diff options
Diffstat (limited to '23369.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 23369.txt | 1039 |
1 files changed, 1039 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/23369.txt b/23369.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0a1eaf7 --- /dev/null +++ b/23369.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1039 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Dud's Sister, by Josephine Daskam + +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: Mrs. Dud's Sister + +Author: Josephine Daskam + +Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23369] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. DUD'S SISTER *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +MRS. DUD'S SISTER + +By Josephine Daskam + +Copyright, 1903, by Charles Scribner's Sons + + +They were having tea on the terrace. As Varian strolled up to the group +he wished that Hunter could see the picture they made--Hunter, who +had not been in America for thirty years, and who had been so honestly +surprised when Varian had spoken of Mrs. Dud's pretty maids--she always +had pretty ones, even to the cook's third assistant. + +"Maids? Maids? It used to be 'help,'" he had protested. "You don't mean +to say they have waitresses in Binghamville now?" + +Varian had despaired of giving him any idea. + +"Come over and see Mrs. Dud," he had urged, "and do her portrait. We've +moved on since you left us, you know. She's a wonder--she really is. +When you remember how she used to carry her father's dinner to the store +Saturday afternoons--" + +"And now I suppose she sports real Mechlin on her cap," assented Hunter, +anxious to show how perfectly he caught the situation. + +Varian had roared helplessly. "Cap? Cap!" he had moaned finally. "Oh, my +sainted granny! Cap! My poor fellow, your view of Binghamville must be +like the old maps of Africa in the green geography, that said 'desert' +and 'interior' and 'savage tribes' from time to time. I should like +awfully to see Mrs. Dud in a cap." + +Hunter had looked puzzled. + +"But, dear me! she might very well wear one, I should think," he had +murmured defensively. "I don't wish to be invidious, but surely +Lizzie must be--let's see; 'eighty, 'ninety--why, she must be between +forty-five and fifty now." + +Varian had waved his hand dramatically. "Nobody considers Mrs. Dud and +time in the same breath. If you could see her in her golf rig! Or on +a horse! She even sheds a lustre on the rest of us. I forget my +rheumatism!" + +But Hunter, retreating behind his determination to avoid a second +seasickness--it might have been sincere; nobody ever knew--had stayed +in Florence, and Varian had been obliged to come without him to the +house-party. + +On a straw cushion, a cup in her strong white hand, a bunch of adoring +young girls at her feet, sat Mrs. Dud. Rosy and firm-cheeked, crisp +in stiff white duck, deliriously contrasted with her fluffy +Parisian parasol, she scorned the softening ruffles of her presumable +contemporaries; her delicately squared chin, for the most part held +high, showed a straight white collar under a throat only a little fuller +than the girlish ones all around her. + +Old Dudley himself strolled about the group, gossiping here and there +with some pretty woman, sending the grave servants from one to another +with some particularly desirable sandwich, "rubbing it in," as he said +to the men who had failed to touch his score on the links, tantalizingly +uncertain as to which one of the young women he would invite to lead +the cotillon with him at the club dance that week: none of the young men +could take his place at that, as they themselves enviously admitted. + +What a well-matched couple it was! What a lot they got out of life! +Varian walked quietly by the group, to enjoy better the pretty, modish +picture they made. Their quick chatter, their bursts of laughter, the +sweet faint odor of the tea, the gay dresses and light flannels, with +the quiet, sombrely attired servants to add tone, all gave him, fresh +from Hunter's quick sense of the effective, an appreciation that gained +force from his separateness; he walked farther away to get a different +point of view. + +He was out of any path now, and suddenly, hardly beyond reach of +their voices, he found himself in a part of the grounds he had never +approached before. A thick high hedge shut in a kind of court at the +side and back of the great house, and a solid wooden door, carefully +matched to its green, left open by accident, showed a picture so out +of