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diff --git a/166-h/166-h.htm b/166-h/166-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c833b8f --- /dev/null +++ b/166-h/166-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7325 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + Summer, by Edith Wharton + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Summer, by Edith Wharton + +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 www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Summer + +Author: Edith Wharton + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #166] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUMMER *** + + + + +Produced by Meredith Ricker, John Hamm and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + SUMMER + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Edith Wharton + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + 1917 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> V </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> VI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> VII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> VIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> IX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> X </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> XI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> XII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> XIII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> XIV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> XV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> XVI </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> XVII </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> XVIII </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + I + </h2> + <p> + A girl came out of lawyer Royall's house, at the end of the one street of + North Dormer, and stood on the doorstep. + </p> + <p> + It was the beginning of a June afternoon. The springlike transparent sky + shed a rain of silver sunshine on the roofs of the village, and on the + pastures and larchwoods surrounding it. A little wind moved among the + round white clouds on the shoulders of the hills, driving their shadows + across the fields and down the grassy road that takes the name of street + when it passes through North Dormer. The place lies high and in the open, + and lacks the lavish shade of the more protected New England villages. The + clump of weeping-willows about the duck pond, and the Norway spruces in + front of the Hatchard gate, cast almost the only roadside shadow between + lawyer Royall's house and the point where, at the other end of the + village, the road rises above the church and skirts the black hemlock wall + enclosing the cemetery. + </p> + <p> + The little June wind, frisking down the street, shook the doleful fringes + of the Hatchard spruces, caught the straw hat of a young man just passing + under them, and spun it clean across the road into the duck-pond. + </p> + <p> + As he ran to fish it out the girl on lawyer Royall's doorstep noticed that + he was a stranger, that he wore city clothes, and that he was laughing + with all his teeth, as the young and careless laugh at such mishaps. + </p> + <p> + Her heart contracted a little, and the shrinking that sometimes came over + her when she saw people with holiday faces made her draw back into the + house and pretend to look for the key that she knew she had already put + into her pocket. A narrow greenish mirror with a gilt eagle over it hung + on the passage wall, and she looked critically at her reflection, wished + for the thousandth time that she had blue eyes like Annabel Balch, the + girl who sometimes came from Springfield to spend a week with old Miss + Hatchard, straightened the sunburnt hat over her small swarthy face, and + turned out again into the sunshine. + </p> + <p> + “How I hate everything!” she murmured. + </p> + <p> + The young man had passed through the Hatchard gate, and she had the street + to herself. North Dormer is at all times an empty place, and at three + o'clock on a June afternoon its few able-bodied men are off in the fields + or woods, and the women indoors, engaged in languid household drudgery. + </p> + <p> + The girl walked along, swinging her key on a finger, and looking about her + with the heightened attention produced by the presence of a stranger in a + familiar place. What, she wondered, did North Dormer look like to people + from other parts of the world? She herself had lived there since the age + of five, and had long supposed it to be a place of some importance. But + about a year before, Mr. Miles, the new Episcopal clergyman at Hepburn, + who drove over every other Sunday—when the roads were not ploughed + up by hauling—to hold a service in the North Dormer church, had + proposed, in a fit of missionary zeal, to take the young people down to + Nettleton to hear an illustrated lecture on the Holy Land; and the dozen + girls and boys who represented the future of North Dormer had been piled + into a farm-waggon, driven over the hills to Hepburn, put into a way-train + and carried to Nettleton. + </p> + <p> + In the course of that incredible day Charity Royall had, for the first and + only time, experienced railway-travel, looked into shops with plate-glass + fronts, tasted cocoanut pie, sat in a theatre, and listened to a gentleman + saying unintelligible things before pictures that she would have enjoyed + looking at if his explanations had not prevented her from understanding + them. This initiation had shown her that North Dormer was a small place, + and developed in her a thirst for information that her position as + custodian of the village library had previously failed to excite. For a + month or two she dipped feverishly and disconnectedly into the dusty + volumes of the Hatchard Memorial Library; then the impression of Nettleton + began to fade, and she found it easier to take North Dormer as the norm of + the universe than to go on reading. + </p> + <p> + The sight of the stranger once more revived memories of Nettleton, and + North Dormer shrank to its real size. As she looked up and down it, from + lawyer Royall's faded red house at one end to the white church at the + other, she pitilessly took its measure. There it lay, a weather-beaten + sunburnt village of the hills, abandoned of men, left apart by railway, + trolley, telegraph, and all the forces that link life to life in modern + communities. It had no shops, no theatres, no lectures, no “business + block”; only a church that was opened every other Sunday if the state of + the roads permitted, and a library for which no new books had been bought + for twenty years, and where the old ones mouldered undisturbed on the damp + shelves. Yet Charity Royall had always been told that she ought to + consider it a privilege that her lot had been cast in North Dormer. She + knew that, compared to the place she had come from, North Dormer + represented all the blessings of the most refined civilization. Everyone + in the village had told her so ever since she had been brought there as a + child. Even old Miss Hatchard had said to her, on a terrible occasion in + her life: “My child, you must never cease to remember that it was Mr. + Royall who brought you down from the Mountain.” + </p> + <p> + She had been “brought down from the Mountain”; from the scarred cliff that + lifted its sullen wall above the lesser slopes of Eagle Range, making a + perpetual background of gloom to the lonely valley. The Mountain was a + good fifteen miles away, but it rose so abruptly from the lower hills that + it seemed almost to cast its shadow over North Dormer. And it was like a + great magnet drawing the clouds and scattering them in storm across the + valley. If ever, in the purest summer sky, there trailed a thread of + vapour over North Dormer, it drifted to the Mountain as a ship drifts to a + whirlpool, and was caught among the rocks, torn up and multiplied, to + sweep back over the village in rain and darkness. + </p> + <p> + Charity was not very clear about the Mountain; but she knew it was a bad + place, and a shame to have come from, and that, whatever befell her in + North Dormer, she ought, as Miss Hatchard had once reminded her, to + remember that she had been brought down from there, and hold her tongue + and be thankful. She looked up at the Mountain, thinking of these things, + and tried as usual to be thankful. But the sight of the young man turning + in at Miss Hatchard's gate had brought back the vision of the glittering + streets of Nettleton, and she felt ashamed of her old sun-hat, and sick of + North Dormer, and jealously aware of Annabel Balch of Springfield, opening + her blue eyes somewhere far off on glories greater than the glories of + Nettleton. + </p> + <p> + “How I hate everything!” she said again. + </p> + <p> + Half way down the street she stopped at a weak-hinged gate. Passing + through it, she walked down a brick path to a queer little brick temple + with white wooden columns supporting a pediment on which was inscribed in + tarnished gold letters: “The Honorius Hatchard Memorial Library, 1832.” + </p> + <p> + Honorius Hatchard had been old Miss Hatchard's great-uncle; though she + would undoubtedly have reversed the phrase, and put forward, as her only + claim to distinction, the fact that she was his great-niece. For Honorius + Hatchard, in the early years of the nineteenth century, had enjoyed a + modest celebrity. As the marble tablet in the interior of the library + informed its infrequent visitors, he had possessed marked literary gifts, + written a series of papers called “The Recluse of Eagle Range,” enjoyed + the acquaintance of Washington Irving and Fitz-Greene Halleck, and been + cut off in his flower by a fever contracted in Italy. Such had been the + sole link between North Dormer and literature, a link piously commemorated + by the erection of the monument where Charity Royall, every Tuesday and + Thursday afternoon, sat at her desk under a freckled steel engraving of + the deceased author, and wondered if he felt any deader in his grave than + she did in his library. + </p> + <p> + Entering her prison-house with a listless step she took off her hat, hung + it on a plaster bust of Minerva, opened the shutters, leaned out to see if + there were any eggs in the swallow's nest above one of the windows, and + finally, seating herself behind the desk, drew out a roll of cotton lace + and a steel crochet hook. She was not an expert workwoman, and it had + taken her many weeks to make the half-yard of narrow lace which she kept + wound about the buckram back of a disintegrated copy of “The Lamplighter.” + But there was no other way of getting any lace to trim her summer blouse, + and since Ally Hawes, the poorest girl in the village, had shown herself + in church with enviable transparencies about the shoulders, Charity's hook + had travelled faster. She unrolled the lace, dug the hook into a loop, and + bent to the task with furrowed brows. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the door opened, and before she had raised her eyes she knew that + the young man she had seen going in at the Hatchard gate had entered the + library. + </p> + <p> + Without taking any notice of her he began to move slowly about the long + vault-like room, his hands behind his back, his short-sighted eyes peering + up and down the rows of rusty bindings. At length he reached the desk and + stood before her. + </p> + <p> + “Have you a card-catalogue?” he asked in a pleasant abrupt voice; and the + oddness of the question caused her to drop her work. + </p> + <p> + “A WHAT?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, you know——” He broke off, and she became conscious that + he was looking at her for the first time, having apparently, on his + entrance, included her in his general short-sighted survey as part of the + furniture of the library. + </p> + <p> + The fact that, in discovering her, he lost the thread of his remark, did + not escape her attention, and she looked down and smiled. He smiled also. + </p> + <p> + “No, I don't suppose you do know,” he corrected himself. “In fact, it + would be almost a pity——” + </p> + <p> + She thought she detected a slight condescension in his tone, and asked + sharply: “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Because it's so much pleasanter, in a small library like this, to poke + about by one's self—with the help of the librarian.” + </p> + <p> + He added the last phrase so respectfully that she was mollified, and + rejoined with a sigh: “I'm afraid I can't help you much.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” he questioned in his turn; and she replied that there weren't many + books anyhow, and that she'd hardly read any of them. “The worms are + getting at them,” she added gloomily. + </p> + <p> + “Are they? That's a pity, for I see there are some good ones.” He seemed + to have lost interest in their conversation, and strolled away again, + apparently forgetting her. His indifference nettled her, and she picked up + her work, resolved not to offer him the least assistance. Apparently he + did not need it, for he spent a long time with his back to her, lifting + down, one after another, the tall cob-webby volumes from a distant shelf. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I say!” he exclaimed; and looking up she saw that he had drawn out + his handkerchief and was carefully wiping the edges of the book in his + hand. The action struck her as an unwarranted criticism on her care of the + books, and she said irritably: “It's not my fault if they're dirty.” + </p> + <p> + He turned around and looked at her with reviving interest. “Ah—then + you're not the librarian?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course I am; but I can't dust all these books. Besides, nobody ever + looks at them, now Miss Hatchard's too lame to come round.” + </p> + <p> + “No, I suppose not.” He laid down the book he had been wiping, and stood + considering her in silence. She wondered if Miss Hatchard had sent him + round to pry into the way the library was looked after, and the suspicion + increased her resentment. “I saw you going into her house just now, didn't + I?” she asked, with the New England avoidance of the proper name. She was + determined to find out why he was poking about among her books. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Hatchard's house? Yes—she's my cousin and I'm staying there,” + the young man answered; adding, as if to disarm a visible distrust: “My + name is Harney—Lucius Harney. She may have spoken of me.” + </p> + <p> + “No, she hasn't,” said Charity, wishing she could have said: “Yes, she + has.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well——” said Miss Hatchard's cousin with a laugh; and + after another pause, during which it occurred to Charity that her answer + had not been encouraging, he remarked: “You don't seem strong on + architecture.” + </p> + <p> + Her bewilderment was complete: the more she wished to appear to understand + him the more unintelligible his remarks became. He reminded her of the + gentleman who had “explained” the pictures at Nettleton, and the weight of + her ignorance settled down on her again like a pall. + </p> + <p> + “I mean, I can't see that you have any books on the old houses about here. + I suppose, for that matter, this part of the country hasn't been much + explored. They all go on doing Plymouth and Salem. So stupid. My cousin's + house, now, is remarkable. This place must have had a past—it must + have been more of a place once.” He stopped short, with the blush of a shy + man who overhears himself, and fears he has been voluble. “I'm an + architect, you see, and I'm hunting up old houses in these parts.” + </p> + <p> + She stared. “Old houses? Everything's old in North Dormer, isn't it? The + folks are, anyhow.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed, and wandered away again. + </p> + <p> + “Haven't you any kind of a history of the place? I think there was one + written about 1840: a book or pamphlet about its first settlement,” he + presently said from the farther end of the room. + </p> + <p> + She pressed her crochet hook against her lip and pondered. There was such + a work, she knew: “North Dormer and the Early Townships of Eagle County.” + She had a special grudge against it because it was a limp weakly book that + was always either falling off the shelf or slipping back and disappearing + if one squeezed it in between sustaining volumes. She remembered, the last + time she had picked it up, wondering how anyone could have taken the + trouble to write a book about North Dormer and its neighbours: Dormer, + Hamblin, Creston and Creston River. She knew them all, mere lost clusters + of houses in the folds of the desolate ridges: Dormer, where North Dormer + went for its apples; Creston River, where there used to be a paper-mill, + and its grey walls stood decaying by the stream; and Hamblin, where the + first snow always fell. Such were their titles to fame. + </p> + <p> + She got up and began to move about vaguely before the shelves. But she had + no idea where she had last put the book, and something told her that it + was going to play her its usual trick and remain invisible. It was not one + of her lucky days. + </p> + <p> + “I guess it's somewhere,” she said, to prove her zeal; but she spoke + without conviction, and felt that her words conveyed none. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well——” he said again. She knew he was going, and wished + more than ever to find the book. + </p> + <p> + “It will be for next time,” he added; and picking up the volume he had + laid on the desk he handed it to her. “By the way, a little air and sun + would do this good; it's rather valuable.” + </p> + <p> + He gave her a nod and smile, and passed out. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> + <p> + The hours of the Hatchard Memorial librarian were from three to five; and + Charity Royall's sense of duty usually kept her at her desk until nearly + half-past four. + </p> + <p> + But she had never perceived that any practical advantage thereby accrued + either to North Dormer or to herself; and she had no scruple in decreeing, + when it suited her, that the library should close an hour earlier. A few + minutes after Mr. Harney's departure she formed this decision, put away + her lace, fastened the shutters, and turned the key in the door of the + temple of knowledge. + </p> + <p> + The street upon which she emerged was still empty: and after glancing up + and down it she began to walk toward her house. But instead of entering + she passed on, turned into a field-path and mounted to a pasture on the + hillside. She let down the bars of the gate, followed a trail along the + crumbling wall of the pasture, and walked on till she reached a knoll + where a clump of larches shook out their fresh tassels to the wind. There + she lay down on the slope, tossed off her hat and hid her face in the + grass. + </p> + <p> + She was blind and insensible to many things, and dimly knew it; but to all + that was light and air, perfume and colour, every drop of blood in her + responded. She loved the roughness of the dry mountain grass under her + palms, the smell of the thyme into which she crushed her face, the + fingering of the wind in her hair and through her cotton blouse, and the + creak of the larches as they swayed to it. + </p> + <p> + She often climbed up the hill and lay there alone for the mere pleasure of + feeling the wind and of rubbing her cheeks in the grass. Generally at such + times she did not think of anything, but lay immersed in an inarticulate + well-being. Today the sense of well-being was intensified by her joy at + escaping from the library. She liked well enough to have a friend drop in + and talk to her when she was on duty, but she hated to be bothered about + books. How could she remember where they were, when they were so seldom + asked for? Orma Fry occasionally took out a novel, and her brother Ben was + fond of what he called “jography,” and of books relating to trade and + bookkeeping; but no one else asked for anything except, at intervals, + “Uncle Tom's Cabin,” or “Opening of a Chestnut Burr,” or Longfellow. She + had these under her hand, and could have found them in the dark; but + unexpected demands came so rarely that they exasperated her like an + injustice.... + </p> + <p> + She had liked the young man's looks, and his short-sighted eyes, and his + odd way of speaking, that was abrupt yet soft, just as his hands were + sun-burnt and sinewy, yet with smooth nails like a woman's. His hair was + sunburnt-looking too, or rather the colour of bracken after frost; his + eyes grey, with the appealing look of the shortsighted, his smile shy yet + confident, as if he knew lots of things she had never dreamed of, and yet + wouldn't for the world have had her feel his superiority. But she did feel + it, and liked the feeling; for it was new to her. Poor and ignorant as she + was, and knew herself to be—humblest of the humble even in North + Dormer, where to come from the Mountain was the worst disgrace—yet + in her narrow world she had always ruled. It was partly, of course, owing + to the fact that lawyer Royall was “the biggest man in North Dormer”; so + much too big for it, in fact, that outsiders, who didn't know, always + wondered how it held him. In spite of everything—and in spite even + of Miss Hatchard—lawyer Royall ruled in North Dormer; and Charity + ruled in lawyer Royall's house. She had never put it to herself in those + terms; but she knew her power, knew what it was made of, and hated it. + Confusedly, the young man in the library had made her feel for the first + time what might be the sweetness of dependence. + </p> + <p> + She sat up, brushed the bits of grass from her hair, and looked down on + the house where she held sway. It stood just below her, cheerless and + untended, its faded red front divided from the road by a “yard” with a + path bordered by gooseberry bushes, a stone well overgrown with + traveller's joy, and a sickly Crimson Rambler tied to a fan-shaped + support, which Mr. Royall had once brought up from Hepburn to please her. + Behind the house a bit of uneven ground with clothes-lines strung across + it stretched up to a dry wall, and beyond the wall a patch of corn and a + few rows of potatoes strayed vaguely into the adjoining wilderness of rock + and fern. + </p> + <p> + Charity could not recall her first sight of the house. She had been told + that she was ill of a fever when she was brought down from the Mountain; + and she could only remember waking one day in a cot at the foot of Mrs. + Royall's bed, and opening her eyes on the cold neatness of the room that + was afterward to be hers. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Royall died seven or eight years later; and by that time Charity had + taken the measure of most things about her. She knew that Mrs. Royall was + sad and timid and weak; she knew that lawyer Royall was harsh and violent, + and still weaker. She knew that she had been christened Charity (in the + white church at the other end of the village) to commemorate Mr. Royall's + disinterestedness in “bringing her down,” and to keep alive in her a + becoming sense of her dependence; she knew that Mr. Royall was her + guardian, but that he had not legally adopted her, though everybody spoke + of her as Charity Royall; and she knew why he had come back to live at + North Dormer, instead of practising at Nettleton, where he had begun his + legal career. + </p> + <p> + After Mrs. Royall's death there was some talk of sending her to a + boarding-school. Miss Hatchard suggested it, and had a long conference + with Mr. Royall, who, in pursuance of her plan, departed one day for + Starkfield to visit the institution she recommended. He came back the next + night with a black face; worse, Charity observed, than she had ever seen + him; and by that time she had had some experience. + </p> + <p> + When she asked him how soon she was to start he answered shortly, “You + ain't going,” and shut himself up in the room he called his office; and + the next day the lady who kept the school at Starkfield wrote that “under + the circumstances” she was afraid she could not make room just then for + another pupil. + </p> + <p> + Charity was disappointed; but she understood. It wasn't the temptations of + Starkfield that had been Mr. Royall's undoing; it was the thought of + losing her. He was a dreadfully “lonesome” man; she had made that out + because she was so “lonesome” herself. He and she, face to face in that + sad house, had sounded the depths of isolation; and though she felt no + particular affection for him, and not the slightest gratitude, she pitied + him because she was conscious that he was superior to the people about + him, and that she was the only being between him and solitude. Therefore, + when Miss Hatchard sent for her a day or two later, to talk of a school at + Nettleton, and to say that this time a friend of hers would “make the + necessary arrangements,” Charity cut her short with the announcement that + she had decided not to leave North Dormer. + </p> + <p> + Miss Hatchard reasoned with her kindly, but to no purpose; she simply + repeated: “I guess Mr. Royall's too lonesome.” + </p> + <p> + Miss Hatchard blinked perplexedly behind her eye-glasses. Her long frail + face was full of puzzled wrinkles, and she leant forward, resting her + hands on the arms of her mahogany armchair, with the evident desire to say + something that ought to be said. + </p> + <p> + “The feeling does you credit, my dear.” + </p> + <p> + She looked about the pale walls of her sitting-room, seeking counsel of + ancestral daguerreotypes and didactic samplers; but they seemed to make + utterance more difficult. + </p> + <p> + “The fact is, it's not only—not only because of the advantages. + There are other reasons. You're too young to understand——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, no, I ain't,” said Charity harshly; and Miss Hatchard blushed to the + roots of her blonde cap. But she must have felt a vague relief at having + her explanation cut short, for she concluded, again invoking the + daguerreotypes: “Of course I shall always do what I can for you; and in + case... in case... you know you can always come to me....” + </p> + <p> + Lawyer Royall was waiting for Charity in the porch when she returned from + this visit. He had shaved, and brushed his black coat, and looked a + magnificent monument of a man; at such moments she really admired him. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “is it settled?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, it's settled. I ain't going.” + </p> + <p> + “Not to the Nettleton school?” + </p> + <p> + “Not anywhere.” + </p> + <p> + He cleared his throat and asked sternly: “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “I'd rather not,” she said, swinging past him on her way to her room. It + was the following week that he brought her up the Crimson Rambler and its + fan from Hepburn. He had never given her anything before. + </p> + <p> + The next outstanding incident of her life had happened two years later, + when she was seventeen. Lawyer Royall, who hated to go to Nettleton, had + been called there in connection with a case. He still exercised his + profession, though litigation languished in North Dormer and its outlying + hamlets; and for once he had had an opportunity that he could not afford + to refuse. He spent three days in Nettleton, won his case, and came back + in high good-humour. It was a rare mood with him, and manifested itself on + this occasion by his talking impressively at the supper-table of the + “rousing welcome” his old friends had given him. He wound up + confidentially: “I was a damn fool ever to leave Nettleton. It was Mrs. + Royall that made me do it.” + </p> + <p> + Charity immediately perceived that something bitter had happened to him, + and that he was trying to talk down the recollection. She went up to bed + early, leaving him seated in moody thought, his elbows propped on the worn + oilcloth of the supper table. On the way up she had extracted from his + overcoat pocket the key of the cupboard where the bottle of whiskey was + kept. + </p> + <p> + She was awakened by a rattling at her door and jumped out of bed. She + heard Mr. Royall's voice, low and peremptory, and opened the door, fearing + an accident. No other thought had occurred to her; but when she saw him in + the doorway, a ray from the autumn moon falling on his discomposed face, + she understood. + </p> + <p> + For a moment they looked at each other in silence; then, as he put his + foot across the threshold, she stretched out her arm and stopped him. + </p> + <p> + “You go right back from here,” she said, in a shrill voice that startled + her; “you ain't going to have that key tonight.” + </p> + <p> + “Charity, let me in. I don't want the key. I'm a lonesome man,” he began, + in the deep voice that sometimes moved her. + </p> + <p> + Her heart gave a startled plunge, but she continued to hold him back + contemptuously. “Well, I guess you made a mistake, then. This ain't your + wife's room any longer.” + </p> + <p> + She was not frightened, she simply felt a deep disgust; and perhaps he + divined it or read it in her face, for after staring at her a moment he + drew back and turned slowly away from the door. With her ear to her + keyhole she heard him feel his way down the dark stairs, and toward the + kitchen; and she listened for the crash of the cupboard panel, but instead + she heard him, after an interval, unlock the door of the house, and his + heavy steps came to her through the silence as he walked down the path. + She crept to the window and saw his bent figure striding up the road in + the moonlight. Then a belated sense of fear came to her with the + consciousness of victory, and she slipped into bed, cold to the bone. + </p> + <p> + A day or two later poor Eudora Skeff, who for twenty years had been the + custodian of the Hatchard library, died suddenly of pneumonia; and the day + after the funeral Charity went to see Miss Hatchard, and asked to be + appointed librarian. The request seemed to surprise Miss Hatchard: she + evidently questioned the new candidate's qualifications. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I don't know, my dear. Aren't you rather too young?” she hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “I want to earn some money,” Charity merely answered. + </p> + <p> + “Doesn't Mr. Royall give you all you require? No one is rich in North + Dormer.” + </p> + <p> + “I want to earn money enough to get away.” + </p> + <p> + “To get away?” Miss Hatchard's puzzled wrinkles deepened, and there was a + distressful pause. “You want to leave Mr. Royall?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes: or I want another woman in the house with me,” said Charity + resolutely. + </p> + <p> + Miss Hatchard clasped her nervous hands about the arms of her chair. Her + eyes invoked the faded countenances on the wall, and after a faint cough + of indecision she brought out: “The... the housework's too hard for you, I + suppose?” + </p> + <p> + Charity's heart grew cold. She understood that Miss Hatchard had no help + to give her and that she would have to fight her way out of her difficulty + alone. A deeper sense of isolation overcame her; she felt incalculably + old. “She's got to be talked to like a baby,” she thought, with a feeling + of compassion for Miss Hatchard's long immaturity. “Yes, that's it,” she + said aloud. “The housework's too hard for me: I've been coughing a good + deal this fall.” + </p> + <p> + She noted the immediate effect of this suggestion. Miss Hatchard paled at + the memory of poor Eudora's taking-off, and promised to do what she could. + But of course there were people she must consult: the clergyman, the + selectmen of North Dormer, and a distant Hatchard relative at Springfield. + “If you'd only gone to school!” she sighed. She followed Charity to the + door, and there, in the security of the threshold, said with a glance of + evasive appeal: “I know Mr. Royall is... trying at times; but his wife + bore with him; and you must always remember, Charity, that it was Mr. + Royall who brought you down from the Mountain.” Charity went home and + opened the door of Mr. Royall's “office.” He was sitting there by the + stove reading Daniel Webster's speeches. They had met at meals during the + five days that had elapsed since he had come to her door, and she had + walked at his side at Eudora's funeral; but they had not spoken a word to + each other. + </p> + <p> + He glanced up in surprise as she entered, and she noticed that he was + unshaved, and that he looked unusually old; but as she had always thought + of him as an old man the change in his appearance did not move her. She + told him she had been to see Miss Hatchard, and with what object. She saw + that he was astonished; but he made no comment. + </p> + <p> + “I told her the housework was too hard for me, and I wanted to earn the + money to pay for a hired girl. But I ain't going to pay for her: you've + got to. I want to have some money of my own.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall's bushy black eyebrows were drawn together in a frown, and he + sat drumming with ink-stained nails on the edge of his desk. + </p> + <p> + “What do you want to earn money for?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “So's to get away when I want to.” + </p> + <p> + “Why do you want to get away?” + </p> + <p> + Her contempt flashed out. “Do you suppose anybody'd stay at North Dormer + if they could help it? You wouldn't, folks say!” + </p> + <p> + With lowered head he asked: “Where'd you go to?” + </p> + <p> + “Anywhere where I can earn my living. I'll try here first, and if I can't + do it here I'll go somewhere else. I'll go up the Mountain if I have to.” + She paused on this threat, and saw that it had taken effect. “I want you + should get Miss Hatchard and the selectmen to take me at the library: and + I want a woman here in the house with me,” she repeated. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall had grown exceedingly pale. When she ended he stood up + ponderously, leaning against the desk; and for a second or two they looked + at each other. + </p> + <p> + “See here,” he said at length as though utterance were difficult, “there's + something I've been wanting to say to you; I'd ought to have said it + before. I want you to marry me.” + </p> + <p> + The girl still stared at him without moving. “I want you to marry me,” he + repeated, clearing his throat. “The minister'll be up here next Sunday and + we can fix it up then. Or I'll drive you down to Hepburn to the Justice, + and get it done there. I'll do whatever you say.” His eyes fell under the + merciless stare she continued to fix on him, and he shifted his weight + uneasily from one foot to the other. As he stood there before her, + unwieldy, shabby, disordered, the purple veins distorting the hands he + pressed against the desk, and his long orator's jaw trembling with the + effort of his avowal, he seemed like a hideous parody of the fatherly old + man she had always known. + </p> + <p> + “Marry you? Me?” she burst out with a scornful laugh. “Was that what you + came to ask me the other night? What's come over you, I wonder? How long + is it since you've looked at yourself in the glass?” She straightened + herself, insolently conscious of her youth and strength. “I suppose you + think it would be cheaper to marry me than to keep a hired girl. Everybody + knows you're the closest man in Eagle County; but I guess you're not going + to get your mending done for you that way twice.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall did not move while she spoke. His face was ash-coloured and his + black eyebrows quivered as though the blaze of her scorn had blinded him. + When she ceased he held up his hand. + </p> + <p> + “That'll do—that'll about do,” he said. He turned to the door and + took his hat from the hat-peg. On the threshold he paused. “People ain't + been fair to me—from the first they ain't been fair to me,” he said. + Then he went out. + </p> + <p> + A few days later North Dormer learned with surprise that Charity had been + appointed librarian of the Hatchard Memorial at a salary of eight dollars + a month, and that old Verena Marsh, from the Creston Almshouse, was coming + to live at lawyer Royall's and do the cooking. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> + <p> + It was not in the room known at the red house as Mr. Royall's “office” + that he received his infrequent clients. Professional dignity and + masculine independence made it necessary that he should have a real + office, under a different roof; and his standing as the only lawyer of + North Dormer required that the roof should be the same as that which + sheltered the Town Hall and the post-office. + </p> + <p> + It was his habit to walk to this office twice a day, morning and + afternoon. It was on the ground floor of the building, with a separate + entrance, and a weathered name-plate on the door. Before going in he + stepped in to the post-office for his mail—usually an empty ceremony—said + a word or two to the town-clerk, who sat across the passage in idle state, + and then went over to the store on the opposite corner, where Carrick Fry, + the storekeeper, always kept a chair for him, and where he was sure to + find one or two selectmen leaning on the long counter, in an atmosphere of + rope, leather, tar and coffee-beans. Mr. Royall, though monosyllabic at + home, was not averse, in certain moods, to imparting his views to his + fellow-townsmen; perhaps, also, he was unwilling that his rare clients + should surprise him sitting, clerkless and unoccupied, in his dusty + office. At any rate, his hours there were not much longer or more regular + than Charity's at the library; the rest of the time he spent either at the + store or in driving about the country on business connected with the + insurance companies that he represented, or in sitting at home reading + Bancroft's History of the United States and the speeches of Daniel + Webster. + </p> + <p> + Since the day when Charity had told him that she wished to succeed to + Eudora Skeff's post their relations had undefinably but definitely + changed. Lawyer Royall had kept his word. He had obtained the place for + her at the cost of considerable maneuvering, as she guessed from the + number of rival candidates, and from the acerbity with which two of them, + Orma Fry and the eldest Targatt girl, treated her for nearly a year + afterward. And he had engaged Verena Marsh to come up from Creston and do + the cooking. Verena was a poor old widow, doddering and shiftless: Charity + suspected that she came for her keep. Mr. Royall was too close a man to + give a dollar a day to a smart girl when he could get a deaf pauper for + nothing. But at any rate, Verena was there, in the attic just over + Charity, and the fact that she was deaf did not greatly trouble the young + girl. + </p> + <p> + Charity knew that what had happened on that hateful night would not happen + again. She understood that, profoundly as she had despised Mr. Royall ever + since, he despised himself still more profoundly. If she had asked for a + woman in the house it was far less for her own defense than for his + humiliation. She needed no one to defend her: his humbled pride was her + surest protection. He had never spoken a word of excuse or extenuation; + the incident was as if it had never been. Yet its consequences were latent + in every word that he and she exchanged, in every glance they + instinctively turned from each other. Nothing now would ever shake her + rule in the red house. + </p> + <p> + On the night of her meeting with Miss Hatchard's cousin Charity lay in + bed, her bare arms clasped under her rough head, and continued to think of + him. She supposed that he meant to spend some time in North Dormer. He had + said he was looking up the old houses in the neighbourhood; and though she + was not very clear as to his purpose, or as to why anyone should look for + old houses, when they lay in wait for one on every roadside, she + understood that he needed the help of books, and resolved to hunt up the + next day the volume she had failed to find, and any others that seemed + related to the subject. + </p> + <p> + Never had her ignorance of life and literature so weighed on her as in + reliving the short scene of her discomfiture. “It's no use trying to be + anything in this place,” she muttered to her pillow; and she shrivelled at + the vision of vague metropolises, shining super-Nettletons, where girls in + better clothes than Belle Balch's talked fluently of architecture to young + men with hands like Lucius Harney's. Then she remembered his sudden pause + when he had come close to the desk and had his first look at her. The + sight had made him forget what he was going to say; she recalled the + change in his face, and jumping up she ran over the bare boards to her + washstand, found the matches, lit a candle, and lifted it to the square of + looking-glass on the white-washed wall. Her small face, usually so darkly + pale, glowed like a rose in the faint orb of light, and under her rumpled + hair her eyes seemed deeper and larger than by day. Perhaps after all it + was a mistake to wish they were blue. A clumsy band and button fastened + her unbleached night-gown about the throat. She undid it, freed her thin + shoulders, and saw herself a bride in low-necked satin, walking down an + aisle with Lucius Harney. He would kiss her as they left the church.... + She put down the candle and covered her face with her hands as if to + imprison the kiss. At that moment she heard Mr. Royall's step as he came + up the stairs to bed, and a fierce revulsion of feeling swept over her. + Until then she had merely despised him; now deep hatred of him filled her + heart. He became to her a horrible old man.... + </p> + <p> + The next day, when Mr. Royall came back to dinner, they faced each other + in silence as usual. Verena's presence at the table was an excuse for + their not talking, though her deafness would have permitted the freest + interchange of confidences. But when the meal was over, and Mr. Royall + rose from the table, he looked back at Charity, who had stayed to help the + old woman clear away the dishes. + </p> + <p> + “I want to speak to you a minute,” he said; and she followed him across + the passage, wondering. + </p> + <p> + He seated himself in his black horse-hair armchair, and she leaned against + the window, indifferently. She was impatient to be gone to the library, to + hunt for the book on North Dormer. + </p> + <p> + “See here,” he said, “why ain't you at the library the days you're + supposed to be there?” + </p> + <p> + The question, breaking in on her mood of blissful abstraction, deprived + her of speech, and she stared at him for a moment without answering. + </p> + <p> + “Who says I ain't?” + </p> + <p> + “There's been some complaints made, it appears. Miss Hatchard sent for me + this morning——” + </p> + <p> + Charity's smouldering resentment broke into a blaze. “I know! Orma Fry, + and that toad of a Targatt girl and Ben Fry, like as not. He's going round + with her. The low-down sneaks—I always knew they'd try to have me + out! As if anybody ever came to the library, anyhow!” + </p> + <p> + “Somebody did yesterday, and you weren't there.” + </p> + <p> + “Yesterday?” she laughed at her happy recollection. “At what time wasn't I + there yesterday, I'd like to know?” + </p> + <p> + “Round about four o'clock.” + </p> + <p> + Charity was silent. She had been so steeped in the dreamy remembrance of + young Harney's visit that she had forgotten having deserted her post as + soon as he had left the library. + </p> + <p> + “Who came at four o'clock?” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Hatchard did.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Hatchard? Why, she ain't ever been near the place since she's been + lame. She couldn't get up the steps if she tried.” + </p> + <p> + “She can be helped up, I guess. She was yesterday, anyhow, by the young + fellow that's staying with her. He found you there, I understand, earlier + in the afternoon; and he went back and told Miss Hatchard the books were + in bad shape and needed attending to. She got excited, and had herself + wheeled straight round; and when she got there the place was locked. So + she sent for me, and told me about that, and about the other complaints. + She claims you've neglected things, and that she's going to get a trained + librarian.” + </p> + <p> + Charity had not moved while he spoke. She stood with her head thrown back + against the window-frame, her arms hanging against her sides, and her + hands so tightly clenched that she felt, without knowing what hurt her, + the sharp edge of her nails against her palms. + </p> + <p> + Of all Mr. Royall had said she had retained only the phrase: “He told Miss + Hatchard the books were in bad shape.” What did she care for the other + charges against her? Malice or truth, she despised them as she despised + her detractors. But that the stranger to whom she had felt herself so + mysteriously drawn should have betrayed her! That at the very moment when + she had fled up the hillside to think of him more deliciously he should + have been hastening home to denounce her short-comings! She remembered + how, in the darkness of her room, she had covered her face to press his + imagined kiss closer; and her heart raged against him for the liberty he + had not taken. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll go,” she said suddenly. “I'll go right off.” + </p> + <p> + “Go where?” She heard the startled note in Mr. Royall's voice. + </p> + <p> + “Why, out of their old library: straight out, and never set foot in it + again. They needn't think I'm going to wait round and let them say they've + discharged me!” + </p> + <p> + “Charity—Charity Royall, you listen——” he began, getting + heavily out of his chair; but she waved him aside, and walked out of the + room. + </p> + <p> + Upstairs she took the library key from the place where she always hid it + under her pincushion—who said she wasn't careful?—put on her + hat, and swept down again and out into the street. If Mr. Royall heard her + go he made no motion to detain her: his sudden rages probably made him + understand the uselessness of reasoning with hers. + </p> + <p> + She reached the brick temple, unlocked the door and entered into the + glacial twilight. “I'm glad I'll never have to sit in this old vault again + when other folks are out in the sun!” she said aloud as the familiar chill + took her. She looked with abhorrence at the long dingy rows of books, the + sheep-nosed Minerva on her black pedestal, and the mild-faced young man in + a high stock whose effigy pined above her desk. She meant to take out of + the drawer her roll of lace and the library register, and go straight to + Miss Hatchard to announce her resignation. But suddenly a great desolation + overcame her, and she sat down and laid her face against the desk. Her + heart was ravaged by life's cruelest discovery: the first creature who had + come toward her out of the wilderness had brought her anguish instead of + joy. She did not cry; tears came hard to her, and the storms of her heart + spent themselves inwardly. But as she sat there in her dumb woe she felt + her life to be too desolate, too ugly and intolerable. + </p> + <p> + “What have I ever done to it, that it should hurt me so?” she groaned, and + pressed her fists against her lids, which were beginning to swell with + weeping. + </p> + <p> + “I won't—I won't go there looking like a horror!” she muttered, + springing up and pushing back her hair as if it stifled her. She opened + the drawer, dragged out the register, and turned toward the door. As she + did so it opened, and the young man from Miss Hatchard's came in + whistling. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> + <p> + He stopped and lifted his hat with a shy smile. “I beg your pardon,” he + said. “I thought there was no one here.” + </p> + <p> + Charity stood before him, barring his way. “You can't come in. The library + ain't open to the public Wednesdays.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it's not; but my cousin gave me her key.” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Hatchard's got no right to give her key to other folks, any more'n I + have. I'm the librarian and I know the by-laws. This is my library.” + </p> + <p> + The young man looked profoundly surprised. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I know it is; I'm so sorry if you mind my coming.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you came to see what more you could say to set her against me? + But you needn't trouble: it's my library today, but it won't be this time + tomorrow. I'm on the way now to take her back the key and the register.” + </p> + <p> + Young Harney's face grew grave, but without betraying the consciousness of + guilt she had looked for. + </p> + <p> + “I don't understand,” he said. “There must be some mistake. Why should I + say things against you to Miss Hatchard—or to anyone?” + </p> + <p> + The apparent evasiveness of the reply caused Charity's indignation to + overflow. “I don't know why you should. I could understand Orma Fry's + doing it, because she's always wanted to get me out of here ever since the + first day. I can't see why, when she's got her own home, and her father to + work for her; nor Ida Targatt, neither, when she got a legacy from her + step-brother on'y last year. But anyway we all live in the same place, and + when it's a place like North Dormer it's enough to make people hate each + other just to have to walk down the same street every day. But you don't + live here, and you don't know anything about any of us, so what did you + have to meddle for? Do you suppose the other girls'd have kept the books + any better'n I did? Why, Orma Fry don't hardly know a book from a + flat-iron! And what if I don't always sit round here doing nothing till it + strikes five up at the church? Who cares if the library's open or shut? Do + you suppose anybody ever comes here for books? What they'd like to come + for is to meet the fellows they're going with if I'd let 'em. But I + wouldn't let Bill Sollas from over the hill hang round here waiting for + the youngest Targatt girl, because I know him... that's all... even if I + don't know about books all I ought to....” + </p> + <p> + She stopped with a choking in her throat. Tremors of rage were running + through her, and she steadied herself against the edge of the desk lest he + should see her weakness. + </p> + <p> + What he saw seemed to affect him deeply, for he grew red under his + sunburn, and stammered out: “But, Miss Royall, I assure you... I assure + you....” + </p> + <p> + His distress inflamed her anger, and she regained her voice to fling back: + “If I was you I'd have the nerve to stick to what I said!” + </p> + <p> + The taunt seemed to restore his presence of mind. “I hope I should if I + knew; but I don't. Apparently something disagreeable has happened, for + which you think I'm to blame. But I don't know what it is, because I've + been up on Eagle Ridge ever since the early morning.” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know where you've been this morning, but I know you were here in + this library yesterday; and it was you that went home and told your cousin + the books were in bad shape, and brought her round to see how I'd + neglected them.” + </p> + <p> + Young Harney looked sincerely concerned. “Was that what you were told? I + don't wonder you're angry. The books are in bad shape, and as some are + interesting it's a pity. I told Miss Hatchard they were suffering from + dampness and lack of air; and I brought her here to show her how easily + the place could be ventilated. I also told her you ought to have some one + to help you do the dusting and airing. If you were given a wrong version + of what I said I'm sorry; but I'm so fond of old books that I'd rather see + them made into a bonfire than left to moulder away like these.” + </p> + <p> + Charity felt her sobs rising and tried to stifle them in words. “I don't + care what you say you told her. All I know is she thinks it's all my + fault, and I'm going to lose my job, and I wanted it more'n anyone in the + village, because I haven't got anybody belonging to me, the way other + folks have. All I wanted was to put aside money enough to get away from + here sometime. D'you suppose if it hadn't been for that I'd have kept on + sitting day after day in this old vault?” + </p> + <p> + Of this appeal her hearer took up only the last question. “It is an old + vault; but need it be? That's the point. And it's my putting the question + to my cousin that seems to have been the cause of the trouble.” His glance + explored the melancholy penumbra of the long narrow room, resting on the + blotched walls, the discoloured rows of books, and the stern rosewood desk + surmounted by the portrait of the young Honorius. “Of course it's a bad + job to do anything with a building jammed against a hill like this + ridiculous mausoleum: you couldn't get a good draught through it without + blowing a hole in the mountain. But it can be ventilated after a fashion, + and the sun can be let in: I'll show you how if you like....” The + architect's passion for improvement had already made him lose sight of her + grievance, and he lifted his stick instructively toward the cornice. But + her silence seemed to tell him that she took no interest in the + ventilation of the library, and turning back to her abruptly he held out + both hands. “Look here—you don't mean what you said? You don't + really think I'd do anything to hurt you?” + </p> + <p> + A new note in his voice disarmed her: no one had ever spoken to her in + that tone. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what DID you do it for then?” she wailed. He had her hands in his, + and she was feeling the smooth touch that she had imagined the day before + on the hillside. + </p> + <p> + He pressed her hands lightly and let them go. “Why, to make things + pleasanter for you here; and better for the books. I'm sorry if my cousin + twisted around what I said. She's excitable, and she lives on trifles: I + ought to have remembered that. Don't punish me by letting her think you + take her seriously.” + </p> + <p> + It was wonderful to hear him speak of Miss Hatchard as if she were a + querulous baby: in spite of his shyness he had the air of power that the + experience of cities probably gave. It was the fact of having lived in + Nettleton that made lawyer Royall, in spite of his infirmities, the + strongest man in North Dormer; and Charity was sure that this young man + had lived in bigger places than Nettleton. + </p> + <p> + She felt that if she kept up her denunciatory tone he would secretly class + her with Miss Hatchard; and the thought made her suddenly simple. + </p> + <p> + “It don't matter to Miss Hatchard how I take her. Mr. Royall says she's + going to get a trained librarian; and I'd sooner resign than have the + village say she sent me away.” + </p> + <p> + “Naturally you would. But I'm sure she doesn't mean to send you away. At + any rate, won't you give me the chance to find out first and let you know? + It will be time enough to resign if I'm mistaken.” + </p> + <p> + Her pride flamed into her cheeks at the suggestion of his intervening. “I + don't want anybody should coax her to keep me if I don't suit.” + </p> + <p> + He coloured too. “I give you my word I won't do that. Only wait till + tomorrow, will you?” He looked straight into her eyes with his shy grey + glance. “You can trust me, you know—you really can.” + </p> + <p> + All the old frozen woes seemed to melt in her, and she murmured awkwardly, + looking away from him: “Oh, I'll wait.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V + </h2> + <p> + There had never been such a June in Eagle County. Usually it was a month + of moods, with abrupt alternations of belated frost and mid-summer heat; + this year, day followed day in a sequence of temperate beauty. Every + morning a breeze blew steadily from the hills. Toward noon it built up + great canopies of white cloud that threw a cool shadow over fields and + woods; then before sunset the clouds dissolved again, and the western + light rained its unobstructed brightness on the valley. + </p> + <p> + On such an afternoon Charity Royall lay on a ridge above a sunlit hollow, + her face pressed to the earth and the warm currents of the grass running + through her. Directly in her line of vision a blackberry branch laid its + frail white flowers and blue-green leaves against the sky. Just beyond, a + tuft of sweet-fern uncurled between the beaded shoots of the grass, and a + small yellow butterfly vibrated over them like a fleck of sunshine. This + was all she saw; but she felt, above her and about her, the strong growth + of the beeches clothing the ridge, the rounding of pale green cones on + countless spruce-branches, the push of myriads of sweet-fern fronds in the + cracks of the stony slope below the wood, and the crowding shoots of + meadowsweet and yellow flags in the pasture beyond. All this bubbling of + sap and slipping of sheaths and bursting of calyxes was carried to her on + mingled currents of fragrance. Every leaf and bud and blade seemed to + contribute its exhalation to the pervading sweetness in which the pungency + of pine-sap prevailed over the spice of thyme and the subtle perfume of + fern, and all were merged in a moist earth-smell that was like the breath + of some huge sun-warmed animal. + </p> + <p> + Charity had lain there a long time, passive and sun-warmed as the slope on + which she lay, when there came between her eyes and the dancing butterfly + the sight of a man's foot in a large worn boot covered with red mud. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't!” she exclaimed, raising herself on her elbow and stretching + out a warning hand. + </p> + <p> + “Don't what?” a hoarse voice asked above her head. + </p> + <p> + “Don't stamp on those bramble flowers, you dolt!” she retorted, springing + to her knees. The foot paused and then descended clumsily on the frail + branch, and raising her eyes she saw above her the bewildered face of a + slouching man with a thin sunburnt beard, and white arms showing through + his ragged shirt. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you ever SEE anything, Liff Hyatt?” she assailed him, as he stood + before her with the look of a man who has stirred up a wasp's nest. + </p> + <p> + He grinned. “I seen you! That's what I come down for.” + </p> + <p> + “Down from where?” she questioned, stooping to gather up the petals his + foot had scattered. + </p> + <p> + He jerked his thumb toward the heights. “Been cutting down trees for Dan + Targatt.” + </p> + <p> + Charity sank back on her heels and looked at him musingly. She was not in + the least afraid of poor Liff Hyatt, though he “came from the Mountain,” + and some of the girls ran when they saw him. Among the more reasonable he + passed for a harmless creature, a sort of link between the mountain and + civilized folk, who occasionally came down and did a little wood cutting + for a farmer when hands were short. Besides, she knew the Mountain people + would never hurt her: Liff himself had told her so once when she was a + little girl, and had met him one day at the edge of lawyer Royall's + pasture. “They won't any of 'em touch you up there, f'ever you was to come + up.... But I don't s'pose you will,” he had added philosophically, looking + at her new shoes, and at the red ribbon that Mrs. Royall had tied in her + hair. + </p> + <p> + Charity had, in truth, never felt any desire to visit her birthplace. She + did not care to have it known that she was of the Mountain, and was shy of + being seen in talk with Liff Hyatt. But today she was not sorry to have + him appear. A great many things had happened to her since the day when + young Lucius Harney had entered the doors of the Hatchard Memorial, but + none, perhaps, so unforeseen as the fact of her suddenly finding it a + convenience to be on good terms with Liff Hyatt. She continued to look up + curiously at his freckled weather-beaten face, with feverish hollows below + the cheekbones and the pale yellow eyes of a harmless animal. “I wonder if + he's related to me?” she thought, with a shiver of disdain. + </p> + <p> + “Is there any folks living in the brown house by the swamp, up under + Porcupine?” she presently asked in an indifferent tone. + </p> + <p> + Liff Hyatt, for a while, considered her with surprise; then he scratched + his head and shifted his weight from one tattered sole to the other. + </p> + <p> + “There's always the same folks in the brown house,” he said with his vague + grin. + </p> + <p> + “They're from up your way, ain't they?” + </p> + <p> + “Their name's the same as mine,” he rejoined uncertainly. + </p> + <p> + Charity still held him with resolute eyes. “See here, I want to go there + some day and take a gentleman with me that's boarding with us. He's up in + these parts drawing pictures.” + </p> + <p> + She did not offer to explain this statement. It was too far beyond Liff + Hyatt's limitations for the attempt to be worth making. “He wants to see + the brown house, and go all over it,” she pursued. + </p> + <p> + Liff was still running his fingers perplexedly through his shock of + straw-colored hair. “Is it a fellow from the city?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. He draws pictures of things. He's down there now drawing the Bonner + house.” She pointed to a chimney just visible over the dip of the pasture + below the wood. + </p> + <p> + “The Bonner house?” Liff echoed incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “Yes. You won't understand—and it don't matter. All I say is: he's + going to the Hyatts' in a day or two.” + </p> + <p> + Liff looked more and more perplexed. “Bash is ugly sometimes in the + afternoons.” + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back, her eyes full on Hyatt's. “I'm coming too: you + tell him.” + </p> + <p> + “They won't none of them trouble you, the Hyatts won't. What d'you want a + take a stranger with you though?” + </p> + <p> + “I've told you, haven't I? You've got to tell Bash Hyatt.” + </p> + <p> + He looked away at the blue mountains on the horizon; then his gaze dropped + to the chimney-top below the pasture. + </p> + <p> + “He's down there now?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + He shifted his weight again, crossed his arms, and continued to survey the + distant landscape. “Well, so long,” he said at last, inconclusively; and + turning away he shambled up the hillside. From the ledge above her, he + paused to call down: “I wouldn't go there a Sunday”; then he clambered on + till the trees closed in on him. Presently, from high overhead, Charity + heard the ring of his axe. + </p> + <p> + She lay on the warm ridge, thinking of many things that the woodsman's + appearance had stirred up in her. She knew nothing of her early life, and + had never felt any curiosity about it: only a sullen reluctance to explore + the corner of her memory where certain blurred images lingered. But all + that had happened to her within the last few weeks had stirred her to the + sleeping depths. She had become absorbingly interesting to herself, and + everything that had to do with her past was illuminated by this sudden + curiosity. + </p> + <p> + She hated more than ever the fact of coming from the Mountain; but it was + no longer indifferent to her. Everything that in any way affected her was + alive and vivid: even the hateful things had grown interesting because + they were a part of herself. + </p> + <p> + “I wonder if Liff Hyatt knows who my mother was?” she mused; and it filled + her with a tremor of surprise to think that some woman who was once young + and slight, with quick motions of the blood like hers, had carried her in + her breast, and watched her sleeping. She had always thought of her mother + as so long dead as to be no more than a nameless pinch of earth; but now + it occurred to her that the once-young woman might be alive, and wrinkled + and elf-locked like the woman she had sometimes seen in the door of the + brown house that Lucius Harney wanted to draw. + </p> + <p> + The thought brought him back to the central point in her mind, and she + strayed away from the conjectures roused by Liff Hyatt's presence. + Speculations concerning the past could not hold her long when the present + was so rich, the future so rosy, and when Lucius Harney, a stone's throw + away, was bending over his sketch-book, frowning, calculating, measuring, + and then throwing his head back with the sudden smile that had shed its + brightness over everything. + </p> + <p> + She scrambled to her feet, but as she did so she saw him coming up the + pasture and dropped down on the grass to wait. When he was drawing and + measuring one of “his houses,” as she called them, she often strayed away + by herself into the woods or up the hillside. It was partly from shyness + that she did so: from a sense of inadequacy that came to her most + painfully when her companion, absorbed in his job, forgot her ignorance + and her inability to follow his least allusion, and plunged into a + monologue on art and life. To avoid the awkwardness of listening with a + blank face, and also to escape the surprised stare of the inhabitants of + the houses before which he would abruptly pull up their horse and open his + sketch-book, she slipped away to some spot from which, without being seen, + she could watch him at work, or at least look down on the house he was + drawing. She had not been displeased, at first, to have it known to North + Dormer and the neighborhood that she was driving Miss Hatchard's cousin + about the country in the buggy he had hired of lawyer Royall. She had + always kept to herself, contemptuously aloof from village love-making, + without exactly knowing whether her fierce pride was due to the sense of + her tainted origin, or whether she was reserving herself for a more + brilliant fate. Sometimes she envied the other girls their sentimental + preoccupations, their long hours of inarticulate philandering with one of + the few youths who still lingered in the village; but when she pictured + herself curling her hair or putting a new ribbon on her hat for Ben Fry or + one of the Sollas boys the fever dropped and she relapsed into + indifference. + </p> + <p> + Now she knew the meaning of her disdains and reluctances. She had learned + what she was worth when Lucius Harney, looking at her for the first time, + had lost the thread of his speech, and leaned reddening on the edge of her + desk. But another kind of shyness had been born in her: a terror of + exposing to vulgar perils the sacred treasure of her happiness. She was + not sorry to have the neighbors suspect her of “going with” a young man + from the city; but she did not want it known to all the countryside how + many hours of the long June days she spent with him. What she most feared + was that the inevitable comments should reach Mr. Royall. Charity was + instinctively aware that few things concerning her escaped the eyes of the + silent man under whose roof she lived; and in spite of the latitude which + North Dormer accorded to courting couples she had always felt that, on the + day when she showed too open a preference, Mr. Royall might, as she + phrased it, make her “pay for it.” How, she did not know; and her fear was + the greater because it was undefinable. If she had been accepting the + attentions of one of the village youths she would have been less + apprehensive: Mr. Royall could not prevent her marrying when she chose to. + But everybody knew that “going with a city fellow” was a different and + less straightforward affair: almost every village could show a victim of + the perilous venture. And her dread of Mr. Royall's intervention gave a + sharpened joy to the hours she spent with young Harney, and made her, at + the same time, shy of being too generally seen with him. + </p> + <p> + As he approached she rose to her knees, stretching her arms above her head + with the indolent gesture that was her way of expressing a profound + well-being. + </p> + <p> + “I'm going to take you to that house up under Porcupine,” she announced. + </p> + <p> + “What house? Oh, yes; that ramshackle place near the swamp, with the + gipsy-looking people hanging about. It's curious that a house with traces + of real architecture should have been built in such a place. But the + people were a sulky-looking lot—do you suppose they'll let us in?” + </p> + <p> + “They'll do whatever I tell them,” she said with assurance. + </p> + <p> + He threw himself down beside her. “Will they?” he rejoined with a smile. + “Well, I should like to see what's left inside the house. And I should + like to have a talk with the people. Who was it who was telling me the + other day that they had come down from the Mountain?” + </p> + <p> + Charity shot a sideward look at him. It was the first time he had spoken + of the Mountain except as a feature of the landscape. What else did he + know about it, and about her relation to it? Her heart began to beat with + the fierce impulse of resistance which she instinctively opposed to every + imagined slight. + </p> + <p> + “The Mountain? I ain't afraid of the Mountain!” + </p> + <p> + Her tone of defiance seemed to escape him. He lay breast-down on the + grass, breaking off sprigs of thyme and pressing them against his lips. + Far off, above the folds of the nearer hills, the Mountain thrust itself + up menacingly against a yellow sunset. + </p> + <p> + “I must go up there some day: I want to see it,” he continued. + </p> + <p> + Her heart-beats slackened and she turned again to examine his profile. It + was innocent of all unfriendly intention. + </p> + <p> + “What'd you want to go up the Mountain for?” + </p> + <p> + “Why, it must be rather a curious place. There's a queer colony up there, + you know: sort of out-laws, a little independent kingdom. Of course you've + heard them spoken of; but I'm told they have nothing to do with the people + in the valleys—rather look down on them, in fact. I suppose they're + rough customers; but they must have a good deal of character.” + </p> + <p> + She did not quite know what he meant by having a good deal of character; + but his tone was expressive of admiration, and deepened her dawning + curiosity. It struck her now as strange that she knew so little about the + Mountain. She had never asked, and no one had ever offered to enlighten + her. North Dormer took the Mountain for granted, and implied its + disparagement by an intonation rather than by explicit criticism. + </p> + <p> + “It's queer, you know,” he continued, “that, just over there, on top of + that hill, there should be a handful of people who don't give a damn for + anybody.” + </p> + <p> + The words thrilled her. They seemed the clue to her own revolts and + defiances, and she longed to have him tell her more. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know much about them. Have they always been there?” + </p> + <p> + “Nobody seems to know exactly how long. Down at Creston they told me that + the first colonists are supposed to have been men who worked on the + railway that was built forty or fifty years ago between Springfield and + Nettleton. Some of them took to drink, or got into trouble with the + police, and went off—disappeared into the woods. A year or two later + there was a report that they were living up on the Mountain. Then I + suppose others joined them—and children were born. Now they say + there are over a hundred people up there. They seem to be quite outside + the jurisdiction of the valleys. No school, no church—and no sheriff + ever goes up to see what they're about. But don't people ever talk of them + at North Dormer?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. They say they're bad.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed. “Do they? We'll go and see, shall we?” + </p> + <p> + She flushed at the suggestion, and turned her face to his. “You never + heard, I suppose—I come from there. They brought me down when I was + little.” + </p> + <p> + “You?” He raised himself on his elbow, looking at her with sudden + interest. “You're from the Mountain? How curious! I suppose that's why + you're so different....” + </p> + <p> + Her happy blood bathed her to the forehead. He was praising her—and + praising her because she came from the Mountain! + </p> + <p> + “Am I... different?” she triumphed, with affected wonder. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, awfully!” He picked up her hand and laid a kiss on the sunburnt + knuckles. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” he said, “let's be off.” He stood up and shook the grass from his + loose grey clothes. “What a good day! Where are you going to take me + tomorrow?” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VI + </h2> + <p> + That evening after supper Charity sat alone in the kitchen and listened to + Mr. Royall and young Harney talking in the porch. + </p> + <p> + She had remained indoors after the table had been cleared and old Verena + had hobbled up to bed. The kitchen window was open, and Charity seated + herself near it, her idle hands on her knee. The evening was cool and + still. Beyond the black hills an amber west passed into pale green, and + then to a deep blue in which a great star hung. The soft hoot of a little + owl came through the dusk, and between its calls the men's voices rose and + fell. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall's was full of a sonorous satisfaction. It was a long time since + he had had anyone of Lucius Harney's quality to talk to: Charity divined + that the young man symbolized all his ruined and unforgotten past. When + Miss Hatchard had been called to Springfield by the illness of a widowed + sister, and young Harney, by that time seriously embarked on his task of + drawing and measuring all the old houses between Nettleton and the New + Hampshire border, had suggested the possibility of boarding at the red + house in his cousin's absence, Charity had trembled lest Mr. Royall should + refuse. There had been no question of lodging the young man: there was no + room for him. But it appeared that he could still live at Miss Hatchard's + if Mr. Royall would let him take his meals at the red house; and after a + day's deliberation Mr. Royall consented. + </p> + <p> + Charity suspected him of being glad of the chance to make a little money. + He had the reputation of being an avaricious man; but she was beginning to + think he was probably poorer than people knew. His practice had become + little more than a vague legend, revived only at lengthening intervals by + a summons to Hepburn or Nettleton; and he appeared to depend for his + living mainly on the scant produce of his farm, and on the commissions + received from the few insurance agencies that he represented in the + neighbourhood. At any rate, he had been prompt in accepting Harney's offer + to hire the buggy at a dollar and a half a day; and his satisfaction with + the bargain had manifested itself, unexpectedly enough, at the end of the + first week, by his tossing a ten-dollar bill into Charity's lap as she sat + one day retrimming her old hat. + </p> + <p> + “Here—go get yourself a Sunday bonnet that'll make all the other + girls mad,” he said, looking at her with a sheepish twinkle in his + deep-set eyes; and she immediately guessed that the unwonted present—the + only gift of money she had ever received from him—represented + Harney's first payment. + </p> + <p> + But the young man's coming had brought Mr. Royall other than pecuniary + benefit. It gave him, for the first time in years, a man's companionship. + Charity had only a dim understanding of her guardian's needs; but she knew + he felt himself above the people among whom he lived, and she saw that + Lucius Harney thought him so. She was surprised to find how well he seemed + to talk now that he had a listener who understood him; and she was equally + struck by young Harney's friendly deference. + </p> + <p> + Their conversation was mostly about politics, and beyond her range; but + tonight it had a peculiar interest for her, for they had begun to speak of + the Mountain. She drew back a little, lest they should see she was in + hearing. + </p> + <p> + “The Mountain? The Mountain?” she heard Mr. Royall say. “Why, the + Mountain's a blot—that's what it is, sir, a blot. That scum up there + ought to have been run in long ago—and would have, if the people + down here hadn't been clean scared of them. The Mountain belongs to this + township, and it's North Dormer's fault if there's a gang of thieves and + outlaws living over there, in sight of us, defying the laws of their + country. Why, there ain't a sheriff or a tax-collector or a coroner'd + durst go up there. When they hear of trouble on the Mountain the selectmen + look the other way, and pass an appropriation to beautify the town pump. + The only man that ever goes up is the minister, and he goes because they + send down and get him whenever there's any of them dies. They think a lot + of Christian burial on the Mountain—but I never heard of their + having the minister up to marry them. And they never trouble the Justice + of the Peace either. They just herd together like the heathen.” + </p> + <p> + He went on, explaining in somewhat technical language how the little + colony of squatters had contrived to keep the law at bay, and Charity, + with burning eagerness, awaited young Harney's comment; but the young man + seemed more concerned to hear Mr. Royall's views than to express his own. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose you've never been up there yourself?” he presently asked. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I have,” said Mr. Royall with a contemptuous laugh. “The wiseacres + down here told me I'd be done for before I got back; but nobody lifted a + finger to hurt me. And I'd just had one of their gang sent up for seven + years too.” + </p> + <p> + “You went up after that?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir: right after it. The fellow came down to Nettleton and ran + amuck, the way they sometimes do. After they've done a wood-cutting job + they come down and blow the money in; and this man ended up with + manslaughter. I got him convicted, though they were scared of the Mountain + even at Nettleton; and then a queer thing happened. The fellow sent for me + to go and see him in gaol. I went, and this is what he says: 'The fool + that defended me is a chicken-livered son of a—and all the rest of + it,' he says. 'I've got a job to be done for me up on the Mountain, and + you're the only man I seen in court that looks as if he'd do it.' He told + me he had a child up there—or thought he had—a little girl; + and he wanted her brought down and reared like a Christian. I was sorry + for the fellow, so I went up and got the child.” He paused, and Charity + listened with a throbbing heart. “That's the only time I ever went up the + Mountain,” he concluded. + </p> + <p> + There was a moment's silence; then Harney spoke. “And the child—had + she no mother?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes: there was a mother. But she was glad enough to have her go. + She'd have given her to anybody. They ain't half human up there. I guess + the mother's dead by now, with the life she was leading. Anyhow, I've + never heard of her from that day to this.” + </p> + <p> + “My God, how ghastly,” Harney murmured; and Charity, choking with + humiliation, sprang to her feet and ran upstairs. She knew at last: knew + that she was the child of a drunken convict and of a mother who wasn't + “half human,” and was glad to have her go; and she had heard this history + of her origin related to the one being in whose eyes she longed to appear + superior to the people about her! She had noticed that Mr. Royall had not + named her, had even avoided any allusion that might identify her with the + child he had brought down from the Mountain; and she knew it was out of + regard for her that he had kept silent. But of what use was his + discretion, since only that afternoon, misled by Harney's interest in the + out-law colony, she had boasted to him of coming from the Mountain? Now + every word that had been spoken showed her how such an origin must widen + the distance between them. + </p> + <p> + During his ten days' sojourn at North Dormer Lucius Harney had not spoken + a word of love to her. He had intervened in her behalf with his cousin, + and had convinced Miss Hatchard of her merits as a librarian; but that was + a simple act of justice, since it was by his own fault that those merits + had been questioned. He had asked her to drive him about the country when + he hired lawyer Royall's buggy to go on his sketching expeditions; but + that too was natural enough, since he was unfamiliar with the region. + Lastly, when his cousin was called to Springfield, he had begged Mr. + Royall to receive him as a boarder; but where else in North Dormer could + he have boarded? Not with Carrick Fry, whose wife was paralysed, and whose + large family crowded his table to over-flowing; not with the Targatts, who + lived a mile up the road, nor with poor old Mrs. Hawes, who, since her + eldest daughter had deserted her, barely had the strength to cook her own + meals while Ally picked up her living as a seamstress. Mr. Royall's was + the only house where the young man could have been offered a decent + hospitality. There had been nothing, therefore, in the outward course of + events to raise in Charity's breast the hopes with which it trembled. But + beneath the visible incidents resulting from Lucius Harney's arrival there + ran an undercurrent as mysterious and potent as the influence that makes + the forest break into leaf before the ice is off the pools. + </p> + <p> + The business on which Harney had come was authentic; Charity had seen the + letter from a New York publisher commissioning him to make a study of the + eighteenth century houses in the less familiar districts of New England. + But incomprehensible as the whole affair was to her, and hard as she found + it to understand why he paused enchanted before certain neglected and + paintless houses, while others, refurbished and “improved” by the local + builder, did not arrest a glance, she could not but suspect that Eagle + County was less rich in architecture than he averred, and that the + duration of his stay (which he had fixed at a month) was not unconnected + with the look in his eyes when he had first paused before her in the + library. Everything that had followed seemed to have grown out of that + look: his way of speaking to her, his quickness in catching her meaning, + his evident eagerness to prolong their excursions and to seize on every + chance of being with her. + </p> + <p> + The signs of his liking were manifest enough; but it was hard to guess how + much they meant, because his manner was so different from anything North + Dormer had ever shown her. He was at once simpler and more deferential + than any one she had known; and sometimes it was just when he was simplest + that she most felt the distance between them. Education and opportunity + had divided them by a width that no effort of hers could bridge, and even + when his youth and his admiration brought him nearest, some chance word, + some unconscious allusion, seemed to thrust her back across the gulf. + </p> + <p> + Never had it yawned so wide as when she fled up to her room carrying with + her the echo of Mr. Royall's tale. Her first confused thought was the + prayer that she might never see young Harney again. It was too bitter to + picture him as the detached impartial listener to such a story. “I wish + he'd go away: I wish he'd go tomorrow, and never come back!” she moaned to + her pillow; and far into the night she lay there, in the disordered dress + she had forgotten to take off, her whole soul a tossing misery on which + her hopes and dreams spun about like drowning straws. + </p> + <p> + Of all this tumult only a vague heart-soreness was left when she opened + her eyes the next morning. Her first thought was of the weather, for + Harney had asked her to take him to the brown house under Porcupine, and + then around by Hamblin; and as the trip was a long one they were to start + at nine. The sun rose without a cloud, and earlier than usual she was in + the kitchen, making cheese sandwiches, decanting buttermilk into a bottle, + wrapping up slices of apple pie, and accusing Verena of having given away + a basket she needed, which had always hung on a hook in the passage. When + she came out into the porch, in her pink calico, which had run a little in + the washing, but was still bright enough to set off her dark tints, she + had such a triumphant sense of being a part of the sunlight and the + morning that the last trace of her misery vanished. What did it matter + where she came from, or whose child she was, when love was dancing in her + veins, and down the road she saw young Harney coming toward her? + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall was in the porch too. He had said nothing at breakfast, but + when she came out in her pink dress, the basket in her hand, he looked at + her with surprise. “Where you going to?