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diff --git a/26992-h/26992-h.htm b/26992-h/26992-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b0262f --- /dev/null +++ b/26992-h/26992-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,17521 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> +The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Wind Before the Dawn, by Dell H. Munger. +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: 0.5em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + body {margin-left: 11%; margin-right: 10%;} + a {text-decoration: none;} + h3 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.2em;} + .pncolor {color: silver;} + .figcenter {margin: 2em auto 2em auto; text-align: center;} + div.ce p {text-align: center; margin: auto 0;} + div.la p {text-align: left; margin: auto 0;} + .caption {font-size:.8em;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + hr.tb {width: 35%; margin-top: 0.8em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;} + .blockquot {margin-left:5%; margin-right:5%;} + .pagenum {display: inline; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; position: absolute; right: 2%; padding: 1px 3px; font-style: normal; font-variant:normal; font-weight:normal; text-decoration: none; background-color: inherit; border:1px solid #eee;} + div.ra p {text-align: right; margin: auto 0;} + hr.major {width: 65%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; clear:both;} + hr.silver {width: 100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver;} + h2 {text-align:center; font-weight:normal; font-size: 1.4em;} +// --> +/* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wind Before the Dawn, by Dell H. Munger + +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: The Wind Before the Dawn + +Author: Dell H. Munger + +Release Date: October 22, 2008 [EBook #26992] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WIND BEFORE THE DAWN *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.4em;'>THE WIND BEFORE THE DAWN</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em1.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 205px; height: 106px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-fpc.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 381px; height: 531px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 381px;'> +“<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>THE GIRL ALSO KNELT AT HIS SIDE RENDERING SUCH ASSISTANCE AS WAS IN HER POWER</span>”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:2em; margin-top:1em;'>THE WIND BEFORE</p> +<p style=' font-size:2em; margin-bottom:1em;'>THE DAWN</p> +<p style=' font-size:1.2em; margin-bottom:3e;'>BY DELL H. MUNGER</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em2.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 100px; height: 100px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' margin-top:5em;'>A. L. BURT COMPANY</p> +<p style=' font-size:0.8em;'>Publishers New York</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce' style=' font-size:0.8em;'> +<p>Copyright, 1912, by</p> +<p style=' margin-bottom:1em; font-variant:small-caps;'>Doubleday, Page & Company</p> +<div style='margin-top:1em'></div> +<p style=' font-style:italic;'>All rights reserved, including that of</p> +<p style=' font-style:italic;'>translation into foreign languages,</p> +<p style=' font-style:italic;'>including the Scandinavian</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em3.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 126px; height: 206px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em4.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 369px; height: 241px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.4em; margin-bottom:1em;'>CONTENTS</p> +</div> + +<table border='0' width='550' cellpadding='2' cellspacing='0' summary='Contents' style='margin:1em auto;'> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>I</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Castles in Spain </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#I_CASTLES_IN_SPAIN'>3</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>II</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Brushing up to go to Topeka </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#II_BRUSHING_UP_TO_GO_TO_TOPEKA'>43</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>III</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Reforms not easy to Discuss </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#III_REFORMS_NOT_EASY_TO_DISCUSS'>74</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>A cultured man </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IV_A_CULTURED_MAN'>92</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>V</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Reaching hungry hands toward a symbol </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#V_REACHING_HUNGRY_HANDS_TOWARD_A_SYMBOL'>115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Didn’t take ’em long” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VI__DIDN_T_TAKE__EM_LONG'>131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Erasing her blackboard </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VII_ERASING_HER_BLACKBOARD'>150</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>VIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Cyclones </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#VIII_CYCLONES'>174</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>IX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Against her instincts, against her better judgment, against her will” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#IX__AGAINST_HER_INSTINCTS_AGAINST_HER_BETTER_JUDGMENT_AGAINST_HER_WILL'>195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>X</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Philosophy of Elizabeth’s life voiced </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#X_PHILOSOPHY_OF_ELIZABETH_S_LIFE_VOICED'>210</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Wives, submit yourselves unto your husbands, as unto the Lord” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XI__WIVES_SUBMIT_YOURSELVES_UNTO_YOUR_HUSBANDS_AS_UNTO_THE_LORD'>224</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Pore little woman” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XII__PORE_LITTLE_WOMAN'>266</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Ennobled by the reflected story of another’s goodness and love” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIII__ENNOBLED_BY_THE_REFLECTED_STORY_OF_ANOTHER_S_GOODNESS_AND_LOVE'>291</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Mortgages of soul </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIV_MORTGAGES_OF_SOUL'>317</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Hugh Noland </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XV_HUGH_NOLAND'>353</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Revivifying fires </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVI_REVIVIFYING_FIRES'>356</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Adjusting domestic to social ideals </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVII_ADJUSTING_DOMESTIC_TO_SOCIAL_IDEALS'>372</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XVIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>The child of her body </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XVIII_THE_CHILD_OF_HER_BODY'>399</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XIX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Her wages, food and clothing she must accept” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XIX__HER_WAGES_FOOD_AND_CLOTHING_SHE_MUST_ACCEPT'>419</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XX</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>The cream-jars of her life </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XX_THE_CREAMJARS_OF_HER_LIFE'>426</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Bound to the stake </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXI_BOUND_TO_THE_STAKE'>458</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“There are some things we have to settle for ourselves” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXII__THERE_ARE_SOME_THINGS_WE_HAVE_TO_SETTLE_FOR_OURSELVES'>467</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“At any cost” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXIII__AT_ANY_COST'>496</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXIV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>Facing consequences </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXIV_FACING_CONSEQUENCES'>506</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXV</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“The weight of a dollaree and out of debt don’t forget that” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXV__THE_WEIGHT_OF_A_DOLLAREE_AND_OUT_OF_DEBT_DON_T_FORGET_THAT'>534</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVI</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Was—was my papa here then?” </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVI__WAS_WAS_MY_PAPA_HERE_THEN'>540</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>To do over, and to do better, was the opportunity offered </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVII_TO_DO_OVER_AND_TO_DO_BETTER_WAS_THE_OPPORTUNITY_OFFERED'>548</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td valign='top' align='right' style='padding-right:1em;'>XXVIII</td> + <td valign='top' align='left'>“Till death do you part” considered </td> + <td valign='bottom' align='right'><a href='#XXVIII__TILL_DEATH_DO_YOU_PART__CONSIDERED'>562</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em5.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 363px; height: 228px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_3' name='page_3'></a>3</span></div> +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.6em;'>THE WIND BEFORE THE DAWN</p> +</div> + +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-em6.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 188px; height: 258px;' /><br /> +</div> + +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='I_CASTLES_IN_SPAIN' id='I_CASTLES_IN_SPAIN'></a> +<h2>CHAPTER I</h2> +<h3>CASTLES IN SPAIN</h3> +</div> + +<p>The unclouded sun of a burning August day had +driven bird and beast to shelter wherever a bit of +shade could be found. The Kansas prairie afforded +little refuge from sun or wind. The long stretches +of low rolling hills were mostly covered with short grass, +now dry from a protracted season of drought. Occasionally +a group of stunted cottonwood trees surrounded +an equally stunted looking hut, or dugout, but the blazing +sunshine had browned all to a monotonous tone in keeping +with the monotonous life it represented. The only +corn to be seen was of the variety called sod-corn, which, +unwashed by rain for a full month now, had failed to +mature, such stalks as had tasselled at all being as barren as +the rest because the tender silks had dried too rapidly and +could furnish no fertilizing moisture to the pollen which +sifted down from the scanty bloom above.</p> +<p>The sun’s rays beat down upon the head of a fourteen-year-old +girl who rode slowly around a herd of cattle, the +members of which lay in the unavailing shade of the +rosin weeds or browsed drowsily on the short grass. The +day had been long and hard. The child knew that it was +not later than two o’clock, having counted the hours +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_4' name='page_4'></a>4</span> +eagerly since early morning, and having eaten her bit of +cornbread and bacon full two hours before. She stopped +her horse for the fortieth time, however, to get the angle +of her shadow on the ground and to confirm her calculations. +The sigh she gave as she again started on her round +was not of relief, but of resignation. It was necessary to +keep on the move or she was likely to fall asleep in her +saddle, and then the cattle would escape to the nearby +fields, and there would be a neighbourhood altercation +over the matter, whether the fields held crops of value or +not, farmers being jealous of their territorial rights, and +ready to resent intrusion upon them.</p> +<p>Another horseback rider was moving across the prairie +toward her, and the girl smiled when she saw him and +stopped to watch his calico pony lope unevenly across the +grass-covered slope. The pony was prone to drop into a +rough trot at short intervals, and at such times was urged +to renewed efforts by a dig of its rider’s heels in the under +regions of its stunted body. In order to get his heels in +contact with his mount, the lanky boy was obliged to +elevate his knees slightly, and when it was over his feet +dropped languidly and his heavy plow-shoes dangled +loosely, with several inches of bare ankle in evidence before +the faded overalls concealed further stretches of the +hairy legs.</p> +<p>“Howdie, Lizzie!” he said with a pleasant smile as he +drew his pony up beside her. “I’ve got something to tell +you. We’ve sold out, an’ goin’ right off. Th’ other folks +moved in last night. They was goin’ through with a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_5' name='page_5'></a>5</span> +wagon an’ stopped to eat. They found out that pap +wanted to sell an’ go back to Minnesoty, an’ took th’ land +quick. I’ve come to say good-bye.”</p> +<p>It had been so exciting that he had tumbled his news all +out at once, although he was a quiet boy and slow of speech.</p> +<p>“Oh, Luther! Are you really going away?” The girl +exclaimed in dismay.</p> +<p>“Yass,” the boy replied, falling back unconsciously into +Swedish pronunciation. He had begun his announcement +with pleased animation, but now that it was out, and she +was sorry, the going did not seem so pleasing. “I wisht +I wasn’t!” he added with quick dejection.</p> +<p>“I should think you’d be glad. I’d be glad, if I was +going too.”</p> +<p>The boy looked surprised and asked with some curiosity, +“What do you want to go for? I thought you liked +Kansas.”</p> +<p>“Put your hand on your horse’s neck,” she commanded, +leaning forward and setting the example.</p> +<p>The boy did as she told him, but drew his hand back +suddenly.</p> +<p>“Gosh!” he exclaimed. “Don’t their hair get hot in +this sun!”</p> +<p>“Well, I’m just as hot as that all over,” she replied +emphatically, “and I want to go to a country where a +body can get under a tree once in a while. I can’t go in +till five o’clock, and I forgot my jug, and I’m so thirsty +I feel as if I’d crack like this ground,” she said, pointing +to the earth between them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_6' name='page_6'></a>6</span></p> +<p>“Jimminy! I’ll ride back and fetch you a drink,” he +said, poking his heels into his pony’s ribs so suddenly that +the little beast kicked spitefully.</p> +<p>The girl called after him to “never mind,” but he was +off on his errand. It was a good mile to her home, but +the boy knew what it meant to forget the water-jug on a +day like this.</p> +<p>When he returned half an hour later the sunshine had +changed character and there was a peculiar dimming of +its brilliancy.</p> +<p>“Is it going to rain?” the girl asked as she lowered the +jug to her knee. She wiped her lips on the skirt of the +faded sunbonnet she wore and looked up again.</p> +<p>“Rain!” Luther Hansen swept the horizon with the air +of one who knew the signs, backing his horse about to see +on all sides as he did so.</p> +<p>“Th’ don’t seem t’ be any clouds,” he said in surprise. +“Ain’t it queer! Looks’s if it might be some kind of +eclipse,” he said. “Do you remember—no, of course +you don’t—but, th’ was an eclipse of th’ sun—total, I +believe they called it—when I was only about seven +year old. All th’ chickens went to roost, it got so dark, +an’ when th’ cover come off they crowed’s if ’twas mornin’. +We had a blue hen an’ she crowed too. Pap killed ’er. +He said it was bad luck t’ have a hen crowin’ about th’ +place.”</p> +<p>“You all don’t believe in luck, do you?” the child asked.</p> +<p>“I don’t, but pap does,” the boy answered apologetically. +“I cried about th’ blue hen; she was just like a dog; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_7' name='page_7'></a>7</span> +she’d let you ketch ’er, an’ she’d sing, ‘co-ook, co-ook, +co-ook,’ to ’erself, right in your arms, an’ wasn’t afraid. +She wouldn’t never set though. I guess that’s why pap +was so ready with his axe.”</p> +<p>Happening to look up again, the girl gave an exclamation +of surprise. “Is it snow?” she asked.</p> +<p>“No!”</p> +<p>They sat with their faces turned skyward, studying the +upper air intently. The sun was completely obscured +now and the rapidly moving mass, not unlike snow indeed, +was being driven straight toward the north. Whatever +it was, it was driving fiercely ahead, as if impelled by a +strong wind, though there was not a breath of air stirring +below. Soon small objects began to detach themselves +from the mass, so that the eye could distinguish separate +particles, which looked not unlike scraps of silver driven +with terrific force from the tail end of some gigantic machine. +One of these scraps struck the girl on the cheek +and she put her hand up quickly to feel the spot. While +examining the place she received a similar blow on the +forehead and another on the back of her hand. Drawing +her bonnet down tight over her face for protection, she +shaded her eyes and again looked up. The whole moving +cloud had lowered to a distinguishable distance.</p> +<p>“Why, they’re all grasshoppers!” she exclaimed; and +indeed so true was the observation and so rapidly were +the grasshoppers settling that the boy and girl were obliged +to turn their backs and shield their faces from the storm.</p> +<p>The cattle also, annoyed by the myriads of insects +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_8' name='page_8'></a>8</span> +settling upon them, began to move about restlessly and +presently to mill slowly around, threshing with their heads +from side to side while they whipped their flanks with their +tails.</p> +<p>“I didn’t know they came like this!” the girl said, as +Luther’s pony sidled over toward her.</p> +<p>“What’d you say?” the boy demanded, leaning forward +to catch her reply.</p> +<p>“I said I didn’t know they came like this,” the girl +shouted, raising her voice to make herself heard above +the rasping noise of many wings. “Father read out of +the <i>Prairie Farmer</i> last week that they was hatching out +in the south.”</p> +<p>The two drifted apart and circled about the herd again. +The cattle were growing more restless and began to move +determinedly away from the oncoming swarm. To keep +them in the centre of the section, and away from the cornfields, +the girl whipped her horse into a gallop.</p> +<p>Without paying the slightest attention to either her +voice or her whip, half blinded in fact by the cutting +wings of the grasshoppers, the irritated cattle began to +move faster and, before either boy or girl knew what was +happening, were in full trot toward the north. Seeing +that the matter was becoming serious, Luther lent all the +aid of which he was capable and circled about the herd, +shouting with all his strength, but the cattle, contending +against countless numbers of smaller things and unable +to look steadily in any direction because of the little wings +which cut like the blades of many saws, stumbled blindly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_9' name='page_9'></a>9</span> +against his horse if he got in their way, and, shifting around +him, went on.</p> +<p>The girl was beside herself with trouble and anxiety. +Lashing her horse one minute, and the nearest cow the +next, she raged up and down in front of the herd, bending +all her energies toward deflecting her charges from their +course, but the struggle was useless.</p> +<p>Seeing that they could do nothing, Luther caught her +horse by the bit as she passed him and shouted explanations +in her ear.</p> +<p>“Let ’em go, Lizzie! You can’t stop ’em! I’ll have +t’ come with you! We’ll just follow ’em up!”</p> +<p>“But they’re going to get into that field right off if we +don’t get them turned!” the girl cried in distress, pulling +down her long scoop-like bonnet and holding it together +to keep the grasshoppers out of her face while they talked.</p> +<p>The cattle now broke into a run. There was nothing +to do but follow, as Luther had advised. But the exasperated +beasts were not looking for fodder and paid no +attention to the corn. They were not out on a picnicking +expedition; they were escaping from this tormenting +swarm of insects which settled on itching back and horns +and tail, settled anywhere that a sufficiently broad surface +presented itself. Having started to run, they ran on +and on and on. The boy and girl followed, their horses +stumbling blindly over the ridges between which the corn +was growing. The grayish brown sod, through which +the matted white roots of the grass showed plainly, lay in +fine lines down the long field, their irregular edges causing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_10' name='page_10'></a>10</span> +horses and cattle to go down on their knees frequently as +they ran. But though the cattle sometimes fell, they +were as quickly up and pushed blindly ahead, neither +knowing nor caring where they were going, their only +instinct being to get away.</p> +<p>Not a breath of air was in motion except such as was +stirred by the wings of the grasshoppers or was blown from +the hot nostrils of the harassed cattle. They passed +through the cornfield, over a stubblefield beyond, through +a slough, another stubblefield, and on to the open prairie +of another section of “Railroad land.” The boy and +girl made no further attempt to guide them. A cow, with +the tickling feet of half a dozen of these devils of torment +on the end of a bare, wet nose, was in no state of mind to +be argued with, and the tossing horns, threshing about to +free the head from the pests, were to be taken into sober +account. All they could do was to let the maddened +beasts take their own course.</p> +<p>For an hour, helpless to prevent the stampede, desiring +nothing now but to keep the cattle in sight, the weary, +sunbaked children trudged along in the rear of the herd, +following through fields cut and uncut, over the short +grass of the hills or the long bluestem of the hollows, their +horses sweating profusely, their own faces too parched +to emit moisture, conscious only of the business of following +the panting herd and of avoiding the pitfalls under +their horses’ feet.</p> +<p>At last the cattle came to a walk. The heat of the day +and the unusual exertion had told upon them. Occasionally +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_11' name='page_11'></a>11</span> +a tongue lolled from the mouth of some wearied beast, +but it was not permitted even that respite for long; the +grasshoppers respected no part of the bovine anatomy, +and with an angry snort and an annoyed toss of the +head the tongue would be withdrawn.</p> +<p>The perspiring cattle seemed so fatigued that the despairing +children thought at last that they might be turned +toward home, but though whips and voices were used to +the utmost the nettled beasts could not be made to face +the stinging devils which settled thicker and ever thicker +about them. They came down to a walk, but they walked +doggedly toward the north. At last the sun’s rays began +to peep through. The air soon cleared, and the scorched +and burning children began to wish for even a cloud of +grasshoppers to protect them from the heat. Wherever +the light fell it disclosed moving masses of locusts which +covered the entire face of the landscape. The teeming +cloud of insects was a pest equal to that of the lice of +Egypt. They overflowed the Kansas prairies like the +lava from Mount Vesuvius, burying vegetation and causing +every living thing to flee from their path.</p> +<p>At last the storm spent itself. The sun came out clear, +and as hot as molten brass. The cattle could hold out +no longer. The swarms which flew up in front of their +moving feet were as unbearable as any that had come from +above. The exhausted beasts gave up and permitted +themselves to be headed toward home.</p> +<p>“I began to think they wouldn’t stop till they had +reached the State line,” the girl said with a relieved sigh, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_12' name='page_12'></a>12</span> +when they were safely started down the first road they +came upon after turning south again.</p> +<p>Luther made no reply. He had stopped the pony and +was watching the inroads of numberless scissor-like +mouths on a stub of corn near the roadside. The tassel +was gone, the edges of the leaves were eaten away, and +lines of hungry insects hung to the centre rib of each +blade, gnawing and cutting at every inch of the stem.</p> +<p>“Th’ won’t be a cornstalk left standin’ by night,” Luther +observed as the girl rode up to see what it was that attracted +his attention. “Crackie! but I’m glad pap’s sold +out. It’d be no shoes for me this winter if we didn’t get +away,” he added, spitefully brushing a grasshopper from +the end of his nose and rubbing the injured member.</p> +<p>The girl’s face fell at the mention of hard times. Times +were always hard in the Farnshaw home, but she could +never get accustomed to them, and each new phase of the +trouble was a blow. The sensitive child already carried +a load of financial worry which was tugging at every +pleasure her young life craved.</p> +<p>“Won’t we have any corn at all?” she cried in dismay.</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” Luther answered dubiously. “It’ll +be starvin’ times about here. You better get your folks +t’ sell out and go East too,” he said, without looking up.</p> +<p>The child’s fear of financial disaster was eased by the +prospect of “goin’ East.” The “East” was the fairyland +of her dreams, the childhood’s home of her father, who was +a good story-teller when he was not irritated, the Mecca +and Medina of all the pilgrimages of all their little world. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_13' name='page_13'></a>13</span> +To go East was to be a travelled person, to attain distinction, +just the next best thing in fact to being made President +of the United States. To go East was to live near +the timber, where one could wander for hours, days, ages, +in the cool freshness of its shady paths. The sunburned +child, with her jug hanging by a strap from the saddle +horn, had a swift, rapturous vision of alluring, mossy +banks, canopied by rustling leaves, before she was called +back to the stern hills of her native Kansas and the sterner +necessity of forcing a hundred head of maddened cattle +to keep within the confines of an illy defined road.</p> +<p>By the time they had ridden ahead and crowded the +cattle down to the right of way again, the child’s natural +good sense and business instincts had combined to temporarily +shatter the dream.</p> +<p>“Nobody ’d buy us out if there ain’t nothing to feed +the cattle,” she said, watching the boy’s face eagerly in +the hope that he would reassure her.</p> +<p>When he did not speak, she added, with discouraged +conviction, “Pa wouldn’t sell out anyhow; ma’s been +trying to get him to for a year.”</p> +<p>“He’ll have to. You won’t be able t’ stay if there’s +nothin’ t’ feed,” the lad said with emphasis, and then +added with a giggle, “I bet th’ Cranes is mad for bein’ in +such a hurry t’ get in. They paid pap th’ money last +night, an’ made ’im promise t’ give possession ’fore t’morrow +night. Three hundred dollars! Th’ old woman +took it out of ’er stockin’.”</p> +<p>“Three hundred dollars!” Lizzie Farnshaw repeated, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_14' name='page_14'></a>14</span> +whirling her horse about suddenly at the mention of a +sum of money which ran into hundreds. She looked at +the boy enviously. She was but fourteen, and did not +realize that more than three hundred acres of fertile land +had been exchanged for the sum. Her spirits rose as they +turned to follow the cattle again. Perhaps, as Luther +had said, they would have to sell out also. The dream of +going East absorbed her once more. As she dreamed, +however, a shrewd eye was kept on the cattle. As nearly +as possible she lived up to the trust reposed in her. Quick +to serve, sensitive, honest, dependable as she was, these +cattle constituted the point of contact between the developing +girl and her developing philosophy of life. Duty +pointed sternly to the undesired task, and duty was writ +large on the pages of Lizzie Farnshaw’s monotonous life. +Her hands and face had browned thickly at its bidding, +but though, as she had remarked a couple of hours before, +she should crack like the sunbaked earth beneath her feet, +she would not fail in her obligation to keep the cattle out +of other men’s fields, and her father out of the primitive +courts where damages could be assessed. Poverty she +had always known, but now they were threatened with a +new and more dreadful form of it than any hitherto encountered, +a fact of which courts took no cognizance. +Hope and fear alternated in her heart as she rode along, +but for the most part the young life in her clung to the +idea of the Eastern trip. Hope springs eternal in the +child heart. Perhaps after all they would have to leave +Kansas, as Luther had said. If only——. In spite of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_15' name='page_15'></a>15</span> +the arguments of good sense she clung to the idea. She +was glad Luther was there. In her simple way she had +told her plans, her hopes, and her fears to Luther’s willing +ears ever since she had known him: she did so now. A +Maggie Tulliver in her own family, Luther was the one +compensating feature of her life. Luther not only understood +but was interested. His tallow-candle face and +faded hair were those of the—in that country—much +despised Swede, but the child saw the gentle spirit shining +out of his kindly blue eyes. Luther was her oracle, and +she quoted his words so often at home that it was a family +joke.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen was the only preacher to whom Lizzie +Farnshaw ever listened. Her Sundays had been spent on +the prairies from choice. Mrs. Farnshaw mourned over +what she considered her daughter’s unregenerate condition, +but Mr. Farnshaw was quite willing that the child +should herd the cattle if she preferred it to spending an +hour at “meetin’.” Luther, who also until this year had +herded his father’s cattle and who usually spent the long +days with the girl, had quaint ways of looking at religious +questions which was a never-ending source of delight and +interest to her. Their problems at home as well as at +school were subjects of common discussion. He had been +the beginning and the end of her social life. Now she +took him into her dream of going away, and discussed her +ideas of the best way of disposing of the stock by sale or +gift, the sort of home she would have with her grandparents, +and pictured, with a vivid imagination, the woods +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_16' name='page_16'></a>16</span> +and streams she had heard her father describe. If she +only could go! They stopped at every field to watch the +voracious insects, which were eating every green thing +upon which they happened to alight. A turnip patch on +the corner of the Farnshaw place which had been straggling, +but green, when the cattle had passed through it +that afternoon, had not a leaf to show as they returned. +The ground was dotted all over the patch with small holes +where the hungry swarms, not satisfied with the tops, had +followed the stems down into the earth, eating out the +bulbs to the very taproots.</p> +<p>They drove the cattle across to the usual feeding place, +but the grasshoppers flew up in continuous clouds before +every moving object, and it was impossible for them to +eat.</p> +<p>“Why don’t you take them in and shut them up?” +Luther asked when he saw that the herd was so restless +that the child could not manage them alone.</p> +<p>“Pa wouldn’t let me,” she sighed, and continued +to ride around her charges.</p> +<p>Luther had intended going home long before this, but +he knew that Lizzie could not control the restless cattle, +and so he stayed with her, rather glad of the excuse +to do so. Josiah Farnshaw’s temper was a matter +of neighbourhood knowledge. A word of explanation +to his father, Luther knew, would be all that he +would need to make the fact of his absence +commendable. He was glad of any excuse which would +leave him with Lizzie Farnshaw for an extra hour, but he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_17' name='page_17'></a>17</span> +was to find that hour disappointing, for the cattle were +restless and kept them both in constant motion.</p> +<p>When at last the time came to corral the stock a new +calamity was discovered. The cattle wandered into the +edge of a field of flax as they neared the barn. Luther, +following them, dropped from the back of his pony and +stopped to examine the grain. The girl was excitedly getting +the straying animals crowded on toward the pens and +it was not till she had the gate shut fast on them that she +could take time to join him.</p> +<p>“What is it?” she asked as she rode up.</p> +<p>The lanky boy, who was really a man, measured the +field slowly with his eye, calculating the damage before he +answered slowly:</p> +<p>“Kicked it out o’ th’ pods flyin’ through. Must ’a’ +been twenty acres. What made you let it get s’ ripe for? +It ought t’ been cut three days ago, anyhow.”</p> +<p>The girl was out of her saddle in an instant. She walked +into the body of the field somewhat, her face quivering +pitifully as she examined the grain for herself. It was +only too true! The beautiful brown seeds carpeted the +earth around the roots of the flax, but no amount of harvesting +would ever gather so much as a handful. The +crop was a total loss.</p> +<p>“Poor ma!” she cried, when convinced beyond a doubt +of the empty bolls. With the eyes of the prematurely old, +she saw the extent of the ruin, and she knew what would +be its effect upon the mother who seldom knew joy.</p> +<p>The loss of the turnips had seemed bad enough, but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_18' name='page_18'></a>18</span> +while watching the green things about her disappear it +had not occurred to the child that the grasshoppers would +eat the dry and, as Luther had said, overripe stems of the +flax. Still less had it occurred to her that the insignificant +wings and feet of such small things could do damage to an +entire field by merely flying through it.</p> +<p>That flax was of paramount importance in the family +calculations just now. In her considerations of the prospective +move to the East, the price of this flax had figured +largely. Family discussions had centred about that field +for weeks. It was the one definite starting point in the +bickerings about their weak and indefinite plans for the +future. The loss of every other family asset could not +have undone the child’s faith in the ultimate good of +things so overwhelmingly. She choked back a sob as she +mounted her horse again.</p> +<p>“Poor ma!” she repeated. “Pa told her she could +have the money from the flax to go and see grandma on. +You know grandma’s old, and they think she can’t live +through the winter. That’s one reason why I was so glad +when I thought we were going to have to go East to live. +She don’t hardly know her own children any more, I +hope ma don’t know about the flax; She’ll be sure to have +one of her spells, and she’s just got over one. Ain’t it +awful?”</p> +<p>Luther feared she was going to cry, and, man fashion, +prepared to flee.</p> +<p>“I’ve got t’ go, Lizzie,” he said, and awkwardly held +out his hand. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_19' name='page_19'></a>19</span></p> +<p>All thought of the flax disappeared from the girl’s mind.</p> +<p>“Oh, Luther!” she exclaimed in new distress, “won’t I +ever see you again?”</p> +<p>The thought was so overwhelming that her tears came +now from quite a different cause, and the frank eyes +threatened to overflow as she stood clasping his bony hand +in hers insistently. “What will I do without you?” she +sobbed.</p> +<p>The unexpected question and the unexpected tears had +an uncomfortable effect on the boy. He grew suddenly +embarrassed and drew his hand away.</p> +<p>Some indefinable thing about the action made her +conscious that there was a change in his feelings. It +checked her rising emotions and made her curious. What +was he embarrassed about? The girl stole a look at him, +which left him still more disturbed and uneasy. It was +an intangible thing upon which she could not remark and +yet could not fail to recognize. Luther had never been +awkward in her presence before. Their association had +been of the most offhand and informal character. As a +boy of fifteen he had carried her, a girl of eleven, over +many a snowbank their first winter of school in the Prairie +Home school district. They had herded cattle together, +waded the shallow ponds and hunted for mussel shells, +and until this year they had seen each other daily. This +year Luther had taken a man’s place in the fields and the +girl had seen him at rare intervals. She was not conscious +of the change which this year of dawning adolescence had +brought to them both. Luther had developed a growing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_20' name='page_20'></a>20</span> +need of a razor on his thin, yellow face, while she, four +years younger, had also matured. The outgrown calico +dress she wore was now halfway to her knees, its sleeves +exposed some inches of sunburned wrists, and the scanty +waist disclosed a rapidly rounding form. Young womanhood +was upon her, unknown to her, and but now discovered +by Luther Hansen. For the first time Luther +felt the hesitancy of a youth in the presence of a maid.</p> +<p>“I shall miss you <i>so!</i>” the girl said, looking at him, +puzzled by the indefinable something in his manner which +was a new element in their communications.</p> +<p>Her frank curiosity put the boy utterly to rout. The +blood surged to his pale face and pounded in the veins +under his ears, half choking him; it cut short the leave-taking +and left the child bewildered and half hurt.</p> +<p>She watched the calico pony lope away in a cloud of +scurrying grasshoppers and wondered in a child-like way +what could have happened. This abrupt and confused +departure increased the loneliness she felt. He was her +one real friend, and her tears came again as she turned +toward the house.</p> +<p>There was little time given the child to indulge her +feelings, or to speculate upon a friend’s confusion or adieus, +for a sharp voice summoned her to the house and fresh +duties.</p> +<p>“When I call you I want you to step spry,” was the +greeting the child received from the stooped figure putting +the potatoes over the fire to fry, as she entered the door.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw had her head tied up in a white cloth; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_21' name='page_21'></a>21</span> +“the spell” had arrived. It was no time to tell of the loss +of the flax, and Luther’s going was not mentioned, because +Mrs. Farnshaw shared the public contempt for his nationality +and had failed to get her daughter’s confidence in +that quarter.</p> +<p>“Here, set this table for me; I’m clear done out. Did +you ever hear of such a crazy thing as all them hoppers +comin’ down like bees? Your pa’s gone over to Hansen’s +t’ see what he thinks. Looks ’s if we’d be harder up ’n +ever, an’ I thought I’d done ’bout all th’ savin’ a woman +could do a’ready. I’m goin’ t’ get right off t’ mother’s +soon’s ever we can sell that flax. If I don’t, we’ll be havin’ +t’ use th’ money for feed.”</p> +<p>Her daughter made no reply. It was no time, when her +mother was having one of her periodical sick-headaches, +to let it be known that there was no flax to sell. That flax +had been one long series of troublesome worries, to which +the total loss was a fittingly tragic end. The restless +grasshoppers outside were forgotten.</p> +<p>Some weeks before, Mr. Farnshaw had given a grudging +consent to the use of the proceeds from the flax crop for a +trip’ to his wife’s old home while her mother yet lived. +Josiah Farnshaw’s temper was an uncertain quantity. +Had Mrs. Farnshaw been wise she would have dropped all +reference to the flax when the promise was obtained. But +Mrs. Farnshaw had to talk; it was her fate. She had +hovered about the field, she had centred her faculties on +the considerations of harvesting, and prices. She laboriously +and obviously collected eggs, skimped the family +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_22' name='page_22'></a>22</span> +on its supply of butter, and had counted her chickens to +see how many she could sacrifice for the purchase of “a +decent bit of black.”</p> +<p>As she sewed upon the premature emblems of her coming +woe, she had discussed the desirability of threshing out of +the shock instead of waiting for the stack to go through +the sweating process; she talked, talked, talked, with an +endless clacking, till her husband fled from her presence or +cut her short with an oath. He wished he had never +planted flax, he wished he had never heard of it, he wished—he +hardly knew what he did wish, but he was sick of +flax.</p> +<p>Crops of all sorts were shortened by continued drought; +corn would be an utter failure. He had given notes for a +new harvester and other machinery while the prospects +for crops were good, and the knowledge that implement +dealers would collect those notes whether the yield of +grain was equal to their demands or not tightened the set +lines about his naturally stern mouth and irritated a +temper never good at the best. Daily he became more +obstinate and unapproachable.</p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw was not only obstinate, he was surly. +Nothing could induce him to show any interest in the +flax field after he found that his wife was looking out for +its advantages. If she suggested that they go to examine +it, he was instantly busy. If she asked when he intended +to begin the cutting, he was elaborately indifferent and +replied, “When its ripe; there’s plenty of time.” When +at last the field showed a decided tendency to brown, he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_23' name='page_23'></a>23</span> +helped a neighbour instead of beginning on Friday, as his +wife urged. Saturday he found something wrong with +the binder. By Saturday night he began to see that the +grain was ripening fast. He was warned and was ready +to actually start the machine early the next day. His +grizzled face concealed the grin it harboured at the idea +of running the harvester on Sunday; he knew Mrs. Farnshaw’s +scruples. The flax had ripened, almost overnight, +because of the extreme heat. Torn with anxiety and the +certain knowledge that haste was necessary, Mrs. Farnshaw +quoted scripture and hesitated. Her husband, who +had delayed in all possible ways up to this time, and had +refused to listen to her advice, became suddenly anxious +to do “that cuttin’.” Now that his wife hesitated from +principle, he was intensely anxious to move contrary to +her scruples.</p> +<p>The knowledge that her husband was enjoying her +indecision, and that he was grimly thinking that her religious +scruples would not stand the test, made her even +less able to decide a question than usual.</p> +<p>The game was getting exciting and he let her argue, +urging with pretended indifference that, “That flax’s +dead ripe now an’ if it shatters out on th’ ground you kin +blame yourself,” adding with grim humour, “There’s +nothin’ like th’ sound of money t’ bring folks t’ their +senses. It’s good as a pinch of pepper under th’ nose of a +bulldog.”</p> +<p>There was everything to point that way, but a woman +and a mother must vindicate her claims to religion, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_24' name='page_24'></a>24</span> +Mrs. Farnshaw refused to give her consent to the Sunday +harvesting.</p> +<p>Torn between her desire to save every grain of the precious +crop and the fear of a hell that burned with fire and +brimstone, her husband’s scorn did what neither had been +able to do. Mrs. Farnshaw forbade the machine being +taken to the field, and then cried herself into a headache.</p> +<p>“Do as you please; it’s your lookout, but I tell you It’ll +be a sick lookin’ field by to-morrow mornin’,” was Mr. +Farnshaw’s final shot.</p> +<p>When her decision was finally reached, Mr. Farnshaw +became alarmed. He knew he had let the flax go too long +uncut. He had half believed in the reasons he had given +for delay up to this point, but suddenly realizing that the +overripe grain would suffer great loss if left another day +in the hot sun, he reasoned with real earnestness that it +must be cut if it were to be saved. His wife, thoroughly +convinced that he was still tormenting her and that he +would never let her hear the last of the matter if she gave +up, closed her lips down firmly and declined to allow it to +be done.</p> +<p>All this the child had heard argued out that morning. +It was a cruel position in which to place one of her years. +Part of it she had comprehended, part had escaped +her, but she was sensitive to the atmosphere of suffering. +The details of past elements in the tragedy she could not +be expected to understand. The stunted, barren life of +her mother was but half guessed. What child could +know of the heartsick longing for affection and a but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_25' name='page_25'></a>25</span> +little understood freedom, the daily coercion, the refusal +of her husband to speak kindly or to meet her eye with a +smile?</p> +<p>The sorely puzzled and bewildered woman thought affection +was withheld from her because of something done +or undone, and strove blindly to achieve it by acts, not +knowing that acts have little, if anything, to do with +affection. She strove daily to win love, not knowing that +love is a thing outside the power to win or bestow. Had +she had understanding she would have spared the child +with whom she worked; instead, she talked on with her +dreary whine, morbidly seeking a sympathy of which she did +not know how to avail herself when it was so plainly hers.</p> +<p>With a lump in her throat of which the mother did not +even suspect, Lizzie Farnshaw set the table, cut the bread, +brought the water, “put up the chairs,” and, when her +father came from the stable, slipped out to where he was +washing for supper and whispered about the flax, asking +him not to mention it while her mother was suffering with +the headache.</p> +<p>The news was not news to Josiah Farnshaw, who had +examined the field anxiously as he had returned from +Hansen’s. Sobered by the loss, he was less disagreeable +than usual and only pushed his daughter out of his way +as he reached around her for the sun-cracked bar of yellow +laundry soap with which to wash his hands. Thankful +to have the unpleasant but important matter, as she +thought, safely attended to, the child returned to help lift +the meal to the bare kitchen table. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_26' name='page_26'></a>26</span></p> +<p>The illy lighted room, with its one small window, was +dim and dismal in the dusk of evening. In spite of the +added heat it would produce, the child decided that a +light was necessary.</p> +<p>After the kerosene lamp was lighted, she turned to see +if her mother needed her help again. The crooked blaze +ran up unexpectedly and blacked the cracked chimney on +one side with a soot so thick that one half of the room was +soon in semi-darkness. Mrs. Farnshaw took it fretfully +in hand.</p> +<p>“Why can’t you trim it when you see it runnin’ up that +way?” she demanded querulously, poking at the lopsided +and deeply charred wick with a sliver obtained from the +side of the wood-box.</p> +<p>Her ministrations were not very successful, however, +for when the chimney was replaced it ran up on the other +side, and in the end her daughter had to prosecute a search +for the scissors and cut the wick properly. As they worked +over the ill-smelling light, Albert, the youngest of the three +children of the household, burst into the kitchen crying +excitedly:</p> +<p>“Ma, did you know that th’ flax was all whipped out of +th’ pods on to the ground?”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw, who had received the lamp from her +daughter’s hand, let it fall on the edge of an upturned plate +in her excitement, and then, seeing what she had done, +fumbled blindly in a terrified effort to right it before +it should go over. The cracked chimney fell from its +moorings, and, striking a teacup, spattered broken glass +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_27' name='page_27'></a>27</span> +over the table like hailstones. The entire family scrambled +to save the lamp itself from a similar fate and were +plunged into darkness by the girl blowing out its flame to +save an explosion.</p> +<p>The excitement of the moment served, temporarily, to +lessen the blow of Albert’s announcement, but by the +time “a dip” had been constructed the full weight of the +disaster had fallen upon the defeated and despairing +woman, and to protect her from the taunts of the head of +the house, Lizzie induced her to go to bed, where she +sobbed throughout the night.</p> +<p>The next day was hot and windy. The grasshoppers, +unable to fly in a strong wind, clung to the weeds, to the +dry grass, the stripped branches of the half-grown trees, +to the cattle and hogs upon which they happened to +alight, and even to people themselves, unless brushed off.</p> +<p>Lizzie took the cattle out to the usual grazing ground, +but there was no Luther to help, and the grasshoppers +made the lives of the restless animals so unendurable that +in real alarm, lest they run away again, she took them +home, preferring her father’s wrath to the experience of +getting them back if they should get beyond her control. +Fortune favoured her. Unable to endure the demonstrations +of grief at home, her father had taken himself +to a distant neighbour’s to discuss the “plague of locusts.”</p> +<p>The wind blew a gale throughout the day, sweeping +remorselessly over the unobstructed hillsides. Unable +to fly, the helpless insects hugged the earth while the gale +tore over the Kansas prairies with a fearful velocity. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_28' name='page_28'></a>28</span> +With feminine instinct, every female grasshopper burrowed +into the dry earth, making a hole which would receive +almost her entire body back of her wings and legs. +The spring sod, half rotted and loosened from the grass +roots, furnished the best lodgment. In each hole, as deep +down as her body could reach, her pouch of eggs was +deposited.</p> +<p>No attempt was made to cover the hole, and by night +the sod presented a honeycombed appearance never before +seen by the oldest settlers. Having performed +nature’s functions, and provided for the propagation of +their kind, the lately fecund grasshoppers were hungry +when the act was over. Not a spear of anything green +was left. The travel-worn horde had devoured everything +in sight the day before. Evening closed in upon a +restless and excited swarm of starving insects, but they +were unable to fly at night or while the wind was blowing.</p> +<p>It was necessary to find food; hunger’s pangs may not +be suffered long by creatures whose active life is numbered +in weeks. The high wind had cooled the air and made +the locusts stupid and sleepy, but when the next morning +the wind had fallen, and the sun had warmed their bodies, +as fast as they were able all were on the wing, headed for +the north. The air was calm, and by ten o’clock they +were away in swarms, leaving ruin and desolation to show +that they had sojourned in the land.</p> +<p>The situation was truly desperate. Cattle, horses, and +hogs were without food of any sort. Many families were +new to the country and had depended upon sod-corn for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_29' name='page_29'></a>29</span> +the winter’s supply of provender for both man and beast. +Mr. Farnshaw, being one of the older residents, had +grown a crop of wheat, so that his bread was assured; +but the herd of cattle which had been his delight was now +a terrorizing burden. Cattle and horses could not live +on wheat, and there was no hay because of the dry weather. +What was to be done?</p> +<p>That night the neighbours held a consultation at the +Farnshaw house, where grizzled and despairing men discussed +the advisability of “goin’ East,” and ways and +means of getting there. The verdict was strongly in favour +of going.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw brightened. Perhaps, after all, she +would get away from these wind-blown prairies, where no +shade offered its protecting presence against a sun which +took life and spirits out of the pluckiest of them. Even +more childish than the daughter at her side, Mrs. Farnshaw +clapped her hands with joy as she leaned forward +expectantly to address her new neighbour.</p> +<p>“If I can only get t’ my mother’s, I won’t care for +nothin’ after that. My heart goes out t’ Mrs. Crane. +Think of all that good money goin’ t’ them Swedes! You +just better pocket your loss an’ get away while you can.”</p> +<p>“You’re goin’ too, then, Farnshaw?” the new neighbour +asked.</p> +<p>All eyes turned upon Mr. Farnshaw, who had not as +yet expressed himself on either side. These neighbours +had asked to assemble in his house because his kitchen afforded +more room than any other house in the vicinity, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_30' name='page_30'></a>30</span> +the kitchen being a large room with no beds in it to take +up floor space.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw realized as soon as the question was +asked that her joy had been premature.</p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw sat with his chair tilted back on two +legs against the wall, snapping the blade of his pocket +knife back and forth as he considered what he was going +to say in reply. He felt all eyes turned in his direction +and quite enjoyed the suspense. Mr. Farnshaw was an +artist in calculating the suspense of others. He gave +them plenty of time to get their perspective before he +replied. At last he shut the blade of the knife down +ostentatiously, replaced it in his trousers’ pocket, and +announced slowly:</p> +<p>“Well, sir, as for me and mine, I think we’ll stay right +here.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw gave a despairing, “Oh!” and covered +her face with her hands to strangle back her tears. Her +one hope had been that poverty would accomplish what +the flax had failed to do.</p> +<p>“Why—I thought you said there’d be nothin’ t’ feed +an’ you’d have t’,” said a man whose shaggy whiskers +had not seen a comb that year. “What’ll you do? +You can’t see things starve!”</p> +<p>“I thought you was strong for goin’. What’ll you do +with all your stock?” another said, and all bent forward +and waited for his answer as if he could find a way out of +the tangle for them.</p> +<p>“That’s just it.” Again he paused, enjoying the suspense +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_31' name='page_31'></a>31</span> +that his silence created. Mr. Farnshaw was not +popular, but he had more stock than all his simple neighbours +put together and was conscious that money, or its +equivalent, had weight. “That’s just it,” he repeated +to add emphasis to his opinion. “What is a man to do? +You folks that have nothin’ but your teams an’ wagons +can load th’ family in an’ get away. How’d I feel ’bout +th’ time that I got t’ th’ Missouri River if I knowed all +them hogs an’ cattle was layin’ around here too weak t’ +get up cause they hadn’t been fed?”</p> +<p>He dropped his argument into the midst of them and +then sat back and enjoyed its effect. He had intended +to go till ten minutes previous. The argument sounded +good to him now, however. It put him on a higher basis +with himself, in spite of the fact that it had only popped +into his head while he was clicking his knife blade. He conceived +a new liking for himself. “No, sir,” he continued; +“I’ll stay by it.”</p> +<p>“I don’t see as your stayin’ helps anything if you ain’t +got nothin’ t’ feed,” was the reiterated objection.</p> +<p>“Well,” Mr. Farnshaw replied, careful not to look in +his wife’s direction, “I was for goin’ at first, but I’ve +listened t’ you folks an’ I’ve come t’ th’ conclusion that +you ain’t goin’ t’ better yourselves any. If you go East, +You’ll have t’ come back here in th’ spring, or live on day’s +work there—an’—an’ I’ll take my chances right here. +It’s a long lane that has no turn. Grasshoppers can’t stay +always.”</p> +<p>“What’ll you do if all them eggs hatch out an’ eat th’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_32' name='page_32'></a>32</span> +crops in th’ spring?” the new neighbour asked, determined +to look on all sides of the question before he decided to give +up his recently purchased farm, and glad of this opportunity +to get the opinions of his fellow sufferers on that +particular phase of his unexpected calamity. “What’ll +you do with all that bunch of cattle, anyhow?” he added.</p> +<p>“I’ll share what I’ve got with th’ stuff, an’ if part of it +dies I’ll drag it out on th’ hill t’ rot; th’ rest I’ll stay by,” +was the stubborn reply. “As for them eggs a-hatchin’, +they’ll be good ones if they can stand a Kansas winter; +they’ll do a blamed sight better’n any eggs Mrs. Farnshaw +gethers in. They’d better go south.”</p> +<p>This raised a laugh. The grim humour of anything, +that could get away, spending a winter in Kansas, appealed +to these grizzly pioneers, who struggled with the +question of fuel in a country where there was little natural +timber, and coal must be paid for before it was burned. +But all their arguments would not turn him from his +course.</p> +<p>“Your wife’s turrible set on goin’, Farnshaw,” one of +the men said to him as they went to the stable for their +horses when the meeting broke up.</p> +<p>“Women’s always wantin’ things,” was the indifferent +reply. “Say, you’ve got a stack of wheat straw. What’ll +you take for it?”</p> +<p>In the house the sympathetic daughter helped her +mother prepare for bed.</p> +<p>“I thought sure to-night we’d get to go,” the child said. +“If you could get back East you might get to stay; and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_33' name='page_33'></a>33</span> +then you wouldn’t have to cry so much,” she added as she +picked up the abandoned clothing her mother had left +lying on the floor.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw, who was turning the same matter over +disconsolately as she sat on the side of the bed, shook her +head with the bitter certainty that her fate would pursue +her, and replied hopelessly:</p> +<p>“It wouldn’t make no difference, I guess, Lizzie. He’d +be there, an’ it’d be just the same.”</p> +<p>And the girl, who was naturally reflective, carried with +her to the loft overhead that night a new idea: that it +was not the place, but the manner in which lives were +lived, which mattered.</p> +<p>The preparations for the coming of that winter were +the strangest ever witnessed in a farming community. +Never had any man known fuel to be so scarce. Cornstalks, +which were usually staple articles for fuel in that +country, had been eaten almost to the very ground, but +the stubs were gathered, the dirt shaken from them, and +they were then carted to the house. Rosin weeds were collected +and piled in heaps. The dried dung of cattle, +scattered over the grazing lands, and called “buffalo +chips,” was stored in long ricks, also, and used sparingly, +for even this simple fuel was so scarce as to necessitate +care in its use.</p> +<p>To keep out the driving winds, the houses were banked +with sods and earth halfway to the roofs. With so little +material for keeping warm, and that of the lightest variety, +it was necessary to make the living quarters impervious to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_34' name='page_34'></a>34</span> +the never-ceasing winds which tore at the thin walls of +the unprotected houses that sheltered such folk as were +hardy enough to remain.</p> +<p>It was impossible to build sheds for all the stock, so +the hogs were allowed to swarm under the feet of the horses +tied in the straw stable, and many and sad were the accidents +to the smaller animals. It was soon clear that not +many of them could be carried through till the spring. +Seeing that they lost weight rapidly, as many as were full +grown were killed and their flabby carcasses salted away +to be eaten.</p> +<p>Fortunately, the grasshoppers had not arrived in Kansas +till after the small grain had been nearly all cut, so that +there was considerable oat and wheat straw in the country. +Mr. Farnshaw bargained for every straw stack he +could find, but straw was a poor substitute for the corn +and hay to which the cattle were accustomed, and as the +weeks lengthened into months, and winter closed in, the +unprotected cattle grew thinner and ever thinner. Corn +was quoted in the markets at a dollar a bushel, but in fact +was not to be had at any price. Iowa had had a drought, +and Illinois was the nearest base of supplies, and as it was +generally known that there was no money west of the +Missouri River, no grain was sent to Kansas.</p> +<p>Finding that the horses did not thrive on the straw +alone, and knowing that wheat would very quickly kill +them, Mr. Farnshaw put away a sufficient amount of +oats for seed and then carefully portioned out the rest to +be fed to four of his best broodmares, hoping to be able to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_35' name='page_35'></a>35</span> +put in the spring crops with them as well as to save the +coming colts of two. The rest, he decided, must take +their chances on getting through the winter alive.</p> +<p>The family food consisted largely of bread and the +slabs of thin meat, with a sort of coffee made from browned +rye. As a “company dish” there was a scanty supply of +sweet corn, dried before the drought had cut the crop +short. There were no eggs, because the chickens had +sickened from eating grasshoppers in the fall and nearly +all had died. The few hens which remained clung to +the limbs of the half-grown cottonwood trees throughout +the long winter nights, and found barely food enough during +the day to keep life in their fuzzy bodies, which could +not even furnish the oil necessary to lay their feathers +smooth, much less foster the growth of eggs.</p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw secretly questioned the propriety of +having remained in that desolate territory when, as spring +approached, the shrunken cows died one after another in +giving birth to the calves which had matured in their +slowly perishing bodies, but he made no sign or admission +of the fact.</p> +<p>It was a season of gloom such as our frontier states had +never known, and to add to the general depression there +was a growing conviction that the hatching of the grasshoppers’ +eggs when warm weather came would complete +the famine.</p> +<p>To support his action in refusing to go East, Josiah +Farnshaw asserted stubbornly that the frost of their hard +winter would certainly kill the larvae of the locusts. So +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_36' name='page_36'></a>36</span> +persistent was his attitude that at short intervals throughout +the entire winter rumours that “th’ hopper eggs is +dead ’s doornails” stirred the community and set its +members to making tests in a vain endeavour to establish +their truth. Pieces of earth, honeycombed with the +tiny nests, would be placed near the fire and kept at as +regular a degree of warmth as possible, the condition of the +eggs would be noted carefully, and in a short time the +hopes of the anxious pioneers would be dashed to the +ground by wriggling little insects climbing cheerfully out +of their winter quarters and hopping about in a vain search +for something green to live upon. Often, in sheer desperation, +the harassed settler would sweep the hatching +brood into the fire, remarking as he did so, “Burnin’s too +good for such pests,” and always fear gripped the heart. +If the crops in spring were eaten, other homes must be +sought, and all knew that the weakened horses were unfit +for travel. In fact, no team in that entire country was fit +to travel far or fast, except the two which Mr. Farnshaw +groomed and fed so carefully for the sake of the spring +work and the much desired colts.</p> +<p>The depression and worries of the Farnshaw home increased +the spirit of contention and distrust of its guardians. +The husband daily grew surlier and more +unpleasant and the wife more lachrymose and subject to +“spells.” The children learned to avoid the presence of +either parent as much as possible, and to look outside the +home for the joy childhood demands. The chores were +heavy and difficult, but could at least be performed in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_37' name='page_37'></a>37</span> +open light of God’s great out-of-doors, where the imagination +could people the world with pleasant features and +pleasant prospects.</p> +<p>The cattle were driven daily to the ponds, half a mile +away, for water, and if the ice was thick and the axe-handle +benumbing to the mittened hands as they chopped +the holes for the tottering animals to drink from, there was +the prospect of a slide on the uncut portions of the ice +later; and as the plucky youngsters followed the cattle +home they dreamed of skates to be obtained in the dim +future, and tried to run fast enough to keep warm. The +blessing of childhood is that it cannot be cheated of its +visions, and the blood of adolescence was coursing riotously +through the veins of the daughter of the Farnshaw +house. If her hands were cold when she returned to the +barnyard, after watering the cattle, she beat them about +her shoulders or held them against the shrunken flank of +some dumb animal, or blew her breath through the fingers +of her knitted mittens; but her thoughts were of other +things.</p> +<p>It is an old saying that “God helps them who help +themselves,” and in the case of Lizzie Farnshaw the axiom +became a living truth. While the rest of her family suffered +and magnified their sufferings, she, by a vivid +imagination, placed herself in the path of fortune and +obtained the thing she demanded. The simple country +schoolhouse that year, dreary and cheerless enough to +the pert Miss who had come out from Topeka to teach +there, and incidentally to collect twenty-five dollars a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_38' name='page_38'></a>38</span> +month from the school board, was to be the scene of the +initial change in Lizzie Farnshaw’s life.</p> +<p>Verily, God helps them who help themselves, and Lizzie +Farnshaw proved the old saw by laying hold of and absorbing +every new idea and mannerism of which the new +teacher was arrogantly possessed—absorbed them, but +transmuted them, winnowing out the coarse, the sarcastic, +the unkind, and making of what was left a substance of +finer fibre.</p> +<p>The number of children in the Prairie Home school that +year was limited to five, the rest having departed for the +indefinable land known as the “East.” Three of these +children came from the Farnshaw home and the other two +from the new neighbours, the Cranes, on the Hansen place.</p> +<p>Sadie Crane hated the new teacher with all the might +that her pinched little twelve-year-old body could bring to +bear. She saw only the snippish, opinionated, young +peacock, and the self-assurance which came from the +empty-headed ability to tie a ribbon well. She was so +occupied with resenting the young teacher’s feeling of vast +superiority that she failed to understand, as did the Farnshaw +child, that along with all that vainglorious assumption +went a real knowledge of some things with which it +was valuable to become acquainted.</p> +<p>To the spiteful Crane child the schoolma’am was “stuck-up,” +while to the imaginative daughter of the Farnshaw +house she was a bird of paradise, and though Lizzie was +conscious that the teacher’s voice was harsh, and her air +affected, the child reached out like a drowning man toward +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_39' name='page_39'></a>39</span> +this symbol of the life she coveted. To her the new teacher +was a gift from heaven itself.</p> +<p>This young girl from Topeka brought into activity every +faculty the sensitive, ambitious child possessed.</p> +<p>Lizzie Farnshaw laid hold, with a strong hand, upon +every blessing which came in her way. She knew that +the foppish young thing at the teacher’s desk was “stuck-up,” +but Lizzie was willing that she should be whatever she +chose, so long as it was possible to live near her, to study +her, and to become like the best that was in her.</p> +<p>The teacher’s matter-of-fact assumption that no self-respecting +person failed to obtain a high-school education +was a good thing for the country girl, however overdrawn +it might be. Lizzie Farnshaw listened and built air-castles. +To this one child, out of that entire community, +the idea appealed alluringly. But for her castles in Spain +she must have burst with her unexpressed desires. To +add fuel to the fires of her fancy, Mr. Farnshaw also fell +under the fascinations of the school teacher and boasted +in the bosom of his family that “Lizzie’s just as smart as +that Topeka girl any day,” and when his daughter began +to talk hopefully about teaching school it appealed to the +father’s pride, and he encouraged her dreams. He had +been the leading man in the community since coming to +Kansas because of the number of cattle he had been able +to accumulate. A small legacy had aided in that accumulation, +and it appealed to his pride to have his daughter’s +intellectual ambitions adding to the general family importance. +Pride is an important factor in the lives of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_40' name='page_40'></a>40</span> +all, but to the children of the farm it is an ambrosia, +which once sipped is never forgotten and to obtain +which many strange sacrifices will be made. Mr. Farnshaw +usually regarded a request from his children as a +thing to be denied promptly, and always as a matter for +suspicion. Yet here he was, considering soberly, yea +pleasurably, a move involving money, at a time when +money was more than usually scarce. His assent was +even of such a nature as to deceive both himself and the +child into thinking that it was being done for her benefit!</p> +<p>The young girl received a new impetus toward improvement. +The family began to regard her as a member set +apart, as one from whom special things were to be expected. +From being just comfortably at the head of her +classes, she became more ambitious, reached over into +new territory, and induced the teacher to create new +classes for her benefit. The subjects required for the +examination of teachers were added to those usually carried. +There was a real purpose in her efforts now, and +the smoky kerosene lamp burned stubbornly till late +hours.</p> +<p>The new teacher not only listened to recitations but +appealed to the artistic in the newly developing woman. +She rolled her hair from neck to brow in a “French twist” +and set on the top of it an “Alsatian bow,” which stood +like gigantic butterfly wings across her proud head. The +long basque of her school dress was made after the newest +pattern and had smoke-pearl buttons, in overlapping +groups of three, set on each side of its vest front. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_41' name='page_41'></a>41</span> +skirt of this wonderful dress was “shirred” and hung in +graceful festoons between the rows of gatherings, and was +of an entirely new style. Last, but not least, the teacher’s +feet were shod in “side laces,” the first pair of a new kind +of shoes, destined to become popular, which laced on the +inside of the ankle instead of on the top as we have them +now. Of all her stylish attractions this was the most +absorbing. “Fool shoes,” Sadie Crane called them, and +her little black eyes twinkled with a consuming spite when +she mentioned them, but the ambitious Farnshaw child, +reaching out for improvement and change, coveted them, +and preened her own feathers, and mimicked, and dreamed. +She accepted the shoes just as she accepted the teacher’s +other attributes: they were better than her own.</p> +<p>To be better than her own—that was the measure of +Lizzie Farnshaw’s demand. If the shoes, the clothing, +the manners, the ideas, were better than her own they +were worthy of honest consideration. The teacher’s +tongue was sharp and her criticisms ruthless, but they +had elements of truth in them, and even when they were +directed against the child herself they were a splendid +spur. The young girl copied her manners, her gait, and +her vocabulary. She watched her own conversation to +see that she did not say “have went” and “those kind”; +she became observant of the state of her finger-nails; if +she had to lace her shoes with twine string, she blackened +the string with soot from the under side of the stove lids, +and polished her shoes from the same source.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw, broken with the cold, the privations +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_42' name='page_42'></a>42</span> +of the long winter, and the growing disappointments of +her domestic life, saw nothing but overdressing and foolishness +in her daughter’s new attention to the details of +personal appearance. Burdened with her inability to +furnish the clothes the family needed, she complained +monotonously over every evidence of the young girl’s +desire to beautify herself. When the mother’s complaints +became unendurable, the father usually growled out a +stern, “Let the child alone,” but for the most part the +growing girl lived a life apart from her family, thought +along different lines, and built about the future a wall +they could never climb, and over whose rim they would +rarely, if ever, catch a glimpse of the world within. No +life, however hard, could ever tame that spirit, or grind +its owner into an alien groove after that year of imaginative +castle building.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='II_BRUSHING_UP_TO_GO_TO_TOPEKA' id='II_BRUSHING_UP_TO_GO_TO_TOPEKA'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_43' name='page_43'></a>43</span> +<h2>CHAPTER II</h2> +<h3>BRUSHING UP TO GO TO TOPEKA</h3> +</div> + +<p>With the opening of spring and the coming of the +young grass, the handful of cattle that had not +died of starvation began to look healthier. A +shipment of seed corn for planting, and even a stinted +amount for feed, had been sent from the East in March. +But for that donation even the work horses must have +succumbed. Josiah Farnshaw had the best horses in the +country and was suspected of having had far more help +than he had really received. The two teams he had +favoured all winter against the seeding season were the +envy of all. Some of the old neighbours, after a winter +spent with the wife’s relatives in the East, had decided to +return and take the chances of the grasshopper-ridden +Middle West, and had come with horses able to drag the +plow, but, worn from travel, most of them were practically +useless.</p> +<p>There was a lull after the small grain was in the ground. +The menacing eggs of the grasshoppers began to hatch as +the sun warmed the earth. It was a period of intense +anxiety. So many months had been spent in alternate +intervals of hope and fear that now, since the test was +actually and immediately to be made, the tension was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_44' name='page_44'></a>44</span> +terrific. Men rose as soon as the first light of day appeared +and went to examine the tender grain, without +which they could not remain upon the land which had +cost so dear in the suffering of the winter just past.</p> +<p>A surprise was in store for them. The young insects +matured rapidly. While they appeared in swarms, it was +noticed that they disappeared immediately upon hatching.</p> +<p>Kansas began to get its breath.</p> +<p>Never was promise of crops more encouraging. There +was a distinct note of reassurance and hopefulness in the +air. What became of the grasshoppers nobody knew +exactly, but they went almost as fast as they hatched. +Some shook their heads and said, “Wait till hot weather.”</p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw moved steadily ahead with his planting. +He announced that he had faith in Kansas—had +always had—he’d stand on the burning deck! While +others hesitated, he took advantage of wind and weather +to get his crops in the ground. He had been right all +along. He did not propose “to be run off of the land he +had homesteaded and set with trees by any durned little +bugs he’d ever come across.” It was necessary to be up +and doing if a man was going to provide for a family.</p> +<p>Now this assertion proved to be true, for the agent of +the harvester company visited him and requested payment +of the notes given the year before. The agent was +gracious when the inability to pay was explained. He +would renew the paper if it could be secured by the land. +There was no hurry about payment, but it was necessary +for the details to be finished up in a business-like manner. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_45' name='page_45'></a>45</span> +The thing looked simple enough. It was a just debt and +Mr. Farnshaw intended to pay it. He’d as soon it was +secured by the land as any other way. The details were +soon arranged.</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw agreed to meet the agent in Colebyville, +the nearest town, the next day, and have the papers made +out. After the agent was gone Mr. Farnshaw went to the +house to inform his wife that she was to go to town and +attach her name to the document.</p> +<p>The storm of protest was expected, and when Mrs. +Farnshaw broke out with:</p> +<p>“Now, pa, you ain’t never goin’ t’ mortgage th’ farm, +are you?” he answered surlily:</p> +<p>“Yes, I be, an’ I don’t want no words about it neither,” +and walked determinedly out of the house, leaving his +wife to cry out her fears with her children.</p> +<p>“We won’t have where to lay our heads, soon,” she announced +bitterly. “I’ve seen somethin’ of th’ mortgage +business an’ I ain’t never seen any of ’em free from payin’ +interest afterward.” This was no mere personal quarrel. +Her children distinguished that. This was real, definite +trouble.</p> +<p>Accustomed as the child was to her mother’s woes, Lizzie +Farnshaw was moved to unusual demonstrations by +the quality of the outburst of tears which followed the +words, and said impulsively:</p> +<p>“Never you mind, ma, I’m going to teach school in +another year, and I’ll help pay the interest; and we’ll get +out of debt, too, somehow.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_46' name='page_46'></a>46</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw brightened.</p> +<p>“I hadn’t thought of that!” she said. “I’m glad you’re +willin’ t’ help out. I had thought maybe you’d get me +one of them new nubies after you got some money of your +own.” She went into the other room to lay out the black +dress, which death had sanctified some months before, +for use on the morrow. The opportunity to wear the +emblems of mourning turned her childish mind away from +the object of her journey, and left her as unconscious as +the young girl herself that the mortgage had extended +from the land to the lives of herself and her husband, and +that in that promise it had laid its withering hand on the +future of her child as well.</p> +<p>The promise of assistance had been lightly given; unearned +money is always easily spent; besides, a teacher’s +salary seemed rolling wealth to the girl who had never +had a whole dollar in her life. The question of paying the +next year’s interest was for the time settled. The next +morning the healthy young mind was much more largely +concerned with the appearance of her mother in the new +black dress than with either the mourning it represented +or the mortgage which occasioned its presence. She +sensed dimly that a mortgage was a calamity, but her +vigorous youth refused to concern itself for long with a +disaster so far removed as the next year.</p> +<p>But though calamity might pursue Lizzie Farnshaw on +one hand, true to her innate nature she handled fate in so +masterful a manner that even poverty could not cheat her +youth of all its prerogatives. In order to sufficiently nourish +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_47' name='page_47'></a>47</span> +the teams which must be used in seeding, Josiah Farnshaw +had been obliged to use a part of his seed corn for +feed. In despair at the thought of not being able to plant +all the land under cultivation, he was overjoyed to hear +that a farmer by the name of Hornby, who lived twenty +miles or more to the south, had a new and desirable variety +which he was trying to exchange for cows with young +calves by their sides. A calf was selected from their +diminished herd, its mother tied behind the wagon which +held it, and Lizzie taken along to assist in driving. The +journey, though begun in early morning, was a tedious +one, for the cow fretted, the day was hot, and the footsore +and weary child was worn out long before the Hornby +place was reached. It was after nine o’clock when they +did arrive, the last five miles having been made with the +added burden of a horse which seemed not at all well. Mr. +Farnshaw would not even go into the house to eat supper, +but asked the farmer to see that Lizzie was put to bed at +once, while he remained with the sick horse. The best +team had been chosen for this trip, in spite of the near +approach of foaling time for one of the mares, because the +other horses were too reduced by lack of food to drive so +far.</p> +<p>After eating a bowl of bread and milk the tired child +was taken to her room by Mrs. Hornby, and in spite +of the ruffled curtains which adorned the windows and +the other evidences of taste and refinement about her, +she was soon fast asleep.</p> +<p>The next morning at daybreak the household of Nathan +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_48' name='page_48'></a>48</span> +Hornby was astir. The first object upon which Lizzie’s +eyes fell was Susan Hornby herself, who had come to call +her to breakfast.</p> +<p>“Your father took one of our horses and started right +off home this morning. The one that was sick last night +died and left a little colt. He said he thought he had +better get the other one home at once, so he took ours. +Come right into our room to wash and comb.”</p> +<p>Lizzie was on her feet instantly and followed her hostess +into the next room, making love to the neat white bows +of her hostess’ apron-strings as she went. What did she +care about her father’s departure without her when she +could wash her face in a white bowl whose pitcher stood +beside the washstand, and comb her hair before a looking-glass +“where you could see your head and your belt at the +same time?” But the combing was destined to be a lengthy +process, for before the child had pulled her comb through +the first lock attacked she saw reflected beside her face in +that mirror an old-fashioned, black walnut secretary <i>full +of books</i>! Lizzie Farnshaw had never seen a dozen books +in one house in her life except school books, and here were +rows of books that didn’t look like any she had ever seen. +She took her comb and walked over to the bookcase where +she could read the titles and comb at the same time, the +spacious mirror, two whole feet in length, being forgotten +in this much more desirable gift of fortune.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby’s eyes twinkled with delight. In the +five years she had been in Kansas she had never been able +to persuade any one to read with her. Here was a kindred +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_49' name='page_49'></a>49</span> +spirit. She looked at the fifteen-year-old girl and was +anxious to know how it happened that she was interested +in books at her time of life.</p> +<p>“Do you like to read?”</p> +<p>The question was repeated, and once more she asked it +before the child heard her.</p> +<p>“I guess you do,” she laughed, answering her own question. +“We’ll have some good times before your father +comes back for you. Come on to breakfast now—the +men are waiting.”</p> +<p>Lizzie Farnshaw fell naturally into her improved surroundings. +The educating processes of reforming her +language that year had also tended to improve the girl +in other ways and it was with her straight brown hair +gathered into neat braids, clean finger-nails, and a feeling +of general self-respect that she approached Susan Hornby’s +white-clothed table and was introduced to Mr. +Hornby and the hired men who were already seated +there.</p> +<p>“Right glad t’ see you. I been feedin’ th’ colt. It’s +about as likely a specimine as you be,” was Nathan Hornby’s +salutation, and his handclasp was as hearty as his +stubby fingered, hairy hands could make it.</p> +<p>Lizzie slipped quietly into her chair at his side, and stole +a glance up at him again. All through the meal he found +her eyes turning toward him curiously, and at last he said +good-naturedly:</p> +<p>“I’ll know you next time whether you do me or not.”</p> +<p>The remark was a random one and meant nothing at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_50' name='page_50'></a>50</span> +all, except that he had been conscious of her close attention, +but something in the way her gaze was withdrawn +showed that whatever she had been thinking she wished +to conceal it, and in the end it made Nathan Hornby +really uncomfortable. The fact of the matter was that +Nathan’s language did not fit his surroundings. Susan +Hornby’s house was in advance of the country in which +they lived, while her husband fitted the pioneer life he had +chosen. Of this fact neither husband nor wife seemed to +be conscious. Nathan was ten years older than the woman +he had married. In accepting him she had accepted him +as he was; later she had grown, but to her he remained +the same; he was just Nathan, and needed no analysis. +They lived and loved, and radiated the harmony which +was theirs. The incongruities of their union were evident +to this child, who was supersensitive about grammatical +constructions, but their harmony was to be one of the +strong lessons of her life. Lizzie was accustomed to ungrammatical +language at home, but the atmosphere of +this house made ignorance of good form noticeable. She +liked Mr. Hornby, but she wondered a little about his +association with his wife and her home. She went with +him to see the colt after breakfast and remarked upon his +neat barnyard in a manner which lifted the cloud upon +his face; he had had a feeling that he did not somehow +come up to her expectations.</p> +<p>The little colt nosed about his hand looking for food, +and Nathan laughed.</p> +<p>“It’s just like th’ human critter o’ that age—wants t’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_51' name='page_51'></a>51</span> +try everything in its mouth,” he said, trying to find a +topic of conversation.</p> +<p>Again Nathan Hornby caught a flicker of surprise in +Lizzie Farnshaw’s eye, and again he was disconcerted.</p> +<p>“Wonder what I done t’ set that child t’ lookin’ at me +so funny?” he asked himself as he went to the field later, +and being big-hearted and ignorant was unaware that a +man could hamstring himself by an ungrammatical phrase.</p> +<p>All day Susan Hornby read with the young girl and +questioned her to get into touch with her life and thought, +and when night came was wildly enthusiastic about her.</p> +<p>“Nate, she’s worth a lift,” she said to her husband after +Lizzie had again been tucked into bed. “Let’s take her +with us to Topeka this fall and put her into the high +school. She’s—she’s just the age our Katie would have +been. She says some teacher told her she was ready for +the high school.”</p> +<p>“Better wait till I’m elected, Sue,” Nathan replied, and +then, seeing Susan’s face cloud over with disappointment, +added more cheerfully:</p> +<p>“Of course I don’t care if you have the child, but you +mustn’t get to countin’ on this thing. That’s th’ +trouble with these here fool politics: they get folks t’ +countin’ on things that can’t come around.”</p> +<p>Long after his wife was asleep, however, he mused upon +the prospects of going to Topeka, and for her sake he +wanted to go. Nathan Hornby always spoke of his +chances of being elected to the legislature of his state +deprecatingly. He swaggered and pretended to be indifferent, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_52' name='page_52'></a>52</span> +but the worm of desire burrowed deeper every +time Topeka was mentioned. The very fact that he was +uneducated, and, as the Democrats had said, unfit, made +him desire it the more. Criticism had aroused the spirit +of contest in him. Also he wanted Susan, now that she +had begun to plan for it, to have it. Nathan Hornby +knew that the woman he had married was his superior, +and loved her for it. Masculine jealousy he did not know. +He would have been sincerely glad to have had her elected +to the legislature of Kansas instead of himself.</p> +<p>“It’s like Sue t’ want t’ take th’ girl,” he meditated, +the next day in the cornfield. “She’ll see Katie in every +girl she sees for th’ rest of ’er days, I reckon. I wouldn’t +’a’ had no show at Topeka, nohow, if she hadn’t ’a’ made +Wallace feel good ’bout that crazy thing he calls ’is wife. +Curious how big things hinge on little ones. Now Sue +had no more idea o’ gettin’ a nomination t’ th’ legislature +for me than that hen she was foolin’ with this mornin’.” +Later, he remembered the thing that had worried him +before the subject of Topeka came up. “Wonder what I +done that set that youngster t’ lookin’ at me so funny?”</p> +<p>Mrs. Hornby had not set her heart on going to Topeka +foolishly, but she wanted to go and it entered into all her +plans. She did not tell the young girl of her plans at +once, but waited for her to make her place in Nathan’s +heart, as she was sure she would do. On that point the +girl succeeded surprisingly. Her knowledge of horses, of +harness, of farm subjects in general made good soil for +conversation with her host, and her love for the motherless +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_53' name='page_53'></a>53</span> +colt called her to the barn and made special openings for +communications. Nathan called the colt, which was of +the feminine gender, Pat, because its upper lip was so long, +and that too the girl enjoyed, and entered into the joke +by softening the name to Patsie. They were good friends. +Having decided to befriend her, the man’s interest in her +increased. She was to be theirs. The sense of possession +grew with both husband and wife. Already they had cast +their lot with the child, and when at last they put the +question of the high school to her, the friendship was +firmly welded by the extravagance of its reception.</p> +<p>“Think of it! Think of it! Only think of it! I didn’t +know how it was going to come about, but I was sure I was +going to get it somehow!” the young girl cried, dancing +about the room excitedly. “Whenever I was afraid something +was going to keep me from it, I used to say, ‘I +will! I will! I will go to high school!’ Oh, isn’t it too +lovely! Do you think my saying it made any difference?” +she asked eagerly; and the quaint couple, who were born +two generations in advance of the birth cry of New +Thought, laughed innocently and made no reply.</p> +<p>When the floodgates of surprise and emotion were +opened, and she began to talk of her hopes and fears, it +was but natural that she should speak of her struggles for +personal improvement, though this was instinctively done +when Mr. Hornby was absent.</p> +<p>Curiously enough, some of her points of information +were as helpful to Susan Hornby as they had been to her. +Mrs. Hornby knew the rules of good grammar, but many +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_54' name='page_54'></a>54</span> +little observances of table manners had changed since her +youth. She read and was well informed on general topics +of the day, but her life for more than fifteen years had +been spent with Nathan and with the hired men who ate +at her table, and she had become careless of small things, +so that she listened with an amused smile, but with +real profit as well, to Lizzie’s confidences that “You +shouldn’t cross your knife and fork on your plate when +you are through eating, like the hired men, but lay them +side by side, neat and straight”; that “You shouldn’t eat +with your knife, neither,” and that “To sip your coffee +out of your saucer with a noise like grasshoppers’ wings +was just awful!” She, too, was brushing up to go to Topeka, +and while much in advance of her husband or any of her +associates in society matters, she had lived the life of the +farm, and to the end of her existence would be conscious +of the inequalities of her education. Of this she said +nothing to the child, but listened and remembered. Occasionally +she reminded the girl that they might not go to +Topeka, but even as she warned she was quickening the +subconscious mind to aid in recording any fact which +might be advantageous when she herself got there, and +her love for the child grew. The girl was part of the +scheme. In a week she had become one of the family.</p> +<p>At the end of the week Mr. Farnshaw did not appear; +farm matters had detained him, so that the opportunity +for a closer acquaintance with his daughter was permitted. +Under Mrs. Hornby the child blossomed naturally. +The old-fashioned secretary was the young girl’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_55' name='page_55'></a>55</span> +delight. Seeing her shaking in silent glee over “David +Copperfield” one night, and remembering her eager pursuit +of intellectual things, Mrs. Hornby remarked to her +husband, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” The +world of to-day would add to Susan Hornby’s little speech, +“Not only as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he,” but +“So shall he live, and do, and be surrounded.” This +simple daughter of the farm, the herds, and the homesteaded +hills of bleak and barren Kansas, where the educated +and intellectual of earth were as much foreigners +as the inhabitants of far off Russia or Hindustan, had by +her thought not only prepared herself for the life she +coveted, but had compelled the opportunity to enter upon +her travels therein. When Mr. Farnshaw arrived, Mrs. +Hornby was fortunate in the form of her request to take +his daughter with her, and it was arranged that if they +went to Topeka the child should be a member of their +household.</p> +<p>“We’ll be just as good to her as if she were our own,” +she promised, and then added reflectively, “We’re going +to call her her full name too. Elizabeth was my mother’s +name. It’s so much prettier than Lizzie.”</p> +<p>Under any other circumstances Mr. Farnshaw would +have seen symptoms of being “stuck-up” in the change of +name, but Elizabeth had been his mother’s name, and +although he had little recollection of his mother, and had +never heard her called by her given name, he had seen it +writ large on her tombstone, and, his eye having become +accustomed to the word, his ear fell naturally into line +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_56' name='page_56'></a>56</span> +with its pronunciation; besides, his daughter was to be a +school-teacher, and was to sign contracts like a man, and +must have a proper sort of name. She was to live in the +house of a member of the legislature, too, and already +called him and his wife “Uncle” and “Aunt.” Mr. Farnshaw +tasted pride and found it a sweet morsel.</p> +<p>Election day came the first week in November and +Nathan was successful. With the high school year in +view, they moved to Topeka the next week. It was as +if they were literally to educate their Katie. A slight +disappointment awaited them. Though they were ready +the young girl did not come immediately.</p> +<p>According to the dilatory methods of the Farnshaw +household, Elizabeth—she had been supported by her +father when the boys had shown an inclination to laugh +her out of the change of name—was three weeks later +yet in going. The eager girl urged at home that she would +be behind her classes if she went into school so late in the +term, but her parents, who knew nothing of school requirements, +refused to let her go till the corn was all +husked and everything snug for the winter, arguing that +so much stock had been lost the winter before that every +care must be taken of what was left. Tears at the prospect +of such a handicap made no impression, and it was +not till December that the child and her father set off in +the farm wagon for Topeka, two days distant. Railroad +fare was not to be considered, and two new dresses and a +new pair of shoes—not side-laces—were all the additions +to her wardrobe. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_57' name='page_57'></a>57</span></p> +<p>Susan Hornby was much annoyed at the delay, but met +the young girl with open arms when she arrived.</p> +<p>She was less happy in accosting Mr. Farnshaw.</p> +<p>“Why in this world did you keep her so late? Half the +year is gone!” was her luckless remark to him.</p> +<p>“She’s doin’ mighty well t’ get t’ come at all,” Mr. +Farnshaw replied, taking instant offence. “I’m th’ only +man in our part of th’ country that’s givin’ ’is childern +any show at th’ high school at all, I can tell you. I knew +I wouldn’t get no thanks for it from th’ beginnin’. That’s +th’ way with things nowadays,” was his reply.</p> +<p>“Oh, well, we all know you have needed her, and that +it’s hard to spare a child on the farm, but we were so anxious +to have her have all that could be got out of this +year,” Mrs. Hornby said, divided between a desire to +scold the man and a real disinclination to hurt any one. +So much valuable time had been lost. She saw that she +must be politic for Elizabeth’s sake, however, for the +child’s appearance told the experienced woman that she +must keep him in a good humour and inveigle him into +giving her a little money for clothes.</p> +<p>“We’ll just make the best of the time that is left, little +girl,” Mrs. Hornby said cheerfully, and in that only added +to the impression already made, for Mr. Farnshaw remembered +his daughter’s tears, and the feeling grew that +instead of being lauded for what he considered a great +sacrifice on his part, he was coming in for a blame wholly +unexpected, and that this woman was siding with the +girl and going to spoil her. People of the farm, more than +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_58' name='page_58'></a>58</span> +any other class, resent being blamed, and Josiah Farnshaw +was an extreme representative of his class. He had +come to Topeka delighted with himself because of the fine +opportunities he was giving his daughter, and here was +this woman at the first word finding fault because he had +not done better; it was no wonder that children were not +satisfied with anything a man could give them!</p> +<p>There was now no possibility of Elizabeth entering +school till after Christmas, and Aunt Susan turned her attention +to efforts to get the most out of the time they +would have to reorganize the poorly constructed dresses. +She was considerate of Mr. Farnshaw’s evident sensitiveness, +seeing also that he had no real comprehension of the +damage done by the delay, and made him comfortable +by urging him to stay on after he was really ready to go +home. So successful was she that he forgot for the time +he was in her presence that all was not in his favour, and +she was able to induce him to give all that he was able to +give toward the improvements she suggested in his +daughter’s wearing apparel. Elizabeth was surprised at +the ready response to demands made upon his purse, but +here again Mrs. Hornby left a sting, wholly unintended +and at the time not recognized by Mr. Farnshaw himself, +but remembered by him later and never forgotten after it +was once fixed firmly in his mind. Aunt Susan, concerned +for the entrance of the child into the company of those of +her own age, pointed out to her father the gayly dressed +girls of Elizabeth’s age, and suggested that a new coat +would be an absolute necessity. Mr. Farnshaw had given +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_59' name='page_59'></a>59</span> +Mrs. Hornby all the money he had with him except four +dollars, and his wife had given him a list of groceries to be +purchased in the city. It rather pleased him to use the +money toward his daughter’s adornment and it tickled +his pride as well to give his last cent toward her education. +Mrs. Hornby looked at the money he placed in her hand, +and hesitated visibly. Josiah Farnshaw stiffened at her +manner. Aunt Susan hated to ask for more, but this +would not buy the girl a coat that she could wear in Topeka!</p> +<p>“You are just as good as you can be about this, Mr. +Farnshaw, but—but a coat like the other girls have will +cost at least eight or ten dollars.” She felt his attitude.</p> +<p>The amount named took the man’s breath. He had +given all he had and yet this woman, whom he had begun +to like again, was not satisfied!</p> +<p>“A man can’t do no more’n he can, an’ that’s th’ last +red cent I’ve got,” he replied, humiliated at the necessity +of the confession.</p> +<p>“Oh! I’m so sorry,” Aunt Susan exclaimed, really so at +having forced the statement. She sat with her brows knit +in serious thought a moment, and a light began to break +in upon her. Elizabeth had to have that wrap somehow +and here was a way right before her. She remembered a +long cape she had noticed going down the street that very +morning.</p> +<p>“I guess we can make it do,” she said hesitantly. She +was thinking out her plan and spoke slowly. “We’ll just +make a cloak ourselves. We can do it.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_60' name='page_60'></a>60</span></p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw left the next day for home, in a good +humour with himself and his munificence, but on the way +home remembered Susan Hornby’s hesitancy and later +decision to make the cloak herself, and the worm of suspicion +began to gnaw again.</p> +<p>“If that woman could make something that’d do, +what’d she ask for one of them expensive coats for?” he +asked himself. “I guess it’s only th’ girl that figures in +that deal! I ain’t nothin’ but th’ oats she feeds on nohow,” +he reflected, and having once given the thought +lodgment it grew and became the chief stone of the corner.</p> +<p>Our own comes to us, and Josiah Farnshaw had formed +the habit of that kind of thinking. He felt that he was +being robbed, and forgot that his daughter was being befriended, +and out of his trip to Topeka got only a sour +distaste for the woman he could clearly see was going to +encourage the child in extravagance. He had never spent +so much money on the entire family in a winter as he had +done on that girl, and yet it wasn’t enough. “He’d bet +he’d never give ’er another year’s schoolin’. She’d come +home an’ get a summer school—that’s what she’d do. +All folks thought about nowadays was clothes!”</p> +<p>To Elizabeth Farnshaw every day of that busy month +was full of unconscious growth. As soon as Mr. Farnshaw +was out of sight, Mrs. Hornby said to Elizabeth:</p> +<p>“Now, my child, I am going to take up the seams in +that basque.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked down at her “long basque” in dismay; +she had striven hard over that waist and had thought that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_61' name='page_61'></a>61</span> +it would do very well, though conscious that it had faults. +Her face flushed as she answered reluctantly:</p> +<p>“The seam in the back isn’t quite straight, but—I +never made one like it before—and I thought it would +do.”</p> +<p>“So it would, dear, but it can do better and we’ve got +plenty of time to fix it. You’ll feel ever so much better +about it when you see how the other girls are dressed.”</p> +<p>As Aunt Susan snipped and ripped and rebasted the +refractory seam, Elizabeth brought out her little stores of +finery to discuss their artistic features.</p> +<p>“Look,” she said, opening a pasteboard box which held +her few ribbons. “I coaxed a long time for that, but I +got it.” She held up for Aunt Susan’s approval a new +Alsatian bow of pink ribbon. “I wanted the wide, but +they didn’t have it, so I got a lot of the narrow and hid +the joinings in the pleats. I think it’s pretty, don’t +you?”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby looked at the bow critically, and then +seeing Elizabeth’s face cloud over with a suspicion that she +did not regard the treasure with favour, said slowly:</p> +<p>“It’s pretty—that is, it’s a pretty colour; but I was +looking to see about how many yards there was in it, for +the girls aren’t wearing Alsatian bows, as you call them, +this year. They seem to be wearing their hair mostly in +two plain braids. I’m glad of it, for you look ever so +much better with your hair done that way. We can rip +it up and press the ribbon. I’m awfully glad you’ve got +such a lot; It’ll make lovely bows for the braids.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_62' name='page_62'></a>62</span></p> +<p>While Elizabeth ripped her bow to pieces Aunt Susan’s +tongue ran on with the subject nearest her heart.</p> +<p>“To-morrow morning I’m going to have you sit by that +window and watch the girls that go past about school +time. You’ll learn more this month doing that than you +would in school, I expect. It’s just as well you can’t +start till next term, since you didn’t get here at first.”</p> +<p>“Next term!” her new dresses with their long basques—long +basques were more talked of than any other +feature of dress that year, not by Elizabeth alone but all +womankind—had seemed so magnificent that she could +not think of it being necessary to take a whole month to +make them over.</p> +<p>“Yes, not till after Christmas. You can’t start in at +the middle of a term in high school like you can in the +country. We’ll get you a wrap made before that time. +I told your father I couldn’t think of your going without +a coat of some sort. He didn’t feel that he could afford a +coat, so I’m going to get the cloth and you and I will make +you a circular this week.”</p> +<p>“A circular? What’s that?”</p> +<p>Aunt Susan explained the new kind of cape which came +down to the bottom of the dress and had a hood lined with +bright coloured silk and was puckered with rubber to make +it fit the face.</p> +<p>It took all day to finish the basque, and the next morning +Elizabeth watched the well-dressed city girls loiter +past, and was glad that she could have a month to get +ready to meet them in the schoolroom. She had never +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_63' name='page_63'></a>63</span> +known anybody dressed so well for anything but a funeral, +or a party, or to go to church. They actually wore gloves +to school! Elizabeth looked at her brown hands and +decided that she would wear her mittens to bed till her +hands sweated themselves to a proper degree of whiteness, +and Susan Hornby let her look on, and weigh, and exclaim. +Thus was Elizabeth Farnshaw’s education begun.</p> +<p>The afternoon was spent selecting the goods for the new +cape, and wandering about the great stores and the streets; +a new pair of pretty gray gloves were obtained, and +for the first time Elizabeth heard the term “lisle thread” +used as against the common term of cotton for all things +not silk or woollen. The new cape was to have a wonderful +metal fastener called a clasp, and life ran like a silver +stream the next two days as they sewed on the new-fangled +garment.</p> +<p>Oh, father! could you have but seen truly, how great +would have been your joy!</p> +<p>Each day Elizabeth watched the boys and girls come +and go past Nathan Hornby’s house, and when the cape +was finished she and Aunt Susan went daily on shopping +expeditions. It was the most wonderful week of her +fifteen years, and was well rounded out by going to church +on Sunday and for the first time listening to a choir, and +seeing a window of softly coloured glass. She almost +wondered if she had been transported from the body to +the heaven of crowns and harps which her mother loved +to describe.</p> +<p>To heaven Elizabeth Farnshaw had gone in very truth, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_64' name='page_64'></a>64</span> +but it was the heaven of adolescence and developing womanhood. +In the short time she had been observing the +comings and goings of the boys and girls of their neighbourhood +one young man had begun to stand out from the +rest. Elizabeth was nearly sixteen, and when she saw <i>him</i> +now in a pew a few seats ahead of her she made a little +movement of astonishment.</p> +<p>Aunt Susan caught the sound of the indrawn breath +and looked around inquiringly, but Elizabeth, with eyes +modestly down, studied her gray-gloved hands and seemed +unaware of her scrutiny. Happiness had been Elizabeth +Farnshaw’s daily portion for weeks, but this was different. +Here was happiness of another sort, with other qualities, +composed of more compelling elements. The gamut of +bliss had not all been run. Elizabeth had progressed from +Arcadia to Paradise and was invoicing her emotions. She +never shied around a subject, but looked all things in the +face; and she found this delightfully surprising world of +emotions as entrancing as the external one of mellow light, +music, good clothes, and educational prospects. The rest +of the hour was a blissful dream, in which the only thought +was a wish for Luther and his stunted pony and the freedom +of grassy slopes where she could pour out her newfound +joy. With each new event of this life the loss of +Luther was accentuated.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby and his wife had no acquaintances in +Topeka. They left the church as soon as the service was +over. The young girl went with them, conscious that <i>he</i> +was behind her, glad that her new cape was finished, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_65' name='page_65'></a>65</span> +wondering if <i>he</i> noticed it, eager to be seen yet wanting to +hide, and foolishly aglow and wishing devoutly that she +had eyes in the back of her head. Henceforth Elizabeth +lived in the thought of seeing <i>him</i>. She dubbed him +“The Unknown,” and if she looked out of the window at +home, it was in the hope of seeing him pass; on the way to +school she was alert and watchful for a glimpse of him in +the distance; if she went to church it was to look for him +as soon as seated, though he was rarely there. If she saw +him in the morning her day was made glad; if she failed to +see him she looked forward with anticipation to the next +day.</p> +<p>The winter spent itself. January passed, and February. +The glad days ran on in kaleidoscopic readjustment +of joy, work, wonder, and unfoldment, as far as +Elizabeth’s own life was concerned. After the manner of +youth, her own affairs absorbed her. In fact the young +girl was so filled with the delights of her own little world +that it was only gradually that she began to understand +that the life in Topeka was not as fortunate with the dear +couple who had shared with her their home. The first +signs of trouble were made manifest to her by the increasing +tenderness with which Susan Hornby hovered around +her mate, and her evident and growing solicitude.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was startled when she did at last comprehend +the gloom and anxiety about her. The manner of the +pair prevented questions, but, as she watched covertly, +Aunt Susan’s distress was transferred to her. Elizabeth +was not curious, but she was intensely sympathetic, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_66' name='page_66'></a>66</span> +from disinterested motives she became keenly observant +of all that took place about her. No opportunity to help +offered. With a sharp realization that her best friends +were in trouble, she was obliged to conceal any trace of +that knowledge. Nathan and his wife talked apart and +in low tones, avoiding the young girl’s presence, and were +evidently puzzled and uneasy. It was Elizabeth’s way +to make the troubles of those about her her own. Longing +to help, it was impossible to be indifferent. Gradually +she got bits of indirect light upon the subject. From +little things dropped accidentally, and often from explanations +which circumstances forced upon them, Elizabeth +learned that money was scarce. This came as a shock, +and with all the hurt and heartsick worry which the mention +of finances always brought to the girl. Why must +people have money? she asked herself daily. And mixed +with dreams of “The Unknown” came speculations as to +the part which money played in the game of life, and the +bondage of men to it, and a longing to be free from its +withering grasp. In her childish mind the matter of freedom +became slightly mixed and she dreamed dreams of +being free by owning unlimited amounts of it, and she +coveted marvellous bank accounts, acquired in some +mystical way, with which the woes of humanity could be +relieved by giving. Along with this new idea of dispensing +charity grew a desire to know why the crop of cash was +short in Nathan Hornby’s home. In her innocent way +she led up to the subject of expenses in general, but Aunt +Susan kept family affairs strictly in the family and vouchsafed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_67' name='page_67'></a>67</span> +no explanations, unaware that the example she set +in that way was to bear strange and unexpected fruit. +But though Elizabeth carried the reflex of the anxiety of +those about her, she was scarcely sixteen, and youth and +joy and life claimed her attention and the affairs of her +stage in life’s span crowded out the affairs of others.</p> +<p>These were days of transition. The child was becoming +a woman. The love which was flowing out of her heart +like a spring freshet toward one who, because she saw +him less often was the more often in her thoughts, was +making Elizabeth Farnshaw more observant of those who +professed love. Desiring mutual relations, she became +sensitive to the communications of those about her who +had to do with mutual relations.