line with the succession of vivid scenes that dazzled the visitor at +Wilton Bluffs that he stopped involuntarily. The rectangle was +carpeted with the characteristic emerald turf of the place, divided by +intersecting red brick paths into four regular squares. In the farther +corner of each of these a trim green clothes-tree was planted, all +abloom with snowy fringed napkins that shone dazzling white against the +hedge. One of the squares was a neat little kitchen-garden; parsley was +there in plenty, and other vaguely familiar green things, curly-leaved +and spear-pointed. A warm gust of wind brought mint to his nostrils. A +second plot held a small crab-apple tree covered with pink and orange +globes. A great tortoise-shell cat with two kittens ornamented the +third, and in the middle of the fourth, beside a small wooden table, a +woman sat with her back toward the intruder. On the table were one or +two tin boxes and a yellow earthen dish; in her left hand, raised to +the shoulder-level, was a tall thin bottle, from which an amber fluid +dripped in an almost imperceptibly thin stream; her right arm stirred +vigorously. She was a middle-aged woman with lightly grayed hair--a kind +of premonitory powdering. Over her full skirt of lavender-striped cotton +stuff fell a broad, competent white apron. Except for the thudding of +the spoon against the bowl, and a faint, homely echo of clashing china +and tin, mingled with occasionally raised voices and laughter from some +farther kitchen region, all was utterly, placidly still. + +Varian stood chained to the open gate. Something in the calm sun-bathed +picture tugged strongly at his heart. He thought suddenly of his mother +and his Aunt Delia--he had been very fond of Aunt Delia. And what +cookies she used to make! Molasses cookies, brown, moist, and crumbly, +they had sweetened his boyhood. + +What was it, that delighted sense of congruity that filled him, every +passing second, with keener familiarity, so strangely tinged with sorrow +and regret? Ah, he had it! He bit his lip as it came clear to him. His +little namesake nephew, dead at eight years old, and dear as only a +dearly loved child can be, had delighted greatly in the Kate Greenaway +pictures that came in "painting-books," with colored prints on alternate +pages and corresponding outlines on the others. Dozens of those books +the boy had cleverly filled in with his little japanned paint-box and +mussy, quill-handled brushes; and the scene before him, the rich tints +of the hedge, the symmetrical little tree brilliant with hundreds of +tiny globes, the big white apron, the lazy yellow cats, and everywhere +the prim rectangular lines so amusingly conventional to accentuate the +likeness, almost choked him with the suddenness of the recognition. They +must have colored that very picture a dozen times, Tommy and he. + +Half unconsciously he rested his arms on the top of the gate and drifted +into revery. He forgot that he was at Wilton Bluffs, one of the greatest +of the country palaces, and lived for a while in a mingled vision of his +boyhood on the old farm and in the land of the Greenaway painting-books. + +Suddenly a door opened into the green. + +A housemaid advanced to the table, bearing in both red hands a long tray +covered with a napkin. On the napkin lay, heaped in rich confusion, a +great pile of spicy, smoking brown cookies. + +"They're just out o' the oven," she began, but Varian could contain +himself no longer. He could not be deceived: he would have known those +cookies in the Desert of Sahara. He crossed the little plot in three +long steps, and faced the astonished maid. + +"I beg your pardon," he said firmly, "but it is very necessary that I +should have one of those cookies! I hope you can spare one?" + +She giggled convulsively. + +"I--I guess you can, sir," she murmured, laying down the tray and +retreating toward the house door. + +Varian faced the older woman, and, with hat still in hand, instinctively +bowed lower; for this was no housekeeper--he was sure of that. Even as +she met his eyes a great flood of pink rushed to her smooth forehead, +and she dropped her lids as she bowed slightly. He reflected +irrelevantly that he had never seen Mrs. Dudley blush in his life. + +"You are very welcome to all you wish, I am sure," she said graciously. +"I--I didn't know any one liked them but me. I always have them made for +me--I taught her the rule. I always call them"--she laughed nervously, +and it dawned on him that this woman was really shy and "talking against +time," as