Just then Charles came to the room and said that his master +was very much excited and wished to know the reason for so +much commotion in the house, and why so many people were +coming and going down and up the avenue.</p> + +<p>'I thought it better that you should tell him,' Charles added, +and with a sinking heart Frank started for his brother's room.</p> + +<p>He had not seen him before that day, and now as he looked +at him it seemed to him that he had grown older since the +previous night, for there were lines about his mouth, and his +face was very thin and pale. But his eyes were unusually +bright, and his voice rang out clear as a bell as he said:</p> + +<p>'What is it, Frank? What has happened that so many people +are coming here, banging doors and talking so loud that I +heard them here in my room, but I could not distinguish what +they said. What's the matter? Any one hurt or dead?'</p> + +<p>He put the question direct, and Frank gave a direct reply.</p> + +<p>'Yes, a woman was found frozen to death in the Tramp +House this morning, and was brought here. She is lying in the +office at the end of the back hall.'</p> + +<p>'A women frozen to death in the Tramp House!' Arthur repeated. +'Then I did hear a cry. Oh, Frank, who is she? +Where did she come from?'</p> + +<p>'We do not know who she is, or where she came from!' +Frank replied, 'Mr. St. Claire thinks she is French. There is nothing +about her person to identify her, but I would like you to +see her, and—and—'</p> + +<p>'I see her! Why should I see her, and shock my nerves +more than they are already shocked?' Arthur said, with a decided +shake of his head.</p> + +<p>'But you must see her,' Frank continued. 'Perhaps you +know her. She came last night. She—'</p> + +<p>Before he could utter another word Arthur was at his side, +Frank seizing him by the shoulder with the grip of a giant, demanded, +fiercely:</p> + +<p>'What do you mean by her coming last night? How did she +come? Not by train, for John was there. Frank, there is +something you are keeping back. I know it by your face. Tell +me the truth. Is it Gretchen dead in this house?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Frank answered huskily. 'It is not Gretchen, if that +picture is like her, for this woman is very dark and old, and, +besides that, has Gretchen a child?'</p> + +<p>For an instant Arthur stood staring at him, or rather at the +space beyond him, as if trying to recall something too distant +or too shadowy to assume any tangible form; then bursting into +a laugh he said:</p> + +<p>'Gretchen a child! That is the best joke I have heard. How +should Gretchen have a child? She is little more than one herself, +or was when I saw her last. No, Gretchen has no child. +Why do you ask?'</p> + +<p>'Because,' Frank replied, 'there was a little girl found in the +Tramp House with this woman, a girl three or four years old, I +judge. She is at the cottage now, where Harold carried her. +He found the woman this morning. Will you see her now?'</p> + +<p>Arthur answered 'no,' decidedly, and then Frank, who knew +that he should never again know peace of mind if his brother +did not see her, summoned all his courage and said:</p> + +<p>'Arthur, you must. I have not told you all. This woman +did come by train from New York.'</p> + +<p>'Then why did not John see her?' interrupted Arthur.</p> + +<p>'He was not there,' Frank replied. 'Forgive me, Arthur, I +did not send him as you thought. It was so cold and stormy, +and I had no faith in your presentiments, and so—so—'</p> + +<p>'And so you lied to me, and I will never trust you again as +long as I live, and if this had been Gretchen, I would kill +you, where I stand!' Arthur hissed in a whisper, more terrible +to hear than louder tones would have been, 'Yes, I will see +this woman whose death lies at your door,' he continued, with +a gesture that Frank should precede him.</p> + +<p>Arthur was very calm, and collected, and stern, as he followed +to the office where the body lay, covered now from view, +but showing terribly distinct through the linen sheet folded +over it.</p> + +<p>'Remove the covering,' he said, in the tone of a master to +his slave, and Frank obeyed.</p> + +<p>Then bending close to the stiffened form, Arthur examined +the face minutely, while Frank looked on alternately between +hope and dread, the former of which triumphed as his brother +said, quietly:</p> + +<p>'Yes, she is French: but I do not know her. I never saw +her before. Had she nothing with her to tell who she was?'</p> + +<p>His mood had passed, and Frank did not hear him now.</p> + +<p>'She had a trunk,' he replied. 'Here it is, with her clothes, +and the child's, and—a Bible.'</p> + +<p>'He said the last slowly, and, taking up the book, opened it +as far as possible from the writing on the margin, which might +or might not be dangerous.</p> + +<p>'It is a German Bible,' he continued, and then Arthur took +it quickly from him as if it had been a long-lost friend, turning +the worn pages rapidly, but failing to discover the marked +passage and the message for some one.</p> + +<p>The lock of baby hair and the faded flowers caught his attention, +and his breath came hard and pantingly, as for a moment +he held the little golden tress which seemed almost to +twine itself lovingly around his fingers.</p> + +<p>'That must be her child's hair. You know I told you there +was a little girl found with her. Would you like to see her?' +Frank said.</p> + +<p>'No, no!' Arthur answered, hastily. 'Let her stay where +she is, I don't like children as a rule. You know I can't abide +the noise yours sometimes make.'</p> + +<p>He was leaving the room with the Bible in his hand, but +Frank could not suffer that, and he said:</p> + +<p>'I suppose all these things must stay here till the coroner +sees them; so I will put the Bible where I found it.</p> + +<p>Arthur gave it up readily enough, and then, as he reached +the door, looked back, and said:</p> + +<p>'If forty coroners and undertakers come on this business, +don't bother me any more. My head buzzes like a bee-hive. +See that everything is done decently for the poor woman, and +don't let the town bury her. Do it yourself, and send the bill +to me. There is room enough on the Tracy lot; put her in a +corner.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank answered, standing in the open door and +watching him as he went slowly down the long hall and until +he heard him going up stairs.</p> + +<p>Then locking the door, which shut him in with the dead, he +took the photograph from his pocket and examined it minutely, +feeling no shadow of doubt in his heart that it was +Gretchen—if the picture in the window was like her. It was +the same face, the same sweet mouth and sunny blue eyes, with +curls of reddish-golden hair shading the low brow. The dress +was different and more in accordance with that of a girl who +belonged to the middle class, but this counted for nothing, and +Frank felt himself a thief, and a liar, and a murderer as he +stood looking at the lovely face; and debating what he should +do.</p> + +<p>Turning it over he saw on the back a word traced in English +letters, in a very uncertain scrawling hand, as if it were +the writer's first attempt at English. Spelling it letter by letter +he made out what he called 'Wiesbaden,' and knew it was +some German town. Did Gretchen live there, he wondered, +and how could he find out, and what should he do? He had +not yet seen the child at the cottage, but from some things +Harold said, he knew she was more like this picture than like +the dead woman found with her, and in his heart he felt almost +sure who she was, and that his course of duty was plain. +He ought to show Arthur the photograph, and tell him his +suspicions, and take every possible step to ascertain who the +woman was and where she came from.</p> + +<p>Frank was not a bad man, nor a hard-hearted man, but he +was ambitious and weak. He had enjoyed money, and ease, +and position long enough to make him unwilling to part with +them now, while for his children he was more ambitious than +for himself. To see Tom master of Tracy Park was the great +desire of his life, and this could not be, if what he feared were +proved true. If Arthur had no wife, no child, no will adverse +to him, why, then his interest was safe, for no will his brother +could now make would be held as valid, and when he died +everything would naturally go to him. Of all this Frank +thought during the few minutes he staid in the silent room. +Then he said to himself:</p> + +<p>'I will see the child first. After all I know nothing for certain—can +never know anything for certain, and I should be a +fool to give up all my children's interests for a fancy, an idea, +which may have no foundation. Arthur does not know half +the time what he is saying, and might not tell the truth about +Gretchen. She may not have been his wife. On the whole, I +do not believe she was. He would never have left her if she +had been, and if so, this child, if she is Gretchen's, has no right +to come between me and mine. No, I shall wait a little while +and think, though in the end I mean to do right.'</p> + +<p>With these specious arguments Frank tried to quiet his conscience, +but he could not help feeling that Satan had possession +of him, and as he hurried through the hall he said aloud, +as if speaking to something seen:</p> + +<p>'Go away—go away! I shall do right if I only know what +right is.</p> + +<p>He did not see his brother again that day, or go to the cottage +either, but as he was dressing himself next morning he +said to his wife:</p> + +<p>'That little girl ought to see her mother before she is buried. +I shall send for her to-day. The coroner will be here, too. +Did I tell you I had a telegram last night? He is coming on +the early train.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy passed the allusion to the coroner in silence, but +of the little girl she said:</p> + +<p>'I suppose the child must come to the funeral, but you +surely do not mean to keep her? We are not bound to do +that because her mother froze to death on our premises.'</p> + +<p>'Would you let her go to the poor-house?' Frank asked, +but Dolly did not reply.</p> + +<p>As the breakfast-bell just then rang, no more was said of the +little waif until the sleigh was brought to the door, and Frank +announced his intention of stopping for the child on his way +back from the station, where he was going to meet the coroner.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV" ></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h2>LITTLE JERRY.</h2> + + +<p>It was nearly noon when Harold left Tracy Park the previous +day and started for home, eager and anxious with +regard to the child whom he claimed as his own. He +had found her. She was his and he should keep her, he said +to himself, and then he wondered how his grandmother had +managed with her, and if she had cried for him or for her +mother, and as he reached the house he stood still a moment, +to listen. But the sounds which met his ear were peals of +laughter, mingled with mild, and, as it would seem, unavailing +expostulations from his grandmother.</p> + +<p>Opening the door suddenly he found the child seated at the +table in the high chair he used to occupy, and which Mrs. +Crawford had brought from the attic, where it was stored. +Standing before the child was a dish of bread and milk, of +which she had evidently eaten enough, for she was playing +with it now, and amusing herself by striking the spoon into +the milk, which was splashed over the table, while three or +four drops of it were standing on the forehead and nose of the +distressed woman, who was vainly trying to take the spoon +from the little hand clenching it so firmly.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crawford had had a busy and exciting day with her +charge, who, active and restless, and playful, kept her on the +alert and made her forget in part how lame she was. As she +could not put her foot to the floor without great pain, and as +she must move about, she adopted the expedient of placing her +knee on a chair to the back of which she held, while she hobbled +around the room, followed by the child, who, delighted +with this novel method of locomotion, put her knee in a low +chair, and holding to Mrs. Crawford's skirts, limped after her, +imitating her perfectly, even to the groans she sometimes uttered +when a twinge sharper than usual ran up her swollen +limb. It was fun for the child, but almost death to the woman, +who, when she could endure it no longer, sank into a chair, +and tried by speaking sharply, to make the little girl understand +that she must keep quiet. But when she scolded, baby +scolded back, in a language wholly unintelligible, shaking her +curly head, and sometimes stamping her foot by way of emphasizing +her words.</p> + +<p>When Mrs. Crawford laughed the child laughed, and when +once a pang severer than usual wrung the tears from her eyes, +baby looked at her compassionately a moment, while her little +face puckered itself into wrinkles as if she too were going to +cry; then, putting up her soft hand she wiped the tears from +Mrs. Crawford's cheeks, and, climbing into her lap, became as +quiet as a kitten. But a touch sufficed to start her up, for she +was full of fun and frolic, and her laughing blue eyes, which +were of that wide-open kind which see everything, were brimming +over with mischief. Once or twice she called out 'Mahnee,' +and going to the window, stood on tip-toe looking out, to +see if she were coming. But on the whole she seemed happy +and content, exploring every nook and corner of the kitchen +and examining curiously every article of furniture as if it were +quite new to her.</p> + +<p>Once when Mrs. Crawford was talking earnestly to her, trying +to make her understand, she stood for a moment watching +and imitating the motion of the lady's lips and the expression +of her face; then going up to her she began to examine her +mouth and her teeth, as if she would know what manner of +machinery it was which produced sounds so new and strange +to her. She certainly was a remarkable child for her age, +though Mrs. Crawford was puzzled to know just how old she +was. She was very small, and, judging from her size, one +would have said she was hardly three; but the expression of +her face was so mature, and she saw things so quickly and understood +so readily, that she must have been older. She was +certainly very precocious, with a most inquiring turn of mind, +and Mrs. Crawford felt herself greatly interested in her as she +watched her active movements and listened to the musical +prattle she could not understand.</p> + +<p>She had examined the carpet-bag, in which were found the +articles necessary for an ocean voyage, and little else. Most of +these were soiled from use, but there was among them a little +clean, white apron, and this Mrs. Crawford put upon the child, +after having washed her face and hands and brushed her wavy +hair, which had a trick of coiling itself into soft, fluffy curls all +over her head.</p> + +<p>The bread and milk had been given her about twelve o'clock, +and the laugh she gave when she saw it showed her appreciation +of it quite as much as the eagerness with which she ate it. +Her appetite appeased, however, she began to play with it and +throw the milk over the table and into Mrs. Crawford's face, +just as Harold came in, full of what he had seen at the park, +and anxious to see his baby, as he called her.</p> + +<p>Taking her on his lap and kissing her rosy cheeks, he began +to narrate to his grandmother all that had been done, and told +her that Mr. St. Claire had given it as his opinion that the +woman was French.</p> + +<p>'And if so,' he continued, 'baby must be French, too, +though she does not look a bit like her mother, who is very +dark and not—well, not at all like you or Mrs. St. Claire.'</p> + +<p>Then he told of the trunk which the baggage-master had +taken to the park, and of what it contained.</p> + +<p>'The woman's clothes were marked "N.B."' he said, 'and +some of the baby's—such a funny name. Mr. St. Claire said +it was French, and pronounced "Jerreen," though it is spelled +"Jerrine."'</p> + +<p>'That is the name of the child's things in the bag,' Mrs. +Crawford said.</p> + +<p>'Of course it is baby's, then,' Harold replied; 'but, I shall +call her Jerry for short, even if it is a boy's name, and so my +little lady, I christen you Jerry;' and kissing the forehead, +the eyes, the nose, and the chin, he marked the shape of the +cross upon the face upturned to his, and named his baby +'Jerry.'</p> + +<p>Later, when he knew more of the world, he would change +the 'y' into 'ie,' but now she was simply Jerry, and when he +called her that she laughed and nodded as if the sound were not +new to her. She was a beautiful child, with complexion as +pure as wax, and eyes which might have borrowed their color +from the blue lakes of Italy, or from the skies of England when +they are at their brightest.</p> + +<p>'I wish she could talk to me. I suppose she must speak +French,' he said, as he was trying in vain to make her understand +him. 'Don't you know a word I say?' he asked her, and +her reply was what sounded to him like 'We, we.'</p> + +<p>'That's English,' he cried, delighted with her progress, but +when he spoke to her again, her answer was, 'Yah, yah,' which +seemed to him so nonsensical that after a few attempts to make +her say 'yes,' and to teach her what it meant, he gave up his +lesson for the remainder of the day and talked to her by signs +and gestures which she seemed to understand.</p> + +<p>Whatever he did she did, and he saw her more than once +imitating his grandmother's motions as well as his own, to the life.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon Mr. St. Claire came to the cottage, +curious to see the child, who, at sight of him, retreated behind +Harold, and then peered shyly up at him, with a look in her +great blue eyes which puzzled him on the instant, as one is +frequently puzzled with a likeness to something or somebody +he tries in vain to recall. In this instance it was hardly the +eyes themselves, but rather the way they looked at him, and +the sweep of the long lashes, together with a firm shutting together +of the lips, which struck Mr. St. Claire as familiar, and +when with a swift movement of her little hand, she swept the +mass of golden hair back from her forehead, he would have +sworn that he had seen that trick a thousand times, and yet +he could not place it. That she was the child of the dead woman +he believed, and as the mother was French, so also was +she. He had once passed two years in France, and was master +of the language; so he spoke to the child in French, but +though she seemed to understand him she made no reply, until +he said to her:</p> + +<p>'Where is your mother, little one?'</p> + +<p>'Then she answered, promptly, 'Dead,' but the language was +German, not French.</p> + +<p>'Ho-ho! You are a little Dutchman,' Mr. St. Claire said, +with some surprise in his voice.</p> + +<p>Then as he noted the purity of her complexion, her fair hair +and blue eyes, he said to himself:</p> + +<p>'Her father was a German, and probably they lived in Germany, +but the mother was certainly French.'</p> + +<p>His own knowledge of German was very limited, but he +could speak it a little, and turning again to the child he managed +to say:</p> + +<p>'What is your name!'</p> + +<p>'Der-ree,' was the reply, and Harold exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'That's it; she means Jerry; that's short for the name on +her clothes, which you said was pronounced Jereen. I have +christened her Jerry, and she is my little girl, ain't you, +Jerry!'</p> + +<p>'Yah—oui—'ess,' was the answer, and there was a gleam of +triumph in the blue eyes which flashed up to Harold for approbation.</p> + +<p>She had not, of course, understood a word he said, except, +indeed her name; but the tone of his voice was interrogatory, +and seemed to expect an affirmative answer, which she gave in +three languages, emphasizing the ''ess' with a nod of her head, +as if greatly pleased with herself.</p> + +<p>'Bravo!' Harold shouted. 'She can say yes. I taught her, +and I shall have her talking English in a few days as well as I +do, shan't I, Jerry?'</p> + +<p>'Yah—'ess,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. St. Claire tried to question her further with regard +to herself and her home, but his phraseology was probably +at fault, for no satisfactory result was reached beyond the +fact that her mother was dead, that her name was Jerry, or +Derree, as she called it, and that she had been on a ship with +Mah-nee, who did <i>so</i>—and she imitated perfectly the motions +and contortions of one who is deathly sea-sick.</p> + +<p>'I suppose she means her mother by Mah-nee,' said Mr. St. +Claire; and when he asked her if it were not so, she answered +'yah,' and ''ess,' as she did to everything, adopting +finally the latter word altogether because she saw it pleased +Harold.</p> + +<p>No matter what was the question put to her, her reply was +''ess,' which she repeated quickly, with a prolonged sound on +the 's.'</p> + +<p>When at last Mr. St. Claire took his leave, it was with a +strange feeling of interest for the child, whose antecedents +must always be shrouded in mystery, and whose future he could +not predict.</p> + +<p>It seemed impossible for Mrs. Crawford to keep her, poor as +she was, and as he had no idea that the Tracys would take her, +there was no alternative but the poor-house, unless he took her +himself and brought her up with his own little five-year-old +Nina. He would wait until after the funeral and see, he decided, +as he went back to his home at Brier Hill, where his +children, Dick and Nina, were eager to hear all he had to +tell them of the poor little girl whose mother had been frozen +to death.</p> + +<p>The next morning the sleigh from Tracy Park stopped before +the cottage door, and Frank, who had been to meet the +coroner, alighted from it. He was pale and haggard as he entered +the room where Jerry was playing on the floor with +Harold's Maltese kitten. As he came in she looked up at him, +and, lifting her hand, swept the hair back from her forehead just +as she had done the day before when Mr. St. Claire was there. +The peculiar motion had struck the latter as something familiar, +though he could not define it; but Frank did, or in his nervous +condition he thought he did, and his knees shook so he +could hardly stand as he talked with Mrs. Crawford and told +her he had come for the child, who ought to be where her +mother was until after the funeral.'</p> + +<p>'Then she will come back again. You will not keep her. +She is mine, ain't you, Jerry?' Harold exclaimed, eagerly; +while Jerry, who, with a child's instinct scented danger from +Harold's manner and associated that danger with the strange +man looking so curiously at her, sprang to her feet, which she +stamped vigorously, while she cried, ''ess, 'ess, 'ess,' with her +face all in wrinkles, and her blue eyes anything but soft and +sunny, as they usually were.</p> + +<p>In this mood she was not much like Gretchen in the picture, +but she was like some one else whom Frank had seen in excited +moods, and he grew faint and sick as he watched her, and +saw the varying expression of her face and eyes. The way she +shook her head at him and flourished her hands was a way he +had seen many times and remembered so well, and he felt as +if his heart would leap from his throat as he tried to speak to +her. A turn of the head, a gesture of the hands, a curve of +the eyelashes, a tone in the voice, seemed slight actions on +which to base a certainty; but Frank did feel certain, and his +brain reeled for a second as his thoughts leaped forward years +and years until he was an old man, and he wondered if he could +bear it and make no sign.</p> + +<p>Then, just as he had decided that he could not, the tempter +suggested a plan which seemed so feasible and fair that the +future, with a secret to guard, did not look so formidable, and +to himself he said:</p> + +<p>'It is not likely I can ever be positive; and so long as there +is a doubt, however small, it would be preposterous to give up +what otherwise must come to my children, if not to me; but I +will not wrong her more than I can help.'</p> + +<p>'Come, little girl, go with me,' he said, in his kindest tones, +as he advanced toward her, while Harold went for her cloak +and hood.</p> + +<p>Jerry knew then that she was expected to go with the +stranger, and without Harold, and resisted with all her +might. Standing behind him, as if safe there, and clinging to +his coat, she sobbed piteously, intermingling her sobs with +'Ess, 'ess, 'ess,' the only English word she knew, and which +she seemed to think would avail in every emergency.</p> + +<p>And it did help her now, for Harold pleaded that he might +go, too, and when Jerry saw him with his coat and hat, and +understood that he was to be her escort, she ceased to sob, and +allowing herself to be made ready, was soon in the sleigh, and +on her way to Tracy Park.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV" ></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h2>JERRY AT THE PARK.</h2> + + +<p>And so this is the poor little girl. We'll take her +right to the kitchen, where she can get warm,' Mrs. +Tracy said, as she met her husband in the hall, with +Harold and the mite of a creature wrapped in the foreign looking +cloak and hood.</p> + +<p>'No, Dolly!' and Frank spoke very decidedly, as Harold +was turning in the direction of the kitchen. 'She is going to +the nursery, with the other children, and when they have their +dinner she shall have hers with them.'</p> + +<p>'Ess, 'ess, 'ess,' Jerry said, as if she comprehended that +there was a difference of opinion between the man and woman, +and that she was on the affirmative side.</p> + +<p>'Take her to the nursery! Oh, Frank! she may have something +about her which the children will catch,' Mrs. Tracy said, +blocking the way as she spoke.</p> + +<p>But Jerry, who through the half-open door had caught sight +of the pretty sitting-room, with its warm carpet and curtains, +and cheerful fire, shook her head defiantly at the lady, and +brushing past her, went boldly into the room, whose brightness +had attracted her.</p> + +<p>Marching up to the fire, she stood upon the rug and looked +about her with evident satisfaction; then glancing at the three +who were watching her, she nodded complacently, and said, +''ess, 'ess, 'ess,' while she held her little cold hands to the +fire.</p> + +<p>'Acts as if she belonged here, doesn't she?' Frank said to +his wife, who did not reply, so intent was she upon watching +the strange child, who deliberately took off her cloak and hood +and tossing them upon the floor, drew a small low chair to the +fire, and climbing into it, sat down as composedly as if she were +mistress there instead of an intruder.</p> + +<p>Once she swept the hair back from her forehead with the +motion Frank knew so well, and then the lump came +into his throat again, and he steadied himself against the +mantel, while he looked curiously at the young girl, making +herself so much at home and seeming so well pleased with her +surroundings.</p> + +<p>'Take her to the nursery now. I must see to that coroner,' +he said to his wife, adding: 'Harold must go too, or there +will be the Old Harry to pay.'</p> + +<p>''Ess, 'ess,' came decidedly from the child, who went willingly +with Harold, and was soon ushered into the large upper room, +which was used as both nursery and school-room, for Mrs. +Tracy could not allow her two sons, Tom and Jack, to come in +contact with the boys at school; so she kept a governess, a +middle-aged spinster, who, glad of a home, and the rather liberal +compensation, sat all day in the nursery and bore patiently +with Tom's freaks and Jack's dullness: to say nothing of the +trouble it was to have the three-year-old Maude toddling about +and interfering with everything.</p> + +<p>'Hallo!' Tom cried, as his mother came in, followed by +Harold and Jerry. 'Hallo, what's up?' And throwing aside +the slate on which he had been trying to master the difficulties of +a sum in long division, he went toward them, and said: 'Has +the coroner come, and can't I go and see the inquest? You +said maybe I could if I behaved, and I do, don't I, Miss +Howard?'</p> + +<p>Just then he caught sight of Jerry, and stopping short, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'By Jingo! ain't she pretty! I mean to kiss her.'</p> + +<p>And he made a movement toward the little face, which +looked up so shyly at him. But his mother caught his arm +and held him back, as she said, sharply:</p> + +<p>'Don't touch her, there is no tolling what you may catch. I +wanted her to go to the kitchen, the proper place for her, but +your father insisted that she should be brought here. I hope, +Miss Howard, you will see that she does not go near the children.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Madam,' Miss Howard replied, 'but I am sure there +can be no danger. She looks as clean and sweet as a rose.'</p> + +<p>Miss Howard was fond of children, and she held out her +hand to the little girl, who seemed to have a most wonderful +faculty for discriminating between friends and enemies, and +who went to her readily, and leaning against her arm, looked +curiously at the group of children—at Tom, and Jack, and +Maude, the latter of whom wished to go to her, but was restrained +by the nurse. The moment the door closed on Mrs. +Tracy, Tom walked up to the child, and said:</p> + +<p>'I shall kiss her now, anyhow.'</p> + +<p>But Jerry hid her face, and could not be induced to look up +until he had moved away from her.</p> + +<p>'Catty as well as pretty,' Tom said. 'I wonder who she is +anyway, and how she will like the poor-house?'</p> + +<p>'Who said she was going to the poor-house?' Harold exclaimed +indignantly.</p> + +<p>'Mother said so,' Tom replied. 'I heard her talking to the +cook. Where would she go if she did not go to the poor-house? +Who would take care of her?'</p> + +<p>'I!' Harold answered, and to Miss Howard he seemed to grow +older a dozen years, as he stood there with his arms folded and +the light of a brave manhood in his brown eyes. 'I shall take +care of her. She will live with grandmother and me. I found +her, and she is mine.'</p> + +<p>''Ess, 'ess, 'ess,' came from Jerry, as she swung one little foot +back and forth and looked confidingly at her champion.</p> + +<p>'<i>You</i> take care of her!' Tom sneered, with that supercilious +air he always assumed toward those he considered his inferiors. +Why, you and your grandmother can't take care of yourselves, +or you couldn't if it wasn't for Uncle Arthur. Mother says so. +You wouldn't have any house to live in if he hadn't given it to +you,'</p> + +<p>Harold's arms were unfolded now and the doubled fists were +in his pockets clenching themselves tighter and tighter as he +advanced to Tom, who, remembering his black eye, began to +back towards the nurse for safety.</p> + +<p>'It's a lie, Tom Tracy,' Harold said. 'Mr. Arthur does not +take care of us. We do it ourselves, and have for ever so long. +He did give us the house, but it ain't for you to twit me of +that. Whose house is this, I'd like to know? It isn't yours, nor +your father's, and there isn't a thing in it yours. It is all Mr. +Arthur's.'</p> + +<p>'Wall, we are to be his <i>hares</i>—Jack, and Maude, and me. +Mother says so,' Tom stammered out, while Jerry, who had +been looking intently, first at one boy, and then at the other, +called out in her own language:</p> + +<p>'Nein, nein, nein,' and struck her hand toward Tom.</p> + +<p>'What does she mean by her "Nine, nine, nine,'" he asked of +Miss Howard, who replied that she thought it was the German +for 'No, no, no,' and that the child probably did not approve of +him.</p> + +<p>Tom knew she did not, and though she was only a baby, be +felt chagrined and irritable. Had he dared, he would have +struck Harold, who asked him what he meant by being his +uncle's <i>hare.</i> But he was afraid of Miss Howard, and remembering +it must be time for the inquest, he slipped from the +room, whispering fiercely to Harold as he passed him:</p> + +<p>'Darn you, Hal Hastings, I'll thrash you yet.'</p> + +<p>'Let me know when you are ready, and also when you get +to be your uncle's <i>hare</i>,' was Harold's taunting reply, as the +door closed upon the discomfited Tom.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The inquest was a mere matter of form, for there was no doubt +in any one's mind that the woman had been frozen to death, +and she had no friends to complain that due attention had not +been paid her. So after a few questions put to Mr. Tracy, and +more to Harold, who was summoned from the nursery to tell +what he knew, and a look at the cold rigid face, a verdict was +rendered of 'Frozen to death.'</p> + +<p>Then came the question of burial, as to when, and where, +and at whose expense. Quite a number of people had assembled +and the little room was full. Conspicuous among them was +Peterkin, who, having been elected to an office, which necessitated +a care for the expenditures of the village, was swelled with +importance, and dying for a chance to be heard.</p> + +<p>When Harold came into the room Jerry was with him. She +had refused to let him leave her, and he led her by the hand +into the midst of the men, who grew as silent and respectful +the moment she appeared as if she had been a woman instead of a +little child, who could speak no word of their language, or understand +what was said to her. It was her mother lying there +dead, and they made way for her as, catching sight of the white +face, she uttered a cry of joy, and running up to the body, patted +the cold cheeks, while she kept calling 'Mah-nee, Mah-nee,' and +saying words unintelligible to all, but full of pathos and love, and +child-like coaxing for the inanimate form to rouse itself, and +speak to her again.</p> + +<p>'Poor little thing,' was said by more than one, and hands went +up to eyes unused to tears, for the sight was a touching one—that +lovely child bending over the dead face, and imprinting kisses +upon it.</p> + +<p>Harold took her away from the body, and lifting her into a +chair, kept by her, as with her arm around his neck, she stood +listening to, and watching, and sometimes imitating the gestures +of the men around her.</p> + +<p>It was Peterkin who spoke first; standing back so straight +that his immense stomach, with the heavy gold watch-chain +hanging across it, seemed to fill the room, he gave his opinion +before any one had a chance to express theirs.</p> + +<p>It was the first time he had been in the house since the +morning after the party, when Arthur had turned him from the +door. He had vowed vengeance against the Tracys then, and +kept his vow by spending two thousand dollars in order to defeat +Frank as member of Congress and to get himself elected as +one of the village trustees, and now he had come, partly out of +curiosity to see the woman, and partly to oppose her being +buried by the town, if such a thing were suggested.</p> + +<p>'Let them Tracys bury their own dead,' he said to his wife +before he left home, and he said it again in substance now, as +with a tremendous 'ahem!' he commenced his speech standing +close to little Jerry, who never took her eyes from him, but +watched him with a face which varied in its expression with +every variation in his voice and manner, and reached its climax +when he said: 'I don't b'lieve in saddlin' the town with a debt +we don't orto pay. Let the Tracys bury their own dead, I say!'</p> + +<p>''Ess, 'ess, 'ess,' Jerry chimed in with an emphatic shake of +her head with each ''ess,' and a flourish of her hand more +threatening than approving toward the speaker, who glanced +at her and went on:</p> + +<p>'Do you see, gentlemen of the jury, who this cub looks like. +I do! and so can you with half an eye. She looks like Arthur +Tracy!'</p> + +<p>Just then Jerry swept back her golden hair, and, opening her +eyes, flashed them around the room until they rested by accident +upon Frank, who, pale, and faint, and terrified, was leaning +against the door-way trying to seem only amused at the +tirade which was concluded as follows:</p> + +<p>'Yes, Arthur Tracy! Not her skin, perhaps, nor hair, nor her +eyes, leastwise not the color, but something I can't describe; +and this woman, her mother, you say is a furriner; that may +be, but I've seen her afore, or I'm mistaken. She took passage +once on the 'Liza Ann, I'm sure on't, and Arthur look passage +same day as far as Chester and was as chipper as you +please with her. I don't say nothin', nor insinerate nothin', +but I won't consent to have the town pay what belongs to the +Tracys. Let 'em run their own canoes and funerals, too, I say; +and as for this young one with the yaller hair—though where +she got that the lord only knows; 'tain't her's,' pointing to the +corpse; 'nor 'tain't his'n,' pointing in the direction of Arthur's +rooms; 'as for her, I'm opposed to sendin' to the poor-house +another pauper.'</p> + +<p>'She is not a pauper, and she is not going to the poor-house +either,' Harold exclaimed, while Jerry came in with her <i>nein, +nein, nein</i>, which made the bystanders laugh, as Peterkin went +on, addressing himself to Harold:</p> + +<p>'You are her champion, hey, and intend to take care of her. +Mighty fine, I'm sure, but hadn't you better fetch back May +Jane's pin that you took at the party.'</p> + +<p>'It is false,' Harold cried. 'I never saw the pin, never!' +and the hot tears sprang to his eyes at this unmanly assault.</p> + +<p>By this time Peterkin, who felt that everybody was against +him, was swelling with rage, and seizing Harold by the collar, +roared out:</p> + +<p>'Do you tell me I lie! You rascal! I'll teach you what belongs +to manners!' and he would have struck the boy but for +Jerry, who had been watching him as a cat watches a mouse, +and who, raising her war-cry of '<i>nein, nein, nein</i>,' sprang at him +like a little tiger, and by the fierceness of her gestures and the +volubility of her German jargon actually compelled him to retreat +step by step until she had him outside the door, which +she barred with her diminutive person. No one could help +laughing at the discomfited giant and the mite of a child facing +him so bravely, while she scolded at the top of her voice.</p> + +<p>Peterkin saw that he was beaten and left the house, vowing +vengeance against both Harold and Jerry, if he should ever have +it in his power to harm them.</p> + +<p>When he was gone, Frank, who had recovered his composure +during the ludicrous scene, said to those present:</p> + +<p>'I would not explain to that brute, but it is not my intention +to trouble the town. I have no more idea who this woman +is than you have, and I'll swear that Peterkin's vile insinuations +with regard to her are false. My brother says he never +saw her in his life, and he speaks the truth. She may have been +on Peterkin's boat, but I doubt it. She has every appearance of +a foreigner, and her child'—here Frank's tongue felt a little +thick, but he cleared his throat and went on—'her child speaks +a foreign language—German, they tell me. This poor woman +died on my—or rather my brother's premises. I have consulted +with him, and he thinks as I do, that she should be cared +for at our expense. He says, further, that there is room on the +Tracy lot; she is to be buried there. I shall attend to it at once, +and the funeral will take place to-morrow morning at ten +o'clock from this house. What disposition will be made of the +child I have not yet decided, but she will <i>not</i> go to the +poor-house.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mr. Tracy,' Harold burst out, 'she is mine. She is to +live with grandma and me. You will not take her from me—say +you will not?'</p> + +<p>'<i>Vill not</i>,' Jerry reiterated, imitating as well as she could +Harold's last words.</p> + +<p>For a moment Mr. Tracy looked fixedly at the boy, pleading +for a burden which would necessitate toil, and self-denial, and +patience of no ordinary kind and never had he despised himself +more than he did then, when, believing what he did believe, +he said at last:</p> + +<p>'I will talk with your grandmother, and see what arrangements +we can make. I rather think you have the best right to +her. But she must stay here to-night and until after the funeral, +when she can go with you, if you like.'</p> + +<p>To this Harold did not object, and as Jerry seemed very +happy and content, he left her, while she was exploring the +long drawing-room, and examining curiously the different articles +of furniture. As she did not seem disposed to touch anything, +she was allowed to go where she liked, although Mrs. Frank remonstrated +against her roaming all over the house as if she belonged +there, and suggested again that she be sent to the kitchen. +But Frank said 'no,' decidedly, and Jerry was left to herself, +except as the nurse-girl and Charles looked after her a little.</p> + +<p>And so it came about that towards evening she found herself +in the upper hall, and after making a tour of the rooms, whose +doors were open, she came to one whose door was shut—nor +could she turn the knob, although she tried with all her might. +Doubling her tiny fist, she knocked upon the door, and then, +as no one came, kicked against it with her foot, but still with +no result.</p> + +<p>Inside the room, with Gretchen's picture, Arthur sat in his +dressing-gown, very nervous and a little inclined to be irritable +and captious. He knew there had been an inquest, and that +many people had come and gone that day, for he had seen them +from his window, and had seen, too, the sleigh, with Frank, +and the coroner, and Harold, and a blue hood, drive into the +yard. But to the blue hood he never gave a thought, as he +was only intent upon the dead woman, whose presence in the +house made him so nervous and restless.</p> + +<p>'I shall be glad when she is buried. I have been so cold +and shaky ever since they brought her here,' he said to Charles, +as, with a shiver, he drew his chair nearer to the fire and leaning +back wearily in it fixed his eyes upon Gretchen's picture smiling +at him from the window, 'Dear little Gretchen,' he said +in a whisper, 'you seem so near to me now that I can almost +hear your feet at the door, and your voice asking to come +in. Hush!' and he started suddenly, as Jerry's kicks made +themselves heard even to the room where he sat. 'Hush! +Charles, who is that banging at the door? Surely not Maude? +They would not let her come up here. Go and see, and send +her away.'</p> + +<p>He had forgotten that he was listening for Gretchen, and +when Charles, who had opened the door cautiously and described +the intruder, said to him. 'It is that woman's child. +Shall I let her in? She is a pretty little thing,' he replied, +'Let her in? No; why should you and why is she allowed to +prowl around the house? Tell her to go away.'</p> + +<p>So Jerry was sent away with a troubled disappointed look +in her little face, and as the chill March night came on and the +dark shades crept into the room and Gretchen's picture gradually +faded from sight in the gathering gloom until it seemed +only a confused mixture of lead and glass, Arthur felt colder, +and drearier, and more wretched than he had ever felt before. +It was a genuine case of homesickness, if one can be homesick +who is in his own house, surrounded by every possible comfort +and luxury. He was tired, and sick, and disappointed, and +his head was aching terribly, while thoughts of the past were +crowding his brain where the light of reason seemed struggling +to reinstate itself. He was thinking of Gretchen, and longing +for her so intensely that once he groaned aloud and whispered +to himself:</p> + +<p>'Poor Gretchen! I am so sorry for it all. I can see it clearer +now, how I left her and did not write, and I don't know where +she is, or if she will ever come; and yet, I feel as if she had +come, or tidings of her. Perhaps my letter reached her. Perhaps +she is on her way. God grant it, and forgive me for all I +have made her suffer.'</p> + +<p>It was very still in the room where Arthur sat, for Charles +had gone out, and only the occasional crackling of the coal in +the grate and ticking of the clock broke the silence which +reigned around him; and at last, soothed into quiet, he fell +asleep and dreamed that on his door he heard again the thud +of baby feet, while Gretchen's voice was calling to him to let +the baby in.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI" ></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h2>THE FUNERAL AND AFTER.</h2> + + +<p>Long before ten o'clock, the hour appointed for the funeral, +the next morning, people began to gather at the +Park House, and the avenue seemed full of them. The +news that an unknown woman had been frozen to death in the +Tramp House had spread far and wide, awakening in many a +curiosity to see the stranger, and discover, if possible, a likeness +to some one they might have known.</p> + +<p>It was strange how many reminiscences were brought to +mind by this circumstance of girls who had disappeared years +before and were supposed to be dead—or worse. And this +woman might be one of them; indeed, Peterkin had said that +she was, and they came in crowds to see her, and to see, as +well, the inside of the handsome house, of which they had heard +so much, especially since Mr. Arthur's return. But in this they +were disappointed, for all the front rooms were locked against +them, and only the large dining-room, the breakfast-room, the +servants' hall, and the little back office were thrown open to +the public. In the first of these the corpse was lying in a substantial, +handsome coffin, for Frank, who ordered it, would +have no other; and when the undertaker suggested a cheaper +one would answer just as well, had said, decidedly:</p> + +<p>'I mean to bury her decently. Give me this one, and send +the bill to me, not to Arthur.'</p> + +<p>It was <i>his</i> funeral, and, judging from his face, he was burying +all his friends, instead of a poor, unknown woman, whose +large, coarse features and plain woollen dress looked out of place +in that handsome black coffin, with its silver-plated trimmings. +Frank had suggested that she should have a white merino +shroud, but his wife had overruled him. It was <i>not</i> her funeral, +and she had no interest in it, except that it should be over as +soon as possible, and the house cleansed from the atmosphere +of death. So when her husband asked if the child ought not +to have a mourning-dress, she scoffed at him for the suggestion +saying she did not like to see children in black anyway, and +even if she died herself she should not wish hers to wear it.</p> + +<p>'I cannot imagine,' she continued, 'why you have taken so +unaccountable a fancy to and interest in these people, especially +the child. One would think she belonged to royalty, the fuss +you make over her. What are we to do with her to-night? +Where is she to sleep?'</p> + +<p>'In the nursery,' was his reply; and he saw his wishes carried +out and ordered in a crib, which used to be Jack's, and bade +the nurse see that she was comfortable.</p> + +<p>So Jerry was put to bed in the nursery and slept very quietly +until about, ten o'clock when she awoke and cried piteously for +both 'Man-nee' and 'Ha-roll.' Frank, who was sitting alone in +the library, heard the cry, and knew it was not Maude's. Had +it been he would not have minded it, for he knew that she +would be cared for without his interference. But something +in the crying of this little foreign girl stirred him strangely, +and after listening to it a few moments he arose, and going softly +to the door of the nursery, stood listening until a sharp hush +from the nurse girl decided him to enter, and going to the crib +he bent over the sobbing child and tried to comfort her. She +could not understand him, but the tone of his voice was kind, +and when he put his hand on her hot head she took it in hers +and held it fast, as if she recognized in him a friend. And Frank +as he felt the clasp of the soft, warm fingers, and saw the confiding +look in the wide-open eyes, grew faint and cold, and +asked himself again, as he had many times that day, <i>if he could +do it</i>.</p> + +<p>Jerry was asleep at last, but she sobbed occasionally in her +sleep, and there were great tears on her eyelashes, while her +fingers clutched Frank's hand tightly as if fearing to let it go. +But he managed to disengage it and stealing cautiously from +the room went back to the library where he sat late into the +night, facing the future and wondering if he could meet it.</p> + +<p>He had Jerry at the table next morning and saw that she +was helped to everything she wanted without any regard to +its suitability for her, and when his wife said rather curtly that +she never knew that he was so fond of children before, he answered +her:</p> + +<p>'I am only doing as I would wish some one to do to Maude +if she were like this poor little girl.'</p> + +<p>When, at last, the hour for the funeral arrived he placed her +himself upon the high chair close to the coffin, where she sat +through the short service, conspicuous in her gray cloak and +blue hood, with her golden hair falling on her neck and piled +in wavy masses on her forehead, while her bright eyes scanned +the crowd curiously as if asking why they were there and why +they were all looking so intently at her. More than one kind-hearted +woman went up and kissed her, and when, at the close +of the services, Mr. Tracy held her in his arms for a last look +at her mother, their tears fell fast for the child, so unconscious +of the meaning of what was passing around her.</p> + +<p>'Isn't she beautiful! Such lovely hair, and eyes, and dazzling +complexion!' was said by more than one; and then they +speculated as to her future.</p> + +<p>Would she go to the poor-house? Would Frank Tracy keep +her with all his children, or was it true, as they had heard, +that Mr. Arthur Tracy was to adopt her at his own? And +where was Mr. Arthur? He might, at least, have shown +enough respect for the dead woman to come into the room, +and they wanted so much to see him, for there was a great +deal of curiosity with regard to the lunatic of Tracy Park +among the lower class of people who had come to Shannondale +during the eleven years of his absence.</p> + +<p>But Arthur was sick in bed, suffering alternately from +chills and a raging fever, which set his brain on fire and made +him wilder than usual. He had not slept well during the +night. Indeed, he said, he had not slept at all. But this was +a common assertion of his, and one to which Charles now paid +little heed.</p> + +<p>'A man can't snore and not sleep,' was the unanswerable +argument with which he refuted the sleepless nights of his +master.</p> + +<p>On this occasion, however, he had heard no snoring, and +Arthur's face, seen by the morning light, was a sufficient proof +of the wakeful hours he had passed. He, too, had heard the +distant crying, and felt instinctively that it was not Maude's. +Starting up in bed to listen, he said:</p> + +<p>'What's that? Is that child here yet?'</p> + +<p>'Yes sir: she is to stay till after the funeral,' was Charles' +reply, and Arthur continued:</p> + +<p>'Bring me some cotton for my ears. I never can stand that +noise. It is a peculiar cry.'</p> + +<p>The cotton was brought. A window in the hall which had +a habit of rattling with every breath of wind was made fast +with a bit of shingle whittled out for that purpose, and then +Arthur became tolerably quiet until morning, when he began +to talk to himself in the German language, which Charles +could not understand. But he caught the name Gretchen, and +knew she was the subject of the sick man's thoughts. Suddenly +turning to his attendant, to whom he always spoke in +English, Arthur said:</p> + +<p>'The funeral is to-day?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir, at ten o'clock.'</p> + +<p>'Well, lock every door leading up this way, and shut out +the gossipping blockheads who will come by hundreds, and, if +we would let them, swarm into my room as thick as the frogs +were in the houses of the Egyptians. Shut the doors, Charles, +and keep them out.'</p> + +<p>So the doors were shut and bolted, and then Arthur lay +listening with that intensity which so quickens one's hearing, +that the faintest sounds are distinct at great distances. He +heard the trampling footsteps as the people came crowding in, +and the tread of horses' feet as sleigh after sleigh drove up the +avenue, and once, with a shudder, he said:</p> + +<p>'That is the hearse. I am sure of it.'</p> + +<p>Then all was still, and listen as he might he could not distinguish +the faintest sound until the services were over and the +people began to leave the house.</p> + +<p>'There,' he said, with a sigh of relief; 'it will soon be over. +Bring me my clothes, Charles. I am going to get up and see +the last of this poor woman. God help her, whoever she was.'</p> + +<p>He was beginning to feel a great pity for the woman whose +coffin they were putting in the hearse, which moved off a few +rods, and then stopped until the open sleigh came up, the +sleigh in which Frank Tracy sat, muffled in his heavy overcoat, +for the day, though bright and sunny, was cold, and a +chill March wind was blowing. Dolly had taken refuge in a +headache which had prevented her from being present at the +funeral and kept her from going to the grave as her husband +had wished her to do. So only Harold and Jerry occupied +the sleigh with Frank, and these sat opposite him, with their +backs to the horses, Jerry in her gray cloak and blue hood +showing conspicuously as she came into full view of the window +where Arthur stood looking at the procession with a feeling +at his heart, as if in some way he were interested in the +sad funeral, where there was no mourner, no one who +had ever seen or known the deceased, save the little helpless +girl, looking around her in perfect unconcern save as she rather +liked the stir and all that was going on.</p> + +<p>They had tied a thin veil over her head to shield her from +the cold, and thus her face was not visible to Arthur. But he +saw the blue hood and the golden hair on the old gray cloak, +and the sight of it moved him mightily, making him hold fast +to the window-casing for support, while he stood watching it. +Just as far as he could see it his eye followed that hood, and +when it disappeared from view, he turned from the window, +deathly sick, and tottering back to his bedroom, vomited from +sheer nervous excitement.</p> + +<p>'Thank Heaven it is over and the rabble gone,' he said, +when he became easier. 'Go now and open all the doors and +windows to let in the fresh air and out the smell they are sure +to have left. Ugh! I get a whiff of it now. Burn some of +that aromatic paper; but open the hall windows first.'</p> + +<p>Charles did as he was ordered, and the wind was soon +sweeping through the wide hall, while Arthur's rooms were +filled with an odor like the sweet incense burned in the old +cathedrals.</p> + +<p>'I am very giddy and faint,' Arthur said, when Charles +came back to him after his ventilating operation. 'I have +looked at the bright snow too long, and there are a thousand +rings of fire dancing before my eyes, and in every ring I see a +blue hood and veil, with waves of hair like Gretchen's, when +she was a child. There is a redder tinge now on Gretchen's +hair, because she is older. Wheel me out there, Charles, where +I can see her.'</p> + +<p>Charles obeyed, and moved the light bed-lounge into the +library, where his master could feast his eyes upon the sweet +face which knew no change, but which always, night and day, +smiled upon him the same. The picture had a soothing effect +upon Arthur, and he gazed at it now until it began to fade +away and lose itself in the blue hood and veil he had seen in +the sleigh far down the avenue; and when, a few minutes +later, Charles came in to look at him, he found him fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>Meantime the funeral train had reached the cemetery, where +the snow was piled in great drifts, and where, in a corner of +the Tracy lot, they buried the stranger, with no tear to hallow +her grave, and no pang of regret save that she had ever come +there, with the mystery and the doubt which must always +cling to her memory. Frank Tracy's face was very pale and +stern as he held little Jerry in his arms during the committal +of the body to the grave, and then bade her take one last look +at the box which held her mother. But Jerry, who was growing +cold and tired, began to cry, and so Frank took her back +to the sleigh, which was driven to the cottage in the lane. +Here she felt at home, and drawing to the fire the low rocking +chair she had appropriated to herself, was soon supremely +happy devouring the ginger cookie which Mrs. Crawford had +given her, and in trying to pronounce English words under +Harold's teaching.</p> + +<p>While the children were thus employed, Mr. Tracy was +divulging to Mrs. Crawford the object of his visit. He could +hardly explain, he said, why he was so deeply interested in the +child, except it were that her mother had died on his premises +and she seemed to be thrown upon his care.</p> + +<p>'I cannot see her go to the poor-house,' he continued, with +a trembling in his voice which made Mrs. Crawford wonder a +little, as she had never credited him with much sympathy for +anything outside his own family. 'I cannot see her go to the +poor-house, and I cannot well take her into my family, as we +have three children of our own. But I have made up my +mind to care for her, and I have come to ask if, for a compensation, +you will keep her here?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, grandma—say yes!' Harold cried; while Jerry, with +her mouth full of cookie, repeated, 'ay 'ess.'</p> + +<p>'You see, the children plead for me,' Mr. Tracy said, with a +smile at the little girl, whose hand just then swept back the +hair from her eyes, which looked steadily at him as he went on: +'While she is young—say, until she is ten years old—I will +pay you three dollars a week, and after that more, if necessary. +I know you will be kind to her, and that she will be happy +here and well brought up. Is it a bargain?'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crawford had never seen him so interested in anything +and felt somewhat surprised and puzzled, but she expressed +her willingness to take the child and do what she could for +her.</p> + +<p>'It will be a good thing for Harold,' she said, 'as he is in +danger of growing selfish here alone with me.'</p> + +<p>And so Jerry's future was settled, and counting out twelve +dollars, Frank handed them to Mrs. Crawford, saying:</p> + +<p>'I will pay you for four weeks in advance, as you may need +the money, and—and—perhaps—' His face grew very red +as he stammered on, 'perhaps it may be as well not to tell +how much I pay you. People—or rather—well, Mrs. Tracy +might think it strange, and not understand why I feel such an +interest in the child. I don't understand it myself.'</p> + +<p>But he did understand, and his knees were shaking under +him as, when the transaction was over, and he was on his way +to the Park, he felt that he had sold himself to Satan.</p> + +<p>'And yet I know nothing for sure,' he kept repeating to +himself. 'Arthur is expecting Gretchen, whoever she may +be. He says he has written to her, and he has one of his presentiments +that she is coming on the night when this woman +arrives, who is no more like the Gretchen he raves about than +I am. This woman has a child. He says Gretchen has none, +and that he never saw this woman. And yet I find among the +things a photograph exactly like the picture in the window, +and also like the child, who certainly bears a resemblance to +my brother, though no one else, perhaps, would see it. Now, +sir,' he appeared to be addressing himself to some person unseen, +from whom he shrank, for he drew himself as far as was +possible to his side of the sleigh and shivered as he went on: +'Now, sir, is that sufficient proof to warrant me in turning +everything topsy-turvy, and making Arthur crazier than he +is?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' he seemed to hear in reply, either from +within or without, he hardly knew which, and he went on:</p> + +<p>'I shall try to find out who the woman was, and where she +came from; but how am I to do it? how begin? Arthur will +not tell me a word about Gretchen, who she is, or what she is +to him. Still, I mean to be on the safe side, and do right by +the child. Arthur cannot live many years. His nerves will +wear him out, if nothing else, and when he does, his money +will naturally come to me.'</p> + +<p>'Naturally,' his spectral companion replied, and he continued:</p> + +<p>'Well, what I intend doing is this: I shall make my will, +in which Jerry will share equally with my children, and I +shall further draw up a written request that in case I die before +my brother, any money which may fall to my children +from him shall be shared equally with her. I shall, out of my +own private funds, provide for her support and education, until +she comes of age, or marries, and if possible, I shall bring +about a marriage between her and Tom, who will probably one +day be master of Tracy Park. Can anything more be required +of me?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' was the consoling reply; and as the sleigh just +then drew up before his door, Frank alighted from it, and said +to himself as he ran up the steps:</p> + +<p>'I believe I have been riding with the devil, and have made +a league with him!'</p> + +<p>He found the house thoroughly aired and cleansed from all +signs of the recent funeral; and when, at one o'clock, he sat down +to lunch in the handsome dining-room, and sipped his favorite +claret, and ate his foreign preserves, and thought how much +comfort and luxury money could buy, he was sure he had done +well for himself and his children after him. But, like Bishop +Hatto, of Mouse-Tower memory, Frank Tracy never knew real +peace of mind from the day he deliberately sold himself to the +Evil One for filthy lucre, until the day, years after, when full +restitution was made, and, with the sin confessed, he held his +head up again, free from the shadow which he did not leave in +the sleigh, but which followed him day and night, walking by +him when he walked, sitting by him when he sat, and watching +by him when he slept, so as to be ready when he woke +with the specious argument that he was acting justly and even +generously by the little waif, who was like a sunbeam in the +cottage in the lane, whom many people went to see, marvelling +at her beauty and wondering in vain whose likeness they sometimes +saw in her as she frolicked around the house, full of life, +and fun, and laughter.</p> + +<p>Frank made his will, as he promised his shadow he would, +but he went to Springfield to have it drawn up, for he knew +that Colvin, or any lawyer whom he might employ in Shannondale, +would wonder at it. He also wrote out himself what +he called his dying request to his children, in case he should +die before his brother. In this he stated emphatically his wish +that Jerry should have her share of whatever might come to +them from the Tracy estate, the same as if she were his own +child.</p> + +<p>'I have a good and sufficient reason for this,' he wrote in +conclusion, 'and I enjoin it upon you to carry out my wishes +as readily as you would were I to speak to you from my grave,'</p> + +<p>This done, Frank felt a little better, and the shadow at his +side was not quite as real as it had been before. He put his +will and his dying request together in a private drawer with +Gretchen's photograph, and the testament with the handwriting +in it. He had kept this back when the stranger's trunk +was sent to the cottage, thinking that if it were missed and inquired +for, he could easily produce it as having been mislaid. +At the suggestion of Mr. St. Claire he went to New York, to +the office of the German line of steamers, and made inquiries +with regard to the passengers who had come on a certain ship +at such a time. But nothing could be learned of any woman +with a child, and after inserting in several of the New York +papers a description of the woman, with a request for any information +concerning her which could be given, he returned +home, with a feeling that he had done all that could be required +of him, and that he might now enjoy himself.</p> + +<p>He was accordingly kind and even tender to his brother, +who for several weeks suffered from low nervous depression, +which kept him altogether in his room, to which he refused to +admit any one except his attendant and Frank. He had +ceased for the time being, to talk of Gretchen, or to expect her, +and he never inquired for the child, whose blue hood had so +affected him. Once Frank spoke of her to him and told him +where she was, and that she was learning to speak English very +rapidly, and growing prettier every day. But Arthur did not +seem at all interested and only said:</p> + +<p>'How can Mrs. Crawford afford to keep the child?'</p> + +<p>Others than Arthur asked that question, and among them +Dolly, who with a woman's quick wit, sharpened by something +she accidentally saw, divined the truth, which she wrung at +last from her husband. There was a fierce quarrel—almost +their first—a sick headache which lasted three days, and a +month or more of coldness between the married pair, and then, +finding she could accomplish nothing, for Frank was as firm as +a rock, Dolly gave up the contest, and tried by economizing +in various ways, to save the money which she felt was taken +from her children by the little girl, who had become so dear to +Mrs. Crawford, that she would not have parted with her had +nothing been paid for her keeping.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII" ></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h2>"MR. CRAZYMAN, DO YOU WANT SOME CHERRIES?"</h2> + + +<p>More than two years had passed away since the terrible +March night when the strange woman was frozen to +death in the Tramp House, and her history was still +shrouded in mystery. Not a word had been heard concerning +her, and her story was gradually being forgotten by the +people of Shannondale. Her grave, however, was tolerably +well kept, and every Saturday afternoon, in summer time, +a few flowers were put upon it by Harold. Not so much for +the sake of the dead as for the beautiful child who always accompanied +him, laughing, and frolicking, and sometimes dancing +around the grave where he told her her mother was buried.</p> + +<p>As there had been no date on which to fix Jerry's birth, they +had called the first day of March her birthday, so that when +more than two years later we introduce her to our readers on a +hot July morning, she was said to be six years and four months +old. In some respects, however, she seemed much older, for +there was about her a precocity only found in children who +have always associated with people much older than themselves, +or into whose lives strange experiences have come. In stature +she was very short, though round and plump as a partridge. +'Dutchy,' Mr. Tracy called her, for Mrs. Tracy did not like +her, and took no pains to conceal her dislike, though it was +based upon nothing except the money which she knew was +paid regularly to Mrs. Crawford for the child's maintenance.</p> + +<p>There could be no reason, she said to her husband, why he +should support the child of a tramp, and the woman had been +little better, judging from appearances, unless, indeed—and +then she told what old Peterkin had said more than once, to +the effect that Jerry Crawford, as she was called, was growing +to be the image of the Tracys, especially Arthur.</p> + +<p>'And if so,' she added, 'you'd better let Arthur take care +of her, and save your money for your own children,'</p> + +<p>To this Frank never replied. He knew better than old +Peterkin that Jerry was like the Tracys, or, rather, like his +brother, and that it was not so much in the features as in the +expression and certain movements of the head and hands, and +tones of the voice when she was very much in earnest, and +raised it to a higher pitch than usual. She could speak English +very well now, and sometimes, when Frank, who was a frequent +visitor at the cottage, sat watching her at her play, and +listening to her as she talked to herself, as was her constant +habit, he could have shut his eyes and sworn it was his brother's +voice calling to him from the hay-loft or apple tree where +they had played together when boys.</p> + +<p>Jerry's favorite amusement when alone was to make believe +that either herself, or a figure she had made out of a shawl, +was a sick woman, lying on a settee which she converted into +a bed. Sometimes she was the nurse and took care of the sick +woman to whom she always spoke in German, bending fondly +over her, and occasionally holding up before her a doll which +Mrs. St. Claire had given her, and which she played was the +woman's baby. Then she would be the sick woman herself, +and trying on the broad frilled cap which had been found in +the trunk, would slip under the covering, and laying her head +upon the pillow, go through with all the actions of some one +very sick, occasionally hugging to her bosom and kissing the +doll.</p> + +<p>Once she enacted the pantomime of dying. Folding her +hands together and closing her eyes, her lips moved as if in +prayer, for a moment, then stretching out her feet she lay perfectly +motionless, with a set expression in the little face which +looked so comical under the broad frilled cap. Then, as if it +had occurred to her that action was necessary from some one, +she exchanged places with the lay figure, and tying the cap upon +its head, tucked it carefully in the bed, by which she knelt, +and covering her face with her hands imitated perfectly the +sobs and moans of a middle-aged person, mingled occasionally +with the clearer, softer notes of a child's crying.</p> + +<p>The first time Frank witnessed this piece of acting was on a +Saturday afternoon, when he had come to the cottage as usual +to pay his weekly due. Both Mrs. Crawford and Harold were +gone, but knowing they would soon return, as it was not their +habit to leave Jerry long alone he sat down to wait, while she +went back to the corner in the kitchen, which she used as her +play-house.</p> + +<p>'Somebody is sick and I am taking care of her,' she said to +Mr. Tracy, who watched her through the pantomime of the +death scene with a feeling, when it was over, that he had seen +Gretchen die.</p> + +<p>There was not a shadow of doubt in his mind that the sick +woman was Gretchen, the nurse the stranger found in the +Tramp House, and the doll baby the little girl upon whose +memory that scene had been indelibly stamped, and who, with +her wonderful powers of imitation, could rehearse it in every +particular. To herself she always spoke in German, which no +one could understand sufficiently to make out what she meant. +Once Mr. St. Claire suggested to Frank that he take her to his +brother, to whom German was as natural as English, and who +might be able to learn something of her antecedents. And +Frank had answered that he would do so, knowing the while +that nothing could tempt him to bring her and his brother together +until all the recollections of her babyhood, if she had +any, were obliterated, and she had in part forgotten her own +language.</p> + +<p>His first step in evil doing had to be followed by others until +he was so far committed that he could not retrace his steps, +and two shadows were with him constantly now, one always +reproaching him for what he had done, and the other telling +him it was now too late to turn back.</p> + +<p>He was very fond of Jerry, and on the Saturday afternoon +when he sat watching her strange play, noticing how graceful +was every movement, and how lovely the constantly varying +expression of her face—from concern and anxiety when she +was the nurse to distress and pain and then resignation and +quietude in death when she took the role of the sick woman—he +felt himself moved by some mighty influence to right her at +once and put her in her proper place.</p> + +<p>'It is more than I can bear. I can't even look Dolly straight +in the eye,' he said to his evil shadow, which answered back.</p> + +<p>'You know nothing sure. Will you give up your prospects +for a photograph and a likeness which may be accidental?'</p> + +<p>So his conscience was smothered again; but he would question +the child, and after her play was over he called her to him +and taking her in his lap, kissed the little grave face upon which +the shadow of the scene she had been enacting had left its impress.</p> + +<p>'Jerry,' he said, 'that lady who just died in the bed with +the cap on was your mamma, was it not?'</p> + +<p>''Ess,' was Jerry's reply, for she still adhered to her first +pronunciation of the word.</p> + +<p>'And the other was the nurse?'</p> + +<p>''Ess,' Jerry said again; 'Mah-nee.'</p> + +<p>This was puzzling, for he had always supposed that by 'mah-nee' +the child meant 'mam-ma;' but he went on:</p> + +<p>'Try to understand me, Jerry; try to think away back +before you came in the ship.'</p> + +<p>''Ess, I vill,' she said, with a very wise look on her face, +while Mr. Tracy continued:</p> + +<p>'Had you a papa? Was he there with you?'</p> + +<p>'<i>Nein</i>,' was the prompt reply, and Mr. Tracy continued:</p> + +<p>'Where did your mamma live? Was it in Wiesbaden?'</p> + +<p>He knew he did not pronounce the word right, and was surprised +at the sudden lighting up of the child's eyes as she tried +to repeat the name. 'Oo-oo-ee,' she began, with a tremendous +effort, but the W mastered her, and she gave it up with a +shake of her head.</p> + +<p>'I not say dat oo-oo-ee,' she said, and he put the question in +another form:</p> + +<p>'Where did your mamma die?'</p> + +<p>'Tamp House; f'oze to deff,' was now the ready answer, a +natural one, too, for she had been taught by Harold that such +was the case, and had often gone with him to the house where +he found her, and where the old table still stood against the wall.</p> + +<p>No one picnicked there now, for the place was said to be +haunted, and the superstitious ones told each other that on +stormy nights, when the wild winds were abroad, lights had +been seen in the Tramp House, where a pale-faced woman, +with her long, black hair streaming down her back, stood in the +door-way, shrieking for help, while the cry of a child mingled +with her call. But Harold shared none of these fancies. He +was not afraid of the building, and often went there with Jerry, +and sitting with her on the table, told her again and again how +he had found her mother that wintry morning, and how funny +she herself had looked in the old carpet-bag, and so it is not +strange that when Mr. Tracy asked her where her mother died, +she should answer, 'In the Tramp House,' although she had +acted a pantomime whose reality must have taken place under +very different circumstances.</p> + +<p>'Of course your mother died in the Tramp House, and I +have nothing with which to reproach myself. I am altogether +too morbid on the subject,' Frank said, and he had decided +that he was a pretty good sort of fellow, after all, when at last +Mrs. Crawford came in and he paid her for Jerry's board.</p> + +<p>It was a part of Frank's plan to save the money out of his +own personal expenses, so he smoked two cigars less each day +and went without claret for dinner, except on Sunday, and +never touched champagne, and wore his hats and coats until +his wife said they were shabby and insisted upon new ones. In +this way he saved more than three dollars a week, but the +overplus was laid aside for the time when Jerry must necessarily +cost him more because she would be older. In some +respects he was doing his duty by the child, who, next to +Harold and Mrs. Crawford, whom she called grandma, loved +him better than any one else. She always ran to meet him +when he came, and sometimes, when he went away, accompanied +him down the lane, holding his hand and asking him +numberless questions about Tracy Park and about his little +girl, and why she never came to see her.</p> + +<p>Frank could not tell Jerry of his wife's bitter prejudice +against her, and that this was the reason why Maude had never +been to the cottage or Jerry to the park. But if Jerry had +not visited it in person, she was greatly interested in the handsome +house and grounds, and the lovely rooms where the crazy +man lived. This was Harold's designation of Mr. Arthur—the +crazy man—and perhaps of all the things at Tracy Park, Jerry +was most desirous to see him and his rooms. Harold, who, on +one of the rare occasions when Arthur was out to dine, had +been sent to the house on an errand, had gone with Jack into +these rooms, which he described minutely to his grandmother +and Jerry, dwelling longest upon the beautiful picture in the +window. 'Gretchen, he calls it,' he said; and then Jerry, +who was listening intently, gave a sudden upward and sidewise +turn to her Lead, just as she had done when Mr. Tracy spoke +to her of Wiesbaden.</p> + +<p>'Detchen,' she repeated, with a little hesitancy. 'Vat the +name vas? Say again.'</p> + +<p>He said it again, and over the child's face there came a +puzzled expression, as if she were trying to recall something +which baffled all her efforts. But she did not forget the name, +and that evening Mrs. Crawford heard her singing to herself,</p> + +<p>'Detchen, Detchen, who are you? Detchen, Detchen, where +are you?' and she noticed that the doll baby with which Jerry +played the most was ever after called 'Detchen,' instead of +Maude, as it had been christened when first given to her.</p> + +<p>Jerry had seen Maude Tracy many times and had admired +her greatly, with her pretty white dresses and costly embroideries; +and once, at church, when Maude passed near where +she was standing, she stood back as far as possible out of the +way and held her plain gingham dress aside, as if neither it nor +herself had any right to come in close contact with so superior +a being. Of the house in the park she knew nothing, except +what Harold had told her, and that it was a place to be admired +and gazed at breathlessly at a respectful distance. She had +never been there since the day of the funeral But she was +going at last with Harold, who had permission to gather cherries +for his grandmother from some of the many trees which +grew upon the place.</p> + +<p>It was a hot morning in July, and the air seemed thunderous +and heavy when she set off on what to her was as important an +expedition as is a trip to Europe to an older person. She had +wanted to wear her pink gingham dress, the one kept sacred +for Sunday, and had even hoped that she might be allowed to +display her best straw hat with the blue ribbons and cluster of +apple blossoms. She had no doubt that she should go into the +house and see the crazy man, and Mrs. Tracy, who she had +heard wore silk stockings every day, and she wished to be suitably +attired for such honor.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Crawford dispelled her air castles by telling her +that she was only to go into the side yard where the cherry +trees were, and that she must be very quiet, so as not to disturb +Mr. Arthur, whose windows looked that way. To wear her +pink dress was impossible, as she would get it stained with the +juice of the cherries, while the best hat was not for a moment +to be thought of.</p> + +<p>So Jerry submitted to the dark calico frock and high-necked, +long-sleeved apron which Mrs. Crawford thought safe and +proper for her to wear on a cherry expedition. A clean, white +sun-bonnet with a wide cape covered her head and concealed +her face when she started from the cottage, with her quart tin +pail on her arm; but no sooner was she on the path which led +to the park that the obnoxious bonnet was removed and was +swinging on her arm, while she was admiring the shadow which, +her long, bright curls made in the sunshine as she shook her +head from side to side.</p> + +<p>To tell the truth, our little Jerry was rather vain. Passionately +fond of pictures and flowers, and quick to detect everything +beautiful both in art and nature, she knew that the little +face she sometimes saw in Mrs. Crawford's old-fashioned mirror +was pretty, and after the day when Dick St. Claire told her +that her hair was 'awful handsome,' she had felt a pride in it +and in herself, which all Mrs. Crawford's asseverations that +'Handsome is that handsome does' could not destroy. Maude +Tracy's hair was black and straight, and here she felt she had +the advantage over her.</p> + +<p>'I do hope we shall see her,' she said to Harold, as she +danced along, swaying her bonnet and shaking her hair. 'Do +you think we shall?'</p> + +<p>Harold thought it doubtful, and, even if they did, it was not +likely she would speak to them, he said.</p> + +<p>'Why not?' Jerry asked, and he replied:</p> + +<p>'Oh, I suppose they feel big because they are rich and we +are poor.'</p> + +<p>'But why ain't I rich, too? Why don't I live at the park +like Maude, and wear low-necked aprons instead of this old +high one?' Jerry asked; but Harold could not tell, and only +said:</p> + +<p>'Would you rather live at the park than with me?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Jerry answered, promptly, stopping short and digging +her heel into the soft loam of the path. 'I would not stay anywhere +without you; and when I live at the park you will live +there, too, and have codfish and tatoe every day.'</p> + +<p>Strangely enough this was Harold's favorite dish, and, as it +was not his grandmother's, his taste was not gratified in that +respect as often as he would have liked, hence Jerry's promise +of the luxury.</p> + +<p>Just here, at a sudden turn in the path, they came upon Jack +and Maude Tracy playing on a bench under a tree, while the +nurse was at a distance either reading or asleep. Harold +would have passed them at once, as he knew his grandmother +was in a hurry for the cherries, but Jerry had no such intention.</p> + +<p>Stopping short in front of Maude, she inspected her carefully, +from her white dress and bright plaid sash to the string +of amber beads around her neck; while, side by side with this +picture, she saw herself in her dark calico frock and high-necked +apron, with her sun-bonnet and tin pail on her arm. +Jerry did not like the contrast, and a lump began to swell in +her throat. Then, as a happy thought struck her, she said, +with something like exultation in her tone:</p> + +<p>'My hair curls and yours don't.'</p> + +<p>'No,' Maude answered, slowly—'no it don't curl, but it's +black, and yours is yaller.'</p> + +<p>This was a set back to Jerry, who hated everything yellow, +and who had never dreamed of applying that color to her hair. +She only knew that Dick St. Claire had called it pretty, but in +this new light thrown upon it all her pride vanished, for she +recognized like a flash that it might be 'yaller,' and stood there +silent and vanquished, until Maude, who in turn had been +regarding her attentively, said to her:</p> + +<p>'Ain't you Jerry Crawford?'</p> + +<p>That broke the ice of reserve, and the two little girls were +soon talking together familiarly, and Jerry was asking Maude +if she wore beads and her best clothes every day.</p> + +<p>'Phoo! These ain't my best clothes. I have one gown all brawdery +and lace,' was Maude's reply, while Jack, who was standing +near, chimed in:</p> + +<p>'My father's got lots of money, and so has Uncle Arthur, +and when he dies we are going to have it; Tom says so.'</p> + +<p>Slowly the shadows gathered on Jerry's brow as she said, +sadly;</p> + +<p>'I wish I had an Uncle Arthur, and could wear beads and a +sash every day' Then, as she looked at Harold, her face +brightened immediately and she exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'But I have Harold and a grandma, and you hain't,' and +running up to Harold, she threw her arms around his neck and +kissed him lovingly, as if to make amends for the momentary +repining.</p> + +<p>'We must go now,' Harold said, and taking her hand in his, +he led her away toward the house, which impressed her with +so much awe that as she drew near to it, she held her breath +and walked on tiptoe, as if afraid that any sound from her +would be sacrilege in that aristocratic atmosphere.</p> + +<p>'Oh, isn't it grand, Harold?' Isn't it grand!' she kept +repeating, with her mouth full of cherries, after they had +reached the trees on which the ripe, red fruit hung so thickly. +'Do you s'pose we shall see the crazy man?' she asked, and +Harold replied:</p> + +<p>'I don't know. I guess not, unless he comes to the window. +Those are his rooms, and that window which looks so ugly +outside, is the one with the picture in it,' and he pointed to the +south wing, most of the windows of which were open, while +against one a long ladder was standing.</p> + +<p>It had been left there by a workman who had been up on it +to fix the hinge of a blind, and who had gone to the village in +quest of something he needed, Jerry saw the ladder and its +close proximity to the open window, and she thought to herself.</p> + +<p>'I mean to fill my pail with cherries, and go up that ladder +and take them to him, I wonder if he would bite me?'</p> + +<p>Suiting the action to the word she stopped eating; and began +to pick from the lower limbs as rapidly as possible until +her pail was full.</p> + +<p>'Pour them into the basket,' Harold called to her from the +top of the tree, but Jerry did not heed him. She had seen the +tall figure of a man pass before the window, and a pale, thin +face had for a moment, looked out, apparently to discover +whence the talking came.</p> + +<p>'I'm going to take the crazyman some cherries,' she tried, +and almost before Harold could protest, she was half way up +the ladder, which she climbed with the agility of a little cat.</p> + +<p>'Jerry, Jerry! What are you doing!' Harold exclaimed, +'Come back this minute. He doesn't like children; he tried to +throw me over the banister once; he will knock you off the +ladder; oh, Jerry!' and Harold's voice was almost a sob as he +watched the girl going up round after round until the top was +reached, and she stood with her flushed, eager face, just on a +level with the window so that by standing on tiptoe, she could +look into the room.</p> + +<p>It was Arthur's bedroom, and there was no one in it, but she +heard the sound of footsteps in the adjoining apartment, and +raising herself as far as possible, and holding up her pail, she +called out in a clear, shrill voice;</p> + +<p>'Mr. Crazyman, Mr. Crazyman, don't you want some cherries?'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII" ></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR AND JERRY.</h2> + + +<p>Arthur had passed a restless night. Indeed all his +nights were restless, but this one had been especially +so. Thoughts of Gretchen had troubled him in his +dreams, and two or three times he had started up to listen, +thinking that he heard her calling to him from a distance. He +had dreamed also of the blue hood seen that day of the funereal, +now more than two years ago, and of the child who had +come knocking at his door, first with her hands and then with +her feet, but whom he had refused to admit. He had never +seen her since, and had never inquired for her of his own accord. +Two or three times his brother had spoken of her in a +casual way, telling him once that she was with Mrs. Crawford. +Arthur had then asked how she could afford to keep her, and +Frank had made no reply. But the second time when he spoke +of Jerry, and Arthur, more interested in Mrs. Crawford than +in her, had asked the same question, Frank had said:</p> + +<p>'She cannot afford it, I pay her three dollars a week.'</p> + +<p>For a moment Arthur looked inquiringly at him; then he +said:</p> + +<p>'You are a good fellow after all, even if you did deceive me +about sending John for Gretchen. Tell Colvin, when Christmas +comes, to give Mrs. Crawford a hundred dollars for me.'</p> + +<p>After this Mrs. Crawford and her affairs passed completely +out of Arthur's mind. He never went to the cottage, or near +it. He never went anywhere, in fact, but lived the life of a recluse, +growing thinner, and paler, and more reticent every day, +talking now but seldom of Gretchen, though he never arose in +the morning or retired at night without kissing her picture and +murmuring to it some words of tenderness in German.</p> + +<p>He had measured the length of his three rooms and dressing-room, +and found them to be nearly one hundred feet, or six +rods do that by passing back and forth twenty-five times he +would walk almost a mile.</p> + +<p>Regularly each morning, when it was not too cold or stormy, +he would throw open his windows and take his daily exercise, +which was but a poor substitute for what might be had in the +fresh air outside, but was nevertheless much better than +nothing.</p> + +<p>On this particular morning, when Harold and Jerry were at +the park, he was taking his walk as usual, though very slowly, +for he felt weak and sick, and, oh, so inexpressibly lonely and +desolate that it seemed to him he would gladly lie down and +die.</p> + +<p>'If I thought Gretchen were dead, nothing would seem so +desirable to me as the grave, for then there would be nothing +to live for,' he was saying to himself, when the sound of voices +outside attracted his attention, and going to the window, he +saw the children, Harold in the top of the tree, and Jerry at +the foot, with her white sun-bonnet shading her face.</p> + +<p>Recognizing Harold, he guessed who the little girl was, +and a strange feeling of interest stirred in his heart for her, as +he said:</p> + +<p>'Poor little waif! I wonder where she came from, or what +will become of her?'</p> + +<p>'Then resuming his walk, he forgot all about the little +waif, until startled by a voice which rang, clear and bell-like, +through the rooms:</p> + +<p>'Mr. Crazyman! Mr. Crazyman! don't you want some +cherries?'</p> + +<p>It was not so much the words as something in the tone, the +foreign accent, the ring like a voice he never could forget, and +which the previous night had called to him in his dreams. And +now it was calling again—not in his sleep, but in reality, for he +knew he was awake—calling from the adjoining room, which +no one could enter without his knowledge.</p> + +<p>Mentally weak as he was, and apt to be superstitious, his +limbs shook, and his heart beat faster than its wont, as he went +toward his sleeping-apartment, from which the voice came again +a little louder and more peremptory:</p> + +<p>'Mr. Crazyman! where are you? I've brought you some +cherries!'</p> + +<p>He had reached the door by this time, and saw the pail on the +broad window-ledge where Jerry had put it, and to which she +was clinging, with her white sun-bonnet just in view.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Gretchen! how did you get here?' he said, bounding +across the floor, with no thought of Jerry in his mind, no +thought of any one but Gretchen, whom he was constantly expecting +to come, though not exactly in this way.</p> + +<p>'I climbed the ladder to fetch you some cherries, and I'm +standing on the toppest stick,' Jerry said, craning her neck +until her bonnet fell back, disclosing to view her beautiful face +flushed with excitement, and her bright, wavy hair, which, +moist with perspiration, clung in masses of round curls to her +head and forehead.</p> + +<p>'Great Heaven!' Arthur exclaimed, as he stood staring at +the wide-open blue eyes confronting him so steadily. 'Who +are you, and where did you come from?'</p> + +<p>'I'm Jerry, and I comed from the carpet-bag in the Tramp +House. Take me in, won't you?' Jerry said; and, mechanically +leaning from the window, Arthur took her in, while Harold +from below looked on, horror-struck with fear as to what +the result might be if Jerry were left any time alone with a +madman who did not like children.</p> + +<p>'He may kill her; I must tell the folks,' he said; and, going +round to the side door, he entered, without knocking, and asked +for Mrs. Tracy.</p> + +<p>But she was not at home, and so he told the servants of +Jerry's danger, and begged them to go to her rescue.</p> + +<p>'Pshaw, he won't hurt her. Charles will come pretty soon, +and I'll send him up. Don't look so scared; he is harmless,' +the cook said to Harold, who, in a wild state of nervous fear, +went back to the cherry trees, where he could listen and hear +the first scream which should proclaim Jerry's danger.</p> + +<p>But none came, and could he have looked into the room, +where Jerry sat, or rather stood, he would have been amazed.</p> + +<p>As Arthur lifted Jerry through the window, and put her +down upon the floor, he said to her:</p> + +<p>'Take off that bonnet and let me look at you.'</p> + +<p>She obeyed and stood before him with all her wealth of hair +tumbling about her glowing face, and an eager, questioning expression +in her blue eyes, which looked at him so fearlessly. +Arthur knew perfectly well who she was, but something about +her so dazed and bewildered him that for a moment he could +not speak, but stared at her with the hungry, wistful look of +one longing for something just within his reach, but still unattainable.</p> + +<p>'Do you like me?' Jerry asked at last.</p> + +<p>'Like you?' he replied. 'Yes. Why did you not come to +me sooner?'</p> + +<p>And, stooping, he kissed the cherry-stained mouth as he had +never kissed a child before.</p> + +<p>Sitting down upon the lounge, he took her in his lap and said +to her again:</p> + +<p>'Who are you, and where did you come from? I know your +name is Jerry, which is a strange one for a girl, and I know you +live with Mrs. Crawford, but before that night where did you +live? Where did you come from?'</p> + +<p>'Out of the carpet-bag in the Tramp House. I told you that +once,' Jerry said. 'Harold found me. I am his little girl. +He is out in the cherry tree, and said I must not come up, because +you were crazy and would hurt me. You won't hurt me, +will you? And be you crazy?'</p> + +<p>'Hurt you? No,' he answered, as he parted the rings of her +hair from her low brow. 'I don't know whether I am crazy or +not They say so, and perhaps I am, when my head is full of +bumble-bees.'</p> + +<p>'Oh—h!' Jerry gasped, drawing back from him. 'Can they +get out? And will they sting?'</p> + +<p>Arthur burst into a merry laugh, the first he had known since +he came back to Shannondale. Jerry was doing him good. +There was something very soothing in the touch of the little +warm hands he held in his, and something puzzling and fascinating, +too, in the face of the child. He did not think of a likeness +to any one; he only knew that he felt drawn toward her +in a most unaccountable manner, and found himself wondering +greatly who she was.</p> + +<p>'Harold told me there were pictures and marble people up +here with nothing on, and everything, and that's why I comed—that +and to bring you some cherries. I like pictures. Can I +see them?' Jerry said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, you shall see them,' Arthur replied; and he led her +into the room where Gretchen's picture looked at them from +the window.</p> + +<p>'Oh, my!' Jerry exclaimed, with bated breath, 'Ain't she +lovely! Is she God's sister?' and folding her hands together, +she stood before the picture as reverently as a devout Catholic +stands before a Madonna.</p> + +<p>It was some time since Jerry had spoken a word of German, +but as she stood before Gretchen's picture old memories seemed +to revive, and with them the German word for <i>pretty</i>, which +she involuntarily spoke aloud.</p> + +<p>Low as was the utterance, it caught Arthur's ear, and grasping +her shoulder, he said:</p> + +<p>'What was that? What did you say, and where did you +learn it?'</p> + +<p>His manner frightened her; perhaps the bumble-bees were +coming out, and she drew back from him, forgetting entirely +what she had said.</p> + +<p>'It was a German word,' he continued, 'and the accent is +German, too; can you speak it.'</p> + +<p>Unconsciously as he talked, he dropped into that language, +and Jerry listened intently, with a strained look on her face, +as if trying to recall something which came and went, but went +more than it came, if that could be.</p> + +<p>'I talked that once,' she said, 'when I lived with mamma; +but she is dead. Harold found her, and I put flowers on her +grave.'</p> + +<p>Half the time she was speaking in German, or trying to, +and Arthur listened in amazement, while his interest in her +deepened every moment, as he took her through the rooms and +showed her 'the marble people with nothing on them,' and +the beautiful pictures which adorned his walls.</p> + +<p>'How would you like to come and be my little girl?' he +asked her at last, when, remembering Harold and the cherries, +she told him she must go, and started toward the window as +if she would make her egress as she had come in.</p> + +<p>'Can Harold come, too? I can't leave Harold,' she said +Then, as she caught sight of him still standing at a distance, +gazing curiously up at the window through which she had disappeared, +she called out, 'Yes Harold; I'm coming. I have +seen him and everything, and he did not hurt me. Good-bye!' +and she turned toward Arthur with a little nod.</p> + +<p>Then, before he could stop her, she sprang out upon the ladder, +and went down faster than she had come up, leaving the pail +of cherries upon the window-sill, and leaving, too, in Arthur's +breast a tumult of emotions which he could not define.</p> + +<p>That night, when Frank, who had heard in much alarm of +Jerry's visit to his brother, went up to see him, he found him +more cheerful and natural than he had seen him in weeks. As +Frank expected, his first words were of the little girl who had +come to him through the window and left him the cherries, of +which he said he had eaten so many that he feared they might +make him sick. What did Frank know of the child? What +had he learned of her history? Of course he had made enquiries +everywhere?</p> + +<p>It was just in the twilight, before the gas was lighted, and +so Arthur did not see how his brother's face flamed at first and +then grew white as he recapitulated what the reader already +knows, dwelling at length upon the enquiries he had made in +New York, all of which had been fruitless. There was the name +Jerrine on the child's clothing, he said and the initials 'N.B.' +on that of her mother, who was evidently French, although she +must have come from Germany.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Arthur replied, 'the child is a German, and interests +me greatly. Her face and something in her voice has haunted +me all the afternoon. Was there nothing in that trunk or the +carpet-bag which would be a clue?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' Frank replied, although it seemed to him it was +the shadow speaking for him, or at least putting the lie into his +mouth. There were articles of clothing, all very plain, and a picture +book printed at Leipsic, I can get that for you if you +like, though it tells nothing unless it he that the mother lived +in Leipsic.'</p> + +<p>Frank talked very rapidly, and laid so much stress on Leipsic, +that Arthur got an idea that Jerry had actually come from +there, just as his brother meant he should, and he began to +speak of the town and recall all he knew of it.</p> + +<p>'I was never there but once,' he said, 'for although I spent +a great deal of time in Germany, it was mostly in Heidleberg +and Wiesbaden. Oh, that is lovely,—Wiesbaden—and nights +now, when I cannot sleep, I fancy that I am there again, in the +lovely park, and hear the music of the band, and see the +crowds of people strolling through the grounds, and I am there +with them, though apart from the rest, just where a narrow +path turns off from a bridge, and a seat is half hidden from view +behind the thick shrubberies. There I sit again with Gretchen, +and feel her hand in mine and her dear head on my arm. Oh, +Gretchen—'</p> + +<p>There was a sob now in his voice, and he seemed to be talking +to himself rather than to his brother, who said to him:</p> + +<p>'Gretchen lived in Wiesbaden, then?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; but for heaven's sake pronounce it with a V, and not +a W, and in two syllables instead of three,' Arthur answered, +pettishly, his ear offended as it always was with a discordant +sound or mispronounciation.</p> + +<p>'Veesbaden, then,' Frank repeated, understanding now why +Jerry had stumbled over the name when he once spoke it to +her.</p> + +<p>Clearly she had come from Wiesbaden, where Gretchen had +lived, and where he believed she had died, though he did not +tell Arthur so; he merely said:</p> + +<p>'Gretchen was your sweetheart, I suppose?'</p> + +<p>But Arthur did not reply; he never replied to direct questions +as to who Gretchen was, but after a moment's silence, he +said:</p> + +<p>'You speak of her as something past. Do you believe she is +dead?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I do,' was Frank's decided answer. You have never +told me who she was, though I have my own opinion on the +subject, and I know that you loved her very much, and if she +loved you so much—'</p> + +<p>'She did—she did; she loved me more—far more than I +deserved,' was Arthur's vehement interruption.</p> + +<p>'Well, then,' Frank continued, 'if she did, and were living, +she would have come to you, or answered your letters, or sent +you some messenger.'</p> + +<p>Frank's voice trembled here, and be seemed to see again the +cold, still face of the dead woman, whose lips, could they have +spoken, might have unlocked the mystery and brought a message +from Gretchen'</p> + +<p>'True, true,' Arthur replied. 'She would have come or +written. How long is it since I came home?'</p> + +<p>'Four years next October,' Frank said.</p> + +<p>'Four years;' Arthur went on, 'is it so long as that? And +it, was then more than three years since I had seen her. Everything +was blotted out from my mind from the time that I entered +that accursed <i>maison de santé</i> until I found myself in +Paris. I am afraid she <i>is</i> dead.'</p> + +<p>Just then Charles came in with lights and the chocolate his +master always took before retiring, and so Frank said good-night, +and went out upon the broad piazza, hoping the night +air would cool his heated brow, or that the laughter and prattle +of Jack and Maude, who were frolicking on the gravel walk, +would drown the voice of the shadow which said to him:</p> + +<p>'But for the number of years he says it is since he saw +Gretchen, there could be no doubt, and you would be the biggest +rascal living. As it is, you need not distress yourself—Jerry +is nothing to him; and if she were, you have gone too +far now to go back. People would never respect you again. +And then there is Maude. You cannot disgrace her.'