</p> +<p>Elizabeth saw that the more trouble clouded the brow +of Nathan Hornby the cheerier and closer Aunt Susan +drew to him. There was none of the quarrels here to +which Elizabeth had become accustomed when things +went wrong at home. The contrast between her father’s +and mother’s daily life and that of Nathan and Susan +Hornby in times of trouble was the subject of constant +thought. Nathan and Susan Hornby were to be guide-posts +along the highway of Elizabeth Farnshaw’s domestic +affairs. Love pointed her thoughts toward marriage, and +here was a worthy model after which to build. Her natural +affection and gratitude were enhanced by the fact +that this couple with whom she lived, and who were otherwise +very dear to her, were the immediate example of all +that was noble in the world of her present dreams. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_68' name='page_68'></a>68</span></p> +<p>The fact that the harmony between Aunt Susan and +her mate was of stern stuff and not matured solely upon +success and pleasure added to the strength of that example. +Elizabeth had not been taken into the confidence of +either; their private affairs were kept screened from the +gaze of any but themselves. By a word dropped here and +there, however, she learned that Nathan had speculated +and lost much money; also that he had favoured measures +advanced by butter-tongued lobbyists, and that he had +lost the good-will of many of his constituents.</p> +<p>While Elizabeth watched the tender association of +Nathan Hornby and his wife and found such glowing +tribute in her heart toward the life they lived together, a +tragedy, in spite of the support and affection lavished +by a faithful wife, was to leave the sunny, cordial man +a broken, half-suspicious one.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby was to learn that legislative assemblies +were death-traps to those whom providence had failed to +coach in diplomacy and judgment, that legislation was a +game at which none but gamesters might successfully play, +a devouring flame singeing the wings of all who failed to +distinguish between the light of a common candle and +that of a real sun, that it was a nightmare to most, and +ticklish business for all. Unable to distinguish between +the good and the bad intentions of those who advocated +the passage of bills, convinced long before the +end of the legislative session that a bill looking innocent +and direct in its wording might be evil and indirect +in its outworking, Nathan became more and more +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_69' name='page_69'></a>69</span> +confused and less and less able to withstand the attacks +made upon him.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby was a leaden figure in the legislative +assembly. He was honest, but slow of wit, and apt to +become passive if pushed beyond his power to understand. +This man who could throw the earth up to a hill of corn +with skill and precision, who could build a haystack which +would turn the rains and snows of winter, and break a colt +to the harness without breaking its spirit, who had handled +successfully the problems to which he had been trained, +was not able to throw arguments up to the legislative hill +or protect his reputation against the floods of criticism and +accusation to which his actions were subjected either here +in the Capitol or at home among his constituents. His +spirit was broken: he recognized that he was totally unfit +for the position into which fortune had thrust him. Nathan +sat back in his chair, in the House, with few books and +papers on the desk before him, and these unopened, his +manner, like his wrinkled boots, indicative of the farm, +his whole attitude that of the unsophisticated. He listened +to the speeches made around him, but had no ideas +to express. He was a pathetic figure. Only the accidents +of Grasshopper Year, when legislative timber was scarce, +could have placed him in such a position. His tough, +shaven cheeks grew thinner day by day as he pulled at the +brush of grizzled chin-whiskers and tried to understand +what went on before him.</p> +<p>During those days Susan was both his refuge and the +cross of his crucifixion. The deeper his difficulties became +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_70' name='page_70'></a>70</span> +the more he turned to her for help, certain not only that +she understood better than he the measures about which +his colleagues argued, but that she understood him and his +failures, as well as his needs. It was because Susan understood +that the cross was so heavy. If his wife had been a +dull woman, if she had been a woman without ambitions of +her own, if she could have been hoaxed into thinking him +the equal of his associates, it would have been easier; but +Nathan was aware that Susan Hornby knew to the finest +detail the nature of his failure as well as she understood +and loved the best in him. During those gloomy days +the man marvelled at the gentleness of her solicitations +for his cheering and encouragement, not realizing that +woman is by nature faithful where man is appreciative of +her devotion. Appreciation! that had been the keynote +of Nathan Hornby’s attitude toward his wife. Susan +had always known what she ought to do, what she wanted +to do, and what it was best for her to do, and in all matters +where her individual affairs were concerned Nathan had +never interposed coercion nor advice. If Susan made +mistakes, her husband knew that they were the mistakes +of the head and not of the heart, and left her to correct +them in her own way.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby had always been free, and now the walls +of love and trust which Nathan Hornby had builded about +their home for nearly twenty years were to be a flawless +rampart behind which he could take refuge from foes without +and receive help from within. At Nathan’s request +his wife came day after day and listened to the discussions +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_71' name='page_71'></a>71</span> +toward the end of the session. Nathan sat before her +dumb, but she was the anchor to his drifting soul as the +political landslide took the ground out from under his +feet.</p> +<p>“I only wisht I’d ’a’ taken you in on this thing sooner,” +he said on one occasion, and remembered those first weeks +when he had felt self-sufficient, and had made false moves +at the State House, and had also let himself be inveigled into +buying “a few margins.” That was the bitterest drop in +his cup. Wheat had dropped steadily from the very day he +had begun buying. A steady decline in prices was unthinkable, +and it was not till their land was endangered +that the trusting man began to take alarm, and even then +he let the speculators who profited by the sales induce him +to make one more wild investment to save that which he +had already lost.</p> +<p>His certainty that his neighbors would take revenge +upon <i>him</i> for political differences by sly prods +regarding speculation was of slight importance, but Susan +was to be humiliated before them!—Susan, who had tried +to help him to see the dangers—Susan, who did not complain +when she was called upon to sign the deeds to the +land she had helped to win from the Indians and the +wilderness of uncultivated things. Nathan remembered +on that bitter day that but for her adventurous spirit he +would have been working at day’s wages in old Indiana, +instead of having a home and being an active member of +his community and a member of the legislature of his state, +with opportunities to prove himself a man in the world of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_72' name='page_72'></a>72</span> +men. He had failed, and his failure reacted upon her. +It was not the loss of money and political prestige alone +which bit. Another phase of their life in Topeka added +its humiliation. Nathan had wanted his wife to share +his political honours and had found himself ignorant of +every means by which these things could be brought to her. +He had heard of gay winters at the Capital, but they lived +apart from it all. The house in which he had placed her +was attractive and on a good street, but the men whom he +met at the State House soon saw that nothing was to be +gained through knowing Nathan Hornby, and failed to ask +their wives to call upon his wife.</p> +<p>Disaster is in exact ratio to our valuation of things. +Although Nathan Hornby had lost three fourths of his +land, his reputation as a business man and politician, and +his faith in men, he still had left the one essential gift +which should have helped him to win again all that which he +had lost. Susan Hornby, like Ruth of old, abandoned all +else and abode with her husband in love, cheering him at +each problematical step, and saying as they returned from +the notary’s office after signing away their land to a stranger:</p> +<p>“Never mind, Nate, there are only two of us,” and for +the first time since their little daughter had been taken +from them, he had replied:</p> +<p>“Yes, only two, thank God!” and had kissed awkwardly +the hand laid over his mouth, and Susan had seen the +glitter of a tear on his faded lashes, the first in many years.</p> +<p>Susan knew that Nathan would never forget the failures +of that year, but she also knew that the comfort of accustomed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_73' name='page_73'></a>73</span> +activities would help to fill his mind and keep his +thoughts from sore introspection. Here in Topeka there +was nothing to do but cogitate and reflect. It was therefore +a relief to her when Elizabeth received a letter from +her mother summoning her home to teach a spring term +of school. While at any other time she would have been +filled with indignation at the recall of Elizabeth just as +she was beginning to get settled to her new work, Susan +Hornby felt that Elizabeth needed education less at this +point than Nathan needed the busy seeding season to +occupy his troubled thoughts.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='III_REFORMS_NOT_EASY_TO_DISCUSS' id='III_REFORMS_NOT_EASY_TO_DISCUSS'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_74' name='page_74'></a>74</span> +<h2>CHAPTER III</h2> +<h3>REFORMS NOT EASY TO DISCUSS</h3> +</div> + +<p>Elizabeth kept her tears and regrets to herself. +She cried them out on her pillow that night, all the +disappointments and handicaps of that wonderful +year of experience and aspiration, but as she cried she +planned the arrangements of her going.</p> +<p>The letter was received on Thursday night; Elizabeth +decided that she would go for her books the next day, and +say her farewells to desk, recitation room, and the halls +that had been dear to her. When Elizabeth was called +to the blackboard that afternoon to explain a problem in +algebra, the board, the pointer, the very chalk in her +fingers cried aloud their unity with her life and thought, +and she sat down when it was over with a great throbbing +in her throat and ears, and a sense of overwhelming disaster.</p> +<p>As Elizabeth carried her books home under her arm, +bulging out one side of her circular like an unevenly inflated +pudding-bag, the throbbing continued, and she +turned into the less frequented streets with the certainty +that she was going to disgrace herself with tears shed +publicly. It had been a trying day, and in spite of all +efforts her emotions broke loose before she could gain the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_75' name='page_75'></a>75</span> +shelter of home. Hurrying blindly to get the last block +covered, she nearly dropped her books as she turned the +corner.</p> +<p>“The Unknown” was coming toward her!</p> +<p>Her startled glance of recognition was so unexpectedly +open that he thought that he had probably met her. He +looked puzzled, but lifted his hat as she hurried past him, +wiping the tears from her face with her free hand.</p> +<p>A boy called from across the street an instant later.</p> +<p>“Oh, Hugh, I’m coming over for some help on that +chem. ex. to-night.”</p> +<p>“All right,” came the answer from “The Unknown,” and +mixed with Elizabeth’s mortifying confusion was a quick +thrill at knowing his name.</p> +<p>“Hugh!”</p> +<p>No opportunity had ever come to meet him or to find out +what his name might be. Elizabeth was conscious that her +life on the farm had made of her an impossible mate for +this young man who, even among the young men of the +city, was set apart by a peculiar grace and culture. She +remembered the hat which had not merely been lifted +from the head, but had been carried below the chin as he +bowed distantly, and also the well-bred curiosity of his +look. The rest of the leave-taking was made easier by +having met him, and received his bow, and acquired the +glorious, mystical knowledge of his name.</p> +<p>To round out the experiences of the winter, fate decreed +that Mr. Farnshaw could not come for her, and the glitter +of the inside of a railway coach, with its brass lamps, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_76' name='page_76'></a>76</span> +plush seats, and polished woods, was added to her experimental +knowledge. Luther was somehow connected +in her mind with the day’s experiences and she wished +devoutly that she could talk to him about the disappointment +of leaving her school before the end of the term, and +of this journey home on the train, and of Hugh. Yes, +Elizabeth would have told Luther even of Hugh. Luther +Hansen was to Elizabeth Farnshaw unchanged and unchangeable. +The transformations of her own life did not +call for any such transformations in him. He was Luther. +It had been his mental processes which had won and now +sustained her attachment for him. Their two minds had +worked together as one mind while they had struggled +with the innocent problems of their childhood days, and +Elizabeth still felt incomplete without him. She had +been less conscious of Luther’s absence the first year than +at any time since his going away, but in Topeka, and now +that she was approaching the scene of their association +together, Elizabeth wanted him with a depth of homesickness +she had never felt before. It was hard to go back to +the old battleground and not find him there. The prospects +in store for her at home made her shrink. Elizabeth fell +to wondering if any improvement in that home were possible. +She had had them quite cheerfully in mind all +winter, but now that the distance between her home and +herself lessened rapidly a feeling of inadequacy came upon +her, and the glitter of the wonderful coach in which she +was riding was forgotten. Could she help? The only +thing that was very clear to her was that much patience +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_77' name='page_77'></a>77</span> +would be necessary. At Uncle Nathan’s they had been +gentle and loving and tolerant.</p> +<p>“Can I make them see it—and see how?” she asked +herself so many times that the wheels beneath her took +up the refrain.</p> +<p>“Gentle and loving and tolerant—gentle and loving +and tolerant—gentle and loving and tolerant,” they +sang for miles as she sat with her young brow puckered +into a deep frown.</p> +<p>The realities of life were thrust into the foreground the +moment Elizabeth arrived, and for new reasons she missed +Luther. Mr. Farnshaw resented the new circular.</p> +<p>“Is that th’ damned fool kind of coat she was talkin’ +about?” he inquired as his daughter alighted from the +farm wagon at the kitchen door that afternoon. “It +ain’t got no warmth,” he added scornfully. “Th’ ain’ +nothin’ to it but looks, an’ not much of that. What ’d y’ +you do with th’ coat you had?”</p> +<p>The old heartsickening contention had begun.</p> +<p>“I’ve got it.”</p> +<p>“Well, you see that you wear it and don’t go makin’ a +fool out of yourself around here. I’d ’a’ kept my money +if I’d ’a’ knowed it was goin’ t’ be put into a thing that’d +swell up in th’ wind like a balloon.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw saw the look that swept over Elizabeth’s +face and instinctively ranged herself on the side of the +young girl. She saw with a woman’s eyes the style in +the garment and its importance in her daughter’s appearance. +When Elizabeth took it off her mother took it to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_78' name='page_78'></a>78</span> +the bedroom to put it away, remarking in a whisper that +it made her look quite like a school-teacher ought to look. +She was secretly glad that her daughter had it, since it was +already paid for and she did not have to make it. It +would be the most observed wrap in the schoolhouse the +next Sunday if she could only persuade Elizabeth to go to +meeting. The metal clasp had virtues all its own.</p> +<p>“I think it’s ever so much more stuck-up than if it had +buttons,” she whispered.</p> +<p>The undertone rasped on Elizabeth’s nerves. Aunt +Susan never differed with Uncle Nate in undertones.</p> +<p>“Let’s get supper, ma,” she said, to shake herself from +threatened despondency.</p> +<p>But though Elizabeth bustled energetically about the +getting of that meal, the eating of it was not a very great +success. Mr. Farnshaw discoursed upon the senselessness +of prevailing styles, with the new cape plainly in +mind, and Mrs. Farnshaw nudged her daughter’s knee +under the table whenever Elizabeth seemed inclined to +defensive retorts.</p> +<p>When Mr. Farnshaw had taken the milk pails on his +arm and repaired to the corral, however, Mrs. Farnshaw +turned from a belated churning and administered the +caution in words:</p> +<p>“Don’t ever say anything back to your pa, Lizzie; he +gets worse and worse all th’ time.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth considered the subject for some minutes. +The wear and tear of the discords of her mother’s life +she knew were far more responsible for her mother’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_79' name='page_79'></a>79</span> +broken health than anything she did in the way of hard +work. It seemed a good time to begin the reforms upon +which her heart was set.</p> +<p>“Ma, I’ve been thinking about you a good deal +this winter,” she began slowly. “Something is wrong +with us all.” The girl thought again for a moment. +Her mother watched her with sharp attention and waited. +Reforms were not easy to discuss with her mother; they +were very different, Elizabeth and her mother. Elizabeth +hardly dared express her longing to reorganize their +home. If only she could effect a reformation! Her +heart had been set on it all winter. She knew now how +people <i>could</i> live if only they understood how to do it. +Her help here was needed. When she began to speak +again it was very slowly, and with a careful consideration +of the words she was using.</p> +<p>“We ought all of us to be different. We go along day +after day hating our work, scolding and fretting at each +other, and never really happy, any of us, and I’ve been +wondering why?”</p> +<p>Her mother eyed her closely. Something of the girl’s +mood stirred a responsive chord.</p> +<p>“I’ve thought of it too,” she said, “but I can’t never +tell why it is though, unless”—she spoke slowly and Elizabeth +was encouraged—“unless it’s because we don’t +never belong to ourselves. Now your pa wants t’ run +th’ house, an’ th’ farm, an’ you children, an’ me, an’ +everything, an’ I’m so tired, an’ never have any help, that +anybody’d be cross. Nobody ever pities me, though. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_80' name='page_80'></a>80</span> +Here, take this dasher an’ finish this here churnin’ for +me.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth took the dasher into her own hand and stood +looking down meditatively at the cream gathered about +the hole in the churn lid. The first sentence of her +mother’s remark struck her attention.</p> +<p>“Why can’t folks belong to themselves?” she asked, +letting the dasher rest while she churned mental problems +of greater moment.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw looked up quickly. “Well, if you think +you can marry an’ belong t’ yourself, just you try it,” she +replied.</p> +<p>“But, ma, if a man loved a woman couldn’t she get him +to leave her free? Now—”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw cut her short. “Love! Men don’t +know how to spell th’ word. They get a woman, an’ +after she’s got children they know she can’t help herself. +She’s got t’ stick to it ’cause she can’t raise ’em alone an’—an’ +it don’t make no difference whether he takes care +of ’em or not—” Words failed the exasperated woman.</p> +<p>Elizabeth studied her mother with a new interest. She +began to apply her mother’s words to her own case. She +knew that her mother had wanted her services this spring +as much as her father, and remembered the letter calling +her home.</p> +<p>“But that don’t cover your case, ma. You love pa +more than you do us children; you know you do, and we +know that you do too.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw usually denied the most obvious thing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_81' name='page_81'></a>81</span> +if her protective instincts prompted her to do so, but her +daughter had hit the bull’s-eye so exactly that for the +moment she had no defence ready. Elizabeth was encouraged +by her mother’s silence. Mrs. Farnshaw talked +so much that it was not easy to get her attention. The +young girl, glowing with the discoveries made in Aunt +Susan’s home, desired to get at the bottom of the causes +of inharmony in her own and to reorganize it on a better +basis. It looked as if she was to be granted a hearing +upon her schemes.</p> +<p>“I don’t care about him running over <i>us</i> so much,” she +said diplomatically, “but you let him run over you in the +same way. Now isn’t there some way to come at him +and get him to see it. When we’re alone you talk about +him domineering over you, but when he’s here you let +him say anything he wants to and you never try to help +yourself. Why don’t you strike out on a new tack and +say you won’t do it when he makes unreasonable demands? +Why don’t you reason with him good-naturedly, +if you think that’s better, without crying, I mean, and +then if he won’t listen at all——”</p> +<p>“I don’t know, Lizzie,” the mother interposed slowly. +“I sometimes think I will an’ then when he’s here something +won’t let me. It ain’t what he says to you; it’s—it’s—something +he does to you when he looks at you. +I’m as weak as water when he looks at me. I don’t know +why. I guess it’s because I’ve always give up—an’—an’—I +can’t tell why. A woman does just like a horse—there’s +more’n one kind of whippin’ a man can give—an’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_82' name='page_82'></a>82</span> +she gets scared—an’ minds. A man begins right from +th’ first t’ tell her what to do an’ she loves ’im and wants +t’ please ’im, an’ before long she don’t have her way no +more’n a nigger.”</p> +<p>Some of the truth of the statement came within the +grasp of the daughter, who was looking across the idle +churn with her mind fixed in singleness of purpose upon +remedies, and yet she felt that there was some other element +in the matter not yet accounted for. The hopeless +tone of the older woman, however, goaded her young spirit +into forgetting the caution necessary to dealing with the +subject. Her blood fired with resentment that one life +should be so crushed by another. It was her mother +whose shoulders drooped with a burden too heavy for her +to throw off.</p> +<p>“If you’re sure of that, why don’t you leave him? We +children are old enough to support ourselves and——”</p> +<p>“Lizzie!”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had overshot the mark. Her mother was of +another generation.</p> +<p>“But, ma,” the girl protested quickly, “I don’t +say leave him if you can find any way of settling +matters. Can’t you have a talk with him—and get +him to let you alone if you are willing to do the very +best you can? That’s the best way. Have you tried +it?”</p> +<p>“No I hain’t,” the mother replied shortly; “it wouldn’t +do no good. But if my talkin’ t’ you is goin’ t’ make you +say such things, I ain’t goin’t’ talk t’ you no more. When +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_83' name='page_83'></a>83</span> +folks is married they’re married, an’ I don’t believe in +partin’, nor talk of partin’.”</p> +<p>“Well, I think maybe you are right, but if you and pa +are going to live together you ought to try and have it out, +and be a help to each other instead——” She broke off +and thought a moment, “Now Aunt Susan and Uncle +Nate——”</p> +<p>“Stop right there!” Mrs. Farnshaw cried, afire with +jealousy. “That woman’s brought more trouble into this +house a’ready than She’ll ever take out. Your pa’s been +rantin’ about her all winter an’—an’ he said you’d be +pokin’ her ways into our faces th’ very day you got home. +I ’spect she’s th’ one that got it into your head to talk of +partin’, most likely.”</p> +<p>“Oh, now, ma, don’t go on like that. You don’t know +about Aunt Susan. She’s the last person in the world to +ever suggest such a thing. That’s just what I started out +to say—they never have a word about anything. It’s +the loveliest home to live in, and I was just thinking that +they must have found——”</p> +<p>“I said I didn’t want t’ hear nothin’ more about them +folks, an’ I don’t,” Mrs. Farnshaw cried, caught on the +other horn of the argument and even more deeply offended +than before. “She’ll most likely get all your love just +like she got all your father’s money last winter. You +needn’t mention her here no more. Th’ school directors ’ll +be over to see you about fillin’ out that term, to-night,” +Mrs. Farnshaw ended shortly, and turned the subject of +conversation to other channels. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_84' name='page_84'></a>84</span></p> +<p>“Me? To fill out the term?” Elizabeth exclaimed in +surprise. “What’s gone wrong with the school here? I +don’t want a piece of a term, and I don’t want, ever, to +teach in this district where I’ve gone to school.”</p> +<p>“Well, you’re goin’ to,” was the brief reply. “Your pa +an’ me told ’em you’d take it.”</p> +<p>“But how does it happen that the school is without a +teacher?” Elizabeth asked with curiosity, ignoring the +curt disposal of her services. She was accustomed to the +peremptory measures of her parents.</p> +<p>“Jake Ransom run him out. He just piked off after +he got his money order cashed last Saturday mornin’.”</p> +<p>“And you expect me to take a school that’s all upside +down from that kind of handling—and me without any +experience?”</p> +<p>“You’ll take it an’ You’ll do your best, an’ we won’t +hear no more about it. Here, ma, tie up this finger,” +Mr. Farnshaw said. He had just come in from the barn +in time to hear his daughter’s objections.</p> +<p>Later in the evening the directors came. Family pressure +was strong, and with reluctance Elizabeth accepted +the month yet to be taught. It would help with the interest, +and that interest clouded the family sky to the +horizon on every side now. Elizabeth was divided between +a fear of inability to manage a demoralized school +and the desire to add twenty-five dollars to the family +revenue. In anticipation she saw the unruly boys supported +and encouraged in insubordination by such as +Sadie Crane, who was jealously ready to resent her—a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_85' name='page_85'></a>85</span> +former playmate—in the rôle of authority. And to put +herself right with the governing board Elizabeth told the +new director—Sadie’s own father—her fears on that score.</p> +<p>“They have played with me and we have had the sort +of quarrels all children have, Mr. Crane, and I may not +be able to manage them.”</p> +<p>Lon Crane was ignorant and uncouth, but big of heart, +and the openness of the discussion pleased him.</p> +<p>“You jest take that school, young lady, an’ I’ll see that +my end of th’ thing’s kep’ up. I’ll come over there an +thrash every mother’s son of ’em if I have t’. I’d kind +o’ like t’ lick a few of ’em anyhow, an’ if my young ones +give any trouble, you jes’ stop in on your way home an’ +I’ll see that it don’t never happen ag’in.”</p> +<p>Half the battle was won; she let him hold her hand a +moment at leave-taking while he reinforced his remarks +by many repetitions.</p> +<p>“Don’t you worry, Sis,” he repeated as he backed out of +the door; “you needn’t be afraid; this here school board’s +at your back. We know it’s a bad school, but, by ginger! +we’ll see that you’re stood by. You jes’ let me know if +that there Jake Ransom tries any more monkeyshines and +I’ll tan his hide till It’ll be good for shoe leather.”</p> +<p>It occurred to Elizabeth that every word they were +saying would be carried to the boy long before Monday +morning and that a bad matter might from the very goodness +of the teller’s intentions be made worse.</p> +<p>“How old did you say the Ransom boy was?” she asked +with concern. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_86' name='page_86'></a>86</span></p> +<p>“Fifteen—and a stinker if there ever was one.”</p> +<p>“Then I think maybe I’ll have a show. I thought he +was older than that,” she said diplomatically. “Now may +I ask that what we have said be kept quiet? I would +rather like to have a fair show with him—and I’ll admit +I’d like to be on good terms. Promise me that what we +have said may be a secret even from your own family till +after Monday.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth went forward and spoke confidentially. The +man liked her even better than before.</p> +<p>“I’ll do it, by jing!” he exclaimed. “They’ll be wantin’ +t’ know soon’s ever I get home what we done about it, an’ +fur once they’ll suck their thumbs. Look out fur that +boy, though; he’s a black sheep that lives around in any +flock; ain’t got no home. I’ll help if I’m needed.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth listened closely to all that she heard her +brothers say about Jake Ransom, trying to form some +estimate of his character, and soon came to the conclusion +that whatever else the boy might be, he was at least not +to be classed as a sneak. In fact, Jake seemed to have +rather a surprising faculty for announcing his policies before +he began action.</p> +<p>When school opened Monday morning the bully was +easily recognizable. Elizabeth had gone through all the +stages of fright, of distaste for the job, and lastly of set +determination to show this district that she could take +that boy and not only conquer him but become friends +with him. Instead of being nervous about the coming +encounter, however, Elizabeth grew more steady and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_87' name='page_87'></a>87</span> +self-reliant as she felt his eyes upon her, and actually became +interested in the small affairs preceding the ringing +of the bell, and forgot him altogether till it was time to call +the roll.</p> +<p>Jacob Ransom’s name came last on the list. A titter +ran around the room when it was called. The tone of +reply was louder than the rest and defiant of manner. +Elizabeth looked around the room with frank inquiry and +the titter died down. She let her gaze wander quietly +and naturally down the aisle to the seat of the bully and +was surprised to find that she liked the boy.</p> +<p>Closing the roll book and following an instinct rather +than a formulated plan, Elizabeth walked slowly down the +room to his desk. A faint giggle behind her spoke of the +hushed expectations of trouble.</p> +<p>“If I hear any more laughing in this room, I shall inquire +into the matter,” she said sternly, facing about beside +Jake’s desk.</p> +<p>The instant response to that remark gave her confidence +in her own powers. It was the first time she had ever +used the tone of authority and she instinctively recognized +that the quality of her personality in that position was +good. Both she and Jake Ransom were on trial in that +room.</p> +<p>“So you are the ‘Jake’ I have heard about?” she said, +looking him frankly in the face and letting him see that +she was measuring him openly. “Is your name Jake or +Jacob?” she asked, as if it were an important matter to +get settled. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_88' name='page_88'></a>88</span></p> +<p>“Don’t call me Jacob,” the boy snapped.</p> +<p>“I think I like the nickname better myself,” Elizabeth +replied easily. Her good fairy beckoned her on. “These +children are all laughing because they think we are going +to pull each other’s hair presently. We will show them +at least that we are a lady and a gentleman, I trust. Let +me see your books.” She looked at him with such +straightforward sincerity that the boy returned the look +in the same spirit.</p> +<p>The books were produced in surprise; this was walking +into the middle of the ring and bidding for an <i>open</i> fight, +if fight they must. The boy loved a square deal. Jake +Ransom’s sting had been drawn.</p> +<p>“You are in advance of the rest of the school. Are +you preparing for the high school?” Elizabeth asked, +emphasizing her surprise.</p> +<p>“Lord, no!” the boy blurted out.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked through the book in her hand slowly +before she asked:</p> +<p>“Why don’t you? I was only about as far along as +this in arithmetic last year. Some one said you were +ready for it.”</p> +<p>“Oh, I kin do ’rithmetic all right, but I ain’t no good +in nothin’ else—an’—an’—wouldn’t I look fine teachin’ +school?” Jake Ransom exclaimed, but the bully melted +out of him by way of the fact that she had heard good +reports of him. He would not smoke this level-eyed girl +out of the schoolhouse, nor sprinkle the floor with cayenne, +as was the usual proceeding of the country bumpkin who +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_89' name='page_89'></a>89</span> +failed to admire his teacher. Jake Ransom was not really +a bully; he was a shy boy who had been domineered over +by a young popinjay of a teacher who had never taught +school before and who had himself many lessons to learn +in life’s school. The boy brought out his slate, spit on its +grimy surface and wiped it with his sleeve. One of the +buttons on his cuff squeaked as he wiped it across, and +the children had something tangible to laugh at. Elizabeth +was wise enough to take no notice of that laugh.</p> +<p>Some one has said that experience is not as to duration +but as to intensity, and it was Elizabeth’s fate to live at +great pressure in every important stage of her life. But +for the fact that she had made a friend of Jake Ransom +that month’s events would have had a different story. +Sadie Crane took exceptions to every move made and +every mandate issued from the teacher’s desk. The spirit +of insubordination to which the entire school had been +subjected that winter made good soil for Sadie’s tares. +For the most part the dissatisfaction was a subtle thing, +an undercurrent of which Elizabeth was aware, but upon +which she could lay no finger of rebuke, but at times it +was more traceable, and then, to the young teacher’s +surprise, Jake Ransom had ways of dealing with the +offenders outside of school hours. Sadie’s tongue was +sharp and she was accustomed to a wholesome attitude +of fear among the scholars, but her first thrusts at Jake +had aroused a demon of which she had little dreamed. +Jake had no foolish pride and would admit his faults so +guilelessly that her satire fell to the ground. He was an +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_90' name='page_90'></a>90</span> +entirely new sort to the spiteful child. The terrible advantage +the person who will admit his faults cheerfully has +over the one who has pride and evades was never more +manifest. Jake Ransom pointed out to a credulous following +the causes of Sadie’s disaffection, and left the +envious child in such a state of futile rage that she was +ready to burst with her ill-directed fury. In the end the +month’s work had to be granted the tribute of success, +and the term closed with a distinct triumph for Elizabeth +and the experience of a whole year’s trial crowded into +four short weeks.</p> +<p>At home things were not so fortunate. The young girl +had come back from Topeka with higher ideals of home +life, of personal conduct, and of good manners than she +had ever had before. It was so good to have something +better, and Elizabeth hungered to pass along the transforming +things she had found; but when she tried to give +the boys gentle hints about correct ways of eating she was +greeted with guffaws and sarcastic chuckles about handling +soup with a fork. Mrs. Farnshaw saw nothing but +Susan Hornby’s interference, Mr. Farnshaw told her to +attend to her own affairs until her help was desired, and +when the child was rebuffed and unable to hide her disappointment +and retired within herself, both parents +resented the evident and growing difference between her +and themselves.</p> +<p>It was to escape from a home which was unendurable +that Elizabeth flat-footedly, and for the first time, refused +to accede to her parents’ authority. When the matter of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_91' name='page_91'></a>91</span> +a spring term of school came up for discussion she refused +to teach the home school again, though Mr. Crane had +been so pleased with her work that he had offered it to +her. When asked if Jake Ransom was the objection she +indignantly asserted to the contrary.</p> +<p>“He was the best pupil I had,” she said, “but I don’t +want to teach at home, and I won’t do it,” and that was +all she would say. She secured a school ten miles north +of her home; ten miles had been the nearest point which +she would consider.</p> +<p>The interest was at last paid, but when the summer +groceries were paid for there was no money left with which +to go back to Topeka, and it was necessary to teach a +winter school. Elizabeth went to work anew to collect +funds for another year’s schooling. Mr. Farnshaw sold +himself short of corn in the fall, however, and the young +girl was expected to make up the deficit. In the spring +the interest was to be paid again, and so at the end of a +year and a half the situation was unchanged. The next +year a threshing machine was added to the family assets, +and again the cry of “help” went up, again Elizabeth’s +plans were sacrificed. The next year the interest was +doubled, and for four years Elizabeth Farnshaw worked +against insurmountable odds.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='IV_A_CULTURED_MAN' id='IV_A_CULTURED_MAN'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_92' name='page_92'></a>92</span> +<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2> +<h3>A CULTURED MAN</h3> +</div> + +<p>When no remonstrance of hers availed to prevent +the constant increase of expenses, Elizabeth saw +that her assistance, instead of helping the family +to get out of debt, was simply the means of providing toys +for experimentation, and that she was being quietly but +persistenly euchred out of all that her heart cherished. +Mr. Farnshaw valued the machinery he was collecting +about him, Mrs. Farnshaw valued the money, partly because +in one way and another it added to the family possessions, +and also because her husband having found out +that he could obtain it through her easier than by direct +appeal, she could avoid unpleasantness with him by insisting +upon her daughter giving it to him; but Elizabeth’s +education was valued by no one but Elizabeth, and unless +she were to learn her lesson quickly the time for an education +to be obtained would have passed.</p> +<p>“It’s of no use for you to talk to me, ma,” Elizabeth +said the spring after she was twenty years old, “I shall +keep every cent I make this summer. Pa gets into debt +and won’t let anybody help him out, and I am going to go +to Topeka this fall. I’m years older right now than the +rest of the scholars will be—not a single pupil that was +there when I went before will be there—and I’m going +to go. I don’t ever intend to pay the interest on that old +mortgage again—it’s just pouring money into a rat-hole!”</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-092.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 355px; height: 506px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 355px;'> +“‘NOW LOOK HERE, LIZZIE, ... YOUR PA EXPECTS IT’”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_93' name='page_93'></a>93</span></div> +<p>It was early morning and they were planting potatoes. +Her mother stood with her back turned toward the raw +April wind as they talked, her old nubia tied loosely about +her head and neck, and her hands red with the cold.</p> +<p>“Now look here, Lizzie”—Mrs. Farnshaw always refused +to use the full name—“your pa expects it.”</p> +<p>“Of course he expects it; that’s why he keeps adding to +the mortgage; but that don’t make any difference. I’m +going to Topeka this fall just the same. I am not going +to pay one dollar on the interest in May, and you can tell +pa if you like.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw was alarmed. Elizabeth had protested +and tried to beg off from the yearly stipend before, but +never in that manner. The tone her daughter had used +frightened her and she quivered with an unacknowledged +fear. Her husband’s wrath was the Sheol she fought +daily to avoid. What would become of them if the interest +were not paid?</p> +<p>Added to Mrs. Farnshaw’s personal desire to command +her daughter’s funds there was the solid fear of her husband’s +estimate of her failure. She could not look in his +eye and tell him that she was unable to obtain their +daughter’s consent. To live in the house with him after +Lizzie had told him herself was equally unthinkable, for +his wrath would be visited upon her own head. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_94' name='page_94'></a>94</span></p> +<p>“My child! My child!” she cried, “you don’t have to +be told what he will do t’ me.”</p> +<p>There was a long pause while she sobbed. The pause +became a compelling one; some one had to speak.</p> +<p>“I can’t help it, ma,” Elizabeth said doggedly after a time.</p> +<p>“Oh, but you don’t know what it means. Come on to +th’ house. I can’t work no more, an’ I’ve got t’ talk this +thing out with you.”</p> +<p>They picked up the pails and the hoe with which they +had been covering the hills and went to the house, carrying +a burden that made a potato-planting day a thing of +no consequence.</p> +<p>The mother busied herself with the cob fire as she +argued, and Elizabeth put away the old mittens with +which she had protected her hands from the earth which +never failed to leave them chapped, before she picked up +the broom and began an onslaught on the red and fluffy +dust covering the kitchen floor.</p> +<p>“You see, You’ll go off t’ teach an’ won’t know nothin’ +about it, an’—an’—I’ll have it t’ bear an’——” The +pause was significant.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw watched her daughter furtively and +strained her ears for signs of giving up. At last Elizabeth +said slowly:</p> +<p>“I’m as sorry as I can be, ma, but—I’m twenty years +old, and I’ve <i>got</i> to go.”</p> +<p>There was no doubting that her mind was made up, +and yet her mother threw herself against that stone wall +of determination in frantic despair. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_95' name='page_95'></a>95</span></p> +<p>“Lizzie, Lizzie, Lizzie! I can’t live an’ have you do it. +You don’t know, child, what I have to bear.”</p> +<p>“Now look here, ma; you won’t let me have things out +openly with pa and come to an understanding with him, +and when I told you four years ago that you ought to +leave him if you couldn’t live with him peaceably you +talked as if I had committed some sort of sin. You and +pa are determined to fuss it out and I can’t help it, and +I’ve sacrificed four good years to you and the interest is +bigger than it ever was. I haven’t helped you one bit. +If you want to go on living with him You’ll do it in your +own way, but if your life is unbearable, and you want to +leave him, I’ll see that you are provided for. The law +would give you a share of this——”</p> +<p>The noise of the broom and of their voices had prevented +them from hearing any other sounds, but a shadow +fell across the middle door and Josiah Farnshaw entered +the kitchen a blazing picture of wrath. Before he could +speak, however, the dog on the doorstep barked sharply at +a stranger who was close upon him, and the irate father was +obliged to smooth his manner.</p> +<p>Elizabeth escaped to the bedroom as her father crossed +to the kitchen to see what the man wanted, and Mr. Farnshaw +went on out to the pens a moment later with the +“hog buyer,” as the man proved to be.</p> +<p>“My God! My God! What have you done?” Mrs. +Farnshaw cried, following Elizabeth into the bedroom.</p> +<p>“I don’t know, ma,” the girl cried, as white as her +mother. “I’m going to get off to hunt up a school while +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_96' name='page_96'></a>96</span> +that man is here. The sun has come out and it’s only +ten o’clock. If you’re afraid, come along,” she advised, +as she hurried into a clean calico dress and took down her +old black riding skirt from its nail.</p> +<p>“Lizzie!” the mother exclaimed, as much afraid of the +advice as she was of her husband.</p> +<p>There was little time left her for argument, for Elizabeth +hurriedly tied a thick green veil over her plain straw hat +and left the house. The hog pens were on the opposite +side of the stable from the house and Elizabeth soon had +Patsie, now a mare of five years, saddled and bridled.</p> +<p>The air was softening, and it occurred to her that it +was going to rain, as she hurried out of the yard, but she +did not wait to get extra wraps nor her umbrella. The +best thing to do, she knew, was to get away while that +hog buyer was there and trust to luck for the edge of her +father’s anger to wear away before she returned.</p> +<p>Fortunately she had worn her old coat, which was heavy +and waterproof, and when it did begin to rain half an +hour later, instead of turning back she pressed forward, +more afraid of the thunderstorm at home than any to be +encountered on the way.</p> +<p>Elizabeth rode steadily southward, thinking out her +share in this new quarrel in which she had embroiled her +parents, unaware that as it drizzled it became warmer and +that the day had become spring-like and endurable. She +began to question the propriety of having suggested drastic +measures to her mother. “Till death do you part” rang +in her ears in spite of the certainty that the union of her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_97' name='page_97'></a>97</span> +mother and her father was an unholy thing which was +damning them more surely than a separation could possibly +do. Of only one thing could Elizabeth be sure: she +saw without mistake at last that she must decide upon +her own duties hereafter without listening to a mother +who could not decide anything for herself.</p> +<p>The director of the district to which Elizabeth first +turned her steps was away from home when she arrived +and it was necessary to consider where she would go next. +After some thought she decided to try the Chamberlain +district, which lay between there and her home. It was +eight miles from the Farnshaw homestead and far enough +away so that she would not have to board with her parents +and she determined to try to meet the school board, which +met usually on the first Tuesday night in April.</p> +<p>The fact of facing around toward the north again set +her to considering what course of action she would pursue +when she went back home.</p> +<p>“I’ll go back, I guess, and be patient with whatever he +feels like doing with me,” she resolved, reflecting that +from her father’s standpoint he had a very real grievance +against her. “It was a dreadful thing for him to hear +me advising ma to leave him. I guess I owe it to them +to try to straighten it up. But I don’t believe it can ever +be straightened up,” she ended doubtfully.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was passing a grove of young cottonwood +trees and was so absorbed in her thoughts that, becoming +only half conscious that Patsie was lagging and that time +was passing rapidly, she gave her a slap with the strap in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_98' name='page_98'></a>98</span> +her hand, urging the horse to a faster pace as she rounded +the corner of the section without looking up. Patsie +broke into a long, easy lope. Suddenly Elizabeth became +conscious of the noise of other hoofs splashing +toward them. Glancing up, she saw a farm team almost +upon them, whose driver was stooped to avoid the rain.</p> +<p>Elizabeth pulled her horse up sharply, and to one side. +The trail was an old one, and the sloping, washed-out rut +was deep. Patsie lost her footing and, after a slipping +plunge or two, fell floundering on her side before her mistress +could support her with the rein. Active as a boy, +Elizabeth loosened her foot from the stirrup and flung +herself to the other side of the road, out of the way of the +dangerous hoofs. Elizabeth slipped as her feet struck +the ground and she landed on “all-fours” in the grass.</p> +<p>The young man, suddenly awake to what had happened, +was out of his high seat and had the mare by the bridle +before its rider had fairly scrambled up.</p> +<p>“I beg your pardon! Are you hurt?” he called across +the wagon, when Patsie, still nervous from her fall, hung +back as far as her rein would permit and not only refused +to be led but threatened to break away altogether.</p> +<p>“Not at all! Not a bit! Whoa! Patsie! Whoa! +Lady!” Elizabeth cried, coming around to them, and +extending a smeary, dripping hand for the taut rein.</p> +<p>The young man let her step in front of him and put her +hand on the strap, but kept his own there as well, while +they both followed the backing horse with braced steps, +the girl talking soothingly to the frightened animal the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_99' name='page_99'></a>99</span> +while. The naturally docile filly responded to the voice +she had heard from earliest colthood and soon let Elizabeth +approach close enough to put her hand on the bit. +The seriousness of the affair gave way to the comic when +the horse began to snatch bits of grass from the roadside.</p> +<p>The young couple laughed and looked at each other +rather sheepishly as they saw that further cooperation was +not needed. They untangled their hands where they +had slipped tight together in the loop of the bridle rein as +they had followed the rearing beast.</p> +<p>“She has broken the girth,” the young man said, lifting +his hat ceremoniously and with a manner not born of life +on the farm.</p> +<p>He threw the stirrup over the top of the saddle and +fished under the now quiet horse for her dangling surcingle. +Having secured it, he untied the strap and examined +it to see if it were sufficiently long to permit of +tying another knot. Deciding that it was, he tied one +end in the ring in the saddle and, passing the other through +the ring of the girth, drew it up with a strong, steady pull. +His side face against the saddle, as he pulled, permitted +him to examine curiously the young girl in front of him.</p> +<p>“Are you sure you are not hurt at all?” he asked solicitously.</p> +<p>“Not a bit—only muddy,” she replied, stooping to +brush her earth-stained hands through the rain-laden +grass at the roadside. He was still working with the +straps when her hands were cleaned and watched her +openly as she shielded her face behind Patsie’s head while +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_100' name='page_100'></a>100</span> +waiting. The water dripped from the ends of her braided +brown hair and the long dark lashes of her brown eyes +were mist-laden also. He examined all the accoutrements +of her mount minutely. When at last it occurred +to her that he was giving them extra attention for the +sake of extending the time Elizabeth’s eyes lighted up +with a humorous twinkle. The young man caught and +rightly interpreted the expression and was embarrassed.</p> +<p>“I think it’s all right,” he said quickly. “I’m awfully +sorry to have been so stupid. I never thought of meeting +any one in all this rain.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth took that as a reflection upon her presence +out of doors on such a day, and leading her horse down +into the deep road sprang into the saddle from the bank +before he could offer his assistance.</p> +<p>“Thank you for helping me,” she said, and was off +toward the west before he could speak.</p> +<p>She was gone, and he could do nothing but look after +her helplessly.</p> +<p>“Your horse has lamed itself,” he called when he was +at last able to concern himself with such matters, but +either the spattering hoofbeats prevented her hearing his +voice or she was determined not to reply; he could not +tell which. There was nothing to do but return to his +wagon.</p> +<p>“Confound it!” he exclaimed. “Now you’ve made an +ass of yourself and let her get away without finding out +who she was or where she lived.” He liked her—and he +was an ass! He anathematized himself openly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_101' name='page_101'></a>101</span></p> +<p>When well away from the man, Elizabeth saw that his +observation regarding the prospects of meeting people on +such a day was a perfectly natural one and not aimed at +her at all. She laughed at the spectacle she was sure she +must have presented, and wished now that she had not +been in such a hurry in leaving him. Here was a man +worth looking at. The gesture as he had lifted his hat +indicated refinement.</p> +<p>“Curious that I haven’t seen him—he lives here some +where,” she pondered, and now that she could not find +out she rated herself severely for the embarrassment which +was apt to assail her at critical moments.</p> +<p>Patsie limped miserably, and Elizabeth brought her +down to a walk and let her droop along the old country +road, and speculated on this new specimen of masculinity +which had dropped from the skies to puzzle and delight +her soul.</p> +<p>The rain beat heavily now, and Elizabeth began to take +her situation into account after thinking over the stranger +a few minutes. There was a perfect deluge of water from +the burdened sky, and though no sign of a house could be +seen, she knew she could not be far from the Chamberlain +homestead; but the ground was becoming more and more +soggy, and her garments were not of the heaviest. Patsie’s +feet went ploop, ploop, ploop, in the soft, muddy road. +Elizabeth urged her to the fastest possible walking speed +in spite of her lameness. To trot or gallop was impossible, +and the young horse slipped now and then in a manner +which would have unseated a less skilful rider. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_102' name='page_102'></a>102</span></p> +<p>The sodden Kansas road was aflood with this spring +rain. Patsie laboured heavily and Elizabeth gave herself +up to her cogitations again. Her mind had reacted +to more pleasant subjects than home affairs.</p> +<p>It had been a dreary, disheartening ride, and yet it had +had its compensations, for was not the rider young and +the earth filled with the freshness of spring? The short +and tender grass bordered the road to the very wheel-ruts; +the meadow larks sang regardless of the rain, or mayhap +in sheer meadow-lark delight because of it. To the +south a prairie chicken drummed, and a cow called to her +calf, whose reply came from a point still farther in the +distance. At the sound of the cow’s lowing Elizabeth +Farnshaw peered delightedly through mists.</p> +<p>“I knew it couldn’t be much farther, Patsie,” she said, +leaning forward and patting the neck of the dripping +horse. Little spurts of water flew spatteringly from under +the affectionate palm, and Elizabeth shook her bare hand +to free it from the wet hairs which adhered to it, laughing +at her rainsoaked condition.</p> +<p>It was indeed a time for seeking shelter.</p> +<p>Presently the rattle of a chain was heard nearby, then +the outlines of a straw stable were seen, and from the foreground +of mist a man appeared unhitching a team of +horses from a large farm wagon. Patsie gave a little +nicker of anticipation as she scented the sacks of oats, +carefully covered, in the back of the wagon. The old +man rose from his stooping position in unfastening the +tugs and faced the newcomer. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_103' name='page_103'></a>103</span></p> +<p>“Why, it’s Miss Farnshaw! Gee whiz! Be you a duck +t’ be out on such a day as this?” he inquired, stepping +forward when he saw that she was coming in. Then +chuckling at his own humour, he added:</p> +<p>“I guess you be a goslin’—a goslin’ bein’ a young +goose, you know.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Farnshaw laughed. “But my feathers aren’t +turning the rain, Mr. Chamberlain.” It was the second +time within the hour that she had been reminded that +women were not expected to go out of doors in a rainstorm.</p> +<p>“That’s because you’re such a young goose, you know; +you ain’t got no feathers yet, it’s only down.”</p> +<p>“Fairly caught!” she replied, backing her horse around +so that the rain would come from behind, “Tell me, does +the school board meet to-night?”</p> +<p>“Oh, ho!” the farmer replied, “that’s th’ way th’ wind +blows, is it? Now look here, young lady, if you be as +prompt in lickin’ them youngsters in season an’ out o’ +season as you be in lookin’ up schools I guess You’ll do. +Yes, sir-ee, th’ school board meets to-night an’ you jes’ +come t’ th’ house an’ have a bite t’ eat an’ we’ll see what +we can do for you. Why, stars an’ garters!” he exclaimed +as he lifted her down from her horse, “Liza Ann ’ll have +t’ put you in th’ oven along with th’ rest of th’ goslins.” +Then he added: “Now you run along to th’ house, an’ +I’ll take this horse in hand. I judge by its nicker you +didn’t stop for no dinner to-day.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Chamberlain appeared at the door and her husband +called to her, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_104' name='page_104'></a>104</span></p> +<p>“Liza Ann! here’s Miss Farnshaw, as wet as that last +brood of chickens you found under th’ corn-planter. Give +’er a dry pair of shoes an’ take ’er wet coat off o’ ’er.”</p> +<p>As Elizabeth turned to her hostess, the old man exclaimed, +“Why, Gosh all Friday, what’s happened to +your horse?”</p> +<p>“I’m awfully worried about Patsie’s foot. She slipped +in the muddy road this afternoon. Do you suppose It’ll +lay her up? It’s a busy time and pa needs her.”</p> +<p>“I don’t know; it’s in a ticklish place. I’ll rub it good +with Mustang liniment; that’s th’ best thing I know of. +Now you run on to th’ house; you’re wet enough t’ wake +up lame yourself in th’ mornin’,” he admonished, straightening +up, with his hands on the small of his back.</p> +<p>Having dismissed Elizabeth, Silas Chamberlain took +Patsie’s saddle from her back and laid it across Old +Queen’s harness, taking his own team into the barn first. +Old Queen was an unsocial animal and it was necessary +to tie her in the far stall when a strange horse was brought +into the barn, as she had a way of treating intruders badly. +She sniffed at the saddle distrustfully as Mr. Chamberlain +tied her up.</p> +<p>“Whoa! there!” he said emphatically, giving her a +slap on the flank which sent her into the opposite corner +of the stall. “You needn’t be s’ all fired touchy you can’t +let a strange saddle come into th’ stall. That saddle’s +carried th’ pluckiest girl in this end of th’ county t’day. +Gosh-a-livin’s! Think of her a comin’ out on a day like +this, an’ smilin’ at them wet feathers, as she called ’em, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_105' name='page_105'></a>105</span> +’s if it didn’t make no difference bein’ wet at all. Now if +John Hunter gets his eyes on ’er there’ll be an end of ma’s +board money; an’ then how’ll I finish payin’ fur that sewin’ +machine?”</p> +<p>In the house, after some time spent in trying to be +stiffly polite to her guest, the unwilling hostess began the +supper. The potatoes were put on to fry, the kettle +sang, and Mrs. Chamberlain sat down to grind the coffee +in a mill which she grasped firmly between her knees.</p> +<p>“Maybe you ’uns don’t drink coffee?” she remarked +anxiously, stopping to look over at the girl, who sat near +the fire drying her shoes in the oven.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes,” Elizabeth answered slowly, coming back +reluctantly from a consideration of the handsome stranger +she had met; “that is,” she added confusedly, “I never +drink anything but water, anyhow.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Chamberlain gave a relieved sigh. “I was afraid +you’d rather have tea, an’ I ain’t got no tea in th’ house. +Bein’ farmin’ season now it seems as if I can’t never get +t’ town.”</p> +<p>Just then one adventurous chick which, with the rest +of the brood, had been discovered under the corn-planter +earlier in the day, jumped out of the box in which it had +been kept near the fire. Mrs. Chamberlain set the mill +on the table and gave chase to the runaway.</p> +<p>“That’s th’ peertest chicken of th’ lot,” she remarked as +she again enveloped him in the old woollen skirt, from the +folds of which came much distressed cheeping. “They’re +hungry, I think,” she added, reaching for a bowl of yellow +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_106' name='page_106'></a>106</span> +cornmeal which she mixed with water. Lifting the skirt +off the little brood carefully, and giving it a cautious shake +to assure herself that no unwary chick was caught in its +folds, she dropped some of the mixture in the middle of +the box, tapping lightly with the spoon to call the attention +of the chicks to its presence. The chickens pecked +hungrily, and there was a satisfied note in the twitterings +of the downy little group as Mrs. Chamberlain turned to +the preparation of her supper again.</p> +<p>“Yes, he’s th’ peertest chicken of th’ lot; an’ I’d most +as soon he’d been more like th’ rest—he’s always gettin’ +out of th’ box.”</p> +<p>“Now, Liza Ann, you ain’t thinkin’ nothin’ of th’ kind,” +said her husband, who had hurried with his evening chores +so as to get a chance to visit with the company and had +just come in from the stable. “You know you said yourself, +‘Thank goodness, there’s one on ’em alive,’ when you +fished ’em out from under that planter. Th’ same thing’s +keeping ’im on th’ go now that kept ’im from givin’ up as +quick as th’ rest did then. Chicken’s is like boys, Miss +Farnshaw,” Silas continued, addressing Elizabeth; “th’ +ones that makes th’ most trouble when thy’re little, you +can count on as bein’ th’ most likely when they’re growed +up. Now, Liza Ann there counted on that chicken soon’s +ever she set eyes on ’im.”</p> +<p>Having washed his face and hands in the tin basin on +the bench just outside the kitchen door, Silas Chamberlain +combed his curly locks of iron gray before the little looking +glass which was so wrinkled that he looked like some +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_107' name='page_107'></a>107</span> +fantastic caricature when mirrored on its surface. After +a short grace at the opening of the meal, he passed a dish +of potatoes, remarking:</p> +<p>“We ain’t much hands t’ wait on th’ table, Miss Farnshaw; +You’ll have t’ reach an’ help yourself.”</p> +<p>“Who’s this plate for?” Elizabeth asked at last, designating +the vacant place at her side.</p> +<p>“That’s John’s,” said Mrs. Chamberlain.</p> +<p>“John Hunter’s, Miss Farnshaw,” said Silas. “He’s +our boarder, an’ th’ likeliest young man in these parts.” +Then he added with conviction, “You two be goin’ t’ like +each other.”</p> +<p>A girlish blush covered the well-tanned cheeks, and to +hide her embarrassment Elizabeth said with a laugh:</p> +<p>“Describe this beau ideal of yours.”</p> +<p>“Now, Si, do let th’ child alone,” Mrs. Chamberlain +protested. “He’s always got t’ tease,” she added deprecatingly.</p> +<p>“Sometimes I be an’ sometimes not. Miss Farnshaw +made me think of you some way when I see her this afternoon.” +Noting his wife’s look of surprise, he explained: +“I mean when I see you down to th’ Cherryvale meetin’ +house. An’ it didn’t take me long t’ make up my mind +after that, neither.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Chamberlain smiled at the mention of girlhood +days, but said nothing, and Silas turned to Elizabeth again +with his honest face alight with memories of youth.</p> +<p>“You see, Miss Farnshaw, I’d gone out on th’ hunt of a +stray calf, an’ an unexpected shower came on—th’ kind +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_108' name='page_108'></a>108</span> +that rains with th’ sun still a shinin’—an’ I dug my heels +into old Charlie’s flanks an’ hurried along down th’ road +to th’ meeting house, a few rods farther on, when what +should I see but a pretty girl on th’ steps of that same +place of refuge! Well, I begged ’er pardon, but I stayed +on them there steps till that shower cleared off. Most +of th’ time I was a prayin’ that another cloud would appear, +an’ I didn’t want it no bigger than a man’s hand +neither. No, sir-ee, I wouldn’t ’a’ cared if it’d ’a’ been as +big as th’ whole Bay of Biscay. An’ what I was thinkin’ +jest now was that there was about th’ same fundamental +differences ’tween you an’ John Hunter that th’ was +’tween Liza Ann an’ me. He’s light haired an’ blue eyed, +an tall an’ slim, an’ he’s openin’ up a new farm, an’ ’ll +need a wife. He talks of his mother comin’ out t’ keep +house for him, but, law’s sakes! she wasn’t raised on a +farm an’ wouldn’t know nothin’ about farm work. Oh, +yes, I forgot t’ tell you th’ best part of my story: I got t’ +carry Miss Liza Ann Parkins home on old Charlie, ’cause +th’ crick rose over th’ banks outen th’ clouds of rain I +prayed for!”</p> +<p>“Now, Si Chamberlain, there ain’t a word of truth in +that, an’ you know it,” said his wife, passing Elizabeth a +hot biscuit. “I walked home by th’ turnpike road, Miss +Farnshaw, though we did wait a bit, till it dried up a +little.”</p> +<p>Her husband’s laugh rang out; he had trapped Liza Ann +into the discussion, in spite of herself, and he had trapped +her into an admission as well. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_109' name='page_109'></a>109</span></p> +<p>“Well,” he said, “I may be mistaken about th’ details, +but I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for th’ rainy +days since that particular time.”</p> +<p>“But you haven’t told me why Mr. Hunter isn’t here +to eat his supper,” said Elizabeth, “nor have you told me +what he is like.”</p> +<p>“Oh, he’s gone over to Colebyville for his mail, an’ +won’t be home till late—in all this mud. As to what he’s +like—it ain’t easy t’ tell what John’s like; he’s—he’s a +university feller; most folks say he’s a dude, but we like +him?”</p> +<p>“What university?” Elizabeth asked with a quick indrawn +breath; she knew now whom she had met on the +road that afternoon.</p> +<p>“He comes from Illinois. I guess it’s th’ State University—I +never asked him. His father died an’ left +him this land an’ he’s come out here to farm it. Couldn’t +plow a straight furrow t’ save his life when he come a little +over a year ago, but he’s picked up right smart,” Silas +added, thereby giving the information the young girl +wanted.</p> +<p>This young man was to be in this neighbourhood all +summer. Still another reason for applying for the Chamberlain +school.</p> +<p>As Elizabeth helped Liza Ann with her dishwashing +after supper, John Hunter came in. The ground had been +too soft for them to hear the wagon when he drove +up. Silas introduced them promptly and added with +a grin: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_110' name='page_110'></a>110</span></p> +<p>“You’ve heard of folks that didn’t know enough t’ +come in out of th’ rain? Well, that’s her!”</p> +<p>John Hunter’s eyes twinkled an amused recognition, +but he did not mention the accident in which Patsie had +come to grief.</p> +<p>“I am very glad to meet you, Miss Farnshaw; we are +both wet weather birds.”</p> +<p>Seeing Liza Ann reach for a frying pan, he addressed +himself to her:</p> +<p>“Never mind any supper for me, Mrs. Chamberlain. +I knew I’d be late, as I had to go around by Warren’s after +I got back, and I got an early supper at the new hotel before +I left town!”</p> +<p>“The extravagance of that!” exclaimed Mrs. Chamberlain, +to whom hotel bills were unknown.</p> +<p>John Hunter went to the door to clean some extra mud +off his boot tops, and to hide a wide and fatuous smile at +the thought of tricking Silas out of his accustomed joke. +He felt nearer the girl, because she too had been silent +regarding the afternoon encounter. He liked the mutuality +of it and resolved that it should not be the last +touch of that sort between them. While not really +intellectual, John Hunter had the polish and tastes +of the college man, and here he reflected was a girl who +seemed near being on his own level. She looked, he +thought, as if she could see such small matters as bespattered +clothes.</p> +<p>Silas followed him out. “You didn’t bed them horses +down did you?” he asked. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_111' name='page_111'></a>111</span></p> +<p>“No. I expect we’d better do it now and have it out +of the way.”</p> +<p>As they entered the dark stable and felt their way along +the back of the little alley, behind the stalls, for the pitchforks, +the younger man asked indifferently:</p> +<p>“Who did you say the young lady was?”</p> +<p>“Oh, ho!” shouted Silas; “it didn’t take you long. I +knew you’d be courtin’ of me along with your questions. +Now look here, John Hunter, you can’t go an’ carry this +schoolma’am off till this here term’s finished. I look +fur Carter an’ that new director over to-night, for a +school meetin’, an’ I’m blamed if I’m goin’ t’ have +you cuttin’ into our plans—no, sirr-ee—she’s t’ be +left free t’ finish up this school, anyhow, if I help ’er +get it.”</p> +<p>“No danger! You get her the school; but how does +she come to have that air away out here? Does she come +from some town near here?”</p> +<p>“Town nothin’! She was jest raised on these prairies, +same as th’ rest of us. Ain’t she a dandy! No, sir—’er +father’s a farmer—’bout as common as any of us, an’ +she ain’t had no different raisin’. She’s different in ’erself +somehow. Curious thing how one body’ll have a +thing an’ another won’t, an’ can’t seem t’ get it, even when +he wants it an’ tries. Now you couldn’t make nothin’ +but jest plain farmer out of me, no matter what you done +t’ me.”</p> +<p>“Do you think they’ll give her the school?” John asked.</p> +<p>Silas’s laugh made the young man uncomfortable. He +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_112' name='page_112'></a>112</span> +had intended to avoid the necessity for it, but had forgotten +himself.</p> +<p>“There’s Carter now,” was all the reply the old man +gave as he moved toward the door, which he could dimly +see now that he had been in the darkness long enough for +his eyes to become accustomed to it. The splashing footsteps +of a horse and the voice of a man cautioning it came +from toward the road.</p> +<p>“That you, Carter?” Silas called.</p> +<p>“Yes. This ground’s fairly greasy to-night,” answered +the voice.</p> +<p>“Bring your horse in here; there’s room under cover for +it,” was the rejoinder.</p> +<p>They tied it in the darkness, feeling their way from strap +to manger. “The Farnshaw girl’s here waitin’ fur th’ +school.”</p> +<p>“Glad of that,” replied the newcomer. “I don’t know +her very well, but they say she can handle youngsters. +She’s had some extry schoolin’ too. Don’t know as that +makes any difference in a summer term, but it’s never in +th’ way.”</p> +<p>The young man slipped out of the stable, intending to +get a word with the new teacher before the others came +to the house. The school was assured to her with two +members of the board in her favour, he reflected. Liza +Ann had gone to the other room, and finding the way clear +he asked in a half whisper:</p> +<p>“Did you lame your horse badly?” And when Elizabeth +only nodded and looked as if she hoped her hostess +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_113' name='page_113'></a>113</span> +had not heard, John Hunter was filled with joy. The +mutuality of the reticence put them on the footing of good +fellowship. There was no further opportunity for conversation, +as they heard Silas and Carter on the step and +a third party hail them from a distance.</p> +<p>There was a moment’s delay and when the door did at +last open Elizabeth Farnshaw gave a glad cry:</p> +<p>“Uncle Nate! Where in the world did you come from?”</p> +<p>She caught Nathan Hornby by the lapels of his wet +overcoat and stood him off from her, looking at him in +such a transport of joy that they were the centre of an +admiring and curious group instantly.</p> +<p>While Nathan explained that they had only last month +traded their wooded eighty for a hundred and sixty acres +of prairie land in this district, and that it had been their +plan to surprise her the next Sunday by driving over to +see her before she had heard that they were in that part +of the state, Elizabeth sat on the edge of the wood-box +and still held to his coat as if afraid the vision might +vanish from her sight, and asked questions twice as fast +as the pleased old man could answer them, and learned +that Nathan had been appointed to fill out the unexpired +term of the moderator of the Chamberlain school district, +with whom he had traded for the land. The business of +the evening was curtailed to give the pair a chance to talk, +and when the contract was signed, Elizabeth said that she +would go home with Nathan, and John Hunter thrust +himself into the felicitous arrangement by taking the +young girl over in his farm wagon, it being decided that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_114' name='page_114'></a>114</span> +Patsie’s lameness made it best for her to remain housed +in Silas’s barn for the night.</p> +<p>It was a mile and a half along soggy roads to Nathan +Hornby’s, and John Hunter made as much of the time +fortune had thrown at him as possible. They sat under +one umbrella, and found the distance short, and John told +her openly that he was glad she was to be in his neighbourhood.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='V_REACHING_HUNGRY_HANDS_TOWARD_A_SYMBOL' id='V_REACHING_HUNGRY_HANDS_TOWARD_A_SYMBOL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_115' name='page_115'></a>115</span> +<h2>CHAPTER V</h2> +<h3>REACHING HUNGRY HANDS TOWARD A SYMBOL</h3> +</div> + +<p>Susan Hornby’s delight over Elizabeth’s coming +was the most satisfying thing Nathan had +seen since his return from Topeka. He had traded +the land to please his wife, by getting nearer Elizabeth, +but the presence of the girl in the house was so overwhelmingly +surprising that Susan was swept by its very +suddenness into shedding tears of actual joy. Elizabeth +was put to the disconcerting necessity of explaining that +her mother somewhat resented Aunt Susan’s influence +upon her daughter’s life when she found her friends enthusiastically +planning visits in the near future. She +softened the details as much as possible and passed it +over as only a bit of maternal jealousy, but was obliged +to let this dear friend see that it was rather a serious +matter in her calculations. Susan Hornby now understood +why Elizabeth had never visited her in these four +years.</p> +<p>With the eyes of love Aunt Susan saw that four years +in a position of authority had ripened her darling, and +made of her a woman of wit and judgment, who could tell +a necessary thing in a right manner or with a reserve which +was commendable. Eagerly she studied her to see what +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_116' name='page_116'></a>116</span> +the changes of those formative years had brought her. +She listened to Elizabeth’s plans for going to Topeka, and +rejoiced that the intellectual stimulus was still strong in +her. Elizabeth was obliged to explain away her parent’s +attitude regarding further education, and left much for +the older woman to fill in by her intuitions and experience +of the world, but there again Susan Hornby saw evidences +of strength which made her feel that the loss was offset +by power gained. Elizabeth Farnshaw had matured and +had qualities which would command recognition. John +Hunter had shown that he recognized them—a thing +which Elizabeth without egotism also knew.</p> +<p>It was a new experience to go to sleep thinking of any +man but Hugh. In the darkness of the little bedroom in +which Elizabeth slept that night Hugh’s priority was met +face to face by John Hunter’s proximity. Possession is +said to be nine points in the law, and John Hunter was on +the ground. The girl had been shut away from those of +her kind until her hungry hands in that hour of thought, +reached out to the living presence of the cultured man, +and her hungry heart prayed to heaven that she might not +be altogether unpleasing to him.</p> +<p>In the hour spent with John Hunter she had learned +that he had come to Kansas to open a farm on the only +unmortgaged piece of property which his father had left +him when he died; that his mother intended to come to +him as soon as he had a house built; and by an accidental +remark she had also learned that there were lots in some +eastern town upon which enough money could be raised +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_117' name='page_117'></a>117</span> +to stock the farm with calves and that it was the young +man’s intention to farm this land himself. It seemed so +incredible that John Hunter should become a farmer that +by her astonished exclamation over it she had left him +self-satisfied at her estimate of his foreignness to the life +he was driven to pursue.</p> +<p>Elizabeth saw that if John Hunter must needs run a +farm that he would do his best at it, but that he did not +wish to <i>appear</i> one with a rôle, and being young and with +her own philosophy of life in a very much muddled condition, +she liked him the better for it. Crucified daily by +the incongruities of her own home, she craved deliverance +from it and all it represented.</p> +<p>Just now Elizabeth Farnshaw was going home with +something akin to fear in her heart. She rated herself +soundly for the useless advice she had thrust upon her +mother and for the entangling difficulties which her +thoughtless words had produced. That the union of her +parents was unclean, that it was altogether foul and by +far worse than a divorce, she still felt confident, but she +saw that her mother was totally unable to comprehend the +difference between a clean separate life and the nagging +poison dealt out as daily bread to the husband with whom +she lived; but she saw that because of that very inability +to understand the difference, the mother must be left to +find the light in her own way. In her desire to help, +Elizabeth had but increased her mother’s burdens, and +she tried to assume an attitude of added tenderness toward +her in her own mind, and puckered her young face into a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_118' name='page_118'></a>118</span> +frown as she let Patsie limp slowly from one low hill to +another.</p> +<p>“I’ll do everything I can to square the deal for ma,” +she resolved, but in her heart there was a sick suspicion +that all she could do was not much, and that it had small +chance really to avail.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had started early for home, but the sun rode +high in the heavens before she arrived. Albert, who was +herding the cattle on the short grass a half mile from +home, warned her as she passed that she would do well to +hurry to the house.</p> +<p>“Pa waited for you to do the milking, Bess, an’ you +didn’t come. He’s mad as a hornet, an’ You’ll have t’ +bring th’ cows out after he gets through.”</p> +<p>It was a friendly warning. To be milking at that hour, +when all the men in the neighbourhood were already following +plow and harrow, was an important matter on +the farm. Plainly it had been arranged to make Elizabeth +feel a hindrance to the business of getting in the +crops, and it was with increased apprehension that she +approached home.</p> +<p>The storm broke as soon as she was within hailing +distance.</p> +<p>“It’s time you brought that horse home, young lady. +You see to it that it’s harnessed for th’ drag as quick as +ever you can. Next time you get a horse You’ll know +it.”</p> +<p>When Elizabeth started on and Mr. Farnshaw saw +that Patsie was lame his anger knew no bounds, and the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_119' name='page_119'></a>119</span> +sound of his exasperated voice could have been heard half +a mile away as he poured out a stream of vituperation.</p> +<p>Elizabeth dodged into the barn as soon as its friendly +door could be reached, thankful that the cows were as far +as they were from it. Joe was harnessing a team in the +far corner.</p> +<p>“You better shy around pa, Sis; and get t’ th’ house,” +he cautioned.</p> +<p>“All right. He told me to harness Patsie, but she’s so +lame I know she can’t work—what will I do?”</p> +<p>“If she can’t work, she can’t. How did it happen?”</p> +<p>“She strained herself just before I got to Mr. Chamberlain’s. +I was passing a young man by the name of +Hunter and she fell flat. Say, do you know anything +about Mr. Hunter?”</p> +<p>“Yes, yes. Jimmie Crane says he’s a stuck-up, who’s +goin’ t’ show us country jakes how t’ farm; but th’ best +thing you can do is t’ get in an’ not let pa get any excuse +for a row.”</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw had taken the milkpails to the house while +they were talking and it was Elizabeth’s fate to encounter +him on the doorstep as she ran up to the kitchen door.</p> +<p>“Where were you last night?”</p> +<p>“I’m awfully sorry about the horse, pa. I hurried this +morning, but Patsie was so lame and I had to come all +the way from the Chamberlain district. The Haddon +school board didn’t meet this week and the director of +number Twelve was away, and it was so late last night +that I couldn’t get home.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_120' name='page_120'></a>120</span></p> +<p>“Oh, you’ve always got a good excuse. I bet you didn’t +get a school after all.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had been edging toward the door as her father +was speaking and now made her escape to the inside of +the house as she replied over her shoulder in a perfectly +respectful tone:</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, I did, and it begins Monday.”</p> +<p>“Well, it’s better than I expected. Now see to it that +you get that riding skirt off an’ come an’ drive my team +while I finish them oats.”</p> +<p>The daughter stopped where she stood and was going +to reply that she must get ready if she were to go to Aunt +Susan’s the next day, but on second thought closed her +mouth down firmly. She knew she would do well if she +escaped with no harder tax laid upon her temper than +that of putting off her arrival at the Hornby home, and +she turned to do as she was bidden.</p> +<p>When Elizabeth found her homecoming unpleasant +and her father sullen and evidently nursing his wrath, she +faced the storm without protest, took all that was said +quietly, helped in the fields and endeavoured to make up +for her unfortunate words in every helpful way possible. +In all, she was so subtly generous with her assistance that it +was impossible to bring on a quarrel with her, and the sour +demeanour of her father was so carefully handled that +Friday arrived without an open break having occurred. +A new dress had been one of the longed-for accomplishments +of the week’s work, but certain of Aunt Susan’s +help when she was safely entrenched in her home, Elizabeth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_121' name='page_121'></a>121</span> +retired to the attic whenever she saw her father +approach the house. His attitude was threatening, but +the anxious girl was able to delay the encounter. It +could only be <i>delayed</i>, for Mr. Farnshaw made a virtue +of not forgetting unpleasant things.</p> +<p>The only unfortunate occurrence of the week was the +presence of Sadie Crane and her mother when Mr. Hunter +drove up to the back door for Elizabeth’s trunk, but even +this had had its beneficial side, for Josiah Farnshaw had +been mending harness, because a shower had made the +ground too wet to plow, and the presence of neighbours +made it possible to get the trunk packed without unpleasantness. +When John Hunter drove up to the back door, +Mr. Farnshaw rose from his chair beside the window and +went to help put his daughter’s possessions in the wagon. +Sadie crossed over to the window to get a look at Lizzie’s +new beau.</p> +<p>Sadie Crane was now sixteen years old, and being undersized +and childish of appearance had never had the pleasure +of the company of a young man. The yearning in +her pettish face as she stood unevenly on the discarded +harness, looking out of the window toward John Hunter, +caught Elizabeth’s attention and illuminated the whole +affair to the older girl.</p> +<p>“Dude!” Sadie exclaimed spitefully, facing about and +evidently offering insult.</p> +<p>But Elizabeth Farnshaw had seen the unsatisfied look +which preceded the remark and it was excused. Sadie was +just Sadie, and not to be taken seriously. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_122' name='page_122'></a>122</span></p> +<p>“He’d better soak his head; he can’t farm.”</p> +<p>No one replied, and Elizabeth said hurried good-byes +and escaped.</p> +<p>But though Sadie Crane was undersized and spoke +scornfully, she was old enough to feel a woman’s desires +and dream a woman’s dreams. She watched the pair +drive away together in pleasant converse on the quilt-lined +spring seat of the farm wagon, and swallowed a sob.</p> +<p>“Lizzie always had th’ best of everything,” she reflected.</p> +<p>The roads were slippery and gave an excuse for driving +slowly, and the young man exerted himself to be agreeable. +The distaste for the presence of the Cranes at her home +when he came for her, his possible opinion of her family +and friends, the prolonged struggle with her father, even +the headache from which she had not been free for days, +melted out of Elizabeth’s mind in the joy of that ride, +and left it a perfect experience. It began to rain before +they were halfway to their destination, and they sat +shoulder to shoulder under the umbrella, with one of the +quilts drawn around both. There was a sack of butterscotch, +and they talked of Scott, and Dickens, and the +other books Elizabeth Farnshaw had absorbed from Aunt +Susan’s old-fashioned library; and Elizabeth was surprised +to find that she had read almost as much as this +college man, and still more surprised to find that she remembered +a great deal more of what she had read than +he seemed to do. She asked many questions about his +college experiences and learned that he had lacked but a +year and a half of graduation. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_123' name='page_123'></a>123</span></p> +<p>“Why didn’t you finish?” she asked curiously.</p> +<p>“Well, you know, father died, and I didn’t have hardly +enough to finish on, so I thought I’d come out here and +get to making something. I didn’t care to finish. I’d had +my fun out of it. I wish I hadn’t gone at all. If I’d +gone into the office with my father and been admitted +to the Bar it would have been better for me. I wouldn’t +have been on the farm then,” he said regretfully.</p> +<p>“Then why didn’t you go into the law? You could +have made it by yourself,” Elizabeth said, understanding +that it hurt John Hunter’s pride to farm.</p> +<p>The young man shrugged his dripping shoulders and +pulled the quilt tighter around them as he answered indifferently:</p> +<p>“Not very well. Father left very little unmortgaged +except mother’s own property, and I thought I’d get out +of Canton. It ain’t easy to live around folks you know +unless you have money.”</p> +<p>“But you could have worked your way through college; +lots of boys do it,” the girl objected.</p> +<p>“Not on your life!” John Hunter exclaimed emphatically. +“I don’t go to college that way.” After a few +moments’ musing he added slowly, “I’ll make money +enough to get out of here after a while.”</p> +<p>“I only wish I’d had your chance,” Elizabeth said with +a sigh.</p> +<p>“Let’s talk about something cheerful,” young Hunter +replied, when he realized that the ride was nearly over. +“When may I come to see you again?” he asked. “You +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_124' name='page_124'></a>124</span> +are to see a good deal of me this summer if you will permit +it.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Farnshaw caught a happy breath before she +replied. He wanted to come; she was to see much of him +this summer if she would permit it! Could nature and +fate ask for more?</p> +<p>When Elizabeth arrived, the old couple bustled about +the bright carpeted room, making it comfortable, and +cooing over the return of their prodigal, till a heaven of +homeness was made of her advent.</p> +<p>Half an hour later Elizabeth, dry and warm and with a +cup of tea beside her which she had found it easier to +accept than to refuse, looked about her and invoiced the +changes of four years which in her preoccupied state of +mind during her former visit she had neglected to think +upon. There were many little changes in the household +arrangement, due to the observations of the winter spent +in Topeka. In personal appearance Aunt Susan herself +showed improvement.</p> +<p>When Elizabeth’s attention was turned to Nathan, +however, the glad little enumeration became a more sober +one. In the days when they had fed the motherless Patsie +together Nathan Hornby had been portly, even inclined +to stoutness, and his face, though tough from wind +and sun, inclined to be ruddy. The genial gray eyes had +sparkled with confidence in himself and good-will toward +all about him. At Silas Chamberlain’s house a week ago +the girl had noticed that Nathan let others arrange the +business details of contracts and credentials, but his joy +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_125' name='page_125'></a>125</span> +at meeting her had obscured the habitual sadness of his +present manner. She had noticed that he was thinner, +but to-night she saw the waste and aging which had consumed +him. The belt line which had bulged comfortably +under the vest of five years ago was flat and flabby, the +thick brown hair which had shown scarcely a thread of +white was now grizzled and thin, the ruddy cheeks had +fallen in, and two missing lower teeth made him whistle his +s’es through the gap with a sound unlike his bluff speech +of their first acquaintance, so that without the face which +accompanied the words she could hardly have recognized +the connection between the man who had and the man +who did embody the same personality. The cogitations +of the first half hour in the white counterpaned bed that +night left Elizabeth in a maze of wonder over his physical +as well as mental collapse.</p> +<p>Aunt Susan was evidently aware of changes also, for +she hovered over him solicitously. Nathan Hornby was +a broken man.</p> +<p>School opened auspiciously on Monday; John Hunter +came and stayed to walk home with Elizabeth on Tuesday +afternoon, and the glad weeks which followed were but +the happy record of so many rides, walks, and talks, and +the dreams of Elizabeth Farnshaw and John Hunter. He +was with the girl daily. Elizabeth never expressed the +smallest desire for anything human hand could obtain +for her that John Hunter did not instantly assure her that +she should receive it. If she stayed to sweep out the +schoolhouse, John would almost certainly appear at the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_126' name='page_126'></a>126</span> +door before she had finished—his fields commanded a +view of her comings and goings—if she went to Carter’s +to have a money order cashed he accompanied her; if she +wished to go anywhere she had but to mention it and John +Hunter and his team were at her service.</p> +<p>Elizabeth could not have been otherwise than happy. +The spring, with its freshness and promise, was symbolical +of the gladsome currents of her life that joyous April and +May. Her lightest wish was the instant consideration of +the man she admired above all others, and that man, in +refinement of appearance and knowledge of the world, +was as far above those of the country community in +which they lived as the sun was above the smoky kerosene +lamps by which the members of that community lighted +themselves to bed.</p> +<p>John Hunter, during the season of his courtship, served +the girl of his choice almost upon his knees. He made her +feel that she could command his services, his time, and +himself. By his request he ceased to ask when he could +come again, but encouraged, even commanded, her to +tell him when and where she wished to be taken and +to let him come to see her unannounced. He paid +tribute to her as if she had been a goddess and he her +devotee.</p> +<p>Silas looked on and chuckled.</p> +<p>“Didn’t take ’em long,” he remarked to Liza Ann, and +when as usual his wife did not reply, he added: “Glad +we’re to have ’em for neighbours. She’s about th’ liveliest +meadow lark on these prairies, an’ if she don’t sing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_127' name='page_127'></a>127</span> +on a fence post it’s ’cause she ain’t built that way, an’ +can’t; she’s full enough to.”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby looked on and had her misgivings. She +saw the devotion the young man poured out at her darling’s +feet, and she knew that it was the fervour of the +courting time in a man’s life that made him abandon his +own interests and plans while he plumed himself and pursued +his desired mate. She saw the rapturous, dreamy +look of love and mating time in Elizabeth’s eyes, and she +knew that the inevitable had happened, but she was not +content. Premonitions which she sought to strangle +shook her whenever the pair wandered away on real or +fictitious errands. She saw that no word of love had yet +been spoken, but every look cried it aloud and the day +could not be far distant.</p> +<p>Between corn planting and corn plowing the foundations +of the new house had been laid and work on it had +progressed fitfully and whenever the young man could +find time to help the occasional mason who laid brick +and stone for simple foundations, and who had crops of +his own to tend between times. The work had progressed +slowly, but at last the wall had been finished +and the carpenters had come to do their share. It gave +excuse for many trips in the evening twilight. They +usually went on horseback, and Silas’s pony with +Liza Ann’s sidesaddle on its back had more business +on hand that month than in all the other years of its lazy +existence.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby watched the pair ride away one evening +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_128' name='page_128'></a>128</span> +the first week in June. Nathan stood at her side on the +doorstep.</p> +<p>“Of course he loves her; how could he help it? and +yet——”</p> +<p>“And yet, what?” Nathan asked impatiently. “She +wants him, an’ he wants her, an’ you stand there lookin’ +as if that wasn’t enough.”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby turned to her husband with some uncertainty +regarding his comprehension of the subject, and +with a gentle patience with his mood. Nathan was often +impatient of late.</p> +<p>“Yes, I know—only it seems as if——”</p> +<p>“Well, now what’s lacking?” her husband asked when +she again broke off the sentence doubtfully. “He’s got +a good farm, an’ he needs a wife to help him run it. From +what he says, his mother’s too old t’ be of any help. He +can’t run it alone, an’ seems t’ me it’s a good thing for +both of ’em.”</p> +<p>“That’s just it!” Susan Hornby broke out, turning +back, her eyes following the progress of the pair toward +the crimson west, her thoughts running ahead to the unknown +future where the progress of the soul would be +helped or hindered; “that’s just it! He has a farm; now +he’s going to need a wife to help run it—just as he needs +a horse. If he’d only be fair about it, but he’s misleading +her. She thinks he’ll always do things the way he’s doing +them now, and he won’t; there’ll be an end to that kind of +thing some day—and—and when they’re married and +he’s got her fast, that kind of man won’t be nice about +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_129' name='page_129'></a>129</span> +it—and—they’ll live on the farm—and life’s so hard +sometimes! Oh! I can’t bear to see her broken to it!” +she cried with such intensity that the man at her side +caught his breath with a sort of sob.</p> +<p>“Anybody’d think to hear you talk, Susan, that marryin’ +was a thing to be feared, an’ that I’d been mean t’ +you.”</p> +<p>What had she done? There was a half-frightened pause +as Susan Hornby struggled to bring herself back to the +husband standing beside her who was broken by failure.</p> +<p>“Bless your old soul, Nate,” she answered quickly, and +with the flush of confusion on her face strangely like the +flush of guilt, “if he’s only half as good to her as you’ve +been to me, She’ll never have anything to complain of +nor need anybody’s sympathy.”</p> +<p>Susan understood that her assurance did not wholly reassure +that bleeding heart, and to turn Nathan’s thoughts +to other things she slipped one hand through his arm, and +picking up the milk pails from the bench at her side with +the other, said with a little laugh:</p> +<p>“There now! I’ll do your milking for that. You +throw down the hay while I do it. There’s nothing the +matter with you and me, except that I’ve done a washing +to-day and you don’t sleep well of late. I haven’t one +thing in all this world to complain of, and this would be +the happiest year of my life if you weren’t a bit gloomy +and under the weather. Come on—I’m nervous. You +know I never am well in hot weather.”</p> +<p>Nathan knew that Susan was really worried over Elizabeth’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_130' name='page_130'></a>130</span> +prospects, but her luckless remark upon the marriage +of farmers cut into his raw, quivering consciousness +of personal failure like a saw-bladed knife, torturing the +flesh as it went. His failure to place her where her own +natural characteristics and attainments deserved had +eaten into his mind like acid. In proportion as he loved +her and acknowledged her worth he was humiliated by the +fact that she was not getting all out of life of which she +was capable, as his wife, and it left him sensitive regarding +her possible estimate of it.</p> +<p>“She always seems satisfied,” he said to himself as he +turned his pitchfork to get a hold on the pile into which +he had thrust it, “but here she is pityin’ this here girl +that’s goin’ t’ be married as if she goin’ t’ be damned.”</p> +<p>The Adam’s apple in his wrinkled throat tightened +threateningly, and to keep down any unmanly weakness +it indicated he fell upon the hay savagely, but the suspicion +stayed with him and left its bitter sting.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VI__DIDN_T_TAKE__EM_LONG' id='VI__DIDN_T_TAKE__EM_LONG'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_131' name='page_131'></a>131</span> +<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2> +<h3>“DIDN’T TAKE ’EM LONG”</h3> +</div> + +<p>John Hunter and Elizabeth Farnshaw rode +away in the cool summer evening, wholly unconscious +of the thoughts of others. The sun +had dropped behind the low hills in front of them, and as +they rode along, the light-floating clouds were dyed blazing +tints of red and gold, as glowing and rosy as life itself +appeared to the young pair. Elizabeth took off her hat +and let the cool evening breeze blow through the waves of +hair on her temples and about the smooth braids which, +because of the heat of the prematurely hot summer day, +had been wound about her head. Her eyes were dreamy +and her manner detached as she let the pony wander a +half length ahead of its companion, and she was unaware +that John was not talking. She was just drinking +in the freshness of the evening breeze and sky, scarcely +conscious of any of her surroundings, glad as a kitten +to be alive, and as unaware of self as a young animal +should be.</p> +<p>John Hunter rode at her side, watching the soft curls +on her round girlish neck, athrob and athrill with her +presence, and trying to formulate the thing he had brought +her out to say. It was not till they were turning into the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_132' name='page_132'></a>132</span> +lane beside the new house that his companion realized +that he had been more than usually quiet.</p> +<p>“You are a Quaker to-night, evidently, and do not +speak till the spirit moves, Mr. Hunter,” she said, facing +about near the gateway and waiting for him to ride alongside.</p> +<p>The young man caught the cue. “I wish you would call +me John. I’ve been intending to ask you for some time. +I have a given name,” he added.</p> +<p>“Will you do the same?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Call myself John?” he replied.</p> +<p>They both laughed as if a great witticism had been perpetrated.</p> +<p>“No, call me by my given name.”</p> +<p>“Lizzie, Bess, Elizabeth, or Sis?” he asked, remembering +the various nicknames of her family.</p> +<p>“You may call me whatever you choose,” she answered, +drawing the pony up where they were to dismount.</p> +<p>John Hunter stepped to the ground and with his bridle +rein over his arm came around to the left side of her pony. +Laying one hand on its neck and the other on the hand +that grasped its bridle, he looked up into her face earnestly +and said:</p> +<p>“I would like to call you ‘Wife,’ if I may, Elizabeth,” +and held up his arms quickly to help her from the saddle.</p> +<p>When she was on the ground before him he barred +her way and stood, pulsing and insistent, waiting for her +answer.</p> +<p>It was a full minute before either moved, she looking +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_133' name='page_133'></a>133</span> +down at their feet, he looking at her and trying to be sure +he could push his claims.</p> +<p>When Elizabeth did look up it was with her eyes brimming +shyly over with happy tears, and without waiting +for her answer in words, John Hunter gathered her into +his arms and smothered her face in kisses.</p> +<p>Ten minutes later they tied the horses to the new hitching +post and passed into the yard.</p> +<p>“It is to be your house and mine, dearie,” the young +man said, and then looked down at her to see why she did +not answer.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was walking toward the house which was to +be hers, oblivious of time and place, almost unconscious of +the man at her side, stunned by the unexpectedness of this +precious gift of love which had just been offered her. As +they stepped upon the little back porch, he said:</p> +<p>“I brought you over to ask your advice about the stairway; +the carpenters want to leave one step in the sitting +room. It’ll be back far enough from the chimney to be +out of the way and it makes their calculations easier about +the stairs somehow. What do you think?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was altogether too new in the sense of possession +to grasp the full significance of the question. John +Hunter laughed at the look she turned upon him and said, +with a large and benevolent wave of the hand, indicating +the entire premises:</p> +<p>“The house is yours, little girl, and you are to have it +as you want it. The only desire I have on earth is to do +things for you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_134' name='page_134'></a>134</span></p> +<p>Elizabeth shot a quick look of joy up to him. “No one +but Aunt Susan has ever wanted to do anything for me,” +she said, and opening her arms held them out to him, crying, +“Am I to be happy? John! John! do you love me, +really?”</p> +<p>And that was the burden of their conversation during +the entire stay.</p> +<p>“It can’t be possible, John,” the happy girl said at one +point. “I have never known love—and—and I want +it till I could die for it.”</p> +<p>“Just so you don’t die <i>of</i> it, You’ll be all right,” John +Hunter replied, and went home from Nathan’s, later, +whistling a merry tune. He had not known that love +poured itself out with such abandonment. It was a new +feature of the little god’s manoeuvring, but John doubted +not that it was the usual thing where a girl really cared +for a man.</p> +<p>“I’ll farm the whole place next year, and It’ll be different +from boarding at the Chamberlains’, where they don’t +have any napkins and the old man sucks his coffee out of +his saucer as if it hurt him. Mother ’ll like her too, after +we get her away from that sort of thing and brush her up, +and get her into the Hunter ways,” he told himself as he +tied the pony in the dark stall.</p> +<p>The next day was a dream to the young girl, who +patiently watched the clock and waited for the hour of +visiting the new house again. “I have no higher desire +on earth than to do things for you,” was the undercurrent +of her thoughts. She was to escape from the things +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_135' name='page_135'></a>135</span> +which threatened at home. Instead of always rendering +services, which were seldom satisfactory after she had +sacrificed herself to them, she was to be served as well. +Oh, the glad thought! Not of service as such, but of the +mutuality of it. She loved John Hunter and he loved +her. There was to be understanding between them. +That was the joy of it. To put her hand on the arm of +one that appreciated not only her but all that she aimed +at, to open her heart to him, to be one with him in aspiration, +that was the point of value which Elizabeth Farnshaw +never doubted was to be the leading characteristic +of their life together.</p> +<p>Now that she was engaged, Elizabeth felt herself emancipated +from home authority. She would belong to herself +hereafter. She would stay with Aunt Susan till she +had her sewing done for the winter at Topeka. She would +go to school only one year, just enough to polish up on +social ideas and matters of dress. Elizabeth Farnshaw +knew that both John Hunter and his mother were critical +upon those accomplishments and her pride told her to +prepare for the mother’s inspection. She knew that she +was considered a country girl by those of superior advantages, +and she was resolved to show what could be done in +a year in the way of improvement; then she would come +home and teach for money with which to buy her wedding +outfit, and then they would be married. Two years and +the certainty of graduation would have suited her better, +but two years was a long time. The picture of John without +her, and the home he was building for her, planted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_136' name='page_136'></a>136</span> +themselves in the foreground of her thoughts, and Elizabeth +was unselfish. She would not make John Hunter +wait. She would make that one year at Topeka equal to +two in the intensity of its living. She would remain away +the shortest possible length of time which was required +for her preparation. Elizabeth was glad that John had +his mother to keep house for him, because she did not +want him to be lonesome while she was gone, though she +did not doubt that he would come to Topeka many times +while she was there. Her mind flew off in another direction +at that, and she planned to send him word when there +were good lectures to attend.</p> +<p>“John likes those things,” she thought, and was filled +with a new joy at the prospect of their books, and lectures, +and intellectual pursuits. Her plan of teaching in +the high school was abandoned. It was better to be loved +and have a home with John Hunter than to live in Topeka. +The more Elizabeth thought of it the more she was convinced +that her plan was complete. She was glad there +was a month to spare before Mrs. Hunter came. John’s +mother was the only warning finger on Elizabeth’s horizon. +She had always been conscious of a note of anxiety in John +Hunter’s voice and manner whenever he spoke of his +mother coming to Kansas to live, and she found the +anxiety had been transferred to her own mind when she +began to consider her advent into the home John was +building. She had gathered, more from his manner than +anything definitely said, that his mother would not approve +of much that she would be obliged to meet in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_137' name='page_137'></a>137</span> +society about them, that she was a social arbiter in a class +of women superior to these simple farmers’ wives, and +that her whole life and thought were of a different and +more desirable sort. When Elizabeth thought of Mrs. +Hunter she unconsciously glanced down at herself, her +simple print dress, her brown hands, and the heavy shoes +which much walking made necessary, and wondered how +she did really appear; and there was a distinct misgiving +in everything where the older woman had to be considered.</p> +<p>John came early that evening. The carpenters had +raised new questions about shelves and doors and Elizabeth +must go over and decide those matters. They +walked over, and it was late before all the simple arrangements +could be decided upon. As they returned they +walked close together in the centre of the deep road so +as to avoid the dew-laden grass on either side. The open +door of Nathan’s house gave out a hospitable light, but +they were content to saunter slowly, listening to the +harvest crickets which were already chirruping in the +weeds about them, and looking at the lazy red disk of the +moon just peeping above the eastern horizon.</p> +<p>“I shall write mother of our engagement to-night,” +John said after a rather long silence.</p> +<p>“Oh, don’t,” the girl replied, awakened suddenly from a +reverie of a different sort. “Let’s keep it a secret for a +while. I haven’t told Aunt Susan yet, and I don’t want +to tell her till I go to Topeka. Of course I’ll have to explain +if you come down there to see me.”</p> +<p>“To Topeka?” John exclaimed in astonishment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_138' name='page_138'></a>138</span></p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed merrily. “Why, yes,” she said. +“Isn’t it like me to think you knew all about that? I’m +going to Topeka to school this winter—and—and I hope +You’ll come a lot. We’ll have awfully good times. Then +I’ll teach another term and get my wedding clothes and +get them made, and then, John Hunter, I am yours to +have and to hold,” she ended happily.</p> +<p>“You don’t mean that you are going to school again +now that you are going to get married?” John Hunter +asked with such incredulity that Elizabeth laughed a +little joyous laugh full of girlish amusement, full of love +and anticipation.</p> +<p>“Why of course—why not? All the more because we +are going to be married. I’ll want to brush up on lots of +things before I have to live near your mother; and—and +we’ll have awfully good times when you come to see me.”</p> +<p>“Oh, goodness!” John said irritably. “I’d counted on +being married this fall. I simply can’t wait two years, +and that is all there is about it.” Elizabeth argued easily +at first, certain that it could be readily arranged, +but John became more and more positive. At last she +became worried.</p> +<p>The harvest crickets were forgotten as the young girl +pressed closer to his side, explaining the necessity, pointing +out that it was to be her last little fling at the education +for which she had planned so long, her timidity where +his mother was concerned, and her desire to enter the +family upon equal social terms.</p> +<p>“It is all tomfoolery,” John answered with fixity of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_139' name='page_139'></a>139</span> +purpose. “You don’t need a thing that you haven’t +already got—except,” he added slowly, “except what +mother could help you to. But that isn’t the point. I +shall need you. It’s time for me to get down to business +and raise some money. Between building the house and +going”—John hesitated—“and not applying myself as +I should, I’m not making anything this summer. I want +to get away from this—from here—some day, and I +want to begin real work at once. Mother can help you +in anything you don’t know; she’s up on all those things; +and we’ve got to get down to business,” he repeated.</p> +<p>There was a tone of finality in it. Elizabeth recognized +it, but her plans were made and she was not ready +to give them up.</p> +<p>“I can’t go into your house, John, I simply cannot, +without getting away and learning some things. When I +become your wife I want to be a woman you are proud to +take to your mother. I can’t have it otherwise.”</p> +<p>There was quiet while she waited for the answer to her +assertion. Elizabeth thought he was formulating a reply. +The silence lengthened, and still she waited. They were +getting nearer the house and she moved more slowly, drawing +on his arm to check his advance. At last, realizing +that he did not intend to speak when they were just outside +of the lighted doorstep, Elizabeth stopped and, facing +around so that she could see him in the dim light, asked:</p> +<p>“What is it? What have I done to offend you?”</p> +<p>“Nothing, only it upsets every plan I have on earth. +I tell you, it’s all foolishness; and besides, I need you. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_140' name='page_140'></a>140</span> +Now see here”—and he went on to show her how his +mother knew all the things she was going to Topeka to +learn, and to outline his schemes for the future.</p> +<p>Confused by his opposition, and not knowing just how +to meet this first difference of opinion, Elizabeth listened +and made no reply. It was her way to wait when disturbed +until she saw her way clear. Elizabeth was sound +and sturdy but not quick and resourceful when attacked. +John talked on till he had finished his argument and then +turned to the house again. When they arrived at the +step he said a whispered good-bye and was gone before +Elizabeth realized that he was not coming in with her.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby had risen from her chair, thinking that +John was coming into the house, and when she saw that +he did not she slipped her arm about the young girl and +kissed her as she was passing.</p> +<p>“I’m going to bed, Aunt Susan,” Elizabeth said, and +passed on to the door of her own room. Susan Hornby +knew that something had gone wrong.