they said--"I always call them 'Aunt Delia's cookies.' They--" + +"Aunt Delia's cookies!" he interrupted. "What Aunt Delia?" + +"Aunt Delia Parmentre," she returned, a little surprised, evidently, +at this stranger, who, with a straw sailor-hat in one hand and a warm +molasses cooky in the other, stared so intently at her. "She wasn't +really my aunt, of course--" + +"But she was mine!" he burst out, "and these are her cookies, and no +mistake. Who are you?" + +Again she flushed, but more lightly. + +"I am Miss Redding," she said with a gentle dignity, "Mrs. Wilton's +sister." + +He stared at her vaguely. + +"Mrs. Wilton--oh! you're her sister? I didn't know--" He stopped +abruptly. As his confusion grew, her own faded away. + +"You didn't know she had one?" she asked, almost mischievously. + +"I didn't know you were here," he recovered himself. "You've never been +with Mrs. Dud before, have you?" + +"No, not here when there was company," she said. + +He hardly noticed the words; his mind was groping among past histories. + +"Her sister--her sister," he muttered. "Why, then," with an illuminating +smile, "I used to go to school with you! I'm Tom Varian!" + +She smiled and held out her hand. + +"I'm very glad to see you," she said cordially. "Won't you--" She looked +about for a chair, but he dropped on the grass at her feet. + +"You've changed since we met last," he remarked, biting into his cooky. +She looked at his bronzed face and thick silvered hair and nodded +thoughtfully. + +"I was six years old then," she said; "and you were one of the 'big +boys'--you were fourteen." + +"That's a long while," he suggested laughingly. + +"It is thirty-six years," she replied simply. + +He winced. His associates were not accustomed to be so scrupulously +accurate. It seemed indecently long ago. And yet there was a certain +charm, now one faced it, a quaint halo of interest. + +"You used to hand me water in a tin dipper," he said. + +She nodded. "Yes, that was for a reward, when I was good," she said +seriously. "I could hand the water to the big boys. I was very proud of +it. You drank a great deal." + +He chuckled. "I was born thirsty," he acknowledged. "By George, how +it comes back! I can see it now, that school-house! Funny little red +thing--remember how it looked? Big shelf around the sides for a desk, +and another under that for the books? Bench all round the room to sit +on, and we just whopped our legs over and faced round to recite? And +carved--Lord! I don't believe there was an inch of the wood, all told, +that was clear! I nearly cut my thumb off there, one day." + +"One of the big girls fainted away," she added, "and they laid her on +the floor and told me to bring a dipper of water; but my hand shook so I +spilled it all over my apron, and she came to before we got more. I was +very timid." + +He began on another cooky. + +"Did you have two pigtails? And striped stockings?" he inquired, his +eyes fixed reminiscently on the hedge. + +She nodded softly. + +"And played some game with stones? I can't just remember--" + +"It was houses," she reminded him. "We little girls used to make little +houses--just marked out with stones in squares on the ground; and if you +boys felt like it, you'd bring us big flat stones to eat our dinner on." + +"Ah, yes!" It all came back to him. "And then you'd race off to get +flag-root or something, and--" + +"And gobble our dinner as we ran. It was fun, all the same," she added. + +"But what a mite you were, to be in school!" he said wonderingly. "What +under heaven did you study?" + +"I don't remember at all," she confessed. "But I suppose I spelled. Do +you remember the spelling-matches? And how you big ones wanted to 'leave +off head'?" + +He chuckled. "I should say I did! And sometimes the greatest idiot would +'leave off head' because there wasn't any more time. It was maddening!" + +He munched in silence for a while, and she did not dream of +interrupting. + +"In the winter, though--George! but it was cold! We used to positively +swim through the drifts. I tell you, there aren't any such snows now! +How did you get there?" + +"I only went in the summer," she said; "and I used to come in all +stained with the berries I ate along the way. It was dreadful"--she +grew stern, as if addressing the little girl in striped stockings and +pigtails--"the way I ate berries! I used to eat the bushes clean on the +way to school!" + +She had got over her first shyness, and had gained time to realize her +big apron, which she hastily untied. He caught the motion and