</p> + +<p>No, he could not disgrace his darling Maude, who, as if +guessing that he was thinking of her, came up the steps to his +side, and seating herself upon his lap, pushed the hair from his +forehead with her soft fingers, and kissed him lovingly as she +was wont to do.</p> + +<p>'My beautiful Maude,' he thought, for he knew she would +be beautiful, with her black hair, and starry eyes, and brilliant +complexion, and he loved her with all the strength of his +nature. To see her grow into womanhood, admired and sought +after by everyone, was the desire of his heart, and as he believed +that money was necessary to the perfect fulfilment of his +desire, for her sake he would carry his secret to the grave.</p> + +<p>'Are you sick, papa?' Maude asked, looking into his pale +face, on which the moon shone brightly.</p> + +<p>'No, pet,' he answered, 'only tired. I am thinking of little +Jerry Crawford. She was here this afternoon,'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I saw her in the park with Harold. Isn't he handsome, +papa? and such a nice boy! so different from Tom,' +said Maude, and then she went on: 'Jerry is pretty too; +prettier than I am; her hair curls and mine doesn't, but her +dress is so ugly—that old high apron and calico gown. What +makes her so poor and me so rich?'</p> + +<p>Mr. Tracy groaned inwardly, as he replied:</p> + +<p>'You are not rich, my child.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, I am,' Maude said, 'I heard mamma tell Mrs. +Brinsmade so. She said Uncle Arthur was worth a million, +and when he died we should have it all, because he could not +make a will if he wanted to, and he had no children of his +own,'</p> + +<p>Although little more than seven years old, Maude Tracy was +very knowing and precocious in some respects, and, like her +brother Tom, had heard so much from her mother and others +of their prospective wealth, that she understood the situation +far better than she ought, and was already counting on the +thousands waiting for her when her uncle died. And yet +Maude Tracy had in her nature qualities which were to ripen +into a noble womanhood. Truthful and generous, her instincts +of right and wrong were very keen, and young as she was she +had no respect for anything like deception or trickery. This +her father knew, and his bitterest pang of remorse came from +this thought, 'What would Maude say if she knew?' And it +was more for her sake he was sinning than for his own or that of +any other. She was so pretty, or would be when grown to +young ladyhood, and the adornments which money could bring +would so well become her.</p> + +<p>'Maude,' he said at last, 'how would you like to change +places with Jerry? That is, let her come here and live, while +we go away and be poor; not quite as she is, but like many +people.'</p> + +<p>'And not wear a sash, and beads, and buttoned boots every +day?' Maude interrupted him quickly. 'I should not like it +at all. Why, Jerry dresses herself, and wipes the dishes, and +wears those big aprons all the time. No, I don't want to be +poor;' and as if something in her father's mind had communicated +itself to her, she raised her head from his shoulder and +looked beseechingly at him.</p> + +<p>'Nor shall you be poor, if I can help it,' he said; 'but you +must be very kind to Jerry, and never let her feel that you +are richer than she. Do you understand?'</p> + +<p>'I think I do,' Maude answered, adding as she kissed him +fondly: 'And now I s'pose I must go, for there is Hetty +come for me; so, good-night, you dearest, best papa in the +world.'</p> + +<p>He knew that she believed in him fully; that should he +confess his fault she would understand it, and lose faith in him. +He would bear the burden, he said to himself. There should be +no more repining or looking back, Maude must never know; +and so Jerry's chance was lost.</p> + +<p>The next morning Arthur awoke with a racking headache. +He was accustomed to it, it is true; but this one was particularly +severe.</p> + +<p>'It's the cherries; no wonder; a quart of those sour things +would turn upside down any stomach,' Charles said, as he +glanced at the empty tin pail which was adorning an inlaid +table, and then suggested a dose of ipecac as a means of dislodging +the offending cherries.</p> + +<p>But Arthur declined the medicine. His stomach was well +enough, he said. It was his head which ached, and nothing +would help that like the touch of the cool little hands he had +held in his the previous day. Charles must go for Jerry—go +at once, for he wanted her, and as when Arthur wanted a +thing he wanted it immediately, Charles was soon on his way +to the cottage in the lane, where he found the little girl under a +tall lilac bush, busy with the mud pies she was making, and +talking to herself, partly in English and partly in broken +German, which she had resumed since visiting the park.</p> + +<p>'Seemed like something I had dreamed, when he talked like +that, and I could almost do it myself,' she said to Harold when +describing the particulars of her interview with Mr. Tracy, and +her tongue fell naturally into the language of her babyhood.</p> + +<p>On hearing Charles' errand, her delight was unbounded.</p> + +<p>'Iss. You'll let me go,' she cried, as she stood before Mrs. +Crawford, with the mud-spots on her hands and face; 'and +you'll let me wear my best gown now, and my white apron +with the shoulder-straps, and my morocco shoes, because this +visiting.'</p> + +<p>As Mrs. Crawford could see no objection to the plan, Jerry +was soon dressed, and on her way to the Park House, which +seemed to her to be a very palace, and until the day before a +place to be looked upon with awe, and admired breathlessly +at a distance. Indeed, she had sometimes, when passing near +the house, walked on tiptoe, as if on sacred ground, and held +back her humble dress lest it should harm a shrub or vine by +contact. But matters now were changed. She had been there, +and was going there again by special invitation from the master, +and she tripped along airily with a sense of dignity and importance +unusual in one so young.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy, who seldom troubled herself with her brother-in-law's +affairs, knew nothing of his having sent for Jerry, and +was surprised when she saw her coming up the walk with +Charles, whose manner indicated that he knew perfectly what +he was about. She had heard of Jerry's visit on the previous +day, and had wondered what Arthur could find in that child to +interest him, when he would never allow Maude in his room. +She knew nothing of the shadow which night and day was +nearer to her husband than she was herself, but she did not fancy +Jerry, because of the three dollars a week, which she felt was +so much taken from herself. Why they should be burdened +with the support of the child, just because her mother happened +to be found dead upon their premises, she could not understand.</p> + +<p>Had Jerry been older, she might, she said, have taken her +into the kitchen as maid of all work, for Dolly had reached a +point where she liked a great many servants in the household, +and prided herself upon employing more help than either Grace +Atherton or Edith St. Claire. Only that morning she had +spoken to her husband of Jerry, and asked him how long he +proposed to support her.</p> + +<p>'Just as long as I have a dollar of my own, and she needs +it,' was his reply, as he left the room, slamming the door behind +him and leaving her to think him almost as crazy as his +brother.</p> + +<p>Thus it was not in a very quiet frame of mind that she went +out upon the cool, broad piazza, and, taking one of the large +willow chairs standing there, began to rock back and forth and +wonder what had so changed her husband, making him silent +and absent-minded, and even irritable at times, as he had been +that morning. Was there insanity in his veins as well as in +his brother's, and would her children inherit—her darling +Maude, of whom she was so proud, and who, she hoped, would +some day be the richest heiress in the county and marry Dick +St. Claire, if, indeed, she did not look even higher?</p> + +<p>It was at this point in her soliloquy that she saw Jerry coming +up the walk, her face glowing with excitement and her +manner one of freedom and assurance.</p> + +<p>Ascending the steps, Jerry nodded and smiled at the lady, +whose expression was not very inviting, and who, to the child's +remark, 'I've comed again,' answered, icily:</p> + +<p>'I see you have. Seems to me you come pretty often.' Turning +to Charles, Mrs. Tracy continued:</p> + +<p>'Why is she here again so soon? What does she want?'</p> + +<p>Quick to detect and interpret the meaning of the tones of a +voice, and hearing disapprobation in Mrs. Tracy's, Jerry's face +was shadowed at once, and she looked up entreatingly at +Charles, who said:</p> + +<p>'Mr. Tracy sent me for her. She was with him yesterday, +and he will have her again to-day.'</p> + +<p>Then Jerry's face brightened, and she chimed in:</p> + +<p>'Iss, I'm visiting, I'm invited, and I'm going to stay to eat.'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy dared not interfere with Arthur, even if he took +Jerry to live there altogether, and, with a bend of her head, she +signified to Charles that the conference was ended.</p> + +<p>'Come, Jerry,' Charles said; but Jerry held back a moment, +and asked:</p> + +<p>'Where's Maude?'</p> + +<p>If Mrs. Tracy heard, she did not reply, and Jerry followed +on after Charles through the hall and up the broad staircase to +the darkened room where Arthur lay, suffering intense pain in +the head, and moaning occasionally. But he heard the patter +of the little feet, for he was listening for it, and when Jerry +entered his room he raised himself upon his elbow, and reaching +the other hand toward her, said:</p> + +<p>'So you have come again, little Jerry; or, perhaps I should +call you little <i>Cherry</i>, considering how you first came to me. +Would you like that name?'</p> + +<p>'Iss,' was Jerry's reply, in the quick, half-lisping way which +made the monosyllable so attractive.</p> + +<p>'Well, then, Cherry,' Arthur continued, 'take off that bonnet, +and open the blind behind me so I can see your face. +Then bring that stool and sit where I can look at you while +you rub my head with your hands. It aches enough to split, +and I believe the bumble bees are swarming; but they can't +get out, and if they could, they are the white-faced kind, which +never sting.'</p> + +<p>Jerry knew all about white-faced bumble-bees, for Harold +had caught them for her, and with this fear removed, she did +as Arthur bade her, and was soon seated at his side, rubbing +his forehead, where the blue veins were standing out full and +round, and smoothing his hair caressingly with her fingers, +which seemed to have in them a healing power, for the pain +and heat grew less under their touch, and, after a while Arthur +fell into a quiet sleep.</p> + +<p>When he awoke, after half an hour or so, it was with a delicious +sense of rest and freedom from pain. Jerry had dropped +the shades to shut out the sunlight, and was walking on tiptoe +round the room, arranging the furniture and talking to herself +in whispers, as she usually did when playing alone.</p> + +<p>'Jerry,' Arthur said to her, and she was at his side in a +moment, 'you are an enchantress. The ache is all gone from +my head, charmed away by your hands. Now, come and sit +by me again, and tell me all you know of yourself before Harold +found you. Where did you live? What was your mother's +name? Try and recall all you can.'</p> + +<p>Jerry, however, could tell him very little besides the Tramp +House, and the carpet-bag, and Harold letting her fall in the +snow. Of the cold and the suffering she could recall nothing, or +of the journey from New York in the cars. She did remember +something about the ship, and her mother's seasickness, but +where she lived before she went to the ship she could not tell. +It was a big town, she thought, and there was music there, and +a garden, and somebody sick. That was all. Everything else +was gone entirely, except now and then when vague glimpses +of something in the past bewildered and perplexed her. Her +pantomime of the dying woman and the child had not been repeated +for more than a year, for now her acting always took +the form of the tragedy in the Tramp House, with herself in +the carpet-bag and a lay figure dead beside her. But gradually, as +Arthur questioned her, the old memories began to come back +and shape themselves in her mind, and he said at last:</p> + +<p>'It was like this—playin' you was a sick lady and I was +your nurse. I can't think of her name, I guess I'll call her +Manny. And there must be a baby; that's me, only I can't +think of my name.'</p> + +<p>'Call it Jerry, then,' Arthur suggested, both interested and +amused, though he did not quite understand what she meant.</p> + +<p>But he was passive in her hands, and submitted to have a +big handkerchief put over his head for a cap, to hold on his +arm the baby she improvised from a sofa-cushion of costly +plush, around which she arranged as a dress an expensive tablespread, +tied with the rich cord and tassel of his dressing-gown.</p> + +<p>'You must cry a great deal,' she said, 'and pray a great deal, +and kiss the baby a great deal, and I must scold you some for +crying so much, and shake the baby some in the kitchen for +making a noise, because, you know, the baby can walk and +talk, and is me, only I can't be both at a time.'</p> + +<p>She was not very clear in her explanations, but Arthur began +to have a dim perception of her meaning, and did what she +bade him do, and rather enjoyed having his face and hands +washed with a wet rag, and his hair brushed and <i>turled</i>, as she +called it, even though the fingers which <i>turled</i> it sometimes made +suspicious journeyings to her mouth. He cried when she told +him to cry; he coughed when she told him to cough; he kissed +the baby when she told him to kiss it; he took medicine from +the tin pail in the form of the cherry juice left there, and did +not have to make believe that it sickened him, as she said he +must, for that was a reality. But when she told him he must +die, but pray first, he demurred, and asked what he should +say. Jerry hesitated a little. She knew that her prayers were +'Our Father,' and 'Now I lay me,' but it seemed to her that a +person dying should say something else, and at last she replied:</p> + +<p>'I can't think what she did say, only a lot about <i>him</i>. There +was a <i>him</i> somewhere, and I guess he was naughty, so pray for +<i>him</i>, and the baby—that's me—and tell Manny she must take +me to Mecky,'</p> + +<p>'To whom?' Arthur asked, and she replied:</p> + +<p>'To Mecky, where he was, don't you know?'</p> + +<p>Arthur did not know, but he prayed for <i>him</i>, saying what she +bade him say—a mixture half English, half German.</p> + +<p>'There now, you are dead,' she said at last, as she closed his +eyes and folded his hand upon his chest, 'You are dead, and +mustn't stir nor breathe, no matter how awful we cry, Man-nee +and I.'</p> + +<p>Kneeling down beside him, she began to cry so like that +of two persons that if Arthur had not known to the contrary, +he would have sworn there were two beside him, a woman and +a child, the voice of the one shrill and clear, and young, and +frightened, the other older, and harsher, and stronger, and both +blending together in a most astonishing manner.</p> + +<p>'With a little practice she would make a wonderful ventriloquist,' +Arthur thought, as he watched her flitting about the +room, talking to unseen people and giving orders with regard +to himself.</p> + +<p>Once Frank had witnessed a pantomine very similar to this, +only then the play had ended with the death, while now there +was the burial, and when Arthur moved a little and asked if he +might get up, she laid her hand quickly on his mouth, with a +peremptory 'hush! you are dead and we must bury you.'</p> + +<p>But here Jerry's memory failed her, and the funeral which +followed was an imitation of the one which had left the Park +House three years before, and which Arthur had watched from +his window. Frank was there, and his wife, and Peterkin, and +Jerry imitated the voices of them all, and when someone bade +her kiss her mother she stooped and kissed Arthur's forehead, +and said:</p> + +<p>'Good-bye, mamma,' then throwing a thin tidy over his face, +she continued, 'Now, I am going to shut the coffin,' and as +she worked at the corners, as if driving down the screws, +Arthur felt as if he were actually being shut out from life, and +light, and the world.</p> + +<p>To one of his superstitious tendencies the whole was terribly +real, and when at last she told him he was buried, and +the folks had come back, and he could get up, the sweat +was standing upon his face and hands in great drops, and +he felt that he had in very truth been present at the obsequies +of some one, whose death had made an impression so +strong upon Jerry's mind that time had not erased it. There +was in his heart no thought of Gretchen, as there had been +in Frank's when he was a spectator at the play. He had no +cause for suspicion, and thought only of the child whose +restlessness and activity were something appalling to him.</p> + +<p>'Now, what shall we play next?' she asked, as he sat white +and trembling in his chair.</p> + +<p>'Oh, nothing, nothing,' he groaned, 'I cannot stand any +more now.'</p> + +<p>'Well, then, you sit still, and I'll clean house; it needs it +badly. Such mud as that boy brings in I never saw, and I'm +so lame, too!' Jerry responded, and Arthur recognized Mrs. +Crawford, whose tidiness and cleanliness were proverbial, and +for the next half hour he watched the little actress as she limped +around the room exactly as Mrs. Crawford limped with her +rheumatism, sweeping, dusting, and scolding a little, both to +Harold and Jerry, the latter of whom once retorted:</p> + +<p>'I would not be so cross as that if I had forty rheumatisses +in my laigs, would you, Harold?'</p> + +<p>But Harold only answered, softly:</p> + +<p>'Hush, Jerry I you should not speak so to grandmamma, and +she so good to us both, when we haven't any mother.'</p> + +<p>Arthur would have laughed, so perfect was the imitation of +voice and gesture, but at the mention of Harold's mother there +came into his mind a vision of sweet Amy Crawford, who had +been his first love, and for whose son he had really done so little.</p> + +<p>'Jerry,' he said, 'I guess you have cleaned house long enough. +Wash your hands and come to me.'</p> + +<p>She obeyed him, and looking into his face, said:</p> + +<p>'Now, what? can you play cat's cradle or casino?'</p> + +<p>'No; I want to talk to you of Harold. You love him very +much?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, a hundred bushels—him and grandma, too.'</p> + +<p>'And he is very kind to you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I guess he is. He never talks back, and I am awful +sometimes, and once I spit at him, and struck him; but I was +so sorry and cried all night, and offered to give him my best +doll 'cause it was the plaything I loved most, and I went without +my piece of pie so he could have two pieces if he wanted,' +Jerry said, her voice trembling as she made this confession, +which gave Arthur a better insight into her real character than +he had had before.</p> + +<p>Hasty, impulsive, repentant, generous, and very affectionate, +he felt sure she was, and he continued;</p> + +<p>'Does Harold go to school?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; and I too—to the district; but I hate it!' Jerry replied.</p> + +<p>'Why hate it?' Arthur asked. 'What is the matter with +the district school?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, it smells awful there sometimes when it is hot,' Jerry +replied with an upward turn to her nose. 'And the boys +are so mean, some of them. Bill Peterkin goes there and I +can't bear him, he plagues me so. Wants to kiss me. A-a-h, +and says I am to be his wife, and he has got warts on his +thumb!'</p> + +<p>Jerry's face was sufficiently indicative of the disgust she felt +for Bill Peterkin with his warts, and leaning back in his chair, +Arthur laughed heartily, as he said:</p> + +<p>'And you do not like Bill Peterkin? Well, what boys do +you like?'</p> + +<p>'Harold and Dick St. Claire,' was the prompt response, and +Arthur continued:</p> + +<p>'What would you have in place of the district school?'</p> + +<p>'A governess,' was Jerry's answer. 'Nina St. Claire has +one, and Ann Eliza Peterkin has one, and Maude Tracy has +one.'</p> + +<p>Here Jerry stopped suddenly, as if struck with a new idea.</p> + +<p>'Why, Maude is your little girl, isn't she? You are her rich +uncle, and she is to have all your money when you die. I wish +I was your little girl.'</p> + +<p>She spoke the last very sadly, and something in the expression +of her face brought Gretchen to Arthur's mind, and his +voice was choked as he said to her:</p> + +<p>'I'd give half my fortune if you were my little girl.'</p> + +<p>Then laying his hand on her bright hair, he questioned her +adroitly of her life at the cottage, finding that it was a very +happy one, and that she had never known want, although Mrs. +Crawford was unable to work as she once had done, and was +largely dependent upon the price for Jerry's board, which +Frank paid regularly. Of this, however, Jerry did not speak. +She only said:</p> + +<p>'Harold works in the furnace, and in folks' gardens, and does +lots of things for everybody, and once Bill Peterkin twitted him +because he goes to Mrs. Baker's sometimes after stuff for the +pig, and Harold cried, and I got up early the next morning and +went after it myself and drew the cart home. After that grandma +wouldn't let Harold go for any more, so I s'pose the pig will +not weigh as much, I'm sorry, for I like sausage, don't you?'</p> + +<p>Arthur hated it, but he did not tell her so, and she went on.</p> + +<p>'Harold studies awful hard, and wants to go to college. He +is trying to learn Latin and recites to Dick St. Claire; but +grandma says it is up-hill business. Oh, if I's only rich I'd give +it all to Harold, and he should get learning like Dick. Maybe +I can work some time and earn some money. I wish I +could.'</p> + +<p>Arthur did not speak for a long time, but sat looking at the +child whose face now wore an old and troubled look. In his +mind he was revolving a plan which, with, his usual precipitancy, +he resolved to carry into effect at once. But he said +nothing of it to Jerry, whose attention was diverted by the entrance +of Charles and the preparations for luncheon, which on +the little girl's account, was served with more care than usual.</p> + +<p>Jerry, who had a great liking for everything luxurious, had +taken tea once or twice at Grassy Spring with Nina St. Claire, +and had been greatly impressed with the appointments of the +table, prizing them more even than the dainties for her to eat. +But what she had seen there seemed as nothing compared to +this round Swiss table, with its colored glass and rare china, no +two pieces of which were alike.</p> + +<p>'Oh, it is just like a dream!' she cried, as she watched +Charles' movement and saw that there were two places laid.</p> + +<p>'Am I to sit down with you?' she said in an awe-struck voice, +'and in that lovely chair? I am glad I wore my best gown. It +won't dirty the chair a bit.'</p> + +<p>But she took her pocket handkerchief and covered over the +satin cushion before she dared seat herself in the chair, which +had once been brought out for Gretchen, and in which she now +sat down, dropping her head and shutting her eyes a moment +Then, as she heard no sound, she looked up wonderingly, and +asked:</p> + +<p>'Ain't you going to say "for Christ's Sake?" grandma does.'</p> + +<p>Arthur's face was a study with its mixed expression of surprise, +amusement, and self-reproach. He never prayed except +it were in some ejaculatory sentences wrung from him in his +sore need, and the thought of asking a blessing on his food had +never occurred to him. But Jerry was persistent.</p> + +<p>'You must say "for Christ's sake,"' she continued, and, with +his weak brain all in a muddle, Arthur began what he meant to +be a brief thanksgiving, but which stretched itself into a lengthy +prayer, fall of the past and of Gretchen, whom he seemed to be +addressing rather than his Maker.</p> + +<p>For a while Jerry listened reverently; then she looked up +and moved uneasily in the chair, and at last when the prayer +had continued for at least five minutes, she burst out impulsively:</p> + +<p>'Oh, dear, do say "amen." I am so hungry!'</p> + +<p>That broke the spell, and with a start Arthur came to himself, +and said:</p> + +<p>'Think you, Jerry, praying is a new business for me, and I +do believe I should have gone on forever if you had not stopped +me. Now, what will you have?'</p> + +<p>He helped her to whatever she liked best, but could eat +scarcely anything himself. It was sufficient for him to watch +Jerry sitting there in Gretchen's chair and using Gretchen's +plate, which every day for so many years had been laid for her. +Gretchen had not come. She would never come, he feared, but +with Jerry he did not feel half as desolate as when alone, with +only his morbid fancies for company. And he must have her +there, at least a portion of the time. His mind was made up +on that point, and when about four o'clock, Jerry said to him:</p> + +<p>'I want to go now. Grandma said I was to be home by +five,' she replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I am going with you. I wish to see your grandmother. +I am going to drive you in the phaeton. How would you like +that?'</p> + +<p>Her dancing eyes told him how she would like it, and Charles +was sent to the stable with an order to have the little pony +phaeton brought round as soon as possible as he was going +for a drive.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX" ></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR'S PLAN</h2> + + +<p>'Why, the madam is going to drive, too, and I've come +to harness; there'll be a row somewhere,' John said.</p> + +<p>'Can't help it,' Charles replied, 'Mr. Arthur wants the phaeton, +and will have it for all of Madam.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I s'p'o' so. Wall, I'll go and tell her,' was John's rejoinder, +as he started for the house, where Mrs. Tracy was just +drawing on her long driving gloves, and admiring her new hat +and feather before the glass.</p> + +<p>Dolly looked almost as young, and far prettier, than when +the came to the park, eleven years before. A life of luxury +suited her. She had learned to take things easily, and the old +woman with the basket might now come every day to her +kitchen door without her knowing it. She aped Mrs. Atherton +of Brier Hill, in everything, and had the satisfaction of knowing +that she was on all occasions quite as stylish-looking and +well-dressed as that aristocratic lady whom she called her intimate +friend. She had also grown very proud and very exclusive +in her ideas, and when poor Mrs. Peterkin, who was +growing, too, with <i>her</i> million, ventured to call at the park, the +call was returned with a card which Doily's coachman left at the +door. Since the night of her party, and the election which followed +when Frank was defeated, she had ignored the Peterkins, +and laughed at what she called their vulgar imitation of +people above them, and when she heard that Mary Jane hail +hired a governess for her two children, Bill and Ann Eliza, she +scoffed at the airs assumed by <i>come-up</i> people, and wondered if +Mrs. Peterkin had forgotten that she was one of Grace +Atherton's hired girls. Dolly had certainly forgotten the Langley +life, and was to all intents and purposes the great lady of +the park, who held herself aloof from the common herd, and +taught her children to do the same.</p> + +<p>She had seen Jerry enter the house that morning with a feeling +of disapprobation, which had not diminished as the day +wore on and still the child staid, and what was worse, Maude +was not sent for to join her.</p> + +<p>'Not that I would have allowed it, if she had been,' she said +to herself, for she did not wish her daughter intimate with one +of whose antecedents nothing was known, but Arthur might at +least have invited her. He had never noticed her children +much, and this she deeply resented. Maude, who knew of +Jerry's presence in the house had cried to go in and play with +her, but Mrs. Tracy had refused, and promised as an equivalent +a drive in the phaeton around the town. And it was for +this drive Dolly was preparing herself, when John came with +the message that she could not have the phaeton, as Mr. Arthur +was going to take Jerry home in it.</p> + +<p>Usually Arthur's slightest wish was a law in the household, +for that was Frank's order; but on this occasion Dolly felt herself +justified in rebelling.</p> + +<p>'Not have the phaeton! That's smart, I must say,' she exclaimed. +'Can't that child walk home, I'd like to know? Tell +Mr. Tracy Maude has had the promise of a drive all day, and I +am ready, with my things on. Ask him to take the Victoria; +he never drives.'</p> + +<p>All this in substance was repeated to Arthur, who answered, +quietly:</p> + +<p>'Let Mrs. Tracy take the victoria. I prefer the phaeton myself.'</p> + +<p>That settled it, and in few moments Jerry was seated at Arthur's +side, and skimming along through the park, and out upon +the highway which skirted the river for miles.</p> + +<p>'This is not going home, and grandma will scold,' Jerry said.</p> + +<p>'Never mind the grandma—I will make it right with her. +I am going to show you the country,' Arthur replied, as he +chirruped to the fleet pony who seemed to fly along the smooth +road.</p> + +<p>No one who saw the tall, elegant-looking man, who sat so +erect, and handled the reins so skilfully, would ever have suspected +him of insanity, and more than one stopped to gaze after +him and the little girl whose face, with the golden hair blowing +about it, looked out from the white sun bonnet with so joyous +an expression. On the homeward route they met the victoria, +with John upon the box, and Mrs. Tracy and Maude inside.</p> + +<p>'There's Maude! Hallo, Maude—see me! I'm riding!' +Jerry called out, cheerily, while Maude answered back:</p> + +<p>'Hallo, Jerry!'</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Tracy gave no sign of recognition, and only rebuked +her daughter for her vulgarity in saying 'Hallo,' which +was second class and low.</p> + +<p>'Then Nina St. Claire is second class and low, for she says +"Hallo,"' was Maude's reply, to which her mother had no answer.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the phaeton was going swiftly on toward the cottage, +which it reached a few minutes after the furnace whistle +blew for six, and Harold, who had been working there, came +up the lane. There were soiled spots on his hands and on his +face, and his clothes showed marks of toil, all of which Arthur +noted, while he was explaining to Mrs. Crawford that he had +taken Jerry for a drive, and kept her beyond the prescribed +hour. Then, turning to Harold, he said:</p> + +<p>'And so you work in the furnace?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, sir, during vacation, when I can get a job there,' Harold +answered, and Mr. Tracy continued:</p> + +<p>'How much do you get a day?'</p> + +<p>'Fifty cents in dull times,' was the reply, and Arthur +went on:</p> + +<p>'Fifty cents from seven in the morning to six at night, and +board yourself. A magnificent sum truly. Pray, how do you +manage to spend so much? You must be getting rich.'</p> + +<p>The words were sarcastic, but the tone belied the words, and +Harold was about to speak, when his grandmother interrupted +him, and said,</p> + +<p>'What he does not spend for us he puts aside. He is trying +to save enough to go to the High School, but it's slow work. I +can do but little myself, and it all falls upon Harold.'</p> + +<p>'But I like it, grandma. I like to work for you and Jerry, +and I have almost twenty dollars saved,' Harold said, 'and in a +year or two I can go away to school, and work somewhere for +my board. Lots of boys do that.'</p> + +<p>Arthur was hitching his pony to the fence, while a new idea +was dawning in his mind.</p> + +<p>'Fifty cents a day,' he said to himself, 'and he has twenty +dollars saved, and thinks himself rich. Why, I've spent more +than that on one bottle of wine, and here is this boy, Amy's +son, wanting an education, and working to support his grandmother +like a common laborer. I believe I <i>am</i> crazy.'</p> + +<p>He was in the cottage by this time—in the clean, cool +kitchen where the supper table was laid with its plain fair, +most unlike the costly viands which daily loaded his board.</p> + +<p>'Don't wait for me, Harold must be hungry,' he said, adding +quickly: 'Or stay, if you will permit me, I will take a cup of +tea with you. The drive has given me an appetite, and your +tea smells very inviting.'</p> + +<p>It was a great honor to have Arthur Tracy at her table, and +Mrs. Crawford felt it as such, and was very sorry, too, that she +had nothing better to offer him than bread and butter and radishes, +with milk, and a dish of cold beans, and chopped beets, +and a piece of apple pie saved for Harold from dinner. But she +made him welcome, and Jerry, delighted to return the hospitality +she had received, brought him a clean plate and cup and +saucer, and asked if she might get the best sugar-bowl and the +white sugar. Then, remembering the beautiful flowers which +had adorned the table at Tracy Park, she ran out and gathering +a bunch of June pinks, put them in a little glass by his plate.</p> + +<p>When all was ready and they had taken their seats at the +table, Mrs. Crawford closed her eyes reverently and asked the +accustomed blessing which in that house preceded every meal. +Jerry's amen was a good deal louder and more emphatic than +usual, while she nodded her head to Arthur, with an expression +which he understood to mean, 'You know now what you +ought to say, instead of that long prayer,' and he nodded back +that he did so understand it.</p> + +<p>Arthur enjoyed the supper immensely, or pretended that he +did. He ate three slices of bread and butter; he drank three +cups of tea; he even tried the beans and the beets, but declined +the radishes, which, he said, would give him the nightmare.</p> + +<p>When supper was over and the table cleared away, he still +showed no signs of going, but asking Mrs. Crawford to take a +seat near him, he plunged at once into the business which had +brought him there, and which, since he had seen Harold in his +working-dress and heard what he was trying to do, had grown +to be of a two-fold nature. He was very lonely, he said, and +all the elegance and luxuriousness of his handsome house failed +to give him pleasure or to make him forget the past. He +wanted some one to love who would love him in return, and the +little taste he had had of Jerry's society had made him wish for +more, and he must have her with him a part at least of every +day.</p> + +<p>'In short,' he said, 'I should like to undertake her education +myself until she is older, when I shall see that she has the +proper finishing. She tells me she hates the district school, +with Bill Peterkin and his warts—'</p> + +<p>'Trying to kiss me,' Jerry interrupted, as open-eyed and open-mouthed, +she stood, with her hand on his shoulder, listening to +him.</p> + +<p>'Yes, trying to kiss you, though I do not blame him much for +that,' Arthur said, with a smile, and then continued: 'She is +ambitious enough to want a governess like Ann Eliza Peterkin +and my brother's daughter, but I am better than a dozen +governesses. I can teach her all the rudiments of an English +education, with French and German, and Latin, too, if she +likes; and my plan is, that she come to me every day except Saturdays +and Sundays—come at ten in the morning, get her +lessons and her lunch with me, and return home at four in the +afternoon. Would you like it, Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'Oh-h-oh!' was all the answer Jerry could make for a +moment, but her cheeks were scarlet, and tears of joy stood in +her eyes, until she glanced at Harold; then all the brightness +faded from her face, for how could she accept this great good +and leave him to drudge and toil alone?</p> + +<p>'What is it, Cherry?' Mr. Tracy asked; and, with a half +sob, she replied:</p> + +<p>'I can't go without Harold. If I get learning, he must get +learning, too,' and leaving Arthur, the crossed over to the boy, +and putting her arm around him, looked up at him with a look +which in after years he would have given half his life to win.</p> + +<p>She was a little girl now and did not care if he did know +how much she loved him, and that for him she would sacrifice +everything. But in this case the sacrifice was not required, for +Arthur hastened to say:</p> + +<p>'I shall not forget Harold. I have something better in store +for him than reciting his lessons to me. When the High +School opens in September, he is going there, and if he does +well he shall go to Andover in time, and perhaps to Harvard. +It will all depend upon himself, and how he improves his +opportunities. What! crying? Don't you like it?' Arthur +asked, as he saw the great tears gathering in Harold's eyes and +rolling down his cheeks.</p> + +<p>'Yes, oh, yes; but it don't seem real, and—and—I guess it +makes me kind of sick,' Harold gasped, as, freeing himself from +Jerry's encircling arm, he hurried from the room, to think over +this great and unexpected joy which had come so suddenly to +him.</p> + +<p>With his naturally refined tastes and instincts the dirty +furnace work had not been pleasant to him, and he had shrunk +with inexpressible loathing from the swill cart and the other +menial duties he had been obliged to perform for the sake of +those he loved. How to get an education was the problem he +was earnestly trying to solve, and lo! it was now solved for +him. For a moment the suddenness of the thing overcame +him, and he sat down upon a table in the yard, faint and bewildered, +while Arthur made his plan clear to Mrs. Crawford, +saying that what he meant to do was partly for Jerry's sake +and partly for the sake of the young girl who had been his +early love.</p> + +<p>'I always intended to take care of you,' he said; 'but things +go from my mind, and I forget the past as completely as if it +had never been. But this will stay by me, for I shall have Cherry +as a reminder, and if I am in danger of forgetting she +will jog my memory.'</p> + +<p>Fur a moment Mrs. Crawford could not speak, so great was +her surprise and joy that the good she had thought unattainable +was to be Harold's at last. And yet something in her +proud, sensitive nature rebelled against receiving so much from +a stranger, even if that stranger were Arthur Tracy. It seemed +like charity, she said, when at last she spoke at all. But +Arthur overruled her with that persuasive way he had of converting +people to his views; and when at last he left the cottage +it was with the understanding that Jerry should commence her +lessons with him the first week in September, and that Harold +should enter the High School in Shannondale when it opened +in the autumn.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX" ></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h2>THE WORKING OF ARTHUR'S PLAN.</h2> + + +<p>As Arthur was wholly uncommunicative with regard to +his affairs, and as Mrs. Crawford kept her own counsel, +and bade Harold and Jerry do the same, the +Tracys knew nothing whatever of the plan until the September +morning when Jerry presented herself at the park house, and +was met in the door-way by Mrs. Frank, who was just going +out. Very few could have resisted the bright little face, so full +of childish happiness, or the clear, assured voice, which said so +cheerily:</p> + +<p>'Good-morning, Mrs. Tracy. I'm come to school.'</p> + +<p>But, prejudiced as she was against the girl, Mrs. Tracy +could resist any thing, and she answered, haughtily;</p> + +<p>'Come to school! What do you mean? This is not a +school-house, and if you have any errand here, go round to the +other door. Only company come in here.'</p> + +<p>'But I'm company. I'm going to get learning; he told me +to come,' Jerry answered, flushed and eager, and altogether +sure of her right to be there.</p> + +<p>Before Mrs. Frank could reply, a voice, distinct and authoritative, +and to which she always yielded, called from the top +of the stairway inside:</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Tracy, if that is Jerry to whom you are talking, send +her up at once. I am waiting for her.'</p> + +<p>Jerry did not mean the nod she gave the lady as she passed +her to be disrespectful, but Mrs. Frank felt it as such, and went +to her own room in a most perturbed state of mind, for which +she could find no vent until her husband came in, when she +stated the case to him, and asked if he knew what it meant.</p> + +<p>But Frank was as ignorant as herself, and could not enlighten +her until that night, after he had seen his brother, and +heard from him what he was intending to do.</p> + +<p>'God bless you, Arthur. You don't know how happy you +have made me,' Frank said, feeling on the instant that a great +burden was lifted from his mind.</p> + +<p>Jerry was to be educated and cared for, and would probably +receive all that the world would naturally concede to her if the +truth were known. He believed, or thought he did, that Gretchen +had never been his brother's wife, though to believe so +seemed an insult to the original of the sweet face which looked +at him from the window every time he entered his brother's +room. Jerry was a great trouble to him, and he would not +have liked to confess to any one how constantly she was in his +mind, or how many plans he had devised in order to atone for +the wrong he knew he was doing her. And now his brother +had taken her off his hands, and she was to be cared for and +receive the education which would fit her to earn her own livelihood, +and make her future life respectable. No particular +harm was done her after all, and he might now enjoy himself, +and cast his morbid fancies to the winds, he reflected, as he +went whistling to his wife's apartment, and told her what he +had heard.</p> + +<p>For a moment Dolly was speechless with astonishment, and +when at last she opened her lips, her husband silenced her with +that voice and manner of which she was beginning to be afraid.</p> + +<p>It was none of their business, he said, what Arthur did in his +own house, provided they were not molested, and if he chose +to turn schoolmaster, he had a right to do so. For his part, +he was glad of it, as it saved him the expense of Jerry's education, +for if Arthur had not taken it in hand, he should; and +Dolly was to keep quiet and let the child come and go in +peace.</p> + +<p>After delivering himself of these sentiments, Frank went +away, leaving his wife to wonder, as she had done more than +once, if he, too, were not a little crazy, like his brother. But, +she said no mare about Jerry's coming there, except to suggest +that she might at least come in at the side door instead of the +front, especially on muddy days when she was liable to soil the +costly carpets. And Jerry, who cared but little how she +entered the house, if she only got in, came through the kitchen +after the second day, and wiped her feet upon the mat; and +once, when her shoes were worse than usual, took them off, lest +they should leave a track.</p> + +<p>It is not our intention to linger over the first few months of +Jerry's school days at Tracy Park, but rather to hasten on to +the summer four years after her introduction to Tracy Park as +Arthur's pupil. During all that time he had never once seemed +to grow weary of the task he had imposed upon himself, but, +on the contrary, his interest had daily deepened in the child +who developed so rapidly under his training that he sometimes +looked at her in astonishment, marvelling more and more who +she was and from whom she had inherited her wonderful +memory and power to grasp points which are usually far beyond +the comprehension of a child of ten, or even twelve, and which +Maude Tracy could no more have mastered than her brother, +the stupid Jack. His intellect had not grown with his body, +and when at thirteen he was asked the question, 'If there are +five peaches on the table, and Tom eats three of them, how +many will there be left?' he answered, promptly:</p> + +<p>'None, 'cause Tom would eat them all.'</p> + +<p>In this reply there was a shrewdness which poor Jack never +intended, and the laugh which followed his answer confused +and bewildered him. There was a tutor now at Tracy Park +for Jack, but Maude had been transferred to Arthur's care. +This was wholly due to Jerry, who alone could have induced +him to let Maude share her instruction. Arthur did not care +for Maude. She was dull, he said, and would never learn her +lessons. But Jerry coaxed so hard that Arthur consented at +last, and when Jerry had been with him about three years, +Maude became his pupil, and that of Jerry as well, for nearly +every day when the lessons were over the two little girls might +have been seen sitting together under the trees in the park, or +in some corner of the house, Maude puzzled, and perplexed, +and worried, and Jerry anxious, decided, and peremptory, as +she went over and over again with what was so clear to her +and so hazy to her friend.</p> + +<p>'Oh, dear me, suz, what does ail you?' she said, one day, +with a stamp of her foot, after she had tried in vain to make +Maude see through a simple sum in long division. 'Can't you +remember first to divide, second multiply, third subtract, and +fourth bring down?'</p> + +<p>'No, I can't. I can't remember anything, and if I could, +how do I know what to divide or what to bring down? I am +stupid, and shall never know anything,' was Maude's sobbing +reply, as she covered her face with her slate.</p> + +<p>Maude's tears always moved Jerry, who tried to reassure the +weeping girl with the assurance that perhaps, if she tried very +hard, she might some time know enough to teach a district +school. This was the height of Jerry's ambition, to teach a +district school and board around; but Maude's aspirations +were different. She was rich. She was to be a belle and wear +diamonds and satins like her mother; and so it did not matter +so much whether she understood long division or not, though +it did hurt her a little to be so far outstripped by Jerry, who +was younger than herself.</p> + +<p>To Arthur, Jerry was a constant delight and surprise, and +nothing astonished or pleased him more than the avidity with +which she took up German. This language was like play to +her, and by the time she was ten years old she spoke, and read, +and wrote it almost as well as Arthur himself.</p> + +<p>'It takes me back somewhere, I can't tell where,' she said +to him; 'and I seem to be somebody else than Jerry Crawford, +and I hear music and see people, and a pale face is close +to me, and I get all confused trying to remember things which +come and go.'</p> + +<p>Only once after her first day at the park had she enacted +the pantomime of the sick woman and the nurse, and then she +had done it at Arthur's request. But it was not quite as thrilling +as at first; the <i>him</i> for whom the dying woman had +prayed was omitted, and the whole was mixed with the Tramp +House, and the carpet-bag, and Harold, who was now a youth +of seventeen, and a student at the high school in Shannondale, +where he was making as rapid progress in his studies as Jerry +was at the park.</p> + +<p>But Harold's life was not as serene and happy as Jerry's, +for it was not pleasant for him to hear, as he often did, that +he was a charity student, supported by Arthur Tracy. Such +remarks were very galling to the high-spirited boy, and he was +constantly revolving all manner of schemes by which he could +earn money and cease to be dependent. All through the summer +vacations, which were long ones, he worked at whatever +he could find to do, sometimes in people's gardens, sometimes +on their lawns, but oftener in the hay-fields, where he earned +the most. Here Jerry was not infrequently his companion. +She liked to rake hay, she said; it came natural to her, and +she had no doubt she inherited the taste from her mother, who +had probably worked in the fields in Germany.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when Jerry knew that Harold was busy in +one of Mr. Tracy's meadows, she started to join him, for he had +complained of a headache at home, and had expressed a fear +that he might not be able to finish the task he had imposed +upon himself. The road to the field was by the Tramp House, +which looked so cool and quiet, with its thick covering of +woodbine and ivy over it, that Jerry turned aside for a moment +to look into the room which had so great a fascination +for her, and where she spent so much time. Indeed, she seldom +passed near it without going in for a moment and standing by +the old table which had once held her and her dead mother. +Things came back to her there, she said, and she could almost +give a name to the pale-faced woman who haunted her so +often.</p> + +<p>As she entered the damp, dark place now, she started, with +an exclamation of surprise, which was echoed by another, as +Frank Tracy sprang up and confronted her. It was not often +that he entered the Tramp House, and he would not have confessed +to any one his superstitious dread of it, or that, when +he did visit it, he always had a feeling that the dead woman +found there years ago would start up to accuse him of his deceit +and hypocrisy. Could he have had his way he would have +pulled the building down, but it was not his, and when he +suggested it to Arthur, as he sometimes did, the latter opposed +it, saying latterly, since Jerry had been so much to him:</p> + +<p>'No, no, Frank; let it stand. I like it, because but for it +Jerry might have perished with her mother, and I should not +have had her with me.'</p> + +<p>So the Tramp House stood, and grew damper and mustier +each year, as the moss and ivy gathered on the walls outside, +and the dust and cobwebs gathered on the walls within. +These, however, Jerry was careful to brush away, for she had +a play house in one corner, and a little work-bench and chair, +and she often sat there alone and talked to herself, and the +woman dead so long ago, and to others whose faces were dim +and shadowy, but whom she had felt sure she had known. +Very frequently she went through the process of cleaning up, +as she called it, and her object in stopping there now was, in +part, to see if it did not need her care again.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mr. Tracy! are you here! How you scared me? I +thought it was a tramp!' she said, as he came toward her.</p> + +<p>'Do you come here often?' he asked, as he offered her his +hand.</p> + +<p>'Yes, pretty often. I like it, because mother died here, and +sometimes I feel as if she would make it known to me here +who she was. I talk to her and ask her to tell me, but she +never has. Oh, don't you wish she would?'</p> + +<p>Frank shuddered involuntarily, for to have Jerry told who +she really was, was the last thing he could desire, but as a +criminal is said always to talk about the crime he has committed +and is hiding, so Frank, when with Jerry, felt impelled +to talk with her of the past and what she could remember of +it. Seating himself upon the bench with her at his side, he +said:</p> + +<p>'And you really believe the woman found here was your +mother?'</p> + +<p>'Why, yes. Don't you? Who was my mother, if she +wasn't?' and Jerry's eyes opened wide as he looked at him.</p> + +<p>'I don't know, I am sure. Does my brother talk of +Gretchen now?' was the abrupt reply.</p> + +<p>'Yes, at times,' Jerry answered: 'and yesterday, after I +sang him a little German song, which he taught me, he had +them pretty bad—the bees in his head, I mean: that is what +he calls it when things are mixed; and he says he is going to +write to her, or her friends.'</p> + +<p>'Write to her! I thought he had given that up. I thought +he—Did he say, "Write to her friends?"' Frank gasped as +he felt himself grow cold and sick with this threatened danger.</p> + +<p>Arthur had seemed so quiet and happy with Jerry, and had +said so little of Gretchen, that Frank had grown quite easy in +his mind, and the black shadow of fear did not trouble him +quite so much as formerly. But now it was over him again, +and grew in intensity as he questioned the child.</p> + +<p>'Have you ever tried to find out who Gretchen is?' he +asked at last.</p> + +<p>'No,' she replied, 'but I guess she is his wife.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank said, falteringly, 'his wife; and where do you +think she lived?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I know that. In Wiesbaden. He told me so once, +and it seems as if I had been there, too, when he talked about +it, and I hear the music and see the flowers, and a white-faced +woman is with me, not at all like mother, who, they say, was +ugly and dark; black as a nigger, Tom told me once, when he +was mad. Was she black?'</p> + +<p>Mr. Tracy made no reply to this, but said, suddenly:</p> + +<p>'Jerry, do you like me well enough to do me a favor, a great +favor?'</p> + +<p>'Why, yes, I guess I do. I like you very much, though +not as well as I do Harold and Mr. Arthur. What do you +want?' was Jerry's answer.</p> + +<p>After hesitating a moment, Mr. Tracy began:</p> + +<p>'There are certain reasons why I ought to know if my brother +writes to Gretchen, or her friends, or any one in Germany, +especially Wiesbaden. A letter of that kind might do me a +great deal of harm; if he should write to any one in Germany, +you would, perhaps, he asked to post the letter, as he never +goes to town?'</p> + +<p>He said this interrogatively, and Jerry answered him +promptly:</p> + +<p>'I think he would give it to me.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, well; Jerry, can you keep a secret, and never tell any +one what I am saying to you?' was Frank's next remark, to +which Jerry responded:</p> + +<p>'I think I should tell Harold, and, perhaps, Mr. Arthur.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, no, Jerry, never!' and Frank laid his hand half +menacingly upon the little girl's shoulder. 'I have been kind +to you, have paid your board to Mrs. Crawford ever since you +have been there—'</p> + +<p>He felt how mean it was to say this, and do not at all resent +Jerry's quick reply:</p> + +<p>'Yes, but Mrs. Peterkin says you do not pay enough.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps not,' he continued, 'but if Mrs. Crawford is satisfied, +it matters little what Mrs. Peterkin thinks. Jerry, you +<i>must</i> do this for me,' he went on rapidly, as his fears kept growing. +'You must never tell anyone of our conversation, and if +my brother writes that letter soon, or at any time, you must +bring it to me. Will you do it? Great harm would come if it +were sent—harm to me, and harm to Maude, and—'</p> + +<p>'To Maude!' Jerry replied. 'I would do anything for +Maude. Yes, I will bring the letter to you if he writes one. +You are sure it would be right for me to do so?'</p> + +<p>Frank had touched the right cord when he mentioned his +daughter's name, for during these years of close companionship +the two little girls had learned to love each other devotedly, +though naturally Jerry's was the stronger and less selfish attachment +of the two. To her Maude was a queen who had a +right to tyrannize over and command her if she pleased; and +as the tyranny was never very severe, and was usually followed +by some generous act of contrition, she did not mind it at all, +and was always ready to make up and be friends whenever it +suited the capricious little lady.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I will do it for Maude,' she said again; but there was +a troubled look on her face, and a feeling in her heart as if, in +some way, she was false to Arthur in thus consenting to his +brother's wishes.</p> + +<p>But, she reflected, Arthur was crazy, so people said, and she +herself knew better than anyone else of his many fanciful vagaries, +which, at times, took the form of actual insanity. For +weeks he would seem perfectly rational, and then suddenly his +mood would change, and he would talk strange things to himself +and the child, who was now so necessary to him, and who +alone had a soothing influence over him. Only the day before, +as Jerry had told Frank, Arthur had been unusually excited, +after listening to a simple air which he had taught to her, and +which, at his request, she sang to him after Maude had gone +out and left them alone.</p> + +<p>'I could swear you were Gretchen, singing to me in the twilight, +and across the meadow comes the tinkle of the bells +where the cows and goats are feeding,' he said to her, as he +paced up and down the room.'</p> + +<p>Then, stopping suddenly, he went up to her, and pushing +her soft, wavy hair from her forehead, looking long and earnestly +into her face.</p> + +<p>'Cherry,' he said at last, using the pet name he often gave +her, 'you <i>are</i> some like Gretchen as she must have been when +of your age. Oh, if you only were hers and mine! But there +was no child; and yet—and yet—'</p> + +<p>He seemed to be thinking intently for a moment, and then +going to a drawer in his writing desk, which Jerry had never +seen open before, he took out a worn, yellow letter, and ran his +eye rapidly over it until he found a certain paragraph, which he +bade Jerry read.</p> + +<p>The paragraph was as follows:</p> + +<p>'I have something to tell you when you come, which I am +sure will make you as glad as I am.'</p> + +<p>Jerry read it aloud slowly, for the handwriting was cramped +and irregular, and then looked up questioningly to Arthur, who +said to her:</p> + +<p>'What do you think she meant by the something which +would make me glad as she was?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' Jerry answered him. 'Who wrote it? +Gretchen?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Gretchen; it is her last letter to me, and I never +went back to see what she meant, for the bees were bad in my +head and I forgot everything, even Gretchen herself. Poor +little Gretchen! What was the idea which came to me like +a flash of lightning, in regard to this letter, when I heard you +sing? It is gone, and I cannot recall it.'</p> + +<p>There was a worried, anxious look on his face as he put the +letter away, and went on talking to himself of Gretchen, saying +he was going to write her again, or her friends, and find out +what she meant.</p> + +<p>The next day Jerry met Frank in the Tramp House, as we +have described, and gave him the promise to bring him any +letter directed to Germany which Arthur might entrust to her. +But the promise weighed heavily upon her as she walked slowly +on towards the field where Harold was at work, and where she +found him resting for a moment under the shadow of a wide-spreading +butternut. He looked tired and pale, and there were +great drops of sweat upon his white forehead, and an expression +on his face which Jerry did not understand.</p> + +<p>Harold was not in a very happy frame of mind. Naturally +cheerful and hopeful, it was not often that he gave way to fits +of despondency, or repining at his humble lot, so different from +that of the boys of his own age, with whom he came in daily +contact, both at school and in the town.</p> + +<p>Dick St. Claire, his most intimate friend, always treated +him as if he were fully his equal, and often stood between him +and the remarks which boys made thoughtlessly, and which, +while they mean so little, wound to the quick such sensitive +natures as Harold's. But not even Dick St. Claire could keep +Tom Tracy in check. With each succeeding year he grew more +and more supercilious and unbearable, pluming himself upon +his position as a Tracy of Tracy Park, and this wealth he was +to inherit from his Uncle Arthur. For the last year he had been +at Andover, where he had formed a new set of acquaintances, +one of whom was spending the vacation with him. This was +young Fred Raymond, whose home was at Red Stone Hall, in +Kentucky, and whose parents were in Europe. Between the +two youths there was but little similarity of taste or disposition, +for young Raymond represented all that was noble and true, +and though proud of his State and proud of his name, never +assumed the slightest superiority over those whom the world +considered his inferiors. He was Tom's room-mate, and hence +the intimacy between them which had resulted in Fred's accepting +the invitation to Tracy Park. If anything had been +wanting to complete Tom's estimate of his own importance this +visit of the Kentuckian would have done it. All his former +friends were cut except Dick St. Claire, while Harold was as +much ignored as if he had never existed. Tom did not even +see him or recognize him with so much as a look, but passed +him by as he would any common day laborer whom he might +chance to meet. All through the summer days, while Harold +was working until every bone in his body ached, Tom and his +friend were enjoying themselves in hunting, fishing, driving, +or rowing, or lounging under the trees in the shady lawns.</p> + +<p>That afternoon when Jerry joined him in the hayfield, Tom +and the Kentuckian had passed him in their fanciful hunting-suits +with their dogs and guns, but though Harold was within a few +yards of them, Tom affected not to see him, and kept his head +turned the other way, as if intent upon some object in the distance.</p> + +<p>Leaning upon his rake, Harold watched them out of sight, +with a choking sensation in his throat as he wondered if it +would always be thus with him, and if the day would never +come when he, too, could know what leisure meant, with +no thought for the morrow's bread.</p> + +<p>'I am Tom's superior in everything but money, and yet he +treats me like a dog,' he said, as he seated himself upon the +grass, where he sat fanning himself with his straw hat.</p> + +<p>When Jerry appeared in view he brightened at once, for in +all the world there was not anything half so sweet and lovely +to him as the little blue-eyed girl who seated herself beside +him, and, nestling close to him, laid her curly head upon his +arm.</p> + +<p>'I've come to help you rake the hay,' she said, 'for grandma +told me you had a headache at noon, and couldn't eat your +huckleberry pie. I am awfully sorry, Harold, but I ate it myself, +it looked so good, instead of saving it for your supper. It +was nasty and mean in me, and I hope it will make me sick.'</p> + +<p>But Harold told her he did not care for the pie, and would +rather that she would eat it if she liked it. Then he questioned +her of the park house and of Arthur; asking if the bees were +often in his head now, or had she driven them out.</p> + +<p>'No, I guess I haven't. They were awful yesterday and to-day,' +Jerry replied. 'He was talking of Gretchen all the time. +I wonder who she was. Sometimes I look at her until it seems +to me I have seen her or something like her, a paler face with +sadder eyes. How he must have loved her, better than you or +I could ever love anybody; don't you think so?'</p> + +<p>Harold hesitated a moment, and then replied:</p> + +<p>'I don't know, but it seems to me I love you as much as a +man could ever love another.'</p> + +<p>'Phoo! Of course you do; but that's boy love; that isn't +like when you are old enough to have a beau!' and Jerry +laughed merrily, as she sprang up, and, taking Harold's rake, +began to toss the hay about rapidly, bidding him sit still and +see how fast she could work in his place.</p> + +<p>Harold was very tired, and his head was aching badly, so +for a time he sat still, watching the graceful movements of the +beautiful child, who, it seemed to him, was slipping away from +him. Constant intercourse with a polished man like Arthur +Tracy had not been without its effect upon her, and there was +about her an air which with strangers would have placed her +at once above the ordinary level of simple country girls. This +Harold had been the first to detect, and though he rejoiced at +Jerry's good fortune, there was always with him a dread lest +she should grow beyond him, and that he should lose the girl +he loved so much.</p> + +<p>'What if she should think me a clown and a clodhopper, as +Tom Tracy does?' he said to himself, as he watched her raking +up the hay faster, and quite as well as he could have done +himself. 'I believe I should want to die.'</p> + +<p>It was impossible that Jerry should have guessed the nature +of Harold's thoughts, but once, as she passed near him, she +dropped her rake, and going up to him, wiped his forehead +with her apron, and, kissing him fondly, said to him:</p> + +<p>'Poor, tired boy, is your head awful? You look as if you +wanted to vomit? Do you?'</p> + +<p>'No, Jerry,' Harold answered, laughingly. 'I am not as +bad as that. I was only thinking and wishing that I were +rich and could sometime give you and grandma a home as +handsome as Tracy Park. How would you like it?'</p> + +<p>'First-rate, if you were there,' Jerry replied; 'but if you +were not I shouldn't like it at all. I never mean to live anywhere +without you; because, you know, I am your little girl, +the one you found in the carpet-bag, and I love you more than +all the world, and will love and stand by you forever and +ever, amen!'</p> + +<p>She said the last so abruptly, and it sounded so oddly, that +Harold burst into a laugh, and taking up the rake she had +dropped, began his work again, declaring that the headache +was gone, and that he was a great deal better.</p> + +<p>'Forever and ever, amen!' The words kept repeating themselves +over and over in Harold's mind as he walked homeward +in the gathering twilight with Jerry hip-pi-ty-hopping at +his side, her hand in his, and her tongue running rapidly, as +it usually did when with him.</p> + +<p>She would 'love and stand by him forever and ever, amen!' +It was a singular remark for a child, and in after years, when +his sky was the blackest, the words would come back to the +man Harold like so many stabs as he whispered in his anguish:</p> + +<p>'She has forgotten her promise to "stand by me forever and +ever, amen!"'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI" ></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h2>MRS. TRACY'S DIAMONDS.</h2> + + +<p>Mrs. Tracy was going to have a party—not a general +one, like that which she gave when our readers first +knew her, and Harold Hastings stood at the head of +the stairs and bade 'the ladies go this way and the gentlemen +that.' Since Dolly had become so exclusive and a leader of +fashion, she had ignored general parties and limited her invitations +to a select few, which, on this occasion, numbered about +sixty or seventy. But the entertainment was prepared as elaborately +as if hundreds had been expected, and the hostess was +radiant in satin and lace, and diamonds, as she received her +guests and did the honors of the occasion.</p> + +<p>The September night was soft and warm, and the grounds +were lighted up, while quite a crowd collected near the house +to hear the music and watch the proceedings.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy would have liked to have had Jerry in the upper +hall, where Harold had once stood.</p> + +<p>'It would help to keep the child in her place,' she thought, +'for she is getting to feel herself of quite too much consequence, +with so much attention from Arthur.'</p> + +<p>But her husband promptly vetoed the proposition, saying +that when Jerry Crawford came to the park house to an entertainment +it would be as a guest, and not as a waiter. So a +colored boy stood in the upper hall, and a colored boy stood +in the lower hall, and there were colored waiters everywhere, +and Dolly had never been happier or prouder in her life: for +Governor Markham and his wife, from Iowa, were there, and +a judge's wife from Springfield—all guests of Grace Atherton, +and, in consequence, bidden to the party.</p> + +<p>Another remarkable feature of the evening was the presence +of Arthur in the parlors. He had known both Governor +Markham and his wife, Ethelyn Grant, and had been present +at their wedding, and it was mostly on their account that he +had consented to join in the festivities. Jerry, it is true, had +done a great deal toward persuading him to go down, repeating, +in her own peculiar way, what she had heard people say +with regard to his seclusion from society.</p> + +<p>'You just make a hermit of yourself,' she said, 'cooped up +here all the time. I don't wonder folks say you are crazy. It +is enough to make anybody crazy, to stay in one or two rooms +and see nobody but Charles and me. Just dress yourself in +your best clothes and go down and be somebody, and don't +talk of Gretchen all the time! I am tired of it, and so is everybody. +Give her a rest for one evening, and show the people +how nice you can be if you only have a mind to.'</p> + +<p>Jerry delivered this speech with her hands on her hips, and +with all the air of a woman of fifty; while Arthur laughed +immoderately, and promised her to do his best not to disgrace +her, and to appear as if he were not crazy.</p> + +<p>Jerry's anxiety was somewhat like that of a mother for a +child whose ability she doubts; and, after her supper was over +she took her way to the park house to see that Arthur was +dressed properly for the occasion.</p> + +<p>'It would be like him to go without his neck-tie and wear +his every-day boots,' she thought.</p> + +<p>But she found him as faultlessly gotten up as he well could +be in his old-fashioned evening dress, which sat rather loosely +upon him, for he had grown thinner with each succeeding year.</p> + +<p>Jerry thought him splendid, and watched him admiringly as +if he left the room and started for the parlors, with her last +injunction ringing in her ears:</p> + +<p>'Not a word out of your head about Gretchen, but try and +act as if you were not crazy.'</p> + +<p>'I'll do it, Cherry. Don't you worry,' he said to her, with a +little reassuring nod, as he descended the stairs.</p> + +<p>And he kept his promise well. There was no word out of +his head about Gretchen, and no one ignorant of the fact would +ever have suspected that his mind was unsettled as he moved +among the guests, talking to one another with that pleasant, +courtly manner so natural to him. A very close observer, +however, might have seen his eyes dilate and even flash with +some sudden emotion when his brother's wife passed him and +her brilliant diamonds, his gift, sparkled in the bright gaslight. +The setting was rather peculiar, but Mrs. Tracy liked it for the +peculiarity, and had never had it changed. She was very proud +of her diamonds, they were so large and clear, and she had the +satisfaction of knowing that there were no finer, if as fine, in +town. She seemed to know, too, just in what light to place +herself in order to show them to the best advantage, and at +times the gleams of fire from them were wonderful, and once +Arthur put his hand before his eyes as she passed him, and muttering +something to himself moved quickly to another part of +the room. This was late in the evening, and soon after he +excused himself to those around him, saying it was not often +that he dissipated like this, and as he was growing tired he must +say good-night.</p> + +<p>The next morning Charles found him looking very pale and +worn, with a bad pain in his head. He had rested badly, he +said, and would have his coffee in bed, after which Charles was +to leave him alone and not come back until he rang for him, as +he might possibly fall asleep.</p> + +<p>It was very late that morning when the family breakfasted, +and as they lingered around the table, discussing the events of +the previous night, it was after eleven o'clock when at last Mrs. +Tracy went up to her room.</p> + +<p>As she ascended the stairs to the upper hall, she caught a +glimpse of Harold disappearing through a door at the lower end +of the hall, evidently with the intention of going down the back +stairway and making his exit from the house by the rear door, +rather than the front. Mrs. Tracy knew that he was sometimes +sent by his grandmother on some errand to Arthur, and giving +no further thought to the matter went on to her own room, +which her maid had put in order. All the paraphernalia of +last night's toilet were put away, diamonds and all. Contrary +to her usual custom, for she was very careful of her diamonds, +and very much afraid they would be stolen, she had left them +in their box on her dressing bureau. But they were not there +now. Sarah, who knew where she kept them, had put them +away, of course, and she gave them no more thought until three +days later, when she received an invitation to a lunch party at +Brier Hill.</p> + +<p>'I shall wear my dark blue satin and diamonds,' she said to +her maid, who was dressing her hair, but the diamonds, when +looked for, were not in their usual place.</p> + +<p>Sarah had not put them away, nor in fact had she seen them +at all, for they were not upon the bureau when she went to arrange +her mistress' room the morning after the party. The +diamonds were gone, nor could any amount of searching bring +them to light. And they looked everywhere, in every box and +drawer and corner, and Mrs. Tracy grew cold and sick and faint, +and finally broke down in a fit of crying, as she explained to +her husband that her beautiful diamonds were stolen. She +called it that, now, and the whole household was roused and +questioned as to when and where each had last seen the missing +jewels. But no one had seen them since they were in the lady's +ears, and she knew she had left them upon her bureau when +she went down to breakfast. She was positive of that. No +one had been in the room, or that part of the house, except +Tom, Fred Raymond, Charles and Sarah. Of these the first two +were not to be thought of for a moment, while the last two had +been in the family for years, and were above suspicion. Clearly, +then, it was some one from outside, who had watched his or her +portunity and come in.</p> + +<p>Had any one been seen about the house at that hour? Yes, +Charles remembered having met Harold Hastings coming out +of the rear door; 'but,' he added, 'I would sooner suspect myself +than him.'</p> + +<p>And this was the verdict of all except Mrs. Tracy, who now +recalled the fact that she, too, had seen Harold 'sneaking +through the door as if he did not wish to be seen.'</p> + +<p>That was the way she expressed herself, and her manner had +in it more meaning even than her words.</p> + +<p>'What was Harold doing in the house? What was his errand? +Does any one know?' she asked, but no one volunteered +any information until Charles suggested that he probably +came on some errand to Mr. Arthur; he would inquire, he said, +and he went at once to his master's room.</p> + +<p>Arthur was sitting by his writing-desk, busy with a letter, +and did not turn, his head when Charles asked if he remembered +whether Harold Hastings had been to his room the +morning after the party.</p> + +<p>'No, I have not seen him for more than a week,' was the +reply.</p> + +<p>'But he must have been here that morning,' Charles continued. +'Try and think.'</p> + +<p>'I tell you no one was here. I am not quite demented yet. +Now go. Don't you see you are interrupting me?' was Arthur's +rather savage response, and without having gained any satisfactory +information Charles returned to the group anxiously +awaiting him:</p> + +<p>'<i>Well</i>?' was Mrs. Tracy's sharp interrogatory, to which +Charles responded:</p> + +<p>'He does not remember what happened that morning; but +that is not strange. He was very tired and unusually excited +after the party, and when he is that way he does not remember +anything. Harold might have been there a dozen times and +he would forget it.'</p> + +<p>'Bring the boy, then. He will know what he was doing +here,' was Mrs. Tracy's next peremptory remark, and her husband +said to her, reproachfully:</p> + +<p>'Surely you do not intend to charge him with the theft?'</p> + +<p>'I charge no one with the theft until it is proven on him; +but I must see the boy and know what he was doing here. I +never liked this free running in and out of those people in the +lane. I always knew something would come of it,' Mrs. Tracy +said, and Charles was despatched for Harold.</p> + +<p>He found him mowing the lawn for a gentleman whose premises +joined Tracy Park, and without any explanation told him +that he was wanted immediately at the park house.</p> + +<p>'But it is noon,' Harold said, glancing up at the sun. 'And +there is Jerry coming to call me to dinner.'</p> + +<p>'No; better come at once. Jerry can go with you, if she +likes,' Charles said, feeling intuitively that in the little girl +Harold would find a champion.</p> + +<p>Harold left his lawn mower, and explaining to Jerry, who +had come up to him, that he had been summoned to the park +house, whither she could accompany him if she chose, he started +with her and Charles, whom he questioned as to what was +wanted with him.</p> + +<p>'Were you in the park house the morning after the party? +That would be Wednesday,' Charles asked.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I went to see Mr. Arthur Tracy, but could get no answer +to my knock,' Harold promptly replied, while his face +flushed scarlet, and he seemed annoyed at something. +He could not explain to Charles his motive in going to see +Arthur, as, now that the first burst of indignation was over, he +felt half ashamed of it himself. On the afternoon of the day +of the party he had been at Grassy Spring, helping Mrs. St. +Claire with her flowers, and after his work was done he had +gone with Dick into the billiard-room, where they found Tom +Tracy and his friend, young Raymond. They had come over +for a game, and the four boys were soon busily engaged in the +contest. Harold, who had often played with Dick and was +something of an expert, proved himself the most skilful of them +all, greatly to the chagrin of Tom, who had not recognized +him even by a nod. Dick, on the contrary, had introduced him +to Fred Raymond with as much ceremony as if he had been the +Governor's son, instead of the boy who sometimes worked in +his mother's flower garden. And the Kentuckian had taken +him by the hand and greeted him cordially, with a familiar:</p> + +<p>'How d'ye do, Hastings? Glad to make your acquaintance'</p> + +<p>There was nothing snobbish about Fred Raymond, whose +every instinct was gentlemanly and kind, and Harold felt at +ease with him at once, and all through the game appeared at +his best, and quite as well bred as either of his companions.</p> + +<p>When the play was over Dick excused himself a moment, +as he wished to speak with his father, who was about driving +to town. As he stayed away longer than he had intended doing, +Tom grew restless and angry, too, that Fred should treat +Harold Hastings as an equal, for the two had at once entered +into conversation, comparing notes with regard to their standing +in school and discussing the merits of Cicero and Virgil, +the latter of which Harold had just commenced.</p> + +<p>'We can't wait here all day for Dick,' Tom said. 'Let us +go out and look at the pictures.'</p> + +<p>So they went down the stairs to a long hall, in which many +pictures were hanging—some family portraits and others, copies +of the old masters which Mr. St. Claire had brought from +abroad. Near one of the portraits Fred lingered a long time, +commenting upon its beauty, and the resemblance he saw in it +to little Nina St. Claire, the daughter of the house, and whose +aunt the original had been. The portrait was not far from the +stairway which led to the billiard-room, and Harold, who had +remained behind, and was listlessly knocking the balls, could +not help hearing all they said:</p> + +<p>'By the way, who is that Hastings? I don't think I have +seen him before; he is a right clever chap,' Fred Raymond said.</p> + +<p>Tom replied, in that sneering, contemptuous tone which +Harold knew so well, and which always made his blood boil +and his fingers tingle with a desire to knock the speaker +down:</p> + +<p>'Oh, that's Hal Hastings, a poor boy, who does chores for us +and the St. Claires. His grandmother used to work at the +park house, and so uncle Arthur pays for his schooling, and +Hal allows it, which I think right small in him. I wouldn't be +a charity student, anyway, if I never knew anything. Besides +that, what's the use of education to chaps like him. Better stay +as he was born. I don't believe in educating the masses, do +you?'</p> + +<p>Of himself Tom could never have thought of all this, but he +had heard it from his mother, who frequently used the expression +'not to elevate the masses,' forgetting that she was +once herself a part of the mass which she would now keep +down.</p> + +<p>Just what Fred said in reply Harold did not hear. There +was a ringing in his ears, and he felt as if every drop of blood +in his body was rushing to his head as he sat down, dizzy and +bewildered, and smarting cruelly under the wound he had received +this time. He had more than once been taunted with +his poverty and dependence upon Mr. Tracy, but the taunts +had never hurt him so before, and he could have cried out in +his pain as he thought of Tom's words, and knew that in himself +there was the making of a far nobler manhood than Tom +Tracy would ever know.</p> + +<p>Was poverty, which one could not help, so terrible a disgrace, +an insuperable barrier to elevation, and was it mean and +small in him to accept his education from a man on whom he +had no claim? Possibly; and if so, the state of things should +not continue. He would go to Arthur Tracy, thank him for all +he had done, and tell him he could receive no more from him; +that if he had an education, he must get it himself by the work +of his own hands, and thus be beholden to no one.</p> + +<p>Full of this resolution, he went down the stairs and out into +the open air, which cooled his hot head a little, though it was +still throbbing terribly as he went through the leafy woods toward +home.</p> + +<p>In the lane he saw Jerry coming toward him, with her sun-bonnet +hanging down her back and her soft, curly hair blowing +around her forehead. The moment she saw him she knew +something was the matter, and, hastening her steps to run, +asked him what had happened, and why he looked so white +and mad.</p> + +<p>Harold was sure of sympathy from Jerry, and he told her +his story, which roused her to a high pitch of indignation.</p> + +<p>'The miserable, nasty, sneaking Tom!' she said, stopping +short and emphasizing each adjective with a stamp of her foot +as if she were trampling upon the offending Tom. 'I wish I +had heard him. I'd have scratched his eyes out! talking +of you as if you were dirt! I hate him, and I told him so the +other day, and spit at him when he tried to kiss me.'</p> + +<p>'Kiss you! Tom Tracy kiss you!' Harold exclaimed, forgetting +his own grief in this insult to Jerry; for it seemed to +him little less than profanity for lips like Tom Tracy's to touch +his little Jerry.</p> + +<p>'No, he didn't, but he tried, right before that boy from Kentucky; +but I wriggled away from him, and bit him, too, and +he called me a cat, and said he guessed I wouldn't mind if <i>you</i> +or Dick St. Claire tried to kiss me, and I shouldn't; but I'll +fight <i>him</i> and Bill Peterkin every time. I wonder why all the +boys want to kiss me so much!'</p> + +<p>'I expect it is because you have just the sweetest mouth in +the world,' Harold said, stooping down and kissing the lips +which seemed made for that use alone.</p> + +<p>This little episode had helped somewhat to quiet Harold's +state of mind, but did not change his resolve to speak to Mr. +Tracy, and tell him that he could not receive any more favors +from his hands. He would, however, wait until to-morrow, as +Jerry bade him to.</p> + +<p>'You will worry him so that he will be crazier than a loon +at the party,' she said, and so Harold waited, but started for the +park the next morning as soon as he thought Mr. Tracy would +see him.</p> + +<p>He had rung at the door of the rear hall, but as no one +heard him he ventured in, as he had sometimes done before, +when sent for Jerry if it rained, and ascending the stairs to +the upper hall, knocked two or three times at Arthur's door, +first gently, and then louder as there came no response.</p> + +<p>'He cannot be there, and I must come again,' he thought as +he retraced his steps, reaching the door at the lower end of the +hall just as Mrs. Tracy came up the broad staircase on her way +to her room.</p> + +<p>As that day wore on, and the next, and the next, Harold began +to care less for Tom's insult, and to think that possibly he had +been hasty in his determination to decline Arthur's assistance, +especially as he meant to pay back every dollar when he was a +man. He would at all events wait a little, he thought, and so +had made no further effort to see Mr. Tracy, when Charles +found him, and told he was wanted at the park house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII" ></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h2>SEARCHING FOR THE DIAMONDS.</h2> + + +<p>They went directly to Mrs. Tracy's room, where they found +that lady in a much higher fever of excitement than +when she first discovered her loss. All the household +had assembled in the hall and in her room, except Arthur, +who sat in his library, occasionally stopping to listen to the +sound of the many voices, and to wonder why there was +much noise.</p> + +<p>Tom was there with his friend, Fred Raymond, anxiously +awaiting the arrival of Harold, whose face wore a look of wonder +and perplexity which deepened into utter amazement as +Mrs. Tracy angrily demanded of him what his business was in +the hall on Wednesday morning when she saw him sneaking +through the door.</p> + +<p>'Where had you been, and did you see my diamonds? +Somebody has stolen them,' she said, while Harold gazed at her +in utter astonishment.</p> + +<p>'Somebody stolen your diamonds!' he repeated, without the +shadow of an idea that she could in any way connect him with +a theft; nor would the idea have come to him at all, if Tom +had not said to him with a sneer:</p> + +<p>'Better own up, Hal, and restore the property. It is your +easiest way out of it.'</p> + +<p>Then he comprehended, and had Tom knocked him senseless +the effect could not have been greater. With lips as white as +ashes and fists tightly clenched, he stood, shaking like a leaf +and staring helplessly, first at one and then at another, unable +to speak until his eyes fell on Jerry, whose face was a study. +She had thrown her head forward and on one side, and was +looking intently at Tom Tracy, while her blue eyes flashed fire, +and her whole attitude was like that of a tiger ready to pounce +upon its prey. And when Harold said faintly, 'Ask Jerry; +she knows,' she did pounce upon Tom, not bodily, but with her +tongue, pouring out her words so rapidly and mingling with +them so much German that it was almost impossible to understand +all she said.</p> + +<p>'You miserable, good-for-nothing, nasty fellow,' she began. +'Do you dare accuse Harold of stealing! Stealing! You, who +are not fit to tie his shoes! And do you want to know why he +was here that morning? I can tell you; but no, I won't tell +<i>you</i>! I won't speak to you! I'll never speak to you again; and +if you try to kiss me as you did the other day, I'll—I'll scratch +out every single one of your eyes! <i>You</i> twit Harold for being +poor, and call him a charity! What are you but a charity +yourself, I'd like to know! Is this your house? No, sir! It is +Mr. Arthur's! Everything is Mr. Arthur's, and if you don't +quit being so mean to Harold I'll tell him every single nasty +thing I know about you! Then see what he will do!'</p> + +<p>As Jerry warmed with her subject, every look, every gesture, +and every tone of her voice was like Arthur's, and Frank +watched with a fascination which made him forget everything +else, until she turned suddenly to him, and in her own peculiar +style and language told him why Harold had come to the park +house that morning when the diamonds were missing.</p> + +<p>'I advised him to come,' she said, with all the air of a grown +woman, 'and I said I'd stand by him, and I will, forever and +ever, amen!'</p> + +<p>The words dropped from her lips the more maturely, perhaps, +because she had used them once before with reference to +the humiliated boy, to whose pale, set face there came a smile +as he heard them again, and stretching out his hand he laid it +on Jerry's curly head with a caressing motion which told plainer +than words could have done of his affection for and trust +in her.</p> + +<p>What more Jerry might have said was prevented by the appearance +of a new actor upon the scene in the person of Arthur +himself. He had borne the noise and confusion as long as he +could, and then had rung for Charles to enquire what it meant. +But Charles was too much absorbed with other matters to heed +the bell, though it rang three times sharply and loudly. At +last, as no one came, and the bustle outside grew louder, and +Jerry's voice was distinctly heard, excited and angry, Arthur +started to see for himself what had happened.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mr. Arthur,' Jerry cried, as she caught sight of him +coming down the hall, 'I was just going after you, to come and +turn Tom out of doors, and everybody else who says that Harold +took Mrs. Tracy's diamonds. She has lost them, and +Tom—'</p> + +<p>But here she was interrupted by Tom himself, who, always +afraid of his uncle, and now more afraid than ever because of +the fiery gleam in his eyes, stammered out that he had not accused +Harold, nor any one; that he only knew the diamonds +were gone and could not have gone without help.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean those stones your mother flashed in my eyes +that night? Serves her right if she has lost them,' Arthur said, +without manifesting the slightest interest or concern in the +matter.</p> + +<p>But when Jerry began her story, which she told rapidly in +German, he became excited at once, and his manner was that +of a maniac, as he turned fiercely upon Tom, denouncing him +as a coward and a liar, and threatening to turn him out of the +house if he dared harbor such a suspicion against Harold +Hastings.</p> + +<p>'I'll turn you all into the street,' he continued, 'if you are +not careful, and bring Harold and Jerry here to live; then see +if I can have peace. Diamonds, indeed! what has a poor man's +wife to do with diamonds? Gretchen's diamonds, too! If they +are lost, search the house, but never accuse Harold again.'</p> + +<p>At this paint Arthur wandered off into German, which no +one could understand except Jerry, who stood, holding fast to +his arm, her face flushed and triumphant at Harold's victory +and Tom's defeat; but as the tirade in German went on, she +started suddenly forward, and with clasped hands and staring +eyes stood confronting Arthur until he had ceased speaking, and +with a wave of his hand signified that he was through and his +audience dismissed. Jerry, however, did not move, but stood +regarding him with a frightened, questioning expression in her +face, which was lost upon the spectators, who were too much +interested in the all-absorbing topic to notice anyone particularly.</p> + +<p>Tom was the first to go away, and his example was followed +by all the servants, except Charles, who succeeded in getting +his master back to his room and quieting him somewhat, +though he kept talking to himself of diamonds, and Paris, and +Gretchen, who, he said, should not he wronged.</p> + +<p>'I am sorry, Harold, that this thing has happened. I have +no idea that you know anything of the matter. I would as +soon suspect my own son,' Frank said to Harold, as he was +leaving the house.</p> + +<p>With this grain of comfort, the boy went slowly home, humiliated +and cut to the heart with the indignity put upon him; +while Jerry walked silently at his side, never speaking a word +until they were nearly home, when she said, suddenly:</p> + +<p>'I know where the diamonds are, but I shan't tell now while +there is such a fuss;' but Harold was too much absorbed in his +own thoughts to pay much attention to the remark, although it +recurred to him years after, when the diamonds came up to +confront him again.</p> + +<p>It did not take long for the whole town to know of Mrs. +Tracy's loss. The papers were full of it. The neighbors talked +of it constantly, and two detectives were employed to work the +matter up and discover the thief, if possible. A thorough search +was also made at the park house. Every servant was examined +and cross-examined, and all their trunks and boxes searched; +every nook and corner and room was gone through in the most +systematic order, even to Arthur's apartments. This last was +merely done as a matter of form, and to let the indignant servant +see that no partiality was shown, the polite officers explained +to Arthur, who at first refused to let them in, but who +finally opened the door himself, and bade them go where they +liked.</p> + +<p>Half hidden among the cushions of the sofa from which Arthur +had arisen when he let the officers in and to which he returned +again, was Jerry, her face pale to her lips and her eyes +like the eyes of some haunted animal, when she saw the policemen +cross the threshold.</p> + +<p>After her return home the previous day she had been unusually +taciturn and had taken no part in the conversation relative +to the missing diamonds, but just before going to bed she said +to Harold:</p> + +<p>'What will they do with the one who took the diamonds, if +they find him?'</p> + +<p>'Send him to state prison,' Harold answered.</p> + +<p>'And what do they do to them in state prison?' Jerry +continued.</p> + +<p>'Cut their hair off; make them eat bread and water and +mush, and sleep on a board, and work awful hard,' was +Harold's reply, given at random and without the least suspicion +why the question had been asked.</p> + +<p>Jerry said no more, but the next morning she started for the +park house, which she knew was to be searched, and going to +Mr. Arthur's room looked him wistfully in the face as she asked +in a whisper:</p> + +<p>'Are they found?'</p> + +<p>'Found! What found?' he said, as if all recollection of the +missing jewels had passed entirely from his mind.</p> + +<p>'The diamonds; Mrs. Tracy's diamonds; the ones you gave +her,' was Jerry's answer.</p> + +<p>For a moment, Arthur looked perplexed and bewildered and +confused, and seemed trying to recall something which would +not come at his bidding.</p> + +<p>'I don't know anything about it,' he said at last. 'I don't +seem to think of anything, my head is so thick with all the +noise there was here yesterday and the tumult this morning. +Search-warrants, Charles says, and two strange men driving up +so early. Who are they, Jerry?'</p> + +<p>'Police, come to search the house; search everybody and +everything. Ain't you afraid?' Jerry said.</p> + +<p>'Afraid? No: why should I be afraid? Why, child, how +white you are, and what makes you tremble so? You didn't +take the diamonds,' was Arthur's response, as he drew the little +girl close to him and looked into her pallid face.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Arthur,' Jerry began, very low, as if afraid of being +heard, 'if I should give Maude something for her very own, +and she should accept and keep it a good while, and then some +day I should take it from her, when she did not know it, and +hide it, and not give it up, would that be stealing?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly. Why do you ask?'</p> + +<p>Jerry did not say why she asked, but put the same question +to him she had put to Harold:</p> + +<p>'If they find the one who took the diamonds will they send +him to state prison?'</p> + +<p>'Undoubtedly. They ought to.'</p> + +<p>'And cut off his hair?'</p> + +<p>She was threading Arthur's luxuriant locks caressingly, and +almost pityingly, with her fingers as she asked the last question, +to which he replied, shortly:</p> + +<p>'Yes.'</p> + +<p>'And make him eat bread and water and mush?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; I believe so.'</p> + +<p>'And sleep on a board?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, or something as bad.'</p> + +<p>'And make him work awful hard until his hands are blistered?'</p> + +<p>Now she had in hers Arthur's hands, soft and white as a +woman's, and seemed to be calculating how much hard work it +would take to blister hands like these.</p> + +<p>'Yes, work till his hands drop off,' Arthur said.</p> + +<p>With a shudder, she continued:</p> + +<p>'I could not bear it: could you?'</p> + +<p>'Bear it? No; I should die in a week. Why, what does +ail you? You are shaking like a leaf. What are you afraid of?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know; only state prison seems so terrible, and they +are looking everywhere. What if they should come in here?'</p> + +<p>'Come in here? Impossible, unless they break the door +down,' Arthur replied; and then Jerry said to him:</p> + +<p>'If they do, suppose you lie down and let me cover you with +the afghan and cushions?'</p> + +<p>'But I don't want to lie down and be smothered with +cushions,' Arthur returned, puzzled, and wondering at the +excitement of the child, who nestled close to his side and held +fast to his hand, as if she were guarding him, or expected him +to guard her, while the examination went on outside, and the +frightened and angry servants submitted to having their boxes +and trunks examined.</p> + +<p>At last footsteps were heard on the stairs and the sound of +strange voices, mingled with that of Frank, who was protesting +against his brother's rooms being entered.</p> + +<p>'You will lose every servant you have if we do not serve all +alike,' was the answer.</p> + +<p>Then Frank knocked at his brother's door and asked admittance.</p> + +<p>'We must do it to pacify the servants,' he said, as Arthur +refused, bidding him go about him business.</p> + +<p>After a little further expostulation Arthur arose, and, unlocking +the door, bade them enter and look as long as they +pleased and where they pleased.</p> + +<p>It was a mere matter of form, for not a drawer or box was +disturbed; but Jerry's breath came in gasps, and her eyes were +like saucers, as she watched the men moving from place to place, +and then looked timidly at Arthur to see how he was taking it. +He took it very coolly, and when it was over and the men were +about to leave, he bade them come again as often as they liked; +they would always find him there ready to receive them, but +the diamonds—<i>nix</i>.</p> + +<p>This last he said in a low tone as he turned to Jerry, who, +the moment they were alone and he had seated himself beside +her, put her head on his arm and burst into a hysterical fit of +crying.</p> + +<p>'Why, Cherry, what is it? Why are you crying so?' he +asked, in much concern.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't know,' the sobbed; 'only I was so scared all the +time they were in the room. What if they had found them! +What if they should think that—that—<i>I</i> took them, and should +send me to prison, and cut off my hair: and make me eat bread +and water and mush, which I hate!'</p> + +<p>Arthur looked at her a moment, and then with a view to +comfort her, said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>'They would not send you to prison, for I would go in your +stead.'</p> + +<p>'Would you? Could you? I mean could somebody go for +another somebody, if they wanted to ever go much?' Jerry +asked, eagerly, as she lifted her tear-stained face to Arthur's.</p> + +<p>Without clearly understanding her meaning, and with only a +wish to quiet her, Arthur answered, at random:</p> + +<p>'Certainly. Have you never heard of people who gave life +for another's? So, why not be a substitute, and go to prison, +if necessary?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerry answered, with a long-drawn breath, and the +cloud lifted a little from her face.</p> + +<p>After a moment, however, she asked, abruptly:</p> + +<p>'Suppose the one who took the diamonds will not give them +up, and somebody else knows where they are, ought that somebody +else tell?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly, or be an accessory to the crime,' was Arthur's +reply.</p> + +<p>Jerry did not at all know what an accessory was, but it had +an awful sound to her, and she asked:</p> + +<p>'What do they do to an accessory? Punish her—him, I +mean—just the same?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, of course,' Arthur said, scarcely heeding what she was +asking him, and never dreaming of the wild fancy which had +taken possession of her.</p> + +<p>That one could go to prison in another's stead, and that an +accessory would be punished equally with the criminal, were +the two ideas distinct in her mind when she at last arose to go, +saying to Arthur, as she stood in the door:</p> + +<p>'You are sure you are not afraid to have them come here +again, if they take it into their heads to do so?'</p> + +<p>'Not in the least; they can search my rooms every day and +welcome, if they like,' was Arthur's reply.</p> + +<p>'Well, that beats me!' Jerry said aloud to herself, with a +nod for every word, as she went down the stairs and started for +home, taking the Tramp House on her way. 'I guess I'll go +in there and think about it,' she said, and entering the deserted +building, she sat down upon the bench and began to wonder +if she <i>could do it</i>, if worst came to worst, as it might.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I could for him, and I'll never tell; I'll be that thing +he said, and a substitute, too, if I can,' she thought, 'though I +guess it would kill me. Oh, I hope I shan't have to do it! I +mean to say a prayer about it, anyway.'</p> + +<p>And kneeling down in the damp, dark room, Jerry prayed, +first, that it might never be found out, and second, that if it +were she might not be called to account as an accessory, but +might have the courage to be the substitute, and stand by him +forever and ever, amen!'