</p> +<p>Saturday morning was spent by Elizabeth sewing on +a dress she was anxious to finish before Mrs. Hunter came, +and when there were only mornings and evenings in which +to sew, and inexperience made much ripping necessary, +the work did not progress rapidly. As she sewed she +considered. No, she would not give up the year away at +school. It was absolutely essential that she come into +the Hunter family equipped and ready to assume the +rôle which a wife should play in it. She would be married +without a whole new outfit of clothes, but the year at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_141' name='page_141'></a>141</span> +school was a necessity. Elizabeth’s pride revolted against +being taught social customs by John Hunter’s mother. +As she thought of the year he must spend alone, however, +she was quite willing to give up teaching an extra year for +the sake of the usual bridal finery. She resolved to tell +him that. She would be married in the simplest thing she +had if he wished.</p> +<p>Fate in the person of John Hunter himself took the +settlement of the bride’s gown out of Elizabeth’s hands. +Just before noon he stopped, on his way back from Colebyville, +to give Susan Hornby the mail he had brought +out from the post-office. Elizabeth followed him to the +wagon when he went out.</p> +<p>“Well, I wrote mother. Can you be ready by October?” +He spoke across the backs of the horses as he untied +them, and was very busy with the straps.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Farnshaw’s face contracted visibly. He had +taken advantage of her.</p> +<p>“How could you do it?” she asked indignantly.</p> +<p>“Why, I thought it was settled! I told you I couldn’t +wait a whole year, much less two. I told you about getting +Mitchell County land and getting down to cattle +raising right off. You didn’t say anything.”</p> +<p>There was such righteous innocence in his voice that +the sting of deception was drawn from her mind. The +young girl made no reply, but leaned her head against +the withers of the horse at her side and looked down at +her foot to hide her tears. It was a blow. She was conscious +that somehow there had been a lack of high principle +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_142' name='page_142'></a>142</span> +in it. Her silence the night before <i>had</i> given some +colour to the claim of it having been settled, but there had +been a haste about this letter which was suspicious. Why +could he not have stopped on the way to town as well as +now on the way home?</p> +<p>The question which was forming in Elizabeth’s mind +was cut short by feeling John’s arm stealing around her. +She started and glanced at the house apprehensively.</p> +<p>“Oh, they can’t see us,” John said, glad to have that +phase of the situation up for argument. “It wouldn’t +matter if they did, since we are to be married so soon.” +He added the last warily and watched to see its effect upon +her.</p> +<p>“But I didn’t want it to be as soon as that,” the girl +objected half-heartedly, making her usual mistake of +laying the vital point of difference away to be settled in +her own mind before she discussed it. Perhaps after all +John had thought it was settled the night before; at any +rate she would not speak of her suspicion till sure on that +point.</p> +<p>John Hunter noticed that she did not refuse outright +to consent to the early marriage and drew her complacently +to him.</p> +<p>“I couldn’t wait that long, sweet. I want you and I +want you now.”</p> +<p>He drew her close, in a firm, insistent grasp of his strong +arm. Her resistance began to melt.</p> +<p>“I love you,” his voice said close to her ear. She felt +his eyes seeking hers. His was the position of advantage. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_143' name='page_143'></a>143</span> +Elizabeth loved love, and she had never had it before. +She had never been wanted for love’s sake. She wished +to believe him. It came over her that she had wronged +him by even the thought of an advantage having been +taken of her. John’s arm was about her, he was pleading +his love. Why be unpleasant about it? It was only a +little thing. As she had said in her engagement hour, +Elizabeth wanted love till she could die for it. She gave +up, though something in her held back and was left +hungry.</p> +<p>As John Hunter drove home to Liza Ann’s waiting +dinner he said to himself:</p> +<p>“Gosh! but I’m glad I got that letter off. I knew +I’d better do it this morning or she’d be hanging back. +It worked better than I had any reason to expect. She’s +going to be easy to manage. Mother ain’t able to cook +for hired men. She’s never had it to do—and she don’t +have to begin. This school business is all foolishness, +anyhow.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not stand as usual and watch her lover +drive toward home. Something in her wanted to run +away, to cry out, to forget. She was torn by some indefinable +thing; her confidence had received a shock. She +went back to the house, but to sew was impossible now. +She decided to go home, to walk. The long stretches of +country road would give time and isolation in which to +think. She announced her determination briefly as she +passed through the kitchen, oblivious of Aunt Susan’s +questioning eyes. Snatching up the large sunbonnet +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_144' name='page_144'></a>144</span> +which was supposed to protect her from the browning +effects of Kansas winds and sun, she told the older woman, +who made no effort to disguise her astonishment at the +sudden change, to tell John to come for her on the morrow, +and set off toward the north.</p> +<p>Elizabeth knew that her father’s temper made her +homegoing an unsafe procedure, but the tumult within +her demanded that she get away from Susan Hornby and +think her own thoughts unobserved.</p> +<p>But though the walk gave her time to think, Elizabeth +was no nearer a decision when she sighted the Farnshaw +cottonwoods than she had been when she started out. +The sun burned her shoulders where the calico dress was +thin, and she wiped her perspiring face as she stopped +determinedly to come to some conclusion before she should +encounter her mother.</p> +<p>“I suppose I ought to give up to him,” she said, watching +a furry-legged bumblebee as it moved about over the +face of a yellow rosin weed flower by the roadside. “I +wouldn’t care if it weren’t for his mother. I’d like to get +some of these country ways worked out of me before I +have to see too much of her. She’ll never feel the same +toward me if she has to tell me what to do and what not +to do. If only he didn’t want me so badly. If only I +could have one year away.”</p> +<p>The new house pleaded for John Hunter, the content of +a home, life with the young man himself. Elizabeth had +reasoned away her distrust of the means by which her +consent had been gained, but her heart clung to the desire +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_145' name='page_145'></a>145</span> +to appear well before Mrs. Hunter. Something warned +her that she must enter that house on an equal footing +with the older woman.</p> +<p>“Well, he wants me, and I ought to be glad he is in a +hurry. I’ll do it. I ought to have insisted last night if +I meant to hold out, and not have let him misunderstand +me. If it weren’t for his mother, I wouldn’t care.”</p> +<p>Having decided to accept the terms offered her, Elizabeth +sat down in the shade of a clump of weeds and +pictured, as she rested, the home which was to be hers. +Compared to those of the farmers’ wives about them, it was +to be sumptuous. She thought of its size, its arrangement, +and the man who was inviting her to share it with him, +and a glad little thrill ran through her. When Elizabeth +began to sum up her blessings she began to be ashamed +of having suspected John Hunter of duplicity in writing +the letter.</p> +<p>“He told me he had no higher desires on earth than to +do things for me,” she said, springing up and starting home +with a song in her heart.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw, called to the door by the barking of the +dogs, exclaimed:</p> +<p>“What in this world brings you home at this time of +day?” Mrs. Farnshaw’s hands were covered with the +dough of her belated Saturday’s baking.</p> +<p>“Just had to come, mummie; just had to come,” Elizabeth +cried, giving her mother a rapturous little hug.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw ducked her head to avoid the manœuvre, +saying petulantly: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_146' name='page_146'></a>146</span></p> +<p>“Look out! Can’t you see I’m in th’ flour up t’ my +elbows.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth flicked her dress sleeve and laughed in merry +derision.</p> +<p>“Kansas flour brushes off easily, ma,” she said, “and +I’ve got something to tell you.”</p> +<p>The corners of Mrs. Farnshaw’s mouth twitched in a +pleased effort to cover a smile.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was surprised at her own statement. She +had not exactly intended to tell her mother at this time +and could not understand herself in having put the idea +forth, that she had come all the way home to tell something +of importance. She sat down and leaned her elbows on +the littered kitchen table too confused to speak for a +moment. She had made the plunge; there was no other +excuse for the trip that she could think of at that time, +and, with a feeling that Aunt Susan had been defrauded of +something distinctly belonging to her, Elizabeth broke +the silence with the bald statement.</p> +<p>“Mr. Hunter and I are going to be married.”</p> +<p>“Well, Lizzie, that ain’t much news; we seen it comin’ +weeks ago,” the mother replied with a laugh.</p> +<p>“You did? I don’t see how you knew,” the girl said, +startled out of her confusion.</p> +<p>“What’s he been comin’ here so steady for?” +Mrs. Farnshaw replied, scraping the side of her bread +pan with a kitchen knife, and ready to enter into this +delightful bit of argument. Lizzie was doing well for +herself. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_147' name='page_147'></a>147</span></p> +<p>“Lots of girls have steady company and don’t get married +either,” the girl replied hesitantly.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, but this is different,” the mother said. +“When’s it goin’ t’ be?”</p> +<p>“Some time in October,” Elizabeth said, her words +dragging. She had consented, but the mere mention of +the time made her shrink.</p> +<p>“Is th’ house done?” Mrs. Farnshaw asked, her mind, +like her hands, filled with practical concerns.</p> +<p>“Almost,” Elizabeth returned as she rose to get the +broom with which to sweep the ever dusty floor. “It’s +ready to paint,” she added.</p> +<p>“Is it goin’ t’ be painted? Will it be white and have +green shutters?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed at the gratified pride in her mother’s +tone.</p> +<p>“I don’t know, ma,” she said, looking for the shovel, +which, when it could be located, served as a dustpan.</p> +<p>“Didn’t he ask you what colour to put on it?” the +mother asked, fishing the shovel out of the rubbish collected +behind the rusty cook stove. “Now look here, +Lizzie,” she added with sudden suspicion, “don’t you +go an’ spoil him right t’ begin with. You let him see that +you want things your own way about th’ house. If you +set your foot down now, You’ll have it easier all th’ way +through. That’s where I made my mistake. I liked t’ +give up t’ your pa at first an’ then—an’ then he got t’ +thinkin’ I didn’t have no right t’ want anything my +way.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_148' name='page_148'></a>148</span></p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw filled the hungry stove with cobs and +studied the subject dejectedly.</p> +<p>“I don’t get my way about nothin’. I can’t go t’ town +t’ pick out a new dress that is bought with money I get +from th’ eggs, even. He’ll manage most any way t’ get +off t’ town so’s t’ keep me from knowin’ he’s goin’, an’ +then make me send th’ eggs an’ butter by some one that’s +goin’ by. He makes me stay home t’ watch something +if he has t’ let me know he’s goin’ his self. I don’t own +my house, nor my children, nor myself.”</p> +<p>The undercurrent of Elizabeth’s thoughts as she listened +to the spiritless tale was, “but John’s so different from +pa.”</p> +<p>“I reckon I’ll never have no help from you now,” Mrs. +Farnshaw continued in the same whine.</p> +<p>The girl crossed the room and put her arms tenderly +around her mother’s neck.</p> +<p>“I’ll live real near you, ma, and you can come and see +me every few days. Don’t let’s spoil these last few weeks +by worrying,” Elizabeth said, her eyes opened to the +longing expressed.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw was heating the oven for baking, and +broke away from the sympathetic clasp to refill the roaring +stove.</p> +<p>“These cobs don’t last a minute,” she said, and then +turned to Elizabeth again. “You’ll have th’ nicest house +in th’ country. My! won’t it make th’ Cranes jealous?”</p> +<p>“They don’t count,” Elizabeth answered. “I believe +you think more of John’s house than you do of him.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_149' name='page_149'></a>149</span></p> +<p>“No, I don’t, but I’m glad t’ see you doin’ so well for +yourself.”</p> +<p>As she finished speaking, Mr. Farnshaw came into the +kitchen.</p> +<p>“Well, pa, how do you do?” Elizabeth said, turning +toward him pleasantly. She wanted to tell him of her +engagement, now that she had told her mother, and she +wanted to be at peace with him.</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw mumbled a curt reply and, picking up +the empty basket standing beside the stove, went out of +the house, slamming the door behind him significantly.</p> +<p>“I wanted to tell him myself,” Elizabeth said with a +half-shamed look in her mother’s direction. “I’m glad +all men aren’t like that.”</p> +<p>“Well, he remembers that awful thing you said about +partin’——” Mrs. Farnshaw began.</p> +<p>“But this isn’t any new thing in him, ma. He’s always +been that way,” Elizabeth objected, determined not to let +her mother start on that subject to-day.</p> +<p>“Oh, I know it! They all get that way if they’re let; +think they own everything in sight. They get worse, too, +as they get older. You do what I said an’ set your foot +down about that house,” her mother replied, and turned +to put a pan of bread in the oven.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VII_ERASING_HER_BLACKBOARD' id='VII_ERASING_HER_BLACKBOARD'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_150' name='page_150'></a>150</span> +<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2> +<h3>ERASING HER BLACKBOARD</h3> +</div> + +<p>John’s attention centred about the new house and +each day found him more impatient to see it finished. +The creature comforts of life were his +main ideals and he wanted to get settled. Sunday +afternoon found him early at Nathan’s to consult with +Elizabeth about the kitchen windows. Susan Hornby’s +surprised recognition of his annoyance, when he was told +that she had gone home, added to the unpleasantness of +the eight-mile drive. What business had that woman +studying him or his moods? he asked himself as he drove +away. He would not get out of the wagon when he reached +Elizabeth’s home, though the sun was hot and Mrs. Farnshaw +urged him to do so. He was irritated, he did not +know at what, but he was. He hurried Elizabeth away +without ceremony. As soon as they were beyond earshot +he began to voice his grievances. The point he discussed +had nothing whatever to do with the real ground +for his irritability, but served as an outlet for his acrid +frame of mind.</p> +<p>“If you want to go anywhere, let me know it so that I +can take you. I can’t have you running around the country +in this fashion,” he began. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_151' name='page_151'></a>151</span></p> +<p>Elizabeth, who had felt his manner, looked up in puzzled +surprise. She could see nothing in that to be fretted +about. It was so good to see him, to have him with her +again after a night spent in her father’s house, that she +was ready to concede any point her lover might raise, but +this seemed so trivial that she laughed a happy laugh as +she answered caressingly:</p> +<p>“I have always walked whenever and wherever I chose +around here. I like it, dear.”</p> +<p>“That don’t make any difference; it ain’t good for any +woman to walk eight miles at one time,” John answered +shortly.</p> +<p>Unable to see the reason for laying stress upon the +danger in doing a thing she had done for years without +harm to herself, Elizabeth was surprised into continuing +the argument without at all caring whether she ever +walked again or not.</p> +<p>“I’ve walked that much a hundred times in my life, +and I’ll probably walk it a hundred times more,” she replied +with a laugh.</p> +<p>“Not if you live with me,” John Hunter announced, standing +as solid as a rock on the issue now that he had raised it.</p> +<p>“But why not?” the girl inquired, still but little concerned, +and looking her betrothed over with a girl’s eye +for correct combinations of collar, tie, and driving gloves. +Those gloves had been the chief objection Elizabeth’s +brothers had been able to raise against the Eastern man, +and gave colour to the spiteful “dude” with which John +Hunter was mentioned by the envious. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_152' name='page_152'></a>152</span></p> +<p>“Why not?” John repeated after her. “Because it +don’t look well.”</p> +<p>The ridiculous and inadequate reply drew the girl still +deeper into the discussion. She began to reason with him +quite earnestly. She had always walked a great deal; she +loved it. Walking was jolly fun. Everybody knew she +was not as dependent upon being taken as the ordinary +woman. When, however, John would not give in and +insisted that things were different now that they were +engaged, she ceased to say more.</p> +<p>“You see,” he concluded, “people expect me to take +you. They’ll think something’s happened and that I +don’t want to. If I want to take my future wife, she +ought to be willing to be taken. I don’t want you ever +to walk home again.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Farnshaw was young, the experiences of her +night at home had made her covet peace, she was unaware +that she was being moulded, or that her lover considered +the Hunter ways, as such, especially desirable. Willing +to pay the price, rather enjoying the masterful way in +which her betrothed insisted upon serving her, reflecting +that no one had ever been willing to serve her at all, and +feeling that it was a minor matter, she gave up.</p> +<p>“All right! I like to walk, but if you look at it in that +way I won’t do it again,” she promised, and in the silence +which followed stole a look now and then at John Hunter, +revelling in his well-groomed appearance. A vision of her +father’s slatternly, one-suspendered shoulders, and button-less +sleeves flapping about his rough brown wrists, set +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_153' name='page_153'></a>153</span> +against this well-shirted gentleman produced sharp contrast +and made of the future a thing altogether desirable. +The useless arguments between her parents arose before +her also; she resolved to argue less and love more. It was +something, she reflected, to know when to lay an argument +down. Besides, John wanted it. Leaning over, she +rubbed her cheek softly against his sleeve.</p> +<p>“I never thought I could be so happy.” The words +were whispered tenderly, as she looked up into his face.</p> +<p>Could mortal man fail to appreciate the manner of the +surrender? There was nothing left to argue about; all +had been granted. Elizabeth was learning, as all women +have had to do before her, that the man-creature loves to +be adored, that by cloaking her own desires, stroking his +fur the right way, giving it little pats of approval and +admitting the pleasure conferred by his presence, she +could work a magic. John’s arm dropped about her and +she gave herself up to the delights of being cuddled.</p> +<p>It was not possible for the inexperienced girl to measure +the importance of the freedom she had surrendered. +Elizabeth desired to forget the unpleasant things. Real +issues were obscured for the girl by her desire to escape +from her father’s house. In addition to that, Elizabeth +had not yet become analytical. Instead of meditating +upon the manner or the positiveness of her lover’s commands, +she took counsel with herself how to make their +lives different from her parents’, and in her efforts to keep +her own attitude right forgot to see to it that there was a +similar attitude on the part of her future husband. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_154' name='page_154'></a>154</span></p> +<p>As they drove along with John’s arm about her they +ceased to talk, and Elizabeth’s thoughts drifted off to her +affairs with her father and the night just spent at home. +Mr. Farnshaw had adopted the policy of contemptuous +silence toward her, and Elizabeth hoped devoutly that he +would continue in that frame of mind. Only so would she +dare to spend at home the weeks between the close of +school and her marriage. She had counted much upon +spending those weeks with Aunt Susan, who daily became +dearer. She was not moved to tell Aunt Susan girlish +secrets, but she was understood and rightly valued in +Susan Hornby’s home; and now, during this one of all the +critical periods in her life the most important, Elizabeth +desired to be with her, but Mrs. Farnshaw demanded uncompromisingly +that her daughter come home at that time. +There was no escaping Mrs. Farnshaw’s demands on her +children, and, troubled and uncertain, Elizabeth pondered +and snuggled closer to the man who was to deliver her +from them.</p> +<p>The pair drove to the new house before going to the +Hornbys’ for the rest of the day. John ceased to be fretful, +and by the time for leaving had arrived, Elizabeth had +forgotten that he had ever been so. That evening Aunt +Susan was told of the engagement, and having divined +its arrival, she was able to hide any misgivings she had +about it. Besides, not having anything upon which to +fasten her objections to John Hunter, she was wise enough +to know that love must have its way, and when Elizabeth +pictured the life that awaited her, her lover’s good points, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_155' name='page_155'></a>155</span> +and her satisfaction rang out in a song of glad notes with +no hint of apprehension, the older woman tried to enter +into the spirit of the hour.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was certain she could meet John Hunter’s +moods as the occasion required. No doubts assailed her +about the future life except where John’s mother was concerned. +When Elizabeth got to that point in her reflections +she stopped short without speaking of the matter +and announced her intention of going to bed. Elizabeth +Farnshaw loved John Hunter devotedly, but his mother +was another matter. There was a strong undercurrent of +anxiety whenever Mrs. Hunter had to be considered. The +nearer the time came for her arrival, the more the girl +dreaded meeting her. Elizabeth was loyal to John, however, +and Susan Hornby was given no hint of that dread.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter came west the last week of school, and +when John was so busy getting her and her household +goods settled that Elizabeth did not see him the entire +week, it was like a stab to the sensitive girl. Filled with a +natural sense of good-byes to all that she had known and +loved in the work, the impending changes in her life took +on a troubled air when John failed to come as usual and +did not account for the delay. By some psychological +process Susan Hornby’s misgivings began to be transferred +to Elizabeth’s mind. Always as they sewed together +Elizabeth was tempted to talk about the subject, +but something held her back. Often Susan Hornby, who +suspected her troubled state of mind, was moved to ask +questions and could not. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_156' name='page_156'></a>156</span></p> +<p>A week is a long time when anxiety governs the thoughts, +and as Elizabeth grew more lonely she crept into Aunt +Susan’s arms as well as into her heart. It became her +custom to creep up to the older woman after the lamps +were lighted and lay her head in her lap, while she would +imprison one of Aunt Susan’s hands so as to be able to +fondle it. The evidences of affection became more and +more a part of her thoughts now that the days were slipping +by without receiving those evidences from the one +who had educated her in them.</p> +<p>The last day of school arrived. John had told Elizabeth +the week before that he expected to take her and her +trunk home, but not having seen him nor had a word from +him recently regarding the matter, a strange feeling of +disaster made the closing school exercises unreal and uninteresting. +After the children were gone, Elizabeth began +the task of cleaning the schoolroom and putting it in +order. She set about the work slowly, making it last as +long as she could. School teaching had been pleasant +work. It had been the one free field of action life had ever +granted her, the one point where she had ever possessed +herself and moved unquestioned. The presence of John +Hunter’s mother in the community had made the +teaching seem a refuge to the young girl who was to +live in the house with her. Elizabeth had not understood +that Mrs. Hunter was actually to live with them +till a short time before her arrival, and then had very +nearly given offence to her lover by an astonished exclamation +of surprise. Perceiving that she had done so she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_157' name='page_157'></a>157</span> +hastened to say that she would be very glad to have his +mother with them. As soon as Elizabeth had got away, +and taken time to think it out, she saw that she had lied. +John also knew that it was not exactly true, and was therefore +more sensitive. It had been the first point of real +difference between them. There had been no discussion +of it. Elizabeth would have been glad to go to him and +say that she wished it, but she did not wish it and would +not lie consciously. If it had to be, she would make the +best of it and make his mother as welcome as she could, +but with the instincts of all young things, the girl wanted +to live alone with her mate. The unnaturalness of having +others thrust upon them during that first year of married +life jarred upon her, just as it has jarred upon every bride +who has been compelled to endure it since the beginning of +time. It made of the new home a workshop instead of a +nest, and took from the glamour of marriage. It made +the girl cling to the freedom of the country schoolhouse +and fear the new life, where the examples presented to her +by those who had tried it were discouraging to an observant +onlooker. All this came up as she worked, and saddened +the day even more than before. As she put the +broom away in the corner beside the water pail, she noticed +that the blackboard remained to be cleaned. Taking an +eraser she rubbed vigorously.</p> +<p>“It is a rat. Run, rat, run,” begun as high as little +arms could reach, and straggling zigzagingly down toward +the bottom, was the last to be attacked. As her hand +passed reluctantly over it she said aloud: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_158' name='page_158'></a>158</span></p> +<p>“I’m erasing my blackboard too. Pretty soon I won’t +be a girl any more. Pretty soon——”</p> +<p>She checked herself, and putting away the eraser, +packed the few belongings in the drawer of the desk into +a neat bundle to be carried home. With the package +under her arm and her little tin dinner pail dangling from +her wrist, Elizabeth fitted the key into the lock. As it +clicked under her fingers the thought came to her that she +must turn it over to the school board. The finality of it +clutched her. Thrusting the key back into the door, she +was about to go into the little room again for another look +around, when Susan Hornby’s voice at her elbow made +her start.</p> +<p>Aunt Susan saw the tears which had sprung into the +young eyes at the leave-taking and drew her down on the +step.</p> +<p>“What is it?” she asked earnestly. “You ought to +tell me if you are worried.”</p> +<p>The tears which had been gathering spilled themselves +over cheek and chin.</p> +<p>“Will I get like the rest of them, Aunt Susan?—never +go anywhere, never read anything, have nothing ahead +but the same weary round over again every day?” she +queried, when she was able to command her voice.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby’s face worked determinedly to control +her own emotions for a moment before she could speak.</p> +<p>Elizabeth continued: “I’ve been—I’ve been so happy +this summer, Aunt Susan, and—and I’m a little afraid of +that other life. Don’t think I don’t want to be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_159' name='page_159'></a>159</span> +married—I do,” she felt bound to interpose. “It’s just—just +that—well, you can see how it is; the married women +around here wear faded things, and—and their teeth get +bad—and a man hardly ever wants to take his wife anywhere. +Look at Mrs. Carter, and Mrs. Crane, and ma. +Poor ma! She never gets to go anywhere she wants to.”</p> +<p>The girlish questionings and fears broke down Susan +Hornby’s control and she fell on Elizabeth’s neck and +sobbed openly as she said:</p> +<p>“I know, I know. I’ve thought of little else of late. +My poor little ewe lamb! My poor little ewe lamb!”</p> +<p>The ethics of Susan Hornby’s generation did not permit +of an outright discussion of the marriage relation. She +did not have the matter clear in her own mind, but a sort +of dull terror came over her whenever she thought of +Elizabeth becoming John Hunter’s wife. She could hardly +have told why. She knew that somehow human beings +missed the highest in the marriage relation and that the +undiscussed things of life had to do with the failure; she +knew also that her instincts regarding this marriage were +true, but she could sound no warning because her knowledge +came from the instincts and had no outward evidence +of fact with which to support it. To how large a degree +did these warnings apply to all? Susan Hornby had +plenty of time to wonder and think, for Elizabeth cried +softly to herself without speaking further. The older +woman’s hand wandered over the glossy braids in her lap, +and her eyes wandered off toward the Carter homestead +while her mind struggled with the problems of the neighbourhood. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_160' name='page_160'></a>160</span> +Elizabeth had put into words a thing she had +herself observed. She saw the irritability of men toward +their wives; she saw women about them who toiled earnestly, +who bore children, and who denied themselves every +sort of pleasurable relation at the demand of husbands +who never gave them a look of comradery or good fellowship +in return. Was it the weariness of the struggle to +live, or was it sex, or was it the evil domination of men? +This girl whose sunny hair she was caressing was to go +under the merciless hammer of the matrimonial auctioneer. +What was to be her fate? Susan Hornby saw that love had +touched the highest in Elizabeth Farnshaw’s nature and +that the girl yearned toward a high ideal of family life. +She had shown it in her girlish chatter as they had sewed +together. Could she attain to it? Susan Hornby thought +of John Hunter and stiffened. She felt that Elizabeth +would yearn toward it all the days of her life with him +and never catch even a fleeting glimpse of it.</p> +<p>Elizabeth snuggled closer on the step and reached for +the hand stroking her head.</p> +<p>“It isn’t the faded dresses, Aunt Susan; it’s—it’s the +faded life I’m afraid of,” she whispered thickly.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby bent her head to catch the sobbing voice, +and losing control of her reserve, said abruptly: “I +know it, I know all about it. If I thought John Hunter’d +let you set at home like——”</p> +<p>She knew while the words were still in her mouth that +it was a mistake. The girl shrank away and dropped the +hand she had been fondling. There was absolute silence +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_161' name='page_161'></a>161</span> +for a moment, the older woman dumb, unable to go on, +unable to explain, unable to retract, or extricate herself in +any way. The discussion had promised so well at first that +both had entered into it with zest, and yet the moment +it had become personal, loyalty had risen between them +and hushed their words and left them uncomfortable. +The silence became so intolerable that Elizabeth arose, +and unable to look up turned and fumbled with the lock +on the schoolhouse door. Aunt Susan rose also and +waited, without speaking, for her to start home. Something +hurt on both sides. Neither blamed the other, but +both were to look back to the rough schoolhouse steps +and the half-hearted discussion of man’s domination and +woman’s inability to defend herself against it.</p> +<p>Before supper was quite finished John came to take +Elizabeth to meet his mother. He was all bustle and activity; +in fact, John Hunter was at his best. He took possession +of her in exactly the way to show how unnecessary +her fears had been. The reaction set in. John was fresh +and clean of linen and finger-nails and pleasing to the eye. +Elizabeth’s mood changed the moment he presented himself +on Nathan’s doorstep. Every fear of the faded life +disappeared in his magical presence. John Hunter at +least was not faded. After all, Elizabeth had been a bit +piqued and really wanted to meet Mrs. Hunter. John +whisked her off merrily and carried her to the home which +was to be theirs.</p> +<p>“Mother, this is Elizabeth Farnshaw, soon to be your +daughter,” was the introduction he gave her when his +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_162' name='page_162'></a>162</span> +mother met them at the door, and then watched narrowly +to see what sort of impression Elizabeth would make.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter kissed the girl gravely, and still retaining +her hand stepped back and looked at her curiously, but +kindly.</p> +<p>“I am glad you are to be John’s wife, dear,” she said +slowly. “I am sure we shall like each other. We must—he +is all I have, you know.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth, who had felt herself on trial, was near tears, +but her lover saved her from that embarrassment when, +feeling that the Hunter approval was accorded, he stepped +forward and put his arms about the two, kissing first one +and then the other.</p> +<p>“My mother and my wife-to-be must certainly like each +other,” he said.</p> +<p>They passed into the house, over which John and his +mother conducted Elizabeth, talking of its arrangement +and furnishings. The girl had supposed that she had a +fairly definite idea of the appearance that house would +have, having overseen every feature of its building, but +it was a world of surprises she entered upon to-day. In +her wildest dreams of what they would do when they had +become rich, as they had planned much to do, this daughter +of the Kansas prairies had never pictured such tasteful +home-making. Each bedroom had its bureau with +bedstead to match, and the one downstairs had ruffled +pillow-shams.</p> +<p>“This is to be your own room,” Mrs. Hunter whispered +in Elizabeth’s ear, and the young girl stole a shy look at +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_163' name='page_163'></a>163</span> +her lover, who was drumming on the window and had not +heard, and made no reply, but it gave her a sense of possession +in the new house which she had very nearly lost of +late.</p> +<p>It was reserved for the new cook stove in the spotless +kitchen to complete the surprises of Elizabeth’s new world. +Elizabeth fingered the nickled knobs, exclaimed over +the reservoir for hot water at its back and the warming +closet below, and investigated all its secret places as if it +had been a toy. John Hunter gave his mother an approving +nod behind the girl’s back, and the visit was a +success. Elizabeth forgot that she was to share the +honours of the home with “Mother Hunter,” as she had +secretly called her a few times, and in the end overstayed +her time till the leave-taking at Aunt Susan’s had to be cut +short, and they were late in arriving at her father’s house.</p> +<p>The day, which had had so many variations, however, +like a piece of music, was to return to the original theme +before it closed. It had been a day of forebodings and +anxiety. Fate never permitted Elizabeth Farnshaw more +than a short snatch at happiness, and as John Hunter +drove away after he had helped her deposit her trunk in +a dusty corner, the girl wanted to run after him and implore +him not to leave her at the mercy of the morrow.</p> +<p>As she gazed about the cheerless kitchen she noticed a +muffled lump in the middle of the table. The sponge for +the Saturday’s baking had been warmly wrapped for the +night. To-morrow would be bake day! Oh, joy! Elizabeth +resolved to insist upon kneading the dough the next +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_164' name='page_164'></a>164</span> +morning, and before starting up the ladder to the loft +where she was to sleep she hunted around in the kitchen +safe for the cook book, wondering if by any chance she +could induce her mother to let her try her hand at baking +a cake also.</p> +<p>“Go to bed, in there!” growled a voice from the other +room, and the girl climbed to her pallet, on which dreams +of cooking were to entertain her waking as well as her +sleeping hours.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s cooking schemes turned out rather better +than she had expected. There are some things common +to all women, and Mrs. Farnshaw entered into her +daughter’s desire to learn to cater to the appetite of the +man she was going to marry. She worked with the girl +at the home-made kitchen table, and as they worked she +talked of many things which to her mind were essential +to preparations for marriage, of the dresses to be made, of +the new house, which was Mrs. Farnshaw’s pride, and of +John Hunter himself. By some unlucky chance Elizabeth +mentioned her father’s name. Mrs. Farnshaw had +been waiting for an opportunity to speak of the misunderstanding +between her husband and their daughter. It is +the tendency of the weak to waste much time and energy +in reconciliations, and to Mrs. Farnshaw peace meant far +more than principles. She gave little thought to the +rightness of her husband’s demands, but bent every +faculty toward coaxing her family to accede to them. +If he were angry, all must move in cautious attempt to +placate his temper, and if his feelings were hurt no principle +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_165' name='page_165'></a>165</span> +must be permitted to stand in the way of excuse and +explanation. She was rejoiced when Elizabeth mentioned +her father’s name and forced upon her at once the +necessity of asking pardon for the luckless remark regarding +separation which Mr. Farnshaw had overheard three +months before.</p> +<p>“But it isn’t a particle of use, ma,” Elizabeth replied +when pushed to the point of answering. “You know he’ll +hate me now, no matter what I ever do. I’ve only got +along peaceably this far by not talking to him of anything +at all. It’s his way. Let it alone. I’m sorry I ever said +it, but it can’t be helped.”</p> +<p>“Yes, it can,” Mrs. Farnshaw persisted. “Anyhow, +he’s your pa, an’—an’—an’ you owe it t’ him. You +owe it t’ me too, t’ make it right. I’ll never have a day of +peace with him again if you don’t. You’d no business t’ +talk of partin’ nohow! ’Taint decent, an’—an’ it give +him th’ feelin’ that I was sidin’ in with such talk.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw had been shrewd enough to save her +strongest point till the last. That was the lever by which +she could pry Elizabeth loose from her seated conviction +that nothing could be done. Those sentiments had been +<i>Elizabeth’s</i>, not her mother’s. Something was due the +mother who had been compelled to share the blame for +words as abhorrent to her as they were to the irate husband +who supposed she had instigated them. Elizabeth knew +that her mother would never have a day of peace with the +man in any case, but she knew from her own experience with +him that a remark such as she had made would be used +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_166' name='page_166'></a>166</span> +to worry her mother and to stir even more bitter accusations +than usual. In her heart she knew that nothing she +could say would change her father’s feelings or alter his +belief about the matter, but she did feel that her mother +was justified from her own standpoint in making the demand. +As she stirred the cake dough and pondered, she +glanced across the table to the open door of her mother’s +scantily furnished bedroom opposite. A vision of ruffled +pillow-shams where she was soon to sleep came to her in +strong contrast. The memory of muffled sobs which she +had heard coming from that poverty-stricken couch in the +corner opposite the door was set over against the peaceful +look of the room which was to be hers. She was going +away to be happy: why not do this thing her mother asked +before she went? Elizabeth knew that her attempt at +reconciliation would be fruitless, but she resolved to do the +best she could to leave all possible comfort to the mother +whose portion was sorrow and bread eaten in bitterness +and disappointment. She thought it out slowly. After +pondering a long time, during which Mrs. Farnshaw +studied her but did not speak, Elizabeth delivered her +promise.</p> +<p>“I’ll do the best I can, ma. I don’t believe It’ll do any +good, but it isn’t fair that you should suffer for a thing you +hate as bad as he does. Don’t let’s talk about it, and +let me find my own time to do it. I’ll—I’ll do my very +best.”</p> +<p>Pushing the cake-bowl away from her, she went around +the table, and taking her mother’s face between her hands +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_167' name='page_167'></a>167</span> +she stroked the thin hair away from the wasted forehead, +and kissed her with a tenderness which brought a quiver to +the unsatisfied lips.</p> +<p>“I’ll do it as well as I possibly know how. I—I’m +going away to be happy, and—and I want you to be +happy too.”</p> +<p>It was easier to say than to do, for things went wrong +about the barn, and when supper time arrived Elizabeth +decided to wait for a more propitious time.</p> +<p>In spite of her determination to get the disagreeable +task behind her as soon as possible, Elizabeth could find +no chance at the breakfast table the next morning to +broach the subject, though she tried several times. Mrs. +Farnshaw gave her warning looks, but it was clearly not +the time. When at last the family was ready for divine +services and Mr. Farnshaw drove up in front of the house +with the lumber wagon, the mother gave Elizabeth a little +push toward the door, admonishing her to “be quick +about it. Now’s your time.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth went slowly out. Mr. Farnshaw had just +jumped out of the wagon and when he saw his daughter +coming stooped quickly to examine the leather shoe sole +which served to protect the brake. The elaborate attempt +to ignore her presence made the hard duty still +harder. She waited for him to take cognizance of her +presence, and to cover her confusion adjusted and readjusted +a strap on Patsie’s harness, thankful for the presence +of her favourite.</p> +<p>“Let that harness alone!” her father commanded when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_168' name='page_168'></a>168</span> +he was at last embarrassed by his prolonged inspection +of the wagon-brake.</p> +<p>“All right, pa,” Elizabeth replied, glad to have the +silence broken in any manner. “I—I came out to talk +to you. If I—if I’ve done anything to annoy you, ever, +I want to ask your pardon. I—ma—I want to tell you +that John Hunter and I are to be married this fall, and—and +I’d like to be the kind of friends we ought to be +before I go away.”</p> +<p>The last sounded rather good to the girl and she +stopped, encouraged, also feeling that it was best to let +well enough alone; but when she looked up at him and +encountered his look she shrank as if to avoid something +aimed at her.</p> +<p>The tyrant detests anything which cringes before him, +and Josiah Farnshaw was as much fired to anger by what +he saw in his daughter’s face as he could have been by +her defiance.</p> +<p>“Oh, I know you’d like to be friends!” he sneered with +the fierce hatred of a man caught in an evil act. “Now +that you’re goin’ away you’d like t’ be on good terms with +me, would you? How many cows would you like for +your peaceable intentions? What’s th’ price of your +friendship, anyhow? Of course you don’t owe me anything! +You’re a lady! Now that you’re goin’ t’ set up +housekeepin’ you’d like t’ be good friends. You’ll get +nothin’ from me; I’ll let you know that right here and now. +Go along with you; I don’t want nothin’ from you, an’ I +don’t propose t’ give nothin’ to you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_169' name='page_169'></a>169</span></p> +<p>It was so coarse, so brutal, so untrue, that the girl met +him once in his life as he deserved.</p> +<p>“Keep your cows,” she said in the low tones of concentrated +bitterness. “I don’t want them, nor money from +you. I don’t owe you anything, either. I’ve done more +work and furnished you more money than ever I cost you +since the day I was born. I knew no one could explain +anything to you. I told ma so, but she’s afraid for her +life of you, and insisted. I’ve tried to keep the peace with +you, really, but no one ever has or ever will be able to do +that. I’ll let you alone after this.”</p> +<p>“You damned huzzy!” the now thoroughly aroused +man exclaimed, lunging forward to strike her with his open +hand. He had only listened to her so far because there +had been something so compelling in the rush of her words +that he had been stupefied by astonishment into doing so.</p> +<p>Patsie, who was in line with the blow, reared and threw +herself against her mate, knowing what that tone of her +master’s voice indicated, and his hands were so occupied +for a few seconds in quieting the team that he could not +follow his daughter and administer the chastisement he +wished.</p> +<p>“I’ll thrash you within an inch of your life!” he cried, +however, when he saw her disappearing through the open +door of the house.</p> +<p>“Now, and what have you done?” Mrs. Farnshaw demanded +when the breathless girl pushed rapidly past her at the +inner door and faced about defiantly in the middle of the +kitchen. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_170' name='page_170'></a>170</span></p> +<p>“I don’t want to hear another word about it, ever. I’ve +done it about as bad as I could, I guess, but I’ll never take +another whipping from him, and you needn’t expect it.”</p> +<p>“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” she moaned after +the family had gone, referring to the figurative speech, +“She’s afraid for her life of you.” That had been meant +in a very different sense. The girl would have given much +to have unsaid it, to have given any sort of explanation.</p> +<p>It was not possible to explain anything to Josiah Farnshaw, +and remembering the threat to flog her as soon as +he returned from meeting, Elizabeth began to put up her +hair and prepare for the departure which was her only way +of escape. Josiah Farnshaw never forgot a promise of +that sort.</p> +<p>“I’ll go to Aunt Susan’s,” she resolved, and as soon as +she could get her dress changed and a few things thrown +quickly into the trunk which she had partially unpacked +the day before, Elizabeth took her parasol and started +toward the south. John lived in that direction also, and +would be on his way to see her, for his mother had asked +Elizabeth to spend the day with her. She would ask John +to come for her trunk and then have him take her to Susan +Hornby’s house. Aunt Susan would welcome her with +open arms. She was covered with perspiration when she +met her lover, who was hot and uncomfortable also, and +had been cursing every mile of the shadeless Kansas road. +John’s relief was so great at meeting her a couple of miles +on the way that he did not inquire why she was there at +that hour till she was seated beside him. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_171' name='page_171'></a>171</span></p> +<p>“But your father can’t do anything to you,” he objected +when she had outlined her plan of going to Aunt Susan’s +to stay till the wedding. “Everybody knows that you +have left there and You’ll have to explain things and get +into a scandal.”</p> +<p>Without going into details, Elizabeth insisted that he +drive on at once and get her trunk before her father and +the family should get home from church.</p> +<p>John Hunter argued the matter.</p> +<p>“If you leave home,” he said slowly, refusing to +drive on, “people will talk, and it isn’t to be considered.”</p> +<p>There was a pause. Should she explain the case fully? +It could not be done. John could not be made to +understand. Elizabeth knew that even in the primitive +community in which she had been brought up +a man would be filled with disgust at the idea of +striking a full-grown woman on any sort of provocation, +and that a man reared as John Hunter had been +reared would be alienated not only from her family but +from her.</p> +<p>Caught like a rat in a trap, Elizabeth Farnshaw let her +future husband study her curiously, while she deliberated +and cast about for some means of getting his approval to +her scheme without villifying her parents by telling the +whole truth.</p> +<p>“I’ll be nearer you, and Aunt Susan’s always glad to +have me,” she said coaxingly.</p> +<p>It was a good bit of argument to put forth at that +moment. The sun poured his heat out upon them in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_172' name='page_172'></a>172</span> +scalding fierceness, and John Hunter had cursed his luck +every mile he had covered that morning. He had been +accustomed to reach her in fifteen minutes, and the suggestion +that she go back to the old place began to look +more reasonable, yet he hesitated and was reluctant to +let a breath of gossip touch his future wife. Whether +Elizabeth were right or wrong did not enter into his +calculations.</p> +<p>It looked as if his consent was not to be obtained. She +could not go back.</p> +<p>“I’m not going home, and that is all that there is about +it,” the girl announced in desperation.</p> +<p>John still hung back.</p> +<p>When he did not reply and it became necessary for her +to go into the details she had been trying to avoid, it was +done reluctantly and with as little emphasis put upon the +possibility of physical chastisement as could be done and +convince him at all. To Elizabeth’s surprise John did +not take much notice of that element. It did not occur to +her at that time that it was a strange thing that her lover +should fail to be stirred by the probability of her receiving +a blow. Elizabeth had never had consideration +shown her by any one but Susan Hornby and had not +yet learned to expect it. John struck the horses +with the dangling lines he held and drove on toward +the waiting trunk. She watched him as he rode by +her side moodily thinking of the gossip threatened, and +while it was not the mood she wished him to entertain, +it did not occur to her that it was anything but a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_173' name='page_173'></a>173</span> +natural one. They rode without speaking until the house +was reached.</p> +<p>“This’ll have to be explained to mother,” he remarked +discontentedly as he shoved the unoffending trunk into +the back of the wagon. Elizabeth made no reply. She +had been thinking of that very thing.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='VIII_CYCLONES' id='VIII_CYCLONES'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_174' name='page_174'></a>174</span> +<h2>VIII</h2> +<h3>CYCLONES</h3> +</div> + +<p>Susan Hornby asked no questions when Elizabeth +and John presented themselves at her door. +Their embarrassed faces warned her. She gathered +Elizabeth into her arms for a brief hug, and then pushed +her toward the inside of the house, remaining behind to +show John where to put the trunk. When it had been set +beside the kitchen door she dismissed him by saying:</p> +<p>“I won’t ask you to stay for a bite of dinner, since your +mother is alone, Mr. Hunter.”</p> +<p>“Well—er—that is—mother expected Elizabeth +over there,” John stammered, looking toward the front +room.</p> +<p>“Tell your mother Elizabeth will stay right here till +she has rested up from that headache,” the woman replied +with the tone of having settled the matter.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, in the other room, noted that he did not +argue about it and heard him drive away with mixed feelings. +When at last Aunt Susan’s questions were answered +the girl in turn became questioner.</p> +<p>“Will she think—John’s mother—that we’re coarse +and common?” she asked when she had told as much as +she could bring herself to tell of the morning’s altercation. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_175' name='page_175'></a>175</span></p> +<p>The look on the older woman’s face was not a hopeful +one, and the girl got up restlessly from the trunk-top where +she had dropped beside her. She remembered the fear, +half expressed, on the schoolhouse steps two days before +and drew within herself, sick with life.</p> +<p>“Can I put my trunk away?” she asked, to break the +awkward silence she felt coming.</p> +<p>“Yes,” was the relieved answer, and each took a handle, +carrying the light piece of baggage to the bedroom. At +the door Elizabeth stopped short. A strange coat and +vest were spread carelessly over the bed, and a razor strop +lay across the back of the little rocking chair.</p> +<p>“Oh, I forgot!” Susan Hornby exclaimed, sweeping +the offending male attire into her apron. “A young fellow +stopped last night and asked to stay till he could get +a house built on that land west of Hunter’s. You’re going +to have a bachelor for a neighbour.”</p> +<p>“Who?” Elizabeth asked, and then added, “What +will he do for a room if I take this one?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know,” Aunt Susan replied to the last clause +of the question. “The room is yours, anyhow. I’m so +glad to have you back that I’d turn him out if need be. +Honestly, we could hardly eat Saturday. Nate was as +bad as I was. They’ve gone to Colebyville together to-day. +I’m glad Nate’s got him—he’s lonesome enough +these days.”</p> +<p>It was Elizabeth’s turn to cheer up Aunt Susan, for she +always fell into a gloom when she mentioned Nathan. It +took Elizabeth’s mind from her own affairs, and by the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_176' name='page_176'></a>176</span> +time the unpacking was finished the volatile spirits of +youth had asserted themselves. They took a walk +toward evening, and only returned in time to meet John +Hunter, who had come to see his betrothed about a trip +he had decided suddenly to take to Mitchell County. He +had spoken of it to Elizabeth before, and had only waited +to get his mother established and a desirable hired man +to run the place in his absence. The man had come that +day asking for work and giving good references and +John had decided to go at once.</p> +<p>In the excitement of preparation John seemed to have +forgotten the discomforts of the morning, and though he +soon took his departure, he left Elizabeth less unhappy +than she had been. Nathan and the new man were coming +in the distance as John Hunter drove away, and the +girl turned back into the kitchen to help with the supper.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>“Lizzie Farnshaw! And you are the Elizabeth these +folk have been talkin’ about? Well, I’ll be hornswoggled!”</p> +<p>Nathan and the new boarder had just come in.</p> +<p>“Is it really you, Luther?” Elizabeth asked, and there +was no mistaking the glad tones.</p> +<p>They looked each other over for changes; they sat +beside each other at the table, and Elizabeth asked +questions and talked excitedly while he ate.</p> +<p>“Your hair is darker, and it’s curly,” she remarked, +remembering the tow-coloured locks cut square across the +boyish, sunburned neck. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_177' name='page_177'></a>177</span></p> +<p>Luther Hansen’s face crinkled into fine lines and his +blue-gray eyes laughed amusedly.</p> +<p>“Got darker as I got older, Lizzie, an’ th’ typhoid put +them girl-twists into th’ ends of it. Bet you’re a wishin’ +for it—all th’ women folks do. Wish you had it.”</p> +<p>They went for a walk after supper and talked of many +things. He was the same Luther, grown older and even +more companionable. Elizabeth learned that both his +parents had died, leaving the then seventeen-year-old +boy a piece of land heavily mortgaged, and with nothing +but a broken down team and a superannuated cow to +raise the debt. By constant labour and self-denial the +boy had lifted the financial load, and then happening to +meet a man who owned this Kansas land had traded, with +the hope that on the cheaper land he could reach out faster +and get a good increase on the original price besides.</p> +<p>“I remembered th’ kind of land it was about here, an’ +didn’t need t’ come an’ see it first,” he said. “I was goin’ +t’ hunt you up ’fore long, anyhow. I never thought of +these folks a knowin’ you, though, after I got here. Funny, +ain’t it? I’m right glad t’ be back t’ you,” was his frank +confession.</p> +<p>And Elizabeth Farnshaw looked up happily into his +face, meeting his eye squarely and without embarrassment. +It was as natural to have Luther, and to have him say +that he wanted to see her, as it would have been to listen +to the announcement from her brother.</p> +<p>“I’m so glad,” she replied, “and I’ve so much to tell +you that I hardly know where to begin.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_178' name='page_178'></a>178</span></p> +<p>Luther laughed.</p> +<p>“Mrs. Hornby thought I’d be put out about that room, +but I told ’er nothin’ like that’d bother me if it brought +you t’ th’ house. I’ve been sleepin’ under th’ wagon all +th’ way down from Minnesoty an’ I can go right on doin’ +it.”</p> +<p>They did not go far, but wandered back and sat on +Nathan’s unpainted doorstep while the stars came out, +and Elizabeth forgot all about the trials of the morning, +and told him of her engagement to John Hunter.</p> +<p>“I’m going to live right next to your farm, Luther, and +you must——”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Farnshaw had started to say that he must +know John, and somehow the words got suddenly tangled +in her throat, and the sentence was unfinished for the fraction +of a moment and then ended differently from what +she had intended: “And I shall be so glad to have you +for a neighbour, and You’ll marry—now who will you +marry?”</p> +<p>Luther, who had begun to like this new Elizabeth even +better than the girl of six years ago, had his little turn in +the dark shadow of Nathan’s overhanging roof at the +mention of this love affair, but he swallowed the bitter pill +like a man. The renewed acquaintance had been begun +on friendly lines and through all the days which followed +it was kept rigidly on that ground. He was glad to have +been told frankly and at once of John Hunter’s claims.</p> +<p>In spite of the fact that Elizabeth had stumbled and +found herself unable to suggest that John and Luther were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_179' name='page_179'></a>179</span> +to be friends, she talked to Luther of her plans, her hopes +of becoming a good housekeeper, her efforts at cooking, +and of the sewing she was engaged upon. He learned, in +time, of the disagreements with her father, and was not +surprised, and with him she took up the subject of the +marital relations at home. Luther’s experience was more +limited than Susan Hornby’s, but he looked the matter of +personal relations squarely in the face and discussed them +without reserve. There was always something left to be +finished between them, and night after night they walked +or sat together on the doorstep till late. Nathan looked +on disapprovingly, not understanding the bond between +them, but Susan, who heard the girl chatting happily +about her coming marriage, saw that the friendship was +on safe ground and laughed away his fears.</p> +<p>Nathan had found his first friend since his Topeka experience, +and was unwilling to see him come to harm; also, +while Nathan had come to love Elizabeth almost as much +as his own daughter, and to miss her when she was away, +he was uncomfortably aware that she prized a culture +which he did not possess, and was subject to fits of jealousy +and distrust because of it.</p> +<p>Days passed. Elizabeth could not induce herself to +call on her future mother-in-law. The surety that she +was cheapened by reports of her home affairs stung her +consciousness and made it impossible to make the call +which she knew she would certainly give offence by omitting. +This, too, she talked over with Luther, and he +advised her to go at once. Each day she would promise, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_180' name='page_180'></a>180</span> +and each day she would make excuses to herself and him, +till at last the man’s sober sense told him it must not be +put off longer.</p> +<p>One evening, after John had been gone two weeks, and +Elizabeth explained the fact of not having gone to see Mrs. +Hunter because of the extreme heat, Luther suggested +that she go over to the “shanty” with him.</p> +<p>“I forgot my coat, and it looks as if it’d rain ’fore +mornin’,” he remarked. “I kept th’ harness on th’ +horses, so’s t’ drive over.”</p> +<p>As Elizabeth expected, the visit to Mrs. Hunter was the +first subject broached after they started.</p> +<p>“You’re goin’ t’ live in th’ house with Mrs. Hunter, +Lizzie”—Luther always used the old-fashioned name—“an’ +you must be friends with ’er,” he cautioned.</p> +<p>“I know it, Luther. I’ll go to-morrow, sure, no matter +what happens,” the girl promised, her words coming so +slowly that there was no mistaking her reluctance. “I +just can’t bear to, but I will.”</p> +<p>Luther considered at some length.</p> +<p>“She’ll be lonesome, not knowin’ anybody here,” he +said with almost equal reluctance. “I—I want t’ see +you start in right. You’ve got t’ live in th’ house with +’er.”</p> +<p>The last clause of his argument was not exactly in line +with the impression he wished to produce; in fact, it was +only a weak repetition of what he had begun the argument +with, but somehow, like Elizabeth, that was the main fact +in the case which absorbed his attention. He was dissatisfied +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_181' name='page_181'></a>181</span> +with it, but could think of no way to state it +better; so to turn the subject to something foreign to the +hated topic, he remarked on a hayfield they were passing.</p> +<p>“Them windrows ought t’ ’a’ been shocked up,” he said, +casting his eye up at the northwest to measure the clouds. +“Jimminy!” he exclaimed, slapping the team with the +lines. “I wonder if I’ve brought you out here t’ get you +wet?”</p> +<p>He glanced apprehensively at Elizabeth’s thin print +dress as the startled team jerked the old lumber wagon +over the rough road, and half wished he had not brought +her with him, for the signs were ominous. The breeze, +which had been fitful when they had started, had died +away altogether. Not a breath of air was stirring; even +the birds and crickets were silent.</p> +<p>The storm was gathering rapidly.</p> +<p>They rounded the corner, near his building place, on a +full trot, and plunged into the grove of cottonwoods which +surrounded the “shanty,” with a consciousness that if +they were to avoid a wetting, haste was necessary.</p> +<p>The faded coat, which was the object of the journey, +hung on the handle of the windlass at the newly sunk well. +The dried lumps of blue clay heaped themselves about the +new pine curb and the young man stumbled awkwardly +over the sunbaked clods as he reached for his coat. As +he turned back toward the wagon an exclamation of dismay +escaped him. The storm had gathered so rapidly +that the boiling clouds could be plainly seen now above +the tops of the ragged trees which surrounded the place. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_182' name='page_182'></a>182</span> +Instead of waiting to put the coat on, Luther flung it into +the back of the wagon, and, climbing hastily over the hub, +turned the horses and drove them into the open road. +One glance after they were free from the grove was +enough. With a shout, he stood up, urging the horses into +a gallop.</p> +<p>Boiling like smoke from the stack of a rapidly moving +locomotive, the storm bore down upon the level Kansas +prairie. Not a sound was heard except a dull roar from +the north. Urging the horses to their utmost efforts with +voice and threatening gestures, Luther looked back at the +girl on the spring seat reassuringly.</p> +<p>“We’re makin’ good time, Lizzie,” he shouted, “but +I’m afraid You’ll get th’ starch took out of that purty +dress. I never thought of this when I brought you.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth, clinging to the backless spring seat with both +hands, smiled back at him. It was only a storm, and at +best could only soak their clothes and hair; but to Luther +more than that was indicated.</p> +<p>As they rounded the corner and turned toward the +north, a sudden puff of wind jerked the shapeless straw +hat from Luther’s head and sent it careening dizzily over +the stubs of the hay field at the right. Hats cost money, +and Luther pulled up the galloping horses. Hardly waiting +to see whether Elizabeth caught the lines he flung to +her, he sprang to the ground and gave chase. The hat +rolled flat side down against a windrow and stuck, so that +it looked as if it were to be captured, but before he reached +it the wind, which had now become a steady blow, caught +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_183' name='page_183'></a>183</span> +it, and as the only loose thing of its size to be found, played +tag with its owner. At last he turned back, gasping for +breath and unable to lift his head against the blast.</p> +<p>A fleeting glimpse of Elizabeth standing up in the wagon +was all that he got, for a blinding flash of lightning split the +sky from north to south, followed by a terrific crash of +thunder. Half stunned, he fell into the deep rut of an old +road crossing the hayfield at right angles to his course.</p> +<p>As he arose a moment later, a scene never to be forgotten +met his gaze. One of his horses lay motionless on +the ground, the other was struggling feebly to regain its +feet, and Elizabeth was scrambling wildly out of the wagon. +Rushing to her side, Luther drew her away from the +floundering horse. A gust of rain struck them.</p> +<p>“Can you hold his head,” Luther shouted in her ear, +“while I get him out of the harness?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth nodded, and together they caught the bit +and laid the beast’s head flat on the ground, where the +girl held it fast by main force while Luther worked at the +straps and buckles.</p> +<p>“At last!” he cried, when the name-strap gave way +under his fingers. He flung the neck-yoke over against +the body of the dead horse, and stepped back to free himself +from the dangling lines.</p> +<p>Elizabeth let the horse’s head loose and jumped back, +still holding to the halter-strap. The frightened animal +bounded to its feet with a neigh of alarm, dragging the +girl out of Luther’s reach just as a thunderous roar and +utter darkness enveloped them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_184' name='page_184'></a>184</span></p> +<p>What happened, exactly, the man never knew. He +picked himself up, half senseless, some minutes later, +covered with mud, and his clothing half torn from his +body. At first he could not recall where he was; then +seeing the dead horse in the road, and the upturned bed +of the wagon itself, he realized that they had been struck +by a cyclone.</p> +<p>The darkness had whirled away with the retreating +tornado, and a gray light showed the demoralized wagon +overturned by the roadside. The wagon was in painful +evidence, but Elizabeth? Where was Elizabeth? Looking +wildly about in all directions, Luther called her name:</p> +<p>“Lizzie! Lizzie! God in heaven! What has become +of you?”</p> +<p>He remembered the fate of a girl in Marshall County +which he had heard discussed only last week. That child +had been picked up by one of these whirling devils and her +neck broken against a tree!</p> +<p>With a wild cry, he turned and ran in the direction of +the receding storm, calling her name and looking frantically +on both sides of the path where the cyclone had licked +the ground as clean as a swept floor. He could see nothing +at all of Elizabeth. Realizing at last that he was wasting +his efforts, and that some degree of composure would +assist in the search, Luther stopped and looked about him.</p> +<p>Outside the immediate path of the cyclone, which was +cleared of every movable thing, the hay was tossed and +thrown about as if it had been forked over the ground to +dry itself from the wetting it had had. Hay everywhere, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_185' name='page_185'></a>185</span> +but no living thing to be seen. Could it be that Elizabeth +had been carried completely away by the storm, or was she +buried in the hay somewhere?</p> +<p>Unresponsive as all nature to human emotions, the +tumbled grass lay about him, a picture of confusion and +ruin. The futility of human effort was borne in upon +him as he scanned the waste. A pile larger than the surrounding +piles separated itself from the scattered heaps at +last. He regarded it eagerly. Yes! there was a flutter of +wet calico.</p> +<p>Half rejoicing, half terrified at the prospect of what he +might find, Luther Hansen ran and flung himself down on +his knees beside it, dragging at the half-buried form of the +girl in frantic haste. She was doubled together and mixed +with the hay as if, after being picked up with it, she had +been whirled with it many times and then contemptuously +flung aside.</p> +<p>Drawing her out, Luther gathered her into his arms and +listened to her heart beat to make certain that she still +lived.</p> +<p>Though limp and unconscious, Elizabeth Farnshaw was +alive, and Luther drew her up and leaned her loosely rolling +head on his shoulder while he considered what to do.</p> +<p>A sharp, peppering fall of hail struck them. Luther +looked about quickly for shelter. The Kansas prairie +stretched level and bare before him. Not even a bush +presented itself. The size of the hailstones increased.</p> +<p>Elizabeth began to show signs of returning consciousness +and to move feebly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_186' name='page_186'></a>186</span></p> +<p>The hailstones came down like a very avalanche of ice. +It became necessary to interpose his body between her and +the storm. He thought of the coat they had come to obtain, +but that had probably gone with the hat and the +hay and all other things in the route of the hurricane. He +stooped close over her quivering form and let the frozen +pellets fall on his unprotected head. The deluge was +mercifully short, but at the end Luther Hansen was almost +beaten into insensibility.</p> +<p>When the hailstorm was over the rain burst upon them +with renewed fury, and the wind blew as cold as a winter’s +gale. The chill stung them into activity. Luther got +slowly, to his feet, bracing himself against the blast as he +did so, and also pulled up the now conscious girl. Elizabeth’s +strength had not returned and she fell back, dragging +him to his knees at her side. The rain ran off her +hair and clothes in streams, and against the storm her +thin cotton dress was of no protection whatever. Luther +urged her to control her shaking limbs and try to walk. +It could only be accomplished by much effort. When at +last she staggered to her feet, he put his arm about her +and with bent head turned to face the rain, which cut like +switches at their faces and cold shoulders, to which the +wet cotton garments clung like part of the very skin itself.</p> +<p>The wind blew a gale. It was almost impossible to +make headway against it. Had it not been for Elizabeth’s +chilled state Luther would have slipped down in a wagon +rut and waited for the squall to subside, but it was essential +that the girl be got under shelter of some sort At length, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_187' name='page_187'></a>187</span> +after struggling and buffeting with the storm for what +seemed an age, alternately resting and then battling up +the road toward home, they turned the corner of the +section from which the Hornby house could be seen.</p> +<p>Suddenly, Elizabeth gave a frightened scream. Luther, +whose head had been bowed against the wind, looked up +with a start.</p> +<p>“Good God!” broke from his lips.</p> +<p>Only a twisted pile of débris was to be seen where that +house had stood.</p> +<p>With the impulse to reach it instantly, they started on a +run, hand in hand, but the fierceness of the gale prevented +them. Out of breath before they had gone a dozen yards, +there was nothing to do but stop and recover breath and +start again at a pace more in keeping with their powers. +Impatient and horrified, they struggled ahead, running at +times, stumbling, falling, but not giving up. Terrified by +the thought of they knew not what possible disaster ahead +of them, they at last turned into the little path leading to +the ruined house.</p> +<p>Picking their way over scattered bits of household belongings, +broken boards and shingles, for some distance, +they at last reached the main pile of timbers. The girl’s +heart sank at the thought of what they might find there, +and she made a gesture of distress.</p> +<p>“This is no place for you, Lizzie,” Luther said, quick to +comprehend, and sick with pity for her.</p> +<p>As he spoke, his foot sank between some timbers into a +pile of wet cloth, and thinking that it was a human +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_188' name='page_188'></a>188</span> +form, he shuddered and fell forward to avoid giving an injury +the nature of which he could only guess.</p> +<p>They dug frantically at the pile, and were relieved to +find that it was only a ragged knot of rainsoaked carpet. +It indicated, however, the possibilities of the moment, and +Luther ceased to urge the now frenzied girl to leave him, +and together they stumbled about in their search. Darkness +was falling rapidly, and they called first the name of +Nathan, and then of his wife, beside themselves because +they could not find even a trace of either to indicate their +fate. Had the storm picked them up as it had done Elizabeth +and carried them out of the wreckage?</p> +<p>Luther stopped and shouted the thought into Elizabeth’s +ear. The wind dropped for an instant, and they stood +looking about the place as well as the gloom would permit. +The rain fell less noisily also. All at once they heard their +names called from somewhere toward the north. Turning, +they saw, what they had not noticed before, that the +straw sheds and the granary were untouched by the tornado.</p> +<p>“Here, Luther! Here, Lizzie!” came another call from +the granary door.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby, faintly seen, was shouting to them at +the top of his voice. A new dash of rain came, and the +wind redoubled its fury as if vexed with itself for having +carelessly let the wayfarers get a glimpse of the harbour +where it would be unable to do them further harm. With +a glad cry, they ran toward the beckoning figure, and a +second later Elizabeth was lifted by Nathan and Luther +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_189' name='page_189'></a>189</span> +into the open door of the bin-room, and literally fell across +the shifting grain into Aunt Susan’s open arms, sobbing +and clinging to her as if fearing that the fierce winds would +snatch her away. The relief was almost too much for the +girl.</p> +<p>“Aunt Susan! Aunt Susan! How could I live without +you?” she sobbed.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby drew the horse blanket with which she +was covered over the shuddering child in her arms, and +patted and soothed her, crying softly for joy as she did so, +for the fears of the last hour had been mutual. The +thought of her darling out in the storm, suffering she knew +not what, had unnerved Susan Hornby, and brought home +to her as nothing else had ever done a realization of the +precious relation between them.</p> +<p>“My daughter! My daughter! My Katy’s own self!” +she repeated over and over.</p> +<p>The reaction of fright and cold and wet brought on a +chill which set Elizabeth’s teeth to chattering audibly. +Aunt Susan was beside herself with worry. Do what she +would, the girl could not control herself. They rubbed +and worked with her for some minutes. Luther was +alarmed and blamed himself for having taken her out in +threatening weather. Elizabeth insisted that no harm +had come to her except a wetting, but could not convince +the others till Nathan had a bright idea.</p> +<p>“Here! we’ll scoop these warm oats over you. They’re +as warm as toast—havin’ th’ blazin’ sun on th’ roof of this +place all day.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_190' name='page_190'></a>190</span></p> +<p>The two men were alert for any signs of the old building +toppling over under the terrific pressure of the wind, +and had kept pretty close to the door; but they moved +over in the direction of the two women, and using their +hands as shovels soon had them well covered with oats.</p> +<p>“There you are,” Nathan shouted, when Susan had +begged them to desist because of the dust they were raising. +“We’ll set you folks a sproutin’ if heat an’ moisture’s +got anything t’ do with it,” he continued.</p> +<p>He pulled some grain sacks out of the empty wheat bin +and advised Luther to wrap them around himself. “I’m +some wet, myself,” he announced, “but I’ve got warm +ragin’ round here like a gopher. Now tell us how you +folks come t’ get here in all this storm. What’d you do +with th’ horses?”</p> +<p>All this had been shouted at the top of his voice, for the +wind rattled and tore at the old building with the noise of +a cannonade, as if determined to wreck even this shelter. +It was not possible to see one’s hand in the darkness, for +when the door had been pulled shut after the young couple, +the last ray of light was shut out. Besides, night had +fallen now, and the darkness outside was no less dense.</p> +<p>Luther told in as few words as possible of the catastrophe +which had befallen them on the road.</p> +<p>“Why, Susan,” Nathan exclaimed, “th’ same twister +struck them as struck us! Now don’t that beat you? +Funny th’ stables didn’t go, too. That’s th’ way with +them things—they go along an’ mow a patch a rod ’r +two wide as clean as a whistle, an’ not touch a thing ten +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_191' name='page_191'></a>191</span> +feet away. Lord man!” he cried, turning toward Luther +in the dark with a reminiscent giggle, “you should ’a’ seen +us. Sue saw th’ storm a-comin’, an’ she run out t’ git th’ +chickens in, an’ nothin’ ’d do ’er when she see th’ way them +clouds was a actin’ but I must come in, too. We didn’t +even milk! I never see anything come on like it; we +didn’t hardly have time t’ git th’ winders shut till we could +hear it roarin’! Lord, you should ’a’ heard it come! All +at onct it got dark, an’ th’ house begun t’ rock; an’ then it +slid along on th’ ground, an’ then it lifted clear up at th’ +northeast corner, an’ we slid down in a heap on th’ other +side along o’ th’ cupboards an’ th’ kitchen table an’ crocks +we’d set out for th’ milk we didn’t get into ’em, an’ then +th’ house lit over on th’ other corner an’ went t’ pieces +like a dry-goods box. That kitchen table was th’ savin’ +of us! I don’t know how it got over us, but there it was +with th’ safe an’ water-bench a holdin’ th’ timbers off’n +us.” Nathan wound up his story in a lowered tone, and +there was silence for a moment as each went over his personal +experience in thought.</p> +<p>“Gittin’ warm there, Elizabeth?” he asked after a time.</p> +<p>“A little,” the girl answered, still shivering, but with +less audible chattering of her teeth.</p> +<p>“You’ll be all right in half an hour,” Nathan said +with a relieved sigh. “I think we’ll put a little more of +these oats over you for good luck,” he added.</p> +<p>They heaped the warm grain thick about her, and then, +because it was hard to converse with the noise of the roaring +wind outside, gave up the effort. The old granary +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_192' name='page_192'></a>192</span> +had a good roof and did not leak; they grew less frightened, +and Elizabeth grew warm in Aunt Susan’s arms and slept +at last. The rest lay long, listening to the angry blast, +counting up their losses and planning to reconstruct so as +to fit the new circumstances. For Luther another horse +would be needed, while Nathan would have to build a +house and furnish it anew.</p> +<p>After the wind subsided the two men discussed in low +tones the best way of beginning on the morrow, and it was +finally decided that Luther should go out and appeal to +the neighbours to gather together and assist in sorting +and saving such things as were worth it, and construct out +of the broken timbers a habitation which would shelter +them till a better could be erected. Fortunately, Luther +had used none of the lumber of his last load, and but little +of the one he had bought before.</p> +<p>It was almost morning before they fell asleep, and the +sun was shining brightly before they awoke. As they +emerged from the musty oats bin into the fresh air, which +had been purified by the wind and rain of the night before, +a curious sight met their eyes.</p> +<p>The house was indeed a wreck! Roof, side-walls, plaster, +floor, and furniture were mixed in one indistinguishable +mass. The kitchen table Nathan had mentioned +stood as a centre-pole under a leaning pile of boards and +splintered scantlings, and had evidently done much to +save the lives of its owners when the roof fell. One end +of the house lay, almost uninjured, on the grass, the +window panes unbroken and still in their frames. Other +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_193' name='page_193'></a>193</span> +windows had been hurled from the walls to which they +belonged and ground to powder. Half the roof had been +deposited between the road and the rest of the débris as +carefully as if it had been lifted by some gigantic machinery, +and was unhurt, while the other side, splintered and +riddled, was jumbled together with joists, siding, and +kitchen chairs.</p> +<p>They spent but little time over the ruin of treasures, +but after a hurried breakfast, consisting of such eggs as +they could find about the haystacks, and coffee—rainsoaked, +but still coffee, which was dug out of a stone jar +where it had fallen—the men went at once for help.</p> +<p>In spite of bridges washed out, and many hindrances, +sympathetic farmers began to gather within two hours +after Luther had started out. The lumber he had offered +was brought and many willing hands began the erection of +the simple four-room house on the old foundation. The +place was cleared, furniture carried to one side, while +broken timbers were carried to the other and sorted, nails +drawn, and every available stick laid in neat piles ready for +those who had brought saws and hammers for building.</p> +<p>Susan and Elizabeth sorted the soaked and muddy +clothing, carpets, and bedclothes, and Mrs. Chamberlain +and other neighbour women, around a great out-of-door +fire near the well, washed and spread the clothes on the +grass to dry.</p> +<p>As if by magic, a house arose before night and, minus +doors and windows, but otherwise ready for occupancy, +offered its shelter to the tired but grateful family. Broken +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_194' name='page_194'></a>194</span> +bedsteads had been mended and put in place, feather-beds +had been dried in the hot sun, straw ticks had been filled +with clean hay; broken chairs nailed or wired together +occupied their old places; the kitchen safe, with its doors +replaced but shutting grudgingly, was in its old corner, +and the unplastered house had a look of homey comfort +in spite of the lack of some of its usual features.</p> +<p>Luther, who was a sort of carpenter, donated his services +for several days, and except for patches of new +weather-boarding or shingles mixed with the old there was +little to indicate the path of a cyclone in the country. +Yes, there was a pile of splintered boards tossed roughly +together not far from the back door, and the usual fuel +of corncobs was below par.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='IX__AGAINST_HER_INSTINCTS_AGAINST_HER_BETTER_JUDGMENT_AGAINST_HER_WILL' id='IX__AGAINST_HER_INSTINCTS_AGAINST_HER_BETTER_JUDGMENT_AGAINST_HER_WILL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_195' name='page_195'></a>195</span> +<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2> +<h3>“AGAINST HER INSTINCTS, AGAINST HER BETTER JUDGMENT, AGAINST HER WILL”</h3> +</div> + +<p>Mrs. Hunter did not come to help, nor to call +upon Elizabeth and Susan Hornby, after the +disaster, and Elizabeth was finally obliged to +go to see John’s mother without any encouragement other +than Luther’s urging.</p> +<p>The day came at last when the call had to be made, and +for the first time Elizabeth came in contact with polite +society which smiles and bows in polite form without any +especial regard for sincerity. There was not a ripple of +discontent on the surface at her future home. Mrs. +Hunter might never have heard of the girl’s family difficulties. +The girl might have called the day before, so +courteous and charming was the dignified hospitality with +which she was accepted. Elizabeth felt as if the most +painful possibility of her life had been safely put behind +her. She had been nervous and uncomfortable about +this visit, and was correspondingly sensitive to the perfect +manner of her hostess, and carried away with her a new +problem to work upon: if John Hunter’s mother, by her +poise and presence, made of his home a social unit of appearance +and value, John Hunter’s wife must not fall +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_196' name='page_196'></a>196</span> +below the grade of that home when she became its mistress. +She pondered long upon that subtle air of good +breeding which ignored real issues and smoothed communication +by seeming not to know disagreeable facts. +Elizabeth decided that it was much more desirable than +the rugged honesty with which the primitive folk about +them would have humiliated themselves by explanation +and apology. She would copy that suavity of manner. +Also, she resolved not to discuss grievances. They were a +bore and it was horribly countrified.</p> +<p>“I will not let myself think any more about it. I will +be myself, and not be affected by what the rest of the +folks do, and I’ll not let myself sit and fumble with my +buttons because some one else is going to think about +them. Mrs. Hunter’s manners are beautiful. I’d just +love her if I didn’t know I was going to have to live with +her,” she thought. Mrs. Hunter was a fixture in Elizabeth’s +mental world, and her estimates were the standards +Elizabeth considered when she sewed alone or when Aunt +Susan was silent. The girl was both fascinated and repelled +by them. Mrs. Hunter’s bearing was the subject +of constant and delighted meditation, while the cold carefulness +of it was a terrorizing nightmare. The girl kept +up a conversation with Aunt Susan on the sewing, or a +fire of mirth and jollity with Nathan or Luther, with this +undercurrent of thought always going on. How was she +to emulate that polish with so little experience in social +affairs she would ask herself one moment, and the next +would be harassed by the certainty that equal perfection +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_197' name='page_197'></a>197</span> +in housekeeping and entertainment would be expected of +her. There was no escaping her fate. If she was to learn +these things, she must learn them of John’s mother. There +was no way of acquiring them beforehand. Elizabeth +faced her position squarely: she decided to accept her +teacher. At least Mrs. Hunter seemed willing to make it +easy for her.</p> +<p>When Elizabeth went home that night she spoke in +glowing terms of Mrs. Hunter’s friendly reception, and +praised the real merit of her housekeeping, letting Luther +see that she hoped to acquire it, and left the little group +around the supper table in great good humour because +the visit had been a success. She took Luther after the +meal was over and went to look for the eggs about the +haystacks, talking all the while of John Hunter’s mother +in the happiest manner she could assume. The visit to +John’s home had made her a bit homesick for John himself. +Luther’s presence had so completely filled the days +since John’s departure that she had not been lonesome +for him, but the house with which he was associated had +brought John back to the foreground of her consciousness +with a rush, and Luther saw that she was aglow with longing +for the man she was to marry. They did not walk as +usual after the eggs were hunted, but went back to the +house, where Elizabeth excused herself and soon went to +bed. John was expected now at any time.</p> +<p>When John did arrive two days later he found a welcome +awaiting him that was all that the most exacting of +men could have desired, a thing which astonished him +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_198' name='page_198'></a>198</span> +somewhat, for rumour had reached him as soon as he had +come into the home neighbourhood that the new Swede +had cut him out. John came to see Elizabeth with curiosity +predominating in his mind, though there was a +distinct feeling of determination to master the situation if +rumour had been right.</p> +<p>Luther was not at the house when John Hunter arrived. +Elizabeth’s delight over her lover’s return was not a thing +to be deceived about, but one thing left its impress upon +his mind: Elizabeth called this new man by his given +name and spoke of him as one speaks of an intimate. +This was soon dismissed from John’s mind, however, for +Elizabeth was all agog to learn about the Mitchell County +land which he said he had bought, and John Hunter +stretched his legs out comfortably in the mended rocker +of Nathan Hornby’s little front room and talked enthusiastically +of the pasture he would have for surplus cattle +when he had got the farm in running order. No reference +was made to Elizabeth’s affairs with her family. John +was keenly appreciative of her joy in his presence, and +the old relations were renewed; in fact, the relations were +on a better basis than they had been for several days +before John’s absence. By a curious stroke of fate, +Luther was away from the house every time John Hunter +called for over a week. It whetted John’s interest in the +other man not to be able to see him, and it added an element +to the courtship which had threatened to disappear. +This other man on the scene made him apprehensive; he +wanted the centre of the stage for himself, and he became +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_199' name='page_199'></a>199</span> +more ardent. Elizabeth was courted with sweet manner, +and all her wishes considered.</p> +<p>The summer was a happy one. Aside from a simple +white dress to be married in, and two calico dresses for +house wear, Elizabeth put her own sewing away and +helped Aunt Susan repair her quilts and carpets which +had suffered badly in the cyclone. Two weeks had to be +given up to the plastering of the remodelled house, and all +the furniture was revarnished by their own hands. By +the time all this was finished the girl felt a personal possession +in every article the house contained, and it had +indeed become a home to her. The home she had left +was scarcely more than a shadow in Elizabeth’s mind. +The work of remodelling and brightening up Nathan’s +house was hastened because of the wedding, which they +planned to have take place there. Susan Hornby and +Elizabeth had grown closer than ever since the storm, +when each had feared the loss of the other. They worked +and sewed together, skimping Nathan and Luther on the +cooking till the former threatened to turn cook in self-defence.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw had not come to help when the neighbours +put up the demolished house. The bridges had +been out and no one had gone to warn her that help was +needed. When the news had arrived the omission had +been taken as an offence and no effort had been made to go +at all. The last week in September, however, Elizabeth’s +mother came to see her. The girl was helping Susan +Hornby put fresh straw under the rag carpet in the front +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_200' name='page_200'></a>200</span> +room. The straw was carefully spread and the carpet +tacked along one side of the room, and Elizabeth, hammer +in hand, turned over from her knees to a sitting position +and surveyed her mother with a dull fear at her heart; she +knew what her mother’s presence meant. Mrs. Farnshaw +resented the new carpet, she resented Susan Hornby, she +resented the comradeship she felt existed between her +daughter and this alien woman who was no relation to +her by the ties of blood. Ignoring Aunt Susan’s courteous +attempts to make her feel welcome, she drove straight to +the object of her visit and demanded that Elizabeth come +home to be married.</p> +<p>“I’m going to be married right here, ma,” Elizabeth +replied, twisting the hammer around in the other hand +and filled with apprehension. She knew her mother’s +tendency to hold fast to foolish demands.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw’s ready handkerchief went up to her +eyes at once.</p> +<p>“Now look a’ here, Lizzie, I ain’t got no other girl, an’ +it’s a pretty how-de-do if I can’t have my only daughter +married from my own house.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth fidgeted about, laying her hammer down +and picking up a straw that had pushed its way +through the loose rags of the carpet on which she sat. +After a time she turned her eyes to Aunt Susan with +a mute call for help. Susan Hornby was decidedly uncomfortable.</p> +<p>“I thought of course you’d come home to be married,” +Mrs. Farnshaw continued. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_201' name='page_201'></a>201</span></p> +<p>“You know pa ’d raise a fuss as soon as I appeared,” her +daughter replied.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw brightened. She was strong on argument. +Elizabeth’s silence had disconcerted her, but if +she would talk—well, Mrs. Farnshaw began to have +hopes.</p> +<p>“You’ve been away all summer,” she sobbed, returning +to her handkerchief.</p> +<p>Elizabeth kept her eyes on Aunt Susan’s face and did +not reply again. There was another silence.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw began to be desperate.</p> +<p>“Folks has talked an’ talked,” she said, “an’ I let +’em, because I thought when you come home for th’ +weddin’ it’d put a stop t’ their tongues. You’ve been +down here, an’ you don’t know how hard it’s been.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had listened in a distressed silence and +studied Susan Hornby’s face for signs of assistance.</p> +<p>“I guess they haven’t talked——” she began at +length, and then stopped short at something in Aunt +Susan’s eye which confirmed her mother’s words.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, they have,” her mother hastened to say. +“They say you ain’t got no proper pride, an’ they say +you’ve got too stuck up t’ live to home any longer, now +that you’re goin’ t’ marry rich, an’ they say I can’t make +your things good enough for you t’ be married in, an’——”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw had voiced her greatest grievance—her +neighbours criticised her. She broke into such real +weeping that it was impossible not to be moved by it.</p> +<p>Forgetting her policy of silence, Elizabeth argued and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_202' name='page_202'></a>202</span> +explained. Talking to her mother, but keeping her eyes +glued on Aunt Susan’s, she went into details about the +difficulty at home.</p> +<p>“You know pa ’ll find some excuse to strike me as soon +as I get there,” she concluded. She had a painful sense of +weakness and inadequacy in the presence of her mother’s +determination. Her own worries seemed so trivial in the +presence of her mother’s sorrow.</p> +<p>“E won’t, I tell you,” Mrs. Farnshaw repeated for the +twentieth time. “E’ll let you alone if you do th’ right +thing. We love our children—if th’ neighbours don’t +think so,” she wailed.</p> +<p>As she talked, however, she kept a shrewd eye on her +daughter and soon saw that Elizabeth’s eyes turned to +those of Aunt Susan. It was not enough for this Hornby +woman to be neutral; Mrs. Farnshaw decided to enlist her.</p> +<p>“If you had a girl you’d want ’er t’ be married in your +own house, I know,” she said, leaning forward eagerly. +“Suppose you only had th’ one——” She saw the quick +tears gathering. “Did you ever have a little girl?” she +asked.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby’s emotions mastered her. She made no +attempt to reply.</p> +<p>“Then tell ’er t’ come home for just two more days,” +she said quickly. “I don’t ask for no more than that. +Just long enough to put an end t’ this talk. I don’t never +’spect t’ have ’er after that, but——”</p> +<p>She sprang to her feet and, crossing the room, dragged +Elizabeth to her feet also. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_203' name='page_203'></a>203</span></p> +<p>“I’ve got t’ have you, Lizzie, an’ that’s all th’ is about +it!” They looked at each other a long time. Elizabeth +weakened.</p> +<p>What could the girl do? Against her instincts, against +her better judgment, against her will, she consented.</p> +<p>“See to it, then, that no new thing comes up to disgrace +us,” she said, stepping back to avoid the compelling touch +of the hand that clutched at her sleeve, still looking across +despairingly at Aunt Susan.</p> +<p>All help had been taken from that quarter. Bewildered, +torn between her comprehension of mother love and a real +knowledge of this particular case, Susan Hornby fumbled +with the hem of her apron and did not look up.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, alone and without support, was easily victimized.</p> +<p>“I’ll go,” she said briefly.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>So the peaceful summer ended for Elizabeth Farnshaw +with her promise to go home. She hated to go, but the +phrasing of her mother’s plea, “just two more days,” +helped to sustain her. It had been a happy summer, two +days would not be long, and then would come John and +the new home.</p> +<p>There had been many reasons for the happiness of +Elizabeth’s last weeks of girlhood. The days had been +full of pleasant work, and John had taken regular and +masterful possession of her evenings. He came always +such a picture of natty cleanliness and taste that it was a +joy to be the object of his wooing. When John had found +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_204' name='page_204'></a>204</span> +that Elizabeth was not in love with Luther, as she had +been reported to be, but accorded the old grounds of +affection to him, he had spread himself comfortably in +Luther’s presence and drawn him into conversation whenever +it could be done. In addition to a desire to set his +well-polished boots in strong contrast against those of +busy, unobserving Luther, the only dressing of which was +an occasional soaking in oil to keep them from cracking, +John Hunter had been half forced to like honest, kindly +Luther Hansen. Luther was not a man to arouse antagonisms. +He assumed his natural rôle with Elizabeth +even before her fiancé and let the ground of their cordiality +and friendship rest on such sensible basis that they were +accepted as a matter of course.</p> +<p>John Hunter had been restless and half angry when he +had first come home from Mitchell County—a thing he +had not let Elizabeth see—but his feelings had been +soothed and delighted by the display of her preference for +him on his return. A new buggy had been purchased, +and it was John Hunter’s pride.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was unconscious of any rivalry. The new +buggy was a great acquisition. It was the first to appear +in that part of the country. She felt favoured to have it +at her service, but the crown of all her felicity had been +John Hunter’s adoration, which had been poured at her +feet without stint. If she wished to go anywhere, she +had but to mention it. The relations of the early summer +had been reëstablished. He talked of the new land, and of +the cattle to be placed on it in two or three years, when +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_205' name='page_205'></a>205</span> +the calves he was buying would be grown. The lots in +which he had held an equity since his father’s death had +been sold before his mother’s departure from the old home, +and twenty-five calves had been picked up from the surrounding +farmers with the money thus secured. Every +evening John drove to some farm to look for young cattle, +and Elizabeth accompanied him. Cash had been paid +for the Western land, and at the end of the summer most +of the money that had been received from the estate had +been invested.</p> +<p>As they drove from farm to farm, discussing prices; +sheds, feed, and the wintering of stock, the girl’s heart +swelled with gratitude that her lines had fallen in such +well-provided places. The pinch of poverty was to be +lifted from her life.</p> +<p>More than the plenty, Elizabeth prized the peace which +seemed to be drifting in her direction.</p> +<p>Every day since John Hunter’s return had been a happy +day. John consulted her judgment and her wishes, and +it was done with that air of comradeship which was the +most sought-for thing in Elizabeth Farnshaw’s life. All +her lonely days she had longed for it, and in all her girlish +dreams it had been the prime factor. She had obtained +glimpses of it in Susan Hornby’s home, and now, she told +herself joyfully, it was to be a permanent feature of her +future life.</p> +<p>With Mrs. Farnshaw’s advent a series of unpleasant +things began to manifest. John was glad that the marriage +was to take place in Elizabeth’s own home. Because +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_206' name='page_206'></a>206</span> +of their engagement, he had heard little of the gossip about +her, but it had been enough to make him suspect more and +wish her well out of it. If now she would go home it +would make the whole thing look right and stop the +reports.</p> +<p>John Hunter was distinctly a man of moods and reflected +the conditions in which he happened for the +moment to find himself. When he came to see Elizabeth +the night after her mother had been to see her, he +was pleased that she was to go home the next day, but +he instantly partook of the discontent she showed. He +took her to his mother’s house for a short stay, but both +were heavy of spirits and John was actually depressed. +Elizabeth was almost abnormally sensitive to the attitude +assumed toward her, and had she been shrewd she would +never have carried any doubts of her own efficiency or +judgment to her lover, but she was as open as a little child. +John left her at the little gate and drove away so promptly +that the girl’s lip quivered as she turned in the dark to go +to the house.</p> +<p>Elizabeth found Luther seated on the low doorstep. +The shadow of the house prevented her from seeing him +till she was almost upon him.</p> +<p>“Of all things! I never thought of you being here,” +she exclaimed, thinking of the kiss she had just received +not three rods distant.</p> +<p>Luther laughed sheepishly.</p> +<p>“I hadn’t intended t’ see your good-nights,” he said +honestly, “but I’d ’a’ made a worse mess of it by runnin’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_207' name='page_207'></a>207</span> +than I did by settin’ still. Anyhow, you’re goin’ t’ be +married in three days, an’ it needn’t make no difference. +I’ve been a thinkin’ about you an’ I waited up t’ talk.” +He made room on the step for her to sit beside him.</p> +<p>“Thinking about me?”</p> +<p>“Yes. Mrs. Hornby says your mother was here to-day. +She’s kind of worried about it—you goin’ home, I mean. +I don’t know about that—I hope It’ll be all right. Try +an’ make it right, Lizzie. Th’ Hunters go a good deal on +looks.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was silent.</p> +<p>Luther felt it and interpreted her silence rightly.</p> +<p>“Is that something I’m not to talk about, Lizzie?” he +asked.</p> +<p>The question hurt worse than the statement.</p> +<p>“I—I—don’t know why you ask me such a thing, +Luther,” she faltered.</p> +<p>Luther arose. He was not to be offended, nor would he +put away what he had waited to say.</p> +<p>“I only wanted to say that—well, do what th’ folks +ask of you, Lizzie. You’re only home for a couple of days +an’—an’”—after a long pause—“an’ it won’t hurt +nobody.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth got up slowly.</p> +<p>“Good-night, Luther,” she said.</p> +<p>She wanted to offer him her hand; she was sure she was +hurting him, but she could not talk to him on this point; +the very truth of his suspicious that the Hunter estimate +of her might be affected by scandal made of it a sore point. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_208' name='page_208'></a>208</span> +Elizabeth Farnshaw would be loyal to mutual relations, +even where Luther’s feelings were concerned.</p> +<p>They met in the morning on perfectly friendly ground, +but there was an attitude of reserve which brooked no +remark on her part. Luther departed early for his own +house, and John Hunter came before noon to take her to +her father’s home. After all her simple possessions were +in the wagon, Elizabeth went back and threw herself into +the arms of Aunt Susan, who was crying miserably.</p> +<p>“Oh, Aunt Susan! I feel as if I had taken leave of you +forever. I’ve—I’ve been so happy in this house—till +yesterday. Can I ever repay what you’ve done for +me?”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby gathered Elizabeth into her arms and +sobbed more vehemently. The silence was unbroken except +by those sobs, and at last the girl, moved out of herself, +tried to comfort her, and said coaxingly:</p> +<p>“I’ll live right near you. I’ll see you every few days +and—and I’ll never forget how good you’ve been to me. +It’s—it’s too bad these last two days had to be so—so +different. I—I don’t know what went wrong, but—but”—she +laughed desperately—“where have our good +times gone to? I’m going to be married to the man I +love—and I’m going to live right near you—and—what +is the matter with us, anyway?”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby clung to the girl and could not cease crying, +till at last Elizabeth lifted her chin on one finger and +with a corner of Aunt Susan’s own apron, wiped the tears +from the contorted face. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_209' name='page_209'></a>209</span></p> +<p>“Now then, don’t cry,” she said, kissing her again and +again.</p> +<p>“Keep the folks in a good humour, dear. The Hunters ’ll +feel awful if anything more happens,” Susan Hornby +faltered, and then, to keep the girl from, replying, and to +avoid the surprise and pain in the young face, pushed her +gently but firmly toward the door and John Hunter, who +was waiting impatiently.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='X_PHILOSOPHY_OF_ELIZABETH_S_LIFE_VOICED' id='X_PHILOSOPHY_OF_ELIZABETH_S_LIFE_VOICED'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_210' name='page_210'></a>210</span> +<h2>CHAPTER X</h2> +<h3>PHILOSOPHY OF ELIZABETH’S LIFE VOICED</h3> +</div> + +<p>“To-morrow,” Elizabeth said, significantly, as +John turned back to get into the wagon after they +had deposited the trunk in the house.</p> +<p>“To-morrow,” John smiled back at her. It was a +reluctant smile he gave her, but the bid for affection in +her young eyes was irresistible.</p> +<p>“He had to be nice,” she thought as she walked back +to the house; “it was a good way.”</p> +<p>A sudden thought came to her.</p> +<p>“Did you ask Luther to the wedding?” she asked of her +mother as she entered.</p> +<p>“No, I didn’t. What do you want of that Swede?” +Mrs. Farnshaw asked petulantly. “I should think——”</p> +<p>What she thought was never recorded in words, for +Elizabeth was out of the house like a flash, calling to John +Hunter as she ran down the road after him. It was a +surprised John who took her message.</p> +<p>“Yes, I’ll tell him, but I don’t see what you want of +that Swede—he always seems to cut such a figure in +everything you do,” John said discontentedly.</p> +<p>“Well, just tell him that ma sends the invitation, will +you?” was all Elizabeth could say. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_211' name='page_211'></a>211</span></p> +<p>It was John’s first contemptuous remark about Luther, +and it disturbed her. They were to live closer to Luther +Hansen than any other neighbour and it was essential +that they be on friendly terms. She had hoped it might +be that John would appreciate the good things in Luther +which even his nationality could not spoil. Dear old +Luther! In spite of the observation she had seemed to +resent the night before, Elizabeth loved him—loved him +all the more because she had been obliged to hurt him. It +suddenly occurred to her that John might not deliver her +message. She put the thought away from her instantly, +saying aloud:</p> +<p>“He’d do anything he knew I wanted him to do,” and +then was struck with the doubtful tone in which it was +said.</p> +<p>“What did you say?” her mother asked, for Elizabeth +had just entered the door.</p> +<p>“Nothing. I hate this wedding!”</p> +<p>“Well, now, I like that, after all I’ve done to give you a +good time,” the mother said angrily.</p> +<p>“No, ma; you mean to give yourself a good time. You +make me come home when I don’t want to, and you ask +people I hate to have, and then you leave out the people I +want most. It isn’t my wedding. I’m going to stand up +and be married so as to get rid of it all, but John won’t +have the minister I want, you won’t have the people I +want, I’m most sure pa ’ll kick up some kind of a row +about it—and—and I was so happy till you came and +made me consent to it. What did you do it for?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_212' name='page_212'></a>212</span></p> +<p>“Do it for? You ungrateful child! What did I do it +for? I’ll tell you,” Mrs. Farnshaw’s eyes hardened into +momentary coals of fire. “I did it because I don’t like +your whole goings on. Minister? Why don’t you say +preacher, like the rest of your folks? It’s that Hornby +woman. She made you talk of divorces——” At +thought of all her supposed wrongs at the hand of Susan +Hornby Mrs. Farnshaw broke into a half scream and +ended by throwing herself into a chair by her daughter’s +side and clinging to her hand with her upturned face +streaming over with tears, her mouth convulsed with pain +till speech was impossible.</p> +<p>Moved to repentance at the sight of the pang she had +caused, Elizabeth fell on her knees by her mother’s side, +and with her arms encircling her, cried contritely:</p> +<p>“I didn’t mean it, ma, really—that is, I didn’t mean +it that way. Don’t mind what I said. I do love you.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw clung to her, so shaken by sobs that she +still could not speak, and the penitent daughter soothed +and comforted her with her own heart breaking at the +thoughtlessness of her speech.</p> +<p>“Put it away and don’t remember it; I didn’t mean it. +I’m tired to death—and—and——” She pondered a +moment and then made the experiment. “And I want to +speak of Aunt Susan to you. I can’t bear to have you feel +so bad about me liking her. She hasn’t put a single notion +into my head. Be good and get acquainted with her. +She’d like to have you. If you knew her you’d know how +different she is from what you think. I’ll take you to see +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_213' name='page_213'></a>213</span> +her the very first time you come to see me. Say you +will.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth stroked the thin hair back from the passion-worn +face, and waited for her reply.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw shook her head, but could not meet the +offer squarely.</p> +<p>“The two of you’d be a wishin’ you could get rid of me +so’s you could talk your own kind of talk,” she said with +conviction. “’Taint any use, Lizzie; I ain’t your kind. +Your pa ’d be madder at me ’n ever, too.”</p> +<p>“Well, he’s mad all the time, anyhow,” Elizabeth +said.</p> +<p>“No ’e wasn’t till you said that awful thing—that is, +’e was mad often enough, but not like ’e’s been since. +You don’t know what you done t’ your mother then. Be +good, an’ go t’ ’im, an’ settle ’is mind ’fore you’re married. +It don’t matter if I know Miss Hornby ’r not; but what +a difference it’d make t’ me if he only knowed I never +put you up t’ that partin’ business! Please do it fur me, +Lizzie.”</p> +<p>This was an unexpected turn. Elizabeth had hoped to +avoid the recurrence of this issue. Knowing that she was +keeping her mother in cruel suspense, Elizabeth hesitated +and by every sign showed her disinclination to discuss the +subject. What should she do? What <i>could</i> she do? +The tortured eyes of her mother studied her with an intensity +which she could not avoid. To consent was to +fail with her father, to refuse was to make matters much +worse with the mother she had just hurt. Luther had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_214' name='page_214'></a>214</span> +warned her to avoid collisions with her family which +were liable to cause gossip; Aunt Susan had implored her +to keep the folks in a good humour; her own instincts were +against the movement, but her feelings were pleading for +the mother who begged her to try once again to obtain +reconciliation before she was married. Ah! if this time +would end it!</p> +<p>“Say you will,” the mother begged with pathetic +brevity.