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “Why—Mr. Harney's starting earlier than usual today,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Harney, Mr. Harney? Ain't Mr. Harney learned how to drive a horse + yet?” + </p> + <p> + She made no answer, and he sat tilted back in his chair, drumming on the + rail of the porch. It was the first time he had ever spoken of the young + man in that tone, and Charity felt a faint chill of apprehension. After a + moment he stood up and walked away toward the bit of ground behind the + house, where the hired man was hoeing. + </p> + <p> + The air was cool and clear, with the autumnal sparkle that a north wind + brings to the hills in early summer, and the night had been so still that + the dew hung on everything, not as a lingering moisture, but in separate + beads that glittered like diamonds on the ferns and grasses. It was a long + drive to the foot of Porcupine: first across the valley, with blue hills + bounding the open slopes; then down into the beech-woods, following the + course of the Creston, a brown brook leaping over velvet ledges; then out + again onto the farm-lands about Creston Lake, and gradually up the ridges + of the Eagle Range. At last they reached the yoke of the hills, and before + them opened another valley, green and wild, and beyond it more blue + heights eddying away to the sky like the waves of a receding tide. + </p> + <p> + Harney tied the horse to a tree-stump, and they unpacked their basket + under an aged walnut with a riven trunk out of which bumblebees darted. + The sun had grown hot, and behind them was the noonday murmur of the + forest. Summer insects danced on the air, and a flock of white butterflies + fanned the mobile tips of the crimson fireweed. In the valley below not a + house was visible; it seemed as if Charity Royall and young Harney were + the only living beings in the great hollow of earth and sky. + </p> + <p> + Charity's spirits flagged and disquieting thoughts stole back on her. + Young Harney had grown silent, and as he lay beside her, his arms under + his head, his eyes on the network of leaves above him, she wondered if he + were musing on what Mr. Royall had told him, and if it had really debased + her in his thoughts. She wished he had not asked her to take him that day + to the brown house; she did not want him to see the people she came from + while the story of her birth was fresh in his mind. More than once she had + been on the point of suggesting that they should follow the ridge and + drive straight to Hamblin, where there was a little deserted house he + wanted to see; but shyness and pride held her back. “He'd better know what + kind of folks I belong to,” she said to herself, with a somewhat forced + defiance; for in reality it was shame that kept her silent. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she lifted her hand and pointed to the sky. “There's a storm + coming up.” + </p> + <p> + He followed her glance and smiled. “Is it that scrap of cloud among the + pines that frightens you?” + </p> + <p> + “It's over the Mountain; and a cloud over the Mountain always means + trouble.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I don't believe half the bad things you all say of the Mountain! But + anyhow, we'll get down to the brown house before the rain comes.” + </p> + <p> + He was not far wrong, for only a few isolated drops had fallen when they + turned into the road under the shaggy flank of Porcupine, and came upon + the brown house. It stood alone beside a swamp bordered with alder + thickets and tall bulrushes. Not another dwelling was in sight, and it was + hard to guess what motive could have actuated the early settler who had + made his home in so unfriendly a spot. + </p> + <p> + Charity had picked up enough of her companion's erudition to understand + what had attracted him to the house. She noticed the fan-shaped tracery of + the broken light above the door, the flutings of the paintless pilasters + at the corners, and the round window set in the gable; and she knew that, + for reasons that still escaped her, these were things to be admired and + recorded. Still, they had seen other houses far more “typical” (the word + was Harney's); and as he threw the reins on the horse's neck he said with + a slight shiver of repugnance: “We won't stay long.” + </p> + <p> + Against the restless alders turning their white lining to the storm the + house looked singularly desolate. The paint was almost gone from the + clap-boards, the window-panes were broken and patched with rags, and the + garden was a poisonous tangle of nettles, burdocks and tall swamp-weeds + over which big blue-bottles hummed. + </p> + <p> + At the sound of wheels a child with a tow-head and pale eyes like Liff + Hyatt's peered over the fence and then slipped away behind an out-house. + Harney jumped down and helped Charity out; and as he did so the rain broke + on them. It came slant-wise, on a furious gale, laying shrubs and young + trees flat, tearing off their leaves like an autumn storm, turning the + road into a river, and making hissing pools of every hollow. Thunder + rolled incessantly through the roar of the rain, and a strange glitter of + light ran along the ground under the increasing blackness. + </p> + <p> + “Lucky we're here after all,” Harney laughed. He fastened the horse under + a half-roofless shed, and wrapping Charity in his coat ran with her to the + house. The boy had not reappeared, and as there was no response to their + knocks Harney turned the door-handle and they went in. + </p> + <p> + There were three people in the kitchen to which the door admitted them. An + old woman with a handkerchief over her head was sitting by the window. She + held a sickly-looking kitten on her knees, and whenever it jumped down and + tried to limp away she stooped and lifted it back without any change of + her aged, unnoticing face. Another woman, the unkempt creature that + Charity had once noticed in driving by, stood leaning against the + window-frame and stared at them; and near the stove an unshaved man in a + tattered shirt sat on a barrel asleep. + </p> + <p> + The place was bare and miserable and the air heavy with the smell of dirt + and stale tobacco. Charity's heart sank. Old derided tales of the Mountain + people came back to her, and the woman's stare was so disconcerting, and + the face of the sleeping man so sodden and bestial, that her disgust was + tinged with a vague dread. She was not afraid for herself; she knew the + Hyatts would not be likely to trouble her; but she was not sure how they + would treat a “city fellow.” + </p> + <p> + Lucius Harney would certainly have laughed at her fears. He glanced about + the room, uttered a general “How are you?” to which no one responded, and + then asked the younger woman if they might take shelter till the storm was + over. + </p> + <p> + She turned her eyes away from him and looked at Charity. + </p> + <p> + “You're the girl from Royall's, ain't you?” + </p> + <p> + The colour rose in Charity's face. “I'm Charity Royall,” she said, as if + asserting her right to the name in the very place where it might have been + most open to question. + </p> + <p> + The woman did not seem to notice. “You kin stay,” she merely said; then + she turned away and stooped over a dish in which she was stirring + something. + </p> + <p> + Harney and Charity sat down on a bench made of a board resting on two + starch boxes. They faced a door hanging on a broken hinge, and through the + crack they saw the eyes of the tow-headed boy and of a pale little girl + with a scar across her cheek. Charity smiled, and signed to the children + to come in; but as soon as they saw they were discovered they slipped away + on bare feet. It occurred to her that they were afraid of rousing the + sleeping man; and probably the woman shared their fear, for she moved + about as noiselessly and avoided going near the stove. + </p> + <p> + The rain continued to beat against the house, and in one or two places it + sent a stream through the patched panes and ran into pools on the floor. + Every now and then the kitten mewed and struggled down, and the old woman + stooped and caught it, holding it tight in her bony hands; and once or + twice the man on the barrel half woke, changed his position and dozed + again, his head falling forward on his hairy breast. As the minutes + passed, and the rain still streamed against the windows, a loathing of the + place and the people came over Charity. The sight of the weak-minded old + woman, of the cowed children, and the ragged man sleeping off his liquor, + made the setting of her own life seem a vision of peace and plenty. She + thought of the kitchen at Mr. Royall's, with its scrubbed floor and + dresser full of china, and the peculiar smell of yeast and coffee and + soft-soap that she had always hated, but that now seemed the very symbol + of household order. She saw Mr. Royall's room, with the high-backed + horsehair chair, the faded rag carpet, the row of books on a shelf, the + engraving of “The Surrender of Burgoyne” over the stove, and the mat with + a brown and white spaniel on a moss-green border. And then her mind + travelled to Miss Hatchard's house, where all was freshness, purity and + fragrance, and compared to which the red house had always seemed so poor + and plain. + </p> + <p> + “This is where I belong—this is where I belong,” she kept repeating + to herself; but the words had no meaning for her. Every instinct and habit + made her a stranger among these poor swamp-people living like vermin in + their lair. With all her soul she wished she had not yielded to Harney's + curiosity, and brought him there. + </p> + <p> + The rain had drenched her, and she began to shiver under the thin folds of + her dress. The younger woman must have noticed it, for she went out of the + room and came back with a broken tea-cup which she offered to Charity. It + was half full of whiskey, and Charity shook her head; but Harney took the + cup and put his lips to it. When he had set it down Charity saw him feel + in his pocket and draw out a dollar; he hesitated a moment, and then put + it back, and she guessed that he did not wish her to see him offering + money to people she had spoken of as being her kin. + </p> + <p> + The sleeping man stirred, lifted his head and opened his eyes. They rested + vacantly for a moment on Charity and Harney, and then closed again, and + his head drooped; but a look of anxiety came into the woman's face. She + glanced out of the window and then came up to Harney. “I guess you better + go along now,” she said. The young man understood and got to his feet. + “Thank you,” he said, holding out his hand. She seemed not to notice the + gesture, and turned away as they opened the door. + </p> + <p> + The rain was still coming down, but they hardly noticed it: the pure air + was like balm in their faces. The clouds were rising and breaking, and + between their edges the light streamed down from remote blue hollows. + Harney untied the horse, and they drove off through the diminishing rain, + which was already beaded with sunlight. + </p> + <p> + For a while Charity was silent, and her companion did not speak. She + looked timidly at his profile: it was graver than usual, as though he too + were oppressed by what they had seen. Then she broke out abruptly: “Those + people back there are the kind of folks I come from. They may be my + relations, for all I know.” She did not want him to think that she + regretted having told him her story. + </p> + <p> + “Poor creatures,” he rejoined. “I wonder why they came down to that + fever-hole.” + </p> + <p> + She laughed ironically. “To better themselves! It's worse up on the + Mountain. Bash Hyatt married the daughter of the farmer that used to own + the brown house. That was him by the stove, I suppose.” + </p> + <p> + Harney seemed to find nothing to say and she went on: “I saw you take out + a dollar to give to that poor woman. Why did you put it back?” + </p> + <p> + He reddened, and leaned forward to flick a swamp-fly from the horse's + neck. “I wasn't sure——” + </p> + <p> + “Was it because you knew they were my folks, and thought I'd be ashamed to + see you give them money?” + </p> + <p> + He turned to her with eyes full of reproach. “Oh, Charity——” + It was the first time he had ever called her by her name. Her misery + welled over. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't—I ain't ashamed. They're my people, and I ain't ashamed of + them,” she sobbed. + </p> + <p> + “My dear...” he murmured, putting his arm about her; and she leaned + against him and wept out her pain. + </p> + <p> + It was too late to go around to Hamblin, and all the stars were out in a + clear sky when they reached the North Dormer valley and drove up to the + red house. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VII + </h2> + <p> + SINCE her reinstatement in Miss Hatchard's favour Charity had not dared to + curtail by a moment her hours of attendance at the library. She even made + a point of arriving before the time, and showed a laudable indignation + when the youngest Targatt girl, who had been engaged to help in the + cleaning and rearranging of the books, came trailing in late and neglected + her task to peer through the window at the Sollas boy. Nevertheless, + “library days” seemed more than ever irksome to Charity after her vivid + hours of liberty; and she would have found it hard to set a good example + to her subordinate if Lucius Harney had not been commissioned, before Miss + Hatchard's departure, to examine with the local carpenter the best means + of ventilating the “Memorial.” + </p> + <p> + He was careful to prosecute this inquiry on the days when the library was + open to the public; and Charity was therefore sure of spending part of the + afternoon in his company. The Targatt girl's presence, and the risk of + being interrupted by some passer-by suddenly smitten with a thirst for + letters, restricted their intercourse to the exchange of commonplaces; but + there was a fascination to Charity in the contrast between these public + civilities and their secret intimacy. + </p> + <p> + The day after their drive to the brown house was “library day,” and she + sat at her desk working at the revised catalogue, while the Targatt girl, + one eye on the window, chanted out the titles of a pile of books. + Charity's thoughts were far away, in the dismal house by the swamp, and + under the twilight sky during the long drive home, when Lucius Harney had + consoled her with endearing words. That day, for the first time since he + had been boarding with them, he had failed to appear as usual at the + midday meal. No message had come to explain his absence, and Mr. Royall, + who was more than usually taciturn, had betrayed no surprise, and made no + comment. In itself this indifference was not particularly significant, for + Mr. Royall, in common with most of his fellow-citizens, had a way of + accepting events passively, as if he had long since come to the conclusion + that no one who lived in North Dormer could hope to modify them. But to + Charity, in the reaction from her mood of passionate exaltation, there was + something disquieting in his silence. It was almost as if Lucius Harney + had never had a part in their lives: Mr. Royall's imperturbable + indifference seemed to relegate him to the domain of unreality. + </p> + <p> + As she sat at work, she tried to shake off her disappointment at Harney's + non-appearing. Some trifling incident had probably kept him from joining + them at midday; but she was sure he must be eager to see her again, and + that he would not want to wait till they met at supper, between Mr. Royall + and Verena. She was wondering what his first words would be, and trying to + devise a way of getting rid of the Targatt girl before he came, when she + heard steps outside, and he walked up the path with Mr. Miles. + </p> + <p> + The clergyman from Hepburn seldom came to North Dormer except when he + drove over to officiate at the old white church which, by an unusual + chance, happened to belong to the Episcopal communion. He was a brisk + affable man, eager to make the most of the fact that a little nucleus of + “church-people” had survived in the sectarian wilderness, and resolved to + undermine the influence of the ginger-bread-coloured Baptist chapel at the + other end of the village; but he was kept busy by parochial work at + Hepburn, where there were paper-mills and saloons, and it was not often + that he could spare time for North Dormer. + </p> + <p> + Charity, who went to the white church (like all the best people in North + Dormer), admired Mr. Miles, and had even, during the memorable trip to + Nettleton, imagined herself married to a man who had such a straight nose + and such a beautiful way of speaking, and who lived in a brown-stone + rectory covered with Virginia creeper. It had been a shock to discover + that the privilege was already enjoyed by a lady with crimped hair and a + large baby; but the arrival of Lucius Harney had long since banished Mr. + Miles from Charity's dreams, and as he walked up the path at Harney's side + she saw him as he really was: a fat middle-aged man with a baldness + showing under his clerical hat, and spectacles on his Grecian nose. She + wondered what had called him to North Dormer on a weekday, and felt a + little hurt that Harney should have brought him to the library. + </p> + <p> + It presently appeared that his presence there was due to Miss Hatchard. He + had been spending a few days at Springfield, to fill a friend's pulpit, + and had been consulted by Miss Hatchard as to young Harney's plan for + ventilating the “Memorial.” To lay hands on the Hatchard ark was a grave + matter, and Miss Hatchard, always full of scruples about her scruples (it + was Harney's phrase), wished to have Mr. Miles's opinion before deciding. + </p> + <p> + “I couldn't,” Mr. Miles explained, “quite make out from your cousin what + changes you wanted to make, and as the other trustees did not understand + either I thought I had better drive over and take a look—though I'm + sure,” he added, turning his friendly spectacles on the young man, “that + no one could be more competent—but of course this spot has its + peculiar sanctity!” + </p> + <p> + “I hope a little fresh air won't desecrate it,” Harney laughingly + rejoined; and they walked to the other end of the library while he set + forth his idea to the Rector. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles had greeted the two girls with his usual friendliness, but + Charity saw that he was occupied with other things, and she presently + became aware, by the scraps of conversation drifting over to her, that he + was still under the charm of his visit to Springfield, which appeared to + have been full of agreeable incidents. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, the Coopersons... yes, you know them, of course,” she heard. “That's + a fine old house! And Ned Cooperson has collected some really remarkable + impressionist pictures....” The names he cited were unknown to Charity. + “Yes; yes; the Schaefer quartette played at Lyric Hall on Saturday + evening; and on Monday I had the privilege of hearing them again at the + Towers. Beautifully done... Bach and Beethoven... a lawn-party first... I + saw Miss Balch several times, by the way... looking extremely + handsome....” + </p> + <p> + Charity dropped her pencil and forgot to listen to the Targatt girl's + sing-song. Why had Mr. Miles suddenly brought up Annabel Balch's name? + </p> + <p> + “Oh, really?” she heard Harney rejoin; and, raising his stick, he pursued: + “You see, my plan is to move these shelves away, and open a round window + in this wall, on the axis of the one under the pediment.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose she'll be coming up here later to stay with Miss Hatchard?” Mr. + Miles went on, following on his train of thought; then, spinning about and + tilting his head back: “Yes, yes, I see—I understand: that will give + a draught without materially altering the look of things. I can see no + objection.” + </p> + <p> + The discussion went on for some minutes, and gradually the two men moved + back toward the desk. Mr. Miles stopped again and looked thoughtfully at + Charity. “Aren't you a little pale, my dear? Not overworking? Mr. Harney + tells me you and Mamie are giving the library a thorough overhauling.” He + was always careful to remember his parishioners' Christian names, and at + the right moment he bent his benignant spectacles on the Targatt girl. + </p> + <p> + Then he turned to Charity. “Don't take things hard, my dear; don't take + things hard. Come down and see Mrs. Miles and me some day at Hepburn,” he + said, pressing her hand and waving a farewell to Mamie Targatt. He went + out of the library, and Harney followed him. + </p> + <p> + Charity thought she detected a look of constraint in Harney's eyes. She + fancied he did not want to be alone with her; and with a sudden pang she + wondered if he repented the tender things he had said to her the night + before. His words had been more fraternal than lover-like; but she had + lost their exact sense in the caressing warmth of his voice. He had made + her feel that the fact of her being a waif from the Mountain was only + another reason for holding her close and soothing her with consolatory + murmurs; and when the drive was over, and she got out of the buggy, tired, + cold, and aching with emotion, she stepped as if the ground were a sunlit + wave and she the spray on its crest. + </p> + <p> + Why, then, had his manner suddenly changed, and why did he leave the + library with Mr. Miles? Her restless imagination fastened on the name of + Annabel Balch: from the moment it had been mentioned she fancied that + Harney's expression had altered. Annabel Balch at a garden-party at + Springfield, looking “extremely handsome”... perhaps Mr. Miles had seen + her there at the very moment when Charity and Harney were sitting in the + Hyatts' hovel, between a drunkard and a half-witted old woman! Charity did + not know exactly what a garden-party was, but her glimpse of the + flower-edged lawns of Nettleton helped her to visualize the scene, and + envious recollections of the “old things” which Miss Balch avowedly “wore + out” when she came to North Dormer made it only too easy to picture her in + her splendour. Charity understood what associations the name must have + called up, and felt the uselessness of struggling against the unseen + influences in Harney's life. + </p> + <p> + When she came down from her room for supper he was not there; and while + she waited in the porch she recalled the tone in which Mr. Royall had + commented the day before on their early start. Mr. Royall sat at her side, + his chair tilted back, his broad black boots with side-elastics resting + against the lower bar of the railings. His rumpled grey hair stood up + above his forehead like the crest of an angry bird, and the leather-brown + of his veined cheeks was blotched with red. Charity knew that those red + spots were the signs of a coming explosion. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly he said: “Where's supper? Has Verena Marsh slipped up again on + her soda-biscuits?” + </p> + <p> + Charity threw a startled glance at him. “I presume she's waiting for Mr. + Harney.” + </p> + <p> + “Mr. Harney, is she? She'd better dish up, then. He ain't coming.” He + stood up, walked to the door, and called out, in the pitch necessary to + penetrate the old woman's tympanum: “Get along with the supper, Verena.” + </p> + <p> + Charity was trembling with apprehension. Something had happened—she + was sure of it now—and Mr. Royall knew what it was. But not for the + world would she have gratified him by showing her anxiety. She took her + usual place, and he seated himself opposite, and poured out a strong cup + of tea before passing her the tea-pot. Verena brought some scrambled eggs, + and he piled his plate with them. “Ain't you going to take any?” he asked. + Charity roused herself and began to eat. + </p> + <p> + The tone with which Mr. Royall had said “He's not coming” seemed to her + full of an ominous satisfaction. She saw that he had suddenly begun to + hate Lucius Harney, and guessed herself to be the cause of this change of + feeling. But she had no means of finding out whether some act of hostility + on his part had made the young man stay away, or whether he simply wished + to avoid seeing her again after their drive back from the brown house. She + ate her supper with a studied show of indifference, but she knew that Mr. + Royall was watching her and that her agitation did not escape him. + </p> + <p> + After supper she went up to her room. She heard Mr. Royall cross the + passage, and presently the sounds below her window showed that he had + returned to the porch. She seated herself on her bed and began to struggle + against the desire to go down and ask him what had happened. “I'd rather + die than do it,” she muttered to herself. With a word he could have + relieved her uncertainty: but never would she gratify him by saying it. + </p> + <p> + She rose and leaned out of the window. The twilight had deepened into + night, and she watched the frail curve of the young moon dropping to the + edge of the hills. Through the darkness she saw one or two figures moving + down the road; but the evening was too cold for loitering, and presently + the strollers disappeared. Lamps were beginning to show here and there in + the windows. A bar of light brought out the whiteness of a clump of lilies + in the Hawes's yard: and farther down the street Carrick Fry's Rochester + lamp cast its bold illumination on the rustic flower-tub in the middle of + his grass-plot. + </p> + <p> + For a long time she continued to lean in the window. But a fever of unrest + consumed her, and finally she went downstairs, took her hat from its hook, + and swung out of the house. Mr. Royall sat in the porch, Verena beside + him, her old hands crossed on her patched skirt. As Charity went down the + steps Mr. Royall called after her: “Where you going?” She could easily + have answered: “To Orma's,” or “Down to the Targatts'”; and either answer + might have been true, for she had no purpose. But she swept on in silence, + determined not to recognize his right to question her. + </p> + <p> + At the gate she paused and looked up and down the road. The darkness drew + her, and she thought of climbing the hill and plunging into the depths of + the larch-wood above the pasture. Then she glanced irresolutely along the + street, and as she did so a gleam appeared through the spruces at Miss + Hatchard's gate. Lucius Harney was there, then—he had not gone down + to Hepburn with Mr. Miles, as she had at first imagined. But where had he + taken his evening meal, and what had caused him to stay away from Mr. + Royall's? The light was positive proof of his presence, for Miss + Hatchard's servants were away on a holiday, and her farmer's wife came + only in the mornings, to make the young man's bed and prepare his coffee. + Beside that lamp he was doubtless sitting at this moment. To know the + truth Charity had only to walk half the length of the village, and knock + at the lighted window. She hesitated a minute or two longer, and then + turned toward Miss Hatchard's. + </p> + <p> + She walked quickly, straining her eyes to detect anyone who might be + coming along the street; and before reaching the Frys' she crossed over to + avoid the light from their window. Whenever she was unhappy she felt + herself at bay against a pitiless world, and a kind of animal + secretiveness possessed her. But the street was empty, and she passed + unnoticed through the gate and up the path to the house. Its white front + glimmered indistinctly through the trees, showing only one oblong of light + on the lower floor. She had supposed that the lamp was in Miss Hatchard's + sitting-room; but she now saw that it shone through a window at the + farther corner of the house. She did not know the room to which this + window belonged, and she paused under the trees, checked by a sense of + strangeness. Then she moved on, treading softly on the short grass, and + keeping so close to the house that whoever was in the room, even if roused + by her approach, would not be able to see her. + </p> + <p> + The window opened on a narrow verandah with a trellised arch. She leaned + close to the trellis, and parting the sprays of clematis that covered it + looked into a corner of the room. She saw the foot of a mahogany bed, an + engraving on the wall, a wash-stand on which a towel had been tossed, and + one end of the green-covered table which held the lamp. Half of the + lampshade projected into her field of vision, and just under it two smooth + sunburnt hands, one holding a pencil and the other a ruler, were moving to + and fro over a drawing-board. + </p> + <p> + Her heart jumped and then stood still. He was there, a few feet away; and + while her soul was tossing on seas of woe he had been quietly sitting at + his drawing-board. The sight of those two hands, moving with their usual + skill and precision, woke her out of her dream. Her eyes were opened to + the disproportion between what she had felt and the cause of her + agitation; and she was turning away from the window when one hand abruptly + pushed aside the drawing-board and the other flung down the pencil. + </p> + <p> + Charity had often noticed Harney's loving care of his drawings, and the + neatness and method with which he carried on and concluded each task. The + impatient sweeping aside of the drawing-board seemed to reveal a new mood. + The gesture suggested sudden discouragement, or distaste for his work and + she wondered if he too were agitated by secret perplexities. Her impulse + of flight was checked; she stepped up on the verandah and looked into the + room. + </p> + <p> + Harney had put his elbows on the table and was resting his chin on his + locked hands. He had taken off his coat and waistcoat, and unbuttoned the + low collar of his flannel shirt; she saw the vigorous lines of his young + throat, and the root of the muscles where they joined the chest. He sat + staring straight ahead of him, a look of weariness and self-disgust on his + face: it was almost as if he had been gazing at a distorted reflection of + his own features. For a moment Charity looked at him with a kind of + terror, as if he had been a stranger under familiar lineaments; then she + glanced past him and saw on the floor an open portmanteau half full of + clothes. She understood that he was preparing to leave, and that he had + probably decided to go without seeing her. She saw that the decision, from + whatever cause it was taken, had disturbed him deeply; and she immediately + concluded that his change of plan was due to some surreptitious + interference of Mr. Royall's. All her old resentments and rebellions + flamed up, confusedly mingled with the yearning roused by Harney's + nearness. Only a few hours earlier she had felt secure in his + comprehending pity; now she was flung back on herself, doubly alone after + that moment of communion. + </p> + <p> + Harney was still unaware of her presence. He sat without moving, moodily + staring before him at the same spot in the wall-paper. He had not even had + the energy to finish his packing, and his clothes and papers lay on the + floor about the portmanteau. Presently he unlocked his clasped hands and + stood up; and Charity, drawing back hastily, sank down on the step of the + verandah. The night was so dark that there was not much chance of his + seeing her unless he opened the window and before that she would have time + to slip away and be lost in the shadow of the trees. He stood for a minute + or two looking around the room with the same expression of self-disgust, + as if he hated himself and everything about him; then he sat down again at + the table, drew a few more strokes, and threw his pencil aside. Finally he + walked across the floor, kicking the portmanteau out of his way, and lay + down on the bed, folding his arms under his head, and staring up morosely + at the ceiling. Just so, Charity had seen him at her side on the grass or + the pine-needles, his eyes fixed on the sky, and pleasure flashing over + his face like the flickers of sun the branches shed on it. But now the + face was so changed that she hardly knew it; and grief at his grief + gathered in her throat, rose to her eyes and ran over. + </p> + <p> + She continued to crouch on the steps, holding her breath and stiffening + herself into complete immobility. One motion of her hand, one tap on the + pane, and she could picture the sudden change in his face. In every pulse + of her rigid body she was aware of the welcome his eyes and lips would + give her; but something kept her from moving. It was not the fear of any + sanction, human or heavenly; she had never in her life been afraid. It was + simply that she had suddenly understood what would happen if she went in. + It was the thing that did happen between young men and girls, and that + North Dormer ignored in public and snickered over on the sly. It was what + Miss Hatchard was still ignorant of, but every girl of Charity's class + knew about before she left school. It was what had happened to Ally + Hawes's sister Julia, and had ended in her going to Nettleton, and in + people's never mentioning her name. + </p> + <p> + It did not, of course, always end so sensationally; nor, perhaps, on the + whole, so untragically. Charity had always suspected that the shunned + Julia's fate might have its compensations. There were others, worse + endings that the village knew of, mean, miserable, unconfessed; other + lives that went on drearily, without visible change, in the same cramped + setting of hypocrisy. But these were not the reasons that held her back. + Since the day before, she had known exactly what she would feel if Harney + should take her in his arms: the melting of palm into palm and mouth on + mouth, and the long flame burning her from head to foot. But mixed with + this feeling was another: the wondering pride in his liking for her, the + startled softness that his sympathy had put into her heart. Sometimes, + when her youth flushed up in her, she had imagined yielding like other + girls to furtive caresses in the twilight; but she could not so cheapen + herself to Harney. She did not know why he was going; but since he was + going she felt she must do nothing to deface the image of her that he + carried away. If he wanted her he must seek her: he must not be surprised + into taking her as girls like Julia Hawes were taken.... + </p> + <p> + No sound came from the sleeping village, and in the deep darkness of the + garden she heard now and then a secret rustle of branches, as though some + night-bird brushed them. Once a footfall passed the gate, and she shrank + back into her corner; but the steps died away and left a profounder quiet. + Her eyes were still on Harney's tormented face: she felt she could not + move till he moved. But she was beginning to grow numb from her + constrained position, and at times her thoughts were so indistinct that + she seemed to be held there only by a vague weight of weariness. + </p> + <p> + A long time passed in this strange vigil. Harney still lay on the bed, + motionless and with fixed eyes, as though following his vision to its + bitter end. At last he stirred and changed his attitude slightly, and + Charity's heart began to tremble. But he only flung out his arms and sank + back into his former position. With a deep sigh he tossed the hair from + his forehead; then his whole body relaxed, his head turned sideways on the + pillow, and she saw that he had fallen asleep. The sweet expression came + back to his lips, and the haggardness faded from his face, leaving it as + fresh as a boy's. + </p> + <p> + She rose and crept away. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + VIII + </h2> + <p> + SHE had lost the sense of time, and did not know how late it was till she + came out into the street and saw that all the windows were dark between + Miss Hatchard's and the Royall house. + </p> + <p> + As she passed from under the black pall of the Norway spruces she fancied + she saw two figures in the shade about the duck-pond. She drew back and + watched; but nothing moved, and she had stared so long into the lamp-lit + room that the darkness confused her, and she thought she must have been + mistaken. + </p> + <p> + She walked on, wondering whether Mr. Royall was still in the porch. In her + exalted mood she did not greatly care whether he was waiting for her or + not: she seemed to be floating high over life, on a great cloud of misery + beneath which every-day realities had dwindled to mere specks in space. + But the porch was empty, Mr. Royall's hat hung on its peg in the passage, + and the kitchen lamp had been left to light her to bed. She took it and + went up. + </p> + <p> + The morning hours of the next day dragged by without incident. Charity had + imagined that, in some way or other, she would learn whether Harney had + already left; but Verena's deafness prevented her being a source of news, + and no one came to the house who could bring enlightenment. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall went out early, and did not return till Verena had set the + table for the midday meal. When he came in he went straight to the kitchen + and shouted to the old woman: “Ready for dinner——” then he + turned into the dining-room, where Charity was already seated. Harney's + plate was in its usual place, but Mr. Royall offered no explanation of his + absence, and Charity asked none. The feverish exaltation of the night + before had dropped, and she said to herself that he had gone away, + indifferently, almost callously, and that now her life would lapse again + into the narrow rut out of which he had lifted it. For a moment she was + inclined to sneer at herself for not having used the arts that might have + kept him. + </p> + <p> + She sat at table till the meal was over, lest Mr. Royall should remark on + her leaving; but when he stood up she rose also, without waiting to help + Verena. She had her foot on the stairs when he called to her to come back. + </p> + <p> + “I've got a headache. I'm going up to lie down.” + </p> + <p> + “I want you should come in here first; I've got something to say to you.” + </p> + <p> + She was sure from his tone that in a moment she would learn what every + nerve in her ached to know; but as she turned back she made a last effort + of indifference. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall stood in the middle of the office, his thick eyebrows beetling, + his lower jaw trembling a little. At first she thought he had been + drinking; then she saw that he was sober, but stirred by a deep and stern + emotion totally unlike his usual transient angers. And suddenly she + understood that, until then, she had never really noticed him or thought + about him. Except on the occasion of his one offense he had been to her + merely the person who is always there, the unquestioned central fact of + life, as inevitable but as uninteresting as North Dormer itself, or any of + the other conditions fate had laid on her. Even then she had regarded him + only in relation to herself, and had never speculated as to his own + feelings, beyond instinctively concluding that he would not trouble her + again in the same way. But now she began to wonder what he was really + like. + </p> + <p> + He had grasped the back of his chair with both hands, and stood looking + hard at her. At length he said: “Charity, for once let's you and me talk + together like friends.” + </p> + <p> + Instantly she felt that something had happened, and that he held her in + his hand. + </p> + <p> + “Where is Mr. Harney? Why hasn't he come back? Have you sent him away?” + she broke out, without knowing what she was saying. + </p> + <p> + The change in Mr. Royall frightened her. All the blood seemed to leave his + veins and against his swarthy pallor the deep lines in his face looked + black. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't he have time to answer some of those questions last night? You was + with him long enough!” he said. + </p> + <p> + Charity stood speechless. The taunt was so unrelated to what had been + happening in her soul that she hardly understood it. But the instinct of + self-defense awoke in her. + </p> + <p> + “Who says I was with him last night?” + </p> + <p> + “The whole place is saying it by now.” + </p> + <p> + “Then it was you that put the lie into their mouths.—Oh, how I've + always hated you!” she cried. + </p> + <p> + She had expected a retort in kind, and it startled her to hear her + exclamation sounding on through silence. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” Mr. Royall said slowly. “But that ain't going to help us + much now.” + </p> + <p> + “It helps me not to care a straw what lies you tell about me!” + </p> + <p> + “If they're lies, they're not my lies: my Bible oath on that, Charity. I + didn't know where you were: I wasn't out of this house last night.” + </p> + <p> + She made no answer and he went on: “Is it a lie that you were seen coming + out of Miss Hatchard's nigh onto midnight?” + </p> + <p> + She straightened herself with a laugh, all her reckless insolence + recovered. “I didn't look to see what time it was.” + </p> + <p> + “You lost girl... you... you.... Oh, my God, why did you tell me?” he + broke out, dropping into his chair, his head bowed down like an old man's. + </p> + <p> + Charity's self-possession had returned with the sense of her danger. “Do + you suppose I'd take the trouble to lie to YOU? Who are you, anyhow, to + ask me where I go to when I go out at night?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall lifted his head and looked at her. His face had grown quiet and + almost gentle, as she remembered seeing it sometimes when she was a little + girl, before Mrs. Royall died. + </p> + <p> + “Don't let's go on like this, Charity. It can't do any good to either of + us. You were seen going into that fellow's house... you were seen coming + out of it.... I've watched this thing coming, and I've tried to stop it. + As God sees me, I have....” + </p> + <p> + “Ah, it WAS you, then? I knew it was you that sent him away!” + </p> + <p> + He looked at her in surprise. “Didn't he tell you so? I thought he + understood.” He spoke slowly, with difficult pauses, “I didn't name you to + him: I'd have cut my hand off sooner. I just told him I couldn't spare the + horse any longer; and that the cooking was getting too heavy for Verena. I + guess he's the kind that's heard the same thing before. Anyhow, he took it + quietly enough. He said his job here was about done, anyhow; and there + didn't another word pass between us.... If he told you otherwise he told + you an untruth.” + </p> + <p> + Charity listened in a cold trance of anger. It was nothing to her what the + village said... but all this fingering of her dreams! + </p> + <p> + “I've told you he didn't tell me anything. I didn't speak with him last + night.” + </p> + <p> + “You didn't speak with him?” + </p> + <p> + “No.... It's not that I care what any of you say... but you may as well + know. Things ain't between us the way you think... and the other people in + this place. He was kind to me; he was my friend; and all of a sudden he + stopped coming, and I knew it was you that done it—YOU!” All her + unreconciled memory of the past flamed out at him. “So I went there last + night to find out what you'd said to him: that's all.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall drew a heavy breath. “But, then—if he wasn't there, what + were you doing there all that time?—Charity, for pity's sake, tell + me. I've got to know, to stop their talking.” + </p> + <p> + This pathetic abdication of all authority over her did not move her: she + could feel only the outrage of his interference. + </p> + <p> + “Can't you see that I don't care what anybody says? It's true I went there + to see him; and he was in his room, and I stood outside for ever so long + and watched him; but I dursn't go in for fear he'd think I'd come after + him....” She felt her voice breaking, and gathered it up in a last + defiance. “As long as I live I'll never forgive you!” she cried. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall made no answer. He sat and pondered with sunken head, his + veined hands clasped about the arms of his chair. Age seemed to have come + down on him as winter comes on the hills after a storm. At length he + looked up. + </p> + <p> + “Charity, you say you don't care; but you're the proudest girl I know, and + the last to want people to talk against you. You know there's always eyes + watching you: you're handsomer and smarter than the rest, and that's + enough. But till lately you've never given them a chance. Now they've got + it, and they're going to use it. I believe what you say, but they + won't.... It was Mrs. Tom Fry seen you going in... and two or three of + them watched for you to come out again.... You've been with the fellow all + day long every day since he come here... and I'm a lawyer, and I know how + hard slander dies.” He paused, but she stood motionless, without giving + him any sign of acquiescence or even of attention. “He's a pleasant fellow + to talk to—I liked having him here myself. The young men up here + ain't had his chances. But there's one thing as old as the hills and as + plain as daylight: if he'd wanted you the right way he'd have said so.” + </p> + <p> + Charity did not speak. It seemed to her that nothing could exceed the + bitterness of hearing such words from such lips. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall rose from his seat. “See here, Charity Royall: I had a shameful + thought once, and you've made me pay for it. Isn't that score pretty near + wiped out?... There's a streak in me I ain't always master of; but I've + always acted straight to you but that once. And you've known I would—you've + trusted me. For all your sneers and your mockery you've always known I + loved you the way a man loves a decent woman. I'm a good many years older + than you, but I'm head and shoulders above this place and everybody in it, + and you know that too. I slipped up once, but that's no reason for not + starting again. If you'll come with me I'll do it. If you'll marry me + we'll leave here and settle in some big town, where there's men, and + business, and things doing. It's not too late for me to find an + opening.... I can see it by the way folks treat me when I go down to + Hepburn or Nettleton....” + </p> + <p> + Charity made no movement. Nothing in his appeal reached her heart, and she + thought only of words to wound and wither. But a growing lassitude + restrained her. What did anything matter that he was saying? She saw the + old life closing in on her, and hardly heeded his fanciful picture of + renewal. + </p> + <p> + “Charity—Charity—say you'll do it,” she heard him urge, all + his lost years and wasted passion in his voice. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what's the use of all this? When I leave here it won't be with you.” + </p> + <p> + She moved toward the door as she spoke, and he stood up and placed himself + between her and the threshold. He seemed suddenly tall and strong, as + though the extremity of his humiliation had given him new vigour. + </p> + <p> + “That's all, is it? It's not much.” He leaned against the door, so + towering and powerful that he seemed to fill the narrow room. “Well, then + look here.... You're right: I've no claim on you—why should you look + at a broken man like me? You want the other fellow... and I don't blame + you. You picked out the best when you seen it... well, that was always my + way.” He fixed his stern eyes on her, and she had the sense that the + struggle within him was at its highest. “Do you want him to marry you?” he + asked. + </p> + <p> + They stood and looked at each other for a long moment, eye to eye, with + the terrible equality of courage that sometimes made her feel as if she + had his blood in her veins. + </p> + <p> + “Do you want him to—say? I'll have him here in an hour if you do. I + ain't been in the law thirty years for nothing. He's hired Carrick Fry's + team to take him to Hepburn, but he ain't going to start for another hour. + And I can put things to him so he won't be long deciding.... He's soft: I + could see that. I don't say you won't be sorry afterward—but, by + God, I'll give you the chance to be, if you say so.” + </p> + <p> + She heard him out in silence, too remote from all he was feeling and + saying for any sally of scorn to relieve her. As she listened, there + flitted through her mind the vision of Liff Hyatt's muddy boot coming down + on the white bramble-flowers. The same thing had happened now; something + transient and exquisite had flowered in her, and she had stood by and seen + it trampled to earth. While the thought passed through her she was aware + of Mr. Royall, still leaning against the door, but crestfallen, + diminished, as though her silence were the answer he most dreaded. + </p> + <p> + “I don't want any chance you can give me: I'm glad he's going away,” she + said. + </p> + <p> + He kept his place a moment longer, his hand on the door-knob. “Charity!” + he pleaded. She made no answer, and he turned the knob and went out. She + heard him fumble with the latch of the front door, and saw him walk down + the steps. He passed out of the gate, and his figure, stooping and heavy, + receded slowly up the street. + </p> + <p> + For a while she remained where he had left her. She was still trembling + with the humiliation of his last words, which rang so loud in her ears + that it seemed as though they must echo through the village, proclaiming + her a creature to lend herself to such vile suggestions. Her shame weighed + on her like a physical oppression: the roof and walls seemed to be closing + in on her, and she was seized by the impulse to get away, under the open + sky, where there would be room to breathe. She went to the front door, and + as she did so Lucius Harney opened it. + </p> + <p> + He looked graver and less confident than usual, and for a moment or two + neither of them spoke. Then he held out his hand. “Are you going out?” he + asked. “May I come in?” + </p> + <p> + Her heart was beating so violently that she was afraid to speak, and stood + looking at him with tear-dilated eyes; then she became aware of what her + silence must betray, and said quickly: “Yes: come in.” + </p> + <p> + She led the way into the dining-room, and they sat down on opposite sides + of the table, the cruet-stand and japanned bread-basket between them. + Harney had laid his straw hat on the table, and as he sat there, in his + easy-looking summer clothes, a brown tie knotted under his flannel collar, + and his smooth brown hair brushed back from his forehead, she pictured + him, as she had seen him the night before, lying on his bed, with the + tossed locks falling into his eyes, and his bare throat rising out of his + unbuttoned shirt. He had never seemed so remote as at the moment when that + vision flashed through her mind. + </p> + <p> + “I'm so sorry it's good-bye: I suppose you know I'm leaving,” he began, + abruptly and awkwardly; she guessed that he was wondering how much she + knew of his reasons for going. + </p> + <p> + “I presume you found your work was over quicker than what you expected,” + she said. + </p> + <p> + “Well, yes—that is, no: there are plenty of things I should have + liked to do. But my holiday's limited; and now that Mr. Royall needs the + horse for himself it's rather difficult to find means of getting about.” + </p> + <p> + “There ain't any too many teams for hire around here,” she acquiesced; and + there was another silence. + </p> + <p> + “These days here have been—awfully pleasant: I wanted to thank you + for making them so,” he continued, his colour rising. + </p> + <p> + She could not think of any reply, and he went on: “You've been wonderfully + kind to me, and I wanted to tell you.... I wish I could think of you as + happier, less lonely.... Things are sure to change for you by and by....” + </p> + <p> + “Things don't change at North Dormer: people just get used to them.” + </p> + <p> + The answer seemed to break up the order of his prearranged consolations, + and he sat looking at her uncertainly. Then he said, with his sweet smile: + “That's not true of you. It can't be.” + </p> + <p> + The smile was like a knife-thrust through her heart: everything in her + began to tremble and break loose. She felt her tears run over, and stood + up. + </p> + <p> + “Well, good-bye,” she said. + </p> + <p> + She was aware of his taking her hand, and of feeling that his touch was + lifeless. + </p> + <p> + “Good-bye.” He turned away, and stopped on the threshold. “You'll say + good-bye for me to Verena?” + </p> + <p> + She heard the closing of the outer door and the sound of his quick tread + along the path. The latch of the gate clicked after him. + </p> + <p> + The next morning when she arose in the cold dawn and opened her shutters + she saw a freckled boy standing on the other side of the road and looking + up at her. He was a boy from a farm three or four miles down the Creston + road, and she wondered what he was doing there at that hour, and why he + looked so hard at her window. When he saw her he crossed over and leaned + against the gate unconcernedly. There was no one stirring in the house, + and she threw a shawl over her night-gown and ran down and let herself + out. By the time she reached the gate the boy was sauntering down the + road, whistling carelessly; but she saw that a letter had been thrust + between the slats and the crossbar of the gate. She took it out and + hastened back to her room. + </p> + <p> + The envelope bore her name, and inside was a leaf torn from a + pocket-diary. + </p> + <p> + DEAR CHARITY: + </p> + <p> + I can't go away like this. I am staying for a few days at Creston River. + Will you come down and meet me at Creston pool? I will wait for you till + evening. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IX + </h2> + <p> + CHARITY sat before the mirror trying on a hat which Ally Hawes, with much + secrecy, had trimmed for her. It was of white straw, with a drooping brim + and cherry-coloured lining that made her face glow like the inside of the + shell on the parlour mantelpiece. + </p> + <p> + She propped the square of looking-glass against Mr. Royall's black leather + Bible, steadying it in front with a white stone on which a view of the + Brooklyn Bridge was painted; and she sat before her reflection, bending + the brim this way and that, while Ally Hawes's pale face looked over her + shoulder like the ghost of wasted opportunities. + </p> + <p> + “I look awful, don't I?” she said at last with a happy sigh. + </p> + <p> + Ally smiled and took back the hat. “I'll stitch the roses on right here, + so's you can put it away at once.” + </p> + <p> + Charity laughed, and ran her fingers through her rough dark hair. She knew + that Harney liked to see its reddish edges ruffled about her forehead and + breaking into little rings at the nape. She sat down on her bed and + watched Ally stoop over the hat with a careful frown. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you ever feel like going down to Nettleton for a day?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + Ally shook her head without looking up. “No, I always remember that awful + time I went down with Julia—to that doctor's.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Ally——” + </p> + <p> + “I can't help it. The house is on the corner of Wing Street and Lake + Avenue. The trolley from the station goes right by it, and the day the + minister took us down to see those pictures I recognized it right off, and + couldn't seem to see anything else. There's a big black sign with gold + letters all across the front—'Private Consultations.' She came as + near as anything to dying....” + </p> + <p> + “Poor Julia!” Charity sighed from the height of her purity and her + security. She had a friend whom she trusted and who respected her. She was + going with him to spend the next day—the Fourth of July—at + Nettleton. Whose business was it but hers, and what was the harm? The pity + of it was that girls like Julia did not know how to choose, and to keep + bad fellows at a distance.... Charity slipped down from the bed, and + stretched out her hands. + </p> + <p> + “Is it sewed? Let me try it on again.” She put the hat on, and smiled at + her image. The thought of Julia had vanished.... + </p> + <p> + The next morning she was up before dawn, and saw the yellow sunrise + broaden behind the hills, and the silvery luster preceding a hot day + tremble across the sleeping fields. + </p> + <p> + Her plans had been made with great care. She had announced that she was + going down to the Band of Hope picnic at Hepburn, and as no one else from + North Dormer intended to venture so far it was not likely that her absence + from the festivity would be reported. Besides, if it were she would not + greatly care. She was determined to assert her independence, and if she + stooped to fib about the Hepburn picnic it was chiefly from the secretive + instinct that made her dread the profanation of her happiness. Whenever + she was with Lucius Harney she would have liked some impenetrable mountain + mist to hide her. + </p> + <p> + It was arranged that she should walk to a point of the Creston road where + Harney was to pick her up and drive her across the hills to Hepburn in + time for the nine-thirty train to Nettleton. Harney at first had been + rather lukewarm about the trip. He declared himself ready to take her to + Nettleton, but urged her not to go on the Fourth of July, on account of + the crowds, the probable lateness of the trains, the difficulty of her + getting back before night; but her evident disappointment caused him to + give way, and even to affect a faint enthusiasm for the adventure. She + understood why he was not more eager: he must have seen sights beside + which even a Fourth of July at Nettleton would seem tame. But she had + never seen anything; and a great longing possessed her to walk the streets + of a big town on a holiday, clinging to his arm and jostled by idle crowds + in their best clothes. The only cloud on the prospect was the fact that + the shops would be closed; but she hoped he would take her back another + day, when they were open. + </p> + <p> + She started out unnoticed in the early sunlight, slipping through the + kitchen while Verena bent above the stove. To avoid attracting notice, she + carried her new hat carefully wrapped up, and had thrown a long grey veil + of Mrs. Royall's over the new white muslin dress which Ally's clever + fingers had made for her. All of the ten dollars Mr. Royall had given her, + and a part of her own savings as well, had been spent on renewing her + wardrobe; and when Harney jumped out of the buggy to meet her she read her + reward in his eyes. + </p> + <p> + The freckled boy who had brought her the note two weeks earlier was to + wait with the buggy at Hepburn till their return. He perched at Charity's + feet, his legs dangling between the wheels, and they could not say much + because of his presence. But it did not greatly matter, for their past was + now rich enough to have given them a private language; and with the long + day stretching before them like the blue distance beyond the hills there + was a delicate pleasure in postponement. + </p> + <p> + When Charity, in response to Harney's message, had gone to meet him at the + Creston pool her heart had been so full of mortification and anger that + his first words might easily have estranged her. But it happened that he + had found the right word, which was one of simple friendship. His tone had + instantly justified her, and put her guardian in the wrong. He had made no + allusion to what had passed between Mr. Royall and himself, but had simply + let it appear that he had left because means of conveyance were hard to + find at North Dormer, and because Creston River was a more convenient + centre. He told her that he had hired by the week the buggy of the + freckled boy's father, who served as livery-stable keeper to one or two + melancholy summer boarding-houses on Creston Lake, and had discovered, + within driving distance, a number of houses worthy of his pencil; and he + said that he could not, while he was in the neighbourhood, give up the + pleasure of seeing her as often as possible. + </p> + <p> + When they took leave of each other she promised to continue to be his + guide; and during the fortnight which followed they roamed the hills in + happy comradeship. In most of the village friendships between youths and + maidens lack of conversation was made up for by tentative fondling; but + Harney, except when he had tried to comfort her in her trouble on their + way back from the Hyatts', had never put his arm about her, or sought to + betray her into any sudden caress. It seemed to be enough for him to + breathe her nearness like a flower's; and since his pleasure at being with + her, and his sense of her youth and her grace, perpetually shone in his + eyes and softened the inflection of his voice, his reserve did not suggest + coldness, but the deference due to a girl of his own class. + </p> + <p> + The buggy was drawn by an old trotter who whirled them along so briskly + that the pace created a little breeze; but when they reached Hepburn the + full heat of the airless morning descended on them. At the railway station + the platform was packed with a sweltering throng, and they took refuge in + the waiting-room, where there was another throng, already dejected by the + heat and the long waiting for retarded trains. Pale mothers were + struggling with fretful babies, or trying to keep their older offspring + from the fascination of the track; girls and their “fellows” were giggling + and shoving, and passing about candy in sticky bags, and older men, + collarless and perspiring, were shifting heavy children from one arm to + the other, and keeping a haggard eye on the scattered members of their + families. + </p> + <p> + At last the train rumbled in, and engulfed the waiting multitude. Harney + swept Charity up on to the first car and they captured a bench for two, + and sat in happy isolation while the train swayed and roared along through + rich fields and languid tree-clumps. The haze of the morning had become a + sort of clear tremor over everything, like the colourless vibration about + a flame; and the opulent landscape seemed to droop under it. But to + Charity the heat was a stimulant: it enveloped the whole world in the same + glow that burned at her heart. Now and then a lurch of the train flung her + against Harney, and through her thin muslin she felt the touch of his + sleeve. She steadied herself, their eyes met, and the flaming breath of + the day seemed to enclose them. + </p> + <p> + The train roared into the Nettleton station, the descending mob caught + them on its tide, and they were swept out into a vague dusty square + thronged with seedy “hacks” and long curtained omnibuses drawn by horses + with tasselled fly-nets over their withers, who stood swinging their + depressed heads drearily from side to side. + </p> + <p> + A mob of 'bus and hack drivers were shouting “To the Eagle House,” “To the + Washington House,” “This way to the Lake,” “Just starting for Greytop;” + and through their yells came the popping of fire-crackers, the explosion + of torpedoes, the banging of toy-guns, and the crash of a firemen's band + trying to play the Merry Widow while they were being packed into a + waggonette streaming with bunting. + </p> + <p> + The ramshackle wooden hotels about the square were all hung with flags and + paper lanterns, and as Harney and Charity turned into the main street, + with its brick and granite business blocks crowding out the old + low-storied shops, and its towering poles strung with innumerable wires + that seemed to tremble and buzz in the heat, they saw the double line of + flags and lanterns tapering away gaily to the park at the other end of the + perspective. The noise and colour of this holiday vision seemed to + transform Nettleton into a metropolis. Charity could not believe that + Springfield or even Boston had anything grander to show, and she wondered + if, at this very moment, Annabel Balch, on the arm of as brilliant a young + man, were threading her way through scenes as resplendent. + </p> + <p> + “Where shall we go first?” Harney asked; but as she turned her happy eyes + on him he guessed the answer and said: “We'll take a look round, shall + we?” + </p> + <p> + The street swarmed with their fellow-travellers, with other excursionists + arriving from other directions, with Nettleton's own population, and with + the mill-hands trooping in from the factories on the Creston. The shops + were closed, but one would scarcely have noticed it, so numerous were the + glass doors swinging open on saloons, on restaurants, on drug-stores + gushing from every soda-water tap, on fruit and confectionery shops + stacked with strawberry-cake, cocoanut drops, trays of glistening molasses + candy, boxes of caramels and chewing-gum, baskets of sodden strawberries, + and dangling branches of bananas. Outside of some of the doors were + trestles with banked-up oranges and apples, spotted pears and dusty + raspberries; and the air reeked with the smell of fruit and stale coffee, + beer and sarsaparilla and fried potatoes. + </p> + <p> + Even the shops that were closed offered, through wide expanses of + plate-glass, hints of hidden riches. In some, waves of silk and ribbon + broke over shores of imitation moss from which ravishing hats rose like + tropical orchids. In others, the pink throats of gramophones opened their + giant convolutions in a soundless chorus; or bicycles shining in neat + ranks seemed to await the signal of an invisible starter; or tiers of + fancy-goods in leatherette and paste and celluloid dangled their insidious + graces; and, in one vast bay that seemed to project them into exciting + contact with the public, wax ladies in daring dresses chatted elegantly, + or, with gestures intimate yet blameless, pointed to their pink corsets + and transparent hosiery. + </p> + <p> + Presently Harney found that his watch had stopped, and turned in at a + small jeweller's shop which chanced to still be open. While the watch was + being examined Charity leaned over the glass counter where, on a + background of dark blue velvet, pins, rings, and brooches glittered like + the moon and stars. She had never seen jewellry so near by, and she longed + to lift the glass lid and plunge her hand among the shining treasures. But + already Harney's watch was repaired, and he laid his hand on her arm and + drew her from her dream. + </p> + <p> + “Which do you like best?” he asked leaning over the counter at her side. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know....” She pointed to a gold lily-of-the-valley with white + flowers. + </p> + <p> + “Don't you think the blue pin's better?” he suggested, and immediately she + saw that the lily of the valley was mere trumpery compared to the small + round stone, blue as a mountain lake, with little sparks of light all + round it. She coloured at her want of discrimination. + </p> + <p> + “It's so lovely I guess I was afraid to look at it,” she said. + </p> + <p> + He laughed, and they went out of the shop; but a few steps away he + exclaimed: “Oh, by Jove, I forgot something,” and turned back and left her + in the crowd. She stood staring down a row of pink gramophone throats till + he rejoined her and slipped his arm through hers. + </p> + <p> + “You mustn't be afraid of looking at the blue pin any longer, because it + belongs to you,” he said; and she felt a little box being pressed into her + hand. Her heart gave a leap of joy, but it reached her lips only in a shy + stammer. She remembered other girls whom she had heard planning to extract + presents from their fellows, and was seized with a sudden dread lest + Harney should have imagined that she had leaned over the pretty things in + the glass case in the hope of having one given to her.... + </p> + <p> + A little farther down the street they turned in at a glass doorway opening + on a shining hall with a mahogany staircase, and brass cages in its + corners. “We must have something to eat,” Harney said; and the next moment + Charity found herself in a dressing-room all looking-glass and lustrous + surfaces, where a party of showy-looking girls were dabbing on powder and + straightening immense plumed hats. When they had gone she took courage to + bathe her hot face in one of the marble basins, and to straighten her own + hat-brim, which the parasols of the crowd had indented. The dresses in the + shops had so impressed her that she scarcely dared look at her reflection; + but when she did so, the glow of her face under her cherry-coloured hat, + and the curve of her young shoulders through the transparent muslin, + restored her courage; and when she had taken the blue brooch from its box + and pinned it on her bosom she walked toward the restaurant with her head + high, as if she had always strolled through tessellated halls beside young + men in flannels. + </p> + <p> + Her spirit sank a little at the sight of the slim-waisted waitresses in + black, with bewitching mob-caps on their haughty heads, who were moving + disdainfully between the tables. “Not f'r another hour,” one of them + dropped to Harney in passing; and he stood doubtfully glancing about him. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well, we can't stay sweltering here,” he decided; “let's try + somewhere else—” and with a sense of relief Charity followed him + from that scene of inhospitable splendour. + </p> + <p> + That “somewhere else” turned out—after more hot tramping, and + several failures—to be, of all things, a little open-air place in a + back street that called itself a French restaurant, and consisted in two + or three rickety tables under a scarlet-runner, between a patch of zinnias + and petunias and a big elm bending over from the next yard. Here they + lunched on queerly flavoured things, while Harney, leaning back in a + crippled rocking-chair, smoked cigarettes between the courses and poured + into Charity's glass a pale yellow wine which he said was the very same + one drank in just such jolly places in France. + </p> + <p> + Charity did not think the wine as good as sarsaparilla, but she sipped a + mouthful for the pleasure of doing what he did, and of fancying herself + alone with him in foreign countries. The illusion was increased by their + being served by a deep-bosomed woman with smooth hair and a pleasant + laugh, who talked to Harney in unintelligible words, and seemed amazed and + overjoyed at his answering her in kind. At the other tables other people + sat, mill-hands probably, homely but pleasant looking, who spoke the same + shrill jargon, and looked at Harney and Charity with friendly eyes; and + between the table-legs a poodle with bald patches and pink eyes nosed + about for scraps, and sat up on his hind legs absurdly. + </p> + <p> + Harney showed no inclination to move, for hot as their corner was, it was + at least shaded and quiet; and, from the main thoroughfares came the + clanging of trolleys, the incessant popping of torpedoes, the jingle of + street-organs, the bawling of megaphone men and the loud murmur of + increasing crowds. He leaned back, smoking his cigar, patting the dog, and + stirring the coffee that steamed in their chipped cups. “It's the real + thing, you know,” he explained; and Charity hastily revised her previous + conception of the beverage. + </p> + <p> + They had made no plans for the rest of the day, and when Harney asked her + what she wanted to do next she was too bewildered by rich possibilities to + find an answer. Finally she confessed that she longed to go to the Lake, + where she had not been taken on her former visit, and when he answered, + “Oh, there's time for that—it will be pleasanter later,” she + suggested seeing some pictures like the ones Mr. Miles had taken her to. + She thought Harney looked a little disconcerted; but he passed his fine + handkerchief over his warm brow, said gaily, “Come along, then,” and rose + with a last pat for the pink-eyed dog. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles's pictures had been shown in an austere Y.M.C.A. hall, with + white walls and an organ; but Harney led Charity to a glittering place—everything + she saw seemed to glitter—where they passed, between immense + pictures of yellow-haired beauties stabbing villains in evening dress, + into a velvet-curtained auditorium packed with spectators to the last + limit of compression. After that, for a while, everything was merged in + her brain in swimming circles of heat and blinding alternations of light + and darkness. All the world has to show seemed to pass before her in a + chaos of palms and minarets, charging cavalry regiments, roaring lions, + comic policemen and scowling murderers; and the crowd around her, the + hundreds of hot sallow candy-munching faces, young, old, middle-aged, but + all kindled with the same contagious excitement, became part of the + spectacle, and danced on the screen with the rest. + </p> + <p> + Presently the thought of the cool trolley-run to the Lake grew + irresistible, and they struggled out of the theatre. As they stood on the + pavement, Harney pale with the heat, and even Charity a little confused by + it, a young man drove by in an electric run-about with a calico band + bearing the words: “Ten dollars to take you round the Lake.” Before + Charity knew what was happening, Harney had waved a hand, and they were + climbing in. “Say, for twenny-five I'll run you out to see the ball-game + and back,” the driver proposed with an insinuating grin; but Charity said + quickly: “Oh, I'd rather go rowing on the Lake.” The street was so + thronged that progress was slow; but the glory of sitting in the little + carriage while it wriggled its way between laden omnibuses and trolleys + made the moments seem too short. “Next turn is Lake Avenue,” the young man + called out over his shoulder; and as they paused in the wake of a big + omnibus groaning with Knights of Pythias in cocked hats and swords, + Charity looked up and saw on the corner a brick house with a conspicuous + black and gold sign across its front. “Dr. Merkle; Private Consultations + at all hours. Lady Attendants,” she read; and suddenly she remembered Ally + Hawes's words: “The house was at the corner of Wing Street and Lake + Avenue... there's a big black sign across the front....” Through all the + heat and the rapture a shiver of cold ran over her. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + X + </h2> + <p> + THE Lake at last—a sheet of shining metal brooded over by drooping + trees. Charity and Harney had secured a boat and, getting away from the + wharves and the refreshment-booths, they drifted idly along, hugging the + shadow of the shore. Where the sun struck the water its shafts flamed back + blindingly at the heat-veiled sky; and the least shade was black by + contrast. The Lake was so smooth that the reflection of the trees on its + edge seemed enamelled on a solid surface; but gradually, as the sun + declined, the water grew transparent, and Charity, leaning over, plunged + her fascinated gaze into depths so clear that she saw the inverted + tree-tops interwoven with the green growths of the bottom. + </p> + <p> + They rounded a point at the farther end of the Lake, and entering an inlet + pushed their bow against a protruding tree-trunk. A green veil of willows + overhung them. Beyond the trees, wheat-fields sparkled in the sun; and all + along the horizon the clear hills throbbed with light. Charity leaned back + in the stern, and Harney unshipped the oars and lay in the bottom of the + boat without speaking. + </p> + <p> + Ever since their meeting at the Creston pool he had been subject to these + brooding silences, which were as different as possible from the pauses + when they ceased to speak because words were needless. At such times his + face wore the expression she had seen on it when she had looked in at him + from the darkness and again there came over her a sense of the mysterious + distance between them; but usually his fits of abstraction were followed + by bursts of gaiety that chased away the shadow before it chilled her. + </p> + <p> + She was still thinking of the ten dollars he had handed to the driver of + the run-about. It had given them twenty minutes of pleasure, and it seemed + unimaginable that anyone should be able to buy amusement at that rate. + With ten dollars he might have bought her an engagement ring; she knew + that Mrs. Tom Fry's, which came from Springfield, and had a diamond in it, + had cost only eight seventy-five. But she did not know why the thought had + occurred to her. Harney would never buy her an engagement ring: they were + friends and comrades, but no more. He had been perfectly fair to her: he + had never said a word to mislead her. She wondered what the girl was like + whose hand was waiting for his ring.... + </p> + <p> + Boats were beginning to thicken on the Lake and the clang of incessantly + arriving trolleys announced the return of the crowds from the ball-field. + The shadows lengthened across the pearl-grey water and two white clouds + near the sun were turning golden. On the opposite shore men were hammering + hastily at a wooden scaffolding in a field. Charity asked what it was for. + </p> + <p> + “Why, the fireworks. I suppose there'll be a big show.” Harney looked at + her and a smile crept into his moody eyes. “Have you never seen any good + fireworks?” + </p> + <p> + “Miss Hatchard always sends up lovely rockets on the Fourth,” she answered + doubtfully. + </p> + <p> + “Oh——” his contempt was unbounded. “I mean a big performance + like this, illuminated boats, and all the rest.” + </p> + <p> + She flushed at the picture. “Do they send them up from the Lake, too?” + </p> + <p> + “Rather. Didn't you notice that big raft we passed? It's wonderful to see + the rockets completing their orbits down under one's feet.” She said + nothing, and he put the oars into the rowlocks. “If we stay we'd better go + and pick up something to eat.” + </p> + <p> + “But how can we get back afterwards?” she ventured, feeling it would break + her heart if she missed it. + </p> + <p> + He consulted a time-table, found a ten o'clock train and reassured her. + “The moon rises so late that it will be dark by eight, and we'll have over + an hour of it.” + </p> + <p> + Twilight fell, and lights began to show along the shore. The trolleys + roaring out from Nettleton became great luminous serpents coiling in and + out among the trees. The wooden eating-houses at the Lake's edge danced + with lanterns, and the dusk echoed with laughter and shouts and the clumsy + splashing of oars. + </p> + <p> + Harney and Charity had found a table in the corner of a balcony built over + the Lake, and were patiently awaiting an unattainable chowder. Close under + them the water lapped the piles, agitated by the evolutions of a little + white steamboat trellised with coloured globes which was to run passengers + up and down the Lake. It was already black with them as it sheered off on + its first trip. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly Charity heard a woman's laugh behind her. The sound was familiar, + and she turned to look. A band of showily dressed girls and dapper young + men wearing badges of secret societies, with new straw hats tilted far + back on their square-clipped hair, had invaded the balcony and were loudly + clamouring for a table. The girl in the lead was the one who had laughed. + She wore a large hat with a long white feather, and from under its brim + her painted eyes looked at Charity with amused recognition. + </p> + <p> + “Say! if this ain't like Old Home Week,” she remarked to the girl at her + elbow; and giggles and glances passed between them. Charity knew at once + that the girl with the white feather was Julia Hawes. She had lost her + freshness, and the paint under her eyes made her face seem thinner; but + her lips had the same lovely curve, and the same cold mocking smile, as if + there were some secret absurdity in the person she was looking at, and she + had instantly detected it. + </p> + <p> + Charity flushed to the forehead and looked away. She felt herself + humiliated by Julia's sneer, and vexed that the mockery of such a creature + should affect her. She trembled lest Harney should notice that the noisy + troop had recognized her; but they found no table free, and passed on + tumultuously. + </p> + <p> + Presently there was a soft rush through the air and a shower of silver + fell from the blue evening sky. In another direction, pale Roman candles + shot up singly through the trees, and a fire-haired rocket swept the + horizon like a portent. Between these intermittent flashes the velvet + curtains of the darkness were descending, and in the intervals of eclipse + the voices of the crowds seemed to sink to smothered murmurs. + </p> + <p> + Charity and Harney, dispossessed by newcomers, were at length obliged to + give up their table and struggle through the throng about the + boat-landings. For a while there seemed no escape from the tide of late + arrivals; but finally Harney secured the last two places on the stand from + which the more privileged were to see the fireworks. The seats were at the + end of a row, one above the other. Charity had taken off her hat to have + an uninterrupted view; and whenever she leaned back to follow the curve of + some dishevelled rocket she could feel Harney's knees against her head. + </p> + <p> + After a while the scattered fireworks ceased. A longer interval of + darkness followed, and then the whole night broke into flower. From every + point of the horizon, gold and silver arches sprang up and crossed each + other, sky-orchards broke into blossom, shed their flaming petals and hung + their branches with golden fruit; and all the while the air was filled + with a soft supernatural hum, as though great birds were building their + nests in those invisible tree-tops. + </p> + <p> + Now and then there came a lull, and a wave of moonlight swept the Lake. In + a flash it revealed hundreds of boats, steel-dark against lustrous + ripples; then it withdrew as if with a furling of vast translucent wings. + Charity's heart throbbed with delight. It was as if all the latent beauty + of things had been unveiled to her. She could not imagine that the world + held anything more wonderful; but near her she heard someone say, “You + wait till you see the set piece,” and instantly her hopes took a fresh + flight. At last, just as it was beginning to seem as though the whole arch + of the sky were one great lid pressed against her dazzled eye-balls, and + striking out of them continuous jets of jewelled light, the velvet + darkness settled down again, and a murmur of expectation ran through the + crowd. + </p> + <p> + “Now—now!” the same voice said excitedly; and Charity, grasping the + hat on her knee, crushed it tight in the effort to restrain her rapture. + </p> + <p> + For a moment the night seemed to grow more impenetrably black; then a + great picture stood out against it like a constellation. It was surmounted + by a golden scroll bearing the inscription, “Washington crossing the + Delaware,” and across a flood of motionless golden ripples the National + Hero passed, erect, solemn and gigantic, standing with folded arms in the + stern of a slowly moving golden boat. + </p> + <p> + A long “Oh-h-h” burst from the spectators: the stand creaked and shook + with their blissful trepidations. “Oh-h-h,” Charity gasped: she had + forgotten where she was, had at last forgotten even Harney's nearness. She + seemed to have been caught up into the stars.... + </p> + <p> + The picture vanished and darkness came down. In the obscurity she felt her + head clasped by two hands: her face was drawn backward, and Harney's lips + were pressed on hers. With sudden vehemence he wound his arms about her, + holding her head against his breast while she gave him back his kisses. An + unknown Harney had revealed himself, a Harney who dominated her and yet + over whom she felt herself possessed of a new mysterious power. + </p> + <p> + But the crowd was beginning to move, and he had to release her. “Come,” he + said in a confused voice. He scrambled over the side of the stand, and + holding up his arm caught her as she sprang to the ground. He passed his + arm about her waist, steadying her against the descending rush of people; + and she clung to him, speechless, exultant, as if all the crowding and + confusion about them were a mere vain stirring of the air. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” he repeated, “we must try to make the trolley.” He drew her along, + and she followed, still in her dream. They walked as if they were one, so + isolated in ecstasy that the people jostling them on every side seemed + impalpable. But when they reached the terminus the illuminated trolley was + already clanging on its way, its platforms black with passengers. The cars + waiting behind it were as thickly packed; and the throng about the + terminus was so dense that it seemed hopeless to struggle for a place. + </p> + <p> + “Last trip up the Lake,” a megaphone bellowed from the wharf; and the + lights of the little steam-boat came dancing out of the darkness. + </p> + <p> + “No use waiting here; shall we run up the Lake?” Harney suggested. + </p> + <p> + They pushed their way back to the edge of the water just as the gang-plank + lowered from the white side of the boat. The electric light at the end of + the wharf flashed full on the descending passengers, and among them + Charity caught sight of Julia Hawes, her white feather askew, and the face + under it flushed with coarse laughter. As she stepped from the gang-plank + she stopped short, her dark-ringed eyes darting malice. + </p> + <p> + “Hullo, Charity Royall!” she called out; and then, looking back over her + shoulder: “Didn't I tell you it was a family party? Here's grandpa's + little daughter come to take him home!” + </p> + <p> + A snigger ran through the group; and then, towering above them, and + steadying himself by the hand-rail in a desperate effort at erectness, Mr. + Royall stepped stiffly ashore. Like the young men of the party, he wore a + secret society emblem in the buttonhole of his black frock-coat. His head + was covered by a new Panama hat, and his narrow black tie, half undone, + dangled down on his rumpled shirt-front. His face, a livid brown, with red + blotches of anger and lips sunken in like an old man's, was a lamentable + ruin in the searching glare. + </p> + <p> + He was just behind Julia Hawes, and had one hand on her arm; but as he + left the gang-plank he freed himself, and moved a step or two away from + his companions. He had seen Charity at once, and his glance passed slowly + from her to Harney, whose arm was still about her. He stood staring at + them, and trying to master the senile quiver of his lips; then he drew + himself up with the tremulous majesty of drunkenness, and stretched out + his arm. + </p> + <p> + “You whore—you damn—bare-headed whore, you!” he enunciated + slowly. + </p> + <p> + There was a scream of tipsy laughter from the party, and Charity + involuntarily put her hands to her head. She remembered that her hat had + fallen from her lap when she jumped up to leave the stand; and suddenly + she had a vision of herself, hatless, dishevelled, with a man's arm about + her, confronting that drunken crew, headed by her guardian's pitiable + figure. The picture filled her with shame. She had known since childhood + about Mr. Royall's “habits”: had seen him, as she went up to bed, sitting + morosely in his office, a bottle at his elbow; or coming home, heavy and + quarrelsome, from his business expeditions to Hepburn or Springfield; but + the idea of his associating himself publicly with a band of disreputable + girls and bar-room loafers was new and dreadful to her. + </p> + <p> + “Oh——” she said in a gasp of misery; and releasing herself + from Harney's arm she went straight up to Mr. Royall. + </p> + <p> + “You come home with me—you come right home with me,” she said in a + low stern voice, as if she had not heard his apostrophe; and one of the + girls called out: “Say, how many fellers does she want?” + </p> + <p> + There was another laugh, followed by a pause of curiosity, during which + Mr. Royall continued to glare at Charity. At length his twitching lips + parted. “I said, 'You—damn—whore!'” he repeated with + precision, steadying himself on Julia's shoulder. + </p> + <p> + Laughs and jeers were beginning to spring up from the circle of people + beyond their group; and a voice called out from the gangway: “Now, then, + step lively there—all ABOARD!” The pressure of approaching and + departing passengers forced the actors in the rapid scene apart, and + pushed them back into the throng. Charity found herself clinging to + Harney's arm and sobbing desperately. Mr. Royall had disappeared, and in + the distance she heard the receding sound of Julia's laugh. + </p> + <p> + The boat, laden to the taffrail, was puffing away on her last trip. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XI + </h2> + <p> + AT two o'clock in the morning the freckled boy from Creston stopped his + sleepy horse at the door of the red house, and Charity got out. Harney had + taken leave of her at Creston River, charging the boy to drive her home. + Her mind was still in a fog of misery, and she did not remember very + clearly what had happened, or what they said to each other, during the + interminable interval since their departure from Nettleton; but the + secretive instinct of the animal in pain was so strong in her that she had + a sense of relief when Harney got out and she drove on alone. + </p> + <p> + The full moon hung over North Dormer, whitening the mist that filled the + hollows between the hills and floated transparently above the fields. + Charity stood a moment at the gate, looking out into the waning night. She + watched the boy drive off, his horse's head wagging heavily to and fro; + then she went around to the kitchen door and felt under the mat for the + key. She found it, unlocked the door and went in. The kitchen was dark, + but she discovered a box of matches, lit a candle and went upstairs. Mr. + Royall's door, opposite hers, stood open on his unlit room; evidently he + had not come back. She went into her room, bolted her door and began + slowly to untie the ribbon about her waist, and to take off her dress. + Under the bed she saw the paper bag in which she had hidden her new hat + from inquisitive eyes.... + </p> + <p> + She lay for a long time sleepless on her bed, staring up at the moonlight + on the low ceiling; dawn was in the sky when she fell asleep, and when she + woke the sun was on her face. + </p> + <p> + She dressed and went down to the kitchen. Verena was there alone: she + glanced at Charity tranquilly, with her old deaf-looking eyes. There was + no sign of Mr. Royall about the house and the hours passed without his + reappearing. Charity had gone up to her room, and sat there listlessly, + her hands on her lap. Puffs of sultry air fanned her dimity window + curtains and flies buzzed stiflingly against the bluish panes. + </p> + <p> + At one o'clock Verena hobbled up to see if she were not coming down to + dinner; but she shook her head, and the old woman went away, saying: “I'll + cover up, then.” + </p> + <p> + The sun turned and left her room, and Charity seated herself in the + window, gazing down the village street through the half-opened shutters. + Not a thought was in her mind; it was just a dark whirlpool of crowding + images; and she watched the people passing along the street, Dan Targatt's + team hauling a load of pine-trunks down to Hepburn, the sexton's old white + horse grazing on the bank across the way, as if she looked at these + familiar sights from the other side of the grave. + </p> + <p> + She was roused from her apathy by seeing Ally Hawes come out of the Frys' + gate and walk slowly toward the red house with her uneven limping step. At + the sight Charity recovered her severed contact with reality. She divined + that Ally was coming to hear about her day: no one else was in the secret + of the trip to Nettleton, and it had flattered Ally profoundly to be + allowed to know of it. + </p> + <p> + At the thought of having to see her, of having to meet her eyes and answer + or evade her questions, the whole horror of the previous night's adventure + rushed back upon Charity. What had been a feverish nightmare became a cold + and unescapable fact. Poor Ally, at that moment, represented North Dormer, + with all its mean curiosities, its furtive malice, its sham + unconsciousness of evil. Charity knew that, although all relations with + Julia were supposed to be severed, the tender-hearted Ally still secretly + communicated with her; and no doubt Julia would exult in the chance of + retailing the scandal of the wharf. The story, exaggerated and distorted, + was probably already on its way to North Dormer. + </p> + <p> + Ally's dragging pace had not carried her far from the Frys' gate when she + was stopped by old Mrs. Sollas, who was a great talker, and spoke very + slowly because she had never been able to get used to her new teeth from + Hepburn. Still, even this respite would not last long; in another ten + minutes Ally would be at the door, and Charity would hear her greeting + Verena in the kitchen, and then calling up from the foot of the stairs. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly it became clear that flight, and instant flight, was the only + thing conceivable. The longing to escape, to get away from familiar faces, + from places where she was known, had always been strong in her in moments + of distress. She had a childish belief in the miraculous power of strange + scenes and new faces to transform her life and wipe out bitter memories. + But such impulses were mere fleeting whims compared to the cold resolve + which now possessed her. She felt she could not remain an hour longer + under the roof of the man who had publicly dishonoured her, and face to + face with the people who would presently be gloating over all the details + of her humiliation. + </p> + <p> + Her passing pity for Mr. Royall had been swallowed up in loathing: + everything in her recoiled from the disgraceful spectacle of the drunken + old man apostrophizing her in the presence of a band of loafers and + street-walkers. Suddenly, vividly, she relived again the horrible moment + when he had tried to force himself into her room, and what she had before + supposed to be a mad aberration now appeared to her as a vulgar incident + in a debauched and degraded life. + </p> + <p> + While these thoughts were hurrying through her she had dragged out her old + canvas school-bag, and was thrusting into it a few articles of clothing + and the little packet of letters she had received from Harney. From under + her pincushion she took the library key, and laid it in full view; then + she felt at the back of a drawer for the blue brooch that Harney had given + her. She would not have dared to wear it openly at North Dormer, but now + she fastened it on her bosom as if it were a talisman to protect her in + her flight. These preparations had taken but a few minutes, and when they + were finished Ally Hawes was still at the Frys' corner talking to old Mrs. + Sollas.... + </p> + <p> + She had said to herself, as she always said in moments of revolt: “I'll go + to the Mountain—I'll go back to my own folks.” She had never really + meant it before; but now, as she considered her case, no other course + seemed open. She had never learned any trade that would have given her + independence in a strange place, and she knew no one in the big towns of + the valley, where she might have hoped to find employment. Miss Hatchard + was still away; but even had she been at North Dormer she was the last + person to whom Charity would have turned, since one of the motives urging + her to flight was the wish not to see Lucius Harney. Travelling back from + Nettleton, in the crowded brightly-lit train, all exchange of confidence + between them had been impossible; but during their drive from Hepburn to + Creston River she had gathered from Harney's snatches of consolatory talk—again + hampered by the freckled boy's presence—that he intended to see her + the next day. At the moment she had found a vague comfort in the + assurance; but in the desolate lucidity of the hours that followed she had + come to see the impossibility of meeting him again. Her dream of + comradeship was over; and the scene on the wharf—vile and + disgraceful as it had been—had after all shed the light of truth on + her minute of madness. It was as if her guardian's words had stripped her + bare in the face of the grinning crowd and proclaimed to the world the + secret admonitions of her conscience. + </p> + <p> + She did not think these things out clearly; she simply followed the blind + propulsion of her wretchedness. She did not want, ever again, to see + anyone she had known; above all, she did not want to see Harney.... + </p> + <p> + She climbed the hill-path behind the house and struck through the woods by + a short-cut leading to the Creston road. A lead-coloured sky hung heavily + over the fields, and in the forest the motionless air was stifling; but + she pushed on, impatient to reach the road which was the shortest way to + the Mountain. + </p> + <p> + To do so, she had to follow the Creston road for a mile or two, and go + within half a mile of the village; and she walked quickly, fearing to meet + Harney. But there was no sign of him, and she had almost reached the + branch road when she saw the flanks of a large white tent projecting + through the trees by the roadside. She supposed that it sheltered a + travelling circus which had come there for the Fourth; but as she drew + nearer she saw, over the folded-back flap, a large sign bearing the + inscription, “Gospel Tent.” The interior seemed to be empty; but a young + man in a black alpaca coat, his lank hair parted over a round white face, + stepped from under the flap and advanced toward her with a smile. + </p> + <p> + “Sister, your Saviour knows everything. Won't you come in and lay your + guilt before Him?” he asked insinuatingly, putting his hand on her arm. + </p> + <p> + Charity started back and flushed. For a moment she thought the evangelist + must have heard a report of the scene at Nettleton; then she saw the + absurdity of the supposition. + </p> + <p> + “I on'y wish't I had any to lay!” she retorted, with one of her fierce + flashes of self-derision; and the young man murmured, aghast: “Oh, Sister, + don't speak blasphemy....” + </p> + <p> + But she had jerked her arm out of his hold, and was running up the branch + road, trembling with the fear of meeting a familiar face. Presently she + was out of sight of the village, and climbing into the heart of the + forest. She could not hope to do the fifteen miles to the Mountain that + afternoon; but she knew of a place half-way to Hamblin where she could + sleep, and where no one would think of looking for her. It was a little + deserted house on a slope in one of the lonely rifts of the hills. She had + seen it once, years before, when she had gone on a nutting expedition to + the grove of walnuts below it. The party had taken refuge in the house + from a sudden mountain storm, and she remembered that Ben Sollas, who + liked frightening girls, had told them that it was said to be haunted. + </p> + <p> + She was growing faint and tired, for she had eaten nothing since morning, + and was not used to walking so far. Her head felt light and she sat down + for a moment by the roadside. As she sat there she heard the click of a + bicycle-bell, and started up to plunge back into the forest; but before + she could move the bicycle had swept around the curve of the road, and + Harney, jumping off, was approaching her with outstretched arms. + </p> + <p> + “Charity! What on earth are you doing here?” + </p> + <p> + She stared as if he were a vision, so startled by the unexpectedness of + his being there that no words came to her. + </p> + <p> + “Where were you going? Had you forgotten that I was coming?” he continued, + trying to draw her to him; but she shrank from his embrace. + </p> + <p> + “I was going away—I don't want to see you—I want you should + leave me alone,” she broke out wildly. + </p> + <p> + He looked at her and his face grew grave, as though the shadow of a + premonition brushed it. + </p> + <p> + “Going away—from me, Charity?” + </p> + <p> + “From everybody. I want you should leave me.” + </p> + <p> + He stood glancing doubtfully up and down the lonely forest road that + stretched away into sun-flecked distances. + </p> + <p> + “Where were you going?' + </p> + <p> + “Home.” + </p> + <p> + “Home—this way?” + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back defiantly. “To my home—up yonder: to the + Mountain.” + </p> + <p> + As she spoke she became aware of a change in his face. He was no longer + listening to her, he was only looking at her, with the passionate absorbed + expression she had seen in his eyes after they had kissed on the stand at + Nettleton. He was the new Harney again, the Harney abruptly revealed in + that embrace, who seemed so penetrated with the joy of her presence that + he was utterly careless of what she was thinking or feeling. + </p> + <p> + He caught her hands with a laugh. “How do you suppose I found you?” he + said gaily. He drew out the little packet of his letters and flourished + them before her bewildered eyes. + </p> + <p> + “You dropped them, you imprudent young person—dropped them in the + middle of the road, not far from here; and the young man who is running + the Gospel tent picked them up just as I was riding by.” He drew back, + holding her at arm's length, and scrutinizing her troubled face with the + minute searching gaze of his short-sighted eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Did you really think you could run away from me? You see you weren't + meant to,” he said; and before she could answer he had kissed her again, + not vehemently, but tenderly, almost fraternally, as if he had guessed her + confused pain, and wanted her to know he understood it. He wound his + fingers through hers. + </p> + <p> + “Come let's walk a little. I want to talk to you. There's so much to say.” + </p> + <p> + He spoke with a boy's gaiety, carelessly and confidently, as if nothing + had happened that could shame or embarrass them; and for a moment, in the + sudden relief of her release from lonely pain, she felt herself yielding + to his mood. But he had turned, and was drawing her back along the road by + which she had come. She stiffened herself and stopped short. + </p> + <p> + “I won't go back,” she said. + </p> + <p> + They looked at each other a moment in silence; then he answered gently: + “Very well: let's go the other way, then.” + </p> + <p> + She remained motionless, gazing silently at the ground, and he went on: + “Isn't there a house up here somewhere—a little abandoned house—you + meant to show me some day?” Still she made no answer, and he continued, in + the same tone of tender reassurance: “Let us go there now and sit down and + talk quietly.” He took one of the hands that hung by her side and pressed + his lips to the palm. “Do you suppose I'm going to let you send me away? + Do you suppose I don't understand?” + </p> + <p> + The little old house—its wooden walls sun-bleached to a ghostly gray—stood + in an orchard above the road. The garden palings had fallen, but the + broken gate dangled between its posts, and the path to the house was + marked by rose-bushes run wild and hanging their small pale blossoms above + the crowding grasses. Slender pilasters and an intricate fan-light framed + the opening where the door had hung; and the door itself lay rotting in + the grass, with an old apple-tree fallen across it. + </p> + <p> + Inside, also, wind and weather had blanched everything to the same wan + silvery tint; the house was as dry and pure as the interior of a + long-empty shell. But it must have been exceptionally well built, for the + little rooms had kept something of their human aspect: the wooden mantels + with their neat classic ornaments were in place, and the corners of one + ceiling retained a light film of plaster tracery. + </p> + <p> + Harney had found an old bench at the back door and dragged it into the + house. Charity sat on it, leaning her head against the wall in a state of + drowsy lassitude. He had guessed that she was hungry and thirsty, and had + brought her some tablets of chocolate from his bicycle-bag, and filled his + drinking-cup from a spring in the orchard; and now he sat at her feet, + smoking a cigarette, and looking up at her without speaking. Outside, the + afternoon shadows were lengthening across the grass, and through the empty + window-frame that faced her she saw the Mountain thrusting its dark mass + against a sultry sunset. It was time to go. + </p> + <p> + She stood up, and he sprang to his feet also, and passed his arm through + hers with an air of authority. “Now, Charity, you're coming back with me.” + </p> + <p> + She looked at him and shook her head. “I ain't ever going back. You don't + know.” + </p> + <p> + “What don't I know?” She was silent, and he continued: “What happened on + the wharf was horrible—it's natural you should feel as you do. But + it doesn't make any real difference: you can't be hurt by such things. You + must try to forget. And you must try to understand that men... men + sometimes...” + </p> + <p> + “I know about men. That's why.” + </p> + <p> + He coloured a little at the retort, as though it had touched him in a way + she did not suspect. + </p> + <p> + “Well, then... you must know one has to make allowances.... He'd been + drinking....” + </p> + <p> + “I know all that, too. I've seen him so before. But he wouldn't have dared + speak to me that way if he hadn't...” + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't what? What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Hadn't wanted me to be like those other girls....” She lowered her voice + and looked away from him. “So's 't he wouldn't have to go out....” + </p> + <p> + Harney stared at her. For a moment he did not seem to seize her meaning; + then his face grew dark. “The damned hound! The villainous low hound!” His + wrath blazed up, crimsoning him to the temples. “I never dreamed—good + God, it's too vile,” he broke off, as if his thoughts recoiled from the + discovery. + </p> + <p> + “I won't never go back there,” she repeated doggedly. + </p> + <p> + “No——” he assented. + </p> + <p> + There was a long interval of silence, during which she imagined that he + was searching her face for more light on what she had revealed to him; and + a flush of shame swept over her. + </p> + <p> + “I know the way you must feel about me,” she broke out, “...telling you + such things....” + </p> + <p> + But once more, as she spoke, she became aware that he was no longer + listening. He came close and caught her to him as if he were snatching her + from some imminent peril: his impetuous eyes were in hers, and she could + feel the hard beat of his heart as he held her against it. + </p> + <p> + “Kiss me again—like last night,” he said, pushing her hair back as + if to draw her whole face up into his kiss. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XII + </h2> + <p> + ONE afternoon toward the end of August a group of girls sat in a room at + Miss Hatchard's in a gay confusion of flags, turkey-red, blue and white + paper muslin, harvest sheaves and illuminated scrolls. + </p> + <p> + North Dormer was preparing for its Old Home Week. That form of sentimental + decentralization was still in its early stages, and, precedents being few, + and the desire to set an example contagious, the matter had become a + subject of prolonged and passionate discussion under Miss Hatchard's roof. + The incentive to the celebration had come rather from those who had left + North Dormer than from those who had been obliged to stay there, and there + was some difficulty in rousing the village to the proper state of + enthusiasm. But Miss Hatchard's pale prim drawing-room was the centre of + constant comings and goings from Hepburn, Nettleton, Springfield and even + more distant cities; and whenever a visitor arrived he was led across the + hall, and treated to a glimpse of the group of girls deep in their pretty + preparations. + </p> + <p> + “All the old names... all the old names....” Miss Hatchard would be heard, + tapping across the hall on her crutches. “Targatt... Sollas... Fry: this + is Miss Orma Fry sewing the stars on the drapery for the organ-loft. Don't + move, girls... and this is Miss Ally Hawes, our cleverest needle-woman... + and Miss Charity Royall making our garlands of evergreen.... I like the + idea of its all being homemade, don't you? We haven't had to call in any + foreign talent: my young cousin Lucius Harney, the architect—you + know he's up here preparing a book on Colonial houses—he's taken the + whole thing in hand so cleverly; but you must come and see his sketch for + the stage we're going to put up in the Town Hall.” + </p> + <p> + One of the first results of the Old Home Week agitation had, in fact, been + the reappearance of Lucius Harney in the village street. He had been + vaguely spoken of as being not far off, but for some weeks past no one had + seen him at North Dormer, and there was a recent report of his having left + Creston River, where he was said to have been staying, and gone away from + the neighbourhood for good. Soon after Miss Hatchard's return, however, he + came back to his old quarters in her house, and began to take a leading + part in the planning of the festivities. He threw himself into the idea + with extraordinary good-humour, and was so prodigal of sketches, and so + inexhaustible in devices, that he gave an immediate impetus to the rather + languid movement, and infected the whole village with his enthusiasm. + </p> + <p> + “Lucius has such a feeling for the past that he has roused us all to a + sense of our privileges,” Miss Hatchard would say, lingering on the last + word, which was a favourite one. And before leading her visitor back to + the drawing-room she would repeat, for the hundredth time, that she + supposed he thought it very bold of little North Dormer to start up and + have a Home Week of its own, when so many bigger places hadn't thought of + it yet; but that, after all, Associations counted more than the size of + the population, didn't they? And of course North Dormer was so full of + Associations... historic, literary (here a filial sigh for Honorius) and + ecclesiastical... he knew about the old pewter communion service imported + from England in 1769, she supposed? And it was so important, in a wealthy + materialistic age, to set the example of reverting to the old ideals, the + family and the homestead, and so on. This peroration usually carried her + half-way back across the hall, leaving the girls to return to their + interrupted activities. + </p> + <p> + The day on which Charity Royall was weaving hemlock garlands for the + procession was the last before the celebration. When Miss Hatchard called + upon the North Dormer maidenhood to collaborate in the festal preparations + Charity had at first held aloof; but it had been made clear to her that + her non-appearance might excite conjecture, and, reluctantly, she had + joined the other workers. The girls, at first shy and embarrassed, and + puzzled as to the exact nature of the projected commemoration, had soon + become interested in the amusing details of their task, and excited by the + notice they received. They would not for the world have missed their + afternoons at Miss Hatchard's, and, while they cut out and sewed and + draped and pasted, their tongues kept up such an accompaniment to the + sewing-machine that Charity's silence sheltered itself unperceived under + their chatter. + </p> + <p> + In spirit she was still almost unconscious of the pleasant stir about her. + Since her return to the red house, on the evening of the day when Harney + had overtaken her on her way to the Mountain, she had lived at North + Dormer as if she were suspended in the void. She had come back there + because Harney, after appearing to agree to the impossibility of her doing + so, had ended by persuading her that any other course would be madness. + She had nothing further to fear from Mr. Royall. Of this she had declared + herself sure, though she had failed to add, in his exoneration, that he + had twice offered to make her his wife. Her hatred of him made it + impossible, at the moment, for her to say anything that might partly + excuse him in Harney's eyes. + </p> + <p> + Harney, however, once satisfied of her security, had found plenty of + reasons for urging her to return. The first, and the most unanswerable, + was that she had nowhere else to go. But the one on which he laid the + greatest stress was that flight would be equivalent to avowal. If—as + was almost inevitable—rumours of the scandalous scene at Nettleton + should reach North Dormer, how else would her disappearance be + interpreted? Her guardian had publicly taken away her character, and she + immediately vanished from his house. Seekers after motives could hardly + fail to draw an unkind conclusion. But if she came back at once, and was + seen leading her usual life, the incident was reduced to its true + proportions, as the outbreak of a drunken old man furious at being + surprised in disreputable company. People would say that Mr. Royall had + insulted his ward to justify himself, and the sordid tale would fall into + its place in the chronicle of his obscure debaucheries. + </p> + <p> + Charity saw the force of the argument; but if she acquiesced it was not so + much because of that as because it was Harney's wish. Since that evening + in the deserted house she could imagine no reason for doing or not doing + anything except the fact that Harney wished or did not wish it. All her + tossing contradictory impulses were merged in a fatalistic acceptance of + his will. It was not that she felt in him any ascendancy of character—there + were moments already when she knew she was the stronger—but that all + the rest of life had become a mere cloudy rim about the central glory of + their passion. Whenever she stopped thinking about that for a moment she + felt as she sometimes did after lying on the grass and staring up too long + at the sky; her eyes were so full of light that everything about her was a + blur. + </p> + <p> + Each time that Miss Hatchard, in the course of her periodical incursions + into the work-room, dropped an allusion to her young cousin, the + architect, the effect was the same on Charity. The hemlock garland she was + wearing fell to her knees and she sat in a kind of trance. It was so + manifestly absurd that Miss Hatchard should talk of Harney in that + familiar possessive way, as if she had any claim on him, or knew anything + about him. She, Charity Royall, was the only being on earth who really + knew him, knew him from the soles of his feet to the rumpled crest of his + hair, knew the shifting lights in his eyes, and the inflexions of his + voice, and the things he liked and disliked, and everything there was to + know about him, as minutely and yet unconsciously as a child knows the + walls of the room it wakes up in every morning. It was this fact, which + nobody about her guessed, or would have understood, that made her life + something apart and inviolable, as if nothing had any power to hurt or + disturb her as long as her secret was safe. + </p> + <p> + The room in which the girls sat was the one which had been Harney's + bedroom. He had been sent upstairs, to make room for the Home Week + workers; but the furniture had not been moved, and as Charity sat there + she had perpetually before her the vision she had looked in on from the + midnight garden. The table at which Harney had sat was the one about which + the girls were gathered; and her own seat was near the bed on which she + had seen him lying. Sometimes, when the others were not looking, she bent + over as if to pick up something, and laid her cheek for a moment against + the pillow. + </p> + <p> + Toward sunset the girls disbanded. Their work was done, and the next + morning at daylight the draperies and garlands were to be nailed up, and + the illuminated scrolls put in place in the Town Hall. The first guests + were to drive over from Hepburn in time for the midday banquet under a + tent in Miss Hatchard's field; and after that the ceremonies were to + begin. Miss Hatchard, pale with fatigue and excitement, thanked her young + assistants, and stood in the porch, leaning on her crutches and waving a + farewell as she watched them troop away down the street. + </p> + <p> + Charity had slipped off among the first; but at the gate she heard Ally + Hawes calling after her, and reluctantly turned. + </p> + <p> + “Will you come over now and try on your dress?” Ally asked, looking at her + with wistful admiration. “I want to be sure the sleeves don't ruck up the + same as they did yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + Charity gazed at her with dazzled eyes. “Oh, it's lovely,” she said, and + hastened away without listening to Ally's protest. She wanted her dress to + be as pretty as the other girls'—wanted it, in fact, to outshine the + rest, since she was to take part in the “exercises”—but she had no + time just then to fix her mind on such matters.... + </p> + <p> + She sped up the street to the library, of which she had the key about her + neck. From the passage at the back she dragged forth a bicycle, and guided + it to the edge of the street. She looked about to see if any of the girls + were approaching; but they had drifted away together toward the Town Hall, + and she sprang into the saddle and turned toward the Creston road. There + was an almost continual descent to Creston, and with her feet against the + pedals she floated through the still evening air like one of the hawks she + had often watched slanting downward on motionless wings. Twenty minutes + from the time when she had left Miss Hatchard's door she was turning up + the wood-road on which Harney had overtaken her on the day of her flight; + and a few minutes afterward she had jumped from her bicycle at the gate of + the deserted house. + </p> + <p> + In the gold-powdered sunset it looked more than ever like some frail shell + dried and washed by many seasons; but at the back, whither Charity + advanced, drawing her bicycle after her, there were signs of recent + habitation. A rough door made of boards hung in the kitchen doorway, and + pushing it open she entered a room furnished in primitive camping fashion. + In the window was a table, also made of boards, with an earthenware jar + holding a big bunch of wild asters, two canvas chairs stood near by, and + in one corner was a mattress with a Mexican blanket over it. + </p> + <p> + The room was empty, and leaning her bicycle against the house Charity + clambered up the slope and sat down on a rock under an old apple-tree. The + air was perfectly still, and from where she sat she would be able to hear + the tinkle of a bicycle-bell a long way down the road.... + </p> + <p> + She was always glad when she got to the little house before Harney. She + liked to have time to take in every detail of its secret sweetness—the + shadows of the apple-trees swaying on the grass, the old walnuts rounding + their domes below the road, the meadows sloping westward in the afternoon + light—before his first kiss blotted it all out. Everything unrelated + to the hours spent in that tranquil place was as faint as the remembrance + of a dream. The only reality was the wondrous unfolding of her new self, + the reaching out to the light of all her contracted tendrils. She had + lived all her life among people whose sensibilities seemed to have + withered for lack of use; and more wonderful, at first, than Harney's + endearments were the words that were a part of them. She had always + thought of love as something confused and furtive, and he made it as + bright and open as the summer air. + </p> + <p> + On the morrow of the day when she had shown him the way to the deserted + house he had packed up and left Creston River for Boston; but at the first + station he had jumped on the train with a hand-bag and scrambled up into + the hills. For two golden rainless August weeks he had camped in the + house, getting eggs and milk from the solitary farm in the valley, where + no one knew him, and doing his cooking over a spirit-lamp. He got up every + day with the sun, took a plunge in a brown pool he knew of, and spent long + hours lying in the scented hemlock-woods above the house, or wandering + along the yoke of the Eagle Ridge, far above the misty blue valleys that + swept away east and west between the endless hills. And in the afternoon + Charity came to him. + </p> + <p> + With part of what was left of her savings she had hired a bicycle for a + month, and every day after dinner, as soon as her guardian started to his + office, she hurried to the library, got out her bicycle, and flew down the + Creston road. She knew that Mr. Royall, like everyone else in North + Dormer, was perfectly aware of her acquisition: possibly he, as well as + the rest of the village, knew what use she made of it. She did not care: + she felt him to be so powerless that if he had questioned her she would + probably have told him the truth. But they had never spoken to each other + since the night on the wharf at Nettleton. He had returned to North Dormer + only on the third day after that encounter, arriving just as Charity and + Verena were sitting down to supper. He had drawn up his chair, taken his + napkin from the side-board drawer, pulled it out of its ring, and seated + himself as unconcernedly as if he had come in from his usual afternoon + session at Carrick Fry's; and the long habit of the household made it seem + almost natural that Charity should not so much as raise her eyes when he + entered. She had simply let him understand that her silence was not + accidental by leaving the table while he was still eating, and going up + without a word to shut herself into her room. After that he formed the + habit of talking loudly and genially to Verena whenever Charity was in the + room; but otherwise there was no apparent change in their relations. + </p> + <p> + She did not think connectedly of these things while she sat waiting for + Harney, but they remained in her mind as a sullen background against which + her short hours with him flamed out like forest fires. Nothing else + mattered, neither the good nor the bad, or what might have seemed so + before she knew him. He had caught her up and carried her away into a new + world, from which, at stated hours, the ghost of her came back to perform + certain customary acts, but all so thinly and insubstantially that she + sometimes wondered that the people she went about among could see her.... + </p> + <p> + Behind the swarthy Mountain the sun had gone down in waveless gold. From a + pasture up the slope a tinkle of cow-bells sounded; a puff of smoke hung + over the farm in the valley, trailed on the pure air and was gone. For a + few minutes, in the clear light that is all shadow, fields and woods were + outlined with an unreal precision; then the twilight blotted them out, and + the little house turned gray and spectral under its wizened + apple-branches. + </p> + <p> + Charity's heart contracted. The first fall of night after a day of + radiance often gave her a sense of hidden menace: it was like looking out + over the world as it would be when love had gone from it. She wondered if + some day she would sit in that same place and watch in vain for her + lover.... + </p> + <p> + His bicycle-bell sounded down the lane, and in a minute she was at the + gate and his eyes were laughing in hers. They walked back through the long + grass, and pushed open the door behind the house. The room at first seemed + quite dark and they had to grope their way in hand in hand. Through the + window-frame the sky looked light by contrast, and above the black mass of + asters in the earthen jar one white star glimmered like a moth. + </p> + <p> + “There was such a lot to do at the last minute,” Harney was explaining, + “and I had to drive down to Creston to meet someone who has come to stay + with my cousin for the show.” + </p> + <p> + He had his arms about her, and his kisses were in her hair and on her + lips. Under his touch things deep down in her struggled to the light and + sprang up like flowers in sunshine. She twisted her fingers into his, and + they sat down side by side on the improvised couch. She hardly heard his + excuses for being late: in his absence a thousand doubts tormented her, + but as soon as he appeared she ceased to wonder where he had come from, + what had delayed him, who had kept him from her. It seemed as if the + places he had been in, and the people he had been with, must cease to + exist when he left them, just as her own life was suspended in his + absence. + </p> + <p> + He continued, now, to talk to her volubly and gaily, deploring his + lateness, grumbling at the demands on his time, and good-humouredly + mimicking Miss Hatchard's benevolent agitation. “She hurried off Miles to + ask Mr. Royall to speak at the Town Hall tomorrow: I didn't know till it + was done.” Charity was silent, and he added: “After all, perhaps it's just + as well. No one else could have done it.” + </p> + <p> + Charity made no answer: She did not care what part her guardian played in + the morrow's ceremonies. Like all the other figures peopling her meagre + world he had grown non-existent to her. She had even put off hating him. + </p> + <p> + “Tomorrow I shall only see you from far off,” Harney continued. “But in + the evening there'll be the dance in the Town Hall. Do you want me to + promise not to dance with any other girl?” + </p> + <p> + Any other girl? Were there any others? She had forgotten even that peril, + so enclosed did he and she seem in their secret world. Her heart gave a + frightened jerk. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, promise.” + </p> + <p> + He laughed and took her in his arms. “You goose—not even if they're + hideous?” + </p> + <p> + He pushed the hair from her forehead, bending her face back, as his way + was, and leaning over so that his head loomed black between her eyes and + the paleness of the sky, in which the white star floated... + </p> + <p> + Side by side they sped back along the dark wood-road to the village. A + late moon was rising, full orbed and fiery, turning the mountain ranges + from fluid gray to a massive blackness, and making the upper sky so light + that the stars looked as faint as their own reflections in water. At the + edge of the wood, half a mile from North Dormer, Harney jumped from his + bicycle, took Charity in his arms for a last kiss, and then waited while + she went on alone. + </p> + <p> + They were later than usual, and instead of taking the bicycle to the + library she propped it against the back of the wood-shed and entered the + kitchen of the red house. Verena sat there alone; when Charity came in she + looked at her with mild impenetrable eyes and then took a plate and a + glass of milk from the shelf and set them silently on the table. Charity + nodded her thanks, and sitting down, fell hungrily upon her piece of pie + and emptied the glass. Her face burned with her quick flight through the + night, and her eyes were dazzled by the twinkle of the kitchen lamp. She + felt like a night-bird suddenly caught and caged. + </p> + <p> + “He ain't come back since supper,” Verena said. “He's down to the Hall.” + </p> + <p> + Charity took no notice. Her soul was still winging through the forest. She + washed her plate and tumbler, and then felt her way up the dark stairs. + When she opened her door a wonder arrested her. Before going out she had + closed her shutters against the afternoon heat, but they had swung partly + open, and a bar of moonlight, crossing the room, rested on her bed and + showed a dress of China silk laid out on it in virgin whiteness. Charity + had spent more than she could afford on the dress, which was to surpass + those of all the other girls; she had wanted to let North Dormer see that + she was worthy of Harney's admiration. Above the dress, folded on the + pillow, was the white veil which the young women who took part in the + exercises were to wear under a wreath of asters; and beside the veil a + pair of slim white satin shoes that Ally had produced from an old trunk in + which she stored mysterious treasures. + </p> + <p> + Charity stood gazing at all the outspread whiteness. It recalled a vision + that had come to her in the night after her first meeting with Harney. She + no longer had such visions... warmer splendours had displaced them... but + it was stupid of Ally to have paraded all those white things on her bed, + exactly as Hattie Targatt's wedding dress from Springfield had been spread + out for the neighbours to see when she married Tom Fry.... + </p> + <p> + Charity took up the satin shoes and looked at them curiously. By day, no + doubt, they would appear a little worn, but in the moonlight they seemed + carved of ivory. She sat down on the floor to try them on, and they fitted + her perfectly, though when she stood up she lurched a little on the high + heels. She looked down at her feet, which the graceful mould of the + slippers had marvellously arched and narrowed. She had never seen such + shoes before, even in the shop-windows at Nettleton... never, except... + yes, once, she had noticed a pair of the same shape on Annabel Balch. + </p> + <p> + A blush of mortification swept over her. Ally sometimes sewed for Miss + Balch when that brilliant being descended on North Dormer, and no doubt + she picked up presents of cast-off clothing: the treasures in the + mysterious trunk all came from the people she worked for; there could be + no doubt that the white slippers were Annabel Balch's.... + </p> + <p> + As she stood there, staring down moodily at her feet, she heard the triple + click-click-click of a bicycle-bell under her window. It was Harney's + secret signal as he passed on his way home. She stumbled to the window on + her high heels, flung open the shutters and leaned out. He waved to her + and sped by, his black shadow dancing merrily ahead of him down the empty + moonlit road; and she leaned there watching him till he vanished under the + Hatchard spruces. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIII + </h2> + <p> + THE Town Hall was crowded and exceedingly hot. As Charity marched into it + third in the white muslin file headed by Orma Fry, she was conscious + mainly of the brilliant effect of the wreathed columns framing the + green-carpeted stage toward which she was moving; and of the unfamiliar + faces turning from the front rows to watch the advance of the procession. + </p> + <p> + But it was all a bewildering blur of eyes and colours till she found + herself standing at the back of the stage, her great bunch of asters and + goldenrod held well in front of her, and answering the nervous glance of + Lambert Sollas, the organist from Mr. Miles's church, who had come up from + Nettleton to play the harmonium and sat behind it, his conductor's eye + running over the fluttered girls. + </p> + <p> + A moment later Mr. Miles, pink and twinkling, emerged from the background, + as if buoyed up on his broad white gown, and briskly dominated the bowed + heads in the front rows. He prayed energetically and briefly and then + retired, and a fierce nod from Lambert Sollas warned the girls that they + were to follow at once with “Home, Sweet Home.” It was a joy to Charity to + sing: it seemed as though, for the first time, her secret rapture might + burst from her and flash its defiance at the world. All the glow in her + blood, the breath of the summer earth, the rustle of the forest, the fresh + call of birds at sunrise, and the brooding midday languors, seemed to pass + into her untrained voice, lifted and led by the sustaining chorus. + </p> + <p> + And then suddenly the song was over, and after an uncertain pause, during + which Miss Hatchard's pearl-grey gloves started a furtive signalling down + the hall, Mr. Royall, emerging in turn, ascended the steps of the stage + and appeared behind the flower-wreathed desk. He passed close to Charity, + and she noticed that his gravely set face wore the look of majesty that + used to awe and fascinate her childhood. His frock-coat had been carefully + brushed and ironed, and the ends of his narrow black tie were so nearly + even that the tying must have cost him a protracted struggle. His + appearance struck her all the more because it was the first time she had + looked him full in the face since the night at Nettleton, and nothing in + his grave and impressive demeanour revealed a trace of the lamentable + figure on the wharf. + </p> + <p> + He stood a moment behind the desk, resting his finger-tips against it, and + bending slightly toward his audience; then he straightened himself and + began. + </p> + <p> + At first she paid no heed to what he was saying: only fragments of + sentences, sonorous quotations, allusions to illustrious men, including + the obligatory tribute to Honorius Hatchard, drifted past her inattentive + ears. She was trying to discover Harney among the notable people in the + front row; but he was nowhere near Miss Hatchard, who, crowned by a + pearl-grey hat that matched her gloves, sat just below the desk, supported + by Mrs. Miles and an important-looking unknown lady. Charity was near one + end of the stage, and from where she sat the other end of the first row of + seats was cut off by the screen of foliage masking the harmonium. The + effort to see Harney around the corner of the screen, or through its + interstices, made her unconscious of everything else; but the effort was + unsuccessful, and gradually she found her attention arrested by her + guardian's discourse. + </p> + <p> + She had never heard him speak in public before, but she was familiar with + the rolling music of his voice when he read aloud, or held forth to the + selectmen about the stove at Carrick Fry's. Today his inflections were + richer and graver than she had ever known them: he spoke slowly, with + pauses that seemed to invite his hearers to silent participation in his + thought; and Charity perceived a light of response in their faces. + </p> + <p> + He was nearing the end of his address... “Most of you,” he said, “most of + you who have returned here today, to take contact with this little place + for a brief hour, have come only on a pious pilgrimage, and will go back + presently to busy cities and lives full of larger duties. But that is not + the only way of coming back to North Dormer. Some of us, who went out from + here in our youth... went out, like you, to busy cities and larger + duties... have come back in another way—come back for good. I am one + of those, as many of you know....” He paused, and there was a sense of + suspense in the listening hall. “My history is without interest, but it + has its lesson: not so much for those of you who have already made your + lives in other places, as for the young men who are perhaps planning even + now to leave these quiet hills and go down into the struggle. Things they + cannot foresee may send some of those young men back some day to the + little township and the old homestead: they may come back for good....” He + looked about him, and repeated gravely: “For GOOD. There's the point I + want to make... North Dormer is a poor little place, almost lost in a + mighty landscape: perhaps, by this time, it might have been a bigger + place, and more in scale with the landscape, if those who had to come back + had come with that feeling in their minds—that they wanted to come + back for GOOD... and not for bad... or just for indifference.... + </p> + <p> + “Gentlemen, let us look at things as they are. Some of us have come back + to our native town because we'd failed to get on elsewhere. One way or + other, things had gone wrong with us... what we'd dreamed of hadn't come + true. But the fact that we had failed elsewhere is no reason why we should + fail here. Our very experiments in larger places, even if they were + unsuccessful, ought to have helped us to make North Dormer a larger + place... and you young men who are preparing even now to follow the call + of ambition, and turn your back on the old homes—well, let me say + this to you, that if ever you do come back to them it's worth while to + come back to them for their good.... And to do that, you must keep on + loving them while you're away from them; and even if you come back against + your will—and thinking it's all a bitter mistake of Fate or + Providence—you must try to make the best of it, and to make the best + of your old town; and after a while—well, ladies and gentlemen, I + give you my recipe for what it's worth; after a while, I believe you'll be + able to say, as I can say today: 'I'm glad I'm here.' Believe me, all of + you, the best way to help the places we live in is to be glad we live + there.” + </p> + <p> + He stopped, and a murmur of emotion and surprise ran through the audience. + It was not in the least what they had expected, but it moved them more + than what they had expected would have moved them. “Hear, hear!” a voice + cried out in the middle of the hall. An outburst of cheers caught up the + cry, and as they subsided Charity heard Mr. Miles saying to someone near + him: “That was a MAN talking——” He wiped his spectacles. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall had stepped back from the desk, and taken his seat in the row + of chairs in front of the harmonium. A dapper white-haired gentleman—a + distant Hatchard—succeeded him behind the goldenrod, and began to + say beautiful things about the old oaken bucket, patient white-haired + mothers, and where the boys used to go nutting... and Charity began again + to search for Harney.... + </p> + <p> + Suddenly Mr. Royall pushed back his seat, and one of the maple branches in + front of the harmonium collapsed with a crash. It uncovered the end of the + first row and in one of the seats Charity saw Harney, and in the next a + lady whose face was turned toward him, and almost hidden by the brim of + her drooping hat. Charity did not need to see the face. She knew at a + glance the slim figure, the fair hair heaped up under the hat-brim, the + long pale wrinkled gloves with bracelets slipping over them. At the fall + of the branch Miss Balch turned her head toward the stage, and in her + pretty thin-lipped smile there lingered the reflection of something her + neighbour had been whispering to her.... + </p> + <p> + Someone came forward to replace the fallen branch, and Miss Balch and + Harney were once more hidden. But to Charity the vision of their two faces + had blotted out everything. In a flash they had shown her the bare reality + of her situation. Behind the frail screen of her lover's caresses was the + whole inscrutable mystery of his life: his relations with other people—with + other women—his opinions, his prejudices, his principles, the net of + influences and interests and ambitions in which every man's life is + entangled. Of all these she knew nothing, except what he had told her of + his architectural aspirations. She had always dimly guessed him to be in + touch with important people, involved in complicated relations—but + she felt it all to be so far beyond her understanding that the whole + subject hung like a luminous mist on the farthest verge of her thoughts. + In the foreground, hiding all else, there was the glow of his presence, + the light and shadow of his face, the way his short-sighted eyes, at her + approach, widened and deepened as if to draw her down into them; and, + above all, the flush of youth and tenderness in which his words enclosed + her. + </p> + <p> + Now she saw him detached from her, drawn back into the unknown, and + whispering to another girl things that provoked the same smile of + mischievous complicity he had so often called to her own lips. The feeling + possessing her was not one of jealousy: she was too sure of his love. It + was rather a terror of the unknown, of all the mysterious attractions that + must even now be dragging him away from her, and of her own powerlessness + to contend with them. + </p> + <p> + She had given him all she had—but what was it compared to the other + gifts life held for him? She understood now the case of girls like herself + to whom this kind of thing happened. They gave all they had, but their all + was not enough: it could not buy more than a few moments.... + </p> + <p> + The heat had grown suffocating—she felt it descend on her in + smothering waves, and the faces in the crowded hall began to dance like + the pictures flashed on the screen at Nettleton. For an instant Mr. + Royall's countenance detached itself from the general blur. He had resumed + his place in front of the harmonium, and sat close to her, his eyes on her + face; and his look seemed to pierce to the very centre of her confused + sensations.... A feeling of physical sickness rushed over her—and + then deadly apprehension. The light of the fiery hours in the little house + swept back on her in a glare of fear.... + </p> + <p> + She forced herself to look away from her guardian, and became aware that + the oratory of the Hatchard cousin had ceased, and that Mr. Miles was + again flapping his wings. Fragments of his peroration floated through her + bewildered brain.... “A rich harvest of hallowed memories.... A sanctified + hour to which, in moments of trial, your thoughts will prayerfully + return.... And now, O Lord, let us humbly and fervently give thanks for + this blessed day of reunion, here in the old home to which we have come + back from so far. Preserve it to us, O Lord, in times to come, in all its + homely sweetness—in the kindliness and wisdom of its old people, in + the courage and industry of its young men, in the piety and purity of this + group of innocent girls——” He flapped a white wing in their + direction, and at the same moment Lambert Sollas, with his fierce nod, + struck the opening bars of “Auld Lang Syne.”... Charity stared straight + ahead of her and then, dropping her flowers, fell face downward at Mr. + Royall's feet. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XIV + </h2> + <p> + NORTH DORMER'S celebration naturally included the villages attached to its + township, and the festivities were to radiate over the whole group, from + Dormer and the two Crestons to Hamblin, the lonely hamlet on the north + slope of the Mountain where the first snow always fell. On the third day + there were speeches and ceremonies at Creston and Creston River; on the + fourth the principal performers were to be driven in buck-boards to Dormer + and Hamblin. + </p> + <p> + It was on the fourth day that Charity returned for the first time to the + little house. She had not seen Harney alone since they had parted at the + wood's edge the night before the celebrations began. In the interval she + had passed through many moods, but for the moment the terror which had + seized her in the Town Hall had faded to the edge of consciousness. She + had fainted because the hall was stiflingly hot, and because the speakers + had gone on and on.... Several other people had been affected by the heat, + and had had to leave before the exercises were over. There had been + thunder in the air all the afternoon, and everyone said afterward that + something ought to have been done to ventilate the hall.... + </p> + <p> + At the dance that evening—where she had gone reluctantly, and only + because she feared to stay away, she had sprung back into instant + reassurance. As soon as she entered she had seen Harney waiting for her, + and he had come up with kind gay eyes, and swept her off in a waltz. Her + feet were full of music, and though her only training had been with the + village youths she had no difficulty in tuning her steps to his. As they + circled about the floor all her vain fears dropped from her, and she even + forgot that she was probably dancing in Annabel Balch's slippers. + </p> + <p> + When the waltz was over Harney, with a last hand-clasp, left her to meet + Miss Hatchard and Miss Balch, who were just entering. Charity had a moment + of anguish as Miss Balch appeared; but it did not last. The triumphant + fact of her own greater beauty, and of Harney's sense of it, swept her + apprehensions aside. Miss Balch, in an unbecoming dress, looked sallow and + pinched, and Charity fancied there was a worried expression in her + pale-lashed eyes. She took a seat near Miss Hatchard and it was presently + apparent that she did not mean to dance. Charity did not dance often + either. Harney explained to her that Miss Hatchard had begged him to give + each of the other girls a turn; but he went through the form of asking + Charity's permission each time he led one out, and that gave her a sense + of secret triumph even completer than when she was whirling about the room + with him. + </p> + <p> + She was thinking of all this as she waited for him in the deserted house. + The late afternoon was sultry, and she had tossed aside her hat and + stretched herself at full length on the Mexican blanket because it was + cooler indoors than under the trees. She lay with her arms folded beneath + her head, gazing out at the shaggy shoulder of the Mountain. The sky + behind it was full of the splintered glories of the descending sun, and + before long she expected to hear Harney's bicycle-bell in the lane. He had + bicycled to Hamblin, instead of driving there with his cousin and her + friends, so that he might be able to make his escape earlier and stop on + the way back at the deserted house, which was on the road to Hamblin. They + had smiled together at the joke of hearing the crowded buck-boards roll by + on the return, while they lay close in their hiding above the road. Such + childish triumphs still gave her a sense of reckless security. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless she had not wholly forgotten the vision of fear that had + opened before her in the Town Hall. The sense of lastingness was gone from + her and every moment with Harney would now be ringed with doubt. + </p> + <p> + The Mountain was turning purple against a fiery sunset from which it + seemed to be divided by a knife-edge of quivering light; and above this + wall of flame the whole sky was a pure pale green, like some cold mountain + lake in shadow. Charity lay gazing up at it, and watching for the first + white star.... + </p> + <p> + Her eyes were still fixed on the upper reaches of the sky when she became + aware that a shadow had flitted across the glory-flooded room: it must + have been Harney passing the window against the sunset.... She half raised + herself, and then dropped back on her folded arms. The combs had slipped + from her hair, and it trailed in a rough dark rope across her breast. She + lay quite still, a sleepy smile on her lips, her indolent lids half shut. + There was a fumbling at the padlock and she called out: “Have you slipped + the chain?” The door opened, and Mr. Royall walked into the room. + </p> + <p> + She started up, sitting back against the cushions, and they looked at each + other without speaking. Then Mr. Royall closed the door-latch and advanced + a few steps. + </p> + <p> + Charity jumped to her feet. “What have you come for?” she stammered. + </p> + <p> + The last glare of the sunset was on her guardian's face, which looked + ash-coloured in the yellow radiance. + </p> + <p> + “Because I knew you were here,” he answered simply. + </p> + <p> + She had become conscious of the hair hanging loose across her breast, and + it seemed as though she could not speak to him till she had set herself in + order. She groped for her comb, and tried to fasten up the coil. Mr. + Royall silently watched her. + </p> + <p> + “Charity,” he said, “he'll be here in a minute. Let me talk to you first.” + </p> + <p> + “You've got no right to talk to me. I can do what I please.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. What is it you mean to do?” + </p> + <p> + “I needn't answer that, or anything else.” + </p> + <p> + He had glanced away, and stood looking curiously about the illuminated + room. Purple asters and red maple-leaves filled the jar on the table; on a + shelf against the wall stood a lamp, the kettle, a little pile of cups and + saucers. The canvas chairs were grouped about the table. + </p> + <p> + “So this is where you meet,” he said. + </p> + <p> + His tone was quiet and controlled, and the fact disconcerted her. She had + been ready to give him violence for violence, but this calm acceptance of + things as they were left her without a weapon. + </p> + <p> + “See here, Charity—you're always telling me I've got no rights over + you. There might be two ways of looking at that—but I ain't going to + argue it. All I know is I raised you as good as I could, and meant fairly + by you always except once, for a bad half-hour. There's no justice in + weighing that half-hour against the rest, and you know it. If you hadn't, + you wouldn't have gone on living under my roof. Seems to me the fact of + your doing that gives me some sort of a right; the right to try and keep + you out of trouble. I'm not asking you to consider any other.” + </p> + <p> + She listened in silence, and then gave a slight laugh. “Better wait till + I'm in trouble,” she said. He paused a moment, as if weighing her words. + “Is that all your answer?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, that's all.” + </p> + <p> + “Well—I'll wait.” + </p> + <p> + He turned away slowly, but as he did so the thing she had been waiting for + happened; the door opened again and Harney entered. + </p> + <p> + He stopped short with a face of astonishment, and then, quickly + controlling himself, went up to Mr. Royall with a frank look. + </p> + <p> + “Have you come to see me, sir?” he said coolly, throwing his cap on the + table with an air of proprietorship. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall again looked slowly about the room; then his eyes turned to the + young man. + </p> + <p> + “Is this your house?” he inquired. + </p> + <p> + Harney laughed: “Well—as much as it's anybody's. I come here to + sketch occasionally.” + </p> + <p> + “And to receive Miss Royall's visits?” + </p> + <p> + “When she does me the honour——” + </p> + <p> + “Is this the home you propose to bring her to when you get married?” + </p> + <p> + There was an immense and oppressive silence. Charity, quivering with + anger, started forward, and then stood silent, too humbled for speech. + Harney's eyes had dropped under the old man's gaze; but he raised them + presently, and looking steadily at Mr. Royall, said: “Miss Royall is not a + child. Isn't it rather absurd to talk of her as if she were? I believe she + considers herself free to come and go as she pleases, without any + questions from anyone.” He paused and added: “I'm ready to answer any she + wishes to ask me.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall turned to her. “Ask him when he's going to marry you, then——” + There was another silence, and he laughed in his turn—a broken + laugh, with a scraping sound in it. “You darsn't!” he shouted out with + sudden passion. He went close up to Charity, his right arm lifted, not in + menace but in tragic exhortation. + </p> + <p> + “You darsn't, and you know it—and you know why!” He swung back again + upon the young man. “And you know why you ain't asked her to marry you, + and why you don't mean to. It's because you hadn't need to; nor any other + man either. I'm the only one that was fool enough not to know that; and I + guess nobody'll repeat my mistake—not in Eagle County, anyhow. They + all know what she is, and what she came from. They all know her mother was + a woman of the town from Nettleton, that followed one of those Mountain + fellows up to his place and lived there with him like a heathen. I saw her + there sixteen years ago, when I went to bring this child down. I went to + save her from the kind of life her mother was leading—but I'd better + have left her in the kennel she came from....” He paused and stared darkly + at the two young people, and out beyond them, at the menacing Mountain + with its rim of fire; then he sat down beside the table on which they had + so often spread their rustic supper, and covered his face with his hands. + Harney leaned in the window, a frown on his face: he was twirling between + his fingers a small package that dangled from a loop of string.... Charity + heard Mr. Royall draw a hard breath or two, and his shoulders shook a + little. Presently he stood up and walked across the room. He did not look + again at the young people: they saw him feel his way to the door and + fumble for the latch; and then he went out into the darkness. + </p> + <p> + After he had gone there was a long silence. Charity waited for Harney to + speak; but he seemed at first not to find anything to say. At length he + broke out irrelevantly: “I wonder how he found out?” + </p> + <p> + She made no answer and he tossed down the package he had been holding, and + went up to her. + </p> + <p> + “I'm so sorry, dear... that this should have happened....” + </p> + <p> + She threw her head back proudly. “I ain't ever been sorry—not a + minute!” + </p> + <p> + “No.” + </p> + <p> + She waited to be caught into his arms, but he turned away from her + irresolutely. The last glow was gone from behind the Mountain. Everything + in the room had turned grey and indistinct, and an autumnal dampness crept + up from the hollow below the orchard, laying its cold touch on their + flushed faces. Harney walked the length of the room, and then turned back + and sat down at the table. + </p> + <p> + “Come,” he said imperiously. + </p> + <p> + She sat down beside him, and he untied the string about the package and + spread out a pile of sandwiches. + </p> + <p> + “I stole them from the love-feast at Hamblin,” he said with a laugh, + pushing them over to her. She laughed too, and took one, and began to eat. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you make the tea?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” she said. “I forgot——” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, well—it's too late to boil the water now.” He said nothing + more, and sitting opposite to each other they went on silently eating the + sandwiches. Darkness had descended in the little room, and Harney's face + was a dim blur to Charity. Suddenly he leaned across the table and laid + his hand on hers. + </p> + <p> + “I shall have to go off for a while—a month or two, perhaps—to + arrange some things; and then I'll come back... and we'll get married.” + </p> + <p> + His voice seemed like a stranger's: nothing was left in it of the + vibrations she knew. Her hand lay inertly under his, and she left it + there, and raised her head, trying to answer him. But the words died in + her throat. They sat motionless, in their attitude of confident + endearment, as if some strange death had surprised them. At length Harney + sprang to his feet with a slight shiver. “God! it's damp—we couldn't + have come here much longer.” He went to the shelf, took down a tin + candle-stick and lit the candle; then he propped an unhinged shutter + against the empty window-frame and put the candle on the table. It threw a + queer shadow on his frowning forehead, and made the smile on his lips a + grimace. + </p> + <p> + “But it's been good, though, hasn't it, Charity?... What's the matter—why + do you stand there staring at me? Haven't the days here been good?” He + went up to her and caught her to his breast. “And there'll be others—lots + of others... jollier... even jollier... won't there, darling?” + </p> + <p> + He turned her head back, feeling for the curve of her throat below the + ear, and kissing here there, and on the hair and eyes and lips. She clung + to him desperately, and as he drew her to his knees on the couch she felt + as if they were being sucked down together into some bottomless abyss. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XV + </h2> + <p> + That night, as usual, they said good-bye at the wood's edge. + </p> + <p> + Harney was to leave the next morning early. He asked Charity to say + nothing of their plans till his return, and, strangely even to herself, + she was glad of the postponement. A leaden weight of shame hung on her, + benumbing every other sensation, and she bade him good-bye with hardly a + sign of emotion. His reiterated promises to return seemed almost wounding. + She had no doubt that he intended to come back; her doubts were far deeper + and less definable. + </p> + <p> + Since the fanciful vision of the future that had flitted through her + imagination at their first meeting she had hardly ever thought of his + marrying her. She had not had to put the thought from her mind; it had not + been there. If ever she looked ahead she felt instinctively that the gulf + between them was too deep, and that the bridge their passion had flung + across it was as insubstantial as a rainbow. But she seldom looked ahead; + each day was so rich that it absorbed her.... Now her first feeling was + that everything would be different, and that she herself would be a + different being to Harney. Instead of remaining separate and absolute, she + would be compared with other people, and unknown things would be expected + of her. She was too proud to be afraid, but the freedom of her spirit + drooped.... + </p> + <p> + Harney had not fixed any date for his return; he had said he would have to + look about first, and settle things. He had promised to write as soon as + there was anything definite to say, and had left her his address, and + asked her to write also. But the address frightened her. It was in New + York, at a club with a long name in Fifth Avenue: it seemed to raise an + insurmountable barrier between them. Once or twice, in the first days, she + got out a sheet of paper, and sat looking at it, and trying to think what + to say; but she had the feeling that her letter would never reach its + destination. She had never written to anyone farther away than Hepburn. + </p> + <p> + Harney's first letter came after he had been gone about ten days. It was + tender but grave, and bore no resemblance to the gay little notes he had + sent her by the freckled boy from Creston River. He spoke positively of + his intention of coming back, but named no date, and reminded Charity of + their agreement that their plans should not be divulged till he had had + time to “settle things.” When that would be he could not yet foresee; but + she could count on his returning as soon as the way was clear. + </p> + <p> + She read the letter with a strange sense of its coming from immeasurable + distances and having lost most of its meaning on the way; and in reply she + sent him a coloured postcard of Creston Falls, on which she wrote: “With + love from Charity.” She felt the pitiful inadequacy of this, and + understood, with a sense of despair, that in her inability to express + herself she must give him an impression of coldness and reluctance; but + she could not help it. She could not forget that he had never spoken to + her of marriage till Mr. Royall had forced the word from his lips; though + she had not had the strength to shake off the spell that bound her to him + she had lost all spontaneity of feeling, and seemed to herself to be + passively awaiting a fate she could not avert. + </p> + <p> + She had not seen Mr. Royall on her return to the red house. The morning + after her parting from Harney, when she came down from her room, Verena + told her that her guardian had gone off to Worcester and Portland. It was + the time of year when he usually reported to the insurance agencies he + represented, and there was nothing unusual in his departure except its + suddenness. She thought little about him, except to be glad he was not + there.... + </p> + <p> + She kept to herself for the first days, while North Dormer was recovering + from its brief plunge into publicity, and the subsiding agitation left her + unnoticed. But the faithful Ally could not be long avoided. For the first + few days after the close of the Old Home Week festivities Charity escaped + her by roaming the hills all day when she was not at her post in the + library; but after that a period of rain set in, and one pouring + afternoon, Ally, sure that she would find her friend indoors, came around + to the red house with her sewing. + </p> + <p> + The two girls sat upstairs in Charity's room. Charity, her idle hands in + her lap, was sunk in a kind of leaden dream, through which she was only + half-conscious of Ally, who sat opposite her in a low rush-bottomed chair, + her work pinned to her knee, and her thin lips pursed up as she bent above + it. + </p> + <p> + “It was my idea running a ribbon through the gauging,” she said proudly, + drawing back to contemplate the blouse she was trimming. “It's for Miss + Balch: she was awfully pleased.” She paused and then added, with a queer + tremor in her piping voice: “I darsn't have told her I got the idea from + one I saw on Julia.” + </p> + <p> + Charity raised her eyes listlessly. “Do you still see Julia sometimes?” + </p> + <p> + Ally reddened, as if the allusion had escaped her unintentionally. “Oh, it + was a long time ago I seen her with those gaugings....” + </p> + <p> + Silence fell again, and Ally presently continued: “Miss Balch left me a + whole lot of things to do over this time.” + </p> + <p> + “Why—has she gone?” Charity inquired with an inner start of + apprehension. + </p> + <p> + “Didn't you know? She went off the morning after they had the celebration + at Hamblin. I seen her drive by early with Mr. Harney.” + </p> + <p> + There was another silence, measured by the steady tick of the rain against + the window, and, at intervals, by the snipping sound of Ally's scissors. + </p> + <p> + Ally gave a meditative laugh. “Do you know what she told me before she + went away? She told me she was going to send for me to come over to + Springfield and make some things for her wedding.” + </p> + <p> + Charity again lifted her heavy lids and stared at Ally's pale pointed + face, which moved to and fro above her moving fingers. + </p> + <p> + “Is she going to get married?” + </p> + <p> + Ally let the blouse sink to her knee, and sat gazing at it. Her lips + seemed suddenly dry, and she moistened them a little with her tongue. + </p> + <p> + “Why, I presume so... from what she said.... Didn't you know?” + </p> + <p> + “Why should I know?” + </p> + <p> + Ally did not answer. She bent above the blouse, and began picking out a + basting thread with the point of the scissors. + </p> + <p> + “Why should I know?” Charity repeated harshly. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know but what... folks here say she's engaged to Mr. Harney.” + </p> + <p> + Charity stood up with a laugh, and stretched her arms lazily above her + head. + </p> + <p> + “If all the people got married that folks say are going to you'd have your + time full making wedding-dresses,” she said ironically. + </p> + <p> + “Why—don't you believe it?” Ally ventured. + </p> + <p> + “It would not make it true if I did—nor prevent it if I didn't.” + </p> + <p> + “That's so.... I only know I seen her crying the night of the party + because her dress didn't set right. That was why she wouldn't dance + any....” + </p> + <p> + Charity stood absently gazing down at the lacy garment on Ally's knee. + Abruptly she stooped and snatched it up. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I guess she won't dance in this either,” she said with sudden + violence; and grasping the blouse in her strong young hands she tore it in + two and flung the tattered bits to the floor. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Charity——” Ally cried, springing up. For a long interval + the two girls faced each other across the ruined garment. Ally burst into + tears. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, what'll I say to her? What'll I do? It was real lace!” she wailed + between her piping sobs. + </p> + <p> + Charity glared at her unrelentingly. “You'd oughtn't to have brought it + here,” she said, breathing quickly. “I hate other people's clothes—it's + just as if they was there themselves.” The two stared at each other again + over this avowal, till Charity brought out, in a gasp of anguish: “Oh, go—go—go—or + I'll hate you too....” + </p> + <p> + When Ally left her, she fell sobbing across her bed. + </p> + <p> + The long storm was followed by a north-west gale, and when it was over, + the hills took on their first umber tints, the sky grew more densely blue, + and the big white clouds lay against the hills like snow-banks. The first + crisp maple-leaves began to spin across Miss Hatchard's lawn, and the + Virginia creeper on the Memorial splashed the white porch with scarlet. It + was a golden triumphant September. Day by day the flame of the Virginia + creeper spread to the hillsides in wider waves of carmine and crimson, the + larches glowed like the thin yellow halo about a fire, the maples blazed + and smouldered, and the black hemlocks turned to indigo against the + incandescence of the forest. + </p> + <p> + The nights were cold, with a dry glitter of stars so high up that they + seemed smaller and more vivid. Sometimes, as Charity lay sleepless on her + bed through the long hours, she felt as though she were bound to those + wheeling fires and swinging with them around the great black vault. At + night she planned many things... it was then she wrote to Harney. But the + letters were never put on paper, for she did not know how to express what + she wanted to tell him. So she waited. Since her talk with Ally she had + felt sure that Harney was engaged to Annabel Balch, and that the process + of “settling things” would involve the breaking of this tie. Her first + rage of jealousy over, she felt no fear on this score. She was still sure + that Harney would come back, and she was equally sure that, for the moment + at least, it was she whom he loved and not Miss Balch. Yet the girl, no + less, remained a rival, since she represented all the things that Charity + felt herself most incapable of understanding or achieving. Annabel Balch + was, if not the girl Harney ought to marry, at least the kind of girl it + would be natural for him to marry. Charity had never been able to picture + herself as his wife; had never been able to arrest the vision and follow + it out in its daily consequences; but she could perfectly imagine Annabel + Balch in that relation to him. + </p> + <p> + The more she thought of these things the more the sense of fatality + weighed on her: she felt the uselessness of struggling against the + circumstances. She had never known how to adapt herself; she could only + break and tear and destroy. The scene with Ally had left her stricken with + shame at her own childish savagery. What would Harney have thought if he + had witnessed it? But when she turned the incident over in her puzzled + mind she could not imagine what a civilized person would have done in her + place. She felt herself too unequally pitted against unknown forces.... + </p> + <p> + At length this feeling moved her to sudden action. She took a sheet of + letter paper from Mr. Royall's office, and sitting by the kitchen lamp, + one night after Verena had gone to bed, began her first letter to Harney. + It was very short: + </p> + <p> + I want you should marry Annabel Balch if you promised to. I think maybe + you were afraid I'd feel too bad about it. I feel I'd rather you acted + right. Your loving CHARITY. + </p> + <p> + She posted the letter early the next morning, and for a few days her heart + felt strangely light. Then she began to wonder why she received no answer. + </p> + <p> + One day as she sat alone in the library pondering these things the walls + of books began to spin around her, and the rosewood desk to rock under her + elbows. The dizziness was followed by a wave of nausea like that she had + felt on the day of the exercises in the Town Hall. But the Town Hall had + been crowded and stiflingly hot, and the library was empty, and so chilly + that she had kept on her jacket. Five minutes before she had felt + perfectly well; and now it seemed as if she were going to die. The bit of + lace at which she still languidly worked dropped from her fingers, and the + steel crochet hook clattered to the floor. She pressed her temples hard + between her damp hands, steadying herself against the desk while the wave + of sickness swept over her. Little by little it subsided, and after a few + minutes she stood up, shaken and terrified, groped for her hat, and + stumbled out into the air. But the whole sunlit autumn whirled, reeled and + roared around her as she dragged herself along the interminable length of + the road home. + </p> + <p> + As she approached the red house she saw a buggy standing at the door, and + her heart gave a leap. But it was only Mr. Royall who got out, his + travelling-bag in hand. He saw her coming, and waited in the porch. She + was conscious that he was looking at her intently, as if there was + something strange in her appearance, and she threw back her head with a + desperate effort at ease. Their eyes met, and she said: “You back?” as if + nothing had happened, and he answered: “Yes, I'm back,” and walked in + ahead of her, pushing open the door of his office. She climbed to her + room, every step of the stairs holding her fast as if her feet were lined + with glue. + </p> + <p> + Two days later, she descended from the train at Nettleton, and walked out + of the station into the dusty square. The brief interval of cold weather + was over, and the day was as soft, and almost as hot, as when she and + Harney had emerged on the same scene on the Fourth of July. In the square + the same broken-down hacks and carry-alls stood drawn up in a despondent + line, and the lank horses with fly-nets over their withers swayed their + heads drearily to and fro. She recognized the staring signs over the + eating-houses and billiard saloons, and the long lines of wires on lofty + poles tapering down the main street to the park at its other end. Taking + the way the wires pointed, she went on hastily, with bent head, till she + reached a wide transverse street with a brick building at the corner. She + crossed this street and glanced furtively up at the front of the brick + building; then she returned, and entered a door opening on a flight of + steep brass-rimmed stairs. On the second landing she rang a bell, and a + mulatto girl with a bushy head and a frilled apron let her into a hall + where a stuffed fox on his hind legs proffered a brass card-tray to + visitors. At the back of the hall was a glazed door marked: “Office.” + After waiting a few minutes in a handsomely furnished room, with plush + sofas surmounted by large gold-framed photographs of showy young women, + Charity was shown into the office.... + </p> + <p> + When she came out of the glazed door Dr. Merkle followed, and led her into + another room, smaller, and still more crowded with plush and gold frames. + Dr. Merkle was a plump woman with small bright eyes, an immense mass of + black hair coming down low on her forehead, and unnaturally white and even + teeth. She wore a rich black dress, with gold chains and charms hanging + from her bosom. Her hands were large and smooth, and quick in all their + movements; and she smelt of musk and carbolic acid. + </p> + <p> + She smiled on Charity with all her faultless teeth. “Sit down, my dear. + Wouldn't you like a little drop of something to pick you up?... No.... + Well, just lay back a minute then.... There's nothing to be done just yet; + but in about a month, if you'll step round again... I could take you right + into my own house for two or three days, and there wouldn't be a mite of + trouble. Mercy me! The next time you'll know better'n to fret like + this....” + </p> + <p> + Charity gazed at her with widening eyes. This woman with the false hair, + the false teeth, the false murderous smile—what was she offering her + but immunity from some unthinkable crime? Charity, till then, had been + conscious only of a vague self-disgust and a frightening physical + distress; now, of a sudden, there came to her the grave surprise of + motherhood. She had come to this dreadful place because she knew of no + other way of making sure that she was not mistaken about her state; and + the woman had taken her for a miserable creature like Julia.... The + thought was so horrible that she sprang up, white and shaking, one of her + great rushes of anger sweeping over her. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Merkle, still smiling, also rose. “Why do you run off in such a hurry? + You can stretch out right here on my sofa....” She paused, and her smile + grew more motherly. “Afterwards—if there's been any talk at home, + and you want to get away for a while... I have a lady friend in Boston + who's looking for a companion... you're the very one to suit her, my + dear....” + </p> + <p> + Charity had reached the door. “I don't want to stay. I don't want to come + back here,” she stammered, her hand on the knob; but with a swift + movement, Dr. Merkle edged her from the threshold. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, very well. Five dollars, please.” + </p> + <p> + Charity looked helplessly at the doctor's tight lips and rigid face. Her + last savings had gone in repaying Ally for the cost of Miss Balch's ruined + blouse, and she had had to borrow four dollars from her friend to pay for + her railway ticket and cover the doctor's fee. It had never occurred to + her that medical advice could cost more than two dollars. + </p> + <p> + “I didn't know... I haven't got that much...” she faltered, bursting into + tears. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Merkle gave a short laugh which did not show her teeth, and inquired + with concision if Charity supposed she ran the establishment for her own + amusement? She leaned her firm shoulders against the door as she spoke, + like a grim gaoler making terms with her captive. + </p> + <p> + “You say you'll come round and settle later? I've heard that pretty often + too. Give me your address, and if you can't pay me I'll send the bill to + your folks.... What? I can't understand what you say.... That don't suit + you either? My, you're pretty particular for a girl that ain't got enough + to settle her own bills....” She paused, and fixed her eyes on the brooch + with a blue stone that Charity had pinned to her blouse. + </p> + <p> + “Ain't you ashamed to talk that way to a lady that's got to earn her + living, when you go about with jewellery like that on you?... It ain't in + my line, and I do it only as a favour... but if you're a mind to leave + that brooch as a pledge, I don't say no.... Yes, of course, you can get it + back when you bring me my money....” + </p> + <p> + On the way home, she felt an immense and unexpected quietude. It had been + horrible to have to leave Harney's gift in the woman's hands, but even at + that price the news she brought away had not been too dearly bought. She + sat with half-closed eyes as the train rushed through the familiar + landscape; and now the memories of her former journey, instead of flying + before her like dead leaves, seemed to be ripening in her blood like + sleeping grain. She would never again know what it was to feel herself + alone. Everything seemed to have grown suddenly clear and simple. She no + longer had any difficulty in picturing herself as Harney's wife now that + she was the mother of his child; and compared to her sovereign right + Annabel Balch's claim seemed no more than a girl's sentimental fancy. + </p> + <p> + That evening, at the gate of the red house, she found Ally waiting in the + dusk. “I was down at the post-office just as they were closing up, and + Will Targatt said there was a letter for you, so I brought it.” + </p> + <p> + Ally held out the letter, looking at Charity with piercing sympathy. Since + the scene of the torn blouse there had been a new and fearful admiration + in the eyes she bent on her friend. + </p> + <p> + Charity snatched the letter with a laugh. “Oh, thank you—good-night,” + she called out over her shoulder as she ran up the path. If she had + lingered a moment she knew she would have had Ally at her heels. + </p> + <p> + She hurried upstairs and felt her way into her dark room. Her hands + trembled as she groped for the matches and lit her candle, and the flap of + the envelope was so closely stuck that she had to find her scissors and + slit it open. At length she read: + </p> + <p> + “DEAR CHARITY: + </p> + <p> + “I have your letter, and it touches me more than I can say. Won't you trust + me, in return, to do my best? There are things it is hard to explain, much + less to justify; but your generosity makes everything easier. All I can do + now is to thank you from my soul for understanding. Your telling me that + you wanted me to do right has helped me beyond expression. If ever there + is a hope of realizing what we dreamed of you will see me back on the + instant; and I haven't yet lost that hope." + </p> + <p> + She read the letter with a rush; then she went over and over it, each time + more slowly and painstakingly. It was so beautifully expressed that she + found it almost as difficult to understand as the gentleman's explanation + of the Bible pictures at Nettleton; but gradually she became aware that + the gist of its meaning lay in the last few words. “If ever there is a + hope of realizing what we dreamed of...” + </p> + <p> + But then he wasn't even sure of that? She understood now that every word + and every reticence was an avowal of Annabel Balch's prior claim. It was + true that he was engaged to her, and that he had not yet found a way of + breaking his engagement. + </p> + <p> + As she read the letter over Charity understood what it must have cost him + to write it. He was not trying to evade an importunate claim; he was + honestly and contritely struggling between opposing duties. She did not + even reproach him in her thoughts for having concealed from her that he + was not free: she could not see anything more reprehensible in his conduct + than in her own. From the first she had needed him more than he had wanted + her, and the power that had swept them together had been as far beyond + resistance as a great gale loosening the leaves of the forest.... Only, + there stood between them, fixed and upright in the general upheaval, the + indestructible figure of Annabel Balch.... + </p> + <p> + Face to face with his admission of the fact, she sat staring at the + letter. A cold tremor ran over her, and the hard sobs struggled up into + her throat and shook her from head to foot. For a while she was caught and + tossed on great waves of anguish that left her hardly conscious of + anything but the blind struggle against their assaults. Then, little by + little, she began to relive, with a dreadful poignancy, each separate + stage of her poor romance. Foolish things she had said came back to her, + gay answers Harney had made, his first kiss in the darkness between the + fireworks, their choosing the blue brooch together, the way he had teased + her about the letters she had dropped in her flight from the evangelist. + All these memories, and a thousand others, hummed through her brain till + his nearness grew so vivid that she felt his fingers in her hair, and his + warm breath on her cheek as he bent her head back like a flower. These + things were hers; they had passed into her blood, and become a part of + her, they were building the child in her womb; it was impossible to tear + asunder strands of life so interwoven. + </p> + <p> + The conviction gradually strengthened her, and she began to form in her + mind the first words of the letter she meant to write to Harney. She + wanted to write it at once, and with feverish hands she began to rummage + in her drawer for a sheet of letter paper. But there was none left; she + must go downstairs to get it. She had a superstitious feeling that the + letter must be written on the instant, that setting down her secret in + words would bring her reassurance and safety; and taking up her candle she + went down to Mr. Royall's office. + </p> + <p> + At that hour she was not likely to find him there: he had probably had his + supper and walked over to Carrick Fry's. She pushed open the door of the + unlit room, and the light of her lifted candle fell on his figure, seated + in the darkness in his high-backed chair. His arms lay along the arms of + the chair, and his head was bent a little; but he lifted it quickly as + Charity entered. She started back as their eyes met, remembering that her + own were red with weeping, and that her face was livid with the fatigue + and emotion of her journey. But it was too late to escape, and she stood + and looked at him in silence. + </p> + <p> + He had risen from his chair, and came toward her with outstretched hands. + The gesture was so unexpected that she let him take her hands in his and + they stood thus, without speaking, till Mr. Royall said gravely: “Charity—was + you looking for me?” + </p> + <p> + She freed herself abruptly and fell back. “Me? No——” She set + down the candle on his desk. “I wanted some letter-paper, that's all.” His + face contracted, and the bushy brows jutted forward over his eyes. Without + answering he opened the drawer of the desk, took out a sheet of paper and + an envelope, and pushed them toward her. “Do you want a stamp too?” he + asked. + </p> + <p> + She nodded, and he gave her the stamp. As he did so she felt that he was + looking at her intently, and she knew that the candle light flickering up + on her white face must be distorting her swollen features and exaggerating + the dark rings about her eyes. She snatched up the paper, her reassurance + dissolving under his pitiless gaze, in which she seemed to read the grim + perception of her state, and the ironic recollection of the day when, in + that very room, he had offered to compel Harney to marry her. His look + seemed to say that he knew she had taken the paper to write to her lover, + who had left her as he had warned her she would be left. She remembered + the scorn with which she had turned from him that day, and knew, if he + guessed the truth, what a list of old scores it must settle. She turned + and fled upstairs; but when she got back to her room all the words that + had been waiting had vanished.... + </p> + <p> + If she could have gone to Harney it would have been different; she would + only have had to show herself to let his memories speak for her. But she + had no money left, and there was no one from whom she could have borrowed + enough for such a journey. There was nothing to do but to write, and await + his reply. For a long time she sat bent above the blank page; but she + found nothing to say that really expressed what she was feeling.... + </p> + <p> + Harney had written that she had made it easier for him, and she was glad + it was so; she did not want to make things hard. She knew she had it in + her power to do that; she held his fate in her hands. All she had to do + was to tell him the truth; but that was the very fact that held her + back.... Her five minutes face to face with Mr. Royall had stripped her of + her last illusion, and brought her back to North Dormer's point of view. + Distinctly and pitilessly there rose before her the fate of the girl who + was married “to make things right.” She had seen too many village + love-stories end in that way. Poor Rose Coles's miserable marriage was of + the number; and what good had come of it for her or for Halston Skeff? + They had hated each other from the day the minister married them; and + whenever old Mrs. Skeff had a fancy to humiliate her daughter-in-law she + had only to say: “Who'd ever think the baby's only two? And for a seven + months' child—ain't it a wonder what a size he is?” North Dormer had + treasures of indulgence for brands in the burning, but only derision for + those who succeeded in getting snatched from it; and Charity had always + understood Julia Hawes's refusal to be snatched.... + </p> + <p> + Only—was there no alternative but Julia's? Her soul recoiled from + the vision of the white-faced woman among the plush sofas and gilt frames. + In the established order of things as she knew them she saw no place for + her individual adventure.... + </p> + <p> + She sat in her chair without undressing till faint grey streaks began to + divide the black slats of the shutters. Then she stood up and pushed them + open, letting in the light. The coming of a new day brought a sharper + consciousness of ineluctable reality, and with it a sense of the need of + action. She looked at herself in the glass, and saw her face, white in the + autumn dawn, with pinched cheeks and dark-ringed eyes, and all the marks + of her state that she herself would never have noticed, but that Dr. + Merkle's diagnosis had made plain to her. She could not hope that those + signs would escape the watchful village; even before her figure lost its + shape she knew her face would betray her. + </p> + <p> + Leaning from her window she looked out on the dark and empty scene; the + ashen houses with shuttered windows, the grey road climbing the slope to + the hemlock belt above the cemetery, and the heavy mass of the Mountain + black against a rainy sky. To the east a space of light was broadening + above the forest; but over that also the clouds hung. Slowly her gaze + travelled across the fields to the rugged curve of the hills. She had + looked out so often on that lifeless circle, and wondered if anything + could ever happen to anyone who was enclosed in it.... + </p> + <p> + Almost without conscious thought her decision had been reached; as her + eyes had followed the circle of the hills her mind had also travelled the + old round. She supposed it was something in her blood that made the + Mountain the only answer to her questioning, the inevitable escape from + all that hemmed her in and beset her. At any rate it began to loom against + the rainy dawn; and the longer she looked at it the more clearly she + understood that now at last she was really going there. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVI + </h2> + <p> + THE rain held off, and an hour later, when she started, wild gleams of + sunlight were blowing across the fields. + </p> + <p> + After Harney's departure she had returned her bicycle to its owner at + Creston, and she was not sure of being able to walk all the way to the + Mountain. The deserted house was on the road; but the idea of spending the + night there was unendurable, and she meant to try to push on to Hamblin, + where she could sleep under a wood-shed if her strength should fail her. + Her preparations had been made with quiet forethought. Before starting she + had forced herself to swallow a glass of milk and eat a piece of bread; + and she had put in her canvas satchel a little packet of the chocolate + that Harney always carried in his bicycle bag. She wanted above all to + keep up her strength, and reach her destination without attracting + notice.... + </p> + <p> + Mile by mile she retraced the road over which she had so often flown to + her lover. When she reached the turn where the wood-road branched off from + the Creston highway she remembered the Gospel tent—long since folded + up and transplanted—and her start of involuntary terror when the fat + evangelist had said: “Your Saviour knows everything. Come and confess your + guilt.” There was no sense of guilt in her now, but only a desperate + desire to defend her secret from irreverent eyes, and begin life again + among people to whom the harsh code of the village was unknown. The + impulse did not shape itself in thought: she only knew she must save her + baby, and hide herself with it somewhere where no one would ever come to + trouble them. + </p> + <p> + She walked on and on, growing more heavy-footed as the day advanced. It + seemed a cruel chance that compelled her to retrace every step of the way + to the deserted house; and when she came in sight of the orchard, and the + silver-gray roof slanting crookedly through the laden branches, her + strength failed her and she sat down by the road-side. She sat there a + long time, trying to gather the courage to start again, and walk past the + broken gate and the untrimmed rose-bushes strung with scarlet hips. A few + drops of rain were falling, and she thought of the warm evenings when she + and Harney had sat embraced in the shadowy room, and the noise of summer + showers on the roof had rustled through their kisses. At length she + understood that if she stayed any longer the rain might compel her to take + shelter in the house overnight, and she got up and walked on, averting her + eyes as she came abreast of the white gate and the tangled garden. + </p> + <p> + The hours wore on, and she walked more and more slowly, pausing now and + then to rest, and to eat a little bread and an apple picked up from the + roadside. Her body seemed to grow heavier with every yard of the way, and + she wondered how she would be able to carry her child later, if already he + laid such a burden on her.... A fresh wind had sprung up, scattering the + rain and blowing down keenly from the mountain. Presently the clouds + lowered again, and a few white darts struck her in the face: it was the + first snow falling over Hamblin. The roofs of the lonely village were only + half a mile ahead, and she was resolved to push beyond it, and try to + reach the Mountain that night. She had no clear plan of action, except + that, once in the settlement, she meant to look for Liff Hyatt, and get + him to take her to her mother. She herself had been born as her own baby + was going to be born; and whatever her mother's subsequent life had been, + she could hardly help remembering the past, and receiving a daughter who + was facing the trouble she had known. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly the deadly faintness came over her once more and she sat down on + the bank and leaned her head against a tree-trunk. The long road and the + cloudy landscape vanished from her eyes, and for a time she seemed to be + circling about in some terrible wheeling darkness. Then that too faded. + </p> + <p> + She opened her eyes, and saw a buggy drawn up beside her, and a man who + had jumped down from it and was gazing at her with a puzzled face. Slowly + consciousness came back, and she saw that the man was Liff Hyatt. + </p> + <p> + She was dimly aware that he was asking her something, and she looked at + him in silence, trying to find strength to speak. At length her voice + stirred in her throat, and she said in a whisper: “I'm going up the + Mountain.” + </p> + <p> + “Up the Mountain?” he repeated, drawing aside a little; and as he moved + she saw behind him, in the buggy, a heavily coated figure with a familiar + pink face and gold spectacles on the bridge of a Grecian nose. + </p> + <p> + “Charity! What on earth are you doing here?” Mr. Miles exclaimed, throwing + the reins on the horse's back and scrambling down from the buggy. + </p> + <p> + She lifted her heavy eyes to his. “I'm going to see my mother.” + </p> + <p> + The two men glanced at each other, and for a moment neither of them spoke. + </p> + <p> + Then Mr. Miles said: “You look ill, my dear, and it's a long way. Do you + think it's wise?” + </p> + <p> + Charity stood up. “I've got to go to her.” + </p> + <p> + A vague mirthless grin contracted Liff Hyatt's face, and Mr. Miles again + spoke uncertainly. “You know, then—you'd been told?” + </p> + <p> + She stared at him. “I don't know what you mean. I want to go to her.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles was examining her thoughtfully. She fancied she saw a change in + his expression, and the blood rushed to her forehead. “I just want to go + to her,” she repeated. + </p> + <p> + He laid his hand on her arm. “My child, your mother is dying. Liff Hyatt + came down to fetch me.... Get in and come with us.” + </p> + <p> + He helped her up to the seat at his side, Liff Hyatt clambered in at the + back, and they drove off toward Hamblin. At first Charity had hardly + grasped what Mr. Miles was saying; the physical relief of finding herself + seated in the buggy, and securely on her road to the Mountain, effaced the + impression of his words. But as her head cleared she began to understand. + She knew the Mountain had but the most infrequent intercourse with the + valleys; she had often enough heard it said that no one ever went up there + except the minister, when someone was dying. And now it was her mother who + was dying... and she would find herself as much alone on the Mountain as + anywhere else in the world. The sense of unescapable isolation was all she + could feel for the moment; then she began to wonder at the strangeness of + its being Mr. Miles who had undertaken to perform this grim errand. He did + not seem in the least like the kind of man who would care to go up the + Mountain. But here he was at her side, guiding the horse with a firm hand, + and bending on her the kindly gleam of his spectacles, as if there were + nothing unusual in their being together in such circumstances. + </p> + <p> + For a while she found it impossible to speak, and he seemed to understand + this, and made no attempt to question her. But presently she felt her + tears rise and flow down over her drawn cheeks; and he must have seen them + too, for he laid his hand on hers, and said in a low voice: “Won't you + tell me what is troubling you?” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head, and he did not insist: but after a while he said, in + the same low tone, so that they should not be overheard: “Charity, what do + you know of your childhood, before you came down to North Dormer?” + </p> + <p> + She controlled herself, and answered: “Nothing only what I heard Mr. + Royall say one day. He said he brought me down because my father went to + prison.” + </p> + <p> + “And you've never been up there since?” + </p> + <p> + “Never.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles was silent again, then he said: “I'm glad you're coming with me + now. Perhaps we may find your mother alive, and she may know that you have + come.” + </p> + <p> + They had reached Hamblin, where the snow-flurry had left white patches in + the rough grass on the roadside, and in the angles of the roofs facing + north. It was a poor bleak village under the granite flank of the + Mountain, and as soon as they left it they began to climb. The road was + steep and full of ruts, and the horse settled down to a walk while they + mounted and mounted, the world dropping away below them in great mottled + stretches of forest and field, and stormy dark blue distances. + </p> + <p> + Charity had often had visions of this ascent of the Mountain but she had + not known it would reveal so wide a country, and the sight of those + strange lands reaching away on every side gave her a new sense of Harney's + remoteness. She knew he must be miles and miles beyond the last range of + hills that seemed to be the outmost verge of things, and she wondered how + she had ever dreamed of going to New York to find him.... + </p> + <p> + As the road mounted the country grew bleaker, and they drove across fields + of faded mountain grass bleached by long months beneath the snow. In the + hollows a few white birches trembled, or a mountain ash lit its scarlet + clusters; but only a scant growth of pines darkened the granite ledges. + The wind was blowing fiercely across the open slopes; the horse faced it + with bent head and straining flanks, and now and then the buggy swayed so + that Charity had to clutch its side. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles had not spoken again; he seemed to understand that she wanted to + be left alone. After a while the track they were following forked, and he + pulled up the horse, as if uncertain of the way. Liff Hyatt craned his + head around from the back, and shouted against the wind: “Left——” + and they turned into a stunted pine-wood and began to drive down the other + side of the Mountain. + </p> + <p> + A mile or two farther on they came out on a clearing where two or three + low houses lay in stony fields, crouching among the rocks as if to brace + themselves against the wind. They were hardly more than sheds, built of + logs and rough boards, with tin stove-pipes sticking out of their roofs. + The sun was setting, and dusk had already fallen on the lower world, but a + yellow glare still lay on the lonely hillside and the crouching houses. + The next moment it faded and left the landscape in dark autumn twilight. + </p> + <p> + “Over there,” Liff called out, stretching his long arm over Mr. Miles's + shoulder. The clergyman turned to the left, across a bit of bare ground + overgrown with docks and nettles, and stopped before the most ruinous of + the sheds. A stove-pipe reached its crooked arm out of one window, and the + broken panes of the other were stuffed with rags and paper. + </p> + <p> + In contrast to such a dwelling the brown house in the swamp might have + stood for the home of plenty. + </p> + <p> + As the buggy drew up two or three mongrel dogs jumped out of the twilight + with a great barking, and a young man slouched to the door and stood there + staring. In the twilight Charity saw that his face had the same sodden + look as Bash Hyatt's, the day she had seen him sleeping by the stove. He + made no effort to silence the dogs, but leaned in the door, as if roused + from a drunken lethargy, while Mr. Miles got out of the buggy. + </p> + <p> + “Is it here?” the clergyman asked Liff in a low voice; and Liff nodded. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles turned to Charity. “Just hold the horse a minute, my dear: I'll + go in first,” he said, putting the reins in her hands. She took them + passively, and sat staring straight ahead of her at the darkening scene + while Mr. Miles and Liff Hyatt went up to the house. They stood a few + minutes talking with the man in the door, and then Mr. Miles came back. As + he came close, Charity saw that his smooth pink face wore a frightened + solemn look. + </p> + <p> + “Your mother is dead, Charity; you'd better come with me,” he said. + </p> + <p> + She got down and followed him while Liff led the horse away. As she + approached the door she said to herself: “This is where I was born... this + is where I belong....” She had said it to herself often enough as she + looked across the sunlit valleys at the Mountain; but it had meant nothing + then, and now it had become a reality. Mr. Miles took her gently by the + arm, and they entered what appeared to be the only room in the house. It + was so dark that she could just discern a group of a dozen people sitting + or sprawling about a table made of boards laid across two barrels. They + looked up listlessly as Mr. Miles and Charity came in, and a woman's thick + voice said: “Here's the preacher.” But no one moved. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles paused and looked about him; then he turned to the young man who + had met them at the door. + </p> + <p> + “Is the body here?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + The young man, instead of answering, turned his head toward the group. + “Where's the candle? I tole yer to bring a candle,” he said with sudden + harshness to a girl who was lolling against the table. She did not answer, + but another man got up and took from some corner a candle stuck into a + bottle. + </p> + <p> + “How'll I light it? The stove's out,” the girl grumbled. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles fumbled under his heavy wrappings and drew out a match-box. He + held a match to the candle, and in a moment or two a faint circle of light + fell on the pale aguish heads that started out of the shadow like the + heads of nocturnal animals. + </p> + <p> + “Mary's over there,” someone said; and Mr. Miles, taking the bottle in his + hand, passed behind the table. Charity followed him, and they stood before + a mattress on the floor in a corner of the room. A woman lay on it, but + she did not look like a dead woman; she seemed to have fallen across her + squalid bed in a drunken sleep, and to have been left lying where she + fell, in her ragged disordered clothes. One arm was flung above her head, + one leg drawn up under a torn skirt that left the other bare to the knee: + a swollen glistening leg with a ragged stocking rolled down about the + ankle. The woman lay on her back, her eyes staring up unblinkingly at the + candle that trembled in Mr. Miles's hand. + </p> + <p> + “She jus' dropped off,” a woman said, over the shoulder of the others; and + the young man added: “I jus' come in and found her.” + </p> + <p> + An elderly man with lank hair and a feeble grin pushed between them. “It + was like this: I says to her on'y the night before: if you don't take and + quit, I says to her...” + </p> + <p> + Someone pulled him back and sent him reeling against a bench along the + wall, where he dropped down muttering his unheeded narrative. + </p> + <p> + There was a silence; then the young woman who had been lolling against the + table suddenly parted the group, and stood in front of Charity. She was + healthier and robuster looking than the others, and her weather-beaten + face had a certain sullen beauty. + </p> + <p> + “Who's the girl? Who brought her here?” she said, fixing her eyes + mistrustfully on the young man who had rebuked her for not having a candle + ready. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles spoke. “I brought her; she is Mary Hyatt's daughter.” + </p> + <p> + “What? Her too?” the girl sneered; and the young man turned on her with an + oath. “Shut your mouth, damn you, or get out of here,” he said; then he + relapsed into his former apathy, and dropped down on the bench, leaning + his head against the wall. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles had set the candle on the floor and taken off his heavy coat. He + turned to Charity. “Come and help me,” he said. + </p> + <p> + He knelt down by the mattress, and pressed the lids over the dead woman's + eyes. Charity, trembling and sick, knelt beside him, and tried to compose + her mother's body. She drew the stocking over the dreadful glistening leg, + and pulled the skirt down to the battered upturned boots. As she did so, + she looked at her mother's face, thin yet swollen, with lips parted in a + frozen gasp above the broken teeth. There was no sign in it of anything + human: she lay there like a dead dog in a ditch. Charity's hands grew cold + as they touched her. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles drew the woman's arms across her breast and laid his coat over + her. Then he covered her face with his handkerchief, and placed the bottle + with the candle in it at her head. Having done this he stood up. + </p> + <p> + “Is there no coffin?” he asked, turning to the group behind him. + </p> + <p> + There was a moment of bewildered silence; then the fierce girl spoke up. + “You'd oughter brought it with you. Where'd we get one here, I'd like ter + know?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles, looking at the others, repeated: “Is it possible you have no + coffin ready?” + </p> + <p> + “That's what I say: them that has it sleeps better,” an old woman + murmured. “But then she never had no bed....” + </p> + <p> + “And the stove warn't hers,” said the lank-haired man, on the defensive. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles turned away from them and moved a few steps apart. He had drawn + a book from his pocket, and after a pause he opened it and began to read, + holding the book at arm's length and low down, so that the pages caught + the feeble light. Charity had remained on her knees by the mattress: now + that her mother's face was covered it was easier to stay near her, and + avoid the sight of the living faces which too horribly showed by what + stages hers had lapsed into death. + </p> + <p> + “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Mr. Miles began; “he that believeth + in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.... Though after my skin + worms destroy my body, yet in my flesh shall I see God....” + </p> + <p> + IN MY FLESH SHALL I SEE GOD! Charity thought of the gaping mouth and stony + eyes under the handkerchief, and of the glistening leg over which she had + drawn the stocking.... + </p> + <p> + “We brought nothing into this world and we shall take nothing out of it——” + </p> + <p> + There was a sudden muttering and a scuffle at the back of the group. “I + brought the stove,” said the elderly man with lank hair, pushing his way + between the others. “I wen' down to Creston'n bought it... n' I got a + right to take it outer here... n' I'll lick any feller says I ain't....” + </p> + <p> + “Sit down, damn you!” shouted the tall youth who had been drowsing on the + bench against the wall. + </p> + <p> + “For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain; he + heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them....” + </p> + <p> + “Well, it ARE his,” a woman in the background interjected in a frightened + whine. + </p> + <p> + The tall youth staggered to his feet. “If you don't hold your mouths I'll + turn you all out o' here, the whole lot of you,” he cried with many oaths. + “G'wan, minister... don't let 'em faze you....” + </p> + <p> + “Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them + that slept.... Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but + we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the + last trump.... For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this + mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruption shall have put on + incorruption, and when this mortal shall have put on immortality, then + shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up + in Victory....” + </p> + <p> + One by one the mighty words fell on Charity's bowed head, soothing the + horror, subduing the tumult, mastering her as they mastered the + drink-dazed creatures at her back. Mr. Miles read to the last word, and + then closed the book. + </p> + <p> + “Is the grave ready?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + Liff Hyatt, who had come in while he was reading, nodded a “Yes,” and + pushed forward to the side of the mattress. The young man on the bench who + seemed to assert some sort of right of kinship with the dead woman, got to + his feet again, and the proprietor of the stove joined him. Between them + they raised up the mattress; but their movements were unsteady, and the + coat slipped to the floor, revealing the poor body in its helpless misery. + Charity, picking up the coat, covered her mother once more. Liff had + brought a lantern, and the old woman who had already spoken took it up, + and opened the door to let the little procession pass out. The wind had + dropped, and the night was very dark and bitterly cold. The old woman + walked ahead, the lantern shaking in her hand and spreading out before her + a pale patch of dead grass and coarse-leaved weeds enclosed in an + immensity of blackness. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles took Charity by the arm, and side by side they walked behind the + mattress. At length the old woman with the lantern stopped, and Charity + saw the light fall on the stooping shoulders of the bearers and on a ridge + of upheaved earth over which they were bending. Mr. Miles released her arm + and approached the hollow on the other side of the ridge; and while the + men stooped down, lowering the mattress into the grave, he began to speak + again. + </p> + <p> + “Man that is born of woman hath but a short time to live and is full of + misery.... He cometh up and is cut down... he fleeth as it were a + shadow.... Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy and + merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal + death....” + </p> + <p> + “Easy there... is she down?” piped the claimant to the stove; and the + young man called over his shoulder: “Lift the light there, can't you?” + </p> + <p> + There was a pause, during which the light floated uncertainly over the + open grave. Someone bent over and pulled out Mr. Miles's coat——(“No, + no—leave the handkerchief,” he interposed)—and then Liff + Hyatt, coming forward with a spade, began to shovel in the earth. + </p> + <p> + “Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God of His great mercy to take unto + Himself the soul of our dear sister here departed, we therefore commit her + body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust...” + Liff's gaunt shoulders rose and bent in the lantern light as he dashed the + clods of earth into the grave. “God—it's froze a'ready,” he + muttered, spitting into his palm and passing his ragged shirt-sleeve + across his perspiring face. + </p> + <p> + “Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may + be like unto His glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby + He is able to subdue all things unto Himself...” The last spadeful of + earth fell on the vile body of Mary Hyatt, and Liff rested on his spade, + his shoulder blades still heaving with the effort. + </p> + <p> + “Lord, have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon + us...” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles took the lantern from the old woman's hand and swept its light + across the circle of bleared faces. “Now kneel down, all of you,” he + commanded, in a voice of authority that Charity had never heard. She knelt + down at the edge of the grave, and the others, stiffly and hesitatingly, + got to their knees beside her. Mr. Miles knelt, too. “And now pray with me—you + know this prayer,” he said, and he began: “Our Father which art in + Heaven...” One or two of the women falteringly took the words up, and when + he ended, the lank-haired man flung himself on the neck of the tall youth. + “It was this way,” he said. “I tole her the night before, I says to + her...” The reminiscence ended in a sob. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles had been getting into his coat again. He came up to Charity, who + had remained passively kneeling by the rough mound of earth. + </p> + <p> + “My child, you must come. It's very late.” + </p> + <p> + She lifted her eyes to his face: he seemed to speak out of another world. + </p> + <p> + “I ain't coming: I'm going to stay here.” + </p> + <p> + “Here? Where? What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “These are my folks. I'm going to stay with them.” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Miles lowered his voice. “But it's not possible—you don't know + what you are doing. You can't stay among these people: you must come with + me.” + </p> + <p> + She shook her head and rose from her knees. The group about the grave had + scattered in the darkness, but the old woman with the lantern stood + waiting. Her mournful withered face was not unkind, and Charity went up to + her. + </p> + <p> + “Have you got a place where I can lie down for the night?” she asked. Liff + came up, leading the buggy out of the night. He looked from one to the + other with his feeble smile. “She's my mother. She'll take you home,” he + said; and he added, raising his voice to speak to the old woman: “It's the + girl from lawyer Royall's—Mary's girl... you remember....” + </p> + <p> + The woman nodded and raised her sad old eyes to Charity's. When Mr. Miles + and Liff clambered into the buggy she went ahead with the lantern to show + them the track they were to follow; then she turned back, and in silence + she and Charity walked away together through the night. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVII + </h2> + <p> + CHARITY lay on the floor on a mattress, as her dead mother's body had + lain. The room in which she lay was cold and dark and low-ceilinged, and + even poorer and barer than the scene of Mary Hyatt's earthly pilgrimage. + On the other side of the fireless stove Liff Hyatt's mother slept on a + blanket, with two children—her grandchildren, she said—rolled + up against her like sleeping puppies. They had their thin clothes spread + over them, having given the only other blanket to their guest. + </p> + <p> + Through the small square of glass in the opposite wall Charity saw a deep + funnel of sky, so black, so remote, so palpitating with frosty stars that + her very soul seemed to be sucked into it. Up there somewhere, she + supposed, the God whom Mr. Miles had invoked was waiting for Mary Hyatt to + appear. What a long flight it was! And what would she have to say when she + reached Him? + </p> + <p> + Charity's bewildered brain laboured with the attempt to picture her + mother's past, and to relate it in any way to the designs of a just but + merciful God; but it was impossible to imagine any link between them. She + herself felt as remote from the poor creature she had seen lowered into + her hastily dug grave as if the height of the heavens divided them. She + had seen poverty and misfortune in her life; but in a community where poor + thrifty Mrs. Hawes and the industrious Ally represented the nearest + approach to destitution there was nothing to suggest the savage misery of + the Mountain farmers. + </p> + <p> + As she lay there, half-stunned by her tragic initiation, Charity vainly + tried to think herself into the life about her. But she could not even + make out what relationship these people bore to each other, or to her dead + mother; they seemed to be herded together in a sort of passive promiscuity + in which their common misery was the strongest link. She tried to picture + to herself what her life would have been if she had grown up on the + Mountain, running wild in rags, sleeping on the floor curled up against + her mother, like the pale-faced children huddled against old Mrs. Hyatt, + and turning into a fierce bewildered creature like the girl who had + apostrophized her in such strange words. She was frightened by the secret + affinity she had felt with this girl, and by the light it threw on her own + beginnings. Then she remembered what Mr. Royall had said in telling her + story to Lucius Harney: “Yes, there was a mother; but she was glad to have + the child go. She'd have given her to anybody....” + </p> + <p> + Well! after all, was her mother so much to blame? Charity, since that day, + had always thought of her as destitute of all human feeling; now she + seemed merely pitiful. What mother would not want to save her child from + such a life? Charity thought of the future of her own child, and tears + welled into her aching eyes, and ran down over her face. If she had been + less exhausted, less burdened with his weight, she would have sprung up + then and there and fled away.... + </p> + <p> + The grim hours of the night dragged themselves slowly by, and at last the + sky paled and dawn threw a cold blue beam into the room. She lay in her + corner staring at the dirty floor, the clothes-line hung with decaying + rags, the old woman huddled against the cold stove, and the light + gradually spreading across the wintry world, and bringing with it a new + day in which she would have to live, to choose, to act, to make herself a + place among these people—or to go back to the life she had left. A + mortal lassitude weighed on her. There were moments when she felt that all + she asked was to go on lying there unnoticed; then her mind revolted at + the thought of becoming one of the miserable herd from which she sprang, + and it seemed as though, to save her child from such a fate, she would + find strength to travel any distance, and bear any burden life might put + on her. + </p> + <p> + Vague thoughts of Nettleton flitted through her mind. She said to herself + that she would find some quiet place where she could bear her child, and + give it to decent people to keep; and then she would go out like Julia + Hawes and earn its living and hers. She knew that girls of that kind + sometimes made enough to have their children nicely cared for; and every + other consideration disappeared in the vision of her baby, cleaned and + combed and rosy, and hidden away somewhere where she could run in and kiss + it, and bring it pretty things to wear. Anything, anything was better than + to add another life to the nest of misery on the Mountain.... + </p> + <p> + The old woman and the children were still sleeping when Charity rose from + her mattress. Her body was stiff with cold and fatigue, and she moved + slowly lest her heavy steps should rouse them. She was faint with hunger, + and had nothing left in her satchel; but on the table she saw the half of + a stale loaf. No doubt it was to serve as the breakfast of old Mrs. Hyatt + and the children; but Charity did not care; she had her own baby to think + of. She broke off a piece of the bread and ate it greedily; then her + glance fell on the thin faces of the sleeping children, and filled with + compunction she rummaged in her satchel for something with which to pay + for what she had taken. She found one of the pretty chemises that Ally had + made for her, with a blue ribbon run through its edging. It was one of the + dainty things on which she had squandered her savings, and as she looked + at it the blood rushed to her forehead. She laid the chemise on the table, + and stealing across the floor lifted the latch and went out.... + </p> + <p> + The morning was icy cold and a pale sun was just rising above the eastern + shoulder of the Mountain. The houses scattered on the hillside lay cold + and smokeless under the sun-flecked clouds, and not a human being was in + sight. Charity paused on the threshold and tried to discover the road by + which she had come the night before. Across the field surrounding Mrs. + Hyatt's shanty she saw the tumble-down house in which she supposed the + funeral service had taken place. The trail ran across the ground between + the two houses and disappeared in the pine-wood on the flank of the + Mountain; and a little way to the right, under a wind-beaten thorn, a + mound of fresh earth made a dark spot on the fawn-coloured stubble. + Charity walked across the field to the ground. As she approached it she + heard a bird's note in the still air, and looking up she saw a brown + song-sparrow perched in an upper branch of the thorn above the grave. She + stood a minute listening to his small solitary song; then she rejoined the + trail and began to mount the hill to the pine-wood. + </p> + <p> + Thus far she had been impelled by the blind instinct of flight; but each + step seemed to bring her nearer to the realities of which her feverish + vigil had given only a shadowy image. Now that she walked again in a + daylight world, on the way back to familiar things, her imagination moved + more soberly. On one point she was still decided: she could not remain at + North Dormer, and the sooner she got away from it the better. But + everything beyond was darkness. + </p> + <p> + As she continued to climb the air grew keener, and when she passed from + the shelter of the pines to the open grassy roof of the Mountain the cold + wind of the night before sprang out on her. She bent her shoulders and + struggled on against it for a while; but presently her breath failed, and + she sat down under a ledge of rock overhung by shivering birches. From + where she sat she saw the trail wandering across the bleached grass in the + direction of Hamblin, and the granite wall of the Mountain falling away to + infinite distances. On that side of the ridge the valleys still lay in + wintry shadow; but in the plain beyond the sun was touching village roofs + and steeples, and gilding the haze of smoke over far-off invisible towns. + </p> + <p> + Charity felt herself a mere speck in the lonely circle of the sky. The + events of the last two days seemed to have divided her forever from her + short dream of bliss. Even Harney's image had been blurred by that + crushing experience: she thought of him as so remote from her that he + seemed hardly more than a memory. In her fagged and floating mind only one + sensation had the weight of reality; it was the bodily burden of her + child. But for it she would have felt as rootless as the whiffs of + thistledown the wind blew past her. Her child was like a load that held + her down, and yet like a hand that pulled her to her feet. She said to + herself that she must get up and struggle on.... + </p> + <p> + Her eyes turned back to the trail across the top of the Mountain, and in + the distance she saw a buggy against the sky. She knew its antique + outline, and the gaunt build of the old horse pressing forward with + lowered head; and after a moment she recognized the heavy bulk of the man + who held the reins. The buggy was following the trail and making straight + for the pine-wood through which she had climbed; and she knew at once that + the driver was in search of her. Her first impulse was to crouch down + under the ledge till he had passed; but the instinct of concealment was + overruled by the relief of feeling that someone was near her in the awful + emptiness. She stood up and walked toward the buggy. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall saw her, and touched the horse with the whip. A minute or two + later he was abreast of Charity; their eyes met, and without speaking he + leaned over and helped her up into the buggy. + </p> + <p> + She tried to speak, to stammer out some explanation, but no words came to + her; and as he drew the cover over her knees he simply said: “The minister + told me he'd left you up here, so I come up for you.” + </p> + <p> + He turned the horse's head, and they began to jog back toward Hamblin. + Charity sat speechless, staring straight ahead of her, and Mr. Royall + occasionally uttered a word of encouragement to the horse: “Get along + there, Dan.... I gave him a rest at Hamblin; but I brought him along + pretty quick, and it's a stiff pull up here against the wind.” + </p> + <p> + As he spoke it occurred to her for the first time that to reach the top of + the Mountain so early he must have left North Dormer at the coldest hour + of the night, and have travelled steadily but for the halt at Hamblin; and + she felt a softness at her heart which no act of his had ever produced + since he had brought her the Crimson Rambler because she had given up + boarding-school to stay with him. + </p> + <p> + After an interval he began again: “It was a day just like this, only + spitting snow, when I come up here for you the first time.” Then, as if + fearing that she might take his remark as a reminder of past benefits, he + added quickly: “I dunno's you think it was such a good job, either.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I do,” she murmured, looking straight ahead of her. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he said, “I tried——” + </p> + <p> + He did not finish the sentence, and she could think of nothing more to + say. + </p> + <p> + “Ho, there, Dan, step out,” he muttered, jerking the bridle. “We ain't + home yet.—You cold?” he asked abruptly. + </p> + <p> + She shook her head, but he drew the cover higher up, and stooped to tuck + it in about the ankles. She continued to look straight ahead. Tears of + weariness and weakness were dimming her eyes and beginning to run over, + but she dared not wipe them away lest he should observe the gesture. + </p> + <p> + They drove in silence, following the long loops of the descent upon + Hamblin, and Mr. Royall did not speak again till they reached the + outskirts of the village. Then he let the reins droop on the dashboard and + drew out his watch. + </p> + <p> + “Charity,” he said, “you look fair done up, and North Dormer's a goodish + way off. I've figured out that we'd do better to stop here long enough for + you to get a mouthful of breakfast and then drive down to Creston and take + the train.” + </p> + <p> + She roused herself from her apathetic musing. “The train—what + train?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall, without answering, let the horse jog on till they reached the + door of the first house in the village. “This is old Mrs. Hobart's place,” + he said. “She'll give us something hot to drink.” + </p> + <p> + Charity, half unconsciously, found herself getting out of the buggy and + following him in at the open door. They entered a decent kitchen with a + fire crackling in the stove. An old woman with a kindly face was setting + out cups and saucers on the table. She looked up and nodded as they came + in, and Mr. Royall advanced to the stove, clapping his numb hands + together. + </p> + <p> + “Well, Mrs. Hobart, you got any breakfast for this young lady? You can see + she's cold and hungry.” + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Hobart smiled on Charity and took a tin coffee-pot from the fire. + “My, you do look pretty mean,” she said compassionately. + </p> + <p> + Charity reddened, and sat down at the table. A feeling of complete + passiveness had once more come over her, and she was conscious only of the + pleasant animal sensations of warmth and rest. + </p> + <p> + Mrs. Hobart put bread and milk on the table, and then went out of the + house: Charity saw her leading the horse away to the barn across the yard. + She did not come back, and Mr. Royall and Charity sat alone at the table + with the smoking coffee between them. He poured out a cup for her, and put + a piece of bread in the saucer, and she began to eat. + </p> + <p> + As the warmth of the coffee flowed through her veins her thoughts cleared + and she began to feel like a living being again; but the return to life + was so painful that the food choked in her throat and she sat staring down + at the table in silent anguish. + </p> + <p> + After a while Mr. Royall pushed back his chair. “Now, then,” he said, “if + you're a mind to go along——” She did not move, and he + continued: “We can pick up the noon train for Nettleton if you say so.” + </p> + <p> + The words sent the blood rushing to her face, and she raised her startled + eyes to his. He was standing on the other side of the table looking at her + kindly and gravely; and suddenly she understood what he was going to say. + She continued to sit motionless, a leaden weight upon her lips. + </p> + <p> + “You and me have spoke some hard things to each other in our time, + Charity; and there's no good that I can see in any more talking now. But + I'll never feel any way but one about you; and if you say so we'll drive + down in time to catch that train, and go straight to the minister's house; + and when you come back home you'll come as Mrs. Royall.” + </p> + <p> + His voice had the grave persuasive accent that had moved his hearers at + the Home Week festival; she had a sense of depths of mournful tolerance + under that easy tone. Her whole body began to tremble with the dread of + her own weakness. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I can't——” she burst out desperately. + </p> + <p> + “Can't what?” + </p> + <p> + She herself did not know: she was not sure if she was rejecting what he + offered, or already struggling against the temptation of taking what she + no longer had a right to. She stood up, shaking and bewildered, and began + to speak: + </p> + <p> + “I know I ain't been fair to you always; but I want to be now.... I want + you to know... I want...” Her voice failed her and she stopped. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall leaned against the wall. He was paler than usual, but his face + was composed and kindly and her agitation did not appear to perturb him. + </p> + <p> + “What's all this about wanting?” he said as she paused. “Do you know what + you really want? I'll tell you. You want to be took home and took care of. + And I guess that's all there is to say.” + </p> + <p> + “No... it's not all....” + </p> + <p> + “Ain't it?” He looked at his watch. “Well, I'll tell you another thing. + All I want is to know if you'll marry me. If there was anything else, I'd + tell you so; but there ain't. Come to my age, a man knows the things that + matter and the things that don't; that's about the only good turn life + does us.” + </p> + <p> + His tone was so strong and resolute that it was like a supporting arm + about her. She felt her resistance melting, her strength slipping away + from her as he spoke. + </p> + <p> + “Don't cry, Charity,” he exclaimed in a shaken voice. She looked up, + startled at his emotion, and their eyes met. + </p> + <p> + “See here,” he said gently, “old Dan's come a long distance, and we've got + to let him take it easy the rest of the way....” + </p> + <p> + He picked up the cloak that had slipped to her chair and laid it about her + shoulders. She followed him out of the house, and then walked across the + yard to the shed, where the horse was tied. Mr. Royall unblanketed him and + led him out into the road. Charity got into the buggy and he drew the + cover about her and shook out the reins with a cluck. When they reached + the end of the village he turned the horse's head toward Creston. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + XVIII + </h2> + <p> + They began to jog down the winding road to the valley at old Dan's languid + pace. Charity felt herself sinking into deeper depths of weariness, and as + they descended through the bare woods there were moments when she lost the + exact sense of things, and seemed to be sitting beside her lover with the + leafy arch of summer bending over them. But this illusion was faint and + transitory. For the most part she had only a confused sensation of + slipping down a smooth irresistible current; and she abandoned herself to + the feeling as a refuge from the torment of thought. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Royall seldom spoke, but his silent presence gave her, for the first + time, a sense of peace and security. She knew that where he was there + would be warmth, rest, silence; and for the moment they were all she + wanted. She shut her eyes, and even these things grew dim to her.... + </p> + <p> + In the train, during the short run from Creston to Nettleton, the warmth + aroused her, and the consciousness of being under strange eyes gave her a + momentary energy. She sat upright, facing Mr. Royall, and stared out of + the window at the denuded country. Forty-eight hours earlier, when she had + last traversed it, many of the trees still held their leaves; but the high + wind of the last two nights had stripped them, and the lines of the + landscape' were as finely pencilled as in December. A few days of autumn + cold had wiped out all trace of the rich fields and languid groves through + which she had passed on the Fourth of July; and with the fading of the + landscape those fervid hours had faded, too. She could no longer believe + that she was the being who had lived them; she was someone to whom + something irreparable and overwhelming had happened, but the traces of the + steps leading up to it had almost vanished. + </p> + <p> + When the train reached Nettleton and she walked out into the square at Mr. + Royall's side the sense of unreality grew more overpowering. The physical + strain of the night and day had left no room in her mind for new + sensations and she followed Mr. Royall as passively as a tired child. As + in a confused dream she presently found herself sitting with him in a + pleasant room, at a table with a red and white table-cloth on which hot + food and tea were placed. He filled her cup and plate and whenever she + lifted her eyes from them she found his resting on her with the same + steady tranquil gaze that had reassured and strengthened her when they had + faced each other in old Mrs. Hobart's kitchen. As everything else in her + consciousness grew more and more confused and immaterial, became more and + more like the universal shimmer that dissolves the world to failing eyes, + Mr. Royall's presence began to detach itself with rocky firmness from this + elusive background. She had always thought of him—when she thought + of him at all—as of someone hateful and obstructive, but whom she + could outwit and dominate when she chose to make the effort. Only once, on + the day of the Old Home Week celebration, while the stray fragments of his + address drifted across her troubled mind, had she caught a glimpse of + another being, a being so different from the dull-witted enemy with whom + she had supposed herself to be living that even through the burning mist + of her own dreams he had stood out with startling distinctness. For a + moment, then, what he said—and something in his way of saying it—had + made her see why he had always struck her as such a lonely man. But the + mist of her dreams had hidden him again, and she had forgotten that + fugitive impression. + </p> + <p> + It came back to her now, as they sat at the table, and gave her, through + her own immeasurable desolation, a sudden sense of their nearness to each + other. But all these feelings were only brief streaks of light in the grey + blur of her physical weakness. Through it she was aware that Mr. Royall + presently left her sitting by the table in the warm room, and came back + after an interval with a carriage from the station—a closed “hack” + with sun-burnt blue silk blinds—in which they drove together to a + house covered with creepers and standing next to a church with a carpet of + turf before it. They got out at this house, and the carriage waited while + they walked up the path and entered a wainscoted hall and then a room full + of books. In this room a clergyman whom Charity had never seen received + them pleasantly, and asked them to be seated for a few minutes while + witnesses were being summoned. + </p> + <p> + Charity sat down obediently, and Mr. Royall, his hands behind his back, + paced slowly up and down the room. As he turned and faced Charity, she + noticed that his lips were twitching a little; but the look in his eyes + was grave and calm. Once he paused before her and said timidly: “Your + hair's got kinder loose with the wind,” and she lifted her hands and tried + to smooth back the locks that had escaped from her braid. There was a + looking-glass in a carved frame on the wall, but she was ashamed to look + at herself in it, and she sat with her hands folded on her knee till the + clergyman returned. Then they went out again, along a sort of arcaded + passage, and into a low vaulted room with a cross on an altar, and rows of + benches. The clergyman, who had left them at the door, presently + reappeared before the altar in a surplice, and a lady who was probably his + wife, and a man in a blue shirt who had been raking dead leaves on the + lawn, came in and sat on one of the benches. + </p> + <p> + The clergyman opened a book and signed to Charity and Mr. Royall to + approach. Mr. Royall advanced a few steps, and Charity followed him as she + had followed him to the buggy when they went out of Mrs. Hobart's kitchen; + she had the feeling that if she ceased to keep close to him, and do what + he told her to do, the world would slip away from beneath her feet. + </p> + <p> + The clergyman began to read, and on her dazed mind there rose the memory + of Mr. Miles, standing the night before in the desolate house of the + Mountain, and reading out of the same book words that had the same dread + sound of finality: + </p> + <p> + “I require and charge you both, as ye will answer at the dreadful day of + judgment when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if either + of you know any impediment whereby ye may not be lawfully joined + together...” + </p> + <p> + Charity raised her eyes and met Mr. Royall's. They were still looking at + her kindly and steadily. “I will!” she heard him say a moment later, after + another interval of words that she had failed to catch. She was so busy + trying to understand the gestures that the clergyman was signalling to her + to make that she no longer heard what was being said. After another + interval the lady on the bench stood up, and taking her hand put it in Mr. + Royall's. It lay enclosed in his strong palm and she felt a ring that was + too big for her being slipped on her thin finger. She understood then that + she was married.... + </p> + <p> + Late that afternoon Charity sat alone in a bedroom of the fashionable + hotel where she and Harney had vainly sought a table on the Fourth of + July. She had never before been in so handsomely furnished a room. The + mirror above the dressing-table reflected the high head-board and fluted + pillow-slips of the double bed, and a bedspread so spotlessly white that + she had hesitated to lay her hat and jacket on it. The humming radiator + diffused an atmosphere of drowsy warmth, and through a half-open door she + saw the glitter of the nickel taps above twin marble basins. + </p> + <p> + For a while the long turmoil of the night and day had slipped away from + her and she sat with closed eyes, surrendering herself to the spell of + warmth and silence. But presently this merciful apathy was succeeded by + the sudden acuteness of vision with which sick people sometimes wake out + of a heavy sleep. As she opened her eyes they rested on the picture that + hung above the bed. It was a large engraving with a dazzling white margin + enclosed in a wide frame of bird's-eye maple with an inner scroll of gold. + The engraving represented a young man in a boat on a lake over-hung with + trees. He was leaning over to gather water-lilies for the girl in a light + dress who lay among the cushions in the stern. The scene was full of a + drowsy midsummer radiance, and Charity averted her eyes from it and, + rising from her chair, began to wander restlessly about the room. + </p> + <p> + It was on the fifth floor, and its broad window of plate glass looked over + the roofs of the town. Beyond them stretched a wooded landscape in which + the last fires of sunset were picking out a steely gleam. Charity gazed at + the gleam with startled eyes. Even through the gathering twilight she + recognized the contour of the soft hills encircling it, and the way the + meadows sloped to its edge. It was Nettleton Lake that she was looking at. + </p> + <p> + She stood a long time in the window staring out at the fading water. The + sight of it had roused her for the first time to a realization of what she + had done. Even the feeling of the ring on her hand had not brought her + this sharp sense of the irretrievable. For an instant the old impulse of + flight swept through her; but it was only the lift of a broken wing. She + heard the door open behind her, and Mr. Royall came in. + </p> + <p> + He had gone to the barber's to be shaved, and his shaggy grey hair had + been trimmed and smoothed. He moved strongly and quickly, squaring his + shoulders and carrying his head high, as if he did not want to pass + unnoticed. + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing in the dark?” he called out in a cheerful voice. + Charity made no answer. He went up to the window to draw the blind, and + putting his finger on the wall flooded the room with a blaze of light from + the central chandelier. In this unfamiliar illumination husband and wife + faced each other awkwardly for a moment; then Mr. Royall said: “We'll step + down and have some supper, if you say so.” + </p> + <p> + The thought of food filled her with repugnance; but not daring to confess + it she smoothed her hair and followed him to the lift. + </p> + <p> + An hour later, coming out of the glare of the dining-room, she waited in + the marble-panelled hall while Mr. Royall, before the brass lattice of one + of the corner counters, selected a cigar and bought an evening paper. Men + were lounging in rocking chairs under the blazing chandeliers, travellers + coming and going, bells ringing, porters shuffling by with luggage. Over + Mr. Royall's shoulder, as he leaned against the counter, a girl with her + hair puffed high smirked and nodded at a dapper drummer who was getting + his key at the desk across the hall. + </p> + <p> + Charity stood among these cross-currents of life as motionless and inert + as if she had been one of the tables screwed to the marble floor. All her + soul was gathered up into one sick sense of coming doom, and she watched + Mr. Royall in fascinated terror while he pinched the cigars in successive + boxes and unfolded his evening paper with a steady hand. + </p> + <p> + Presently he turned and joined her. “You go right along up to bed—I'm + going to sit down here and have my smoke,” he said. He spoke as easily and + naturally as if they had been an old couple, long used to each other's + ways, and her contracted heart gave a flutter of relief. She followed him + to the lift, and he put her in and enjoined the buttoned and braided boy + to show her to her room. + </p> + <p> + She groped her way in through the darkness, forgetting where the electric + button was, and not knowing how to manipulate it. But a white autumn moon + had risen, and the illuminated sky put a pale light in the room. By it she + undressed, and after folding up the ruffled pillow-slips crept timidly + under the spotless counterpane. She had never felt such smooth sheets or + such light warm blankets; but the softness of the bed did not soothe her. + She lay there trembling with a fear that ran through her veins like ice. + “What have I done? Oh, what have I done?” she whispered, shuddering to her + pillow; and pressing her face against it to shut out the pale landscape + beyond the window she lay in the darkness straining her ears, and shaking + at every footstep that approached.... + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she sat up and pressed her hands against her frightened heart. A + faint sound had told her that someone was in the room; but she must have + slept in the interval, for she had heard no one enter. The moon was + setting beyond the opposite roofs, and in the darkness outlined against + the grey square of the window, she saw a figure seated in the + rocking-chair. The figure did not move: it was sunk deep in the chair, + with bowed head and folded arms, and she saw that it was Mr. Royall who + sat there. He had not undressed, but had taken the blanket from the foot + of the bed and laid it across his knees. Trembling and holding her breath + she watched him, fearing that he had been roused by her movement; but he + did not stir, and she concluded that he wished her to think he was asleep. + </p> + <p> + As she continued to watch him ineffable relief stole slowly over her, + relaxing her strained nerves and exhausted body. He knew, then... he + knew... it was because he knew that he had married her, and that he sat + there in the darkness to show her she was safe with him. A stir of + something deeper than she had ever felt in thinking of him flitted through + her tired brain, and cautiously, noiselessly, she let her head sink on the + pillow.... + </p> + <p> + When she woke the room was full of morning light, and her first glance + showed her that she was alone in it. She got up and dressed, and as she + was fastening her dress the door opened, and Mr. Royall came in. He looked + old and tired in the bright daylight, but his face wore the same + expression of grave friendliness that had reassured her on the Mountain. + It was as if all the dark spirits had gone out of him. + </p> + <p> + They went downstairs to the dining-room for breakfast, and after breakfast + he told her he had some insurance business to attend to. “I guess while + I'm doing it you'd better step out and buy yourself whatever you need.” He + smiled, and added with an embarrassed laugh: “You know I always wanted you + to beat all the other girls.” He drew something from his pocket, and + pushed it across the table to her; and she saw that he had given her two + twenty-dollar bills. “If it ain't enough there's more where that come from—I + want you to beat 'em all hollow,” he repeated. + </p> + <p> + She flushed and tried to stammer out her thanks, but he had pushed back + his chair and was leading the way out of the dining-room. In the hall he + paused a minute to say that if it suited her they would take the three + o'clock train back to North Dormer; then he took his hat and coat from the + rack and went out. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later Charity went out, too. She had watched to see in what + direction he was going, and she took the opposite way and walked quickly + down the main street to the brick building on the corner of Lake Avenue. + There she paused to look cautiously up and down the thoroughfare, and then + climbed the brass-bound stairs to Dr. Merkle's door. The same bushy-headed + mulatto girl admitted her, and after the same interval of waiting in the + red plush parlor she was once more summoned to Dr. Merkle's office. The + doctor received her without surprise, and led her into the inner plush + sanctuary. + </p> + <p> + “I thought you'd be back, but you've come a mite too soon: I told you to + be patient and not fret,” she observed, after a pause of penetrating + scrutiny. + </p> + <p> + Charity drew the money from her breast. “I've come to get my blue brooch,” + she said, flushing. + </p> + <p> + “Your brooch?” Dr. Merkle appeared not to remember. “My, yes—I get + so many things of that kind. Well, my dear, you'll have to wait while I + get it out of the safe. I don't leave valuables like that laying round + like the noospaper.” + </p> + <p> + She disappeared for a moment, and returned with a bit of twisted-up tissue + paper from which she unwrapped the brooch. + </p> + <p> + Charity, as she looked at it, felt a stir of warmth at her heart. She held + out an eager hand. + </p> + <p> + “Have you got the change?” she asked a little breathlessly, laying one of + the twenty-dollar bills on the table. + </p> + <p> + “Change? What'd I want to have change for? I only see two twenties there,” + Dr. Merkle answered brightly. + </p> + <p> + Charity paused, disconcerted. “I thought... you said it was five dollars a + visit....” + </p> + <p> + “For YOU, as a favour—I did. But how about the responsibility and + the insurance? I don't s'pose you ever thought of that? This pin's worth a + hundred dollars easy. If it had got lost or stole, where'd I been when you + come to claim it?” + </p> + <p> + Charity remained silent, puzzled and half-convinced by the argument, and + Dr. Merkle promptly followed up her advantage. “I didn't ask you for your + brooch, my dear. I'd a good deal ruther folks paid me my regular charge + than have 'em put me to all this trouble.” + </p> + <p> + She paused, and Charity, seized with a desperate longing to escape, rose + to her feet and held out one of the bills. + </p> + <p> + “Will you take that?” she asked. + </p> + <p> + “No, I won't take that, my dear; but I'll take it with its mate, and hand + you over a signed receipt if you don't trust me.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, but I can't—it's all I've got,” Charity exclaimed. + </p> + <p> + Dr. Merkle looked up at her pleasantly from the plush sofa. “It seems you + got married yesterday, up to the 'Piscopal church; I heard all about the + wedding from the minister's chore-man. It would be a pity, wouldn't it, to + let Mr. Royall know you had an account running here? I just put it to you + as your own mother might.” + </p> + <p> + Anger flamed up in Charity, and for an instant she thought of abandoning + the brooch and letting Dr. Merkle do her worst. But how could she leave + her only treasure with that evil woman? She wanted it for her baby: she + meant it, in some mysterious way, to be a link between Harney's child and + its unknown father. Trembling and hating herself while she did it, she + laid Mr. Royall's money on the table, and catching up the brooch fled out + of the room and the house.... + </p> + <p> + In the street she stood still, dazed by this last adventure. But the + brooch lay in her bosom like a talisman, and she felt a secret lightness + of heart. It gave her strength, after a moment, to walk on slowly in the + direction of the post office, and go in through the swinging doors. At one + of the windows she bought a sheet of letter-paper, an envelope and a + stamp; then she sat down at a table and dipped the rusty post office pen + in ink. She had come there possessed with a fear which had haunted her + ever since she had felt Mr. Royall's ring on her finger: the fear that + Harney might, after all, free himself and come back to her. It was a + possibility which had never occurred to her during the dreadful hours + after she had received his letter; only when the decisive step she had + taken made longing turn to apprehension did such a contingency seem + conceivable. She addressed the envelope, and on the sheet of paper she + wrote: + </p> + <p> + I'm married to Mr. Royall. I'll always remember you. CHARITY. + </p> + <p> + The last words were not in the least what she had meant to write; they had + flowed from her pen irresistibly. She had not had the strength to complete + her sacrifice; but, after all, what did it matter? Now that there was no + chance of ever seeing Harney again, why should she not tell him the truth? + </p> + <p> + When she had put the letter in the box she went out into the busy sunlit + street and began to walk to the hotel. Behind the plateglass windows of + the department stores she noticed the tempting display of dresses and + dress-materials that had fired her imagination on the day when she and + Harney had looked in at them together. They reminded her of Mr. Royall's + injunction to go out and buy all she needed. She looked down at her shabby + dress, and wondered what she should say when he saw her coming back + empty-handed. As she drew near the hotel she saw him waiting on the + doorstep, and her heart began to beat with apprehension. + </p> + <p> + He nodded and waved his hand at her approach, and they walked through the + hall and went upstairs to collect their possessions, so that Mr. Royall + might give up the key of the room when they went down again for their + midday dinner. In the bedroom, while she was thrusting back into the + satchel the few things she had brought away with her, she suddenly felt + that his eyes were on her and that he was going to speak. She stood still, + her half-folded night-gown in her hand, while the blood rushed up to her + drawn cheeks. + </p> + <p> + “Well, did you rig yourself out handsomely? I haven't seen any bundles + round,” he said jocosely. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I'd rather let Ally Hawes make the few things I want,” she answered. + </p> + <p> + “That so?” He looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and his eye-brows + projected in a scowl. Then his face grew friendly again. “Well, I wanted + you to go back looking stylisher than any of them; but I guess you're + right. You're a good girl, Charity.” + </p> + <p> + Their eyes met, and something rose in his that she had never seen there: a + look that made her feel ashamed and yet secure. + </p> + <p> + “I guess you're good, too,” she said, shyly and quickly. He smiled without + answering, and they went out of the room together and dropped down to the + hall in the glittering lift. + </p> + <p> + Late that evening, in the cold autumn moonlight, they drove up to the door + of the red house. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Summer, by Edith Wharton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUMMER *** + +***** This file should be named 166-h.htm or 166-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/166/ + +Produced by Meredith Ricker, John Hamm and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +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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