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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/22703-0.txt b/22703-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c8c62ca --- /dev/null +++ b/22703-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1208 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hooking Watermelons, by Edward Bellamy + +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: Hooking Watermelons + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22703] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +HOOKING WATERMELONS + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + +The train slackened, a brakeman thrust his head in at the door and +shouted “Bah,”--a mysterious formality observed on American trains as +they enter towns,--and an elderly lady, two drummers, and a young +man with a satchel got out, followed by the languid envy of the other +passengers, who had longer or shorter penances of heat and dust before +them. The train got under way again, while the knot of loafers about the +station proceeded to eye the arrivals as judicially as if they were a +committee of safety to protect the village from invasion by doubtful +characters. The old lady, apparently laboring under some such +impression, regarded them deferentially, as nervous travelers on +arriving in strange places generally do regard everybody who seems to +feel at home. The drummers briskly disappeared down the main street, +each anxious to anticipate the other at the stores. The young man with +the satchel, however, did not get away till he had shaken hands and +exchanged a few good-natured inquiries with one of the loungers. + +“Who's that, Bill?” asked one of the group, staring after the retreating +figure with lazy curiosity. + +“Why, did n't you know him? Thought everybody knew him. That's Arthur +Steele,” replied the one who had shaken hands, in a tone of cordiality +indicating that his politeness had left a pleasant impression on his +mind, as Arthur Steele's politeness generally did. + +“Who is he, anyhow?” pursued the other. + +“Why, he 's a Fairfield boy” (the brakeman pronounced it “Bah”), “born +and brought up here. His folks allers lived right next to mine, and now +he's doin' a rushin' lawyer trade down New York, and I expect he's just +rakin' the stamps. Did yer see that diamond pin he wore?” + +“S'pose it's genooine?” asked a third loafer, with interest. + +“Course it was. I tell you he's on the make, and don't you forgit it. +Some fellers allers has luck. Many 's the time he 'n' I 've been in +swim-min' and hookin' apples together when we wuz little chaps,” pursued +Bill, in a tone implying a mild reproach at the deceitfulness of +an analogy that after such fair promise in early life had failed to +complete itself in their later fortunes. + +“Why, darn it all, you know him, Jim,” he continued, dropping the tone +of pensive reminiscence into which he had momentarily allowed himself to +fall. “That pretty gal that sings in the Baptis' choir is his sister.” + +After a space of silent rumination and jerking of peanut shells upon +the track, the group broke up its session, and adjourned by tacit +understanding till the next train was due. + +Arthur Steele was half an hour in getting to his father's house, because +everybody he met on the street insisted on shaking hands with him. +Everybody in Fairfield had known him since he was a boy, and had seen +him grow up, and all were proud of him as a credit to the village and +one of its most successful representatives in the big outside world. The +young man had sense and sentiment enough to feel that the place he held +in the esteem of his native community was a thing to feel more just +pride in than any station he could win in the city, and as he walked +along hand-shaking with old friends on this side and that, it was about +his idea of a triumphal entry. + +There was the dear old house, and as he saw it his memory of it started +out vividly in his mind as if to attest how faithfully it had kept each +detail. It never would come out so clearly at times when he was far away +and needed its comfort. He opened the door softly. The sitting-room was +empty, and darkened to keep out the heat and flies. The latched door +stood open, and, hearing voices, he tiptoed across the floor with a +guileful smile and, leaning through the doorway, saw his mother and +sister sitting by the cool, lilac-shaded window, picking over currants +for tea, and talking tranquilly. Being a provident young man, he paused +a minute to let the pretty, peaceful scene impress itself upon his mind, +to be remembered afterward for the cheer of bleak boarding-house +Sunday afternoons. Then there was a sudden glancing up, a cry of joyful +consternation, and the pan of currants rolled from Amy's lap like a +broken necklace of rubies across the uncarpeted floor, while Arthur held +mother and sister in a double embrace. And when at length the kissing +had all been done, he established himself in his familiar boyish +attitude on the window-seat, kicking his heels against the mopboard, +with his elbows on his knees, and the three talked away steadily till +the shop-bell rang, and Mrs. Steele sprang up in a panic, exclaiming: +“Father will be here in five minutes, and the currants are on the floor. +Come, Amy, quick; we must pick some more, and you shall help, Arthur.” + +But though he went out into the garden with them readily enough, it +was quite another thing to make him pick currants, for he insisted on +wandering all over the place and demanding what had become of everything +he missed, and the history of everything new. And pretty soon Mr. +Steele also appeared in the garden, having found no one in the house on +reaching home. He had learned on the street that Arthur had arrived, and +came out beaming. It was good to see the hearty affection with which the +two shook hands. + +The transition of the son from the pupilage of childhood and youth to +the independence of manhood is often trying to the filial relation. +Neither party fully realizes that the old relation is at an end, or just +what the new basis is, or when the change takes place. The absence +of the son for two or three years at this period has often the best +results. He goes a boy and returns a man; the old relation is forgotten +by both parties, and they readily fall into the new one. So it had fared +with Arthur and his father. + +“You've got a splendid lot of watermelons,” said the former, as +they arrived at the upper end of the ample garden in their tour of +inspection. + +“Yes,” replied Mr. Steele, with a shrug; “only thus far they've been +stolen a little faster than they 've ripened.” + +“What made you plant them so near the fence?” + +“That was my blunder; but you see the soil is just the thing, better +than lower down.” + +“Why don't you buy a bulldog?” + +“I think it's more Christian to shoot a man outright than to set one of +those devils on him. The breed ought to be extirpated.” + +“Put some ipecac in one or two. That 'll fetch 'em. I know how sick it +made me once.” + +“I did; but more were stolen next night. I can't afford to medicate the +whole village. Last night I sat up to watch till twelve o'clock, when +mother made me go to bed.” + +“I'll watch to-night,” said Arthur, “and give 'em a lesson with a good +load of beans from the old shotgun.” + +“It would n't pay,” replied his father. “I concluded last night that all +the melons in the world were n't worth a night's sleep. They 'll have to +go, and next year I 'll know more than to plant any.” + +“You go and help Amy pick currants, and let me talk to the boy a +little,” said Mrs. Steele, coming up and taking Arthur off for a +promenade up the broad path. + +“How pretty Amy has grown,” said he, glancing with a pleased smile at +the girl as she looked up at her father. “I suppose the young men are +making sheep's eyes at her already.” + +“It does n't do them any good if they are,” said Mrs. Steele, +decisively. “She's only sixteen and a little girl yet, and has sense +enough to know it.” “What had she been crying for when I arrived? I saw +her eyes were as red as the currants.” + +“Oh, dear!” replied Mrs. Steele, with a sigh of vexation, “it was her +troubles at the Seminary. You know we let her go as a day scholar this +sum-mer. Some of the girls slight and snub her, and she is very unhappy +about it.” + +“Why, what on earth can anybody have against Amy?” demanded Arthur, in +indignant surprise. + +“I suppose it's because some of the little hussies from the city have +taken the notion that they won't associate with a mechanic's daughter, +although Amy is very careful not to say it in so many words, for fear of +hurting my feelings. But I suspect that's about where the shoe pinches.” + +Arthur muttered something between an oath and a grunt, expressing the +emphasis of the one and the disgust of the other. + +“I tell Amy it is foolish to mind their airs, but I 'm really afraid it +spoils the poor girl's happiness.” + +“Why don't you send her away to boarding-school, if it is so serious a +matter as that?” + +“We can't afford it,” said his mother, whereto Arthur promptly replied: +-- + +“I 'll pay her expenses. I 'm making a good deal more money than I +know what to do with, and I 'd really like the chance of doing a little +good.” + +His mother glanced at him with affectionate pride. + +“You 're always wanting to pay somebody's expenses, or make somebody a +present. It's really unsafe, when you 're around, to indicate that one +is n't perfectly contented. But you caught me up too quickly. I was +going to say that we could n't spare her from home, anyhow. She's the +light of the house. Besides that, if it comes to objections, I 've my +notions about boarding-schools, and I 'd trust no girl of mine at one +that wasn't within sight of her home. No, she'll have to keep on here +and bear it as she can, though it's pretty hard, I know. The trouble +to-night was, that Lina Maynard, who is one of the older girls, has +invited nearly everybody at the Seminary except Amy to a birthday party +to-morrow. Little minx, I could shake her. And the worst of it is, Amy +thinks there 's nobody like Lina Maynard.” + +After tea it was still light, and Arthur and Amy went out to walk. In +spite of the ten years difference in their ages, he always enjoyed +her company as well as anybody's in the world, because she was so +refreshingly childlike and natural. Every chord of feeling answered so +true and clear to the touch, that to talk with her was like playing on a +musical instrument, only far more delightful. Arthur had looked +forward to walks and talks with Amy as among the jolliest treats of his +vacation. She tried her best now to seem light-hearted, and to entertain +him with the local gossip, for which he always depended on her. But she +could n't simulate the vivacious and eager air that had been the chief +charm of her talk. As he glanced down, he was grieved to see the sad +set of the pretty child face at his side, and how still had grown +the fountain of smiles in the hazel eyes that were wont to send their +ripples outward in constant succession. It is to be feared that under +his breath he applied some very ungentlemanly language to Lina Maynard +and her clique, whose nonsenical ill-nature had hurt this little +girl's feelings so sorely, and incidentally spoiled half the fun of his +vacation. + +“There, there, you need n't talk any more,” he finally said, rather +rudely, half vexed with her, as helpful people are wont to be with those +they can do nothing to help. + +She looked up in grieved surprise, but before he could speak again, they +came face to face with a party of girls coming from the direction of the +Seminary. + +There were six or seven of them, perhaps, but Arthur only got the +impression of one and a lot of others. The one was a rather tall girl +of lithe figure and unusually fine carriage. Her olive complexion +was lighted with great black eyes that rested on you with an air of +imperturbable assurance, as penetrating as it was negligent. She was +talking, and her companions were listening and laughing. As they came +face to face with Arthur and Amy, he saw that they barely noticed her, +while glancing at him rather curiously, with the boldness of girls in a +crowd of their own sex. They evidently observed that he was a stranger +to the village, and of quite a different style from that of the country +bumpkins and rural exquisites they were accustomed to meeting. There +was in the big black eyes, as they had met his a moment, a suggestion +of interest that was strangely flattering, and left a trace of not +unpleasant agitation. + +“Who was that?” he asked, as they passed out of hearing. + +He only thought of asking for one, although there were six, nor she +apparently of answering differently. + +“Lina Maynard. They are 'Sem.' girls.” + +It was a dulled voice she spoke in, quite unlike her usual eager way of +giving information. She, poor thing, was terribly afraid he would ask +her why they did not seem acquainted with her, and it would have been a +painful humiliation to have explained. Arthur was conscious that he no +longer had exactly the same feeling of merely contemptuous annoyance +toward Lina Maynard, on account of her treatment of Amy. He sympathized +as much with his sister, of course, but somehow felt that to be +recognized by Lina Maynard was not such a childish ambition as he had +taken for granted. + +It was dusk when they reached home and found Mr. and Mrs. Steele on the +piazza, which served as an out-door parlor in summer, with a neighbor +who had dropped in to see Arthur. So he got out his cigar-case and told +stories of city life and interesting law cases to an intent audience +till the nine o'clock bell rang, and the neighbor “guessed he 'd go +home,” and forthwith proved that his guess was right by going. + +“'Gad, I'd forgotten all about the watermelons! Perhaps they 're at 'em +already!” cried Arthur, jumping up and running around the end of the +piazza to the garden. + +When he returned, it was to meet a combined volley of protestations +against his foolish project of keeping watch all night, from his father, +his mother, and Amy. But he declared it was no use talking; and where +were the gun and the beans? So they adjourned from the piazza, a lamp +was lit, the articles were hunted up, and the gun duly loaded with a +good charge of powder and a pint of hard beans. It was about ten o'clock +when Arthur, with a parting protest from his mother, went out into +the garden, lugging his gun and a big easy-chair, while Amy followed, +bringing one or two wraps, and a shocking old overcoat hunted up in the +garret, for the chill hours after midnight. + +The front of Mr. Steele's lot abutted on one of the pleasantest and most +thickly housed streets of the village; but the lot was deep, and the +rear end rested on a road bordered by few houses, and separated from +the garden by a rail fence easy to climb over or through. The watermelon +patch was located close to this fence, and thus in full view and +temptingly accessible from the road. + +Undoubtedly the human conscience, and especially the boyish article, +recognizes a broad difference between the theft of growing crops--of +apples on the trees, for instance, or corn on the stalk, or melons in +the field--and that of other species of property. The surreptitious +appropriation of the former class of chattels is known in common +parlance as “hooking,” while the graver term “stealing” describes the +same process in other cases. The distinction may arise from a feeling +that, so long as crops remain rooted to the ground, they are nature's, +not man's, and that nature can't be regarded as forming business +contracts with some individuals to the exclusion of others, or in fact +as acceding to any of our human distinctions of _meum_ and _tuum_, +however useful we find them. Ethical philosophers may refuse to +concede the sanction of the popular distinction here alluded to between +“hooking” and stealing; but, after all, ethics is not a deductive but an +empirical science, and what are morals but a collection of usages, like +orthography and orthoepy? However that may be, it is the duty of the +writer in this instance merely to call attention to the prevalent +popular sentiment on the subject, without any attempt to justify it, +and to state that Arthur Steele had been too recently a boy not to +sympathize with it. And accordingly he laid his plans to capture the +expected depredators