</p> +<p>“I’d do it in a minute if there were the least opportunity +to succeed, ma,” Elizabeth said reluctantly, and not looking +toward her. “If I do it and fail, You’ll be wanting me +to go right on with it after I’m married, and that I won’t +do for anybody.” The sentence ended savagely.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw studied her daughter eagerly. She began +to have hopes. Now, if only she could get the right +touch on her appeal.</p> +<p>“If You’ll do it, an’ be careful-like, Lizzie,” she said +compellingly, “if You’ll be careful-like this time, I’ll never +ask you again. I can’t live this way any longer. I won’t +never ask you again. Please,” she insisted. “Speak real +soft an’ nice-like. Please.”</p> +<p>“But, ma, are you crazy? You told me—you told me +that—oh dear, what’s the use to tell you what you said?” +the girl cried, her judgment giving its last caution a +hearing.</p> +<p>What was the use indeed!</p> +<p>In the end Elizabeth consented—consented with kindliness +of manner. Since she was going to do it at all she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_215' name='page_215'></a>215</span> +would do it lovingly. She argued herself into that mood +before she agreed to the move. Her mother had a hard +life; on one who knew her doubted that fact. Neither +would any one have doubted that Mr. Farnshaw led a +hard life also. Some devil of unrest demanded excitement +and disagreement.</p> +<p>“Keep the folks in a good humour,” Luther had said.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had no support from any quarter. She could +only consent.</p> +<p>“I’ll do it, ma,” she agreed. “I am going away to be +happy. John and his mother never have a word together +that isn’t pleasant.”</p> +<p>“I hope so,” Mrs. Farnshaw said with relief, “but men +don’t always treat their wives like they do their mothers. +It’s something they get t’ feel about their wives that’s th’ +trouble. Women think th’ only way t’ be good wives’s +t’ give up—an’ men think so too. Women’s most always +afraid of what th’ men ’ll think, an’ th’ men know it.”</p> +<p>“Well, ma, come on! There’s lots to do; let’s get at +it.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was in no mood to philosophize. She hated +the coming conference with her father to the utter exclusion +of every other thought at that moment, and had +hardly heard what her mother had said.</p> +<p>“You’ll never regret bein’ good t’ your old mother,” +Mrs. Farnshaw said, rubbing her hand over the girl’s +glossy braids as Elizabeth turned away to begin the work +she had suggested. “My! it don’t seem like six weeks +since I was your age—young an’ startin’ out—an’ life +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_216' name='page_216'></a>216</span> +looked good t’ me, I kin tell you. Now I ain’t got nothin’ +t’ be good t’ me but you.”</p> +<p>“I think I’ll wash my hair before the sun gets low,” +Elizabeth said. “Then I’ll help you in here.” She was +disturbed about the promise she had given and wanted to +get away from her mother before she should say some unlucky +thing that would show it. She let her hair down and +loosened it with a toss of her head. It was a glittering +garment which covered her from head to knees in wavy +strands which flew about her in lines of beauty as she +moved about getting her hot water and towels. Mrs. +Farnshaw watched her with an expression near real affection. +She came over and ran her hands through the rippling +mass as the girl turned to go out of doors where she +could splash comfortably, and after she had gone passed +her hands over her own faded locks slowly.</p> +<p>“Lizzie’s always had th’ best of everything,” she said, +shaking her head sadly. “I wisht she wasn’t s’ set against +’er pa. I’m goin’ t’ make ’er do it all th’ same.”</p> +<p>The girl in the backyard pondered upon the same thing +as she dried her hair in the hot sun.</p> +<p>“I hate it,” she thought, “but I’m going to do it just +the best I know how. Ma <i>didn’t</i> say it, nor agree with it, +and I’m going to make it as easy as I can for her before I +go. Will we ever be like they are?” she asked herself half +seriously, and felt sure it could not be. “Ma has always +insisted on things and never lets pa nor the rest of us +forget anything or lay it down. I believe a woman can +manage those things. Aunt Susan does.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_217' name='page_217'></a>217</span></p> +<p>As Elizabeth started to the house, she noticed her +father and the boys coming from the cornfield with a +wagon-load of snapped corn. Joe drove the team and +his father sat in the back with his feet dangling over the +end-gate. They were turning into the barnyard when she +discovered them.</p> +<p>With her hair floating about her like a veil, she started +at once for the barn. She could not talk this out with her +mother listening, and if she did not do it now it would be +forced upon her at supper, when her father was certain to +be in his worst mood. Mr. Farnshaw always came to the +table tired.</p> +<p>Seeing Elizabeth coming toward him, Mr. Farnshaw +dropped from the wagon and went to fill the swill pails. +The hogs knew they were to be fed and set up their usual +noisy clamour. It was his purpose to divert their attention +till the boys could drive the wagon into the corral, +hoping also to leave his daughter where she could not approach +him. Mr. Farnshaw delighted in making people +wait. With a pail in either hand he advanced to the +fence. The hogs left the gate and ran to meet him, upsetting +the trough as they came. Setting the pails down, +he snatched up a peeled osage stick, kept outside of the +pen for that purpose, and belaboured angrily the snouts +sticking over the fence. The pigs were hungry and persistent. +By the time they were beaten into a respectable +awe and had backed away squealing, Mr. Farnshaw +discovered his daughter at his elbow. He had intended +to ignore her; he turned red with rage. With +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_218' name='page_218'></a>218</span> +a look of infinite contempt, he stooped and picked up a +pail.</p> +<p>“What a racket they do make,” she remarked, smiling +at him without offence.</p> +<p>In spite of her smiling manner, Elizabeth was half sick +with apprehension. It was not a propitious time to approach +him, but Mr. Farnshaw watched to see that a +propitious moment should not arrive when he was in one +of his sulking fits. Elizabeth had played that game with +him before. With her courage oozing away, and a feeling +that there was no benefit in seeming not to know what he +was thinking about, she put her hand on his sleeve saying:</p> +<p>“Don’t be cross with me, pa. Really I <i>do</i> want to +be friends.”</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw jerked his arm aside to avoid her touch +and spilled half the pail of swill on the ground. He lurched +over to the other side to right the pail; the bucket at his +feet upset, pouring dishwater, milk, and potato peelings +over his heavy plow-shoes as it went. To avoid the onrush +of the greasy tide he sprang back, slipped in its oily +overflow, and fell, the pail he held pouring its contents +over him as he went. His gray whiskers, the bottom of his +jersey, his very ears dripped swill as he arose. It was +disconcertingly funny, and the girl helped him to his feet, +laughing in spite of every effort to restrain herself.</p> +<p>To lose his temper was bad enough, but to be made +ridiculous and be laughed at at the same time was more +than the man could endure. He was insane with fury. +There was such a look of malignity on his face as he jerked +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_219' name='page_219'></a>219</span> +away and turned to face her that the girl, suddenly sobered, +dodged and started to run. Her long hair trailed across +his arm, and lost to every consideration but that of satisfying +his temper, he caught it as she passed and swinging +the osage stick to which he still clung, shouted:</p> +<p>“Damn you! This is th’ kind of friends I’ll be.”</p> +<p>He struck with all his force, jerking her hair at the same +time. Thrown from her feet, the full weight of the girl’s +body came on her hair. It hurt cruelly. She veered +around on her knees and caught the now tangled hair with +both hands to ease the strain. He grabbed her by one +arm and rained blows on her thinly clad shoulders which +hissed in tune with the man’s temper as they fell.</p> +<p>“I’ll be friends with you!” he shrieked. “I’ll send you +t’ that young smartie with some marks on you that’ll show +’im what kind of a wife he’s gettin’. You told your ma +t’ leave me! Maybe You’ll be leavin’ him next. Tell ’im +I said so, will you?”</p> +<p>Cut by the flexible withe, which left welts like ribbons +on her young shoulders, the girl was unable to endure +more passively, and struggled to free herself. The partially +successful opposition infuriated the man. He was +not accustomed to defence. His fury knew no restraint. +He rained the blows harder than ever and the girl finally +caught the whip itself. Catching the limber end desperately, +she jerked it sidewise; unconsciously, she had +deflected her father’s hand so that it struck her head just +below the ear. It stretched her senseless at his feet.</p> +<p>Josiah Farnshaw was aghast. With a gulping cry of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_220' name='page_220'></a>220</span> +alarm and pity, he stooped to lift his unconscious daughter. +He had not intended to do so brutal a thing.</p> +<p>“Now look what you’ve gone an’ done!”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw had watched Elizabeth go to him with +something of prayer in her heart. She knew the girl’s +intention was to be square about the apology and she +had strained every nerve to watch the encounter. At the +first blow she had started to the scene of action.</p> +<p>“I think you might have——”</p> +<p>The man’s relenting mood vanished. He dropped the +limp body and rose to his full height.</p> +<p>“You damned fool,” he exclaimed, “if you hadn’t set +this a goin’ an’ kept it a goin’ this wouldn’t ’a’ happened. +Of all th’ blasted, impossible things it’s t’ have a snivelling +she-devil always at your elbow. Keep your hands off of +me!” he cried, shaking himself loose from the detaining +hand she had laid on his arm. “I’m goin’ t’ git.”</p> +<p>The boys had arrived by that time. They carried the +girl to the well and bathed her face and hands with fresh +water, while the head of the house strode down the road +toward the north. Elizabeth was not seriously injured +and recovered consciousness as soon as the water touched +her. Mrs. Farnshaw left the task of resuscitation to her +sons and looked after her rapidly disappearing husband +with eyes that longed for reconciliation. Reconciliation +for one thing or another had been the most driving inspiration +her twenty years of married life had known; it was +her most potent incentive. Cowed and broken, fear +bound her fast to his footsteps. Not even the daughter +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_221' name='page_221'></a>221</span> +struggling to her feet at her side could detract her attention +from his receding form.</p> +<p>Elizabeth stood balancing herself dizzily for a moment +before she began really to see or grasp what was going on +around her; then the full value of the mishap broke upon +her. All that Luther and Aunt Susan had hinted at had +befallen her in spite of every effort to avoid it.</p> +<p>But not even the calamity which had befallen them +could stop their busy fingers. The preparations for the +wedding feast were a merciful feature of the rest of the +evening. The guests had been invited and must be prepared +for. The hair that had been washed was braided, +the mother’s tears dried, and every member of the family +pressed into the service. The entire house was cleaned +and rearranged. Not till after midnight did the members +of the little group seek their beds. Mr. Farnshaw had not +returned. They had even forgotten him a large part of +the time in the hurry. Elizabeth regarded the half dozen +bruises which her sleeves would not cover with alarm when +she was at last ready to climb her ladder. Joe covered +them with a liniment which he brought from the barn. As +he set the dusty bottle on the kitchen table after the +anointing had been done, he remarked dryly:</p> +<p>“Wonder if you an’ me ’ll ever do that kind of thing t’ +our young ones? Everybody’s always said we was like +the old man.”</p> +<p>“Take that nasty smellin’ bottle out of here, an’ don’t +begin any talk about your pa. Everybody get t’ bed,” +Mrs. Farnshaw commanded. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_222' name='page_222'></a>222</span></p> +<p>Even the absence of her husband could not dim the +interest of Mrs. Farnshaw in the coming spectacle of her +daughter’s marriage. With the capacity of a little child +to suffer from unkindness or neglect, she combined the +same child-like capability to enjoy pageantry of any sort. +Benches for curious neighbours surrounded Mrs. Farnshaw’s +bed when she retired, and unaccustomed things +filled every nook of the usually unattractive room. Evergreen +boughs stared at her from the corner opposite her +bed; the bed was to be removed in the morning. It had +been her own romantic idea to have a bower for the bride +and groom. She had been so busy making that bower that +she had forgotten her own troubles for an hour and more, +but she remembered them now and her interest died out. +With a quivering indrawn breath she turned out the light +and dived into the huge feather-bed, smothering her sobs +by crushing her pillow against her face.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, upstairs, had her own disappointments to go +over, and her mother’s sobbing coloured her ruminations. +Her vision had been cleared. In spite of youth, and of +humiliation, she saw that the blow that had undone her +had been accidental. She saw what the encouragement +of temper would lead to. She saw the gradual growth and +stimulation of that temper in the daily contentions of her +father and mother.</p> +<p>She rubbed her bruises and thought long on the troubles +about her. Accusations and defence, she decided, were +at the root of them. They were the universal topics of +the conversations at home and among all the people she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_223' name='page_223'></a>223</span> +had ever known except the Hornbys and the Chamberlains.</p> +<p>“Defence!” she said in a scornful whisper. “What does +it matter <i>who</i> is wrong in anything? The only thing that +matters is <i>what</i> is wrong and to find a way to make it come +out better next time,” and at last went to sleep quite unaware +that she had evolved a philosophy which rightly +applied would reorganize the world.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XI__WIVES_SUBMIT_YOURSELVES_UNTO_YOUR_HUSBANDS_AS_UNTO_THE_LORD' id='XI__WIVES_SUBMIT_YOURSELVES_UNTO_YOUR_HUSBANDS_AS_UNTO_THE_LORD'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_224' name='page_224'></a>224</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2> +<h3>“WIVES, SUBMIT YOURSELVES UNTO YOUR HUSBANDS, AS UNTO THE LORD”</h3> +</div> + +<p>The day after the wedding was Friday, or “sweep +day,” as Mrs. Hunter called it. Anxious to begin +as she expected to hold out, and to form regular +habits in John’s wife, Mrs. Hunter superintended the +housecleaning processes.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had had no idea that any one could put in so +many hours with broom and dust rag, but when it was +done, looked about her with housekeeperly delight in the +orderly, well-kept rooms. As they had worked that day +the girl had been keenly observant of John’s mother. She +could not tell whether John had told her of the trouble in +her home or not. Mrs. Hunter did not refer to it directly +or indirectly, and this fact was the subject of much +thought. This faultless manner of dismissing unpleasant +things stood out in strong contrast to the endless and tiresome +discussions to which the girl was accustomed. Elizabeth +wished she could find time to run over to Uncle +Nate’s for a chat with Aunt Susan, but the busy day +absorbed her and there was no time to go anywhere; in +fact, it was time for John to come home from Colebyville, +where he had gone to hunt for a hired man before the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_225' name='page_225'></a>225</span> +cleaning was really finished. Glancing up at the clock +on the lambrequined shelf in the sitting room, the girl +was surprised to see that it was already four o’clock. The +cleaning was finished and she ran to the kitchen to put +up the rag in her hand, and then went hurriedly into her +bedroom to comb her hair and get her dress changed before +John should come.</p> +<p>Absorbed in her dressing, Elizabeth did not hear her +husband enter the house until she heard him talking to +his mother in the dining room. With freshly combed +hair and clean calico dress she ran with a glad little bound +to meet him.</p> +<p>John Hunter and his mother stopped short with their +conversation when they saw her and were plainly embarrassed.</p> +<p>The young wife became conscious that something was +wrong and stopped in the middle of the room, looking +from one to the other in mute inquiry.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter turned and went back to the kitchen. +John came toward his wife.</p> +<p>“What is it, John? What has happened?” she asked +in a whisper. There was a sick look on John Hunter’s +face.</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not put her hand on him as was her usual +way. The girl-wife had an indistinct feeling that her +husband and his mother were a combination for the +moment of which she was not a part.</p> +<p>“Enough has happened,” the man said, passing her and +going toward their bedroom. “Come in here!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_226' name='page_226'></a>226</span></p> +<p>He held the door open for her to enter, and she passed in +and stood waiting while he shut it behind them.</p> +<p>“What is it, John?” she queried, unable to wait longer.</p> +<p>“Your father has gone to Colebyville and got into a +drunken row,” was the bald statement. “Everybody in +the country knows about his fuss with you.”</p> +<p>He did not offer to touch her, but walked over to the +window and began to drum on the window-pane with +nervous fingers.</p> +<p>“Drunk! Row! My father was never drunk in his +life!” was the astonished exclamation with which Elizabeth +Hunter met this unbelievable accusation.</p> +<p>“Well, he’s been drunk enough to last the rest of his +life this time, and we’re the laughing stock of this whole +country.”</p> +<p>John Hunter had gone to Colebyville that morning in +the new buggy, rather pleased to be the centre of observation +and remark. He quite liked to swagger before these +country people whom he chose otherwise to ignore. He +was well dressed, his buggy was the admired of all admirers, +and he was newly married. Country gossip had some +pleasing qualifications. When he had arrived at Colebyville, +however, John Hunter had found that country people +had little ways of their own for the edification of the +vainglorious, and that trim young men in buggies became +infinitely more interesting to the scorned when they could +be associated with scandal. He soon found that he was +the object of much amused discussion and shortly it became +evident that they were quite willing that he should +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_227' name='page_227'></a>227</span> +know that he was the object of ridicule. Pretending +friendship, one of them enlightened him as to the exact +circumstances which were amusing them, and then +sneaked back to his companions with a verbatim report of +his surprised exclamations. John Hunter did not enjoy +being the victim of a trap laid by those he had patronized. +It had been a humiliating day, and John Hunter always +handed his misfortunes along. He poured his disgust over +his wife as if she alone were responsible for all he had suffered +that day.</p> +<p>“What was the row with you about, anyway?” he inquired +with evident aversion to her presence.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had withered into a quivering semblance of +the confident woman who had run to meet him five minutes +ago. Her knees shook under her with collapse. She +sat down on the edge of the bed and stammered her explanations +as if she had been a naughty child caught red-handed +in some act of which she was ashamed.</p> +<p>“It—oh, John! I only went to him to make up about—about +other things. We—we didn’t have any fuss +exactly. It—it was just the same old thing. I—I +begged ma not to make me go home. I told her what he +would—I knew he’d whip me, but she would have me +go.”</p> +<p>“Well, he couldn’t whip you for nothing,” John said, +with brutal inquiry. “What’d you fall out with him +for? I never heard of such a thing as a girl who was a +woman grown that fell out with her father till he whipped +her.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_228' name='page_228'></a>228</span></p> +<p>Exasperated and miserable, John bestowed blame in +the only convenient place he found.</p> +<p>The young wife buried her face in the counterpane and +did not attempt to reply, and after looking dully at her +for a moment John Hunter went out and left her to carry +her burden of shame alone. The sound of the closing door +assured her that at least she could be alone in her tears, +and the humbled girl gave herself up to sobbing. Luther +and Aunt Susan would never be quite convinced that she +had done her best to avoid trouble; she even wondered +herself if there might not have been some fault in the way +she had approached her father. As usual, Elizabeth was +concerned with the trouble of others. The whole dreadful +thing passed before her with the vividness of actual +reproduction. John’s mother knew this at any rate. That +was a sore point. They were in the kitchen talking it +over now! With the conviction of absolute certainty, +Elizabeth buried her face in the counterpane of her bridal +couch and sobbed in desolate abandon.</p> +<p>After a time John came back again and looked into the +room. Seeing her distress, he went over slowly and lifted +her to her feet with a stir of pity.</p> +<p>“Don’t cry,” he said gloomily. “It can’t be helped. +Come on out to the kitchen and help mother with the +supper.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth knew that at that moment he did not want +to caress her, but her hungry soul craved comfort beyond +her power to control and she dug her face into his breast +and sobbed there unasked.</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-228.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 379px; height: 533px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 379px;'> +“THE YOUNG WIFE BURIED HER FACE IN THE COUNTERPANE AND DID NOT ATTEMPT TO REPLY”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_229' name='page_229'></a>229</span></div> +<p>John’s arms closed about her in a relaxed sort of way, +and patting her head half-heartedly, he said again:</p> +<p>“Come on, dear. Mother’s out there getting supper +alone.” He took his own pocket handkerchief and wiped +her tear-stained face and, after kissing her, pushed her +gently but firmly toward the kitchen.</p> +<p>Supper was not a cheerful meal. Elizabeth’s voice was +thick from crying and she did not talk at all, while John +and his mother could not discuss the topic uppermost in +their minds in her presence. The feeling that there was a +combination of which she was not a part grew upon the +young wife, and a longing for Aunt Susan grew with it.</p> +<p>“I’d like to go over to Uncle Nate’s immediately after +supper,” she said. “I’ll do the dishes while you hitch up.”</p> +<p>“Good Lord! I don’t want to go over there to-night,” +was the reply. “I wish you’d quit calling those people +‘Aunt’ and ‘Uncle’.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s face blazed with colour as he got up and +went into the sitting room. The brutality of the answer +was so evident to John’s mother that she followed him.</p> +<p>“You had better take Elizabeth to Mr. Hornby’s, John. +I don’t think you should speak to her in that way, either,” +she said in a low tone of voice.</p> +<p>Elizabeth could not hear Mrs. Hunter’s remarks, but +John’s reply was audible enough.</p> +<p>“I’m not going over there to-night. I don’t feel as if +I ever wanted to go anywhere again.”</p> +<p>She also heard Mrs. Hunter’s low “Sh!” and felt more +than ever an alien. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_230' name='page_230'></a>230</span></p> +<p>When the dishes were finished Mrs. Hunter went upstairs. +John followed her.</p> +<p>“I will not be hurt, because I will not see hurt,” Elizabeth +told herself as she slipped through the house to her +own room. Because her lips quivered as she said it, she +busied herself in taking down her hair to brush for the +night. Her sleeves were tight and hindered, and she took +off her dress and folded it across the back of a chair carefully, +and finished braiding her hair in her petticoat.</p> +<p>John found her with her white arms uplifted as she +combed the long strands. Moved by her girlish beauty and +freshness, he went over and put his arms about her. The +girl’s mouth was full of hairpins, and she mumbled something +he did not understand. He kept his arms about her +insistently, and rubbed his chin on her smooth shoulder +with a little laugh. She struggled to free herself, but he +held her teasingly, and finally accepting the playful tussle +as an apology, though she knew it was not an adequate +one, she gave up. She was resolved not to split hairs +with her husband over small matters; she would not nurse +grievances.</p> +<p>As for John Hunter, he had not thought of apology,—or +of the necessity of one; he had been moved by the +sight of the tempting figure of the woman he possessed.</p> +<p>Elizabeth loved her husband and wished to believe that +he loved her; she was unwilling to begin her married life +with any sort of whining or suspicion, so she ended the +matter by resting unresisting in his arms and turning her +young face up to be kissed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_231' name='page_231'></a>231</span></p> +<p>The next morning Elizabeth washed the dishes alone, +and Mrs. Hunter followed John to the barn and later to +the pasture, where he went to catch a horse.</p> +<p>“Where are you going with a horse?” his mother asked +as they passed through the pasture gate.</p> +<p>“I have to go over to Chamberlain’s to help with a +small stack of hay he put up in the field and wants to +move, now that he’s got the time. I told him he’d better +let me help him before the new hired man comes to begin +the husking; I’m going to need the team every day after +that,” John replied.</p> +<p>“So you got a man, did you?” Mrs. Hunter said, catching +hold of his arm to keep him from outwalking her. +“If you’re going as far as Chamberlain’s you’d better take +Elizabeth over to Mr. Hornby’s while you’re hitched up. +I’ll get dinner. You hurt her feelings last night, and +that’ll be a good way to make it right with her.”</p> +<p>“Now look here, mother,” John Hunter answered decidedly, +“I’ll do nothing of the kind. With this story +going around we’ll stay at home where we belong. Anyhow, +the sooner she’s cut away from these country jakes +the better for her, and I’ll begin right here and now. I +don’t intend—never have intended—to have these +people tacked to my coat-tails every move I make. If +she’s hurt, She’ll simply have to get over it; besides, she +didn’t stay mad long—you saw that for yourself. She’s +all right if she’s managed right.”</p> +<p>It was true, Mrs. Hunter reflected. Elizabeth had not +seemed to take much offence, and was perfectly good-natured +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_232' name='page_232'></a>232</span> +this morning. She did not intend to interfere +with the affairs of her son and his wife. Elizabeth seemed +submissive, and promised well. She hoped that this +horrid gossip would die down. That was a nasty thing +to be mixed up with. Mr. Hunter had never had anything +like that happen to him before, and she was devoutly glad +they were away out here in Kansas where no one who had +ever known them would hear it. Elizabeth would be all +the better as a wife if she did not start out by running +around too much. It did not occur to Mrs. Hunter, nor +to her son, that if the old acquaintances were to be taken +away from Elizabeth that in all justice she must be provided +with new ones. In fact, it did not occur to them +at all that her opinions were of any value whatever. Why +should John explain his plans to her? Why, indeed?</p> +<p>As she went about her Saturday morning’s work Elizabeth +watched John and his mother stroll down the path +in the pasture, certain that she herself was the subject of +their conversation, and her eyes burned with unshed +tears. The intimacy between John and his mother seemed +so much more firmly established than the intimacy between +John and herself that she was filled with lonesomeness +and a longing for Aunt Susan.</p> +<p>“To-morrow’s Sunday and there’ll be nothing to do. +He’ll have to take me then. He was tired and upset by +that horrid talk last night. Oh, why do I have to be +mixed up with things I can’t help—and—and have him +cross, and everything?” She ended with a little shuddering +cry, and buried her head in the kitchen towel and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_233' name='page_233'></a>233</span> +gave up to the tears which, now that she was alone, she +could candidly shed. How she longed for Aunt Susan, +and yet she could not have talked to her of these things; +but in spite of that she wanted her.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>“Will you go over to—to Mrs. Hornby’s with us to-day?” +she asked Mrs. Hunter at the breakfast table the +next morning.</p> +<p>“Why—yes—if you’re going,” Mrs. Hunter answered +with a hesitant glance at John.</p> +<p>The tone and the hesitancy struck Elizabeth. She +looked at John as she had seen the older woman do.</p> +<p>“Mother spoke yesterday of your going,” John said +quickly, “and I said—well, I want to get some more +cleaning done about that barn before the man comes. +There’s plenty of time about that. Let them come here +if they want to see us.”</p> +<p>“But I want to go,” Elizabeth persisted. She had been +accustomed to dictating where John Hunter should take +her. John himself had taught her to do so.</p> +<p>“Well, there’s plenty of time. I’m busy to-day, if it is +Sunday,” was all that her husband thought it necessary +to reply.</p> +<p>The hope that Aunt Susan would come to see her if she +found that they were not coming over helped Elizabeth +to accept the brusque refusal better than she otherwise +would have done. John was cheerful and pleasant, and +the hurt that she had felt at first died away. He asked +her to go to the barn with him and was merry and full +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_234' name='page_234'></a>234</span> +of small talk and chatter, such as lovers appreciate, and +the girl finally concluded that that must be his naturally +decided manner when suddenly approached on a subject +to which he could not consent. Elizabeth was aware that +there was little consideration shown her at such times, but +was resolved not to find fault unless the question were a +vital one. Altogether it was a happy day. Gratitude +was a large feature of Elizabeth’s make-up, and there was +something about being in the atmosphere of refinement +and beauty which made her accept many little evidences +of inattentiveness on the part of her husband. As she +helped with the cooking, she was conscious of the difference +between the kitchen utensils of this and her own +home; as she swept she contrasted the red-and-green ingrain +carpet of the sitting room with the worn and ugly +rag carpet of her mother’s house; as she set the table she +reflected that no other house of that community boasted +a dining room, and certainly no other young wife could +say she had napkins and a white tablecloth every day in +the week; and there was yet a larger item than these for +which the girl was thankful: no girl she had ever known +had married so cultured a man. Elizabeth looked across +the table as she served the pie at dinner and in spite of +every snub was humbly thankful to be a part of that +family. Nor was she a mere snob and deserving of what +she got in the way of ill treatment because she submitted +to it; Elizabeth was a young girl of artistic temperament, +craving beauty, and longing for the companionship of +those who talked in terms comprehensible to her at the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_235' name='page_235'></a>235</span> +same time that they advanced her æsthetic education and +possibilities. In proportion as she valued this thing was +she to pay her price.</p> +<p>The price Elizabeth was to pay came at strange and +unexpected moments. The hired man, when he appeared, +proved to be Jake Ransom, now a man, and ready to do a +man’s work in his simple station. Jake of course knew +for whom he was to work and came into the kitchen to his +first meal with his face wreathed in a sheepish grin.</p> +<p>“I’d better ’a’ taken your advice an’ gone t’ th’ high +school,” he said, extending his calloused hand to shake. +“Only I wouldn’t ’a’ been workin’ fur you.”</p> +<p>He laughed his great hearty guffaw, partly in embarrassment +and partly because he really enjoyed the joke of +the possibility of him being an educated man. It was a +cheap country pleasantry, and said with genuine good-fellowship, +but Mrs. Hunter, who heard it as she turned +to the dining room with the coffee pot in her hand, disapproved +of the familiarity of it. Mrs. Hunter had disapproved +of the plate laid for Jake at the family table and +was out of sorts with the country life into which she had +been plunged.</p> +<p>After Jake had gone to bed upstairs—and that was +another grievance of Mrs. Hunter’s, this having the hired +man in the room next to her own—she took up the matter +of his position in her son’s house seriously.</p> +<p>“All the hired help in the country eat at the table and +are accorded the privileges of any member of the family, +mother,” John replied to her objections. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_236' name='page_236'></a>236</span></p> +<p>“You don’t mean that You’ll have to have them at your +table day after day—always?” his mother exclaimed. +“You’ll never have any home life at all.”</p> +<p>“As long as we farm, mother, we’ll be in exactly +that position,” John said, stirring the fire in the sitting-room +stove, about which they were gathered for the +evening.</p> +<p>“But they eat so awfully much,” Mrs. Hunter continued, +“and they drink out of their saucers, and suck +their teeth till it makes one sick!” Then happening to +look across at Elizabeth she caught the flush on her young +face and stopped so short that all were embarrassed.</p> +<p>John got up suddenly and left the room and the house. +The two women sat in an uncomfortable silence for some +minutes, and then the elder of them went upstairs to bed, +leaving the younger to her mortifying thoughts. Elizabeth +remembered the scorn of the young teacher in her +own childhood for the same offence and reflected that she +had been unable to break her family of similar habits. +As far as she was concerned, however, the presence of the +hired man at her table was far less disturbing than that of +her husband’s mother. Part of the time she was happy +to learn from Mrs. Hunter, but more of the time she was +restless under her supervision.</p> +<p>The week had been an uncomfortable one in both +tangible and intangible ways. Elizabeth had often found +John and his mother talking and have them drop the +conversation when she appeared. She had had many +humiliating hours over the disgrace she knew they were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_237' name='page_237'></a>237</span> +discussing. The fact had come out that Mr. Farnshaw +had returned to his home, but nothing beyond that.</p> +<p>Another week passed, and again John refused to take +Elizabeth to see Aunt Susan. This time he said that the +team had worked all week, and that he felt that the horses +needed rest. A new team was added to the farm assets +and the next Sunday John said he was too tired himself +to go away from home. Never once did he say that he +had any motive which extended beyond the time at hand. +Each Sunday the excuse fitted the circumstances of that +particular day, and he talked of going in a general way as +if it were a matter of course that they would go soon. +It was clearly the duty of the young couple to make the +first visit, and as clearly Nathan Hornby and his wife were +waiting for them to do so. Elizabeth was puzzled by her +husband’s refusal. At the end of a month she became +alarmed for fear their neglect would give offence to the +dear couple who had sheltered her when she was in need. +It had not occurred to her to discredit John’s reasons, +though she began to suspect that she had married the sort +of man she had heard much about—the husband who +never wanted to go anywhere.</p> +<p>Early in December Mrs. Hunter was called East by the +serious illness of a sister in Illinois. The day she left a +heavy snow fell. Elizabeth went out into the still yard +and let the white flakes fall on her uncovered head with +such a sense of freedom as she had never felt since her +marriage.</p> +<p>“The house is mine,” she whispered ecstatically; “the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_238' name='page_238'></a>238</span> +house is all mine, and now I can go out of doors if I want +to and not be criticised.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had been far more accustomed to barn life +than the life of the house. This was a thing that Mrs. +Hunter could not understand. It was not the correct +thing for a woman to go about the barn where a hired man +was employed, even if her husband worked at his side, and +Elizabeth’s trips to the cow stable and granaries had been +discouraged. Jake Ransom had been shrewd enough to +see that his first joke in the Hunter house had been unpleasant +to the mother of his employer and had never +trespassed upon the grounds of familiarity again, but +Elizabeth had been criticised until willing to give up her +trips to the scene of her husband’s work. John might be +impatient, but Elizabeth loved him; his mother was patient +but critical, and Elizabeth did not love her; therefore the +first feeling of relief when the older woman had gone away +included the delight of being free to go where she wished—at +his side. The barns were a source of great interest to +Elizabeth. The pride of the girl, accustomed to straw +stables and slatternly yards and unhoused machinery, +in the well-kept barnyard of her husband was natural +and commendatory. John had order well developed in +his scheme of things. John’s cribs did not stand open to +the weather. Now that Mrs. Hunter was away, Elizabeth +spent most of the day going about the place, looking +into every bin, and making the acquaintance of each new +animal they possessed. Jake was helping Silas and it left +the girl plenty of time to explore. The amount of new +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_239' name='page_239'></a>239</span> +stock struck her as surprising. Here too she was glad. +John was evidently going to be a man of large affairs. +Elizabeth had a sudden desire to run over and talk it over +with Luther as she had done when she drove out with her +affianced husband to buy the calves. She was surprised +to see how the little bunch of calves had grown, not only +in size but in numbers. The thought of Luther carried +her back, as she stood looking over the calf yard, to the +matter of visiting Aunt Susan. Of late the feeling had +grown strong upon her that Mrs. Hunter had had something +to do with John’s reluctance to making this visit. +The calves ceased to interest her and she wandered slowly +back to the house thinking about it. There were so many +phases of her domestic affairs to consider: Aunt Susan’s +right to the evidences of her love and her inability to show +that love because of her husband’s reluctance to take +her; Luther’s evident offence, and the possibility that the +wedding invitation had not been extended to him by John, +since he had never paid them a neighbourly visit; the close +alliance between John and his mother and the brusqueness +with which John disposed of any request of hers if he did +not choose of himself to do the thing she wanted—all +called for examination. Elizabeth shook the snow from +her hair and cloak and built up the fire, intending to sit +down by it and think over her situation, but John arrived +in the middle of her preparations and supper had to be +hastily prepared, for the afternoon had gone and much +of the regular morning’s work still remained to be done. +With flying feet, Elizabeth attacked the task of getting +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_240' name='page_240'></a>240</span> +things in order, and it was a relief when John, who had +left the last chores to Jake, came in and helped her. They +had hardly ever been left alone in the house in all the three +months they had been married, and to Elizabeth it was +working in fairyland to have John make one side of a bed’s +clothes lie smooth while she pulled and straightened at +the other.</p> +<p>With Mrs. Hunter gone, John took up the task of +drilling his young wife in the Hunter ways. To Elizabeth +he was a model husband. She contrasted her father’s +stupid inability and unwillingness inside of his home with +the orderly and systematic way in which John Hunter +helped her. John took part in whatever household function +was taking place in his presence. He wiped the +dishes if she washed them; if a carpet was to be swept he +handled the broom if he were there to do it, and he never +went to the field without filling the reservoir and water +pail as well as the coal scuttle and cob basket. He assumed +the management of cooking and housework so +subtly that the unsophisticated girl saw only his helpfulness; +in fact, he had only helpfulness in mind. John had +ideas of neatness and order which made of housekeeping +a never-ending process, but John himself laboured steadily +toward their accomplishment, and he was so successful in +inspiring her with those same ideals that her pride helped +her over many a weary day’s cleaning. She entered into +them week after week and became expert at ironing, baking, +and all the little offices of the domestic altar. All +her strength was given to her work each day, and for a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_241' name='page_241'></a>241</span> +time she succeeded comfortably, but as the days shortened +and the routine became more exacting she longed for the +out-of-door freedom in which she had been raised.</p> +<p>Christmas passed, and still Elizabeth had entered no +house except her own since her marriage in October. This +would not have disturbed her, for she was not a girl who +cared for visiting, if it had not been that Aunt Susan was +being neglected.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw came and did not fail to let Elizabeth +know that the country gossips were concerned with tales +supposed to account for her secluded way of living. Some +said that she was too “stuck-up” to associate with her old +friends, while others said that John Hunter had married +her to keep his house, but that he was not proud of her +and preferred to leave her at home. Luther had completed +his “shanty,” and Elizabeth knew by the smoke she could +see rising from his chimney that he no longer lived with +Aunt Susan; also Elizabeth heard bits of gossip about him +from Jake, who had taken a great liking to Luther and +often spent his evenings with him. Luther Hansen had +come to borrow a scoop shovel when he had shelled his +corn, but John had managed to accept it as a barnyard +call and had not invited him to the house, and after the +scoop was returned Luther did not come again. Elizabeth +had days when she wanted his cheery presence and +sensible ways of looking at life, but she was almost glad +he did not come; she could not have explained her seclusion +to him nor could she have refused to explain. The +girl’s pride was cut to the quick. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_242' name='page_242'></a>242</span></p> +<p>January passed, and February. One afternoon in early +March Elizabeth sat at the dining-room window sewing +and meditating sadly upon John’s growing irritability +whenever she mentioned Aunt Susan. She was unable as +yet to force him to take her as she requested; neither had +she been able to get her own consent to going the first time +to the house of this old friend alone and have Aunt Susan’s +questioning eyes looking her over for explanations. She +was puzzled still, for John usually spoke of her friends +with respect, and there was nothing to indicate his reasons +for opposition except that he was simply averse to visiting +on general principles, and even then why should he so +resolutely refuse to accommodate her when he was so +reasonable on all other subjects?</p> +<p>“I don’t care, I’m going this week if he’s ever so cross,” +she muttered.</p> +<p>Almost at the same instant she looked up and saw a +bobsled coming into the side lane.</p> +<p>“Aunt Susan’s very self!” she cried, pushing away the +little garment on which she was sewing, and running to +the door.</p> +<p>She met the muffled figure halfway down the path, +called to Nathan to take his team to the barn, where they +would be out of the cutting wind, and bundled Susan +Hornby into the house with little shrieks of delight and +welcome.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby knew that she was wanted at the end +of that five minutes.</p> +<p>“However could you know that I was wanting you so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_243' name='page_243'></a>243</span> +bad to-day?” Elizabeth said finally, as she thrust her +guest down into a rocking chair and then went down on +her knees to unfasten her overshoes.</p> +<p>“Land sakes! What are you trying to do—and +you——” The sentence stopped and the speaker looked +embarrassed.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, still on her knees, looked up. A soft blush +covered her face as she gave a happy little laugh.</p> +<p>“Yes—it’s true,” she whispered. “Oh, Aunt Susan, +I’m so happy!”</p> +<p>Outside, Nathan Hornby seized the opportunity to look +around the barns.</p> +<p>“Good cattle sheds,” he remarked to himself. “Good +bunch of pigs, too. I hope ’e ain’t goin’ into debt, as they +say, but I swan, it looks like it.”</p> +<p>Nathan’s survey of the barns had given the two women +inside the house time to talk over the affair so close to their +hearts, and the little sitting room had been turned into a +temple by the presence of a young mother that was to be +and that older but childless mother who loved her as her +own. Elizabeth, still on her knees, laid her head in Aunt +Susan’s lap as of old, and Susan Hornby, with every hurt +buried, listened to her confessions, with her free hand feeling +its way over the thick braids as she prayed earnestly +in her heart that her beloved child would go through the +travail awaiting her without harm and not be left childless +in her old age.</p> +<p>When Nathan’s heavy boot crunched on the snow-covered +doorstep, Elizabeth ran to meet him with the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_244' name='page_244'></a>244</span> +broom and a whole world’s wealth of welcome in voice +and manner.</p> +<p>“I’m so glad you came to-day. I’ve been wanting +Aunt Susan <i>so</i> of late. Isn’t it a heavy snow for this late +in the season?”</p> +<p>She rattled busily along to carry the impress of welcome, +for the old man had not responded to her as his wife had +done.</p> +<p>“Well, now,” said candid Nathan, “you don’t exactly +give one th’ impression of pinin’ t’ see folks when you never +come over at all.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth knew that though he regarded the broom with +which he brushed at his boots with extra attention, he was +listening closely for her answer.</p> +<p>“There’s John!” she cried, seeing her husband as he +drove a bunch of calves into the lane. She hastened to tell +her guest that her husband had been some miles to the +west to attend a sale, and pretended to have forgotten +Nathan’s awkward remark.</p> +<p>She was glad to see that John left Jake to turn the +calves into the yards and came to the house at once, with +cordiality shining out of every line of his face. He made +Nathan Hornby so welcome that every sign of displeasure +faded from Nathan’s countenance. He gave a hasty brush +at his boots and came in to shake hands with Susan Hornby. +He stirred the fire briskly, and remarked to Nathan:</p> +<p>“Ain’t that a dandy bunch of calves? I had a chance +to get them at that Irishman’s sale—I forget his name—oh, +yes, Tim—Tim—you know? I ought to know +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_245' name='page_245'></a>245</span> +myself since I just signed a note to him. Averaged +eighteen dollars a head—forty-three of ’em. With corn +at thirty cents, they’ll turn quick money.”</p> +<p>The fire roared under his vigorous poking, and he applied +himself to putting more coal in the stove without +looking up.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter’s face lost the happy expression with +which she had been regarding him as he welcomed the +old couple and stirred the fire, presumably for their benefit. +He <i>had</i> been glad to see them: they had helped him +over an awkward announcement. He had not told her +he meant to get these cattle, and he had let her think that +he meant to take her advice and not go into debt any more +than he had already done.</p> +<p>John Hunter heard his wife’s low exclamation of surprise. +He was glad it was over.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby heard it too and caught the sick look on +her face, but though she wondered about it she asked no +questions, for Elizabeth Hunter was a woman of reserve. +Elizabeth Hunter had developed a power unknown to +Elizabeth Farnshaw.</p> +<p>“Got a good many sheds built a’ready, I see,” was the +next remark the girl heard.</p> +<p>“Yes,” John replied, still devoting himself to the fire. +“I expected to get the stock sooner—haven’t used it all +this year—but it’s there for next season. I’ve got about +all the cattle I’ll get now. I told Carter I’d take seventeen +head of his. He was going to put them up at his sale +next week, but I persuaded him to let me have them in a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_246' name='page_246'></a>246</span> +bunch. I’ll get them home to-morrow. Got ’em on 6 +per cent. They’ll grow into money every day this summer—mostly +two-year-olds. Don’t you think so?”</p> +<p>“That’s all owin’,” Nathan replied slowly. “Cattle +take a lot of cover, an’ you ain’t usin’ straw sheds.”</p> +<p>“Oh, my sheds ain’t cost so very much,” John replied +easily. “They’re substantial too. I don’t think much +of the straw-shed business. It’ll do for Hansen, now, that +ain’t got anything to put under cover, but when a man’s +got anything——” John filled out the sentence with an +expressive gesture, and then before any one could speak +said casually: “By the way, I hear the Swede’s going to +be married to-morrow.”</p> +<p>“Married?” Elizabeth Hunter exclaimed. Every word +of the conversation had been a stab, but to have Luther +called a Swede was too much.</p> +<p>“Yes, dear,” Aunt Susan said, laying a hand on her +arm. “I meant to have told you and I hadn’t got to it +yet. Nate and I are invited to the wedding. It’s Sadie +Crane, you know.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth fell into the nearest chair utterly limp. +“Sadie Crane?” she said over and over.</p> +<p>“I knew you’d hate to have it Sadie, but any woman +could be glad to get a man as good as Luther, and she’s +crazy over him. He’ll make her a good husband whether +she makes a good wife or not. She’ll have her own way +a good deal further than most wives.”</p> +<p>John Hunter suspected that the latter was said for his +benefit. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_247' name='page_247'></a>247</span></p> +<p>Nathan and Susan Hornby disagreed, as much as it was +possible for them to do, on the way home.</p> +<p>“You may say what you please, if she don’t come it’s +because she don’t want to. You couldn’t ask for a more +rousin’ welcome ’n <i>he</i> give us,” Nathan said as he watched +the forefoot on the off horse to see whether it was a cake +of snow that made it limp or a more serious trouble.</p> +<p>“It wasn’t any more rousing than hers was when I +went in and—and look how he spoke of Luther,” Susan +replied hesitatingly. She hardly dare point out the weakness +of John, however angry she was at him, for she had +had trouble enough to get Nathan to bring her at all.</p> +<p>“That’s so,” Nathan admitted. “They’re a pair of +snobs, anyhow. You think she treats you all right, but +you saw how she shied round th’ subject when I put +it straight to ’er. I went because you wanted me to—but +I ain’t sure——” Nathan Hornby ceased to +speak before his sentence was finished. Elizabeth’s neglect +had been another nail in the coffin of his friendly trust. +Susan had had hard work to persuade him to bring her +to-day and had hoped that some lucky circumstance +would help to dispel his suspicions. This had looked +possible at first, but she saw that he still nursed his +grievances.</p> +<p>Susan had her suspicions also, but they were of John, +not of Elizabeth. Elizabeth had been as glad to see her +as she had always been, whatever there might have been +that was unexplainable on the surface. Susan Hornby +knew with a knowledge that was unassailable that Elizabeth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_248' name='page_248'></a>248</span> +Hunter loved her as much as Elizabeth Farnshaw +had done.</p> +<p>“I don’t care, I’m going again some day before long,” +she said; “she won’t be going out much now for a while.”</p> +<p>“Well, now, look here,” Nathan said, stubbornly sticking +to a conviction from which he was unable to get away. +“You think Hunter keeps her from coming. He give us +more of a welcome ’n she did, a good sight.”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby glanced around at her husband in astonishment. +She had never said that she thought Elizabeth +was prevented by John from coming to see them. Nathan +had measured her better than she had realized.</p> +<p>“No-o, he didn’t,” she replied slowly. She resolved to +speak frankly. “You didn’t see her when she took me +into the house. Honestly, Nate, it was better than +a whole revival service to have that girl tell me of—of——”</p> +<p>“I didn’t see that,” Nathan interrupted, “I only know +he <i>was</i> glad t’ see us; you saw that for yourself.”</p> +<p>“I was just going to say——” Susan considered a +moment and then said firmly: “He was glad to see us +because there was something about those cattle he hadn’t +told her. Didn’t you see the look on her face?”</p> +<p>“That wouldn’t make no difference with th’ way he’d +do by us. ’E was as glad as could be, an’ asked you t’ +come back ’s if you’d been ’is mother. It’s some stuck-up +notion of hers—this thing of them not visitin’ their +neighbours.”</p> +<p>Susan looked up at him indulgently. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_249' name='page_249'></a>249</span></p> +<p>“You won’t refuse to be good friends with her—for +my sake, Nate. She was as glad to see me as a little +child.”</p> +<p>“Why don’t she come t’ see you then?” Nathan asked +sternly, able only to see the one point.</p> +<p>“I don’t exactly know, Nate. I couldn’t crowd her +on that matter—she looked so worried when I brought +it up that I just let it go. I only <i>know</i> she wants to +come.”</p> +<p>They dropped the subject and rode along over the +smooth road, too absorbed in their own thoughts to get +pleasure out of this last sleighride of the season, both endeavoring +to solve the problem from their own viewpoint, +Nathan full of distrust and suspicion, his wife too well +versed in human nature to doubt Elizabeth’s honesty or +believe that she was spoiled by a fine home or an advanced +social position. At last she spoke her conclusions:</p> +<p>“There’s something in her face I like better’n ever, but +there’s a worried something there I don’t like to see.”</p> +<p>Nathan was sorry he had criticised Elizabeth. Sue +loved the girl. Nathan and Susan discussed, but never +argued. If Susan remained of her first opinion after talking +a thing over, Nathan conceded within himself that she +had some good reason for her convictions even where he +could not agree.</p> +<p>“Sue ’ll have t’ see it for herself,” he meditated. “I’d +be glad t’ see ’er right. We’ll see how it turns out.” But +as he tried to get himself into that frame of mind he remembered +how many days had been spoiled for his wife +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_250' name='page_250'></a>250</span> +that winter because she longed for Elizabeth, and he +involuntarily muttered:</p> +<p>“Dirty little huzzy!” and ground his straggling teeth +as he thought of it.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>After Nathan and Susan Hornby had turned into the +main road, John walked slowly back to the house.</p> +<p>“What’d I say that Mrs. Hornby didn’t like?” he asked, +as he entered the kitchen where Elizabeth was preparing +the supper which Nathan had declined to stay and eat.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s brow was drawn into a puckered wrinkle. +She followed her own laborious thinking, unaware that +her husband had spoken.</p> +<p>“What’d I say that riled Mrs. Hornby?” he repeated.</p> +<p>Elizabeth heard the question now and looked up. It +was hard to answer. To mention the tone in which he +had spoken of Luther was useless she knew. Her hesitancy +annoyed her husband.</p> +<p>“Well, what’s wrong?”</p> +<p>“Nothing—that is——” Elizabeth could not discuss +it.</p> +<p>John Hunter resented her silence. He turned without +speaking and picked up the water pail quickly. John +heaped coals of fire by performing household duties.</p> +<p>Reflecting that he was going to be angry whether she +talked out or not, Elizabeth laid a detaining hand on his +arm and spoke of what she felt she could get his attention +fixed upon.</p> +<p>“I was thinking of all that money we’re going to have +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_251' name='page_251'></a>251</span> +to pay some day, John. I—I’ve tried before to make +you understand me. Oh, John, dear, don’t you see—but +then, no, of course you don’t, you’ve never had the experience +of it. You see, dear, I’ve had it. It takes the +heart out of people. You never get rid of it after you +get into it once. You just go on, you get old and quarrelsome—and—and +you never have any good times because +you’re afraid of something—of the interest that’s +got to be met, and things. Why won’t you let me help +you? You didn’t tell me about these last cattle, nor the +Carter lot. Why——”</p> +<p>“Now look here, Elizabeth, a man can’t run to the +house and consult a woman about every little thing he +does, before he does it. I always tell you when I can. I +told you about this.”</p> +<p>Irritability was John Hunter’s strongest weapon.</p> +<p>“I don’t want you to run to the house to tell me about +every little thing you do,” the young wife explained +patiently, “but these debts will not be little things when +they come to be paid off, dear. Really, you don’t know +how they will sap you and me later on; they may even +take the farm right out from under our feet. There are +so many things that can happen to cattle—and interest +<i>has</i> to be paid. That’s the awful part of it, and——”</p> +<p>John fidgeted uneasily and did not look at her. He +wanted to get away. He had not come in to talk of this. +Elizabeth held his sleeve and he had to say something.</p> +<p>“I haven’t failed to get what you need out of this +money,” he said at last. “I can’t have you shutting out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_252' name='page_252'></a>252</span> +opportunities for business. I’ll raise the interest. If I +furnish the money I ought to be free to make a living the +best way I see how. What do you know about a man’s +business?”</p> +<p>Desiring only to convince him, which she could not do +if he were irritated, Elizabeth laid her paring knife on the +kitchen table and put her arm about her husband’s neck +coaxingly.</p> +<p>“Of course you get everything I need, dear; that isn’t +the trouble. I don’t want to shut out opportunities for +business either, but I gave up my education to help pay +interest. I know how hard it is to raise. The calves die, +and the cows don’t give milk enough to make up the difference. +The loss—— Oh, I know,” she said putting +her hand affectionately over his mouth to still the objection +he had started to offer. “You think beef cattle will +be different, but black-leg gets into a herd of beef cattle +just as readily as into the cows and calves, and frosted +corn is a liability Kansas farmers always have hanging +over a crop. I’m not complaining about the cattle that +are paid for—it’s those we’d have to pay for that were +dead. The money was yours and you had a right to spend +it as you chose, but the debts will be <i>ours</i>. The skimping +and saving will fall on me as much as on you, and skimping +makes people mean and penurious. Promise me you +won’t go into debt without telling me again.”</p> +<p>“Forget it, little woman,” John replied, patting her +face and kissing it many times. “I’ll never do anything +to disgrace you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_253' name='page_253'></a>253</span></p> +<p>He had not replied to a single argument; he had not +made a single promise. Elizabeth submitted to his +caresses with a sigh. It was useless. She could not fall +out with him for the sake of the child that was coming. +She resolved to accept what she could get and try to be +patient.</p> +<p>“I’m glad you were so nice to Aunt Susan,” she said, +trying to get away from the impossible and make as much +as she could out of the possible. “we’ll go over Sunday. +I’d begun to think you’d never do it. We’ll take them +by surprise.”</p> +<p>John Hunter laughed indulgently. “You think you +got me that time,” he said, and escaped to the well without +further remark.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked after him, and pondered, with a quivering +lip, on the wilfulness of the refusal to promise. She +had been so sure that she was escaping the hell of mortgages +and interest when she married. The farm was +already carrying every cent the loan companies would +give on first papers. If anything should happen to the +stock they would have to put a second mortgage on part +of it. John was determined to work on a large scale. +She had tried many times to show him how hard it would +be to raise large incumbrances, but whenever she did so +he became fretful and for days spoiled the home comfort +for which she strove. Elizabeth tried to model their +home life after that of Aunt Susan, and leave her husband +free to use his own judgment, but this matter of indebtedness +was alarming. She knew how slowly money came in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_254' name='page_254'></a>254</span> +on the farm and how impossible it was to raise a mortgage +once it was plastered over a piece of land. Already she +saw the day of payments, note-renewals, and chattel +mortgages staring them in the face. Elizabeth’s pride +had suffered a fall. She saw the weary years stretch +ahead of them without joy and without hope other than +that which those about them had, unless some special +providence assisted them to avoid the common lot of +farmers. As she went about her table-setting, however, +the quality of the linen, of the dishes, of every object in +the room differed from anything she had ever known, and +the hope of youth came to her aid. This home should be +different from the rest; she would make it so by patience +as well as by its possessions. The black-leg was not an +immediate danger, and she would look for the best.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Winter passed, and spring. The patience Elizabeth had +vowed to command had been tried to the utmost in some +particulars. John had never taken her to see Aunt Susan. +Sometimes he said “wait till next week,” sometimes he +said he was tired, more often he retired into his accustomed +irritability, and at last because of the evidences of +her pregnant state she ceased to desire it. The winter +had not been totally unpleasant. If she did not irritate +her husband they were very happy together. John had +pleasant little ways about the house and was as helpful as +the most exacting woman could demand. The spring +had been harder because Elizabeth had less strength and +the house and garden work had increased. It took three +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_255' name='page_255'></a>255</span> +hired men to keep the farm work done, and there were +many mouths to fill.</p> +<p>One particularly hot day in June John unloaded on the +kitchen table an armful of groceries he had just brought +from town, remarking as he did so:</p> +<p>“I brought home some dried blackberries for pies, +Elizabeth.”</p> +<p>Hepsie Brown, the lately acquired hired girl, stood at +Elizabeth’s elbow, and began to put the parcels away in +the cupboard.</p> +<p>Elizabeth took a couple of letters he was handing her +and went into the sitting room to read them. John followed +her in.</p> +<p>“Be sure you make the pies,” he said with an emphasis +which showed he meant to have it remembered.</p> +<p>“All right, dear.”</p> +<p>“You’d better cook the fruit to-night,” he added.</p> +<p>“All right. I’ll tell Hepsie.”</p> +<p>“Better do it yourself,” he cautioned.</p> +<p>“She can do it. I’ll tell her,” Elizabeth said without +looking up, but she knew that that would not end the +discussion the moment it was out of her mouth. She +recognized John’s most unpleasant insisting mood.</p> +<p>“Mother always tends to her own pie-baking. Girls +never get things right,” he said emphatically, waiting for +her to raise her eyes to his.</p> +<p>“Yes, yes, dear,” the girl answered, looking up as he +required. “She can do it just as well as I can; it don’t +hurt her to stand on her feet.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_256' name='page_256'></a>256</span></p> +<p>She had given the sign of submission and he was ready +to be pleasant about it, but he reiterated the demand.</p> +<p>“I know, dear,” he said, kissing her, “but I can’t bear +to have things coming on the table not right when we have +men about. It don’t take long to make a few pies.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth rose wearily, put the letters down and went +to the kitchen. Her face was drawn and there was a +fagged, weary droop to the shoulders. John demanded +that the house and cooking be kept up to the city standard, +forgetting that there was a garden to keep in order +also, besides little chickens to feed and butter to be made. +If Elizabeth had said she were sick and had gone to bed, +John would have had the doctor come to see her twice as +often as necessary, and would have exhausted the little +town of Colebyville to supply such things as she could eat, +but it never occurred to John Hunter that as long as his +wife was able to go about the house that she might know +what she should do much better than he.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was unable to defend herself. She coveted +peace, and she could not have peace unless she responded +to John’s suggestions. Also, at this time Elizabeth was +determined that she would not be cross. The coming +child absorbed her mind as much as it absorbed her body. +She would not let one hour of discord or inharmony affect +its life. Elizabeth had no idea how to manage her husband +so as to get him even to listen to her side of an +argument. The girl was worn out by useless things which +she could not avoid doing.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was extremely nervous at this period of her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_257' name='page_257'></a>257</span> +life. John went to bed full of healthy fatigue and slept +soundly till morning, and knew nothing of mental and +physical strains which left his wife more tired in the morning +than when she went to bed at night. Elizabeth had +been a strong girl, but she was supporting the life of +another; she tossed and moaned through the two or three +short hours in which she could sleep, and for the rest lay +wide-eyed, staring into the darkness, filled with terror at +what the rapidly approaching future held for her. In her +girlish imaginings and fears, ignorant of the facts a young +mother should have known, she had magnified the sufferings +of childbirth till life was a network of horrors, and +her nerves were at the breaking point.</p> +<p>The next morning Elizabeth, with aching back and +trembling knees, her face flushed from the heat of the +stove, stood at the kitchen table rolling out the pie crust. +A tear rolled down her cheek. Hepsie, who stood near +and was regarding her sympathetically, laid firm hold on +the rolling-pin.</p> +<p>“I knew you’d no business t’ do it. Now you go in an’ +set down in th’ rockin’ chair while I finish this here batch +of pies.”</p> +<p>Hepsie was older than Elizabeth and making pies had +been her business; the crust was mixed and the fruit had +been cooked the night before. Reflecting that not much +could happen to a pie after getting that far on the road +to perfection, Elizabeth let the rolling-pin be taken from +her hand and went in wearily to throw herself on the +lounge to rest. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_258' name='page_258'></a>258</span></p> +<p>John came into the kitchen and his face darkened.</p> +<p>“Tell Mrs. Hunter that I look for Hansen to help with +the grain to-day, and that I told him to bring his wife +with him,” he said to Hepsie, and went out, banging the +door after him.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had heard him come in and had risen to explain, +but stopped short when she heard that Luther had +been asked to help. Her first feeling was of a joy which +brought the tears to her eyes. John had been persistently +cool whenever Luther had been mentioned since their +marriage. The next feeling of which she was conscious +was an intense distaste to having Sadie in the house with +her all day, and this was followed by the thought that +John had known that Luther and Sadie were coming since +the day before and had said nothing about it to her; but +small time was given her to think about any phase of the +matter, for Luther’s familiar, unpainted wagon was at +that very moment coming into the side lane. With a +conviction that she had not been told till it was absolutely +necessary, Elizabeth walked promptly out to meet her +young neighbours.</p> +<p>It was the old Luther which greeted her.</p> +<p>“You know my wife, Lizzie,” he said with such a happy +look in Sadie’s direction that Elizabeth’s heart responded +to the call for open friendship. Luther never nursed +suspicion.</p> +<p>“I should just say I did,” Elizabeth replied warmly, +extending her hand to the little woman Luther was setting +on her feet. Luther climbed promptly into the high +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_259' name='page_259'></a>259</span> +seat from which he had just lifted his wife and held his +own hand down to Elizabeth from there.</p> +<p>“It was mighty fine for you to send word for her t’ +come along.”</p> +<p>And Elizabeth did not let him gather from any hint of +expression or word that so far from sending word for +Sadie to spend the day with her, she had not known till +in these last ten minutes that either of them was expected. +John came and talked to Luther, mounting the +spring-seat at his side to ride to the field, but did not look +at Elizabeth, though she looked at him longingly and +everything in her cried out for reconciliation and openness. +John had a way of ignoring her when explanations had to +be made.</p> +<p>Luther’s attitude toward his wife had influenced Elizabeth +in Sadie’s favour as nothing else had ever been able +to do. She began to feel less hostile, and as they turned +toward the house asked her interestedly how she was +“coming on” with her garden and chickens. This was +common ground, and Sadie warmed to the real welcome +she was accorded. She stopped beside Elizabeth’s coops +in the backyard and examined the little groups of begging, +downy balls with the animation of a true farmer’s wife. +Here was something she knew as well as Elizabeth; in fact, +when a count was made it was discovered that Sadie’s +broods several times outnumbered those of the neighbour +she envied. It was an absorbing topic of conversation, +and the two women stood for some moments with +the hungry little beggars clamouring lustily about them. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_260' name='page_260'></a>260</span> +Suddenly they became conscious of the smell of burning +sugar.</p> +<p>“Oh, my goodness!” Elizabeth exclaimed, and ran to +the kitchen, leaving her guest to follow as she chose.</p> +<p>Hepsie had gone upstairs, and as Elizabeth opened the +oven door a cloud of smoke rolled out which nearly +blinded her and set her to coughing.</p> +<p>Sadie followed her in and somehow her mood changed +as she looked over the well-kept kitchen. Something in +the tidy order and tasty arrangement of its shelves hurt. +Sadie was not a natural housekeeper.</p> +<p>“Bet she just thinks she beat us all,” she thought as +she laid her bonnet on the sitting-room sofa, where she +had felt of the pillows, and the lambrequin which hung +from the long shelf where the clock and vasts stood, on +the opposite side of the room. “Bet she don’t put on no +airs about me just the same.” She looked at the small +bookcase below the mantel in a perfect rage of envy. +Elizabeth was surrounded by the things which befitted +Elizabeth, and Sadie realized as she had never done in +their childhood the chasm which separated them, and +knew nothing of the anguish of the young wife as she +laboured with the disfigured pies, nor that Elizabeth +thought of the look of love she had seen Sadie receive +with something very like envy in her heart.</p> +<p>Elizabeth thought long upon the joy in Luther’s face as +he greeted her. John must have made some move about +the request for help which covered the neglect of all these +months adequately to Luther. Sadie finished her inspection +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_261' name='page_261'></a>261</span> +of the inner regions and returned to the kitchen +primed with things to be said to her rival, and Elizabeth +fared badly at her hands. Her innate refinement would +not let Elizabeth strike back in the coarse way in which +she was attacked, and she listened to hints and pretended +sympathy on the subject of Farnshaw domestic difficulties, +of reported debts which John Hunter had contracted, and +neighbourhood estimates of the fact of her own secluded +manner of life since her marriage, till her head swam and +her memory was scorched for many a day. But though +her head ached and her knees almost refused to perform +their office, Elizabeth remained in the kitchen and superintended +every dish prepared for that harvest dinner. +The fact that the pies had scorched left her with the feeling +that John had had a foundation of real fact for his +demand that she give them her personal attention, and +left her humbled and ready to beg forgiveness. Every +fibre of her cried out for the trust she had seen in Luther’s +glance at Sadie. <i>There</i> was true marriage, and the state +which she laboured daily to establish.</p> +<p>At dinner John did not look at Elizabeth, though her +eyes sought his constantly, and when the pie was passed +around she remarked on its trimmed edges shamefacedly.</p> +<p>Silas Chamberlain wiped his knife on a piece of bread +and slid it under the section nearest him.</p> +<p>“You never mind about them edges. It looks like a +good pie t’ me, an’ John here will eat his share of it, I’ll +warrant you. Th’ rest of this company can survive if he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_262' name='page_262'></a>262</span> +does. I just been a thinkin’ as I set here what a stunnin’ +cook you’ve got t’ be in these ten months. I used t’ think +you’d have a lot t’ learn after you was married, but you +seem t’ ’a’ learned it short off—eh, John?”</p> +<p>John Hunter had to reply. “I’ve been sorry mother +had to go away. Elizabeth’s done pretty well, but mother +would have been a great help, with her fixed ways of doing +things,” he said reluctantly.</p> +<p>Luther had been looking earnestly at John, but spared +Elizabeth when he saw her confusion by looking quickly +down at his plate and saying nothing.</p> +<p>“Don’t know’s Lizzie needs any help as far as doin’ +things is concerned, though she may need more rest,” +Silas returned; and Sadie took up the subject.</p> +<p>“I think my stove bakes a little better on the bottom,” +she remarked critically.</p> +<p>“I low t’ taste your pies to-morrow if it don’t rain,” +Silas answered her without looking up from the bite he was +severing with the knife upon which it was to be conveyed +to his mouth.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen’s laugh rang out heartily.</p> +<p>“Don’t,” he said, winking at Sadie. “She’ll be keepin’ +me out of th’ field t’ fire th’ oven.”</p> +<p>The sting of the criticism was drawn by Luther’s merry +acceptation of it. Sadie laughed too, but the hint left its +rankling point. These same men would harvest for them +on the morrow, and as Sadie looked over Elizabeth Hunter’s +well set table she knew that she would not have the +advantage on her side. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_263' name='page_263'></a>263</span></p> +<p>“Lizzie’s always had th’ best of everything,” she +thought.</p> +<p>Silas Chamberlain thought over the day’s events as he +rode slowly home. While unhitching, Old Queen nipped +angrily at Bob, who had sniffed at her collar pad, and +Silas cuffed her ears.</p> +<p>“Whoa, there, you spiteful beast! You’ll be wantin’ +pie that’s a leetle better done on th’ under crust next. +Drat ’er! I could ’a’ fit right there, only—well you kin +allus hit harder with that kind of folks if you don’t let +yourself git riled. Pore little woman! Not little, neither—but +a year ago so young an’ glowin’ with happiness. +Used t’ make me think of a bob-white, trottin’ up an down +these roads s’ contented like, an’ allus so friendly an’ +sociable. Looks ’s if she didn’t have spirits enough t’ +laugh at nothin’ these days. Looks ’s if she’d had a peep +into a den of wild beasts an’ was afraid they’d break out +an’ get ’er. Liza Ann’s got t’ go an’ see ’er, an’ I’m goin’ +t’ tell ’er so.”</p> +<p>As Silas went toward the house, he stopped suddenly +and looked back at the wagon, which stood in the same +place he had left it that rainy afternoon over a year +ago.</p> +<p>“She looked that peert with ’er red lips an’ bright eyes, +a askin’ if th’ school board was t’ meet. Pore little +woman—she ain’t a goslin’ any more, an’ ’er new feathers +ain’t turnin’ th’ rain very good neither,” he reflected, +shaking his head. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_264' name='page_264'></a>264</span></p> +<p>The long day ended at last and John came to the +house after the evening chores were finished. Elizabeth +waited for him in her bedroom. Throughout the +entire evening she had been telling herself that she +must make this thing right. For the sake of the expected +child she must not let her mind be disturbed +with the hurt feeling she had been unable to put away +since John had gone out without letting her explain +about the morning’s baking. She allowed herself no +angry or resentful thought for the prolonged and +cruel reproach. Dry-eyed, she sat by the open window +in her nightdress, making buttonholes in a tiny slip +as she waited. She heard him deposit the basket of +cobs beside the kitchen stove, which he never forgot +to bring in at night, and by the rattle of the dipper +which followed and the chug, chug, chug of the pump +knew that he was filling the reservoir. Breakfast on +the farm was an early meal and greatly facilitated by +small preparations. John never forgot nor neglected +his part of the household duties. Elizabeth sighed. +John had the appearance of right on his side when +he demanded her highest efforts at the household altar. +She put away the little slip as she heard him coming +toward the bedroom and rose to meet him. The +tears came in spite of every effort to stay them, and to +hide her face she dug it deep into his shoulder while +she sobbed out her story. It was a full minute before +John’s arm went about her, but at last reflecting +that something was due one in her condition, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_265' name='page_265'></a>265</span> +he patted her heaving shoulders and said as if addressing +a child:</p> +<p>“There, there now, I never thought of you feeling so +bad,” and after a minute’s thought added, “but you see, +dear, the part of the dinner you saw to yourself was all +right, and the pies had to be apologized for.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XII__PORE_LITTLE_WOMAN' id='XII__PORE_LITTLE_WOMAN'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_266' name='page_266'></a>266</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2> +<h3>“PORE LITTLE WOMAN”</h3> +</div> + +<p>Silas Chamberlain answered to a loud knock +on his door at the midnight hour. It was the first +week of August.</p> +<p>“From Hunter’s, you say?”</p> +<p>There was a mumbled conversation at the door.</p> +<p>“Why, yes, of course. Come right in—glad t’ have +you. When was you called—an hour an’ a half ago? +Now you come right upstairs, an’ we’ll have you in bed in +two shakes. There now—them covers’ll be too heavy, I +’spect, but you kin throw ’em off if you don’t want ’em. +Jest keep that light. I’ll git another downstairs. Good-night. +Oh, yes! Jake’s gone for th’ doctor, you say? +Started an hour an’ a half ago? Guess ’e ain’t there yet—seven +mile you know. Well, good-night!”</p> +<p>Silas stumbled down the steep stairs.</p> +<p>“Liza Ann, it’s come! Pore little woman!”</p> +<p>He got back into bed and lay so still that his wife +thought him asleep. “Pore child!” she heard him say +just as she was drifting off to dreamland. An hour passed. +An hour and a half. There was the sound of wheels.</p> +<p>“That’s th’ doctor, Liza Ann.” There was no reply.</p> +<p>The old man fidgeted for fifteen minutes more; he had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_267' name='page_267'></a>267</span> +grown nervous. He slid out of the bed quietly and went +to the barn.</p> +<p>“Thought I heard a noise,” he told himself by way of +excuse for his action. “Wonder if Old Queen’s loose?” +He felt his way along the manger carefully. Unaccustomed +to midnight visitors, Queen snorted and shrank +from his hand when he touched her.</p> +<p>“Whoa, there! You needn’t be so blamed ’fraid—nothin’s +goin’ t’ hurt you. You ain’t a woman.”</p> +<p>Silas found a nail-keg and sat down on it across from +the nibbling horses, and thought and waited.</p> +<p>“He’s there by this time,” he murmured presently. +“Wisht they’d ’a’ sent for Liza Ann. No, I guess it’s +better not. She wouldn’t know what t’ do, havin’ no +experience.”</p> +<p>He debated with himself as to whether he should go +back to bed or not.</p> +<p>“Couldn’t sleep,” he concluded. “Lord! how long the +nights is when a feller’s awake!”</p> +<p>The horses ate on uninterruptedly and the soft breeze +stole through the old barn, while everything in nature was +indicative of peace except the old man, whose mind +worked relentlessly on the situation of the young wife +whose certain suffering racked him almost as much as if +he had stood in its presence.</p> +<p>“Gosh-a-livin’s!” he exclaimed as a new thought +struck him. “I wonder which one of ’em Jake got. +Now that young Doc Stubbins ain’t got no more +sense ’n a louse. I ought t’ ’a’ told John an’ I forgot. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_268' name='page_268'></a>268</span> +Lord! Lord! th’ chances th’ poor critters have t’ +take!”</p> +<p>Mrs. Chamberlain was awakened in the gray light of +morning as her husband crept shivering into bed.</p> +<p>“Where you been?” she asked.</p> +<p>“Out t’ th’ barn. Heard a noise an’ thought I’d better +look into it,” was Silas’s reply.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>As the sun rose the new life was ushered in. Doctor +Morgan did not start home till after nine o’clock.</p> +<p>“Who is to have charge of your wife, Mr. Hunter?” he +asked as he paused in the door and looked back at his +patient anxiously. Seven miles was a long distance—and +she might need him suddenly.</p> +<p>“Why, I thought Hepsie and I could care for her,” +John replied. Trained nurses were unheard of in those +days.</p> +<p>“It simply cannot be,” answered the old man. (Doctor +Stubbins had not been engaged.) “Another attack like +this last one would—well, you <i>must</i> have some one of +experience here. It’s a matter of life or death—at +least it might be,” he added under his breath. “Couldn’t +you stay?” he asked Susan Hornby, who sat with the +baby on her knee. “The girl’s liable to slip away from +us before I could get here.”</p> +<p>It was arranged that Aunt Susan should stay with the +young mother, who was too weak to turn her head on the +pillow it lay upon, for as the old doctor had said she was a +desperately sick girl. They had but just kept her with +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_269' name='page_269'></a>269</span> +them. The presence of Aunt Susan was almost as +delightful to Elizabeth Hunter as the head of the child +on her arm. Weak and exhausted, she was permitted +such rest as she had not known in all the days of her +married life. The darkened room and the quiet of the +next three days were such a mercy to her tired nerves +that she would have been glad to lie there for ages. Doctor +Morgan let Susan Hornby return to her home and +husband at the end of the week, confident that with care, +Hepsie could perform the little offices required, but he was +to learn that country people have little judgment in +serious cases of illness, and that the young mother’s room +would be filled with company when he came out the next +day.</p> +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Crane were the first to arrive on Sunday +morning, and when John announced that they were driving +up to the hitching post, Elizabeth begged weakly for +him to say that she was too ill to see any one that day. +John would have been glad to deliver that message, +remembering the wedding day, but Sadie was with her +mother, and John had found Luther a convenient neighbour +of late.</p> +<p>“We can’t offend them,” he said.</p> +<p>“But I can’t have them. Please, John—with my +head aching already.”</p> +<p>“Don’t speak so loud,” John said warningly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw came and had to have her team tied to +the barnyard fence. She walked to the house with the +rest of the company, and even in their presence could not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_270' name='page_270'></a>270</span> +restrain her complaints because she had not been notified +of her daughter’s serious illness and the arrival of the child. +Elizabeth’s protest that they had been absorbed by that +illness, and too busy to think of anything but the most +urgent and immediate duties, did not quiet the objections, +for Mrs. Farnshaw had the habit of weak insistence. Her +mother’s whine was never so hard to bear.</p> +<p>“Where’s Mr. Farnshaw?” Mr. Crane asked. “He’s +grandpa now.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth shrank into her pillows, and Mrs. Farnshaw +bridled angrily.</p> +<p>“He’s busy,” was her tart reply.</p> +<p>“I should think he’d want t’ see his grandson. Lizzie, +you haven’t showed me that boy,” Mr. Crane insisted.</p> +<p>And Elizabeth, weak and worn, had to draw the sleeping +child from under the quilts at her side and show him +off as if he had been a roll of butter at a country fair, +while constant reference was made to one phase or another +of the unpleasant things in her experience. Her colour +deepened and her head thumped more and more violently, +and by noon when they trooped out to the dining room, +where Hepsie had a good dinner waiting, the girl-wife was +worn out. She could not eat the food brought to her, but +drank constantly, and was unable to get a snatch of sleep +before the visitors assembled about her bed again.</p> +<p>At four o’clock Doctor Morgan arrived and Luther +Hansen came for Sadie. Sadie saw him drive in, and +laughed unpleasantly.</p> +<p>“Luther wasn’t a bit for comin’, but I told him I’d +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_271' name='page_271'></a>271</span> +come over with ma, an’ he could come after me. He’s +always chicken-hearted, an’ said since Lizzie was so sick +we oughtn’t t’ come. I don’t see as you’re s’ sick, Lizzie; +you’ve got lots of good colour in your face, an’ th’ way +you pull that baby around don’t look much like you was +goin’ t’ kick the bucket just yet.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth made no reply, but watched John help Doctor +Morgan tie his team.</p> +<p>“How’s Mrs. Hunter?” Doctor Morgan asked John as +he came around to the gate after the horses were fastened.</p> +<p>“All right, I guess. She’s had a good deal of company +to-day. I didn’t want them, but you can’t offend people.”</p> +<p>“We usually have a good deal of company at a funeral,” +the old doctor said dryly, as he viewed the extra horses +and wagons about the fence.</p> +<p>When he entered the sickroom his face hardened.</p> +<p>“I’m not as much afraid of your neighbours as you are, +Mr. Hunter,” he said, and went to the middle door and +beckoned Luther to come with him into the yard. A few +words was all that was needed with Luther Hansen, and +the doctor returned to his patient.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Sadie was more sarcastic than usual as they drove home.</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t ’a’ come if I’d a known I wasn’t wanted,” +she remarked sulkily.</p> +<p>“But, Sadie, Doc Morgan says she’s worse! I’d turn +’em out quick enough if it was you.”</p> +<p>Poor little Sadie Hansen caught the spirit of the remark. +Nothing like it had ever before been offered her in all +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_272' name='page_272'></a>272</span> +her bitter, sensitive experience. She looked up at her +husband mollified, and let even Elizabeth have a season +of rest as she considered this astonishing thing which +marriage had brought to her.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby, who had thought her darling resting on +this quiet Sabbath day, was reëstablished at the bedside, +and it was not till the morning of the tenth day that she +again left the house. At the end of that time she was +dismissed reluctantly by the good old doctor himself. It +had been such a good excuse to be with Elizabeth that +Aunt Susan had persuaded the long-suffering Nathan that +her presence beside her was a thing not to be denied, and +Nathan, glad to see Sue so happy, ate many a cold meal +that haying season and did not complain. It was a great +event in Susan Hornby’s life. Gentle and cordial to all, +Susan Hornby lived much alone—alone most of all when +surrounded with her neighbours. Elizabeth was her only +real tie.</p> +<p>“Oh, child! I’m so glad you’ve got him,” she said one +day as she laid the beautiful brown head on Elizabeth’s +arm.</p> +<p>Elizabeth patted the hand that was drawing the little +white shawl over the baby’s head. Master John Hunter—the +babe had been named for its father—had had +his daily bath, and robed in fresh garments, and being +well fed and housed in the snuggest of all quarters, the +little triangle made by a mother’s arm, settled himself for +his daily nap, while the two women watched him with the +eyes of affection. Never again do we so nearly attain +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_273' name='page_273'></a>273</span> +perfect peace in this turbulent life as during those first few +weeks when the untroubled serenity of human existence is +infringed upon by nothing but a desire for nourishment, +which is conveniently present, to be had at the first asking, +and which there is such a heaven of delight in obtaining. +We are told that we can only enter the Kingdom of Heaven +by becoming as little children: no other Kingdom of +Heaven is adequate after that.</p> +<p>The life in this little room had taken Susan Hornby back +to her own youth, and as often as otherwise when Master +John was being put through his daily ablutions it was the +little Katie of long ago that she bathed and robed fresh +and clean for the morning nap. At other times Elizabeth +was her Katie grown older. It was the flowering +time of Susan Hornby’s life. The fact that Elizabeth had +never crossed her threshold since her marriage to John +Hunter had faded out of Aunt Susan’s mind. Elizabeth’s +every word and look spoke the affection she felt for her. +Other people might sneer and doubt, but Susan Hornby +accepted what her instincts told her was genuine.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Elizabeth got about the house slowly. The days in bed +had been made tolerable by the presence of those she +loved, but she was far from strong, and she looked forward +with reluctance to the time when Aunt Susan would +not be with her. John complained of Hepsie’s work only +when with his wife alone, for Aunt Susan had been so +constant in her praises that he would not start a discussion +which he had found he brought out by such criticism. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_274' name='page_274'></a>274</span></p> +<p>Susan Hornby looked on, and was as much puzzled as +ever about the relations of the young couple. Elizabeth +was evidently anxious about John’s opinions, but she +never by so much as a word indicated that they differed +from hers. She spoke of him with all the glow of her +early love; she pointed out his helpfulness as if he were the +only man in the world who looked after the kitchen affairs +with such exactitude; she would have the baby named for +no one else, and all her life and thought centred around +him in so evident a manner that Aunt Susan could not but +feel that she was the happiest of wives. She talked of her +ideals of harmony, of her thankfulness for the example of +the older woman’s life with her husband, of her desire to +pattern after that example, of everything that was good +and hopeful in her life, with so much enthusiasm as to +completely convince her friend that she had found a fitting +abiding place. And, indeed, Elizabeth believed all that +she said. Each mistake of their married life together had +been put away as a mistake. Each day she began in firm +faith in the possibility of bringing about necessary +changes. If she failed, she was certain in her own mind +that the failure had been due to some weakness of her own. +Never did man have a more patient, trusting wife than +John Hunter. There had been much company about the +house of late, and there had been no difficulties. Elizabeth +was not yet analytical enough to reason out that because +of the presence of that company far less demand had been +made upon her by her husband. She thought that they +were really getting on better than they had done, and told +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_275' name='page_275'></a>275</span> +herself happily that it must be because she was more +rested than she had been and was therefore not so annoyed +by small things. It was ever Elizabeth’s way to +look for blame in herself. The baby was a great source +of pleasure also. He was a good child and slept in +the most healthy fashion, though beginning now when +awake to look about him a little and try to associate +himself with his surroundings. Elizabeth had begun to +look forward to Silas’s first visit with the child. Silas had +quaint ways with the young, and it was with very real +pleasure that she dragged herself to the door and admitted +him the first week she was out of bed. Elizabeth +led the old man to the lounge on tiptoe.</p> +<p>“I want you to see him, Mr. Chamberlain; you and he +are to be great friends,” she said as she went down on her +knees and drew the white shawl reverently from the sleeping +face. “Isn’t he a fine, big fellow?” she asked, looking +up at the old man.</p> +<p>“’E ought t’ be, havin’ you for his mother,” Silas said +with an attempt at being witty, and looking at the baby +shyly.</p> +<p>The baby roused a little, and stretched and grunted, +baby fashion.</p> +<p>“Lordie! what good sleep they do have!” Silas said, +holding out his finger to the little red hand extended +toward him, and then withdrawing it suddenly. “Now, +Liza Ann sleeps just like that t’ this day.” He spoke +hesitatingly, as if searching for a topic of conversation. +“She does ’er work regular like, an’ she sleeps as regular as +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_276' name='page_276'></a>276</span> +she works. I often think what a satisfyin’ sort of life she +leads, anyhow. She tends t’ ’er own business an’ she +don’t tend t’ nobody else’s, an’—an’—she ain’t got no +more on ’er mind ’n that there baby.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth gathered the child into her arms and seated +herself in a rocking chair, while the old man sat stiffly +down on the edge of the lounge and continued:</p> +<p>“Now I ain’t that way, you know. I have a most +uncomfortable way of gettin’ mixed up in th’ affairs of +others.”</p> +<p>“But it’s always a friendly interest,” Elizabeth interposed, +mystified by his curious manner and rambling +conversation.</p> +<p>Silas crossed his knees and, clasping his hands about the +uppermost one, rocked back and forth on the edge of the +lounge.</p> +<p>“Most allus,” he admitted, “but not quite. Now I’m +fair ready t’ fight that new Mis Hansen. I’ve been right +fond of Luther, for th’ short time I’ve knowed ’im, but +what he see in that there Sadie Crane’s beyond me. <i>He’s</i> +square. He looks you in th’ face ’s open ’s day when he +talks t’ you, an’ you know th’ ain’t no lawyer’s tricks in th’ +wordin’ of it. But she’s different. They was over t’ our +house Sunday ’fore last an’ I never knowed Liza Ann t’ +be’s near explodin’ ’s she was ’fore they left. It done me +right smart good t’ see ’er brace up an’ defend ’erself. I +tell you Mis Hansen see she’d riled a hornet ’fore she got +away. Liza Ann ’ll take an’ take, till you hit ’er just +right, an’ then—oh, my!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_277' name='page_277'></a>277</span></p> +<p>Silas ended with a chuckle.</p> +<p>“After they left, she just told me I could exchange +works with somebody else; she wasn’t goin’ t’ have that +woman comin’ t’ our house no more.”</p> +<p>“Sadie is awfully provoking,” Elizabeth admitted, +“but—but—Luther likes her, and Luther is a good +judge of people, I always thought.”</p> +<p>“Yep,” Silas admitted in return, “an’ I don’t understand +it. Anyhow, I never knew Liza Ann come s’ near +forgettin’ ’erself. It was worth a day’s travel t’ see.”</p> +<p>They talked of other things, the baby dropped asleep in +its mother’s arms, and Silas took his departure.</p> +<p>“How unlike him,” Elizabeth said to herself as she +watched him go to his wagon.</p> +<p>Silas rode away in an ill-humour with himself.</p> +<p>“Now there I’ve been an’ talked like a lunatic asylum,” +he meditated. “I allus was that crazy about babies! +Here I’ve gone an’ talked spiteful about th’ neighbours, +an’ told things that hadn’t ought t’ be told. If I’d a +talked about that baby, I’d ’a’ let ’er see I was plum +foolish about it—an’ I couldn’t think of a blessed thing +but th’ Hansens.”</p> +<p>He rode for a while with a dissatisfied air which gave +way to a look of yearning.</p> +<p>“My! How proud a man ought t’ be! How little folks +knows what they’ve got t’ be thankful for! Now I’ll bet +’e just takes it as a matter of course, an’ never stops t’ +think whether other folks is as lucky or not. She don’t. +She’s in such a heaven of delight, she don’t care if she has +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_278' name='page_278'></a>278</span> +lost ’er purty colour, or jumped into a life that’ll make an +ol’ woman of ’er ’fore she’s hardly begun t’ be a girl, nor +nothin’. She’s just livin’ in that little un, an’ don’t even +know that can’t last long.”</p> +<p>There was a long pause, and then he broke out again.</p> +<p>“Think of a man havin’ all that, an’ not knowin’ th’ +worth of it! Lord! If I’d ’a’ had—but there now, Liza +Ann wouldn’t want me t’ mourn over it—not bein’ ’er +fault exactly. Guess I ought t’ be patient; but I would +’a’ liked a little feller.”</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>When John came home that night Elizabeth told him +of Silas’s visit.</p> +<p>“He hardly looked at baby at all,” she said disappointedly, +“and I’d counted on his cunning ways with it more +than anybody’s. I thought he’d be real pleased with it, +and instead of that, he didn’t seem interested in it at all, +and sat and stared at me and talked about Sadie. I +thought sure he’d want to hold it—he’s got such cute +ways.”</p> +<p>“How could you expect an old fellow like him to care +for babies?” John said, smiling at the thought of it. “A +man has to experience such things to know what they +mean.”</p> +<p>He took the child from her arms and sat down to rock +it while he waited for the supper to be put on the table.</p> +<p>“Say,” he began, “I saw Hepsie setting the sponge for +to-morrow’s bread as I came through the kitchen. I’ll +take care of baby, and you go and see about it. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_279' name='page_279'></a>279</span> +bread hasn’t been up to standard since you’ve been sick. +You’ll have to look after things a little closer now that +you are up again.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth, whose back was not strong, had been sitting +on the lounge, and now dropped into a reclining position +as she replied:</p> +<p>“The bread has not been bad, John. Aunt Susan was +always marvelling at how good it was compared to the +usual hired girl’s bread.”</p> +<p>“It was pretty badly burned last time,” John observed +dryly.</p> +<p>“That didn’t happen in the sponge, dear, and anybody +burns the bread sometimes,” she returned; “besides that, +it makes my back ache to stir things these days.”</p> +<p>John Hunter did not reply, but every line of him +showed his displeasure. It was not possible to go on talking +about anything else while he was annoyed, and the girl +began to feel she was not only lazy but easily irritated +about a very small thing. Reflecting that her back +would quit hurting if she rested afterward, she arose from +the lounge and dragged herself to the kitchen, where she +stirred the heavy sponge batter as she was bidden.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter was expected to return in a little over a +week, and the first days when Elizabeth was able to begin +to do small things about the house were spent in getting +the house cleaning done and the entire place in order for +her coming. It happened that a light frost fell upon +Kansas that year weeks before they were accustomed to +look for it; and the tomato vines were bitten. It was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_280' name='page_280'></a>280</span> +necessary to can quickly such as could be saved. In those +days all the fruit and vegetables used on Kansas farms +were “put up” at home, and Elizabeth, with two, and +sometimes more, hired men to cook for, was obliged to +have her pantry shelves well stocked. The heat of the +great range and the hurry of the extra work flushed the +pale face and made deep circles below her eyes, but +Elizabeth’s pride in her table kept her at her post till the +canning was done. By Saturday night the tomatoes were +all “up,” and the carpets upstairs had been beaten and +retacked. Mrs. Hunter’s room had been given the most +exact care and was immaculate with tidies and pillow-shams, +ironed by Elizabeth’s own hands, and the chickens +to be served on the occasion of her arrival were “cut up” +and ready for the frying pan.</p> +<p>Sunday there was a repast fit for a king when John and +his mother came from town. Every nerve in Elizabeth’s +body had been stretched to the limit in the production of +that meal. Too tired to eat herself, the young wife sat +with her baby in her arms and watched the hungry family +devour the faultless repast. She might be tired, but the +dinner was a success. The next morning, when the usual +rising hour of half-past four o’clock came, it seemed to +the weary girl that she could not drag herself up to superintend +the getting of the breakfast.</p> +<p>“Mother’ll help you with the morning work and you can +lie down afterward,” John assured her when she expressed +a half determination not to rise.</p> +<p>But after breakfast Mrs. Hunter suggested that they +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_281' name='page_281'></a>281</span> +scour the tinware, and the three women put in the spare +time of the entire morning polishing and rubbing pans and +lids. As they worked, Mrs. Hunter discussed tinware, +till not even the shininess of the pans upon which they +worked could cover the disappointment of the girl that her +mother-in-law should have discovered it in such a neglected +condition.</p> +<p>“Really, child, it isn’t fit to put milk in again till it’s +in better condition. How did you happen to let it get so +dull and rusty?”</p> +<p>“Now, mother, it isn’t rusty at all. It is pretty dull, +but that’s not Hepsie’s fault. It was as bright as a pin +when I got up, but we’ve had the tomatoes to put up and +the housecleaning to do and it couldn’t be helped,” +Elizabeth replied, covering up any share the girl might +have had in the matter. She knew the extra work which +had fallen on Hepsie’s shoulders in those last weeks, and +particularly since she herself had been out of bed, for the +girl loved Elizabeth and had shielded her by extra steps +many times when her own limbs must have ached with +weariness.</p> +<p>“You don’t mean to say you used the tin pans for any +thing as corroding as tomatoes!” Mrs. Hunter exclaimed +in astonishment.</p> +<p>“We used everything in sight I think—and then didn’t +have enough,” Elizabeth said with a laugh.</p> +<p>“But you should never use your milk pans for anything +but milk, dear,” the older woman remonstrated. +“You know milk takes up everything that comes its way, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_282' name='page_282'></a>282</span> +and typhoid comes from milk oftener than any other +source.”</p> +<p>“There are no typhoids in tomatoes fresh from the +vine,” Elizabeth replied testily, and Mrs. Hunter dropped +the subject.</p> +<p>But though she dropped the subject she did not let the +pans drop till the last one shone like a mirror. With the +large number of cows they were milking many receptacles +were needed and John had got those pans because they +were lighter to handle than the heavy stone crocks used +by most farmers’ wives. Elizabeth was more appreciative, +of those pans than any purchase which had been +made for her benefit in all the months she had served as +John’s housekeeper, but by the time she was through +scouring she was ready to throw them at any one who was +foolish enough to address her upon housekeeping; besides, +she plainly discerned the marks of discontent upon +Hepsie’s face. Hepsie was a faithful servitor, but she had +learned by several years of service to stop before her +energies were exhausted. It was the first sign of dissatisfaction +she had ever shown, and Elizabeth was concerned.</p> +<p>The next morning Elizabeth’s head was one solid, +throbbing globe of roar and pain. Mrs. Hunter brought +her a dainty breakfast which it was impossible for her to +eat, and said with genuine affection:</p> +<p>“We have let you do too much, my dear, and I mean to +take some of this burden off of your shoulders. You’re +not yourself yet. John tells me you were sicker than +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_283' name='page_283'></a>283</span> +people usually are at such times. I ought to have helped +the girl with that tinware yesterday and sent you to bed.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth listened with some alarm to the proposition of +Mrs. Hunter taking the house into her own hands, but she +was touched by the real sympathy and concern evident.</p> +<p>“It’s good of you, mother. You’ll have to be careful +about Hepsie, though. You must not call her ‘the girl’ +where she hears you. You see she is one of our old +neighbours, and—and—well, they hate to be called that—and +they aren’t exactly servants.”</p> +<p>“Well, I’ll get the dinner for her—it’s wash day. +Don’t try to get up,” Mrs. Hunter said, taking the breakfast +away with her.</p> +<p>“Be careful about Hepsie, mother,” Elizabeth called +after her in an undertone. “She’s a good girl, if you +understand her and—and they leave you at the drop of +a hat.”</p> +<p>Hepsie’s going came sooner than even Elizabeth had +feared. She brought a cup of coffee to her at noon, but +avoided conversation and went out at once.</p> +<p>Elizabeth called her mother-in-law to her after dinner +was over and cautioned her afresh.</p> +<p>“But I haven’t had a word with her that was ill-natured +or cross,” Mrs. Hunter protested indignantly.</p> +<p>“I don’t suppose you have, mother,” the miserable girl +replied, puzzled as to how she was to make the older +woman understand. “It’s—it’s a way you have. I +saw that she was hurt about that tinware. She’s been +very satisfactory, really. She takes every step off of me +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_284' name='page_284'></a>284</span> +that she can. She’s the best in the country—and—and +they hang together too. If we lost her, we’d have a +hard time getting another.”</p> +<p>“Well, it makes me cross to have to work with them as +if they were rotten eggs and we were afraid of breaking +one, but if I have it to do I suppose I can. I only looked +after the clothes to see that she got the streaks out of +them. I knew she was mad about something, but I +rinsed them myself; I always do that.”</p> +<p>After Mrs. Hunter was gone Elizabeth thought the +matter over seriously. Neither Hepsie nor any other +girl they could get in that country was going to have her +work inspected as if she were a slave. They were free-born +American women, ignorant of many things regarding +the finer kinds of housekeeping in most instances, but +independent from birth and surroundings. In fact, there +was a peculiar swagger of independence which bordered +upon insolence in most of the homes from which Kansas +help must be drawn. Elizabeth knew that their dignity +once insulted they could not be held to any contract.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter went back to the kitchen and tried to +redeem the mistakes she had made, but Hepsie would not +be cajoled and the unpleasantness grew. Saturday night +the girl came to Elizabeth and said, without looking her +in the face at all:</p> +<p>“Jake says, if he can have th’ team, he’ll take me home. +I—I think I won’t stay any longer.”</p> +<p>“Do you have to go, Hepsie?” Elizabeth said, her face +troubled. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_285' name='page_285'></a>285</span></p> +<p>Hepsie avoided her glance because she knew the trouble +was there. Hepsie had been very happy in this house +and had been proud of a chance to keep its well supplied +shelves in satisfactory condition. Gossip hovered over +whatever went on in the Hunter home, and there was a +distinction in being associated with it; also Hepsie had +come to love Elizabeth more than she usually did her +country mistresses. She saw that all the unkind things +which were being said about Elizabeth’s stuck-up propensities +were untrue, and that Elizabeth Hunter was as +sensible and kindly as could be wished when people understood +her.</p> +<p>“I’ll be up and around hereafter,” Elizabeth continued. +“You don’t understand mother. She’s all right, +only she isn’t used to the farm.”</p> +<p>“I guess I understand ’er all right,” Hepsie said sullenly; +“’t wouldn’t make no difference, you bein’ up. +She’d be a-tellin’ me what t’ do just th’ same, an’ I’m tired +enough, washdays, without havin’ somebody t’ aggravate +me about every piece that goes through th’ rench.”</p> +<p>She stood waiting for Elizabeth to speak, and when she +did not, added resentfully:</p> +<p>“You an’ me always got along. We had a clean house, +too, if Mr. Hunter didn’t think I knew much.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s surprise was complete. She had not supposed +the girl knew John’s estimate of her work. John +was usually so clever about keeping out of sight when he +insisted upon anything unpleasant that it had never +occurred to Elizabeth that Hepsie was aware that John +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_286' name='page_286'></a>286</span> +insisted upon having her do things which he felt that +Hepsie could not be trusted to do unwatched. There was +nothing more to be said. She reckoned the girl’s wages, +and told her that Jake could have the team.</p> +<p>Before Hepsie went that night, she came back to the +bedroom and cuddled the baby tenderly.</p> +<p>“I’m—I’m sorry t’ go an’ leave you with th’ baby so +little, Lizzie. ’Taint hardly fair, but—but if you worked +out a while you’d learn t’ quit ’fore you was wore out.” +She stood thinking a moment, and then cautioned Elizabeth +sincerely: “I’m goin’ t’ say one thing ’fore I leave: +you’d better ship that old woman ’fore you try t’ get +another girl around these parts. I’ll be asked why I left +an’—an’ I’ll have t’ tell, or git folks t’ thinkin’ I’m lazy +an’ you won’t have me.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s heart sank. She would not plead for the +girl to keep still. It would have been of no use; besides, +her own sense of fairness told her that there was room for +all that had been hinted at.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Monday John spent the day looking for a girl to take +Hepsie’s place. Tired and discouraged, he came home +about four o’clock in the afternoon.</p> +<p>“Could you get me a bite to eat?” he asked Elizabeth +as he came in. “I haven’t had a bite since breakfast.