</p> + +<p>'I may as well begin to practice, and see if I can bear it,' +she thought, as she walked slowly home, where she astonished +Mrs. Crawford by asking her to make some mush for dinner.</p> + +<p>'Mush! Why, child, I thought you hated it' Mrs. Crawford +exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'I did hate it,' Jerry replied, 'but I want it now real bad. +Make it for me, please. Harold likes it, don't you, Hally?'</p> + +<p>Harold did like it very much; and so the mush was made, +and Jerry forced herself to swallow it in great gulps, and made +up her mind that she could not stand that any way. She preferred +bread and water. So, for supper she took bread and +water and nothing else, and went up to bed us unhappy and +nervous as a healthy, growing child well could be.</p> + +<p>She had tried the mush, and the bread and water, and now +she meant to try the shorn head, which was the hardest of all, +for she had a pride in her hair, which so many had told her +was beautiful.</p> + +<p>Standing before her little glass, with the lamp beside her, she +looked at it admiringly for a while, turning her head from side +to side to see the bright ringlets glisten; then, with an unsteady +hand the severed, one by one, the shining tresses, on +which her tears fell like rain as she gathered them in a paper +and put them away, wondering if the prison shears would cut +closer or shorter, and wondering if it would make any difference +that she was only a substitute, or at most an accessory.</p> + +<p>It was a strange idea which had taken possession of her, and +a senseless one, but it was terribly real to her, and that little +shorn head represented as noble and complete a sacrifice as +was ever made by older and wiser people. There was no hard +board to sleep upon, and so she took the floor, with a pillow +under her head and a blanket over her, wondering the while +if this were not a more luxurious couch than convicts, who +had stolen diamonds, were accustomed to have.</p> + +<p>'Why, Jerry, what have you done?' and 'Oh, Jerry, how +you look!' were the ejaculatory remarks which greeted her next +morning, when she went down to her breakfast of bread and +water, for she would take nothing else.</p> + +<p>'Why did you do it?' Mrs. Crawford asked a little angry +and a good deal astonished; but Jerry only answered at first +with her tears, as Harold jeered at her forlorn appearance and +called her a picked chicken.</p> + +<p>'Maude's hair is short, and all the girls', and mine was always +in my eyes and snarled awfully,' she said at last, and this was +all the excuse she would give for what she had done; while +for her persisting in a bread and water diet she would give no +reason for three or four days. Then she said to Harold, suddenly:</p> + +<p>'You told me that the one who stole the diamonds would +have to eat bread and water and have his head shaved, and I +am trying to see how it would seem—am playing that I am +the man, and in prison; but I find it very hard, I don't believe +I can stand it. Oh, Harold, do you think they will ever +find the diamonds? I am so tired and hungry, and the blackberry +pie we had for dinner did look so good!'</p> + +<p>'Jerry,' Harold exclaimed, in amazement, and but dimly +comprehending her real meaning, 'you are crazy, to be playing +you are a convict! And is that what you have been +doing?'</p> + +<p>'Ye-es,' Jerry sobbed; 'but I can't bear it, and I hope they +will not find him,'</p> + +<p>'Him! Who?' Harold asked.</p> + +<p>'The one who took the diamonds,' she replied.</p> + +<p>'And I hope they will. He ought to be found and punished. +Think what harm he has done to me by letting them accuse +me,' Harold answered, indignantly.</p> + +<p>'No, no, Hally,' Jerry replied. 'No one accused you but +Tom, and he is meaner than dirt; and if they did think you +took them, and if you had to go, I should not let you; I should +go in your place. I could do it for you and Mr. Arthur, but +for no one else. Oh, I hope they will never find them.'</p> + +<p>She put her hands to her head, and looked so white and +faint that Harold was alarmed, and took her at once to his +mother, who, scarcely less frightened than himself, made her +lie down, and brought her a piece of toast and a cup of milk, +which revived her a little. But the strain upon her nerves for +the last few days, and the fasting on bread and water proved +too much for the child, who for a week or more lay up in her +little room, burning with fever, and talking strange things at +intervals, of diamonds, and state prison, and accessories, and +substitutes, the last of which she said she was, assuring some +one to whom she seemed to be talking that she would never +tell, never!</p> + +<p>Every day Arthur came and sat for an hour by her bed, and +held her hot hands in his, and listened to her talk, and marvelled +at her shorn head, which he did not like. Whatever +he said to her was spoken in German, and as she answered +in the same tongue, no one understood what they said to each +other, though Harold, who understood a few German words, +knew that she was talking of the diamonds, and the prison, +and the substitute.</p> + +<p>'I shall <i>never</i> tell!' she said to Arthur, 'and I shall go! I +can bear it better than you. It is not that which makes my +headache so. It's—oh, Mr. Arthur, I thought you so good, +and I am so sorry about the diamonds—Mrs. Tracy was so +proud of them. Can't you contrive to get them back to her? +I could, if you would let me. I am thinking all the time how +to do it, and never let her know, and the back of my head +aches so when I think.'</p> + +<p>Arthur could not guess what she really meant, except that +the lost diamonds troubled her, and that she wished Mrs. Tracy +to have them. Occasionally his brows would knit together, +and he seemed trying to recall something which perplexed +him, and which her words had evidently suggested to his +mind.</p> + +<p>'Cherry,' he said to her one day when he came as usual, and +her first eager question was, 'Have they found them?' 'Jerry, +try and understand me. Do you know where the diamonds +are?'</p> + +<p>Instantly into Jerry's eyes there came a scared look, but she +answered, unhesitatingly:</p> + +<p>'Yes, don't you?'</p> + +<p>'No,' was the prompt reply; 'though it seems to me I did +know, but there has been so much talk about them, and you +are so sick, that everything has gone from my head, and the +bees are stinging me frightfully. Where are the diamonds?'</p> + +<p>But by this time Jerry was in the prison, sleeping on a +board and eating bread and mush, and Arthur failed to get any +satisfaction from her. Indeed, they were two crazy ones talking +together, with little or no meaning in what they said. Only this +Arthur gathered—that Jerry would be happy if 'Mrs. Tracy had +her diamonds again and did not know how they came to her. +When this dawned upon him he laughed aloud, and kissing +her hot cheek, said to her:</p> + +<p>'I see; I know, and I'll do it. Wait till I come again.</p> + +<p>It was ten o'clock in the morning when he left Mrs. Crawford's +house; there was a train which passed the station at +half-past ten, bound for New York, and without returning to +the park, Arthur took the train, sending word to his brother +not to expect him home until the next day, and not to be +alarmed on his account, as he was going to New York and +would take care of himself.</p> + +<p>Why he had gone Frank could not guess, and he waited in +much anxiety for his return. It was evening when he came +home, seeming perfectly composed and well, but giving no +reason for his sudden journey to the city. His first inquiry +was for Jerry, and his second, if anything had been heard of +the diamonds. On being answered in the negative, he remarked:</p> + +<p>'Those rascally detectives are bunglers, and oftentimes would +rather let the culprit escape than catch him. I doubt if you +ever see the jewels again. But no matter; it will all come +right. Tell your wife not to fret,'</p> + +<p>The next morning when Mrs. Tracy went to her room after +breakfast she was astonished to find upon her dressing bureau +a velvet box with Tiffany's name upon it, and inside an exquisite +set of diamonds; not as fine as those she had lost, or quite +as large, but white, and clear, and sparkling as she took them +in her hand with a cry of delight, and ran with them to her +husband. Both knew from whence they came, and both went +at once to Arthur, who, to his sister-in-law's profuse expressions +of gratitude, replied indifferently:</p> + +<p>'Don't bother me with thanks; it worries me. I bought +them to please the little girl, who talks about them all the time. +She will yet well now, I am going to tell her.'</p> + +<p>He found Jerry better, and perfectly sane. She was very +glad to see him, though she seemed somewhat constrained, and +shrank from him a little, when he sat down beside her. Her +first rational question had been for him, and her second for the +diamonds; were they found, and if not, were they still looking +for them.</p> + +<p>'No, they have not found them,' Harold had said, 'and the +officers are still hunting for the thief, while the papers are full +of the reward offered to any one who will return them. Five +hundred dollars now, for Mr. Arthur has added two hundred +to the first sum. He has quite waked up to the matter. You +know he seemed very indifferent at first.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Arthur offered two hundred more!' Jerry exclaimed. +'Well, that beats me!'</p> + +<p>This was Mrs. Crawford's favorite expression, which Jerry +had caught, as she did most of the peculiarities in speech and +manner of those about her.</p> + +<p>'Two hundred dollars! He must be crazy.'</p> + +<p>'Of course he is. He don't know what he does or says half +the time, and especially since you have been sick,' Harold said.</p> + +<p>'Sick!' Jerry repeated, quickly. 'Have I been sick, and is +that why I am in bed so late? I thought you had come in to +wake me up, and I was glad, for I have had horrid dreams.'</p> + +<p>Harold told her she had been in bed since the day of the investigation, +when she came from the park house with a dreadful +headache.</p> + +<p>'And you've been crazy, too, as a loon,' he continued, 'and +talked the queerest things about state prison, and hard boards, +and bread and water, and accessories, and substitutes, and so +on. Seemed as if you thought you were a felon, and a body +would have supposed that you had either taken the diamonds +yourself or else knew who did, the way you went on by spells.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Harold!' Jerry gasped, while her face grew spotted +and the perspiration came out upon her forehead. 'Did I speak +anybody's name?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Harold replied. 'I could not make you do that. I +asked you ever so many times if you knew who took the +diamonds, and you said "Yes," but when I asked who it was, +you always answered, "Don't you wish you knew?" and that +was all I could get out of you. Mr. Arthur was here every +day, and sometimes twice a day, but you spoke German to him. +Still I knew it was about the diamonds, for I understood that +word. He was not here yesterday at all. There, hark! I do +believe he is coming now. Don't you know who is said to be +near when you are talking about him?'</p> + +<p>And, with a laugh, Harold left the room just as Arthur +entered it.</p> + +<p>'Well, Cherry,' he said to her, as he drew a chair to her bedside, +'Mrs. Crawford tells me the bees are out of your head this +morning, and I am glad. I have some good news for you. +Mrs. Tracy has some diamonds, and is the happiest woman in town.'</p> + +<p>Jerry had not noticed his exact words, and only understood +that Mrs. Tracy had found her diamonds.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mr. Arthur, I am so glad!' the cried; and springing +up in bed, she threw both arms around his neck and held him +fast, while she sobbed hysterically.</p> + +<p>'There, there, child! Cherry, let go. You throttle me. +You are pulling my neck-tie all askew, and my head spins like +a top,' Arthur said, as he unclasped the clinging arms and put +the little girl back upon her pillow, where she lay for a moment, +pale and exhausted, with the light of a great joy shining in her +eyes.</p> + +<p>'Did she know where they came from? how did you +manage it? Are you sure she did not suspect!' she asked.</p> + +<p>'I put them on her dressing-bureau while she was at breakfast,' +he replied, 'and when she came up there they were—large +solitaire ear-rings and a bar with five stones, not quite as large +or as fine as the ones she lost, but the best I could find at Tiffany's. +Why, Jerry, what is the matter? You do not look +glad a bit. I thought you wanted me to give them to her surreptitiously, +and I did,' he continued, as the expression of +Jerry's face changed to one of blank dismay and disappointment, +and the tears gathered in her eyes.</p> + +<p>'I did—I do,' she said; 'but I meant, not new ones, but +her very own—the ones you gave her.'</p> + +<p>For a moment Arthur sat looking at her with a perplexed +and troubled expression, as if wondering what she could mean, +and why he had so utterly failed to please her; then he said, +slowly:</p> + +<p>'The ones I gave her? You make my head swim trying to +remember, and the bumble-bees are black-faced, instead of +white, and stinging me dreadfully. I wish you would say +nothing more of the diamonds. It worries me, and makes me +feel as if I were in a nightmare, and I know nothing of them.'</p> + +<p>Raising herself on her elbow and pointing her finger toward +him in a half beseeching, half threatening way, Jerry said:</p> + +<p>'As true as you live and breathe, and hope not to be hung +and choked to death, don't you know where they are?'</p> + +<p>This was the oath which Jerry's companions were in the +habit of administering to each other in matters of doubt, and +she now put it to Arthur as the strongest she knew.</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' he answered, with a little irritation in his +tone. 'What ails you, Cherry? Are you crazy, like myself? +Struggle against it. Don't let the bees get into your brain and +swarm and buzz until you forget everything. You ought to +remember; you do things you ought not to do. It is terrible +to be crazy and half conscious of it all the time—conscious that +no one believes what you say or holds you responsible for what +you do.'</p> + +<p>'Don't they?' Jerry asked, eagerly, for she knew the meaning +of the word 'responsible.' 'If a crazy man or woman took +the diamonds, and then forgot, and did not tell, and it was ever +found out, wouldn't they be punished?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly not,' was the reassuring reply, 'Don't you know +how many murders are committed and the murderer is not +hung, because they say he is crazy?'</p> + +<p>In a moment the cloud lifted from Jerry's face, which grew +so bright that Arthur noticed the change, and said to her:</p> + +<p>'You are better now, I see, and I must go before I undo it +all. Good-bye, and never say diamonds to me again; it gets me +all in a—m a—well, a French pickle—mixed, you know.'</p> + +<p>He kissed her tenderly, and promising to take her for a drive +as soon as she was able, went out and left her alone, wondering +why it was that his having given the diamonds to his sister-in-law +had failed in its effect upon her, and upon himself, +too.</p> + +<p>For a long time after he was gone Jerry lay thinking with +her eyes closed, so that if Harold or her grandmother came in +they would think her asleep. Mr. Arthur was certainly crazy +at times—very crazy. She could swear to that, and so could +many others. And if a crazy man was not responsible for his +acts, then he was not, and the law would not touch him; but +with regard to the accessory, she was not sure. If that individual +were not crazy, why, then he or she might be punished; +and as the taste she had had of bread and water, and hard +boards, in the shape of the floor, was not very satisfactory, and +as Mrs. Tracy had other diamonds in the place of the lost ones, +she finally determined to keep her own counsel and never tell +what she had heard Arthur say that morning when the theft +was discovered and he had talked so fast in German to her and +to himself. If she had known where the diamonds were she +might have managed to return them to their owner. But she +did not know, and her better course was to keep quiet, hoping +that in time Mr. Arthur himself would remember and make +restitution; for that he had forgotten and was sincere in saying +that he knew nothing of them she was certain, and her faith in +him, which for a little time had been shaken, was restored.</p> + +<p>With this load lifted from her mind Jerry's recovery was +rapid, and when the autumnal suns were just beginning to +tinge the woodbine on the Tramp House and the maples in the +park woods with scarlet, she took her accustomed seat in Arthur's +room and commenced her lessons again with Maude, who +had missed her sadly and who would have gone to see her every +day during her sickness if her mother had permitted it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII" ></a>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR'S LETTER.</h2> + + +<p>Two weeks had passed since Jerry's return to her lessons, +and people had ceased to talk of the missing diamonds, +although the offered reward of $500 was still in the +weekly papers, and a detective still had the matter in charge, +without, however, achieving the slightest success. No one had +ever been suspected, and the thief, whoever he was, must have +been an expert, and managed the affair with the most consummate +skill. Now that she had another set, Mrs. Tracy was +content, and peace and quiet reigned in the household, except +so far as Arthur was concerned. He was restless and nervous, +and given to fits of abstraction, which sometimes made him +forget the two little girls, one of whom watched him narrowly; +and once when they were alone and he seemed unusually absorbed +in thought, she asked him if he were trying to think of +something.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he said, looking up quickly and eagerly; 'that is it. +I am trying to remember something which, it seems to me, I +ought to remember; but I cannot, and the more I try, the farther +it gets from me. Do you know what it is?'</p> + +<p>Jerry hesitated a moment, and then she asked:</p> + +<p>'Is it the diamonds?'</p> + +<p>'Diamonds! No. What diamonds? Didn't I tell you +never to say diamonds to me again? I am tired of it,' he said, +and in his eyes there was a gleam which Jerry had never seen +there before when they rested upon her. It made her afraid, +and she answered, meekly:</p> + +<p>'Then I cannot help you to remember.'</p> + +<p>'Of course not. No one can,' Arthur replied, in a softened +tone. 'It is something long ago, and has to do with Gretchen.'</p> + +<p>Then suddenly brightening, as if that name had been the key +to unlock his misty brain, he added;</p> + +<p>'I have it; I know; it has come to me at last! Gretchen +always sets me right. I wrote her a letter long ago—a year, +it seems to me—and it has never been posted. Strange that +I should forget that; but something came up—I can't tell +what—and drove it from my mind.'</p> + +<p>As he talked he was opening and looking in the drawer which +Jerry had never seen but once before, and that when he took +from it the letter in German, a paragraph of which he had bidden +her read.</p> + +<p>'Here it is!' he said, joyfully, as he took out a sealed envelope +and held it up to Jerry. 'This is the letter which you +must post to-day. I can trust it to you.'</p> + +<p>He gave her the letter, which she took with a beating heart +and a sense of shame and regret as she remembered her pledge +to Mr. Frank Tracy. She had promised to take him any letter +which Mr. Arthur might intrust to her care, and if she took +this one from Arthur she must keep her word.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I can't do it—I can't! It would be mean to Mr. Arthur,' +she thought; and returning him the letter, she said: +'Please post it yourself; then you will be sure, and I might +lose it, or forget. I am careless sometimes. Don't ask me to +take it.'</p> + +<p>She was pleading with her might; but Arthur paid no heed, +and only laughed at her fears.</p> + +<p>'I know you will not forget, and I'd rather trust you than +Charles. Surely, you will not refuse to do so small a favor +for me?'</p> + +<p>'No,' she said, at last, as she put the letter in her pocket, +with the thought that, after all, there might be no harm in +showing it to Mr. Frank, who, of course, merely wished to see +it, and would not think of keeping it.</p> + +<p>But she did not know Frank Tracy or guess how great was +his anxiety lest any message should ever reach a friend of +Gretchen, if friend there were living. She found him in the +room he called his office, where the dead woman had lain in her +coffin, and where he often sat alone thinking of the day when +the inquest was held, and when he took his first step in the +downward road, which had led him so far that now it seemed +impossible to turn back, even had he wished to do so, as he sometimes +did.</p> + +<p>'If I had never secreted the photograph, or the book with +the handwriting, if I had shown them to Arthur, everything +would have been so different, and I should have been free,' he +was thinking, when Jerry knocked timidly at the door, rousing +him from his reverie, and making him start with a nameless +tsar which was always haunting him.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Jerry, it is you,' he said, as the little girl crossed the +threshold, and shutting the door, stood with her back against +it, and her hands behind her. 'What is it?' he asked, as he +saw her hesitating.</p> + +<p>With a quick, jerky movement of the head, which set in +motion the little rings of hair, now growing so fast, and brought +his brother to his mind, Jerry replied:</p> + +<p>'I came to tell you that Mr. Arthur has written the letter.'</p> + +<p>'What letter?' Frank asked, for the moment forgetting the +conversation he had held with the child in the Tramp House.</p> + +<p>'The one I promised to bring you to show you—the one to +Germany,' was Jerry's answer.</p> + +<p>And then Frank remembered at once what, in the excitement +of the diamond theft, had passed from his mind.</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, I know; give it to me,' he said, advancing rapidly +toward her, and putting out his hand. 'When did he write it? +Give it to me, please.'</p> + +<p>'But not to keep,' Jerry said, struck by something in his +face and manner which, it seemed to her, meant danger to the +letter.</p> + +<p>'Let me see it,' he continued.</p> + +<p>And rather reluctantly Jerry handed him a bulky letter, the +direction of which covered nearly the whole of one side of the +envelope.</p> + +<p>Very nervously Frank scanned the address, which might as +well have been in the Fiji language for any idea it conveyed to +him.</p> + +<p>'To whom is it directed? I cannot read German,' he said</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' Jerry replied. 'I have not looked at it, and +would rather not.'</p> + +<p>'Why, what a little prude you are;' and Frank laughed uneasily. +'What possible harm is there in reading an address? +The postmaster has to do it, and any one who took it to the +office would do it if he could.'</p> + +<p>This sounded reasonable enough, and standing beside him, +while he held the letter a little way from her, Jerry read the +address in German first, then, as he said to her: 'I don't understand +that lingo, put it into English,' she read again:</p> + +<p>'To Marguerite Heinrich, if living, and if dead to any of her +friends; or to the postmaster at Wiesbaden, Germany. If not +delivered within two months, return to Arthur Tracy, Tracy +Park, Shannondale, Mass., U.S.A.'</p> + +<p>'Marguerite—Marguerite Heinrich!' Frank repeated, 'That +is not Gretchen. The letter is not to her.'</p> + +<p>'I guess it is,' Jerry replied. 'He told me once that Gretchen +was a pet name for Marguerite.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank returned, with a sigh, as this little crumb of +hope was swept away, while to himself he added: 'At all +events it is not Marguerite Tracy, and that makes me less a +scoundrel than I should otherwise be. If he had written a little +more it would have run over to the other side of the envelope. +Any one would know he was crazy,' he continued, with a sickly +attempt at a smile, while Jerry stood waiting to take the letter +from him.</p> + +<p>He knew she was waiting, and said to her, as he put it in his +pocket:</p> + +<p>'Thank you for bringing this to me. It is probably some +nonsense which ought not to go, even if the sending it would +do no harm, as it certainly would.'</p> + +<p>Until then Jerry had not realised that he did not mean the +letter to go at all. She had remembered her promise to take +it to him, and forgotten that he had said it must not be sent +lest it should do harm to Maude. But it all came back to her +now, and her tears fell like rain as she stood for a moment +irresolute. But loyalty to Arthur conquered every other feeling. +Surely he would not suffer any wrong to come to his own +brother and niece. The letter was harmless, and must go.</p> + +<p>'Give it to me, please. You do not mean to keep it?' she +said, at last, in a tone and manner she might have borrowed +from Arthur himself, it was so like him when on his dignity.</p> + +<p>And Frank felt it, and knew that he had more than a child +to deal with, and must use duplicity if he would succeed. So +he said to her quietly and naturally:</p> + +<p>'Why, how excited you are! Do you think I intend to keep +the letter? It is as safe with me as with you. It is true that +when I talked with you in the Tramp House I thought that it +must not be sent, but I have changed my mind since then, and +do not care. I am going to the office, and will take it myself. +John is saddling my horse now, and if I hurry I shall be in time +for the western mail. Good-bye, and do not look so worried. Do +you take me for a villain?'</p> + +<p>He was leaving the room as he talked, and before he had +finished he was in the hall and near the outer door, leaving +Jerry stupefied, and perplexed, and only half reassured.</p> + +<p>'If I had not sold myself to Satan before, I have now, for +sure; and still I did not actually tell her that I would post it, +though it amounted to that,' Frank thought, as he galloped +through the park toward the highway which led to the town.</p> + +<p>Once he took the letter from his pocket and examined it +again, wishing so much that he knew its contents.</p> + +<p>'If I could read German, I believe I am bad enough now to +open it; but I can't, and I dare not take it to any one who +can,' he said, as he put it again in his pocket, half resolving to +post it and take the chances of its ever reaching Gretchen's +friends, or any one who had known her. 'I'll see how I feel +when I get inside,' he thought, as he dismounted from his horse +before the door of the post-office.</p> + +<p>The mail was just in, and the little room was full of people +waiting for it to be distributed; and Frank waited with them, +leaning against the wall, with his head bent down, and beating +his boot with his riding-whip.</p> + +<p>'I must decide soon,' he thought, when a voice not far from +him caught his ear, and glancing from under his hat, he saw +Peterkin coming in, portly and pompous, and with him a dapper +little man, who, in the days of the 'Liza Ann, had been a +driver for the boat, but who now, like his former employer, was +a millionaire, and wore a thousand-dollar diamond ring. To +him Peterkin was saying:</p> + +<p>'There, that's him—that's Frank Tracy, the biggest swell in +town—lives in that handsome place I was telling you about.'</p> + +<p>Strange that words like these from a man like old Peterkin +should have inflated Frank's pride; but he was weak in many +points; and though he detested Peterkin, it gratified him to be +pointed out to strangers as a swell who lived in a fine house, +and with the puff of vanity came the reflection that, as Frank +Tracy of some other place than Tracy Park, with all its appliances +of wealth, he would not be a swell whom strangers cared +to see, and Jerry's chance was lost again.</p> + +<p>'Here is your mail, Mr. Tracy,' the postmistress said; and +stepping forward, Frank took his letters from her, just as +Peterkin slapped him on the shoulder, and, with a familiarity +which made Frank want to knock him down, called out:</p> + +<p>'Hallo, Tracy! Just the feller I wanted to see. Let me +introduce you to Mr. Bijah Jones, from Pennsylvany; used to +drive hosses for me in the days I ain't ashamed of, by a long +shot. He's bought him a place out from Philadelphy, and +wants to lay it out <i>à la—à la</i>—dumbed if I know the word, +but like them old chaps' gardens in Europe, and I told him of +Tracy Park, which beats everything holler in this part of the +country. Will you let us go over it and take a survey?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly; go where you like,' Frank said, struggling to +reach the door; but Peterkin button-holed him and held him +fast, while he continued:</p> + +<p>'I say, Tracy, heard anything from them diamonds?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>'Didn't hunt in the right quarter,' Peterkin continued, +'leastwise didn't foller it up, or you'd a found 'em without so +much advertisin'.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' Frank asked.</p> + +<p>'Oh, nothin',' Peterkin replied; 'only them diamonds never +went off without hands, and them hands ain't a thousand miles +from the park.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps not,' Frank answered, mechanically, more intent +upon getting away than upon what Peterkin was saying.</p> + +<p>He longed to be in the open air, and as he mounted his +horse, he said, as if speaking to some one near him:</p> + +<p>'Well, old fellow, I've done it again, and sunk myself still +lower. You are bound to get me now some day, unless I have +a death-bed repentance and confess everything. The thief was +forgiven at the last hour, why not I?'</p> + +<p>The black shadow which Frank felt sure was beside him, did +not answer, though he could have sworn that he heard a +chuckle as he rode on, fast and far, until his horse was tired +and he was tired, too. Then he began to retrace his steps, so +slowly that it was dark when, he reached the village, and took +the road which led by the gate through which the woman had +passed to her death on the night of the storm. It was the +shortest route to the park, and he intended to take it.</p> + +<p>As he drew near to the gate, it seemed to him that there was +something on the wide post nearest the fence which had not +been there in the afternoon when he rode by—something dark, +and large, and peculiar in shape, and motionless as a stone. +He was not by nature a coward, and once he had no belief in +ghosts or supernatural appearances, but now he did not know +what he believed, and this object, whose outline, seen against, +the western sky, where a little dim light was lingering, seemed +almost like that of a human form, made his heart beat faster +than its wont, and he involuntarily checked his horse, just as a +clear, shrill voice called out:</p> + +<p>'Mr. Tracy, is that you? I have waited so long, and I'm +so cold sitting here. Did you post the letter?'</p> + +<p>It was Jerry who, after he had left her in his office, had been +seized with an indefinable terror lest he might not post the +letter after all. It seemed wrong to doubt him, and she did not +really think that she did doubt him; still she would feel happier +if she knew, and after supper was over she started along the +grassy road until she reached the gate. Here she waited a long +time, and then, as Mr. Tracy did not appear, she walked up +and down the lane until the sun was down and the ground began +to feel so damp and cold that she finally climbed up to the top +of the gate-post, which was very broad, and where, on her way +to town, she had frequently sat for a while. It was very cold +and tiresome waiting there, and she was beginning to get impatient +and to wonder if it could be possible that he had gone +home by some other road, when she heard the sound of a horse's +hoofs and felt sure he was coming.</p> + +<p>'Why, Jerry, how you frightened me!' Frank said, as he +reined his horse close up to her. 'Jump down and get up +behind me. I will take you home.'</p> + +<p>She obeyed, and with the agility of a little cat, got down from +the gate-post and on to the horse's back, putting both arms +around Frank's waist to keep herself steady, for the big +horse took long steps, and she felt a little afraid.</p> + +<p>'Did you post the letter?' she asked again, as they left the +gate behind them and struck into the lane.</p> + +<p>To lie now was easy enough, and Frank answered without +hesitation:</p> + +<p>'Of course. Did you think I would forget it?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Jerry answered. 'I knew you would not. I only +wanted to be sure, because he trusted it to me, and not to have +sent it would have been mean, and a sneak, and a lie, and a +steal. Don't you think so?'</p> + +<p>She emphasized the 'steal,' and the 'lie,' and the 'sneak,' +and the 'mean,' with a kick that made the horse jump a little +and quicken his steps.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank assented; it would be all she affirmed, and +more too, and the man who could do such a thing was wholly +unworthy the respect of any one, and ought to be punished to +the full extent of the law.</p> + +<p>'That's so,' Jerry said, with another emphatic kick and a +slight tightening of her arm around the conscience-stricken +man, who wondered if he should ever reach the cottage and be +free from the clasp of those arms, which seemed to him like +bands of fire burning to his soul. 'I'd never speak to him +again,' Jerry continued, 'and Mr. Arthur wouldn't either. He +is so right-up, and hates a trick. I don't believe, either, that +any harm will come to Maude from that letter, as you said. If +there does, and Mr. Arthur can fix it, he will, I know, for I +shall ask him, and he once told me he would do anything for +me, because I look as he thinks Gretchen must have looked +when she was a little girl like me.'</p> + +<p>They had reached the cottage by this time, where they found +Harold in the yard looking up and down the lane for Jerry, +whose protracted absence at that hour had caused them some +anxiety, even though they were accustomed to her long rambles +by herself and frequent absences from home. It was not an +unusual thing for her to linger in the Tramp House, even after +dark, talking to herself, and Gretchen, and Mah-nee, and her +mother and a sick woman, whose face was far back in the past. +She was there now, Harold supposed, and this belief was confirmed +when Mr. Tracy said to him:</p> + +<p>'You see I have picked up your little girl and brought her +home. Jump down, Jerry, and good-night to you.'</p> + +<p>She was on the ground in an instant, and he was soon galloping +toward home, saying to himself:</p> + +<p>'I don't believe I can even have a death-bed repentance now. +I have told too many lies for that, and more than all, must go +on lying to the end. I have sold my soul for a life of luxury, +which after all is very pleasant,' he continued, as he drew near +the house, which was brilliantly lighted up, while through the +long windows of the drawing-room he could see the table, with +its silver and glass and flowers, and the cheerful blaze upon the +hearth of the fire-place, which Dolly had persuaded Arthur +to have built. There was every kind of bric-a-brac on the tall +mantel, and Frank saw it as he passed, and saw the colored +man moving slowly about the room after the manner of a well-trained +servant who understands his business. There was company +staying in the house, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond, from Kentucky, +father and mother to Fred; and Mr. and Mrs. St. Claire, +and Grace Atherton, and Squire Harrington had been invited +to dinner, and were already in the dining-room when Frank +entered it after a hasty toilet.</p> + +<p>He had been out in the country and ridden further than he +had intended, he said by way of apology, as he greeted his +guests, and then took Mrs. Raymond into dinner, which, with +the exception of the soup and fish, was served from side tables. +This was Dolly's last new kink, as Frank called it, and Dolly +was very fine, in claret velvet, with her new diamonds, +which were greatly admired, Grace Atherton declaring that she +liked them quite as well as the stolen ones, whose setting was +rather <i>passé.</i></p> + +<p>'That is just why I liked them so, because they were old-fashioned; +it made them look like heir-looms, and showed that +one had always had a family,' Dolly said.</p> + +<p>Grace Atherton shrugged her still plump shoulders just a +little, and thought of the first call she ever made upon Dolly, +when she entered through the kitchen and the lady entertained +her in her working-apron!</p> + +<p>Dolly did not look now as if she had ever seen a working-apron, +and was very bright and talkative, and entertaining, +and all the more so because of her husband's silence. He was +given to moods, and sometimes aggravated his wife to desperation +when he left all the conversation to her.</p> + +<p>'Do talk,' she would say to him when they were alone. 'Do +talk to people and not sit so glum, with that great wrinkle +between your eyes as if you were mad at something; and do +laugh, too, when anybody tells anything worth laughing at, and +not leave it all to me. Why, I actually giggle at times until I +feel like a fool, while you never smile or act as if you heard a +word. Look at me occasionally, and when I elevate my +eyebrows—<i>so</i>—brace +up and say something, if it isn't so cunning.'</p> + +<p>This <i>elevating of the eyebrows</i> and <i>bracing up</i> were matters of +frequent occurrence, as Frank grew more and more silent and +abstracted, and now after he had sat through a funny story +told by Mr. St. Claire and had not even smiled, or given any +sign that he heard it, he suddenly caught Dolly's eye and saw +that both eyebrows, and nose, and chin were up as marks of +unusual disapprobation, for how could she guess of what he was +thinking as he sat with his head bent down, and his eyes seemingly +half shut. But they came open wide enough, and his +head was high enough when he saw Dolly's frown; and turning +to Mrs. Raymond he began to talk rapidly and at random. She +had just returned from Germany, where she had left her +daughter, Marion, in school, and Frank asked her of the +country, and if she had visited Wiesbaden, and had there met +or heard of anyone by the name of Marguerite Heinrich.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Raymond had spent some months in Wiesbaden, for it +was there her daughter was at school, and she was very enthusiastic +in her praises of the beautiful town. But she had never +seen or heard of Marguerite Heinrich, or of anyone by the +name of Heinrich.</p> + +<p>'Marguerite Heinrich?' Dolly repeated. 'Who in the world +is she—and where did you know her?'</p> + +<p>'I never did know her. I have only heard of her,' Frank +replied, again lapsing into a silence from which he did not rouse +again.</p> + +<p>He was thinking of the letter hidden away with the photograph +and the book—of the lies he had told since his deception +began, and now sure it was that he had sinned beyond forgiveness. +When he was a boy he had often listened, with the +blood curdling in his veins, to a story his grandmother told him +with sundry embellishments, for he was not well versed in German +literature, of a man—Foster it seemed to him was the +name—who sold his soul to the devil in consideration that for +a certain number of years he was to have every pleasure the +world could give. It had been very pleasant listening to the +recital of the fine things the man enjoyed, for Satan kept his +promise well; but the boy's hair had stood on end as the story +neared its close, and he heard how, when the probation was +ended, the devil came for his victim down the wide-mouthed +chimney, scattering bricks and fire-brands over the floor, as he +carried the trembling soul out in the blackness of the stormy +night.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough this story came back to him now, and notwithstanding +the horror of the thing he laughed aloud as he +glanced up at the tall oak fire-place, wondering if it would be +that way he would one day go with his master, and seeing in +fancy Dolly's dismay when the tea-cups, and saucers, and vases, +and plaques, came tumbling to the floor as he disappeared from +sight in a blue flame, which smelled of brimstone.</p> + +<p>It was a loud, unnatural laugh, but fortunately for him it came +just as Grace Atherton had set the guests in a roar with what +she was saying of the Peterkin's final struggle to enter society, +and so it passed unnoticed by most of them. But that night in +the privacy of his room, where Dolly delivered most of her +lectures, she again upbraided him with his taciturnity, telling +him that he never laughed but once, and then it sounded more +like a groan than a laugh.</p> + +<p>'You have hit the nail on the head this time, for it was a +groan,' Frank said, as he plunged into bed; and Dolly, as she +undressed herself deliberately, and this time put her diamonds +carefully away, little dreamed what was passing in the mind of +the man, who, all through the long hours of the night, lay +awake, seldom stirring lest he should disturb her, but repeating +over and over to himself, the words:</p> + +<p>'Lost now forever and ever, but if Maude is happy I can +bear it.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV" ></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h2>JERRIE—NINE YEARS LATER.</h2> + + +<p>She spelled her name with an <i>ie</i> now, instead of a <i>y.</i> She +was nineteen years old; she had been a student at Vassar +for four years, together with Nina St. Claire and +Ann Eliza Peterkin, and in July was to be graduated with the +highest honors of her class. In her childhood, when we knew +her as little Jerry, she had been very small, but at the age of +twelve she suddenly shot up like an arrow, and had you first +seen her, with her back to you, you might have said she was +very tall, but had you waited till she turned her face toward +you, or walked across the floor, you would have thought that if +an eighth of an inch were taken from her height it would spoil +her splendidly developed form. Her school companions called +her the Princess, she was so tall and straight, and graceful in +every movement, with that sweet graciousness of manner which +won all hearts to her and made her a general favorite. Whether +she spelled her name with an <i>ie</i> or a <i>y</i> and stood five feet +six or four feet five, she was the same Jerry who had defended +Harold against Tom Tracy, and been ready to go to prison, if +need be, for Mr. Arthur. Frank, unselfish, truthful, and original, +she had been as a child, with perhaps a little too much +pride in her hair, which she hid once cut off to see how it +would seem, and she was original, and truthful, and unselfish +now, with a pardonable pride in her luxuriant tresses, which +lay in waves upon her finely-shaped head and glistened in the +sunlight like satin of a golden hue. But nothing could spoil +Jerrie, not even the adulation of her friends or the looking-glass +which told her she was beautiful, just as Nina St. Claire +told her every day.</p> + +<p>'Yes; I am not blind, and I know that I am rather good-looking,' +she once said to Nina, 'and I am glad, for, as a rule, +people like pretty things better than ugly ones, but I am not +an idiot to think that looks are everything, and I don't believe +I am very vain. I used to be though, when a child, but +Harold gave me so many lectures upon vanity that I should +not do credit to his teachings were I now to be proud of what +I did not do myself.'</p> + +<p>'But Harold thinks you are beautiful,' Nina replied.</p> + +<p>'He does? I did not know that. When did he say so?' +Jerrie asked; with kindling eyes and a quick, sideways turn of +her head, of which she had a habit when startled by some sudden +emotion.</p> + +<p>'He said so last vacation, when we were home, and I had +that little musicale, and you played and sang so divinely, and +wore that dress of baby-blue which Mr. Arthur gave you, with +the blush-rose, in your belt.' Nina said; 'I was so proud of you +and so was mamma and Mrs. Atherton. You remember there +were some New Yorkers there who were visiting Mrs. Grace, +and I was glad for them to know that we had some talent, and +some beauty, too, in the country; and Harold was proud, too. I +don't think he ever took his eyes off you from the time you sat +down to the piano until you left it, and when I said to him, +"Doesn't she sing like an angel, and isn't the lovely?" he replied: +"I think my sister Jerry has the loveliest face I ever +saw, and that blue dress is very becoming to her."'</p> + +<p>'Wasn't that rather a stiff speech to make about his <i>sister</i>?' +Jerry said, with a slight emphasis upon the last word, as she +walked away, leaving Nina to wonder if she were displeased.</p> + +<p>Evidently not, for a few minutes later she heard her whistling +softly the air 'He promised to buy me a knot of blue ribbon +to tie up my bonny brown hair,' and could she have looked +into Jerry's room she would have seen her standing before the +mirror examining the face which Harold had said was the +loveliest he had ever seen. Others had said the same, and their +sayings had been repeated to her. Billy Peterkin, and Tom +Tracy, and Dick St. Claire, and even Fred Raymond, from +Kentucky, who was supposed to be devoted to Nina. But Jerry +cared little for the compliments of either Fred or Dick, while +those of Tom she scorned and those of Billy she ridiculed. +One word of commendation from Harold was worth more to +her than the praises of the whole world besides. But Harold +had always been chary of his commendations, and was rather +more given to reproof than praise, which did not altogether +suit the young lady.</p> + +<p>As Jerry had grown older, and merged from childhood into +womanhood, a change had come over both the girl and boy, a +change which Jerry discovered first, awaking suddenly one day +to find that the brother and sister delusion was ended, and Harold +stood to her in an entirely new relation. Just when the +change had commenced she could not tell. She only knew that +it had come, and that she was not quite so happy as she had +been in the days when she called Harold her brother, and kissed +him whenever she felt like it, which was very often, for she was +naturally affectionate, and showed her affection to those she +loved. She was seventeen when the dream came—the old, old +story which transformed her from a romping, a rather gushing +child, into a woman more quiet and more dignified, especially +with Harold, who missed and mourned in secret for the playful +loving ways which had been so pleasant to him, even if he did +not always make a return.</p> + +<p>Though capable of loving quite as devotedly and unselfishly +as Jerry, he was not demonstrative, while a natural shyness +and depreciation of himself made him afraid to tell in words +just what or how much he did feel. He would rather show it +by acts; and never was brother tenderer or kinder toward a +sister than he was to Jerry, whose changed mood he could not +understand. And so there gradually arose between them a little +cloud, which both felt, and neither could exactly define.</p> + +<p>Arthur had kept his promise well with regard to Jerry, who +had passed from him to Vassar, and he would have kept it with +Harold, if the latter had permitted it. But the boy's pride and +independence had asserted themselves at last. He had accepted +the course at Andover, and one year at Harvard, on condition +that he should be allowed to pay Arthur back all he had received +as soon as he was able to do it. As he entered Harvard +in advance, he was a junior when he decided to care for himself, and +during the remainder of his college course, which, of course, was +longer than usual, he struggled on, doing what he could during +the summer vacation—teaching school for months at a time—and +in the college reducing his expenses by acting as proctor, and +compelling obedience to the rules of the institution. Even the few +who were aware of his limited means, and his efforts to increase +them, had to acknowledge, as he stood before the multitude, +delivering the valedictory, and exciting thunders of applause by +his graceful gestures and thrilling eloquence, that he was not +only an orator, but every inch a gentleman.</p> + +<p>His fellow students who saw him then, and listened entranced +to his clear, well-trained voice, thought not of Harold's threadbare +coat and shining old-fashioned pants, which were so conspicuous +as he pursued his studies in the class-room, but which +were now concealed by the gown he wore over them. They saw +only the large, dark eyes, the finely chiseled features, and the +manly form. But as they listened to the burning words which +showed so much clear, deep thought, they said to each other:</p> + +<p>'The young man has a future before him. Such eloquence as +that could move the world, and rouse or quiet the wildest mob +that ever surged through the streets of mad Paris.'</p> + +<p>Jerry was there, and saw and heard. And when Harold's +speech was over, and the building was shaking with applause, +and flowers were falling around him like rain, she, too, stood +up and cheered so loudly that a Boston lady, who sat in front +of her, and who thought any outward show of feeling vulgar +and ill-bred, turned and looked at her wonderingly and reprovingly. +But in her excitement Jerry did not see the disapprobation +in the cold, proud eyes. She saw only what she mistook +for enquiry, and she answered eagerly:</p> + +<p>'That's Harold—that's my brother! Oh, I am so proud of +him!'</p> + +<p>And leaning forward so that a curl of her bright hair touched +the Boston woman's bonnet, she threw the bunch of pond lilies +which she had herself gathered that day on the river at home, +before the sun was up, and while the white petals were still +folded in sleep. For Jerry had come down on the early train +to see Harold graduated, and Maude had found her in the +crowd and sat beside her, almost as pleased and happy as herself +to see Harold thus acquit himself.</p> + +<p>Maude's roses had been bought at a florist's in Boston at a +fabulous price, for they were the choicest and rarest in market. +Harold had seen both the roses and the lilies long before they +fell at his feet. It was a fancy, perhaps, but it seemed to him +that it sweet perfume from the latter reached him with the +brightness of Jerry's eyes. He knew just where the lilies came +from, for he had often waded out to the green bed when the +water was low to get them for Jerry; and all the time he was +speaking there was in his heart a thought of the old home, and +the woods, and the river, and the tall tree on the bank, with +the bench beneath, and on it the girl, whose upturned, eager +face he saw above the sea of heads confronting him.</p> + +<p>Jerrie's approval was worth more to the young man than +that of all the rest; for he knew that, though she would be +very lenient toward him, she was a keen and discriminating +critic, and would detect a weakness which many an older person +would fail to see. But she was satisfied—he was sure of +that; and if there had been in his mind any doubt it would have +been swept away when, after the exercises were over, and he +stood receiving the congratulations of his friends, she worked +her way through the crowd and threw her arms around his +neck, kissing him fondly, and bursting into a flood of tears as +she told him how proud she was of him.</p> + +<p>The eyes of half his classmates were upon him, and though +Harold felt a thrill of keen delight run through his veins at the +touch of Jerrie's lips, he would a little rather she had waited +until they were alone.</p> + +<p>'There, there, Jerrie, that will do!' he whispered, as he unclasped +her arms, and put her gently from him, though he still +held her hand. 'Don't you see they are all looking at us.'</p> + +<p>With a sudden, jerk Jerrie withdrew her hand from his and +stepped back into the crowd, her heart beating wildly, and +her cheeks burning with shame, as she thought what she had +done and how it must have mortified Harold.</p> + +<p>Maude was speaking to him now—Maude with her bright +black eyes and brilliant color. But she was neither crying nor +strangling him with kisses. She was shaking hands with him +very decorously, and telling him how pleased and glad she was. +And in his hand he held her roses, which he occasionally smelled +as he listened, and smiled upon her with that peculiar smile of +his which made him so attractive. But the lilies were nowhere +to be seen; and when, an hour later, all the baskets and bouquets +bearing his name were piled together, the lilies were not +there.</p> + +<p>'He has thrown them away! He did not care for them at +all, and I might as well have staid in bed as to have gotten up +at four o'clock and risked my neck to get them. He likes +Maude and her roses better than he does me,' Jerrie thought, +with a swelling heart and all through the journey home—for +they returned that night—she was very quiet and tactiturn, +letting Maude do all the talking, and saying when asked why +she was so still, that her head was aching, and that she was too +tired and sleepy to talk.</p> + +<p>That was the last time for years that Jerrie put her arms +around Harold's neck, or touched her lips to his; for it had +come to her like a blow how much he was to her, and, as she believed, +how little she was to him.</p> + +<p>'Maude is preferred to me—I see it now so plainly; he likes +me well enough, but he loves <i>her</i>—I saw it in the way he looked +at her that time I mortified him so dreadfully with my <i>gush</i>,' +she thought; and although of all her girl friends, not even excepting +Nina St. Claire, Maude was the nearest and dearest, she +was half-glad when a week or two later, Maude said good-bye +to her, and with her mother sailed away to Europe, where she +remained for more than a year and a half.</p> + +<p>During her absence the two girls corresponded regularly, and +Jerrie never failed to write whatever she thought would please +her friend to hear of Harold; and when at last Maude returned, +and wrote to Jerrie of failing health, and wakeful nights, and +lonely days, and her longing for the time when Jerrie would be +home, and be with her, and read to her, or recite bits of poetry, +as she had been wont to do, Jerrie trampled every jealous, selfish +thought under her feet, and in her letters to Harold urged +him to see Maude as often as possible, and read to her whenever +she wished him to do so.</p> + +<p>'You have such a splendid voice, and read so well,' she wrote, +'that it will rest her just to listen to you, and will keep her +from being so lonely; so offer your services if she does not ask +for them—that's a good boy.'</p> + +<p>Then, as she remembered how weak Maude was, mentally, +she thought:</p> + +<p>'He never can be happy with her as she is now. A girl who +cannot do a sum in simple fractions, and who, when abroad, +thought only of Rome as a good place in which to buy sashes +and ribbons, and who asked me in a letter to tell her who all +those Caesars were, and what the Forum was for, is not the wife +for a man like Harold, and however much he might love her at +first he would be sure to tire of her after a while, unless he can +bring her up. Possibly he can.'</p> + +<p>Resuming her pen, she wrote:</p> + +<p>'Don't give her all sentimental poetry and love trash, but +something solid—something historical, which she can remember +and talk about with you.'</p> + +<p>In his third letter to Jerrie, after the receipt of her instructions, +Harold wrote as follows:</p> + +<p>'I have offered my services as reader, and tried the solid on +Maude as you advised—have read her fifty pages of Grote's +History of Greece; but when I got as far as Homeric Theogony, +she looked piteously at me, while with Hesiod and Orpheus she +was hopelessly bewildered, and by the time I reached the extra +Hellenic religion she was fast asleep! I do not believe her +mind is strong enough to grapple with those old Greek chaps; +at all events they worry her, and tire her more than they rest. +So I have abandoned the gods and come down to common +people, and am reading to her Tennyson's poems. Have read +the May Queen four times, until I do believe she knows it by +heart. She has a great liking for the last portion of it, especially +the lines:</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"I shall not forget you, mother:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I shall hear you when you pass,</span><br /> +With your feet above my head<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the long and pleasant grass."</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'I saw her cry one day when I read that to her. Poor little +Maude! She is very frail, but no one seems to think her in +danger, she has so brilliant a color, and always seems so bright.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie read this letter two or three times, and each time with +an increased sense of comfort. No man who really loved a girl +could speak of her mental weakness to another as Harold had +spoken of Maude's to her, and it might be after all that he +merely thought of her as a friend, whom he had always known. +So the cloud was lifted in part, and she only felt a greater anxiety +for Maude's health, which as the spring advanced, grew stronger, +so that it was almost certain that she would come to Vassar in +the summer and see her friend graduated.</p> + +<p>Such was the state of affairs when Nina repeated to Jerrie +what Harold had said to her at the musicale the previous winter. +All day long there was a note of gladness in Jerrie's heart +which manifested itself in snatches of song, and low, warbling, +whistled notes, which sounded more as if they came from a +canary's than from a human throat. Jerrie did <i>not</i> chew gum, +but she whistled, and the teachers who reproved her most for +what they called a boyish trick, always listened intently, when +the clear, musical notes, now soft and low, now loud and shrill, +were heard outside, or in the building.</p> + +<p>'Whistling Jerrie,' the girls sometimes called her, but she +rather liked the name, and whistled on whenever she felt like it.</p> + +<p>And it was a very joyous, happy song she trilled, as she +thought of Harold's compliment, and wished she might wear +at commencement the dress of baby-blue which he had admired, +for Harold would, of course, be there to see and hear, +and as, when he wrote his valedictory two years before there +had been in every line a thought of her, so in her essay, which +was peculiarly German in its method and handling, thoughts of +Harold had been closely interwoven. She knew she should receive +a surfeit of applause—she always did; but if Harold's +were wanting the whole thing would be a failure. So she wrote +him twice a week, urging him to come, and he always replied +that nothing but necessity would keep him from doing so.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV" ></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h2>THE TWO FACES IN THE MIRROR.</h2> + + +<p>Toward the last of May Arthur came to Vassar, bringing +with him the graduating dress which he had bought +in New York, with Maude as his adviser. He had Jerrie +at the hotel to spend Saturday and Sunday with him, and took +her to drive and to shop, and then in the evening asked her to +put on her finery, that he might see how it looked.</p> + +<p>'I shall not come to hear you spout out your erudition,' he +said, 'for I detest crowds, with the dreadful smell of the rooms. +I have gotten the park house tolerably free from odors, though +the cook's drain is terrible at times, and I shall have brimstone +burned in the cellar once a week. But what was I saying? +Oh, I know—I shall not be here at commencement, and I wish +to see if my Cherry is likely to look as well as any of them.'</p> + +<p>So Jerrie left him alone while she donned the white dress, +which fell in soft, fluffy folds around her feet, and fitted her +superb figure perfectly. She knew how well it became her, and +sure of Arthur's approbation, went back to the parlor, where +she had left him. Arthur was standing with his back to the +door when she came in, and going up to him, she said:</p> + +<p>'Here I am in all my gewgaws. Do you think I shall pass +muster?'</p> + +<p>She spoke in German, as she always did to him, and when +he turned quickly, there was a startled look on his face, as he +said:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Cherry, it's you! I thought for a moment it was Gretchen +speaking to me. Just so she used to come in with her +light footstep and soft voice, so much like yours. Where is she, +Cherry, that she never comes nor writes? Where is Gretchen +now?'</p> + +<p>His chin quivered as he talked, and there was a moisture +in his eyes, bent so fondly upon the young girl beside him. He +was worn with the fatigue and excitement of his journey and the +long drive he had taken, and Jerrie knew that whenever he was +tired his mind was weaker and wandered more thin usual. So +she tried to quiet and divert him by calling his attention to her +dress, and asking how he liked it.</p> + +<p>'It is lovely,' he said, examining the lace and the soft flounces. +'It is the prettiest Maude and I could find. You know, +she was with me, and helped me select it. Yes, it's lovely, +and so are you, Cherry, with Gretchen's eyes and hair, and +smile, and that one dimple in your cheek. She used to wear +soft, white dresses, and in this you are enough like her to be +her daughter.'</p> + +<p>They were standing side by side before a long mirror, she +taller for a woman than he was for a man, so that her face was +almost in a range with his, as he stooped a little forward.</p> + +<p>Glancing into the mirror at the two faces so near to each +other, Jerrie saw something which for an instant made her cold +and sick, and set every nerve to quivering as she stepped suddenly +back, looking first at the man's face and then at her own in +the mirror. It was gone now, the look which had so startled +her, but it had certainly been there—a likeness between the +two faces—and she had seen it plainer than she had ever seen +any resemblance between herself and the picture. Gretchen +had blue eyes, and fair hair, and fair complexion, and so had +she, and so had hundreds of German girls, and all Arthur had +ever said to her had never brought to her mind a thought like +the two faces in the mirror. <i>What if it were so?</i> That was +the thought which had flashed like lightning through her brain, +making her so weak that she grasped Arthur's arm to steady +herself as she tried to speak composedly.</p> + +<p>'You are white as your dress,' he said. 'It is this confounded +hot room; let us sit nearer the window.'</p> + +<p>They sat down together on a sofa, and taking up a newspaper, +Arthur fanned Jerrie gently, while she said to him:</p> + +<p>'Do you really think I look like Gretchen?'</p> + +<p>'Yes; except that you are taller. You might be her +daughter.'</p> + +<p>'Had she—had Gretchen a daughter?' was Jerrie's next +question, put hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>'None that I ever heard of,' Arthur replied. 'Why do you +ask that?'</p> + +<p>'And her name when a girl was Marguerite Heinrich, was it +not?' Jerrie went on.</p> + +<p>'Yes. Who told you that?' Arthur said.</p> + +<p>'I saw it on a letter which you gave me to post years ago, +when I was a child,' Jerrie replied. 'You never received an +answer to that letter, did you?'</p> + +<p>'What letter did you post for me to Marguerite Heinrich? +I don't know what you mean,' Arthur said, the old worried +look settling upon his face, which always came there when he +was trying to recall something he ought to remember.</p> + +<p>As he grew older he seemed to be annoyed when told of +things he had forgotten, and as the letter had evidently gone +entirely from his mind, Jerrie said no more of it. <i>She</i> remembered +it well; and never dreaming that it had not been posted, +she had watched a long time for an answer, which never came. +Gretchen was dead; that was settled in her mind. But who was +she? With the words, 'What if it were so?' still buzzing in her +brain, the answer to this question was of vital importance to +her, and after a moment, she continued, as if she had all the +time been talking of Gretchen:</p> + +<p>'She was Marguerite Heinrich when a girl in Wiesbaden, +but she had another name afterward, when she was married.'</p> + +<p>'You are talking of something you know nothing about. +Can't you let Gretchen alone?' Arthur said, petulantly, and +springing up he began to pace the room in a state of great excitement, +while Jerrie sat motionless, with a white, stony look +on her face and a far off look in her eyes, as if she were seeing +in a vision things she could not retain, they passed to rapidly +before her, and were so hazy and indistinct.</p> + +<p>The likeness she had seen in the glass was gone now. She was +not like Arthur at all; it was madness in her to have thought +so. And she was not like Gretchen either. Her mother was +lying under the little pine tree which she and Harold had +planted above the lonely grave. Her mother had been dark, +and coarse, and bony, and a peasant woman—so Ann Eliza +Peterkin, who had heard it from her father, had told her once, +when angry with her, and Harold, when sorely pressed, had admitted +as much to her.</p> + +<p>'Dark, with large, hard hands,' he had said; and Jerrie +with the great tears shining in her eyes, had answered, indignantly:</p> + +<p>'But hard and black as they were, they always touched <i>me</i> +gently and tenderly, and sometimes I believe I can remember +just how lovingly and carefully they wrapped the old cloak +around me to keep me warm. Dear mother, what do I care +how black she was, and coarse. She was mine, and gave her +life for me.'</p> + +<p>This was when Jerrie was a child, and now that she was +older she was seeking to put away this woman with the dark +face and the coarse hands, and substitute in her place a fairer, +sweeter face, with hands like wax and features like a Madonna. +But only for a few moments, and then the wild dream vanished, +and the sad, pale face, the low voice, the music, the trees, the +flowers, the sick-room, the death-bed, the woman who died, and +the woman who served, all went out together into the darkness, +and she was Jerrie Crawford again, wearing her commencement +dress to please the man still pacing the floor abstractedly, +and paying no heed to her when she went out to change her +dress for the blue muslin she bud worn through the day.</p> + +<p>When she returned to the parlor she found him seated at the +tea-table, which had been laid during her absence. Taking her +seat opposite to him, she made his tea, and buttered his toast, +and chatted, and laughed until she succeeded in bringing back +a quiet expression to the face which bore no likeness now to +her own, but looked pale and haggard as it always did after any +excitement. He was talking of the commencement exercises, +and regretting that he could not be present.</p> + +<p>'I may not be home,' he said. 'And if I am. I shall not +come. Crowds kill me, and smells kill me, and we are sure to +have both. I wish I had a different nose, but it is as it was +made, and I think I detect some bad odor in here, don't you?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie, who knew from experience that the better way was to +humor his fancy, said she did smell something; perhaps it was +the carpet, or the curtains, both of which were new.</p> + +<p>'Very likely, and in that case the smell is a clean one,' he +replied, and began again to speak of commencement.</p> + +<p>'Harold is sure to be here,' he said, 'and he is better than +forty old coves like me. It is astonishing what a fancy I have +taken to that young man. I don't see a fault in him, except +that he is too infernally proud. Think of his refusing to take +any more money from me unless I would accept his note promising +to pay it all back in time—just as if he ever can, or +will.'</p> + +<p>'Indeed he will,' Jerrie exclaimed, rousing at once in +Harold's defence. 'He will pay every dollar, and I shall help him.'</p> + +<p>'You!' and Arthur laughed, merrily, 'How will you help +him, I'd like to know.'</p> + +<p>'I shall teach school, or give music lessons, or do both to +earn something for grandmother,' Jerrie answered, quickly. +'And I shall help Harold, and shall pay Mr. Frank all he gave +grandmother for my board. I know just how much it is. +Three dollars a week from the time I was four years old until I +was sixteen and came here to school—almost two thousand dollars; +a big sum, I know, but I shall pay it. You will see,' she +went on rapidly and earnestly; as she saw the amused look on +Arthur's face, and felt that he was laughing at her.</p> + +<p>'You are going to pay my brother to the uttermost farthing, +but what of me? Am I to be left in the cold?' he asked, as he +arose from the table and seated himself upon the sofa near the +window.</p> + +<p>'I expect to be your debtor all my life,' Jerrie said, as went +over to him and laid her soft, white arms around his neck. 'I +can never pay you for all you have done for me, never. I can +only love you, which I do so dearly, as the kindest and best of +men.'</p> + +<p>She was stooping over him now; and putting up his hands +Arthur drew her close to him, so that the two faces were again +plainly reflected, side by side in the mirror opposite—the man's +gentle and tender as a woman's, the girl's flushed, and eager, +and excited as she caught a second time the likeness which had +made her cold and faint when she first saw it, and which made +her faint again as she clasped her hands tightly together, and +leaning a little forward, looked earnestly at the faces in the +mirror, while she listened to what Arthur was saying.</p> + +<p>'You owe me nothing, Cherry; the indebtedness is all on my +side, and has been since the day when a little white sun-bonnet +showed itself at my window, and a clear, ringing voice, which +I can hear yet, said to me, "Mr. Crazyman, don't you want +some cherries?" You don't know how much of life and sunshine +you brought me with the cherries. My sky was very +black those days, and but for you I am certain that I should +long ere this have been what you called me—a crazy man for +sure, locked up behind bars and bolts. My little Cherry has +been all the world to me; and though she is very grand, and +tall, and stately now, I love to remember her as the child in the +sun-bonnet, clinging to the ladder, and talking to the lunatic +inside. That would make a fine picture, and it I were an artist +I would paint it some day. Perhaps Maude will. Poor +little Maude! Did I tell you that while she was absent she dabbled +in water-colors? and now she has what she calls a studio, +where she perpetrates the most atrocious daubs you ever saw. +Poor Maude! She is weak in the upper story, but is, on the +whole, a nice girl, and very pretty, too, with her black eyes, +and brilliant color, and kittenish ways. I did not care for her +once, but we are great friends now, and she is a comfort to me +in your absence. I am afraid, though, that she is not long for +this world. Everything tires her, and she has grown so thin +that a breath might blow her away. I think it would kill +Frank to lose her. His life is bound up in hers; and he once +said to me, either that he had sold, or would sell, his soul for her. +What do you suppose he meant?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie did not reply. The likeness in the mirror had disappeared +as Arthur grew more in earnest, and she listened more +intently to what he was saying of Maude, every word as he went +on a blow from which she shrank as from some physical pain.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Arthur continued, 'Maude is weak, mentally and +physically, though I believe she is trying hard to improve her +wind, or rather, that young man, Harold, is trying to improve +it for her. He is at the house nearly everyday, or she is at the +cottage. But, hold on! I wasn't to tell, and I haven't told—only +he reads to her, sometimes outside when the weather will +admit, but oftener in her <i>studio</i>, where she talks to him of art, +and where I once saw him giving her a sitting while she tried +to sketch his face. A caricature, I called it, ridiculing it so +much that she put it away unfinished, and is now at work on +some water-lilies he brought her, and which are really very +good. Mrs. Tracy is not pleased with Harold's visits, and I +once overheard her saying to Maude, "Why do you encourage +the attentions of that young man? why do you run after him +so, down there every day?" Hold on, again! What a tattler I +am! Why don't I stick to Dolly, who said, "You certainly do +not care for him. He hasn't a cent to his name, nor any family +and has even worked in Peterkin's furnace." What Maude replied +I do not know, I only heard Dolly bang the door hard +as she left the room, so I suppose the answer was not a pleasing +one. Dolly is a grand lady and would not like her daughter to +marry an ordinary man like Harold.'</p> + +<p>'No,' Jerrie said, slowly, as if speaking were an effort. +'N-no; and you think Harold likes Maude very much?'</p> + +<p>'Likes her? Yes. Why shouldn't he like a girl as pretty as +she is, especially when she meets him more than half way?' +Arthur replied, and Jerrie continued in the same measured +tone:</p> + +<p>'Ye-es, and you think he would marry her if her mother +would permit it?'</p> + +<p>'He is not at all likely to do that,' Arthur answered, quickly, +'A man seldom marries a woman who throws herself at his +head and lets him see how much she cares for him, and Maude +is doing just that. She cannot conceal anything. I tell you, +Cherry, if the time ever comes when you love somebody better +than all the world beside, don't let him know until he speaks +for himself. Don't be lightly won. Better be shy and cold, +than demonstrative and gushing, like Maude. Gretchen was +shy as a fawn, and after I told her I loved her she would not +believe it possible. But, child, you look fagged and tired. It +is time you were in bed. I have talked you nearly to death.'</p> + +<p>'I am not tired,' Jerrie said, 'and I want to know what it is +about Maude's going to the cottage, which you must not tell +me. Is she there very, very often, and does Harold like to have +her come, and is that throwing herself at his head, as you call +it?'</p> + +<p>She had her arm around his neck in a coaxing kind of way, +and Arthur smoothed the soft white hand resting on his coat-collar, +as he answered, laughingly:</p> + +<p>'Mother Eve herself. You would have eaten the apple, too, +had you been Mrs. Adam. No, no, I shall not tell any secrets. +You must wait and see for yourself. And now you must go, +for I am tired myself.'</p> + +<p>She said good-night, and went to her room, but not to sleep +at once, because of the tumult of emotions which had been +roused by what Arthur had told her of Maude and Harold.</p> + +<p>'I don't believe now that I really meant him to make love to +her when I asked him to amuse her,' she whispered to herself, +as she dashed away two great tear-drops from her cheeks.</p> + +<p>Then, after a moment, she continued:</p> + +<p>'But they shall never know. No one shall ever know that +I care, for I don't, or I am not going to. Harold is my brother, +and I shall love Maude as my sister, and I will do all I can to +make her more like what Harold's wife should be. She is beautiful, +and good, and sweet, and true, and with money and position +can do far more for him than I could—I, the daughter of a peasant +woman, the child of the carpet bag; and yet—'</p> + +<p>Here Jerrie's hands beat the air excitedly as she recalled +the wild fancy which had twice taken possession of her that +night, and which had been born of that likeness seen in the +mirror. Many times since she had passed from childhood to +womanhood had she speculated upon the mystery which enshrouded +her, while one recollection after another of past +events flitted through her brain, only to bewilder her awhile and +then to disappear into oblivion. But never before had she been +affected as she was that night when the possibility of what +might be nearly drove her wild.</p> + +<p>'Oh, if that were so,' she said, 'I could help Harold, and I'd +give everything to him and make him my king, as he is worthy +to be. There is something far back,' she continued 'something +different from the woman who died at my side. That face which +haunts me so often was a reality somewhere. It has kissed me +and called me darling, and I saw the life fade out of it—saw it +cold and dead. I know I did, and sometime, when I have paid +that debt to Mr. Frank Tracy, and have helped Harold, and +made grandmother comfortable, I'll go to Germany, to Wiesbaden +and everywhere, and clear the mystery, if possible; and if +mother was a peasant girl, with hands coarse and hard, and +black from labor in the field, then, I, too, will be a peasant girl, +and marry a peasant lad, and draw his potatoes home in a cart, +while he trudges at my side.'</p> + +<p>At this picture of herself Jerrie laughed out loud, and while +trying to think how it would seem to draw potatoes in a cart, +after having dug them, she fell asleep and dreamed of Maude and +Harold, and studios and lilies, and a face which was a caricature, +as Arthur had said, and which, when at a late hour she awoke, +proved to be that of the chambermaid, whom Arthur had sent +to rouse her, as he was waiting for his breakfast.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI" ></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h2>MAUDE'S LETTER.</h2> + + +<div class="blockquot"><p>TRACY PARK, June ——, 18—.</p> + +<p>'My darling Jerrie:—I wish I could send you a whiff +of the delicious air I am breathing this morning from the +roses under my window and the pond-lilies which Harold +brought me about an hour ago. Don't you think he was up before +the sun, and went out upon the river to get them for me because he +knows how fond I am of them, and I told him yesterday that they +always made me think of you, they are an sweet, and pure, and fair. +I wish you could have seen him, or, rather, have heard his voice +and seen the look in his eyes, as he said: "Yes; Jerrie is the lily +and you are the rose; you set each other off admirably. I am glad +you are so good friends."</p> + +<p>'Harold thinks the world of you, Jerrie, and were you his own +sister, I am sure he could not love you better than he does. How +handsome he has grown since I went away. I always thought him +splendid-looking, but he is more than that now; so tall and straight, +with his head set on his shoulders in such an aristocratic kind of +way, and then his eyes, which look at you so—well, I don't know +how they do look at you, but they are eyes you would trust and +never be afraid of anything bad behind them. Uncle Arthur says +his mother was lovely, and that his father was one of the handsomest +men of his time, but I am certain that Harold looks better than +either of them, and has inherited the good qualities of both, without +a single bad one. He is so nice and gentlemanly, and has such +a kind, courteous way of saying and doing things. Fred Raymond—who, +you know, is so sweet on Nina St. Clair—says that if +Harold had all the blood of a hundred kings in his veins he could +not be more courtly or dignified in his manner than he is, and that +is a great deal for a Kentuckian to say. Fred is now at Grassy +Spring, visiting Dick St. Claire, and will stay until Nina comes +home. I wish Harold was rich, and if I had money of my own, I +believe I'd give it to him, only he wouldn't take it, he is so awfully +proud, and afraid somebody will help him; and yet I respect him +for the pride, which has made him teach school, and do everything +he could find to do in order to go through college the last two years +and pay his own way. But I did not like it a bit when I heard he +had accepted a situation in Peterkin's furnace. I know he had +good wages, but it is dreadful to think of Harold under such a man, +even if Billy is there. When I told Uncle Arthur he laughed, and +said: "Honor and shame from no condition rise." I wonder what +he meant? I asked Tom, and he said I was a fool.</p> + +<p>'Weren't you proud of Harold, though, the day he graduated? +What an oration that was! and how the building shook with applause +when he came on and when he went off! And do you remember +the expression of his face when he picked up the bouquet of roses I +threw him, and looked over where we sat? I thought he touched +his lips to them, but was not sure. Do you remember? He is +studying law now all the time he can get in Judge St. Claire's office, +but he comes to read to me for an hour or more nearly every day. +He came of his own accord, too. I did not ask him, or even hint, +as Tom says I do, when I want anything; and sometimes I half +think he is trying to drive something into my head, or was, when +he began to read to me about those old Greeks, Hesiod, or Herod, I +don't know which, and Theogony—that's rather a pretty name, +don't you think so? But I could not stand the Greeks. My mind +is too weak to be impressed by anything Grecian, unless it is the +Grecian bend. You tried it until you were discouraged and gave it +up, telling me I was the stupidest idiot you ever saw! That was +the time we had the a spelling-school in the Tramp House, and you +were the teacher, and Harold chose me first, and I spelled biscuit +"bisket!" Do you remember how I cried? and when you told me +nobody would ever like me unless I knew something, Harold said. +"Don't talk like that, Jerrie; those who know the least are frequently +liked the best."</p> + +<p>'What a comfort those words have been to me; and especially at +the time when I failed so utterly in examination at Vassar and had +to give it up. Oh, Jerrie, you do not know how mortified I was +over that failure, to think I knew so little; and the worst of it is I +can't learn, or understand; or remember, and it makes my head +ache so to try. I am sorry most on father's account, he is so proud +of me and would like to see me take the lead in everything. Poor +father! he is growing old so fast. Why, his hair is white as snow, +and he sometimes talks to himself just as Uncle Arthur does. I +wonder what ails him that he never smiles or seems interested in +anything except when I am smoothing his hair or sitting on his +knee; then he brightens up and calls me his pet and darling, and +talks queer kind of talk, I think. He asks me if I am glad I live at +Tracy Park—if I like the pretty things he buys me, and if I should +be as happy if I were poor—not real poor, you know, but as we +were at Langley before I was born. I went there with him a few +weeks ago for the first time; and oh, my goodness gracious! such +a poky little house, with the stairs going right up in the room, and +such a tiny, stuffy bedroom! I tried to fancy mamma's scent +bottles, and brushes, and combs, and the box for polishing her +nails, transported to that room, and her in there with Rosalie dressing +her hair. It made me laugh till I cried, and I think papa did +actually cry, for he sat down upon the stairs and turned his head +away, and when he looked up his eyes were all wet and red, with +such a sorry look in them that I went straight up and kissed him, +and asked him playfully if he was crying for the old days when he +lived in that house and sold codfish in the store.</p> + +<p>'"Yes, Maude," he said. "I believe I'd give the remainder of +my life if I could be put back right here as I was when your uncle +Arthur's letter came and turned my head. Oh, if the years and +everything could be blotted out!"</p> + +<p>'What do you suppose he meant? I was frightened, and did not +say a word until he asked me those questions I told you about; did +I like pretty things? did I like to live at Tracy Park, and could I +bear to be poor and live in the Langley house? I just told him, +'No, I should not like to live in Langley, that I did like living at +Tracy Park, and did like the pretty things which money bought.'</p> + +<p>'"Then I ought to be content, if my beautiful Maude is so," he +said, and the tired look on his face lifted a little.</p> + +<p>'He calls me beautiful so often. But I don't see it, do you? Of +course you don't. You think me too black, and small, and thin, +and so I am. Harold never told me I was pretty, and—I tell this +in confidence, and you must never breathe it to any one—I have +tried to wring a compliment from him so many times, but it's no +use, I can't do it, he never understands anything, though he does +sometimes say, when he brings me a bright rose: "Wear it, Maude; +it will become your style."</p> + +<p>'He never says you are pretty, either, and that is strange, for I +think you have the loveliest and sweetest face I ever saw, except +Gretchen's in the picture, you look like her; I saw it so plainly two +years ago, when you were here one evening, and I spoke of it to father. +Who was she, I wonder? Uncle Arthur does not talk much of her now, +though I believe he kisses her every night and morning. How much +he thinks of you, and how much he has talked of <i>Cherry</i> since his +visit to you in May. I am so glad you liked the dress, he was so +anxious about it. Did he say any thing to you of a trip to California? +He took us quite by surprise two weeks ago by telling us he +was going. He wanted to see the Yosemite Valley before he died, +he said, and June was the time to see it. So he started off with +Charles about ten days ago, and the house seems like a tomb without +him.</p> + +<p>'If I can, I shall come and see you graduate with the other +Vassars, though I shall be ashamed to be seen where I failed so utterly. +I might have known I should, for I haven't about me a +single quality which would entitle me to be a Vassar, unless it is my +fondness for <i>gum</i>. Do you really chew an awful lot there, or is it a +fib? How learned you and Nina will be, and how you will cast me +in the shade, making me seem stupider than ever. I did try very +hard to learn to speak German when I was abroad with mamma, for +father wished it particularly; but I could not do it, and gave it up. +I have not a capacity for anything, except to love and suffer and +sacrifice for those I love. Do you know, it sometimes frightens me +to think how devotedly I could love some one. Not a girl, but a +man—a lover—a husband, who loved me. Why, I would give my +life for him, and bear any kind of torture if it would add to his happiness. +But why write this nonsense to you, who never acted as if +you cared an atom for any boy, not even Dick St. Claire, who used +to give you sugar hearts and call you his little wife. <i>Entre nous</i> +(who says I do not know two French words?) mamma would like to +make a match between Dick and me, but she never will—never! +Dick is nice, and I like him, but not that way. Poor mamma! How +much she thinks of money and position! I tell her she ought to +have a photograph of the old Langley House hung up in her room +to keep her in mind of her former condition. Just now she has the +craze to hammer brass and paint in water-colors, and goes over to +Mrs. Atherton's to take lessons. Don't you think that Mrs. Peterkin—<i>May +Jane</i>—had like aspirations with mamma, and wanted to +join the class; but the teacher found that she had as many pupils +as she could attend to, and so May Jane is left out in the cold. But +Mr. Peterkin says, 'By George, my wife shall have 'complishments +if money can buy em!' And so, I suppose, she will. What strides +those Peterkins have taken, to be sure, and what a big house he has +built with such a funny name.—"<i>Le Batteau</i>", which, as he pronounces +it, sounds like <i>Lubber-too</i>! It is just finished, and they have +moved into it. I have not been there, but Tom has, and he says it +fairly glitters, it is so gorgeous, and looks inside like those chariots +which come with circuses.</p> + +<p>'You ought to hear Peterkin talk about his '<i>Ann Lizy</i>, who, he +says, "is to Vassar, gettin schoolin' with the big bugs, and when +she comes <i>hum</i> he is goin' to get her a hoss and cart for her own, +and a maid, and a vally, too, if she wants one." Well, there are +some bigger fools in the world than I am, and that's a comfort. As +for Billy, he stammers worse, if possible, than he used to when he +told us we were "pl-p-plaguey mean to pl-pl-plague Ann Lizy so;" +but I guess I will let him burst upon you in all the magnificence of +his summer attire—his almost white clothes, short coat, tight pants, +pointed shoes, and stove-pipe hat to make him look taller. He +comes here occasionally to see Tom, and always talks of you. I do +believe you might be Mrs. Billy Peterkin and live at <i>Lubber-too</i>, if +you wanted; but, really, Billy is very kind to Harold, who gets +twice as much wages in the office, when he writes there, as he would +if it were not for Billy.</p> + +<p>'Tom is home, doing nothing, but taking his ease and aping an +English swell. You know he was with mamma and me in England, +and since his return has effected everything English, and looks quite +like the <i>dude</i> of the period. He, too, seems interested in your +return; and I don't know but you might be mistress of Tracy Park, +if you could fancy the incumbrance. Dick St. Claire is going to +Vassar to see you and Nina graduate; and Harold, too, if he possibly +can. He is very busy just now with something he must finish, +and perhaps he cannot be there. Tom is going, and Fred Raymond, +and Billy Peterkin—quite a turn-out from Shannondale.</p> + +<p>'I can hardly wait to see you. Only think, it is almost two years +since I said good-bye; for we went to Europe just after Harold was +graduated, and your last Christmas holidays were over before we +came home.</p> + +<p>'What a long letter I have written you, and have not told you a +word of my health, about which you inquired so particularly. Did +Uncle Arthur tell you anything? I wish he had not, for it worries +me to have people look, and act, and talk as if I were sick, when I +am not. If I had not a pain in my side, and a tickling cough, which +keeps me awake nights and makes me sweat until my hair is wet, I +should be perfectly strong; and but for the pain and the weariness, +I feel as well as I ever did; and I go out nearly every day, and I +don't want to die and leave my beautiful home, and father, and +mother, and you, and—everybody I love. I am too young to die. +I cannot die.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Jerrie, I am glad you are coming home! You will do me +good, just as Harold does. He is so strong every way, and so kind +I can't begin to tell you what he has been to me since I came home +in March—more than a friend—more than a brother. I do not see +why you never fell in love with him, thought I suppose it is living +with him always, as you have, and looking upon him as a brother.</p> + +<p>'And now I must say good-bye, for I am getting tired and must +rest. I was at the cottage this morning, and Harold is coming here +this afternoon to read Tennyson's "May Queen" to me. He has +read it a dozen times, but I am never tired of it, although it makes +me cry to think of that grave in the long grass, with little Alice in +it, cold and dead, listening for those she loved to come and weep +over her. You know, she says to her mother:</p></div> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">'"I shall hear you when you pass,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">With your feet above me, in the long and pleasant grass."</span><br /> +</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Oh, Jerrie, if it should be—you know what I mean; if there +should come a time when people say to each other, "Maude Tracy +is dead!" you'll come often, won't you, and think of me always as +the friend, who, weak and stupid as she was, loved you dearly—dearly.</p> + +<p>'Now, good-bye again. Harold has just come in, and says, +"Remember me to Jerrie, and tell her I shall hope to see her graduated, +but do not know, I am so busy."</p> + +<p>'Truly and lovingly,</p> + +<p>'MAUDE TRACY.'</p> + +<p>'P.S.—Tom has come in, and says, "Give my love to Jerrie."</p> + +<p>'P.S. No. 2.—Dick St. Claire and Fred Raymond are here, and +both send their regards.</p> + +<p>'P.S. No. 3.—If you will believe me, Billy Peterkin is here, nibbling +his little cane, and says, "Present my compliments to Miss +Crawford."</p> + +<p>'Just think of it. Five, or, rather, four young men—for Tom +don't count—for me to entertain. But I can do it, and rather like +it, too, though they all tire me, except Harold.'</p></div> + +<p>Jerrie read this letter, which was received a few days before +commencement, two or three times, and each time she read it, +the little ache in her heart kept growing larger, until at last it +was actual pain, and covering her face with her hands, she cried +like a child.</p> + +<p>'It is Maude I am crying for,' she kept saying to herself. 'I +know she is worse than they have told me. She is going to +die, and I am mean to grudge her Harold's love, if that will +make her happier. Why does she go to the cottage so often, I +wonder? Is it to see him? He would not like me to do that. +He was chagrined when I kissed him at Harvard. But, then, +he does not love me, and he does Maude; but he <i>must</i> see me +graduate. I'll write and tell him so. That, surely, will not be +"throwing myself at his head;"' and seizing her pen, Jerrie +wrote, rapidly and excitedly:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'DEAR HAROLD: I have just heard from Maude, who says there +is a possibility that you will not come to Vassar; but I shall be so +disappointed if you do not. I would rather have you here than all +the wise old heads in the State. So come without fail, no matter +what you are doing. I can't imagine anything which should keep +you. Tell grandma I am longing to be home, and keep thinking +just how cool and nice the kitchen looks, with the hop-vine over the +door; but she will I have to raise the roof soon, for I do believe I've +grown an inch since last winter and am in danger of knocking my +brains out in those low rooms.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye till I see you.</p> + +<p>'JERRIE.'</p></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII" ></a> CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h2>'HE COMETH NOT,' SHE SAID.</h2> + + +<p>The <i>she</i> was Jerrie, who, the night before commencement, +was shaking hands with Dick St. Claire, Fred Raymond, +Tom Tracy, and Billy Peterkin, all of whom had +arrived on the evening train, and after dinner had come to pay +their respects to the young ladies from Shannondale. The <i>he</i> +way Harold, for whom Jerrie asked at once.</p> + +<p>'Where is Harold? Is he coming in the morning?' she said, +as she stood, tall, and straight, and queen-like, before the four +young men, who glanced at each other with a significance in +their looks, which she did not understand.</p> + +<p>It was Dick St. Claire who took it upon himself to explain.</p> + +<p>'No, Hal is not coming,' he said, 'and he is awfully cut up +about it. He thought he might manage it until yesterday when +he found it impossible to do so. You see, he has taken a job +which must be done at a certain time.'</p> + +<p>'Taken a job!' Jerrie repeated. 'What job? What do you +mean?' and her blue eyes flashed upon each of the young men, +falling last upon Tom Tracy, as if she expected him to answer, +which he did in the half sneering, half satirical tone which made +her hate him and long to box his ears.</p> + +<p>'Why, it's a sort of carpenter's job,' he said; 'and I heard his +hammer going this morning before sunrise, for I was up early +for once and out in the park. Sounded as if he were shingling +a roof, and that's work, you know, which must be done in fair +weather. It might rain and spoil the plastering.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you,' Jerrie answered, curtly. 'Harold is shingling +a roof, and cannot come. But where is Maude? Is she shingling +a roof, too?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, b-b-by Jove. You've h-hit it. Maude's sh-shingling +a roof, too: the b-best joke out,' Billy Peterkin chimed in, glad +of an opportunity to join in the conversation, and so get some +attention from Jerrie.</p> + +<p>He was a little man, only four feet five with heels, and he +wore the light clothes of which Maude had written, and a stove-pipe +hat, and dove colored gloves, and carried a little cane, +which he constantly nibbled at, when he was not beating his +little boot with it. But he was good-natured and inoffensive +and kind-hearted, with nothing low or mean in his nature; and +Jerrie, who looked as if she could have picked him up and +thrown him over the house, liked him far better than she did +the 'elegant Tom,' as she had nicknamed him, who stood six +feet without heels, and who knew exactly what shade of color +to choose, from his neck-tie to his hose, which were always silk +of the finest quality. Tom was faultlessly gotten up, and he +knew it, and carried himself as if he knew it, and knew, too, +that he was Tom Tracy, the future heir of Tracy Park, if he +were fortunate enough to outlive both his uncle and his father. +Jerrie had disliked him when he was a boy and she disliked him +now, and turning her back upon him pretended to be interested +in 'little Billy,' as she was in the habit of calling him; he was +so short and she was so tall.</p> + +<p>He was speaking of Harold, and he said:</p> + +<p>'It's a dused shame he co-couldn't come, b-but he sent some +money by Dick to buy you a b-basket in New York, and +by George, we've got you a st-stunner down to the h-hotel; +only I'm a-a-fraid it'll be w-wilted some b-before to-morrow.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Dick said, coming forward, 'I should not have told +you now, if Billy had not let it out; Hal did give me some +money to buy a basket of flowers for you; the very best I +could find, he said, and I got a big one; but I'm afraid it was +not very fresh, for it begins to look wilted now. You must +blame Tom, though; he pretends to be up in flowers, and advised +my getting this one in New York, because it was so +handsome and cheap.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, it is all right,' Tom drawled, in that affected voice he +had adopted since his return from Europe. 'It was the best, +any way, we could get for the money. Hal, you know, isn't +very flush in the pocket.'</p> + +<p>It was a mean speech to make, and all Tom's audience felt it +to be so, while Jerry crimsoned with resentment and answered +hotly:</p> + +<p>'Faded or not, I shall care more for Harold's flowers than for +all the rest which may be given me.'</p> + +<p>This was not very encouraging to three at least of the young +men who were intending to make the finest floral offering they +could find, to the girl whom in their secret hearts they admired +more than any girl they had ever seen, and who, had she made +the slightest sign, might have been installed at Grassy Spring, +or Tracy Park, or Le Bateau, within less than a month. But +Jerry had never made a sign, and had laughed and chatted and +flirted with them all, not excepting Tom, who had long ago +dropped his supercilious air of superiority and patronage when +talking with her, and treated her with a gentleness and consideration +almost lover-like. Horribly jealous of Harold, whom he +still felt infinitely above, although he did not now often openly +show it, he had encouraged the visits of the latter to Tracy +Park, and by jokes and hints and innuendoes had fed the flame +which he knew was burning in his sister's heart.</p> + +<p>'There will be a jolly row when mother finds it out,' he said +to Maude one day; 'for you know she holds her head a great +deal higher than Hal Hastings, who isn't the chap I'd choose +for a brother-in-law. But if you like him, all right. Stick to +him, and I'll stand by you to the death.'</p> + +<p>This was to Maude; while to his mother, when, she complained +that Harold came there quite too often, and that Maude +was running after him too much, he said:</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, mother! let Maude alone. She knows what she +is about, and would not wipe her shoes on Hal Hastings, much +less marry him. She is lonely without Nina and Jerry, and +not strong enough to read much herself, and Hal amuses +her; that's all. I know. I have talked with her. I am keeping +watch, and the moment I see any indications of love-making +on either side I will give you warning, and together we will +put my fine chap in his proper place in a jiffy.'</p> + +<p>Tom was a young man now of twenty-seven, tall, and finely-formed, +with all his mother's good looks, and his Uncle +Arthur's courtliness of manner when he felt that his companions +were worthy of his notice, but proud, and arrogant, and self-asserting +with his inferiors, or those whom he thought such. +He had never overcome his unwarrantable dislike of Harold, +whom he considered far beneath him; but Harold was too +popular to be openly treated with contempt, and so there was +a show of friendship and civility between them, without any +real liking on either side. Tom could not tell just when he +began to look upon Jerrie as the loveliest girl he had ever seen, +and to contemplate the feasibility of making her Mrs. Tom +Tracy. His admiration for her had been of slow growth, for +she was worse than a nobody—a child of the Tramp House, of +whose antecedents nothing was known, while he was a Tracy, +of Tracy Park, whom a duchess might be proud to wed. But +he had succumbed at last to Jerrie's beauty, and sprightliness, +and originality, and now his love for her had become the +absorbing passion of his life, and he would have made her his +wife at any moment, in the face of all his mother's opposition. +By some subtle intuition, he felt that Harold was his rival, +though he could not fathom the nature of Harold's feeling for +Jerrie, so carefully did the latter conceal it.