protested. + +"No, no! Keep it on! I haven't seen a woman--a lady--in an apron for +years! Please keep it on! And do go on with the--the mess in the dish!" + +"The mess"--she bent her brows reprovingly--"it's mayonnaise sauce. But +I don't think--" + +He jumped up to put the bowl in her lap. A sudden twinge in his knee +wrung an involuntary groan from him. He walked a little stiffly toward +her. + +"You have rheumatism! And you sat all the time on that damp grass!" she +cried reproachfully. "I thought at first it was the craziest thing to +do, but I didn't dare say so." + +He ignored the charge but smiled at the confession. + +"And now you're not afraid?" + +She blushed again. It was very becoming. + +"It seems--it seems foolish to act like strangers when it's been +so long--we remember so well--" She sighed a little. He studied her +face--so like her sister's and so utterly different. The same gray eyes, +but calm and drooped; the same clear white skin, but a fuller, yes, a +more matronly face, a riper, sweeter, more restful curve. The soft dark +shadows that accentuated Mrs. Dudley's eyes were lacking; a group of +tiny wrinkles at the corners gave her instead a pleasant, humorous +regard that her sister's literal directness missed utterly. + +Nervous under his scrutiny, she rose hastily, and before he could +prevent her she had brought him a roomy arm-chair from the house. + +"At our age there's no use in running risks," she said simply, "you +ought not to sit on the grass; leave that for the young folks." + +Again he winced, but dropped with relief into the chair. + +"Oh, one must keep up with the procession, you know!" he said lightly. + +She made no reply; and as she lifted the bottle and began to beat the +yellow mass again, it occurred to him that the remark was exceptionally +silly. + +"Does it have to go in slowly like that--the whole bottleful?" he +inquired lazily. + +She nodded. "Or it curdles," she explained. "The cook sprained his wrist +yesterday. He never allows anybody to make the mayonnaise--he can't +trust them--and I was glad to do it for him. He says mine is as good as +his. Did you ever see him?" + +"Well, no," Varian returned. "But he doesn't need to be seen to be +appreciated." + +A strange suspicion crept over him. + +"Do you often--Do you do much--How is it that you--" He could not say it +properly. Was it possible that Mrs. Dud---- It was unworthy of her! + +She caught his meaning, and her cool gray eyes met his with their +uncompromising directness. He seemed convicted of unnecessary shuffling. + +"Oh, Lizzie asked me not to do anything," she said quietly. "She +wanted me to enjoy myself with her friends. But I'm not used to so much +society, and I don't want to be any hinderance. I'm not so young as I +used to be. I'd have liked the gayety well enough when I was a girl, but +I guess it tires me a little now. There seems to be so much going on +all the time. Lizzie says she's resting, but it wouldn't rest me. Do you +find it so?" + +He recalled his yesterday's programme: driving a pulling team all +the morning; carrying Mrs. Dud's heavy bag over the links all the +afternoon--she preferred her friends to caddies; prompting for the +dramatics rehearsal, with a poor light, all the evening, while the +actors gossiped and squabbled and flirted contentedly. + +"It is not always restful," he admitted. + +"It makes my head ache," she remarked placidly. "I like to see the girls +enjoy themselves. I'm glad they're happy--some of those visiting Lizzie +are so pretty!--but I'm glad I haven't got to run about so much. I'm +very fond of driving myself, if I have a good quiet horse that won't +shy and doesn't go fast, and Lizzie has one for me--a white one that's +gentle--and I drive about in the phaeton a great deal. The doctor +that came that night--were you here?--when Mrs. Page fainted and they +couldn't bring her to (it seems she was in the habit of taking some +medicine to make her sleep, and it weakened her heart) asked me if I +wouldn't like to take out some patients of his, and so I called for a +very nice lady--a Mrs. Williams; you probably don't know her?