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth laid the baby on the bed, and turned patiently +toward the kitchen. An hour was consumed in getting +the extra meal and doing the dishes afterward, and then it +was time to begin the regular supper for the rest of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_287' name='page_287'></a>287</span> +family. When John found that she had thrown herself +down on the bed to nurse the baby instead of coming to the +table for her supper, he insisted that she at least come and +pour the tea, and when she sat unresistant through the +meal, but could not eat, he sent her to bed and helped his +mother wash the supper dishes without complaint. The +next morning, however, he hailed her forth to assist with +the half-past four o’clock breakfast relentlessly, unaware +that she had spent a weary and sleepless night.</p> +<p>“Are you going to look for a girl to-day?” she asked as +he was leaving the house after the breakfast was eaten.</p> +<p>“Oh! I suppose so, but I haven’t much hopes of getting +one,” he answered impatiently. Then seeing the tears in +her eyes at the thought of the washing waiting to be done, +he kissed her tenderly. “I’ll do the best I can, dear; I +know you’re tired.”</p> +<p>“Well, the next one I get I hope mother ’ll let me manage +her. If Hepsie wouldn’t stand her ways of talking +about things none of the rest will.” After a moment’s +reflection she added: “I cannot do all this work myself. +I’m so tired I’m ready to die.”</p> +<p>John slipped his arm about her and said earnestly:</p> +<p>“I’ll do all I can to help you with the dinner dishes, but +you are not to say one word to mother about this.”</p> +<p>It was gently put, but authoritative.</p> +<p>“Then you needn’t look for one at all,” she said +sharply.</p> +<p>John’s arm fell from about her and he looked at her in +cold astonishment. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_288' name='page_288'></a>288</span></p> +<p>“I don’t care,” she insisted. “I can’t keep a girl and +have mother looking over every piece of washing that is +hung on the line.”</p> +<p>“Mother kept girls a long time in her own house,” he +answered, taking offence at once.</p> +<p>“I don’t care; she dealt with a different kind of girls.” +Then with a sudden illumination, she added: “She didn’t +have such quantities of work to do, either. If we go on +this way we’ll have to have help and keep it or we’ll have +to cut down the farm work.” She brightened with the +thought. “Let’s cut the work down anyhow, dear. I’d +have so much an easier time and—and you wouldn’t +have all those wages to raise every month, and we could +live so much more comfortably.”</p> +<p>She leaned forward eagerly.</p> +<p>“I don’t see but we’re living as comfortably as folks +usually do,” John replied evasively.</p> +<p>“I know, dear, but we have to have the men at meals +all the time and—and——”</p> +<p>“Now see here, Elizabeth, don’t go and get foolish. A +man has to make a living,” John said fretfully.</p> +<p>The girl had worked uncomplainingly until her last +remnant of strength was gone, and they were neither willing +to do the thing which made it possible to keep help, +nor to let her do the work as she was able to do it. With +it all, however, she tried patiently to explain and arrange. +Something had to be done.</p> +<p>“I know you have to make a living, John, and I often +think that I must let you do it in your own way, but there +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_289' name='page_289'></a>289</span> +are so many things that are getting into a snarl while we +try it this way. We don’t have much home with strangers +at our table every day in the year. We never have a +meal alone. I wouldn’t mind that, but it makes more +work than I am able to do, it is getting you into debt +deeper every month to pay their wages, and you don’t +know how hard it is going to be to pay those debts a few +years from now. But that isn’t the worst of it as far as I +am concerned. I work all the time and you—you aren’t +satisfied with what I do when I do everything my strength +will let me do. I can’t do any more than I’m doing +either.”</p> +<p>“I <i>am</i> satisfied with what you do,” he said with evident +annoyance at having his actions and words remarked +upon. “Besides, you have mother to help you.” He +had ignored her remarks upon the question of debts, +determined to fasten the attention elsewhere.</p> +<p>The little ruse succeeded, for Elizabeth’s attention was +instantly riveted upon her own hopeless situation.</p> +<p>“It isn’t much help to run the girl out and then make it +so hard to get another one,” she said bitterly.</p> +<p>Instantly she wished she had not said it. It was true, +but she wished she could have held it back. John did not +realize as she did how hard it was going to be to get +another girl. She had not told him of Hepsie’s remarks +nor of her advice. Elizabeth was not a woman to tattle, and +the “old woman” Hepsie had referred to was his mother.</p> +<p>“Don’t think I’m hard on her, John. If we could only +get another girl I wouldn’t care.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_290' name='page_290'></a>290</span></p> +<p>She waited for him to speak, and, when he did not do so, +asked hopelessly:</p> +<p>“Don’t you think we can get another girl pretty soon if +we go a good ways off from this neighbourhood?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know anything about it, and I don’t want to +hear anything more about it either,” was the ungracious +reply.</p> +<p>“I am in the wrong. You will hear no more on either +subject.”</p> +<p>The tone was earnest. Elizabeth meant what she said. +John went from the house without the customary good-bye +kiss. We live and learn, and we learn most when we +get ourselves thoroughly in the wrong.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIII__ENNOBLED_BY_THE_REFLECTED_STORY_OF_ANOTHER_S_GOODNESS_AND_LOVE' id='XIII__ENNOBLED_BY_THE_REFLECTED_STORY_OF_ANOTHER_S_GOODNESS_AND_LOVE'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_291' name='page_291'></a>291</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2> +<h3>“ENNOBLED BY THE REFLECTED STORY OF ANOTHER’S GOODNESS AND LOVE”</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was on a Saturday, three weeks after Mrs. +Hunter’s return, that Elizabeth asked to make +her first visit with the baby.</p> +<p>“Aunt Susan was here so much while I was sick, John, +that I feel that we must go to see them to-morrow.”</p> +<p>“Oh, my goodness!” John replied, stepping to the +cupboard to put away the pile of plates in his hands. +“I’m tired enough to stay at home.”</p> +<p>They had just finished washing the supper dishes +together, and Elizabeth considered as she emptied the +dishpan and put it away. She had been refused so often +that she rather expected it, and yet she had thought by +the cordiality with which John had always treated Aunt +Susan that he would be reasonable about this visit now +that she was able, and the baby old enough to go out.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was never clear about a difficulty, nor had her +defences well in hand upon the first occasion. With those +she loved, and with John in particular, any offence had to +be repeated over and over again before she could protect +herself. She felt her way slowly and tried to preserve her +ideals; she tried to be fair. She could not tell quickly +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_292' name='page_292'></a>292</span> +what to do about a situation; she took a long time to get +at her own attitudes and understand them, and it took her +still longer to get at the real intentions of others. As she +brought out her cold-boiled potatoes and began to peel +them for breakfast, she reflected that Aunt Susan had +come as regularly to see them as if she had always been +well treated, until Mrs. Hunter’s coming. At that point +the visits had dropped off.</p> +<p>“Baby is nearly three months old, and I promised Aunt +Susan that I’d take him to see her the first place I took +him. We owe it to her, and I’m not going to neglect her +any more. We can leave a dinner of cold chicken and pies +for the men, and I’ll get a hot supper for them when I +come home. I’d like to start about ten o’clock.”</p> +<p>It sounded so much as if it were all settled that the girl +felt that it really was.</p> +<p>“That leaves mother here alone all day, and I’m not +going to do it,” John returned with equal assurance.</p> +<p>“Mother can go with us. I should want her to do that, +and I’m sure Aunt Susan would.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter was passing through the room with the +broom and dustpan and paused long enough to say +pleasantly:</p> +<p>“Don’t count on me, children. I’ll take care of myself +and get the men a hot dinner besides. I’d just as soon.”</p> +<p>“We’d like to have you go, mother, and I’m sure Aunt +Susan would want us to bring you,” Elizabeth replied +with a little catch in her breath. If Mrs. Hunter refused +to go, John would not take her if she begged on her knees. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_293' name='page_293'></a>293</span></p> +<p>“No, I don’t want to go. I’ll get the dinner though, +and you needn’t hurry back.” She went on upstairs +contentedly and with the feeling that she had arranged +the matter to everybody’s liking.</p> +<p>“Let her get the dinner then,” Elizabeth said, exasperated. +“I’ll leave everything ready for it.”</p> +<p>“I shall not go and leave her alone all day. She has a +hard enough time out on this farm without getting the +feeling that we care as little as that for her comfort. +Besides that, the buggy is not mended yet.”</p> +<p>“We can go in the lumber wagon. We didn’t have a +buggy till long after we were engaged,” Elizabeth said, +not going into the matter of leaving his mother at home, +which she knew would be useless.</p> +<p>“I should think you’d want to rest when you did get a +chance. You talk all the time about having too much to +do,” John replied evasively.</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t get any rest,” Elizabeth replied quickly. +“I’d get a dinner—that’s what I’d have to do if I stayed +at home. I’d be on my feet three solid hours and then +have to nurse the baby. That’s the rest I’d have.”</p> +<p>“The devil!” was the answer she got as John went out.</p> +<p>The weeks flew past, and still Elizabeth served hot +dinners and mourned in secret over Susan Hornby’s +neglected kindness. Aunt Susan had been cheerful as +well as discreet during those weeks when she had helped +them. She had been so happy over the evident friendliness +of John Hunter that she had felt sure that the old +cordiality was to be resumed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_294' name='page_294'></a>294</span></p> +<p>After what seemed to Elizabeth endless weeks, a +curious circumstance aided her in getting to Aunt Susan’s +in the end. Mrs. Hunter, who was not greatly concerned +about her disappointment, heard constant reference to +Mrs. Hornby’s assistance at the time of the baby’s coming, +and knowing that there would be discussion of their +neglect to her in the neighbourhood, joined authoritatively +in Elizabeth’s entreaty the next time it was +mentioned, thereby accomplishing through fear of gossip +a thing which no amount of coaxing on Elizabeth’s part +could ever have done, and at last the trip was to be made.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby’s home was so unchanged in the year +that Elizabeth had been gone that, but for the baby in her +arms, she could hardly have realized that she had been +away. Aunt Susan sent her to the bedroom with the +wraps when they were taken off. It was the same little +room the girl had occupied for half that year, the same +rag carpet, the same mended rocking chair which had +come to grief in the cyclone, and the knitted tidy which the +girl herself had made. With the hot tears running down +her cheeks the girl-mother threw herself upon the bed and +buried her face in the baby’s wraps to stifle the cry she +was afraid would escape her. In the sanctuary of her +girlhood’s highest hopes, Elizabeth sobbed out her disappointments +and acknowledged to herself that life had +tricked her into a sorry network of doubts and unsettled +mysteries. For the first time she sunk her pride and let +Susan think what she would of her prolonged absence, +and went openly to the kitchen to bathe her face in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_295' name='page_295'></a>295</span> +Nathan’s familiar tin basin. A sudden suspicion of +John’s reception at Nathan’s hands made it possible to +go back to Aunt Susan with a smile on her lips.</p> +<p>Indeed, Elizabeth’s suspicions were so far true that they +were a certainty. Nathan, by Luther’s marriage to a +woman the old man suspected of every evil, had cut himself +off from every friend. Nathan had been thrown in +upon himself and had pondered and nursed his suspicions +of all men, and of John Hunter in particular. He finished +the milking without offering to go into the house; +and John, who had insisted upon coming at night instead +of on a Sunday, was obliged to stand around the cow +stable and wait, or go to the house alone. He chose the +former course and was made happy by the arrival of Jake, +who had not known where his employer was going when +his team was hitched to the wagon.</p> +<p>“I’ve just been over to Luther’s, Mrs. Hornby,” Jake +said when they finally stood around Aunt Susan’s fire. +“Did you know Sadie was sick? Luther’s awful good to +’er, but I know she’d be glad t’ see a woman body about +once in a while.”</p> +<p>“Wisht she’d die an’ get out of th’ way,” Nathan +Hornby said bitterly. “A body could see Luther once in +a while then ’thout havin’ ’is words cut up an’ pasted +together some new way for passin’ round.”</p> +<p>No one spoke, and Nathan felt called upon to defend +his words.</p> +<p>“I don’t care! It’s a God’s pity t’ have a woman like +that carry off th’ best man this country’s ever had, an’ +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_296' name='page_296'></a>296</span> +then fix up every word ’is friends says t’ him so’s t’ make +trouble.”</p> +<p>Nathan’s whole bitter longing for companionship was +laid bare. Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears; Elizabeth +was lonely also.</p> +<p>The call was a short one. John moved early to go +home and there was nothing to do but give way. It was +not till the next day that Elizabeth suspected that +Nathan’s remarks had offended John Hunter, and then in +spite of her eagerness to keep the peace between the two +men, she laughed aloud. She was also somewhat amused +at the insistence on a call upon Sadie which John wanted +that she should make. The perfect frankness of his +announcement that Luther was a convenient neighbour, +and that they must pay neighbourly attention to illness, +when he had never encouraged her to go for any other +reason, was a new viewpoint from which the young +wife could observe the workings of his mind. Something +about it subtracted from her faith in him, and in +life.</p> +<p>While she was still washing the dinner dishes John came +in to discuss the visit. Elizabeth was athrob with the +weariness of a half day spent at the ironing table, and to +avoid dressing the baby had asked Mrs. Hunter to take +care of him.</p> +<p>With no other visible reason but his customary obstinacy, +John insisted upon the child being taken.</p> +<p>“I’ve got to get back early and get the coloured clothes +folded down. Every one of the boys had a white shirt +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_297' name='page_297'></a>297</span> +and two or three collars this week, so I asked mother to +keep him for me,” Elizabeth said.</p> +<p>“Now see here,” John argued. “Mother ’ll fold those +clothes and you can just as well take him along and make +a decent visit. They’re the nicest people in the country, +according to some of the neighbours.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s laugh nettled her husband. When he +appeared with the wagon, she was ready, with the baby in +her arms.</p> +<p>The wind was keen and cold, the laprobes flew and +fluttered in derisive refusal to be tucked in.</p> +<p>“Take the buggy in and have it mended the next time +you go to town,” she said, with her teeth chattering, as +they drew near to Luther’s home. “I want to go up to +see ma before long and it’s almost impossible to keep a +baby covered on this high seat.” She thought a while and +then added, “I haven’t been home since I was married.”</p> +<p>“I shouldn’t think you’d ever want to go,” John replied +ungraciously.</p> +<p>Tears of anger as well as mortification filled her eyes, +and her throat would not work. It was to stop gossip as +much as to see her mother that the girl desired to make +the visit. The world was right: John was not proud of +her.</p> +<p>The sight of the “shanty” as they turned the corner +near Luther’s place brought a new train of thought. +Dear, kindly, sweet-souled Luther! The world disapproved +of his marriage too. He was coming toward them +now, his ragged overcoat blowing about him as he jumped +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_298' name='page_298'></a>298</span> +over the ridges made by the plow in turning out the late +potatoes he had been digging.</p> +<p>“You carry the baby in for Lizzie, an’ I’ll tie these +horses,” he said, beaming with cordiality. “Got caught +with Sadie’s sickness an’ let half th’ potatoes freeze ’s +hard ’s brickbats.”</p> +<p>It was so cold that Elizabeth did not stand to ask about +Sadie, but turned to the house to escape the blast.</p> +<p>“I’ll come for you at five if I can get back. I’m going +over to see about some calves at Warren’s,” John said as +they went up the path.</p> +<p>“Is that why you insisted that I bring the baby? You +needn’t have been afraid to tell me; you do as you please +anyhow.”</p> +<p>“H-s-sh! Here comes Hansen,” John Hunter said +warningly, and turned back to the wagon, giving the child +into Luther’s arms at the door.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen cuddled the child warmly to him and +without waiting to go in the house raised the white shawl +from its sleeping face for a peep at it.</p> +<p>“We lost ours,” he said simply.</p> +<p>The house sheltered them from the wind, and Elizabeth +stopped and looked up at him in astonishment.</p> +<p>“You don’t mean it? I—I didn’t know you were +expecting a child, Luther. I’m so sorry. I wish I’d +known.”</p> +<p>The expression of sympathy escaped her unconsciously. +Elizabeth would always want to know of Luther’s joys +and sorrows. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_299' name='page_299'></a>299</span></p> +<p>A glad little light softened the pain in his face, and he +looked at her with a steady gaze, discerning the feeling of +sound friendship behind the words.</p> +<p>“I believe you are,” he said, expressing the confirmation +of a thing he had never doubted. “I ain’t askin’ you +any questions, Lizzie, I just know—that’s all.”</p> +<p>With something like a glow about his heart, he opened +the door of his simple dwelling. He had never doubted +her, nor believed the nonsense he had heard about her, +but he had just had his faith refreshed. He carried the +baby to the one little bedroom of his house, scuffing a +wooden rocking chair behind him across the rough floor. +He established Elizabeth in it beside Sadie, and then placing +the sleeping child in its mother’s arms went back to +the potato field, hurrying his work to finish before dark. +He understood in a measure why this was Elizabeth’s first +visit to them, and he did not resent it. Luther never +resented. He lived his own kindly, industrious life. If +people did not like Sadie he accepted it as a fact, but not as +a thing to be aggrieved about. He could wait for Sadie +to grow, and others must wait also. In the meantime, +Luther watched Elizabeth and desired growth for her; her +smallest movement was of interest to him. Elizabeth as a +mother was a new feature. He remembered the deft way +she had nestled the baby to her as he had relinquished it +a few moments before, and thought with a sigh, of the cowhide-covered +trunk filled with little garments under the +bed by which she sat. Not even Sadie knew what the loss +of that first child meant to Luther. A new love for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_300' name='page_300'></a>300</span> +women’s ways with babies grew up in him as he thought +of Elizabeth’s cuddling.</p> +<p>In the house, Elizabeth was getting into touch with the +young mother who was childless. Sadie, in spite of a +determination not to do so, was warming to that touch +reluctantly. After all, it was pleasant to be telling Elizabeth +about it, and to have her asking as if she wanted to +know.</p> +<p>“Yes—I took bad about a week ago,” she was saying. +“I’d been kind of miserable for several days. I got a fall +that last rain we had, an’ I didn’t seem t’ get over it.”</p> +<p>“I’d have come sooner if I’d known it,” Elizabeth said, +thinking of Luther’s acceptance of a similar statement. +“Jake didn’t even tell us last night what was the matter.”</p> +<p>“I guess he didn’t know. Would you ’a’ come if you’d +’a’ known, Lizzie?” Before Elizabeth could reply, she continued, +“Ma used t’ think it’d be kind o’ nice for me t’ live +close t’ you, but I knew you wouldn’t never come t’ see +me. I used t’ be kind o’ jealous cause Luther liked you s’ +much. I said everything mean I could think of about +you, t’ him—but law! Luther ain’t got no pride. He +don’t care. He defends you from everybody, whether +you come t’ see us ’r not.”</p> +<p>It was a curious little confession and one Sadie had not +intended to make. Something big and sweet in Elizabeth +had forced it from her. It embarrassed Elizabeth Hunter, +and it held things which could not be discussed, and she +turned the subject without answering.</p> +<p>“When did you lose the baby?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_301' name='page_301'></a>301</span></p> +<p>“Oh, it only lived a couple of hours. You see it was too +soon an’—an’ it wasn’t right. Th’ doctor didn’t expect +it t’ live as long as it did, but Luther would have it that +it could, an’ kept ’em a tryin’ everything that could be +thought of.”</p> +<p>Sadie’s voice died away gradually and she lay looking +out of the window retrospectively: the last two weeks had +brought food for much thinking.</p> +<p>“I didn’t know, Lizzie, that a man could be as good as +Luther. I’d always kind o’ hated men, an’ I thought I’d +have t’ fight my way through, like th’ rest of th’ women, +an’—an’—he’s that good an’ thoughtful of me, an’ of +everybody else, that I’m clean ashamed of myself half th’ +time. He nearly had a fit when’ he found out that I’d +slipped with that wood. ’Twas ironing day, an’ th’ box +got empty—an’ then, when th’ baby died, it just seemed +as if he couldn’t stand it.”</p> +<p>She looked up at Elizabeth earnestly: “I never heard +any one but th’ preacher pray out loud, Lizzie, an’—an’—somehow—well,” +she stumbled, “Luther prayed so +sweet, when he see it was gone—I—I ain’t thought of +much else since. It—it seemed like th’ baby’d done +something good t’ both of us.”</p> +<p>The spiteful, pettish face was for the moment ennobled +by the reflected glory of another’s goodness and love. +Elizabeth caught a glimpse of a condition which makes +heaven here upon earth. There was the harmony here +in the “shanty” such as she coveted and strove in vain to +establish in her own home. Of course there would be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_302' name='page_302'></a>302</span> +harmony where Luther Hansen was concerned: Luther +<i>was</i> harmony. Ignoring his part in the little drama, she +was wise enough to touch the other side of the story in +her reply.</p> +<p>“These little ones bring blessings all their own, Sadie,” +she said, giving the hand on the patchwork quilt a little +squeeze.</p> +<p>There was that in the impulsive little touch which was +to be a lasting reminder to Sadie Hansen that Elizabeth +Hunter responded to the things which were making of her +life a different story. They had found common ground, +where neither scoffed at the other.</p> +<p>“Did your baby make you feel that way?” she asked +earnestly.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>When Luther came at five o’clock to say that John was +waiting he found them, at peace, with the baby between +them.</p> +<p>Luther tucked Elizabeth and her child into the unprotected +wagon seat with concern.</p> +<p>“This wind’s a tartar. Pull th’ covers down tight over +its face, Lizzie. What’s become of th’ buggy, Hunter?”</p> +<p>Luther saw Elizabeth’s face harden in a sudden contraction +of pain, and glanced across at John, but whatever +there was about it that hurt belonged to Elizabeth alone, +for John Hunter pulled at the flapping laprobes without +seeming to have heard clearly and evidently thinking that +the remark was addressed to his wife. Dusk was falling, +and Luther watched them drive away with a premonition +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_303' name='page_303'></a>303</span> +of trouble as the night seemed to close in about them. He +turned his back to the wind and stood humped over, peering +through the evening at their disappearing forms. He +saw Elizabeth snatch at the corner of the robe as they +turned into the main road, and dug his own hands deeper +into his pockets with his attention turned from Elizabeth +and her possible trouble to that of the child.</p> +<p>“Hope th’ little feller don’t ketch cold.” He turned to +the house filled with his vision of a baby being cuddled +close in a mother’s arms, and with a new understanding of +the comfort of such cuddling. His breath flew before him +in a frosty stream when he entered the kitchen, and he +hastened to build a fire and set the teakettle on to heat. +He lighted a lamp and set it on a chair, and also stirred the +fire in the little stove in Sadie’s room before he went to +milk.</p> +<p>“Wisht Lizzie’d come oftener. Wonder why she don’t. +She don’t seem near as stuck-up as she used to. Say, +Luther, Lizzie told me th’ queerest thing: she says th’ way +a mother feels before a baby’s born makes a difference. +She says if a woman’s mean before a child comes It’ll +make th’ young one mean too. She told a lot of things +that showed it’s true, about folks we know? I wonder +how she learns everything? Ain’t she smart! I wisht +she’d come oftener. Say, if I ever get that way again——” +The sentence was unfinished.</p> +<p>“Wisht ours ’d ’a’ lived,” Luther said longingly.</p> +<p>“Did Lizzie’s baby make you feel that way too?”</p> +<p>Luther went to milk with a song in his heart. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_304' name='page_304'></a>304</span> +little word “too” told more than all the discussions they +had ever had. Sadie had not been pleased about the +coming of the child they had lost.</p> +<p>“If I could get ’em together more,” he said wistfully. +“It was a good thing t’ have ’er see Lizzie an’ ’er baby +together. I hope th’ little Tad don’t ketch cold. That +laprobe didn’t stay tucked in very well.”</p> +<p>As he rose from milking the last cow, his mind went +back to his visitors.</p> +<p>“Somethin’ hurt Lizzie about th’ buggy ’r somethin’—she’s +too peaked for her, too.”</p> +<p>Luther’s premonitions about the Hunter baby were +only too well founded. The cold was not serious, but +there was a frightened skirmish for hot water and lubricants +before morning. The hoarse little cough gave way +under the treatment, but the first baby’s first cold is +always a thing of grave importance to inexperienced +parents, and Elizabeth knew that her chances of getting +to go home, or any other place, that winter, were lessened. +Her growing fear of neighbourhood criticism outgrew her +fear of refusal, however, and at the end of the next week +she reminded her husband that she had planned to take +the child to see her mother.</p> +<p>“You may be willing to take that child out again; I’m +not,” he replied severely.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>A bright idea struck Elizabeth’s imagination after she +had gone to bed that night. Why not ask her own family, +the Chamberlains, Aunt Susan’s, and Luther Hansen’s to a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_305' name='page_305'></a>305</span> +Thanksgiving dinner? She was so elated by the idea that +she could hardly get to sleep at all, and before she could settle +herself to rest she had killed in her imagination the half +dozen or more turkeys she had raised that season. A big +dinner given to those who could act as mouthpieces would +silence a lot of talk; also, it would take away a certain +questioning look the girl feared in Luther’s and Aunt +Susan’s eyes. The latter was the sorest point of her +married life, and the conviction that they were thinking +much worse things than were true did not make her any +more comfortable. All Sunday she planned, and Sunday +night went to bed with the first secret thought she had +ever harboured from her husband’s knowledge.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter entered into the plan with zest when on +Monday afternoon it became necessary to tell her. She +had begun to love her son’s wife in spite of her family +history. Had Elizabeth known how to manage it she +could have made of John’s mother a comfortable ally, but +Elizabeth, with characteristic straightforwardness, sought +no alliance except the natural one with her husband. +The two women planned the articles to be served in the +dinner, and then turned to the discussion of other preparations +about the house. Elizabeth was proud of the home +of which she was a part, but her strength was limited +since baby’s coming, and after looking about her critically +decided that there would be no necessity for any more +cleaning than the regular weekly amount.</p> +<p>“We’ll have to get the cleaning done on Wednesday +instead of Friday, but I think that will be all that will be +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_306' name='page_306'></a>306</span> +needed. The carpets were put down fresh the week before +you came home, and I don’t intend to take them up again +till spring.”</p> +<p>“I think so,” Mrs. Hunter agreed, “but You’ll have to +have the curtains in the dining room washed, and the +tidies and pillow-shams done up fresh.”</p> +<p>“Now, mother!” Elizabeth exclaimed, “don’t begin to +lay out work I can’t get done. The tidies are not hard, +and I could do the shams, but those curtains are not to be +thought of. I’d be so tired if I had to go to work and +wash all that, after the washing I put on the line to-day, +that I just wouldn’t be able to get the dinner on the table +Thursday. Talking about the dinner, I think we’d better +have two turkeys. I can roast two by putting them in the +one big pan.”</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter was willing that the younger woman +should prove her talent as a cook, but she planned to take +some of the necessary things upon her own shoulders, and +to take her son into her schemes for brightening things up +a bit. Accordingly, the next morning she asked John to +help her take the curtains down.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had been so full of her own plans that she had +forgotten to tell John’s mother that she intended to keep +them secret till she had all her preparations made. +The next morning when she heard the thud of some +one stepping down from a chair, and her husband say: +“There you are! How do you happen to be taking the +curtains down at this time of the week?” she realized +as she had never done before how much afraid of him she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_307' name='page_307'></a>307</span> +really was, for her pulses bounded, and her ears boomed +like cannon, long before John had time to appear in the door +to inquire who was coming, and why they were to do so.</p> +<p>With a look very much like guilt, Elizabeth told over the +names of her proposed guests, but with Mrs. Hunter in the +next room she could not tell him why it meant so much to +her to ask these people to dine with them.</p> +<p>The customary protest was offered without delay.</p> +<p>“I don’t believe I’d do it, dear. Thanksgiving is a day +for home folks, not neighbours, and, besides, see all the +work it will make.”</p> +<p>“The work is just what we choose to make it. If I’d +known mother was going to clean house I wouldn’t have +said anything about it,” Elizabeth answered sullenly.</p> +<p>“Sh!” John Hunter said in a low tone and with a look +of anger that was direct and full of meaning.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was ready to cry. She was angry. In every +move she made she was checkmated; not because it was +not a good move, but because it was hers. She could +readily have given up any one thing as it came along, but +the true meaning and spirit of these interferences were +beginning to dawn upon her. However, once more she +yielded to the unreasonable wishes of her husband and the +dinner was given up. She made no attempt to finish the +mincemeat they had planned to chop after dinner, but +after putting the baby to sleep threw a shawl about her +and slipping out of the house ran to the barn and down the +creek in the pasture while John was helping his mother +rehang the freshly ironed curtains. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_308' name='page_308'></a>308</span></p> +<p>They were only having two meals a day now that the +corn was all picked, and dinner came so late in the afternoon +that there was already a blaze of sunset colour in the +west as she passed around the barn and started down the +bank of the stream. The sun had set, but was still reflected +on the heaps of billowy gray clouds just above the +horizon. It made the snow in front of her a delicate pink. +The girl had not got far enough from the house to see a +sunset for months. The freshness and keenness of the +air, the colours in the sky, the grandeur and sublimity of +it all chased away her anger and left her in a mood to +reason over her situation. She followed the cow-path +down to the bed of the stream and then threaded her way +along its winding route for a greater distance than she had +ever gone before. A broken willow barred her way after +a time, and she climbed up on its swaying trunk and let +her feet dangle over the frozen streamlet below. The +snow made lighter than usual the early evening and +extended the time she could safely stay so far from the +house.</p> +<p>The colours faded rapidly from the sky and the bewildered +girl returned to her own affairs, which were puzzling +enough. Of late she had found herself unable to maintain +her enthusiasm. She found herself increasingly irritable—from +her standpoint the one thing most to be despised +in others and which she had supposed most impossible in +herself. There were so many unforeseen possibilities +within herself that she devoted her entire attention to her +own actions and impulses, and was completely drawn +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_309' name='page_309'></a>309</span> +away from the consideration of the motives of others by +her struggle with the elemental forces in which she found +herself engulfed. The temper aroused by John’s objection +to her Thanksgiving company had indications in +spite of the fact that she had controlled it. Elizabeth +knew that she had but barely kept her speech within the +limits of kindliness and consideration for Mrs. Hunter, +who had not wished to frustrate her plans at all, and she +knew that she would be less likely to do so if the offence +were repeated. She knew that Mrs. Hunter tried with +real honesty of purpose to keep on good terms with her, +and yet she also knew that she was increasingly annoyed +with whatever she did. There was an element of unfairness +in her attitude toward the older woman which +alarmed her.</p> +<p>“I’m just like pa, after all,” she thought as she swung +her feet and looked in a troubled way down at the frozen +stream below.</p> +<p>Elizabeth reflected that when Aunt Susan, or Silas, or +Luther Hansen came into the house she became instantly +her own buoyant, optimistic self: not that she intentionally +feigned such feelings for the benefit of her company, +but she felt the presence of trust, of faith in herself and her +powers. She did not recognize that such trust was necessary +to the unfoldment of character, nor even that it was +her birthright.</p> +<p>The girl watched the gathering twilight and deliberately +let the time pass without attempting to return to the +house until compelled to do so by real darkness, realizing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_310' name='page_310'></a>310</span> +that some beneficial thing was happening in her in this +free out-of-doors place, for she was less annoyed and more +analytical with each breath she drew in it.</p> +<p>“If only I’d take time to do this sort of thing I’d be +more as I ought to be,” she meditated when she had at +last risen to go home. “I won’t be like pa! I won’t! I +won’t!” she reiterated many times as she walked back, +over the frozen cow-path. “I’ll come here every few days. +Ma and pa were born to be happy, only they never took +time to be.”</p> +<p>And though John was cross because the baby had cried +in her absence, Elizabeth felt that she had been helped by +getting away from him. She accepted her husband’s +reproaches without reply, and was able to forget them +even while they were still issuing from his mouth. She +kept her temper down all that week, and though the +Thanksgiving invitations were not sent, she cooked the +dinner and put as many hours into its concoction as if she +had had all the people she had hoped to have about her +board to eat it, and she was so sunny and natural as she +served it that John did not even guess that she was governing +herself consciously. She stayed at home the next +Sunday and the next, and John Hunter was unaware that +she was endeavouring to surrender herself to his will.</p> +<p>“She’ll get over wanting to run somewhere all the +time,” he told his mother, and Mrs. Hunter, to whom +these people were not pleasing, agreed with him, and +thought that it was just as well if it were so, not realizing +that the girl lived alone in their house and that she might +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_311' name='page_311'></a>311</span> +have an attitude toward these people distinctly different +from theirs.</p> +<p>This winter, like the preceding one, passed with Elizabeth +at home. There was no peace to be had if she thought +of going anywhere for any purpose whatever. Elizabeth +went nowhere and required few clothes. The cold the +child had caught on that first trip to Luther’s was sufficient +excuse to prevent any further foolishness on the part +of its mother. However, a trip to town was in waiting for +Elizabeth Hunter and was proposed by John Hunter himself.</p> +<p>There had been a “warm spell” in the month of February +and John had asked Elizabeth to help him with the +pump in the barnyard, which had been working badly for +days. It was Saturday evening, and Jake and the other +hired man had been granted time off that day; the pump +had refused to work at all after they were gone, and with a +hundred cattle waiting for water it was necessary to +impress any one available with the duty of helping. +Elizabeth was more than willing to help: it meant a couple +of hours out of doors. They had worked industriously +and their efforts were about crowned with success when +Mrs. Hunter came out to them with the baby wrapped in +a warm shawl. John tossed aside the extra piece of +leather he had cut from the top of an old boot and fitted +the round piece in his hand about the sucker.</p> +<p>“Now, mother, you shouldn’t bring that child out here; +You’ll have him sick on our hands again,” he said.</p> +<p>“Oh, lots of children go out of doors in winter. I took +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_312' name='page_312'></a>312</span> +you out whenever I wanted to, and you’ve lived to tell the +tale,” his mother said easily, seating herself on the end of +the trough.</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t want anything to happen to him for a +few days, I can tell you. I want you to keep him and let +Elizabeth go in to town with me and sign the mortgage on +this eighty, Monday,” John replied, examining the valve +with great attention.</p> +<p>“Why, I thought this eighty was already mortgaged!” +Mrs. Hunter exclaimed.</p> +<p>“Well, it is,” John replied uneasily, “but I’ve got to +raise the interest before I can get that bunch of shoats +ready to sell, and I’ve got to do it that way.”</p> +<p>He did not look at either of the two women, but kept +himself very busy about the rod and sucker he was manipulating.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter seldom remarked upon anything that was +done about the farm, but this was surprising news. <i>A +second mortgage</i> on part of the land! She had just opened +her mouth to speak, when she happened to glance across +at her daughter-in-law. Elizabeth’s face was white. +Something in it implored Mrs. Hunter to go away, to +leave them to have the matter out together, and the older +woman took her cue from it and went with a haste which +caused her son to look up from the piston with which he +fumbled.</p> +<p>“She’s gone to the house; I motioned to her to go,” +Elizabeth announced. “She don’t know much about +mortgages, but she knows this won’t do. You told me +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_313' name='page_313'></a>313</span> +last week that the hogs would be ready in time. My soul +alive, John! do you realize what you are doing? This is +the home-eighty! What’s happened to the hogs?”</p> +<p>“Say, look here! If I want to mortgage this eighty, +I’m going to do it. Those hogs are just where it pays to +feed them. If I sell now, I’ll lose half the profits.”</p> +<p>John got up and faced her ready to fight, if fight he must +on this question. He had chosen an opportune time to +tell it, but he meant to do as he wished about those hogs +and the land and whatever else they possessed. He hated +to open a discussion, but he did not hate to continue one +after he had made the plunge. He had feasible reasons +for all that he did.</p> +<p>Elizabeth saw that he meant to insist and she resented +the deception he had practised in securing this loan without +telling her, but the danger was so great that she could +not afford to let her feelings blind her, nor to put the thing +in a bad light by seeming to wrangle about it. She looked +at him steadily, so steadily, in fact, that John was disconcerted. +The work in hand gave excuse for withdrawing +his eyes and Elizabeth watched him arrange the knot +of the rope so that they could lower the pipe back into +the well. The girl did not begin to speak at once: she +marshalled her forces and considered what manner of +argument she would put forth. She knew that every +piece of land they possessed except the Mitchell County +pastures was covered with one third of its value in incumbrances. +If the interest was hard to meet now, what +would it be three years hence? She had come to understand +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_314' name='page_314'></a>314</span> +that the man she had married was not a farmer. +She helped him lower the long pipe into the well, and +watched him try the pump handle to see if the sucker +would work. It was slow in drawing, and she filled a +small pail from the trough and poured it into the pump +head. After a few sputtering strokes the water began to +come freely, and then she had to wait for the pumping to +stop before she could make herself heard above its rumblings.</p> +<p>John Hunter knew perfectly well that Elizabeth was +waiting and prolonged the work till the great trough was +full. When it began to overflow and there was no further +need for drawing water, he turned abruptly toward the +gate where the cattle were. Elizabeth had waited in the +frosty air till she was chilled from standing and could not +remain for the stock to drink before she had a chance to go +to the house.</p> +<p>“I want to talk to you before those cattle come out +here,” she said, more hurt by his avoidance of her now +than she had been by the original deception; he was really +ignoring her as a factor in their mutual affairs. “I have to +protest against this mortgage, John. We ought to keep a +small home free at least, and instead of putting more on +this eighty we ought to sell enough of the stuff to pay off +on this part. Every farmer in this country has his nose +on the interest grindstone, and my life has been spoiled +with it ever since I can remember. Please, dear, let’s not +put a second mortgage on this eighty.”</p> +<p>In her anxiety to get John’s attention Elizabeth went +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_315' name='page_315'></a>315</span> +forward and put her hand on his arm, forgetting in her +earnestness the slight he had just shown toward her in +ignoring her claims to a voice in the matter.</p> +<p>John Hunter shook off the detaining hand impatiently.</p> +<p>“If you’re going to run this business you may as well do +it without my help and I’ll quit,” he said, his body braced +away from her with the plain intimation that he preferred +that she should not touch him.</p> +<p>Elizabeth hesitated. Her impulse was to turn and +leave him without further words, but the farm, their future +comfort, the whole scheme of family peace and harmony +depended upon obtaining a hearing.</p> +<p>“I don’t want to run things—really, I do not. I’ve +never tried to, but I’ve lived on a farm, and I know how +impossible it is ever to raise a mortgage if you get it on a +place. I—let’s sell enough to raise the one we have on +this eighty while we can, instead. I’m willing to live on a +little; but, oh, John, I do so want to have one place that is +our own.”</p> +<p>“There’s money in those cattle,” John answered sullenly. +“A woman don’t know anything about such +things. You’ll go and get mother started on it too, I +suppose. I’m going to do as I see fit about it, anyhow. +I know there’s money to be made there.”</p> +<p>With a great sob in her throat, Elizabeth turned to the +house.</p> +<p>“Look here, Elizabeth,” John called after her peremptorily.</p> +<p>Elizabeth stopped respectfully to listen, but she did not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_316' name='page_316'></a>316</span> +return to his side. John waited, thinking she would come +to him.</p> +<p>“Cattle ain’t like ordinary farming,” he argued with a +flush of anger. “A man simply has to take time to let +steers grow into money. We haven’t been at it a long +enough time. Those big steers will be ready to feed this +fall, and corn’s going to be cheap. We’d be cutting off +our noses to spite our own faces to sell now.”</p> +<p>“Perhaps,” the girl replied bitterly, and went on to the +house.</p> +<p>She knew that John had argued with the hope of getting +her to admit herself in the wrong, not to hear her side of +the case.</p> +<p>John Hunter gazed after his retreating wife in vexed +petulance for a moment and then, with a sigh of relief, +turned toward the waiting cattle.</p> +<p>“She’ll be ready when I want to go to town all the +same,” he reflected.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIV_MORTGAGES_OF_SOUL' id='XIV_MORTGAGES_OF_SOUL'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_317' name='page_317'></a>317</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2> +<h3>MORTGAGES OF SOUL</h3> +</div> + +<p>The mortgage was signed. The fine weather had +brought many people to Colebyville. Elizabeth +had not been in town for a year, and the sight of +pleasant, happy folk greeting each other cordially and +wandering from store to store bartering eggs and butter +for groceries and family necessities, and exchanging ideas +and small talk about their purchases, had accentuated her +isolation. Those people who knew her spoke to her also, +but with an air of suspicion and reserve. A puzzling +feature of the day had been that John had received a more +cordial reception than she had. The main suspicion had +been directed against her. There seemed to be a certain +acceptance of John’s “stuck-upness.” He had some reason +for his attitude toward them which they were inclined +to accept, but Elizabeth saw that to this community +she was a “beggar on horseback.” Instead of seeing that +the man who had thrust her into this false relation was +utterly inadequate to realize it, or that if he realized it he +was utterly indifferent to her sufferings in it, she inquired +into her own failure to get his attention, and felt that he +was after all a better husband than any she had ever +known, with few exceptions. John had managed to add +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_318' name='page_318'></a>318</span> +to her confusion where he was concerned that day by being +floridly insistent upon her spending a generous sum upon +her purchases and taking as much interest in what she +bought as a woman. There had been so much to buy that +Elizabeth’s economical soul had been torn by the desire +to cut down the expense. The baby was ready for short +clothes and there had been materials for little dresses, +stockings, little shoes, a hood and cloak, to get for him +alone, and Elizabeth saw in every dollar spent a dollar lost +at interest-paying time. John had been happy and genial +on the way home and had altogether treated her so much +better than her mood had permitted her to treat him that +there was a bit of self-accusation in her meditations. +Everything had gone wrong. The waters of human +affection ran everywhere in the wrong direction. She +desired understanding between herself and her husband; +her attitude toward the community in which they lived +had been one of friendliness, her attitude toward Aunt +Susan and Luther one of whole-hearted love, her attitude +toward this family of which she found herself a part that +of a devoted slave, yet nowhere had she been able to make +proper alliances. Some curious defeating element had +crept into every relation life offered her. While the rest +ate supper that night, Elizabeth, who had no appetite +and was too sick with a sense of failure to eat, nursed her +baby and meditated upon the indications of the day’s +occurrences. Forgetting her surroundings, she drew in a +fluttering, sobbing breath. Jake Ransom, across the corner +of the table, caught the sound of that sob and flashed a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_319' name='page_319'></a>319</span> +quick glance in her direction. His eyes were as quickly +withdrawn, but Elizabeth knew without looking up that +he had heard. With a desire to escape observation, she +made an excuse of putting the baby away and went to the +bedroom with the child. Slipping him into his little nightdress +she made him comfortable for the night, after which +she went back to the dining room to keep Jake from thinking +she had anything to cry about. There was an added +hum of voices, and she went in with some curiosity.</p> +<p>Silas Chamberlain stood beside the stove with his old +cap and his home-knit mittens under his arm, while he +leaned over the welcome fire. The blues were gone +instantly. There was such a glad light in her eyes as she +advanced to meet him that Jake Ransom wondered if he +had been mistaken in the quivering breath, and there was +such genuine pleasure in her surprised greeting that Silas +Chamberlain was warmed and fed by it.</p> +<p>“Where’s that baby?” he demanded. “You ain’t +gone an’ tucked him into bed this time o’ night, have you? +I come special t’ see ’im.”</p> +<p>For months Elizabeth had wanted to see Silas and the +baby in a “free for all tumble” and her eyes danced with +delight at the idea. She had not had such a thrill in +many weeks; the young mother spoke in every line of her +young face. As if by magic her troubles fell away from +her. Crooking her finger beckoningly at the old man, +she crept on tiptoe to the bedroom door. She had left a +lamp lighted in the room and it was possible to observe +the baby without him being aware of their presence. Silas +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_320' name='page_320'></a>320</span> +had crept behind her like an Indian stalking a deer, and +she caught his suppressed breath as she turned with her +finger on her lips at the door. The rest of the group trailed +behind with anticipatory grins.</p> +<p>Master John Hunter lay on the bed, very wide awake, +making sputtering efforts to devour his thumb, while he +kicked his little feet as vigorously as the confines of the +pinning-blanket would allow.</p> +<p>Silas chuckled. Hearing a noise at the door, the heir +of the house rolled his head on his pillow till his mother’s +face came within the range of his vision. Her absence +that day had made the child more than usually eager for +her presence. The little feet kicked more wildly than +ever, and forgetting the generous slice of thumb still to be +devoured, he grinned such a vast and expansive grin that +the hand to which the thumb was attached, being free, +joined the other in waving salutations of such joyful +pantomime that the object of his industrious beckonings, +completely carried into the current, rushed at him and, +sweeping him up in her arms, tossed him on high as gleefully +as if she had not been weighed down by care but a +moment before the old man’s advent into the room.</p> +<p>“There, Mr. Chamberlain, was there ever another like +him?” she cried.</p> +<p>Baby, who had come down from a point as high as his +mother’s arms could reach, doubled his fat little body +together with a smothered, squeezed off little gurgle of +delight. Silas was aquiver with sympathetic glee. Those +were not the days when babies were raised by scientific +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_321' name='page_321'></a>321</span> +rules, and Silas caught the child from its mother’s arms +and repeated the tossing process, while the baby shouted +and struggled. At last the three, followed by the family, +retired to convenient chairs about the sitting-room fire.</p> +<p>“Now, Jack Horner, you can pare that thumb down a +leetle more if you want t’. You’ve swallowed enough wind +to give you the colic for a day or two,” Silas said when the +child began to hiccough.</p> +<p>Elizabeth clapped her hands delightedly.</p> +<p>“You have named the baby!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>“How’s that?” Silas asked.</p> +<p>“Oh, John can’t bear to have him called Johnnie, and +John is too awfully old for him now. Little Jack Horner—no, +Little Jack Hunter. I’m so glad! I just do love it; +and we had called him Baby till I was afraid we’d never +quit it,” Elizabeth said.</p> +<p>They kept the old man as long as they could induce him +to stay, and when he did go home it was with the settled +conviction that he had been wanted. He described the +visit enthusiastically to Liza Ann and tried to induce her +to go over to see Elizabeth the next Sunday. Silas craved +the privilege of that baby’s presence.</p> +<p>“I know, Si,” his wife replied, “but she could come here +if she wanted to. It’s her fool notions. John was th’ +greatest hand t’ go you ever saw till he married her, an’ +now he don’t go nowhere, an’ when I asked him about it, +he said she wasn’t well! She’s as well as any woman +that’s nursin’, an’ she’s got his mother t’ help ’er too.”</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t pretend t’ know th’ why’s an’ th’ wherefores +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_322' name='page_322'></a>322</span> +of it, but I do know there ain’t a stuck-up bone in +’er body—I don’t care what nobody says,” loyal Silas +Chamberlain replied.</p> +<p>The new mood stayed with Elizabeth Hunter and called +for much perplexed introspection. It had been a perplexing +day. There was no reason that she could assign +for her contradictory actions. She found herself even +softened toward John and able to enter into his attempt +to be sociable after Silas’s departure. He seemed to be +anxious to set himself before her in a kindlier light and she +was able to meet the attempt as he wished. Elizabeth +lost faith in herself as she saw her apparent whimsicalness +and began to lash herself into line as John and his mother +wished. She asked no more to be taken places.</p> +<p>In May, Luther came to help John with his team, and +for the first time in months Elizabeth saw a neighbour +woman. Luther lifted Sadie down from the high seat +with as much care as if she had been a child.</p> +<p>“Sadie’s lonesome at the house alone all day, an’ it was +good of you, Lizzie, t’ ask ’er,” he said as he climbed back +into the wagon.</p> +<p>Elizabeth wanted a visit with Luther, himself, but was +less fearful of a day with Sadie than she had been. She +took her guest into the house and at the sitting-room door +paused to point to Master Jack, who sat on an old quilt +with a pillow at his back, digging his little heels into the +floor and holding out dimpled hands imploringly.</p> +<p>“You darling child!” Sadie cried, going down on her +knees at his side and hugging him till he sent up an indignant +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_323' name='page_323'></a>323</span> +howl. “Isn’t he cunnin’? Isn’t he?” she cried, +releasing him and subsiding into a doubled figure by his +side. “Honestly, Lizzie, why don’t you bring him over?”</p> +<p>She looked so insistent, that she had to be answered.</p> +<p>“I don’t go any place, Sadie,” Elizabeth answered +truthfully.</p> +<p>“Is it so, that Mr. Hunter won’t take you?” Sadie +asked, and then at sight of the anger in Elizabeth’s face +rose to her knees and laid her hand on her arm hastily. +“I didn’t say that to hurt; honestly, Lizzie, I didn’t. I’m +trying not to do that this time.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s indignation was cooled slightly by the genuineness +of the speech, but she did not understand the last +sentence till her eye happened to fall on Sadie’s form. In +a flash she saw what was meant. Forgetting her hurt, +she was silent from pure delight. She knew what a child +would mean in that home. The other misunderstood her +silence and hastened on with her apologies:</p> +<p>“Honest, Lizzie, I didn’t want to hurt, but they do say +such mean things about it that I want you t’ know. Why +don’t you ever take Mrs. Hunter and th’ baby and go t’ +meetin’?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s face went white as she realized that she +must continue to answer since she had begun.</p> +<p>“I don’t care in the least what they say, Sadie, and I +don’t want you ever to mention this to me again,” she said +sternly.</p> +<p>Sadie’s face worked in silent misery till she could control +her voice. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_324' name='page_324'></a>324</span></p> +<p>“You won’t be mad at me, Lizzie? I told Luther I +wouldn’t be mean t’ nobody till <i>it</i> was born,” she said with +quivering lip.</p> +<p>Elizabeth took some seconds to consider the thing that +had been told to her. It was of far more importance than +the gossip Sadie had just hinted at, but the gossip must be +answered first.</p> +<p>“I won’t be mad at you at all,” she said after a moment. +“That is, I won’t if I never have to listen to such things +again. I don’t care in the least, if I don’t have to hear it. +Don’t ever come to me again with anything that anybody +says. Now, then, tell me about yourself. I half believe +you’re glad of it.”</p> +<p>“Glad?” Sadie told her secret, which could be a secret +no more. Luther had wanted the child, and she had come +to the point of wanting it for his sake, and the sight of +chubby Jack Hunter had aroused the latent mother love +in her till, as she talked, her eyes shone with the brightness +of imaginative maternity. She implored Elizabeth to +come to her aid when the day of her labour arrived in +September, and rambled along telling of their preparations +for its coming, and little home incidents, disclosing a +home life of so sweet a character that if Elizabeth Hunter +had not been sincere and utterly without jealousy she +would have drawn the discussion to a close.</p> +<p>The incident had a peculiar effect upon Elizabeth. She +began really to like Sadie, and all her old desire for harmony +in the home welled up in her anew. The old attitude +of self-blame was assumed also. Here was Sadie +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_325' name='page_325'></a>325</span> +Crane, the most spiteful girl that had ever been raised on +these prairies, able to command the love and respect of +the man she had married, to do things because her husband +desired them, even so difficult a thing as the bearing +of children, and she, Elizabeth, had failed to accomplish +any of these things. There was a renewed resolve to be +more patient. Elizabeth hated sulking, and the remembrance +of the day when she had gone to sign the +mortgage and had been unable to respond to John’s good-humoured +willingness to get abundant supplies because +she saw the money going out so fast was fixed in her mind +with new significance. Here was Sadie doing the things +that her husband wished of her and obtaining not only his +love but her own self-respect, while she, Elizabeth, was +able to command neither. Instead of reasoning upon +the differences between the two husbands, Elizabeth reasoned +on the differences between her own actions and those +of Sadie, and from the results of that reasoning entered +upon a period of self-denial and abject devotion to the +man of her choice. John Hunter accepted this new devotion +with satisfied serenity, and, not being obstructed +in any of his little exactions, became more cheerful and +agreeable to live with. This added to Elizabeth’s +conviction that the difficulty had been somewhat +within herself. She ceased to ask for the things which +caused friction, and there was a season of comparative +peace.</p> +<p>In July, however, a new phase of the old difficulty arose. +Nathan and Susan Hornby were driving past the Hunter +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_326' name='page_326'></a>326</span> +house one Sunday afternoon. Elizabeth saw them and +with a glad little shout ran to the road to greet them.</p> +<p>Susan Hornby’s delight was fully equal to her own. +The two persuaded Nathan to wait till Aunt Susan should +have time to go into the house and see the baby. Nathan +would not go in, but sat waiting in offended aloofness in +the wagon.</p> +<p>“Why don’t you come to see me, Elizabeth?” Aunt +Susan whispered as they went back to the wagon. “He’s +always loved you so, but he thinks—well, he’s always +been so good to me about everything else, but his feelings +are awfully hurt about you. Can’t you come soon?” +She looked into the girl’s face with such a wealth of pent-up +love that Elizabeth answered positively:</p> +<p>“I will come next Sunday, Aunt Susan. You may look +for us, for we’ll be there.”</p> +<p>The glad look in Susan Hornby’s eyes was a sad reproach +to the younger woman, and though Elizabeth +wondered how she would get her husband’s consent, she +made up her mind to force him by every means in her +power to comply. All through the week she had it upon +her mind, but Elizabeth had learned not to open a discussion +till the necessity of action was upon her, and it was +not till Sunday morning that she mentioned the visit to +John.</p> +<p>Nothing but the pleading in Susan Hornby’s face could +have induced Elizabeth to ask to be taken to see her at +this time, but the troubled whispering of Aunt Susan +about this visit had awakened Elizabeth to the tragedy of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_327' name='page_327'></a>327</span> +her neglect. Susan Hornby had never before whispered +where Nathan was concerned before. Elizabeth at last +saw the loneliness of the old couple. It would never do +to continue such treatment of those who had befriended +her when she was in need.</p> +<p>Jack was fretful that Sunday morning and John walked +the floor with him while Elizabeth finished her breakfast +dishes. The breakfast had been late and it was time to +get ready if they were to go. Her heart sank as she approached +the subject. Jack had not slept well of late. +He was not ill, but teething. Always a light sleeper, +Elizabeth had kept the fact of his indisposition to herself, +hoping that John, who slept soundly, might not be aware +of it, but the baby had fretted in the daytime and was +now tossing restlessly in his father’s arms. Elizabeth was +worn out from the loss of sleep and was half afraid to trust +herself to make the request, because it would require +politic treatment to get John in the mood. If she became +vexed or upset by his opposition she would lose her opportunity. +Elizabeth was weaker than John when her feelings +were ruffled. She had planned and waited till the +last moment, afraid of herself and afraid of her husband. +She looked at him as he paced back and forth, back and +forth, with a torrent of longing swelling up in her and +threatening to bring her tears. She must find a way to +get his ear.</p> +<p>“Let me take Jack,” she said, hoping that something in +the conversation would give her a natural opening for +what must come. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_328' name='page_328'></a>328</span></p> +<p>“Poor little chap,” John replied, releasing the child.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was bathed in perspiration from the hurry of +having late breakfast and the fact that she would never +dare to ask to be taken before all the work was done and +the kitchen ready for close inspection, and she thought +indignantly of the scrubbed floors of yesterday and wondered +how the child could be expected to be well when +he was fed on overheated milk day after day. Instantly +she put the thought away from her. She must +be cool and careful if she were to get to Aunt Susan’s +to-day.</p> +<p>“I’ll sponge him off with soda in his bath and he’ll be +all right. I told Aunt Susan we’d take dinner with them +to-day, and it’s nearly half-past ten now. They have +dinner at noon on Sunday as well as other days; so run +and hitch up, and I’ll be ready with baby. I’ll have your +things laid out so you can jump right into them when +you come in.”</p> +<p>She looked down at the baby so as not to meet his eye, +but the offhand assumption of his readiness to go seemed +to her to be encouraging.</p> +<p>“With that child?” was the astonished exclamation.</p> +<p>“It won’t hurt him as much as for me to stand over the +stove and cook a dinner at home,” Elizabeth answered +firmly, “and, besides, John, I promised Aunt Susan we’d +come. Now don’t be cross. I’ve got to go, and that’s all +there is about it.”</p> +<p>John Hunter was actually astonished now. He had +started out with his usual pretenses, but this was something +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_329' name='page_329'></a>329</span> +new. Elizabeth had promised without consulting +him! What was happening?</p> +<p>“You may be willing to take that child out in his condition—I’m +not,” he said severely. “I don’t understand +what you’re thinking about.”</p> +<p>“<i>I’m</i> thinking there’d be less harm to him in a day of +rest for his mother than anything else,” she said bitterly, +“and I am not allowed to get a minute of it in this house. +<i>You’d</i> let me heat his milk to the boiling point to get dinner +and think it was what we both deserved!”</p> +<p>She was instantly dismayed at what she had done. +She had spit out all the actuality of her convictions in spite +of every effort not to reply unkindly when he was unfair +to her. She could not afford to retort sharply to-day. +She must resort to other tactics if she were to win to-day. +Besides, the truth was only a half-truth. John did not in +his heart wish either of them harm; he was just a blind +sort of bossing creature who had somehow got into command +of her and enjoyed bullying her and setting tasks to +keep her occupied. He owned her, however, and she +must court his consent to this visit.</p> +<p>“Please, dear. I told Aunt Susan we’d come. I’d—I’d +have told you before—only—only I was afraid you’d +not be willing—and then I’d get to crying and give up—and +I’ve got to go. Now don’t be cross. Go this once +good-naturedly.”</p> +<p>To get close to him she put her hand on his arm and put +up her face coaxingly for a kiss.</p> +<p>John Hunter ignored his wife’s signal for tender relations +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_330' name='page_330'></a>330</span> +and shook off her hand impatiently without looking +at her.</p> +<p>“Even if Jack were well I wouldn’t go away and leave +mother alone all day.” John moved restlessly away from +her.</p> +<p>Elizabeth would not give up.</p> +<p>“I’ll manage mother. She’ll go if I insist.” John was +edging toward the door. “Anyhow I told Aunt Susan +I’d come.” John was going through the door. “Please +hurry. We must be on our way pretty soon,” she called +after his receding back.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s lips tightened with vexation at the contempt +shown by his refusal to answer, and then loosened and +spread into an amused smile.</p> +<p>“He can be just as mad as he wants to. I stuck to it +and am going to get to go. It’s better than to give up to +him all the time.”</p> +<p>She turned into the sitting room and putting the baby on +the floor emptied the clothespin bag in his lap to keep him +occupied, and flew up the stairs to Mrs. Hunter’s room.</p> +<p>“Mother, we’re going to Aunt Susan’s to-day and you +are to go with us. Now don’t say you aren’t, for it is +settled,” she said, slipping her hand over the older +woman’s mouth to prevent the objection she saw coming, +but nothing she would do or say would persuade the older +woman to go.</p> +<p>“I’ll settle that with John when he comes in,” Mrs. +Hunter said, slipping away from the restraining hand. +“There’s no reason why you should stay at home on my +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_331' name='page_331'></a>331</span> +account and I will not have it done,” was all that she +could get out of her.</p> +<p>“But John will not go without you!” Elizabeth cried +in dismay.</p> +<p>The girl was tempted to tell her of the gossip she had +heard, but it suddenly seemed small and not worth while. +She had already told her that Aunt Susan had her promise +to come in time for dinner; it occurred to her to tell her of +Nathan’s attitude toward them for their unfriendly +neglect, but that too seemed unnecessary and trivial since +they were going. On that point Elizabeth did not intend +to give in an inch: she was going, even if John <i>was</i> cross +about it.</p> +<p>“Yes, he will go without me, for I’ll see that he does,” +Mrs. Hunter assured her, and with that Elizabeth was +content.</p> +<p>Taking the baby to her own room, she undressed and +bathed him and then arrayed him in the daintiest white +dress she had for him, determined that Aunt Susan should +see him at his best. As she nursed him so that he would +drop off to sleep till they were ready to go, she looked long +and earnestly at the soft skin and dark lashes of his baby +face and realized as she had never done before the loneliness +of the old couple whom they were going to visit. +The little Katie of that house had been taken from them +at about this age. A sob arose in Elizabeth’s throat when +she considered how they had besought her for an opportunity +to pour the dammed-up stream of their love at the +feet of this child, and how slighted their efforts had been. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_332' name='page_332'></a>332</span></p> +<p>Jack was wide-eyed and would not sleep, and after +losing much valuable time his mother set him in the middle +of the bed and began her own preparations. As she +looked about for something suitable to wear, she saw a +simple white percale with red dots scattered over it, which +she had worn the summer she had lived in Aunt Susan’s +house. So little had she gone out and so free from personal +vanity was she that it was still eligible to best wear. +Besides, it had associations that were pleasant.</p> +<p>“Why, I made it in Aunt Susan’s own house,” she said +aloud.</p> +<p>She looked down at it wistfully; those had been happy +days.</p> +<p>A sudden impulse made her drop her heavy hair from +its coil high on her head and, picking up her comb, divide +it with deft movement. Brushing it into shape, she +braided it as of old, in two braids, and then fished with +rapturous fingers in her ribbon box for the bows she had +always worn with that dress. When the bows were tied +she put the braids back with a characteristic toss of the +head and stood looking at herself in the glass.</p> +<p>“There now, he can’t be cross after that,” she said, +feeling more as if she were her real self than she had done +for many months.</p> +<p>Jack was restless and cried. Elizabeth turned to him +with a start.</p> +<p>“You blessed baby! Your mother was way off and had +forgotten that there was such a small person as you.”</p> +<p>She sat down and nursed him again to fill in the time till +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_333' name='page_333'></a>333</span> +his father should come and dress. This time he seemed +sleepy, and Elizabeth sang happily to him, kissing his pink +palm and satisfying the maternal instinct in her by softly +stroking his plump body. He had never looked so fair to +her in all the months that she had had him. John was +long in coming and she fell into a dreamy state of maternal +comfort as she rocked, and forgot the hour and the place +and the dinner that would soon be waiting at Aunt +Susan’s, till the baby went to sleep in her arms.</p> +<p>When Jack was at last soundly asleep she placed him on +the bed, covering him with a piece of white mosquito +netting to keep the flies from disturbing him, and, rearranging +dress and ribbons, went into the sitting room to +see what time it was. An exclamation of dismay escaped +her. It was but ten minutes to twelve o’clock! She had +dreamed much longer than she had been aware. In a +fever of hurry she ran back to the bedroom and laid out +John’s best suit. That had pleasant associations also. +But what could be keeping him so long when it was time to +go? As soon as everything was in order she ran to the +barn to see what the trouble was. John came out as +she neared the barn door, talking to Jake, who followed +leisurely.</p> +<p>“Are you ready to dress?” she asked hastily, vexed at +the signs of loitering.</p> +<p>“Dress? Why—what? Oh, I forgot. I told you I +didn’t want to go,” he said impatiently.</p> +<p>“Well, you’re going to take me if it is late,” she said +firmly. “Aunt Susan was told that we’d come, and she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_334' name='page_334'></a>334</span> +has dinner waiting this minute. Jake, put the horses in +the wagon while Mr. Hunter dresses, and be as quick +about it as you can.”</p> +<p>“The horses—th’ horses are in th’ pasture, Lizzie,” +Jake said hesitantly. “I didn’t know an’—an’—I—an’ +we turned ’em out an hour ago.”</p> +<p>Jake Ransom saw the colour die out of the young face +and understood exactly what had happened. He saw her +turn without a look at her husband and start to the house, +bowed and broken and without hope. Jake understood +that a trick had been played on her, for he had been slow +about turning the horses out and John had untied and led +the team used for driving to the pasture gate himself.</p> +<p>“I don’t know whether I kin ketch ’em ’r not, but I’ll +try,” he called after her.</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned back hopefully, but John said</p> +<p>“Now look here, Elizabeth, those horses have been +playing like mad for half an hour, and you could no more +catch them than you could fly.” Turning to Jake, “I’ll +take Mrs. Hunter next Sunday if she’s just got to go. A +man wants to rest when Sunday comes,” he added under +his breath.</p> +<p>Jake Ransom watched Elizabeth drag her listless feet up +the steps and shot a look of disdain at the back of John +Hunter as he followed her.</p> +<p>“You dirty cuss!” he exclaimed under his breath. +“Lizzie’s as good a woman as th’ is in this country, an’ +she don’t git nothin’ she wants. I bet I see t’ gittin’ them +horses ready next Sunday myself.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_335' name='page_335'></a>335</span></p> +<p>Going into her bedroom, Elizabeth Hunter laid off the +finery of girlhood, and with it her girlhood also.</p> +<p>“I’ll never ask him again,” she told herself, and put her +hair back into its woman’s knot and went to the kitchen +and began dinner.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Susan Hornby shaded her eyes with her hand, and +looked up the road for the fortieth time.</p> +<p>“The baby must be worse, Nate,” she said to her husband +when at last there had to be a discussion of the +matter.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby followed her into the kitchen and +helped to take up the dinner which had been waiting over +an hour. His head burned with indignation, but there +was something in Susan’s defeat which brooked no discussion +on his side. They had come as near quarrelling +over this invitation as they had ever done about anything +in their married life.</p> +<p>As they sat at the table eating their belated dinner, a +lonely horseman appeared coming down the road from the +west.</p> +<p>“It’s Jake! I wonder if he’s going for the doctor?” +Susan exclaimed. “You never can tell what anybody has +to contend with.” And the meal was left to cool unfinished +as the old couple left the house and hailed the rider.</p> +<p>“I didn’t hear nothin’ about th’ baby bein’ worse,” +Jake was obliged to answer when put under question.</p> +<p>He was so conscious that Elizabeth would not approve +of the truth being told that he stammered and made +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_336' name='page_336'></a>336</span> +his listeners feel that something was left untold. In fact, +Jake’s reticence was of the exact quality to add to the +distrust already aroused. He edged away at last and left +Susan Hornby looking at her husband in such a state that +Nathan was moved to say:</p> +<p>“Never mind, Sue, I’ll take you over after dinner and +you can see for yourself.”</p> +<p>Susan Hornby turned and started to the house. +Nathan followed her aquiver with the slight that his common +sense told him had been put upon her by those whom +she had so faithfully and fully served.</p> +<p>Susan stumbled and put her hands to her head with a +harsh laugh. Nathan hurried forward a step and looked +searchingly into her face. With a great sob, he put his +arms about her. Susan paid not the slightest attention +to him, but let herself be guided along the path without +actual resistance. Her face was flushed and her eyes did +not see. She went docilely to her room and permitted the +stricken husband to place her on the bed, where he +loosened her collar and, removing her clothing, dressed +her for bed as if she had been a little child. When nothing +more could be done, he knelt by her and fondling her +unresponsive hand let the tears he could no longer control +pour over his ashen cheeks.</p> +<p>“Don’t you know me, Sue? Don’t you know your old +Nate at all?” he quavered, but there was no reply except +the puffing breath which was every moment growing more +and more laboured. Nathan knew what it meant—she +had been so once before. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_337' name='page_337'></a>337</span></p> +<p>As the Hunter family sat about the dinner table on +Tuesday, Silas Chamberlain drove up to the side gate, +and after tying his team came to the door. He entered +when bidden, but would not sit down, and looked about +him with an effort to adjust his impressions with what he +saw before him.</p> +<p>“Ain’t you goin’ t’ th’ funeral?” he asked when he saw +that there seemed to be no air of mourning in the house.</p> +<p>“Funeral?” John Hunter exclaimed. “Who’s dead?”</p> +<p>“I told Nate Hornby you didn’t know nothin’ about +it.”</p> +<p>“Hornby? We haven’t heard of any one being dead. +Who is it?” John Hunter asked, puzzled at the reticence +of the old man, who stood with his straw hat in his +hand and slid his fingers about its greasy brim uneasily.</p> +<p>“Is—is it possible you all didn’t know Mrs. Hornby +was sick?” he asked, unable to lift his eyes.</p> +<p>There was a low cry from Elizabeth Hunter, the noise of +her escape to the privacy of her own room, the sound of +moans and cries after the door was shut, and Silas Chamberlain +paid bitter toll for delivering his message. The +family sat stunned and silent in the presence of those +sounds of grief. The bowed head of the old man told his +comprehension of the news and left Jake Ransom with an +understanding of him which words could never have given.</p> +<p>As soon as Elizabeth could get control of her feelings and +command her scattered senses, she snatched her bonnet +from the chair beside the bed where she had dropped it +before dinner and flew to the dining room again, her one +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_338' name='page_338'></a>338</span> +impulse to get to the side of the friend whose spirit had +gone from her. Going to Silas, she clutched him by the +arm with fingers that sank into the flesh like a vise.</p> +<p>“Take me to her!—take me now!” she cried, pushing +him toward the door.</p> +<p>“I’ll take you, Elizabeth,” John Hunter said, rising, +and Jake Ransom saw the look of nameless horror she took +on at thought of her husband’s presence.</p> +<p>“Take me to her at once, Mr. Chamberlain. Do, for +God’s sake, take me to her!” she cried, and pulled the old +man through the door with nervous hands, and then ran +down the path before him and began to pull at the straps +with which the horses were tied.</p> +<p>John followed them out, still protesting that he would +take her himself if she would wait, but without a look in +his direction she urged Silas on.</p> +<p>“Hurry! Hurry! Do!” she implored, and Silas gave +the horses such a sharp slap with the lines that they +started on a swift trot almost before they were seated, +leaving John Hunter in the midst of his expostulations.</p> +<p>“I’ll bring her back safe,” Silas called over his shoulder.</p> +<p>Now that no further action was possible, Elizabeth sat +with her hands clasped, her teeth set, and her eyes looking +into vacancy, numbed beyond words, asking no questions +and making no complaints. Silas’s heart beat with an +anguish of sympathy. He stopped at his own house a +moment to tell Liza Ann that he would come back for her +within the hour, and still Elizabeth gave no sign of realizing +what was going on about her. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_339' name='page_339'></a>339</span></p> +<p>At last a terrible thought took hold of Silas, and he +pulled up his team, which was sweating heavily.</p> +<p>“You ain’t fit t’ go, Lizzie. You ain’t fit t’ go, child. +I’m goin’ t’ take you back home.” He began to turn the +horses’ heads toward home, and then stopped for her wandering +wits to gather.</p> +<p>“Why, oh, why don’t you hurry?” Elizabeth exclaimed +when she realized that they were standing still.</p> +<p>The old man’s heart was torn with pity, and it was in +the voice of a mother that he addressed her.</p> +<p>“You ain’t fit t’ go,” he repeated. “I’m going t’ take +you back home.” There was a white look about her +mouth that frightened him.</p> +<p>The girl grasped his arm with fingers that closed with a +grip like a drowning person.</p> +<p>“I couldn’t see her when she was living—surely I can +see her dead.” Then with a wail, “Oh, no—no, not dead! +Oh, my God!”</p> +<p>She sobbed in a dry sort of way that contracted Silas’s +throat to witness, and left the old man almost as undone +as herself, and without further argument he drove on to +Nathan Hornby’s desolated home, where he lifted her +tenderly down from the high seat, with a mist before his +eyes that blurred her image till it was unrecognizable, and +stood watching her go up the path.</p> +<p>A woman met her at the door, but she did not know +who, and brushed past her hurriedly and ran into the +kitchen, where she could see Nathan Hornby sitting with +his head on his arms beside the kitchen table. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_340' name='page_340'></a>340</span></p> +<p>Going down on her knees with a swift movement, +Elizabeth threw her arm across his shoulder, and laid her +head beside his, sobbing convulsively. Nathan raised his +head in dull surprise, and seeing who it was, shook her +arm off resentfully and rose to his feet. Elizabeth crawled +after him on her knees and clasped his own with both arms, +turning her stricken face up to his and crying:</p> +<p>“Oh, I know! I know how you feel, but truly, truly, +Uncle Nate, I am not to blame. For God’s sake—for +God’s sake, forgive!”</p> +<p>He looked down on her coldly and was tempted to spurn +her from him with his foot, but there was such anguish in +voice and eye as he himself had hardly felt, and his wife’s +words, her last words, flashed through his bewildered +brain: “We can’t tell what anybody has to contend +with.” He stood irresolute while she rose to her feet. +When he did not answer her, Elizabeth threw herself +down in the chair from which he had just risen and +bowing her head on the table moaned in such bitterness of +spirit that Nathan was moved to pity, and would have +comforted her if he could.</p> +<p>Silas, having tied his team, came to the kitchen door, +but on seeing its occupants turned hastily and went out to +his wagon again, where he stood choking and swallowing +in helpless misery.</p> +<p>Presently, Nathan Hornby, at a loss to check her grief, +laid a hand on her shoulder and said:</p> +<p>“Come and see her, Elizabeth.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter arose like one walking in her sleep and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_341' name='page_341'></a>341</span> +followed Nathan to the sitting room. The black casket +resting on two chairs in the middle of the room was a +worse shock than any she had yet had, and with a horror-stricken +cry of fright she fled to the kitchen again, and +when Nathan reached her side, her teeth were chattering +and great beads of sweat covered her quivering face; she +sank into Nathan’s chair unable to support herself.</p> +<p>When at last she was assisted tenderly to her feet, she +begged feebly to be taken home.</p> +<p>“But you can’t ride that far,” Silas protested, pityingly. +“You just naturally can’t ride that far in th’ big +wagon, child.”</p> +<p>For answer she dragged herself forward and staggered +to the chair where they had put her bonnet. Nathan saw +that her strength was returning and gave Silas a little nod. +They each took an arm to steady her, and so Elizabeth +passed from the presence of her one dear friend into a life +as colourless as the form she left behind.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>“He’s an awful sick child, Mrs. Hunter, but we may—I +believe we will pull him through.”</p> +<p>It was Thursday, and Doctor Morgan sat opposite +Elizabeth, holding the hand of the shadow of the baby of +three days ago.</p> +<p>“You see that milk has not agreed with him. Mr. +Hunter says you took a drive over to Hornby’s the day of +the funeral. The heat and excitement has been too much +for you. You nursed him immediately on getting home?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” she replied lifelessly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_342' name='page_342'></a>342</span></p> +<p>“Well, we’ll have to wean him now,” the old doctor +said, looking the unresponsive mother over sharply. “It +won’t do to try any experiments with him. Your milk +may be all right now, but he wouldn’t stand a relapse.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth made no reply and listened patiently to his +directions for preparing the new food. After he was gone, +she laid the shrunken little body on the bed and went to +the kitchen to prepare the milk. She took up the new +bottle with the rubber on the end and looked at it in +stupefied, aimless disgust. Her impulse was to fling it +out of the open door, but remembering that she would but +poison him by putting his lips to her own breast, she +turned to the table and placing the bottle in a pan covered +it with cold water and set it on the stove to come to a slow +boil.</p> +<p>Going back to the bedroom she picked up the pillow—the +child was so limp that they had to handle him on a +pillow—and sat down, holding it close to her heart.</p> +<p>John came in. She did not look up. He came over to +her and stooped to look at the half-conscious child, who +lay with half-open eyes and under jaw dropped down. +There were deep greenish rings under those eyes, and a +great sob broke from John Hunter’s throat.</p> +<p>Elizabeth stirred dully and looked up, but did not speak. +There was that about her which made her unapproachable. +She showed no resentment, no anger, no emotion of any +sort. She had come home from Nathan’s house as she +was now. She had refused to go to the funeral, but she +had had supper ready when John and his mother had +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_343' name='page_343'></a>343</span> +returned from the graveyard, and it had been as orderly +and as well cooked as usual, but she had not talked at the +meal, nor seemed to hear when she was spoken to, but +there was evidently no pouting. John had tried to explain, +and she had given silent opportunity, and when it +had been finished had said, “Yes,” in a hollow voice, and +had moved on about her work without looking up, but +there had been no apparent resentment.</p> +<p>Before bedtime that night the baby (who had gone to +sleep while she had nursed him when she had come home), +awoke crying. She had taken him up and had offered her +breast, but it had turned away as if sickened, and had +continued to cry till, presently, it had doubled its little +body together with a sharp scream and vomited till its +breath was nearly gone. There had been a sour odour to +the contents of its stomach that had struck terror to their +hearts, and before morning Doctor Morgan was at its +side. He had noted the leaden movements of the mother +and calling John outside had questioned him regarding +her. John, troubled at her indifference to him and the +lifelessness of her attitude even toward the babe, had told +him all he knew—as he understood it.</p> +<p>“Of course she boarded with them two years ago,” he +had said in concluding, “but I don’t see that that needs to +cut such a figure.”</p> +<p>“Were your wife and Mrs. Hornby great friends?” +Doctor Morgan asked, studying John Hunter and puzzling +over the evident mystery of the situation.</p> +<p>“Ye-e-s-s!” with perplexed deliberation; “that is, she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_344' name='page_344'></a>344</span> +liked her better than any of the rest of the neighbours +around here. She wanted to go there last Sunday and I +thought the baby wasn’t fit to take out. It looks now as +if I was right.”</p> +<p>“Well, she’s had a shock of some kind, and if you don’t +look out She’ll be down on our hands too. You’d better +get a girl or let your mother do the work for a couple of +weeks,” Doctor Morgan advised.</p> +<p>And John Hunter had looked faithfully for some one to +take his wife’s place in the kitchen and had found what +she had told him when Hepsie left to be true. In many +places where there was no excuse given and girls were at +home he had met with a sort of refusal which stung him to +the quick.</p> +<p>Elizabeth rocked the baby with a mechanical dead sort +of care. John was emotional enough to be badly broken +up by the child’s looks, but Elizabeth’s unresponsiveness +at such a time made of it a tragedy which he could not +understand; he wanted greetings and discussion, and +attentions showered upon him as usual, and they were +not forthcoming. He could not understand what had +brought this state of things to pass, but no more could +he question one who was so evidently removed from +present conditions. With a sense of forlornness he had +never known, he fell on his knees by her side and laid +his head against her arm, seeking comfort, and when +she still did not speak, the fullness of his misery became +apparent, and he got up unsteadily and left the +house. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_345' name='page_345'></a>345</span></p> +<p>Slowly life and returning interest awakened in the child; +still more slowly did the mother take up her threads in the +web of living. The old routine was established, with a few +exceptions. Elizabeth arose early and prepared breakfast +before sunrise as before, the washing and ironing were +as well done, but when she prepared to clean the kitchen +floor the first washday after Aunt Susan’s death, she took +the mop down from its nail on the back porch and used it +as she had done that first winter.</p> +<p>John and his mother came in with the clothes basket +as she started to wring out the mop to wipe the first corner +finished.</p> +<p>“Hadn’t I better get down and scrub it for you with the +brush?” John asked.</p> +<p>“There will be no more of that in my kitchen,” replied +Elizabeth, and she had quietly continued her work without +looking up.</p> +<p>“Why not?” had been the astonished query.</p> +<p>“We will not argue it,” she had said in the same spiritless +tone in which she always spoke those days, and had +been so quietly determined that she got her way. John +could not argue with a woman who was so unresistant of +manner: to him, manner constituted argument. Elizabeth +went her own quiet way and took no part in the +things that went on about her unless her services were +required, then she served faithfully and uncomplainingly, +but she held converse with no one in the happy way of old.</p> +<p>Thus summer passed, and autumn also. Little Jack +walked now and was beginning to lisp an occasional word, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_346' name='page_346'></a>346</span> +making of himself a veritable fairy in the household. +With the close of the warm weather he grew less and less +fretful, and when the first snow fell he became as happy +and active as a kitten. The mother had kept him with her +every minute, and when her work had been done, which +was seldom, was satisfied to rock him and listen to his +baby chatter.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had not been angry in the whole six months, +neither had she been glad. She never vexed John by +asking to be taken places. Gladly would he have taken +her, if by so doing he could have brought back her old +enthusiasm and girlish glee, for Elizabeth had been the +life of the household, and things had settled into a dead +monotony that made of their home but a house since +Susan Hornby’s death. Sometimes, vexed by her passive +acceptation of whatever came, John would throw out +stinging observations about women who made their husbands +turn to others for their society, and then be left in +an uncomfortable situation by the fact that he had +aroused neither anger nor annoyance, for Elizabeth would +inquire in her lifeless tones what he wished her to do +which was left undone. Puzzled by her real meekness of +spirit, the man was compelled to admit that she made +no vexatious demands upon him and that she laboured +unceasingly to keep the soulless home in order. One of +the strange and contradictory things in the situation was +that John Hunter did not turn to the mother whom he +had ever been ready to exalt for consolation in this time +of trouble; the demand his feelings made was for the companionship +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_347' name='page_347'></a>347</span> +which while it was his he had not desired. +The revelation of the months showed him what he had +lost. Mrs. Hunter was as much in the dark about the +real cause of Elizabeth’s changed condition as was John.</p> +<p>“The ride to Mr. Hornby’s had something to do with +it,” she said dubiously when talking the matter over with +her son after the baby began to get well and Elizabeth +showed no improvement in a mental way.</p> +<p>“It comes from that ride in the hot sun. You see it +made the baby sick too; but it ain’t any use to say so to +her,” John replied, but in spite of the firmness of his tone +there was a puzzled look on his face and the last word +dragged with indecision.</p> +<p>“She was very fond of Mrs. Hornby, too, and that may +have had something to do with it,” Mrs. Hunter observed.</p> +<p>“Ye-e-s-s-s!” John replied. “But she couldn’t care for +that kind of people enough to make herself sick about +them,” he said more firmly.</p> +<p>Mrs. Hunter considered slowly for some moments.</p> +<p>“I guess you’re right,” she said at last. “She seemed +to be attached to them, but she don’t ask to go to see him +since his wife’s death; and I should think now’s when her +love for them would show out.”</p> +<p>“I wish to God she would ask to go anywhere. I’m +tired of the kind of life we’re leading,” John said in a +manner which supported his words.</p> +<p>The weariness of life was modified, or at least shifted +from one shoulder to the other for John Hunter by the +increasing burden of financial worries. In this also he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_348' name='page_348'></a>348</span> +was denied any comfort or assistance from Elizabeth; she +asked no questions, and if he talked of notes which were +falling due, or of interest soon to be paid, she listened without +remark, and moved about her endless round of cleaning, +cooking, or sewing apparently absorbed in the work +in hand. If he complained about expenses, the only reply +he received was for the food on the table to be of a plainer +quality and a lessened grocery bill the next time he went to +town. This he would not permit, being sensitive about +the opinions of the men who worked for him. Elizabeth +never remarked upon the matter of keeping three men +through the winter as she would have done a year ago +when there was little to do which counted in farm affairs. +She left her husband free to do as he chose on all those +matters. She did not sulk; she had lost hope, she was +temporarily beaten. In that first hour after her return +from Aunt Susan’s death chamber she had meditated +flight. She longed to get away, to go anywhere where she +would never see her husband’s face again, but there was +Jack. Jack belonged to his father as much as to her, and +Elizabeth was fair. Besides, she was helpless about the +support of the child. Her health was quite seriously +interfered with by the ache in her back which was always +present since the baby’s coming. She had told her mother +but two short years before that she would not live with a +man who would treat her as her father treated his wife, +and here she found herself in those few months as enmeshed +as her mother had ever been. Aye! even more +so. Hers was a position even more to be feared, because +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_349' name='page_349'></a>349</span> +it was more subtle, more intangible, more refined, and +John’s rule as determined and unyielding as that of +Josiah Farnshaw.</p> +<p>Having failed to act in that first hour of her trouble, +Elizabeth drifted into inaction. Even her thoughts +moved slowly as she pondered on her situation; her +thoughts moved slowly, but they moved constantly. +Under all that quiet of manner was a slow fire of reasoning +which was working things out. Gradually Elizabeth was +getting a view of the real trouble. Two things absorbed +her attention: one was the domination of men, and the +other was the need of money adjustment. To live under +the continual interference of a man who refused to listen +to the story of one’s needs was bad enough, but to live +without an income while one had a small child was worse. +She would leave this phase of her difficulties at times and +wander back to the character of the treatment she received +and compare it to that accorded to her mother. It +occasioned great surprise to find herself admiring her +father’s manner more than that of her husband. Mr. +Farnshaw had the virtue of frankness in his mastery, +John used subterfuges; Mr. Farnshaw was openly brutal, +John secretly heartless; her father was a domineering +man, her husband even more determined, more inflexible. +While considering the possibility of escape by running +away, many things were clarified in Elizabeth’s mind +regarding her position as a wife, and the position of all +wives. She, for the first time, began to see the many +whips which a determined husband had at his command, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_350' name='page_350'></a>350</span> +chief of which was the crippling processes of motherhood. +She could not teach school—Jack was too young; +neither could she take any other work and keep the child +with her. As she meditated upon the impossibility of the +various kinds of work a woman could do, another phase +of her situation arose before her: even if the baby were +older, and a school easily obtained, the gossip that would +follow a separation would be unendurable. Having +accumulated a reputation for snobbishness and aristocratic +seclusion, people would not neglect so rare an +opportunity to even old scores. She would be a grass +widow, a subject for all the vulgar jest and loathsome wit +of the community. Country people know how to sting +and annoy in a thousand ways. However, the possibility +of this sort of retribution was put entirely away by the +baby’s illness. By the time Jack had recovered, the +young mother was worn to a lifeless machine, compelled +to accept what came to her. Her youth, her health, her +strength were gone; worse than all that, her interest in +things, in her own affairs even, had almost gone.</p> +<p>John wandered about the house disconsolate and dissatisfied, +and made amends in curious little ways, and +from John’s standpoint. He opened relations with +Elizabeth’s family and insisted upon taking her home for +a visit. Elizabeth went with him, and accepted the more +than half-willing recognition of her father, who wanted to +get into communication with the baby. He was offering +for sale a young team and John, thinking to do a magnanimous +thing, bought Patsie. Elizabeth accepted the visit +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_351' name='page_351'></a>351</span> +and the horse without emotions of any sort, and left her +husband annoyed and her family floundering in perplexity +at her passive attitude toward life. At home that night +he said to her sneeringly:</p> +<p>“No matter what a man does for you, you pout, and act +as if you didn’t like it. If I don’t offer to take you you’re +mad, and if I do you set around and act as if you were +bored to death by having to go. What th’ devil’s a man +to do?”</p> +<p>“I was perfectly willing to go,” was the reply, and she +went on dressing Jack for bed without looking up.</p> +<p>John cast a baffled look at her as she carried the child +out of the room, and returned to his uncomfortable +thoughts without trying to talk of anything else when she +returned and sat down to sew. The sitting room in +which they spent their evenings was in perfect order; the +whole house was never so orderly, nor their table better +served, but John pined for companionship. The work he +had worn her out in doing was never better performed, but +there was no love in the doing, and when he addressed her, +though her answer was always ready and kind, there was +no love in it, and he was learning that our equity in the life +of another has fixed and unalterable lines of demarkation.</p> +<p>Thus matters progressed till February, when Jake was +called home to Iowa by the death of his mother. Jake +had lived such a careless, happy-go-lucky sort of life that +he was obliged to borrow a large part of his railroad fare +from John Hunter, who was himself so badly in debt that +he was wondering how he was to meet the interest which +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_352' name='page_352'></a>352</span> +would fall due in May. John gave him the money with +the understanding that Jake would come back in time for +the early seeding, and prepared to take him into town. +Jake was the only man left on the farm, and there was +consternation in John’s heart at the prospect of having all +the chores thrown upon his own shoulders in cold weather. +Jake had been the only reliable man he had ever been able +to hire. The more independent sort of hired men resented +John Hunter’s interference in the farm work, which they +understood far better than he, and seldom stayed long, +but Jake Ransom liked Elizabeth, was close friends with +Luther Hansen, and since he saw the mistress of the house +drooping and discouraged, doubly appreciated the home +into which he had fallen. Jake had been devoted to +Elizabeth with a dog-like devotion since his first meeting +with her in the little schoolhouse six years before. He was +more than glad that he could secure his return to the +Hunter home by the simple method of borrowing money. +More nearly than any one else in her whole circle of +acquaintances, Jake Ransom had Elizabeth’s situation +figured out. He wanted to come back to her service, and +it was with a satisfied security that he helped prepare the +bobsled for the trip to town. They went early and took +Mrs. Hunter with them to do some shopping for herself +and Elizabeth. John hoped to find a man who could +come back with them that afternoon and help with the +work of watering and feeding the hundred and fifty head of +cattle that made of their farm life a busy round of daily +toil.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XV_HUGH_NOLAND' id='XV_HUGH_NOLAND'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_353' name='page_353'></a>353</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2> +<h3>HUGH NOLAND</h3> +</div> + +<p>Doctor Morgan folded his stethoscope and +thrust it into his inner pocket.</p> +<p>“Your heart’s been pounding like that for +seven years, you say?” he asked of the man sitting before +him.</p> +<p>“Seven years in May,” was the brief answer.</p> +<p>The patient got up from the office chair and adjusted +his waistcoat. The waistcoat was ample and covered a +broad chest. The face also was broad, with a square chin, +and eyes set well apart. The man was twenty-eight or +thirty years old and nearly six feet in height.</p> +<p>“I know all you’ve got to tell me,” he said, going to the +mirror to brush his tumbled hair. “They sent me out to +find a place on a farm because medicine wouldn’t do anything +for me. I’m tolerably comfortable if I don’t overdo—that +is, if I stay out of doors while I’m doing. I don’t +expect you to make a new man out of me; I only thought +I’d have you look me over the first thing, because I might +need you suddenly, and it’s better for you to know what +sort of patient you’ve got beforehand.” He paused for +an inspection of his well-groomed hands.</p> +<p>“You may not need me for years,” Doctor Morgan +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_354' name='page_354'></a>354</span> +interrupted hastily. “That kind of a heart outlasts the +other organs sometimes. The doctor twisted the heavy-linked +watch chain which dangled from his vest pocket as +if calling upon it for words. Of course an out-of-doors +life is best. What have you been doing of late?” he asked.</p> +<p>“Teaching in the old university since I got my degree, +but they’ve sent me out like a broken-down fire horse. +I’ll get used to it,” the young man said indifferently. He +was accustomed to signs of hopelessness when his case was +discussed, and was unmoved by them.</p> +<p>“Have you family ties?” the doctor asked. He liked +the grit this man’s manner indicated.</p> +<p>“None that need to be counted,” was the brief reply.</p> +<p>The doctor noticed that his patient wasted no extra +words in self-pity. “That’s good! It lessens a man’s +worries. And—where are you staying, Mr. Noland?”</p> +<p>“At the hotel, till I get a place on a farm. Before I +invest I’m going to get my bearings about farms, by working +around till I get on to things. You don’t know of a +place where a man could work for his board for a month +till the spring seeding and things come on do you?”</p> +<p>He was pushing the cuticle back from his finger-nails +as they talked, and Doctor Morgan smiled.</p> +<p>“Those hands don’t look much like farm work,” he +said.</p> +<p>The man laughed easily. “Oh, that’s habit. I’ll get +over it after a while.”</p> +<p>“You will if you work for these yahoos around here +much. Why don’t you invest in land and have your own +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_355' name='page_355'></a>355</span> +home right from the start? A man like you can’t live in +the kind of houses and do the kind of work You’ll find in +this country.”</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t work for myself—I’ve nothing to work +for. When you take away a man’s chances to marry and +live the normal life, you make a sluggard of him. I’ve +got to have a partner, and have his interests to serve as +well as my own, or I won’t work, and in the meantime I +want to look about a bit before I pick up some one to go +into business with. I won’t be long finding some one.”</p> +<p>“No whine in him,” was the doctor’s mental comment, +but what he said was: “Well, You’ll find life about here a +bit dull. Come in, and make yourself at home in this +office while you’re in town, and I’ll see what I can do +about finding a place for you.”</p> +<p>After he had watched his patient swing off up the street +he considered the case seriously.</p> +<p>“College athletics do just about that sort of thing for a +boy,” he said aloud. “Now I believe Silas Chamberlain +would take him for his board, and there ain’t any children +there. Children’s the devil in a farmhouse: no manners, +and they set right on top of you, and if you say anything +the folks are hurt. He’s a nice fellow, and I intend to hold +on to him. It was like old times to talk for a while to a +man that knows chemistry and things. I’ll see more of +him. I’m gettin’ old altogether too fast in this blamed +hole. I need some one to talk to that’s more like a man +ought to be.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVI_REVIVIFYING_FIRES' id='XVI_REVIVIFYING_FIRES'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_356' name='page_356'></a>356</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2> +<h3>REVIVIFYING FIRES</h3> +</div> + +<p>It was butchering day at Silas Chamberlain’s and +Liza Ann had the household astir early. Luther +Hansen was master of ceremonies in the backyard, +and relieved Silas of the heavy lifting. It was a day +for visiting and neighbourly activity as well as hard work. +Hugh Noland had been sent to Silas the week before by +Doctor Morgan, and assisted in rolling the pork barrel +from the cellar door to a convenient post near the out-of-door +fire, where they sunk the bottom of it into the frozen +earth and carefully tilted it to the proper angle for scalding +purposes.</p> +<p>“It’s fifteen years since I’ve been at ‘a killing,’ and I +feel as if I were ten years old again,” Noland said as he +watched the hard earth give way under the mattock +Luther wielded.</p> +<p>“Go hunt a straw in that case, and I’ll see that you get +the bladder. Shall I save you the pig’s tail?” Luther +said as he settled the barrel into the cavity.</p> +<p>They swung the great iron kettle over the pile of kindling +and corncobs laid ready for lighting, and then carried +water to fill it.</p> +<p>As the last bucket was emptied into the kettle, Luther +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_357' name='page_357'></a>357</span> +turned and swung his cap at John Hunter and Jake, who +were passing in the bobsled.</p> +<p>“Hunters,” he explained. “Have you met them yet?”</p> +<p>“No,” replied Noland. “Who are they? He drives a +good team.”</p> +<p>“Nearest neighbours on th’ west over there,” Luther +said, pointing to the roofs of the Hunter place, plainly to +be seen over the rise of land between. “They’re th’ folks +for you t’ know—th’ only ones with book-learnin’ +around here. Goin’ t’ stay with th’ Chamberlains long?”</p> +<p>“No,” replied the other, with a look of reticence; “that +is, only for a time. He don’t hire much, he tells me. I’m +just helping him till he gets his fencing tightened up and +this work done. Why?”</p> +<p>“Well, I was just a thinkin’ that that’s th’ place for you. +Hunter hires a lot of work done, and—and you’d like +each other. You’re th’ same kind of folks. I wonder +how he come t’ be takin’ ’is man along t’ town with ’im? +Th’ was a trunk in th’ back of the sled too, but that may +’a’ been for Mrs. Hunter. That was ’is mother with ’im.”</p> +<p>There was not much time to speculate about future +work, there was much to be done in the present, and before +noon five limp bodies had been dragged from the pens to +the scalding barrel, plunged into the steaming water, +turned, twisted, turned again, and after being churned +back and forth till every inch of the black hides was ready +to shed its coat of hair and scarf-skin, were drawn out +upon the wheelbarrow. Then a gambol-stick was thrust +through the tendons of the hind legs and the hogs were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_358' name='page_358'></a>358</span> +suspended from a cross pole about six feet from the ground, +where they hung while the great corn-knives scraped and +scratched and scrubbed and scoured till the black bodies +gradually lost their coating and became pink and tender +looking and perfectly clean. They were then drawn and +left to cool and stiffen.</p> +<p>The sloppy, misty weather made the work hard because +of the frozen earth under the melting snow, and the steaming, +half foggy atmosphere was too warm for comfort of +men working over an open fire and a steaming barrel of +hot water, but by noon the butchering was finished. To +the new man it was a journey back to childhood. How +well he remembered the various features of preparation: +the neighbours asked in to assist, the odours pleasant and +unpleasant, the bustling about of his mother as she baked +and boiled and stewed for the company, the magic circle +about the pens from which he was excluded when the men +went forth with the rifle, and the squeal which followed +the rifle’s crack, and the fear which gripped him when he +thought the poor pig was hurt, but which was explained +away by his father, who, proud of his marksmanship, +assured him that “that pig never knew what hit it.”</p> +<p>In addition to the fact that the man had spent his +childhood on a farm, he had the happy faculty of entering +into the life of the people among whom he found himself. +He entertained the little group at the dinner table that +day with a description of his mother’s soap-making, and +discussed the best ways of preparing sausage for summer +use as if he himself were a cook; and as Luther listened he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_359' name='page_359'></a>359</span> +was convinced that the Hunter home was the proper place +for him to settle down.</p> +<p>At two o’clock Luther started home with some spareribs, +wrapped in one of Liza Ann’s clean towels, under his +arm. It was early, but nothing more could be done at +Silas’s house till the carcasses were cold enough to cut and +trim, and, besides, there was an ominous looking bank of +dull gray cloud in the northwest. Luther swung along +the road toward the west energetically.