</p> + +<p>'He must regard her as something more than a sister,' he +thought; 'he cannot see her every day without loving her, and +by-and-by he will tell her so, and then my cake is dough. If +I can only get him committed to Maude while Jerrie is away, +my way is clear, for I am quite sure she does not care for Dick, +and she would be a fool not to take Tracy Park if she could get +it. And why shouldn't Hal love Maude? She is pretty, and +sweet, and winning, and will some day be an heiress. Hal +may thank his stars to get her, though I hate him as I do poison.'</p> + +<p>It was Tom who had insisted that Harold's basket should +be bought in New York, where there was a better chance, he +said, and he had himself selected flowers which he knew were +not fresh, and would be still worse twenty-four hours later.</p> + +<p>'Why don't you get yours here, if it is the be-best place?' +Will Peterkin had asked him, and he replied:</p> + +<p>'Oh, we can't be bothered with more than one basket in the +train. I can find something there.'</p> + +<p>He did not say what he intended to find, or that baskets +were quite too common for him. But after leaving the young +ladies in the evening, he went to a florist's and ordered for +Jerrie a book of white daisies, with a rack of purple pansies +for it to rest upon.</p> + +<p>'That will certainly be unique, and show her that I have +taste,' he thought.</p> + +<p>For Nina a bouquet was sufficient, while for Ann Eliza +Peterkin he ordered nothing. Tom could be lavish of his money +where his own interest was concerned, but where he had no +interest he was stingy and even mean, and so poor little red-haired +Ann Eliza, who would have prized a leaf from him more +than all the florist's garden from another, was to get nothing +from him.</p> + +<p>'What business has old Peterkin's daughter to graduate +with ladies, any way?' he thought, and he looked on with a +sneer, while Billy ordered five baskets, one of which was to be +of white roses, with a heart of blue forget-me-nots in the centre.</p> + +<p>'What, under heaven, are you going to do with five baskets?' +he asked; but Billy was non committal, for he would not own +that three were intended for Jerrie, whom he wished to carry +off the palm so far as flowers were concerned.</p> + +<p>And she did; for of all the young ladies who the next day +passed in review before the multitude, no one attracted so much +attention or received so much praise as Jerrie. For clearness +of reasoning, depth of thought, and purity of language, her +essay, though a little too metaphysical, perhaps, was accounted +the best, and listened to with rapt attention. And when the +musical voice ceased, and the young girl, who had never looked +more beautiful than she did then, with the sparkle in her eyes +and the flush on her cheeks, bowed to the audience, bouquets of +flowers fell around her like hailstones, while basket after basket +was handed up to her, Tom Tracy's book showing conspicuously +from the rest and attracting unusual admiration.</p> + +<p>But, alas for poor Harold's gift! Dick had watered it the last +thing before going to bed and the first thing in the morning, +but the flowers were limp and faded, and gave forth a sickly +odor, while the leaves of the roses were dropping off, and only +the size, which was immense, remained to tell what it once had +been. But Jerrie singled it out from all the rest, and held it +in her hands until the exercises were over; and that night, at a +reception given to the graduates, she wore in her bosom two +faded pink roses, the only ones she could make hold together, +and which Nina told her smelled a little old. But Jerrie did +not care. They were Harold's roses, which he had sent to her, +and she prized them more than all the rest she had received. +At little Billy's <i>heart</i> she had laughed till she cried, and then +had given it to a young girl, not a graduate, who admired it exceedingly. +Tom's book she knew was exquisite, and placed it +with others, and thanked him for it, and told him it was lovely, +and then gave it to Ann Eliza, whose offerings had been so +few. A bouquet from Dick St. Claire and Fred Raymond, a +basket from her brother, and one more from <i>herself</i>, were all, +and the little red-haired girl, who, with her heavy gold chain +and locket, and diamond ear-rings, and three bracelets, and five +finger-rings, had looked like a jeweller's shop, felt aggrieved and +neglected, and Jerrie found her sobbing in her room as if her +heart was broken.</p> + +<p>'Only four snipping things,' she said, 'and you had twenty-five, +and mother will be so disappointed, and father too, when +he knows just how few I got. I wish I was popular like you.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind,' Jerrie said, cheerfully. 'It was only a happen +so—my getting so many. You are just as nice as I am, +and I'll give you part of mine to take home to your mother. +I can never carry them all. I should have to charter a car,' +and in a few moments six of Jerrie's baskets were transferred +to Ann Eliza's room, including Tom Tracy's book.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I can't take that, Ann Eliza said; he didn't mean it for +me; he didn't give me anything, and I—I—'</p> + +<p>Here she began to sob again, and laying her hand pityingly +upon the bowed head, Jerrie said:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know; I understand. Something from Tom Tracy +would have pleased you more than from anyone; but listen to +me, Annie. Tom is not worth your tears.'</p> + +<p>'Don't you care for him?' the girl asked, lifting her head +suddenly.</p> + +<p>'Not a particle, as you mean. You have nothing to fear +from me,' Jerrie replied.</p> + +<p>This was a grain of comfort to the girl who had been weak +enough to waste her affections upon Tom Tracy, and who, fearing +Jerrie was a rival, was weak enough to hope that with her +out of the way she might eventually succeed in bringing him to +her feet, for she knew his fondness for money, and knew, too, +that she should in all probability be one day the heiress to a +million. So great was her infatuation for the man who had +never shown her the slightest attention, that even his flowers, +though second-hand, and not intended for her, were everything +to her, and when she packed her trunk that night she put them +carefully away in many wrappings of paper, to be brought out +at home in the privacy of her own room, and kept as long as +the least beauty or perfume remained.</p> + +<p>It was a merry party which the New York train carried to +Shannondale the next day, and Jerrie was the merriest and +gayest of them all, bandying jokes and jests, and coquetting +pretty equally with the young men, until neither Tom, nor +Dick, nor Billy quite knew what he was doing or saying. But +always in her gayest moods, when her eyes were brightest and her +wit the keenest, there was in Jerrie's heart a thought of Harold, +who had so disappointed her, and a wonder as to the nature of +the <i>job</i> which had been of sufficient importance to keep him +from Vassar.</p> + +<p>'Shingling a roof, and Maude is helping him,' Billy said, 'I +wonder what he meant?' she was thinking, when she heard +Ann Eliza cry out, that the towers of 'Le Bateau' were visible.</p> + +<p>As she had not seen that wonderful structure since its completion, +she arose from her seat, and going to the window, +looked out upon the massive pile in the distance, looking, with +its turrets, and towers, and round projections, like some old +castle rather than a home where people could live and be +happy.</p> + +<p>'It is very grand,' she said to Ann Eliza; and Billy, who was +leaning toward her, replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, too grand for a Pe-Peterkin. It wants you, there, +Jerrie, as its m-m-master-p-p-piece, and, by Jove, you can b-be +there, too, if you will!'</p> + +<p>No one heard this attempt at an offer but Jerrie, who, with +a saucy toss of the head, replied, laughingly:</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Billy. I'll think of it, and let you know when +I make up my mind to come. Just now I prefer the cottage +in the lane to any spot on earth. Oh, here, we are at the station,' +she cried, as the train shot round a curve and Shannondale +was reached.</p> + +<p>There was a scrambling for bundles, and flowers, and wraps. +Fred Raymond gathering up Nina's, while Dick, and Tom, and +Billy, almost fought over Jerrie's, and poor little Ann Eliza +would have carried hers alone if Jerrie had not helped her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII" ></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h2>IN SHANNONDALE.</h2> + + +<p>Nine years of change in Shannondale, and the green +hill-side, which stretched from the common down to +the river where, when our story opened, sheep and +cows were feeding in the pasture land, is thickly covered with +houses of every kind of architecture, from the Mansard roof to +the Queen Anne style, just coming into fashion, while the +meadow lands are dotted over with the small houses of the men +who work in the large furnace, or manufactory, which Peterkin +had bought and enlarged, as a monument, he said, and where +he sometimes employed as many as four hundred men, and had +set up a whistle which could be heard for miles and miles, and +nearly blew off the chimney-tops when it sounded in the morning +at six o'clock, it was so loud and shrill. A screecher, +Peterkin called it, and he always listened with a smile of pride +and satisfaction on his face when he heard the first indications +of its blowing, and knew that four hundred men were quickening +their stops on account of it, lest they should be a few +minutes late and have their wages docked.</p> + +<p>Peterkin counted two millions now, and boasted the finest, +or at least, the most expensive house in the county, not even +excepting Tracy Park, which still held its own for solidity and +old-fashioned dignity, and was the show place to the strangers +visiting in Shannondale.</p> + +<p>When Peterkin made $20,000 in one day from some speculation +in stocks, he said to Mr. St. Claire, who was now a judge, +and with whom he pretended to be on terms of great familiarity:</p> + +<p>'I say, judge, I'm goin' to build a buster, and whip the +crowd. I've lived about long enough in that little nine-by-ten +hole, and I'll be dumbed if I don't show 'em what I can +do. I'll have towers, and bay-windows, and piazzers, with +checkered work all 'round 'em, and a preservatory, and all +kinds of new fangled doin's. May Jane and Ann 'Liza want +that Queen Anny style, but I tell 'em no such squatty things +for me. They can have all the little winder panes and stained +glass, cart loads on't, if they want; but I'll have the rooms +big and high, so a feller won't bump his head. Yes, <i>sir</i>! I'm +in for a smasher!'</p> + +<p>And he built 'a smasher' on the site of the old house, behind +which the 'Liza Ann,' or what there was left of it, was +lying; and when the house was done, and furnished with the +most gaudy and expensive furniture he could find in Boston +and New York, he said it had just as good a right to a name +as any body. There was Tracy Park, and Grassy Springs, +and Brier Hill, and Collingwood, and he'd be dumbed if he'd +be outdone by any of 'em.</p> + +<p>'He'd like to call it 'Liza Ann,' he said to Arthur, whom he +met one day in the park, and to whom he began to talk of his +new house. 'He'd like to call it 'Liza Ann, after the old boat, +for that craft was the beginnin' of his bein' any body; but +May Jane and Ann 'Liza wouldn't hear to it. They wanted +some new-frangled foreign name; could Mr. Tracy suggest +something?'</p> + +<p>'How would "<i>Le Bateau</i>" do? It is the French for "the +boat," and might cover your difficulty,' Arthur said, without +a thought that his suggestion would be adopted.</p> + +<p>But it was, immediately.</p> + +<p>'That's jest the checker. 'Liza Ann with a new name, <i>Lub—lub</i>—what +d'ye call her?' Peterkin said, and Arthur replied:</p> + +<p>'<i>Le Bateau</i>.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes—<i>Lubber-toe</i>; that'll suit May Jane tip-top. Beats +all what high notions she's got! Why, I don't s'pose she any +more remembers that she used to wash Miss Atherton's stun +steps than you remember somethin' that never happened. Do +you?'</p> + +<p>Arthur thought very likely that she did not, and Peterkin +went on:</p> + +<p>'You say it means a boat in French; <i>canal</i>, do you s'pose?'</p> + +<p>Arthur did not think it mattered what boat, and Peterkin +continued:</p> + +<p>'<i>Lubber-toe</i>! Sounds droll, but I like it, I'll see an engraver +to-day but how do you spell the plaguy thing!'</p> + +<p>Arthur wrote it on a slip of paper, which he handed Peterkin, +who began slowly:</p> + +<p><i>L-e le, b-a-t-bat; le-bat</i>. Why, what in thunder! That ain't +<i>Lubbertoe</i>. 'Tain't nothin'!'</p> + +<p>With an amused smile Arthur explained that the pronunciation +of French words had very little to do with the way they +were spelled; then, very carefully pronouncing the name several +times, and making Peterkin repeat it after him, he said +good-bye, and walked away, thinking to himself:</p> + +<p>'There are bigger lunatics outside the asylum than I am, +but it is not possible the fool will adopt that name.'</p> + +<p>But the fool did. May Jane approved, and Billy did not +care, provided his father would pronounce it right, and so in +less than a week, '<i>Le Bateau</i>' was on Peterkin's door-plate, +and on the two gate-posts of the entrance to his grounds, and +May Jane's visiting cards bore the words:</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Peterkin. Le Bateau. Fridays.'</p> + +<p>She had her <i>days</i> now, like Mrs. Atherton, and Mrs. St. +Claire, and Mrs. Tracy, and had her butler, too, and her maid, +and her carriage; and after the house was furnished, and furnished +in style which reminded one of a theatre, it was so +gorgeous and gay, Peterkin concluded to have a <i>coat of arms</i> +for his carriage; and remembering how Arthur had helped +him in a former dilemma he sought him again and told him +his trouble.</p> + +<p>'That <i>Lubber-too</i> (he called it <i>too</i> now) 'went down like +hot cakes, and was just the thing,' he said, 'and now I want +some picter for my carriage door to kinder mark me, and show +who I am. You know what I mean.'</p> + +<p>Arthur thought a <i>puff-ball</i> would represent Peterkin better +than anything else, but he replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know. You want a coat of arms, which shall suggest +your early days—'</p> + +<p>'When I was a flounderin' to get up—jess so,' Peterkin interrupted +him. 'You've hit it, square. Now I'd like a picter +of the Lizy Ann, as she was, but May Jane won't hear to't. +What do you say, square?'</p> + +<p>Arthur tingled to his finger tips at this familiarity from a +man whom he detested, and whom he would like to turn from +his door, but the man was in his house and in his private room, +tilting back in a delicate Swiss chair, which Arthur expected +every moment to see broken to pieces, and which finally did go +down with a crash as the burly figure settled itself a little +more firmly upon the frail thing.</p> + +<p>'I'll be dumbed if I hain't, broke it all to shivers!' the terrified +Peterkin exclaimed, as he struggled to his feet, and looked +with dismay upon the <i>débris</i>. 'What's the damage?' he +continued, taking out his pocket-book and ostentatiously showing +a fifty-dollar bill.</p> + +<p>'Money cannot replace the chair, which once adorned the +<i>salon</i> of Madame De Stael,' Arthur said, 'Put up your purse, +but for Heaven's sake, never again tip back in your chair. It +is a vulgar trick, of which no gentleman would be guilty.'</p> + +<p>Ordinarily, Peterkin would have resented language like this, +but he was just now too anxious to curry favor with Arthur to +show any anger, and he answered, meekly:</p> + +<p>'That's so, square. 'Tain't good manners, and I know it, as +well as the next one. I'm awful sorry about the chair, and +think mebby I could get it mended. I'd like to try.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind the chair,' Arthur said, with an impatient +gesture. 'Try another and a stronger one, and let's go back +to business. You want a painted panel for your carriage. +How will this do?' and he rapidly sketched a green, pleasant +meadow, with a canal running through it, and on the canal a +boat, drawn by one horse, which a barefoot, elfish-looking boy +was driving.</p> + +<p>'I swow, square, you're a trump, you be,' Peterkin exclaimed, +slapping him on the back, 'You've hit it to a dot. That's +the 'Lizy Ann, and that there boy is Bije Jones, drivin the old +spavin hoss. You or'to hev <i>me</i> somewhere in sight, cussin' the +hands as I generally was, and May Jane on deck, hangin' her +clothes to dry. Could you manage that?'</p> + +<p>Arthur thought he could, but suggested that Mrs. Peterkin +might not like to be made so conspicuous.</p> + +<p>'Possibly she will not like this drawing at all. She may +think it too suggestive of other days.'</p> + +<p>'That's so,' Peterkin assented, a little sadly; 'and if she +don't take to it, the old Harry can't make her. She used to +be the meekest of wives them days she dried her clothes on +the 'Lizy Ann, but she don't knock under wuth a cent sense +we riz in the world, and Ann Lizy is wus than her mother. +But I'll show this to the old woman and let you know.'</p> + +<p>May Jane did not approve, neither did Billy. No use, they +said, to flaunt the canal, horse, driver, and all in people's faces; +and so the discomfited Peterkin went to Arthur again and told +him, 'the fat was all in the fire, and May Jane on a rampage.'</p> + +<p>'Try again, squire; but give us some kind of water and +craft.'</p> + +<p>So Arthur good-humoredly changed the canal into a gracefully +flowing river, in a bend of which, in the distance, there +was just visible a boat, which was a cross between a gondola and +one of those little dangerous things so common on the lakes of +Wisconsin. Standing in the bow of the boat, with folded arms, +as if calmly contemplating the scenery, was the figure of a +man—suppositively +Peterkin—who swore 'he'd keep this picter in +spite of 'em;' and as his wife did not seriously object, the +sketch was transferred in oil to a pannel and inserted in +the carriage, which, when drawn by two shining bays and +driven by a colored man in long coat and tall hat, with Peterkin +sitting back in it with all the pride and pompousness of a +two-millionaire, and May Jane at his side, covered with diamonds, +attracted general attention and comment. Billy seldom +patronized the carriage, but frequently rode beside it, talking to +his mother, of whom he was very fond, and taking off his hat +to every person he met, whether old or young, rich or poor.</p> + +<p>'Billy is an idiot, but very kind-hearted,' people said of him, +and in truth he was popular with everybody, especially with the +men in his father's employ, who all went to him for favors, or +for an increase of wages; for if Billy had any business it was +in his father's office, where he pretended to look after matters +and keep the books straight. Such had been the growth of +Peterkin during the past nine years. 'He had got clean to the +front,' he said, 'and was hob-nobbin' with Squire Harrenton, +and Judge St. Claire, and the Tracys,' all of whom shrugged +their shoulders and laughed at him in secret, but treated him +civilly to his face, for, deny it as we may, money has a mighty +power, and will open many a door which nothing else could +move.</p> + +<p>'Coarse and ignorant as a horse, but not so bad after all' was +what people said of him now; and in fact Peterkin had improved +and softened a good deal with the accession of wealth. +Nobody gave so largely, or lavishly either, to everything, as he +did, while to his employees he was always generous and considerate. +Once he thought to join the church, thinking that +would add to his respectability; but when talked with by his +clergyman he showed himself so lamentably deficient in every +necessary qualification that he was advised to wait a while, which +he did; but he rented the most expensive pew he could find, +and carried the largest prayer-book of any one, and read the +loudest, stumbling over the words frightfully, and kept his +head down the longest, so long, indeed, that he once went to +sleep, and had quite a little nap before his wife nudged him and +told him to get up.</p> + +<p>'Good Lord deliver us!' Was his ejaculation, as he sprang +to his feet, and, adjusting his glasses, looked fiercely round at +the amused congregation.</p> + +<p>So far as money and display were concerned, the St. Claires +and Mrs. Atherton had not kept up with Peterkin. On the +contrary, as he grew into society they gradually withdrew, until +at last Dolly Tracy had it all her own way and looked upon +herself as the lady <i>par excellence</i> of the town. She had been to +Europe. She had seen the queen; she had had some dresses +made at Worth's; she had picked up a few French words which +she used on all occasions, with but little regard to their appropriateness. +She had decorated a tea set, and was as unlike the Dolly +Tracy, who once did her own work and ate griddle cakes from +her own kitchen stove, as a person well could be. Everything +had gone well with her, and scarcely a sorrow had touched her, +for though poor, stupid Jack had slept for five years in the +Tracy lot with only the woman of the Tramp House for company, +he was so near an imbecile when he died that his death +was a blessing rather than otherwise. Tom, with his fine figure, +his fastidious tastes, and aristocratic notions, was the apple of +her eye, and <i>tout à fait au fait</i>, she said, when her French fever +was at its height and she wished to impress her hearers with +her knowledge of the language; while, except for her ill-health, +and the bad taste she manifested in her liking for Harold's society, +Maude was <i>tout à fait au fait</i>, too. She had no dread of +Gretchen, now; even Arthur had ceased to talk of her, and +was as a rule very quiet and contented.</p> + +<p>Only her husband troubled her, for with the passing years +his silence and abstraction had increased, until now it was +nothing remarkable for him to go days without speaking to any +one unless he were first spoken to. His hair was white as +snow, and made him look years older than he really was; while +the habit he had of always walking with his head down, and a +stoop in his shoulders, added to his apparent years.</p> + +<p>During the time Maude was in Europe he grew old very fast, +for Maude was all that made life endurable. To see her in her +young beauty, flitting about the house and grounds like a +bright bird, whose nest is high up in some sheltered spot where +the storms never come, was some compensation for what he had +done; but when she was gone there came over him such a sense +of loneliness and desolation that at times he feared lest he +should become crazier than his brother, who really appeared to +be improving, although the strange forgetfulness of past events +still clung to and increased upon him. He did not now remember +ever to have said that Gretchen was with him in the +ship or on the train, or that he had sent the carriage so many +times to meet her; and when be spoke of her, which he seldom +did to any one except to Jerrie, it was as of one who had died +years ago. Occasionally, in the winter, when a wild storm was +raging like that which had shaken the house and bent the evergreens +the night Jerrie came, he would tie a knot of crape upon +the picture, but would give no reason for it when questioned +except to say, 'Can't you see it is a badge of mourning?'</p> + +<p>For a week or more it would remain there, and then he +would put it carefully away, to be again brought out when the +night was wild and stormy.</p> + +<p>It was during Maude's absence that the two brothers became +more intimate than they had been before since Arthur first +came home, and it happened in this wise. Every day, for +months after Maude and his wife went away, Frank spent +hours alone in his private room, sometimes doing nothing, but +oftener looking at the photograph of Gretchen, and the Bible +with the marked passages and the handwriting around it. Then +he would take out the letter about which Jerrie had been so +anxious, and examine it carefully, studying the address, which +he knew by heart, and beginning at last to arrange the letters +in alphabetical order as far as he could, and try to imitate them. +It was a difficult process, but little by little, with the assistance +of a German text book of Maude's which he found, he learned +the alphabet, and began to form words, then to put them together, +and then to read. Gradually the work began to have a +great fascination for him, and he went to Arthur one day and +asked for some assistance.</p> + +<p>'Never too old to learn,' he said, 'and as the house is like a +tomb without Maude, I have actually taken up German, but +find it up-hill business without a teacher. Will you help me?'</p> + +<p>'To be sure, to be sure,' Arthur cried, brightening up at once, +and bringing out on the instant such a pile of books as appalled +Frank and made him wish to withdraw his proposition.</p> + +<p>But Arthur was eager, and persistent, and patient, and had +never respected his brother one half as much as when he was +stammering over the German pronunciation, which he could not +well master. But he learned to read with a tolerable degree of +fluency, and to speak a little, too, while he could understand +nearly all Arthur said to him.</p> + +<p>'Do you think I could get along in Germany?' he asked his +brother, one day.</p> + +<p>'Certainly you could,' Arthur replied. Do you think of +going there? If you do, go to Wiesbaden, and inquire for +Gretchen—how she died, and where she was buried. I should +have gone long ago only I dreaded the ocean voyage so confoundedly, +and then I forget so badly. When are you going?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't know—I don't know as ever,' Frank answered +quickly; and yet in his heart there was the firm resolve to go +to Wiesbaden and hunt up Marguerite Heinrich's friends, if +possible.</p> + +<p>'And if I find them, and find my suspicions correct, what +shall I do then?' he asked himself over and over again; and +once made answer to his question: 'I will either make restitution, +or drown myself in the Rhine.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was a constant source of misery to Frank, and yet +when she was at home he was always managing to have her at +the park house, where he could see her, and watch her, as she +moved like a young queen though the handsome rooms, or frolicked +with Maude upon the lawn.</p> + +<p>'She is surely Gretchen's daughter, and Arthur's, too,' he +would say to himself, as he, too, detected in her face the likeness +to his brother, which had so startled Jerrie in the mirror.</p> + +<p>He was always exceedingly kind to her, and almost as proud +of her success at Vassar as Arthur himself; and on the day +when she was expected home he went two or three times to the +cottage in the lane, carrying fruit and flowers, and even offering +things more substantial, which, however, were promptly +declined by Mrs. Crawford, who had signified her intention to +take nothing more for Jerrie's board.</p> + +<p>'The girl pays for herself, or will,' she said, 'and it is Harold's +wish and mine to be independent.'</p> + +<p>But she accepted the fruit and the flowers and wondered a +little to see Frank so excited, and nervous, and anxious that +every thing should be done to make Jerrie's final home-coming +as pleasant as possible.</p> + +<p>It was a lovely July afternoon when the young ladies from +Vassar were expected, but the train was half an hour late, and +the carriage from Grassy Spring and the carriage from Le +Bateau had waited so long that both coachmen were asleep upon +their respective boxes, when at last the whistle was heard +among the hills telling that the cars were coming. The Tracy +carriage was not there, though twenty minutes before train time +Maude had come down in the victoria, and on learning of the +delay had been driven rapidly to the cottage in the lane, from +which she had not returned when at last the cars stopped before +the station and the young people alighted upon the platform, +which, with their luggage, seemed at once to be full.</p> + +<p>'Your checks, miss,' the coachman from Grassy Spring said +to Nina, as he touched his hat regretfully to her, and his words +were repeated to Ann Eliza by the servant from Le Bateau.</p> + +<p>But Jerrie held hers in her hand with a rueful look of disappointment +on her face as she looked in vain for Harold or +Maude to greet her. For a single moment the difference between +her position and that of Nina and Ann Eliza struck her +like a blow, and she thought to herself:</p> + +<p>'For them everything, for me nothing.'</p> + +<p>Then she rallied, and passing her checks to the baggage master, +said to him:</p> + +<p>'If there is a boy here with a cart or a wheelbarrow, let +him take my trunks, otherwise send them by express. I see +there is no one to meet me.'</p> + +<p>'Yes'm, but they's comin',' the man replied, with a significant +nod in the direction where a cloud of dust was visible, as +the Tracy victoria came rapidly up to the station, with Maude +and Harold in it.</p> + +<p>The former was standing up and waving her parasol to the +party upon the platform, while, almost before the carriage +stopped, Harold sprang out, and had both of Jerrie's hands in +his, and held them, as he told her how glad he was to welcome +her home again. He looked tired and flurried, and did not +seem quite himself, but there could be no doubt that he was +glad, for the gladness shone in his eyes and in his face, and +Jerrie felt it in the warm clasp of his hands, which she noticed +with a pang were brown, and calloused, and bruised in some +places as if they had of late been used to harder toil than usual. +But she had not much time for thought before Maude's arms +were around her neck and Maude was standing on tiptoe and +drawing down her face which she covered with kisses; and, between +laughing and crying, exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'You darling old Jerrie, how glad I am to see you again! +and how tall and grand you have grown! Why, I don't much +more than come to your shoulder. See, Harold, how Jerrie +outshines me,' and she lifted her sparkling face to Harold, who +looked down at her as a brother might have looked at an only +sister of whom he was very fond.</p> + +<p>How pretty and piquant she was with her brilliant complexion +and her black eyes, and how stylish she looked in the +Paris gown of embroidered linen, which fitted her perfectly, +and the big hat, which turned up just enough on the side to +give her a saucy, coquettish air, as she flitted from one to another, +kissing Nina twice, Ann Eliza once, and shaking hands +with all the young men except Tom, who put his in his pockets +out of her way.</p> + +<p>He could not stand Maude's gush, he said, and he watched +her with a half-sneering smile as she tiptoed around, for it always +seemed as if she walked upon her toes, courtesying as she +walked.</p> + +<p>'I meant to have been here before the train,' she said to +Jerrie, 'and I was here about an hour ago; but when I found +the cars were late I drove over to tell Harold, as time with him +was everything. How we did drive, though, when we heard +the whistle. Come, jump in,' she continued, as she herself +stepped into the victoria. 'Jump in, and I will take you +home in a jiffy. It won't hurt Hal to walk, although he is +awful tired.'</p> + +<p>'But I would rather walk; take Harold, if he is so tired,' +Jerrie said, in a tone she did not quite intend.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Jerrie,' Harold exclaimed, in a low, pained voice, 'I +am not tired, let us both walk,' and going to Maude he said +something to her which Jerrie could not hear, except the words, +'Don't you think it better so?'</p> + +<p>'Of course I do; it was stupid in me not to see it before,' +was Maude's reply, as she laid her hand on Harold's arm +where it rested a moment, while she said her good-byes.</p> + +<p>And Jerrie saw the little, ungloved hand touching Harold +so familiarly, and thought how small, and white and thin it +was, with the full, blue veins showing so distinctly upon it, +and then she looked more closely at Maude herself, and saw +with a pang how tired and sick she looked in spite of the +bright color in her cheeks which came and went so fast. There +was a pallor about her lips and about her nose, while her ears +were almost transparent, and her neck was so small that Jerrie +felt she could have clasped it with one hand.</p> + +<p>'Maude,' she cried, pressing close to the young girl, as +Harold stepped aside, 'Maude, are you sick? You are so +pale everywhere except your cheeks, which are like roses.'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' Maude answered quickly, as if she did not like the +question. 'Not sick a bit, only a little tired. We have been at +work real hard, Hal and I; but he will tell you about it, and +now good-bye again, for I must go, I shall be round in the +morning. Good-bye. Oh, Tom, I forgot! We have company +to dinner to-night—a Mr. and Mrs. Hart, who are friends of +Mrs. Atherton, and have just returned from Germany, bringing +Fred's sister, Marian, with them. She has been abroad at +school for years, and is very nice. I ought to have told Fred +and Nina. How stupid in me! But they will find their invitations +when they get home. Now hop in, quick, and don't +tear my flounces. You are so awkward.'</p> + +<p>'I suppose Hal never tears your flounces,' Tom said, as he +took his seat beside his sister, and gave Jerrie a look which +sent the blood in great waves to her face and neck, for it seemed +to imply that he understood the case and supposed she did +too.</p> + +<p>The St. Claire carriage had driven away with Nina and +Dick, and Fred, and the carriage from Le Bateau had gone, +too, when at last Jerrie and Harold started down the road and +along the highway to the gate through which the strange +woman had once passed with the baby Jerrie in her arms. The +baby was a young woman now, tall and erect, with her head +set high as she walked silently by Harold's side, until the gate +was reached and they passed into the shaded lane, where they +were hidden from the sight of anyone upon the main road leading +to the park house. Then stopping suddenly, she faced +squarely toward her companion, and said:</p> + +<p>'Why didn't you come to commencement? Tom Tracy said +you were shingling a roof, and Billy Peterkin said Maude was +helping you.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX" ></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h2>WHY HAROLD DID NOT GO TO VASSAR.</h2> + + +<p>The cottage in the lane, as its name implied, was not +very pretentious, and all its rooms were small and low, +and mostly upon the ground floor, except the one which +Jerrie had occupied since she had grown too large for the crib +by Mrs. Crawford's bed. In this room, in which there was +but one window, and where the roof slanted down on both +sides, Jerrie kept all her possessions—her playthings and her +books, and the trunk and carpet-bag which had been found +when she was found. Here she had cut off her hair and slept +on the floor, to see how it would seem, and here she had enacted +many a play, in which the scenes and characters were all of +the past. For the cold in winter she did not care at all, and +when in summer the nights were close and hot, she drew her +little bed to the open window and fell asleep while thinking +how warm she was. That she ought to have a better room had +never occurred to her, and never had she found a word of fault +or repined at her humble surroundings, so different from those +of her girl friends. Only, as she grew taller, she had sometimes +laughingly said that if the kept on she should not much +longer be able to stand upright in her den, as she called it.</p> + +<p>'I hit my head now everywhere except in the middle,' she +once said. 'I wonder if we can't some time manage to raise +the roof.'</p> + +<p>The words were spoken thoughtlessly, and almost immediately +forgotten by Jerrie: but Harold treasured them up, and began +at once to devise ways and means to raise the roof and give +Jerrie a room more worthy of her. This was just after he had +left college, and there was hanging over him his debt to Arthur +and the support of his grandmother. The first did not particularly +disturb him, for he knew that Arthur would wait any +length of time, while the latter seemed but a trifle to a strong, +robust young man. Mrs. Crawford was naturally very economical, +and could make one dollar go further than most people +could two; so that very little sufficed for their daily wants +when Jerrie was away.</p> + +<p>'I must earn money somehow,' Harold thought, 'and must +seek work where I can do the best, even if it is from Peterkin.'</p> + +<p>So, swallowing his pride, he went to Peterkin's office and +asked for work. Once before, when a boy of eighteen, and +sorely pressed, he had done the same thing, and met with a +rebuff from the foreman, who said to him gruffly:</p> + +<p>'No, sir; we don't want no more boys; leastwise, gentlemen +boys. We've had enough of 'em. Try t'other furnace. +Mr. Warner is allus takin' all kinds of trash, out of pity, and +if he says "No," go to his wife; she'll get you in.'</p> + +<p>But the Warner factory, where Harold had once worked, +was full of boys, whom the kind-hearted employer, or his wife, +or both, had taken in, and there was no place for Harold. So +he waited awhile until Jerrie needed a new dress and his grandmother +a bonnet, and then he tried Peterkin again, and this +time with success.</p> + +<p>'Yes, take him,' Peterkin said to his foreman, 'take him, and +put him to the emery wheel; that's the place for such upstarts; +that'll take the starch out of him double quick. He's a bad +egg, he is, and proud as Lucifer. I don't suppose he'd touch +my Bill or my Ann'Lizy with a ten-foot pole. Put him to the +wheel. Bad egg! bad egg!'</p> + +<p>For some moat unaccountable reason, old Peterkin had a +bitter prejudice against the boy, on whose account he had once +been turned from the Tracy house; and though he had forgiven +the Tracys, and would now have voted for Frank for +Congressman if he had the chance, he still cherished his animosity +against Harold, designating him as an upstart and a bad +egg, who was to be put to the wheel. So Harold was 'put to +the wheel' until he got a bit of steel in his eye, and his hands +were blistered. But he did not mind the latter so much, because +Jerrie cried over them at night and kissed them in the +morning, and bathed them in cosmoline, and called Peterkin a +mean old thing, and offered to go herself to the wheel.</p> + +<p>But to this Harold only laughed. He could stand it, he said, +and a dollar a day was not to be sneezed at. He could wear +gloves and save his hands.</p> + +<p>But the appearance of gloves was the signal for a general +hooting and jeering from the boys of his own age who were +employed there, and who had from the first looked askance at +Harold because they knew how greatly he was their superior, +and fancied an affront in everything he did and every word he +said, it was spoken so differently from their own dialect.</p> + +<p>'I can't stand it,' Harold said to Jerrie, after a week's trial +with the gloves. 'I'd rather sweep the streets than be jeered +at as I am. I don't mind the work. I am getting used to it, +but the boys are awful. Why, they call me 'sissy,' and 'Miss +Hastings,' and all that.'</p> + +<p>So Harold left the employ of Peterkin, greatly to the chagrin +of that functionary, who had found him the most faithful boy +he had ever had. But this was years ago, and matters had +changed somewhat since then. Harold was a man now—a +graduate from Harvard, with an air and dignity about him which +commanded respect even from Peterkin, who was sitting upon +his high stool when Harold came in with his application. Billy, +who was Harold's fast friend, was now in the business with his +father, and as he chanced to be present, the thing was soon +arranged, and Harold received into the office at a salary of +twelve dollars per week, which was soon increased to fifteen +and twenty, and at last, as the autumn advanced and Harold +began to talk of taking the same school in town which he had +once before taught, he was offered $1,500 a year, if he would +remain, as foreman of the office, where his services were invaluable. +But Harold had chosen the law for his profession, and as +teaching school was more congenial to him than writing in the +office, and would give him more time for reading law, he declined +the salary and took the school, which he kept for two +successive winters, going between times into the office whenever +his services were needed, which was very often, as they +knew his worth, and Billy was always glad to have him there.</p> + +<p>In this way he managed to lay aside quite a little sum of +money, besides paying his interest to Arthur, and when Maude +came home from Europe in March he felt himself warranted in +beginning <i>to raise the roof</i>. He was naturally a mechanic, and +would have made a splendid carpenter; he was also something +of an architect, and sketched upon paper the changes he proposed +making. The roof was to be raised over Jerrie's room; +there was to be a pretty bay-window at the south, commanding +a view of the Collingwood grounds and the river. There was to +be another window on a side, but whether to the east or the west +he could not quite decide. There was to be a dressing-room +and large closet, while the main room was to be carried up +in the centre, after the fashion of a church, and to be ceiled +with narrow strips of wood painted alternately with a pale blue +and gray. He showed the sketch to his grandmother, who +approved it, just as she approved everything he did, but suggested +that he submit it to Maude Tracy, who she heard, had +become an artist and had a studio; so he took the plan to +Maude, explaining it to her, and saying it was to be a surprise +to Jerrie, when she came home for good in the summer. Maude +was interested and enthusiastic at once, and entered heart and +soul into the matter, making some suggestions which Harold +adopted, and deciding for him where the extra window was to +be placed.</p> + +<p>'Put it to the east,' she said, 'for Jerrie is always looking +toward the rising sun, because, she says her old home is that way. +And, besides, she can see the Tramp House she is so fond of. +For my part, I think it a poky place, and never like to pass it +after dark, lest I should see the dark woman standing in the +door, with the candle in her hand, crying for help. Where +was Jerry then, I wonder! In the carpet-bag, asleep, perhaps. +Wouldn't that make a very effective picture! The storm, the +open door, the frantic woman in it, with the candle held high +over her head, and Jerrie clutching her dress behind, with her +great blue eyes staring out in the darkness. That is the way I +have always seen it since you told me about it, and the light +you saw. I mean to paint the picture, and hang it in the new +room as another surprise to Jerrie.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't!' Harold said, with a shudder. 'Jerrie would +not like it. It almost killed her when she first knew of the cry +which Mr. Arthur heard, and the light I saw that night. She +insisted upon knowing everything there was to know; and +when I told her all the color left her face, and for a moment +she sat rigid as a stone, with a look I shall never forget, and +then she cried as I never saw anybody cry before. This was +three years ago, and she has never spoken to me of it since.'</p> + +<p>Harold's voice trembled as he talked, while Maude cried outright. +The idea of the picture was given up, and she went back +to the subject of the new room in which she seemed quite as +much interested as Harold himself. When the roof was raised, +and the floor laid, and the frame-work of the bay-window up, +she went nearly every day to the cottage to watch the progress +of the work, and to keep Harold's one hired man up to the +mark, if he showed the least sign of lagging.</p> + +<p>'She is wus than a slave-driver,' the man said to Harold one +day. 'Why, if ever I stop to take a chair, or rest my bones a +bit, she's after me in a jiffy, and asks if I don't think I can get +so much done in an hour if I work as tight as I can clip it. I +was never so druv in my life.'</p> + +<p>And yet both the man and Harold liked to see the little +lady there, walking through the shavings, and holding high +her dainty skirts as she clambered over piles of boards and +shingles, or perching herself on the work bench, superintended +them both, and twice by her intervention saved a door from +swinging the wrong way, and from being a little askew.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy was greatly opposed to Maude's going so often +to the cottage, wondering what pleasure she could find in seeing +an old house repaired, and predicting that she would make +herself sick. But Maude was headstrong and would have her +way, especially as her father did not object, but himself took +her frequently to the cottage. Frank was almost as much interested +in the work as she was, and once offered his services, as +did Dick St. Claire and Billy Peterkin.</p> + +<p>'That's splendid. We'll have a bee, and get a lot done,' +Maude said; and she pressed into the <i>bee</i> her father and Dick, +and Billy, and Fred Raymond, and Tom, the latter of whom +did nothing but find fault, saying that the ceiling ought to +have been of different woods, the floor inlaid, and the tops of +the windows cathedral glass.</p> + +<p>'And I suppose you will find the money for all that elegance,' +Maude said, as she held one end of a board for Harold +to nail. 'We are cutting our garment according to the cloth, +and if you don't like it you'd better go away. We do not want +any drones in the hive, do we, Hally?'</p> + +<p>'She had taken to address him thus familiarly since they +had commenced their carpenter work together, and Harold +smiled brightly upon her as upon a child, as she stood on tip-toe +at his side.</p> + +<p>Tom went away, but he soon came back again; for there +was for him a peculiar fascination about this room for Jerrie, +and sitting down upon a saw-horse, he looked on, and whittled, +and smoked, while Dick blistered his hands, and Fred raised +a blood-blister by striking his finger with the hammer, and +Billy ran a huge splinter under his thumb nail.</p> + +<p>Then they all went away, and Harold was left alone, for his +man had been obliged to leave, and thus the finishing up devolved +upon him. But he was equal to it. The worst was +over, and all that was now required was hard and constant +work if he would accomplish it in time to see Jerrie graduated, +as he greatly wished to do, provided he should have money +enough left for the trip when everything was paid for.</p> + +<p>But whoever has repaired an old house needs not to be told +that the cost is always greater than was anticipated, and that +there are a thousand difficulties which beset the unwary workman +and hinder his progress. And Harold found it so. Still +he worked bravely on, early and late, taking no rest except for +an hour or so in the afternoon, when he found it a very pleasant +change to walk through the leafy woods, so full of summer +life and beauty, to where Maude waited for him, with her +sunny face and bright smile, which always grew brighter at +his coming. How could he know what was in her mind?—he, +who never dreamed it possible that she, of all other girls, +could fall in love with him—'that Hastings chap, poor as +poverty,' as he knew Tom sometimes called him.</p> + +<p>That Maude liked him, he was sure; but he supposed it was +mostly for the amusement he afforded her, and for the sake of +Jerrie, of whom she was never tired of talking. Maude's +friendship was very sweet to the young man, who had so few +means of enjoyment, and whose life was one of toil and care. +So he went blindly on toward the pitfall in the distance, and +began at last to look forward with a great deal of pleasure to +the readings or talks with Maude, even though he did not find +her very intellectual. She amused and rested him, and that +was something to the tired and overworked man.</p> + +<p>The room was finished inside at last, and looked exceedingly +cool and pleasant in its dress of blue and gray, and its two +rows of colored glass in each window; for Harold had carried +out Tom's suggestion in that respect, and by going without a +new hat and a pair of pants, which he needed, had managed to +get the glass, which he set himself; for, as he said to Maude, +who assisted him in the matching and arrangement, he was a +kind of jack-at-all-trades. Maude had also helped him to putty +up the nail-holes, and had tried her hand at the painting until +it gave her a sick-headache, and she was obliged to quit.</p> + +<p>When Arthur first heard of the raised roof, he went down +to see it, and approving of everything which had thus far been +done, insisted upon furnishing the room himself. But Harold +refused, saying decidedly that it was his own surprise for Jerrie, +and no one must help him. So Arthur went away, and told +Maude confidentially that the young man Hastings was made +of the right kind of stuff, that he liked his independence, and +that, although he should allow him to pay his debt, he should +deposit the money as fast as received to his credit in the savings +bank, so that he would eventually get it all.</p> + +<p>'You are the darlingest uncle in the world!' Maude said, +rubbing her soft cheek against his, in that purring way many +men like, which made Arthur kiss her, and tell her she was a +little simpleton, but rather nice on the whole.</p> + +<p>'And you'll not tell Jerrie a word about the room!' Maude +charged him again and again, while they were in New York +selecting the dress.</p> + +<p>'Not if I can help it,' was his reply, although, as the reader +knows, he came near letting it out twice, but <i>held on in time</i>, +so that the raised roof was still a secret from Jerrie when she +reached the station and was met by Maude and Harold.</p> + +<p>The room, was all ready, and a most inviting looking room +it was, with its pretty carpet of blue and drab, and a delicate +shading of pink in it; its cottage furniture, simple, but suitable; +its muslin curtains and chintz covered lounge, and the +willow chair and round table, which Maude had insisted upon +furnishing. She <i>would</i> have some part in furnishing the room, +she said, and Harold allowed her to get the chair, which she +put by the window looking toward the Tramp House, and +the round table, which stood in the bay-window, with a Japanese +bowl upon it filled with the lilies Harold had gathered in +the early morning. He had found it impossible to go to Vassar +there were so many last things to be done, and so little +money left in his purse with which to make the journey, and +as Maude had more confidence in her own taste for the arrangement +of furniture than in his, she too decided to remain at +home and see it through. The carpet was not put down until +the morning of the day when the young men started for Vassar, +and it was the noise of the tack-hammer which Tom had +heard and likened to the shingling of a roof.</p> + +<p>'There must be flowers everywhere, Jerrie is so fond of +them,' Maude said; and she brought great baskets full from +the park gardens, and a costly Dresden vase, which Arthur had +left for Jerrie when he went away, together with his card and +his photograph, and a note in which he had written as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'MY DEAR CHILD:—Welcome, welcome home again. I wish I +could see you when your blue eyes first look upon the room I came +so near telling you about. Maude would have killed me if I had. +You have no idea how Harold has worked to get it done, and where +he got the money is more than I know. Pinched himself, in every +way, of course. He is a noble fellow, Jerrie. But you know that. +I saw it in your face at Vassar, and saw something else, too, which +you may think is a secret. Will talk with you about it when I +come home. I am off to-morrow for California. Would like to take +you with me. Maybe I shall meet with robbers in the Yosemite. +I'd rather like to. God bless you!</p> + +<p>'ARTHUR TRACY.'</p></div> + +<p>'Uncle Arthur was very queer the day he went away,' +Maude said to Harold, as she put the note, and the photograph, +and the card upon the dressing-bureau. 'I heard him talking +to Gretchen, and saying, "Gretchen, Gretchen, Jerrie will be +here by-and-by, to keep you company while I am gone—little +Jerrie, when I first knew her, but a great tall Jerrie now, with +the air of a duchess. Yes, Jerrie is coming, Gretchen." How +he loves her—Jerrie, I mean; and I do not wonder, do you?'</p> + +<p>Harold's mouth was full of tacks and he did not reply, but +went steadily on with his work until everything was done.</p> + +<p>'Isn't it lovely, and won't she be pleased!' Maude kept saying, +as she gave the room a last look and then started for home, +charging Harold to be on time at the train, and to try and not +look so tired.</p> + +<p>Harold <i>was</i> very tired, for the constant strain of the last few +weeks had told upon him, and he felt that he could not have +gone on much longer, and that only for Maude's constant enthusiasm +and sympathy he should have broken down before +the task was done. It was not easy work, shingling roofs and +nailing down floors, and painting ceilings, and every bone in +his body ached, and his hands were calloused like a piece of +leather, and his face looked tired and pale when he at last sat +down to rest awhile before changing his working suit for one +scarcely better, although clean and fresher, with no daubs of +paint or patches upon it.</p> + +<p>'They don't look first-rate, that's a fact,' he said to himself +as he surveyed his pants, and boots, and hat, and thought what +a contrast he should present to the elegant Tom and his other +friends at the station. 'But Jerrie won't care a bit; she understands, +or will, when she sees her new room. How pretty it is!' +he added, as he stopped to look in and admire it.</p> + +<p>A blind had swung open, letting in a flood of hot sunshine +and as it was desirable to keep the room as cool as possible, +Harold went in to close the shutter. But something was the +matter with both fastening and hinge, and he was fixing it +when Maude drove up, telling him the train was late.</p> + +<p>'That's lucky,' he said, 'for this blind is all out of gear;' +and it took so much time to fix and rehang it that the whistle +was heard among the hills a mile away, just as he entered the victoria +with Maude and started for the station upon a run.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX" ></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h2>THE WALK HOME.</h2> + + +<p>All the way from the station to the gate Harold was trying +to think of something to say besides the merest +commonplaces, and wondering at Jerrie's silence. She +had seemed glad to see him, he had seen that in her eyes, and +seen there something else which puzzled and troubled him, and +he was about to ask her what it was when she stopped so abruptly, +and said:</p> + +<p>'Why didn't you come to Vassar? Tom Tracy said you +were shingling a roof, and Billy Peterkin said Maude was helping +you.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, that's it, is it?' Harold said, bursting into a laugh. +'That is why you have been so stiff and distant, ever since we +left the depot, that I could not touch you with a ten-foot +pole.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I don't care,' Jerry replied, with a sob in her voice. +'I was so disappointed, for I wanted you so badly. Everybody +had some friend there, but myself. You don't know how +lonely I felt when I went on the stage and knew there was no +home face looking at me in all that crowd. I think you might +have come any way.'</p> + +<p>'But, Jerrie,' Harold said, laying his hand upon her shoulder, +as they slowly walked on, 'wait a little before you condemn me +utterly. I wanted to come quite as much as you wanted to +have me. I remembered what a help it was to me when I was +graduated to see your face in the crowd, and know by its expression +that you were satisfied.'</p> + +<p>'I did not suppose you saw me,' Jerry exclaimed, her voice +very different in its tone from what it had been at first.</p> + +<p>'Saw you!' and Harold's hand tightened its grasp on her +shoulder. 'Saw you! I scarcely saw any one else except you, +and Maude, who sat beside you. I knew you would be there, +and I looked the room over, missing you at first, and feeling as +if something were wanting to fire me up; then, when I found +you, the inspiration came, and if I began to flag ever so little, I +had only to look at your blue eyes and my blood was up +again.'</p> + +<p>This was a great deal for Harold to say and he felt half +frightened when he had said it; but Jerrie's answer was reassuring.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I didn't know that. I am so glad you told me.'</p> + +<p>They were close to the Tramp House now. The walk from +the station had been hot and dusty, and Jerry was tired, so she +said to Harold:</p> + +<p>'Let's go in a moment; it looks so cool in there.'</p> + +<p>So they went in, and Jerry sat down upon a bench, while +Harold took a seat upon the table where Jerrie once had slept, +with the shadow of death around her, and the carpet-bag for +her covering.</p> + +<p>'I suppose you had peals of applause and flowers by the +bushel,' Harold said.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerry replied, 'applause enough, and flowers enough—twenty +bouquets and baskets in all, including yours. It was +kind in you to send it.'</p> + +<p>She did not tell him of the wilted condition of his flowers, or +that one of the faded roses was pressed between the lids of her +Latin grammar.</p> + +<p>'Billy sent up a heart of blue forget-me-nots,' she continued, +'and Tom a bunch of daisies on a standard of violets. What a +prig Tom is, and what a dandy Billy has grown to be, and he +stammers worse than ever.'</p> + +<p>'But he is one of the best-hearted fellows in the world;' +Harold said, 'he has been very kind to me.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know;' Jerry rejoined, quickly, 'he makes his father +pay you big wages in the office and gives you a great many +holidays; that is kind. But, oh, Harold, how I hate it all—your +being obliged to work for such a man as Peterkin. I wish +I were rich! Maybe I shall be some day. Who knows?'</p> + +<p>The great tears were shining in her eyes as she talked, +and brushing them away she suddenly changed the conversation, +and said:</p> + +<p>'I never come in here that a thousand strange fancies do not +begin to flit through my brain, and my memory seems stretched +to the utmost tension, and I remember things away back in the +past before you found me in the carpet-bag.'</p> + +<p>She was gazing up toward the rafters with a rapt look on +her face, as if she were seeing the things of which she was talking; +and Harold, who had never seen her in this way, said to +her very softly:</p> + +<p>'What do you remember, Jerrie? What do you see?'</p> + +<p>She did not move her head or eyes, but answered him.</p> + +<p>'I see always a sweet pale face, to which I can almost give a +name—a face which smiles upon me; and a thin, white hand +which is laid upon my hair—a hand not like those you have +told me about, and which must have touched me so tenderly +that awful night. Did you ever try to recall a name, or a +dream, which seems sometimes just within your grasp, and then +baffles all your efforts to retain it?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, often,' Harold said.</p> + +<p>'Just so it is with me,' she continued, 'I try to keep the +fancies which come and go so fast, and which always have reference +to the past and some far off country—Germany, I think. +Harold, I must have been older when you found me than you +supposed I was.'</p> + +<p>'Possibly,' Harold replied. 'You were so small that we +thought you almost a baby, although you had an old head on +your shoulders from the first, and could you have spoken our +language I believe you might have told us where you were and +where you came from.'</p> + +<p>'Perhaps,' Jerry said. 'I don't know; only this, as I grow +older, the things way back come to me, and the others fade +away. The dark woman; my mother,'—she spoke the name +very low—'is not half as real to me as the pale, sick face, on +which the firelight shines. It is a small house, and a low room, +a poor room, I think, with a big, white stove in the corner, and +somebody is putting wood in it; a dark woman; she stoops; +and from the open door the firelight falls upon the face in the +chair—the woman who is always writing when she is not in +bed; and I am there, a little child; and when the pale face +cries, I cry, too; and when she dies—oh, Harold! but you saw +me play it once, and wondered where I got the idea. I saw it. +I know I did; I was there, a part of the play. I was the little +child. Then, there is a blur, a darkness, with many people and +a crying—two voices—the dark woman's and mine; then, a +river, or the sea, or both, and noisy streets, and a storm, and +cold; and <i>you</i> taking me into the sunshine.'</p> + +<p>As she talked she had unconsciously laid her hand on Harold's +knee, and he had taken it in his, and was holding it fast, when +she startled him with the question:</p> + +<p>'Do you—did you—ever think—did anybody ever think it +possible, that the woman found dead in here, was not my +mother?'</p> + +<p>'Not your mother!' Harold exclaimed, dropping her hand in +his surprise. 'Not your mother! What do you mean?'</p> + +<p>'No disrespect to her,' Jerrie replied—'the good, brave +woman, who gave her life for me, and whose dear hands caressed +and shielded me from the cold as long as there was power in +them to do it. I love and reverence her memory as if she had +been my mother; but Harold, do I look at all as she did? You +saw her—here, and at the park house. Think—am I like her—in +any thing?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Harold answered. 'You are like her in nothing; but +you may resemble your father.'</p> + +<p>'Ye-es,' Jerrie said, slowly, 'I may. Oh, Harold, the spell +is on me now so strong that I can almost remember. Tell me +again about that night, and the morning; what they did at the +park house—Mr. Arthur, I mean. He was expecting somebody; +Nina told me a little once, but not much. Do you know? +Was it <i>Gretchen</i> he expected?'</p> + +<p>She had grasped his hand again, and was looking into his +face as if his answer would be life or death to her. And Harold +who had no idea what was in her mind, and who had never +thought that the dark woman was not her mother, looked at +her wonderingly, as he replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I remember that he had a fancy in his mind that +Gretchen was coming; but he has had that fancy so often. He +said she was in the ship with him and on the train, but she +wasn't. I think Gretchen is dead.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, she is dead,' Jerry said, decidedly; 'but tell me all you +know of the time I came.'</p> + +<p>So Harold told her again what he knew personally of the +tragedy, and all he remembered to have heard. There was little +which Jerrie did not already know, for as Harold had been a +boy when it happened, he had not heard all that was said, and +since that time other matters had crowded the incidents of the +death and burial out of his mind. The thing most real to him +was Jerrie herself, the beautiful girl sitting by his side, astonishing +him so with her mood and her questions. He had seen +her often in her spells, as he called them; when she acted her +pantomimes, and talked to people whom she said she saw; but +he had only thought of them as the vagaries of a peculiar mind—a +German mind his grandmother said, and he accepted her +theory as the correct one.</p> + +<p>He had never seen Jerrie as she was now, with that rapt +look in her face and in her eyes, which shone with a strange +light as she went on to speak of the things which sometimes +came and went so fast, and which she tried in vain to retain. +It had never occurred to him that the woman he had found +dead was not her mother, and he thought her crazy when she +put the question to him. But he was a man, solid and steady, +with no vagaries of the brain, and not a tithe of the impetuosity +and immigration of the girl, who went on to ask him if he +had ever seen any one whom she resembled.</p> + +<p>He was wondering, in a vague kind of way, how long she +meant to stay there, and if the tea-cakes his grandmother was +going to make for supper would be spoiled, when she asked the +question, to which he replied.</p> + +<p>'No, I don't think I ever did, unless it is Gretchen. You are +some like her, but I suppose many German girls have her complexion +and hair.'</p> + +<p>The answer was not very reassuring, and Jerrie showed it in +her fact, which was still upturned to Harold, who, looking +down upon it and the earnest, wistful expression which had +settled there, started suddenly as if an arrow had struck him, +for he saw the likeness Jerry had seen in the glass, and taking +the upturned face between both his hands, he studied it intently, +while, like lightening, the possibility of the thing flashed +through his brain, making him colder and fainter than Jerrie +herself when she looked into the mirror.</p> + +<p>'What if it were so?' he said to himself, while everything +seemed slipping away from him, but mostly Jerrie, who, if it +were so, would be separated from him by a gulf he could not +pass; for what could the daughter of Arthur Tracy care for +him, the poor boy, whose life had been one fight with poverty, +and whose worn, shabby clothes, on which the full western sunlight +was falling, told plainer than words of the poverty which +still held him in thrall.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie!' he cried, rising to his feet, and letting the hands +which had clasped her face drop down to her shoulders, which +they pressed tightly, as if he thus would keep her with him—'Oh, +Jerrie, you are like Arthur Tracy, or you were when you +looked at me so earnestly; but it is gone now. Do you—have +you thought that Gretchen was your mother?'</p> + +<p>He was pale as a corpse, and Jerrie was the calmer of the +two, as she told him frankly all she had thought and felt since +Arthur's visit to her.</p> + +<p>'I meant to tell you,' she said, 'though not quite so soon; +but when I came in here I could not help it, things crowd upon +me so. It may be, and probably is, all a fancy, but there is +something in my babyhood different from the woman who died, +and when I am able to do it I am going to Wiesbaden, for that +is where Gretchen lived, and where I believe I came from, and +if there is anything I shall find it. Oh, Harold!' and she +grasped his hand in hers, 'I may not be Gretchen's daughter, +but if I am more than a peasant girl—if anything good comes +of my search, my greatest joy will be that I can share with you +who have been so kind to me. I will gladly give you and +grandma every dollar I may ever have, and then I should not +pay you.'</p> + +<p>'There is nothing owing me,' Harold said, the pain in his +heart and his fear of losing her growing lean as she talked. +'You have brought me nearly all the happiness I have ever +known; for when I was a boy and every bone ached with the +hard work I had to do—the thought that Jerry was waiting +for me at home, that her face would greet me at the window, +or in the door, made the labor light; and now that I am a man—' +He paused a moment, and Jerrie's head dropped a little, +for his voice was very low and soft, and she waited with a beating +heart for him to go on. 'Now that I am a man, life would be +nothing to me without you.'</p> + +<p>Was this a declaration of love? It almost seemed so, and +but for a thought of Maude, Jerry might have believed it was +such, and lead him on to something more definite. As it was, +her heart gave a great bound of joy, which showed itself on her +face as she replied:</p> + +<p>'If I make your life happier, <i>I</i> am glad; for never had a poor, +unknown girl so good and true a brother as I. But come, I +have kept you here too long, and grandma must be wondering +where we are.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, and supper will be spoiled,' Harold said, as he followed +her to the door. 'We are to have it in the back porch, where +it is so cool, and to have tea-cakes, with strawberries from our +own vines, and cream from our own cow, or rather your cow. +Did I write you that she had a splendid calf, which we call +Clover-top.</p> + +<p>They had come back to commonplaces now, Jerrie's clairvoyant +spell had passed and she was herself again, simple Jerrie +Crawford, walking along the familiar path, and talking of the +cow which Frank Tracy had given her when it was a little +sickly calf, whose mother had died. She had taken it home +and nursed it so carefully that it was now a healthy little Jersey, +whom she called Nannie.</p> + +<p>'A funny name for a cow,' Harold had said, and she had +replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes, but it keeps repeating itself in my brain. I have known +a Nannie sometime, sure, and may as well perpetuate the name +in my bossy as anywhere.'</p> + +<p>Nannie was in a little enclosure by the side of the lane, and +at Harold's call she came at once to the fence, over which she +put her face for the caress she was sure to get, while Clover-top +kicked up her heels and acted as if she, too, understood and +were glad Jerrie had come.</p> + +<p>'Oh, it is so pleasant everywhere, and I am so glad to be +home again,' Jerrie said, as her eyes went rapidly from one +thing to another, until at last they fell upon the raised roof +shining to new and yellow in the sunlight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI" ></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h2>AT HOME.</h2> + + +<p>Oh, Harold, what is that? What have you been +doing?' Jerrie cried, stopping short, while a suspicion +of the truth began to dawn upon her.</p> + +<p>'That is the roof Tom told you I was shingling,' Harold +replied; and taking her by the arm, he hurried her into the +cottage where Mrs. Crawford stood at the door, in her broad +white apron and the neat muslin cap which Maude has fashioned +for her.</p> + +<p>With a cry of joy, Jerrie took the old lady in her arms, and +kissed and cried over her.</p> + +<p>'It is so nice to be home, and everything is so pleasant!' she +said, as her eyes swept the sitting-room and kitchen, and back +porch where the tea-table was laid, with its luscious berries and +pitchers of cream. +'Go right up stairs with Harold. I have just come down, +and cannot go up again,' Mrs. Crawford said, excitedly; and, +with a bound, Jerry was up the stairs and into the lovely room.</p> + +<p>When she saw them coming in the lane, Mrs. Crawford had +gone up and opened the shutters, letting in a flood of light, so +that nothing should escape Jerrie's notice. And she saw it all +at a glance—the high walls, the carpet, the furniture, the curtains, +and the flowers—and knew why Harold did not come to +Vassar.</p> + +<p>He was standing in the bay-window, watching her, and the +light fell full upon his shabby clothes, which Jerrie noticed for +the first time, knowing exactly why he must wear them, and +understanding perfectly all the self-denials and sacrifices he had +made for her, who had been angry because he did not come to +see her graduated. Had she been three years younger, she +would have thrown herself into his arms and died there. Harold +half thought and hoped she was going to do so now, for she +made a rush toward him, then stopped suddenly, and sinking +into the willow chair—Maude's gift—began to sob aloud, while +Harold stood looking at her, wishing she had not cried, and +wondering what he ought to do.</p> + +<p>'Don't you like it, Jerrie?' he said at last.</p> + +<p>'Like it?' and in the blue eyes so full of tears which she +flashed upon him, he read her answer. 'Like it! Oh, Harold, +it is perfect! I never saw a room I liked better. But why did +you do it? Was it because of that foolish speech of mine about +knocking my brains out, the ceiling was so low?'</p> + +<p>'Not at all,' Harold replied. 'I had the idea in my head long +before you wrote that to me, but could not quite see my way +clear until last spring. I have seen Nina's room and Maude's, +and have heard that Ann Eliza Peterkin's was finer than the +Queen's at Windsor, and I did not like to think of you in the +cooped up place this was, with the slanting roof and low windows. +I am glad you like it.'</p> + +<p>And then, knowing that she would never let him rest until +he had done so, he told her all the ways and means by which he +had been able to accomplish it, except indeed, his own self-denials +and sacrifices of pride, and even comfort. But this she +understood, and noticed again more carefully the shabby coat, +and pants, and shoes, and the calloused hands, which lay upon +his knees as he talked, and which she wished so much to take in +hers and kiss and pity, for the hard work they had done for +her. But this would have been 'throwing herself at his head.'</p> + +<p>She was constantly thinking of Arthur's words, and so she +only cried the more, as she told Harold how much she thanked +him, and never could repay him for what he had done for her.</p> + +<p>'But it was a pleasure, Jerrie,' he said.' I never enjoyed +anything in my life as I have working in this room, with Maude +to help me. She was here nearly every day, and by her courage +and enthusiasm kept me up to fever heat. She puttied up +the nail-holes and painted your dressing-room, and would have +helped shingle the roof if I had permitted it. She gave the +chair you sit in, and the table in the window. She would do that +and I let her; but when Mr. Arthur offered his assistance, +and the other Mr. Tracy, I refused, for I wanted it all my own, +for you.'</p> + +<p>He was speaking rapidly and excitedly, and had Jerrie looked +she would have seen in his face all she was to him; but she did +not look up, and at mention of Maude a cloud fell suddenly +upon her. But she would not let it remain; she would be happy +and make Harold so, too. So she told him again of her delight, +and what a joyous coming home it was.</p> + +<p>She had not yet seen Arthur's card, and photograph, and +note; but Harold called her attention to them; and taking up +the latter, she opened it, while her heart gave a great throb of +something between joy and pain as she saw the words, 'My +dear child,' and then went on to read the note so characteristic +of him.</p> + +<p>'What a strange fancy of his to go off so suddenly to California. +I wonder Mr. Frank allowed it,' she said, as she put the +note in her pocket, and then, at a call from Mrs. Crawford, +went down to where the supper was waiting for her.</p> + +<p>The tea cakes were a little cold, but everything else was delicious, +from the fragrant tea to the ripe berries and thick, sweet +cream, and Jerrie enjoyed it all with the keen relish of youth +and perfect health.</p> + +<p>After supper was over Jerrie made her grandmother sit still +while she washed up and put away the dishes, singing as she +worked, and whistling, too—loud, dear, ringing strains, which +made a robin in the grass fly up to the perch, where, with his +head turned on one side he listened, as if in wonder, to this new +songster, whose notes were strange to him.</p> + +<p>And Jerrie did seem like some joyous bird just let loose from +prison, as she flitted from one thing to another, now setting her +grandmother's cap a little more squarely on her head, and bending +to kiss the silvery hair as she said to her, 'Your working +days are over now, for I have come home to care for you, and +in the future you have nothing to do but to sit still, with your +dear old lame feet on a cushion;' now helping Harold water the +flowers in the borders, and pinning a June pink in his buttonhole, +while he longed to take her in his arms and kiss her as in +the days when they were children together; now, going with +him to milk Nannie, who, either remembering Jerrie, or recognizing +a friend in her, allowed her gentle face to be petted and +her horn to be decorated with a knot of blue ribbon, which +Jerrie took from her throat, and which Harold afterward took +from Nannie's horn and hid away with the withered lillies +Jerrie had thrown him that day at Harvard when her face and +her eyes had been his inspiration.</p> + +<p>They kept early hours at the cottage, and the people at the +Park House were little more than through the grand dinner +they were giving, when Jerrie said good-night to her grandmother +and Harold, and went up to her new room under the +raised roof. It was a lovely summer night, and the moonlight +fell softly upon the grass and shrubs outside, and shone far down +the long lane where the Tramp House stood, with its thick covering +of woodbine.</p> + +<p>Leaning from the window Jerrie looked out upon the night, +while a thousand thoughts and fancies came crowding into her +brain, all born of that likeness seen by her in the mirror when +Arthur was with her at Vassar, and which Harold, too, had recognized +that afternoon when she sat with him in the Tramp +House. After Arthur had left her in May, she had been too +busy to indulge often in idle dreams, but they had come back +to her again with an overwhelming force, which seemed for a +few moments to lift the veil of mystery and show her the past, +for which she was so eagerly longing. The pale lace was clearer, +more distinct in her mind, as was the room with the tall white +stove and the high-backed settee beside it, and on the settee a +little girl—herself, she believed—and she could hear a voice +from the cushioned chair where the pale face was resting speaking +to her and calling her by the name Arthur had given her +in his note.</p> + +<p>'My child,' he had written; but he had only put it as a term +of endearment; he had no suspicion of the truth if it were +truth; and yet why should he not know? Could anything obliterate +the memory of a child, if there had been one, Jerrie asked +herself, as her eyes wandered in that direction of the park, which +had once seemed to her like Paradise.</p> + +<p>'I <i>will</i> know some time. <i>I</i> will find it out myself,' she said, +as she withdrew from the window and commenced her preparations +for bed.</p> + +<p>As she stepped into her dressing room, her eye fell upon the +foreign trunk, which had come with her, and with the contents +of which she was familiar. They had been kept intact by Mrs. +Crawford, who hoped that by them Jerrie might some day be +identified. The girl went now to the old trunk, and, lifting the +heavy lid, took out the articles one by one with a very different +feeling from what she had ever experienced before when handling +them. The alpaca dress came first, and she examined it +carefully. It was coarse, and plain, and old-fashioned, and she +felt intuitively that a servant had worn it and not she whose pale, +refined face seemed almost to touch hers as she knelt beside the +box. The cloak and shawl, in which she had been wrapped, +were inspected next, and on these Jerrie's tears fell like rain, +while there was in her heart an indefinable feeling of pity for +the woman who had resolutely put away the covering from herself +to save a life which was no part of her own.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mah-nee,' she sobbed, laying her face upon the rough, +coarse garments, 'I am not disloyal to you in trying to believe +that you were not my mother, and could you come back to me, +Mah-nee, whoever you are, I'd be to you so loving and true. Tell +me, Mah-nee, who I am; give me some sign that what comes to +me so often of that far-off land is true. There <i>was</i> another face +than yours, which kissed me fondly, and other hands, dead now, +as are the dear old hands which shielded me from the cold that +awful night, have caressed me lovingly.'</p> + +<p>But to this appeal there came no response, and Jerrie would +have been frightened if there had. The shawl, the cloak, +the dress were as silent and motionless as she to whom they had +belonged; and Jerrie folded them reverently, kissing each one as +she did so; then she took out the carpet-bag, which had once +held her tiny body. She always laughed when she looked at +this and tried to imagine herself in it, and she did so now as +she held it up and said:</p> + +<p>'I could not much more than get my two feet in you now, +old bag; but you did me good service once, and I respect you, +although I have outgrown you.'</p> + +<p>Her own clothes came next—the little dresses, which showed +a mother's love and care; the handkerchief, marked 'J;' the +aprons, and the picture book with which she had played, and +from which it seemed to her she had learned the alphabet, +standing by that cushioned chair before the tall white stove. +There was only the fine towel left of the clothing, and Jerrie +gazed along and thoughtfully at the letter 'M,' embroidered +with flowers in the corners.</p> + +<p>'Marguerite begins with M,' she said, 'and Gretchen's name +was Marguerite. Oh, if it were Gretchen who worked this letter, +then I can touch what her hands have touched—the little +dimpled hands in the picture,' and she kissed the 'M' as fervently +as if it had been Gretchen's lips and Gretchen were her +mother.</p> + +<p>On the old brass ring the key to the trunk and carpet-bag +were still fastened, together with the small straight key, for +which no use had ever been found. Jerrie had never thought +much about this key before, but now she held it in her hand a +long, long time, while the conviction grew that this was the +key to the mystery; that could she find the article which this +unlocked, she would know what she so longed to know—something +definite with regard to herself. But where to look she +could not guess; and with her brain in a whirl which threatened +a violent headache, she closed the chest at last, and crept +wearily to bed just as the clock, which Peterkin had set up in +one of his towers, struck for half-past ten, and Grace Atherton's +carriage was rolling down the avenue from the big dinner +at the Park House.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII" ></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h2>THE NEXT DAY.</h2> + + +<p>Jerrie was astir the next morning almost as soon as the +first robin begin to sing under her window. She had +left a blind open, and the red beams of the rising sun +fell upon her face and roused her from a dream of Germany and +what she meant to do there. Once fairly awake, Germany +seemed far away, as did the fancies of the previous night. The +spell, mesmeric, or clairvoyant, or whatever one chooses to call +it, was broken, and she was only Jerrie Crawford again, dressing +herself rapidly and noiselessly so as not to awaken her grandmother, +who slept in the room beneath hers.</p> + +<p>'I shall get the start of her,' she said, as she donned a simple +working dress which had done her service during the summer +vacations for three successive years. 'I heard her telling Harold +last night to have the tubs and water ready early, for she had +put off the Monday's washing until I came home, as I was sure +to bring a pile of soiled clothes. And I have; but, my dear +grandmother, your poor old twisted hands will not touch them. +What is a great strapping girl like me for, I'd like to know, if +it is not to wash her own clothes, and yours, too?' and Jerrie +nodded resolutely at the fresh young face in the mirror, which +nodded back with a smile of approbation of the <i>tout ensemble</i> of +the figure reflected in the glass.</p> + +<p>And truly it was a very pretty and piquant picture which she, +made in her neat calico dress, which, as it was three years old +at least, was a little too short for her, and showed plainly her +red stockings and high-heeled slippers, with the strap around +her instep. Her sleeves were short, for she had cut them off +and arranged them in a puff above her elbows to save rolling +them up, and her white bib-apron was fastened on each shoulder +with a knot of blue ribbon, Harold's favorite color. She had +thoroughly brushed her beautiful wavy hair, and then twisting +it into a mass of curls had tucked it under a coquettish muslin +cap, whose narrow frill just shaded her lovely face. +'You look like a peasant girl, and I believe you are a peasant +girl, and ought to be working in the fields of Germany this +minute,' she said to herself with a mocking courtesy, as she left +the mirror and descended to the kitchen, where, early as it was, +she found Harold warming some coffee over a fire of chips, and +cutting a slice of dry bread.</p> + +<p>'What in the world!' she exclaimed, stopping short on the +threshold. 'I mean to be the first on the scene, and lo! here +you are before me. What are you doing?'</p> + +<p>'Getting my breakfast,' Harold replied, turning toward her +with a slight shade of annoyance on his face. 'You see, I have +a job. I did not tell you last night that a Mr. Allen, who lives +across the river, four miles away, looked in one day when I was +painting your ceiling, and liked it so much that he has engaged +me to paint one for him. I told him I was only an amateur, +but he said he'd rather have me than all the boss painters in +Shannondale. He offered me three dollars a day and board, +which means dinner and supper, or fifteen for the job; and I +took the last offer, as I can make the most at it by beginning +early and working late, and we need—'</p> + +<p>Here he stopped short, for how could he tell Jerrie that the +raised roof had taken all his means, and that he even owed the +grocer for the sugar she had eaten upon her berries, and the +butcher for the bit of steak bought the previous night for her +breakfast and his grandmother's. But Jerrie guessed it without +his telling, but with her quick instinct and delicate perception +knew that no genuine man like Harold cares to have even his +best friend know of his poverty if he can help it. Forcing back +the tears which sprang to her eyes, she cried, cheerily:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know; you are a kind of second Michael Angelo, +though I doubt if that old gentleman, at your age, could have +done my room better than you did. I don't wonder Mr. Allen +wanted you. But you are not going to tramp four miles on a +hot morning, on nothing but bread and coffee, and such coffee—muddier +than the Missouri River! You shall have a decent +breakfast, if I can get it for you. Just sit down and rest, and +see what a Vassar with a diploma can do.'</p> + +<p>As she talked she was replenishing the fire with hard-wood, +putting on the kettle, pouring out the coffee dregs saved from +yesterday's breakfast, and hunting for an egg with which to +settle the fresh cup she intended to make.</p> + +<p>'No, no, Jerrie. No, you must not take that; it is all we +have in the house, and grandma must have a fresh one every +day at eleven o'clock, the doctor says—it strengthens her,' +Harold said, rising quickly, while Jerrie put the one egg back +in the box and asked what Mrs. Crawford did settle coffee +with.</p> + +<p>'I am sure I don't know; cold water, I guess,' Harold said, +resuming his seat, while Jerrie tripped here and there, laying +the cloth, bringing his cup and saucer and plate, and at last +pouncing upon the bit of steak in the refrigerator.</p> + +<p>But here Harold again interfered.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie—Jerrie, that is for your breakfast and grandma's. +You must not take that.'</p> + +<p>'But I shall take half of it. I would rather have a glass of +Nannie's milk any time than meat, and you are going to have +my share; so, Mr. Hastings, just mind your business and let +the cook alone, or she'll be givin' ye warnin',' Jerrie answered +laughingly, as she divided the steak, which she proceeded at +once to broil.</p> + +<p>So Harold let her have her way, and felt an increase of self-respect, +and that he was something more than a common day +laborer, as he ate his steak and buttered toast, and drank the +coffee, which seemed to him the best he had ever tasted. Jerrie +picked him a few strawberries, and laid beside his plate a +beautiful half-opened rose, with the dew still upon it. It was +a delicate attention, and Harold felt it more than all she had +done for him.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Jerrie,' he said, picking up the rose as he finished +his breakfast. 'It was so nice in you to think of it, just +as if I were a king instead of a jack-at-all-trades, but I hardly +think it suits my blue checked shirt and painty pants. Keep +it yourself, Jerrie,' and he held it up against her white bib +apron. 'It is just like the pink on your cheeks. Wear it for +me,' and taking a pin from his collar, he fastened it rather +awkwardly to the bib, while his face came in so close proximity +to Jerrie's that he felt her breath stir his hair, and felt, too, +a strong temptation to kiss the glowing cheek so near his own. +'There, that completes your costume,' he said, holding her off +a little to look at her. 'By the way, haven't you got yourself +up uncommonly well this morning? I never saw you as pretty +as you are in this rig. If it would not be very improper, I'd +like to kiss you.'</p> + +<p>He was astonished at his own boldness, and not at all surprised +at Jerrie's reply, as she stepped back from him.</p> + +<p>'No, thank you, it would be highly improper for a man of +twenty-six, who stands six feet in his boots, to kiss a girl of +nineteen, who stands five feet six in her slippers.'</p> + +<p>There was a flush on her cheeks and a strange look in her +eyes, for she was thinking of Harvard, where he had put her +from him, ashamed that strangers should see her kiss him. +Harold had forgotten that incident, which at the time had made +no impression upon him, and was now thinking only of the +beautiful girl whose presence seemed to brighten and ennoble +everything with which she came in contact, and to whom he at +last said good-bye, just as Peterkin's tower clock struck for +half-past five.'</p> + +<p>'I <i>must</i> go now,' he said, taking up his basket of brushes. +'I have lost a full half-hour with you, and your steaks, and +your coddling me generally. I ought to have been there by +this time. Good-bye,' and offering her his hand, he started +down the lane at a rapid pace, thinking the morning the loveliest +he had ever known, and wondering why everything seemed +so fresh, and bright, and sweet.</p> + +<p>If he could have sung, he would have done so, but he could +not, and so he talked to himself, and to the birds, and rabbits, +and squirrels, which sprang up before him as he struck into the +woods as the shortest route to Mr. Allen's farm house—talked +to them and to himself of Jerrie, and how delightful it was to +have her home again, unspoiled by flattery, sweet and gracious +as ever, and how he longed to tell her of his love, but dared +not yet until he was surer of her and of what she felt for him. +He had no faith now in her fancies with regard to herself. Of +the likeness to Arthur, which he thought he saw the previous +there had been no trace on the face which had almost touched +his that morning when he pinned the rose upon her bib. She +was not—could not be Gretchen's daughter, and was undoubtedly +the child of the woman found in the Tramp House—his +Jerry, whom he had found, and claimed as his own, and whom +he meant to win some day, when he had his profession, and +was established in business. +'But that will be a long, long time, and some one else may +steal her from me,' he said to himself, sadly, as he thought of +the years which must elapse before he could venture to take a +wife. 'Oh, if I were sure she cared for me a little, as I do for +her, I would ask her now and have it settled; for Jerrie is not +a girl to go back on her promise, and the years would seem so +short, and the work so easy, with Jerrie at the end of it all,' +he continued, and then he wondered how he could find out the +nature of Jerrie's feeling for him without asking her directly, +and so spoiling everything if he should happen to be premature.</p> + +<p>Would his grandmother know? Not at all likely. She was +too old to know much of love, or its symptoms in a girl. +Would Nina St. Claire know? Possibly, for she and Jerrie +were great friends, and girls always told each other their secrets, +so Maude said, and Maude was just then his oracle. He had +seen so much of her the last few months that he felt as if he +knew her even better than he did Jerrie, and he was certainly +more at his ease in her presence. Then why not talk with +Maude and enlist her as a partisan. He might certainly venture +to make her his confidente, she had been so very communicative +and familiar with him, telling him things which he had +wondered at, with regard to her father, and mother, and Tom, +and the family generally. Yes, he would sound Maude, very +cautiously at first, and get her opinion, and then he should +know better what to do. Maude would espouse his cause, he +was sure, for she liked him and worshipped Jerrie. He could +trust her, and he would.</p> + +<p>He had reached the Allen farm-house by this time, and +though he was perspiring at every pore, for the morning was +very hot, he scarcely felt the heat or the fatigue of his rapid +four-mile walk, as he mixed his paints and prepared for his +work, for there was constantly in his heart a thought of Jerrie, +as she had looked in that bewitching dress, and of the bright, +smile she had flashed upon him when she said good-bye.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Jerrie had watched him out of sight, whistling +merrily:</p> + +<p> +'Gin a body meet a body,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comin' through the rye,</span><br /> +Gin a body kiss a body,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Need a body cry?'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>whistling it so loud and clear that Nannie came to the +fence and put her head over it with a faint low of approval, +while Clover-top thrust his white nose through the bars, and +looked at her inquiringly, as Jerrie pulled up handfuls of fresh +grass and fed them from her hands, noticing that Nannie had +lost her knot of ribbon, and wondering where it was. Then +she returned to the house, and was busying herself with preparations +for her grandmother's breakfast and her own, when +the latter appeared in the kitchen, surprised to find her there, +and saying:</p> + +<p>'Why, Jerrie, what made you get up till I called you? +Why didn't you lie and rest?'</p> + +<p>'Lie and rest,' Jerrie answered laughingly. 'It is you who +are to lie and rest, and not a great overgrown girl like me. I +have given Harold his breakfast and seen him off. I cooked +him half the steak,' she added as she took out the remaining +half and put it on the gridiron. 'I don't care for steak,' she +continued, as she saw Mrs. Crawford about to protest. 'I +would rather any time have bread and milk and strawberries. +I shall never tire of them;' and the big bowl full which she +ate with a keen relish, proved that she spoke the truth.</p> + +<p>'Now, grandma,' she said, when breakfast was over. 'I am +going to do the work, washing and all. I must do something to +work off my superfluous health, and strength, and muscle. +Look at that arm, will you?' and she threw out her bare arm, +which for whiteness and roundness and symmetry of proportion, +might have been coveted by the most fashionable lady in the +land. 'Go back to your rocking-chair and rest your dear, old +lame foot on your softest cushion, and see how soon I will have +everything done. It is just seven now, and by ten we shall be +all slicked up, as Ann Eliza Peterkin says.'</p> + +<p>It was of no use to try to resist Jerrie. She would have +her own way; and so Mrs. Crawford, after skimming her milk +and attending to the cream, went to her rocking-chair and her +cushion, and sat there quietly, while Jerrie in the woodshed +pounded and rubbed, and boiled and rinsed, and wrung and +starched and blued, and hung upon the line article after article, +until there remained only a few towels and aprons and stockings +and socks, and a pair of colored overalls which Harold had +worn at his work. As these last were rather soiled and had no +them patches of paint, Jerrie was attacking them with a will, +when her grandmother called out in great trepidation:</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, Jerrie, do wipe your hands and come quick! Here's +Tom Tracy hitching his horse at the gate.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie's first impulse was to do as her grandmother bade her, +and her second to stay where she was.</p> + +<p>'If Tom chooses to call so early he must take me as he finds +me,' she thought, while to her grandmother she said: 'Nonsense! +Who cares for Tom Tracy? If he asks for me send +him to the woodshed. I can't stop my work.'</p> + +<p>In a moment the elegant Tom, fresh from his perfumed bath, +the odor of which still lingered about him, and faultlessly attired +in a cool summer suit, was bending his tall figure in the +door-way of the woodshed where Jerrie, who was rubbing away +on Harold's overalls, received him with a nod and a smile, as +she said:</p> + +<p>'Good-morning, Tom. You are up early, and so was I. +Business before pleasure, you know; so I hope you will excuse +me if I keep right on. I have stinted myself to get through, +mopping and all, by ten, and it is now nine by Peterkin's bell. +Pray be seated. How is Maude?'</p> + +<p>She pointed to a wooden chair near the door, where Tom +sat down, wholly nonplussed, and not knowing at all what to say +first.</p> + +<p>Never before had he been received in this fashion, and it +struck him that there was something incongruous between himself, +in his dainty attire, with a cluster of beautiful roses in his +hand, and that chair, minus a back, in the woodshed, where the +smell of the soapsuds would have made him faint and sick if he +had not been so near to the open door.</p> + +<p>Tom had not slept well the previous night. He had joined +the fine dinner-party his mother had given to the Hart's, and +St. Claire's and Atherton's, and had sat next to Fred Raymond's +sister Marian, a very pretty young girl with a good deal +that was foreign in her style and in her accent, for she had +been in Europe nine years, and had only just come home. +Everything in her manner was perfect, from her low, well-modulated +voice, to her sweet, musical laugh, and Tom acknowledged +to himself that she was the most highly polished and +cultivated girl he had ever met; and still she tired him, and +he was constantly contrasting her with Jerrie, and thinking +how much better he should enjoy himself if she were there beside +him, with her ready wit and teasing remarks, which frequently +amounted almost to ridicule. Jerrie had been very +gracious to him on the train, and had laughed and joked with +him quite as much as she had with Dick St. Clare.</p> + +<p>'Perhaps she likes me better than I have supposed she did,' +he thought. 'Anyway, I'd better be on hand, now she is at +home and can see Harold every day. He don't care a copper +for Maude, or wouldn't if she didn't run after him so much, +and that will sicken him pretty soon, now that he has Jerrie. +By George, I believe I'd be as poor as he is, and paint for a +living, if I couldn't have Jerrie without it. But I think I can; +anyway, I am going to try. She cannot be insensible to the advantage +it would be to her to be my wife, and eventually the mistress +of Tracy Park. There is not a girl in the world who +would not consider twice before she threw such a chance away.'</p> + +<p>Such was the nature of Tom's reflections all through the dinner, +and to him the tiresome talk which followed it and the +short summer night during which he was planning his mode of +attack.</p> + +<p>'I'll call in the morning and take her some roses; she likes +flowers,' he thought. 'I wonder what she did with those I gave +her at Vassar? They were not with her on the car, unless she +hid them in the paper box she carried so carefully. Yes, I +guess they were there, and I shall see them standing around +some where.'</p> + +<p>And this was the secret of Tom's early call. He had thought +at first to walk, but had changed his mind, and driven down +to the cottage in his light buggy, with the intention of asking +Jerrie to drive with him along the river road. But she did not +look much like driving as she stood there by the wash-tub in +that working-dress, which he thought the most charming of +anything he had ever seen, notwithstanding his chagrin that +the future Mrs. Tom Tracy should ever come in contact with +anything as vulgar as soapsuds and pounding barrels. How +beautiful she was in that short dress, with her bare arms, the +whitest he had ever seen, and how pretty her feet looked in the +red stockings and slippers, which he would have sworn were +threes instead of fours and a half.</p> + +<p>'I was coming this way,' he said at last, 'and thought I'd stop +and see how you stood the journey, and I've brought you some +roses.'</p> + +<p>He held them toward her, and with a bright smile she came +forward to receive them.</p> + +<p>'Oh, thank you, Tom,' she said, 'it was so kind in you. +Roses are my favorites after the white pond lilies, and these +are very sweet.'</p> + +<p>She buried her face in them two or three times, and then, +putting them in some water, resumed her position by the wash-tub.</p> + +<p>'I'd like you to drive with me,' Tom said, 'but I see you are +too busy. Must you do that work, Jerrie? Can't somebody—can't +your grandmother do it for you?'</p> + +<p>'Grandmother! That old lady do my washing! No, indeed!' +Jerrie answered, scornfully, as she made a dive into the +boiler with the clothes-stick and brought out a pair of Mrs. +Crawford's long knit stockings, and dropped them into the +rinsing water with a splash.</p> + +<p>'Grandma has worked enough,' she continued, as she +plunged both her arms into the water. 'Harold and I shall +take care of her now. He was up this morning at four o'clock, +and has gone to Mr. Allen's, four miles away, to paint a room +for him like mine.'</p> + +<p>She said this a little defiantly, for she felt hot and resentful +that Tom Tracy should be sitting there at his ease, while Harold +was literally working for his daily bread, and also took a +kind of bitter pride in letting Tom know that she was not +ashamed of Harold's work.