to-night from practical considerations wholly, and +quite without any sense of moral reprobation toward them. + +Closely adjoining the edge of the melon-patch was a patch of green corn, +standing ten feet high, and at the fullest perfection of foliage. This +Arthur selected for his ambush, its position being such that he could +cut off the retreat to the fence of any person who had once got among +the melons. Hewing down a hill of corn in the second row from the front, +he made a comfortable place for his easy-chair. Amy lingered for a +while, enjoying the excitement of the occasion, and they talked in +whispers; but finally Arthur sent her in, and as her dress glimmered +away down the garden path, he settled himself comfortably for his watch. + +In the faint moonlight he could just descry the dark shapes of the +melons on the ground in front of him. The crickets were having a high +time in the stubble around, and the night air drew sweet autumnal +exhalations from the ground; for autumn begins by night a long time +before it does by day. The night wind rustled in the corn with a crisp +articulateness he had never noticed in daytime, and he felt like +an eavesdropper. Then for a while he heard the music of some roving +serenaders, down in the village, and grew pensive with the vague +reminiscences of golden youth, romance, and the sweet past that nightly +music suggests,--vague because apparently they are not reminiscences +of the individual but of the race, a part of the consciousness and ideal +of humanity. At last the music was succeeded by the baying of a dog in +some distant farmyard, and then, ere the ocean of silence had fairly +smoothed its surface over that, a horse began to kick violently in a +neighboring barn. Some time after, a man chopped some kindlings in a +shed a couple of lots off. Gradually, however, the noises ceased like +the oft-returning yet steadily falling ebb of the tide, and Arthur +experienced how many degrees there are of silence, each more utter than +the last, so that the final and absolute degree must be something to +which the utmost quiet obtainable on earth is uproar. One by one the +lights went out in the houses, till the only ones left were in the +windows of the Seminary, visible over the tree-tops a quarter of a mile +away. + +“The girls keep late hours,” thought Arthur. And from that he fell to +thinking of Lina Maynard and the careless, almost insolent, grace of her +manner, and that indifferent yet penetrating glance of hers. Where did +she come from? Probably from California, or the far West; he had heard +that the girls out there were of a bolder, more unconventional type than +at the East. What a pity she did not fancy Amy! + +What was that moving across the melon-patch? He reached for his gun. It +was only a cat, though, after all. The slight noise in the corn-patch +attracted the animal's attention, and it came across and poked its head +into the opening where Arthur sat. As the creature saw him, its start of +surprise would have shattered the nervous system of anything but a cat. +It stood half thrown back on its haunches, its ears flattened, its eyes +glaring in a petrifaction of amazement. Arthur sat motionless as marble, +laughing inwardly. For full two minutes the two stared at each other +without moving a muscle, and then, without relaxing its tense attitude, +the cat by almost imperceptible degrees withdrew one paw and then +another, and, thus backing out of the corn-patch, turned around when at +a safe distance and slunk away. + +A few minutes later a dog, that enthusiast in perfumes, jumped through +the fence and trotted across the melon-patch, his nose to the ground, +making a collection of evening smells. Arthur expected nothing but that +he would scent his neighborhood, find him out, and set up a barking. +But, chancing to strike the cat's trail, off went the dog on a full run +with nose to the ground. + +Such were the varying humors of the night. After the episode of the dog, +feeling a little chilly, Arthur enveloped himself in the tattered old +overcoat and must have dropped into a nap. Suddenly he awoke. Within +ten feet of him, just in the act of stooping over a huge melon, was a +woman's figure. He saw the face clearly as she rose. Immortal gods! it +was--But I am anticipating. + +The discipline at Westville Seminary had been shockingly lax since the +long illness of the principal had left the easy-going first assistant +teacher at the head of affairs. The girls ran all over the rules,--had +private theatricals, suppers, and games of all sorts in their rooms at +all hours of day or night. In the course of the evening whose events in +another sphere of life have been narrated, several girls called at Lina +Maynard's room to notify her of the “spread” at Nell Barber's, No. 49, +at eleven o'clock. They found her sitting in a low rocking-chair, with +an open letter in her hand and a very pensive, discontented expression +of countenance. + +“Does he press for an answer, Lina? We 're just in time to advise you,” + cried Nell Barber. + +“Don't say Yes unless his eyes are blue,” drawled a brunette. + +“Unless they 're black, you mean,” sharply amended a bright blonde. + +“Make him elope with you,” suggested Nell, “It will be such fun to have a +real rope-ladder elopement at the Seminary, and we'll all sit up and see +it.” + +“Oh, do, do, Lina!” chorused the others. + +But Lina, apparently too much chagrined at something to be in a mood for +jests, sat with her eyebrows petulantly contracted, her feet thrust out, +and the hand holding the letter hanging by her side, her whole attitude +indicating despondence. + +“Still pensive! It can't be he's faithless!” exclaimed Nell. + +“Faithless to those eyes! I should say not,” cried the blonde, whom Lina +called her sweetheart, and who claimed to be “engaged” to her according +to boarding-school fashion. + +“Don't mind him, dear,” she went on, throwing herself on the floor, +clasping her hands about Lina's knee, and leaning her cheek on it. “You +make me so jealous. Have n't you got me, and ain't I enough?” + +“Plenty enough, dear,” said Lina, stroking her cheek. “This is only from +my brother Charley.” + +“The one at Watertown 'Sem.'?” + +“Yes,” said Lina; “and oh, girls,” she went on, with gloomy energy, +“we don't have any good times at all compared with those boys. They +do really wicked things, hook apples, and carry off people's gates and +signs, and screw up tutors' doors in the night, and have fights with +what he calls 'townies,'--I don't know exactly what they are,--and +everything. I thought before that we were doing some things too, but +we 're not, compared with all that, and I shall be so ashamed when I meet +him at home not to have anything to tell except little bits of things.” + +A depressing pause followed. Lina's disparaging view of achievements in +the way of defying the proprieties, of which all the girls had been very +proud, cast a profound gloom over the circle. The blonde seemed to voice +the common sentiment when she said, resting her chin on Lina's knee, and +gazing pensively at the wall:-- + +“Oh, dear! that comes of being girls. We might as well be good and done +with it. We can't be bad so as to amount to anything.” + +“Good or bad, we must eat,” said Nell Barber. “I must go and get the +spread ready. I forgot all about it, Lina; but we came in just to invite +you. Eleven sharp, remember. Three knocks, a pause, and another, you +know. Come, girls.” + +The brunette followed her, but Lina's little sweetheart remained. + +“What have they got?” demanded the former listlessly. + +“Oh, Nell has a jar of preserves from home, and I smuggled up a plate of +dried beef from tea, and cook let us have some crackers and plates. We +tried hard to get a watermelon there was in the pantry, but cook said +she did n't dare let us have it. It's for dinner to-morrow.” + +Lina's eyes suddenly became introspective; then after a moment she +rose slowly and stood in her tracks with an expression of deep thought, +absent-mindedly took one step, then another, and after a pause a third, +finally pulling up before the mirror, into which she stared vacantly for +a moment, and then muttered defiantly as she turned away:-- + +“We 'll see, Master Charley.” + +“Lina Maynard, what's the matter with you?” cried the blonde, who had +watched the pantomime with open mouth and growing eyes. + +Lina turned and looked at her thoughtfully a moment, and then said with +decisiveness:-- + +“You just go to Nell's, my dear, and say I 'm coming pretty soon; and if +you say anything else, I 'll--I 'll never marry you.” + +The girls were in the habit of doing as Lina wanted them to, and the +blonde went, pouting with unappeased curiosity. + +To gain exit from the Seminary was a simple matter in these lax days, +and five minutes later Lina was walking rapidly along the highway, her +lips firm set, but her eyes apprehensively reconnoitring the road ahead, +with frequent glances to each side and behind. Once she got over the +stone wall at the roadside in a considerable panic and crouched in the +dewy grass while a belated villager passed, but it was without further +adventure that she finally turned into the road leading behind Mr. +Steele's lot, and after a brief search identified the garden where she +remembered seeing some particularly fine melons, when out walking a day +or two previous. There they lay, just the other side the fence, faintly +visible in the dim light She could not help congratulating herself, +by the way, on the excellent behavior of her nerves, whose tense, +fine-strung condition was a positive luxury, and she then and there +understood how men might delight in desperate risks for the mere sake +of the exalted and supreme sense of perfect self-possession that danger +brings to some natures. Not, indeed, that she stopped to indulge any +psychological speculations. The coast was clear; not a footfall or +hoof-stroke sounded from the road, and without delay she began to look +about for a wide place between the rails where she might get through. +Just as she found it, she was startled by an unmistakable human snore, +which seemed to come from a patch of high corn close to the melons, and +she was fairly puzzled until she observed, about ten rods distant in the +same line, an open attic window. That explained its origin, and with a +passing self-congratulation that she had made up her mind not to marry +a man that snored, she began to crawl through the fence. When halfway +through the thought struck her,--wasn't it like any other stealing, +after all? This crawling between rails seemed dreadfully so. Her +attitude, squeezed between two rails and half across the lower one, was +neither graceful nor comfortable, and perhaps that fact shortened her +scruples. + +“It can't be really stealing, for I don't feel like a thief,” was the +logic that settled it, and the next moment she had the novel sensation +of having both feet surreptitiously and feloniously on another person's +land. She decidedly did n't relish it, but she would go ahead now and +think of it afterward. She was pretty sure she never would do it again, +anyhow, experiencing that common sort of repentance beforehand for the +thing she was about to do, the precise moral value of which it would be +interesting to inquire. It ought to count for something, for, if it does +n't hinder the act, at least it spoils the fun of it. Here was a melon +at her feet; should she take it? That was a bigger one further on, and +her imperious conscientiousness compelled her to go ten steps further +into the enemy's country to get it, for now that she was committed to +the undertaking, she was bound to do the best she could. + +To stoop, to break the vine, and to secure the melon were an instant's +work; but as she bent, the high corn before her waved violently and a +big farmer-looking man in a slouch hat and shocking old coat sprang out +and seized her by the arm, with a grip not painful but sickeningly firm, +exclaiming as he did so:-- + +“Wal, I swan ter gosh, if 't ain't a gal!” + +Lina dropped the melon, and, barely recalling the peculiar circumstances +in time to suppress a scream, made a silent, desperate effort to break +away. But her captor's hold was not even shaken, and he laughed at the +impotence of her attempt. In all her petted life she had never been held +a moment against her will, and it needed not the added considerations +that this man was a coarse, unknown boor, the place retired, the time +midnight, and herself in the position of a criminal, to give her a +feeling of abject terror so great as to amount to positive nausea, as +she realized her utter powerlessness in his hands. + +“So you've been a-stealin' my melons, hey?” he demanded gruffly. + +The slight shake with which the question was enforced deprived her of +the last vestige of dignity and self-assertion. She relapsed into the +mental condition of a juvenile culprit undergoing correction. Now that +she was caught, she no longer thought of her offense as venial. The +grasp of her captor seemed to put an end to all possible hairsplitting +on that point, and prove that it was nothing more nor less than +stealing, and a sense of guilt left her without any moral support +against her fright. She was only conscious of utter humiliation, and an +abject desire to beg off on any terms. + +“What do you go round stealin' folks's melons for, young woman? Don't +yer folks bring yer up better 'n that? It's a dodrotted shame to 'em, ef +they don't. What did ye want with the melons? Don't they give yer enough +to eat ter home, hey?” + +“We were going to have some supper, sir,” she replied, in a scared, +breathless tone, with a little hope of propitiating him by being +extremely civil and explicit in her replies. + +“Who was havin' supper to this time er night?” he snorted incredulously. + +“We girls,” was the faint reply. + +“What gals?” + +Had she got to tell where she came from and be identified? She couldn't, +she wouldn't. But again came that dreadful shake, and the words faltered +out:-- + +“Over at the Seminary, sir.” + +“Whew! so ye 're one er them, are ye? What's yer name?” + +Cold dew stood on the poor girl's forehead. She was silent. He might +kill her, but she would n't disgrace her father's name. + +“What's yer name?” he repeated, with another shake. + +She was still silent, though limp as a rag in his grasp. + +“Wal,” said he sharply, after waiting a half minute to see if she would +answer, “I guess ye'll be more confidin' like to the jedge when he +inquiries in the mornin'. A night in the lock-up makes folks wonderful +civil. Now I'll jest trouble ye to come along to the police office,” and +he walked her along by the arm toward the house. + +As the horrible degradation to which she was exposed flashed upon Lina, +the last remnant of her self-control gave way, and, hanging back with +all her might against his hand, she burst into sobs. + +“Oh, don't, don't! It will kill me. I'll tell you my name. It's Lina +Maynard. My father is a rich merchant in New York, Broadway, No. 743. He +will give you anything, if you let me go. Anything you want. Oh, please +don't! Oh, don't! I could n't! I could n't!” + +In this terror-stricken, wild-eyed girl, her face streaming with tears, +and every lineament convulsed with abject dread, there was little enough +to remind Arthur Steele of the queenly maiden who had favored him with +a glance of negligent curiosity that afternoon. He stopped marching her +along and said reflectively:-- + +“Lina Maynard, hey! Then you must be the gal that's down on Amy Steele +and would n't ask her to the party to-morrow. Say, ain't yer the one?” + +Lina was too much bewildered by the sudden change of tack to do more +than stammer inarticulately. I am afraid that in her terror she would +have been capable of denying it, if she had thought that would help +her. Her captor reflected more deeply, scratched his head, and finally, +assuming a diplomatic attitude by thrusting his hands in his pocket, +remarked:-- + +“I s'pose ye 'd like it dummed well ef I was to let yer go and say +nothin' more about it. I reelly don't s'pose I 'd orter do it; but it +riles me to see Amy comin' home cryin' every day, and I 'll tell ye what +I 'll do. Ef you 'll ask her to yer fandango to-morrer, and be friends +with her arterward so she 'll come home happy and cheerful like, I 'll +let ye go, and if ye don't, I 'll put ye in jug overnight, sure's taxes. +Say Yes or No now, quick!” + +“Yes, yes!” Lina cried, with