</p> +<p>The wind gave a little twisting flurry, and dropped completely +when he was about halfway between Chamberlain’s +and the Hunter place. A few minutes later there +was a puff of wind from the opposite direction, succeeded +by a feeling of chill. Luther scanned the horizon and +stepped faster. When the advance guard of fine snow +began to sift down from the leaden sky above, he started +to run. He had lived in the north, and knew the meaning +of the rapidly darkening sky. The signs were unmistakable. +Presently the fine flakes began to rush along toward +the south with greater force. The wind came on steadily +now. Luther looked about anxiously, making a note of +the location of things. It was still a quarter of a mile to +Hunter’s. As he peered ahead, wishing himself nearer +protection, with a roar the blizzard fell upon him, blotting +out the landscape before him as completely as if a curtain +had fallen between.</p> +<p>With all his might Luther struggled forward. The +wind came from the right side and almost carried him +from his feet. He had been standing over a steaming +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_360' name='page_360'></a>360</span> +kettle and scalding barrel most of the day, and the icy +blast went through him, chilling his blood instantly. +Luther knew his danger. This was not a cyclone where +men were carried away by the winds of summer; this was a +winter’s storm where men could freeze to death, and men +froze quickly in blizzards. The driving particles of snow +and ice made it impossible to look ahead. He shielded +his face with his right arm, and tried, as he hurried forward, +to keep in mind the exact direction of the Hunter +house. If he could only reach that he would be safe. +The road was a new one, recently opened, and not well +defined. It was almost at once obliterated. Little +needles of ice thrust themselves at him with stinging force, +and he could not see; the blinding snow whirled and +whistled about his feet, and in five minutes Luther Hansen +realized that he had got out of the road. He stopped +in alarm and, turning his back to the storm, tried to see +about him. The gray wall of snow completely obscured +every object from his sight. He had a sense of being the +only thing alive in the universe; all else seemed to have +been destroyed. His every nerve ached with the cold, +but peer about as he would he could not possibly tell where +he was. He remembered that there had been a cornfield +on his right, and thought that he must have gone too far +south, for he was certainly in the meadow now. The +pressure of the wind, he reflected, would naturally carry +him in that direction, so he faced around and started on, +bearing stubbornly toward the north. Every fibre in +him shook; no cold he had ever felt in Minnesota was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_361' name='page_361'></a>361</span> +equal to this; there was a quality in the pressure of this +cold that was deadly. The wind pierced in spite of every +kind of covering. Real fear began to lay hold upon him. +He stumbled easily; the action of his limbs began to give +him alarm. The package of spareribs fell from under his +arm, and he stooped to pick it up. As he bent over the +wind caught him like a tumble-weed and threw him in a +shivering heap on the ground. He had worn no mittens +in the morning, and his hands stung as if tortured by the +lashes of many whips. To ease their hurt he remained +huddled together with his back to the wind while he +breathed on his freezing fingers, but remembered that +that was the surest way to add to the nip of the cold in a +blast which condensed the breath from his mouth into icicles +before it had time to get away from his moustache. +Staggering to his feet, he stumbled on toward the Hunter +house, trying as hard as his fast benumbing senses would +permit to bear toward the wind and the cornfield at the +right. He had not picked up the package—had forgotten +it in fact—and now he tried to beat his freezing hands +across his shoulders as he ran. The bitter wind could not +be endured, and he crossed his hands, thrusting them into +his sleeves, hoping to warm them somehow on his wrists; +but with eyes uncovered he could not gauge his steps, and +stumbled and fell. Unable to get his hands out of his +sleeves in time to protect himself, he tripped forward +awkwardly and scratched his face on the cut stubs of the +meadow-grass. Evidently he had not reached the road as +yet. He knew the road so well that he could have kept it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_362' name='page_362'></a>362</span> +with a bandage over his eyes but for the wind which +thrust him uncertainly from his course. It was that which +was defeating him. Try as he would, he could not keep +his attention fixed upon the necessity of staying near that +cornfield. Determined to find it before he proceeded +farther toward the west, he faced the wind squarely, and, +bracing his body firmly, hurried as fast as he could toward +the stalkfield.</p> +<p>After a time he seemed to wake up; he was not facing +the wind, and he was aching miserably. Luther Hansen +knew what that meant: he was freezing. Already the +lethargy of sleep weighted each dragging foot. He +thought of the nest an old sow had been building in the +pen next to the one where the killing had been done that +day. With the instincts of her kind, the mother-pig had +prepared for the storm by making a bed where it would be +sheltered. Luther’s mind dwelt lingeringly upon its cozy +arrangement; every atom of his body craved shelter. +Death by freezing faced him already, though he had been +in the grip of the storm but one short quarter of an hour. +He had lost consciousness of time: he only knew that he +was freezing within sight of home. Nothing but action +could save him. Nerving himself for another trial, the +bewildered man turned toward the north and walked into +the very teeth of the storm, searching for the lost trail. +Sometimes he thought his foot had found it; then it would +be lost again. He wandered on hours, days, weeks—he +wandered shivering over the meadow, the road, the state +of Kansas—over the whole globe and through all space, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_363' name='page_363'></a>363</span> +till at last a great wall shut off the offending wind, the +roar of the planets lessened, and the numb and frozen man +fell forward insensible, striking his head against a dark +obstruction thrusting its shoulder through a bank of dirty +gray snow.</p> +<p>The sound of a heavy body falling on her doorstep +brought Elizabeth Hunter to the door. She opened it +cautiously. The snow swirled in as it was drawn back +and the heated air of the sitting room rushed out, forming +a cloud of steam which almost prevented her from seeing +the helpless figure at her feet. She could not distinguish +the features, but it was a man, and the significance of his +presence was plain. Seizing him about the body, Elizabeth +dragged him into the house, and shut the door behind +him to keep out the blast.</p> +<p>“Luther Hansen!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>Finding that she could not arouse him, she pulled the +relaxed and nerveless form to the lounge, but when she +attempted to lift the limp figure to the couch she found it +almost more than all her woman’s strength could accomplish. +Luther stirred and muttered, but could not +be awakened sufficiently to help himself, and it was only +after some minutes and the putting forth of every +ounce of strength that the girl had that he was at last +stretched upon the lounge. Elizabeth brought blankets +to cover the shivering, muttering, delirious man, +and having heard that the frost must be drawn gradually +from frozen extremities, and being unable to get +his hands and feet into cold water, she brought and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_364' name='page_364'></a>364</span> +wrapped wet towels about them, and chafed his frozen +face.</p> +<p>It was a long time before the white nose and cheeks +began to show colour; then the ears became scarlet, and +pain began to sting the man into consciousness. The +chafing hurt, and Luther fought off the hands that rubbed +so tenderly.</p> +<p>Gradually Luther Hansen awoke to his surroundings. +Delirium and reality mixed helplessly for some moments. +He remembered his struggles to reach the Hunter house, +but the gap in the train of his affairs made him suspect +that this was a phase of delirium and that he was +in reality freezing. He was stinging all over. He +wanted to find out where he was, and tried to get upon his +feet.</p> +<p>“You are right here in my house, Luther,” Elizabeth +said, holding him on his pillow.</p> +<p>Luther relaxed and lay looking at her for some time +before he asked:</p> +<p>“How did I get here, Lizzie?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know, Luther,” she replied. “I heard you +fall on the doorstep. I never was so surprised. How did +you come to be out—and without mittens too?”</p> +<p>She removed the wet towel from one of his hands, and +he drew it away with a groan.</p> +<p>“I expect, Lizzie, it’s frozen. You better rub it with +snow.”</p> +<p>The question of how he reached her house puzzled +Luther throughout the long afternoon and evening, while +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_365' name='page_365'></a>365</span> +they listened to the roar of the wind and talked of the +unsheltered cattle in the many Kansas stalkfields.</p> +<p>“The only thing that kept our cattle from being out of +doors was the fact that Jake had to go to Iowa and John +had to take him to town,” Elizabeth had said at one +point.</p> +<p>“Has Jake left for good?” Luther asked hesitatingly. +He knew John’s unpopularity with the men who worked +for him and was a little afraid to ask Elizabeth, who might +be sensitive about it.</p> +<p>“No. Jake has lost his mother, but he’ll come back for +the spring seeding. Jake’s a good man; he and John +seem to get along pretty well.” It was Elizabeth’s turn +to speak hesitatingly. She did not know how much +Luther knew of John’s affairs with his men, nor what +opinion Jake might have expressed to Luther.</p> +<p>“Jake’s a curious cub! He’s been your dog, Lizzie, +ever since that school business. I’ve heard ’im tell it over +twenty times.”</p> +<p>“I wish we could find another like him,” Elizabeth said +wistfully. “John isn’t able to take care of all this stock +unless he gets a man in Colebyville to-day, and—and if +he did, the man, as likely as not, wouldn’t stay more than +a week or two.”</p> +<p>Luther Hansen looked up eagerly.</p> +<p>“Lizzie, I’ve found th’ very man for you folks. He’ll +stay too. He’s a fellow by th’ name of Noland—workin’ +for Chamberlain, an’ wants a job right soon—got a lot of +book-learnin’—just your kind.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_366' name='page_366'></a>366</span></p> +<p>“I’ll have John see him when he gets home,” Elizabeth +answered indifferently. “My! I wonder when they will +be able to get back?” she added.</p> +<p>“They wasn’t through tradin’ when this thing come on,” +Luther replied. “Anyhow, houses was too thick t’ get +lost th’ first half of th’ way. Listen to that wind, though! +I’m glad t’ be here if I do look like a turkey gobbler with +these ears,” he laughed.</p> +<p>It was so cold that Elizabeth had built a roaring fire, +and to keep the snow, which penetrated every crack, from +sifting under the door, she laid old coats and carpets across +the sill. She brought coal and cobs from the shed, stopping +each trip to get warm, for even to go the twenty steps +required to get to the cobhouse was to experience more +cold than she had ever encountered in all the days when +she had plowed through the snows of Kansas winters while +teaching; in fact, had the fuel been much farther from her +door she would hardly have ventured out for it at all in a +wind which drove one out of his course at every fresh step +and so confused and blinded him that the points of the +compass were a blank, and paths could not be located for +the drifts, which ran in every direction the swirling wind +chose to build them. She had gone around the shed to the +back door, knowing that the front door being on the windward +side could not be shut again if once opened, and the +few extra steps necessary to creep around the building +froze her to the bone, for the eddying wind had carried the +snow deep at that point and, being enough sheltered to +prevent packing, had left it a soft pile into which she sank +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_367' name='page_367'></a>367</span> +almost to her waist. She was obliged to hunt for a shovel +and clear the snow out of the doorway when she was +through, and her hands were completely numbed when +she reached the house after it was over. With the feeling +that she might not be able to reach the shed at all in the +morning, or that the doors might be drifted shut altogether, +Elizabeth had taken enough cobs and coal into +the kitchen to half fill the room and was ready to withstand +a siege of days, but she paid toll with aching hands +and feet that frightened Luther into a new realization of +the nature of the storm.</p> +<p>When at last the one fire Elizabeth thought it wise to +keep up was rebuilt and dry shoes had replaced the wet +ones, she settled down beside the lounge, with her feet in +another chair to keep them off the cold floor, and turned to +Luther expectantly.</p> +<p>“This storm’s awful, as you say,” she said in reply to +his observation that it might hold for days, “but I’m just +so glad of a real chance for a visit with you that I’m quite +willing to bring cobs and keep fires.”</p> +<p>“If that’s true, why don’t you come t’ see us as you +ought t’, Lizzie?” Luther said, looking her searchingly in +the eye. “I never meddle in other people’s business, but +you ain’t th’ stuck-up thing folks says you are. Honest +now, why don’t you do as a neighbour should?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter’s face flushed crimson and she leaned +forward to tuck the old coat, in which she had wrapped +her feet, more closely about them while she took time to +get herself ready to answer the paralyzing question. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_368' name='page_368'></a>368</span> +longer she waited the harder it became to meet the kindly +questioning eyes bent upon her, and the more embarrassing +it became to answer at all. She fumbled and +tucked and was almost at the point of tears when Jack, +who was asleep on a bed made on two chairs, began to +fret. Seizing the welcome means of escape, she got up +and took the child, sitting down a little farther away from +Luther and hugging the baby as if he were a refuge from +threatened harm.</p> +<p>Luther felt the distance between them, but decided to +force the issue. He came about it from another quarter, +but with inflexible determination.</p> +<p>“I hope Sadie got her kindling in before the storm +began. It’ll be awful cold in th’ mornin’, and—I do +wish I could ’a’ got home. Sadie’s fires always go out.”</p> +<p>“Your cobs are closer to the house than mine; Sadie ’ll +get along all right.”</p> +<p>“How do you know where our cobhouse is now, Lizzie? +You ain’t seen it for over a year,” Luther observed quietly. +And when Elizabeth did not reply, said with his eyes +fastened on Jack’s half-asleep face: “I wonder how +Janie is?”</p> +<p>Glad to talk of anything but herself and her own affairs, +Elizabeth answered with feverish readiness the last half of +Luther’s observation.</p> +<p>“You never told me what the baby’s name was before. +Isn’t it sweet?”</p> +<p>“Do you know, Lizzie, that Sadie ’d most made ’er +mind up t’ call it after you, if it was a girl, if you’d ’a’ come +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_369' name='page_369'></a>369</span> +t’ be with ’er when it was born, as you said you would?” +Luther looked at her almost tenderly, and with a yearning +beyond words.</p> +<p>“After me? She didn’t send for me when she was sick, +Luther.”</p> +<p>“No, but she would ’a’, if you’d ’a’ come as you ought +t’ ’a’ done them months when she wasn’t goin’ out.” He +looked at her penetratingly.</p> +<p>“I haven’t been anywhere since Aunt Susan’s death,” +Elizabeth evaded, determined not to recognize his trend.</p> +<p>“You could ’a’ come before her death, there was plenty +of time. Now look here, I ain’t goin’ t’ beat about th’ +bush. I’m talkin’ square. You can’t git away from me. +You’ve had th’ best chance a woman ever had t’ help +another woman, an’ you didn’t take it. Sadie was that +took by what you said about bein’ glad for th’ chance t’ +have your baby, an’ th’ idea of helpin’ him t’ have th’ +best disposition you could give ’im, that she didn’t talk of +nothin’ else for weeks, an’ she looked for you till she was +sick, an’ you never come. I want t’ know why?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter had come to the judgment-bar; she +could not escape these cross-questions, neither could she +answer. Her face grew white as Luther Hansen looked +searchingly into it, and her breath came hard and harder +as he looked and waited. This chance to talk to Luther +was like wine to her hungry soul, but John Hunter was her +husband and she refused to accuse him even after the long +months of despair she had suffered at his hands. Luther +let her gather herself for her reply, not adding a word to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_370' name='page_370'></a>370</span> +the demand for truth and friendship. How he trusted her +in spite of it all! He watched her indecision change to +indignation at his insistence, and he saw her head grow +clear as she decided upon her course.</p> +<p>“I will not discuss the past with you, Luther,” she said +slowly, as one who comes to a conclusion as he proceeds. +“I cannot tell you all the things which have led up to it. +I am going to ask you not to mention it to me again, but +I will try to do it better next time. I had no idea that +Sadie cared whether I came to see her or not; she had always +seemed to dislike me.” Elizabeth added the last +hesitatingly lest she hurt Luther’s feelings.</p> +<p>“Lizzie, I won’t be put off. If you don’t want t’ tell +me <i>why</i> you’ve done as you have, I won’t ask you t’, but +you’ve got t’ let me talk t’ you about it all th’ same. I +ain’t a man t’ let myself mix up in my neighbours’ affairs, +but, Lizzie, you ought t’ live up t’ th’ things God’s put int’ +your power t’ do. Now, then, you let folks get a wrong +idea of you. You’ve got more education ’n anybody else’s +got in this country, an’ you’ve got more money, an’ you’ve +got more everything ’n th’ rest of us, an’ what’s it been +give t’ you for if it ain’t goin’ t’ come t’ nothin’? Here +you’ve had th’ best chance t’ do somethin’ for a neighbour +woman a woman ever had: Sadie’s been that took with th’ +things you said about children that she was ready t’ listen +t’ you on anything, an’ you won’t let ’er have a chance t’ +get at you at all—an’ ain’t she come out? You’d have +t’ live with ’er, Lizzie, t’ know what that little woman’s +done fur herself this last year—an’ it was you that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_371' name='page_371'></a>371</span> +helped t’ do it. Honest, now, don’t you see yourself that +if you’ve had things give t’ you that th’ rest ain’t had +that you owe somethin’ t’ th’ rest of us?”</p> +<p>In all the weary discordant time when she had struggled +for better conditions Elizabeth Hunter had never thought +of anything in the situation but the bettering of her own +surroundings. It had been the suffering of blind stupidity, +of youth, of the human being too deeply submerged to +think of aught but personal affairs. Luther drew her +attention to the main facts of her life, drawing her away +from self. It was a simple occurrence, a simple subject, a +simple question: it was in itself the reason for the perpetuation +of their friendship. The winds blew, the snow found +its way under door and sash and heaped itself in ridges +across the floor, and in spite of the roaring fire they were +not always warm, but throughout the night Elizabeth sat +beside her lifelong friend and drew in a revivifying fire +which was to remould and make over a life which had +almost flickered to a smouldering resentment and inactivity.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVII_ADJUSTING_DOMESTIC_TO_SOCIAL_IDEALS' id='XVII_ADJUSTING_DOMESTIC_TO_SOCIAL_IDEALS'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_372' name='page_372'></a>372</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2> +<h3>ADJUSTING DOMESTIC TO SOCIAL IDEALS</h3> +</div> + +<p>The next morning the wind blew the fine snow in +one vast driving cloud; it was impossible to see a +hundred feet. Elizabeth knew that the stock was +suffering, but was almost certain that she could not reach +them. It would not be hard to reach the barn, since the +wind would be with her, but to return would be a different +matter. To feel that she had done all that she could, she +went as far as the gate, and when she could not see the +house from that point was sufficiently warned and struggled +back to safety. No sound but that of the storm came +to her even at the gate, but she was certain that the +famishing cattle were calling for food. Her day was consumed +in the care of Luther’s inflamed hands and feet. +The only remedy she knew was wet cloths and she worked +anxiously to reduce the swelling and congestion.</p> +<p>About four o’clock the wind dropped. Though the air +was still full of fine snow, Elizabeth wrapped herself in +John’s old overcoat and muffler, and putting a pair of +Jake’s heavy mittens on her hands, and taking the milkpails +on her arm to save a trip back for them, she went +to the barn.</p> +<p>The barn door stuck, with the snow which had collected +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_373' name='page_373'></a>373</span> +in the runway, and she had to fumble for some time +before it would come open. A perfect babel of voices +greeted her. Jake had left the south door of the barn +ajar when he left that morning, and the eddying snow had +banked itself along the entire centre of the building. +Patsie stood in the stall nearest the door, humped up with +the cold, and with a layer of snow on her hips and spreading +black tail. She turned sidewise and pawed furiously, +giving shrill little whinnies as Elizabeth seized a half-bushel +measure and waded through the snow to the oats +bin.</p> +<p>“No, corn’s better this cold weather,” the girl said +aloud, and hurried to the other bin. Soon the horses +were making noise enough to inflame the appetites of the +other animals, who redoubled their cries.</p> +<p>She investigated the pens and found the hogs in good +condition, but the drifts so high as to make it possible for +them to make neighbourly visits from pen to pen, and even +into the cattle yard. It was a struggle to carry the heavy +ear corn from the crib to the pens, but it was done, and +then Elizabeth turned her attention to the excited cattle.</p> +<p>Taking time to rest and get her breath, Elizabeth +noticed that a few of the hogs had not come to get their +feed, and went to investigate the cause. They seemed to +be fighting over some choice morsel on the far side of the +cattle yard. At first she thought that it was one of their +number that they were fighting about, but as she approached +the knot, one of them ran off to one side dragging +something, its head held high to avoid stepping on the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_374' name='page_374'></a>374</span> +grewsome thing it carried. One of the young cows had +lost her calf in the freezing storm, and the hogs were fighting +over its torn and mangled body. Elizabeth sought +out the little mother, and segregating her from the herd, +drove her into the straw cow-stable, where she would be +sheltered. The other milch cows had been left in their +stalls by the men the day before, and snorted and tugged +at their ropes as the newcomer appeared. Elizabeth tied +the heifer, and then shut the door after her and returned +to the unprotected herd outside.</p> +<p>The fodder was so full of snow that it was impossible for +the girl to handle it at all, so she dug the ladder out of the +snow and placed it against the long hayrick beside the +fence and forked the hay over into the racks below. It +required every ounce of strength she had to throw the +hay clear of the stack and in line with the racks where the +cattle could reach it, but the girl worked with a will, while +the cattle fought for best places, or any place at all, and +reached hungry tongues for the sweet hay.</p> +<p>Elizabeth worked with joy and energy. The mood of +the storm was upon the girl. Not before in all the months +she had been married had she ever moved in perfect freedom +in her native out-of-doors element. It was a gift of +the gods and not to be despised or neglected, for to-morrow +would come John—and prison bars. Before she had +begun, she faced the wind, and with bounding joy looked +over the drifted fields toward the north and northeast. +The air was clearing. The world looked different from +this lofty position. She was Elizabeth again, Elizabeth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_375' name='page_375'></a>375</span> +transformed and made new. The lethargy of recent +months had slipped away; something about the rush and +motion of things in the last twenty-four hours inspired +her; the fierce winds of yesterday and to-day stirred her +spirit to do, to be in motion herself. They had communicated +their energy, their life, their free and ungoverned +humour. Elizabeth’s thoughts ran on as fast as her +blood. She thought of Luther, and of all he had said to +her, of her neglected opportunities which he had pointed +out to her, and wondered modestly if he were right, and +then knew that he was. She thought of how she, the out-of-door +prisoner of her father’s home, had become the +indoor prisoner of her husband’s home. She had thought +that to marry and escape her father’s grasp was to possess +herself; but Elizabeth Hunter saw that as a wife she was +really much less free. She thought of the sacrifices she +had made in the hope of securing harmony, and she +thought of the futility of it all. She decided that if a +woman were enslaved it was because she herself permitted +it, that to yield where she should stand fast did not +secure a man’s love, it only secured his contempt and +increased his demands. In the three years she had been +married she had not been permitted an hour of real companionship +until the accident of this storm had brought an +old friend to her door and kept him there till she had had +a chance to realize the mental depths to which she had +fallen in her isolation. In all the time she had been +married she had not thought of anything but the bare +details of their daily life. A woman had to have the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_376' name='page_376'></a>376</span> +association of congenial people to keep her from falling +into housekeeping dry-rot. For thirty-six hours she had +possessed herself, and in that time she had renewed her +youth and acquired a new outlook. As she stood looking +across the fields, her eyes fell on Nathan Hornby’s chimney. +The wind had dropped so completely that the air +had cleared of snow, and the curling smoke from a freshly +built fire arose in the frosty air, sending a thrill of homesickness +through her as she pictured the orderly kitchen +in which that fire was built. Was it orderly now that +its guardian angel was gone? The hideous cruelty of a +neglect which kept her from knowing whether it was well +kept swept over her. Once she would have spent herself +in emotionalism and tears at remembrance of it, but +Elizabeth had advanced.</p> +<p>“I’ll go and see him to-morrow, or as soon as the roads +are fit,” was her resolve. “Luther’s right; he usually is.”</p> +<p>The cattle calling from below brought her back to the +necessities of the hour. Laying hold of the frosty pitchfork +she renewed her attack upon the hay and continued +till the racks were filled. By the time the ladder was put +away again her hands were stinging till it was impossible +to work, and she ran to the barn where she could put them +against Patsie’s flank while she blew her warm breath +upon them. Patsie was ticklish, and twitched her loose +hide nervously and gnawed at her feed-box with little +squeals of excitement. The feed-box was of two-inch +lumber instead of the usual sort. It was like all John did: +so much attention put in one place there was no time for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_377' name='page_377'></a>377</span> +the rest; well done, but much left undone. Everything +about John’s barn was orderly and well built. There had +been a time when she had rejoiced at what seemed to be +thrift, but to-day she saw it from a new angle; Mr. Farnshaw +had wastefully let his machinery rot and his stock +perish from cold, but here was wastefulness of another +sort; Elizabeth speculated on the cost of this barn and +thought of the interest to be paid.</p> +<p>On her way to the cow-stable where the little mother +whose calf had fallen a victim to the cold awaited her, she +thought of the toolroom where she had gone for her feed. +A forty-dollar set of harness hung there: Carter’s harness +had chains instead of leather tugs, and would outwear +them several times over. It was an orderly toolroom: the +bridles occupied a row over the collars, hames and back-bands +came next, and on the other side of the room, on +six-inch spikes, hung extra clevises, buckles, straps, and +such materials as accidents to farm machinery required. +John’s mending was well provided for and well done. +Elizabeth would have loved just this sort of order if it +had not been so costly.</p> +<p>The little cow was so hungry that she hardly knew that +she was giving her milk into a foreign receptacle till a voice +at the stable door made her jump so violently that the pail +was knocked over and Elizabeth had to scramble hastily +to avoid a similar fate.</p> +<p>“Well, now, there you be! Gosh-a-livin’s!——”</p> +<p>Silas Chamberlain never finished that speech. The +milk from the rolling pail spattered over his feet as he +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_378' name='page_378'></a>378</span> +sprang to Elizabeth’s rescue. The little cow tore at the +rope that held her, and every mate she had in the stable +joined her in snorting and threatening to bolt over the +mangers. The old man, “So-bossied,” and vented all the +soothing cattle talk he could command while he looked on +in embarrassed confusion.</p> +<p>“Now ain’t that jes’ like me?” he queried in dismay. +“Look what I’ve gone an’ done!” He picked up the +empty pail and handed it to the man that was with him +to keep it from being trampled upon by the plunging cows, +while he tried to establish confidential relations with them.</p> +<p>“Never mind, Mr. Chamberlain. She’s only a heifer +and never milked before. She wouldn’t have let me get +that far without trouble, anyhow, if she hadn’t been so +hungry. The hogs killed her calf last night or this morning +and I thought I’d milk her before I began on the rest. +I don’t suppose John can get home before to-morrow +night, and the chores had to be done. Here, there’s an +extra bucket or two. Do you want to help milk? they’ll +quit fussing in a minute.”</p> +<p>“Course I do. That’s what Noland an’ I come for. +This is Mrs. Hunter, Noland,” Silas said, remembering +formalities at the last moment. “We thought John +wouldn’t ’a’ got back ’fore th’ storm come on. Now let’s +get this milkin’ done ’fore dark or we’ll be havin’ t’ ask for +a lantern.”</p> +<p>“Oh! Mr. Chamberlain, I forgot to tell you that Luther +Hansen got caught in the storm and nearly froze,” +Elizabeth said when they had settled themselves to the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_379' name='page_379'></a>379</span> +work. “He’s at our house now; his feet and hands are +awful. I think they’re all right, but I wish we could get +at Doctor Morgan.”</p> +<p>The old man nearly upset the milk a second time in his +astonishment, and the milking was cut as short as could +decently be done so as to get to the house. The early +winter night had settled down and the sting of the cold +was paralyzing as they hastened in. Silas went straight +to Luther, and Elizabeth and the new man brought a +fresh supply of coal and cobs before they went in. They +met Silas coming out as they carried the last basketful +from the shed.</p> +<p>“I’m goin’ right over t’ tell Sadie,” he announced. “I +brought Noland over to help, but Luther says you’re +goin’ t’ need ’im right along, an’ I’ll jes’ leave ’im for good. +You’ll like each other an’ he’ll want t’ stay as bad as +You’ll want ’im.”</p> +<p>Silas had poured the whole arrangement out, and as it +was about what was necessary it was accepted.</p> +<p>The presence of a stranger necessitated more formal +housekeeping, and when the new man came back from +helping Silas saddle Patsie he found the kitchen in order +and the savoury smell of fresh biscuits and ham. A +small table was placed beside Luther, and the ham and +hot things had a seasoning of brilliant, intellectual conversation, +for the man from college was adept at entertaining +his fellow men and showed his best powers.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was too tired to stay awake long and she left +him and Luther chatting, after she had shown Mr. Noland +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_380' name='page_380'></a>380</span> +where he was to sleep and had filled the cold bed with hot +flatirons to take the chill from the icy sheets. However +happy she may have been while feeding the stock, she had +to acknowledge that the loss of sleep the night before and +the unaccustomed use of the pitchfork had made of her +bed a desirable place. She awoke when the stranger went +up the stairs, but was asleep before his footsteps had +reached the room above her. A tantalizing remembrance +of his face disturbed her for a moment, but only for a moment, +and then tired nature carried her back to the land of +dreams. She had seen him somewhere, but where, she +was too sleepy to think out.</p> +<p>The next morning Silas came with his bobsled and they +helped Luther into a chair and carried him in it to the +sled and so to his home. John and his mother came a +little after noon, and the girl watched to see how her husband +would like the new man, half afraid that because she +had secured him in John’s absence that he would not like +him, and she wished it might be possible to keep him with +them. She need not have worried, for Hugh Noland had +looked about the place and decided to make himself so +necessary to its proprietor that his presence would be +desired, and he had gifts which favoured him in that +respect. Besides, John had been unsuccessful in obtaining +help and was overjoyed to come home and find the +cattle fed and everything at the barn in good order. +Patsie and her mate were hitched to the lumber wagon +and stood waiting in the lane when John came and Jack +was being wrapped in his warmest cloak. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_381' name='page_381'></a>381</span></p> +<p>“Where on earth are you going?” John asked in profound +astonishment.</p> +<p>“I told Mr. Noland to hitch up and take me to Uncle +Nathan’s, but now that you are here, you can go if you +wish,” Elizabeth replied quietly. “I should have gone a +long time ago. Will you go along mother, or will you stay +at home after climbing these drifts all day? I think now +that you’re at home we’ll take the sled instead of the +wagon. You won’t mind making the change, will you?”</p> +<p>She ended by addressing the new man, and it was all so +naturally done that John Hunter swallowed whatever was +uncomfortable in it. He would not go himself, and +Elizabeth set off with the stranger, glad of the chance to +do so.</p> +<p>“I’ll drive right home and help with things there. +What time shall I come back for you?” Noland asked +as he set her on the ground as near Nathan’s doorstep as +he could get the team to go.</p> +<p>“Not till after five. Mother’s there and I’ll let her get +your suppers, and I’ll get mine here with Uncle Nate.”</p> +<p>It was such a perfectly normal arrangement that Hugh +Noland did not guess that there was anything new in it. +He drove away with a feeling of disappointment because +he had been unable to draw her into conversation on the +way over. She had proven herself a good conversationalist +at meals and he looked forward to a time when he +would be a permanent part of that household. Luther +and Silas had been right. Here was the partner he was +looking for if he could only make himself appreciated. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_382' name='page_382'></a>382</span></p> +<p>He had laid out every faculty and put it to the best use +for that purpose and had been a bit disconcerted to have +her suddenly become uncommunicative.</p> +<p>Nathan was at the barn; he saw them stop and recognized +his visitor.</p> +<p>“Humph!” he snorted in disgust. However, a man +could not leave a woman with a baby in her arms standing +on his doorstep on a raw February day.</p> +<p>“How do you do, Uncle Nate?” the girl said timidly as +soon as he was near enough to accost.</p> +<p>Nathan’s greeting was short and inhospitable. He did +not offer to shake hands, nor pretend to see the hand she +extended to him. Instead, he opened the door and +invited her gruffly to enter. Closing the door behind +them, he went to the stove and began to stir the fire +industriously.</p> +<p>Elizabeth saw that she must have the difficulty over at +once or her courage would wilt. Setting Jack on the floor, +she went to Nathan and put her hand on his arm detainingly.</p> +<p>“You have fire enough, Uncle Nate. Let me talk to +you.”</p> +<p>“Well?” he said briefly.</p> +<p>The girl was staggered by the nature of her reception. +It was worse than she had expected. Luther Hansen’s +estimate of the real situation had been only too right. +She stood before Nathan Hornby trembling and disconcerted +by the wall of his silence. The old kitchen clock +ticked loudly, she could hear her own pulses, and the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_383' name='page_383'></a>383</span> +freshly stirred fire roared—roared in a rusty and unpolished +stove. Dust lay thick on the unswept floor. +Nathan needed her. She would win her way back to his +heart.</p> +<p>“Uncle Nate, I don’t blame you one bit if you aren’t +nice to me. I haven’t deserved it, but——”</p> +<p>“I guess you needn’t ‘Uncle Nate’ me any more,” he +said when she paused.</p> +<p>His speech was bitter and full of animosity, but it was +better than his compelling silence.</p> +<p>“I don’t blame you one bit for being mad at me——I +should think you would be. I don’t know what I’m going +to say to you either, but I’ve come to beg your forgiveness,” +she stammered.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby did not speak, but waited coldly for her +to continue. There was plainly no help offered her.</p> +<p>“I—I can’t explain, Uncle Nate—I am going to call +you so—you—you shall not put me away. I have +come for your forgiveness and—and I’m going to stay +till I get it. I—I can’t explain—there—there are +things in life that we can’t explain, but I’m innocent of +this stuck-up business you think I’ve had. I—I’ve +loved you and Aunt Susan. Oh, Uncle Nate, I’ve loved +her better than I ever did my own mother,” she ended +with a sob.</p> +<p>There was the voice of honesty in what she said, but +Nathan remembered his wrongs.</p> +<p>“If that’s so, why didn’t you come t’ see ’er?” he said. +“If you loved ’er, why’d you let ’er go down to ’er grave a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_384' name='page_384'></a>384</span> +pinin’ for you? She looked for you till she was crazy +’most, an’ she never got a decent word out of you, nor a +decent visit neither. If you loved ’er, what’d you act +that way for?”</p> +<p>The memory of that last day, when his wife had yearned +so pitifully for this girl, arose before him as he stood there, +and shook his faith in the honesty of Elizabeth’s purposes +in spite of the earnestness of her manner.</p> +<p>“That is the one thing I cannot explain, Uncle Nate,” +Elizabeth answered. “I—I was all ready to come that +day and—and—then I couldn’t.”</p> +<p>She buried her face in her hands at the memory of it +and burst into tears.</p> +<p>“Is it true that Hunter won’t take you anywhere?” he +asked pointedly.</p> +<p>“You have been listening to the Cranes,” she answered.</p> +<p>“I’ve been listenin’ t’ more’n them,” he said with the +fixed purpose of drawing her out on the subject. “I’ve +been listenin’ t’ some as says you’re too high and mighty +t’ associate with th’ likes of us—an’ I’ve heard it said +that your husband won’t take you nowhere. Now I just +naturally know that a man can’t shut a woman up in this +American country, so’s she can’t go anywhere she wants +t’, if she wants t’ bad enough; an’ I remember how Hunter +was ’fore ’e married you; ’e was always on th’ go—an’ +there’s a nigger in th’ woodpile somewheres.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was for the moment staggered. What he said +was so true. And yet, how untrue! It was hard to think +with the eye of suspicion on her. Appearances were +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_385' name='page_385'></a>385</span> +against her, but she was determined not to discuss the +privacies of her married life. She paused and looked +Nathan squarely in the face till she could control her +reasoning faculties.</p> +<p>“That is neither here nor there,” she said quite firmly +at last. “I shall not defend myself to you, Uncle Nate, +nor explain away bad reports. It would not help me and +it would not help you. What I am here for is to offer you +my love <i>now</i>. What I want you to believe is that I mean +it, that I’ve wanted to come, that I’m here because I want +to be here, and that I never mean to neglect you again. +I—I couldn’t come to see her—but, oh, Uncle Nate, +mayn’t I come to see you? I can’t tell you all the little +ins and outs of why I haven’t come before, but you must +believe me.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth ended imploringly.</p> +<p>The man was softened by her evident sincerity in spite +of himself, and yet his wound was of long standing, his +belief in her honesty shaken, his beloved wife in her grave, +assisted to her final stroke by this girl’s neglect, and he +could not lay his bitterness aside easily. He did not speak.</p> +<p>The silence which followed was broken only by the +ticking of the old-fashioned Seth Thomas clock and the +roar of the fire.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked around the familiar room in her +dilemma, entangled in the mesh of her loyalty to her husband’s +dubious and misleading actions. Nearly every +article in that room was associated with some tender +recollection in the girl’s mind. Not even the perplexity +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_386' name='page_386'></a>386</span> +of the moment could entirely shut out the reminiscent +side of the occasion. The bread-board, dusty and unused, +leaned against the flour barrel, the little line above it +where the dishtowels should hang sagged under the weight +of a bridle hung there to warm the frosty bit, the rocking +chair, mended with broom wire after the cyclone, and on +its back Aunt Susan’s chambray sunbonnet where it had +fallen from its nail: all familiar. With a little cry Elizabeth +fell on her knees by Nathan Hornby’s side.</p> +<p>“Oh, Uncle Nate! you can’t tell what others have to +contend with, and—and you must not even ask, but——” +She could not proceed for sobs.</p> +<p>Nathan Hornby’s own face twitched and trembled with +emotion. The girl had unconsciously used Susan’s own +last words. His heart was touched. Susan’s great love +for Elizabeth pleaded for her.</p> +<p>“Can’t I come, Uncle Nate? Won’t you be friends +with me?”</p> +<p>And Nathan Hornby, who wanted her friendship, +answered reluctantly:</p> +<p>“Yes-s-s—come along if you want t’. You won’t +find it a very cheerful place t’ come to, but she’d be glad t’ +know you’re here, I guess.”</p> +<p>Jack, sitting in his shawls and wraps on the floor, began +to cry. He had been neglected long enough. His mother +got suddenly to her feet. Both stooped to take the baby. +Elizabeth resigned him to Nathan, instinctively realizing +that Jack was a good advocate in her favour if Nathan +still retained fragments of his grievances. She let the old +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_387' name='page_387'></a>387</span> +man retain him on his lap while she busied herself about +him unpinning his shawls.</p> +<p>It was home-like and companionable to have a woman +and baby in the house, and Nathan Hornby had been lonesome +a long time. He clucked to the baby and began to +trot him up and down on his knee. With a relieved sigh +Elizabeth dropped into a chair and watched them.</p> +<p>Jack, unaccustomed to whiskers, put his hand out to +investigate. Nathan waggled his chin to shake its pendant +brush, and Jack started nervously. Nathan looked +across at Elizabeth and laughed. That little laugh did a +world of good in aiding Elizabeth’s plans. It was not +possible for Nathan to catch her eye in good-natured +raillery and remain cool of manner; that laugh and the +glance that went with it did much to wash away his hurt. +In his secret soul Nathan had craved Elizabeth’s love and +Elizabeth’s baby. She had been like a daughter in the +house. He had missed her almost as much as his wife +had done, but he had resented her long absence. He had +come to the house determined not to forget his wrongs, +and here he was, in less than fifteen minutes, smiling at +her over the head of the baby in friendly amusement. +He was puzzled now at the readiness with which he had +given in, but Nathan found his love stronger than his +grievances.</p> +<p>“Take off your things, Lizzie; th’ house’s yours if you—if +you really want it to be.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth took off her wraps and prepared to begin +work on the disorderly kitchen. Aunt Susan’s limp +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_388' name='page_388'></a>388</span> +apron hung on the nail from which the bonnet had fallen, +and she put it on, looking about her, undecided where it +was best to commence.</p> +<p>“I’ve come to help—where shall I begin?” she said.</p> +<p>“If I could tell you what t’ do I could ’a’ done it myself,” +Nathan said ruefully.</p> +<p>Elizabeth thought of the orderly wife who was gone and +a sob arose in her throat.</p> +<p>“Oh, Uncle Nate! You don’t know how I miss her +sometimes.”</p> +<p>And Nathan Hornby replied sadly:</p> +<p>“I kind a think maybe I do.”</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>The night was cloudy and the long diagonal drifts made +it hard to drive after dark. The chores had kept Noland +later than he had thought and it was dusk when he +arrived at Nathan’s for Elizabeth.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland had been spending the afternoon with +John Hunter about the barn, measuring him and talking +of farm prospects. Here was the place for him to settle +down, if he could arrange for a partnership. He was so +much convinced of this that he was endeavouring to make +the alliances of friendship before he led up to the more +serious one. It had baffled him to have Elizabeth answer +in monosyllables both going to Mr. Hornby’s and again +during their return; he wanted to talk. Her home was the +first farmhouse he had ever entered that he felt could be +home to him; its evidences of culture and refinement had +made as lasting an impression upon Hugh Noland as that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_389' name='page_389'></a>389</span> +same home had done upon Elizabeth when John Hunter +had taken her to see his mother in it. It was an oasis in +the rural desert. He meant to exert every effort to +establish himself in it. When Elizabeth did not respond +to his attempts at conversation, he fell back upon the +analysis of herself and her husband which had been going +on in his mind all day. They were evidently not people +who felt above their neighbours on account of their +superior education, for she had gone to spend a whole +afternoon with that plain old farmer and she had shown +the liveliest interest, even friendship, for the Swede on the +other side of the farm. He liked them the better for that. +If a man or woman lived in a community he or she +should be a part of that community. Hugh Noland +never doubted that the friendly interest he had witnessed +was the regularly established course of action and that +it was mutual in the household. Coming into the household +at this transition point, he was to make many such +mistakes in his estimates.</p> +<p>John Hunter was at the side gate to assist his wife and +baby out of the sled. He left Elizabeth to carry Jack +to the house and went to the barn to help Noland put the +team away. This man, who took milking as a lark, and +all farm work as a thing to be desired, and yet was a +gentleman, was to John Hunter, who scorned these things +as beneath himself, an anomaly. It had never occurred +to John that labour of that sort could have dignity, nor +that a man could choose it as a livelihood unless driven +to it. It had never occurred to him that if driven to it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_390' name='page_390'></a>390</span> +one should enter into it as a real participant. To him it +was a thing to endure for a time and never refer to after it +could be put behind him. The beauty of the dawn, the +pleasant odours of new-mown hay, the freshness of the +crisp air, the association with the living creatures about +him, the joys of a clean life, all escaped him. Hugh +Noland had enumerated these things, and many more, +while they had worked together that afternoon, and John +Hunter accepted the enumeration, not because it was +fundamentally true, but because it was the estimate of a +cultured and well-educated man.</p> +<p>John Hunter had been vexed at Elizabeth for the sangfroid +with which she had walked away from established +custom in ordering the team prepared for her to be taken +to Nathan’s, but with Noland present he had accepted it +without remark. Here was a man before whom John +would always, but instinctively rather than premeditatively, +endeavour to show his best side.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland went to the house with John, talking +farm work and prices of produce as if they were matters +of pleasant as well as necessary importance, and he set +John to talking in his best vein and without superciliousness; +he had the faculty of bringing out the best in the +people he met. He brought some of his books—he +had stopped at the Chamberlain homestead for his +trunk on their return that evening—and added them to +those already on the Hunter shelves. While arranging +them, he sat on the floor before the bookcase and glancing +over the titles of those belonging to the family, opened an +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_391' name='page_391'></a>391</span> +occasional one and read aloud a verse or a paragraph or +two. He read with zest and enthusiasm. He was fresh +from the world of lectures and theatres, and the social life +of the city, and became a rejuvenating leaven for this +entire household.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Luther was on Elizabeth’s mind when she awakened the +next morning, and as soon as the breakfast work was +finished and she had time to get the house in order, she +decided to move from her new standpoint and go to see +him. To this end she asked Mrs. Hunter to keep Jack +while she was gone, and to the older woman’s objections +that she should let the men hitch up the sled and drive +her over she answered firmly:</p> +<p>“I don’t want a word said about it. I will go whenever +I please without arguing it with anybody.”</p> +<p>In her secret soul she was glad to get past the barn without +John seeing her. She would not have permitted him +to stop her, or delay her visit, but a discussion with her +husband was apt to hold surprises and she to become +confused and angry, and worsted in the <i>manner</i> of her +insistence. To get away without having to explain put +her in good spirits.</p> +<p>The sun shone brightly and the air, though snappy and +cold, was brisk and fresh. It was the first free walk of a +mile Elizabeth had ever taken since her marriage. Elizabeth +was herself again. She skirted around the long +drifts as she crossed the field humming a snatch of tune +with all her blood atingle with the delight of being alone +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_392' name='page_392'></a>392</span> +in the vast silent fields. The mere passing of time since +Aunt Susan’s death had gradually worked a change in +her condition, which Luther’s presence and the stimulating +quality of his words, John’s absence, the intoxication +of the wild and unfettered storm, the visit to Nathan +Hornby’s, and the invigorating personality of Hugh Noland +had combined to rejuvenate in the crushed and +beaten girl. Life held meanings to which she had long +been blind. Elizabeth set about the reorganizing of her +life with no bitterness toward John, only glad to have +found herself, with duty to herself as well as others still +possible.</p> +<p>Sadie Hansen met Elizabeth at the door with such +evident uneasiness that Elizabeth was moved to ask:</p> +<p>“Luther’s all right, Sadie?”</p> +<p>“Yes-s-s!” Sadie replied slowly, and with such reluctance +that Elizabeth was puzzled.</p> +<p>Sadie took her to the bedroom and shut the door behind +her as tight as if she hoped to shut out some evil spirit in +the action. Her manner filled Elizabeth with curiosity, +but she crossed to Luther and held out her hand.</p> +<p>“Before you ’uns begin,” Sadie said with the air of +burning her bridges behind her, and before any one had +had a chance to speak, “I want t’ tell you something. I +could ’a’ told it in th’ kitchen,” she stammered, “but I +made up my mind last night that I’d have it out with both +of you. I’ve done you th’ meanest trick, Lizzie. Luther +said you was goin’ t’ Hornby’s yesterday. Did you go?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth, standing at the head of Luther’s bed, nodded +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_393' name='page_393'></a>393</span> +in her surprise, feeling that her visit with Nathan was not +a subject to which she could lend words.</p> +<p>“Now look here, Lizzie, if what I said t’ th’ Hornbys +has made any difference, I’ll go t’ him an’ take it back +right before your face.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s eyes opened in astonishment.</p> +<p>“Uncle Nate did not mention it to me,” Elizabeth +replied.</p> +<p>“Well, I’ve made up my mind I want t’ tell it, an’ have +it off my mind.”</p> +<p>Sadie considered a moment and then plunged into her +tale hurriedly, for fear that her courage would cease to +support her.</p> +<p>“Well, when I was to your house last summer, an’ you +told me about th’ effect it had on a baby t’ have a mother +that never got mad, I come home an’ tried t’ do everything +I thought you meant an’—seems t’ me I never was s’ +mean in my life. Mean feelin’ I mean. I got along +pretty well at first—I guess it was somethin’ new—? but +th’ nearer I got t’ th’ time, th’ worse I got. I scolded +Luther Hansen till I know he wished he’d never been +born. Th’ worst of it was that I’d told ’im how—what a +difference it made, and he was that anxious——?”</p> +<p>Luther raised his hand to protest, but Sadie waved him +aside and continued:</p> +<p>“Oh, you needn’t defend me, Luther!” she exclaimed. +“I’ve been meaner ’n you know of.” Turning to Elizabeth +again, “I used t’ look over t’ your house an’ feel—an’ +feel ’s if I could only see you an’ talk a while, I’d git +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_394' name='page_394'></a>394</span> +over wantin’ t’ be s’ mean, but you wouldn’t never come t’ +see us—an’—an’ I didn’t feel’s if—I didn’t feel free +t’ go any more, ’cause ma said you didn’t want t’ be +sociable with our kind of folks.”</p> +<p>Sadie paused a moment to crease the hem of her apron +and get the twitching out of the corners of her distressed +mouth.</p> +<p>“Well, at last, when you didn’t come, an’ I couldn’t git +no help from no one, I just said every mean thing I could. +I told Hornby a week ’fore his wife died that you said you +didn’t want t’ change visits with us country jakes, ’cause +you wanted your boy t’ be different from th’ likes of us. +Ma’d heard that somewhere, but I told it t’ ’im ’s if you’d +said it t’ me. Sue Hornby put ’er hand on my arm an’ +said, so kind like, ‘Sadie, ain’t you ’fraid t’ talk that way +an’ you in that fix?’ An’ I just cried an’ cried, an’ +couldn’t even tell ’er I’d tried t’ do different.”</p> +<p>Luther Hansen had been trying to interrupt the flow +of his wife’s confession, and broke in at this point by +saying:</p> +<p>“Sadie’s nervous an’ upset over——”</p> +<p>“No, I ain’t,” Sadie replied hastily. “I’ve been as +mean as mud, an’ here she’s took care of you, an’ I’ve gone +an’ got Hornby mad at ’er. He believed what I told, if +’is wife didn’t. They say, Lizzie, that ’e lives there all by +’iself an’——” Sadie choked, and waited for Elizabeth +to speak.</p> +<p>“I guess you’ve worried about nothing,” Elizabeth said +brightly. “I’ve been to see him, and we’re good friends—the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_395' name='page_395'></a>395</span> +best kind in fact, and no one could ever make us +anything else hereafter.” She looked down at Luther +and smiled.</p> +<p>“Will it make any difference with my baby?” Sadie +asked anxiously, her mind working like a treadmill in its +own little round.</p> +<p>“No, Sadie—that is, I guess not. I’ve been thinking, +as I listened to you, that the way you tried would have to +count—it’s bigger than anything else you’ve done.”</p> +<p>Sadie Hansen dropped into a chair sobbing hysterically.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s hand went to the girl’s shoulder comfortingly.</p> +<p>“God does not ask that we succeed, Sadie; he asks that +we try.”</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Elizabeth was back in her own kitchen in time to get +dinner. John had seen her as she came home, but made +no remark.</p> +<p>At the end of three weeks there was a consultation +between Hugh Noland and John regarding a possible +partnership. Not only did Noland like John Hunter, but +he was delighted with the atmosphere with which he found +him surrounded.</p> +<p>“This is a home,” had been Hugh’s secret analysis of +the household. In fact the home was the main feature of +the Hunter farm, the main reason for wishing to stay.</p> +<p>To John the offer of partnership was a blessing from +heaven itself. The matter of interest was pressing on him +far more than he had acknowledged to Elizabeth. It +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_396' name='page_396'></a>396</span> +galled him to discuss things with her since she had ceased +to ask about them or even to show any concern. He did +not realize that she had been compelled to consider the +matter hopeless.</p> +<p>It was agreed that Hugh should lift the indebtedness +and have one half interest in the concern, land and stock. +There would be about five hundred dollars left over after +all the debts were paid, and John gleefully decided to buy +some more calves with the residue.</p> +<p>“But we shall need every cent of that for running expenses +this summer,” Noland objected.</p> +<p>“Oh, well, if we do, we can always get money on sixty +or ninety day loans,” John replied easily.</p> +<p>“I’d rather not go into debt, with my health,” the new +partner said decidedly.</p> +<p>He happened to look across at Elizabeth and caught the +alert sign of approval in her face. He had heard Silas and +some others discuss the Hunter mortgages, but here was a +still more significant evidence. Elizabeth had not signalled +him, but the look told the story; in fact, it told +more than the girl had intended.</p> +<p>“I should consider it a necessary condition of any business +I went into,” he added steadily. “I am an uncertain +quantity, as I have told you, with this heart, and I could +not be worried with debts.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not look at him this time, but he saw the +look of satisfaction and heard her indrawn breath. And +now the really lovable side of Hugh Noland began to +show out. Feeling now that he was a real member of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_397' name='page_397'></a>397</span> +family, he began to give himself to its pleasing features. +The evening’s reading became a thing to which the whole +group looked forward. The flow of companionship exceeded +anything any member of the family had ever +anticipated. Jake arrived in time for the spring work, as +he had agreed, and was astonished by every feature of +the family life which he saw about him. Elizabeth was +cheerful, even happy, while John Hunter was another +man. Jake figured out the changes about him wistfully, +craving a part in the good-fellowship. Here was contentment +such as Jake had never witnessed. Not a +trace of the old tragic conditions seemed to remain. Jake +had missed the key to the situation by his absence at the +time of the blizzard, but he was keenly aware that +some change had been wrought. He studied Hugh +Noland and was even more enthusiastic about his personality +and powers than the family. All called the new man +by his given name, a sure sign of their affection.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had worked a radical change in her life. +Jake watched her come and go without remark from her +husband, give her orders to Hugh to hitch up for her if +she chose to drive, or if she walked, going without permission, +and was almost as pleased as she. He saw that +she had learned to keep her own counsel and not to speak +of her plans till the time for action had arrived. He felt +a something new in her.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had, in fact, learned that while openness was +a point of character, nevertheless, if she dealt openly with +her husband it led to quarrelsome discussions. She saw +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_398' name='page_398'></a>398</span> +that John did not know why he opposed her, that it was +instinctive. As she studied him, however, she found how +widely separated they were in spirit. The calm which +Jake saw, was all there, but there were other things fully +as vital which had not been there before. The self-questioning +of those months previous to Aunt Susan’s +death had been productive of results. While a certain +openness of attitude had disappeared, there was the +strength which has all the difference between deceit and +reserve in Elizabeth Hunter’s face.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XVIII_THE_CHILD_OF_HER_BODY' id='XVIII_THE_CHILD_OF_HER_BODY'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_399' name='page_399'></a>399</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2> +<h3>THE CHILD OF HER BODY</h3> +</div> + +<p>In the spring Elizabeth’s affairs, which had promised +to straighten out, were complicated from a +new quarter. She was now to test her strength +against the greatest of all problems for women and to +find out if she could put her precepts into practice. The +probability of a second child had become a certainty; +the necessity of adjusting her good-will to accidental +child-bearing was upon her. Often and often her words to +Sadie—“I always wanted my baby”—rose up to accuse +her. Only of late had suspicion become a certainty. +Elizabeth did not greet that certainty with joy. Life was +hard; she had more work to do already than she was able +to perform; try as she would she could not get her mental +consent. Why must she have this undesired child? +When the thought first wormed its way into her head, +Elizabeth passed from disappointment to self-accusation. +By every law of God and man a mother should want her +child; if she did not, then she stood accused at Nature’s +bar.</p> +<p>“For its sake I’ve got to want it; I’ll make myself,” +she decided. But she did not want it, and found to her +growing dismay that she could not make herself satisfied +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_400' name='page_400'></a>400</span> +about it. Instead of becoming reconciled, the question +enlarged and grew and gained in point and force. The +girl decided that she would be glad in spite of every opposing +thing, but her resolution was formed with tears in her +heart, if not in her eyes, and the weary ache in her back +never ceased. “It must not be so. My child must be +welcome!” Elizabeth told herself each morning, but she +was too tired; it was not welcome, and all her efforts failed +to make it so.</p> +<p>John was vexed when he found her in tears.</p> +<p>“The idea!” he exclaimed. “Now if we were too poor +to feed and clothe it there’d be some excuse, but——” He +made his pause as expressive as he could.</p> +<p>“It isn’t that. I—I’m so tired and—I ought to be +glad—and—and I’m not,” she began.</p> +<p>“Well, I suppose with mother gone”—Mrs. Hunter +had returned to her old home on a visit—“you <i>have</i> +got a good deal to look after, but I’ve got to get to the +field now. You’re always raking something up that +looks wrong to you. If you’d stick to your work and +not run around looking for trouble you’d be able to want +it, maybe.”</p> +<p>The force of her husband’s suggestion struck the girl. +Perhaps it was true that she had missed the very highest +for herself in loving ease and comfort enough to seek +them. To put discontent away from her and to keep her +thoughts occupied she began the spring housecleaning. +There was so much regular cooking and milk work that +only one room could be attacked at a time, but she kept +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_401' name='page_401'></a>401</span> +busy, and the plan worked admirably during the day. +She was not sleeping well, however, and found that nights +have a power all their own. When the lights went out, +thought held the girl in its relentless grip. It was of no +use to lengthen her working hours in the hope that sleep +would come more promptly, for the more exhausted +Elizabeth became the less able was she to sleep, and +thought stared at her out of the darkness with eyes like +living coals.</p> +<p>Wherever Elizabeth turned this monster confronted +her, this monster whose tail was a question mark, whose +body obscured everything on the horizon of the immediate +future except its own repulsive presence, and threw her +back upon the suffering present and the much to be deplored +past. Was it right to permit a child to come +when joy had gone out of relations between its parents? +This question grew and ripened and spread, and whenever +she summoned up enough will-power to weed it +out for an hour it would spring up anew, refreshed and +more tenacious than ever.</p> +<p>“Whether it’s right or not for John and me to have a +child after we’ve quit loving each other, if I can only be +glad it’s coming, or even be willing to have it, I won’t +mind, now,” she told herself. But she was not glad, +and she was not even willing. She dragged herself +about, keeping busy day after day as her husband +had advised; it was her only refuge, and one +which could not avail very long, for already she was +worn out. On the last day of the cleaning, Hugh +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_402' name='page_402'></a>402</span> +Noland came to the door of her room and speaking from +the outside said:</p> +<p>“I came in to see if I couldn’t help you a little in getting +ready for those shellers, Mrs. Hunter.” Hugh had +noticed her weary look of late, and, as all the men about +the house did, tried to help whenever there was time to +be spared from the fields or when extra work was required +of her.</p> +<p>“Shellers?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth backed out of the closet she was cleaning, +and came around to the door.</p> +<p>“Shellers? Are we going to have shellers?”</p> +<p>“To-morrow,” he said in surprise.</p> +<p>In spite of her exclamation of astonishment Elizabeth +noted a familiar look on Hugh Noland’s face which had +something in it that always caught her attention. Always +when an unexpected thing came upon Hugh, +Elizabeth had a sense of having had past relations with +him.</p> +<p>“You don’t tell me you didn’t know?”</p> +<p>“I surely didn’t. When did John go to see the men +about it? Why, I haven’t even bread baked!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>“That’s funny! Well—I suppose he forgot to tell +you. The men passed here before dinner and he went out +to the road and engaged them. We’ve got a little corn +left over, and prices seem to be up this week.”</p> +<p>“Well, it’s only one of many things,” she said, trying +to smile. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_403' name='page_403'></a>403</span></p> +<p>Her eyes wandered over the disordered bedroom as +she considered. Clothing, boots, shoes, and other articles +of apparel lay scattered over the bed. Her orderly soul +could not leave them without finishing.</p> +<p>“I’ll tell you what you do—I’ll straighten up here. +You go over to Uncle Nate’s and get me some yeast. I’ll +have to bake. I made him some yeast the last time I +made for myself, and he’ll have some left. It’s been too +damp and cloudy to make any of late. Then I’ll see what +you can do,” she said wearily. “I surely will need help +if I’ve got to have a dozen extra men without notice. +I suppose John forgot. He’s usually thoughtful about +the cooking for strange men.”</p> +<p>Something in the hurt, weary look of her went to Hugh +Noland’s heart.</p> +<p>“I’ll run over to Hornby’s and back in half an hour +unless he’s at the far side of the field. Anyhow, I’ll get +back the very first minute I can. I have to start to +Mitchell County to-morrow, early in the morning, so I +won’t have any time to do anything except to-night. I +can kill the chickens for you, and bring things up out of +the cellar. What on earth made anybody put a cave as +far from the kitchen door as that for is more than I can +see,” he said, taking vengeance on the first unpleasant +feature of her circumstances that presented itself.</p> +<p>Hugh did not at all understand why she was sick and +unequal to the demands made upon her strength, but he +did see that she was so, and that her tired young face wore +a discouraged expression. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_404' name='page_404'></a>404</span></p> +<p>“I’ll take Jack with me; that’ll help some,” he said as +an afterthought.</p> +<p>“If you would——” The relief in her voice told the +strain it was upon her to work and watch the toddling +child. “I’ll tell you—hurry back and tack this carpet +down for me. I’ll have the room and closet straightened +up so that you can do it by then.”</p> +<p>She wiped Jack’s dirty face with the end of a towel she +thrust into the water pitcher on the washstand and sent +him off with a kiss to the welcome ride. As she worked +after they were gone, she ran over in her mind the supplies +on hand for the feeding of fifteen men on such short notice. +Threshing and corn-shelling meant hard work to the men +who followed the business, but it meant feasting and festivity +as well, and it was with the prospect of much cooking +on the morrow that Elizabeth furrowed her forehead, +and hurried with the replacing of the contents of the closet. +There was a sponge to be set to-night and bread to bake +to-morrow; there was a cake to be baked, beans picked +over and set to soak, and dried fruit to stew; also, and +what was more annoying, she had let the churning run +over for twenty-four hours in order to finish her cleaning.</p> +<p>“If I can’t get around to that churning, I’ll just let it go +if it does sour,” she decided at last.</p> +<p>When Hugh came back she set him to work at the carpet +and went to the kitchen to look after things there. +Nathan had offered to keep Jack when he heard of the +unexpected work his mother was going to have thrust +upon her, and Hugh, remembering Elizabeth’s relieved expression +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_405' name='page_405'></a>405</span> +when he had offered to bring the child, was only +too glad to leave him in such good hands.</p> +<p>“How long is that child going to stay at Hornby’s?” +John demanded the next morning. He set the heavy +cream jar on the table and faced Elizabeth, who was +kneading the bread on the big bread-board which rested +on the top of the flour barrel.</p> +<p>“I don’t know—till Uncle Nate gets time to bring him +home to-day, I suppose.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not look up.</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t want this thing to happen again. A +child that age has no business away from home. What +was your idea, anyhow?”</p> +<p>“Ask Hugh. I didn’t have anything to do with it. I +didn’t even know it till he got back. He knew you +had engaged the shellers without giving me any notice, +and he knew I had too much for any woman to do. +Uncle Nate knew it too. Go on, and don’t bother me +this morning; I’m so tired I can’t talk about it, anyhow.”</p> +<p>John Hunter was instantly apologetic.</p> +<p>“Oh, well, if Hugh did it I suppose he meant well. He +got off all right. I look for some results with that +Mitchell County land if he goes into it right. I’ll send the +cattle down as soon as he has time to get the fences in line +and a man to look after them. I brought this cream up; +it won’t keep any longer.”</p> +<p>John lifted the lid of the cream jar and sniffed with disapproval. +“I’ll just put it into the churn for you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_406' name='page_406'></a>406</span></p> +<p>“Oh, dear! what did you bring it up for to-day? I +can’t churn with all I’ve got to do. Take it back.”</p> +<p>“It won’t keep!”</p> +<p>“Well—I can’t churn, and I won’t, so there! I’ve got +all I can do to-day. I should not have let it go, but the +cleaning dragged so; besides, I didn’t know I was going to +have all these men to-day and I thought I could get it +done. Take it back. I can’t have the churn around in +the way to-day. I’ve never let a churning go to waste in +my life, but if this gets too sour it won’t cost any more +than to have hired a girl to help with the work this week. +Go on, and take it to the cellar and let me alone.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned her back to show him that the argument +was over, and did not see that he went out without +it, leaving it on the back of the one small kitchen table +she had. The pies she had just finished baking were ready +to be taken from the oven, and when she turned to put +them on the table she was confronted by the cream jar. +The table was not large and she must have room for the +food to be cooked that day, so Elizabeth lifted the heavy +jar from the table and, after the pies were out, brought +the churn. She could not carry it to the cellar again and +there was no other way.</p> +<p>The sour cream refused to yield, and the girl churned +on and on while she watched the dinner cook. The dinner +boiled and bubbled, and the stove was working as actively +in the kitchen as the corn-sheller was doing in the barnyard, +when Nathan set Jack in the doorway and followed +him in. Nathan sniffed appreciatively. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_407' name='page_407'></a>407</span></p> +<p>“Smells pretty good in here,” he said, and then surveying +the room in surprise added, “What on earth be you +churnin’ for? Ain’t you got enough t’ do, child?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth stooped to gather Jack into her arms and +made no reply.</p> +<p>“It’s as hot as th’ devil in here,” Nathan said, taking his +coat off. “Here let me have a turn at that churn. You +ought t’ be in bed. That’s where Sue’d put you if she +was here.”</p> +<p>He took the dasher into his own hand and began a brave +onslaught on the over-sour cream. The butter gave signs +of coming, but would not gather. He churned, and the +sweat of his brow had to be wiped frequently to keep it +from where he would literally have it to eat; it ran down +inside his prickly blue flannel shirt, it stood out on +his hair, hands and arms like dew on the morning +grass, and the old man looked out to the wheezing +corn-sheller and envied the men working in the cool +breeze where life and courage could be sustained while +one laboured.</p> +<p>“I wouldn’t be a woman for fifty dollars a day,” he +announced with grim conviction. “It’d make a devil out +of anybody t’ work in this hell-hole. No wonder you’re +s’ peeked, child.”</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>John came back to the house almost immediately after +leaving it to go to work in the afternoon.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to bake more pies, Elizabeth. The men +have been put back by a breakdown. They won’t be able +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_408' name='page_408'></a>408</span> +to get through before five or half-past,” he said, coming +into the kitchen to investigate the larder.</p> +<p>“They can’t?” Elizabeth exclaimed, longing for the +rest she had planned to get after the dinner work was +finished.</p> +<p>“No. It’s too bad, but it can’t be helped. Now you +get the oven going and I’ll come in and help you about +beating the eggs. You’ll have to make custard pie, I +guess, for there ain’t enough fruit to make any more. +Hurry, and I’ll be in in a few minutes.”</p> +<p>“I’m not going to make any more pies to-day,” Elizabeth +replied.</p> +<p>“You’ll have to. Men like pies better than anything +you could put on the table. How are you off for meat? +Have you chicken enough left or shall I bring up a +ham?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth faced this second meal with a dread she could +not have expressed; she was so tired that she could scarcely +stand; her back ached, and there was a strange pain pulling +at her vitals.</p> +<p>“I’ll attend to the supper. Go right on out of here. +I am not going to bake any more pies. You crowded +that churning on me this morning and you’d make my +work double what it ought to be if I let you help. Go on!”</p> +<p>John brushed past her and lifted the bread-box.</p> +<p>The fierce heat of the cook stove, the pain in her back, +the certain knowledge of suggestions to come, broke down +the poise the girl was trying to maintain.</p> +<p>“I don’t want any remarks about that bread-box! +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_409' name='page_409'></a>409</span> +I’ve got sense enough to get supper. Go on out to your +own work and let me attend to mine.”</p> +<p>John Hunter stepped back in astonishment. He had +been sympathetic, and had really wanted to be helpful. +He was insulted and struck an attitude intended to convey +the fact, but his wife closed the oven door with a bang +and left the room without looking at him.</p> +<p>John punished his wife that night by letting her wash +the supper dishes alone.</p> +<p>The next morning John continued to be aloof of manner +and went to his work without attempting to empty +the skimmed milk as usual, or to strain the new milk +which stood at the top of the long cellar stairs. Elizabeth +skimmed and strained and put the shelves in order. Her +head ached, and her back never ceased hurting. When +the last crock had been carried from the cave, the half-sick +girl dragged herself to the bedroom and threw herself +down on the unmade bed.</p> +<p>“I don’t care—I won’t do another stroke till I feel +better, if it’s never done. It wasn’t nice for me to scold +yesterday when he really wanted to help, but he makes so +much extra work that I <i>can’t</i> get it all done. It don’t hurt +him any more to be scolded than it does me to be kept on +my feet after everything in my body is pulling out. He +won’t run off again and leave me to carry that heavy milk. +I don’t know why I didn’t just leave it.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not realize that she had done more than +waste useful strength on useless tasks. She had yet to +find out that it would have been cheaper to have left the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_410' name='page_410'></a>410</span> +entire contents of the cellar to sour or mould than to +have worked on after she could do no more in comfort. +It took Doctor Morgan to point out to her that farmers +and their wives place undue value on a dollar’s worth of +milk, and that they support those of his profession at a +far greater price than their butter would cost if they fed +the milk to the pigs; also that they fill the asylums with +victims and give younger women the chance to spend +what they have worked to save after they are transplanted +to other regions. They had been obliged to send +for the doctor at noon.</p> +<p>The name of peritonitis did not impress the young wife +with any importance when the old doctor warned her to +lie still and rest. The fierce pain was eased by getting +off her feet and she was so glad to rest that she took his +advice, but she had had no illness and little experience +with chronic ailments. He hoped to pull her through +without the threatened disaster, but warned her solemnly.</p> +<p>“I’m glad we have you where you can’t carry anything +more out of that confounded hole in the ground,” he +said savagely. “You’d never quit till you were down, +anyhow. Now don’t you lift that child, no matter +whether he cries or not.”</p> +<p>He took John aside and talked to him seriously about +his wife, and demanded that there be a hired girl procured. +John listened as seriously and went to the kitchen and got +the supper and prepared for breakfast. He worked diligently +and took Elizabeth a dainty bite to eat, but when +the question of a girl came up, he had his own say about that. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_411' name='page_411'></a>411</span></p> +<p>“I’ll do the work in this house till you can get around +yourself, but I never intend to look for a girl in this country +again. You’ll be stronger after a bit and then you can +look for one.”</p> +<p>He put Jack’s nightgown over his little head and buttoned +it in the back while he talked.</p> +<p>“This ’ll pass over, and You’ll be better in a week’s time. +I don’t care if you have two girls, so I don’t have to hunt +them. Here, Jack, let me slip that shoe off.”</p> +<p>“I can’t seem to get well, though, with the drag of the +housework on my mind,” the girl said drearily.</p> +<p>Elizabeth wanted a woman in the kitchen. She lay +without speaking for a moment, thinking that as usual she +was unable to get the thing that her own judgment demanded. +John would wash his dishes clean and keep the +cooking and sweeping done as well as she, but she knew +that the first day she would be out of bed she would be +dragged to the kitchen to consult and oversee continually.</p> +<p>“Doctor Morgan said I might not be able to get around +much all summer,” she ventured, exaggerating the words +of the old doctor somewhat in her determination to get +help at all costs that would leave her free to get well.</p> +<p>“At least you can wait and see,” John replied indifferently, +already concerned with his own problems. +He pushed Jack from his lap and sat lost in thought.</p> +<p>Elizabeth made it a rule never to argue unless there was +hope of righting things. To say one word more was to +lose her temper and that she tried not to do. The girl was +really very ill; her head ached, and her body was sore and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_412' name='page_412'></a>412</span> +tender. She had not had a whole night’s sleep for weeks +and every nerve in her body cried out for rest; she wanted +the light put out, she wanted to get quiet and to forget the +house, and to be freed from the confusion; she was so +nervous that she started at every noise. The night was +cool and Jack, who shivered in his thin gown, crawled into +his father’s lap. John wanted to think at that moment, +and to get rid of him put him firmly down on the foot of +the bed, moving over to give him room at his side as he did +so.</p> +<p>“Oh, don’t shake the bed!” Elizabeth exclaimed, with +such concentrated irritation that John set the child on the +floor hastily.</p> +<p>“I only thought you could watch him a minute. I can’t +keep him on my lap all the time,” John replied.</p> +<p>“Well, put him in the bed then, or tie him up or do +something. I don’t want to watch him, and his climbing +around on the bed sets me crazy!” she exclaimed, pushing +the child away from her pillow.</p> +<p>“We don’t tie children up in the Hunter family,” John +replied, as usual falling upon the unimportant phase of the +discussion and, instead of putting the child in bed, carried +him off to the sitting room, where he fell into another +brown study and let the baby slip from his lap again.</p> +<p>Jack, as soon as released, ran back to the bedroom and +threw himself up against the side of the bed, stretching his +arms up to be taken.</p> +<p>“Don’t, dear; go to papa,” Elizabeth said, trying to +reach him. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_413' name='page_413'></a>413</span></p> +<p>Jack sidled away toward the foot of the bed, where he +regarded his mother with stolid eyes, and beat a tattoo on +the bed-rail with his hard little head.</p> +<p>“Jack! Don’t do that!” she commanded sharply.</p> +<p>It was torture for her to have the bed jarred.</p> +<p>Jack, baby fashion, raised his head and gave the bed-rail +another whack.</p> +<p>Elizabeth sat up suddenly and gave the child such a +resounding slap that he sat down, shaking the whole house +with the impact, his screams quite in keeping with the +occasion. John carried the crying child out of the +room, shutting the door with such a bang that the house +and bed shook anew, and the girl had to bite her lip to +keep from screaming.</p> +<p>It was the first time Elizabeth had ever struck her child +in anger. Usually gentle and patient with his baby wilfulness, +her heart recoiled at the deed. She knew that the +possibilities of that action had been growing upon her of +late. Nothing could excuse it to the accusing judge of +Elizabeth’s own soul. It was as if she were fenced around +with a thousand devils; turn where she would there was no +help and but little hope. She had come to understand +herself enough to know that with sufficient provocation +she would almost certainly do it again. The girl thought +of her father. The deed was so like things that she had +seen him do that she almost tore her hair as she prayed to +be spared such a soul-destroying fate.</p> +<p>It was Jack’s future estimates of her that caused her so +much distress. The things emphasized by the mother in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_414' name='page_414'></a>414</span> +a home, she knew, were the things emphasized in the lives +of her children. She had only to look at Jack’s father to +see the evidences of that truth. Mrs. Hunter’s cleanliness +and order, her tendency to over-emphasize details, +were her son’s strongest watchwords. It was absolutely +imperative that she do the right thing by Jack. As she +pondered she decided that she would rise up and make one +more effort for the child. Then, like a creeping serpent, +the thought of her attitude toward the child of her body +suddenly presented its forked tongue and demanded that +its future be reckoned with. From what principle was +she dealing with it? Elizabeth knelt before the shrine of +that child, not in joy and adoration, but with a fear which +had almost become a hatred.</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not realize that it was the work and worry +which she had gone through in these last weeks which +made her irritable. She did not recognize the difference +between nerves and temper, but she had come to understand +that the unborn child was draining her strength. +The prayer in her heart as she lay there thinking it out was +for help to adjust her life to the conditions which she must +meet, for strength to control herself, and for the power to +so order her mental attitude toward this new child that +she might be able to love it as it certainly deserved to be +loved. But even as she prayed a horrible thought took +possession of her:</p> +<p>“If only it would die and be prematurely released, as +Doctor Morgan had said there was danger of it doing!”</p> +<p>It was then that Elizabeth Hunter realized the possibilities +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_415' name='page_415'></a>415</span> +in herself. That was murder! If John complicated +her work throughout eternity it would not warrant such +an attitude. But this second child! It was the absorbing +topic of her thoughts as she vainly tried to rest. She +was so worn out that she could face no more work than +she already had to do, and ever as she thought this serpent +of temptation thrust its head out at her and said: “If the +child would only die!”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had only to get out of bed and go to work to +rid herself of the hateful burden in the present state of her +health, but under no circumstances would she have done +it. She would have parted with her right hand before she +would have helped to destroy a life she had permitted to +spring into being, and yet—— The thought occurred, +and recurred, in spite of every effort, “If only——” And +she knew that if it happened without her assistance +she would be glad.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s distress increased, and when John brought +her dinner on a tray covered with a fresh napkin and +beside the plate a violet he and Jack had found in the +pasture she brightened with pleasure at the dainty arrangement, +but did not touch the food.</p> +<p>“Now be good to the baby; he’s been asking for you all +morning,” he said, kissing Elizabeth with an effort at +kindliness and understanding.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s head was aching wildly, and she was so +nervous that she could scarcely endure being spoken to at +all.</p> +<p>“Then don’t leave him here, John, for I can’t bear to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_416' name='page_416'></a>416</span> +have him fussing around,” she said, trying to be appreciative.</p> +<p>“Oh, well, if you don’t want him at all, I’ll take him out +again,” he said crossly, setting the tray on a chair beside +the bed.</p> +<p>He was able, however, to see that the girl was not altogether +herself, and shut the door behind him carefully. +The door shut so softly that the latch did not catch. +When Jack finished his dinner he came running to his +mother’s room at once. The door gave way under his +hand and he stood looking into the room curiously. +After a glance around, he advanced confidently toward +the bed with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.</p> +<p>Elizabeth set her teeth hard. She was unable to reach +out and lift him to a chair where he would not jar the bed, +so it was her intention to be patient.</p> +<p>Jack’s eyes fell upon the tray as he passed it, and he +wheeled around and took stock of the contents of this new +form of table. Frantic with irritability and knowing that +she would be at fault in the manner of correcting the child, +his mother let him eat out of the plate she had left untouched, +rather than have a scene with him. Presently, +however, Jack laid down the spoon with which he had +been eating and attacked a dish of berries with his hands, +letting the drops from the ends of his fingers trickle down +the front of his clean gingham dress. Elizabeth happened +to look up and saw what he was doing. There was no +telling when she could get another washing done and her +impulse was to spring at him and snatch him from harm’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_417' name='page_417'></a>417</span> +way, but she was trying to be more gentle and, drawing in +a deep breath, she spoke as quietly as she could command +herself to do.</p> +<p>“Don’t do that, Jack,” she said, reaching out her hand +to take him by the arm.</p> +<p>Jack clutched the dish in sudden haste and raised it to +his mouth, letting a stream of the purple juice dribble from +it to his own bulging front before his mother could get +her hand on him. Then, fearing a repetition of the blow +of the night before, the baby threw himself on the floor, +screaming loudly.</p> +<p>John came excitedly from the kitchen.</p> +<p>“What have you done to him now?” he asked, and +without waiting to hear her reply went out, flinging the +door back with a crash.</p> +<p>It was nearly dark when Doctor Morgan came, but +although he was anxious to get back to his office he saw +at once that he must stay with the suffering girl.</p> +<p>In the morning he called John out to the buggy and had +a little talk with him.</p> +<p>“I feel, Hunter, as if I’d been a little to blame for this +thing,” he said as he picked up his lines to start for home. +“I thought you’d be able to see that noise and worry were +bad for her. I ought to have impressed the gravity of her +condition on you and warned you that she must not be +worried by that baby. You can see every muscle in her +set hard when the bed is jarred. That child’s got to be +kept out of there. Those things hurt a woman in that +condition like a knife.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_418' name='page_418'></a>418</span></p> +<p>“She’s been awfully cross and cried about everything +this week, but she hasn’t complained much—that is, of +anything but a little backache,” John replied, fingering +the whipstock of the doctor’s buggy and not able to connect +the present serious illness with any real reason.</p> +<p>“Little backache!” Doctor Morgan exclaimed with exasperation. +“I never seem to be able to get you men to +understand that noise hurts a woman sometimes worse +than if you’d hit her with a ball-bat. Hurts, mind! It +ain’t imagination; it hurts, and will send a fever up in no +time. Have I made it clear to you?” he asked doubtfully.</p> +<p>“I guess you have,” John said, relinquishing the whipstock. +“She’s been awfully fretful, but I never thought +of her being sick enough for this.”</p> +<p>“Well,” the old doctor said emphatically. “You’ve +lost the child, and You’ll lose your wife if you don’t look +out. You get a girl in that kitchen, and see to it that she +tends things without Mrs. Hunter having to look after +her. She won’t do another day’s work for a good long +time—and mind, I say, You’ll lose her yet if you don’t +keep that child off her till she has a chance to get well.”</p> +<p>As Doctor Morgan drove away he said meditatively:</p> +<p>“Think I got him that time. Blamed fool!”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XIX__HER_WAGES_FOOD_AND_CLOTHING_SHE_MUST_ACCEPT' id='XIX__HER_WAGES_FOOD_AND_CLOTHING_SHE_MUST_ACCEPT'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_419' name='page_419'></a>419</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> +<h3>“HER WAGES, FOOD AND CLOTHING SHE MUST ACCEPT”</h3> +</div> + +<p>Luther Hansen was at the door when John +returned, and they entered the sitting room +together. Jack was leaning against the bedroom +door, and John, who remembered Doctor Morgan’s +parting advice, went to close it. The baby ran to his +mother, escaping the outstretched hands of the father, +who was after him, but the child had miscalculated the +opposition this time and was taken firmly into John’s +arms and lifted free from the bed.</p> +<p>“Tell Luther to come to me,” Elizabeth whispered.</p> +<p>“Doctor Morgan said——” John began.</p> +<p>“Tell Luther to come to me,” Elizabeth repeated, putting +every particle of strength she had into her voice so +that by having Luther hear her John would be obliged +to comply.</p> +<p>Luther came without having to be told.</p> +<p>“Luther, could you get Hepsie back for me, if you told +her Mother Hunter was gone and would not come back?” +she asked, falling back into a whisper from sheer weakness.</p> +<p>Luther bent to catch her words. Elizabeth’s illness +showed plainly in her pinched face this morning; he would +have done anything she asked of him. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_420' name='page_420'></a>420</span></p> +<p>“Of course,” he answered cheerfully.</p> +<p>Luther really did not know whether Hepsie could be +had, but he meant to have her if she was not already at +work somewhere else. He listened to the directions and +promised without equivocation that Hepsie would come. +He understood that for some reason the thing Elizabeth +asked of him she could ask of him alone, but was careful +to couch his replies so that that fact was not indicated +even to her.</p> +<p>When it was arranged, Elizabeth closed her weary eyes +as a sign that she wished to be alone, and the men retired +from the room, leaving her in the first real peace she had +known since her illness began. With Hepsie in the house, +she could look forward to the days to come with less dismay. +She resolved that if she did get the girl back that +she would keep her as long as there were hired men to cook +for. With the assurance that Hugh would keep John +from falling into debt again there would be funds to pay +her and there was as much need of a girl in the kitchen as +of men in the field.</p> +<p>Hepsie came gladly. She had always liked Elizabeth, +and the well-furnished Hunter house, with the equally +well-furnished pantry, was desirable.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s life was in grave danger and when John at +last grasped the fact he looked after her needs rigorously. +He tiptoed about the house, looking to it personally that +no discomfort assailed the wan patient. Jack learned the +note of authority in his father’s voice, and incidentally the +weight of his hand also, and quiet prevailed. John +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_421' name='page_421'></a>421</span> +reflected the mood of the sick room in every step he took. +Much of the time Elizabeth was too ill to observe John’s +changed attitude, but the second week she began to awake +to things about her. She went over the situation again +and again. Something had to be done. Things had +promised to straighten out since Hugh’s coming, but the +very day of his first absence the old coercion was renewed. +John would not have brought the cream jar up without +asking if Hugh had been there, or if he had done so she +could have mentioned the inconvenience of its presence +before Hugh and got it carried back to the cellar. The +importance of Hugh’s presence loomed up before Elizabeth +as she lay considering her situation; Hugh was her +only hope for better conditions. She had accepted Hugh +as a happy feature of the family life and of the business, +but she had not thought of him as a factor in her personal +affairs.</p> +<p>There was another feature of the weariness which came +from being pushed beyond the amount of work she was +momentarily able to do: she became irritable with Jack +when tired, and then John interfered. Here again, her +only hope lay in Hugh. With Hugh present John was +suave, polite, and apt to treat her as a man is supposed to +treat his wife. Considering all these things, Elizabeth +began to look forward to Hugh’s return eagerly.</p> +<p>As if to favour Elizabeth’s plans, Hugh Noland found +Mitchell County a lonely place to stay and as soon as the +fencing was finished put a man in charge and returned +with all possible speed. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_422' name='page_422'></a>422</span></p> +<p>“Oh, John, you brother!” he exclaimed when he met +John Hunter at the kitchen door the day he arrived. He +held out both his hands. “I haven’t had such a sense of +coming <i>home</i> since my mother’s death.”</p> +<p>They greeted, and looked at each other long and earnestly, +and John Hunter allowed himself to enter into +closer relations of friendship and love than he had ever +done in the twenty-seven years of his life.</p> +<p>“I’m glad you’re here,” John said when he had recovered +from his surprise over this unusual demonstration +of affection. “We’re going to lift Elizabeth out into a +chair for the first time to-day. She’ll be glad you’ve come +too.”</p> +<p>“How is she? You didn’t say much about her in your +last letter.”</p> +<p>“Wasn’t much to say,” John replied. “She’s better—that’s +the main thing. Come on into the sitting-room till +I can get her ready and get a quilt in the rocking chair.”</p> +<p>“Got a girl, I see!” Hugh remarked in a whisper as they +closed the door behind them.</p> +<p>“Yes, and a good one fortunately. Too much milk and +butter. I found that out when I got at it. No more +buttermaking in mine. I had the whole thing on my +hands for over a week. I turned half those cows out to +grass,” John said, bringing forward the chair for the +invalid.</p> +<p>“I was afraid the morning I left that she had too much +to do with all those shellers on such short notice.”</p> +<p>Hugh stooped to pick up the baby. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_423' name='page_423'></a>423</span></p> +<p>“How are you, partner?” he cried, swinging the delighted +child up to the ceiling. Jack was wild with joy. +Hugh stood with legs wide apart and cuddled the baby to +him for a squeeze. This was part of the homecoming too. +He was still hugging Jack tenderly when John beckoned +from the bedroom door.</p> +<p>Hugh drew the rocking chair into the bedroom and +then stopped to stare at the wasted figure wrapped in a +quilt who had to be supported while he adjusted it.</p> +<p>“John! You didn’t tell me she was like this!”</p> +<p>He took the thin hands in his, both of them, just as he +had done John’s a moment before, and was moved almost +to tears by the pallid face. Elizabeth’s brown eyes had +fallen back into her bony, sharp-lined head, and her nose +was thin and drawn.</p> +<p>“Words fail me, Mrs. Hunter,” he said feelingly.</p> +<p>But though words failed to express Hugh Noland’s +sympathy his eyes did not, and the girl, who had not had +an hour’s sympathetic companionship since he had been +gone, caught the fact and was cheered by it.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland was vital and invigorating. Elizabeth +listened to his account of the adventures in Mitchell +County. He was a good story-teller and his incidents +were well selected. She was too weak to sit up a whole +hour and was carried tenderly back to her bed, where the +family life centred now that she was becoming able to +stand the noise and confusion of it.</p> +<p>During the days which followed, Hugh, at John’s suggestion, +brought his books and read aloud to them in that +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_424' name='page_424'></a>424</span> +little bedroom in the warm spring evenings, and life in the +Hunter house took on a brighter complexion than it had +ever before assumed.</p> +<p>John, who had been sleeping in Hugh’s room since +Elizabeth’s serious illness, returned to his own bed. He +looked about him for Jack the first night and asked where +he was.</p> +<p>“I sent him up to Hepsie’s room,” Elizabeth said +quietly.</p> +<p>“To sleep!”</p> +<p>“Yes.”</p> +<p>“The children in the Hunter family are not put into +the servants’ beds,” John Hunter replied. The unexplained +statement was offensive to a man accustomed to +being consulted.</p> +<p>To punish her John went to sleep without giving her the +usual good-night kiss.</p> +<p>“He’d have been cross, anyhow,” was all the thought +she gave that part of the circumstance. Could John +Hunter have known that the absence of that kiss was a +relief, and that he made of his presence sometimes an +intolerable nightmare, he might have saved for himself a +corner in her tired heart against the days to come. John’s +zeal and passion had gone into the pursuit of their courtship +days. Now they were married, possession was a fact: +Elizabeth was his wife.</p> +<p>Elizabeth understood that John was whimsical and +tyrannical, but not intentionally evil, but in spite of the +fact that she had John’s character summed up and understood +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_425' name='page_425'></a>425</span> +that much that he did was not deliberately intended +to do her injury, that little of it was in fact, she felt a +growing disinclination for his presence. The unloved, +undesired child which she had lost was a warning guidepost +pointing its finger away from a continuance of +marital relations. No conditions could make it right for +her to have another child till love again existed between +them. She saw that nothing could excuse or make decent +the child of wornout conditions; nothing but affection +made marriage worthy, and when that affection had +departed from a man and woman, to thrust life upon a +child was a crime against that child, a crime against nature +and a crime against themselves and society; yet, what +could she do? Her health was broken, and she without +means of support. After Aunt Susan’s death the girl had +seriously considered separation; she still considered it, but +not seriously. Though she cried “Fool! fool!” many +times, she had given her youth, her health, her strength +to John Hunter, and her wages—food and clothing—she +must accept.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XX_THE_CREAMJARS_OF_HER_LIFE' id='XX_THE_CREAMJARS_OF_HER_LIFE'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_426' name='page_426'></a>426</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2> +<h3>THE CREAM-JARS OF HER LIFE</h3> +</div> + +<p>While Elizabeth progressed toward health the +work on the Hunter farm progressed also. Because +of taking the cattle to Mitchell County it +was possible to get in a greater acreage of small grain and +corn. Patsie had a small colt at her side, as did her mate +also, and there was an extra man needed in the field most +of the time, but after repeated consultations it was +decided that by using care the teams they had would be +able to plow the corn, and that they could hire help for the +harvesting cheaper than they could buy another pair of +horses.</p> +<p>However, in spite of the discussions which were supposed +to have settled the matter, John came home from +Colebyville one Saturday with a new team.</p> +<p>“What do you think of them?” he asked Hugh, +who opened the gate to let him into the barnyard. +“I just made up my mind that it wasn’t economy +to push the horses we had so hard. I got them at a +bargain.”</p> +<p>“You’ve bought them, you say?”</p> +<p>“Yes,” was the brief answer.</p> +<p>“I’d take them back,” Hugh said slowly but decidedly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_427' name='page_427'></a>427</span> +“Horses and dogs talk with their tails, and I don’t like the +way this one acts.”</p> +<p>“I can’t take them back. I got them from a mover. I +got them for a song, and we’re going to need them for the +binder. I know what we said,” he went on, interrupting +Hugh, who was trying to speak, “but there was a bargain +in them and we do need them.”</p> +<p>“But we haven’t the money! How did you buy them? +You couldn’t pay for them outright.”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland had been feeling his way down the foreleg +of the horse nearest him. The animal was nervous and +had crowded over against its mate in an endeavour to get +away. Both its ears were laid back, and there was a half-threatening +air about its movements. As Hugh straightened +up to continue the discussion of finances, it jumped +aside, quivering with fright.</p> +<p>“I gave a check on the bank,” John replied uneasily. +Hugh had never criticised him before.</p> +<p>Hugh was taken up with soothing the nervous animal +for a moment.</p> +<p>“You’ll run out of money before the summer’s over,” +he said warningly.</p> +<p>“Oh, I’ve had to borrow a little already. With +Elizabeth’s illness and all, I saw we weren’t going to get +through, so I just took out a loan of five hundred and paid +Doc Morgan while I was at it. I meant to have told you. +I’ve got some calves coming from over west to-morrow +too.” John poured it all out while he was at it, with a +relief in having it over. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_428' name='page_428'></a>428</span></p> +<p>There was a pause. When Hugh Noland again spoke +it was with a distinct note of firmness and almost of +authority.</p> +<p>“The plain understanding in our partnership—the one +I laid the most stress upon to start with—was that there +should be no debts. I’m willing that you should be free +to select a team; it isn’t that. Did you borrow this money +in the firm’s name?”</p> +<p>“Yes-s-s. I didn’t think you’d care about a little sum +like that,” John said slowly. He was very uncomfortable. +“I turned my personal note in on the account book for the +doctor’s bill. You can see it on the book.”</p> +<p>“I don’t doubt at all but that you did, John. You’re +not called into question, old boy, on any other matter than +the one of debts, but You’ll never put this firm five cents in +debt without coming to an instant understanding. I came +to this country to get well. I won’t get well, but I won’t +allow myself to get into anything that will run me down +quicker with worry. You knew it before you went in with +me—and you agreed.”</p> +<p>That was the final word John Hunter felt as he tied the +skittish brute he had just purchased in the stall beside the +door, and turned to put the hay down from the loft above. +The sound of plunging feet and snorts of wild terror when +the hay fell into the manger turned his mind to the probable +truth of Hugh’s opinion of the lately purchased horses.</p> +<p>“I wonder if the blamed brutes are going to be too +maggoty for our use after all,” he thought. “It’d be just +my luck. He was fair about it though,” John admitted +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_429' name='page_429'></a>429</span> +reluctantly. “Oh, well, after all, he’s worth having +around, and I’m going to do a deal better than I would if +he hadn’t come along. Elizabeth was right—I did get +in too deep.” And with this astonishing admission, John +Hunter finished haying the horses and walked slowly to +the house, thinking about the new horses, and half prepared +to admit that he had made a mistake in buying +them outright from a man who was able to get away before +they could be proven, but Elizabeth and Hugh were +already sitting by the table in the living room and he +knew he was wanted. He went to the bedroom to wash +his hands—John could not form the habit of washing in +the kitchen as other farmers did—and as he washed, +meditated, and as he meditated he found himself ready +to accept this reproof from Hugh Noland, ready to live up +to agreements if Hugh imposed them, ready to listen to +Hugh and love him. Something in Hugh Noland was so +fundamentally square that the principle of squareness +took on a new meaning to John Hunter.</p> +<p>“Here you are! You’re the one that’s insisted on these +readings most, and you’re always late,” Hugh cried as +John came from the bedroom, fresh and well groomed as if +he had not done barn chores a few minutes before.</p> +<p>The reading was part of John Hunter’s play world. +John was not a man of scholarly tastes, but reading, like +the use of the hairbrush he had just laid down, was good +form: they were both part of the world to which John +wished to belong. A book might or might not relate to +that world, but it was a book and seemed to do so, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_430' name='page_430'></a>430</span> +while John Hunter might or might not get much intellectual +advancement out of a book, he got advancement +out of sitting in Hugh Noland’s presence and opening his +heart to the love and respect Hugh commanded from him. +John did not close himself off from Hugh’s influence as he +did from Elizabeth’s, and the things he refused to take +from her he adopted and readily set into action at Hugh’s +suggestion.</p> +<p>It was destined to be the last night in which John was to +be permitted the comfort of this new feature of home life, +however. As they were gathered about the breakfast +table a man rode into the lane and called John Hunter to +the door without getting off his horse.</p> +<p>“Doc Morgan was goin’ past my house this mornin’ an’ +asked me if I’d bring this over t’ you. ’E said it came +after you left town, an’ th’ agent didn’t know how t’ git +over t’ you ’thout he was comin’ this way this mornin’. +Hope it ain’t no bad news.”</p> +<p>He waited to see John tear open the envelope and read +the telegram.</p> +<p>“My mother’s sick,” was John’s hurried statement as +he turned toward the house.</p> +<p>Hugh drove John Hunter to the station. The sun was +hot and he had read till nearly midnight the night before, +and, busy season though it was, he thought it best not to +start home till toward night. Doctor Morgan had returned +home and Hugh, as was his custom, went to the +office for a chat. It was one of the chief delights of both +to have an hour together. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_431' name='page_431'></a>431</span></p> +<p>“Do they get along well together—Hunter and his +wife?” Doctor Morgan asked after he had taken Hugh’s +health into account.</p> +<p>“You’d think so if you’d heard the directions I received +for her care just now,” Hugh answered with a laugh.</p> +<p>“Well, I don’t care—I couldn’t make him understand +about her when she was sick. He let that squalling brat +crawl over her, and let her do baking and things she wasn’t +fit to do till she was worn out,” the old doctor said resentfully. +Then added as an afterthought, “Say! You’re +not letting him run you into debt, are you?”</p> +<p>“No debts in mine. There’s one note and It’ll be +cleared up as soon as the small grain can be disposed of. +I put the clamps on that as soon as I heard of it. It won’t +happen again. I think his wife was about as glad of the +end of the credit business as any of us,” Hugh said, and +then added with a laugh: “I think you’re mistaken about +his treatment of her, though. You should have heard the +directions he gave me about her as the train was about to +pull out; you’d have thought she was his favourite child +and that I was going to neglect her.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan snorted contemptuously.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, I know him. Hunter loves to give directions +to anything from a puppy dog to a preacher. That’s +what’s the matter with her. He directs <i>her</i> all the time +as if she didn’t have sense enough to cook hot water or +wash the baby. He ain’t any worse than a lot of men I +know of, but you expect more of a man that’s half-educated. +I tell you, Noland, the trouble ’s in this business of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_432' name='page_432'></a>432</span> +men owning women. I’ve practised in these parts ever +since this country’s been opened, and I see a good deal of +husbands—and they’re a bad lot.”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland watched the old doctor with a twinkle in +his eye.</p> +<p>“You aren’t going to give us men all a knock, are you?” +he said amusedly.