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Tom drawled, 'that new room must have cost Hal his +bottom dollar. We all wondered how he could afford it. I +hope you like it.'</p> + +<p>She was too angry to tell him whether she liked it or not, for +she knew the speech was a mean one and prompted by a mean +spirit, and she kept on rubbing a towel until there was danger +of its being rubbed into shreds. Then suddenly remembering +that Tom had not told her of Maude, she repeated her +question. +'How is Maude? She was coming to see me this morning +I hope I shall be done before she gets here.'</p> + +<p>'Don't hurry yourself for Maude,' Tom replied. 'She will +not be here to-day. I had nearly forgotten that she sent her +love and wants you to come there. She is sick in bed, or was +when I left. She had a slight hemorrhage last night. I think +it was from her stomach, though, and so does mother, but +father is scared to death, as he always is if Maude has a pain in +her little finger.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom,' Jerrie said, recalling with a pang the thin face, +the blue-veined hands, the tired look of the young girl at the +station. 'Oh, Tom, why didn't you tell me before, so I could +hurry and go to her;' and leaning over her tub Jerrie began +to cry, while Tom looked curiously at her, wondering if she +really cared so much for his sister.</p> + +<p>'Don't cry, Jerrie,' he said, at last, very tenderly for him. +'Maude is not so bad; the doctor has no fear. She is only tired +with all she has done lately. You know, perhaps, that she was +here constantly with Harold, and I believe she actually painted +for him some, and for aught I know helped shingle the roof, as +Billy said.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know; I understand,' Jerrie replied, 'I saw it in +her face yesterday. She has tired herself out for me, and if she +dies I shall hate the room forever.'</p> + +<p>'But she will not die; that is nonsense,' Tom began when +he was interrupted by Mrs. Crawford, who called out:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Jerry, here is Billy Peterkin, with his hands full. +What shall I do with him?'</p> + +<p>Dashing away her tears, Jerry replied:</p> + +<p>'Send him in here, of course.'</p> + +<p>In a few moments the dapper little man was in the woodshed, +with a large bouquet of hot-house flowers in one hand and +a basket of delicious black-caps in the other. For a moment he +stood staring first at Tom on the wooden chair glaring savagely +at him, and at Jerrie by the washtub with the traces of tears +on her face—then, with a wind of forced laugh, he said:</p> + +<p>'Be-beg pardon, if I in-tr-trude. Looks dusedly like l-love +in a t-t-tub.'</p> + +<p>'And if it is, you have knocked the bottom out,' Tom said, +with a sneer. +Both jokes were atrocious, but they made Jerrie laugh, which +was something. She was glad on the whole that Billy had +come, and when he offered her the berries and the flowers, she +accepted them graciously, and bade him sit down, if he could +find a seat.</p> + +<p>'Here is one on the wash bench,' she said, 'or, will be when +I have emptied the tub;' and she was about to take up the +latter, when Billy sprang to her assistance and emptied it himself, +while Tom sat looking on, chaffing with anger and disgust.</p> + +<p>After a moment Billy stuttered out:</p> + +<p>'Ann Eliza sent me here, and wants you to c-c-come and +see her rooms. G-g-got a suite, you know; and, by Jove, they +are like a b-b-bazaar, they are so f-full of things, and fl-flowers; +half Vassar is there. Got your basket of d-daisies, Tom, and +when I asked her where she g-g-got 'em, she said it was n-n-none +of my business. D-did she steal 'em?' and he turned to +Jerrie, whose face was scarlet, as she replied:</p> + +<p>'No, I gave them to her, with a lot of others; I could not +bring them all and it was better to dispose of home flowers, as +I can get them any time.'</p> + +<p>Tom could have beaten the air, he was so angry. He had +been vain enough to hope that his gift was carefully put away +in some box or parcel; and lo! it was in the possession of that +red-haired Peterkin girl, whose <i>penchant</i> for himself he suspected, +and whom he despised accordingly.</p> + +<p>'Much obliged to you for giving away my flowers,' he was +going to say, when Mrs. Crawford called again, and this time in +real distress.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, Jerrie! you <i>must</i> come now, for here is Dick St. +Claire.'</p> + +<p>For an instant Jerrie hesitated, and then ashamed of the +feeling which had at first prompted her not to let Dick into the +wood-shed, she replied:</p> + +<p>'If Tom and Billy can he admitted to my boudoir, Dick can. +Send him in.'</p> + +<p>'By George, this is jolly!' Dick said, as he bent his tall +figure under the low door-way, and seated himself upon the inverted +washtub which Billy had emptied. 'Have you all been +washing?' +'No,' Jerrie answered, proudly. 'I am the washerwoman, and +all those clothes you saw on the line are my handiwork.'</p> + +<p>'By George!' Dick said again. 'You are a trump, Jerrie! +Why didn't you wear that dress when you were graduated? It's +the prettiest costume I ever saw.'</p> + +<p>'Th-that's what I think, only I d-didn't d-dare t-tell her so!' +Billy cried, springing to his feet and hopping about like a little +robin.</p> + +<p>'How is Nina?' Jerrie asked, ignoring the compliment.</p> + +<p>'Brisk as a bee,' Dick replied, 'and sends an invitation for +you to come over to a garden-tea to-night to meet Marian Raymond, +Fred's sister. Awful pretty girl, with an accent like a +foreigner; was over there several years, you know. I was going +to the Park House to invite you and Maude,' he continued, +turning to Tom, 'but as you are here, it will save me the walk. +Half-past five sharp.'</p> + +<p>Then as his eye fell upon Billy, in whose face there was a +look of expectancy, his countenance fell, for Nina had given him +no instructions to invite the Peterkins, and he felt intuitively +that there was nothing in common between Ann Eliza Peterkin +and the refined and aristocratic Marian Raymond, who had seen +the best society in Europe, and in whose veins some of Kentucky's +bluest blood was flowing. But Dick was very kind-hearted, +and never knowingly wounded the feelings of any one +if he could help it; and, after an awkward moment, during +which he was wondering what Nina would do to him if he did +it, he turned to Billy and said, as naturally as if it were what +he had been expressly bidden to say:</p> + +<p>'Why, I shan't have to walk over to Le Bateau either. I'm +in luck this hot morning, if you will take the invitation to your +sister—for half-past five.'</p> + +<p>'Th-thanks,' Billy began; 'b-but am I left out?'</p> + +<p>'Of course not. I'm an awful blunderer,' Dick said, adding, +mentally, 'and liar, too, though I didn't say anybody would be +happy to see them. Poor Billy, he is well enough, and so is +Ann Eliza, if she wouldn't pile that red hair so high on the top +of her head and wear so much jewelry. Well, I am in for it, +and Nina can't any more than kill me.'</p> + +<p>By this time Jerrie was bustling about, putting away the +washing paraphernalia and sweeping the wood-shed, thus indicating +that she had no more time to lose with her three callers, +two of whom Dick and Billy, took the hint and left, but not +until she had explained to the former that it would be impossible +for Harold to be present at the garden-party, as she knew +he would not be home until late, and would then be quite too +tired for company.</p> + +<p>'I am sorry that he cannot join us. I counted upon him,' +Dick said. 'But you will come, of course, and I offer my +services on the spot to see you home. Do you accept +them?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie seemed to see, without looking, the disappointment in +Billy's face, and the wrath in Tom's; but as she greatly preferred +Dick's society to theirs in a walk from Grassy Spring to the +cottage, she accepted his offer, and then said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>'Now, good-morning to you, and good riddance, too, for I am +in an awful hurry, I am going over to see Maude as soon as I +can get myself ready.'</p> + +<p>She had not thought that Tom would wait for her, and would +greatly have preferred to walk; but Tom was persistent, and +moving his chair from the wood-shed outside into the shade +where it was cooler, he sat fanning himself with his hat, and +watching the long line of clothes, which Jerrie had washed, +flopping in the wind, with a feeling of mortified pride, as if his +own wife had washed them. He knew that his mother had +once been familiar with tubs, and wash-boards, and soap-suds, +but that was before his day. Twenty-seven years had washed +all that out, and he really felt that to be a Tracy and live at +Tracy Park was an honor scarcely less than to be President of +the United States, and Jerrie, he was sure, would see it as such +when once the chance was offered her. She could not be so +blind to her own interest as to refuse him, Tom Tracy, who was +so much sought after by the belles of Saratoga and Newport, +where he had spent a part of two or three seasons. He had +been best man at the great —— wedding in Springfield, and +groomsman at another big affair in Boston, and had scores of +invitations everywhere. Taken altogether, he was a most +desirable <i>parti</i>, and he was rather surprised himself at his +infatuation +for the girl whom he had found in the suds, and who +was not ashamed that he had thus seen her. This was while he +was watching the clothes on the line, scowling at three pairs of +coarse, vulgar stockings which he knew belonged to Mrs. Crawford, +and the pair of blue overalls which were Harold's.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I do wonder at my interest in that nameless girl, whose +mother was a common peasant woman,' he thought; but when +the nameless girl appeared, fresh, and bright, and dainty, as if +she had never seen a wash-tub, with her hat on her arm, and +two of his roses pinned on the bosom of her blue muslin dress, +he forgot the peasant woman, and the lack of a name, and +thought only of the lovely girl who signified that she was +ready.</p> + +<p>It was very cool in the pine woods, where the heat of the +summer morning had not yet penetrated, and Tom, who was +enjoying himself immensely, suggested that they leave the park +and take a short drive on the river road. But Jerrie, who was +not enjoying herself, said 'No!' very decidedly. It would be +hot there, and she was anxious to be with Maude as soon as +possible. So they drove on until they reached the grounds +which surrounded the house, and which Jerrie thought more +beautiful than she had ever seen them. The grass was like +velvet, with masses of flowers and shrubs, and urns, and bits of +statuary here and there, while over a little brook where Jerrie +and Maude had often waded, and where poor Jack had had a +little water-wheel, a rustic bridge had been built, with a pretty +summer-house just beyond. Frank Tracy was a natural +gardener, and had lavished piles of money upon the grounds, in +which he often worked himself, and where he was busy now +with a clump of roses when Tom drove up with Jerrie.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII" ></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h2>AT THE PARK HOUSE.</h2> + + +<p>It was six months since Jerrie had seen Frank Tracy, and +even in that time he had changed so much that she noticed +it at once, and looked at him wonderingly as he +came quickly toward her with a smile on his haggard face, and +an eager welcome in his voice, as he gave her both his hands, +and told her how glad he was to see her.</p> + +<p>His hair was very white, and she noticed how he stooped as he +walked with her to the house and told her how anxiously Maude +was waiting for her.</p> + +<p>'But she cannot talk just yet,' he said. 'You must do all +that. The doctor tells us there is no danger, if she is kept +quiet for a few days. Oh, Jerrie, what if I should lose Maude +after all.'</p> + +<p>They were ascending the staircase now, and Frank was holding +Jerrie's hand while she tried to comfort and reassure him, +and then thanked him for the fruit and the flowers he had sent +to the cottage for her the day before.</p> + +<p>'You are so good to me,' she said, 'you and Mr. Arthur. +How lonely the house seems without him.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Frank replied, though in his heart he felt his brother's +absence as a relief, for his presence was a constant reproach +to him, and helped to keep alive the remorse which was always +tormenting him.</p> + +<p>The sight of Jerrie, too, was a pain, but she held a nameless +fascination for him, and he was constantly wondering what she +would say and do when she knew, as he was morally sure she +would sometime know what he had done. He was thinking of +this now, and saying to himself, 'She will not be as hard upon +me as Arthur,' as he led her up the stairs and stopped at the +door of Arthur's rooms.</p> + +<p>'Would you like to go in?' he asked. 'I have the keys,' +and he proceeded to unlock the door.</p> + +<p>But Jerrie held back.</p> + +<p>'No,' she said, as she glanced in at the silent, deserted rooms. +'It is like a grave. The ruling spirit is gone.'</p> + +<p>'But you forget Gretchen. She is here, and one of Arthur's +last injunctions was that I should visit her every day, and tell +her he was coming back. I have not seen her this morning. +Come.'</p> + +<p>He was leading her now by the waist through the front parlor, +where the furniture in its white shrouds looked like ghosts, +and the pictures were covered with tarletan. It was dark, too, +in the Gretchen room, as they called it now, but Frank threw +open the blinds and let in a flood of light upon the picture, before +which Jerrie stood reverently, and with feelings such as +she had never experienced before, as she looked upon that +lovely, girlish face.</p> + +<p>A new idea had taken possession of Jerrie since she had last +seen that picture, and while, unsuspected by her, Frank was +studying first her features and then those of Gretchen, she was +struggling frantically with the past, which seemed clearer than +before. Again she saw the low room far away—the tall stove +in the corner, the dark woman opening the door, the firelight on +the white face in the chair; and this time memory added +another item to the picture, and she of the white face and wavy +golden hair seemed to hold a writing-desk on her lap and a +piece of paper on which the pale hands were tracing words +slowly and feebly, as if the effort were a pain.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I can almost remember,' she whispered, just as Frank's +voice broke the spell by saying:</p> + +<p>'Good-morning, Gretchen. Arthur is in California, but he +is surely coming back; he bade me tell you so.'</p> + +<p>'Is he crazy as well as Mr. Arthur? Are we all crazy together?' +Jerrie asked herself, as she watched him closing the +blinds and shutting out the sunlight from the room, so that the +picture was in shadow now and seemed nothing but bits of +colored glass.</p> + +<p>'I have kept my promise to Arthur; and now for Maude,' +Frank said, and Jerry was conscious of a new and strange sensation—a +feeling of ownership and possession, as she went +through the broad hall, glancing in at one handsome room after +another, until she reached Maude's door.</p> + +<p>On the threshold she met Mrs. Frank, just coming out, and +elegantly attired in a tasteful muslin wrapper, with more lace +and embroidery upon it than Jerrie had ever worn in her life; +her hair was carefully dressed with a cap which looked like a +pen-wiper or doll's bonnet, it was so small, perched on the top +of it; her face was powdered, and her manner was one of +languor and fine-ladyism, which she had cultivated so assiduously +and achieved so successfully. Not a muscle of her face +changed when she saw Jerrie, but she closed Maude's door +quickly, and stepping into the hall, offered the tips of her fingers, +as she said, in a fretful, rather than a welcoming tone:</p> + +<p>'Good-morning. You are very late. Maude expected you +two hours ago, almost immediately after Tom went out. She +has worked herself into a great state of feverish nervousness.'</p> + +<p>'I am so sorry,' Jerry replied. 'But I could not come +sooner. I had a large washing to do, and that takes time, you +know.'</p> + +<p>Jerry meant no reflection upon the days when Dolly had +done her own washing, and knew that it took time, but the +thought she did, and a frown settled upon her face as she +replied:</p> + +<p>'Surely your grandmother might have helped you, or Harold; +and Maude is so impatient and weak this morning. The +doctor says there is no danger if she is kept quiet. She is only +tired out with that room of yours. Why, I am told she has +actually puttied up nail-holes, and painted walls, and sawed +boards! I hope you like it. You ought to, for a part of Maude's +life and strength is in it.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mrs. Tracy,' Jerry cried, with tears in her eyes, 'I am +so sorry. Of course I like the room, or did; but if it has injured +Maude, I shall hate it.'</p> + +<p>Dolly had given her a little stab and was satisfied, so she said +in a softer tone:</p> + +<p>'Maude may recover—I think she will; but everything must +be done to please her, and she cannot talk to you this morning—remember +that. You must do the talking, but must not stay +too long.'</p> + +<p>'Mamma—mamma, let Jerrie in,' came faintly from the +closed room; and then Mrs. Tracy stood aside and let Jerrie +pass into the luxurious apartment, where Maude lay upon a +silken couch, with a soft, rose-colored shawl thrown over her +shoulders, her eyes large and hollow, and her face as white almost +as a corpse.</p> + +<p>One looking at her needed not to be told of her danger, or of +the peril there was in exciting her; and Jerrie felt a cold thrill +creep over her as she went to the couch, and kneeling beside it, +kissed the pale, quivering lips and smoothed the dark hair, +while she tried to speak naturally and cheerfully, as if in her +mind there was no thought of danger to the beautiful girl, who +smiled so lovingly upon her and kept caressing her hands and +her face, as if she would thus express her gladness to see her.</p> + +<p>'I know all about it, Maude,' Jerrie said. 'Tom told me, and +your mother. You tired yourself out for me. Hush! Don't +speak, or I shall go away,' she continued, as she saw Maude's +lips move. 'You are not to talk. You are to listen, just for a +day or two, and then you will he better, and come to the cottage +and see my lovely room. It is so pretty, and I like it so +much, and thank you and Harold so much. He has gone to the +Allen farm to-day to paint,' she said, in answer to an eager +questioning look in Maude's eyes. 'He does not know you are +sick. He will come when he can see you—to-morrow, maybe. +Would you like to have him?'</p> + +<p>A warm pressure of the hand was Maude's reply, as the +moisture gathered upon her heavy eyelashes. But Jerrie kissed +it away, though her own hot tears fell upon Maude's hair, which, +however, was so thick that she did not feel them; nor did she +dream what it cost Jerrie to sit there and tell her everything of +Harold which she could think of, because she knew that would +please the sick girl better. Once she made Maude laugh, as she +took off little Billy, imitating his voice so perfectly that a person +outside would have said he was in the room. Jerrie's talent +for imitation and ventriloquism had not deserted her, although +as she grew older, she did not so often practice it as when a +child; but she brought it into full play now to amuse Maude, +and imitated every individual of whom she spoke, except Arthur. +He was the one person whose peculiarities she could not take +off.</p> + +<p>'I have been to Mr. Arthur's room,' she said, 'but it seems +so desolate without him. Do you hear from him often?'</p> + +<p>'I have only had one letter, and then he was in Salt Lake +City, at the Continental, in a room which he said was big enough +for three rooms, and had not a single bad smell in it, except the +curtains, which were new, and in which he did detect a little +odor.'</p> + +<p>Here Maude laughed again, while there came into her face +a faint color and a look which made Jerrie's breath come +quickly as, for the first time, the thought flashed across her mind +that if what she had been foolish enough to dream of were true +Maude was her cousin—her own flesh and blood.</p> + +<p>'Maude,' she said suddenly, with a strong desire to fold the +frail little body in her arms and tell her what she had thought.</p> + +<p>But when Maude looked up inquiringly at her she only put +her head down upon the rose-colored shawl and began to cry. +Then, regardless of consequences, Maude raised herself upon her +elbow, and laying her face on Jerrie's head began herself to cry +piteously.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, Jerrie,' she sobbed, 'you think I am going to die, I +know you do, and so does everybody, but I am not; I cannot +die when there is so much to live for, and my home is so beautiful, +and I love everybody so much, and—'</p> + +<p>Terrified beyond measure, Jerrie put her hand over Maude's +mouth and said, almost sharply:</p> + +<p>'If you want to live you must not talk. Be careful and you +will get well; the doctor says so.'</p> + +<p>But Jerrie's tears belied her words when she saw the palor +in Maude's face as she sank back upon her pillow exhausted, +while, with her handkerchief she wiped a faint coloring of blood +from her lips.</p> + +<p>'I have stayed too long,' Jerrie said, as she arose from her low +seat by the couch. Then Maude spoke again in a whisper and +said:</p> + +<p>'Send Harold soon.'</p> + +<p>'I will,' Jerrie replied, and kissing the death-like face again +she went softly from the room, thinking to herself, as she descended +the stairs, 'I believe I could give Harold to her now.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV" ></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h2>UNDER THE PINES WITH TOM.</h2> + + +<p>Jerrie found Tom just where she had left him, on the +piazza outside, waiting for her, it would seem, for the +moment she appeared he arose, and going with her +down the steps walked by her side along the avenue toward the +point where she would turn aside into the road which led to the +cottage.</p> + +<p>'How did you find Maude!' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Weaker than I supposed,' Jerrie replied, 'and so tired. Oh, +Tom, I know she hurt herself worrying about my room as she +did, and if she dies I shall never like it again.'</p> + +<p>'Nonsense,' Tom answered, carelessly. 'Maude won't die. +She's got the Tracy constitution, which nothing can kill. Don't +fret about your room. Maude liked being there. Nothing +could keep her away. And don't flatter yourself that it was +all love for you which took her there so much, for it wasn't. +She is just mashed with Harold, while he—well, what can a +young man do when a pretty girl—and Mamie is pretty—when +she gushes at him all the time? It is a regular flirtation, +and everybody knows about it except mother and the Gov.'</p> + +<p>'Who is the Gov.?' Jerry asked, sharply.</p> + +<p>'Why, you Vassars must be very innocent,' Tom replied, +with a laugh, 'not to know that Gov. is one's respected sire: +the old man, some call him, but I am more respectful. My +gracious, though! isn't it sweltering? I'm nearly baked, you +make me walk so fast!' and he wiped the great drops of swat +from his forehead.</p> + +<p>'Why don't you go back then? Why are you walking here +in the hot sun?' Jerrie asked.</p> + +<p>'I am going home with you,' he replied. 'Do you think +I'd let you go alone?'</p> + +<p>'Go alone?' Jerrie repeated, stopping short and fixing her +blue eyes upon him. 'You have let me go alone a hundred +times, and after dark, too, when I was much smaller than I +am now, and less able to defend myself, supposing there was +anything to fear, which there is not. Pray go back, and not +trouble yourself for me.'</p> + +<p>'I shall not go back,' Tom said. 'I waited on purpose to +come with you. There is something I must say to you, and I +may as well say it now as any other time.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was tall, but Tom was six inches taller, and he was +looking down straight into her eyes with an expression in his +before which hers fell, for she guessed what it was he wished +to say to her, and her heart beat painfully as, without another +word, she walked rapidly on until they were in the woods +near a place where four tall pines formed a kind of oblong +square. Here an iron seat had been placed years before, when +the Tracy children were young, and held what they called their +picnics there under the thick boughs of the pines which shaded +them from both heat and cold. Laying his hand on Jerrie's +shoulder, Tom said to her:</p> + +<p>'Sit here with me under the pines while I tell you what for +a long time I have wanted to tell you, and which may as well +be told at once.'</p> + +<p>Still Jerrie did not speak, but she sat down upon the seat, +and, taking off her hat, began to fan herself with it, while +with the end of her parasol she tried to trace letters in the +thick carpet of dead pine needles at her feet.</p> + +<p>Her attitude was not encouraging, and a less conceited man +than Tom would have felt disheartened, but he was not. No +girl would be insane enough to refuse Tom Tracy, of Tracy +Park; and at last he made the plunge, and told her of his love +for her and his desire to make her his wife.</p> + +<p>'I know I was a mean little scamp when I was a boy,' he +said, 'and did a lot of things for which I am ashamed; but I +believe that I always loved you, Jerrie, even when I was +teasing you the worst. I know I used to think you the prettiest +little girl I ever saw, and now I think you the prettiest big +one, and I have had splendid opportunities for seeing girls. +You know I have travelled a great deal, and been in the very +best society; and, if I may say it, I think I can marry almost +any one whom I choose. I used to fear lest you and Hal would +hit it off together, or, rather, that he would try to get you, but, +since he and Maude are so thick, my fears in that quarter have +vanished, and I am constantly building castles as to what we +will do. I did not mean to ask you quite so soon, but the +sight of you this morning washing your clothes, with all that +soapy steam in your face, decided me not to put it off. A +Tracy has no business in a washtub.'</p> + +<p>'Did no Tracy ever wash her own clothes?' Jerrie asked, +with an upward and sidewise turn of her head, habitual with +her when startled or stirred.</p> + +<p>There was a ring in her voice which Tom did not quite like, +but he answered, promptly:</p> + +<p>'Oh, of course, years ago; but times change, and you certainly +ought not to be familiar with such vulgar things, and at +Tracy Park you will be surrounded with every possible luxury, +Father, and Maude, and Uncle Arthur will be overjoyed to +have you there; and if, on my part, love and money can make +you happy, you certainly will be so.'</p> + +<p>'You have plenty of money of your own?' Jerrie said, with +another upward toss of her golden head.</p> + +<p>The question was full of sarcasm, but Tom did not see it, +and answered at once:</p> + +<p>'Why, yes, or I shall have in time. Uncle Arthur, you +know, is in no condition to make a will now. It would not +stand a minute. All the lawyers say that.'</p> + +<p>'You have taken counsel, then?'</p> + +<p>The parasol dug a great hole in the soft pines and was in +danger of being broken, as Tom replied:</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes; we are sure of that. Whatever Uncle Arthur +has, and it is more than a million, will go to father, and, after +him, to Maude and me; so you are sure to be rich and to be +the mistress of Tracy Park, which will naturally come to me. +Think, Jerrie, what a different life you will lead at the Park +House from what you do now, washing old Mrs. Crawford's +stockings and Harold's overalls.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I am thinking,' Jerrie answered, very low; and if Tom +had followed the end of her parasol, he would have seen that +it was forming the word Gretchen in front of him.</p> + +<p>'Suppose Mr. Arthur has a wife somewhere?' Jerrie asked.</p> + +<p>'A wife!' Tom exclaimed. 'That is impossible. We should +have heard of that.'</p> + +<p>'Who was Gretchen?' was the next query.</p> + +<p>'Oh, some sweetheart, I suppose—some little German girl +with whom he amused himself a while and then cast off, as men +usually do such incumbrances.'</p> + +<p>Tom did not quite know himself what he was saying, or what +it implied, and he was not at all prepared to see the parasol +stuck straight into the ground, while Jerrie sprang to her feet +and confronted him fiercely.</p> + +<p>'Tom Tracy! If you mean to insinuate a thing which is +not good and pure against Gretchen, I'll never speak to you +as long as I live! Take back what you said about Mr. Arthur's +casting her off! She was his wife, and you know it? Dead, +perhaps—I think she is; but she was his wife—his true and +lawful wife; and—I—sometimes—'</p> + +<p>She could not add 'think she was my mother,' for the +words stuck in her throat, where her heart seemed to be beating +wildly and choking her utterance.</p> + +<p>'Why, Jerrie,' Tom said, startled at her excited appearance, +and anxious to appease her, 'what can ail you? I hardly know +what I said, and if I have offended you, I am sorry, I know +nothing of Gretchen; her face is a good one and a pretty one, +and Maude says you look like her; though I don't see it, for I +think you far prettier than she. Perhaps she was my uncle's +wife—I guess she was: but that does not injure my prospects, +for of course she is dead, or she would have turned up before +this time. We have nothing to fear from her.'</p> + +<p>'She may have left a child. What then?' Jerrie asked, +with as steady a voice as she could command.</p> + +<p>'Pshaw! humbug!' Tom replied, with a laugh. 'That is +impossible. A child would have been heard from before this +time. There is no child; I'm sure I hope not, as that would +seriously interfere with our prospects. Think of some one—say +a young lady—walking in upon us some day and claiming +to be Arthur Tracy's daughter!'</p> + +<p>'What would you do?' Jerrie asked, in a tone of smothered +excitement.</p> + +<p>'I believe I'd kill her,' Tom said, laughingly, 'or marry her, +if I had not already seen you. But don't worry about that. +There is no child; there is nothing between us and a million, +and you have only to appoint the day which will make me the +happiest of men, and free you from a drudgery, which just to +think of sets my teeth on edge. Will you name the day, +Jerrie?'</p> + +<p>If it had been possible for a look to have annihilated Tom, +the scorn which blazed in Jerrie's eyes would have done so. To +hear him talk as if the matter were settled and the money he +was to inherit from his uncle could buy her made her blood +boil, and seizing her poor parasol, still standing up so straight +in the piny sand, she stepped backward from him and said, in +a mocking voice:</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Tom, for the honor you would confer upon me, +and which I must decline, for I would rather wash grandma's +stockings all my life, and Harold's overalls, too, than marry a +man for money.'</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, oh, Jerrie, you don't mean it! You do not refuse +me!' Tom cried, in alarm, stretching out his arm to reach her +but touching only the parasol, to which he clung desperately +as a drowning man to a straw.</p> + +<p>'I do mean it, Tom,' she said, softened a little by the pain +she saw in his face. 'I can never be your wife.'</p> + +<p>'But why not!' Tom demanded. 'Many a girl who stands +higher socially in the world than you would gladly bear my +name. I might have married Governor Storey's daughter, at +Saratoga, last summer. She threw herself at my head, but one +thought of you was enough to keep me from her. You cannot +be in earnest.'</p> + +<p>'But I am. I care nothing for your money, which may or +may not be yours. I do not love you, Tom; and without love +I would not marry a prince.'</p> + +<p>It was very hard for Tom to believe that Jerrie really meant +to refuse him, Tom Tracy, who with all his love for her—and +he did love her as well as he was capable of loving any one—still +felt that he was stooping a little, or at least was honoring +her greatly when he asked her to be his wife. And she had +refused him, and kept on refusing him in spite of all he could +say; and worse than all, made him feel at last that she did +not consider it an honor to be Mrs. Tom Tracy, of Tracy Park, +and did not care either for him or his prospective fortune. +She called it that finally, then Tom grew angry and taunted +her with fostering a hope that Arthur might make her his heir, +or at least leave her some portion of his money.</p> + +<p>'But I tell you he can't do it. A crazy man's will would +never stand, and he is crazy and you know it. You will never +touch a dollar of Uncle Arthur's money, if you live to be a +hundred, unless it comes to you from me. Don't flatter yourself +that you will, and don't flatter yourself either that you will +ever catch Hal Hastings, who is the real obstacle in my way. +I know that very well, and so do you; but let me tell you that +what heart he has is given to Maude, who is silly enough to +encourage him; though I doubt if she would ever marry him +when it comes to that. She will look higher than a painter, a +carpenter, a—'</p> + +<p>'Tom Tracy!' and Jerrie's parasol was raised so defiantly +and her eyes flashed so indignantly that Tom did not finish +what he was going to say, but cowered a little before the angry +girl, who stood so tall before him and hurled her words at him +with such scathing vehemence. 'Tom Tracy! Stop! You have +said enough. When you made me believe that you really did +care for me; and I suppose you must, or you would not have +thrown over a governor's daughter for me, or left so many lovelorn, +high-born maidens out in the cold, I was sorry for you, for +I hate to give any one pain, and I would rather have you my +friend than my enemy; but when you taunt me with expectations +from your uncle—.'</p> + +<p>Here Jerrie paused, for the lump in her throat would not +suffer the words to come, and there arose before her as if painted +upon canvas the low room, the white stove, the firelight on +the whiter face, the writing on the lap, and the little child in +the far-off German city. But she would have died sooner than +have told Tom of this, or that the conviction was strong upon +her that she should one day stand there under the pines, herself +the heiress of Tracy Park, Gretchen's memory honored, and +Gretchen's wrongs wiped out.</p> + +<p>After a moment she went on:</p> + +<p>'I care nothing for your money, and less for you, who show +the meanness there is in your nature when you speak of Harold +Hastings as you have done. Supposing he is poor—suppose he +is a painter and a carpenter, and has been what you started to +call him—is he less a man for that? A thousand times no, and +there is more of true manhood and nobility in his little finger +than in your whole body; and if Maude has won his love, she +should be prouder of it than of a duchess' coronet. I do not +wish to wound you, but when you talk of Harold, you make me +so mad. Good-morning; it is time for me to be at my drudgery, +as you call it.'</p> + +<p>She walked rapidly away, leaving her parasol, which she had +again thrust into the ground, flopping in the breeze which had +just sprung up, and each flop seemed to mock the discomfited +Tom, who, greatly astonished but not at all out of conceit with +himself, sat staring blankly after her, and with her head and +shoulders more erect than usual, if possible, she went on almost +upon a run until a turn in the road hid her from view. Then he +arose and shook himself together, and picking up the soiled +parasol, folded it carefully and put it upon the seat, saying as +he did so:</p> + +<p>'By George! did that girl know what she was about when +she refused to marry me?'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV" ></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h2>THE GARDEN PARTY.</h2> + + +<p>Jerrie went on very rapidly toward home, almost running +at times, and not at all conscious of the absence of +her parasol, or that the noonday sun was beating hot +upon her head, conscious only of a bitter feeling of pain and +vexation, the latter that she had allowed herself to speak so +angrily to Tom, and of pain because of what he had said to +her of Maude and Harold. Do what she might, she could not +forget the tone of Harold's voice, or the look in his eyes when +he bade her good-bye that morning, or that his whole manner +since her return had been more like that of a lover than of a +brother. And still there was that little throb of jealousy tugging +at her heart-strings, notwithstanding that he had said to +herself in substance not more than an hour before that she believed +she could give Harold to Maude, whose love for him she +could not doubt.</p> + +<p>'And I'll do it now,' she said, at last, to herself. 'I'll fight it +down, this something which makes me hate myself. If Harold +loves Maude he shall never know from me of that horrible pain +which cuts me like a knife and makes me forget to be indignant +at Tom for talking so much of his money and his position, as +if they could buy me! Poor Tom! I said some sharp things +to him, but he deserved them, the prig! Let him marry that +governor's daughter if he can. I am sure I wish him success.'</p> + +<p>She had reached home by this time, and found their simple +dinner waiting for her. +'Oh, grandma, why did you do it? Why didn't you wait +for me?' she said, as she took her seat at the table where the +dishes were all so plain, and the cloth, though white and clean, +so coarse and cheap.</p> + +<p>Jerrie was as fond of luxury and elegance as any one, and +Tracy Park, with its appurtenances, would have suited her taste +better than the cottage.</p> + +<p>'But not with Tom, not with Tom,' she kept on repeating +to herself, as she cleared the table and washed the dishes, and +then brought in and folded the clothes for the morrow's ironing.</p> + +<p>By this time she was very tired, and going to her cool, pretty +room, she threw herself upon the lounge and slept soundly for +three hours or more. Sleep is a wonderful tonic, and Jerrie +rose refreshed and quite herself again. Not even a thought of +Maude and Harold disturbed her as she went whistling and +singing around her room, hanging up her dresses one by one, +and wondering which she should wear at the garden party. +Deciding at last upon a simple white muslin, which, although +two years old, was still in fashion, and very becoming, she arranged +her wavy hair in a fluffy mass at the back of her head, +brushed her bangs into short, soft curls upon her forehead, +pinned a cluster of roses on the bosom of her dress, and was +ready for the party.</p> + +<p>'Tell Harold, if he is not too tired, I want him very much to +come for me,' she said, to Mrs. Crawford, and then about five +o'clock started for Grassy Spring, where she found the guests +all assembled in the pleasant, shady grounds, which surrounded +the house.</p> + +<p>Tom was there in his character of a fine city dandy, and the +moment he saw Jerry, he hastened to meet her, greeting her +with perfect self-possession, as if nothing had happened.</p> + +<p>'You are late,' he said, going up to her. 'We are waiting for +you to complete our eight hand croquet, and I claim you as my +partner.'</p> + +<p>'I c-c call that mean, T-t-tom. I was g-g-going to ask J-jerrie +to pl-play with m-me,' little Billy said, hopping around them, +while Dick's face showed that he, too, would like the pleasure +of playing with Jerrie, who was known to be an expert and +seldom missed a ball.</p> + +<p>Naturally, however, Marian Raymond, as a stranger, would +fall to him, and they were soon paired off, Dick and Marian, +Tom and Jerrie, Nina and Billy, Fred Raymond and Ann Eliza, +who wore diamonds enough for a full dress party, and whose +red hair was piled on the top of her head so loosely that the +ends of it stuck out here and there like the streamers on a boat +on gala days. This careless style of dressing her hair, Ann +Eliza affected, thinking it gave individuality to her appearance; +and it certainly did attract general observation, her hair was so +red and bushy. Dick had stumbled and stammered dreadfully +when confessing to his sister that he had invited the Peterkins, +while Nina had drawn a long breath of dismay as she thought +of presenting Ann Eliza and Billy to Marian Raymond, with +her culture and aristocratic ideas. Then she burst into a laugh +and said, with her usual sweetness:</p> + +<p>'Never mind, Dickie. You could not do otherwise. I'll prepare +Marian, and the Peterkins will really enjoy it.'</p> + +<p>So Marian, who, with all her accomplishments and foreign +air, was a kind-hearted, sensible girl, was prepared, and received +the Peterkins very graciously, and seemed really pleased with +Billy, whose big, kind heart shone through his diminutive body +and always won him friends. He was very happy to be there, +because he liked society, and because he knew Jerrie was coming; +and Ann Eliza was very glad because she felt it an honor +to be at Grassy Spring, and because she knew Tom was coming, +and when he came she fastened upon him with a tenacity which +he could not well shake off; and when croquet was proposed +she was the first to respond.</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, that will be nice, and I know our side will beat,' +and she looked at Tom as it were a settled thing that she +should play with him.</p> + +<p>But Tom was not in a mood to be gracious. He had come +to the entertainment, which he mentally called a bore, partly +because he would not let Jerrie think he was taking her refusal +to heart, and partly because he must see her again, even if she +never could be his wife. All the better nature of Tom was +concentrated in his love for Jerrie, and had she married him +he would probably have made her as happy as a wholly selfish +man can make happy the woman he loves. But she had declined +his offer, and wounded him deeper than she supposed.</p> + +<p>A hundred times he had said to himself that afternoon, as +he sat alone in the lovely park—of which he had once said to +Harold, he was to be the <i>hare</i>, and of whose possession in the +future he had boasted to Jerrie—that he did not care a <i>sou</i>, that +he was glad she had refused him, for after all it was only an +infatuation on his part; that the girl of the carpet-bag was not +the wife for a Tracy; but the twinge of pain in his heart belied +his words, and he knew he did love Jerrie Crawford better than +he should ever again love any girl, whether the daughter of a +governor or of the president.</p> + +<p>'And I go to the party, too, just to show her that I don't +care, and for the sake of looking at her,' he said. 'She can't +help that, and it is a pleasure to look at a woman so grandly +developed and perfectly formed as she is. By Jove! Hal Hastings +is a lucky dog; but I shall hate him forever.'</p> + +<p>So Tom pulled himself together, and went to Grassy Spring +in a frame of mind not the most amiable; and when croquet +was proposed, he sneered at it as something quite too <i>passé</i>, +citing lawn tennis as the only decent outdoor amusement.</p> + +<p>'Why, then, don't you set it up on your grounds, where you +have plenty of room, and ask us all over there?' Dick asked, +good-humoredly, as he began to get out the mallets and balls.</p> + +<p>To this Tom did not reply, but said, instead:</p> + +<p>'Count me out. I don't like the game, and there are enough +without me.'</p> + +<p>Just then Jerry appeared at the gate, and he added quickly:</p> + +<p>'Still, I don't wish to be ungracious; and now Jerrie has +come, we can have an eight hand.'</p> + +<p>Hastening toward her, he met her as we have recorded, and +claimed her for his partner.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Tom,' Jerrie said, with a bright smile on her +face, which made the young man's heart beat fast with both +pleasure and pain, as he gave her the mallet and told her she +was to play first.</p> + +<p>Tom was making himself master of ceremonies, and Dick +kept quiet and let him, and watched Jerrie admiringly as she +made the two arches, and the third, and fourth, and then sent +her ball out of harm's way. It was a long and closely contested +game, for all were skilful players, except poor Ann Eliza, who +was always behind and required a great deal of attention from +her partner especially when it came to croqueting a ball. She +did not know exactly what to do, and kept her foot so long +upon the ball that less amiable girls than Nina and Jerrie +would have said she did it on purpose, to show how small and +pretty it looked in her closely fitting French boot. But Jerrie's +side beat, as it usually did. She had become a 'rover' the +second round, had rescued Tom from many a difficulty, and +taken Ann Eliza through four or five wickets, besides doing +good service to her other friends.</p> + +<p>'I p-p-propose three ch-cheers for Jerrie,' Billy said, standing +on his tiptoes and nearly splitting his throat with his own +hurrah.</p> + +<p>After the game was over they repaired to the piazza, where +the little tables were laid for tea, and where Jerrie found herself +<i>vis-à-vis</i> with Marian Raymond, of whom she had thought +she might stand a little in awe, she had heard so much of her. +But the mesmeric power which Jerrie possessed drew the Kentucky +girl to her at once, and they were soon in a most animated +conversation.</p> + +<p>'You do not seem like a stranger to me,' Marian said, 'and +I should almost say I had seen you before, you are so like a +picture in Germany.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerrie answered, with a gasp, and a feeling such as she +always experienced when the spell was upon her and she saw +things as in a dream.</p> + +<p>'Was it in a gallery?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, no; it was in a house we rented in Wiesbaden. You +know, perhaps, that I was there at school for a long time. +Then, when mamma came out, and I was through school, we +stayed there for months, it was so lovely, and we rented a house +which an Englishman had bought and made over. Such a +pretty house it was, too, with so many flowers and vines around +it.'</p> + +<p>'And the picture—did it belong to the Englishman?' Jerrie +asked.</p> + +<p>'Oh, no,' Marian replied: 'it did not seem to belong to anybody. +Mr. Carter—that was the name of our landlord—said +it was there in the wall when he took the house, which was +then very small and low, with only two or three rooms. He +bought it because of the situation, which, though very quiet +and pleasant, was so near the Kursaal that we could always +hear the music without going to the garden.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerrie said again, with her head on one side, and her +ear turned up, as if she were listening to some far-off, forgotten +strains. 'Yes; and the picture was like me, you say—how +like me?'</p> + +<p>'Every way like you,' Marian replied; 'except that the original +must have been younger when it was taken—sixteen, +perhaps—and she was smaller than you, and wore a peasant's +dress, and was knitting on a bench under a tree, with the sunshine +falling around her, and at a little distance a gentleman +stood watching her. But what is the matter, Miss Crawford? +Are you sick?' Marian asked, suddenly, as she saw the bright +color fade for an instant from Jerrie's face, leaving it deathly +white, while Tom and Dick knocked their heads together in +their efforts to get her a glass of water, which they succeeded +in spilling into her lap.</p> + +<p>'It is nothing,' Jerrie said, recovering herself quickly. 'I +have been in the hot sun a good deal to-day, and perhaps that +affected me and made me a little faint. 'It has passed now;' +and she looked up as brightly as ever.</p> + +<p>'It's that confounded washing!' Tom thought; but Jerrie +could have told him differently.</p> + +<p>As Marian had talked to her of the house in Wiesbaden and +the picture on the wall—of the peasant girl knitting in the sunshine—she +had seen, as by revelation, through a rift in the +clouds which separated her from the past—the picture on the +wall, in its pretty Florentine frame, and knew that it resembled +the pale, sweet face which came to her so often and was so real +to her. Was it her old home Marian was describing? Had +she lived there once, when the house consisted of only two or +three rooms? and was that a picture of her mother, left there +she knew not how or why? These were the thoughts crowding +each other so fast in her brain when the faintness and pallor +crept over her and the objects about her began to seem unreal. +But the cold water revived her, and she was soon herself again, +listening while Marian talked of heat and sun-strokes, with an +evident forgetfulness of the peasant girl knitting in the sunshine; +but Jerrie soon recurred to the subject and asked, +rather abruptly: +'Was there a stove in that house—a tall, white stove, in a +corner of one of the old rooms—say the kitchen—and a high-backed +settee?'</p> + +<p>Marian stared at her a moment in surprise, and then replied:</p> + +<p>'Oh, I know what you mean—those unwieldy things in which +they sometimes put the wood from the hall. No; there was +nothing of that kind, though there was an old settee by the +kitchen fire-place, but not a tall stove. Mr. Carter had modernized +the house, and set up a real Yankee stove—Stewart's, I +think they called it.'</p> + +<p>'Was the picture in the kitchen?' Jerrie asked next.</p> + +<p>'No,' Marian replied, 'it was in a little, low apartment +which must once have been the best room.'</p> + +<p>'And was there no theory with regard to it! It seems strange +that any one should leave it there if he cared for it,' Jerrie +said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, it does,' Marian replied; 'but all Mr. Carter knew was +that the people of whom he bought the house said the portrait +was there when they took possession, and that it had been left +to apply on the back rent; also that the original was dead. He +(Mr. Carter) had bought the picture with the house, and offered +to take it down, but I would not let him. It was such a sweet, +sunny, happy face that it did me good to look at it, and wonder +who the young girl was, and if her life were ever linked with +that of the stranger watching her.'</p> + +<p>Again the faintness came upon Jerrie, for she could see so +plainly on the sombre wall the picture of the sweet-faced girl, +with the long stocking in her lap—a very long stocking she felt +sure it was, but dared not ask, lest they should think her question +a strange one. Of the stranger in the back yard watching +the young girl she had no recollection, but her heart beat wildly +as she thought:</p> + +<p>'Was that Mr. Arthur, and was the young girl Gretchen?'</p> + +<p>How fast the lines touching her past had widened about her +since she first saw the likeness in the mirror, and her confused +memories of the past began to take shape and assume a tangible +form.</p> + +<p>'I will find that house, and that picture, and that Mr. Carter, +and the people who lived there before him,' she said to +herself; and then again, addressing Marian, she asked:</p> + +<p>'What was the street, and the number of that house?'</p> + +<p>Marian told her the street, but could not remember the +number, while Tom said, laughingly:</p> + +<p>'Why, Jerrie, what makes you so much interested in an old +German house? Do you expect to go there and live in it?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerrie replied, in the same light tone. 'I am going +to Germany sometime—going to Wiesbaden, and I mean to find +that house and the picture which Miss Raymond says I am so +much like; then I shall know how I look to others. You +remember the couplet:</p> + +<p> +'"Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">To see ourselfs as others see us!"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>'Look in the glass there, the best one you can find, and you'll +see yourself as others see you,' Dick said, gallantly.</p> + +<p>Before Jerrie could reply, a servant appeared on the piazza, +saying there was some one at the telephone asking for Mr. +Peterkin.</p> + +<p>It proved to be Billy's father, who was in the village, and +had received a telegram from Springfield concerning a lawsuit +which was pending between himself and a rival firm, which +claimed that he had infringed upon their patents. Before +replying to the telegram he wished to confer with his son, who +was to come at once to the hotel, and, if necessary, go to Springfield +that night.</p> + +<p>'B-by Jove,' Billy said, as he returned to the piazza and +explained the matter, 'it's t-t-too bad that I must g-go, when +I'm enjoying m-myself t-t-tip-top. I wish that lawsuit was in +Gu-Guinea.'</p> + +<p>Then turning to Ann Eliza he asked how she would get home +if he did nut return.</p> + +<p>'Oh, don't trouble about me. I can take care of myself,' +Ann Eliza said, with a bounce up in her chair, which set every +loose hair of her frowzy head to flying.</p> + +<p>'M-m-maybe they'll send the ca-carriage,' Billy went on, +'and if they do-don't, m-may be you can g-go with T-Tom as +far as his house, and then you wo-wont be afraid.'</p> + +<p>Tom could have killed the little man for having thus made it +impossible for him not to see his sister safely home. He had +fully intended to forestall Dick, and go with Jerrie if Harold +did not come, for though she had refused him, he wished to +keep her as a friend, hoping that in time she might be led to +reconsider. He liked to hear her voice—to look into her face—to +be near her, and the walk in the moonlight, with her upon +his arm, had been something very pleasant to contemplate, and +now it was snatched from him by Billy's ill-advised speech, and +old Peterkin's red-haired daughter thrust upon him. It was +rather hard, and Tom's face was very gloomy and dark for the +remainder of the evening, while they sat upon the piazza and +laughed, and talked, and said the little nothings so pleasant to +the young and so meaningless to the old who have forgotten +their youth.</p> + +<p>Jerrie was the first to speak of going. She had hoped that +Harold might possibly come for her, but as the time passed on, +and he did not appear, she knew he was not coming, and at last +arose to say good-night to Nina, while Dick hastened forward +and announced his intention to accompany her.</p> + +<p>'No, Dick, no; please don't,' she said. 'I am not a bit +afraid, and I would rather you did not go.'</p> + +<p>But Dick was persistent.</p> + +<p>'You know you accepted my services this morning,' he said, +and his face, as he went down the steps with Jerrie on his arm, +wore a very different expression from that of poor Tom, who, +with Ann Eliza coming about to his elbow, stalked moodily +along the road, scarcely hearing and not always replying to the +commonplace remarks of his companion, who had never been +so happy in her life, because never before had she been out alone +in the evening with Tom Tracy as her escort.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI" ></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<h2>OUT IN THE STORM.</h2> + + +<p>For half an hour or more before the young people left the +house a dark mass of clouds had been rolling up from +the west, and by the time that they were out of the +grounds and on the highway, the moonlight was wholly obscured +and the sky was overcast as with a pall, while frequent groans +of thunder and flashes of lightning in the distance told of the +fast coming storm.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I am so afraid of thunder! Aren't you?' Ann Eliza +cried, in terror, as she clung closer to Tom, who, beside her, +seemed a very giant, and who did not reply until there came +a gleam of lightning which showed him the white face and the +loose hair blowing out from under his companion's hat.</p> + +<p>There was a little shriek of fear and a smothered cry. 'Oh, +Tom, aren't you a bit afraid?'</p> + +<p>And then the giant answered the trembling little girl whom +he would like to have shaken off, she clung so closely to him +'Thunder and lightning, no!' I'm not afraid of anything except +getting wet; and if you are, you'd better run before the +whole thing is upon us; the sky is blacker than midnight now. +I never saw a storm come on so fast. Can you run?'</p> + +<p>'Yes—some,' Ann Eliza gasped out; 'only my boots are so +tight and new, and the heels are so high. Do you think we +shall be struck?'</p> + +<p>This as a peal of thunder louder than any which had preceded +it rolled over their heads, making Ann Eliza clutch Tom's +arm in nervous terror which was not feigned.</p> + +<p>'Struck? No. But don't screech and hang on to me so. +We can never get along if you do,' Tom growled; and, taking +her by the wrist, he dragged rather than led her through the +woods where the great rain-drops were beginning to fall so fast +as the two showers—one from the west and one from the south—approached +each other, until at last they met overhead, and +then commenced a wild and fierce battle of the elements, the +southern storm and the western storm each seemingly trying +to outdo the other and come off conqueror.</p> + +<p>As the thunder and lightning and rain increased, Tom went +on faster and faster, forgetting that the slip of a girl, who +scarcely came to his shoulders, could not take so long strides as +a great, hulking fellow like himself.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom, Tom—please not so fast. I can't keep up, my +heart beats so fast and my boots hurt me so,' came in a faint, +sobbing protest more than once from the panting girl at his +side; but he only answered:</p> + +<p>'You <i>must</i> keep up, or we shall be soaked through and +through. I never knew it rain so fast. Take off your boots, +if they hurt you. You've no business to wear such small ones.'</p> + +<p>He had heard from Maude that Ann Eliza was very proud +of her feet, and always wore boots too small for them, and he +experienced a savage satisfaction in knowing that she was paying +for her foolishness. This was not very kind in Tom, but +he was not a kind-hearted man, and he held the whole Peterkin +tribe, as he called them, in such contempt that he would scarcely +have cared if the tired little feet, boots and all, had dropped +off, provided it did not add to his discomfort. They were out +of the woods and park by this time, and had struck into a field +as a shorter route to Le Bateau. But the way was rough and +stony, and Tom had stumbled himself two or three times and +almost fallen, when a sharp, loud cry from Ann Eliza smote his +ear, and he felt that she was sinking to the ground.</p> + +<p>His first impulse was to drag her on, but that would have +been too brutal, and stopping short he asked what was the +matter.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I don't know. I guess I've sprained my ankle. It +turned right over on a big stone, you went so fast, and hurts +me awfully. I can't walk another step. Oh, what shall we do, +and am I going to die?'</p> + +<p>'Die? No!' Tom answered, gloomily. 'But we are in an +awful muss, and I don't know what to do. Here it is raining +great guns, and I am wet to my skin, and you can't walk, you +say. What in thunder shall we do?'</p> + +<p>Ann Eliza was sobbing piteously, and when a glare of lightning +lighted up the whole heavens, Tom caught a glimpse of +her face which was white as marble, and distorted with pain, +and this decided him. He had thought to leave her in the +darkness and rain, while he went for assistance either to the +Park House or Le Bateau; but the sight of her utter helplessness +awoke in him a spark of pity, and bending over her he +said, very gently for him:</p> + +<p>'Annie,'—this was the name by which he used to call her +when they were children together, and he thought Ann Eliza +too long—'Annie, I shall have to carry you in my arms; there +is no other way. It is not very far to your home. Come!' and +stooping low over the prostrate form he lifted her very carefully +and holding her in a position the least painful for her, began +again to battle with the storm, walking more carefully now and +groping his way through the stony field lest he should stumble +and fall and sprain him own ankle, perhaps.</p> + +<p>'This is a jolly go,' he said to himself, as he went on; and +then he thought of Dick and Jerrie, and wondered how they +were getting through the storm, and if she had sprained her +ankle and Dick was carrying her in his arms.</p> + +<p>'He will sweat some, if he is, for Jerrie is twice as heavy as +Peterkin's daughter;' and at the very idea Tom laughed out +loud, thinking that he should greatly prefer to have Jerrie's +strength and weight in his arms to his light, slim, little girl, +who neither spoke nor moved until he laughed, and then there +came in smothered tones from the region of his vest:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom, how can you laugh? Do you think it such fun?'</p> + +<p>'Fun! Thunder! Anything but fun!' was his gruff reply, +as he went on more rapidly now, for they were in the grounds +of Le Bateau, and the lights from the house were distinctly +visible at no great distance away. 'We are here at last. Thank +the Lord.' he said, as he went up the steps and pulled sharply +at the bell.</p> + +<p>'Let me down. I can stand on one foot,' Ann Eliza said; +and nothing loth Tom put her down, a most forlorn and dilapidated +piece of humanity as she stood leaning against him with +the light of the piazza lamp falling full upon her.</p> + +<p>Her little French boots, which had partly done the mischief, +were spoiled, and the heel of one of them had been nearly +wrenched off when she stumbled over the stone. Her India +muslin, with its sash, and ribbons, and streamers, was torn in +places and bedraggled with mud. She had lost her hat in the +woods, and the wind and the rain had held high carnival in her +loosely-arranged hair, whose color Tom so detested, and which +streamed down her back in many little wet tags, giving her the +look of a drowned rat after it has been tortured in a trap.</p> + +<p>Old Peterkin was reading his evening paper when Tom's +sharp summons sounded through the house, making him jump +from the chair, as he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'Jiminy hoe-cakes! Who can that be in this storm?'</p> + +<p>He had seen Billy off in the train, and had returned home +just as the rain began to fall. Naturally both he and his wife +had felt some anxiety on Ann Eliza's account, but had concluded +that if the storm continued she would remain at Grassy +Spring, and if it cleared in time they would send the carriage +for her. So neither thought of her when the loud ring came, +startling them both so much. It was Peterkin himself who +went to the door, gorgeous in a crimson satin dressing gown +which came to his feet, but which no amount of pulling would +make meet together over his ponderous stomach. An oriental +smoking cap was on his head, the big tassel hanging almost in +his eyes, and a half-burned cigar between his fingers.</p> + +<p>'Good George of Uxbridge!' he exclaimed, as his eye fell +upon Tom, from whose soaked hat the water was dripping, and +upon Ann Eliza leaning against him, her pale face quivering +with pain, and her eyes full of tears. 'George of Uxbridge! +What's up? What ails the girl!'</p> + +<p>At sight of her father Ann Eliza began to cry, while Tom +said:</p> + +<p>'She has sprained her ankle and I had to bring her home. +She cannot step.'</p> + +<p>'Jerusalem hoe-cakes! Spraint her ankle! Can't step! +You bring her home! Heavens and earth! Here, May Jane, +come lively! Here's a nice how-dy-do! Ann Liza's broke her +laig, and Tom Tracy's brung her home!'</p> + +<p>As Peterkin talked, he was taking his daughter in his arms +and bringing her into the hall, hitting her lame foot against the +door, and eliciting from her a cry of pain.</p> + +<p>'Oh, father; Oh-h!—it does hurt so. Put me somewhere +quick, and take off my boot. I believe I am going to die!'</p> + +<p>She was dripping wet, and little puddles of water trailed +along the carpet as Peterkin carried her into the sitting room, +where he was about to lay her down upon the delicate satin +couch, when his wife's housewifely instincts were roused, and +she exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'No, father. No, not there, when she's so wet, and water +spots that satin so dreadfully.'</p> + +<p>'What in thunder shall I do with her? Hold her all night?' +Peterkin demanded, while Tom deliberately picked up the +costly Turkey hearth rug, and throwing it across the couch, +said:</p> + +<p>'Put her on that.' +So Peterkin deposited her upon the rug, hitting her foot +again, and sending her off in a dead faint.</p> + +<p>'Oh, she's dead! she's dead! What shall we do?' Mrs. +Peterkin cried, wringing her hands, and walking about excitedly.</p> + +<p>'Do?' Peterkin yelled. 'Hold your yawp, and stop floppin' +round like a hen with her head cut off! She ain't dead. She's +fainted. Bring some camfire, or alcohol, or hartshorn, or Pond's +Extract, or something for her to smell.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes; but where are they?' Mrs. Peterkin moaned, +still flopping around, as her husband had expressed it, while +Tom rang the bell and summoned the maid, to whom he gave +directions.</p> + +<p>'Bring some camphor or hartshorn,' he said. 'Miss Peterkin +has fainted, and get off the boot as soon as possible. Don't +you see how her foot is swelling?'</p> + +<p>This to Peterkin, who made a dive at the boot, which resisted +all his efforts, even after it was unbuttoned. The leather, +which was soaked through, had shrunk so that it was impossible +to remove the boot without cutting it away, and this they +commenced to do.</p> + +<p>Ann Eliza had recovered her consciousness by this time, +and although the pain was terrible she bore it heroically, as +piece after piece of the boot was removed, together with the +silk stocking which left her poor little swollen foot exposed +and bare.</p> + +<p>'By Jove, she's plucky!' Tom thought, as he watched the +operation and saw the great drops of sweat on Ann Eliza's forehead +and her efforts to quiet her mother, pretending that it +did not hurt so very much. 'Yes, she's plucky,' and for the +first time in his life Tom was conscious of a feeling of something +like respect for Peterkin's red-haired daughter. 'She +<i>has</i> a small foot, too; the smallest I ever saw on a woman. I +do believe she wears twos,' he thought, while something about +the little white foot made him think of poor Jack's dead feet, +laid under the grass years ago.</p> + +<p>In this softened frame of mind he at last said good-night, +although pressed by Peterkin to stay and dry himself, or at +least take a drink as a preventive against cold, but Tom declined +both, saying a hot bath would set him all right. +'Good-bye, Annie. I'm awful sorry for the sprain,' he said, +offering her his hand; and as she took it in hers, noticing about +the wrist prints of his fingers which had grasped it so tightly +and held it so firmly as he dragged her along over stumps, and +bogs, and stones, until she sank at his feet, 'I guess I was a +brute to race her like that,' he said to himself, as he went out +into the darkness and started for home. 'But I didn't want to +go with her. I wanted to be with Jerrie, who, I have no doubt, +went straight along, without ever thinking of spraining her +ankle, as Ann Eliza did. Poor little foot! How swollen, +though, it was when they got that boot off; but she bore it +like a major! Pity she has such all-fired red hair, and piles it +up like a haystack on the top of her head, with every hair looking +six ways for Sunday.'</p> + +<p>At this point in his soliloquy Tom reached home, and was +soon luxuriating in a hot bath, which removed all traces of the +soaking he had received. That night he dreamed of Ann Eliza, +and how light she was in his arms, and how patient through it +all, and that the magnificent rooms at Le Bateau were all frescoed +with diamonds and the floors inlaid with gold. Then the +nature of his dream changed, and it was Jerry he was carrying +in his arms, bending under her weight until his back was nearly +broken. But he did not heed it in the least, and when he bent to +kiss the face lying upon his bosom, where Ann Eliza had lain, +he awoke suddenly to find that it was morning and that the sun +was shining brightly into his room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII" ></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<h2>UNDER THE PINES WITH DICK.</h2> + + +<p>Jerrie was soaked through, but she did not sprain her +ankle as Ann Eliza had done. And yet, had she been +given her choice, rather than inflict the pain she did +inflict upon poor Dick, she would have chosen the former +unhesitatingly, and felt herself happy in doing it. Like Tom and +Ann Eliza, she and Dick had run when they saw how fast the +storm was coming, but it was of no use, for by the time they +entered the park, the shortest route to the cottage, the rain +came down in torrents, and drenched them to the skin in a few +moments. Jerrie's hat was wrenched off, as Ann Eliza's had been +by the wind, which tossed her long golden hair in a most fantastic +fashion. But Dick put his hat upon her head, and would +have given her his coat had she allowed it.</p> + +<p>'No, Dick,' she said, laughingly, as she saw him about to +divest himself of it. 'Keep your coat. I am wet enough without +that. But what an awful storm, and how dark it grows. We +shall break our necks stumbling along at this rate.'</p> + +<p>Just then a broad glare of lightning illuminated the darkness, +and showed Dick the four pines close at hand. He knew the +place well, for, with the Tracy children, he had often played +there when a boy, and knew that the thick bushes would afford +them some protection from the storm.</p> + +<p>'By Jove, we are in luck!' he said. 'Here's the pine room, +as we used to call it when you played you were Marie Antoinette, +and had your head cut off. I can remember just how I +felt when your white sun-bonnet, with Mrs. Crawford's false +hair pinned it in, dropped into the basket, and how awful it +seemed when you played dead so long that we almost thought +you were; and when you came to light, the way you imitated +the cries of a French mob, I would have sworn there were a +hundred voices instead of one yelling: "Down with the nobility!" +You were a wonderful actress, Jerrie; and it is a marvel +you have not gone upon the stage.'</p> + +<p>While he talked he was groping for the bench under the +pines, where they sat down, Dick seating himself upon the +parasol, which Jerrie had left there that morning after her interview +with Tom.</p> + +<p>'Hallo! what's this?' he said, drawing the parasol from +under him. 'An umbrella, as I live! We are in luck. What +good fairy do you suppose left it here for us?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie could not tell him that she had left it there, and she +said nothing; while he opened and held it so that every drop +of rain which slipped from it fell upon her neck and trickled +down her back. +'Great Cæsar! that was a roarer!' Dick said, as the peal of +thunder which had so frightened Ann Eliza burst over their +heads, and, echoing through the woods, went bellowing off in +the direction of the river, 'That's a stunner! but I rather like +it, and like being here, too, with you, if you don't mind it. I've +wanted a chance to speak to you alone, ever since—well, ever +since this morning, when I saw you in that bewildering costume +that showed your feet and your arms so—you know, with that +thing like a napkin pinned up in front, and that jimcrack on +your head, and the red stockings—and—and—'</p> + +<p>Dick was getting bewildered and did not quite know what he +was saying, so he stopped and waited for Jerrie to reply. But +Jerrie did not speak, because of the sudden alarm which possessed +her. She could not see Dick's face, but in his voice she +had recognized a tone heard in Tom's that morning when she +sat with him under pines as she was sitting now with Dick +and he had asked her to be his wife. Something told her that +Dick was feeling for her hands, which she resolutely put behind +her out of his way, and as he could not find them, he wound his +arm around her and held her fast, while he told her how much +he loved her and wanted her for his wife.</p> + +<p>'I believe I have loved you,' he said, 'ever since the day I +first saw you at the inquest, and you flew so like a little cat at +Peterkin when he attacked Harold. I used to be awfully jealous +of Hal, for fear he would find in you more than a sister, +but that was before he and Maude got so thick together. I +guess that's a sure thing, and it makes me bold to tell you what +I have. Why are you so silent Jerrie? Don't you love me a +little? That is all I ask at first, for I know I can make you +love me a great deal in time. I will be so kind and true to you. +Jerrie, and father, and mother, and Nina will be so glad. Speak +to me, Jerrie, and say you will try to love me, if you do not +now.'</p> + +<p>As he talked he had drawn the girl closer to him, where she +sat rigid as a stone, wholly unmindful of the little puddles of +water—and they were puddles now—running down her back, +for Dick had tilted the parasol in such a manner that one of the +points rested upon the nape of her neck. But she did not +know it, or think of any thing except the pain she must inflict +upon the young man wooing her so differently from what Tom +Tracy had done. No hint had Dick given of the honor he was +conferring upon her, or of his own and his family's superiority +to her family and herself. All the honor and favor to be conferred +were on her side; all the love and humility on his, and +for one brief moment the wild wish flashed upon her:</p> + +<p>'Oh, if I could love him as a wife ought, I might he so happy, +for he is all that is noble and good and true.'</p> + +<p>But this was while she was smarting under the few words he +had said of Harold and Maude. He, too, believed it a settled +thing between the two—everybody believed it—and why +should she waste her love upon one who did not care for her as +she did for him? Why not encourage a love for Dick, who +stood next in her heart to Harold? Questioning herself thus +until there flushed upon her the recollection of Harold's voice as +it had spoken to her that morning, and the look in his eyes when +they rested upon her, as he said good-bye, lingering a moment +as if loth to leave her, and then Dick's chance, if he had ever +had any, was gone!</p> + +<p>'I do not believe it,' she said to herself, and then, turning +her face to Dick she cried: 'Oh, Dick, I am so sorry you have +said this to me; sorry that you love me—in this way—for I +can't—I can't—. I do love you as a friend, a brother, next +to Harold, but I cannot be your wife. I cannot.'</p> + +<p>For a moment there was perfect silence in the darkness, and +then a lurid flame of lightning showed the two faces—that of +the man pale as ashes, with a look of bitter pain upon it, and +that of the woman, whiter than the man's and bathed in upon +which fell almost as fast as the rain drops were falling tears, +the pines.</p> + +<p>Then Dick spoke, but his voice sounded strange and unnatural +and a great ways off:</p> + +<p>'If I wait a long, long time—say a year, or two, or three—do +you think you could learn to love me just a little? I will +not ask for much; only, Jerrie, I do hunger so for you that +without you life would seem a blank.'</p> + +<p>'No, Dick; not if you waited twenty years. I must still +answer no. I cannot love you as your wife should love you, +and as some good, sweet girl will one day love you when you +have forgotten me.'</p> + +<p>This is what Jerrie said to him, with much more, until he +knew she was in earnest and felt as if his heart were breaking.</p> + +<p>'I shall never forget you, Jerrie,' he said, 'or cease to hope +that you will change your mind, unless—' and here he started +so suddenly that the wet parasol, down which streams of water +were still coursing their way to Jerrie's back, dropped from +his hand and rolled off upon the bed of fine needles at his feet, +just where it had been in the morning when Tom was there +instead of himself—'unless there is some one between us, some +other man whom you love. I will not ask you the question, but +I believe I could bear it better if I knew it was because your +love was already given to another, and not because of anything +in me.'</p> + +<p>For a moment Jerrie was silent; then suddenly facing Dick, +she laid her hand on his and said:</p> + +<p>'I can trust you, I am sure of that; there is some one between +us—some one whom I love. If I had never seen him, +Dick, never known that he lived—and if I had known you just +as I do, I might not have answered just as I have. I am very +sorry.'</p> + +<p>Dick did not ask her who his rival was, nor did Harold come +to his mind, so sure was he that an engagement existed between +him and Maude. Probably it was some one whom she had met +while away at school; and if so, Nina would know, and he +would sound her cautiously, but never let her know, if he could +help it, the heart-wound he had received.</p> + +<p>Poor Dick! every nerve was quivering with pain and disappointment +when at last, as the rain began to cease, he rose at +Jerrie's suggestion, and offering her his arm, walked silently +and sadly with her to the door of the cottage. Here for a +moment they stood side by side and hand in hand, until Jerrie +said:</p> + +<p>'Dick, your friendship has been very dear to me. I do not +want to lose it.'</p> + +<p>'Nor shall you,' he answered; and winding his arms around +her, he kissed her lips, saying as he did so:</p> + +<p>'That is the seal of our eternal friendship. The man you +love would not grudge me that one kiss, but perhaps you'd +better tell him. Good-bye, and God bless you. When I see you +again I shall try to be the same Dick you have always known.'</p> + +<p>For a few moments Jerrie stood listening to the sound of his +footsteps as he went splashing through the wet grass and +puddles of water; then, kissing her hands to him, she whispered:</p> + +<p>'Poor Dick! it would not be difficult to love you if I had +never known Harold.'</p> + +<p>Opening the door softly, she found, as she had expected, +that both her grandmother and Harold had retired; and taking +the lamp from the table where it had been left for her, she +stole quietly up to her room and crept shivering into bed, more +wretched than she had ever been before in her life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" ></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<h2>AT LE BATEAU.</h2> + + +<p>Harold got his own breakfast the next morning, and +was off for his work just as the sun looked into the +windows of the room where Jerrie lay in a deep slumber. +She had been awake a long time the previous night, +thinking over the incidents of a day which had been the most +eventful one of her life, but had fallen asleep at last, and +dreamed that she had found the low room far away in Wiesbaden, +with the wall adorned with the picture of a young girl +knitting in the sunshine, and the stranger watching her from a +distance.</p> + +<p>It was late when she awoke, and Peterkin's clock was striking +eight when she went down to the kitchen, where she found +Mrs. Crawford sewing, and a most dainty breakfast waiting +for her on a little round table near an open window shaded +with the hop-vines. There was a fresh egg for her, with +English buns, and strawberries and cream, and chocolate served +in a pretty cup which she had never seen before, while near +her plate was lying a bunch of roses, and on them a strip of +paper, on which Harold had written:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The top of the mornin' to ye, Jerrie. I'd like to stay and see +you, but if I work very hard to-day, I hope to finish the job on +Monday and get my fifteen dollars. That's a pile of money to earn +in three days, isn't it? I hope you enjoyed the garden-party. If +I had not been so awfully tired I should have gone for you. +Grandma will tell you that I went to bed and to sleep before that +shower came up, so I knew nothing of it. I wonder you got home; +but of course Dick came with you, or Billy, or possibly Tom. I +hear you entertained all three of them at the washtub! Pretty good +for the first day home! Good-bye till to-night. I only live till +then, as they say in novels.</p> + +<p>"HAROLD."</p></div> + +<p>This note, every line of which was full of affection and +thoughtfulness for her, was worth more to Jerrie than the +chocolate, or the bun, or the pretty cup and saucer which +Harold had bought for her the night before, going to the +village, a mile out of his way, on purpose to get them and +surprise her. This, Mrs. Crawford told her, as she eat eating +her breakfast, which she had to force down because of the +lump in her throat and the tears which came so fast as she +listened.</p> + +<p>'You see,' Mrs. Crawford began, 'Mr. Allen paid Harold +two or three dollars, and so he came home through the village, +and bought the eggs, and the buns, and the chocolate, which +he knew you liked, and the cup and saucer at Grady's. He +has had it on his mind a long time to get it for you, but there +were so many other things to pay for. Don't you think it is +pretty?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, lovely!' Jerrie replied, taking up the delicate bit of +china, through which the light shone so clearly. 'It is very +pretty; but I wish he had not bought it for me,' and Jerrie +wiped the hot tears from both her eyes, as Mrs. Crawford continued:</p> + +<p>'Oh, he wanted to. He is never happier than when doing +something which he thinks pleases you or me. Harold is the most +unselfish boy I ever knew; and I never saw him give way, or +heard him complain that his lot was hard but once, and that +was this summer, when he was building the room, and had to +dismiss the man because he had no money to pay him. That +left it all for him to do, and he was already so tired and overworked; +and then Tom Tracy was always making fun of the +addition, and saying it made the cottage look like a pig-sty +with a steeple to it, and that you would think so too; and if it +were his he'd tear the old hut down and start anew. Peterkin, +too, made remarks about its being out of proportion to the rest +of the house, and wondered where Harold got the money, and +why he didn't do this and that, but supposed he couldn't +afford it, adding that "beggars couldn't be choosers." When +Harold heard all that, he was tired, and nervous, and sick, and +discouraged, and his hands were blistered and bruised with +hard work. His head was aching, and he just put it on that +table, where you are sitting, and cried like a baby. When I +tried to comfort him, he said, "It isn't the hard work, grandmother; +I don't mind that in the least; neither do I care for +what they say, or should not, if there was not some truth in it; +things are out of proportion, and the new room makes the rest +of the cottage look lower than ever, and I'd like so much to +have everything right for Jerrie, who would not shame the +Queen's palace. I wish, for her sake, that I had money, and +could make her home what it ought to be. I do not want her +to feel homesick, or long for something better, when she comes +back to us."'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was crying outright now; but Mrs. Crawford, who +was a little deaf and did not hear her, went on:</p> + +<p>'If you were a hundred times his sister he could not love +you more than he does, or wish to make you happier. He +would have gone for you last night, only he was so tired, and I +persuaded him to go to bed. I knew somebody would come +home with you, Dick, wasn't it? I thought I heard his +voice.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, it was Dick,' Jerrie answered, very low, returning +again to her breakfast, while her grandmother rambled on:</p> + +<p>'Harold slept so soundly that he never heard the storm or +knew there was one till this morning. Lucky you didn't start +home till it was over. You'd have been wet to the skin.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie made no answer, for she could not tell of that interview +under the pines, or that she had been wet to the skin, +and felt chilly even now from the effects of it. It seemed that +Mrs. Crawford would never tire talking of Harold, for she continued:</p> + +<p>'He was up this morning about daylight, I do believe, and +had his own breakfast eaten and that table laid for you when I +came down. He wanted to see you before he went, and know +if you were pleased; but I told him you were probably asleep, +as it was late when you came in, and so he wrote something +for you, and went whistling off as merrily as if he had been in +his carriage, instead of on foot in his working-dress.'</p> + +<p>'And he shall have his carriage, too, some day, and a pair +of the finest horses the country affords, and you shall ride beside +him, in a satin gown and India shawl. You'll see!' Jerrie +said, impetuously, as she arose from the table and began to +clear away the dishes.</p> + +<p>The spell was upon her strongly now, and as her grandmother +talked, the objects around her gradually faded away; +the cottage, so out of proportion, and so humble in all its surroundings, +was gone, and in its place a house, fair to look upon, +fair as Tracy Park and much like it, and Harold was the master, +looking a very prince, instead of the tired, shabbily dressed +man he was now.</p> + +<p>'And I shall be there, too,' Jerrie whispered, or rather +nodded to herself. 'I know I shall, and I do not believe one +word of the Maude affair, and never will until he tells me himself, +or she; and then—well, then, I will be glad for them, +until I come to be really glad myself.'</p> + +<p>She was moving rapidly around the kitchen, for there was a +great deal to be done—the Saturday's work and all the clothes +to be ironed, and then she meant to get up some little surprise +for Harold, to show him that she appreciated his thoughtfulness +for her.</p> + +<p>About half-past ten a servant from Le Bateau brought her a +note from Ann Eliza, who wrote as follows.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Dear Jerrie:—Have pity on a poor cripple, and come as soon +as you can and see her. I sprained my ankle last night in that +awful storm, and Tom had to bring me home in his arms. Think +of it, and what my feelings must have been. I am hardly over it +yet—the queer feelings I mean—for, of course, my ankle is dreadful, +and so swollen, and pains me so that I cannot step, but must +stay in my room all day. So come as soon as possible. You have +never seen the inside of our house, or my rooms. Come to lunch, +please. We will have it up here. Good-bye.</p> + +<p>'From your loving friend,</p> + +<p>'ANN ELIZA.</p> + +<p>'P.S.—I wonder if Tom will inquire for me.'</p></div> + +<p>'Tell her I will be there by lunch time,' Jerrie said to the +man, while to her grandmother she continued: 'The baking +and cleaning are all done, and I can finish the ironing when I +get back; it will be cooler then, and I do want to see the inside +of that show-house which Harold says cost a hundred thousand +dollars. Pity somebody besides the Peterkins did not live +there.'</p> + +<p>And so, about twelve o'clock Jerrie walked up to the grand +house of gray stone, which, with its turrets, and towers, and +immense arch over the carriage drive in front of a side door, +looked like some old feudal castle, and flaunted upon its walls +the money it had cost. Even the loud bell which echoed +through the hall like a town clock told of wealth and show, as +did the colored man who answered the summons, and bowing +low to Jerrie, held out a silver tray for her card.</p> + +<p>'Nonsense, Leo!' Jerrie said, laughingly, for she had +known the negro all her life and played with him, too, at times, +when they both went to the district school. 'I have no card +with me. Miss Ann Eliza has invited me to lunch, and I have +come. Tell her I am here.'</p> + +<p>With another profound bow, Leo waved Jerrie into the +reception-room, and then started to deliver her message.</p> + +<p>Seated upon one of the carved chairs, Jerrie looked about +her curiously, with a feeling that the half had not been told +her, everything was so much more gorgeous and magnificent +than she had supposed. But what impressed and at the same +time oppressed her most was the height of the walls from the +richly inlaid floor to the gayly decorated ceiling overhead. It +made her neck ache staring up fourteen feet and a half to the +costly center ornament from which the heavy chandelier depended. +All the rooms of the old house had been low, and when +Peterkin built the new one, he made ample amends.</p> + +<p>"I mean to lick the crowd," he said; and a man was sent +to Collingwood, and Grassy Spring, and Brier Hill, and lastly +to Tracy Park, to take the height of the lower rooms. Those +at Tracy Park were found to be the highest, and measured just +twelve feet, so Peterkin's orders were to "run 'em up—run +'em up fourteen feet, for I swan I'll get ahead of 'em."</p> + +<p>So they were run up fourteen feet, and by some mistake, +half a foot higher, looking when finished so cold and cheerless +and bare that the ambitious man ransacked New York and +Boston and even sent to London for ornaments for his walls. +Books were bought by the square yard, pictures by the wholesale, +mirrors by the dozen, with bronzes and brackets and +sconces and tapestry and banners and screens and clocks and +cabinets and statuary, with every kind of furniture imaginable, +from the costliest rugs and carpets to the most exquisite inlaid +tables to be found in Florence or Venice. For Peterkin sent +there for them by a gentleman to whom he said:</p> + +<p>'Git the best there is if it costs a fortune. I'm bound to lick +the crowd.'</p> + +<p>This was his favorite expression; and when his house was +done, and he stood, his broad, white shirt-front studded with +diamonds and his coat thrown back to show them, surveying +his possessions, he felt that he 'had licked the crowd.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie felt so, too, as she followed the elegant Leo up the +stairs and through the upper hall—handsomer, if possible than +the lower one—to the pretty room where Ann Eliza lay, or +rather reclined, with her lame foot on a cushion and her well +one incased in a white embroidered silk stocking and blue satin +slipper. She was dressed in a delicate blue satin wrapper, +trimmed with swan's-down, and there were diamonds in her +ears and on the little white hands which she stretched toward +Jerrie as she came in.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Jerrie,' she said, 'I am so glad to see you, for it is awfully +lonesome here; and if one can be homesick at home, I +am. I miss the girls and the lessons and the rules at Vassar; +much as I hated them when I was there; and just before you +came in I wanted to cry. I guess my rooms are too big and +have too much in them; any way, I have the feeling that I +am visiting, and everything is strange and new. I do believe +I liked the old room better, with its matting on the floor +and the little mirror with the peacock feathers ornamenting +the top, and that painted plaster image of Samuel on the mantel. +It is very ungrateful in me, I know, when father has +done it mostly to please me. Do you believe—he has hunted me +up a maid; Doris is her name; and what I am ever to do with +her, or she with me, I am sure I don't know. Do you?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie did not know either, but suggested that she might +read to her while she was confined to her room. +'Yes, she might, perhaps, do that, if she can read,' Ann +Eliza said. 'She certainly has pretentions enough about her +to have written several treatises on scientific subjects. She +was a year with Lady Augusta Hardy, in Ireland. Don't you +remember the grand wedding father and mother attended in +Allington two or three years ago, when Augusta Browne was +married to an Irish lord, who had been bought by her money?—for +of course he did not care much for her. Well, Doris +went out with her as maid, and acts as if she, too, had married +a peer. She came last night, and mamma and I are already +as afraid of her as we can be, she is so fine and airy. She insisted +upon dressing me this morning, and I felt all the while +as if she were thinking how red and ugly my hair is, or counting +the freckles on my face, and contrasting me with 'my Lady +Augusta,' as she calls her. I wonder if she ever saw my lady's +mother, Mrs. Rossiter-Browne, who told me once that I had a +very <i>petty figger</i>, but she presumed it would <i>envelope</i> as I +grew +older. But then people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw +stones,' and Ann Eliza colored a little as she made this reference +to her own father and mother, whose language was not +much more correct than Mrs. Rossiter-Browne's.</p> + +<p>For one brought up as she had been, Ann Eliza was a rather +sensible girl, and although she attached a great deal of importance +to money, she knew it was not everything, and that with +her father's millions there was still a wide difference between +him and the men to whose society he aspired; and knew, too, +that although Jerrie had not a penny in the world, she was +greatly her superior, and so considered by the world at large. +She was very fond of Jerrie, who had often helped her with +her lessons, and stood between her and the ridicule of her +companions, and was never happier than when in her society. +So now she made her bring an ottoman close beside her, and +held her hand while she narrated in detail the events of the +previous night, dwelling at length upon the fact that Tom had +carried her in his arms, and wondering if he would call to inquire +after her. Jerrie thought he would; and, as if in answer +to the thought, Doris almost immediately appeared with his +card. She <i>was</i> very fine and very smart, and Jerrie herself +felt awed by her dignity and manner as she delivered her +message. +'The gentleman sends his compliments, and would like to +know how you are this morning.'</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, it's Tom! he has come!' Ann Eliza said, with joy +in her voice. 'Surely I can receive him here, for this is my +parlor.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie thought she might, but the toss of the fine maid's head +showed that she thought differently, as she left the room with +her mistress' message.</p> + +<p>'Thunderation! I didn't want to see her. It's enough to +have to call,' was Tom's mental comment, when Doris told him +he was to walk up stairs.</p> + +<p>Indeed, he would not have come at all if Maude, to whom +he related his adventure, had not insisted that he must.</p> + +<p>'You needn't see her, of course; but you must go and inquire +how she is. According to your own statement you are +to blame for her mishap; you dragged her along too fast.</p> + +<p>Tom knew there was some truth in this, and so he went the +more willingly; and, sending up his card, stood near the open +door, ready to leave the moment Leo came down with the message +he had received from Doris.</p> + +<p>'I shall be cheek by jowl with these Peterkins, if I don't +look out,' he thought, as he ascended the stairs to the hall, +where Doris stood waiting to show him her mistress' room.</p> + +<p>'What! Jerry! You here?' he exclaimed, his face clearing, +and the whole aspect of matters changing at once, as she arose +to meet him.</p> + +<p>With Jerrie there the place seemed different, and he did not +feel as if he were lowering himself, as he sat in the luxuriously +furnished room, and joined in the dainty lunch which was +brought up and served from Dresden china, and linen and cut +glass, and was as delicate and dainty in its way as anything he +had ever found at the Brunswick or Delmonico's. Mrs. Peterkin +prided herself upon her <i>cuisine</i>, which she always superintended, +and as Peterkin was something of an epicure and gourmand, +the table was always supplied with every possible delicacy.</p> + +<p>Tom enjoyed it all, and praised the chocolate, and the broiled +chicken, and the jellies, and thought Ann Eliza not so very +bad-looking in her blue satin wrapper, with the swan's-down +trimmings, and made himself generally agreeable. Maude was +better, he said, and could talk a little, and he asked Jerrie to +go home with him and see her. But Jerrie declined.</p> + +<p>'I have a great deal of work to do yet,' she said, 'I must +iron all those clothes you saw upon the line yesterday, and so I +must be going.'</p> + +<p>Tom frowned at the mention of the clothes which Jerrie had +washed; while Ann Eliza insisted that she should stay until +the dog-cart, which had been sent to the station for Billy, came +back, when Lewis would take her home, as it was too warm to +walk. Jerrie did not mind the walk, but she felt morally sure +that Tom meant to accompany her, and greatly preferred the +dog-cart and Lewis to another <i>tête-à-tête</i> with him, for he did +not act at all like a discarded lover, but rather as one who still +hoped he had a chance. So she signified her intention to wait +for the dog-cart, which soon came, with Billy in it, anxious +when he heard of his sister's accident, delighted when he found +Jerrie there, and persistent in saying that he and not Lewis +would take her home.</p> + +<p>'Well, if you will, you will,' she said, laughingly; and bidding +Ann Eliza good-bye, and telling Tom to give her love to +Maude and say to her that she did not believe she should be at the +park that day, she had so much to do, she was soon in the dog-cart +with Billy, whose face was radiant as he gathered up the +reins and started down the turnpike, driving at what Jerrie +thought a very slow pace, as she was anxious to get home.</p> + +<p>Something of Billy's thoughts must have communicated itself +to Jerrie, for she became nervous and ill at ease and talked +rapidly of things in which she had not the slightest interest.</p> + +<p>'What of the lawsuit?' she asked. 'Are you likely to settle +it?'</p> + +<p>'N-no,' Billy answered, hurriedly. 'It will h-have to co-come +into co-court in a f-few days, and I am aw-awful sorry. I +wa-wanted father to p-pay what they demanded, but he won't. +Hal is subpoenaed on the other side, as he was in our office, +and is supposed to know something about it; b-but I ho-hope +he won't da-damage us m-much, as father would n-never forgive +him if he went against us.'</p> + +<p>'But he must tell the truth, no matter who is damaged,' +Jerrie said. +'Ye-yes' Billy replied, 'of co-course he must, b-but he +needn't volunteer information.'</p> + +<p>Jerry began to think that Billy had insisted upon coming +with her for the sake of persuading her to caution Harold +against saying too much when he was called to testify in the +great lawsuit between Peterkin & Co., manufacturers in Shannondale, +and Wilson & Co., manufacturers in Truesdale, an adjoining +town; but she was undeceived when her companion +turned suddenly off upon the river road, which would take them +at least two miles out of their way.</p> + +<p>'Why are you coming here!' Jerrie said, in real distress. +'It is ever so much farther, and I must get home. I have +piles of work to do.'</p> + +<p>'Co-confound the work,' Billy replied, very energetically for +him, and reining his horse up under a wide spreading butternut +tree, which grew upon the river bank, he sprang out and +pretended to be busy with some part of the harness, while he +astonished Jerrie by bursting out, without the least stammer, +he was so earnest and so excited: 'I've something to say to +you, Jerrie, and I may as well say it now as any time, and +know the worst, or the best. I can't bear the suspense any +longer, and I got out of the cart so as to stand where I could +look you square in the face while I say it.'</p> + +<p>And he was looking her square in the face while she grew +hot and cold and experienced a sensation quite different from +what she had when Tom and Dick made love to her. She had +felt no fear of them, but she was afraid of this little man, who +stood up so resolutely, with his tongue loosened, and asked her +to be his wife, for that was what he did, making his wishes +known in a very few words, and then waiting for her answer +with his eyes fixed upon her face and a firm, set look about his +mouth which puzzled and troubled her and made her uncertain +as to how she was to deal with this third aspirant for her hand +within twenty-four hours.</p> + +<p>Billy had long had it in his mind that Jerry Crawford was +the only girl in the world for him, but he might not have spoken +quite; so soon had it not been for a conversation held with +his father the previous night, when they were alone in a private +room at the hotel in Shannondale, waiting for the train which +Billy was to take, and which was half an hour late. Peterkin +had exhausted himself in oaths and epithets with regard to the +lawsuit and those who had brought it against him, and was regaling +himself with a cigar and a glass of brandy and water, +while Billy sat by the window watching for the train and wishing +himself at Grassy Spring with Jerrie. Peterkin seldom +drank to excess, but on this occasion he had taken a little too +much. When under the influence of stimulants, he was either +aggressive and quarrelsome, or jocose and talkative. The latter +mood was on him now, and as he drank his brandy and +water he held forth upon the subject of matrimony, wondering +why his son did not marry, and saying it was quite time he did +so and settled down.</p> + +<p>'You can have the south wing,' he said, 'and if the rooms +ain't up to snuff now, why, I'll make 'em so. The fact is, Bill, +I've got money enough—three millions and better; but somehow +it doesn't seem to do the thing. It doesn't fetch us to the +quality and make us fust-cut. We need better blood than the +Peterkins or the Moshers—need boostin', and you must get a +wife to boost us. Have you ever thought on't?'