frantic eagerness. + +There was scarcely any possible ransom he could have asked that she +would not have instantly given. She dared not credit her ears, and stood +gazing at him in intense, appealing suspense, as if he might be about to +revoke his offer. But instead of that, he turned down the huge collar of +the old overcoat, took it off, threw it on the ground, and, turning +up the slouch of his hat, stood before her a very good-looking and +well-dressed young gentleman, whom she at once recognized and at length +identified in her mind as the one walking with Amy that afternoon, which +now seemed weeks ago. He bowed very low, and said earnestly enough, +though smiling:-- + +“I humbly beg your pardon.” + +Lina stared at him with dumb amazement, and he went on:-- + +“I am Arthur Steele. I came home on a vacation to-day, and was sitting +up to watch father's melon-patch for the pure fun of it, expecting to +catch some small boys, and when I caught you, I couldn't resist the +temptation of a little farce. As for Amy, that only occurred to me at +the last; and if you think it unfair, you may have your promise back.” + +Lina had now measurably recovered her equannimity, and, ignoring his +explanation, demanded, as she looked around:-- + +“How am I to get out of this dreadful place?” mentally contemplating +meanwhile the impossibility of clambering through that fence with a +young gentleman looking on. + +“I will let down the bars,” he said, and they turned toward the fence. + +“Let's see, this is your melon, is it not?” he observed, stooping to +pick up the booty Lina had dropped in her first panic. “You must keep +that anyhow. You 've earned it.” + +Since the tables turned so unexpectedly in her favor, Lina had recovered +her dignity in some degree, and had become very freezing toward this +young man, by whom she began to feel she had been very badly treated. +In this reaction of indignation she had really almost forgotten how she +came in the garden at all. But this reference to the melon quite upset +her new equanimity, and as Arthur grinned broadly she blushed and stood +there in awful confusion. Finally she blurted out:-- + +“I didn't want your stupid melon. I only wanted some fun. I can't +explain, and I don't care whether you understand it or not.” + +Tears of vexation glittered in her eyes. He sobered instantly, and said, +with an air of the utmost deference:-- + +“Pardon me for laughing, and do me the justice to believe that I 'm +in no sort of danger of misunderstanding you. I hooked too many melons +myself as a boy not to sympathize perfectly. But you must really let me +carry the melon home for you. What would the girls say, if you returned +empty-handed?” + +“Well, I will take the melon,” she said, half defiantly; “but I should +prefer not to have your company.” + +He did not reply till he had let down the bars, and then said:-- + +“The streets are not safe at this hour, and you 've had frights enough +for one night.” + +She made no further objections, and with the watermelon poised on his +shoulder he walked by her side, neither speaking a word, till they +reached the gate of the Seminary grounds. There she stopped, and, +turning, extended her hands for the melon. As he gave it to her their +eyes met a moment, and their mutual appreciation of the humor of +the situation expressed itself in an irrepressible smile that seemed +instantly to make them acquainted, and she responded almost kindly to +his low “Good-evening.” + +Amy came home jubilant next day. Lina May-nard had invited her to her +party, and had been ever so good to her, and there was nobody in the +world like Lina. Arthur listened and said nothing. All the next week +it was the same story of Lina's beauty, good-nature, cleverness, and +perfections generally, and, above all, her goodness to herself, +Amy Steele. Lina was indeed fulfilling her promise with generous +over-measure. And after once taking up with Amy, the sweet simplicity +and enthusiastic loyalty of the child to herself won her heart +completely. The other girls wondered, but Lina Maynard's freaks always +set the fashion, and Amy, to her astonishment and boundless delight, +found herself the pet of the Seminary. The little blonde, Lina's +sweetheart, alone rebelled against the new order of things and was +furiously jealous, for which she was promptly snubbed by Lina, and Amy +taken into her place. And meanwhile Lina caught herself several times +wondering whether Arthur Steele was satisfied with the way she was +keeping her pledge. + +It was Wednesday night, and Arthur was to return to New York Thursday +morning. Although he had walked the street every afternoon and had met +nearly all the other girls at the Seminary, he had not seen Lina again. +His mother, whom he took about a good deal on pleasure drives, seriously +wondered if the eagerness of city life was really spoiling his faculty +for leisurely pleasures. He always seemed to be looking out ahead for +something, instead of quietly enjoying the passing sights and scenery. +He had consented to accompany Amy to a little church sociable on the +evening before his departure. It was a species of entertainment which he +detested, but he thought he might possibly meet Lina there, as Amy had +said some of the Seminary girls would be present. + +At once, on entering the vestry, he caught sight of her at the other end +of the room among a group of girls. At the sound of the closing door +she glanced up with an involuntary gesture of expectancy, and their +eyes met. She looked confused, and instantly averted her face. There was +plenty of recognition in her expression, but she did not bow, the real +reason being that she was too much embarrassed to think of it. But +during the week he had so many times canvassed the chances of her +recognizing him when they should meet that he had become quite morbid +about it, and manifested the usual alacrity of persons in that state of +mind in jumping at conclusions they wish to avoid. He had been a fool to +think that she would recognize him as an acquaintance. What had he done +but to insult her, and what associations save distressing ones could she +have with him? He would exchange a few greetings with old friends, and +then quietly slink off home and go to packing up. He was rather sorry +for his mother; she would feel so badly to have him moody and cross on +the last evening at home. Just then some one touched his sleeve, and +looking around he saw Amy. She put her flushed little face close to his +ear and whispered:-- + +“Lina said I might introduce you. Is n't she beautiful, though, +to-night? Of course you 'll fall in love with her, but you must n't try +to cut me out.” + +Arthur was Amy's ideal of gentlemanly ease and polish, and she had been +very proud of having so fine a city brother to introduce to the girls. +Imagine her astonishment and chagrin when she saw him standing before +Lina with an exaggeration of the agitated, sheepish air the girls made +such fun of in their rural admirers! But if that surprised her, what +was her amazement to see Lina looking equally confused, and blushing to +where her neck curved beneath the lace, although the brave eyes met +his fairly! A wise instinct told Amy that here was something she didn't +understand, and she had better go away, and she did. + +“The melon was very good, Mr. Steele,” said Lina demurely, with a +glimmer of fun in her black eyes. + +“Miss Maynard, I don't know how I shall beg pardon, or humble myself +enough for my outrageous treatment of you,” burst forth Arthur. “I +don't know what I should have done if I had n't had an opportunity for +apologizing pretty soon, and now I scarcely dare look you in the face.” + +His chagrin and self-reproach were genuine enough, but he might have +left off that last, for he had n't been looking anywhere else since he +came into the room. + +“You did shake me rather hard,” she said, with a smiling contraction of +the black eyebrows. + +Good heavens! had he actually shaken this divine creature,--this +Cleopatra of a girl, whose queenly brow gave her hair the look of +a coronet! He groaned in spirit, and looked so self-reproachful and +chagrined that she laughed. + +“I don't know about forgiving you for that, but I 'm so grateful you +did n't take me to the lock-up that I suppose I ought not to mind the +shaking.” + +“But, Miss Maynard, you surely don't think I was in earnest about that?” + he exclaimed, in strenuous deprecation. + +“I don't know, I 'm sure,” she said doubtfully. “You looked as if you +were capable of it.” + +He was going on to protest still farther when she interrupted him, and +said laughingly:-- + +“You take to apologizing so naturally that I 'd nearly forgotten that +it was not you but I who was the real culprit. I must really make a few +excuses myself before I hear any more from you.” + +And then she told him all about her brother Charley's letter, and the +spirit of emulation that had got her into trouble. It was easy enough to +joke about certain aspects of the matter; but when she came to talk in +plain language about her performances that night, she became so much +embarrassed and stumbled so badly that Arthur felt very ill at ease. + +“And when I think what _would_ have happened if I 'd fallen into +anybody's hands but yours, you seem almost like a deliverer.” At which +Arthur had another access of humiliation to think how un-chivalrously +he had treated this princess in disguise. How he would like to catch +somebody else abusing her that way! And then he told her all that he had +thought and felt about her during the stealing scene, and she gave her +side of the drama, to their intense mutual interest. + +“Is n't it about time we were going home, Arthur?” said Amy's voice. + +He glanced up. The room was nearly empty, and the party from the +Seminary were waiting for Lina. + +“Miss Maynard, may I call upon you in New York during vacation?” + +“I should be happy to see you.” + +“_Au revoir_, then!” + +“_Au revoir!_” + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hooking Watermelons, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + +***** This file should be named 22703-0.txt or 22703-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22703/ + +Produced by 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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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: Hooking Watermelons + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22703] +Last Updated: March 8, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h1> + HOOKING WATERMELONS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Edward Bellamy <br /> <br /> 1898 + </h2> + <p> + The train slackened, a brakeman thrust his head in at the door and shouted + “Bah,”—a mysterious formality observed on American trains as they + enter towns,—and an elderly lady, two drummers, and a young man with + a satchel got out, followed by the languid envy of the other passengers, + who had longer or shorter penances of heat and dust before them. The train + got under way again, while the knot of loafers about the station proceeded + to eye the arrivals as judicially as if they were a committee of safety to + protect the village from invasion by doubtful characters. The old lady, + apparently laboring under some such impression, regarded them + deferentially, as nervous travelers on arriving in strange places + generally do regard everybody who seems to feel at home. The drummers + briskly disappeared down the main street, each anxious to anticipate the + other at the stores. The young man with the satchel, however, did not get + away till he had shaken hands and exchanged a few good-natured inquiries + with one of the loungers. + </p> + <p> + “Who's that, Bill?” asked one of the group, staring after the retreating + figure with lazy curiosity. + </p> + <p> + “Why, did n't you know him? Thought everybody knew him. That's Arthur + Steele,” replied the one who had shaken hands, in a tone of cordiality + indicating that his politeness had left a pleasant impression on his mind, + as Arthur Steele's politeness generally did. + </p> + <p> + “Who is he, anyhow?” pursued the other. + </p> + <p> + “Why, he 's a Fairfield boy” (the brakeman pronounced it “Bah”), “born and + brought up here. His folks allers lived right next to mine, and now he's + doin' a rushin' lawyer trade down New York, and I expect he's just rakin' + the stamps. Did yer see that diamond pin he wore?” + </p> + <p> + “S'pose it's genooine?” asked a third loafer, with interest. + </p> + <p> + “Course it was. I tell you he's on the make, and don't you forgit it. Some + fellers allers has luck. Many 's the time he 'n' I 've been in swim-min' + and hookin' apples together when we wuz little chaps,” pursued Bill, in a + tone implying a mild reproach at the deceitfulness of an analogy that + after such fair promise in early life had failed to complete itself in + their later fortunes. + </p> + <p> + “Why, darn it all, you know him, Jim,” he continued, dropping the tone of + pensive reminiscence into which he had momentarily allowed himself to + fall. “That pretty gal that sings in the Baptis' choir is his sister.” + </p> + <p> + After a space of silent rumination and jerking of peanut shells upon the + track, the group broke up its session, and adjourned by tacit + understanding till the next train was due. + </p> + <p> + Arthur Steele was half an hour in getting to his father's house, because + everybody he met on the street insisted on shaking hands with him. + Everybody in Fairfield had known him since he was a boy, and had seen him + grow up, and all were proud of him as a credit to the village and one of + its most successful representatives in the big outside world. The young + man had sense and sentiment enough to feel that the place he held in the + esteem of his native community was a thing to feel more just pride in than + any station he could win in the city, and as he walked along hand-shaking + with old friends on this side and that, it was about his idea of a + triumphal entry. + </p> + <p> + There was the dear old house, and as he saw it his memory of it started + out vividly in his mind as if to attest how faithfully it had kept each + detail. It never would come out so clearly at times when he was far away + and needed its comfort. He opened the door softly. The sitting-room was + empty, and darkened to keep out the heat and flies. The latched door stood + open, and, hearing voices, he tiptoed across the floor with a guileful + smile and, leaning through the doorway, saw his mother and sister sitting + by the cool, lilac-shaded window, picking over currants for tea, and + talking tranquilly. Being a provident young man, he paused a minute to let + the pretty, peaceful scene impress itself upon his mind, to be remembered + afterward for the cheer of bleak boarding-house Sunday afternoons. Then + there was a sudden glancing up, a cry of joyful consternation, and the pan + of currants rolled from Amy's lap like a broken necklace of rubies across + the uncarpeted floor, while Arthur held mother and sister in a double + embrace. And when at length the kissing had all been done, he established + himself in his familiar boyish attitude on the window-seat, kicking his + heels against the mopboard, with his elbows on his knees, and the three + talked away steadily till the shop-bell rang, and Mrs. Steele sprang up in + a panic, exclaiming: “Father will be here in five minutes, and the + currants are on the floor. Come, Amy, quick; we must pick some more, and + you shall help, Arthur.” + </p> + <p> + But though he went out into the garden with them readily enough, it was + quite another thing to make him pick currants, for he insisted on + wandering all over the place and demanding what had become of everything + he missed, and the history of everything new. And pretty soon Mr. Steele + also appeared in the garden, having found no one in the house on reaching + home. He had learned on the street that Arthur had arrived, and came out + beaming. It was good to see the hearty affection with which the two shook + hands. + </p> + <p> + The transition of the son from the pupilage of childhood and youth to the + independence of manhood is often trying to the filial relation. Neither + party fully realizes that the old relation is at an end, or just what the + new basis is, or when the change takes place. The absence of the son for + two or three years at this period has often the best results. He goes a + boy and returns a man; the old relation is forgotten by both parties, and + they readily fall into the new one. So it had fared with Arthur and his + father. + </p> + <p> + “You've got a splendid lot of watermelons,” said the former, as they + arrived at the upper end of the ample garden in their tour of inspection. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” replied Mr. Steele, with a shrug; “only thus far they've been + stolen a little faster than they 've ripened.” + </p> + <p> + “What made you plant them so near the fence?” + </p> + <p> + “That was my blunder; but you see the soil is just the thing, better than + lower down.” + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you buy a bulldog?” + </p> + <p> + “I think it's more Christian to shoot a man outright than to set one of + those devils on him. The breed ought to be extirpated.” + </p> + <p> + “Put some ipecac in one or two. That 'll fetch 'em. I know how sick it + made me once.” + </p> + <p> + “I did; but more were stolen next night. I can't afford to medicate the + whole village. Last night I sat up to watch till twelve o'clock, when + mother made me go to bed.” + </p> + <p> + “I'll watch to-night,” said Arthur, “and give 'em a lesson with a good + load of beans from the old shotgun.” + </p> + <p> + “It would n't pay,” replied his father. “I concluded last night that all + the melons in the world were n't worth a night's sleep. They 'll have to + go, and next year I 'll know more than to plant any.” + </p> + <p> + “You go and help Amy pick currants, and let me talk to the boy a little,” + said Mrs. Steele, coming up and taking Arthur off for a promenade up the + broad path. + </p> + <p> + “How pretty Amy has grown,” said he, glancing with a pleased smile at the + girl as she looked up at her father. “I suppose the young men are making + sheep's eyes at her already.” + </p> + <p> + “It does n't do them any good if they are,” said Mrs. Steele, decisively. + “She's only sixteen and a little girl yet, and has sense enough to know + it.” “What had she been crying for when I arrived? I saw her eyes were as + red as the currants.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear!” replied Mrs. Steele, with a sigh of vexation, “it was her + troubles at the Seminary. You know we let her go as a day scholar this + sum-mer. Some of the girls slight and snub her, and she is very unhappy + about it.” + </p> + <p> + “Why, what on earth can anybody have against Amy?” demanded Arthur, in + indignant surprise. + </p> + <p> + “I suppose it's because some of the little hussies from the city have + taken the notion that they won't associate with a mechanic's daughter, + although Amy is very careful not to say it in so many words, for fear of + hurting my feelings. But I suspect that's about where the shoe pinches.” + </p> + <p> + Arthur muttered something between an oath and a grunt, expressing the + emphasis of the one and the disgust of the other. + </p> + <p> + “I tell Amy it is foolish to mind their airs, but I 'm really afraid it + spoils the poor girl's happiness.” + </p> + <p> + “Why don't you send her away to boarding-school, if it is so serious a + matter as that?” + </p> + <p> + “We can't afford it,” said his mother, whereto Arthur promptly replied: + — + </p> + <p> + “I 'll pay her expenses. I 'm making a good deal more money than I know + what to do with, and I 'd really like the chance of doing a little good.” + </p> + <p> + His mother glanced at him with affectionate pride. + </p> + <p> + “You 're always wanting to pay somebody's expenses, or make somebody a + present. It's really unsafe, when you 're around, to indicate that one is + n't perfectly contented. But you caught me up too quickly. I was going to + say that we could n't spare her from home, anyhow. She's the light of the + house. Besides that, if it comes to objections, I 've my notions about + boarding-schools, and I 'd trust no girl of mine at one that wasn't within + sight of her home. No, she'll have to keep on here and bear it as she can, + though it's pretty hard, I know. The trouble to-night was, that Lina + Maynard, who is one of the older girls, has invited nearly everybody at + the Seminary except Amy to a birthday party to-morrow. Little minx, I + could shake her. And the worst of it is, Amy thinks there 's nobody like + Lina Maynard.” + </p> + <p> + After tea it was still light, and Arthur and Amy went out to walk. In + spite of the ten years difference in their ages, he always enjoyed her + company as well as anybody's in the world, because she was so refreshingly + childlike and natural. Every chord of feeling answered so true and clear + to the touch, that to talk with her was like playing on a musical + instrument, only far more delightful. Arthur had looked forward to walks + and talks with Amy as among the jolliest treats of his vacation. She tried + her best now to seem light-hearted, and to entertain him with the local + gossip, for which he always depended on her. But she could n't simulate + the vivacious and eager air that had been the chief charm of her talk. As + he glanced down, he was grieved to see the sad set of the pretty child + face at his side, and how still had grown the fountain of smiles in the + hazel eyes that were wont to send their ripples outward in constant + succession. It is to be feared that under his breath he applied some very + ungentlemanly language to Lina Maynard and her clique, whose nonsenical + ill-nature had hurt this little girl's feelings so sorely, and + incidentally spoiled half the fun of his vacation. + </p> + <p> + “There, there, you need n't talk any more,” he finally said, rather + rudely, half vexed with her, as helpful people are wont to be with those + they can do nothing to help. + </p> + <p> + She looked up in grieved surprise, but before he could speak again, they + came face to face with a party of girls coming from the direction of the + Seminary. + </p> + <p> + There were six or seven of them, perhaps, but Arthur only got the + impression of one and a lot of others. The one was a rather tall girl of + lithe figure and unusually fine carriage. Her olive complexion was lighted + with great black eyes that rested on you with an air of imperturbable + assurance, as penetrating as it was negligent. She was talking, and her + companions were listening and laughing. As they came face to face with + Arthur and Amy, he saw that they barely noticed her, while glancing at him + rather curiously, with the boldness of girls in a crowd of their own sex. + They evidently observed that he was a stranger to the village, and of + quite a different style from that of the country bumpkins and rural + exquisites they were accustomed to meeting. There was in the big black + eyes, as they had met his a moment, a suggestion of interest that was + strangely flattering, and left a trace of not unpleasant agitation. + </p> + <p> + “Who was that?” he asked, as they passed out of hearing. + </p> + <p> + He only thought of asking for one, although there were six, nor she + apparently of answering differently. + </p> + <p> + “Lina Maynard. They are 'Sem.' girls.” + </p> + <p> + It was a dulled voice she spoke in, quite unlike her usual eager way of + giving information. She, poor thing, was terribly afraid he would ask her + why they did not seem acquainted with her, and it would have been a + painful humiliation to have explained. Arthur was conscious that he no + longer had exactly the same feeling of merely contemptuous annoyance + toward Lina Maynard, on account of her treatment of Amy. He sympathized as + much with his sister, of course, but somehow felt that to be recognized by + Lina Maynard was not such a childish ambition as he had taken for granted. + </p> + <p> + It was dusk when they reached home and found Mr. and Mrs. Steele on the + piazza, which served as an out-door parlor in summer, with a neighbor who + had dropped in to see Arthur. So he got out his cigar-case and told + stories of city life and interesting law cases to an intent audience till + the nine o'clock bell rang, and the neighbor “guessed he 'd go home,” and + forthwith proved that his guess was right by going. + </p> + <p> + “'Gad, I'd forgotten all about the watermelons! Perhaps they 're at 'em + already!” cried Arthur, jumping up and running around the end of the + piazza to the garden. + </p> + <p> + When he returned, it was to meet a combined volley of protestations + against his foolish project of keeping watch all night, from his father, + his mother, and Amy. But he declared it was no use talking; and where were + the gun and the beans? So they adjourned from the piazza, a lamp was lit, + the articles were hunted up, and the gun duly loaded with a good charge of + powder and a pint of hard beans. It was about ten o'clock when Arthur, + with a parting protest from his mother, went out into the garden, lugging + his gun and a big easy-chair, while Amy followed, bringing one or two + wraps, and a shocking old overcoat hunted up in the garret, for the chill + hours after midnight. + </p> + <p> + The front of Mr. Steele's lot abutted on one of the pleasantest and most + thickly housed streets of the village; but the lot was deep, and the rear + end rested on a road bordered by few houses, and separated from the garden + by a rail fence easy to climb over or through. The watermelon patch was + located close to this fence, and thus in full view and temptingly + accessible from the road. + </p> + <p> + Undoubtedly the human conscience, and especially the boyish article, + recognizes a broad difference between the theft of growing crops—of + apples on the trees, for instance, or corn on the stalk, or melons in the + field—and that of other species of property. The surreptitious + appropriation of the former class of chattels is known in common parlance + as “hooking,” while the graver term “stealing” describes the same process + in other cases. The distinction may arise from a feeling that, so long as + crops remain rooted to the ground, they are nature's, not man's, and that + nature can't be regarded as forming business contracts with some + individuals to the exclusion of others, or in fact as acceding to any of + our human distinctions of <i>meum</i> and <i>tuum</i>, however useful we + find them. Ethical philosophers may refuse to concede the sanction of the + popular distinction here alluded to between “hooking” and stealing; but, + after all, ethics is not a deductive but an empirical science, and what + are morals but a collection of usages, like orthography and orthoepy? + However that may be, it is the duty of the writer in this instance merely + to call attention to the prevalent popular sentiment on the subject, + without any attempt to justify it, and to state that Arthur Steele had + been too recently a boy not to sympathize with it. And accordingly he laid + his plans to capture the expected depredators to-night from practical + considerations wholly, and quite without any sense of moral reprobation + toward them. + </p> + <p> + Closely adjoining the edge of the melon-patch was a patch of green corn, + standing ten feet high, and at the fullest perfection of foliage. This + Arthur selected for his ambush, its position being such that he could cut + off the retreat to the fence of any person who had once got among the + melons. Hewing down a hill of corn in the second row from the front, he + made a comfortable place for his easy-chair. Amy lingered for a while, + enjoying the excitement of the occasion, and they talked in whispers; but + finally Arthur sent her in, and as her dress glimmered away down the + garden path, he settled himself comfortably for his watch. + </p> + <p> + In the faint moonlight he could just descry the dark shapes of the melons + on the ground in front of him. The crickets were having a high time in the + stubble around, and the night air drew sweet autumnal exhalations from the + ground; for autumn begins by night a long time before it does by day. The + night wind rustled in the corn with a crisp articulateness he had never + noticed in daytime, and he felt like an eavesdropper. Then for a while he + heard the music of some roving serenaders, down in the village, and grew + pensive with the vague reminiscences of golden youth, romance, and the + sweet past that nightly music suggests,—vague because apparently + they are not reminiscences of the individual but of the race, a part of + the consciousness and ideal of humanity. At last the music was succeeded + by the baying of a dog in some distant farmyard, and then, ere the ocean + of silence had fairly smoothed its surface over that, a horse began to + kick violently in a neighboring barn. Some time after, a man chopped some + kindlings in a shed a couple of lots off. Gradually, however, the noises + ceased like the oft-returning yet steadily falling ebb of the tide, and + Arthur experienced how many degrees there are of silence, each more utter + than the last, so that the final and absolute degree must be something to + which the utmost quiet obtainable on earth is uproar. One by one the + lights went out in the houses, till the only ones left were in the windows + of the Seminary, visible over the tree-tops a quarter of a mile away. + </p> + <p> + “The girls keep late hours,” thought Arthur. And from that he fell to + thinking of Lina Maynard and the careless, almost insolent, grace of her + manner, and that indifferent yet penetrating glance of hers. Where did she + come from? Probably from California, or the far West; he had heard that + the girls out there were of a bolder, more unconventional type than at the + East. What a pity she did not fancy Amy! + </p> + <p> + What was that moving across the melon-patch? He reached for his gun. It + was only a cat, though, after all. The slight noise in the corn-patch + attracted the animal's attention, and it came across and poked its head + into the opening where Arthur sat. As the creature saw him, its start of + surprise would have shattered the nervous system of anything but a cat. It + stood half thrown back on its haunches, its ears flattened, its eyes + glaring in a petrifaction of amazement. Arthur sat motionless as marble, + laughing inwardly. For full two minutes the two stared at each other + without moving a muscle, and then, without relaxing its tense attitude, + the cat by almost imperceptible degrees withdrew one paw and then another, + and, thus backing out of the corn-patch, turned around when at a safe + distance and slunk away. + </p> + <p> + A few minutes later a dog, that enthusiast in perfumes, jumped through the + fence and trotted across the melon-patch, his nose to the ground, making a + collection of evening smells. Arthur expected nothing but that he would + scent his neighborhood, find him out, and set up a barking. But, chancing + to strike the cat's trail, off went the dog on a full run with nose to the + ground. + </p> + <p> + Such were the varying humors of the night. After the episode of the dog, + feeling a little chilly, Arthur enveloped himself in the tattered old + overcoat and must have dropped into a nap. Suddenly he awoke. Within ten + feet of him, just in the act of stooping over a huge melon, was a woman's + figure. He saw the face clearly as she rose. Immortal gods! it was—But + I am anticipating. + </p> + <p> + The discipline at Westville Seminary had been shockingly lax since the + long illness of the principal had left the easy-going first assistant + teacher at the head of affairs. The girls ran all over the rules,—had + private theatricals, suppers, and games of all sorts in their rooms at all + hours of day or night. In the course of the evening whose events in + another sphere of life have been narrated, several girls called at Lina + Maynard's room to notify her of the “spread” at Nell Barber's, No. 49, at + eleven o'clock. They found her sitting in a low rocking-chair, with an + open letter in her hand and a very pensive, discontented expression of + countenance. + </p> + <p> + “Does he press for an answer, Lina? We 're just in time to advise you,” + cried Nell Barber. + </p> + <p> + “Don't say Yes unless his eyes are blue,” drawled a brunette. + </p> + <p> + “Unless they 're black, you mean,” sharply amended a bright blonde. + </p> + <p> + “Make him elope with you,” suggested Nell, “It will be such fun to have a + real rope-ladder elopement at the Seminary, and we'll all sit up and see + it.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, do, do, Lina!” chorused the others. + </p> + <p> + But Lina, apparently too much chagrined at something to be in a mood for + jests, sat with her eyebrows petulantly contracted, her feet thrust out, + and the hand holding the letter hanging by her side, her whole attitude + indicating despondence. + </p> + <p> + “Still pensive! It can't be he's faithless!” exclaimed Nell. + </p> + <p> + “Faithless to those eyes! I should say not,” cried the blonde, whom Lina + called her sweetheart, and who claimed to be “engaged” to her according to + boarding-school fashion. + </p> + <p> + “Don't mind him, dear,” she went on, throwing herself on the floor, + clasping her hands about Lina's knee, and leaning her cheek on it. “You + make me so jealous. Have n't you got me, and ain't I enough?” + </p> + <p> + “Plenty enough, dear,” said Lina, stroking her cheek. “This is only from + my brother Charley.” + </p> + <p> + “The one at Watertown 'Sem.'?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” said Lina; “and oh, girls,” she went on, with gloomy energy, “we + don't have any good times at all compared with those boys. They do really + wicked things, hook apples, and carry off people's gates and signs, and + screw up tutors' doors in the night, and have fights with what he calls + 'townies,'—I don't know exactly what they are,—and everything. + I thought before that we were doing some things too, but we 're not, + compared with all that, and I shall be so ashamed when I meet him at home + not to have anything to tell except little bits of things.” + </p> + <p> + A depressing pause followed. Lina's disparaging view of achievements in + the way of defying the proprieties, of which all the girls had been very + proud, cast a profound gloom over the circle. The blonde seemed to voice + the common sentiment when she said, resting her chin on Lina's knee, and + gazing pensively at the wall:— + </p> + <p> + “Oh, dear! that comes of being girls. We might as well be good and done + with it. We can't be bad so as to amount to anything.” + </p> + <p> + “Good or bad, we must eat,” said Nell Barber. “I must go and get the + spread ready. I forgot all about it, Lina; but we came in just to invite + you. Eleven sharp, remember. Three knocks, a pause, and another, you know. + Come, girls.” + </p> + <p> + The brunette followed her, but Lina's little sweetheart remained. + </p> + <p> + “What have they got?” demanded the former listlessly. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Nell has a jar of preserves from home, and I smuggled up a plate of + dried beef from tea, and cook let us have some crackers and plates. We + tried hard to get a watermelon there was in the pantry, but cook said she + did n't dare let us have it. It's for dinner to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + Lina's eyes suddenly became introspective; then after a moment she rose + slowly and stood in her tracks with an expression of deep thought, + absent-mindedly took one step, then another, and after a pause a third, + finally pulling up before the mirror, into which she stared vacantly for a + moment, and then muttered defiantly as she turned away:— + </p> + <p> + “We 'll see, Master Charley.” + </p> + <p> + “Lina Maynard, what's the matter with you?” cried the blonde, who had + watched the pantomime with open mouth and growing eyes. + </p> + <p> + Lina turned and looked at her thoughtfully a moment, and then said with + decisiveness:— + </p> + <p> + “You just go to Nell's, my dear, and say I 'm coming pretty soon; and if + you say anything else, I 'll—I 'll never marry you.” + </p> + <p> + The girls were in the habit of doing as Lina wanted them to, and the + blonde went, pouting with unappeased curiosity. + </p> + <p> + To gain exit from the Seminary was a simple matter in these lax days, and + five minutes later Lina was walking rapidly along the highway, her lips + firm set, but her eyes apprehensively reconnoitring the road ahead, with + frequent glances to each side and behind. Once she got over the stone wall + at the roadside in a considerable panic and crouched in the dewy grass + while a belated villager passed, but it was without further adventure that + she finally turned into the road leading behind Mr. Steele's lot, and + after a brief search identified the garden where she remembered seeing + some particularly fine melons, when out walking a day or two previous. + There they lay, just the other side the fence, faintly visible in the dim + light She could not help congratulating herself, by the way, on the + excellent behavior of her nerves, whose tense, fine-strung condition was a + positive luxury, and she then and there understood how men might delight + in desperate risks for the mere sake of the exalted and supreme sense of + perfect self-possession that danger brings to some natures. Not, indeed, + that she stopped to indulge any psychological speculations. The coast was + clear; not a footfall or hoof-stroke sounded from the road, and without + delay she began to look about for a wide place between the rails where she + might get through. Just as she found it, she was startled by an + unmistakable human snore, which seemed to come from a patch of high corn + close to the melons, and she was fairly puzzled until she observed, about + ten rods distant in the same line, an open attic window. That explained + its origin, and with a passing self-congratulation that she had made up + her mind not to marry a man that snored, she began to crawl through the + fence. When halfway through the thought struck her,—wasn't it like + any other stealing, after all? This crawling between rails seemed + dreadfully so. Her attitude, squeezed between two rails and half across + the lower one, was neither graceful nor comfortable, and perhaps that fact + shortened her scruples. + </p> + <p> + “It can't be really stealing, for I don't feel like a thief,” was the + logic that settled it, and the next moment she had the novel sensation of + having both feet surreptitiously and feloniously on another person's land. + She decidedly did n't relish it, but she would go ahead now and think of + it afterward. She was pretty sure she never would do it again, anyhow, + experiencing that common sort of repentance beforehand for the thing she + was about to do, the precise moral value of which it would be interesting + to inquire. It ought to count for something, for, if it does n't hinder + the act, at least it spoils the fun of it. Here was a melon at her feet; + should she take it? That was a bigger one further on, and her imperious + conscientiousness compelled her to go ten steps further into the enemy's + country to get it, for now that she was committed to the undertaking, she + was bound to do the best she could. + </p> + <p> + To stoop, to break the vine, and to secure the melon were an instant's + work; but as she bent, the high corn before her waved violently and a big + farmer-looking man in a slouch hat and shocking old coat sprang out and + seized her by the arm, with a grip not painful but sickeningly firm, + exclaiming as he did so:— + </p> + <p> + “Wal, I swan ter gosh, if 't ain't a gal!” + </p> + <p> + Lina dropped the melon, and, barely recalling the peculiar circumstances + in time to suppress a scream, made a silent, desperate effort to break + away. But her captor's hold was not even shaken, and he laughed at the + impotence of her attempt. In all her petted life she had never been held a + moment against her will, and it needed not the added considerations that + this man was a coarse, unknown boor, the place retired, the time midnight, + and herself in the position of a criminal, to give her a feeling of abject + terror so great as to amount to positive nausea, as she realized her utter + powerlessness in his hands. + </p> + <p> + “So you've been a-stealin' my melons, hey?” he demanded gruffly. + </p> + <p> + The slight shake with which the question was enforced deprived her of the + last vestige of dignity and self-assertion. She relapsed into the mental + condition of a juvenile culprit undergoing correction. Now that she was + caught, she no longer thought of her offense as venial. The grasp of her + captor seemed to put an end to all possible hairsplitting on that point, + and prove that it was nothing more nor less than stealing, and a sense of + guilt left her without any moral support against her fright. She was only + conscious of utter humiliation, and an abject desire to beg off on any + terms. + </p> + <p> + “What do you go round stealin' folks's melons for, young woman? Don't yer + folks bring yer up better 'n that? It's a dodrotted shame to 'em, ef they + don't. What did ye want with the melons? Don't they give yer enough to eat + ter home, hey?” + </p> + <p> + “We were going to have some supper, sir,” she replied, in a scared, + breathless tone, with a little hope of propitiating him by being extremely + civil and explicit in her replies. + </p> + <p> + “Who was havin' supper to this time er night?” he snorted incredulously. + </p> + <p> + “We girls,” was the faint reply. + </p> + <p> + “What gals?” + </p> + <p> + Had she got to tell where she came from and be identified? She couldn't, + she wouldn't. But again came that dreadful shake, and the words faltered + out:— + </p> + <p> + “Over at the Seminary, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Whew! so ye 're one er them, are ye? What's yer name?” + </p> + <p> + Cold dew stood on the poor girl's forehead. She was silent. He might kill + her, but she would n't disgrace her father's name. + </p> + <p> + “What's yer name?” he repeated, with another shake. + </p> + <p> + She was still silent, though limp as a rag in his grasp. + </p> + <p> + “Wal,” said he sharply, after waiting a half minute to see if she would + answer, “I guess ye'll be more confidin' like to the jedge when he + inquiries in the mornin'. A night in the lock-up makes folks wonderful + civil. Now I'll jest trouble ye to come along to the police office,” and + he walked her along by the arm toward the house. + </p> + <p> + As the horrible degradation to which she was exposed flashed upon Lina, + the last remnant of her self-control gave way, and, hanging back with all + her might against his hand, she burst into sobs. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, don't, don't! It will kill me. I'll tell you my name. It's Lina + Maynard. My father is a rich merchant in New York, Broadway, No. 743. He + will give you anything, if you let me go. Anything you want. Oh, please + don't! Oh, don't! I could n't! I could n't!” + </p> + <p> + In this terror-stricken, wild-eyed girl, her face streaming with tears, + and every lineament convulsed with abject dread, there was little enough + to remind Arthur Steele of the queenly maiden who had favored him with a + glance of negligent curiosity that afternoon. He stopped marching her + along and said reflectively:— + </p> + <p> + “Lina Maynard, hey! Then you must be the gal that's down on Amy Steele and + would n't ask her to the party to-morrow. Say, ain't yer the one?” + </p> + <p> + Lina was too much bewildered by the sudden change of tack to do more than + stammer inarticulately. I am afraid that in her terror she would have been + capable of denying it, if she had thought that would help her. Her captor + reflected more deeply, scratched his head, and finally, assuming a + diplomatic attitude by thrusting his hands in his pocket, remarked:— + </p> + <p> + “I s'pose ye 'd like it dummed well ef I was to let yer go and say nothin' + more about it. I reelly don't s'pose I 'd orter do it; but it riles me to + see Amy comin' home cryin' every day, and I 'll tell ye what I 'll do. Ef + you 'll ask her to yer fandango to-morrer, and be friends with her + arterward so she 'll come home happy and cheerful like, I 'll let ye go, + and if ye don't, I 'll put ye in jug overnight, sure's taxes. Say Yes or + No now, quick!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, yes!” Lina cried, with frantic eagerness. + </p> + <p> + There was scarcely any possible ransom he could have asked that she would + not have instantly given. She dared not credit her ears, and stood gazing + at him in intense, appealing suspense, as if he might be about to revoke + his offer. But instead of that, he turned down the huge collar of the old + overcoat, took it off, threw it on the ground, and, turning up the slouch + of his hat, stood before her a very good-looking and well-dressed young + gentleman, whom she at once recognized and at length identified in her + mind as the one walking with Amy that afternoon, which now seemed weeks + ago. He bowed very low, and said earnestly enough, though smiling:— + </p> + <p> + “I humbly beg your pardon.” + </p> + <p> + Lina stared at him with dumb amazement, and he went on:— + </p> + <p> + “I am Arthur Steele. I came home on a vacation to-day, and was sitting up + to watch father's melon-patch for the pure fun of it, expecting to catch + some small boys, and when I caught you, I couldn't resist the temptation + of a little farce. As for Amy, that only occurred to me at the last; and + if you think it unfair, you may have your promise back.” + </p> + <p> + Lina had now measurably recovered her equannimity, and, ignoring his + explanation, demanded, as she looked around:— + </p> + <p> + “How am I to get out of this dreadful place?” mentally contemplating + meanwhile the impossibility of clambering through that fence with a young + gentleman looking on. + </p> + <p> + “I will let down the bars,” he said, and they turned toward the fence. + </p> + <p> + “Let's see, this is your melon, is it not?” he observed, stooping to pick + up the booty Lina had dropped in her first panic. “You must keep that + anyhow. You 've earned it.” + </p> + <p> + Since the tables turned so unexpectedly in her favor, Lina had recovered + her dignity in some degree, and had become very freezing toward this young + man, by whom she began to feel she had been very badly treated. In this + reaction of indignation she had really almost forgotten how she came in + the garden at all. But this reference to the melon quite upset her new + equanimity, and as Arthur grinned broadly she blushed and stood there in + awful confusion. Finally she blurted out:— + </p> + <p> + “I didn't want your stupid melon. I only wanted some fun. I can't explain, + and I don't care whether you understand it or not.” + </p> + <p> + Tears of vexation glittered in her eyes. He sobered instantly, and said, + with an air of the utmost deference:— + </p> + <p> + “Pardon me for laughing, and do me the justice to believe that I 'm in no + sort of danger of misunderstanding you. I hooked too many melons myself as + a boy not to sympathize perfectly. But you must really let me carry the + melon home for you. What would the girls say, if you returned + empty-handed?