</p> +<p>“I’m not saying anybody’s bad,” Doctor Morgan said, +following out his own reasonings. “The trouble ’s in men +owning everything. Theoretically, a woman shares in the +property, and of course she does if she gets a divorce, but +as long as she lives with him he’s the one that has the +money and she has to ask for it if she has ever so little. +You take Mrs. Hunter: she don’t spend a cent he don’t +oversee and comment on; she’s dependent on that man +for every bite she eats and for every stitch she wears +and he interferes with every blessed thing she does. Give +that woman some money of her own, Noland, and +where’d she be? John Hunter ’d treat her as an equal +in a minute; he’d know she could quit, and he’d come +to terms.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan swung the stethoscope with which he +had been listening to Hugh’s heart, and proceeded without +waiting for Hugh to speak.</p> +<p>“Oh, we doctors see a side of women’s lives you other +men don’t know anything about. We see them suffer, +and we know that the medicine we give them is all knocked +out by the doings of the men they live with, and we can’t +raise our hands to stop the thing at the bottom of it all. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_433' name='page_433'></a>433</span> +Why, that woman’s just lost a child I know she was glad +to lose, and—oh, don’t misunderstand me! She never +told me she was glad she lost it, but how in God’s name +could she be otherwise? She couldn’t do all he required +of her without it. She had butter to make, and shellers to +cook for, and then the damned fool ’d shove that heavy +baby on her—and he actually talked to me about her +being cross!”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland was beginning to feel that living in a +man’s house did not constitute a knowledge of him, and +yet there were the things he himself had seen and heard.</p> +<p>“But, he’s looking after her now as if she were a baby +herself,” he protested. “He urged me to look after her, +and see that she didn’t have to lift Jack yet for a while, +and to humour the hired girl for fear they’d lose her, and +he even insisted that I keep up the reading aloud that +I’ve been doing for them.”</p> +<p>“I don’t doubt that,” the old doctor said, a bit nettled. +“He’s not all bad. He’s a right good fellow—that’s the +very point I’m trying to make. It’s because he <i>owns</i> her +and thinks he has a right to run her affairs—that’s the +trouble at the bottom of the whole thing. Now that she’s +sick he’ll see that she don’t have to lift the baby. If she +owned herself she could stop lifting the baby before she +got sick; a man can’t tell when a woman feels like working +and when she don’t. What I want to say is, that a man +browbeats a woman because she hasn’t any money and +can’t help herself. Give a woman a home of her own that +he couldn’t touch, and then give her an income fit to raise +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_434' name='page_434'></a>434</span> +her children, and he’d come into that house and behave, or +he’d be sent out again, and she wouldn’t age ten years in +three, nor be dragged down to the hell of nagging to protect +herself against him. I tell you, Noland, Kansas +would be a stronger state right now, and a damned sight +stronger state twenty years from now, if the women owned +and run half of its affairs at least.” Doctor Morgan +ended quite out of breath.</p> +<p>“I guess you’re right, doctor, but I’ve got to get some +barb wire loaded to take home, and you’ve preached the +regulation hour and a half,” Hugh said. He was living +in the Hunter home, and he really loved both John Hunter +and his wife, and honour demanded that he should +not gossip about them.</p> +<p>“Right you are, my boy. And I see your point too; I’ve +no business to talk professional secrets even to you.” He +laid his arm affectionately across the younger man’s +shoulder and squared him around so that he could look +into his face. “This is only a side of life I battle with in +almost every home I go into. I’m almost glad you can’t +marry; It’ll leave you where I can respect you. Think of +a woman having a child she don’t want! and think of a +man respecting himself afterward! It destroys a woman’s +body, but the men—well, it’s the most damnable, soul-destroying +thing in a man’s life; he’s lost and don’t even +know it. Run along,” he said after a pause, “or I’ll hold +forth for another hour in an unprofessional way. It +makes me swear to see a pretty girl made old before she’s +twenty-five.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_435' name='page_435'></a>435</span></p> +<p>But Elizabeth Hunter was not to be an old woman +before she was twenty-five, for Elizabeth had Hepsie in +the kitchen, she had learned to protect herself by refusing +to be oppressed about the work she did do, and the weeks +of rest that followed John’s going were filled with the +things which rested and restored her. It was not long +till she was as attractive as she had ever been in all the +years of her girlhood. Elizabeth was barely twenty-three, +and there was a good constitution back of her which +rest could set right; she was one of nature’s favourites to +whom colour and spirits return quickly. Every charm +of person she had was enhanced by her present surroundings, +for the brightness and freedom which came from +John’s absence were the crowning things needed to complete +her recovery.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland read to Elizabeth nightly, and in the +daytime her comfort was his first thought. The work of +cooking for those shellers had been his work as much as +John’s, but it had all fallen on her, fallen, according to +Doctor Morgan, at a time when a man shielded even the +mare in his harness from overwork. As he watched the +colour come back to the girl’s face day by day he recognized +that the miracle was brought about by rest. In the +return of Elizabeth’s beauty there was a new element +which Hugh Noland saw but did not recognize as new: to +the roundness of girlhood was added the strength and +experience of womanhood, to the mere physical charm of +youth the maturity and poise of the woman who has +fought, if not conquered, self. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_436' name='page_436'></a>436</span></p> +<p>John had set the example of late hours, and the two +read throughout the long, early summer evenings quite as +much from habit as from inclination. It had been the +established custom of the house for so long that Hepsie +and the hired man accepted it as a matter of course. +The men saw little of it because one of the first things +Hugh had done when he had returned from Mitchell +County had been to partition off a room in the well-built +barn for the accommodation of the men. Jake, who +loved Elizabeth with a dog-like fidelity, came and went +about the house more freely than the rest, and saw the +two seated about the sitting-room lamp, and was as glad +as if he had had a place among them.</p> +<p>“It’s hers, God bless ’er!” he had said the night after +John’s departure, “an’ I’m mighty glad she’s got it. +She ain’t had much t’ make ’er glad since I’ve been around +these diggin’s.”</p> +<p>Those were evenings never to be forgotten. As Hugh +read, Elizabeth listened with the open-mouthed joy of +girlhood, but the substance of what they read was viewed +from the standpoint of a woman. Hugh found the girl’s +mind keen and alert. They began to turn to the classics, +and Hugh Noland, whose profession it had been to teach, +was surprised and delighted with the aptitude and viewpoints +of his pupil. Elizabeth pursued literature with +her usual thoroughgoing absorption; the dictionary was +brought out and laid upon the table, and with it she spent +long hours when Hugh was in the field.</p> +<p>The second week in June, Hugh Noland was brought to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_437' name='page_437'></a>437</span> +a sudden stop in the delicious holiday experience by a +remark of Elizabeth’s. The book had been finished earlier +than was usual for them to stop reading, and it had been +decided that it was too late to begin another that night. +Hugh was not ready to go to bed, and sat watching her as +she straightened up the littered table. A book of poems +they had once read fell open and the girl picked it up and +began to read to herself. In a moment she was literally +engulfed in it, and he watched her deep abstraction in full +sympathy with the mood it represented. Presently she +began to read aloud.</p> +<p>Elizabeth read on and on, and Hugh dropped back into +his chair and listened, studying her as she stood before +him reading so intently that she forgot that she stood. +When the end was reached she dropped the book on the +table with a rapturous indrawn breath.</p> +<p>“I never knew what real happiness was before,” she +said. “I wonder if they read in heaven?”</p> +<p>“They’d have to let us read in our heaven or it wouldn’t +be heaven,” Hugh Noland replied.</p> +<p>With the words still in his mouth he realized what he +had said. The serpent had invaded their paradise: +henceforth they would wander outside of its confines. +With a self-conscious flush, he shifted the eyes into which +she was looking, and arose to say good-night.</p> +<p>Although she did not understand it, Elizabeth also +turned hastily away; Hugh Noland’s embarrassment communicated +itself to her. Her confusion puzzled her. +Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was near midnight; +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_438' name='page_438'></a>438</span> +she had read longer than she had thought. In her surprised +consideration of what Hepsie would think if she +should hear Hugh pass her door at that hour, she got the +first burst of light on the subject. Until now she had +gone along night after night reading with Hugh Noland, +absorbed in the books, and without any sort of attitude +toward the man except that of good-fellowship, but now +she stood revealed to herself and was covered with shame. +That Hugh might be in love with her did not occur to +her, but that he knew that she had feelings out of keeping +with her vows of marriage she felt certain, and with her +usual intensity Elizabeth went over the mark in her +shame and contrition.</p> +<p>“What must he have thought I meant? What must +he think of me as a woman? Worse yet, what must he +think of me as a wife?” she asked herself, and each question +left her more bitterly humiliated, more self-distrusting, +more unhappy.</p> +<p>They were to learn, however, that three months of continual +association over the books had formed a habit not +easily laid aside. To the habit of intellectual companionship +had been added the joy of close and reciprocated +affection, and the sudden breaking off of this daily communication +left both of them, especially Hugh, in a condition +of almost tragic loneliness, but honest of heart and +true of purpose, both avoided further readings.</p> +<p>The nights were hot now; “good corn weather,” Jake +called it, and the time had come to “lay by” the early +planting. John’s absence had retarded the plowing, for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_439' name='page_439'></a>439</span> +try as he would the chores kept Hugh late in the morning +and had compelled him to quit early at night. It had not +been his intention to take the place of an active field +worker, but the season had come on so rapidly that the +weeds threatened to get the better of the hired men, and +though it was all to learn over again, Hugh had gone out +with the intention of doing good work and had succeeded, +to Jake’s astonishment and great admiration. It served +Hugh’s plans at this point to put in the long hours away +from the house, knowing that otherwise he would fall +back into the old life of the book at once. At first the +heavy cultivator handles absorbed his time and thought, +for it was fifteen years since Hugh Noland had cultivated +corn, but when the work became more mechanical his +mind wandered back to forbidden ground and the days +were harder than any he had ever known.</p> +<p>One frightfully hot day, near the end of the plowing of +the first field, which lay near the house, Hugh found it +necessary to rest the horses frequently. With each period +of rest his thoughts returned to Elizabeth with new force +and longing; his mind worked continually on the reading +matter they had gone over, and constantly he wanted to +elaborate or discuss some subject left unfinished. It was +the devil with which he had to wrestle. Also, she showed +the strain of disappointment when he met her at meals, +and he found himself struggling with Doctor Morgan’s +observations on her health, her husband, and her happiness. +As far as John was concerned, he thought the old +doctor was mistaken, and be it remembered, Hugh Noland +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_440' name='page_440'></a>440</span> +had a genuine liking for John Hunter. That liking added +to the seriousness of his situation in John Hunter’s home.</p> +<p>He mopped his perspiring brow, while little wet lines +showed in the creases of his sleeves and across the back of +his thin summer shirt. The fierce heat parched his mouth +and his whole burning body called for a drink. Tying his +team to a post an hour after noon he vaulted over the +fence and walked to the creek, picking his way down to the +narrow stream. The heat of summer was drying the +brook up rapidly; already there was but a tiny rivulet, +but such as was left curled and trickled between grassy +banks in a manner to attract the eye of a thirsty man. +Hugh knelt on a hummock with his hand on the opposite +bank and drank as only the man who plows corn on a hot +June day can. As he stood up he paused with his handkerchief +halfway to his face and listened, while the water +dripped from nose and chin unheeded. The continuous +tones of a voice reading aloud reached him. It was such +a curious place to encounter such a phenomenon that he +listened intently for a moment.</p> +<p>“Elizabeth!” he whispered.</p> +<p>Every pulse in Hugh Noland’s body pounded suddenly. +On the first impulse he was away in her direction, walking +rapidly and without effort at concealment. Without taking +time to think, without knowing or caring whether it +were wise, he walked as straight toward the spot as the +laden bee to the hive.</p> +<p>Hugh’s coming fell upon Elizabeth suddenly, but the +perfect naturalness of her joy put him at his ease. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_441' name='page_441'></a>441</span></p> +<p>“I heard you reading,” he said simply. “What are you +working on now?”</p> +<p>He threw himself down on the grass beside the willow +trunk on which she was seated and held out his hand for +the book. After running his eye over the page he handed +it back to her with the request that she read on. The heat +of the summer day shimmered along the horizon outside, +but here in the cool shade of the willows the delicious +afternoon air lulled his senses and made of the spot a paradise +of comfort and contentment. The girl was the +embodiment of everything sweet and womanly to him, +and the joy of the moment, bringing added colour to her +cheeks, made the utmost contrast imaginable to the dust +and drudgery of the afternoon in the corn rows.</p> +<p>Hugh’s coming had been so obviously voluntary and +joyous that the fear she had entertained, that he would +think ill of her as John Hunter’s wife, was set at rest. +The old confidence, sympathy, and companionship were +retendered, and the girl met it with her habitual openness. +She accepted the book from his hand and read as asked. +Hugh Noland watched her earnestly, and recalled the +things he had been told about her and her affairs. On +more than one occasion he had been told that she had been +neglected, and at the time had put the tale away as foolish +farm gossip, but Doctor Morgan was no fool, and his +gossip was usually not only true but had on this particular +occasion fallen out with vehemence and conviction. As +he looked at her he asked himself how any man could +neglect a woman of Elizabeth’s sincere qualities. She was +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_442' name='page_442'></a>442</span> +so true that the only indication that he had ever received +of even a slight difference of opinion with her husband had +been the accidental one regarding debts. He remembered +a remark of Sadie Hansen’s to the effect that John Hunter +never took his wife anywhere, and he remembered that in +the four months he had been in the house he had never +heard him offer to do so, and then Hugh Noland remembered +that he had no right to think about it at all. However, +his mind recurred to it in spite of all he could do, +and presently he was immersed in the old consideration. +Loyalty must be one of her qualities: four months he had +been in her house and she had never been taken anywhere +except to Nathan’s, where he himself had taken her, and +she had never remarked upon it, and she was but twenty-three!</p> +<p>“Twenty-three!” he said under his breath.</p> +<p>“What was it you said?” Elizabeth asked, looking up.</p> +<p>“Nothing,” he replied guiltily.</p> +<p>Elizabeth became conscious and embarrassed.</p> +<p>“I’ve kept you all afternoon!” she exclaimed, getting +suddenly to her feet.</p> +<p>“I wanted to be kept,” Hugh admitted slowly, rising +also. “It’s frightfully hot in the middle of the afternoon. +I’ll work late, and milk after dark.”</p> +<p>“I’ll bring up the cows and do the milking,” she volunteered.</p> +<p>“Let me see you!” he protested, and went to his work +again.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland had never even guessed that he would +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_443' name='page_443'></a>443</span> +walk deliberately over and spend a whole afternoon with +a woman he had no right to love after becoming aware +that he was already in love with her. For the first time +he stood in the limelight of strong emotions and knew himself +for what he was, not only that he was a mere man, but +that he was a man who was not showing the proper control +over feelings and emotions which thousands of men and +women alike controlled every day. He worked his problem +over as he worked the mellow soil about the corn +roots and made himself late, but with contradictory impulses +hurried the milking when he did get at it so as to +get down to the book again.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had taken time to think out her side of their +position, and told herself that she hoped that Hugh would +not offer to read to-night, but as the time approached she +trimmed the lamp and arranged the books on the sitting-room +table with a slight sense of worry for fear he would +not come, and conscious that the evening was going fast. +It was late when they began, and correspondingly late +when they finished the reading that night.</p> +<p>The next night Hugh sat on the upturned manure cart +talking to the men till he saw Elizabeth put out the light +in the sitting room, and then, in spite of the fact that he +had been strong enough to stay away, was sorry that he +had not had one more night’s reading with her before John +came home. John was coming in the morning, and Hugh +was to meet him, and Hugh Noland did not like himself, +nor the position he would be in when he thought of greeting +John Hunter as a friend. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_444' name='page_444'></a>444</span></p> +<p>The better to think things out and decide what he would +do, Hugh sat down on the doorstep and did not go in. +The night was perfect. There was a full moon and the +soft breeze was a delicious reminder of the coolness of the +leafy bower among the willows where he had spent the +afternoon with Elizabeth. There was to be no more of +Elizabeth for him, God bless her! Elizabeth was a wife +and honour demanded that not even a glance of affection +pass between them. This Hugh Noland believed, and +yet when they were together their little embarrassments +cried their love aloud, and neither could mentally avoid +the issue. Each had known that the other had resolved +and suffered and fallen into the temptation of the reading. +The book was becoming a delicious torment. He could +not stay in that house. Plainly, it was going to be necessary +for him to go away. The business demanded his +attention, and he decided to go to Mitchell County. At +that point Hugh stopped in his calculations to consider +how things would run at this end of the line if he did so.</p> +<p>In summing the business up, Hugh summed up his impression +of John Hunter along with it, and found himself +reluctant to go away and leave everything in his hands. +John was industrious and tidy about his work. Dear old +John! He had come very near Hugh’s heart in the short +time they had been together. The daily consideration of +possible death had mellowed Hugh Noland’s naturally +fine nature, and given him the tenderness of attitude and +thought that the sublime and inevitable impose upon those +who live in its shadow. Actions considered as final are +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_445' name='page_445'></a>445</span> +warmer and less likely to be inconsiderate than those where +there is a feeling of indefinite time to correct mistakes. +Hugh sat now and let his heart run out to John with all +the love of a more than usually affectionate nature. In +his heart he wanted John back home, and yet it made him +uneasy. There was a peculiar sense of being a traitor as +he considered the meeting with this man who had trusted +his home in his hands. In regard to the business, he, +Hugh, would have to let things take their own course. +All he had on earth was in this farm now, but he would get +away as soon as he could possibly do so; he would sacrifice +that much to the man whose home he had entered. Hugh +knew to a nicety how necessary it would be for his interests +in a business way to be here on the ground and keep +John Hunter from going into debt. Hugh had his own +judgment, neighbourhood gossip, and Doctor Morgan’s +plain instructions on that point, but was resolved to go if +he lost all that he had in so doing. “Well, at any rate, he +can’t mortgage anything without consulting me, and I’ll +get as much of the stock out there as I can after next +year—that is, if there is any next year for me,” he said, +as he got up to go to bed long after midnight.</p> +<p>The morning of John’s return Elizabeth asked Hugh +to take her as far as Nathan’s on his way in to town. +Hugh had not sat on the step till midnight the night before +to let himself fall into temptation the first thing in the +morning, and suggested that since the shafts of the buggy +were mended that she drive over to Nathan’s alone, giving +as his reason that he might be unable to come back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_446' name='page_446'></a>446</span> +promptly. The girl fell into his plan so readily that +Hugh in his contradictory frame of mind wondered about +it and was half hurt. As he hitched Patsie into the shafts, +however, he reasoned it out that Elizabeth Hunter was +probably making the same fight that he was making. He +tied the mare in the side lane and left her there without +going to the house as usual to help with Jack. If she were +fighting for her own esteem, as he was doing, Hugh resolved +not to be the cause of temptation; it made him feel +a little better about meeting John. Could he have known, +as Elizabeth did, that it was the first time since her marriage +that she had had the privilege of driving alone +and that the precedent once established would settle the +possibility of demanding a horse whenever she wanted it, +it would have put a different complexion on the matter.</p> +<p>In order for Elizabeth to use the buggy, however, Hugh +was obliged to drive the strange team. Jake had been +using them since John’s absence, but had come in from the +field the night before with the announcement that he did +not intend “to risk his neck with them broncos any +more.” Before Hugh got to Colebyville he was thoroughly +displeased with them, and spoke of his dislike of +them to John on the way home.</p> +<p>“A few days on the harvester ’ll fix them,” John +replied.</p> +<p>“Well, they’re acting better than they did on the way +in. They’re hot and tired, and maybe the harvester will +do it, but they’re a bad lot,” Hugh replied wearily. “I +feel that I’ve got to get away to Mitchell County. The +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_447' name='page_447'></a>447</span> +cattle have been on my mind for days. You’ll have +this team on your hands, for none of the men but Jake +would try to use them, and he told me last night he’d used +them for the last time.”</p> +<p>“Aren’t you well, Hugh?” John Hunter asked with +such concern that Hugh was covered with humiliation and +shame.</p> +<p>“Oh, yes-s-s. But you can run the place and I’m not +hanging out like I thought I could—and I like it down +there; it’s more like the life I’ve been ordered to lead.”</p> +<p>“Wait till the rye has been cut. Did you say Silas +wanted us to cut his too?” John Hunter asked.</p> +<p>“Yes. He stopped me as I drove over this morning. +The boys will lay the early corn by to-day; we can get the +binder out to-morrow and see that it is ready by the day +after. We might have been through with the corn to-day, +but I’ve been lazy of late. I knocked off and rested and +read most of the hot part of yesterday afternoon,” Hugh +replied slowly. He wished in his heart that he could tell +all.</p> +<p>“That’s the thing to do. I’m not going to have you +going down to Mitchell County while it’s so hot. You’ll +lay around the house and read, that’s what You’ll do, and +I’ll run this farm for a while.”</p> +<p>The thought of that took Hugh Noland’s breath. That +was what he was running away from, but he could think of +no reason but his health, and dropped the subject to get +away from it.</p> +<p>John Hunter asked questions about every feature of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_448' name='page_448'></a>448</span> +farm work, and as he asked watched Hugh’s face, looking +anxiously for signs of breaking health. Under no conditions +would he let Hugh get sick. Hugh had been the +happiest circumstance of this farming experience. There +was a discouraged note in Hugh’s voice that John did not +like.</p> +<p>“Did you see Morgan to-day?” he asked after he had +had all the farm work explained to him.</p> +<p>“Oh, now, don’t you get to worrying because I happen +to mention my health. Yes, I saw Morgan, and he +agreed with me that the other place would be better for +me. I can run that and you can run this, and with care +we ought to make some money pretty soon.”</p> +<p>“But that takes you away from us and—and we want +you here!” John exclaimed with such fervour that Hugh +winced under it.</p> +<p>Hugh smiled so sadly back at the eager, boyish face +turned to his that John was more than ever sure he was +ill. His hand shot out to him with an almost womanish +sympathy.</p> +<p>“We’ll see to it that you’re kept busy where you belong, +and the work won’t wear you out either, my boy,” he said.</p> +<p>Hugh saw that he was getting deeper in at every word +he uttered and went back to a discussion of the farm +work.</p> +<p>Elizabeth waited intentionally till she saw the men pass +Nathan’s house before she started home. Try as she +would, she did not yearn for her husband’s return. Life +was short, her youth was going fast, and her fear of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_449' name='page_449'></a>449</span> +faded life grew as she looked forward to an old age spent +with John Hunter after Hugh’s departure. Hugh must +go, there was no question about that. He had told her +night before last that he thought of it; had spoken of it +incidentally enough, but in such wise that the girl knew +why he was going. She had felt at the time that Hugh +listened for her reply, but there was none she could make, +and her silence added the final word to his decision. +Elizabeth knew that it was the only honourable course; +she consented to it in her mind, and yet, as she looked +ahead to a time when she could not have him to take +shelter behind with the cream jars of her life, she was +sick at what she must face. Even to-day she hoped +that he would be present when she drove Patsie into the +yard.</p> +<p>Fortune favoured Elizabeth in getting home with the +horse and buggy. John had said that he was going to the +pasture to look over the stock, and when Hugh saw +Elizabeth drive through the gate they had left open, there +was nothing for him to do but go forward to take her +horse. John had seen her coming and had come back +from the pasture gate, and the three met.</p> +<p>“See how brave I have become in your absence,” she +said.</p> +<p>“Well, I guess you’ve driven horses as long as I have,” +John Hunter replied happily, and kissed the astonished +wife and the child in her arms with such real pleasure in +returning to them that it was good to meet him after all.</p> +<p>“If he’d always be like that,” Elizabeth thought wistfully, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_450' name='page_450'></a>450</span> +and Hugh Noland felt more like a criminal in the +presence of that kiss than he had ever done in his life.</p> +<p>“Here, I’ll tie Patsie up after I give her a drink. You +go in with Elizabeth and I’ll follow as soon as its done,” +John said to Hugh, and turning to Elizabeth said, “You +haven’t taken very good care of him since I’ve been away, +dear. Go on in and get a book and I’ll listen for an hour +before I go to the pasture.”</p> +<p>“I’ll do no such thing. I’ll go to that pasture with you—that’s +what I’ll do. I’m not sick. Rats! Elizabeth +knows I——”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland stopped short, “I beg your pardon, Mrs. +Hunter,” he added confusedly.</p> +<p>“I don’t know why you shouldn’t call me by my first +name; I do you,” Elizabeth answered, glad in spite of +herself.</p> +<p>Hugh went away with John, and Elizabeth had a long +time to think about it. It was the first time Hugh had +ever dropped into the least familiarity in addressing her, +and no amount of reasoning could keep her from feeling a +thrill of pleasure over it. She did not approve of herself, +but the thrill was there. She hated herself, but the thrill +remained. She wondered bitterly if she would ever be +able to approve of herself again; every turn of life’s wheel +brought out some new and hitherto unsuspected characteristic, +and try as she would she could not make herself +do as her code of morals demanded that she should. She +thought of her various friends; none of them had ever +been guilty of the things Elizabeth found herself culpable +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_451' name='page_451'></a>451</span> +of. Sadie had rebelled against her first child, but when +shown the consequences had cheerfully applied the lesson, +while she, Elizabeth, had been unable to put into practice +later the very precepts she had so glibly given her neighbour. +None of her friends had ever committed the +folly of falling in love with men who were not their +husbands.</p> +<p>Elizabeth would not stay for the reading that night, and +had a bad hour before she fell asleep. Her love for Hugh +looked even worse to her since John’s arrival than it had +done before. This new phase of her life was even less able +to command respect than any which had preceded it. +Why was she vexed with such unheard of temptations? +It did not comfort her to reason it out that this thing had +fallen upon her without any wish of hers, that the thrill +which had followed his use of her name was not a thing she +had deliberately fostered within herself; she demanded of +herself that she should not thrill at his voice, not knowing +that she demanded the impossible.</p> +<p>The rye was to be cut at Silas Chamberlain’s. John +suggested to Elizabeth that she had better go over to help +Liza Ann, since she was alone, saying that he would take +her over when he went. Hugh was to go with the machine. +Jake would drive the extra team over, and the +other two men would plow corn at home. A few minutes +before nine o’clock John announced that he was +ready. He had come in to carry Jack to the buggy +for her. John had gone away with the impressions +of Elizabeth’s illness still upon him, and looked out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_452' name='page_452'></a>452</span> +for her with the same care he had accorded her when +an invalid.</p> +<p>“How long?” he asked, dropping down on the foot of +the bed beside the machine upon which she had been +putting in the spare time.</p> +<p>“Just this one little seam; I’ll have it done then.”</p> +<p>She stooped over the machine to finish the seam quickly, +not liking to keep John waiting when he was already somewhat +late.</p> +<p>Jack slipped from his father’s lap, and fascinated by +the swiftly moving wheel on a level with his face, put out +a pudgy little forefinger to feel of it as it went around. +His mother saw it and stopped short with a little cry of +alarm.</p> +<p>“Don’t do that, Jack!” she said sharply. “It’ll take +your finger right off of your hand if you get it in there.”</p> +<p>Jack put his hand behind his little back, and stood in +round-eyed wonder watching the wheel as she started to +sew again.</p> +<p>John was getting restless and wanted to go.</p> +<p>“Aren’t you about——”</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked up at him as he started to speak, and +Jack’s finger shot out to the forbidden wheel on the instant. +Elizabeth saw it at a point when she could not +control the pedal with her foot. Mother love brought a +scream to her lips, and to save the child she gave him a +shove with her hand. Jack fell on the floor in a heap, +striking his head on the bedpost as he did so.</p> +<p>John had clutched at him ineffectually as he fell and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_453' name='page_453'></a>453</span> +caught him up as soon as he could get hold of him, turning +him over in his arms to see where he was hurt. The blood +spurted from the little nose, giving an appearance of serious +injury to the matter all out of proportion to the exact +nature of the damage sustained, but as usual, when +excited, John saw only surface indications.</p> +<p>“What does possess you when you’re cross?” he exclaimed +as he relinquished his hold on the baby, who, +however badly he might be hurt, was struggling to get to +his mother’s arms.</p> +<p>Elizabeth carried the screaming child to the kitchen to +bathe the bruised nose and apply a wet cloth to the nasty +blue ridge beginning to form where the little cheek had +encountered the bedpost.</p> +<p>“I never saw any one act like you do with a child,” +John said with his usual irritation.</p> +<p>“I didn’t intend to knock him over, but I couldn’t stop +my foot and I thought he’d get his little finger taken right +off before my very eyes.”</p> +<p>“Well, you shouldn’t go at him so rough. You always +treat him as if he were a block of wood.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s lips closed down tight, and to keep Jack +from hearing further criticisms of her management she +went back to the bedroom. When John was ready to go +he called to her from the lane, and she carried Jack to the +door instead of laying him down.</p> +<p>“Take Hepsie with you. Tell Mrs. Chamberlain that +I got ready to come. He’d probably be cross if I went +now. Hepsie’s in the potato patch,” Elizabeth said in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_454' name='page_454'></a>454</span> +a low voice, and went back so promptly that John could +not reply.</p> +<p>John took Hepsie with him, and explained to Liza Ann, +as Elizabeth requested, that she was unable to come because +Jack had hurt himself.</p> +<p>The day was dry and hot, and John Hunter consumed +water like a fish upon all occasions. The discovery that +the water-jugs had been left at home called for instant +action when he arrived in the field. Silas had put his +team on the binder and Patsie was free for use on just such +errands as this. The machine had just been driven up to +where Hugh could ask for water also. John crossed over +and laid his hand on the lines.</p> +<p>“Here, you take the horse and go for the water. I forgot +the jugs; You’ll have to go clear home after them.”</p> +<p>“Why don’t you do it?” Hugh asked.</p> +<p>John Hunter looked him over rather sharply and replied:</p> +<p>“Because I’m going to drive this binder to-day. I +don’t like your voice very well since I got home, Hugh.”</p> +<p>“You won’t hear very much more of it if I can get away +day after to-morrow,” Hugh replied, smiling at the turn +he had given to John’s sympathy.</p> +<p>John Hunter grinned back at him, but kept his hand +on the lines, and Hugh got down.</p> +<p>“You can’t start day after to-morrow, for we won’t get +this rye done, and you won’t start then, my boy, with +such a note in your voice as that. I’ve spoken to Jake +about it and he’ll go. I don’t propose to have you that +far away when you are not well—it ain’t what we want +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_455' name='page_455'></a>455</span> +you for. Go on and get that water,” he added when he +saw the expression of protest in Hugh’s face.</p> +<p>Hugh went without argument, but his determination +was as strong as ever. Instead of going around the road +he drove across the field to the fence between the two +places, and, tying Patsie, walked through the cornfield to +the pasture and on toward the house.</p> +<p>The hot sun blazed fiercely down on his thinly clad back, +and he noticed as he struggled through the tasselling corn +that the leaves were already firing about the roots. Rain +was essential, but he reflected that enough rain to do the +corn any good would ruin the small grain now ready to +cut. “Kansas luck,” he muttered as he crossed the deep +ridges thrown up by his own cultivator a few days before. +Not a breath of air was stirring, and by the time he had +reached the house he was hot and tired. Reflecting that +John had taken Elizabeth to Chamberlain’s, he decided +to rest before he started back with the heavy water-jugs. +He stopped in the kitchen for a drink and took a small +bottle out of his pocket.</p> +<p>“Two, I guess, this time,” he said as he poured the +tablets into his hand. He dropped his finger on the other +wrist a moment, and then swallowed both pellets.</p> +<p>Elizabeth heard him settle himself in a rocking chair +with a long-drawn breath of comfort. She was giving +Jack little pats to ease him off to sleep and the house was +very quiet. She decided to keep still and let him return +to the field without seeing her tear-stained face, but Jack +roused with a low whimpering cry which she felt sure +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_456' name='page_456'></a>456</span> +Hugh must have heard, and as soon as the child was asleep +she walked out without further effort at concealment.</p> +<p>At the noise of the opening door Hugh Noland sprang +to his feet in surprise; he had been half-asleep.</p> +<p>“Why, I didn’t know that you were here!” he exclaimed +when he saw that it was Elizabeth. “I thought you went +to Chamberlain’s.”</p> +<p>His eyes riveted themselves upon her swollen eyelids, +and when she stood embarrassed before him and did not +reply readily, conscious only of his searching gaze, he +misunderstood and added gravely:</p> +<p>“Elizabeth, there is something I must speak about. I +cannot have you worried over matters between us——”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter’s eyes ceased to be shy and troubled +and came up to his in such complete astonishment that he +broke off in confusion.</p> +<p>There was a pause for one short second, and then +Elizabeth spoke in nervous haste, and as if to ward off +something.</p> +<p>“I—I—I wasn’t crying about—that is, I hurt Jack +accidentally and—and John misunderstood.”</p> +<p>Even while the words were still in her mouth, she realized +by his expression that what she was saying sounded +like a complaint, as if she were exposing a difference +between herself and her husband, and that was the one +thing that under no circumstances had she ever done. +She made a frightened stop without ending the sentence.</p> +<p>As if to save his mother from needless embarrassment, +Jack slipped to the floor and came stumbling out on +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_457' name='page_457'></a>457</span> +sleepy legs, tired and cross, and rubbing his sweaty little +face with hot, sweaty little fists, and demanding his +mother’s attention. Elizabeth turned to him with a relief +beyond words.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland, who had always loved the child, was +never so glad to see him, and slipped away while he was +being soothed and petted out of his tears and discomfort. +Both Hugh and Elizabeth knew that but for Jack’s timely +interruption words would have escaped Hugh that they +both preferred should not be uttered. Both knew the +situation, but both saw that it would be easier, as well as +safer and more honourable, not to discuss it.</p> +<p>“I’ll not think any more about going away—I +wouldn’t do it if I had money,” she decided as she watched +Hugh return with his jug. “I married John Hunter in +good faith, and I’ll live with him in good faith and +straighten things out.” The thought of her love for +Hugh came up and she added, “I don’t care! I didn’t go +out to hunt up a love for him and I can’t help it if it has +come to me; but I hope he gets away to Mitchell County +day after to-morrow.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXI_BOUND_TO_THE_STAKE' id='XXI_BOUND_TO_THE_STAKE'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_458' name='page_458'></a>458</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2> +<h3>BOUND TO THE STAKE</h3> +</div> + +<p>The harvesting dragged out to the third day, and +Silas, who had a felon, could not give help when +John came to the point of cutting his own grain. +It was almost impossible to get help, for the reason that +the dry weather had hastened the reaping of all early +crops. It was decided that Elizabeth should drive back +and forth with the water, and John take a hand at the +shocking. This left Hugh on the machine, a thing John +disliked to do, but Hugh made no complaints and accepted +the post readily. Hugh had seen that he could +not refer to his health without endangering his chance of +getting away. John looked him over critically as he +mounted the binder, realizing fully that he was unfit to +ride in the hot sun all day.</p> +<p>“I’ll take his place this afternoon if the shocking never +gets done,” was his mental resolve as he turned to his own +share of the work.</p> +<p>The men had taken one jug of water with them, so that +it was not necessary for Elizabeth to go with a fresh one +till ten o’clock. She tied Patsie to the fence and, taking +Jack with her, crawled under and started across the field +to a point where she could meet the oncoming binder, so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_459' name='page_459'></a>459</span> +that Hugh could take the heavy jug on the machine +around to the other side of the field where the shockers +were. Jack’s short legs had hard work in the stubble, and +she kept a tight hold on him with one hand while she +carried the jug with the other.</p> +<p>Hugh saw them coming and called to her to wait till he +could come for the jug. Doctor Morgan had especially +cautioned against heavy lifting.</p> +<p>The new team which John had bought was hitched to +the pole of the harvester, and as he drew them up, a botfly +buzzed suddenly about the forelegs of the off-wheel +horse. The animal struck at it angrily with its foot, giving +a shrill snort. Its mate threw itself to the other side, +rattling the double-trees of the leaders against their heels. +There was a frightened spring on the part of one of the +horses in front, and at that the wild and half-broken +wheel horses began to plunge ahead.</p> +<p>Thoroughly frightened, the four horses became unmanageable +at once, and the one nearest the revolving reel +got its tail over the line, where it held firmly to it as it +reared and kicked. Almost before it was clear what had +happened, the horses were on a full run down the field, +with a barbed-wire fence ahead. Hugh could do but one +thing. He circled them about toward the outside of the +field by the one line he could control, while he frantically +jammed the lever down, which threw the machine out of +gear, but at the speed at which the machine was going +the lever would not act. The one line swung the horses +around in a short circle, and as the thoroughly alarmed +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_460' name='page_460'></a>460</span> +man raised his head he was horrified to find that Elizabeth, +encumbered with the jug, and so thoroughly frightened +that she held on to it and to Jack’s hand with equal tenacity, +was within the radius of the circle.</p> +<p>The baby, the mother, and the heavy water-jug were in +the centre of that narrowing ring, and the natural and +spontaneous thing to do was to run in the direction away +from the careening harvester. They ran, but only for a +few yards, for by the time they thought that they were +nearing a point of safety at the circumference of the circle, +the horses were nearing that point also, and to attempt to +cross it was suicidal.</p> +<p>“Go back!” shouted Hugh, his whole body breaking +into a cold sweat as the woman and child turned to run in +the opposite direction.</p> +<p>Had presence of mind been possible at that moment, +Elizabeth could have slipped quickly behind the binder +and passed outside the ring the charging animals were +making, but as it was, she simply ran blindly back once +more to another and more dangerous point inside their +lessening orbit. One more such run and both mother and +child would be exhausted.</p> +<p>With the cold sweat of terror breaking over him, Hugh +Noland slackened his hold on the line and flung himself +off the high seat to run to her assistance. As he jumped, +the horses of their own accord turned sharper yet, and the +bull-wheel, striking a badger hole, threw the machine +over sidewise and completely upside down. The wheel +horses, released by the coupling-pin falling from the main +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_461' name='page_461'></a>461</span> +clevis, kicked themselves loose from the other team and +tore madly across the uncut grain.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter escaped death by the overturning of +the heavy binder, but when she arrived at the twisted and +broken harvester, Hugh Noland lay pinned under the +wreckage, white and insensible.</p> +<p>It took but a few moments for the men, who had come +running at the first sounds of the commotion, to lift the +heavy machinery from the limp body and lay the wounded +man down under the shade of a large shock of rye. While +Luther bent to examine the senseless form, John rushed +one of the men frantically off for Doctor Morgan.</p> +<p>“No! Wait—I’ll go myself!” he called as the man +was driving away, and flinging himself into the buggy, +which Elizabeth had left at the fence, laid the whip on the +back of the frightened Patsie.</p> +<p>It was not till John was halfway to Colebyville that +Hugh Noland opened his eyes. Luther was stooping over +him, bathing his face with water from the jug which Elizabeth +had so unconsciously provided. The girl also knelt +at his side rendering such assistance as was in her power, +and when Hugh actually showed signs of being alive she +buried her face in her hands and sobbed with an abandon +which Luther Hansen could not mistake. The hired men +had gone to get the leaders, which, being reliable horses, +had got over their fright and were nibbling the fresh grass +by the fence. The other team was completely out of sight. +They covered Hugh from the scorching sun till the +men could bring the wagon from the barn, and then +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_462' name='page_462'></a>462</span> +the sad little cavalcade returned to the house with the +injured man.</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan arrived with John in his own buggy +two hours later, and then a strange thing was discovered. +No bones were broken, and no internal injuries were in +evidence which would necessarily give cause for alarm. +The examination pointed to an excited heart chiefly, the +weakest link in Hugh Noland’s system and the place where +new troubles centred and aggravated old ones. That the +man’s life had not been instantaneously crushed out was +due to the fact that the long steel levers had stuck in the +hard earth and held the machine up. But the trouble +with the heart had been accentuated acutely before the +binder had even capsized, for that horrible nightmare of +galloping down upon the girl had evidently begun what +the later catastrophe had carried to a farther and really +dangerous stage.</p> +<p>Hugh was placed in the downstairs bedroom by the +men, whose hearts were wrung at every step they carried +him, and, as Luther remarked, because Elizabeth would +have the care of him and stairs were deadly things in case +of sickness.</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan came again before night, intending to +stay with the patient till morning. John met him at +the gate. With the feeling that he had been responsible +for this terrible accident to Hugh, whom he loved +as he had never loved any other human being, John +had spent an afternoon of agony. The rest of the +men could look for a neighbour to finish the grain +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_463' name='page_463'></a>463</span> +with another machine, but for him, he spent the time at +Hugh’s side.</p> +<p>“How is he?” Doctor Morgan asked almost before he +was within speaking distance.</p> +<p>“Resting. We don’t trouble him, but he seems +quiet.”</p> +<p>“That’s good!” the old man exclaimed. He had come +with his heart in his mouth, as they say in that country. +“I wish I had as good a report for you,” he added.</p> +<p>“Why—what’s happened to me?” John asked in +surprise.</p> +<p>“The young mare you drove in died in the stable. It’s +hot weather, and I guess you were pretty badly excited. +I told the men in the livery to shut the colt up; it kept +nosing around the carcass and it isn’t good for it. You’d +better get in as early as you can and look after it yourself. +Those stable men don’t care for anything that ain’t their +own.”</p> +<p>John Hunter stood speechless till the end of the story, +and then helped tie the doctor’s team.</p> +<p>“That all comes from that miserable team! I’m glad +one of them did have to be shot. I’ve half a notion to +shoot the other one; it’s all cut up by the wire and ’ll take +no end of trouble to cure. Hugh said horses and dogs +talked with their tails, and I guess they do. Say, will +you tell Elizabeth about the horse? It’s one I got from +her father and she’s terribly fond of it.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth met Doctor Morgan as he came from Hugh’s +room a few minutes later with the unspoken question so +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_464' name='page_464'></a>464</span> +plainly evident in her face that he answered it without +waiting to be asked.</p> +<p>“No signs of further trouble, little woman, thank God! +They tell me you were near being run over by that binder +too.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth evaded the last remark.</p> +<p>“That’s nothing. But are you sure about Hugh?” she +asked in a voice that quavered a little.</p> +<p>“Now look here,” the doctor said, concerned at once +for her welfare. “We can’t have you go and get upset. +It looks as if Noland got out of that pretty lucky. The +only thing that’s worrying me is that infernal heart of +his.”</p> +<p>John came in at that point and the old doctor addressed +himself to him.</p> +<p>“This woman’ll have to take care of Noland, Hunter, +and I want you to see to it that she don’t have another +thing to do. She can’t have that child dragging on her, +and we’ll have to look out that she don’t overdo, or we’ll +have her down on our hands too. The trouble with peritonitis +is that it don’t get well as fast as it looks to. A +slight thing will often start it up anew, and peritonitis is +the devil if it gets to recurring.”</p> +<p>“We’ll all help take care of Hugh,” John promised +readily.</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan looked at John Hunter and back to +Elizabeth dubiously. He reflected that the same lack of +caution which had killed the mare yesterday might kill +a man in case of excitement. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_465' name='page_465'></a>465</span></p> +<p>“It isn’t necessarily help that she’s going to need. It +won’t be so hard to take care of him, if she isn’t worried by +a lot of other things. I don’t want another soul to touch +that medicine. We’ve got to be mighty careful about that. +Heart remedies are poison and as quick as lightning in +their action, and we can’t afford to take any chances +on that kind of stuff. I’m right glad to put your wife at +the helm in this thing; she’s definite and dependable, two +things we doctors don’t often find when we need them +most.”</p> +<p>Turning to Elizabeth he said:</p> +<p>“It may be rather hard on you, but our main care is to +pull this man through the next ten days. If he don’t +have some one to look after him right, he may slip +through our fingers.”</p> +<p>“Why—I thought you said he was all right,” Elizabeth +faltered.</p> +<p>In his efforts to impress the need of care with the medicine, +Doctor Morgan had gone over the mark and added +to the fears he had started out to allay. Elizabeth was +as white as if all the blood in her body had been taken +away.</p> +<p>“Now don’t begin to worry till I tell you there’s need, +child,” he said half irritably. “All that’s necessary is for +you to look after that medicine. Noland ’ll come out all +right with you to nurse him. I wouldn’t mind being sick +myself, Hunter, with her to hold the spoon,” he said, trying +to put a merry face on the matter. “Did it ever occur +to you that you were a lucky dog to come into this country +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_466' name='page_466'></a>466</span> +and run off with the nicest girl in it the first year you +were here?”</p> +<p>As the doctor drove home the next morning, he said to +himself:</p> +<p>“I guess I fixed it about that medicine;” then, his mind +reverting to the conversation at the gate, he added, “I +wasn’t goin’ to tell her about that horse; let him tell her +himself. Blamed fool! I think I headed off his issuing +orders about that sick-bed too. Poor little girl! Now if +she’d only married Noland!”</p> +<p>The old doctor gave a long, low whistle as a sudden +thought struck him, but he put it away, and being a busy +man thought no more about it for weeks.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXII__THERE_ARE_SOME_THINGS_WE_HAVE_TO_SETTLE_FOR_OURSELVES' id='XXII__THERE_ARE_SOME_THINGS_WE_HAVE_TO_SETTLE_FOR_OURSELVES'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_467' name='page_467'></a>467</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII</h2> +<h3>“THERE ARE SOME THINGS WE HAVE TO SETTLE FOR OURSELVES”</h3> +</div> + +<p>John’s being away from home those first days of +Hugh’s illness—he had gone to Colebyville to +dispose of Patsie’s body and secure a new team to +finish harvesting—kept him from getting the run of the +affairs of the sickroom, and enabled Elizabeth to assume +the care of the invalid in her own way. An idea once fixed +in John Hunter’s head was fixed, and having accepted +the plan of Doctor Morgan that Elizabeth was to be in +sole charge of care and medicine, he went his way without +thrusting his suggestions upon her, and Elizabeth, having +learned not to discuss things with him, did not speak of +her work nor of anything connected with the invalid. In +fact, as soon as John entered the sickroom she went out, +as one of the best ways she knew of to avoid accidents of +conversation. John came to Hugh’s bedside but little, +supposing that he needed rest, and willing to sacrifice his +all to the comfort of the pale invalid. With the tears +of a woman in his heart if not in his eyes, John watched +from afar the face of the man he had been the unconscious +means of injuring, and tiptoed about the outer rooms with +a fear of death which only John could feel. Another thing +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_468' name='page_468'></a>468</span> +kept him out of the sickroom: impressed with the idea +that his carelessness in the purchase of the first team had +led up to this trouble, he had gone to the other extreme in +replacing them, and had paid three hundred and twenty-five +dollars for one of the best and most thoroughly proven +teams in the country. There were no available funds and +he had been obliged to give a note for them; this must in +time come to Hugh’s notice, and John had a distinct remembrance +of a former note, and did not wish to repeat +the experience. Luther, who came often to see Hugh, +had spoken to John of Patsie’s death in Elizabeth’s presence, +and after the first pained expression of surprise and +grief, Elizabeth had never mentioned it again. John had +noticed also that Elizabeth had never asked the price of +the last team, nor seemed to take any interest in them, +and he hoped by the same means to avoid confessing to +Hugh.</p> +<p>John Hunter was glad at this time to escape discussions +of an unpleasant nature; he was more broken by the accident +than he ever admitted; he accused himself more +bitterly than any one would ever accuse him; he had +broken up a working team, he had killed his best horse, +and he had been all but responsible for the death of his +best friend, and when John Hunter’s own misdeeds hit +hard enough, he would face things squarely, and no matter +how hard he worked to avoid owning up to others, would +acknowledge to himself that he was in the wrong. Hugh’s +white face grew whiter each day and accused him enough +without further words. To escape it, John worked busily, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_469' name='page_469'></a>469</span> +and there was need of work, for the rapidly drying fields +required his entire attention during the day, and he left +Hugh to his wife’s care, glad to do so.</p> +<p>There were times, however, when John was alone with +Hugh, and at such times, because he was full of self-blame +and humiliation, he listened to what Hugh said +with a peculiar attention. Hugh saw that John worried +himself half sick over his misfortune, and reached out the +hand of love and fellowship for which John hungered at +this time. He talked of his possible death as if it were +but a journey, which always convulsed John’s face with +child-like emotions. He talked of the farm work, and +kept close track of what was done. He knew that John +had had to go into debt for the team, and he wanted John +to tell him, without being asked, that a note had been +given. When he did not, Hugh passed the matter over +without reference and with a sigh. Hugh Noland was not +criticising John Hunter or any of his actions these days, +but Hugh studied John and found his weaknesses, and +tried to give him such help as he thought possible. Hugh +had long days to think, and he began to yearn over this +man to whom he had been a sort of traitor. He saw +John’s wilfulness with Elizabeth—heard many things +without being able to avoid hearing them, being pinned +to his bed—he saw where John’s irritability lost good +help during the busy season and left double duty for +faithful Jake, his supercilious attitude toward Luther, +and his illy concealed contempt for the farmers about +them, and one of his ways of keeping his mind off John’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_470' name='page_470'></a>470</span> +wife was to keep it on John and John’s needs. Hugh +kept Luther with him whenever Luther could be spared +from his home in the evenings, and he spoke to John of +Luther with growing affection. When he grew stronger, +he discussed farm work and farmers with John in a way +that savoured of interest in their problems; he asked +Nathan and Silas and Carter and Bob Warren in +and talked to them of fertilizers and drainage, and +when John insisted that those things were in the future, +he said:</p> +<p>“Yes, but they will come up in our time; you see I come +from a place where those things were already a necessity +to the farmers. I am a farmer myself now and I think +about those things.”</p> +<p>Hugh knew that his consideration of fertilizers was +superfluous in a country that was hardly past the sod-corn +stage, but he longed to dignify this work to John +Hunter, since John would give his formative years here +and be unable to do other things if he ever made money +enough to get away, as he hoped. Hugh had had enough +work in the agricultural department of an eastern university +before he had come to Kansas, to make it +possible for him to interest these men in the future +development of their state. Doctor Morgan, who had +been rather unwilling that serious subjects should be +discussed in the sickroom, asked curiously one day:</p> +<p>“What the devil do you want to prate such nonsense as +that to these folks for? They won’t need any kind of +fertilizers in this country for twenty years. You’d better +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_471' name='page_471'></a>471</span> +be resting instead of shooting such useless stuff as that at +<i>them</i>.”</p> +<p>“I want to talk farming to John Hunter as if it were a +respectable business to engage in, Doctor. I don’t have +to tell you how he views it.”</p> +<p>“What in Sam Hill’s the difference how he views it?” +the doctor asked in astonishment. “He’s nothing but a +cheap skate, and you can’t make anything else out of +him.”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland looked at the doctor and made no reply; +he understood that the unfortunate vision of John Hunter +which Doctor Morgan had got would prevent him from +seeing the point he was trying to make, and so let the +matter drop, but he kept John with him evenings and +worked along on his own lines and with persistence. He +wanted to feel right about his stay in John’s home, and +one of the ways of doing it was to get close to John’s +heart on important matters. He spoke of Jack as a +future farmer, and when John indignantly resented the +implication and said that he expected his son to be an +educated man, Hugh replied:</p> +<p>“Why, of course you do, but an educated farmer is +exactly the thing to make of him. Look at the clean life +you’d place him in.”</p> +<p>And so the days ran on in the sick-chamber. If John +was with Hugh, Elizabeth busied herself about the house +elsewhere, and John rarely saw them together, unless there +was medicine to administer, and then the girl gave it without +remark. A growing fear had taken possession of her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_472' name='page_472'></a>472</span> +lest John should fly out at her in unpleasant fashion before +Hugh. The situation between the two had been made so +much more acute by Hugh’s accidental reference to it +when he had thought that she was crying about him, that +she was supersensitive regarding her half-formed complaint +in explanation. But for that reference, they could +have gone along indefinitely with a pretence of indifference, +but enough had been said to tear away the veil and +leave them self-conscious and mutually humiliated. Their +little avoidances of touch or tenderness spoke in a language +not to be misunderstood, and their eyes told +unconsciously all that they refused to say with their +tongues.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, in her own way, worried herself half sick +in her endeavours to care for him gently and yet give him +no cause to think she was making a demand for a love of +which neither approved, but which having once been put +into words was a constant factor in their association. +Once when she was bathing his face, Hugh thought she lingered +longer over it than was necessary and drew himself +back on his pillow suddenly, saying:</p> +<p>“Don’t Elizabeth. I should have my arms about you +in a minute if you did that, and you are John’s wife—and +I couldn’t look him in the face if I did a thing of that +sort.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth turned away without replying, her eyes full +of tears. He had misunderstood her cruelly. The one +thing Elizabeth Hunter was trying to do was not to show +her affection for this man who was not her husband, but +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_473' name='page_473'></a>473</span> +as she became worn and tired from duty at the sick-bed +it became more and more evident that she could not +accomplish it.</p> +<p>Hugh had the daily fear of her peritonitis coming back +upon her; Doctor Morgan had warned him while John was +away. Unable to lift his head from his pillow without +assistance, Hugh saw her growing thin and discouraged, +and knew that it was the enforced condition of caring for +him which made her so; yet when she tried to avoid his +sympathetic eyes, he instantly misunderstood her and +was hurt. That she was not really strong enough to +assume the care of him added to his uneasiness, and often +when he was on the point of saying so, she mistook his +glance and was so distant that it died on his lips. And +so the days ran into each other with the pair. If for any +reason one advanced, the other retreated, and at last the +condition became unbearable.</p> +<p>Elizabeth gave much and consuming thought to the +issue brought about by the fact that her husband, still +living in the house with her, had no idea that she could be +in love with another man, even though her husband no +longer loved her. Any sort of love-making was a violation +of her marriage vows, and for her to put love for +another man into words was to fall to a level to which +she had never in her life thought of doing.</p> +<p>What was she to do? John never saw anything except +in the light of his own instincts and emotions, and an idea +or a prejudice once fixed in his mind could be uprooted by +nothing but death; therefore to confess to him and thereby +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_474' name='page_474'></a>474</span> +make it possible to get away from Hugh would prejudice +him against Hugh, whom he would be certain to think had +stolen something to which he alone had the right, and +against her whom he felt that he possessed, and upon +whom he could wreak almost any form of public revenge. +Hugh had tried to get away and John had himself held +him, but John could not remember that nor listen to it if +told. Every effort had been made by Hugh to avoid +Elizabeth since he had found out the true situation, but +nothing would convince John of that. Had John Hunter +the right then, being the kind of man he was, to a confession +from her that would confuse the whole issue and do +vital wrong to everybody concerned, including the baby, +who must suffer with the mother who would be made to +seem much worse than she was. This Elizabeth Hunter +asked herself daily, and with the fear that her conscience +would force her to confession should she permit any +demonstration of affection, and to avoid any possibility +of it, she became colder and colder in her manner toward +the sick man.</p> +<p>The effort to keep off dangerous ground was disastrous, +for Hugh instantly misunderstood it, and the gloom +which settled over him increased the difficulties with which +Elizabeth had to contend. Doctor Morgan saw that his +patient, who had seemed slightly better, fell back again, +and he worried about his despondent condition.</p> +<p>“Cheer him up, Mrs. Hunter! Read to him! Anything!” +he would exclaim. “He’s got to have peace of +mind, or there’s no hope in the world of his recovery. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_475' name='page_475'></a>475</span> +Something more ’n staved-in ribs is keeping him down,” +the doctor urged, not knowing that he laid impossible +burdens on shoulders too young to bear them.</p> +<p>The two duties, the one to her husband and the one to +her patient, stared her in the face, and she had no one +with whom to advise or consult.</p> +<p>“I don’t care! His life’s worth more than for me to +approve of myself as a wife,” she decided at last, and yet +when she gave Hugh his next dose of medicine she was +colder and more on her guard than ever.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen came to see Hugh that afternoon. +Elizabeth received an inspiration when he started away +and followed him out of the house.</p> +<p>“Luther, will he die?” she asked.</p> +<p>“I don’t know, Lizzie,” Luther said quietly, not knowing +what to say to such a question, and too honest to +evade.</p> +<p>At the time of the accident to the binder, when Elizabeth +knelt, broken with exhaustion and terror, looking at +the man she loved who lay under the mass of machinery +with the colour of death upon him, no one but a blind man +could have mistaken the utter abandonment of her grief, +and certainly of all men Luther was not blind. Now he +recognized the heartache back of Elizabeth’s question and +with an instinct to cheer was almost persuaded to answer +in the negative. In his heart he thought Hugh would +die. The rapidly failing strength of the man indicated +that he would do so unless something came to buoy +him up. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_476' name='page_476'></a>476</span></p> +<p>“I don’t know, Lizzie,” he added, as if squaring his +conscience, “he looks so weak and troubled like.”</p> +<p>Luther realized the moment it was out of his mouth that +he had said the wrong thing. Elizabeth’s lips grew white +and she held her breath a moment as if preparing to accept +what she knew must be the truth.</p> +<p>“Lizzie,” asked Luther gently, “would you like to talk +to me about it?”</p> +<p>The girl’s face tensed strangely and her quivering lips +refused to do her bidding for a full minute, the relief was +so great.</p> +<p>“I—I came out for that,” she said simply when she +could speak. “It’s so good of you to understand and +make it easy for me. I’ll walk over toward home with +you.”</p> +<p>They walked slowly through the barnyard, across the +creek, and over the pleasant pasture land. Neither spoke. +Elizabeth, now that she had decided to talk to Luther +about the circumstances with which she contended, could +not bring herself readily to do so. Luther had always the +insight of true wisdom, which let others gauge their own +inclinations. When they came to the fence which was +the boundary line between Luther’s and John Hunter’s +farms, they stopped. There was a line of willow trees +running at intervals down the fence, and Luther waved his +hand in the direction of a shady spot beside them.</p> +<p>“Set down, Lizzie,” he said, seating himself half-facing +her.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter crumpled up on the grass with her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_477' name='page_477'></a>477</span> +back against a fence post, and thought while Luther got out +his knife and looked for something to whittle.</p> +<p>“Tell me about it,” he said at last. “You want to—and—and +I’m a safe person.”</p> +<p>She looked up at him, glad that he had assumed it, and +smoothed the path to confession.</p> +<p>“I know you’re safe, Luther. You’re more than that, +God bless you!”</p> +<p>And to this man whom she had always trusted Elizabeth +poured out all her fears, her feelings, and her frantic +cry for help.</p> +<p>“I’ve had no one to talk to, Luther,” she ended, “and +I don’t believe a human being can go on always and not +put things into words.”</p> +<p>They talked on and on. Having started, she let him +see the consuming struggle between right and wrong which +she waged every day.</p> +<p>“Doctor Morgan says, ‘Cheer him up! Cheer him up,’ +and what am I to do?” she closed in desperation.</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter had told far more than she supposed. +She had bared a yearning, struggling heart to Luther’s +gaze, a soul seeking a right path where there seemed no +sure road, nothing but confusion.</p> +<p>Luther longed to help, but the problem presented insurmountable +difficulties; to adopt a rigid code of morals as +such was to come out at the end of the journey with something +in herself and society satisfied, and Hugh Noland’s +life sacrificed, as Doctor Morgan had said; to adopt a +sympathetic attitude would spare the life of a useful man, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_478' name='page_478'></a>478</span> +but with her code shattered. If only she could take John +into her confidence both might be possible.</p> +<p>“Lizzie, you couldn’t tell Hunter, could you?” Even +as he asked it he knew it could not be done.</p> +<p>“I would tell John instantly if he were like you, Luther,” +was her reply. “I think Hugh himself would have been +glad to. If he could have explained, he could have got +away. No—John isn’t the kind of man. He wouldn’t +understand, and he’d make it a great deal worse than it is +to everybody. He’d accuse me and spoil Jack’s life, +and——”</p> +<p>The hopelessness of it left her silent for a minute, and +then Doctor Morgan’s warnings came up to be reckoned +with.</p> +<p>“The doctor says he’ll die if he’s worried, Luther. +What am I to do?” she demanded, wanting him to settle +the question for her, and letting the tears run unrestrained +down her cheeks.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen looked at her pityingly and shook his +head.</p> +<p>“There are some things we have to settle for ourselves, +Lizzie, and this is one of them for you. I do know,” he +said trustfully, “whatever you do ’ll be right.”</p> +<p>The interview was ended. Luther helped Elizabeth to +her feet, and went away to his own house and waiting +chores, leaving the question with her—Elizabeth +Hunter—whose life had been punctuated with interrogation +points.</p> +<p>Elizabeth walked back slowly, going over every hint and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_479' name='page_479'></a>479</span> +suggestion to be gained from Luther’s discussion of her +situation. Nothing was clear except that whatever her +decision, it must be the nearest right of anything she was +able to understand. She remembered as she stopped to +fasten the barnyard gate behind her that Luther had said +as he left her:</p> +<p>“He’ll go away as soon as he is able, you say, +Lizzie,” and she remembered the lingering tones of fondness +in Luther’s voice when Hugh’s name was mentioned.</p> +<p>It was not easy for Luther to say, let him die, either.</p> +<p>Elizabeth remembered at that point that Hugh’s medicine +was long overdue, that medicine was more important +just now than any of the questions with which she had +been struggling. With a frightened little cry she ran to the +house and to the sick-chamber.</p> +<p>“Never mind, Elizabeth,” Hugh said when he saw her +shuffling the papers about in search of the bottle. “Jack +came in and I had Hepsie give it to me. I’ve decided +that it isn’t a good plan to have it there, and I’ll keep it +under my pillow hereafter.”</p> +<p>“I—I went out with Luther, Hugh, and I didn’t realize +that I was gone so long. You’ve missed two doses!” +She noticed that Hugh called her by her given name +altogether now.</p> +<p>Hugh laughed a sad little laugh.</p> +<p>“Well, I’ve had the one for this hour at least. I—I +tried to take it alone. I guess I won’t try that again. It +stuck in my throat and I got a strangling spell. I coughed +till—well, I thought I was going to get out of taking +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_480' name='page_480'></a>480</span> +medicine altogether. It’s a terrible fear that grips a fellow +when he gets something stuck in his throat and knows +that he can’t lift his head off his pillow. It isn’t so much +that he’s afraid to die—it’s the death struggle he’s afraid +of.”</p> +<p>Absorbed in his own thoughts, Hugh Noland closed his +eyes and did not see the effect his words produced upon +Elizabeth. By some sort of psychological process he had +placed that death struggle before her very eyes. Hugh, +all unconscious that he had made any impression, unconscious +that her attitude toward death differed from his +own, or that his death could mean much more to her than +deliverance from the presence and care of him, lay with +his eyes closed, thinking his own bitter thoughts.</p> +<p>There was indeed enough in Hugh Noland’s appearance +to terrify the girl as he lay before her, wasted and woebegone, +his low forehead blue-veined and colourless, his +hands blue-veined and transparent, and all his shrunken +figure sharply outlined under the thin summer covering of +the bed with ghastly and suggestive significance. Instantly +she wanted to go down by his side and with her +arms about him give him the sympathy and comfort his +lonely heart craved, but because it was so deliciously +tempting she distrusted the impulse and, turning hastily, +walked out of the room and out of the house, going on a +run to her refuge in the willows. But though she agonized +till dark she found herself no nearer a solution than before.</p> +<p>Hugh felt the distance Elizabeth maintained and also +the fact that she was not well. How he hated it when she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_481' name='page_481'></a>481</span> +had to lift him for his medicine. Doctor Morgan had +especially talked about her lifting when she was at first +convalescing. His heart was very bad that night.</p> +<p>About three o’clock the next afternoon Elizabeth tiptoed +in to see if he slept.</p> +<p>“I’m awake,” he said without opening his eyes.</p> +<p>Always when Hugh did not open his eyes Elizabeth was +filled with premonitions. He was very pinched and wan +to-day. With a pain at her own heart, Elizabeth brought +a fresh glass of water for his medicine. She had to speak +to him to get him ready to take it from her hand. Kneeling, +she put her arm under the pillow to raise his head +while he drank.</p> +<p>Hugh fumbled with the little bottle as he tried to return +the extra disks he had accidentally poured out into his +hand. Elizabeth waited till he had the cork in place, with +her arm still under the pillow. He turned his face toward +her as he thrust the bottle back, and accidentally touched +her hand under his head. He glanced up consciously. +Her breath, fresh, warm, full of the life man adores, came +to him from her parted lips, and to get away from the +impulse to say things he was resolved not to say, he closed +his eyes and turned his head feebly.</p> +<p>A gasp of fright came from the girl as she saw the contortion +of his haggard face.</p> +<p>“Hugh!” she exclaimed.</p> +<p>The glass she held fell from her fingers and rolled to the +foot of the bed, scattering its contents abroad unobserved, +as she threw her other arm across him and lifted him for +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_482' name='page_482'></a>482</span> +the air she supposed he needed. Their breaths mingled. +Human nature is but human nature, man is but man and +woman is but woman in the final analysis: they were in the +hands of a fate stronger than either of them at that moment.</p> +<p>Elizabeth struggled no more; right or wrong, it had +happened, and she brought her rocking chair and with her +free hand clasped in his, read and took life as it came. +After that, sin nor sickness could keep them from being +happy. If the girl talked of the better course of restoring +the old reserve, Hugh’s hand would reach out imploringly:</p> +<p>“Only till I get well, dearest; I won’t trouble your conscience +after that. I know you don’t feel right about this, +but I can’t go back to a life without any affection again +while I’m here,” and Elizabeth always responded to that +call. She reflected that even Luther could not condemn +her for it.</p> +<p>Yet when John was in the house or whenever she was +obliged to be careful about Hepsie, as she often was, she +was outraged in her own sight, and her colours trailed in +the dust of humiliation, for she saw that the path she was +treading was one of unaccustomed duplicity.</p> +<p>“If I could only approve of myself,” she said to Hugh, +and then was sorry she had spoken, for Hugh Noland’s +face grew more white and he closed his eyes with a little +sob.</p> +<p>“Oh, my darling,” he said when he could speak again, +“you long for that and I like you for it too, but I’m weak. +I want to be loved and petted, and—I’m so tired that I +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_483' name='page_483'></a>483</span> +don’t want to think about it at all. Kiss me, sweet,” and +Elizabeth kissed him, and was glad in spite of herself.</p> +<p>“You shall not have to think till you’re well,” she +promised, and the days ran on throughout the blazing +summer, and Hugh improved, and Elizabeth won Doctor +Morgan’s admiration as a nurse.</p> +<p>In the midst of the deceptions which Elizabeth Hunter +was called upon to practise, however, she followed the +natural trend of her character in ways which proved how +fundamental truth and outrightness were in her make-up. +Having discussed Hugh with Luther, she told Hugh that +she had done so. This gave Hugh a wrong impression of +affairs between the two which she was obliged to set right.</p> +<p>“No, Luther never loved me—that is, he never said +that he did. That isn’t the way we feel about each other. +We’ve just been good friends always. We herded cattle +together and told each other things all our lives. I could +tell Luther anything.”</p> +<p>“Well, he couldn’t love that black-eyed thing he lives +with,” Hugh said.</p> +<p>“I don’t know how it is myself, but he does, and Luther +never lies. You can see that he’s square with her. He +gives her a kind of companionship that will keep her out of +the position I’m in, too,” she said with conviction, and +then saw the kind of blow that she had dealt, and covered +her face with her hands for shame.</p> +<p>Elizabeth heard the invalid sigh deeply. When she +could speak again, she slid down on her knees by his bed +and, laying her arm across the shoulders of the man she +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_484' name='page_484'></a>484</span> +had hurt, faced herself and her deeds squarely, as was her +way.</p> +<p>“It’s of no use, Hugh. We’ve got to face it. I didn’t +intend to hurt you, but I’m in a serious position. I must +think of this thing all my life—and I shall shrink whenever +I do. I shall see everybody in the light of my own +life. I made no comparison between you and Luther. +There’s love and love in this world, as I’ve found out. +John thought he loved me and I thought I loved him—and +look at us! I don’t know what Luther would do if +he were placed where we are, but that is not the question. +I hurt you just now; but, oh, Hugh! I love you too—God +help me, and in the midst of it all I want my self-respect +back till I could almost die to get it. Sometimes +I think I’ll go and tell John yet.”</p> +<p>When for sheer want of breath Elizabeth stopped and +looked at Hugh Noland inquiringly, he asked eagerly:</p> +<p>“Could we?”</p> +<p>And for a long time she looked at him, till her eyes took +on a faraway look which said that she was going over +details and experiences of the past. In the light of those +experiences she finally shook her head.</p> +<p>“No,” she said with simple conviction. “You don’t +know John. He’d never understand that—— Well, +he’d mix everything uselessly. It would fall hardest on +Jack; his future would be spoiled by the humiliation of +having everybody think I was worse than I——”</p> +<p>Elizabeth could not finish her sentence for the pain on +the face before her, and hid her face on the same pillow +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_485' name='page_485'></a>485</span> +and cried out her grief and heartache till Hugh had to +warn her that Hepsie might come in.</p> +<p>It was well that Elizabeth’s mind was occupied with +Hepsie while she bathed and cooled her swollen eyelids. +Long afterward she remembered Hugh had laid his arm +across his white face at that moment, but she was never +to know the fulness of the self-reproach nor the depths of +the despair which Hugh Noland suffered—Hugh, who +loved her. For himself, he did not so much care, being +a man and accustomed to the life of men in those things, +but he saw the endless round of her days, carrying with her +through them all the secrecy and shame of it; she who loved +openness! If she had been a woman who looked herself +less squarely in the face it would have been less hard.</p> +<p>“I think I’ll talk to Luther too,” he said at last. +“You couldn’t drive Patsie over for him this evening, +could you?” he asked.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked down at him in surprise as she wiped +her hands.</p> +<p>“Why—why, I thought you knew about Patsie,” she +said hesitatingly. “Patsie’s dead.”</p> +<p>“Dead?”</p> +<p>“Yes. She died the night you were hurt. John drove +her for Doctor Morgan,” the girl said, wishing that she +could keep the news from him.</p> +<p>After that first startled exclamation Hugh did not +remark on the mare’s death; he noticed that Elizabeth +never blamed John for things when talking of him, and he +liked her for it. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_486' name='page_486'></a>486</span></p> +<p>“What became of the horses that day—the ones on the +binder? You kept me so stupefied at first that I sort of +forgot about them.”</p> +<p>He forced from her all the vital details of the purchase +of the new horses. After he had received the answers she +felt obliged to give he did not comment upon any feature +of the story. They never criticised anything John did +between them; in fact, they rarely mentioned his name, +but Hugh was struck with the necessity of knowing +methods and facts regarding the business and asking such +simple questions as he was warranted in asking. When +the discussion was finished he asked again for Luther, and +she promised to get him as soon as possible.</p> +<p>Hugh Noland had a long afternoon to think out the +situation into which he had thrust Elizabeth, for when +Elizabeth arrived at Luther’s house he had gone to town +and the sun was so hot that she rested before starting +home. Hugh was only disturbed by Hepsie, who came +once an hour to give him the drink necessary when +medicine time came around. It was lonesome with Elizabeth +away, but it let him think more clearly. Hugh saw +that he had entangled Elizabeth in a life which contained +something altogether extraneous to her whole character. +Because she was perfectly open, the greater would be the +damage which must result to her if this life went on. +One wild moment of hope had been granted him when +they had discussed the possibility of telling John. How +well Hugh remembered the searching thought Elizabeth +had given his question before she had shaken her head. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_487' name='page_487'></a>487</span> +The time taken to think soberly of confession told more +plainly than all her words how much she desired it. The +one thing in life which Elizabeth most disliked was +duplicity, and yet so long as he remained an invalid +their relations would be kept up. For this alone he +would have been glad to crawl on his knees to Colebyville, +though he died on the way. Something must be +done to free the girl and put her back into a life of which +she could approve. With self-respect restored, Elizabeth +was the kind of woman who would take hold of the merely +unpleasant features of her life, and in time find a way of +overcoming them. A plan began to formulate in Hugh +Noland’s head.</p> +<p>The next morning Hepsie came and asked for a few days +off to get some needed sewing done. With Hugh’s illness +and the extra work of it she had let her own work drag till +she felt that she could neglect it no longer. Elizabeth let +her go, thinking guiltily that there would be less danger of +the discovery she seemed to be ever fearing these days. +How they had gone so long without it she could not understand. +To get her dinner dishes out of the way early she +put Jack to sleep immediately after they were through +eating and then hurried the dishes so as to get in a long +afternoon’s reading. The dishes took a long time in spite +of her efforts to hurry. When at last she did finish she +hastened to the bedroom with a glass of water in her hand. +Hugh had been thinking seriously and was worn out with +the tangle of wrongdoing in which he found himself, +the solution of which involved such unsatisfactory +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_488' name='page_488'></a>488</span> +changes, and now just weakly wanted to be loved. He +did not speak, but after the tablet was swallowed invited +a kiss by a glance of the eye, and when it was given, drew +her head down on his breast and lay patting it.</p> +<p>Jack had wakened and toddled into the room on his +sleepy little legs. The child staggered over to his mother +and laid his head against her arm, murmuring sleepily:</p> +<p>“Love oo too!”</p> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter sprang to her feet as if a clap of thunder +had unexpectedly sent its report through the hot +afternoon air. Her guilty eyes sought Hugh’s. Jack encircled +her knees with his fat little arms and, standing +on his tiptoes to be taken, repeated:</p> +<p>“Love oo too!”</p> +<p>There was a noise at the well and Elizabeth, glad of a +chance to escape from the room, went out. John was +pumping water over a jug to cool it before he filled it. +The sight of the man who was her husband had a curious +effect on Elizabeth; everything in her, mentally and +physically, became chaotic, her ears buzzed, her temples +throbbed, and there was an inner shrinking which could +scarcely be controlled. John had seen her and waited for +her to come out to the well.</p> +<p>When the jug was full, John leaned forward to kiss Jack +and a sick sort of fear took hold of her lest he would offer +to kiss her also. His breath fell hot on her neck as he +sought Jack’s face on her shoulder, but he did not offer to +kiss her, and she turned away with an unspeakable relief.</p> +<p>“Take Jack and I’ll carry the jug out to the boys +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_489' name='page_489'></a>489</span> +while you have a chat with Hugh,” Elizabeth said suddenly.</p> +<p>John was very tired, the field where they had been +cutting shock corn was very hot, and the house looked +cool and inviting.</p> +<p>“Well, I guess I will.”</p> +<p>The jug was heavier than Elizabeth had thought and +she sat down to rest on the way, observing as she did so +that Doctor Morgan was driving into the lane.</p> +<p>“I am not absolved from blame because he scolds,” she +told herself.</p> +<p>As she thought of her duties in life, Jack’s affectionate +little speech of half an hour ago came to mind. Aye! +there was the crux of the whole difficulty. She was Jack’s +mother! A line of Emerson’s which she had read with +Hugh once came to her mind: “In my dealings with my +child, my Latin and my Greek, my accomplishments and +my money, stead me nothing. They are all lost upon him: +but as much soul as I have avails.” Her whole mind was +taken up with the quotation as soon as it came before +her.</p> +<p>“As much soul as I have avails!” Over and over she +repeated it, and when she at last saw John bearing down +upon her she got up guiltily and waited instead of going +on with the jug alone.</p> +<p>“Was it too heavy?” he asked. “I’ll take it over and +come back for you. Doctor Morgan wants to see you. +I’ll come back; it’s too hot for me; I’m going to rest.”</p> +<p>The cool house had appealed to John Hunter. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_490' name='page_490'></a>490</span></p> +<p>At the house Hugh Noland was asking searching questions +of the old doctor.</p> +<p>“When do you intend to let me get out of here, Doctor?” +he asked.</p> +<p>“Out of here?” the doctor exclaimed. “Not till you’re +well enough. Just what do you mean by ‘out of here?’” +he asked in return.</p> +<p>“Just what I said. When will I be well enough to go +to Mitchell County?”</p> +<p>There was an intensity about it which caught the doctor’s +attention.</p> +<p>“Now look here, Noland, you won’t go to Mitchell +County for a year with such a heart as that—it’s too far +from your friends, my boy. Be good and don’t you get +to worrying. You’ve got to stand it. Be a man.”</p> +<p>Had Doctor Morgan shown any tenderness Hugh +Noland would have told him the real reason for wanting +to get away, but something in the banter of being admonished +to be a man took away the thing which made it +possible.</p> +<p>“Then can’t I be taken into town?” Hugh asked when +he had had time to swallow the bitter pill.</p> +<p>“Into town? Now? Well, not that anybody knows of +at this time. Now look here, you’ve got a splendid place +to stay; why can’t you be sensible and lay here and get +well? You worry till I might as well go and turn this medicine +down the gullet of one of Hunter’s pigs. Be a man,” +he repeated, hoping to whip the discouraged patient into +line with good sense. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_491' name='page_491'></a>491</span></p> +<p>“It isn’t a case of being a man, when a woman’s got to +take care of you that had better be taking care of herself,” +Hugh said bitterly.</p> +<p>“Is Mrs. Hunter getting down on our hands too? +That won’t do. I’m glad we sent for her.”</p> +<p>Hugh Noland knew that he had played his last card, +and he knew that he had lost. Elizabeth walked in at +that moment, followed by John. Doctor Morgan addressed +himself to her, taking her aside while they talked.</p> +<p>“All moonshine, Noland, old boy,” he exclaimed when +he followed Elizabeth back to the sickroom a few minutes +later. “This girl’s as sound as a dollar. Noland’s been +thinking he’s too much trouble, Mrs. Hunter.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan saw Hugh Noland’s colour die out, and +dropped his finger on the patient’s wrist apprehensively. +Neither spoke. To change the subject, and also to get a +chance to observe the sick man under less conscious circumstances, +Doctor Morgan addressed John:</p> +<p>“By the way, Hunter, that man you bought the team +of got in a pinch and asked me to shave the note for him. +It’s all right, is it?”</p> +<p>A sort of electric thrill ran from each to all in the room. +Doctor Morgan understood that he had unwittingly +opened Pandora’s box; Hugh gave no sign, but though +John answered promptly and positively in the one word, +“Surely,” a warning was somehow conveyed to John that +this was more than a merely unfortunate moment. He +had been uncomfortable about the note, and under +ordinary circumstances would have been glad to have the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_492' name='page_492'></a>492</span> +first knowledge of it come to Hugh in the presence of a +third party, but now, by some indefinable thing which was +neither sight nor sound, he knew that the news was not +news to Hugh, and by the same intangible, vague thing, +by some prophetic premonition, John knew that this matter +of the note was a disaster.</p> +<p>There was a long pause, finally broken by Hugh.</p> +<p>“Will you be going home by Hansen’s to-night, Doctor?”</p> +<p>“I can as well as any other way,” the doctor said, glad +to hear voices again.</p> +<p>“Will you ask Hansen to come over in the morning, +then?” Hugh asked.</p> +<p>Both Doctor Morgan and John Hunter looked over +at Hugh sharply, wondering what he could want of +Luther, but the sick man closed his eyes as a way of +ending the argument. Doctor Morgan dropped his +finger on the patient’s wrist again and looked at John +warningly:</p> +<p>“I think I’ll be going. You stay with Noland, Hunter. +I want a word with Mrs. Hunter before I go. I’ll stop at +Hansen’s, Noland.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan took Elizabeth out and questioned her +closely about the diet and other important matters, but +was able to elicit nothing new.</p> +<p>“I’ve been encouraged of late,” the old doctor said, +shaking his head, “but here he is as bad as ever—that is, +as discouraged and restless. Have you been reading to +him lately? What’s on his nerves, anyhow?” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_493' name='page_493'></a>493</span></p> +<p>When the doctor could get no additional information +regarding Hugh’s condition from Elizabeth, he gave it up +and turned his attention to the girl herself.</p> +<p>“I told him you were as fine as a dollar, but I’m not +sure about you. I’m going to bring you a tonic to-morrow. +I’ll be out in the morning, early, and I’ll try and see him +to-morrow night late. I don’t like the way he looked to-night. +Say, you don’t know what he wants of Hansen do +you?”</p> +<p>“No. He asked me to go over yesterday afternoon +after him, but Luther wasn’t there and hasn’t come in +since. It’s a busy time and he probably thought very +little of it. Hugh often sends for him. Do you think he’s +worse, Doctor?” she asked anxiously.</p> +<p>“No, not specially,” the old doctor answered gruffly, as +he turned toward Luther Hansen’s house. He was a bit +annoyed because he thought Hugh showed too little backbone, +as he termed it.</p> +<p>John Hunter sat long beside the invalid, cut to the +quick by the languid air and shrunken frame. He wanted +to talk about the note now that it was not a secret, but +Hugh lay absolutely silent and did not open his eyes until +the lamp was brought in. At that he shifted uneasily +and asked that it be kept in the other room till needed at +medicine time. John finally gave it up and went softly +out, convinced that Hugh wanted rest and quiet. John +was broken in many ways by the continued illness for +which he felt himself responsible, and had particularly +wanted a chance to talk to-night. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_494' name='page_494'></a>494</span></p> +<p>When all had gone to bed but Elizabeth, Hugh called her +to him.</p> +<p>Elizabeth answered the call, but stood at a distance +from the bed. It had come. Hugh had always known +it would, but now that it was here it was hard to face.</p> +<p>“You mean it, I know you do, Elizabeth,” he said. “I +want you to do it, but—O God! how hard it’s going +to be!”</p> +<p>He held out his empty arms to her for a last embrace.</p> +<p>Elizabeth shook her head.</p> +<p>“Now’s the time to begin, Hugh. ‘Too,’ Jack says. +That tells the whole story. I shall pollute his life also. I +shall stand, not for what I think I am, but for what I am, +in that child’s sight. I reasoned it out when you were so +ill, and I thought this was justifiable, and oh, Hugh! I’ve +dragged myself down in my own sight and I’ve dragged +you down with me. It isn’t enough for me to seem to be +right, I’ve got to <i>be</i> right,” she said in a low tone, and with +added shame because she had to keep her voice from +John’s ears—John who slept upstairs and trusted them.</p> +<p>“It would be easier for you, Elizabeth, if I were not +here,” Hugh Noland said sadly. “You could kill it out +alone.”</p> +<p>“But I am not alone. You are here, and have got to +help me. Tell me that you will—at any cost,” she +leaned forward, and in her eagerness raised her voice till +he pointed upward warningly.</p> +<p>When she had given his medicine without a touch of +tenderness, he said to her: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_495' name='page_495'></a>495</span></p> +<p>“You have bid my soul forth. I will give you that +help, at any cost.”</p> +<p>He made the last sentence stand out, but in her earnestness +she did not notice it or think of it again till it was +significant. She went back to her bed on the sitting-room +couch and to the broken rest allowed to those who watch +with the sick.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXIII__AT_ANY_COST' id='XXIII__AT_ANY_COST'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_496' name='page_496'></a>496</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII</h2> +<h3>“AT ANY COST”</h3> +</div> + +<p>The old doctor delivered the message to Luther, +and the next morning he appeared at the sickroom +door.</p> +<p>While he was talking to Hugh, Nathan Hornby came +and was called into the sickroom also. Elizabeth was too +busy with her own work to think much about this +visit, and before it was finished Doctor Morgan was +with her questioning her about the night spent by her +patient.</p> +<p>Nathan came to the kitchen while they were talking.</p> +<p>“I think I’ll take that youngster home with me if you’re +goin’ t’ be alone t’ day,” he announced.</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan looked relieved.</p> +<p>“That’s about the kindest thing you could do for this +girl,” he said. “Noland isn’t as well as I’d like to have +him, and she’s up every hour in the night. It takes a +hired girl to run off at a time like this.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth defended Hepsie at once. “Hepsie’s pure +gold. She waited a long time for Hugh to get well. +Please, Doctor, don’t make any such remark as that outside +of this house or some one ’ll tell her I said it. Really, +she’s the best help a woman ever had. She’ll come back +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_497' name='page_497'></a>497</span> +the first of next week. She said she’d come back any day +I’d send for her. She’d do anything for me.”</p> +<p>“I guess you’re right, little woman,” Doctor Morgan +laughed. “I wish all the same that you had some one +with you so that you could stay right with that boy.”</p> +<p>All through the forenoon Elizabeth kept out of the +sickroom except when the medicine was due, and then got +away as fast as she could, though it was not easy to do +so, for Doctor Morgan had urged her to entertain the invalid +and keep him cheered up, letting her see that he was +more than usually worried. She meant to live up to her +resolutions, but in the afternoon Hugh was so quiet that +it seemed ominous and began to worry her.</p> +<p>“Oh, Hugh! how can I do right if you take it this way?” +she cried in despair, and would have stroked his hair if he +had not shrunk from her hand.</p> +<p>“Don’t, Elizabeth. You have asked for help. I have +to give it in my own way. I have done harm enough to +your life. Make it as easy for me as you can, for I’m only +a man and—well, I’ve promised to help you—<i>at any +cost</i>. You’ve nothing to worry about. I’m no worse +than I’ve been,” he ended in a whisper, and closed his +eyes, as was his way when he did not want to talk.</p> +<p>The girl tiptoed out, and left him to his thoughts. Her +own were anything but satisfactory. He was more wan +and tragic than ever before, and Doctor Morgan had +especially cautioned her. She worked in the kitchen most +of the evening, keeping out of his presence, and so the +long, hard, unsatisfactory day passed, was recorded in the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_498' name='page_498'></a>498</span> +annals of time, and forever gone from the opportunity to +alter or change its record.</p> +<p>Luther Hansen came in after dark. Elizabeth answered +his knock.</p> +<p>“Alone?” he asked in astonishment when he entered the +sitting room.</p> +<p>“Yes. Mr. Chamberlain wanted John to bring the men +over and load hogs for him. It’s been too hot to take +them to town in the daytime. Hugh’s asleep, I think,” +she said in a low tone. “I didn’t take a light in, because +he likes to be in the dark, but I spoke to him two or three +times and he didn’t answer. Are you in a hurry? I hate +to waken him.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan came as they talked. He stopped to +look Elizabeth over before going to the sickroom, and +then took the lamp she handed him and, followed by +Luther, left Elizabeth standing in the dining room. +She heard the doctor’s sharp order, “Take this light, +Hansen,” and ran to help.</p> +<p>The horror, the anguish, the regret of that hour are +best left untold. The number of disks gone from the +bottle under the pillow gave the doctor his clue. One +final effort must have been made by the desperate invalid +to secure for himself the drink which would wash them +down without the dreaded coughing spell.</p> +<p>The old doctor, who loved them both, and Luther +Hansen also, witnessed Elizabeth’s despair, and listened to +her story. As Luther had said a few weeks before, he was +a safe person, and her secret remained a secret. Luther +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_499' name='page_499'></a>499</span> +led her away into the night and sat silently by while her +grief spent itself in tears; it was a necessary stage. When +John and the men came, he led her back, and himself met +them at the gate to explain.</p> +<p>The morning and the evening were the first day; the +comings and goings of the inquisitive and the sympathetic +were alike unremarked by Elizabeth. Only for that first +hour did her grief run to tears; it was beyond tears. At +the coroner’s inquest she answered penetrating questions +as if they related to the affairs of others, and when at last +the weary body, whose spirit had been strong enough to +lay it aside, had been buried on the bare hillside, the +neighbours and those who came to the funeral from curiosity +agreed that Elizabeth Hunter could stand anything. So +little evidence of emotion had she given that Mrs. Crane +remarked to Mrs. Farnshaw as they rode home together:</p> +<p>“I declare, Lizzie’s th’ coolest hand I ever met. She +couldn’t ’a’ liked Mr. Noland very much. She wasn’t +near as broke up as Mr. Hunter was, an’ when I asked her +if she wouldn’t feel kind of spooky in that house after such +a thing, she just looked at me, funny-like, an’ says ‘Why?’ +an’ didn’t seem t’ care a bit.”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan drove home from the graveyard with +the family.</p> +<p>“I suppose you know, Hunter, that there’s a will,” he +said before he helped Elizabeth into the buggy.</p> +<p>“No! Who’s got it?” John exclaimed.</p> +<p>“He gave it to me, with a note asking me not to read it +till after he was buried, if he should die.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_500' name='page_500'></a>500</span></p> +<p>John and Elizabeth followed the doctor’s rig home +across the long stretch of prairie.</p> +<p>“Did you know that Hugh left a will?” John Hunter +asked Elizabeth, after driving a long time in silence.</p> +<p>“Luther told me last night. I didn’t think much about +it and I forgot to tell you,” Elizabeth returned briefly, +and fell back into her own sad thoughts again.</p> +<p>John Hunter looked at his wife in surprise.</p> +<p>“Luther!” he exclaimed.</p> +<p>“Yes,” she answered indifferently, not looking up, and +unaware that John was regarding her with a surprise +which amounted almost to suspicion.</p> +<p>John let the subject drop, but as they rode home he had +an uncomfortable sense of unpleasant things to come: +first of all why had the presence of the will been concealed +from him, Hugh Noland’s partner and closest friend? +secondly, why had Luther Hansen been told? thirdly, +why had Elizabeth declined just now to discuss it with +him after knowing about it for some time? He could not +put his finger on the exact trouble, but John Hunter was +affronted.</p> +<p>The truth of the matter was that Elizabeth had only +heard of the will the night before, and had been too +stunned by other things to care much about it. If she +had thought about it at all she would have supposed that +John had been told also, but Elizabeth had been occupied +with troubles quite aside from material things, and now did +not talk because she was concerned with certain sad aspects +of the past and almost as sad forebodings for the future. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_501' name='page_501'></a>501</span></p> +<p>“You better come in too, Hansen,” Doctor Morgan +said to Luther, when they arrived at the Hunter house.</p> +<p>Sadie had stayed with Hepsie at the house, and Luther +had expected to take her and go straight home. The two +women had been busy in the three hours since the body +of Hugh Noland had been taken from the house. The +mattress which had been put out in the hot sun for two +days had been brought in, and order had been restored to +the death chamber. There was a dinner ready for the +party of sorrowing friends who had loved the man that +had been laid to his final rest, and it was not till after it +was eaten that the subject of the will was mentioned again.</p> +<p>They sat about the table and listened to Doctor Morgan’s +remarks and the reading of the important document.</p> +<p>“I have,” Doctor Morgan began, “a letter from Mr. +Noland written the day before his death, in which he tells +me that he has made a will of which I am to be made the +sole executor. In that letter he enclosed another sealed +one on which he had written instructions that it was not to +be opened till after his death. I opened the latter this +morning, and in it he states frankly that he has decided to +voluntarily leave his slowly dissolving body, and spare +further pain to those he loves. Perhaps—perhaps I +could have helped him, if I’d known. I can’t tell,” the +old doctor said brokenly. “He asked me to do something +for him that I guess I ought to have done, but I thought he +was all right as he was, and I wouldn’t do it. However, +he asked me as his executor to see to it that every provision +of this will, which I have never seen, be carried out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_502' name='page_502'></a>502</span> +to the letter. Hansen, here, is one of the witnesses he tells +me, and Hornby is the other. It is unnecessary for me to +say that I shall have to carry out these instructions as I +have been commanded to do.”</p> +<p>Turning to John, he added:</p> +<p>“I hope, Hunter, that there’s nothing in this that will +work any inconvenience to you, and I hardly think it will.”</p> +<p>John Hunter sat through the opening of the envelope +and the rapid survey which Doctor Morgan gave its contents +before he began to read, stirred by varying emotions. +Suspicion crawled through his brain, leaving her slimy +trail; why had there been need of secrecy? Why had all +these people been told, and he, John Hunter alone, left +out? Nathan Hornby and Luther Hansen witnesses! +But most of all, as was to be expected, his suspicions were +directed toward Elizabeth. She had known—she probably +knew from the beginning. She was in the conspiracy. +Of the fact of a conspiracy John Hunter felt certain +when Doctor Morgan cleared his throat and began to +read:</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<div class='ra'> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hunter’s Farm,</span></p> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Colebyville, Kansas,</span></p> +<p>August 22, 18—</p> +</div> + +<p>Know all men by these presents that I, Hugh Noland, being of sound mind and +memory, not acting under duress, menace, fraud, or undue influence of any person whatsoever, +do make, publish, and declare this my last will and testament.</p> +<p>First, I order and direct that all my just debts be paid by my executor, hereinafter +named.</p> +<p>Second, I expressly provide, order, and direct that all my estate, consisting of one +half of the lands and chattels of the firm of “Hunter and Noland” shall be settled by my +executor, hereinafter named, without the intervention of the courts, and given, whole +and entire, to Elizabeth Hunter, and to her heirs and assigns forever, and that the +division be a legal division, so arranged that all deeds to the land and all rights to the +personal property shall be legally hers. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_503' name='page_503'></a>503</span></p> +<p>This I do as an inadequate return for all she has done and tried to do for me.</p> +<p>Lastly, I hereby nominate and appoint George W. Morgan, M. D., sole executor of +this my last will and testament, to serve without bonds or the intervention of any court.</p> +<p>In testimony whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal, and publish and declare this +my last will and testament, on this twenty-second day of August, in the year of our +Lord 18——</p> +<div class='ra'> +<p>Signed, <span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hugh Noland</span>.</p> +</div> + +<p>Witnesses: +<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Luther Hansen,</span> +<span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Nathan Hornby.</span></p> +</div> +<p>There was a pause. Surprise held every person present, +for the witnesses had seen only their signatures up to now, +not the will, and Doctor Morgan was no less astonished +than the rest. At last he reached his hand across the +table to Elizabeth saying:</p> +<p>“It’s an instrument that I shall get some pleasure at +least from administering, Mrs. Hunter. You deserve it. +I’m glad it goes to you. It’s like the boy! God rest his +weary soul, and forgive his impatience to be off! we’ll +miss him,” he added brokenly.</p> +<p>Elizabeth sat with her hands clasped on the table in +front of her, neither hearing nor seeing more. She was +unaware that she was the object of everybody’s attention +and that all eyes were turned on her. The merely material +items contained in that instrument were of little +moment to her just then; to every one else, except perhaps +Luther, they were all that there was of importance. +Sadie Hansen looked at her young neighbour, overcome +by the fact that she was to have several thousand dollars +all her own; Luther’s gray eyes dwelt upon her affectionately, +glad that this last evidence of Hugh Noland’s +sacrifice was hers; Doctor Morgan thought of the power it +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_504' name='page_504'></a>504</span> +would give her to control the financial side of her life, and +John Hunter was glad that at least the money was to remain +in the business, and ready to forget the supposed plot.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was aroused by Doctor Morgan placing a +sealed envelope in her hand and saying:</p> +<p>“This seems to be for you, Mrs. Hunter. It was in this +big envelope with the will, and I didn’t see it till just now.”</p> +<p>The girl was so surprised that she turned the envelope +over two or three times and read her name carefully to +realize that the letter was for her, and from Hugh’s own +hand. When at last it was clear to her, her face flushed +with confusion, and the first tears which had dimmed her +eyes since the hour of his death came to her relief. But +the tears did not fall. Realizing that the eyes of all +present were upon her, she controlled herself, and rising +said:</p> +<p>“Excuse me one moment, till I have read it,” and +passed into her own bedroom, where, with the sense of his +presence, she clasped it to her tenderly an instant, and +still standing, broke the seal.</p> +<p>It was simple, sincere, and so formal that all the world +might have read it, and yet, it said all that she would have +wanted him to say.