</p> + +<p>'Billy never had thought of it in that light,' he said, although +he had thought of marrying, providing the girl would +have him.</p> + +<p>'Have you! Thunderation! A girl would be a fool who +wouldn't marry three millions, with Lubber-too thrown in! Who +is she?' Peterkin asked.</p> + +<p>After a little hesitancy Billy replied:</p> + +<p>'Jerrie Crawford.'</p> + +<p>'Jerrie Crawford! I'll be dammed! Jerrie Crawford!' and +Peterkin's big feet came down from the back of the chair on +which they were resting, upsetting the chair and his brandy at +the same time. 'Jerrie Crawford! I swow! A gal without +a cent, or name either, though I used to have a sneakin' notion +that I knew who she was, but I guess I didn't. 'Twould have +come out afore now. What under heavens put her into your +noddle? She can't <i>boost</i>! and then she's head and shoulders +taller than you be! How you would look trottin' beside her! +Jerrie Crawford! Wal, I swan!' and Peterkin laughed until +his big stomach shook like a bowl of jelly.</p> + +<p>Billy was angry, and replied that he did not know what +height had to do with it, or name either; and as for <i>boosting</i>, +he wouldn't marry a king's daughter, if he did not love her; +and for that matter Jerrie could boost, for she stood quite as +high in town as any young lady.</p> + +<p>Both Nina St. Claire and Maude Tracy worshipped her, +while Mrs. Atherton paid her a great deal of attention; and so +did the Mungers and Crosbys—enough sight more than they +did to Ann Eliza with all her money.</p> + +<p>'Mo-money isn't ev-everything.' Billy stammered, 'and +Je-Jerrie would make a ve-very different pl-place of Le Bateau.'</p> + +<p>'Mebby she would—mebby she would; but I'd never +thought of her for you,' Peterkin said. 'I'd picked out some; +big bug, who perhaps wouldn't wipe her shoes on you. Jerrie +is handsome as blazes and no mistake, with a kinder up and +comin' way about her which takes the folks. Yes, it keeps +growin' on me, and I presume Arthur Tracy would give her +away, which would be a feather in your cap; but lord! you'll +have to git a pair of the highest heels you ever seen to come +within ten foot on her.'</p> + +<p>'She's only two inches t-taller than I am,' Billy said, and +his father continued:</p> + +<p>'Wall, if your heart's set on her go it, and quick, too, I'm +goin' to have a smasher of a party in the fall, and Jerrie'll be +just the one to draw, I can see her now, standin' there with +the diamonds we'll give her sparklin' on her neck, and she +lookin' like a queen, and the <i>sinecure</i> of all eyes. But for +thunder's sake don't marry the old woman and all. Leave her +to Harold, the sneak! I never did like him, and I'll be mad +enough to kill him if he goes agin me in the suit, and I b'lieve +he will.'</p> + +<p>At this point Peterkin wandered off to the suit entirely and +forgot Jerrie, who was to boost the house of Peterkin and make +it 'fust-cut.' But not so Billy, and all the way from Shannondale +to Springfield he was thinking of Jerrie, and wondering +if it were possible that she could ever look upon him with +favor. Like Tom and Dick, he could scarcely remember the +time when he did not think Jerrie the loveliest girl in the +world, and ever since he had grown to manhood he had meditated +making her his wife, but had feared what his father might +say, as he knew how much importance he attached to money. +Now however, his father had signified his assent, and, resolving +to lose no time, Billy, on his return next day to Le Bateau, +seized the opportunity to take Jerrie home, as the occasion for +declaring his love, which he did in a manly, straightforward +manner, never hinting at any advantage it would be to her to +be the wife of a millionaire, or offering any inducement in any +way except to say that he loved her and would devote his life +to making her happy. Tom Tracy Jerrie had scorned, Dick St. +Claire she had pitied, but this little man she felt like ridiculing.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Billy,' she said, laughing merrily. 'You can't be in +earnest. Why I'm head and shoulders taller than you are. I +do believe I could pick you up and throw you into the river. +Only think how we should look together; people would think +you my little boy, and that I should not like. So, I can never +be your wife.'</p> + +<p>Nothing cuts a man like ridicule, and sensitive as he was +with regard to his size, Billy felt it to his heart's core; and as +he stood nervously playing with the reins and looking at Jerrie +sitting there so tall and erect in all the brightness of her wonderful +beauty, it flashed upon him how impossible it was for +that glorious creature ever to be his wife, and what a fool he +had made of himself.</p> + +<p>'For-gi-give me, Jerrie,' he said, his chin beginning to quiver, +and the great tears rolling down his face, 'I know you +ca-can't, and I ou-oughtn't to have ask-asked it, bu-but I d-did +love you so much, that I f-forgot how impossible it was f-for +one like you to lo-love one li-like me. I am so small and +insig-insignificant, and st-stutter so. I wish I was dead,' and +laying his head upon the horse's neck, he sobbed aloud.</p> + +<p>In an instant Jerrie was out of the dog-cart and at his side, +talking to and trying to soothe him as she would a child.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Billy, Billy,' she said. 'I am so sorry for you, and +sorry I said those cruel words about your size. It was only in +fun. Your size has nothing to do with my refusal. I know you +have a big, kind heart, and next to Harold and Dick, and Mr. +Arthur, I like you better than any man I ever knew; but I +cannot be your wife. Don't cry, Billy; it hurts me so to see +you and know that I have done it. Please stop, and take me +home as quickly as possible.'</p> + +<p>With a great gulp, and a long sigh like a grieved child, Billy +dried his tears, of which he was much ashamed, and helping +Jerrie into the cart drove her rapidly to the door of the cottage.</p> + +<p>'I should not like Tom, nor Dick, nor Harold to know this,' +he said to her, as he stood a moment with her at the gate.</p> + +<p>'Billy!' she exclaimed, 'do you know me so little as to +think I would tell them, or anybody? I have more honor +than that,' and she gave him her hand, which he held tightly +in his while he looked earnestly into the sweet young face +which could never be his, every muscle of his own quivering +with emotion, and telling of the pain he was enduring.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye. I shall be more like a ma-man, and less a ba-baby +when I see you again,' and springing into his cart he +drove rapidly away.</p> + +<p>Jerrie found her grandmother seated at a table and trying +to iron.</p> + +<p>'Grandma,' she said, 'this is too bad. I did not mean to +stay so long. Put down that flat-iron this minute. I am coming +there as soon as I lay off my hat.'</p> + +<p>Running up the stairs to her room, Jerrie put away her hat, +and then, throwing herself upon the bed, cried for a moment as +hard as she could cry. The look on Billy's face haunted her, +and she pitied him now more than she had pitied Dick St. +Claire.</p> + +<p>'Dick will get over it, and marry somebody else, but Billy +never,' she said.</p> + +<p>Then, rising up, she bathed her eyes, and pushing back her +tangled hair, stood for a moment before the mirror, contemplating +the reflection of herself in it.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie Crawford,' she said, 'you must be a mean, heartless, +good-for-nothing girl, for it certainly is not your Dutch face, +nor yellow hair, nor great staring eyes, which make men think +that you will marry them; so it must be your flirting, coquettish +manners. I hate a flirt. I hate you, Jerrie Crawford.'</p> + +<p>Once when a little girl, Jerrie had said to Harold, 'Why do +all the boys want to kiss me so much?' and now she might +have asked, 'Why do these same boys wish to marry me?' It +was a curious fact that she should have had three offers within +twenty-four hours; and she didn't like it, and her face wore a +troubled look all that hot afternoon as she stood at the ironing +table, perspiring at every pore, and occasionally smiling to herself +as she thought, 'Grassy Spring, Le Bateau, Tracy Park, I +might take my choice, if I would, but I prefer the cottage,' and +then at the thought of Tracy Park her thoughts went off across +the sea to Germany, and the low room with the picture upon +the wall, and her resolve to find it some day.</p> + +<p>'Far in the future it may be, but find it I will, and find, too, +who I am,' she said to herself, little dreaming that the finding +was close at hand, and that she had that day lighted the train +which was so soon to bear her on to the end.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX" ></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<h2>MAUDE.</h2> + + +<p>Harold did not finish his work at the Allen farm-house +until Tuesday, so it was not until Wednesday +afternoon that he started to pay his promised visit to +Maude. Jerrie had seen her twice, and reported her as much +better, although still very weak.</p> + +<p>'She is so anxious to see you. Don't you think you can go +this afternoon?' she said to Harold, in the morning, as she +helped him weed the garden and pick the few strawberries left +upon the vines.</p> + +<p>'Ye-es, I guess I can—if you'll go with me,' he said.</p> + +<p>He was so loth to be away from Jerrie when it was not absolutely +necessary, that even a call upon Maude without her +did not seem very tempting. But Jerrie could not go now, +for Nina and Marian Raymond came down to the cottage to +spend the afternoon, and Harold went alone to the park house, +where he found Maude in the room she called her studio trying +to finish a little water-color which she had sketched of the +cottage as it was before the roof was raised.</p> + +<p>'I mean it for Jerrie,' she had said to Harold, who stood by +her when she sketched it, 'and I am going to put her under +the tree, with her sun bonnet hanging down her back, as she +used to wear it when she was a little girl, and you are to be +over there by the fence, looking at me coming up the lane.'</p> + +<p>It was the best thing Maude had ever done, for the likeness +to Jerrie and to herself was perfect, while the cottage, embowered +in trees and flowers, made it a most attractive picture. +Harold had praised it a great deal, and told her that it would +make her famous. But when the carpenter work came in +Maude put it aside until now, when she brought it out again, +and was just beginning to retouch it in places, as Harold was +announced.</p> + +<p>She was looking very tired, and it seemed to Harold that +she had lost many pounds of flesh since he saw her last. Her +face was pale, and pinched, and wan, but it flushed brightly as +Harold came in, and she went eagerly forward to meet him.</p> + +<p>'Hally, you naughty boy!' she began, as she gave him her +little, thin hand. 'Why didn't you come before? You don't +know how I have missed you. You must not forget me now +that Jerrie is at home.'</p> + +<p>She had led him to a seat, and then herself sank into a large +cushioned easy chair, against which she leaned her head wearily, +while she looked at him with eyes which ought to have told +Harold how much he was to her, and so put him on his guard, +and saved the misunderstanding which followed.</p> + +<p>'No, Maude, I couldn't forget you,' he said; and without +really knowing that he was doing it, he put his hand upon the +little soft white one lying on the arm of the chair.</p> + +<p>Every nerve in Maude's body thrilled to the touch of that +hand upon which she involuntarily laid her other one, noticing +as she did so the signs of toil upon it, and feeling sorry for him. +One would have thought them lovers, sitting there thus together, +but nothing could have been farther from Harold's mind. +He was thinking only of Jerrie, and his resolve to confide in +Maude, and get her opinion with regard to his chance.</p> + +<p>'Now is as good a time as any,' he thought, wondering how +he should begin, and finding it harder than he had imagined it +would he.</p> + +<p>At last after a few commonplaces, Maude told him again +that he must not neglect her now that Jerrie was at home.</p> + +<p>'Neglect you? How can I do that?' he said, 'when I look +upon you as one of my best friends, and in proof of it, I am +going to tell you something, or, rather, ask you something, and +I hope you will answer me truly. Better that I know the +worst at first than learn it afterward.'</p> + +<p>Maude's face was aflame now with a great and sudden joy, +and her soft eyes drooped beneath Harold's as he went on +stammeringly, for he began to feel the awkwardness of telling +one girl that he loved another, even though that other were her +dearest friend.</p> + +<p>'I hardly know how to begin,' he said, 'it is such a delicate +matter, and perhaps I'd better say nothing at all.'</p> + +<p>'Was he going to stop? Had he changed his mind—and +would he not after all, say the words she had so longed to +hear?' Maude asked herself, as she turned her eyes appealingly +to him, while he sat silent and unmoved, his thoughts +very, very far from her to whom he was all in all.</p> + +<p>Poor Maude! She was weak and sick, and impulsive and +mistaken in the nature of Harold's feelings for her; so judge +her not too harshly, my prudish reader, if she at last did what +Arthur would have called 'throwing herself at his head.'</p> + +<p>'I can guess what you mean,' she said, after a long pause, +during which he did not speak. 'I have long suspected that +you cared for me just as I care for you, and have wondered +you did not tell me so, but supposed that you refrained because +I was rich and you were poor; but what has that to do with +those who love each other? I am glad you have spoken; and +you have made me very happy; and even if we can never be +more to each other than we are now, because I may die, as I +sometimes fear I shall—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Maude, Maude, you are mistaken. I—,' came from +Harold like a cry of horror as he wrenched away his hand lying +between hers, and to which her slender fingers hung caressingly.</p> + +<p>What could she mean? How had she understood him? he +asked himself, while great drops of sweat gathered upon his +forehead and in the palms of his hands, as like lightning the +past came back to him, and he could see as in a printed page +that what he had thought mere friendship for himself was a far +different and deeper feeling, while he unwittingly had fanned +the flame; and was now reaping the result.</p> + +<p>'What can I do?' he said aloud, unconsciously, while from +the depths of the chair on which Maude was leaning back so +wearily came a plaintive voice like that of a child:</p> + +<p>'Ring the bell, and give me my handkerchief.'</p> + +<p>He was at her side in a moment, bending over her, and looking +anxiously into the pallid face from which the bright color +had faded, leaving it gray, and pinched, and drawn, it seemed +to him. Had he killed her by blurting out so roughly that +she was mistaken; and thus filling her with mortification and +shame? No, that could not be, for as he brought her handkerchief +and bent still closer to her, she whispered to him:</p> + +<p>'I am not mistaken, Hally. I am going to die, but you +have made the last days of my life very, very happy.'</p> + +<p>She thought he was referring to herself and her situation +when he told her she was mistaken, and with a smothered +groan he was starting for the camphor, as she bade him do, +when the door opened, and Mrs. Tracy herself appeared.</p> + +<p>'What is it?' she asked, sharply; then, as she saw Maude's +face she knew what it was, and going swiftly to her, said to +Harold:</p> + +<p>'Why did you allow her to talk and get excited? What +were you saying to her?'</p> + +<p>Instantly Maude's eyes went up to Harold's with an appealing +look, as if asking him not to tell her mother then—a precaution +which was needless, as he had no intention to tell Mrs. +Tracy, or any one, of the terrible blunder he had made; and +with a hope that the reality might dawn upon Maude, he answered, +truthfully:</p> + +<p>'I was talking to her of Jerrie. I am very sorry.'</p> + +<p>If Maude heard she did not understand, for drops of pinkish +blood were oozing from her lips, and she looked as if she were +already dead, as in obedience to Mrs. Tracy's command, Harold +took her in his arms and carried her to the couch near the +open window, where he laid her down as tenderly as if she +were indeed his affianced wife.</p> + +<p>'Thanks,' she sighed, softly, and her bright, beautiful eyes +looked up at him with an expression which half tempted him +to kiss the quivering lips from which he was wiping the stains +so carefully, while Mrs. Tracy, at the door, gave some orders +to a servant.</p> + +<p>'You can go now,' she said, returning to the couch, and dismissing +him with her usual hauteur of manner; while Maude +put up her hand and whispered:</p> + +<p>'Come soon—and Jerrie.'</p> + +<p>Had Harold been convicted of theft or murder he could +scarcely have felt worse than he did as he walked slowly +through the park, reviewing the situation and wondering what +he ought to do.</p> + +<p>'If it almost killed her when she thought I loved her, it +would surely kill her to know that I do not,' he thought. 'I +cannot undeceive her now, while she is so weak; but when she +is better and able to bear it, I will tell her the truth.'</p> + +<p>'And if she dies?' came to him like the stab of a knife, as +he remembered how white she looked as he held her in his +arms. 'If she does,' he said, 'no one shall ever know of the +mistake she made. In this I will be true to Maude, even +should the world believe I loved her and had told her so. But, +oh, Heaven! spare me that, and spare Maude's life for many +years. She is too young, too sweet, too good to die.'</p> + +<p>This was Harold's prayer as he rested for a moment in the +pine-room, where he had often played with the little girl, and +where he could now see her so plainly picking up the cones, or +sitting on the soft bed of needles, with the bloom on her cheeks +and the brightness in her soft black eyes which had looked so +lovingly at him an hour ago. 'Spare Maude; do not let her +die!' was his prayer, and that of many others during the +week which followed, when Maude's life hung on a thread, and +every bell at the park house was muffled, and the servants +spoke only in whispers; while Frank Tracy sat day and night +in the room where his daughter lay, perfectly quiet, except +as she sometimes put up her hand to stroke his white hair or +wipe away the tears constantly rolling down his cheeks.</p> + +<p>In Frank's heart there was a feeling worse than death itself, +for keen remorse and bitter regret were torturing his soul as he +sat beside the wreck of all his hopes and felt that he had sinned +for naught. He knew Maude would die, and then what mattered +it to him if he had all the money of the Rothschilds at +his command?</p> + +<p>'Oh, Gretchen, you are avenged, and Jerrie, too! Oh, +Jerrie!' he said, one day, unconsciously, as he sat by his +daughter, who, he thought, was sleeping. +But at the mention of Jerrie's name her eyes unclosed and +fixed themselves upon her father with a look in which he read +an earnest desires for something.</p> + +<p>'What is it, pet?' he asked. 'Do you want anything?'</p> + +<p>They had made her understand that, she must not speak, for +the slightest effort to do so always brought on a fit of coughing +which threatened a hemorrhage, of which she could not +endure many more. But they had brought her a little slate, +on which she sometimes wrote her requests, though that, too, +was an effort. Pointing now to the slate, she wrote, while +her father held it:</p> + +<p>'I want Jerrie.'</p> + +<p>'I thought so; and you shall have her for just as long as +she will stay,' Frank said; and a servant was dispatched to +the cottage with the message that Jerrie must come at once, +and come prepared to pass the night, if possible.</p> + +<p>It had been very dreary for Maude during the time she had +been shut up in her room, to which no one was admitted except +her father and mother, the doctor, and the nurse. Many +messages of enquiry and sympathy, however, had come to her +from the cottage, and Grassy Spring, and Le Bateau, where +Ann Eliza was still kept a prisoner with her sprained ankle; +and once Jerrie had written to Maude a note full of love and +solicitude and a desire to see her. As a postscript she added:</p> + +<p>'Harold sends his love, and hopes you will soon be better. +You don't know how anxious he is about you. Why, I believe +he has lost ten pounds since your attack, for which he +seems to blame himself, thinking he excited you too much by +talking to you.'</p> + +<p>Maude listened to this note, which her father read to her, +with a smile on her face and tears on her long eyelashes; but +when he came to the postscript she laughed aloud, as a little +child laughs at the return of its mother, for whom it has been +hungering. This was the first word she had had from him, +except that he had called to enquire for her, and she had so +longed for something which should assure her that he remembered +her even as she did him. She had no distrust of him, +and would as soon have doubted that the sun would rise again +as to have doubted his sincerity; but she wanted to hear again +that he loved her, and now she had heard it, and, folding her +hands upon her breast, she fell into the most, refreshing sleep +she had had since her illness. Could Maude have talked and +seen people, or if she had been less anxious to live, she would +probably have told Jerrie and Nina, and possibly Ann Eliza +Peterkin, of what had passed between herself and Harold, but +she had not seen them; while life, with Harold to love her, +looked so bright and sweet, that if by keeping silence she +could prolong it, she would do so for months, if necessary. To +live for Harold was all she wished or thought about; and +often when they hoped she was sleeping, she lay so still, with +her eyes closed and her arms folded upon her breast, just as if +she were praying in her dreams, her father thought. She <i>was</i> +praying for life and length of days, with strength to make +Harold as happy as he ought to be, and was thinking of and +planning all she meant to do for him when once they were +married. First to Europe, where she would be so proud to +show him the places she had seen, and where Jerrie would be +with them, for in all her plans Jerrie had almost as prominent +a place as herself.</p> + +<p>'I am nothing without Jerrie,' she thought 'She keeps me +up, and Jerrie will live with us, and Mrs. Crawford; that +makes four, just enough for a nice game of whist in long +winter evenings, when it is so cold outside but warm and bright +within—always bright for Harold, whose life has been so full +of care and toil. Poor boy! how I pitied his great warm +hand when it was holding mine so lovingly, and how I could +have kissed every seam and scar upon it. But by and by his +hands shall be white like Tom's, though not so soft. I hate a +hand which feels like a fluff of cotton. He shall not live here, +for Harold could never get along with mother and Tom; but +we will build a house together, Hally and I, with Jerrie to +help and plan—build one where the cottage stands, or near it, +so Jerrie can still see the old Tramp House she is so fond of. +Not a house like this, with such big rooms, but a pretty, +modern Queen Ann house, with every room a corner room, and +a bay-window in it. And Harold will have an office in town, +and I shall drive down for him every afternoon and take him +home to dinner and to Jerrie.'</p> + +<p>Such was the nature of Maude's thoughts, as she lay day +after day upon the couch, too weak to do more thin lift her +hands or rise her head when the dreadful paroxysms of coughing +seized her and racked her fragile frame. Still she was +very happy, and the happiness showed itself upon her, where +there rested a look of perfect content and peace, which her +father and mother had noticed and commented upon, and +which Jerrie saw the moment she entered the room and stood +by Maude's side.</p> + +<p>'Dear Maude,' she said, as she took the hot hands in hers +and kissed them tenderly.</p> + +<p>Then she sat down beside her, and smoothed her hair, and +told her how lovely she looked in her pretty rose-colored +wrapper, and how sorry every one was for her, and that both +she and Nina would have been there every day, only they +knew they could not see her. Then, as the great black eyes +fixed themselves steadily upon her, with a look of enquiry in +them, she set her teeth hard, and began:</p> + +<p>'I don't think anyone has been more sorry than Harold. +Why, for the first few days after you were taken so ill he just +walked the floor all the time he was in the house, and when +grandma asked what ailed him, he said, "I am thinking of +Maude, and am afraid my call upon her was the cause of the +attack."'</p> + +<p>'N—n—,' Maude began, but checked herself in time, and taking +up her slate, wrote, 'Tell him it was not his call. I am +glad he came.'</p> + +<p>'Yes I will,' Jerrie replied, scarcely able to keep back her +tears, when she saw how cramped and irregular the handwriting +was, so unlike Maude's, and realized more and more how +weak and sick was the little girl whose eyes followed her +everywhere and always grew brighter and softer when she +was talking to her of Harold.</p> + +<p>All day and all night Jerrie sat by her, sometimes talking +to her and answering the questions she wrote upon the slate, +but oftener in perfect silence, when Maude seemed to be asleep. +Then Jerrie's tears fell like rain, the face upon the pillow +looked so much like death, and she kept repeating to herself +the lines:</p> + +<p> +'We thought her dying when she slept.<br /> +And sleeping when she died.'<br /> +</p> + +<p>When the warm July morning looked in at the windows of +the sick-room, bringing with it the perfume of hundreds of +flowers blooming on the lawn, and the scent of the hay cut the +previous day, it found Jerrie still watching by Maude, her +own face tired and pale, with dark rings about her eyes, which +were heavy with tears and wakefulness. She had not slept at +all, and her head was beginning to ache frightfully when the +nurse came in and relieved her, telling her breakfast was ready. +Maude was awake, and wrote eagerly upon the slate:</p> + +<p>'You'll come back? You'll stay all day? You do me so +much good, and I am a great deal better for your being here.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie hesitated a moment; her head was aching so hard +that she longed to get away. But selfishness was not one of +Jerrie's faults, and putting her own wishes aside, she said:</p> + +<p>'Yes, I will stay until afternoon, and then I must go home. +I did not tell you that Harold was going away to-night, did I?'</p> + +<p>Maude shook her head, and Jerry went on:</p> + +<p>'You know, perhaps, that some time ago a Mr. Wilson, of +Truesdale, sued Peterkin for some infringement on a patent, +or something of that sort.'</p> + +<p>Maude nodded, and Jerrie continued:</p> + +<p>'The suit comes off to-morrow, and Harold is subpoenaed as +a witness, as he was in Peterkin's office a while and knows +something about the arrangement between them. I am sorry +he has got to swear against Peterkin; it will make him so +angry, and he hates Harold now. The suit is to be called in +the morning and Judge St. Claire and Harold are going to-night +on the five o'clock train; and as he may be gone a day +or two I must be home to see to packing his bag. But I will +stay with you just as long as I can.'</p> + +<p>She said nothing of her head which throbbed in a most peculiar +way, making her dizzy and half blind as she went down +to breakfast, which she took alone with Mrs. Tracy. Frank +had eaten his long before, and was now pacing up and down +the long piazza with his head bent forward and his hands +locked together behind him.</p> + +<p>'I shall never have rest or peace again until it is known. +Oh, if it would only come out without my telling,' he said to +himself, little dreaming how near it was to coming out and +that before that day's sun had set Jerrie would know!</p> + +<p>Tom seldom appeared until after ten, and when Jerrie went +for a few moments into the grounds, to see if the fresh air +would do her good, she found him seated in an arm-chair under +a horse chestnut tree, stretching himself and yawning as if he +were just out of bed.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, you here? Did you stay all night? If I'd known +that, I'd have made an effort to come down to breakfast, +though I think getting up in the morning a bore. Why, what's +the matter? You look as if you were going to faint. Sit down +here,' he continued, as he saw Jerrie reel forward as if she +were about to fall.</p> + +<p>He put her into the chair and stood over her, fanning her +with his hat and wondering what he should do, while for a +moment she lost consciousness of the things about her, and +her mind went floating off after the picture on the wall in +Wiesbaden, which was haunting her that morning.</p> + +<p>When she came to herself, Tom and Dick and Billy were +all three hovering around, and so close to her that without +opening her eyes she could have told exactly where each one +was standing, Tom by the smell of tobacco, with which his +clothes were saturated, Billy by the powerful scent of white +rose with which he always perfumed his handkerchief, and +Dick, because, as she had once said to Nina when a child, he +was so clean and looked as if he had just been scrubbed. The +two young men had come to enquire for Maude, and had found +Jerrie half swooning under the tree, with Tom fanning her +frantically and acting like a wild man.</p> + +<p>Jerrie had seen Dick twice since her refusal of him, and +both times her manner, exactly like what it had always been +to him, had put him at his ease, so that a looker-on would +never have dreamed of that episode under the pines when she +nearly broke his heart. Billy, however, was more conscious. +He had not seen Jerrie since he took her home in his dog-cart, +and his face was scarlet and his manner nervous and constrained +as he stood before her, longing and yet not daring to fan her +with his hat just as Tom was doing.</p> + +<p>Of the three young men who had sought her hand, Billy's +wound was the deepest, and Billy would remember it the +longest; for, mingled with his defeat, was a sense of mortification +and hatred of his own personal appearance, which he could +not help thinking had influenced Jerrie's decision. +'And I don't blame her, by Jove!' he said to himself a +hundred times. 'She could not marry a pigmy, and I was a +fool to hope it; but I shall love her just the same as long as I +live, and if I can ever help her I will.'</p> + +<p>And when at last Jerrie was better, and assured him so with +her own sweet graciousness of manner, and put her hand upon +his shoulder to steady herself as she stood up, he felt that paradise +was opening to him again, and that although he had lost +Jerrie as a wife, he still had her as a friend, which was more +than he had dared expect.</p> + +<p>'Are you better now? Can you walk to the house?' Tom +asked.</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes; I can walk. The giddiness is gone,' Jerrie replied. +'I don't quite know what ails me this morning.'</p> + +<p>Never before could she remember having felt as she did +now, with that sharp pain in her head, that buzzing in her +ears, and more than all, that peculiar state of mind which +she called "spells," and which seemed to hold her now, body +and soul. Even when she returned to Maude's room, and +sat down beside her couch, her thoughts were far away, +and everything which had ever come to her concerning her +babyhood came to her now, crowding upon her so fast that +once it seemed to her that the top of her head was lifting, and +she put up her hand to hold it in its place. And still she +staid on with Maude, although two or three times she arose to +go, but something kept her there—chance, if one chooses to +call by that name the something which at times moulds us to its +will and influences our whole lives. Something kept her there +until the morning was merged into noon and the noon into the +middle of the afternoon, and then she could stay no longer. +The hour had come when she must go, for the other force +which was to be the instrument in changing all her future was +astir, and she must go to keep her unconscious appointment +with it.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL" ></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<h2>'DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?'</h2> + + +<p>Judging from the result, this question might far better +have been put to rather than by Peterkin, as he stood +puffing, and hot, and indignant in the Tramp House, +looking down upon Jerrie, who was sitting upon the wooden +bench, with her aching head resting upon a corner of the old +table standing against the wall just where it stood that stormy +night fifteen years ago, when death claimed the woman beside +her, but left her unharmed.</p> + +<p>After saying good-bye to Maude, Jerrie had walked very +slowly through the park, stopping more than once to rest upon +the seats scattered here and there, and wondering more and +more at the feeling which oppressed her and the terrible pain +in her head, which grew constantly worse as she went on.</p> + +<p>'I'm afraid I'm going to be sick,' she said to herself. 'I +never felt this way before; and no wonder, with all I have +gone through the last few weeks. The getting ready for the +commencement, the coming home, and all the excitement +which followed, with three men, one after another, offering +themselves to me, and the drenching that night in the rain, +and then watching by Maude without a wink of sleep, it is +enough to make a behemoth sick, and I am so dizzy and +hot—'</p> + +<p>She had reached the Tramp House by this time, and, feeling +that she could go no farther without resting herself, she went +in, and seating herself upon the bench, laid her tired, aching +head upon the table, and felt again for a few moments that +strange sensation as if the top of her head were rising up and +up until she could not reach it with her hand, for she tried, +and thought of Ann Eliza, with her hair piled so high on her +head.</p> + +<p>'The loss of an inch or two might improve me,' she said, +though I'd rather keep my scalp.'</p> + +<p>Then she seemed to be drifting away into the realms of +sleep, and all around her were confusion and bewilderment. +The window, across which the woodbine was growing, +changed places with the door; the floor rose up and bowed to +her, while the room was full of faces, beckoning to and smiling +upon her. Faces like the one she knew so well, the pale face +in the chair; faces like her own, as she remembered it when a +child; faces like the dark woman dead so long ago and buried +in the Tracy lot, and faces like Arthur's as she had seen him +oftenest, when he spoke so lovingly, and called her little +Cherry. Then the scene changed, and the old Tramp House +was full of wondrous music, which came floating in at every +crevice and through the open door and windows, while she +listened intently in her dreams as the grand chorus went on. +It as was if Arthur, from the top of the highest peak beyond +the Rocky Mountains, and Gretchen, from her lonely grave in +far-off Germany, were calling to each other across two continents, +their voices meeting and mingling together in the +Tramp House in a jubilistic strain, now wild and weird like +the cry of the dying woman looking out into the stormy night, +now soft and low as the lullaby a fond mother sings to her +sleeping child, and now swelling louder and louder, and higher +and higher, until the rafters rang with the joyous music, and +the whole world outside was filled with the song of gladness.</p> + +<p>Wake up, Jerrie! Wake from the dream of rapture to a +reality far more rapturous, for the time is at hand, the hour has +come, heralded by the shadow which falls over the floor as +Peterkin's burly figure crosses the threshold and enters the +silent room.</p> + +<p>After Peterkin's conversation with his son concerning his +future wife, Jerrie had grown rapidly in the old man's favor. +It is true she had neither name nor money, the latter of which +was scarcely necessary in this case, but he was not insensible +to the fact that she possessed other qualities and advantages +which would be a help to the house of Peterkin in its efforts to +rise. No girl in the neighborhood was more popular or more +sought after than Jerrie, or more intimate with the big-bugs, +as he styled the St. Claires, and Athertons, and Tracys. Jerrie +would <i>draw</i>; Jerry would <i>boost</i>; and he found himself forming +many plans for the young couple, who were to occupy the +south wing; and in fancy he saw Arthur at Le Bateau half the +time at least, while the rest of the time the carriages from +Grassy Spring, and Brier Hill, and Tracy Park, were standing +under the stone arch in front of the door. How, then, was he +disappointed, and enraged, too, when told by his son that Jerrie +had refused him?</p> + +<p>Peterkin had been in Springfield nearly a week, and after +his return home had waited a little before broaching the subject +to his son; so that it was not until the morning before the day +of the lawsuit that he learned the truth by closely questioning +Billy, who shielded and defended Jerrie as far as possible.</p> + +<p>'Not have you! Refused you! Don't love you! Don't +care for money! Thunderation! What does the girl mean? +Is she crazy? Is she a fool? Is she in love with some other +idiot?'</p> + +<p>'I th-think so, yes; th-though it did not occur to me then,' +Billy answered, very meekly; 'and if so she ca-can't care for +me any mo-more that I ca-can care for any other girl.'</p> + +<p>'And you are a fool, too,' was the affectionate rejoinder. +'I'll be dummed if you ain't a pair! Who is the lucky man? +Not that dog Harold, who is goin' to swear agin' us to-morrow? +If it is, I b'lieve I'll shoot him.'</p> + +<p>'Father,' Billy cried in alarm, 'be quiet; if I can st-stand +it, you can.'</p> + +<p>But Peterkin swore he wouldn't stand it. He'd do something, +he didn't know what; and all the morning he went +about the house like a madman, swearing at his wife, because +she wasn't <i>up to snuff</i>, and couldn't hoe her own with the +'ristocrats; swearing at Billy because he was a fool, and so +small that 'twas no wonder a bean-pole like Jerrie wouldn't +look at him, and swearing at Ann Eliza because her hair was +so red, and because she had sprained her ankle for the sake of +having Tom Tracy bring her home, hoping he would keep +calling to see her, and thus give her a chance to rope him in, +which she never could as long as the world stood.</p> + +<p>'Neither you nor Bill will ever marry, with all your money, +unless you take up with a cobbler, and he with a washwoman,' +was his farewell remark, as he finally left the house about three +o'clock and started for the village, where he had some of his +own witnesses to see before taking the train for Springfield at +five.</p> + +<p>His wife had ventured to suggest that he go in a carriage, as +it was so warm, but he had answered, savagely:</p> + +<p>'Go to thunder with your carriage and coat-of-arms! What +good have they ever done us only to make folks laugh at us for +a pack of fools? Nothing under heaven gives us a h'ist, and +I'm just goin' to quit the folderol and pad it on foot, as I used +to when I was cap'n of the 'Liza Ann—durn it!'</p> + +<p>And so, with his bag in his hand, he started rapidly down +the road in the direction of Shannondale. But the sun was +hot, and he was hot, and his bag was heavy, and, cursing himself +for a fool that he had not taken the carriage, he finally +struck into the park as a cooler, if a longer, route to the +station.</p> + +<p>As he came near the Tramp House, which gave no sign of +its sleeping occupant, something impelled him to look in at the +door. And this he did with a thought of Jerrie in his heart, +though with no suspicion that she was there; and when he saw +her he started suddenly, and uttered an exclamation of surprise, +which roused her from her heavy slumber.</p> + +<p>'Oh!' she exclaimed, shedding back her golden hair from +her flushed face and lifting her eyes to him; but whatever else +she might have said was prevented by his outburst of passion, +which began with the question:</p> + +<p>'Do you know what you have done?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie looked at him wonderingly, but made no reply, and he +went on:</p> + +<p>'Yes, do you know what you have done?—you, a poor, +unknown girl, who, but for the Tracys, would have gone to the +poor-house sure as guns, where you orter have gone! Yes, +you orter. You refuse my Bill! you, who hain't a cent to +your name; and all for that sneak of a Harold, who will +swear agin me to-morrer. I know he's at the root on't, though +Bill didn't say so, and I hate him wuss than pizen; he, who +has been at the wheel in my shop and begged swill for a livin'! +he to be settin' up for a gentleman and a cuttin' out my Bill, +who will be wuth more'n a million,—yes, two millions, probably, +and you have refused him! Do you hear me, gal?'</p> + +<p>He yelled this last, for something in Jerry's attitude made +him think Jerrie was not giving him her undivided attention, +for she was still listening to the music, which seemed to +swell higher and higher, louder and clearer, until it almost +drowned the voice of the man demanding a second time so +fiercely:</p> + +<p>'Do you hear me, gal?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I hear you,' she said. 'You are talking of Harold, +and saying things you shall not repeat in my presence.'</p> + +<p>'Hoity-toity, miss! What's to hinder me repeatin' in your +presence that Harold Hastings is a sneak and a snob, a hewer +of wood, a drawer of water, and a—'</p> + +<p>Jerrie had risen to her feet, and stood up so tall and straight +that, it seemed to Peterkin as if she towered even above himself, +while something in the flash of her blue eyes made him +think of Arthur when he turned him from the house for accusing +Harold of theft, and also of the little child who had attacked +him so fiercely on that wintry morning when the dead woman +lay stretched upon the table at the Park House, with her dark +face upturned to the ceiling above.</p> + +<p>'I shall hinder you,' she said, her voice ringing clear and +distinct; 'and if you breathe another word against Harold, I'll +turn you from this room. The Tramp House is mine; Mr. Arthur +gave it to me, and you cannot stay in it with me.'</p> + +<p>"Heavens and earth! hear the girl! One would s'pose she +was the Queen of Sheby to hear her go on, instead of a beggar, +whose father was the Lord only knows who, and whose mother +was found in rags on this 'ere table. Drat the dum thing!" +Peterkin roared, bringing his fist down with such force upon +the poor old rickety table that it fell to pieces under the blow +and went crashing to the floor.</p> + +<p>Jerrie's face was a face to fear then, and Peterkin was afraid, +and backed himself out of the room, with Jerrie close to him, +never speaking a word, but motioning him to the door, through +which he passed swiftly, and picking up his bag, walked rapidly +away, growling to himself:</p> + +<p>'There's the very Old Harry in that gal's eye. Bill did +well to get shet of her; and yit, if she'd married him, how she +would have rid over all their heads! Well, to be sure, what +a dum fool she is!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI" ></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<h2>WHAT JERRIE FOUND UNDER THE FLOOR.</h2> + + +<p>Meantime Jerrie had gone back to the wreck of the +table, which she tried to straighten up, handling it as +carefully and as reverently as if it had been her mother's +coffin she was touching. One of the legs had been broken +off before, and she and Harold has fastened it on and turned +it to the side of the house where it would be more out of the +way of harm, and it was this leg which had succumbed first to +the force of Peterkin's fist, and as the entire pressure of the +table was brought to bear upon it in falling, it had been precipitated +through a hole in the base board, which had been +there as long as she could remember the place, not so large at +first, but growing larger each year, as the decaying boards +crumbled or were eaten away by rats.</p> + +<p>Jerrie called it a rat-hole, and had several times put a trap +there to catch the marauders, who sometimes scampered across +her very feet, so accustomed were they to her presence. But +the rats would not go into the trap, and then she pasted a +newspaper over the hole, but this had been torn, and hung in +shreds, while the hole grew gradually larger.</p> + +<p>Taking up the top of the table, Jerrie dragged it to the centre +of the room, and, putting three of the legs upon it, went to +search for the fourth, one end of which was just visible at the +aperture in the wall. As she stooped to take it out, a bit of +the floor under her feet gave way, making the opening so large +that the table leg disappeared from view entirely. Then Jerrie +went down upon her knees, and, thrusting her hand under the +floor, felt for the missing leg, striking against stones, and brushes, +and bits of mortar, and finally touching something from +which she recoiled for an instant, it was so cold and slimy.</p> + +<p>But she struck it again in her search, this time more squarely, +and, grasping it hard in her hand, brought it out to the +light, while an undefinable thrill, half of terror, half of joy, ran +through her frame, as she held it up and examined it carefully.</p> + +<p>It was a small hand-bag of Russian leather, covered with +mold and stained with the damp of its long hiding-place, while +a corner of it showed that the rats had tested its properties, but, +disliking either the taste or the smell had left it in quiet. And +there under the floor, not two feet from where Jerrie had often +played, it had lain ever since the wintry night years before +when on the table a strange woman had struggled with death, +and in her struggle the bag, which held so much that was important +to the child beside her, had probably fallen from her +rude bed into the hole just behind it, and which was then large +enough to receive it. Then the rats, attracted by this novel +appearance in their midst, had investigated and dragged it so far +from the opening that it could not been seen unless one went +down upon the floor to look for it.</p> + +<p>This was the conviction that flashed upon Jerrie as she +stood, with widely dilated eyes and quivering nostrils, staring +at the bag, without the power at first to speak or move.</p> + +<p>The music was gone now—Gretchen's voice and Arthur's—and +there was only in her ears a roaring sound like the rushing +of distant waters falling heavily, while the objects in the +room swam around her, and she experienced again that ringing +sensation as if the top of her head were leaving her. She +was so sure that here at last was a message from the dead—that +she had the mystery of her babyhood in her grasp—and +yet, for full two minutes she hesitated and held back, until at +last the sweet, pale face which had haunted her so often +seemed about to touch her own with a caress which brought +the hot tears to her eyes, and the spell which had bound her +hands and feet was broken.</p> + +<p>The bag was clasped, but not locked, although there was a +lock, and Jerrie thought involuntarily of the little key lying +with the other articles on the dead woman's person. To unclasp +the bag required a little strength, for the steel was +covered with rust; but it yielded at last to Jerrie's strong +fingers; and the bag came open, disclosing first some square +object carefully wrapped in a silk handkerchief which had +been white in its day, but which now was yellow and soiled by +time. At this, however, Jerrie scarcely looked, for her eye had +fallen upon a package of papers lying beneath it—papers folded +with care, and securely tied with a bit of faded blue ribbon.</p> + +<p>Seating herself upon the bench where she had been sleeping +when Peterkin's voice aroused her, Jerrie untied the package, +and then began to read, first slowly, as if weighing every word +and sentence, then faster and faster, until at last it seemed that +her burning eyes, from which the hot tears were streaming like +rain, fairly leaped from page to page, taking in the contents at +a glance, and comprehending everything.</p> + +<p>When she had finished, she sat for a moment rigid as a +corpse, and then, with a loud, glad cry, which made the very +rafters ring, and went floating out upon the summer air, +"Thank Heaven, I have found my mother!" she fell upon her +face, insensible to everything.</p> + +<p>How long she lay thus she did not know, but when she +came back to consciousness the sunlight had changed its position +in the room, and she felt it was growing late.</p> + +<p>Starting suddenly up, and wiping from her face a drop of +blood which has oozed from a cut in her forehead caused by +her striking it against some hard substance when she fell, she +looked about her for a moment in a bewildered kind of way, +not realizing at first what had happened; and even when she +remembered, she was too much stunned and astonished to take +it all in as she would afterward when she was calmer and could +think more clearer.</p> + +<p>Taking up the papers one by one, in the order in which she +had found them, she tied them again with the blue ribbon, and +put them into the bag.</p> + +<p>'There was something more,' she whispered, trying to think +what it was.</p> + +<p>Then, as her eye fell upon the first package she had taken +out, and which was wrapped in a silk handkerchief, she +took it up, and removing the covering, started as suddenly as +if a blow had been dealt her, for there was the tortoise-shell +box, with its blue satin lining, and its diamonds, which seemed +to her like so many sparks of fire flashing in her eyes and dazzling +her with their brilliancy.</p> + +<p>Just such a box as this, and just such diamonds as these, +Mrs. Frank Tracy had lost years ago, and as Jerrie held them +in her hand and turned them to the light, till they showed all +the hues of the rainbow, she experienced a feeling of terror as +if she were a thief and had been convicted of the theft. Then, +as she remembered what she had read, she burst into a hysterical +fit of laughing and crying together, and whispered to herself:</p> + +<p>'I believe I am going mad like him.'</p> + +<p>After a time she arose, and with the bag on her arm and the +diamonds in her hand, she started for home, with only one +thought in her mind:</p> + +<p>'I must tell Harold, and ask him what to do.'</p> + +<p>She had forgotten that he was to leave that afternoon on the +train—forgotten everything, except the one subject which +affected her so strongly, so that in one sense she might be said +to be thinking of nothing, when, as she was walking with her +head bent down, she came suddenly face to face with Harold, +who, with his satchel in his hand, was starting for the train due +now in a few minutes.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie,' he exclaimed, 'how late you are! I waited until +the last minute to say good-bye. Why, what ails you, and +where have you been?' he continued, as she raised her head +and he saw the bruise on her forehead and the strange pallor +of her face.</p> + +<p>'In the Tramp House,' the answered, in a voice which was +not hers at all, and made Harold look more curiously at her.</p> + +<p>As he did so he saw peeping from a fold of the silk handkerchief +the corner of the tortoise-shell box which he remembered +so well, and the sight of which brought back all the shame and +humiliation and pain of that memorable morning when he had +been suspected of taking it.</p> + +<p>'What is it? What have you in your hand?' he asked.</p> + +<p>Then Jerrie's face, so pale before, flushed scarlet, and her +eyes had in them a wild look which Harold construed into fear, +as, without a word, she laid the box in his hand, and then +stood watching him is he opened it.</p> + +<p>Harold's face was whiter than Jerrie's had been, and his +voice trembled as he said, in a whisper:</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Tracy's diamonds!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Mrs. Tracy's diamonds,' Jerrie replied, with a marked +emphasis on the <i>Mrs. Tracy</i>.</p> + +<p>'How came you by them, and where did you find them,' +Harold asked next, shrinking a little from the glittering stones +which seemed like fiery eyes confronting him.</p> + +<p>'I can't tell you now. Put them up quick. Don't let any +one see them. Somebody is coming,' Jerrie said, hurriedly, as +her ear caught a sound and her eye an object which Harold +neither saw nor heard as he mechanically thrust the box into +his side pocket and then turned just as Tom Tracy came up on +horseback.</p> + +<p>'Hallo, Jerrie! hallo, Hal!' he cried, dismounting quickly +and throwing the bridle-rein over his arm. 'And so you are +off to that suit?' he continued, addressing himself to Harold. +'By George, I wish I were a witness. I'd swear the old man's +head off; for, upon my soul, I believe he is an old liar?' Then +turning to Jerrie, he continued: 'Are you better than you +were this morning? Upon my word, you look worse. It's +that infernal watching last night that ails you. I told mother +you ought not to do it.'</p> + +<p>Just then a whistle was heard in the distance; the train was +at Truesdale, four miles away.</p> + +<p>'You will never catch it,' Tom said, as Harold snatched up +his bag and started to run, 'Here, jump on to Beaver, and +leave him at the station. I can go there for him.'</p> + +<p>Harold knew it was impossible for him to make time against +the train, and, accepting Tom's offer, he vaulted into the saddle +and galloped rapidly away, reaching the station just in time to +give his horse to the care of a boy and to leap upon the train as +it was moving away.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Tom walked on with Jerrie to the cottage, where +he would have stopped if she had not said to him:</p> + +<p>'I would ask you to come in, but my head is aching so badly +that I must go straight to bed. Good-bye, Tom,' and she +offered him her hand, a most unusual thing for her to do on an +ordinary occasion like this.</p> + +<p>What ailed her, Tom wondered, that she spoke so kindly to +him and looked at him so curiously? Was she sorry for her +decision, and did she wish to revoke it?</p> + +<p>'Then, by Jove, I'll give her a chance, for every time I see +her I find myself more and more in love,' Tom thought, as he +left her and started for the station after Beaver, whom he found +hitched to a post and pawing the ground impatiently.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crawford was in the garden when Jerrie entered the +house, and thus there was no one to see her as she hurried up +stairs and hid the leather bag away upon a shelf in her dressing-room. +First, however, she took out two of the papers and +read them again, as if to make assurance doubly sure; then she +tried the little key to the lock, which it fitted perfectly.</p> + +<p>'There is no mistake,' she whispered; 'but I can't think +about it now, for this terrible pain in my head. I must wait +till Harold comes home; he will tell me what to do, and be so +glad for me. Dear Harold; his days of labor are over, and +grandmother's, too. Those diamonds are a fortune in themselves, +and they are <i>mine</i>! my own! she said so! Oh, mother, +I have found you at last, but I can't make it real; my head is +so strange. What if I should be crazy?' and she started suddenly. +'What if that dreadful taint should be in my blood, or +what if I should die just as I have found my mother! Oh, +Heaven, don't let me die; don't let me lose my reason, and I +will try to do right; only show me what right is.'</p> + +<p>She was praying now upon her knees with her throbbing +head upon the side of the bed, into which she finally crept with +her clothes on, even to her boots, for Jerrie was herself no +longer. The fever with which for days she had been threatened, +and which had been induced by over-study at Vassar, and +the excitement which had followed her return home, could be +kept at bay no longer, and when Mrs. Crawford, who had seen +her enter the house, went up after a while to see why she did +not come down to tea, she found her sleeping heavily, with +spots of crimson upon her cheeks, while her hands, which +moved incessantly, were burning with fever. Occasionally she +moaned and talked in her sleep of the Tramp House, and rats, +and Peterkin, who had struck the blow and knocked something +or somebody down, Mrs. Crawford could not tell what, unless +it were Jerrie herself, on whose forehead there was a bunch the +size now of a walnut.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, Jerrie,' Mrs. Crawford cried in alarm, as she tried to +remove the girl's clothes. 'What is it, Jerrie? What has +happened? Who hurt you? Who struck the blow?'</p> + +<p>'Peterkin,' was the faint response, as for an instant Jerrie +opened her eyelids only to close them again and sink away into +a heavier sleep or stupefaction. +It seemed the latter, and as Mrs. Crawford could not herself +go for a physician, and as no one came down the lane that evening, +she sat all night, by Jerrie's bed, bathing the feverish hands +and trying to lessen the lump on the forehead, which, in spite of +all her efforts, continued to swell until it seemed to her it was +as large as a hen's egg.</p> + +<p>'Did Peterkin strike you, and what for?' she kept asking; +but Jerrie only moaned and muttered something she could not +understand, except once when she said, distinctly:</p> + +<p>'Yes, Peterkin. Such a blow; it was like a blacksmith's +hammer, and knocked the table to pieces. I am glad he did it.'</p> + +<p>What did she mean? Mrs. Crawford asked herself in vain, +and when at last the early summer morning broke, she was +almost as crazy as Jerrie, who was steadily growing worse, and +who was saying the strangest things about arrests and blows, +and Peterkin, and Harold, and Mr. Arthur, whose name she +always mentioned with a sob and stretching out of her hands, +as to some invisible presence. Help must be had from some +quarter; and for two hours, which seemed to her years, Mrs. +Crawford watched for the coming of someone, until at last she +saw Tom Tracy galloping up on Beaver.</p> + +<p>'Tom, Tom,' she screamed from the window, as she saw him +dismounting at the gate, 'don't get off, but ride for your life +and fetch the doctor, quick. Jerrie is very sick; has been +crazy all night, and has a bunch on her head as big as a bowl, +where she says Peterkin struck her.</p> + +<p>'Peterkin struck Jerrie! I'll kill him!' Tom said as he +tore down the lane and out upon the highway in quest of the +physician, who was soon found and at Jerrie's side, where Tom +stood with him, gazing awe struck upon the fever stricken girl, +who was tossing and talking all the time, and whose bright eyes +unclosed once and fixed themselves on him, as he spoke her +name and laid his hand on one of hers.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom, Tom,' she said, 'you told me you'd kill her. Will +you kill her? Will you kill her?' And a wild, hysterical laugh +echoed through the room, as she kept repeating the words, +'Will you kill her? Will you kill her?' which conveyed no +meaning to Tom, who had forgotten what he had said he would +do if a claimant to Tracy Park should appear in the shape of a +young lady.</p> + +<p>Whatever Jerrie took up she repeated rapidly until something +else came into her mind, and when Mrs. Crawford, referring +to the bunch on her head, said to the physician, 'Peterkin +struck the blow, she says,' she began at once like a parrot. +'Peterkin struck the blow! Peterkin struck the blow!' until +another idea suggested itself, and she began to ring changes on +the sentence. 'In the rat-hole; in the Tramp House; in the +Tramp House; in the rat-hole,' talking so fast that sometimes +it was impossible to follow her.</p> + +<p>The blow on her head alone could not have produced this +state of things; it was rather over-excitement, added to some +great mental shock, the nature of which he could not divine, +the doctor said to Tom, who in his wrath at Peterkin was +ready to flay him alive, or at least to ride him on a rail the +instant he entered town.</p> + +<p>It was a puzzling case, though not a dangerous one as yet, +the physician said. Jerrie's strong constitution could stand an +attack much more severe than this one; and prescribing perfect +quiet, with strict orders that she should see no more people +than was necessary, he left, promising to return in the afternoon, +when he hoped to find her better. Tom lingered a while +after the doctor had left, and showed himself so thoughtful and +kind that Mrs. Crawford forgave him much which she had +harbored against him for his treatment of Harold.</p> + +<p>All night Tom's dreams had been haunted with Jerrie's +voice and Jerrie's look as she gave him her hand and said, +'Good-bye, Tom,' and he had ridden over early to see if the +look and tone were still there, and if they were, and he had a +chance, he meant to renew his offer. But words of love would +have been sadly out of place to this restless, feverish girl, +whose incoherent babblings puzzled and bewildered him.</p> + +<p>One fact, however, was distinct in his mind—Peterkin had +struck her a terrible blow in the Tramp House. Of that he +was sure, though why he should have done so he could not +guess; and vowing vengeance upon the man, he left the cottage +at last and rode down to the Tramp House, where he +found the table in a state of ruin upon the door, three of the +legs upon it and the other one nowhere to be seen.</p> + +<p>'He struck her with it and then threw it away, I'll bet,' he +said to himself, as he hunted for the missing leg; 'and it was +some quarrel he picked with her about Hal, who is going to +swear against him. Jerrie would never hear Hal abused, and +I've no doubt she aggravated the wretch until he forgot himself +and dealt her that blow. I'll have him arrested for assault and +battery, as sure as I am born.'</p> + +<p>Hurrying home, he told the story to his mother, who smiled +incredulously and said she did not believe it, bidding him say +nothing of it to Maude, who was not as well as usual that day. +Then he told his father, who started at once for the cottage, +where Mrs. Crawford refused to let him see Jerrie, saying that +the doctor's orders were that she should be kept perfectly quiet. +But as they stood talking together near the open door, Jerrie's +voice was heard calling:</p> + +<p>'Let Mr. Frank come up.'</p> + +<p>So Frank went up, and, notwithstanding all he had heard +from Tom, he was surprised at Jerrie's flushed face and the unnatural +expression of her eyes, which turned so eagerly +toward him as he came in.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Mr. Tracy,' she said, as he sat down beside her and +took one of her burning hands in his, 'you have always been +kind to me, haven't you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' he replied, with a keen pang of remorse, and wondering +if she would call it kindness if she knew all that he did.</p> + +<p>'And I think you like me some,' she continued: 'don't +you?'</p> + +<p>'Like you!' he repeated; 'yes, more than you can ever +know. Why, sometimes I think I like you almost as much as +I do Maude.'</p> + +<p>As if the mention of Maude had sent her thoughts backward +in a very different channel, she said abruptly, while she held his +gaze steadily with her bright eyes:</p> + +<p>'You posted that letter?'</p> + +<p>Frank knew perfectly well that she meant the letter which, +together with the photograph, and the Bible, and the lock of +the baby's golden hair, had lain for years in his private drawer—the +letter whose superscription he had studied so many times, +and which had seldom been absent from his thoughts an hour +since that night when, from her perch on the gate-post, Jerrie +had startled him with the question she was asking him now. +But be affected ignorance and said, as indifferently as he could, +with those blue eyes upon him seeming to read his inmost +thoughts:</p> + +<p>'What letter do you mean?'</p> + +<p>'Why, the one Mr. Arthur wrote to Gretchen, or her friends, +in Wiesbaden, and gave me to post. You took it for me to the +office, and I sat on the gate so long in the darkness waiting for +you to come and tell me you had posted it sure.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, I remember it perfectly, and how you frightened +me sitting up there so high like a goblin,' Frank answered, +falteringly, his face as crimson now as Jerrie's, and his eyes +dropping beneath her gaze.</p> + +<p>'Gretchen's friends never got that letter,' Jerrie continued.</p> + +<p>'No, they never got it,' Frank answered, mechanically.</p> + +<p>'If they had,' Jerrie went on, 'they would have answered it, +for she had friends there.'</p> + +<p>Frank looked up quickly and curiously at the girl talking so +strangely to him. What had she heard? What did she know? +or was this only an outburst of insanity? She certainly looked +crazy as she lay there talking to him. He was sure of it a +moment after when, as if the nature of her thoughts had +changed suddenly, she said to him:</p> + +<p>'Yes, you have been very kind to me, you and Maude—you +and Maude—and I shan't forget it. Tell her I shan't forget it.—I +shan't forget it.'</p> + +<p>She repeated this rapidly, and was growing so wild and +excited that Frank thought it advisable to leave her. As he +arose to go she looked up pleadingly at him, and said:</p> + +<p>'Kiss me, Mr. Tracy, please.'</p> + +<p>Had he been struck by lightning, Frank could hardly have +been more astonished than he was at this singular request, and +for a moment he stared blankly at the girl who had made it, not +because he was at all averse to granting it, but because he doubted +the propriety of the act, even if she were crazy. But something in +Jerrie's face, like Arthur's, mastered him, and, stooping down, +he kissed the parched lips through which the breath came so +hotly, wondering as he did so what Dolly would say if she +could see him, a white-haired man of forty-five, kissing a young +girl of nineteen, and that girl Jerrie Crawford.</p> + +<p>'Thanks,' Jerrie said, wiping her mouth with the back of her +hand. 'I think you have been chewing tobacco, haven't you? +But I sha'nt forget it; I sha'nt forget it. I shall do right. +I shall do right. Tell Maude so; tell Maude so.'</p> + +<p>She was certainly growing worse, Frank thought, as he went +down to confer with Mrs. Crawford as to what ought to be +done, and to offer his services. He would remain there that +afternoon, he said, and send a servant over to be in the house +during the night.</p> + +<p>'She is very sick,' he said; 'but it does not seem as if her +sickness could be caused wholly by that bruise on her head. Do +you think Peterkin struck her?'</p> + +<p>'She says so,' was Mrs. Crawford's reply, 'though why he +should do it, I cannot guess.'</p> + +<p>Then she added that a servant would not be necessary, as +Harold would be home by seven.</p> + +<p>'But he may not,' Frank replied. 'Squire Harrington came +at two, and reported that the suit was not called until so late +that they would not probably get through with the witnesses +to-day, so Hal may not be here, and I will send Rob anyway.'</p> + +<p>On his way home Frank, too, looked in at the Tramp House, +and saw the broken-down table, and hunted for the missing +leg, and with Tom concluded that something unusual had taken +place there, though he could not guess what.</p> + +<p>That evening, as Jerrie grew more and more restless and +talkative, Mrs. Crawford listened anxiously for the train, and +when it came, waited and watched for Harold, but watched in +vain, for Harold did not come. Several of her neighbors, +however, did come; those who had gone to the city out of +curiosity to attend the lawsuit, and 'see old Peterkin squirm +and hear him swear;' and could she have looked into the +houses in the village that night, she would have heard some +startling news, for almost before the train rolled away from +the platform, everybody at or near the station had been told +that Mrs. Tracy's diamonds, lost nine or ten years ago, had +been found in Harold Hastings' pocket, and that he was under +arrest.</p> + +<p>Such news travels fast, and it reached the Park House just +as the family were finishing their late dinner.</p> + +<p>'I told you so! I always thought he was guilty, or knew +something about them,' Mrs. Frank exclaimed, with a look of +exultation on her face as she turned to her husband. 'What +do you think now of your fine young man, who has been hanging +around here after your daughter until she is half-betwaddled +after him?'</p> + +<p>Frank's face was very grave as he answered, decidedly:</p> + +<p>'I do not believe it. Harold Hastings never took your diamonds.'</p> + +<p>'How came he by them, then?' she asked, in a loud, angry +voice.</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' her husband replied; 'there is some mistake; +it will be cleared in time. But keep it from Maude; I think +the news would kill her.'</p> + +<p>Meantime Tom had sat with his brows knit together, as if +intently thinking; and when at last he spoke he said to his +father:</p> + +<p>'I shall go to Springfield on the ten o'clock train, and you'd +better go with me.'</p> + +<p>To this Frank made no objections. If his wife's diamonds +were really found, he ought to be there to receive them; and, +besides, he might say a word in Harold's defence, if necessary. +So ten o'clock found him and Tom at the station, where also +was Dick St. Claire, with several other young men, pacing up +and down the platform and excitedly discussing the news, of +which they did not believe a word.</p> + +<p>'I almost feel as if they were hurting me when they touch +Hal, he's such a noble fellow,' Dick said to Mr. Tracy and Tom. +'We are all as mad as can be, and so a lot of us fellows, who +have always known him, are going over to speak a good word +for him, and go his bail if necessary. I don't believe, though, +they can do anything after all these years; but father will +know. He is there with him.'</p> + +<p>And so the night train to Springfield carried fourteen men +from Shannondale, thirteen of whom were going to stand by +Harold, while the fourteenth hardly knew why he was going +or what he believed. Arrived in the city, their first inquiry +was for Harold, who, instead of being in the charge of an officer +as they had feared, was quietly sleeping in his room at the +hotel, while Judge St. Claire had the diamonds in his possession.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII" ></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<h2>HAROLD AND THE DIAMONDS.</h2> + + +<p>When Harold sprang upon the train as it was moving +from the station and entered the rear car, he found +old Peterkin near the door, button-holing Judge St. +Claire, to whom he was talking loudly and angrily of that infernal +cheat, Wilson, who had brought the suit against him.</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, I see; I know; but all that will come out on the +trial,' the judge said, trying to silence him.</p> + +<p>But Peterkin held on, until his eye caught Harold, when he +let the judge go, and seating himself beside the young man +began in a soft, coaxing tone for him:</p> + +<p>'I don't see why in thunder you are goin' agin me, who +have allus been your friend, and gin you work when you +couldn't git it any where else; and I can't imagine what you're +goin' to say, or what you know.'</p> + +<p>Harold's face was very red, but his manner was respectful as +he replied:</p> + +<p>'You cannot be more sorry than I am that I am subpoenaed +as a witness against you. I did not seek it. I could not help +it: but, being a witness, I must answer the questions truthfully.'</p> + +<p>'Thunder and lightning, man! Of course you must! Don't +I know that?' the irascible Peterkin growled, getting angry at +once. 'Of course you must answer questions, but you needn't +blab out stuff they don't ask you, so as to lead 'em on. I know +'em, the blood-hounds; they'll squeeze you dry, once let 'em +git an inklin' you know sunthin' more. Now, if this goes agin +me, I'm out at least thirty thousand dollars; and between you +and I, I don't mind givin' a cool two thousand, or three, or +mebby five, right out of pocket, cash down, to anybody whose +testimony, without bein' a lie—I don't want nobody to swear false, +remember—but, heaven and earth, can't a body furgit a little, +and keep back a lot if they want to?' +'What are you trying to say to me?' Harold asked, his face +pale with resentment, as he suspected the man's motive.</p> + +<p>'Say to you? Nothin', only that I'll give five thousand dollars +down to the chap whose testimony gits me off and flings old +Wilson.'</p> + +<p>'Mr. Peterkin,' Harold said, looking the old wretch full in +the face, 'if you are trying to bribe me, let me tell you at once +that I am not to be bought. I shall not volunteer information, +but shall answer truthfully whatever is asked me.'</p> + +<p>'Go to thunder, then! I always knew you were a bad +aig,' Peterkin roared; and as there was nothing to be made +from Harold, he changed his seat to try his tactics elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Left to himself, Harold had time to think of the diamonds, +which, indeed, had not been absent from his thoughts a moment, +since Jerrie gave them to him. They were closely buttoned +in his coat pocket, where they burned like fire, as he +wondered where and how Jerrie had found them.</p> + +<p>'In the Tramp House it must have been,' he said to himself; +'but who put them there, and how did she chance to find them, +and why did she look so wild and excited, so like a crazy person, +when she gave them to me, bidding me let no one see +them?'</p> + +<p>These questions he could not answer, and his brain was all in +a whirl when the train reached Springfield, and, with the +others, he registered himself at the hotel. Suddenly, like a +gleam of lightning seen through a rift of clouds, there came +back to him, with a horrible distinctness, the words the child +Jerry had spoken to him that day years ago, when he had +walked homeward with her through the leafy woods from the +Park House, where he had been questioned so closely by Mrs. +Tracy with regard to her diamonds and what he had been doing +in the house on the morning of their disappearance.</p> + +<p>'I know where those diamonds are, but I shan't tell while +there is such a fuss,' she had said, and in his abstraction he had +scarcely noticed it then, but it came back to him now with +fearful significance, making him sick, and faint, and cold, although +the great drops of sweat stood thickly upon his lips and +under his hair, as, after the gas was lighted, he sat alone in a +little reception-room opening from one of the parlors. Did +Jerrie know where they were, and had she known all the time +and not spoken? And, if so, was she not guilty as an accessory, +at least in trying to shield another? For that she took +them herself he never for a moment dreamed. It was some +one else, and she knew and did not tell. He was certain of it +now, as every incident connected with her strange sickness +came back to him, when she seemed to be doing penance for another's +fault. She had called herself an accessory, and that +was what she was, or rather what the world would call her, if +it knew. To him she was Jerrie, the girl he loved, and he +would defend her to the bitter end, no matter how culpable she +had been in keeping silence so long.</p> + +<p>But who took them! That was the question puzzling him +so much as he sat thinking with his head bent down, and so +absorbed that he did not hear a step in the adjoining room, or +know that Peterkin had seated himself just where a large mirror +showed him distinctly the young man in the next room, +whom he recognized at once, though Harold never moved for +a few moments or lifted his head.</p> + +<p>At last, however, he unbuttoned his coat and after glancing +cautiously around to make sure no one was near, he took the +box from his pocket, and holding the stones to the light examined +them carefully, taking in his hand first the ear-rings +and then the pin, and holding them in such a way that two or +three times they flashed directly in the eyes of the cruel man +watching him.</p> + +<p>'Yes, they are Mrs. Tracy's diamonds; there can be no mistake,' +he whispered, just as he became conscious that there was +some one in the door looking at him.</p> + +<p>Quick as thought he put the box out of sight just as Peterkin's +voice, exultant and hateful, cried out:</p> + +<p>'Hallo, Mr. Prayer-book! your piety won't let you keep back +a darned thing you know agin me, but it lets you have in your +possession diamonds which I'd eenamost sware was them stones +Miss Tracy lost years ago and suspected you of takin. I know +the box anyway, I heard it described so often, and I b'lieve I +know them diamonds. I seen 'em in the lookin'-glass, settin' +in t'other room, and seen you look all round like a thief afore +you opened 'em. So, fork over, and mebby you can give me +back May Jane's pin you stole at the party the night Mr. +Arthur came home. Fork over, I say!'</p> + +<p>Too much astonished at first to speak, Harold stood staring +at the man who had attacked him so brutally, while his hand +closed tightly over the diamonds in his pocket, as if fearing +they might be wrenched from him by force.</p> + +<p>'Will you fork over, or shall I call the perlice?' Peterkin +asked.</p> + +<p>'Call the police as soon as you like,' Harold replied, 'but I +shall not give you the diamonds.'</p> + +<p>'Then you own that you've got 'em! That's half the battle!' +Peterkin said, coming up close to him, and looking at him with +a meaning smile more detestable than any menace could have +been. 'I know you've got 'em, and I can run you if I try, and +then what will your doxie think of you! Will she refuse my +Bill for a thief, and treat me as if I was dirt?'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean, sir?' Harold demanded, feeling intuitively +that by his <i>doxie</i> Jerrie was meant, and feeling a great +horror, too, lest by some means Jerrie's name should be mixed +up with the affair before she had a chance to explain.</p> + +<p>The reference to Billy was a puzzle, but Peterkin did not +leave him in doubt.</p> + +<p>'I mean that you think yourself very fine, and always have, +and that are girl of the carpet-bag thinks herself fine, too, and +refused my Bill for you, who hain't a cent in the world. I +seen it in her face when I twitted her on it, and she riz up agin +me like a catamount. But I'll be even with you both yit. I've +got you in my power, young man, but—' and here he came +a step or two nearer to Harold, and dropping his voice to a +whisper said: 'I sha'n't do nothin', nor say nothin' till you've +gin your evidence, and if you hold your tongue I will. You +tickle me, and I'll tickle you! see!'</p> + +<p>Harold was too indignant to reply, and feeling that he was degrading +himself every moment he spent in the presence of that +man, he left the room without a word, and went to his own +apartment, but not to sleep, for never had he spent so wretched +a night as that which followed his interview with Peterkin. Of +what the man could do to him, he had no fear. His anxiety +was all for Jerrie. Where did she find the diamonds, and for +whom did she keep silence so long? and what would be said of +the act when it was known, as it might be, though not from him?</p> + +<p>Two or three times he arose and lighted the gas, examined +the diamonds carefully to see if there were not some mistake. +But there could be none. He had seen them on the lady's +person and had heard them described so accurately that he could +not be mistaken; and then the box was the same he had once +seen when Jack took him to his mother's room to show him +what Uncle Arthur had brought. That was a tortoise shell, of +an oval shape, lined with blue satin, and this was a tortoise +shell, oval shaped, and lined with blue satin. Harold felt, +when at last the daylight shone into his room, that if it had +tarried a moment longer he must have gone mad. He was +very white and haggard, and there were dark rings under his +eyes, when he went down to the office, where the first person +he met was Billy, who also looked pale and worn, with a different +expression upon his face from anything Harold had ever +seen before. It was as if all life and hope had gone, leaving him +nothing now to care for. In his anxiety and worry about the +diamonds Harold had scarcely given a thought to what Peterkin +had said of Jerrie's refusal of Billy, for it seemed so improbable +that the latter would presume to offer himself to her; +but at sight of Billy's face it came back to him with a throb of +pity for the man, and a thrill of joy for himself for whom +Peterkin had said his son was rejected.</p> + +<p>'Does Billy know of the diamonds, I wonder?' he thought.</p> + +<p>As if to answer the question in the negative, Billy came +quickly forward, and offering his hand, bade Harold good-morning, +and then motioning him to a seat, took one beside +him, and began:</p> + +<p>'I'm awful sorry, Hal, th-that you are mix-mixed up in th-this +but I sup suppose you m-must t-tell the truth.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I must tell the truth, Harold said.'</p> + +<p>'Fa-father will be so m-mad,' Billy continued. 'I wi-wish I +could t-t-testify f-for you, bu-but I can't. You were th-there, +I wa-wan't, and all I know fa-father told me; bu-but d don't +volunteer information.'</p> + +<p>'No,' Harold said, slowly, wishing that the ocean were rolling +between him and this detestable suit.</p> + +<p>Once he resolved to go to Judge St. Claire, deliver up the +diamonds, and tell him all he knew about them, but this would +be bringing Jerrie into the matter, and so he changed his mind +and wondered aimlessly about the town until it was time for +him to appear at the court-house, where a crowd was gathering. +It was late before the suit known as <i>Wilson vs. Peterkin</i> was +called, and later still when Harold took the stand.</p> + +<p>White and trembling, so that both his hands and his knees +were shaking visibly, he seemed more like a criminal than a +witness, he was so agitated and pre-occupied, too, it would +seem, for at first his answers were given at random, as if he +hardly knew what he was saying; nor did he, for over and +beyond the sea of long faces confronting him, Judge St. Claire's +wondering and curious—Billy's wondering, too—Wilson's disappointed +and surprised, and Peterkin's threatening and exultant +by turns—he saw only Jerrie coming to him in the lane +and asking him to keep the diamonds for her—saw her, too, +away back years ago up in the little low room, with her fever-stained +cheeks and shorn head, talking the strangest things of +prisons, and substitutes, and accessories, and assuring some one +that she would never tell, and was going for him, if necessary.</p> + +<p>Who was that man? Where was he now? and why had he +imposed this terrible secret upon Jerrie?</p> + +<p>These were the thoughts crowding through his brain while +he was being questioned as to what he knew of the agreement +between the plaintiff and defendant while in the office of the +latter. Once a thought of Maude crossed his mind with a +keen pang of regret, as he remembered the lovely face which +had smiled so fondly upon him, mistaking his meaning utterly, +and appropriating to herself the love he was trying to tell her +was another's. And with thoughts of Maude there came a +thought of Arthur, the very first which Harold had given him, +Arthur, the crazy man, who himself had hidden the diamonds +and for whom Jerrie was ready to sacrifice so much. It was +clear as daylight to him now, the anxiety and stain were over, +and those who were watching him so intently as he gave his +answers at random, with the sweat pouring like rain down his +face, were electrified at the start he gave as he came to himself +and realized for the first time where he was, and why he was +there. Arthur would never see Jerrie wronged. <i>She</i> was safe, +and with this load lifted from him, he gave his whole attention +to the business on hand, answering the questions now +clearly and distinctly.</p> + +<p>When at last the lawyer said to him, 'Repeat what you can +remember of the conversation which took place between the +plaintiff and the defendant on the morning of ——, 18—,' he +gave one sorry look at poor Billy, who was the picture of +shame and confusion, and then, in a clear, distinct voice, +which filled every corner of the room, told what he had heard +said in his presence, and what he knew of the transaction, +proving conclusively that the plaintiff was right and Peterkin +a rascal, and this in the face of the man who had asked him +not to <i>blab</i> and who shook his fist at him threateningly as the +narrative went on.</p> + +<p>'Would you believe the defendant under oath?' was asked +at the close, and Harold answered, promptly:</p> + +<p>'Under oath—yes.'</p> + +<p>'Would you, if not under oath?'</p> + +<p>'If an untruth would be to his advantage, no,' and then +Harold was through.</p> + +<p>As he stepped down from the witness stand old Peterkin +arose, so angry that at first he could scarcely articulate his +words.</p> + +<p>'You dog! you liar! you thief! he screamed; 'to stand +there and lie so about me! I'll teach you—I'll show 'em what +you are. If there's a perlice here, I call on 'em to arrest this +feller for them diamonds of Miss Tracy's! They are in his +pocket—or was last night. I seen 'em myself, and he dassent +deny it.'</p> + +<p>By this time the court-house was in wild confusion, as the +spectators arose from their seats and pressed forward to where +Peterkin stood denouncing Harold, who was white as ashes, +and looked as if he were going to faint, as Billy hastened to +his side, whispering:</p> + +<p>'Lean on me, and I will get you out of this. Father is +mad.'</p> + +<p>But order was soon restored, though not until Peterkin had +yelled again, as Harold was leaving the room:</p> + +<p>'Search him, I tell you! Don't let him escape! He's got 'em +in his pocket—Miss Tracy's diamonds! Lord of heavens! don't +you remember the row there was about 'em years ago?'</p> + +<p>Of what followed during the next hour Harold knew very +little. There was a crowd around him, and cries of 'He is +going to faint!' while Billy's stammering voice called pleadingly, +'St-stand back, ca-can't you, and gi-give him air.'</p> + +<p>Then, a deluge of water in his face; then a great darkness +and the voices sounded a long way off, and he felt so tired and +sleepy, and thought of Jerry, and Maude, and lived over again +the scene in the Tramp-House, when he found the former in +the bag, and felt her little fat arms around his neck as he staggered +with her through the snow, wondering why she was so +heavy, and why her feet were dragging on the ground. When +he came more fully to himself, he was in a little room in the +court-house, and Billy's arm was lying protectingly across his +shoulder, while Billy's father was bellowing like a bull:</p> + +<p>'Be you goin' to let him go! Ain't you goin' to git a writ +and arrest him! Why don't you handcuff him, somebody? And +you, Bill, be you a fool to stan' there a huggin' him as if he +was a gal! What do you mean?'</p> + +<p>'Ha-Hal is my fr-friend, father. He never to-took the diamonds,' +Billy answered, sadly, while Judge St. Claire, who +had the box of jewels in his hand and was looking very anxious, +turned to the angry man clamoring so loudly for a <i>writ</i> and +said, sternly:</p> + +<p>'Even if Harold took the diamonds—which he did not, I am +certain of that—there is some mistake which he will explain; +but if he took them, it is too late to arrest him. A theft commited +ten years ago cannot be punished now.'</p> + +<p>'May the Lord give you sense,' Peterkin rejoined, with a +derisive laugh. 'Don't tell me that a body can't be punished +for stealin' diamonds ef 'twas done a hundred years ago,'</p> + +<p>'But it is true, nevertheless,' the judge replied.</p> + +<p>Turning to another lawyer who was standing near, Peterkin +asked:</p> + +<p>'Is that so, square? Is it so writ? Is that the law?'</p> + +<p>'That is the law,' was the response.</p> + +<p>'Wall, I'll be condumbed, if that don't beat all!' Peterkin +exclaimed. 'Can't be sent to prison! I swow! There ain't no +law or justice for nobody but <i>me</i>, and I must be kicked to the +wall! I'll give up, and won't try to be nobody, I vurm!' And +as he talked he walked away to ruminate upon the injustice of +the law which could not touch Harold Hastings, but could +throw its broad arms tightly around himself.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the Judge had ordered a carriage and taken +Harold with him to his private room in the hotel, where the +hardest part for Hal was yet to come.</p> + +<p>'Now, my boy,' the judge said, after he had made Harold +lie down upon the couch and had locked the door, 'now, tell +me all about it. How came you by the diamond?'</p> + +<p>It was such a pitiful, pleading, agonized face which lifted +itself from the cushion and looked at Judge St. Claire, as Harold +began:</p> + +<p>'I cannot tell you now—I must not? but by and by perhaps +I can. They were handed to me to keep by some one, +just for a little while. I cannot tell you who it was. I think +I would die sooner than do it. Certainly I would rather go to +prison, as Peterkin wishes me to.'</p> + +<p>There was a thoughtful, perplexed look on the judge's face as +he said:</p> + +<p>'This is very strange, Harold, that you cannot tell who gave +them to you, and with some people will be construed against +you.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I know it; but I would rather bear it than have that +person's name brought in question,' was Harold's reply.</p> + +<p>'Do you think that person took them?' the judge asked.</p> + +<p>'No, a thousand times, no!' and Harold leaped to his feet +and began to pace the floor hurriedly. 'They never took them, +never; I'd swear to that with my life. Don't talk any more +about it, please; I can't bear it. I have gone through so much +to-day, and last night I never slept a wink. Oh, I am so +tired!' and with a groan he threw himself again upon the +couch, and, closing his eyes, dropped almost instantly into a +heavy slumber, from which the judge did not rouse him until +after dinner, when he ordered some refreshments sent to his +room, and himself awoke the young man, whose face looked +pinched, and white, and haggard, and who could only swallow +a cup of coffee and a part of a biscuit.</p> + +<p>'I am so tired,' he kept repeating; 'but I shall be better in +the morning;' and long before the night train had come he +was in bed sleeping off the effects of the day's excitement.</p> + +<p>The next morning when he went down to the office he was +surprised and bewildered at the crowd which gathered around +him—the friends who had came on the train to stand by and +defend him, if necessary; and as the home faces he had known +all his life looked kindly into his, and the familiar voices of his +boyhood told him of sympathy for and faith in him, while hand +after hand took his in a friendly clasp, that of Dick St. Claire +clinging to his with a grasp which said plainer than words could +have done: 'I believe in you, Hal, and am so sorry for you,' +the tension of his nerves gave way entirely, and, sinking down +in their midst, he cried like a child when freed from some +terrible danger.</p> + +<p>He had not thought before that he cared for himself what +people said, but he knew now that he did, and this assurance +of confidence from his friends unnerved him for a time; +then, dashing away his tears and lifting up his face, on which +his old winning smile was breaking, he said:</p> + +<p>'Excuse me for this weakness; only girls should cry, but I +have borne so much, and your coming was such a surprise. +Thank you all. I cannot say what I feel. I should cry again +if I did.'</p> + +<p>'Never mind, old boy,' Dick's cheery voice called out. 'We +know what you would say. We came to help you, just a few +of us; but if anything had really happened to you, why, all +Shannondale would have turned out to the rescue.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Dick,' Harold said, the tears starting again; +then, as his eye fell for the first time upon Tom, he exclaimed, +with a glad ring in his voice, 'and you, too, Tom!'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I thought I'd come with the crowd and see the fun,' +Tom answered, indifferently, as he walked away by himself.</p> + +<p>Tom had said very little, on the train, or after they had +reached the hotel, but no one had listened with more eagerness +to every detail of the matter than he had done, and all that +morning he was busy gathering up every item of information, +and listening to the guesses as to who the person could be who +gave the diamonds to Harold.</p> + +<p>The jewels had been identified by his father and by himself, +although an identification was scarcely necessary as Harold had +distinctly said:</p> + +<p>'They are the Tracy diamonds, and the person who gave +them, to me said so.'</p> + +<p>But who was the person? That was the question puzzling +the heads of all the Shannondale people as the morning wore +on, and each went where he liked. At last, toward noon, Tom +found himself near Harold in front of the court-house, and +going up to him, said:</p> + +<p>'Hal, I wan't to talk to you a little while.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Hal said, assentingly, and selecting out a retired +corner, Tom began:</p> + +<p>'Hal, I've never shown any great liking for you, and I don't +s'pose I have any, but I don't like to see a man kicked for +nothing, and so I came over with the rest.'</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Tom,' Harold replied, 'I don't think you ever +did like me, and I don't think I cared if you didn't, but I'm +glad you came. Is that all you wished to say to me?'</p> + +<p>'So,' Tom answered. 'Jerrie is very sick—'</p> + +<p>'Jerrie! Jerrie sick! Oh, Tom!'</p> + +<p>It was a cry of almost despair as Harold thought, 'What if +she should die and the people never know.'</p> + +<p>'She had an awful headache when you left her in the lane, +and I walked home with her, and the next morning she was +raving mad—kind of a brain fever, I guess.'</p> + +<p>Harold was stupefied, but he managed to ask:</p> + +<p>'Does she talk much? What does she say?'</p> + +<p>There was alarm in his voice, which the sagacious Tom +detected at once, and, strengthened in his suspicion, he replied:</p> + +<p>'Nothing about the diamonds, and the Lord knows I hope +she won't.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean!' Harold asked, in a frightened tone.</p> + +<p>'Don't you worry,' Tom replied. 'I wouldn't harm Jerrie +any more than you would, but—Well, Hal, you are a +trump! Yes, you are, to hold your tongue and let some think +you are the culprit. Hal, Jerrie gave you the diamonds. I +saw her do it in the lane as I came up to you. I did not think +of it at the time, but afterward it came to me that you took +something from her and slipped it into your pocket, and that +you both looked scared when you saw me. Jerrie was abstracted +and queer all the way to the house, and had a bruise +on her head, and she keeps talking of the Tramp House and +Peterkin, who, she says, dealt the blow. I went to the Tramp +House, and found the old table on the floor, with three of the +legs on it; the fourth I couldn't find. I thought at first that +the old wretch had quarreled with her about you on account of +the suit, and she had squared up to him, and he had struck +her; but now I believe <i>he</i> had the diamonds, and she got them +from him in some way, and he struck her with the missing +table-leg. If you say so, I'll have him arrested.'</p> + +<p>Tom had told his story rapidly, while Harold listened breathlessly, +until he suggested the arrest of Peterkin, when he +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'No, no, Tom. No; don't you see that would mix Jerrie's +name up with the diamonds, and that must not be. She must +not be mentioned in connection with them until she speaks for +herself; and, besides, I do not believe it was Peterkin who +took them. It might have been your Uncle Arthur.'</p> + +<p>'Uncle Arthur?' Tom said, indignantly. 'Why, he gave +them to mother.'</p> + +<p>'I know he did,' Harold continued; 'but in a crazy fit he +might have taken them away and secreted them and then forgotten +it, and Jerrie might have known it, and not been able +to find them till now. Many things go to prove that;' and +very briefly Harold repeated some incidents connected with +Jerrie's illness when she was a child.</p> + +<p>'That looks like it, certainly,' Tom said; 'but I am awfully +loth to give up arresting the brute, and believe I shall do it yet +for assault and battery. He certainly struck her. You will +see for yourself the lump on her head.'</p> + +<p>So saying Tom arose to go away, but before he went made a +remark quite characteristic of him and his feeling for Harold, +to whom he said, with a laugh:</p> + +<p>'Don't for thunder's sake, think us a kind of a Damon and +Pythias twins, because I've joined hands with you against +Peterkin and for Jerrie. Herod and Pilate, you know, became +friends, but I guess at heart they were Pilate and Herod still.'</p> + +<p>'No danger of my presuming at all upon your friendship for +myself, though I thank you for your interest in Jerrie,' Harold +replied.</p> + +<p>Then the two separated, Tom going his way and Harold his, +until it was time for the afternoon train which was to take them +home.</p> + +<p>The suit had gone against Peterkin, and it was in a towering +rage that he stood in the long depot, denouncing everybody, +and swearing he would sell out Lubbertoo and every dumbed +thing he owned in Shannondale and take his money away, 'and +then see how they'd git along without his capital to boost 'em.' +At Harold he would not even look, for his testimony had been +the most damaging of all, and he frowned savagely when on +entering the car he saw his son in the same seat with him, talking +in low, earnest tones, while Harold was evidently listening +to him with interest. Small as he was and mean in personal +appearance, there was more of true manhood in Billy's finger +than in his father's whole body. The suit had been a pain and +trouble to Billy, from beginning to end, for he knew his father +was in the wrong, and he bore no malice toward Harold for his +part in it, and when the diamonds came up, and his father was +clamoring for a writ, he was the first to declare Harold's innocence +and to say he would go his bail. Now, there was in his +mind another plan by which to benefit his friend, and rival, too—for +Billy knew he was that; and the heart of the little man +ached with a bitter pain and sense of loss whenever he thought +of Jerrie, and lived over again the scene under the butternut +tree by the river, when her blue eyes had smiled so kindly upon +him and her hands had touched his, even while she was breaking +his heart. When Billy reached his majority his father had +given him $100,000, and thus he had business of his own to +transact, and a part of this was just now centered in Washington +Territory, where, in Tacoma, on Puget Sound, he owned +real estate and had dealings with several parties. To attend to +this an agent was needed for a while, and he said to himself;</p> + +<p>'I'll offer it to Hal, with such a salary that he cannot refuse +it; that will get him out of the way until this thing blows +over.'</p> + +<p>Billy knew perfectly well that although everybody said +Harold was innocent and that nine-tenths believed it, there +would still be a few in Shannondale—the scum whose opinions +his father's money controlled—who, without exactly saying +they doubted him, would make it unpleasant for him in many +ways; and from this he would save him by sending him to +Tacoma at once, and thus getting him out of the way of any +unpleasantness which might arise from his father's persecutions +or those of his clan. It was this which he was proposing to +Harold, who at once thought favorably of it—not because he +wished to escape from the public, he said, but because of the +pay offered, and which seemed to him far more than his services +would be worth.</p> + +<p>'You are a noble fellow, Billy,' he said. 'I'll think of the +plan, and let you know after I've seen Jerrie and Judge St. +Claire.'</p> + +<p>'A-all ri-right; he'll a-advise you to go,' Billy said, as they +arose to leave the car, followed by Peterkin, who had been +engaged in a fierce altercation with Tom, who had accused him +of having struck Jerrie, and threatened to have him arrested +for assault and battery the moment they reached Shannondale.</p> + +<p>'Thunder and lightning and guns' old Peterkin exclaimed, +while the spittle flew from his mouth like the spray from Niagara. +'I assault and batter Jerry Crawford!—a gal! What +do you take me for, young man? I'm a gentleman, I be, if I +ain't a Tracy; and I never salted nor battered nobody, and +she'll tell you so herself. Heavens and earth! this is the way +'twas,' and Peterkin shook from his head to his feet—for, like +most men who clamor so loudly for the law, he had a mortal +terror of it for himself, and Tom's threatening looks and words +made him afraid. 'This is how 'twas. I found her in the +Tramp-House, and I was all-fired mad at her about somethin'—I +shan't tell what, for Bill would kill me; but I pitched into +her right and left; and, by gum, she pitched into me, so that +for a spell it was nip-and-tuck betwixt us; and, by George, if she +didn't order me out of the Tramp-House, and said it was her'n; +and I'll be dumbed if I don't believe she'd av put me out, too, +body and bones, if I hadn't gone. She was just like a tiger; +and, I swan, I was kinder feared on her, and backed out with +a kinder flourish of my fist on that darned old rotten table, +which went all to smash; and that's all I know. You don't +call that 'sault and batter, do you?'</p> + +<p>Tom could not say that he did, but he replied:</p> + +<p>'That's your version of it. Jerrie may have another, and +her friends ain't going to have her abused by a chap like you; +and my advice is that you hold your tongue, both about her +and Harold. It will he better for you. Do you understand?'</p> + +<p>'You bet!' Peterkin said, with a meaning nod, breathing a +little more freely as he caught sight of the highest tower of +<i>Lubbertoo</i>, and more freely still when he arrived at the station, +where he was met by his coat-of-arms carriage, instead of a +writ, and was suffered to go peaceably home, a disappointed, if +not a better man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII" ></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<h2>HAROLD AND JERRIE.</h2> + + +<p>The news which so electrified all Shannondale was slow in +reaching Mrs. Crawford, but it did reach her at last, +crushing and overwhelming her with a sense of shame +and anguish, until as the day wore on, Grace Atherton, and +Mrs. St. Claire, and Nina, and many others came to reassure +her, and to say that it was all a mistake, which would be soon +cleared up.</p> + +<p>Thus comforted and consoled, she tried to be calm, and wait +patiently for the train. But there was a great pity for her boy +in her heart as she sat by Jerrie's bedside and watched her in +all her varying moods, now perfectly quiet, with her wide open +eyes staring up at the ceiling as if she were seeing something +there, now talking of Peterkin, and the Tramp House, and the +table, and the blow, and again of the bag, which she said was +lost, and which her grandmother must find.</p> + +<p>Thinking she meant the carpet bag, Mrs. Crawford brought +that to her, but she tossed it aside impatiently saying:</p> + +<p>'No, no; the other one, which tells it all. Where is it! I +must have lost it. Find it, find it. To be so near, and yet so +far. What did it say? Why can't I think? Am I like Mr. +Arthur—crazy, like him?'</p> + +<p>Mrs. Crawford thought her crazier than Arthur, and waited +still more impatiently for Harold, until she heard his step outside, +and knew that he had come.</p> + +<p>'Harold!'</p> + +<p>'Grandma!' was all they said for a moment while the poor +old lady was sobbing on his neck, and then he comforted her as +best he could, telling her that it was all over now—that no one +but Peterkin had accused him—that everybody was ready to +defend him, and that after a little he could explain everything.</p> + +<p>'And now I must see Jerrie,' he continued, starting for the +stairs, and glad that his grandmother did not attempt to follow +him.</p> + +<p>Jerrie had heard his voice, and had raised herself in bed, and +as he came in, met him with the question:</p> + +<p>'Have you brought them? Has any one seen them?'</p> + +<p>The strange light in her eyes should have told Harold how +utterly incapable she was of giving any rational answers to his +questions, but he did not think of that, and instead of trying +to quiet her, he plunged at once into the subject she had +broached:</p> + +<p>'Do you mean the diamonds?' he asked.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' she replied, 'the diamonds! the diamonds! Where +are they?'</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Tracy has them by this time,' Harold replied.</p> + +<p>'Mrs. Tracy!' Jerrie exclaimed. 'What has she to do with +them? They are not hers. They are mine—they are mine! +Bring them to me—bring them to me.'</p> + +<p>She was terribly excited, and for a time Harold bent all his +energies to soothe her, and at last when from sheer exhaustion +she became quiet he said to her:</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, where did you find the diamonds?'</p> + +<p>She looked at him curiously, but made no reply, and he continued:</p> + +<p>'You must tell me where you found them: it is necessary I +should know.'</p> + +<p>Still she did not reply, but stared at him, as if not fully comprehending +what he meant.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie,' he said again, 'do you love me?'</p> + +<p>Quickly her eyes filled with tears, and she replied:</p> + +<p>'Love you, Harold! Yes, more than you ever dreamed of; +more than you love me.'</p> + +<p>Instantly Harold had his arms around her, for she had risen +to a sitting posture, and pillowing her head upon his breast, he +said:</p> + +<p>'No, darling, that is impossible, for I love you better than +my life,' and his lips pressed hers passionately. +He felt that this was their betrothal, for he did not take into +consideration the state of her mind; but she undeceived him +quickly, for although she kissed him back, she said, with a +tinge of sarcasm in her voice:</p> + +<p>'Aren't you afraid they will see you?'</p> + +<p>'Who are they?' he asked, and she replied</p> + +<p>'The people, and the Harvard boys and Maude.'</p> + +<p>He did not know at all what she meant, but at the mention +of Maude he groaned involuntarily, as the white face came up +before him again and the eyes looked into his, fuller far of love +and tenderness than those confronting him so steadily, with no +consciousness of his real meaning in them.</p> + +<p>'Those diamonds have caused me a great deal of trouble,' he +began again, 'and will cause me more unless you tell me where +you found them. Try and think. Was it in the Tramp +House?'</p> + +<p>That started her at once, and she began to rave of the Tramp +House, and the rat-hole, and the table, and Peterkin, who dealt +the blow. The bruise on her head had not proved so serious +as was at first feared, and with her tangled hair falling over her +face Harold had not noticed it. But he looked at it now and +questioned her of it, and asking if Peterkin had struck her +there.</p> + +<p>'No,' she said, and began the senseless babbling of rat-holes, +and table-legs and bags, and diamonds until Harold became alarmed +and went for his grandmother.</p> + +<p>There was nothing to be learned from Jerrie in her present +condition, and so Harold started for the Tramp House to see +what that would tell him. The table was still upon the floor, +with the three legs piled upon it, while the fourth one was +missing. But Harold found it at last; for, remembering +what Jerrie had said of the rat-hole, he investigated that spot, +and from its enlarged appearance drew his own conclusion. +Jerrie had found the diamonds there; he had no doubt of it, +and he told Tom Tracy so; for, as if there was a fascination +about the place for him, Tom appeared in the door-way just as +Harold was leaving it. Sitting down upon the bench where +Jerrie had sat that day when Peterkin attacked her, the two +young men who had been enemies all their lives, but who were +now drawn together by a common sympathy and love for the +same girl, talked the matter over again, each arriving at the +same theory as the most probable one they could accept.</p> + +<p>'Arthur, in a crazy fit, had secreted the diamonds, and Jerrie +knew it, but possibly not where he had put them. This accounted +for her strange sickness when a child, while her finding them +later on, added to other causes, would account for her sickness +now. Peterkin owns that he was blowing her up for something, +and that he knocked the table down with his fist, but he +swears he didn't touch her,' Tom said, repeating in substance all +Peterkin had said to him in the train when shaking with fear +of a <i>writ</i>.</p> + +<p>'And do you still mean to keep silent with regard to Jerrie?' +Tom asked.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Harold replied; 'her name must not be mentioned +in connection with the diamonds. I can't have the slightest +breath of suspicion touching Jerrie, <i>my sister</i>.'</p> + +<p>'Sister be hanged!' Tom began savagely, then checked himself, +and added with a sneering laugh: 'Don't try to deceive +me, Hal, with your sister business. You love Jerrie, and she +loves you, and that is one reason why I hate you, or shall, +when this miserable business is cleared up. Just now we must +pull together and find out where she found the diamonds, +and who put them there. To write to Uncle Arthur would do +no good, though seeing him might; the last we heard he was +thinking of taking the coast voyage from San Francisco to +Tacoma.'</p> + +<p>'Tom,' Harold exclaimed, with great energy, as he sprang +to his feet, 'that decides me;' and then he told of the offer +Billy had made him on the car. 'When I saw how sick Jerrie +was, I made up my mind not to accept it, although I need the +money badly. But now, if Jerrie gets no worse, I shall start +for Tacoma in a few days and shall find your uncle Arthur, if +he is to be found.'</p> + +<p>It was growing dark when the two young men finally +emerged from the house and stood for a moment outside, while +Harold inquired for Maude.</p> + +<p>'She is not very well, that's a fact,' Tom said, gloomily; +'and no wonder, when mother keeps her cooped up in one +room, without enough fresh air, and lets nobody see her except +the family and the doctor, for fear they will excite her. She +knows nothing about the diamonds, nor that Jerrie is sick. I +did tell her, though, that you had come home; and, by Jove! +I pretty near forgot it. She wants to see you bad; but, Lord! +mother won't let you in. No use to try. She's like a she-wolf +guarding its cub. Good-night.'</p> + +<p>And Tom walked away, while Harold went back to the cottage, +where he found Jerrie sleeping very quietly, with a look +on her face so like that it had worn in her babyhood, when he +called her his little girl, that he involuntarily stooped down and +kissed it as one would kiss a beautiful baby.</p> + +<p>The next morning Jerrie was very restless, and talked wildly +of the Tramp House and the diamonds, insisting that they were +hers and must be brought to her.</p> + +<p>'Why did you tell her about them?' Mrs. Crawford asked, +reproachfully.</p> + +<p>But Harold did not reply, his mind was so torn with distracting +doubts as to whether he ought to take the western +trip or not.</p> + +<p>If he went, he must go at once, and to leave Jerrie in her +present state seemed impossible. He would consult the physician +first, and Judge St. Claire next. The doctor gave it as +his opinion that Jerrie was in no danger, if she were only kept +quiet. She had taken a severe cold and overtaxed her strength, +while most likely she had inherited from some one a tendency +to be flighty when anything was the matter, and he thought +Harold might venture to leave her.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I'd go if I were you,' he added, looking intently at the +young man; for, like Billy, he too thought it might be pleasanter +for him to be out of the way for a time, although he did +not say so.</p> + +<p>And this was the view the judge took of it, after a few moments' +conversation. His first question had been:</p> + +<p>'Well, my boy, can you tell me now who gave them to you?'</p> + +<p>'No, I can't,' was Harold's reply; and then, acting upon a +sudden impulse, he burst out impetuously: 'Yes, I will tell +you, for I can trust you, and I want your advice so badly.'</p> + +<p>So he repeated rapidly all he knew, and his theory with +regard to Arthur, whom he wished so much to find, and of +Billy's proposition that he should go on his business to Tacoma. +For a few moments the judge seemed perplexed and undecided, +for he was balancing in his mind the pros and cons for going +from the people, or staying to face them. If he stayed he might +have some unpleasant things to bear and hear, for there were +those who would talk, in spite of their protestations of the +young man's innocence; while to go might look like running +away from the storm, with the matter unexplained. On the +whole, however, he decided that it was better to go.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie's interests are safe with me,' he said, 'and by the +time you return everything will be explained; but find Mr. +Tracy as soon as possible. I am inclined to think your theory +with regard to him correct.'</p> + +<p>So it was decided that Harold should go, and the next night +was appointed for him to start. Had he known that Peterkin, +and even Mrs. Tracy, were each in his or her own way insinuating +that he was running from public opinion, nothing could +have induced him to leave. But he did not know it, and +went about his preparations with as brave a heart as he could +command under the circumstances. Jerrie was more quiet +now, though every effort on his part to learn anything from her +concerning the diamonds brought on a fit of raving, when she +would insist that the jewels were hers, and must be brought to +her at once.</p> + +<p>'But you told me they were Mrs. Tracy's,' he said to her +once.</p> + +<p>With a cunning gleam in her eyes, she replied:</p> + +<p>'So they are, or were; but oh, how little you know!'</p> + +<p>And this was all he could get from her.</p> + +<p>He told her he was going away, but that did not seem to +affect her, and she only began to talk of Maude, who, she said, +must not be harmed.</p> + +<p>'Have you seen her? have you seen her?' she kept saying.</p> + +<p>'Not yet,' he replied, 'but I am going to say good-bye;' and +on the day of his departure he went to the Park House and +asked if he could see Maude.</p> + +<p>'Of course not,' was Mrs. Tracy's prompt reply, when the +request was taken to her. 'No one sees her, and I certainly +shall not allow him to enter her room.'</p> + +<p>'But, Dolly,' Frank began, protestingly, but was cut short +by the lady, who said:</p> + +<p>'You needn't "Dolly" me, or try to take his part, either. I +have my opinion, and always shall. He cannot see Maude, +and you may tell him so,' turning now to the servant who had +brought Harold's message, and who softened it as much as possible.</p> + +<p>Harold had half expected a refusal, and was prepared for it. +Taking a card from his pocket, he wrote upon it:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'DEAR MAUDE,—I am going away for a few weeks, and am very +sorry that I cannot see you; but your mother knows best, of course, +and I must not do anything to make you worse. I shall think of +you very often, and hope to find you much better when I return.</p> + +<p>'HAROLD.'</p></div> + +<p>'Will you give this to her?' he said to the girl, who answered +that she would, and who, of course, read every word before she +took it to her young mistress, late in the afternoon, while the +family were at dinner, and she was left in charge of the invalid.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Hastings sent you this,' she said, handing the card to +Maude, into whose face the bright color rushed, but left it +instantly as she read the few hurried lines.</p> + +<p>'Going away! Gone! and I didn't see him!' she exclaimed, +regardless of consequences. 'And mother did it. I know she +did. I <i>will</i> talk till I spit blood; then see what she'll say!' +she continued, as the frightened girl tried to stop her, and as +she could not, ran for Mrs. Tracy, who came in much alarm, +asking what was the matter.</p> + +<p>'You sent Harold away. You didn't let him see me, and +he is—'</p> + +<p>Maude gasped, but could get no farther, for the paroxysm of +coughing which came on, together with a hemorrhage which +made her so weak that they thought her dying all night, she +lay so white, and still, and insensible, save at times when her +lips moved, and her mother, bending over her, heard her whisper:</p> + +<p>'Send for Harold.'</p> + +<p>But it was too late now; the train had come and gone, and +taken Harold with it, away from the girl <i>he</i> loved and from, the +girls who loved him so devotedly, and both of whom, for a few +days after his departure, went down very near to the gates of +death, and whose first enquiry, when they at last came back to +life and consciousness, was for Harold and why he stayed away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV" ></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<h2>JERRIE CLEARS HAROLD.</h2> + + +<p>The next day two items of news went like wildfire +through the little town of Shannondale—the first, set +afloat by Peterkin and helped on by Mrs. Tracy, that +Harold had run away from public opinion, which was fast +turning against him since he could not explain where he found +the diamonds; and the second, that both Maude Tracy and +Jerrie Crawford were at the point of death, which made +Harold's sudden departure all the more heinous in the eyes of +his enemies; for what but conscious guilt could have prompted +him to leave his sister, who, it was said, was calling for him +with every breath, and charging him with having taken the +diamonds? Now, this was false; for although Jerrie's fever +had increased rapidly during the night, and her babbling was +something terrible to hear, there was in it no accusation of +Harold, although she was constantly talking to him, and asking +for the diamonds and the bag.</p> + +<p>'It is a pity he ever told her about them,' the doctor said, as +twice each day, morning and night, for four successive days, +he came and looked upon her fever-stained cheeks, and counted +her rapid pulse, and took her temperature, and listened to her +strange talk; and then, with a shake of his head, drove over +to Tracy Park and stood by poor little Maude's couch, and +looked into her death-white face, and counted her faint heartbeats, +and tried in vain to find some word of encouragement +for the stricken man, who looked about as much like death as +the young girl so dear to him. And every morning, on his +way from the cottage to Tracy Park, the doctor saw under the +pines two young men, Tom and Dick, seated upon the iron +bench each whittling a bit of pine, which one was unconsciously +fashioning into a cross and the other into a grave-stone.</p> + +<p>Tom had found Dick there working at his cross, and, after a +simple good-morning, had sat down beside him and whittled in +silence upon another bit of wood until the doctor appeared on +his way to Tracy Park. Then the whittling ceased, and both +young men arose, and, going forward, asked how Jerrie was.</p> + +<p>'Pretty bad. Hal oughtn't to have gone, though I told him +there was no danger. We must telegraph if she gets worse,' +was the reply, as the doctor rode on.</p> + +<p>Tom and Dick separated, and saw no more of each other until +the next morning, when they went again, and whittled in +silence under the pines until the doctor came in sight, when +the same questions were asked and answered as on the previous +day.</p> + +<p>Billy never joined them, but sat under the butternut tree +where Jerrie had refused him, for hours and hours watching +the sluggish river, and wondering what the world would be to +him if Jerrie were not in it. Had Billy been with Tom and +Dick, he could not have whittled as they did, for all the nerve +power had left his hands, which lay helplessly in his lap, and +when he walked he looked more like a withered old man than +a young one of twenty-seven.</p> + +<p>Maude was the first to rally—her first question for Harold, +her second for Jerrie—and her father, who was with her, +answered truthfully that Harold had not returned, and that +Jerrie was sick and could not come to her. He did not say +how sick, and Maude felt no alarm, but waited patiently until +Jerrie should appear. For Maude, on her brass bedstead with +its silken hangings, and every possible luxury around her, +there were hired nurses and a mother's care, with many kind +inquiries, while it would seem as if every hand in town was +stretched out to Jerrie, who was a general favorite. Flowers +and fruit and delicacies of every kind were sent to the cottage, +carriage after carriage stopped before the door, offer after offer +of assistance was made to Mrs. Crawford, while Nina and +Marian Raymond were there constantly; and Billy went to +Springfield for a chair in which to wheel his sister to the cottage, +for she could not yet mount into the dog-cart; and Tom +and Dick whittled on until the cross and the grave-stone were +finished, and, with a sickly smile, Tom said to Dick:</p> + +<p>'Would you cut Jerrie's name upon it?'</p> + +<p>'No; oh, no!' Dick answered, with a gasp. 'She may be +better to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>When, after a few days, the crisis was past, and Jerrie's +strong constitution triumphed over the disease which had grappled +with it, the whole town wore a holiday air as the people +said to each other gladly: 'Jerrie is better; Jerrie will live!'</p> + +<p>Her recovery was rapid, and within a week after the fever +left her and she awoke to perfect consciousness, she was able to +sit up a part of every day, and had walked across the floor and +read a letter from Harold to his grandmother, full of solicitude +for herself and enthusiasm for his trip over the wild mountains +and across the vast plains to the lovely little city of Tacoma, +built upon a cliff and looking seaward over the sound.</p> + +<p>'Dear Harold,' Jerrie whispered. 'I shall be so glad when +he comes home. Nothing can be done till then, and I am so +bewildered when I try to think.'</p> + +<p>In her weak state, everything seemed unreal to Jerrie, except +the fact that she had found her mother—and such a mother!—and +many times each day she thanked her God who had +brought her this unspeakable joy, and asked that she might do +right when the time came to act. She knew the bag was safe, +for she had climbed to the top shelf and found it just where +she had put it. But where were the diamonds? Had Harold +taken them with him? Had he told any one? Did his grandmother +know anything about them? she wondered. She tried +in many ways to draw Mrs. Crawford out, but was unsuccessful, +for there were now too much pain and bitterness connected +with the diamonds for Mrs. Crawford to speak to her of them. +The poisonous breath of gossip had been at work ever since +Harold went away, quietly aided and abetted by Mrs. Tracy, +who never failed to roll her eyes and shrug her shoulders when +Harold's name was mentioned, and openly pushed on by Peterkin, +until Tom Tracy went to him one day and threatened to +have him tarred and feathered and ridden on a rail, if he ever +breathed Harold's name again in connection with the diamonds.</p> + +<p>'Wall, I swow!' was all Peterkin said, as he put an enormous +quid of tobacco in his mouth, and walked away, thinking +to himself, 'Twould take an all-fired while to scrape them tar +and feathers off of me, I'm so big, and I b'lieve the feller +meant it. Them high bucks wouldn't like no better fun than +to make a spectacle of me; so I guess I'll dry up a spell.'</p> + +<p>But the trouble did not stop with Peterkin's talk, for a +neighboring Sunday paper, which fed its readers with all the +choicest bits of gossip, came out with an article headed 'The +Tracy Diamonds,' and after narrating the story in the most +garbled and sensational manner, went on to comment upon +the young man's having run away, rather than face public +opinion, and to comment upon the law which could not touch +him because the offence was committed so long ago.</p> + +<p>One after another, and without either knowing that the +other had done so, Tom, and Dick, and Billy, waited upon the +editor of the Sunday <i>News</i>, threatening to sue him for libel if +he did not retract every word of the offensive article in his +next issue, which he did. But the mischief was done, and the +paper found its way at last to Jerrie, sent unwittingly by Ann +Eliza, who covered it over a basket of fruit and flowers which +was carried one afternoon to the cottage.</p> + +<p>Jerrie had been down stairs several times, but was in her +room when the basket was brought to her. Raising the paper, +she was about to throw it on the floor, when her eye caught +the words, 'The Tracy Diamonds,' and with bloodless lips and +wildly beating heart she read the article through, understanding +the situation perfectly, and resolving at once how to act. +It seemed to her that she was lifted above and out of herself, +she felt so strong, and light, and well, as she threw on her +bonnet and shawl, and taking the leather bag in her hand, +hurried down stairs in quest of Mrs. Crawford.</p> + +<p>'Grandma!' she exclaimed, 'why haven't you told me about +Harold, and the suspicion resting on him, and why did you let +him go until I was better, and what are the people saying? +Tell me everything.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie would not be put off, and Mrs. Crawford told her +everything she knew, and that she herself had added to the +mystery by the strange things she had said in her delirium +about the diamonds, which she insisted were hers.</p> + +<p>'And they are mine!' Jerrie said, while Mrs. Crawford +looked at her in alarm, for her madness had returned.</p> + +<p>'Where are you going?' she gasped, as Jerrie turned toward +the door.</p> + +<p>'To Tracy Park, to claim my own and clear Harold!' was +the reply. 'When I come back I will tell you all, but now I +cannot wait.'</p> + +<p>'But, Jerrie, you are not strong enough to walk there, and +besides they have company this afternoon, some kind of a new-fangled +card party, and you must not go,' Mrs. Crawford said.</p> + +<p>'I have the strength of twenty horses,' Jerrie said, 'and if +they have company, so much the better, for there will be more +to hear my story. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>She was off like an arrow, and went almost upon a run +through the leafy woods until the house was reached, and then +she stopped a moment to take breath and look about her. +How very fair and beautiful it was, that home of the Tracys, +and Jerrie's heart beat so hard that she felt for a moment +as if she were choking to death as she sat under a maple +tree and tried to think it all over, to make sure there was no +mistake. Opening the box she took out two documents, and +read them again as she had the night she was taken sick. One +was a certificate of marriage, the other of a birth and baptism; +there was no mistake.</p> + +<p>Holding the papers in one hand and the bag in the other, +she went on to the house, from which shouts of laughter were +issuing, Nina's voice, and Marian's, and Tom's, and Dick's, +and Mrs. Tracy's. Jerrie shuddered a little when she heard +that, for it brought back to her mind all the slights she had +received from that woman who was so cruel to Harold, and the +pity which had been springing up in her heart ever since she +looked up at the windows of Maude's room and thought of the +white-faced girl lying there, died out, and it was more a Nemesis +than a gentle, forgiving woman who walked boldly into the +hall and entered unbidden at the drawing-room door.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Tracy was having a progressive euchre party that +afternoon. A friend in Boston had written her about it, and, +proud to be the first to introduce it in Shannondale, she stood, +flushed and triumphant, with the restored diamonds in her +ears and at her throat, laughing merrily with the others at +Judge St. Claire, who had won the booby prize—a little drum, +as something he could beat—and who, with a perplexed look +in his face, was staring at the thing as if he did not quite get +the joke.</p> + +<p>Apart from the rest, Frank Tracy sat looking on, though +with no apparent interest in the matter. He had joined in the +game because his wife told him he must, and had borne meekly +her sarcastic remarks when he trumped her ace and ordered up +on nothing. His thoughts were not with the cards, but up +stairs with Maude, who seemed to be much better, and for +whom there was constantly a prayer in his heart.</p> + +<p>'Spare her, and I will make reparation; I will tell the +truth.'</p> + +<p>He was trying to bribe the Lord to hear him, and there was +some such thought in his mind when he saw Jerrie in the door—tall, +thin, and white from her recent sickness, with eyes +which rolled, and shone, and flashed as Arthur's did sometimes, +and falling at last upon Mrs. Tracy, where they rested with an +intensity which must have drawn that lady's notice to her, if +Frank had not exclaimed, as he rose to his feet:</p> + +<p>'Jerrie! How did you get here?'</p> + +<p>Then all turned and looked at her, and crowded around her +with exclamations of surprise and inquiries as to how she got +there.</p> + +<p>For a moment Jerrie stood like one in a catalepsy, with no +power to move or speak, but when Mrs. Tracy came forward, +and in her iciest tones said to her: 'Good-afternoon, Miss +Crawford. To what am I indebted for this unexpected pleasure?' +her faculties came back, her tongue was loosened, and +she replied in a clear voice, which rang through the room like +a bell, and was, indeed, the knell to all the lady's greatness:</p> + +<p>'I am here to claim my own, and to clear Harold from the +foul suspicion heaped upon him—by whom, at first, I do not +know, but it was helped on by you. I have seen the paper, +have heard the whole from grandma, and am here to defend +him. It was I who gave him the diamonds! It was for me +he kept silent, and let you think what you would.'</p> + +<p>'You gave him the diamonds?' Mrs. Tracy repeated, as one +by one all the members of the party, even the judge and Tom, +gathered close to her in their astonishment. 'You gave him +the diamonds! You! and have come to confess yourself +a—'</p> + +<p>She never finished the sentence, for something in Jerrie's +face frightened her, while her husband, who had come forward, +laid his hand warningly upon her arm.</p> + +<p>So absorbed were they all that no one saw the little white-robed +girl, who, they supposed, was lying up stairs in her room, +but who at the sound of Jerrie's voice had, in her eagerness to +see her, crept down the stairs, and now stood in the door-way +opposite to Jerrie, her large, bright eyes looking in wonder +upon the scene, and her ears listening intently to what was as +new to her as it had been to Jerrie an hour ago.</p> + +<p>'Don't give me the name you have more than once given to +Harold,' Jerrie said, as with a gesture she silenced Mrs. Tracy. +'The diamonds are mine, not yours. Can one steal his own?'</p> + +<p>'Yours! Your diamonds! What do you mean?' Mrs. +Tracy asked.</p> + +<p>'They were my mother's,' Jerrie replied, 'and she sent them +to me.'</p> + +<p>They all thought her crazy except Frank, to whom there had +come a horrid presentiment of the truth, and who had clutched +hard his wife's arm as she said questioningly, in a mocking, +aggravating tone:</p> + +<p>'And your mother was—?'</p> + +<p>Then Jerrie stepped into the room, and stood in their midst +like a queen among her subjects as she answered:</p> + +<p>'My mother was Marguerite Heinrich, of Wiesbaden, better +known to you as Gretchen; and my father is Arthur Tracy, +and I am their lawful child. It is so written here,' and she +held up the papers and the bag; 'I am Jerrie Tracy!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV" ></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<h2>WHAT FOLLOWED.</h2> + + +<p>'Thank God that it is out! I couldn't have borne it +much longer,' leaped involuntarily from Frank's lips.</p> + +<p>No one heard it save Jerrie, and she scarcely heeded +it then; for with one bound, as it seemed to the petrified spectators, +who divided right and left to let her pass, she reached +the opposite door-way, and stooping over the little figure lying +there so still, lifted it tenderly, and carrying it up stairs, laid +it down in the room it would never leave again until other +hands than hers carried it out and laid it away in the Tracy +lot, where only Jack and the dark woman were lying now.</p> + +<p>Maude had heard all Jerrie was saying, and understood it, +too; and at the words, 'I am Jerrie Tracy,' she felt an electric +thrill pass over her, like what she had experienced when watching +the acting in some great tragedy; then all was darkness, +and she knew no more until Jerrie was bending over her and +she heard her mother saying:</p> + +<p>'Leave her to me, Miss Crawford. You have done harm +enough for one day. You have killed my daughter!'</p> + +<p>'No!' Maude cried, exerting all her strength. 'She has +not hurt me. She must not go, I want her; for if what she +said is true, she is my own cousin. Oh, Jerrie, I am so glad!' +and throwing her arms around Jerrie's neck, Maude sobbed +convulsively.</p> + +<p>As yet Maude saw only the good which had come to her, if +the news were true; the evil had not yet been presented to her, +and she clung tightly to Jerrie, who, nearly distraught herself, +did not know what to do. She knew that Mrs. Tracy looked +upon her as an intruder, and possibly a liar; but she cared little +for that lady's opinion. She only thought of Frank and +what he would say.</p> + +<p>Lifting up her head at last from the pillow where she had +lain it for a moment, while Maude's thin little hands caressed +the golden hair, she saw him standing at the foot of the bed, +taller, straighter than she had seen him in years, with a look +on his face which she knew was not adverse to herself.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie,' he said, slowly and thickly, for something choked +his speech, 'I can't tell you now all I feel, only I am glad for +you and Arthur, but gladder for myself.'</p> + +<p>What did he mean? Jerrie wondered; while Maude's eyes +sought his questioningly, and his wife said, sharply:</p> + +<p>'You are talking like a lunatic! Do you propose to give up +so easily to a girl's bare word! Let Jerrie prove it, before she +is mistress here.'</p> + +<p>Then into Maude's eyes there crept a look of terror and pain, +and she whispered:</p> + +<p>'Yes, Jerrie, prove it. There were papers in your hand, +and a bag, and you said, "It is so written here." Bring the +papers and read them to us—here in this room. I can bear it. +I must hear them. I must know.' +'Better let her have her way,' Frank said; and Dolly could +have knocked him down, he spoke so cheerfully; while Jerrie +answered:</p> + +<p>'I can't read them myself aloud. They are written in German.'</p> + +<p>'But Marian can. I saw her there. Let them all come up; +they will have to know,' Maude persisted.</p> + +<p>After a moment, during which a powerful tonic had been +given to his daughter, Frank went down to his guests, who +were eagerly discussing the strange story, which not one of +them doubted in the least.</p> + +<p>In her haste to reach Maude, Jerrie had dropped the bag +and the two papers, which Judge St. Claire picked up and held +for a moment in his hand; then passing the papers to Marian, +he said:</p> + +<p>'It can be no secret now, and Jerrie will not care. What +do the papers contain?'</p> + +<p>Running her eyes rapidly over them, Marian said:</p> + +<p>'The first is a certificate of marriage between Arthur Tracy +and Marguerite Heinrich, who were married October 20th, +18—, in the English church at Wiesbaden, by the Rev. Mr. +Eaton, then the officiating clergyman. The second is a certificate +of the birth and baptism of Jerrine, daughter of Arthur +and Marguerite Tracy, who was born at Wiesbaden, January +1st, 18—, and christened January 8th, 18—, by the Rev. Mr. +Eaton.'</p> + +<p>Then a deep silence fell upon the group, while Tom stood +like one paralyzed. He understood the situation perfectly, and +knew that if Jerrie was mistress there, he could never hope to +be master.</p> + +<p>'May as well evacuate at once,' he said at last, with an +attempt to smile as he walked slowly out of the house, which +he felt was his inheritance no longer.</p> + +<p>Just then Frank came down, saying that Maude insisted +upon knowing what was in the papers which Marian was to +read, while the others were to come up and listen. He did +not seem at all like a man who had lost anything, but bustled +about cheerily; and when the judge said to him apologetically, +'We know the contents of two of the papers. They are certificates +of the marriage of Arthur with Gretchen, and of Jerrie's +birth. I hope you don't mind if we read them,' he +answered, briskly.</p> + +<p>'Not at all—not in the least. Arthur and Gretchen! I +thought so. Where is Tom? He must hear the papers.'</p> + +<p>He found his son under the true where he had been sitting +the morning when Jerrie came near fainting there, and in his +hand was a curious bit of pine finished like a grave-stone—the +same he had whittled under the pines, and on which he was +now carving, 'Euchred, August —, 18—.'</p> + +<p>'This is the monument to our downfall,' he said, as his father +came up to him with something so pitiful in his face and voice +that Frank gave way suddenly, and, sitting down beside him, +laid his hand upon his tall son's head and cried for a moment +like a child, while Tom's chin quivered, and he was mortally +afraid there was something like tears in his own eyes, and he +meant to be so brave and not show that he was hurt.</p> + +<p>'I am sorry for you, my boy,' Frank said at last, 'but glad +for Jerrie—so glad—and she will not be hard on us.'</p> + +<p>'I shall ask no favors of her. I can stand it if you can, +though money is a good thing to have.'</p> + +<p>And then, without in the least knowing why, he thought of +Ann Eliza, and wondered how her ankle was getting along, and +if he ought not to have called upon her again.</p> + +<p>'Marian is going to read the papers in Maude's room, and I +have come for you,' Frank said.</p> + +<p>'I don't care to hear them,' Tom replied. 'I am satisfied +that we are beggars, and Jerrie the heiress.'</p> + +<p>But Frank insisted, and Tom went with him to his sister's +room, followed by their friends, for whom the dinner was waiting +and spoiling in the kitchen, where as yet no hint of what +was transpiring had reached, save the fact that Maude had +been down stairs and fainted. She was propped upon pillows +scarcely whiter than her face save where two crimson spots +burned brightly, and her eyes were fixed constantly upon +Jerrie, who sat beside her, holding her cold, clammy hands, +which she occasionally patted, and kissed and caressed.</p> + +<p>'Where did you find the bag?' the judge asked; and then +Jerrie narrated the particulars of her interview with Peterkin, +whose destruction of the table had resulted in her finding the +bag with the diamonds in it. +'They were mother's,' she said, the last words almost a sob, +as she turned her eyes upon Mrs. Tracy, who stood like a block +of stone, with no sympathy or credulity upon her face. +'Father bought them for her at the same time with Mrs. +Tracy's, which they are exactly like. It is so written in her +letter. And she sent them for me. They are mine and I gave +them to Harold to keep untill I could think what to do. The +diamonds are mine.'</p> + +<p>She was still looking at Mrs. Tracy, on whom all eyes were +now resting as the precious stones flashed, and glittered, and +shone in the sunlight in the hall in all the colors of the rainbow.</p> + +<p>For an instant the proud woman hesitated, then, quickly unclasping +the ear-rings and the pin, she laid them in Jerrie's lap.</p> + +<p>'You are welcome to your property, if it is yours, I am sure,' +she said, and was about to leave the room.</p> + +<p>But her husband kept her back.</p> + +<p>'No, Dolly,' he said. 'You must stay, and hear, and know. +It concerns us all.'</p> + +<p>As he had closed the door and stood against it she had no +alternative except to stay, but she walked to the window and +stood with her back to them all, while Marian put into English +and read, in a clear, distinct voice, and without the least hesitation, +that message from the dead.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI" ></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<h2>THE LETTERS.</h2> + + +<p>There were four of them—two in Arthur's handwriting: +one directed to Mrs. Arthur Tracy, Wiesbaden, postmarked +Liverpool; one to Margaret Heinrich, Wiesbaden, +postmarked Shannondale; one in a strange handwriting +to Arthur Tracy, if living; and one to Arthur Tracy's friends +if he were dead, or incapable of understanding it. +And it was this last which Marian read; for as Arthur was +living, she felt that with his letters strangers had nothing to do. +The letter to the friends, which had evidently been written at +intervals, as the writer's strength would permit, was as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'WIESBADEN, December —, 18—,</p> + +<p>'To the friends of Mr. Arthur Tracy, if he is dead, or incapable +of understanding this letter, from his wife, who was Marguerite +Heinrich, and whom he always called Gretchen.</p> + +<p>'I want to tell you about it for the sake of my little Jerrie, +whom, if her father is dead, I give to your care, praying God to +deal with you as you are good and just to her. I was seventeen +when I first saw Mr. Tracy. My father was dead. I was an only +child, and my mother kept a little fancy shop in Wiesbaden. I +went to school and learned what other girls like me learned—to +read and write, and knit and sew, and fear God and keep His commandments. +People called me pretty. I don't know that I was, +but he told me so when he came to me one day as I was knitting +under a tree in the park. He had a picture made of me as I was +then, and it is on the wall, but I have pawned it for the rent, as I +have almost everything.'</p></div> + +<p>'Oh, Jerrie!' Marian exclaimed at this point.</p> + +<p>But Jerrie's face was buried in Maude's pillow and she made +no response. So Marian read on:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'He came many times, for I was always there waiting for him, I +am afraid; but when he said he loved me, and wanted me for his +wife I could not believe it, he was so grand, so like nobility, +and I so poor and plain. Then mother died suddenly—oh, so suddenly—well +to-day—dead to-morrow—with cholera, and I was left +alone.</p> + +<p>'"Gretchen we must he married now," he said to me, the night +after the funeral; and I answered him, "yes, we must be married;" +and we were, the next day, in the little English Church, by Mr. +Eaton, the pastor. You will find the certificate with the other +papers. Do you ever remember a beautiful moonlight night, when +the air was soft, and warm, and sweet with many summer flowers, +and there was music in the distance, and heaven seemed so near +that you could almost touch the blue lining which separates it from +us? Well, just like that was my life with Arthur for a few months. +Oh, how I loved him, and how he loved me! It frightened me +sometimes, he was so fierce and—I don't know what the word is—so +something in his love. He never left me a moment. He couldn't, +he said, for I was his balance-wheel, and without me he was lost. +I think now he was crazy then. I know he was afterward when he +did such queer things and forgot so often—sometimes the house we +lived in, sometimes his own name, and at last, me, his Gretchen! +That was so sad, when he went away, and stayed away for weeks, +and said he had forgotten. But he was sorry, too, and made it up, +and for ten day heaven came down again so I could touch it; then +he went away and I have never seen him since.</p> + +<p>'You must excuse me, his friends—if I stop a little while to cry; +it makes me no lonesome to think of the long years—four and more—which +have been buried with the yesterdays, under the flowers, +and under the snow, since Arthur went away and left me all alone. +If I had told him, he might have come back, he was so fond of +children; but I was not sure, and would not tell a lie, and let him +go without a hint. I wrote him once I had something to tell him +when he came which would make him glad, as it did me, and he +never replied to it, though he wrote two or three times more, and +sent me money, but did not tell me where he was, only he was being +cured, he said—that was all. In January my baby was born, and I +had her christened Jerrine, by Mr. Eaton. You will find it among +the papers. Then, how I longed for him, and waited, and watched; +but he never came, and I knew he had forgotten; but I did not +doubt his love, or that he would one day come back; and I tried to +improve myself and learn what was in books, so I could mate with +him better when he came home, which he never did; and the years +went on, and my little Jerrine grew more lovely every day. She is +standing by me now, and says, "Are you writing to him?"</p> + +<p>'Darling Jerrie, you will be kind to her, won't you, for his sake, +and for me, too, who will be dead when you yet this?'</p></div> + +<p>Jerrie was sobbing now, and Maude's arm was around her +neck, while Frank had walked to a window, and, like his wife, +was looking out upon the lawn, which he did not see for the +tears which filled his eyes.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'When the money stopped,' the letter went on, 'we grew so poor, +Jerrie and I and Nannine—that is the French woman who lives +with me and whom Jerrie calls Mah-nee. She will bring my child +to you when I am dead; and oh, be kind to her, for a truer, more +faithful woman never lived. She is such a comfort to me, except +when she scolds about Arthur and calls him a <i>bête noire</i>, which he is +not, as you will see. He was shut up, I don't know where, but think +it was where they put people with bad heads, and he forget everything +till he was out, and as far as Paris on his way to America. +Then he remembered and wrote me from Liverpool such a letter—full +of love and sorrow for the past, and sent me such lovely diamonds, +just like those he had bought for his sister in America, he +said—and he was going home at such a date on the Scotia, and he +wished me to join him in Liverpool. I send the letter with this to +prove that I write true. But it was too late, for I was too weak to +travel; neither could I write to him, for he gave me no address. +'That was last September, and I have been dying ever since, for +my heart broke when I thought of what was and what might +have been could I have found him. The money he sent me then I +am saving for Nannine and Jerrie to take them to America when I +am dead. All the days and nights I prayed that Arthur might remember +and write me again, and God heard, and he did; and +five days ago I received his letter. So crazy it was, but just as full +of love and tenderness and a desire to see me. He told me of his +lovely home and the Gretchen room, where my picture is in the +window; and in case there should be no one to meet me at the station +when I arrived he sent me directions how to find Tracy Park, +and told me just what to do when I reached New York. He would +come for me himself, he said, only the sea made him so sick and he +was afraid he should forget everything if he did. But you will see +in his letter what he wrote and how fond he was of me; and if he +is alive and too crazy to understand now, tell him, when he is better, +how I loved him and prayed for him every hour that God +would bring him, at last, where I am going so soon. Nannine will +take him my Bible, with passages marked by me, and a photograph +which I had taken a year ago, and which will tell you how I looked +then. Now I am so thin and pale that Arthur would hardly +know me. I send, too, a lock of Jerrie's hair, cut when she was +three weeks old. Darling Jerrie! She is such a comfort to me, +and so old and womanly for her years! She will remember much +of our life here, for she notices everything and understands it, too, +and goes over, as in a play, what she sees and hears.</p> + +<p>'We have been cold and hungry sometimes; but not often; the +neighbors are so kind; and when I am dead they will see that +Nannine is made ready for America, with Jerrie; and the papers, +and the diamonds, which I might have pawned when our need was +greatest, but I could not. I must save them for Jerrie, and may +she wear them some day, and many days in the years to come, when +her mother is dust and ashes in the ground, but a glorified spirit in +Paradise, where I shall watch over her, and, if I can, be with her +often, and keep myself in her mind, so that she will never forget +my face or the old home in Germany.</p> + +<p>'God bless my little daughter, and make her a true, noble woman; +and God bless you, Arthur's friends, who read this, and incline you +to be kind and just to Jerrie, and see that she has her own; for +there must be money at Tracy Park; and if you are poor and +Jerrie comes rich, tell her from her mother to be kind to you, and +give as you have given to her. Now I must stop, I am so tired, +and it is growing dark, and Nannie has opened the stove door to +let the light fall on the paper in my lap, and Jerrie is standing by +me and says, "Are you going to God pretty soon?"</p> + +<p>'Yes, darling, very soon—to-night, perhaps, or to-morrow, or +when He will. The air grows cold, the night is coming on, my +eyes grow dim, my head is tired. I think, yes, I think it will be +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>'Good-bye.</p> + +<p>'GRETCHEN TRACY.'</p></div> + +<p>As she finished reading Marian arose, and going up to Jerrie +kissed her lovingly and said to her in German:</p> + +<p>'That was your mother's picture in our old home in Wiesbaden. +I am so glad for you.'</p> + +<p>A low sob was Jerrie's reply, and then Judge St. Claire +asked:</p> + +<p>'Is that all?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Marian said; 'All except Mr. Tracy's letters to Gretchen. +Oh, no,' she added; 'there is something more;' and +feeling in the bag, she drew out two small papers, one crumpled +and worn, as if it had been often referred to, the other +folded neatly and tied with a white ribbon.</p> + +<p>This Marian opened first, and found it to be a certificate, +written in English, to the effect that Mrs. Arthur Tracy, <i>née</i> +Marguerite Heinrich, died at such a date and was buried by +the Rev. Mr. Bellows, the resident rector of the English church; +the other was in Arthur's handwriting, and the directions he +had written to his wife, as to what she was to do and how to +find Tracy Park.</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Judge St. Claire said, coming forward and taking the +paper from her hand, 'this is what the station-master saw the +poor woman examining that night in the storm. She probably +dropped it into the bag without stopping to fold it. There can +be no doubt.'</p> + +<p>Then a deep silence reigned for a moment in the room, until +Mrs. Tracy, who, all through the reading had stood like a block +of granite by the window, turned and walking swiftly up to +Jerrie, said, in a bitter tone:</p> + +<p>'Of course there is no mistake. I do not doubt that you +are mistress here, and am ready to leave at once. Shall we +pack up and quit to-night?'</p> + +<p>'Dolly!' 'Mother!' came angrily and sternly from both +Tom and Frank, and 'Oh, mamma, please,' came faintly from +Maude, while Jerrie lifted up her head, and looking steadily at +the cruel woman, said:</p> + +<p>'Why are you so hard with me? I cannot help it. I am +not to blame. I mean to do right; only wait—a little. I am +so sick now—so dizzy and blind. Oh, somebody lead me out +where I can breathe. I am choking here.'</p> + +<p>It was Tom who reached her first, and passing his arm around +her, took her into the open air and to a seat under the tree +where once before she had almost fainted, as she did now, with +her head upon his shoulder, for he put it there, and then +pushed her hair back from her face as he said lightly:</p> + +<p>'Don't take it so hard; if we can stand it, you can!'</p> + +<p>Then Jerrie straightened up and said:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom, do you want to kill me now?'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' he asked, and she replied:</p> + +<p>'Don't you know you said under the pines that you would kill +any claimant to Tracy Park who might appear against you?'</p> + +<p>'I remember it,' Tom said, 'but I didn't think then that the +claimant would be Jerrie, my cousin,' and he put his arm +around her as he continued: 'I can't say that I am not awfully +cut up to be turned neck and heels out of what I believed +would be my own, but if it must be, I am glad it is you who do +it, for I know you'll not be hard upon us, or let Uncle Arthur +be, even if mother is so mean. Remember, Jerrie, that I loved +you and asked you to be my wife when I believed you poor and +unknown.'</p> + +<p>Tom was very politic and was speaking good words for himself, +but all the good there was in him seemed now to be on the +surface and while inwardly rebelling at his misfortune, he felt a +thrill of joy in knowing that Jerrie was his cousin, and would +not be hard upon him.</p> + +<p>'Shall we go back to the house?' he said at last, and they +went back, meeting the people upon the piazza, where they +stopped for a moment while Jerrie's hands were shaken, and +she was kissed and congratulated that at last the mystery was +cleared, and her rights restored to her.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Arthur Tracy ought to be here,' Judge St. Claire said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I'd thought of that,' Tom replied, first, 'and shall +telegraph him to-morrow,'</p> + +<p>Then they said good night, and without going in to see either +Mr. or Mrs. Tracy again, Tom and Jerry walked slowly toward +the cottage, through the leafy woods, where the trees met in +graceful arches overhead, and the moonlight fell in silver flecks +upon the grass, and the summer air was odorous and sweet +with the smell of the pines and the balm of Gilead trees scattered +here and there. It was a lovely place, and Tom thought +so with a keen sense of pain, as, after leaving Jerrie at her +gate, he walked slowly back until he reached the four pines, +where he sat down to think and wonder what he should do as +a poor man, with neither business nor prospects.</p> + +<p>'I don't suppose the governor has laid up much,' he said, +'for since Uncle Arthur came home he has done very little +business, and has spent what really was his own recklessly and +without a thought of saving, he was so sure to have enough at +last, and Uncle Arthur was so free to give us what we asked +for. But that will end when he knows he has a daughter, and +as he never fancied me much, I shall either have to beg, or +work, or starve, or marry a rich wife, which is not so easy for +a poor dog to do. I don't suppose that Governor's daughter +would look at me now, nor anyone else who is anybody. By +George, I ought to have called on Ann Eliza before this time. +I wonder if it's too late to go there now. I believe I'll walk +round there anyway, and if I see a light, I'll go in, and if old +<i>paterfamilias</i>—how I'd like to kick him—is there, I'll tell him +the news, and that I know now he did not strike Jerrie with +the table-leg, and perhaps I'll apologize for what I said when +in the car. Tom Tracy, you are a scoundrel, and no mistake,' +he added, with energy, as he arose, and struck into the field, +through which he had dragged Ann Eliza the night of the +storm.</p> + +<p>There were lights at Le Bateau, and Tom was soon shaking +hands with old <i>paterfamilias</i>, who was at home, and with Ann +Eliza, who was now able to come down stairs.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII" ></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<h2>ARTHUR.</h2> + + +<p>He had enjoyed himself immensely, from the moment +he first caught sight of grand old Pike's Peak on the +distant plains until he entered the city of the Golden +Gate, and, standing on the terrace of the Cliff House, looked +out upon the blue Pacific, with the sea lions disporting on the +rocks below. For he went there first, and then to China-town, +and explored every nook and corner, and opium den in it, and +drank tea at twenty dollars a pound in a high-toned restaurant, +and visited the theatre and the Joss House, and patronized the +push-cars, as he called them, every day, and experienced a +wonderful exhilaration of spirits, as he sat upon the front seat, +with the fresh air blowing in his face, and only the broad, steep +street, lined with palaces, before him.</p> + +<p>'This is heaven! this clears the cobwebs!' he would say to +Charles, who sat beside him with chattering teeth and his coat-collar +pulled high about his ears, for the winds of San Francisco +are cold even in the summer.</p> + +<p>Arthur's first trip was to the Yosemite, taking the Milton +route, and meeting with the adventure he so much desired; for +in the early morning, between Chinese Camp and Priest's, the +stage was suddenly stopped by two masked marauders, one of +whom stood at the horses' heads, while the other confronted the +terrified passengers with the blood-curling words:</p> + +<p>'Hands up, every soul of you!'</p> + +<p>And the hands went up from timid women and strong men, +until click-dick came in rapid succession from the driver's box, +where Arthur sat, and shot after shot followed each other, one +bullet grazing the ear of the highwayman at the horses' head, +and another cutting through the slouched hat of his comrade +near the stage.</p> + +<p>'Leave, or I'll shoot you dead! I've five more shots in +this one, and two more revolvers in my pockets, and I'm not +afraid!' Arthur yelled, jumping about like a maniac, as for the +time being he was, and so startling the robbers that they fled +precipitately, followed for a little distance by Arthur, who +leaped from the stage and started in pursuit, with a revolver +in each hand, and ball after ball flying ahead of him as he +ran.</p> + +<p>When at last he came back, the passengers flocked around +him, grasping his hands and blessing him as the preserver of +their money, if not of their lives. After that Arthur was a +lion, whom all people in the valley wished to see and talk with, +and with whom the landlord bore as he had never borne with +a guest before, for Arthur found fault with the rooms, which +he likened to bath-tubs, and fault with the smells which came +from the river, and fault with the smoke in the parlour, but +made ample amends by the money he spent so lavishly, the +scores of photographs he bought, and the puffs he wrote for the +San Francisco papers, extolling the valley as the very gate of +heaven, and the hotel as second only to the Palace, and signing +himself "Bumble Bees."</p> + +<p>He went on every trail, and started for the highest possible +peak, and when he stood on the top of old Capitan and looked +down upon the world below, he capered and shouted like +a madman, singing at the top of his voice, "Mine eye have +seen the coming of the glory of the Lord, glory, glory, hallelujah!" +until the rocky gorges rang with the wild echoes which +went floating down the valley below, where the sun was shining +so brightly and the grass was growing so green.</p> + +<p>On his return to San Francisco after an absence of several +weeks, he took up his abode at the Palace Hotel, which he +turned topsy-turvy with his vagaries; but as in the valley, so +here in the city, the landlord could afford to bear much from +one who spent his money so freely and paid so lavishly; and +so he was allowed to change rooms every day if he liked, and +half the plumbers in the city were called in to see what caused +the smells which he declared worse than anything he had ever +met in his life, and which were caused in part by the disinfectants +which he bought by the wholesale and kept in his bath +room, his wash-room, and under his bed, until the chambermaid +tied her nose in camphor when she went in to do her +work.</p> + +<p>But his career was brought to a close suddenly one morning +in August, when, just as he was taking his coffee and rolls in +his room, Charles brought him the following telegram:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Come immediately. There's the devil to pay.</p> + +<p>'TOM TRACY.'</p></div> + +<p>Arthur read the message two or three times, not at all disturbed +by it, but vastly amused at its wording; then, putting +it down, he went on with his breakfast until it was finished, +when he took a card from his pocket and wrote upon it:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Pay him then, for I sha'n't come. ARTHUR TRACY.'</p></div> + +<p>This was handed to Charles with instructions to forward it +to Tracy Park. This done, he gave no further thought to the +message so full of such import to himself, but began to talk of +and plan his contemplated trip to Tacoma by the next steamer +which sailed. It was six o'clock when he had his dinner in his +own private parlour, where he was served by both Charles and +a waiter, and where a second telegram was brought him.</p> + +<p>'Confound it,' he said, 'have they nothing to do at home +but to torment me with telegrams? Didn't I tell them to pay +the old Harry and have done with it? What do they mean?' +and putting the envelope down by his plate he went quietly on +with his dinner until he was through, when he took it up, +and, breaking the seal, read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Come at once. I need you. JERRIE.'</p></div> + +<p>That changed everything, and with a bound he was in the +next room, gesticulating fiercely, and ordering Charles to step +lively and get everything in readiness to start home on the first +eastward bound train which left San Francisco.</p> + +<p>'That rascally Tom is a liar,' he said. 'It's not the old +Harry to pay. It's Jerrie. Do you hear, it's Jerrie. Bring +me some paper, quick, and don't stand staring at me as if I +were a lunatic. It's Jerrie who needs me.'</p> + +<p>Charles brought the paper, on which his master wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Coming on the wings of the wind, Yours respectfully,</p> + +<p>'ARTHUR TRACY.'</p></div> + +<p>In less than half an hour this singular message was flying +along the wires across the continent, and within a few hours +Arthur was following it as fast as the steam horse could take +him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII" ></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<h2>WHAT THEY WERE DOING AND HAD DONE IN SHANNONDALE.</h2> + + +<p>If the earth had opened suddenly and swallowed up half +the inhabitants of Shannondale the other half could not +have been more astonished than they were at the news +which Peterkin was the first to tell them, and which he had +risen very early to do, before some one else should be before +him. Irascible and quick-tempered as he was, he was easily +appeased, and the fact that Jerrie was Arthur Tracy's daughter +changed his opinion of her at once.</p> + +<p>'The biggest heiress in the county except my Ann 'Liza, +and, by gum, I'm glad on't for her and Arthur. I allus said +she was hisen, and by George, to think that I helped her into +her fortin, for if I hadn't of knocked that rotten old table +down she'd of never found them memoirs,' he said to the first +person to whom he communicated the news, and then hurried +off to buttonhole and enlighten others, until everybody knew +and was discussing the strange story.</p> + +<p>Before noon scores of people had found it in their way to +walk past the cottage, hoping to catch sight of Jerrie, while +several went in and told her how glad they were for her and +Mr. Arthur, and looked at her with wondering eyes as if she +were not quite the same girl they had known as Jerrie Crawford.</p> + +<p>When, the previous night, Mrs. Crawford had listened to the +story Jerrie told her after her return from the Park House, +she had been for a few moments stupefied with amazement, +and had sat motionless on her chair until she felt Jerrie's soft +hands upon her head smoothing her silvery hair, and Jerrie's +voice said to her:</p> + +<p>'Dear grandma, I told you your working days were over, +and they are, for what is mine is yours and Harold's, and my +home is your home always, so long as you live.'</p> + +<p>The poor old lady put her head upon Jerrie's arm and cried +hysterically for a moment; then she rallied, and brushing +away her tears, kissed the young girl who had been so much to +her, and whom for a brief moment she feared she might have +lost. Far into the night they sat, talking of the past and the +future, and of Harold, who was in Tacoma, where he might +have to remain for three or four weeks longer. He had written +several times to his grandmother and once to Jerrie, but +had made no mention of the diamonds, while in her letters to +him Mrs. Crawford had refrained from telling him what some +of the people were saying, and the construction they were putting +upon his absence. Jerrie had not yet written to him, but, +'I shall to-morrow,' she said, 'and tell him to hurry home, for +I need him now, if ever.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was very tired when she went at last to bed, but the +dreamless sleep which came upon her, and which lasted until a +late hour in the morning, did her good, and probably saved +her from a relapse, which might have proved fatal. Still she +was very pale and weak when she went down stairs about nine +o'clock and found Tom waiting for her. He had been up since +sunrise, strolling through the park, with a troubled, sorry look +on his face for he was extremely sorry for himself, though very +glad for Jerrie, whose sworn ally he was and would be to the +end. In a way he had tried to comfort his mother by telling +her that neither his uncle nor Jerrie would be unjust to her, if +she'd only behave herself, and treat the latter as she ought, +and not keep up such a high and mighty and injured air, as if +Jerrie had done something wrong in finding out who she was.</p> + +<p>But Dolly would not be comforted, and her face wore a sullen, +defiant expression, as she moved about the handsome house +where she had queened it so long that she really looked upon +it as her own, resenting bitterly the thought that another was +to be mistress there. She had talked with her husband, and +made him tell her exactly how much he was worth in his own +right, and when he told her how little it was, she had exclaimed, +angrily:</p> + +<p>'We are beggars, and may as well go back to Langley and +sell codfish again.'</p> + +<p>She had seen Tom that morning, and when to her question, +'Why are you up so early?' he replied, 'To attend to Jerrie's +affairs,' she tossed her head scornfully, and said: +'Before I'd crawl after any girl, much less Jerrie Crawford! +You'd better be attending to your own sister. She's worse this +morning, and looks as if she might die any minute.'</p> + +<p>Then Tom went to Maude, who, since the shock of the night +before, had lain as if she were dead, except for her eyes, in +which there was a new and wondrous light, and which looked +up lovingly at Tom as he came in and kissed her, a most unusual +thing for him to do.</p> + +<p>'Dear Tom,' she whispered, 'come closer to me,' and as he +bent down to her, she continued, 'is every thing Jerrie's?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, or will be. She is Uncle Arthur's daughter.'</p> + +<p>'Shall we be very poor?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, poor as a church mouse.'</p> + +<p>Then there was a pause, and when Maude spoke again she +said slowly:</p> + +<p>'For me, no matter—sorry for you, and father and mother; +but glad for Jerrie. Stand by her, Tom; tell mother not to +be so bitter—it hurts me. Tell Harold, when he comes, I +meant to do so much for him, but Jerrie will do it instead. +Tell her I must see her, and send for Uncle Arthur.'</p> + +<p>There was a lump in Tom's throat as he left his sister's +room, and going to the village, telegraphed to his uncle's head-quarters +at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, that he was to +come at once.</p> + +<p>At least a hundred people stopped him on his way to the +office, asking if what they had heard was true, and to all he +replied:</p> + +<p>'True as the gospel; we are floored, as Peterkin would say.'</p> + +<p>And then he hurried to the cottage to see Jerrie, and tell her +of the message sent to Arthur, though not how it was worded +After a moment he continued, hesitatingly, as if half ashamed +of it:</p> + +<p>'I called at <i>Lubbertoo</i> last night to enquire after Ann Eliza's +foot, and you ought to have seen Peterkin when I told him the +news. At first he could not find any word in his vocabulary +big enough to swear by, but after a little one came to him, and +what do you think it was?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie could not guess, and Tom continued.</p> + +<p>He said, "by the great Peterkin!" and then he swowed, +and vowed, and snummed, and vummed, and dummed, and +finally said he was glad of it, and had always known you were +a Tracy. Ann Eliza was so glad she cried, and I think Billy +cried, too, for he left the room suddenly, with very suspicious-looking +eyes. Why, everybody is glad for you, Jerrie, and nobody +seems to think how mean it is for us; but I'm not going +to whine. I'm glad it's you, and so is Maude, and she wants +to see you. I believe she's going to die, and—and—Jerrie—'</p> + +<p>Something choked Tom for a moment, then he went on:</p> + +<p>'If Uncle Arthur should get high, and order us out at once, +as father seems to think he will, you'll—you'll—let us stay +while Maude lives, won't you?'</p> + +<p>'Tom,' Jerrie said, reproachfully, 'What do you take me +for, and why does your father think his brother will order him +out?'</p> + +<p>'I don't know,' Tom replied, 'but he seems awfully afraid +to meet him. Mother says he was up all night walking the +floor and talking to himself, and yet he says he is glad, and he +is coming this morning to see you and talk it over. I believe +I hear him now speaking to Mrs. Crawford. Yes, 'tis he; so +I guess I'll go; and when I hear from my telegram I'll let you +know. Good-bye.'</p> + +<p>A moment after Tom left the room his father entered it, +looking haggard and old, and frightened, too, it seemed to +Jerrie, as she went forward to meet him with a cheery 'good-morning, +Uncle Frank.'</p> + +<p>It was the first time she had addressed him by that name, +and her smile was so bright and her manner so cordial that +for an instant the cloud lifted from his face, but soon came +back darker than ever as he declined the seat she offered him +and stood tremblingly before her.</p> + +<p>Frank had not slept a wink the previous night, nor had he +been in bed, but had walked his room until his wife said to him +angrily:</p> + +<p>'I thought you were glad; seems to me you don't act like +it; but for pity's sake stop walking, or go somewhere else +do it and not keep me awake.'</p> + +<p>Then he went into the hall outside, and there he walked the +livelong night, trying to think what he should say to Jerrie, +and wondering what she would say to him, for he meant to tell +her everything. Nothing could prevent his doing that; and as +soon as he thought she would see him he started for the cottage, +taking with him the Bible, the photograph and the letter +he had secreted so long. All the way there, he was repeating +to himself the form of speech with which he should commence, +but when Jerrie said to him, so graciously, 'Good morning, +Uncle Frank,' the words left him, and he began, impetuously;</p> + +<p>'Don't call me uncle. Don't speak to me, Jerrie, until you have +heard what I have come to confess on my knees, with my white +head upon the floor, if you will it so, and that would not half +express the shame and remorse with which I stand before you +and tell you I am a cheat, a liar, a villain, and have been since +that day when I first saw you and that dead woman we thought +your mother.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was dumb with surprise, and did not speak or move +as he went on rapidly, telling her the whole, with no attempt +at an excuse for himself, except so far as to report what he had +done in a business point of view, making provision for her in +case of his death and enjoining it upon his children to see that +his wishes were carried out.</p> + +<p>'Here is the Bible,' he said, laying the book in her lap. +'Here is the photograph, and here the letter which you gave +me to post, and which, had it been sent, might have cleared the +mystery sooner.'</p> + +<p>He had made his confession, and he stood before her with +clasped hands and an expression upon his face such as a criminal +might wear when awaiting the jury's decision. But Jerrie neither +looked at him nor spoke, for through a rain of tears she was +gazing upon the sweet face, sadder and thinner than the face +of Gretchen in the window, but so like it that there could be +no mistaking it, and so like to the face which had haunted her +so often, and seemed so near to her.</p> + +<p>'Mother, mother! I remember you as you are here, sick and +sorry, but oh, so lovely!' she said, as she pressed her lips again +and again to the picture, with no thought or care for the +wretched man who had come a step nearer to her, and who said +at last:</p> + +<p>'Will you never speak to me, Jerrie? Never tell me how +much you despise me?'</p> + +<p>'Then she looked up at the face quivering with anguish and +entreaty, and the sight melted her at once. Indeed, as he had +talked she had scarcely felt any resentment toward him, for +she was sure that though his error had been great, his contrition +and remorse had been greater, and she thought of him +only as Maude's father and the man who had always been kind +to her. And she made him believe at last that she forgave him +for Maude's sake, if not for his own.</p> + +<p>'Had my life been a wretched one because of your conduct,' +she said, 'I might have found it harder to forgive you, but it +has not. I have not been the daughter of Tracy Park, it is +true, but I have been the petted child of the cottage, and I +would rather have lived with Harold in poverty all these years +than to have been rich without him. And do you know, I +think it was noble in you to tell me, when you might have kept +it to yourself.'</p> + +<p>'No, no. I couldn't have done that much longer,' he exclaimed, +energetically, as he began to walk up and down the +room. 'I could not bear it. And the shadow which for years +has been with me night and day, counselling me for bad, was +growing so black, and huge, and unendurable that I must have +confessed or died. But it is gone now, or will be when I have +told my brother.'</p> + +<p>'Told your brother! Mr. Tracy—Uncle Frank—you cannot +mean to do that?' Jerrie exclaimed.</p> + +<p>'But I do mean to do it,' Frank replied, 'as a part of my +punishment, and he will not forgive as you have done. He +will turn me out at once, as he ought to do.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie thought this very likely, and with all her powers she +strove to dissuade Frank from making a confession which could +do no possible good, and might result in untold harm.</p> + +<p>'Remember Maude,' she said, 'and the effect this thing +would have upon her if your brother should resort to immediate +and violent means, as he might in his first frenzy.'</p> + +<p>'But, I mean to tell Maude, too,' Frank replied.</p> + +<p>Then Jerrie looked upon him as madder than Arthur himself, +and talked so rapidly and argued so well that he consented +at last to keep his own counsel, for the present at least, unless +the shadow still haunted him, in which case he must tell as an +act of contrition or penance.</p> + +<p>'He will think the photograph came with the other papers +in the bag,' Jerrie said, as she kissed the sweet face, which +looked so much like life that it was hard to think there was +not real love and tenderness in the eyes which looked into hers +so steadfastly.</p> + +<p>It was the hardest to forgive the letter hidden so long, and +Jerrie did feel a pang of resentment, or something like it, as +she took it in her hand and thought of the day when Arthur +had confided it to her, saying he could trust her when he could +not another. And she had trusted Frank, who had not been +true to the trust, and here, after the lapse of years, was the letter, +in her hands, with its singular superscription, covering its +whole side, and its seal unbroken. But she would break it +now. Surely she might do that, if Arthur was never to see it; +and after a moment's hesitancy, she opened it, and read, first, +wild, crazy sentences, full of love and tenderness for the little +Gretchen to whom they were addressed, and whom the writer +sometimes spoke to as living, and again as dead. There was +the expression of a strong desire to see her, a wish for her to +come where her husband was waiting for her, and her diamonds +too. Here Jerrie started with an exclamation of surprise, and +involuntarily read aloud:</p> + +<p>'The most exquisite diamonds you ever saw, and I long to +see them on you. They are safe, too—safe from her—Mrs. +Frank Tracy—who had the boldness to flaunt them in my face +at a party the other night. How she came by them I can't +guess; but I know how she lost them, I found them on her +dressing-table, where she left them when she went to breakfast, +and took possession at once. That was no theft, for they are +mine, or rather yours, and are waiting for you in my private +drawer, where no one has ever looked, except a young girl +called Jerrie, who interests me greatly, she is so much like +what you must have been when a child. There has been +some trouble about the diamonds—I hardly know what, my +head is in such a buzzing most of the time that everything goes +from me but you. Oh, if I had remembered you years ago as I +do now—'</p> + +<p>Jerrie could read no further, for the letter dropped from her +hands, as she cried joyfully:</p> + +<p>'I knew he had them. I was sure of it, though I did not +know where they were.'</p> + +<p>Then very briefly she explained to Frank that on the morning +when the diamonds were missed, Arthur was so excited +because Harold had been in a way accused, and had rambled +off into German, and said many things which made her know +that he had taken them himself and secreted them.</p> + +<p>'You remember my sickness,' she said, and how strangely I +talked of going to prison as an accessory or a substitute? Well, +it was for your brother I was ready to go; and when he told +me, as he did one day, that he knew nothing of the diamonds, +I was never more astonished in my life; but afterward, as I +grew older, I came to believe that he had forgotten them, as he +did other things, and that some time he would remember and +make restitution, I am glad we know where they are, but we +cannot get them until he returns. When do you think that will +be?'</p> + +<p>Frank did not know. It would depend, he said, upon whether +he was in San Francisco when Tom's telegram was received. If +he were and started at once, travelling day and night, he would +be home in a week.</p> + +<p>It seemed a long time to wait in Jerrie's state of mind, and +very, very short to the repentant man, who shrank from his +brother's return as from an impending evil, although it was a +relief to think that he need not tell him what a hypocrite he had +been.</p> + +<p>'Thank you, Jerrie,' he said at last, as he rose to go, 'Thank +you for being so kind to me. I did not deserve it. I did not +expect it. Heaven bless you. I am glad for you, and so is +Maude. Oh, Jerrie, heaven is dealing hard with me to take +her from me, and yet it is just. I sinned for her; sinned to see +her in the place I was sure was yours, although the shadow +was always telling me that I did not and never could know for +sure that you were Arthur's child; but I did, and I meant to go +to Germany some day, when I had the language a little better, +and clear it up, and then I had promised myself to tell you. +Will you lay again that you forgive me before I go back to +Maude?'</p> + +<p>He was standing before her with his white head dropped upon +his hat, the very picture of misery and remorse, and Jerrie +laid her hand upon his head, and said:</p> + +<p>'I do forgive you, Uncle Frank, fully and freely, for Maude's +sake if no other; and if she lives what is mine shall be hers. +Tell her so, and tell her I am coming to see her as soon as I +am able, I am so tired to-day, and everything is so strange. +Oh, if Harold were here.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was indeed so tired and exhausted that for the remainder +of the day she lay upon the couch in her room, seeing no +one but Judge St. Claire and Tom, both of whom came up together, +the latter bringing the answer to his telegram, and asking +what to do next.</p> + +<p>'Why, Tom,' Jerrie said, as she read Arthur's reply, 'pay +him then, for I shan't come,' what does he mean? What did +you say to him, and whom are you to pay?'</p> + +<p>With a half comical smile Tom replied, 'I told him the Old +Nick was to pay, though I am afraid I used a stronger name +for his Satanic majesty than that. I guess you'll have to try +what you can do.'</p> + +<p>And so Jerrie's message, 'I need you,' went across the continent, +and brought the ready response, 'coming on the wings +of the wind.' It was Judge St. Claire who wrote to Harold, +for Jerrie's nerveless fingers could not grasp the pen, and she +could only dictate what she wished the judge to say.</p> + +<p>'Tell him everything,' she said, 'and how much I want him +here; and tell him, too, of Maude, whose life hangs on a thread. +That may bring him sooner.'</p> + +<p>It was three days before Jerrie went again to the Park House, +and then Tom came for her, saying Maude was failing very fast. +The shock which had come upon her so suddenly with regard +to Jerrie's birth and the suspicions resting upon Harold had +shortened the life nearing its close, and the moment Jerrie +entered the room she knew the worst, and with a storm of sobs +and tears knelt by the sick girl's couch and cried:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Maude, Maude, I can't bear it. I'd give up everything +to save you. Oh, Maude, Maude, you don't know how much +I love you!'</p> + +<p>Maude was very calm, though her lips quivered a little and +the tears filled her eyes as she put her hand caressingly upon +Jerrie's golden hair. A great change had come over Maude +since the night when she heard Jerrie's strange story—a change +for the better some might have thought, although the physician +who attended her gave no hope. She neither coughed nor +suffered pain, and could talk all she liked, although often in a +whisper, she was so very weak. +'Yes, Jerrie,' she said, 'I know you love me, and it makes +me very glad, and dying seems easier for it; for, Jerrie, oh, +Jerrie! once before I knew about you, and when I feared I +might die, I wrote something on paper for father to see when +I was dead, and it was that he should take you in my place, you +and Harold.'</p> + +<p>Maude's voice shook a little here, but she soon steadied it and +went on:</p> + +<p>'I wanted him to give you what I thought would be mine +had I lived, and what all the time was yours. Oh, Jerrie, how +can you help hating me, who have stood so long where you +ought to have stood, and enjoyed what you ought to have enjoyed?'</p> + +<p>'Maude,' Jerrie cried, as she kissed the little wan face, +'don't talk like that; as if I, or any one, could ever have hated +you. Why, I worshiped you as some little empress when I +used to see you in your bright sashes and yellow kid boots, +with the amber beads around your neck; and if the contrast +between your finery and my high-necked gingham apron and +white sun-bonnet sometimes struck me painfully, I had no wish +to take the boots and sashes from you, whom they fitted so admirably; +and as we grew older and you did not shrink from +or slight Jerrie Crawford, I cannot tell you how great was the +love which grew in my heart for you, the dearest girl friend I +ever had, and a thousand times dearer now that I know you are +my cousin.'</p> + +<p>Maude was silent for a moment, and then she asked +abruptly:</p> + +<p>'Jerrie, why did you never fall in love with Harold?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Maude!' and Jerrie started as if Maude had struck +her, while the tell-tale blood rushed to her face, and into her +eyes there came a look which even Maude could not understand.</p> + +<p>'Jerrie,' she exclaimed, 'forgive me. I didn't know, I never +guessed, I was go stupid; but I have been thinking so much +since Harold went away. Does he know about you? who you +are? and how long before he will come home?'</p> + +<p>'Judge St. Claire wrote him everything three days ago,' +Jerrie replied, 'and told him how sick you were. That will +surely bring him at once, if it is possible for him to leave; but +it will he three or four days now before the letter will reach him, +and take a week for him to come. Would you like to see him +very much?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Maude answered with a sob, 'very much, but I never +shall. Jerrie, did Harold ever—did he—does he—love you?'</p> + +<p>'He never told me so,' Jerrie answered, frankly; 'but I have +thought that he loved you'</p> + +<p>'N—no,' Maude answered, piteously, with the great tears in +her eyes. 'It is all a mistake, and when I am dead and +Harold comes, promise to tell him something from me, will +you?'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerrie answered, and Maude continued:</p> + +<p>'Tell him the very first time you and he are alone together, +and speak of me, that I have been thinking and thinking until +it came to me clear as day that it was all a mistake, a stupid +blunder on my part. I was always stupid, you know; but I +believe my brain is a little clearer now. Will you tell him, +Jerrie?'</p> + +<p>'Mistake about what?' Jerrie asked with a vague apprehension +that the task imposed upon her might not be a pleasant +one if she know all it involved.</p> + +<p>'Harold will tell you what,' Maude answered 'He will +understand what I mean, and you must tell him, for I shall not +be here when he comes, I am sure of it. I hope to live till +Uncle Arthur comes, for I must see him and ask him not to be +hard on poor father, and tell him that I am sorry that I have +been so long in your place where you should have been. You +will stay here when he comes, and be with me to the last. I +want you with me—want you to hold my hand when I say +good-bye for ever. You are so strong that I shall not be afraid +with you to see and hear as long as I hear and see anything.'</p> + +<p>'And are you afraid?' Jerrie asked, and Maude replied:</p> + +<p>'Of the death struggle, yes; but not what lies beyond where +He is, the Saviour, for I know I am going to Heaven; and when +you think me asleep I am often praying silently for more faith +and love, and for you all, that you may one day come where I +soon shall be. Heaven is very, very beautiful, for I have seen +it in my dreams—a material heaven some would say, for there +are trees and flowers, and grass; and on a golden bench, beneath +a tree whose leaves are like emeralds, and whose blossoms +are like pearls, I am sitting, on the bank of a shining river, +resting, resting, and waiting, as little Pilgrim waited for the +coming of the Master, and for you all.'</p> + +<p>Maude was very tired now, and her voice was so low that +Jerrie could scarcely hear it, while the eyelids drooped heavily, +and in a few moments she fell asleep, with a rapt look on her +as if she were already resting on the golden seat beneath the +tree whose leaves were emeralds and whose blossoms were like +pearls.</p> + +<p>That night Jerrie wrote as follows:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Dear Harold, come home as soon as you can, for Maude is very +low, and, unless you come soon, you will never see her again. The +judge has written you of me, but I must tell you myself that +nothing can ever change me from the Jerrie of old; and the fact +which makes me the happiest is that now I can help you who have +been so kind to me. How I long to see you and talk it all over. +We expect Mr. Arthur in a few days. I cannot call him father yet, +until he has given me the right to do so by calling me daughter +first; but to myself I am calling Gretchen mother all the time—dear, +sweet, darling little mother! Oh, Harold, you must come +home and share my happiness. Truly Harold, you ought to see +how stiffly Mrs. Tracy carries herself toward me—stiffer, if possible, +than she did when I came up the front steps in my muddy +shoes and she bade me go round to the back door. Poor Mrs. +Tracy!'</p></div> + +<p>During the next few days Jerrie stayed with Maude, who +constantly grew weaker and weaker, and who asked about every +hour if anything had been heard from her uncle since his message +that he was coming.</p> + +<p>'I shall never see Harold,' she said to Jerrie; but I must +live till uncle Arthur comes, and you are put in your right +place.'</p> + +<p>And at last, one lovely September morning, a telegram was +brought to Frank from Charles, which said the travellers would +be home that afternoon, and that the carriage must be sent to +meet them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX" ></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<h2>TELLING ARTHUR.</h2> + + +<p>Who should do the telling was the question which for +some time was discussed by Frank and Judge St. +Claire and Jerrie. Naturally the task fell upon the +latter, who for three or four days prior to Arthur's arrival remained +altogether at the Park House, watching by Maude, and +going over and over again in her mind what she should say +and how she should commence.</p> + +<p>At last the announcement came that Arthur was in Albany, +and then it seemed to Jerrie that she had suddenly turned into +stone, for every thought and feeling had left her, and she had +no plan or action or speech as she moved mechanically about +Arthur's rooms, making them bright with flowers, especially +the Gretchen room, which seemed a bower of beauty when her +skilful hands had finished it. Once, as she was passing through +the hall with her arms full of flowers she met Mrs. Tracy, +whose face wore a most forbidding expression as she said:</p> + +<p>'I hope you will leave a few flowers for Maude. You know +she likes them so much.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie made no reply, but by the pang of resentment which +shot through her heart at the smallness of the woman, she knew +she was not past all feeling, and that there was still something +human in the stone, as she had styled herself.</p> + +<p>Slowly the day wore on, every minute seeming an hour, and +every hour a day, until at last Jerrie heard the carriage driving +down the avenue, and not long after the whistle of the engine +in the distance. Then, bending over Maude and kissing +her fondly, she said:</p> + +<p>'Pray for me, darling, I am going to meet my father.'</p> + +<p>Arthur had been very quiet during the first part of the +journey from San Francisco, and it was with difficulty that +Charles could get a word from him.</p> + +<p>'Let me alone,' he said once, when spoken to. 'I am with +Gretchen. She is on the train with me, and I'm trying to make +out what it is she is telling me.'</p> + +<p>But after Chicago was left behind his mood changed, and he +became as wild and excitable as he had before been abstracted +and silent. Sometimes he was on the top of old Capitan, looking +down into the valley below, and singing 'glory, hallelujah,' +at the top of his voice, while the startled passengers kept aloof +from him as from a lunatic. Again he was out upon the platform +urging the conductor to greater speed; and when at last Shannondale +was reached, he bounded from the car upon the platform +before the train stopped, and was collaring Rob, the coachman, +and demanding of him to know what was the matter with +Jerrie, and why he had been sent for. Rob, who had received +his instructions to be wholly non-committal answered stolidly +that nothing was the matter with Jerrie, but that Miss Maude +was very sick and probably would not live many days.</p> + +<p>'Is that all?' Arthur said, gloomily, as he entered the carriage. +'I do not see what the old Harry has to do with +Maude's dying, and certainly Tom's telegram said something +about that chap. I have it in my pocket. Yes, here it is. +"Come immediately. The devil is to pay." That doesn't mean +Maude. There is something else Rob has not told me. 'Here, +you rascal, you are keeping something from me! What is it? +Out with it!' he shouted to the driver, as he thrust his head +from the carriage window, where he kept it, and in this way +was driven to the door of the Park House, where Frank was +waiting for him outside, and where, inside, Jerrie stood, holding +fast to the banisters of the stairs, her heart throbbing wildly +one moment, and the next seeming to lie pulseless as a piece of +lead.</p> + +<p>She heard Arthur's voice as he came up the steps, speaking +to Frank, and asking why he had been sent for; and the next +moment she saw him entering the hall, tall and erect, but with +the wild look in his eyes which she knew so well, but which +changed at once to a softer expression as they fell upon her.</p> + +<p>'Cherry, you here!' he cried, with a joyful ring in his voice +as he sprang to her side and kissed her forehead and lips.</p> + +<p>Then Jerrie grew calm instantly, although she could scarcely +restrain herself from falling on his neck and sobbing out, 'Oh, +my father! I am your daughter Jerrie!' But the time for +this had not come, and when he questioned her eagerly as to +why she had sent for him, she only replied:</p> + +<p>'Maude is very sick. But come with me to your rooms, and +I will tell you everything.'</p> + +<p>'Then there is the deuce to pay; I thought so,' he said, as he +followed her upstairs into the Gretchen room, where he stood +for a moment, amazed at the effect produced by the flowers and +vines which Jerrie had arranged so skilfully, 'It is like Eden,' +he said, 'and Gretchen is here with me. Darling Gretchen!' +he continued, as he walked up to the picture and kissed the +lovely face which, it seemed to Jerrie, smiled in benediction +upon them both, the husband and the daughter, as they stood +there side by side, Jerrie's hands resting on his shoulder, which +she pressed hard, as if to steady herself, while he talked to the +inanimate face before him.</p> + +<p>'Have you been lonesome, Gretchen, and are you glad to +have me back again! Poor little Gretchen!' And now he +turned to Jerrie, who was pale to the lips, and said: 'It all +came to me on the top of those mountains about Gretchen—who +she was, and how I forgot her so long—that is the strangest +of all; and, Cherry,' here his voice dropped to a whisper, +'I know for sure that Gretchen is dead—that came to me, too.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Gretchen is dead,' Jerrie answered him, with the sound +of a sob in her own voice, while her hands tightened their grasp +on his shoulder, as she went on; 'I have had a message from +Gretchen, and that is why we sent for you.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie's hands were not strong enough to hold him then, and, +wrenching himself from her, he stood confronting her with a +look more like that of a maniac than any she had ever seen in +him before, and which might have frightened one with nerves +less strong than Jerrie's. But she was not afraid, and a strange +calmness fell upon her, now that she had actually reached a +point where she must act, and her eyes, which looked so steadily +into Arthur's, held them fast, even while he interrogated her +rapidly.</p> + +<p>'A message from Gretchen! How, when, and where is it? +Give it to me quick, or tell me about it? Where is she, and +when is she coming?'</p> + +<p>'Never!' answered Jerrie sadly. 'I told you she was dead. +But sit here,' and she motioned him to a large cushioned chair. +'Sit here and let me tell you what I know of Gretchen.'</p> + +<p>Something in the girl's manner mastered him and made him +a child in her hands.</p> + +<p>Sinking into the chair, pale and panting with excitement, he +leaned his head back wearily, and closing his eyes, said to her:</p> + +<p>'Begin. What did Gretchen write?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie felt that she could not stand all through the interview, +and bringing a low ottoman to Arthur's side, seated herself +upon it just where she could look into his face and detect +every change in it.</p> + +<p>'Let me tell you of Gretchen as she was when you first knew +her,' she said, 'and then you will be better able to judge of the +truth of all I know.'</p> + +<p>He did not reply, and she went on:</p> + +<p>'Gretchen was very young—sixteen or seventeen—when +you first saw her knitting in the sunshine under the trees in +Wiesbaden, and very beautiful, too—so beautiful that you went +again and again to look at her and talk to her, until you came +to love her very much, and told her so at last; but you seemed +so much above her that she could not believe you at first. At +last, however, you made her understand, and when her mother +died suddenly—'</p> + +<p>'Her mother was Mrs. Heinrich, and kept a kind of fancy +store,' Arthur interposed, as if anxious that nothing should be +omitted.</p> + +<p>'Yes, she kept a fancy store,' Jerrie rejoined; 'and when +she died suddenly and left Gretchen alone, you said to her, +"We must be married at once," and you were, in the little +English chapel, by the Rev. Mr. Eaton, who was then rector.' +Here Arthur's eyes opened wide and fixed themselves wonderingly +upon Jerrie, as he said:</p> + +<p>'Are you the old Harry that you know all this? But go +on; don't stop; it all comes back to me so plain when I hear +you tell it. She wore a straw bonnet trimmed with blue, and +a white dress, but took it off directly for a black one because +her mother was dead. Did she tell you that?'</p> + +<p>'No,' Jerrie replied. 'She told me nothing of the dress, +only how happy she was with you, whom she loved so much, +and who loved her and made her so happy for a time that earth +seemed like heaven to her, and then—'</p> + +<p>Here Jerrie faltered a little, but Arthur's sharp 'What then?' +kept her up, and she continued:</p> + +<p>'Then something came to you, and you began to forget +everything, even poor little Gretchen, and went away for weeks +and left her very sad and lonely, not knowing where you were; +and then, after some months, you went away and never came +back again to the little wife who waited, and watched, and +prayed, and wanted you so badly.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Cherry! oh, Gretchen! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean +to do it; I surely didn't. May God forgive me for forgetting +the little wife! Was it long? Was it months, or was it years? +I can't remember, only that there was a Gretchen, and I left +her,' Arthur said.</p> + +<p>'It was years, four or five, and—and'—Jerrie's breath came +heavily now and her words slowly, for she was nearing the +point relating to herself and wondering what the effect would +be upon him. 'After a while there came into Gretchen's life +the dawning of a great hope, a great joy, which she felt would +make you glad, and wishing to keep it a secret till you came +home, she only gave you a hint of it. She wrote: "I have +something to tell you which will make you as happy as it does +me—"'</p> + +<p>'Stop!' and Arthur put out both his hands as if groping for +something which he could not find; then he said, 'Go on,' and +Jerrie went on, slowly now, for every word was an effort, and +spoken so low that Arthur bent forward to listen to her.</p> + +<p>'I don't know just where Gretchen's home was when she +lived alone waiting for you. I only know that after a while +there came to it a little baby—a girl baby—Gretchen's and +yours—'</p> + +<p>She did not get any further, for with a bound Arthur was +on his feet, every faculty alert, every nerve strung to its utmost +pitch, and every muscle of his face quivering with wild excitement, +as he exclaimed:</p> + +<p>'A baby! Gretchen's baby and mine! A little girl! Oh, +Cherry, if you are deceiving me now!'</p> + +<p>Jerrie, too, had risen, and was standing before him with her +hands upon his arm and her eyes, so like Gretchen's, looking +into his, as she said:</p> + +<p>'I am not deceiving you. There was a baby born to you +and Gretchen sometime in January, 18—, and it was christened +in the little church where you were married by the Rev. Mr. +Eaton. Oh, Mr. Arthur, how can I tell you; she, the baby, +is living yet—grown to womanhood now, for this happened +about twenty years ago, and the girl is almost twenty—and is +waiting and longing so much for her father to recognize and +claim her. Oh, don't you understand me? Look at <i>me</i> and +then at Gretchen's picture!'</p> + +<p>For an instant Arthur stood like one stricken with catalepsy, +his eyes leaping from Jerry's face to Gretchen's, and from +Gretchen's back to Jerrie's, and then, with a motion of his +hands as if fanning the air furiously, he gasped:</p> + +<p>'Twenty years ago—twenty years ago? How old are you, +Cherry?'</p> + +<p>'About twenty,' she answered, but her voice was a whisper, +and her head fell forward a little, though she kept her eyes +upon Arthur, who went on:</p> + +<p>'And they christened my baby and Gretchen's you say? +What name did they give her? Speak quick, for I believe I +am dying.'</p> + +<p>'They called her Jerrine, but you know her as Jerrie, for—for +I am Gretchen's daughter,' fell from Jerrie's lips.</p> + +<p>With a wild, glad cry, 'My daughter! oh, my daughter! +Thank God! thank God!' Arthur sank back into the chair, +from which he had risen, fainting and insensible.</p> + +<p>For hours he lay in a state so nearly resembling death that +but for the physician's reassurance that there was no danger, +Jerrie would have believed the great joy given her was to be +taken from her at once. But just as the twilight shadows +began to gather in the room he came to himself, waking as +from some quiet dream, and looking around him until his eyes +fell upon Jerrie sitting by his side; then into his white face +there flashed a look of ineffable joy and tenderness and love, +as he said, with a smile the most willing and sweet Jerrie had +ever seen.</p> + +<p>'My daughter, my little Cherry, who came to me up the +ladder, with Gretchen's eyes and Gretchen's voice, and I did +not know her—have not known her all these years, although +she has so puzzled and bewildered me at times. My daughter! +oh, my daughter!'</p> + +<p>He accepted her unquestioningly, and with a glad cry Jerrie +threw herself into the arms he stretched toward her, and on +her father's bosom gave free vent to the feelings she had restrained +so long, sobbing passionately as she felt Arthur's +kisses upon her face, and his caressing hands upon her hair, +as he kept repeating:</p> + +<p>'My daughter! Gretchen's baby and mine!'</p> + +<p>'There is more to tell. I have not heard it all, or how you +came by the information,' he said, when Jerrie was little +composed and could look at and speak to him without a burst +of tears.</p> + +<p>'Yes, there is much more. There is a letter for you, with +those you wrote to her,' Jerrie said, 'but you must not have +them to-night. To-morrow you will be stronger, now you must +rest.'