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, I will take the melon,” she said, half defiantly; “but I should + prefer not to have your company.” + </p> + <p> + He did not reply till he had let down the bars, and then said:— + </p> + <p> + “The streets are not safe at this hour, and you 've had frights enough for + one night.” + </p> + <p> + She made no further objections, and with the watermelon poised on his + shoulder he walked by her side, neither speaking a word, till they reached + the gate of the Seminary grounds. There she stopped, and, turning, + extended her hands for the melon. As he gave it to her their eyes met a + moment, and their mutual appreciation of the humor of the situation + expressed itself in an irrepressible smile that seemed instantly to make + them acquainted, and she responded almost kindly to his low + “Good-evening.” + </p> + <p> + Amy came home jubilant next day. Lina May-nard had invited her to her + party, and had been ever so good to her, and there was nobody in the world + like Lina. Arthur listened and said nothing. All the next week it was the + same story of Lina's beauty, good-nature, cleverness, and perfections + generally, and, above all, her goodness to herself, Amy Steele. Lina was + indeed fulfilling her promise with generous over-measure. And after once + taking up with Amy, the sweet simplicity and enthusiastic loyalty of the + child to herself won her heart completely. The other girls wondered, but + Lina Maynard's freaks always set the fashion, and Amy, to her astonishment + and boundless delight, found herself the pet of the Seminary. The little + blonde, Lina's sweetheart, alone rebelled against the new order of things + and was furiously jealous, for which she was promptly snubbed by Lina, and + Amy taken into her place. And meanwhile Lina caught herself several times + wondering whether Arthur Steele was satisfied with the way she was keeping + her pledge. + </p> + <p> + It was Wednesday night, and Arthur was to return to New York Thursday + morning. Although he had walked the street every afternoon and had met + nearly all the other girls at the Seminary, he had not seen Lina again. + His mother, whom he took about a good deal on pleasure drives, seriously + wondered if the eagerness of city life was really spoiling his faculty for + leisurely pleasures. He always seemed to be looking out ahead for + something, instead of quietly enjoying the passing sights and scenery. He + had consented to accompany Amy to a little church sociable on the evening + before his departure. It was a species of entertainment which he detested, + but he thought he might possibly meet Lina there, as Amy had said some of + the Seminary girls would be present. + </p> + <p> + At once, on entering the vestry, he caught sight of her at the other end + of the room among a group of girls. At the sound of the closing door she + glanced up with an involuntary gesture of expectancy, and their eyes met. + She looked confused, and instantly averted her face. There was plenty of + recognition in her expression, but she did not bow, the real reason being + that she was too much embarrassed to think of it. But during the week he + had so many times canvassed the chances of her recognizing him when they + should meet that he had become quite morbid about it, and manifested the + usual alacrity of persons in that state of mind in jumping at conclusions + they wish to avoid. He had been a fool to think that she would recognize + him as an acquaintance. What had he done but to insult her, and what + associations save distressing ones could she have with him? He would + exchange a few greetings with old friends, and then quietly slink off home + and go to packing up. He was rather sorry for his mother; she would feel + so badly to have him moody and cross on the last evening at home. Just + then some one touched his sleeve, and looking around he saw Amy. She put + her flushed little face close to his ear and whispered:— + </p> + <p> + “Lina said I might introduce you. Is n't she beautiful, though, to-night? + Of course you 'll fall in love with her, but you must n't try to cut me + out.” + </p> + <p> + Arthur was Amy's ideal of gentlemanly ease and polish, and she had been + very proud of having so fine a city brother to introduce to the girls. + Imagine her astonishment and chagrin when she saw him standing before Lina + with an exaggeration of the agitated, sheepish air the girls made such fun + of in their rural admirers! But if that surprised her, what was her + amazement to see Lina looking equally confused, and blushing to where her + neck curved beneath the lace, although the brave eyes met his fairly! A + wise instinct told Amy that here was something she didn't understand, and + she had better go away, and she did. + </p> + <p> + “The melon was very good, Mr. Steele,” said Lina demurely, with a glimmer + of fun in her black eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Maynard, I don't know how I shall beg pardon, or humble myself + enough for my outrageous treatment of you,” burst forth Arthur. “I don't + know what I should have done if I had n't had an opportunity for + apologizing pretty soon, and now I scarcely dare look you in the face.” + </p> + <p> + His chagrin and self-reproach were genuine enough, but he might have left + off that last, for he had n't been looking anywhere else since he came + into the room. + </p> + <p> + “You did shake me rather hard,” she said, with a smiling contraction of + the black eyebrows. + </p> + <p> + Good heavens! had he actually shaken this divine creature,—this + Cleopatra of a girl, whose queenly brow gave her hair the look of a + coronet! He groaned in spirit, and looked so self-reproachful and + chagrined that she laughed. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know about forgiving you for that, but I 'm so grateful you did + n't take me to the lock-up that I suppose I ought not to mind the + shaking.” + </p> + <p> + “But, Miss Maynard, you surely don't think I was in earnest about that?” + he exclaimed, in strenuous deprecation. + </p> + <p> + “I don't know, I 'm sure,” she said doubtfully. “You looked as if you were + capable of it.” + </p> + <p> + He was going on to protest still farther when she interrupted him, and + said laughingly:— + </p> + <p> + “You take to apologizing so naturally that I 'd nearly forgotten that it + was not you but I who was the real culprit. I must really make a few + excuses myself before I hear any more from you.” + </p> + <p> + And then she told him all about her brother Charley's letter, and the + spirit of emulation that had got her into trouble. It was easy enough to + joke about certain aspects of the matter; but when she came to talk in + plain language about her performances that night, she became so much + embarrassed and stumbled so badly that Arthur felt very ill at ease. + </p> + <p> + “And when I think what <i>would</i> have happened if I 'd fallen into + anybody's hands but yours, you seem almost like a deliverer.” At which + Arthur had another access of humiliation to think how un-chivalrously he + had treated this princess in disguise. How he would like to catch somebody + else abusing her that way! And then he told her all that he had thought + and felt about her during the stealing scene, and she gave her side of the + drama, to their intense mutual interest. + </p> + <p> + “Is n't it about time we were going home, Arthur?” said Amy's voice. + </p> + <p> + He glanced up. The room was nearly empty, and the party from the Seminary + were waiting for Lina. + </p> + <p> + “Miss Maynard, may I call upon you in New York during vacation?” + </p> + <p> + “I should be happy to see you.” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Au revoir</i>, then!” + </p> + <p> + “<i>Au revoir!</i>” “<i>Au revoir!</i>” <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hooking Watermelons, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + +***** This file should be named 22703-h.htm or 22703-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22703/ + +Produced by 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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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: Hooking Watermelons + 1898 + +Author: Edward Bellamy + +Release Date: September 21, 2007 [EBook #22703] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +HOOKING WATERMELONS + +By Edward Bellamy + +1898 + + +The train slackened, a brakeman thrust his head in at the door and +shouted "Bah,"--a mysterious formality observed on American trains as +they enter towns,--and an elderly lady, two drummers, and a young +man with a satchel got out, followed by the languid envy of the other +passengers, who had longer or shorter penances of heat and dust before +them. The train got under way again, while the knot of loafers about the +station proceeded to eye the arrivals as judicially as if they were a +committee of safety to protect the village from invasion by doubtful +characters. The old lady, apparently laboring under some such +impression, regarded them deferentially, as nervous travelers on +arriving in strange places generally do regard everybody who seems to +feel at home. The drummers briskly disappeared down the main street, +each anxious to anticipate the other at the stores. The young man with +the satchel, however, did not get away till he had shaken hands and +exchanged a few good-natured inquiries with one of the loungers. + +"Who's that, Bill?" asked one of the group, staring after the retreating +figure with lazy curiosity. + +"Why, did n't you know him? Thought everybody knew him. That's Arthur +Steele," replied the one who had shaken hands, in a tone of cordiality +indicating that his politeness had left a pleasant impression on his +mind, as Arthur Steele's politeness generally did. + +"Who is he, anyhow?" pursued the other. + +"Why, he 's a Fairfield boy" (the brakeman pronounced it "Bah"), "born +and brought up here. His folks allers lived right next to mine, and now +he's doin' a rushin' lawyer trade down New York, and I expect he's just +rakin' the stamps. Did yer see that diamond pin he wore?" + +"S'pose it's genooine?" asked a third loafer, with interest. + +"Course it was. I tell you he's on the make, and don't you forgit it. +Some fellers allers has luck. Many 's the time he 'n' I 've been in +swim-min' and hookin' apples together when we wuz little chaps," pursued +Bill, in a tone implying a mild reproach at the deceitfulness of +an analogy that after such fair promise in early life had failed to +complete itself in their later fortunes. + +"Why, darn it all, you know him, Jim," he continued, dropping the tone +of pensive reminiscence into which he had momentarily allowed himself to +fall. "That pretty gal that sings in the Baptis' choir is his sister." + +After a space of silent rumination and jerking of peanut shells upon +the track, the group broke up its session, and adjourned by tacit +understanding till the next train was due. + +Arthur Steele was half an hour in getting to his father's house, because +everybody he met on the street insisted on shaking hands with him. +Everybody in Fairfield had known him since he was a boy, and had seen +him grow up, and all were proud of him as a credit to the village and +one of its most successful representatives in the big outside world. The +young man had sense and sentiment enough to feel that the place he held +in the esteem of his native community was a thing to feel more just +pride in than any station he could win in the city, and as he walked +along hand-shaking with old friends on this side and that, it was about +his idea of a triumphal entry. + +There was the dear old house, and as he saw it his memory of it started +out vividly in his mind as if to attest how faithfully it had kept each +detail. It never would come out so clearly at times when he was far away +and needed its comfort. He opened the door softly. The sitting-room was +empty, and darkened to keep out the heat and flies. The latched door +stood open, and, hearing voices, he tiptoed across the floor with a +guileful smile and, leaning through the doorway, saw his mother and +sister sitting by the cool, lilac-shaded window, picking over currants +for tea, and talking tranquilly. Being a provident young man, he paused +a minute to let the pretty, peaceful scene impress itself upon his mind, +to be remembered afterward for the cheer of bleak boarding-house +Sunday afternoons. Then there was a sudden glancing up, a cry of joyful +consternation, and the pan of currants rolled from Amy's lap like a +broken necklace of rubies across the uncarpeted floor, while Arthur held +mother and sister in a double embrace. And when at length the kissing +had all been done, he established himself in his familiar boyish +attitude on the window-seat, kicking his heels against the mopboard, +with his elbows on his knees, and the three talked away steadily till +the shop-bell rang, and Mrs. Steele sprang up in a panic, exclaiming: +"Father will be here in five minutes, and the currants are on the floor. +Come, Amy, quick; we must pick some more, and you shall help, Arthur." + +But though he went out into the garden with them readily enough, it +was quite another thing to make him pick currants, for he insisted on +wandering all over the place and demanding what had become of everything +he missed, and the history of everything new. And pretty soon Mr. +Steele also appeared in the garden, having found no one in the house on +reaching home. He had learned on the street that Arthur had arrived, and +came out beaming. It was good to see the hearty affection with which the +two shook hands. + +The transition of the son from the pupilage of childhood and youth to +the independence of manhood is often trying to the filial relation. +Neither party fully realizes that the old relation is at an end, or just +what the new basis is, or when the change takes place. The absence +of the son for two or three years at this period has often the best +results. He goes a boy and returns a man; the old relation is forgotten +by both parties, and they readily fall into the new one. So it had fared +with Arthur and his father. + +"You've got a splendid lot of watermelons," said the former, as +they arrived at the upper end of the ample garden in their tour of +inspection. + +"Yes," replied Mr. Steele, with a shrug; "only thus far they've been +stolen a little faster than they 've ripened." + +"What made you plant them so near the fence?" + +"That was my blunder; but you see the soil is just the thing, better +than lower down." + +"Why don't you buy a bulldog?" + +"I think it's more Christian to shoot a man outright than to set one of +those devils on him. The breed ought to be extirpated." + +"Put some ipecac in one or two. That 'll fetch 'em. I know how sick it +made me once." + +"I did; but more were stolen next night. I can't afford to medicate the +whole village. Last night I sat up to watch till twelve o'clock, when +mother made me go to bed." + +"I'll watch to-night," said Arthur, "and give 'em a lesson with a good +load of beans from the old shotgun." + +"It would n't pay," replied his father. "I concluded last night that all +the melons in the world were n't worth a night's sleep. They 'll have to +go, and next year I 'll know more than to plant any." + +"You go and help Amy pick currants, and let me talk to the boy a +little," said Mrs. Steele, coming up and taking Arthur off for a +promenade up the broad path. + +"How pretty Amy has grown," said he, glancing with a pleased smile at +the girl as she looked up at her father. "I suppose the young men are +making sheep's eyes at her already." + +"It does n't do them any good if they are," said Mrs. Steele, +decisively. "She's only sixteen and a little girl yet, and has sense +enough to know it." "What had she been crying for when I arrived? I saw +her eyes were as red as the currants." + +"Oh, dear!" replied Mrs. Steele, with a sigh of vexation, "it was her +troubles at the Seminary. You know we let her go as a day scholar this +sum-mer. Some of the girls slight and snub her, and she is very unhappy +about it." + +"Why, what on earth can anybody have against Amy?" demanded Arthur, in +indignant surprise. + +"I suppose it's because some of the little hussies from the city have +taken the notion that they won't associate with a mechanic's daughter, +although Amy is very careful not to say it in so many words, for fear of +hurting my feelings. But I suspect that's about where the shoe pinches." + +Arthur muttered something between an oath and a grunt, expressing the +emphasis of the one and the disgust of the other. + +"I tell Amy it is foolish to mind their airs, but I 'm really afraid it +spoils the poor girl's happiness." + +"Why don't you send her away to boarding-school, if it is so serious a +matter as that?" + +"We can't afford it," said his mother, whereto Arthur promptly replied: +-- + +"I 'll pay her expenses. I 'm making a good deal more money than I +know what to do with, and I 'd really like the chance of doing a little +good." + +His mother glanced at him with affectionate pride. + +"You 're always wanting to pay somebody's expenses, or make somebody a +present. It's really unsafe, when you 're around, to indicate that one +is n't perfectly contented. But you caught me up too quickly. I was +going to say that we could n't spare her from home, anyhow. She's the +light of the house. Besides that, if it comes to objections, I 've my +notions about boarding-schools, and I 'd trust no girl of mine at one +that wasn't within sight of her home. No, she'll have to keep on here +and bear it as she can, though it's pretty hard, I know. The trouble +to-night was, that Lina Maynard, who is one of the older girls, has +invited nearly everybody at the Seminary except Amy to a birthday party +to-morrow. Little minx, I could shake her. And the worst of it is, Amy +thinks there 's nobody like Lina Maynard." + +After tea it was still light, and Arthur and Amy went out to walk. In +spite of the ten years difference in their ages, he always enjoyed +her company as well as anybody's in the