</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>My Dear Elizabeth</span> [it began]: When this reaches your hand, my heart will have +ceased to trouble either of us. I will have fought my little fight; I will have kept the +faith—which I started out too late to keep. The little I leave you will be small +recompense for all I have cost you, but it is all I have, and will, I hope, help toward +emancipating you from care. My one earnest bit of advice to you is, <i>keep it free from +debts</i>.</p> +<p>I wish I might have spared you these last few days and their various burdens, but I +am sure they will be less heavy than if I chose to wait.</p> +<div class='ra'> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>Hugh</span>.</p> +</div> + +</div> +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_505' name='page_505'></a>505</span></div> +<p>Elizabeth Hunter returned to the table with the open +letter, which she handed to Doctor Morgan saying:</p> +<p>“Read it aloud, Doctor,” and stood behind her chair +with her head bowed while it was being done.</p> +<p>When it was finished, she looked about her, measuring +the different members of the group, wondering if it said +the things to them which it cried aloud to her. The +survey was satisfactory, till she suddenly realized that +John was not there.</p> +<p>“Where’s John,” she asked.</p> +<p>“Gone out to see Nate Hornby—he’s brought the +baby,” Luther answered.</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan started for home, taking the will with +him to have it legally probated, and Elizabeth took Jack +from his father’s arms, and went back to put away her +letter, forgetting that John had not heard it read. Nathan +came to spend the rest of the day. He knew from personal +experience the cheerlessness of the house which has but +lately harboured the dead.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXIV_FACING_CONSEQUENCES' id='XXIV_FACING_CONSEQUENCES'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_506' name='page_506'></a>506</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV</h2> +<h3>FACING CONSEQUENCES</h3> +</div> + +<p>The next Sunday John was thrown in upon Elizabeth +for entertainment. He had been a little +more tender with her since the funeral, reflecting +that women were easily upset by death and that this death +had been particularly tragic in its sadness and disturbing +features. He missed Hugh, and an intangible something +about the will made him uncomfortable; but they would +be rich in time and he could simply oversee the business, +and life would be more satisfactory. If he thought of +Luther and Nathan as witnesses, the thought was made +partially acceptable since they could see that Hugh had +placed the property in his, John Hunter’s, hands. When +the uncomfortable things wormed their way forward and +would be considered, he tried to reason them out. Some +features of it could be accounted for; for instance, he, +John Hunter, had probably not been consulted by Hugh +for legal reasons, since the money was to come to them. +Hugh must have considered that. But Elizabeth had +known! He had forgotten that. Right there John went +into a brown study. Had she known before Hugh’s +death? It was queer, but she never mentioned Hugh +these days, nor the will, nor—no, she did not speak of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_507' name='page_507'></a>507</span> +letter, much less offer to show it to him. Still, the money +was theirs. That was the solid rock under John Hunter’s +feet. Whatever else happened, the money was theirs. +Now he could open out and farm on a scale befitting a +man of his parts. They would make something yet. +This farming venture had not turned out so badly after +all.</p> +<p>A slight rain was falling, the first in two months, two of +the most important months in the year; but it was only a +drizzle and not enough to benefit the corn, which—even +the last planting—was ruined. The heat and drought +had forced a premature ripening, and the stubby ears, +fully formed, were empty of developing grains, except +near the butts. It was discouraging to lose the corn, and +John, to take the place of the shortened crop, had had a +field plowed and sewed to millet. A promise of rain +meant a probable crop of that substitute for the heavier +grain, but it must be rain, not a mere shower. Disappointed +at the stingy display of water, John wandered +about the house, disturbed by Jack’s noise, and irritably +uncomfortable.</p> +<p>“Come on in and sit down,” he urged when he saw that +Elizabeth intended to help Hepsie with the dishes.</p> +<p>“All right. Let the work go, Hepsie, and I’ll do it +later,” Elizabeth said quietly. She dreaded an hour with +John when he was in that mood, but there seemed to be no +help for it.</p> +<p>The two women cleared the dinner table and righted +the dining room before they stopped, then Elizabeth +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_508' name='page_508'></a>508</span> +closed the kitchen door and left the dishwashing till +she could get away from the conference requested. +Hepsie had hurried to get started early for her home +and Elizabeth had entered into her plans and offered +assistance.</p> +<p>“Why don’t you let Hepsie finish them alone?” John +said petulantly.</p> +<p>Elizabeth made no reply, but took Jack on her lap and +rocked him to keep herself occupied. There was less +opportunity for disagreement if the child were still while +his father talked.</p> +<p>“If this rain’d only get busy we’d have a crop of millet +yet,” John began. “Corn’s going to be mighty high and +scarce this fall.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth did not reply; something in the air warned +her to let John do the talking. She had ceased to enter +into conversation with him unless something vital made it +necessary to speak. The vital thing was not long in forthcoming. +The whimsical weather made him depressed and +kept his mind on the gloomy crop outlook.</p> +<p>“Confound this beastly drizzle! If it’d only get down +to business and rain we’d pull out yet. There’ll be corn +to buy for the cattle and the very devil to pay everywhere. +I’ve got to lengthen out the sheds over those feeders—it +hurried the cattle to get around them last winter—and +here’s all these extra expenses lately. There’s no way out +of it—we’ve got to put a mortgage on that west eighty. +I’ll take up the horse note in that case, and Johnson’s +offering that quarter section so cheap that I think I’ll just +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_509' name='page_509'></a>509</span> +make the loan big enough to cover the first payment and +take it in. We’ll never get it as cheap again.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s eyes were wide open now, but she considered +a moment before she began to speak.</p> +<p>“We can’t do that,” she said slowly at last. “We’re +out of debt, except your personal note for the five hundred +and the one for the team. It won’t do to mortgage +again.”</p> +<p>“But we’ll have to mortgage, with the crop short, and +all those cattle!” he exclaimed.</p> +<p>“Sell a part of them as grass cattle, and use the money +to buy corn for the rest,” she advised.</p> +<p>“Grass cattle are soft and don’t weigh down like corn-fed +steers. It would be sheer waste,” John insisted.</p> +<p>Elizabeth understood that right now they were to test +their strength. She thought it over carefully, not speaking +till she had decided what to say. The old path of +mortgages and interest meant the old agony of dread of +pay-day and the heart eaten out of every day of their +existence, and yet she was careful not to rush into discussion. +Her voice became more quiet as she felt her way +in the debate.</p> +<p>“You are right as far as you go, grass cattle do not sell +for as much, but, on the other hand, a loan means interest, +and there is always a chance of the loss of a steer or two and +then the profit is gone and you have your mortgage left. +Luther said yesterday that they had black-leg over north +of home, and you know how contagious it is.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Luther! Of course Luther knows all there is to +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_510' name='page_510'></a>510</span> +know about anything,” sneered her husband, to whom +Luther was a sore point just now.</p> +<p>Elizabeth realized her mistake in mentioning Luther’s +name to John almost before it was out of her mouth. +John’s instincts made him bluster and get off the subject +of business and on to that of personalities at once. She did +not reply to the taunt, but went quietly back to the point +of business.</p> +<p>“The price of corn,” she said with perfect control, +“will go way up after this dry weather, but the price of +beef doesn’t always rise in proportion. Besides that, this +is a bad year to get tied up in the money market.”</p> +<p>“We’re going to have to do it all the same,” John +replied, spurred on by the mention of Luther’s name to +compel her consent.</p> +<p>“But, we can’t do it. Hugh especially directed in his +letter that we must not go into debt.”</p> +<p>“I have not had the honour of seeing Hugh’s letter to +you, and therefore I do not know,” John returned. That +was another sore point.</p> +<p>“So you didn’t! Doctor Morgan read it to all the +rest.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had forgotten that John had not heard the +letter read, and rose promptly and went for it. She laid +it on the table at his elbow when she returned saying:</p> +<p>“I had forgotten—you didn’t hear it when the doctor +read it that day.”</p> +<p>John Hunter brushed it aside with his arm.</p> +<p>“I don’t wish to see it, thank you.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_511' name='page_511'></a>511</span></p> +<p>The letter fell on the floor. Elizabeth stooped quickly +and picked it up.</p> +<p>“You may do as you wish about that; I shall not consent +to the mortgage just the same,” she said, her temper +getting the better of her at last. She turned to the bedroom +to put the letter away.</p> +<p>“Now look here, Elizabeth!” John called after her.</p> +<p>Seeing the ineffectiveness of carrying on the conversation +when they were not face to face, John waited till +she returned. When she was seated again and had begun +to rock the restless child once more, he began:</p> +<p>“We may as well understand each other right now as +any time. If you’re going to run this place, I want to +know it, and I’ll step down and out.”</p> +<p>John looked belligerent and waited for her to do her +womanly duty and give in. Elizabeth made no reply. +John waited. He continued to wait for some seconds.</p> +<p>“I shall not consent to a mortgage,” was the quiet +answer.</p> +<p>John Hunter flung himself out of the house.</p> +<p>It was a bad afternoon for John. The drizzle had +hardly been enough to lay the dust, but had made it +impossible to walk through the grass or over the fields; his +pride made it impossible for him to go back to the house, +and so there was no place open to him except the hayloft, +where he turned his own gloomy thoughts over and +reasoned out this new development. A day’s pouting, he +was certain, would win his point; it would probably be all +right when he went back at supper time, but he saw difficulties +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_512' name='page_512'></a>512</span> +ahead with Elizabeth feeling that she had a right +to an opinion regarding the property.</p> +<p>“I shall let her see that I mean business all the same. +I’m not going to have her interfering in my work. Let +her attend to her own, as a woman ought to do,” he +concluded.</p> +<p>He did wish, however, that he had read the letter. +Doctor Morgan had referred to the letter also as being +authority. He had an uncomfortable feeling that if he +ever saw that letter that he would have to ask again; +Elizabeth was a little less easy of late to manage than she +had been that first year; she could put a thing aside and +not discuss it almost as well as he could.</p> +<p>At that point John’s mind flamed up against Luther +Hansen. Elizabeth was always quoting Luther. He +was glad he had let her see just now that she need not +quote that common Swede to him any more. He didn’t +know a necktie from a shoelace! Hugh might have asked +him to witness the will, but Hugh had seen fit to leave the +money to them, all the same. Whatever else hurt, the +money was his, and he’d turn everything into cattle, and +get rich, and get out of this damned hole.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, in the house, was doing her own thinking. +The conversation just finished had indications. She saw +that her husband had a definite policy in regard to the +management of the property, that he did not mean to let +her have any more to do with it than when it was all his +own. A creeping suspicion came to her that if she +refused to consent to further mortgages her husband +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_513' name='page_513'></a>513</span> +might leave her. There had been a violence in his tones +as well as in his manner beyond any he had ever assumed +toward her. Elizabeth shrank in a heartsick way from +the contest. If he would mortgage the one eighty and +then stop she would far rather have given away that much +land than to have the quarrel, but that she knew he +would not do. She could not for a moment think of +giving up if she expected to have a roof over her head +that was unencumbered when she was old. Though half +the property was now hers by actual right, she would not +interfere with anything he wished to do with it except to +place a loan against it. If he insisted upon mortgages, +though their disagreement became a scandal, she resolved +that she would not consent.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>John ate his supper without speaking to any one, and +waited from then till bedtime for his answer, but Elizabeth +gave no sign. The next day he waited, and the next, +with increasing uneasiness and alarm. He decided at +last to force her consent.</p> +<p>The third day he put one of the new horses in the single +buggy and left the place without saying where he was +going, and not even when he returned in the evening did +he mention what his errand had been.</p> +<p>The following morning a team was driven into the side +lane and Elizabeth saw John meet the driver and help him +tie his horses. There was the air of a prearranged thing +between them, and as they came toward the house it +flashed through her mind what had been done. Her +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_514' name='page_514'></a>514</span> +whole form straightened instinctively and she grasped +her broom rigidly as she left the dining room and went to +her own bedroom to get control of herself before she +should have to meet the stranger. She realized that the +man was the Johnson John had spoken of as having the +quarter section of land for sale. She was to be called upon +to act. The thing she must do she knew was right; could +she make the manner of the doing of it right also? She +would not humiliate him if she could help it; she stayed in +her room, hoping that he would come to call her himself +and then she could warn him when he was alone, but John +would not meet her except in the presence of the stranger, +and sent Hepsie to call her. There was no help for it, and +Elizabeth went as she was bidden—went quietly, and +was introduced to the neighbour whom she had never +seen.</p> +<p>“Mr. Johnson has accepted my proposition, Elizabeth, +to give him twenty-five dollars an acre for the quarter +next to ours,” John said after all were seated.</p> +<p>The girl waited quietly. She noticed that John did not +mention the terms of payment, and waited for him to +commit himself on that point.</p> +<p>“Do you know where those blank deeds are? We can +make one out while we conclude the details, and then go +in to Colebyville to-morrow and have a notary take our +signatures,” John concluded easily.</p> +<p>Elizabeth hesitated visibly, and John had a startled +moment, but she went for the blanks at last, as he directed. +The two men sat with their heads together, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_515' name='page_515'></a>515</span> +wrote carefully in the numbers and legal description of +the land.</p> +<p>“And the party of the first part further agrees that the +sum of——” John was reading as he wrote it in. His +voice ran on to the close. When the writing was finished +the man Johnson rose, and, picking up his straw hat, said:</p> +<p>“I guess I’ll be hurrying on toward home now. I’ll +stop in on the way to-morrow morning. You’d just as +well ride with me.”</p> +<p>“Oh, I’ll have to take Mrs. Hunter in with me,” John +replied, “and I can just as well hitch up to my own +rig.”</p> +<p>“What are you taking me in with you for, John?” +Elizabeth asked, perfectly quiet on the outside, but +aquiver with humiliation and dread because of the thing +she was being compelled to do.</p> +<p>“To fix up the papers on the west eighty; you know It’ll +be necessary for you to sign them too.” Addressing Mr. +Johnson, he added easily: “My wife objects to going into +debt, Mr. Johnson, but I felt this too good an opportunity +to let pass, and since we can arrange it so that I won’t +have to raise but a thousand dollars just now, I’m sure +She’ll see the advisability of the move.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth considered a second before she began to +speak, and then said slowly:</p> +<p>“Mr. Hunter does not understand the nature of my +objection, I see. Of course if he can arrange it with you +so that all the indebtedness falls on the land he is buying, +I should have no objections whatever, but we cannot +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_516' name='page_516'></a>516</span> +mortgage our home. The provisions of the will forbid it, +and I shall live up to those provisions absolutely.”</p> +<p>The silence which followed was vocal with astonishment. +The man looked from husband to wife for signs of +quarrelling, but Elizabeth returned his gaze quietly, and +without signs of anger, and John also gave no indication +of anything but surprise. After a gasping instant, during +which his instincts warned him to keep on the side of +decency, John accepted the situation with seeming calm.</p> +<p>“Well, Mr. Johnson, if Mrs. Hunter feels that way +about it, there’s nothing to do. I’m sorry to have +brought you over on a fool’s errand,” he said suavely, +“but it can’t be helped now. We’ll take the land later, +however,” and ushered his guest out of the house and +helped him untie his team without any sign of the tempest +within.</p> +<p>John went back to the house with no concealment and +no cajolery.</p> +<p>“We may as well know where we are and what we mean +to do right here and now, Elizabeth,” he began. “If +you’re going to do this kind of thing, I want to know it.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was ready for the storm, and met it without +flurry. She looked at her husband quietly, steadily, +sorrowfully.</p> +<p>“I shall sign no mortgages, if that is what you are in +doubt about,” she said. “I had not intended to ask for a +legal division of the property, but since you demand the +right to make loans, I shall not cripple your plans with +what is your own. I will have my part set aside; you can +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_517' name='page_517'></a>517</span> +farm it in any way you choose, but you can only mortgage +what is yours. I would have told you so if you had played +fair and discussed this thing with me instead of leaving +the house or blustering. You can tell me what you mean +to do where I am concerned—you would if I were a man—or +you can take just what you did to-day. You try +to put me where I can’t help myself before strangers when +you want me to do a thing you know I don’t think I ought +to do; and you can’t handle me that way any longer.”</p> +<p>John Hunter had been working himself into a passion as +he listened and burst out:</p> +<p>“And You’ll work for the best interests of this farm, +that’s what You’ll do! Every time I ask you to sign a +paper you make a little more fuss. Because I got in +pretty deep before is no sign I’m going to do it again, and +when I tell you to sign anything You’ll do it.”</p> +<p>His feet were very wide apart, and he thrust his face +forward at her, his eyes glaring into hers with every trick +which instinct prompted him to use in compelling her +obedience.</p> +<p>Elizabeth barely glanced at him, and then looked down +at the floor, quietly considering in what way she should +reply to such an attack.</p> +<p>John was disconcerted; his little stage play had fallen +flat.</p> +<p>After a moment’s pause, Elizabeth began very quietly:</p> +<p>“I will not interfere with anything you do about the +land which has been left to me, except that I will not have +one cent of mortgage on it. If you will keep out of debt, +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_518' name='page_518'></a>518</span> +you can manage it any way you choose, but I will have +every step of the business explained to me which involves +the safety of my home, and it will be explained to me +beforehand—or the same thing will happen that has just +happened. I will not be deceived, even in little things.”</p> +<p>The girl looked him squarely and kindly in the face, but +her look was as firm as if he had not blustered.</p> +<p>“I have not deceived you. I brought this man here +and explained the whole thing before your face, besides +telling you the other day that I intended to have that +land.”</p> +<p>“You are shuffling with the truth, and you know it,” +she said sternly. “You did not tell me you had made any +arrangements with him, nor that you intended to do so, +only in a general way. You thought you’d catch me +before him when it came to signing the papers, and then +you thought I couldn’t help myself.”</p> +<p>“I have not tried to deceive you! I brought him here +and explained every detail,” he said with such a righteous +appearance of innocence that Elizabeth was tempted to +laugh. “We’ve fallen to a pretty state of affairs when +my own wife hints at my having lied to her,” John insisted.</p> +<p>Elizabeth spoke slowly, measuring her words, realizing +that the crisis of their lives was upon them.</p> +<p>“I will not accuse you any more, but I will explain the +plan on which I will do business with you.”</p> +<p>“You needn’t bother,” John interrupted sarcastically. +“I will let you run it.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_519' name='page_519'></a>519</span></p> +<p>“I will not go into debt,” Elizabeth continued as +calmly as if he had not interrupted. “That is the absolute +decision I have come to. You will not explain to me +<i>after</i> you have decided to do a thing and in the presence +of other people, where my property and my freedom are +concerned. On the other hand, if you are determined to +go into debt and branch out into a larger business, I feel +that I cannot deny you the right to do as you wish with +what is your own, and if you choose to do so will divide +the property and leave you as free to mortgage and sell +as if you were not married to me. I will leave you as free +as I ask to be myself.”</p> +<p>“Free! Free to be made a fool of. No, ma’am; you +don’t run any such gag as that on me. The people in this +community are only too anxious to talk about me; they’d +roll it under their tongues like a sweet morsel, that as soon +as you got hold of the money you put the screws on me. +You gave Johnson just such a handle this afternoon as +that. You’ll behave yourself, and look after your house +and child as a woman ought to do, and I’ll take charge of +the work out of doors as a man ought to do.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth interrupted him eagerly:</p> +<p>“Now right there, John, you have struck the very heart +of the thing which first made me feel that I must take care +of myself in my own way. You have never allowed me +to bake a pie or a loaf of bread, nor churn, nor anything +without you told me how to do it; and then you feel that +you have the right to mortgage the home right over my +head and think I have no rights in the matter.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_520' name='page_520'></a>520</span></p> +<p>It was John’s turn to interrupt eagerly.</p> +<p>“Who put that home over your head?” he asked, for +the first time addressing himself to the real issue of the +home.</p> +<p>Elizabeth looked at him steadily. She was surprised +to find herself talking thus quietly, she who had been so +prone to emotional hindrances.</p> +<p>“Since I have been in your house I have had my food +and clothes. I don’t have to tell you that my mere work +is worth far more than that. I have borne you a child. +Motherhood entitles me to a share in the estate, since I +have the child on my hands; besides, I could have been +teaching school these years and not only earned my living +but have been free to go and come as I have never been +free here.”</p> +<p>“That has nothing to do with it. You are married and +your duty lies here as well as your work. It’s a wife I +want. If you’re going to be a wife, be one; if you’re +going to be a boss, I want to know it, and I’ll get +out.”</p> +<p>“Two things I will have my say about: I will not mortgage +the half of the land which is mine, and I will not be +interfered with when I have to correct Jack,” Elizabeth +said slowly. “Also when I see fit to go anywhere I shall +go hereafter. I was never allowed to go to see Aunt +Susan, and she went down to her death thinking I didn’t +want to come. Of course that’s different now: I do go +when I want to these days, but I got my first warning +right there that I must take care of myself. You don’t +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_521' name='page_521'></a>521</span> +intend to tell me anything about what you mean to do +with me, ever, if you can help it.”</p> +<p>“You’ll go into Colebyville and sign the papers on that +land all the same,” John said doggedly.</p> +<p>“I will sign no papers till there is a legal division of the +property, John. I mean what I say. I’ll let people talk +if you crowd me before them,” the girl said decisively.</p> +<p>John glared at her in desperation.</p> +<p>“Damn it! no wonder folks talked the week we were +married! I’ve been humiliated ever since I brought you +into this house,” the man cried, breaking into a passion +again. “A pretty figure You’ll cut, with this last thing +added to your reputation. Everybody knows you +couldn’t get along with your father. I let you down easy +with Johnson just now, in spite of the humiliating place +you put me in, but if you think I’m going to be driven +at your beck and call you’re mistaken.”</p> +<p>John stopped to give effect to his words. He was just +beginning to realize that Elizabeth was not giving up, and +that it was a fight to the finish. The feature John disliked +was that it was a fight in the open. Well, let her +fight in the open, she should see that he would not be +beaten.</p> +<p>Elizabeth, to be less conscious of the eyes glaring at her, +picked up her sewing, which had been tossed on the lounge +an hour ago, and began to ply her needle.</p> +<p>John broke out anew, really losing control of himself +this time.</p> +<p>“It’s the most outrageous thing I ever heard of—a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_522' name='page_522'></a>522</span> +woman humiliating her husband by refusing to sign papers +when he has brought the man right into the house to fix +them up! A pretty reputation I’ll get out of it! It’s +sickening, disgusting. What do you expect me to do? +Tell me that. If I want to buy a load of hay or a boar pig, +am I to say to a man, ‘Wait till I ask my wife if I can?’”</p> +<p>He stood leering at her, hot with passion, determined to +make her speak. The vulgarity of his discussion nauseated +her, but since she must discuss, she was resolved to do +it quietly and on decent ground as far as she was concerned. +Without fear she replied slowly:</p> +<p>“You know perfectly well what I have asked of you, +John. You won’t gain anything by blustering. I mean to +be consulted on all important matters like loans, deeds, +and mortgages, exactly as you’d consult with a man, and +I intend to be consulted <i>before</i> the thing is done, and not +have you take advantage of me in the presence of strangers. +You needn’t shuffle matters. You understand what +I mean, and you can’t fool me. Be sensible and do the +right thing by me, and give me the chance to do the right +thing by you.”</p> +<p>“I’ve done the right thing by you already, and I’ll go +about my own affairs as a man should, and You’ll attend +to your own affairs as a woman should if you live with +me, and leave me free to act like a man. Do you understand +that?” he demanded.</p> +<p>“I’m sorry, John,” she said, falling back to the needle, +which she had let rest again for a moment. There was a +little choke in her voice, but she was firm. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_523' name='page_523'></a>523</span></p> +<p>“What do you mean by that?” he asked, suspicious +that she was not giving up as he intended that she should +do.</p> +<p>“I mean just what I said a minute ago: I will let you +mortgage your half of this farm after it is divided, but I +will not sign any such papers on the other half. I will +not be taken advantage of before strangers; I will let them +talk first, and I will take care of my house as I see fit. +Also, I will not speak when you manage Jack, and you +will not interfere when I have to do it—that is, we will +not interfere with each other <i>before the child</i>.”</p> +<p>John Hunter’s face turned scarlet, his cheeks stung as if +he had been slapped; she was not giving in at all! He +stood before her incensed beyond words for a moment, +breathing hard and almost bursting with what he considered +the insult of it; then the blood which had mounted +to his head receded and left him deadly white.</p> +<p>“I don’t exactly understand you,” he said in level tones, +“but you shall understand me. I will never be made a +fool of by you again; if you’re going to run things, say it +out, and I’ll let you have it and run it alone.”</p> +<p>It was hopeless; she did not reply, but stitched in and +out on Jack’s little frock, sick at heart with the shame of +such a quarrel, since it was to accomplish nothing.</p> +<p>“Answer me!” he thundered.</p> +<p>Elizabeth laid her sewing on the lounge beside her, and +rose to her feet. She looked him squarely in the face and +answered as he demanded.</p> +<p>“I will sign no papers of which I do not approve, and +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_524' name='page_524'></a>524</span> +certainly none which I have been deceived about in any +way. Aside from that you are free to run the farm as you +wish.”</p> +<p>“Then take the whole damned thing, and I’ll go back +to mother and make a home for her. She was never +allowed to have a home in this house after you came into +it,” he flung out. “I’ll take the Mitchell County land, +and you can have what’s here. That’s what you and +Hornby and Hansen planned from the first, I should judge. +That’s why you got Noland to do it.”</p> +<p>Thrusting his hat down to his very ears, he strode from +the house, swinging the screen door behind him so hard +that it broke and the split corner fell out and hung dangling +by the net, which kept the splintered frame from falling +to the ground.</p> +<p>Elizabeth closed the panelled door to keep out the +flies, and turned quietly to the bedroom for her bonnet. +She spoke to Hepsie, who had heard the entire argument, +as she passed through the kitchen, asking her to keep Jack +for her, and walked through the barnyard, through the +wet pasture, and on to her haunt in the willows, where she +could think undisturbed.</p> +<p>John was still standing in the harness room of the barn +when he heard the door close behind Elizabeth, and saw +her coming that way.</p> +<p>Elizabeth was coming to the barn! He gave a start of +surprise. Even while he had not given up all thought of +her coming to his terms, he wondered at her giving in so +promptly. John drew back so that she should not see +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_525' name='page_525'></a>525</span> +that he was watching her. When she did not immediately +appear he thought with a smile of satisfaction that +she had stopped, not finding it easy to approach after the +haughty manner in which she had just dismissed his +demands. He waited a moment, considering terms of +capitulation, and then walked unconcernedly out.</p> +<p>The truth broke upon him. She had passed the barn, +she was on her way to the willows, not to him. Something +in John Hunter sickened.</p> +<p>Up to the moment when John had seen his wife coming +toward him he had been fully prepared to stand by the +terms of dissolution which he had made. But in that +moment when he watched her recede from him in the +direction of the willows, the tide of his feelings turned; he +wished he had not issued his ultimatum; he wished he had +not put it to the test.</p> +<p>The triumph of receiving her submission had been his +first thought when he had seen her come from the house, +and it had been a sweet morsel while it had lasted, but +when he had seen her going from him toward the willows, +he suddenly realized that triumph had slipped from +his grasp. Suddenly he desired to possess her. Not since +the first six weeks of their acquaintance had Elizabeth +looked so fair to him. He had put her away! A great +sob rose up in him. He had said that he would go back to +his mother, and his fate was sealed. He had gone to the +barn to saddle his horse and start on the instant for +Mitchell County and the cattle he had chosen as his +portion, but all at once the glamour of his going died away +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_526' name='page_526'></a>526</span> +and he saw the choice he had made. To crown his cheerless +flight, Jack was at Nathan Hornby’s, and pride would +not let him follow the child up even when he was going +away forever. Nate Hornby had had something to do +with this business of Elizabeth getting the money, and he +had also had something to do with her determination to +take the money out of his, her husband’s, hands, and he, +John Hunter, would not humble himself before him. +Long before Elizabeth’s return from the willows her husband +was away.</p> +<p>Great was Elizabeth Hunter’s surprise when John did +not appear at supper. She had not taken him seriously; +he had always blustered, and while she had realized that +he was angry enough to make his word good, she had supposed +that he would make a division of the property if he +intended to leave her, and make arrangements for the +child. She did not believe that he was gone, and answered +the observations and questions of the hired men by saying +that he had probably gone for the baby. In fact, having +once said it, it sounded plausible to her, and she waited +till far into the night for the sound of his horse’s footsteps.</p> +<p>The suspicion which at midnight was yet a suspicion was +by morning a certainty, but Elizabeth kept her own counsel, +and when Nathan brought Jack at noon she did not +speak of her husband’s absence. The second day the +hired men began to make mention of it, and the evening +of the third day Luther Hansen appeared at the sitting-room +door. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_527' name='page_527'></a>527</span></p> +<p>“Lizzie, what’s this I hear about Hunter?” he asked, +looking searchingly into her face.</p> +<p>Elizabeth told him all that she knew, except the unjust +thing he had said about Luther.</p> +<p>“I don’t know anything about his plans,” she concluded, +“except that he said he meant to go to his mother +after he had marketed the cattle. You’ll hear from the +neighbours that Hugh’s money has set me up and made a +fool of me, and various other things,” she added; and she +saw in his face that it had already been said.</p> +<p>The girl sat and looked into the night through the open +door for a moment and then went on:</p> +<p>“I shall go to Colebyville to-morrow, and see Doctor +Morgan and look after business matters. I’ll tell you +what we decide upon when I get home. There’ll have to +be a real division of the property now. I don’t know what +to do about living here alone. I suppose there’ll be every +kind of gossip?”</p> +<p>The last part of the sentence was a question, and one +Luther was not the man to evade.</p> +<p>“You’ll have a lot of talk that hain’t got no truth in it +to meet,” he said reluctantly. “You’ll have t’ have some +one with you here. You couldn’t git Hornby, could +you?” Luther knew the nature of the gossip the neighbours +would wreak upon her.</p> +<p>A light fell upon Elizabeth.</p> +<p>“The very idea!” she exclaimed. “Just what I need +to do and at the same time just what I would love to do.”</p> +<p>Luther was delighted that that important feature of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_528' name='page_528'></a>528</span> +matter could be so easily arranged. He could not bear to +have her mixed up with any sort of scandal, when her +neighbours so little understood the real situation, and +would be so ready to strike her wherever they could.</p> +<p>“Then you go an’ see Hornby to-night, Lizzie. Have +Jake hitch up for you, an’ take Hepsie along.” Luther +paused a moment and then proceeded on another phase of +her troubles.</p> +<p>“Lizzie, how do you feel about it? Do you—would +you like t’ have ’im back? ’Cause if you would, I’ll go to +Mitchell County for you. You ain’t goin’ t’ have no +easy time of it here. Folks—specially th’ women’s—goin’ +t’ have it in for you quite a bit.”</p> +<p>“No,” Elizabeth answered promptly. “I’ll take whatever +comes from my neighbours. I can shut my doors and +keep them outside, but, Luther, I can’t go on as things +have been on the inside of my own house. I don’t want to +talk about it at all, even to you, but I shall let him go. It’s +better than some other things. We’d simply come to the +place where we had to understand each other. I’d a +great deal rather have him back than to have him gone, +but he wouldn’t understand at all if I sent for him.”</p> +<p>Luther looked at her approvingly and yet something in +him held back. He longed to spare her all the low tittle-tattle +of her neighbours, the coarse jests of the hired men +among themselves, and the eternal suspicions of the +women.</p> +<p>“I know all you would say, Luther,” she said, understanding +his reluctance to give up. “I know what these +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_529' name='page_529'></a>529</span> +women who think I haven’t wanted to visit them will say, +and I don’t blame them, but I will not send for him now +or ever. I have wronged him in ways he has known nothing +of—maybe the scandal I haven’t deserved at his +hands will square that deal a little—but that is not the +present difficulty. We’ll have to have an agreement +about our plan of life together. If he ever comes back I +shall never deceive him again, but I will never be deceived +by him again, either.”</p> +<p>“Well, you know best, Lizzie. I’ll talk to Jake for +you. You’d best try t’ keep him an’ Hepsie. They’re +good friends an’ you’re goin’ t’ need friends.”</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Luther saw that the buggy was got ready for Elizabeth +and Hepsie, and after they had gone talked to the men, +telling them that Elizabeth had asked him to do so. He +told them her offer was for them to stay on at the usual +wage, or go now so that she could fill their places. After +they had signified their willingness to remain in her +employment, he took Jake aside and had a long talk with +him.</p> +<p>Jake Ransom filled with anger when the two were alone.</p> +<p>“I didn’t say anything when you was a talkin’ t’ them +men,” he said confidentially, “but I ain’t lived in this +house for close on three year now without learnin’ somethin’. +Damned fool! never done nothin’ she’s wanted ’im +to since I’ve been here. She got ’er eye-teeth cut when +Mis Hornby died, but it most killed ’er. I’ve watched +’er a gittin’ hold of ’erself gradual-like, an’ I knew there’d +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_530' name='page_530'></a>530</span> +be an end of his bossin’ some day. Gosh! I’m glad she +got th’ money! Noland was some fond of her.”</p> +<p>Jake stole a sidelong glance at Luther as he said it and +waited to see if he would elicit an answer. When Luther +did not reply, he added:</p> +<p>“I’m dog’on glad I’ve been here. Lots of folks ’ll ask +me questions, an’ won’t I be innocent? You kin help at +your end of this thing too. I guess we kin do it ’tween +us.”</p> +<p>The understanding was perfect, but Jake took warning +by Luther’s refusal to discuss private affairs. Without +saying just what was intended, each knew what course of +action the other meant to take, and so Elizabeth was +granted friends at the critical moment of her life and +spared much that was hard in a community where personalities +were the only topics of conversation.</p> +<hr class='tb' /> + +<p>Nathan Hornby was only too glad to live in the house +with Jack Hunter. As he remarked, it would take no +more time to drive over to his work than to cook his own +breakfast in the morning.</p> +<p>Hepsie was at this time Elizabeth’s principal defender. +While listening to the reading of the will on the day of +the funeral, Hepsie, old in the ways of her little world, had +known that some explanation would have to be made of so +unusual a matter as a man leaving his money to another +man’s wife, instead of to the man himself, and had begun +by giving out the report which she intended the world to +accept, by talking to Sadie Hansen before she got out +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_531' name='page_531'></a>531</span> +of the dooryard. Hepsie knew that first reports went +farthest with country folk, and Luther, who understood +better than any one else why the money had been left to +Elizabeth, was inwardly amused at Sadie’s explanations +afterward.</p> +<p>“You know, Luther,” Sadie had said on the way home +that day, “Mr. Noland told Hepsie he was agoin’ t’ leave +his share of th’ land to Lizzie, ’cause Doc Morgan says +She’ll never be strong again after overworkin’ for all them +men, an’ things. An’ she says he felt awful bad ’cause he +was a layin’ there sick so long an’ her a havin’ t’ do for +’im when she wasn’t able—an’ do you know, she thinks +that’s why he killed hisself? I always did like ’im. I +think it was mighty nice for him t’ leave ’er th’ stuff. +My! think of a woman havin’ a farm all ’er own!”</p> +<p>And Luther Hansen listened to Sadie telling her mother +the same thing the next day, and smiled again, for Mrs. +Crane could talk much, and was to talk to better purpose +than she knew.</p> +<p>Also, when Elizabeth went to the little schoolhouse to +meeting the first Sunday of her widowhood, being determined +to be a part of the community in which she lived, +Hepsie was on the outskirts of the little crowd after +services were over, to explain in a whisper that Lizzie was +“goin’ t’ go t’ meetin’ now like she’d always wanted to do, +only Mr. Hunter never ’d take ’er anywhere ’cause ’e felt +hisself too good.”</p> +<p>Hepsie was to fight Elizabeth’s battles on many occasions +and stayed on, watchful as a hawk of Elizabeth’s +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_532' name='page_532'></a>532</span> +reputation. A sly joke among the hired men while discussing +their position in the house of “the grass-widder” +drove Hepsie beside herself and made her even more ready +than she had been at first to serve the interests of one who +was to have no easy time among her jealous neighbours. +Elizabeth knew that in that hour she could have had most +of these people for her friends had it not been that she was +supposed to be “stuck-up.” This also was a price she +was to pay for having let her husband dominate her.</p> +<p>When Doctor Morgan was told of Elizabeth’s plan to +farm the place herself he was delighted and approved of +it heartily.</p> +<p>“You’re a little brick, Mrs. Hunter,” he said. “I’ll +back you in anything you decide to do. It was devilish +mean to run off without settling affairs up. If any of these +yahoos around here say anything about it they’ll get a +setting up from me that they won’t want again. But I’m +mighty glad you’ve got Hornby. That’ll keep actual +slander off of you. How much did you say you owed +now?”</p> +<p>“Five hundred—and some expenses for Mr. Noland—besides +the note you hold for the team. I’ve got about +a hundred in the bank, but I shall need a pony to ride +about the farm, and that will take about half of what I +have ready.</p> +<p>“The pony’s a good idea. There’s no telling what +would be made out of you wandering around the fields on +foot to look after the hired men, but on horseback you’d +be all right. Now don’t you worry about that note of +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_533' name='page_533'></a>533</span> +mine—I’m in no hurry,” the doctor said encouragingly. +Elizabeth saw the advantage of having Doctor Morgan as +an enthusiastic advocate of her plans.</p> +<p>“What about the land, Doctor?” the girl asked next. +“I want a legal division as soon as possible. Will it have +to be appraised and sold?”</p> +<p>Doctor Morgan noted joyfully that Elizabeth Hunter +had her business well in mind, and assured her that it +would be only a formality to have the appraising done, as +she could buy it in herself, and further assured her that he +would himself confer with John after all was settled.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXV__THE_WEIGHT_OF_A_DOLLAREE_AND_OUT_OF_DEBT_DON_T_FORGET_THAT' id='XXV__THE_WEIGHT_OF_A_DOLLAREE_AND_OUT_OF_DEBT_DON_T_FORGET_THAT'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_534' name='page_534'></a>534</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV</h2> +<h3>“THE WEIGHT OF A DOLLAREE AND OUT OF DEBT DON’T FORGET THAT”</h3> +</div> + +<p>Nathan Hornby moved promptly over to the +Hunter farm, and established himself in Hugh’s +old room upstairs.</p> +<p>The farm work prospered under Elizabeth’s management. +She was fortunate enough to trade a young heifer +with a calf at her side for Silas’s pony, and because feed +was scarce she sold most of the stock, keeping only such +as she desired to open farming with the next spring. The +hogs were marketed early, and the few steers left when +the cattle had been taken to Mitchell County were sold +to the first buyer who offered a reasonable figure for them; +the cows which gave evidence of increase were kept and +the rest sold. Altogether money enough was raised to +pay the note for the team and all the outstanding indebtedness +except the note for five hundred dollars. The +latter did not mature till May and could stand. The +expense of feeding discouraged the farmers and prices +dropped steadily all winter.</p> +<p>When April came the Johnson land was sold to a +stranger, who came and offered to buy the west eighty of +Elizabeth’s land. The five hundred would be due the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_535' name='page_535'></a>535</span> +next month. The new neighbour coveted that eighty, +and Elizabeth decided that if she could get a price +warranting its sale she would sell, pay off the five hundred, +and put the rest into calves while they were cheap. +She offered the land for thirty-five dollars an acre. It was +unheard of! No one had ever asked so much for land in +that country, but the man wanted to add that land to his +farm, and after some bargaining paid the price.</p> +<p>Frugal and cautious, Elizabeth paid the five hundred +with the first check she drew against the price of the land. +That left two thousand for calves and three hundred for +running expenses. John had taken one horse out of the +new team when he went away, and Elizabeth decided not +to buy another, but to hire a horse in harvesting time. +There were three full teams for the plows, besides the +horse which had been hurt in the runaway. It had +recovered and, though scarred and stiffened, could be used +for ordinary work. She took good care to have it hitched +beside a solid, trusty mate and treated gently to soothe its +wild nature.</p> +<p>No word had come from John except when Doctor +Morgan wrote him of the appraisement of the land. +Then a curt letter had been received saying that whatever +they did would be satisfactory to him and that when +the deeds came he would sign them. Not to be outdone, +Elizabeth bought the portion of land which did not have +the house and buildings, agreeing to rent the home eighty +until such time as he should choose to sell it, and expressing +a desire, since Jack had been born there, to buy the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_536' name='page_536'></a>536</span> +home if John should ever wish to part with it. To his +suggestion that she use the home without rent—in fact, +an offer of it as his share of support of the child—Elizabeth +refused to listen.</p> +<p>“I’ll rent it of him as I would of anybody, Doctor,” she +had replied, and made out a note on the spot.</p> +<p>John had written that he was in the commission business +in Chicago, and did not say whether his mother was +with him nor not. To Elizabeth he did not write, but to +Jack he sent loads of toys and a sled at Christmas time.</p> +<p>Elizabeth had not attempted to communicate with +John direct, but had rented his share of the land from him +through Doctor Morgan. The sale of the west eighty +gave her enough money to stock the place with every +animal it would hold. When the girl began to look about +her for calves, she found that because of the price of corn +many farmers were selling their hogs at a sacrifice. Hogs +were quick money. She invested in such as were ready +for increase, and by harvest time there was a fine lot of +pigs on the Hunter farm. Every cow had been milked, +and the calves raised by hand so as to have the milk for +the young pigs till the early corn could be gathered. +Milking was hard work, but Elizabeth Hunter’s pride +was up.</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s pride had had some sore pricks. In spite of +every effort to avoid hearing the small talk regarding herself, +Elizabeth had been obliged to listen to such portions +as dribbled through from her mother, and an occasional +remark from Sadie Hansen. Sadie Hansen’s life was a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_537' name='page_537'></a>537</span> +reorganized one, but there were small lapses, and from +force of habit she repeated things, though she was in the +main about the kindest neighbour Elizabeth had. With +Mrs. Farnshaw the case was different. She was Elizabeth’s +mother, and certain privileges must be accorded +her because of the relationship. When she chose to disapprove +of the separation of her daughter from her husband, +the daughter was compelled to recognize her right to +protest, and often inadvertently to listen to the gossip +which her mother urged as reasons for her objections. +Mrs. Farnshaw came often and talked volubly. Elizabeth +shielded herself as best she could from her mother’s +prattlings, but had to endure many tearful complaints, +for her mother was suffering much loneliness and discomfort +since her daughter’s marriage. Josiah Farnshaw did +not forget, nor let his wife forget, the disaffection of +Elizabeth.</p> +<p>Once when Mrs. Farnshaw had gone beyond the mark +where her daughter could receive it in silence, urging that +Elizabeth call her husband home and submit herself to +the matrimonial yoke, the girl turned upon her in annoyance:</p> +<p>“You’d have me just where you are yourself, ma. +You say pa mistreats you—that’s just what was coming +to me. If I didn’t have money enough that was all my +own to live on, my husband would be sneering at me and +keeping me in hot water all the time, exactly as pa sneers +at you.”</p> +<p>“But you’re separated!” Mrs. Farnshaw cried. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_538' name='page_538'></a>538</span></p> +<p>“Yes,” the girl said slowly, “and because we are separated +I can go to town if I like, I can go to church, I can go +to see a neighbour, or my mother, without hating to ask +for a horse to drive or being told when to come home, and +when Jack is naughty I can talk to him without having +anybody set his little will against mine and make it harder +to deal with him. Oh, mother mine! Can’t you see that +I’m happier than you are?”</p> +<p>“But, you’re livin’ apart and—and folks is a talkin’!” +the mother exclaimed hopelessly.</p> +<p>“Let them talk. Their talk don’t hurt me, and it +shouldn’t hurt you. They don’t talk before me.”</p> +<p>“But they talk behind your back, Lizzie,” Mrs. Farnshaw +said with a wise nod of the head.</p> +<p>“They talked about us when John was here, ma, and +they always talk about us; it doesn’t matter much what +they talk about; they wouldn’t pay off the mortgage, nor +the interest, nor raise Jack right, nor give me a chance to +rest on washday. Some will say I was in the wrong, some +that John was, and they all said that I was stuck-up and +wouldn’t visit with them when it wasn’t so at all. They +are looking to see <i>who</i> was wrong; I have reasoned out +<i>what</i> was wrong. It’s principles, not personalities, that +get people into troubles that don’t seem to have any way +out. Oh! can’t you see, ma, that I’m free, and the women +that talk about me are just where they’ve always +been. Free! and don’t forget that I’m out of debt. +That’s more than you’ve got by staying with your +husband, and you haven’t been able to keep people +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_539' name='page_539'></a>539</span> +from talking after all. Free, and out of debt! Don’t +forget it.”</p> +<p>“Well, you wouldn’t ’a’ been free, either, if Mr. Noland +hadn’t ’a’ left you th’ money,” Mrs. Farnshaw replied.</p> +<p>Elizabeth dropped into a retrospective mood for a +moment before she answered, and then said slowly:</p> +<p>“I know that. God in Heaven, how well I know it! +And do you know I think about it every day—what +could be done for the poor women on these hot Kansas +prairies if there were some way to see that every girl that +loves a man enough to marry him could have money +enough to keep her if she couldn’t live under the work +and children he crowds on her. I’m free, because I have +money enough all my own to live on. That’s the weight +of a dollar. Don’t forget that, you poor ma, who have +never had a dollar except what has been doled out to you +by the man you married. The weight of a dollar,” +Elizabeth added meditatively, “that’s what it is!”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw, who had bought the groceries for her +little family with the butter and eggs, and whose sugar +had sometimes been short because there was a supply of +Horse Shoe Plug to provide also, had no answer ready.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVI__WAS_WAS_MY_PAPA_HERE_THEN' id='XXVI__WAS_WAS_MY_PAPA_HERE_THEN'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_540' name='page_540'></a>540</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI</h2> +<h3>“WAS—WAS MY PAPA HERE THEN?”</h3> +</div> + +<p>Two years of favourable weather and good fortune +with her livestock saw the money Elizabeth had +invested in hogs doubled and trebled, and later, +when the Johnson land was again offered for sale, she was +able to buy it for cash and have the place well stocked +after it was done. Silas Chamberlain, who watched +Elizabeth with the same fatherly interest he had felt when +her child was born, and who glowed with secret pride at +the way in which she had won her way back into the +country society about them, came in often and offered +his measure of good-natured praise. He had prophesied +the first time she had cooked for harvest hands that she +would become a famous cook, but he had not expected to +find her a famous farmer. What was still more astonishing +to the old man was that she had become noted in quite +other ways. The move she had made in going to meeting +the first Sunday after John’s departure, and Hepsie’s +explanation of it, had worked to her advantage in reestablishing +her in the community as one of its factors, +and opened to her the opportunity to wield the influence +which Luther had pointed out to her the best educated +woman in a community should wield. She took a class +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_541' name='page_541'></a>541</span> +in the little Sunday school at the schoolhouse, not so much +because she was an enthusiastic churchwoman as because +it was the place where contact could be had. Elizabeth +belonged to no church, but Elizabeth could turn the conversation +of the church members, among whom she +mingled, from gossip to better things, and there was not a +quilting bee nor an aid society meeting in the country +around to which she was not invited, and which she did +not raise to a higher standard by her presence.</p> +<p>The snubs which the neighbour women were at first +anxious to deliver fell flat in the quiet unconsciousness +with which they were met. Elizabeth felt that much of +the treatment she received was given in righteous indignation, +and pursued the policy when possible to do so of +not seeing it, and when it must be met to meet it with perfect +good humour. She kept her credit good among the +men with whom she bartered for young stock, and there +began to creep in a better feeling for her within the first six +months after she assumed the care of the farm and the +problematical position of a “grass widow” in the neighborhood. +Doctor Morgan, Hepsie, Jake, and Luther +were splendid assets in the race with public feeling, and +Silas saw his young neighbour’s affairs straighten out with +chuckles of delight. He watched her manœuvre with her +business deals and saw the cool-headedness of them with +growing enthusiasm. He passed Nathan on his way to +the field one spring morning and noticed that Nathan was +using a seeder from the Hunter farm. It was bright with +a coat of freshly dried paint. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_542' name='page_542'></a>542</span></p> +<p>“That’s what she borrowed my brushes for last week,” +he exclaimed to Nathan. “Ever see anything like ’er?” +he asked admiringly. “Takes care of everything. Did +you ever see th’ likes of them hogs? She’s made more +money sellin’ that land an’ buyin’ of it back ’n most of us +old heads ’ll make in five year. Everything she touches +seems t’ have a wad stuck under it somewheres.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth was more than merely successful in money +matters; she was a reorganized woman from the standpoint +of health also. She was no more the weary, harassed +woman who had churned, baked, and cooked for shellers, +and had so nearly found an early grave. The satisfaction +of working unrestrained, of resting when nature and +woman’s constitution demanded, and the whole matter of +living without fear, had given her a sound and healthy +body and a mind broader and less liable to emotional bias. +The principle which she had demanded from her husband +in their last conversation she put into practice. Hepsie +ruled the house very much as if it were her own. Elizabeth +knew from experience the dreariness of housework +where all individuality is denied the worker. Hepsie +came and went as the exigencies of the work permitted, +and there was always a horse provided for her journeys +away from the place; in fact, Hepsie was much more free +than her mistress had been in her first three years in the +same house. Elizabeth demanded good service, but she +gave good service also, and from being a good joke to +work for the grass widow, it came to be recognized that +the Hunter farm was a good place to live, and when the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_543' name='page_543'></a>543</span> +spring came around the men who had worked there the +season before always presented themselves for fresh +hiring.</p> +<p>Two years more passed, and Master Jack Hunter was +seven years old. On his seventh birthday his mother +dressed him and herself carefully and rode over to the +lonely graveyard. She did not go flower-laden. Rather, +she went as was her custom, to spend an hour with the +quiet dead in silent thought. Hugh Noland’s sacrifice +had not been in vain. The life he had laid down had, +whatever its mistakes and weaknesses, been a happy one +to himself, and had carried a ray of cheer to all with whom +it had come in contact, while his death had pointed +toward an ideal of purity, in spite of failures. That brief +period during which Elizabeth had been compelled to live +a double life for his sake had held many lessons, and had +forever weaned her from duplicity of any sort. Those +special hours—the hours spent beside Hugh Noland’s +grave—were spent in searching self-inquiry, in casting +up accounts, in measuring herself against the principles +with which she struggled. People had gone out of her +wrestlings; principles remained. Here Elizabeth meditated +upon the fact that because the neighbourhood +sentiment and discussion centred around their home, she +and John Hunter had missed a golden opportunity in not +having become a force for good during those first years +of their marriage.</p> +<p>The hour spent beside Hugh’s grave was her sacrament. +There she went to renew her faith in her own +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_544' name='page_544'></a>544</span> +powers, which Hugh’s interest and estimates had first +taught her to recognize; there she went to renew her vows +of higher living, and there to contemplate the freedom +which Hugh Noland had given her. But for the land and +stock which gave her an independent income she would +have been as tearful, worn, and despondent as many of +the women about her. Her heart was very tender toward +Hugh as she sat beside his grave to-day. She held his +letter—the only one he had ever written, her—in her +hands. As she read it over, part of its last sentence, +“and will, I hope, help toward emancipating you from +care,” struck her attention, and her eyes filled with tears.</p> +<p>“What is it, mamma? What hurts?” Jack asked, +always quick to respond to his mother’s moods.</p> +<p>“Nothing, dear, but Uncle Hugh’s letter. He wrote it +just before he died. He was very kind to me,” she said, +patting the face thrust up for a kiss.</p> +<p>“Was—was my papa here then?” the child asked, +curious about the life he could not remember, and trying +to relate things as he heard of them in their true relation +to the father who was a mysterious personage and +therefore interesting.</p> +<p>When his mother did not answer, he crept closer and, +laying his head against her arm, said wistfully:</p> +<p>“Mamma, will my papa ever come back to us?”</p> +<p>“I don’t know, Jack,” she answered quietly. “Perhaps. +If he don’t, you shall go and see him when you +are a big boy. Now run away, and leave mamma a +chance to think for a whole ten minutes.” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_545' name='page_545'></a>545</span></p> +<p>The child ran off to the horses, and Elizabeth faced the +life she led. A curious thing was made plain to her in that +hour—namely, that Hugh, whom she remembered tenderly, +was but a memory, while John Hunter, the father +of her child, whom she had no other cause to love, was a +living force in her life, and that at the child’s simple question +a longing flamed up, and a feeling that she wished he +were there. She remembered him as he would ride with +his hat in his hand, his fair, soft hair wind-blown about his +temples, and she would have been glad to go forth to meet +him and try anew to build a life together which would be +livable to both.</p> +<p>A long time she pondered, and the impulse to write to +him came over her, but that impulse was followed by +retrospection, and as one thing after another arose out of +the past in solemn procession, closing with the unloved +and unwished-for child which she had lost five years ago, +she knew that she would not open a correspondence. At +that point, and with the memory of the sweltering day and +the unnecessary churning, her tender memory of Hugh, +who had made her free and economically independent, +welled up in her in one glad tide of thanksgiving, and she +thought of her mother and the thousands of other women +on these Kansas prairies who had not been saved from +such a fate by being made independent landowners, and +she pondered on their fate till she longed for a way out for +all women who were mothers.</p> +<p>“This income could have set John free too, if he would +only have thought it over,” she said to herself. “He +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_546' name='page_546'></a>546</span> +need not have been burdened with us while he was getting +his depths in the business world,” she concluded.</p> +<p>Wherever Elizabeth’s thoughts turned to-day, John was +the centre of them. Elizabeth had never been resentful +toward her husband, and the never-ceasing cause of speculation +and comment in the neighbourhood had been upon +the fact that though she lived apart from him, she never +seemed to think of divorce. Elizabeth’s attitude toward +John was that of a mother who waits for a child to find the +real light on a situation. She rarely heard from him, and +never directly. She knew of some of his affairs through +Doctor Morgan, with whom John corresponded when +business required, but she wrote regularly to Mrs. Hunter, +who had gone to her son the second year he had been +away, and who had written to her at that time. Elizabeth +had been glad of so simple a means of keeping the link +unbroken between him and his child. It had been no part +of her plan to separate Jack from his father. She would +not ask John to return, but she wished him to have such +knowledge of his son as his temper would permit. She +wrote such details of the home and the child as would +interest them, knowing that John would read the letters. +Somehow, to-day she wished that she could write to him +direct, but as she thought she shook her head.</p> +<p>“It cannot be,” she said aloud.</p> +<p>“Mamma, if you don’t come we won’t have time to go +for the mail,” Jack called.</p> +<p>The pleasant afternoon had waned; Elizabeth Hunter +gazed about her in astonishment; it was indeed late. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_547' name='page_547'></a>547</span></p> +<p>She stooped and passed her hand over the name cut in the +marble slab. “Hugh Noland, aged twenty-nine.”</p> +<p>“Hugh Noland, dear,” she said aloud, “you have set +me financially free, but there is another kind of freedom +I have got to win for myself. I’ve got to tell John the +things that we wanted to tell and were too cowardly to +do. If we ever come together again I shall tell it out, if +all this country gets to hear it. Jack can better afford to +take the disgrace of it than to have a mother who carries +it about with her as a secret. Without honesty no other +virtue is a virtue at all.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth’s eyes were full of tears as she voiced her vow, +but there was a sense of relief welling up within her that +she had not known in all the five years Hugh had lain here. +She stood very quiet till her emotions were under control +and her sunny self in command again, then she blew a kiss +at Aunt Susan’s grave and went to the waiting child and +with him rode a merry race toward Colebyville.</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVII_TO_DO_OVER_AND_TO_DO_BETTER_WAS_THE_OPPORTUNITY_OFFERED' id='XXVII_TO_DO_OVER_AND_TO_DO_BETTER_WAS_THE_OPPORTUNITY_OFFERED'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_548' name='page_548'></a>548</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII</h2> +<h3>TO DO OVER, AND TO DO BETTER, WAS THE OPPORTUNITY OFFERED</h3> +</div> + +<p>Elizabeth Hunter and her son were still +breathing hard from rapid riding when they drew +up in front of the post-office. Elizabeth dropped +from the saddle, tossing her rein to Jack to hold till her +return, and went inside. She was to remember this day +and the dingy little window through which mail was +passed. The postmaster was a new man and tossed the +letters out carelessly; therefore he did not see the sudden +start the girl gave as she began to gather them up.</p> +<p>John Hunter’s familiar handwriting stared at her from +the top envelope.</p> +<p>Elizabeth thought of many things while she waited for +the man to run through the newspapers and magazines. +Half an hour ago she had registered a vow beside Hugh +Noland’s grave. She was to be tested promptly. When +all was handed out to her, she took the pile—Elizabeth’s +magazines supplied the entire community with reading +material, and were handed from house to house till as +ragged as the tumble weeds of her native Kansas—and +put them all in the canvas bag at Jack’s saddle horn. The +letter was unopened. Something made her wait. +Something said that John was asking to return—to do over, +and to do better, was the opportunity offered to her. +Her vow rose up before her; without the fulfillment of that +vow there could be no <i>better</i>, that she recognized—and +yet——</p> +<div class='figcenter'> +<img src='images/wind-548.jpg' alt='' title='' style='width: 386px; height: 543px;' /><br /> +<p class='caption' style='margin: 0 auto; text-align:center;width: 386px;'> +“JOHN HUNTER’S FAMILIAR HANDWRITING STARED AT HER FROM THE TOP ENVELOPE”<br /> +</p> +</div> + +<div><span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_549' name='page_549'></a>549</span></div> +<p>All through the long ride home she pondered upon the +past and upon the possibilities of the future. Not till +after Jack was safely tucked away in his bed, not till +Hepsie had her supper work done and had gone upstairs +and all the various members of her household had retired +for the night, and she was certain of hours for uninterrupted +thinking, did Elizabeth Hunter bring out the unopened +letter and lay it on the table before her. Even +then she renewed her vow before she broke the seal. Was +he the old John, who would fly out impulsively and cover +them all with disgrace if she told him? she asked herself +many times. In a cold sweat of terror, she asked herself +also if it were possible to build right in this new endeavour +without telling John of the love which she had shown to +Hugh; the temptation was terrible, but she was compelled +to shake her head. The habit of openness and fair dealing +would not hold her excused; there was no other way, +she must tell it out. Carefully she went over all the +things that would be lost if this story should be bruited +abroad. Jack would be disgraced, she would be stripped +of her influence in the neighbourhood, slain in the sight of +her friends who had fought her battles for her because they +believed in her, stripped of everything which had gone to +make life worth the living, and she would place herself in +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_550' name='page_550'></a>550</span> +the power of a man whose only attitude toward the story +might be one of self-righteous justification. Was it worth +the price? Her own words rose up before her, “Without +honesty no other virtue is a virtue at all.” Elizabeth +pondered a long time, and again her own words rose up to +confront her, “It does not matter <i>who</i> is wrong, the thing +that matters is <i>what</i> is wrong,” and for Elizabeth there was +no escape. This had been the philosophy of her life; she +was called upon to stand or fall on that ground. With +her head bowed in acknowledgment, she drew the missive +out of its envelope and began to read:</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>Dear Elizabeth: This letter will no doubt surprise you, but I couldn’t wait any +longer. I might begin by saying that I was homesick for Jack—which is true—but +I’m going to confess that I’m homesick for you too. Is there still hope? I would +have written you long ago, but I went into things too heavy and lost the money I got +for the cattle—and then I couldn’t. It would have looked like asking to come back +to the land. As you know, I mortgaged the home eighty—it hurt some to do that, +knowing you’d have to sign it—and began slower. I got along very well, but it was +terribly tedious, and at last, after three years of steady work, and no debts, I couldn’t +wait any longer, and put half of what I had on the Board of Trade proceedings. <i>I won!</i> +Last Saturday I sold all I had, and now while I can come to you right, I want to ask if +you will take me? Take me quick, if you are going to, before I do some reckless thing +and lose it again. I hear you have prospered; that was why I had to wait so long. I +often think of dear old Hugh, and his interest in some of the things about the neighbourhood, +and I have been given to see while living in this rotten hole of a city how much I +underestimated the people about us in Kansas. I would be glad to come back and live +among them. Will you let me? A telegram will bring me to you on the next train.</p> +<p>With love to both you and Jack, who will be seven years old this week,</p> +<div class='ra'> +<p style=' margin-right:4em;'>Affectionately,</p> +<p><span style='font-variant: small-caps'>John.</span></p> +</div> + +</div> +<p>The tension was broken. Elizabeth laid the letter back +with a smile. How like John to suggest a telegram! +John never could wait. How well she knew his little +weaknesses; the written characters of the missive had the +flowing curves of haste in their running letters. He had +written on the impulse of the moment, no matter how long +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_551' name='page_551'></a>551</span> +the desire had been in his heart. The very spontaneity +of the confession was unpremeditated and worked in John +Hunter’s favour. He had remembered Jack’s birthday +too! That day seven years ago rose up in Elizabeth’s +memory to plead for Jack’s father. She earnestly desired +John’s presence, and yet—could it be done?</p> +<p>Far into the night Elizabeth Hunter sat with the letter +before her, reading and rereading it, pondering upon the +possibilities of the future, seeing them in the light of the +past she had spent with him, wondering what sort of man +her husband had become in the five years since she had +seen him. The letter sounded as if those years might +have been profitable ones. There was both the openness +of real honesty and the reserve of real strength in the confession +about his financial affairs. The most hopeful +thing she found in the letter was the sentence about +Hugh’s estimate of the neighbours among whom they +had lived and the implied comparison regarding the city +in which he now did business. Dear old John! Had +Chicago business men tried the methods on him that he +had thought it fair to apply to his dealings with her? In +the midst of that question rose the one—would John +Hunter feel the same toward Hugh Noland’s estimates +when he was told the truth about his wife’s affection for +Hugh, and of the weakness of both in the demonstrations +of that affection? Well, it had to be told. Scandal +would be hard to face with no denial possible. Doctor +Morgan had known it all and still trusted her; likewise +Luther; but Hepsie, and Jake, and Sadie? Besides, Jack +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_552' name='page_552'></a>552</span> +would have to know, and would suffer for things of which +he was innocent! The girl wrestled with the subject till +midnight, and long after. At last, to put it where she +could not deceive herself, she wrote a simple statement of +the whole thing and sealed it up with John’s address upon +the envelope, and then raising her hand solemnly promised +herself that this letter which contained the truth, the +whole truth, and nothing but the truth should be mailed +as she had written it without being opened to change a +word. She would answer John’s letter in one apart from +this and send it by the same mail, but this letter she would +send as it stood.</p> +<p>As she got up to go to bed, she picked up the bag in +which they brought the mail and felt in it to see if anything +were left. A small narrow book that opened endwise +and had the name of the Bank of Colebyville on it +was all. It was a fitting end to her considerations. She +had never owned a checkbook till recent years. Because +of its presence, she might yet be able to answer John +Hunter as he wished. She thought long on her situation. +There was no sleep in her. The larger, the universal, +aspects of the question began to crowd in upon +her mind.</p> +<p>“There is no other way,” she said. “A woman, +to be free, must have money of her own. She must not be +supported by a man.”</p> +<p>She stepped out on the porch and stood looking toward +the east. The refreshing breeze which had sprung up +cooled and invigorated her. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_553' name='page_553'></a>553</span></p> +<p>“The wind before the dawn! The beginning of a new +day!” she said aloud.</p> +<p>Turning toward the kitchen, she began to pack a box +which stood waiting on the end of the kitchen table. +Doughnuts, cookies and pies had been left there to cool +the evening before. Mrs. Farnshaw was to have threshers +to cook for to-day, and Elizabeth had grown thoughtful +of the mother, who was aging visibly. In such ways as +she could, she spared her mother’s strength and gave her +the comfort of frequent visits and companionship. In +order to get the long eight-mile drive over before it became +hot, it was necessary to get an early start, and +Elizabeth, with Jack at her side, was on the road before +the sun was fairly above the horizon.</p> +<p>About eight o’clock Mrs. Farnshaw turned at the sound +of their feet on her doorstep. She set her cob basket on +the floor, put the stove lid over the roaring fire, and turned +to Jack with grandmotherly delight.</p> +<p>“You’re a real comfort, Lizzie,” she said, straightening +up with Jack in her arms. “I never used t’ think you +would be, but you are. I’m that tired that I’m ready +t’ drop.”</p> +<p>“Anything more than usual?” Elizabeth asked, noting +the fagged and heavy face, and the gathering tears.</p> +<p>“Oh, nothin’ more ’n ’as happened many a time; only +’e grows crosser, seems to me, as ’e grows older. He was +particular bad last night, and I didn’t sleep none. It’s +awful hot weather t’ lay awake.”</p> +<p>When Elizabeth did not reply, the mother said testily: +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_554' name='page_554'></a>554</span></p> +<p>“Now I s’pose You’ll be thinkin’ that you don’t have +t’ care for what a man says.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth laughed, but not in her usual merry way.</p> +<p>“Perhaps,” she said slowly. “I was thinking farther +than that—I was wondering——” She paused to think +and then broke out suddenly. “John’s written to ask if +he can come back, and I was just wondering——”</p> +<p>Mrs. Farnshaw was all animation at once, her own +troubles forgotten.</p> +<p>“You don’t say?” she exclaimed. “Now look here, +Lizzie, you’re goin’ t’ let him come?”</p> +<p>Elizabeth had told her mother on the impulse of the +moment after withholding the news from Nathan and even +from Jack. The child had been wriggling out of his grandmother’s +arms and had not heard what his mother said. +Elizabeth waited till he was out of hearing. She half +regretted having mentioned it. She was going to have to +argue out her decision with her mother, and she had made +no decision.</p> +<p>The mother’s accidental remark had produced the +impulse to tell. Well, it was all right. It might be that +she could decide better after discussing it with some one. +Elizabeth looked at her mother doubtfully.</p> +<p>“I don’t know, ma. I may. It’s all owing to whether +we can agree on the terms of starting over.”</p> +<p>“You ain’t goin’ t’ lay down rules t’ him?” the mother +cried in amazement.</p> +<p>“Now’s my time to find out what rules he’s going to lay +down to me at least,” Elizabeth said dryly. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_555' name='page_555'></a>555</span></p> +<p>“But I never heard of such a thing! Say, don’t you +love ’im any more, Lizzie?”</p> +<p>“I—I think I do, ma,” Elizabeth said slowly. “But +there’s the very trouble with women. They think they +ought to love a man enough to take him without a definite +understanding, and then they find that a woman’s love +means mostly obedience to a man. Yes, I think I love +him. But I’m going to know what he expects, and I’m +going to tell him what I expect, and make no mistakes this +time. We’ll know before we begin.”</p> +<p>“But he may not take you,” Mrs. Farnshaw said in a +frightened whisper.</p> +<p>“I rather think I’m taking him,” Elizabeth said, beginning +to unload the box of provisions she had brought. +“You forget that I’m making my own living.”</p> +<p>“That <i>does</i> make a difference,” Mrs. Farnshaw admitted.</p> +<p>“That makes <i>all</i> the difference,” Elizabeth replied +positively. “The longer I look at it the more convinced +I am that the whole thing hinges right on that point. If +we live together again I’ll know that it isn’t because he +feels that having married me he must keep me in food and +clothes, and he’ll know that it’s because I want to and not +because I’ve got a child to be supported. I believe I love +him; but if I didn’t know I could leave him in a minute +if he made me do things that I wasn’t able to do I wouldn’t +dare to say yes. Knowing that I don’t have to live with +him if he begins to order me around, I think I’ll try it.”</p> +<p>“You’re a queer girl, Lizzie,” the mother said, puzzled +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_556' name='page_556'></a>556</span> +and uncertain what to think of the philosophy she propounded. +“You don’t seem to be afraid of men at +all.”</p> +<p>“I don’t have to be, ma, because no man will ever again +pay for my food and clothes. You are not to tell anybody, +even the boys. I may not do it yet. I didn’t intend to +tell you for a while, but you insisted on telling me what +I was thinking about, and it popped right out at you.”</p> +<p>Elizabeth gave her mother a tender look and added: +“I told you first when he asked me before,” which was +a thing her mother could understand and appreciate. +Elizabeth was considerate of the little mother whose life +was hard, and who was afraid of a man.</p> +<p>At that point Elizabeth fell into a brown study. She +argued for her own rights, knowing that only on that +path could peace come to either herself or John, but she +did not feel herself wholly worthy, and John wholly +unworthy; she knew her weaknesses, and she knew she +had wronged John Hunter as well as he had wronged her; +she was willing to take him if he would be as willing to +correct his faults and confess them as she was willing to +do. She did not ask of John Hunter that he be always +right in his actions toward her, but that he discuss their +grievances and let them look together for better ways of +settling what was right for each. She was so deep in her +own thoughts that she did not hear Jack, who called to her +from the door:</p> +<p>“Mamma, let’s go! Come on! They’re going right +now, mamma!” +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_557' name='page_557'></a>557</span></p> +<p>Elizabeth did not hear the child till he tugged at her +skirts and exclaimed:</p> +<p>“Come on, mamma! Grandma won’t care. Come +on!”</p> +<p>His mother looked down at the boy with a smile. +How well she remembered the delights of threshing-day +herself. She looked about the kitchen to see what had +yet to be done.</p> +<p>“Wait a little, Jack. I’ve got to help get the table set +and the dinner on to cook. You wouldn’t have me leave +grandma to do all the work alone, would you?” she asked +suggestively.</p> +<p>As Jack hesitated between his great desire to see the +marvel of the stackyard and his desire to show as much +manliness as his mother evidently expected of him, there +was a noise on the doorstep and Hepsie came smilingly in.</p> +<p>“I followed you all on th’ pony,” she said. “I fixed +it up with th’ boys yesterday t’ take a cold dinner to-day +an’ let me come an’ help here. We’re lookin’ out that you +don’t hurt yourself to-day, Mis Farnshaw,” she added, +addressing the older woman.</p> +<p>“Now you can go to the threshing machine too, grandma!” +Jack cried with delight. “Come on, let’s go right +now!”</p> +<p>“Not now, Jack,” Elizabeth said. “Hepsie didn’t come +to get the dinner alone.”</p> +<p>“Oh, yes, she did! She likes to,” Jack replied so confidently +that they all laughed, and Hepsie fell on the child +and hugged him. +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_558' name='page_558'></a>558</span></p> +<p>“Of course I did, Jack. Grandma will show me what +to do, and then she and mamma can take you out to see +the machine go round and round like a big coffee mill, +and maybe Jack can ride one of the horses.”</p> +<p>“Oh, Hepsie! Don’t put that into the child’s head,” +Elizabeth interposed hastily. “I wouldn’t have him on +one of those horses for anything.”</p> +<p>“Mamma says I spoil you, Jack. Run along now, and +let me look after this dinner.”</p> +<p>As soon as the tables were set and the dinner on to cook, +Elizabeth and her mother took the excited child and +started to the barnyard. Mrs. Farnshaw was pulled +along by the impatient grandson, and Elizabeth came at +some distance behind, having stopped to glance in the +chicken house as she went. The marvellous ant-hill called +a stackyard would not permit Jack to wait for his mother.</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw saw them coming. He would gladly +have avoided his wife and daughter, but Jack took things +for granted and always insisted upon dragging his mother +into his grandfather’s presence and mixing them up in the +conversation. Elizabeth had dropped behind purposely, +knowing her father’s feelings toward her, and did not hear +Jack say persuasively:</p> +<p>“Grandpa, let Jack drive and make the horses go +round.”</p> +<p>“No, no, Jack,” Mrs. Farnshaw said quickly. “Mamma +said you could not go on the horsepower.”</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw gave his wife a look of disdain and, +stooping, picked the child up. Mrs. Farnshaw gave a +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_559' name='page_559'></a>559</span> +little cry. When his own team came around, Mr. Farnshaw +walked in front of it and started toward the platform +on which Albert stood swinging a long whip.</p> +<p>The “near horse” of the Farnshaw team was a stolid +and reliable mare, mother of many colts. She was so +placed because it had been decided to put a young stallion +of uncertain temper beside her.</p> +<p>The restive, irritable beast sustained his reputation by +nipping angrily at Mr. Farnshaw as he dodged under the +straps with which the horses were tied to the reach ahead. +To have passed in front of this team unencumbered and +alone when the power was in motion would have been +foolhardy; but with Jack in his arms it was an act of mock-heroics +typical of the whole bull-headed character of +Josiah Farnshaw. He stumbled slightly in springing out +of the horse’s way, and with Jack, who was a load, in his +arms, was barely able to keep his feet.</p> +<p>A shout went up from every man who saw the occurrence, +and Albert shut off the power in the endeavour to +stop the machine.</p> +<p>Mr. Farnshaw sprang toward the inner corner of the +triangular space occupied by the team, and as the machine +slowly came to a full stop set Jack on the boards at +Albert’s feet and turned toward the horses. The stallion +threw a challenge at the man who had escaped its teeth, +reared angrily, shook its black mane, and, with teeth +exposed and ears laid back, prepared for another lunge. +Not only Mrs. Farnshaw but every man on the ground +called to Josiah Farnshaw to get out of the way of the +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_560' name='page_560'></a>560</span> +infuriated beast. Instead of heeding the frantic warnings, +Mr. Farnshaw, determined to let his onlooking +neighbours see that he was not afraid, sprang forward and +struck the squealing animal a stinging blow on the nose +with his fist. Taken by surprise, the horse set back so +suddenly that he broke the straps with which he and his +mate were fastened to the reach, falling against the mare, +who was thoroughly frightened by her master’s menacing +blow. The team behind them reared and snorted as the +stallion sprang to its feet again.</p> +<p>Then a strange and terrible thing happened. The +horse stopped and made ready for the plunge he had in +mind. There were warning cries from every man in the +stackyard, but there was no chance to escape. With a +scream which struck terror to the hearts of the onlookers +the brute sprang upon the man and sunk its teeth through +flesh and bone alike as it grabbed the arm which was +aiming a puny blow, and shook him as if he were a rag, +flinging him against the ground under its feet, and shaking +him as a dog shakes a rat it has captured. The men +could not rush in, because the other horse was on the outside +of the team and was kicking and struggling to free +itself from the shrieking stallion. Every team attached +to the machine was tearing at its moorings, and horrified +as the men were they were obliged to attempt to control +the other horses. The team immediately in front of the +stallion broke away altogether, carrying away with it the +reach to which it was fastened. Seeing his opportunity, +Joe Farnshaw rushed into the space left open by the disappearance +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_561' name='page_561'></a>561</span> +of the other team, and with a well-directed +blow from an iron bar he had snatched up, he staggered +the horse so that it dropped the nerveless thing it had been +shaking, and stood stunned and trembling, sight, sound, +and all other matters of sense gone. The body was +snatched away from in front of the tottering horse in time +to save it from the heavy weight of the falling animal, +which began to tremble, and then, losing control of its +legs altogether, fell heavily toward the platform, dragging +its mate to her knees as it went.</p> +<p>Elizabeth quieted her shrieking mother as best she could +while she hugged her rescued child to her bosom, and the +sons of Josiah Farnshaw helped the men to lay the broken +body of their father upon an improvised stretcher to be +removed to the house. Kind hands performed the little +duties necessary on such occasions, and then the horrified +men stayed on, gathered in little groups about the dead +stallion in the stackyard.</p> +<p>When all was done and the family were reduced to that +terrorizing state of idleness which comes to those who +stand about their dead, Elizabeth took Jack and wandered +out of the house to where she could see Joe standing near +the well. Together they glanced across to the men standing +around the torn and dismantled horsepower.</p> +<p>“Pa was like that horse, Joe,” Elizabeth said with a +sudden gleam of insight. “They were both ruled by +unbridled passions. Everything they did they mixed up +with hate. You couldn’t touch either of them without +having them lay back their ears.”</p> +<hr class='major' /> +<div style='margin: auto; text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 1em'> +<a name='XXVIII__TILL_DEATH_DO_YOU_PART__CONSIDERED' id='XXVIII__TILL_DEATH_DO_YOU_PART__CONSIDERED'></a> +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_562' name='page_562'></a>562</span> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2> +<h3>“TILL DEATH DO YOU PART” CONSIDERED</h3> +</div> + +<p>The day after Josiah Farnshaw was buried, Elizabeth +sat down to answer John’s letter. It was +not easy to do, and she sat for a long time with her +chin in her hand before she began to write. The death of +her father related to the things of which she must speak. +She began by telling him the circumstances of her father’s +death and showed him that the tragedy had been the +result of pride and the habit of domination, of an unwillingness +to listen to advice, or to discuss necessary matters. +Her brothers had urged that the stallion be left in +the barn and that another horse be substituted, since by +its outcries and prancings it would keep the strange +horses nervous and irritable, but Mr. Farnshaw, having +said in the beginning that the animal should be used, would +not listen to anything that the family wished him to do in +the matter. Mrs. Farnshaw had objected to Jack being +placed upon the horsepower, but once having started to +place him there, her husband would listen to no caution. +Last but not least of those refusals to advise with those +who knew as well as he what should be done had been the +one of not heeding the cries of the men who had warned +him not to approach the vicious brute. To dominate +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_563' name='page_563'></a>563</span> +had been the keynote of her father’s character; his death +had been a fitting symbol of his overweening desire to +pursue that phantom.</p> +<p>After enlarging upon the causes of the tragedy, she +took up the matter of the refusal to listen to necessary +explanations which had had so much to do with her +separation from her husband.</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>Hugh Noland’s life was sacrificed because he could not go to you and talk to you of +necessary things, and I am determined that if you and I ever come together +again that neither of us shall be afraid to talk out anything in this whole world that is +of interest to us both. Hugh and I would have been so glad to go to you and ask you +to let him be taken away, or to have asked you to help us to higher living till he was +well enough to go. I need hardly tell you that we both recognized that it was wronging +you for him to stay on in the house after we discovered that we loved each other. Hugh +planned to go, and then came the accident, and we were helpless. At last, in order not +to defeat me when he saw that I was trying to overcome the fault in myself, he thought +it necessary to die so that I should be free. You know, John dear, I should never try +to live with you again unless I could tell you <i>anything</i> and know that you’d listen and +be fair, even to my love for another man. There you have me as I am. If you don’t +want me, don’t take me; but at least you are not deceived about the kind of woman you +are going to live with this time.</p> +</div> +<p>Then Elizabeth pointed out to him how he had refused to read Hugh’s innocent letter, and then went on to consider +affairs between herself and John.</p> +<div class='blockquot'> +<p>You will probably remember also that when we were talking over the coming of our +second child five years ago you said that I was foolish to be disturbed about it—that +if I had not had the wherewithal to feed and clothe it I might have had good cause for +complaint, but otherwise not. That is another matter we must settle before we reopen +life together. Mere food and clothes are but a part of a child’s natural and proper +rights of inheritance. My future children—and I hope I shall have more than the +one I have now—must be prepared for earnestly and rightly. We are better prepared +to have children now than when we were younger, but if we wish the best from our +children, we must give the best to their beginnings as well as to their upbringings, and +you and I would, I am sure, come much closer to each other and begin to understand +each other much better after adopting such a policy. When we were married our +love would not permit us to exact conditions, but I have learned to love you and myself +enough to wish to consider all the conditions of which I have been speaking before we +begin to live together again.</p> +<p>Years ago I was glibly willing to advise my mother to get a divorce—for her I am not +<span class='pagenum pncolor'><a id='page_564' name='page_564'></a>564</span> +sure yet but that it was the only way to freedom—but I have lived and learned, and +you see that for myself I have not wanted it. I have come to understand that you and +I are bound together—not by the fact of Jack’s presence, I mean not by the mere +knowledge that we have him, but by some other law of which he is but the outward +evidence. No magistrate could separate us. I belong to you and you belong to me by +some primal law of life, not because some minister said over us, “Till death do you +part,” but because <i>we have permitted ourselves to become one flesh</i>. Having set up these +relations, let us struggle with the conditions they entail.</p> +<p>There must be freedom in our home if it is to be reorganized. I want you to be just +as free as I am. I told you before you left that you should run the farm; I still prefer +it. I don’t care what you do on it, so long as you do not mortgage it. I think I have +a right to keep a certain part of it free from debt if I choose to do so, so as to be sure of a +home in my old age, since I have to suffer if we lose it; otherwise you are free to do +as you wish with any part of it.</p> +<p>I think I have a better sort of love to offer you than I had before, just because it +includes a knowledge of our weaknesses. I have had to tell you all this in order that we +begin square, but I liked your letter, and I believe we can come to an understanding. +My love for Hugh Noland is but a memory, but when your letter came I found that +my love for you was a living thing, that I wanted you very much, and even as I write +you these words I want you.</p> +</div> +<p>When her writing was finished Elizabeth went to the barn +to saddle the horses, thinking that she would take Jack +with her and ride into town to mail both letters in the cool +of the evening. She saddled Jack’s pony and started +around the corner of the barn to tie it in the lane, +when she saw, turning into that lane, John Hunter, +with a valise in his hand. He had come in on the noon +train and had caught a ride out home with a stranger +passing that way. John saw her and waved his hand, +calling to her. To Elizabeth he was still fair to look +upon. She walked toward him holding out the letters +she had written.</p> +<div class='ce' style=' margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:3em;'> +<p>THE END</p> +</div> + +<hr class='silver' /> + +<div class='ce'> +<p style=' font-size:1.2em;'>Popular Copyright Books</p> +<p style=' font-size:1em;'>AT MODERATE PRICES</p> +<p style=' font-size:0.8em; margin-bottom:2em;'>Ask your dealer for a complete list of A. L. Burt Company’s Popular Copyright Fiction.</p> +</div> + +<div class='la' style=' font-size:0.8em;'> +<p><b>Abner Daniel.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>Adventures of A Modest Man.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Adventures of Gerard.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</p> +<p><b>Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</p> +<p><b>Ailsa Page.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Alternative, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Ancient Law, The.</b> By Ellen Glasgow.</p> +<p><b>Angel of Forgiveness, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Angel of Pain, The.</b> By B. F. Benson.</p> +<p><b>Annals of Ann, The.</b> By Kate Trimble Sharber.</p> +<p><b>Anna the Adventuress.</b> By B. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Ann Boyd.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>As the Sparks Fly Upward.</b> By Cyrus Townsend Brady.</p> +<p><b>At the Age of Eve.</b> By Kate Trimble Sharber.</p> +<p><b>At the Mercy of Tiberius.</b> By Augusta Evans Wilson.</p> +<p><b>At the Moorings.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Awakening of Helen Richie, The.</b> By Margaret Deland.</p> +<p><b>Barrier, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>Bar 20.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</p> +<p><b>Bar-20 Days.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</p> +<p><b>Battle Ground, The.</b> By Ellen Glasgow.</p> +<p><b>Beau Brocade.</b> By Baroness Orczy.</p> +<p><b>Beechy.</b> By Bettina von Hutten.</p> +<p><b>Bella Donna.</b> By Robert Hichens.</p> +<p><b>Beloved Vagabond, The.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Ben Blair.</b> By Will Lillibridge.</p> +<p><b>Best Man, The.</b> By Harold MacGrath.</p> +<p><b>Beth Norvell.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Betrayal, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Better Man, The.</b> By Cyrus Townsend Brady.</p> +<p><b>Beulah.</b> (Illustrated Edition.) By Augusta J. Evans.</p> +<p><b>Bill Toppers, The.</b> By Andre Castaigne.</p> +<p><b>Blaze Derringer.</b> By Eugene P. Lyle, Jr.</p> +<p><b>Bob Hampton of Placer.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Bob, Son of Battle.</b> By Alfred Ollivant.</p> +<p><b>Brass Bowl, The.</b> By Louis Joseph Vance.</p> +<p><b>Bronze Bell, The.</b> By Louis Joseph Vance.</p> +<p><b>Butterfly Man, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>By Right of Purchase.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</p> +<p><b>Cab No. 44.</b> By R. F. Foster.</p> +<p><b>Calling of Dan Matthews, The.</b> By Harold Bell Wright.</p> +<p><b>Call of the Blood, The.</b> By Robert Hichens.</p> +<p><b>Cape Cod Stories.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>Cap’n Eri.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>Captain Warren’s Wards.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>Caravaners, The.</b> By the author of “Elizabeth and Her German Garden.”</p> +<p><b>Cardigan.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Carlton Case, The.</b> By Ellery H. Clark.</p> +<p><b>Car of Destiny, The.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Carpet From Bagdad, The.</b> By Harold MacGrath.</p> +<p><b>Cash Intrigue, The.</b> By George Randolph Chester.</p> +<p><b>Casting Away of Mrs.</b> Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine. Frank S. Stockton.</p> +<p><b>Castle by the Sea, The.</b> By H. B. Marriot Watson.</p> +<p><b>Challoners, The.</b> By B. F. Benson.</p> +<p><b>Chaperon, The.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>City of Six, The.</b> By C. L. Canfield.</p> +<p><b>Circle, The.</b> By Katherine Cecil Thurston (author of “The Masquerader.” “The Gambler.”)</p> +<p><b>Colonial Free Lance, A.</b> By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss.</p> +<p><b>Conquest of Canaan, The.</b> By Booth Tarkington.</p> +<p><b>Conspirators, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Cynthia of the Minute.</b> By Louis Joseph Vance.</p> +<p><b>Dan Merrithew.</b> By Lawrence Perry.</p> +<p><b>Day of the Dog, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Depot Master, The.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>Derelicts.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Diamond Master, The.</b> By Jacques Futrelle.</p> +<p><b>Diamonds Cut Paste.</b> By Agnes and Egerton Castle.</p> +<p><b>Divine Fire, The.</b> By May Sinclair.</p> +<p><b>Dixie Hart.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>Dr.</b> David. By Marjorie Benton Cooke.</p> +<p><b>Early Bird.</b> The. By George Randolph Chester.</p> +<p><b>Eleventh Hour, The.</b> By David Potter.</p> +<p><b>Elizabeth in Rugen.</b> (By the author of “Elizabeth and Her German Garden.”)</p> +<p><b>Elusive Isabel.</b> By Jacques Futrelle.</p> +<p><b>Elusive Pimpernel, The.</b> By Baroness Orczy.</p> +<p><b>Enchanted Hat, The.</b> By Harold MacGrath.</p> +<p><b>Excuse Me.</b> By Rupert Hughes.</p> +<p><b>54-40 or Fight.</b> By Emerson Hough.</p> +<p><b>Fighting Chance, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Flamsted Quarries.</b> By Mary E. Waller.</p> +<p><b>Flying Mercury, The.</b> By Eleanor M. Ingram.</p> +<p><b>For a Maiden Brave.</b> By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss.</p> +<p><b>Four Million, The.</b> By O. Henry.</p> +<p><b>Four Pool’s Mystery, The.</b> By Jean Webster.</p> +<p><b>Fruitful Vine, The.</b> By Robert Hichens.</p> +<p><b>Ganton & Co.</b> By Arthur J. Eddy.</p> +<p><b>Gentleman of France, A.</b> By Stanley Weyman.</p> +<p><b>Gentleman, The.</b> By Alfred Ollivant.</p> +<p><b>Get-Rick-Quick-Wallingford.</b> By George Randolph Chester.</p> +<p><b>Gilbert Neal.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>Girl and the Bill, The.</b> By Bannister Merwin.</p> +<p><b>Girl from His Town, The.</b> By Marie Van Vorst.</p> +<p><b>Girl Who Won, The.</b> By Beth Ellis.</p> +<p><b>Glory of Clementina, The.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Glory of the Conquered, The.</b> By Susan Glaspell.</p> +<p><b>God’s Good Man.</b> By Marie Corelli.</p> +<p><b>Going Some.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>Golden Web, The.</b> By Anthony Partridge.</p> +<p><b>Green Patch, The.</b> By Bettina von Hutten.</p> +<p><b>Happy Island sequel to “Uncle William”.</b> By Jennette Lee.</p> +<p><b>Hearts and the Highway.</b> By Cyrus Townsend Brady.</p> +<p><b>Held for Orders.</b> By Frank H. Spearman.</p> +<p><b>Hidden Water.</b> By Dane Coolidge.</p> +<p><b>Highway of Fate, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Homesteaders, The.</b> By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles.</p> +<p><b>Honor of the Big Snows, The.</b> By James Oliver Curwood.</p> +<p><b>Hopalong Cassidy.</b> By Clarence E. Mulford.</p> +<p><b>Household of Peter, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>House of Mystery, The.</b> By Will Irwin.</p> +<p><b>House of the Lost Court, The.</b> By C. N. Williamson</p> +<p><b>House of the Whispering Pines, The.</b> By Anna Katherine Green.</p> +<p><b>House on Cherry Street, The.</b> By Amelia E. Barr.</p> +<p><b>How Leslie Loved.</b> By Anne Warner.</p> +<p><b>Husbands of Edith, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Idols.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Illustrious Prince, The.</b> By B. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Imprudence of Prue, The.</b> By Sophie Fisher.</p> +<p><b>Inez.</b> (Illustrated Edition.) By Augusta J. Evans.</p> +<p><b>Infelice.</b> By Augusta Evans Wilson.</p> +<p><b>Initials Only.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</p> +<p><b>In Defiance of the King.</b> By Chauncey C. Hotchkiss.</p> +<p><b>Indifference of Juliet, The.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</p> +<p><b>In the Service of the Princess.</b> By Henry C. Rowland.</p> +<p><b>Iron Woman, The.</b> By Margaret Deland.</p> +<p><b>Ishmael.</b> (Illustrated.) By Mrs. Southworth.</p> +<p><b>Island of Regeneration, The.</b> By Cyrus Townsend Brady.</p> +<p><b>Jack Spurlock.</b> Prodigal. By Horace Lorimer.</p> +<p><b>Jane Cable.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Jeanne of the Marshes.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Jude the Obsoure.</b> By Thomas Hardy.</p> +<p><b>Keith of the Border.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Key to the Unknown, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Kingdom of Earth, The.</b> By Anthony Partridge.</p> +<p><b>King Spruce.</b> By Holman Day.</p> +<p><b>Ladder of Swords, A.</b> By Gilbert Parker.</p> +<p><b>Lady Betty Across the Water.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Lady Merton, Colonist.</b> By Mrs. Humphrey Ward.</p> +<p><b>Lady of Big Shanty, The.</b> By Berkeley F. Smith.</p> +<p><b>Langford of the Three Bars.</b> By Kate and Virgil O. Boyles.</p> +<p><b>Land of Long Ago, The.</b> By Eliza Calvert. Hall.</p> +<p><b>Lane That Had No Turning, The.</b> By Gilbert Parker.</p> +<p><b>Last Trail, The.</b> By Zane Grey.</p> +<p><b>Last Voyage of the Donna Isabel, The.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Leavenworth Case, The.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</p> +<p><b>Lin McLean.</b> By Owen Wister.</p> +<p><b>Little Brown Jug at Kildare, The.</b> By Meredith Nicholson.</p> +<p><b>Loaded Dice.</b> By Ellery H. Clarke.</p> +<p><b>Lord Loveland Discovers America.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Lorimer of the Northwest.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</p> +<p><b>Lorraine.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Lost Ambassador, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Love Under Fire.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Loves of Miss Anne, The.</b> By S. R. Crockett.</p> +<p><b>Macaria.</b> (Illustrated Edition.) By Augusta J. Evans.</p> +<p><b>Mademoiselle Celeste.</b> By Adele Ferguson Knight</p> +<p><b>Maid at Arms, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers.</p> +<p><b>Maid of Old New York, A.</b> By Amelia E. Barr</p> +<p><b>Maid of the Whispering Hills, The.</b> By Vingie Roe.</p> +<p><b>Maids of Paradise, The.</b> By Robert W. Chambers</p> +<p><b>Making of Bobby Burnit, The.</b> By George Randolph Chester.</p> +<p><b>Mam’ Linda.</b> By Will N. Harben</p> +<p><b>Man Outside, The.</b> By Wyndham Martyn</p> +<p><b>Man in the Brown Derby, The.</b> By Wells Hastings.</p> +<p><b>Marriage a la Mode.</b> By Mrs. Humphrey Ward</p> +<p><b>Marriage of Theodora, The.</b> By Molly Elliott Seawell.</p> +<p><b>Marriage Under the Terror, A.</b> By Patricia Wentworth.</p> +<p><b>Master Mummer, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Masters of the Wheatlands.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</p> +<p><b>Max.</b> By Katherine Cecil Thurston.</p> +<p><b>Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</p> +<p><b>Millionaire Baby, The.</b> By Anna Katharine Green.</p> +<p><b>Missioner, The.</b> By E. Phillips Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Miss Selina Lue.</b> By Maria Thompson Daviess.</p> +<p><b>Mistress of Brae Farm, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Money Moon, The.</b> By Jeffery Farnol.</p> +<p><b>Motor Maid, The.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Much Ado About Peter.</b> By Jean Webster.</p> +<p><b>Mr. Pratt.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>My Brother’s Keeper.</b> By Charles Tenny Jackson.</p> +<p><b>My Friend the Chauffeur.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>My Lady Caprice.</b> By Jeffery Farnol, (author of the “Broad Higway”)</p> +<p><b>My Lady of Doubt.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>My Lady of the North.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>My Lady of the South.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Mystery Tales.</b> By Edgar Allen Poe.</p> +<p><b>Nancy Stair.</b> By Elinor Macartney Lane.</p> +<p><b>Ne’er-Do-Well, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>No Friend Like a Sister.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Officer 666.</b> By Barton W. Currie and Augustin McHugh.</p> +<p><b>One Braver Thing.</b> By Richard Dehan.</p> +<p><b>Order No.</b> 11. By Caroline Abbot Stanley.</p> +<p><b>Orphan, The.</b> By Clarence B. Mulford.</p> +<p><b>Out of the Primitive.</b> By Robert Ames Bennett.</p> +<p><b>Pam.</b> By Bettina von Hutten.</p> +<p><b>Pam Decides.</b> By Bettina von Hutten.</p> +<p><b>Pardners.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>Partners of the Tide.</b> By Joseph C. Lincoln.</p> +<p><b>Passage Perilous, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Passers By.</b> By Anthony Partridge.</p> +<p><b>Paternoster Ruby, The.</b> By Charles Edmonds Walk.</p> +<p><b>Patience of John Moreland, The.</b> By Mary Dillon.</p> +<p><b>Paul Anthony, Christian.</b> By Hiram W. Hays.</p> +<p><b>Phillip Steele.</b> By James Oliver Curwood.</p> +<p><b>Phra the Phoenician.</b> By Edwin Lester Arnold.</p> +<p><b>Plunderer, The.</b> By Roy Norton.</p> +<p><b>Pole Baker.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>Politician, The.</b> By Edith Huntington Mason.</p> +<p><b>Polly of the Circus.</b> By Margaret Mayo.</p> +<p><b>Pool of Flame, The.</b> By Louis Joseh Vance.</p> +<p><b>Poppy.</b> By Cynthia Stockley.</p> +<p><b>Power and the Glory, The.</b> By Grace McGowan Cooke.</p> +<p><b>Price of the Prairie, The.</b> By Margaret Hill McCarter.</p> +<p><b>Prince of Sinners, A.</b> By E. Phillis Oppenheim.</p> +<p><b>Prince or Chauffeur.</b> By Lawrence Perry.</p> +<p><b>Princess Dehra, The.</b> By John Reed Scott.</p> +<p><b>Princess Passes, The.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Princess Virginia, The.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Prisoners of Chance.</b> By Randall Parrish.</p> +<p><b>Prodigal Son, The.</b> By Hall Caine.</p> +<p><b>Purple Parasol, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Reconstructed Marriage, A.</b> By Amelia Barr.</p> +<p><b>Redemption of Kenneth Gait, The.</b> By Will N. Harben.</p> +<p><b>Red House on Rowan Street.</b> By Roman Doubleday.</p> +<p><b>Red Mouse, The.</b> By William Hamilton Osborne.</p> +<p><b>Red Pepper Burns.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</p> +<p><b>Refugees, The.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</p> +<p><b>Rejuvenation of Aunt Mary, The.</b> By Anne Warner.</p> +<p><b>Road to Providence, The.</b> By Maria Thompson Daviess.</p> +<p><b>Romance of a Plain Man, The.</b> By Ellen Glasgow.</p> +<p><b>Rose in the Ring, The.</b> By George Barr McCutcheon.</p> +<p><b>Rose of Old Harpeth, The.</b> By Maria Thompson Daviess.</p> +<p><b>Rose of the World.</b> By Agnes and Egerton Castle.</p> +<p><b>Round the Corner in Gay Street.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</p> +<p><b>Routledge Rides Alone.</b> By Will Livingston Comfort.</p> +<p><b>Running Fight, The.</b> By Wm. Hamilton Osborne.</p> +<p><b>Seats of the Mighty, The.</b> By Gilbert Parker.</p> +<p><b>Septimus.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Set in Silver.</b> By C. N. and A. M. Williamson.</p> +<p><b>Self-Raised.</b> (Illustrated.) By Mrs. Southworth.</p> +<p><b>Shepherd of the Hills, The.</b> By Harold Bell Wright.</p> +<p><b>Sheriff of Dyke Hole, The.</b> By Ridgwell Cullum.</p> +<p><b>Sidney Carteret, Rancher.</b> By Harold Bindloss.</p> +<p><b>Simon the Jester.</b> By William J. Locke.</p> +<p><b>Silver Blade, The.</b> By Charles E. Walk.</p> +<p><b>Silver Horde, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>Sir Nigel.</b> By A. Conan Doyle.</p> +<p><b>Sir Richard Calmady.</b> By Lucas Malet.</p> +<p><b>Skyman, The.</b> By Henry Ketchell Webster.</p> +<p><b>Slim Princess, The.</b> By George Ade.</p> +<p><b>Speckled Bird, A.</b> By Augusta Evans Wilson.</p> +<p><b>Spirit in Prison, A.</b> By Robert Hichens.</p> +<p><b>Spirit of the Border, The.</b> By Zane Grey.</p> +<p><b>Spirit Trail, The.</b> By Kate and Virgil D. Boyles.</p> +<p><b>Spoilers, The.</b> By Rex Beach.</p> +<p><b>Stanton Wins.</b> By Eleanor M. Ingram.</p> +<p><b>St. Elmo.</b> (Illustrated Edition.) By Augusta J. Evans.</p> +<p><b>Stolen Singer, The.</b> By Martha Bellinger.</p> +<p><b>Stooping Lady, The.</b> By Maurice Hewlett.</p> +<p><b>Story of the Outlaw, The.</b> By Emerson Hough.</p> +<p><b>Strawberry Acres.</b> By Grace S. Richmond.</p> +<p><b>Strawberry Handkerchief, The.</b> By Amelia E. Barr.</p> +<p><b>Sunnyside of the Hill, The.</b> By Rosa N. Carey.</p> +<p><b>Sunset Trail, The.</b> By Alfred Henry Lewis.</p> +</div> + +<!-- generated by ppgen.rb version: 2.31 --> +<!-- timestamp: Wed Oct 22 07:19:16 -0400 2008 --> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Wind Before the Dawn, by Dell H. 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