</p> + +<p>She spoke like one with authority, and he did just what she +bade him do—took the food she brought him, went to bed +when she said he must, and, with her hand locked in his, fell +into a heavy slumber, which lasted all through the night, and +late into the next morning. It almost seemed as if he would +never waken, the sleep was so like death; but the doctor who +watched him carefully quieted Jerrie's fears and told her it +would do her father good, and that in all probability he would +awake with a clearer mind than he had had in years, for as a +great and sudden shock sometimes produces insanity, so, contrarywise, +it sometimes restored a shattered mind to its equilibrium.</p> + +<p>And the doctor was partially correct, for when at last Arthur +awoke he seemed natural and bright, with a recollection of all +which had happened the day before, and an earnest desire for +the letters and the rest of the story which Jerrie told him, +with her arm across his neck, and her cheek laid occasionally +against his, as she read him the letter directed to his friends, +and then showed him the certificate of her birth and her +mother's death.</p> + +<p>'Born January 1st, 18—, to Arthur Tracy and Marguerite, +his wife, a daughter,' Arthur repeated, again and again, and as +often as he did so he kissed the bright face which smiled at +him through tears, for there was almost as much sadness as +joy mingled with the reading of those messages from the dead.</p> + +<p>Just what Gretchen's letter to Arthur contained, Jerrie never +knew, except that it was full of love and tenderness, with no +word of complaint for the neglect and forgetfulness which must +have hastened her death.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Gretchen, I can't bear it, I can't,' Arthur moaned, as +he laid his hand upon Jerrie's shoulder and sobbed like a child. +'To think I could forget her, and she so sweet and good.'</p> + +<p>Everything came back to him for a time, and he repeated +to Jerrie much which was of interest to her concerning her +mother, but with which the reader has nothing to do; while +Jerrie, in turn, told him all she could remember of her life in +the old house where Gretchen had died. Idle fancies she had +sometimes thought these memories of the past, but now she +knew they were real. And Arthur hung upon her words with +breathless interest, moaning occasionally when she told of the +sweet-faced woman who cried so much and prayed so much, +and whose death scene she had once enacted for him when a +little child. At his own letters addressed to Gretchen he barely +glanced, muttering, as he did so, 'how could I have written +such crazy bosh as that?' and then suddenly recollecting himself, +he asked for the photograph mentioned in Gretchen's letter +to his friends, and which he seemed to think had come with +the other papers, just as Jerrie meant he should. Taking it +from the bag she handed it to him, while his tears fell like +rain as he gazed upon the face which was far too young to wear +the sad, wan look it did.</p> + +<p>'That is as I remember her,' Jerrie said, referring again to the +strange ideas which had filled her brain and made her sure +that not the dark woman found dead at her side was her +mother, but another and far different person, whose face +haunted her so continually and whose voice she sometimes +seemed to hear speaking to her from the dim shadows of the far-off +past when they lived in the little house in Wiesbaden, +where the picture hung on the wall.</p> + +<p>Arthur remembered the picture well and when it was taken, +though that, too, had faded from his mind, until Jerrie told +him of it.</p> + +<p>'We will go there together, Cherry,' he said, 'you and I, +and find the house and the picture, and Gretchen's grave, and +bring them home with us. There is room for them at Tracy +Park.</p> + +<p>He was beginning to talk wildly now, but Jerrie quieted +him, and taking up the box of diamonds opened it suddenly +and held it before his eyes. In reading the letters he had not +seemed to pay any attention to the diamonds, but when Jerrie +said to him; 'These were mother's. You sent them to her +from England,' he replied, 'Yes, I remember. I bought them +in Paris with other things—dresses, I think—for her,' while +into his face there came a troubled look as if he were trying to +think of something.</p> + +<p>Jerrie, who could read him so well, saw the look, and, guessing +at once its cause, hastened to say:</p> + +<p>'Father, do you remember that you gave Mrs. Tracy some +diamonds like these, and that some one took them from her? +Try and think,' she continued, as she saw the troubled look +deepen on his face, and the fire beginning to kindle in his eyes. +'It was years ago, just after a party Mrs. Tracy gave, and at +which she wore them. You were there and thought they were +Gretchen's, did you not?'</p> + +<p>'Ye-es,' he answered slowly. 'I believe I did. What did I +do with them? Do you know?'</p> + +<p>'I think you put them in your private drawer. Suppose you +look and see.'</p> + +<p>Obedient to her as a child, Arthur opened his private drawer, +bringing out one thing after another, all mementoes of the old +Gretchen days, and finally the diamonds, at which be looked +with wonder and fear, as he said to Jerrie:</p> + +<p>'Did I take them? Will they call it a steal? I thought +they were Gretchen's. I remember now.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie did not tell him then of the trouble the secreting of +the diamonds had brought to her and Harold, but she said:</p> + +<p>'No one will think it a steal, and Mrs. Tracy will be glad to +get her jewels back. May I take them to her now?'</p> + +<p>'Take them to her?—no,' Arthur said, decidedly. 'She has +another set—I bought them for her, and she wears them all day +long. Ha, ha! diamonds in the morning, with a cotton gown;' +and he laughed immoderately at what be thought Dolly's bad +taste. 'Take them to her? No! They are yours.'</p> + +<p>'But I have mother's,' Jerrie pleaded; 'and I cannot wear +two sets.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, you can—one to-day, one to-morrow. I mean you +shall have seven—one for everyday in the week. What has +Dolly to do with diamonds. They are for ladies, and she is +only a whitewashed one.'</p> + +<p>He was very much excited, and it took all Jerrie's tact to +soothe and quiet him.</p> + +<p>'Father,' she began and then he stopped short, for the sound +of that name spoken by Jerrie had a mighty power over him—'Father, +listen to me a moment.'</p> + +<p>And then she told him of the suspicions cast upon Harold, +and said:</p> + +<p>'You do not wish him to suffer any more?'</p> + +<p>'Harold? The boy who found you in the carpet-bag—Amy's +boy! No, never! Where is he that I have not seen him yet? +Does he know you are my daughter?'</p> + +<p>Jerrie had not mentioned Harold before, but she told her +father now where he was, and why he had gone, and that she +had written him to come home, on Maude's account, if on no +other.</p> + +<p>'Yes—Maude—I remember; but Harold did not care for +Maude. Still, he had better come. I want him here with you +and me; and you must stay here now, day and night. Select +any room or rooms you please; all is yours, my daughter.'</p> + +<p>'But I cannot leave grandma,' Jerrie said.</p> + +<p>'Let her come, too,' Arthur replied. 'There is room for +her.'</p> + +<p>'No,' Jerrie persisted; 'that would not be best. Grandma +could not live with Mrs. Tracy.'</p> + +<p>'Then let Dolly go at once, I'll give the order now;' and +Arthur put out his hand to the bell-cord.</p> + +<p>But Jerrie stopped him instantly, saying to him:</p> + +<p>'Remember Maude. While she lives she must stay here.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I forgot Maude. Poor little Maude, I have not seen +her yet,' Arthur replied, subdued at once, and willing now +that Jerrie should take the jewels to Dolly, who deserved but +little forbearance from Jerrie's hand.</p> + +<p>Up to the very last Mrs. Tracy had, unconsciously perhaps, +clung to a shadowy hope that Arthur might repudiate his +daughter and call it a trumped-up affair; but when she heard +how joyfully he had acknowledged and claimed her, she lost all +hope, and her face wore a sullen, defiant expression as she +walked about the house and through the handsome rooms, the +very furniture of which had nearly all been bought with +Arthur's money, and consequently was not her own. Since the +coming of Jerrie, when the dark shadow settled upon Frank, +and remorse was always torturing him, he had had no heart for +business, and had, to all intents and purposes, lived upon his +brother's generosity, which had never failed.</p> + +<p>'Get what you like; there is money enough,' was always +Arthur's reply, when a request for anything was made to him, +and thus they had literally been sponges, taking everything and +giving nothing, until now, when all was lost—the luxury, the +elegance, the ease, and the prestige of Tracy Park, which they +had enjoyed so much. It was hard, and Dolly felt that she +could not bear it, and that she hated the girl through whom +this change had come, and in every possible way she meant to +wound and annoy her; so when the cook came to her that day +for orders for dinner, she answered, curtly:</p> + +<p>'Go to the heiress. She is mistress now.'</p> + +<p>In the hall, coming to seek her, Jerrie met the cook, who, +with a comical look on her face, asked what she would have +for dinner.</p> + +<p>'I don't know what you mean,' Jerrie said, and when the +cook explained, her cheeks flushed for an instant and her eyes +blazed with resentment But she controlled herself quickly and +said, 'Tell Mrs. Tracy—but, no, I am going to her room and +will tell her myself.'</p> + +<p>Knocking at Mrs. Tracy's door, she was admitted to the +presence of the lady, who simply stared at her as if asking why +she were there. Jerrie told her in a few words that her +own diamonds had been found, and where they had been secreted, +and that she had come to return them.</p> + +<p>'Then your father was the thief,' Dolly said, with that rasping, +aggravating tone so hard to hear unmoved.</p> + +<p>'Call him what you please. A crazy man is not responsible +for his acts,' Jerrie answered, calmly; then, more proudly and +decidedly, went on, 'By the way, Mrs. Tracy, I was met by the +cook with a singular request, and I wish to say that as there +can be but one mistress in a house, it is my wish that so long +as you remain here you are that mistress in your own department; +of course I shall take charge of my father's, and see that +his wishes are carried out. Good afternoon,' and with a proud, +lofty bearing, Jerrie walked from the room, leaving Dolly to +her own morbid and angry thoughts.</p> + +<p>Not even the restored diamonds had power to conciliate her, +and they were so beautiful as she held them up, admiring their +brilliancy and their size.</p> + +<p>'I'll never wear them, never, because she has some like them,' +she said to herself; and then the thought flashed upon her that +she could sell them, and thus add to the sum which her husband +had invested in his own name.</p> + +<p>Ten thousand dollars, that was all, he had told her, and she +had calculated the income, only six hundred dollars a year to +live on—less than she now wasted yearly upon bric-a-brac and +things of which she tired so soon.</p> + +<p>It was a sombre outlook, and it is not strange that her tears +fell fast upon the costly stones, whose value she could not guess, +although she knew it must be great, they were so superior in +size and quality to any she had ever seen.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I will sell them,' she said, 'and invest the proceeds in +my own name; but even that will hardly keep the wolf from +the door, for Frank is growing more and more imbecile every +day, and Tom is good for nothing. He'll have to scratch for +himself, though, I can tell him.'</p> + +<p>Here her ladylike, but very characteristic, soliloquy was +brought to an end by a faint call, which had the power to +drive every other thought from her heart, for the mother-love +was strong even with her, and going to Maude, she asked what +she wanted.</p> + +<p>'Uncle Arthur,' Maude replied; 'I have not seen him yet. +And Jerrie, too, she has scarcely been here to-day.'</p> + +<p>Maude's request was made known to Arthur, who, two or +three hours later, went to her room, and kissing her lips, told +her how sorry he was to see her so sick, and that he hoped she +would soon be better.</p> + +<p>Frank had been alone with Maude for a long time that day, +and he was with her now, sitting upon the side of her bed, +near the head, with his arm across her pillow, and his eyes +fixed anxiously upon her as she held her conference with his +brother.</p> + +<p>'No, uncle,' she said; 'I shall never be any better in this +world; but by-and-by, pretty soon, I shall be well in the other +And I want to tell you how glad I am for you and Jerrie, and +to thank you for your kindness to us all these years, when +Jerrie should have been here in our place.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes,' Arthur said, with a wave of his hand. 'Only I +didn't know. If I had—'</p> + +<p>'It would have been so different,' Maude interrupted him. +'I know that, but I want you to be kind to poor father still, +and forgive him, he is sorry, and—'</p> + +<p>'Oh, Maude, Maude,' came like a groan from Frank, as he +laid his hand on Maude's lips, while Arthur replied:</p> + +<p>'Forgive him! For what? He couldn't help being here. +I sent for him. He did not keep Jerrie from her rightful position +as my daughter. If he had I could never forgive him. +Why, I believe I'd kill him, or any other one who, knowing +that Jerrie was my daughter, kept it from me.'</p> + +<p>He was gesticulating now with both hands, and Jerrie, who +had listened wonderingly to the conversation, took hold of them +as they were swaying in the air, and said to him softly:</p> + +<p>'Father!'</p> + +<p>The word quieted him, and with a gasp his mind seemed to +change at once.</p> + +<p>'Maude is very tired,' Jerrie went on; 'perhaps we'd better +go now and come again to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>'Yes, yes, that's best, child. I'm not fond of sick rooms, +though I must say this is very free from smells,' Arthur replied; +then stooping down he kissed Maude again, saying to her as he +rose to go:</p> + +<p>'Don't worry about your father; he is my brother, and he +was kind to Jerry. I shan't forget that. Come, my daughter.'</p> + +<p>And putting his arm fondly around Jerrie he left the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L" ></a>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<h2>THE FLOWER FADETH.</h2> + + +<p>It took some days after Arthur's return for the household to +settle down into anything like order and quiet, Arthur +was so restless and so happy, and so anxious for everyone +to recognise Jerrie as his daughter—Miss Tracy, as he called +her when presenting her to the people who had known her all +her life—the St. Claires, and Athertons, and Crosbys, and +Warners—who came to call upon and congratulate him. Even +Peterkin came in his coat-of-arms carriage, with a card as big +as the back of Webster's spelling book, and himself gotten up +in a dress coat, with lavender kids on his burly hands, which +nearly crushed Arthur's in their grasp as he expressed himself +'tickleder than he ever was before in his life.'</p> + +<p>'And to think I was the means on't,' he said, 'for if I +hadn't of kicked that darned old table into slivers when I was +givin' on't to Jerrie, she'd never of know'd what was in that +dumbed rat-hole. I was a leetle too upstrupulous, I s'spose, +but I'll be darned if she didn't square up to me like a catamount, +till my hair riz right up, and I concluded the Tramp +House was no place for me. But I respect her for it; yes, I +do, and by George, old chap, I congratulate you with my whole +soul, and so does May Jane, and so does Ann 'Lizy, and so does +Bill, and so does the whole caboodle on us.'</p> + +<p>This was Peterkin's speech, which Arthur received more graciously +than Jerrie, who, remembering Harold, could not be +very polite to the man who had injured him so deeply. As if +divining her thoughts, Peterkin turned to her and said:</p> + +<p>'Now, one word, Miss Tracy, about Hal. I hain't one to go +halves in any thing, and I was meaner to him than pussly; +but you'll see what I'll do. I've met with a change, I swow, +I have,' and he laid his lavender kid on his stomach. 'He +never took them diamonds, nor May Jane's pin, nor nothin', +and I've blasted it all over town that he didn't, and I've got a +kerridge hired, and some chaps, and a brass band, and a percession, +and when Hal comes, there's to be an oblation to the +depot, with the bugle a playin' "Hail to the Chief," and them +hired chips a histen' him inter the kerridge, with the star-spangled +banner a floatin' over it, and a drawin' him home +without horses! What do you think of that for high?' and +he chuckled merrily as he represented the programme he had +prepared for Harold's reception.</p> + +<p>Jerrie shuddered, mentally hoping that Harold's coming +might be at night, and unheralded, so as to save him from +what she knew would fill him with disgust.</p> + +<p>That call of Peterkin's was the last of a congratulatory nature +made at Tracy Park for weeks, for the shadow of death had +entered the grand old house, the doors and windows of which +stood wide open, one lovely September morning, about a week +after Arthur's return. But there was no stir or sign of life, +except in the upper hall, near the door, and in the room where +Maude Tracy was dying. Jerrie had been with her constantly +for two or three days, and the converse the two had held together +would never be forgotten, Maude was so peaceful and +happy, so sure of the home beyond, where she was going, and +so lovely and sweet to those around her, thinking of everything +and planning everything, even whose hands were to +lower her into the grave.</p> + +<p>'Dick, and Fred, and Billy, and Harold,' she said to Jerrie, +one day, 'Something tells me Harold will be here in time for +that; and if he is, I want those four to put me in the grave. +They can lift me, for I shall not be very heavy,' and, with a +smile, she held up her wasted arms and hands, not as large now +as a child's. 'And, Jerrie,' she went on, 'I want the grave +lined with boughs from our old playing place—the four pines, +you know—and many, many flowers, for I shudder at the +thought of the cold earth which would chill me in my coffin. +So, heap the grave with flowers, and come often to it, and +think lovingly of me, lying there alone. I am thinking so +much of that poem Harold read me long ago of poor little +Alice, the May queen, who said she should hear them as they +passed, with their feet above her in the long and silent grass. +Maybe the dead can't do that. I don't know, but if they can, +I shall listen for you, and be glad when you are near me, and +I know I shall wait on the golden seat by the river. Remember +your promise to tell Harold that it was all a mistake. My +mind gets clearer toward the end, and I see things differently +from what I did once, and I know how I blundered. You will +tell him?'</p> + +<p>Again Jerrie made the promise, with a sinking heart, not +knowing to what it bound her; and as Maude was becoming +tired, she bade her try to rest while she sat by and watched +her.</p> + +<p>The next day, at the same hour, when the balmy September +air was everywhere, and the mid-afternoon sun was filling the +house with golden light, and the crickets' chirp was heard in +the long grass, and the robins were singing in the tree-tops, +another scene was presented in the sick room, where Frank +Tracy knelt at his dying daughter's side, with his face bowed +on his hands, while her fingers played feebly with his white +hair as she spoke to Arthur, who had just come in. They had +told him she was dying and had asked for him, and with his +nervous horror of everything painful and exciting, he had +shrunk from the ordeal; but Jerrie's will prevailed, and he +went with her to the room, where Frank, and his wife, and +Tom were waiting—Tom standing, with folded arms, at the +foot of the bed, and looking, with hot, dry eyes, into the face +on the pillow, where death was setting his seal; the mother, +half-fainting upon the lounge, with the nurse beside her; and +Frank, oblivious of everything except the fact that Maude was +dying.</p> + +<p>'Kiss me good-bye, Uncle Arthur,' she said, when he came +in, 'and come this side where father is.' Then, as he went +round and stood by Frank, she reached her hand for his, and, +putting it on her father's head, said to him: 'Forgive him, +Uncle Arthur; he is so sorry, poor father—the dearest, the +best man in the world. It was for me; say that you forgive +him.'</p> + +<p>Only Frank and one other knew just what she meant, +although a sudden suspicion darted through Jerrie's mind, +and, when Arthur looked helplessly at her, she whispered to +him:</p> + +<p>'Never mind what she means—her mind may be wandering; +but say that you forgive him, no matter what it is.'</p> + +<p>Thus adjured, Arthur said to the grief-stricken man, who +shook like an aspen:</p> + +<p>'I know of nothing to forgive except your old disbelief in +Gretchen, and deceiving me about sending the carriage the +night Jerrie came; but if there is anything else, no matter +what it is, I do forgive you freely.'</p> + +<p>'Thanks,' came faintly from Maude, who whispered:</p> + +<p>'It is a vow, remember, made at my death-bed.'</p> + +<p>She had done all she could, this little girl, whose life had +been so short, and who, as she once said, had been capable of +nothing but loving and being loved; and now, turning her dim +eyes upon Jerrie, who was parting the damp hair upon her +brow, she went on:</p> + +<p>'Remember the promise, and the flowers, and the golden +seat where you will find me resting by the flowing river whose +shores I am now looking upon, for I am almost there, almost +to the golden seat, and the tree whose leaves are like emeralds, +and where the grass and flowers are like the flowers and grass +of summer just after a rain. I am glad for you, Jerrie. Good-bye; +and you, father dear, good-bye.'</p> + +<p>That was the last, for Maude was dead; and the servants, +who had been standing about the door, stole noiselessly back +to their work, with wet eyes and a sense of pain and loss in +their hearts, for not one of them but had loved the gentle girl +now gone forever from their midst.</p> + +<p>If was Jerrie who led Frank from the room to his own, +where she left him by himself, knowing it would be better so, +and it was Arthur who took Dolly out, for Tom had disappeared, +and no one saw him again until the next day, when he +came down to breakfast, with a worn, haggard look upon his +face, which told that he did care, though his mother thought +he did not, and taunted him with his indifference. Poor Tom! +He had gone directly to his room and locked the door, and +smoked and smoked, and thought and thought, and then, when +it was dark, he had stolen out into the park as far as the four +pines, and smoked, and looked up at the stars and wondered if +Maude were there with Jack, sitting on the golden seat by the +river. Then going back to the house where no one saw him, +he went into the silent room where Maude was lying, and +looked long and earnestly upon her white, still face, and wondered +in a vague kind of way if she knew he was there, and +why he had never thought before what a nice kind of girl she +was, and why he had not made more of her as her brother.</p> + +<p>'Maude,' he whispered, with a lump in his throat, 'if you +can hear me, I'd like to tell you I am sorry that I was ever +mean to you, and I guess I did like you more than I supposed.'</p> + +<p>Then he kissed her pale forehead and went to his room, +where he smoked the night through, and in the morning felt +as if he had lived a hundred years since the previous night, +and wondered how he should get through the day. It occurred +to him that it might be the proper thing to see his mother; +and after his breakfast he went to her room, and was received +by her with a burst of tears and reproaches for his indifference +and lack of feeling in keeping himself away from everybody, +as if it were nothing to him that Maude was dead, or that +there was nothing for him to do.</p> + +<p>'Thunderation, mother!' Tom exclaimed, 'would you have +me yell and scream, and make a fool of myself? I sat up all +night long, which was more than you did, and I've been meditating +in the woods, and have seen Maude and made it square +with her. What more can I do?'</p> + +<p>'You can see to things,' Mrs. Tracy replied. 'Your father +is all broken up and has gone to bed, and it is not becoming in +me to be around. Somebody must take the helm.'</p> + +<p>'And somebody has,' Tom answered her. 'Uncle Arthur is +master of the ceremonies now. He is running the ranch, and +running it well, to.'</p> + +<p>And Tom was right, for Arthur had taken the helm, and +aided and abetted by Jerrie, was quietly attending to matters +and arranging for the funeral, which Dolly said must be in the +house, as she would not go to the church, with a gaping +crowd to stare at her. So it was to take place at the house on +Friday afternoon, and Arthur ordered a costly coffin from New +York, with silver mountings and panels, and almost a car-load +of flowers and floral designs, for Jerrie had explained to him +Maude's wishes with regard to her grave, which they lined first +with the freshest of the boughs from the four pines, filling these +again with flowers up to the very top, so that the grave when +finished seemed like one mass of flowers, in which it would not +be hard to lie.</p> + +<p>Dolly had objected to Billy as one of the pall-bearers. He was +too short and inferior looking, she said, and not at all in harmony +with Dick, and Fred, and Paul Crosby, the young man +who, in Harold's absence, had been asked to take his place. +But Arthur overruled her with the words 'It was Maude's +wish,' and Billy kept his post.</p> + +<p>The day arrived, and the hour, and the people came in greater +crowds than they had done when poor Jack was buried, or the +dark woman, Nannine, with only Jerrie as chief mourner, and +the procession was the longest ever seen in Shannondale; and +Dolly, even while her heart was aching with bitter pain, felt a +thrill of pride that so many were following her daughter to the +grave.</p> + +<p>Arrived at the cemetery, there was a halt for the mourners +to alight and the bearers to take the coffins from the hearse and +carry it to the grave—a halt longer than necessary, it seemed to +Jerrie, who under the folds of her veil did not see the tall +young man making his way through the ranks of the people +crowding the road, straining every nerve to reach the hearse, +which he did just as the four young men were taking the coffin +from it.</p> + +<p>With a quick movement he put Paul Crosby aside, saying, +apologetically:</p> + +<p>'Excuse me, Paul. I must carry Maude to her grave. She +wished it so.'</p> + +<p>Then, taking the young man's place, he went slowly on to +the open grave near which piles and piles of flowers were lying +ready to cover the young girl who it was hard for him to believe +was there beneath his hand, cold and dead, with no word +of welcome for him who had tried so hard to see her, and was +only in time for this, to help lay her in the grave and to listen +to the solemn words 'ashes to ashes,' and hear the dreadful +sound of earth to earth falling upon the box which held the +beautiful coffin and the lovely girl within it.</p> + +<p>Even then Jerrie did not see him, but when she took a step +or two forward to look into the grave before it was filled up, and +someone put a hand upon her shoulder and said, 'Not too near, +Jerrie,' she started suddenly, with a suppressed cry, and turning, +saw Harold standing by her, tall, and erect, and self-possessed, +as he faced the multitude, some of whom had suspected +him of a crime, but all of whom were ready now to do him +justice and bid him welcome home.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Harold,' Jerrie said, as she grasped his arm, 'I am so +glad you are here. I wish you had come before.'</p> + +<p>Harold could not reply, for they were now leaving the spot, +and many gathered around him; first and foremost, Peterkin, +who came tramping through the grass, puffing like an engine, +and, unmindful of the time or place, slapping him upon the +shoulder, as he said: +'Well, my boy, glad to see you back, 'pon my soul, I be; +but you flustrated all my plans. I was meanin' to give you an +oblation; got it, all arranged, and you spiled it by takin' us onawares, +like a thief in the night. I beg your pardon,' he continued, +as he met a curious look in Harold's eyes, 'I'm a +blunderin' cuss, I be. I didn't mean nothin', I've ever meant +nothin', and if I hev' I'm sorry for it.'</p> + +<p>Harold did not hear the last, for he was handing Jerrie into +the carriage with her father, who bade him enter, too; saying +they would leave him at the cottage where he wished to go as +soon as possible. There was no time for much conversation +before the cottage was reached, and Harold alighted at the gate, +and no allusion whatever had been made to Jerrie's changed +relations until Harold stood looking at her as she kept her seat +by her father and made no sign of an intention to stop. Then +he said, as calmly as he could:</p> + +<p>'Do you stay at the Park House altogether now?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, no,' she answered quickly. 'I have been there a great +deal with Maude, but am coming home to-night. I could not +leave grandma alone, you know.'</p> + +<p>She acknowledged the home and the relationship still, and +Harold's face flushed with a look of pleasure, which deepened +in intensity when Arthur, with a wave of the hand habitual to +him, said:</p> + +<p>'I must keep her now that you are here to see to the grandmother, +but will let you have her to-night. Come up later, if +you like, and walk home with her.'</p> + +<p>'I shall be most happy to do so,' Harold said, and then the +carriage drove away, while he went in to his grandmother, who +had not attended the funeral, but who knew that he had returned +and was waiting for him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI" ></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<h2>UNDER THE PINES WITH HAROLD.</h2> + + +<p>It seemed to Harold that it had been a thousand years since +he had left Shannondale, so much had come into and so +much had gone out of his life since he said good-bye to +the girl he loved and to the girl who loved him. One was dead, +and he had only come in time to help lay her in her grave; +while the other, the girl he loved, was, some might think, +farther removed from him than death itself could have removed +her.</p> + +<p>But Harold did not feel so. He had faith in Jerrie—that +she would not change, though there had been a time during +the first homesick weeks in Tacoma, when, knowing from +his grandmother of her convalescence, and still hearing from +her no explanation with regard to the diamonds, which +he knew a few still suspected him of having taken, in his impatience +and humiliation he had cried out, 'Jerrie has forgotten. +She is not standing by me, forever and ever, amen, as she +once promised to do.' But this feeling quickly passed, and +there came a day when he read the judge's letter in the privacy +of his room at the Tacoma, and rejoiced with an exceeding +great joy for Jerrie, whose house and birthright had been so +strangely restored. He never doubted the story for a moment, +but felt rather as if he had known it always, and wondered +how any one could have imagined for a moment that blue-eyed, +golden-haired Jerrie was the child of the dark, coarse looking +woman found dead beside her. 'I am so glad for Jerrie,' he +said, without a thought that her relations to himself would in +any way be changed.</p> + +<p>Once, when she had told him of the fancies which haunted +her so often, he had put them from him with a fear that, +were they true, Jerrie would be lost to him forever. But he +had no such misgivings now; and when Jerrie's letter came, +urging his return, both for her own sake and Maude's, he wrote +a few hurried lines to her, telling her how glad he was for her, +and of his intention to start for the East as soon as possible. +'To-morrow, perhaps,' he wrote, 'in which case I may be there +before this letter reaches you, for the mails are sometimes +slow, and the judge's communication was overdue three or four +days.'</p> + +<p>Starting the second day after his letter, Harold travelled +day and night, while something seemed beckoning him on—Maude's +thin, white face, and Jerrie's, too; and when, between +St. Paul and Chicago, there came a detention from a freight +car off the track, he felt that he must fly, so sure was he that +he was wanted and anxiously looked for at Tracy Park, where +at that very time Maude was dying. The next afternoon he left +Chicago, and with no further accident reached Shannondale +just as the long procession was winding its way to the cemetery.</p> + +<p>He had heard from an acquaintance in Springfield that +Maude was dead, and of her request that he should be one of +the pall-bearers, together with Dick, and Fred, and Billy. 'And +I will do it yet,' he said, with a throb of pain, as he thought of +the little girl who had died believing that he loved her. Once +or twice he had resolved to write and tell her as carefully as +possible of her mistake, but as often had changed his mind, +thinking to wait until she was better; and now she was dead, +and the chance for explanation gone forever; but he would, if +possible, carry out the wish she had expressed with regard to +himself.</p> + +<p>Striking into the fields from the station, he reached the +cemetery in time to take his place by Billy and carry poor little +Maude to her last resting place; and then he looked for Jerrie, +and felt an indefinable thrill when he saw her on her father's +arm, and began to realize that she was Jerrie Tracy. But all +that was over now; he had talked with her face to face, and +had found her the Jerrie he had always known, and he +was going to see her in her own home, at Tracy Park—the +daughter of the house, the heiress of Arthur Tracy, and of more +than two millions, it was said—for, despite Frank's extravagance, +all of which Arthur had met without a protest, his money +had accumulated rapidly, so that he was a much richer man +now, than when he first came home from Europe.</p> + +<p>Harold found the family at dinner, Mr. and Mrs. Tracy and +Tom in the dining-room, and Arthur and Jerrie in the Gretchen +room, to which he was taken at once.</p> + +<p>'Come in—come in, my boy. You are just in time for dessert,' +Arthur said, rising with alacrity and going forward to +meet him; while Jerrie, too, arose and took his hand, and made +him sit by her, and questioned him on his journey, and helped +him to the fairest peach and the finest bunch of grapes, and, +without seeming to do so, examined him from head to foot, and +thought how handsome and grand he was, and felt sure that +her father thought so too.</p> + +<p>With a part of the first money Billy had paid him, or rather +had told him to draw in Tacoma, Harold had bought himself the +clothes which he needed sadly; and though it was only a business +suit, and had travelled thousands of miles, it fitted him +well, and it was not at all a shabby Harold sitting at Arthur's +table, but a young man of whom anyone might have been +proud. And Jerrie was proud of him and of her father, too, as +they talked together; and Harold showed no sign of any inequality, +even if he felt it, which he did not.</p> + +<p>'A fine young man, with the best of manners, and carries +himself as he were the lord high chancellor,' Arthur said, when, +after dinner, Harold left there to pay his respects to the other +inmates of the family, whom he found just leaving the dining-room.</p> + +<p>Dolly bowed to him coldly at first, and was about to pass on, +when, with a burst of tears, she offered him her hand, and +sobbed:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Harold, why didn't you come before? Maude wanted +to see you so badly.'</p> + +<p>This was a great deal for Dolly, and Tom stared at her in +amazement, while Harold explained that he had come as soon +as he possibly could, and tried to say something of Maude, but +could not, for the tears which choked him. Frank was unfeignedly +glad to see him, and told him so.</p> + +<p>'Our dear little girl was fond of you, Hal. I am sure she +was, and I shall always like you for that. Heaven bless you, +my boy,' he said, as he wrung Harold's hand and then hurried +away after his wife, leaving Harold alone with Tom, who, awfully +afraid he should break down, said, indifferently:</p> + +<p>'Glad to see you, Hal. Wish you had come before Maude +died. She was in a tearin' way to see you. Have a cigar? +Got a prime lot in my room. Will you go there?</p> + +<p>Harold was in no mood for cigars, and, declining Tom's offer, +sauntered awhile around the grounds, where he found himself +constantly expecting to find the dead girl sitting under a tree +wailing for him with the light whose meaning he now knew +kindling in her beautiful eyes as she bade him welcome and +told him how glad she was to see him. He was glad now that +he had not written and told her of her mistake, and he felt in +his heart a greater tenderness for the Maude dead than he ever +could have felt for the Maude living.</p> + +<p>It was beginning to grow dark when he returned to the +house where he found Jerrie in the hall ready to go home. +Arthur was at her side, with his arm thrown lovingly around +her, and as he passed her over to Harold, he said:</p> + +<p>'Make the most of her to-night, my boy, for to-morrow she +comes home to stay. Heaven bless you, my daughter!'</p> + +<p>His words sent a thrill through both Harold and Jerrie, who +walked on in silence until they reached the four pines, where +Jerrie halted suddenly and said:</p> + +<p>'Let us sit down, Harold. I have a message from Maude, +which I promised to deliver the first time we were alone +together after you came home.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie's voice trembled a little, and after they were seated +she was silent until Harold said to her:</p> + +<p>'You were going to tell me of Maude;' then she started and +replied:</p> + +<p>'Yes; she wanted so much to see you and tell you herself. +I don't know what she meant, but she said she had made a +mistake, and I must tell you so, and that you would understand +it. She had been thinking and thinking, she said, and +knew it was a stupid blunder of hers; that was what she +called it—a stupid blunder; and she was sorry for you that +she had made it, and bade me say so, and tell you no one knew +but herself and you. Dear little Maude! I wish she had not +died.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was crying now, and perhaps that was the reason she +did not mind when Harold put his arm around her and drew +her closer to him, so close that his brown hair touched her +golden curls, for the night was warm and she had brought her +bonnet in her hand all the way, while he had taken off his hat +when they sat down under the pines, which moaned and sighed +above them for a moment, and then grew still, as if listening +for what Harold would say.</p> + +<p>'Yea,' he began slowly, 'I think I know what Maude +meant by the mistake. Did she say I must tell you what it +was?'</p> + +<p>'She said you would tell me, but perhaps you'd better not,' +Jerrie replied,</p> + +<p>'Yes, I must tell you,' he continued, 'as a preliminary to +what I have to say to you afterward, and what I did not mean +to say quite so soon; but this decides me,' and Harold drew +Jerrie a little closer to him as he went on: 'Did you ever +think that I loved poor little Maude?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, I have thought so,' was Jerrie's answer.</p> + +<p>'She thought so, too,' Harold continued, 'and it was all +my fault; my blunder, not hers. I loved her as I would a sister; +as I did you in the olden days, Jerrie. She was so sweet +and good, and so interested in you and all I wanted to do for +you, that I regarded her as a very dear friend, nothing more. +And because I looked upon her this way, I foolishly went to +her once to confess my love for another; her dearest and most +intimate friend, and ask if she thought I had a chance for success. +I must have bungled strangely, for she mistook my +meaning and thought I was speaking of herself and in a way +she accepted me; and before I had time to explain, her mother +came in and I have never seen her since; but I shall never +forget the eyes which looked at me so gladly, smiting me +so cruelly for the delusion in which I had to leave her. That +is what Maude meant. She saw the mistake, and wished to +rectify it by giving me the chance to tell you myself what I +wanted to tell you then and dared not.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie trembled violently, but made no answer, and Harold +went on:</p> + +<p>'It may seem strange that I, who used to be so much afraid +of Jerrie Crawford that I dared not tell her of my love, have +the courage to do it now that she is Jerrie Tracy, and I do not +understand it myself. Once when you told me your fancies +concerning your birth, a great fear took possession of me, lest +I should lose you, if they were true; but when I heard that +they were true, I felt so sure of you that I could scarcely wait +for the time when I could ask you, as I now do, to be my wife, +poor as I am, with nothing but love to give you. Will you, +Jerrie?'</p> + +<p>His face was so close to hers now that her hot cheeks touched +his as she bent her head lower and lower, but she made no reply +for a moment, and then she cried:</p> + +<p>'Oh, Harold, it seems so soon, with Maude only buried to-day. +What shall I say? What ought I to say?'</p> + +<p>'Shall I tell you?' he answered, taking her hand in his. +'Say the first English word you ever spoke, and which I taught +you. Do you remember it?'</p> + +<p>'<i>Iss</i>' came involuntarily from Jerrie, in the quick, lisping +accent of her babyhood, when that was all the English she +could master; and almost before it had escaped her, Harold +smothered it with the kisses he pressed upon her lips as he +claimed her for his own.</p> + +<p>'But, Harold,' she tried to explain between his kisses, 'I +meant that I <i>did</i> remember. You must not—you must not +kiss me so fast. You take my breath away. There! I won't +stand it any longer. I'm going straight home to tell grandma +how you act!'</p> + +<p>'And so am I,' Harold said, rising as she did, but keeping +his arm around her as they went slowly along in the soft September +night, with the stars, which were shining for the first +time on Maude's grave, looking down upon then, and a +thought of Maude in their hearts, and her dear name often +upon their lips, as they talked of the past as lovers will, trying +to recall just when it was that friendship ceased and love began, +and deciding finally that neither knew nor cared when it +was, so great was their present joy and anticipation of the +future.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII" ></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<h2>'FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE.'</h2> + + +<p>'Grandma, Jerrie has promised to be my wife!' Harold +said to his grandmother that night when he took +Jerrie in to her about ten o'clock, during which time +they had walked to the Tramp House, and sitting down upon +the chair which would hold but one, had talked the whole matter +over, from the morning Harold first saw the sweet little +face in the carpet-bag to the present moment when the same +sweet face was pressed lovingly against his, and the same arms +which had clung to him in the snow were around his neck in +the darkness, as they went over with the old, old story, newest +always and best to the last one who listens to it and believes +that it is true.</p> + +<p>'Father, I have promised to marry Harold,' Jerrie said to +Arthur the next morning as she stood before him in the Gretchen +room, with Harold's hand in hers, and a look in her face +something like what Gretchen's had worn when Arthur first +called her his wife.</p> + +<p>'Lord bless you, I knew it was coming, but did not think it +would be quite so soon. You shock my nerves dreadfully,' +Arthur exclaimed, springing up and walking two or three times +across the room. Then, confronting the young couple, he said, +'Going to marry Harold? I knew you would all this time. +Well, he will do as well as any one to look after the business. +Frank is no good, and Colvin is too old. So, get married at +once, within a week if you like. I'm off for Germany next +month, to find Gretchen's grave, and the house, and the picture, +and everything, and as I shall take you with me I shall +need some one with brains to look after things while I am +gone.'</p> + +<p>'But father,' Jerrie began, 'if I go to Germany, Harold +will go, too, and if he stops here, I shall stay.'</p> + +<p>Arthur looked at her inquiringly a moment, and then, as he +begun to understand, replied: +'Ah, yes, I see; "where thou goest, I go, and where thou—" +and so forth, and so forth. Well, all right; only you +must come here directly; it will never do to stay there, now +you are engaged; and you must be married in this room, with +Gretchen looking on, and soon, too. No wedding, of course, +Maude's death is too recent for that; but soon, very soon, so +we can get off. I'll engage passage at once in the Germanic, +which sails the 15th of October, and you shall be married the +10th. That's three weeks from to-day, and will give you a few +days in New York. I'll leave Frank here till we return, and +then he must go, of course, and the new mistress step in with +Mrs. Crawford to superintend. We will get some nice man +and woman to stay with her while we are gone.'</p> + +<p>He had settled everything rapidly, but Jerrie had something +to say upon the subject. She did not wish to come to Tracy +Park altogether while Mrs. Tracy was there; she would rather +enjoy the lovely room which Harold had built for her, she +said, and preferred to be married in the cottage, the only home +she had ever known.</p> + +<p>'I shall stay with you all day,' she continued, 'but go home +at night.'</p> + +<p>'And so have a long walk with Harold. Yes, I see,' Arthur +said, laughingly, but assenting finally to her proposal.</p> + +<p>It was Jerrie now who planned everything, with Harold's +assistance, and who broached the subject of Frank's future to +her father, asking what provision he intended to make for him +when he left Tracy Park.</p> + +<p>'What provision?' Arthur said. 'I guess he has made +provision for himself all these years, when my purse has been +as free to him as myself. Colvin tells me there has been an +awful lot of money spent somewhere.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Jerrie replied, 'but you gave him permission to +spend it, and it would hardly be fair now to leave him with +little or nothing, and he so broken down. When Maude +feared she was going to die, and before she knew who I was, +she wrote a letter for her father and you, asking him to give +me what he would have given her, and you to do the same. +So now, I want you to give Maude's father what you would +have given me for Maude's sake.'</p> + +<p>'Bless my soul, Jerrie!' Arthur said. 'What a beggar you +are! I don't know what I should have given you; all I am +worth, perhaps. How much will satisfy you for Frank? Tell +me, and it is done.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie thought one hundred thousand dollars would not be +any too much, nor did it seem so to Arthur, who placed but +little value upon his money, and Jerrie was deputed to tell her +uncle what provision was to be made for him, and that, if he +wished, he was to remain at the park until his brother's return +from Europe.</p> + +<p>Frank was not in his own room, but Mrs. Tracy was, and to +her Jerrie first communicated the intelligence that she was to +be married and go with her father to Germany. The look +which the highly scandalized lady gave her was wonderful, as +she said:</p> + +<p>'Married! almost before the crape is off the door, or the +flowers wilted on Maude's grave! Well, that shows how little +we are missed; and I am not surprised, though I think Maude +would be, at Harold, certainly. I suppose you know there was +something between them; but a man will do any thing for +money. I wish you joy of your husband.'</p> + +<p>Jerrie was too indignant to explain any thing, and hurried +off in quest of her uncle, whom she found in Maude's room, +where he spent the most of his time, walking up and down and +examining the different articles which had belonged to his +daughter, and which, at his request, remained untouched as she +had left them. Her brushes, her comb, her bottled perfumery, +her work-box, her Bible, a little half-finished sketch, and her +soft bed-slippers she had worn when she died, and one of which +he held in his hand when Jerrie went in to him.</p> + +<p>'It is so like Maude,' he said, with quivering lips, as she went +to his side, 'and when I hold it in my hand I can almost hear +the dear little feet, which I know are cold and dead, coming +along the hall as she used to come, and will never come again. +I think I should like to die here in this room and go where +Maude has gone, and I believe I should go there. I am sure +God has forgiven me, and Maude forgave me, too, for I told +her.'</p> + +<p>'You did! I thought so,' Jerrie said.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I had to tell her,' he continued, 'and I am glad I did, +and she loved me just the same. You saw her die. You heard +what she said to me. She must have believed in me, and that +keeps me from going mad. I told Dolly, too; the shadow was +so black I had to; and she said she'd never speak to me again +as long as she lived, and she didn't either until last night, when +I was alone in here, crying on Maude's bed; then she came to +me and called me Frank, and said she was sorry she had been +so hard, and asked me what we were going to do, and where we +were going. I'm sure I don't know; do you?'</p> + +<p>He was so broken, so like a child in his appeal to her, that +Jerrie's tears came fast as she told him of her approaching marriage +and what her father intended doing for him. Then Frank +broke down entirely, and cried like a child.</p> + +<p>'I don't deserve it, and I know I owe it to you, whom I +have injured so much,' he said, while Jerrie tried to comfort +him.</p> + +<p>'I must go back now to father,' she said at last; and, with a +kiss upon his worn face, she went out into the hall, where she +encountered Tom just coming from his mother's room.</p> + +<p>'Hallo!' Tom cried, with an attempt at a smile, 'and so +you are going to marry Harold?'</p> + +<p>'Yes, Tom; I'm going to marry Harold,' Jerrie replied, unhesitatingly, +as she laid her hand on Tom's arm and walked +with him down the stairs.</p> + +<p>It seemed to her the most natural thing in the world that +she should marry Harold, and she was not at all abashed in +speaking of it to Tom; but when outside they saw Harold +coming up the walk, the color rushed to her cheeks, and her +eyes grew wondrously bright with the love-light which shown +in them, as she dropped Tom's arm and hurried to Harold's +side.</p> + +<p>'By George, I b'lieve I'll go and hang myself!' Tom said, +under his breath, as he stalked moodily away; but instead of +that he went across the fields to Le Bateau, where he sat for an +hour, talking with old Peterkin and waiting for Ann Eliza, +who had gone to Springfield, her father said, after a new gown, +for which he was to pay two hundred dollars.</p> + +<p>'Think on't!' he continued. 'When we was fust married +and run the 'Liza Ann, the best gown May Jane had to her +back was a mereener or balzarine—dummed if I know what +you call it—at one and ninepence a yard; but now, lord land, +what's two hundred dollar gownd to me! Ann Eliza can have +forty on 'em, if she wants to. There she is; there's the kerridge! +By gosh, though, ain't she a neat little filly!' and the +father's face glowed with pride as he watched his daughter +alighting from the carriage, to which Tom had hastened in +order to assist her, for she was still a little lame and limped as +she walked.</p> + +<p>He saw the two hundred dollar gown, for Peterkin would +have it displayed, and admired it, of course, and wished thut +he had half the sum it cost in his own right, and wondered if +he could stand it, as he walked slowly home, where he heard +from his mother that they were still to remain at Tracy Park +for a while, and that his father was to have one hundred thousand +dollars settled upon him.</p> + +<p>'I guess now I'll wait a spell, and let old Peterkin go to +thunder,' he decided, and for two weeks and more Ann Eliza +watched in vain for his coming, while Peterkin remarked to his +wife that if Tom Tracy was goin' to play fast and loose with his +gal, he'd find himself brought up standin' mighty lively.</p> + +<p>The news that Harold and Jerrie were soon to be married, +and go with Arthur to Germany, created some surprise, and +some talk, too, in town, where many of the people had believed +that there had been an understanding, if not an engagement, +between Harold and Maude. But Tom put that right with a +few decided words. There had never been an engagement, he +said. Maude had liked Harold very much, and he had liked +her, but had always preferred Jerrie; in short, matters had been +as good as settled between them, long ago.</p> + +<p>This last was a little fiction of Tom's brain, but the people +accepted it as true, and began to look eagerly forward to the +approaching marriage, wondering, as people will, who would be +invited, and who would not. It took place the 10th of October, +in Mrs. Crawford's little parlor, with only a few intimate friends +present—Grace Atherton, the St. Claires, Ann Eliza Peterkin, +and the Tracys, with the exception of Dolly, who could not do +so great violence to her feeling, as to attend a wedding. Billy +was not there, but he sent a magnificent emerald ring to Jerrie, +with the following note:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>DEAR JERRIE,—I can't see you married, although I am glad for +you, and glad for Hal. God bless you both. I shall never forget +you as long as I live; and when you come back, maybe I can bear to +see you as Hal's wife, but now it would kill me. Good-bye.</p></div> + +<p>Jerrie read this note with wet eyes up in her room, and then +passed it to Harold, to whom she told of that episode under +the butternut tree, when Billy asked her to be his wife.</p> + +<p>'Poor Billy! I am awful sorry for him, but I can't let him +have you, Jerrie,' Harold said, passing the note back to her, and +kissing her tenderly, as he added: 'That is my last kiss for +Jerrie Tracy, my little girl of the carpet-bag. When I kiss you +again, you will be my wife.'</p> + +<p>'Come, children, we are waiting,' came with startling distinctness +from Arthur at the foot of the stairs, and then Harold +and Jerrie went down to the parlor, where they were soon made +one, Arthur giving the bride away, and behaving pretty well +under the circumstances.</p> + +<p>He had been very flighty the day before, insisting that Jerrie +should be married in white, with a blue ribbon on her bonnet, +just as Gretchen had been, and when she reminded him of +Maude's recent death, he replied:</p> + +<p>'Well, Gretchen will wear colors if you do not.'</p> + +<p>And again he brought out and laid upon his bed the dress +bought in Paris years before, and which had been waiting for +Gretchen on that stormy night when he heard the wild cry of the +dying woman above the wintery gale. She was with him again +in fancy, and when he went out to the carriage which was to +carry him to the cottage, he stepped back and stood a moment +by the door as if to let some one enter before him, and all during +the ceremony those nearest to him heard him whispering to +himself, 'I, Arthur, take thee, Gretchen,' and so forth; but +when it was over he came to himself and seemed perfectly rational, +as he kissed his daughter and shook hands with his son-in-law, +to whom he gave a check for ten thousand dollars, saying +as he did so, that young men must have a little spending +money.</p> + +<p>It was a very pleasant wedding, and every one seemed happy, +even to Dick, whose spirits, however, were rather too gay to be +quite natural, and whose voice shook just a little as he called +Jerrie Mrs. Hasting, and told her he hoped to see her in Paris +in the spring as he thought of going over there with Nina to +join the Raymonds.</p> + +<p>'Oh, I hope you will! Nothing could make me so happy +as to meet you there,' Jerrie said, looking at him with an expression +which told him she was thinking of the pines and was +sorry for him.</p> + +<p>The newly married pair were going directly to New York, +where Arthur was to join them on the 4th, as the <i>Germanic</i> +sailed the 15th.</p> + +<p>All the wedding guests accompanied them to the station, +Tom accepting a seat in the coupé with Ann Eliza, who wore +her two hundred dollar gown, and was, of course, overdressed. +But Tom did not think much about that. He was ill at ease +that morning, though trying to seem natural; and when the +train which took Jerrie away disappeared from view, he felt as +if everything which had made life desirable had left him forever, +and he cared but little now what he did, or with whom his +lot was cast.</p> + +<p>So when Ann Eliza, who had cried at parting with Jerrie, +dried her eyes and said to him, 'It is such a fine day; suppose +we drive along the river; it may dispel the blues,' he assented, +and soon found himself bowling along the smooth turnpike with +Ann Eliza, whom he thought rather interesting, with the tears +shed for Jerrie on her long, light eyelashes.</p> + +<p>'I shall miss her so much, and be so lonely without her. I +hope you'll call often,' she said to him, when at last the drive +was over, and Tom promised that he would, and kept his promise, +too; for after Arthur left, he found Tracy Park so insupportably +dull, with his father always in Maude's room and his +mother always in tears, that it was a relief to go to Le Bateau +and be made much of as if he were a prince and treated to nice +little lunches and suppers, even if old Peterkin did make one of +the party and disgust him so at times that he felt as if he must +snatch up his hat and fly.</p> + +<p>And one night, when the old man had been more than usually +disagreeable and pompous, he did start up abruptly and leave +the house, mentally vowing never to enter it again.</p> + +<p>'I'd rather saw wood and gather swill, as Hal used to, than +listen to that infernal old brag,' he was saying to himself, when +he heard a wheezy sound behind him, and looking round saw +the old brag in full pursuit and beckoning him to stop.</p> + +<p>'I'm goin' to walk a spell with you,' he said, locking his arm +in Tom's as he came up. 'I want to have a little talk.'</p> + +<p>'Yes,' Tom faltered, with a dreadful sinking of the heart, +while Peterkin went on:</p> + +<p>'You see you've been a comin' to Lubbertoo off and on for +mighty nigh a month, and as the parents of a family it's time I +as't your intentions.'</p> + +<p>'Intentions!' Tom stammered, trying to draw his arm from +Peterkin's.</p> + +<p>But he might as well have tried to wrench it from a vise, for +Peterkin held it fast and went on:</p> + +<p>'Yes, intentions! Thunderation, hain't a chap 'sposed to +have intentions when he hangs round a gal who has money +like my Ann 'Liza! I tell you what, Thomas,' and his manner +became very insinuating and frank, 'as nigh as I can kalkerlate +I'm worth three millions, fair and square, and there's +three on 'em to divide it amongst—May Jane, Bill, and Ann +'Liza. Now, s'posin' we say three into three million, don't it +leave a million?'</p> + +<p>Tom acknowledged that it did, and Peterkin continued:</p> + +<p>'Jess so. Now I ain't one of them mean skunks that wants +his folks to wait till he's dead afore they enjoys themselves; +and the day my Ann 'Liza is married, I plank down a million +in hard cash for her and her husband to do what they darned +please with; cut a dash in Europe as Hal is doin', if they like, +or cut a splurge to hum, it's all one to me. I call that square, +don't you?'</p> + +<p>Tom admitted that he did, and Peterkin went on:</p> + +<p>'Now, then, I ain't goin't to have Ann 'Liza's affections +trifled with, and if I catch a feller a doin' on't, d'ye know what +I'll do?'</p> + +<p>Tom could not guess, and Peterkin continued:</p> + +<p>'I'll lick him within an inch of his life, and then set the +dogs on him, and heave him inter the river! See?'</p> + +<p>It was not a warm day, but Tom was perspiring at every +pore as he saw presented to him the choice between a million +or to be 'licked within an inch of his life and then dogged +into the river.' Naturally he chose the first as the lesser evil +of the two, and began to lie as he had never lied in his life +before. He was very glad, he said, that Peterkin had broached +the subject, as it made matters easier for him by showing him +that his suit might not be rejected, as he had feared it might +be.</p> + +<p>'You know, of course, Mr. Peterkin,' he said, 'that I am a +poor young man, with no expectations whatever, for though +Uncle Arthur has settled something upon father, I cannot depend +upon that, and how could I dare to look as high as your +daughter without some encouragement?'</p> + +<p>'Encouragement, boy? Great Scott!' and releasing Tom's +arm, Peterkin hit him a friendly slap, which nearly knocked +him down. 'Great Scott! What do you call encouragement? +When a gal is so flustified at seeing you, and so tickled that +she tetters right up and down, while her mother hunts heaven +and earth for tit-bits to tickle your palate with—quail on toast, +mushrooms, sweet-breads, and the Lord knows what—ain't +that a sign they are willin'? Thunder and guns! what would +you have? Ann 'Liza can't up and say "Marry me, Tom;" +nor I can't up and say, "Thomas, marry my daughter," can I? +But if you want to marry her, say so like a man, and I swan +I'll meet you like a man, and a father!'</p> + +<p>Alas for Tom! he had nothing left him to do except to say +that he wished to marry Ann Eliza, and that he would come +the next evening and tell her so.</p> + +<p>It was Peterkin who answered his ring when he presented +himself at the door of Le Bateau, Peterkin more inflated and +pompous than ever as he shook the young man's hand, calling +him Thomas—a name which aggravated him beyond all description—and +telling him to go right into the parlor, where he +would find Ann 'Liza waitin' for him, and where they could +bill and coo as much as they liked, for he and May Jane would +keep out of the way and give 'em a chance.</p> + +<p>Even then Tom cast one despairing glance toward the door, +with a half resolve to bolt; but Peterkin was behind him, +pushing him on to his fate, which, after all, was not so very +bad when he came to face it. There was nothing low, or mean, +or coarse about Ann Eliza, who, but for her very bright red +hair, would have been called pretty by some, and who was by +no means ill-looking, even with her red hair, as she stood up +to receive her lover, with a droop in her eyes, and a flush on +her cheeks; for she knew the object of his visit, into which he +plunged at once. He did not say that he loved her, but he +asked her in a straightforward way to be his wife, and then +waited for her answer, which was not long in coming, for +Ann Eliza was no dissembler. She loved Tom Tracy with her +whole soul, and felt herself honored in being sought by him.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Tom!' she said, while the tears shone in her eyes, +which Tom noticed for the first time were large and clear and +very blue. 'It does not seem possible for you to love me, but, +if you really do, I will be your wife and try to make you happy, +and—and—'</p> + +<p>She hesitated a moment and then went on:</p> + +<p>'Save you as much as possible from father. We cannot live +here; you and he would not get on; he means well and is the +kindest of fathers to me, but he is not like you, and we must +go away.'</p> + +<p>She was really a very sensible girl, Tom thought, and in his +joy at finding her so sensible he stooped and kissed her forehead +as the proper thing for him to do, while she, the poor +little mistaken girl, threw herself into his arms and began to +cry, she was so glad and happy.</p> + +<p>Tom did not know exactly what he ought to do. It was a +novel situation for him to be in, with a girl sobbing on his +bosom, and his first impulse was to push her off; but when he +remembered that she represented a million of dollars, he did +what half the men in the world would have done in his place: +he held her close and tried to quiet her, and told her he was +not half good enough for her, and knew in his heart he was +telling the truth, and felt within him that stirring of a resolve +that she should never know he did not love her, and that he +would make her happy, if he could.</p> + +<p>And so they were betrothed without much billing and cooing, +and Peterkin came in with Mary Jane and made a speech half-an-hour +long to his future son-in-law, and settled just when +they were to be married and what they were to do.</p> + +<p>Christmas week was the time, and he vowed he'd give 'em a +wedding which should take the starch entirely out of Gusty +Browne, whose mother, Mrs. Rossiter Browne, would think +Gusty was never married at all when she saw what he could +do. Greatly he lamented that Harold and Jerry could not be +present. 'But they'll see it in the papers,' he said, 'for I'll +have a four column notice, if I write it myself, and pay for it +too! And when you meet 'em in Europe you can tell 'em +what they missed.'</p> + +<p>To all this Tom listened, with great drops of cold sweat running +down his back as he thought of the ridicule he should +incur if Peterkin should carry out his intentions to 'take the +rag off the bush,' as he expressed it. The trip to Europe +pleased him, but the party filled him with a horror from which +he saw no escape, until he consulted his mother, to whom he +at once announced his engagement, but did not tell her of the +check on a Springfield bank for $2,000 which Peterkin had +slipped into his hand at parting with him, saying, when he +protested against taking it:</p> + +<p>'Don't be a fool, Thomas. I'm to be your dad, so take it; +you'll need it. I know your circumstances; they ain't what +they was, and I don't s'pose you've got enough to buy the engagement +ring, I want a big one. A solitary—no cluster for +me. I know what 'tis to be poor. Take it, Thomas.'</p> + +<p>So Tom took it with a sense of shame which prompted him +several times to tear it in shreds and throw them to the winds. +But this he did not do, for he knew he should need money, as +he had none of his own; and when, a few days before, he had +asked Colvin for some, that worthy man, who had never taken +kindly to him, had bidden him go to a very warm place for +money, as he had no orders to give him any.</p> + +<p>'Your uncle,' he said, 'settled one hundred thousand dollars +on your father—the more fool he—and expects him to live on +it. So my advice to you is that you go to work.'</p> + +<p>Now, Tom couldn't work, and after a little Peterkin's gift +did not seem so very humiliating to him, although he could +not bring himself to tell his mother of it when he announced +his engagement to her, which he did bluntly and with nothing +apologetic in his manner or speech.</p> + +<p>'I am going to marry Ann Eliza Peterkin some time during +the holidays, and start at once for Europe,' he said, and then +brought some water and dashed it in her face, for she immediately +went into hysterics and declared herself dying.</p> + +<p>When she grew calm, Tom swore a little, and talked a good +deal, and told her about the million, which he said was not to +be sneezed at, and told her what Colvin had said to him, and +asked what the old Harry he was to do if he didn't marry Ann +Eliza, and told her of the proposed party, asking her to save +him from it if she could.</p> + +<p>When she found she could not help herself, Dolly rose to the +situation, and said she would see her daughter-in-law elect, +whom Tom was to bring to her, as she could not think of calling +at Le Bateau in her present state of affliction. So Ann +Eliza came over in the coat-of-arms carriage, and her mother +came with her. But her Dolly declined to see. She could not +endure everything, she said to Tom, and was only equal to +Ann Eliza, whom she met with a bow and the tips of her +fingers, without rising from her chair. Still, as the representative +of a million, Ann Eliza was entitled to some consideration, +and Dolly motioned her to a seat beside her, and, with +her black-bordered handkerchief to her eyes, said to her:</p> + +<p>'Tom tells me you are going to marry him, and I trust you +will try to make him happy. He is a most estimable young +man now, and if he should develop any bad habits, I shall +think it owing to some new and bad influence brought to +bear upon him.'</p> + +<p>'Yes'm,' Ann Eliza answered, timidly; and the great lady +went on to talk of family, and blood, and position, as something +for which money could not make amends, and to impress +upon her a sense of the great honor it was to be a member of +the Tracy family.</p> + +<p>Then she spoke of the wedding party, which she trusted Ann +Eliza would prevent, as nothing could be in worse taste when +they were in such affliction, adding that neither herself nor +Mr. Tracy could think of being present.</p> + +<p>'Be married quietly, without any display, if you wish to +please me,' she said; and with a wave of her cobweb handkerchief +she signified that the conference was ended.</p> + +<p>'Well, Annie, how did you and my lady hit it?' Tom asked, +meeting Ann Eliza in the hall as she came out, flushed and hot +from the interview.</p> + +<p>'We didn't hit it at all,' Ann Eliza replied, with a sound of +tears in her voice, and a gleam in her eye which Tom had +never seen before. 'She just talked as if I were dirt, and that +you were only marrying me for money. She don't like me and +I don't like her, there!' and the indignant little girl began to +cry.</p> + +<p>Tom laughed immoderately, and, passing his arm around her +as they went down the stairs, he said:</p> + +<p>'Of course you don't like her. Who ever did like her +mother-in-law? But you are marrying me, not my mother, so +don't cry, <i>petite</i>.'</p> + +<p>Tom was making an effort to be very kind, and even lover-like +to his <i>fiancée</i>, who was easily comforted, and who, on her +return to Le Bateau told her father plainly that the party must +be given up, as it would be sadly out of place and deeply offend +the Tracys. Very unwillingly Peterkin gave it up, and sent +word to that effect to Mrs. Rossiter-Browne, who had already +been apprised of the coming event and was having a wonderful +gown made for the occasion.</p> + +<p>'I find,' he wrote, 'that it wouldn't be at all <i>rachelshay</i> to +have a blow out whilst the family is in deep black; but when +they git into lavender, and the young folks is home from their +tower, I'll have a tearer.'</p> + +<p>Peterkin tried two or three times to see Mrs. Tracy, but +she put him off with one excuse after another, until Tom took +the matter in hand and told her she was acting like a fool and +putting on quite too many airs. Then she appointed an interview, +and, bracing herself with a tonic, went down to the +darkened, cheerless room, and by her manner so managed to +impress him with her superiority over him and his that he forgot +entirely the speech he had prepared with infinite pains, and +which had in it a good deal about family <i>bonds</i>, and family +<i>units</i>, and <i>Aaron's beard</i>, and brotherly love. This he had +rehearsed +many times to May Jane, with wonderful gestures and +flourishes; 'but, I'll be bumped' he said to her on his return +from the Park House, 'if I didn't forget every blessed word, +she was so high and mighty. Lord! as if I didn't know what +she sprung from; but that's the way with them as was born +to nothin'. May Jane, if I ever catch you puttin' on airs 'cause +you're a Peterkin, I b'lieve I'll kill you!'</p> + +<p>After this, anything like familiar intercourse ceased between +the heads of the two families until the morning after Christmas +day, when Frank and Dolly drove over to Le Bateau, +where were assembled the same people who had been present +at Jerrie's wedding, and where Peterkin insisted upon darkening +the rooms and lighting the gas, as something a little out of +the usual order of things in Shannondale. Peterkin was very +happy, and very proud of this alliance with the Tracy, and his +pride and happiness shone in his face all through the ceremony; +and when the clergyman asked, 'Who giveth this woman +to be married to this man?' his manner was something +grand to see as he stepped forward and responded, 'I do, sir,' +in a voice so loud and full of importance that Dolly involuntarily +groaned, while Tom found it hard to refrain from +laughing.</p> + +<p>Tom behaved very well, and kissed his bride before any one +else had a chance to do so, and called May Jane mother and +Peterkin father, after he saw the papers which made Ann Eliza +own in her own right a million dollars; and when, an hour +later, she handed over to him as his own, a deed of property +valued at one hundred thousand dollars, he took her in his +arms and kissed her again, telling her what was very true, that +she was worth her weight in gold. Tom had felt his poverty +keenly, and all the more so that Ann Eliza's engagement-ring, +a superb solitaire, had actually been bought with her father's +gift, as had their passage tickets to Europe. But now he was +a rich man, made so by his wife's thoughtful generosity, and +he was conscious of a new set of feelings and emotions with +regard to her, and inwardly vowed that, so far as in him lay, +he would make her happy.</p> + +<p>They took the train for New York that afternoon, accompanied +by Peterkin, who, when the ship sailed away next day, +stood upon the wharf waving his hands and calling out as long +as they could hear him, 'God bless you, my children! God +bless you, my children!' Then he went back to Shannondale +and called at Tracy Park, and reported to Frank, the only +one he saw, that the youngsters had gone, and that Mrs. +Thomas Tracy looked as well as the best on 'em in the ship, +and a darned sight better than some!</p> + +<p>After this the great houses of Le Bateau and Tracy Park +settled down into perfect quiet, especially that of Tracy Park, +where Dolly shut herself up in her mourning and crape, and +Frank spent most of his time in Maude's room, with her photograph +in his hand, and his thoughts busy with memories of +the dear little girl lying in her grave of flowers under the +winter snow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII" ></a>CHAPTER LIII.</h2> + +<h2>AFTER TWO YEARS.</h2> + + +<p>Two years since Harold and Jerrie went away, and it was +October again, and the doors and windows of the Park +House were all open to the warm sunshine which filled +the rooms, where the servants were flitting in and out with an +air of importance and pleased expectancy, for that afternoon +the master was coming home, with Harold and Jerrie; and +what was more wonderful and exciting still, there was in the +party a little boy, born in Wiesbaden six months before, and +christened Frank Tracy. They had gone directly to Germany—Arthur, +Harold, and Jerrie—for the former would not stop +a day until Wiesbaden was reached; and there, overcome with +fatigue and the recollections of the past which crowded upon him +so fast, Arthur fell sick and was confined to his room in the +hotel for a week, during which time Jerrie explored the city +with Harold and a guide, finding every spot connected with +Gretchen and her life, even to the shop were Frau Heinrich +had sold her small wares.</p> + +<p>As soon as her father was able, she took him to them one +by one. Hand in hand, for he seemed weak as a little child, +they went to the bench under the trees where he had first seen +Gretchen knitting in the sunshine, with the halo on her hair, +and here Arthur took off his hat as if on consecrated ground, +and whispered, 'May God forgive me!' then to the little shop +once kept by Frau Heinrich, where Arthur astonished the +woman by buying out half her stock, which he ordered sent +to his hotel, and afterward gave away; then to the English +church, where he knelt before the altar and seemed to be praying, +though the words he said were spoken more to Gretchen +than to God; then to the house where he had lived with his +bride, when heaven came down so close that she could touch it, +or rather, to the site of the house, for fire had done its work there +and they could only stand before the ruins, while Arthur said +again and again, 'May God forgive me!' then to the house +where Jerrie had lived and Gretchen had died, and where the +picture still hung upon the wall, a wonder and delight to all +who had rented the place since Marian's parents parents lived +there. Jerrie recognized it in a moment, and so did Arthur, +but he could only wring his hands before it and sob, 'Oh, +Gretchen, my darling, my darling!' Changed as the house was, +Jerrie found the room she remembered so well, where she had +played and her mother had died.</p> + +<p>'The big stove stood here,' she said, indicating the spot, 'and +mother sat there writing to you, when Nannine opened the +door and let the firelight shine upon the paper. I can see it +all so distinctly, and over there in the corner was the bed +where she died.'</p> + +<p>Then Arthur knelt down upon the spot, and as if the oft-repeated +ejaculation, 'May God forgive me!' were wholly inadequate +now, he said the Lord's Prayer, with folded hands and +streaming eyes, while Jerrie stood over him, with her arm +around his neck.</p> + +<p>'Oh, Gretchen,' he cried; 'do you know I am here after so +many years?—Arthur, your husband, who loved you through +all? Come back to me, Gretchen, and I'll be so tender and +true—tender and true! My heart is breaking, Gretchen, and +only for Cherry, our dear little girl baby, I should wish I were +dead, like you. Oh, Gretchen! Gretchen! sweetest wife a +man ever called his! and yet I forgot you, darling—forgot that +you had ever lived! May heaven forgive me for I could not +help it; I forgot everything. Where are you, Cherry? It's +getting so dark and cold, and Gretchen is not here—I think +you must take me home.</p> + +<p>Jerrie took him back to the hotel, where he kept his room +for three days, and then they went to Gretchen's grave beside +her mother, which Jerrie had found after some little search and +enquiry. Here Arthur stood like a statue, holding fast to +Jerrie, and gazing down upon the neglected grave, on which +clumps of withered grass were growing and blowing in the November +wind.</p> + +<p>'Gretchen is not here in this place,' he said mournfully, with +a shake of his head. 'She couldn't rest there a moment, for +she liked everything beautiful and bright, and this is like the +Potter's field. But we'll put up a monument for her, and +make the place attractive; and by and by, when she is tired of +wandering about, she may come back and rest when she +sees what we have done, and knows that we have been here. +We will buy that house too, he said, as he walked away from +the lonely grave; and the next day Harold found the owner of +the place and commenced negotiations for the house, which +soon changed hands and became the property of Arthur.</p> + +<p>Just what he meant to do with it he did not know, until Jerrie +suggested that he should make it an asylum for homeless children, +who should receive the kindest and tenderest care from +competent and trustworthy nurses, hired for the purpose.</p> + +<p>'Yes, I'll do it,' Arthur said, 'and will call it "The Gretchen +Home." Maybe she will come there some time, and know what +I have done.'</p> + +<p>This idea once in his mind, Arthur never let go of it until +the house was fitted up with school-rooms and dormitories, with +the little white beds and chairs suggestive of the little ones +rescued from want and misery and placed in the Gretchen home +until it would hold no more. The general supervision of this +home was placed in the hands of the English rector, the Rev. +James Dennis, whose many acts of kindness and humanity +among the poor had won for him the sobriquet of St. James, +and with whom the interests of the children were safe as with +a loving father.</p> + +<p>'There is money enough—money enough,' said Arthur, when +giving his instructions to the matron, a good-natured woman, +who, he knew, would never abuse a child. 'Money enough; +to give them something besides bread and water for breakfast, +and mush and molasses for supper. Children like cookies and +custard pie, and if there comes a circus to town let them go +once in a while; it won't hurt them to see a little of the +world.'</p> + +<p>Frau Hirch looked at him in some surprise, but promised +compliance with his wishes; and when in the middle of December +he left Wiesbaden for Italy he had the satisfaction of +knowing that the inmates of the Gretchen home were enjoying +a bill of fare not common in institutions of the kind.</p> + +<p>Another odd fancy had entered his brain, upon which he +acted with his usual promptness. Every child not known to +have been baptized, was to be christened with a new name, +either Gretchen, or Jerrie, or Maude or Arthur, or Harold, or +Frank.</p> + +<p>'Suppose you have Tom, and Ann Eliza, and Hilly,' Jerrie +suggested, and after a little demur Arthur consented, and the +names of Tom, and Ann Eliza, and Billy were added to the +list, which, in the course of time, created some little confusion +in the Gretchen home, where Jerries, and Maudes, and Harolds, +and Arthurs abounded in great profusion, these being the +favorites of the children, who in most instances were allowed +to choose for themselves.</p> + +<p>It was not difficult to find in Wiesbaden people who had remembered +Gretchen and the grand marriage she had made +with the rich American, who afterward abandoned her. That +was the way they worded it, and they remembered too, the +little girl, Jerrine, whom, after her mother's death, the nurse, +Nannine, took to her father's friends, since which nothing had +been heard from her. Thus, had there been in Arthur's mind +any doubt as to Jerrie's identity, it would have been swept +away; but there was none. He had accepted her from the +first as his daughter, and he always looked up to her as a child +to its mother whom it fears to lose sight of.</p> + +<p>The winter was mostly spent in Rome, where Harold and +Jerrie explored every part of the city, while Arthur staid in +his room talking to an unseen Gretchen, who afforded him +almost as much satisfaction as the real one might have done. +In May they visited the lakes and in June drifted to Paris, +where Jerrie was overjoyed to meet Nina and Dick, who were +staying with the Raymonds at a charming chateau just outside +the city. Here she and Harold passed a most enjoyable week, +and before she left she was made happy by something which +she saw and which told her that Dick was forgetting that +night under the pines, and that some day not far in the future +he would find in Marian all he had once hoped to find in her. +In Paris, too, she came one day upon Ann Eliza at the Bon +Marché, with silks and satins piled high around her, and two +or three obsequious clerks in attendance, for La Petite Américaine, +who bought so lavishly everything she saw and fancied, +was well known to the tradespeople, who eagerly sought her +patronage and that of my lord monsieur, who inspired them +greatly with his air of importance and dignity. Tom was enjoying +himself immensely, and was really a good deal improved +and a good deal in love with his little wife, whom he always +addressed as Petite or Madame, and who was quite a belle and a +general favorite in the American colony. Following a fashion, +which Tom was sure had been made for his benefit, she had cut off +her obnoxious red hair and substituted in its place a wig of reddish +brown, which for naturalness and beauty was a marvel of art +and skill, and became her so well that Tom really thought her +handsome, or at least very stylish and stunning, which was +better than mere beauty. They had a suite of rooms at the +Continental, and there Harold and Jerrie dined with them in +their private parlor, for Tom was quite too fine a gentleman to +go to <i>table d'hôte</i> with the common herd. Ann Eliza's grand +maid, Doris, was with her still, and had come to look upon +her young mistress as quite as great a personage as the Lady +Augusta Hardy, whom she had ceased to quote, and who, with +her mother, Mrs. Rossiter-Browne, was now in the city, attended, +it was said, by a Polish count, who had an eye upon her +money. Once, when they were alone, Jerrie asked Tom when +he was going home, and, with a comical twinkle in his eye, he +replied, 'When I hear that my respected father-in-law has gone +off with apoplexy, and not before.' Jerrie thought this a +shocking speech, but she was glad to see him so happy, and, as +she told Harold, 'so much more of a man than she had ever +supposed he could be.'</p> + +<p>That summer Harold and Jerrie spent in Switzerland, with +the Raymonds and St. Claires and Tracys, while Arthur went +to Wiesbaden to see to the Gretchen Home, which he found so +much to his taste that he remained there until Harold and +Jerrie, after a trip through Austria and Germany, joined him +in November, when they went again for the winter to Italy, +coming back in the spring to Wiesbaden, and because Arthur +would have it so, taking up their abode for a while in the +Gretchen Home, which had been greatly enlarged and improved, +and now held thirty deserted and homeless children. Here, in +April, Jerrie's little boy was born, in the same room and corner +where Gretchen had died, and where Arthur again went down +upon his knees and said the Lord's Prayer, to which he added a +fervent thanksgiving for Jerrie spared and a baby given to him.</p> + +<p>'I hoped it would be a girl,' he said, 'for then we should +have called it Gretchen; but as it is a boy, suppose we name it +Heinrich?'</p> + +<p>'No, father,' Jerrie said decidedly, 'Baby is not to be +Heinrich, or Arthur, or Harold, although I think the last the +dearest name in the world,' and she put up her hand caressingly +to the brown beard of the tall young man bending over +to kiss her pale face and look at his son. 'We will call the +baby Frank Tracy.'</p> + +<p>And so Frank Tracy was the name given to the child, who +was more like its father than its mother, and whom Arthur +called Tracy, which he liked better, he said, than he did Frank.</p> + +<p>They remained in Wiesbaden until June, then went to Switzerland +and Paris, and in October sailed for home, where the +Park House was ready for them, with no mistress to dispute +Jerrie's rights and no master except the lawful one. Just out +of town on a grassy ridge overlooking the river, a gentleman +from New York had built a pretty little cottage, which, as his +wife died suddenly, he never occupied, but offered for sale, with +all its furniture and appointments.</p> + +<p>'Let's buy it,' Dolly said to her husband. 'We must go +somewhere before Arthur comes home, and we can live there +very respectably and economically, too.'</p> + +<p>She was beginning to count the cost of everything now, and +was almost penurious in her efforts to make their income go as +far as possible. So they bought the pretty place, which she +called Ridge Cottage, but Frank did not live to occupy it. After +Tom went away and left him alone with his wife, who was not the +most agreeable of companions, he failed rapidly, both in body +and mind, and those who saw him walking about the house, +with his white hair and bent form, would have said he was +seventy rather than fifty years old. Every day, when the +weather permitted, he visited Maude's grave, where he sometime +stayed for hours looking down upon the mound talking to +the insensible clay beneath.</p> + +<p>'I am coming soon, Maude, very soon, to be here beside +you,' he would say. 'Everybody has gone, even to Tom, and +your mother is sometimes hard upon me because of what I did. +And I am tired, and cold, and old, and the world is dark and +dreary, and I am coming very soon.'</p> + +<p>Then he would walk slowly back, taking the post office on +his way, to inquire for letters from the folks, as he designated +the absent ones. These letters were a great comfort to him, +especially those from Jerrie, who wrote him very often and +told him all they were doing and seeing, and tried to make +him understand how much she loved and sympathised with +him. Not a hint had been given him of the baby; and when, +in June, he received a letter from her containing a photograph +of the little boy named for him, he seemed childish in his joy, +and started with the picture at once for Maude's grave. Kneeling +down, with his face in the long grass, he whispered:</p> + +<p>'Look, Maude!—Jerrie's baby boy, named for me—Frank +Tracy! Do you hear me, Maude? Frank Tracy, for me—who +wronged her so. God bless Jerrie, and give her many +years of happiness when I am dead and gone, which will not now +be long. I am coming very soon, Maude; sooner than you +think, and shall never see Jerrie's little boy, God bless him!'</p> + +<p>That night Frank seemed brighter than usual, and talked a +great deal with his wife, who, to the last day of her life, was +glad that she was kind to him and humored all his fancies; and +once, when he lay upon the couch, with the baby's picture in +his hand, she went and sat by him and ran her fingers caressingly +through his white hair, and asked if he were not better.</p> + +<p>'Yes, Dolly,' he said, taking her fingers in his hand and +holding them fast. 'A great deal better. Jerrie's baby has +done me good, and you, too, Dolly. You don't knew how nice +it seems to have you smooth my hair; it is like the old days at +Langley, when we sang in the choir together, and you were fond +of me.'</p> + +<p>'I am fond of you now, Frank,' Dolly replied, as she stooped to +kiss the face in which there was a look she had never seen before, +and which haunted her long after he had said good-night and +gone to Maude's room, where he said he would sleep, as he was +likely to be restless and might keep her awake.</p> + +<p>The next morning Dolly took her breakfast alone, for Frank +did not join her.</p> + +<p>'Let him sleep,' she said to the servant, who suggested calling +him; but when some time later, he did not appear, she +went herself to Maude's room, into which the noonday sun +was shining, for every blind and window was open and the +light was so dazzling that for a moment she did not see the +still figure stretched upon the bed, where with Maude's picture +in one hand and Jerrie's baby's in the other, her husband lay, +calmly sleeping the sleep which knows no waking.</p> + +<p>On his face there was a look of rapturous joy, and on his +lips a smile as if they were framing the loved name of Maude +when death came and sealed them forever. Around him was +no sign of struggle or pain, for the covering was not disturbed; +and the physician when he came said he must have died quietly +and possibly instantly without a note of warning. They +buried him beside his daughter and then Dolly was alone in +the great house, which became so intolerable to her that she +left it early in August and took possession of the cottage on +the Ridge, which, though scarcely less lovely, was not as large +as the Park House and did not seem haunted with the ghosts +of the dead.</p> + +<p>And so it happened that Mrs. Crawford alone stood in the +door-way to welcome the travellers when, late in the bright +October afternoon they came, tired and dusty, but oh, so glad +to be home once more and to feel that now it really was home +to all intents and purposes.</p> + +<p>'I never was so glad in my life, and if Uncle Frank were +here I should be perfectly happy,' Jerrie cried, as she threw +herself upon Mrs. Crawford's neck, hugging and kissing her +awhile, and then taking her baby from the nurse she put it into +the old lady's arms, saying as she did so:</p> + +<p>'Another grandson for you—Harold's baby. Isn't he a +beauty?'</p> + +<p>And little Tracy was a most beautiful child, with his father's +features and complexion, but Jerrie's expression and ways, and +Mrs. Crawford felt, as she folded him to her bosom and cried +over him, that he would be the crowning joy of her old age. +At first Harold puzzled and perplexed her, he was so changed +from the Harold who had shingled roofs and painted barns +and worked in Peterkin's furnace. Foreign travel and prosperity +set well upon him, and one could scarcely have found +a more refined or polished young man than Harold as he moved +about the premises, every inch a gentleman and every inch the +master, with a bright smile and pleasant word for everyone, +whether of high or low degree. He had known what poverty +meant, with slights on account of it, and had risen above it all, +and remembering the days when he worked in the Tracy fields +and envied his companions their leisure and freedom from toil, +he had resolved that, if possible, some portion of mankind +should be happier because of him. He knew he was very fine-looking, +for his tailor told him so, and his mirror told him so, +and Jerrie told him so twenty times a day as she kissed his +handsome face, and his grandmother frequently took off her +spectacles to wipe away her glad tears as she looked at her boy +and felt so proud of him.</p> + +<p>All Shannondale hastened to call upon the travellers, and +no one was louder or more demonstrative in his welcome than +Peterkin, who called himself their <i>kin</i>, and was very proud of +the connection and of his son <i>Thomas</i>, for whom he made many +inquiries. It did not take long for the family to settle down +into every-day quiet, Jerrie proving herself a competent and +thorough housekeeper, while Harold was to all intents and purposes +the head to whom everyone deferred and went for directions. +Arthur, who had half died from seasickness, had at once taken +to his rooms and his old mode of life, telling Harold and Jerrie +to do what they liked and not bother him. One change, however, +he made; he put Harold into the office in the place of +Colvin, who had done his business for so many years, and who +was glad to give it up, while Harold was glad to take it, as it +gave him something to do and did not greatly interfere with +his law studies, which he immediately resumed, applying himself +so closely that he was admitted to practice within the +year, and in time became one of the ablest lawyers in the State.</p> + +<p>And now there remains but little to do except to gather up the +few tangled threads of our story and bring it to a close. For +another year the Raymonds and St. Claires remained abroad, +and then, just before they sailed for home, there was a double +wedding one morning in London, when Fred and Dick were the +bridegrooms, and Marian and Nina were the brides. Dick +had not forgotten the night under the pines, but he had ceased +to remember it with pain; and when he asked Marian to be +his wife he told her of it, and of his old love for Jerrie, while +she in turn told him of a grave among the Alps by which she +had stood with an aching heart, while strangers buried from her +sight forever a young artist from Boston, who, had he lived, +would have made it impossible for her to be the wife of Dick +St. Claire. But Allan was dead, and Jerrie was a wife and +mother, and so across the graves of a living and a dead love the +two grasped hands, and, forgetting the past as far as possible, +were content with the new happiness offered to them.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>It is five years now since Harold and Jerrie came home, and +toddling about the house is a little girl two years old, whom they +call Gretchen, and who has all the soft beauty of the Gretchen in +the picture, together with Jerrie's stronger and more marked features. +This little girl is Arthur's idol, and has succeeded in luring +him from his den, in which, until she came, he was staying +closer than ever. Now, however, he is with her constantly, +either in the house or in the grounds, or sitting under a tree +holding her in his lap, while he talks his strange talk to the +other Gretchen, and the child listens wonderingly, with her +great blue eyes fixed upon him.</p> + +<p>'This is our grandchild,' he will say, nodding to the space +beside him, while little Gretchen nods too, as if she also saw a +figure sitting there. 'Our grandchild and Jerrie's baby, and +you are its grandmother. Grandma Gretchen! That's funny;' +and then he laughs, and baby laughs, and says after him, lispingly, +'Danma Detchen, that's funny.'</p> + +<p>Then Tracy comes up with his whip and his cart, and his +straw hat hanging down his back, and Arthur points him out +to the spirit Gretchen as her grandson, who, he says, is all +Hastings, with a very little Tracy and not a grain of German in +him, 'but very nice, very nice; and you are his grandmother, +too, and I am his grandfather, whom he once called an old +crazy man because I wouldn't let him play in my room with a +little alligator which his Aunt Dolly sent him from Florida.'</p> + +<p>'Well, you be crazy, ain't you?' the boy says, seating himself +upon the bench and nestling his brown head against the arm of +the man, who replies:</p> + +<p>'I don't know whether I am or not, but if to be very happy +in the companionship of the living and of the dead, and to have +one as real as the other is craziness, then I am crazy.'</p> + +<p>And then, for the hundredth time, he tells to the boy, and +to the baby, too, who seems to understand the story of the +carpet-bag and the little girl, their mother, whom the boy, their +father, found in the Tramp House one wintry morning years +ago, and carried through the snow. And Tracy starts to his +feet with dilating eyes, and says:</p> + +<p>'I just wish I'd been there. I'd carried mamma, and +wouldn't let her drop in the snow as papa did. Where was +I then, grandpa?'</p> + +<p>But grandpa does not answer, and begins the story of the +cherries and the ladder, which Tracy likes even better than that +of the carpet bag, particularly the part where the white sun-bonnet +appears in the window, and the shrill voice calls out: +'Mr. Crazyman, Mr. Crazyman, don't you want some cherries?'</p> + +<p>This Arthur makes very dramatic and real, and Tracy holds +his breath; and sometimes when the question is more real than +usual, little Gretchen puts out her hand, and says:</p> + +<p>'<i>Iss</i>, div me some.'</p> + +<p>Then the boy and the old man laugh, and Tracy runs off +after a passing butterfly, and Arthur goes on with talk to the +baby and the other Gretchen beside him, until the former falls +asleep, and he takes her to the crib he has had put in the bay +window under the picture which smiles down upon the sleeping +infant, whose guardian angel it seems to be.</p> + +<p>The Tramp House has been repaired and renovated, the table +mended, and the rat hole stopped up; and the trio frequently +go there together, for it is the children's play-house, where +Arthur is sometimes a horse, sometimes a bear, and sometimes +a whole menagerie of animals. Once or twice he has been the +dead woman on the table, with little Gretchen beside him in the +carpet-bag, and Tracy tugging with all his might to lift her out; +but after the day when he let her fall, and gave her a big bump +upon the forehead, that kind of play ceased, and the boy was +compelled to try some other make believe than that of the +tragedy on the wintry night many years before.</p> + +<p>Billy Peterkin has never married, and never will. His +heart-wound was too deep to heal without a scar to tell where +it had been; but he and Jerrie are the best of friends, and he +is very fond of her children.</p> + +<p>Tom is still abroad, waiting for that fit of apoplexy which is to +be the signal for his return; but the probabilities are that he +will wait a long time, for Peterkin, who is himself afraid of +apoplexy, has gone through the Banting process, which has +reduced his weight from fifty to seventy-five pounds, and as he +is very careful in his diet Tom may stay abroad longer than he +cares to do, unless Ann Eliza's persuasions bring him home to +his dreaded father-in-law. There was a little girl born to them +in Rome, whom they called Maude, but she only lived a few +weeks, and then they buried her under the daisies in the +Protestant burying ground, where so many English and Americans +are lying. Ann Eliza sent a lock of the little one's hair +to her father, who had it framed and hung in his bedroom, and +wore on his hat a band of crape which nearly covered it.</p> + +<p>Dolly still calls the Ridge Cottage her home, but she is not +often there, for a mania for travelling has seized her, and she +is always upon the move, searching for some new place, where +she hopes to find rest and quiet. She still dresses in black, +relieved at times with something white, but she has laid aside +crape and sports her diamonds, which she did not find it necessary +to sell, and which attract a great deal of attention, they +are so clear and large. One year she spent in Europe with +Tom and Ann Eliza, the latter of whom she made so uncomfortable +with her constant dictation and assumption of superiority +that Tom at last came to the rescue, and told her either +to mind her business and let his wife alone or go home. As +she could not do the former she came home, and joined a Raymond +party to California, but soon separated herself from it, as +the members were not to her taste. Every summer she +goes either to Saratoga or the sea-side or the mountains, and +every winter she drifts southward to Florida, where, at +certain hotels, she is as well known as the oldest <i>habituée</i>. +We saw her recently at Winter Park, where, at the Seminole, +she has a maid and a suit of rooms, and as far as possible +keeps herself aloof from the common herd, consorting only with +the noted ones of the place, those she knows who have money +and position at home. Poor foolish Dolly, who has forgotten +Langley and its humble surroundings. There are many like her +in real life, but only one in our story, to which we now write</p> + +<p>THE END.</p> + +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRACY PARK***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15321-h.txt or 15321-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/3/2/15321">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/3/2/15321</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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