--and after +that a young girl with spinal trouble, and--and several others. They +seemed to enjoy it, and I'm sure I did. Once I took a young girl that's +staying here--she had a bad headache. She was a sweet girl, and I liked +her. She said the drive helped her a great deal. It's astonishing"--her +eyes met his wonderingly--"how much trouble you can have, with all the +money you want! I--I was sorry for her," she added, half to herself. + +Before he thought he leaned forward, took her hand with the silver +tablespoon in it, and kissed it gently. He admired her as he would +admire some charming soft pastel hung in a cool white room. + +"How sweet and good you are!" he said warmly; and then, to cover her +deep embarrassment and his own sudden emotion, he continued quickly, +"Are you very busy in the morning, always?" + +"There are different things," she murmured, still looking at her spoon. +"I have letters to write--I keep up with a good many old friends in +Binghamville and Albany, where I lived with my married niece ten years, +till they moved West. I loved her children; I half brought them up. One +died; I can't seem to get over it--" Her eyes filled, and she made no +effort to cover two tears that slipped over. + +Varian took her hand again. "I know about that--I know!" he said softly. + +"Then there are my flowers; I do so enjoy the beds and the greenhouses +here," she went on more cheerfully. "The gardeners are very kind to +me--I think they like to have me come in. Mr. McFadden gives me a good +many slips and cuttings. I love flowers dearly. Then I read a good deal, +and there is always some little thing to do for the young girls here. +They--the ones I know--come in for a moment while I mend something, or +pin their things in the back, and it's surprising how much there is to +do! They fly about so they can't stop to take care of their things. They +talk to me while I set them straight, and it's very interesting. I tell +Lizzie I go out a great deal, just hearing about their adventures, when +she drops in to see me. She never forgets me; she brings somebody to my +sitting-room every day or so that she thinks I'd enjoy meeting--and I +always do. She never makes a mistake." + +"Oh, she's wonderful," Varian agreed easily. "There's nobody like Mrs. +Dud, of course." + +She stopped her work a moment and looked curiously at him. + +"What do you mean by that?" she asked. "You all say it--in just that +way; but I don't think I quite see what you mean. Why is she wonderful? +Because she looks so young?" + +"That, in the first place," Varian returned, with a smile, "but not only +that." + +"Of course that is very strange," she mused. "Now Lizzie is three years +older than I. You would never think it, would you?" + +"No," he agreed, still smiling; "but then, Mrs. Dud looks younger than +everybody. It is her specialty. I think what we mean," he continued, +"is her amazing capacity; she does so much, so ridiculously much, and +so much better than other people. We try to keep up with things--your +sister is a little bit ahead. She seems to have always been doing the +very latest thing, you see. And all her responsibilities, her various +affairs--it makes one's head swim! The women have set themselves +a tremendous field to cover nowadays, and when one succeeds so +admirably--" He paused. + +She shook her head thoughtfully. + +"But everything is done for her!" she protested. "Why, I have never +yet seen all the servants in this house! And you know there is a +housekeeper? Lizzie sees her a little while in the morning, that's all. +And she never sews a stitch--there's a seamstress here all the time, +you know, and that has nothing to do with the clothes that come home +in boxes. And little Dudley has his tutor, and his old nurse that looks +after his clothes. What is it that she does to make it so wonderful?" + +He only smiled at her perplexity, and she added confidentially: + +"Lizzie wanted me to go to her dressmaker, but I didn't like the idea of +a man, to begin with, and then I knew Miss Simms would feel so hurt. She +lives in Albany, and she's made my dresses for so long that I thought, +though she may not be so stylish, I'd better keep up with her; wouldn't +you?" + +A perfectly unreasonable tenderness surged through his heart. How sweet +she was! + +"If she made that dress, I certainly should!" he declared. + +She smoothed the crisp lavender folds deprecatingly. + +"Oh, this is only a cotton dress," she said. "But she made my gray silk, +too, and Lizzie herself said it fitted beautifully." + +She took up the bottle again: it was nearly empty. + +"Now my mother," she began, "_she_ was wonderful, if you like. Do you +know what my mother used to do? We lived on the farm, you know, like +yours, and most of the work of that farm mother did. She did the +cooking--for all the hired hands, too; she made the butter, and took +care of the hens; she made the candles and the soap; she made the +carpets and all our