world, because she was so +refreshingly childlike and natural. Every chord of feeling answered so +true and clear to the touch, that to talk with her was like playing on a +musical instrument, only far more delightful. Arthur had looked +forward to walks and talks with Amy as among the jolliest treats of his +vacation. She tried her best now to seem light-hearted, and to entertain +him with the local gossip, for which he always depended on her. But she +could n't simulate the vivacious and eager air that had been the chief +charm of her talk. As he glanced down, he was grieved to see the sad +set of the pretty child face at his side, and how still had grown +the fountain of smiles in the hazel eyes that were wont to send their +ripples outward in constant succession. It is to be feared that under +his breath he applied some very ungentlemanly language to Lina Maynard +and her clique, whose nonsenical ill-nature had hurt this little +girl's feelings so sorely, and incidentally spoiled half the fun of his +vacation. + +"There, there, you need n't talk any more," he finally said, rather +rudely, half vexed with her, as helpful people are wont to be with those +they can do nothing to help. + +She looked up in grieved surprise, but before he could speak again, they +came face to face with a party of girls coming from the direction of the +Seminary. + +There were six or seven of them, perhaps, but Arthur only got the +impression of one and a lot of others. The one was a rather tall girl +of lithe figure and unusually fine carriage. Her olive complexion +was lighted with great black eyes that rested on you with an air of +imperturbable assurance, as penetrating as it was negligent. She was +talking, and her companions were listening and laughing. As they came +face to face with Arthur and Amy, he saw that they barely noticed her, +while glancing at him rather curiously, with the boldness of girls in a +crowd of their own sex. They evidently observed that he was a stranger +to the village, and of quite a different style from that of the country +bumpkins and rural exquisites they were accustomed to meeting. There +was in the big black eyes, as they had met his a moment, a suggestion +of interest that was strangely flattering, and left a trace of not +unpleasant agitation. + +"Who was that?" he asked, as they passed out of hearing. + +He only thought of asking for one, although there were six, nor she +apparently of answering differently. + +"Lina Maynard. They are 'Sem.' girls." + +It was a dulled voice she spoke in, quite unlike her usual eager way of +giving information. She, poor thing, was terribly afraid he would ask +her why they did not seem acquainted with her, and it would have been a +painful humiliation to have explained. Arthur was conscious that he no +longer had exactly the same feeling of merely contemptuous annoyance +toward Lina Maynard, on account of her treatment of Amy. He sympathized +as much with his sister, of course, but somehow felt that to be +recognized by Lina Maynard was not such a childish ambition as he had +taken for granted. + +It was dusk when they reached home and found Mr. and Mrs. Steele on the +piazza, which served as an out-door parlor in summer, with a neighbor +who had dropped in to see Arthur. So he got out his cigar-case and told +stories of city life and interesting law cases to an intent audience +till the nine o'clock bell rang, and the neighbor "guessed he 'd go +home," and forthwith proved that his guess was right by going. + +"'Gad, I'd forgotten all about the watermelons! Perhaps they 're at 'em +already!" cried Arthur, jumping up and running around the end of the +piazza to the garden. + +When he returned, it was to meet a combined volley of protestations +against his foolish project of keeping watch all night, from his father, +his mother, and Amy. But he declared it was no use talking; and where +were the gun and the beans? So they adjourned from the piazza, a lamp +was lit, the articles were hunted up, and the gun duly loaded with a +good charge of powder and a pint of hard beans. It was about ten o'clock +when Arthur, with a parting protest from his mother, went out into +the garden, lugging his gun and a big easy-chair, while Amy followed, +bringing one or two wraps, and a shocking old overcoat hunted up in the +garret, for the chill hours after midnight. + +The front of Mr. Steele's lot abutted on one of the pleasantest and most +thickly housed streets of the village; but the lot was deep, and the +rear end rested on a road bordered by few houses, and separated from +the garden by a rail fence easy to climb over or through. The watermelon +patch was located close to this fence, and thus in full view and +temptingly accessible from the road. + +Undoubtedly the human conscience, and especially the boyish article, +recognizes a broad difference between the theft of growing crops--of +apples on the trees, for instance, or corn on the stalk, or melons in +the field--and that of other species of property. The surreptitious +appropriation of the former class of chattels is known in common +parlance as "hooking," while the graver term "stealing" describes the +same process in other cases. The distinction may arise from a feeling +that, so long as crops remain rooted to the ground, they are nature's, +not man's, and that nature can't be regarded as forming business +contracts with some individuals to the exclusion of others, or in fact +as acceding to any of our human distinctions of _meum_ and _tuum_, +however useful we find them. Ethical philosophers may refuse to +concede the sanction of the popular distinction here alluded to between +"hooking" and stealing; but, after all, ethics is not a deductive but an +empirical science, and what are morals but a collection of usages, like +orthography and orthoepy? However that may be, it is the duty of the +writer in this instance merely to call attention to the prevalent +popular sentiment on the subject, without any attempt to justify it, +and to state that Arthur Steele had been too recently a boy not to +sympathize with it. And accordingly he laid his plans to capture the +expected depredators to-night from practical considerations wholly, and +quite without any sense of moral reprobation toward them. + +Closely adjoining the edge of the melon-patch was a patch of green corn, +standing ten feet high, and at the fullest perfection of foliage. This +Arthur selected for his ambush, its position being such that he could +cut off the retreat to the fence of any person who had once got among +the melons. Hewing down a hill of corn in the second row from the front, +he made a comfortable place for his easy-chair. Amy lingered for a +while, enjoying the excitement of the occasion, and they talked in +whispers; but finally Arthur sent her in, and as her dress glimmered +away down the garden path, he settled himself comfortably for his watch. + +In the faint moonlight he could just descry the dark shapes of the +melons on the ground in front of him. The crickets were having a high +time in the stubble around, and the night air drew sweet autumnal +exhalations from the ground; for autumn begins by night a long time +before it does by day. The night wind rustled in the corn with a crisp +articulateness he had never noticed in daytime, and he felt like +an eavesdropper. Then for a while he heard the music of some roving +serenaders, down in the village, and grew pensive with the vague +reminiscences of golden youth, romance, and the sweet past that nightly +music suggests,--vague because apparently they are not reminiscences +of the individual but of the race, a part of the consciousness and ideal +of humanity. At last the music was succeeded by the baying of a dog in +some distant farmyard, and then, ere the ocean of silence had fairly +smoothed its surface over that, a horse began to kick violently in a +neighboring barn. Some time after, a man chopped some kindlings in a +shed a couple of lots off. Gradually, however, the noises ceased like +the oft-returning yet steadily falling ebb of the tide, and Arthur +experienced how many degrees there are of silence, each more utter than +the last, so that the final and absolute degree must be something to +which the utmost quiet obtainable on earth is uproar. One by one the +lights went out in the houses, till the only ones left were in the +windows of the Seminary, visible over the tree-tops a quarter of a mile +away. + +"The girls keep late hours," thought Arthur. And from that he fell to +thinking of Lina Maynard and the careless, almost insolent, grace of her +manner, and that indifferent yet penetrating glance of hers. Where did +she come from? Probably from California, or the far West; he had heard +that the girls out there were of a bolder, more unconventional type than +at the East. What a pity she did not fancy Amy! + +What was that moving across the melon-patch? He reached for his gun. It +was only a cat, though, after all. The slight noise in the corn-patch +attracted the animal's attention, and it came across and poked its head +into the opening where Arthur sat. As the creature saw him, its start of +surprise would have shattered the nervous system of anything but a cat. +It stood half thrown back on its haunches, its ears flattened, its eyes +glaring in a petrifaction of amazement. Arthur sat motionless as marble, +laughing inwardly. For full two minutes the two stared at each other +without moving a muscle, and then, without relaxing its tense attitude, +the cat by almost imperceptible degrees withdrew one paw and then +another, and, thus backing out of the corn-patch, turned around when at +a safe distance and slunk away. + +A few minutes later a dog, that enthusiast in perfumes, jumped through +the fence and trotted across the melon-patch, his nose to the ground, +making a collection of evening smells. Arthur expected nothing but that +he would scent his neighborhood, find him out, and set up a barking. +But, chancing to strike the cat's trail, off went the dog on a full run +with nose to the ground. + +Such were the varying humors of the night. After the episode of the dog, +feeling a little chilly, Arthur enveloped himself in the tattered old +overcoat and must have dropped into a nap. Suddenly he awoke. Within +ten feet of him, just in the act of stooping over a huge melon, was a +woman's figure. He saw the face clearly as she rose. Immortal gods! it +was--But I am anticipating. + +The discipline at Westville Seminary had been shockingly lax since the +long illness of the principal had left the easy-going first assistant +teacher at the head of affairs. The girls ran all over the rules,--had +private theatricals, suppers, and games of all sorts in their rooms at +all hours of day or night. In the course of the evening whose events in +another sphere of life have been narrated, several girls called at Lina +Maynard's room to notify her of the "spread" at Nell Barber's, No. 49, +at eleven o'clock. They found her sitting in a low rocking-chair, with +an open letter in her hand and a very pensive, discontented expression +of countenance. + +"Does he press for an answer, Lina? We 're just in time to advise you," +cried Nell Barber. + +"Don't say Yes unless his eyes are blue," drawled a brunette. + +"Unless they 're black, you mean," sharply amended a bright blonde. + +"Make him elope with you," suggested Nell, "It will be such fun to have a +real rope-ladder elopement at the Seminary, and we'll all sit up and see +it." + +"Oh, do, do, Lina!" chorused the others. + +But Lina, apparently too much chagrined at something to be in a mood for +jests, sat with her eyebrows petulantly contracted, her feet thrust out, +and the hand holding the letter hanging by her side, her whole attitude +indicating despondence. + +"Still pensive! It can't be he's faithless!" exclaimed Nell. + +"Faithless to those eyes! I should say not," cried the blonde, whom Lina +called her sweetheart, and who claimed to be "engaged" to her according +to boarding-school fashion. + +"Don't mind him, dear," she went on, throwing herself on the floor, +clasping her hands about Lina's knee, and leaning her cheek on it. "You +make me so jealous. Have n't you got me, and ain't I enough?" + +"Plenty enough, dear," said Lina, stroking her cheek. "This is only from +my brother Charley." + +"The one at Watertown 'Sem.'?" + +"Yes," said Lina; "and oh, girls," she went on, with gloomy energy, +"we don't have any good times at all compared with those boys. They +do really wicked things, hook apples, and carry off people's gates and +signs, and screw up tutors' doors in the night, and have fights with +what he calls 'townies,'--I don't know exactly what they are,--and +everything. I thought before that we were doing some things too, but +we 're not, compared with all that, and I shall be so ashamed when I meet +him at home not to have anything to tell except little bits of things." + +A depressing pause followed. Lina's disparaging view of achievements in +the way of defying the proprieties, of which all the girls had been very +proud, cast a profound gloom over the circle. The blonde seemed to voice +the common sentiment when she said, resting her chin on Lina's knee, and +gazing pensively at the wall:-- + +"Oh, dear! that comes of being girls. We might as well be good and done +with it. We can't be bad so as to amount to anything." + +"Good or bad, we must eat," said Nell Barber. "I must go and get the +spread ready. I forgot all about it, Lina; but we came in just to invite +you. Eleven sharp, remember. Three knocks, a pause, and another, you +know. Come, girls." + +The brunette followed her, but Lina's little sweetheart remained. + +"What have they got?" demanded the former listlessly. + +"Oh, Nell has a jar of preserves from home, and I smuggled up a plate of +dried beef from tea, and cook let us have some crackers and plates. We +tried hard to get a watermelon there was in the pantry, but cook said +she did n't dare let us have it. It's for dinner to-morrow." + +Lina's eyes suddenly became introspective; then after a moment she +rose slowly and stood in her tracks with an expression of deep thought, +absent-mindedly took one step, then another, and after a pause a third, +finally pulling up before the mirror, into which she stared vacantly for +a moment, and then muttered defiantly as she turned away:-- + +"We 'll see, Master Charley." + +"Lina Maynard, what's the matter with you?" cried the blonde, who had +watched the pantomime with open mouth and growing eyes. + +Lina turned and looked at her thoughtfully a moment, and then said with +decisiveness:-- + +"You just go to Nell's, my dear, and say I 'm coming pretty soon; and if +you say anything else, I 'll--I 'll never marry you." + +The girls were in the habit of doing as Lina wanted them to, and the +blonde went, pouting with unappeased curiosity. + +To gain exit from the Seminary was a simple matter in these lax days, +and five minutes later Lina was walking rapidly along the highway, her +lips firm set, but her eyes apprehensively reconnoitring the road ahead, +with frequent glances to each side and behind. Once she got over the +stone wall at the roadside in a considerable panic and crouched in the +dewy grass while a belated villager passed, but it was without further +adventure that she finally turned into the road leading behind Mr. +Steele's lot, and after a brief search identified the garden where she +remembered seeing some particularly fine melons, when out walking a day +or two previous. There they lay, just the other side the fence, faintly +visible in the dim light She could not help congratulating herself, +by the way, on the excellent behavior of her nerves, whose tense, +fine-strung condition was a positive luxury, and she then and there +understood how men might delight in desperate risks for the mere sake +of the exalted and supreme sense of perfect self-possession that danger +brings to some natures. Not, indeed, that she stopped to indulge any +psychological speculations. The coast was clear; not a footfall or +hoof-stroke sounded from the road, and without delay she began to look +about for a wide place between the rails where she might get through. +Just as she found it, she was startled by an unmistakable human snore, +which seemed to come from a patch of high corn close to the melons, and +she was fairly puzzled until she observed, about ten rods distant in the +same line, an open attic window. That explained its origin, and with a +passing self-congratulation that she had made up her mind not to marry +a man that snored, she began to crawl through the fence. When halfway +through the thought struck her,--wasn't it like any other stealing, +after all? This crawling between rails seemed dreadfully so. Her +attitude, squeezed between two rails and half across the lower one, was +neither graceful nor comfortable, and perhaps that fact shortened her +scruples. + +"It can't be really stealing, for I don't feel like a thief," was the +logic that settled it, and the next moment she had the novel sensation +of having both feet surreptitiously and feloniously on another person's +land. She decidedly did n't relish it, but she would go ahead now and +think of it afterward. She was pretty sure she never would do it again, +anyhow, experiencing that common sort of repentance beforehand for the +thing she was about to do, the precise moral value of which it would be +interesting to inquire. It ought to count for something, for, if it does +n't hinder the act, at least it spoils the fun of it. Here was a melon +at her feet; should she take it? That was a bigger one further on, and +her imperious conscientiousness compelled her to go ten steps further +into the enemy's country to get it, for now that she was committed to +the undertaking, she was bound to do the best she could. + +To stoop, to break the vine, and to secure the melon were an instant's +work; but as she bent, the high corn before her waved violently and a +big farmer-looking man in a slouch hat and shocking old coat sprang out +and seized her by the arm, with a grip not painful but sickeningly firm, +exclaiming as he did so:-- + +"Wal, I swan ter gosh, if 't ain't a gal!" + +Lina dropped the melon, and, barely recalling the peculiar circumstances +in time to suppress a scream, made a silent, desperate effort to break +away. But her captor's hold was not even shaken, and he laughed at the +impotence of her attempt. In all her petted life she had never been held +a moment against her will, and it needed not the added considerations +that this man was a coarse, unknown boor, the place retired, the time +midnight, and herself in the position of a criminal, to give her a +feeling of abject terror so great as to amount to positive nausea, as +she realized her utter powerlessness in his hands. + +"So you've been a-stealin' my melons, hey?" he demanded gruffly. + +The slight shake with which the question was enforced deprived her of +the last vestige of dignity and self-assertion. She relapsed into the +mental condition of a juvenile culprit undergoing correction. Now that +she was caught, she no longer thought of her offense as venial. The +grasp of her captor seemed to put an end to all possible hairsplitting +on that point, and prove that it was nothing more nor less than +stealing, and a sense of guilt left her without any moral support +against her fright. She was only conscious of utter humiliation, and an +abject desire to beg off on any terms. + +"What do you go round stealin' folks's melons for, young woman? Don't +yer folks bring yer up better 'n that? It's a dodrotted shame to 'em, ef +they don't. What did ye want with the melons? Don't they give yer enough +to eat ter home, hey?" + +"We were going to have some supper, sir," she replied, in a scared, +breathless tone, with a little hope of propitiating him by being +extremely civil and explicit in her replies. + +"Who was havin' supper to this time er night?" he snorted incredulously. + +"We girls," was the faint reply. + +"What gals?" + +Had she got to tell where she came from and be identified? She couldn't, +she wouldn't. But again came that dreadful shake, and the words faltered +out:-- + +"Over at the Seminary, sir." + +"Whew! so ye 're one er them, are ye? What's yer name?" + +Cold dew stood on the poor girl's forehead. She was silent. He might +kill her, but she would n't disgrace her father's name. + +"What's yer name?" he repeated, with another shake. + +She was still silent, though limp as a rag in his grasp. + +"Wal," said he sharply, after waiting a half minute to see if she would +answer, "I guess ye'll be more confidin' like to the jedge when he +inquiries in the mornin'. A night in the lock-up makes folks wonderful +civil. Now I'll jest trouble ye to come along to the police office," and +he walked her along by the arm toward the house. + +As the horrible degradation to which she was exposed flashed upon Lina, +the last remnant of her self-control gave way, and, hanging back with +all her might against his hand, she burst into sobs. + +"Oh, don't, don't! It will kill me. I'll tell you my name. It's Lina +Maynard. My father is a rich merchant in New York, Broadway, No. 743. He +will give you anything, if you let me go. Anything you want. Oh, please +don't! Oh, don't! I could n't! I could n't!" + +In this terror-stricken, wild-eyed girl, her face streaming with tears, +and every lineament convulsed with abject dread, there was little enough +to remind Arthur Steele of the queenly maiden who had favored him with +a glance of negligent curiosity that afternoon. He stopped marching her +along and said reflectively:-- + +"Lina Maynard, hey! Then you must be the gal that's down on Amy Steele +and would n't ask her to the party to-morrow. Say, ain't yer the one?" + +Lina was too much bewildered by the sudden change of tack to do more +than stammer inarticulately. I am afraid that in her terror she would +have been capable of denying it, if she had thought that would help +her. Her captor reflected more deeply, scratched his head, and finally, +assuming a diplomatic attitude by thrusting his hands in his pocket, +remarked:-- + +"I s'pose ye 'd like it dummed well ef I was to let yer go and say +nothin' more about it. I reelly don't s'pose I 'd orter do it; but it +riles me to see Amy comin' home cryin' every day, and I 'll tell ye what +I 'll do. Ef you 'll ask her to yer fandango to-morrer, and be friends +with her arterward so she 'll come home happy and cheerful like, I 'll +let ye go, and if ye don't, I 'll put ye in jug overnight, sure's taxes. +Say Yes or No now, quick!" + +"Yes, yes!" Lina cried, with frantic eagerness. + +There was scarcely any possible ransom he could have asked that she +would not have instantly given. She dared not credit her ears, and stood +gazing at him in intense, appealing suspense, as if he might be about to +revoke his offer. But instead of that, he turned down the huge collar of +the old overcoat, took it off, threw it on the ground, and, turning +up the slouch of his hat, stood before her a very good-looking and +well-dressed young gentleman, whom she at once recognized and at length +identified in her mind as the one walking with Amy that afternoon, which +now seemed weeks ago. He bowed very low, and said earnestly enough, +though smiling:-- + +"I humbly beg your pardon." + +Lina stared at him with dumb amazement, and he went on:-- + +"I am Arthur Steele. I came home on a vacation to-day, and was sitting +up to watch father's melon-patch for the pure fun of it, expecting to +catch some small boys, and when I caught you, I couldn't resist the +temptation of a little farce. As for Amy, that only occurred to me at +the last; and if you think it unfair, you may have your promise back." + +Lina had now measurably recovered her equannimity, and, ignoring his +explanation, demanded, as she looked around:-- + +"How am I to get out of this dreadful place?" mentally contemplating +meanwhile the impossibility of clambering through that fence with a +young gentleman looking on. + +"I will let down the bars," he said, and they turned toward the fence. + +"Let's see, this is your melon, is it not?" he observed, stooping to +pick up the booty Lina had dropped in her first panic. "You must keep +that anyhow. You 've earned it." + +Since the tables turned so unexpectedly in her favor, Lina had recovered +her dignity in some degree, and had become very freezing toward this +young man, by whom she began to feel she had been very badly treated. +In this reaction of indignation she had really almost forgotten how she +came in the garden at all. But this reference to the melon quite upset +her new equanimity, and as Arthur grinned broadly she blushed and stood +there in awful confusion. Finally she blurted out:-- + +"I didn't want your stupid melon. I only wanted some fun. I can't +explain, and I don't care whether you understand it or not." + +Tears of vexation glittered in her eyes. He sobered instantly, and said, +with an air of the utmost deference:-- + +"Pardon me for laughing, and do me the justice to believe that I 'm +in no sort of danger of misunderstanding you. I hooked too many melons +myself as a boy not to sympathize perfectly. But you must really let me +carry the melon home for you. What would the girls say, if you returned +empty-handed?" + +"Well, I will take the melon," she said, half defiantly; "but I should +prefer not to have your company." + +He did not reply till he had let down the bars, and then said:-- + +"The streets are not safe at this hour, and you 've had frights enough +for one night." + +She made no further objections, and with the watermelon poised on his +shoulder he walked by her side, neither speaking a word, till they +reached the gate of the Seminary grounds. There she stopped, and, +turning, extended her hands for the melon. As he gave it to her their +eyes met a moment, and their mutual appreciation of the humor of +the situation expressed itself in an irrepressible smile that seemed +instantly to make them acquainted, and she responded almost kindly to +his low "Good-evening." + +Amy came home jubilant next day. Lina May-nard had invited her to her +party, and had been ever so good to her, and there was nobody in the +world like Lina. Arthur listened and said nothing. All the next week +it was the same story of Lina's beauty, good-nature, cleverness, and +perfections generally, and, above all, her goodness to herself, +Amy Steele. Lina was indeed fulfilling her promise with generous +over-measure. And after once taking up with Amy, the sweet simplicity +and enthusiastic loyalty of the child to herself won her heart +completely. The other girls wondered, but Lina Maynard's freaks always +set the fashion, and Amy, to her astonishment and boundless delight, +found herself the pet of the Seminary. The little blonde, Lina's +sweetheart, alone rebelled against the new order of things and was +furiously jealous, for which she was promptly snubbed by Lina, and Amy +taken into her place. And meanwhile Lina caught herself several times +wondering whether Arthur Steele was satisfied with the way she was +keeping her pledge. + +It was Wednesday night, and Arthur was to return to New York Thursday +morning. Although he had walked the street every afternoon and had met +nearly all the other girls at the Seminary, he had not seen Lina again. +His mother, whom he took about a good deal on pleasure drives, seriously +wondered if the eagerness of city life was really spoiling his faculty +for leisurely pleasures. He always seemed to be looking out ahead for +something, instead of quietly enjoying the passing sights and scenery. +He had consented to accompany Amy to a little church sociable on the +evening before his departure. It was a species of entertainment which he +detested, but he thought he might possibly meet Lina there, as Amy had +said some of the Seminary girls would be present. + +At once, on entering the vestry, he caught sight of her at the other end +of the room among a group of girls. At the sound of the closing door +she glanced up with an involuntary gesture of expectancy, and their +eyes met. She looked confused, and instantly averted her face. There was +plenty of recognition in her expression, but she did not bow, the real +reason being that she was too much embarrassed to think of it. But +during the week he had so many times canvassed the chances of her +recognizing him when they should meet that he had become quite morbid +about it, and manifested the usual alacrity of persons in that state of +mind in jumping at conclusions they wish to avoid. He had been a fool to +think that she would recognize him as an acquaintance. What had he done +but to insult her, and what associations save distressing ones could she +have with him? He would exchange a few greetings with old friends, and +then quietly slink off home and go to packing up. He was rather sorry +for his mother; she would feel so badly to have him moody and cross on +the last evening at home. Just then some one touched his sleeve, and +looking around he saw Amy. She put her flushed little face close to his +ear and whispered:-- + +"Lina said I might introduce you. Is n't she beautiful, though, +to-night? Of course you 'll fall in love with her, but you must n't try +to cut me out." + +Arthur was Amy's ideal of gentlemanly ease and polish, and she had been +very proud of having so fine a city brother to introduce to the girls. +Imagine her astonishment and chagrin when she saw him standing before +Lina with an exaggeration of the agitated, sheepish air the girls made +such fun of in their rural admirers! But if that surprised her, what +was her amazement to see Lina looking equally confused, and blushing to +where her neck curved beneath the lace, although the brave eyes met +his fairly! A wise instinct told Amy that here was something she didn't +understand, and she had better go away, and she did. + +"The melon was very good, Mr. Steele," said Lina demurely, with a +glimmer of fun in her black eyes. + +"Miss Maynard, I don't know how I shall beg pardon, or humble myself +enough for my outrageous treatment of you," burst forth Arthur. "I +don't know what I should have done if I had n't had an opportunity for +apologizing pretty soon, and now I scarcely dare look you in the face." + +His chagrin and self-reproach were genuine enough, but he might have +left off that last, for he had n't been looking anywhere else since he +came into the room. + +"You did shake me rather hard," she said, with a smiling contraction of +the black eyebrows. + +Good heavens! had he actually shaken this divine creature,--this +Cleopatra of a girl, whose queenly brow gave her hair the look of +a coronet! He groaned in spirit, and looked so self-reproachful and +chagrined that she laughed. + +"I don't know about forgiving you for that, but I 'm so grateful you +did n't take me to the lock-up that I suppose I ought not to mind the +shaking." + +"But, Miss Maynard, you surely don't think I was in earnest about that?" +he exclaimed, in strenuous deprecation. + +"I don't know, I 'm sure," she said doubtfully. "You looked as if you +were capable of it." + +He was going on to protest still farther when she interrupted him, and +said laughingly:-- + +"You take to apologizing so naturally that I 'd nearly forgotten that +it was not you but I who was the real culprit. I must really make a few +excuses myself before I hear any more from you." + +And then she told him all about her brother Charley's letter, and the +spirit of emulation that had got her into trouble. It was easy enough to +joke about certain aspects of the matter; but when she came to talk in +plain language about her performances that night, she became so much +embarrassed and stumbled so badly that Arthur felt very ill at ease. + +"And when I think what _would_ have happened if I 'd fallen into +anybody's hands but yours, you seem almost like a deliverer." At which +Arthur had another access of humiliation to think how un-chivalrously +he had treated this princess in disguise. How he would like to catch +somebody else abusing her that way! And then he told her all that he had +thought and felt about her during the stealing scene, and she gave her +side of the drama, to their intense mutual interest. + +"Is n't it about time we were going home, Arthur?" said Amy's voice. + +He glanced up. The room was nearly empty, and the party from the +Seminary were waiting for Lina. + +"Miss Maynard, may I call upon you in New York during vacation?" + +"I should be happy to see you." + +"_Au revoir_, then!" + +"_Au revoir!_" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hooking Watermelons, by Edward Bellamy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOOKING WATERMELONS *** + +***** This file should be named 22703.txt or 22703.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/0/22703/ + +Produced by 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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