clothes--my brothers', too; and she put up preserves +and jellies and cordials, and did the most beautiful embroidery; I +have some of mother's embroidered collars, and I can't do anything like +them." + +"It was tremendous," he said. "My Aunt Delia did that, too." + +"We were old-fashioned, even for then," she said. "Everybody didn't do +so much, of course, as we did. Lizzie says we were just on the edge of +the new age. It certainly is different. And of course I wouldn't go back +to it for anything. After we came back from boarding-school it was all +changed. We moved, then, nearer the town. But, do you know, my mother +went to singing-school, and Lizzie was looking that up in a book, the +other day, to see what they did--she wanted it for a party!" + +He laughed. "That _is_ delicious!" he said. + +"See what I found to-day!" she added, drawing a small object from +her pocket. "I hunted it up to show Miss Porter tonight. She was so +interested when I told her about it." + +She showed him, with a tender amusement, a little slender white silk +mitten. Around the wrist was embroidered in dark blue a legend in Old +English script. He puzzled it out: _A Whig or no Husband!_ + +"That was mother's," she said, "the girls wore them then. She was quite +a belle, mother was! And when people ask me how Lizzie does so much, I +say that she inherits it. But at her age mother was broken down and +old. She had to be. There were nine of us, and here there's only little +Dudley, and it was so long before he came." + +They sat quietly. The setting sun flamed through the crab-apples and +burnished the fur of the tortoise-shell cat. The mint smelled strong. +The sweet, mellow summer evening was reflected in her handsome face, +with its delicate lines, that only added a restful charm to forehead and +cheek. He had no need to talk; it was very, very pleasant sitting there. + +A maid came out to get the mayonnaise, and the spell was broken. He took +out his watch. + +"Just time to dress," he sighed. "Will you be here again? We must talk +old times once more." + +She smiled and seemed to assent, but her eyes were not on him; she was +still in a revery. He walked softly away. She seemed hardly to notice +him, and his last backward glance found the quiet of the picture +unbroken; again it was a page from the Greenaway book. + +He reached the terrace; laughter and applause from the piazza caught his +ear. Fresh from the atmosphere he had left, he stared in amazement at +the scene before him. + +Swift figures were scudding from one to another of the four great elms +that marked out a natural rectangle on the smooth side lawn. + +"Puss! puss! Here, puss!" a high voice called, and a tall slender girl +in a swish of lace and pink draperies rushed across one side of the +square. A portly trousered figure essayed to gain the tree she had left, +but a romping girl in white caught him easily, while Mrs. Dud, the tail +of her gown thrown over her arm, skimmed triumphantly across to her +partner's tree. + +"One more, one more, colonel. You can't give up, now you're caught! One +more before we go in!" called the pink girl. + +"Here's Mr. Varian. Come and help us out--the colonel's beaten!" added +Mrs. Dud. + +"Here, puss! here, puss!" With excited little shrieks and laughs they +dashed by, the colonel making ineffectual grabs at their elusive skirts. +Varian shook his head good-naturedly. + +"Too late, too late!" he called back, and taking pity on the puffing, +purple colonel, he bore him off. + +"Thank God! I'm just about winded! I'd have dropped in my tracks," +complained the rescued man, breathing hard as they rounded the +shrubbery. In the corner two figures, half seen in the dark, leaned +toward each other an imperceptible moment. The colonel laughed +contentedly. + +"When I see that sort of thing, I think we've made a mistake--eh, +Varian?" he said, half serious. "It's a poor job, getting old alone. +Live at the club, visit here and there, make yourself agreeable to +get asked again, nobody to care if you're sick, always play the other +fellow's game--little monotonous after a while, eh?" + +Varian nodded. "Right enough," he said. + +"Different ending to their route!" suggested the colonel, jerking his +elbow back toward the two in the shrubbery. + +"That's it!" The answer was laconic, but the pictures that swept through +his brain took on a precision and color that half frightened him. + +He had no idea how frequently he dropped in at the little court behind +the hedge after that. Sometimes he sat and mused alone there; more than +once he took a surreptitious afternoon nap. He developed a dormant fancy +for gardening, and walked with his new-old friend contentedly among the +deserted garden paths. He studied her hair especially, wondering why it +was that the little tender flecks of white attracted him so. At dinner +he secretly tried to rouse in himself the same desire to stroke the +gleaming silver fleece, high-dressed, puffed, and ornamented with jet, +of the woman opposite him, whose hair, somewhat prematurely turned +snowy, had won her a great vogue among her friends. But he never +succeeded. She was absolutely too effective. She turned the simplest +gathering to a fancy-dress ball, he decided. + +He had supposed that it was the quaint privacy of their acquaintance +that charmed him particularly--the feeling of an almost double +existence; but when Mrs. Dud, who, he afterwards reflected, was of +course omniscient, restrained herself no longer, and thanked him with a +pretty sincerity for his delicate and appreciated courtesy, intimating +charmingly that she realized the personal motive, a veil suddenly +dropped. He gasped, shook himself, colored a little, and met her eye. + +"I'm afraid I'm not so kind as you think," he said, a little awkwardly. +"I've been an old fool, I see. Do you think--is that the way _she_ looks +at it?" + +"Mary?" said Mrs. Dud, wonderingly. "Yes, I suppose so. Why?" + +The naive egotism of the answer only threw a softer light on the picture +that had grown to fill his thoughts. He smiled inscrutably. + +"Because in that case it is due to her to undeceive her," he said. "I am +glad I have entertained her. I should like to have the opportunity to do +so indefinitely. Do you think there's a chance for me?" + +"What on earth do you mean?" asked his hostess, in unassumed +stupefaction. + +"I mean, do you think she would marry me?" Varian brought out plumply. +"Is there--was there ever anybody else?" + +For one instant Mrs. Dud lost her poise; in her eyes he almost saw more +than she meant; the sheer, flat blow of it levelled her for a breath to +the plane of other and ordinary women. But even as he thought it, it was +gone. She put out her hand; she smiled; she shook her finger at him. + +"I think, my friend, she would be a fool not to marry you," she answered +him, clear-eyed; "and there was never," her tone was too sweet, he +thought, to carry but one meaning--pleasure for him, "there was never +anybody else!" + +Varian walked straight to the garden. She was training a fiery wall +of nasturtiums with firm white fingers. It occurred to him that he was +ready to give up the tally-ho, and the Berkshires, and the scramble +of pretty girls for the place beside him, to sit quietly and watch her +among her flowers. + +"I'm getting old--old!" he said to himself, but he said it with a smile. + +For he knew that no boy's heart ever beat more swiftly, no boy's tongue +ever sought more excitedly to find the right words. But when he faced +her a little doubt chilled him: she was so calm and complete, in +her sunny, busy, balanced life, that he feared to disturb that sweet +placidity. With an undercurrent of fear, a sudden realization that he +had no more the blessed egotism of youth to drive him on, he walked +beside her, outwardly content, at heart a little solitary. At some light +question he turned and faced her. + +"You could not have all the greenhouses, but there could be plenty of +flowers," he said pleadingly. + +"Flowers? Where?" she asked. + +"Wherever we lived," he answered. "And oh, Mary, I think we could be +happy together! Don't say no!" as she shrank a little. "Don't, Mary, for +heaven's sake! I care too much--I care terribly. I am too old a man to +care so much and--lose.... There, there, my dear girl, never mind. I +can bear it, of course. Only I didn't know I'd planned it all out so, +and--But never mind. I was going to have a bay-window full of--" + +He turned away from her for a moment. But her hand was on his arm. + +"We can plan it out together," she said. + +He knew how she would blush; he had even dared to think how directly her +clear gray eyes would meet his--her sky-ness was never hesitation--but +he had not dreamed how soft her hair could be. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mrs. Dud's Sister, by Josephine Daskam + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MRS. DUD'S SISTER *** + +***** This file should be named 23369.txt or 23369.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/3/6/23369/ + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |